MacRumors

A series of last-minute rumors and speculation are suggesting that the iPad 3 might include haptic technology that would give on-screen objects texture. The rumors have linked Finnish company Senseg with Apple and have been fueled by Apple's media event invitations carrying the tagline "We have something you really have to see. And touch."

While speculation about Senseg and Apple has been floating under the radar for some time and a rationale for it was posted in our forums last week, The Guardian was the first major source to put forward the specific claim yesterday, noting that conversations with Senseg executives earlier this year left The Guardian with the impression that the company was indeed working with Apple.

When the Guardian met Senseg's chiefs in their Helsinki offices in January, its directors declined to say whether they had spoken to Apple about the use of the technology in the iPad – but said they were talking to tablet manufacturers. [...]

But asked this week whether Apple is a customer for the E-Sense technology, Petri Jehkonen, Senseg's technical marketing manager, declined to comment. Asked whether Apple is not a customer, he replied: "That would be for Apple to say. My comment is no comment."

The Next Web has also put together a speculative piece suggesting that haptic feedback could indeed be making an appearance on the iPad 3.

The bits and pieces that I’ve managed to uncover are tantalizing and have led me to believe that at least one major new feature that we have not seen before on an Apple device before will make an appearance on the new tablet.

I’ll be honest up front: I have been unable to nail down exactly what it is. [...]

The most tantalizing and attractive possibility I could come up with was the introduction of a touch-feedback technology for the iPad’s display.

The report continues with a reasoned analysis of how Apple may have been able to quietly include the technology in the iPad 3 and the unobtrusive nature of the haptic technology itself that could have been kept behind the scenes.

And now Pocket-lint is weighing in with its own claims, once again pointing to quotes from Senseg executives as hints that the company may be working with Apple.

"We won't be making any statements until after Apple's announcement," a company spokesman told Pocket-lint with a timing that's just too obvious to be anything else after we asked them the direct question of whether Senseg is involved in the iPad 3 launch.

The report also links back to a Trusted Reviews report from June 2011 in which Senseg claimed it was working with "a certain tablet maker based in Cupertino."

Apple has certainly expressed interest in haptic technology in the past, as evidenced by patent applications on the company's ideas. But specific rumors about incorporating the technology into iOS devices have been essentially non-existent until now. With just a few hours to go until Apple's media event, observers don't have long to wait to find out if the last-minute claims are true.

9to5Mac reports that it has now received pricing information from reliable source "Mr. X" on the part number for the updated Apple TV revealed last week, with the new model coming in at the same $99 price as the current model.

The Apple TV J33 model, MD199LL/A – J33 BEST -USA, which we’ve covered before will come in at the same $99 price point (and similar prices globally). We know from previous reports that it will have updated hardware internally including Bluetooth 4.0 Broadcom chip as well as a higher powered processor capable of 1080P video.

It will likely look the same with similar ports otherwise, though that hasn’t been confirmed.

The report also offers a price for the unknown product carrying a code name of "B82" that surfaced last week, with the item coming in at $39. It is likely to be an accessory of some sort for one of the major product launches coming tomorrow, but its identity remains unknown.

With the launch of the iPhone 4S last October, Apple debuted AppleCare+ for iPhone, a new $99 extended warranty program that includes coverage for accidental damage to the user's device over the two-year coverage period.

Valid for up to two incidents of accidental damage with a $49 deductible per incident, the expanded AppleCare+ offering replaced Apple's previous standard $69 AppleCare for iPhone that did not cover accidental damage.

MacRumors has now received word that Apple appears to be making a similar transition for the iPad with tomorrow's introduction of the iPad 3, rolling out a $99 AppleCare+ for iPad warranty that would replace the current $79 standard AppleCare package. While our source was unable to provide any specific details on coverage for the new AppleCare+ for iPad program, it would presumably mirror that of the corresponding iPhone plan with accidental damage coverage being included with a deductible.

Accidental damage has been a more common issue on the iPhone since the introduction of the iPhone 4 in 2010, due in part to the use of glass on both front and back of that device and its successor, the iPhone 4S. iPhones requiring replacement due to accidental damage had typically required a $199 replacement fee, although support staff generally had a fair amount of leeway in waiving that fee on a case-by-case basis. Apple has reportedly tightened up on that flexibility since the introduction of AppleCare+ for iPhone, now that accidental damage coverage is available through the plan.

While accidental damage may be a bit less of an issue for the iPad than for the iPhone given its proportionally lower glass surface area and perhaps fewer opportunities for damage in not being carried about as widely, some users will undoubtedly be pleased by the new AppleCare+ for iPad. The option of purchasing an extended warranty offering accidental damage coverage to limit significant repair or replacement bills should an incident occur is likely to be an appealing proposition for a number of customers.

On the eve of the Apple media event for the iPad 3, Apple has added a new category in the App Store. The new category is called "Catalogs" and seems to be not yet fully deployed.

Several existing apps have already been placed into the Catalogs category, including Catalog Spree (pictured above), SkyMall, MTG Merchant and more. These apps have long existed in the App Store and have now been recategorized to "Catalogs". The apps had previously been listed under the Lifestyle and Utility sections of the App Store.

The Catalogs category is not yet fully deployed to the App Store, and is not accessible directly from the App Store's category listings. Linking directly to the Catalogs category in the App Store presently shows an empty list.

Joaquin Ruiz, CEO of Catalog Spree, seems to believe that the timing could be related to the media event tomorrow. Ruiz said in an email, "Adding an app category is not something that Apple does lightly and we believe Apple's decision reflects the importance of this usecase in the Apple App Store ecosystem."

Apple is hosting a media event tomorrow in San Francisco. The timing of the App Store changes are suggestive that it may be related to the event.

The San Jose Mercury News reports that a regulatory filing has revealed that Apple's massive solar farm at its new data center in Maiden, North Carolina will utilize panels from San Jose-based energy company SunPower. The ground-mounted panels will track with the sun throughout the day and be installed in phases with the first batch set to come on line as soon as October of this year.

[A]n 18-page filing with the North Carolina Utilities Commission makes it clear that SunPower has been chosen to provide the solar panels for the massive solar farm.

"Each of the photovoltaic installations will consist of multiple SunPower E20 435-watt photovoltaic modules on ground-mounted single axis tracking systems," the filing states.

The solar farm will be built in phases and could begin delivering electricity to the grid as early as October.

The E20 panels from SunPower are being promoted as the world's first solar panels to reach 20% efficiency, incorporating the latest solar cell, inverter and light capturing technologies to boost performance.

Apple recently touted its plans for the solar farm and a complementary fuel cell installation as part of its commitment to alternative energy at the new data center. The 20-megawatt solar farm is said to be the largest such user-owned facility in the United States.

The Verge reports that Apple's iPad 3 launch tomorrow will see the inclusion of the A5X system-on-a-chip that first surfaced in a photo leak several weeks ago. According to the report, the A5X contains a dual-core application processor as found in the A5, but includes improved graphics capabilities and more RAM than found in the A5.

On the connectivity front, the report claims that Apple will be releasing multiple versions of its cellular-enabled iPad 3 models, with separate LTE models for AT&T and Verizon and a third cellular model for international markets that is limited to 3G GSM and CDMA networks.

There have been rumors flying that the iPad 3 would be LTE capable, and we're told that it will definitely be announced for both the Verizon and AT&T networks tomorrow. To be clear, that would mean two distinct, separate versions of the LTE tablet (one for each network). In addition, there's a third international model which does double duty on 3G; a CDMA / GSM model using a similar radio chipset to the iPhone 4S (a Qualcomm Gobi chip). That's a little odd considering LTE chipsets from Qualcomm can be utilized on those same bands, but there may be reasons (cost for instance) that Apple would want to separate the hardware.

In line with expectations, The Verge claims that Apple will also be introducing an updated Apple TV tomorrow, packing 1080p video capabilities to be paired with AirPlay streaming and mirroring functionality in the iPad 3 and OS X Mountain Lion.

According to Chronic Wire, iOS 5.1 has satisfied the requirements of Apple's quality assurance testing and is now ready to be released to the public, presumably just prior to the iPad 3 launch within the next few weeks. The report claims that iOS 5.1 is now in the golden master stage with build 9B176 being the final build to be issued for public release.

The build number of iOS 5.1 Gold Master is 9B176 according to a very solid source, although three different partners who are testing the Gold Master claim to have slightly (by single digits) higher builds numbers on their copies, I'm assuming that's because right now it'd make sense for those people to be testing what will soon be released as 5.1.1, so I've disregarded the claims.

The quality assurance phase for iOS 5.1 is said to have taken place over the past three weeks, with work by Apple and its carrier partners to ensure that as many bugs as possible have been eliminated.

iOS 5.1 reportedly includes Japanese Siri support and a new camera slider, as well two other significant features that have yet to be revealed to the public.

While Steve Jobs' official biographer Walter Isaacson created a stir last October with his disclosure of Jobs having "finally cracked" how to develop a revolutionary television set product, it now appears that Jobs shared even more about the product that Isaacson has so far declined to make public.

The revelation came in an interview with Brazilian television yesterday, and The Next Web highlights Isaacson's comments about holding back the information because it would have been "unfair to Apple" to share it before the company's plans were publicly known.

[Isaacson] says that he left a few things out of the book, one of those being details of “what [Steve Jobs] thought the next Apple TV should be.”

He says that he left it out of the book “because Apple hadn’t yet done it and I thought that, maybe, that was unfair to Apple before they produce the TV…reporting what Steve thought it should be.”

Apple has been rumored to be working on a Siri-enabled television set that could be set to launch late this year or early next year. The company has reportedly been investigating components for the product, with various prototypes sitting in Jony Ive's design lab.

Dow Jones Newswires reports that Apple has expressed a willingness to settle some of its patent disputes with manufacturers of Android-based handsets such as Samsung and Motorola, potentially seeking to reduce the burden of ongoing litigation.

The consumer-electronics company has put forth proposals to Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. (MMI) and Samsung Electronics Co. (005930.SE, SSNHY) to settle some pending litigation in exchange for royalty payments to license its patents, among other terms, [people familiar with the matter] said.

This is not a new tactic; Apple had some discussions with companies such as Samsung before initiating litigation, according to statements made to a court in at least one suit.

But Samsung and Motorola are not likely to be willing to agree to such settlements at face value, with Apple reportedly proposing that its competitors pay a $5-15 licensing fee to Apple for each Android handset sold.

Apple, of Cupertino, Calif., has asked for between $5 and $15 per handset for some of its patents in one negotiation, or roughly 1% to 2.5% of net sales per device, another person familiar with the matter said. Motorola, for its part, has been criticized for asking for 2.5% of net sales per device for its wireless patents from Apple.

The report notes that any settlements would appear to go against Steve Jobs' desires, as he expressed in his biography that he wished "destroy Android" even if it required "every penny" of Apple's cash hoard. Apple's cash position and domination of mobile phone industry revenues also mean that the company has less of a need to settle for royalty payments from its competitors.

Apple's competitors are of course pursuing their own actions against the company, which each side hoping to use leverage from their lawsuits to gain more favorable terms in any settlement talks.

While Apple has been rumored for some time now to be working on a television set, essentially no concrete evidence of such a product has surfaced. But with Steve Jobs noting in his biography that he had "finally cracked" how to create the "simplest user interface you could imagine" for a television, rumors about the company's plans have been circulating widely.

As for what Apple would name such a product, some have suggested that Apple will transition the "Apple TV" name over to the new product, while others have believed that "iTV" would be the company's preferred name even though it raises potential trademark and branding issues with other entities such as the UK's ITV network. Notably, Apple first offered a sneak peek of its own iTV product back in late 2006, opting to rename it as the Apple TV before it launched in early 2007.

But while the British television network is the highest-profile roadblock to any effort by Apple to gain the rights to the iTV, there are others who hold intellectual property rights related to the name, and one in particular is concerned that Apple might be making an end run to usurp the term.

Patrick Hughes, president and CEO of iTV Entertainment, LLC, will be taking his case public tomorrow in an attempt to spur Apple into discussion of the trademark with warnings of legal and/or regulatory action if Apple should introduce a product under the "iTV" name. While Hughes does not hold a trademark on the "iTV" name itself, he does hold one on "iTV Entertainment". From a press release set to be published tomorrow:

iTV Entertainment, LLC announced today that its counsel, Bart S. Fisher, had sent a letter to Apple, Inc. board director, Al Gore, suggesting that a meeting be held “to see if an amicable and fair transaction arrangement” could be made between the parties with regard to Apple’s use of the “iTV” mark displayed throughout their U.S. Patent No. 2011/0154394 A1 for a product that is rumored to be in development by and being planned for a possible launch in 2012. Apple describes its device as being “an audio and video entertainment center”.

“The Apple iTV entertainment center device would cause a great amount of confusion with iTV Entertainment customers”, according to iTV Entertainment LLC Chief Executive, Patrick Hughes. Hughes also said that Apple CEO Tim Cook and general counsel Bruce Sewell have been notified as well as another board member Andrea Jung, that should “the iTV rights issue” not be resolved, then we would have no other choice but to “bring to the International Trade Commission (ITC) [our trademark infringement complaint] that could result in an exclusion order being issued against Apple under Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930.”

Hughes notes that iTV Entertainment has been using its U.S.-registered trademark since 2001 and that it made sure in August 2010 that Apple was aware of the trademark should it have been interested in launching its revamped Apple TV set-top box as the iTV. Hughes tells MacRumors that Apple did not express any interest in acquiring his iTV Entertainment trademark at that time.

Hughes points to increasing chatter from analysts and other sources referring to Apple's rumored television set as the "iTV", but relies most heavily on Apple's own use of the term in patent applications as evidence of the company's intent to use the name. Apple's use of the term in patent applications actually extends back a number of years, with the 2011 patent application cited by Hughes in his press release actually being a continuation of a patent application filed for the original iTV set-top box software on the same day it was previewed in September 2006.

With excitement about a potential Apple "iTV" growing, Hughes clearly senses that the time is ripe to sell the trademark rights, and he undoubtedly would like to have Apple's checkbook at the table before any deal is made. He notes that Chinese company Hisense has introduced its own I'TV tablet television, with the company potentially interested in acquiring the iTV Entertainment trademark from Hughes' company.

Noting that "time is running short for Apple" and that it "would be a shame" for Apple and its consumers if the trademark ended up in Hisense's hands, Hughes is clearly trying to bait Apple into entering the bidding to secure the rights to the trademark.

Apple has yet to respond to Hughes' latest notices regarding the iTV Entertainment trademark.

Reuters adds its voice to the growing chorus of rumors claiming that Apple will indeed include 4G LTE compatibility on the iPad 3 when it debuts tomorrow. While some have remained skeptical of the claim amid concerns that the technology is not yet broadly-enough available to be worthwhile, Reuters joins Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal among mainstream publications making the assertion.

Apple Inc is betting a 4G-equipped iPad will tempt more U.S. consumers to pay extra to watch high-quality video on the go, and in turn, give Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc a revenue boost. [...]

The newest iPad will be capable of operating on a high-speed 4G "LTE," or Long-Term Evolution network, according to a source familiar with the product. At speeds roughly 10 times faster than current 3G technology, that may go a long way toward banishing the sometimes shaky video quality of older devices.

The continued claims of LTE compatibility comes as March 16 seems to be firming up as an expectation for the actual launch of the iPad 3 in the United States. The date has been considered a likely candidate since word of Apple's March 7 media event surfaced, given that the iPad 2 debuted nine days after its introduction last year.

Rumors of a March 16 launch received another boost last week when it was revealed that Apple's new Houston store had seen its grand opening moved up by a day to March 16 in an unusual move for the company.

9to5Mac now reports that an "Apple Store source who has been reliable in the past" has pointed to March 16 as the launch date.

We’ve been told by a Apple Store source who has been reliable in the past that preparations are being made for a big Apple Store event which will culminate on Friday, March 16th. Naturally, this points to an iPad 3 launch on the Friday just nine days after tomorrow’s announcement.

The source also reports that Apple is planning a "subsequent event" a week later, but it is unclear whether this is referring to international iPad 3 launches or some other event.

Apple's iPad 3 media event is taking place tomorrow at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and is scheduled to begin at 10:00 AM Pacific / 1:00 PM Eastern.

Bloomberg reports that a federal judge in Chicago has ruled that Google and Motorola Mobility must share with Apple background information on both the history of Android development and Google's pending acquisition of Motorola as part of an ongoing patent dispute between Apple and Motorola.

The development is a key one for its impact on drawing Google into the patent fight that has until now mostly seen the company staying in the background of the Android-iOS patent disputes with Apple going head-to-head with hardware manufacturers.

Google Inc. and a Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. unit were ordered by the U.S. judge presiding over an Apple Inc. patent lawsuit to turn over information about the development of Google’s Android operating system.

The Motorola Mobility unit and Google must also hand over to Apple information about Google’s pending $12.5 billion acquisition of the mobile-phone maker, U.S. Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner in Chicago ruled yesterday. [...]

“The Android/Motorola acquisition discovery is highly relevant to Apple’s claims and defenses,” Apple’s attorneys’ said in a March 2 filing requesting the judge’s order.

Motorola has argued that it can not compel Google to comply with the order, given that Google acquisition of Motorola has not yet been finalized, but Judge Richard Ponser apparently disagrees with that assessment.

Access to information on Android's development history could provide Apple with more ammunition in its efforts to bring down the platform. Steve Jobs notably referred to Android as a "stolen product" in his biography, vowing to wage "thermonuclear war" with Apple's entire cash hoard in an effort to destroy Android. Apple has won several court decisions against hardware manufacturers over their Android-based products, forcing minor tweaks to their functionality and/or design in several markets, but it has not yet struck a crippling blow to either the hardware companies or Android itself.

Adobe today announced the immediate release of Photoshop Lightroom 4, bringing a number of new features and a lower price tag to the company's professional photo management and manipulation software.

Lightroom 4 introduces refined technology for superior shadow and highlight processing, ability to create photo books, additional local adjustment controls, and enhanced video support.

“Feedback from our customers is invaluable in developing Lightroom and the real trick to a great release is to combine these insights with Adobe’s unrivalled image processing innovation,” said Winston Hendrickson, vice president products, Creative Media Solutions, Adobe. “Lightroom 4 is a stunning new release that will enhance photography workflows and help photographs stand out from the crowd.”

Photoshop Lightroom 4 was released as a public beta just under two months ago, and Adobe has made several additional improvements since that time.

With the release of Lightroom 4, Adobe has slashed the application's price in half to $149, presumably responding to Apple's price cut on Aperture that saw it drop to just $79 when it moved to the Mac App Store with that marketplace's debut in January 2011. Pricing for Student/Teacher and Upgrade editions of Lightroom 4 is set at $79, with the Upgrade edition valid for any previous version of Lightroom.