MacRumors

As noted by The Next Web, Apple has launched a new feature known as Express Lane on its support website, offering users a faster way to document issues with their Apple products and reach appropriate support solutions and personnel.

Express Lane is really 3 sections of support, rolled into one neat package. You can search by Apple product, search your own products (that you've registered) or look up cases that you've submitted previously.

The process, it seems, streamlines what you would normally have to do in order to find support answers for your devices. Clicking through, the My Products section is really handy and includes all devices you've registered along with the respective serial numbers.

Express Lane allows users to drill down to find support documents specifically related to their issues, along with contact options. Users are required to enter their hardware serial numbers for certain symptoms to help gauge warranty status and direct users to the proper support channels.

Bloomberg reports on claims in the most recent issue of Japanese tabloid magazine SPA! that Apple CEO Steve Jobs was recently stopped by airport security at Kansai International Airport near Osaka for attempting to bring Ninja throwing stars onto his private plane while heading home from a vacation in Japan.

A security scan at Kansai International Airport, near Osaka, detected the weapons inside the executive's carry-on luggage in July as he was returning home to the U.S. from a family vacation in Kyoto, the Japanese magazine reported, citing unidentified officials at the airport and the transportation ministry.

Jobs said it wouldn't make sense for a person to try to hijack his own plane, according to the report. He then told officials he would never visit Japan again, the magazine reported. Apple declined to comment.

An airport spokesperson confirmed that an incident similar to that described in the report did occur, but declined to identify the person involved, noting only that the passenger discarded the throwing stars and that both private and public passengers are subject to the same security arrangements at the airport.

Update: All Things Digital reports that Apple has issued a statement calling the report "pure fiction".

Steve did visit Japan this summer for a vacation in Kyoto, but the incidents described at the airport are pure fiction. Steve had a great time and hopes to visit Japan again soon.

Amazon has taken Apple head on in their latest commercial for their Kindle e-reader:

The ad, shown here, features a guy sitting poolside in a t-shirt and shorts struggling to read an e-book on a black LCD-screen device that looks an awful lot like an iPad.

Next to him, a gal in a bikini is enjoying reading on her Kindle, featuring an E Ink screen that looks so clear in the sun that she can even read with sunglasses on. She tells iPad guy shes able to read in the sun because shes got a Kindle, which cost less than her sunglasses.

The ad points out that the iPad's screen is less readable in direct sunlight as compared to the Kindles e-ink screen. While the iPad is a more fully functional device than the Kindle, it overlaps the Kindle's e-reader usage with Apple's iBooks application.

Over the weekend, Epic Games released an update to its Epic Citadel demo app showing off the company's Unreal Engine 3. The demo had been featured during Apple's September 1st media event as an example of how the iPhone can handle generation of rich textures and imagery in gaming titles. The demo appeared in the App Store soon after the event, offering users the ability to play around with the demo themselves.

One of the bullet points in the "What's New" section of this weekend's update stands out, however, as it addresses iOS 4 for the iPad, an operating system that has not yet been released to the public or even pushed to Apple's general iOS Developer Program.

Fixed performance issues on iPad devices running iOS 4 or later.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs had announced at the media event that iOS 4 would finally make its debut on the iPad in November with the public launch of iOS 4.2.

While Epic may have received some preferential access to early iOS 4 builds for the iPad to support its efforts to demo its Unreal Engine 3 for iOS at the media event, it is still interesting to note that the operating system is making its way into the hands of at least one developer ahead of those involved in the general developer program.

Apple has partnered with major App Store developers in the past to show off new iOS features before they are opened up to the developer community at-large, but Epic seems to have an even more substantial head-start than usual on iOS 4 for iPad.

With iOS 4.1 making its way to the iPhone and iPod touch just last week, Apple has now paved the way to begin full developer testing of a unified iOS 4.2 for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. Consequently, many developers are hoping that they will be able to get their hands on testing builds of the new operating system in the near future.

Update: Epic's Mark Rein has clarified that the mention of iOS on iPad in the App Store update description was simply a reference to an "anticipated problem" for the iPad discovered on the new fourth-generation iPod touch.

Nearly a year ago, we noted reports of App Store "name squatting", a practice in which users signed for the Apple's App Store developer program could register the name of an application without actually submitting a binary for it. At the time, at least one developer admitted to hoarding "dozens and dozens of good sounding applications names" just in case they came up with an idea to go along with one of the names.

Over the weekend, TechCrunch noted that Apple has begun to take steps to address the App Store name squatting, contacting developers who had yet to upload a binary within 90 days of creating their application's entry in iTunes Connect and notifying them that they will have 30 additional days in which to upload a binary before their entry is deleted.

But now, Apple has begun emailing developers if they've failed to upload their binary for 90 days after first starting the app creation process. Apple warns the developer that they have another 30 days to do so, or the record will be deleted from iTunes Connect. And the key point: "The app name will then be available for another developer to use."

Depending on how widespread the practice of name squatting is, developers may soon find themselves with additional options available for naming their apps as these names that have been limbo for extended periods of time begin to come off of the rolls.

One of the most highly-publicized features of iOS 4.1, released last week, is the ability to take High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos, a feature which allows the iPhone 4's camera to capture a wider range of light intensity and produce higher-quality photos under certain conditions. Based on evidence we've compiled, we believe that Apple may have purchased a small Cambridge, UK-based company known as imsense for its expertise dealing with just this technology.

imsense, a spin-off from the University of East Anglia, has developed a technology known as "eye-fidelity" for producing nearly instantaneous Dynamic Range Correction in both standard and HDR photos using software algorithms to remap image tones in order to recover details lost in underexposed or overexposed regions of photos while maintaining color balance and generating final images as close to that perceived by the eye in reality as possible.

While the iPhone 4's camera does generate true HDR images by combining three separate exposures into a single image, technology like eye-fidelity can help the HDR process maintain a realistic appearance for the final photos.

According to a note on the website of Braveheart Ventures, which backed imsense, the company was acquired by "an undisclosed trade buyer in July 2010". According to a press release from Braveheart, it received 342,000 for its minority stake in imsense, more than doubling its original 150,000 investment in two years.

Virtually all of imsense's web presence, including its website and Facebook and Twitter accounts, have been removed since its acquisition, although its flickr account remains active and shows several examples of how its eye-fidelity technology can draw out hidden features in images to create higher-quality photos. A video of a 2009 presentation by imsense CEO Philippe Dewost demonstrating the company's technology is also available.

In addition, imsense's App Store application imphoto has been removed from the App Store. That application utilized the company's eye-fidelity technology to produce nearly-instantaneous exposure improvements to photos on the iPhone, offering processing of photos within the user's Camera Roll as well as the ability to shoot from within the application itself.

The company's imphoto application also extended to the desktop, where a PC version was joined by a Mac version on July 1st, just ahead of the company's acquisition. Both desktop applications appear to have been discontinued.

We also note that imsense Director of Engineering Alexis Gatt left the company in July 2010, just as it was being acquired, to become senior engineer at Apple. Together, the information suggests that imsense may have been acquired by Apple, although no definitive evidence has yet been uncovered.

Update: As first noted by forum member bengladstone, according to UK government filings made on September 6th, three of Apple's officers were named directors of imsense as of July 15th, 2010: Gary Wipfler (Treasurer), Betsy Rafael (Vice President, Corporate Controller and Principal Accounting Officer), and Gene Levoff (Corporate Counsel). Levoff was also installed as imsense's secretary as of July 28th. The appointments of imsense's other directors have also been terminated.

The discovery leaves essentially no doubt that imsense is now owned by Apple.

Apple today announced that it will begin selling Wi-Fi iPad models in China as of this Friday, September 17th.

Apple today announced that the Wi-Fi models of its magical iPad will be available to customers in China from Apple Retail Stores, and select Apple Authorized Resellers, on Friday, September 17 starting at 10:00 a.m.

Pricing comes in at CNY3988 ($590) for the 16 GB model, CNY4788 ($708) for the 32 GB model and CNY5588 ($827) for the 64 GB model.

There is no word on 3G-capable iPad models, with the delay presumably due to regulatory issues. Current iPhone carrier China Unicom had previously announced that it would offer the iPad, with the assumption being that it was referring to 3G models planned to run on its network.

Supply constraints for the iPad have begun to ease in recent weeks as Apple's efforts to boost production have allowed the company to drop shipping estimates to "within 24 hours" in its current markets for the device. Similar signs of the easing supply crunch can be read in the apparent expansion of retail store sales to include Target early next month. Wal-Mart has also announced that it plans to carry the iPad "later this year", and so it too may be set to come onboard alongside Target.

Update: According to Apple's Latin American site for the iPad, the device will also be launching this Friday in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

Engadget claims that Target will begin carrying Apple's iPad in the coming weeks. The evidence comes in the form of inventory screenshots from Target's PDAs. Apparently 6 unnamed items are due on October 3rd and they match up with the iPads unique pricing (Wi-Fi and 3G models).

That includes a list featuring a mysteriously unnamed product that's set to become available on October 3rd (in six different versions, no less), and a series of images from a Target PDA (like the one pictured above) that seemingly show that the item numbers match the iPad prices exactly, and that it will be located in the Digital Audio section -- that's apparently also how e-readers like the Kindle are classified, in addition to iPods.

The Apple iPad has sold over 3.2 million as of Q3 2010. The iPad was in short supply in the early months after its release but these constraints have eased up in recent weeks.

Appleinsider claims that Apple may already be in "advanced testing stages" of a new FaceTime capable iPads.

A version of the tablet device with a built-in video camera and support for the new FaceTime video conferencing standard has already progressed to the advanced testing stages, according to a person with proven knowledge of Apple's future product plans.

The followup iPad is said to be due no later than 1st quarter of next year with some suggestion we could see them sooner. The report corresponds to recent claims that the iPad's next-gen firmware contains FaceTime debugging software, similar to that which was leaked prior to the iPhone 4 launch.

Apple released the first (and also current) iPad in April 2010.

Bloomberg Businessweek publishes a lengthy profile of Foxconn founder Terry Gou, who has built his Taiwan-based manufacturing company into a major player in the computing and consumer electronics industries and become Apple's primary manufacturing partner for a broad array of its devices. The interesting profile comes as part of Foxconn's public relations effort to share the steps it has taken to deal with recent suicides and claims of worker discontent at the 900,000-employee company.

As it relates to Apple, the article addresses how Gou is willing to go to extreme lengths to produce quality parts for Apple's devices, even going so far as to spend in excess of $20 million to mass produce the iPhone 4's metal frame on machines meant only for creating prototypes. As a result of this commitment, Foxconn has been able to produce 137,000 iPhones per day while meeting Apple's design demands.

When Apple's iPhone4 was nearing production, Foxconn and Apple discovered that the metal frame was so specialized that it could be made only by an expensive, low-volume machine usually reserved for prototypes. Apple's designers wouldn't budge on their specs, so Gou ordered more than 1,000 of the $20,000 machines from Tokyo-based Fanuc. Most companies have just one. "Terry is a strong leader with a passion for excellence," says Tim Cook, Apple's chief operating officer. "He's a trusted partner and we are fortunate to work with him." The Longhua plant now produces 137,000 iPhones a day, or about 90 a minute.

The report balances a description of Gou's personal life and dedication to quality with his demanding reputation, noting that he "exhibits severity and kindness in the extreme." Building Foxconn from a minor parts manufacturing company selling channel knobs for black-and-white TVs to television manufacturers, Gou has aggressively expanded his capabilities over time to constantly win market share and customers while also working to secure its intellectual property in the face of stiff competition in the Asian electronics manufacturing industry.

Gou notes that he failed to handle the suicide issues well, not realizing that he had a problem on his hands until the crisis had begun to spiral out of control. The company has taken steps to address workers' health and happiness with new activities and support channels and has undertaken a major effort to build new factories closer to workers' native homes to keep them closer to their family networks. The effort will also allow Foxconn to do away with its "compounds" where employees live and work, offering them a degree of separation from work when they go home to housing and entertainment options provided by local governments rather than the company itself.

The report concludes by noting that Gou remains ambitious in his expansion plans, hoping to target the U.S. to expand production there beyond the current 1,000-employee facility outside Houston. Regardless of its future expansion plans, Foxconn appears to be maintaining a close relationship with Apple and is likely to continue being a major piece of Apple's manufacturing pipeline.

Apple today announced on its iPhone 4 Case Program page (via The Loop) that it will be discontinuing the program as of the previously-stated September 30th end date. The company is also ending its no-restocking-fee, 30-day return policy for the iPhone 4, returning to its standard return policy that requires a 10% restocking fee on opened merchandise and returns within 14 days of purchase.

Apple is, however, leaving open the possibility of providing cases to customers who demonstrate a distinct problem with antenna issues on their devices. At the company's July press conference to address the issue, Steve Jobs had stated that Apple would re-evaluate the program as the September 30th deadline approached.

We now know that the iPhone 4 antenna attenuation issue is even smaller than we originally thought. A small percentage of iPhone 4 users need a case, and we want to continue providing them a Bumper case for free. For everyone else, we are discontinuing the free case program on all iPhone 4s sold after September 30, 2010. We are also returning to our normal returns policy for all iPhone 4s sold after September 30. Users experiencing antenna issues should call AppleCare to request a free Bumper case.

An executive with Mexican iPhone carrier Telcel late last month claimed that Apple would be introducing revised iPhone 4 hardware by the end of September to address the antenna issue, but Apple has made no announcements regarding changes to its hardware or manufacturing process.

Last year, Apple generated quite a bit of controversy by appearing to reject an official Google Voice application that would have provided integration with Google's phone-related services. In response to an investigation by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Apple and Google offered differing statements as to whether the application had actually been rejected or simply not-yet-approved, although the application still has yet to appear in the App Store.

At the time of its initial "rejection" of the official Google Voice application, Apple also pulled from the App Store previously-approved third-party applications that offered Google Voice functionality. As noted by Sean Kovacs, the developer behind one of those apps in GV Mobile, his application had been personally approved by Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller, only to be later removed for "duplicating features that come with the iPhone". Kovacs subsequently published GV Mobile on the Cydia store for jailbroken iPhones, where it has been rather successful and has continued to see regular updates.

With Apple finally providing an open look at its App Store review guildelines, Kovacs rhetorically asked on Twitter yesterday whether GV Mobile should now be allowed in the App Store given that it appears to comply with all of Apple's review guidelines. A short time later, he reported that Apple had confirmed that the application would most likely be accepted should he submit it again.

Good news: I did get confirmation back from Apple that it will most likely get back in once I resubmit.

Kovacs notes that he deleted the application from iTunes Connect after it was originally pulled, and thus it is unclear whether he will be able to submit it again under the same name and identifying information to re-link with those who purchased the app before it was pulled.

It also remains to be seen whether Google will once again pursue its official Google Voice application with Apple, but Apple's now-public guidelines do appear to be opening the door for clarity on the review process and the possibility of more candid and open discussions with developers about their submissions.

Late last month, Intel announced that it will acquire the wireless unit of Infineon, Apple's longtime supplier for the iPhone's baseband controller for supporting cellular connectivity. At the time, Intel CEO Paul Otellini noted that Apple CEO Steve Jobs was "very happy" about the pending acquisition.

Unwired View reports on an article [Google translation] in the China Times claiming that Apple is planning to ditch Infineon's solutions in favor of ones from Qualcomm for use in the fifth-generation iPhone.

Up until now, the baseband chip supplier for the iPhones and the iPad 3G has been Infineon, a company recently acquired by Intel for a boatload of cash. And the fact that they were Apple's supplier has to have had some impact on the size of that pile of cash.

Well, that may have been money better spent on something else, since it seems that the baseband chips for the iPhone 5 will come from Qualcomm, not Infineon. Apple will continue to design the application processor themselves (like they did with the A4 inside the iPad, iPhone 4 and the newest iPod Touch).

Qualcomm is most-widely known for its development of CDMA technology such as that used by Verizon and Sprint for their cellular networks. A Verizon-compatible iPhone has been the subject of long-standing rumors, with Apple reportedly having contracted with Qualcomm for CDMA chips for use in a Verizon iPhone set for launch early next year.

Consequently, speculation is naturally drifting toward Apple making the full changeover to Qualcomm if that company can also supply acceptable GSM chips, or perhaps even a single hybrid chip capable of supporting both standards.

Yesterday, we noted that the popular open source media player VLC has been ported to the iPad and that the application has been submitted to Apple for review.

AppAdvice has been able to get its hands on the application and has posted an overview and a brief video showing it in action.

It performs very well, and all your DivX and Xvid files will play smoothly and normally, displaying all their original quality. It also supports a bunch of other formats, and it's extremely simple to use. As for the interface, it's nice and polished.

However, there are certain limitations, as less popular formats and high definition videos don't play as well. I'm confident there is still some room to improve the codecs, but since your videos are decoded at the software level, we're probably limited by the iPad's raw power. Also, it won't read Windows media files if anybody still uses them.

File management is handled directly via iTunes, and video libraries are displayed as thumbnails sitting on "shelves", offering a smooth browsing experience. The app's developers are hopeful that it could appear in the App Store as soon as next week, although it is of course subject to Apple's sometimes-unpredictable review process.

Update: Wired's Charlie Sorrel has also posted a hands-on review of VLC for iPad, noting a few performance and compatibility issues but overall finding it to be "way more polished than any other video app [he has] yet seen on the tablet".

French site Mac4Ever briefly reports [Google translation] that iLife '11 may finally be nearing a launch and that Apple's FaceTime video calling feature currently available on the iPhone 4 and fourth-generation iPod touch may be set to come to both Mac and Windows platforms, a move which would provide a significant boost to the feature's appeal. FaceTime is said to be integrated into iChat on Mac OS X, although there is no word on how it would be offered on Windows.

To begin with, iLife '11, which was announced this summer (along with the disappearance of iDVD), might finally come out very very soon. Moreover, it's rumored that Apple is getting ready to release Facetime for Mac and PC, with the Mac version being integrated into the iChat software.

Mac4Ever offered remarkably accurate predictions well in advance of Apple's October 2009 iMac refresh, correctly pinpointing the inclusion of an SD card slot and quad-core processor options, as well as the Magic Mouse and the revamped aluminum Apple Remote.

The site's recent predictions regarding iLife '11 have yet to come to fruition, however, as the release missed the claimed release date of August 17th. Details of the next-generation iLife suite such as 64-bit applications, significant iWeb revamp, iDVD discontinuation, and a new "mystery" app have of course yet to be confirmed either way, and we'll have to wait for the release to drop to judge these claims.

Thank you to user iKenny for an improved translation.

Responding to Apple's announcement that it is easing a number of restrictions on App Store app development including the use of third-party development tools, Adobe has indicated that it will resume work on its Packager for iPhone tool in Flash Professional CS5 that allows developers to export their Flash projects in native iOS format.

Apple's announcement today that it has lifted restrictions on its third-party developer guidelines has direct implications for Adobe's Packager for iPhone, a feature in the Flash Professional CS5 authoring tool. This feature was created to enable Flash developers to quickly and easily deliver applications for iOS devices. The feature is available for developers to use today in Flash Professional CS5, and we will now resume development work on this feature for future releases.

While Packager for iPhone is already included in Flash Professional CS5, Adobe had previously announced that it would cease work on the project in the face of Apple's prohibition against its usage in creating applications for submission to the App Store.

Adobe also notes that developers who have used Packager for iPhone to create native iOS applications from Flash projects are already seeing their applications being approved by Apple for inclusion in the App Store.