Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
Apple [AAPL] last week put up four new job descriptions. The job offerings are all identical and request people to join the iOS development team. Each candidate is to be an expert in navigation software.
A few hints in the text, found here, indicate that Apple is working on some kind of navigation product for iOS based devices as each candidate needs deep knowledge of computational geometry or graph theory as well as experience developing navigation software. [Read more…]
Apple [AAPL] released a minor update for iTunes on Wednesday. The new version is iTunes 10.1.1 and this version was designed to fix problems which caused iTunes to occasionally crash.
Unfortunately, it seems to have caused more problems in that some users are reporting that when opening iTunes it simply crashes immediately now and refuses to open. [Read more…]
Apple [AAPL] has released the iOS 4.1.1 update for those running the second generation Apple TV. What the new update does is fixes a few annoying problems that the ATV had.
Problems indicated included issues with HDTV’s incorrectly displaying 480p content as well as movies and TV shows that from time to time, had to be re-downloaded. [Read more…]
Estimations from the NPD Group indicate that Apple [AAPL] could sell over 4 million MacBooks this quarter. The expected total should fall somewhere in the region of 4.1 to 4.3 million by the end of December.
The new MacBook Air is expected to contribute a good chunk towards those numbers although the exact share isn’t known at the moment. [Read more…]
Apple [AAPL] has posted a job listing that requests a Verizon iPad System Engineer. The location is in Cupertino, as expected, and the job role requires someone who has a technical background in Exchange, VPN as well as other enterprise solutions.
The full listing can be found below although it was posted a few days ago, so act quick if you fit this one. [Read more…]
We hear today that Toshiba is about to make a new plant that will be responsible for making LCDs for Apple [AAPL] products. The new plant will cost around $1.2bn and the LCDs it will manufacture will be small, perhaps specifically for the iPhone, iPod range of products.
The screens being built are high resolution, perhaps retina displays or similar. The current factory that Toshiba has is capable of building 8.55 million screens per month. The new factory is expected to produce double that amount. [Read more…]
Apple [AAPL] has quietly dropped an API in iOS that is used to detect if the iPhone has been jailbroken.
The iOS jailbreak detection API was first added when iOS 4.0 was launched in June of this year. In the latest version that was released a couple of weeks back, iOS 4.2.1, the API is either now disabled or completely removed. [Read more…]
Apple [AAPL] over the past week has had 10 patents published which all relate to cameras used in the iPhone and other iOS devices.
What the patents reveal are methods that Apple has researched to improve the quality of images created by a digital camera. The patents include a Skin Tone Mask, a way to diminish photo blur, radially-based chroma noise reduction as well as color boosting. [Read more…]
Apple [AAPL] has announced a limited time offer on the refurbished Apple iPad Wi-Fi only models. The company is adding a further $20 discount to the regular refurbished price on the 16GB model and a further $50 off the price of the 32 and 64GB models.
The offers are for a limited amount of time although that limited length of time is not specified. The refurbished models are given new batteries, new external shells and have a one year warranty which makes them practically brand new when you think about it (hopefully the screen is not beaten to death). [Read more…]
When Apple [AAPL] launched the new MacBook Air models recently, it was quickly reported on forums that the displays had a problem in some cases, with flickering. The temporary fix was to just close the lid down and reopen the lid which either put the MacBook Air to sleep, hence reloading it back up, or rebooting it. This kind of fix was just a temporary measure till Apple could get the drivers right.
Those drivers are now ready in an update and once installed, should fix those instances (perhaps rare instances) that this happens to your MacBook Air. [Read more…]
Apple has discontinued the compact wired keyboard. This particular keyboard first showed up early in 2009 and was different in that the numberpad had been chopped off the right hand side.
The part number for the keyboard is MB869LL/A and has been removed from Apple’s store although there are still some supplies floating around places such as Amazon where you can grab it for $46.99, $49 now. [Read more…]
Apple [AAPL] has been granted a patent that allows a number of viewers to watch 3D content without special glasses.
Apple’s solution, simply put, is to first track viewers’ position and movement, and then use that information to guide the projection of pixels onto “a projection screen having a predetermined angularly-responsive reflective surface function.”
In other words, each projected pixel would be beamed onto a textured, reflective screen in such a way as to reflect into the eyes of each viewer at angles that separate the image into left and right views, thus producing a 3D effect.
