iPad 2 Announcement Coming February 9th?

by patrickj on January 21, 2011 on JustAnotherIpadBlog

Here’s one that almost is too easy to believe.  The original iPad had a 27 on the calendar app and was presented on January 27th.  The new iPad has a 9 so one would think that Apple’s presentation will be on February 9th (a Wednesday).

That’s a slice from a brief post on this over at 9to5Mac. Not a huge thing to go on, but then again Apple do seem to have some repeated patterns in terms of handling of events and announcements.

All I know is I’m ready to hear about iPad 2 as soon as Apple’s ready to spill the beans, and ready to buy one yesterday.

iPad in Education: Tennessee School Requiring All Students to Have iPads

by patrickj on January 22, 2011 on JustAnotherIpadBlog

Webb School, a private school in Knoxville, TN is requiring all fourth through 12th grade students to have an iPad for classes next year.

“To be able to use that technology whenever they need it, rather than, as it is now, they have to check out a cart, a laptop cart, or schedule lab time to take a class to a lab,” said Jim Manikas, technology director at the school.

The school will offer a leasing program for those who can’t afford to (or prefer not to) buy an iPad for their child – at around $20 per month. Apparently the school would like to see iPads replace text books in future. They have plans to block certain social sites such as Twitter and Facebook on campus and monitor web browser usage in class. That may prove quite a challenge when they likely see that students become far more savvy about the devices than teachers and administrators.

As much as I love the iPad, I’m not sure how I feel about it being an out-and-out requirement for students. Hopefully the investment required in the iPad does not add up to more than the equivalent amount of text books for those 4th-12th graders.

News Via: 9to5Mac

High Resolution Screen Not Coming to Next-Generation iPad After All?

by Alex Jordan on January 19th, 2011 on iSource

The ever-informed John Gruber of Daring Fireball has weighed in on the upcoming iPad’s reported high resolution screen. He suspects that such a screen won’t make it in this refresh, but perhaps in 2012 at the earliest.
Here’s an excerpt:

I asked around, and according to my sources, it is too good to be true: the iPad 2 does not have a retina display. I believe the iPad 2’s display will remain at 1024 × 768. Its display may be improved in other ways — brighter, better power consumption, thinner, perhaps. Maybe it uses the new manufacturing technique Apple introduced with the iPhone 4 display, which brings the LCD closer to the surface of the touchscreen glass — making it look more like pixels on glass rather than pixels under glass. But my sources are pretty sure that it’s not 2048 × 1536 or any other “super high resolution”.

And here’s another bit that I found interesting.

Consider the timeline for the iPhone (and iPod Touch): three model years at the original resolution (iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS). Then came the iPhone 4 with the retina display. From what I’ve gathered about the iPad 2, it’s more analogous to the iPhone 3GS than the 3G. Spec-wise, the iPhone 3G differed from the original iPhone in only one significant way: the 3G networking support. The iPad 2 is more like the 3GS: faster processor, more RAM, better graphics performance — but, like the 3GS, still with the same display resolution as the original model.

Gruber specifically points to RAM as the main prohibiting factor. The cost of the minimum amount of RAM (Gruber suggests 1GB minimum, 2GB to be comfortable) that would be needed to drive just such a display. He also suggests that Apple wouldn’t do an incremental jump in resolution, say 1.25x or 1.5x because this would make UI scaling difficult for developers. He believes Apple will double the screen pixels when they can, but only when they can double them.

Gruber further suspects, that the Engadget report that is the basis for this rumor, may be wrong on the rest of the details as well. That is to say, the next generation iPad will not have an SD card slot.

So in sum, expect little more than a processor bump or an increase in storage, perhaps cameras, but beyond that, this will be a pretty manilla refresh.

I would trust Gruber. He doesn’t post something unless he’s absolutely sure. Only time will tell if he’s right, but I’d wager that he is.

Apple Seeds First Build of Mac OS X 10.6.7 to Developers

by Alex Jordan on January 20th, 2011 on iSource

Apple has seeded the first release of Mac OS X 10.6.7 (Build 10J842) to developers. Little is currently known about the release aside from the fact that Apple lists no known issues in the build, and asks developers to focus on areas such as SMB, Graphics Drivers, AirPort, and Bonjour.

Anyway, Apple is already seeding the next maintenance update to developers, just two weeks after releasing 10.6.6 to the public. That update of course, brought us the Mac App Store.

Apple Looking Into Mult-Touch Screen for Magic Mouse, Haptic Feedback for Keyboards?

by Alex Jordan on January 20th, 2011 on iSource

Two separate reports have surfaced from Patently Apple that reveal two recently-published patent applications that show that Apple has been looking into haptic feedback digital keyboards, and a Magic Mouse with a display on it’s surface.

The first report points to patent called “Method and Apparatus for Localization of Haptic Feedback“, which seems to outline the use of a virtual keyboard that utilizes actuators to provide a tactile feedback when the keys are depressed. Specifically, Apple is looking for ways to isolate the feedback to individual spots or keys, and not the entire keyboard as is currently done. Oh, and these keys, or the surface of the keyboard, would be digital, kind of like the iPad’s onscreen keyboard.

Now, the second report, named “Computer Input Device Including a Display Device” shows what appears to be, in simple terms, a Magic Mouse with a display embedded in the top shell. One of the accompanying diagrams shows display being used as a numeric pad. The images being displayed on the mouse would be transmitted to the device from the computer and stored locally.

To the best of my understanding, both the keyboard and mouse could be used on a per-app basis. Say for instance, the digital keyboard could be altered on the fly when a user fires up an app like Photoshop. Shortcut keys, and the like could be displayed on the software keyboard. The haptic feedback is there to aid in typing accuracy.

iPad 2 May Only Have 1 Megapixel Camera

by Killian Bell on January 21st, 2011 on iSource

After weeks of speculation and rumors surrounding the iPad 2, many users are hopeful that the new device will feature front- and rear-facing cameras, however, some may be disappointed to find that the device’s rear camera may only be 1 megapixel. 9to5 Mac have been digging around in the latest iOS 4.3 SDK for Apple’s tablet device, and have discovered a file that suggests the iPad 2′s cameras may be similar to those featured in the 4th-generation iPod touch.

Found within the ‘AVCaptureSession.plist’ file in the ‘K94′ directory is the mention of a ‘Back Facing 1MP Photo’ string. K94 being the internal codename of the iPad 2, according to sources for 9to5 Mac. This discovery crushes the hopes of those of us that were wishing for a fancy 5 megapixel camera that some rumors had suggested, although the device would still be capable of shooting 720p video.

Why the second-generation device will only feature such a low resolution camera has certainly left some us wondering why Apple made this decision. It could be a move to save on the production costs of the iPad, however, I believe it may have something to do with size.

The iPhone 4 features a 5 megapixel camera because it’s thick enough to fit the camera module inside, although, the 4th-generation iPod touch features only a 0.7 megapixel camera because it’s too thin for anything else. Could this be the same reason the iPad 2 doesn’t feature anything fancier? Could the next release of the iPad be as thin as some of the mockups we’ve seen doing the rounds?

XBMC Media Center for Apple TV, iPad and iPhone 4

posted by arn on Thursday January 20, 2011 10:46 PM on MacRumours

XBMC Media Center has released a version of their software that will run on the iPad, iPhone 4 and new Apple TV. XMBC is a free media player that began life on the Xbox but has since grown to be a multi-platform solution.

XBMC Media Center (formerly Xbox Media Center) is a free and open source cross-platform media player and home entertainment system software with a 10-foot user interface designed for the living-room TV. Its graphical user interface allows the user to easily manage video, photos, podcasts, and music from a computer, optical disc, local network, and the internet using a remote control.

The software is not available through the App Store, and requires a jailbroken Apple TV or iOS device.

While jailbreaking has been a known way to load third party apps onto the iPad and iPhone, it’s not been a very common procedure for the Apple TV. Due to similarities of the underlying iOS firmware on the new Apple TV, it’s been widely expected that these unauthorized apps would become available for the device. Apple presently offers no authorized way to install apps on the Apple TV.

TUAW posts video showing it running on the Apple TV (as well as iPad and iPhone 4):

iOS 4.3 Beta Multi-Touch Gestures Demoed on iPhone, Apple Testing Internally?

posted by Eric Slivka on Thursday January 20, 2011 01:32 PM on MacRumours

Much has been made of the new four- and five-finger multi-touch gestures for the iPad introduced in the first beta version of iOS 4.3 released last week, and many users were disappointed to learn that Apple had clarified in the second beta released yesterday that the new gestures are being included only for developer testing at this time and will not be present in the public release of iOS 4.3.

While the many-finger gestures seem natural on the iPad, some have been wondering whether the gestures could make their way to the iPhone and iPod touch or whether the significantly smaller screen size on those devices would make such gestures too difficult to use.

As noted by Engadget, one user has managed to get the advanced multi-touch gestures working on his iPhone, posting a YouTube video demonstrating that the gestures do indeed work on the smaller device although the screen appears to result in a cramped user experience when attempting to employ them.

Apple unsurprisingly may also be testing the new gestures on the iPhone if screenshots obtained by BGR are indeed genuine. The report’s source has reportedly shared screenshots from an internal Apple test model of the iPhone 4 showing a special build of the iOS 4.3 beta with the four- and five-finger gestures enabled.

White iPhone 4 Appears in Best Buy Inventory System With February 27th Launch Date

posted by Eric Slivka on Tuesday January 18, 2011 11:50 AM on MacRumours

We’ve received information today from a source sharing the above screenshot claimed to be from a Best Buy inventory database showing both 16 GB and 32 GB white iPhone 4 models listed with expected in-stock dates of February 27th. The SKU and model numbers associated with the entries are identical to those previously used by Best Buy when it was taking pre-orders for the white iPhone 4 prior to last summer’s launch, pre-orders that were canceled when Apple delayed availability of the white versions.

The discovery comes as Engadget notes that the white iPhone 4 has similarly showed up in the inventory system of Vodafone Germany. That report’s source also indicated that a launch is expected “soon”.

It is unknown whether these outlets have actual information on an upcoming release of the white iPhone 4 models or if they are simply preparing their internal systems in anticipation of Apple’s most recent claims of a “spring” release for the long-delayed white versions. February 27th is a Sunday, which would be an odd choice for an Apple product release, as the company typically targets its launches of highly-anticipated products for Thursdays or Fridays in order to generate high-volume sales over the launch weekends.

The potential impact of a white iPhone 4 has likely lessened as the months have gone by, with customers who had been interested in the white version in many cases having moved on to second-choice handsets and consumers already looking forward to the expected release of a fifth-generation iPhone in the middle of the year. Rumors surfacing just after Apple’s October announcement of the latest delay in availability had even suggested that the company has no intention of releasing the white iPhone 4 and will simply announce another delay sometime early this year that will lead into the release of the fifth-generation devices.

Apple Taking Heat for Switching to Custom Screws on iPhone 4 and Portables

posted by Eric Slivka on Thursday January 20, 2011 03:20 PM on MacRumours

Kyle Wiens of repair site iFixit published a blog post today outlining Apple’s increasing usage of custom “pentalobular” screws on the iPhone and other devices, with the company presumably making the shift in order to make it more difficult for users to open up their devices for repair or modification purposes.

Apple is switching to a new type of tamper-resistant screw. This is not a standard Torx, and there are no readily available screwdrivers that can remove it. This isn’t the first time they’ve used this type of screw – it first appeared in the mid-2009 MacBook Pro to prevent you from replacing the the battery – and Apple is using a similar screw on the outer case of the current MacBook Air. This screw is the primary reason the 11″ MacBook Air earned a lousy repairability score of 4 out of 10 in our teardown last October.

Apple chose this fastener specifically because it was new, guaranteeing repair tools would be both rare and expensive. Shame on them.

Wiens notes that there “isn’t a single reputable supplier” offering the screwdrivers used by Apple technicians to handle the pentalobular screws.

Apple has used the pentalobular screws in iPhone 4s sold in some international markets since the device’s release, although iPhone 4s sold in the U.S. have for most of the device’s history used standard Phillips screws more accessible to users. But numerous reports have surfaced from users who have taken their iPhones in for service only to discover that Apple has replaced their Phillips screws with the new pentalobular ones.

In order to assist customers interested in opening up their iPhone 4s, iFixit is offering an “iPhone 4 Liberation Kit” priced at $9.95, containing a screwdriver that will fit the new pentalobular screws (although not an exact fit), two replacement Phillips screws, and a regular #00 Phillips screwdriver.