Apple recently released an update that allows web-apps to be more fully integrated unto the iPhone/iPod Touch. They have removed the obnoxious “web-bar” from the top and allowed an integrated bottom tool bar that doesn’t move when you scroll. Good move by Apple as this will surely boost App development since building a web app can be done in a graphical user interface while building .api(s) does take a considerable amount of manual Objective-C programming. But the biggest change this brings is the dis-intermediation of the Apple filter which rejects a huge percentage of offline applications.
Toshiba has announced its creation of 64GB chips. Since the iPhone only has one storage slot as opposed to the iPod Touch’s two slots, we will probably see 64GB iPhones and 128GB iPod Touches in the near future.
The World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) is rumored to take place on either June 28th or July 2nd.
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Better iPods
* AppleRumors.com reports that Apple “is working on improving the audio/video experience of their iPod andiPhones”. They give the following two examples for possible improvements:
For example, the usage metadata may indicate that a user skips, on average, the first 22 seconds of a particular song so the next time that song is played, the first 22 seconds will automatically be skipped.
&
The System Does not Have Sufficient Power for Playing the Entire Selected Video Segment.
Choose “Adjust Settings” for Lowering Power Consumption or Otherwise Choose “View Video” to View Selected Video for the Remaining Time.
In addition to these possibilities, Apple may also include a feature that makes the more frequently played songs more likely to show up on shuffle than those frequently skipped.
Apple insider also mentions:
Give the iPhone a battery that lasts longer than one day. “Apple has introduced advanced battery technology with its portable Macs,” he writes, “and we expect the company to dramatically improve the iPhone battery life with the next several hardware launches.”
Verizon
* A Silicon Alley insider, Chris Larsen, estimates an Apple / Verizon deal to be about 70%
RFID
* Although the idea of Radio Frequency Identification chip in mobile devices has taken a dive in popularity, sources report that:
Turn the iPhone into a digital wallet. Munster predicts that future iPhones will have built-in RFID technology, allowing them to make retail payments with a single swipe.
Tablet
* Many are expecting the MacTablet (or one of its 10 other names) will be released at a price level equivalent to that of its other hardware, but some boldly disagree by saying it may just be priced “shockingly low”:
I hope that’s Apple’s strategy, because I can’t help but feel that a $1000 tablet–without immediate price cuts–would almost certainly fail. The Kindle crowd wants a cheap ($200) device for reading books. Students need a conventional laptop for school work. And smartphone users wouldn’t swap their handsets for a large, bulky slate–nor would they carry two separate mobile devices.
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With Apple’s stock predicted to rise generously in the coming months, there must be some new releases pending; here are some rumors and recent updates:
iPod Touch with Camera - The Examiner reports:
We have heard from an inside source who claims the camera version of the iPod Touch 3G will be released this Spring. The source confirms to us that the iPod Touch 3G with camera had actually been planned for release this past September, but had problems passing quality control.
Unfortunately, the new iPod will only have the video-only capability of the new iPod Nano. However, I was thinking that merely playing the video and stopping it at a desired frame and then taking a screenshot (home+sleep) would probably work well enough.
iPod Click Wheel Games – Apple will no longer be making iPod Click wheel supported games…
MacTablet, and a cheap one at that? – Although it sounds very un-apple-ish, some sources have reported that Apple’s MacTablet will be priced, and I quote, “Shockingly low!” Sounds to good to be true, and although most rumors place the tablet at 9-10 inches in diameter, Macrumors reports that it may be as low as 7 in.
Faster Macbook Pro – The Macbook product cycle predicts a new release in 20 days or so. Releasing the new Macbook on Christmas is highly unlikely and so I would predict the new MBP to come some time in January. Macrumors reports:
Intel is planning on launching three Arrandale-based processors on January 3rd, 2010. These Arrandale processors are based on the advanced Nehalem architecture first introduced into desktop Macs earlier this year, and should represent a significant performance improvement over the Core 2 Duo processors that are currently found in Apple’s MacBook Pros.
The three new processors will be branded under the “Core i5″ and “Core i7″ names and range from 2.4GHz to 2.66GHz with prices ranging from $225 to $332 in quantities of 1000. While Fudzilla describes their TDP (thermal design power) of 35W as “not so attractive”, it matches up with the current high-end processors used in the MacBook Pro. This means Apple could use these processors in a new MacBook Pro update.
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So since jailbreaking news has been pretty dry lately I have been testing out some Google products.
Google Chrome: Absolutely Awesome. In my opinion this browser is by far the best. It is unbelievably fast and stable (even in the developer mode), has bookmark sync, and has some great extensions! Download Chrome here!
Extensions I use:
- Adsweep
- Alwitt’s Facebook enhancer
- Chrome Reader
- GetYouTube
- Gmail Checker
- Grooveshark Ad remover
- iMacros for Chrome
- SmoothScroll
- Switch HTTP Proxy.
Google Chrome OS: cool but not quite ready yet and runs really slow in virtualbox on my semi-decent laptop. Try it here.
Google Tasks in Gmail: a really nice little To-do list built right into your Gmail page. To activate this and many other handy add-ones for you gmail account go to settings>labs in Gmail.
Google Wave: Very very cool and fun. Although, I must admit it is frustrating to find only 2 other contacts online at any given point in time. Once Wave becomes more public it will probably be running side by side with Facebook more often.
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