CrunchGear |  |
- CEATEC 2011: Rohm Unveils World’s Smallest Resistors
- CEATEC 2011: Nissan Showcases “Smart House Of The Future”
- Daily Crunch: Escape Vessel
- Siri-ous Mind Blowing: Video Evidence Of Apple’s Prophetic Past — Circa 1987
- Is It Really True The iPad Makes Flying More Fuel Efficient?
- Leaked Sales Data Puts Kindle Fire Sales At 250,000 Over Five Days
- Siri: My “Humble” Female Personal Secretary
- The iPhone 4S Camera Upgrade Explained
- Watch: Here’s Apple’s iPhone 4S Video Intro
- Everything You Need To Know About Today’s Apple Event
- Apple iPhone 4S/5 Rumors: What Was Right, Wrong And Just Plain Crazy
- The iPhone 4S—It’s What’s On The Inside That Counts
- Apple Drops iPod Touch Prices, Adds iOS 5 And iCloud
- Tim Cook: The iPad Is The Undisputed Best-Selling Tablet In the World
- Tim Cook: 250 Million iOS Devices Sold, Huge Retail Traffic, Record Numbers Everywhere
- Apple Has Sold 300 Million iPods In Ten Years, 45 Million Just Last Year
- Six Million Copies Of OS X Lion Sold, Outpaces Snow Leopard
- Apple’s Japanese Site Leaks iPhone 4S Launch Date: October 14 (Update)
- Nintendo Gets Sued Over The Wii… Again
- MB&F Introduces The Legacy Machine Number 1
| CEATEC 2011: Rohm Unveils World’s Smallest Resistors Posted: 05 Oct 2011 05:29 AM PDT  I admit I just walked by microchip maker Rohm‘s booth at this year’s CEATEC 2011, but the Japanese company actually showcased something very interesting: it developed the world’s smallest chip resistor [JP], which, at just 0.3 x 0.15mm, is a whopping 44% smaller than the previous model. Rohm’s pitch at CEATEC is that 500,000 of the new resistors could be used in an hourglass (instead of sand). In fact, the company says the devices are too small to be processed with equipment that’s currently available: Japanese business daily The Nikkei is reporting that Rohm is currently looking for partners that could help develop technology to actually mount the resistor on a circuit board. Smartphones, for example, use up to 400 chip resistors, which means the smaller resistors get, the thinner and lighter handsets could theoretically become in the future. Rohm is currently planning to start mass-producing the resistors in fall 2012.
   |
| CEATEC 2011: Nissan Showcases “Smart House Of The Future” Posted: 05 Oct 2011 04:44 AM PDT  Next-generation homes are definitely one of the big trends at the CEATEC 2011 exhibition that currently takes place in Chiba, Japan. We have covered multiple “smart home” concepts from various Japan companies over the last years, and at CEATEC, Nissan’s so-called NSH-2012 Smart House of the Future is stealing the show. It’s not a typical home but rather a simple house that’s specifically designed for post-disaster situations. The core element is a stand-alone energy system that combines the so-called “LEAF to Home charging system” (see below) with solar and fuel cells. Nissan says that this system isn’t affected by weather and could run via batteries installed in an electric vehicle is power is cut off following a disaster. According to the company, the LEAF’s 24 kWh battery pack, for example, provides two full days of power for the house. And to be completely safe, Nissan also built a “next-generation mobile communications” system into the NSH-2012. It allows you to track energy consumption of individual devices inside the house with a special augmented reality application and to keep communicating with the outside world with your tablet or smartphone.
  |
| Posted: 05 Oct 2011 01:00 AM PDT  Here’s a selection of yesterday’s Gadgets stories:
  |
| Siri-ous Mind Blowing: Video Evidence Of Apple’s Prophetic Past — Circa 1987 Posted: 05 Oct 2011 12:50 AM PDT  As you may be aware, Apple held it’s big iPhone 5, er 4S, event in Cupertino today, and while the iCinco failed to make an appearance and the company’s stock plunged 5 percent as a result, it was still a good day for the Apple faithful. iOS 5 is coming on October 12th, and though some who’ve been waiting to upgrade were disappointed by the striking physical similarity between the iPhone 4 and the new iPhone 4S, Sprint users are now welcome, and the 4S is notably speedier. And perhaps most exciting (depending on who you ask) is that Siri, the personal assistant app that uses natural language processing to answer questions, make recommendations, and eventually aims to replace your butler, will now be native on all iPhone 4Ses. Sure, some have already been using Siri on the iPad, Apple probably should have made this available for the iPhone 4 as well, and we’re all pretty surprised that Apple has kept the name Siri, after buying the company that makes its eponymous app back in April of last year, but now the app is native, always with you, and it works. Which is something, right? Forget the fact that she sounds like the female version of HAL 9000 … What’s so cool, as Apple said in their description of Siri, is that it’s “proactive, so it will question you until it finds what you're looking for”. This should hopefully mean that you won’t have to shout your question 10 times before you divorce Siri and throw her in the toilet — Siri uses context and logic like some kind of sweet, sweet robot from the future. She’s a humble and intelligent assistant, and works towards proving the kind of deep voice integration that will be part of Apple iOS 5 (and mobile technology going forward). However, what’s even more mind blowing is that Apple predicted this technology more than a quarter century ago. The following video has been making the rounds over the last 24 hours (and thanks to Sociable for first pointing it out), which you really have to see. Apple’s “what if” exposition, which contains some late-’80s awesomeness, describes something called the “Knowledge Navigator” — a suped-up, tuxedo-ed personal assistant that users manipulate by way of voice and touch. According to the video, the personal assistant connects with all the major networks, features two-way videoconferencing, and helps you keep appointments, find, converge, and share documents — the works. It’s quite a feat considering the Apple IIGS had just been released the previous year. Basically, The Knowledge Navigator predicts touch technology, the iPad, iPhone, Skype, FaceTime — and Siri. All in one talking, well-dressed device. The savvy technologists among us may be well aware of the progenitors and technological precursors to these devices and services, but here we have very real confirmation that Siri (and Apple products as a whole) have been in gestation in the minds of Apple’s wizards since (at least) 1987. And the best part? If I’m not mistaken, this “futuristic” video is set in the year of 2011 — there’s a mention of an article written in 2006 that was supposedly created five years in the past. Now, even for those cynics and naysayers among us, that’s pretty fantastic. Hold on to the top of your head. I guess Apple didn’t steal the idea for iOS from Android after all. Without further ado, below you can find the 1987 introduction to Knowledge Navigator and 2011′s introduction to Siri: Image excerpt courtesy of WatchPlayRead Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod (offered with...
  |
| Is It Really True The iPad Makes Flying More Fuel Efficient? Posted: 04 Oct 2011 05:27 PM PDT  Apple’s new CEO Tim Cook made a lot of strong claims about how well Apple products are doing at today’s iPhone event. But one of those claims sounded like quite a stretch. Cook talked about how the iPad is being used in many different places, such as schools and airplanes. Cook said “in the cockpit, pilots are using it. They are replacing 40 pound flight bags full of paper manuals and logbooks and navigational charts and checklists, making the pilot more efficient and making the plane more fuel efficient.” And for emphasis or perhaps the skeptics, he added “Yes, It’s True.” It is true pilots are using iPads. In August, TechCrunch wrote about how Delta started in-flight testing. We’ve also covered some of the iPad new navigational software. These tools clearly make a pilot more efficient. But, can this really make planes more fuel efficient? Instead of carrying a 40 pound flight bag, assume a pilot has a 1.3 pound iPad 2. Let’s be generous and say she doesn’t have one of those smart covers and has even decided to keep her flight bag at home. The iPad weight savings is 38.7 pounds or 77 pounds with a two-person, two-iPad cockpit. A heavier plane takes more fuel to fly and less weight does create better fuel efficiency. But, the numbers per flight are tiny. What’s 77 pounds when the Boeing 757 maximum takeoff weight is 255,000 pounds. The FAA says the average weight of a passenger with no carry on bags is about 186 pounds. [pdf] The average child weight is 78 pounds, about the same as the iPad savings. Jet A fuel weighs 6.8 pounds per gallon. So the iPad weight savings is worth 11.3 gallons of fuel. A 757 burns 900 gallons of fuel an hour [pdf], so the weight savings would last just 45 seconds. But there are a lot of flights. And those numbers quickly add up. United Airlines announced in August that it would deploy 11,000 iPads to all United and Continental pilots. United and its new partner Continental operate more than 21,200 daily flights. The company estimates it will save 326,000 gallons of jet fuel a year. That’s in addition to 16 million sheets of paper in those flight bags. According to the airlines, the iPad is making flying more efficient. Yes, It’s True. Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod (offered with... The Apple iPad, formerly referred to as the Apple Tablet, is a touch-pad tablet computer announced in January 2010, and released in April 2010. It has internet capabilities running on either WiFi or 3G, and offers an optional dock with a full size mechanical keyboard. The 3G is provided by AT&T, but comes unlocked with microsim cards on the GSM network. The 3G does not require a long-term contract. The iPad is a line of tablet...
  |
| Leaked Sales Data Puts Kindle Fire Sales At 250,000 Over Five Days Posted: 04 Oct 2011 02:55 PM PDT  Here’s an interesting tidbit that was unfortunately lost in the iPhone flurry this morning: some internal sales stats have apparently leaked from within Amazon, revealing that the new Fire tablet has some extremely impressive numbers. We saw some numbers a day or two ago but the source didn’t seem reliable — these seem a little more trustworthy. So what are we looking at? Well, in the five days after its launch (which is to say, from its launch on Wednesday until Sunday or possibly Monday), the modestly-specced, inexpensive tablet has accumulated over a quarter of a million pre-orders. Now, comparing the Fire to the iPad in features and specs is a bad idea, but comparing sales numbers at the very least gives you an idea of scale. The iPad 2 sold 2.5 million or so in its first month, which works out to something like 80,000 per day on average. The Fire is a bit below that at ~50,000 per day, but compare that with other non-iPad tablets and I think you’ll find the Fire is putting on an impressive show. More impressive than its e-ink counterparts, perhaps: the new e-readers don’t seem to be flying off the shelves just yet. It’s possible that Amazon swung too late, what with Barnes and Noble and Kobo already having snatched up a lot of the “advanced e-reader” crowd. According to the same source at Amazon, the Kindle Touch sold ~32,000 units (Wifi and 3G) during those same five days. I’m certainly not saying that’s a poor showing, but it is a little pokey. If you’re on the fence about whether to try out Amazon’s small wonder or buy large with the iPad 2, just hang on for a few: we’ll have our full review up as soon as we’ve spent some time with the device, and hopefully we can make your holiday shopping a little simpler. In the meantime you can check out our hands-on here. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) is a leading global Internet company and one of the most trafficked Internet retail destinations worldwide. Amazon is one of the first companies to sell products deep into the long tail by housing them all in numerous warehouses and distributing products from many partner companies. Amazon directly sells, or acts as a platform for the sale of a broad range of products. These include books, music, videos, consumer electronics, clothing and household products. The majority of Amazon's... The Kindle Touch has a simple to use touch screen with audio and built in wifi. Product Features Most-advanced E Ink display, now with multi-touch New sleek design - 8% lighter, 11% smaller, holds 3,000 books Text-to-speech, plus audio books and mp3s Built in Wi-Fi - Get books in 60 seconds Massive book selection, over 800,000 titles are $9.99 or less Borrow Kindle books from your public library Kindle Fire brings you Movies, apps, games, music, reading and more, plus Amazon’s cloud-accelerated web browser Product features: 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books Amazon Appstore - thousands of popular apps and games Ultra-fast web browsing - Amazon Silk Free cloud storage for all your Amazon content Vibrant color touchscreen with extra-wide viewing angle Fast, powerful dual-core processor Amazon Prime members enjoy unlimited, instant streaming of over 10,000 popular movies and TV shows
  |
| Siri: My “Humble” Female Personal Secretary Posted: 04 Oct 2011 02:13 PM PDT  Today, Apple introduced us to the iPhone 4S. It’s hard not to feel let down after the iPhone 5 rumor mill was spinning at full force just yesterday (courtesy of the craziest rumor yet), but a couple 4S features were enough to perk up my spirit. One feature in particular, Siri, pretty much blew my mind. It is, far and away, the coolest voice control system I’ve ever heard of, and seems to do just about everything. Ask Siri for nearby Greek restaurants? Bam! 20 Yelp listings are instantly sorted by rating. Ask Siri to read you your texts? No problem, she’s on it. Ask Siri what Siri is? “I am your humble personal assistant.” Okay, this just got a little weird. Before I go on let me just say that I haven’t been able to confirm whether or not Siri comes with customizable (female/male) voices, like a TomTom GPS. If so, this post can just be about what I would think if Siri was a female-only voice. Anyways… While checking out the Siri demo during Apple’s presentation I couldn’t help but be amazed. Siri feels like a real person, and what it does is… well, amazing. But hidden under all that awesomeness is one very subtle tidbit that no one (as far as I can see) has inquired about: Why is the personal assistant voice control feature on the new iPhone a lady? Is it because we generally perceive receptionists and assistants to be female? Here’s your answer: Probably, but who cares? Yes, a feature like this may advance the stereotype that women, like yours truly, are the docile, resourceful assistants of big, strapping men like your average iPhone user. But freaking out over it only advances other stereotypes (like the notion that feminists try to make everything a feminist issue). “But… But…” they cry, “Won’t this affect perceived gender norms of future generations?” Um, no. Things like income inequality, reproductive rights, and domestic violence might affect the children… but a phone that, like most electronics, defaults to a woman’s voice? It’s not all that significant in the grand scheme of things, is it? Though the debasement in her self-identification is a little fishy. I personally think Siri’s voice sounds wonderful but in all honesty, Siri could be spoken in the voice of Gilbert Goddfried or Fran Drescher and I wouldn’t care. As long as she does all cool things Apple says she’ll do, it doesn’t really matter. Final thought: Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod (offered with...
  |
| The iPhone 4S Camera Upgrade Explained Posted: 04 Oct 2011 01:30 PM PDT  It may be that the most compelling new feature of the iPhone 4S isn’t iOS 5 or the A5 processor, but the new camera. I’ve given phone cameras a lot of guff for the generally poor image quality that results from a small sensor and bad glass, but this really is a problem that camera-makers have been trying to alleviate. And the iPhone 4S is looking like the best effort yet. Why should you care about the iPhone’s new camera? Let’s go down the list and make sense of the new features. 8 megapixels. Well. This one is self-explanatory, but really the least important. Other phones and small cameras have high megapixel counts, and really, you don’t want or need that many. The thing is all those tiny pixel wells have to be packed into such a small place that you end up with image quality problems. In this case your best photos will look better and it probably won’t affect other shots negatively. 1080p. As above, not really amazing in itself; other devices this size and smaller shoot 1080p. We’ll have to see how it looks in action, but I’m guessing you’ll be seeing a lot of distortion during camera movement due to the rolling-shutter effect on smaller sensors. 1080p resolution doesn’t mean 1080p quality, but if the sensor supports it, there’s no reason not to enable it. I’m just hoping there will be hacks to enable some better framerates. “73% more light“. The new sensor features “next-generation backside illumination,” an upgrade to the upgrade that made the original iPhone 4 camera much better. We won’t know for sure who makes the camera until the teardown comes, but Omnivision did the last one and they have a newer version (the Faster picture-taking. The new sensor was described by Schiller as being “1/3rd faster,” which is a phenomenally vague description, but I’m guessing the onboard electronics are able to offload the image data 30% faster. But with these small sensors, what matters isn’t getting the image off the sensor but getting it processed, encoded, and displayed to the user. The A5 processor is still something of a mystery, but it’s no secret that a major focus was on graphics enhancement. As I suggested in that link, having a chunk of the CPU entirely dedicated to JPEG processing is a given. Chances are the next iPad will have similarly enhanced photo-taking abilities. So the combination of a faster sensor and an expedited pipeline for that image data to go through makes the iPhone 4S camera twice as fast as the competition (i.e. about a second faster by their measure, your mileage may vary) at making the shot happen. It also allows for more accurate white balancing and color tweaking, so your shots won’t look like they were taken next to a bunch of lava or under a blue sun. Improved lens. The most important part of a camera is… the photographer — but right after that is the lens. And the lens of the iPhone 4 was already pretty solid for a camera phone: F/2.8 (apparently limited to F/3) at about 30mm equivalent focal length. The new one is f/2.4, about half a stop better, which doesn’t sound like much but at this point of the aperture scale counts for a lot. It’s a pretty big increase in the total amount of light hitting the sensor. The focal length wasn’t specified but Schiller mentioned it was “super wide,” which if wider than 30mm equivalent starts putting the iPhone into true wide-angle territory (starts around 24mm equivalent if you ask me) — but he may have been referring to the aperture. At any rate the half-stop improvement is real enough. Real-time stabilization. This is a nice feature for small cameras, since, lacking heft, they tend to wiggle around a lot. I’m assuming it’s not optical stabilization, since that would require more space than they’ve got, so it must be electronic stabilization based on live image analysis. Again this is the A5 at work. By designing the camera’s image processor around the hardware (and vice versa), they can do this kind of heavy graphical analysis without taxing the battery too much. Based on the specs it’s probably the best camera system attached to a phone on the market right now, though real-life tests will have to be performed next month to determine image quality and evaluate the veracity of Apple’s speed claims. The changes aren’t superficial, though, and the camera should be on the short list of reasons to consider upgrading. Update: Image Sensors World points out a report (PDF) that has the Omnivision OV8830, not the OV8812, as the sensor (and it does make more sense, though the pixel counts are identical). The iPhone 4 will be offered in the US by AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. Product specs: Dual-core A5 CPU, said to be "2x as fast at CPU tasks" Dual-core graphics, up to "7x faster than the previous iPhone" Battery life estimates: 8 hours talk time on 3G, 14 hours on 2G. 6 hours of browsing on 3G, 9 on Wi-Fi. 10 hours of video playback, 40 hours of music. Theoretical download speeds of 14.4Mbps (as opposed to 7.2 on the iPhone 4.) World Phone...
  |
| Watch: Here’s Apple’s iPhone 4S Video Intro Posted: 04 Oct 2011 01:08 PM PDT  Can’t navigate around Apple’s site right now because their servers are melting? Still want to see the snazzy 5 minute video they made to introduce the iPhone 4S? Don’t worry — we’ve got you covered. (Also, huge thanks to Apple for using the beat from Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep” as the background jam. I hadn’t heard that song in at least 7 minutes, and was terrified that I might eventually not have it stuck in my head.) Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod (offered with...
  |
| Everything You Need To Know About Today’s Apple Event Posted: 04 Oct 2011 12:36 PM PDT  It’s been a busy morning in Cupertino at Apple’s ‘Let’s Talk iPhone’ keynote. The big headline was the iPhone 4S, but no iPhone 5. Perhaps you had a hard time following all the news from Apple on the iPhone, iOS 5, other iOS devices and apps. Apple didn’t offer a live online webcast to the public. But the TechCrunch team, on two continents, has been busy tracking all the Apple news. Click on any of the headlines for more info: The Live Blog iPhone 4S
iOS 5 Siri – Your Humble Personal Assistant App
Other Apps
iPod Nano & Touch
The Reaction
How The Predictions Fared
Apple’s Latest Stats
This page will be updated. Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod (offered with... The iPhone 4 will be offered in the US by AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. Product specs: Dual-core A5 CPU, said to be "2x as fast at CPU tasks" Dual-core graphics, up to "7x faster than the previous iPhone" Battery life estimates: 8 hours talk time on 3G, 14 hours on 2G. 6 hours of browsing on 3G, 9 on Wi-Fi. 10 hours of video playback, 40 hours of music. Theoretical download speeds of 14.4Mbps (as opposed to 7.2 on the iPhone 4.) World Phone...
  |
| Apple iPhone 4S/5 Rumors: What Was Right, Wrong And Just Plain Crazy Posted: 04 Oct 2011 12:20 PM PDT  Rumors and speculation run wild prior to any Apple event and most often the announced product does not live up to the hype. That’s essentially what happened today. The Apple rumor mill promised an iPhone 5 with killer specs, a huge screen and nothing less than a built-in teleportation device. We got the iPhone 4S instead. Here’s what the interwebs got right and wrong. The Correct RumorsExtensive voice controls It’s called Siri. Apple feels these voice controls are essentially the next paradigm in personal computer. Android users will cry foul, though, because their mobile OS of choice has long featured similar functions. We also wouldn’t be surprised to see Microsoft fans make a couple comments, as Mango has some pretty extensive voice control features, too. Dual-mode GSM/CDMA radio Apple solved what must have been a frustrating supply chain issue and used a dual-mode GSM/CDMA radio for the iPhone 4S. This allows Apple to make, distribute and sell just one model. It likely wasn’t an easy task building multiple antennas into the iPhone 4S’s small frame. The next iPhone will be powered by the A5 CPU Apple debuted the dual-core A5 CPU with the iPad 2. It is now at the core of the iPhone 4S where it can dish out CPU tasks twice as fast and graphics seven times faster. Angry Birds will never be the same. 8MP camera It was just an innocent picture of bland sushi. That one picture sent the Apple crowd into a frenzy, though, claiming through simple math that the iPhone 5 would have an 8MP sensor. The iPhone 5 wasn’t announced today but the iPhone 4S in fact features an 8 MP sensor with 60% more pixels than the 5MP camera used in the iPhone. Apple then covered it with a five element lens and claim the A5 CPU allows for 26% better auto white balance. The Wrong RumorsThe iPod was on the chopping block Phil Schiller, “I'm really pleased to talk to you about the iPod. We started the iPod simply because we love music. We still love music, and we're still making great iPods” and then went on to introduce updates to the iPad nano and touch. The iPod is not dead. Yet. Apple was to announce the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5 Up until this last weekend, the predominate rumor involved the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5. The iPhone 4S would be an updated iPhone while the iPhone 5 would feature an iPad-inspired design complete with a larger screen and thinner casing. Apple announced just the iPhone 4S today. The Dream Team: Facebook and Apple After the iPad app was absent from Facebook’s F8 event, an exclusive report surfaced that claimed Facebook long-awaited app would launch along with a redesigned iPhone app at Apple’s “iPhone 5 Event”. That clearly didn’t happen today. However, in Mashable’s defense, the iPhone 5 didn’t launch today either. The iPhone 4S would be a less expensive iPhone Apple had a chance to utterly destroy the competition by introducing a less expensive iPhone. But that’s not going to happen. The latest iPhone will debut at the same $199 intro price as previous versions. Larger screen Rumors surfaced months ago by way of leaked cases that the next iPhone would have a wider and taller profile. This sparked the logical conclusion that the next iPhone would have a proportionality larger screen. There’s still a chance that those cases are indeed for the iPhone 5, which will launch at a later date and feature a larger screen. Edge-to-edge glass The iPhone 4 was rumored to launch with edge-to-edge glass. That didn’t happen and it didn’t make the cut for the iPhone 4S either. Perhaps Apple is saving that for the iPhone 5. New home button Leaked bezels told a story of a redesigned, elongated home button. Speculation stated this longer button would allow for gestures and even multitouch options. But the phone announced today, the iPhone 4S, features the tried and true round home button. The Crazy RumorSprint Exclusivity Sprint reportedly bet the company on the next iPhone. Some reports even pegged Sprint getting the next iPhone incarnation exclusively. That didn’t happen although the iPhone 4S is headed to Sprint — along with Verizon and AT&T. Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod (offered with...
  |
| The iPhone 4S—It’s What’s On The Inside That Counts Posted: 04 Oct 2011 11:49 AM PDT  If you were hoping for a brand new iPhone 5 today, you might be a little disappointed. Instead, Apple announced the iPhone 4S, which looks exactly like the iPhone 4—on the outside. On the inside, it’s a whole different story, and that the message Apple tried to get across during its presentation today. So let’s unpack the iPhone 4S and take a look at its guts to see what’s new. First, and most importantly, the iPhone 4S will be powered by a new A5 processor. The A5 is a dual-core processor which will be up to twice as fast as the current A4, and seven times faster processing graphics. Apple is also claiming faster data speeds (with maximums of 14.4 Mbps download speeds, and 5.8 Mbps upload). The battery life is slightly longer *8 hours talk time versus 7 hours for the iPhone 4), but standby time is much less (200 hours versus 300). Second, it’s got a dual CDMA/GSM chip for different networks, making it a world phone (and cheaper to manufacture to boot since Apple won’t have to make two different models for different carriers). The antenna is also redesigned to improve call quality (AT&T should be loving that tweak). There are actually two of them, which can switch between transmitting and receiving. Third, the camera is much better. Not only is it an 8-megapixel sensor with 60 percent more pixels than the one in the iPhone 4, but it is also designed to capture 73 percent more light 33 percent faster. The camera includes a high end infrared filter as well as five layered lenses which should improve the sharpness of pictures by up to 30 percent. And since the camera is one of the most used features on the phone, double-tapping the home button now opens the camera. The time it takes to get off your first shot is 1.1 seconds, and half a second for each shot after that. And it shoots 1080p video as well. That’s the hardware. The iPhone 4S also will ship with iOS 5, and all the iCloud-enabled apps. AirPlay will aslo work on the phone so that you can stream videos wirelessly to your Apple TV. But the biggest new piece of software that takes advantage of the A5 chip is the Siri Assistant, a voice-controlled assistant you can call up anytime by holding down the home button for a few seconds. You can ask it the weather, time, directions from Yelp, schedule a meeting on your calendar, reply to messages, play a song from iTunes, or ask any factual question via Wolfram Alpha. All with voice commands. Prices start at $199 for a 16GB phone, and go up to $399 for 64GB. Who’s buying one? Screenshot via Engadget Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod (offered with... Apple’s iPhone was introduced at MacWorld in January 2007 and officially went on sale June 29, 2007, selling 146,000 units within the first weekend of launch. The phone has been hailed as revolutionary with its bundle of advanced mobile web browsing, music and video playback, and touch screen controls. The iPhone is exclusively carried on the networks of both AT&T and Verizon in the U.S. An iPhone can function as a video camera (video recording was not a standard feature...
  |
| Apple Drops iPod Touch Prices, Adds iOS 5 And iCloud Posted: 04 Oct 2011 11:00 AM PDT  Apple’s on an unveiling spree right now, and the next thing on their list is a slightly tweaked version of the iPod Touch. First things first, Apple dropped the price down to $199 for the most basic 8 GB model, down from $229. The price drops have hit across the board, with the 32 GB model going for $299 and the hefty 64 GB going for $399. That’s it — no new processor, no radical redesign, but at least the iPod Touch now packs a Retina Display and a rear camera that shoots video in 720p. Fashionistas may also enjoy the fact that the iPod Touch now comes in a handsome white. The software front is where most of the changes are occurring: the Touch will soon begin to ship with iOS5 and support for iCloud. All said, it’s a compelling little holiday package: lower price and more functionality means that the refreshed iPod Touch will no doubt find its way to the top of many Christmas lists. Update: edited the post to reflect the addition of a Retina Display. Sorry folks, it got lost in the shuffle.
  |
| Tim Cook: The iPad Is The Undisputed Best-Selling Tablet In the World Posted: 04 Oct 2011 10:33 AM PDT  Tim Cook took to the stage today and proudly talked up the iPad’s success. Per his opening remarks, every state in the US has schools either deploying or testing the iPad. This also holds true for 80% of the top hospitals in the US and 92% of the Fortune 500 companies. But Tim wasn’t done with the killer stats. The iPad is the “undisputed” tablet in the world and 3/4 of all tablets sold are iPads, Tim said. He went on to say that “everybody and their brother” is trying to compete. The iPad is just 18 months old and Apple already has a commanding chunk of the tablet marketshare. Their stats prove it: Apple has effectively won the tablet war. The iPad’s success helped iOS devices hit a major milestone. Apple has sold (read: not just shipped) 250 million iOS devices since the original iPhone in 2007. Part of this success comes from the 500,000 iOS apps with 140k available just for the iPad. New today is an official iPhone and iPad app called Cards that allows users to create and mail cards right from their iOS device. Create on the iPad and it’s printed on 100% cotton paper and mailed through USPS.
  |
| Tim Cook: 250 Million iOS Devices Sold, Huge Retail Traffic, Record Numbers Everywhere Posted: 04 Oct 2011 10:28 AM PDT  Tim Cook started today’s iPhone announcement off with some Apple stats, and he had a lot of good news. First was their growth in the retail sector, where Cook focused on the new stores in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Cook’s headline stat was that while their store in LA took a month to reach 100,000 visitors, the Shanghai store did that number on its opening weekend. Next was the Mac. OS X 10.7, Lion, has sold more than six million copies — which he notes is 80% more than Snow Leopard, and furthermore a number it reached ten times faster than Windows 7. He didn’t mention that Windows 7 sold an additional 455 million copies or so after that, but hey. The growth of Apple’s MacBook and iMac lines was also a topic of discussion. Cook noted that Apple computers grew at six times the rate that PCs have, and that the MacBook Pro and iMac are the best-selling laptop and desktop in the US. Total install base right now? 58 million. On the iPod front, a device many feared would have its original form factor discontinued today, Cook noted that Apple has sold a total of 300 million iPods. The iTunes store has expanded to encompass 20 million songs, and users have downloaded 16 billion of them. Perhaps more impressive is the fact that Apple has sold 250 million iOS devices. That’s iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads — and we’ll do a breakdown of those sales numbers later. The iPhone 4, he says, makes up more than half the iPhones they’ve sold, and is the number one smartphone in the world. There’s more coming, including the actual news of the day. Stay tuned. [image: Engadget]
  |
| Apple Has Sold 300 Million iPods In Ten Years, 45 Million Just Last Year Posted: 04 Oct 2011 10:27 AM PDT  It’s only been 10 years since the iPod launched, and since it’s become the number one selling music device in the world, according to comments made by Tim Cook at Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” event in Cupertino this morning. He mentioned that market share in the U.S. has been over 70 percent “for a very long time” (at 78 percent now), during the course of which 300 million iPods were sold around the world. Cook gave a little perspective to the numbers by adding that it took Sony 30 years to sell less than 250,000 Walkman cassette players. Of the 300 million iPods sold since the product’s birth, 45 million of them were sold in the last year between July 2010 to June 2011. Cook said that almost half of those sold this year are going to iPod virgins. Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod (offered with...
  |
| Six Million Copies Of OS X Lion Sold, Outpaces Snow Leopard Posted: 04 Oct 2011 10:12 AM PDT  Apple CEO Tim Cook just announced that Apple sold six million copies of Lion, the company’s latest operating system. Apple released Lion on July 20, adding new iOS-like features to the OS operating system and improving system performance. To put this into perspective, Apple sold that number over three months while Microsoft sold 240 million copies of Windows 7 in 2010, or about 20 million a month. However, Cook reported that the OS sold 80% better than the previous release, Snow Leopard. Gartner estimated that 4.5 percent of new PCs would ship with OS X in 2011 and expects 5.2 percent to ship with OS X in 2015. Cook said that the “the MacBook Pro and iMac are the number one best selling notebook and desktop in the US. This momentum is not just limited to a mode. The Mac outgrew the PC market by almost six times.” “It took Windows 7 20 weeks to reach 10% of installed base. Lion did this in two weeks,” said Cook.
  |
| Apple’s Japanese Site Leaks iPhone 4S Launch Date: October 14 (Update) Posted: 04 Oct 2011 09:37 AM PDT  If there was still some shadow of a question in your mind over whether or not the iPhone 4S is real, doubt no more. Apple’s Japanese online store has outted the iPhone 4S, along with a launch date of October 14. First spotted by MacRumors, the page offers a “Learn More” link, but unfortunately clicking through only gets you to iPhone 4 information. According to the blurb (as translated by Google), the iPhone 4S launch will begin at 8 a.m. on that blessed Friday morning. Last year the sequence of events looked something like this: The iPhone was announced on June 7, went up for pre-order on June 15, and launched in-store on June 24. Based on that, I’d guess that pre-orders will begin Friday morning, October 7. It’s tough to speculate based on history since Apple is clearly changing things up so much this year (two phones, Fall launch, etc.), but either way we’ll have our answers in the next hour or so. Update: So it turns out I guessed correctly. Pre-orders begin October 7, and in-store availability begins October 14. Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod (offered with...
  |
| Nintendo Gets Sued Over The Wii… Again Posted: 04 Oct 2011 08:39 AM PDT  Remember that one time that company called ThinkOptics tried to sue Nintendo over the Wii? Well, that’s still happening, but the idea seems to be picking up steam. Yet another company has decided to sue Nintendo over the Wii: UltimatePointer. The patent in question is titled “Easily Deployable Interactive Direct-Pointing System and Presentation Control System and Calibration Method Therefor” (7,746,321), which covers “controlling movement of a computer display cursor based on a point-of-aim of a pointing device within an interaction region includes projecting an image of a computer display to create the interaction region.” It’s worth noting that UltimatePointer’s product, the Upoint Laser, hasn’t made it out of testing yet and is not currently on the market. Complicated mouthful aside, UltimatePointer claims that Nintendo knew its products were infringing this patent before the patent was ever officially issued, on June 29, 2010. UltimatePointer also took a couple cues from ThinkOptics, and filed their complaint with the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Texas (which tends to favor the right-holder). Other respondents named in the suit include JJ Games, Best Buy, Game Stop, RadioShack, Sam’s, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, Sears, Dell, and many others, reports GamaSutra. Here’s an excerpt from the complaint (full version embedded below):
It’ll be interesting to see how the Eastern District Court — infamous for siding with the patent holder — deals with patent infringement claims from a company who has yet to release their product. Keep in mind, just because the patent was issued in 2010 doesn’t mean that the Upoint Laser (UltimatePointer’s product) was dreamed up and built at that time. The patent was applied for back in 2005, meaning UltimatePointer has had plenty of time to bring this thing to market. Instead, the company continues “testing,” while simultaneously suing companies who (may or may not) make use of a patent that UltimatePointer has done nothing with. Company: Nintendo Website: nintendo.com Nintendo, a technology company widely known for its line of game consoles, was actually founded in 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi. It began as a Card Game company and evolved into one of the largest Japanese companies with a Market Capitalization of over $85 billion. It’s most recent game console, the Wii, has been one of the most difficult consumer devices to buy, because of such high demand.
  |
| MB&F Introduces The Legacy Machine Number 1 Posted: 04 Oct 2011 07:49 AM PDT  As you’ll recall, I’m a big watch fan and a bigger MB&F fan although I am quite pleased I don’t own one of these $77,000+ monstrosities. These watches are for men who are living the yachting life while injecting human growth hormone taken from the pituitary glands of the recently dead and drinking rum out of human skulls, not for us mere mortals. Now, however, there’s something that’s a little more approachable. The Legacy Machine is a “standard-looking” watch with a few tricks up its sleeve. Inspired by turn of the century design and machinery, it’s the closest to a steampunk that I think you’ll see MB&F making. I has two independent timezones, a vertical power reserve (that little thinger that sticks up at what would be six o’clock) and a special curved crystal.
How much is the pleasure of this thing’s company? About $92,000 on a good day, which prices it far out the reach of non-Warlocks. This is still a prototype but it should be released some time this year.
  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from TechCrunch » Gadgets To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
