A weekend feature from Gizmodo's Brian Barrett explores the Apple TV's increasing importance with the recent addition of Hulu Plus and other features. The interesting part of the article is the numbers: 1.3 million Apple TV units sold in the previous quarter along with US$2 billion in sales of digital content from the App Store, iTunes and iBookstore. Barrett thinks this information shows that the Apple TV has become the company's most important product, and future dominance rests with the little Apple TV box rather than a dedicated television set. Forbes agrees with Barrett's stance, wondering if the Apple TV has become a legitimate platform rather than the hobby Steve Jobs tinkered with. I think it'll achieve this status when an Apple TV SDK comes out. It was something I hoped would happen at WWDC, but now I'm wondering if that might come out this fall with the expected slate of new iPhones and iPods. I disagree with the Forbes estimate that Apple will eventually allow its content to be licensed on premium TVs. That's not the way Apple runs things, and it's why I think the Apple TV's price is $99. If you're picking up a new TV, another $99 isn't going to matter in the long run if you're using the Apple TV constantly. Yes, Hulu Plus and the Amazon Instant Video app for the iPad are competitors to Apple's content, but you're still using Apple's hardware to view said content. Chances are, if you're using an iPad to watch Amazon Instant Video, you're likely to upgrade to another iPad somewhere down the road. Amazon gets your money, and so does Apple. Over time, as features are added, I've noticed that the Apple TV has become more important in my living room. At first, I wasn't using it much. Then came AirPlay and Netflix. Then came AirParrot. Now there's AirPlay Mirroring and Hulu Plus. The only thing it's missing is Plex. We're still using the PS3 to access Plex content. Oh, and BBC iPlayer, but I think there's a chance of pigs flying before getting it in the U.S. There's an excellent jailbreak community surrounding the Apple TV, but the hassle to unjailbreak the ATV to upgrade it was just too much to bother jailbreaking it again. But with the recent new features, anything I can pull up on one of my Macs can be sent to the Apple TV. I can use HippoRemote to control the Mac streaming the content. We're to the point that we happily dropped cable early this year and haven't looked back. It's so convenient that whenever we get a new TV, I know I'll grab another Apple TV to go along with it -- and that's exactly what Apple wants.The Apple TV's increasing importance originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
Saturday, 11 August 2012
Friday, 6 July 2012
Macbook Pro-Modbook
Who remembers the Modbook? We looked at an early iteration back in 2008, and today the company has introduced the Modbook Pro. It is a tablet, but the Modbook Pro does not run iOS. It's essentially the hardware of a 13" MacBook Pro inside a tablet case with a touch screen, running OS X. The company notes that the screen uses a Wacom digitizer for "512 levels of pen pressure sensitivity," which it claims is more than any other tablet. As for the screen itself (1280 x 800 pixel resolution), the Modbook says it's "etched" for a paper-like feel. So what's inside this beast? You'll find a 2.5GHz dual core Intel i5 processor ( 2.9GHz dual core i7), up to 16GB of RAM, a 2.5-inch SATA drive (up to 1TB HDD or up to 960GB SSD), DVD burner, an Intel HD Graphics 4000 chipset, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. On the outside you'll find a Gigabit Ethernet port, one FireWire 800 port, one USB 3.0 port, one Thunderbolt port, one SDXC card slot and one audio line in/out. The device ships with a digitizer pen, which can be tucked away inside a magnetic "pen garage" when not in use. The company hopes to ship the Modbook Pro in "fall of 2012," and has promised sales info within the next few weeks.Modbook introduces the Modbook Pro originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 28 Jun 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
Monday, 18 June 2012
Macbook Pro
The biggest selling feature of the next generation MacBook Pro is its Retina display. The notebook has an impressive 15.4-inch LED-backlit display with 2880-by-1800 resolution at 220 pixels per inch. The specs look great on paper and according to a display-focused review by The Verge, the display looks amazing in person, too. This improvement is best seen in a side-by-side shot of Chrome on the non-Retina MacBook Pro and a Retina MacBook Pro. Text, which has blurry edges on the MacBook Pro, is crisp and defined on the Retina MacBook Pro. As noted, the Chrome team is already working on a Retina update; you can see the effect already if you want to run the Chrome Canary bleeding-edge nightly builds. You can check out the short review of the display and a full review of the Retina MacBook Pro on The Verge's website.Side-by-side browsers on MacBook Pro with Retina display originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 14 Jun 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
Sunday, 6 May 2012
Unique Design-Ipad-Bang
Bang & Olufsen offshoot brand Beoplay is giving the iPad speaker dock the B&O design treatment with the new Beoplay A3 iPad stereo dock. As you'd expect from the Danish electronics design firm, the Beoplay A3 is a minimalist, slim, black and polished metal wedge into which a first or second generation iPad is placed (no word on whether the shipping product will support the new iPad). The dock sense the iPad's orientation and adjusts which speakers are activated in order to produce the best possible sound quality. The A3 is designed to run off of AC if you want to use it as a kitchen or coffee table information center, but can also be powered for up to five hours off of a built-in battery. The firmware of the device is upgradeable through the free Bang & Olufsen Setup Utility app. There's no price or availability information for the Beoplay A3 yet, but you can sign up to be notified when it appears in the Beoplay online store.Beoplay A3 iPad stereo dock has a unique design originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 03 May 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
Thursday, 5 April 2012
Verizon Coverage Area-Gsm Sim Slot-Ipad
Over at the MacRumors forums, reader jsnuff1 has confirmed that the new Verizon iPad works with AT&T's 3G network. The Verizon iPad has a built-in GSM SIM slot and supports connections on the same 850/900/1800/1900 MHz bands as the AT&T unit. What jsnuff1 did was to slot in an iPhone microSIM, using the standard AT&T APN carrier settings hack, and then test the unit using AT&T's 3G service. You can use this approach for both standard AT&T iPhone accounts as well as the Pay-as-You-Go ones discussed in this TUAW post. If you take this approach, do not expect to use AT&T's LTE network. Real 4G service (i.e. not FauxG) runs on 700 and 2100 MHz for AT&T. The Verizon model supports only 700 MHz. The opposite approach will not work. To the best of my understanding, Verizon CDMA does not use a transferable SIM, so you cannot move a Verizon account onto an AT&T iPad. In the end, what this means is greater flexibility. When you move outside a Verizon coverage area, you can swap in an AT&T SIM and get 3G data service at least, or share that service without tethering but with a little bit of paperclip work and SIM swaps when on vacation. Verizon iPad running with AT&T SIM installed originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Mar 2012 12:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Quantitative Measurements-Degrees Fahrenheit-Infrared Images-Degrees Celsius-Ipad
Remember when we said there were reports that the new iPad was running hot? Thanks to the folks at Tweakers.net, we now have some quantitative measurements to support these observations. The Dutch website ran a GLBenchmark test on the new iPad and the iPad 2 and compared the infrared profiles of each device. According to their measurements, the hottest part of the new iPad reached 33.6 degrees Celsius (92.5 degrees Fahrenheit), while the iPad 2 ran at a cooler 23.8 degrees Celsius (74.8 degrees Fahrenheit). You can see the differences in the image above where the new iPad is on the left and the iPad 2 on the right. The team at Tweakers attributed this difference to the quad-core GPU of the new iPad. When its being stressed by a benchmark test, the GPU will generate extra heat that'll raise the temperature of the device. Though high, the levels measured by Tweakers were still within the operating limits of the device which are 32 degrees to 95 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees to 35 degrees Celsius). Even if more reports corroborate these results, this excess heat issue won't be a problem for most people. If you game a lot and live in a warm climate, you might have to watch your usage, but most people don't stress their devices with heavy gaming. Under normal usage, the iPad might get slightly warm, but it shouldn't climb to the point where the device regularly shuts down. [Via Engadget and MacRumors]Infrared images show new iPad screen running warm originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
The Consumer Watchdog-Consumer Reports-Ipad
A few weeks ago, Consumer Reports caused a stir when it claimed the new iPad ran twelve degrees hotter than its predecessor and reached 116 degrees. Now the consumer watchdog company is back to say the heat problem is not a cause for concern. Consumer Reports acknowledges the iPad gets warm, but says this heating only occurs under select circumstances. The group noted that the heat climbed when the device was used on full brightness while playing a graphics-heavy, CPU-intensive game. Despite the occasional heat issue, Consumer Reports gave the iPad a top rating and said it was impressed with the Retina display and the 4G LTE connectivity on Verizon. [Via Reuters]Consumer Reports puts iPad at top of the list, despite heat issue originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Mobile Hotspot-Verizon-Ipad-Lte
Anandtech took a closer look at the new iPad's 42.5 Wh battery and discovered the battery is fantastic for those using the device as a mobile hotspot. In a series of tests, they ran the Verizon WiFi+4G iPad from a full charge down to zero with the screen off. Total time was an impressive 25.3 hours on a single charge. Overall, the battery performs as expected. The retina-equipped iPad has a run time that's slightly less than the iPad 2, and you'll get an hour less juice on LTE than WiFi. [Via The Verge]New iPad can be used as Verizon LTE hotspot for over 24 hours originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Ipads For Kids
When it comes to talking about buying iPads for kids, I'm probably the last person to ask since I have no children. That's why it's a good thing that Wired's Brad Moon wrote a lovely post in which he explains his reasons for purchasing an iPad for each of his three children. For Moon, the decision wasn't made just because the family had moved wholeheartedly into a digital lifestyle -- replacing books with ebooks, cable with Apple TVs and streaming video, traditional photography with digital, and more. His kids are gamers and Moon saw an upgrade to a Nintendo 3DS handheld coming up. As Moon put it, "If three kids were to eventually upgrade, that's $150 each for the 3DS hardware. Cartridges run $20 to $40 apiece and I don't know about your household, but in mine there will be skirmishes over popular titles." OK, so we're now talking about a total close to the cost of a single 16 GB iPad. But Moon and his wife started thinking about the bigger picture. Their family does a lot of driving trips, and the iPad -- with its 10 hour battery life -- is perfect for keeping kids engaged and entertained. Moon notes that every time a new game came out for Nintendo, he needed to spend an average of $30 for a cartridge ... per kid. iPad games are more reasonably priced at $1 to $5, and everyone gets the game with one purchase. The iPads aren't there just for fun. Moon says that he finds many apps that are available for helping his kids learn, including math and French quiz apps. And since there's only one computer available for the Moon kids to use for homework, the individual iPads offer a great way for them to do research and take notes -- anywhere. Lest you think that all writers are loaded with cash, Moon notes that Apple's refurb store is the perfect place to find decent hardware at reasonable prices. As he mentions, a first-generation refurb was available (with a one-year warranty) for $299, and now iPad 2s are available for $399 every day. He also recommends buying the iPad(s) in lieu of other Christmas presents as a way to ease the monetary pain a bit. Have you bought iPads for the kids, or handed down a first or second-generation iPad to the young ones? Do you find that the iPad is a great investment in the future of your children? Tell us about your experiences in the comments below.On buying iPads for your kids originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 19 Mar 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Touchscreen Keyboards-Mechanical Keyboard-Pressure Switch-Keyboard Design-Apple Patents
The touchscreen keyboards on Apple's iOS devices are great space savers, as they're never around when you don't need them. For all the great leaps forward Apple has made with Multi-Touch technology over the past five years in both its iOS devices and Mac touchpads, its physical keyboards still use some well-established and comparatively old technology. Apple has apparently turned its eye on the traditional mechanical keyboard and tried to figure out ways to shrink that down, too. AppleInsider discovered a patent filed in August of 2010 that shows Apple is brewing up ideas to shrink its physical keyboards even farther than it has already. Current keyboards rely on a somewhat elaborate system consisting of a "scissor" mechanism that keeps keys suspended over a rubber dome switch, which when pressed, completes a path on the underlying keyboard circuitry, sending that key's signal to the computer's logic board. Apple has been thinking of ways to improve that system. All keyboard design is fundamentally about a spring-loaded pressure switch completing an electrical circuit. When pressure is applied -- usually via an intentional keypress, sometimes by a wandering cat -- the switch completes a circuit and sends an input signal. When pressure lets off, the circuit breaks. Older keyboards relied on actual spring mechanisms, which is why those older keyboards were quite large, heavy, and loud (clackety clackety CLACK). Some companies briefly experimented with membrane-style keyboards, but in a way those are almost worse than touchscreen keyboards; they have the same suboptimal level of tactile feedback to the user, but they also generally require more pressure to operate than a capacitive touch-style keyboard. Apple's proposed new keyboard design replaces the currently prevalent "scissor" style mechanical lever with a setup that reminds me of a device that pre-dates even the original typewriter: a telegraph machine. Like one of the old-style telegraph generators, the assembly consists of a key at the end of a long lever which, when pressed, completes a circuit and sends a signal. The support lever in Apple's proposed design would be made of a flexible material with good tensile feedback to the user. Design for an electric Morse key, patented in 1837 The upshot of this design? Traditional spring-loaded keyboards required a key travel of between 4 and 5 millimeters, with the "scissor" style setup in current notebook and portable keyboards requiring a smaller travel length of 1.5 to 2 millimeters. Apple's patent allows for a keyboard that needs only 0.2 millimeters of key travel. This obviously has implications for the design of Apple's notebooks. So far the keyboard itself hasn't been an especially important constraint on the overall thickness of Apple's notebooks -- battery design and the need to keep motherboards from spontaneously combusting has been more of a factor -- but it's not hard to envision a point where that 1.3 to 1.8 millimeters of potential space savings does indeed come in handy for an even thinner version of the MacBook Air.Apple patents design for ultra-thin keyboard originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..