GADGET REVIEWS Just another GADGET NEWS

Apple this morning debunked a juicy rumor that Steve Jobs vowed never to visit Japan again after security guards forced him to throw away ninja stars that he attempted to carry onto his private jet.

The rumor was first published by Japanese tabloid SPA! Magazine and reiterated by Bloomberg, who quoted a spokesman confirming that a passenger was stopped at the end of July for carrying shuriken (the Japanese word for ninja stars).

However, Apple in a statement suggested that the CEO is not a ninja after all.

“Steve did visit Japan this summer for a vacation in Kyoto, but the incidents described at the airport are pure fiction,” Apple told All Things Digital. “Steve had a great time and hopes to visit Japan again soon.

(Damn. Because ninjas are cool; and by cool I mean totally sweet.)

Apple hasn’t been showing much love to Bloomberg lately. The publication reported in July that Jobs was warned about the iPhone 4’s potential antenna problems. In a press conference related to the iPhone 4 antenna, Jobs referred to the Bloomberg report as “total bullshit.”

Photo: James Merithew/Wired.com

Source:wired.com

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Today’s ridiculous Apple rumor comes from Apple Insider. The claim? That a new FaceTime-equipped iPad will be in stores in time for the holiday season, just six-months after the original launch. Bull.

That there will be an iPad with a FaceTime camera is certain, and it will probably be there in v2. But the idea that Apple would bring out a new model so soon after the first one is nonsensical in many ways. First, Apple can barely make enough iPads to keep up with demand. Only in the last few weeks have order-times dropped to a reasonable 24-hours, and with the iPad’s Chinese launch coming soon, it seems that Apple will continue to sell as many iPads as it can make. Introducing a new model so soon would be pointless.

Second, Apple runs its portable devices on a yearly update schedule. Every summer sees a new iPhone, every September a new iPod lineup. And while there is no precedent yet for the iPad, its safe to assume that it, too, will receive yearly updates. One year is long enough that early-adopters like me will be happy to buy every new model, and long enough not to piss off customers who feel that their toy has be obsoleted too soon. Remember the fuss about the iPhone price-drop? Imagine what would happen if a new iPad came out in a month or so.

Apple Insider’s source is “a person with proven knowledge of Apple’s future product plans” and says that:

A version of the tablet device with a built-in video camera and support for the new FaceTime video conferencing standard has already progressed to the advanced testing stages.

He also said that “there was an ambitious push inside Apple to verify the refresh for a possible launch ahead of this year’s holiday shopping season.”

Which brings me to a third point. Why rush an update into stores with just one tiny, incremental hardware change? It seems very unlikely that there will be a Retina Display in a new iPad so soon after launch. After all, if the prices of such a big, hi-res screen were already cheap enough to keep to the iPad’s $500 price-point, wouldn’t Apple have put them in there already? The same goes for an SD-card-slot, which I’m guessing will be in iPad 2.0. The price of the rest of the hardware will have to drop before these are added, and six-months into a product cycle seems to soon.

I say this rumor is nothing but a rumor. If you want a new camera-toting iPad, wait until April.

Apple to move aggressively on FaceTime, camera-equipped iPads [Apple Insider]

Photo: Brian X. Chen/Wired

Source:wired.com

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I what has become an annual occurrence, the yearly leaking of new iPod cases has begun. In previous years, these have given us hints about the presence of cameras, whether correct (Nano) or not (iPod Touch). This year, things are more interesting thanks to the whole antenna-gate fiasco, and its subsequent fix via free cases from Apple.

Above we see what are likely to be the cases for a new Nano and Touch. The Touch case has a cut-out for a rear-facing camera, and we’d guess that it will also sport a front-facing camera for FaceTime calling. Notice that although it has a bumper-style colored strip around the edge, the transparent rear is curved just like the current Touch. My guess is a form-factor almost identical to the current one, only with cameras, a Retina display and the game-friendly gyroscope.

The other, smaller case is probably for a touch-screen Nano. What? Yes, I think that the small square screens that have leaked out over the last few months are not for a shuffle but for a tiny Nano. It probably won’t run anything from the App Store, but if the Nano is to get any smaller, the only way to do it is to combine the screen with the controls. The cut-out on the rear is probably for the existing video camera to peek out through.

As ever, all will be confirmed at the Apple Event next Wednesday September 1st, and I can begin my own yearly ritual of buying the new Touch and passing the old one down to the Lady for use as an alarm clock and not much else. This year the lucky thing will have a 32GB, multi-tasking monster to wake her up.

Accessories appearance early exposure iPod touch 4G leaked [SJ.91 via iLounge]

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Apple is preparing to announce a major revamp for the Apple TV and upgrades for the popular iPod Touch in an event scheduled for early September, according to a report.

Citing two anonymous sources, Bloomberg claims that Apple will hold a special press event on Sept. 7 in San Francisco to introduce the new products along with a new iTunes rental service for TV programs, as Wired.com’s Epicenter reported Tuesday.

Repeating previous rumors about Apple TV, Bloomberg said a new version of the device would cost $100 and include a smaller hard drive, as it will be designed primarily for streaming content from iTunes. Other reports have claimed Apple would rebrand the device iTV and ship it with its mobile operating system iOS, which could potentially mean the television device will have an app store to enhance its functionality.

Bloomberg’s report also claims Apple will announce an upgraded iPod Touch, sporting a high-resolution display like the iPhone 4. Previous rumors add that like the iPhone 4, the next iPod Touch will include dual cameras.

For several years, Apple has held an annual September event devoted to iTunes and iPods. It would make sense for Apple to unveil a new Apple TV at this year’s event, because a TV-streaming media service would likely be accompanied by a new version of iTunes capable of online storage.

It’s also likely that Apple will release a software update for iPad customers, iOS 4, which will bring multitasking capability, among other features, to the popular tablet.

Photo of Steve Jobs introducing the iPhone 4 at WWDC 2010: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

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Apple appears to be internally testing the next-gen iPod Touch and iPad, along with an unknown mystery device, according to configuration files buried deep inside the latest iOS beta.

Apple blog AppleInsider received purported configuration files of the next iOS beta, iOS 4.1., due to ship in “the coming weeks,” showing strings of code referencing “iPod 4,1″ an identifier that denotes a fourth-generation device. (A revision of the current third-gen iPod model would be labeled “iPod 3,2.”)

The configuration files also reveal an identifier for “iProd 2,1″ most likely the second-generation iPad, since the records showed the current iPad was registered as “iPod 1,1.” Most interesting is an identifier for “unknownHardware.” Perhaps this could be the rumored Apple TV upgrade based on the iOS-operating system, as New York Times reported previously.

Apple is expected to hold its annual iPod event in the coming weeks, where we’d likely see the next-generation iPod Touch, which is rumored to sport the same specifications of the iPhone 4 (minus the phone, of course): two cameras, a high-resolution display, an A4 processor and so on. Stay tuned this September.

Photo: JoeBaynham/Flickr

Source:wired.com

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Today’s big rumor, coming from an un-named single source by way of the Download Squad blog, is that a Google Chrome tablet, made by HTC and available on the Verizon network, will go on sale on November 26th this year. That’s Black Friday.

An that is all. The author goes on to speculate about the hardware, but that’s guesswork. What of the actual “facts” of the story, though?

HTC would make sense. After all, the hardware-maker is behind many Android phones, and worked with Google on the original G1 Googlephone. That part lines up. As for Verizon, that too is a pretty credible pairing given the net-neutrality furore of the past couple weeks, which has seen Verizon and Google clubbing together to dismiss the need for an un-tiered internet for mobile devices. That, and the fact that Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said back in May that Verizon and Google are “working on tablets together.”

And the launch date? Either genius or incredibly dumb. If Google were to make the announcement ahead of time, it would certainly get a lot of headlines due to the sheer ballsiness of launching a product into the morass of hype that is the busiest shopping day of the year. But once those headlines have come and gone, the product actually could get drowned in that morass and just disappear.

I really don’t know which way to call this. The pieces all fit so well together, but the source is a very odd one. Either way, the prospect of an HTC/Verizon/Google tablet is a rather appealing one. What do you all think?

Google launching a Chrome OS tablet on Verizon, goes on sale November 26 [Download Squad]

Image mockup: Glen Murphy

Source:wired.com

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If you thought that things would be quiet in the world of Apple news until the yearly September iPod event, you’d be wrong. The rumors have already begun. Hardmac claims to have pictures of a next-gen iPod Touch with a rear-facing camera and flash. Rather than the usual blurry-cam picture we expect for leaks, it is a nice Apple Store-ready hero-shot. It is also, weirdly, in a case.

It’s almost certain that the new Touch will have a camera. We also know that the iPhone’s camera is pretty big, and would only just fit into the Touch, so seeing it all the way up at the corner of the Touch – its thinnest part – seems odd. So too, does the lack of a FaceTime-capable front-facing camera, but maybe that’s being saved for next-year’s model.

There’s not really much to get excited about here. The most interesting question, and the one that no spy-shot will answer, is whether or not the iPod Touch will use Apple’s A4 processor. I’d say it’s pretty likely: there are advantages of cost by using the same processor in all iDevices, as well as making things a lot easier for developers, who only have to write for one powerful processor, and two screen sizes (if the iPod Touch gets the Retina Display, that is).

One thing we do know, though, is that there will be new iPod models sometime in September, just like every year. Expect analysts to start “predicting” this fact very soon.

Pictures of the iPod Touch 4… well, almost [Hardmac]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

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The Apple TV might receive a software overhaul based on the iOS operating system powering the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, sources have told The New York Times.

While anonymous sources claimed the company was planning a software upgrade for the set-top box, they noted that it was unclear whether Apple would introduce new hardware as well. NY Times writer Nick Bilton also said he’d heard that Apple’s newest hires included people with a background in television.

Some of these claims come in line with a recent rumor published by Engadget, which said Apple was planning to introduce a $100 Apple TV running iOS. The blog claimed the hardware would be redone as well a minimal gadget described as an “iPhone without a screen,” containing only two ports: a power socket and a video-out.

In earnings calls, Apple executives have repeatedly called Apple TV a “hobby,” implying it has not been a breakthrough hit like the iPhone or iPod. Video entertainment has been a tough nut for Apple to crack, as the set-top box market is packed with competitors offering a multitude of ways to watch video. In addition, cable companies subsidize set-top boxes that include a DVR for recording programs.

An iOS-based Apple TV sounds feasible, though it remains a question as to how exactly such a device would work, since the interface is controlled by multitouch gestures. We would be surprised if Apple didn’t somehow incorporate its iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad as a controller. For gaming, the iPhone 4 is especially powerful as it contains a gyrosocope, making it even better than Nintendo’s Wiimote. However, it would seem strange if Apple sold an Apple TV that required a pricey iOS device as a controller.

Apple declined to comment on this story.

Image of a current Apple TV menu: Apple

Read Morehttp://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/05/rumor-new-100-apple-tv-takes-aim-at-the-cloud/#ixzz0sY3S5CA2

Source:wired.com

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Following the The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg reports that Verizon is launching an iPhone early next year.

Bloomberg cites multiple anonymous sources who claim Verizon will begin carrying the iPhone in January 2011, ending AT&T’s exclusive partnership with Apple.

Bloomberg’s report follows The Wall Street Journal’s article in May, which claimed that Apple is scheduled to produce CDMA iPhones this September. CDMA is the standard used by Verizon iPhones.

Technology publications and analysts have speculated about a Verizon iPhone for years, but the stipulations of Apple’s exclusive contract with AT&T remain unconfirmed. However, it’s notable that two mainstream news outlets are now claiming a Verizon iPhone is due soon.

In response to Verizon iPhone rumors in May, AT&T said during an investor conference that the company was not intimidated by a Verizon iPhone because discounted family and business plans would make it difficult for subscribers to transition multiple devices to a new carrier.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source:wired.com

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A purportedly leaked slideshow reveals what may be Microsoft’s game plan for Windows 8. Giving a strong nod to Apple, highlight features teased in the presentation include a Windows app store and instant-on bootup.

Italian Windows blog Windowsette posted the presentation watermarked “Microsoft Confidential.” One slide explicitly mentions Apple’s consumer strategy: a high-quality, easy-to-use user interface that feeds brand loyalty.

“Apple brand is known for high quality, uncomplicated, ‘It just works,’” a slide reads (see above). “This is something people will pay for!”

Microsoft declined to comment on the presentation’s authenticity.

Though the unconfirmed slides explicitly mention Apple’s strategy, Microsoft is still far ahead of the Cupertino, California company in the desktop OS space. Research firms estimate that Windows dominates over 90 percent of the desktop OS market share. Additionally, Microsoft recently announced it sold 150 million licenses of Windows 7 in eight months.

If real, the presentation would suggest that a key part of Microsoft’s strategy to secure its lead with Windows is to replicate Apple’s successful App Store model. One slide (below) reveals plans for Windows 8 to introduce “Windows Store,” an app store for purchasing and downloading Windows applications.

The slides also allude to a one-second bootup reminiscent of the iPad’s instant-on capability.

“Windows 8 PCs turn on fast, nearly instantly in some cases, and are ready to work without any long or unexpected delays,” one slide says.

Windows enthusiast blog Microsoft Kitchen has collected all the slides and believes they are “the real deal.” For a blow-by-blow analysis, visit Stephen Chapman’s writeup.

Source:wired.com

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