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Holiday Gifts Drive New iOS Device Activations Sharply Higher
Dec 27, 7:32PM
While it seems obvious that the holiday gift-giving season is a strong driver for iOS device sales, as evidenced in part by past history and Apple's forecast of a blockbuster quarter, it is generally difficult to quantify that holiday boost before Apple reports device sales as part of its quarterly earnings or makes public statements about App Store milestones.
A couple of analytics firms have, however, put out reports today seeking to offer some measure of the bump in demand for iOS devices and those of competing platforms such as Android.
According to Flurry, both iOS and Android saw a "massive influx" of devices registering on the firm's servers, coming in through the over 140,000 apps using Flurry Analytics. Data collated by Flurry shows that combined new device activations for iOS and Android rose from an average of 1.5 million per day during the first three weeks of December to 6.8 million devices on Christmas Day, an increase of 353%. This compares to a total of 2.8 million new devices detected on the previous record-setting day of Christmas 2010.
All of those new device activations also drove increased App Store activity, with Flurry measuring an increase of 125% in iOS and Android app downloads on Christmas Day compared to the early December baseline. Flurry's data shows that the 242 million app downloads on Christmas Day spiked from an average of 108 million per day during the first three weeks of the month. Flurry notes that the increase in app downloads is smaller than that for new device activations on a percentage basis due to the higher baseline from apps being installed onto the already-large installed base of devices.
Illustrating how different analytics firms can see somewhat different patterns due in part to what data is used for baseline purposes, Localytics issued a report showing iOS device activations coming in more than 12 times higher during the holiday weekend than they did during previous weekends. The increase was over 15x for iOS devices as a whole in the United States, with the iPod performing strongly at a 21x increase due to the relative lower cost and lack of service contract, factors which make them relatively more popular as gifts than iPhones or iPads.
Comparing iOS to Android, Localytics found that Android also grew at approximately 12.5x over baseline. Localytics also looked at country-by-country comparisons, showing iOS outpacing Android in terms of growth in the United States, Germany, and the UK, while Android performed better in most of the other top countries.
Apple Planning Completely Redesigned iPhone for Fall 2012 Launch?
Dec 27, 5:08PM
BGR reports that Apple is planning to launch a completely redesigned iPhone in the fall of next year, following the trend set by the iPhone 4S of new hardware being released later in the year as opposed to the mid-year timeframe used previously. According the report, the next iPhone will utilize an aluminum back panel rather than the glass found on the iPhone 4 and 4S. The new design will reportedly also see the incorporation of a rubber or plastic bezel covering similar to that used on Apple's iPhone bumpers, with the covering serving to protect the device's antennas from direct skin contact.
We have also learned that Apple is planning to use a rubber or plastic material — similar to the material used in the company's bumper cases — that will be built into the new iPhone case. In all likelihood, this material will be used as a bezel surrounding the front edge of the phone (like the iPhone 3GS bezel) and it will serve two purposes. First, it will join the glass iPhone face with a new aluminum back plate. It will also cover a redesigned antenna system that surrounds the device, allowing Apple to build the rear case out of aluminum without having to use a large plastic insert above the antennas as the company does on its iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G.BGR has a mixed track record when it comes to hardware rumors, coming relatively close on Apple's late 2011 iPhone lineup while missing with a claim of a redesigned WiMAX iPhone 5 exclusive to Sprint.
Untethered iOS 5.0.1 Jailbreak Available for Non A5-Devices [iOS Blog]
Dec 27, 5:08PM
Dev-Team and Chronic Dev Team have released an untethered 5.0.1 jailbreak for non-A5 devices. Developed by @pod2g, the new jailbreak is now available:A few days ago, @pod2g gave the untether to both the iPhone devteam and the chronic devteam. We've put it into redsn0w 0.9.10 and PwnageTool, and the chronic devteam put it into a Cydia package (the same set of exploits is in all three).Detailed instructions are available on each respective site. The new jailbreak is only available to devices prior to the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S which both use the A5 processor. Jailbreaks for those devices are still pending.
This is also the first "untethered" 5.0.1 jailbreak which allows the jailbreak to remain active without having to reconnect to a computer upon reboot.
Further discussion in our forums and discussion thread.
Foxconn Investing $1.1 Billion to Boost iPhone Production Capabilities
Dec 27, 3:49PM
China Daily reports (via Electronista) that Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn is investing $1.1 billion to nearly double the size of a recently-opened iPhone manufacturing facility in Zhengzhou, China, banking on continued strong growth of iPhone sales.
The base will be centered on the Foxconn Science Park in Zhengzhou, provincial capital of Henan, increasing its current production lines to 95, said the Henan provincial development and reform commission during a conference.The facility opened earlier this year and is already employing 130,000 workers and producing 200,000 iPhones per day. If the facility were running at full capacity seven days a week, it would be capable of producing 18 million iPhones per quarter.
The expansion plan, costing 7 billion yuan ($1.1 billion), is expected to bring $20 billion in sales revenue in 2012, the commission said.
A Bloomberg report from last week indicated that the city of Zhengzhou is working to help Foxconn add 100,000 workers to the facility this year, and a production boost in line with that workforce increase could see the factory yielding over 350,000 iPhones per day, or nearly 32 million per quarter.
Apple Fined $1.2 Million in Italy Over Warranty Disclosure Issues
Dec 27, 3:00PM
Reuters reports that Apple has been fined the equivalent of $1.2 million in Italy over issues related to warranty disclosures. According to the report, Italy's antitrust regulators ruled that Apple has not been providing adequate disclosures about the two free years of product warranty assistance required under Italian law, while also pushing customers to purchase AppleCare extended warranties without disclosing that many of the benefits overlap the standard warranty.
The authority said Apple Sales International, Apple Italia and Apple Retail Italia did not properly inform customers that they were entitled to two years of free assistance under Italian law. Three Apple spokesmen contacted by Reuters weren't immediately available for comment.News of Italian regulators' inquiries into Apple's warranty offering surfaced in late May. Word on any fines levied on Apple was said to be set to follow by late August, but the agency apparently took some additional time to examine the issue before reaching a decision.
Information provided about an extra guarantee scheme, the "AppleCare Protection Plan," encouraged customers to buy the service without clearly explaining that it overlapped with the free assistance required by law, the competition authority said.
Suppliers to Begin Preparing 32" and 37" Apple Television Sets in Early 2012?
Dec 27, 2:14PM
Digitimes reports that Apple's suppliers are set to begin preparing materials for the new Apple television set during the first quarter of 2012, with the company reportedly targeting a launch for the second or third quarter of the year. Apple is said to be initially working on 32-inch and 37-inch sizes.The supply chain of Apple will start preparing materials for iTV sets in the first quarter of 2012 in order to meet Apple's schedule to launch the new display products in the second or the third quarter of 2012, according to industry sources. [...]While the new television sets will reportedly integrate most if not all of the functionality of the current Apple TV set-top box, sources also indicate that Apple is likely to release an updated standalone Apple TV box next year as well.
Media reports in Korea also indicated that Samsung Electronics started producing chips for the iTVs in November 2011, while Sharp will produce the displays for the new TVs.
While rumors of an Apple television set have been floating around for quite some time, they gained steam several months ago when Steve Jobs was quoted in Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of him as saying that he had "finally cracked" how to create a revolutionary interface for a television product. Rumors have since suggested that Apple is working on a Siri-enabled television set that would be introduced by 2013.
Siri for Pre-iPhone 4S Jailbroken iPhones Available, but It Remains Complicated [iOS Blog]
Dec 27, 3:11AM
Grant Paul (chpwn) has posted a new tool for Jailbroken iPhones that allows Siri to run on pre-iPhone 4S devices. The tool (called Spire) gets around any copyright issues by downloading Siri from device images housed directly on Apple's servers and installs them on your device. The download is about 100MB, so a Wi-Fi connection is recommended. It's not quite as simple as that, however. Siri still requires special authentication when connecting to Apple's servers. For early testers, this has meant pulling the authentication key from a valid iPhone 4S. Not only that, but the key must be regenerated every 24 hours.
For Spire users, that means setting up a proxy server, and connecting an iPhone 4S to it regularly.
However, Spire is not a complete solution. Apple still requires authorization to use Siri, so information from an iPhone 4S is still required. To insert this information, Spire allows you to enter your own proxy server address. By using this (ancient) SiriProxy fork, you can setup a proxy using your own iPhone 4S to insert the needed information reasonably easily.So, it's not quite as plug-and-go, but it's a step closer to that reality, if you are desperate for Siri -- and have an iPhone 4S at your beck and call. The proxy workaround is required while we wait for the iPhone 4S jailbreak that should simplify the matter somewhat, but even then you'll still need regular access to an iPhone 4S-generated authentication key.
Thunderbolt Coming to PCs in April 2012
Dec 27, 2:53AM
DigiTimes reports that Intel has notified partners that the company will "fully release" its Thunderbolt technology in April 2012. Intel is reportedly preparing to launch Thunderbolt-supported motherboards, notebooks and desktop PCs at that time. Intel and Apple originally partnered on the new technology which has become standard across Apple's MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac mini, and iMac. Digitimes reports that the cost of Thunderbolt technology is expected to drop in the second half of 2012, allowing more widespread adoption.
While Apple does offer Thunderbolt across most of its product line, the first Thunderbolt products have been limited to relatively high end devices. More widespread adoption should help drive adoption by accessory makers that will benefit both Mac and PC users that use Thunderbolt.
Intel has always said that they see both USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt as complementary technologies and plans to support both in their 2012 motherboards.
iPad 3 'Home Button' Parts Start Circulating in China
Dec 27, 2:44AM
Claimed iPad 3 parts have been circulating for some time already, but a few more pieces to the puzzle are starting to appear. 9to5Mac posts this photo of iPad 3 home buttons in comparison to the existing iPad 2 ones.
No real surprises, though it should help kill already sketchy rumors that Apple might do away with a home button altogether. The backside is slightly tweaked, though we'd be hard pressed to draw any conclusions from it. The biggest takeaway is that iPad 3 parts are continuing to leak as production and shipment draws near.
The iPad 3 is expected to arrive in early 2012, anywhere from February to April in timeframe. The iPad 3 is also expected to carry an ultra high resolution 'Retina' display.
2011: Biggest Apple Product Leaks
Dec 26, 4:12PM
Last year at about this time, we highlighted the biggest Apple leaks of 2010. While there wasn't quite as big a story as the iPhone 4 leak this year, we still saw a lot of early leaks of unreleased products.
iPhone 4S
When this parts leak video was released in January 2011, we weren't entirely sure what we were looking at. Global Direct Parts called it an "iPhone 5" at the time, and detailed differences found in the new antenna design. The changes were relatively small, but what we know now is that this was the first look at the iPhone 4S design -- 10 months before its release. The antenna design looks a lot like the Verizon iPhone which hadn't been released at the time, but the inclusion of the SIM slot means this particular design was definitely for the iPhone 4S.
Over the year, we would continue to see bits of pieces of the iPhone 4S such as the front panel, A5-based logic board and even partially assembled. In the end, however, we kept getting distracted by the possibility of a completely new design. It was the similarities to the iPhone 4 design that kept the iPhone 4S so off the radar.
Ultimately, Apple itself accidentally leaked the iPhone 4S name in the last iTunes beta before the device launched:
iPad 2
No, that isn't a photo of the iPad 2. That's a photo of a dummy model that was shown at CES about 2 months before the iPad 2's launch. The model was created based on leaked case designs to Chinese accessory manufacturers. It's also why the leaked iPhone 5 case designs seemed like such a good possibility at the time.
iPhone 4S Camera Test
A month before the iPhone 4S, an Apple employee accidentally posted this first photo from an unreleased iPhone device. As it turns out, that photo was taken by the iPhone 4S.
iCloud Screenshot
We had serious doubts about this iCloud login screenshot that was leaked several days before WWDC. But, it turned out to be quite accurate, and seems to have come from Apple's internal staging area for the site. We wouldn't see iCloud actually go live until two months later with essentially the same login screen.
Apple Loses Another iPhone
In what almost became a replay of last year's iPhone 4 leak, an Apple employee lost another prototype iPhone in a bar this year. While there were some initial doubts about the story, the San Francisco Police did later confirm their participation in the search for the device. The lost iPhone was never found. We assume it represented a prototype iPhone 4S device which likely explains why it didn't ever draw enough attention to be leaked/sold to any gadget sites.
MacBook Pro, Thunderbolt
Yes, there are still some Mac related leaks too. The specs for the first Thunderbolt MacBook Pros were leaked about a couple of days ahead of the launch.
Siri
Again, this is not a video made about Siri after its launch. This was a video about Siri leaked before Apple said a word about it. The details are so close, it's hard to remember that some people doubted its accuracy.
Biggest Fake
As a bonus, here's the biggest fake rumor of the year. We knew it was a fake when we posted about it on our blog, but this video of an "iPhone 5 Leak" on Apple's website has amassed nearly 3 million views in YouTube since being posted. We suppose people wanted to believe.
Best Buy Offering Buy One, Get One Free Offer on 32GB iPhone 4 Today [iOS Blog]
Dec 24, 7:09PM
In another last minute Christmas Eve offer, BestBuy is offering the 32GB iPhone 4 in a Buy One, Get One Free Offer.
Apple doesn't officially offer the 32GB iPhone 4 anymore. After the introduction of the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 4 is being officially sold now as an 8GB model only, but stock of the 32GB models must remain. The 32GB iPhone 4 costs $199 plus 2 year contract. If you buy two from Best Buy today (in store only), you get the 2nd one free. Both need to sign up for two year contracts, but it's still a nice savings -- if you're in the market for two new iPhone 4 devices.
Woot.com Offers Entry-Level 21.5" iMac For $150 Off [Mac Blog]
Dec 24, 7:32AM
Deal-a-day site Woot.com occasionally offers Apple products for sale, generally refurbished iPod Nano or Touch models. But this year, on Christmas Eve, the site is offering Apple's current entry-level iMac for nearly 13 percent off Apple's prices -- and tax free for most states, unlike Apple's online store.
The model in question, MC309LL/A, is $1,199 on Apple's online store in a stock configuration. Woot's offering, at $1049.99 plus $5 shipping (for up to three iMacs), doesn't offer any sort of custom configuring but is significantly cheaper than any other site -- including discounts available through Apple's store for college students. It's also cheaper than any of the deals available on Black Friday last month.
Woot, which uses a literary point of view to humorously sell their products, has this to say about the iMac:
GOD REST YE MERRY GENTLEMANIt's curious that Woot would offer a current-model new-in-box iMac. To sell it as a main-item suggests the site has a fair number of the iMacs in-stock. Woot may be selling the machines near cost or as a loss-leader on Christmas Eve, or it's possible that iMac sales are slower than Apple expected and it is using Woot -- which was purchased by Amazon.com last year -- to clear out surplus holiday inventory.
That furry red-and-white coat would look great over a black turtleneck, wouldn't it?
"Tonight's the night! Are you excited about Jobsmas Eve?"
I'm afraid to even ask what that means.
"Jobsmas Eve, man! The way I see it, over the next several hundred years, the stature of Steve Jobs will grow to legendary proportions, like Gilgamesh or Axl Rose. And since Apple products are considered the ultimate Christmas gifts, the holiday will someday become synonymous with the company, and the man who founded it!"
Wow, you've managed to deeply offend both Christians and Apple fans with one fake holiday. Nice job.
"'Offend'? What's offensive about the spirit of Steve Jobs going from house to house to deliver fantastically awesome presents to good little girls and boys? I'm just getting a jump on what everyone's going to believe hundreds of years from now. I've always been ahead of my time."
Is that what people in the future will call "crazy"?
"Look, you and I know that Steve probably couldn't have visited every kid in the world in one night. I mean, he never tried, so who knows. OK, yeah, it seems far-fetched to you and me. But just imagine how far-fetched the Apple iMac Quad-Core i5 Desktop would have seemed to our great-grandparents."
Hey! Have you been digging around in the back of my closet?
"Uh, no, no! I certainly haven't seen that you bought me an Apple iMac Quad-Core i5 Desktop with 21.5" LED display, a quad-core 2.5GHz Intel processor, 4GB of memory, a 500GB hard drive, 802.11n wireless, and OS X Lion! Uncovering a surprise like that would ruin Jobsmas Eve!"
JJ Abrams' Action Movie FX App Blows Up Just About Everything [iOS Blog]
Dec 23, 7:03PM
JJ Abrams has been involved in the creation of some of the most successful movies and TV shows of recent years, including directing the reboot of Star Trek, co-creating the television show Lost, and producing the just-released Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. His company, Bad Robot Productions, typically focuses on his motion picture properties -- however, the company has now branched out into iOS apps with Action Movie FX.
The free app allows users to insert incredibly realistic special effects into videos shot within the app. Action Movie FX includes two free effects, Missile Attack! and Car Smash. Four more effects -- Chopper Down and Tornado, Air Strike and Firefight -- are available in two-packs via in-app purchase. Each set is $0.99, with more effects promised.
Business Insider's Ellis Hamburger filmed this clip inside BI's New York City headquarters, noting that the creation of the movie took "two minutes, tops."
Action Movie FX is available for free on the App Store, with two effects packs available via in-app purchase for $0.99 each. [Direct Link]
Apple Pushing to Introduce iPad 3 on Steve Jobs' February 24th Birthday?
Dec 23, 5:17PM
FocusTaiwan reports (via 9to5Mac) that Apple pushing its manufacturing partners to meet deadlines that would allow the company to launch the iPad on Steve Jobs' birthday, February 24th.
A local Chinese-language newspaper reported Friday that iPad3 might be launched on Feb. 24 to mark the anniversary of the birth of Apple's late co-founder Steve Jobs.According to the report, workers at several iPad component suppliers as well as manufacturing partner Foxconn will have limited time off during the usual Lunar New Year holiday. The Lunar New Year holiday itself falls on January 23rd next year, with workers generally receiving a number of other days off from work around that date.
Citing sources close to Taiwanese makers in the iPad3 supply chain, the Economic Daily News said the gadget could be launched in mid-first quarter of next year or by the end of next March.
Sources have been reporting a variety of rumored dates for an iPad 3 introduction, with some claiming a debut in the March-April timeframe while others have pointed to a February launch being in the works.
Apple last year launched new MacBook Pro models on Jobs' birthday, although that unusual Thursday introduction was likely a convenient coincidence driven by the debut taking place during the Presidents Day holiday week.
Newsstand in iOS 5 Fueling Growth of New Magazine Subscriptions
Dec 23, 4:44PM
AllThingsD takes a look at how the launch of Apple's Newsstand feature as part of iOS 5 has affected subscription sales for Popular Science magazine, revealing that the prominent placement of the Newsstand app and easy access to updated content has driven a substantial increase in new subscriptions.
The chart comes to us courtesy of Mag+, Bonnier's tablet-publishing software business. And as Mag+ CEO Staffan Ekholm points out, the really promising indicator for Pop Sci isn't the one-week sales leap of 13 percent — it's that the the magazine's growth picked up after that week, with more velocity.Based on the graph, Popular Science appears to have been adding new subscribers at a fairly constant rate of about 700 per week during the several months leading up to the debut of iOS 5. But more than a month after the significant bump immediately following iOS 5's release, the magazine is still seeing subscription growth at nearly double the rate seen before the arrival of Newsstand.
Apple developed Newsstand as a way to allow users to keep track of what could be a large number of magazine and newspaper subscriptions, housing them all in a dedicated folder where they can be updated in the background and display the latest covers to help users identify new content.
Apple is not alone, however, in trying to provide centralized access to subscription newspaper and magazine content. Just this week, Amazon updated its Kindle iOS app to add support for its newsstand of over 400 newspapers and magazines on the iPad.
This is What a 7.85-Inch iPad Looks and Feels Like
Dec 23, 2:34PM
There's been increasing chatter in the rumor mill about the possibility of a smaller 7.85" iPad that could be introduced sometime in 2012.
7.85" iPad on left, 9.7" (current) iPad on right
The rationale behind the smaller form factor is for Apple to better compete against the new 7" Kindle Fire tablet from Amazon. Amazon's new Kindle line seems to be an early success with over 3 million sold over the first three weeks. Amazon doesn't break down the numbers for individual models but calls out the Fire as "the most successful product we've ever launched".
Apple's never been one to try to compete spec for spec against their competitors. The iPhone, for example, has kept the same basic form factor across 5 different generations, despite a proliferation of different sizes amongst its competitors. While we're not sure what makes a smaller iPad different, we've heard it frequently enough that we believe Apple is in late prototyping phases for such a device.
The supply chain has actually been very specific about the screen size of this rumored iPad. According to Chinese manufacturers, Apple is buying up 7.85" screens for this upcoming mini iPad. So, we asked our friends at CiccareseDesign to put together these mockups of what a 7.85" iPad would look like in comparison to the existing 9.7" iPad.
They also created this "actual size" PDF that can be printed out so you can play with one yourself in real life.
Download Printable PDF: Home Screen (6MB), Keyboard (18MB) View on an iPad: Actual Size
Simply print the PDF at 100% size on your printer, and you too can see what a 7.85" iPad feels like in hand. If you don't have a printer handy, you can view it in actual size in an iPad web browser. If you save it as a web icon on your home screen, it will then launch without a menu bar so you can fully appreciate the size.
The 7.85" iPad actually feels a lot smaller than the existing iPad. The user interface elements, however, don't feel that far out of place. Icons are smaller than the 9.7" iPad, of course, but still bigger than the icons found on the iPhone. The on screen keyboard also seems quite usable at this size. Other elements, such as Safari's location bar, do scale down but, again, are no smaller than what we've seen on the iPhone.
We should point out that Steve Jobs had been adamant that a 10-inch screen is the minimum necessary for a tablet, and in a conference call said that he didn't believe a 7-inch tablet was a good user experience:
We're not not making a 7-inch tablet because we don't want to hit a lower price point. We just believe it's too small to hit the user experience people want. When we make decisions, it's not about cost, it's about value when you factor in the software. We're all about the best products at aggressive prices.So, based on that stance, it might seem unlikely that Apple would produce such a device, but they've been known to change their mind before.
Missing Manual Ebooks Available for 50% off Through January 3rd [Mac Blog]
Dec 22, 8:23PM
As David Pogue points out, O'Reilly Press is offering a number of its Missing Manual books for 50% off through January 3rd, with no DRM and lifetime access downloads and updates. Those looking for last minute Christmas gifts for slightly less tech-savvy relatives may want to check it out. Among the titles on sale:
- iPhone: The Missing Manual by David Pogue for $9.99
- iPod: The Missing Manual by J.D. Biersdorfer for $8.99
- iPad 2: The Missing Manual by J.D. Biersdorfer for $9.99
- Mac OS X Lion: The Missing Manual by David Pogue for $13.99
Lion-Compatible Quicken 2007 for Mac Promised in 'Early Spring'
Dec 22, 7:30PM
Intuit today sent out an email to its Quicken for Mac customers providing an update on the company's efforts to develop a version of Quicken 2007 compatible with OS X Lion. We noted earlier this year that Intuit was looking for a way to make Quicken 2007 compatible with Lion following Apple's discontinuation of Rosetta support for PowerPC-based applications like Quicken. According to today's email and a newly-posted FAQ, Intuit is now promising that a Lion-compatible version of Quicken 2007 will be available by "early spring".
As you may know, Quicken for Mac 2007 does not currently work on Apple's latest operating system, Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion). I understand the frustration this may have caused you and have put a team in place to address this issue. I am happy to announce that we will have a solution that makes Quicken 2007 for Mac "Lion-compatible" by early spring. There are still details to be worked out, so I ask your continued patience as we work through these.Intuit is also reassuring customers that it has increased the size of its Mac development team as part of a renewed effort to support the platform.
Quicken 2007 was a popular personal financial management application for Mac, but instead of building upon the popular application Intuit elected to rebuild the application as a stripped-down Quicken Essentials for Mac. The new version was widely panned by reviewers for its considerable loss of functionality compared to Quicken 2007.
Consequently, many Quicken owners continued use the 2007 version, but with Lion's dropping of support for the Rosetta framework needed to run Quicken 2007, users have had to decide between upgrading to Lion or abandoning Quicken 2007.
With that dilemma in mind, many customers have already dropped their usage of Quicken and migrated to competing products such as iBank or Mint.com (now owned by Intuit), although each solution offers a slightly different set of tools that may or may not be suitable for a given user's needs.
Quicken is clearly hoping to win back some of those lost customers and keep others from defecting to competing products with a reinvestment in the Quicken for Mac platform, beginning with getting Quicken 2007 up and running on Lion machines. It remains to be seen, however, whether Intuit has moved quickly enough for many users.
AMD Announces New Mac Pro-Suitable Radeon HD 7970 Graphics Card
Dec 22, 7:05PM
Earlier this month, we noted that developer builds of OS X 10.7.3 were showing evidence of AMD's forthcoming "Tahiti" graphics card family, the first to be built using 28-nanometer technology. The evidence suggested that Apple was at least preparing for the possibility of the cards being used in a Mac Pro update next year, an update that is reportedly still in question given uncertainty about the future of the line.
In the wake of those findings, AMD today officially announced the high-end Radeon HD 7970 from the Tahiti line, billing it as the world's fastest single-chip graphics card.
With the arrival of the AMD Radeon HD 7970, AMD has unleashed its revolutionary new Graphics Core Next Architecture that enables new levels of gaming and compute capabilities – realizing an improvement of over 150% in performance/sq mm over the prior generation. Engineered with support for PCI Express 3.0 and AMD CrossFire technology, the AMD Radeon HD 7970 graphics card arrives prepared for the next level of gaming.Engadget has a nice roundup of reviews of the new card, with testers generally reporting significantly improved performance over the current generation of equivalent AMD cards and other high-end competitors such as NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 580. On the negative side, reviews cited the card's $549 price tag and significant noise under high load.
The Radeon HD 7970 will launch on January 9th, and AMD is also reported to be preparing to launch a slightly scaled-down model in the form of a Radeon HD 7950 card.
With new Xeon processors from Intel launching in the first quarter of 2012 and AMD's new graphics card offerings lining up for a January launch, parts do appear to be coming together for a significant upgrade for the Mac Pro, which has not been updated since July 2010. What remains to be seen is whether Apple will continue to invest in its professional-level workstation line.
Evernote Releases Skitch for iPad [iOS Blog]
Dec 22, 6:52PM
When image editing and sharing app Skitch was acquired by Evernote earlier this year, we were told iPhone and iPad versions were on the way -- and now Skitch for iPad has arrived. Skitch is the amazingly fun and surprisingly powerful way to move your ideas and projects forward using fewer words. With Skitch, annotate and draw on just about anything that you see, whether it's a new or existing photo, a webpage, screenshot, map, or a blank canvas. Then, share your work with friends, colleagues or save it all to Evernote. It couldn't be simpler.
There are a number of ways to get content into Skitch including:
- Photos and Camera: Choose to work on an existing image from your camera roll or take a new photo with your iPad. Use the camera to take photos of things that inspire you or to draw a mustache on a friend. If you have an iPad 1 with no camera, then the camera option won't appear.
- Screenshot: Skitch for iPad has built in smarts that help it identify recently-made screenshots. Taking a screenshot on your iPad is easy, simply press both the power and home buttons at the same time. The screen will flash and the screenshot will be saved to your camera roll. Open Skitch, tap the Screenshot button, annotate the image, then share it with your team. This is great for everything from mobile app design to showing off your latest Angry Birds score.
- Web: Skitch for iPad has its own web browser designed to help you mark up any webpages you encounter. After tapping the Web icon, you can either go directly to a URL or type in a search. When you find the page you want, tap on the Snap icon. Now you have an image of the webpage to annotate. Use this to provide feedback on a web project or to point out something you want to buy.
- Map: Have you ever struggled to explain exactly where to meet someone or which building on campus is yours or how to find the best hiking spot? Then the Skitch Map option is for you. Pinch and zoom into the map, then use the Skitch drawing tools to point out a landmark or draw a path. You would be surprised how often the exact place you need isn't easy to locate without some additional help. With Skitch, you can put an end to driving in circles or walking for hours.
- Blank: Sometimes you just need to start fresh. Open the blank canvas and sketch to your heart's content. Use the shapes, arrows, drawing tools, and colors to compose a work of art or to play a killer game of Pictionary.
Skitch for iPad is free on the App Store. [Direct Link]
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