iPad gives Netbooks breathing room
For many people, it's a safe bet that the iPad will not replace or preclude the purchase of a Netbook. A quick look at the specifications and it's pretty obvious why.
The iPad is definitely not a laptop and that's not necessarily a good thing.
(Credit: Apple )As this tweet succinctly put it: "What has no webcam, no multitasking, no HDMI port, and (possibly) no Flash, and costs $500? Hint: Not a netbook." This tweet, of course, is referring to the Apple iPad. And, by the way, you can eliminate the parenthetical; the iPad definitely does not support Adobe Flash video. (Also see this post at Gizmodo.)
But specifications aside, here's the most fundamental difference. The iPad is what analysts call a purpose-built device. It does certain things very well (e.g., video, Web browsing, e-reading) and other things (most notably office productivity apps) not so well or not at all.
The Netbook--though not as fast as a standard laptop and handicapped by a relatively small screen--is still a PC and is capable of doing pretty much everything a standard PC does. In other words, it's a general-purpose device.
Then there's the physical difference. Consumers who make the leap from a notebook or Netbook to a tablet will immediately recognize the ergonomic limitations of a tablet. In short, the inconvenience of not having a physical keyboard: the keyboard on a laptop also acts as a ballast--or stand--for the screen. Needless to say, that's why laptops decorate Starbucks tables and airplane trays. (Yes, Apple will sell an iPad case that serves as a stand but that does not make it a laptop.)
That said, preemptively panning the device is foolhardy. Consumers will undoubtedly find novel ways to use the iPad. And I will likely be rubbing elbows with an iPad user at Starbucks as soon as it hits stores.
Multitasking: Intel does, iPad doesn't
This Aava Mobile design uses the upcoming Intel Moorestown chip. Devices using the chip can multitask.
(Credit: Aava Mobile)How important is the ability to multitask on tablet-class devices like Apple's iPad? Important enough that the feature will likely be touted as a trump card for Intel-based smartphones such as a tablet-size phone from LG due later this year.
How do we know this? Watch the embedded CNET video below, which I took at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month, and find out. Toward the end of the video (the 2:55 mark), Pankaj Kedia, director of Intel's Global Ecosystems Program for Mobile Internet Devices and Smart Phones, makes it clear that multitasking--in this case using Intel's Moblin operating system--is a marquee feature for devices running on Intel's Moorestown chip technology, due sometime in the next few months.
Kedia shows three applications running but is quick to add that "you can have more apps running."
Of course, on an Apple laptop, where a user can easily have a dozen or more apps active, multitasking is taken for granted. For example, users can watch a video feed while writing an e-mail. For the iPad, however, Apple is betting that the snappy interface, as demonstrated in this CNET video, will more than compensate for the lack of multitasking.
On Friday, I asked Keida about the importance of multitasking on Intel-based smartphones and tablets.
"Consumers want to do multiple things at the same time: listen to music while browsing the Web, look for directions while looking at your calendar and talking with your friends, and so on," he said in response to an e-mail query. "Multitasking is one of the key differentiators for the LG GW990 smartphone, based on the Intel Moorestown platform," he said.
To date, Intel has gone public on three Moorestown-based designs. The LG GW990 smartphone, the Aava Mobile smartphone, and the OpenPeak tablet. "The LG GW990 is a product, while the Aava and OpenPeak are two of our leading reference designs, which will generate multiple end-user products," he said. "As we launch Moorestown in [the first half of this year] and products begin to ship in (the second half of the year), you will hear about additional customers."
Power-frugal Intel chips to spawn new laptops
The most power efficient of Intel's new series of mobile processors will start appearing in new laptops in February, according to the chipmaker.
Sony Vaio Y series uses Intel ultra-low-voltage processors
(Credit: Sony)The Core i3, i5, and i7 processors are slated to replace most of Intel's older generation of Core 2 processors across its mobile, desktop, and server lines. At the Consumer Electronics Show last month, Intel introduced mainstream mobile processors based on the Core i design--the Core i3 and i5.
Though laptops using Intel's standard-power Core i mobile processors have already hit store shelves en masse, systems using the chipmaker's ultra-low-voltage, or ULV, Core i processors will begin to appear "in early February," according to an Intel representative. These new processors include the i5-520UM and i7-640UM. Because ULV chips consume relatively little power, they are used in laptop designs in order to offer longer battery life.
High-profile laptop lines that currently use Intel's older Core 2 ULV chips include the Dell Adamo, Toshiba Portege R600, Sony Vaio Y, and Hewlett-Packard Envy 13. The most widely used processors have been the SU9400 and SU9600. Dell, last week, began offering steep discounts on its Adamo laptops that use the SU9400, cutting prices by about $500.
With the new i3 and i5, Intel is changing the way it rates power efficiency to account for the new "Arrandale" chip design that packages the graphics silicon together with the main Intel processor.
A Core i chip rated at 18 watts will now be considered a ULV processor, compared with the 10-watt rating of the older Core 2 technology. This is done to account for the additional power load of the graphics circuits that, before, were in a separate chip package called the chipset.
To date, Apple's MacBook Air has used Core 2 low-power processors but the Air's processors run at relatively high speeds of 1.86GHz or 2.13GHz, higher than ULV-designated chips in other ultrathin laptops, and therefore are not as power efficient.
Though Apple is expected to use Core i5 processors in its upcoming MacBook Pro lineup, it is not yet clear which processor Apple would opt for in a new MacBook Air model--if indeed Apple is planning an imminent update for this model.
Apple iPad profit model gets a 'teardown'
Like the iPhone, Apple stands to make a greater profit on the iPad when consumers choose models with more memory, according to an estimate released by iSuppli on Wednesday.
The $729 version of Apple's iPad is estimated to carry a bill of materials (BOM) and manufacturing cost of $287.15, making it the most profitable iPad model, according to iSuppli. The iPad is expected to go on sale as early as next month.
The firm did not have an iPad in hand when doing its analysis but based the virtual teardown on an in-house cost model that includes commodity components that are used across many devices.
Though the estimate does not account for non-hardware costs, as the price of different models increases, other costs will stay the same, according to Francis Sideco, an analyst at iSuppli. "Regardless of the configuration, software and licensing is going to stay the same. The only thing that's going to change are the hardware costs and primarily the memory," Sideco said in an interview.
Apple iPad price tier
(Credit: Apple)That memory-based pricing scheme has become standard practice for Apple when pricing its iPhone and iPod, for example. For the iPad, the 32GB model will be the most profitable, costing only $29.50 more to produce than the 16GB versions, but the retail price gap is $100, iSuppli said. After the display, the NAND flash memory is expected to be the most expensive item. In the mid-range 3G model, the 32GB of NAND accounts for 21.4 percent of the total BOM, iSuppli said.
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Apple's late to the Core i5 laptop party
As performance laptops based on the Intel Core i5 processor proliferate, older Core 2 models look, well, old. That means Apple's core silicon is past its prime.
This Toshiba 13.3-inch laptop packs the Core i5 processor and a touch screen.
(Credit: Toshiba)What began as a trickle about a month ago is now a torrent of new Core i-based notebooks. Although lower-end Core i3 processor-based systems are widely available for the more budget-minded, the Core i5 is now powering performance laptops for those willing to pay a little more money.
The mobile i5 and i7 chips are, in a word, fast. Made on Intel's cutting-edge 32-nanometer manufacturing process, they handily outperform the older Core 2 Duo. Tech Web site AnandTech said the i5 processor delivers "the single largest performance improvement we've seen from a new mobile processor in years," and Tom's Hardware said it "boasts the best balance between desktop-class speed and true mobile usability we've ever seen."
Dell: The Dell 15.6-inch Studio (S15Z-3630CPN) offered at Best Buy is a good example. Priced at $1,049, it comes, as many systems do, with the popular Core i5-430M processor (2.53GHz) and an ATI Radeon HD 4570 graphics chip with 512MB dedicated video memory.
Other features for this Dell Studio model include 4GB DDR3 memory, a 500GB Serial ATA hard disk drive (7200 rpm), two built-in 2W speakers, a built-in optical drive, and Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit operating system.
Apple, by comparison, offers a 15-inch aluminum MacBook Pro for a pricey $2,299 that uses the older 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo and comes with specifications that are otherwise pretty similar to the (much) cheaper Dell system.
Hewlett-Packard: A $1,299 15.6-inch HP Envy (considered the company's consumer luxury laptop line) offers similar specifications to the Dell system but with more powerful graphics silicon. In addition to the Core i5-430M, it comes with a more powerful 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5830 graphics chip, a 320GB disk drive (7,200rpm), and 4GB of DDR3 memory.
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Before the iPad, there was the ThinkPad
The ThinkPad came long before the Apple iPad. Lenovo makes this clear in a video showing the genesis of the ThinkPad brand name, though the clip raises some pesky questions.
As some quick background--and as many readers probably know--a line of laptops using the same ThinkPad brand name ultimately became a hit for IBM, though the PC business overall didn't pan out financially for Big Blue, which sold it to Lenovo in 2004.
IBM was first: In the video, the Lenovo marketing executive (originally an IBM employee) talks about how IBM, in 1990, designed the ThinkPad 700T slate computer with a cutting-edge (at that time) magnesium case; how it used an "integrated heatsink" to obviate the need for a fan; and used a flash drive instead of a hard disk drive. Again, all of this way back in 1990.
While certainly an enlightening video, it still leaves one wondering why Lenovo is talking about this in the past tense. In other words, if IBM had such a head start in 1990, why is everyone fixated on Apple's tablet and why aren't we drooling over some highly evolved Lenovo Pad today? (Note: the Lenovo U1, though compelling, is a little late.)
I'm sure there are hundreds of reasons why IBM, and later Lenovo, didn't have a commercially successful consumer slate device (no, I'm not talking about a convertible laptop), but it seems odd that consumers have to wait for Apple to bring out a tablet before anyone takes serious notice of the slate computer.
So, what happened? Here's one facile answer. In the intervening 20 years, IBM sold off its PC business while Apple actually made a commercial success of innovative consumer designs and ballooned into one of the largest and most successful consumer device makers in the world.
(Via Engadget)
Take note Apple, Dell makes plastic look good
Maybe for the first time in its history, Dell is selling good-looking consumer laptops. They're plastic but show that Apple's aluminum design zeitgeist has its limits.
It's not an Apple MacBook Pro but it's attractive--and cheap.
(Credit: Dell)In a visit over the weekend to a Best Buy in the heart of Silicon Valley, two things got my attention. One was the disproportionately large number of people gawking at Netbooks. The other was two gorgeous Dell laptops.
There is a design renaissance at Dell, which is encouraging, considering that for years Dell sold, very forgettable, if not ugly, pedestrian designs. The Adamo line--a luxury laptop inspired by the Apple MacBook Air--has led the way for Dell. But that line, with the exception of the recent price drop to $999 of one Adamo model, is priced above $1,500--out of reach for most people.
What Dell has done with its newest plastic models is deliver a pleasing design along with a good price and solid specifications--based on Intel's newest Core i3 and i5 processors. The 15.6-inch Inspiron (i1564-6980CRD) is slim and cheap at $649 but exudes the look of a more expensive laptop. Ditto with the 17-inch model (i1764-60750BK).
This is a feat Apple is incapable of because Apple refuses to sell laptops below $999--not to mention the fact that Apple has yet to bring out laptops based on the new Intel Core i series of processors.
And this also underscores why Apple will never completely dominate the laptop market. And why there is a kernel of truth in the Microsoft laptop hunter ads. (Thinness is key to the improved Dell aesthetics. See this 360 degree spin of the 15.6-inch model, which, by the way, doesn't do the design justice. Seeing the design up close leaves a bigger impression, at least for me.)
So, Dell deserves credit--not all the design glory should go to Apple. Dell has delivered elegant designs that don't come with a luxury laptop surcharge.
See the colorful Dell Inspiron lineup at Dell.com
Apple A4 chip, iPad vs. the competition
As the Apple iPad and its A4 chip get ready to ship on April 3, the competition is not standing still--and, by all appearances, there's plenty of it.
Lenovo laptop/tablet (left) and the iPad.
As reported back in January, the A4's central processing unit, or CPU, design, as it stands now, is thought to be based primarily on technology from U.K.-based ARM. Linley Gwennap, who is the president and principal analyst of The Linley Group, believes the A4 uses a fairly common ARM CPU designed by Intrinsity and manufactured by Samsung.
Where Apple, instead, may have chosen to enhance the A4's capabilities is outside the core CPU, modifying functions such as the 3D graphics engine. Along these lines, last year, Apple picked up former chief technology officer Bob Drebin of the Graphics Products Group at Advanced Micro Devices, who is now listed as a senior director at Apple.
"You pick and choose one or two places where you can invest and do something different from what other people are doing and then you just license the rest," Gwennap said. "In Apple's case, they've always differentiated based on the user experience, so it may be more valuable to them to control the graphics or the video or the audio or something like that rather than the CPU itself."
And what is the A4 up against? An overview of Apple's rivals and their competing technologies reveals a diverse ecosystem for smartphones and tablet/slate devices.
The competition for the Apple A4, iPad:
- Qualcomm Snapdragon: Speed: 1GHz / Design: Qualcomm design using ARM instruction set / Products: Dell Mini 5 slate, Lenovo Skylight smartbook, Lenovo IdeaPad U1 laptop/tablet (see photo above), Google Nexus One
- Texas Instruments OMAP3430: Speed: 550MHz / Design: ARM Cortex A8 / Products: Motorola Droid, Nokia N900, Palm Pre.
- Nvidia Tegra 2: Speed: 1GHz (max) / Design: Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 / Products: Asus Eee Pad, Notion Ink, Viewsonic, T-Mobile UK. (Rumored: Microsoft Courier tablet, Motorola-Verizon device.)
- Marvell Armada 610: Speed: 1.2GHz (max) / Design: Marvell design using ARM instruction set / Products: Now sampling to customers.
- Intel Atom: Speed: 1.83GHz (max) / Design: Pine Trail, Moorestown / Products: Dell, HP, Lenovo, Toshiba Netbooks (Pine Trail). LG smartphone and other mobile Internet devices and tablets (Moorestown).
Steve Jobs spotted at the Oscars; iPad ad runs
He wasn't lining up for an interview with Ryan Seacrest about what designer made his suit, but a few eagle-eyed bloggers on location at the 82nd Academy Awards on Sunday evening say that Apple CEO Steve Jobs was in attendance. In a tux, not a black turtleneck.
Blogger and Web video personality Wayne Sutton snapped a far-away shot of someone whom he believed to be Jobs, accompanied with "OMG it's Steve Jobs! I'm the only one yelling at him." Indeed, Sutton's photo shows Jobs' unmistakable profile filing into the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. CNET has placed an inquiry to Apple PR to verify that it is indeed him (Jobs has a famous satire-blog impersonator, after all).
Jobs has reason to be at the Oscars, and it has nothing to do with the fact that he once got played onscreen by actor Noah Wylie in a made-for-TV movie: the Apple CEO acquired animation studio Pixar in 1986 before selling it to Disney two decades later. He's now the largest individual shareholder in Disney; the Pixar film "Up" was nominated for the Best Animated Feature and Best Picture category this year.
But Jobs is also an ambiguous, powerful figure in the entertainment industry. Movie sales and rentals in Apple's iTunes Store required extensive negotiations, something that the public debut of its iPad tablet device next month may render even more complicated. Its Apple TV device has been one of the company's more low-profile products, but with the cable industry in more turmoil than ever (namely the battle between Cablevision and the Disney-owned ABC), it could be Apple's turn to flex a bigger muscle in video and broadcast entertainment.
That could make for some interesting conversation at Oscar afterparties. But at least for now, Jobs' evening is probably focused on "Up."
UPDATE (5:15 p.m. PT): Twitter user John Chu nabbed a picture at the Oscars with Steve Jobs, more or less proving that it actually is Steve Jobs.
UPDATE (5:54 p.m. PT): A commercial for the iPad, making public its April 3 release date, ran during the Oscars, though that's not necessarily correlated with Jobs' attendance. The ad ran in the commercial break following Christoph Waltz's acceptance of the Best Supporting Actor award for "Inglorious Basterds."
UPDATE (5:59 p.m. PT): "Up" has won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
UPDATE (6:23 p.m. PT): Here's somebody's grainy screen-grab of the video, which is currently the only version of the first-ever iPad TV advertisement that's online:
UPDATE (6:47 p.m. PT): The video of the iPad ad is live, but not embeddable, on Apple's Web site. The song playing in the ad is "There Goes My Love" by a Danish band called The Blue Van, from its 2008 album "Man Up."
UPDATE (7:14 p.m. PT): The iPad commercial has run again.
More : http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10465212-36.html?tag=mncol
MacBook Pro sports Core i7 chip label at Best Buy
Best Buy is showing a MacBook Pro page with an Intel Core i7 chip logo. Is Best Buy trying to tell us something?
Though undoubtedly a mistake it may also be telegraphing Apple products to come. The Web page is here as of 6:30 p.m. PST on Sunday.
Intel Core i7 label appears on Best Buy page for 15-inch MacBook Pro.
(Credit: Best Buy)Apple aficionados have been waiting patiently for Apple to update its MacBook Pro line with Intel's latest and greatest Core i series of processors, including the mobile Core i5 and i7, which were rolled out at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.
The mobile i5 and i7 chips are made on Intel's cutting-edge 32-nanometer manufacturing process and handily outperform the older Core 2 Duo processors--which are still used by Apple in its MacBook and MacBook Pro lineup. (The Best Buy 15.4-inch MacBook Pro mistakenly shown with a Core i7 label is officially specified with a Core 2 Duo processor.)
Rivals such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell are now offering laptops in various product lines with the Core i5 and i7 processors. These Dell Studio and Alienware laptops, for example, all sport Core i7 processors.
More : http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10465213-64.html?tag=mncol
iPad ad launches during the Oscars--predictable?
Why would Apple launch its iPad campaign March 15, as was rumored by some, when it could launch during the Oscars? This is Apple, not Snapple.
It seemed so necessary the iPad would receive its official TV push as other glamorous objects of adoration displayed their wares.
What is remarkable about the ad is that there is nothing remarkable about it at all. It is very neat, but very standard communication from Apple.
Yes, there is the music: "There Goes My Love" by Danish band The Blue Van, a tune that will soon be downloaded quite often on iTunes.
But this is, as with the iPhone and so many other Apple launches, a simple product demonstration (apologies for grainy video. It's the only embeddable copy at the time of writing). The content might just as easily have been shot by a camera hovering over Steve Jobs' head when he launched the product January 27.
It really bears all the same characteristics--yes, even some of the same footage--as the video (also embedded) that Apple launched on its own site in January.
Apple's products are far more powerful than any of its ads. Everywhere you see them, your eyes and your interest temporarily lose their stasis. This ad serves simply to tell you that April 3 will be the launch date and you should do exactly what the hands in the ad are doing: get an iPad into them and see how much fun they (and you) will have.
It will be interesting to see whether Apple still might follow this execution with something a little more daring in a week or two.
more : http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10465271-71.html?tag=mncol
New Photoshop for Android includes Apple potshot
Adobe Systems released a new version of its Photoshop.com Mobile application for Android phones on Thursday night, an upgrade that came with an apparent attempt to tweak Apple's nose.
'Vignette blur' is of the new editing features available in the version 1.1 of Adobe's Photoshop.com Mobile for Android.
(Credit: Adobe)The new version gets more editing options. It adds "vibrant" to make photo colors richer and "pop" for a pop-art style. Also new are "soft black and white," "warm vintage," "vignette blur," "white glow," and "rainbow," Adobe said.
But more significantly, perhaps, the mobile editing software also now can be incorporated by other programs on the phone. "Third-party application developers now have access to the Photoshop.com Mobile for Android 1.1 editor, allowing them to easily make it a part of their applications," Adobe said.
This is where the Apple potshot comes in--a notable move given a public squabble over Apple's unwillingness to include Adobe's Flash Player on the iPhone or forthcoming iPad.
"Unlike iPhone, the Android platform allows us to make the Photoshop.com editor broadly available to developers so they can provide it within any application they are working on. Photoshop functionality can then easily be accessed from an online auction, real estate, or social media application so users can quickly fix photos and make them look their best, before being showcased," Doug Mack, general manager of Adobe's Digital Imaging and Rich Media Solutions group, said in a statement.
The remark is hardly a condemnation of Apple. But I can't remember Adobe ever going out of its way to take sides by calling attention to what Photoshop on Mac OS X can do that it can't on Windows or vice versa.
More details are available at the Adobe site for mobile Android developers.
iPad to hit the U.S. on April 3
Eager for the Apple iPad? You'll finally be able to get your hands on the tablet in the U.S. starting Saturday, April 3.
Apple announced Friday that the Wi-Fi version of the iPad will launch in the United States on that date, followed by the Wi-Fi + 3G edition later in the month. Additionally, both versions will hit Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and the U.K. in late April.
Starting March 12, consumers can preorder both the Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models from Apple's online store or reserve a Wi-Fi version to pick up on April 3 at any Apple retail store.
When it unveiled the iPad in January, Apple had said it was shooting to make the tablet available in March.
"iPad is something completely new," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said Friday in a statement. "We're excited for customers to get their hands on this magical and revolutionary product and connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before."
CNET News Poll
The iPad's Wi-Fi only version will sell in the U.S. for $499 for 16GB of memory, $599 for 32GB, and $699 for 64GB. The Wi-Fi + 3G edition will cost $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32GB, and $829 for 64GB.
Prices in other countries will be announced in April, Apple said. The iPad will be available through Apple's online store, Apple retail outlets, and certain Apple authorized resellers.
Revealing the iPad to the world on January 27, Jobs touted the device as Web browser, music and video player, e-book reader, game player, and more. Measuring half an inch thick and weighing 1.5 pounds, the iPad is thinner and lighter than a notebook or Netbook and can potentially deliver up to 10 hours of battery life.
Apple's new tablet has generated lively debate even before it hits the market. No device could have matched the hype and buzz generated before Jobs' demo. So this may have been inevitable, but a significant number of reviews and opinions of the iPad have been negative.
Many have been underwhelmed by the tablet, calling it just a large iPod Touch. Some have faulted the iPad for its lack of certain features: no Webcam, no HDMI port, no multitasking, no Flash support, no ability to install software. Others have asked, "Why buy the iPad when I can buy a less expensive, more capable Netbook?"
But the original iPhone lacked certain key features and took time to evolve into the device it is today. The question for Apple is whether buyers will wait for iPad 2.0 or flock to the first-generation model when it launches in four weeks.
Updated at 7:10 a.m. PST with more details.
See also:
• Apple's iPad: What you need to know
• Editor's Take: Apple iPad
Apple bans iPhone app that measures cell phone radiation
I have no idea whether cell phone use turns your brain into a doughnut.
But I imagine if someone were clever enough to create an iPhone app that told you how much radiation your phone was emitting, and therefore how big a hole your brain might soon enjoy, you might just be interested.
Unfortunately, it seems that though there might be such an app, you won't be able to partake of its skills on your iPhone.
According to TechCrunch, an Israeli developer called Tawkon created an app that, with the help of a finely tuned algorithm, measures your Specific Absorption Rate. This is the rate at which your whole body, not just your little brain, absorbs energy from a radio frequency magnetic field. The Tawkon app then factors in environmental conditions and phone usage in order to give you some accurate sense of your exposure to bad rays.
Something that seems quite clever to a lay(ing down) person, this app tells you in which location radiation is strongest while you are making a call.
You launch a call through the iPhone's address book and the app then vibrates to the tune of the radiation levels. An alarming tone offers the information that you'd better get out of wherever you are if you ever want to visit your hairdresser again.
If real-time search is the axis around which the world is currently turning, then real-time radiation information seems a fine thing to have at one's ear.
However, Tawkon claims that Apple has banned its invention. It says Apple called and positively radiated regret that Tawkon's app would not find a place on the iPhone as it would create confusion with respect to usability.
I am not sure what usability confusion useful information might create. But I hope that blind panic, the mass tossing of iPhones into watery graves and the elimination of cell phone user sanity were not amongst the fears that led to this decision.
I have no idea whether Tawkon's app is as fine as its makers say. Reports suggest these are serious people with some kind of serious track record. One of its founders, Gil Friedlander, has an enthusiastic and persuasive blog in which he declares that a BlackBerry version of the app is almost ready. And I just know that Google will approve this app because it's just so darned scientific.
Perhaps some time soon, we will all be rushing in and out of various locations, our phones clutched to our ears, sweat dripping from our nostrils, because Tawkon has warned us that our current location is not a safe one in which to talk to our grannies.
More : http://news.cnet.com/apple/?tag=hdr;snav
Apple drops price of Mac Developer Program to $99
The fee to become an Apple Mac developer dropped significantly Thursday to $99. According to Apple the new low cost of membership is in response to the success of the iPhone Developer Program (also $99 per year) and the potential that apps from that platform might crossover to the Mac. Apple had previously sold memberships to the Apple Developer Connection (ADC) Select or Premier programs for $499 and $3,499 respectively.
The newly named Mac Developer Program offers access to Mac OS X prereleases, technical documentation, Xcode 3 and other tools, development videos, member-only developer forums, and two technical code-level support incidents. Additional support incidents can be purchased in bundles of two for $99 or five for $249.
Alternatively, there is still a free version of the Mac Developer Program that gives access to Xcode 3 and other tools, online resources, and bug reporting. This is perfect for students or for people interested in tinkering with Mac development.
Yet, the price drop also entails significant changes. The new developer program no longer includes significant hardware discounts (which helped developers to nearly recoup the entire $499 Select membership fee), 10 support incidents, and WWDC materials that included a WWDC ticket worth about $1,200. Apple's complete FAQ gives full details about the transition and its benefits.
Existing ADC members can keep their current membership and benefits up until their next renewal time. At that point, however, they'll be able to renew only under the new terms.
People who purchased an ADC membership on or after February 1, 2010, can receive a refund, but only if they haven't used one or more of the associated benefits of that program. If that applies to you, we advise you to contact Apple for more information.
What do you think about the possibility of iPhone or iPod Touch apps, especially games, being ported over to the Mac? Let us know in the comments.
Apple cites suppliers for violations
Apple last year found a number of workplace violations, including use of underage workers, among its suppliers, even as those companies are coming more in line with Apple's standards.
In 2009, according to its 2010 Progress Report (PDF), Apple's audits of suppliers turned up 17 core violations, those that it considers to be the most serious practices or situations that run counter to the central principles of the company's Supplier Code of Conduct.
Of those core violations, three involved the hiring of underage workers; three involved the use of noncertified vendors for the disposal of hazardous waste; three involved the presentation of falsified records during the audit; and eight involved excessive recruitment fees.
The supplier code of conduct and the site audits are intended to protect workers' rights and to improve factory conditions.
Apple did not identify any suppliers by name or the countries in which the infractions took place.
In the case of the underage labor, three facilities had hired 15-year-olds in countries where the minimum employment age is 16. In addition, Apple said it found records of 11 workers who had been hired before reaching that minimum age, though those people were no longer underage or were no longer actively employed at the facilities.
Following up its investigation of how those people had come to be hired, Apple said it required the facilities to protect against future such violations through more thorough ID checks and verification procedures.
In the case of the hazardous waste disposal, Apple required the three facilities to stop shipping waste, to hire certified vendors, and to bring on an outside consultant for a thorough review of the systems used in managing hazardous wastes. It also prompted the facilities to immediately perform inspections of their wastewater disposal systems.
The suppliers who provided falsified records included one attempt to conceal evidence of historical instances of underage workers and two attempts to conceal violations regarding working hours and days of rest.
As for the excessive recruitment fees discovered, Apple required suppliers to reimburse fees exceeding set limits. Foreign workers, Apple said, have been reimbursed $2.2 million in recruitment fee overcharges in the past two years.
In 2009, Apple conducted on-site audits of 102 facilities. That included annual audits of all final assembly manufacturers (which assemble products including Macs and iPhones), first-time audits of component and nonproduction suppliers (which deliver goods including LCDs, hard drives, keyboards, as well as office supplies), and 15 repeat audits at facilities where it had earlier found instances of core violations.
"In general," Apple said in the report, "annual audits of final assembly manufacturers show continued performance improvements and better working conditions."
Apple said that, in total, more than 133,000 workers, supervisors, and managers have been trained on matters of workers' rights and management's responsibilities.
More : http://news.cnet.com/apple/?tag=hdr;snav
Is H.264 a legal minefield for video pros?
If you're a digital-video professional--the sort of person who records weddings, sells stock footage, or edits B-roll--chances are good you deal with the H.264 video encoding technology. But after reading software license agreements, you might well wonder if you have rights to do so.
A recent blog post by Harvard Ph.D. student Ben Schwartz, including the provocative phrase "Final Cut Pro Hobbyist," put the spotlight on license terms in Apple's video-editing software by questioning when professionals may use H.264 video. A similar "personal and non-commercial activity" license requirement appears in Adobe Systems' competing Premiere package, too.
Schwartz's contention caught my attention: my SLR shoots 1080p video encoded with H.264, and I'm in a position both to publish some videos online for my main job and sell others on the side. And with bubbling controversies regarding how HTML is reshaping online video, any troubles with H.264 constraints take on new interest.
It seemed like a good time to call Apple, Adobe, and the MPEG-LA, the industry group that licenses the H.264 patent portfolio to the likes of software companies, optical-disc duplicators, Blu-ray player makers, and others who have need to use H.264.
I was a little alarmed when Apple and Adobe declined to comment--it's their software people are buying, after all. I got a similar response from Microsoft, which includes similarly restrictive H.264 language in its Windows 7 license.
When I heard back from Allen Harkness, MPEG LA's director of global licensing, though, I was relieved to learn that Final Cut Pro isn't just for making YouTube cat videos.
But H.264 use isn't all free all the time--the wedding videographer might need to pay 2 cents per disc they sell, for example--and even experts can be thrown off by the complications.
"I agree that the language in these licenses is a bit off-putting, on first read. I had a similar reaction the first time I read the license," said Dan Homiller, a patent attorney with intellectual property firm Coats and Bennett. "The biggest problem with the particular language that MPEG LA requires their licensees to use is that it sounds threatening to ordinary users of the end device."
Although I'm somewhat reassured in this particular matter, the broader issue raises my hackles.
End-user license agreements, privacy policies, and terms and conditions are impenetrable enough as it is. I fear that in the technology era, ugly legal realities will intrude in new ways into ordinary peoples' lives, whether it's worrying about licensing the music your toddler is dancing to on YouTube, having your electronic books withdrawn, or being charged with illegal surveillance when recording video with a mobile phone.
But back to the specific H.264 case. Let's start with the background.
H.264 license terms
H.264 is what's called a codec, technology to encode and decode media such as video or audio. In the video domain, its rivals include VC-1 from Microsoft, Ogg Theora from the Xiph.org Foundation, and VP8 from On2 Technologies, a company Google acquired in February for $124.6 million.
MPEG LA's simplified diagram of H.264 licensee types.
(Credit: MPEG LA)For historical reasons involving marketing, standards groups, and industry jargon, H.264 goes by many names. It's also called AVC (short for Advanced Video Coding), MPEG-4 Part 10 (the acronym refers to the Moving Picture Experts Group), and JVT (Joint Video Team). When it comes to licensing, it gets even more complicated.
MPEG LA licenses a portfolio of more than 1,000 H.264-related patents on behalf of 26 companies that hold the patents.
Among the companies whose patents are covered by the portfolio (the full H.264 patent list is available in PDF form) are: Frauenhofer, Microsoft, LG Electronics, Panasonic, Philips Electronics, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, and Toshiba. MPEG LA licenses the patents on behalf of this group.
So how exactly does this translate into the world of video editing? Here's the language from the Apple Final Cut Pro license agreement (PDF):
To the extent that the Apple Software contains AVC encoding and/or decoding functionality, commercial use of H.264/AVC requires additional licensing and the following provision applies: THE AVC FUNCTIONALITY IN THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED HEREIN ONLY FOR THE PERSONAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL USE OF A CONSUMER TO (i) ENCODE VIDEO IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE AVC STANDARD ("AVC VIDEO") AND/OR (ii) DECODE AVC VIDEO THAT WAS ENCODED BY A CONSUMER ENGAGED IN A PERSONAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY AND/OR AVC VIDEO THAT WAS OBTAINED FROM A VIDEO PROVIDER LICENSED TO PROVIDE AVC VIDEO.
Here's how Adobe puts it for Premiere:
16.17. AVC DISTRIBUTION. The following notice applies to software containing AVC import and export functionality: THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED UNDER THE AVC PATENT PORTFOLIO LICENSE FOR THE PERSONAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL USE OF A CONSUMER TO (a) ENCODE VIDEO IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE AVC STANDARD ("AVC VIDEO") AND/OR (b) DECODE AVC VIDEO THAT WAS ENCODED BY A CONSUMER ENGAGED IN A PERSONAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY AND/OR AVC VIDEO THAT WAS OBTAINED FROM A VIDEO PROVIDER LICENSED TO PROVIDE AVC VIDEO. NO LICENSE IS GRANTED OR SHALL BE IMPLIED FOR ANY OTHER USE. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM MPEG LA L.L.C. SEE http://www.mpegla.com.
So what about professionals?
"Personal and non-commercial activity" sounds ominous for professionals.
But it turns out it's not, exactly.
The H.264 licensing language is broad to head off various efforts to dodge licensing requirements, Harkness said. "As soon as you try to be specific about a commercial purpose, everybody tries to find a way around it."
The "Final Cut Hobbyist" moniker isn't right, Harkness said.
"There are some areas where you can use a product, and that type of use isn't going to be covered under the license. It's not that they're trying to withhold coverage. There isn't a license associated with that use," Harkness said. "In some cases people can use a product in a commercial way and not be able to receive coverage under our license."
For somebody supplying footage to a movie studio, for example, H.264 licensing requirements don't enter into the calculation until the last step in the production chain--broadcast of the movie or replication of its disc, Harkness said. An H.264 license would be needed, though, for a band making and selling its own concert video disc, he said.
"Whoever is the seller of AVC video to the end user is the party who needs to take a license," he said.
But the wedding videographer might need to take an AVC/H.264 license--though payments will hardly be a big burden even if they're sending out 100 DVDs of somebody's nuptuals.
"Per Section 3.1.2 of the AVC License (Title-by-Title AVC Video), the royalty for each title greater than 12 minutes in length is 2.0 percent of the remuneration paid to the Licensee or $0.02 per title, whichever is lower. In other words, the royalty would not exceed $0.02 per disc for the videographer," said MPEG LA spokesman Tom O'Reilly.
But practical matters also factor into the likelihood of actual enforcement--for example in the situation in which a Windows 7 user watches H.264 video.
"Realistically, it's unlikely that a consumer who unwittingly plays a video clip from an unlicensed source is going to be pursued by MPEG-LA or by patent owners. The legal framework for patent damages is different than it is in the copyright area, so you're not likely to see lawsuits against ordinary consumers, like some of the highly publicized suits filed by the RIAA [Recording Industry of America] in the United States," Homiller said.
Another way where professionals can get off the hook for payments is if the video is broadcast for free over the Internet. Earlier this year, MPEG LA extended through 2015 a provision that means streaming H.264 video over the Net requires no royalty payments as long as anyone can see the video without paying.
Ultimately, for the license terms one sees in software, MPEG LA errs on the side of sounding tough.
"The purpose of the provision in the MPEG LA license is to ensure that the license doesn't cover commercial distribution of H.264-encoded video," Homiller said. "It would be nice if there were a 'gentler' way to convey this, but it might be challenging to do so without opening up some loopholes that the licensers would regret."
Apple sues HTC--court filings
Earlier this morning, Apple revealed that it had filed suit against smartphone manufacturer HTC, accusing it of infringing on 20 Apple patents tied to the iPhone.
Named as exhibits in the litigation, a handful of Android and Windows Mobile devices including Google's Nexus One, the T-Mobile G1, the Droid Eris, the Touch Diamond, the Touch Pro2, and the Imagio.
Mobile phones listed as exhibits in Apple's lawsuit against HTC.
(Credit: All Things Digital)Below, copies of that suit, which was filed with the office of the United States International Trade Commission and the United States District Court in Delaware. But first, a list of the patents at issue here:
• The '331 Patent, entitled "Time-Based, Non-Constant Translation Of User Interface Objects Between States," was duly and legally issued on April 22, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.• The '949 Patent, entitled "Touch Screen Device, Method, And Graphical User Interface For Determining Commands By Applying Heuristics," was duly and legally issued on January 20, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '949 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit B.
• The '849 Patent, entitled "Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image," was duly and legally issued on February 2, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '849 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit C.
• The '381 Patent, entitled "List Scrolling And Document Translation, Scaling, And Rotation On A Touch-Screen Display," was duly and legally issued on December 23, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '381 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit D.
• The '726 Patent, entitled "System And Method For Managing Power Conditions Within A Digital Camera Device," was duly and legally issued on July 6, 1999 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '726 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit E.
• The '076 Patent, entitled "Automated Response To And Sensing Of User Activity In Portable Devices," was duly and legally issued on December 15, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '076 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit F.
• The '105 Patent, entitled "GMSK Signal Processors For Improved Communications Capacity And Quality," was duly and legally issued on December 8, 1998 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '105 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit G.
• The '453 Patent, entitled "Conserving Power By Reducing Voltage Supplied To An Instruction-Processing Portion Of A Processor," was duly and legally issued on June 3, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '453 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit H.
• The '599 Patent, entitled "Object-Oriented Graphic System," was duly and legally issued on October 3, 1995 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '599 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit I.
• The '354 Patent, entitled "Object-Oriented Event Notification System With Listener Registration Of Both Interests And Methods," was duly and legally issued on July 23, 2002 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '354 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit J.
Story Copyright (c) 2010 AllThingsD. All rights reserved.
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Lawsuit stokes Apple, HTC fans' passion
As Apple and HTC prepare to duke it out inside a courtroom, fans of both companies' smartphones are taking sides on the Web.
The news of Apple's suing over 20 patents the iPhone maker claims are being infringed on by HTC was a trending topic on Twitter early Tuesday, as thousands of new tweets every minute came in. But fan forums were abuzz over the lawsuit as well.
Over at Phandroid, a site that tracks developments regarding Android phones, which includes HTC, the general reaction was a mix of disgust with both the patent system and Apple. The Android OS is one of Apple's strongest competitors in the mobile realm, and its fans are, perhaps predictably, fairly defensive of HTC.
"Apple is not only screwing their fanboys and slowing down the release of new technology just to make more money, now they bully others who do better stuff than they do," a Phandroid user named "kurt" opined. Over at AndroidCommunity.com, "constellanation" wrote, "Oh Apple why must you make it so easy for me to dislike you?"
Apple fans--notorious for their passion--cheered Apple's move ("Finally Apple wakes up," wrote Macrumors reader "LTD") and also seemed to wonder what makes HTC phones so worthy of Apple's ire. "This must mean that the Nexus 1 is pretty good," wrote "iSee" on Macrumors.com. "Apple wouldn't bothers suing over a crappy product."
And what about Palm's WebOS phones and Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 phones, others asked. With many of the same basic features like pinching and zooming that both HTC phones and the iPhone have, will other manufacturers also be targeted in similar patent disputes?
Still other Apple fans were concerned about competition. "This is NOT good. A market in which the iPhone is the only option is a horrible market indeed," wrote professed Mac fan "zorinlynx." "Having a choice is a good thing. If Apple manages to destroy HTC, Android, Palm, etc...we'll no longer have a choice. And that's a horrible situation."
But beyond bringing out the fanboy in almost everyone, the lawsuit does seem to have renewed ongoing complaints about the U.S. patent system. "I have a dream...that one of these days sanity will come to the world of patents," wrote Appleinsider Forum user "aaarrrgggh". "Unfortunately, I don't think Apple will end up on the bright side of the reform."
Phandroid.com joked that it's possible to patent almost anything these days: "Please good sirs, allow me to patent the use of my pointer finger to point? Sure--why not--patent granted!"
Is the iPad launch really delayed?
When Apple introduced the iPad in January, it said the device would be made available in late March. However, one analyst is now saying the launch may be delayed.
(Credit: Apple) Peter Misek, an analyst with Canaccord Adams, wrote in a note to clients on Monday that production problems could limit Apple's launch of the iPad. The production issues could be bad enough to even delay the launch for a month, according to a report on AppleInsider.
"The upcoming iPad launch may be somewhat limited as a manufacturing bottleneck has impacted production of Apple's newest device," Misek wrote. "An unspecified production problem at the iPad's manufacturer, Hon Hai Precision, will likely limit the launch region to the U.S. and the number of units available to roughly 300K in the month of march, far lower than the company's initial estimate of 1,000K units."
While Apple is being quiet about the rumored production delays, Wired.com said an Apple spokeswoman told it that the "iPad will be available in late March." In other words, there is no change in the shipping schedule.
Apple representatives were not immediately available when contacted for comment by CNET.
It's hard to tell if the iPad is facing any challenges or not. One analyst claims to have knowledge of production problems, but Apple says everything is on track. We have less than 30 days to know for sure.
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