Foxconn’s Suicide Solution: Robot Worker Empire

It may sound like something out of an Isaac Asimov novel or a James Cameron film, but the parent company of iPhone maker Foxconn is working to build an “empire of robots” to replace over a million Chinese workers. The company, which assembles devices for a number of electronics giants including Apple, broke ground Saturday [...]

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These Three New iPhone 4S Ads Are Some Of Apple’s Best Yet [Video Gallery]

Over the weekend, Apple launched three new iPhone 4S ads: one for the iPhone 4S’s incredible new 8MP camera and iOS 5′s Photo Editing abilities, one for iCloud and one for Siri. They all really speak for themselves, but even so, this is Apple advertising at its finest. You can find the other two ads [...]

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Apple Stores Will Soon Let You Self-Checkout Purchases Using Official iOS App

The official Apple Store app is already a useful tool if you have to sally forth into meat space, allowing you to schedule appointment times at your local Genius Bar, reserve items for pickup at your local Apple Store and the like. Come November 3rd, though, the Apple Store iOS app is set to gain [...]

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RunKeeper’s Latest App Update Will Help Prevent Your Heart From Exploding

When I, through sheer exertion of will, lift this moribund pile of musky flab out of the desk chair to which it transhumanistically is trying to absorb, put on my sweatbands and take myself out for a wheezing, gasping “jog”, RunKeeper is my preferred app for tracking the whole ordeal. The free app is already [...]

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Siri Could Someday Save Your Life By Calling 911 For You

Up until now, Apple’s Siri voice-recognition system has been shown in a humorous light. However, what if Siri could save your life? People remaking next-generation 911 services see Siri as the voice of emergency victims, not just a locator of the nearest sushi joint. “Once the word ‘emergency’ is spoken to Siri, a range of [...]

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Slimmer, Faster MacBook Pro ‘Airs’ Are In Development For 2012 Release [Rumor]

It’s been three years since the last major design refresh of the MacBook Pro, and we’ve been hearing whispers for almost a year that the next major update would see Apple’s professional line of laptops take on some of the characteristics of the MacBook Air line: slimmer profiles, ubiquitous SSDs, no optical drives. If those [...]

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Oasis Star Declares: “iPhones Are For $%@!s”

(Photo by Chrissy Polcino, used with thanks under Creative Commons license.) So here’s former Oasis megastar Noel Gallagher, quoted in The Mirror this weekend: I just want a basic 1994 Nokia mobile. I can keep it in my back pocket and just do the basics with it â€" phone and text. What would I need [...]

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Need A Last Minute Halloween Costume? Check Out The Fun You Can Have With Two iPad 2s [Video]

This has been all over the place today, but if you’re stuck for a Halloween costume idea and have two iPad 2s lying around, here’s a great suggestion: just initiate a FaceTime call between your iPads, duct tape them to your torso, pull on a ripped hoodie and smear fake blood all over yourself. It’ll [...]

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iCloud Solar Farm And Spaceship HQ Could Push Apple Costs To $8B

Apple’s massive new solar farm and their next-gen spaceship campus will boost the tech giant’s 2012 expense to $8 billion â€" a 73% hike over this year, one analyst told investors Monday. Apple’s capital expenditures are expected to jump by $3.4 billion in 2012, according to the company’s annual 10-K report with the Securities and [...]

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AirPlay Mirroring And iMessages Coming To OS X Lion? [Rumor]

This weekend broke news that Apple was already hard at work on OS X 10.8, so it would be natural to assume that in the next version of OS X, Cupertino will bring even more iOS functionality to their desktop operating system: stuff like Airplay and iMessages. Nope. But don’t be too disappointed. AirPlay and [...]

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Schools Expect iPads To Outnumber Computers In Next Five Years [Report]

The days of students lugging around massive backpacks loaded with heavy textbooks are numbered. According to a new poll of educational IT directors, signs are strong that within the next five years, all U.S. schools could adopt tablets, many as a replacement for textbooks. The good news for Apple is that in education circles (as with [...]

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Make Your Own Bumps In the Night With iSoundGrid Halloween For iPad

Today is Halloween. So here’s a last-minute Halloween themed iOS app that runs on the iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.  It can turn your next scary party into a real spooktacular or you can use it to enhance the fun while passing out loads of candy to all the little ghosts and goblins that visit. [...]

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Bill Gates On Steve Jobs: We Created The Mac Together [Video]

Last night, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates was on ABC News to discuss continuing foreign aid as well as his philanthropy work. During the interview, he was asked about Steve Jobs’s less than kind words about him in Walter Isaacson’s bio: specifically, the part where Jobs (unfairly) says that Bill Gates had no original ideas [...]

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Chinese Knockoff Makers Almost Perfectly Clone The Unibody MacBook Air

What’s this? Looks like a unibody MacBook Air, right? Don’t bet a kidney on it: Shenzhen’s Evil Confederacy of Mad Scientist Cloners have managed to almost perfectly rip off the feel of Apple’s bestselling MacBook Air, including unibody enclosure, for under half the price of Apple’s ultraportable. And you know what? For a piece-of-$%@! netbook [...]

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Apple’s Seamless Glass Cube on Fifth Avenue is Launching Friday [Report]

Apple is finally unveiling its seamless glass cube entrance to the Fifth Avenue store on Friday, according to MacRumors. Apple’s Fifth Avenue retail store is one of the most recognized Apple stores in the world and a main tourist attraction in New York City. $6.6. million in renovations to the Fifth Avenue store will finally [...]

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Shake Things Up By Making Your Own Custom Vibration Alerts in iOS 5 [iOS Tips]

If you find yourself in a quiet environment like a meeting or at the doctor’s office you’ll usually silence the ringer on your iPhone. The iPhone will then vibrate when you get incoming calls. Although that sounds great, the iPhone will vibrate the same way for every caller. But it doesn’t have to do that. [...]

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Lion Introduces New Privacy And Location Services To Mac OS X [OS X Tips]

Lion has introduced some new yet basic privacy settings. The new settings control how you share your location and collect usage data to send to Apple. Although now it seems to be fairly basic I think it is still important to know what if any apps on your Mac are accessing location services on Mac [...]

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Apple’s Just A Twitch Away From Killing The Mac Pro Line Forever

Last week’s three-month minimum delay to their Xeon-class Sandy Bridge processors may be the final nail in the Mac Pros coffin, inside sources are now reporting. It’s obvious that Apple’s heart isn’t exactly in the Mac Pro these days. There hasn’t been an update to the line since 2010, which is significantly longer than most [...]

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Check Out This Completely Unrealistic, Yet Still Awesome, iTV Concept [Gallery]

Spotted by 9to5Mac, artist Guilherme M. Schasiepen has posted a gallery of concept iTV images. The images depict a multi-touch TV set with 3D that doesn’t require glasses. Color us skeptical, but the idea of a touch-screen television seems absolutely unrealistic. This concept is still pretty gorgeous, however. While the TV itself looks great (check out this [...]

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Free Steve Jobs Audio Book via Audible.com

From 9to5Toys.com: Looking to get a free Audio copy of the Steve Jobs book (or any book for that matter)? If you don’t feel like shelling out the $35 in addition to whatever you paid for the paper/digital version, Audible.com offers a free audio book with a 14-day membership which allows you to pick up the book [...]

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Retail news: Seamless Fifth Avenue glass cube debuting this Friday, Apple Store app self-checkout, multiple shipping addresses for online orders

An artist’s rendition of the seamless glass cube Apple Store at New York’s Fifth Avenue. Credit: The Gothamist. Apple is set to unveil an all-new glass cube entrance into its iconic outlet at New York City’s Fifth Avenue, MacRumors has learned. The new look should be unveiled this coming Friday, November 4. The work on remodeling the [...]

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Canalys: HTC passes Apple to become top smartphone maker in the United States

Research firm Canalys in its new report ranked Taiwanese handset maker HTC (owned by the Formosa Plastics Group conglomerate) the leading smartphone vendor in the United States. The finding is based on the reported third-quarter shipments by major phone makers including HTC, Samsung and Apple. And, per-country performance estimates stemming from historic trends. As you [...]

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Walmart offers free Smart Covers/$50 iTunes with iPad 2 (also Target)

From 9to5Toys.com: Walmart today lists the iPad 2 in all sizes and varieties with a “Starter Accesory” which include previous generation Smart Covers or USB all charges (or $50 iTunes gift cards when ordered site-to-store). If your shopping tastes take you to Target, you can get a $40 iTunes gift card with iPad 2 purchase [...]

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Bill Gates on Jobs bio quotes “he said a lot of very nice things about me and he said a lot of tough things” [Video]

Gates defends himself slightly but seems smart enough (and secure enough) not to handle the tough words head on. “Well, Steve and I worked together, creating the Mac. We had more people on it, did the key software for it.” “So, over the course of the 30 years we worked together, you know, he said [...]

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Is this the geekiest-freakiest Halloween costume yet?

I don’t know about you, but this is one freakily awesome Halloween costume. If you have a pair of iPad 2s lying around, you could put them to work and create an illusion of a huge hole in your torso. How? Dead simple, says one Mark Rober, a NASA employee. Just strap one iPad to [...]

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How to extend battery life of your iPhone 4S by disabling ‘Setting Time Zone’

Poor battery performance is one of the major teething issues that’s been plaguing early iPhone 4S adopters who are flocking to Apple Support Communities forum in search for answers. Apple has remained mum on the matter thus far. The problem appears to be affecting some iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS users as well, indicating a [...]

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iTV gets mocked up

You know the non-existant “iTV” that Steve Jobs hinted about in the Walter Isaacson Bio? Yeah, it is already getting “mocked up” by one of our favorite artists Guilherme M. Schasiepen on Flickr.  Check the gallery below. // Also a 360 here.

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Monster Cable and 9to5mac are sponsoring free iPhone 4S/ Accessory Pack giveaway

. This week, we are co-sponsoring iPhone 4S + Monster Accessory Pack giveaways with Monster Cable.  You can win the iPhone 4S + Accessory Pack from Monster Cable by liking their Facebook page and entering their contest here:  https://www.facebook.com/monstercable.  Enter once for a chance to win every week until December 23rd. Additionally, this week only, [...]

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Apple Working with iPhone 4S Owners to Address Battery Life Issues

Since the release of the iPhone 4S, some users have been complaining about poor battery life. Even with Apple having quietly reduced the standby battery life from 300 hours on the iPhone 4 to 200 hours on the iPhone 4S, active-use battery life for the iPhone 4S was supposed to remain the same or better than on the iPhone 4. But some users are indeed seeing rapid battery drains, both while in active use and in standby, suggesting that some sort of background task is sapping the device's battery under certain circumstances, according to The Guardian. One user in particular noted a battery drain of 10% per hour even in standby mode. The user was able to replicate the issue with all features such as Siri and location services turned off, and even on a relatively clean phone with no apps installed, hinting that the battery drain was coming from a core functionality on the device. The user does report, however, that Apple has reached out in an attempt to research the issue, asking to install system monitoring software on the device to help figure out what is going wrong."I then got a call from a senior [Apple] engineer who said he had read my post and was 'reaching out' to users for data and admitted this was an issue (and that they aren't close to finding a fix!) and asked lots of questions about my usage and then asked if he could install the file below and that he would call back the day after to retrieve the info. I extracted the file from my Mac after a sync and emailed it to him. He was incredibly helpful and apologet ic in the typical Apple way!"Apple has yet to offer an explanation for the battery life issue, but anecdotal reports suggest that corrupted contacts may be responsible. Some users have reported that a backup and restore through iTunes can help, but until Apple offers an official solution those affected by the issue may need to experiment with various solutions.

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Apple Ramps Up iPhone 4S Advertising with 3 New Ads featuring iCloud, Siri, and Camera

Apple is starting to ramp up its iPhone 4S advertising and has posted 3 new ads to their YouTube channel. The new ads focus on specific features found on the iPhone 4S and iOS 5, including Siri, iCloud and the new Camera. This marks the second Siri ad that Apple has aired. The first ad was more of a teaser, only revealing Siri at the very end. This new ad shows more explicit examples of what Siri can do. The iCloud ad shows how you can sync data across devices: The Camera ad talks about the higher quality camera found on the iPhone 4S including editing features:

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Google TV Take Two Launches Next Week with Streamlined Interface, Android Apps

Back in May 2010, Google announced plans to launch "Google TV", a software offering available either in a set-top box or built into TV sets and designed to integrate television with the Web. Google TV officially launched in October of that year, but has so far failed to catch on with consumers. Addressing the platform's shortcomings, Google today announced that early next week it will launch a major software update intended to significantly improve the functionality of the Google TV software. Among the most notable improvements are a streamlined interface with improved searching capabilities and compatibility with apps through the Android Market.The interface is now much simpler. The new customizable home screen gets you to your favorite content quickly. And within “all apps” you can see all of your shortcuts, similar to your Android phone or tablet. ... We are opening up the TV to the creativity of content creators large and small through Android Market. Android developers can now bring existing mobile apps or entirely new ones to TV. Initially, the number of apps won’t be large â€" apps requiring a touch screen, GPS, or telephony won’t show up â€" but 50 developers have seeded the Market with cool and useful apps for the TV. We’re excited to see the number of apps grow.The update will be rolling out to Sony devices early next week, with Logitech's set-top boxes set to receive the update shortly after. Google's movements in the television space have been closely watched by Apple observers, in part due to Apple's own efforts in the market with the Apple TV, which was relaunched late last year as a set-top box for streaming content. Apple has also been said to be working on its own connected television set, with the most recent report arriving yesterday and indicating that Apple is seeking to launch a Siri-enabled TV by 2013.

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Apple's Processor Options for Early 2012 Mac Pro Begin to Firm Up

Last week, we noted that Apple is unlikely to update its Mac Pro line until early next year at the soonest, as Intel's Sandy Bridge E processors intended as the successors to the current Mac Pro chips have been delayed until the first quarter of 2012. Newly-released pricing information from CPU World now offers a bit more data to help analyze which of the new E5-2600 and E5-1600 series Xeon processors Apple is likely to use in the next-generation Mac Pro models. Apple's current dual-processor Mac Pro lineup utilizes Intel's "Westmere" processor family, with the E5620, X5650, and X5670 as options. Intel launched those processors last year priced at $387, $996, and $1440 respectively. With pricing for the upcoming E5-2600 series having been revealed, it certainly does appear that Apple will be able to use the $406 6-core 2.0 GHz E5-2620 in its low-end dual-processor configuration at or near the current $3499 pricing. At the mid range, which is currently priced at $4999, the 8-core 2.0 GHz E5-2650 comes in $110 higher than the current E5650, a $220 difference when both processors are accounted for. Apple's options may be limited on this model, however, as stepping down in price would force Apple all the way down to the E5-2640 at $884, a 6-core chip running at 2.5 GHz. The high end of Apple's dual-processor Mac Pro is also a bit murky, with each 8-core 2.6 GHz E5-2670 processor coming in at $1552, over $110 higher than the processors used in the current $5999 Mac Pro. Consequently, Apple could elect to instead use the 8-core 2.4 GHz E5-2665 processor, which is scheduled to carry a $1440 price tag at launch, sacrificing 200 MHz of clock speed to maintain pricing. As for the lower-end single-processor Mac Pro configurations, Apple is likely to utilize Intel's E5-1600 series processor line, also scheduled for launch in the first quarter of 2012. Pricing on those chips was revealed last month, with the forthcoming quad-core 3.6 GHz E5-1620 ($294) and 6-core 3.2 GHz E5-1650 ($583) slotting nicely into the existing low- and mid-range pricing. At the high end of the single-processor line, however, Apple may have to bump up to the E5-1660 at $1080. The E5-1660 carries the same 6-core, 3.3 GHz specs as on the current high-end single-processor model, but offers higher turbo multipliers and L3 cache.

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Apple Did Acquire 3D Mapping Company C3 Technologies

In August, we profiled a 3D mapping company called C3 Technologies that had been acquired by a mystery buyer. We suspected Apple was the purchaser of the company, but weren't able to prove it at the time. Realtime map screenshot from C3 Technologies Now, it seems that Apple was indeed the buyer of the company, according to 9to5Mac's sources. Sure enough, we have now learned Apple is now the owner of C3 Technologies. Sources say that C3 Technologies CEO Mattias Astrom , C3 Technologies CFO Kjell Cederstrand, and lead C3 Technologies Product Manager Ludvig Emgard are now working within Apple’s iOS division. The leading trio, along with most of the former C3 Technologies team, is still working as a team in Sweden (interestingly, the division is now called “Sputnik”), where the C3 Technologies company was located prior to the Apple acquisition.C3 Technologies made a big splash at CES 2011 when it began demoing its technology on both Android and iOS devices. The company uses formerly classified missile targeting technology to achieve its impressive 3D mapping effects. The company's official YouTube videos have been pulled, but some examples remain. This video shows a flythrough of Oslo, Norway (video improperly label ed): Another example of New York City with overlays is on YouTube. And here's a demo of the technology running on an early iPad version: The technology had also been previously licensed by Yell.com and Nokia. Apple's interest in the technology is obvious. The company has been dependent on Google's mapping technology for their iOS devices, but has been steadily making acquisitions to replace that technology. Apple has been heavily recruiting for their Geo Team and has even revealed in iOS 5 that they are planning their own full mapping solution.

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iPhone 4S Launches in 22 New Countries with 1-2 Week Estimates for Online Orders

Apple today officially launched the iPhone 4S in 22 new countries, marking the second round of launches for the device. The company began taking pre-orders last week ahead of the launch scheduled for the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. iPhone 4S order page for Apple's Swedish online store While Apple does not offer online sales in all of the new launch countries and customers looking to purchase subsidized models on contract will not be able to purchase online, Apple is currently quoting shipping estimates of 1-2 weeks for unlocked devices in nearly all of the new markets with online stores. The lone exception is Singapore, where all iPhone 4S models are listed as currently unavailable. Demand for the iPhone 4S has been high in that country, with reports indicating that carrier partner SingTel sold out of appointment slots to purchase the device within 90 minutes of opening registration earlier this week.

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Siri Hacked to Run on an iPod Touch and iPhone 4

Apple's new Siri voice recognition system is only officially available to new iPhone 4S users. Predictably, over the past few weeks, there have been various attempts to port Siri to previous generation hardware. The early versions of these hacks, however, simply got the user interface working on the iPhone 4, but were unable to actually use the voice recognition due to authentication issues in connecting to Apple's servers. Tonight, developers @stroughtonsmith and @chpwn have been able to bypass this hurdle and have been able to get Siri working on previous generation hardware. This video shows it on an iPod Touch: The video shows just a couple of simple question/answers but seems to run at a good speed. There had been some speculation that Siri might require the A5 processor in the iPhone 4S, but based on these early findings, it seems not. The developers have said that there will be "no public release soon" and not to ask. A public release also seems unlikely due to the legal issues in repackaging Apple's code and distributing it. We've since spoken to @stroughtonsmith who told us that despite it working on the iPod Touch, it doesn't work entirely well due to the relatively poor performance of the microphone. "You have to be loud and close to it", he said. However, it does perform quite well on the iPhone 4 and works "just as fast as the 4S".

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Apple Themed Pumpkin Carvings Spice Up Halloween [Mac Blog]

Readers have sent in a number of festive Apple-themed pumpkins, including two that emulate Jonathan Mak's interpretation of the Apple logo and another pumpkin interpretation of Albert Watson's famous photograph that now graces the cover of Steve Jobs' biography. By Sbrocket By Raymond Tsai By Kepa By Bill Rennie

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Ultra-Thin 15" Mac Notebook Getting Closer to Production

Macotakara follows up our July report of work on an ultra-thin 15" Mac Notebook with news that this new thin 15" model is getting closer:according to asian source, Apple seems already to have finished to develop MacBook Air 15" LCD test component to add its line-up and to go product develpment of it.Macotakara is calling the new notebook a 15" MacBook Air, but we aren't entirely sure that would be the name. Current MacBook Air Back in April, we had heard reliable confirmation that the 2012 revision of the MacBook Pro would carry a new case design. iLounge had described it as a "milestone" release. Later, in July, we heard that Apple was already finishing up work on this ultra-thin 15" Mac Notebook. At this point, it seems clear that Apple's next MacBook Pro revision will carry this new design, which many believe will take cues from the current MacBook Air designs. What's not clear is how Apple will integrate the new models with the current MacBook Air models. The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines seem destined to converge over time. In fact, Intel believes that Air-like "ultrabook" designs could make up to 40% of the consumer laptop market by the end of 2012. Apple just updated their MacBook Pro line with faster processors, which places their next revision sometime in the first half of 2012.

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A Sister's Eulogy for Steve Jobs [Mac Blog]

The New York Times publishes a touching eulogy written by Steve Jobs' sister Mona Simpson: None of us knows for certain how long we’ll be here. On Steve’s better days, even in the last year, he embarked upon projects and elicited promises from his friends at Apple to finish them. Some boat builders in the Netherlands have a gorgeous stainless steel hull ready to be covered with the finishing wood. His three daughters remain unmarried, his two youngest still girls, and he’d wanted to walk them down the aisle as he’d walked me the day of my wedding. We all â€" in the end â€" die in medias res. In the middle of a story. Of many stories.Photo from USC.edu

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Apple Themed Pumpkin Carvings Spice Up Halloween [Mac Blog]

Readers have sent in a number of festive Apple-themed pumpkins, including two that emulate Jonathan Mak's interpretation of the Apple logo and another pumpkin interpretation of Albert Watson's famous photograph that now graces the cover of Steve Jobs' biography. By Sbrocket By Raymond Tsai By Kepa By Bill Rennie

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Google TV Take Two Launches Next Week with Streamlined Interface, Android Apps

Back in May 2010, Google announced plans to launch "Google TV", a software offering available either in a set-top box or built into TV sets and designed to integrate television with the Web. Google TV officially launched in October of that year, but has so far failed to catch on with consumers. Addressing the platform's shortcomings, Google today announced that early next week it will launch a major software update intended to significantly improve the functionality of the Google TV software. Among the most notable improvements are a streamlined interface with improved searching capabilities and compatibility with apps through the Android Market.The interface is now much simpler. The new customizable home screen gets you to your favorite content quickly. And within “all apps” you can see all of your shortcuts, similar to your Android phone or tablet. ... We are opening up the TV to the creativity of content creators large and small through Android Market. Android developers can now bring existing mobile apps or entirely new ones to TV. Initially, the number of apps won’t be large â€" apps requiring a touch screen, GPS, or telephony won’t show up â€" but 50 developers have seeded the Market with cool and useful apps for the TV. We’re excited to see the number of apps grow.The update will be rolling out to Sony devices early next week, with Logitech's set-top boxes set to receive the update shortly after. Google's movements in the television space have been closely watched by Apple observers, in part due to Apple's own efforts in the market with the Apple TV, which was relaunched late last year as a set-top box for streaming content. Apple has also been said to be working on its own connected television set, with the most recent report arriving yesterday and indicating that Apple is seeking to launch a Siri-enabled TV by 2013.

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iPhone 4S Launches in 22 New Countries with 1-2 Week Estimates for Online Orders

Apple today officially launched the iPhone 4S in 22 new countries, marking the second round of launches for the device. The company began taking pre-orders last week ahead of the launch scheduled for the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. iPhone 4S order page for Apple's Swedish online store While Apple does not offer online sales in all of the new launch countries and customers looking to purchase subsidized models on contract will not be able to purchase online, Apple is currently quoting shipping estimates of 1-2 weeks for unlocked devices in nearly all of the new markets with online stores. The lone exception is Singapore, where all iPhone 4S models are listed as currently unavailable. Demand for the iPhone 4S has been high in that country, with reports indicating that carrier partner SingTel sold out of appointment slots to purchase the device within 90 minutes of opening registration earlier this week.

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Apple Working with iPhone 4S Owners to Address Battery Life Issues

Since the release of the iPhone 4S, some users have been complaining about poor battery life. Even with Apple having quietly reduced the standby battery life from 300 hours on the iPhone 4 to 200 hours on the iPhone 4S, active-use battery life for the iPhone 4S was supposed to remain the same or better than on the iPhone 4. But some users are indeed seeing rapid battery drains, both while in active use and in standby, suggesting that some sort of background task is sapping the device's battery under certain circumstances, according to The Guardian. One user in particular noted a battery drain of 10% per hour even in standby mode. The user was able to replicate the issue with all features such as Siri and location services turned off, and even on a relatively clean phone with no apps installed, hinting that the battery drain was coming from a core functionality on the device. The user does report, however, that Apple has reached out in an attempt to research the issue, asking to install system monitoring software on the device to help figure out what is going wrong."I then got a call from a senior [Apple] engineer who said he had read my post and was 'reaching out' to users for data and admitted this was an issue (and that they aren't close to finding a fix!) and asked lots of questions about my usage and then asked if he could install the file below and that he would call back the day after to retrieve the info. I extracted the file from my Mac after a sync and emailed it to him. He was incredibly helpful and apologet ic in the typical Apple way!"Apple has yet to offer an explanation for the battery life issue, but anecdotal reports suggest that corrupted contacts may be responsible. Some users have reported that a backup and restore through iTunes can help, but until Apple offers an official solution those affected by the issue may need to experiment with various solutions.

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Samsung Easily Tops Apple to Become World's Top Smartphone Manufacturer

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Samsung had overtaken Apple for the title of world's top-selling smartphone manufacturer, relying on a source who indicated that Samsung had shipped over 20 million smartphones in the third quarter, compared to Apple's announced sales of 17.1 million iPhones. Samsung today officially announced its financial results for the third quarter, and while it no longer releases smartphone sales units, it did disclose that smartphone sales were up more than 40% over the previous quarter. With Samsung having been close on Apple's heels during the second quarter and Apple's sales declining in the third quarter as customers waited for the iPhone 4S, that growth enabled Samsung to easily surpass Apple in the smartphone segment. Research firm Strategy Analytics has released its data on smartphone shipments for the third quarter, pegging Samsung at 27.8 million units while Apple barely edged out Nokia for second place by a margin of 17.1 million units to 16.8 million units.Neil Mawston, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “After just one quarter in the top spot, Apple slipped behind Samsung to second position and captured 15 percent share. Apple’s global smartphone growth rate slowed to just 21 percent annually in Q3 2011, its lowest level for two years. We believe Apple’s growth during the third quarter was affected by consumers and operators awaiting the launch of the new iPhone 4S in the fourth quarter, volatile economic conditions in several key countries, and tougher competition from Samsung’s popular Galaxy S2 model.”While Apple is expecting all-time record iPhone sales during the current quarter as the iPhone 4S rolls out around the world, it still may not be enough to overcome Sam sung's significant lead and strong growth. In the overall mobile phone market, Strategy Analytics pegged Apple in fifth place, slipping behind ZTE compared to the previous quarter. Apple's share of the total market fell to 4.4%, down from 5.6% in the second quarter.

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Apple Releases Aperture 3.2.1 [Mac Blog]

Apple yesterday released Aperture 3.2.1, bringing several bug fixes to the company's professional-level photo editing and management application.What's New in Aperture 3.2.1 - Resolves an issue that could cause Aperture to quit unexpectedly at launch on Macs with Core Duo processors - Addresses problems that could cause the Crop tool to switch to the incorrect orientation or resize incorrectly - Resolves rendering issues when cropping images with Onscreen Proofing enabled - Location menus are now displayed correctly on the map in the Places view when "Photos" is selected in the Library InspectorThe download, which comes on top of the Aperture 3.2 update released earlier this month to support iOS 5 and iCloud, weighs in at 635.76 MB and requires Mac OS X 10.6.8 or OS X 10.7.2.

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Apple's Processor Options for Early 2012 Mac Pro Begin to Firm Up

Last week, we noted that Apple is unlikely to update its Mac Pro line until early next year at the soonest, as Intel's Sandy Bridge E processors intended as the successors to the current Mac Pro chips have been delayed until the first quarter of 2012. Newly-released pricing information from CPU World now offers a bit more data to help analyze which of the new E5-2600 and E5-1600 series Xeon processors Apple is likely to use in the next-generation Mac Pro models. Apple's current dual-processor Mac Pro lineup utilizes Intel's "Westmere" processor family, with the E5620, X5650, and X5670 as options. Intel launched those processors last year priced at $387, $996, and $1440 respectively. With pricing for the upcoming E5-2600 series having been revealed, it certainly does appear that Apple will be able to use the $406 6-core 2.0 GHz E5-2620 in its low-end dual-processor configuration at or near the current $3499 pricing. At the mid range, which is currently priced at $4999, the 8-core 2.0 GHz E5-2650 comes in $110 higher than the current E5650, a $220 difference when both processors are accounted for. Apple's options may be limited on this model, however, as stepping down in price would force Apple all the way down to the E5-2640 at $884, a 6-core chip running at 2.5 GHz. The high end of Apple's dual-processor Mac Pro is also a bit murky, with each 8-core 2.6 GHz E5-2670 processor coming in at $1552, over $110 higher than the processors used in the current $5999 Mac Pro. Consequently, Apple could elect to instead use the 8-core 2.4 GHz E5-2665 processor, which is scheduled to carry a $1440 price tag at launch, sacrificing 200 MHz of clock speed to maintain pricing. As for the lower-end single-processor Mac Pro configurations, Apple is likely to utilize Intel's E5-1600 series processor line, also scheduled for launch in the first quarter of 2012. Pricing on those chips was revealed last month, with the forthcoming quad-core 3.6 GHz E5-1620 ($294) and 6-core 3.2 GHz E5-1650 ($583) slotting nicely into the existing low- and mid-range pricing. At the high end of the single-processor line, however, Apple may have to bump up to the E5-1660 at $1080. The E5-1660 carries the same 6-core, 3.3 GHz specs as on the current high-end single-processor model, but offers higher turbo multipliers and L3 cache.

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Google TV Take Two Launches Next Week with Streamlined Interface, Android Apps

Back in May 2010, Google announced plans to launch "Google TV", a software offering available either in a set-top box or built into TV sets and designed to integrate television with the Web. Google TV officially launched in October of that year, but has so far failed to catch on with consumers. Addressing the platform's shortcomings, Google today announced that early next week it will launch a major software update intended to significantly improve the functionality of the Google TV software. Among the most notable improvements are a streamlined interface with improved searching capabilities and compatibility with apps through the Android Market.The interface is now much simpler. The new customizable home screen gets you to your favorite content quickly. And within “all apps” you can see all of your shortcuts, similar to your Android phone or tablet. ... We are opening up the TV to the creativity of content creators large and small through Android Market. Android developers can now bring existing mobile apps or entirely new ones to TV. Initially, the number of apps won’t be large â€" apps requiring a touch screen, GPS, or telephony won’t show up â€" but 50 developers have seeded the Market with cool and useful apps for the TV. We’re excited to see the number of apps grow.The update will be rolling out to Sony devices early next week, with Logitech's set-top boxes set to receive the update shortly after. Google's movements in the television space have been closely watched by Apple observers, in part due to Apple's own efforts in the market with the Apple TV, which was relaunched late last year as a set-top box for streaming content. Apple has also been said to be working on its own connected television set, with the most recent report arriving yesterday and indicating that Apple is seeking to launch a Siri-enabled TV by 2013.

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Apple's Processor Options for Early 2012 Mac Pro Begin to Firm Up

Last week, we noted that Apple is unlikely to update its Mac Pro line until early next year at the soonest, as Intel's Sandy Bridge E processors intended as the successors to the current Mac Pro chips have been delayed until the first quarter of 2012. Newly-released pricing information from CPU World now offers a bit more data to help analyze which of the new E5-2600 and E5-1600 series Xeon processors Apple is likely to use in the next-generation Mac Pro models. Apple's current dual-processor Mac Pro lineup utilizes Intel's "Westmere" processor family, with the E5620, X5650, and X5670 as options. Intel launched those processors last year priced at $387, $996, and $1440 respectively. With pricing for the upcoming E5-2600 series having been revealed, it certainly does appear that Apple will be able to use the $406 6-core 2.0 GHz E5-2620 in its low-end dual-processor configuration at or near the current $3499 pricing. At the mid range, which is currently priced at $4999, the 8-core 2.0 GHz E5-2650 comes in $110 higher than the current E5650, a $220 difference when both processors are accounted for. Apple's options may be limited on this model, however, as stepping down in price would force Apple all the way down to the E5-2640 at $884, a 6-core chip running at 2.5 GHz. The high end of Apple's dual-processor Mac Pro is also a bit murky, with each 8-core 2.6 GHz E5-2670 processor coming in at $1552, over $110 higher than the processors used in the current $5999 Mac Pro. Consequently, Apple could elect to instead use the 8-core 2.4 GHz E5-2665 processor, which is scheduled to carry a $1440 price tag at launch, sacrificing 200 MHz of clock speed to maintain pricing. As for the lower-end single-processor Mac Pro configurations, Apple is likely to utilize Intel's E5-1600 series processor line, also scheduled for launch in the first quarter of 2012. Pricing on those chips was revealed last month, with the forthcoming quad-core 3.6 GHz E5-1620 ($294) and 6-core 3.2 GHz E5-1650 ($583) slotting nicely into the existing low- and mid-range pricing. At the high end of the single-processor line, however, Apple may have to bump up to the E5-1660 at $1080. The E5-1660 carries the same 6-core, 3.3 GHz specs as on the current high-end single-processor model, but offers higher turbo multipliers and L3 cache.

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Apple Releases Aperture 3.2.1 [Mac Blog]

Apple yesterday released Aperture 3.2.1, bringing several bug fixes to the company's professional-level photo editing and management application.What's New in Aperture 3.2.1 - Resolves an issue that could cause Aperture to quit unexpectedly at launch on Macs with Core Duo processors - Addresses problems that could cause the Crop tool to switch to the incorrect orientation or resize incorrectly - Resolves rendering issues when cropping images with Onscreen Proofing enabled - Location menus are now displayed correctly on the map in the Places view when "Photos" is selected in the Library InspectorThe download, which comes on top of the Aperture 3.2 update released earlier this month to support iOS 5 and iCloud, weighs in at 635.76 MB and requires Mac OS X 10.6.8 or OS X 10.7.2.

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Samsung Easily Tops Apple to Become World's Top Smartphone Manufacturer

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Samsung had overtaken Apple for the title of world's top-selling smartphone manufacturer, relying on a source who indicated that Samsung had shipped over 20 million smartphones in the third quarter, compared to Apple's announced sales of 17.1 million iPhones. Samsung today officially announced its financial results for the third quarter, and while it no longer releases smartphone sales units, it did disclose that smartphone sales were up more than 40% over the previous quarter. With Samsung having been close on Apple's heels during the second quarter and Apple's sales declining in the third quarter as customers waited for the iPhone 4S, that growth enabled Samsung to easily surpass Apple in the smartphone segment. Research firm Strategy Analytics has released its data on smartphone shipments for the third quarter, pegging Samsung at 27.8 million units while Apple barely edged out Nokia for second place by a margin of 17.1 million units to 16.8 million units.Neil Mawston, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “After just one quarter in the top spot, Apple slipped behind Samsung to second position and captured 15 percent share. Apple’s global smartphone growth rate slowed to just 21 percent annually in Q3 2011, its lowest level for two years. We believe Apple’s growth during the third quarter was affected by consumers and operators awaiting the launch of the new iPhone 4S in the fourth quarter, volatile economic conditions in several key countries, and tougher competition from Samsung’s popular Galaxy S2 model.”While Apple is expecting all-time record iPhone sales during the current quarter as the iPhone 4S rolls out around the world, it still may not be enough to overcome Sam sung's significant lead and strong growth. In the overall mobile phone market, Strategy Analytics pegged Apple in fifth place, slipping behind ZTE compared to the previous quarter. Apple's share of the total market fell to 4.4%, down from 5.6% in the second quarter.

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Apple Working with iPhone 4S Owners to Address Battery Life Issues

Since the release of the iPhone 4S, some users have been complaining about poor battery life. Even with Apple having quietly reduced the standby battery life from 300 hours on the iPhone 4 to 200 hours on the iPhone 4S, active-use battery life for the iPhone 4S was supposed to remain the same or better than on the iPhone 4. But some users are indeed seeing rapid battery drains, both while in active use and in standby, suggesting that some sort of background task is sapping the device's battery under certain circumstances, according to The Guardian. One user in particular noted a battery drain of 10% per hour even in standby mode. The user was able to replicate the issue with all features such as Siri and location services turned off, and even on a relatively clean phone with no apps installed, hinting that the battery drain was coming from a core functionality on the device. The user does report, however, that Apple has reached out in an attempt to research the issue, asking to install system monitoring software on the device to help figure out what is going wrong."I then got a call from a senior [Apple] engineer who said he had read my post and was 'reaching out' to users for data and admitted this was an issue (and that they aren't close to finding a fix!) and asked lots of questions about my usage and then asked if he could install the file below and that he would call back the day after to retrieve the info. I extracted the file from my Mac after a sync and emailed it to him. He was incredibly helpful and apologet ic in the typical Apple way!"Apple has yet to offer an explanation for the battery life issue, but anecdotal reports suggest that corrupted contacts may be responsible. Some users have reported that a backup and restore through iTunes can help, but until Apple offers an official solution those affected by the issue may need to experiment with various solutions.

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iPhone 4S Launches in 22 New Countries with 1-2 Week Estimates for Online Orders

Apple today officially launched the iPhone 4S in 22 new countries, marking the second round of launches for the device. The company began taking pre-orders last week ahead of the launch scheduled for the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. iPhone 4S order page for Apple's Swedish online store While Apple does not offer online sales in all of the new launch countries and customers looking to purchase subsidized models on contract will not be able to purchase online, Apple is currently quoting shipping estimates of 1-2 weeks for unlocked devices in nearly all of the new markets with online stores. The lone exception is Singapore, where all iPhone 4S models are listed as currently unavailable. Demand for the iPhone 4S has been high in that country, with reports indicating that carrier partner SingTel sold out of appointment slots to purchase the device within 90 minutes of opening registration earlier this week.

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Apple Themed Pumpkin Carvings Spice Up Halloween [Mac Blog]

Readers have sent in a number of festive Apple-themed pumpkins, including two that emulate Jonathan Mak's interpretation of the Apple logo and another pumpkin interpretation of Albert Watson's famous photograph that now graces the cover of Steve Jobs' biography. By Sbrocket By Raymond Tsai By Kepa By Bill Rennie

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Samsung Easily Tops Apple to Become World's Top Smartphone Manufacturer

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Samsung had overtaken Apple for the title of world's top-selling smartphone manufacturer, relying on a source who indicated that Samsung had shipped over 20 million smartphones in the third quarter, compared to Apple's announced sales of 17.1 million iPhones. Samsung today officially announced its financial results for the third quarter, and while it no longer releases smartphone sales units, it did disclose that smartphone sales were up more than 40% over the previous quarter. With Samsung having been close on Apple's heels during the second quarter and Apple's sales declining in the third quarter as customers waited for the iPhone 4S, that growth enabled Samsung to easily surpass Apple in the smartphone segment. Research firm Strategy Analytics has released its data on smartphone shipments for the third quarter, pegging Samsung at 27.8 million units while Apple barely edged out Nokia for second place by a margin of 17.1 million units to 16.8 million units.Neil Mawston, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “After just one quarter in the top spot, Apple slipped behind Samsung to second position and captured 15 percent share. Apple’s global smartphone growth rate slowed to just 21 percent annually in Q3 2011, its lowest level for two years. We believe Apple’s growth during the third quarter was affected by consumers and operators awaiting the launch of the new iPhone 4S in the fourth quarter, volatile economic conditions in several key countries, and tougher competition from Samsung’s popular Galaxy S2 model.”While Apple is expecting all-time record iPhone sales during the current quarter as the iPhone 4S rolls out around the world, it still may not be enough to overcome Sam sung's significant lead and strong growth. In the overall mobile phone market, Strategy Analytics pegged Apple in fifth place, slipping behind ZTE compared to the previous quarter. Apple's share of the total market fell to 4.4%, down from 5.6% in the second quarter.

Read full article

Apple Releases Aperture 3.2.1 [Mac Blog]

Apple yesterday released Aperture 3.2.1, bringing several bug fixes to the company's professional-level photo editing and management application.What's New in Aperture 3.2.1 - Resolves an issue that could cause Aperture to quit unexpectedly at launch on Macs with Core Duo processors - Addresses problems that could cause the Crop tool to switch to the incorrect orientation or resize incorrectly - Resolves rendering issues when cropping images with Onscreen Proofing enabled - Location menus are now displayed correctly on the map in the Places view when "Photos" is selected in the Library InspectorThe download, which comes on top of the Aperture 3.2 update released earlier this month to support iOS 5 and iCloud, weighs in at 635.76 MB and requires Mac OS X 10.6.8 or OS X 10.7.2.

Read full article

iPhone 4S Launches in 22 New Countries with 1-2 Week Estimates for Online Orders

Apple today officially launched the iPhone 4S in 22 new countries, marking the second round of launches for the device. The company began taking pre-orders last week ahead of the launch scheduled for the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. iPhone 4S order page for Apple's Swedish online store While Apple does not offer online sales in all of the new launch countries and customers looking to purchase subsidized models on contract will not be able to purchase online, Apple is currently quoting shipping estimates of 1-2 weeks for unlocked devices in nearly all of the new markets with online stores. The lone exception is Singapore, where all iPhone 4S models are listed as currently unavailable. Demand for the iPhone 4S has been high in that country, with reports indicating that carrier partner SingTel sold out of appointment slots to purchase the device within 90 minutes of opening registration earlier this week.

Read full article

Apple Themed Pumpkin Carvings Spice Up Halloween [Mac Blog]

Readers have sent in a number of festive Apple-themed pumpkins, including two that emulate Jonathan Mak's interpretation of the Apple logo and another pumpkin interpretation of Albert Watson's famous photograph that now graces the cover of Steve Jobs' biography. By Sbrocket By Raymond Tsai By Kepa By Bill Rennie

Read full article

Google TV Take Two Launches Next Week with Streamlined Interface, Android Apps

Back in May 2010, Google announced plans to launch "Google TV", a software offering available either in a set-top box or built into TV sets and designed to integrate television with the Web. Google TV officially launched in October of that year, but has so far failed to catch on with consumers. Addressing the platform's shortcomings, Google today announced that early next week it will launch a major software update intended to significantly improve the functionality of the Google TV software. Among the most notable improvements are a streamlined interface with improved searching capabilities and compatibility with apps through the Android Market.The interface is now much simpler. The new customizable home screen gets you to your favorite content quickly. And within “all apps” you can see all of your shortcuts, similar to your Android phone or tablet. ... We are opening up the TV to the creativity of content creators large and small through Android Market. Android developers can now bring existing mobile apps or entirely new ones to TV. Initially, the number of apps won’t be large â€" apps requiring a touch screen, GPS, or telephony won’t show up â€" but 50 developers have seeded the Market with cool and useful apps for the TV. We’re excited to see the number of apps grow.The update will be rolling out to Sony devices early next week, with Logitech's set-top boxes set to receive the update shortly after. Google's movements in the television space have been closely watched by Apple observers, in part due to Apple's own efforts in the market with the Apple TV, which was relaunched late last year as a set-top box for streaming content. Apple has also been said to be working on its own connected television set, with the most recent report arriving yesterday and indicating that Apple is seeking to launch a Siri-enabled TV by 2013.

Read full article

Apple Working with iPhone 4S Owners to Address Battery Life Issues

Since the release of the iPhone 4S, some users have been complaining about poor battery life. Even with Apple having quietly reduced the standby battery life from 300 hours on the iPhone 4 to 200 hours on the iPhone 4S, active-use battery life for the iPhone 4S was supposed to remain the same or better than on the iPhone 4. But some users are indeed seeing rapid battery drains, both while in active use and in standby, suggesting that some sort of background task is sapping the device's battery under certain circumstances, according to The Guardian. One user in particular noted a battery drain of 10% per hour even in standby mode. The user was able to replicate the issue with all features such as Siri and location services turned off, and even on a relatively clean phone with no apps installed, hinting that the battery drain was coming from a core functionality on the device. The user does report, however, that Apple has reached out in an attempt to research the issue, asking to install system monitoring software on the device to help figure out what is going wrong."I then got a call from a senior [Apple] engineer who said he had read my post and was 'reaching out' to users for data and admitted this was an issue (and that they aren't close to finding a fix!) and asked lots of questions about my usage and then asked if he could install the file below and that he would call back the day after to retrieve the info. I extracted the file from my Mac after a sync and emailed it to him. He was incredibly helpful and apologet ic in the typical Apple way!"Apple has yet to offer an explanation for the battery life issue, but anecdotal reports suggest that corrupted contacts may be responsible. Some users have reported that a backup and restore through iTunes can help, but until Apple offers an official solution those affected by the issue may need to experiment with various solutions.

Read full article

Apple's Processor Options for Early 2012 Mac Pro Begin to Firm Up

Last week, we noted that Apple is unlikely to update its Mac Pro line until early next year at the soonest, as Intel's Sandy Bridge E processors intended as the successors to the current Mac Pro chips have been delayed until the first quarter of 2012. Newly-released pricing information from CPU World now offers a bit more data to help analyze which of the new E5-2600 and E5-1600 series Xeon processors Apple is likely to use in the next-generation Mac Pro models. Apple's current dual-processor Mac Pro lineup utilizes Intel's "Westmere" processor family, with the E5620, X5650, and X5670 as options. Intel launched those processors last year priced at $387, $996, and $1440 respectively. With pricing for the upcoming E5-2600 series having been revealed, it certainly does appear that Apple will be able to use the $406 6-core 2.0 GHz E5-2620 in its low-end dual-processor configuration at or near the current $3499 pricing. At the mid range, which is currently priced at $4999, the 8-core 2.0 GHz E5-2650 comes in $110 higher than the current E5650, a $220 difference when both processors are accounted for. Apple's options may be limited on this model, however, as stepping down in price would force Apple all the way down to the E5-2640 at $884, a 6-core chip running at 2.5 GHz. The high end of Apple's dual-processor Mac Pro is also a bit murky, with each 8-core 2.6 GHz E5-2670 processor coming in at $1552, over $110 higher than the processors used in the current $5999 Mac Pro. Consequently, Apple could elect to instead use the 8-core 2.4 GHz E5-2665 processor, which is scheduled to carry a $1440 price tag at launch, sacrificing 200 MHz of clock speed to maintain pricing. As for the lower-end single-processor Mac Pro configurations, Apple is likely to utilize Intel's E5-1600 series processor line, also scheduled for launch in the first quarter of 2012. Pricing on those chips was revealed last month, with the forthcoming quad-core 3.6 GHz E5-1620 ($294) and 6-core 3.2 GHz E5-1650 ($583) slotting nicely into the existing low- and mid-range pricing. At the high end of the single-processor line, however, Apple may have to bump up to the E5-1660 at $1080. The E5-1660 carries the same 6-core, 3.3 GHz specs as on the current high-end single-processor model, but offers higher turbo multipliers and L3 cache.

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Apple Lossless Audio Codec Project becomes open source

Apple this week made its Lossless Audio Codec project for high-quality audio files open source under the Apache license, allowing anyone to make their own ALAC files.

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Apple updates Thunderbolt software, Aperture and printer drivers

Following Wednesday's slew of software updates, Apple on Thursday issued a second Thunderbolt software update, alongside new HP and Epson printer drivers and a minor update to Aperture.

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Google TV gaining Android Market, simpler interface with new update

Google on Friday announced that it will issue a major update for its Google TV platform to some devices starting early next week, adding more applications from the Android Market as well as a simpler interface.

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Samsung handset sales surge, profits shrink in the third quarter

South Korean electronics maker Samsung on Friday posted record mobile phone sales and profits for the third quarter of 2011, but the growth wasn't enough to overcome a drop in profit from other segments of the company.

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Nintendo profits evaporate as gamers turn to Apple's iOS

Japanese gaming giant Nintendo revealed on Thursday that it lost $925 million over the six months ending in September due to a sharp drop off of game and console sales, even as healthy sales of Apple's iPhone and iPad continue to establish iOS as an alternative gaming platform.

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Apple engineers working with iPhone 4S users to fix battery woes

Responding to complaints of battery life issues with the iPhone 4S, engineers from Apple are said to have contacted customers directly in an effort to solve any issues.

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Apple board member Andrea Jung facing scrutiny at Avon

Andrea Jung, who has served on Apple's board of directors since 2008, is under fire for performance at her day job, as CEO of cosmetics company Avon.

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Adobe Photoshop CS6 to adopt Aperture-like theme, new 3D functionality

Early betas of Photoshop CS6, an update to Adobe's flagship digital imaging software due next year as part of Creative Suite 6.0 (CS6), show off a darker interface theme, new 3D capabilities, autosave, and a handful of other tool additions, AppleInsider has learned.

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Apple slips to No. 5 handset maker, No. 2 in smartphones after iPhone transition quarter

After buyers holding out for the iPhone 4S resulted in slowed iPhone 4 sales for Apple last quarter, Chinese handset maker ZTE slipped past it to become the fourth-largest global handset maker, while Samsung took the top spot among smartphone vendors worldwide, according to a new analysis.

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Taiwan concerned Apple's slide-to-unlock patent could hurt market

Government officials in Taiwan have expressed concern that Apple's recent success in obtaining a patent for the slide-to-unlock gesture on touchscreen devices could hurt competing smartphone makers.

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Are the new iPhone’s features underwhelming?

Major feature upgrades for iPhone  include a dual antenna system with faster downloads, up to 2x faster downloads, 1080p HD video recording, an 8MP camera, 64GB of storage, Siri, a  voice-based personal assistant., iOS 5, iCloud integration, a processor that’s twice as fast and seven time better graphics than it’s predecessor but a lot of [...]

Read full article

Starbucks offer free iTunes downloads

In a move to either get people reading more, listening to current charting music or simply being kind, Apple have started offering Starbucks customers a free weekly song download and, only this week, a celebratory e-book download. What’s more, ‘Bucks has started up a free WiFi service meaning customers can download their song onto their [...]

Read full article

Student’s tribute to Steve Jobs goes viral

Following the tragic death of Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, a simplistic modification of the synonymous black and white logo has gone viral.   The design, which was made as a tribute after Jobs resigned in August but didn’t receive much attention, features the original Apple logo but with a silhouette of His [...]

Read full article

£50,000 smash-and-grab on London Apple Store

£50,000′s worth of Apple kit was stolen by thieves after smashing the windows of London’s Apple Store in Covent Garden.  Thieves wearing full face helmets and who normally target jewellery store’s in London’s Mayfair, took off with Apple Mac computers, iPads and iPods.  They then made off on motorbikes and mopeds with with most of [...]

Read full article

Will Apple make an iPad Mini?

Will Apple make an iPad Mini or will they not? The Internet has recently been flooded with rumours that an iPad Mini is or will soon be in the makings for a more portable and hid able gadget. However, other areas of the World Wide Web have been putting these rumours down as pure rubbish. [...]

Read full article

Steve Jobs founder of Apple is dead at 56

Steve Jobs founder of Apple has died at 56 the day after the release of the iPhone 4S. After suffering with multiple health issues including pancreatic cancer for 7 years, Mr. Jobs shocked Apple users by stepping down from his position as CEO after a recent conference in Apple’s base city Cupertino. He was then [...]

Read full article

Can the whole tech industry push forward without Steve?

Here is the shrine to remember Steve Jobs outside the Apple store in Regent Street last Friday evening.  Many shoppers and passers by stopped to pay their respect to the former CEO of Apple and had much praise for the work he did. Some people didn’t think he contributed much technology or had other criticisms.   If your [...]

Read full article

Apple to offer app rentals?

In all the anti climatic excitement over the iPhone 4S , is it possible that Apple will begin offering users the chance to rent rather than purchase apps for a select amount of time?A recent discovery by Tech Erra in iTunes 10.5 beta 9 has revealed that Apple may indeed begin offering their users an [...]

Read full article

Steve Jobs tributes continue. (Video Post)

Steve Jobs tributes continue with more and more tributes flooding in around the world. This time a French rock band Bravery In Battle decided to make a music track to pay homage to Steve Jobs who died on October 5th. Bravery In Battle who own various Apple gear such as a Mac, Final Cut Pro [...]

Read full article

Will the Kindle lead to the decline of the iPad?

Will the Kindle be the decline of the iPad? Probably not.  The recently launched Kindle is going to be good upcoming competition to the iPad but as Killik & Co point out “its target market is more the upper end of the ebook readers and the lower end of the tablet market, where the losers [...]

Read full article

Are the new iPhone’s features underwhelming?

Major feature upgrades for iPhone  include a dual antenna system with faster downloads, up to 2x faster downloads, 1080p HD video recording, an 8MP camera, 64GB of storage, Siri, a  voice-based personal assistant., iOS 5, iCloud integration, a processor that’s twice as fast and seven time better graphics than it’s predecessor but a lot of [...]

Read full article

Are the new iPhone’s features underwhelming?

Major feature upgrades for iPhone  include a dual antenna system with faster downloads, up to 2x faster downloads, 1080p HD video recording, an 8MP camera, 64GB of storage, Siri, a  voice-based personal assistant., iOS 5, iCloud integration, a processor that’s twice as fast and seven time better graphics than it’s predecessor but a lot of [...]

Read full article

Steve Jobs founder of Apple is dead at 56

Steve Jobs founder of Apple has died at 56 the day after the release of the iPhone 4S. After suffering with multiple health issues including pancreatic cancer for 7 years, Mr. Jobs shocked Apple users by stepping down from his position as CEO after a recent conference in Apple’s base city Cupertino. He was then [...]

Read full article

Will the Kindle lead to the decline of the iPad?

Will the Kindle be the decline of the iPad? Probably not.  The recently launched Kindle is going to be good upcoming competition to the iPad but as Killik & Co point out “its target market is more the upper end of the ebook readers and the lower end of the tablet market, where the losers [...]

Read full article

Can the whole tech industry push forward without Steve?

Here is the shrine to remember Steve Jobs outside the Apple store in Regent Street last Friday evening.  Many shoppers and passers by stopped to pay their respect to the former CEO of Apple and had much praise for the work he did. Some people didn’t think he contributed much technology or had other criticisms.   If your [...]

Read full article

Steve Jobs founder of Apple is dead at 56

Steve Jobs founder of Apple has died at 56 the day after the release of the iPhone 4S. After suffering with multiple health issues including pancreatic cancer for 7 years, Mr. Jobs shocked Apple users by stepping down from his position as CEO after a recent conference in Apple’s base city Cupertino. He was then [...]

Read full article

£50,000 smash-and-grab on London Apple Store

£50,000′s worth of Apple kit was stolen by thieves after smashing the windows of London’s Apple Store in Covent Garden.  Thieves wearing full face helmets and who normally target jewellery store’s in London’s Mayfair, took off with Apple Mac computers, iPads and iPods.  They then made off on motorbikes and mopeds with with most of [...]

Read full article

Apple to offer app rentals?

In all the anti climatic excitement over the iPhone 4S , is it possible that Apple will begin offering users the chance to rent rather than purchase apps for a select amount of time?A recent discovery by Tech Erra in iTunes 10.5 beta 9 has revealed that Apple may indeed begin offering their users an [...]

Read full article

Student’s tribute to Steve Jobs goes viral

Following the tragic death of Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, a simplistic modification of the synonymous black and white logo has gone viral.   The design, which was made as a tribute after Jobs resigned in August but didn’t receive much attention, features the original Apple logo but with a silhouette of His [...]

Read full article

Starbucks offer free iTunes downloads

In a move to either get people reading more, listening to current charting music or simply being kind, Apple have started offering Starbucks customers a free weekly song download and, only this week, a celebratory e-book download. What’s more, ‘Bucks has started up a free WiFi service meaning customers can download their song onto their [...]

Read full article

Will the Kindle lead to the decline of the iPad?

Will the Kindle be the decline of the iPad? Probably not.  The recently launched Kindle is going to be good upcoming competition to the iPad but as Killik & Co point out “its target market is more the upper end of the ebook readers and the lower end of the tablet market, where the losers [...]

Read full article

Steve Jobs tributes continue. (Video Post)

Steve Jobs tributes continue with more and more tributes flooding in around the world. This time a French rock band Bravery In Battle decided to make a music track to pay homage to Steve Jobs who died on October 5th. Bravery In Battle who own various Apple gear such as a Mac, Final Cut Pro [...]

Read full article

Can the whole tech industry push forward without Steve?

Here is the shrine to remember Steve Jobs outside the Apple store in Regent Street last Friday evening.  Many shoppers and passers by stopped to pay their respect to the former CEO of Apple and had much praise for the work he did. Some people didn’t think he contributed much technology or had other criticisms.   If your [...]

Read full article

Will Apple make an iPad Mini?

Will Apple make an iPad Mini or will they not? The Internet has recently been flooded with rumours that an iPad Mini is or will soon be in the makings for a more portable and hid able gadget. However, other areas of the World Wide Web have been putting these rumours down as pure rubbish. [...]

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Student’s tribute to Steve Jobs goes viral

Following the tragic death of Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, a simplistic modification of the synonymous black and white logo has gone viral.   The design, which was made as a tribute after Jobs resigned in August but didn’t receive much attention, features the original Apple logo but with a silhouette of His [...]

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£50,000 smash-and-grab on London Apple Store

£50,000′s worth of Apple kit was stolen by thieves after smashing the windows of London’s Apple Store in Covent Garden.  Thieves wearing full face helmets and who normally target jewellery store’s in London’s Mayfair, took off with Apple Mac computers, iPads and iPods.  They then made off on motorbikes and mopeds with with most of [...]

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Apple to offer app rentals?

In all the anti climatic excitement over the iPhone 4S , is it possible that Apple will begin offering users the chance to rent rather than purchase apps for a select amount of time?A recent discovery by Tech Erra in iTunes 10.5 beta 9 has revealed that Apple may indeed begin offering their users an [...]

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Starbucks offer free iTunes downloads

In a move to either get people reading more, listening to current charting music or simply being kind, Apple have started offering Starbucks customers a free weekly song download and, only this week, a celebratory e-book download. What’s more, ‘Bucks has started up a free WiFi service meaning customers can download their song onto their [...]

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Steve Jobs tributes continue. (Video Post)

Steve Jobs tributes continue with more and more tributes flooding in around the world. This time a French rock band Bravery In Battle decided to make a music track to pay homage to Steve Jobs who died on October 5th. Bravery In Battle who own various Apple gear such as a Mac, Final Cut Pro [...]

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Will Apple make an iPad Mini?

Will Apple make an iPad Mini or will they not? The Internet has recently been flooded with rumours that an iPad Mini is or will soon be in the makings for a more portable and hid able gadget. However, other areas of the World Wide Web have been putting these rumours down as pure rubbish. [...]

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TVB Koala

Cheaper iPhone in 2012 could triple Apple's booming sales in China

A lower-priced iPhone could generate a nearly three-fold increase in demand for Apple in China, as its device leads soaring demand for 3G handsets and smartphones, according to a new analysis.

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Judge denies Samsung attempt to squash Italian iPhone 4S launch

A judge on Wednesday denied SamsungÂ's request for an injunction on Apple's new iPhone 4S sales in Italy ahead of this Friday's local launch.

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Steve Jobs stayed tag-less by leasing a new car every six months

One well-known quirk about Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was that he never had a California tag affixed to his Mercedes -- something made possible through a legal loophole.

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Apple overtakes Nokia in China as iPhone brand, sales surge

Apple's smartphone brand has surged ahead of Nokia among Chinese buyers' preference for their next 3G handset, as more than a third express a preference for iPhone, twice that for Nokia's models.

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iTunes Match beta reset on Thursday points to imminent launch

Apple notified developers on Wednesday evening that it will reset iTunes Match beta accounts on Oct. 27th in order to improve the "overall quality and reliability" of the service ahead of its upcoming public launch.

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Apple grows employee headcount to 60K, building space to 13.2M square feet

A recently filed 10-K form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by Apple reveals that the number of full-time employees at the company has swelled to 60,400, while owned or leased building space has increased to 13.2 million square feet.

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Rumor: Apple manufacturers facing difficulties with high-res screens for iPad 3

Apple's suppliers are said to have come up against challenges in their efforts to mass produce a high-resolution Retina-like display for the iPad 3, a new report claims.

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Apple issues EFI Firmware, iPhoto, QuickTime updates

Apple on Wednesday issued EFI Firmware updates for its Thunderbolt-equipped iMac, Mac Mini, Macbook Pro and Macbook Air computers, as well as minor updates to QuickTime for Windows and iPhoto.

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Apple exploring 3D gestures to control devices from a distance

Apple is investigating new ways of interacting with devices, such as using hand gestures to navigate and control a video recording system without touching anything.

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Samsung appeals injunction barring Galaxy Tab sales in Australia

Samsung on Thursday appealed a court decision that banned sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia due to alleged infringement of patents owned by Apple.

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