Sony to make their own iPad?

 

At this point since I am not very satisfied with the Apple iPad I am welcoming any and all companies that are developing tablets. Sony is now claiming they will be building their own tablet in the near future, according to Sony’s CFO Nobuyuki Oneda:

“[Slates are] a market we are also very interested in. We are confident we have the skills to create a product…Time-wise we are a little behind the iPad but it’s a space we would like to be an active player in.”

Sony does make pretty decent electronics, their Vaio laptop line are a good set of computers, their TV’s and other electronics are great as well. But their PSP Go is ho-hum. The PSP has good games, much better than what I have seen on the iPhone but has done horrible in sales, and it’s UI is nothing to really be amazed with.
However imagine a PSP combined with a Sony Vaio, all in a handy tablet shaped touch screen device – and you might be on to something Sony. I don’t think it could be worse than the iPad.

Paperboy Classic now available

 

Paperboy Classic is now available in the App Store, for your classic gaming fix. As of now the game is selling for $0.99, but that is listed as being an introductory price. The regular price, which is $2.99 is supposed to go into effect as of February 10.
Those of you that played Paperboy back in the day know the game is awesome and addictive, but you younger readers really need to check this game out as well.
This classic version just released is a teaser to the 3D version expected in the near future for release on the iPhone.

Sky Siege augmented reality game

 

Augmented reality is still a somewhat new concept for iPhone gamers, but has been around a little while now. However, their is not a whole lot of great games out there that use the augmented reality style, that really do the genre any justice.
Sky Siege is looking to change that. Available now on iTunes for 3 bucks, Sky Siege uses the 3GS compass and the accelerometer to bring an aerial defence game to your surroundings. Use your rocket launchers to fend off the helicopter gun ships from gunning you down. Check out the video below to see the app in action:

AT&T very likely to keep iPhone exclusivity?

 

Jonathan Chaplin, Research analyst  for Credit Suisse – believes that we can expect AT&T to keep the exclusivity to the iPhone through 2010. and possibly longer.

“Our analysis suggests that Apple will eventually sell the device at all carriers; however, there is a much greater probability that AT&T keeps exclusivity for another 12-18 months than investors realize,” Chaplin wrote. “We think this has profound impacts for Apple, the carriers and the other handset OEMs.”

The bottom line consensus from Credit Suisse is that the probability AT&T will keep the exclusivity to the iPhone is 75%

“We conclude there is only a 50% probability that it (exclusivity) ends in 2010,” Chaplin wrote. “Next, we try to determine whether AT&T bids for another year of exclusivity if exclusivity does end in 2010. We conclude they would and they can afford to compensate Apple such that Apple would be economically indifferent. Our approach yields a 25% probability for this outcome. Taken together, we see a 75% probability that AT&T keeps exclusivity for another year.”

This could bring a giant shift in smartphone consumers. Will the iPhone lovers stay with AT&T if this comes to fruition, just to keep their iPhone? If so this could swing a whole lot of those consumers that were patiently waiting on Verizon to get the famed iPhone and bring in a lot of new AT&T users. Or will we [iPhone user's] say to hell with AT&T the iPhone is not worth the headache of their crap service – and jump ship for a Droid phone or the Nexus One?
Personally if AT&T keeps the exclusive rights to the iPhone, I would definitely look to grab up a Droid or Nexus One. I am very fed up with the amount of dropped calls I get and lack of 3G coverage.
What say you readers? Would you stick with AT&T to keep your iPhone?

Dev Team releases Jailbreaking tool 3.1.5

 

The Dev Team has just released an update to PwnageTool. The newest version is 3.1.5 and it will work on Apple’s latest firmware update 3.1.3 however, for the moment this PwnageTool (3.1.5)  is only available for the Mac OS X.
PwnageTool 3.1.5 will allow you to create custom firmware so you will still be able to Jailbreak your iPhones while enjoying the newest 3.1.3 update.
If you plan on using the newest PwnageTool to jailbreak your 3.1.3 updated iPhone, I reccomend make sure to visit the Dev Team official site for more details before trying it out.

SD Cards for your iPhone finally

Finally someone has come out with the SD card reader peripheral. Working in conjunction with their ZoomIt app, the ZoomIt dongle connects throught the iPhone’s/iPod’s docking connector.
Now you can load photos, music and miscellaneous files (like PowerPoint, PDF and anything else supported by iPhone OS) from an SD card, using the ZoomIt.
This is truly exciting for most people that are on the go business types or students. I don’t know how many times I have needed something like this, and now it’s soon going to be available.
You can pre-order the ZoomIt for $50 now. It’ll actually be available this April.

Apple Refocusing Final Cut Pro? Jobs says "Next Release Will Be Awesome"

Apple is said to be revamping their Final Cut Pro product to appeal to a more mainstream audience rather than high end professionals. After layoffs in 2007, Apple has reportedly reorganized the Final Cut Pro team under the lead of Randy Ubillos, the developer who completely redesigned iMovie in 2008. The new iMovie was drastic departure from the original iMovie codebase.

According to a report from AppleInsider, the goal of the new Final Cut Pro is to make it "more appealing and useful to the needs of prosumers".

Currently, Final Cut Pro is targeted at advanced professionals with a scaled down, less expensive Final Cut Express version sold to users who don't need all of its high end features. Because Apple now primarily sells the Express version, the company wants to rethink Final Cut Studio and scale its overall development to better fit the majority of its customers.

Steve Jobs was recently questioned about the fate of Final Cut Pro. MacSoda sent an email to Jobs asking about layoffs and the future of the application. Jobs replied:

We certainly do [care about Pro apps]. Folks who left were in support, not engineering. Next release will be awesome.

'We have never, ever abandoned Apple,' Adobe co-founder says

Adobe has continued to push back against Apple's opposition to Flash, insisting that the Web format is open, and dismissing a suggestion from Steve Jobs that Adobe abandoned Apple.

Adobe co-founder Chuck Geschke spoke with John Paczkowski of Digital Daily this week, just after his company had unveiled an open letter and new advertising campaign related to its ongoing dispute with Apple. Adobe's campaign is largely in response to an open letter published by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs last month, in which he argued that Flash is not suitable for the current generation of mobile devices.

Paszckowski asked Geschke about one line in particular from Jobs' letter: "Apple went through its near death experience, and Adobe was drawn to the corporate market with their Acrobat products." Paszckowski said he felt the Apple CEO was implying that Adobe had abandoned Apple in its time of need.

"We never abandoned Apple," Geschke responded. "Apple now seems to be abandoning at least one aspect of our product line right now. No, we never abandoned them. We've always ported our apps simultaneously to both platforms."

He continued: "There have been times when Apple has changed its strategy on hardware or on operating systems that didn’t meet our product cycle, so there have been periods of maybe six months where we didn't keep up with their latest release. But that’s our own business model; we can only afford to re-implement our products at a certain rate. We have never, ever abandoned Apple and we don’t want to abandon them today."

Geschke was also asked why Flash isn't an "open standard," a question that the Adobe co-founder took issue with. He argued that Flash is open because Adobe published the SWF format and removed a previous requirement for a license to use it.

"No, we haven't put Flash out to a standards body yet as we have with PDF and Postscript," he said. "But I wouldn't be shocked if we do someday when it makes sense."

It doesn't make sense now, he said, because he isn't interested in having Flash being stuck with "design by committee." He pointed to HTML5, the open standard that Apple has embraced, and noted that it is taking a great deal of time to become finalized because "there are an awful lot of vested interests trying to influence its development."

Finally, Geschke said he thinks the iPad is "neat," though he has no interest in one personally. He said his company knows a number of developers who want to create applications for the iPad, but are frustrated by the prospect of having to learn to write for a new device rather than sticking with one language they're already familiar with.

Geschke's interview was part of a new public relations campaign Adobe has waged to fight Apple. On Thursday, the company began a new ad campaign in which it says it "loves" Apple, but dislikes "anybody taking away your freedom to use the Web openly. Geschke, along with co-founder John Warnock, penned a letter in which they asserted that a "single company" does not control the Web.

"We believe that Apple, by taking the opposite approach, has taken a step that could undermine this next chapter of the web -- the chapter in which mobile devices outnumber computers, any individual can be a publisher, and content is accessed anywhere and at any time," they wrote.

While Apple has banned Flash from its devices powered by the iPhone OS, including the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, it has embraced HTML5. The exclusion of Flash has been pegged by Apple on the Web format's alleged instability and high power consumption in mobile devices. The fight between the two companies has been a matter of considerable debate, but many major Web sites have turned to HTML5 since the release of the iPad.

In addition to banning Flash from its mobile Web browsers, Apple also changed the iPhone developer agreement to ban third-party tools that would allow software to be ported from other formats, like Adobe Flash, to native iPhone OS software. Jobs said such tools would result in substandard applications on the Apple-controlled App Store. Those changes have come under federal scrutiny, as the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are considering an antitrust inquiry into the matter.

Hulu on the iPad? but not for free

Reports are going around the net that Hulu wants to bring it’s streaming services to the iPad – however if it were to happen it would most likely be a paid for service.
The likely problem Hulu would be facing is not integrating with html5, since Flash is not a feature likely to grace the iPad, but to get the green light from Apple since it would be directly competing with the similar service iTunes provides.
Most likely this is a dream deal that may never come to fruition – but the alternative is that Hulu could in fact work through the iPads browser which is outside the realms of Apples control really. Then the only issue left for Hulu to settle is the paid service itself. Hulu has yet to reveal just what exactly a paid for service would include, nor have they made to much clear on what will remain free – if anything at all.

Adobe-Apple war on Flash reminiscent of PostScript struggle

Three years of mounting tensions between Apple and Adobe Systems over the availability of Flash on devices running the iPhone OS have exploded into a battle of scathing attacks in both directions. Adobe is now advertising its "love" for Apple, despite enumerating the company's sins that it hates.

The character of the attacks in today's Flash Wars seems extraordinary, but is certainly not unprecedented, as sources familiar with the events from two decades ago remind us. That's because this latest skirmish isn't the first time Apple has sent Adobe into wildly frothy hysterics due to a perceived jilting.

This All Happened Before

Back in the late 80s, Adobe had a very different software monopoly in place. Rather than controlling the platform for creating and delivering dynamic content on the web with Flash, Adobe was sitting upon PostScript, a platform for creating and delivering digital content via print.

PostScript was Adobe's original product, taken from Xerox PARC's hotbed of innovation and commercialized by company founders John Warnock and Charles Geschke. Three years after launching Adobe, Steve Jobs created a partnership with the company that licensed its PostScript page description technology to drive Apple's new LaserWriter, with Apple also investing $2.5 million in Adobe for a 15% stake in the company.

Paul Brainerd started a third company to pioneer this emerging desktop publishing market; it was named Aldus and its flagship product was PageMaker, running on Apple's Macs and using PostScript to create high resolution print output via the LaserWriter. Apple actually announced the LaserWriter on the same day Aldus unveiled PageMaker. Together, Apple, Aldus and Adobe created the emerging market for desktop publishing.

As a middleware platform, Adobe's PostScript became so essential to desktop publishing and the Mac that Adobe could charge pretty much whatever it wanted for the software and the "Type 1" fonts it used. In 1989, Apple's replacement for Jobs, Jean-Louis Gassée, approached Adobe seeking a cheaper version of PostScript for use on Apple's new low-priced Macs then in the product pipeline. Adobe refused. This prompted Apple to seek market-based solution to Adobe's greed: it began to investigate alternatives to PostScript.

Microsoft had acquired TrueImage, a PostScript clone that could replace Adobe's language in laser printers. Apple itself had developed an operating system font scaling technology it called TrueType, for drawing smooth fonts on the screen that could be rendered at high resolution on a printer. The two companies agreed to cross license their technologies to make both widely available across the Mac and Windows platforms, erasing any need for anyone to keep paying for Adobe's overpriced PostScript software and the Type 1 fonts it required.

Adobe's scorn, vilification and trash talking from 20 years ago

At the Seybold Desktop Publishing Conference in San Francisco on September 20, 1989, Apple and Microsoft jointly presented their new TrueType partnership. Adobe's Warnock was enraged. He publicly castigated Apple and Microsoft, saying, "That's the biggest bunch of garbage and mumbo jumbo," and speaking on the verge of tears, he emphatically added, "What those people are selling you is snake oil!"

The TrueType announcement seemed to eviscerate Adobe's future prospects. Apple dumped its holdings in Adobe as the company's stock price plummeted. Apple still ended up profiting $79 million on its original investment in Adobe, according to Jim Carlton's book "Apple: The Inside Story of Intrigue, Egomania, and Business Blunders."

Following the fallout between Apple and Adobe, Adobe rushed its new Adobe Type Manager to market to enable its Type 1 PostScript fonts to be used on the Mac desktop just like TrueType fonts. Adobe also eased up on its prices and negotiated with Apple new terms to keep PostScript on its LaserWriters. In the PC world, TrueType and PostScript-clone printers became more popular, despite being problematic, because they were cheaper. Apple's continued exclusive licensing of Adobe's PostScript for its LaserWriters eventually helped drive Apple out of the printer business as cheaper alternatives became available. Adobe's lock on desktop publishing with PostScript had been broken.

Adobe branches out into apps

Despite continuing to do most of its business with Apple, Adobe strengthened its position with Windows to hedge its bets in application software. It also began making efforts to build a portfolio of creative apps to join its own Illustrator drawing tool. It first eyed Aldus, which not only sold the popular PageMaker, but also sold a competitor to Adobe's Illustrator named FreeHand.

Adobe had earlier "unwittingly given a nearly free and unlimited PostScript license" to FreeHand, according to an early Aldus employee familiar with the events. Aldus FreeHand was now trouncing Adobe's Illustrator, so Adobe planned to buy Aldus in 1994 and simply erase its competitor in the market for professional drawing applications.

The problem, as Adobe later discovered, was that FreeHand wasn't actually owned by Aldus; Altsys, its developer, only sold the title through Aldus, so the deal couldn't take FreeHand off the market, much to Adobe's chagrin. FreeHand's developer subsequently sold itself to Macromedia in 1995, which became Adobe's primary competitor in digital creative apps over the next decade. Adobe wouldn't subsequently take FreeHand off the market until 2005, when it purchased Macromedia. That $3.4 billion deal also gave Adobe more than just creative apps: it gave it a new PostScript-like platform: Flash.

Incidentally, a reader adds: "freefreehand.org has been setup to recruit members and raise funds to try to convince Adobe through legal means to divest itself of FreeHand, which they are trying to let die a slow death. Fortunately this skirmish with Apple has helped shed a tad of light on how hypocritical Adobe is regarding 'healthy competition' and all the other drivel they are spouting regarding Apple spurning Flash."

Affidavit in prototype iPhone case reveals Steve Jobs contacted Gizmodo

After Gizmodo paid $5,000 to obtain a prototype iPhone that was lost by an Apple engineer, the company's chief executive personally contacted the website's editor to request that the phone be returned.

The affidavit in the case was unsealed Friday by Judge Clifford Cretan in San Mateo County, Calif. CNet had a first look at the document, which revealed the phone call between Steve Jobs and Gizmodo editor Brian Lam.

"... after Gizmodo.com released its story regarding the iPhone prototype on or about 4/19/2010, Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) contacted the editor of Gizmodo.com, Brian Lam," the document reads. "Jobs requested that Lam return the phone to Apple. Lam responded via the e-mail address...that he would return the iPhone on the condition that Apple provided him with a letter stating the iPhone belonged to Apple."

The affidavit also reveals the story already known publicly: that an Apple engineer lost the iPhone, and it was obtained by another individual who sold the phone to Gizmodo for $5,000. It specifically named Brian Hogan as the individual who "found or stole a prototype iPhone 4G."

"Upon receiving the stolen property, Chen disassembled the iPhone, thereby causing it to be damaged," the document reads. "Chen created copies of the iPhone prototype in the form of digital images and video, which were subsequently published on the Internet based magazine Gizmodo.com."

Earlier this month, a number of media outlets asked the court to unseal the affidavit in the prototype iPhone case. The warrant was used to seize the computers of Chen, the Gizmodo editor. Media outlets said the affidavit needed to be made public to determine whether the police raid was legal.

Similar documents are typically made public within 10 days, but the paperwork related to the raid, which occurred on April 23, remained sealed by the court until Friday afternoon. Cretan decided Friday to unseal the documents as the judge determined that making their contents public would not compromise the ongoing investigation.

Gizmodo affidavit says roommate's tip led police to iPhone

Police were alerted to investigate Brian Hogan's possession of the prototype iPhone after his roommate called Apple Security out of fear she might be considered an accomplice in the theft.

A new report by Kim Zetter published by Wired identified the roommate named in the affidavit, and reported that she contacted contacted Apple after Hogan connected the prototype iPhone to her computer.

The investigating detective wrote in the affidavit that "[The roommate] contacted Apple in order to absolve herself of criminal responsibility.” The tip resulted in police preparing a search warrant for Hogan's apartment.

Zetter reported that the roommate contacted police again two days later, before the search warrant had been served, as Hogan and his other roommate, Thomas Warner, were preparing to remove evidence from their home, including a desktop computer, serial number stickers from the iPhone, a thumb drive and a memory card.

That tip sent police on a chase following both Hogan and Warner in different directions. The police found Hogan at his parents house, and Hogan then called Warner. Both men eventually cooperated in divulging the location of the items, which were scattered in various locations: the PC had been left at a church, while the stickers were dropped at a gas station and the other items had been thrown in a bush.

The roommate had also reported to Apple "that Hogan had found the phone and had been offering it to news outlets in exchange for a payment, despite having identified Powell as the rightful owner from a Facebook page visible on the phone’s display when he found it."

In contrast with Wired's original report which suggested Hogan was diligently working to find a news organization that could help him return the phone, the affidavit says Hogan reportedly told his roommate, "Sucks for him [the Apple engineer]. He lost his phone. Shouldn't have lost his phone."

The roommate also revealed that Hogan had told her he had obtained a total of $8,500 from the stolen phone, and that he was expecting another bonus from Gizmodo once Apple officially announced the product. Wired's earlier report described Hogan's transaction as "sharing."

After selling the prototype to Gizmodo, the affidavit revealed that Steve Jobs contacted the site's editor, Brian Lam, to ask for its return. Lam "responded via the e-mail address...that he would return the iPhone on the condition that Apple provided him with a letter stating the iPhone belonged to Apple."

The affidavit also notes that Apple reported that the iPhone prototype was "invaluable" and that "the publication of Gizmodo’s story was 'immensely damaging' to the company, because consumers would stop buying current generation iPhones in anticipation of the upcoming product," according to Zetter's report.

Apple also complains in the affidavit that Gizmodo's disassembly of the prototype left it damaged. The affidavit also says that the photos Gizmodo took and published were an act of copying trade secrets, and that Gizmodo's Jason Chen was under investigation for receipt of stolen property.

That indicates that the affidavit used for the search warrant was not merely an attempt to discern Chen's sources as a journalist, but rather the investigation of criminal conduct, which shield laws can not absolve journalists from.

Zetter noted that the affidavit "supports the story, offered by Gizmodo and Hogan’s attorney, that the phone was found, and not stolen from the Apple employee," noting that the engineer said it was "possible, but unlikely, that it was stolen from the bag" he had placed it in.

"However," Zetter added, "it’s generally considered theft under California law if one 'finds lost property under circumstances that give him knowledge of or means of inquiry as to the true owner' and yet appropriates the property for his own use 'without first making reasonable and just efforts to find the owner and to restore the property to him.'"

Brothers in Arms 2 App now available

Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front has hit the app store! [$7.99 - iTunes link]. This is a sequel to Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes, One of the first 3D shooters on the iPhone which was released in 2008.

Obviously the sequel would expectantly be a huge improvement since it’s 2008 predecessor. Here are some of the games features:

* Battle across 5 locations: Pacific, Normandy, North Africa, Germany, Sicily.
* Challenge up to 5 friends on five multiplayer maps online
* Pilot 3 vehicles including the tank, off-road vehicle or glider, or gun down enemies from the vehicle
* A wide range of realistic weapons: machine guns, bazookas, sniper rifles, flamethrowers and more.
* Compelling cinematic moments with more interaction between you and your squad members
* Stunning graphics and authentic settings inspired by real life battlefields from WWII.

Foxconn to ship 24M next-gen iPhones with improved displays in 2010

Foxconn, the manufacturer of Apple's fourth-generation iPhone, will ship 24 million units in 2010, with new LCD displays that include IPS and FFS technology for improved e-book reading capabilities, according to component makers.

Industry sources shared the information with Ming-Chi Kuo, analyst with Digitimes. The Taiwanese industry publication reported Monday that Apple's next-generation iPhone will adopt the same in-plane switching (IPS) technology for superior viewing angles on its LCD display as the iPad. The new iPhone display will also reportedly include fringe-field switching, or FFS, technology.

"By incorporating FFS technology, which enables a wider viewing angle and clearer visual quality under in sunlight, Apple is aiming to improve the handset's e-book reader functions and promote its iBooks store," the report said. "HTC's Hero smartphone has already adopted this technology."

Foxconn is expected to ship 4.5 million next-generation handsets in June alone. The report also reconfirmed that the next iPhone will have a 960x640 pixel double-resolution display. Screens will reportedly be supplied by LG Display and Prime View International.

But the report also claimed that the next-generation iPhone will include 512MB of RAM from Samsung. That specifically contradicts the markings on a leaked iPhone prototype from Vietnam that was dismantled and pictured last week. The labels on that phone's A4 processor indicated that it included 256MB of system RAM -- the same amount found in the recently released iPad.

Finally, Kuo said suppliers indicated the new iPhone's display panel is 33 percent thinner than previous generation devices, which will allow more space within the handset for larger battery modules, supplied by Simplo Technology and Dynapack International Technology. The larger battery was confirmed in Gizmodo's teardown of an obtained iPhone prototype, which found a battery 19 percent larger than the current iPhone's power supply.

AT&T says high-speed HSPA+ will reach 250M Americans in 2010

AT&T this week announced that its high-speed HSPA+ data network upgrade will bring theoretical maximum 14.4Mbps download speeds to more than 250 million Americans by the end of 2010.

The exclusive iPhone carrier in the U.S. plans to cover most of America with its network upgrade, which will double speeds on the company's existing 3G network, AT&T Operations CEO John Stankey disclosed at a Reuters event. According to Engadget, the upgrade could realistically offer most users download speeds between 7.2Mbps and 14.4Mbps.

Currently, the theoretical maximum speed for AT&T's 3G network is 7.2Mbps, thanks to an upgrade that was initiated last year with the launch of the iPhone 3GS. High Speed Packet Access 7.2 rollout began in late 2009, with initial expansion to six major U.S. cities. The theoretical maximum bandwidth is only possible under ideal conditions, and does not mean that most users will attain those speeds on their mobile device.

Last year, AT&T said it planned to offer HSPA 7.2 speeds in 25 of the nation's 30 largest markets by the end of 2010, but this week's announcement -- while not offering any specifics on which cities will receive the upgrade -- suggests that AT&T is ahead of schedule in deploying the high-speed 3G network. The iPhone 3GS is a HSPA 7.2-compatible phone.

Of course, HSPA+ is just a step on the transition to LTE, or Long Term Evolution, a next-generation 4G data network that AT&T plans to begin deploying in 2011. In February, AT&T revealed that it had partnered with Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson in preparation for next year's commercial deployment of the high-speed 4G network, which will require the installation of new equipment.

The coming transition to LTE networks, of which AT&T competitor Verizon will also be a part, is expected to cost U.S. carriers an estimated $1.78 billion each in the first year alone. AT&T's 2010 network expansions, which include HSPA+ rollout and preparation for LTE, will be a part of between $18 billion and $19 billion in capital expenditures for the company this year.

Another leak from Vietnam reveals Apple's 13-inch MacBook refresh

Apple's entry-level MacBook will soon receive a refresh with a 2.4GHz processor and Nvidia 320M mobile graphics and an LED backlit display, as revealed in a new leak.

The new MacBook was obtained by Tinte, the same website that also got their hands on a prototype of Apple's next-generation iPhone this week. The new MacBook (identified as model MacBook7,1) uses a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, up from the existing 2.26GHz model.

It also gets the same Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM as the MacBook Pro. That's an update from the existing GeForce 9400M of the "MacBook6,1" entry level white MacBook.

The new model also gets the improved, streamlined MagSafe connector as the latest MacBook Pro models, which points the adapter cord backward rather than perpendicular from the body. It has the same 1280x800 pixel widescreen display, a 250GB 5400 RPM hard drive, and 2GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM from the previous MacBook update.

Apple last updated its entry level MacBook line in October of 2009, giving the $999 machine a polycarbonate unibody design, LED-backlit display, multi-touch trackpad, and built-in battery with 7 hours of run time.

AppleInsider published an in-depth review of the latest MacBook Pros released last month detailing the CPU and graphics changes that now appear to be making their way into the entry level MacBook.

Apples 2 billion dollar data center revelaed (Video)

A while back we reported that Apple has invested about 2 billion bucks into the building of a new giant data farm in North Carolina. Not much more has been revealed about its specific purposes, maybe a super MobileMe or iTunes, or whatever else crazy Steve Jobs can come up with.

Check out the video fly by clip below of the new Apple mega center!

Apple edges Motorola with 3% global cell phone market share

Apple moved ahead of rival Motorola in unit sales in the first quarter of 2010, with the iPhone taking a 3 percent share of the total cell phone market.

Apple's 8.75 million iPhones shipped in the first three months of 2010 managed to edge Motorola, which sold 8.5 million handsets during the same period, according to new data from iSuppli. Apple during the quarter was the No. 6 overall cell phone maker in the world, while Motorola came in at 8. iSuppli called Apple's growth in the global market a "changing of the guard" in the cell phone industry.

Apple was propelled by 130.7 percent year-over-year growth, up significantly from the 3.79 million iPhones sold in the first quarter of 2009. The Cupertino, Calif., company still remains behind Research in Motion, which has 3.6 percent of the market with 10.47 million BlackBerrys sold in the first quarter of 2010.

The numbers serve to illustrate what a small portion smartphones are of the overall cell phone market. The top global brand during the quarter was Nokia, which sold a total of 107.8 million cell phones and smartphones during the quarter. Competitors Apple and RIM, however, do not sell traditional cell phones.

"Smart phones represent the hottest segment of the cell phone market, with unit shipment growth of 35.5 percent expected in 2010, compared to 11.3 percent for the overall mobile handset business,” noted Tina Teng, senior analyst, wireless communications, for iSuppli. "Because of this, companies that are exclusively focused on this area, like RIM and Apple, have managed to move up to near the top-tier of the global cell phone business. This shows that the smart phone is reshaping the competitive landscape of the wireless business."

The latest numbers also demonstrate how far Motorola has fallen: In the first quarter of 2007, the company was the second-largest cell phone shipper in the world, behind only Nokia. Recently, Motorola has shifted its focus to higher margin smartphones, like the Droid.

"While Motorola’s ranking and share declined in the first quarter, the company did manage to make significant improvement in profit during the period, with its margin rising by 19 percentage points compared to the first quarter of 2009," Teng said. "This shows that Motorola is on the right track in its product mix, focusing on more profitable devices like Droid."

The report noted that the smartphone market is expected to continue to grow, which could result in both RIM and Apple ousting some of the biggest players in the global cell phone market. Within their sights is No. 4 Sony Ericsson, which has 3.6 percent of the market, but fell 27.6 percent year-over-year in the first quarter.

"It will be interesting to see how much more market share RIM and Apple can gain in 2010," Teng said.

NPD data shows Apple on pace to sell 3.2M Macs in June quarter

NPD unit sales for April -- the first month of the June quarter -- show that domestic Mac sales were up 39 percent year over year, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. He now believes Mac sales will grow over 2009 between 19 percent and 23 percent.

At the current pace, Apple would sell between 3.1 million and 3.2 million Macs in the June quarter, while Wall Street consensus is 3.1 million, or 19 percent. The NPD numbers suggest that the April launch of the iPad had a minimal effect on Mac sales.

"April NPD data gives us the first sign of the degree to which the iPad cannibalizes iPod or Mac sales," Munster wrote. "From the early NPD data, it appears that the iPad has a minimal cannibalization impact on Mac sales, and it could be slightly cannibalizing iPod sales."

He noted that Apple has "successfully limited" the functionality of the iPad to ensure that it serves primarily as a content consumption device. That means consumers will still have to turn to the Mac for content creation.

But in Munster's eyes, the cannibalization of iPod sales is a good thing: The iPad has an average selling price four times higher than the iPod, and it is expected to have a significant profit margin, making any consumer transition a positive for Apple's bottom line.

GQ magazine iPad sales start slow, but publisher has high hopes

Publisher Conde Nast contacted AppleInsider Tuesday to point to a story from Peter Kafka at MediaMemo, in which it was revealed that GQ saw a spike in application sales when the iPad and iPad 3G were launched. However, the publisher did not give specific numbers, because they don't have an iPad-specific app. The application has sold 57,000 total copies since it debuted in December.

Pete Hunsinger, vice president and publisher of GQ, told Min Online that the December 2009 "Men of the Year" issue of the magazine earned $1,091.35 in total sales. But the publisher said the iPad edition costs his magazine nothing, and he believes that the sales will become more significant in the future.

"This costs us nothing extra, no printing or postage," he said. "Everything is profit, and I look forward to the time when iPad issue sales become a major component to our circulation."

In fact, Hunsinger expects sales to pick up quickly, starting with the upcoming June issue featuring model Miranda Kerr on the cover. He added that the iPad brings "added value to advertisers."

The GQ application on the App Store costs $2.99, and includes the current issue in the iPhone- and iPad-compatible software. Additional in-app purchases of other issues are available for $1.99 each. Those prices are lower than the $4.99 newsstand price.

Even before it was formally announced, publishers showed great interest in the iPad. Some in the print world have viewed the new device as a possible new revenue opportunity as the print business continues to struggle with declining readership and increasing cost of print.