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Posts Tagged ‘Apple Ipod’

Rumor: Will Apple add a camera flash to the iPhone?

Filed under: Hardware, Multimedia, Rumors, Apple, iPhone, iPod touch

Isn’t competition wonderful? Apple Insider is citing a well-placed source saying Apple is grabbing significant quantities of LED flash devices for use in the iPhone — possibly for the iPod touch as well, if Apple decides to add a camera to that product.

“People familiar with Apple’s initiative claim the electronics maker is seeking allotments of LED camera flash components in the tens of millions for delivery during the 2010 calendar year, meaning future iPhones — and possibly the iPod touch — are the most likely recipients of those parts, due to their sales volume. Those same people say that Philips’ Lumileds Lighting sector is believed to be the front-runner for Apple’s business and may have already secured the design win. “

Other reports say Apple has placed an order with Omnivision Technologies for 5 megapixel camera sensors. The current 3.2 megapixel Apple currently offers is looking a bit stale in light of 5 MP chips on some of the newer Android phones. I wouldn’t be surprised to see multi-tasking finally make it to the iPhone in an upcoming iteration as well.

While Apple has a top selling smartphone, the competition will certainly push Apple into adding more features to keep a dominant position. Google Voice and Google Navigation anyone?

TUAWRumor: Will Apple add a camera flash to the iPhone? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Congrats Palm: you’ve finally hit 1% of the App Store’s total.

Filed under: App Store

On September 27, 2005 Jon Rubinstein, Palm CEO and former Apple Vice President of the iPod Division, said Apple would be silly to get into the mobile handset marketplace:

Is there a toaster that also knows how to brew coffee? There is no such combined device, because it would not make anything better than an individual toaster or coffee machine. It works the same way with the iPod, the digital camera or mobile phone: it is important to have specialized devices.

We all know what’s happened since – Apple dominates the smartphone market while Palm struggles. But you gotta give them something, don’t you? So Palm, congratulations on finally crossing the thousand-app barrier. Give us a ring in 2024 when you pass the 25,000 app mark.

TUAWCongrats Palm: you’ve finally hit 1% of the App Store’s total. originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dozen Daily Deals for December 27, 2009

Filed under: Deals

‘Tis the season to shop until your brains melt (or skip it all entirely, depending on your interpretation of the term holiday). In that spirit, for the next few weeks we’ll be rounding up a dozen daily deals courtesy our friends at DealNews.com. Each afternoon tune in to TUAW for this handy summary. Keep in mind that while our posts will live on, the deals won’t. Each is lovingly generated by the deal-bot every day, so get ‘em while they’re hot. Enjoy!

• PopCap Games: [PC Games] PopCap Games Holiday Sale: 50% off all games, deals for $10
• Musician’s Friend: Musician’s Friend coupon: 15% off select items
• Geeks.com: [Notebook Carrying Cases] AWP 14″ Molded Laptop Backpack for $15 + $9 s&h
• Kohls: [Books & Magazines] Kohl’s sale: 50% off 2010 team calendars + extra 20% off, free shipping
• Tanga: [Magazines] 1-Year Subscription to Entrepreneur Magazine for $3
• SupermediaStore: [CD/DVD Cases] 4 SuperMediaStore 104-Disc CD / DVD Wallets for $20 + free shipping, more
• Sears: [Plasma TVs] Samsung 50″ 600Hz 720p Plasma Widescreen HDTV for $700 + pickup
• Kohls: [Digital Camcorders] Shift3 Slide Mini Digital Camcorder for $32 + free shipping
• Best Buy: [46" - 47" LCD TVs] Samsung 46″ 120Hz 1080p Widescreen LCD HDTV for $1,000 + pickup
• Beach Camera: [50" - 52" LCD TVs] Sharp AQUOS 52″ 1080p Widescreen LCD HDTV for $999 + free shipping
• Apple Store: [iPods] Refurbished Apple iPod nano 16GB MP3 Player for $129 + free shipping
• Staples: [Color Inkjet Printers] Brother MFC-790CW Wireless All-In-One Printer w/ Touchscreen LCD for $100 + free shipping

TUAWDozen Daily Deals for December 27, 2009 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 27 Dec 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple patents recap, universal docks, iPod motion controls and more

Filed under: Rumors, Apple

Over the past few days, several patent applications by Apple have been unearthed — here’s a recap.

Universal Dock
Apple flied a patent for a more “universal” dock for iPods and iPhones. This dock would be made of an elastic, sponge-like material, and would conform to any shape, instead of having to find a dock adapter. Silly putty? Spage-age memory foam? We’re not sure what the magical morphing material would be, but not having to deal with bunches of little adapters for each iPod would be terrific.

Tamper-resistant indicators
Apple also filed a patent for a “sticker” which would show evidence of tampering. If you would open the casing of an Apple product, the casing could be attached to a sticker, which would also be attached to a part inside the casing, and would indicate if the casing had been opened. This would be similar to the liquid sensors that Apple has been putting in iPhone and recent iPod models. It also sounds similar to the same sorts of stickers you see warning you that you’ll violate your warranty if you break the seal. This warning is seen frequently on hard drives, but would Apple use this to preclude 3rd-party battery replacements? We hope not.

iPod motion controls
Apple also filed a patent for controlling an iPod with motion. It would use an accelerometer, which is currently found in the iPod nano, iPod touch and iPhone. There’s the “Shake to Shuffle” that’s been a part of 4th and 5th generation iPod nano models, and the iPhone and iPod touch since iPhone OS 3.0, which allows to skip to a random song by shaking the device. Further motion-based controls may allow you to scroll by tilting, or move to the next song by “flicking” the device in your hand. Either way, you’ll want to turn it off before you go dancing in an iPod ad.

As with all patent applications, it doesn’t mean that these features could be released, it just gives a general idea on what Apple has been focusing on.

[Engadget and AppleInsider]

TUAWApple patents recap, universal docks, iPod motion controls and more originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Health care reform satire game “Death Panel” comes to the iPhone

Casting a satirical view on the healthcare reform debate, the comic Death Panel game is debuting on Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch devices today.

Made by developer People Operating Technology, the game tests a user’s knowledge of healthcare reform. It takes its title from the much-discussed “death panels” that reform opponents latched onto early on, saying that President Obama favored panels of experts who decided who lives or who dies among patients. If it were serious, the game would be a slam against Obama. But it treats the subject with tongue in cheek and is by and large politically neutral.

The game incorporates third-party facts about healthcare reform into a quiz game. When the game is over, players are encouraged to share their scores online with friends via Facebook and Twitter. The hope is to drive awareness and comprehension on the most important social and economic issue of the day, said Jason Petralia, co-founder of Boston-based People Operating Technology.

“We made Death Panel to shed some light on a hot topic in a compelling way,” Petralia said.

I haven’t played this game, but I can see why someone would make it. As we noted at our DiscoveryBeat event (pictures here), it’s still extremely hard to get noticed on the iPhone, where there are more than 119,000 apps and 22,000 games. (This game is getting noticed because the associates of Vijay Chattha, chief talker at Applaunch PR and one of our DiscoveryBeat speakers, showed it to me at the event).

If you can get your game covered in the press, then that may make a difference. And what better way to get a game noticed than to make it topical and controversial? That happens a lot in the Flash game market, where many developers have learned to churn out a game in less than a month. The iPhone development cycle is equally short.

To the degree that the game is serious, it’s part of the Serious Games effort to use games for purposes beyond entertainment. The game notes that the number of uninsured people in the U.S. increased last year from 45.7 million in 2007 to 46.3 million. The percentage of children under 18 without health insurance was 9.9 percent.

Death Panel puts a user in the role of a local politician who has to build a strong constituency. The user must stand on a virtual platform and answer questions correctly about the healthcare reform issue. The game has an integrated location-based feature where players can look up info on real-life politicians in their region. The company was founded earlier this year as an iPhone app creator. It has created other apps including Wildfire Fighter, Kero the Frog, the Fun Time Series, AudioPeople, and Blockdrop iCon Trick.

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The birth of the iPod

Filed under: Hardware, Odds and ends, Steve Jobs, Apple History, iPod classic

Wired has an interesting look at the early days of the iPod, and what’s most fascinating is just how fully formed the idea of the iPod and iTunes was. The idea itself originates from a company called PortalPlayer, where hardware designer Tony Fadell had the idea to create a player that could eventually be paired with “a Napster music sale service to complement it.”

That’s it — even that early, the iPod + iTunes idea that would eventually revolutionize Apple was that complete. Of course, that was before Apple even got invested in the project — once they did, Steve Jobs put “100 percent” of his time into the project, and they ended with the iconic design and the feel and experience that pushed it beyond any other MP3 player at the time.

That’s not to say that development was smooth sailing after that — apparently there was a major battery issue that kept battery life at a super low three hours until Apple and PortalPlayer got it fixed up. Always fun to hear the backstory on the stuff that would eventually make this company what it is today.

TUAWThe birth of the iPod originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple looking to sell iPod touch-based EasyPay checkout system to others?

Filed under: Accessories, Retail, Rumors, Apple, iPod touch

Apple has recently moved away from the old Windows Mobile-based EasyPay point-of-sale systems formerly used at the Apple Stores to a new iPod touch-based system. Now, Apple may be looking to sell the new system to other retailers. ifoAppleStore is reporting that Apple has received many inquires from people interested in purchasing this new system for their own use.

The system consists of an iPod touch outfitted with an accessory case that has a built-in barcode scanner, magnetic card reader, and battery. The device also uses a Pogo stylus for capturing customer signatures. The iPod touch runs a custom application that handles all the aspects of the sale.

Sales of the system outside of Apple retail outlets still remains only a possibility, but Apple is reported to be compiling a list of customers who might be interested in purchasing it. If demand grows, this Apple-developed tool could be sold to many other retailers.

TUAWApple looking to sell iPod touch-based EasyPay checkout system to others? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple quietly updates the 5th Generation iPod nano to 1.0.2

Filed under: Audio, Software Update, iPod nano

• Fixed audiobook playbook setting so Normal, Slower, Faster, works for audio podcasts
• Resolved issue where Genius Mixes did not work when using the Nike+ Sport Kit
• Accessibility setting for Mono Audio in now working
• Fixed bug so VoiceOver menu items are no longer skipped when using headphone + and – volume buttons to navigate

As always, you can download this update by clicking on the “Check for Update” button in iTunes when you connect your iPod nano to your computer.

TUAWApple quietly updates the 5th Generation iPod nano to 1.0.2 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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