Four days before the iPad 2 goes on sale, the first line is already forming.
Apple fan Justin Wagoner has set up camp outside an Apple Store in Dallas, Texas. Here’s a snap of his tent taken by a MacCast reader.
Wagoner appears to be the first person lining up for the iPad 2, which goes on sale on Friday at 5PM. Apple isn’t taking preorders, so its first come, first served.
Wagoner also camped out to be first in line for the iPhone 4 last year. He has set up a site to document his camping trip: iJustinOfficial.com.
When the iPad first debuted, it launched with a $30 unlimited, month-by-month data over 3G courtesy of AT&T… who within months recanted the deal and switched it out with a 2GB per month subscription plan for $5 less per month.
AT&T couldn’t just bait-and-switch existing customers, though: as long as you signed up for the original unlimited plan and never cancelled, they couldn’t downgrade all existing customers to 2GB. That left a big question: when Apple finally announced the iPad 2, would AT&T figure out a way to weasel out of the grandfathered unlimited subscriptions once and for all?
Apparently not: AT&T has just confirmed that grandfathered unlimited data plans will continue to be offered on the iPad 2. So if you’ve got grandfathered unlimited, rest easy: you can upgrade to the iPad 2 safely.
While most journalists spent their scant Apple-given minutes with the iPad 2 playing with apps and snapping photos, CNET UK went straight to business, jumping into Safari and running the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark to measure how much better Mobile Safari’s new JavaScript rendering engine was over the original iPad’s.
According to CNET, quite a bit: the iPad 2 is up to four times faster in JavaScript rendering than the original iPad, and it’s not just a matter of beefier hardware. Even on the original iPad running iOS 4.3, there’s a 1.5x boost in JavaScript rendering compared to an iPad running iOS 4.2.
Most impressively, the iPad 2 is faster at JavaScript than all competing tablets, with the Galaxy Tab processing JavaScript at only 1/3rd of the speed of the iPad 2. The web just is faster on iOS.
Apple reportedly sold 1.1 million MacBook Air laptops during the December 2010 quarter, 63 percent above analyst expectations. The 1.1 million figure could mean MacBook Air sales represented about 40 percent of the 2.9 million notebook sales reported by the Cupertino, Calif. company for the three-month period.
The December sales numbers were 400,000 higher than the 700,000 units previously expected by Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Although the results are undeniably gorgeous, Apple’s decision to switch from the 3GS’s plastic back to a glass one for the iPhone 4 has been a disastrous one. Not only did Apple have to put out the fires on “Glassgate” shortly after the fiasco of Antennagate thank to the the glass backing’s tendency to crack when used with a slider-style iPhone case, but the glass backing has also proven to be a nightmare for Apple when it came to releasing the white iPhone 4, thanks to the glass’ tendency to leak light onto the camera sensor.
Reports now indicate that Apple wants to ditch the glass in the iPhone 5, instead moving back to the aluminum back found in the original iPhone. Cupertino ditched aluminum in the iPhone 3G because of wireless and cellular connectivity issues, but it’s thought that advances in antenna design might have mitigated the connectivity drawbacks of aluminum.
One big question we had here at Cult of Mac when the iPad 2 was first announced was whether or not developers would have to update their apps to take advantage of the iPad 2’s faster, dual-core A5 SoC. Now Apple’s clarifying the matter: no, you don’t have to, but it’ll help.
According to a new note posted on the iOS Dev Center, Apple has asked devs to update their apps for the iPad 2 in order to take advantage of the new hardware. Mentioning that most operations inside of applications will be faster just by dint of the jump to a dual-core processor, Apple concedes that software can become faster still if they tune up their software for the iPad 2 with tools like OpenGL Profiler. Devs are further asked to enhance their apps with the “new user experiences” made possible by the iPad 2’s cameras and gyroscope/accelerometer combo.
The first-gen iPad was a sneak peek at what Apple had in store when it came to the iPhone 4’s hardware, and we imagine the iPad 2 will be no different in this regard when it comes to the iPhone 5. Developers honing their apps for the iPad 2 now will be able to reap the benefits immediately upon the release of the next iPhone.
If there was ever an Apple launch that seemed to favor the Greg Packers of this world, it’s that of the iPad 2. Uncharacteristically, Apple won’t be taking any orders for the device until the date it hits store shelves: March 11th.
It’s hard to say what this implies. By one way of thinking, it means Apple’s not confident it can supply iPad 2 pre-order demand; thought of another way, Apple may simply want to avoid the problem of customers getting their new products delivered several days early by FedEx.
Either way, though, it’s left most of us wondering just when Apple will allow customers to start ordering the iPad. It looks like now we know: MacAppsDaily is reporting that an Apple phone rep told them that online sales of the iPad 2 would begin at 12:01am PT on March 11th, with “free, fast shipping.” 9to5Mac has also confirmed that time as well.
Looks like a late night for me on Friday. Who else will be awake?
The Federal Aviation Association approved the iPad as a navigation device on some charter flights.
On Februrary 1, the magical device was cleared as a navigation device. The FAA gave thumbs’ up to Cincinnati- based Executive Jet, who said it made 250 flights as part of the certification process.
Late last year, we wrote about a private pilot who was using his iPad with paper charts to guide the plane.
I’ve been blown away recently with Google Translate, on both the web and on my iPhone – just superb speech recognition and translation abilities. But the speech synthesis capabilities of this versatile debabelizer are also quite impressive.
Deciding to run a spontaneous real world test, two young women called a local Indian restaurant and placed their entire order in Hindi – via Google Translate running in Chrome on a MacBook Pro. The software proved up to the challenge – the order was delivered correctly, the expressions are priceless, and a good time was had by all!
New to iOS 4.3 is the Personal Hotspot feature, which turns your iPhone 4 into a 5-device mobile hotspot. You can use it with WiFi, Bluetooth, or USB. The catch? Carriers will charge an extra monthly fee on-top of your already expensive phone bill. Well, there’s a nice little jailbreak tweak called TetherMe which will instantly enable this feature. It’s been out for a while and had originally enabled iOS 3.0’s native tethering feature, but it also works for Personal Hotspot. The best part? It’s only $0.99. Continue reading on to see if it’s for you.
Hungarian politician Jozsef Szajer is drafting the country's new constitution on an iPad.
A Hungarian politician is for the first time drafting the country’s new constitution on an iPad.
Politician Jozsef Szajer, a member of the European Parliament for Hungary’s ruling party, said in a blog post:
Steve Jobs will surely be happy when he gets word that Hungary’s new constitution is being written on an iPad, actually my iPad… The best is I don’t have to wait for minutes to turn it on, like with a normal laptop. I can open it anywhere and can take advantage of every minute. It’s a miracle!
Here’s a hidden gem inside of iOS 4.3 that hasn’t been mentioned by anyone as far as I know. It was pointed out to me by an anonymous tipster, who sent me a few screen shots.
Apple is now allowing you to purchase Ringtones directly from your iPhone 4 (I’m not sure if this is supported by other models, but I suspect it would be).
Leading up to the iPad 2’s announcement, most of us were expecting a relatively modest refresh over the original iPad, and technically speaking, that’s what the iPad 2 is: it’s a slightly thinner, slightly faster iteration on the last generation. It’s amazing, though, how what on paper seems like such a modest spec bump can in fact be such a must-have update for millions of people.
It’s the Apple magic at work, and look no further than the massive volume of original trade-ins that reCommerce companies like Gazelle, eBay and NextWorth are experiencing for proof that the iPad 2 is going to sell like gang busters.
Conan O’Brien thinks Apple is getting a bit cocky. Never one to pass up the opportunity for a good parody, Team Coco takes on Apple’s slick interview-laden style in this funny spoof of the iPad 2 launch video.
Think Steve Jobs is the only employee at Apple capable of harnessing the Reality Distortion Field? And ever wonder about those team fashion choices? (Promo spot plays before actual video.)
µTorrent has long been the best Bittorrent client for Windows, and for my money (nothing, since the app’s free), it’s been the best Bittorrent client for Mac since its debut as well. Historically, though, the Mac version of µTorrent simply hasn’t been as full-featured as the PC counterpart… but that’s all changed with the latest beta, which is available to download now over at the official site.
The latest beta of µTorrent brings over to the Mac many of the most widely requested features on the PC. Here’s what is new:
It’s about that time of year again: the annual Pwn2Own computer hacking conference is kicking off next week. Since compromising browsers is a big part of the event, the big browser makers, including Google and Mozilla, have already issues security patches, trying to close up vulnerabilities before the hacking frenzy.
Now it appears that Apple is preparing to follow suit. According to French security firm Vupen, Apple will be issuing a patch to close up Safari’s vulnerabilities after a similar patch was issued on Wednesday for iTunes, closing up fifty exploits in WebKit.
Pwn2Own starts on March 9th and goes through March 11th. At the event, security researchers and hackers will compete for $65,000 in prize money as they try to take down the most current versions of all the major browsers, including Safari 5, Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox.
Despite Apple’s push to leverage the iPad to conquer the e-reader market, numbers say consumers have other plans. Earlier this week, CEO Steve Jobs trumpeted his iBooks store selling 100 billion ebooks during the service’s first 11 months. Eclipsing that marker is new research indicating music downloads are five times as popular and 15 times as many apps downloaded during the same period.
“The conclusion that can be drawn so far is that apps/songs show an order of magnitude more popularity than ebooks,” said Asymco’s Horace Dediu Friday. It is unclear whether Kindle’s ebooks outsell Amazon’s music downloads because the two companies offer differing delivery methods, with the Seattle-based Internet retailer foregoing an Apple-like integration of ebooks, music and app sales.
At Wednesday’s iPad 2 launch event, Steve Jobs described competitors as “flummoxed” to counter the iPad’s success, and he’s right. Almost a year after the iPad’s debut and we’re only starting to see the first of the original iPad’s real Android competition: not the 7-inch tweeners, but actual competition to the iPad’s software and hardware feature set. So what does Apple do? They come along with the iPad 2 and effortlessly cut the legs out from underneath the competition.
Samsung is one of Apple’s biggest suppliers and one of its biggest competitors, especially in the smartphone and tablet space: Samsung’s still unreleased Galaxy Tab 10.1 is one of the few Android tablets that seemed to be competitive in features and hardware with the original iPad. Stress original, though, because in the wake of the iPad 2, Samsung VP Lee Don-Joo has gone on the record as saying that parts of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 are “inadequate” compared to the iPad 2.
Flummoxed is right. Apple’s modus operandi for product revisions is hardly some sort of arcane mystery: they improve the software, make the device thinner and try to eke out some more battery life. How did Samsung — one of Apple’s biggest component suppliers — get caught off guard by the iPad 2?
The answer? They didn’t, of course. They knew what was coming. As a company, though, they just weren’t agile or resourceful enough to head it off.
Apple’s adamant that you should use their FaceTime video chat software over WiFi, and even have some software checks to make sure you’re not trying to pump your pixellated mug out over 3G. It appears, though, that the iPhone 4 isn’t particularly mindful if you’re connect to 3G somewhere down the pipe: if you want to use FaceTime on an iPhone 4 over 3G, it’s just a Personal Hotspot away.
Further indications Apple wants to use its $1 billion data center to stream media to its family of mobile devices, such as the iPad, iPhone and iPod. The Cupertino, Calif. company reportedly is pressing music publishers to allow repeated downloads of music purchased through the iTunes store.
The move would alter current iTunes policy, allowing consumers to re-download music despite the originals no longer stored on connected devices. An agreement could be reached as soon as the middle of this year as Apple preps its North Carolina data farm this spring by iTunes and MobileMe.
For those who like to add sparkle to their bling – and can afford to spend as much on their iPad case as on the iDevice itself – CrystalRoc has announced their Swarovski iPad 2 case. Featuring over 4,000 Xilion cut crystals this ultra-chic piece of loungeware will set you back $700, and is shipping immediately.
Why wait for ostrich leather? Not recommended for use on subways or in urban areas at night.
Have you ever wanted to watch a movie from iTunes on your iPhone without actually syncing anything?
With iOS 4.3 and iTunes 10.2, your dreams will come true. iTunes Home Sharing is a new feature of iOS 4.3, which will be released to the public on March 11. It was demonstrated earlier this week at the iPad 2 launch event.
Home Sharing will allow you to easily share your music, videos, and photos to any iOS 4.3 device over your local WiFi network. This eliminates the need for third-party applications or transcoding software.
For those of you who like living on the Bleeding Age – while running on older hardware – Cult of Mac received this tip from reader Matt Briggs about getting his Core Duo based MacBook running the Lion Developer Preview installation of Mac OS X 10.7:
I managed to get the Lion preview running on a supposedly unsupported Macbook Core Duo from May 2006.
I installed Lion on a USB drive hooked up to a Mac Mini Core 2 Duo 2009, then removed /System/Library/CoreServices/PlatformSupport.plist and the same drive booted in the Macbook with no issues!
there might be some stricter restrictions in the future, but pretty good right now!
IMPORTANT: This is an unverified tip of an unsupported configuration. Use a spare hard drive for any tests, do not overwrite your primary system. This capability may not last in the official release versions.
I don’t have a Core Duo system myself to test this, so if anyone can duplicate these results on their own system please let us know in the comments.
When reader Liam Dennis updated his Twitter for iPhone app yesterday, it told him that Steve Jobs had registered a Twitter account. He explains:
“It scanned my address book for users I wasn’t following. It only found one. A twitter account linked to sjobs@apple.com, a contact I had made to send the occasional email to him as we all do.
The sjobs@apple.com email address is known, of course, as Steve Jobs’ email address at Apple — the one he uses for his famous one-word responses to customers’ queries.
