According to the last rumors, Apple certified 7.85" display (1024x768) from different manufacturers, such panels will be used in the forthcoming iPad mini. The production should start in a near future as the launch is expected probably just before or after summer time. With such resolution, the iPad mini will be fully compatible with the iPad 2 native applications.
According to 9to5Mac, Apple might have chosen Samsung and its SSD 830 for its next generation MacBook Pro. This is a good news as such recent models are about twice faster than those currently proposed by Toshiba. However, Samsung units are not the fastest SSD, the Vertex 4 and the forthcoming models to be released in a very near future will offer performance levels saturating the SATA III interface.
The good news in this rumor is that beside getting slimmer, the future MCB and the SSD 830 will still feature a 2.5" enclosure, so we will not be depending on an exotic and proprietary solution from Apple for SSD.
While Intel is promoting Thunderbolt, the company still did not release a motherboard natively equipped with such port. This is now done:
The first Intel motherboard to feature a Thunderbolt port will be a high-end model, as the integration will lead to a 15 Euro premium. this is the strategy used by Intel to progressively push this format among its products, starting from the high-end products and then add Thunderbolt later on by default into its next generation motherboards.
it has now been weeks that Elpida is trying to attract a partner and/or being acquired by one of the largest DRAM manufacturer. Digitimes indicates that Apple has been placing a huge order to Elpida.
This deal must be large enough to have pushed Samsung marketshare down by 6% and Hynix, another RAM manufacturer, lost 9%. It seems that Apple is doing everything possible to avoid Samsung to become the DRAM leader without real competition. In addition Apple is probably trying to work on its dependency to Samsung for components: DRAM, processor Ax, Retina display, etc.
While Elpida is working hard to survive, Apple acts to maintain competition on this market while making a good deal. This is probably the only way to get DRAM at lower price than the one offered by Samsung.
Time will tell us if Apple will renew such deal with Elpida or if it was only an very opportunistic deal concluded with a company struggling for its survival. So, is Apple the white knight for Elpida or only a vulture (or will adopt a position somewhere in between)!?
Earlier this week, NVidia unveiled its financial results, and profits dropped by 50%. According to the chameleon, the reason is the difficulty to produce enough 28 nm engraved GPUs from TSMC, as yield are not as high as expected. It seems that NVidia has convinced TSMC to get a priority status in the pipeline and in the production lines., ahead of another customer: AMD and its Radeon GPU.
This could be linked to another rumor, indicating that Appel could use NVidia GeForce cards in its forthcoming Macs. We can imagine that Apple has been looking for the GPU able to power 2D at Retina HD resolution level, without necessary killing battery lifetime on MBP. It could very well be that TSMC is also making this move in order to push forward in its seduction dance to attract Apple, thinking it could get teh market for Ax chips production, and become a new partner for Apple.
The Perian team, well known as the swiss army knife for audio/video playback on Mac, announced the nd of this project initiated 6 years ago:
A notice to all of our users and supporters
We began the Perian project over 6 years ago. We wanted to simplify viewing your content. Our team has attained that goal and with that in mind, Perian will be retired soon. Our stewardship has been a blast but it's time for all of us to move on.
From the beginning we kept Perian simple. Our preferences were minimal, updating was easy, and we gradually grew the product to add in extras like subtitles and different formats. We've contributed a lot. Today, Perian stands as complete as it ever will be under our stewardship.
There are some projects that we never got to. As an example, we would have liked an official, flexible, and well-documented import API to speed up MKV. We hit a brick wall there. Still, we reached a great stopping point and Perian's installed userbase proves how valuable this tool became to so many people.
Starting 90 days after the final Perian release, we will no longer provide support. We'll wrap up our loose ends, pack up our bags, and move on to new and exciting projects.
Here's what our roadmap looks like:
- We will soon release the final version of Perian, including all the fixes we've worked on since the last release. It may -- or may not -- work on 10.8.
- We will post the source code to either Google Code or Github.
Let's thank them for their great job and we are looking forward to hearing from their new projects..
The Chinese company ZTE is gaining market shares on the entry-level Smartphone segments. However, a major security breach in some of its models is probably going to make some bad ads. The back door is found in the ROM of some Android-based smartphone models.
Originally identified on the Score M model, a smartphone dedicated to north america markets, the security vulnerability consist of a command that can be called with a password (identical in all models), giving roo right access to the hacker... in other words, your mobile phone is his mobile phone.
The vulnerability haas bow been identified in a second ZTE smartphone; aka ZTE Skate, distributed in Europe under different names: Orange Monte Carlo, SFR Staraddict...
While ZTE acknowledged the problem and promised to work on a solution, there is no date provided to fix this vulnerability. Let's hope that it comes fast as one would not want to imagine the damage if a hacker manage to distribute an application making use of this security hole.
A small reminder for owners of jailbreaked iPhone, it also opens a security hole, as it gives access to a root user with a defined password ("alpine"), so remember to change this password, especially if you install an OpenSSH package for remote access.
According to some rumors, Sony and Panasonic, two japanese companies known for competing on the TV market, may decide to work together on for developing and producing OLED display.
Both companies could put in a common pot their know-how and technologies to speed up the development and the launch of large size OLED display. In fact they do not have much choice than trying to work together as Samsung and LG have already announced the forthcoming release of their own 55" OLED TV set. Even if the first products will remain too expensive for the mass customer market, such advance could create a technology and business gap with Sony and Panasonic.
Goals and expectation are huge, as the OLED is expected to quickly replace all LCD-based technologies. If the R&D would cost a lot, the production itself could quickly come down to a rather low cost (most components are already available and cheap, OLED can be printed on different supports, etc.)
Historically, Apple ahs always tried to develop products that are different from competitors. IT started with processor, 68xxx and PowerPC. Then when Apple adopted Intel CPUs in 2006, teh company had to come up with something new to make its products "think different". In addition to the design, Apple launched new products, such as the MacBook Air, but also adopted really thin enclosure as well as high-capacity Li-Ion battery, way before competitors. The MBA created a new segment on hte compueter market with the Ultrabook, making the netbook history.
While the competition was trying to catch up on the Ultrabook, Apple launched the iPad, demonstrating that the concept of tablet was viable is properly thought and designed; as couple years before Microsoft failed to create a market for such device. There again, Appel created a new segment, and competitors try to follow. Then Apple, moved to the Alu enclosure for all its products, making it possible to provide rigid, light, recyclable and durable products. Then came the Retina HD display on iPhone first, then on iPad, and we can now, following yesterday news and dissection of Mountain Lion code, easily imagine that such display will find their ways in the forthcoming MacBook Pro and iMac. Considering popularity of Apple, it is very likely that the company did not have much difficulties to find a partner among companies producing TV/computer display.
Such display, associated with the last evolution of MAc OS X could again create a gap between Mac models and competitors. So, even if the next generation MBP will drop the optical drive, Ethernet and the FireWire, there will be enough companies to offer Thunderbolt adaptors to be able to make the bridge towards an entire wireless world (not that I personally support it). The 802.11 ac is in theory faster than Gigabit Ethernet (1.3 Gbit/s vs. 1 Gbit/s). We will of course never reach 100 MB/s with the 802.11 ac hotspot on the routine basis, but rather 50-60 MB/s, pending you are too far away from a compatible wireless station.
Apple decided to avoid Leopard-running Mac to still be the target of FlashBack Trojan. So it released a security update as well as tools to clean potentially infected Macs. It requires to be running Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8.
Following the rumors of Apple trying to acquire Loewe, and despite the official deny, it would be interesting to further dig into the reasons for such deal. Colin brought us interesting thoughts on this topic:
All patents are recorded to the following name: Loewe Opta.
http://worldwide.espacenet.com/searchResults?page=3&PA=LOEWE+OPTA&DB=EPODOC&locale=fr_FR&ST=advanced&compact=false
So, this is not really surprising if Appel wants to enter the TV business that it starts talking to Loewe.
With such deal Apple would put its hands on a nice patent portfolio, and enter the market with some support and strength to better compete with giants in the field.
Indeed, to avoid paying royalties, it might be cheaper to acquire the company owning them, as Google did it by acquiring Motorola Mobility. But we should also keep in mind that teh Google TV was a failure, so being strong and famous does not mean you will be successful all the time.
The option of having Retina HD display on our Mac has been a hot topic since the release or the rumor of the New iPad. Hereafter, Stephane bring us convincing proofs that we might soon enjoy such definition on our Macs. HEreafter is what he found when digging into the last Mountain Lion version:
In the last build, you can find hints of forthcoming Macs equipped with Retina D displays. Look at the file /System/LIbrary/Displays/Overrides/DisplayVendorID-610/DisplayProductID-a00e and a00f.
They define additional parameters for some monitors when they are not provided or available from the monitor itself.
We can see comments on new resolution such as:
3840x2400 internal 16x10 1920x1200
which can be translated as "this is the definition in 3840x2400 for an internal monitor display featuring a resolution of 1920x1200", and they are plenty of such description
There are also standard definition for monitor:
internal panel low-resolution modes (game compatibility)
So probably at least 2 modes: "low-res" and "hi-res".
another hint of forthcoming Retina display....And as there are 2 files, we can conclude that there will be at least 2 Macs with such resolutions:
This is indeed really compelling, as there is no graphic cards able to support 3D games at such extreme resolution and a 1920x1200 will most likely be the default "high-res". However, it remains to be seen if such Retina display will be installed only on iMAc, or if power consumption will be satisfying enough to have MBP equipped with such display.
As expected, Intel keeps releasing Sandy Bridge Xeon models. The high-end Xeon CPUs, aka E5-4600, with 8 cores and the ability to have 4 CPUs on the same motherboard (=32 cores + 48 RAM slots) have been released. For less demanding people, you can get the E5-2400, cheaper but supporting "only" 3 memory channels instead of 4 for the high-end model. If you are really not looking for the highest raw power, you can get the E3-1200 v2, an entry level mono CPU, based on 22 nm 3D engraving to offer low power-consumption.
If you look at the price list, the entry level will cost 900 USD while the end-end model will be charged... 3,500 USD. Clearly, Apple has plenty of choice to FINALLY update the Mac Pro models.
Today, Intel is the only company able to produce chips in large volume with 22 nm engraving process, while its competitors are having hard time to obtain large volume at 28 nm. In addition, Intel is also producing its transistor with a 3D design, a process which will be required for any thinner engraving below 20 nm.
Of course, Intel is already working on the nest step, 14 nm, and expect to be ready in 2013, as it is already in development. Beyond 2015, Intel is already foreseeing, 10, 7 and even 5 nm engraving:
In fact, Intel would initiate works on an engraving process about 10 years before it enters full production mode. With such communication, it becomes more and more obvious that Intel has a huge technology advantage with its competitors, beyond the engraving process itself. In the coming years, if AMD and other founders do not react efficiently, it will become more and more difficult to catch up with Intel... Maybe, it is already too late?
9to5Mac posted information on the forthcoming MacBook Pro 15". Apple indeed decided to get ride of the optical drive, to make the new model, lighter and thinner.
The prototype that the source has seen was not offering any Ethernet or FireWire ports. Instead it had 2-3 USB 3.0, as well as 2 Thunderbolt ports. REgarding display, Apple would offer, at least in option, Retina HD display.
As usual with each product update, Apple will make happy and unhappy Mac users. dropping FireWire, slower than USB 3.0, will automatically push all Firewire peripherals to the bin, or required users to upgrade to the corresponding USB 3.0 devices or even more expensive, thunderbolt version. For Ethernet, this is a more discussing option, as wired internet connection are still the default system in corporate where wireless is not available for infrastructure or security reasons. Of course, Apple could come up, or third-parties, with docking stations or external display, offering FireWire and Ethernet, through the Thunderbolt port.
Thanks to Daniel to have sent this video illustrating what can be done with iPads, a wedding or merger between magic and technologies.
A security breach has been identified in Adobe applciations (Photoshop, Illustrator...) in CS5 and CS5.5 suites. This is linked to a bug in opening Tiff files, making it possible for hackers to geernate a tiff file to take control remotely of a computer.
Initialy, Adobe was recommanding users to migrate to CS6, freshly released, but it has a cost, and many customers have been complaining, and requesting a security update to fix the vulnerability.
Indeed this problem being known and identiofied before hte release of CS6, it seems clear and normal that Adobe releases a fix. They are working on it:
Adobe has released Adobe Photoshop CS6 (paid upgrade), which addresses these vulnerabilities. We are in the process of resolving these vulnerabilities in Adobe Photoshop CS5.x, and will update this Security Bulletin once the patch is available. Users may monitor the latest information on the Adobe Product Security Incident Response Team blog athttp://blogs.adobe.com/psirt or by subscribing to the RSS feed at http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt/atom.xml.
Transcend unveiled its new mSATA SSD products, dedicated to Ultrabooks or small size notebooks.
Despite their size factor, such SSD do not have to feel ashamed when compared to their 2.5" brothers, despite the maximal storage space: 128 GB. Performance are on the high-end thanks to a SandForce controller and fast Flash memory chips: 560 MB/s in reading and 530 MB/s in writing mode. The number of IOPS is 91,000.
Let's expect that such announcement will push Apple to refresh its MacBook Air models, and why not adopt such mSATA SSD, as the current units are comparatively slow and more expensive.
The next generation Wi-Fi standard is getting closer to gold version, aka Wi-Fi 802.11 ac. The fourth version of the 802.11 ac draft has been validated by the IEEE. While there might be additional version on the software side, the hardware specifications are now defined and frozen. This should allow manufacturers to launch production in volumes. Belkin announced its new line of products based on the 802.11 ac format, performance level should be boosted up to 3x when compared to 802.11 n.
To be adopted, customers will need not only 802.11 ac routers or hotspots, but also computers with the compatible chips. So far, there are no computers compatible beside few exceptions.
Couple of month ago, rumors were indicating that Apple wanted to quickly adopt this new wireless format. So, as Apple did not released the new Ivy Bridge MacBook Pro, we might enjoy 802.11 ac soon in MBP. OF course, Apple will also have to update its Airport products.
After the release of the new iPad, Apple is facing increasing pressure from several countries regarding the use of "4G" in its ads, where it is ONLY compatible with US and Canadian 4G networks.
In countries where customers associations and authorities have launched investigation on this topic, it seems that Apple has been modifying some of its local Apple Stores:
As shown on the Australian Apple Store, the original text: "WiFi+4G" has been changed to "Wi-Fi+Cellular". In other other countries where there is no 4G networks deployed yet, and just being deployed, Apple did not change specifications yet.
According AppleInsider, Apple is currently discussing to acquire the german company Loewe. This company is well known for its premium and high-quality audio and TV products, all designed and produced in Germany.
Loewe recently launched Airplay-compatible products, and launched a dedicated iOS applications: Assist Media.
With 1,000 employees in 50 different countries, teh company has been facing a difficult year in 2011, but 2012 seems to be better. Apple could have offered 87.2 million Euro to acquire Loewe, and the offer could be accepted in the coming hours. A decision should be taken before May, 18th.
It is a bit surprising to see Apple acquiring such company. In the past, Apple has been acquiring companies for their associated patent portfolio and software/technologies. Here despite great design, Loewe does not produce its display (mostly from Sharp), and its Airplay products are excellent but not hte only ones on hte market. So, Apple might want to acquire the distribution network a,d strengthen its access to distribution channels for rits forthcoming iTV. We mioght have to wait for the rumored iTV to better understand the reason behind such acquisition.
With the release of Google Drive or Microsoft SkyDrive services, Dropbox is in a difficult situation. Indeed, after Google, Amazon also decided to aggressively enter the online storage solutions market. To compete with such giants, it will be difficult for Dropbox, and maybe the only way is to create the buzz and maintain it around its offers.
Dropbox just launched its "dropquest", an enigma-based game, rather difficult, inspired by the MIT. The winner will be granted 100 GB storage space for lifetime, second and third, will get 20 and 1 GB respectively. If you want to give it a try:
https://www.dropbox.com/dropquest2012/
PS: if you find the first enigma easy, wait a bit, as the following ones are more difficult.
Following LG, its main competitor on this market, Samsung announced to have launched the production of its 55" OLED TV set. As we could expect it with such technology, its price will be around 9,000 USD... Of course, it will be compatible with 3D contains thanks to specific goggles. Samsung also decided to offer a new feature: follow simultaneously 2 shows/series. Of course spectators will have to were glasses and headset for audio, but it will allow couples to watch 2 different programs on the same TV set at teh same time. No more choice to be done... let's sit and enjoy.
Gartner published the last version of its study based on sales of computers in Europe for Q1 2012. When compared to figures from same period last year, Apple sold 3.1% less computers in one year in Europe (Desktop and Notebook)
IT seems that it follows in Europe the same trend already seen in USA. Of course, this is also driven by the fact that customers choice might now be more oriented towards tablets, then notebooks. The longer than usual delay in Apple catalog for launching new desktop and notebook models can also strongly contribute to this attrition of sales. Let's hope that this is only a temporary effect.
HP unveiled its new Ultrabook, Envy Spectre XT.
The company launched this new model in Shanghai during a press conference, including their design guru: Stacy Wolff.
At one point, a journalist asked if HP was not getting a bit too much inspired by the Apple MacBook Air and would not be fearing potential legal problems. The answer came in two waves. The first one, strongly denying that HP would copy Apple. Teh second claiming that there were as many similarities than differences, such as Magnesium enclosure instead of Alu, audio from Dr BEat instead of Harman, etc. For the design, it is apparently technical specifications linked to components that can explain such similar shape...
This is of course not he first Ultrabook to have a design and a look very similar to the Apple MAcBook Air, and Apple will most likely not initiate any legal actions. Somehow it is also the proof that this was the best possible design if everybody is trying to imitate it...
Microsoft released an update for Office Mac 2011 (110 MB) and 2008 (243.6 MB). It fixes a critical security breach that could allow third-parties to remotely take control of your computer. So it is important to update your Office Mac. This problem also affect most PC versions of Office and an update has been released too.
Last week we were reporting about hitachi last product, now a division of Western digital, and its SSD based on a 12 GBits/s SAS interface.
It is now Seagate to announced a very similar product, based on the same interface. It will unveil today during the SCSI conference taking place in California. The goal is always the same: ensure that this interface can offer 600 MB/s transfer speed, as none of the plate-based HD are able to reach such figures.
So, both Seagate and Hitachi are targeting the Pro user market to capitalize on this technology.
Thanks to its native support of iDevices, iCloud is very successfull even among Windows users. Microsoft decided to launch a campaign aiming to seduce/bring back iCloud users to the right side.
With "iCloud not enough, try Skydrive" Microsoft is promoting its online storage solution for users willing to share files and documents with its Office suite. In addition, the company shows that skyDrive is compatible with much more devices than iCloud.
We knew that the competition around the "cloud storage" will take place, but we were not expecting it to take place so fast, and not necessarily to have Microsoft launching hostilities against Apple as its first target... or maybe because too many windows users are having an iPhone and got corrupted then by the iCloud, leading to the purchase of a Mac as the next step...
As we already mentioned it several times, Intel decided to spread the launch of its Ivy Bridge CPU. After the first wave announced end of April, the second wave is expected on June 3rd and will be composed of dual core CPU and should power the next generation MacBook Pro 13", MacBook air and Mac mini.
For the MacBook Air, 17 W TDP models will be selected by Apple (U=ultra low voltage). In this category, the Core i7-3667U is rather impressive with its 2 GHz default frequency but able to jump to 3.2 GHz in Turbo mode. Of course, it has a price: 346 USD. This can also explain why it is difficult to reduce massively the price of Ultrabook based on ultra low voltage CPU from Intel, the cheapest one: 225 USD.
In an interview to CNET, Raymond Soneira, CEO of DisplayMate, announced that the current New iPad, the third generation iPad, is in fact the plan B. Initially, Appel was expecting to use IZGO display from Sharp, only available in March, and not ready for Apple roadmap (time and volume wise). So the company had no other choice than taking a traditional HD Retina display.
The IZGO technology, standing for Indium gallium zinc oxide, allows Sharp to produce transistors where silicone has been replace by this alloy. As a consequence, transistors offers much higher performance levels, so one can reduce the size for the same efficiency.
If you consider a 9.7" display, in 2048x1536, there are 9.5 million transistors interfering with backlighting, and that's why Apple had to double the number of LED to compensate, impacting at the end the lifetime of the battery. With a IZGO display, with smaller transistors, Appel could have kept its original LED backlighting system, and we could have gain extra hours of use of our favorite tablets.
Most users are indeed considering that when intensively used, the battery does not last that long, and we know that it has trouble to reload while being used for games. All those points refer to power consumption, and LED backlighting is hte main reason. So we can expect the iPad 4 to have a IZGO display and a 4 core CPU (most likely also dropped because it would not allow enough battery hours with the enhanced LED backlighting).
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