Tim Cook Visits Foxconn Zhengzhou Plant and China Telecom Headquarter

Tim Cook visited Foxconn's Zhengzhou Plant

On March 26, MicGadget claimed that they spotted Tim Cook at Apple Store in Beijing and met Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang. Today, they have confirmed the latest news that Tim Cook has visited Foxconn Zhengzhou plant.

The latest news that we heard is Tim Cook visited Foxconn Zhengzhou plant! This plant an iPhone production line, which has employed 120,000 people at the factory. We’re not sure whether that’s one of the plant that going to produce the new iPhone. 

 

They also claimed that Tim Cook has visited the headquarter of China Telecom to talk with Xiaochu, the head of China Telecom.

Furthermore, we also heard Tim Cook made a visit to the headquarter of China Telecom. The source said Cook has a 30 minutes talk with Wang Xiaochu (the head of China Telecom), they talked about their next plans for the next iPhone. Reportedly, Cook has already made a visit to meet China Unicom on the day when he appeared at the Apple store in Beijing. However, the source didn’t mention Cook is planning to visit China Mobile though.

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(via Micgadget)

Apple Releases iTunes 10.6.1 Update

Apple has issued a version update for iTunes which address a number of bugs:

iTunes 10.6.1 provides a number of improvements, including: 

- Fixes several issues that may cause iTunes to unexpectedly quit while playing videos, changing artwork size in Grid view, and syncing photos to devices. 
- Addresses an issue where some iTunes interface elements are incorrectly described by VoiceOver and WindowEyes. 
- Fixes a problem where iTunes may become unresponsive while syncing iPod nano or iPod shuffle. 
- Resolves an ordering problem while browsing TV episodes in your iTunes library on Apple TV.

The update is available through OS X's Software Update.

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Angry Birds Space Now Available For Download

Fans of the Angry Birds franchise, take notice: the disgruntled feathery creatures have conquered space, and they’re out to show those dastardly pigs a lesson.

The latest installment of this megapopular game, Angry Birds Space, is now available for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Android devices, as well as the Mac and PC.

The new version brings several important changes, most importantly gravity, which will allow players to use nearby planets to perform trick shots on unsuspecting pigs.

The game has 60 levels, with more content available through in-app purchases (only in the iOS version for now). The game includes hidden goodies and secret levels, and Rovio promises regular free updates for the future.

Owners of Apple’s new iPad will be glad to know that the game supports the new Retina display as well.

You can download the iPhone version here and iPad version here.

The Mac version is also available in the Mac App Store, and the PC version is available from Rovio.

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Reuters Report: The Next iPhone Will Use 4.6-inch Display

Reuters relays rumors from a South Korean newspaper which claimed that the next iPhone will have a larger display:

Apple has decided on the bigger 4.6-inch display for its next iPhone and started placing orders to its suppliers, the Maeil Business Newspaper said, quoting an unnamed industry source.

The 4.6-inch screen would be a lot larger than the previous rumors. There have been persistent rumors that the next generation iPhone would have a large 4" screen.

A 4.6-inch screen is even harder to believe, and would place the new iPhone amongst the latest screen sizes available on a smartphone. Here is the comparison shot between the 4.65" screen of the Galaxy Nexus and the iPhone 4S which has a 3.5" screen.

TheVerge Comparison between Galaxy Nexus (4.65") and iPhone 4S (3.5")

Still, its hard to dismiss the talk of a larger 4" iPhone screen completely. Back in November, iLounge first reported that the 3rd generation iPad would be approximately 0.7 mm thicker than the iPad 2. As it turns out, they were on the mark with the actual new iPad being 0.6 mm thicker than the previous design. The same source that provided that information had this to say about the next generation iPhone:

Our source says that the next-generation iPhone will not look like the teardrop-shaped version that was widely rumored for release in 2011. We’ve been told that the device will have a 4-inch display and will be 8mm longer than before, with a metal casing (probably aluminum). It is on track to be introduced in summer of 2012, and is still in the engineering phase, not early production. We suspect that poor battery life doomed the prior prototype version, and that this one is being built with LTE-ready battery drain in mind.

Macrumors' Previous "iPhone 5" mockup based on leaked case designs

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(via Macrumors)

'Draw Something' Maker OMGPOP Is Bought By Zynga for $200 Million

Social game-maker Zynga has agreed to acquire OMGPOP, the development house behind the incredibly popular "Draw Something". The price is reported to be $180 million plus $30 million in employee retention payments, according to Peter Kafka at All Things D, though Zynga isn't confirming that number.

OMGPOP brings to Zynga an incredible team of industry veterans and a community of highly engaged players. It’s a great industry example of creating games around the ethos of giving people a place to play, meet and make friends. OMGPOP’s existing mobile and platform games will not change. We fully support what they’ve built to date, and we’re going to work hard to give Draw Something and all of their games the resources and tools they need to grow and flourish. 

Dan Porter has built an amazing team and culture at OMGPop, and I can’t wait to see what that team builds next. We think we can amplify their efforts, and we’re going to work together to make sure that more players love more of their games, both in the current stable of titles, and new IP we’ll see in the future.

Draw Something has shot to the top of the App Store charts since it was released six weeks ago. It has been download over 35 million times. Last week alone, Draw Something recorded more than 1 billion drawings.

Draw Something is available as a universal app. Free version is an ad-supported and a $0.99 is an ad-free version.

Download
Free
$0.99

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(via Macrumors)

iPhoto For iOS Has Already Been Downloaded Over 1 Million Times

Apple announced iPhoto for iOS 5.1 at the iPad event on Mach 7th, and since then (about 2 weeks) the app has already been downloaded over 1 million unique customers. The app is priced at $5, so that means Apple has made $5 million since launch day.

Jim Dalrymple of The Loop just confirm the news:

Apple told me today that its newest iOS app, iPhoto, hit 1 million users in less than 10 days after its release. It’s important to note that figure is users, not downloads. It’s quite possible that one user downloaded the app multiple times, but Apple isn’t counting those, only the unique users.

You can download the app here. It is $4.99 and once you buy it you can re-download onto your iPhone, iPod or iPad as many time as you want.

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(via Cult of Mac)

5 Reasons Why The New iPad Runs Hotter Than The Old Ones

CNET interviewed Raymond Soneira, President of DisplatMate Technologies, regarding the problems of the heat that comes from the new iPad. He offered a few reasons why:

1. Twice the LEDs: That means more heat coming from more LEDs. This is especially a problem at full brightness. 
2. 2.5X the power needed: The brightness efficiency is lower because the new iPad has more pixels (which means more transistors) compared to the iPad 2. More pixels and transistors take up more space, meaning less opportunity for light to pass. "So they basically have to blast light through the LCD to make it come out." Soneira adds: "I measured the LED power at maximum brightness--it's two and a half times greater than on the iPad 2." 

1. Battery generates more juice: The battery has to push out more power. This makes the battery warmer. 
2. Traditional LCD technology: Sharp's power-efficient IGZO technology was not ready for the new iPad. That forced Apple to use traditional--and less power efficient--amorphous silicon tech. 

The iPad's new A5X chip with quad-core graphics may be another factor to a warmer iPad. The new chip is faster and larger, which typically leads to more heat.

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Download These Beautiful Retina Wallpapers for Your New iPad

Graphic designer, Simon C Page (via Cult of Mac) has put together 6 gorgeous wallpapers that has been optimized for the Retina display on the new iPad. Each wallpapers is 2048x2048 pixels and 264 dpi. Here are six of them:

[Download]

[Download]

[Download]

[Download]

[Download]

[Download]

You can see more of his work on his website.

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Rovio Releases A New Trailer For Angry Birds Space

Rovio the developer behind the Angry Birds games just released the trailer for the next chapter of this popular game series: Angry Birds Space

 

The game will be available to download on March 22nd on iOS, Android, Mac and Windows.

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The New iPad Runs Hotter Than Its Predecessor

Tweakers.net (via Engadget) took a thermal image with an infrared camera to confirm many of the new iPad users suggests, the new iPad is running a little hot. After run GLBenchmark for 5 minutes, the hottest point was measured.

The hottest point on the new iPad was the lower right corner which measured a temperature of 33.6° C (or 92.5° F). The iPad 2, meanwhile, topped out at 28.3° C (or 82.9° F). The difference between the two was 5° C (or ~10° F


Later, Apple has release a statement to the Loop regarding the heat complaints:

The new iPad delivers a stunning Retina display, A5X chip, support for 4G LTE plus 10 hours of battery life, all while operating well within our thermal specifications,” Apple representative Trudy Muller, told The Loop. “If customers have any concerns they should contact AppleCare.” 

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Apple: New iPad Tops Three Million!

Today Apple posted the press release on its website that it has sold over three million iPad in the first weekend alone! According to Cult of Mac, that is actually three times as many as last year!

 CUPERTINO, California―March 19, 2012―Apple® today announced it has sold three million of its incredible new iPad®, since its launch on Friday, March 16. The new iPad features a stunning new Retina™ display, Apple’s new A5X chip with quad-core graphics, a 5 megapixel iSight® camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos and 1080p HD video, and still delivers the same all-day 10 hour battery life* while remaining amazingly thin and light. iPad Wi-Fi + 4G supports ultrafast 4G LTE networks in the US and Canada, and fast networks around the world including those based on HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA.**

“The new iPad is a blockbuster with three million sold―the strongest iPad launch yet,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Customers are loving the incredible new features of iPad, including the stunning Retina display, and we can't wait to get it into the hands of even more customers around the world this Friday.”

The new iPad is already available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Switzerland, UK and the US Virgin Islands and will be available in 24 more countries starting at 8:00 a.m. local time on Friday, March 23 through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

The new iPad Wi-Fi models are available in black or white for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) for the 16GB model, $599 (US) for the 32GB model, $699 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad Wi-Fi + 4G for either AT&T or Verizon is available for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad is sold in the US through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers. Additionally, the incredible iPad 2 is now offered at a more affordable price of $399 (US) for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and just $529 (US) for the 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G model.

*Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.

**4G LTE is supported only on AT&T and Verizon networks in the U.S. and on Bell, Rogers, and Telus networks in Canada. Data plans sold separately.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

The New iPad: Retina Display, 4G LTE, 5MP iSight Camera and A5X Chip

Apple has announced the next generation iPad, which they call it "The new iPad." Surprisingly, there is no special number or letters indicate its generation (iPad 3, iPad HD, etc.) It's just "iPad" The device comes with stunning Retina Display, 5 megapixel iSight camera, 4G LTE, and the new A5X processor. Some of its new features after the jump!

Retina Display

The new Retina Display has four times more pixel than its predecessor, 2048x1536 resolution with the total of 3.1 millions pixel and 264 ppi. It will certainly be one of the new iPad's key selling point. This display actually has million more pixel than HD 1080p TV!

New 5MP iSight Camera

The camera has the fully upgrade. The new iPad comes with 5 megapixel camera that has advanced optics, same as in iPhone 4S. It can record HD video in full 1080p and also automatically stabilizes the video.

New A5X Chip

The new iPad is powered by the upgraded dual-core A5X processor with quad-core graphics. Apple also claims that the new iPad will still have the "legendary 10-hour battery". And I believe this is the reason why the new iPad is slightly thicker than iPad 2 (about half-millimeter).

4G LTE

With “ultrafast 4G LTE”, the new iPad can browse the web, stream different forms of media and download content faster than every before! The 4G LTE version is also capable of operating on GSM/UMTS networks across the world (including HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA). In ideal conditions, users will experience download speeds of up to 73 Mbps over LTE and up to 21.1 Mbps over HSPA+

Dictation

With the dictation, iPad user can search the web, take notes, write text and email easier than ever before. Unfortunately, there is still no Siri assistance on the new iPad, but we still have next year.

With these awesome new features, the new iPad still holds the same prices. For Wifi only, $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB and $699 for 64GB; Wifi + 4G, $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32GB and $829 for 64GB. Apple also announced that it will reduce the price of 16GB iPad for $100, so iPad's prices are $399 for Wifi only model and $529 for Wifi + 3G model.

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Confirmed: iPad 3 Will Have A Retina Display With 2048x1536

MacRumors has claimed to have one of the screens from iPad 3 production. They put it under the microscope and found out that it has 4 times the pixels as an iPad 2 or double horizontal and double the vertical.

Physically, the purported iPad 3 display is the same size as the current iPad 1 and iPad 2 display at 9.7" in diagonal, and looks quite similar to the naked eye. 

Extrapolating out, the iPad 3 screen should carry a full resolution of 2048x1536, exactly twice the linear resolution of the iPad 1 and iPad 2 which is 1024x768. Such a screen should be able to display much sharper images as compared to the previous generation iPads.  

We are just a few weeks away from the anticipated March 7th iPad 3 launch. The device is rumored to be carrying this high-resolution display, a new A6 processor and 4G LTE support.

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Source: MacRumors

Video Showing OS X Mountain Lion's AirPlay Mirroring in Action

Insanely Great Mac has made a video hands-on of OS X Mountain Lion's new AirPlay Mirroring feature.

From the video, I can see that it is running very smoothly. You will need to have an Apple TV to do this and it has to have version 5.1 b2 to do this.

Apple Starts The Countdown To 25 Billion Apps Download

Apple has started a counting down to the 25 billionth app download today, and has posted a new site promoting it.

As of today, nearly 25 billion apps have been downloaded worldwide. Which is almost as amazing as the apps themselves. So we want to say thanks. Download the 25 billionth app, and you could win a US$10,000 App Store Gift Card.* Just visit the App Store and download your best app yet.

There are two ways to win this promotion, who either download the 25 billionth app or who submits the alternate entry form immediately after the 24,999,999th app, whichever comes first.

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Source: MacRumors, 9to5mac

OS X Applications That Mountain Lion Killed Today

Apple's merging of iOS with OS X continues today with the sneak peak at 10.8 Mountain Lion. Several apps and features have been replaced with iOS counterparts. Here is everything from past OS X releases that died today at the hand of Apple's iOS-ifying of Mountain Lion.

iChat: Mountain Lion introduces "Message" app, which when installed also replaces iChat and integrates your AIM, Yahoo!, Google Talk and Jabber accounts. With this you can send unlimited text messages to and from Macs and iOS devices. The new Message app also integrates FaceTime video chats.

iCal & Address Book: In Mountain Lion, Address Book and iCal have both been replaced with names of their iOS apps, "Contacts" and "Calendar". It also improves iCloud integration.

Growl: Apple's integration of a Notifications Center that is almost identical to iOS 5 doesn't completely replace the need of Growl. Apple's is letting developers integrate notifications into their app and we'll likely see further integration between Notification Center on iOS and OS X in future updates.

"Mac": Apple officially dropped the "Mac" from "Mac OS X". Mac has been part of the OS name for more than 10 years, and dropping the "Mac" will surely make things easier when the inevitable unification of iOS X is complete.

HDMI out: With AirPlay mirroring support in Mountain Lion, HDMI out is on the way out. It might not be the reason to throw to your HDMI cables right away, but the prospect of wirelessly beaming your Mac's screen to the upcoming Apple HDTV means Apple is likely to keep improving it.

Source: 9to5mac

OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion to Be Released This Summer!

Today, Apple website has an update on Mac OS X page for the developer preview of 10.8 Mountain Lion just 7 month after the launch of OS X Lion. You will find an interesting line on the page that read: Inspired by iPad. Re-imagined for Mac. 


From Apple:

Mountain Lion presents notifications in an elegant new way, and Notification Center provides easy access to alerts from Mail, Calendar, Messages, Reminders, system updates and third party apps. System-wide Share Sheets make it easy to share links, photos and videos directly from Apple and third party apps. Twitter is integrated throughout Mountain Lion so you can sign on once and tweet directly from Safari®, Quick Look, Photo Booth®, Preview and third party apps. Mountain Lion also introduces AirPlay Mirroring, an easy way to wirelessly send a secure 720p video stream of what's on your Mac to an HDTV using Apple TV®.

There are total of more than 100 new features with top 10 new features. Details after the break!

      

iCloud

         There would be the cloud-power back up for your Mac with better integration. All your emails, notes, reminders, calendar, contacts and documents. It pushes all you data and activities from your Mac to iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

 

Messages

         In Mountain Lion, Apple has integrated the messages app to the Mac. You can send messages to all of your friends that have iMessage on their devices and the conversations will be pushes from iDevices to your Mac with iCloud.

The beta version of messages app for Mac is now available for download on Apple website!

Reminders and Notes

       The new and most used iOS 5 apps are coming to OS X Mountain Lion. The apps are both sync with iCloud so your items will show up on your other devices.

  

Notifications Center

        Now the famous notifications center of iOS 5 is on the Mac! It works just like it does on iOS and it can be brought up with a simple swipe to the left.

Share Sheets

        

      You will find the Share button on many OS X Mountain Lion apps. You can send links from Safari or send your notes via Mail and Messages.

Twitter Integration

          On iOS 5, there was a new twitter integration that you can tweet directly from the app. Now it's coming to OS X. You can send tweets right from your desktop and other apps including Safari. It is the same UI as in iOS. You will also get Twitter notifications from the new Notifications Center on your Mac.

The are three more less major features include:

• Gatekeeper: a security app (Apple is careful not to call it an anti-virus) which maximizes your Mac’s security by giving you controls over which apps are installed only from Mac App Store or recognized developers (or both!)
• AirPlay Mirroring: Just like the iPad, you can mirror everything on your Mac to an HDTV connected to an Apple TV.
• Game Center: Sign in with an Apple ID and start playing against friends on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Find new games, enjoy multiplayer gaming and more!

Apple will be releasing OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion sometime this summer at an expected price of $29.99 via the Mac App Store.

You can watch the preview video here:

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Apple's Suppliers Test 8-inch iPad

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is now working with suppliers on an 9-inch iPad on the diagonal. It is down from 9.7-inch display of the current iPad but is larger than Kindle Fire, which is 7-inch

Officials at some of Apple's suppliers, who declined to be named, said the Cupertino, Calif., company has shown them screen designs for a new device with a screen size of around eight inches and said the company is qualifying suppliers for it. Apple's latest tablet, the iPad 2, comes with a 9.7-inch screen. It was launched last year.

One person said the smaller device will have a similar-resolution screen as the iPad 2. Apple is working with screen makers including Taiwan-based AU Optronics Co. and LG Display Co. of South Korea to supply the test panels, the person said.

    

                    Macrumors' Mockup of 7.85" iPad on left, 9.7" iPad on right 

'Clear' To-do List App Arrives on the App Store!

The anticipated Clear to-do list application for the iPhone and iPod touch has made its way onto the iTunes App Store worldwide. The app is unlike any other piece of to-do list software as it includes a Multi-Touch optimized interface that functions like no other. For example, to create a new to-do, a user can either pull or pinch their to-do list. Clear’s promotional video above demonstrates the unique interface best. Clear includes the option to create specific lists, like iOS 5′s built-in Reminders application, and also includes some different color themes. The application is downloadable here for $0.99.






Clear for iPhone (Coming Soon!) from Realmac Software on Vimeo.

4G LTE iPad 3 On AT&T and Verizon

The Wall Street has published a report confirming that the iPad 3 will feature 4G LTE networking technology for both AT&T and Verizon customers. Apple's next-generation iPad is expected to be announced on the first week of March [March 7th], and the device is rumored to feature an A6 quad-core processor and retina display.

Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. will sell a version of the coming iPad that runs on their newest fourth-generation wireless networks, according to people familiar with the matter, as the battle to cash in on big investments in mobile broadband heats up.

Both companies are banking heavily on LTE to attract new subscribers and to get existing subscribers to upgrade to more lucrative monthly smartphone and tablet contracts. Apple’snew iPad, which will work on those LTE networks, would give the country’s two largest carriers a device that could help drum up demand for the faster service, in the way the originaliPhone dramatically increased demand for 3G wireless data plans.