Although Apple is making the biggest headlines Wednesday for addressing the iOS tracking scandal and announcing Thursday’s long-awaited availability of the white iPhone 4, Apple has made a third announcement that will certainly be of interest to countless would-be iPad 2 buyers around the world.
This morning, Apple announced that the second-generation iPad will arrive in Japan on Thursday, April 28 and Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and eight additional countries this Friday, April 29th. iPad 2 will be available at Apple retail stores at 9 a.m. local time, select Apple Authorized Resellers, and online through the Apple Store beginning at 1 a.m.
With regard to the tablet’s availability in China, the world’s largest and fastest growing mobile population, the iPad 2 with Wi-Fi will reach China on Friday, May 6. The iPad 2 debuted in the US on March 11 and Apple bulked up distribution to 25 additional countries on March 25. Japan was initially scheduled for a March 25th launch, but the tragic earthquake there last month delayed the launch.
The full list of new countries getting the iPad 2 by Friday looks like this: Japan, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey and UAE. Apple says that further international availability will be announced at a later date.
Source: Apple
Not one, but two – that’s how many new tablet computers Sony raised the curtain on today. The consumer electronics behemoth is optimistic about the chances its two Google Android-based touchscreen tablets have at competing with Apple’s presently untouchable iPad and iPad 2.
According to Sony, both tablets will reach consumers this fall, Reuters is reporting. The tablets, called S1 and S2, will use an operating system based on Google’s Android 3.0. They are WiFi and 3G/4G compatible. One of the models will even sport two screens.
Kunimasa Suzuki, deputy president of the consumer products and services group, says the S1 has a 9.4-inch display while S2 has two 5.5-inch displays that can be folded. Avid video-gamers, in particular, have substantial reason for excitement. The tablets will allow gamers to enjoy PlayStation games on the new devices.
“Although it’s a late comer in the market, it has potential as what you need is just one big uniqueness that can sell to customers be it design or whatever,” said Lee Sun-tae, an analyst at Meritz Securities in Seoul. “By the same token it can be just one of another Android phones flooding the market amid intensifying competition.”
Source: Reuters
We posted about Banana TV a while back, which lets you use a Mac as an AirPlay destination for video. We’re working with developer Erica Sadun to market the app, and so I see the support emails daily – the most common one being “when can I stream audio”?
With the recent discovery of the AirTunes private key, it’s now possible to integrate streaming audio from an iOS device to any Mac running a new beta build of Banana Tunes (which is the app Erica is using to beta test this new streaming possibility). She’s been feverishly developing and researching the past couple weeks to get audio streaming working from iOS to OS X. The hope is it will be integrated into a future build of Banana TV.
You can download the beta files from her FTP at ericasadun.com/ananab. There’s two links there – an install pack (read the readme inside to see how to install) and the actual Banana Tunes app.
Test away, folks! Erica would love your feedback on how the app is working, as it will help development.
You can put this in the “why would you want to do that, oh well it’s cool to say I can” bucket. ModMyi.com user ismoothproject has built an Apple Script app which will take iPad-only apps you’ve purchased (still requires a purchase – this isn’t warez, folks) and allow them to be launched on an iPhone, as well as transfer them to your iPhone wirelessly. It requires a jailbroken iPhone, as it sends the .app file via SFTP (requires OpenSSH be installed on your device). Not all apps work, as they’re not really meant to be on that device obviously, but like I said – this is more just “oh, weird, why not?”
This isn’t entirely new – in May of last year we posted info on how to port the (then iPad only) Netflix.app to your iPhone. This user’s method is essentially the same, and can be done manually as well. All he does is change the app’s permissions to 755, as well as the binary. Then toss the .app in your iPhone’s /Applications folder, and respring. Voila, iPad app on your iPhone, working kinda sorta.
If you have a need to do this, and do not want to do the manual method, you can use ismoothproject’s instructions:
1. Download iTelePad2Pod Here.
2. Unzip iTelePad2Pod.zip
3. Move the iTelePad2Pod folder to the /Applications Folder on your Mac.
4. Go to the moved iTelePad2Pod folder (/Applications/iTelePad2Pod) and open the iTelePad2Pod application.(/Applications/iTelePad2Pod/iTelePad2Pod.app)
5. Follow instructions in the app.
He’s also got a YouTube video:
Verizon may have inadvertently announced more than just the company’s 1st quarter earnings today. Although its unlikely that the “slip” was totally accidental, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo dropped what some are considering a major revelation despite the seemingly logical underpinnings of the announcement.
On Thursday, the Verizon executive in question made a comment about the forthcoming Apple iPhone 5. According to Shammo, the new iPhone 5 will be a global handset in that Apple will produce only one universally-compatible model for distribution around the globe.
If Shammo’s statement proves correct, the fifth generation iPhone will be capable of roaming on the GSM wireless networks of the world, effectively giving Verizon a level playing field on which it can compete with AT&T. As we all know, the iPhone 4 presently comes in GSM and CDMA versions. The next iPhone update will conceivably bridge the gap and fuse both technologies into one device that can be used virtually anywhere.
Unfortunately, Verizon, AT&T, and Apple – all of which announced earnings this week – haven’t shed light on when this bad boy will finally drop. As it stands, all signs point to an early summer production of the iPhone 5, which will formally reach consumers in late summer, most likely September.
Source: Mobiledia