In our “Let’s talk iPhone” event rumor roundup, we noted Apple could announce a new Apple TV on stage. Earlier this year, a number of separate reports have suggested Apple was working on a new Apple TV with A5 CPU (the same of iPad 2 and iPhone 4S) to enhance the device’s processing capabilities and allow for full 1080p playback. The current Apple TV model packs and A4 processor (iPad, iPhone 4) and plays back video up to 720p, but as we know the October 4th event didn’t see any Apple TV updates among iPod, iOS 5, iCloud and iPhone 4S announcements. A rumor from July even suggested Apple was working on a new video format called HD+ to launch this fall in the iTunes Store alongside a new Apple TV model.

According to a code string found in iOS 5 by 9to5mac, a new AppleTV3,1 is in the works, and it should be an updated version with upgraded internals such as the aforementioned A5 processor. The existing Apple TV model is referenced as AppleTV2,1 — Apple typically uses this kind of references to prepare iOS for upcoming devices. References in the iOS filesystem are never 100% accurate, but new devices found in the past through code strings have turned out to be real most of the time.

With Apple pushing towards 1080p video content with the new iPhone 4S camera and AirPlay Mirroring made possible by the A5 CPU, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a refreshed Apple TV with faster CPU and more powerful video processing capabilities. As a side note, Apple recently started selling the current-gen Apple TV in more European countries.

The iTunes Store and the current generation Apple TV can currently playback 720p video without issue. 1080p video, however, is the apple in every blu-ray owner’s mind. If Apple doesn’t want to provide customers with high-definition video, then why bother streaming video from Apple to the big screen? Movie-goers may want to hold onto the cash in their pocket before they spring for an alternative just a little while longer. AppleInsider was advised that 1080p video could become the norm beginning this fall with the availability of higher definition content and an updated Apple TV.

A higher resolution format for video, dubbed HD+ for 1080p content, is rumored to be an option alongside SD and HD video. 20th Century Fox as well as other large movie studios are said to be submitting films encoded with with an average bitrate of 10,000 kbps at 1920 x 1080p resolution. An updated Apple TV with an A5 processor would have no problems in playing back high definition content — the rumor would also coincide with an updated iPad 2.

If Apple is going to be attacking the media front with 1080p video this fall, a higher resolution iPad to play that 1080p content on makes some sense. While it’s not a confirmation, Apple could roll out an updated Apple TV alongside an iPad 2 HD to play back HD+ video. The iPad 2 HD would be rumored to have a resolution of 2048 x 1536, well beyond the requirement to playback 1080p at full resolution. With the A5 processor already in place, the iPad 2 HD would need nothing more than a display adjustment in coordination with a new content launch.

[via AppleInsider]

When I first reviewed Week Calendar for iPhone in March, I called it a powerful alternative to Apple’s standard calendar app for iOS devices. It’s not that Apple’s Calendar.app lacks basic functionalities or is utterly broken: in fact, I think Calendar is more than fine for most users. But if you’re willing to get the most out of your MobileMe, Google Calendar, Exchange or CalDAV calendars, UtiliTap’s application is the full-featured alternative to install on an iPhone. And today, you’ll be able to enjoy Week Calendar on the iPad as well, thanks to an “HD” counterpart that’s just been approved and is now available at $2.99 in the App Store.

Week Calendar HD has all the features from the iPhone version, only on a bigger screen and with visual cues from Lion’s calendar app. The difference between the iPad’s native Calendar and Week Calendar HD is very subtle, but Week Calendar implements a leather background and bits of torn paper in a way that’s more reminiscent of Lion than Apple’s own app. Clearly some people are going to hate this choice if they were looking for a cleaner UI as seen on the iPhone, and perhaps the developers will revise their decision. I don’t know, but right now this is what you get. And, more importantly, what matters is that Week Calendar still outpaces Apple’s calendar solution when it comes down to views, gestures, copy & paste support or mere customization of the calendar. Week Calendar’s biggest advantage over Apple’s cal is support for multitouch with copy & paste, possibility to add a new event with tap & hold, easy resizing of events and pinch to personalize the selected view. You can tap and hold an existing event to move it around and change its start and end date; you can “cut” an event and paste it somewhere else; you can access an event’s info panel with a single tap, rather than having to tap the Edit button like in Apple’s calendar. Again, this works like the iPhone version but it’s been ported successfully to the iPad with the use of popovers and bigger real screen estate. From the Event Details panel, like on Week Cal for iPhone, you can set an alert, availability status, custom color, or find your away around four buttons that allow you to share an event, print it, email it or add it to the template list. Week Calendar, in fact, can turn any event into a template to use again in the future. Notes, invitees and local contacts can be attached to an event, too.

The selection of settings is equally impressive. You can turn on time zone support and specify when the week or weekend start,  manage new events’ default preferences and the aforementioned templates (these will save you a lot of time), customize standard colors to assign a color by default to events that meet certain title criteria. There’s more: you can activate TextExpander integration (save even more time), turn off drag & drop entirely, completely overhaul the way the app displays days and weeks. For instance, you can change font sizes, enable out-of-view indicators, tell the app when a day starts and ends. Anything else is just Week Calendar for iPhone, running on the iPad with a new UI: lots of features, yet easy to use.

If you’re a calendar nerd, Week Calendar HD for iPad is a dream come true. It’s got all the customization options you’ve always wanted from the tablet’s calendar app, plus a design consistent with Apple’s recent standards and tons of gestures to simplify navigation. Get it here at $2.99.

Development studio Firemint has announced that they’ll be the first ones to support fullscreen 1080p video-out in an upcoming major update of Real Racing 2 HD. The new version, still not available in the App Store, will allow iPad 2 users to connect their device to an HDTV and enjoy the game at 1080p without black borders, in all its fullscreen glory. This sounds like a major breakthrough on the iOS platform, and something we wish more developers will support in the future. Admittedly, being forced to play an iOS game on a television with black borders all around it is not a great experience.

The new feature doesn’t use scaling, it’s full HD being mirrored to the TV. It runs at 30 frames per second and, while playing with the iPad connected via HDMI adaptor, the device’s screen will display a map of the location in real-time.

Check out the demo video below. (more…)

Just in time for some truly magical iPad 2 hands-on videos featuring games being played on the new device, developer Firemint has announced that the brand new version of award-winning game Real Racing HD will take advantage of the more powerful graphic capabilities offered by the iPad 2.

Firemint says they were not aware of the detailed specs of the iPad 2, but they had a fairly accurate idea that turned out to be good for what they’ve been building. That means gyroscopic controls, faster graphics, lighter form factor easier on gamers’ hands when holding the device.

Real Racing 2 HD has been significantly enhanced beyond what could work on existing devices, and our efforts have definitely given us a head start on iPad 2.

All these attributes combined with our enhancements to Real Racing 2 HD will create the most precise and intuitive car racing experience on any device. The 1080p HDMI output also opens up some great possibilities.

We can’t wait to see more developers jumping on board with great-looking games built specifically for the iPad 2. March 11 can’t come soon enough.

I stumbled upon Space Gremlin for Mac today when browsing new releases and top paid categories in the Mac App Store. Not as sexy and shiny as Daisy Disk, Space Gremlin can scan any drive connected to your Mac (external, internal Mac HD, network drive through AirPort Extreme station) and provide an easy solution to visualize files that are eating space on your computer.

Space Gremlin doesn’t allow you to delete files and folders in-app like Daisy Disk does with the recent 2.0 update, however it comes with a more standard grid view that reminds me of the popular cleaning tool WinDirStat for Windows. From this grid view (scan took a few seconds on my 120 GB SSD), you can select folders to reveal them in Finder, navigate to deeper levels, zoom back and hide free space / hidden files. What’s cool is that you can also add specific folders (like system ones) to an ignore list because you know they’re there and you can’t delete them. You can access and modify the ignore list at any time from the toolbar, which also happens to have buttons to refresh folders and perform a new scan. I really, really appreciate the fact that, together with my FireWire drive, the app also recognized the USB one attached to my AirPort extreme and shared on my local network. From the “begin a new scan” window, you also have shortcuts to popular Places like the Desktop, Documents and Applications folders.

Space Gremlin doesn’t have the most beautiful interface you’ve ever seen, but gets the job done. I would like to see the possibility to delete files within the app in a future update, and smoother animations when switching between folders in the filesystems. Overall, Space Gremlin is a well-realized utility that you can get at $3.99 in the Mac App Store.

With iLife ’11, Apple implemented a lot more social features to better integrated the desktop suite with social networks such as Flickr, Facebook, Vimeo and Youtube. As spotted by HDBlog (Google Translation), iMovie’11 can upload 1080p HD videos directly to Youtube without having to trick the application in god knows what obscure way as in the previous editions of iMovie. (more…)