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Suppliers Reporting 2.4 Million iPad 2s Shipped in March

Despite shortages, Apple aggressively sold the iPad 2 at launch date, part suppliers said Wednesday. Roughly 2.4 - 2.6 million iPad 2’s are believed to have shipped in March. Digitimes also said that based on a conservative estimate, Apple is likely to ship 4 - 4.3 million units a month, or a total of over 12 million iPad 2s in the second quarter.

A limiting factor for Apple could be the cover lenses, suppliers said. Taiwan-based companies like Chunghwa, G-Tech, HannStar, TPK, and Wintek are all increasing their capacities this year. Apple usually only uses a handful of suppliers and will have to stay on their supplier’s toes to stay ahead of the demand to reach these numbers.

These unofficial March shipment figures suggest an explosive, and expected, start to iPad 2 sales. Apple took 28 days to ship the first million of the original iPad and likely reached that number twice as fast for the iPad 2. Sales accelerations were certainly helped by an international release only two weeks after the US. Apple had to push non-US availability out by several weeks in 2010 with the release of the original iPad.

Most competitors are feeling the pain from the iPad 2 sales, today TechCrunch has reported that Motorola Xoom and Atrix sales are disappointing. “If it don’t make dollars, then it don’t make sense.”

[via electronista]

 

iCushion Stand for iPhone

Is there anything better than keeping an iPhone 4 with its flush, shiny glass back on the flat surface of a desk that also hosts a variety of other Apple products? For some, it’s keeping the iPhone into a desktop stand like the Xtand. Others prefer the simplicity of a standard Apple dock. Last, some people keep their iPhones protected with a bumper, which also ensures the device won’t slide and fall off a flat surface like your office’s desk or coffee table. For these people, and for all those who hate how cables inevitably create a giant tangled mess on your desk, the iCushion for iPhone could be a great alternative to the usual DIY stand or protective case: designed by Fadtronics, the iCushion is a seat for the iPhone that a) also keeps the cables in place neatly organized and b) has a suction cup to prevent the device from slipping away. Plus, it’s cute.

The iCushion stand is likely just a design experiment, and we’re not sure the thing will ever be available for purchase. But it should. Check out more photos here.

Kickstarter Project - Tweet Land: Playing With Reality

I hope you don’t get tired of reading about Kickstarter projects because I enjoy writing posts about very cool ideas. A new project I found today is called Tweet Land. Tweet Land is the idea of six Costa Ricans that believe it’s “possible to reinvent the way video games are created. We believe in opportunity, that’s why we believe in Tweet Land.” Tweet Land is one of the world’s first video game platforms that plays with reality, or “Real Time Gaming.”

What would happen if people’s social networks effected what happens in a video game? If you like the idea of the twittersphere becoming a virtual universe, this is for you.

Video after the break. Read more

New Final Cut Pro to be Announced on April 12th?

The ProVideoCoalition reports this evening that the new Final Cut Pro isn’t just amazing, but that it’s slated for an April 12th launch date at the tenth annual SuperMeet at the Bally’s Event Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Rumors are flying that Apple will be using the Vegas Supermeet to announce the next version of Final Cut Pro. Supposedly, Apple will be taking over the entire event for their announcement, canceling all other sponsors, including AJA, Avid, Canon, BlackMagic, Autodesk and others, who were set to give presentations.

So far, ProVideoCoalition has confirmed that Canon, Avid, and Autodesk will not be presenting on the 12th. Avid reported that Supermeet canceled their sponsorship for the event, while Canon cancelled speaker Philip Bloom’s stage appearance. However, Bloom may make a guest appearance at the event.

Early in January, Hardmac proposed that Apple was testing a beta version of Final Cut Pro, and that it was slated for a late March or early April release date. In February, Techcrunch’s Alexia Tsotsis reported that video editors were visiting the Apple campus to get a preview of the new software.

Apparently Apple is still putting the finishing touches on “the biggest overhaul to Final Cut Pro since the original version was created over 10 years ago”and wanted pro user feedback. Emphasis on “pro.”

MacRumors quotes Final Cut author Larry Jordan, who writes on his blog:

I’ve Seen The New Version of Final Cut Pro… and it’s a jaw-dropper. Last week, Apple invited a few folks, including me, to a short meeting in Cupertino where they previewed the up-coming version of Final Cut Pro. While I am under NDA and can’t talk about what I saw, I CAN tell you the meeting happened and that it showcased the new Final Cut Pro.

Ripe with rumors pointing to an April launch, I’d expect the next iteration of Final Cut Pro to launch this month. The last time we saw any activity with Final Cut Pro was in 2009, and many are expecting dramatic interface changes to coincide with 64-bit support and the launch of Lion.

[via MacRumors]

 

 

Fring To Introduce Group Video Calling For iPhone

In its continuous effort to develop the best mobile video calling app for iOS and Android devices, popular service fring has announced that they’ll soon launch a private beta to pilot a group video calling feature that will be available on fring later this year. The beta program is open to Android and iOS users, and it’s been demoed in a video published by the developers in a blog post.

The new fring will allow you to easily browse the buddy list and pick a contact to add to a group call. The functionality apparently supports up to 4 simultaneous conversations and works both on WiFi and 3G. Once a person has been added to the group call, you can go back to the main screen and keep adding buddies until the limit is reached. As soon as you tap on a contact’s name, fring will initiate the call – meaning you don’t have to wait for all connections to go through at the same time. You can see how it works in the video below.

The dev team is putting the finishing touches on a super cool new service: free, mobile Group Video Calls. We are having too much fun with it already, and want to get some feedback from users ahead of public launch on Android & iPhone.

Of course, this is super-exciting as it’s the 1st time the world will get to enjoy free Group Video calls.

Fring for iPhone was recently updated to include the possibility to switch between cameras, buy credit through in-app purchases and enjoy fullscreen video calling with a “Dynamic Video Quality” the company has heavily promoted on mobile devices. Fring for iPhone is available for free in the App Store.

Read more

Official TED iPad App Now Supports AirPlay

We’re big fans of the official TED app for the iPad, and we’re also huge fans of Apple’s AirPlay streaming technology and the second-gen Apple TV – entirely based on streaming content from iTunes or your local network. The latest update to the TED app doesn’t introduce several new features and optimizations (the app was initially released in October 2010), but it adds one key functionality: AirPlay support for all talks and playlists.

Version 1.3 doesn’t add anything else, but it’s okay. AirPlay support for TED talks was our most requested feature, and it’s finally available. Go get the app here.

 

Apple Launches Free App To Browse iAds

Released a few minutes ago in the App Store, iAd Gallery is a new iPhone app developed by Apple and aimed at showcasing the best iAd campaigns that landed on iOS in the past weeks. The app collects several iAds for iPhone, you can browse by advertiser, category or ad feature thanks to a spinning wheel that lets you easily jumo through ads and select the ones you want to “watch”. You can also learn more about the advertising agencies behind a campaign, and check out the latest ads from the iAd network. You can also “love” specific iAd campaigns and access them at any time from the Loved tab in the bottom toolbar.

The iAd Gallery is a celebration of advertising, featuring iAd campaigns from some of the world’s best brands and their advertising agencies. The iAd Gallery gives you easy access to a selection of the fun and informative ads that have run in some of your favorite apps. Use the Browse feature to discover ads you haven’t seen, or to find those you want to see again. Even lets you tag your favorites to a Loved section that’s all your own.

From a first quick test, it appears that the app takes a few seconds to load the initial gallery (even on a fast WiFi network), but once loaded everything is quite responsive. Browsing through ads in the wheel feels smooth and fast; in the More section, you can contact the iAd team to ask for more info about joining the network. Clearly this is an app meant for media and business to showcase the capabilities of iAds, and perhaps also educate App Store users about the interactivity of Apple’s ad platform. We’re not sure what kind of message Apple is sending to advertisers here, and if the impressions generated in this app account for the iAd campaign itself. It is worth nothing, though, that Apple recently cut the minimum iAd buy in half to $500,000 from the previous $1 million, and a released a desktop tool called iAd Producer to simplify the creation of iAds for designers and developers. Advertisers claimed that iAd wasn’t off to a happy start at all after the initial hype, although we’re hearing iAd revenue for iOS devs has seen a huge rise in the past three weeks. Apple also rolled out fullscreen iAds for the iPad.

You can find iAd Gallery here. More screenshots below. Read more

nvALT 2.0 Launches with (Multi)Markdown, HTML/CSS Template Support

Notational Velocity is a huge productivity tool for keep tracking of internal notes with tags and content linking, and followers of Brett Terpstra are probably already big fans of the nvALT project that’s designed to add power-user friendly features to a favorite text client. With help from ElasticThreads, nvALT 2.0 has been released which highlights lots of killer features that can be added to Notational Velocity. I’ve listed just a few below (I encourage you to check out Brett’s site and the project page) for a quick taste of what nvALT 2.0 has to offer.

  • Textile and (Multi)Markdown support with Preview window (hold down Control to view temporarily)
  • Custom HTML/CSS templates can be included in saved output from the Preview
  • Convert imported URLs to Markdown, and optionally strip excess content with Readability
  • Word Count (hold down Option to view temporarily)
  • Full-screen mode

As a fork of Notional Velocity, nvALT is a keyboard-focused text editor that’s being improved to deliver rich features that writers such as myself rely on to get things done, take notes, and quickly exit ideas from my brain box. If you’re already familiar with Notational Velocity, it works with Simplenote on your favorite iOS device, and it can be extended thanks to the great nvALT project Brett and other volunteers are working on. It doesn’t replace Notational Velocity, but runs alongside it with it’s own set of preferences and additional features.

[via Brett Terpstra]

Apple Asks Toyota To Take Cydia Theme Down

Two days ago we reported Toyota launched a new advertising campaign in the Cydia through ModMyi’s repository based on a custom theme iPhone users could install on their jailbroken devices. The theme promoted Toyota’s affiliate Scion 2011 tC vehicle, with graphics on screen depicting the car in various elements of the standard iOS interface. Toyota didn’t directly get in touch with Cydia’s creator Jay Freeman to launch the ad campaign, which was organized and hosted through ModMyi’s repository. Many saw the advertising campaign as the first step for large companies like Toyota to avoid the App Store altogether to promote their brands and products on the iPhone. With 10-15 million jailbroken devices out there, launching an ad campaign in Cydia through a third-party repo must have sounded like the perfect opportunity to Toyota.

Too bad Apple didn’t think that was a really good idea. In fact, Toyota was apparently asked by Apple to take the theme down, and Toyota accepted to ”maintain their good relationship with Apple.” The campaign had been in the works since April 2010 with Toyota and advertising agency Velti.

Kyle Matthews of ModMyi reports:

Apple also heard about the theme and ad campaign. I received a call from our contact at Velti this evening as well as an email asking me to please take the theme out of Cydia. On the phone, he explained Apple had contacted Toyota and requested they remove the theme and stop the advertising campaign. They (Velti) in turn contacted me relaying the message.

Apple doesn’t obviously like jailbreak (they called it “illegal” before the Digital Copyright Millennium Act updated its rules and observed jailbreaking a phone is in a consumer’s rights), and they’re taking another hard stance against those who promote or support (or make business with) Cydia in any way. Sorry Toyota, but you’ll have to take that theme down.