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Echofon For iPad & iPhone Update to 4.0

How could Echofon’s magical sync-a-bilities get anymore improved between Echofon on the desktop and your favorite iOS devices? How about the addition of user streaming to the iPad, global push notifications for direct messages, and the ability to temporarily mute tweet happy users? User streaming is something I’ve wished for in all clients as long as it continues to retain your place on the timeline (Twitter for iPad is good at this), and not too many have successfully took a swing at Echofon’s syncing features. There’s nothing more annoying that re-reading a garbage bin full of old tweets - pick up where you left off with Echofon, and download the free updates in the iTunes App Store via the links below.

Echofon for iOS, Free

[Business Wire: UberMedia: Echofon 4 Press Release via The Next Web]

New MacBook Airs In June with Sandy Bridge CPU?

According to CNET, who cites “a source familiar with Apple’s plans”, the MacBook Air might receive an update in June with the new Intel Sandy Bridge processor:

Apple is targeting a MacBook Air update for this summer that will include a move to Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors, CNET has learned.

The MacBook Air refresh is expected in June, according to a source familiar with Apple’s plans.

Intel’s Sandy Bridge chips were initially delayed due to a hardware bug, but the company confirmed earlier this week that shipments will start on February 20th. As CNET notes, the MacBook Air family is still carrying Intel’s Core 2 Duo processors which are two generations behind Sandy Bridge; the MacBook Airs were last updated in October, announced by Steve Jobs at the “Back to the Mac” event.

Recent rumors suggested the MacBook Pros, due a refresh, will soon receive an update, possibly featuring Sandy Bridge. A MacBook Air announcement in June would play well with the WWDC 2011 timeframe, where Apple is expected to unveil the next-generation iPhone.

Pulse For iPad Is Now Faster, Always In Sync with Google Reader

Pulse, the social news reader for iPad, was updated last night to include a number of optimizations and new features. With the release of the new Flipboard a few months ago, Pulse had to play catch-up to face the iPad app of the year, which was updated with better Facebook integration, Google Reader support and huge improvements to the interface and navigation. Pulse, however, was never based on the same concept of Flipboard: where Flipboard is a social magazine that aggregates content from Twitter, Facebook and Google Reader, Pulse is a wall for your news. Moving out of RSS feeds to embrace Facebook links confirms the news wall theory.

The latest update to Pulse is aimed at enhancing speed and Google Reader sync. The app will now store changes offline and sync them back as soon as an internet connection becomes available. On the engine side, Alphonso Labs improved image loading times, refresh and scrolling, which feels much smoother now. The app was never really fluid for me, and I expect things to get even better once the iPad 2 with a faster processor ships.

Images can now be saved to the iPad’s photo library, and search has been refined to direct you to proper news sources. There is no doubt Pulse is getting better over time, however I would like to see a redesign of the interface, which I believe has fallen behind the elegance and minimalism of Flipboard.

Pulse News Reader is available for free here.

Notebook Shipments To Slow Down in Q1, But Apple Is “Doubling Orders”

According to Digitimes, most notebook vendors will see lower shipments in Q1 2011, mainly due to defective Intel chipsets. Apple and Samsung, however, won’t experience this slowdown and Apple is even doubling the orders of some models.

With the exception of Samsung Electronics and Apple, first-quarter 2011 shipments of notebooks from brand-name vendors will be lower than expected, according to sources from Taiwan’s notebook upstream supply chain.

Samsung has been performing better than other brands by taking up deliveries from the suppliers, the sources noted, adding that Apple reportedly is revising upward its orders with the volume of some hot-selling models being doubled.

Do we see new MacBook Pros here, relatively soon? The line is due an update, and reports suggested Intel may be able to ship the Sandy Bridge by the end of February anyway. According to recent rumors, stock of some MacBook Pro models has been running low and a refresh is coming soon.

Fourth Beta Of 10.6.7 (10J855 ) Seeded To Developers

Earlier today Apple released a new developer beta of OS X 10.6.7. The build is the fourth since January, carrying number 10J855.

No known issues are reported in the seed notes, focus areas still include Mac App Store, AirPort, Bonjour, SMB and Graphics Drivers. At this point, it appears that the public release of OS X is getting closer, as Apple has been releasing new betas every week and the initial issues have been fixed and no new ones have been reported.

The third beta (10J850) was released on February 1st.

[Thanks, Bastian]

Rumor: Apple Prototyping A 2.3” iPhone At $200 Without Contract? Customers To Choose Own Network?

With the tech world still suffocating from iPad 2 rumors and John Gruber’s predictive iPad 3 lineup bomb, Bloomberg reports this afternoon that Apple may be planning to rekindle their iPhone line with new models to better compete with Android. What’s in the mix? A rumored Apple iPhone prototype is said to be a third smaller than the current iPhone 4, meaning it would be on par with HP’s Veer at approximately 2.3 inches diagonally. How do you undercut the competition? By finally offering American consumers the option to purchase a $200 smartphone without an obligatory contract.

Apple can sell it at a low price mainly because the smartphone will use a processor, display and other components similar to those used in the current model, rather than pricier, more advanced parts that will be in the next iPhone, the person said. Component prices typically drop over time.

Whether or not you care to dig into the gigahertz war in smartphone processor technology, the current hardware for the iPhone 4 would still be relevant for the next year, despite Android handsets launching with dual-core processor. iOS, being extremely efficient would fly with a 1GHz processor pushing pixels on a 2.3 inch display. With the same great camera, the baby iPhone would be an excellent edition to Apple’s lineup when paired with larger display of an iPad. (Personally, I don’t think these smaller displays are just for tweens.) The phone would be free if purchased on contract.

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Yahoo Announces Livestand, Digital Newsstand For iPad and Android

In an attempt to revitalize its news and content delivery platform and target the new tablet market, today Yahoo announced Livestand, a digital newsstand for iPad and Android devices that will become available in the form of native apps in the first half of 2011. There is no release date and pricing information for now, but a few details about Livestand have been revealed.

Livestand, according to Yahoo, will deliver “a wealth of ever-changing content” from different publishers that will sign up to the project and it will be geared towards a user’s interest and contexts. It sounds like a personalized news platform à la Flipboard, although it isn’t clear at this point whether the information will be real-time, aggregated from social networks and websites, or published at regular intervals from external sources.

With Livestand, we’re using ad formats that evoke the emotion of TV advertising with a highly-visual magazine-like experience.  And they’re combined with the effectiveness of an Internet ad that’s data-rich, actionable, even location aware. It’s all personalized and in context – just like our content.

In the first half of 2011, you’ll see Yahoo!’s vast digital content library come to life through Livestand from Yahoo! – from Sports, News, Finance, Flickr, omg!, and the Yahoo! Contributor Network – as iPad and Android tablet applications.

This is all Yahoo has announced for now. It sounds fairly interesting and promising – honestly though, I’m really looking forward to what comes next for Flipboard. Sorry, Yahoo.

Advertisers Not Happy About Apple’s iAds?

Months after the introduction of Apple’s iAd advertising platform, it looks like advertisers aren’t happy about the service at all. According to a report posted by TechCrunch, many developers have noticed a massive slowdown in iAd’s fill rates recently, especially after the New Year:

The fill rate—what percentage of the ad inventory is actually filled with an ad—for two separate developers plummeted from 18 percent to 6 percent. And in a few instances for some newer apps, none of the ad slots were getting filled, compared to nearly complete fill rates from other mobile ad networks.

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Marathon Man Will “Run” iOS and Android Devices In Tokyo

Joseph Tame truly is one kind of a geek. Last year, he live streamed the Tokyo marathon with an iPhone head-mount. This year, the project is much bigger and involves the iRun, “the world’s most advanced mobile social media machine”. What is that? Well, it’s a complex device that can be wrapped around your body while you’re running and packs several mobile devices like phones, tablets and WiFi routers into a single structure that’s constantly connected to the Internet. Sounds geeky? Read on below.

It features four iPhones on rotatable mounts, an iPad, an Android handset, three mobile wifi routers, a wind turbine (ok, so it’s a kid’s fan that turns around…), a 4-in-one atmospheric monitor, a heart monitor, a plastic doughnut and of course the very important satellite dish for high-speed data connectivity (cunningly crafted from a bird-feeding dish).

It doesn’t end at mobile device integration, though. The iRun will connect to various applications like FaceTime and Skype to stream a live video feed, which will also be processed and broadcasted by a team of 15 people in a production studio. Joseph will send location and hearth rate with Runkeeper on the iPhone, transmit temperature and humidity date with a custom-made Android app and, as he says, look “incredibly cool” as well. That’s one particular outfit for sure.

More information on the project is available here. We think the system Joseph has built is really interesting, and we look forward to seeing everything in action on February 27th. Check out the video below. [via TUAW] Read more