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Foxconn To Invest $12 Billion In Brazil, Begin iPad Production In November

During a meeting in Beijing between Brazialian’s President Dilma Roussef and Hon Hai Precision’s founder Terry Gou, the company has announced subsidiary Foxconn is planning to invest $12 billion to start producing monitors and displays for mobile devices in Brazil. The news has been reported by several Brazilian publications (Globo Economia, Folha) as well as Reuters Africa. Foxconn assembles a variety of electronic products for Apple in its Chinese facilities, including iPhones and iPads.

According to the reports, the formal announcement was made by Roussef, whilst Brazilian minister of Science and Technology Mercadante has been negotiating with Foxconn for more than three months to convince the company to invest $12 billion throughout the next 5 years. The project would involve the recruitment of 100,000 new employees (including 20,000 engineers) as Foxconn already has three factories in Brazil to assemble products for Sony, Dell, and HP. Both articles from Globo Economia and Folha.com report minister Mercadante said during the meeting that Foxconn will begin assembling iPads for Apple in Brazil starting November 2011. This follows speculation from the past few days where we reported Apple was considering opening its own facility in Brazil to assemble iOS devices – but at this point it appears that the rumors were actually pointing at Foxconn planning an investment in the country to include – among others – production of iPads. Read more

Apptwee’s Ri Dongle Turns iOS Devices Into TV Remotes

The popularity of iOS devices and the explosion of the App Store as a distribution platform for indie devs have opened the door to clever (and unexpected) uses for iPhones and iPads Apple didn’t think of in the design stages inside their labs at Cupertino, or perhaps simply put on the shelf waiting for third-party developers to come up with their own alternative solutions.

We’ve seen iPads being used as cash registers and medical tools, let alone iPhones paired with the Square credit card reader for quick secure payments or apps to create music. And just like Square launched on the market a device that goes straight into an iPhone’s or iPad’s headphone jack to accept payments on the go, Apptwee believes an iOS device can become an infrared remote compatible with hundreds of televisions thanks to a small dongle that, once configured with an app, will allow you to control your TV using multitouch. Once inserted in your device’s headphone jack, Apptwee’s Ri infrared communicator will take care of all the settings behind pairing and IR codes thanks to an app (available in the App Store) that supports “225 most popular brands, over 72 Different device types, and over 845 devices”. Apptwee says new ones are being added every day, and your current television should work out of the box with the Ri. The device is not a “learning remote” – meaning that you can’t “teach it” to work with your TV like you can do with many universal remotes sold at electronic stores. However, the Ri app has a colorful interface and lots of functionalities – you can easily switch between TV sets and even create a list of “favorites” to access at any time.

The Ri dongle is available at $29.99 on Amazon, and it currently ships only in North America. The app is available in App Store for free, and it’s universal. Check out a demo video below. [via TUAW]
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iTable: First in a Line of Apple-Themed Furniture

What’s rectangular in shape, black and aluminum, plays music, and has touch-sensitive controls? Meet the iTable, a coffee table that looks like a stack of iPhone 4s. The iTable is the idea of Kyle Buckner, an interior designer best know for car interiors that’s also working on a new line of unique furniture. The iTable is the first in a line of Apple-themed furniture for your living space.

Video and more pictures after the break. Read more

Apple Working On New Video Service Similar to Netflix?

Following last week’s speculation about Apple ordering 12 petabytes of storage for video delivery through the iTunes Store, Silicon Alley Insider points to a report from analyst Peter Misek who’s claiming Apple will soon launch a “new far reaching cloud-based service” focused on video and compatible with a variety of devices, including iPhones, iPads, and the Apple TV. Several rumors and theories in the past tried to give some sense to the massive data center Apple has built in Maiden, North Carolina, but Misek’s report goes on to mention details of this online video service that should rival Netflix on iOS devices and allow users to stream any kind of content through a subscription system – likely based on iTunes.

Misek thinks the data center is clearly meant for video because of its size, and a new one could soon be built next to it – with additional ones following in the next months in the United States and Europe. Indeed, in the past months many suggested Apple could be working on a parallel building in Maiden based on a unique design tailored to Apple’s needs and iTunes customers. Misek believes the first data center might already be operational, but it is worth remembering that it was rumored the facility was set for a Spring 2011 launch with iTunes and (new) MobileMe services.

Noting that several cable companies recently complained over the consumption of TV content on third-party iPad apps, Misek speculates these same companies might be involved with Apple in negotiating the terms for a new service based on iTunes.

We believe Apple has learned much from having Netflix on the Apple TV and we cannot help but feel Apple will try to improve on this model somehow. So how does Apple convince Hollywood and other content creators to license it? In our view, the best way to do that would be the model they use for App developers: let them take the vast majority of the revenue while you use the content to drive device sales and monetize it that way. We are huge fans of iTunes, but that cannot be it from Apple.

The obvious advantage of a cloud service tied to iTunes would be the compatibility with Apple’s iOS devices (including the Apple TV), the web and Macintosh computers – all of them would be able to stream content, and perhaps share it using Apple AirPlay technology. So while we heard in the past Apple could license AirPlay for video to TV makers, Misek notes that the company might be working on its own TV device that fetches content from the Internet and iTunes, thus “cutting the cable”. One big doubt remains, however, among Apple observers and tech pundits: why would Apple release a Netflix alternative when the official Netflix application has proved to be a success on iOS devices and comes pre-installed on the Apple TV? Looking at the big picture, it is possible that Apple wants to disrupt online video delivery, cable companies and services like Netflix itself by deploying its own solution – pretty much like they did with music years ago.

Handoff Now Supports 3rd Party Browsers, Pastebot and Instapaper

Handoff for iPhone and iPad is a great application I reviewed back in January that allowed to send a webpage from a desktop browser to an iOS device with just one click. Unlike similar solutions that have surfaced over the past years enabling you to share webpages across Macs and iPhones, Handoff was the first app to come with a beautiful user interface design, a fast and reliable engine, a Chrome extension and smart URL recognition for web or Maps links. Handoff sported sharing features with Instapaper and Pinboard integration, and it was a universal app that worked on the iPad as well.

With the latest 1.1 update released today in the App Store, the developers have turned Handoff into a full-featured solution to receive links from the desktop and forward them to 3rd party apps installed alongside Handoff. The app isn’t focused on Safari and Apple’s default apps anymore: from the settings, you can tweak the behavior of Handoff to send http:// links to a plethora of alternative browsers like the excellent iCab Mobile, or Mercury. Atomic, 360, and Cyberspace are also supported. But there’s more: if your favorite 3rd party browser isn’t integrated out of the box, you can manually specify the custom URL scheme it uses so that virtually any browser for iOS can work with Handoff. This means not only the app will receive links in seconds as before, but it’ll be able to automatically open a webpage in the browser you want, too, without launching Safari at all. This is a great feature that I wish Apple would enable by default in the next versions of iOS – and it works really well with MacStories-favorite iCab.

The sharing aspect of Handoff went under a major revamp as well. The app can now paste items directly to Tapbots’ Pastebot for iPhone, or send a webpage to Instapaper – although you’ll need the 3.0.2 version of Marco Arment’s reading tool in order for this to work, and the App Store still reports Instapaper 3.0.1 as the latest version available. Hopefully Instapaper 3.0.2. featuring Handoff integration will come out in a few days so we can test the functionality. You can also login with your bit.ly account to customize links that you want to share on Twitter, or share items via text messages on the iPhone (iOS 4.0 is required). A new popover menu allows you to navigate between various sharing options with a simple tap&hold in the main list of links fetched from the cloud.

Handoff 1.1 also enables you to configure additional services and apps to open links instead of Safari – for instance, you can forward Wikipedia pages to Sophiestication’s Articles or Twitter links to the official Twitter app. I’ve noticed, though, that sending a tweet to Twitter for iOS doesn’t open a message in its standalone panel – it simply loads the app in your timeline. It’d be neat to have a kind of integration that catches the unique ID of a tweet and magically opens it next to your timeline, but I guess we’ll have to wait some more for that. Handoff 1.1 also supports the YouTube, Maps, iTunes, App Store, IMDB, and Yelp apps.

Overall, Handoff 1.1 is a terrific update that’s worth downloading if you’ve been looking for a way to get links from your computer and open them in your alternative browser of choice. So while I’m still using Push Browser to do the opposite and send links from iOS to the desktop, Handoff is without a doubt the most powerful solution to click a button on your computer, and beam a webpage to your iPhone or iPad. Go download it here. Read more

The Magic Bar Will Charge Your Keyboard and Trackpad Wirelessly

Following the Magic Charger for Apple’s Magic Mouse, Mobbe unveiled earlier today the Magic Bar, a standalone desktop accessory that can charge the Magic Trackpad or Apple’s Bluetooth Keyboard with inductive, wireless technology. All you have to do to charge your trackpad and keyboard with the Magic Bar is swap the batteries with Mobee’s battery pack that only needs contact with the Bar to be charged. If you’re familiar with inductive technology – like the Powermat for iPhone we reviewed on MacStories before – you know that it’s incredibly handy to be able to simply place a device on top of a surface to charge it without cables. The Magic Bar, however, needs to be connected to a USB port on your computer – you can’t go completely cable-free with it.

Pricing of the Magic Bar hasn’t been revealed yet, but pre-orders will start on May 15 with availability by the end of June. You can check out more details on Mobee’s official website.

First Hong Kong Apple Store To Open By The End of 2011

ifoAppleStore, a reliable source of information when it comes to detailing Apple’s projects in the retail space, has apparently uncovered the plan behind the first Apple Stores that will open in Hong Kong by the end of 2011 and the second quarter of 2012. In fact, the lack of Apple stores in Hong Kong is surprising after 10 years of Apple retail – but the company is planning two grand openings in significant locations in Hong Kong Island, the financial center of the city.

Both stores will open inside malls on the lower floors “of high-rise office buildings” – a move that should grant Apple visibility and the obvious accessibility of lower entrances. The Apple retail team has scouted several locations, and reportedly decided to pick the International Finance Center (IFC) for the first store, and the upcoming Hysan Place for the second one. The IFC includes office buildings, a cinema, a mall, and a five-star hotel. Apple will open the new Store in Tower 2, in a section of the mall of approximately 6,300 square-feet. As for the design:

Even though the IFC Apple store will be inside, it will not suffer from lack of visibility or visitors. The inside view will be panoramic, with a transparent view to the inside. Outside the mall, Apple might erect a back-lit Apple logo to promote its brand, and might even clear the now-obscured windows to provide even more visibility of the store’s interior.

The second store at the Hysan Place might be launching – according to sources – alongside the Hysan Place itself (which is currently under construction) in 2012, but it’s still unclear whether Apple is planning on opening the store in the lower floors, or higher than the IFC. You can check out a gallery of photos over at ifoAppleStore.

Opera 11.10 Released With Smarter Speed Dials, Improved Turbo

Alternative web browser Opera has always been the one that experimented with features and user interface schemes before the “big players” like Firefox and Chrome implemented them. This is true for tabs, tab groups, speed dials, and many other little touches the Opera developers played with over the years. The browser failed to gain a massive traction among average users, but it’s got a loyal userbase willing to test the latest beta or alpha version. Opera released today a new stable build for Mac, Windows and Linux – initially codenamed Barracuda and now available for download with version number 11.10.

Opera 11.10 builds on the features introduced in Opera 11 such as tab stacking and extended HTML5 support by further refining the interface, improving support for CSS3 and HTML5 standards, and introducing a tweaked version of Opera Turbo that works through Google’s WebP engine. First off, Speed Dials have been slightly redesign to feature a “flow layout” that allows users to decide the numbers of columns to display and the size of thumbnails – which, by the way, should offer crisper graphics. You can add as many Dials as you want without limitations.

A Mac-specific tweak involves the browser tabs that now have a closing animation on OS X machines. More importantly, the Turbo functionality that’s aimed at speeding up browsing on slow connections like tethered phones and public hotspots has been improved in the way it handles compressions using WebP. Images should be compressed more, better and faster than before, but we’ve noticed some issues with heavy compression cutting off parts of an image or graphics from websites.

Check out the full 11.10 changelog here. The new version of Opera is available here, and there’s a demo video embedded below. Read more

Sydney Hotel Deploys iPad 2s In Every Room

After the deployment of iPads in The Plaza hotel and others, The Establishment Hotel in Sydney Australia has become the world’s first to provide iPad 2s in every guest room of their hotel. The hotel, located in the financial district of Sydney, acted quickly to purchase enough iPads for their more than thirty rooms as they went on sale in Australia on March 25th and has since implemented them earlier this month.

The iPads, which are provided free of charge to all guest rooms, include a selection of music, movies and apps. In particular the hotel includes a welcome video to the hotel, a broad selection of international newspapers on the iPad, travel applications such as Trip Advisor, a Merivale bar and restaurant guide and of course Angry Birds. The hotel also features unlimited free WiFi for all guests and an Apple TV with surround sound system in each of their rooms, letting guests AirPlay content from the new iPads to the TV or sound system in their rooms.

Merivale CEO Justin Hemmes has said that they are looking at what they can do next and how they can bring “innovation to our guests”;

Now that we have the hardware, we are only limited by our own imagination. Well, maybe also by the software developers’ abilities but seriously, we will be looking at ways in which we can integrate this technology further into the whole guest experience