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Taiwanese LCD Maker To Ship 30 Million iPad 2 Screens

Following speculation about Apple facing supply constraints and  iPad 2 production issues due to the Japan earthquake and tsunami, Reuters reports this morning a story from The Economic Daily News which, citing no sources, claims Taiwan-based AU Optronics Corp – the world’s #4 LCD maker – has closed a multi-million dollar deal with Apple to ship iPad 2 displays this year.

AU could ship 30 million of the screens in a year, it said. The order will take up over half the capacity of its plant in Taichung, central Taiwan.

Apple ramping up production of the iPad 2 doesn’t come as a total surprise. The device went on sale on March 11 in the United States generating long lines at Apple Stores and authorized retailers allegedly selling around 1 million units in the first days; a similar scenario followed two weeks later in the 25 countries that got the iPad 2 on March 25th. In the past weeks, iPad 2 shipping times from the Apple online store jumped from 2-3 weeks, then to 4-5 weeks and they’ve now settled with a 3-4 weeks wait on the US Store.

Woman Tragically Dies After Senseless iPhone Theft

A very sad story today comes from Chicago Breaking News in which the theft of an iPhone has led to the tragic death of an innocent bystander. Sally Katona-King, a 68 year old Church Receptionist, was pushed down a flight of stairs at Fullerton Station after a thief stole a nearby commuter’s iPhone and was hastily running off. Sally was hospitalised after her fall and unfortunately died on Tuesday from what is presumed to be a cerebral haemorrhage.

Her son told reporters on Tuesday that Sally was a known in the community as a generous and altruistic woman helping those that were disadvantaged. “To die over an iPhone? It’s senseless,” her son said. Detective Cmdr. Garyu Yamashiroya said on Tuesday that the increased incidence of smart phone theft is “something that police departments across the country are trying to find solutions to.” The thief is still at large but police are hoping to identify them through local surveillance video.

[Via TUAW]

 

Review: Take Five…For Mac!

 

Now I will admit, I never bought Iconfactory’s Take Five for iOS. Don’t get me wrong it’s a beautiful app but I didn’t see myself using it that much on my iPhone. I’m so use to just using the volume controls or multitasking tray. The point of the app makes a lot of sense though: it’s aimed at letting you restart music that you paused and forgot to turn back on. I received an email a few weeks ago with the subject “Take Five for the Mac Beta,” I knew right away that this would fit into my workflow on my iMac because I get more sidetracked at home with my wife, kids and the television. So now when I want to pause music, I use Take Five for the Mac. Read more

Apple Posts Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 2

Following a brief fix in Software Update, here comes a new build of OS X Lion. It’s available now in the Mac Dev Center. Build number is 11A419. Once again, the new Developer Preview must be downloaded through the Mac App Store via a redeem code. It’s worth noting that OS X Lion Server has been posted as a separate build this time:

To install the Lion Developer Preview, you’ll need 10.6.7 or the previous developer preview which, again, needs to be updated in Software Update. For those who will need to pause their download from the Mac App Store and resume it, Apple says in the FAQ section:

If you need to interrupt your download for any reason, including changing the network you are connected to or traveling to a new location, ensure that you first Pause your download under the Purchases tab in Mac App Store. After you re-establish your connection, you may Resume your download under the Purchases tab.

While TechCrunch reported a few days ago that Apple would soon release a “GM” version of Lion to developers, it clearly appears that Lion still needs a few more updates before being ready for the golden master status. Several bloggers are speculating that a GM version will actually be released at the WWDC, which will kick off in San Francisco on June 6th.

Changes in the Lion Developer Preview 2 are still unknown. We’ll update this post as we gather more details.

TechCrunch now follows up to their previous report with details on today’s build:

More importantly, this is the build that Apple is considering to be a “GM1″ revision internally, we hear. And yes, it’s said to be much more stable and complete than the previous build.

Having said that, it’s unlikely that this will be the actual “Golden Master” copy. We’re still a solid two months away from Apple’s WWDC event where Lion will be a key area of focus. Apple may attempt to launch Lion there, but more likely is that the release candidates is handed out to developers there.

 

Photoshop For iPad To Be Updated With Support For Layers

Photography Bay got to go hands on with an updated Photoshop app for the iPad, which will bring support for layers and new features to compared original and edited photos. Recently, the Photoshop app was updated to its second version which included multitasking support and an update to utilize the Retina Display on the iPhone. Back in November, Adobe’s John Nack offered some insight as to what features would arrive in future app updates after a brief survey. Electronista notes that an updated Photoshop would, “help address the lack of content creation, one of the most commonly cited flaws of the platform.” Maybe the author hasn’t been paying attention, but while Adobe is updating Photoshop, many other photo editors such as Photogene, Masque, and PhotoForge have existed for a while. An update to Photoshop is still, however, a welcome addition to the iPad. While the Photography bay was able to snap some blurry demo photos and video, the video hasn’t been published online and has been noted to be published later tonight.

[Photography Bay via Electronista]

Apple Releases Lion Developer Preview Update 1

As noted by iClarified, Apple just released a first update for the OS X Lion developer preview in Software Update. A few days ago, TechCrunch reported Apple was getting ready to seed a GM build of Mac OS X Lion, and while this build isn’t touted as “golden master” to developers, it appears that the sources close to TechCrunch were right about Lion moving forward in the development stages.

The changelog indeed suggests this is only an update aimed at allowing developers to download new builds from the Mac App Store in the future:

This update is required to redeem downloads of Mac OS X Lion seed builds from the Mac App Store.

We’ll update this post with changes as more details come in.

Apple Releases 10.6.7 Supplemental Update For the 13” MacBook Air

MacBooks have been getting their fair share of updates recently, and today Apple is providing a supplemental 10.6.7 update for the 13” MacBook Air (Late 2010) to resolve unresponsiveness when using iTunes. The previous 10.6.7 v1.0 (build 10J869) update must be installed in order to apply the supplemental update. If you have a 13” MacBook Air, check Software Update or download the 461 KB file from the posted support page below.

Supplemental 13” MacBook Air Update: DL1370

In Which We Apologize For The Downtime

Driving a decade old pickup, my first year of college was hampered with consistent issues revolving around anything and everything electrical, engine, axel, and the front arms even had to be replaced. I’ve had some terrible experiences when I purchased my first vehicle, including a scary engine misfire and a superheated rotor. At times I thought my truck would almost shake to pieces, but every time I managed to coast down that hill and limp the truck into the dealership. Often times when your vehicle breaks down or needs immediate maintenance, it comes at the inconvenience of others. Mechanics have to work late and adjust their schedules, friends are called to pick you up, and it ends up being a terrible hassle.

MacStories has had issues before, but today’s outage and downtime reminded me of all the issues I’ve had in my personal life, and it came at the inconvenience of our readers and advertisers. We apologize for the downtime, and thank you for your patience as we took the site offline, fixed what needed to be fixed, and brought the mothership back online. Needless to say that process didn’t go as smoothly as we had hoped, but now we’re running at full speed and believe our issue has been promptly resolved. We’ll be taking great care to prevent this kind of outage in the future. I want to thank everyone who offered help on Twitter, and a big thanks goes out to Alessandro Vendruscolo (@misterjack).

Now, let’s say we get some reviews out?

Yours truly,

The MacStories Team