MobileMe Photo and Video Sharing Pulled From iPad 2?

As noted by iLounge, it appears that among the functionalities of the iPad 2 announced yesterday there is the notable lack of photo and video sharing through MobileMe. The device has two cameras capable of shooting photos, videos, do video calling with FaceTime and apply effects in Photo Booth, but there was no mention of MobileMe media sharing and Apple’s website confirms you’ll only be able to upload HD video to Youtube, or share via email.

Obscured by the many iPad 2-related announcements yesterday, Apple failed to make any mention of MobileMe-based video or photo uploading during its media event. A quick scan of Apple’s iPad 2 mini-site shows that no references are made to sharing photos or videos via MobileMe, although the service is still mentioned by name in references to synchronization and location-based services.

Recent rumors suggested Apple is working on a major revamp of MobileMe, which is reportedly becoming a digital-only, free service with access to cloud backups for music and movies and social / location features. Code references found in iOS 4.3 also pointed to a new MediaStream service built in iOS devices to (likely) share photos and videos with your friends through MobileMe.

But, then again, the lack of MobileMe sharing in the iPad 2 camera app might just be a last-minute removal from the  iOS 4.3 built demoed to journalists in San Francisco yesterday, and perhaps will be integrated again come the final release on March 11. Or maybe Apple is planning more surprises for the iPad 2 on March 11? We’ll see.

Twitter Updates iOS App with Lots Of New Features

An interesting (and rather huge) update to the official Twitter app for iOS was released a few minutes ago, and it includes improvements both for the iPhone and iPad version of the client. New features has been added to this release as well, which unlike previous updates doesn’t only focus on bug fixes and stability improvements.

First off, the tweet compose screen has been greatly improved and redesigned to have a much cleaner UI and buttons to attach media for easier photo uploading; location info and usernames shortcuts are part of the redesigned screen, too. There’s even username auto-completion now, which is very nice on the iPhone considering one doesn’t always have time to type a long username on the virtual keyboard.

Trends have been improved, the app now shows trends for your specific location and there’s also a bar on top of the timeline called “Quick Bar” that allows you to cycle through trends. I wonder if there’s a way to disable it from the new Settings view. Twitter for iOS can also look in your local address book now to find friends that you might want to follow. This has been enabled both on the iPhone and iPad. Local trends, on the other hands, can be ignored thanks to an option in the Settings.

We are looking for new features and details right now and we’ll update this post as we find more interesting stuff. Check for more screenshots below, and go download the app here.

Update: The app seems a lot stable on the iOS 4.3 beta, and the bug that caused DMs and mentions to be marked as “unread” on each launch has been fixed. Finally, DM conversations behave like you would expect, too.

Update #2: Surprisingly enough, Twitter for iPad doesn’t seem to have the Quick Bar. Also, Quick Bar on the iPhone only stays at the top of the list and doesn’t follow you when scrolling the timeline.

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AT&T Confirms iPhone Personal Hotspot with iOS 4.3, Also Offering Postpaid Subscription Plans for iPads

PERSONAL HOTSPOT

Well, we knew that when Verizon got the Hotspot feature on their iPhone 4s, AT&T’s iPhone wasn’t too far behind. With iOS 4.3 available on March 11, AT&T will also offer Apple’s Personal Hotspot feature after updating your iPhone’s OS.

AT&T will start supporting the Personal Hotspot feature in sync with the launch of iOS 4.3. Hotspot functionality will require a $25/month DataPro plan with 2 GB of data plus the $20/month add-on tethering plan that AT&T recently changed by adding an additional 2 GB of data capacity. So, you will be paying $45 a month for a 4GB of data.

At first people actually thought that AT&T may not offer this option, as it was one of the first features noticed on the Verizon iPhone, but we all knew AT&T would have to do this to stay competitive with iPhone sales. Read more

Nintendo Still Doesn’t Get The (New) Mobile Market→

Nintendo Still Doesn’t Get The Mobile Market

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, speaking about “quality video games” and mobile platforms like iOS and Android:

In a feisty attack on the fastest-growing sectors of the video-game industry, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata said that smartphone games and social-media games focus on quantity instead of quality.

“They are not like gaming consoles, there’s no motivation [for] high-value video games,” Iwata said at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

I’d say this is one of the biggest problems a company like Nintendo is facing right now: trying to compete in the mobile gaming space with a device that’s just meant for gaming, while consumers are demanding something that goes beyond cartridges and games sold at $40 a piece. And so they try to build “social functionalities” into their consoles, hoping that an avatar creation feature or in-console communication would provide a solution to a market that’s deeply changed in the past four years.

Should Nintendo change at its roots and start doing all that consumers want? No. But the way I see it, they should pull their head out of the sand and understand that the rules have changed and it’s time to stop complaining, and start building to stay in the game. Those Angry Birds won’t go away by themselves.

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Apple Is Fortune’s “Most-Admired” Company, Again

Remember last year when we reported Apple was Fortune’s “Most-Admired” company? Well, it has happened again. For the fourth year in a row (doesn’t come as a surprise since the introduction of the iPhone in 2007), Fortune has declared the Cupertino company is the most-admired among other tech companies with an average score of 8.16. Fortune’s list includes other 50 companies, most of them based in the Silicon Valley.

Apple took a stock hit when iconic CEO Steve Jobs announced in January that he’d be taking a second medical leave, two years after receiving a liver transplant during a six-month sabbatical. But Jobs assured the market in the company’s recent earnings report that Apple was still “firing on all cylinders.”

It certainly appears to be. Apple nearly doubled its quarterly profits vs. a year ago. The iPad 2 was introduced in March, marking the second generation of one of Apple’s milestone product successes. And Jobs made a surprise appearance at the launch.

And just like last year, I would say one of Apple’s biggest advantages over its competitors in the mobile space is the App Store. Over 350,000 apps available for the iPhone, 65,000 for the iPad. On top of that, an iPad 2 coming next week and the iPhone 5 (which should be a complete redesign) in a few months. Plus, new computers, cloud services and the continuos expansion of retail stores. 2011 is shaping up to be a good year for Apple. [Fortune via 9to5mac]

BlackBerry Messenger Coming to iOS?

BGR reports sources close to RIM have told them the company is working on a port of the popular BlackBerry Messenger communication service for Android and iOS devices. While the Android version seems to be coming soon, not so many details have been provided regarding BBM for iOS –no release date or whether the app could be available only for iPhone owners.

Boy Genius Report, however, says RIM has been looking for a way to extend its platform’s capabilities to other mobile operating systems, which have seen the rise of similar services like WhatsApp and Kik recently. BlackBerry Messenger for non-BlackBerry devices might be a stripped down version of the original software with only a few features such as contacts lists and chat. Location, photo and video sharing might remain exclusive to BlackBerry owners as an advantage over iOS and Android counterparts.

Right now, we have heard that Android is definitely a go. But again, we’re not sure on timing, though our sources are confident that it will launch some time this year. RIM chose Android first because of the fact that it could develop and integrate something like this much easier with an open platform, but the plan is to build and deploy an iOS version at some point as well.

There is no secret the App Store is full of applications that allow users to communicate and share media in real time, for free. If BlackBerry is really planning on bringing its vision to other platforms and, perhaps, tablets, then we’re definitely looking forward to that. Maybe in the future iPad 2 owners will be able to communicate with PlayBook users. [via BGR]

Mac App Store Adds NetNewsWire Lite To Its Catalogue Of Apps

NetNewsWire, one of the best Mac RSS readers has reached version 4.0 and before a full version is completed, a new ‘lite’ edition has been released on to the Mac App Store. Whilst it is limited in a number of respects, it has an improved and refined UI, is free and remains of the better RSS readers on the Mac.

The biggest limitation is that it doesn’t support syncing, that’ll be a big bummer for many of you, but it’s developer Brent Simmons says that will be coming soon in the full edition of NetNewsWire. The other limitations are the lack of starred items, AppleScript support and searching amongst other more minor ones. Simmons does provide users some comfort in saying “That it supports gestures. That you can edit feed names inline. That it launches and quits very fast.

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Does The iPad 2 Have 512 MB of RAM?

While Apple never provides exact information on the amount of RAM they manage to build into their mobile devices, speculation and teardowns in the past always offered good indication and proof of the specs of iPhones, iPod touches and iPads. We know the iPhone 4 has 512 MB of RAM (likely to jump up to 1 GB this summer with the iPhone 5) and the iPad 1 only featured 256 MB of memory. The iPad 2 was announced yesterday, and now the question is: how much RAM does the A5-powered new tablet have?

According to a Korean semiconductor analyst quoted by AppleInsider, the iPad 2 has double the RAM of its predecessor – 512 MB. The analyst apparently also revealed through a series of tweets that Apple is using LPDDR2 memory in the iPad, contrary to LPDDR1 from the original iPad.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of Concord Securities also told AppleInsider that the RAM in the iPad 2 would run at a higher clock speed of 1,066MHz for greater memory bandwidth than the 800MHz memory in the iPhone 4.

Kuo also indicated back in January that the iPad 2 would have LPDDR2 RAM at a speed of 1,066MHz, corroborating Lee’s more recent claims. Kuo said the memory would be supplied by both Samsung and Hynix.

Previous rumors pointed to the iPad 2 featuring 512 MB or 1 GB of RAM. Someone got it right eventually, but we think the most important achievement for Apple isn’t the amount of RAM or Ghz in the A5 – rather, we’d focus on the improved specs in a thinner design that yet haven’t compromised the battery life. That should be the most important thing in the consumer experience and, together with a faster and snappier device, what will make sure Apple sells millions of this thing this year, again.

Update: Softpedia also notes that the iMovie for iPad webpage should confirm the new device has 512 MB of RAM. In fact, the app won’t work on the iPad 1 but it already does on the iPhone 4 and iPod touch 4G which, guess what, have 512 MB of RAM.