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Vyne, An iPhone Stand Wrapped Around You

It looks like a snake, and when I first saw it I have to admit I thought it looked weird. But after looking at some products shots and thinking about the possible implementations of the Vyne, I can see it being used in some specific situations. Like hands-free, portable video calling. The creators of the accessory say the Vyne is “constructed of a flexible elastomer neck and plastic clip” that “allows users to easily watch movies, slideshows, and video calls in a variety of configurations”.

The Vyne, indeed, can be wrapped around your neck while you’re busy cooking in the kitchen and still you want to talk with your wife via FaceTime. Or perhaps you want to check on recipe how-tos on Youtube without touching the screen with your fingers.

It looks different, but I believe it can be quite handy. The Vyne is just a concept, but would you buy one?  [via TNW]

StudioDock: The Reason for Musicians To Buy An iPad

In the past few years, we have seen an “explosion” of iOS devices used for music creations, live performances and gear experimentation. From the most curious app to the complex setups DJs and musicians have found themselves playing with, iOS devices – and especially the iPad – have become the most desired gadgets by geeks obsessed with music. Most of the times because, well, thanks to apps and hardware compatibility they turned out to be pretty great instruments.

The Alesis StudioDock for iPad aims at taking this whole music experimentation thing to a new level. The StudioDock is both a dock station for the iPad and a protective case that covers the device’s bezel. But most of all, it’s a full-feature music stations with MIDI in/out ports, stereo outs, gain controls and XLR combo ins. The Alesis guys write on their official website:

The StudioDock is the first device that enables anyone with an iPad to create, produce, and perform music with virtually any pro audio gear or instruments. The StudioDock is a universal docking station specifically designed for the iPad, and it gives musicians, recording engineers, and music producers the connectivity they need to create and perform with iPad. Connect all your pro audio gear to virtually any app in the App Store with the StudioDock.

Connecting professional gear to the tablet does indeed sound like a great idea and something that, beyond music, podcasters might want to tinker with as well. Check out StudioDock’s website here; specs embedded after the break, courtesy of CrunchGear. Read more

Singaporean Schools add iPad to Teaching Resources

As a test pilot, a portion of the total population of Nanyang Girls High School in Singapore will use 150 iPads that the school has purchased at a cost of around US$100,000, the pilot including 140 students and 10 teachers aims to complement the schools more traditional teaching methods and textbooks.

The iPad will enable the students to connect to the internet with its vast array of educational resources, download books and course material while also allowing note taking or word processing. Chloe Chen, one of the lucky students to be a part of the pilot program said “It’s much more convenient, teachers can just tell us to go to a website, and we can immediately go and do our work.”

Read more

Rumor: Next iPod Touch To Have Glasses-free 3D Screen?

Here’s an interesting rumor coming from Japanese blog Macotakara [Google Translation] while you’re still trying to wrap your head around the news that Steve Jobs has taken another medical leave of absence. According to “sources of information” close to Macotakara, Apple is considering a glasses-free 3D screen technology for a future iPod touch, with an approach similar to what Nintendo is doing with the 3DS – a gaming handheld capable of projecting 3D images out of the screen without the need of wearing glasses.

In the past, Apple was granted several 3D-related patents and other third-party manufacturers played around with the idea of bringing 3D to iOS devices. Macotakara, however, reports that Apple is willing to integrate 3D into the iPod touch’s screen without any external peripheral or accessory. The 3D panel should be developed by Sharp.

According to a source of a company which provides LCD to Apple, they seems to begin preparing to manufacture small glasses-free 3D LCD panel for iPod touch.

This 3D LCD panel looks similar to Sharp, corp’s LCD which is capable for displaying 3D image without glasses on vertical and horizontal position.

While this is all based on pure speculation, it’s interesting to think that Apple might fight Nintendo at its own game with the iPod touch, which has been touted has world’s most popular gaming device several times in the past. Apple is clearly investing on the appeal of the iPod touch as an entry-level iOS device that’s perfect for portable games, and a mobile 3D screen would be another technological breakthrough for the company.

Steve Jobs To Take “Medical Leave of Absence”

According to a press release that just went out, Apple’s board has granted Steve Jobs a medical leave of absence. He will stay as CEO and Tim Cook will handle day to day operations. In the letter to the Apple team, Jobs says he wants to focus on his health and will still be “involved in major strategic decisions”. He is confident Tim Cook and the executive management team will manage to accomplish the goals set for 2011.

It is unclear at this point what the reason for this medical leave is; Jobs underwent a liver transplant in 2009 and, similarly to today’s news, Tim Cook took over day to day operations at Apple. In 2004, Jobs contracted Pancreatic Cancer, which he beat.

All we can say is – get well soon, Steve.

Press release below. Read more

First iPad 2 LCD Screen Picture?

Over the weekend, several blogs reported of “2x” graphic files (which we spotted last August) found in the iBooks application binary that suggested an increased resolution in the next generation iPad. Apple, in fact, uses the “2x” suffix to separate graphic elements belonging to non-Retina devices from those designed for the iPhone 4 Retina Display. The rumored increased resolution for the iPad 2 would be 2048x1536 pixels, double the current one.

As noted by MacRumors, website GlobalDirectParts (the same company that posted leaked photos of the CDMA iPhone parts weeks ago) is now selling an “iPad 2 LCD Screen” for $218.19. The website also sells screens replacement for the first-generation iPad and a variety of other Apple products. The $218.19 price point seems to suggest higher production costs for the new screen, which may or may not imply a higher resolution built-in the unit.

The same website has also update its catalogue with an “iPad Vibrating Motor” (the current iPad doesn’t have vibration like the iPhone) and a white iPad 2 that, however, it’s just a mockup from a few months ago. According to recent speculation, the iPad 2 will come out in the first two weeks of April with an SD card slot and a higher resolution screen.

iPhone Hack Enables FaceTime on Unsupported Carriers

iPhone owners who have been trying to use the device on unsupported carriers like T-Mobile in the U.S. through an unlock procedure have noticed the FaceTime functionality doesn’t work. Even if the iPhone can work on other “unofficially supported” GSM networks, FaceTime is still tied to specific carriers selected by Apple and can’t get activated by standard unlocking tools.

MiTime is an app recently updated to work with iOS 4.1 and iOS 4.2.1 that allows users to easily activate FaceTime on unsupported carriers. The app will force the iPhone to send two international SMS messages to enable FaceTime on a network that’s not officially backed by Apple.

The hack should be working with any GSM carrier and is available in Cydia. You can follow the instructions on how to install MiTime over at iPhone Download Blog.