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Posts tagged with "apple"

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.”

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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

Apple Asking Federal Government To Fight iPhone Jailbreak?

In spite of the Digital Copyright Millenium Act marking the iPhone “jailbreak” procedure as legal, it appears that Apple is still going after hackers and jailbreakers who modify its mobile OS to install unapproved apps and use the handset on unsupported carriers, the NBC reports. By definition, “jailbreak” refers to a set of tools and hacks used to run software and third-party apps Apple doesn’t want in the App Store, whilst “unlock” is a term to indicate the hacks that allow users to let the iPhone work on carriers that don’t support the device, like T-Mobile in the US or other carriers worldwide. Unlock tools and various jailbreak techniques have existed since the original iPhone came out. Most notably, unlock app Ultrasn0w and jailbreak software like PwnageTool, Spirit, Blackra1n and Limera1n. Read more

The Beatles On iTunes: 5 Million Songs Sold In 2 Months

On November 16, 2010 The Beatles came to iTunes. The ever-popular Liverpool band was one of the big holes in Apple’s digital music offering, and an option long pursued by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who also happens to be a huge fan of the Fab Four. In two months, 5 million songs and 1 million albums of The Beatles have been sold through iTunes, Apple told The Loop.

Two weeks after the initial release, Apple announced 2 million songs had been sold. Clearly sales have slowed down a bit, but it’s an impressive figure nonetheless. And just like when 2 million songs were already out of iTunes, the most popular album is “Abbey Road”. Most popular song in the U.S. is “Here Comes The Sun”.

November 16 might not be a day we’ll never forget, but it sure marked the beginning of a lucrative relationship between Apple and The Beatles.

App Store About to Hit 10 Billion Downloads, Apple Celebrates

Nearly 10 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store, which was launched in 2008. In January 2010, App Store downloads topped 3 billion; during Summer 2010, Apple reached the 5 billion milestone. Now, it’s time to get to the 10 billion figure, and Apple wants to celebrate and “say thanks” by giving away a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card (also valid for the Mac App Store) to a lucky user who will download the 10 billionth app.

Check out the contest’s official rules here, entrants have to be at least 13 years of age and resident in a country where the App Store is available.  You can also enter without a purchase or download by filling this form.[9to5mac via iSpazio]

App Store Updates: “Previous Picks” for Apps Of The Week, More Sections

Just like every Thursday, Apple has updated the homepage of the iPhone and iPad App Stores to include this week’s featured apps, updated New & Noteworthy sections and staff picks. This week’s refresh, though, comes with a few more surprises.

First off, we’re one week into the Mac App Store: Apple started refreshing the homepage of the new Store as well, although no custom sectionshave been launched. Guess Apple is still waiting for more Mac apps to become available. Anyway, go check out the updated Mac App Store homepage, as some sweet apps and games like Compartments and The Incident are being featured. Read more

Apple Releases iOS 4.3 Beta, Here’s What’s New

A few minutes ago Apple released iOS 4.3 beta to developers. It’s available now in the iOS Dev Center. The beta is available for iOS devices and the second generation Apple TV. Supported iOS mobile devices are iPad, iPhone 4 and 3GS, iPod touch 3rd and 4th gen. Build number is 8F5148b. A pre-release version of the Apple TV software has been provided to test AirPlay functionalities with 4.3 apps.

It looks like iOS 4.3 has some cool new gestures built specifically for the iPad. 4 & 5 finger gestures; pinch to the home screen, swipe up to reveal multitasking tray, swipe left/right to switch apps. Update: even though Apple says the gestures are there, I can’t seem to be able to use them at all. They don’t work for me in Apple’s own apps, and there’s no option to activate them in the Settings. We’re hearing several reports of other users unable to use these gestures. Read more

Prediction! 200 Million FaceTime Devices in 2012

Oh, you’ve got to love analysts’ predictions on forthcoming Apple products and sales figures. Why? Because most of the times they’re just plain wrong. Still, they’re pretty fun to read so, here we go: according to Barclay’s analyst Ben Reitzes, Apple will have 200 million FaceTime-enabled devices out in 2012. Thanks to what he calls the “FaceTime networking effect”, Apple will be able to gain a terrific user base with a simple video calling system that most competitors won’t be able to replicate with their alternative video conferencing solutions. Read more

Behind The Scenes Of The Verizon iPhone

Bloomberg reports of some interesting details behind the Apple / Verizon deal that made possible for the two companies to announce the iPhone 4 on Verizon starting February 10. The Verizon iPhone, as you may know, was one of the most anticipated devices in the United States because of the 4-year long AT&T exclusivity and the reported poor performances of the carrier in some areas.

First off, about the lack of Verizon branding on the CDMA iPhone 4, it looks like Verizon simply had to get along with it as Apple never puts logos on their devices and they really wanted to have the device in their portfolio anyway.

To reach a deal, Apple and Verizon had to reconcile different approaches to branding. Verizon puts its stamp on other manufacturers’ devices, including phones from Research In Motion Ltd. and Motorola. By contrast, only Apple’s name appears on the iPhone.

“They don’t put a lot of logos on their phones,” McAdam said in the interview. “So that wasn’t a major issue for us.”

Watching the success of the AT&T-Apple partnership may have led Verizon to accept a similar deal, said Jean-Louis Gassee, a former Apple executive who is now a venture capitalist at Allegis Capital in Palo Alto, California.

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