The Rise & Fall of Apple ... with record revenue & profits for the first quarter of 2012 can Apple keep this success going without some game changing innovative products?
Is this the New Apple iPhone 5
Exciting news or somebody pulling a fast one? With over one million views this could be a key component of the Apple iPhone 5. If this is the new back plate, it looks very cool indeed and to my eyes certainly looks genuine. The only thing that detracts from this is the naration. [source etradesupply]
PowerBrick. Your best friend for a powerful lifestyle! [advertorial]
At home, at work and on vacation, say goodbye to the mess, to the ugly multi-plug adapter full of chargers, plugs and wires, and to the tangles of cables. The innovative universal multi-charger PowerBrick by Feligan recharges everything at once, with style and tidiness!
Creativity and innovation are the main features of PowerBrick, the universal charging station able to power and supply up to 11 devices simultaneously: mobile-phones and smartphones, tablets, laptops and PCs, consoles for gaming, digital cameras and camcorders, nav-sats, mp3-players and many more. It has been invented, built and patented by Feligan Ltd., an Italian hi-tech startup. PowerBrick is the first really universal multi-charger able to power and supply more than 10,000 electronic devices.
Main Features of PowerBrick
PowerBrick has three main features that make it unique, useful and innovative.
• 6 customizable connectors able to recharge every electronic device, even the most modern smartphones and tablets! Each connector is retractable, so you can use your device while charging. When not in use, the cables are retractable to save space and keep everything tidy and clean.
• 2 high-power USB ports (10 W each port) useful to recharge everything, even a tablet.
• 2 universal sockets (1500 W) that allow you to supply even the most demanding electric devices, like laptops, cordless phones, lamps, or even hairdryers. The universal sockets can supply every kind of plug: American,English, Schuko, Australian, Swiss, Europlug, and many more.
Customizable Connectors
Feligan has more than 15 different connectors available at the moment!
Here you can find some example:
- micro USB
- mini USB
- Apple (iPad, iPod e iPhone)
- Nokia (2 different connectors)
- Samsung (4 different connectors)
- Motorola
- Sony-Ericsson (2 different connectors)
- LG
- Nintendo DSL
- Playstation Portable (DC-Jack)
- MultiTip
Every smartphone and mobile phone actually on the market is compatible with PowerBrick! Even many other devices, like tablets, mp3-players and many more!
Two high power USB ports
PowerBrick is equipped with 10W USB ports.
The 2 high power USB ports are perfect to recharge modern tablets, like Samsung Galaxy Tab, Asus Transformer, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia and many more.
The high power USB ports of the PowerBrick universal charger are also compatible with mp3 player, cameras, camcorders and many other device with USB charging cable.
Two Universal sockets
1500W whenever and wherever you need it, for each electric and electronic device.
PowerBrick universal charger is equipped with two high power universal sockets.
The universal sockets allows plugs from all over the world to be inserted: USA, UK, Swiss, Europlug, Schuko, Italian, and many more! PowerBrick is really useful, at home or in the office!
Available in glossy-white or glossy-black colors, PowerBrick is just £59.99 and free shipping on Expansys Online Store.
If you prefer to customize your PowerBrick, you can get it on the Official Feligan Store.
Discover the product website here.
New Apple iPad Unboxed Early
With the new iPad still a few days away from being in people's hands, this one has turned up early. Check it out.
Apple Launches New iPhoto & Major Updates to iMovie & GarageBand
SAN FRANCISCO—March 7, 2012—Apple® today introduced iPhoto® for iPad® and iPhone® and major updates to iMovie® and GarageBand®, completing its suite of iLife® apps for iOS. iPhoto includes breakthrough Multi-Touch™ features so you can use simple gestures to sort through hundreds of photos and find your best shots, enhance and retouch your images using fingertip brushes and share stunning photo journals with iCloud®.iMovie now gives you the ability to create amazing Hollywood-style trailers as you record HD video on your iPad and iPhone. GarageBand introduces Jam Session, an innovative and fun feature that allows a group of friends to wirelessly connect their iOS devices to play instruments and record live music together. Each app takes full advantage of the stunning Retina™ display on the new iPad for incredibly sharp and realistic images and video. The new iPad also features a 5 megapixel iSight® camera so you can record, edit and watch 1080p HD video all on the device.
“With the introduction of iPhoto, we’ve brought the entire suite of iLife apps to iOS and users are going to love it,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Whether brushing an effect onto a photo, shooting a movie trailer or jamming with friends to record a song, iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand let you make amazing creations on iPad and iPhone.”
iPhoto, Apple’s popular photography app, has been completely reimagined for iOS to take full advantage of the Retina display and intuitive Multi-Touch gestures on iPad and iPhone. Simple gestures can be used to select and compare photos side by side and flag your best shots. iPhoto gives you full control over color, exposure and contrast, and you simply touch the parts of the image you want to change. You can enhance pictures by adding beautiful Apple-designed effects with just a tap, or apply adjustments exactly where you want them with fingertip brushes. In addition to posting photos to Facebook, Flickr and Twitter, you can beam photos between your iPhone and iPad; stream photos and slideshows to your Apple TV® with AirPlay®; and use iCloud to publish photo journals to the web and share your stories with friends and family in a whole new way.
iMovie now allows you to turn the HD video on your iPad and iPhone into beautiful Hollywood-style trailers, even as you’re recording. The new Theater view lets you preview and choose from nine templates in a range of genres including Fairy Tale, Superhero and Romance. Trailers feature gorgeous, customizable graphics with soundtracks written by legendary composers such as Academy Award-winner Hans Zimmer and performed by world class musicians like the London Symphony Orchestra. You can also share your movie trailers to YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook, and use AirPlay to stream them to Apple TV in high definition resolutions up to 1080p.
With the new Jam Session feature in GarageBand, you can invite up to three of your friends to get together and wirelessly connect your iOS devices to play and record as a group. Jam Session automatically synchronizes the tempo, key and chords of your Touch Instruments so everyone sounds great. After jamming, everyone’s tracks are automatically collected on your iOS device for you to edit and mix. GarageBand also introduces Smart Strings, a new Touch Instrument that allows you to play an entire string orchestra with just one finger, and the new Note Editor allows you to fine tune a Touch Instrument recording instead of replaying it from scratch. Integration with iCloud keeps your GarageBand songs up to date across your iOS devices, and you can share your finished songs directly to Facebook, YouTube and SoundCloud.
Apple today also updated its iWork® for iOS apps to take advantage of the stunning Retina display of iPad and to offer 3D charts so you can create and view impressive 3D bar, line, area and pie charts. Pages now includes support for landscape orientation on iPhone and iPod touch®, and Keynote® gains new builds and transitions including Iris, Shimmer, Wipe, Flame, Swing and Fade Through Color.
Pricing & Availability
iPhoto, iMovie 1.3 and GarageBand 1.2 are available today for $4.99 (US) each from the App Store (www.itunes.com/appstore). Keynote 1.6, Pages 1.6 and Numbers 1.6 are available today for $9.99 (US) each from the App Store. Updates are available for free to existing customers.
Apple Brings 1080p High Definition to New Apple TV
SAN FRANCISCO—March 7, 2012—Apple® today announced the new Apple TV® featuring 1080p programming including iTunes® movies and TV shows, Netflix, Vimeo, photos and more in HD. With iTunes in the Cloud, customers can purchase and play their favorite movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store® and watch them instantly on their HD TV. The new Apple TV features a simpler, refined user interface making it easier than ever to access your purchased movies, TV shows and music with iTunes Match℠ right from iCloud®. With AirPlay®, users can stream or mirror their favorite content from their iPad® or iPhone® 4S to Apple TV. “People are going to love streaming movies and TV shows in 1080p with the new Apple TV, and photos look beautiful displayed at the maximum resolution of your TV,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Apple TV is easier than ever to use with its new icon-based interface and the ability to access your purchased movies, TV shows and music right from iCloud.”
Apple TV users can choose from an incredible selection of programming including over 15,000 movies and over 90,000 TV episodes on the iTunes Store. Apple TV also offers great content from Netflix’s streaming catalog, live sports from MLB, NBA and NHL as well as Internet content from Vimeo, YouTube and Flickr.*
With iCloud, you can buy movies and TV shows on Apple TV and watch them on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch®, Mac® or PC. iCloud also stores photos and pushes them wirelessly to all your devices including your HD TV via Apple TV. iCloud provides an incredibly easy way to get instant access to all of your content, no matter which device is being used.
iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users can use AirPlay to stream music, photos and videos from their devices directly to their HD TV with Apple TV. iPhone 4S or iPad users can use AirPlay Mirroring to show the screen of their device right on their HD TV, allowing them to stream web pages, spreadsheets or even games.**
Apple TV makes it easy to enjoy iTunes video, music and photo libraries from your computer right on your HD TV—and with iCloud you can instantly enjoy content that was purchased on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch as well. iTunes Match customers can now play their entire music library from iCloud—even songs they’ve imported from CDs. Users can also control Apple TV with their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch using the Remote app, available as a free download on the App Store™ (www.itunes.com/appstore).
Pricing & Availability
Apple TV will be available on Friday, March 16 for a suggested retail price of $99 (US) through the Apple online store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. Apple TV requires iTunes 10.5 or later. Apple TV requires an 802.11g/n Wi-Fi network or Ethernet network, a broadband Internet connection and a HD TV capable of 1080p or 720p and an HDMI cable that is sold separately. iTunes movie and TV show availability varies by country. Second generation Apple TV users can install the new Apple TV user interface via a free software update, available today. Third generation Apple TV hardware is required to play 1080p video.
Apple Launches New iPad 3 HD
SAN FRANCISCO―March 7, 2012―Apple® today introduced the new iPad®, the third generation of its category defining mobile device, featuring a stunning new Retina™ display, Apple’s new A5X chip with quad-core graphics and a 5 megapixel iSight® camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos and 1080p HD video. iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G connects to fast networks worldwide, including AT&T’s and Verizon’s 4G LTE networks, and still delivers the same all-day 10 hour battery life* while remaining amazingly thin and light. Beginning today, iPad 2 will be offered at an even more affordable price starting at just $399.“The new iPad redefines the category Apple created less than two years ago, delivering the most amazing experience people have ever had with technology,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The new iPad now has the highest resolution display ever seen on a mobile device with 3.1 million pixels, delivering razor sharp text and unbelievable detail in photos and videos.”
The new iPad’s Retina display delivers four times the number of pixels of iPad 2, so dense that the human eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels when held at a normal distance, making web pages, text, images and video look incredibly sharp and realistic. The 3.1 million pixels in the Retina display are more than one million more pixels than an HD TV, and with 44 percent increased color saturation the new iPad displays colors that are unbelievably richer, deeper and more vivid. Movies are now capable of playing at full 1080p HD-resolution, delivering an incomparable viewing experience on a mobile device.
The powerful new A5X chip with quad-core graphics was specifically designed by Apple to deliver a fast, responsive user experience while supporting the incredible Retina display. With double the graphics performance of the A5 chip, the A5X provides a superb balance between performance and power efficiency so users can enjoy all the benefits of the stunning new display while experiencing a smooth Multi-Touch™ interface, immersive gameplay, incredible visual depth and all-day battery life that iPad is known for delivering.
The 5 megapixel iSight camera features advanced optics for taking stunning pictures and recording full HD video. Backside illumination allows you to take great photos in low-light conditions and a new video image stabilization feature removes the bumps and shakes typically seen when filming with a hand-held device. Images can be enjoyed on the large Retina display, then edited, enhanced and easily shared with friends and family using the built-in Photos app on iPad.
iPad Wi-Fi + 4G with built-in next generation 4G LTE has the most comprehensive support for fast networks worldwide including HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA, and now both CDMA and GSM iPad users have the ability to easily roam internationally. The world-ready iPad delivers blazing download and upload speeds so web pages load incredibly quickly and email with large attachments can be sent and received easily. Personal Hotspot can be used to share the fast network connection on your iPad with up to 5 other devices using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or USB**.
With iOS 5.1, the latest update to the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, the new iPad has a number of new features and enhancements including: a redesigned Camera app with video stabilization technology; the ability to delete photos from Photo Stream; support for dictation in English, French, German and Japanese; and Personal Hotspot. iOS 5.1 also works seamlessly with iCloud®, a breakthrough set of free cloud services including iTunes® in the Cloud, Photo Stream and Documents in the Cloud, that works seamlessly with your iPhone®, iPad, iPod touch®, Mac® or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content and push it to your devices. When content changes on one of your devices, your other devices are updated automatically.
The new iPad also supports dictation, another amazing way to get things done just using your voice. Instead of typing, tap the microphone icon on the keyboard, then say what you want to say and the new iPad listens. Tap done, and iPad converts your words into text. You can use dictation to write messages, take notes, search the web and more. Dictation also works with third-party apps, so you can update your Facebook status, tweet, or write Instagram captions.
Apple also introduced the iPhoto® app, along with major updates to iMovie® and GarageBand®, completing its suite of iLife® apps for iOS. iLife and the iWork® apps, Pages®, Keynote® and Numbers®, have all been updated to take advantage of the new iPad Retina display. iPhoto includes breakthrough Multi-Touch features so you can use simple gestures to sort through hundreds of photos and find your best shots, enhance and retouch your images using fingertip brushes and share stunning photo journals with iCloud. iMovie now gives you the ability to create amazing Hollywood-style trailers as you record HD video, and GarageBand introduces Jam Session, an innovative and fun new feature that allows a group of friends to wirelessly connect to play instruments and record music together live on their iOS devices.
iPad runs almost all of the over 585,000 apps available on the App Store™, including more than 200,000 native iPad apps, from a wide range of categories, including books, games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. The iTunes Store® puts the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store at your fingertips with a catalog of over 20 million songs, over 90,000 TV episodes and over 15,000 movies. The new iBooks® 2 app for iPad lets users experience an entirely new kind of ebook that’s dynamic, engaging and truly interactive. iBooks created with Apple’s new iBooks Author offer gorgeous, fullscreen ebooks with interactive animations, diagrams, photos, videos, unrivaled navigation and much more.
Pricing & Availability
The new iPad Wi-Fi models will be available in black or white on Friday, March 16 for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) for the 16GB model, $599 (US) for the 32GB model and $699 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad Wi-Fi + 4G for either AT&T or Verizon will be available for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad will be sold in the US through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores, and select Apple Authorized Resellers. iPad will also be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Switzerland, UK and the US Virgin Islands on Friday, March 16. Customers can begin pre-ordering their new iPad today, and the incredible iPad 2 is now offered at a more affordable price of $399 (US) for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and just $529 (US) for the 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G model.
Apple iPad 3 Event Invites - missing home button !
Apple have finally sent out invites for a media event, the one we have all been waiting for, the new iPad 3 launch. Due to take place on 7th March 2012 10:00 AM Pacific / 1:00 PM Eastern / 6PM GMT at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, USA.
Check out the invite too, I have been wishing for this for a long long time, even predicted in my videos, but that photo looks like there is no home button. If this is true, maybe we will get a capacitive button that appears centrally in both portrait and landscape. If my prediction comes true, I will certainly jump for joy. Now it could be that this picture shows the iPad 3 in landscape, but one can only hope I suppose. It also looks like the back of the device may well be black… does this mean we might get a white option too?
Check out the image below (enhanced)… do you see a home button?
Geekanoids will be following this closely, incuding the event itself and of course getting an iPad 3 in for testing and review.
*UPDATE* A lot of my readers & viewers have pointed out that the bubbles match up with the iPad being in landscape. This may be true, but I am still hopeful that Apple do the right thing and get rid of the physical button.
Apple are the Smart Ones !
Something compelled me to write this article today… I shall tell you what it was… it was information overload coming out of Mobile World Congress and it made me smile. When I am touting an iPhone 4S people brand me as an Apple fanboy, put an Android based mobile phone in my hand and now I am a Google fanboy. What I have come to realise is that I can happily sit on the fence just enjoying my technology… watching in as everyone goes into a mad frenzy about the latest tech. For the most part I am very quiet and that is what made me smile.
Time after time, Apple play this same strategy, they are cunningly quiet. They do it around the time of the Consumer Electronics Show, Mac World and of course Mobile World Congress. Never do they rush to market with something, they just quietly watch on, making digital notes (on their iPad 3), ticking the relevant boxes that ensure they remain one step ahead.
We have just been treated to details of Quad Core mobile phones, alongside new tablet devices, from all the manufacturers. You can bet against me if you wish, but Apple have already got their iPad 3 and iPhone 5 ready in the wings, they just watch on and tweak almost ready designs, so that when they launch it beats all these new devices AGAIN. They are the smart ones… that is what keeps them at the top of their game.
Win a Speck SeeThru Case Every Day This Week
**THE GIVEAWAY ELEMENT OF THIS IS NOW CLOSED**
You all know me by now… one of the first things I do when I get a new laptop is to put some sort of case on it. With the elegance of Apple design, it is always nice if I can achieve this without too much bulk being added. For an example of how this can be acheived, check out my review below of the Speck SeeThru Case.
Every day this week I will be randomly selecting one winner, who will get to choose a Speck SeeThru case of their choice from the selection below. This giveaway will run from Monday 30th January 2012 at 1am GMT through to 5th February 2012 at midnight GMT. I will randomly select the winner the following day, with the last winner being announced on the 6th Feb. You can enter as many times as you want, max once per day. Any age is welcome to enter & available worldwide.
All you need to do to enter is copy & paste the message below into a tweet, or click THIS LINK & tweet out the resulting message.
RT Check @speckproducts http://bit.ly/speckp & sub to @geekanoids http://bit.ly/YTgeek for a chance to win a SeeThru Case every day #GeekSP
The winner will be able to choose from the following prizes (subject to stock).
MacBook Pro 13" See Thru case (Raspberry, Colbalt, Peacock, Clear)
MacBook Pro 13" See Thru Satin case (Aubergine, Raspberry)
MacBook Pro 15" Fitted case (SpexyHexy Purple, TartanPlaid Grey/Black, TartanPlaid White)
MacBook Pro 15" See Thru Satin case (Clementine, Peacock, Aubergine, Raspberry)
MacBook Pro 17" See Thru Satin case (Black)
MacBook Air 11" See Thru case (Raspberry, Cobalt, Peacock, Clementine)
MacBook Air 13" See Thru case (Colbalt, Raspberry)
MacBook Air 13" See Thru Satin case (Aubergine, Clementine, Black)
iPhone 4S Queue Day 5
As the days move forward the guys are still staying strong in the Queue outside the Regent Street Apple Store. Only a couple of days left and the reward will be in their hands. It seems that the queue (at time of posting) is now six strong. Show my buddies some love when you are passing by.
iPhone 4S Queue Update #2 (night time)
As the night draws closer, it looks like my two buddies Craig & Dan are in for a wet night. Hopefully the warm glow from the Apple Store windows will keep their spirits up.
I personally find it amazing that Craig & Dan are enduring a long long wait to get their hands on this exciting device. I wonder what Siri would say if they had it now. "Siri we are queueing up all week to buy the iPhone 4S, what do you think of that?"
Siri… 1.You are mad. 2.You are truly dedicated. or simply 3.The weather will be wet and windy in London.