October, 2011

As if the false rumours about iCloud iPhone weren’t enough, today a new wave of rumours started pouring in. Given the fact that Apple has already released their iPhone 4S, we had an idea that the rumours coming in now would concern the next generation iPad. Turns out we were right as reportedly, Apple has started receiving samples of an iPad Mini that has a 7.85″ inch and will allegedly be released in mid-2012.

United News Daily of Taiwan reports that samples are being received by Apple of an iPad Mini that has a 7.85″ screen. The displays for this iPad Mini are being manufactured by LG Electronics and AU Optronics. The display is said to retain the 1024×768 resolution of original iPad however due to the fact that the screen real estate will be less than the original iPad, it would mean that all of the apps and services would have be made specifically for it in order to avoid any usability issues. The report also claims that Apple is thinking of launching iPad Mini by mid-2012.

Regarding Apple, our research is pointing to the unveiling of a lower priced iPad in the first few months of 2012 that is aimed at expanding the company’s market potential by tapping into a more price sensitive consumer segment. Essentially, this “iPad mini” will also fend off the recently announced Amazon Kindle Fire that addresses the low-end tablet market with a $199 price tag but could lead to bigger tablet ambitions from the online retailer in the future. The “mini” refers to a reduced price point of this iPad and not necessarily the size of the device. We believe this lower priced iPad could be priced in the mid-to-high-$200 range.

It is possible that Apple is thinking to release iPad Mini primarily because there has been a major change in the top spot. The new CEO of Apple is Tim Cook and Apple Co-founder Steve Jobs has passed away. We know of Steve Jobs’ hate against 7″ tablets and he made it quite clear that under his leadership Apple will never release a 7″ tablet. If Apple is indeed going ahead with a mid-range iPad project, it would mean that this project is being pushed for by Tim Cook who believes Apple needs to capture market share that it is keeping itself out of in the mid-range tablet market.

print.css is a library that strips unnecessary CSS from pages you want to print.

print.css removes practically everything except written text and styling that’s necessary for it to be properly aligned.

Paper costs money, and you can help both the ecosytem and your visitor’s in a single shot.

And seriously, at least print.css is much more straight to the point than other eco-friendly libraries, and also less annoying than the ‘please do not print this email unless it is absolutely necessary’ email signatures.

Adobe has released another app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. While this new app only brings features previously usable through various third party apps, its good to see Adobe gradually increasing their iOS app lineup. The company has released Adobe Reader app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Adobe Reader is the free global standard for reliably viewing and sharing PDF documents across platfoms and devices. Easily and efficiently access the widest range of PDF file types—including PDF Portfolios, password-protected PDF documents and Adobe LiveCycle rights-managed PDF files. Now available for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, Adobe Reader offers fast, high-quality interaction with PDF.

Features of Adobe Reader for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch:

View PDF files
• Quickly open PDF files from email , the Web or any application that supports “Open In…”
• View PDF Portfolios, PDF Packages, annotations and drawing markups
• Read text annotations such as Sticky Notes

Access encrypted PDF files
• Open and view password-protected PDF files
• Access files secured by Adobe LiveCycle Rights Management, which helps protect sensitive documents
• Supports the highest grade of PDF encryption, up to AES256

Interact with PDF files
• Search text to find specific information
• Use bookmarks to jump directly to a section in your PDF file
• Select single page or continuous scroll modes
• Easily zoom in on text or images for a closer view
• Quickly navigate through large files using thumbnails
• Select and copy text from a PDF file to the clipboard

Print and share files
• Print wirelessly with AirPrint
• Share PDF files with other applications using “Open In…”
• Email PDF documents as attachments

Available languages
English, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Portuguese, Swedish, Russian, Czech, Polish and Turkish

Adobe Reader app can be used on iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad 1, iPod touch 3G and iPod touch 4G if its running iOS 4.2.5 firmware version or higher. Adobe Reader app for iOS is free to download from the App Store.

Download Adobe Reader for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch [App Store Link]

When Apple said that this was their best iPhone launch ever, they really meant it. This new iPhone has broken all previous sales records set by Apple’s own iPhone 4. The company announced that they have sold over four million iPhone 4S devices in seven countries it was initially launched in the first weekend only.

Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing Philip Schiller said:

iPhone 4S is off to a great start with more than four million sold in its first weekend—the most ever for a phone and more than double the iPhone 4 launch during its first three days. iPhone 4S is a hit with customers around the world, and together with iOS 5 and iCloud, is the best iPhone ever.

Last year when iPhone 4 was released it was expected to be the most successful iPhone launch given the fact that it was a complete upgrade over the previous generation iPhone 3GS. The iPhone 4S is a minor refresh of iPhone 4 with the only changes that were made are those on the inside. However it turns out that iPhone 4S has broken all previous iPhone 4 sales records by getting over 1 million pre-orders of launch day against 600,000 of iPhone 4 and selling over four million iPhones on the first weekend against the iPhone 4′s 1.7 million units record.

Apart from that, Apple also announced that over 25 million people have downloaded iOS 5 firmware for devices other than iPhone 4S, which include iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 1, iPad 2, iPod touch 3G and iPod touch 4G. In addition to that, over 20 million iCloud accounts have been created worldwide. iOS 5 is the most extensive mobile platform update Apple has ever released with over 200 new features which include but are not limited to AirPlay mirroring on iPad 2 and iPhone 4S, Notification Center, iMessages, Twitter integration, Reminders app, Newsstand etc.

To be fair, the iPhone 4S has been launched with three carriers in the US against the one iPhone 4 was initially launched on. The iPhone 4 was also initially released in four countries only whereas the iPhone 4S was initially released to seven countries. We reckon that had such a market been open for iPhone 4, the records set by it might have been higher right now.

Elvin Hayijev from Tutplus.com has published an awesome tutorial that deals with the inner workings of creating a WP plugin that displays interactive site data.

What’s particularly awesome about this tutorial is that it creates a basis of understanding and enlightens as to how one can approach building WP plugins with jQuery. The charts themselves are created with jQplot.

The tutorial explains in-depth about creating a ‘popular categories’ chart; activity by month chart; most commented posts chart; and blog velocity chart.

By itself, the end result is fun to include in your ‘about us’ page or is just a collection of useful data.

Despite the fact that Apple and Samsung are literally daggers drawn in courts all around the world, Apple has decided to keep Samsung its primarily supplier for A6 quad-core processors that will debut in the next generation iPhone and iPad, aptly named iPhone 5 and iPad 3.

Despite their legal battles, Samsung is increasing the production of A6 quad-core processors for Apple at its production facility located in Austin Texas. Previously it was reported that Apple would be giving orders for A6 manufacturing to SPIL and TSMC. It turns out that Samsung has been retained as the primary supplier whereas TSMC will only be manufacturing A6 processors with custom designs from Apple in specific volume.

An executive for one of Apple’s component suppliers said the following in an statement to Korea Times:

Apple has been in talks with Samsung over shipment of its A6 quad-core mobile processor (AP) chips to be used in the next iPhone. It appears that Apple clearly has concluded that Samsung remains a critical business partner. Samsung Electronics will apply its advanced 28-nanometer processing technology to produce qualified A6 mobile APs. TSMC will provide customized chips with designs from Apple, however, the volume will be very small.

As far as TSMC and the production of quad-core A6 processors is concerned, sources indicate that TSMC has yet to stabilize its production and Apple can not take a risk and jeopardize the performance of its next generation iPhone and iPad by placing the sole responsibility of manufacturing processors to a relatively unstable manufacturer. Samsung on the other hand has been providing processors for Apple and given the fact that their production is more streamlined and stable, Apple decided to keep Samsung as a crucial business partner regardless of the fact that they have sued the Korean manufacturer in a number of courts around the world for design copying and patent infringement.

Regardless of being retained as a crucial processor manufacturer for Apple, don’t expect the Cupertino outfit to go easy in court. Apple has already blocked Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales in Australia and a number of European countries. Apple has been able to prove on many grounds that Samsung did infact copy and infringe upon their patents, yet an ultimate judgement is still pending in all courts where lawsuits have been filed.