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Steve Jobs To Take Medical Leave from Apple

Apple has released a press release today of an email that CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs sent out to the entire staff at Apple.

Steve makes note that he has requested and been granted a leave of absence to focus on his health. It states that he’ll still continue as the CEO and be involved with â��major strategic decisionsâ��.

Tim Cook will be responsible for all of Apple’s day to day operations. Jobs makes note that he has great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job.

Steve closes out stating that â��I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I canâ��. He also requests for everyone to respect his entire family’s privacy.

Verizon iPhone Is Official!

The iPhone is officially coming to Verizon! Apple and Verizon announced today that the Verizon iPhone would be hitting stores on February 10th, 2011. The Verizon iPhone functions exactly like the AT&T iPhone 4, but just has been made to run on Verizon’s network as CDMA compatible.

There seems to be some antenna changes also as they have added an additional antenna break in the casing. Pre-Orders will start on February 3rd to current Verizon Customers while those who may switch from AT&T will have to wait until February 10th.

Also, Verizon will allow the iPhone 4 to be a mobile Mi-Fi hotspot device which will allow you to connect up to five wi-fi enabled devices.

The 16GB will cost $199.99 and the 32GB model is $299.99 with a two-year contract.

Apple / iPhone — 1 Comment
10
Jan 11

Verizon To Offer Unlimited Data on iPhone?

There are a few new details regarding the Verizon iPhone that appears to be announced on Tuesday (1/11/11).

The first update comes from Reuters who is reporting that the Verizon iPhone plans to announce the iPhone for their service and sales will kick off a few weeks later, their source tells them

The Wall Street Journal also has some juicy goodness as they are reporting that Verizon will offer unlimited data plans for the iPhone. There seems to be no mention wether there will be a seperate plan for iPhone users or if it’ll work with the same service plans other phones such as RIM’s BlackBerry or Android devices work on. This has to be a play by Verizon to get AT&T customers to switch over as AT&T has done away with the unlimited data plan, which is something that Verizon was reportedly considering a few months ago.

We’ll keep you updated on any news regarding the Verizon iPhone and of course, will have the scoop come 1/11/11 following Verizon’s media event.

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8
Jan 11

Verizon Media Event Announced for Tuesday

The Loop is reporting that Verizon has issued invitations for a media event to take place in New York City on January 11th (this coming Tuesday). There is no real indication that this will be the long awaited Verizon iPhone announcement but there is a major hint that it could be related to Apple and the iPhone as Gizmodo has stated that they’re not invited to the event.

If you remember, Gizmodo was responsible for the iPhone 4 leak last year and from that point has been “blacklisted” from all of Apple’s media events. Gizmodo made note on their website that they were “great friends” with Verizon and have always been invited (and attended) to Verizon’s events that they have had over the past three years.

No word on if Verizon will offer a live stream of the media event.

Apple / iPod — No Comments
28
Dec 10

Samsung to release rival to the Apple’s iPod Touch

According to Samsunghub.com, Samsung has announced an Android based Galaxy Player.

The 9.99MM think Galaxy player will run on Android 2.2 Froyo OS. It’s list of features includes a 1HGz CPU, 4-inch LCD screen that will support up to WVGA resolution, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, 3.2MP rear camera with a front facing camera for video calling, GPS, a microSD card slot, the Android Marketplace, and access to Samsung applications. It’s also got a removable batteryâ�¦ if you’re into that sort of thing. The sizes will be 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB. No word on pricing.

Wellâ�¦ my iPod Touch doesn’t look that impressive now. It’ll make its debut at CES where Samsung is expected to show off a wide variety of products.

Apple / iPhone — No Comments
25
Dec 10

Is Skype Video Calling Finally Heading to Mobile Devices?

Engadget is reporting that Skype could finally be bringing video calling to iPhone 4 with the possibility of other mobile units. They also report that Skype has been telling everyone that they will be making a series of video-related announcement early next month at CES. They’re also participating in a panel called… get ready… â��Video Calling Gets Ready for Primetimeâ��. They also state that a help document on Sky’s website detailed the video calls for iPhone, but it was removed before I was able to check it out. Engadget does have a screen capture of it up though, so I’ll take their word for it.

MacRumors.com also pointed out that the help documents stated that you would need Skype for iPhone 3.0 for video calling but the current version of Skype for iPhone is only 2.1.2. I guess we’ll see if this was just an error or really going to happen in a few weeks time at CES.

Apple — 2 Comments
24
Dec 10

New iPad 2 Case Shows New Speaker?

Alibaba.com is currently offering silicon cases for the 2nd Generation iPad that is said to be released in the early part of 2011.

This is the second case revealed that shows a hole on the bottom right side (left side in the photo) to which was believed to be an SD slot at first, is actually now being believed to be a wide-range speaker on the back side.

Let’s catch up on all the rumored plans for the iPad 2:

- Dual cameras including a front-facing camera for FaceTime video chatting to iPhone 4, iPod Touch 4th Generation, and even the Mac.

- The screen will remain 9.7-inches yet the device will actually be 3mm smaller.

- Wide-Range speaker

- “Flat back” like an iPod Touch

Obviously, nothing will be confirmed about the iPad 2 until Apple officially announces that it is coming which should be sometime after the new year as some reports claim that production of the iPad 2 is underway and it will begin to ship to Apple in January.

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9
Dec 10

Mac App Store Still on Schedule for Late-January

If you saw the reports of the Mac App Store coming sooner than originally though, as in next week, pump the brakes as it appears that it might not be coming that soon.

Jim Dalrymple of The Loop reported that a December release date is too early, though he is still told Apple intends to meet the deadline that they have set for themselves of 90-days which puts it in Late-January.

The Mac App store was announced back in October during the “Back to the Mac” event which means Apple still has a good bit left before their 90-day deadline. It’s not all doom and gloom though as there is news coming out on the store itself.

Apple issued a notice to developers that unlike on the iOS, trial versions of software/Applications would not be allowed in the App store. Apple citited that the developers website is the best place to provide demos, trials, or betas of the software while the Mac Apple store was for applications that were fully functional.

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2
Dec 10

Microsoft Eyeing to Compete With the AppleTV?

It appers Microsoft could be gearing up to attempt to compete with the AppleTV as the software power house talked with TV networks to create a new subscription based TV service on it’s Xbox gaming console which would obviously be a direct challenge to Google, Netflix, and of courseâ�¦ Apple reports Reuters. The service wouldn’t arrive for another 12 months, but early discussions are said to be productive.

A scenario being considored by Microsoft is to create a new TV service on it’s Xbox gaming console that would be a “virtual cable operator”. Of course, this isn’t going to be free as Xbox users will have yet another fee to pay to access the networks such as Fox, CBS, ABC, NBC and CNN. They are also considering other options which would include allowing cable subscribers to use their Xbox to watch their favorite shows while interacting with friends on the console, because it’s not like that exists in the form of Twitter or FaceBook.

I’ll tell you this much as an Xbox user, I don’t want to have to pay anymore to use my video game console to it’s full advantage. Microsoft is asking it’s users to pay even more money to use their console to their full advantage. Shouldn’t the Xbox Live cost cover this? You take $60 of my money every year so I can play online with my friends and now you want me to pay even more to watch TV? I think I’ll stick to cable and Twitter to watch my shows while interacting with friends.

Apple / iPhone / iPod — No Comments
24
Nov 10

Apple to release iOS 4.3 in Mid-December?

I wouldn’t get to comfy with iOS 4.2, as a new rumor is claiming that Apple is already planning to release iOS 4.3 in mid-December.

MacStories reported the story on Tuesday citing an anonymous source stating Apple plans to release iOS 4.3 in mid-december. The update is said to allow users the ability to subscribe to content, like tablet only newspaper, â��They Dailyâ��.

This goes hand-in-hand with the report that Apple would hold a special media event on December 9th to announce plans for it’s subscription plans along with partnerships with content providers. The report claims that Apple has hopes of releasing iOS 4.3 on December 13th, just four days after the media event would take place.

Unfortunately, this could wind up being delayed due to issues that forced the delay of iOS 4.2.

Ode to AppleDedicated to Apple – Mac, iPhone, iPod, iPad and all the awesomeness of Apple.