Voice controlled "Assistant" coming to iPhone 5/iOS 5

There have been rumors for quite a while that Apple has been trying to put in some kind of voice controlled-based software support in the next version of its iOS operating system. Now the 9to5Mac.com web site reports that Apple might be trying to get that kind of feature in the next version of its iPhone. The story says that the software will be based on technology from a company called Siri that Apple acquired back in 2010.

The story is based on info and screenshots from a unnamed source that has access to an Apple iPhone test unit. The feature is called "Assistant" and is designed to use a iPhone's voice to access local info that can then be used by the iPhone's software to handle tasks. The article gives an example of how this feature will work: "We can imagine a user asking their iPhone 'Assistant" to setup a movie with one of their friends. The user might say “setup movie with Mark” and based on Mark’s contact info and the user’s location data, will be able to offer tickets to a local theater and send Mark the information."

The article adds that with the permission of the iPhone's owner, it could sent data from the "Assistant" back to Apple so the company can take a look at it and use that info to update the "Assistant" with improvements and more features. It could even "speak" back to the iPhone user. The article adds that this feature could be an exclusive, at least for a while, for the iPhone 5 when it is released this fall. However, it also says that the "Assistant" feature may not be ready when the next iPhone launches.

Sony’s Cybershot TX55 Shoots Photos and Video Simultaneously

  There's potentially a lot to dig in Sony's TX-55: Like, it's only 12.2mm thin and there's a 3.3-inch OLED touchscreen. More importantly: It'll let you snap nearly full-res photos while shooting HD video, and Sony's promising full-res, pixel-perfect virtual zoom up to 10x.The main magic going on here? What Sony's calling "By Pixel Super Resolution" processing on top of Sony's 16.2-megapixel Exmor R CMOS sensor. It's what allows the camera to simultaneously snap 12MP photos while shooting 1080i video—without interrupting the video—and pull off 5x digital zoom with full-resolution, 16.2MP images. (On top of the cam's 5x optical zoom, that's 10x total virtual zoom. Pixel-perfect zoom? Hrm.)

Other relavent numbers: Autofocus locks in 0.1 second, with auto-stitched panoramas that span 42.9 megapixels. Oh, and 3D images (smeh). It's $350 when it comes out in September. If the real thing matches what's on paper, this could be an interesting little camera

India now blocking file sharing websites

If you live in India and visit file sharing websites, you may be out of luck: It is being reported that India is now blocking sites such as Megaupload, Putlocker, and Rapidshare. When a user attempts to visit any of these websites, they are met with a message by the Department of Telecom (DOT) stating that the site is now blocked.

As reported in our forums and on ZDnet, the blocking comes as a surprise to many end users as it seems that not everyone is blocked. Some say that they are still able to access the sites while others receive the prompt that is shown above.

The most likely reason for blocking the websites is to stop the distribution of copyrighted content. This is an unfortunate side effect because these types of sites are useful for legitimate purposes.  The Internet moves much faster than any government entity, so it is likely a new alternative will pop up in the near future for those in this region.

This type of censorship may become more common as corporations begin to use government agencies to protect their content. At what point does government involvement become too heavy? It starts with copyrighted content, but where does it end?

OS X Lion breaks Adobe products including Photoshop, Flash

The war between Apple and Adobe appears to be continuing. Last year, Apple continuously fired pot shots at Adobe claiming their Flash software causes bad performance, and subsequently announced it would never support the products on the iPhone or iPad, nor would it allow applications that use workarounds to enable it. Adobe responded by launching a "We <3 Apple" and "We <3 Choice" campaign which was targeted directly at Apple's attitude towards its products.

Now, it appears Apple has taken another step to push Adobe away from its platforms. Early reports incorrectly suggested that Apple had disabled GPU support for Flash Player in all browsers. However, the Adobe support page reports that there is an issue where "Flash Player may cause higher CPU activity when playing a YouTube video" but this is a seperate issue, and hardware acceleration has not been disabled. Neowin has heard multiple reports of users having their entire OS crash when the software is used in a browser.

Venture Beat reports that Adobe is listing issues with Acrobat, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash Builder, Flash Catalyst, Illustrator, Lightroom, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro. Apparently, some older programs will no longer run at all, such as Flash Builder and Catalyst which are listed as "will not work on OS X 10.7." Adobe says it doesn't plan on updating the programs to work on the platform. 

Other issues affect the massively popular Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator software, with the "droplets" feature being broken in Photoshop CS3, CS4 and CS5. On top of this, in Illustrator CS5, save or export is disabled from the "Save As" and "Export" dialog when saving to the desktop. In Adobe Lightroom, Nikon cameras are having issues with tethered shooting, with Adobe's only workaround being "remain on Mac OS 10.6.7 until the issue is resolved." Adobe Lightroom 2.7 is now no longer listed as "working."

Finally, the Adobe Reader plugins are no longer compatible with Safari 5.1, with the support website saying that Safari 5.1 replaces Adobe's plugins and can render PDF documents natively. The software still works as a standalone solution, but may cause issues with LiveCycle and Acrobat where they expect the plugin. Adobe says that users should continue using OS X 10.6 until the problem is resolved.

It's puzzling as to why so many issues are in this release of OS X. Previously, Adobe and Apple worked closely on new releases to ensure that their products worked seamlessly and caused no issues. Venture Beat points out that software developers are given access to beta versions of Apple's upcoming OS to get everything working, yet it seems someone dropped the ball in this case.

Mac OS X Lion downloaded 1 million times in first day

Apple has a lot of fans who apparently want to get their hands on the latest update to the Mac OS X operating system as soon as they possibly can. The company issued a press release today announcing that Mac users had downloaded the "Lion" update from the Mac App Store 1 million times on its first day of its online availability. The update, which costs $29.99 and contains over 250 new features, is currently the fastest selling Mac OS update in history.

The success of the Lion launch seems to have pleased Philip Schiller, who is Apple’s SVP of Worldwide Product Marketing. In the press release he stated, “Lion is off to a great start, user reviews and industry reaction have been fantastic. Lion is a huge step forward, it’s not only packed with innovative features but it’s incredibly easy for users to update their Macs to the best OS we’ve ever made.”

While Apple has made the Lion update available for download via the Mac App Store, folks who want some kind of physical media can wait until August when Apple will start selling USB thumb drives with the Lion update installed. However the cost of this method, available on Apple's online store, will set you back $69 which is over double the download only price. If you want to get out of the house to get the update, you can also take you Mac to any Apple retail store and download and install the update at that location.

Nokia's N5 makes Symbian-powered procession through the FCC

There's something bittersweet about watching a Symbian phone march through the FCC knowing that Nokia is slowly thinning the herd. This particular model, the N5, made its requisite Mr. Blurrycam debutlast month and now we've got some details about what the glossy white exterior is hiding. You'll find Bluetooth and WiFi radios inside, which isn't surprising, as well as NFC for all the contactless purchasing your Finland-loving heart can handle. On the mobile broadband side of things, there's support for the 850MHz, 1700MHz, and 1900MHz bands, which means it'll work with either T-Mobile or AT&T. Besides price and release date, the big question on our minds is whether or not anyone will buy a Symbian phone knowing the platform is destined for extinction?

'Green' trans-Atlantic cable set to launch in 2012

The Wellcome Trust charitable foundation has stepped outside the world of healthcare research funding and taken a stake in a new trans-Atlantic cable system.
The Emerald Atlantis, cable system has been given the green light after securing vendor TE SubCom to deploy the 5,200 km sub-sea network. The first phase of the cable deployment will provide high capacity between the US, Canada, UK and Iceland.

Its cable route survey between UK and Canada commences in early August and the Emerald Express system will enter service in late 2012.

Emerald Atlantis pitches the project as a “green” development that offers low latency trans-Atlantic bandwidth and low-cost green energy data centres in Iceland. Emerald Express has been designed to support 100x100 Gbps on each of its six fibre pairs, and two branching units will be positioned off Newfoundland and Ireland for future connectivity.
“The cable project will meet the tremendous demand for bandwidth driven by cloud services, while providing Iceland with the required connectivity to support the anticipated explosive growth of low cost, 100% carbon free, renewable energy powered data centres, in which the Wellcome Trust, has a major investment,” said EA president Greg Varisco.
“The industry is shifting its commitment to new trans-Atlantic bandwidth and TE SubCom is looking forward to working with the Emerald Atlantis team in the US and Iceland to deliver this unique IT infrastructure project within budget and on time,” said Michael Rieger, TE SubCom VP of Global Sales

Apple launches OS X Lion with features from Windows 3.1

TWENTY SIX YEARS AGO Microsoft launched a GUI for its disk operating system (DOS) called Windows. Now, more than a quarter of a century later, Cupertino's photocopiers have finally warmed up, allowing the company to copy this Microsoft feature in its Lion-themed OS. We were playing with our Android phones during the keynote, so we weren't listening closely, but we're sure Jobs called this feature "magical" and "life changing" and, although we were playing our free copy of Angry Birds, we got the distinct impression that Jobs also implied it will get you laid.

OS X Lion also adds some other groundbreaking features, like disabling support for apps coded for the PowerPC Macs of old and introducing a new scrolling system that makes no sense at all. The company has also 86'd Front Row, leaving some users yearning for a Windows Media Centre PC. This comes at a time when professional video editors are all wondering why their new version of Final Cut Pro can no longer access the cinematic projects that they've toiled over for months or years.

Additional innovative features in Apple's Mac OS X 10.7 Lion include an ability to see all your apps in one place, something Microsoft did decades ago with Program Manager, and later, the Start menu. Apple also now has something called "Mission Control", which it's so very proud of, and it allows you to access running programs, much like Task Manager under Windows, and see open documents and web pages.

Apple has also given sharing files a makeover. Now, it's possible to share documents with other Apple users through something called Air Drop. To do this, find someone else in your vicinity, then drop that file called "naked fun times and happylulz" onto their name. Soon, they'll have your .sit file with that Macdefender payload and your credit card information will propagate widely. Hurrah!

Apple has also put the Mac App Store in a new, prominent position. This is great for Apple, because it has finally managed to con users into accepting that it controls all app stores they will ever use. This means it can deny access to apps it doesn't approve of whilst creaming off a juicy 30 per cent cut of the rest for itself. It's inspired marketing by total control. And what's more, when it introduces a system that locks software apps to one computer, no one will be able to do anything about it.

Apple's Mac OS X Lion costs £20.99 and is available via the Mac store. Apple also intends to make it available for sale to its fanbois on USB sticks, which is a feature Microsoft pioneered decades ago.

Apple is catching up with Mac OS X though, however slowly

Samsung denies all knowledge of Smart Cover copy

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Accusations that Samsung is making headway in the mobile market by copying the work of Apple continue to fly, and the workings of third parties aren't doing much to help: an officially certified accessory has appeared that looks to be taking a cue from Apple's Smart Cover.
Built by Anymode for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, the 'Smart Case' looks a lot like Apple's own Smart Cover: it's a segmented cover designed to protect the screen while also transforming into a stand for the tablet in either portrait or landscape modes.
It's the last thing Samsung needs, as the company already stands accused of being 'inspired' by Apple's iPhone and iPad in the creation of its own Android-based Galaxy product series. The company has a get-out clause for this one, though: it's a third party, and not Samsung itself, that's at fault.
At least, that's the argument. The problem is, Anymode claimed to have received the designation of 'Designed for Samsung Mobile,' a certification scheme run by Samsung that guarantees compatibility with its products in the same way as Apple's 'Designed for iPhone' scheme.
"As a general practice, Samsung Electronics reviews and approves all accessories produced by partners before they are given the 'Designed for Samsung Mobile' mark," the company admits in a statement on its website. "In this case, approval was not given to Anymode for the accessory to feature this official designation."
Quite why the company thought that producing an accessory so clearly based on an Apple product at a time that the Cupertino-based company was fighting Samsung on patent and copyright grounds and then claiming Samsung approval was a good idea is not known. Neither Anymode nor Samsung have responded to our request for comment.
Comments made by visitors to Samsung's website reveal the damage that the brand is taking, however.  "Once a fan of this brand, I am strongly against buying any Samsung mobile device just because they copy Apple products," one comment reads. "If Samsung won't take any action on this copying, it will ruin the reputation of the brand as an innovator and it won't enjoy success as long as Sony did!"
"You've lost my interest [and I] will never buy product with your visible name on it," another visitor agrees. "We, customers, can see that your 'inspiration' is nothing more than a shameless copy of others' creations."
The apparent backlash is bad news for Samsung: while its Galaxy S II smartphone is proving popular with those looking for a high-spec Android smartphone, it's coming at a serious cost to the company's public persona. With the lower-spec Galaxy R expected to launch by the end of the month, it remains to be seen how much of an impact the company's ongoing legal tussle with Apple will have on overall sales.

Samsung HS3000

The Samsung HS3000 features an interesting design for a stereo Bluetooth headset. It comes with a set of wired earbuds, plus a separate main body that clips onto your shirt. It works for both voice calls and music like most stereo Bluetooth headphones. But it doesn't convert into a mono Bluetooth headset with an ear hook, like the Samsung Modus HM6450 ($99, 4 stars) or HM3700 ($59, 4 stars); the HS3000 is a pure stereo model. The HS3000 won't win any sound quality awards—stereo Bluetooth or otherwise—but it's a decent, low-cost headset that should please casual music listeners.
Design, Fit, and Pairing
The HS3000's main body is made of a hard, matte plastic, and feels very light. A sturdy plastic clip on the back lets you pin the HS3000 to a shirt pocket. A Talk button and indicator light sit on the front panel. The sides contain the power switch, volume buttons, a Mode button, and a trio of music playback controls for pausing or skipping tracks. The bottom edge holds a covered microUSB port, while the top edge houses a standard-size 3.5mm headphone jack.
This last point is interesting; while Samsung includes a set of in-ear buds with rubber tips, you can actually use any set of wired headphones. The HS3000's main body contains the microphone, not the earbud wires, so you can still make or receive calls with any set of headphones plugged in. That makes the HS3000 much more versatile than most stereo Bluetooth headsets—particularly for audiophiles who are willing to forego Bluetooth's inherent audio quality limitations in favor of wireless listening, or even just for wearing whatever headphones or earbuds are the most comfortable.
The bundled earbuds include soft ear tips that are somewhere between rubber and plastic, in terms of texture. I found them quite comfortable to wear. I'll refer to them as in-ear buds, since they sit inside the ear a bit and don't sit outside like stock iPod earbuds. But they don't go all the way in and form a tight seal like audiophile-quality earbuds do (sometimes at the expense of comfort). Samsung also includes two additional sets of ear tips in the box—one larger set than the pre-fitted ear tips, and one smaller set—as well as an AC adapter.
The first time you power up the HS3000, it automatically enters pairing mode; subsequent pairings require you to hold down the Talk button for several seconds while the unit is turned on. The HS3000 supports Bluetooth 3.0, and can also pair with two Bluetooth devices simultaneously. But unlike some other headsets, you must first activate multi-point mode manually. For this review, I paired the HS3000 with an Apple iPhone 4 ($199, 4.5 stars) and a Casio G'zOne Ravine ($149.99, 4.5 stars) with no issue or audio dropouts in either case.
Sound Quality, Other Features, and Conclusions
Sound quality was well balanced for the most part, but decidedly flat. It's not artificially boosted in any way, with even response across the frequency spectrum. Bass response was just okay; there was enough to give the music proper weight, with some oomph to kick drums, but it didn't extend to the lowest frequencies, nor did it have much punch. But the main issue was a lack of detail, as well as a lack of sweetness in the high range. Listening to Mumford & Son's "Little Lion Man," I didn't hear the distinct stereo separation I usually hear over other headphones and earbuds.
Quibbles with audio quality aside, the HS3000 is fine for casual or background listening, and the in-ear design isolates you from external background noise. On the other hand, there was significant cable thump audible, so these aren't a good choice for exercising. The Mode button cycles between three DSP algorithms: Normal, Instrument, and Vocal. Each of the latter two settings were quite poor, so I listened via the Normal mode almost exclusively.
Other features: The Talk button makes, answers, and ends calls; you also hold this down for a few seconds to enter pairing mode. The LED light doubles as a battery status indicator, and changes between blue (above 80 percent), violet (between 80 percent and 20 percent), and red (below 20 percent) to reflect the amount of charge remaining. The voice prompts offer the same info, and also keep you posted as to call, connection, and pairing status. Range was average; I could walk about 10 feet away from my handset before hearing audible artifacts in the music. A full charge takes about two hours; under continuous music playback, battery life was good at 7 hours and 23 minutes.
All told, the Samsung HS3000 is inexpensive and unusually flexible for stereo Bluetooth headphones. It's a good choice if you prize battery life above all else, or if you've got your own pair of headphones that you want to use in lieu of stock earbuds. The Samsung HM3700 comes with a much better set of stereo earbuds, lacks the HS3000's cable thump issue, and also converts to a mono headset with an ear hook, although it's bulkier and doesn't have the HS3000's standard size headphone jack. Don't want to deal with earbud wires at all? Then check out the Novero Tour ($79, 4 stars); the Tour's standard plastic earbud design means you don't get the same deep bass as you do with in-ear, rubber ear tips, but they're quite comfortable for all day use, fold up for traveling, and have no exposed wires.

Google+ Mobile App (for iOS and Android)

Mobile apps are essential to the whole social networking experience. Think about Facebook and Twitter: Mobile apps are the most convenient way to check in on what's happening, and just as quickly check out. Now that Google has released a mobile app for Google+ (free), available for Android phones and iPhones and iPodTouches (iOS5 is not yet supported, though), the social network itself is much more usable.
Part of this success comes from the design. Less screen space means every inch of it has to be use effectively. If you've ever felt that Google was too sparse with its designs on the Web, you might see Google+ as a revelation in Google UI. The app is clean and easy to navigate without too many menus and unnecessary words cluttering the screen.
How to Get Google+ Mobile App
In its first day on the market, the app isn't easy-as-pie to find, especially when searching the App Store from an iPhone. You'll have better luck downloading it through iTunes or the Android marketplace directly and dropping it onto your mobile device the next time you sync it. Alternatively, you can try getting it through a QR code provided by Google.
Once you find and install the free app, just sign in using your Google account. You'll have the option to enable or disable push notifications. Note that you must already have Google+ access in order to use the app, so if you haven't received an invitation yet, hang tight until you do.
Design
Like to Facebook's mobile app, the mobile version of Google+ orients you with a landing screen that shows the main components in a grid, their icons and single-word descriptors helping you choose how you'll use the app.
Google+'s icons are not yet as well known as Facebook's, so the names printed below them help: Stream, Huddle, Photos, Profile, and Circles. If you didn't guess what you can do by the name of the tool, at least you'll be mildly intrigued to dive in and find out.
Features
Any social networking user will be familiar with words like "stream" (updates from your contacts), "profile" (information about you) and "photos." And if you've used the Google+ site, you've likely already established Circles, or subsets of your connections, grouped by whatever classification you want to create, such as close friends, co-workers, extended family, and so forth.
Notably missing in the mobile app is the Hangout feature, or video group chat, which is Web-only. Replacing it is Huddle, a group instant messaging tool. To use Google+'s Huddle, select Huddle and click the speech bubble icon at the top right to start a new chat. You can invite individuals to group chat with you, or an entire Circle. As people are invited, their profile pictures appear in a strip at the top, giving you the ability to quickly see who's there. Six images fit easily in that banner at the top, and when more people are invited, the strip become scrollable. This visual presentation of who has been invited to a Huddle is excellent.
However, anyone who joins the Huddle can invite other people to it. In other words, just because you are the initiator of a Huddle doesn't mean you have administrative control over who's allowed to participate. Those who joined through you can invited their own friends and connections into the Huddle without your consent. And once people have been invited to a Huddle, regardless of whether they've actually joined, you can't delete them from it. It's easy to imagine chats getting out of hand, and parents may shudder at the thought of just who might lurking among the friends of a friend.
The Photos section in Google+ contains more than you might think. Photos are sectioned off into four groups: "From your circles" (pictures your friends have shared via Google+), "Photos of you," "Your albums," and "From your phone."
As you browse images, the mobile app puts thumbnail images into old school, Polaroid-looking frames. If people have commented on an image, the number of comments appears in the thumbnail. That's all well and good, but the wealth of content really comes from people who have had Google accounts for a long time. All the public images that I've ever added to both Picasa and Google Blogger show up in my area of "Your albums." I rediscovered many pictures I had completely forgotten I had, some of them dating back four years. Perhaps this was Google's solution for making sure that its new social network had a lot of content at launch, but it threw me for a loop to find all these forgotten photos suddenly public and in front of a brand new audience. I asked a colleague to verify which images of mine he could see from his Google+ account; he saw all my public Picasa pictures, but not the ones from Blogger (even though my blog is public). If you don't remember what photos you've uploaded to Picasa and made public,

Managing Friends
The ease with which you can manage Circles from a smartphone is shocking. Google has laid out the app in such a way that you can scroll through a long list of possible connections—some of whom you'll know, and some complete strangers (à la Twitter's suggestions for whom to follow)—and add them to existing Circles or new ones that you can create on the spot.
What I love about Circles is how they let you filter your stream instantly. Twitter lets you do this with lists, which I use and also adore. In Facebook, you can hide individuals so that they never appear in your stream, but you can't customize the stream to let you see only updates from selected people. Google+ give you the best of both worlds' here, the richer content that tends to come out of Facebook, with threaded comments and such, and the "lists" ability you get from Twitter.
At the very bottom of the main screen is a Notifications button box containing a number. The box is gray if it's 0 and red if it's 1 or greater. Nearly identical to Facebook's mobile Notification feature, Google+'s pops up a screen that you can refresh by dragging down and releasing. It lists all kinds of notices, like when you've been added to someone's Google+ connections and when someone has commented on your posts.
Mobile and Social
The Google+ mobile app works fairly well due to its smart design and comprehensible interface. Until other Spartan Google products, the mobile app aims for spacial balance. Google made a wise decision by launching the website first and rolling out the mobile app a few days later for its new social network. It gave some users (those lucky enough to get early invites) a chance to figure out the basics of the system—and then a few weeks later, an opportunity to play with something new, thereby keeping their interest piqued. After a few more releases, I'm sure some of the app's less stellar points—no support for iOS5, inability to have administrative controls in a Huddle—will be mitigated. The Google+ app is helping strum more interest in the social network, which is exactly what it needs to stay active and interesting.

Google's Eric Schmidt: Apple, other competitors not innovative; they just sue

Former CEO and current Executive Chairman of Google Eric Schmidt has some harsh words for competitors who have been suing the company: you're not innovative, you just sue because of our successes.
Speaking at the Mobile Revolution Conference in Tokyo, the comment comes after the International Trade Commision's ruling that HTC infringed on two of Apple's patents. If upheld, HTC and other Android phone makers would be required to pay royalties to Apple. But if so, Apple would only be one of several companies targeting Google's Android system, a list that includes Oracle and Microsoft. HTC struck a patent licensing deal with Microsoft in 2010; details of their arrangement were made public this year.
"We have seen an explosion of Android devices entering the market and, because of our successes, competitors are responding with lawsuits as they cannot respond with innovations," Eric Schmidt said according to ZDNet. "I'm not too worried about this."
So much so that Schmidt stated they would back up HTC against Apple's lawsuit and was confident that they will win, despite all recent rulings and HTC's aforementioned patent deal with Microsoft. Schmidt declined to go into further detail about how Google would be helping HTC out during litigation. When asked if the company would provide financial help should HTC lose, he responded: "We will make sure they don't lose, then."

Microsoft to boost Office 365 with Project and Visio cloud services

Microsoft only just launched its Office 365 cloud platform a couple of weeks ago. But the company is readying even more hosted services to add to its core hosted Exchange, SharePoint and Lync Online Office 365 platform.
I blogged recently that the next two services to be added to Office 365 will be Dynamics CRM Online and Windows Intune, Microsoft’s PC management and security service. At this week’s Worldwide Partner Conference, I heard about two more services Microsoft is planning to add to Office 365: A hosted Microsoft Project service, and a hosted Visio Service.
Microsoft Business Solutions Corporate Vice President Michael Park made a passing reference to the coming Project and Visio Office 365 add-ons during an interview I had with him at the partner conference. The idea in adding services like CRM Online, Project and Visio is to make it as easy for small/mid-size users to subscribe to them with a single click when “ordering” Office 365 as it currently is for enterprise volume licensees to do so.
Update: A Microsoft spokesperson said company officials don’t agree with my characterization of what was said at the meeting. They provided the following statement:

“When talking about Dynamics CRM Online, Project,  Visio and Office 365, (Park) was referring to the sales cycle and CRM Online attachment to Office 365 when customers buy that service, the way Project and Visio appeal to customers buying Office [in Volume Licensing] today, not that Project/ Visio will be part of Office 365.”

Nonetheless, several partners I spoke with at the Partner Conference maintained that Microsoft’s plan is, indeed, to include Project and Visio services in Office 365 down the line.
Several partners said they had heard word of the coming Project add-on, and one said he also had heard talk of a Microsoft-hosted Visio service. The partners said they believed a launch of Project Online and Visio Online would likely be timed to arrive with its Office 15 wave. Office 15 — the next version of Microsoft’s client and server Office wares — is expected by many to be a late 2012 or early 2013 release. (Microsoft execs have declined to provide a ship-target for Office 15.)
Microsoft Project Server, a project-management product, already is available as a service from a handful of Microsoft hosting partners. Microsoft Visio is a commercial diagramming product. An application known as “Visio Services” that is part of SharePoint Server 2010, already exists. It allows users to share and view Visio drawings, and to update Visio drawings from various data sources. Some partners seem to make Visio Services available as part of partner-hosted SharePoint today.
When I asked the Office 365 team for more information and specifics on the coming Project and Visio hosted services, I was told “Microsoft does not comment on rumors and speculation.”
Park and other Microsoft officials reiterated this week that Microsoft is planning to offer a Windows Azure-hosted version of the Dynamics NAV product next year. Microsoft’s plan is to make all future versions of its four ERP products available on the public cloud via Azure, starting with NAV.
Microsoft also announced at the show a tool to help partners and customers more rapidly deploy, configure and customize Dynamics ERP offerings, known as Rapid Start for Dynamics ERP. That tool becomes available later this fall, and will be Azure-hosted, also. (Maybe it will hit around the time of the Dynamics AX 2012 virtual launch on September 8?)

Motorola cancels its Milestone 3 launch

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Motorola has apparently scotched plans to release the Droid 3 smartphone - which would have been called the Milestone 3, in keeping with the company's European nomenclature - in the UK.

The Motorola Droid 3 builds on the company's previous Droid/Milestone handsets, keeping the slide-out physical keyboard but upgrading the internals to feature a dual-core Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 processor and 512MB of RAM. A four-inch qHD PenTile-powered multi-touch display sits at the front, while the rear includes an eight-megapixel camera.
It's a relatively well specced smartphone, but reports from the US suggest that its reception has been somewhat frosty. Positioned as a high-end Android handset, the phone is outclassed by rivals such as the Samsung Galaxy S II which include more powerful processors and improved displays.
While Motorola has attempted to convince buyers that the Droid 3 is the way to go - including HDMI out functionality to impress the gamers and photographers, for a start - sales appear poor, and the company's plans to launch the device in Europe have been put on hold.
According to an unnamed source speaking to Know Your Mobile, the Droid 3 - or Milestone 3 - will definitely not be coming to the UK.
While that will come as a blow to those who still have faith in the Motorola brand, it is likely to do nothing but good for the company's competitors including HTC and Samsun

Microsoft releases Wi-Fi data collection source code

Microsoft has published "relevant portions" of the source code from its Wi-Fi data collection software so that the public can examine it for any privacy concerns. According to Reid Kuhn, Partner Group Program Manager for Microsoft's Windows Phone Engineering Team, this was done to "provide even more transparency" about how the company gathers information through "managed driving", in which Microsoft uses vehicles equipped with mobile phones to gather available data about Wi-Fi access points and cell tower locations.
The managed driving data collection software is used to provide data for a number of location-based services, including services for Windows Phone 7 and Bing. In a post on Microsoft TechNet Blogs, Kuhn says that "the mobile phones we use for these surveys are only capable of observing the same data points about Wi-Fi access points that any phone, computer or other device connecting to Wi-Fi access points can observe."
The resulting information is later used to provide better search results, weather, movie times, maps and directions, based on a device's current location. Kuhn specifically notes that, while it does collect and upload GPS, Wi-Fi and cell data, it "does not intercept wireless data transmissions from consumers’ computers", adding that it "neither observes nor records any information that may contain user content transmitted over a network".
The source code release follows recent privacy concerns related to companies such as Google and Apple collecting information about stationary Wi-Fi base stations. In addition to the network's name (SSID), Google, for example, stores a base station's unique MAC address, as well as information about notebooks and smartphones that are acting as Wi-Fi routers. In May, Apple updated its iOS mobile operating system to address concerns over tracking the location of the device.
The source code for Microsoft's managed driving data collection software, developed by the Windows Phone Engineering team, is hosted on the company's MSDN web site and is not released under an open source licence.

iPhone 5 with 3D cameras rumour debunked

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Blurry-cam snaps of what purports to be an iPhone 5 sporting dual rear-facing cameras have tipped up on a Chinese web site.
The pics posted on 175 Wan and unearthed by Slashgear were apparently taken 'by accident' by someone from Shenzen in China and have pretty much been called out as fakes by the Slashgear article.
Just for giggles, we thought we'd show you just how easy these things are to fake with a bit of Photoshop jiggery pokery.
Here's the original Chinese pic complete with the web site's watermarks.

And now for the fakery...

We snapped our own original pic using a cheap consumer camera to get it nice and wobbly.

Using a marquee tool, we selected the area containing the camera lens and pasted it back into new layers, then did the same for the flash units.

We decided that the flash units would work better side by side, so repositioned them accordingly. Then we selected each element in each layer and adjusted their scale slightly to give the impression of foreshortening caused by the camera angle.

To make it easier to work on the text layer, we rotated the canvas to put the graphics the right way up, and used the proper Apple Myriad Pro font unlike the Chinese fake which had some crazy random number 5 plonked in. We sampled the colour from the text in the 'iPhone' lettering and used the adjust layers tool to distort the '5' slightly, again to fake the perspective.
Aquick fiddle using the burn and dodge tools made the copied and pasted elements look different enough from their counterparts to pass all but the sharpest of eyes
We also adjusted the levels of the entire pic just to make it look prettier.

And there you have it. One fake iPhone 5 complete with dual 3D cameras. It took about 25 minutes in all and we're sure you'll agree it's far more convincing than the Chinese knock-off.
Of course, it wouldn't get through a close forensic examination (unless we spent a few more minutes removing the metadata and being a bit more precise about the whole thing) but it's close enough.
Just goes to show you can't believe your eyes nowaday

Apple launches second patent complaint against HTC

Apple has filed a second patent-infringing complaint against HTC as they now try to block imports of what they called “Personal electronic devices” from the Taiwanese company.
According to SFGate, the complaint was filed late last week on July 8^th, though no copy of the complaint was available and no additional details have been released.
HTC’s general counsel Grace Lei said in a statement that “HTC is dismayed that Apple has resorted to competition in the courts rather than the market place," Meanwhile, Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet asked the press to refer to an earlier statement about HTC, which said that “competitors should create their own technology and not steal Apple's.”
This filing marks Apple’s second complaint against HTC, with the first dating back to March 2010. Apple then stated that they were suing the Taiwan-based smartphone manufacturer for infringing on 20 Apple iPhone patents.
The patents relate to the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture, and hardware. Apple filed the lawsuit with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and in U.S. District Court in Delaware.
HTC then launched a counter-suite against Apple just two months later, saying that the company had infringed on five HTC patents. Finding on that case are to be presented on September 16.
HTC’s general counsel Grace Lei said in a statement that “HTC is dismayed that Apple has resorted to competition in the courts rather than the market place," Meanwhile, Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet asked the press refer to an earlier statement about HTC, which said “competitors should create their own technology and not steal Apple's.”
This latest complaint by Apple adds to an already busy past few weeks for the company’s lawyers thanks to their other ongoing patent battle with Samsung.

Create GIFs with Your Phone, Create GIFs with Your iPhone

When Apple pimps the iPhone as this magical tool, my cynical self can't help but laugh. Not anymore. With GIF Shop, you can make GIFs with an iPhone app. You can make GIFs with an iPhone app. You can make GIFS with an iPhone app. Whoa.
(That's like a GIF with words right there)

What's it do?

It's a camera app that stitches together pictures to create the GIFs that populate the Internet. You know GIFs! At Giz we call GIFs the Internet's greatest treasure. Personally, I think it's the only form of online communication that can truly translate emotion (albeit bite-sized) over the Internet. Basically, you're animating and highlighting real life in a more colorful way.

View the gallery

Why do we like it?

What's not to like, really? Have you no soul? You don't appreciate the nostalgia of 90's Internet technology? To be honest though, the real reason I love GIF Shop for iPhone is that I have no idea how to make GIFs on my computer. Like I don't know where to even start. On the iPhone though? Lord, it's easy. The app gives you an overlay of the previous picture you took so you can try to keep the GIF as consistent as possible. And after taking your series of shots, the app handles all the stitching legwork and you can share it to all your social networks immediately. It's like taking multiple pictures of the same thing but not having to delete them.

New PC mouse from Microsoft revealed

Microsoft is apparently still in the PC mouse hardware business and earlier this month it was revealed that the company is planning to release a new product in that division. Pocket-lint.com reports that during a Microsoft press event in London the company showed off the Microsoft Explorer Touch Mouse. It's an upcoming wireless PC mouse that's currently due for release by the end of the month.
According to the story the The Explorer Touch Mouse has five buttons and also has a scroll pad that uses haptic touch technology. That means that the mouse's users will feel a slight vibration when using the pad to scroll through documents on a desktop. The new mouse also reportedly uses Microsoft's BlueTrack sensor technology that will allow the mouse to work on nearly any surface. Pricing for the mouse in the UK will be 69.99 pounds.
Microsoft's PC mouse division has been around for a long time and its current selection has a number of different products to choose from. All of these mice, including the newly revealed Explorer Touch Mouse, are made for general PC use as well as for businesses. However Microsoft has also sold a number of gaming themed PC mice under its Sidewinder brand. Earlier this year there were rumors that Microsoft was going to discontinue the Sidewinder gaming PC mouse brand due to bigger competition from other PC mouse companies like Razer. Logitech and others. However a Microsoft spokesperson later said that the Sidewinder line was not discontinued.

The First Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) Tablet

Motorola's Xoom is the first Honeycomb-based tablet; but how does it fare against Apple's iPad 2? There's a lot to go over, from Google's new software platform to Nvidia's Tegra 2. Let's dig a little deeper to see how the tablet world is shaping up.
Intel founder Andy Groove once famously quipped, “Only the paranoid survive.” And if you’re a notebook manufacturer, there’s plenty to be paranoid about. Tablet sales are growing at what other mobile solution providers might consider an alarming rate. From one year to the next, you're looking at nearly doubled sales. Meanwhile, the already-mature notebook market is growing at a much slower pace.

No one saw this coming. Apple jump-started the tablet market by introducing its iPad in 2010 (check out our iPad 2 review), and it was a total shock to many industry observers. Here was what looked like an oversized smartphone, armed with a standard (4:3) aspect ratio display that sold like hotcakes. Almost incredibly, last quarter, close to 20% of Apple’s total revenue ($13.5 billion) came from iPad sales. So, is it really any wonder why every other company wants to now jump up on the tablet bandwagon?

The problem is that no one has Apple’s experience combining hardware and software. This void is creating some interesting partnerships. For example, Nvidia sees huge potential in selling mobile hardware, which explains all the cash it’s spending to develop Tegra. But it doesn't have any background on the software side. Conversely, Google has a great mobile operating system known as Android, but it doesn't really do anything with hardware. Motorola is good at creating mobile platforms, but it lacks a touchscreen-based OS, and it's also out of touch with designing processors. So, you really need all three working together to design a suitable alternative to Apple's iPad.
Motorola Xoom

This makes the tablet scene a lot more exciting than reviewing desktop PCs, where you might get a couple of different components and some custom paint. When you buy a tablet other than an iPad, you're getting something completely different. That’s why I was excited when a Motorola Xoom turned up on my doorstep. It’s not just a product of Motorola’s engineering. It’s also a reflection on Google and Nvidia, and it promises a completely different experience.

HTC Buys S3 Graphics, Gets Patents Apple Is Infringing

More patent news? Sorry, but for some reason, there's a spike in patent, trademark, and related news this week - not entirely unsurprising considering it's earnings season. HTC, currently under attack from Apple and a recent signer of Microsoft patent agreement regarding Android, has bought S3 Graphics... For the patents. Patents Apple has already been found infringing upon.
S3 Graphics was part of VIA Technologies, but now HTC will shell out $300 million for the graphics company. The interesting part of this whole deal? S3 licenses its S3 Texture Compression technology to a lot of companies, including Nintendo, Sony... And Microsoft. This technology is increasingly being applied to smartphones and tablets as well, so this could be an interesting IP purchase for HTC.
"In patent negotiations, it is difficult if the other company has patents and you don't. If you have patents too, perhaps you can arrive at a cross-licensing agreement," said Winston Yung, HTC's chief financial officer. And here is where it gets doubly interesting: only a few days ago, Apple has been found infringing two S3 patents.
A US International Trade Commission (the ITC) judge decided July 1 2011 that Apple is infringing upon two patents owned by S3, both related to S3 Texture Compression (patent number 6,658,146 and 6,683,978). In other words, this is a particularly brilliant move by HTC, since they now suddenly have the means to turn Apple's lawsuit against the company into a cross-licensing agreement. Since the ITC has already ruled Apple to be infringing, HTC position has suddenly become very strong.
And this is how you compete when innovation takes a back seat. Pretty much the entire software industry has been bogged down by software patents, making it virtually impossible to write any piece of code without infringing some patent in some closet somewhere in the US. So, you have to buy patent war chests.

Microsoft's Extortion Campaign Against Android, ChromeOS

"One of Microsoft's hottest new profit centers is a smartphone platform you've definitely heard of: Android. Google's Linux-based mobile operating system is a favorite target for Microsoft's patent attorneys, who are suing numerous Android vendors and just today announced that another manufacturer has agreed to write checks to Microsoft every time it ships an Android device. Microsoft's latest target is Wistron Corp., which has signed a patent agreement 'that provides broad coverage under Microsoft's patent portfolio for Wistron's tablets, mobile phones, e-readers and other consumer devices running the Android or Chrome platform', Microsoft announced." That's the reality we live in, folks. This is at least as criminal - if not more so - than Microsoft's monopoly abuse late last century. After the Nortel crap, it's completely left the black helicopter camp for me: Microsoft, Apple, and several others are working together to fight Android the only way they know how: with underhand mafia tactics. Absolutely sickening. Hey Anonymous, are you listening? YES I WENT THERE

Apple, Microsoft Patent Consortium Trying to Kill Android

The ad-hoc patent group that offered $4.5 billion for bankrupt Nortel Networks' 6,000 patents is facing antitrust scrutiny for possibly conspiring to keep the technology from Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) clutches.
Nortel June 30 sold its patents to Rockstar Bidco LP, the consortium comprising Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM), Sony, EMC (NYSE:EMC) and Ericsson.
The sale was a blow to Google, which started the bidding by offering Nortel $900 million for the patents back in April. Patent-poor Google desired the patents to protect its Android mobile operating system from increasing litigation from Apple, Microsoft and others trying to compete with the open-source platform.
The American Antitrust Institute sent a letter to the Justice Department asking antitrust officials to begin an investigation of the sale before July 11, which is when courts in Canada and the United States are expected to approve or strike down the deal.
The AAI noted that the $4.5 billion purchase price is five times what Google offered to start the auction bidding, raising questions about why the consortium members could not act alone.
AAI in particular pointed to Apple, Microsft and RIM, which all make smartphone software and each already owns a large portfolio of wireless technology patents.
"Why, in this light, should ANY horizontal collaboration among them (joined by three others with strong portfolios of their own as well) be allowed with regard to the Nortel portfolio, particularly in the absence of any transparent safeguards against anticompetitive effects from it?" noted the AAI.
"Three close competitors' shared control over 6,000 patents surely at a minimum creates significant risk of spillover collusion, tacit or otherwise."
The Washington Post said federal antitrust enforcers are scrutinizing whether the companies unfairly colluded to block Google from buying technology patents that would protect its open-source Android mobile platform. It is not clear whether the Department of Justice or Federal Trade Commission is looking into the matter.
Patent litigation against Android smartphone makers is rampant and widespread. Apple is suing HTC, Samsung and Motorola over technology included in their Android smartphones. Microsoft is suing Motorola over its Android line.
Google itself is currently facing a serious lawsuit from Oracle, which could enjoin it from offering Android and gain significant damages if it wins the case.
Google had hoped Nortel's patents, which include those for Long Term Evolution wireless technology increasingly used in smartphones today, would provide some shields from the suits.
Without them, Google has little defense versus lawyers seeking to exploit patent law that has yet to adequately compensate for the fast-changing tech sector. Robert X. Cringely had more on the matter.

Apple's PDF Flaw, DOE Attack, Rustock Lead Week's Security News

All anyone could talk this past week was Google+, the new social networking platform from Google that rolled out to a limited audience. The only way to see the new site was to score an invite from someone who is already a member. But Google shut down invites temporarily in face of high demand. That just made it easier for scammers to swoop in with emails masquerading as fake Google+ invites to direct users to online pharmacy scams.
Malicious emails may possibly be behind the "sophisticated cyber-attack" that shut down email and Internet services at another Department of Energy research facility, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The lab shut down all outgoing and incoming traffic July 1, and as of July 8 its Website remained inaccessible. Internal mail was restored midweek.
A team of iPhone developers inadvertently uncovered a serious vulnerability in the way the mobile version of the Safari Web browser uploads PDF files while trying to come up with a way to "jailbreak" the iPhone. The JailbreakMe Website provides users interested in cracking the iPhone operating system with tools so that they can install non-Apple-approved apps on their iOS devices.
The developer who found the vulnerability and used it to create the latest version of the jailbreaking tool also released a patch so that malicious perpetrators can't exploit the flaw for their own nefarious purposes.
This has prompted several security experts to note that Apple users were in an ironic situation where they would be safer from potential attacks by jailbreaking their iPhones, iPads and iPod Touchs to apply the patch. Once Apple rolled out the patch, expected in a "forthcoming update," they could switch back.
Microsoft also unveiled details and more statistics behind the Rustock botnet since Microsoft worked with legal authorities to take down several of the botnet command and control servers in March. Microsoft noted the size of the botnet has been halved and even though there are plenty of infected machines outside of the United States, it remains dark. The report also reaffirmed that its methods, coordinating with law enforcement agencies, other security companies and academics, was successful against botnets.
There were two data breaches announced this week, but only one involved any cyber-hacking. Investment firm Morgan Stanley Smith Barney mailed CDs containing sensitive information of about 34,000 of its investors to the New York State Department of Taxation in June. When the package finally reached its intended recipient, the CDs were missing.
The other breach happened over at that venerable newspaper of national record the Washington Post when attackers breached its employment Website, not once, but twice, in the last week of June and stole email addresses. The breach exposes job-seekers to potential spear phishing attacks.
Across the pond, Rupert Murdoch shut down British tabloid News of the World amid allegations that its staffers illegally accessed voice mails of as many as 4,000 individuals, including celebrities, the British royal family and regular people. The key takeaway from the scandal appears to be the importance of protecting the PIN numbers that access the phone mailboxes. But unless carriers take some action, users remain vulnerable to voicemail fraud.
Next week, Microsoft is expected to release four patches fixing 22 vulnerabilities for a fairly light July Patch Tuesday. Three of the four contain fixes for all supported versions of the Windows operating system. Microsoft will also officially end support for Vista Service Pack 1 and Office XP.

Java 7 Release Nears

The Java 7 release brings Oracle together with rivals IBM and HP to evolve what has become the most influential programming language for enterprise deployments.

The first release candidate for Java 7 was released this week, with general availability expected by the end of the month. In order to help celebrate the launch of Java 7, Oracle hosted a global event on Thursday highlighting the key features of the new language release. It's a release that brings Oracle together with rivals IBM and HP to evolve what has become the most influential programming language for enterprise application deployments.
"Probably the most significant thing is the fact that we're finally shipping it," Mark Reinhold, chief architect of the Java platform group at Oracle said. "It has been almost five years now and for various political and business reasons this release has taken some time."
Reinhold noted that after the transition from Sun, Oracle has brought new focus and energy to the release. Oracle acquired Sun in 2010 for $7.4 billion.
In terms of new features, Reinhold noted that Java 7 is an evolutionary release rather than a revolutionary release, as has been the case with some past Java releases.
"There are significant improvements, but nothing really Earth-shattering," Reinhold said.
That said, Reinhold noted that JSR-203 defines new I/O APIs and is particularly interesting to him.
"We finally have a real filesystem API that lets you do things like manipulate symbolic links and access filesystem specific operations when you need to do that," Reinhold said.
Reinhold also highlighted the fork/join framework as being a key new feature for Java 7. He described fork/join as being the first step toward really enabling Java for multicore applications. According to Reinhold, fork/join is one of many ways to deal with expressing parallel computations in a way that will scale well to an arbitrary number of processor cores.
Aside from the code improvements, Reinhold also noted that there has been improvement in the Java development process as well.
"This is the first release where most of the development was done in the open with OpenJDK," Reinhold said. "It's true the development process has not been as transparent as we would have liked, but we're improving that."
One of the other key areas of improvement is in the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), which is now moving in its own direction to support more than just Java.
"For the first time in Java 7, we're starting to see the Java Virtual Machine really chart its own course," Oracle Java engineer Alex Buckley said. "Features are being added to the JVM that are beyond the capabilities of the core Java programming language."
Buckley noted that those 'other' features are there to help implementers of other languages that want to run on top of the JVM.
The other notable fact about Java 7 is that it is a collaborative effort that involves vendors that otherwise are fierce competitors. Oracle has no love lost for IBM or HP and competes aggressively with both vendors in multiple markets, yet on Java they all collaborate.
"Yes we're absolutely fierce competitors," Trent Gray-Donald, IBM Java 7 technical lead said. "But it turns out that we can collaborate."

Apple iPad Will Dominate Tablet Market Through 2012

Apple’s iPad franchise will continue to dominate the tablet market for some time to come.
In a July 7 research note issued by Canaccord Genuity, analyst T. Michael Walkley and his co-authors suggested that the iPad 2’s price point is making it difficult for rival tablets to compete in a profitable way. “Our checks indicate both the Motorola Xoom and RIM PlayBook have not sold well at current price points, as we believe competing tablets must sell at a substantial discount to the iPad 2,” they wrote.
Their research note estimates Apple’s share of the tablet market at 56 percent in 2011, followed by Samsung with 12 percent, and Asus with 5 percent. LG Electronics, Motorola and Research In Motion are all given 3 percent of the market, followed by HTC with 2 percent. Although Amazon.com has yet to release a tablet, the note pegs their 2011 share at 5 percent. Nor do those percentages change much for 2012, although Apple loses 5 percent of its overall share to rival manufacturers.
“Given the iPad 2’s affordable prices,” the research note added, “we believe competitors such as Motorola Mobility and RIM would have to sell their tablets at break-even or worse in order to capture stronger market share than our current estimates.” Samsung, Asus and Amazon are seen as the largest Android-based threats to Apple’s reign.
The analysts also don’t discount the possibility of Microsoft, which plans to port the next version of Windows onto tablets, making a significant dent in the market: “We also believe a Windows tablet in [the second half of 2012] could sell well, particularly to the enterprise channel.”
All those tablets entering the market, however, are posing a significant challenge to parts suppliers. Even the largest manufacturers, after all, boast only so much capacity—and with companies ranging from Samsung and Hewlett-Packard to Motorola and Asus all anxious to carve off their own piece of the tablet market, it’s a near-certainty that pressure on supply channels will only increase.
According to unnamed “industry sources” speaking to the Taiwanese publication DigiTimes, Amazon will take delivery of its first batch of touch-panels in September, with an ultimate aim of shipping four million tablet units by the end of 2011. However, demand for the iPad could end up hampering Amazon’s efforts. 
“TPK, a major supplier of touch modules for Apple’s iPad tablet PCs, has been reluctant to make a commitment to supplying touch panels to Amazon on concerns of capacity,” read the DigiTimes piece, citing those unnamed sources. “Winek has also landed a fair amount of orders from Apple recently… its production schedule will become tight in the second half of the year and it may be difficult for the company to accommodate orders from Amazon.”
During a June 6 presentation at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, company executives claimed that more than 200 million devices running iOS, including the iPad. Despite that sizable number—not to mention analyst optimism about its market share in years to come—Apple is certainly feeling pressure to keep its hardware and software evolving in order to keep ahead of the growing family of increasingly sophisticated Android devices.
If Apple follows its cadence of spacing new iPad releases about a year apart, the next device will appear sometime near the end of 2012’s first quarter.