Do you remember 1984? It was the year Apple, under the effective management and public speaking skills of Steve Jobs, introduced the revolutionary Macintosh. It was the first mass market computer to come with a graphical user interface that made use of a pointing device named after an animal. A lot has happened at Apple since then, but some enthusiasts’ enthusiasm about the Macintosh still remains the same.
You can tell a lot about a person by just looking at their wallpaper. Are they using the same wallpaper that came with their device? From that, you can tell hey probably aren’t very tech savvy. Do they use a photo of Emma Watson as their wallpaper? They have a celebrity crush on her, guaranteed. Does the wallpaper significantly decrease text readability? Well, they could use a few tips on design. Does their wallpaper collection include photos of sweeping vistas? You’ve got a travelling fan right there. This is just how I sometimes read people.
Japanese Apple blog Macotakara - a little hit and miss when it comes to inside information - seems to believe the smaller iPad will definitely receive the "mini" moniker, while the iPod nano will be treated to some Wi-Fi connectivity - allowing users to connect to the cloud in order to access music.
Up until this week, it had been presumed Apple would announce the next iPhone, iOS 6, and a new, smaller iPad at a single event, but John Gruber - as informed as ever on the ins and outs of the Cupertino company - leaned towards the idea of the smartphone dropping first in September, with the "iPad mini" following in October.
Apple looks set to request that the courts ban certain Samsung smartphones or tablets from sale in the United States, with a final hearing set to take place towards the end of September.
Although this particular chapter in the Apple vs. Samsung battle has come to an end with a nine person jury ruling in the majority of the instances that were brought before them, that Samsung were indeed guilty of infringing on patents that were owned by Apple Inc. The case was rather peculiar in the fact that until the jury actually came out of deliberation and announced their decisions, nobody could really tell which way the outcome was going to sway, but with Samsung now liable for $1.05 billion in damages to Apple, there is no longer a doubt.
The purported iPad Mini has been circulating in the rumor mill for several months, and the device - now thought to be releasing a couple of weeks after the next iPhone - will certainly ramp up the pressure on competitors already struggling to to match Apple's 9.7-inch model.
Apple suing Samsung, Samsung suing Apple back, Google buying Motorola (and its patent portfolio) and suing Apple, the patent wars are really starting to heat up again!
Considering Facebook is the largest social network in the world with over 900 million registered members, you could be forgiven for thinking they would place significant emphasis on, and pump huge resources into ensuring the mobile experience of their users was second to none. Unfortunately, any Facebook user who has accessed their account through the iPhone or iPad app will know that the experience is less than satisfactory, something that we know occurs due to the app being built for rollout across multiple platforms.
When Google eventually took the plunge and pushed out the Chrome browser to the iOS App Store during the second day of their I/O conference in San Francisco, it answered the prayers of thousands of iPhone and iPad users who had been longing for a worthy competitor to the native Mobile Safari browser which Apple ships with the operating system. Chrome for iOS immediately jumped to the top of the App Store download charts and has remained there ever since with users loving the simple and elegant design with great features such as the Chrome Omnibar and gesture integration.
