Monthly Archives: January 2013

Apple, News

Apple Increases iPad with Retina Display to 128GB

Offers Twice the Storage Capacity to Create & Enjoy Even More Incredible Content

CUPERTINO, California―January 29, 2013―Apple® today announced a 128GB* version of the fourth generation iPad® with Retina® display. The 128GB iPad with Wi-Fi and iPad with Wi-Fi + Cellular models provide twice the storage capacity of the 64GB models to hold even more valuable content including photos, documents, projects, presentations, books, movies, TV shows, music and apps. 

“With more than 120 million iPads sold, it’s clear that customers around the world love their iPads, and every day they are finding more great reasons to work, learn and play on their iPads rather than their old PCs,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “With twice the storage capacity and an unparalleled selection of over 300,000 native iPad apps, enterprises, educators and artists have even more reasons to use iPad for all their business and personal needs.”

iPad continues to have a significant impact on business with virtually all of the Fortune 500 and over 85 percent of the Global 500 currently deploying or testing iPad. Companies regularly utilizing large amounts of data such as 3D CAD files, X-rays, film edits, music tracks, project blueprints, training videos and service manuals all benefit from having a greater choice of storage options for iPad. The over 10 million iWork® users, and customers who rely on other incredible apps like Global Apptitude for analyzing team film and creating digital playbooks, Auria for an incredible 48 track recording system, or AutoCAD for drafting architectural and engineering drawings, also benefit greatly from having the choice of an iPad with more storage capacity. 

“Our AutoCAD WS app for iOS was designed to give customers seamless access to their designs anywhere, anytime,” said Amy Bunszel, vice president of AutoCAD products for Autodesk. “These files are often large and highly detailed so having the thin and light iPad with its Multitouch display, integrated camera and all-day battery life, is a real advantage for iPad users to view, edit and share their AutoCAD data.”

“The features and capabilities of iPad give us the ability to set a new standard for multitrack recording and editing on a mobile device,” said Rim Buntinas, WaveMachine Labs’ CEO. “Users of the Auria app can play 48 mono or stereo 24bit/96 kHz tracks simultaneously, record up to 24 of those tracks simultaneously, and also edit and mix with familiar tools. With its portability and all-day battery life, iPad has revolutionized recording for audio professionals allowing artists to record anywhere.”

“The bottom line for our customers is winning football games, and iPad running our GamePlan solution unquestionably helps players be as prepared as possible,” said Randall Fusee, Global Apptitude Co-Founder. “The iPad’s unbeatable combination of security, being thin and light, having an incredible Retina display and also being powerful enough to handle large amounts of data enables us to deliver a product that takes film study to a new level and ultimately gives our users the best opportunity to prepare, execute and win.”

The fourth generation iPad features a gorgeous 9.7-inch Retina display, Apple-designed A6X chip, FaceTime® HD camera, iOS 6.1 and ultrafast wireless performance**. iOS 6.1 includes support for additional LTE networks around the world***, and iTunes Match℠ subscribers can download individual songs to their iOS devices from iCloud®.

iPad runs over 800,000 apps available on the App Store℠, including more than 300,000 apps designed specifically for iPad, from a wide range of categories including books, games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. iPad also supports the more than 5,000 newspapers and magazines offered in Newsstand, and the more than 1.5 million books available on the iBookstore℠.

Apple, News

Apple Updates iOS to 6.1

New Version Adds LTE Support For 36 Additional iPhone Carriers Worldwide

CUPERTINO, California—January 28, 2013—Apple® today updated iOS to version 6.1, adding LTE capabilities to 36 additional iPhone® carriers and 23 additional iPad® carriers around the world, so even more iPhone 5, iPad mini and iPad* with Retina® display users can experience ultrafast wireless performance** to browse, download and stream content at blazing fast speeds. To date, iOS users have uploaded over nine billion photos to Photo Stream, sent over 450 billion iMessages and received over four trillion notifications. 

“iOS 6 is the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, and with nearly 300 million iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices on iOS 6 in just five months, it may be the most popular new version of an OS in history,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “iOS 6.1 brings LTE support to more markets around the world, so even more users can enjoy ultrafast Safari browsing, FaceTime video calls, iCloud services, and iTunes and App Store downloads.”

iOS 6 features include Siri®, which supports more languages, easy access to sports scores, restaurant recommendations and movie listings; Maps with Apple-designed cartography, turn-by-turn navigation and Flyover view; Facebook integration for Contacts and Calendar, with the ability to post directly from Notification Center, Siri and Facebook-enabled apps; Shared Photo Streams via iCloud®; and Passbook®, the simplest way to get all your passes in one place. Additional updates in iOS 6.1 include the ability to use Siri to purchase movie tickets in the US through Fandango, and iTunes Match℠ subscribers can download individual songs to their iOS devices from iCloud.

The revolutionary App Store℠ offers more than 800,000 apps to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch® users, with more than 300,000 native iPad apps. App Store customers have downloaded over 40 billion apps, and Apple has paid over seven billion dollars to its incredible developer community. Customers can choose from apps in 23 categories, including newspapers and magazines offered in Newsstand, games, business, news, sports, health & fitness and travel.

News, Sharp

Two Advanced LCD Technologies Appear in Soon-to-Ship Consumer TV Sets

Without prior fanfare — or even prior leaks — two advanced LCD technologies appeared in TV sets shown at CES in Las Vegas. Sets with one or another of the technologies will be available this year.
The technology that will be the more widely distributed of the two will appear in many Sony Bravia models. Sony calls it Triluminos and says it produces “the best color ever,” but Sony booth personnel could not produce a coherent explanation of what Triluminos actually is. However, Seth Coe-Sullivan and Jason Carlson of QD Vision had no trouble explaining it at all. Triluminos is Sony’s implementation of color system using a quantum-dot backlight, and the backlight unit uses a quantum-dot optical element developed and made by QD Vision. The element is a polymer strip containing an appropriate combination of two kinds of quantum dots: those that convert blue light to green light and those that convert blue light to red light. Blue light? Part of the quantum-dot approach is to use blue LEDs as the backlight’s light source instead of white LEDs.

The quantum-dot approach produces narrow spectral emissions for blue, red and green, whereas the conventional approach produces a broad spectrum relatively weak in red and green components. The result is a larger color gamut and more saturated colors that produce an almost OLED-like appearance. QD Vision and competitor Nanosys have both been developing quantum-dot solutions for some time. Now, QD Vision’s implementation is significantly improving color quality across an entire line of Sony Bravia TVs.

The second innovation comes from Sharp and is genuinely difficult to explain. Sharp didn’t really try in its big press conference, simply saying that in addition to its coming 4Kx2K TVs, the company was introducing an FHD Quattron TV that produced images with close to 4Kx2K sharpness. This may sound like output of an overwrought marketing imagination after the drinking of too many glasses of sake — but the technology is real, and its implementation in a TV set in the Sharp booth was very, very effective. In addition, it is considerably less expensive to implement than true 4Kx2K.

In fact, Sharp has made no attempt to keep the technology secret, although the appearance of the set that embodies it did come as a surprise. The technology was carefully described at LatinDisplay 2010 (Sao Paulo, Brazil) by Yasuhiro Yoshida, deputy general manager of Sharp’s Display Systems Laboratories, and his presentation won the conference’s best paper award.

Very briefly, because a Quattron pixel contains four subpixels (red, green, blue and yellow) instead of three, any given color can be created with more than one combination of primaries. This redundancy can be used to create two luminance peaks per pixel instead of the traditional one luminance peak per pixel. Thus, the panel can produce a true 4Kx2K image even though it contains only 2Kx1K (four-primary) pixels.

Both Sony’s and Sharp’s innovations have something in common. Each, in its own way, produces a dramatic improvement in image quality at much lower cost than the available alternatives. 

News

The Next Trend: Curvy OLEDs?

Both Samsung and LG claim to have brought “the world’s first curved OLED TV” to CES 2013.

The curved OLED TVs are both 55″ displays that appear concave when viewed from the front and even more bent from the sides. Apparently the shape improves on viewing angles, even if an over-enthusiastic Samsung PR describes it as “IMAX-like” (never mind IMAX screens measure around 70 feet/21 meters).

Being OLED displays, both curved TVs benefit from deeper blacks and impressively crisp colors, with the LG’s offering (EA9800) also boasting Cinema 3D support.

Neither Samsung nor LG give price points or even release dates for the curvy OLEDs, but expect more details should CES 2013 drum up enough industry interest in the technology.

Here is LG’s: http://www.lgnewsroom.com/newsroom/contents/62967

Here is Samsung’s: http://www.samsung.com/us/news/20352 

New Products

Harman JBL Introduces Everest DD67000 Flagship Loudspeaker

Harman’s JBL has introduced its new flagship Project Everest DD67000 loudspeaker, incorporating a host of upgrades.
Everest DD67000 loudspeaker
The DD67000 features new woofers, a refined crossover network and additional improvements to deliver musical accuracy.

“Our previous Project Everest DD66000 was a landmark sonic achievement,” said Jim Garrett, director of marketing and product management, Harman Luxury Audio Group and Loudspeakers. “However, in the six years since it was introduced, the Harman team in Northridge have not stood still. We have continued to advance the design to push the performance threshold of this class leading speaker, resulting in significant performance improvements that is sure to thrill the most veteran audiophiles and passionate music lovers.”

The Project Everest DD67000 is striking in appearance, the company says, blending classic JBL design elements that are evocative of the company’s Hartsfield and Paragon loudspeakers with contemporary styling. The DD67000 retains curved and angled surfaces of its predecessor and a dramatically flared midrange horn, complemented by the loudspeaker’s rosewood finish with the addition of a new carbon-fiber baffle trim panel and elegant rosewood and maple finishes.

The DD67000 is equipped with two of the new 1501AL-2 cast-aluminum-frame woofers, featuring a three-layer laminated cone construction comprised of an inner and outer layer of pure pulp stock with an inner foam-injection-material core. This woofer cone combines high rigidity and fast response for taut, articulate, low frequency with extension down to 29 Hz (-10dB anechoic). Performance is further improved by the 1501AL-2’s newly designed accordion-pleated poly/cotton surround, yielding a woofer with a fundamental resonance that is 10Hz higher than previously for improved agility and “snap” and a more consistent tonal balance at any volume. Additional features include a massive 4-inch voice coil immersed in an Alnico 5DG magnet that is immune to temperature changes, a copper-steel-laminated top plate that contributes to more linear magnetic behavior within the driver, and additional details.

The 476Be midrange/high-frequency compression driver utilizes a 4-inch, pure-beryllium diaphragm that is formed as an integral one-piece diamond-embossed surround and dome. The 476Be also features a 4-inch aluminum edge-wound voice coil, a rapid-flare coherent-wave phasing plug, a pure-copper-sleeved polepiece that maintains maximum magnetic gap flux and other enhancements to deliver extraordinary transparency and natural vocal and instrumental reproduction.

The DD67000’s 045Be-1 ultrahigh-frequency compression driver uses a 1-inch beryllium diaphragm and 2-inch neodymium magnet to produce frequency response beyond 50kHz. The driver features a new precision-cast, pure-magnesium phasing plug that offers better heat dissipation for improved clarity even at higher volumes, and improved manufacturing processes have enabled the driver to provide nearly 5dB more output above 30kHz.

Both compression drivers are mounted in JBL’s computer-optimized Bi-Radial horns that are made from the company’s acoustically inert SonoGlass material, eliminating the unwanted strident colorations that can occur with conventional horn designs. The horns are shaped to provide optimum dispersion in the horizontal and vertical planes, for smooth frequency response and precise imaging over a wider on- and off-axis area.

The Project Everest DD67000 employs a unique crossover network. It is designed to let the woofers operate in different frequency ranges, which provides optimum directivity and high output. The crossover network uses a DC bias system that keeps the capacitors operating in Class A mode, yielding maximum sonic purity. The network is comprised of four separate circuit boards—one for each transducer—to optimize each board for each driver and its corresponding frequency range.

The DD67000’s performance can be fine tuned for any system and room thanks to its front-mounted control panels that enable precise adjustment of low-frequency and high-frequency level and other characteristics. The JBL Project Everest DD67000 is built with top-quality components including air-core inductors, polypropylene foil capacitors, wire-wound and metal oxide resistors used in multiples to prevent value shift during high-power operation and more.