The man known as the Father of Information Theory, Claude Shannon, invented the digital circuit – the foundation of the magic that provides us all access to the Internet today – during his master’s degree program, when he was just 21 years old! Without this technology, home automation would not exist as it does today.
Apple is reportedly in talks with the Home Box Office network to bring HBO Go to the Apple TV by mid-2013, according to Bloomberg.
Citing two people familiar with the plans, the news site said Cupertino is in negotiations with Time Warner Inc. to carry the online application, bringing more than 600 hours of films and television shows to Apple TV.
The set-top box currently streams content purchased on iTunes, as well as available Netflixand Hulu Plus programming, but could gain a competitive edge with the addition of HBO Go, which is already offered on the Roku and Microsoft’s Xbox console.
HBO’s pay-for-service application, which requires a customer subscription through a cable or satellite provider, would be the first Apple TV app with pay-TV authentication, Bloomberg pointed out.
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℠.
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.
Philips Lighting is launching a network-enabled lighting-control system available only through Apple stores.
The system, called hue, is positioned as the world’s first Web-enabled LED home lighting system sold direct to consumers. It lets users control LED light bulbs from iOS and Android apps on smartphones and tablets when inside the home or from afar.
Offered exclusively through Apple stores beginning Oct. 30, the $199 hue starter kit includes three LED bulbs, which fit into any standard light fixture, and a ZigBee-based wireless bridge that connects to a home’s existing wireless router. From the app, consumers can remotely control home lighting, personalize their lighting experience with custom settings, and program timers.
Additional bulbs cost $59.
Hue controls up to 50 LED light bulbs via the open ZigBee LightLink wireless standard, with individual control over each bulb. Users can save personal light settings and recall them from a smart device. Hue also includes four pre-programmed light settings that adjust bulbs to an optimum shade and brightness of white light for such scenarios as relaxing, reading or boosting mood and energy, the company said.
Users can also set each bulb to emit a different color from among more than 16 million colors.
Using the ZigBee LightLink standard, hue bulbs create a mesh network so that the bulbs can get a ZigBee command even if far from the home’s ZigBee bridge. The standard lets the system use significantly less stand-by power than Wi-Fi, Philips added.
Hue can be integrated with other ZigBee-based systems such as motion sensors and home thermostats for additional home automation, Philips noted. Software updates for the bulbs are done automatically via the bridge and the bulbs themselves for future-proofing.
In the future, Philips plans to integrate hue with sound and video systems and develop geo-location services, which enable hue to turn on or off home lights when a user gets close to home or leaves.
Philips is also researching the addition of “ reverse indicators,” enabling hue to issue alerts that lighting has not been turned on during a specific time period. The feature would be useful in elder-care situations, the company said.
Philips will make a hue interface and software development kit (SDK) available to anyone who wants to create additional functionality or applications that interact with the system. The applications will be tested by the Philips “to ensure they are viable,” the company said.
With LED lights, Philips said, LED semiconductors can be easily integrated into electronic circuitry to deliver new lighting options at the command of an electrical signal. These smart bulbs have a unique web address.
An app enabling iPad owners to view Amazon Instant Videos was released Wednesday by Amazon.com, the company announced.
The app enables Amazon customers to stream or download Amazon Instant Video movies andTV episodes from their video library directly on their iPad, according to the company.
The app also makes more than 20,000 titles from Prime Instant Video available to Prime members such as TV shows like “Glee,” “Downton Abbey” and “Fringe,” or movies such as “Mission: Impossible 3,” “Mean Girls” and “Ocean’s Eleven.”
The iPad app is available for free at the Apple Store.
The company said it has 120,000 titles in Amazon Instant Video and 20,000 in its Prime Instant Video plan.
Apple’s streaming-video box gets one of the most requested streaming-video services.
The Apple TV is one of the best streaming boxes on the market and it just got a little better.
As of this morning, Hulu Plus is now available on the Apple TV. The app showed up without fanfare, with its icon popping up next to Netflix without an announcement from Apple or a required firmware update.
Hulu Plus was one of the major missing streaming-video services on the Apple TV, which has been available on competing devices like the Roku HD, PS3, and Xbox 360 for quite some time. As is often the case on the Apple TV, the user interface eschews the standard look available on other devices, instead featuring an Apple-customized look similar to the Netflix app. The Hulu Plus app also allows you to purchase a Hulu Plus subscription ($8 a month) right on the box using your iTunes account.
The Hulu Plus app has an Apple TV-customized look, rather than the standard interface available on other devices.
The new app comes on the heels of the new AirPlay Mirroring functionality, which enables users to watch Hulu (free) — or any Flash video — on their Apple TV, as long as they have a compatible Mac running the latest Mountain Lion software.
The latest details claim Apple’s so-called iPad mini will be as thin as the iPad 2, according to anonymous sources who spoke with the Chinese-language site MyDrivers.com (translation, via Unwired View). The machine translation indicates that the “endurance has also been strengthened,” perhaps referring to the battery life of the rumored device.
The report also said that Apple’s smaller iPad will feature Sharp’s IGZO display technology, named for its use of indium, gallium and zinc. The new screen would be optimized to reach 330 pixels per inch, according to the latest rumor.
Finally, the new iPad is rumored to have a capacity of 8 gigabytes with a price between $249 and $299. It was said that Apple’s primary target with a smaller iPad is Google’s newly unveiled Nexus 7, as well as the Amazon Kindle Fire, both of which are available for $199.
But the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire feature 7-inch displays, while Apple’s rumored new iPad has been said in various reports to feature a slightly larger 7.85-inch display. Rumors of a smaller iPad have lingered since Apple launched its first model in 2010.
SAN FRANCISCO—June 11, 2012—Apple® today unveiled an all new 15-inch MacBook® Pro featuring a stunning Retina™ display, all flash storage and quad-core processors in a radically thin and light design. Measuring a mere 0.71 inches and weighing only 4.46 pounds, the completely redesigned MacBook Pro sets a new standard in performance and portability for pro users.
“The MacBook Pro with Retina display pushes the limits of performance and portability like no other notebook,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “With a gorgeous Retina display, all flash architecture and a radically thin and light design, the new MacBook Pro is the most advanced Mac we have ever built.”
The new MacBook Pro Retina display is the world’s highest resolution notebook display with over 5 million pixels, 3 million more than an HD television. At 220 pixels-per-inch, the Retina display’s pixel density is so high the human eye cannot distinguish individual pixels from a normal viewing distance, so text and graphics look incredibly sharp. The Retina display uses IPS technology for a 178-degree wide viewing angle, and has 75 percent less reflection and 29 percent higher contrast than the previous generation.
Featuring a precision engineered aluminum unibody design and an all flash storage architecture, the all new MacBook Pro is the lightest MacBook Pro ever and nearly as thin as a MacBook Air®. Flash storage that is up to four times faster than traditional notebook hard drives enables the all new MacBook Pro to play four simultaneous streams of uncompressed 1080p HD video from internal storage.* The flash storage architecture also delivers improved reliability, instant-on responsiveness and 30 days of standby time.
The MacBook Pro with Retina display features the latest Intel Core i7 quad-core processors up to 2.7 GHz with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.7 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M discrete graphics, up to 16GB of faster 1600 MHz RAM and flash storage up to 768GB. Two Thunderbolt and two USB 3.0 ports allow pro users to connect to multiple displays and high performance devices, and a new HDMI port offers quick connectivity to HDTVs.
The MacBook Pro battery delivers up to 7 hours of wireless productivity, and uses advanced chemistry and Adaptive Charging technology to provide up to 1,000 recharges.** The MacBook Pro also features a FaceTime® HD camera, glass Multi-Touch™ trackpad, full-size backlit keyboard, dual microphones, enhanced speakers, 3-stream 802.11n Wi-Fi and a thinner MagSafe® 2 power port.
OS X® Lion, iPhoto®, iMovie®, iTunes® and other Apple apps including Aperture® and Final Cut Pro® X have been updated to take full advantage of the new MacBook Pro with Retina display. The updated Aperture 3.3 also includes revolutionary new image adjustment features and now supports a unified photo library so photographers can move seamlessly between iPhoto and Aperture.
The all new MacBook Pro ships with OS X Lion. Starting today, customers who purchase a Mac are eligible for a free copy of OS X Mountain Lion when it becomes available. Mountain Lion introduces innovative features including the all new Messages app, Notification Center, system-wide Sharing, AirPlay® Mirroring, Game Center and the enhanced security of Gatekeeper. With iCloud® built into the foundation of OS X, Mountain Lion makes it easier than ever to keep your content up to date across all your devices.
CUPERTINO, California―March 19, 2012―Apple® today announced it has sold three million of its incredible new iPad®, since its launch on Friday, March 16. The new iPad features a stunning new Retina™ display, Apple’s new A5X chip with quad-core graphics, a 5 megapixel iSight® camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos and 1080p HD video, and still delivers the same all-day 10 hour battery life* while remaining amazingly thin and light. iPad Wi-Fi + 4G supports ultrafast 4G LTE networks in the US and Canada, and fast networks around the world including those based on HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA.**
“The new iPad is a blockbuster with three million sold―the strongest iPad launch yet,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Customers are loving the incredible new features of iPad, including the stunning Retina display, and we can’t wait to get it into the hands of even more customers around the world this Friday.”
The new iPad is already available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Switzerland, UK and the US Virgin Islands and will be available in 24 more countries starting at 8:00 a.m. local time on Friday, March 23 through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
The new iPad Wi-Fi models are available in black or white for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) for the 16GB model, $599 (US) for the 32GB model, $699 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad Wi-Fi + 4G for either AT&T or Verizon is available for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad is sold in the US through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers. Additionally, the incredible iPad 2 is now offered at a more affordable price of $399 (US) for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and just $529 (US) for the 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G model.
*Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.
**4G LTE is supported only on AT&T and Verizon networks in the U.S. and on Bell, Rogers, and Telus networks in Canada. Data plans sold separately.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.