Updates to Smart Covers, updates to Mac firmware and applications, updates to Apple's patent portfolio, updates on Steve Jobs' biography, or an updated name of MacWorld Expo. Update your overview of the world of Apple with the 42nd edition of Apple Week.
Apple updated Smart Covers, orange ends (24/10)
Apple has quietly slightly changed the range of Smart Covers for the iPad this week. You can no longer get the original cover directly from Apple in orange color (polyurethane), which was replaced by a dark gray variant. Newly, the inside of the Smart Cover, which was gray in all models until now, is now also in the same color. Polyurethane covers should have slightly brighter colors, and the dark blue color of the leather variant has also undergone slight changes.
Source: MacRumors.comSteve Jobs biography on sale (October 24)
The long-awaited official biography by Walter Isaacson, who wrote it based on interviews with Steve Jobs, his close colleagues and friends, has appeared on the bookseller's shelves. On October 24, you can buy the English original of the book in selected stores, whether brick-and-mortar or online. At the same time, the biography also appeared in electronic form in the iBookstore and Kindle Store, so if you speak English and own an iPad or Kindle reader, you can purchase and download the book for your device.
The Czech translation of the book is expected at booksellers on November 15, 11, together with the electronic version in the iBookstore, that is, if everything goes smoothly. You can also pre-order the Czech version of Steve Jobs's biography from us at a discount. So we can only look forward to many pages from the life of this genius and visionary.
"Slide to Unlock" patent is finally valid (25/10)
After many years, the US Patent Office blessed Apple's patent no. 8,046,721, which explains the principle of unlocking the device, which we know as "Slide to Unlock". The patent proposal was submitted already in December 2005, so it was approved after an incredible six years. The existence of the patent gives Apple a new weapon in its patent wars against other phone makers, especially those using the Android operating system. The latter uses a similar unlocking principle – moving the wallpaper by dragging – although it has an alternative in reserve.
The patent was approved only in the USA, it was rejected in Europe. However, the American market is one of the most important for the manufacturer, and if Apple were to succeed in blocking the competition, it would be a major revolution in the American mobile market. Concerns are already being heard from Taiwan about this patent, that it could harm the market. HTC, which is one of the largest manufacturers of Android phones, is particularly concerned.
Steve Jobs mentioned in his biography that he wanted to destroy Android at all costs, because he blatantly copied iOS, where the former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, was a member of Apple's board of directors from 2006 to 2009 and resigned precisely because of a possible conflict of interest. And patents are the only way to protect your intellectual property. Apple now has its next patent, let's see if it won't be afraid to use it.
Source: 9to5Mac.com
Macworld Expo has a new name (October 25)
Macworld Expo is changing its name. Next year, people will already be heading to the event called Macworld|iWorld, which will be held from January 26 to 29. With this change, Macworld wants to make it clear that the three-day event will deal with all devices from the Apple workshop, not only Macs, but also iPhones and iPads.
"The change from Macworld Expo to Macworld|iWorld is intended to indicate that the event will cover the entire ecosystem of Apple products," said Paul Kent, vice president and general manager of the event.
At the end of January, fans can look forward to 75 different shows, with HP, Polk Audio and Sennheiser, among others, exhibiting at Macworld|iWorld. Compared to this year, an increase of up to 300 exhibitors is expected. Apple has not participated in the event since 2009.
Source: AppleInsider.com
iPhone 4S is Bluetooth Smart compatible (October 25)
In the technical specifications of the iPhone 4S, we could notice that the latest generation of the apple phone has Bluetooth 4.0 technology, which is also available in the latest MacBook Air and Macy Mini. Bluetooth 4.0 has been renamed "Bluetooth Smart" and "Bluetooth Smart Ready", and its main advantage is low power consumption. It should gradually appear in all products.
iPhone 4S is the first smartphone to be Bluetooth Smart compatible, which means it won't drain as much battery when connected, while ensuring a better connection between devices. More devices with Bluetooth Smart should appear in the coming months.
Source: CultOfMac.com
The father of iPods and his new baby – the thermostat (October 26)
The former Apple designer, Tony Fadell, known as the "father of the iPod", announced his new project - a startup of a hundred employees with a business name Bear. Their first product will be a thermostat. It's a long way from an iPod to a thermostat, but Fadell saw an opportunity in the industry and used his experience to create a modern thermostat with unique design and controls.
In addition to the unique design, the thermostat is equipped with software that can intelligently adapt to the user's habits. The thermostat is controlled by touch, and its operation should be similarly simple and intuitive, as in the case of iOS devices. In addition, an application will be available in the App Store and Android, through which the thermostat can also be controlled. The device will hit the US market in December at a price of $249.
Source: TUAW.comApple will set up a solar energy farm next to the data center (October 26)
Apple could be building an equally large solar farm right next to its giant data center in North Carolina, according to recent reports. Although construction plans have not yet been approved, the administrative district has nevertheless given Apple permission to level the surface.
The solar farm should spread over almost 700 km2 and will stand directly across from the data center that Apple recently built in North Carolina.
Source: macstories.net
New updates for Mac (27/10)
Apple released several updates at the same time. Except for the new one iPhoto 9.2.1 fixing application stability and QiuckTime 7.7.1 for Windows security enhancements, firmware updates are available for download. Specifically, this is a MacBook Air (mid 2010) EFI firmware 2.2, MacBook Pro (Mid 2010) EFI firmware 2.3, iMac (early 2010) EFI firmware 1.7 and Mac mini (mid 2010) EFI firmware 1.4. Why update?
- improved computer stability
- fixed Thunderbold Display connection and Thunderbolt Target Disk Mod compatibility and performance issues
- improved stability of OS X Lion recovery over the Internet
Pixelmator 2.0 for Mac released (27/10)
The popular graphics editor has received a major update. If you have an older version installed, you can update to the new version for free. It brings new drawing tools, vector objects, photo correction tools, a new text writing tool and much more. Of course, full compatibility with OS X Lion is included, including the features it brought, such as fullscreen display. With this update, Pixelmator has come even closer to Photoshop, which it tries to be a significantly cheaper alternative to.
Pixelmator - €23,99 (Mac App Store) Source: macstories.netApple Lossless Audio Codec is now open source (28/10)
Apple fans listening to music in lossless formats can rejoice. After seven long years, Apple made its lossless codec available to developers. ALAC was first introduced in 2004, and was reconstructed using retrospective analysis a year later. This led to the fact that the user could also convert other lossless formats to ALAC, such as FLAC, WAV, APE and others, without Apple officially releasing the necessary codec. ALAC can shrink a music CD to 40-60% of its original size without losing a single bit. Individual tracks are roughly 20-30MB in size and are stored in an M4A file, just like music purchased from the iTunes Music Store.
9To5Mac.comiPhone 4S battery drains very quickly in some cases (October 28)
Many iPhone 4S users have noticed a very annoying thing, which is the fast draining of their phone. Although, despite the powerful processor, it should have a similar endurance as the iPhone 4, in some cases the battery capacity will drop within an hour or by several tens of percent, with minimal use. The cause of this rapid discharge is still unknown, although some users blame the unreliable synchronization with iCloud, which, in case of unsuccessful synchronization, tries the same process over and over again, thus draining the processor immeasurably.
Apple engineers are aware of the entire problem and are trying to contact affected users. One of the customers confided that he posted about his problem on an Apple user forum, after which one of Apple's engineers contacted him by phone and asked him a series of questions about using the phone, and then asked him if he would upload a file to the phone that would help with diagnosing the problem, and then sent it to the Apple support address. So the company is actively working on a fix, and we may soon see an update to fix this issue.
Source: ModMyI.comSiri, will you marry me? (October 29)
Some of Siri's answers are very funny. One of the popular questions to this personal assistant (female voice in US English) present in the iPhone 4S is "Siri, will you marry me?" But what if, instead of the "standard" answer, Siri takes matters into her own hands and starts asking for hand to think? Watch the following humorous video to find out.
Source: CultOfMac.comThey prepared the apple week Michal Ždanský, Ondrej Holzman a Daniel Hruska
You went a bit overboard with the 700km^2 =)
171 acres = 692 m012.448 yes... but 2km^1=2x1000m => 1000 m^1
So that's 0,692km^2
I think the author forgot the most important message: 02 will not sell iP4S.
In 02 someone probably drank a lot and then made a decision……..
I think that if they don't remember and don't introduce the iP5, then they have signed on to take VF's third fiddle from their first place on the market.
If I can't buy an iP02 at 5 in September, END with 02!
I think Horst Fuchs forgot that we already wrote about this fact on 27/10/2011
http://jablickar.cz/t-mobile-zverejnil-ceny-iphone-4s-o2-ho-nenabidne-vubec/
I know, but at least a mention in the summary of the week….
but that's just my feeling, so I don't feel it - I admire writing articles every week.
otherwise, the thermostat seems like a complete mess, but when you consider that practically every household in the USA has an air conditioner, it can be a very logical step and a very good business, unlike in Europe, where we basically only use the thermostat when we smoke and we are it doesn't really matter what it is
So I don't care. I'm currently looking for a nice working thermostat and can't find anything. I would really like this one, but probably not for the price. :)
iPhone 4S battery drains very quickly in some cases (October 28)
– well, this won't be a problem just for the 4S... On my 3GS, it has already happened to me twice in the last month that 2% of the battery disappeared in 40 hours. So far it happened to me randomly, I didn't use iPhone, I have iOS 2 + iCloud... So I hope there will be an update soon :-/