The United States Department of Justice is trying to take a bite out of Apple. The tech giant has been hauled before a Manhattan court to answer accusations that it gouged consumers by conspiring with publishers to inflate the price of ebooks.

The Department of Justice alleges that, in a bid to break Amazon.com’s stranglehold on the ebook market, Apple tried to convince publishers to set prices across the industry. At the time, Amazon enjoyed 90% of the e-book market, due in large part to the popularity of their Kindle reader. In order to steer customers toward the Kindle, Amazon would sometimes sell ebooks at a loss, making it difficult for other retailers to compete.

The government claims that Apple’s late founder, Steve Jobs, was intimately involved in the price-fixing scheme. The Department of Justice believes it has a ‘smoking gun’ in the form of emails that Jobs sent to other Apple executives as well as executives at major publishing houses. For example, in an email to News Corp executive James Murdoch, Jobs asked News Corp to “[t]hrow in with Apple and see if we can all make a go of this to create a real mainstream ebooks market at $12.99 and $14.99.”

Apple’s legal team has vigorously contested the government’s attempt to use these emails. “There’s something inherently unfair and uncomfortable about placing such reliance on the out-of-court statements of someone who’s not here to explain them or place them into context — particularly when in almost every instance the government either omits key language to draw an inference, or blatantly mischaracterizes what the statements mean,” said Apple attorney Orin Snyder said in his opening statement.

Five publishers were named alongside Apple as co-defendants: the Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster. However, all of them decided to settle out of court. The presiding judge, District Judge Denise Cote, has urged Apple to settle as well. “I believe that the government will be able to show at trial direct evidence that Apple knowingly participated in and facilitated a conspiracy to raise prices of ebooks,” she said back in May.

But Apple vows to fight on. “We’re taking a very principled position on this,” said CEO Tim Cook. “We were asked to sign something that says we did do something, and we’re not going to sign something that says we did something we didn’t do. And so we’re going to fight.”

Image credit: Adam Fagen via Flickr

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The American multinational corporation Apple, has posted a written apology on several British papers saying, “Samsung Electronics did not copy the design of Apple’s product.”

The written apology by Apple was posted on Financial Times on November 1 and on the Daily Mail and the Guardian on November 2. A British court made the decision that Galaxy Tab, Samsung’s tablet PC, did not infringe the patent of the design of Apple’s iPad.

In the papers, Apple introduced the sentencing by a British court and said, “A British court has reached a verdict that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9, and Tab 7.7 did not infringe the patent of the design of Apple’s iPad, and the decision will be applied to all EU nations as well.”

The British courts already made this decision last July, ordering Apple to release official statement in the British papers to let people know the court’s decision.

Therefore, Apple posted an official statement on its British website on October 25, saying that Samsung did not infringe the patent of Apple. However, its official statement included controversial sentences such as, “The design of Galaxy Tab is not cool enough to differentiate it from iPad,” or “Some nations like Germany or the United States has admitted Samsung’s infringement.”

After Apple’s official statement was released, the British court ordered Apple to delete its statement in 24 hours and to release new statement by November 3, saying that Apple’s official statement was “not true and not correct.”

Over the court’s decision, Apple said that it would take at least two weeks to release a new statement, but the court did not admit Apple’s compliant.

The court also added, “The size of font should be 11 when Apple releases a new statement.” Apple’s original statement on its British website was too small to read and located down on the left.

The court warned that it can send some Apple’s executives such as Tim Cook, a CEO of Apple, Jonathan Ive, a chief designer at Apple, or Al Gore, the former U.S. vice president and a current member of board of directors at Apple, to jail, or it can confiscate their properties if Apple does not follow the decision of court properly this time. The court added that Apple is not allowed to appeal over this issue, and Apple should bear all costs that Samsung has spent for the legal dispute with Apple.

Meanwhile, it is expected that Apple will post more written apologies on other British media such as Mobile Magazine or T3 Magazine.

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Each successive Apple iPhone that rolls out is a nipped and tucked offshoot of the previous model – with modifications that keep getting more and more sophisticated. However, in its fifth installment, is the iPhone 5 merely a retouched version of its predecessor?

What’s New

At 7.6mm, Apple’s new baby is the world’s thinnest smartphone. And if you thought the 960×640 resolution of the iPhone 4 didn’t play up the subtleties in your photos and videos quite enough, the newcomer’s 4-inch screen features a 1136×640 resolution Retina display. Each pixel doubles as a touch-sensing electrode, a departure from the double-layered touch screens of old that feature touch sensors below the pixel display. It is this clever quirk that enables the iPhone 5 to weigh a wispy 112 grams.

The A6 chip and iOS 6 mobile operating system join forces to deliver “twice the CPU and graphics performance,” claims the press release. Always striving to be superlative, Apple has created the first smartphone with LTE wireless capabilities, which support speeds of up to 150Mbps – a godsend for those who enjoy streaming movies on the go.

Critics have marveled at the ‘Panorama’ feature of the gadget’s 8 megapixel iSight camera, which “stitches” sequences of shots together to form a 240 degree photograph by swiping the phone across a scene. Furthermore, the camera’s sapphire crystal lens is more scratch-resistant and dust-deflecting than the iPhone 4’s standard glass lens. The 1.2 megapixel front-facing FaceTime camera is supported by cellular wideband audio that cancels background noise for clearer video calls.

Apple has bumped off Google Maps, supplanting it for software of its own that features real-time traffic data and turn-by-turn navigation. 3D rendering of major cities and tourism hotbeds is, for the most part, reliable; however, picture quality tends to deviate as users navigate away from these sites.

What the World Says

Despite Apple’s uncanny ability to stretch the iPhone’s product life cycle, technology experts are divided between the impressed and the skeptical. As the first iPhone to feature a 4G network, the iPhone 5 is “playing catch-up with other smartphones on the market,” according to David Bottomley, Business Editor of TODAY. The Economist rates the iPhone 5 a “five out of ten,” dismissing its new advances as “incremental changes.”

The new ‘Lightning’ dock connector has also caused considerable contention, as it renders the charging cables, car adapters and docks of previous models incompatible – unless users purchase the cable or plug adapter for $39 and $29 respectively. “These adapters should not be a profit center for Apple; they should be a gesture of kindness to those of us who’ve bought accessories based on the old connector,” wrote David Pogue in The New York Times.

These minor grievances notwithstanding, analysts have predicted sales of 10-12 million units this September, with stocks for online preorders having depleted within the hour of its 12:01am opening on September 14.

Should users of the iPhone 4 switch to the iPhone 5?

Apple idolaters will no doubt trade their iPhone 4 for the newbie – by no means a shortchange – however, those who watched Wednesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live may hesitate. ABC crew took to the streets to ask passersby to test the “new iPhone 5.” Subjects were handed the iPhone 4S, presumed to be the iPhone 5, and asked to compare. Not one person surmised the hoax. “Oh my God, it feels a lot lighter and more high quality!” one man enthused. Three others made remarks about its “superior” speed. One woman took out her iPhone 4, held it up next to the fake iPhone and nodded. “Yeah, that one’s definitely faster.”

While the spoof may have been a hilarious TV moment, audiences began to realize how media hype and trendsetting informs much of Apple’s brand loyalty. In a move that might seem self-effacing, Apple is enabling the iOS 6, the operating system which distinguishes the iPhone 5, to be downloaded for free onto previous models of the iPhone.

The iPhone 5 retails in the USA, UK and Canada on September 21.

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After a year of scorched-earth process of legal action, a nine-person United States jury in San Jose, California last week found that Apple’s biggest rival Samsung has infringed six of the seven patents for Apple mobile devices — the big issue of the trial. The jurors also confirmed the validity of all seven of Apple’s innovative patents, many of which covered the design of the iPhone. The United States jury ordered the South Korean company to pay Apple $1.05 billion in damages, less than half of the amount Apple attempted to obtain. Apple had sought nearly $2.75 billion in damages, claiming Samsung had illegally copied four design and three software patents.

Apple Inc. filed its patent infringement lawsuit in April 2011, occupying a vast number of the United States’ highest-paid attorneys to demand $2.75 billion from its giant smartphone rival. Samsung Electronics Co. fired back with its own lawsuit claiming that the Californian company infringed five of its own patents and demanded $399 million. Samsung’s lawyers supported that Apple was trying to prevent Samsung from accomplishing legitimate competition. However, the verdict favored Apple since the jury rejected all of Samsung’s claims against the Californian company.

The jurors needed less than three days to deliver the verdict, causing some surprise, considering the complexities of the case. The nine-person jury was asked more than 600 questions during their deliberation. The jury decided that Samsung had illegally used Apple’s tech innovations in some of its own products, such as the ‘bounce-back’ feature when a user scrolls to an end picture and the ability to zoom texts with tapping a finger.

Harold McElhinny, Apple’s lawyer, claimed that after iPhone’s launch in 2007, the South Korean company was facing a design crisis and thus company’s executives decided to illegally take advantage of the revolutionary device’s success. Besides the billions Apple sought for damages, the company’s attorneys also demanded that Samsung pull its most popular mobile devices and computer tablets from the United States market.

Of course Samsung’s lawyers argued that the company had not done anything illegal. The South Korean tech giant was only giving customers what they wanted: smart phones with big screens. They claimed that Samsung’s manufacturers did not infringe on Apple’s software and design patents, though, according to them, many of Apple’s revolutionary patents were actually concepts or ideas stolen from Sony Corp. and other companies. According to Samsung’s lawyers, Apple’s products may be great but that does not mean the company has a monopoly on the design of phones with rounded corners.

Apple’s legal victory in California did not give the company’s legal team many reasons to celebrate, because the effect of the verdict on the other legal battles between the two companies outside of the United States still remain unclear. The U.S trial was only the first part of this historic patent battle, as both companies have pursued legal actions in eight other countries including South Korea, Japan, Australia, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and the Netherlands.

Last Friday, Samsung won a motherland court ruling. According to Judges in Seoul, Samsung did not infringed the design patents for iPhone, but they said that the Korean company did violate the patent on the ‘bounce-back’ feature. Judges also decided that Apple infringed on Samsung’s wireless technology and both companies were ordered to pay damages.

Yesterday, a United States Judge set a court date for December 6 in order to hear Apple’s request for a permanent ban against Samsung’s mobile devices. Apple claimed to have eight devices it will demand for a permanent sales ban on.

While Apple and Samsung have both pursued legal actions against each other’s manufacturers, experts say this is not a battle between Apple and Samsung. The real target is Google. The truth is Apple and Samsung are using courts in order to help them negotiate and set prices for cross-licensing agreements.

The two tech rivals are trying to figure out whose intellectual property is worth what. Samsung has emerged as one of Apple’s greatest competitors, becoming the leading smartphone-making company thanks to Google. It was Google that gave Samsung and other phone makers the Android mobile operating system for free. In the end it is going to be a battle between the two operating systems.

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Washington, U.S.A. – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on June 19 called on Apple to change its policy following reports of Farsi-speaking customers being denied service.

CAIR is consulting with the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) on this and other discrimination cases. Some members of the Iranian-American community prefer the use of “Persian” to describe the language of Iran.

Two Apple customers in Georgia, U.S.A. said that local stores refused to sell them merchandise after they were overheard speaking Farsi, the language of Iran. One woman, a U.S. citizen and University of Georgia student, said an Apple employee refused to sell her an iPad Thursday, June 14 after hearing her and a relative talking.

An Apple Store manager reportedly cited a policy prohibiting sales to Iran. Later the manager showed the policy that stated the exportation, sale, or supply from U.S. to Iran of any Apple goods is not allowed unless the U.S. government authorizes it. An Apple customer service representative later apologized and told the woman she could buy the iPad online.

The woman, Sahar Sabet, reported that the employee who refused to sell her the iPad stated, “I just can’t sell this to you. Our countries have bad relations.”

Another customer of Iranian heritage reportedly had a similar experience at another Apple Store.

“Apple must revise its policies to ensure that customers do not face discriminatory treatment based on their religion, ethnicity or national origin,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “If the actions of these Apple employees reflected company policy, that policy must be changed and all employees retrained.”

Awad agreed with those who noted that not selling embargoed merchandise to Farsi speakers would be like not selling the same items to Spanish speakers because they might be from Cuba or Korean speakers because they might be from North Korea.

CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

Image Courtesy of  TonyV3112 / Shutterstock.com

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RoadsideAmerica.com, the guide to offbeat tourist attractions, announced the launch of its Roadside Presidents mobile software app for iPhone. Roadside Presidents reveals over a thousand U.S. President tourist attractions  around the country – from traditional historic places, such as presidential birthplaces and memorials, to the offbeat and unexpected, such as the ice cream store where President Obama worked during high school.

“We’ve discovered so many bizarre presidential sights out there,” said Ken Smith, senior editor of RoadsideAmerica.com.  “By visiting conventional landmarks, but also the hidden treasures, you get the broader, nuttier picture of America’s history. You’ll never think of George Washington quite the same way after you’ve seen his whiskey-making still — or of Ronald Reagan after seeing a statue of him eating a potato pancake.”

Roadside Presidents is available on the Apple (U.S.) App Store for $2.99. The list of attractions is always growing, and the app retrieves real-time updates and attraction status reports from RoadsideAmerica.com.

Users can browse by president or by location, and read fun facts, attraction visit reports and stories, and see visitor-contributed tips and photos, maps, driving directions, hours, and phone numbers. They can snap photos from within the app to submit directly to RoadsideAmerica.com. The app’s “Been There!” feature lets users keep track of roadside attractions they have visited.

The editorial team at RoadsideAmerica.com has spent years seeking out dusty wax dioramas and creaky animatronics of the nation’s Chief Executives. They’ve written irreverent and illuminating entries for Roadside Presidents – on first ladies and VPs, quirky siblings, White House pets, and presidential also-rans.

Assassination, conspiracy, and scandal sights are other road trip possibilities found in the app. The attractions are everywhere and the app makes them easy to find — whether it’s a robot Lyndon Johnson cracking jokes in Texas, a Highway of Vice Presidents in Indiana, or a George Bush giant sequoia in California.

Roadside Presidents was designed by the software development team that created the popular Roadside America iPhone app, consistently listed among the top-selling App Store Travel apps since it was introduced in 2010. It was named an App Store Staff Favorite in 2011.

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Zfere Holdings (www.zfere.com) on January 18 unveiled its much awaited social commerce platform in conjunction with the Nationwide SOPA Blackout.  Zfere Holdings CEO Steve Vanderbol stated, “We chose to unveil our platform today as an example of the technologies which soon may not be available within the US Market due to these misguided and draconian proposals, should they pass into law.”

Zfere’s social commerce platform features tactile technology which enables a user to simply “touch to find” any product, good or service available at a local level from any picture, movie or IPTV content viewed within the integrated media player or social media console.

The platform also allows seamless interaction with up to sixteen social media networks through a single point interface on any mobile device currently running the Android or Apple mobile operating systems.  As part of its offerings, the company also manages a peer to peer bandwidth sharing network as well as personal data cloud services for its members in addition to a comprehensive business management and marketing suite geared towards small to medium sized businesses.

“From its inception, our social commerce platform was designed to empower people and to encourage them to cut the cord, go mobile, get out in the real world, share their experiences across social media platforms and other communications technologies so they could experience their local and regional worlds more deeply; often to the benefit of their ‘Main Street’ businesses.

We all recognize that these local businesses are the core of jobs creation and need the most support in this economic climate.  It’s rather ironic that at a time when this country needs emerging technological resources the most, is when proposals such as these, which could potentially remove economy building technologies from the US Market are being contemplated.”  Mr. Vanderbol added.

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According to news sources, the Intel Corporation has announced a new $300 million Ultrabook Fund to encourage the aggressive entry of this lightweight, ultra thin category of new laptops into the marketplace to compete directly with the Macbook Air.

Trademarked by Intel, the Ultrabook is estimated to be about 20 mm thick, will utilize Core i5, i7 processors, and is expected to have about 5 to 8 hours of battery life. The product is seen as the industry’s answer to the highly popular, high-end, Macbook Air.

The highly anticipated, ultraportable laptops are expected to make a huge splash in the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, with about 50 new Ultrabook models expected to be introduced during the show, according to news sources.

Microsoft’s new touch-based OS platform, Windows 8, is also expected to fuel the growth of Ultrabooks, which are reportedly expected to reach 40 percent of all laptop sales by the end of 2012, according to Intel.

Intel CEO, Paul Otellini said that Windows 8 would contribute to the success of Ultrabooks once the operating system is released during the second half of 2012. “Starting with Windows 8, you have a mainstream operating system incorporating touch. Our view is that in the ultrabook lines, touch is a pretty critical enabler. When users see that new Windows interface, they’re going to want to touch it. If the screen does nothing, you have disappointed [the] consumer,” Otellini said.

In large part, the new Ultrabooks will be competing on price, with the $300 million Ultrabook Fund expected to help keep down the cost of components and manufacturing expenses.

Otellini stressed the importance of competitive pricing for the new Ultrabooks.

“And in order for us to have an excited consumer at $699 and $799 price points, you have to be able to accelerate the reduction in [touch] cost. That’s the kind of investment we’ll make around the Ultrabook Fund.

With Apple rumored to be releasing a new 15” Macbook Pro “retina” display capable entry to the marketplace during the second quarter of 2012, it may just be that the industry will become more competitive.

Expect the battle for the new laptop category to heat up in earnest in the years ahead. Let us know what you think of the new Ultrabooks, and whether or not you believe they can effectively compete with Apple’s laptops.

Go to Toonari Post on Facebook and give us your opinion or give us a tweet @Toonaripost.

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Steve Jobs was 56-years-old when he died Wednesday after a long struggle with pancreatic cancer. Immediately after his death the world began to mourn the loss of a man who was considered anything but ordinary. Jobs was an entrepreneur and an American inventor who will undoubtedly share the historical stage with the likes of other great American inventors such as Thomas Edison.

The Apple brand has become so etched into the human collective consciousness that the world would be a much different place without the innovative work of Jobs and his successful company. According to Millard Brown Optimor’s annual study, Apple is the world’s most valuable brand with a value of 153.3 billion dollars. Apple wasn’t the only company Jobs helped make successful during his lifetime.

Pixar, the popular digital animation studio, has produced popular movies such as Wall-E and the Toy Story films, along with a multitude of other successful movie franchises. According to Seeking Alpha, Jobs invested about 50 million dollars when few shared his enthusiasm about the animation company at the time. In fact, Jobs had sunk in so much of his money into that company that he once said

“If I knew in 1986 how much it was going to cost to keep Pixar going, I doubt if I would have bought the company.” Shortly after Jobs returned to work for Apple, the iMac was introduced. According to Tech Crunch, the iMac caused “Apple’s triumphant return to the industry and a million fanbois bloomed.” Indeed, the world could have hardly imagined that his tenure would bring about such a profound magnitude of successful products.

According to Biography.com, Steve Jobs brought a failing company from the brink of extinction and introduced its products to millions, building a technological empire that rivals and even outperforms the biggest players in the industry today.

Click here to see photos of tributes to Steve Jobs from around the world. The success of the Apple brand depends so heavily on its products design, according to news sources, that the current Apple’s current head of industrial design Jonathan Ive is expected to wield influence over the company’s future products.

Ive has many of the company’s successful products on his resume, having executed the industrial design of the iMac, iPod and and iPhone. Evidently, even great leaders need to surround themselves with great individuals in order to succeed. Hence, Jobs’ creation of the Apple Industrial Design Group could be the most important factor in the continuing success in that company’s future.

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Apple has officially announced its latest iPhone and it’s not an iPhone 5. The latest upgrade to the iPhone family has been dubbed the iPhone4S. The highly anticipated announcement came on October 4^th from Apple Headquarters in Cupertino, California in front of a packed auditorium full of high level executives and members of the press.

Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, was the first of several Apple executives to address the eager crowd.  Cook’s portion of the presentation was a bit lackluster it focused mainly on the history of Apple since introducing the iPod 10 years ago, public reaction to the launch of Lion OS X, and the integration of iPads in educational and workplace settings.

It was a testament to how far Apple has come in such a brief time span; while truly extraordinary this was not the  story people were interested in. Cook’s presentation was oddly void of anything iPhone related, with the exception of an off the cuff hint that iPhone news would come later in the presentation.

The logical guess would be that Cook in his first keynote address as CEO would deliver news of a new iPhone. However Cook threw a curve ball and deferred to Phil Schiller, Senior Vice President of worldwide product marketing, to usher in the iPhone 4S. Schiller, a regular presenter at Apple keynote addresses, very subtly broke into the new iPhone news after reeling off some updates about the iPod Nano and iPod Touch.

There were several new but otherwise bland features introduced for iPhone 4S they included an 8 megapixel camera, 1080p filming capability, and inclusion of the A5 processing iPad2 chip into the iPhone. Each new feature is a technological step in the right direction, but none are close to being “blow-away”, the term used by Apple presenters several times during the presentation.

There were some more impressive upgrades as well, including a new antenna system which intelligently switches between two built-in transmitters to optimize call quality and data transfer speeds, boasting faster download and upload speeds on par with 4G, and the inclusion of CDMA and GSM chips which allows the 4S to be compatible on all networks across the globe making it a “world” phone.

Even these failed to possesses that familiar Apple wow factor that leaves you wondering how in the world did they do that. With the iPhone 4s presentation coming to a close, Apple had one last chance to blow our collective minds. The job of showstopper was left up to the highly rumored voice recognition feature, Siri.

Siri is being marketed as having your very own interactive intelligent personal assistant in the palm of your hand. Scott Forstall, Senior Vice President of iOS Software, demoed the new feature by saying, “What’s the weather like today?” and Siri spoke the current forecast in Cupertino; this garnered a huge applause from the crowd.

Even more impressive than being able to tell you the weather Siri can compose and dictate email, set timers, look up contacts, create notes, search the web, and search Wikipedia. Siri is definitely an impressive feature, but at the same time it’s not Apple jaw dropping impressive.

It’s destined to be a feature that it is cool for a while, but not one that makes scores of people camp outside of Apple stores the week before launch. The iPhone 4S will be available for pre-order on October 7^th and hit retail stores on October 14^th. It will be available in black and white, 16GB for $199, 32GB for $299, and 64GB for $399. It will also be available on AT&T, Verizon, and for the first time Sprint.

This puts some validation in reports made by the Wall Street Journal that Sprint purchased 30 million iPhones over the next four years. It is interesting to note that Cook shied away from former Apple CEO’s Steve Jobs trademark “One More Thing” statement, a move that is being preemptively being dubbed the “Cook-tease”.

Who knows, maybe this keynote was one big Cook-tease for what we really want, an iPhone 5.

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Apple may finally reveal the much talked about iPhone 5 to the world on October 4^th. Tim Cook, the new CEO of Apple, has sent out cryptic invites for members of the press to join him at the Cupertino campus for an iPhone event.  The simple message showed four iPhone app icons one with the date set for October 4^th, one with the time 10:00 A.M. PST, one with a pin on a map hovering over the Apple campus, and the phone icon, with the red number one.

The widespread belief among the tech world is that the conference will be the arena for the announcement of the iPhone 5 due to compiling evidence.  Apple has a steady track record of announcing new iPhones at conferences held in their Cupertino campus. A few weeks ago former Vice President Al Gore, a board member for Apple, let slip that Apple would be releasing iPhones in October.

Some stake has been put into Gore’s comments because it was dropped on stage during a plan speech followed by the line, “…that was a plug.” An internal document from Best Buy was leaked on to the net in early September and revealed, “iPhone 5 product introduction expected, pre-sales begin for expected October week 1 launch.”

The October 4^th announcement date would coincide with October 14^th predictions form the tech world; Apple has consistently had a launch date “a few weeks from now” when revealing an iPhone. The last bit of evidence is that sources from inside Apple report that employee vacation time has been blacked out from October 9-12 and October 14-15.

This insinuates that something big is happening at Apple and needs all hands on deck. However there is speculation that this invite could not be about the crown jewel the iPhone 5, and more to do with presenting new speech-based features for the iPhone.

Apple acquired voice-based personal assistant service, Siri, about 18 months ago, and hasn’t developed anything with that acquisition that the public has access to yet. Also the tag-line that came with the invite “Let’s talk iphone” could be a play on words. Instead of meaning let’s talk about iPhones, it could translate into having a conversation with your iPhone to access several features.

If the iPhone 5 is announced at the upcoming conference, Cook needs to have an ace up his sleeve if wants to wow the crowd like his predecessor Steve Jobs. A lot of upgrades and changes have already been predicted and seem expected such as a higher resolution 8 megapixel camera, the installation of the faster processing A5 chip, a thinner and tapered body, and the ability to access 4G networks.

Whatever is eventually launched at this event, one thing is certain: the whole world will be watching. If only our current iPhones could predict the future and tell us. Unfortunately there’s no app for that, yet.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/elisfanclub/

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The year 1984 signified for Apple the beginning of a new era, where Big Brother rules were extraordinarily turned upside-down by a computer too small to do computing. Perhaps the computer was small, but the vision was great enough to grow beyond making — to satisfy a growing and developing market within mainstream technology.

Steve Jobs’ resignation from his lifework brings back the story of a most valuable commercial. 1984 won’t be like “1984” was the final statement of the Apple commercial that introduced the Macintosh. The outstanding determination and belief of Steve Jobs introducing the commercial predicted the success of a company and a man.

Like any good story, Apple was brought to life under the humblest of circumstances. Built on passion, youth and a courage to experience, what was thought not worth for a resounding name, Apple became one of today’s leading companies. Selling a Volkswagen and a programmable calculator, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak conceived the first version of Apple.

They first met at a Hewlett Packard internship and continued to collaborate while being members of the Homebrew Computer Club, both highly passionate about electronics. Seeing things differently and always bringing in personal experiences, the two created the fundaments of present technology: Macintosh, iTunes, iPhone, iPad — could you imagine life without them?

What defined their success is not reserved to passion. Steve Jobs quit Oregon’s Reed College, but took classes in calligraphy to improve his sense of aesthetics. Steve Wozniak understood that more lied beyond the screen and keyboard.

Jobs did not rest with simple solutions when he needed to facilitate the interaction between human and computer — we owe him the mouse and the object-oriented interface. “One was more the engineer- technologist, one wanted to do things,” said Wozniak in an interview.

Steve Jobs has aligned his love for Apple equal to his family: “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do” and perhaps that constituted the key element for such a professional and precise way to succes.

Meanwhile, even people outside the regular Apple fan base respect the innovator. Steve Jobs mastered the introduction of 1984 because he saw behind simple things: he saw consumerism beyond technology. We might say that the two friends designed the future of technology.

At the time of his resignation, Jobs recognizes that “I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of (…) But I don’t have any skeletons in my closet that can’t be allowed out.” Success meant backsteps as well. After a period of withdrawal from Apple, he came back more energetic and weighted in experience — from 1997 he led Apple to new heights.

But these accomplishments were possible through team effort. He has stated that the company persists through the “ideas, not hierarchy.” In the moment of stepping down, he proudly announces his trust in the next generation. Apple’s temporarily CEO Tim Cook received great recommendations from Steve Jobs. Success should be safe when the one leaving is convinced he passed his knowledge and vision on.

Steve Jobs has been called a mentor for Apple’s new generation and for any young entrepreneur, and surely his statement is encouraging: “If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.”

The year 1984 launched the success af a vision which after 27 years is still highly acclaimed. Steve Jobs never settle: even his resignation is viewed through the lens of his debut.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/farber/

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Five Chinese non-governmental organizations have accused Apple of adding to environmental degradation by using suppliers with known histories of environmental violations. The American company also faces strong criticisms for undermining social responsibility as its suppliers have been involved in serious work-related accidents and deaths.

A report released on Wednesday, which calls Apple out for taking “advantage of the loopholes in developing countries’ environmental management systems,” is threatening to cast a big shadow on Apple’s image.

One of the co-authors of the report Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, has been outspoken in several media outlets about Apple’s apparent disregard and unresponsiveness. The coalition of environmental groups has requested the help of businesses to map the companies’ impact on local communities;

Apple shied away from contributing to the report. Several electronics brands, including Samsung, Nokia and LG outsource all or part of their manufacturing. These orders are then picked up by suppliers with factories in, among other countries, China.

According to the New York Times, Apple spokesman Steve Dowling responded on Wednesday that the company had been aggressively monitoring its supply chain regularly.

“We require that our supplier provides safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes wherever Apple products are made,” Dowling said.

But at the same time, Apple has, according to GOOD magazine, defended its ranking in the environmental groups report as a result of their suppliers’ actions — not theirs. CNN reported that the Apple company found 80 facilities where storage and handling of hazardous chemicals was not done properly during the 2010 audit.

According to Apple’s own report, the company had requested the non-compliant facilities to correct their mistakes and document these processes but nowhere does it say if the request was granted.

Apple’s market share in China has grown exponentially and the busiest Apple store in the world is located there. Yet their presence in the mainland has caused controversy. Despite keeping their suppliers under wraps, the company has faced multiple production challenges.

The New York Times reports that one of Apple’s biggest suppliers was hit by a suicide wave among workers at several mainland facilities last year while an explosion at fire at another plant in southwest China in May killed two and injured more than a dozen.

Apple is not the only company to face harsh criticism for taking advantage of the Chinese system — several multinational corporations have, according to the New York Times, been accused of employing child labour, violating local labor laws and polluting water resources and land.

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Gwyneth Paltrow admitted it wasn’t easy to make her marriage work. The actress even said she might not be together for good with the Coldplay singer Chris Martin.

Despite this, she confirmed that Coldplay singer was a great father for their children Apple and Moses. The two stars married in California in December 2003. In their seven years of marriage, the actress and the lead singer used to split their time between homes in North London and New York.

There always have been rumours and claims in U.S newspapers and magazines that their marriage was permanently under strain. Finally and without hesitation, Gwyneth Paltrow admitted in an interview with Elle magazine the pressure of her marriage.

“Sometimes it’s hard being with someone for a long time. We go through periods that aren’t all rosy. I always say, life is long and you never know what’s going to happen,” Paltrow said.

Despite her statements, the winner of the Best Actress Oscar for her role in the 1999 film Shakespeare in Love, says the couple have no intention of separating. She said if one day they decide to end the marriage it would be friendly because they have too much respect for each other.

“If, God forbid, we were ever not to be together, I respect him so much as the father of my children. He’s such a good dad,” Paltrow  said.

Paltrow thinks that you can never be relaxed or think that you have everything done with marriage. The couple is brought together by music. The lead singer of Coldplay isn’t the only one with musical talent.

This year Gwyneth made her first spot performing at Grammy Awards, with the help of some of her famous co-stars. She also made an appearance at Glee, CMA Awards and on Saturday Night Live, where she kept being breathtaking. Coldplay is one of the most powerful musical groups, and Paltrow is very proud of her husband’s band.

“He’s a musical genius. It’s like living with Picasso,” she said. Martin “makes music for his fans, and he doesn’t want people to conjure a lame famous couple when they’re getting into his music.” Paltrow is a woman with many talents. The actress has taken on the role of the GOPP guru. She has launched different websites since 2008.

She launched Goop.com where she gives different tips and tricks to her fans, including workout routines they want to know.  She believes her online newsletters are a good way to guide any who is looking for health regimens.

“It’s so much easier to sit home and criticize other people,” she said. “What I love is inspiring people. People come up to me and say, ‘I want to have two kids and wear a bathing suit and not feel terrible about myself. I see how hard you work, and it makes me feel like I can do that too.”

Image Courtesy of adambowie

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Have you ever wondered if you are being watched when you use your social media or your mobile phone? The recent Retrevo Gadgetology study discovered that a lot of snooping and tracking goes on among people who know each other.

In other words, strangers are not the only people who collect personal information without your knowledge — also your intimates spy on you in secrecy. You would be surprised to know how regularly your parents, date or spouse read your emails or text messages or even track your comings and goings.

The study, which surveyed more than 1,000 online users, found that the percentage of spouses and parents who admit to digital snooping is significant and among romantic relationship – on the rise.

In the Retrevo Gadgetology study, more than a third of respondents, 33%, admitted that they have at least once checked their partner’s email or call history without his or her knowledge. The number for married couples is slightly more with 37% of married respondents admitting the same.

Parents, however, are the worst online snoopers. The number is highest among parents of teenagers with 60% snooping on their kids and possibly for good reason since 14% of those parents reported they found evidence that supported their concern.

Not only is snooping on emails, text messages and call history more common today but smart phones with built-in tracking technology make it easier for a suspicious partner or parent to secretly track their loved ones.

The majority of parents claim that they don’t have a problem with tracking their children’s location with a cell phone service or other device. Especially mothers are prone to snooping, accounting for 64% while fathers make up 53%.

Additionally, Retrevo researchers stated that when they looked at the data from their study conducted a year ago, they were surprised to learn that snooping had increased across the board. Overall, the number of people less than 25 years of age who check their boyfriend or girlfriend ’s personal digital correspondence rose from 38% last year to 47% this year.

Plus, women are more likely to admit to snooping than men.  For 2011, the number of women saying they check their partner’s phone-calls, emails, and text message without them knowing is 35%, whereas the percentage of men who do the same account for 30%.

Ultimately, while the government is busy crafting legislation to protect our privacy and prevent companies such as Apple and Google from tracking our online activities, the Retrevo Gadgetology study show that consumers may have just as much to fear from people they know.

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If we had a cartoonish speech bubble corresponding to each of the millions of Apple consumers what would each say?  Perhaps many of them are dreaming of when the latest apple innovation will hit the market.  For those technological visionaries the freshest Apple creation is sure to be a consumer’s dream and wondrous reality.

The newest dreamy addition to the Apple family will arrive this fall: the iCloud.  Apple’s newest tool will make it simple for consumers to access practically everything on all their other apple devices.   Entry into one’s music, applications, photos and more is made easily possible by this latest apple creation.   Its technological design allows for the consumer to sit back and allow for the device to take the reins on virtually everything.  Email, contact information and calendars are updated and along with that the iCloud even stores matter from one’s iPad, iPhone, Ipod touch, MAC and PC.  Ultimately, the iCloud appears to own major multitasking abilities, with its power to collect, track and organize an extensive range of information from other apple family members.

The iCloud’s limitless features will likely leave consumers impressed and satisfied.  But for now buyers will have to settle for dreaming of this new member’s fall due date.

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For all of you new technology addicts, Apple is bringing you new high technology devices that won’t disappoint you. What can you expect next? The launch of the Iphone 5, new and improved apps, new software and yes, even a new Ipad. Launching around August or September of 2011, Apple will be releasing the Iphone 5, which will be the most advanced phone to come about yet. The Iphone is designed to be a sim-free phone with an eight Megapixel camera, which could could even be as efficient as a digital camera. Instead of having to insert a SIM card into the phone, the SIM card will be embedded in the phone itself. The eight Megapixel camera will be able to take pictures and HD video without the annoyance of getting red eye in a picture. All of the world was amazed after Facetime, which was an app on the Iphone 4 that let you video chat with a camera in front of the phone. Now with the new Iphone 5, Facetime not only works on wifi, but it also works on the 3G and 4G network. This will make international calling capable and possible because of the four antennas that will be built into the phone.

Just released, the Ipad 2 is lighter, thinner, and now has two cameras? The new Ipad 2 is 33% thinner, 15% lighter even smaller, so it fits in your hands just right. The new Ipad has a built in A5 chip, which means it can do everything twice as fast on the web, calls, and games. Graphics are more defined and can upload nine times faster. It is hard to imagine a better quality then the first Ipad, but with all of Apples technology, you have to see it to believe it. Also, just like the new Iphone, the Ipad has a camera in front and in the back. Making the Ipad perfect for Facetime, video recording, and even photobooth which makes the Ipad the smallest compatible computer.

What is the Ipad and Iphone without the applications? Just recently, on June 6, 2011, CEO Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. reveled their new software, Icloud, at the Keynote Address press event. Usually, at this event, Apple announces a new release of an Iphone, but instead, this June, their reveling their new software. The New Icloud technology synchronizes files, music over the internet. Amazon and Google have already tried to accomplish this, but licensing and property issues got in the way. Therefore, both companies’,Cloud software, only let a user upload music and share with those it chooses. Apples Icloud software will allow users to “scan and match” which scans a music library from a label and matches it with the music stored.

There are new apps for Iphones, that are launched almost everyday. Now, 350,000 apps later, you can basically accomplish everything you need to do on your Iphone or Ipad without even leaving your seat. Mint personal finance, Nike training club, and ImapmyRide are just some of the new apps for the Iphone. These applications are automatic finance managers, bike routing apps, and personal trainers. It is hard to find a company nowadays without an application for an Iphone or Ipad. Is Apple going too far? A lot of people are expecting technology to take away the ability of people to physically and emotionally connect. With any of apples technology, you can talk, see, and accomplish anything you need to do without actually doing it. Is this good or bad? That’s for you to decide. Apple Inc. somehow and someway will always advance their technology, get on the Apple train before you cannot catch up.

Image Courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/acaben/

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For all the Mac fans out there, and for all the future Mac users that are already expecting to acquire one of these fabulous brand innovations. There is great news for all of you out there. On march 25^th of 2011, the new iPad 2 is going to be released at an international scale.

The announcement of the iPad 2 is bringing tons of expectations. The Slogan for this new innovation is Thinner. Lighter. Faster. Facetime, Smart covers, 10HR battery. The Release date in the United States is on March 11^th, and its price starts up in $499.

Apple announced that it is exposing to the market a new device, the iPad 2! On March 25^th it would be launch simultaneously reaching 26 countries, many countries from the European Union, the U.K., Finland, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Hungary, Greece and many more. The company wants to expand its new product around many countries in the world as possible.

Compared to the previous iPad the new design possess lighter and thinner characteristics, and it wants to give its users the ability to have less in their hands, but more at their fingertips. Its producers are amazed by the way they have been able to improve the second iPad version making greater advances, and still having the ability to simplifying it.

It has been completely redesign in such a small period of time. IPad 2 is a 3rd thinner and 15% lighter; it has integrated a 2-side camera with HD resolution. It became more light and comfortable to have it in the hand by reducing one of the surface layers, narrowing the edge corners that the previous iPad had, that made it heavier.

The iPad has a cover, which adapts perfectly and hooks the iPad from its corners throughout a magnetism system, which helps protect the screen, and its material also maintains the screen clean. The cover is very flexible and docile so it allows using it in many ways. The design has the advantages of being more didactic, and simplified but at the same time its functionality increased. There are a lot of new applications, which are introduced into this new iPad, and this creates a closer relationship with a consumer by providing a fun experience. The iPad reacts to what the user is doing. The only thing you need to do I tap it away.

The price for acquiring the iPad 2 outside the United States has not been announced yet. Still the Apple Stores located world widely are not accepting the solicitation of any kind of pre-orders, or providing further details of the iPad 2 characteristics and functionalities. Users can only sing up for getting notifications and additional release details when the tablet is out to the market.

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