New York, U.S.A. — Kids Discover, creator of award-winning reading products for children ages 6-12, announces a New interactive reading experience for kids available now for the iPad.

Kids Discover for iPad is compatible with all generations of the iPad, including the iPad mini, and features interactive 3D models, animations, HD video, audio, high-res photos, and fun activities that will engross kids (and parents) for hours.

“We’ve taken our core mission, which is to create a compelling learning experience for kids, and re-imagined it for the iPad,” says Ted Levine, Director of Digital Development at Kids Discover. “We recognized a need among parents and teachers for highly-interactive educational apps that can get kids excited about reading, so we developed a product that would take advantage of the tactile properties native to iPad while retaining a strong focus on reading and learning.”

To celebrate the launch, Kids Discover is making a complete issue — Galaxies — available for free in the Apple App Store. “We believe that experiencing a full issue is the best way to demonstrate the value of Kids Discover for iPad. Once kids and parents experience Kids Discover in this new format, we’re confident they will want more,” says Levine. “And, as with our print products, there are never any ads, keeping Kids Discover a protected space for children.”

Current titles include Antarctica, Washington, D.C. and Galaxies, while upcoming titles include Ancient China, Simple Machines, Extreme Weather, Lewis & Clark and Cells.

Kids Discover for iPad is available monthly and can be purchased by annual subscription for $19.99 or monthly for $1.99. In-app purchases can also be made for individual titles at $2.99.

For more information visit www.kidsdiscover.com

Image Courtesy : Courosa

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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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Fort Lee, New Jersey — The National Inflation Association issued the following statement about the multi-platform revolution that is beginning this week at the London Olympic Games: On August 5th, tens of millions of Americans were upset about being unable to be among the billions of people worldwide to watch Usain Bolt’s 100 meter Track & Field gold medal victory live on TV.

One of NBC’s main reasons for not airing Olympic events live on TV in the U.S. is the fact that NBC recognizes the London Olympic Games as the beginning of the U.S. multi-platform revolution. All Americans who own a laptop, desktop, iPhone, or iPad, and are subscribers of any cable, satellite, or telco TV service, had the ability to authenticate their Internet-connected device and watch Usain Bolt race live using NBC’s ‘TV Everywhere’ web site and iTunes apps.

NBC reported that 1.3 million Americans watched their live ‘TV Everywhere’ stream of Usain Bolt’s race. This was NBC’s second most popular multi-platform live stream during the London Olympic Games so far, with only the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team gold medal victory surpassing it with 1.5 million live streams across all platforms.

In the 48 hours leading up to Usain Bolt’s 100 meter gold medal victory, NBC reported that an additional 1 million pay-TV subscribers authenticated their Internet-connected devices. This increased NBC’s total ‘TV Everywhere’ devices authenticated by consumers for the London Olympic Games across all platforms up to 7.6 million. So far, 7.6% of America’s 100 million pay-TV subscribers with the right to authenticate their multi-platform devices, have successfully gained access to live streams of every single Olympic event, with NBC streaming as many as 40 events live simultaneously.

NBC is also making available an archive for authenticated multi-platform ‘TV Everywhere’ users that offers a total of 3,500 hours of prerecorded London Olympic events.NIA recognizes the fact that Americans have fallen in love with their smartphones and tablet devices. With the new multi-platform revolution now officially underway, Americans will no longer be forced to watch TV in their living room.

Americans who are pay-TV subscribers will now be able to watch any TV programming, at any time, from any location, on any platform! This could create billions of dollars in value for pay-TV companies and their subscribers between now and the end of 2012.

NIA recently accumulated 2% ownership in Synacor, Inc., a publicly traded company with multi-platform authentication technology that is making it possible for NBC to provide their ‘TV Everywhere’ coverage of the London Olympic Games, by authenticating for NBC the pay-TV subscribers of nearly 40 pay-TV companies, including 12 of America’s 25 largest multi-channel programming distributors including Dish Network, Charter Communications, SuddenLink, Mediacom, and CableOne! Synacor recently reported 58% revenue growth last quarter, which validates the huge growth ahead for companies that deliver ‘TV Everywhere’ services across multi-platforms.

If you are looking for ways to capitalize on NBC’s hugely successful multi-platform coverage of the London Olympics and the multi-platform revolution that is now underway, please be sure to download NIA’s brand new free 58-page educational ‘TV Everywhere’ report by going to: http://inflation.us/tveverywhere.html

NIA’s brand new in-depth report talks about how this is the biggest fundamental shift for the TV industry since the invention of color TV. NIA believes that multi-platform offerings of ‘TV Everywhere’ services could potentially create billions of dollars of wealth in the U.S. for leading pay-TV companies. NIA’s report is the most important report ever released about the future of cable, satellite, and telco TV services in America.

Image Courtesy of  Denis Kuvaev / Shutterstock.com

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Beijing, China — Tipard Studio, the top-ranking provider of professional DVD/video converters and transfer software, newly updated their iPad 3 Transfer Platinum. With this essential and outstanding application, users can easily manage their iPad 3 (The New iPad) files and rip DVD movies to iPad 3.

Tipard iPad 3 Transfer Platinum is a professional iPad 3 manager, which can Transfer music/ movie/ Pictures/ TV Shows/ Podcasts/ iTunes U/ eBooks/ Camera Rolls/ Ringtones/ SMS/ Contacts/ Voice memos/ Camera shot files from your iPad 3 to PC or iTunes for backup. Moreover, you can add movies, songs, photos, ringtones, ePub and PDF files from PC to iPad 3 without complicated syncing. With the Back up function, you are enabled to copy messages from devices to PC or import contacts exported from Incredimail.

Apart from the basic transferring function, Tipard iPad 3 Transfer Platinum can also rip DVD movies or convert a vast range of audio/videos to iPad/Pod/iPhone compatible music/movies, including M2TS, MTS, AVI, MPEG, WMV, DAT, TS, MPV, NSV, MOV, QT, H261, H264, WMA, AAC, AIF, AIFF, AC3 and so on. Moreover, you can create customized iPhone ringtones from various audio/videos. Plus, numerous editing functions are provided for you to make personalized videos to share with your friends or family on your iPad 3.

More practical managing functions are updated to bring you better user experience. With ID 3 function, you are allowed to add your photo to be the album cover, input the Artist, Composer, Album name, song name, composing time and add lyrics to every song. With My Cache function, you do not need to keep your iPad 3 connecting to PC with this iPad 3 transfer converting unsupported file to device compatible format. My Cache function can save the output file on PC. With preview function, you can preview music/movies/photos with a built-in resizable media player. More interesting features are waiting for you to have a try.

In a word, Tipard iPad 3 Transfer Platinum will be your best assistant in your multimedia life. It is available for only $45. For more details and to get the free trial version, please visit: http://www.tipard.com/ipad-3-transfer-pro

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Los Angeles, U.S.A. — BUZZMEDIA one of the fastest growing digital media companies, has acquired SPIN Media, an iconic brand and pioneer in music journalism for more than 25 years—extending BUZZMEDIA’s commitment to providing the most insightful and authentic coverage of music and culture.

Under the terms of the deal, BUZZMEDIA gains SPIN.com, an industry-leading source of news and features; SPIN’s print magazine; the award-winning SPIN Play app for iPad; and SPIN’s established events business.

“As music consumption continues to grow, there is an enormous demand for deeper context and engagement with thousands of diverse artists,” said Tyler Goldman, CEO of BUZZMEDIA. “SPIN’s category-leading editorial and photographic content provides the added social context that the audience is seeking by identifying, exploring and documenting the trends and scenes that shape music culture. While content is now being consumed across numerous devices, the key for all platforms is the type of great storytelling that SPIN provides.”

SPIN complements BUZZMEDIA’s existing suite of leading music offerings—including Stereogum, Idolator, Hype Machine, Pure Volume, Brooklyn Vegan, AbsolutePunk, Buzznet, Concrete Loop, Gorilla vs. Bear, Pop Matters, Punk News, RCRD LBL, and the recently acquired XLR8R. From a reach standpoint, these properties establish BUZZMEDIA as the fourth largest digital publisher of original music content in the U.S., alongside MTV, Yahoo! Music and AOL Music, according to comScore*.

Adding SPIN builds on this reach and BUZZMEDIA’s unsurpassed coverage of music and the surrounding culture through its in-depth and thoughtful narrative on issues that matter to millennials (18-to 34-year-olds) globally. BUZZMEDIA will continue to invest in this vision by expanding the overall SPIN editorial team and coverage areas in connection with extending digital distribution, so that audiences can better experience, consume and participate in SPIN’s original content.

“As our audience has migrated to digital platforms, so too has SPIN, as evidenced by our growing audience of more than one million digital users and our award-winning iPad app,” said Alan Nichols, CEO of SPIN Media. “This deal greatly accelerates our digital transition, enabling us to not only tap into BUZZMEDIA’s digital audience of 120 million unique monthly visitors, but also its ability to foster original, authentic and insightful voices in a digital world.”

The SPIN acquisition is part of BUZZMEDIA’s ongoing efforts to provide the voices that define popular culture for millions of millennials. BUZZMEDIA is among the top-40 most trafficked online destinations in the U.S. according to comScore, and more than one in four millennials consume content fromBUZZMEDIA digital brands every month.

For more information about Buzz Media and Spin please visit www.buzz-media.com and www.spin.com

Image Courtesy of   BuzzMedia

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Sydney, Australia — The tsunami of disruptive technological change sweeping the publishing industry is an opportunity, not a crisis, and magazines must reinvent themselves if they are to not only survive, but thrive.

So argue the publishers of COSMOS, the celebrated science magazine, who today launched an innovative iPad edition – the first of a series of planned multi-platform products. The iPad edition is the result of nine months of development and testing, and represents a complete reconceptualization of the print magazine.

“It’s not good enough to just produce a print replica on the iPad,” said Wilson da Silva, editor-in-chief of COSMOS. “You need to completely re-imagine what a magazine is editorially, which is what we’ve done, but also maintain a clear narrative structure throughout. The functionality of the iPad is fundamentally changing the game, and only those who capitalise on this will prosper.

“The media has been overly concerned with advertisers for too long. Now that ad revenue is declining, many publishers are cutting back on editorial resources – and that’s a mistake. What the industry needs to do is refocus on the fundamentals: their readers. At COSMOS, our revenue has always come mostly from readers rather than advertisers. Hence, we’re excited about a world where creating engaging narrative content that readers want, and are willing to pay for, is the name of the game, because that’s been what we’ve excelled at for years.”

On the iPad, this means not just providing excellent content at lower cost, but also the seamless integration of video and animation, live updates, multiple layers of reader interaction and a cross-platform approach to engaging audiences.

“If anything can save quality journalism, it will be the readers who are willing to pay for excellence in writing, photography and design. And those readers, who engage with magazines more than any other medium, will attract the advertisers – which is the way it should be,” said da Silva.

COSMOS, which celebrates its 7th birthday with the June 2012 issue, specializes in long-form features and lush design. The winner of 45 journalism and publishing awards – including Magazine of the Year awards twice in its native Australia – it has developed a strong following around the world. Based in Sydney, its content is nevertheless global in scope, attracting authors such as Richard Dawkins, Margaret Wertheim, Steven Pinker, Paul Davies and Simon Singh.

Founded by scientists and media professionals who believe in the transformative power of clear and engaging writing, it is now set to take on the world with the launch of its iPad edition.

“What COSMOS has done on the iPad platform is both innovative and itself disruptive,” said Dr Alan Finkel, the Chancellor of Monash University in Melbourne and the chairman and co-founder of Cosmos Media, the magazine’s publisher.

“We’ve not only re-imagined COSMOS for the iPad, but will be boosting frequency, creating bonus iPad issues, giving print subscribers free access to the iPad editions, as well as free access to the complete digital archive. I don’t think any other publisher has so completely overhauled its business model.

“COSMOS has done so because we’ve set our sights on the future. We’re preparing not just for the eventual demise of print, but looking to take a dominant position in the emerging tablet market. We aim to be the world’s number 1 science magazine in five years,” said Finkel.

The COSMOS Magazine app, launched today, runs on the powerful Oomph digital publishing platform created by Mogeneration, a successful Sydney-based developer of over 100 iOS and Android apps who worked closely with the COSMOS team to push the boundaries of functionality.

“The iPad is changing the media industry in unpredictable ways – in our case, for the better,” said Kylie Ahern, CEO of Cosmos Media. “The App Store is global, so the iPad edition of COSMOS –which has always been global in outlook – can suddenly tap an international market. COSMOS can compete with the world’s leading science magazines on an equal footing: at a compelling price and available as soon as it is published, without the delays and cost of shipping and distribution from Australia, which the print issue has had to face.

“That’s why we’ve doubled our editorial staff in the past six months, and have completely overhauled our business strategy. For us, print is now just another platform. And we have a raft of new iPad, digital and online products set to launch in the next 18 months,” added Ahern.

The COSMOS Magazine app is free, and readers can also download a complete issue free from the App Store. Individual copies of each monthly edition can be purchased for US$4.99 each, and annual subscriptions for US$24.99.

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Dispite the not so impressive lineup from EA’s shooters and other respective genres, probably the biggest event from the Press Conference was their sports games. It was clear that EA Sports has put a lot of time and effort into their sports games to really leave a mark this year at E3.

First, EA announced Madden 13. Powered by the Infinity Engine, Madden 13 shoots for the most realistic physics engine to date. Madden 13 also introduces Connected Career, which combines various career modes from past games and integrates them into an expansive social network career campaign. In Connected Career, the player chooses between a variety of players, from the current roster to popular legends, and works to level them up by completing various tasks to earn experience (XP). Players also have the option to retire their player if they feel they want to change their position, where players will still retain their XP and status.

Players can also manage their team via PC, tablet, or iPad, and can keep up to date on events, status updates, or high scores through the direct twitter feed built into the game. Madden 13 really seems to bring a new life into the sports genre. Also for the Madden series, EA announced Madden Social, a free-to-play Madden game for facebook and various mobile devices. Madden Social is set to launch in the fall.

EA Sports also announced their next game in the FIFA franchise with FIFA 13. The FIFA series promises a new, more in-depth feel to the world of soccer (football outside the US) by incorporating the moves and reflexes of Lionel Messi, one of the world’s greatest soccer players. By incorporating Messi’s playing style, FIFA 13 promises to be one of the most realistic soccer games to date. As for returning fans, those who have FIFA 12 data retain their XP and recieve bonus supplies upon installing FIFA 13. FIFA 13 offers a connection to FIFA games on iPhone, iPad, and Android devices.

EA announced that EA Sports and the UFC will be coming together to release future UFC games through EA Sports, a big break for the UFC in the gaming industry. The future looks bright for the UFC for breaking away from THQ (Toy Headquarters) and joining up with one of the biggest sports game developers of all time.

This year is going to be a hard act for EA to follow, because EA has recently been announced as the worst company in the United States next to previous winners such as AIG and BP. More details about EA’s worst company award can be found here. This year does seem to be the year for EA Sports. With so much involvement in the social aspect of their sports games, and the recent acquisition of the UFC franchise, this year’s lineup of EA Sports games may finally be more than just a glorified DLC expansion of the sports genre.

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Apple Inc (AAPL) chief executive officer Tim Cook renounced a dividend worth $75 million declared by the company. Apple Inc recently declared a regular cash dividend after almost 17 years since the last disbursement of dividends to its shareholders in 1995.

The technology giant will pay a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share from July.

The company said that in filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Cook opted-out from getting any dividend, and had asked the company to exclude him from dividend payout program.

‘This strikes me as another important signal Tim Cook is sending that Apple’s user-friendly product image is now to be matched by a social-friendly corporate image” said Stephen Davis, corporate governance professor at Yale university.

Apple disclosed this unexpected, strange plan in the month of March 2012, to distribute a 100 billion cash pile generated over the period of 17 years, and through strong sales of iPhone and iPods.

Another most striking fundamental aspect of Apple Inc, is its height of innovation. It literally created a new market for items that invited enormous change in the industry. Technological evolution within this organization transformed the fate of industry and consequently Apple itself.

A high dividend payout company signals that there is nothing much that can be done by investing in new geography or technological advancement for a new production facility. Nothing can be done that expands the top-line in the short-term.

On the contrary, what Apple did is not a faint of heart, but a true measure of how far determination at management level can pull fortunes in customer favor. Apple launched a series of products ranging from cell phones to handy music players, from iPods to Mac, building a rocky track and painting a rough patch for its competitors.

Non-dividend paying companies will be pro-actively engaged in investing activities or will be in pipe-line for grabbing new opportunities, effectively strengthening the top-line. Thus, investors feel comfortable parking money with such firms.

All that matters is how far an organization is successful in utilizing or putting cash into the most profitable pool that brings fat revenues and increased market competency.

Apple rewarded its shareholders in both forms so far; it satisfied them with cash dividend and by innovation.

Since then Apple shares have dropped to $562 each making the company worth $525 Billion. However, earlier this year Apple’s shares touched a high of $644 surpassing $600 Billion market value of the firm.

Image Courtesy of  Songquan Deng / Shutterstock

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Health-care professionals who use iPads and iPhones now have a new way to access interactive “e-book” versions of the Consortium for Spinal Cord Medicine’s popular Clinical Practice Guidelines.

The new free App, available at iTunes or the App Store under “Paralyzed Veterans of America,” enables users to download the e-books, which contain vital information for health-care professionals when treating individuals with spinal cord injury. The Consortium for Spinal Cord Medicine is anchored by 23 professional organizations, including Paralyzed Veterans of America.

“Information is power, and this new app to download our interactive e-books is designed as an essential tool to help empower health-care professionals in the field of spinal cord injury medicine with the detailed clinical practice information they need at just the touch of a button,” said Fred Cowell, acting director of Research and Education for Paralyzed Veterans of America, the organization that administers and provides financial support for the Consortium.

Interactive e-books titles currently available for download through the new app are the following Clinical Practice Guideline titles: Early Acute Management in Adults with Spinal Cord Injury; Preservation of Upper Limb Function Following Spinal Cord Injury; Respiratory Management Following Spinal Cord Injury; and Bladder Management for Adults with Spinal Cord Injury.

Also available for download is Paralyzed Veterans’ popular consumer self-help guide Yes, You Can! A Guide to Self-Care for Persons with Spinal Cord Injury. All of the publications contain guidance directed by the protocols developed by the Consortium for Spinal Cord Medicine.

“Through e-CPGs and e-books, vital information for clinicians is more accessible, portable and provides instant links to other related reference materials that are important to the care and treatment of patients,” said Lawrence C. Vogel, MD, chair of the Consortium.

Over the past 16 years, the Consortium and Paralyzed Veterans have produced clinical practice guidelines and companion consumer guides on the many health-care issues common to individuals with spinal cord injury, such as upper limb preservation, treatment of pressure ulcers and bladder management.

The publications are independently reviewed, science-based compendia of the latest knowledge on the care of people with spinal cord injury/dysfunction. Consumer guides are written in an accessible style with limited technical and medical language.

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AT&T announced on February 07, 2012 that its AT&T U-verse for iPad App, which makes it easy for users to connect their iPad to their TV for an even better viewing experience, is available on the App Store.

Recent studies indicate that the majority of tablet owners use their device simultaneously while watching TV, and with this app users can link their iPad to their choice of any U-verse TV receiver and access several great new features like:

• Extra content and information about the TV show you’re watching, including series overview, episode synopsis, photos, cast and crew information, related TV shows and more.
• A full-featured, intuitive U-verse remote control with channel, guide, DVR, interactive app and on-demand controls, eliminating the need for extra (or lost) remotes throughout the home.
• Advanced search functionality to help you find the content you want.
• Recommendations on what to watch with ratings and reviews.
• Ability to share information about what you are watching with friends on Facebook.

And while you’re on the go, you can:

• Watch hit TV shows and movies over any Wi-Fi connection. Choose from a library of popular content based on your U-verse TV package, including shows and movies from STARZ, ENCORE, TBS, TNT, truTV, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, with more choices added on an ongoing basis.
• Access the U-verse programming guide and DVR scheduling, similar to the functionality available on the U-verse app for iPhone and iPod touch.

You can view a video demo of the app here.

“Today, we are taking our best in class TV experience and taking it to a whole new level by joining two very powerful platforms: your TV and iPad,” said David Christopher, chief marketing officer, AT&T Mobility.

“With our new app, AT&T U-verse customers have access to incredible functionality to make the TV experience much richer, from superior search and control functionality, to fresh content that tells you more about what you’re watching, to the ability to share what you’re watching with your friends through social networks. And, when they leave the home, our customers can take the U-verse experience with them.”

Using the U-verse IP platform and in-home U-verse Wi-Fi network, customers can link the app to any U-verse TV receiver in their home. Using a simple one-time set up process for each U-verse receiver, customers just tune to channel 9301 and go through intuitive steps to name their U-verse receivers using a default name like “living room” or “bedroom,” or create a personalized name, to enable the functionality and features.

AT&T U-verse TV was the fastest growing TV service in the country in 2011 and is the only 100 percent Internet Protocol-based television (IPTV) service offered by a national service provider. AT&T U-verse TV ranked “Highest in Residential Television Service Satisfaction in the North Central, South and West Regions,” according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2011 Residential Television Service Provider Satisfaction Studies(SM).

The AT&T U-verse for iPad App is available for free from the App Store on iPad or at www.itunes.com/appstore.

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Audiobooks.com announced recently the launch of the first unlimited cloud-based audio book service. For $24.95 per month, users can take advantage of unlimited cloud-based audio content via an Android or Apple mobile device with no need to return audio books, no long-term contracts and no time constraints on audio book use. Audiobooks.com features several technical innovations that are unavailable from any other audio book source.

Since it’s a cloud-based service, Audiobooks.com allows users to instantly access thousands of popular titles from anywhere using an Internet-enabled mobile device such as an iPhone, iPad, Android smartphone or tablet. There are no storage constraints because the content resides on the cloud, and users can access and play audio books instantly with no downloading necessary.

Users can mark their place in an audio book and resume listening at the same spot from any Android or Apple device, laptop or home computer without using a browser plug-in or special application. This innovative new feature enhances the user experience and is only available through Audiobooks.com’s proprietary cloudmark sync technology.

Now users can enjoy as many audio books as their schedules permit for an affordable monthly charge. The consumer-friendly Audiobooks.com subscription service allows users to cancel at any time.

“The introduction of an unlimited, cloud-based audio book service allows Audiobooks.com to once again revolutionize the audio books industry,” said Sanjay Singhal, Chief Executive Officer. “We believe our ability to empower users to listen from anywhere using a mobile device, the cloud-based bookmarking function and the affordable access to unlimited service of thousands of bestsellers will transform the way customers use audio books.”

The Audiobooks.com concept was developed in 2011 by a team of audio book enthusiasts who are committed to achieving marketplace leadership by delivering superior value to audio book customers. Learn more at Audiobooks.com.

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McGraw-Hill recently announced the launch of Harrison’s for the iPad, the digital edition of the world’s most influential medical textbook, Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, created exclusively for the world’s most sought after tablet computer, the Apple iPad.

Harrison’s for the iPad was developed in partnership with Inkling, creators of the pre-eminent interactive content platform for the iPad. It leverages the mobility, rich media, and processing power of the iPad to enliven its content, improve speed of reference, and expand the learning experience for clinicians and medical students alike.

The iPad’s state-of-the-art platform and high quality screen resolution enabled the Harrison’s team of editors and contributors to create a new dimension of multimedia embedded in the text. Complete with advanced pedagogical tools, Harrison’s for the iPad brings to life the thought-leading clinical authorship and expertise that has been the hallmark of Harrison’s for more than six decades.

“Harrison’s for the iPad delivers superior, evidence-based medicine into the settings where it is needed most,” said Philip Ruppel, president of McGraw-Hill Professional. “Technology is dramatically changing medical education and how students study and learn and McGraw-Hill is committed to expanding and enhancing our products to meet new needs.”

The entire recently published 18th edition of Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine is captured on Harrison’s for the iPad : 450 chapters, more than 4,000 pages, and the contents of the companion DVD. Complete with more than 100 instructional videos, it also includes interactive diagrams, expandable tables, clinical decision trees, and image-based slide shows, all of which can now be intuitively manipulated on the tablet’s touch screen.

Videos incorporated throughout the edition include:

• Step-by-step tutorials from physicians at Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women’s Hospital
• The diagnostic approach to neurologic disease, by leading specialists Martin Samuels, MD and Dan Lowenstein, MD, supplement the renowned Harrison’s neurology chapters
• Expert insights and footage from actual patient care in the diagnosis of focal cerebral disorders from Bruce Miller, MD and his team at the UCSF School of Medicine

Harrison’s for the iPad boasts a social learning network built in to the text that enables greater student-to-student and student-to-professor collaboration. As they explore content, students can form study networks, share notes, follow their professors, and create real- time running discussions with other Harrison’s users at medical schools and hospitals around the world.

“Harrison’s for the iPad represents one of the greatest innovations in this textbook’s 60-year history,” said Dan L. Longo, M.D., Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, speaking on behalf of the Board of Editors of Harrison’s Principles of Internal  Medicine. ”The editors are keenly aware that Harrison’s world-class content and thought leadership and Apple’s unprecedented iPad technology have the ability to affect the study and practice of medicine for years to come.”

Harrison’s for the iPad follows Ganong’s Review of Medical Physiology, Pharmacotherapy:  A Pathophysiologic Approach by Joseph DiPiro, and more than 50 other McGraw-Hill textbooks on a variety of disciplines developed for the iPad in conjunction with Inkling. It is available through the Inkling webstore at  www.inkling.com/store/principles-of-internal-medicine-dan-longo-18th/ for $199.99, and individual sections can be purchased for $49.99 each.

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Club Med – the world’s leading all-inclusive brand with more than 80 resorts worldwide – proudly launches its innovative application for the iPhone and iPad, allowing consumers to discover, share and book their ideal Club Med vacation from anywhere in the world.

The iPad application features an original 360-degree virtual tour of Club Med resorts by holding your iPad in front of you and moving it left and right as if you were walking through the property. Providing views from the over-water suites at Club Med Kani in the Maldives and the ski school at Club Med Peisey Vallandry in the French Alps to the circus trapeze at Club Med Ixtapa Pacific in Mexico and the international tennis academy at Club Med Sandpiper Bay in Florida, Club Med offers the perfect getaway at your fingertips.

“The team is excited to bring the Club Med application suite to market as it’s the most interactive way to display our resorts and immerses potential guests into the unique Club Med experience,” said Jerome Hiquet, Vice President of Marketing and Digital for Club Med North America. “Our objective was to develop the most user friendly iPad and iPhone applications that appeals to all potential and past guests.

With these apps they can discover the best of Club Med spirit wherever, whenever. As a new structural ecosystem, it’s important for Club Med to launch into the mobile space now, and to integrate mobile as a key and consistent component in our global marketing strategy to better accommodate today’s consumers in the digital space.”

Club Med collaborated with Phonevalley, a leading mobile communication agency and part of Publicis Group, to develop these user-friendly apps. ”We were enthusiastic about this opportunity to work with a brand like Club Med on this application,” said Alexandre Mars, CEO of Phonevalley. ”We were able to create a quality experience for shoppers to discover the Club Med resorts in a unique capacity much different from the standard vacation booking apps.”

Consumers can discover their dream Club Med vacation in just a few scrolls by exploring more than 80 resorts through photos, videos, descriptions and 360-degree virtual tours. The comparison function helps potential guests choose between resorts based on their personal preferences, from luxury to golf and eco-friendly to winter sports. Guests are then able to share what they like with family and friends while also planning and booking a trip.

The “Click to Call” button quickly connects consumers to an experienced Club Med travel advisor for over the phone booking. For those that can’t make up their mind, the “Shake and Escape” function allows you to shake your iPhone for destination ideas complete with sound.

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Gazelle (www.gazelle.com), the nation’s largest consumer electronics direct-to-consumer reCommerce service, announced January 13 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the results of a survey that polled show-floor attendees to reveal connections between mobile phone ownership and one’s outlook on life.

The survey aimed to draw a correlation between one’s level of optimism or pessimism and the smartphone and tablet one owns. The results were particularly telling and, amongst the juiciest of findings, the survey pointed to the fact that 29% of iPhone owners expect the best in uncertain times, 3% more than the next set of users (Android).

The study also showed that 33% of BlackBerry users hardly ever expect things to go their way, suggesting an overall malaise amongst BlackBerry users.  Research also found that iPhone users were particularly resilient in these tough economic conditions with 36% saying they don’t get upset too easily, even during difficult economic times.

Because Gazelle accepts hundreds of thousands of consumer electronic trade-ins each year, the company serves as a unique barometer of U.S. consumer electronics consumption habits.  Gazelle is using CES to celebrate collective consumer love for gadgets and to better understand, with a twist, the sociology behind certain Smartphone and tablet users.

Below is a more in-depth look at how Apple, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone users view their life outlook:

iPhone and iPad users are optimistic, calm and also social

• In uncertain times, 29% of iPhone users and 60% of iPad users expect the best
• 52% of iPhone users and 58% of iPad users are always optimistic about their future
• 25% of iPhone users and 26% of iPad users don’t get upset too easily
• 65% of iPhone users and 52% of iPad users enjoy their friends a lot

Android users are generally optimistic and active

• 28% of Android smartphone users and 36% of Android tablet users are always optimistic about their future
• 48% of Android smartphone users and 64% of Android tablet users think it’s important to keep busy
• 31% of Android smartphone users and 55% of Android tablet users often expect more good things to happen than bad
• 18% of Android smartphone users and 27% of Android tablet users don’t get upset too easily

BlackBerry users are pessimistic and uneasy about their future

• 33% of BlackBerry users believe if something can go wrong for them, it will
• 33% of BlackBerry users rarely count on good things happening to them
• 16% of BlackBerry users hardly ever expect things to go their way
• 0% of BlackBerry users usually expect the best

“Who knew that Apple users had such a promising outlook on life, while BlackBerry owners hardly expect things to go their way?” said Israel Ganot, co-founder and CEO of Gazelle. “Our survey aimed to celebrate the passion many at CES have for their gadgets and the latest and greatest trends in consumer electronics.

One of the reasons for the rapid growth of the reCommerce industry is that many have recognized the value possessed by used electronics and the lucrative benefits of trading in one’s gadgets for cash.”

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

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While K-12 schools around the country search for funding to provide iPads to every student, an education researcher in North Carolina has found that even a single iPad can make a huge difference in the classroom.

The results of her experience with student teachers at Wake Forest University appear in the December/January issue of Learning & Leading With Technology, the magazine of the International Society for Technology in Education.

“Because they’re truly part of the digital generation, our pre-service teachers and the K-12 students they teach have a natural aptitude for tablet devices,” said Kristin Redington Bennett, an Assistant Professor of Education at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Though iPads can cost more than $500 with 3G access and a budget for apps, Bennett said, “Don’t discount the device because of its price. We found that just one iPad allowed teachers to design creative lesson plans tailored to individual learners.”

One of her pre-service teachers even used the iPad to solve a problem with a disruptive student who made trouble in the reading center every morning. When the teacher showed the student how to download books on the iPad, he read with focus for 20 minutes each morning – a goal he had not achieved until then.

“Anything new and different is engaging for kids,” said Nancy Davidson, a senior elementary education major at Wake Forest who used an iPad in her student teaching last semester. “Tracking student growth through apps, pictures, and videos became more efficient for me and more interesting for the children. Using the iPad in class started as a luxury, but quickly became a normal part of their learning process.”

Bennett’s pre-service teachers used the iPads in three ways:

*Comparing students’ progress on identical tasks using the iPads, interactive whiteboards, and desktops to see if the less-expensive iPad would work as well.

*In groups of two or three, working out a problem together. This approach required a set of rules (only one set of fingers on the iPad) and specific tasks for each team member. The group would capture an image of their work and store it in the iPad’s photo album for teacher review.

*For the teacher only, taking the place of other digital displays. One teacher took photos around the school and flipped through as she explained geometric shapes occurring in the school and in nature.

“What often happens in schools is that they purchase this new technology and expect teachers to use it with little training in how to design successful instruction with it,” Bennett said. “My goal is to train our elementary education candidates to graduate from our program with the skills and fluency in the use of mobile technology to support teaching and learning. This has allowed many of our graduates to be leaders in their schools even as a first-year teacher.”

Based on her experience, Bennett recommends these top 10 apps for use with elementary-school students:

1. Google Earth: (all ages) Take a virtual field trip to anywhere through this app that uses global satellite and aerial imagery with a swipe of a finger.

2. DoodleBuddy: (all ages) Students and teachers can use this across all content areas as a whiteboard equivalent to paint, draw, sketch, and write.

3. Story Buddy: (K-2nd) This app allows kids to create, read, and share stories that they create with the iPad.

4. Stack the States: (2nd-6th) An animated, game-based way to learn state locations, capitals, shapes, abbreviations, and nicknames.

5. Geocaching: (3rd-6th) In this global treasure hunting game, participants hide and seek containers, called geocaches, outdoors, then share their adventures online.

6. Numberland HD: (PK-1st) Twin heroes teach numbers using the Montessori Method.

7. Corkulous: (2nd – 6th) This app allows students to collect, organize, and share ideas through notes, labels, and photos.

8. iThoughtsHD: (3rd-6th) This mind-mapping tool can be used to sequence ideas, write mind-maps, organize thinking, and assess interrelatedness.

9. Coin Math: (K-3rd) Students learn both sides of a coin, how to add them, and how to pay for something with the correct coins.

10. StarFall ABC’s: (PK-1st) Students learn to recognize letters and develop skills as they begin to learn to read.

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Red Hill Studios announces the release of the Painting with Time iPad app – the first in a series of remarkable time painting apps – that lets you explore how the world around you changes over time. ”The Painting with Time app makes it fun to manipulate time,” says Red Hill Studios Creative Director Bob Hone. “Your fingers literally paint with time – transforming everyday scenes into amazing time composites.”

This free educational app lets you make leaves magically appear on trees, then paint on the incredible colors of fall. Fill up a tidal pool in Monterey with the incoming tide. Display the shades of San Francisco over a day. Each scene reveals a slow natural process that we cannot normally see.

“People cannot perceive the immense amount of slow change taking place all around us – our brains are not wired that way,” notes Bob Hone, originator of the Exploring Time transmedia concept. “Our visual system evolved to see dangers and avoid being eaten – not detect slow moving events like the tide rising, the passing of seasons, people aging, or changes in climate.

Centuries of scientific discovery helped reveal these patterns of change, and new technologies are continuing to reveal the amazing dynamics of our world. The Painting with Time app is a small window into a vast and growing field of timescale explorations from trillionths of seconds to billions of years.”

The Painting with Time app provides a range of time brushes and special time slicers that let you transform photographic sequences in strange and unique new ways. Paint on layers of time to watch a woman age over 60 years. Discover the amazing retreat of a glacier over decades.

Features:

• 14 carefully crafted time sequences of nature, art, and people
• Painting Time manipulation mode
• Slicing Time manipulation mode
• Eight preset brushes and slicing patterns
• “Mix and Merge” capability to combine a variety of time views within composites

“We’re passionate about helping people view the world in a new way – not just with their eyes, but also with their minds and imaginations,” emphasizes Hone. “Static is an illusion – everything is changing all the time and on many timescales – our bodies, our cities, our world. So future titles in the Painting with Time series will separately explore how people, cities, nature, and the world are changing over time.”

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IDG World Expo recently announced special events taking place at Macworld | iWorld celebrating the impact of Apple technology on literature and the visual arts.

These include a feature presentation and on-site exhibit by acclaimed digital photo-realist artist, author and lecturer Bert Monroy and conversation with author and self-proclaimed geek Susan Orlean, as well as the Digital Art Gallery, iPad Sketch Station, an exhibition of art inspired by ‘South Park,’ ‘Super Art Fight’ tournament and a host of art-focused Tech Talks.

These art and literature events complement a full slate of new show elements debuting in 2012, including the Music Experience and Film Event as well as attendee-favorite Macworld | iWorld programs such as a dynamic product-exhibit floor featuring hundreds of companies showcasing the latest in software, hardware, peripherals, accessories and applications for the Apple products platform, networking events and meet-ups, unique shopping opportunities, workshops and more than 75 Tech Talks that take attendees inside OS X Lion, iOS 5 and key third-party products.

Macworld | iWorld will take place January 26 – January 28, 2012, at the Moscone Center – West Hall in San Francisco. This year, Macworld | iWorld presents Featured Artist Bert Monroy, whose on-site exhibit and presentation will offer attendees a historical look at art on the Mac.

After a long career in advertising, Bert discovered computers with the introduction of the Macintosh 128 in 1984 and embarked on a new digital career. He embraced the computer as an artistic medium and today is considered one of the pioneers of digital art.

An accomplished teacher and lecturer, Bert has served on the faculty of a list of institutions that include The School of Visual Arts in New York and currently teaches at San Francisco State University. Bert was a monthly regular on Tech TV for more than three years and recently hosted Pixel Perfect with Bert Monroy, a weekly Photoshop podcast for Revision3.com.

Bert’s gallery presentation will be a history lesson featuring his early work from 1984 done in MacPaint and moving through time with the evolution of graphics software to his present work using Photoshop. His session will show the present power of the technology to create whatever your imagination can conjure up.

“I’m a hyper-realist artist with a passion for making things happen on the screen,” said Bert Monroy. “Because my paintings look like photographs, I’m often asked why I don’t just take a photograph. For me, it’s all about finding a new way of doing something and uncovering a new room in my imagination.

Apple technologies have given me the tools to unleash my creative spirit and re-create reality in ways I never could have imagined just five years ago. I am excited to share my art, my journey and my passion at Macworld | iWorld.”

A Conversation with Susan Orlean, Author and Geek brings together influential New Yorker magazine staff writer, best-selling author and technophobe turned technophile Susan Orlean for a discussion with Glenn Fleishman, technology writer for the Seattle Times, The Economist and Macworld.

A writer for magazines as varied as Vogue, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and Smithsonian, Susan has been on staff for the New Yorker since 1992 and is the bestselling author of eight books, including ‘The Orchid Thief,’ which was made into the Oscar-winning movie ‘Adaptation.’

The owner of a plethora of Macs and iOS devices, Susan uses Apple technology daily for research, communication and writing. She also has mastered being a long-form, non-fiction writer in the era of Twitter, amassing nearly 200,000 followers while writing a blog on the New Yorker’s Web site.

In her session, Susan will provide insight into her creative process and the tools she uses in her work, including how the iPad helped her write her latest book, ‘Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend,’ a New York Times bestseller and a Notable book of 2011.

“A long-time Mac user and fan—I am proud to call myself a geek—I’m passionate about how new Apple tools, including my coveted iPad, have helped my writing move to new heights. They’ve made me more productive and, most importantly, more creative,” said Susan Orlean. “My talk will be a chance for me to share my experience and offer some insights and lessons for budding writers and other creative people looking to use today’s technological innovations to take their craft, whatever it may be, to the next level.”

Additional art-inspired events will take place in Macworld | iWorld’s Midway, where a collection of attractions give attendees an opportunity to experience iOS and OS X products and technologies across the arts and education in unique and engaging ways. Highlights include:

• The Digital Art Gallery —Macworld | iWorld is bringing back one of its most stunning and vibrant event features: a showcase of original digital art from around the world. The Digital Art Gallery will feature different genres of art including landscape, portrait, animation, photography and sci/fi, all created using Apple technologies.
• i Pad Sketch Stations —A showcase of talented and experienced iPad artists who will create art live on their devices and have it displayed via large plasma screens for attendees to view during the course of the artist’s execution and throughout the event. The iPad Sketch Stations give artists a unique opportunity to demonstrate their skills and creativity while providing attendees with a first-hand glimpse into the innovation possible on iPads.
• South Park Art Gallery —A museum of ‘South Park’-inspired art work—including work submitted by fans and ‘South Park’ staff, as well as famous ‘South Park’ memorabilia, such as the gown Matt Stone wore to the Oscars in 2000 and the original cut-outs and story boards from early seasons of the show—will be on display for attendees to enjoy.

  The ‘South Park’ Gallery complements several other ‘South Park’ events taking place at Macworld | iWorld, including an exclusive screening of the full-length, unaired South Park Pilot episode followed by a mind-blowing, myth-dispelling Q&A with South Park Studios show-staff and a special session on the Making of South Park — Inside South Park’s Animation Studio, which takes attendees behind the scenes of the Mac-centric South Park Studios.

• Super Art Fight —This next-generation live art experience is a live tournament unlike any other. Add a punk rock sensibility and some of the most entertaining live commentary to hit the stage, ‘Super Art Fight’ is taking the nation by storm, one event at a time, and will make its inaugural appearance at Macworld | iWorld this year.
• A wide variety of art-focused Tech Talks will provide attendees of all skill levels opportunities for interactive education on topics including: InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator: A Creative Sweet! with David Blatner, co-owner of InDesignSecrets; The Mobile Artists Lounge  with Russell Brown, senior creative director for Adobe Systems; Appalooza: Creative iApps with David Biedny, digital effects, graphics & multimedia expert; Enhanced Virtual Reality with HTML5 with Bill Wiecking, energy lab director at the Hawaii Prep Academy; The World’s Biggest Art Museum with Alan Oppenheimer, president of Open Door Networks; Visual Note-Taking with the iPad with Rachel Smith, director of Digital Facilitation Services with The Grove Consultants; and Nomad Compose SpeedSketch with Don Lee, founder & CEO of NomadBrush LLC.

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ZeptoLab, creators of the award-winning game “Cut the Rope”, in conjunction with Ape Entertainment, developers of the hugely popular “Pocket God” digital comic series, is proud to announce ‘Om Nom,’ the lovable character from the game, is now a comic-book hero in his very own app for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Millions of the game’s fans have fallen in love with the adorable, green monster and now, through the new comic series, they can learn more about Om Nom and his fascination for candy.

“The comic book is just the first step in broadening the reach of the Cut the Rope brand,” said Misha Lyalin, CEO of ZeptoLab. “Starting with plush toys, apparel and accessories, we see significant opportunities to build our licensing and merchandising business and bring Om Nom into homes around the world.”

The ‘Cut the Rope: Comic’ series begins in a quaint, little town where opportunity sometimes knocks, but in thirteen-year-old Evan Coulton’s case, opportunity leaves a plain and uninteresting box on his doorstep. Of course, the surprise contents inside are anything but plain and uninteresting.

Before Evan realizes what’s going on, both his kitchen and his life have been turned upside down by a little, green monster with an endless appetite for sweets. Om Nom’s sugar levels leave him either high on energy or lazily collecting more candy, as he and Evan discover just how much they have in common. Fans can follow the adventures of Evan and Om Nom as trouble unfolds in one of the most anticipated new comic series today.

“With millions of fans around the world playing Cut the Rope, the new comic series provides the first glimpse into the story of Om Nom,” said Semyon Voinov, co-founder, ZeptoLab. “Ape Entertainment shared our vision for extending the brand into the comic world and the result is a compelling story for all ‘Cut the Rope’ fans to enjoy.”

“The ‘Cut the Rope: Comic App’ is much more than a pages-to-pixels app – it’s an experience that taps into the power of iOS and unleashes the world of Om Nom to fans across the globe,” said David Hedgecock, CEO of Ape Entertainment. “We believe this is the exact direction that will satiate comic-book fans’ appetite in the digital age, as well as offer a reason to continue coming back to the App Store as well as local comic shops.”

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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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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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Fake Apple stores have begun popping up in China, fooling not only the customers, but the workers as well. The quickly developing country is renowned for creating and selling remake products, however this is more than a step up from product recreation.

A blogger who goes by BirdAbroad found the store, located in China’s Yunnan province in the city of Kunming. The blogger says that the first giveaway was the glowing apple outside the storefront. Instead of standing alone as it should, the words Apple Store accompanied it, giving away its mirage of reality.

Inside all things would appear fine, exactly identical to any authorized Apple store found across the world. However, the blogger admits that upon closer inspection little things including paints jobs and intricate staircases appear to be unprofessionally done.

In a recent update from BirdAbroad, she explains that many different media outlets have been able to contact workers or managers from the fake store. The Toronto Star said they spoke with a manager who claims that while they now know they are unauthorized, the products they are selling are real.

BirdAbroad has also begun taking heat from the population of Kunming, as well as other cities across China. She has recieved many different complaints about her blog and posts commenting on the fake apple store.

Some are looking for a public apology for mudding their good name, while others are irritated at the ongoing attention to knockoff production in China. They are saying, “shanzai is unstoppable in China;” shanzai, meaning knockoff.

Regardless, while the store is unauthorized, and there remains to be confusion on whether the products are real or not, many citizens in Kunming are saying that they don’t mind the knockoff store.

BirdAbroad quoted someone saying, “Apple deserves to have shanzhai stores, since their products are absurdly expensive, despite being made right here in China.”

1000 Words / Shutterstock.com

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The general image of the Apple Store is to “do what you want so long as you don’t break or steal anything.” To see just how far he could go, comedian Mark Malkoff pulled some interesting pranks on one Apple Store.

“It’s amazing what the Apple Store will allow,” Malkoff said. “There are hundreds of videos online of customers singing and dancing in the middle of the store. Not only do they allow house pets, but I have heard of customers successfully bringing in snakes. I can’t imagine that being tolerated at any other store.”

His first plan was to see if he could get a pizza delivered to him while he was shopping on the second floor of a Manhattan Apple Store. He gained positive reactions from the staff, one of whom remarked that the stunt was awesome when the pie was delivered and was also shocked that the pizza place was willing to deliver to someone inside a large retail store.

Malkoff was later joined by his wife for a romantic in-store dinner, complete with waiter service and dancing under a mirror ball while a solo trumpeter played a song.

The stunts do not stop there. On another day, Malkoff was able to receive help for his broken iPhone dressed as Darth Vader. One employee even urged him to use the force.

Though, the latest stunt may be the best yet. To see just how far he could push his luck, Malkoff brought in a goat. While there were more strange looks than before, he still was not rejected from the store.

“The staff at the Apple stores could not have been any nicer.” Mark said. “The fact they let me bring in a goat still makes me laugh.”

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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/

The article Apple is Bringing You New Technology That Won’t Disappoint You appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.