Talkingapple's List: 128

• The New York Times – David Pogue

  If you could design your dream laptop, how would you describe it? 
     
   Superfast. Superthin. Superlight. Superlong battery life. Immense storage. Enough memory to keep lots of programs open at once. Stunning screen, comfortable keyboard, terrific sound. Fast start-up, rugged body, gorgeous looks. 
    
   And, of course, inexpensive. 
  
• this is not exactly a small machine, heavy enough that those happy Air users who've been feeling tempted might want to take a swing by their closest Apple Store and lift one themselves.

  • Engadget.
    We've been well spoiled by the Air
• The Pro and Retina Pro are clearly two laptops designed for two different users,

  • No!

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• - Users can now set custom email alerts for any of their VIP contacts.
   
   - Turning Bluetooth on and off is much quicker than it was in iOS 5. Bluetooth controls are now located in first page of System Preferences, next to the Wi-Fi and Airplane Mode controls.
• - Users no longer need to enter their password to update apps -- only when purchasing an app for the first time. Additionally, users aren't kicked to the home screen when buying or updating an app in the App Store.
   
   - Newly downloaded apps gain a temporary 'New' banner on the icon to make them easier to pick them out.
   
   - Geofencing alerts have been added to Find My Friends. One possible use, suggested by Macworld: "If you’re one of the many workers who carpools, you can set up a geofence on the driver to let you know when they leave their house."

• . One of the downfalls of iTunes Match was its absence of streaming music. Songs had to be downloaded and could not be played from the cloud. With iOS 6, however, songs stored on iTunes Match can be streamed. This leaves out any need to download songs to your device.

  • Previously possible on Macs only

• Earlier this week, AppAdvice noted that three categories of content had disappeared from the iTunes app in iOS 6: Podcasts, Audiobooks, and iTunes U. Apple launched a dedicated iTunes U app earlier this year, but the fate of the other content types in iOS 6 remained unclear.
• AllThingsD now reports that Apple will also be launching a standalone app for podcasts in iOS 6, giving them greater visibility while simplifying the iTunes app that has become home to an increasingly large number of content categories.

• Surface will be sold in two distinct incarnations with one touting an Ivy Bridge i5 processor while the other will feature a low-energy NVIDIA-made ARM cortex CPU. The Intel model, called Surface for Windows 8 Pro, will weigh in at 1.9lbs at 13.5mm thick and feature a 10.6-inch 1920-by-1080 pixel ClearType full HD display. Input and output for the higher-tier Surface is handled by USB 3.0, Mini DisplayPort and an microSDXC card reader.
   
   The thinner ARM cortex version will be released under the Surface for Windows RT moniker and will come in at a trim 1.5lbs and 9.8mm thick but bumps specs down to a 1280-by-720 pixel screen. Handling the heat put out by the Intel chip is what Microsoft calls "perimeter venting" or a series of integrated vents encircling the edge of the bezel, which itself is beveled. While the Windows RT model doesn't carry the high-powered connectivity as its bigger brother, it still manages a microSD slot, USB 2.0 and Micro HD Video.

  • One released on windows 8 release, the other 3 months later, so it will compete with iPad 4. 
• "Touch Cover" which is a full multi-touch keyboard complete with arrow buttons that changes the color of Surface's screen to the color of the cover when attached. Much like Apple's Smart Cover, the Touch Cover also turns the device on and off presumably through use of magnets. The Surface "Type Cover" accessory brings physical switch-type keys and a clickable trackpad
• supports palm-blocking Digital Ink technology

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• • Height: 241.2 mm (9.50 inches)
   
  • Width: 185.7 mm (7.31 inches)
   
  • Depth: 9.4 mm (0.37 inches)
   
  • Weight: 652 g (1.44 pounds)
• 2048x1536-pixe

• • As an iPad user, I desperately want this to succeed!
• The Surface is a bad laptop. Microsoft is trying to label this thing as a laptop that looks and feels like a tablet. If it's a laptop, it's specs are terrible.
• 10-

  The Surface is a bad laptop. Microsoft is trying to label this thing as a laptop that looks and feels like a tablet. If it's a laptop, it's specs are terrible.

  • agreed! I would add that window 8 is a bas laptop software.
    Although the keyboard integration will be interesting to experiment with
• 9-The Surface is an inferior tablet.

  • Many are comparing it to the iPad 1, but really specs matter little when you have a different OS. Most windows phones are still on 1 core and run very well.
    
    It's a different story on the Pro

  • Yes and No! Great UI, nice design (no idea on battery yet, nor price), probably good fluidity since windows 8 is incredibly light, original ideas like split screen and integrated stand. 
    But apps lets it down. Many way you only need a core number of apps to be attractive, not the case...
• 7-Lost in a sea of Android.

  • But it is true that these tablets feel no need, fix no problems. There is nothing you can get here that you wouldn't get better on iPad. That can be a huge problem. 
    
    Apple had much prettier laptops for a long time, but only when the iPhone fixed the smartphone problem did they get the attention of the general population. 

  • I think this is a plus point
• 6-iPad mini

  • That would definitely be a killer. Specially if Apple created a tablet for consumption with a 16/9 screen, a la Kindle Fire.
• 5-The future is voice, not keyboard.

  • I think the idea of a smart cover with a keyboard layout is genius! why not? 
    After saying that, I think the future of input is on glass, an improved feedback driven keyboard. Voice is nice, but not for every occasion.
• 4-Surface is a stupid name

  • and i-Pad is better?
• 3-Memories of Zune.

  • The Zune failed in much the same circumstances. A great device, a great service, but iPod domination was unmovable. Yet, Zune was marketed on its own brand. This Surface is now part of the Windows family, that is a BIG difference.
• 2-The Microsoft brand has lost its cool factor.

  • Yes, this is a big disadvantage! But it has to start somewhere, and this hardware/software marriage is definitely a good step in the right direction.

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• Steven Sinofsky was nervous and hurried. It didn’t help that his first Surface RT unit crashed before he’d done anything other than wake it up.
• After 37 years, Microsoft agrees with Alan Kay: “People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.”
• they fear losing not just the tablet market, but the PC market as a whole. Not in sheer numbers, but in sheer profit. Apple doesn’t want to sell all of the world’s computers and phones; rather, Apple wants to reap all the profits in the computer and phone industries. There is no threat that Windows goes away, but there is a serious threat that Microsoft’s profit from Windows greatly diminishes.
• That’s a total of $78 of operating profit per PC.

  • If with the iPad reaches the sort of volume enjoyed by PCs, MS is in big trouble

  • £50 - That's if the customer buys office. COmpare that to £130, that is what apple makes with every iPad.
• Microsoft has turned its guns against PC-making OEMs. This move was driven by the iPad, but competitively it directly pits Microsoft not against Apple but against Dell, HP, Toshiba, et al.

  • Many OEMs came out and said they knew nothing about it and we're quite shocked. Plus, this is MS saying to them: "we don't thin your products are good enought. 

  • "Acer founder Stan Shih on Wednesday referred to Microsoft's recently-announced Surface tablet as merely a tool to boost adoption of Windows 8, saying that the Redmond-based company has no real intention to enter the hardware game."
    
    I don't think so, they said in the presentation time and time again that they thought Hardware and software combination is the key.
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  • • I fear these guys are all gonna go with Android. Think about it: Who's taken up Window Phone 7? Nobody apart from Nokia who is run by a Microsoft guy. The reason? No volume sales.  Well, with windows 8 RT there's no volume and there's competition from MS itself.

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• will support multi-core CPUs and high-definition screen resolutions. The new Windows Phone 8 will also borrow much of its code base from Windows 8, which will allow developers to create applications that can be run on phones, tablets and desktops all running Microsoft's operating systems.
• support near-field communications chips with a native wallet application that will store credit and debit cards, as well as loyalty and membership cards.

  • Also, I think Apple is hoping to develop something that will not need a receptor on the other side, but maybe a computer with Internet connection and bt would do it. Don't know

  • There's no way the new IPhone won't do this, but maybe NFC is not the answer. Maybe bt 4.0 could be more interesting. 
• Devices currently running Windows Phone 7.5 will not be able to upgrade to the new Windows Phone 8. Instead, Microsoft announced on Wednesday that some of the new features, such as an updated Start screen, will be brought to legacy devices with the Windows Phone 7.8 update.

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• in an effort to cut costs and turn the company around.
  
• The company said that its "Smart Devices" division has been negatively affected "to a somewhat greater extent than previously expected."
• forward to the next quarter, Nokia said it does not expect the situation to improve. Its margins for the second quarter of 2012 are now projected to be below its previous prediction of negative 3 percent.

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• A court in The Hague ruled Apple had violated a Samsung patent used in some of Apple’s phones and tablet computers to connect to the Internet, and said damages should be based on certain iPhone and iPad sales in the Netherlands… Damages should be based on Dutch sales figures since August 4, 2010, which the court said was the date when Apple could have known it was violating Samsung’s patent.
• …there’s no question that Apple is ready, willing and able to pay a FRAND royalty rate. It just didn’t want Samsung to win an injunction, or pay an excessive rate. Court documents say that Apple asked Samsung half a dozen times (!) to quote a FRAND rate before the 2.4% demand, which the court considered outrageous, was made… Considering the parameters and circumstances I just described, Samsung will be lucky to even recover its attorneys’ fees with this. The dispute will continue.
• Kodak is suing the company this week for wrongly claiming ownership of 10 patents and “interfering with plans to sell a large patent portfolio.” Reuters explained:

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• Multiple manufacturers have independently indicated
• TechCrunch on Wednesday offered the most confident claim yet about Apple's plans for it by reporting that it had "independently verified" and "confirmed" the company is prepping a smaller 19-pin port for inclusion on its next iPhone.
• come close in size to the Thunderbolt port found on Apple's newest Macs, but it is not expected to have the same "pin-out."

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• Instapaper developer Marco Arment published his thoughts on a potential timeline for upgrades to Apple's iMac and Mac Pro lines, initially suggesting that the need for an ultra-high resolution 5120x2880 Retina display (either inside the 27-inch iMac or as a standalone display) is likely the most significant hurdle to major updates for those lines.
• while an iMac update is indeed coming this fall, it will not have Retina displays.
• issues surrounding Retina displays at the size needed for the 27-inch
• production yield and insufficient bandwidth,

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• Apple also released a "near-final" version of OS X Mountain Lion to developers for testing purposes.
• third-party firm offering technical support for Apple products that their company has imposed a vacation blackout from July 22 through 29,
• all hands on deck

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