Apple Pledges $100 Million in Equipment to President Obama's ConnectED Initiative for Schools Posted: 04 Feb 2014 07:18 AM PST U.S. President Barack Obama today is announcing $750 million in corporate commitments for his ConnectED initiative to provide students with greater access to high-speed Internet connections. Apple is a key member of the group and has pledged $100 million in iPads, computers and other tools, according to an Associated Press report.
 During the recent State of the Union address, President Obama mentioned that Apple and other tech companies would be providing the hardware and software needed to connect over 15,000 schools and 20 million students to the Internet in the next two years. Apple confirmed its role in the project in a statement provided to The Loop, but did not offer any specific details on its role at that time. These corporate contributions will help fulfill ConnectED's goal of connecting 99 percent of U.S. students to the Internet within five years. When President Obama announced this goal last June, only one in five students had access to a broadband Internet connection. Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories
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Satya Nadella Appointed Microsoft CEO as Bill Gates Shifts from Chairman to 'Technology Advisor' Posted: 04 Feb 2014 06:36 AM PST Microsoft announced today that it has appointed company veteran Satya Nadella as Chief Executive Officer to replace retiring Steve Ballmer. Nadella, who previously served as executive vice president of the company's Cloud and Enterprise group, will take over as CEO and join the Board of Directors effective immediately.
Gates will work three days each week at Microsoft and will remain actively involved in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, reports Re/code . Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories
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iPhone 6 Rumored to Include 10+-Megapixel Camera with f/1.8 Aperture and Improved Filter Posted: 04 Feb 2014 06:25 AM PST  Sources from Taiwan's industrial chain claim the iPhone 6 will have at least a 10-megapixel camera with an aperture of f/1.8, reports Chinese website IT168 [Google Translate, via GforGames ]. This would be an improvement over the current iPhone 5s, which has an 8-megapixel camera with a narrower f/2.2 aperture.The report also claims Apple will change the filter used on the iPhone 6 camera, replacing the hybrid IR filter used on the iPhone 5s with a resin lens filter manufactured by Japanese company JSR. JSR is known for its ARTON Resins, which are used in digital and video cameras with CMOS image sensors. JSR claims its ARTON filters are lighter and thinner than comparable IR filters and take clearer images due to the resin's ability to minimize the color shifts of CMOS image sensors. The IT168 story contradicts an earlier report from the The China Post that claims Apple will continue to use a 8-megapixel sensor in its next iPhone. According to analysts from Nomura Securities, the camera module in the iPhone 6 instead will see improvements in other areas such as optical image stabilization. (Thanks, Vlad!) Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories
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Smart Dock with Orientation-Aware Functionality, Induction Charging Detailed in Apple Patent Posted: 04 Feb 2014 04:58 AM PST Apple has been awarded a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (via AppleInsider ) detailing a flat smart dock that would be able to determine the orientation a device is placed in and perform actions such as induction charging, data syncing, diagnostics testing, and more.
In terms of identifying different orientations, the patent states that the flat dock would be able to recognize factors including the rotational position and the proximity of a device. For example, if a user leaves a device face down, the dock would perform charging, whereas leaving a device face up would allow for data syncing and charging at the same time. A device on the smart dock would provide on-screen information about the current action being performed as well.
 Support for multiple devices on the dock is described in the patent, as the dock would be able to perform actions such as data transfers and charging on devices in close proximity to each other. Transfers between a host device and a primary device placed on the charging surface are also described as a capability of the smart dock. It is unknown whether Apple plans to create such product or not, but the company has shown strong interest in some of the technologies described in the patent. It was reported earlier this week by The New York Times that Apple was testing induction charging among other methods for its upcoming " Apple also filed a patent for a separate smart dock last December, which emphasized voice recognition and single-device use through a regular multi-pin connector. The existence of either device would be of a new effort for the company, as Apple currently sells docks with limited functionality for the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s. Other accessories such as the iHome family of clock-radios and speaker systems offer a bit more functionality, but very little in the context of deep interaction with a device. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories
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Apple Releases New Behind-the-Scenes Video for '1.24.14' Mac 30th Anniversary Ad Posted: 03 Feb 2014 05:55 PM PST Following this morning's debut of the "1.24.14" Mac 30th anniversary video filmed exclusively on iPhones and edited on Macs, Apple has also released a new behind-the-scenes video that details how the original ad was made.
The video depicts the camera equipment used to film the ad, which included several different iPhones attached to special mounts able to rotate in any direction. A narrator explains that individual filming crews were sent to locations around the world to obtain simultaneous footage, with each crew using an iPhone to capture video that was then sent to a receiver in a backpack. Receivers used by the crew members allowed footage to be sent instantly back to director Jake Scott, son of Ridley Scott, in the U.S., and FaceTime on iPads allowed for seamless communication while filming. Apple's 1.24.14 video was filmed for the 30th anniversary of the Mac. It was distilled from more than 70 hours of footage captured by camera crews on five continents in 15 different locations, including Seattle, Aspen, Maryland, Brookhaven, Puerto Rico, Botswana, London, Lyon, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Pompeii, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Melbourne. Along with the original video and the behind-the-scenes look at how it was filmed, Apple has also posted a detailed web page that gives an even more in-depth look at the work that went into the spot. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories
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Apple Acknowledges Continuing Issues with OS X Mail, Offers Manual Workaround Posted: 03 Feb 2014 12:07 PM PST  Ever since OS X Mavericks was released, some customers using the built-in Mail.app application have repeatedly had issues retrieving new mail messages, deleting or moving messages, and more. Some of the problems were fixed in an update released back in November, and then in OS X 10.9.1, but for some, the issues retrieving new messages persist.Some users found that quitting and restarting Mail forced the application to download new messages, but Apple has now published an awkward workaround that allows the app to stay open while still forcing a download of new messages.
There is no indication of when the bugs with Mail.app will be fixed, though beta releases of OS X 10.9.2 ask developers to test Mail.app for issues. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories
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World Wrestling Entertainment Channel Coming to Apple TV on February 24 Posted: 03 Feb 2014 11:27 AM PST A World Wrestling Entertainment representative has seemingly confirmed on Facebook that the new 24/7 WWE Network will be available as a dedicated channel on the Apple TV on February 24. In a conversation with a fan who asked specifically about an Apple TV app, a WWE Network Facebook representative said the WWE Network app can be launched directly from the Apple TV.
First announced in January, the World Wrestling Entertainment Network is a 24/7 streaming network that includes original programming, reality shows, documentaries, classic matches, and more. Available for $9.99 per month, it also includes 12 WWE live pay-per-view events.
WWE Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer Michelle Wilson did, however, say that the service would also be available on "a connected device I am not allowed to mention at this press conference," presumably alluding to the Apple TV. Attendees at the service's introductory event were also given Apple TVs to take home. Apple historically exercises control over announcements related to its products, so it is no surprise that news of a potential WWE app for the Apple TV has been suppressed. Over the course of the last several months, Apple has introduced several new channels to the Apple TV, each with no advanced notice. Most recently, Apple added the Red Bull TV action sports channel to the Apple TV, and before that, the company introduced channels for Watch ABC, Bloomberg, Crackle, and KORTV. Apple is also said to be working on a major overhaul to both the Apple TV software and hardware, which could debut later this year. The WWE network will be available for $9.99 per month at 9 AM Eastern Time on February 24, 2014 and will reportedly launch on the Apple TV at the same time. Fans will be given a free one week trial to the service. (Thanks, Josh!) Update: The WWE Facebook page has since been updated to delete the comment about the Apple TV, but the original text can be seen in the image below.
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Apple May Be Building Its Own Content Delivery Network Posted: 03 Feb 2014 11:13 AM PST As Apple continues to develop its new data centers in North Carolina, Oregon, and Nevada, it could have greater plans to develop a content delivery network (CDN) to deliver content to its iTunes and iCloud users. Analyst Dan Rayburn with Frost & Sullivan believes that Apple is looking to expand its CDN capabilities, but isn't entirely clear how in-depth the system will be. Currently Apple uses Akamai and Level 3 to handle most of its distribution needs for iTunes, the App Store, and iCloud, though its data center initiative gives it a good base of operations for distributing content as well as storage for user data.
A content delivery network allows companies to ensure that their data can reliably get to customers on any ISP, in any geographic locale. A number of other companies that move large amounts of data, including Google, Microsoft and Netflix, have brought much of their data delivery platforms in-house, rather than outsourcing them to other large companies. Many extremely large companies have found that building their own CDN makes financial sense because of the control it gives them, something that Apple values highly. Rayburn has been saying that Apple is planning to build a CDN for nearly five years, though with three major new data centers coming online and more in the works, Apple is clearly investing in something big. The company is rumored to be working on a new television service of some sort, either a new set-top box or an entire television set, and such an effort would likely require a significant expansion of the company's content streaming abilities to support HD streaming video to a large number of new customers. Update: The Wall Street Journal has confirmed that Apple is working to create its own content delivery network to boost its Internet infrastructure and to support additional traffic in the future. The site reports that Apple has been hiring networking experts and entering into long-term deals to lock up bandwidth.
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Pebble Debuts New Appstore for Pebble Smart Watches Posted: 03 Feb 2014 10:18 AM PST First announced back in December, Pebble today launched a dedicated Pebble appstore featuring an array of apps that can be downloaded onto the company's line of smart watches. The appstore, which functions similarly to other app repositories from companies like Apple and Google, aggregates all of the third-party apps developed for the Pebble Smart Watch. While apps have existed for the smart watch for quite some time, having a central download location will improve content discovery on the device.
Pebble's original Pebble Smart Watch and the Pebble Steel can both access the appstore, which organizes apps into individual categories complete with ratings. The Pebble appstore is the first official Pebble app and can be accessed directly on the Pebble watch following an iOS app update that is currently rolling out. Pebble owners can use the appstore to download and manage their smart watch apps, as the Pebble watches are limited to eight apps each. Though there is an app limit, Pebble does incorporate a Pebble Locker allowing frequently used apps to be installed and uninstalled quickly. The appstore is organized into six different categories, including Daily, Tools & Utilities, Notifications, Remotes, Fitness, and Games. Like Apple's App Store, each category features a selection of both new and top apps. Watchfaces are also available in a separate category and at the current time, all Pebble apps are available for free as the appstore does not support paid applications. Developers can, however, create apps that work alongside an iOS companion app. More than 1,000 apps are published in the Pebble appstore, including apps from major companies that Pebble has partnered with, including Yelp, GoPro, and Foursquare. As part of its Pebble Steel review, Engadget took an early look at the Pebble appstore and was satisfied with the number of apps available.
Pebble's line of smart watches can be purchased from the Pebble website for $150 to $249. The accompanying Pebble Smartwatch app can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link] Update: The Pebble iOS update that includes the Pebble appstore is now live. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories
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