Posts tagged with "iPad"

djay Now Optimized For iPad 2 Dual-Core A5

djay, the excellent app for iPhone and iPad we reviewed back in December when it first came out on the tablet, received a major update today to include exclusive functionalities for the iPad 2 and its A5 dual-core processor. After the release of a “mini” iPhone version that yet managed to include most of the features found in the iPad counterpart, algoriddim pushed an update earlier today to fully optimize performances for the iPad 2, enable higher precision audio analysis and implement a number of new features as well.

  • Key Lock / Time-Stretching: change the tempo of a song without affecting its pitch (requires iPad 2)
  • High-Precision audio analysis: improves syncing, BPM detection, beat-grid, and waveform precision (requires iPad 2, enable in Settings > Advanced)
  • Loop / Cue snapping: auto-aligned to closest snare, base drum etc. (requires iPad 2)
  • Improved playback of recordings
  • Various minor improvements for all iPad models

djay 1.2 for iPad is now available in the App Store at $19.99.

Analyst Claims Production Issues Still Affecting iPad

According to a new research note by FBR analyst Craig Berger relayed by Business Insider, Apple will be unable to meet the internal goal of 40-45 million iPads produced this year. The analyst called the number “out of reach”, and said low touchscreen supplies, component shortages and production issues at Hon Hai’s Foxconn will limit Apple and affect iPad shipments throughout the second and third calendar quarters of 2011.

For the third quarter, he sees production dropping off to 5.2 million units thanks to component shortages and production problems. He also says the effects of the Japanese earthquake could be felt in Q3. But, Berger says that could change if touchscreen supplies improve.

Ahead of the iPad 2 announcement and release in March, reports suggested the device could be delayed until June due to production issues in Foxconn’s facilities. The alleged delay didn’t happen of course, but it’s no secret Apple struggled to meet demand for the new device as also confirmed by COO Tim Cook at the company’s Q2 2011 earnings call, where he said consumer demand had been “staggering” with the iPad 2 heavily back logged at the end of the quarter. He later went on to call the iPad 2 “the mother of backlogs”, with Apple working as fast as they can to get the device in the hands of consumers. Tim Cook also said the Japan earthquake and tsunami would reduce revenue in Q3 by around $200 million, but assured Apple was on track to avoid production issues and shortages for the next quarters.

Separate reports in the past weeks noted display and speaker production issues affected iPad production in the last quarter. The iPad 2 is available on Apple’s online store, with waiting times of 1-2 weeks in most international stores.

Lodsys Responds to iOS Developers Over Patent Infringement Notices

Last Friday there was news that a number of independent developers for the iPhone and iPad had received legal warnings that they were violating patents that Lodsys owned. Suffice to say it sparked an outcry from developers, users and commentators; few had anything nice to say of Lodsys. Well today they have responded to a number of criticisms on their website in a series of Q&A posts. The key patent in question was that of Dan Abelow who sold his portfolio of patents to Lodsys back in 2004.

Its first response was in regards to the fairly frequented notion that Lodsys is a “parasite, troll, should die etc.”, they respond to this in saying that they are just like any other company who sells a product or service – they try to “get value for the assets it owns”. They write in the post “threats and irrationality don’t help.  In particular, the death threats are seriously uncool.”

As for the question of the patents being “too broad”, Lodsys notes how easy it is too look back in hindsight, saying “of course this is how everyone is going to do it”. In response to patent licensing being unethical and similar questions, they say that it seeks an economic return to sell their patent assets, completely legal and furthermore citing the notion that patent licensing encourages future invention.

As for why they directly contacted developers and not Apple, they say it is because Apple (as well as Microsoft and Google) has already licensed the patents in question. They claim that they cannot provide the third party developers with the rights to the patent, and Apple hasn’t approached Lodsys for the purpose of attaining an eco-system-wide license for the patents. They say their goal is not to prevent developers from using the technology, rather that it is to popularize it and charge a relatively small license for it.

They claim in multiple areas that they specialise in efficiently selling rights to patents, they say that by having a consistent price model it also means independent developers aren’t unfairly disadvantaged.

As for how much developers will need to pay, Lodsys clarifies that the in-app purchasing mechanism for example would cost a developer 0.575% of their US revenue over the period the technology was implemented until the patent expires. It gives an example of an app that earns US$1 million in one year would pay US$5,750.

[Via TheNextWeb]

You can read all of Lodsys’ responses on their blog.

Flipboard Blocked By The Great Firewall Of China

It appears that the Chinese government yesterday blocked Flipboard, meaning the app, which is available on the App Store in China, is largely unusable from within China. Flipboad’s CEO, Mike McCue, made the revelation on Twitter yesterday and said in follow-up tweets; “Lots of folks in China had been using us happily until now” and “Guess we had unwittingly poked a hole in their wall which has now been shut down… Presumably unless we block Facebook and Twitter ourselves in China”

The block impacts on Flipboard’s Amazon servers, which are required for users to aggregate their content from various sources, effectively this means that services such as Google Reader, Instragram and Flickr are all blocked from Flipboard users in China. Facebook and Twitter, which were already blocked by the Chinese government, had previously been accessible to some users who used a VPN service, but this latest move has blocked Facebook and Twitter completely from the app.

[Via @mmccue]

AOL Launching Flipboard-like “Editions” for iPad This Summer

Following a trend that sees publishers and companies struggling to deliver personalized content to iPad owners who want to filter news and articles out of their Twitter and Facebook social feeds, AOL is planning on releasing a Flipboard-like magazine for iPad this summer called Editions, BusinessInsider reports. Editions, currently teased on the web with an official landing page, appears to be a much more complex solution than Flipboard though: whilst the iPad app of the year 2010 pulls any link shared on your Twitter or Facebook account, not applying any sort of filtering or smart recognition algorithm, Editions will try to be intelligent enough to only display content that’s relevant to you, related to your location, in a way that reminds of a daily newspaper delivered to you once a day. Call it a mix between Flipboard and News Corp.’s The Daily, AOL’s Editions will even go as far as creating a cover for the top story in your social feed, as well as aggregating all content from AOL-owned publications like TechCrunch and Engadget.

To pick these stories, Editions will look at what your social networks are recommending and the general topics they seem to be interested in, as well as your location (to deliver local news). Then, it will look at which stories you click on and how long you spend reading them, and adjust over time.

Editions is also not meant to replace Web surfing – instead, it will be delivered once a day, just like a newspaper. Temkin noted that AOL’s usage statistics show that people don’t use an iPad like a mobile phone, checking it constantly throughout the day. Instead, usage peaks at morning and night, when people are home and have some time to sit back and read.

Editions will launch this summer (before September 20th, they say) only on the iPad, as AOL doesn’t believe Android tablets will gain much “traction.” The idea sounds interesting – as every concept revolving around automatic news personalization does – but it’ll have to face fierce competition from the likes of News.me (which relies on a similar concept and is developed by the folks behind URL shortening service bit.ly), Yahoo’s upcoming Livestand and the next version of Flipboard, which is rumored to be heavily based on a new algorithm for better news filtering as the result of the acquisition of Ellerdale Project last year. Flipboard recently announced they tripled the app’s usage and doubled the userbase in just over two months.

iOS 4.3.3 Users Reporting WiFi Issues on iPhones, iPads

According to reports surfaced on Apple Support Communities, many users are experiencing WiFi connectivity issues on devices running the latest iOS 4.3.3. These issues are nothing new to iOS – you might remember the problems with the original iPad and WiFi routers last year – but this time it appears they’re affecting iPhone and iPod touch models as well. The story is very similar to last year’s reports: a device fails to connect to a network or is unable to navigate; the WiFi icon doesn’t appear in the statusbar even if the device is actually connected; the device randomly disconnects from a network. You can read more about what users are reporting here, or here.

Personally, I did notice my iPhone 4 keeps disconnecting from my home network (running on an AirPort Extreme station) a few times every day. It’s kind of annoying as the disconnection lasts between 30 seconds and 1 minute, but like I said it’s not happening more than 3 or 4 times a day – surely not “all the time.” On my iPad 2, WiFi signal is stable (doesn’t drop) but it’s lower than before even a few meters away from my router. Again, these are issues I wasn’t experiencing on iOS 4.3.1 or 4.3.2 and definitely seem to fall in line with Apple Support Communities’ discussion threads.

Most of the times, though, there’s no need to panic. If iOS really has a WiFi bug, you can stay assured Apple will fix it soon with a software update – if the reports will get stronger in the next weeks, Apple will issue a new version of iOS like they did before. Several users, however, forget that having a proper network configuration helps a lot when having to deal with multiple mobile devices; if the issue is not in the network, resetting your iOS settings to factory usually helps in resolving all WiFi connectivity problems. If the issue persists (like on my iPhone), then it’s certainly something Apple will have to take a look at. [via ReadWriteWeb]