Last month, we had learnt and reported on Apple’s latest acquisition. ‘P.A.Semi. A designer of PowerPC chips; veterans of popular chip design projects founded P.A.Semi in 2003. This includes people from DEC’s Alpha and StrongARM processor groups. Apple acquired the company to move away from Intel, whom so far produced the chips for the iPod and iPhone.’

Though the information available is highly confidential and limited at the most at this point; it is probable that military interest in PA Semi’s low-power chip may have forced Apple’s to stage a sleight of hand and takeover the company. CEO Steve Jobs may need to order up a camouflage version of that infamous mock turtleneck soon.

Apple however has washed its hands off P A Semi architecture and has abandoned any efforts to push the PA Semi architecture forward. Taking over, PA Semi for a bargain of $278 million, a figure that hardly makes a scratch on the bonnet of its humungous profits, Apple has yet to say why it bought the company, which has expertise in low-power processor designs.

With Apple killing of the PA Semi gear, it is highly unlikely for Macs or iPhones to sport the PowerPC inside anytime soon in the near future. An iBomb however, seems to be a viability.

]]> http://www.applelife.co.uk/2008/05/16/isee-an-ibomb/feed/ http://www.applelife.co.uk/2008/05/15/ordering-coffee-the-apple-way/ http://www.applelife.co.uk/2008/05/15/ordering-coffee-the-apple-way/#comments Thu, 15 May 2008 13:02:50 +0000 easternBrain http://www.applelife.co.uk/?p=171

Back in 2007, there was a much publicized patent application by Apple. It revealed Apple’s plans of allowing iPhone owners to place orders and confirm them, interacting with their local stores. They described a wireless system that would allow customers to place an order at a store using a wireless device such as a media player, a wireless personal digital assistant or a cell phone.

The system would, for example, allow customers to order a drink with the press of a button on their iPhone which would then notify them when their order was ready. The reports suggested that this may put Apple’s partnership with Starbucks in a new light.

A new patent application has made news today and when read in light of the above patent application, expands the concept to various varieties of local content including movie tickets, event tickets, concert tickets and general information like stores near you, music purchases and dining advice.

The local content may be customizable giving rise to the possibility of various innovative uses at its highest. Business content could be distributed via this service. On landing at a particular terminus for example, the airport could give you the details of the city you have landed in, schedules for the day, etc or as the patent elaborates ‘For example, if the merchant is a restaurant, the merchant may provide a menu to the personal media device and the user may place an order on his or her media device by selecting items on the menu.’

Mobile operator O2, as we know, has secured the right to sell the iPhone in Ireland and Britain and last month it endeavored to cut prices for the most basic version by 100 pounds in the UK. Recently, as we have reported, the 8GB and the 16GB versions of the iPhones were cleared off the shelves of O2 and were rendered ‘currently unavailable’ on the Apple stores online. Apple analysts world over, interpreted this as a clear sign that Apple and O2 were attempting to clear shelf space ahead of what is expected to be the launch of a new model that will run on faster 3G networks. The anticipation for the new model has reached a feverish pitch and speculations fly back and forth whether Apple will be releasing the same this WWDC 2008. Apple however, has declined to comment.

Matthew Key, chief executive of Telefonica O2 Europe, told reporters on a conference call after his group’s results that Telefonica and Apple would make a joint statement over the coming weeks but he declined to say whether it would be about 3G iPhones. “It is broadly known we are now out of stock of the 8 gigabyte and we have got some 16 gigabytes left,” Key said in a separate interview.

Apple early today announced that a team of Apple executives, led by CEO Steve Jobs, will kick off the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, June 9, 2008 at San Francisco’s Moscone West. This year’s WWDC, the announcement said would showcase two revolutionary development platforms, the ground-breaking innovations of OS X Leopard and OS X iPhone, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system.

The five-day WWDC event, running from June 9 to June 13, is all set to feature the first ever iPhone track for mobile developers with in-depth sessions and hands-on labs to fully explore the capabilities of the OS X iPhone 2.0 software, including the iPhone SDK and the App Store. The iPhone track will also enable mobile developers to work side by side with Apple engineers to create amazing applications that leverage iPhone’s revolutionary Multi-Touch user interface, animation technology, rich set of APIs, including programming interfaces for Core OS, Core Services, Media and Cocoa Touch technologies, built-in three axis accelerometer and geographical location technology to deliver truly innovative mobile applications.

WWDC 2008 will offer over 150 information-rich sessions and labs. Developers, the notification says can bring code to the labs and work one-to-one with Apple engineers, applying development methods and best-practices gained from sessions to enhance their applications.

Other activities at Apple’s WWDC 2008 include presentation sessions led by engineers that provide an in-depth look at OS X iPhone, OS X Leopard and innovative tools and technologies such as the iPhone SDK, Cocoa Touch, Interface Builder, Xcode and more; practical hands-on sessions where attendees can learn Apple’s own coding strategies and techniques; technology labs where attendees can work one-to-one with Apple engineers; and other special events.

“On Monday, SingTel announced it had struck a deal with Apple to distribute the iPhone in Singapore, India, Australia and the Philippines. The announcement follows Vodafone’s agreement with Apple, announced last week, to sell the iPhone in 10 countries including Australia, India and Italy. On the same day, Telecom Italia announced that it too would distribute the iPhone in Italy, the first sign that Apple was moving away from only signing exclusive deals. The Vodafone deal excluded its networks in the U.K. and Germany, where Apple has already signed exclusive distribution deals with rival operators O2 and T-Mobile. But with two operators on board to sell the iPhone in Italy, and now India and Australia, Apple appears to be taking a different approach as it widens the availability of the iPhone.

The deal between SingTel and Apple involves several different operators. SingTel Mobile will distribute the iPhone in Singapore, while the handset will be sold by Optus in Australia. Bharti Airtel and Globe Telecom will handle sales in India and the Philippines, respectively.”

SingTel is not exactly out there offering insight into the deal. When asked about the approximate timeframe when it would begin sales of the iPhone, it just made a statement saying that the handset would be available later this year.

The withdrawal of iPhones from Apple Stores has come red hot in the footsteps of our report a few days back, saying that UK’s O2 carrier had declared a ‘not available’ status on the 8GB and 16GB models of Apple’s iPhones. The models were quoted to be officially reaching the end of its rather long and illustrious life late last month and the stocks reportedly will not be replenished.

“However, an odd coincidence or rather an accidental finding was that the UK store of Apple Inc.’s still shows both iPhone models - the 8GB and the 16GB versions as being readily available and ready to ship.” we had reported. Not anymore it seems.

Though the Worldwide Developer’s Conference is almost a month away, and speculations are rampant on whether this is an intended shortage created by Apple to serve as a platform to introduce the new generation iPhones, analysts believe, it might possibly be just a temporary shortage crisis that Apple is facing. Knowing Apple, the answer is as good as any random guess.

“The present invention can include multi-dimensional (e.g., 2-D or 3-D) remote control systems that can detect an absolute location to which a remote control is pointing in first and second orthogonal axes (e.g., the x- and y-axes). Remote control systems of the present invention also can detect the absolute position of the remote control in a third orthogonal axis (e.g., the z-axis). “

The 3D remote can also be used to zoom in and out of photos based on user moments and manipulate objects as well on the screen. The patent application describes use of fixed light sources in addition to accelerometers as in the Nintendo Wii Control ensemble. Gaming had taken a whole new turnover in image and sales with the Nintendo Wii catching the imagination and capturing the pockets of the youngsters. Apple’s version however it seems is limited to the AppleTV.

Of course, patents do not reflect products. However, ‘remote controls’ as one of the technologies listed among those that Apple is making has figured in recent job descriptions. The magic is in making Patents into products. One cannot wait to watch what happens now. Time for some innovation - Apple style

Back last year when Greenpeace protesters protested outside Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO unceremoniously dismissed them by suggesting they “get out of the computer business and go save some whales.” And this year, Climate Counts Scorecard rates Apple the least among 12 companies.

In spite of the green notebook debacle in January this year where Jobs actually took a second off to stress upon the environmental aspect of the product and said he intended to continue doing the same in the future for all products. While taking into cognizance Jobs’ new focus on environmental specs, Greenpeace noted that Jobs did not outline Apple’s plans to honor its 2007 pledge to eliminate these toxics materials in all Apple products by the end of 2008. “We continue to make progress on all of these environmental fronts, and we’ll keep you posted,” Jobs said. “They all add up to something in the end, and we’re very conscious of this.”

All the consciousness it seems has paid off to nothing. Climate Counts this week went ahead and released its second annual company Scorecard which lays out “simple, easy-to-understand ranking of companies would motivate both companies and consumers to step-up their efforts on climate change.” Among the 12 companies which featured on the scorecard, Apple came last.

It was reported that Apple, which improved its score from last year, was given a grade of 11 and was among the three that scored below 50, along with Nokia and Dell. Apple’s ranking was well below the average score, which jumped 22 percent to 39 (from 30).

Apple received no points in the policy category as Climate Counts says it found no public information to suggest that Apple supports public policy that addresses climate change.

02 as of today have ceased their sales of the iPhone in the UK. Nothing specific was conveyed by O2 except a ubiquitous ‘iPhone no longer available’ on their website. No details, nothing. This announcement by O2 comes right at the footsteps of Apple’s 8GB model officially reaching the end of its rather long and illustrious life late last month and as has been quoted before, the stocks reportedly will not be replenished.

However, an odd coincidence or rather an accidental finding was that the UK store of Apple Inc.’s still shows both iPhone models - the 8GB and the 16GB versions as being readily available and ready to ship. Maybe O2 has started bracing itself for a hit which Apple need not fear. O2 which sells the phone in UK, and T-Mobile, the German distributor are said to have significantly overestimated the number of first version iPhones that would sell in Europe.

As was the conversation on the online grapevines, Kathryn Huberty, an analyst at Morgan Stanley specializing in Apple, reportedly said the losses on early model iPhones would be “significant” even though they may recoup some of this in monthly revenue from customers who bought the cheaper devices. European mobile executives seemed to have become over-excited by the hype surrounding the iPhone at the time of its US release on the AT&T network last June.

Maybe that or maybe they are just phasing out the past generation right in time for the next generation iPhones to fill their store shelves.

NBC has suddenly decided to side with Microsoft and publish its television shows on Microsoft’s video store of late for use on their Zune media player. This is after NBC and Apple parted ways last August after months of tedious negotiations. Though Apple had quoted differences in pricing as the main reason for the split, NBC later made a statement that the split was also due to Apple’s reluctance to address the piracy issues that NBC had been extremely concerned about.

Earlier, J.B. Perrette, the president of digital distribution at NBC clarified with an elaborate statement, what exactly where the steps taken by Microsoft and supported by NBC to curb the problem of piracy on Microsoft’s Zune -

“Mr. Perrette said the plan is to create filtering technology that allows for playback of legitimately purchased content versus non-legitimately purchased content. He said this would be similar to systems being tested by Microsoft, Google and others that are meant to block pirated clips from video sharing sites. NBC is also working with Internet service providers like AT&T to put similar filters right into the network.”

All those files downloaded illegally from file sharing networks would not be allowed to be played on Zune and would be blocked. The system reportedly is being developed.

However, yesterday, Microsoft issued a statement negating NBC’s claims. “Microsoft has no plans or commitments to implement content filtering features in the Zune family of devices as part of our content distribution deal with NBC,” the software maker remarked.