Mar 29 2012
Good loving … Remember this
Photo: Celebration of Steve Jobs’ Life
Mar 29 2012
Report: Apple begins production of new 15-inch MacBook Pro next month, 13-inch in June
On the heels of news that Intel will release its Ivy Bridge processors in two waves (high power processors coming in a month; lower power processors debuting in June), Digitimes now says new 15-inch MacBook Pro production will begin in the next month. Moreover, Apple will wait until June to begin producing its smaller 13-inch MacBooks.
As Apple will start mass producing its 15-inch MacBook Pro in April, sources from the upstream supply chain have pointed out that the company’s orders for the 13.3-inch model are far higher than those of the 15-inch, indicating that Apple is more focused on the 13.3-inch notebook segment.
However, the 13.3-inch MacBook Pro will not start mass production until June.
Mar 29 2012
iTunes 10.6.1 released
For the latest in iTunes software, hit your Software Update. You will receive iTunes 10.6.1, which makes everything better, including:
Mar 29 2012
Is there room in Apple’s lineup for a 5-inch or 7-inch mid-sized iOS device?
We have heard rumors in the past that claim Apple is working on a 7.85-inch iPad. Some even point to production beginning as early as Q2 2012. However, a translated report from Japanese blog Macotakara today claimed Apple’s suppliers are readying 5-inch Retina displays for a device in 2013 (coincidentally, Samsung announced selling 3 million 5-inch Galaxy Notes in just four weeks today):
Jan 19 2012
Apple releases iTunes 10.5.3
Along with today’s Education updates, Apple today released a new version of iTunes to allow the sync of interactive iBooks textbooks to your iPad and also presumably to add new features for iBooks 2.0 and updated iTunes U program. On my install the 107MB download took an addition 257MB of storage space. Get downloading folks.
What’s new in iTunes 10.5.3
iTunes 10.5.3 allows you to sync interactive iBooks textbooks to your iPad. These Multi-Touch textbooks are available for purchase from the iTunes Store on your Mac or from the iBookstore included with iBooks 2 on your iPad.
iBooks textbooks are created with iBooks Author — now available as a free download on the Mac App Store
For information on the security content of this update, please visit: support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
iTunes 10.5.3 requirements…
Jan 19 2012
Reinventing Textbooks: Apple unveils iBooks 2, a brand new textbook experience for iPad
Apple executives took the stage at its education event at the Guggenheim museum in New York City this morning, where the company unveiled two education initiatives. #1: Reinventing Textbooks with iBooks 2 and #2: iBooks Author, an e-book authoring tool for Mac.
As expected, VP of Productivity Software and iWork Roger Rosner took the stage immediately following the announcement to demo iBooks 2. Rosner launched a biology textbook starting with a dramatic intro video and continued to show off the features of the interactive textbook including interactive 3D models, improved index with page number search, index links back into the book, and the ability to pinch to get to table of contents. Rosner also showed of how the textbooks have different layouts depending on whether you are in landscape or portrait mode.
Jan 19 2012
iPad already has 20,000 education and learning apps, says Apple
Apple’s education event is underway at New York City’s Guggenheim Museum, where Phil Schiller, the company’s vice president of worldwide marketing, provided an update on key metrics related to Apple’s education business. Remarking that the United States “is not at the top of industrialized nations,” Schiller said: “If you’re a freshman, you only have a 70 percent chance of graduating.”
After playing a video that outlined the problem with U.S. education today, Schiller said “no one person or company” could fix it all. Apple, of course, will try. The basis for such an ambitious undertaking, of course, is the iPad, which Schiller said was No. 1 on kids wish lists this holiday season. The goal is to help integrate the iPad into the curriculum.
However, the iPad is already strong in education. Here are some interesting metrics:
Jan 19 2012
Apple Education Event NYC
(refresh for updates)
McGraw Hill CEO Terry ..wait for it.. McGraw is in attendance.
10:00am: Schiller time! “We’re proud to help students learn”…and “Students are being introducd to the iPad”
10:03: “In general Education is in the dark ages”
10:05: 20,000 EDU apps on iPad. Many more in iBookstore
10:07: 1.5M iPads used in Education.
10:08: “Reinventing Textbooks”
10:09: How do textbooks measure up? Content amazing but portability and durability are bad.
image via the Verge
10:10: Roger Rosner on hand to demo iBooks 2 (tip from earlier) demonstration: 3D model in the midel of textbook that kids can rotate.
10:15: Finger as highlighter, change color, etc. all taken to area called “Notes”
10:18 Glossery terms turn into digital flash cards. With Shuffle.
10:20 in the iBookstore there is a new category called “textbooks”
10:21: Schiller back, “That is iBooks 2″
Live now http://itunes.apple.com/us/collection/textbooks/id27820?fcId=493406756&mt=11
10:23: New Mac App called “iBooks Author” Includes Templates (as you’d expect). Very iWorky interface.
10:25: Interactive graphics widgets. Import from other iWork applications. ”Interactive Experiences without any programming necessary” However to do complex stuff, Javascript and HTML5 work too.
10:28: “Publishing to the iBookstore is very simple” but also preview on iPad button which sends to connected iPad.
10:30 Not just for TextBooks but publishing all kinds of Books.
10:32 iBooks publisher is available today for Free
10:35: Textbooks are available today as well from all different types of vendors and for different levels of students for $14.99/ea. PEarson, McGraw Hill, Houghton Mifflin etc.
10:37: Not just about high school. Apple worked with DK Publishing for beautiful K-6 books.
10:40: Showing video
10:45: There seem to be a few takeaway themes here: This is all free (except the textbooks which are cheaper and a much better value). This will engage children thereby improving learning. Publishers make great content and are on board (3 big companies represent 90% of textbooks). Lots of heartwarming stories.
10:47: Eddie Cue is up for part 2… iTunes U.
10:48: 700M downloads from iTunes U.
10:49 new iTunes U app…with dark wood bookshelf (IVY league, not Busch League)
10:50 Students and teachers communicate over this. RIP Blackboard. (College professors are all high fiving each other right now)
10:51 Whole curriculum in one app. All organized. Need some materials buy from iTunes.
10:53: Universities are using iTunes around the world already. Now K-12 can sign up for iTunes U as well.
10:55: Phil is back: Repeats that Apple exists between Liberal Arts and Technology and its roots in Education go all the way back to the Apple II.
10:56 That’s it, signing off.
Jan 19 2012
Apple’s textbook announcement later today, new iOS/Mac software rumored
Apple’s Education announcement is later today at the Guggenheim in New York City and we will be covering it live. We have so far heard that it is education related and Apple’s iWork lead Roger Rosner is involved in what seems to be textbook creation and distribution tools. Moreover, leading textbook publisher McGraw Hill will be involved, according to various reports.
Long time Apple watcher Jason O’Grady from ZDNet said he heard that some software is on tap today including Pages ’12 with support for publishing to iBookStore, an iBooks 2 app that will also work on Macs with Lion and Textbook rentals. The event’s happenings are to be announced by Eddie Cue with help from Roger Rosner. All rumors seem plausible but uncertain.
O’Grady treats these topics as speculation on ZDNet, so it is not certain how much weight he placed in the newest claim.
Perhaps most interesting, Steve Jobs seems to have talked about Apple’s involvement in textbooks —perhaps pre-empting today’s announcement— in his official biography released late last year:
In fact Jobs had his sights set on textbooks as the next business he wanted to transform. He believed it was an $8 billion a year industry ripe for digital destruction. He was also struck by the fact that many schools, for security reasons, don’t have lockers, so kids have to lug a heavy backpack around. “The iPad would solve that,” he said. His idea was to hire great textbook writers to create digital versions, and make them a feature of the iPad. In addition, he held meetings with the major publishers, such as Pearson Education, about partnering with Apple. “The process by which states certify textbooks is corrupt,” he said. “But if we can make the textbooks free, and they come with the iPad, then they don’t have to be certified. The crappy economy at the state level will last for a decade, and we can give them an opportunity to circumvent that whole process and save money.”
Jobs had a much harsher view of the education “industry” in a 1996 interview, which we reported yesterday.
For what it is worth, our sources told us: “Don’t get your hopes up for anything consumer oriented.”
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