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Tag: ipad

  • New iPad Available In Twelve More Countries Friday

    The new iPad’s march around the world continues this week as the iPad is set to hit stores in 12 more countries on Friday, April 20th. This latest release rounds out the iPad’s availability in Europe and Asia, while also bringing the device to the Caribbean, Latin America, and more. Here’s the full list of countries: South Korea, Brunei, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malaysia, Panama, St. Maarten, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

    The new iPad launched in the U.S. on Friday, March 16th. As usual, the launch drew massive crowds to Apple stores, though this time around Apple did a much better job of meeting demand. In addition to the U.S., the iPad also hit stores in nine other countries – the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and Switzerland, as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

    A week later, the iPad landed in 25 more countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

    Friday’s launch will bring the new iPad to a total of 47 countries around the world. The following Friday, April 27th, will see the iPad hit an additional nine countries, bringing the total to 56: Colombia, Estonia, India, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, South Africa, and Thailand.

    Unfortunately, however, most of them will not be able to access one of the iPad’s flagship features. As Apple reiterates in today’s announcement, “4G LTE is supported only on AT&T and Verizon networks in the U.S. and on Bell, Rogers and Telus networks in Canada.” Confusion on that point has gotten Apple into some trouble in countries where the iPad is not compatible with local 4G networks. The company even had to issue refunds in Australia to customers who felt they’d been deceived by advertising that emphasized the iPad’s 4G capabilities.

  • iPad 2 Quietly Gets A Processor Upgrade

    When Apple unveiled their new iPad early last month, they also announced that last year’s model, the iPad 2, would be getting a reduction in price. Each model of iPad 2 got a $100 price reduction in the wake of the new iPad announcement, dropping the price for the lowest-end model, the 16GB Wi-fi only version – down to $399.

    This is pretty standard practice for Apple: a new product comes out at the same price points as the previous model, and the previous model gets a price cut. That’s why you could get an iPhone 3GS for free with a two-year contract after the iPhone 4S launched last year. What Apple doesn’t do, however, is upgrade the old versions. Except this time, that’s exactly what they did.

    It seems that the iPad 2 models that are currently rolling off the production line have a slightly more energy-efficient processor the A5 chip that has been in the tablet since it launched last year. This modified version of the A5 is the same chip that’s found in the new third-gen Apple TV that launched alongside the new iPad.

    According to AnandTech’s Brian King, who first made the discovery, the updated A5 chip is the same design as the old one, but “ported” to Samsung’s new 32nm HKMG manufacturing process. The result is a chip that performs almost identically to the old version, but does it with somewhat improved energy efficiency. For the end user, then, the upgrade doesn’t necessarily mean much, except that those who get the latest version of the iPad 2 may see slightly better battery performance than those who have the older version.

    Meanwhile, Chipworks confirmed the presence of the new chip inside the iPad 2 in the simplest way possible: they took one apart and looked. Here’s what the chip looks like:

    Enhanced A5 chip

    While they suspect that a similar change has been made in more recently-produced models of the iPhone 4S, they have not yet managed to confirm that.

  • Google Takes Aim At Low-end Tablet Market

    The release of Google’s first quarter earnings report brought a lot of interesting news.The company announced a dividend and stock split. Also, Google’s first quarter revenue was $10.65 billion, up 24% over the first quarter of 2011. While cost-per-click was down 12% over the first quarter of 2011 and 6% over the previous quarter, CEO Larry Page said that he was “very bullish” on the matter, and that he expected CPCs to improve over time.

    During the question-and-answer section of yesterday’s earnings call – which Seeking Alpha has helpfully transcribed – Page fielded some questions about Google’s plans for the Android tablet market. In December Eric Schmidt gave hints of a Google tablet that would compete with the iPad. Subsequent rumors, however, have suggested that this Google-branded tablet would instead be aimed at the Kindle Fire and other, similar tablets, rather than as a direct challenge to Apple’s iPad hegemony.

    Page’s remarks yesterday appear to confirm those reports. When asked about Google’s long-term strategy with Android tablets, Page talked mostly about “lower-priced tablets that run Android.” Though he did not specifically mention the rumored Google tablet or any competing products like the iPad or the Kindle Fire, he did hint that Google would be aiming for the low-end tablet market: “we definitely believe that there’s going to be a lot of success at the lower end of the market as well with lower-priced products that will be very significant. And it’s definitely an area we think is important and we’re quite focused on.”

    In other words, Google isn’t necessarily looking to knock Apple off it’s perch atop the tablet market just yet. The iPad currently holds upwards of 60% of the tablet market, with the makers of various Android-based tablets scrabbling for a distant second. Google is smart enough to know that no matter how spectacular their tablet is going to be, it’s unlikely to dominate the Android tablet market so thoroughly as to present a real challenge to the iPad for awhile yet.

  • Brazilian City Names a Street after Steve Jobs

    In Jundlai, Brazil you can now take a stroll down Steve Jobs Avenue, or in Portuguese, Avenida Steve Jobs. The city offering tribute to the late venture capitalist is home to a Foxconn plant, which is located not far from the newly dubbed avenue.

    Mayor Miquel Haddad finally passed the name change in a city council meeting last month, Apple Insider is reporting. The name change was first proposed the day after Steve Job’s death.

    Haddad chose the particular street because it feeds into the Anhanguera Highway, the street on which a Foxconn facility is located. The manufacturing plant produced iPhones and is rumored to have started making iPads to be sold later this year.

    (image)

    Time Cook has said the Brazil will experience “major growth” in the next few years. Brazil, a major Apple consumer, has notoriously high import tariffs. Having a plant in a domestic locale may be a key component in keeping prices low. It also helps that the manufacturer has been granted tax reductions and exemptions by the government to keep production local.

    Apple Insider notes that a lot of posthumus awards have been given to Jobs recently, including a slightly larger than life size bronze statue dedicated by Hungarian software company Graphisoft, for whom Jobs was a huge benefactor.

    (image)

  • Google Currents Goes International

    Google Mobile’s blog just Google+Mobile+Blog%29″ target=”_blank”>announced that Google Currents, the magazine app of Android and iOS, has gone global. The app presently hosts over 400 Currents Editions, as well as 14,000 independent sources of content.

    Google Currents 1.1 is now international, and now more easily syncs content. Upon opening each edition, new content automatically appears, which reduces bandwidth, storage and battery use of a user’s phone or tablet, and fully packaged editions can be designated for offline reading, when a user gets on a plane. This optimization of battery consumption is more relevant than ever, with Apple’s retina displays requiring more power.

    Publishers now have the Google Translate feature at their disposal, and can post their content via Google Currents Producer. Here’s a shot of the interface:

    google currents

    With the new global features, publishers and readers have 38 languages at their disposal, and users can keep up with Italian sports pages like Corriere dello Sport, or read Scientific American in Yiddish. Below is a screen shot of the German soccer site kicker.de:

    google currents

    Google Currents 1.1 is available at Google Play or the Apple App Store. Some editions persently offered include Popular Science, Scientific American, Space.com, Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, Surfer, Harvard Business Review, Inc., Celebuzz, HollywoodLife, Now magazine, TMZ, Men’s Health, Yoga Journal, Colossal, Dwell, The Atlantic, PRI, Slate, etc.

  • Tablets Are Changing How We Watch TV

    Tablets Are Changing How We Watch TV

    The advent of the tablet has changed the way we do many things. Tablets allow us to surf the web, play games, check email, and consume media in ways – and places – that were once much more complicated. One of the more recent and unexpected use of tablets, though, has been as a second screen when we’re watching our TVs.

    According to a recent report from Forrester, 85% of tablet owners use their devices while watching TV. What’s more, 30% of all tablet use is done while watching TV. Tablets allow users to enhance their TV watching experience in a variety of ways. Apps like GetGlue let you share what you’re watching with friends, while Miso shows you content related to what you’re watching on your TV. Even apps like IMDB and Wikipedia can come into play: how often have you seen an actor on the screen and wondered what else they’ve played in?

    The report also found that 18% of tablet owners take advantage of their devices’ ability to connect to their living room TV via HDMI or VGA cable, a feature that is available on the iPad 2 and new iPad, as well as on several models of Android tablet. In fact, these users are more likely to turn to their tablet than the built-in features of their “Smart TV” for certain kinds of content.

    Interestingly, the study also found that tablets are taking a bite out of the market for smallers (24 inches or less) TVs. Nearly a third – 32% – of tablet owners said they would not be buying such a TV in the future. These same tablet owners, however, said that they watched more video than before they bought their tablets. They also said that they used their tablets to watch video in the kinds of places they had never been able to do so before, including the kitchen, the bathroom, airports, and more.

    When Tim Cook introduced the new iPad last month, he talked a lot about the iPad’s role in what he called the “post-PC era,” for which the iPad was the “poster child.” While it would certainly not be accurate to talk about the iPad’s role in a post-TV era (a 10-inch screen will never beat a 40-inch screen, no matter how many pixels you cram in), this report suggests that the rise of the tablet has had a major impact on how we watch TV.

    What do you think? Do you have your tablet with you when you watch TV? What about your smartphone? What do you think of the second screen experience? Do you use your tablet to watch TV in places you couldn’t before? Tell us about it in the comments.

  • Tech Corruption in China [Infographic]

    A new chart illustrates the love/hate relationship China has with technology. Having the largest internet user base in the world, along with a country-wide firewall, China has been at odds with the internet, as well as all sorts of corruption surrounding counterfeit technology, product knock-offs, cybercrime, etc.

    Shanzhai, the Chinese outfit that copies Apple products, and maker of the D-Pad and the E-Pad, is blamed for taking part in cutting into 2.1 million U.S. jobs, at a loss of $48 billion in legitimate sales. So far, 22 completely fake Apple stores have been uncovered in China, featuring employees that actually believe their paychecks are coming from Cupertino, and there is no word on whether the fronts are selling real iOS products, Shanzhai knock-offs or straight counterfeits. And, the fact that Chinese counterfeiters operate so freely goes to show that the country’s intellectual property laws are a bit more loose than those in the U.S.

    Chinese users of its version of Facebook presently outnumber the entire population of the United States, and cybercrime is rampant – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was hacked in 2010, promopting many companies to disallow employees visiting China from bringing mobile devices along, for fear of information being compromised.

    Hat tip to Web Hosting Geeks

  • Tablet Sales Projected to Hit 120 Million in 2012

    Data from a new study by Gartner shows that worldwide tablet device sales are projected to hit almost 120 million in 2012. To be precise, 119 million tablets are expected to be sold – roughly double that of the 60 million shipped in 2011.

    tablet sales

    Before I go on, I am really impressed with Gartner’s total tablet market figure of 60,017118,883182,457369,258. I assume this number will account for all of the tablets that will be sold across the galaxy, through Q3, 2431.

    Not surprisingly, Apple’s iPad is expected to make up 73 million in sales this year, and reach 170 million by 2016 – and while Android will achieve roughly half the sales of the iPad in 2012, the Google OS will be realistically competing with iPad by 2016. Microsoft’s Windows 8 is predicted to move a little under 5 million units in 2012, but the OS isn’t expected to launch until October. QNX powered tablets will slowly advance to roughly 18 million units sold by 2016.

    With Microsoft tablets expected to achieve 11.8 percent of global sales by 2016, Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner, had this to say regarding Windows 8 – “IT departments will see Windows 8 as the opportunity to deploy tablets on an OS that is familiar to them and with devices offered by many enterprise-class suppliers. This means that we see Windows 8 as a strong IT-supplied offering more so than an OS with a strong consumer appeal.” This essentially means that Microsoft’s foray into the tablet market might be a little more difficult to predict, as Windows 8 might be seen as a bit more business-oriented than other tablets, which have been historically designed to cater more toward consumers.

  • Max Payne Released for Apple’s App Store

    Max Payne Released for Apple’s App Store

    With the anticipation building for Max Payne 3, Rockstar has released the original Max Payne for Apple’s touch devices. The game is now available in the App Store for $2.99, a good price for such a classic game.

    When the original Max Payne was released over a decade ago, its dark story and creative gameplay made it an instant favorite among fans and critics. The game was the first to feature a “bullet time” mechanic, allowing players to slow down gameplay and recreate the visual style exhibited in the movie The Matrix. The game’s story was like something out of a Scorsese movie: Max Payne is an undercover cop on the run, trying to avenge his murdered family and clear his name of a crime he was framed for.

    Max Payne for iOS devices is supported on iPhones 3GS and above, the iPod Touch 4, and all generations of iPad. The game does, unfortunately, feature controls that requires players to have their fingers all over the on-screen action, though Rockstar does list “highly customizable controls” in the App Store feature list. Other features of the mobile version include HD quality resolution and textures, multiple aiming modes, and integration with the “Rockstar Social Club,” which allows users to track stats and unlock cheats for the game.

    Take a look at the game in action below. Unfortunately, the game’s graphics probably won’t match up to the way you remember them:

  • Watch as Apple’s iPad is Manufactured

    In the wake of the This American Life debacle, Foxconn, the company in Shenzhen, China that manufactures Apple products, has been on quite a PR kick to show that their working conditions are humane. This past month Apple’s new CEO Tim Cook visited Foxconn facilities in China. In the same week, workers at Foxconn were given assurances their wages would grow and they would work less hours.

    Foxconn has even allowed a reporter onto their factory floor, only the second ever. Rob Schmitz recalls his journey through the sprawling factory-city, on American Public Media’s Marketplace:

    The first misconception I had about Foxconn’s Longhua facility in the city of Shenzhen was that I’ve always called it a ‘factory’ — technically, it is. But after you enter the gates and walk around, you quickly realize that it’s also a city — 240,000 people work here. Nearly 50,000 of them live on campus in shared dorm rooms. There’s a main drag lined on both sides with fast-food restaurants, banks, cafes, grocery stores, a wedding photo shop, and an automated library. There are basketball courts, tennis courts, a gym, two enormous swimming pools, and a bright green astroturf soccer stadium smack-dab in the middle of campus. There’s a radio station — Voice of Foxconn — and a television news station. Longhua even has its own fire department, located right on main street. This is not what comes to mind when you think “Chinese factory.”

    Schmitz goes on to talk about the netting that surrounds the roofs of the complex, placed there to deter suicides. He interviews workers, who say the conditions aren’t as bad as some Americans seem to believe. They do have complaints, but they don’t strike me as too much different than the complaints employees at a large Walmart in the Midwest U.S. might have.

    The most fascinating part of Schmitz’s report is the video he shot of an iPad being constructed. The most surprising thing, to me, is that the iPad is almost completely handmade. It makes the $500 price tag look pretty good when you see the care that is taken to assemble all of those expensive components:

    (via Marketplace)

  • FAA To Broaden iPad Use, Explore Android Tablets

    The FAA plans to expand the use of iPads by its employees, according to a recent report. The agency is planning to develop its own apps and even its own app store. It will also look into adding Android tablets as well.

    According to a report from AVWeb, the FAA has roughly 1,100 iPads in the hands of employees. While employees are currently barred from using their iPads to access official FAA networks, they are permitted to use them for email, as well as for using several custom apps produced by the FAA. The iPads have proven particularly useful to mechanics and lawyers. Mechanics can use the tablets to access technical manuals and to file parts requests. Use of iPads instead of desktop computers allows them to save time and increase efficiency. Likewise, tablets allow FAA attorneys to access files and record more quickly and easily. The FAA already has its own custom apps designed to cater to the needs of each group.

    In light of the usefulness of iPads for productivity and efficiency, the FAA is planning to “broadly expand” its use of tablets. The agency said that by 2014, employees will have the option to replace their laptops with iPads or Android tablets.

    Apple’s iOS platform is gaining a significant amount of traction with both government agencies and private businesses. In recent months the NOAA, the ATF, and Halliburton have all made the decision to switch from RIM’s BlackBerry platform to iOS, while the NSA has designed its own hyper-secure Android smartphone.

    The report was not clear on whether FAA employees would be allowed to supply their own iPad (or Android tablet) or if they would be furnished by the agency.

  • Yahoo Updates Livestand

    Yahoo’s Mobile Blog announced today that it’s releasing a revamped version of Livestand, its interactive magazine app for iPad. The changes include a new layout and retooled navigation features.

    livestand revamp

    General Livestand updates include the addition of an auto log-in, which allows users to pick up reading where they left off, a new user-tutorial and improved article presentation featuring full images.

    Specific updates include:

    A redesigned My Library experience: A pull-down feature provides an at-a-glance view of the latest headlines.

    Enhanced options for adding new topics to Library: New publications tagged appear directly in your Library, making it even easier to see all the new, fresh content at your fingertips.

    MyYahoo! and Google Reader: Tracking all your favorite sites and blogs can now be done with the integrated MyYahoo! or Google Reader feature. A few simple taps will bring all your feeds into your Livestand library.

    Yahoo’s Livestand was launched as a Flipboard competitor last fall, along with AOL’s Editions. So far, the app has been doing well for the company, which is good news, in light of Yahoo’s woes of late. CEO Scott Thompson has recently released a letter to employees to better map out Yahoo’s direction while restructuring. All Things D posted a copt of the memo here.

  • Tablet Sales To Hit 119 Million In 2012

    Tablet Sales To Hit 119 Million In 2012

    When Tim Cook took the stage to announce the new iPad on March 7th, he spent some time talking about the post-PC era, for which Apple’s iPad was the “poster child.” In the two short years since Apple basically created the tablet market with the launch of the original iPad, tablets have become a major player in the personal computing market.

    The prominence of tablets in this post-PC era is only going to increase, according to a recent report by Gartner. According to the report, tablet sales in 2012 will reach almost 119 million units across all models, of which Apple’s iPad will account for almost 73 million units. What’s more, those numbers will only go up in coming years, if Gartner’s forecast is correct. They project tablet sales to reach 182 million next year, and a staggering 369 million – over a third of a billion tablets – by 2016.

    Apple, Android, Windows Tablet sales through 2016

    Interestingly, they project that Android tablets will grow to rival – but not surpass – the iPad. As you can see from the chart above, the projection for 2016 shows Apple maintaining a solid lead in the tablet market, with Android coming in a relatively close (i.e., 30 million fewer units) second. They attribute this to the current lack of tablet-optimized Android apps. While Android has done enormously well as a smartphone platform, its performance as a tablet platform has lagged behind somewhat. Gartner foresees that changing in the coming years as the Android tablet app ecosystem improves.

    They also project decent performance for the forthcoming Windows 8 tablet market. They project Windows 8 tablets selling a modest (but respectable) 4.8 million units after their launch this sometime this year, with Windows 8 surpassing 2011-level iPad sales in 2016.

    What do you think of Gartner’s projections? Will Android ever pass Apple in the tablet market? Will Windows 8 tablets be a success? Let us know in the comments.

  • Apple’s Market Cap Briefly Passes $600 Billion

    Apple’s market capitalization surged past $600 billion briefly this morning as its stock price passed $640 per share. A tumble in stock price around noon sent the market cap back down, and it’s currently sitting at just over $590 billion.

    Despite dips and the occasional mini-crash, Apple’s stock has been an a sharp upward trend in recent months. In late February Apple surpassed $500 billion in market value, widening the gap between itself and Exxon Mobil, the world’s second most valuable company, to roughly $100 billion. Over the next few weeks, the company’s stock hit several new records, breaking $600 per share in mid-March.

    Apple’s stock price peaked at $643 at just after 10:00 this morning, with its market cap breaking $600 billion. It declined slightly from there until just before noon, when it began to drop sharply, bottoming out at $629 just after noon. The current price is $631 per share.

    Apple's Stock Price

    The late morning dip notwithstanding, it’s a fair bet that Apple’s stock will continue to rise as they continue to debut new products. Rumors abound of an iPad Mini and an iTV on the way. Meanwhile the next iPhone is definitely coming sometime later this year, and may even push Apple’s stock price up past $1,000.

  • Apple May Change the English Language With the IPad

    Did you know that aspirin was once a brand name? So was heroin, the escalator, thermos, yo-yo, and the zipper. All were new products at one time or another, and all of them became so engrained in American culture and our collective lexicon that they were deemed too generic to be referred to as brands anymore.

    Branding experts are saying Apple may be in the same boat with the iPad. The product has come to represent the epitome of the tablet PC. So much so, that people may refer to any similar product as an iPad from here on out.

    Brands fight for this kind of recognition all the time, and it comes with both good and bad consequences. Brand recognition is the obvious plus. Most brands would kill to become a household name like Apple, or the iPad. But the drawback is brand deterioration. With the name iPad being used for every tablet computer, customers can develop negative connotations about it, simply by the name being associated with a less quality product.

    It’s a Catch-22 (Ironically, most people use that term without thinking of the book by Joseph Heller). Brands want to be a household name, but they don’t want to become so popular that the name loses all association to the company. How often do you ask someone for a Band-Aid and immediately think of Johnson & Johnson? Or ask someone for a Kleenex and think of Kimberly-Clark? Both of these names are trademarked, but rarely do they carry any significance for the company they represent when spoken about in daily life.

    And there is really no way of stopping it. Once a term catches on, you cannot control its growth. You can’t make people stop using iPad to describe other tablets.

    The biggest problem for these companies, Apple included, is if the name becomes so commonly used that they legally lose the trademark. At that point, any company can use the name as they please, on packaging, advertising, anything.

    Bayer lost the name for aspirin in the 20’s. B.F. Goodrich sued, and lost, to protect its trademark “zipper” around the same time. Otis Elevator Co. lost “escalator in 1950. Thermos LLC lost “thermos” in 1963. Imagine that, losing the branding of your company in the process.

    Some companies love the attention this kind of generic name use brings about. Experts say Google has greatly benefitted from people saying they are going to “Google something” when referring to conducting a web search. And it is uncommon for someone to say they are going to Google something, and then get on Yahoo or Bing.

    For good or bad, it seems that Apple is going to have to deal with this kind of recognition. So far they have done so without losing their brand. iPod is commonly used when referring to an MP3 player of another origin, and most people readily associate iPod with Apple. The company has yet to encounter legal troubles over the iPad name (in America anyway) and the case in China does not involve the generic use of the word. So far they have continued to dominate the tablet market, accounting for 73% of the estimated 64 billion sold worldwide, and with new and more popular versions coming out each year, it doesn’t like like that’s going to change.

  • New iPad Wi-Fi Problems Could Be Software Related

    I reported last week that Apple was now replacing new iPads that had issues with wireless reception. In a leaked memo it was made clear that Apple wanted the devices back so that it could investigate the cause of the issue. Until Apple discovers and acknowledges the cause of the issue we won’t know for sure what’s causing it, but at least one person has an opinion on the matter.

    Aaron Vronko, the CEO of a large Apple repair shop and supplier, thinks the problem could be a software issue. In an interview with Computerworld, Vronko stated that the problems were most likely not the iPad’s hardware. They quote Vronko: “If this was hardware related, it could almost certainly have to be an error in assembly or failure in the chip itself.”

    Vronko gets more specific, narrowing the likely cause to the way the new iPad handles its power management. With new components in the device, the wireless chip might not be getting all of the juice it needs to run well. From the interview:

    “[The Broadcom BCM4330 chip] boasts a new design including several new power-saving features,” said Vronko. “Wi-Fi can be a hungry customer in mobile devices and Apple knew that the new LCD and its requisite monster truck GPU would be guzzling battery juice. They had to go aggressive on performance per milliwatt on every other component.”

    If this is the case, then perhaps a well-tuned software update to the iPad could solve the problem. Perhaps a fine-tuning could even solve the heat issues that are also caused by how much power the new LED screen needs. If that is the case, then this whole saga of minor iPad problems could be over very soon.

    Have you experienced any of these iPad glitches or is you new iPad the best device ever created by man? Let me know in the comments below.

  • Chinese Kidney-For-iPad Case Sees Multiple Arrests

    Last June, we told you about the truly WTF case of a 17-year-old Chinese high-schooler who made some deals and eventually ended up in a hospital getting his kidney extracted by black market surgeons. He gave up the organ for money – which is shocking enough on its own.

    But it was the reason for wanting the money that really made you go “huh.” The boy told Chinese newspapers that he just wanted to buy an iPad 2, but lacked the proper funds.

    “I wanted to buy an iPad 2 but could not afford it. A broker contacted me on the Internet and said he could help me sell one kidney for 20,000 yuan,” he said.

    According to a Reuters report, it looks as though some charges have been filed in the case. The incident, which reportedly happened in April 2011, was still being investigated when we last told you about it. Now, five men have been charged with intentional injury – one of the five being the actual surgeon who allegedly performed the operation.

    Apparently, one of the men charged (the orchestrator, it seems) received 220,000 yuan (around $35,000) to make the whole thing happen. 22,000 yuan went to the boy himself, and he split up the rest among the surgeon and nurses who performed the surgery.

    When we last reported on the kid, we mentioned that his health was in decline. That hasn’t changed – he is currently suffering renal failure.

    Just a note: The surname that the Reuters report gives for the boy involved doesn’t match the surname given when the story broke last summer. Back then is was “Zheng,” and now the kid’s being called “Wang.” All of the other info matches up, however – including the timeframe, all the monetary amounts mentioned, the locations of the boy’s home as well as the hospital where the surgery took place. We’re assuming this is the same kid – as no other kidney for iPad stories have emerged in the past few months.

    What’s the craziest thing you would do for a piece of technology that you really wanted? Let us know in the comments.

  • Survey Shows E-Reading On The Rise

    A new study has found that Americans’ use of e-readers to read their books is on the rise. Over a fifth – 21% – of Americans have now read at least one e-book, and their popularity is growing, especially among avid readers.

    The Pew Internet survey polled 2,986 Americans aged 16 and up between November 16th and December 21st 2011. Follow-up surveys were conducted January 5th-8th and January 20th-February 19th in order to gauge the impact of the 2011 holiday season on the use of e-readers. The survey found that e-books are most popular among avid readers, and that e-book readers use a variety of devices to read their books, including tablets, smartphones, and dedicated e-readers like the e-ink Nook and Kindle.

    The survey also found that the 2011 holiday season had a significant impact on the use of e-readers. During the initial survey, only 17% of respondents said that they had read an e-book in the last year, compared to 21% after the holiday season. E-readers were apparently major Christmas gifts, as ownership of e-ink readers (like the Nook and the Kindle) jumped 9% from December to January. Ownership of tablets – including the iPad and the Kindle Fire – also jumped 9%, from 10% to 19% of respondents in both cases.

    Interestingly, e-book readers read more books in all formats than those who don’t read e-books. The average respondent who said they read e-books had read 24 books in any format in the past twelve months. Those who didn’t read e-books had read an average of 15 books during the same timeframe.

    There was no difference between tablet owners and owners of other e-reading devices in terms of the number of books read, but there were other differences. Women, whites, the well-educated, and those over 65 all reported reading more books in the past year than men, minorities, the less well-educated, and under 65 age groups.

    Interestingly, the use of e-readers appears to be a driving force in the increase of reading in general. Forty-one percent of tablet owners said they spend more time reading thanks to the increasing availability of e-content, while 35% of e-reader owners said the same. Overall, 42% of e-book readers say they read more than they used to. What’s more, this trend increases the longer you own an e-reading device (tablet or e-reader): 41% of those who have owned such a device for at least twelve months read more than they did before, while 35% of those who have owned their device for six months of fewer say the same. This is especially true of men under the age of 50.

    Even so, print books are not (yet) in danger of being overtaken by e-books as the preferred method of reading. Those who read e-books said that they prefer e-books for ease of access and portability, but when reading to children and sharing books with friends they still preferred printed books. The study also found, though, that 45% of people who are reading a book on a given day are reading an e-book. What’s more, they’re doing it on a variety of devices. Of those who read e-books, 41% said they use a dedicated e-reader like a Nook or Kindle, while 23% do so on a tablet like an iPad, Nook Tablet, or Kindle Fire. Also, 29% read on their smartphones (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Google all have apps that allow e-books to be read on smartphones as well as tablets). Perhaps most surprisingly, 42% of respondents said that they read e-books on their computer.

    E-books vs. Printed Books

    The survey also found some unfortunate news for libraries: the majority of book readers of all kinds preferred to buy their books rather than borrow them. Readers of e-books were more likely to feel this way: as 61% said they preferred to buy rather than borrow, while 54% of those who don’t read e-books preferred to buy. Conversely, only about a third (32%) of those who listen to audiobooks preferred to buy rather than borrow. The fact that audiobooks are usually considerably more expensive than their print or digital counterparts is likely a major factor in that.

    The full study can be found here.

    How do you read? Do you use an e-reader? A tablet? A smartphone? Or do you prefer printed books? Will e-books ever replace printed books? Let us know what you think in the comments.

  • Apple iBooks Vs. Traditional Textbooks [Infographic]

    Yes it is the digital age, but that doesn’t mean everything has to be digital. If you’re Apple however, it should be your mission to at least offer everything in a digital format and that’s pretty much what they do. One product which has been met with varying reviews is their iBook and a wide array of e-book reader options which seek to replace conventional textbooks.

    Recently Apple released their second incarnation of the iBook, but textbook are still out ranking iPads and iBooks as an excepted form of learning text by a very large margin. Of course change doesn’t happen overnight and there is certainly a lot more e-book readers available when compared with just a few years ago.

    The subject of this next infographic from WorldWideLearn.Com is the popularity of iBooks and a cost comparison between the device and traditional texts. It’s interesting what they found, and like I said, the numbers are changing everyday.

  • Apple Really Does Have A 7.85-inch iPad In The Works

    Though the iPad Mini has long been a creature of myth and legend – okay, maybe just rumor – there are increasingly reliable signs that point to the possibility that Apple may actually be working on a smaller version of their venerable iPad. Last month there were reports from a Samsung exec who claimed that his company would be producing the displays for a smaller iPad. Before that, there were reports that production of a 7.85-inch iPad Mini would begin sometime in the third quarter of 2012.

    Now there appears to be confirmation that the iPad Mini is in development, and this time from a much more reliable source. Speaking on The Talk Show with Dan Benjamin John Gruber of Daring Fireball confirmed that Apple does indeed have a 7.85-inch iPad in development, though he said it may never see the light of day.

    About an hour and eighteen minutes into the interview (which you can listen to by following the link above), Benjamin asked Gruber, “Is Apple coming out with a 7-inch iPad, and if not, why not?” Gruber discussed the issue at some length, but here’s his initial reply:

    Well, I don’t know. What i do know is that they have one in the lab. … [A] 7.85-inch ipad that runs at 1024×768 and you just get the 9.7-inch iPad shrunk down a little bit. Apps woulnd’t need to be recompiled or redesigned to work on it, it’s just the iPad smaller.

    It’s worth noting that this smaller iPad’s pixel dimensions – 1024×768 – are the same as those of the iPad 2, which means that the iPad Mini (or whatever they choose to call it) will have higher resolution than the iPad 2, but not a retina display. Gruber suggested that to to get an idea of what a 7.85-inch iPad would look like, you can take a screenshot of your iPad while it’s in portrait orientation, then when you view the screenshot, turn the iPad to landscape orientation. The smaler screenshot is roughly what a 7.85-inch iPad would look like. The iPad Mini’s height would be about the same as the current iPad’s width.

    He went on to say that there is currently no timeframe for shipment, and stressed that Apple may never ship the device at all. He reiterated Steve Jobs’s famous pronouncement that he was as proud of the products Apple didn’t release as he was of the products they did. The question Apple is asking themselves, he said, is not “why shouldn’t we release this?” it’s “why should we release this?”

    Gruber went on to speculate that the iPad Mini could conceivably be unveiled at WWDC during the summer, though he stressed that that is only speculation. He also spoke about the next iPhone, which he believes is now on a fall release schedule, and will not be coming during the summer any more. Historically, Apple has announced the iPhone at WWDC during the summer. Last year’s iPhone 4S was delayed until October, however. Though some have speculated that Apple would return to a summer release schedule with the next iPhone, it is generally agreed that Apple will maintain a twelve month window between releases and launch the next iPhone in September or October.

    What do you think? Would you by a 7.85-inch iPad? Do you think Apple will really relase one? Let us know in the comments.

    [Hat tip: MacRumors]

  • New iPads With Wi-Fi Issues Being Replaced by Apple

    It has been known for a while now that some new iPads have issues with low Wi-Fi reception. Now, 9 to 5 Mac has uncovered an internal AppleCare memo instructing employees to replace any new iPads brought in that exhibit symptoms related to poor Wi-Fi reception.

    According to the memo, Apple is currently in the process of investigating the cause of the problems. AppleCare employees are instructed to “capture” 3rd generation iPads so that Apple can determine the cause of the problem. Only those new iPads that are Wi-Fi-only are slated for “capture.” The memo lists the symptoms the affected devices may suffer from including intermittent connectivity, slow Wi-Fi speeds, and known Wi-Fi networks not being found by the iPad.

    The issue first came to light in a thread on the Apple Support Forums where users began trading anecdotes about their new iPads dropping from Wi-Fi or having lower Wi-Fi reception than their other devices, including previous-generation iPads.

    Regardless of the negative press the new iPad has gotten for its temperature and battery issues, users still seem to love the device. Millions of the devices have been sold and Consumer Reports recently ranked the new iPad first in its list of recommended tablets. Hardware bugs aren’t the only problems Apple faces at the moment, though, as consumer groups in countries with 4G networks that are incompatible with the new iPad have filed complaints against the company’s advertisements.

    Do you have an iPad with poor Wi-Fi reception? If so, after hearing this news are you headed down to the Apple Store today to receive your replacement? Let us know in the comments below.

    (image via 9 to 5 Mac)