Gossips
iPhone Nano and Major MobileMe Overhaul This Summer?
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According to the well-informed Wall Street Journal Apple is currently working on an iPhone that is half the size of the iPhone 4 and a major MobileMe overhaul for release this summer. The report is following up on Bloomberg’s report about a smaller iPhone but adds some new details such as the device’s “N97″ codename and size.
The WSJ also claims the new, smaller iPhone will be available “at about half the price of Apple’s main line of iPhones.” The smaller iPhone is said to be sold alongside Apple’s main line of phones so maybe this summer’s lineup will be the iPhone 5 at $199/$299, iPhone 4 at $99 and iPhone nano at $49. This new iPhone will be lighter and will have an “edge-to-edge” screen (no home button?!), and have voice-based navigation
The report also claims Apple is “exploring a major overhaul of its MobileMe online storage service.” MobileMe is said to become a free “locker” for all of your personal media like photos and videos. This would allow Apple to provide less physical storage on their mobile devices and pull all your media from the cloud. They also claim the new MobileMe revamp was due for release last year and will allow users to stream their iTunes libraries to their phones so they won’t need to actually sync through the iTunes desktop application. The report also says Apple is working on an update to their main iPhone (iPhone 4) and Steve Jobs declined to comment via email.
Perhaps this is Apple’s North Carolina data center’s true purpose in life. The report also claims MobileMe could tie into Apple’s rumored cloud-based music service. Steve Jobs said in a customer email that MobileMe would get a lot better this year.
On a final note, the report claims that both products are tracking summer 2011 launches (probably a WWDC launch) and Steve Jobs has made them his top priority. There will possibly more details about this story, so be sure to check back later today for updates.
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Apple To Launch Smaller, Cheaper iPhone?
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It’s definitely not as big and as old an Apple rumor as the Verizon iPhone was, but we’ve heard speculation about Apple releasing a second, smaller iPhone “nano,” just like they did for the iPod.
We’re hearing this rumor again thanks to Bloomberg, who reports that sources familiar with the matter, confirmed to them that Apple is prepping a second, smaller iPhone:
One version would be cheaper and smaller than the most recent iPhone, said a person who has seen a prototype and asked not to be identified because the plans haven’t been made public. Apple also is developing technology that makes it easier to use the iPhone on multiple wireless networks, two people said.
Apparently cheaper, or about $200 without a contract, this new handset would be aimed at Android, which is available in many different form factors, and is often cheaper than the iPhone. Apparently it’s not a done deal:
While Apple has aimed to unveil the device near mid-year, the introduction may be delayed or scrapped, the person said. Few Apple employees know the details of the project, the person said. Apple often works on products that do not later get released.
The prototype was about one-third smaller than the iPhone 4, said the person, who saw it last year.
Bloomberg’s story goes on and rehashes many other rumors we’ve been hearing, such as the universal SIM and dual GSM/CDMA capability.
All in all, this sounds really fishy. We know that Apple doesn’t even want to release a smaller iPad, as apparently the user experience is poor on smaller screens. We’d believe the same thing applies to smart phones. Yet, HP/Palm recently released a smaller form factor smart phone, so who knows, maybe that’s where the industry is going?
[via: appadvice]
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Apple goes HTML5
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Apple has relaunched its entire website with a new design using HTML5, adding a darker, glossy navigation bar and speedy new animated page layouts for Mac and iPod pages.
The redesign officially upgrades the site from “HTML 4.01 Transitional” to the latest HTML5, enabling such elements as a dynamically resized search field in the navigation bar that enlarges to accommodate search terms, as well as adding richer support for mobile features.
The new Mac section debuts a new “product slider” interface, which animates a series of icons depicting the families of Mac products, Apple’s desktop applications, accessories, and server related products.
A similarly animated iPod section presents iPod models and accessories, as well as a panel of “iTunes and more,” which includes links to download iTunes, purchase gift cards, and special sections for Nike+iPod, (Product)RED, MobileMe, and headphones.
Apple goes HTML5
Apple has been a big proponent of HTML5, with the company’s supported WebKit open source project not only working to follow the specification but actively contributing toward it as well.
Last week, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) introduced a new HTML5 logo (depicted above) intended to promote visibility of the next generation of web technologies now being rolled out in modern browsers, using the “HTML5″ brand to refer both to the HTML5 specification itself as well as serving as a “general-purpose visual identity for a broad set of open web technologies, including CSS, SVG, WOFF and others.”
This announcement was received with scorn by many web purists who were upset that the public might be further confused by the semantic and technical blurring of simplified branding, rather than knowing the actual role played by each different web technology. This prompted the W3C to restate that the new logo “represents HTML5, the cornerstone for modern Web applications.”
HTML5?
Within the same news cycle, the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG), a team designated by the W3C to maintain the emerging HTML5 specification, announced that it would now be referring to HTML5 as simply HTML, because the specification would now be regarded as a “living specification” that constantly evolves, rather than being a designated version number going through a much more formal process of drafts and recommendations.
This change erupted in more controversy from those who saw it as either a feud between the two groups or a simply a confusing miscommunication on overall strategy. However, the HTML5 brand actually has little to do with the way HTML is presented as a specification.
Additionally, those complaining about the lack of an ongoing version number seem to assume that the WHATWG is compiling a specification that browser makers follow. In reality, such an effort would fail just as many other attempts by standards bodies to tell the industry how to work have, including the ISO’s Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) protocol suite (rejected in favor of the industry lead and more practical TCP/IP) or the W3C’s own XHTML 2.0, an intellectual exercise maintained between 2002 and 2009 and virtually ignored by browser makers.
When the W3C started over to create a more practical, precise and functional new version of HTML, it began working closely with Apple, Mozilla, Opera, Google, Microsoft and the parties to make sure the standard reflected what vendors wanted to and were willing to do, rather than trying to mandate impractical ideas that would never be supported by the browsers people actually used.
It’s Already Been Broughten!
The result, HTML5, was originally scheduled to publish a “candidate recommendation” by 2012, with at least two “100% complete and fully interoperable implementations.” Ian Hickson, editor of the HTML5 specification, once said HTML5 was likely to be finished around 2022. These dates were frequently used by opponents of portions of HTML5, including Flash maker Adobe, to create fear, uncertainty and doubt about whether HTML5 would ever be completed, with the suggestion that everyone should just remain content with using Flash to build dynamic content.
The new shift in viewing HTML5 as simply the latest iteration of HTML means there’s no reason to wait around for perfect compliance from every browser, something that still has yet to happen for even the decade old HTML 4.01. Instead, it motivates browser makers and web developers to use the specification that now exists to build real products, constantly evolving both along with the specification to deliver the best technologies as they become available.
[via: appleinsider]
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Are You Ready For Two More ‘Matrix’ Movies?!
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Do you have the appetite for two more Matrix films? For me the answer to that question would hinge on whether the new movies were more like the first film or the latter two. Regardless, there’s some vague chance we might see more movies in the series. While appearing at the London School of the Performing Arts, Keanu Reeves said he recently met with the Wachowskis, who have written a treatment for two more Matrix movies.
Before we get into the Matrix news, Keanu Reeves also said that the Robin Hood re-telling Hood was still in the works from the Wachowskis and that Will Smith had agreed to star, as per previous reports. And he says that Bill and Ted 3 is actively moving along and that he’s committed to it. Now for the Matrix.
Here’s what the actor said in London, via an email sent to AICN:
Says he met the Wachowski’s (no emphasis on the word brothers), for lunch over Christmas and stated that they had completed work on a two picture script treatment that would see him return to the world of the matrix as Neo. Says the brothers have met with Jim Cameron to discuss the pro’s and con’s of 3D and are looking to deliver something which has never been seen again. keanu stated that he still has an obligation to the fans to deliver a movie worthy of the title “The Matrix” and he swears this time that the treatment will truly revolutionise the action genre like the first movie. Wachowski’s are working on a movie called “Cloud Atlas” at the moment, once that concludes they will talk again.
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