Jake Smith

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csRitIxJre8]

Apple’s flagship Store in Hong Kong just opened in the IFC Center this morning (Hong Kong time). The new Store certainly seems like a pretty big deal to the locals who’ve been lined up for days.

Early this week we published pictures of the beautiful architecture at this new Store. Below, you’ll find some of the videos uploaded around the web showing the excitement in the air at launch:

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UPDATE [Monday, September 26, 2011 at 11:30am ET]: The Sammy Hub blog pointed out that Samsung has replaced all the wrong icons by an “S,” as seen in another image after the break.

Spotted by the folks over at CNET, an Italian Samsung store actually has Apple logos in the backdrop. You’ll noticed circled that there are App Store and Safari logos. Alright we’re just going to put this out there, Samsung — what the hell happened here? With all of the legal proceedings going underway, we’d think Samsung would try to step away from this kind-of thing.

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As noted by The Next Web, Twitter has announced two developer conferences coming up on October 12th, in New York and London, to discuss Twitter’s integration into iOS 5. Twitter’s Jason Costa describes the event:

There’s a lot going on in the ecosystem and we’d like to take this chance to share the highlights with you – including the latest developments with the platform, areas of opportunity that we’re seeing, and a heavy focus on the iOS 5 Twitter integration for developers. We’ll also be holding a Q&A session with members of the platform team, plus time to hang out with each other.

If rumors are true, these events will be shortly after the announcement of the iPhone 5 or/and iPhone 4S, and most likely after the release of iOS 5. There’s only 150 spots for developers, so grab your spot fast!
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Reuters is reporting that the Financial Time’s web app is more popular than their recently Apple-removed iOS app. You’ll recall that the Financial Times’ iOS app was removed by Apple, due to the publication trying to dodge Apple’s 30% cut regulation. Luckily for Financial Times, they’re not seeing any issues in traffic, getting more than 700,000 users on their newly launched web app. Financial Times is simply drawing in users by displaying a message at the top of their site, linking to their HTML 5 app.

So this draws the question — do publishers really need to have an iOS app on the Store? Maybe not.

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During an event this afternoon, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley stated that her office would begin looking into fraudulent purchases on the iTunes Store. Coakley herself was a victim of fraudulent purchases, after her credit card was stolen and used on the Store — reports ThreatPost.

Coakley said that her investment in protecting consumers from identity theft was personal, acknowledging that her bank account was emptied after cyber criminals stole her debit card information during a ski trip to New Hampshire. It was not the first time Coakley had mentioned the incident in public. After skimming the card info, Coakley said the thieves attempted to use it to purchase a laptop from Dell Computer, which detected the fraudulent transaction and contacted Coakley. Not so Apple, whose iTunes media store was used to make a slew of transactions that emptied the Attorney General’s account.

Coakley’s case is that while Dell was able to recognize that her credit card was stolen, iTunes wasn’t able to, and her card was then drained in a short amount of time from a huge amount of Store purchases. Coakley cites that these circumstances fall under the State’s data privacy law, and her cabinet will begin an investigation against Apple. A stumbling block however, is that it’s not clear whether Apple holds the credit card data (Apple often touts that they’ve got xx million credit cards on file) or that it just merely passes through without Apple’s knowledge according to the report.

It pays to work at Apple! As CNET mentions, Apple has begun testing a new program that lends iPads to Apple Store employees. The new program works like a library book: retail employees can take an iPad home for one week, but then have to return it for other co-workers to use. For now, this program is only taking place at the San Francisco Apple Store. But just wait, there is more coming with Apple Store employees and iPads.

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Last week, we posted a picture from the same vantage point of the un-opened flagship Hong Kong Apple Store at IFC Center. Today however, one of our wonderful tipsters has sent over a first look at the new Hong Kong Apple Store with the curtains taken down. As you can see, this Apple Store is looking absolutely beautiful!

In the inside, you’ll notice employees beginning their training for the grand opening this Saturday, September 24th. Notice that glass staircase running through the center?

Thanks Tim!

Check out the full gallery after the break:

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Qantas Airlines is beginning a six week trial program, offering passengers an iPad 2 for the duration of the flight to stream movies over in-flight Wi-Fi, reports AUSBT. Passengers will use a preloaded ‘Q Streaming’ app to view movies, streaming from one of five Wi-Fi access points available on the flight. The current six week trial will be taking place on one single Boeing 767-300, which carries up to 254 passengers. That’s a lot of iPads and interestingly, a whole Class C subnet. If everyone is streaming, will the 5 Wi-Fi hotspots be able to handle the traffic?

As the six week trial comes to an end, Qantas will begin offering the ‘Q Streaming’ app to passengers so they can download it on their own iOS device. If the six week trial is successful the airline will install iPad brackets in the seats, presumably across their whole fleet.

According to a posting on the Apple Developer boards this afternoon, Apple will be resetting iCloud Backup data on Thursday, September 22nd. We believe Apple is performing this reset for the release of iOS 5 GM, which will be released around the same time of the reset. iOS 5 GM will be the last release before iOS 5’s official debut in early October, like we previously reported. This reset doesn’t include data from mail, contacts, calendars, reminders, or bookmarks.

On Thursday, September 22, the iCloud Backup data will be reset. Backing up to iCloud or restoring from an iCloud backup will be unavailable from 9 AM PDT – 5 PM PDT. If you attempt a backup or restore during this time, you will receive an alert that the backup or restore was not successful. After this reset, you will be unable to restore from any backup created prior to September 22. A full backup will happen automatically the next time your device backs up to iCloud.

Along with iOS 5, we are hearing two new iPhones will be accompanying it, and will be announced in late September and available for purchase October 7th-ish. Check out last week’s post for all the details.

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Engadget says that a white “iPhone 4s” – note the lowercase status of the “s” – has appeared in an internal AT&T system. “4s” is of course close to the “iPhone 4S” nomenclature we coined within our story about Apple seeding A5-equipped iPhones – with iPhone 4 designs – to developers earlier this year. The system that Engadget is calling an “inventory system” is not actually the one used in stores, and based on the accompanying text fields, that system looks to actually have to do with customer care. Additionally, the iPhone 3GS appears with a capital S in AT&T’s inventory systems.

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Google has announced on the Chrome Blog a new release on the Chrome stable channel. The new release has been available to developers in the dev channel since August, where developers got the chance to use the full-screen mode (Ctrl+Shift+F) and overlay scrollbars inside of Lion. Today, these features have landed for everyone; download it here.

Also landing in the new version are two new technologies for developers: Web Audio API and Native Client. Web Audio API adds the ability for developers to use different audio effects, but even better, Native Client brings the ability to execute C and C++ code in the browser. Check it out in the video after the break:

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntSdfGzF60M]

Winrumors has posted a very thorough 11 minutes of an iPad 2 running iOS 5 compared to a Windows 8 Slate. The video above goes over almost every feature that these tablets offer, from lock-screen to social network integration.

Biggest difference? One has been available for a year and a half, the other won’t be ready for another year.
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After releasing an EFI firmware update for the MacBook Air earlier this week, Apple has released an EFI update for both the MacBook Pro and Mac mini this afternoon. The MacBook Pro update is version 2.2 and Mac mini version 1.3, fixing compatibility issues for the upcoming Thunderbolt Display and bringing numerous Lion fixes — and adding Lion Internet Recovery on the MacBook Pro.

Hit up Software Update on your Mac to get downloading. (via The Next Web)

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Google’s Translate service is relatively accurate and smooth to use, but taking the time to type in what you’d like translated or even clicking the microphone button each time is a pain — especially in real-world situations. A new app that was announced at TechCrunch Disrupt, Vocre, lets you instantly translate foreign languages through voice, even when the conversation is going on. Vocre uses Nuance technology to translate speech in a three-step process.

Being in a foreign country, this app could be great for when in a coversation. As seen in the video above, it’s quick and allows the conversation to flow freely without taking the time to type words you don’t know how to spell in a search box.

The only downfall we can see to this app is the likelihood of needing an expensive data plan when travelling overseas. But for those times you do have data: useful!

Vocre is free in the iTunes App Store. Updated: As pointed out by our lovely commenters, the app comes with 10 free translations, and after users will be charged $.99 for an additional 10 and $8.99 for an additional 100.

Download

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Popular online music service Turntable.fm has today released a highly anticipated iOS app to the iTunes App Store. The app was uncovered by TechCrunch last week, and packs many of the features that users enjoy from their desktop. Users can join rooms and jam with their friends — where they can then hop on the stage and DJ, or stand in the crowd and either boo or cheer. Finally!

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Today at the Intel’s Developer Forum, Intel unveiled a new processor that will be able to power a x86 computer for 24 hours/10 days of stand-by time off a single charge. Intel’s new Haswell chip uses a 22-nanometer 3D-transistor architecture that uses 20 times less power than current Sandy Bridge models which are featured in the newest line of Macs. The new chip was demonstrated using solar-power to grab light from a source as small as a light bulb to power the system.  Oh, and the Haswell chips will be faster than current processors.

The new chips will land in 2013, after Intel’s Ivy Bridge in 2012. Recently, Intel revealed that Apple wasn’t entirely pleased with upcoming Intel Chips power usage and were currently investigating other alternatives.  Clearly, Apple’s own ARM AX line which already can provide 24 hour battery life (with PC-sized batteries) is being considered. (via Gizmodo)

It is interesting to note how much the image reminds us of the image below:
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Apple has seeded OS X Lion 10.7.2 build 11C55 to developers today, and it is the first OS X Lion 10.7.2 build to include iCloud for Mac built-in. Previously, developers had to download a separate iCloud for Mac package.

OS X Lion Software Update 10.7.2 is an update to OS X Lion 10.7 and includes support for iCloud beta. Please refer to the seed note for more details and installation instructions. (Mac Developer Program membership is required)

OS X Lion 10.7.2 includes the ability for users to easily enable iCloud Mail, Contacts, Calendar, and Find my Mac on their computers. The software release will most likely ship alongside iCloud sometime this fall. Apple’s iCloud service is seemingly almost ready to launch with both Apple and carriers (for the iOS 5 integration) already being trained on the matter.

Let us know if you find anything; tips@9to5mac.com. Thanks Nicholas!

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Apple has just sent out an email this afternoon notifying developers that iTunes Match has re-opened for developers, after registration was shut-down shortly after it launched. Sadly, we’re hearing from several people around the web that they still aren’t able to get in, but some lucky few are. Frustrating, huh?

iTunes Match beta testing has now been expanded to additional developers in the United States.
iTunes Match stores your music library in iCloud and allows you to enjoy your collection from anywhere, any time, on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or computer. Any of your songs, including music you’ve imported from CDs, that matches with the 18 million songs in the iTunes Store will become available in iCloud and will play back at iTunes Plus quality (256 Kbps DRM-free AAC) — even if your original was of a lower quality.

iTunes Match allows users to store their music library in iCloud, where it can then be downloaded to their iOS devices or other Macs. The service is currently available to developers for $24.99 a year, but it will see a public launch alongside iOS 5. Let us know in the comments section below if you’re able to get in. Full email below:

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Developers get downloading! Apple has just begun seeding iTunes 10.5 beta 8 (Mac only) and iWork for iOS beta 3 to developers, on the Developer Center. According to the release notes after the break, iTunes 10.5 beta 8 brings several bug fixes and performance updates for subscribers using iTunes Match beta. The new iTunes beta also brings the ability to back up to iCloud from inside of iTunes. We assume iWork for iOS beta 3 brings bug fixes, too.

Thanks, Hurdle!

If you find anything let us know; tips@9to5mac.com.

Release notes after the break:

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Linea-Pro from Infinite Peripherals

Lowe’s has purchased 42,000 iPhones to begin using a similar payment system that you see in Apple Store’s, as reported by Bloomberg (via The Next Web). We’ve all had the pleasurable event of purchasing an Apple product, where the checkout doesn’t take place at a cash register. Rather, the Apple retail employee whips out a EasyPay iPod touch to take your money. Each Lowe’s store will receive 25 iPhones to process payments and answer customers’ questions.

Along with the purchase of the phones, Lowe’s will roll out a web app called MyLowe’s that will allow customers to look up information regarding products, warranties, etc. Presumably, the device features a credit card scanner added on (as seen above on an iPod touch). Lowe’s isn’t first to hop on this bandwagon, as Old Navy and Home Depot have been doing similar with portable devices.

Update: We have screenshots of the app after the break:

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Google has just released a HTML 5 optimized Music Beta player for iOS 4, announced via Twitter. Upon first launching the webpage, Google asks for the allowance of 25mb to be stored on your device. After, you are presented with a full run down of all of the artists you uploaded to the service. Once you have selected a preferred song, you are taken to a “Now Playing” page. Yes, if you haven’t realized already it works a lot like the music.app. This feels so sleek! 

Check it out in the video below:

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