It turns out that his hobby 9to5Mac blog was always his favorite and in 2011 he went full time adding his Fortune Google followers to 9to5Google and adding the style and commerce component 9to5Toys gear and deals site. In 2013, Weintraub bought one of the Tesla’s first Model S EVs off the assembly line and so began his love affair with the Electric Vehicle and green energy which in 2014 turned into electrek.
In 2018, DroneDJ was born to cover the burgeoning world of drones and UAV’s led by China’s DJI.
From 1997-2007, Weintraub was a Global IT director and Web Developer for a number of companies with stints at multimedia and branding agencies in Paris, Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, Hong Kong, Madrid and London before becoming a publisher/blogger.
Seth received a bachelors degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California with a minor in Multimedia and Creative Technology in 1997. In 2004, he received a Masters from NYU’s Tisch School of the Art’s ITP program.
Hobbies: Weintraub is a licensed single engine private pilot, certified open water scuba diver and spent over a year traveling to 60 cities in 23 countries. Whatever free time exists is now guaranteed to his lovely wife and two amazing sons.
The New York Times says AOL is laying off a modest 100 employees, which is not surprising news for a company that is changing its whole model of business. One particular area, however, caught my eye:
The AOL Instant Messenger group took the deepest cut so far. A former AOL employee said the group was “eviscerated and now only consists of support staff.” This person, who asked not to be named because they were not allowed to speak publicly about the company, added that “nearly all of the West Coast tech team has been killed.”
That does n0t sound like a business with a future. Only “support staff” means no development/security/improvements…or future.
AIM, through iChat/Adium/Messages on Mac and Verbs/etc on iOS, is still an important service that I use. I still have a network of contacts that I communicate with almost exclusively through AIM.
I have been passively trying to migrate those contacts either to iMessage or Google Talk. However, it sounds like I should hurry.
Will refarming make your network compatible with the iPhone? And will you stop offering 2G services?
A nice side benefit of the refarming effort is that our 4G network will be compatible with a broader range of devices, including the iPhone. The other important benefit of our network modernization effort is the coverage improvements it will deliver, especially when it comes to in-home coverage. As we refarm our 1900 spectrum, we will continue to fully support our customers with 2G devices.
We are also going to make more effective use of the spectrum we already have by refarming a portion of our 1900 MHz PCS spectrum to support HSPA+ services, which frees up additional AWS spectrum for LTE. With the AT&T breakup spectrum factored in, T-Mobile will have sufficient spectrum to roll out LTE with 20MHz to about 75% of the top 25 markets in 2013. Most remaining markets will have 10MHz. Our course, we’d love to have more spectrum to further strengthen our position to compete in the marketplace.
T-Mobile executives told analysts as much last month, but this is the first official word on T-Mobile’s website. We are hearing that 3G iPhone owners on T-Mobile could start seeing access in areas like Philadelphia in a matter of weeks.
Samsung Electronics Co. will supply the touch screen for Apple Inc.’s new iPad after LG Display Co. and Sharp Corp didn’t meet the U.S. company’s quality requirements, according to an analyst with iSuppli.
Samsung, the world’s top flat-panel maker, currently is the sole vendor of the display for the 9.7-inch device, said Vinita Jakhanwal, a senior manager at iSuppli, a unit of Englewood, Colorado-based IHS Inc.
The “Frenemy” pact gets tighter. Apple is obviously involved with lawsuits around the world that accuse the very same Samsung of violating its IP with Android phones and tablets.
Samsung also manufactures Apple’s A5X processor at its Austin factory and it has made every iOS device processor since the original iPhone rolled off the assembly line. Moreover, we recently gathered images of Samsung Retina Displays making their way to new iPads.
“The display specifications on the new iPad are very demanding in terms of the very high resolution,” Jakhanwal said in an e-mail. “Achieving this high resolution without compromising on the power consumption and brightness and maintaining Apple’s quality standards are supposedly proving to be a challenge for LG Display and Sharp.”
Gizmodo shows how far we, and the pixels we love, have come since 1984. On the left, you see the 512-by-342-display on the original Mac (and a few subsequent Macs). On the right, you have a typical 512-by-512-iPad Retina icon that Apple now requires developers to submit with their apps.
Note (Thanks commenters): The actual Retina icons are 114px on iPhone and 144px on iPad and XXpx on Macs (Apple is thinking ahead here).
Following their unboxing video, we have some more from the guys at Tinhte: They ran their Retina iPad through Geekbench and got some interesting results.
The processor is clocked at 1GHz and is of the same class as the iPad 2 processor.
The RAM is indeed 1GB confirming numerous previous reports including our own whispers.
The mid-700 score is similar to the iPad 2, which scores also scores in the mid-700s, while the original iPad scores in the 400s. The difference is likely due to the benchmarking software’s inability to test the 4 core GPU or the “X” factor in the iPad’s new A5X chip.
There are many more scores at the source. Thanks Daniel!
Tinhte.vn appears to have their hands on a legitimate third-generation iPad. The website has received early access to Apple products and prototypes in the past, and this appears to be legitimate. There is not much to note except that the added size and weight do not seem to make much of a difference and —of course— the screen is beautiful.
Update: It appears the website has Geekbenched it. The new iPad has 1GB of RAM.
Rough machine translation:
This weekend the new Apple iPad start communicating 3rd generation machine to the user but now I have this product on hand thanks to the help of brothers in www.muabaniphone.vn . IPad 3rd generation has pretty much improved features compared with the iPad 2 and appears common in Vietnam for $ 13.680 million from the 7th week. A special feature of the new iPad is that you will not care to version operators in Vietnam because your AT & T and Verizon have 3G of us. feeling held iPad 3rd generation is great, machine is very solid as the iPad 2 but is somewhat heavier and thicker than a bit. Really do not know if it’s difficult for you to feel very small changes. Biggest difference is the design on the back of your camera slightly larger than the iPad 2 due to large sensor and lens structure also changed.In general, third-generation iPad would make those who want a radical change in design is unsatisfactory but it is still very beautiful at this time. Not much difference in design, you will distinguish iPad 3rd generation with iPad 2 due to the high resolution 4 times iPad 2, to 2048×1536 pixels, that is, always has 3.1 million pixels displayed on your iPad with 1 at. High resolution than Full HD 1920×1080 screen makes images on iPad 2012 really smooth. In the past, users have phones like the iPhone screen definition 4/4S often feel uncomfortable when looking at the screen iPad 2 because it is quite clear, that feeling has disappeared on the new iPad. than the change in screen, iPad 2012 will also be upgraded to A5X processor chips from the previous A5. The chip is a prerequisite for iPad smoother operation in 2012 because it has up to 4 graphics cores which Apple is stronger than the nVidia Tegra chip 3. Tinhte.vn iPad will continue testing in 2012 and referred to in the article.
Apple’s stock continues to soar after hitting an all time high of $552 at closing. Today’s high puts Apple’s market cap over $514 billion, which now towers over the market cap of the No. 2 company Exxon that now stands at $403 billion.
In a rare Q&A with the Evening Standard‘s Mark Prigg from the firm’s headquarters, Apple’s design guru talks about Apple’s design process and of course the competition.
When asked what made design different at Apple, Ive responded:
A: We struggle with the right words to describe the design process at Apple, but it is very much about designing and prototyping and making. When you separate those, I think the final result suffers. If something is going to be better, it is new, and if it’s new you are confronting problems and challenges you don’t have references for. To solve and address those requires a remarkable focus. There’s a sense of being inquisitive and optimistic, and you don’t see those in combination very often.
On the genesis of new products:
A: What I love about the creative process, and this may sound naive, is this idea that one day there is no idea, and no solution, but then the next day there is an idea. Where you see the most dramatic shift is when you transition from an abstract idea to a slightly more material conversation. But when you make a 3D model, however crude, you bring form to a nebulous idea and everything changes — the entire process shifts. It galvanises and brings focus from a broad group of people. It’s a remarkable process.
Apple’s goal when building a new product:
A: Our goals are very simple — to design and make better products. If we can’t make something that is better, we won’t do it.
Why is the competition seemingly unable to keep pace with Apple?:
A:Most of our competitors are interested in doing something different, or want to appear new — I think those are completely the wrong goals. A product has to be genuinely better. This requires real discipline, and that’s what drives us — a sincere, genuine appetite to do something that is better.
One particularly interesting comment regarded the praise Ive has for Apple’s iOS iPhoto team (which I do not believe Ive is involved with). He gushed, “The iPhoto app we created for the new iPad completely consumes you and you forget you are using an iPad.”
“I don’t expect Apple to replace Samsung any time soon,” Gartner analyst Sandy Shen said in an interview. “China Telecom [story] is the nation’s smallest carrier, so the extent to which they can help Apple is quite limited.”
The 16.8 percentage-point gap in China between Cupertino, California-based Apple and Samsung almost doubled from the third quarter. While Samsung is No. 1 and Apple No. 5 in China, the global story is different: Worldwide, Apple passed its Suwon, South Korea-based competitor to become the biggest smartphone vendor in the fourth quarter, according to Gartner.
When you consider that the iPhone is not yet made for China’s dominant carrier, which holds two-thirds of a BILLION customers, the news that Samsung is gaining market share on Apple is not surprising (15 million iPhones ride on incompatible China Mobile).
..the media company turned down a partnership with Apple for a streaming deal on the Apple TV. Moonves says that the deal was turned down because of the ad-split revenue that Apple was trying to reach an agreement over.
Fast forward to this weekend when the Hollywood Reporter caught up to Moonves at a FUCLA conference:
CBS CEO Leslie Moonves said Saturday that he was approached about a year ago by Steve Jobs to provide content for Apple’s long-rumored television service but he declined to participate.
Moonves told a conference audience that he met with Jobs, the late Apple CEO, and heard a pitch for what was billed as a subscription content service, but ultimately he said he wasn’t interested in providing CBS shows or films to the venture.
“I told Steve, ‘You know more than me about 99 percent of things but I know more about the television business,’ ” Moonves said, citing his concerns about providing content to a service that could disrupt CBS’ existing revenue streams. Moonves said Jobs, in characteristic fashion, strongly disagreed with his assessment.
Yeah, that is not much new, but the point is that CBS still is not going to be partnering with Apple any time soon.
However, streaming is pretty much dead anyway except for live TV, news, weather, and sports. Everything else worth watching is downloadable or already in a Hulu/Netflix/Amazon Cloud.
Ship times for Apple’s new iPad slipped again this evening to two to three weeks in the United States, which was previously March 19 across the board. Many European Stores have been at two to three weeks for a few days now.
“Customer response to the new iPad has been off the charts and the quantity available for pre-order has been purchased,” Apple said in a statement. “Customers can continue to order online and receive an estimated delivery date.”
Remember, those “charts” are the iPad 2 charts, and that thing was already a big success. Apple sells a new iPad once a year and keeps its price controls consistent. Many consumers (present company included), who know the same model iPad will cost the exact same as it costs now in another 360 days, always buy Apple products right when they are released. That is bound to cause a bit of a spike.
On that note, Sprint 4G (“new”) iPads have appeared in this system, and they were screen-grabbed for all to see. This one makes some sense for a few reasons:
1. Sprint and Apple are now partners with the iPhone 4S, so the relationship is already in place.
2. Sprint is building a LTE network that will be compatible with the iPad, but it has not released even one device on that network yet, including the LTE Galaxy Nexus that it already announced. Apple likes to release on finished products.
3. Apple would not pre-announce something months away when people could buy something now on AT&T or Verizon (or in a few days).
Apple, again, has pushed iPad shipments back—this time across the board in the United States— to March 19. If you are thinking about getting a new iPad in March, you might want to head over to store.Apple.com pretty quick. Europeans: Two to three weeks before your iPads ship.
NCAA® March Madness Live [iTunes Link] just hit the App Store promising live radio access to every NCAA College Basketball Tournament game:
Watch every game of NCAA® March Madness® LIVE on your iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad! Download for free to check scores, fill out and follow your bracket, get game alerts, and NEW for 2012 – listen to live game radio. Upgrade with in-app purchase and watch live streaming video of all 67 games every game of the 2012 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament for one low price of $3.99 for all 67 games.
From the First Round on March 13 to the Championship game on April 2, catch all your favorite rivalries, upsets, and buzzer beaters over both Wi-Fi and 3G. Plus, get alerts for your favorite teams, know when games go into overtime and crunch time, and set your TV channel settings to know where to watch any game on TV. You’ll never miss an upset!
Sina Tech reports that CDMA iPhone 4S’s are being snapped up by its 130 million mobile subscribers today after the No. 2 player in the world’s largest mobile market recieved 200,000 pre-orders (and counting) starting last week.
We are starting to see the first shipment notifications this week of “new iPads” departing from Chengdu in Western China. Chengdu, you will recall, was the site of a deadly Foxconn explosion on an iPad 2 assembly line last summer.
This particular model was a single 16GB Black Wi-Fi with engraving. Apple calls this a “Personalized iPad with Wi-Fi 16GB – Black (3rd generation)” rather than just “iPad.”
Hi, Seth here. Just woke up to find more than a few comments, emails, Tweets, etc on this post and its inaccuracy. It turns out that the author was wrong on his take and hadn’t done due diligence before posting this. I am sorry for that.
The change in behavior is that you didn’t before have full camera roll access from the lock screen; now Apple has allowed access. But importantly, only if you’ve unlocked your iPhone within the prescribed amount of time in “require Passcode’ time settings. Our writer had a delay in the lock screen which allowed him access after unlocking within that time. He wasn’t trying to fool anyone, he just made a mistake and published without doing due diligence.
I am reviewing what to do about this situation. Your trust is important to us and I know we’ve lost some of it today. Expand Expanding Close
We’ve tested AT&T vs. Verizon’s LTE in NYC and our guy on the ground in San Francisco was able to test LTE at Yerba Buena today. Results? AT&T smoked Verizon in a bunch of areas around the “new iPad” event.
One major reason is that Verizon’s network is already pretty full of Androids running 4G while AT&T has only released a handful of devices with LTE. (this might also be why Apple used AT&T LTE at the event today) The story might change when the flood of iPads come crashing in (for both companies).
Also, AT&T’s step down is to HSPA+ which is a lot faster than Verizon’s EVDO so perhaps AT&T has some faster legacy backhaul in place.
In Verizon’s favor is that they’ve been running LTE for much longer (with some significant recent outages) than AT&T and they seem to do much better on those Consumer Reports customer satisfaction-type surveys (which usually also take voice quality into consideration).
Finally, Verizon will offer 4G Tethering on day one of the iPAd release. Meanwhile AT&T is “working with Apple on it”
The plans that Apple has in place would seem to favor AT&T as well, especially when you consider the 29,000 US Wifi hotspots. At $30/month, you get 3GB from AT&T, 2GB from Verizon.
Verizon’s strong point has traditionally been its voice service over AT&T and perhaps one reason why in the past they’ve been able to charge a premium.. For data only, the playing field is a little more wide open, however.
So about two weeks ago we got a tip from a reliable source that Apple was going to call the iPhone 5 (or whatever)- the new “iPhone”.
That seemed a little nuts at the time but what a difference a Keynote makes. As Christian explained, Apple chopped the suffix off if the iPad as part of a branding makeover that will likely expand. Just like iMac is not called iMac 1,2,3 it looks like Apple won’t be doing the numbering on iOS devices (though it never did with the iPod touch).
So that tip –That the next iPhone is simply the new “iPhone” – seems a lot more plausible now.
It has become clear that Apple’s new iPhoto App is pulling mapping tiles from Apple’s own mapping services. Take this tile for instance. While they aren’t particularly good looking, Apple is no longer using third party mapping services like Google’s which iPhoto has used in the past and Apple has generally relied on for its mapping information across all of its applications, both Mac and iOS.
As Apple and Google continue to distance themselves from each other, Apple is clearly moving to bring its mapping needs in-house.
In fact, we’ve heard from a source within Google that Apple has NOT re-upped their mapping contract for 2013 and their current mapping contract ends toward the end of this year. That means Apple could be moving all of its mapping data to this new format by the end of the year.
Apple has acquired three different mapping startups including Placebase, C3 and Poly9 from which it is likely building its mapping services. If you’ve seen what C3 can do, (videos below) you know that the above tile fits into the “you ain’t seen nothing yet” category.
Apple today released a new free Mac App called Configurator which allows you to administer many iOS devices at a time like in a school or business (or my house) setting. At first blush it appears to be much simpler than the Windows/Mac configuration utility.
As the Apple Store tries to come back up we’re starting to get some details including pricing for 4G iPads. Both carriers match their 2GB and 5GB /month prices at $30 and $50 respectively. AT&T offers an additional low end $15 250mb plan while Verizon has a monster 10GB for $80 plan.
Update: We’re told that AT&T is actually offering 3GB for $30 – we’ve updated the graphic above.
On that note, you may be asking yourself which carrier to go on. I’ve been testing AT&T and Verizon’s LTE for awhile now in NYC and AT&T’s is faster (probably because only a few Android users are using it so far). However, that could change once the iPad hits the streets. On the other hand, Verizon’s LTE network is more mature and available in many more cities currently.
If you aren’t in LTE land, AT&T’s network is much speedier especially with the new iPad radios which allow for “faster than iPhone” 21Mbps.
Speaking of faster iPhone, HSPA+ is now called “4G” on current iPhones. Perhaps confusing, AT&T has been lobbying for this for months.
Officially from the 
.
