Apple iPad Buzz

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2012 first quarter, which spanned 14 weeks and ended December 31, 2011. The Company posted record quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion and record quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion, or $13.87 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $26.74 billion and net quarterly profit of $6 billion, or $6.43 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. “We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads, and Macs,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline.”

View full post on Apple Hot News

Apple today announced an all-new
iTunes U app, giving educators and students everything they need on their iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch to teach and take entire courses. The all-new iTunes U app lets teachers create and manage courses — including essential components such as lectures, assignments, books, quizzes, and syllabuses — and offer them to millions of iOS users around the world. The app also gives iOS users access to the world’s largest catalog of free educational content from top universities including Cambridge, Duke, Harvard, Oxford and Stanford. And starting today, any K-12 school district can offer full courses through the iTunes U app.

View full post on Apple Hot News

Apple today announced iBooks 2 for iPad, featuring
iBooks textbooks, an entirely new kind of textbook that’s dynamic, engaging, and truly interactive. iBooks textbooks offer iPad users gorgeous, full-screen textbooks with interactive animations, diagrams, photos, videos, and unrivaled navigation. Leading education services companies including Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill, and Pearson will deliver educational titles on the iBookstore, with most priced at $14.99 or less. And with the new iBooks Author, anyone with a Mac can create iBooks textbooks and publish them to Apple’s iBookstore. Starting today, iBooks 2 is available free from the App Store and iBooks Author is available free from the Mac App Store

View full post on Apple Hot News

In this video, I unbox the brand new Apple ipad 2. This is the Black, 16GB, WIFI model. Specifications 1GHz dual-core Apple A5 16GB of Flash Storage (SSD) 512MB of RAM 200MHz bus speed 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi) Rear Camera- 720p HD – 30 frames per second Front Camera – VGA – 30 frames per second Three-axis gyro Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n) Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology 33% Thinner than the first gen iPad Depth: 0.34 inch (8.8 mm) Weight: 1.33 pounds (601 g) Height: 9.50 inches (241.2 mm) iPad 2 Performance – Part 1 www.youtube.com iPad 2 Multi Touch Gestures www.youtube.com

I am interested in ripping my DVD library to an external drive, but I want to retain the 5.1 surround sound. What are my software options for this process and which would you recommend?

One of the best DVD-ripping tools around is HandBrake (handbrake.fr). It’s also free. Ripping discs in HandBrake requires you to install the free VLC, but you’ll be able to rip most discs and keep the 5.1 soundtrack intact.

The audio section of HandBrake provides many different audio tweaks.

After inserting a DVD into your Mac, open HandBrake and click on the Source button. Locate your DVD, and then click Open. You can click the Toggle Presets button in the toolbar to select from the most common encoding types, or you can click the Video tab to choose your video presets. We usually pick the Apple TV 2 preset for great viewing on our TV. To ensure that you get the full 5.1 surround sound experience with your ripped DVD, click on the Audio tab, then click the Mixdown box beside the track that you want to rip, and choose Dolby Surround. You can optionally tweak the bit rate or codec used. Click the Start button in the toolbar to begin ripping the disc to the Destination location.

HandBrake has a lot of great features, and you can learn more about the tool by visiting the HandBrake User Guide here.

GOT A TECH QUESTION OR A HELPFUL TIP TO SHARE?

Email ask@maclife.com or write to Mac|Life, 
4000 Shoreline Ct, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080

View full post on Mac|Life – All Articles

At Apple’s Cupertino, California Campus today, Apple showed off the newest version of the iPhone, the iPhone 4S. The updated model looks the same as the original iPhone 4, but is now updated internally with Apple’s A5 processor, the same chip found in the iPad 2. The updated hardware will provide a boost in processing power for the phone, and will allow the popular handset to deliver better graphics in apps and games than ever before. The iPhone 4S will also receive an upgrade in both the camera and wireless connectivity department, as well. Now officially a world phone, the iPhone 4S will accommodate both GSM and CDMA networks. The iPhone’s camera will now have an 8-megapixel sensor, new Image Signal Processor and a new lens. Combined with the new A5 processor under the hood, Apple claims that users will be able to snap their first photo in just over one second. Video recording will also receive an upgrade, now featuring 1080p recording as well as image stabilization and noise reduction. Shares of Apple are currently trading down 3.00% to $363.48 on the news.

More details: blog.the-ebook-reader.com This video shows the new Kindle Cloud Reader in action on the Apple iPad 2. The Kindle Cloud Reader is an HTML5 application that uses a web browser to display Kindle ebooks. This is a workaround for Amazon so they can still offer shopping on the iPad from within the app without paying Apple 30% or forcing customers to shop from the Safari web browser instead. If you found this video helpful, please help support The eBook Reader.com: www.the-ebook-reader.com

Apple today announced that iPhone 4S will be available in China and 21 additional countries on Friday, January 13. iPhone 4S features Apple’s dual-core A5 chip for fast performance and stunning graphics; an all-new 8-megapixel camera with advanced optics; full 1080p HD-resolution video recording; and Siri, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking. “Customer response to our products in China has been off the charts,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “With the launch in China next week, iPhone 4S will be available in over 90 countries, making this our fastest iPhone rollout ever.”

View full post on Apple Hot News

Apple has made a splash with the iPhone 4S in the final months of 2011 across many continents, but one of the biggest has been left waiting: China. On Wednesday, the company announced that mainland China will finally be getting the latest version of the iconic handset along with 21 other countries on Friday, January 13.

Friday the 13th may spook campers who venture into the woods surrounding Camp Crystal Lake, but Apple is treating it like any other day on the calendar come Friday, January 13, when the iPhone 4S touches down in 22 new countries, including the mammoth population of mainland China.

“Customer response to our products in China has been off the charts,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “With the launch in China next week, iPhone 4S will be available in over 90 countries making this our fastest iPhone rollout ever.”

With more than 1.3 billion potential customers in mainland China, Apple should have no trouble moving a considerable amount of iPhone 4S handsets later this month — and the fun doesn’t stop there.

Beginning Friday, January 13, iPhone 4S will be available in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, China, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Grenada, Guam, Guinea Conakry, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Niger, Senegal, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos and Uganda.

Whew! That’s a pretty massive list on top of all the places where the iPhone 4S has already launched. Guess we know where a lot of folks will be on Friday, January 13…

Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter

View full post on Mac|Life – All Articles

Apple Thunderbolt Display Review – www.anandtech.com