That’s the word from Bloomberg anyway, which is basing its iPad 3 release prediction based on information obtained from “three people familiar with the product.” According to Bloomberg and its sources, Apple’s manufacturing partners in Asia have ramped up production in recent weeks and will have their assembly lines working at full tilt by February.

Since we can reasonably surmise the iPad 3 is nearing release, much more interesting is what kind of hardware it will bring to the tablet show, especially as the competition is much more fierce than it was a year ago. Bloomberg says the iPad 3 will rock a quad-core processor of some sort, an upgrade that should help with multitasking and game performance. There’s also been talk of a high definition screen, and it might even sport a 4G LTE radio.

In terms of market share, Apple’s iPad line leads the way, but we’re starting to see more compelling Android devices, such as the high end Transformer Prime by Asus, along with affordable tablets like the Kindle Fire ($199) from Amazon and Nook Tablet ($249) from Barnes & Noble.

Another interesting side story is the evolution of the iPad tablet without Steve Jobs offering his input. The iPad 3 will be the first major product launch from Apple following the untimely death of Jobs, and the second product launch with Tim Cook in charge (the iPhone 4S was the first).

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Apple announced today that their longtime leader, Steve Jobs, age 56, has passed away.  He is survived by by his wife Laurene and his four children. His remarkable life story, along with his innovation of groundbreaking tech like the Apple iPod & iPhone, is sure to survive as a testament to his vision and leadership throughout the annals of time. God Rest, Godspeed on your next journey Mr. Jobs.

More of his story at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/business/steve-jobs-of-apple-dies-at-56.html

Thunderbolt technology is designed to meet the demands of serious HD media creators. For example, videographers can unleash their creativity using high-bandwidth audio and video capture/mixing devices, and get both low latency and highly-accurate time synchronization for real-time processing. At 10Gbps, larger media files are transferred faster so there’s less time spent waiting to watch and edit videos. Data can be backed up and restored quicker, so there’s less waiting for archived content. For mobile PC users, it means having a single connector on their ultra-thin laptop that extends their high-speed media and HD display capabilities at home or in the office. Thunderbolt technology is complementary to other I/O technologies that Intel continues to support.

“Working with HD media is one of the most demanding things people do with their PCs,” said Mooly Eden, general manager, PC Client Group, Intel. “With Thunderbolt technology, Intel has delivered innovative technology to help professionals and consumers work faster and more easily with their growing collection of media content, from music to HD movies. We’ve taken the vision of simple, fast transfer of content between PCs and devices, and made it a reality.”

“We’re thrilled to collaborate with Intel to bring the groundbreaking Thunderbolt technology to Mac users,” said Bob Mansfield, Apple’s senior vice president of Mac Hardware Engineering. “With ultra-fast transfer speeds, support for high-resolution displays and compatibility with existing I/O technologies, Thunderbolt is a breakthrough for the entire industry and we think developers are going to have a blast with it.”

Thunderbolt technology is powered by an Intel controller chip, and uses a small connector suitable for mobile devices that will be included in products supporting the technology. Several innovative companies have announced Thunderbolt technology-based products, or currently plan to support Thunderbolt technology in upcoming products, including Aja*, Apogee*, Avid*, Blackmagic*, LaCie*, Promise*, and Western Digital*. Intel is working with the industry on a range of Thunderbolt technology-enabled products including computers, displays, storage devices, audio/video devices, cameras, docking stations and more.

Photography

Click on the images below to view larger versions.

Intel’s Thunderbolt™ controller brings Thunderbolt goodness to your computer.

Thunderbolt™ technology logo that will signal a product’s support of Thunderbolt.

Block diagram that shows how the Thunderbolt™ controller gets integrated into a system.

Thunderbolt™ technology connector, which will connect both display and storage devices in a daisy-chain configuration.

Smaller Thunderbolt™ technology logo.

Thunderbolt™ technology carries two protocols, DisplayPort* and PCI Express*, to connect displays and data devices, respectively.

Source: Intel Newsroom : News Archive List - Intel Newsroom

As is the tradition these days, the new Verizon iPhone has been torn down by interested parties to see what makes it tick. There are a few minor differences. For instance, the vibration mechanism is different, the speaker housing has been tweaked, and it has a dual-mode GSM/CDMA radio. Wait, what? Indeed, the new iPhone has a Qualcomm Gobi MDM6600 chip capable of both CDMA2000 and HSPA+ data. It’s certainly a sign of things to come, but it might not be of use to customers using the iPhone 4.

While this chip is capable of receiving and transmitting over GSM frequencies, there is no SIM card slot. That means there is no way for a carrier to identify the device on its network. However, this chip does seem to indicate that Apple will be going with a single world phone model for the next iteration of the hardware. 

Also interesting is the fact that this is an HSPA+ radio. That will work with the new enhancement of AT&T’s network that the carrier is insisting on calling 4G. Will we see some sort of 4G branding on the next AT&T iPhone?

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Think Verizon Wireless customers aren’t jonesing for a “middle aged” iPhone 4 device, as Consumer Reports calls it? Think again. Despite the lack of any upgraded features — and arguably a few CDMA-based downgrades — it didn’t even take a full day for Verizon to run out of pre-order stock. There will still be one more chance to avoid the in-store rush.

According to Verizon’s website, it will open up online ordering starting February 9, 2011 at exactly 3:01 AM EST. Following that, you can march into your local Verizon store and grab an iPhone 4 on February 10, 2011 at 7:00 AM local time.

Whether or not stores will be crowded remains to be seen, but assuming Verizon and Apple set aside a good number of iPhone 4 devices for pre-order, the early sell-out is a good sign for both parties. It’s also an encouraging one for Verizon, which promised to at least temporarily hold onto its unlimited data plan for iPhone subscribers, but just yesterday announced plans to throttle data speeds for the top 5 percent of its data users.

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Apple’s been pimping its Xserver enterprise equipment for more than 9 years, and for the past 2 years, the platform’s been running on Intel hardware. Not anymore. As of Tuesday, Apple officially retired its server line, a decision that has been met with mixed reactions.

“I understand the decision. The truth is, I don’t think Apple ever sold a lot of Xservers,” said John Welch of The Zimmerman Agency. “I don’t have to like it. I don’t have to agree with it. I understand it. I just think it sucks.”

His reaction isn’t necessarily indicative of the majority. Citing a survey of 1,200 Xserve IT professionals, The Register says Apple’s move has been met with a resounding ‘meh’ by mainstream users. “People are going to keep their Xserves for a long time,” Reid Lewis, president of the Enterprise Desktop Alliance told The Register.

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If it felt like Apple as lightening up on their App Store approval guidelines, think again. According to The New York Times, a recent scuffle with Sony has spurred Apple to clarify that their App Store rules on in0app purchases are going to be more strictly followed. The whole issue came up when Sony’s Reader app was rejected from the App Store a few days ago. Apple objected to the Reader having its own eBook store, and no option for Apple’s own in-app purchases. This, says Apple, is a violation of their terms of service. 

This brings up an uncomfortable dilemma for other apps, like Amazon’s Kindle for instance. Both the Kindle app and the Sony app bring up an imbedded web browser to make content purchases, but Apple is now saying that developers must provide that same content for in-app purchases using Apple’s system. Not coincidentally, that means Apple would get their 30% cut. “It’s the opposite of what we wanted to bring to the market,” Sony’s Steve Haber said. “We always wanted to bring the content to as many devices as possible, not one device to one store.”

This does not mean that any content purchased the old way won’t be available. Indeed, you can keep doing that. Apple is just asserting their authority to require that users are presented with in-app purchases too. A cunning way to get people more invested in the Apple ecosystem. How does this sit with you?

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It was seven months ago to the day that Apple released the GSM version of its iPhone 4, which was supposed to be available in black and white trim. But for whatever reason, Apple hasn’t been able to offer its customers the white version in all that time. That might be about to change.

Mac Rumors claims to have received a screenshot from an un-named source showing the white iPhone 4 SKU in Best Buy’s database. This was initially reported as an inventory database screenie, but BGR says it’s actually a snapshot of Best Buy’s Employee Toolkit. The reason this matters is that in-stock dates, which the screenshot shows as February 27, 2011, usually don’t represent the launch date.

In any event, it appears that the iPhone 4 in white digs will show up very soon, likely by the end of March.

Image Credit: Mac Rumors

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Play.fm today announced that its Play.fm Mobile App is now available for download in three flavors, including Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone 7.

“With our mobile Apps music fans now have access to the probably biggest collection of DJ mixes regardless of where they are at the moment,” says Georg Hitzenberger, founder of Play.fm. “Cloud Music, i.e., the consumption of music hosted on dedicated streaming servers, is the future of the music business. One can assume that smartphones will play a major role there.”

The app runs $3.99 regardless of whether you purchase and download it through the Android Market, Apple iTunes, or Windows Marketplace. That buys you 90 days of unrestricted access to audio streams from Play.fm’s roughly 30,000 DJ sets. After 90 days, you get five hours per month at no cost, or you can pony up for the Premium subscription for unlimited access (price yet to be determined).

Image Credit: Play.fm

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Apple has been pretty clear about where it stands on nudity and pornographic material, which makes this latest tweet by Hugh Hefner all the more interesting:

“Big news! Playboy–both old & new–will be available on iPad beginning in March,” Hefner posted on his Twitter account.

According to Hefner’s Twitter feed, this upcoming app will include access to the “whole magazine [catalog] from the first issue to the latest,” and they will be uncensored.

What’s so interesting about this (other than the articles) is that Steve Jobs reportedly has gone on record saying porn has no place on Apple devices.

“We do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone,” Jobs said. “Folks who want porn can buy an Android phone.”

Or an iPad, as the case may be.

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