RumorTT: Apple to release 128GB fourth-gen iPad
The iPad maxing out at 64GB for internal storage really peeves some people, and having no options for expandable storage really stops the iPad from selling even more tablets.
But according to 9to5Mac, Apple is preparing to add another SKU to their fourth-generation iPad lineup, which will join the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models. 9to5Mac's news comes from a source at a well-known US retailer, who shares the devices' SKU information with the site, marked up with internal Apple terminology that described both Wi-Fi-only and cellular-capable devices in both black, and white colors.
The devices' description give it away, naming it with a tease of 'ultimate'. 9to5Mac can't confirm the description means a 128GB model is coming, but developers are also finding references to a 128GB iOS device in the iOS 6.1 beta code, as well as icons being found in iTunes 11, too.
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NASA becomes a suspicious observer, discovers how our Sun stores and releases energy
NASA scientists are reporting that they've discovered the first clear evidence of energy transfer from our Sun's magnetic field to the solar atmosphere, or corona, a scientific theory that now has substantial backing.
The new findings come courtesy of NASA's suborbital telescope, the High Resolution Coronal Imager, which has captured the highest ever resolution images of the solar corona to date, sporting five times the amount of detail than previous tools used to study our closest star. The telecope launched from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico back in July of last year, and has already put smiles on scientists' faces.
The telescope's 10-minute flight had it take 165 images of a large, active region of the Sun's corona. These images showed the evolution of the magnetic field, as well as the releases of energy at temperatures of between a mind-boggling two million and four million degrees. Hi-C principal investigator, Jonathan Cirtain, a heliophysicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, says:
Samsung bringing their Music Hub to non-Samsung devices
Last July, Samsung launched their Music Hub streaming service to their own branded devices, but at the time never said they wouldn't release the service to non-Samsung devices sometime in the future.
Well, it looks like those days are nearly upon us according to The Next Web, where they talked to Samsung's SVP for Media Services, TJ Kang, who confirmed that Samsung's goal is to eventually bring Music Hub to non-Samsung hardware, but didn't go as far as giving an ETA on when this might happen, or which devices would see the streaming service.
Kang explained that they want to get the service on more Samsung devices, including their smartphone and tablet range, as well as their Smart TVs. Samsung have only given US consumers access to the Music Hub on their Galaxy S III and Note II devices, so we should see more Samsung devices receive Music Hub before we see it spread out to non-Samsung devices.
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Microsoft says OEMs are why Windows 8 sales are so low, plans 'relaunch' for February
The Register is reporting that Redmond-based software giant, Microsoft, is blaming OEMs for the slow sales of their Windows 8 operating system. Microsoft believes that vendors didn't adhere closely enough to their hardware recommendations, with manufacturers producing mostly non-touchscreen computers that didn't show off Windows 8's touchscreen side.
This information, as usual, comes from a "well-placed" source "familiar with the matter". Since Windows 8's launch on October 28, and the end of 2012, Microsoft claim to have sold around 60 million copies of Windows 8. Windows Vista took around six months to reach the same number, but statistics are only one side of the story.
Official numbers on Microsoft's sales of their tablet, Surface, have not been unveiled by the Redmond-based company. OEMs aren't sitting back taking all the heat, either, with some OEMs coming out and saying that Microsoft is to blame for the slow Windows 8 sales. The biggest reasons computer manufacturers didn't follow Microsoft's internal guidelines is that few companies were willing to spend the money on expensive, high-end devices that consumers weren't guaranteed to purchase - not every item can be an iPad, after all.
Anonymous hacks government site, threatens 'warhead' leaks
Aaron Swartz took his life a couple of weeks ago and we have now seen hacktivist collective Anonymous making a strategic move by hacking a US government website related to the justice system.
They posted on the site informing everyone they would begin leaking a cache of government documents if the justice system is not reformed. Anonymous hacked the website for the United States Sentencing Commission late Friday, where they posted a message about what they're calling "Operation Last Resort", which included a bunch of downloadable, but encrypted files that they say contain sensitive information.
Anonymous' statement reads:
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Apple cuts suppliers off who have repeatedly hired underage workers
Apple's recently released Supplier Responsibility Report covers the progress they're making for everything from empowering workers to labor and human right issues within their supply chain. The report highlighted results for 393 audits performed over the last twelve months, a 72% increase over the number of audits performed in 2011.
Apple have said that its worker empowerment program providing education on local laws and the company's supplier code of conduct was extended to 1.3 million employees last year. This is a 100% increase in the amount of workers trained in the program since 2008.
The report also had some information regarding a Chinese labor agency that had forged documents for underage employees to work within Apple-connected suppliers. After the company had discovered 74 cases of workers under the age of 16 during an audit of a circuit board supplier in January 2011, Apple cut all ties to their contract with the company and is now going after the agency who did the hiring. The report states:
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Star Trek-like 'tractor beam' has been created by scientists
Scientists have created a real-life 'tractor beam' which uses light to attract objects according to research published by Nature Photonics and led by the University of St Andrews. The researchers' hopes are it could eventually lead to medical applications where it would target and attract individual cells.
To us mere mortals, a tractor beam is usually thought of along side Star Trek, where the beam was used to move much bigger objects. Back in 2011, researchers out of China and Hong Kong showed how it could've been done with laser beams of a specific shape, and we've also had NASA funding a study which looked into how the technique might be used to manipulate samples in space.
The new study lead researcher, Dr Tomas Cizmar, research fellow in the School of Medicine at the University of St Andrews, said while the technique is new, it has huge potential. He continues:
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2013 is destined to become the 'year of the SSD'
I have multiple systems here in my home office, and every single one of them features an SSD or three. I can't stand to use mechanically-driven storage drives as my OS drives anymore, and with the price dropping almost on a weekly basis, most users are doing the same.
According to IHS analyst, Ryan Chien, the "fate of the SSD business is closely tied to the market for Ultrabooks and other ultra-thin PCs that use cache drives." The SSD market is set to really expand this year thanks to the push of Ultrabooks and other new form factors, such as SFF and Intel's NUC-type systems.
According to IHS' Storage Space Market Brief, worldwide shipments of SSDs will go from 39 million units in 2011 to 83 million units this year. By 2016, we should be in a world where 239 million SSDs are shipped, which will represent around 40% of the entire HDD market in that year. This is all thanks to the constantly declining price of SSDs, which is helping them get pushed into more and more systems and new form factors thanks to its low-power consumption, noise and heat.
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H.265 has been approved, paves the way for high-quality video that uses much less bandwidth
Back in August we reported that MPEG had released a new draft for a video codec, H.265 - now, the video format has been approved by the ITU. This approval could eventually see Ultra HD 4K video to future networks, as well as making streaming HD video on low bandwidth mobile networks.
H.265 is known as High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) and is designed for high-quality streaming, even if it's on a low-bandwidth network. With all of the online streaming users do these days from their smart devices, this has been a long time coming. The new approved standard will give publishers the ability to stream 1080p video with around half of the required bits that is required today thanks to its improved compression abilities.
This should make HD streaming a reality for households, like mine, where you don't have an ultra-fast Internet connection. Better yet, on mobile connections it'll be a godsend. Being able to stream HD or Full HD video over your mobile network in better quality, while using less bandwidth (and hence, data) will be great.
Hoping to catch a peek inside the Google Glass Developer Conference? Not possible as all attendees had to sign NDAs
Google's Project Glass is the next thing in tech, at least according to most analysts and tech enthusiasts. Google is hosting two Glass Developer Conferences, one in SF and one in NYC. For the rest of us who didn't put down $1,500 for an early pair of glasses, we're stuck scrounging around the web for coverage of the events.
Unfortunately for us, there won't be any as all the attendees of the events had to sign NDAs preventing them from talking about the event. ReadWrite managed to get a look at the NDA that was required to be signed and has paraphrased and reordered them in order to prevent Google from identifying who gave them the peek.
Only one part of the NDA actually gives us hope of actually starting to see more of Glass, and possibly not controlled by Google: