Hasta La Gadget!

Give yourself a pat on the back, because you’ve officially made it through Wednesday – only two more days to go and the weekend is here again. We had a lot of news hit today, so let’s jump right in. Today we may have seen some leaked press shots of the LG Nexus 4, but then sadly found out that they might be fake. The Galaxy Note II is now available for order at T-Mobile, but it’s a bit on the expensive side when compared to a certain other carrier, and new Apple documents have revealed that Samsung is the focus of a 3G patent antitrust investigation here in the US.

AT&T delivered its earnings results for Q3 2012 today, and though they were a touch disappointing, they weren’t nearly as bad as Zynga’s report. Facebook’s stock was riding high today after the company’s great financial report yesterday, while Nintendo was another to report underwhelming results for the quarter. Despite the rather negative earnings report, Nintendo still has high hopes for coming quarters, and today one analyst was warning that there will probably be an iPad Mini shortage after launch.

Microsoft is in more hot water with the European Commission over browsers today, and Samsung was given a boost at its Galaxy Note II event this evening by none other than Kanye West. Chevrolet was spotted showing off the engine in the new 2014 Corvette, while we heard a strange assessment that claims Android will surpass Windows in terms of OS market share by 2016. Apple has launched its new Lightning adapters and they aren’t exactly cheap, and we learned that those sexy new iMacs sadly can’t be upgraded.

Corning says that it has Gorilla Glass on 1 billion devices around the world, and Star Citizen reached its Kickstarter funding goal today. Microsoft will be live streaming the keynote from its Windows 8 event tomorrow, and today the company announced the War Games Map Pass for Halo 4. SplashData has released its list of the 25 worst passwords for 2012 and the name of a certain religious big-wig is present on it, and we learned today that the Windows Phone Marketplace has surpassed the 125,000 published apps milestone.

Finally tonight, we have a number of new original articles for you to have a look at. Chris Davies compares the HTC One X+ to the Galaxy S III in a series of benchmark tests, while Chris Burns goes hands-on with a selection of Lenovo Windows 8 convertibles. He also gives us his review of the Galaxy Note II from T-Mobile, and Don Reisinger asks if Apple has simply stopped loving the Mac Pro. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night folks!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: October 24, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Apple’s event on Tuesday was fun. The company offered up a slew of hardware products for consumers to drool over, and it did a fine job of appealing to everyone from mobile customers to computer purchasers.

The iPad mini will undoubtedly be a fan favorite, as will the fourth-generation iPad. The new iMac is downright beautiful with a thinness that has yet to be matched. Even the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, which is admittedly expensive, should attract quite a few customers.

But the only part of the market that Apple didn’t touch at its event was the power segment. Apple had products for mobile customers and casual users. But what about those of us who need power and sophistication?

Apple has once again updated its Mac line without once mentioning the Mac Pro. That computer, which is used heavily in the corporate design world, hasn’t been updated in two years. And so far, it’s as if Apple doesn’t really care. In fact, the company has gone out of its way to ignore the computer while it attempts to wow us with its other products.

I’m starting to wonder if Apple hates the Mac Pro. For months now, we’ve been hearing whispers that a new version of the desktop was in the works, only to be disappointed when it goes missing at Apple’s many press events.

According to some reports earlier this year, Apple executives have promised an update. So far, however, there’s been no public explanation for why the computer has been ignored. I’m not saying that Apple has to update the Mac Pro today (though it would be nice), but I do believe that the company should at least provide an explanation.

“Should Mac Pro users ditch Apple and go buy a high-end PC?”

Right now, there are countless Mac Pro users that are stuck with an obsolete computer, not knowing what they need to do. Should they ditch Apple’s product and go buy a high-end PC? Should they wait Apple out to see if it updates the Mac Pro at some point soon? Apple, for some reason, doesn’t want to provide them with an answer.

Not providing them with an answer is a big mistake. Eventually, designers will need more power, and if Apple doesn’t allay some fears soon, they’ll go elsewhere. And when they go elsewhere, they might never come back.

It’s odd to me that the Mac Mini, a product that was largely ignored by Apple for so long, has received more updates in the past couple of years than the Mac Pro. The Mac Mini is a cheap product that likely has a razor-thin margin. The Mac Pro could be a cash cow for Apple.

And yet, here I sit, writing this on a Mac Pro, wondering why Apple doesn’t see things the way I do. Yes, I know Apple is successful and it has made many smart moves, but this time around, I think it’s making a mistake.

Mac Pro users are arguably Apple’s most loyal and trusted fans. They’re buying the company’s most expensive product, and in the past, acted as evangelists when there weren’t that many products worth drooling over. It’s about time Apple shows those folks some respect and delivers a new Mac Pro.

Apple hates the Mac Pro, doesn’t it? is written by Don Reisinger & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Apple has done it again, and after so many generations of the iMac, here we are with the slimmest version to date. The all-new iMac sports one of the most stunning industrial designs ever, where it will be accompanied by a brilliant display alongside reduced reflection, not to mention faster processors that make up part of Intel’s third generation quad-core Ivy Bridge processors, powerful NVIDIA graphics as well as an innovative new storage option known as Fusion Drive. The new iMac sports high-performance technology into an aluminum and glass enclosure, sporting up to 40% less volume compared to its predecessor, an edge which measures all of just 5mm thin.

Not only that, the completely reengineered display is said to have reduced reflection by up to 75% without sacrificing on the kind of brilliant color and contrast that one has come to know and love. The new design sees the cover glass come in a fully laminated manner, where its anti-reflective coating is applied via a high-precision plasma deposition process. All iMacs that ship have been individually color calibrated thanks to an advanced spectroradiometer.

Underneath the hood, there lies a 3rd generation quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, and if you feel the need for more speed, you can opt to upgrade it to Core i7. It carries a minimum of 8GB RAM and a 1TB hard drive, although if your budget permits, you are able to pick up your iMac with up to 32GB RAM as well as a spanking new 3TB hard drive. Alternatively, you can opt for up to 768GB of flash storage if ultimate performance is one of your needs. Other connectivity options include a couple of Thunderbolt and a quartet of USB 3.0 ports.

As for Fusion Drive, this innovative new storage option offers customers the performance of flash storage without compromising on the capacity that one gets with a hard drive. This means 128GB of flash memory has been merged with a standard 1TB or 3TB hard drive, resulting in a single storage volume. I would say this is Apple’s fancy name for a hybrid drive, nothing new or groundbreaking in the market as hard drive manufacturers have come up with that in the past years.

The 21.5” and 27” iMac will retail from $1,299 and $1,799 onward.

Press Release
[ Apple unveils stunning new iMac copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Welcome to Tuesday evening folks. We had a whopper of a day, what with Apple announcing a ton of new products and all. You can find all of our coverage of today’s Apple news in our event round-up or by checking out our Apple Portal. Don’t forget about our hands-on with the bite-sized iPad Mini, the ridiculously thin iMac, and the long-awaited 13″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display. You can even watch a video of the entire event if you missed it earlier, so be sure to have a look at that.

Of course, the rest of the world keeps going when Apple holds an event, so there was plenty of non-Apple news to report today. Earlier in the day we heard that Zynga had laid off a significant number of employees, only to have the company confirms the layoffs later on. We found out today that Xbox Smartglass will arrive on October 26 – the same day as Windows 8 – and that Amazon will soon begin phasing out the Kindle Touch.

Oh hey there awesome Iron Man 3 trailer, when did you arrive? Dropbox for iOS has been updated to add full-resolution image downloads and support for iPhone 5, while Samsung and LG were tipped to release the first 1080p smartphones next year. ASUS gave us a ton of information on its upcoming Windows 8 machines today, and shortly afterward announced that it will be expanding its ZenBook series with two new models. Watch out for those, because ASUS is going to be a big Windows 8 name once the OS hits.

Facebook gave us its earnings report for Q3 today, as did Netflix, and Gearbox confirmed that Borderlands Legends is in fact a real iOS game. Microsoft has added the 250GB Xbox to its $99 subscription offering, and Digital Storm unveiled its new super-slim Bolt gaming PC. Dell has delivered prices for a lot of its Windows 8 machines, and today Sony started teasing its 4K CineAlta camcorder, which will be shown off at an event on October 30. Finally tonight, we get an up-close look at the iPad Mini’s thumb rejection technology and have a review of Microsoft Surface, so be sure to give that a read. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night everyone!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: October 23, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The iPad Mini may have the headliner at today’s Apple event, but Tim Cook and Co. filled out the afternoon with a very impressive undercard. Heck, the iPad Mini wasn’t even the only new iPad—or Mini—announced today. Here’s everything you need to know about all the newest Apple gear: More »