Hasta La Gadget!

We’re back to Monday folks, but thankfully this particular Monday provided us with a lot of interesting news. Of course, Apple and Samsung’s court battle is still raging on, with Samsung today claiming that Apple pressured 3G experts to change evidence. Apple detailed the icons it accuses Samsung of ripping off, while Samsung made a case for the uniqueness of its handsets up on the stand. Samsung was looking pretty decent there for a while, until an expert Apple witness took the stand to say that the iPhone and the original Galaxy S were “substantially the same.” Ouch.

But enough about boring old courtroom drama, because today Apple and Samsung’s lawsuit was eclipsed by another event: NASA’s Curiosity rover touched down successfully on the surface of Mars today. It was a huge event, and we’ve got plenty of related posts for you to read through. If you missed the live stream, you can watch this video of the Curiosity team as they react to the rover’s landing. There are also a few images from the surface of Mars to check out: after sending back the first image from the landing, NASA received even more images from the surface of Mars. There was also this shot of the descent taken by NASA’s Mars orbiter, which we have to say is pretty awesome. Did you know that Curiosity will be leaving behind tags as it travels across Mars? It is, and it’s doing so in Morse code.

In other news, Samsung has announced that the Galaxy Note 10.1 will indeed be hitting shelves this month. That announcement was accompanied by a new promo video for the Galaxy Note 10.1, and after watching it, we wonder if Android users care more about functionality than they do about specs. We also caught a glimpse of what appears to be Samsung’s plan for Jelly Bean updates on various Galaxy devices, so you may want to give that a look. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak gave some warnings about becoming too reliant on the cloud, and it turns out that Steve Jobs actually liked the idea of an iPad Mini. Speaking of Apple, it appears that the company’s entire mobile line is going to get new dock connectors, and YouTube has been banished from iOS 6, but we tell you why that may not necessarily be a bad thing.

Get ready ultrabook enthusiasts, because Lenovo’s new ThinkPad X1 Carbon will be launching by the end of the month. Demonoid has been shut down by Ukrainian authorities, much like MegaUpload was by the US earlier this year. Finally, the PS3 is getting a bunch of collections at the end of this month, with Sony announcing today that the God of War Saga and the inFamous Collection will be launching alongside the Ratchet & Clank Collection on August 28.

That about does it for the evening wrap-up, so now that you’re all caught up on the news from the day, head out and enjoy the rest of your Monday evening!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: August 6, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Well this is interesting: as we’re being inundated with rumors that Apple is set to reveal an iPad Mini, pictures of what appear to be the rear shell of such a device have surfaced on the Internet. The photos you see below were originally posted by Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo and later picked up by Apple.pro, and even though they do seem rather questionable (to say the least), the shell also does seem to posses the quality Apple is known for. Have a look for yourself.

What’s interesting about this shell is that it’s completely solid – there isn’t any hole for a rear-facing camera. That isn’t all that uncommon in smaller-sized tablets these days, as the Google Nexus 7 gets along just fine without a rear-facing camera. All in all though, this metal case looks similar to the rear shell of its full-sized brother, only in a smaller form.

MacRumors points out that the person who leaked these photos doesn’t have a history of Apple leaks, so it’s hard to establish credibility in this case. That fact alone makes us hesitant to say these photos are the real deal, and indeed, it’s always a good idea to approach rumors and leaks with a healthy amount of skepticism. The truth is that we don’t even know if Apple is planning to release an iPad Mini – though the evidence seems to lean in that direction – so nothing is confirmed until Apple makes an announcement.

Still, this is pretty intiguing stuff, especially with all of the hubbub about an incoming iPad Mini reveal. Current rumors claim that Apple will be announcing the iPad Mini alongside the iPhone 5 at an event in September, so we may not have that much longer to wait before we find out if these are legitimate or fake. Despite all the mystery, one thing is for sure: this whole thing about Apple planning an iPad Mini just got a lot more interesting. Stay tuned.

iPad Mini rear shell spotted in the wild is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

During today’s proceedings at the Apple vs. Samsung patent infringement trial in Northern California, an internal Apple email came to light, where Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue suggested that the company manufacture a 7-inch tablet, anticipating a market for a smaller slate. The email reportedly dates back to January of 2011, and was sent to Scott Forstall, Tim Cook and Phil Schiller, according to The Next Web. AllThingsD added that the topic originated with an email from a reporter, who shared that they had switched to a 7-inch Samsung tablet from the iPad, because they found the smaller size of the Tab more appealing. Cue reportedly agreed with the findings, and made his own suggestion. That email hasn’t led to a smaller form-factor iPad to date, but with rumors heating up around an upcoming “iPad Mini,” it’s possible that Apple’s compact tablet could one day arrive. And Cue was right — there’s clearly demand for a 7-inch tablet.

Filed under: Tablet PCs

Apple SVP Eddy Cue wanted 7-inch iPad in 2011, internal email says originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  All Things D, The Next Web  | Email this | Comments

Well folks, another Monday is in the bag. We must say that for an otherwise ordinary Monday at the end of July, this one was pretty eventful as far as news stories go. Most importantly, today marked the beginning of the patent trail between Samsung and Apple. This morning we took a closer look at the trial and the arguments being made by both sides, while later on in the day we received word that a key witness in the case won’t be showing up to testify. Apple’s courtroom woes don’t end at its trial with Samsung, however, as the company is also being sued over its Siri technology by a university in Taiwan.

Moving right along with the Apple news, it looks as if the company might be planning to reveal the iPhone 5 during an event taking place on September 12, and there were also a few whispers about the rumored reveal of the iPad mini. Mac OS X Mountain Lion seems to be lining Apple’s pocket with even more cash, as it was announced today that the launch of Mountain Lion has become the most successful OS launch in company history.

In other news, 16GB Nexus 7s are now available at the Google Play Store again! They have an estimated shipping time of 3-5 business days now, but you might want to grab one sooner rather than later if you’re planning on buying – considering the speed at which the last batch sold out, we wouldn’t be surprised if Google ran out again soon. Microsoft announced that Surface will be launching alongside Windows 8 on October 26, and over the weekend an actual Xbox 720 developer kit was spotted in the wild, complete with a $10,000 price tag. Is the next generation Xbox closer to release than Microsoft is letting on?

Do you believe the National Security Agency is spying on American citizens? That’s what one former NSA agent claims. Ubisoft made a pretty big fumble when it was discovered that its UPlay client had some major security vulnerabilities, but thankfully the publisher was able to deliver a patch for the service quickly. The first round of Google Glass Explorer hangouts on Google Plus didn’t quite achieve the desired effect, and today we got our first true introduction to the new Wikipad gaming tablet. Will it replace your gaming desktop? No, it certainly won’t, but that weird-looking controller makes us want one anyway. Finally, the Curiosity rover will be landing on Mars soon, and NASA is planning on livestreaming the entire event. If you’ve ever wanted to watch history in the making, you’ll soon get your chance.

That does it for the news, but we’ve also got a couple original posts for you to check out too, with a new column from Philip Berne and a review of the T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note by Chris Burns. Enjoy the rest of your Monday evening, folks!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: July 30, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A report from iMore this morning indicated that Apple is planning to unveil the next iPhone along with the iPad mini on September 12th. The next iPhone would then ship out to customers 9 days later on September 21st, although the exact launch date for the iPad mini wasn’t quite as clear. iLounge corroborates iMore’s sources, saying that the next iPhone will launch in late September, but the site isn’t quite as confident on the prospects of the iPad mini.

iLounge believes that the iPad mini won’t make an appearance at the September event, as the device reportedly isn’t ready yet. A source speaking to iLounge claims that the smaller tablet should ship in time for November, an odd date which is usually untouched by Apple releases but is perfectly poised for the holiday season. In addition, Apple is reportedly working on accessories to accompany the iPad mini, which include smaller versions of the Smart Cover and Smart Case.

The same is true of the next iPhone. Apple is said to be working on two cases for the next iteration of its smartphone. The first will be similar in style to the current bumper case sold for the iPhone 4 and 4S, while the other case will have “a major impact on the accessory market.” It’s not clear exactly what Apple is cooking up, although iLounge believes it could involve a kickstand.

Finally, minor details are hinted at for the fourth-generation iPad. The chassis on the next iPad will be tweaked slightly, retaining the same design and shape but swapping in the new smaller 19-pin dock connector that’s been rumored to make an appearance on the next iPhone. An additional microphone will be also be added onto the rear of the device which will assist in noise cancellation for FaceTime calls and video recording. The iPad mini may see a debut this year, iLounge and its source notes that it’s unlikely that Apple will refresh the new iPad this year.

iPad mini may get own event, ship in November is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.