Hasta La Gadget!

Ever so gently, we’re starting to peel away the layers of mystery surrounding the A4 system-on-chip that powers Apple’s fancy new slate device. iFixit, helped by reverse engineering firm Chipworks, have gone to the trouble of both dissecting and X-raying the iPad’s central processing hub in their quest to lift the veil of ignorance. Their findings confirmed that the A4 is built using a “package on package” method, meaning that the 256MB of Samsung-provided SDRAM is stacked immediately atop the CPU, which is noted as being reductive to both latency and energy use. With a single core processor inside, the iFixit team concluded the iPad had to be running on a Cortex A8 — which is very much the likeliest choice at this point — but their assertion that it couldn’t be a Cortex A9 MPCore inside is inaccurate, as those chips also come in single-core options. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see how it stacks up against Samsung’s Hummingbird chip, which was designed by Intrinsity, the same company Apple is being rumored to have recently acquired. Finally, the visual inspection of the iPad’s mobo puts a model number to the already known PowerVR GPU, narrowing it down to the SGX 535, while also naming and picturing a number of other exciting components, such as the always popular capacitive touchscreen controller. Hit the source link below for all the lurid images.

Apple’s A4 system-on-chip gets decoupled from iPad, investigated with the help of an X-ray originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 05:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  iFixit  | Email this | Comments

Getting sick of the iPad? Then let our old friend Tom Dickinson do what he does best. If you’ve somehow missed all of his Blendtec videos in the past, be warned that they aren’t for the faint-hearted gadget fanatics — especially this latest edition where Tom forcefully folds the pad to fit it into his gadget muncher. When you’re ready, march on for some “pad smoke” after the break.

Update: Commenter ernie pointed out that the aluminum back was missing when Tom folded the iPad. Come on, Blendtec, just blend the metal already!

Continue reading Will it blend? iPad edition (update: he cheated!)

Will it blend? iPad edition (update: he cheated!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Apr 2010 12:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Twitter  |  YouTube  | Email this | Comments

We love the idea of Android apps running on iPhone and vice versa, and that’s exactly what Adobe’s selling with its multiplatform development solution AIR — but though we’ve seen a demo here and there, conversations we’ve had with the company led us to believe that AIR was not yet up to the task. However, Adobe dev Christian Cantrell has the proof — he created a game of Reversi that runs on five platforms without having to change a single line of code. In a video after the break, he demonstrates iReverse running on OS X, Windows 7, Ubuntu Linux, the iPhone, a Droid and the new iPad, explaining how it took only a series of seriously tiny platform-specific wrappers to make his program function on each. Since each platform has its own hardware strengths, this kind of convergence isn’t always a good thing — but if it provides extra incentive for developers to get cracking on hot new apps, we’re all for it.

Continue reading Adobe AIR developer demonstration: one game, five platforms, all the same code

Adobe AIR developer demonstration: one game, five platforms, all the same code originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Apr 2010 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Recombu  |  Christian Cantrell  | Email this | Comments

We heard some pretty ridiculous estimates over the weekend, but these figures are straight out of Cupertino’s mouth: over 300,000 iPads were sold on April 3rd. Specifically, that many were moved in the US as of midnight (PT, we’re assuming) on Saturday, though this does include deliveries of pre-ordered units to customers, deliveries to channel partners (such as Best Buy) and sales at Apple Retail Stores. We should point out, though, that just because Best Buy purchased a bundle of ’em doesn’t mean that end users have (yet), but still, this is a pretty impressive feat for something that not everyone was convinced that they “needed” in January. If you’ll recall, Apple only sold 270,000 iPhones during its first 30 hours on the market, yet it moved over a million iPhone 3GS units during that handset’s opening weekend. In related news, iPad users also downloaded over a million apps and over 250,000 ebooks from the iBookstore during launch day, with Steve Jobs himself noting that “iPad users, on average, downloaded more than three apps and close to one book within hours of unpacking their new iPad.” Now, let’s see if these guys can keep pace through the first full week.

[Thanks, Tal]

Apple sells over 300,000 iPad tablets on US launch day originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Apple  | Email this | Comments

Never mind that Bron Bron and company got handled today when facing the Celtics — the NBA’s biggest star (yeah, we said it) made a pit stop at Major League Baseball’s 2010 season opener tonight in order to plug Dr. Dre’s (grossly overpriced) new cans, sport a Louis Vuitton zip-up and not care one single bit about a nearby iPad. During a shot up to a luxury box at tonight’s Yankees vs. Red Sox matchup, LeBron was seen glancing in the direction of an iPad that was actually being shown off to someone else, but rather than drooling over Jobs’ latest magic trick, he casually withdrew and returned to his conversation with Dre. Don’t believe us? Have a gander at the video just past the break.

[Thanks, Noah]

Continue reading Screen Grabs: LeBron James overlooks iPad at MLB season opener

Screen Grabs: LeBron James overlooks iPad at MLB season opener originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 04 Apr 2010 22:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments