Listen, we know what you’re thinking: “Hey Engadget, what’s with all the excessive Microsoft coverage today? Where’s our Apple rumors?” Here you go! Though the last Best Buy database screencap ended up being even more dubious than we had suspected, today’s MacRumors-borne pic has the added bonus of a trio of new entries, aptly titled Dummy SKU A, B, and C, respectively. There’s not a lot to go on here, and assuming the shot is legit (we cannot independently confirm at this point), it doesn’t really say much. Oft-coveted refreshed MacBook Pros? Those pesky WiFi iPads due out next month? Bobble heads for Steve Jobs, Phil Schiller and Scott Forstall? We may never know for sure.
We pretty much knew that Windows Mobile 7 is coming next week at MWC, but the Wall Street Journal has a piece up confirming the announcement, along with a few other interesting details. As we’d heard, the new UI is a riff on the Zune HD interface, and the OS “reflects a much tighter focus” on hardware / software integration, all based around a “small number” of hardware chassis specs — pretty much what we’ve known, but it’s interesting that the Journal‘s source says the plan is to “limit the wild variation” that’s typically been the hallmark of Windows Mobile. The WSJ also says that the long-rumored Pink project is a separate phone designed to replace the Sidekick — which we also basically knew — but that it won’t make an appearance at MWC at all. Hmm, sounds like someone ought tell all those Twittering Danger employees. We’ll see what happens — it all goes down early on Monday.
We already know all of you have more than a few ideas about what TiVo should or will bring to the table March 2, but an anonymous tipster claiming knowledge of recent developments in the beta program let us know what may be coming. Although it began as simple bug fixes for the Series 3 now an all new user experience is on the way that the company expects to perfect the DVR. The UI is speedy again, rising to the level of the older Series 2 but with new high res, crisp widescreen elements designed to look great on your HDTV. Other fixes that should have the faithful drooling are a capacity meter for add-on drives and Tivo Desktop enhancements including “Sling-esque” features. Naturally, add-ons like Netflix, Amazon, Blockbuster and even Facebook lead the app charge with faster and easier program access. No real details on what’s new on the hardware side, but that QWERTY remote seems to be a sure bet, we’ll be counting down the next 19 days until we know for sure.
There’s not much to go on here, but according to alleged sources of Gamervision, Sony’s planning a relaunch of sorts for the PSP Go. The oft-maligned portable hasn’t exactly taken the world by storm — and with its lack of an UMD drive, despite the company’s continued support of the format, that arguably wasn’t the point of its existence, anyway. An apparent marketing blitz is in the cards (unsurprising), and additionally there’s speculation that a price drop might be coming, too. That seems a bit early given it only launched back in October, but if the company’s really wanting to get aggressive and pushing units of its admittedly pretty hardware, that’s a pretty good way to do so. Then again, its hands might be full adding some vigor to its other gaming machine.
Some of Apple’s promotional material about the iPad implies the device’s Safari browser can load Adobe Flash content. However, demonstration units of the tablet, including the one presented by Steve Jobs, could not, and a consumer has already filed a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission alleging false advertising.
9to5Mac’s Seth Weintraub noticed that a Flash-based section of the NYTimes.com front page appears to load properly in the video above. The “Video” section of NYTimes.com that loads around the 1:15 mark is normally a piece of Flash content. Weintraub points out that the rendering and the resolution independence makes it look like the iPad really is loading Flash.
But that’s unlikely to be the case. If the iPad really did support Flash, it would be quite odd. Steve Jobs made no mention of Flash during Wednesday’s tablet event, and you would think he would highlight that since the lack of Flash for the iPhone remains an incessant complaint among customers.
Also, when Jobs demonstrated the tablet and showed NYTimes.com in the browser, it clearly reveals a missing chunk for where the Flash content is supposed to be. (Check out the keynote video at Apple’s website at the 13:10 mark.)
First noted by AppleInsider, a second example where Flash appears to be working on the iPad is a press image (right). It depicts an NYTimes.com slideshow that would require Flash support.
Adobe has already reacted to the iPad’s lack of Flash support, and you would think the company would know if Apple was really going to put Flash in the tablet. So while consumers can wish for adequate Flash support on the iPhone and the iPad, in the near term this seems like a pipe dream.
Paul Threatt, a graphic designer at Jackson Walker design group, has filed a complaint to the FTC alleging false advertising. His statement reads:
On the Apple iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch devices, Apple provides a proprietary web browser named Safari. On these electronic devices, Apple computer does not support the web browser extension commonly referred to as “Flash”. The Adobe Flash extension is a popular browser plug-in that has gained wide popularity due to its ability to easily display video and image based slideshows on the web.
In several advertisements and images representing the apple products in question, Apple has purposefully elected to show these devices correctly displaying content that necessitates the Adobe Flash plug-in. This is not possible on the actual devices, and Apple is very aware of that fact. Despite the controversial lack of support for Adobe Flash on these devices, Apple has elected to depict these correctly utilizing the Flash plug-in. This constitutes willful false advertising and Apple’s advertising practices for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the new iPad should be forcibly changed.
“I’m a huge Apple loyalist, so it kind of annoys me that they’re going and doing stuff like this,” Threatt told Wired.com. “Unless they’ve got something up their sleeve to actually give us Flash, it seems like false advertising in a big way.”
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Flash support or Threatt’s complaint.
Flash has already gotten Apple in trouble in the past. In the U.K., two customers complained that Apple was falsely advertising the iPhone in a TV commercial by saying “all the parts of the internet are on the iPhone” when the handset does not support Flash. The U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority deemed the ad misleading and pulled the ad.
In November 2008, Wired.com explained why it’s unlikely Apple will support Flash on the iPhone. We pointed out Flash was not allowed in the iPhone developers’ terms of service agreement, which stated, “An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise…. No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple’s Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s).” (I don’t have access to the latest iPhone developers’ TOS agreement because it’s under strict NDA, but I doubt that clause has changed.)
We also noted allowing Flash would open doors to content that competes with apps in the App Store, so it would probably be in Apple’s best interest to shy away from the platform. Lastly, Flash would potentially introduce a slew of performance problems as well. Flash has been known for sporadic crashing and quickly depleting battery life, as well as security risks, which amount to many potential headaches for Apple.
Updated 1/30/10, 11 a.m. PDT: Apple has removed the image of the iPad showing the NYTimes.com slideshow from its home page. Apple has also updated its promotional video to show a missing chunk on NYTimes.com to reveal the lack of Flash support.
Updated 1:45 p.m. PDT: Weintraub has posted more information: “We’ve just got word from our source at Chiat/Day Media Arts Lab that they make fake optimized web pages for all of Apple’s commercials — which load faster. In this case they made optimized images to take the place of Flash and are redoing them as we speak.”
Updated 11:30 a.m. with Paul Threatt’s complaint filed to the FTC.
We weren’t sure things could get any more interesting with Microsoft’s mobile rumor mill, but along comes Zune Boards with some tantalizing findings in the latest Zune software update. First up is the eEndpointFamily files, which lists all the compatible hardware — ZuneHD, for example. Also found, however, were entries for “PmxPure” and “PmxTurtle.” PMX, if you recall, seems to be a reference to Microsoft’s Premium Mobile eXperiences group, the remnants of the Danger acquisition who have been whispered to be working on Project Pink. As for Pure and Turtle, let’s go back all the way to September 2009, when we first heard those names as the initial Pink duo — there were some supposed renders, too. If that’s not enough, two PMX table entries pointed to a snippet of text stating that “Studio members” can “View and manage pictures and videos taken with your phone at the Studio,” followed by a link that for now redirects to Zune.net. Could the mysterious Project Pink and the oft-rumored “Zune phone” be one in the same, with some “Studio” service for uploading media to the cloud? Is this all some red herring perpetuated by some amused Microsoft staffers? We don’t know, but it’s mean to tug at our heart strings like that, Microsoft, and worse that it makes Mobile World Congress even more painful to wait for. #tmdp
Archos hasn’t seemed to secure much love for its latest, the Archos 9 tablet, so maybe it’s going back to what it does best for its next suite of products: a quintet of mostly straightforward players along with a titillating new flavor of the Archos 7. First is the simple and cheap Archos Key, a €20 device with 4GB of storage and microSD expansion. Then there’s the Archos Vision Slim, a slenderized and button-free version of the original Vision, again packing just 4GB of storage but going for €40 this time. Next is the Archos Yamaha Vision 2, with an internal amp from Yamaha, integrated stereo speakers, and undisclosed storage quantity and price. Next we have the Archos 4 Vision, a 4.3-inch touchscreen model with TV output, microSD expansion, and what was previously understood to be 16 and 32GB of storage. Finally, perhaps the most interesting, is the Archos 3 Vision Camera, an 8GB player with an integrated camera that could make this into a Flip-replacing media player — depending on the quality of the video, naturally. Oh, and did we forget to mention the purported Archos 7 with Android? It’s worth restating. All are decidedly rendery looking and naturally this is all unconfirmed, but golly don’t they look pretty.
Okay, we obviously can’t confirm this, but we just got two very interesting images of what certainly looks like a prototype Apple tablet, or what could be the tablet bolted down to a table. It’s big — really big — and it’s running what clearly looks like an iPhone app, although we’ve never seen an iPhone app with that interface or at that resolution before. We also see a WiFi icon and a cell service indicator, although tragically there’s no carrier listed. As far as fakes go, this is as convincing as it gets, so either this is the real deal or someone deserves a hearty congratulations.
On a totally separate note, we also received a tip claiming to have some specs — we can’t verify any of this either, but we’re told that the device will have a 10-inch screen and look like a larger iPhone with a MacBook-like aluminum back, and that pricing will run $800 on contract with Verizon and $1000 without when it arrives in March. We’re also told that the official name remains a secret and that Apple employees are still calling it by the codename of “K48” — a name we last heard in May from the same source that pegged the iPhone 3GS exactly. This source also tells us that the iPhone will be coming to Verizon as well and that we’ll see iLife ’10 tomorrow, but there won’t be any MacBook updates. A relatively safe set of predictions — which is why we sort of believe them.
Just 13 hours to go — we’ll find out if any of this is the real deal soon enough.
Update: Based on some rough measurements, that screen does appear to be between 9- and 10-inches diagonal. Additionally, it looks as though there could be a front-facing camera on the opposite side of the home button (up top in these photos) due to that cutout section, though the images are really too grainy to know for certain.
Update 2: Our source has shared another photograph, this time showing an iPhone resting on the tablet for comparison. Check it out after the break (bigger image for inspection available in the gallery).
Update 3: Gizmodo managed to snag some images of what appears to be the back of the tablet from Chinese forum WeiPhone before they were mysteriously yanked. WeiPhone is the same forum that leaked the K48 name way back when, so who knows — the image shows what could be RF testing, but one of them feels kind of render-y to us. Check ’em all in the gallery!
A last minute tip from a Gadget Lab reader might be the first actual photo of The Tablet, the savior of the print industry and curer of leprosy and typhoid (but – ironically – not consumption).
Not only are the pictures crisp and clear, they also show the name at last. Behold, the iThing.
These leaked photos, from either Kyle ‘The Yellow Dart’ Smith or Travis Fantina, depending on which end of the email you believe, come with the following testimonial as to their legitimacy:
I may, or may not work for Apple or I may or may not know somebody who does, however I have gotten my hands on 3 Tablet photos which I’m sure you will be able to verify are not fake after careful image analysis. Apparently the tablet will be called the iThing.
So there we have it. Conclusive proof of the iThing, a screen and frame that is just one pixel thick. More pictures below.
Follow our live coverage of the real Apple even here on Gadget Lab.
Here’s a little price snippet on Apple’s e-book plans, care of an eleventh hour Wall Street Journal piece. According to the article, the gang in Cupertino is asking book publishers (HarperCollins was specifically cited) to set the price point for digital versions of hardcover bestsellers at either $12.99 or $14.00, “with fewer titles offered at $9.99.” The publisher apparently has the option to set its own price, but at any rate, Apple’s taking the usual 30% cut from each sale — a $14.99 novel would thus leave about $10.49 for the publisher. Nothing else to glean from this other than a rather strongly-phrased assertion that tomorrow’s tablet has a 10-inch touchscreen, but no indication on where that’s coming from. These prices would put Apple’s selection at a premium compared with Amazon and its Kindle store, but perhaps it’ll also be bypassing any rumored digital delay on new works — question is, if Apple really is entering the e-book business and bringing with it higher prices, will it let us import our digital books purchased from other stores? What say you, Mr. McGraw?
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