(Image courtesy of AppleInsider)

A lot of the excitement about the iPad after its unveiling at in late January had to do with its custom, Apple-designed A4 processor — but a new report says that the chip may in reality be nothing “to write home about.”

AppleInsider is reporting on the new findings by Jon Stokes of Ars Technica, who wrote over the weekend that Apple’s custom 1GHz system on a chip for the iPad is really just a single Cortex-A8 CPU with a PowerVR SGX GPU. If that sounds familiar, it’s because the Cortex-A8 CPU is the same chip used in the current iPhone 3GS — although the handset is clocked at 600MHz, while the iPad’s Apple A4 is reportedly 1GHz.

… read the full post at Mac|Life

Wheels have been turning in the world of iTunes, subtle ones.

With Apples purchase of web streaming service LaLa, is iTunes preparing to move from your desktop to the web?

Its not a secret that parts of iTunes have already raised their heads on the web, already you can view music and apps with no reason why video content won’t appear soon.

Is this Apple beta testing the new environment? Its quite possible, many will remember the release of mobileme website a while ago and agree that the site was released way to early and damaged Apples reputation.

So with the prospect of an online version of Apple iTunes, what could be expect so see?

I’ve put together some ideas, all are possible, some are already implemented but will we see them in iTunes-X ?

• Web based iTunes, that sync’s to your desktop client.
• With your library sync’d online (purchased content only), you can manage/create your playlists online and have them pushed to your mobile device.
• Streaming already purchased content directly from iTunes-X online.
• Microsoft have been doing it for ages, sync’ing your mobile device wirelessly. Knows your home WIFI, and will sync with iTunes in the background.
• Content purchased from iTunes-X online can be streamed immediately and sync’d to client.
• Purchased content “backup up” on iTunes-X local library failure means it can be restored at any time.

Its all speculation but very possible, with the release of OS4.0 for the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad devices a new release of iTunes is guaranteed. The purchase of LaLa with the recent releases of music & app previews on the web suggest this is becoming more and more likely.

What do you think? Are there other services you’d like to see that I haven’t mentioned?

Let us know…

**UPDATE

Apple Wants To Store Your Video in The Cloud, Too

Speculation ran rampant after Apple’s acquisition of Lala.com that Cupertino was planning to store your music library in the cloud. But a recent report finds that they don’t plan to stop there, with Hollywood and video being the next targets.  …read more

Ok, we have heard a lot about the Apple iPad quite a lot over the past to month or so, but now the dust has settled a bit…

So I’ve decided to have a look at the product and all the murmurs from other publications in an attempt to speculate what Apple plans for this “new” device.

What?

From what we’ve seen it’s a “iPod/iPhone” like device with 9.7in display. The press have been quite harsh describing it as an “iPhone” without the phone and too big for the pocket.

We know for a fact that the inside the device very different, definitely not a device we are familiar with. The iPad utilises a new multi-processor called the A4. It’s a 1GHz processor developed my Apples recently purchased PA Semiconductor division. The chip not only looks after the maths but also the graphics processing amongst other things, which reduced the chip count and the power requirements pushing Apples power estimates to 10 hours of surfing or watching movies – there is no mention if this refers to the WIFI or 3G version though.

Who?

Let’s look at the device; a slate, tablet keyboardless device – Who does Steve see using this?

I thought about it and here are some possible scenarios;

• Scholar/Education; of course its new eBook functionality and iTunes U links suggests that this would be an excellent supplementary tool, study tool in schools as well?
• Hospitals/Surgery; I could see this being an extremely useful tool in hospitals for doctors, nurses and the pharmacy.
• Museums; what an excellent interactive guidebook for a city or a museum, a fully interactive guide for the Louvre for example – imagine that.
• Business; with the introduction of Works for iPad it’s obvious that Steve has his eye on the business market. But I believe people are assuming its being aimed at the office, but we need to remember that business stretches further. A possible scenario for business could be for the urban warriors, checking stock, billing and creating quotes for example.

Why?

From the information we seen already, many questions have been raised. Here are a few of mine;

• With up to 64GB of memory surely iTunes can’t be the only way to get information on the iPad? For this to be a useful device the iPad needs to cut its apparently total dependence on iTunes. It should be able to download files, connect to network shares etc to save and load files.
• This could be such an amazing tool for photographers, it’s rumoured a USB adapter will be available to connect to cameras but for goodness sake why not include a SD card reader?
• With the new Apple A4 processor running the show at a speedy 1Ghz why is the device still unable to multitask applications?
• With the new A4 processor, why can’t the iPad use handwriting recognition as well as having a virtual keyboard?
• We’ve seen the generous customisation that we now have; yes we can change the background image! I want to see more! When the device is locked how about some installable widgets for mail, next appointment, weather?
• A recent discovery from one of the iPad maintenance parts suppliers suggest the supplied frame already has a space for a forward facing camera. The module space has been designed to fit the existing iSight cameras. Why build the space into the frame at this point without providing the device?
• It’s been suggested that although video content on the iPad is shown on-screen at HD (720px) output from the iPad will not be at HD?

Of course this is all speculation; on the 27^th Jan we saw a number of working devices running OS3.4, a tweaked version of the same OS running on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

It’s quite possible the much rumoured OS4.0 (which is long overdue) for the devices mentioned above will include the software omissions mentioned. With the new Windows Mobile 7 shown for the first time in February the OS3.x is certainly looking very dated; hardly changed since the OS was first released in 2008.

When?

With the announcement on the 27^th January, Steve told us that the WIFI version would be available in 60 days and the 3G version within 90 days, so not long now.

There seems a lot of disappointment when it was announced, always a problem with so much hype but I don’t believe we saw the iPad’s final configuration on either software or hardware.

If course it would be a big hit for Steve to release the iPad with a full multi-tasking OS4.0 and maybe a camera?

As a footnote, in the next couple of months an upgrade to the iPhone is expected. Perhaps the iPhone 4G will be release using the new A4 CPU and a true multi-tasking OS4.0.

Well, the world is waiting for the Apple announcements due next week on the 27th January 2010. There has been a lot of speculation, and the tablet device having the highest profile in all the media. Of course this isn’t Apples first attempt at a tablet device, the first being the Apple Newton; check it out on the Wiki.

But let me share my thoughts on the up an coming events and what we might expect; this of course is all speculation based upon news from may sources, and my own personal “wish list”, but I’ll think you’ll find it interesting.

The Tablet

Of course, I think this will be announced on the day, although not immediately available it will come in a number of form factors. All will have wireless and 3G connectivity initially at 7″ display, and later in the year a 10″ version.

It will be running the new OS4.0 which is going to be announced for the iPhone 3G, 3Gs and iPod Touch but will make use of the additional features within the tablet device. Expected retail prices are £400 for 7″ model and £600 for 10″ model.

3G partnerships will be announced; in the UK “Three” will be the initial provider.

Additional functionality will be provided by “Cloud” based applications mentioned later.

iPhone 4G

The new device will support all GSM bands, enabling it to be a truly global use device. Processor will be upgraded again to a dual core CPU and internal memory increased to 64GB. With the introduction of OS4.0 new multi-touch gestures can be expected across the applications.

RFID scanner will also be included, but will have limited support initially. The camera once again will be upgraded to a 5MP autofocus sensor with the addition of an LED flash. The increased camera resolution will also enable the recording of HD (720p) movies. Battery life will be extended using a new larger OLED display, although the physical size of the iPhone remains unchanged.

Newly added will be the ability to sync to the new version of iTunes using WIFI, once the device connects/finds the home WIFI the sync will start as a background task – notification optional.

iPods

The iPod Touch will have its memory upgraded to 128GB, and the iPod Classic will be retired. The iPod Touch will also now include the same camera sensor as the iPhone 4G, enjoying the 5MP resolution and built-in flash.

iTunes

Apple iTunes v10. will be released soon after the 27th Jan as it will be required to upgrade and support the OS4.0 mentioned above. The iTunes Store will upgraded to support eBooks that can be downloaded and sync’d onto the new tablet device.

In addition to the locally installed iTunes client, Apple will also announce the release of an on-line version of the store allowing registered users to purchase media and listen/watch on-line using the new streaming service.

Using the Genius information collected from locally installed iTunes, users can opt in to allow streaming of previously purchased media via the on-line store, this maybe offered via a paid subscription through the me.com service.

Apple TV

The device is due for an upgrade and we’ll see it here – the device will have updated hardware and OS and will be shrunk a little to the same dimensions at the mac-mini.

Working with both the locally installed iTunes and the new on-line iTunes service the device will be able to support streamed  content from either. Although offered initially in the US the device will also support a TV guide facility to allow recording of user selected programs which as stored within the iTunes/Apple cloud and streamed to the Apple TV upon demand, again this is a subscription service.

iWork

Apple has spent a lot of time on the application and its making its mark, the latest incarnation will be moved into the cloud as a suite of business tools to compete directly with Google Docs. The cloud application is an important facet to the Apple Tablet device mentioned above as it will provide essential business tools to the tablet without impacting processing or storage on the device, as this is performed remotely within the cloud.

iLife

Apple iLife 10 will be announced, iDVD and iWeb will be dropped from the suite with iDVD being intergraded into iMovie. Significant changes will also be announced for iPhoto.

MacBook Pro

Hardware upgrades all round, pro range will now support the new Intel i5 & i7 CPUs as use within the current range of iMac’s.

Conclusion

There is a lot of information, none of it impossible – I would like to hear your thoughts do you have anything that can be added? Drop up a comment below;

Its not often I rant about how great an application for the iPhone is, but I have to say that “The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You™” by Chase Jarvis is an amazing concept.

The application itself is easy to use, and produces amazing images from a very average camera, the built in filters are simple to use and easy to remove if you wish. The sharing options allow you to easily send your creations to a number of social media services including Twitter and Facebook, posting links to the bestc.am website where the images are stored. What is surprising with this concept is its taken one step further and selected images from around the world are commited to print in the form of a amazing 250+ page book.

Check out my Flickr set of all the snaps I’ve taken in the slideshow below;

UPDATE 18th Dec 2009:

Today I picked up my brand new 27″ iMac with its i7 processor and 16GB of memory. I would like to personally thank the guys at the Apple Store in Kinston Upon Thames who worked this out for me; read the story below for the full details; but to offer an exchange for a computer over a month old for a brand new one without any questions was and amazing feat of customer service – something we rarely see in the commercial world now days.

I of course will have no problems singing the praise of Apple, their stores and especially their staff for going that little bit extra to to make this Christmas very special to me.

You may have seen my tweets that I had purchased my new iMac in late September, I was well chuffed with it, 24″ screen, aluminium chassis, 3.06GHz CPU and 8GB RAM – storming! It was a match made in heaven; but then on the 20th October my heart hit the floor, Apple announced their new iMac range including the new 27″ 16:9 quad core model - gutted! As you can imagine it wasn’t a great day.

Much love

I was in the Apple today, trying out all the new toys; no sign of the new “Magic Mouse” when I was approached by a friendly specialist – he asked if he could help and I mentioned that I was unhappy about the release of the new iMac so soon after the purchase of my current iMac. I expected an “Oh sorry, but there is nothing we can do about that…” but he said to my surprise; “I’ll see what I can do for you…”

He disappeared off and after a couple of minutes he took me over to see the “Returns Specialist”. He searched, and found my purchase in September from the Apple Store in Bluewater, and very much to my surprise he told me he could exchange the iMac for a new one if I wanted. At the time the new Quad Core iMac are not available; not a problem – he told me to give him a ring in a couple of weeks.

I would seem that Apple are a lot more understanding than other retailers I’ve had the misfortune to deal with.

Exchange Criteria

It would seem that there is a 1 month return/exchange policy on Apple goods, but there is additional criteria that you may not be aware of. I would suggest you visit a Apple store and discuss your plight with one of the guys there especially if your purchase falls within the points below;

• Price has changed on the item that you have purchased
• The specifications of the device you have purchased

I have to say, that you should talk with the specialists in the store – they really wanted to help.

So BIG THANKS to the Apple Store, they really made my weekend.

Its something in human nature, we like to browse – looking in windows at all the shinny stuff. Of course we all love a bargain and feel really pleased with ourselves when we get something cheap, but there its always something else nagging in the back of our minds; that little voice saying “but I want it now!”

But hey! we can help you out with at least one of those little voices; check out this great little iPhone app that will scrape the net for the best prices.

RedLaser; scanning the safe way

I was testing out a new application for the iPhone called “RedLaser” (£1.19 from the iTunes App Store).

The developer says “The RedLaser app lets you search for online prices using Google product search. You can also keep a list of products and send them to yourself or a friend (because sometimes you just need to check things out on a bigger screen.)”

With this little app you can scan a barcode for a album, DVD, camera or a book and moments later results from Amazon (in your country) and a Google search showing the best prices.

In HMV (a well known music store in the UK) I decided to perform some price checks using the new app. The first image shows the shop price, second the barcode snapped from the application, the third shows the results and in this case the fourth shows the cost of the album from iTunes. Check out the screen shots below;

I tried again with a DVD and the app performed the magic again – showing pricing from a number of different sites, iTunes again was the cheapest at £10.99 but remember you get just the movie as a file which is limited to authorised devices associated with your iTunes account.

Overall the application worked a treat, although you need a steady hand when scanning the barcode.

I’d like to point out that HMV do some great deals – where the physical stock works in our favour. You can for example get 4 DVD’s for £20, and that’s them just clearing stock – a problem that iTunes don’t have!

Time for a transformation

I’ve found two tools for the Apple iMac that I think you will find interesting, I use for converting the physical into virtual, RipIt and Elgato Turbo.264 HD

RipIt allows you to.. yup you’ve guessed it rip a DVD, but not just the main movie file, it will capture the whole DVD allowing you to open the image as a full “virtual” DVD within the standard Mac DVDplayer – including all the extra’s! But at the moment its not iTunes friendly but all the same its a snip at only $19.95

Of course you must always follow all the associated copyright laws and you must own the DVD’s – this site in no way condones the act of illegally copying DVD’s.

… next

Elgato upgraded their hardware encoder a while back to support the HD format, and I have to say the Elgato Turbo.264 HD is a neat bit of kit that you can pick up for around £100. The small dongle fits in a spare USB slot and when the drivers are installed will take the a majority of the media crunching off the iMac CPU and nail it with its onboard dedicated hardware encoder.

The user interface is simple, clean and easy to use; either connect your camcorder or drag and drop the media (or DVD image created by RipIt) and away you go. There are a number of profiles, and if you want the movie to be suitable for iTunes I recommend AppleTV with Chapter markers.

Typically a 90 minute film will take between 30~40 minutes to covert, you can even get Turbo.264 HD to drop it straight into iTunes automatically if you want.

Recap

So, we’ve looked at a simple application for the iPhone that will help you get the best prices for your physical media and gadgets; searching through thousands of sites to get you the best price.

If you just couldn’t wait and bought the DVD, we’ve also checked out a very smart application and hardware to get your DVD’s into iTunes with speed and ease.

Future of Media

A while back I blogged about the future of print when Amazon released the Kindel2, it was evident that people liked to have something physical to read rather than a virtual book stored on a device.

Now I would like to ask for comments on peoples thoughts; in the digital world we live in do you still prefer physical things you can touch and feel, or are you happy with it’s digital counterpart? Will you pay a little more just to have it in your hand NOW?

Was playing around on iTunes sorting out some songs & playlists and I thought Id create the following “Smart Playlist” just to see what I got out;

I was a little surprised; so here is the tops 20 list created using the “Smart Playlist” …

… try out the playlist yourself, see what you’ve got.

Yeah, before you tell me I know the holiday season is almost over – but hey, there’s always next year!

But I digress; regular viewers will no doubt have seen by expliots in Paris in early September this year. So whats the post about? Well its an overview of some of the applications I used during the break.

The holiday was in two parts; first in Disneyland Paris and the second part exploring the City itself, for a bit of culture. Before hand I bought some travel guides, which I hope would aid the adventure – but they were bulky and although they had a useful map in the back, they were hardly 21st centry.

So I dipped into the iTunes store to see what was avaliable for both the iPod Touch and the iPhone; all the applications mentioned will work on either, but the running on the iPhone will utilise the built in GPS functionality. If you are using an iPhone, make sure you look out for off-line applications – these require no data connection to operate. Remember if you’re outside your country or data area covered by your service provider data costs are heavy. To give you an example O2 in the UK charge £3 (about 5 USD) per MB of data while roaming.

Sadly the iTunes store threw up a blank for the Disneyland Paris Resort, although there are many applications for the other parks within the US.

So lets have a brief review of the applications I checked out;

Paris2Go

Out of the guides I tried (all off-line) this was the most useful. Using GPS it would show your location on the map and the currently selected attraction; zooming into the map gave you the oppertunity to find a route yourself to your selected destination. This was also helpful for finding the nearest Metro station – nice clear intelligent map!

Other feature as well as finding attractions nearby with the option to show POI’s as well. Each of the attractions shows a brief overview, and after selecting the item gives you wiki type detail – from here you can check it on the map or add a bookmark which gives you a certain amount of pre-planning prior to your holiday.

Searchable categories using the options mentioned above include;

• Nearby
• Top Places (tourist favorites)
• Places (subdivided into Museums, CHurches, Monuments, Palaces etc..)
• Geography (Neighborhoods, Major Streets, Major Squares etc…)
• Transportation
• Entertainment
• Eat & Drink
• History & People

Overall I would recommend this application to anyone visiting the city a worthwhile investment for only £0.59 – bargain!

Paris2Go iTunes Link

RATP Premier

This is a cracking little tool, autoroute for the entire Metro and RER rail network. The application is able to use GPS to locate stations nearby and provide routes to a preferred location of another station of your choice. The application does what it says on the box, althought there are number of enhancements I would like to see; better optermised routing, from a starting location the application will offer two, maybe three stations but not recommend the the best station to use for a rapid trip to your destination. This is the Premium version, and can be purchased for £0.59.

RATP Premier iTunes Link

Rick Steve’s Historic Paris Walk

There are many paper based guide books avaliable off the shelf, but they all lack one thing – the spoken word. We mentioned Paris2Go earlier which is more like an intellegent paper guide book, but the Paris Walk is a full guided tour which will take you about 4 hours to complete.

This was the 2nd Ray Steve’s guided tour I had tried, the Orsay Museum Guide which sadly was a disapointment, mainly because the museum has re-organised the gallery making he guided tour unuable. But I am glad to say that the Paris Walk was a huge success. With video, text and audio embedded in the application if was a wireless application and suitable for the Touch also.

I won’t say any more about the tour as it will spoil it; but check out the interface and content below; well worth the £2.99

Rick Steve’s Historic Paris Walk iTunes Link

These are just a handful of the many amazing guides that you can find on the iTunes store for both the iPod Touch and the iPhone, if you’ve discovered other useful guides drop them in a comment below and share with the rest of us please.

After another great breakfast to keep me going throughout the day – I sadly packed my case and ordered my taxi to the station for 2:30pm

Doing the tourist thing I hadn’t finished; I was only able to work half way through Rick Steves’ Historic Paris Walk that I mentioned yesterday – so it was back on the Metro and out to Notre-Dame again to pick up the rest of the tour.

Below you can see the Conciergerie, not to be confused with the guy that helps you out at the front desk of a hotel

The Conciergerie is a gloomy prison famous as the last stop for 2,780 victims of the guillotine including Marie-Antoinette. Previously the building had be used to torture and execution of failed assassins.

This small chapel was built on the original location of Marie-Antoinette’s cell. Outside the female prisoners were allowed a little fresh air, but note the spikes to prevent any escape.

Back outside and around the corner is Place Dauphine, just behind the French Supreme Court – its a nice spot for drinks of lunch, you may even see lawyers on their lunch breaks playing boules.

Back you to the River for some shots and to look for somewhere to have lunch…

Henry IV (above) directed me to this little street side cafe…

Then it was back on the Metro to the hotel, and off to catch Eurostar whisking me back to London at almost 200mph.

Overall it was a great holiday, only slightly marred by the problems with the hotel at Disneyland. Would I do it again? I think so….