Personal Data: Apple releases its first transparency report

Apple, as well as Google, Microsoft and Facebook, is concerned with the transmission of information to governments. The company has just released its first "Transparency Report".

© Josh Edelson / AFP

U.S. group urges the U.S. government to be more transparent about their demands.

For several years, the web giants are used to publish a transparency report which shows the requests for information from governments. Until then, Apple does not provide this information.

For the first time, she reveals in a report that the state of the planet and ask him the answer that was made ​​to them. "We believe that our customers have the right to know how their personal data are processed, and it is our responsibility to provide this information, "said Apple in its preamble that covers the first half of 2013.

The United States are the largest recipients of information. In the first six months of the year, they asked 3542 notifications 8605 devices. Apple says it has responded favorably to 88% of these requests.

Germany and Singapore in second and third place respectively in 2156 and 1498 applications.With 530 requests, France is in the Top 10.

Apple asked the authorities more transparent

Several countries have not been more than one application. These are the Bahamas, Chile, Cyprus, Estonia, Malaysia, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. Only Bahamas received a favorable opinion of Apple.

If the Cupertino plays the game with the United States, she said without naming anyone that his model is not based on the collection of customer data. "We have no interest in raising this information. "

It recalls that it wants to protect the "personal conversations by providing end to end encryption on iMessage and FaceTime. "In addition, Apple says she does not" keep the location data, the desired cards or questions to Siri. "

In addition, the U.S. group urges the U.S. authorities to "lift the gag and allow companies to disclose specific figures on the FISA applications and national security letters. "

Apple may launch iPad "giants" from March 2014

Echoing the information published last summer by the Wall Street Journal, a Chinese blog shows tests of Apple iPad 11 and almost 13 inches. These devices could be launched next spring.

While market experts believe that between 18 and 20 million iPad might be released in the fourth quarter of 2013, which would represent a good performance but lower than that recorded for the same period last year (22, 86 million units), Apple is preparing to launch a new iPad model. With a screen of 11.4 or 12.9 inches, these tablets are in the final phase of tests based on a Chinese website that is made specialty fuiter information on tablets under development.

Second alert

In July, the Wall Street Journal stated that Apple was already making tests with tablets equipped with screen larger than usual 9.7 inches. These iPad could be launched as early as March. Apple and revival with this classic launch date for its tablets and occupy the field representatives of post PC twice a year.

The iPad Mini, Apple, and its 7.9-inch slab.

Touch tablet or mobile iOS?

If everything is obviously speculation, the arrival of larger tablets would fit logically in Apple's willingness to make these products productivity tools for which it is necessary to have an adequate work surface . Still, it will be necessary to avoid the problem of weight and bulk that can turn a good idea into a product stuck between laptop and tablet and makes too many compromises to seduce.
Hard to imagine in any case, with such a diagonal tile, Apple does not review its form factor.Or this giant iPad could be a real hybrid, "a portable iOS" in the words of John Gruber , blogger very knowledgable about Apple's plans. 

Foxconn diversifies and will launch in the mobile gaming ...

Known for making the Apple devices and other big names in high tech, Foxconn began a moult, which passes through the cloud, creating services and mobile gaming.

Since May of Hon Hai Precision , better known by his market name Foxconn, makes no secret of its intentions to diversify and not be a manufacturer for the big names in high tech. Furthermore it aims to develop products on its behalf , such as televisions, the Taiwanese giant also plans to make its scope the development of software and services.

Thus, the group has built a set of data centers and a center of research and development focused on software and cloud in Taiwan, where he also received 4G frequencies. Foxconn is putting together a team of developers, mainly focused on developments in HTML 5.

In addition, Terry Gou, founder of the group, recently told Bloomberg to tackle the creation of video games for mobile. His group has it joined forces with a specialist Hong Kong, NetDragon, with which it will develop fun and educational apps for tablets. The first mobile game should be released within six months to believe Terry Gou.

The mobile gaming is exploding, according to a Gartner study , it should be more than $ 22 billion in revenue in 2015. 

To boost iPhone sales, Apple is the "independent" distribution

Currently, the iPhone will sell in the Apple Store for the operators or the authorized distributors of APR network. The distribution could be open to other networks.

© Lionel Bonaventure / AFP

Tim Cook in 2008: "Apple is not married by the model exclusive partnership."

 

Operators, who are partners since Apple launched the first iPhone in 2007, and authorized dealers Apple Premium Resellers, may not take well the news. According to a source who wishes to remain unobtrusive, the Cupertino should start these days to sell the iPhone in the independent distribution.

The purpose of this decision, which has not yet been formalized, would "avoid litigation and better meet the growing demand for smartphones naked related to the development of Sim Only. "For now, Apple has not confirmed this information.

This approach has already been discussed by Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. In 2008, at the Goldman Sachs Investment Symposium, a meeting with investors, the manager stated that the current distribution model must change. "Apple is not married by the model of exclusive partnership,"he said at the time .

Repair iPhone in the Apple Store

In addition, the site 9to5mac revealed that Apple plans to offer a repair service in its iPhone App Store. Until then, Apple teams replaced with a new iPhone at the problem.

The users will be able to change the screen wearing parts such as the battery, speakers and volume buttons. For 5s, the replacement home button is also part of the affected parts.

According to 9to5Mac, the repairs will be free for customers who have subscribed to the Apple Care warranty. For others, they will cost from 29 to 149 euros depending on the parts concerned.

Patents: Apple and Microsoft declared war on Google and Samsung

The Nortel case took a turn more than tight. The Rockstar consortium, composed among others by Apple and Microsoft, ask Google and its partners a fee on Android.

Some are already calling this confrontation of nuclear war so its impact could change the geography of global high-tech. For Rosckstar consortium of Apple, Microsoft, Ericsson, Sony and BlackBerry compound, there is no other way. And launching the attack on Halloween, the message is clear: go all the way!

The group decided to sue an equally powerful band since it is Google, Samsung, HTC and Huawei together. This new episode is crucial following the case of Nortel patents, Rockstar acquired in 2011 and which Android manufacturers and publishers still have not paid the license fee.

This is what explains certainly calls for Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google, to stop this war of patents it deems detrimental to innovation.

Indeed, given the number of Android devices that run on the planet, the addition could be costly for Google and its partners. The OS currently represents more than 80% market share.

A portfolio of $ 4.4 billion

Seven patents are particularly concerned with one that allows the targeting of advertisements based on research conducted by Internet users. This directly affects the Google ecosystem.

The Nortel case began two years ago when the Rockstar consortium has won the patent portfolio of the Canadian group in big financial trouble after auction supported by Google.Rockstar has finally won by putting $ 4.4 billion on the table when Nortel claimed that $ 900 million.

In missing this, Google had to buy Motorola for $ 12 billion in order to gain a portfolio of patents result.

The iPad Air seduced Americans, according to the mobile operator AT & T

The U.S. mobile operator has announced the activation of three times more iPad than the last launch of Apple tablett. Other analysts confirm strong demand

The iPad Air was released on November 1 in forty countries.

While 38% of readers 01net prefer to wait more accurate tests before surrendering to the lure of the iPad Air, the American heavyweight of mobile AT & T reported November 4, 2013 to triple its activations iPad compared to the previous weekend release of a new Apple tablet.

"The iPad activations increased by over 200% over the last three days compared to weekend launch last year,"said Ralph de la Vega, head of the mobile division of AT & T in a statement.

Apple has released on November  in forty markets its new iPad Air, lighter and more powerful than its previous models. Contrary to his habit when it launches new products, it has not publicly announced Monday estimates of sales for the first weekend.

When output in 34 countries in early November 2012 a new version of his classic fourth generation iPad and iPad mini first, the group at the apple had passed a total of 3 million tablets in three days. The release of the new models is more spread out this year, however, the new version of the iPad mini is expected later in November.

However, the data provided by AT & T is purely indicative. Analysts at Deutsche Bank for their part Monday evoked a "very strong demand" and "ample availability of the iPad Air for all models except the largest capacity of 128 gigabytes," based on surveys in three countries ( United States, Australia, United Kingdom).

Those of Cantor Fitzgerald, which are limited to the New York bank stores, also evoke stockouts for iPad Air, but limited to certain models, as well as strong demand for the first generation of iPad mini whose price has been lowered from 329 to 299 dollars, along with the arrival of new tablets.

Apple launches new offensive in the "Made in USA"

A patriotic initiative that Apple launched the construction of a plant in Arizona that will eventually create 2,000 jobs.

It is in Mesa, Arizona, Apple has chosen to build a new plant components. This site was built in partnership with GT Advanced Sapphire will provide the necessary to produce products in the U.S. technology giant. Used for manufacturing LED, Apple uses to produce the fingerprint sensor of the iPhone 5S.

For Apple, the construction of this plant is a message of economic patriotism sent to U.S. authorities. In a statement, she said her pride expand production at the national level with the new site.

This listing is for a very good eye for Jan Brewer, Governor of the State of Arizona which formalized the announcement on Monday November 4. Especially as the Apple factory is a green building powered by renewable energy and will create 2000 jobs engineering, production and construction ..

IPhone 5 vs Nexus 5S test their video camera

The Apple iPhone 5S is often compared to Nexus 5 of Google, which is normal, as they were released almost simultaneously and especially because there is a big competition between Apple (iOS) and Google ( Android). If the technical characteristics of these two smartphones should not be a secret, you're probably wondering which one offers the best digital camera? A video featuring face to face these two terminals will definitely help you to have an answer to this question.

Hardware

To put you in context, it should be remembered that the Nexus 5 has a sensor type BIS 8 MP with a OIS optical image stabilizer that can shoot in Full HD and supported by an LED flash, and another sensor 1.3 MP located at the front which is also capable of shooting 080p 1.

For its part, the iPhone 5S offers large pixels digital camera 8 MP which offers automatic image stabilization and a larger light sensor. The main camera is capable of shooting Full HD, and is supported by a dual LED flash which is configurable. In front stands a 1.2 MP camera with a larger sensor also light, which is capable of shooting 720p HD.

Face to face

For starters, the tester is considered the front camera both terminals apparently generally offer similar performance when taking a video, although the Nexus 5 has a slight advantage. In fact, the videos seem to be self-portrait taken overexposed, even if we are aware that there was only one test performed in a well lit environment.

On the main camera (the one on the back of 2 SIM), we will simply say that there is no real winner. The iPhone 5S offers a manual focus while recording a video, while the Nexus 5 lacks this feature. For cons, the Nexus 5 is greater than the iPhone 5S on the sound while recording a video.

However, the iPhone beats the Nexus 5S 5 when it comes to image quality, especially if you disable the HDR function on the mobile phone from LG and Google. By cons, once the HDR enabled, the Nexus 5 offers a better contrast. Finally, the iPhone 5S offers better picture quality when it comes to take a picture with the flash.

Conclusion

Anyway, this is a quick test which is based on the differences immediately obvious. But we will offer soon a further test, because we have the Nexus 5 in our office, you just put one hand on a new iPhone 5S ...

First Pictures of the New iPad Royal Air

The iPad Air in photos

It's here! The iPad Air now available in all Apple stores and authorized dealers of Spain and 40 other countries. Many of you you probably already have in your hands and it is even possible that we're reading from it now.

For those who do not regard him or have not been able to go to buy it, I'll show a good gallery of the new iPad Air, courtesy of friends of iPad Italy . Let's see them!

Actual gallery iPad Air

The new iPad Air , as already discussed, adopts the design of iPad mini, with much smaller side bezels. Now it is much lighter, narrower and thinner.

Here's the back of the model in silver:

At the bottom we find the dual speaker, the Lightning and the microphone connector. In the next picture you can also see how fine is the new iPad Air, has only 0.75 cm thick.

The following image shows 5MP iSight camera, buttons volume up and down, mute button and classic upper band has the LTE model, which this time is white.

On the contrary, in the case of models with WiFi + LTE, we nanosim card tray.

And finally, here's a series of photos of the new Smart Cover, which, of course, has also been redesigned to match the new size of the iPad Air.

As you can see from the pictures, the new iPad Air looks very nice. The new design with smaller bezels makes maintaining the stunning 9.7 inch Retina display, the display device 28% lighter, 20% thinner and 24% more compact. High technology in a tablet that weighs less than 500 grams.

Besides the new design, the iPad Air includes 64-bit A7 processor with a clock speed slightly higher than the iPhone 5s, which makes him the fastest moving graphics tablet market as we saw yesterday.

In short, Apple has managed to loop the loop and improve its successful tablet. All analysts who have tried it say it is the best tablet on the market .

What do you think? Do you have already purchased? If so, what do you think? Do you like it? Tell us your impressions.

Remove All Colors Apple Smart Cover and Smart Case for iPad Minus One "Old"

Apple removed from the sale Smart Case Smart Cover and iPad models iPad before Air

Today it has been put on sale the brand new iPad Air. The new tablet on the block, as you know, is somewhat smaller in size than their predecessors, so the Smart Case and Smart Cover not serve earlier.

Apple has released new cases for the iPad Air, building to include new colors to already seen so far. However, the strange thing is that, even though the iPad 2 is still for sale, the company Apple has decided to withdraw all Smart Case Smart Cover and previous models except the dark gray.

Now we can only buy the Smart Cover and Smart Case Dark gray our iPad "old"

As you know, Apple has two versions available covers or cases for our iPad. The Smart Cover is the first to be put up for sale. This is a cover that protects the screen of the device and serves to lock and unlock the iPad.

Regarding the Smart Case, is a sleeve which, in addition to the smart cover that covers the front side, also includes a sort of cover or casing that covers the rear of IPAD.

As we said, Apple has decided to keep only one of the colors to the sale of its Smart Cover and Smart Case for 9.7-inch iPad prior to the iPad Air. As explained in PhoneArena , for the new model, of course, Apple has available up to 6 different colors.

The Smart Cover dark gray color is available with a price of 39 €. As for the Smart Case, the dark gray option that Apple has made available on the Apple Store sells for a price of 49 €.

The price of the new Smart Case for the iPad Air is much higher. The iPad Smart Cover Air has a cost of 39 €, the same as above, but the Smart Case is 79 €.

We do not know whether Apple will continue to produce the Smart Cover and Smart Case in gray for previous iPad or just this model has been on sale because it is the only one left in stock, some really do not believe that this is the reason.

However, it appears that we will soon have to resort to third-party companies to buy our decks.What do you think?

Chip A7: More Power on which a Smartphone Should Have

Do not get me wrong, this title becomes much less a criticism of Apple for the incorporation of powerful A7 chip in the iPhone 5s , but rather it is a reflection on the amount of power that we are reaching have in the palm of our hand.

Surely the A7 chip has set a new precedent, and not just about processing power and graphics performance that incorporates, doubling the previous generation, but it is the first chip to implement a 64-bit structure in a cell Mobile.

It is the first time that Apple implements the same chip as the iPhone and the iPad

If we remember, this is the first time the company Apple uses the same chip for both the iPhone and for the iPad. In this way, the new iPhone 5s and the new iPad Air and iPad Mini Retina make use of the chip A7 with 64-bit structure. But on second thought, why do we need more power?

Something that perfectly illustrates this situation is the question put to him by Rene Ritchie Brian Klug on a podcast about technology. The question was simple: "Now that the new A7 chip is present on the iPhone 5s, the Air and iPad iPad Mini Retina, does that mean the phone has too much power or that new tablets falls short?"

Brian Klug was very clear: "the phone [iPhone 5s] is clearly overpowered". If you think about it, not without reason. Why do we need more power now on a mobile device? If the new iPad Air andiPad Mini Retina can not take full advantage of the A7 chip until later, and not talk about iPhone 5s.

With the new A7 chip, a single CPU core can use up to 8 GB / s bandwidth

As seen in iMore , this is Apple's first processor that is able to provide good amounts of memory bandwidth to all consumers, both iPad and iPhone. Now, a single CPU core is capable of using up to 8GB / s of bandwidth.

A lack of new processors that will appear next year, these data are quite amazing. Until Intel does not begin to produce its mobile chip 64-bit, it will be hard to top what Apple has achieved with the A7 chip. No other manufacturer to work with ARM architecture has been able to do that.

Power A7, Photos iPad Air, iPad Mini Retina Providers and More

Assumptions Stock Problems Retina iPad Mini May Be Caused by Sharp

Sharp is one of he suppliers Retina display for Retina and iPad Mini could be one of the culprits that the stock is quite low, at least supposedly.

Assumptions Stock Problems Retina iPad Mini May Be Caused by Sharp

First Pictures of the New iPad Royal Air

The iPad Air already in the stores and some lucky people have it in their possession. In this article we leave you with some pictures of the new tablet of Cupertino.

First Pictures of the New iPad Royal Air

The iPad Market Share Has Lowered, But Apple Sell More Units

The iPad's market share continues to fall, but still Apple has sold more units than ever. This means that the tablet market is increasing and many manufacturers are entering the market, although Apple continues to set the pace.

The iPad Market Share Has Lowered, But Apple Sell More Units

Apple Can Rely on Samsung to Manufacture iPad Mini Screens Retina

The production of the Retina displays for the iPad Mini seems to be giving a lot of headaches for Apple. The company may now be forced to rely on Samsung to produce units faster.

Apple Can Rely on Samsung to Manufacture iPad Mini Screens Retina

Remove All Colors Apple Smart Cover and Smart Case for iPad Minus One "Old"

Apple has withdrawn from the Apple Store full range of Smart Cover and iPad Smart Case for past generations and only maintained a color for sale.

Remove All Colors Apple Smart Cover and Smart Case for iPad Minus One "Old"

Chip A7: More Power on which a Smartphone Should Have

Some technology experts are talking about the fact that Apple has included A7 5s on both the iPhone and the new iPad and the conclusion is that the Apple smartphone has more power than necessary.

Not Possible Change Touch iPhone 5s ID to Another

The Touch of an iPhone 5s ID may not work in another iPhone 5s

Each fingerprint reader Touch ID is assigned to a single processor. This was found when trying to change a Touch ID from one iPhone to another, during a repair. In doing so, the iPhone where you installed the fingerprint rejected and it was impossible to repair this.

Apple this concienciada in making the iPhone the most secure device. With iOS 7 security has greatly improved our iDevices. Small improvements as it is impossible to restore if enabled Lock Activation function or constraints to limit certain functions, have contributed to, if we lost or stolen iPhone, is more difficult for a stranger to access our data. And thanks to services like Find My iPhone, you can remotely wipe lost devices.

Apple improvements affect not only the software, the hardware also. More than a useless item for advertising, the Touch ID is a breakthrough in security devices. Currently only serves to unlock the iPhone or buy without typing our password, but it is a very safe and probably in the future serve for many more things.

It seems that it is not possible to "save" Touch ID of a broken iPhone 5s

Leaving aside headlines like "hacked the iPhone fingerprint sensor" or "The Touch Apple ID works with a nipple" the truth is that you do not recognize one of the registered fingerprint is not possible to unlock the iPhone and not make purchases .

Apparently, the Touch ID of an iPhone 5s can not be mounted on another drive. It seems that Apple has limited this possibility. Not know the reason, it may be to improve the safety of our devices or maybe so that only they can make repairs. But the truth is that early evidence suggests this: the Touch ID can not be removed from an iPhone 5s and place it in another.

As noted from iMore , if a hacker is the way by which the Touch ID and the processor communicate, could find a way to cancel this alleged restriction, but surely this will take some time yet. Each time, it is more difficult to access data stored on an iPhone, which is very welcome, as on smartphones usually carry quite private and important data (contacts, calendar, email, finance, photos ...).

Do ye think a good way to increase security? Do you think that is good for the Touch ID, or is simply a detail advertising?

75% of iPad buyers already had an iPad Air

5% of iPad buyers Air already had an iPad from other generations

We had a few years in which, despite the Retina display, the new features of the new iPad were not enough to make us iPad 2 owners we decide to change our device for a new one.

However, the iPad Air seems to be that is the tablet we were hoping to resolve to renew our tablet, at least that is what shows a study by Piper Jaffray.

The iPad Air might be a good reason to renew our tablet

According to the study, 75% of first iPad buyers U.S. Air already had an iPad, compared with 58% of buyers last year purchased the iPad mini. And the new design of the iPad Air might be a good reason to renew.

Although the percentage is quite high, it is good to know that the sample taken for analysis is not too big, only interviewed 71 people who bought the Air iPad launch day.

However, in this study we can draw some interesting facts. For example, according to analyst Gene Munster, the update cycle of the first buyers of iPad is around 23 months, compared with 30 months from the general public.

The study also discusses how storage capacities purchased users. Munster notes that the average capacity of the new units is 59.7 GB, significantly surpassing the 40.5 GB average was in the launch of the iPad 3 . This means that the first buyers are opting for higher capacity models.

More fun facts. According to Munster, the Air iPad buyers who already have an iPad (remember, 75%), only 18% expect to continue using the previous model after buying the iPad Air and virtually all of these users have an iPad mini.

This confirms another study done some time ago, which found that 76% of buyers of the iPad mini had a 9.7-inch iPad, which would be used at a time.

As discussed in Maclife , the study's conclusion might be that if you are in possession of a previous iPad or a 9.7-inch iPad mini, is more likely to end up buying an iPad Air.

What do you think about it? Have you already an iPad and you are going to buy the iPad Air? You bought the iPad mini? Last year already having a 9.7-inch iPad? Tell us your impressions.