Here is your daily Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock news and rumors for August 13th, 2010. More talk about APPL’s new Apple TV today, with a rebranding, the loss of features, and the gain of some new ones. There’s also hints of what technology might be used to create the next generation of iPhone antennas. Finally, id Software shows off a technologically impressive version of their latest game for the iPhone 4.
New Apple TV Rebranded iTV, Loses 1080p Support, Picks Up App Store: Following this past Monday’s rumors about a refreshed Apple TV from the Cupertino, California computer manufacturer comes a report from Engadget with surprising new details about the new television device. Previous reports from Engadget and others indicated that the new Apple TV, now rebranded iTV, would output video in full HD, or 1080p resolution. The new report claims that the set top box will not be able to output video above a 720p resolution due to unspecified problems with the machine’s A4 CPU. As Engadget points out, however, this information is suspect since the iPhone 3GS, which uses a CPU identical to the one rumored to power the new iTV, is fully capable of outputting full HD video content. What the iTV will lose in resolution, it will gain with access to the versatile Apple App Store, as APPL will reportedly leverage the device to extend the reach of its software outlet with yet another device. While the iTV name seems to fit with APPL’s rumored rebranding of all its operating systems to iOS, its questionable whether the television box’s name will stick. Word today is that British television network ITV is none too pleased with the purported name of Apple’s new bid to conquer living rooms.
Liquidmetal to be Used for Antennas in New APPL iPhone: When your wildly popular smartphone comes under massive public scrutiny for having shoddily produced antennas that cause frequent dropped calls, what are you going to do? If Dr. Atakan Peker is to be believed, you replace that antenna tech with an experimental new metal alloy called Liquidmetal. Dr. Peker, in an interview with CultOfMac published this morning, discussed how the alloy he co-invented in 1993 could be used to create a better antenna for the iPhone and Apple’s recent agreement with Liquidmetal Technologies to have their products used exclusively in APPL’s consumer products. Liquidmetal is actually a name for a series of alloys more comparable to glass than metal at the atomic level, but are much more durable. Peker confirmed that Liquidmetal is used in at least one product already and that the alloy would most likely be leveraged in Apple’s mobile products. While LQMT isn’t the hottest stock out there right now, it might not be a terrible idea to look into it.
id Software Shows of New Game Rage on iPhone 4: id Software, the studio behind two of the most financially successful videogames ever made, Doom and Quake, showed off a version of their new IP Rage running on the iPhone 4 yesterday. Revealed at the developer’s annual fan event Quakecon, the iPhone 4 version of Rage represents both a promising product from id and publisher Bethesda but also the hardware capabilities of Apple’s new smartphone. The game’s graphics and performance, running at 60 frames per second on the iPhone 4, represents technological capabilities that outstrip Sony’s (NYSE: SNE) popular Playstation 2.
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