Here are your daily Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) news items and rumors for Wednesday:
More Clues From Mock iPad 2: Images of third-party bumper cases for Apple’s second-generation iPad have been appearing online since the beginning of December. In nearly all of the images, the cases feature holes for a large speaker at the base of the device, as well as for what is likely a rear-facing camera — two features heavily rumored to be coming in the new tablet.
Technology blog Engadget showing images on Tuesday from iPad case manufacturer Dexim’s booth at the Consumer Electronics Show — and those cases actually include a mock version of the tablet itself. Based on Dexim’s designs, the new iPad appears to be slimmer, with a tapered back, similar to the iPod Touch. Unique among the cases revealed so far is that Dexim’s, with a book-style folding shape, features support for a magnetically connected Bluetooth keyboard, with the iPad on one side of the fold and the keyboard on the other, giving the tablet a laptop-style form.
Patent Hints at Cloud OS: Apple was awarded a patent titled “Method and apparatus for administering the operating system of a net-booted environment,” this past Tuesday, hinting at the possible introduction of cloud-based versions of the company’s OS X and iOS operating systems. The technology described in the patent would allow for a platform that boots computers and laptops via the Internet rather than from a software platform stored directly on the machine. The ability to launch OS X on multiple networked computers existed in the original Mac OS X server, but the technology described in this patent could be applied to new technology that would compete with Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) own cloud-based Chrome operating system.
Garageband and iMovie Updated: Updates for Apple’s film- and music-editing software were released Tuesday, bringing fixes to both applications as well as improving compatibility with other software to prepare for the opening of the new Mac App Store expected later this week. Garageband version 6.0.1 brings fixes for latency problems recording guitar tracks as well as problems reversing Flex Time edits. It also reintroduced the Quantize Note Timing feature to the software. iMovie version 9.0.1 improves stability of video clips recorded with iOS handhelds like the iPhone and iPod Touch and fixes compatibility with a number of cameras. These updates come conspicuously ahead of the Jan. 6 release of the Mac App Store, indicating these will be the versions of the software available for purchase when the store opens.
Meet LePad: Chinese technology manufacturer Lenovo PINK:LNVGY) announced its new tablet LePad in a Computerworld article Tuesday. The tablet will run on Google’s Android operating system version 2.2 and have a 10.1-inch screen. As of now, Lenovo plans to only release the LePad in China, where Apple has been growing a strong following for the iPad since it released there in September. The LePad will have a significant advantage in China, thanks to its low price — it sells for between $399 and $449 while the two WiFi iPad models available in the country sell for about $725 and $850, respectively.
As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
