Getting excited about next week’s Apple media event? Apparently, so are the folks over at Ars Technica, who have spotted the fabled iPad 3 (or is it iPad HD?) lurking in their server logs. Meanwhile, the banners are going up at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center, which means the countdown is on. In the meantime, the weekend is here again, so kick back and soak up the day’s news for this fine Friday, March 2, 2012.
Ars Technica is reporting that more than a few someones on the Apple campus have been browsing the website using a device that looks suspiciously like a higher-resolution iPad, potentially running iOS 6. Could Apple be planning to skip the currently-in-beta iOS 5.1 and go straight to iOS 6? Beats us, but Ars seems confident that the rumored “Retina Display” iPad is at least a reality. “While digging through our logs in preparation for our monthly browser stat report, we found 346 visits from a device with a screen resolution of 2048x1536 -- the exact resolution rumored for the ‘retina’ display in the next-generation iPad,” the report reveals. “Although a screen resolution by itself isn't much to go on, a quick search around the Web indicates that there are very few devices in current use that have this same resolution.” We wouldn’t place any bets on iOS 6 showing up at Apple’s March 7 media event -- although a preview could always turn up -- but that iPad 3/iPad HD is looking like a lock.
Apple may be taking some knocks recently over using Chinese labor for manufacturing their wildly successful iPhone and iPad products, but Cupertino is doing a fine job at adding jobs right here in the United States as well. Apple today posted a page on its website in defense of its U.S. job creation, touting a whopping 514,000 homeland jobs created or supported by the company. That number includes full-time Apple employees in all 50 states, 304,000 current jobs ranging from engineering to manufacturing and transportation and another 210,000 jobs related to the iOS economy alone. Cupertino notes that the company has 47,000 actual employees here in the U.S., which is two-thirds of the 70,000 total worldwide. The breakdown also includes 7,700 U.S.-based AppleCare advisors in 21 call centers across 15 states, another 2,000 based from home and 600 advisors working for Apple while earning their degrees. “While many companies locate their technical support call centers overseas to save money, we’ve decided to keep our call centers in the U.S.,” the report notes. “Relocating our call centers overseas to places like India would reduce our costs by 50 percent or more. But we keep these jobs in the U.S. because it helps us deliver a better customer experience.” Bravo, Cupertino!
With Apple’s next iPad media event only a few days away, it’s no surprise that San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is already being decked out with company signage in the wake of invitations that went out on Tuesday. MacStories.net got their hands on some photos of the preparations (one of which is shown above), snapped by Read It Later developer Steve Streza. If you’re hoping for a sneak peek at what Apple may be announcing on Wednesday, March 7 at 10am PST -- sorry, the window dressing is unfortunately pretty generic in nature, we’re afraid. Be sure to hit the link to see all of the shots!
The sad days at Eastman Kodak Co. just keep coming. According to Reuters, the onetime photography giant has announced a deal to sell off its flailing online photo service Kodak Gallery to competitor Shutterfly Inc. for $23.8 million. The deal will net Shutterfly all of the more than 75 million Kodak Gallery customers accounts and images in the U.S. and Canada, who will be given the option to opt out should they not want their photos transferred. The deal is just the beginning for the bankrupt Eastman Kodak, who is hoping to sell off 1,100 digital patents valued at between $1 and $2 billion, which is scheduled to get underway by June 30. Ironically, the patent sales are being tripped up by a legal dispute with Apple, who will plead its case to a bankruptcy judge next Thursday, March 8 in an effort to get the patent infringement suit wrapped up despite the Chapter 11 proceedings which began on January 19.
AppleInsider is reporting that four out of 14 German cases between Apple and Samsung have been ruled on by Mannheim Regional Court Judge Andreas Voss, who on Friday tossed out the third Samsung complaint in a row over Apple’s use of 3G standards. Unfortunately, the rulings weren’t all in Cupertino’s favor, as Judge Voss also ruled against Apple’s touchscreen slide-to-unlock patent against Samsung. According to FOSS Patents, six of the 14 complaints are suits Apple has lodged against Samsung. "Samsung still hasn't been able to enforce any intellectual property right anywhere on this planet against Apple, while Apple has had some successes (though only preliminary ones so far, most of which were subsequently lifted)," notes FOSS Patents expert Florian Mueller. But Apple is finally making some headway this week, winning three out of four court rulings in its epic patent struggle with both Samsung and Motorola.
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(Image courtesy of MacStories.net)
