Those crazy rumors just keep getting crazier as the next iPad choo-choo chugga-chuggas it way to the starting gate next Wednesday, with the focus now turning to the existing iPad 2 and how it might get a cheaper 8GB model at the same time. Now that March is officially here, there’s plenty of other news we’re taking note of today, so forge ahead and read what’s happening on this Thursday, March 1, 2012.
For the fifth year in a row, Fortune magazine has ranked Apple Inc. at the top of their World’s Most Admired Companies list. The move should come as little surprise after the boffo year that Apple had last year, despite the loss of co-founder Steve Jobs in October. “To say it was another big year for Apple would be a gross understatement,” Fortune explains. “With the passing of Steve Jobs, questions swirled around the company’s future. But under new CEO Tim Cook’s guidance, Apple continues to prosper.” Apple ranks as number one most admired among the Top 50, and also grabs the top spot for computer companies as well.
As the March 7 Apple media event for the next iPad fast approaches, the rumor mill is heating up with all sorts of crazy talk. Among them: A new Digitimes report claiming that Apple will release an 8GB iPad 2 at the same time, presumably to offer a lower-priced option for the existing hardware. “In addition to iPad 3, Apple is also expected to unveil an 8GB iPad 2, allowing the tablet PC series to cover different segments and to defend against Windows 8-based tablet PCs,” Digitimes sources claim. The idea isn’t totally unheard of -- when the iPhone 4S was introduced last October, Apple also began offering an 8GB iPhone 4 in an effort to slash the price to $99 with a two-year agreement. But unless the rumored 8GB iPad 2 is going to match pricing wits with the likes of Amazon’s Kindle Fire, we’re not sure we see what the point is...
Apple’s first Dutch retail store opens this weekend, and the press was invited out on Thursday to take a look at the new Amsterdam shop ahead of the masses. Among them was One More Thing photographer Rogier Visser, who snapped a gallery of photos from the new locale. “In a press release Apple confirms our message that the Amsterdam Apple Store Genius Bar is the longest in the world,” the site reveals via Google Translate. “300 employees, 90 percent from Amsterdam and surrounding areas, assist and advise clients in 14 languages.” The iOS Apple Store app was just updated on Wednesday, allowing Amsterdam locals to purchase accessories with their iTunes account while in the store, which includes an amazing circular glass staircase on the first floor. Be sure to hit the link to see all of the photos!
If you’re still brooding over those AT&T speed caps the carrier has been punishing unlimited data users with, there’s a small bit of good news today. The Verge is reporting that AT&T has now announced 3GB as the new point at which unlimited data users will be capped on HSPA+ devices, with a more generous 5GB cutoff for LTE (which will presumably get lowered quickly, if and when the iPhone goes LTE). Consider it a small victory, given that users were complaining about data speeds being throttled after using 2GB of data -- rather absurd, considering the carrier offers a 3GB DataPro package for the same price as those grandfathered into unlimited plans. We’d still prefer truly unlimited data, but it looks like Sprint is the only haven for those users, at least for now.
The Instapaper Blog today announced a redesigned bookmarklet which offers multi-page saving, faster speeds and a full-page overlay that makes it more obvious when articles have been saved to the service, regardless of what kind of device you’re using. “The previous little ‘Saved!’ frame had a great run, but its time has passed,” explains developer Marco Arment. “Readers are now saving more pages than ever on tablets and phones, and the old bookmarklet wasn’t visible enough there. Instapaper’s customers would often complain that they didn’t even see the old bookmarklet working.” Even better news, Instapaper will now properly extract text from every page of a multi-page article. The timing seems not-so-coincidental with the release of competing Readability for iOS this morning, but we love ‘em both and will take all the new features we can get.
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(Image courtesy of One More Thing)
