Hard to believe that Wednesday is here again, but it arrives with some cool new stuff to download, rumors of an Apple solar farm going up in North Carolina, Nokia finally announcing Windows Phone handsets and those lucky San Francisco residents getting to buy from Apple.com and pick up in a nearby store. But that’s not all that’s going on this Hump Day -- here’s a look at the latest for Wednesday, October 26, 2011.
Remember Apple’s sprawling data center in Maiden, North Carolina? According to a report from The Charlotte Observer, the company has quietly begun work on a solar farm that could be used to help power all of those free iCloud accounts. The newspaper claims that 171 acres of vacant land opposite the data center have been approved for permits needed to “reshape the slope” of the property which could be a first step, although no building permit has been requested as yet.
Speaking of remembering, how about that Nokia? After announcing their plans to stand firmly behind Microsoft’s Windows Phone earlier this year, the Finnish cell phone giant has been mostly quiet -- until now. CEO Stephen Elop unveiled the Lumia 800 this morning, a stylish-looking handset that echoes the company’s ill-fated N9 that goes down in history as the one and only Meego smartphone from the company. According to This Is My Next, the device will sell sans contract for around $580 next month in the U.K., France, Spain, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, it’s not expected to wash onto these shores until early 2012. Bummer.
The popular free Mint.com app got a beefy update to version 2.0 today, with the big news coming for iPad owners who can now use the universal iOS app optimized for their tablet screen at last. Other features include plenty of slick multitouch graphs, a redesigned overview screen, detailed transaction view and the ability to enter cash and pending transactions for a more accurate view of your spending. The new version even allows for viewing data without a wireless connection. It’s available absolutely free on the App Store as a companion to the website service, which is likewise free.
Right on the heels of widespread rumors, 9to5Mac is reporting that Apple retail stores in the San Francisco area now have the option to buy online and pick up at their nearby brick and mortar location, part of a pilot program that will “gradually make its way throughout the United States over the upcoming weeks and months.” Quite handy for those averse to people in general, which is a shame considering Apple retail folks are generally quite friendly.
Siri, set our alarm for Wednesday, November 2 at 10pm EST -- that’s when PBS plans to roll out their new documentary “Steve Jobs: One Last Thing, which promises to “take an unflinching look at Jobs’s difficult, controlling disposition, and offers unique insights into what made him tick.” Among those interviewed are Apple co-founder Ronald Wayne, NeXT investor Ross Perot, reviewer Walt Mossberg and even Jobs himself, in a never-before-broadcast interview from 1994. Sounds like a good way to spend 60 minutes on an otherwise ho-hum Hump Day next week.
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