Apple Issues Invitations for iPad 3 Media Event on March 7

Image from The Verge

In line with expectations, The Loop reports that Apple today sent out invitations for a media event scheduled for next week Wednesday, March 7. The event will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and is scheduled to begin at 10:00 AM Pacific / 1:00 PM Eastern. The tagline on the invitation reads "We have something you really have to see. And touch." 

Apple is of course expected to introduce the iPad 3 at the event, with an upgraded Apple TV set-top box also reportedly in the plans. Rumors have also suggested that Apple could show off a new high-definition audio format with "adaptive streaming" that could allow Apple's iCloud and iTunes Match services to send varying qualities of audio files to different devices depending on bandwidth and hardware requirements.

Source:Macrumors.com

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iPad 3 Rear Shell Measures in at 9.5 mm Thick, 0.8 mm Thicker Than iPad 2

(Note: Text labels added by image poster are off by a factor of ten. Readings on caliper are correct.)

While comparison photos of the iPad 2 rear shell and a claimed iPad 3 rear shell have shown slightly increased thickness for the forthcoming model and reports have suggested that the difference is roughly 1 mm, no measurements had surfaced to quantify the exact difference in thickness between the two devices. 

Apple.pro now points [Google translation] to a new photo showing both shells being measured with a digital caliper. According to the photo, the iPad 2 rear shell measures in at 8.69 mm thick while the iPad 3 part comes in at 9.50 mm, a difference of 0.81 mm. 

Apple's official iPad 2 specs peg the device at 8.8 mm thick, just slightly thicker that the rear shell itself, which wraps around the sides of the device. Given a nearly identical design for the iPad 3, the overall device would measure in at roughly 9.6 mm, or about 9% thicker than the iPad 2 but still well below the 13.4 mm thickness of the original iPad. Sources who have handled the iPad 3 rear shell suggest that the difference from the iPad 2 will be nearly imperceptible to users.

Source:Macrumors.com

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Apple Co-Founder Ron Wayne on "Why I Left Apple"

Ron Wayne, Apple, Inc.'s sometimes forgotten third co-founder, has posted a short essay entitled "Why I Left Apple Computer After Only 12 Days, In My Own Words". The piece notes that though he sold his share of Apple for pennies on the dollar, he has no regrets. Instead, he was looking to change the world in his own way. 

I didn’t separate myself from Apple because of any lack of enthusiasm for the concept of computer products. Aside from any immediate apprehension in regard to financial risks, I left because I didn’t feel that this new enterprise would be the working environment that I saw for myself, essentially for the rest of my days. I had every belief would be successful but I didn’t know when, what I’d have to give up or sacrifice to get there, or how long it would take to achieve that success. 

[...] 

To counter much that has been written in the press about me as of late, I didn't lose out on billions of dollars. That's a long stretch between 1976 and 2012. Apple went through a lot of hard times and many thought Apple would simply go out of business at various times in its maturity. I perhaps lost tens of millions of dollars. And quite honestly, between just you and me, it was character building. 

If I had known it would make 300 people millionaires in only four years, I would have stayed those four years. And then I still would have walked away. Steve and Steve had their project. They wanted to change the world in their way. I wanted to change the world in my own.

Rather than follow Jobs and Wozniak in remaking computing, Wayne had made his own attempt at putting a "dent in the universe". He published a book late last year that he says is the result of 40 years of research. Insolence of Office is described as a look at the foundations of the American Republic, the Constitution, and the nature of money. 

Wayne notes, with full self-awareness of the arrogance of the statement, "the writing and publication of Insolence is, in itself, enough to justify my existence on this planet." 

Wayne published his autobiography entitled Adventures of an Apple Founder: Atari, Apple, Aerospace & Beyond in the fall of 2011. Both the autobiography and Insolence of Office are available on Amazon and the iBookstore. 

via The Next Web

Source:Macrumors.com

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Apple's Architectural Contributions Examined in New Magazine

CLOG, a new quarterly architecture magazine, has opted to cover Apple in its just-published February 2012 issue. The magazine offers nearly 150 pages of stories and images about Apple and architecture, with coverage ranging from Steve Jobs' boyhood Eichler home to the company's forthcoming "spaceship campus" to Apple's network of over 350 retail stores around the world.

"With one of the largest American office projects in history underway in Cupertino, CLOG : APPLE introduces the first comprehensive discussion of Apple’s architecture. 

CLOG : APPLE showcases over 50 international contributors, including architects, designers, cartoonists, comedians, engineers and other industry leaders. Highlights include an examination of Steve Jobs’s Eichler-designed childhood home; the evolution of Apple’s store designs; its leading role in innovative glass engineering; the symbolism and urban implications of the new Cupertino headquarters design; reactions to Apple Campus 2 by notable architects and critics; and an interview with one of Apple Computer’s original three founders, Ronald Wayne."

The issue is a collection of brief essays, photos, illustrations, and other materials examining Apple from an architectural perspective. Among the features: 

- An interview with Apple's third founder, Ron Wayne, addressing a number of topics including Wayne's design of the original Apple logo, Jobs' ambitions in his early days, and Wayne's thoughts on Apple's design and engineering work. 

- A humor piece from Colbert Report writer Frank Lesser in which he examines what it would be like if Apple had to purchase a retail store design from a company like itself. In a letter from the fictional architecture firm responding to Apple's request for proposal for a store at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, Lesser promotes store features drawn from Apple's own mystique, including a staircase known as "FeetTime", rubberized covers to product the store's glass panels, and an Apple Store Care extended warranty program. 

- A visual size comparison of Apple's planned "spaceship campus" in Cupertino to a number of landmarks around the world. 

- An illustrative view of Apple's prototype store facade and how that facade is modified at certain locations to respond to site-specific constraints to provide a customized and yet still-familiar look for most of its stores. 

- Two pieces from ifoAppleStore's Gary Allen discussing the evolution of Apple's retail store designs and using the sample of the company's 4th Street store in Berkeley, California as an example of the company's attention to detail. 

- A number of redacted response letters from people and companies who refused to comment for theCLOG issue, primarily due to confidentiality agreements with Apple. 

CLOG : APPLE is available from a handful of bookstores, or directly from the magazine's site at a price of $15 plus shipping ($5 U.S. and $10 international).

Source:Macrumors.com

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'Clear' To Do App Launches on the App Store

Realmac Software and Impending have just released Clear to the App Store. Clear is a simplified list making application that was announced at Macworld. The App's claim to fame is the extremely minimal interface that uses natural touch gestures for all functions. Some of these include: 

- Pull down on a list to add an item 
- Swipe an item right to complete it 
- Swipe an item or list left to delete it 
- Pinch apart two items to insert a new one between them 
- Pinch vertically together to close the current list and show all the lists 

The app is meant to be quick to launch and use. Lists are color coded in priority from top to bottom. 

Clear has launched for $0.99 [App Store] and should now be available worldwide.

Source:Macrumors.com

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