MacRumors

As enterprise stalwart RIM falters, Apple is stepping up its targeting of business users with this ad on the back page of The Economist, a very influential business magazine. The ad notes several business apps, including Bloomberg, The Economist, Oracle Business Indicators, and iWork; and ends with the tagline:

iPhone loves business. With over 425,000 apps, the best phone for apps just keeps getting better.

In Apple's Q2 2011 earnings call, COO Tim Cook noted that 88% of Fortune 500 companies are deploying or testing the iPhone, with 75% doing the same for the iPad. Apple also has an extensive iPhone in business page, including case studies and information on how the iPhone can integrate into a company's existing IT infrastructure.

Thanks Tim!

Mini DisplayPort to HDMI cables, such as those used to connect recent-generation MacBook Pro's to high-definition televisions do not comply with the official HDMI specifications.

HDMI Licensing, LLC, the trade group that controls adoption of the HDMI specification, explained the situation to TechRadar UK:

The HDMI specification defines an HDMI cable as having only HDMI connectors on the ends. Anything else is not a licensed use of the specification and therefore, not allowed.

All HDMI products undergo compliance testing as defined by the Compliance Testing Specification. The CTS clearly defines necessary tests for all products defined in the HDMI Specification. Since this new cable product is undefined in the Specification, there are no tests associated with this product. It cannot be tested against the Specification.

Basically, a cable that has a HDMI connector at one end and a Mini DisplayPort connector at the other is not a "true" HDMI cable, and is thus, by definition, outside the HDMI specification.

As a result, these cables are considered unlicensed by HDMI Licensing and are not to be sold. Mini DisplayPort to HDMI cables can still be found, for example at the Apple Online Store -- but some retailers, like MonoPrice.com, have already discontinued their mDP to HDMI offerings.

Instead, users can buy Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Female dongles. These dongles, when combined with a standard HDMI-HDMI cable, connect MacBook Pros, and other devices with mDP ports, to high-definition televisions and desktop monitors that accept HDMI.

Most Macs made in the past 18 months support multichannel audio passthrough via Mini DisplayPort. This means that users can connect one cable from their computer to a HDTV or surround sound system, and it will carry audio and video signals over the single cable.

The launch marks the end of the more than 30-year Shuttle program to explore and learn more about our world, the solar system, and the universe.

The STS-135 crew will deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module filled with more than 8,000 pounds of supplies and spare parts to sustain space station operations after the shuttles are retired.

Atlantis is also carrying two iPhone 4's to the International Space Station (ISS) for experimentation. The "space certified" iPhones are loaded with a specially designed app, SpaceLab for iOS (downloadable from the App Store [iTunes]) that will let astronauts conduct several experiments:

Limb Tracker - This navigation experiment will involve taking photographs of the Earth and matching an arc to the horizon through manipulation of an overlay. This performs the function roughly equivalent to a “manual” horizon sensor. It will yield an estimate of altitude (height above the surface) and “off axis” angle, a measurement of the angle of the image with respect to the Earth's center.

Sensor Cal - This sensor calibration experiment uses a series of photos of a reference image, combined with propagated information using three-axis gyro and accelerometer measurements to calibrate the gyros and the accelerometers (i.e. bias and scale coefficients). This will improve the knowledge and accuracy of subsequent measurements.

State Acq - State Acquisition - This navigation experiment uses a series of photos of a reference image and of the Earth, combined with information from the three-axis gyro and accelerometer, to estimate the position of the spacecraft (latitude and longitude). The position estimation is generated by manipulating and matching a wireframe overlay of the Earth's coastlines to the acquired Earth image(s). Performing multiple sequences, separated by a known amount of time, can permit estimation of the spacecraft's orbit parameters.

LFI Lifecycle Flight Instrumentation - This experiment will characterize the effects of radiation on the device by monitoring certain areas of memory for Single Bit Upsets - an unintended change in value of a memory location caused by exposure to radiation.

Once the experiments are complete, the phones will be returned to Earth via the Russian Soyuz vehicle, as early as this fall. Flight data will be collected, analyzed, and then shared via the SpaceLab app.

The three-axis gyroscopes and accelerometers in the iPhone 4 are expected to perform very well in zero-gravity, and are being tested as an alternative to much more expensive equipment.

Earthbound users can replicate some of the tests by downloading the SpaceLab app, but, understandably, some tests must be simulated to account for the presence of gravity.

Atlantis is on a 12-day mission and is scheduled to dock with the ISS at 11:06AM EDT on Sunday. For more information and to follow STS-135, visit NASA's main space shuttle website.

(Photo courtesy Flickr/Robert Scoble)

As noted by Patently Apple, a newly-published patent application from Apple reveals an interesting take on the idea of using metaphorical gestures to share data between devices.

Building upon file transfer mechanisms found in such iOS apps as Bump that allow users to exchange contact information, photos, and other data between devices in close proximity, Apple proposes a number of gestures such as "pouring" and "vacuuming" that could add some additional visual interest to the mundane process of data transfer.

One example presented in the patent application demonstrates how a user could "pour" a set of files to transfer them from an iPhone-like device to a tablet device similar to the iPad. Files displayed on the iPhone's screen could animate the pouring process by appearing to respond to gravity as the iPhone is tipped, and files could behave in differing manners to provide more visual interest, such as by having larger files appear to be heavier than smaller ones and thus moving more slowly in the pouring process.

Apple describes other gestures to initiate the actual file transfer, such as tapping on the device as it is tipped for pouring or requiring a flick or other gesture to overcome a "speedbump" or other barrier and set the files moving to the other device.

Finally, Apple describes how devices could sense their relative locations within a room and allow users to simply flick data toward another device or to make sweeping gestures to broadcast the data to multiple devices in a general direction.

As always, Apple's patent applications should be read primarily for their basic interest and as a view into what Apple's engineers may be thinking about. Many of the ideas discussed in Apple's patent applications never make it to release, especially in those cases where the applications have made it through the lengthy waiting period to publication without the features having already been released.

A pair of reports today are suggesting that Apple may be preparing its retail stores for a launch of OS X Lion next week, with MacBook Air and other hardware updates likely to follow alongside or soon after the new operating system debuts.

9 to 5 Mac reports that Apple has scheduled "overnights" for next Wednesday, July 13th, events where store layouts and promotional materials are tweaked and store management is briefed on new products. While the source offers no information on exactly what will take place during next week's overnights, it seems reasonable to guess that OS X Lion will be a focus of the changes.

AppleInsider follows up with its own report also mentioning overnights scheduled for next week, although the source for that claim did not offer a specific day for the changes. In addition, sources for the report indicate that Apple is requiring that a number of display machines in its retail stores have their RAM upgraded by this Sunday, leading to speculation that Apple is topping them off in advance of the OS X Lion launch.

Separate sources for the report specifically indicate that Apple is preparing OS X Lion for a public launch next week, with revamped MacBook Airs potentially set for an introduction the following week. Retail sources have also indicated that Apple may be formally inviting some customers to download Lion at their local retail stores next week in order to receive assistance learning their way around the new operating system.

Beyond the MacBook Air, Apple appears to have a significant number of other Macs in line for refreshes, including the Mac mini, MacBook and Mac Pro. Other lines such as the MacBook Pro and iMac that have been updated more recently may also be seeing some stock shortages as Apple tries to make the conversion over to systems with Lion preinstalled.

A cell phone picture, purported to be an iPhone running on China Mobile's proprietary 3G network, is making the rounds after being posted on Chinese news site MyDrivers.com (English translation).

In the picture, we can see the China Mobile 3G logo in the upper right corner. The third number down, which is partially blacked out, is part of the serial number. The third digit, a 0, suggests the phone was made in 2010. The next digit, which appears to be a 5, would have the phone manufactured towards the end of that year, in either the 50th, 51st or 52nd week.

Additionally, the carrier name in the top left corner appears to be China Mobile, written in Chinese text. None of this is conclusive, but it does suggest a China Mobile compatible iPhone is coming to CM's 3G network sooner rather than later.

Last month, Apple COO Tim Cook was reportedly spotted at China Mobile headquarters. Apple and China Mobile have been known to be working hand-in-hand to ensure future iPhones will work on China Mobile's upcoming 4G TD-LTE network.

China Mobile is a strategic partner for Apple. It has a 70% market share in the world's most populous country with more than 600 million subscribers. In November of last year, China Mobile began assisting customers who wished to use the iPhone 4 on their network, including in-store assistance cutting its full-size SIM cards down to micro-SIM size.

Update: As noted by the Shanghai Daily, China Mobile chairman Wang Jianzhou today reported that the carrier already had 5.6 million iPhone users on its 2G network as of the end of May, with 700,000 of those having been added during that month alone.

This is my next... adds some additional color to recent reports of a higher-resolution iPad set for launch later this year, claiming that the new "iPad HD" device will be sold alongside the existing iPad 2 and will target professional users in the video or photo industries. Apple is also said to be planning to debut iPad versions of at least one its pro-level apps such as Final Cut Pro or Aperture alongside the iPad HD.

Our sources are saying that not only will there be a newly designed iPhone coming in the fall, but there is going to be a new entry into the iPad family as well. As hard as it might be to believe, the new tablet is said to sport a double resolution screen (2048 x 1536), and will be dubbed the "iPad HD." The idea behind the product is apparently that it will be a "pro" device aimed at a higher end market - folks who work in video and photo production possibly - and will be introduced alongside something like an iPad version of Final Cut or Aperture. This product is specifically said to not be the iPad 3, rather a complimentary piece of the iPad 2 line. Think MacBook and MacBook Pro.

The report also goes on to try to clear up some of the confusion surrounding the next-generation iPhone and whether it will be a complete redesign or simply a minor tweak to the existing iPhone 4 that has come to be informally known as the "iPhone 4S".

According to the report's sources, Apple is indeed planning a smaller and lighter design for the iPhone 5, but has also been testing those components within iPhone 4 enclosures, leading to the confusion over the company's plans.

Simply put, as the iPhone 5 components are built for a smaller and lighter device, they can be easily fit into a casing which for all intents and purposes looks identical to an iPhone 4... and that's exactly what Apple has been doing. Our sources tell us that the company has been testing the new components in old iPhone cases, for obvious reasons.

The current iPhone 4 design is said to have fallen "out of favor" with Apple executives, leading to the substantial efforts to introduce a redesigned form factor only a little over a year after the iPhone 4's debut.

Bloomberg reports that Apple has continued to reduce the buy-in fee for its iAd mobile advertising service, dropping package prices for mainstream advertisers from the original $1 million commitment down to just $300,000 in some cases.

Apple Inc.'s iAd mobile-advertising business has cut rates by as much as 70 percent as some marquee clients are using rival services, two people with knowledge of the matter said, signaling the company is struggling to parlay its technology leadership into success in the ad industry.

When Apple rolled out iAd a year ago, companies such as Citigroup Inc. and J.C. Penney Co. were being charged $1 million or more to run ad campaigns. Today those brands aren't using iAd, and Apple is offering packages for as little as $300,000, said the people, who asked not to be named because the rates are private.

Just a few months ago, Apple was reported to have cut the buy-in fee down to $500,000, but even that level has apparently not been enough to keep existing advertisers on board and bring on new ones to meet the ever-growing number of ad slots available. The new $300,000 rate is said to be being offered to companies willing to package together multiple campaigns for iAd.

For its part, Apple touts the over 100 campaigns already pushed through on iAd and notes that 20 companies have used the service over the past month with another 50 set to debut in the coming months. But still, app developers are only reporting fill rates in the range of 5-15%, limiting the potential income available through the iAd program.

According to the Bloomberg report, advertisers are turning to Google's AdMob, Millennial Media, and Greystripe as cross-platform advertising services competing against the iOS-only iAd. With the growing strength of Android, high buy-in fees for iAd, and developer dissatisfaction with iAd's performance, advertisers are increasingly interested in addressing multiple platforms, a key feature not available with iAd.

Apple is not standing still, having recently hired a prominent former advertising agency executive to help draw in brands to the iAd program and last December debuted its iAd Producer software to make it easy for advertisers to design their ads. But it remains to see whether these moves along with iAd's Apple prestige and sleek appearance can overcome the limitations inherent in the program.

Earlier this week, the browser-based JailbreakMe.com solution went live once again, bringing a simple new method to jailbreak a number of iOS devices including the iPad 2. The tool has proven popular, with over one million users already having taken advantage of it.

Similar to earlier browser-based jailbreak mechanisms, the latest version takes advantage of a flaw in the way Safari handles PDF files, a vulnerability that could also be exploited by malicious parties. Consequently, it had been expected that Apple would move relatively quickly to patch the hole once it was revealed by the jailbreak procedure.

According to the Associated Press, Apple has indeed confirmed that it will be patching the hole in a future software update, but declined to provide a timeframe for the release of the update.

Apple Inc. spokeswoman Bethan Lloyd said Thursday the company is "aware of this reported issue and developing a fix that will be available to customers in an upcoming software update."

She declined to specify when the update would be available.

Apple's statement comes after Germany's information technology security agency issued an explicit warning about the "critical weaknesses" in iOS that could result in malware being deployed through infected PDF files.

Fully aware of the potential implications of malware authors exploiting the hole, the jailbreak community has already developed a fix for the issue, which was released into the Cydia Store for jailbroken devices alongside the new technique. Users who have jailbroken their devices, even through the new JailbreakMe.com technique, can thus patch the vulnerability, while non-jailbroken devices will have to wait for Apple's solution to be released.

Apple today announced that the App Store for iOS devices has surpassed 15 billion downloads, having paid out over $2.5 billion to developers and sold over 200 million iOS devices.

Apple today announced that over 15 billion apps have been downloaded from its revolutionary App Store by the more than 200 million iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users worldwide. The App Store offers more than 425,000 apps and developers have created an incredible array of over 100,000 native iPad apps.

"In just three years, the revolutionary App Store has grown to become the most exciting and successful software marketplace the world has ever seen," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "Thank you to all of our amazing developers who have filled it with over 425,000 of the coolest apps and to our over 200 million iOS users for surpassing 15 billion downloads."

The milestone puts the App Store essentially on par with Apple's iTunes Music Store, which the company announced as having reached 15 billion downloads at its Worldwide Developers Conference one month ago.