Well, what we basically thought the new iPad was going to be is basically what it is.  Apple is calling it “the new iPad” so we’ll see if that name sticks or if you will actually have to say that when asking for it at the store.  Let’s talk specs:

*4G/LTE capable on Verizon and AT&T, and of course HSDPA and HSPA+

*5MP rear camera with “advanced optics,” all the others sensors and such, and 1080p HD recording.

*A5X dual-core CPU with a quad-core GPU means 4x the graphics performance and a faster chip while maintaining the same battery life

*Retina display at 2048×1536 means everything looks more crisp and clear and movies are going to look awesome on 3.1 million pixels.

*Form factor remains identical to the iPad2

You can get the 16GB WiFi model for $499 up to $829 for the 64GB WiFi + 3G/4G model.  This also drops the iPad2 price by $100 if you’re looking to get a good deal.  You can pre-order the new iPad online right now and be one of the first to own it, iPads generally sell out fast when they get released.

While Microsoft has had games released on different platforms, so far, the XBox Live experience has really only been on Windows Phone 7 devices. Microsoft now states that it will be bringing “a few” of their XBox Live experiences and titles to the iPhone, iPad, and Android. There’s no word yet on when this might happen, or what experiences or titles that might be.

While the Xbox Live experiences and games always work best on the Windows platform, we understand that some Xbox fans may be using other types of devices. To satisfy that need, we are working to extend a few of our Xbox experiences and titles to other platforms.

They already have My XBox Live which brings some of the experience to the iPhone. Those of you XBox users out there, would this be enough to make you switch to the iPhone or Android instead of a Windows Phone 7?

Source: iMore

“Adobe is all about enabling designers and developers to create the most expressive content possible, regardless of platform or technology. For more than a decade, Flash has enabled the richest content to be created and deployed on the web by reaching beyond what browsers could do. It has repeatedly served as a blueprint for standardizing new technologies in HTML.  Over the past two years, we’ve delivered Flash Player for mobile browsers and brought the full expressiveness of the web to many mobile devices.

However, HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases exclusively.  This makes HTML5 the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms. We are excited about this, and will continue our work with key players in the HTML community, including Google, Apple, Microsoft and RIM, to drive HTML5 innovation they can use to advance their mobile browsers.”

Developers of current Flash sites and applications will be able to be repackage their Flash content using Adobe Air. This is very good news for the industry because, after a period of adoption and transformation, all mobile devices will be able to view all web sites in [nearly] the same fashion. More from Adobe:

Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores. We will no longer continue to develop Flash Player in the browser to work with new mobile device configurations (chipset, browser, OS version, etc.) following the upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and BlackBerry PlayBook. We will of course continue to provide critical bug fixes and security updates for existing device configurations. We will also allow our source code licensees to continue working on and release their own implementations.

Some contribute the recent announcement by Adobe to an open letter that the late Steve Jobs published in April, 2010 entitled “Thoughts on Flash.” In that letter Jobs stated that while Flash was a good, marketable choice for Adobe, he believed that they should instead put more effort into adopting a higher degree of HTML5 support.

So what should we think; is Adobe moving ahead or giving into the technology advancements of mobile devices? With these changes coming quickly, does this mean that Apple will sell even more iPads and iPhones, now that Flash will no longer be a factor? Is there any reason that Adobe shouldn’t do this? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

In my years of writing I have yet to see a day that makes me go WOW! Did that just happen. But today while opening the Internet became reality.

Steve Jobs effective immediately is no longer CEO. He resigned today for unknown reasons, although with his medical situations of late it would appear that that may be the primary reason. With a personal letter to Apple Board asking to execute the succession plan and announce Tim Cook as CEO.  They quickly voted him Chairman of the Board, however, so he can still help direct how the company operates without the heavy burden and long hours of being CEO.

Click here for the new brief from MSN.

Here is the resignation letter he gave to the board:

To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve

How do you think this will help or hurt the company? Do you think this will impact their idea’s marketing and overall devices? Let me know below PPCGeeks.

[UPDATE]

Tim Cook (new CEO of Apple) has released the following email to Apple employees assuring them that nothing is going to chage:

“Team:

I am looking forward to the amazing opportunity of serving as CEO of the most innovative company in the world. Joining Apple was the best decision I’ve ever made and it’s been the privilege of a lifetime to work for Apple and Steve for over 13 years. I share Steve’s optimism for Apple’s bright future.

Steve has been an incredible leader and mentor to me, as well as to the entire executive team and our amazing employees. We are really looking forward to Steve’s ongoing guidance and inspiration as our Chairman.

I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change. I cherish and celebrate Apple’s unique principles and values. Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that—it is in our DNA. We are going to continue to make the best products in the world that delight our customers and make our employees incredibly proud of what they do.

I love Apple and I am looking forward to diving into my new role. All of the incredible support from the Board, the executive team and many of you has been inspiring. I am confident our best years lie ahead of us and that together we will continue to make Apple the magical place that it is.

Tim“

The chart Strategy Analytics shows it best:

RIM and Microsoft has made a slight increase as well, accounting for another 8%.  This all adds up to a real eye-opener for Apple seeing as Android is taking a large jump in sales and continue to come out with ‘bigger and better’ devices every day!

An interesting little interview mentioned over at droid life talkes about the NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang’s opinion that Android will overtake iPad eventually. He notes the use of NVDIA’s Quad-core chips and the interest in the new  Kal-el quad-core processor that he firmly believes will take Android tablets to the next level. Here is a quote from that interview:

“The Android phone took only two and a half years to achieve the momentum that we’re talking about. I would expect the same thing on Honeycomb tablets,” Huang told the Reuters Technology Summit in New York on Monday

We can see the changes / improvements / break-throughs Android makes almost daily with all the new devices coming out, open-source development and news releases seemingly hourly some days, so we know Google is making great strides. The wild card (as always it seems) is Apple…they have always been secretive and usually only releasing minor or needed tweaks/repairs until a major release blows the market away.

What do you think? It won’t be easy, nay take years and I am sure we will see a lot of broken transistors and cracked screens along the way, but does android have what it takes to overcome the iPad? I wouldn’t want to see either OS go down in flames, they both have their strong points, but it makes for a fun race that works out in our favor with competitors usually releasing better devices at lower prices…..Win-Win for us!!!

Sources: Droid-Life Sys-con TechRepublic

Comex has just released the highly anticipated JailbreakMe 3.0 for iOS 4.3.3. After it having leaked out about a week ago, it’s now been officially released. The ultimate iDevice unlocking tool is finally here.

JailbreakMe 3.0 makes use of a PDF exploit just like JailbreakMe 2.0. JailbreakMe was originally used to jailbreak the iPhone and iPod touch running the 1.1.1 version of iPhone OS. Using a TIFF exploit in Safari, this installed the Installer.app. This exploit was patched by Apple Inc. in the 1.1.2 firmware. The more recent JailbreakMe 2.0 released by comex uses an exploit in the FreeType library used while rendering PDF files. The exploit used by JailbreakMe 2.0 was patched by Apple Inc. in iOS 4.0.2. JailbreakMe 3.0 can jailbreak all iDevices (including iPad 2) on iOS 4.3.3 only, with additional firmware update support to come later. Comex’s solution is the ultimate jailbreaking solution as you can jailbreak your iOS device by simply using mobile Safari.

It’s been confirmed to work on all iOS devices such as iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 1, iPad 2, iPod Touch 3G and iPod Touch 4G.

Here’s a few things that you should be aware of before you proceed:

• It is always a good idea to take a backup of your iOS device before you hack it.
• JailbreakMe 3.0 supports iOS 4.3.3, so you need to first update your iOS device to iOS 4.3.3 before using JailbreakMe.
• Please note that JailbreakMe does not activate your iPhone, so your iPhone should be activated via iTunes first.
• JailbreakMe does not unlock your iPhone. So iPhone unlockers are advised to use tools like PwnageTool or Sn0wbreeze to jailbreak their iPhone.

The process is as simple as visiting JailbreakMe.com on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad’s Mobile Safari browser and tap on the Free button under Cydia and then tap on the Install button, this should jailbreak your iOS device and install Cydia just like installing an iOS app from the App Store. It is as easy as that.

Here’s a short clip of the install process on an iPhone or iPod Touch:

Another short clip, this time of the process on an iPad or iPad 2:

Anyone wanna share their experience using this latest unlock tool for their iDevice?
Can these jailbreak teams keep up with the enhanced security coming in iOS 5?
I guess time will tell, but we tend to think the devs will always be right there to win us back the freedom of our own devices, every time the big guy tries to lock them down.
Share your thoughts on this subject below.
Last but not least, much respect and appreciation goes out to Comex for this great development.

source: jailbreakme, mobilesyrup

By now I’m sure you have read many times, that before you attempt to jailbreak or unlock your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, you should first save your SHSH blobs. Well, the iPhone Dev team has just revealed in a blog post titled “Blob Monster”, that Apple is making things much more difficult to downgrade to an older firmware using SHSH blobs in the coming iOS 5.

Why save your SHSH blobs and WHAT are they, you ask? In a nutshell SHSH blobs are configuration files from your iPhone / iPad / iTouch corresponding to the specific version of the iOS you’re running as well as your particular device’s exact configuration. You should save them before you do upgrades to new versions of iOS or if you’re installing a jailbreak/unlock tool, since they will help you keep your specific hack intact. This which is not possible by default, as Apple stops signing older iOS firmware files after it releases a new iOS software update (usually used to downgrade to an older version of iOS). If you do not save them, the next iOS upgrade can ruin your jailbreak / unlock or hack… forever.

The easiest way to save your SHSH Blob is by using the TinyUmbrella tool because it can take blobs saved from any iDevice, even if it’s not jailbreaked. Another option is using Cydia to save your configuration, although not all Cydia versions support this option, so TinyUmbrella is the popular choice.

Quoted from the Dev Team’s Blog:

“Starting with iOS5 beta, the role of ‘APTicket’ is changing — it’s being used much like the ‘BBTicket’ has always been used. The LLB and iBoot stages of the boot sequence are being refined to depend on the authenticity of the APTicket, which is uniquely generated at each and every restore. This APTicket authentication will happen at every boot, not just at restore time.”

What’s all that mean exactly? Well, for one, you’ll no longer be able to downgrade your firmware because Apple now holds the keys to the kingdom on your device. You will be able to jailbreak still, but you will not be able to downgrade your devices as easily.

It looks like Apple’s starting to get real about fighting back with Jailbreakers. Although honestly this could be an even bigger nuisance for non-jailbreakers. As many of you may still be sporting an iPhone 3G and the latest updates really take a toll on your iPhone’s resources and overall performance. In these cases you could just revert back to an older firmware to get things back to stable, but now it’s going to be more difficult to even downgrade for legitimate reasons.

In light of this new move from Apple, this means that you have to be even more careful when Apple releases a new iOS software update post iOS 5, until the Dev team comes up with a solution since as of now there is no way to revert back if you end up accidentally upgrading to it.

In an industry where Android phones are going to start to come unlocked by default, Apple continues to ramp up their efforts in its’ game of tag with iPhone jailbreakers and unlockers, as they have also just reportedly blocked the iPhone 4 hardware unlocking solution using Gevey SIM in iOS 5 beta 2.

How do you feel about this move from Apple?
Will you still be eyeballing that iPhone 5 when it gets here?
Do you think Apple’s efforts are futile and could be better spent on other things?
Or do you feel the security they implement is warranted and necessary and adds to the stability of the Apple product market? (you know, since nobody runs a hacked iPhone, right?)
Let me know your feelings about this latest move from Apple below.

source: DevTeam Blog

The exact nature of iCloud is currently unknown, but I’m betting we will see a significant refresh of MobileMe with new backup and other features right to the cloud. That’s also expected to include is an online media cloud service which will mirrior local stores of music and allow them to be accessed while on the move…

Now with the iCloud being announce one could suspect that iOS5 and OS X Lion has to be shown as well. Well you are correct – and the big guy himself Steve Jobs will be at the launch event to be the keynote speaker. iOS5 should bring a whole new set of widgets, and a revamp of the current notifications system, one of the more frequent points of complaints of the iPhone and iPad users. OS X Lion has ben well-previewed too…

Let me be straight – this is very nice for Apple to start looking into the cloud services, and all that, but my wonder is if it is a day late dollar short. Google has Google Music beta going on, Microsoft has Zune, and Amazon has it’s own service…How will Apple make their appeal more than the others. Yes I know it is all about Apple and hundreds of millions of Apple products are out but will it convince you to switch to Apple products? Tell me Geeker’s below – what does this mean to you, your friends, and family.

Press Release:

Apple to Unveil Next Generation Software at Keynote Address on Monday, June 6

CUPERTINO, California—May 31, 2011—Apple® CEO Steve Jobs and a team of Apple executives will kick off the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address on Monday, June 6 at 10:00 a.m. At the keynote, Apple will unveil its next generation software – Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS® X; iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s advanced mobile operating system which powers the iPad®, iPhone® and iPod touch®; and iCloud®, Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering.

WWDC will feature more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers. Mac® developers will see and learn how to develop world-class Mac OS X Lion applications using its latest technologies and capabilities. Mobile developers will be able to explore the latest innovations and capabilities of iOS and learn how to greatly enhance the functionality, performance and design of their apps. All developers can bring their code to the labs and work with Apple engineers.

For more details, visit the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2011 website at developer.apple.com/wwdc.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

source: SlasherGear

Recently Statcounter, a market research company released numbers based on visitor statistics averaged from 3+ million websites. The numbers show the iPAD has surpassed Linux as an alternative desktop OS. This is impressive considering the iPAD has only been around for a year and it actually surpassed Linux in December of last year.

These results don’t include Android powered devices, iPod touch and iPhone browsing numbers. We all know there are many more iPods and iPhones on the market than Android powered devices.

Are tablets fads or are they here to stay?

What do you Geek-Freaks think about these numbers?

source: Pingdom

Do you like it when a rumor gets started? I don’t but this one is sure catching my attention. Maybe for other iPhone owners it will too. The latest rumor claims Apple will hold its annual iOS roadmap event in early April to show off iOS 5, and also states that Apple may unveil an updated MobileMe service as well.

Apple always seems to release new products or updates around the same time each year. This isn’t a surprise to most iPhone users. Sources suggest the MobileMe update rumors signal that anticipated changes to the cloud-based service will be heavily integrated into the next major release of Apple’s mobile operating system for the iPhone and the iPad. New account options look like they will be available as well, paid or free subscriptions.

If the rumor is true, does MobileMe enhancements and a new OS excite you? Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below or in the forums.

Source: IM via Apple

Zagg, well known for their invisibleSHIELD screen protectors, has launched a promotional contest that will give 1 free iPad to a lucky winner for each week in April. While not winning is no fun, Zagg is making the liner in this cloud metallic silver. For entering the contest, you will receive a 50% off discount code to use on the Zagg site. Nothing wrong with getting 50% off an screen protector for doing nothing more than entering in some information. You can access the contest here.