Suppliers hint at changes to MacBook Air -- Digitimes

While it's a given that the MacBook Air is coming up for a redesign, it's a question of degree. The industrial design won't change much, according to a report from the Taiwanese site.

One of the first MacBook Air rumors of the season alludes to internal changes but few external tweaks.

A fresh report from the not-always-reliable Taipei-based Digitimes claims the "industrial design will not see any major changes" in 2013.

Apple introduced the accentuated wedge aesthetic in late 2010 (see photo above), so about a year and a half will have transpired if new MBAs are introduced in the first half of 2013.

The report makes no mention of displays, but that's an area of intense focus for Apple. The high end of the MacBook Pro line now sports Retina displays with edge-to-edge glass versus the wide metal bezel on the non-Retina Airs.

But one thing is certain -- a new chip platform, which Digitimes does mention. Intel is expected to introduce its fourth generation Core "Haswell" processor at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. That processor should make its way into new MacBooks by midyear.And there has been little, if any, chatter in the Asia supply chain so far about Retina-equipped MBAs.

Haswell is all about better power efficiency. So, Apple could feasibly squeeze Haswell into the same or slightly thinner design with longer battery life. Haswell is also expected to include a graphics processing unit (GPU) that delivers a bigger jump in performance compared with past generations of Core processors.

Both 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros have donned Retina displays. Would Apple go there with the MacBook Air?

(Credit: Apple)

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Apple drops patent claim against Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini

iPhone maker withdraws infringement allegations in exchange for assurances that Samsung will not market the smartphone in the U.S.

Apple has agreed to withdraw patent infringement allegations against Samsung's new Galaxy S3 Mini in exchange for assurances that the South Korean electronics giant will not market the smartphone in the U.S.

Apple disclosed the agreement today in a filing with the U.S. District Court for Northern California. The iPhone maker requested last month that the new smartphone and other Samsung products be added to the ongoing patent dispute between the two companies. Samsung countered that the S3 Mini was unavailable for purchase in the United States, however Apple noted that the new smartphone was listed on Amazon's U.S. storefront and had been purchased and delivered to multiple U.S. addresses.

"Apple will agree to withdraw without prejudice its request to include the Galaxy S III Mini in this case given Samsung's representation that it is not making, using, selling, offering to sell, or importing that product into the United States," Apple said in its filing. Apple had previously argued that the device infringed on the same patents included in its $1.5 billion verdict against Samsung. However, Apple has been unsuccessful in securing sales bans.The unlocked phone quietly appeared on Amazon last month, running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and featuring a 4-inch Super AMOLED display, a dual-core 1-gigahertz processor, 1 gigabyte of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage. While the new phone supports either T-Mobile USA or AT&T, it lacks support for any 4G LTE connectivity.

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Fresh iPad rumor: Thinner, lighter version due in March

Apple is prepping a thinner, lighter fifth-generation iPad that shares some of its design cues with the recently released iPad Mini, according to Japanese blog Macotakara. The report was picked up and translated by 9to5Mac.

The report also calls for the next iPad Mini to be released with a Retina display, following other similar reports. The addition wouldn't be surprising, as it was a key missing feature with the original iPad Mini.

The release of a next-generation iPad would drastically shorten an already shortened product life cycle for Apple's main tablet. Thefourth-generation iPad was released last month, just eight months after the third-generation iPad, and the proposed next version would come just five months later. The March timing has been the company's usual launch period for the iPad.

Macotakara cited unnamed sources for its report, and it's unclear whether Apple would want to release an iPad so soon after the last one.

But looking back, the fourth-generation iPad could have been the anomaly, a version released to ensure all of Apple's products had the same Lightning dock connector.

CNET contacted Apple for comment, and we'll update the story when we get a response.

Macotakara calls for the next iPad to have dimensions of 4mm in height, 17mm in width, and 2mm in depth, which is a near physical impossibility. The more likely scenario is that those dimensions represent the difference. The current iPad is 241.2mm in height, 185.7mm in width, and 9.4mm in depth.

Presumably, the next iPad would pick up the white and silver and black and slate elements from the iPad Mini, which in turn picked them up from the iPhone 5.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS

MORE THAN YOU CAN IMAGE CREW would like to wish you a Happy Christmas and a prosperous new year !!!

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Will Samsung top Apple by withholding revolutionary tech?

Samsung is drawing closer and closer to the technology that will transform the future of smartphones and tablets. The company will show off its progress in a couple of weeks at CES2013 when it demos a 5.5-inch flexible display with a 1,280x720-pixel resolution and a 267-pixel density (an upgrade to the one pictured above from CES 2011).

While these displays are still at least a couple of years away from being used in mainstream products, they represent the next big innovation in mobile devices. They will enable much thinner, more power-efficient smartphones and tablets, and a lot more flexibility (pun intended) in product designs and form factors.

The big question is whether Samsung will share this innovation with Apple.

As you know, Apple and Samsung are still embroiled in an epic legal battle over whether Samsung has illegally mimicked Apple devices and infringed on Apple patents with its Galaxy family of smartphones and tablets.

Since Samsung is also the maker of lots of mobile-hardware components, Apple had been one of its best customers. And from Apple's point of view, Samsung was one of its most important partners for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod lines.

However, the legal cold war between the two companies has inevitably altered the relationship. Apple has been methodically moving business away from Samsung. While some of this has been guised in the wisdom of diversifying its supply chain, it's impossible not to suspect this as retribution for Samsung's perceived improprieties.

Apple has significantly reduced its reliance on Samsung for memory chips. It is reportedly doing everything in its power to stop using Samsung to build the processors for its mobile devices. And it has moved much of its display business from Samsung to rival LG -- though it had to reportedly go back to Samsung and use it to make the Retina display for the iPad 3 because neither LG nor Sharp could meet Apple's next-generation display requirements.

Overall, the lost Apple business clearly hasn't hurt Samsung too badly. It has likely used the extra capacity to supply its own Samsung Mobile business, which saw the Galaxy S3 smartphone overtake the iPhone in 2012 as the most widely sold mobile device on the planet. The Galaxy Note has been a bigger seller as well.

Meanwhile, both Apple and Samsung continued to gobble up most of the profits in the mobile device market in 2012. As they go their separate ways, both companies are doing fine. The two will almost certainly continue to dominate the mobile market in 2013, as they introduce incremental improvements to their market-leading devices.

However, it's when we get to the next big leap forward that the divergence between Apple and Samsung could really matter.

The kind of flexible OLED displays that Samsung is showing off at CES in January are going to change the game. Because they are bendable, less breakable, lighter, thinner, and more energy-efficient, they will unleash a wave a new designs in mobile devices -- lots of things that haven't even been imagined yet, as well as designs that weren't possible until the right technologies and materials were available.

Samsung is far and away the leader in this category. According to its own executives, Samsung produces over 90 percent of the OLEDs currently sold. And it's the only company publicly showing off these types of bendable OLEDs on a large scale -- and it's been doing it for more than two years.

Other companies, like Philips, Sony, and Nokia, have talked up this concept, but none of them are as close to bringing it to the real world as Samsung is.

So, the natural question is where this would leave Apple if Samsung does end up as the clear winner in the OLED race. Would Samsung withhold the technology from its bitter rival and reserve flexible displays only for its own Samsung-branded devices?

The division that makes Samsung displays and the one that makes Samsung smartphones and tablets are two separate businesses within Samsung and each has its own profit-and-loss statements to optimize. So, it's doubtful Samsung would keep the display technology to itself -- at least not indefinitely.

But, since Samsung and Apple have such a fierce rivalry in the mobile market and now have such bad blood between them because of their legal squabbles, it's not hard to imagine Samsung giving its own devices the exclusive first implementation of flexible OLED displays.

It will eventually sell them to Apple and other device makers to make their own designs. But, since this technology represents such game-changing, corner-turning opportunity, the rest of Samsung's competitors will be a step behind and could inevitably be viewed as copycats.

What a turning of the tables that could be.

Apple certainly won't let this pass without a fight. Don't be surprised if Apple makes some quiet acquisitions to bring more display technology and expertise in-house. But, it may already be too late. Samsung could have its earliest flexible OLEDs to market before the end of 2013.

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Apple loses bid for permanent ban on Samsung phones in U.S.

A U.S. District Court judge denied Apple's bid to ban a number of Samsung's devices from sale in the U.S., a little more than a week after a hearing on the matter.

In a late ruling Monday, Judge Lucy Koh -- who presided over the entire trial between the two tech giants -- denied Apple's bid for a sales ban on 26 Samsung products, saying that any infringing features were just part of a larger feature set, thus making a sales ban too broad.

"The phones at issue in this case contain a broad range of features, only a small fraction of which are covered by Apple's patents," Koh wrote. "Though Apple does have some interest in retaining certain features as exclusive to Apple, it does not follow that entire products must be forever banned from the market because they incorporate, among their myriad features, a few narrow protected functions."

Apple declined to comment on the ruling, and Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As part of a verdict in August, a California jury said 26 of Samsung's mobile devices infringed on a handful of Apple's patents, leading to a $1.05 billion damages award in Apple's favor. Following the decision, Apple filed for an injunction against a number of the infringing products, attempting to keep them off store shelves.

Despite the fact that there were infringements found, Koh said in her ruling that a large number of the devices targeted within the ban are no longer on sale, and those that were had other features.

"It would not be equitable to deprive consumers of Samsung's infringing phones when, as explained above, only limited features of the phones have been found to infringe any of Apple's intellectual property," Koh said.

It wasn't entirely a homerun for Samsung though. Along with the order on the permanent injunction, Koh said she didn't buy into Samsung's argument for a retrial over what the company said was misconduct by the jury foreman for not disclosing a legal spat with Seagate, a company that Samsung invested in.

The orders represent the first major ones to come out of the court since the trial wrapped up in August. Still expected is a ruling from Koh that could change the damages tally. During the three and a half hour long hearing earlier this month, Apple made its bid to increase damages while Samsung predictably argued to lower them.

Here's a full copy of the injunction ruling:Sales Ban

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Twitter rolls out option to download tweet archive

Some users on the microblogging site report having been given the option to request and download their entire tweet history.

Twitter has apparently begun rolling out a promised feature that allows users to download their entire archive of tweets.

Twitter users began tweeting last night about the appearance on a new settings feature that allows users to "Request your archive." A brief note under the new button informs users that "you can request a file containing your information, starting with your first tweet. A link will be emailed to you when the file is ready for download."

Navjot Singh@nspeaks

Twitter has finally provided the option to download all your tweets - pic.twitter.com/o1joSUbB

16 Dec 12

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The new feature does not appear to be part of a wide rollout at this time; it was unavailable to this user. A Twitter representative told CNET that the company is currently testing the feature "with a very small percentage of users." (Image below shows what some users have reported seeing.)

CEO Dick Costolo announced during a keynote at the Online News Association conference in San Francisco in September that it expected to provide users with one of the most-desired capabilities by year's end. "[It's] a priority we absolutely want to have out by the end of the year," he said.

The move brings Twitter in line with other companies that allow export of data they create. Saying that "Users should be able to control the data they store in any of Google's products," Google's Data Liberation Front tool is designed "to make it easier for users to move their data in and out of Google products" such as Gmail and Google Drive. Facebook's Download Your Information allows users to get a copy of what they've shared on Facebook, such as photos, posts, messages, friends list, and chat conversations.

(Credit: Twitter)

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Why Microsoft redesigned Windows

Windows 8 has its fans and foes, but Microsoft felt the time was ripe for a new look and feel for a product used by more than 1.2 billion people.

Julie Larson-Green, the new head of Windows product development, recently spoke with MIT Technology Review about the reasons behind the major changes in the latest version of Windows.

Touting the new Windows 8 Start screen, Larson-Green said that in the past Windows users worked at a desktop with a monitor. In her view, people typically launched one window, put it away, and then launched another window. But in Windows 8, all the apps and windows you might want to launch are visible through Live Tiles.

"Instead of having to find many little rocks to look underneath, you see a kind of dashboard of everything that's going on and everything you care about all at once," Larson-Green said. "It puts you closer to what you're trying to get done."

It's no secret that Windows 8 is designed with touch screens in mind. Larson-Green sees that as simply a "natural way to interact." After using a touch-screen device, even people still using the mouse and keyboard on a regular desktop may find themselves reaching out to the screen to try to move something with their finger.

And touch screens are the future, in her opinion. Though she concedes that there will always be some PCs without touch screens, she believes the majority will be touch-enabled.

Windows 8 has been criticized for trying to be all things to all people. The Start screen environment is geared more for touch-screen devices, but the familiar desktop is still easier to use with mouse and keyboard."We're seeing that the computers with touch are the fastest-selling right now," she said. "I can't imagine a computer without touch anymore. Once you've experienced it, it's really hard to go back."

Microsoft made a purposeful choice to offer both environments in the new OS, according to Larson-Green. A mouse will always be more precise than your finger, while a physical keyboard will always be easier to use than an on-screen version, she said. But she feels that eventually people get more comfortable with this new way of working.

"We didn't want you to have to make a choice," she said. "Some people have said that it's jarring, but over time we don't hear that. It's just getting used to something that's different."

Just how long does it take people to get used to Windows 8? Microsoft employs a program called "Living with Windows" in which it observes people using the new OS at home over the course of several months. Some have no trouble adjusting right off the bat, but others take anywhere from two days to two weeks, according to Larson-Green.

And how are people adjusting to Windows 8? To get that answer, Microsoft uses data from users who agree to be part of the Customer Experience Improvement program. And so far, the company is encouraged by what it's seen.

"Over 90 percent of customers, from our data, use the charms and find the start screen all in the first session, Larson-Green said. "Even if you're a desktop user, over time there's a cutover point around six weeks where you start using the new things more than the things you're familiar with."

Of course, as the new Windows development head, Larson-Green has to not only explain but defend the choices Microsoft made in Windows 8.

With PC sales down and tablet sales on the rise, the company undoubtedly felt it had to revamp its familiar interface to adapt to a new world.

Did the company get it right with Windows 8? That's clearly a question still open to heated debate.

But the bigger question is: Will enough of Microsoft's loyal customers ultimately take the plunge to the new and different Windows 8 or stick with the familiar and comfortable Windows 7 and its predecessors.

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One OS, three installation options: What's the best way to install Windows 8?

Ahh, Windows 8. If you’ve decided you're ready to plunk down your hard-earned cash to give this modern UI a shot, you'll want to spend a few minutes considering just how you take your first steps into the Windows 8 experience.

You have three ways to install Windows 8 after you’ve purchased it: (a) Run it as a virtual machine on your current operating system; (b) dual-boot it alongside your current operating system; or (c) perform a full install and overwrite the OS you're currently rolling with. While the installation methods vary in complexity, all three are within the grasp of even Windows novices, and each brings its own pros and cons to the table.

Let's take a deeper look at each option.

Running Windows 8 in a virtual machine

One of the easiest ways to play with Windows 8 without having it affect your current operating-system setup is to install it in a virtual machine. While you can get fancy and purchase premium VM software like Parallels Workstation for this purpose, a completely free program called VirtualBox accomplishes the same thing, minus a few bells, whistles, and advanced options.

Installing Windows 8 in VirtualBox.

A virtual machine is exactly what its name suggests. VM software allows you to install and run a virtualized operating system within your existing operating system, and everything you do in that Inception-like second operating system is contained within its own individual environment. Once you're done playing around with your virtualized OS, you can eradicate it with just a few clicks of the mouse—the virtualized OS is really nothing more than a series of files on your normal system’s physical hard drive.

We can’t stress this enough: What you do within your virtualized OS has absolutely no bearing on your actual operating system. Delete files. Change settings. Do whatever you want! Once you’re done tinkering around for the day, all you have to do is shut down your virtualized version of Windows 8 to return to your normal operating system's desktop.

The downsides? First, running a virtualized OS requires more configuration steps than installing Windows 8 directly. For example, most VM software requires you to have a processor that supports hardware virtualization to run Windows 8, and you'll have to make sure that virtualization is enabled within your system’s BIOS. A quick and easy way to check all of this is to download Microsoft’s official Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Tool and run it as an administrator on your PC. If you’re ready to virtualize, the tool will let you know.

Second, you'll need to make sure your that PC's core components are up to the task of virtualization. Not only must the machine fulfill the minimum hardware requirements for Windows 8, it must also be able to handle not one but two concurrently active operating systems. That's right: The virtual machine will use the same physical hardware resources as your normal OS, and because both systems will be running simultaneously, we recommend virtualizing Windows 8 on rigs with hefty system specs to ensure that you have enough resources to dedicate to both operating systems. In an ideal world, you'll allocate at least 3GB of RAM to each OS.

Even with a beefy system, running Windows 8 virtually will likely deliver a slightly less than perfect experience on a standard PC, with occasional graphical lags, performance hiccups, and the frustration of having to move a mouse cursor between operating-system environments if you run the VM in a window rather than in full-screen mode. And Windows 8's Internet connection sometimes glitches out momentarily in VirtualBox.

Our advice? Virtualizing Windows 8 is a great way to get a feel for the OS before you’re ready to commit for good, but it’s no replacement for a full-fledged installation.

Dual-boot Windows 8

Dual-booting Windows 8 alongside your current operating system is an easy process—so don’t be scared if you’ve never done it before. We've already published a guide that can walk you through creating a new, Windows 8-ready partition on your hard drive and starting the installation process itself.

Allocating partitions to prepare for a dual boot installation.

Once the secondary operating system is up and running, you’ll be given a "choose-your-own-adventure"-style screen whenever you boot up your PC, asking you whether you’d like to boot into Windows 8 or the other OS stored on your hard drive. If you don’t pick an option, your system will default to Windows 8 after a brief period of time.

The benefits of dual-booting are obvious: You gain access to two operating systems instead of one, and the performance of neither system is impacted by the other, because each is just a simple, separate partition on your hard drive.

The drawbacks? Once you opt to dual-boot, it can be a real hassle if and when you decide to remove Windows 8, and go back to a single-boot system using your older Windows operating system. Spoiler: You’ll have to poke around in Windows’ Boot Configuration Data Store Editor (bcdedit.exe) just to ensure that you have a means for booting back into your legacy OS after you’ve tossed Windows 8.

In other words, don’t just delete the Windows 8 partition!

You’ll also be sacrificing room on your hard drive to run two operating systems that are completely independent from one another. It almost goes without saying, but installing an app like Steam on Windows 7 doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to run it through Windows 8—they're two separate worlds. You’d have to install Steam on Windows 8 as well, duplicating your efforts on a single drive.

All that said, dual-booting is a tried-and-true process for making the most out of two different operating systems if you absolutely can’t live without each. We recommend the process wholeheartedly unless space is of the utmost concern on your system. And if that’s the case, maybe it’s time for a second hard drive.

Fully installing Windows 8

Here we go. The biggie. You’re ready to take the full plunge and wave goodbye to your legacy operating system forever. Windows 8 has arrived, and it is the conqueror on your desktop. Let no other operating system stand in its path.

Installing Windows 8 is extraordinarily easy and extraordinarily quick. First, though, pay heed to the gentle but firm notice that you get only one shot at this if you’re doing a clean install. Make sure that you’ve backed up all important files from your existing operating system before you wipe it and start anew.

Upgrade or fresh install? Choose wisely, young Padawan.

You'll also need to decide whether you’re going to upgrade from your existing operating system or go with a completely clean installation. In short, an upgrade installation will do its best to preserve your files and settings from one operating system to the next. Just how much of your existing OS experience is preserved depends on what you’re running: When upgrading from Windows 7, Windows 8 will attempt to preserve all your personal files as well as your applications. But if you're upgrading from Vista or XP, Windows 8 will preserve only the files, and you'll have to reinstall your apps afterwards.

The other option is to perform a clean installation, which completely wipes your existing OS and all the files on your hard drive partition, then follows up with a fresh, brand-new installation of Windows 8. Scorched earth.

So which do you pick? The jury is out. More experienced computer users who really enjoy the clean slate of a wipe-and-install—or who are otherwise terrified that they aren’t going to get peak performance from whatever drivers Windows 8 keeps around from Windows 7—should opt for the clean installation. A clean install is also a great way to give your PC a "do-over" to clean out the clutter that accumulates over the years. Indeed, on the second go-around of app installations, you might be less likely to install programs you don’t actually use much.

Otherwise, Microsoft has improved the upgrade process so that it’s not all that scary transferring information over to a new Windows (Windows 8) installation. You’ll still want to go into the nooks and crannies of Windows 8 itself to ensure that all of your major settings have transitioned over. We also recommend that you go straight to the manufacturers’ sites for new drivers for your various system components—video card, sound card, motherboard, and so on.

And, once again, please save your settings before you upgrade. For example, while your preferred Internet browser might make the journey to Windows 8, the operating system might not keep your bookmarks.
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