After much speculation, Apple has announced the new iPad (yes, that’s how it’s called). Highlights are:
No word on the RAM and processor speed but they’re likely bumped up in order to accommodate the graphics and business use positioning.
Apple has sent out press invites to the much anticipated launch of the next iPad. Based on the photo, it seems clear it will have a Retina display. The question is what will be on the insides? A6 quad-core processor? Larger memory? Larger storage? Bigger battery? If this is going to be a pro level device that’s targeted at business users and aligned towards the strategy of cannibalizing or replacing the Mac, then those specs are pretty much assured.
My Suunto Observer‘s battery died about a week ago. I have replaced its battery three times before: 2003, 2006 (when I damaged the battery cover), and 2009 (when I got a Suunto battery replacement kit complete with new battery cover and opening tool). But this time, it won’t start up at all. Looks like it’s time to say goodbye. It’s been a good ride. I had taken it up mountains, underground into caves, and underwater. I even used it at the office. It wasn’t without problems, I had replaced the bracelet in 2005. And the pressure sensor gave up a few years ago. The sensor couldn’t be fixed short of replacing all the electronic internals. But it kept on “ticking” sans the barometer and altimeter. But all things must come to an end. What will remain are the good memories.
Messages is the instant messaging application of the upcoming OS X Mountain Lion. It is essentially iMessage for the Mac. It also integrates with FaceTime and includes AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, and Jabber clients. But the significant thing about it is it expands iMessage from iPhone, iPod Touches, and iPads to the Mac. That’s a potentially huge bump in the number of users on Apple’s messaging framework and more reason to use Apple products.
Engadget reported that there were 37 million iPhones sold last quarter. 37 million!!! How crazy is that? As Joset posted on Google+: “Babies born each day – 371,000. Apple phones sold each day – 377,900.” That crazy. Granted, last quarter includes Christmas, the season for giving, lots of iPhones under the Christmas tree, so that’s a peak number. But still, that’s just astounding.