Nuance & Apple partnership is all but confirmed, Lion uses Nuance speech technology

From Lion System Preferences

Apple and Nuance’s rumored partnership is all but official at this point: Apple’s upcoming Mac OS X Lion uses Nuance’s speech technology. A quick look in Lion’s system preferences application reveals several new voice options (shown above) with accents ranging from French to Romanian to Thai. This might seem like some fancy new voice technology that Apple decided to craft up for Lion but it’s actually something that Nuance created for their RealSpeak text-to-speech software.





From Nuance RealSpeak website

Each voice preference costs $45 directly from Nuance, so it’s a safe bet that Apple made some agreement with Nuance for the technology. With the rumors that Apple and Nuance will be making some joint announcements at WWDC, we think this new Lion feature is pretty much confirmation of that. Look for something like this in iOS 5 – hopefully with some Siri technology mixed in as well. (via NetPuting)
*thanks 9to5Mac*

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Mac OS X Lion has a new redesigned login screen, Reading List, new wallpapers, more

Mac OS X Lion developer preview 3 features some new enhancements including a redesigned login screen, the previously detailed Reading List feature in Safari, some new wallpapers, and other minor tweaks. The redesigned login screen above has an iOS-like feel to it with a silver-gradient backdrop and new icons across the bottom for sleep mode, restart, and shut down. (Thanks, Daniel). For those interested, we have a video of the new login screen and boot animation in action.


The previously detailed Reading List feature in Safari is also present with a eyeglasses icon on the left side of Safari (location is possibly user customizable). Click the small icon and the fairly-intutive user interface, shown above, will appear. The Reading List displays items you have read and have yet to read, in an iOS style box format.

We have also been told that the new Lion developer release packs in some brand-new wallpapers including an actual lion. We’ve put screenshots of a few of the new wallpapers below.

New wallpapers! (there are many more – here’s the download link):








*thanks 9to5Mac*

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G-Form case for the iPad survives getting run over by a car

Remember the iPad case that could be thrown off a balcony or have a bowling ball dropped on it from a few feet in the air without hurting the iPad inside?

From the obvious “don’t try this at home” category, Mobile Syrup popped their iPad 2 into a G-Form Sleeve, abused it for awhile, then had a car run it over.

Result? The video stopped playing but the iPad was unharmed, at least as far as we could tell.

We’re looking forward to some more extreme iPad sports when these start getting into users hands.

The car runneth over video is below:


*thanks 9to5Mac*

If the makers of the G-Form case read this, we would like a sample case to make a video or two of our own...

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Shootout confirms: Latest iMacs are a “best buy” for Apple gamers

You may have heard of BareFeats, right? You know, the mad scientists types that agonize over clock frequencies, fill rates and hardware stats so you don’t have to. They’re out with a comprehensive gaming shootout pitting the latest iMac family against Sandy Bridge MacBook Pros and current-gen Mac Pros. They specifically focused on graphics performance in games by measuring Portal 2 frame rates at various quality settings and resolutions. Their take?

The new 2011 iMacs run latest games very well despite their mobile AMD graphics being actually slower than Nvidia’s flagship mobile chip. The 2011 iMac family is a “best buy” for gamers, the site concluded. Read on for additional explanation and another chart proving their point.

On overall, BareFeats argues, the flagship current-gen 27-inch iMac runs Portal 2 less than a third slower (28 percent) compared to the top-of-the-line six-core Mac Pro equipped with the AMD Radeon HD 5870 graphics. However, the Mac Pro system is seventy percent pricier than its iMac counterpart. This means that iMacs offer the best value/performance ration for gamers than any other Mac system. Moreover, they noted, “you don’t even need the Core i7 version of the 2011 iMac to run games well” because the 3.1GHz Core i5 iMac packs in the same AMD Radeon HD 6970 graphics as the 3.4GHz Core i7 model.

On the other hand, if you already own a Mac Pro, for a $449 (or a fraction of the cost of an iMac) you can supercharge your gaming machine.
Hit the source link for comprehensive benchmark results and more pretty charts.

*thanks 9to5Mac*

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Apple’s frenemy Samsung readying tablet display with more pixels than 27-inch iMac (Retina Display-powered iPad 3, anyone?)

Samsung will next week demo a new LCD display technology that will put future tablets in the Retina Display realm. Developed by Samsung’s subsidiary Nouvoyance, the new WQXGA 10.1-inch display stuns with a whopping 2560-by-1600 pixel resolution. Take a deep breath – that’s more pixels than on your 27-inch iMac and double the pixel count on full HD displays.

It uses PenTile RGBW technology that consumes 40 percent less power, a statement claims. Samsung will show off this tech at the SID Display Week 2011 International Symposium next week. The company expects to have commercial availability of this technology for tablet applications later this year.

At screen size and resolution this large the display features a pixel density of 300 pixels per inch – enough to file as a Retina Display. Apple says that 300 pixels-per-inch is the limit of the human retina where the eye is unable to distinguish between the individual pixels, meaning curves appear smooth and continuous rather than jagged and pixelated. It’s widely accepted that the next iPad will sport Retina Display technology which was first inaugurated ten months ago on iPhone 4.

Samsung already supplies Apple with a bunch of components, including processors, flash memory and displays. Technically speaking, Apple could confidently use the new 2560-by-1600 display for iPad 3 to market the device as Retina Display-capable. Whether or not the design giant buys iPad 3 displays from Samsung is up for debate. It’s anything but given due to an ongoing spat between the two firms. It’s also possible that Samsung beats Apple to the tablet punch by outing a tablet to showcase the new display technology ahead of iPad 3. Some watchers claimed that the costs associated with implementing a high-resolution Retina Display on iPad 3 would be too prohibitive.

*thanks 9to5Mac*

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You Can No Longer Upgrade the Main Hard Drive in Your iMac

Apple has taken steps to prevent any third party hard drive upgrades of the main drive in the new iMac.

Signs of this began with the 2009 iMac which required a special thermal sensor cable for each hard drive manufacturer. Now OWC has discovered that with the new 2011 iMac Apple has made it impossible for you to upgrade to a third party drive.

For the main 3.5″ SATA hard drive bay in the new 2011 machines, Apple has altered the SATA power connector itself from a standard 4-pin power configuration to a 7-pin configuration. Hard drive temperature control is regulated by a combination of this cable and Apple proprietary firmware on the hard drive itself. From our testing, we’ve found that removing this drive from the system, or even from that bay itself, causes the machine’s hard drive fans to spin at maximum speed and replacing the drive with any non-Apple original drive will result in the iMac failing the Apple Hardware Test (AHT).

In examining the 2011 27″ iMac’s viability for our Turnkey Upgrade Service, every workaround we’ve tried thus far to allow us to upgrade the main bay factory hard drive still resulted in spinning fans and an Apple Hardware Test failure. We swapped the main drive out (in this case a Western Digital Black WD1001FALS) with the exact same model drive from our inventory which resulted in a failure. We’ve installed our Mercury Pro 6G SSD in that bay, it too results in ludicrous speed engaged fans and an AHT failure. In short, the Apple-branded main hard drive cannot be moved, removed or replaced.

OWC notes that you can still add space using a secondary drive; however, if your main drive fails you have no alternative but to purchase a new one from Apple and pay them to install it via an Authorized Service Center. Also if you were planning to get a larger 3TB drive, those are aren't offered.




*thanks 9to5Mac*

Our new Forum is now open here or on the top tabs marks Forums, please register and post.. For the latest limera1n, rubyra1n, and all tech stories, follow us on Twitter at @iphonepixelpost or @limerain_com www.iPodSets.com
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Apple Launches Its 100th iAd Campaign

Apple has launched its 100th iAd campaign with real estate company Coldwell Banker, according to The Loop.

The iAd focuses on helping consumers find a home for sale that meets their needs right within the iAd unit. Consumers can call an agent right from the ad to get more details on a property.

"We know that mobile marketing is critical to the future of our consumer engagement," said Michael Fischer, chief marketing officer for Coldwell Banker Real Estate. "The iAd platform and its unique custom targeting allows us to engage with consumers like no other mobile advertisement can. We go way beyond banner ads and search terms to offer an informative and entertaining custom home search tool. With iAd, Coldwell Banker essentially becomes a positive part of the user’s overall app experience."

The Loop says the Coldwell Banker ad is getting good results with the 11 pages viewed per visit, average user engagement time of more than one minute, tap rates 5x higher than online banners, and conversation rates 4x higher.

You can take a look at some screenshots of the iAd below...













*thanks 9to5Mac*

Our new Forum is now open here or on the top tabs marks Forums, please register and post.. For the latest limera1n, rubyra1n, and all tech stories, follow us on Twitter at @iphonepixelpost or @limerain_com www.iPodSets.com
- Posted using my iPhone 4