Sharp, LG Display ramping up second-quarter Retina display shipments for the new iPad

Asian trade publication DigiTimes reported this morning that both Sharp and LG Display are set to increase their respective manufacturing output of Retina displays for the new iPad. The news follows a recent report by the same publication that Sharp shipped 2.71 million iPad Retina panels to Apple.

This might mean that production issues have finally been sorted out after both firms had reportedly failed to meet Apple's exact quality requirements. Something tells me Samsung won't like this. As you know, Apple is clever enough not to put all eggs in one basket, so to speak.

As a result of LG Display and Sharp jumping on the Retina bandwagon, Apple should be able to achieve a significant increase in iPad shipments for the next quarter and onwards...

Best Buy sells almost as many iPhones as Apple’s retail stores

Back in 2008, Apple made the decision to allow Best Buy to carry and sell its beloved handset. And that choice is proving to be a fantastic one today as reports are coming in regarding the retailers' iPhone sales.

Citing a study from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, AllThingsD reported this morning that Best Buy outlets have been selling almost as many iPhones as Apple itself...

My new iPad review

When the iPad 2 came out last year, it was like I had fallen in love all over again with Apple's tablet. It was such an improvement over the first iPad that I couldn't let go of it for more than a few instants. Of course, the novelty stir wore off, and after a few weeks, I started dreaming about what the iPad 3 could look like or what new features it would come loaded with. Surely, Apple would awe me again.

The Retina display was without a doubt the number one feature I expected from the iPad 3, so you can imagine my excitement when Apple confirmed the new iPad would come with a 2048x1536 display, packing more than 3 million pixels. After all, I don't need much from a tablet. All I do with it is browse the web, read news, reply to emails, tweet, and my new hobby, editing pictures shot with my iPhone. So really the Retina display is all I wanted, although I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect Apple to amaze me with features I hadn't even thought of.

And maybe that's one of the problems we have with every Apple product launch. We expect too much. The company has set the bar so high, so quickly, that we're always waiting for them to give us more, more, more, and more. We're expecting the unexpectable.

Did I, like many others, expect too much from the new iPad?

Let me share with you my thoughts about Apple's new tablet, now that I've been using it for a week. And for those of you thinking this is going to be the same old review you've read 27 times praising the merits of the new iPad, you're wrong. You've heard every possible compliment about the new iPad, so I'll try to give you a more captious point of view...

Apple updates Trailers app for Retina iPad, Netflix promises high-def streaming “soon”

Ahead of the original iPad introduction in the April of 2010, the blogosphere had been abuzz over an unnamed Hollywood exec who allegedly saw a prototype in person and claimed the product would be awesome for watching movies. It ended up being quite enjoyable for this purpose, but hardly awesome due its modest 1024-by-768 pixel resolution.

Fast-forward to today and the new iPad, which has a million more pixels than an HDTV, is perfect for watching Hollywood movies in all their 1080 glory. As developers of popular apps update their offerings with Retina support, Apple isn't wasting time neither. Yesterday, the company issued an update to its iTunes Movie Trailers app, basically a pretty-fied frontend to its movie trailers page released last October.

At the same time, Netflix pushed an update to its video streaming client for iOS with support for Retina graphics. Though the program does not enable high-definition video streaming yet, it's in the works and should follow "soon"...

Samsung designer on ripping off the iPhone: “The Galaxy is original from the beginning”

One could easily opine there are only so many ways to design a tablet or a smartphone. The argument has its merits and isn't far from truth. With today's mobile gadgets increasingly becoming basically a piece of glass framed by a bezel of sorts, the question of who's copying who gets muddied.

As you know, Apple filed the first in a series of “look-and-feel” lawsuits against Samsung in April 2011 over the design of the iPhone and iPad, forcing the South Korean consumer electronics conglomerate to fire back with infringement allegations of its own.

As both companies remain entangled in a complicated web of lawsuits in courts around the world, Samsung Mobile’s vice president of design Lee Min-hyuk has gone on the record to say he did not rip off the iPhone when designing the original Galaxy S smartphone...

Safari exploit that allows URL spoofing discovered in iOS 5.1

Although iOS is considered to be one of the safest mobile operating systems on the market, it's not perfect. This is something that those of us in the jailbreak community know all too well.

With that in mind, it's not terribly surprising that another security bug has recently been discovered in Apple's software. Reports are surfacing today that an exploit has been found inside mobile Safari...

Some Smart Covers aren’t fully compatible with new iPad

When Apple unveiled its new tablet earlier this month, the consensus seemed to be that it would continue to work with all iPad 2 Smart Covers. After all, the new iPad's frontside dimensions are identical to its predecessors.

But apparently that isn't the case. As noted by iLounge, the new iPad uses a slightly different magnet system that causes some newer Smart Covers, and similar third party magnet-driven cases, not to work properly...

Check out this awesome iPhone concept with a large display

Yesterday afternoon, a report surfaced claiming that Apple was ordering up 4.6-inch displays for its next iPhone. The news caused quite a commotion, considering the iPhone has had a mere 3.5-inch screen for the last 5 years.

Needless to say we're a bit skeptical on the matter. While we could see Apple moving to a larger 4-inch display, as previous rumors have suggested, we can't imagine it going with one nearly 5-inches big. Then we saw this concept...

RIM looking to write “exciting” enterprise apps for iOS devices, recruitment ad suggests [updated]

If you're a veteran iOS developer capable of "architecting, designing, developing and testing complex applications for iPhone and iPad", you could be a fit for Research In Motion. The BlackBerry maker has been advertising an interesting job vacancy on LinkedIn since two days ago.

You should also exhibit "a solid work ethic" (just solid? they are not that demanding after all) and must be able to show own apps on the App Store at your job interview. So, what exactly is the beleaguered BlackBerry maker up to?

Target knocking $25 off the iPhone 4S this month

Those who haven't picked up Apple's latest handset yet might be interested in this deal. 9to5Mac is reporting that some Target locations are taking $25 dollars off of multiple iPhone 4S models through the end of the month.

The site received a photo from a tipster showing the discount on an in-store advertisement at a store in Orlando, FL. And according to the ad, the deal applies to both 16GB and 32GB models, as well as all three carrier versions...

This mod will make your iPhone shine, literally

This is pretty cool. The folks over at iPatch, a UK-based iPhone repair shop, have come up with an interesting hardware mod that turns the headphone jack on your iPhone 4/4S into an LED flashlight.

If you recognize the name iPatch, it's probably because it's the same team that brought us the glowing Apple logo mod for the iPhone 4 last year. And now it's back with the "headphone jack torch..."