The second largest cellular provider in the United States, AT&T, issued an apology to users of the Apple iPad whose email addresses were leaked last week during a security breach. Hackers were able to discover the email addresses of nearly 114,000 iPad 3G users through a program on AT&T’s website. Among the email addresses uncovered by hackers were those belonging to members of the U.S. military as well as executives at media, technology and finance companies.

New York Times Chief Executive Officer Janet Robinson and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s email addresses were among those discovered by hackers. The group that uncovered the email addresses compiled them into a list to be sold in order to benefit their own publicity. Gawker Media’s Valleywag website was among a handful of places that received the hacked list of emails.

Goatse Security, which helps Web firms with security issues, discovered the gap in security on AT&T’s website. The company found the problem in a matter of an hour and publicized their results in the interest of iPad users’ safety. Dorothy Attwood, AT&T’s chief privacy officer, sent an e-mail on Sunday to the affected iPad accounts expressing the company’s regret and “apologizing for the incident and any inconvenience it may have caused.” The company insured those affected that no other information was obtained by the hackers.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened an inquiry into the matter and has asked groups, such as Gawker Media, who received the hacked email lists to save any documents they received so they could be used in the investigation.

If you’re an avid Apple’s iPhone, iPod, or iPad user you’ll probably be very pleased to hear that Apple has denied Google from blasting your devices with their mobile advertising. This is a breaking news story from June 9, 2010.

As you can imagine, Google is quite upset about this, especially since in late May Google acquired the mobile ad company named AdMob, from Apple Devices for a reported $750 Million. This decision also seems to have AdMob’s founder Omar Hamoui a bit miffed as well. This is also quite easy to understand, since as reported by AdMob, almost 32% of the ads served by that company in April went out to iPhone and iPod devices. That can translate into some serious future advertising revenue losses. Were your devices being bombarded with ads during the month of April?

It seems that there have been many requests made to Apple to clarify on Google’s claim, but none have been forthcoming from the company as yet.
In other breaking news, Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs spoke on Monday June 8th that iAd, which is scheduled to launch in July 2010, could own a large share of the mobile advertising market by mid 2010. This is no big surprise as iAd is Apple’s own new mobile advertising platform. Personally this seems to be a well thought out plan by Steve to help boost Apple’s domination and market share even further.

All I can say is “Kudos’ to you once again”, Steve.

What are your thoughts on this new information?

Apple has announced a new version of the iPhone at WWDC. The new phone will be called the iPhone 4. It will offer Facetime, a new feature that enables any other iPhone user to have a face to face conference with each other. A five megapixel camera with LED flash on the rear of the phone will ensure users are able to take stunning pictures. Multitasking will also be coming to the new iPhone. Users will be able to have their email open while checking on their Facebook account.

Other major announcements by Apple include Farmville coming to the iPhone. Users will be able to interact with all of their Facebook friends as well as harvest their farms from their iPhone or iPod touch. Another major announcement was Netflix streaming on the iPod touch/iPhone. The streaming ability will allow anyone with a Netflix account to view any title from Netflix’s watch instantly catalog.

At the All Things Digital interview on Tuesday June 1st, Steve Jobs stepped out on the stage and talked for the first time since the last All Things Digital interview in 2007. However, in this year’s conference, Bill Gates was not present as he was in 2007.

Steve Jobs was asked about the recent spate of suicides that took place at Foxconn, the Chinese manufacturer of Apple’s iPhone and iPad and Jobs replied that the company is dismayed about the problem and that it is a troubling idea, not to mention that Foxconn is not a sweatshop, despite the press coverage saying that it is. In addition to this situation, he was also asked what he thought about Apple finally passing Microsoft and he stated it was a “surreal” situation.

They then turned to the Adobe Flash situation and why the harsh words written in the Thoughts about Flash” letter. He replied that Apple only wants to make the best products and Flash is not the best so Apple does not want it on any of his products, even if the people demand it. Many other items were talked about at the D8 conference between the interviewers and Jobs but the biggest statement he iterated upon the entire evening was that Apple wants to make better products, period.

It seems as though Apple hit on their own form of gold. The Apple iPad, which was first released for sale on April 3rd, 2010 recorded a whopping one million sales in just 28 days. That even beats out the Apple iPhone which took 74 days to reach the same number of sales.

With the Apple iPad anything is possible. This true micro-machine measures a petite half of an inch thick. The 9.7 inch screen is allows you the perfect size for viewing all of your videos, movies, pictures and other media in the palm of your hand. Surf the web, schedule that meeting while making all of the arrangements for it, send the invitations, and make those important calls without moving from one device to another. Apple has also made it possible to download any applications that you could possible imagine ever needing and some you didn’t even know were possible. Apple continues to add to their bank of applications available for the iPad each day.

On Saturday, May 1, 2002, Apple announced that they have been busy designing the new iPad which will feature a 3G network with Mobile WiFi capabilities that would be available around May 10th. By Sunday, Apple again reported a sales record with 300,000 units already being sold. This is just proof that Apple is in full bloom this season.

Apple’s Steve Jobs has just announced the long-anticipated tablet iPad, here is what we know so far about the much talked about device.�

- 0.5″ inches thin
- 1.5 lbs.
- 9.7″ IPS display
- 16GB, 32GB, 64 flash drive
- 1GHz Apple A4 Chip (silicone)
- Supports Accelerometer, Multi-Touch, and Compass
- Built in Speaker, Microphone, 30-pin connector
- WiFi enabled for 802.11n connectivity
- Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR
- Available in Black with aluminum casing
- 10 hour battery life, 1 month standby time
- Photo and video geotagging with MAPS (new application)
- Greener materials: Arsenic-free, BRF-free, Mercury-free, PVC Free system, recyclable
- Watch Movies and TV including YouTube and YouTube HD
- Runs all iPhone and iPod Touch apps, natively
- $ for 16GB Flash version. ($600)
- $ for 32GB Flash version. ($700)
- $ for 64GB Flash version. ($800)

The iPad is 13mm (0.5 inches) thin and weighs 1.5lbs.  It sports a 9.7-inch IPS capacitive touchscreen.  It isn’t 16:9, despite showing widescreen high-definition films and YouTube videos.

Apple’s uses it’s own A4 1GHz chip.  There’s 16, 32 or 64GB of flash storage built-in. Interestingly, Jobs made no mention of 3G, with 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR built-in, but were sure it’s there.  Jobs pulled up his own location, suggesting the iPad has GPS, but that could just be via Wi-Fi.

Other features include an accelerometer, compass, speaker and microphone, but no cameras?!  Jobs claims 10 hours of battery life, and over a month on standby.

The iPad is slated to go on sale sometime in March.

Flurry, an analytic firm, claims that they have proof that Apple tablet is in fact ‘in the works’.  Based on web traffic analysis from third-party software developers, Flurry says Apple’s Cupertino campus has been testing hundreds of mobile of apps on 50 prototype Apple tablets.

Reports say testers of the early iterations of Apple’s tablet have downloaded about 200 applications from clients that use Flurry’s traffic analytic software.  By tracking where download are originating from they say it identified dozens of tablet-like devices that did not leave the Apple campus and run a yet to be released operating system (version 3.2).

Apple’s current iPhones and iPod touch devices run on the 3.1.2 OS version, so this might indicate that the Apple tablet will be a giant iPod Touch, rather than running on a different OS.  However, Flurry also says that they noticed the iPhones running 4.0 software in the wild, pointing out the device running on the 3.2 version software is a different one.

The most interesting clue from the Flurry is the OS version the Apple tablet is running (3.2 OS version), which doesn’t particularly match with the recent rumors that the tablet will run on a more powerful OS which would allow the user to multitasking.  As for the iPhone 4.0 software, we might not see it live until this summer, the same time the new iPhone is expected launch.

Meaniwhile Steve Jobs  is expected, and excited to launch the tablet on Lanuarary 27 at an event called “Come see our latest creation”.

A former top Google executive from China wrote in his blog that Apple expects to sell 10 million tablet’s in its first year out.  That’s 10 Billion dollars just from that device alone, Cha-Ching!  He also offered specifics about the hardware, and said Steve Jobs will release the tablet in January.

Lee is currently the head of Innovation Works, a company that has been funded , in part, by Foxconn Technology Group.  Foxconn is a major player in Apple products providing; cables, connectors, and other delicate parts which are used to build ipods, iphones, and now it sounds like tablets.  Lee said he was told the 10-million-tablets figure by a friend familiar with the project.

Lee additionally wrote that the device will feature a 10.1-inch multitouch screen with 3G graphics, essentially looking like a giant iPhone, and will cost about $1000.

iTablet?!

Various reports are brewing in regards to the announcement to be given by Apple CEO, Steve Jobs. Speculation has been that it will be about the new iTablet. Rumors have been thwarted as to that happening, but some Technology gurus and watchers are stating the opposite. Steve Jobs has been out of the limelight since having liver surgery but his much anticipated announcement has all the techno geeks waiting with much anticipation.
With the successes of the iTouch, and the iPhone, it only seems likely that the iTablet would follow. But from prior tech chatter, it is saying that the upgrade of the Apple TV is what is in store for the announcement on September 9th. Although analysts don’t believe the upgrade will take place next week. Everyone is waiting until the announcement to see if predictions were correct.