Matrox has announced a new Thunderbolt docking station for MacBooks and Ultrabooks.
From a single Thunderbolt connection, users can add multiple peripherals including a large DVI or HDMI® display, a full-size keyboard, and a mouse. A gigabit Ethernet port provides connectivity to a wired corporate network, enabling data transfers 18 times faster than Wi-Fi™. One SuperSpeed USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 ports, a microphone input, and a speaker/headphone output are also provided. With its solid aluminum construction, yet sleek design, Matrox DS1 is ideal for office, dorm, or home use.
At a proposed price of $249, the Matrox DS-1 comes in cheaper than Belkin’s $299 solution that is due this fall. Matrox’s unit lacks a couple of ports (additional Thunderbolt, and Firewire) that are found on Belkin’s dock. The DS-1 comes with DVI, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0, (2) USB 2.0, Audio Output, Audio Input, and Power connectors:
The Matrox does carry a high speed USB 3.0 port that is absent on Belkin’s unit. The addition of that port may make the dock more appealing to PC/Ultrabook customers. It’s not clear, however, from Matrox’s site if the USB 3.0 port is functional on a Mac.
In the past, USB 3.0 support on the Mac has required the installation of 3rd party drivers. These drivers are generally provided by the hardware manufacturer.
Apple has been rumored to be including USB 3.0 support in their next generation MacBook Pros which are due this summer. If that does come to pass, the USB 3.0 port on Matrox’s dock may work with Apple’s own bundled USB 3.0 drivers.
The Matrox DS-1 Thunderbolt docking station will be available worldwide in September for $249.
Earlier today, Japanese blog Macotakarapointed to a blog post [Google translation] from repair firm iLab Factory showing what is claimed to be a design schematic for a next-generation iPhone front panel part. The schematic appears to correspond closely with part photos that leaked yesterday, showing a taller display and a shift in the position of the FaceTime camera to above the device’s earpiece.
But while iLab Factory’s version of the schematic has had many of the details blurred out, another source has provided MacRumors with a complete version of the schematic including measurements for several of the important features on the panel. The schematic appears to have been originally posted by Cydia Blog.
Click for larger
Most notably, the “active area mask” corresponding to where the device’s display will be attached measures 90.1 mm (3.55 in) high and 51.42 mm (2.02 in) wide. This corresponds to an opening measuring approximately 4.08 inches diagonally, but iPhone viewable display areas have historically measured slightly smaller than their corresponding front panel openings. Consequently, this part would seem to nicely accommodate a display measuring 4 inches diagonally at an aspect ratio of roughly 16:9, in line with rumors of and evidence for a taller screen that maintains the width of the current model.
The schematic does not show an exact total height for the part in question, but calculations based on pixel counts and the known height of the display mask area suggest that the overall height of the part is roughly 122 mm, approximately 7 mm taller than the overall height of the iPhone 4S. With yesterday’s leaked photos suggesting that the design will see a similar treatment to the iPhone 4/4S with metal edges of the device extending out further than the front panel, the overall device height and width on the next-generation iPhone would measure slightly larger than seen on this part.
AllThingsD has posted highlights from Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher’s interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook from yesterday. The nearly 17-minute video includes Cook’s thoughts on a number of topics, including the impact of the iPad, Steve Jobs’ passing, patent litigation, and more. MacRumors was on hand for the session and offers a rough transcript of the entire interview.
Several other video clips from Cook’s interview addressing specific topics have also been posted. Other MacRumors coverage of key points from his interview includes:
Following news from late last week that the Nest thermostat from iPod creator Tony Fadell would be coming to Apple’s retail stores, the device has just been added to the company’s online store. While currently not available for pickup in retail store locations, it should be making its way to the brick-and-mortar locations shortly.
The Nest thermostat is priced at $249.95 in the U.S. online store and is just one of a number of products featured in Apple’s App-Enabled Accessories section. The thermostat can be controlled via a free universal iOS app [App Store], with access to controls also available through web browsers.
The Nest Learning Thermostat helps you stop wasting energy, while providing control using your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac. Consider that your thermostat controls about half your energy bill—more than TV, appliances, and lighting combined. But it’s wasting energy every time it turns on the heating or cooling system in an empty house. The Nest Learning Thermostat solves this problem by programming itself, turning itself down when you’re away, and keeping track of your energy use.
TechCrunch points to a post [Google translation] from Italian blog Fanpage noting that Apple has signaled its intent to purchase Redmatica, a small Italian software firm responsible for audio editing apps such as Keymap Pro and AutoSampler.
Evidence of the acquisition has appeared in the weekly bulletin of AGCM, Italy’s antitrust regulatory agency. The announcement, which is in Italian, begins on page 37 of the bulletin (PDF) published on May 28, and the most relevant portion translates into English as follows:
Under the provisions of the contract “Asset Purchase Agreement Relating to the business as an ongoing concern of Redmatica S.r.l.” (hereinafter the Agreement) with the present operation, Apple intends to acquire, through a transfer of assets, the business Redmatica.
AGCM determined that the proposed acquisition would not be anticompetitive in nature given the relatively small sizes of the entities in that specific market and an abundance of competitors. Consequently, the agency does not object to the acquisition by Apple.
MarketWatch reports that Chinese regulators have cleared for sale a new 3G-capable wireless device from Apple, with the A1430 model number specified in the agency’s database indicating that it is the cellular-capable model of the new third-generation iPad.
According to China’s Telecommunication Equipment Certification Center, an Apple device with third-generation, high-speed wireless data capabilities has been issued the license needed for the company to begin sales in China.
The device, listed as “model number A1430″ is compatible with the 3G standard wide band code division multiple access, or WCDMA. The language used by the regulator suggests the device is the new iPad, which has yet to launch in China. Vendors often begin selling new devices within weeks of network access licenses being granted.
Apple previously obtained certification on the Wi-Fi model of the new iPad, and with the 3G model now receiving the required network access license, Apple may move quickly to launch the device in its second largest market after the United States.
The new iPad is already available in roughly 90 countries around the world, with the company adding the Philippines and Guam just yesterday. Based on information on Apple’s site, it appears that the company has also quietly added Honduras and Paraguay to the list of markets for the new iPad over the past few days.
Nicaragua is currently the only Latin American country with official iPad distribution that has yet to begin offering the latest generation of models, but we understand that Apple has just received the necessary certifications there and distributors should begin sales of the new iPad in the near future.
At this year’s All Things D conference, Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher interviewed Apple CEO Tim Cook about a range of topics. We offer a transcript of the interview, but didn’t include the Q&A session because we were standing in line to ask Cook a question.
A number of questions were asked, including about Apple’s product naming strategy and how Cook originally joined Apple — I asked about his feelings regarding the attention paid to Apple and himself by rumor sites, the media and Apple’s extremely passionate customers:
MacRumors: Jordan Golson from MacRumors.
You talk a lot about the emotion of the customers, there’s a lot of passion amongst customers. Do you think the sort of attention that’s paid to Apple from rumor sites and news sites and everybody is a distraction or a driver? How does that affect you and the company?
Tim Cook: I think it’s a privilege to have people that care about the company and care enough to write, care enough to talk, and care enough to send me an email and say “you’re out to lunch on this thing” and “you should be looking at this differently”.
I think all of that is great, I love it. And do I want something printed on a website that’s confidential? No, but I don’t think that’s what you’re asking.
I view our ecosystem as including great sites that care deeply about the company and want to inform customers. I have no problem with people that disagree with things that we’re doing. That’s our country and I love it. It’s great that we have disagreements.
Fantastical, an OS X natural language calendar assistant, has been updated to version 1.3 today. The new version includes support for iCal and iOS reminders.
Fantastical can create, edit, and delete reminders with natural language recognition. In testing the app, I told Fantastical to “remind me to take out the trash”, and the app intelligently parsed the command as just “take out the trash”, interpreting the initial portion of the sentence as a reminder input.
The utility can then sync reminders across iCloud and iOS devices. Fantastical is available as a free trial download from the developer’s site, or directly from the Mac App Store for $19.99. [Direct Link]
Flexibits is also the company that we’ve hired to develop a MacRumors iOS app which is currently in the works.
Cricket Communications today announced that it will begin offering the iPhone on June 22, becoming the first U.S. carrier to offer the device on a prepaid basis with no contract. Service will cost $55 per month and include unlimited voice and SMS, as well as “unlimited” data with a soft monthly cap of 2.3 GB after which speeds will be throttled.
Cricket Communications, Inc., a leading provider of innovative and value-driven wireless services, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Leap Wireless International, Inc., announced today that it will be the first pre-paid carrier in the US to offer iPhone to its customers. Beginning on Friday, June 22, Cricket will offer iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 with its $55 per-month, all-inclusive unlimited talk, text and data plan. [...]
“Our customers want the best products available and we are excited to bring iPhone to our pre-paid consumers with an industry leading $55 per-month service plan,” said Doug Hutcheson, president and chief executive officer, Leap Wireless International, Inc. “Launching iPhone is a major milestone for us and we are proud to offer iPhone customers attractive nationwide coverage, a robust 3G data network and a value-packed, no-contract plan.”
Interestingly, Cricket appears to be offering a partial subsidy on the iPhone hardware, with the iPhone 4 priced at $399.99 and the 16 GB iPhone 4S priced at $499.99. The discounts of $150 off of Apple’s standard pricing for unlocked handsets are in place even though customers are not required to sign service contracts.
The iPhone will be offered in Cricket’s existing core markets covering over 60 million people. The full list of iPhone markets is included on the carrier’s iPhone site.
Cricket has entered into a three-year deal with Apple with a commitment to purchase at least $900 million worth of iPhone hardware over that term. The carrier also intends to carry new iPhone hardware as it becomes available, although company executives were unwilling to directly address whether Cricket would be able to offer new hardware at the same time as other carriers.
Cricket is generally considered one of roughly half a dozen “super-regional” carriers in the United States, with just under 6.2 million customers as of the end of the first quarter. The carrier offers a nationwide network through roaming agreements and its prepaid model offers simple pricing with no activation fees or overage charges.
As noted by The Verge, the European Telecommunications Institute (ETSI) today announced it has adopted a standardized design for the next-generation “nano-SIM”. The new design is 40% smaller than the current micro-SIM standard.
Today’s SIM card designs take up a significant amount of space inside a mobile device. This space is more and more valuable in today’s handsets which deliver an ever increasing number of features.
The fourth form factor (4FF) card will be 40% smaller than the current smallest SIM card design, at 12.3mm wide by 8.8mm high, and 0.67mm thick. It can be packaged and distributed in a way that is backwards compatible with existing SIM card designs. The new design will offer the same functionality as all current SIM cards.
The design selection was heavily contested, with a proposal from Apple being opposed by a number of other mobile phone manufacturers despite Apple having the support of many European carriers. As the selection process continued, Apple slightly tweaked its design while the opposing carriers made changes to their own proposal that brought their design much closer to Apple’s.
Prototype of Apple’s proposed nano-SIM design inside outline of a mini-SIM card (Source: The Verge)
The Verge notes that by the time final selection was made the only difference in external design between the two proposals was a notch included in the side of the card proposed by the coalition of manufacturers opposing Apple. And with the ETSI yet to publish any other details on the approved design beyond overall measurements, it is not yet clear which design won out.
Unfortunately, both Apple’s design and the more recent Motorola / RIM compromise design are exactly the same exterior dimensions — the only difference is that the update submitted by Apple’s competitors includes an extra notch to enable so-called “push-push” mechanisms in SIM slots that wouldn’t necessitate a tray. Until ETSI publishes the specs, we won’t know which of the two was chosen.
The ETSI specifically refused to comment on which group’s design was chosen, noting only that a collective decision by the industry yielded the final standard.
Apple has won a battle over the standard for a smaller SIM card, use of which would leave more room for other components in future phone designs. [...]
ETSI isn’t releasing any further details of the vote or the winning specification, only saying that the decision had been made, according to a spokesman at the standards organization. The proposer of the winning specification was identified by card maker Giesecke & Devrient, which had a representative on the committee.
Matrox has announced a new Thunderbolt docking station for MacBooks and Ultrabooks.
