iLounge

The Daily will cease publication on Dec. 15, according to AllThingsD. News Corp.‘s attempt at an iPad-based daily newspaper existed as an app, and lasted less than two years following a high-profile debut event in New York City that Apple participated in. News Corp. said that “Technology and other assists from The Daily, including some staff, will be folded into” the New York Post — about 120 employees work for The Daily. News Corp Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch said in a press release, “From its launch, The Daily was a bold experiment in digital publishing and an amazing vehicle for innovation. Unfortunately, our experience was that we could not find a large enough audience quickly enough to convince us the business model was sustainable in the long-term.” iLounge’s review of The Daily noted major problems with both the user interface and content, mentioning that “[p]recious little in The Daily is written to appeal to college-educated people, and in the first two editions, a surprising amount of it had been written or edited into a mush of junk.”

Confirming speculation, Apple has officially announced that the iPhone 5 will be released on Dec. 14 in China, after recently receiving network access approval in China. Notably, no carrier details were announced in the press release, which mentions that sales in China will be restricted to online orders, pre-reserved units at physical Apple Stores, and through select Apple Authorized Resellers—most likely a response to overwhelming and unruly crowds that formed for the prior iPhone launch in China. The company also announced that the Wi-Fi versions of the iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad will become available for sale in China on Dec. 7.

Alongside iTunes 11, Apple has released a new version of the Remote iOS app for iTunes. Remote version 3.0 is redesigned, featuring an iPad interface that more closely resembles the look of iTunes 11, plus a more powerful search feature that delivers real-time results as you type.

Up Next, which offers a simpler way of seeing the next songs in a playlist, is included, as is an Expanded view that shows all songs on an album. The app is also optimized for the iPhone 5. Remote 3.0 also features new icons for both itself and connected iTunes libraries, now with gray accents rather than black ones.

Andrew Auernheimer, 27, was found guilty in a New Jersey court on one count of identity fraud and one count of conspiracy without authorization for his role in a 2010 security breach that exposed the email addresses and SIM ICC-ID numbers for 114,000 AT&T iPad users, Wired reports. Auernheimer and co-defendant Daniel Spitler extracted the data through a script — the site leaked e-mail addresses in response to ICC-IDs, and the script mimicked that behavior. As The Verge notes, Auernheimer faces two consecutive five-year felony sentences for the verdict. AT&T representatives confirmed during testimony that Auernheimer did not crack any codes, steal passwords, or break into AT&T’s customer database, though he was found to have violated the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Auernheimer tweeted that he would appeal the verdict. Spitler plead guilty to the charges last year and accepted a plea bargain.

It appears that a growing number of AT&T users now have access to FaceTime over Cellular, including those who have grandfathered unlimited data plans, according to a MacRumors report. AT&T recently announced that FaceTime over Cellular would be accessible to those with tiered data plans, but no such announcement was made regarding customers with the unlimited plans. Not all users seem to have access yet, so it’s possible that AT&T is rolling the service out gradually. AT&T has made no new official announcement regarding FaceTime over Cellular as of yet.

Carriers have also started carrying the Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad — Sprint and AT&T have officially announced they’ll have both iPads today, and Verizon is also expected to have the devices in stores today. Sprint has said “limited quantities” will be available in its stores. Given this, it’s not a stretch to assume both devices will go on sale in Apple’s retail stores today, as well. [via CNET]

iLounge has posted complete unboxing and comparison galleries for Apple’s new Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad mini and the fourth-generation iPad with Wi-Fi + Cellular to Flickr. Separate galleries have been posted for the mini and fourth-generation iPad.

Our photos spotlight the different backs of the devices compared to their Wi-Fi-only equivalents; notably, the white iPad mini for the first time has a white plastic antenna cover on the back, unlike all full-sized iPads, which have black antenna covers. Reviews of the two devices will be posted in the near future.

A collection of iPad minis worth $1.5M were stolen from a cargo building at John F. Kennedy International Airport, according to the New York Post. About 3,600 minis were taken from the same site of the famous 1978 Lufthansa heist, which was prominently featured in the movie “Goodfellas.” Sources suggest that the robbery occurred just before midnight on Monday, as the thieves used an airport forklift to load two pallets of minis into a truck. No suspects have been apprehended or named at this point, but investigators suspect that the theft was an inside job, according to the Post.

Updated Nov. 19: JFK Airport worker Renel Rene Richardson has been arrested in connection to the heist, the New York Post reports. Richardson allegedly made suspicious inquires about the shipment to co-workers. He also allegedly had two helpers in the heist.

Some customers who purchased Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad minis from Apple’s online store have started to receive their devices, 9to5Mac reports. At this point, the Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad minis could go on sale in stores at any time, with speculation pointing toward Friday, as some stores have prepared queue cards for the devices. A prior report indicated that fourth-generation Wi-Fi + Cellular iPads have arrived in stores, which suggests that both devices could be available in stores Friday. Notably, delivery dates for LTE-ready iPads and minis purchased immediately after pre-orders opened have continued to be staggered across late this week and early next week, unusual given Apple’s past track record of coordinating new devices to be delivered to customers at the same time.

Fourth-generation Wi-Fi + Cellular iPads have started to arrive in U.S. Apple Stores, but they’re not yet for sale, 9to5Mac reports. An official launch date hasn’t been announced, so the iPads could go on sale at any time. Some deliveries of Wi-Fi + Cellular iPads are set to arrive Friday, so it’s likely stores could start to sell the iPads on the same day; however, Apple might put the in-store units on sale earlier than that.

Apple has seeded developers with a second beta version of iOS 6.1. As with prior iOS beta updates, beta 2 is available as an over-the-air software update or as a direct download from the iOS Dev Center, and is accompanied by a new beta version of the Apple TV software, as well as an updated version of Xcode and the iOS 6.1 SDK. The new version is listed as build 10B5105c; it is unclear what changes may be contained in the release. iOS 6.1 beta 2 is available now to registered iOS developers.

U.S. customers who pre-ordered fourth-generation iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular models have begun receiving notices that their devices have shipped, according to a new report by MacRumours. Notices indicate that devices are enroute to customers via FedEx with an expected delivery date of Friday, November 16th. This follows another report from last week that customers who had pre-ordered the iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular models had begun receiving notifications of expected ship dates, however as of yet there have still been no reports of any actual iPad mini shipment notices, so it remains unclear whether iPad mini pre-orders will make the same Friday delivery window.

Apple has started to air two new TV commercials for the iPad mini. Following in the theme of the company’s first iPad mini ad, Piano, the two new spots eschew narration in favour of simply highlighting features of the iPad mini alongside the full-size iPad. Photos shows off iPhoto for iOS being used on both devices to browse through a photo library to the theme of the classic Bobby Darin and Johnny Mercer song “Two of a Kind.” The second spot, Books compares the iPad and iPad mini by showing a number of classic books being opened in iBooks on the two devices, ending by focusing in on the iPad mini and showing the iBooks reading experience. Both ads are available for viewing now on Apple’s website.

Customers who pre-ordered the iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular model have begun receiving notifications that their device is expected to ship within the next five business days, corresponding to the mid-November availability date that has been listed on Apple’s website. Four new iOS 6.0.1 firmware downloads have also now appeared for the Cellular versions of the iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad in the form of a GSM and CDMA version for each device. Currently, both Wi-Fi and Cellular iPad mini models are listed on Apple’s U.S. Store with a shipping estimate of two weeks. [via Apple Insider]

AT&T has announced that it will begin allowing FaceTime over Cellular at no additional charge for customers with an LTE device on any tiered data plan. Apple added the ability to use FaceTime over a cellular data connection in iOS 6, however AT&T originally announced that only customers on Mobile Share plans would have access to the new feature on the AT&T network, a move that sparked a complaint to the FCC. Notably, AT&T is the only iPhone carrier that required users to be on specific data plans to use the FaceTime over Cellular feature.

AT&T now expects to roll out this additional functionality during the next eight to ten weeks. In a post on the company’s website titled “A Few Thoughts on FaceTime”, AT&T’s Jim Cicconi wrote that AT&T initially took a “cautious” approach — limiting FaceTime over Cellular to specific shared data plans — because the company’s engineers couldn’t effectively assess network impact. Several recent billing plans also allow deaf and hard of hearing customers to use FaceTime. Cicconi anticipates AT&T will “expand the availability of FaceTime to our customers on other billing plans in the near future.” Note that this policy change applies only to tiered plans; FaceTime over Cellular will remain unavailable for customers still on unlimited data plans.

Microsoft will release a version of Office for iOS in early 2013, according to The Verge. Office Mobile will debut as free apps, and users will be able to view documents with a Microsoft account. At first offering basic viewing functionality, an Office 365 subscription will allow users to edit documents. A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that “Office will work across Windows Phone, iOS and Android.” First reported in early October, it’s now expected Office Mobile for iOS will debut in late February or early March.

Fourth-generation Wi-Fi iPads are now listed as “in stock” on Apple’s website, ready to ship immediately; retail stores also continue to have the new iPads available immediately. Delays in shipping time for the fourth-generation iPad continue to be much shorter than those for the iPad mini — the Wi-Fi mini is still listed as available to ship in two weeks. The Wi-Fi and Cellular models for both devices are still listed as available to ship in mid-November. [via 9to5Mac]

Research firm IHS reports that the iPad mini costs at least $188 to build, after its teardown of a Wi-Fi-only 16GB mini. Adding additional memory increases the cost only slightly while adding a fair amount of profit — an additional $90 in profit for the 32GB model, and $162 for the 64GB model. It’s important to bear in mind that this teardown only includes cost of materials; manufacturing, labor, research and development, and any other expenses are unaccounted for in analyzing the actual profit of the tested device, which sells for $329. Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer notably mentioned during the company’s fourth quarter conference call that iPad mini has higher costs, and said that the gross margin is significantly below Apple’s corporate average, suggesting that manufacturing expenses are higher than usual. [via AllThingsD]

iLounge has published comprehensive reviews of the new iPad mini (iLounge Rating: A-) and fourth-generation iPad (iLounge Rating: B+), including a number of details that are particularly worthy of your attention. Some of the findings include:

While short of Retina detail levels, the iPad mini’s screen performance offers considerably better color rendition, dark blacks, and viewing angles than the pre-Retina screens on iPhones and iPod touches. The front camera performs more or less identically to the latest full-sized iPad—and better than prior models—but the rear camera has a smaller lens than the third- and fourth-generation iPads, slightly reducing its light-gathering ability. Processor performance is actually in line with the third-generation iPad.

The iPad mini fell short of Apple’s 10-hour Wi-Fi browsing claims in our testing, somewhat exceeded the company’s estimate for video, and offered comparable run times to the full-sized iPad for gaming. Apple ships the iPad mini with a 5W USB charger that takes longer to refuel the device than necessary; it is actually capable of recharging faster than any prior iPad, when used with a 10W or 12W charger.

By comparison, Apple’s new fourth-generation iPad showed strong processor improvements in benchmarking that are only modestly visible at this point in actual software; the most noteworthy speed improvement we saw was in photo transferring, which was three times faster on this iPad than its predecessor when using either new or old, adapter-aided accessories. The shift to a Lightning connector does not at this point offer any benefit to users, and accessories cost more, suggesting that the discontinued prior version may be a better value for those seeking a full-sized iPad in the immediate future. One of our review units arrived with a full line of dead pixels, and the other had a sticky material on the back by its camera, suggesting that quality control is suffering relative to the impressive third-generation model. Both iPads exhibited stuttering issues when streaming certain AirPlay Mirrored content to the Apple TV.

The fourth-generation iPad fell slightly short of its predecessor in some battery tests, while coming out ahead in others. Web browsing and game playing both took small hits relative to the third-generation model, while video playback and recording both jumped. Apple’s new 12W USB Power Adapter is included with the new iPad, and does in fact enable it to recharge somewhat faster than the 10W version, bringing the time closer to 5 hours. We strongly suspect that Apple will bring the iPad mini’s design philosophy over to the next full-sized iPad, and has used this minor update to create a Lightning-equipped model that will drop in price like the iPad 2 when a fully redesigned sequel is released next year.

Our full reviews of the iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad have plenty of additional detail.

Apple announced it has sold three million iPads in the three days surrounding the launch of the iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad. The company did not mention how many of those sales were specific to the mini, versus the fourth-generation iPad and iPad 2; the company ceased sales of the third-generation iPad leading up to the new models’ release. CEO Tim Cook said in the statement, “We set a new launch weekend record and practically sold out of iPad minis.” Apple notes that the sales of the Wi-Fi-only models double the milestone of the third-generation iPad’s release, which featured 1.5 million Wi-Fi only iPad sales in its first weekend.