iLounge

Ahead of tomorrow’s Apple special event for the iPad mini, pre-event pictures of the California Theatre in San Jose have been posted at Techie Buzz. Apple logo posters can be seen in front of the theater’s lobby.

Following our July report that Apple was working on a new full-sized iPad with improved internals and a Lightning connector, 9to5Mac is reporting that new full-sized iPad will debut alongside the iPad mini tomorrow, preserving the same prices as the third-generation iPad. Separate reports suggest that the updated iPad will have European 4G support, bolstering the UK launch of the EE LTE network, as reported by The Guardian. A leaked image of the updated iPad comes from Apple.pro, via Apple Insider.

Friday, November 2 has emerged as a likely street date for Apple’s smaller iPad, based on a number of reports. Matching an earlier prediction by Forbes that subsequently proved inaccurate regarding Apple’s iPad mini event date, TechCrunch and 9to5Mac have suggested Nov. 2 as the expected shipping date, following a report from Geeky Gadgets earlier this week. A Friday release makes sense given Apple’s normal scheduling, however, official details will be revealed at Tuesday’s special event.

The latest iPad mini leak reportedly shows the device’s LCD screen, which has the same 4:3 aspect ratio of the standard iPad and is nearly 8” long diagonally, measuring roughly 162 mm x 124 mm. Photos of the new screen were posted at ETrade Supply.

Some prior reports suggested the iPad mini might have a 16:9 or 3:2 aspect ratio, closer to an iPhone or iPod touch, and though casing leaks have suggested that the screen ratio might not be exactly 4:3, long-standing rumors have claimed that the smaller device will have the same 1024x768 resolution as the original iPad and iPad 2. Final details will likely become certain on Oct. 23, when Apple is expected to unveil the device.

Apple has officially announced a special event for Oct. 23, 2012, likely to introduce the iPad mini. Previously rumored invites have been sent out to select members of the press, with the tag line, “We’ve got a little more to show you.”

The event will be held at 10:00am Pacific Time in San Jose at the California Theatre, originally known as the Fox Theatre. While the majority of Apple special events have been held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center or Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, with others at Apple’s corporate campus Town Hall, the California Theatre was notably used for the 2004 introduction of the U2 iPod, iPod photo, and iPod Socks accessories.

A few more iPad mini rumors have surfaced prior to the device’s expected unveiling on Oct. 23. MacRumors has published two photos that claim to show the iPad mini’s battery — a 4490 mAh cell. Not surprisingly, this would be lower than the battery capacity of the new, power-hungry iPad by roughly two-thirds, a difference attributable to the smaller screen size and related power optimizations in the 7.85” model.

Another report, from Flo’s Weblog, via German site Mobile Geeks, claims to show internal screenshots of iPad mini models and pricing. The screenshots are believed to have come from German electronics retailer Media Markt, and purport to show both Wi-Fi and Cellular models of the iPad mini, listed from 249 to 649 Euros, though the Euro prices in Germany are generally close to their dollar equivalents. Wi-Fi models are listed as 100 Euros lower than their Cellular counterparts, suggesting a smaller price gap than the current $130 difference between Wi-Fi and Cellular iPads.

While these prices would logically fit within Apple’s current iPod/iPhone/iPad matrix, the sheer number of models—8GB, 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB, each in black and white, and separate versions for Wi-Fi and Cellular—would be a massive manufacturing challenge for a brand new product, and an even wider variety of options than for the full-sized iPad.

Apple will likely unveil the iPad mini at a special event on October 23, according to AllThingsD. A claim from Fortune that Apple planned to send out event invites on October 10 for an October 17 event turned out to be false, but sources tell AllThingsD the iPad mini will indeed be revealed within two weeks. There is still no word on an official launch date.

A previously unknown iPad has showed up in a developer’s app analytics, according to a report from MacRumors. The “iPad 3,6” appears to represent a new version of the existing iPad, and is believed to use the same architecture found in Apple’s custom A6 chip and iPhone 5.

iLounge noted in July that Apple was working on a modestly tweaked version of the third-generation iPad, which was planned to include “the [Lightning] Connector, a rear-side microphone, and spec-improving/heat-reducing changes to the hardware inside.” The “iPad 3,6” is not believed to be the upcoming iPad mini based on the format of the device name, which matches existing iterations of the current-generation iPad. It’s unclear when this new full-sized model will be introduced, however, multiple sources have told iLounge that Apple could debut it alongside the iPad mini this year.

Street View has officially been added to the mobile Google Maps web app, accessible on iOS devices at Maps.Google.com, or by searching for an address within Safari’s search bar. After selecting a location within Google Maps, a new icon of a person pops up on the bottom of the screen, leading to Street View within a new Safari tab. The web app for Google Maps also has a new, branded icon, which users will see after adding the page to their Home screens.

Today’s addition of Street View was anticipated by recent reports, and it arrived sooner than initial estimates anticipated. Google Maps is one of the apps mentioned by Apple CEO Tim Cook as an alternative to Apple’s iOS 6 Maps.

Apple is now officially mass producing a smaller version of the iPad, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cites the company’s Asian component suppliers as sources. The report reaffirms that the tablet will have a 7.85-inch display and a lower resolution than the third-generation iPad. This follows yesterday’s apparent leak of iPad mini parts, and a recent report that iPad mini event invitations will go out on Oct 10.

Photos of alleged iPad mini parts have been posted on Ukranianiphone.com, and are claimed to have originated in China.

The photos show the purported inner and outer housing of the iPad mini, as well as a front glass piece. Notably sporting black or slate anodized aluminum akin to the iPhone 5, the inner housing is labeled with circles showing the locations of the headphone port, plastic antenna cover, nano SIM tray, and Lightning connector. [via 9to5Mac]

Apple is expected to send out invitations on October 10 for a special iPad mini-focused event, according to a report from Fortune, citing a “major Apple investor” as the source. While the Fortune report suggests that standard Apple scheduling would place the unveiling event on the following Wednesday, October 17, with a launch on Friday, November 2, a typical nine-day gap would place the launch on Friday, October 26. Apple has already scheduled a new major release of iTunes for “late October,” with releases of the seventh-generation iPod nano and fifth-generation iPod touch taking place at an unspecified time during the same month; iTunes 10.7 already includes support for the new iPods, but makes no mention of the widely rumored but as-yet-unannounced smaller iPad.

An ABC News investigation team tracked an iPad from a security checkpoint to the home of a TSA agent. During the investigation, which sought to determine what was happening to items that were disappearing from airport checkpoints, ten iPads were left at airport security locations, and nine were returned according to agency guidelines. But in one case, Apple’s free iPad tracking software led investigators to the home of TSA officer Andy Ramirez.

In a statement to ABC News, the TSA said it has “a zero-tolerance policy for theft and terminates any employee who is determined to have stolen from a passenger.” The TSA reports that 381 of its officers have been fired for theft between 2003 and 2012.

Wind Solutions has announced the final release of CopyTrans Contacts, software that allows PC users to import and manage contacts across iOS devices without using the cloud or any third-party servers. Contacts can be transferred or imported from other iOS devices and PC email solutions such as Outlook or Gmail. Users can edit contacts on a PC or through the Contacts app. Designed for Windows 7, XP, and Vista, the download is currently available for $2, and is compatible with all iOS devices.

Tap tap tap has released Camera+ for iPad, an iPad optimized version of its popular photography app for the iPhone and iPod touch. In addition to support for the larger iPad screen, Camera+ for iPad introduces several additional unique features including new brush on effects, a photo straightening tool, advanced image adjustments and the ability to layer multiple effects. Users of the iPad version can also import photos from Flickr and Facebook directly into the app to apply effects or touch them up from there.

iCloud support has also been included in the new Camera+ for iPad and added to the iPhone version in an update, allowing users to automatically sync their Lightbox photos between all of their iOS devices using iCloud. The iPhone update also adds support for the expanded iPhone 5 screen and Facebook sharing with single sign-on in iOS 6. Camera+ for iPad requires iOS 5.0 or later and is currently available from the App Store for $1.

Garmin has released major updates to both its Navigon and StreetPilot Onboard iOS apps adding the Public Transit and other navigation features announced last month for both apps as well as bringing Navigon’s Google Street View and Panorama View 3D features to StreetPilot Onboard users.

In addition, the latest versions of Navigon and StreetPilot Onboard now feature full support for the larger iPhone 5 screen and integration with the new iOS 6 Maps allowing users to select an address or point of interest in the Apple Maps app and then switch to Navigon or StreetPilot Onboard to navigate to the selected destination, including support for driving, walking and public transit directions, where available, with the optional Urban Guidance add-on. Garmin StreetPilot OnBoard and Navigon are available from the App Store in several region-specific versions, including Navigon North America ($50), Navigon Europe ($90), Garmin StreetPilot Onboard North America ($45) and Garmin StreetPilot Onboard Western Europe ($85). Urban Guidance is available as a one-time in-app purchase at a special price of $3 as a limited-time discount from the regular $5 price.

Announced in June, Shared Photo Streams have officially arrived today with the release of Apple’s iOS 6, as well as corresponding updates to Mac OS X applications. Users can now create iCloud-based virtual photo albums that can be shared as web pages or individual photos, both capable of being viewed and commented on by other iOS 6 and iCloud users.

It should be noted that Shared Photo Streams don’t have to include photos from the main Photo Stream, and they are not subject to the same Wi-Fi-only and 30-day, 1000-photo limitations. They don’t appear to count against iCloud storage allocation, either, and enable users to easily notify family members and friends of new images that are being privately shared amongst themselves.

Following the release of iOS 6 earlier today, Apple has released an update to iPhoto for iOS devices adding a multitude of new features and enhancements. iPhoto 1.1 now includes six new Apple-designed ink effects along with a collection of Coaching tips in the help system to assist new users in getting started with the app and producing the best results. Users can also now import full resolution photos via iTunes File Sharing, with images of up to 36.5 megapixels in size supported on the iPhone 5 and third-generation iPad. Custom tags can be added to photos to create tag albums and multiple photos can now also be saved out the Camera Roll in a single operation. Photos can be sorted by date and filtered using new criteria and a Power Scroll strip has been added for high-speed scrolling through the app. A month-year overlay also now appears when scrolling in Photos view and a grid of thumbnails can be expanded to multiple rows when viewing in portrait orientation.

A number of enhancements have also been made to the various editing features including the ability to rotate tile-shift and gradient effects, modify fonts and alignment of text in journal items, and resize journal Note and Memory items. Dividers can also now be manually added to break journal pages into sections and a new Swap mode is available for changing the placement of items in a journal layout. In addition, links to journals can be shared directly to Facebook and Twitter and send out via Messages and links to remote journals can be shared from any device. Users can also control when to update their journal via a new “Publish Changes” button.

Facebook integration has also been improved with the ability to more easily add comments, upload videos to Facebook and set locations and friend tags when posting photos. Photos previously posted to Facebook can also now be more easily replaced with a more current version and notifications are now displayed when a Facebook upload completes in the background. The new version also adds integration with other apps such as Cards and iMovie, allowing photos to be shared directly to these apps from within iPhoto for iOS and adds support for the fourth- and fifth-generation iPod touch. iPhoto for iOS 1.1 is a universal app requiring iOS 6.0 and is available from the App Store for $5.

Apple has updated iMovie, its universal video editing and creation app for iOS devices adding new content and editing features along with improvements to video sharing and exporting resolutions. iMovie 1.4 includes three new trailers—Adrenaline, Coming of Age, and Teen and now provides the ability for users to easily add Ken Burns animated photos to any trailer. A new Precision Editor is also available on the iPad to create split audio edits and clips can be previewed in the Video Browser before being added to a project. Photos can also be shared from iPhoto for iOS and finished projects can be shared to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo and CNN iReport in full 1080p HD resolution. The new version also provides new Coaching tips to help users get started and provides easy access to audio recordings captured in a project via the Audio Browser. iMovie 1.4 is a universal app requiring iOS 6.0 or later and is available from the App Store for $5.

Apple’s Cards app, previously available for iPhone and iPod touch, has added iPad support alongside an iOS 6 compatibility update. Cards allows users to create professional quality greeting cards to be printed and mailed out directly by Apple through the U.S. Postal Service.

There are a number of other improvements to the Version 2.0 release, including six new letterpress holiday card designs, new layouts featuring three photos on a single card, iPhoto image sharing directly to the app, mailing of customized cards to up to 12 recipients within the same order, automatic image sharpening, and an enhanced card history view on iPad, along with improvements to address verification and the checkout process. Cards is available from the App Store as a free download, with individual cards sold at $3 including mailing within the U.S., versus $5 for international recipients.

Apple has released an update to GarageBand for iOS adding the ability to import songs from the iOS Music library and create ringtones directly from the app. With GarageBand 1.3 users on iOS 6 can now create custom ringtones and alerts for the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and save them directly into the device’s ringtone/alert library. The new version also adds support for importing songs directly from the iOS Music library and playing and recording in the background while using other apps on the iPhone 4S/5 and the iPad 2 and third-generation iPad. A number of minor performance and stability issues have also been addressed in this update. GarageBand 1.3 is a universal app requiring iOS 5.1 or later and is available from the App Store for $5.