Latest Technology News

Apple on Wednesday debuted the new iPad, the third generation of the bestselling tablet with few surprises. While the name is missing the HD that everyone expected, it does include the Retina Display that has been rumored for months. Resolution comes in at 2048 x 1536, which is equivalent to 3.1 million pixels.

In demoing the new device, marketing chief Phil Schiller says it is the best display ever in a mobile device. In fact, it has a million more pixels than an 1080p high definition television set, which has a resolution of 1920 x 1080. At a distance of 15 inches or more, the human eye will not be able to distinguish separate pixels, the company says.

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The wait is over. Today Apple officially unveiled the third-generation iPad, which is available for preorder today and will be in stores March 16, along with the new Apple TV. The company unveiled the new tablet during a highly-anticipated media event in San Francisco.

Prices are unchanged, ranging from $499 to $829, depending on storage capacity and wireless radios: 16GB WiFi, $499; 32GB WiFi, $599; 16GB WiFi and 4G, $629; 64GB WiFi, $699; 32GB WiFi and 4G, $729; 64GB WiFi and 4G, $829.

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At its iPad-centric event on Wednesday, Apple announced an update to its sleeper 'post-PC' set-top box product, the Apple TV.

The device, which Apple said last January has sold in excess of 4.2 million units, has been upgraded to 1080p resolution with a new user interface to take advantage of the higher definition output. It also includes iTunes Match support and iCloud integration, Photo Stream support (most recent 1000 photos automatically appear on all iOS devices — now including Apple TV,) Genius movie recommendation, and "TV Shows the day after they air."

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Apple now offers more than 550,000 mobile apps -- 200,000 specifically for iPad. CEO Tim Cook revealed the number today during a special event launching the third-generation iPad. Over the weekend, Apple's App Store reached a mighty milestone -- 25 billion downloads since opening nearly four years ago.

Yesterday, Google rebranded Android Market. What's in a name? In this case lots of foreshadowing that should give open-source developers the willies. Google Play puts the search and information giant's brand front and center, removing Android altogether. Everyone with vested interest in Android should reflect long and hard on what that means, particularly now that with the Motorola Mobility acquisition Google can build its own branded devices.

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Last year's iOS device sales reached 172 million, Apple revealed today during a special media event for the third generation iPad. CEO Tim Cook said "Post-PC devices" account for 76 percent of Apple revenues.

Apple ended 2011 with 315 million cumulative iOS device sales. A week ago, Google said that cumulative Android device sales had reached 300 million, with 850,000 activations per day.

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LightSquared has struggled with the issue of GPS interference for much of its existence. It is this unfixable issue which threatens the company's entire business, and has its chief backer Sprint set to yank its support as early as next week according to sources.

A March 15 deadline (with unspecified conditions) looms for LightSquared in its deal with Sprint. While the companies will not disclose the terms of the deal, it's not out of the question to expect that this had something to do with its interference issues, as well as a clear way forward. With no strategy in place, Sprint has an opportunity to cut its losses now and move on.

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In advance of the SXSW Interactive festival which begins on March 9, Adobe has introduced a new product in its software lab called Adobe Shadow, a Web development tool that is meant to simplify the creation of mobile-customized sites.

Adobe Shadow Labs Release 1 is a wireless client/server tool that lets developers pair multiple smartphones and tablets with their workstation so they can view previews of their content in real-time. As the developer works on sites locally or even browses live sites, the content is simultaneously retrieved and rendered on the paired mobile devices. It also allows for remote inspection and debugging so HTML/CSS/Javascript bugs can be fixed instantly on these paired devices.

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CyberLink may be a huge name in the video world, thanks to powerful applications like PowerDirector, but when it comes to photo workflow applications, they’re still relative beginners. And so it was no surprise that PhotoDirector 2011 was more about learning from the competition than leading the way. Still, the end result was a very capable budget Lightroom clone, providing plenty of features to help you organize, optimize and share your photos at a fraction of the cost of the high-end competition.

The company was clearly just getting started, though, as the latest release, PhotoDirector 3, represents a major upgrade for the product. Forget the usual minor cosmetic tweaks, the program is packed with important new features and functionality. If you’ve any interest in photo workflow tools at all then you need to give this one a closer look.

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There's no Ice Cream Sandwich for you, baby. Verizon has announced the smartphones and other devices eligible to receive the sweet Android 4.0 dessert, and all but two are 4G LTE. That's right, if you're among the 95 percent of Verizon subscribers on 3G, and you've got Android, no upgrade is planned.

Only 5 percent of Verizon subscribers currently have LTE, even though the service is available to over 200 million in 196 metro areas. Verizon offers about two dozen LTE smartphones, tablets, netbooks and modems/mobile hotspots. Only 15 devices make the cut.

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Mac owners with Skype installed have a new version of the chat tool to install, and despite the small increase in the version number, there’s actually a lot packed in.

One of the biggest improvements in Skype 5.6 for Mac is the addition of automatic updates -- this is something that will be welcomes by anyone who likes to ensure that they always have the very latest version installed. It is an important security measure, too, as it means that any problems that have been detected with previous versions can be fixed automatically.

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If iPhone 4S is any measure, perhaps LTE isn't important after all.

I asked the same question right before Apple announced the 4S in early October and honestly expected that 4G LTE would give Android handsets competitive edge. Not the least. According to Gartner, iPhone sales reached 35.46 million during calendar fourth quarter -- all without LTE. iPhone ranked tops in sales for the quarter and the year. The point: Sure, mobile geeks will pine for faster data. But will anyone else? Nah.

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All eyes are on Apple, as the company prepares for its iPad event at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco Wednesday. It is widely expected to debut the next-generation model of the market leading tablet, but like always the Cupertino, Calif. company is bound to have some surprises in store.

What can we expect to see? I've compiled some of the most likely things the next iPad will have, as well as anything else Apple will show off at the event. Let's hear from you. What do you think Apple's going to do Wednesday? Let us know in the comments.

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If you’ve installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview, you can’t have missed a glaring omission. The familiar Start button is gone, something that has fazed many users who have taken the plunge and decided to test drive Microsoft’s next operating system.

If you're feeling lost. There is hope. Start8 is a remarkably simple, yet nonetheless remarkable, free tool that can be used to restore the Start menu.

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Tomorrow, Apple holds a media event where the next iPad is expected to launch. There are rumors aplenty, with the most consistent being higher-resolution display -- 2048 x 1536. That's mighty big for a small screen. While the Apple Fan Club banters around rumors like Depression Era kids kicking tin cans, I wonder about the fundamental question: Why does iPad need a high-res display?

It's not an idle question; 2048 x 1536 is unusually high resolution in computing. My Lenovo ThinkPad T420s display is 1600 x 900. Apple's 15.4-inch MacBook Pro is available with resolution up to 1680 x 1050. Then there is 1080p, which is 1920 x 1080. By many measures, iPad with greater-than HD resolution would be exceptional. That's nice to have, but do you really need it on a 9.7-inch screen? Someone does, and Apple is right to go after the market opportunity. For starters: Education, healthcare and publishing. Simply put: An iPad HD would be a transformative product.

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Google on Tuesday unveiled a major change to the Android Market: a name change.

Since Google's content market is for Android devices and beyond, the destination formerly known as the Android Market, is now known in the United States as Google Play.

Last year, Google completed its upgrade of the Android market, adding video, music, books, and a rich browser-based interface to the store which had previously only offered Android applications and games.

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