Apple Unveils the New Upper West Side Retail Store

Apple has removed the curtain and revealed the new Upper West Side Retail Store to the public.

ifoapplestore describes the store as "a single, stone-walled room lit by ceiling lights at night, and flooded with sunlight during the day. Besides the ground-level space with four rows of display tables, there is spiral glass staircase leading down to a lower level, presumably the same size as the 8,500 square-foot main level. The size and scale of the store, and the amount of stone that was used both eclipse any previous Apple store project. The only stainless steel visible is on the huge backlit Apple logo suspended from the inside ceiling."

The store’s grand opening is set for 10 a.m. Saturday. ifoapplestore notes that in the past celebrities have been invited to the New York grand openings, lured with promises of free Apple merchandise. It’s even possible that the opening will see invitees from the world of stage arts due to the store's close proximity to the Lincoln Center.

You can take a look at some pics below...

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Livestream Free Live Streaming Service for iPhone

Livestream today announced the immediate availability of its free service for streaming live to the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Using Livestream Procaster, users can stream live from their webcam, video camera or even broadcast their PC or Mac desktop. Livestream producers can start streaming live to the addressable iPhone and iPod Touch audience over 3G or Wi-Fi connections, with less than five minutes of setup.

Livestream is the first to offer a turn-key streaming service that uses the new H.264 HTTP live streaming functionality included in the native QuickTime player that Apple has pre-installed on the iPhone. This means that Livestream producers do not need to obtain iPhone App Store approval to launch their own iPhone live streaming channel, nor do their viewers need to install any application. Streams are viewed using the iPhone’s Safari browser.

Livestream has also provided a simple Representational State Transfer (REST) API for developers to integrate live streaming into their own iPhone websites or their own iPhone applications. Livestream Procaster includes a free streaming encoder, which means that no third party application or license needs to be purchased in order to stream live to the iPhone using Livestream.

“A key breakthrough is that the service doesn’t require any proprietary player or application to be installed on the iPhone. Producers are free to integrate the iPhone live stream with their own website, iPhone portal or iPhone application using the API provided” explained Livestream CEO and co-founder Max Haot.

Streaming live to the iPhone requires less than five minutes to install. Producers simply download and install Livestream Procaster for the PC or Mac from www.livestream.com/procaster, connect their video camera or webcam, select iPhone 3G Quality, and press Go Live. User can view the live streams on their iPhone or iPod Touch by pointing their Safari browser to the channel they want to view at iphone.livestream.com.

Livestream will first use this new feature at NewTeeVee Live, the conference for online video influencers being held on Nov. 13 in San Francisco. Viewers can watch it live at iphone.livestream.com.

Vimeo Begins to Offer iPhone Friendly Video

Vimeo has launched support for users on the Apple iPhone, iPod touch and Google Android devices.

According to CNET, the company has re-encoded its staff picks and HD video showcase.

"We've been working on it for the last few weeks," said Blake Whitman, Vimeo's director of community. "This is sort of the prelude of offering Plus members iPhone support; and in the future, an app,"

Currently, only videos chosen by the sites editors get mobile encoded. "In the future, like the next several weeks--maybe longer, we'll be offering Plus users the option to transcode their videos to an iPhone version too."

Whitman says those special encodes may be offered as a download option alongside the links to the source file, which would allow users to save copy that could be played back offline.

This is a good step forward; however Vimeo still has to compete with YouTube who mobile encodes all their uploads.

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Apple Investigating Pen Based Input System

According to a recent patent filing, Apple is investigating input recognition via pen.

The patent entitled, "Method and Apparatus for Acquiring and Organizing Ink Information in Pen-Aware Computer Systems" relates to an ink manager for acquiring and organizing pen-based ink information for use by pen-aware and other applications.

Apple observes that client applications and handwriting recognition software in pen-based computer systems can make far more accurate ink-related decisions based on entire ink phrases, rather than individual ink strokes.

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Accordingly, the invention is directed to an ink manager that is designed to organize ink strokes into ink phrases and to provide these ink phrases to client applications. In the illustrative embodiment, the ink manager interfaces between a pen-based input device, one or more applications (pen-aware or not) and one or more handwriting recognition engines executing on the computer system.

The ink manager acquires ink information, such as ink strokes, entered at the pen-based input device, and organizes that information into ink phrases. The ink manager includes an ink phrase termination engine (which may be partially executed in a pen driver component) that is configured to apply one or more ink phrase termination tests to the ink information.

If the termination engine detects the occurrence of an ink phrase termination event, the ink manager performs the following steps in order:
1) finishes organizing the strokes into an ink phrase data structure,
2) optionally notifies the current client application program of the termination event by providing it with the ink phrase, thereby allowing the application to determine a suitable affiliation between the ink phrase and a specific input field, specify a reference context (e.g., a pointer) and request a particular recognition context, if desired,
3) notifies the appropriate handwriting recognition engine, so as to allow it to complete its work and provide the recognition results corresponding to the current ink phrase, and
4) sends the now labeled (i.e., recognized) ink phrase to the application, together with any reference context previously identified by the application (in step 2). To the extent the application returns a reference context and/or a recognition context, they may be appended to the ink phrase data structure.

Included with the filing is an image of a tablet computer that looks similar to the rumored Apple tablet device.

Read More [via AppleInsider]

Dell Inspiron Zino HD to Compete With the Mac Mini

Dell today introduced the mini-sized Inspiron Zino HD, which is versatile enough to handle tasks from basic computing chores to driving a big-screen, High-Definition TV media center. With a choice of colors, the Inspiron Zino HD can be easily personalized to add flare to any room in the home.

Starting at $229, the Inspiron Zino HD includes standard HD-capable integrated graphics, HDMI output and built-in networking that make it smart for typical home and student computing activities such as word processing, e-mail, organizing photos and music, and surfing the Internet.

The economical Inspiron Zino HD with optional additional memory, hard drive storage, combo Blu-ray disc player, HDTV tuner, wireless remote control and Windows 7 Media Player and turns into a powerful home media center computer. In that capacity the Inspiron Zino HD can record and play your favorite TV shows, display high-definition content from the Internet, and store and deliver music, video and photos very well.

The Inspiron Zino HD is also ideal as an additional household PC that can fit in tight spaces and make home networking a cinch. It measures about 7.75 inches square and 3.5 inches tall. While small in size, the Inspiron Zino HD is a big performer with:

· Ultra-small form factor designed to fit almost anywhere.
· Easy personalization with nine color choices for Inspiron Zino HD.
· Choice of AMD processors or dual core Athlon Neo X2 6850e.
· Up to 8GB dual channel DDR 2 memory.
· Up to 1TB internal hard disk storage.
· Combo DVD/CD RW drive with optional Blu-ray Disc combo.
· Integrated 10/100/1000 networking with wireless option.
· Optional TV tuner, wireless keyboard and mouse.
· Built in 2.1 high-definition audio and 4-in-one media card reader.
· Integrated ATI graphics adapter with standard HDMI and VGA video connections, and optional 512MB discrete graphics adapter.
· Four USB ports (2 front/2 rear); two eSATA ports (rear).
· Energy-Star 5.0 compliant.

A basic Inspiron Zino without High-Definition capability or upgrade options will be offered in some regions.

“The Inspiron Zino HD proves again that great things can really come in small packages,” said John Terwilliger, Director of consumer products. “It is a fashionable and functional computer that is small enough to fit almost anywhere in the home and can be personalized for the style-minded.”

The Inspiron Zino HD is available today directly from Dell at www.dell.com with a choice of operating systems from Windows Vista Home Basic through Windows 7 Professional.