Apple releases a slew of new products, Christmas in July in Cupertino

Unless you're living under a rock, you should have noticed that Apple was extremely busy yesterday. The company that you either hate or love had an army of hardware releases and refreshes, along with the launch of its new desktop operating system, OS X 10.7 Lion. In case you missed all the news, here's a round-up of everything. Also, all of the below computers come preloaded with Lion, so if you've been holding off for a new Mac, now's the time to take the plunge.

OS X Lion

The first announcement, which word spread Tuesday, was the release of OS X 10.7, a Mac App Store exclusive for $30. The new operating system will also be available next month on a USB flash drive for $69. If you recently purchased a new Mac, like I did, make sure you check if you're eligible for a free upgrade to Lion with the Up-To-Date Program.

MacBook Air

The MacBook Air finally got a refresh, as both sizes of Apple's ultra-slim laptop got updated with a Thunderbolt port, Sandy Bridge i5 and i7 processors, and backlit keyboards. The MacBook Air starts at $999. Also, while we're talking about MacBooks, the white MacBook, not the Pro versions, got officially discontinued as well.

Mac mini

The Mac mini got updated with Core i5 and Core i7 processors, a Thunderbolt port, AMD Radeon HD graphics, and the loss of an optical drive. Users requiring an optical driver will need to use either Remote Disc capabilities or purchase an external SuperDrive. Pricing does return though to starting at $599, which cheaper is always good.

Apple Thunderbolt Display

Last, but certainly not least, Apple announced its Thunderbolt display, the only new product not immediately shipping. This 27-inch display, being called ” the ultimate docking station,” uses a single Thunderbolt connection and packs a 2560 x 1440 res 16:9 IPS display, FaceTime HD camera and Mic, a Thunderbolt port, integrated 2.1 speaker system, Firewire 800 slot, Gigabit Ethernet, three USB 2.0 ports and MagSafe charging for your laptop. It will be shipping within the next 60 days at the steep price of $999.
source: Akihabara News

Acer releases Acer beTouch E140

The Acer beTouch E140 smartphone is now available in the UAE. The E140 is the smallest of Acer's smartphones and features the new Froyo Android operating system.

Froyo is designed to enhance smartphone performance and introduces a new browser to load web pages more quickly.

The OS also features automatic application updates that can be saved directly onto the SD-card and the server can now send notifications even if the applications are not open. The E140 has access to thousands of applications on the Android market.

Social networking apps such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are integrated into the phone and it comes with a range of other pre-installed applications such as the Acer Spinlets music streaming service, designed to allow users to listen to music and then post it instantaneously onto social networks. The phone also features nemoPlayer Acer UrFooz to create a virtual person to add to your profile on social networks.

The phone has chrome trims, a 2.8-inch borderless touchscreen and five homepages which can be personalised with widgets. It also features three hard keys.

The MicroSD card slot can take up to a 32GB card, a 3.2MP camera, an FM radio with RDS and a 1300 mAh battery. 3G+, HSDP, WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS are all integrated.

ITP

T-Mobile releases Samsung Exhibit 4G, Gravity Smart

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Just a day after it announced release dates for the HTC Sensation 4G, T-Mobile is back for more Android fun with the new Exhibit 4G and Gravity Smart. Both smartphones carry a budget price tag and will be out in June.

The Exhibit 4G sports a slim candy bar design in violet or black. The touch screen takes up most of the real estate leaving space below for three touch controls and a physical OK button. You'll use a virtual keyboard with Swype for your typing needs and it all runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Inside you'll find a 1GHz processor, a 3-megapixel camera with a flash, a front-facing VGA shooter for self-portraits and video chat, Wi-Fi calling, a full HTML browser with Flash, a memory card slot, USB tethering, and support for T-Mobile's HSPA+ network. When you're not being productive, you can watch live and on-demand programming from T-Mobile TV, download movies and TV programs from the Samsung Media Hub, and play preinstalled games like Bejeweled 2, Scrabble and Doodle Jump.

The Gravity Smart is the first Android handset in Samsung's Gravity series (previous models like the Gravity T ran Samsung's TouchWiz OS). It offers a slider design with a full QWERTY keyboard hidden behind the front face. The keyboard includes a decent selection of shortcut keys (colored in green) and a convenient space bar. The 3.2-inch touch screen also offers a virtual keybaord with Swype.

Features on the Froyo 2.2 device include a full HTML browser, a 3-megapixel camera with a LED flash, a personal organizer, messaging, e-mail, a music player, the usual Google features, and access to apps through the Android Market.

The Exhibit 4G will be $80 after a $50 mail-in rebate and two-year contract. The Gravity Smart will sell for $70 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year contract.

Cnet

T-Mobile releases Samsung Exhibit 4G, Gravity Smart

Just a day after it announced release dates for the HTC Sensation 4G, T-Mobile is back for more Android fun with the new Exhibit 4G and Gravity Smart. Both smartphones carry a budget price tag and will be out in June.

The Exhibit 4G sports a slim candy bar design in violet or black. The touch screen takes up most of the real estate leaving space below for three touch controls and a physical OK button. You'll use a virtual keyboard with Swype for your typing needs and it all runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Inside you'll find a 1GHz processor, a 3-megapixel camera with a flash, a front-facing VGA shooter for self-portraits and video chat, Wi-Fi calling, a full HTML browser with Flash, a memory card slot, USB tethering, and support for T-Mobile's HSPA+ network. When you're not being productive, you can watch live and on-demand programming from T-Mobile TV, download movies and TV programs from the Samsung Media Hub, and play preinstalled games like Bejeweled 2, Scrabble and Doodle Jump.

The Gravity Smart is the first Android handset in Samsung's Gravity series (previous models like the Gravity T ran Samsung's TouchWiz OS). It offers a slider design with a full QWERTY keyboard hidden behind the front face. The keyboard includes a decent selection of shortcut keys (colored in green) and a convenient space bar. The 3.2-inch touch screen also offers a virtual keybaord with Swype.

Features on the Froyo 2.2 device include a full HTML browser, a 3-megapixel camera with a LED flash, a personal organizer, messaging, e-mail, a music player, the usual Google features, and access to apps through the Android Market.

The Exhibit 4G will be $80 after a $50 mail-in rebate and two-year contract. The Gravity Smart will sell for $70 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year contract.

Cnet

Apple Releases iOS 4.3.3 With Location Fixes

Apple on Wednesday released iOS 4.3.3, which solves what Apple called a "bug" with its location-based services.

"This update contains changes to the iOS crowd-sourced location database cache," according to the update. Specifically, it reduces the size of the cache, no longer backs up the cache to iTunes, and deletes the cache entirely when location services is turned off.

At issue is the location-based data collected by devices running iOS 4. Last month, researchers said that that information was stored in an insecure manner and accessible to anyone who stumbled upon your iPhone, iPad, or the computer with which you synced your iOS device. That prompted concerns that Apple, and anyone who looked at that data, could track your whereabouts.

In an April 27 Q&A posted on its Web site, Apple denied tracking its users. "Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so," the company said.

The researchers, however, said that since the release of iOS 4, all location data has been stored on a file known as "consolidated.db," which is backed up to your computer whenever you sync your iPhone. In that Q&A, Apple said "the reason the iPhone stores so much data is a bug we uncovered and plan to fix shortly." That fix is the iOS 4.3.3 update. Going forward, the iPhone will not store more than seven days of this data, according to Apple, and it will not sync with iTunes.

There was also concern that location services still collected data even when that option was turned off. "It shouldn't. This is a bug, which we plan to fix shortly," Apple said last month. According to iOS 4.3.3, this problem should no longer be an issue.

The issue over iPhone tracking has prompted a class-action lawsuit as well as inquiries from Congress. Apple is scheduled to appear at a hearing on May 10 before the Senate Judiciary Committee to further discuss the issue. Google will also be in attendance, and PCMag will be covering.

PCmag