Google working on a Siri like service ‘Majel’

iPhone 4S release introduced a bunch of completely novel concepts into mobile computing. One of the most important and unique features of iPhone 4S is certainly the voice assistant app Siri. Siri is the first good enough voice assistant ever to become available as a commercial scale technology. You could even say that this is the first time an app was able to work with inputs received in natural, everyday language. While Siri is still in a way considered to be in a beta version, it has already demonstrated a surprising level of functionality. The importance of Siri was really well understood by many users and engineers alike, but it did much more, as it deeply surprised Apple’s competitors, chiefly Google with their Android OS.

Apple shares images of the Grand Central store and their enthusiastic new employees

Many great images of Apple’s latest majestic store in New York’s Grand Central Terminal have already being seen, but Apple has now released their own photos posted on their official website. You can now also enjoy in unique images about the whole opening, as well as images about the whole setup of the store.

For starter we can say that the whole scene looks quite impressive, just as Cupertino company has promised. Apple store fits nicely in the background of Grand Central Terminal, and with addition of some expertly arranged lighting sources, the whole scene looks fabulously, especially in night times.

Apple seeding iOS 5.1 beta 2, for developers only

Apple has seeded the next instalment of iOS 5.1, version beta 2. As always, at this stage it is available for testing purposes only and the access is granted only to certified Apple developers. Among other features, this version has now an option which helps iOS users to remove photos captured on your iPhon, iPad or iPod Touch from the Photo Stream.

If you take some photo which needs to be removed for any reason, it can now be easily deleted from your Photo Stream. This means that it wont be shared through the iCloud to your other devices running iOS 5.1. Still, photos captured earlier will have to be removed manually from your connected iOS 5.1 devices.

iPad 3 coming soon!

Despite iPhone 4S becoming a huge success for Apple, Tim Cook and his team aren’t passively enjoying in their success. Instead they are working towards a new product which will again rise the line and expectations of tablet users. We find it amuzing that Amazon is happy with their new Kindle Fire tablet, but we are somehow sure that iPad 3 with a new Retina display will be much more tempting for tablet users around the world.

Samsung’s iPhone 4S ban requests denied in France

French court has just denied Samsung’s injunction request against Apple’s iPhone 4S on the French market. This legal battle has being waged across the world since two companies started disputes over patent issues a couple of months ago. The essence of Samsung’s legal demands were deemed too weak for the drastic measures of iPhone 4S sales ban, which was proposed to the court by legal representatives of the South Korean company. Court has ordered Samsung to pay more than €100,000 for Apple’s legal fees, which is probably much less than what Cupertino company actually spent during this process.

iMac becoming the new iTV?

Forbes has recently featured a story based on a research by Brian Blair of Wedge Partners, which claims that iMac will soon include a number of TV like functions. Blair predicts Apple will make iMacs with larger screensizes, which could become a successful, new Apple branded television set. This new device would be integrated in Apple’s ecosystem through iCloud and other Apple services, thus becoming a combination of a personal computer and a TV set.

Museum opens Steve Jobs exhibit

Well known Computer History Museum based in Mountain View, CA has just launched an online exhibit about Steve Jobs, cofounder and mastermind behind Apple’ stellar success. “Steve Jobs: from garage to worlds most valuable company” is following Steve Jobs footsteps from his beginning in Cupertino high school and the legendary Homebrew computer club which was dedicated to first microcomputers, his education and his first steps in building up what we known today as Apple.

Apple has banned Carrier IQ from iOS 5

After recently published finding by a security consultant Trevor Eckhart, which said that Carrier IQ acts or can act as a rootkit, Apple has issued a statement regrading this issue. Cupertino company states that they have stopped supporting this software with the new iOS 5, and they want to completely remove it from iOS in the next upgrade of the firmware. Apple is not a company which would gather any private data from their users. In fact to get access to any information, you need to allow it personally within iOS settings, and if you agree to share your data, those informations are not personal. Apple has never and will never use keylogging apps of any kind. All data sent from your iPhone or iPad is encrypted and completely anonymous.

Apple vs Samsung: Australian courts

Federal court in Australia has now blocked the earlier injunction against Samsung’s tablet Galaxy Tab 10.1 after South Korean company appealed on the decision to ban sales of the tablet in Australia. Apple is apparently not happy at all with this decision and will as a countermeasure appeal to the court in order to keep the injunction against the sale of Samsung’s latest tablet. To remind you, Apple is rigorously opposing Samsung on the basis that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a device modelled on Apple’s iPad 2 tablet. Because of this Apple has started a worldwide campaign including lawsuits in EU and Australia.

Tethering app appears in Apple’s App Store

Today we heard a quite interesting bit of news from the Apple Store. It appears that Apple had somehow allowed a genuine tethering app into their App Store. This app will allow you to tether your devices through your iPhone without needing to jailbreak and use some Cydia app or using the usual way of getting a tethering package from your local network carrier. We are still not sure how did this happen actually. Is this simply a mistake by Apple’s censors, or is Apple sending a message to network carriers?