Briefly: AirPlay to add Bluetooth support, Stephen Wolfram on Steve Jobs, upcoming iPhone 4S launche

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Apple looks to add Bluetooth 4.0 support to its AirPlay wireless protocol, while Wolfram|Alpha founder Stephen Wolfram remembers his years working with Steve Jobs. Also, the iPhone 4S prepares to launch on Dec. 16 in at least 11 countries.



Apple puts focus on AirPlay



During its recent MFi Technology Summit 2011 in Shenzhen, China that ended on Friday, Apple announced that it would be releasing a new certification chip for MFi devices that will allow future AirPlay products to connect via Bluetooth 4.0, according to Japanese Mac blog Macotakara.



By adopting the low-power Bluetooth 4.0 protocol, compatible devices being dubbed Bluetooth Smart Ready, Apple looks to create opportunities in largely untapped iDevice accessory markets like healthcare and mobile gaming.



The low power consumption of version 4.0 makes it an attractive data transfer option to Wi-Fi for battery operated devices. Apple was the first to implement the protocol by introducing one of the first Bluetooth Smart Ready handsets with the iPhone 4S, which has recently come under fire for alleged battery issues.



AirPlay has traditionally used Wi-Fi technology to stream media content to compatible devices like an HDTV through AppleTV or speakers attached to an AirPort Express. Third-party products include AirPlay compatible speakers that can stream music from iTunes or, more recently, a device running iOS and certain Wi-Fi enabled printers.



The company touts AirPlay as being one of the main features of iOS 5, featuring HDTV mirroring, video and music streaming and wireless printing.



Currently, only the iPhone 4S, Mac Mini and MacBook Air boast Bluetooth 4.0, while remaining Bluetooth-capable Apple products have chips using version 2.1 of the protocol. In June, the Cupertino, Calif. tech giant was nominated to the Bluetooth Special Interest Group board of directors, the organization oversees the development and standards of the wireless technology.



Apple MFi Conference in Shenzhen, China | Source: Macotakara



Stephen Wolfram remembers Steve Jobs



Stephen Wolfram, creator of the popular program Matehmatica and the Wolfram|Alpha knowledge engine used by Siri on the iPhone 4S, describes the "classic Steve Jobs" in a piece featured in the Saturday edition of The Guardian.



Wolfram says that his first meeting with the late Apple co-founder was "classic Steve Jobs."



"[Jobs] explained that he expected that what he was doing would change the world and, by the way, make a lot of money too," Wolfram wrties. "And he told me he was picking all sorts of bold new hardware and software technologies for his computer and he wanted one of them to be Mathematica."



Jobs, who was in the early stages of building NeXT Computer, took interest in Mathematica, and apparently even suggested the name.



The Wolfram|Alpha creator also tells of the human side to Jobs, remembering that the tech mogul once apologized for becoming distracted during a conversation about technology strategy.



"He said he was going out that night on a date with a woman he'd met the day before and suddenly all his confidence as a technologist and businessman melted away," Wolfram writes. "Happily, the date worked out and the woman he met became his wife for the rest of his life."



The choice to use Wolfram|Alpha for the iPhone 4S' Siri digital assistant was a "quintessential Steve Jobs move," Wolfram says. Instead of going with Google's search engine, Jobs realized that "people just want direct access to knowledge on their phones, without all the extra steps that people would usually assume have to be there."



He goes on to say that Jobs will always be a "remarkable inspiration," noting that upon his technological achievements, tenacity and success, "so much more will be built."



Stephen Wolfram | Source: stephenwolfram.com



International iPhone 4S launches



In a change to the United Arab Emirates' Apple Store webpage on Saturday, Apple announced that the region will be joining its neighbor Saudi Arabia in launching the iPhone 4S on Dec. 16.



Russia, Brazil, Chile, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey are also expected to release the newest iPhone on that date. China is looking toward a December launch, but no official announcement has been made.



United Arab Emirates online Apple Store
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    I hope iOS is not going to get 3rd party drivers.
  • Reply 2 of 23
    I wonder why the "alleged" word when it's a Apple device issue. I don't remember seeing "alleged" when talking about Samsung devices.



    Oh, by the way. My iPhone 4's alleged connection issue points out the "alleged-unrelated" antenna redesign in iPhone 4S.
  • Reply 3 of 23
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lightknight View Post


    Oh, by the way. My iPhone 4's alleged connection issue points out the "alleged-unrelated" antenna redesign in iPhone 4S.



    Because we know for a fact that it wasn't related. You can't relate to something that doesn't exist.
  • Reply 4 of 23
    andysolandysol Posts: 2,506member
    Well, that means we should be seeing an airport express and (hopefully) an apple tv 3 refresh beginning of next year w/ Bluetooth 4.0.



    Been waiting for both refreshes a while. Particularly for the express to be dual band simultaneous instead of just dual band.
  • Reply 5 of 23
    The Guardian article seems to be a summary of what Stephen Wolfram posted on his blog the day after Steve's passing:



    http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2011/...-few-memories/
  • Reply 6 of 23
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pjledge View Post


    The Guardian article seems to be a summary of what Stephen Wolfram posted on his blog the day after Steve's passing:



    http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2011/...-few-memories/



    Thank you, for the link.
  • Reply 7 of 23
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ascii View Post


    I hope iOS is not going to get 3rd party drivers.



    My read on this is (from a non technical point of view), as a major influence on the technology Apple will implement their own only and it will most likely be ahead of the curve, as they were with .11n.
  • Reply 8 of 23
    red oakred oak Posts: 1,087member
    Impressive rollout. Some big countries here. And looks like you can add China to the list of December launches



    I wonder if we'll see any more increases in iPhone projections as we close out the year. I'd bet yes
  • Reply 9 of 23
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lightknight View Post


    I wonder why the "alleged" word when it's a Apple device issue. I don't remember seeing "alleged" when talking about Samsung devices.



    Oh, by the way. My iPhone 4's alleged connection issue points out the "alleged-unrelated" antenna redesign in iPhone 4S.





    Because Samsung makes crappy products and nine out of ten times you'd be right if you assume it was a Samsung device issue.
  • Reply 10 of 23
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pjledge View Post


    The Guardian article seems to be a summary of what Stephen Wolfram posted on his blog the day after Steve's passing:



    http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2011/...-few-memories/



    What a great article by Stephen Wolfram, thank you many times over for the link. If you follow his link to the Steve Jobs video made for the 10th anniversary of Mathematica, we see Steve at his finest.



    I also like the chain of causation: Steve wants to make the "definitive" educational computer with NeXT, and so brings in Stephen and Mathematica to be shipped with every machine. CERN buys NeXTs to get the Wolfram software. Tim Berners-Lee uses NeXT to create the WWW. All because Steve got himself fired from Apple.



    And there's this, from Stephen's blog article, about Steve Jobs's participation at the introduction event for Mathematica:



    "He [Steve Jobs] gave a lovely talk, discussing how he expected more and more fields to become computational, and to need the services of algorithms and of Mathematica. It was a very clean statement of a vision which has indeed worked out as he predicted. (And now it’s nice when I hear through the grapevine that there are all sorts of algorithms central to the iPhone that were developed with the help of Mathematica.)"
  • Reply 11 of 23
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lightknight View Post


    I wonder why the "alleged" word when it's a Apple device issue. I don't remember seeing "alleged" when talking about Samsung devices.



    Oh, by the way. My iPhone 4's alleged connection issue points out the "alleged-unrelated" antenna redesign in iPhone 4S.



    Here ya go:

    Quote:

    A key legal victory for Apple in the European Union has reportedly blocked the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 across the continent for alleged patent violations.





    Quote:

    Bennett ruled earlier this month that Apple had presented sufficient evidence of alleged infringement by Samsung on two of its touchscreen- and multitouch-related patents.





    It took < 1 second to find these using a simple Google search.
  • Reply 12 of 23
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lightknight View Post


    I wonder why the "alleged" word when it's a Apple device issue. I don't remember seeing "alleged" when talking about Samsung devices.



    Oh, by the way. My iPhone 4's alleged connection issue points out the "alleged-unrelated" antenna redesign in iPhone 4S.



    Because the media makes a mountain out of a mole hill when it comes to Apple.
  • Reply 13 of 23
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Andysol View Post


    Well, that means we should be seeing an airport express and (hopefully) an apple tv 3 refresh beginning of next year w/ Bluetooth 4.0..



    Apple TV yes, if this is true. But the Airport Express doesn't need Bluetooth for any of these functions.
  • Reply 14 of 23
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Red Oak View Post


    Impressive rollout. Some big countries here. And looks like you can add China to the list of December launches



    I wonder if we'll see any more increases in iPhone projections as we close out the year. I'd bet yes



    I'd sure like to see Iran on the list. They could have a bug in the fearless leader's device.
  • Reply 15 of 23
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member
    It's good to see Apple leading the way, nothing else out there is technologically advanced enough to have Bluetooth 4.0.



    The spec sheet junkies will probably dismiss this as unimportant.
  • Reply 16 of 23
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hill60 View Post


    It's good to see Apple leading the way, nothing else out there is technologically advanced enough to have Bluetooth 4.0.



    The spec sheet junkies will probably dismiss this as unimportant.



    I thought the Motorola RAZR supported bluetooth 4.0, but I don't own one, nor does anyone I know so I can't confirm it.I do see Android has an SDK for it.

    http://code.google.com/p/broadcom-ble/
  • Reply 17 of 23
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post


    I thought the Motorola RAZR supported bluetooth 4.0, but I don't own one, nor does anyone I know so I can't confirm it.I do see Android has an SDK for it.

    http://code.google.com/p/broadcom-ble/



    The iPhone 4S was the first, released before the RAZR, which does support it.



    http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_razr_xt910-4273.php



    I don't know why the Galaxy Nexus "reference" phone, doesn't, although it is behind in other areas, such as the camera as well.



    http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_nexus-4219.php
  • Reply 18 of 23
    andysolandysol Posts: 2,506member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


    Apple TV yes, if this is true. But the Airport Express doesn't need Bluetooth for any of these functions.



    My bad- I didn't read the article that well. I thought it was just Bluetooth with AirPlay. I glossed over the. MFI part.
  • Reply 19 of 23
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hill60 View Post


    The iPhone 4S was the first, released before the RAZR, which does support it.



    http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_razr_xt910-4273.php



    I don't know why the Galaxy Nexus "reference" phone, doesn't, although it is behind in other areas, such as the camera as well.



    Nor does it make sense to me either since obviously Android does support the feature.



    As for the camera it's been posted that the 10mp (or 12mp depending on the source) camera was kept back for release on the GalaxyS3 slated for the first quarter of next year. The camera function was certainly improved (zero-lag is a biggie for users) under Android 4.x even tho the actual camera on the Nexus wasn't cutting-edge as some had hoped. Still not at all bad, and better than most even at 5mp according to reviewers. You're right tho. It's no iPhone.
  • Reply 20 of 23
    I wanted to buy a Bluetooth headset for my nephew's iPhone 4 as a Christmas gift but after seeing so many people on Apple's discussion boards with serious problems and bugs in iOS 5, I decided not too. I wonder will Bluetooth 4.0 fix these, or are the bugs in the current Bluetooth not really an issue? I know nothing about Bluetooth.
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