No, it’s not a working iPad 2 but I did just go hands on with a dummy unit that could just be very close to what the final iPad 2 will look like when Apple announces it this spring. It does match up with rumored features — tapered edges, flat back, cameras back and front, and an amped up speaker grill at the bottom. Check out the video above and pictures below, and let us know what you think. Is this what iPad 2 will look like and if so, what’s your take on the changes?

[Thanks to Arn from MacRumors for the lead on this!]

Hands-on with (dummy!) iPad 2 – TiPb at CES 2011 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office published a patent submitted by Apple today that indicates the use of a facial recognition camera as well as a new speaker array for use with the iPad. The patent shows off three and four speaker arrays to help give off better audio at increased ranges. Also indicated in this patent is a camera that will include facial and location orientation. This will allow the camera to reorient itself depending on if you are chatting with it in landscape or portrait mode. Stay with us to find out what else Apple has patents on.

The patent goes on to explain that the orientation sensor may be provided by a compass, accelerometer, an inertial sensor, or other device. It would be provided by the selection of the orientation of the display, the shape of the touch input or image recognition of the listener.

The speaker array is simply a different arrangement for the use of three or four speakers placed around the device in a non-collinear arrangement. This would allow for the iPad’s audio range to cover high range tweeter and a lower range speaker.

Also an interesting note in this patent appears to be a new iPad stand that utilizes a magnetic type backing to hold the iPad. It is unclear whether we will ever see this stand but it is interesting to see that Apple could be working on it nonetheless.

[ Patently Apple ]

iPad to gain facial recognition camera and new speaker array? [Patent Watch] is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Our good friend Phil over at AndroidCentral managed to capture a video showing off the Motorola Xoom tablet at CES. The Motorola Xoom could bring some real competition to not only the iPad but the iPad 2 as well. Packing a dual core 1Ghz processor, 10.1-inch (1280 x 800 and 16:10 aspect ratio) display, 2-mega-pixel front facing camera, 5-mega-pixel rear facing camera, microSD slot, HDMI out and a whopping 1024Mb of RAM.

The Xoom will run Android Honeycomb and supports Adobe Flash. Availability is said to be first quarter of this year and exclusive to Verizon. No details on pricing yet.

Strangely, LTE won’t come immediately and will require a hardware update later. SD card support will require a software update.

The video is after the break,  make sure you visit AndroidCentral for more details and hands on pictures, then pop back and  let us know what you think of this one in the comments!

[AndroidCentral]

Motorola Xoom brings iPad competition – TiPb at CES 2011 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Apple has issued a vacation time blackout period from the last week of January to the middle of February where retail employees without seniority won’t be able to take time off, presumably to ensure employee coverage for the first major product launch of 2011. Could this be in preparation for a Verizon iPhone launch?

Apple is quietly prohibiting vacation days for some retail employees for three weeks beginning later this month, a move that could foreshadow a significant product introduction in the coming weeks.

Apple is denying that the store vacation time was for getting ready for a CDMA Verizon iPhone, but all the signs suggest a possible launch may be imminent. There have been a lot of rumors floating around lately about an early-2011 Verizon iPhone release, with the latest round coming yesterday when images of a purported Verizon iPhone casing leaked onto the web. We at least know it won’t be the iPad 2, which is expected to ship in April to keep in line with Apple’s yearly release schedule.

Apple usually doesn’t initiate these types of lockdowns unless something big is coming, so what do you think it could be? Sound off in the comments below!

[AppleInsider]

Apple denying retail store vacation time for CDMA Verizon iPhone launch? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Do you want to save a location that you’ve found on Google Maps? After searching for a place on Google Maps, you can save the results to Bookmarks or Contacts so you can easily come back to it later. Stay with us after the break and we will show you how.

Start

1. First, Search for the location in the search box.
2. When you find the location you want, select the ‘ > ‘ icon
3. At the bottom, select ‘Add to Bookmarks’
4. Type in a ‘location name’
5. Click Save.

To find the location later.

1. Select the ‘ book ‘ icon in the search box.
2. Select Bookmarks

You can also save a location to a contact for later viewing.

1. After selecting the ‘ > ‘ icon on a location.
2. Select ‘Add to Contacts’
3. Here, you can either ‘Create a new contact’ or ‘Add to existing contact’
4. Select the Contact, you want to save the location to.

To find the location later.

1. Select the ‘ book ‘ icon in the search box.
2. Select Contacts, and select the contact you want to view.

BONUS TIP: If you press and hold on any spot on the Map, you will ‘drop a pin’, which you can then save as a bookmark or to your contact.

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you'd like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it's especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we'll even give ya a reward…)

Daily Tip: Saving locations on Google Maps [Beginner] is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Apple’s long-awaited Mac App Store has gone live! The New Mac App Store, part of Apple’s taking iPhone and iPad innovation “Back to the Mac” comes with OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.6, which is available as a software update on your Mac.

Some of the apps available at launch include old Mac favorites — and iOS favorites as well:

• The iWork ‘09 suite
• The iLife ‘11 suite
• Twitter for Mac
• Flight Control
• Angry Birds
• Things
• Aperture 3
• Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4

So are you going to be using the new Mac App Store? Let us know what you think in the comments.

[Apple]

Mac App Store now live! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Chances are, even if it’s not been confirmed and Corning is not allowed to disclose it, your phone or tablet device might just have a super tough Gorilla Glass screen. Ahem. So how tough is it? We caught up with the folks from Gorilla Glass live at CES 2011 and they gave us the full-on scratching, cracking, bending, breaking demo. (And as anyone who’s ever dropped their iPhone or iPad knows, your heart breaks along with the glass.)

Check out the video above and let us know if it makes you feel any better about having glass on both sides of your iPhone 4…?

Corning Gorilla Glass hands-on – TiPb at CES 2011 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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AT&T is set to offer new iPhone 3GS's to customers willing to sign up for a new 2 year service contract and data plan for just $49. The iPhone 3GS will be available from AT&T stores as well as Apple stores starting this Friday.

Currently AT&T offers a brand new iPhone 3GS for $99 with a 2 year service agreement, but also offer refurbished models for $49. Now however that it is set to change, with new models being offered at the refurbished price. The iPhone 3GS is still a very capable handset and can run the latest iOS 4.2.1 software with the omission of a few features.

Normally when these price reductions take place, AT&T and Apple are accused of dumping stock for a new product launch. Don’t think this is the case this time; we are still six months away from the expected launch of the next iPhone.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments!

[Chicago Breaking Business]

AT&T to offer iPhone 3GS for $49 starting Friday is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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The WowWee Cinemin Slice is an iPad and iPhone dock that doubles as a pico projector. With it, you can project movies, videos, photos, games, and slides onto walls and ceilings. It’s also equipped with a 6 watt stereo speaker system.

WowWee Cinemin Slice puts your favorite content on the big screen, wherever that may be. In a dimly lit room, Slice can project a crisp 60-inch image from over 10 feet away, or from floor-to-ceiling in a typical room. Enhanced by Texas Instruments' superior DLP projection technology, you get an ultra-clear, high contrast picture with vivid color.

Stay with us after the break for all of the techie details!

• 30-pin Apple connector compatible with iPod, iPod Touch, iPod Nano, iPhone, and iPad (docking trays included)
• Mini-HDMI (1.3) and AV ports for personal media players
• VGA port for PCs, laptops, and netbooks
• Image size of up to 1.5m (60″)
• Viewable range of 3.2m (125″)
• 90° hinge
• Bright – 16 ANSI lumens
• WVGA (854 x480) resolution
• 16:9 aspect ratio
• 1000:1 contrast ratio
• Manual focus
• 6 watt stereo speaker system

At nearly $450, the Cinemin Slice is not cheap, but perhaps it was on your list of accessories you’d like to see in 2011. Anyone tempted to pick one up?

[WowWee via MacStories, thanks Trevor for the tip!]

iPad/iPhone dock meets projector the WowWee Cinemin Slice is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Our good friend CrackBerry Kevin got to go hands-on and do a full BlackBerry Playbook review today — including a one-on-one with Apple’s iPad — and I got dragged along as camera guy. Here’s what Kevin had to say:

Overall, after having used the BlackBerry PlayBook I’m wayyy more excited for it than I was prior. Though I detest the iPhone for use as my primary mobile device (I’ve tried it, I hate it… too inefficient for me for what I do with a phone when it’s in my hand 90% of the time), I also own an Apple iPad which I really enjoy using (especially for killing time on flights). Steve Jobs’ comments of 7″ isn’t big enough for a tablet had me worried that RIM went the wrong direction with the PlayBook and that they should have started out with a 10″ model. I now think going 7″ was a smart starting point for RIM though – the PlayBook is portable.

It fits in my coat pocket and is light enough that I’ll actually carry it around with me on a daily basis. When I walk out of the house, I’ll toss my Bold 9780 in my front pocket, and my PlayBook in my coat pocket. The iPad just sits around my home (where it doesn’t get used that much as I have computers and laptops around) until I’m going somewhere like a trip where I then pack it into a backpack.

I thought the PlayBook looked very good. Much more responsive and fluid than the Galaxy Tabs I’ve tried (that will likely change come Honeycomb on the Droid Pad) and while it wasn’t finished hardware or software yet, it certainly looks like it’s living up to RIM’s ambitions. Developer support/platform momentum, future form factors (RIM has one of every phone type, could there be bigger tablets, keyboard sliders, who knows?), how it will play beyond the BlackBerry base, and what the tablet market will look like when iPad 2 hits are all questions that remain to be answered. But for today, kudos to RIM for a slick, smooth UI and really nice looking hardware.

Kevin’s iPad vs. Playbook video after the break. Check out CrackBerry.com for the full Blackberry PlayBook review including RIM’s walkthrough video, Kevin’s impressions, and a ton more photos. Then race back here and tell us what you think, is the BlackBerry PlayBook going to make a dent in Apple’s iPad 2 plans?

Apple iPad vs. BlackBerry PlayBook hands on – CES 2011 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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