Apple iPhone 5 to launch before 4 October

Former Apple marketing chief, John Martellaro, has expressed that Apple isnt all keeping quiet about their new products, but the company has carefully and purposely plan of releasing certain relevant information to the media as part of their marketing effort. This time, the rumor comes from the American telco AT&T. According to a leaked memo, the company will be making some adjustments on the mobile insurance of the Apple iPhone and other devices from 17 July till 4 October. Previously, it was US$9 and now it will be adjusted between US$4.99 to US$6.99 (and probably increase of monthly prices).

The question is, why should anyone be concerned as to AT&T choosing this period to adjust their mobile insurance? If you recalled, this period overlaps that of the rumored launch month (which is September), and it would seem logical that the iPhone 5 would be launched before the 4 October deadline.

Source: imobile.com.cn

AT amp;T iPhone 5 to launch mid or late September

A source from within AT&T has confirmed with BGR that the iPhone 5 will launch on the carrier on the third or fourth week of September.

As per the same source, AT&T is gearing for the launch with a large training event, which undoubtedly is for the sake of keeping iPhone nuts from ransacking the stores. September 12 seems to the date that Apple will make an official announcement concerning the iPhone 5 and perhaps other iOS devices such as the iPad mini.

Current status as to the launch dates of the iPhone 5 for other carriers are unknown, but if the trend continues as it did for past iPhones, then Verizon might be the next in line to claim the coveted Apple smartphone.

If you’re an AT&T customer and your contract is about to run out later this month, make sure to stay up to date as to the official AT&T launch date, or else you might not get an iPhone 5 until Christmas!

SimCity Les stratégies multiville en vidéo

Electronic Arts continue à expliquer aux joueurs le fonctionnement du prochain Sim City. Et cette semaine, c'est le mode multijoueur qui est à l'honneur à travers une nouvelle vidéo. Pour ceux qui se demandaient comment les joueurs interagiraient entre eux, le principe des multiville est ici longuement illustré. Les joueurs pourront ainsi spécialiser leurs villes et répondre aux besoins de leurs voisins ou amis. Untel aura donc une ville spécialisée dans les casinos, tandis que l'autre fournira l'électricité. L'un paiera pour le courant de l'autre, et tout le monde y trouvera son compte.



Sim City est attendu pour le 7 mars 2013. EA a également mis en ligne les configurations minimales et recommandées, consultables à cette adresse.

· Forum SimCity

Apple makes transition from MobileME to iCloud more appealing

In helping pave way for a smooth shift to its iCloud service, Apple has a new deal on offer for its long-staying MobileMe subscribers who havent yet gotten with the times in upgrading to Snow Leopard. Apple is now providing a free Snow Leopard upgrade for all MobileMe users running an older OS, saving them US $29.

As MobileMe, a subscription-based set of online services is scheduled for discontinuation by June and with iCloud only being supported in Snow Leopard and Lion, this will make the offer a much appreciated one for many yet to jump onto the cloud. It also means that upgrading to Lion would be half the price as a download for it is available via the App Store which can only be initiated if already running Snow Leopard.

So, for all of you still holding a MobileMe account and running an OS up to a half decade old. now theres no more excuses and you can get with the times on the cheap!

AMD revises down Q3 forecasts - yield issues blamed

Previously, AMD had expected a strong Q3 2011, driven by strong demand for Llano, with revenue growth of 10% over Q2. However, AMD has now revised Q3 revenue growth to only 4%-6%. The main reason cited was manufacturing issues at GlobalFoundries.

The previous forecast suggested revenues of approximately $1.725 billion, while the revision pulls down the revenue guidance to the $1.65 billion range. It is no surprise that the GlobalFoundries 32nm process is suffering from yield issues, with supply shortages for Llano APUs. The top Llano SKU for desktops, A8-3850 is out of stock at many retailers around the world, and notebooks based on Llano are still hard to come by, if not completely non-existant in several popular markets, such as South Asia. It is clear that AMD is unable to satisfy the strong demand for Llano, leading to reduced shipments.

In additions to problems with the 32nm process, 45nm supply has been hit as well, "due to complexities related to the use of common tools across both technology nodes". Due to the top bin A8 APUs being worst affected - another sign of poor yields - the average selling price is also down, resulting in a reduced gross margin of 44%-45%, from previous guidance of 47%.

With Bulldozer finally shipping, and FX Series finally releasing next month, things are going to get even more challenging for the problematic GloFo 32nm process. The Bulldozer die is 40% larger than Llano. On the other hand, Bulldozer is a traditional CPU with no extensive GPU part.

Source: Forbes