First impressions of Apple’s new iPad
The new iPad unveiled by Apple chief Tim Cook is not the iPad 3, nor the iPad HD, though it is in spirit both of those. Apple has decided to further distance itself from the specifications-battle that has typified the technology industry’s product nomenclature to call its new iteration simply “the new iPad”.
Time and again on stage in San Francisco, Mr Cook emphasised that the iPad was the embodiment of what Apple co-founder Steve Jobs called the “post-PC era”. Read more
Apple’s high-definition iPad unveiled
Apple has launched a third version of its iPad at a special event in San Francisco, with a new high-definition display being the main improvement.
The new iPad has a Retina display – its resolution is so dense the eye cannot discern individual pixels, an A5X chip with four cores or brains for faster graphics, an improved 5Mp rear camera and 4G LTE wireless connectivity. There is also an update to the Apple TV set-top box . Pricing remains the same and the iPad will be available in a number of countries on March 16. Review our live blog from the event after the jump. Read more
Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales dislikes Facebook buttons
Wikipedia’s co-founder Jimmy Wales says that the online encyclopedia is “very unlikely” to integrate Facebook’s Like button or other ways of sharing on the social network, despite it becoming an increasingly important source of traffic, because he is concerned about readers’ privacy.
Speaking at the FT’s Digital Media Conference in London on Wednesday, Mr Wales also said that he was more concerned about big technology companies and app stores controlling the internet’s creativity than threats to “net neutrality”. Read more
Record labels GreenLight new music service
Corbis, the Bill Gates-owned company best known for licensing stock images to advertising agencies and other media organisations , is launching a music licensing service backed by the four major record labels.
The service is an extension of its GreenLight music licensing business, used by major advertising agencies. It is being aimed at the corporate market initially but could be extended to individual users who, for example, might want to add music to YouTube videos they upload. Read more
Intel expands in data centre cloud
Intel has launched its next-generation server processor to boost its presence in data centres and cloud storage, while at the same time pooh-poohing an acquisition by rival Advanced Micro Devices in the same area.
At a launch event in San Francisco on Tuesday, Intel said the Xeon E5 product family represented up to an 80 per cent performance improvement over its previous generation. It said it was not impressed with the server technology of SeaMicro and declined to buy it before AMD announced a $334m deal last week. Read more
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Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
