iPad

As retailer Best Buy has begun offering $50 off every iPad 2 model, a purported shipping manifest suggests Foxconn is already preparing to ship the device's third-generation successor to Apple in the United States.

The alleged secret shipments from Foxconn were revealed in a shipping manifest from Apple.pro revealed this weekend, which shows a series of shipments scheduled to begin delivery in the U.S. no later than March 9. The mystery orders arriving from Chengdu, China, are said to be under high security.

If there’s one thing we know for sure about the iPad 3, it’s that the upcoming tablet will have a breathtakingly-awesome screen. After months of building speculation, it’s been repeatedly confirmed that the iPad 3 will follow in the iPhone’s footsteps with a super high-resolution ‘Retina’ display.

High quality photos received through "special channels" by a Chinese publication allegedly show that the next generation iPad will sport a larger rear-facing camera than the current iPad 2, and will use a slightly redesigned case than previous models.

The purported "iPad 3" photos clearly show (machine translation) the the rear-facing camera is larger than the iPad 2's, and the Taiwanese publication Apple Daily that published the pictures on Saturday claims that the change was made to accommodate an 8 megapixel sensor.

Apple will announce the launch of the iPad 3 on March 7, and the new tablet computer is expected to support 4G LTE high-speed mobile services, according to reports.

The iMore website reports sources which have "proved reliable in the past" as confirming the date of the official announcement of the third iteration of the iPad at Apple's Cupertino base in California.

Sharp's high-resolution IGZO display technology may not be out of the running for the iPad 3, according an analyst at DisplaySearch.

Though there have been rumors claiming that Sharp's IGZO (indium gallium zinc oxide) technology did not make the cut for the iPad 3, Charles Annis, a Kyoto, Japan-based analyst at DisplaySearch, thinks Sharp still has a good shot at the iPad 3.

The iPad 3 is expected to sport a 9.7-inch 2048x1536 resolution LCD, a much higher resolution than the iPad 2's 1024-by-768 panel. Annis spoke with CNET on Monday.

In a blog post by the iPhone Dev team, at least 950,000 Absinthe A5 untethered jailbreak devices accessed the Cydia app store between Friday, January 20th and Monday, January 23rd. The Absinthe A5 untethered jailbreak is meant for iPhone 4S and iPad 2 devices powered by the fifth generation iOS platform.

Absinthe is the newest untethered jailbreak tool which was released about 10 months after the launch of iPad 2 and three months after the iPhone 4S. GreenPoisOn released this jailbreak tool on Friday.

The Chronic Dev Yeam’s Absinthe jailbreak tool for iPad 2 and iPhone 4S owners has been updated to version 0.3. This latest update brings Linux support and minor cosmetic changes. A small bug fix for Windows users has also been included.

Tweeted by Chronic Dev team member @pimskeks, Absinthe v0.3 can be downloaded from this direct link for Mac users. Windows users can download it here. The Linux tool is also now available. If you’ve already jailbroken with Absinthe, then there’s no need to re-jailbreak with the updated version. Over 1 million people have already used the tool.

The iPhone 4S and iPad 2 owners waited patiently, then they waited some more, and finally after a little more waiting welcomed the Absinthe jailbreak software to the community. Produced by the famous Chronic Development Team, and supported by the conjoined efforts of Pod2g and the iPhone Dev Team, Absinthe offers users the ability to jailbreak iOS 5 and 5.0.1 into an untethered state.The supported devices and firmware for Absinthe are:

    iPhone 4S running iOS 5.0, 5.0.1 (9A405 and 9A406)
    iPad 2 Wifi/GSM/CDMA running iOS 5.0.1

Walmart and London Drugs say that fake Apple iPad 2s made of clay are also appearing on their store shelves, a day after electronic giants Future Shop and Best Buy revealed they are launching a major fraud investigation into the scam.

In most of the cases, the popular tablet computers are bought for cash and then swapped out for a piece of modelling clay. The boxes are then re-wrapped and returned to the store, only to end up back on the shelves and resold to other unsuspecting customers.

The fight to jailbreak Apple's A5-chip-powered devices, specifically the iPhone 4S and the iPad, is nearing its end. Hacker "pod2g" and his crew of iOS exploit seekers have released photos and videos of a jailbroken iPhone 4S and a jailbroken iPad 2, both running iOS 5.0.1.