Apple today introduced iPad, a revolutionary device for browsing the web, reading and sending email, enjoying photos, watching videos, listening to music, playing games, reading e-books and much more. iPad’s responsive high-resolution Multi-Touch  display lets users physically interact with applications and content.

iPad is just 0.5 inches thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds— thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook. iPad includes 12 new innovative apps designed especially for the iPad, and will run almost all of the over 140,000 apps in the App Store. iPad will be available in late March starting at the breakthrough price of just $499.

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“iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices that will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.”

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iPad features 12 next-generation Multi-Touch applications. Every app works in both portrait and landscape, automatically animating between views as the user rotates iPad in any direction. The precise Multi-Touch interface makes surfing the web on iPad an entirely new experience, dramatically more interactive and intimate than on a computer. Reading and sending email is fun and easy on iPad’s large screen and almost full-size “soft” keyboard. Import photos from a Mac®, PC or digital camera, see them organized as albums, and enjoy and share them using iPad’s elegant slideshows. Watch movies, TV shows and YouTube, all in HD or flip through pages of an e-book you downloaded from Apple’s new iBookstore while listening to your music collection.

iPad runs almost all of the over 140,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for your iPhone® or iPod touch®. The iTunes® Store gives you access to the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalog of over 11 million songs, over 50,000 TV episodes and over 8,000 films including over 2,000 in stunning high definition video. Apple also announced the new iBooks app for iPad, which includes Apple’s new iBookstore, the best way to browse, buy and read books on a mobile device. The iBookstore will feature books from major and independent publishers.

Apple also introduced a new version of iWork® for iPad, the first desktop-class productivity suite designed specifically for Multi-Touch. With Pages®, Keynote® and Numbers® you can create beautifully formatted documents, stunning presentations with animations and transitions, and spreadsheets with charts, functions and formulas. The three apps will be available separately through the App Store for $9.99 each.

iPad syncs with iTunes just like the iPhone and iPod touch, using the standard Apple 30-pin to USB cable, so you can sync all of your contacts, photos, music, movies, TV shows, applications and more from your Mac or PC. All the apps and content you download on iPad from the App Store, iTunes Store and iBookstore will be automatically synced to your iTunes library the next time you connect with your computer.

iPad’s brilliant 9.7-inch, LED-backlit display features IPS technology to deliver crisp, clear images and consistent color with an ultra-wide 178 degree viewing angle. The highly precise, capacitive Multi-Touch display is amazingly accurate and responsive whether scrolling web pages or playing games. The intelligent soft keyboard pioneered on iPhone takes advantage of iPad’s larger display to offer an almost full-size soft keyboard. iPad also connects to the new iPad Keyboard Dock with a full-size traditional keyboard.

iPad is powered by A4, Apple’s next-generation system-on-a-chip. Designed by Apple, the new A4 chip provides exceptional processor and graphics performance along with long battery life of up to 10 hours.* Apple’s advanced chemistry and Adaptive Charging technology deliver up to 1,000 charge cycles without a significant decrease in battery capacity over a typical five year lifespan.**

iPad comes in two versions—one with Wi-Fi and the other with both Wi-Fi and 3G. iPad includes the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi, and the 3G versions support speeds up to 7.2 Mbps on HSDPA networks. Apple and AT&T announced breakthrough 3G pre-paid data plans for iPad with easy, on-device activation and management.

Continuing Apple’s dedication to designing and creating environmentally responsible products, each iPad enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminum and comes standard with energy-efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. iPad contains no brominated flame retardants and is completely PVC-free.

Apple today released a new Software Development Kit (SDK) for iPad, so developers can create amazing new applications designed to take advantage of iPad’s capabilities. The SDK includes a simulator that lets developers test and debug their iPad apps on a Mac, and also lets developers create Universal Applications that run on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

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Level 3 Communications, Inc.  today announced that it is working with software publishing company Zolmo Limited to deliver caching, on-demand video content and geo-targeting services for the Jamie Oliver “20 Minute Meals” iPhone application.

The “20 Minute Meals” application is a mobile digital cookbook full of step-by-step instructions, full-screen photography, a shopping list feature, and high-quality videos that users can follow to create 55 healthy meals from the popular chef.

Level 3 is working with Zolmo to deliver caching and download services for the application over the Level 3 Content Delivery Network (CDN). Level 3 is also delivering token-based authentication and geo-targeting to give Zolmo the ability to customize delivery options to users. In addition, Level 3 worked with Zolmo to de-couple the video content from the application’s other content (recipes, photos, shopping lists) to enable users to more quickly download and install the application.

“As more people turn to mobile devices for content, there is a greater expectation that the quality of the mobile experience will mirror that of the traditional online experience,” said Peter Neill, senior vice president of Content Markets for Level 3. “By leveraging the Level 3 IP backbone, we’re able to provide the scalability and reliability needed to ensure a first-class user experience.”

The “20 Minute Meals” iPhone application was developed by Jamie Oliver and London-based Zolmo Limited, a software publishing and development company that creates lifestyle and entertainment applications for the next generation of digital devices.

“It was important to us that the application provided a clean, fast, hassle-free customer experience, and using the Level 3 CDN to deliver content directly to the mobile device is helping us to ensure that,” said Tristan Celder, CEO of Zolmo. “Users now have faster access to the videos, targeted content and a great application that’s designed to work with their mobile lifestyle.”

The application gives users access to over an hour of video clips from the chef, demonstrating kitchen skills ranging from cutting and chopping to cooking techniques. The video on-demand feature allows users to choose the videos they want to store on the mobile device and delete the ones that they have already watched. To download the application, please visit the iTunes store.

January 13 – CBS Mobile and CBS Television Stations today announced that stand-alone news apps for CBS-owned television stations in 13 markets are now available from the App Store. The free apps for iPhone and iPod touch users deliver the latest local news headlines and stories, full length on-demand video, slide shows and Twitter updates from news anchors and reporters at local CBS Television Stations. In addition to the dedicated local content, the apps connect users with breaking CBS News stories and on-demand video from across the nation and around the globe.

“The CBS Television Stations applications are a logical extension of our CBS News app; they give us the chance to engage users at a grass roots level and expose them to the news that matters to them the most,” said Rob Gelick, Senior Vice President and General Manager of CBS Mobile.  “These apps are also a great way for us to extend the CBS brand and provide users with a new and convenient way to discover and experience the depth of our local news coverage.”

Features of the stand-alone apps include:

• Latest Local News Headlines and Stories from CBS-Owned TV Stations in 13 Markets: Branded apps feature local news, sports and features for CBS-owned stations across the nation, including WCBS-New York, KCBS/KCAL-Los Angeles, WBBM-Chicago, KYW-Philadelphia, WBZ-Boston, KPIX-San Francisco, KTVT-Dallas/Fort Worth, WCCO-Minneapolis/St. Paul, WFOR-Miami, KCNC-Denver, KOVR-Sacramento, KDKA-Pittsburgh and WJZ-Baltimore.
• Full News Video Integration: View on-demand video news coverage from your favorite local market reporters, and from CBS News.
• Local Geo-Targeted Weather: Real time and extended weather forecasts targeted automatically by each user’s location. Users can also check weather conditions in other cities.
• National and Global Breaking News from CBS News: The latest breaking news and on-demand video throughout the day from CBS News reporters across the globe.
• Twitter Feeds: Insights and breaking news from anchors and reporters in local markets. Users can also navigate by topic through the unique “News Trends” section—a collection of the top stories from feeds across Twitter.

CBS Mobile partnered with Treemo Labs (http://www.treemolabs.com) to develop the application, and Transpera (www.transpera.com) to power the pre-roll video and ad capabilities in the application.

The CBS Television Stations apps are now available for free from the App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/. Users can search for their favorite local station app based on the branding for the CBS-owned television station in their area.

London based Sabec (www.sabec.co.uk/videocam.html) video camera app for the iPhone 2g/3g. VideoCam™ is truly unique in that it offers iPhone 2G and 3G users the opportunity to record video.

VideoCam™ records smoother video than any of the other 2G / 3G video recording apps currently available in the app store. In addition the encoding and saving of video clips is much faster.

VideoCam™ has now been approved by Apple and is available on the app store and iTunes.

The arrival of VideoCam™  on the marketplace is seen as an important step forward from both a technological and an entertainment perspective.

Sabec are working on an update which will include even smoother recording, better video quality and audio.

www.sabec.co.uk/videocam.html

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the leader in powering video, dynamic transactions and enterprise applications online, today announced that it teamed with MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, to deliver live streaming video of regular season and postseason games in 2009 over Akamai HD for iPhone within MLB.com’s award-winning application, At Bat 2009. Expanding on the long-term relationship between Akamai and MLB.com, the ability to deliver games over HTTP for live and on demand video content on the iPhone allowed MLB.com to increase its reach to fans who want to watch baseball games wherever they are.

“MLB.com improved the quality and reach of its real-time baseball game experience to mobile users via MLB.TV on the iPhone,” said Bob Hughes, Executive Vice President of Global Sales, Services and Marketing at Akamai. “We’re excited to work with MLB.com on changing the way fans experience the national pastime of baseball by offering live games over Akamai’s adaptive bit rate streaming technology. With Akamai HD for iPhone, high quality video experiences are no longer limited to the TV or computer.”

Because the solution automatically switches between different bitrate levels for live video, playback can begin immediately at a lower bitrate then switch to higher bitrates as conditions allow and end users with 3G connections experience rapid video start-up times and smooth playback. Full DVR capabilities are also designed to enable a personalized and interactive experience by allowing consumers to pause and rewind live video.

Using Akamai HD for iPhone to deliver live and on-demand content, MLB.com helped ensure fans had the same experience on the go as they did watching the games on their computers by leveraging Akamai’s highly-available and fault tolerant delivery infrastructure of tens of thousands of HTTP servers. Akamai’s solution takes advantage of native streaming support, which is optimized to increase battery life, reduce buffering, and provide a better video experience than possible with other streaming approaches for delivering video to mobile devices.

MLB.com’s live video within At Bat 2009 was encoded using Inlet Technologies’ Spinnaker™ live streaming appliances. MLB.com has been using Spinnaker encoders to power all mobile and live web experiences since 2008.

“MLB.com continues to provide the latest and greatest user experiences for its fan base,” said John Bishop, senior vice president of strategy and business development at Inlet. “We are happy to work with MLB.com to help leverage its existing Spinnaker infrastructure to help reach the iPhone community.”

Leveraging Akamai’s HD EdgePlatform of HTTP servers, Akamai HD for iPhone can support global audiences for major online events, and enables WiFi- and 3G Mobile-based access to content on the iPhone. By delivering content from servers that are closest to end users, Akamai HD for iPhone avoids traditional Internet congestion and latency issues. This translates into faster download times and the highest quality streams each end-user connection will allow.

ThirdPresence Ltd., the leading mobile video platform, has worked together with Finnish broadcaster MTV3 to pilot a mobile service with which viewers can watch the Big Brother reality show live 24/7 using their iPhone or iPod touch.

“We are excited that Big Brother fans can now use their iPhones and iPod touch to watch the same 24/7 live video feed that is available on our MTV3 Katsomo service on the Web. Extending the service from Web to mobile allows people to tune in to Big Brother regardless of time or place. For this pilot it was very important to extend our Big Brother online live video service to mobile as easily, securely, reliably and cost-effectively as possible without compromising video quality. That is why we chose to use ThirdPresence to power our Big Brother mobile video pilot service,” Sami Kanninen, Product Manager WebTV at MTV MEDIA.

“Mobile phones are increasingly being used to access video content and this poses certain challenges to broadcasters and media companies. By using our mobile video platform media companies and broadcasters can easily publish their video content to mobiles. We are excited to work with the leading Finnish broadcaster MTV3 to help them extend the Big Brother brand to the iPhone,” says Esa Hotti, ThirdPresence’s head of customer operations.

Big Brother 24/7 is available for all iPhone and iPod touch users who have subscribed to the pay-per-view package.

MTV MEDIA brings you the most wanted electronic services in Finland. MTV MEDIA operates nine TV channels: the nation’s favourite channel, MTV3, the rapidly growing Sub, and the pay-TV channels MTV3 MAX, MTV3 Fakta, Sub Leffa, Sub Juniori, MTV3 AVA, MTV3 Sarja and MTV3 Scifi. MTV MEDIA represents CANAL+ pay-TV services in Finland. Also part of MTV MEDIA is mtv3.fi, one of Finland’s most popular online media, and Finland’s most-listened commercial radio station, Radio Nova.

ThirdPresence is a SaaS platform that enables media companies to distribute their content to any multimedia-capable mobile phone. ThirdPresence can be used to deliver video-on-demand, podcasts and live video in a format that is optimized for each mobile device. ThirdPresence also enables monetization of the content either by advertising or pay-per-view. For more information, visit http://www.thirdpresence.com