Devs Bring 3D to the iPad 2

3D on an iPad 2 is an exciting prospect, and two researchers in Grenoble appear to have made it a reality. Gartner is predicting that Apple will dominate worldwide Tablet sales until 2015 even with all the recent announcements of competitors and new processors, and it looks like Apple will be getting in Netflix’s face real soon. Should be an exciting summer for consumers.

3D on the iPad 2 without Glasses?

It’s all over the web – Jeremie Francone and Laurence Nigay from the Laboratory of Infomatics of Grenoble, have used a front facing camera on the iPad 2 to produce 3D effects without the user having to wear special glasses.  While this is still in the development phase and the App isn’t available for download, its brought 3D back to the forefront again and is an exciting prospect for iPad users.

In the above image, moving your head left and right to look around an object would offer a 3D view of that object. Their App uses the front facing camera to track the head of the user – it’s interesting to note that the only thing they’re using is the camera – the accelerometer isn’t involved in this, but this announcement is causing quite a stir.

Is Apple Going to take on Netflix?

As if Amazon’s Prime Instant Video service and GoogleTV weren’t enough competition, now Apple may be getting into the streaming TV and movie business and going into direct competition with Netflix.

Apple has a massive new datacentre in North Carolina that’s nearly online and there’s a lot of speculation about what, exactly that datacentre will be used for. One idea that seems to be gathering momentum is that Apple has set aside 12 petabytes (a lot) of storage capacity supposedly to support video download content. While the rumor mill has been speculating that Apple would roll out a cloud-based version of MobileMe which would allow users to store their own video, photo and musical content on the site – it wouldn’t take too much to expand things to include something akin to the Netflix service. Peter Misek, a Jefferies analyst, has the opinion that Apple will offer “a new far reaching cloud-based service that is more than just a music or content locker and focused on video.”

Apple to continue dominance in the Tablet market until at least 2015

In what’s probably bad news for all the competitor tablet manufacturers out there, US research firm Gartner has just released a study indicating that the Apple iOS will dominate the Tablet market through 2015 and will account for more than half of that market for the next three years.

Not the best news for all the other Tablet manufacturers, but it’s relative because they’re also predicting global sales of Tablets to rise from 17,610,000 to 294, 093,000 in 2015.

In addition, Intel’s forthcoming Oak Trail platform offers full 1080p video, HDMI support, great battery life along with a 50% power reduction and the prospect of running full blown Windows on a tablet. Oak Trail supports Windows, Android and MeeGo, and will really help to make the tablet wars heat up.

To say that Tablet sales will and have had a profound effect on the sale of desktop and notebook computers is an understatement and clearly the shift in the marketplace that’s occurring is only the tip of the iceberg.

Carbon Fibre components in Apple products nearer Reality?

Image from Engadget

Apple recently hired Kevin Kenney, the developer of the first carbon fibre bicycle frame. He’s a recognized expert on carbon fibre manufacturing and points to the possibility that consumers may well see Apple move away from the Aluminum chassis it presently uses in most of the product line to something that would have carbon fibre components. This super light and strong material would certainly revolutionize the industry and offer consumers even lighter weight computers, tablets and phones than we now have.

Apple’s filing last year, for a patent for a unibody woven from carbon fibre plus Kenny’s hiring points to a carbon fibre future offering exciting and sexy new products.

No iPad 3 this year and a new iPhone in September?

To round out the Apple rumors there is increasing speculation that the rumored iPad 3 that was supposed to be released in the fall is just – a rumor. The iPad 2 really isn’t a transitional step and actually is a full-blown upgrade and Digitimes is reporting that component partner sources are saying that Apple is pretty quiet about what they want in the new iPad 3.

That’s a good thing because the iPad 2 is a terrific upgrade from the iPad and it certainly clears things up for consumers. Consumers who were hoping for a new iPhone this summer will probably have to wait a while longer as they may have to wait until Apple’s traditional September media event to announce the new fifth generation iPhone.

It’s all speculation of course, but to introduce the phone at the Developer’s Conference isn’t really a great fit. Postponing it until the September event would allow the conference in June to focus on software, where it should be.