Rumor Roundup: what we think we know about the iPad 3 so far

To say that folks are anticipating Apple to unveil a new version of its popular tablet sometime in the near future is an understatement. The company has launched a new iPad during the first quarter in each of the last two years — folks are expecting it.

We’ve heard a lot of chatter over the last few months regarding what the new iPad will look like and what new features it will contain. We’ve heard so much gossip, in fact, that it’s been hard to keep track of it all. And that’s why we’ve put together this rumor roundup….
Hardware
As far as appearance goes, the iPad 3 is more than likely going to look very similar to its predecessor. We’ve seen multiple images of purported iPad 3 components — including an aluminum rear casing. And all signs point to an iPad 2-like form factor.

Most of the tablet’s updates are expected to be internal. The new iPad is rumored to feature a faster processor, more than likely the quad core A6, upgraded cameras, and according to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, LTE technology.

Finally, there’s the screen. Out of all of the iPad 3 gossip we’ve heard over the last few months, the tablet’s display has been the most popular topic. And all roads lead to a staggering 2048×1536 Retina display.

Software
With over 3 betas released — the last one being over a month ago — there’s a good chance we’ll see the iPad 3 launch with iOS 5.1. We’ve heard a number of rumors regarding new features we could see in the update, including improved Siri functionality and system-level Facebook integration.

Speaking of Siri, there’s also a possibility we could see the popular digital assistant turn up on Apple’s new tablet. We’ve seen evidence of this in the iOS 5.1 betas, and Apple has every reason to want to include the popular feature in the iPad 3.

When
Given Apple’s previous iPad release cycle, the obvious answer to “when will Apple unveil its new tablet?” is early March. We’ve heard this timeframe mentioned in a number of reports, most notably from AllThingsD’s John Paczkowski.

If you’re looking for a more specific date, iMore is predicting that Apple’s iPad 3 event will be held on Wednesday, March 7th. Ex-Macworld editor Jim Dalrymple gave his “yep” of approval on the report, adding some serious weight to iMore’s claims.

Did you get all of that? If not, here’s a quick recap. The iPad 3 will look similar to the iPad 2 but feature several internal upgrades including a Retina display, quad-core processor, and LTE technology (for Verizon and AT&T at least). And it will be unveiled on March 7th.

Of course, all of this could be completely wrong. The truth is, we won’t know anything for sure until Tim Cook (or another prominent Apple figure) holds the tablet up on stage during the iPad 3 event. But so far, it sounds good to us.

What do you think of the iPad 3 rumors? Is there any features you’re hoping for that haven’t been mentioned?

SpotTweet: Will eventually allow you to tweet from Spotlight search. Hopefully.

SpotTweet is a promising tweak that has one small problem, it doesn’t actually work at the moment (at least it hasn’t for me).

SpotTweet is supposed to allow you to send tweets directly from the Spotlight search input box, and everything seems okay until you tap the send button.
The really nice thing about SpotTweet is that it retains your Spotlight functionality while allowing you to send out tweets directly from Spotlight. I realize there are many other provisions for sending tweets in iOS 5 these days, but I thought this method was a interesting use of available resources.

Sadly, while the oauth from Twitter appears to log you in fine, sending a tweet results in a log in error. I tried it with multiple devices and it yielded the same result.

SpotTweet can be downloaded for free on Cydia’s ModMyi repo. Hopefully it will be updated soon, as it would be sad for a tweak like this to remain unusable.

Have you experienced the same login errors?


Major retailers reporting iPad 2 supply constraints ahead of iPad 3 launch

Between all of the leaked components and developer chatter, we’re almost certain that Apple is preparing to unveil its next-generation tablet in the near future.

But in case you needed more convincing, 9to5Mac has uncovered further evidence that the iPad 3 is on its way. The site is reporting that several major retailers are experiencing iPad 2 supply shortages…
“According to a source familiar with Apple’s product distribution channels, the iPad 2 WiFi + 3G is constrained. Supply shortages span beyond Apple’s own distribution channels, though, as major retailers are reporting “out of stock” status for the 3G iPad 2. This includes, but is likely not limited to, Carphone Warehouse and Orange in the United Kingdom. Carphone Warehouse is reporting shortages of five out of six of their 3G iPad 2 models (everything but the black 64GB unit), and Orange UK is reporting shortages of half of the 3G iPad 2 SKUs.”

Why are iPad 2 shortages such a big deal? Well retailers typically see supply constraints of an item just before it gets refreshed. That means that production of the product, in this case the iPad 2 3G, has slowed or even stopped, in anticipation of the next-generation tablet.

So why does there only seem to be shortages in 3G models? There’s a good chance that Apple could be keeping its iPad 2 Wi-Fi model around at a lowered price point, similar to what it did with the iPhone 4. And it wouldn’t make sense to keep an expensive 3G model around.

Apple’s next tablet is expected to feature a number of hardware upgrades and could be unveiled as early as the first week in March. It’s safe to say that if you were thinking about buying a new tablet, you might want to hold out for a few weeks and see what Apple has cooked up.

WallpaperLog turns your iOS wallpaper into an active console log

Nerds everywhere rejoice! Filippo Bigarella, the jailbreak developer behind Springtomize 2 and other popular tweaks, has just submitted a new package to Cydia called WallpaperLog.

The new tweak turns your device’s wallpaper into an active console log, giving you a glimpse into some of the things that happen behind the scenes in iOS…
Even though you can’t see it, thousands of lines of code are constantly executing in iOS underneath its pretty user interface. WallpaperLog will allow you to see a small portion of that code — mostly low level events — in a live scrolling wallpaper.

We’re not sure how it works exactly, but the folks over at OSXDaily believe that the tweak actively scrolls through the /private/var/log/system.log file.

WallpaperLog certainly isn’t a high-profile, must-have tweak. But we have to admit it looks pretty cool. Filippo says it will be free, and should be available in Cydia shortly. We’ll let you know once it goes live.

What do you think of WallpaperLog?