The all new iPad (iPad 3?) has just been announced, and pre-orders start now March 7!

The actual release date is March 16, and you can expect the traditionally giant lines and sell-outs as usual. because of this, pre-ordering is highly recommended if you don’t want to wait in lines at Apple Stores, or deal with the inevitable supply deficits that have occurred with every major new iOS product launch.

You can now pre-order on Apple’s Online Store, either directly on the website or through the mobile app. If you’re having problems checking out through store.apple.com, download the free Apple Store app from iTunes and check out there instead.

It should be noted that the March 16 release date is for the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia.

International customers will get the new iPad on March 23, including the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Puertostan, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

Also available for order today is the new Apple TV 3 with 1080p, that device will also ship next week and has the same release date.

Thanks to Engadget live stream for the latter images

The new iPad has been announced by Apple! As expected, it has an amazing retina display, a big performance boost, and a new model with high-speed 4G LTE capabilities alongside the standard Wi-Fi fare. Here are some more details of the latest iPad:

iPad 3 Features & Specs

Here is what we know about the next iPad:

• Retina display, with a resolution of 2048×1536, 3.1 million pixels at 264ppi
• A5X Processor, quad-core graphics
• 1GB of RAM
• 5 megapixel iSight camera
• 1080p video recording
• Voice dictation, similar to Siri without the questions
• 3G & 4G LTE connectivity
• 10 hour battery life, 9 hour battery on 4G
• 9.4mm thick, weighs 1.4lbs
• Pre-orders start TODAY, available on March 16
• iOS 5.1

4G support comes to both Verizon and AT&T. Outside of the USA, 4G LTE will also be offered on Rogers, Bell, and Telus initially, presumably with more carriers to come down the road. The iPad can also be used as a personal hotspot with it’s 4G speeds, although the price of that varies per carrier.

New iPad 3 Prices

Both black & white models will be available, as usual:

New iPad with Wi-Fi Prices

• 16GB Wi-Fi – $499
• 32GB Wi-Fi – $599
• 64GB Wi-Fi – $699

New iPad with 4G LTE Prices

• 16GB 4G LTE – $629
• 32GB 4G LTE – $729
• 64GB 4G LTE – $829

(Officially, the new iPad is called “iPad” and referred to as the “3rd generation” model, but many people will call it iPad 3 anyway.)

Apple announced a new Apple TV today, physically the device looks the same as the old version, but that’s where most of the similarities end. The new Apple TV is more powerful, and boasts 1080p output, and includes a completely redesigned UI with iCloud integration.

Here’s what we know so far:

• All new user interface, looks more like iOS
• 1080p output
• Single Core A5 Processor
• Supports iCloud movies
• Connected to iCloud, including Photo Stream, iTunes, Netflix etc
• $99
• Shipping starts March 7

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The next time you’re reading a web page that you want to share with someone else through email, just hit Command+Shift+I while viewing that website. A new email draft will open in the default email application, with the web pages title as the message subject, and the URL contained within the message body.

The keyboard shortcut works in Safari and Chrome only, and will open the new email draft in Mail by default. If you have Gmail set as your default email client that will open in a new window instead.

What happens when you merge classic Super Mario Bros with the modern classic Portal? It’s hectic, it’s a ton of fun, it’s Mari0. Basically you get old school Mario re-imagined with a portal gun and a variety of Portal puzzles and mechanics. There’s also an insane four player co-op mode, level editor, and downloadable third party map packs.

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You probably know by now that you can get album art from iTunes via the Advanced menu. That will fill in most missing album covers, but bands that don’t sell their music through iTunes or music downloaded from Soundcloud and blogs often don’t have any artwork attached. In this case you can manually add artwork yourself to either an album or group of songs:

1. Find the intended artwork using Google Images or Bing Images search, generally adding an ‘album’ suffix to the search will find what you’re looking for instantly, save it somewhere like the desktop so it’s easy to retrieve
2. Launch iTunes and select the album or group of songs you want to add artwork for, right-click on that group and choose “Get Info”



3. Mark the checkbox next to “Artwork” and drag and drop the album artwork image you found earlier onto the box



4. Click “OK” to process the songs album artwork

To add a single piece of artwork to a large group of songs or albums, it’s helpful to use the iTunes search feature and then selecting all. You can always unselect certain songs in a large group by holding down the Command key and clicking on them manually, anything not selected won’t be updated. Remember to check Apple’s album cover art servers before going alone, simply because it’s easier.

Any artwork added will sync to an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch the next time such a device is connected, and will also appear as the Dock icon if you replaced it with DockArt.

The next iPad may be released to the public on Friday, March 16, just 9 days after the products launch. It remains unclear whether pre-orders will be possible before then.

This information comes to us from 9to5mac, who cites a reliable source within Apple Stores who noted that significant preparations are being made for an event on that date. Additionally, two new Apple Stores are expected to open ahead of schedule on the same Friday, providing further evidence of a meaningful Apple event occurring that day.

iPad 3 is anticipated to have a high resolution retina display, much faster processors, improved graphics capabilities, and 4G LTE connectivity. Pricing should be the same as existing iPad models, starting at $499 and going up incrementally from there.

There is some question regarding the actual name of the device, with some rumors surfacing yesterday that the next generation iPad may in fact be called “iPad HD” rather than “iPad 3”, though the naming convention is largely irrelevant beyond marketing of the device and is not expected to have any impact on the feature set.

Stay tuned, we’ll know more tomorrow.

Want to quickly track a shipment from iOS or iPadOS? The iPhone and iPad can automatically detect tracking numbers from shipments and packages that are found in emails, notes, and messages, and the data detection then turns those tracking numbers into clickable links to help you instantly track a package or shipment. This is usable on any iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, and is extremely helpful if you’re keeping an eye on deliveries or shipments.

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Apple has released a supplemental update to Mac OS X 10.7.3 to address a potential issue with restoring from Time Machine backups.

The update can be found from Software Update via the  Apple menu or downloaded directly from Apple. Installing the update does not require a reboot.

Despite being a minor update, it is good maintenance practice to keep Mac OS X software up to date and it’s recommended to download for all OS X Lion users who rely on Time Machine for backing up their Macs.

Remember the old flip phones? Of course you do, they were huge and ugly and half of them wouldn’t fit in a pocket even when folded up, but oh were they cutting edge in 1998.

Soon you’ll be able to have that same terrible user experience with the iPhone. From the company who brought you the ridiculous 80’s block iPhone case comes a late 1990’s early 2000’s giant flip-phone case for the iPhone. It’s both hideous and hilarious, and it will certainly be popular in that laughably retro stupid way.

Unfortunately it’s not available quite yet, we’ll all have to wait until later in the year to grab the flip case for about $24, so put it on your Christmas list.
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If you have attempted to partition a drive from Mac OS X and received a “Partition failed” message with the error “Couldn’t modify partition map because file system verification failed.” you can fix the problem with the file system check command line utility.

To issue the file system check and repair function properly, you’ll need to boot into Single User Mode as well. This walkthrough will demonstrate the necessary steps to resolve the partition failed error by running a file system command from Mac Single User mode.

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The Messages app for Mac keeps track of all chat history through iMessage and SMS, providing you with a lengthy record of conversations in an easily reviewable and scrollable chat log. Unlike iOS, there isn’t an in-app method to delete the chat history in Mac OS X, and though you can close a window it doesn’t necessarily remove all data, logs, caches, or associations with a specific chat, and those caches are still stored on the Mac.

Instead, if you wish to clear out the chat log history in Messages app for Mac OS X, you will have to turn to the Finder or command line if you want to trash your message history on the Mac. This is not difficult, it’s just a matter of removing a few files as detailed below.

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Macs are notoriously trouble-free and easy to maintain, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore system maintenance entirely. Here are four simple Mac maintenance tips that will help you keep your Mac in tip-top shape, running at its best.

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Turning on the iPhone camera grid makes it easier to take better pictures by offering a simple visual grid guide to improve photo composition. We’ll show you how to enable the grid on iPhone camera, and also how to use the grid to compose photos.

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You probably know by now that Windows 8 Consumer Preview was released recently. This is what Microsoft is betting their future on, combining their traditional desktop experience with the all new tiled Metro interface, aimed at tablets and portable computers.

Thanks to virtualization, anyone can try Windows 8 easily right on top of their current operating system. This makes it easy to both install and also remove later when you’re done with it. While this article is intended for Mac users, VirtualBox will run in Linux, Solaris, and Windows as well, so you can take this to just about any platform.

Everything is free and there is little risk to trying this out. If you’ve been curious about Windows 8 this is the easiest way to get direct experience with it. Here’s what you’ll need to get started:
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Ever wonder what an iOS developers home office looks like? This great Mac setup should give you an idea. Coming to us from Henry in Florida, this setup is used primarily for iOS development and photography. There’s a lot of great Apple hardware here, including:

• 2011 MacBook Air i7 with 256GB SSD
• 2008 Mac Pro with 2 Xeon Quad-Core CPU’s, 16GB RAM, and 2 3TB hard drives
• 2011 Mac Mini Server
• 27″ Thunderbolt Display attached to the MacBook Air
• 30″ Apple Cinema Display connected to Mac Pro
• iPad 2
• iPad 1 3G
• Original iPhone, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4S, and two iPhone 4’s
• Logitech Mac Keyboard

There’s a Magic Trackpad and Magic Mouse in there too, and the MacBook Air looks to be on an mStand from Rain Design.

If you’re wondering why so many iPhones and iPads are necessary, keep in mind developers need a handful of devices around to test for compatibility and to find obscure bugs that only pop up in certain versions of iOS.

Great Mac setup Henry!

Send us pictures of your Apple & Mac hardware setups! Email them to osxdailycom@gmail.com and include some brief details on the hardware and what you use it for.

The iPad 3 will be priced the same as existing iPad 2 models, even though it is expected to have a significantly improved Retina display, a more powerful processor and graphics capabilities, and 4G LTE connectivity. This unsurprising report comes from 9to5mac, who cites a traditionally reliable source who even provided model numbers of the next-generation iPad. This means pricing for iPad 3 will be as follows:

Wi-Fi Models

• 16GB – $499
• 32GB – $599
• 64GB – $699

Cellular 3G / 4G LTE (?) Models

• 16GB – $629
• 32GB – $729
• 64GB – $829

9to5mac also mentions that some countries with a stronger currency will actually see prices for the iPad 3 go down slightly, though those countries and the final sale prices are not yet known.

While Apple rarely increases the price of products, there was a brief rumor passed around that pricing for the next gen iPad would be slightly higher to accommodate for increased production costs. That sounded unlikely to begin with, and now it appears even less likely.

The model numbers for iPad 3 are alleged to be as follows:

MC705LL/A – J1 GOOD A-USA
MC706LL/A – J1 BETTER A-USA
MC707LL/A – J1 BEST A-USA

MD328LL/A – J1 GOOD B- USA
MD329LL/A – J1 BETTER B-USA
MD330LL/A – J1 BEST-B-USA

MD366LL/A – J2A GOOD A-USA
MD367LL/A – J2A BETTER A-USA
MD368LL/A – J2A BEST A-USA

MD369LL/A – J2A GOOD B-USA
MD370LL/A – J2A BETTER B-USA
MD371LL/A – J2A BEST B-USA

J1 is said to be Wi-Fi and J2 are said to be cellular connected models. Presumably there are two of each to account for the iPad being available in both black and white colors.

iPad 3 will be launched on March 7 and is expected to ship soon after.

iOS 6 running on an iPad is beginning to make appearances in web logs, indicating that Apple is working on a future release of their mobile operating system. Virtually nothing is known about iOS 6 at this time, but it should come as no surprise that Apple is working on versions of iOS beyond the current iOS 5.1 beta.

The iOS 6 server log entries were first noticed by ArsTechnica, who narrowed down the origin of the iOS 6 user agents to Cupertino, California, the home of Apple Inc. Similar finds have become a somewhat reliable method of discovering future Apple OS releases prior to announcement, as demonstrated by with OS X 10.8 last October and OS X 10.7 a full year before its debut. This doesn’t indicate that iOS 6 will be released anytime soon however, though speculation suggests we could see an iOS 6 beta as soon as WWDC 2012.

Of course, it’s always possible that Apple will surprise everyone and skip iOS 5.1 completely in favor of iOS 6, but that seems unlikely given the current version of iOS is 5.0.1. The public version of iOS 5.1 is widely believed to debut as a free update alongside the launch of iPad 3 next week on March 7.

It is worth pointing out that spoofing user agents is ridiculously easy. For example, the string below will spoof a similar iOS 6 and iPad user agent to the target server of osxdaily.com, change the URL at the end to something else if you wish to fool others.

curl -A "Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; CPU OS 6_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/535.8 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.3.5 Mobile/8J2 Safari/535.8" https://osxdaily.com

That wouldn’t change your geographical location though, so you may need to book a flight to Cupertino if you really want to trick someone.