An update on Apple’s rollout schedule for its long-awaited Retina MacBook Air range suggests that 11- and 12-inch versions will debut in October, though we might not see the 12-incher until next year.

There was plenty of chatter going around at the weekend with regard to the Retina MacBook Air – most of which stated that the new lineup would not in fact see the light of day until next year. However, a new report fresh from the Far East has now made the suggestion that plans are still very much on-course to get the Retina Air up, running and on the shelves before the end of 2014.

Well, most of the range at least.

According to the folks at Economic Daily News from Taiwan, the range as a whole has been penciled in for a 2014 launch, though the long-awaited 12-inch model will not in fact make an appearance until next year. The report states specifically that components for both the 11-inch and 13-inch variants are already on the move and assembly will shortly begin ahead of an estimated October rollout.

As for the 12-inch model, things are said to have hit one or two snags along the way and there just aren’t enough bits and pieces left to get enough of the things ready for the originally scheduled 2014 debut.

Instead, those holding out for the 12-inch MacBook Air will have to hold on for another few months at least.

Sony has bolstered its high-end music player arsenal with the striking NWZ-ZX1, though with a price of $700 and a rather bulky frame, it’s hard to see at first glance where its appeal lies.

It’s official – Sony is once again back in the Walkman game and delivering the goods like it always did. It’s been almost forty years since the first Sony Walkman totally revolutionized the way we look at music on the move, going on to become the defining gadget of the 80s and becoming an iconic status symbol in its own right.

Fast forward a few decades and we’re once again being given something of a taste of the past with the new Sony NWZ-ZX1. Not nearly as catchy title-wise, but it’s every inch a Walkman for the 21st century.

The only difference being that it doesn’t play cassettes…and it costs a painful $700 to buy.

What’s the appeal of the new Walkman? Well, it’s hard to put your finger on at first as it’s too expensive, too bulky, too heavy and generally too niche to be any kind of rival for the iPod. Nonetheless, it’s chalked up some pretty good sales in its native Japan and has also whet the whistles of a fair few others across Europe – it hasn’t seen the light of day in the US yet and we’re not sure if it ever will.

So just to reiterate, it’s more expensive than the iPod by hundreds of dollars, it’s way bigger and it’s much heavier too, so what’s the point?

Simple really – it’s one of the most advanced and capable dedicated audio players of its kind ever launched. It supports 24-bit, 192kHz Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) audio files, which is pretty much the gold standard for digital audio. It also has a full 128GB of storage space, which towers over most rival devices of its kind. And according to Sony, the case of the thing is hand-carved from a single lump of aluminum and delivers unprecedented noise-cancelling.

It’s hard not to be a little disappointed by the touchscreen however – the 4-inch panel delivers no more than 854 x 480 pixels. As such, videos and photographs don’t exactly look mind-blowing, but at the same time they’re not what the NWZ-ZX1 was built for.

So the long story short is that if you take your music VERY seriously, you’ll totally get the idea of the NWZ-ZX1.

Otherwise, you’ll wonder where the hell your $700 went.

Fresh rumors are circulating on the subject of the Sony Xperia Z3, suggesting that the device could jump the gun on many of its new-generation rivals with an early August release date.

More details are beginning to creep out of the woodwork on what’s to come with the Sony Xperia Z3 and when. It’s generally been assumed for some time that the new flagship would make its way out at IFA in September, but there are those that remain adamant we’ll be seeing it long before the end of the summer…or mid-August, more specifically.

There had been some debate as to whether or not the Z3 would launch with a standard 1080p HD panel or take things right up to the new QHD 2K standard. Well, the good news is that common sense seems to have prevailed and Sony has indeed fitted the thing with a panel right on-par with the likes of the LG G3.

Under the hood, power comes courtesy of the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 CPU clocked at 3.1GHz, there’s an unprecedented 4GB of RAM to play with and storage options will range from 32GB to 128GB…all according to the rumor mill, of course.

Of course, there are those that have taken things a step or two beyond the realms of common sense by suggesting that the Z3 will boast a 50-megapixel primary camera, which by anyone’s reckoning is simply ridiculous. Still, it’s a sure-fire sign that expectations are suitably high and we’re still keeping our fingers crossed for that early August release date.

Apple has once again managed to outperform Google in a big way on the subject of app-generated revenues, despite having accrued a much lower quarterly download total.

Google has been making serious progress as of late with its app sales, but still hasn’t managed to dethrone Apple in terms of download-generated revenues.

According to the latest round of figures from App Annie’s, Android App downloads for Q2 2014 rocketed an impressive 60% compared to the prior quarter. By contrast, Apple’s iOS app downloads accelerated by 45% compared to the first three months of the year.

In specifics, Android App downloads tipped the 150 million mark for the second quarter of the year, compared to the 100 million or so recorded at the end of Q1. The growing popularity of Smartphones in developing markets like India and Brazil contributed to the surge in app downloads in a big way, with India having now become the third biggest market of all for Android app downloads.

Despite such huge progress in app downloads however, the revenue figures for the same period didn’t look quite so impressive. Even though Apple’s iOS app downloads came out considerably lower than Android app downloads for the period, the Cupertino bunch still managed to take home a full 80% more revenue than the folks at Mountain View.

Revenue for iOS downloads was up by 45% to hit around $100 million generated revenues, while Google had to make do with a comparatively paltry $60 million.

A video clip of the upcoming Xbox One title ‘Destiny’ running in full 1080p HD has been captured and shared for the first time.

There’s a glorious new 1080p HD video clip of Destiny for Xbox One doing the rounds today – the first time the title has ever been seen running in full HD.

Courtesy of the folks at IGN, we’re now able to see exactly what the gameplay will look like when the long-awaited shooter hits the shelves in the coming weeks.

So far, all clips have been capture from the beta build, which has been limited to 900p. However, the final version of Destiny will run in glorious 1080p and at 30 frames per second on both the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One – this being your first real taster of what to expect.
Destiny is scheduled to launch on all formats on September 9.

 

Reports from the Far East have warned the punters not to expect sapphire glass to appear on all variants of the iPhone 6, as Apple has apparently run into one or two hiccups in the production of the panels.

Most of the leaks to come out of the iPhone 6 rumor mill as of late have concerned the device’s supposed sapphire display. We’ve seen it bent, we’ve seen it run over by a car and we’ve seen it attacked with a dagger…not that it’s generating hype, or anything.

Well here’s the bad news – it’s now looking like the vast majority of iPhone 6 buyers won’t be able to stab their new devices with pointy things after all. Sapphire glass may make an appearance on a few selection units, but if supply chain reports are anything to go by, there just aren’t enough of the panels to go around.

So for the rest of us, it’s back to non-stabable glass…which is a shame.

The track record of the folks at The Tapei Times is mixed to say the least, but they have been known to come up with the goods rumor-wise. This time around, they’ve warned that Apple may only be able to come up with a…ahem, ‘paltry’ 10 million sapphire screens for the iPhone 6 by the end of the year. For most this would be more than enough, but they’re planning to sell so damn many of the things that 10 million won’t even scratch the surface…no pun intended.

As for choosing which of the lucky few will get the sapphire screens, it’s generally assumed that they’ll be reserved for the bigger spenders who are apparently more like to get their iPhones stabbed or run over. Or in other words, you’ll have to fork out for the 128GB version that’s likely to tip to $1,000 mark if you want to play with knives.

Would a distinct lack of sapphire glass goodness put you off buying an iPhone 6, or is it the kind of thing that really doesn’t mean a great deal to you?

The countdown is on to the launch of the Nvidia Shield Tablet, which has the very real potential to change the way we look at mobile gaming forever.

So it’s looking like we’re just three days away from one of the biggest arrivals of the year…at least if you’re of the hardcore gaming persuasion, that is.

The Nvidia Shield Tablet lands in 72 hours.

It’s been pretty obvious for a while that Nvidia has been baking something rather significant behind the scenes, with all manner of leaks pointing to a rather colossal gaming tablet. Not that they’ve confirmed any such thing themselves, but beady-eyed observers have extracted all the details that could have been needed to know what’s happening.

Now, there’s a naughty-little countdown timer teasing a launch set to take place on July 22, which again hasn’t been explained. Instead, Nvidia has told the world that “The ultimate is coming” which given the firm’s already well-established prowess in gaming stakes could be quite game-changing…no pun intended.

Pulling together the facts and figures to date, the Nvidia Shield Tablet as it’s being called will be something of an uber-powerful gaming tablet powered by Google’s Android OS. Reports have tipped a mighty Nividia Tegra K1 chip at its heart and a 7.9-inch touchscreen boasting 2,048 by 1,536 resolution. In addition, it will also apparently be able to stream games directly from PCs in the same manner as the shield.

Exciting stuff, isn’t it?

Sony upped its lead to a six-nil hammering in June, having outpaced the Xbox One with its PS4 for the sixth month in a row.

Microsoft has really gone to town as of late in getting its Xbox One off the shelves, and has for the most part done a damn good job of it too. The genius idea of binning the Kinect sensor and lowering the price by a full $100 worked a treat, with sales volumes pretty much doubling in the immediate aftermath.

Sadly though it wasn’t enough, as just when it looked like Microsoft was about to overtake Sony, the PlayStation 4 romps home with its fourth monthly win in a row. NPD has officially revealed that the best-selling console for June was again the PS4, meaning it’s so far been a clear sweep for the whole first half of 2014.

And it’s not just the Xbox One the PS4 beat out either NPD also suggests that it ran circles around the PS3 and the Xbox 360. It was nice to hear that the Nintendo Wii U had a bit of a better month…not that it’d have taken much…by selling a full 48% more units than in the same month last year. Needless to say, the launch of Mario Kart 8 played a pretty pivotal role in the Wii U’s spike, so it remains to be seen if it can keep up the momentum.

What’s interesting to not however is that while Microsoft has beamed proudly and loudly about Xbox One sales doubling for the month, they weren’t willing to shed any light on the exact figure shifted. Admittedly the same can be said for Sony, which leads the rest of us to assume that the numbers themselves are not exactly worth shouting about.