Jawbone Gets Back Up For The Second Time

You might remember when Jawbone announced the promising UP wristband that resembled what Nike was doing with their FuelBand just last year. However, the hardware design was subpar and ended up being recalled and Jawbone offered a "No Questions Asked" refund to all of its customers. 

Now, they're back at it again with the Jawbone UP 2.0 that features a much better redesign in both the hardware as well as the software. The main issue users had with the old UP was that water would sneak into the band itself and cause mayhem on the circuitry, leaving you with a dead or twitchy wristband. For some odd reason, Jawbone didn't think users would be "bending and playing" with the UP as much as they had planned, which led to more circuit board issues such as cracking. 

To redeem themselves, Jawbone has improved the overall bonding of the UP wristband and has upgraded their circuit boards with much more flexible versions. By decreasing the number of joints and exposed areas on the UP, it should reduce the number of problems users have experienced in the past version. 

On top of hardware, the iOS app got a nice makeover too. Featuring sleep tracking, smarter calorie counters and even some push notifications to recommend some jogging on your lazy days. 

These redesigned wristbands will be available for $129 and will be on sale immediately on their website. They are currently only available in black but will come in 8 different flavors later on. 

Apple Patent Suggest Thinner MacBook Pro

Rumors are now at full swing about Apple's next generation MacBook Pro portables. As we get closer to a potentially imminent refresh announcement of the MacBook Pro line, a new patent that has been recently discovered reveals that Apple has found a way to make its 0.95-inch thick MacBook Pros even thinner. How? The patent suggest that Apple found a way to redesign the optical drive that's slim enough for Apple to shave off a few more millimeters. Reducing moving parts inside the optical drive with specially designed magnets that create an magnetic field that will in turn quietly spin a CD, DVD and if we get lucky - Blu-ray. There's no knowing if Apple can actually pull this off, but at least they want to make things thinner.

iPhone 5 Physical Mockup Is Beautiful

The alleged iPhone 5 is starting to take shape after case leaks suggested a redesigned body with iPad 2-like characteristics. Until now we've seen countless renders of how the iPhone 5 will supposedly look like, but now an actual physical mockup of an iPhone 5 was made based on recent case leaks and hardware components. 

Based on CAD designs, hardware components, several leaked hints, cases and recent, believable mockups we created a three-dimensional computer model. This virtual model was then used to build a very detailed, true prototype that you can hold in your own two hands. 

The process to create this prototype is the same that’s used to create the iPad. The back was machined from a sold block of aluminium, which was later treated with glass pearls to get the same slightly rough touch that we already know from the iPad.

iPhone 5 mockup on the right

We've seen exact physical mockups of the iPad 2 week before it was released that have proven to be on point thanks to various case leaks of the iPad 2. This iPhone 5 mockup could really be what Apple has up its sleeve for when it will announce the next new iPhone on October 4.

Purported iPhone 5 Case VS. iPhone 4, Big Difference

As we reported in these past few weeks of new cases suggesting a drastically redesigned iPhone 5, more details have now surfaced showing exactly how big of a change there is between the redesigned iPhone 5 against the current iPhone 4. By the looks of it, the purported iPhone 5 case above points to a wider and slightly longer iPad 2 and iPod Touch 4G-like form factor with a relocated silent switch.

We could be totally off the guessing game though.This case might even suggest a newly redesigned iPod Touch 5G with a large screen while keeping its steep contoured design. It would make sense for Apple to enlarge the screen size of their beloved portable gaming device. I don't feel like ditching the blocky design of the iPhone 4 for the more iPod Touch 4G-like design makes sense because of how less comfortable it is to hold. You can see a lot more comparisson photos over at Macitynet.

Could This Be The Redesigned 2011 MacBook Air?

What looks like a totally new redesigned MacBook Air graphic has been recentely leaked in between the cracks of all the rumors that have been circling around in these recent weeks. M.I.C Gadget reports that it got a tip from a source at Foxconn, the manufacturing plant in China that produces Apple's desired gadgets, and they believe that it is the real deal. From the pic, it looks like Apple has redesigned the hinge and the external enclosure quite a bit from the current 2010 unibody MacBook Air. Further more, who ever leaked the image has also said the new 2011 MacBook Air is thinner and much lighter. It would be typical of Apple making the MacBook Air even thinner. The pic only reveals one side which shows an SD card slot and nothing else. Apple is expected to release an updated MacBook Air very soon, but a total redesign wasn't really anticipated.