AT&T executives have reportedly been working with Apple to resolve the issues regarding its highly criticized network issues. iPhone users have long complained about dropped calls and slow data connections.

Now, as rumors circulate (again) that Verizon iPhone is in the works, AT&T is reportedly working with Apple on improving network communication. AT&T executives flew to Apple's campus last year to assure Apple CEO Steve Jobs that they were working to resolve the issues and instruct Apple handset designers on wireless networking, AT&T Chief Technology Officer John Donovan told "The New York Times" (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230473910457515407278419861...).

In mid-December, AT&T executives set up a 100-day plan to dramatically improve the company's...

Encoding.com, a global provider of studio-class online video encoding services, has announced support for HTTP Live Streaming for Apple’s iPhone, iPod touch, and the iPad mobile devices.

HTTP streaming enables publishers to provide users with a better video experience by continuously adapting the video stream in real-time to match the user’s available bandwidth, says Encoding.com CEO Jeremy Farber. Encoding.com is excited to bring Apple’s new capability to the five hundred customers currently in its roster, he adds.

Starting with iPhone OS 3.0 and QuickTime X, video producers can deliver streaming audio and video over HTTP from an ordinary web server for playback on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad mobile devices. This is called HTTP Live Streaming and supports both live broadcasts and video on demand. Because it uses HTTP, most edge servers, media distributors, caching systems, routers and firewalls support this type of streaming.

Ken Winograd and Space-Time Associates (http://www.winograd.com) has updated TinyBooks Pro, its Mac accounting and bookkeeping program, to version 7.0.4. The upgrade improves the importing of old TinyBooks documents, improves the built-in help text and error messages and improves the Recur Dialog.

TinyBooks Pro is a single-entry bookkeeping and accounting system designed for sole proprietors, home and other small businesses, and family finances. To use you enter your expenses and income, and TinyBooks Pro does the rest. Current and year-to-date on-the-fly totals are continually displayed. Fully automatic bar-charting of all expense and income accounts make the determination of monthly trends intuitively obvious, according to the folks at Space-Time Associates.

TinyBooks Pro 7.0.4 is exclusively for Intel-based Macs and is available now. TinyBooks (the non-Pro TinyBooks) is still available for those...

Kyte (http://www.kyte.com) -- an online, mobile and social video platform for live and on-demand content -- has announced an SDK (software development kit) for developing Kyte-powered iPad apps for distribution through the AppleApp Store, as well as web-based support for the iPad through a new, universal embed code that outputs HTML5 video.

The new SDK and HTML5 support provides media companies and marketers with the flexibility and choice to build native iPad applications, or extend compatibility of their new or existing Kyte-powered websites to the iPad, says Gannon Hall, chief operating officer, Kyte. In addition to its robust online video platform, Kyte gives organizations the ability to add social and interactive capabilities to video content and to natively distribute that content across the iPad, iPhone/iPod touch, BlackBerry, Android and Nokia platforms, he adds.

Hall says that aAdditional key...

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster is predicting that Apple will sell 150,000 to 200,000 iPads this weekend. He's also forecasting 2010 total sales of of 2.8 million iPads.

As noted by "Silicon Alley Insider" (http://macosg.me/2/27), those numbers are much lower than some estimates of six million to 10 million unit sales. However, Munster goes on to say that the apps will ultimately "drive demand longer term" for the iPad. The Sellers Research Firm (that's me) predicts 500,000 unit sales this weekend and nine million total for 2010.

The iPad will be available in Wi-Fi models in the US for a suggested retail price of US$499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB, and $699 for 64GB. The Wi-Fi + 3G models will be available in late April for a suggested retail price of $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32GB and $829 for 64GB. The iPad will be sold in the US through the Apple Store (...

Apple has released updates for QuickTime, iTunes and iPhoto. You can obtain 'em via the Software Updates component of Mac OS X's Systems Preferences app.

QuickTime 7.6.6 addresses 16 security issues on both the Mac and Windows platforms. iTunes 9.1.0 has five security fixes and adds support for iPad syncing and iBooks organizing and syncing. iPhoto 8.1.2 adds iPad support and boasts syncing improvements.

Dot Hill (http://www.dothill.com), a provider of storage solutions and software for OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), open storage partners and system integrators, has expanded its channel program with the introduction of its next-generation AssuredSAN disk-to-disk data protection appliances targeted at small-to-medium businesses (SMBs).
 
The Dot Hill AssuredSAN 3000 Series, based on the company’s new 3000 Series storage platform announced in February, features a suite of disaster recovery applications, including Dot Hill’s new AssuredRemote remote replication software. The Dot Hill AssuredSAN 3000 Series is available through Dot Hill channel partners now. List prices are expected to start at US$20,200 for a dual controller Fibre Channel system fully populated with 500GB SATA drives.

Beginning in the fall of 2010, all first year undergraduate students at Seton Hill University (http://www.setonhill.edu) will receive a 13-inch MacBook and an iPad. They'll have complete access to these mobile technologies for classes as well as at all times for personal use.

After two years, Seton Hill will replace the laptop with a new one -- one that students can take with them when they graduate. The university says the technology is designed to allow students to stay in touch with professors, advisors, and classmates, research any topic at any time, engage in hybrid and fully on-line courses, and access a whole host of Seton Hill technology services.

Seton Hill is a Catholic university rooted in Judeo-Christian values. It's located in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi is telling clients that he expects Apple to sell between 300,000 and 400,000 iPads over launch weekend–including pre-sales. But he figures the device will sell five million in its first full year at market and 6.8 million in fiscal year 2011, according to "All Things D" (http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20100330/ipad-expectations-“over-zealous”/?mod=ATD_rss).

"We note that the initial iPad launch will be a US only launch and will not include 3G models; we suspect that total (including pre-sales) first weekend sales will be slightly higher than the original iPhone’s first weekend (270K), given the iPhone had a similar price, and was US exclusive (although it did not offer pre-orders),” Sacconaghi told clients. "Our analysis suggests that iPhone sales run rates have fallen significantly (i.e., by a factor of 4x – 9x) following launch weekends; we think a drop-off in sales at the high end of this range is likely appropriate for the iPad,...

Earlier this month it was announced that Valve (http://www.valuesoftware.com) will be bringing Steam, Valve's gaming service, and Source, Valve's gaming engine, to the Mac. And the company is now accepting beta testers for the Mac service. You can sign up at http://store.steampowered.com/macbeta/ .

Steam and Valve's library of games including Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half-Life series will be available in April.

"As we transition from entertainment as a product to entertainment as a service, customers and developers need open, high-quality Internet clients," says Valve President Gabe Newell, "The Mac is a great platform for entertainment services."

"Our Steam partners, who are delivering over a thousand games to 25 million Steam clients, are very...

Elan Microelectronics Corp., a Taiwanese maker of chips and touch-screens, has asked a U.S. trade agency to ban the import and sale of some Apple products, including the iPad, because of alleged patent infringement.

"BusinessWeek" (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-30/elan-files-itc-complaint-aga...) reports that Elan’s complaint was filed yesterday with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington claims Apple “knowingly and deliberately” used Elan’s technology, while continuing to introduce infringing products The petition also seeks to ban imports of the iPhone and iPod touch products, Elan said in the complaint.

Elan sued Apple in April 2009 , alleging infringement of two of its touch screen patents, The...