Japanese, Russians and Mandarin-speaking Chinese rejoice because Siri is reported to be able to speak your language by March this year. According to a Chinese tech blog DoNews, they reported that Apple engineers are currently working on the Mandarin version of Siri and it is already in testing phase now.

While Siri may be able to speak 3 new languages by next month (and hopefully 4 because it was rumored last year that the team behind Siri was working on a Bahasa Malaysia version as well expected to be released in the first half of this year) on top of the 3 existing English dialects and 2 other languages, it still doesn’t mean that Siri is closer to any of us – it still won’t be able to give you location-based requests outside of the States which makes all those “I’m sorry, I’m unable to find restaurants in Malaysia” very annoying.

No news have been released regarding whether it’ll support other languages like Taiwanese Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and such but let’s hope the new language support indicates that Apple is working hard on Siri and bringing it closer to us and hopefully to its other devices.

In a bid to keep iPhones sold in Hong Kong on the island nation, Apple has reintroduced reserve and pick up pages for the smartphones. The difference this time around is the inclusion of the customer’s Hong Kong identity card number within the registration form, which goes live between 9am and 12pm each day. The aim is put breaks on the speculative smartphone buyers picking up several devices to mule across to mainland China. You’ll still need a bit of luck; Apple performs a random draw each day for those that registered, and ‘winners’ are informed via email. Each card can apparently buy a limited quantity of the in-demand phone — one that’s getting some smartphone obsessives a little too hot under the collar.

SOURCE via Apple

Getting a new Apple product like the iPhone and iPad has never been an easy task; people had to queue up overnight, some launch their product in midnight but thanks to scalpers in Hong Kong, getting the new iPhone 4S has just gotten much harder. Buyers of the iPhone 4S in Hong Kong will now need to reserve the phone online and present their ID before being able to get their hands on the new gadget.

But it’s not as simple as that because these customers won’t be guaranteed a unit. There’ll only be limited units of the phone available each day so Apple will be using a lottery system to randomly pick eligible customers. This also means that the company will no longer be selling the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S to walk-in customers. For those who are lucky enough to be picked, Apple will send a confirmation email to them with the time to pick up the phone. A government-issued photo ID matching the name and ID number used for reservation must be presented at purchase.

All that effort just to get a phone that has been released for quite some time already? Is it even worth it?

Hit the break to see the full message from Apple.

Due to high demand, we are accepting a limited number of iPhone reservations per day. To request an iPhone reservation, please choose your store and the iPhone you want. If we have an iPhone reservation for you, you’ll receive a confirmation email by 9:00 p.m. tonight that includes the time when you can pick up your iPhone tomorrow. A government-issued photo ID matching the name and ID number on your reservation is required for iPhone purchases. If you don’t receive an email, we were unable to reserve an iPhone for you, and you can try again another time. Only those who receive an email confirming their reservation will be able to purchase an iPhone; we will not be selling iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S to walk-in customers.

Rhyming schemes aside, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would want a camera-less iPhone 4S. But that’s exactly what Singaporean operator M1 is offering today, with the launch of a new line of “non-camera” iPhones. As it turns out, Singapore’s military prohibits its soldiers from owning camera-equipped cellphones, which presents problems for the many men who have to serve a mandatory two-year term. With M1′s new modified iPhone 4 and 4S, though, they’ll be in the clear, since both devices have been approved by no less an authority than Singapore’s Ministry of Defense, or MINDEF. According to the provider, both front- and rear-facing cameras have been completely removed from the devices, and “may not be reinstalled.” They’re all available now on a two-year plan, for about $38 more than their fully-outfitted counterparts. Singapore’s two other operators, SingTel and StarHub, tell CNET that they’re also looking to roll out a line of MINDEF-approved iPhones, though neither could offer a timeline for their release.

SOURCE via CNET

What you really want to do is bet your own money on your guess. Paddy Power is offering some options, but it is not the general “digital textbook” guess you want to bet on — it is rated at a measly 1/6.

An iPad Lite announcement would hand you a 6/1 quote and an iPad 3 even 9/1. You could go for Apple’s TV for 16/1, the iPhone 5 for 20/1, or, if you are among the big risk takers, an “Apple Robot Teacher” for 40/1. The company is also offering bets on the number of iPad releases this year – 16/1 for none, 10/11 for one release and 4/5 for two.

“Like all tech junkies I’m awaiting the latest Apple announcement with bated breath, it looks very likely that they’re on the verge of launching electronic textbooks, but I don’t think it’s beyond those geniuses at Apple to build a robot teacher,” a spokesperson was quoted.

So, are you going to put your money where your mouth is?

Apple store employees are not used to being greeted by flying eggs launched from a rioting crowd. However, that’s what happened earlier last Friday at Apple’s flagship store in Beijing’s Sanlitun district. A substantial number of people waited through the night in freezing temperatures, hoping to get their hands on an iPhone 4S in the morning.

But when it was time to open the doors, the store management decided it could not ensure the safety of its customers and staff, and thus announced via a bullhorn that the phone would not be sold after all. For the time being, Apple said, the iPhone 4S will not be available in five retail stores in Beijing and Shanghai.

The crowd reportedly did not take it too well, and demanded the doors to open, yelling “liars!” Police support was required to restore order when eggs hit the windows of the store. Apple, which has mastered the art of hyping its product, was chastised by Chinese market researchers.

“Everybody knows there will be massive numbers of people when Apple has this kind of a launch,” said Shaun Rein, from China Market Research Group, in a conversation with Bloomberg. “This shows very poor retail management ability.”

It appears that the rollout of the phone went smoothly in most other locations. Customers are still able to order the phone via Apple’s online store as well as through the carrier China Unicom.

No Apple product launch is complete without long lines, frustration and utter exhaustion. Unfortunately, the arrival of the iPhone 4S has escalated this reality to a new level in China. We’re now reading reports of fights breaking out between competing gangs of scalpers in the country, each hoping to get their hands on large quantities of Cupertino’s latest smartphone. The conflicts have been significant enough to attract the attention of Chinese police, and we now hear that the Apple Store in Beijing is keeping its doors locked in attempt to make the crowds leave. While we’ve yet hear of any significant injuries, it seems the company’s storefront is now coated with plenty of eggs. If you’re interested to keep track of the unfortunate situation, you’ll find more coverage below and a video after the break. Read more…

T-Mobile’s now the lone national player in the US telecom market that hasn’t enjoyed the success of the iPhone, and we’ve heard on several occasions that its top brass isn’t oblivious to the effect that its exclusion from Apple’s graces has had on the company, going as far to say that the ball is ultimately “in Apple’s court.”

But in a recent interview, it sounds as though T-Mo CTO Neville Ray has seen some of Apple’s roadmap, and the next chipset — the one that ideally would be included in the next iteration of the iPhone — will be offering support for Magenta’s AWS radio. If true, we’d certainly expect the carrier’s bad fortunes to turn around… unless Apple chooses to keep T-Mobile out of its club regardless, which Ray mentioned was a distant possibility.

If LTE is also included, the fourth-largest US carrier will still be a bit behind by simply not having the next-gen network connectivity — although Ray did specify that it isn’t impossible to deploy LTE in certain areas by repurposing spectrum — but we have a feeling there will be plenty of people willing to forego that bullet point on the spec list in order to get their hands on an iPhone with genuine T-Mobile HSPA+ support.

SOURCE via CNET

It’s been a while since the last beta, but Apple’s already begun pushing iOS 5.1 beta 3 to development iOS devices. The 77.4MB update is now live on Apple’s developer website, and is said to fix the 3G toggle absent on the iPhone 4S.

Apple’s voice activated assistant Siri is a lot of things, but foul-mouthed is not one of them. However, it seems one prankster in the United Kingdom discovered a way to force Siri swear. And swear he did, at a 12-year-old boy.*

According to the Telegraph, 12-year-old Charlie Le Quesne was at the Tesco branch in Coventry when the incident occurred. The boy was playing with a display unit iPhone 4S and asked Siri the world’s population. His parents were horrified when the answer the phone gave included ‘shut the f*ck up you ugly tw*t.’

The mystery was quickly solved when the boy’s mother, Kim, complained to Tesco staff. As any Siri user will know, the Apple assistant refers to the user by name according to what’s entered in the set-up instructions. The staffs say someone had tampered with this feature, entering in the phrase as the username on the phone. However, in a statement, Tesco said that it would be sending the phone back to Apple, anyway.

“We have launched an investigation. The handset will be going back to Apple for diagnostic tests,” the Telegraph cites the retailer as saying.

SOURCE via The Telegraph