Housed in a climate controlled storage facility operated by Stanford University, nearly 600 feet of shelf space is dedicated to preserve documents, videos and memorabilia of Apple and its early days as a young startup. The collection holds rare gems such as interviews with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, both of whom discuss some of the rationale behind Apple’s name — Jobs asserts that it was selected to place his company ahead of Atari in the phone book. Originally intended to furnish Apple’s corporate museum, the materials were donated to Stanford in 1997 after Steve Jobs’ return to the company, which was most concerned with financial survival at the time. According to the university, more than 20 significant collections have been added to the archives in the subsequent years.

The warehouse holds blueprints of the Apple I, user manuals, magazine ads, TV commercials and T-shirts, along with thousands of photographs that document Steve Jobs during his years as CEO of NeXT. Other rarities include a $5,000 loan document — signed by the two Steve’s and the partnership’s third co-founder, Ron Wayne — a spoof of Ghostbusters that starred former CEO John Sculley and other company leaders, who played “Blue Busters” to eliminate IBM, and handwritten sales entries of the very first Apple II’s. While the location of the facility is undisclosed, we can only hope that, someday, the collection will be showcased for fanboys, fangirls and the public alike.

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We’ve seen a jailbroken Apple TV running iOS apps but admittedly, the last demo we were treated to was brief, dimly lit and light on commentary. Now, the developers behind the Apple TV MobileX project are back with a longer, more explanatory video, and this time you can see apps like Facebook, YouTube, Safari and Maps running at 720p resolution. As you can see, the hack generally runs smoothly, though the dev narrating the video is quick to admit that certain apps such as Safari are sluggish due to the fact that he’s using VNC instead of a direct input method like a remote or mouse and keyboard. Curious? We’ve got video of the setup just past the break.

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Your momma always said your handsome mug would take you places. Now it might allow you to access your iPad. An Apple patent application released today describes a facial recognition system that requires minimal computing power, and works whether you’re indoors or out — we don’t use our tablets and phones in a photo booth, after all. The technology works by comparing a current image of your mug to a reference model user profile made using “high information” portions of the human face, like eyes and mouths.

Translation: it’ll take a picture, compare it against the pictures associated with various user accounts on the device and decide if the two images are similar enough to grant you access. Because this is just an application, it’s safe to say we won’t be seeing this kind of facial recognition in iOS anytime soon, but let’s hope it works better than the ICS version if it does.

An important thing to note is that Apple applied for this patent long before Android’s Face Unlock debuted a few months back. The paperwork was first submitted on June 29th, 2010 — it’s just now being disclosed to the public.

SOURCE via USPTO

We’ve seen Airplay work its way into Android phones thanks to apps before, but what if you to reverse the equation? What if you want to stream not from, but to a desert-flavored player. Well, it’s little more than a proof of concept at the moment, but Airtight does just that — turns your Google TV into an Airplay-compatible receiver. You’ll obviously have to be running the latest OS update to enable Market access, and the you’ll pay $0.99 for the privilege of tinkering with the still rather rough app. For the moment there is no support for streaming music (only videos), anything with DRM is wont play and mirroring is but a dream. But, it works, and that’s all that matters… right? Hit up the source link for more details and to purchase it now.

SOURCE via Airtight

There’s no doubt that the digital magazine’s road to success has been a bumpy one. The original — and still the main — idea was to push content creators and publishers forward in the paperless era, but there’s been many doubters and fallen soldiers in the process. While Apple hasn’t been the only outfit looking to bring the magazine to the small screen, the introduction of the Newsstand app in iOS 5 aimed to give digitized publications a place to shine on their own. According to AllThingsD, the shelf isn’t just a real estate hog on your springboard, it’s actually helping to boost sales; Popular Science alone has seen an uptick in subscriptions on the order of 11,000 since the app launched, and signs of slowdown are nowhere to be spotted. PopSci’s results may not be found in every publishing house, but it’s as solid a sign as any that the tactic may be working. Hit the source link for that chart action.

SOURCE via All Things D

Find yourself something Apple-flavored underneath the Christmas tree yesterday? Need some gentle coaxing into using iTunes? Well, you’re in luck; Cupertino’s annual download giveaway starts today and runs through January 6th. The free gifts kick off with some Coldplay tracks and videos from the band’s latest Apple-sponsored festival appearance. But don’t let that put you off; we expect to see more music, some apps and even books over the next few days. Each one’s available for just 24 hours, so it could be worth checking the dedicated app daily. It’s up for grabs at the link below.

SOURCE via Apple

It’s time to show your iPad who’s boss – that is, your iPhone, naturally. The Tizi Remote app is presently available for free via iTunes, letting you use your iPhone to change channels, record shows and pause live TV on iPads connected to the Tizi or Tizi Go TV receivers — and if you happen to have a 4S, you can harness the power of Siri to change channels for you. Sadly, neither of the aforementioned pieces of hardware are available stateside at the moment, so for now, you’ll just have to watch TV shows on your iPad the old fashioned way.

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Thought you’d have to wait until 2012 to snag an international iTunes Match account? Think again. It seems Apple ended its negotiations with British record companies earlier than expected, as the outfit prematurely launched the music matching service on Wednesday, pulled it and refunded early subscribers, and finally relaunched a fully functional Match to the international community on Thursday. Users from the UK, Australia, Canada, France, the Czech Republic and other countries are now reporting that the service is live, appearing in the iTunes Store and fully functional. If the US rollout was a little late, we certainly don’t mind the international debuting a tad early.

SOURCE via TUAW

In the market for a new case for the brand new iPhone 4S that you just pick up today? A fan of all things Jack White? If so, Griffin and Third Man records have teamed up to put a vinyl spin on your next Apple-friendly smartphone case. The pair has introduced a set of accessories that make use of a legit 7-inch record die-cut to protect the back of your mobile device, blending analog and digital without making a sound. Each case is comprised of a two-part frame that wraps those precious edges — with openings for controls and jacks, of course — and a piece of genuine vinyl, pressed right in Nashville. You’ll have your choice of three color variants that come with a Third Man-branded vinyl. If that’s not enough, you can spring for a set of three inserts, one from each of Mr. White’s musical projects. Protip: If you happen to opt for the extras and snag The Racounteur’s insert, this collaboration marks the first pressing of “Steady, As She Goes.” Each case is $30 and the set of extra inserts will set you back another Jackson.

If you fly as an American Airlines premium passenger, you’ll get to play with a Galaxy Tab. If you actually fly the plane, though, you’ll have to make do with an iPad. According to ZDNet, the carrier has already won FAA approval to use iPads “as electronic chart and digital flight manual readers,” making it the world’s first airline to be totally tablet friendly. A source close to the situation tells ZDNet that AA “will begin iPad operations on B-777 aircraft” before expanding to other planes, and that both first and second generation devices have been cleared for cockpit use. An AA pilot, meanwhile, tells TechCrunch that the company’s tablets will feature JeppTC (a flight chart app available in the App Store), and that all onboard slates will be required to fly with an extra battery. The program, slated to kick off this Friday, could also offer substantial savings in paper and fuel costs. According to Seattle Pi’s estimates, a single iPad would replace some 35 pounds of paper per year, translating to approximately $1.2 million in saved fuel costs. Insiders say United and Delta are pursuing similar initiatives, with the latter reportedly looking for an Android-specific solution, though at the moment, only American Airlines has won the FAA’s seal of approval.