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Though the iPad is only compatible with AT&T’s 3G network in the U.S., that hasn’t stopped Verizon from telling its employees to pitch its own data plans, shared via Wi-Fi, to prospective buyers of Apple’s new hardware.

Calling the nation’s largest wireless provider an “eternal optimist,” Engadget obtained a copy of an internal memo from Verizon, which calls the impending launch of the iPad an “opportunity” for the carrier to court new customers. Verizon salespeople could convince customers to buy a Wi-Fi-only version of the iPad and connect it to the Verizon 3G network with a device like the MiFi.

The company memo notes that the 3G-compatible iPad costs an extra $130, and claims the device will not be directly sold by AT&T. Since sales, customer service and billing will all be through Apple, Verizon believes it could convince some customers to use its data plans instead.

“Why pay more for the 3G version & get 3G service on an overloaded network with limited coverage?” the memo reads.

But a Verizon customer using the MiFi device to tether to its 3G network would pay about $60 per month for a 5GB data-only plan, a rate much higher than the $29.99 unlimited offered without contract by AT&T. And at Verizon’s price, a data-only plan would exceed the $130 premium for 3G connectivity in just a matter of months.

Prior to the iPad’s unveiling, rumors persisted for months that Verizon was a potential partner for data on the device. However, it is rumored that AT&T outbid Verizon by offering cheaper data plans without contract. AT&T’s iPad plans will also offer free access to AT&T’s nationwide hotspots.
As a contract-free purchase, users can buy a 3G-enabled version of the iPad starting at $629. The AT&T network access can be purchased — or canceled — at any time directly from the iPad. Though the device ships unlocked, due to hardware limitations it will only have access to AT&T’s 3G data network in the U.S.

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TechCrunch discusses a picture that is being pieced together from reports from App Store developers suggesting that Apple is looking to crack down on “cookie cutter” iPhone applications that offer little more than could be offered through a web app.

Between the developers I spoke to, the consensus was this: Apple doesn’t appear to be opposed to ‘app generators’ and templates per se, but in the last month or so it has started cracking down on basic applications that are little more than RSS feeds or glorified business cards. In short, Apple doesn’t want people using native applications for things that a basic web app could accomplish.

The report offers a lengthy quote from Medialets CEO Eric Litman, who notes that Apple is looking to ensure that iPhone applications offer high-quality experiences that set the iPhone apart from other devices.

Apple wants iPhone apps to be superior to Web experiences because they are extremely sticky and drive people specifically to buy the iPhone over competing smartphone platforms. Apps that are too simple or largely indistinguishable from the Web, other apps or particularly other apps on other platforms send the message to end users that the iPhone app ecosystem might not be particularly special.

In particular, Apple appears to be focusing on submissions from app-building services that utilize only basic templates to generate their products, many of which are little more than spammy regurgitations of Web content. Others involve partnerships with quality content providers but do not offer features that drive a compelling user experience.

According to the report, some app-building services like Appmakr have embraced the shift, working to incorporate more advanced tools such as in-app purchasing, push notifications, and offline access in order to offer the richer experience Apple is looking for. Appmakr hopes that its efforts will not go unnoticed by Apple, allowing it to become a “trusted” developer that could streamline the review process for its applications.

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Valve Software today officially announced that it is bringing its Steam game distribution platform, as well as its own library of games, to Mac OS X next month.

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,” said Gabe Newell, President of Valve. “The Mac is a great platform for entertainment services.”

Valve also confirmed reports that it will offer its forthcoming Portal 2 game as a simultaneous release for Mac and Windows.

Portal 2 will be Valve’s first simultaneous release for Mac and Windows. “Checking in code produces a PC build and Mac build at the same time, automatically, so the two platforms are perfectly in lock-step,” said Josh Weier, Portal 2 Project Lead. “We’re always playing a native version on the Mac right alongside the PC. This makes it very easy for us and for anyone using Source to do game development for the Mac.”

Also included in the announcement is the addition of a new “Steam Play” feature for Steam, allowing purchasers of either the Mac or PC versions of Valve’s games to play on the other system free of charge. Third-party game developers distributing through Steam are also widely expected to take advantage of the feature.

Valve leaked a series of teaser images hinting at its move to the Mac platform last week.

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Last month, speculation that a number of minor iPhone applications such as Stocks, Weather, Voice Memo, Clock, and Calculator “missing” from the iPad could reappear in some sort of “widget mode” similar to Dashboard on Mac OS X received a bit of publicity.

According to Daring Fireball’s John Gruber’s sources, however, there is no secret “widget mode” and these applications were in fact scrapped by Apple CEO Steve Jobs after internal “blown up” versions of them for the iPad were deemed unsatisfactory.

It’s not that Apple couldn’t just create bigger versions of these apps and have them run on the iPad. It wasn’t a technical problem, it was a design problem. There were, internally to Apple (of course), versions of these apps (or least some of them) with upscaled iPad-sized graphics, but otherwise the same UI and layout as the iPhone versions. Ends up that just blowing up iPhone apps to fill the iPad screen looks and feels weird, even if you use higher-resolution graphics so that nothing looks pixelated. So they were scrapped by you-know-who. Perhaps they’ll appear on the iPad in some re-imagined form this summer with OS 4.0, but when the iPad ships next month, there won’t be versions of these apps. At least that’s the story I’ve heard from a few well-informed little birdies.

(There is, alas, no secret “widget” mode for iPad in OS 3.2, either.)

Gruber further notes that, while some iPhone games will work well on the iPad, simpler non-game iPhone applications will just feel strange whether run full-screen or in the iPhone-sized box in the middle of the screen. Similar observations were made by a number of attendees at Apple’s media event to introduce the iPad. In particular, the Facebook iPhone application was thought by many to look and feel slightly “off” at the expanded size.

Many developers will likely take advantage of the iPad’s expanded screen real estate to offer enhanced versions of their iPhone applications, and Apple could easily due the same with its own minor applications if it so chooses, but it may take some time for those reworked versions to be completed.

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Apple subsidiary FileMaker today announced the release of FileMaker Pro 11, the latest version of its popular database application. The updated version brings several new features, as well as streamlined productivity tools for simpler and faster database creation.

“FileMaker Pro 11 is designed for solving real-world business problems, such as the need for interpreting business data,” said Ryan Rosenberg, vice president, marketing and services, FileMaker, Inc. “With easy-to-use integrated charting, we bring dynamic visual reporting to FileMaker Pro 11 users. We also provide new tools to boost all users’ productivity, helping novice and expert users alike build, share and publish better databases.”

Charts and reports are improved in FileMaker Pro 11 with the addition of more powerful, dynamic charts available as tabs within layouts or published to the web with FileMaker Pro Instant Web Publishing. New “Quick Reports” and an improved Layout/Report Assistant also aid users in generating easy-to-digest versions of their data.

FileMaker Pro 11 also includes several new productivity tools to assist users with database creation.

- Innovative Quick Find with iTunes style that searches across all fields within a layout
- Inspector, a master tool palette that controls layout objects and properties in one convenient place
- Object Badges to visually identify scripted fields in layouts with color-coded icons
- A new Invoices Starter Solution, one of more than 30 built-in solutions, designed to track product and customer details and create, manage and print customized invoices for every order
- An improved Quick Start Screen to help users create new databases, manage favorite files and find helpful resources
- Text highlighting to emphasize key words or numbers in fields

Finally, FileMaker Pro 11 offers several new collaboration tools, enabling users to create “Snapshot Links” of data presentation for sharing with others, as well as assisting with recurring data imports.

Also available today are FileMaker Pro 11 Advanced, offering additional development and customization tools, and FileMaker Server 11, bringing several new tools to the company’s solution for centrally-hosted databases.

FileMaker Pro 11 is priced at $299 for new users and $179 for upgrade users, with FileMaker Pro 11 Advanced checking in at $499 and $299 respectively. The basic FileMaker Server 11 is priced at $999/$599, while FileMaker Server 11 Advanced carries a price tag of $2,999/$1,799. All versions are available today.

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AppleInsider reports that Apple is preparing to introduce HDMI connectivity into some its new Macs later this year, bringing increased compatibility with home theater systems as well as the ability to deliver both video and audio over a single cable.

More specifically, prototypes of a new Mac mini — Apple’s smallest and most affordable system, commonly employed by tech savvy Mac users as an ad-hoc living room media server, has been making the rounds with an HDMI port in place of its legacy DVI connector, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The Mac mini prototypes are claimed to look otherwise identical to existing models and continue to offer a mini DisplayPort alongside the HDMI port.

As the report notes, HDMI is electrically compatible with the DVI standard, allowing conversions from one connector to the other with a simple dongle. Unlike DVI, however, HDMI also offers support for audio, which would allow purchasers of future Mac mini models to connect their machines to their televisions or home theater systems with a single HDMI cable, as the Apple TV does today.

The report’s sources claim that the Mac mini prototypes include NVIDIA’s MCP89 chipset, although a licensing dispute between Intel and NVIDIA over chipsets for Intel’s Nehalem platform suggests that Apple may have to continue using Intel Core 2 Duo processors in the next-generation Mac mini models if it is planning to use NVIDIA’s chipset. Alternatively, Apple may choose to utilize an Intel chipset that would allow it to take advantage of Nehalem processors.

As for Apple’s other Mac lines, the report claims that Apple has also prepared a mini DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter capable of carrying both video and audio. The adapter reportedly had been scheduled to ship with Apple’s most recent iMac revision alongside Blu-ray drives, but was scrapped as part of the decision to not include Blu-ray compatibility.

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Gizmodo reports that it has received official word from Apple that the company has addressed issues with flickering and yellow tinting on its 27-inch iMac models.

We’ve addressed the issues that caused display flickering and yellow tint. Customers concerned that their iMac is affected should contact AppleCare.

For its part, however, Gizmodo notes that it is still receiving reports of yellow-tinted displays from iMac purchasers, although it is encouraged by reports of at least some customers receiving machines free of the issue.

Early reports of flickering have been addressed through a pair of firmware updates that appear to have solved the problem for existing users. More recent complaints of yellow-tinting on the iMac’s displays also surfaced, with a report claiming that Apple had at least internally acknowledged the issue and had halted production of the machines pending a fix.

Apple quickly refuted claims that production had been halted, and pointed to high demand as the cause of ongoing shipping delays for the machines. Apple had also reportedly been offering 15% rebates to purchasers of the troubled machines, but today’s comments from Apple are the first official claim that both issues have been addressed.

Meanwhile, availability of the 27-inch iMac models has continued to improve, drifting down to 3-5 business days for shipping windows earlier this week from 5-7 business days earlier and as much as three weeks for orders placed through Apple’s U.S. online store back in January.

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Apple may have low supplies of the iPad if it goes on sale as planned, according to a note by Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek. He claims that Hon Hai Precision (Foxconn) has had an “unspecified production problem” and that Apple might have just 300,000 tablets available by the end of March. Allegedly, the American company had expected as many as one million iPads for the same period.

The shortage could create a ripple effect and whittle down Apple’s predictions for April, which Misek claims sat at 800,000 until now. He speculates that Apple could even push back the launch by a month to ensure enough stock, although this remains just a possibility.

Technical issues are believed to have led to the iPad facing an original delay as glass strength issues may have prevented Apple from producing as many as it would have liked. It’s unclear if this plays into Misek’s predictions. Apple, however, has indirectly hinted at possible production concerns as the 3G-capable iPad’s release was set from the start to take place in April, or enough time to build the extra units.

As with most analyst reports, Apple hasn’t commented on the accuracy of the supposed leak.

Such a delay would put Apple in the same situation as many of the e-book device makers it hopes to compete against. Amazon’s first two holidays of Kindle sales were plagued by sustained shortages that most now believe directly stemmed from supply issues that weren’t cleared up until 2009. Barnes & Noble also encountered a similar problem, promising the Nook in October but failing to ship the Android e-reader to retail stores until mid-February. In all cases it has been display technology, whether e-paper or Apple’s 9.7-inch multi-touch LCD, cited as the root cause.

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