May 8, 2008 May 10, 2008 Friday May 9, 2008
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Climate Counts' Fake Attack on Apple
Daniel Eran Dilger Copying the self-serving campaigns run by SVTC and Greenpeace, the group Climate Counts has made Apple, Inc. the core of its latest press releases. The group says Apple “is not yet taking meaningful action on climate change,â€? and is a “choice to avoid for the climate-conscious consumer,â€? but then points out that its “actionâ€? metrics are all based on ineffectual political posturing. And the reason for the tough critique: Apple elected not to join the Climate Counts consortium last year and throw money at the group's ineffectual efforts to “facilitate engagement.â€? (more…)
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Cowon's D2 PMP now available in 16GB form
Filed under: Podcasts, Portable Video As lovely as the D2 is, we've always had a secret wish for it to offer up a bit more internal capacity. Apparently the higher-ups at Cowon have heard our inner cries, as a 16GB edition of the player is now available through JetMall. Aside from being more capacious, nothing else has changed, but if this was just the thing to push you over the edge, you can hand over your $240 right now and join the club.[Via AnythingButiPod]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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TUAW preview: Schmap for iPhone & iPod Touch
Filed under: Internet, iPhonePlanning some activities out on the town this weekend, or searching for a Mother's Day dining option? The fine folks at Schmap have a treat for you -- they'd like TUAW readers to have the first whack at their new iPhone City Guides and Local Search before the Mobile Safari-optimized site goes into official beta on Monday, May 12. Point Safari on your iPhone or iPod Touch to www.schmap.com, then enter the pre-launch preview access code: 724627. Once you're in the site, pull up a Schmap Guide for your favorite city for info, maps, and more. Some of the search features aren't wired in yet, but they should be done soon.Schmap's website has several Flash demos of the features of the Schmap Guides for iPhone. Check it out!Thanks to Donald at Schmap for the invitation, and Kyle for the tip.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Adium adds Facebook Chat support; emo kids cheer worldwide
Filed under: Software, Freeware, Internet Tools, Universal BinaryAdium, the tasty multi-client Mac chat app, is about to get even tastier: developer Evan Schoenberg announced today on the Adium blog that he's adding Facebook Chat to the ridiculously long list of instant messaging protocols already supported by the app. He even included a screenshot of the new protocol in action, seen on the right.No word on when the new release will be available, unfortunately, but you can keep track at the Adium blog.Thanks, Chris!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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All USB ports aren’t created equal
Remember my theory about 10.5.2 causing poor audio quality in Skype? I pretty much convinced that 10.5.2 is the culprit, but there’s another theory floating around out there – that it’s related to USB ports. The problem manifested itself most recently in the MacBreak Weekly podcast (episode 88) where Andy Ihnatko and Alex Lindsay sound like [...]
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Freeze Frame 2.0 becomes Bokeh 1.0
When you need all the processing power your Mac can provide, it's good to eliminate distractions. That's where Elgebar Studios's Freeze Frame and now Bokeh, its Leopard-only successor, comes to the rescue.
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Yahoo acquisition to aid Apple searches
The Internet company acquires Inquisitor, software that augments the search process on Apple's Safari Web browser.
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Yahoo acquisition to aid Apple searches
Correction 6:18 p.m. PT: I misinterpreted the announcement; Inquisitor founder David Watanabe isn't joining Yahoo. Inquisitor augments Safari by autocompleting search queries and showing results.(Credit: Yahoo) Yahoo has acquired Inquisitor in a move to improve how search results appear on Apple computers. The Safari browser plug-in ...
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If Apple can go home again, why not Dell?
Looking to Apple's past for a clue to his company's future, Michael Dell knows that reversal of fortune is a common theme in the PC industry's history.
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Essential Mac freeware
Posted by Dave MertenBy Tim Verpoorten When a new Mac user finds their way to a local MUG or listens to a podcast, or maybe even reads a Mac blog, they have a ton of questions to ask about switching to the Mac. We're responsible for trying to help them feel comfortable with...
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Apple posts job listings for Munich Apple Store
Filed under: Apple Corporate, RetailIn June of last year, we wrote about the Apple Store that has been planned for Munich, Germany. At the time, rumors identified an opening date of "...the 2nd half of 2008."Today, Apple has posted several retail job openings for Munich, from concierge up to store manager; eleven in total. If they've begun looking for employees, the store must be near completion. The iPhone was made available to Germans in November of last year, and a June store opening would coincide nicely with the rumored 3G iPhone release.If you're a TUAW reader in Munich, head down to 1 Rosenstrasse (formerly home to Sport Schuster sporting goods) and let us know what you find! The time has almost come for Germany's first Apple Store!Thanks, Chris!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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VMware Fusion 2 Beta Raises The Virtualization Bar
VMware announced the latest beta of their flagship Mac virtualization tool on Tuesday and I've managed to put it through a number of paces with mostly positive results. All tests were performed on a 2.4GHz MacBook Pro with 4GB RAM running OS X 10.5.2. The VM was my Windows XP SP2 Boot Camp partition. Video Gone Wild! When I read that Fusion 2 would have full support for multiple monitors in both Unity and Full Screen modes I was skeptical at best. After installing Fusion 2 beta, I'm wondering how I lived without the functionality. In Unity mode (where Windows applications appear to be running side-by-side with Mac applications), you can drag PC application windows across all active Mac screens. It just works. This makes it much easier to bring windows where you need to for quicker operations. Similarly, you have the option for Fusion 2 beta to use all active screens in Full Screen mode. The PC VMware virtual adapters automatically adjust to the appropriate resolution and configure Windows to extend your desktop across all screens. I only have one additional monitor, but it worked as described, including seamless integration with Spaces. I was able to Control-cursor across different Spaces with no ill effects. It's hard to describe what it's like having all that screen real estate back without rebooting. I do not do much in Windows that requires intensive graphics, but I managed to use the enhanced DirectX 9.0 3D acceleration to play EVE Online (without premium graphics), which is something that I was not able to do before, but I also did not engage in any heavy battles or head into highly populated areas. I'll try that with a trial account and report back if the functionality does not meet expectations. (more…)
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How green is my Apple?
Rest easy, dear reader. They've found the major cause of global warming. It's Apple. Thanks to the perspicacity of Climate Counts (double entendre intended!), we now know that Apple is A choice to avoid for the climate-conscious consumer. This company is not yet taking meaningful action on climate change. Now, before we get into this, the Macalope would like to stress that he really has no idea if Apple is bad for the environment. But, hey, guess what?! Neither does Climate Counts! That's right, for every category where information was not available, Apple was simply given a zero. And in Apple's case, that basically explains the entirety of the low score. Of course, it's perfectly possible that Apple doesn't give out this information because the secret ingredient in iPhones is ground-up puppies that are rendered in a floating complex in the Indian Ocean that's powered by huge coal furnaces and wood stoves. It's also possible that these scorecards are cynical attempts to gin up publicity for an environmental concern nobody's ever heard of before that's funded by yogurt pushers (who knows what their insidious agenda might be!) by dinging the famous fruity company that sells that thing that you like. Pillorying Apple may or may not be valid, but it sure does generate a lot of free PR. Climate Counts says: The higher the score, the greater the company's commitment to fighting global warming. Well, that's not exactly right. Click through to Apple's page and you'll see the following ratings. Review: 0/22 points. Climate Counts found no publicly available information on Apple's efforts to measure its companywide impact on global warming (i.e., its greenhouse gas emissions or climate footprint). "No publicly available information." Reduce: 8/56 points. Climate Counts has found that Apple has completed analysis of the impact that many of its products have on global warming while being used by consumers and has engaged with its employees and other companies on climate-related issues. The horny one was scratching his furry head at the low rating here based on the favorable-sounding text, so he downloaded the detailed Apple scorecard (PDF) and, again, it's all because of the paucity of information. Policy Stance: 0/10 points. Climate Counts found no public information to suggest that Apple supports public policy that addresses climate change. "No public information." Report: 3/12 points. Climate Counts has found that Apple has made some public information available on its efforts to address global warming. Again, a rating based on the level of information available. The Macalope doesn't know about you, but when he hears Apple is to be avoided for its poor environmental record, he wants to see some pictures of indigenous people being forced to eat old iPod batteries. He doesn't want to see spreadsheet columns full of "information not available". Apple certainly has a PR problem and it does seem the company is not as concerned about environmental issues as it could or should be. The Macalope makes his home in the woods and high mountain plains where he romps naked, so he's very concerned about the environment and would like to see Apple take whatever steps are possible to make itself a better global citizen. But Climate Counts' score cards are the kind of thing that would make Edward Tufte go postal. The low score really bears no relation to Apple's environment performance but rather its lack of transparency. Would the Macalope like to see more transparency from Apple on this issue? Absolutely. He'd also like to see Climate Counts be more up front about what its real beef is.
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Super secret spy iPhone
Filed under: Cool tools, Found Footage, iPhoneReader Alex Bratton over at Lextech let us know about a fun iPhone project they're working on. Most high-end surveillance systems use a joystick or mouse to control those cameras that we see all over the place. Lextech has done some work using the touchscreen of the iPhone to replace the old 70's UI tech.To pan the surveillance camera, you scroll the screen left or right using the traditional iPhone finger drag; tilt is done by dragging a finger up and down. Want to zoom in for details on the bad guys? Use the iPhone "reverse pinch" gesture to get the close-up. And if you want to zoom back out to get the big picture, it's a simple pinch on the iPhone display.Videos demonstrating the control system are on the Lextech site and on YouTube.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Scientists develop artificial mouth to study complexities of chewing, digesting
Filed under: Robots Sure, we've seen a set of robotic chompers before, but a team of scientists led by one Gaëlle Arvisenet is taking artificial mouths to a new plateau. In a study set to be released in next week's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers report on the "design of an artificial mouth that mimics the first vital steps of human digestion -- chewing, saliva release and the initial breakdown of food." In order to ensure accuracy in the mechanical chewer, the gurus actually compared masticated apple pulp from human mouths as well as the robotic version; they reportedly scrutinized texture, color and aromatic compound release. Great, as if we really need our next humanoid servant to start begging for eats.[Via The Register]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Yahoo! and Inquisitor seen sitting in tree
Filed under: Software, Internet ToolsDave Watanabe's Inquisitor plugin for Safari has been the source of some controversy for affiliate linking shenanigans, and underwent some changes following the public outcry. None of that seems to have deterred Yahoo! from taking an interest in the search plugin. Yahoo! revealed today in a blog post that they would be acquiring the rights to Inquisitor. The new version (which is a free download) removes affiliate links (completely, I assume) and updates the preferences interface. There is a reference in the Yahoo! post to a simplification of the process of selecting a search provider but I'm failing to remember what was complex about it in the previous version. Obviously, the top choice on the dropdown is now Yahoo!, but you can still choose to use Google and all of the other secondary search options appear to be intact. I'll give Yahoo! credit for recognizing a beautiful interface and what many -- myself included -- agree is an extremely useful plugin. Whether Dave Watanabe's existing reputation will affect Yahoo! in any way is debatable, so I'm withholding speculation. Dave has made it clear that he remains an independent developer and is not joining the ranks of Yahoo!, remaining focused on his existing projects. Thanks, Ross!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Found Footage: Understanding technology's past
Filed under: Retro Mac, Found Footage, Apple HistoryWhen I think about a computer, I usually don't think about a 5-ton assembly of brass gears, cams, and steel rods. Yet in 1847 - 1849, Charles Babbage first created his design for the Difference Engine No. 2, a large mechanical computer that used these non-electronic components.Nathan Myrhvold, former Chief Technical Officer of Microsoft, commissioned the building of a Difference Engine No. 2 based on Babbage's design. It's on display at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, and will soon grace the living room of Myrhvold's home. What does this have to do with Apple? In this MarketWatch video, it's mentioned that Babbage had problems getting funding for a device that was considered to be ahead of its time. It kind of reminds me of Apple's Newton MessagePad. It was the progenitor of all PDAs and smartphones, but failed in the marketplace because of its price and the fact that few people understood what it was good for.The video also highlights Daniel Janisch, PowerBook Guy, who upgrades and sells antique PowerBooks (8-year old "Pismo" PowerBooks, for example). You can run Tiger on the Pismos, but they're often abandoned for the new kids on the block.Thanks to Jomo for the link!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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TapeDeck 1.0
Filed under: Audio, Software Call me a curmudgeon if you must, but I am wary of any app that replicates a physical object with its UI. Isn't a large part of the power of computing come from the fact that programmers can transcend the limitations of the real world and offer up better ways of doing things?In this frame of mind I started looking at TapeDeck, a new $25 Leopard only recording app from SuperMegaUltraGroovy and Toastycode. As the name suggests it looks like a cassette recorder of old, but it does offer up some improvements. Each recording is saved on a new 'tape' automatically, so you never have to record over a previous file (TapeDeck records audio in the AAC format, so the files are small, but you can make them even smaller by lowering the recording quality). It also allows you to annotate your tapes and then search your recording library using that information, and you can send your audio to iTunes if you prefer to organize your files that way.The real question is: does the UI help or hinder TapeDeck? I'll have to spend more time using TapeDeck to fairly answer that, but at first blush this app is great fun to use (especially if you remember using tape recorders like these).Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple settles battery lawsuit with Canadian iPod owners
Posted by Dave MertenUnder the proposed settlement, as reported in the Montreal-based Gazette newspaper, Apple Canada plans to offer a $45 credit to iPod owners who purchased their music players before June 24, 2005. The credit can be used at Apple's online retail store.
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Contrarian Pick: Flash Memory Vendors
The investment thesis in flash memory vendors consists of the following: Memory prices are in the dumps.The creation of newer markets due to price erosion is needed. Increased demand due to higher memory capacities and new markets, more than offsetting any price per bit declines.Memory vendors currently trade at rock bottom valuations. Most existing players are looking to divest or merge. The survivors should be great investment candidates. The trend towards mobility and computing convergence will drive growth towards newer markets and higher capacities. Moore's law has been a constant guiding light over the last 30 to 40 years in the semiconductor industry. Gordon Moore made this observation thirty years ago, and it has held true ever since. This basically predicts the shrinking of transistors, thus doubling performance every 18 months, with reduced costs and area. The reduced cost and added functionality facilitates their use in a wider array of markets and applications. As the average selling price [ASP] continues to plummet, elasticity dictates that newer markets and applications would be discovered, which would simulate sales growth. Andy Kessler discovered the same phenomena with EPROMs in the 1980s. Really, nothing has changed in terms of demand supply curves. Elasticity is the guiding investment principle in this sector.
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Back to My Mac Thwarts Thieves
Tech-savvy victim catches thieves via Photo Booth
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Friday afternoon Apple links, one month 'till WWDC edition
This Friday's Apple links talks up EyeTV's latest software update, Steve Jobs' beard, Twitter references hidden in Quartz Composer, and how unlocked iPhones are hurting at least one US company. A lot.Read More...
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Back to My Mac saves a stolen laptop
Filed under: Odds and ends, .Mac A clever Mac user helped police recover a stolen laptop using Back to My Mac's screen-sharing feature. After her apartment was burglarized, the victim received a call from a friend while she was at work (conveniently enough, at the Apple Store in Westchester, NY). The friend noticed her stolen computer was online. The victim then quickly used another Mac to connect to the stolen laptop. The article doesn't mention the technical details, but I reckon she activated screen sharing, and started Photo Booth (or another app that activates the laptop's built-in iSight camera). After a while, the perps showed up, and the victim's roommate recognized one of them as an acquaintance who had attended a party at their apartment some weeks before. Armed with names and photos of the alleged thieves, police quickly arrested two men, who were in possession of most of the property stolen in the burglary. If that isn't worth her year's subscription to .Mac, I don't know what is. Thanks to everyone who sent this in!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Stolen Mac laptop leads victim to alleged thief
Posted by Dave MertenA tech-savvy White Plains, NY woman whose apartment was burglarized, solved the crime herself after she was able to log on to her stolen laptop and photograph the suspect with it.
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First Looks: myvu Crystal 701 iPod Edition
When myvu first announced and showed Crystal 701 ($300), its deluxe 640x480 wearable video display system for iPods, we were somewhat concerned: while the company had used unusually smooth curves and aggressive size reduction techniques to fit high-tech components in a small goggle-esque shell, a combination of black and yellow coloration made it hard for us to imagine anyone wearing the system. So we were really relieved when our review unit arrived…
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News: Design the Next iPhone Contest still open, enter today
If you haven't yet started on your submission for the Design the Next iPhone, Win the Next iPhone Contest, there's still plenty of time to get your entry in—simply submit a brand-new artistic rendition (minimum 1600px wide) of what you think the next iPhone should look like. iLounge’s editors will pick six top concepts from the pool of valid entries, three of which will receive Apple's next-generation iPhone (!!), while three…
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Facebook adds iTunes streaming via nuTsie
Posted by Dave MertenFacebook users are being offered an all-new application that lets them embed up to five iTunes playlists within their Facebook user profile.
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iPhone shortage hits NYC
Filed under: iPhoneWhile the UK has been reporting a run on current-model iPhones recently, Gizmodo says that the shortage has reached across the pond to New York City. According to an anonymous staffer at the West 14th street Apple Store, "it's been out of stock all week." And to think, you were only worried about rice and flour. If you check out the picture on Gizmodo, you'll see a line of about 30 people who are waiting for an iPhone at the West 14th street store. These people will probably be very upset in a month or two. [Via Cult of Mac]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Yahoo Acquires Inquisitor
Today, Davaid Wantanabe announced that Yahoo has acquired the rights to his popular Inquisitor for Safari. Congrats to David, and a big “what the heck?” to Yahoo. I honestly can't imagine what Yahoo would want with a plugin for Safari. It has long been a Safari-only plugin so with the acquisition of it on Yahoo's end, I'm curious how it will expand. David has said he will not be joining Yahoo as an employee, but he will continue to be the lead developer of the Safari version. Along with the acquisition announcement, version 3.1 of the plugin was released that “improves performance, simplifies the process for switching search providers, and removes affiliate links from the program”. In lieu of the acquisition, it's obviously not a surprise that Yahoo is now the default search provider (though you can easily change that in the preferences). Anyone care to venture as to what Yahoo might do with Inquisitor or how it will benefit them? [Via Daring Fireball]
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Yahoo Acquires Inquisitor From David Watanabe
The stylish Safari search hack is now owned by Yahoo. Watanabe isn’t joining Yahoo as an employee, though. ★
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Video Sandbox 104: Sand Clump
Posted by Dave MertenThis week, George W. said that the only way to avoid a recession was for consumer spending to rise. I'm no accountant, but I would wager that in Economics 101 that they teach you that recessions are triggered by consumers spending way too much.
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Mac 3D: Autodesk SketchBook Pro 2009 now available
Posted by Dave MertenAutodesk SketchBook Pro 2009 is a Mac Universal application that offers several ranges of new features and improvements. In addition to running on the latest version of Mac OS X (10.5) Leopard it also runs on Windows Vista. The program has new integration with Adobe Photoshop so you can now...
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Apple Settles with Canada, Stream Your iTunes Favs in Facebook and Apple Sticks It to the Earth
The iPhone availability map, O2 iPhone shipments and C64 on the iPhone.
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Flashforward2008 Film Festival nominations open with refined categories
Posted by Dave MertenFlashforward2008 opens the nomination process for the 18th Flashforward Film Festival. The festival, now in its ninth year, celebrates the most innovative and compelling projects created with Adobe®Flash™. Anyone, including the creators of projects, can nominate work for one of ten compelling categories in the film festival. Nominate a project...
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So Cal Mac Users set to spend the last day of May at MacDayLA
Posted by Dave MertenMacDayLA again brings a day full of insights to the Mac users of Southern California. On Saturday, May 31 author Deborah Shadovitz again presents MacDayLA at CBS Studio Center in Studio City. New to the event is an evening party full of award-winning Indie music.
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Refunds for Those Firebomb Power Adapters
Remember those old Powerbook adapters? Do you also remember how they used to catch on fire? I didn't experience it, personally. I did have a friend that swore his PowerBook adapter was out to get him — almost burning his house, car and office to the ground (on separate occasions). A lot of people definitely did though, because in 2001 Apple recalled about 570,000 of those suckers. I remember when Apple first gave the announcement about the faulty adapters and I picked a replacement up for free just in case (and because, well, it was free). If you're one of those lucky few to experience some extra heat on your lap, you may be entitled to a refund. If your adapter “dangerously frays, sparks and prematurely fails to work” Apple has agreed to throw you $25 to $79 for your troubles. This class-action suit was actually way back in 2006 and alleged that Apple misrepresented problems with the power adapters. I can't help but think most people have moved on from their old PowerBook immolation issues by now.
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★ BlackBerry vs. iPhone
1: Wherein Neither ‘RIM’ Nor ‘BlackBerry’ Are Even Mentioned, but Rather the Stage Is Set for Showing Why They Might Be Seriously Screwed Along the lines of can’t-really-be-answered-but-gosh-they’re-fun-to-ponder questions like, say, “Who’d win in a fight, Batman or Spider-Man?” or “Star Destroyer vs. U.S.S. Enterprise?”,1 here’s one regarding the iPhone: What historical Mac is a current iPhone most analogous to, spec-wise? I.e, complete this sentence: “An iPhone is like having a tiny ____ in your pocket?” Now of course the comparison can’t be precise. Different software, different use cases, different purposes. But there’s no denying that an iPhone is a computer. And unless you’re really young, it’s faster — a lot faster — than the computers you owned not so long ago. So, seriously, stop here for a moment and think about it. My first answer, pulled simply from recollection of how fast machines felt to use, was the original iMac. But that machine — announced 10 years ago this week — had a 233 MHz G3 and, by default, a paltry 32 MB of RAM. Apple has never officially released the CPU specs of the iPhone, but Craig Hockenberry poked around with undocumented system APIs which indicated the iPhone’s CPU runs at 400 MHz with a bus speed of 100 MHz, and that there’s 128 MB of RAM. As we all recall from the PowerPC era, MHz is not a precise metric for comparing the performance of CPUs across different architectures; I wouldn’t be surprised in the least to find out that a 400 MHz PowerPC G3 is a faster chip than the 400 MHz ARMwhatever that’s in the iPhone, if only because of the power constraints. But, still, it’s something. So, my answer to the question: the original “Pismo” G3 PowerBook. The numbers match up pretty closely: 400 MHz CPU, 100 MHz bus speed, 64 MB of RAM. (The higher-end Pismo had a 500 MHz CPU and 128 MB of RAM.) Even storage sizes are similar: hard drive options for the Pismo were 6, 12, or 18 GB. Another possible answer: the original blue-and-white Power Mac G3 — again, 400 MHz CPU, 100 MHz bus speed, 64-128 MB of RAM, and 6-12 GB hard drives. Think about that — in just nine years, the specs that then described Apple’s top-of-the-line desktop computer now describe their phone. One thing that makes this comparison hard is that there’s not much software in common. You can’t use most of the real-world tasks commonly used for ballpark benchmarking, like, say, Photoshop image processing or ripping MP3s from AIFFs, because the iPhone doesn’t do them. But there is one processor intensive task we can compare: web page rendering. In the early days of the web, it took a while for even moderately large web pages to render in a browser, even when you were loading them from HTML files right on your hard drive. If you were to plop yourself down in front of one of these vintage 1999-2000 Macs for an afternoon of web browsing, even with a decent Ethernet connection to the Internet you’d find the experience pretty damn slow by current standards. For all the incessant chatter about the demand for and purported certainty of 3G wireless networking in the next generation of iPhone hardware, the truth is that current iPhones are held back, web-surfing-wise, by more than just the speed of EDGE (which admittedly, is indeed pretty slow). Recall this video pitting a 3G Nokia E61i against an iPhone on EDGE — total rendering time was more or less the same, and in a few cases, the iPhone came out ahead. You can see that browsing speed — which is what matters — depends on more than just networking speed simply by comparing how long it takes to render a web page on the iPhone using Wi-Fi: a lot longer than it takes to load the same page in using Safari on a Mac. For example, it takes about two or three seconds for Safari to load the Daring Fireball home page on my new MacBook Pro. Using the same Wi-Fi network, it takes my iPhone about 15 seconds. (Using EDGE, it takes about 60 seconds to completely load, although you can start reading much sooner than that.) Point being that even if 3G wireless networking were as fast as Wi-Fi — which it’s not — browsing on an iPhone would still be pretty slow compared to browsing on a modern desktop or laptop. If you frequently use Wi-Fi on your iPhone, a faster processor in the next-generation hardware would make a bigger difference to the overall experience than faster phone-carrier networking. And so here’s the point I’m driving at. If a 2007 iPhone is loosely equivalent in terms of computing power to a 2000 PowerBook or 1999 Power Mac, that puts the spread at around seven or eight years. Extrapolate forward, and it’s therefore not at all unreasonable to think that a 2014 iPhone will pack the computing power of today’s MacBook Pro. Or, nearer term, that an iPhone introduced two years from now might pack the punch of a 2003 Aluminum PowerBook G4 — quite a difference from the Pismo. Even if your estimate of the iPhone’s equivalent-horsepower Mac is further back in time than mine, there’s no denying that Moore’s Law applies to handhelds, too. Eventually there will be a computer that fits in your pocket that is more powerful than today’s Mac Pros. But the path from here to there is riddled with difficult engineering problems — heat dissipation, battery life, and OS integration chief among them. There is marketing. There most certainly is design. But at the core of this market — by which I mean the market for handheld multitasking web-surfing networked-everywhere “phones” which are really computers — is engineering. Apple is the best handheld computer engineering company in the world today, hands down. They’re also the best handheld computer user experience design company. And they’re not sharing. 2: Why RIM Is Screwed When the iPhone was announced, I saw Apple as staking out ground far afield from the territory RIM occupies with the BlackBerry. Last year, I didn’t see Apple implementing Exchange support in the iPhone OS, and clearly that was, well, completely wrong. The “enterprise” features Apple has announced for the imminent 2.0 release of the iPhone OS — remote wipe, push email, automatic calendar and contact synching — pretty much encompass every single feature that’s been held up as a reason the iPhone wouldn’t sell to enterprise users. It remains to be seen how well these new iPhone features will actually work, but if the answer is “as well as promised”, and if the iPhone’s Mail app is improved in ways targeting people who receive a high number of messages, it’s hard to see a single software advantage in the BlackBerry’s favor. Which leaves hardware, which leaves the keyboard. Two Sundays ago, the New York Times ran a lengthy business-section piece by Brad Stone, titled “BlackBerry’s Quest: Fend Off the iPhone”. Regarding the upcoming BlackBerry 9000, the focus turned to the keyboard: Photographs of the device, leaked to gadget news sites, also indicate that the new BlackBerry will have elegant curves suggestive of the iPhone. It will also have a physical keyboard like previous R.I.M. devices, as opposed to the glass touch screen found on the iPhone. There’s a reason that R.I.M. is averse to the iPhone’s glass pad. “I couldn’t type on it and I still can’t type on it, and a lot of my friends can’t type on it,â€? says Mike Lazaridis, R.I.M.’s co-chief executive and technological visionary. “It’s hard to type on a piece of glass.â€? Mr. Lazaridis thinks that e-mail-dependent BlackBerry owners demand the reliability and tactile feedback of a keyboard. But, despite his critique of the iPhone, he does not dismiss the possibility that R.I.M. may itself one day sell a touch-screen phone, aimed specifically at consumers without the e-mail demands of BlackBerry’s core users. Translation: “We’ll emphasize the physical keyboard as a differentiating factor as long as it seems to work, at which point we’ll try a touch-screen keyboard too.” The only other angle RIM seems to be hanging its hat on is “security”: RIM is also betting on security, which hinges on the fact that its handsets and e-mail systems are relatively impervious to hackers. Mr. Lazaridis predicts that corporations will not give iPhones to their workers because they have already proved vulnerable to hackers eager to pry iPhones off AT&T’s system and make them work on other wireless networks. “It’s not that simple for an I.T. manager to give up security,â€? he said. The idea that iPhone carrier unlocking is a “security problem” is a conflation between what an attacker can do to your phone, against your will and/or unbeknownst to you, versus what a phone’s owner can do to their own phone. It’s not like these “hackers” are attacking happy AT&T-subscribed iPhone owners and switching them over to Sprint against their will. To understand why Apple is making a concerted effort to appeal to BlackBerry users, consider an analogy to the board game Risk. RIM has a large army (read: users), but they’re all massed together in one spot on the map. They care about email, they care about exactly the sort of enterprise features Apple has announced for the iPhone, and they are known to be willing to pay several hundred dollars for a handset. A lucrative target that can be attacked all at once. And the BlackBerry is weakest where the iPhone is strongest: web browsing, music, and video. Compare and contrast with, say, a software platform like Windows Mobile, or a hardware maker like Nokia — their users are spread across a wide variety of phones and platforms. It was far easier to turn the iPhone into something almost every BlackBerry customer might at least consider than it would have been to make a lineup of iPhones that appeal to every Nokia customer. RIM doesn’t really have any lock-in other than user habits. The BlackBerry gimmick is that it works with the email system your company bought from Microsoft. Replace a BlackBerry with an iPhone (2.0) and the messages, contacts, and calendar events that sync over the network will be the same ones on the BlackBerry you just tossed into a desk drawer. In broad terms, BlackBerrys are optimized first for email; the iPhone for the web. What’s more important, an email client or a web browser? For most people, and perhaps even most current BlackBerry users, the answer is clearly the web. Many people in fact read their email entirely through the web. Unless you’re Richard Stallman, you probably don’t read the web through your email client. The iPhone would be a credible, useful device with just two apps: Phone and Safari. But it doesn’t just have those two apps. It has a slew, and they’re all better on the iPhone than the BlackBerry and the difference with regard to anything other than email is only going to get more stark once the iTunes App Store opens its doors. If nothing else, consider games, games, and games. As I wrote when the iPhone’s upcoming enterprise features were announced, the iPhone can do more BlackBerry-ish things than the BlackBerry can do iPhone-ish things. Apple doesn’t wait for someone else to knock one of their hit products off its throne or slowly run it into the ground (cf. the Motorola Razr) — they do it themselves. For six years pundits have been declaring that competitors would “soon” catch up to the iPod, but the iPod has never been a static target — over the same six years Apple has released significant new iPods every year. There are no signs that RIM has the engineering chops on either side of the ball — hardware or software — to compete with where the iPhone is now, let alone where it’s going to be. We know that Apple has an OS that can scale to take advantage of faster (and multi-core) processors, because OS X is doing that already. If a two-years-away 2010 iPhone might be like having a 2003 PowerBook G4 in your pocket, for RIM’s sake a 2010 BlackBerry had better be something more than a BlackBerry with a brighter screen. Correct answers: Batman, Star Destroyer. ↩
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Renoise: A multi-platform tracker for music composition
Filed under: Audio, Multimedia, Software, Universal BinaryBack in the day before Ableton Live and Reason and all the other sequencer apps out there, desktop electronic producers made do with trackers: apps which allowed the budding Moby or Paul Oakenfold to sequence samples. They were basically software equivalents of legendary hardware sample sequencers like the Akai MPC. These usually had all of the usability of a 1957 Trabant and none of the good looks.Renoise 1.9.1 sequences like an old-school tracker, but it's got loads more features: plugin and MIDI instruments, effects chains, a halfway decent mixer, and even internal sample editing. Everything a growing music geek needs to make bleep-bleep music (and maybe more). It's available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS 10.3.9+ as a Universal Binary.At 49.99 euros (US$75.80 at today's exchange rate) for a license, Renoise is a helluva lot cheaper than alternatives like Live or Reason, and the ability to use a single license for versions running on multiple platforms is nice. The only drawback is that the interface appears a little complex for users unfamiliar with the conventions of sample trackers. Also, the demo version times out and doesn't allow rendering of your tracks out to .wav format.I still have nightmares about using FastTracker on my old Pentium II back in the late '90s, so I haven't tried this one myself. If you have, drop me a line in the comments and let me know what you think.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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AT&T's WiFi Fake-Outs Leave iPhone Users Nonplussed
Late last month and early this month, Starbucks customers who were packing iPhones reportedly discovered free AT&T WiFi Internet access at some of the coffee shops. All iPhone users had to do was enter in their valid AT&T iPhone phone number, and boom, free WiFi access to the world. Then AT&T mysteriously cut off the access. Of course, it wasn't as if the free access had been promoted -- it was more like a pleasant surprise. But then, if only briefly, AT&T did promote free WiFi access.
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First Looks: myvu Shades 301 iPod Edition
Based upon the company's earlier Solo Plus for iPod, myvu's new Shades 301 iPod Edition ($200) makes dramatic cosmetic changes to the prior wearable video display in an effort to make them more visually interesting and wearable. Shades 301 is a modular system with numerous cables -- a magnetic two-piece cable manager for its neck cabling, two connected Ultimate Ears earbuds for sound isolation in your left and right ears, a detachable Dock Connector…
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Derek Powazek’s iPhone 2.0 Wishlist
Pretty good list, I say. ★
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AT&T Changes Hotspot Mind Yet Again
Come on people, make up your mind
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Rumor Mill: What’s on the Apple horizon
Hey there, it’s Jake, Jason’s evil twin. It’s Friday which means that it’s my turn to take the wheel for trip down Apple rumor lane. Fasten your seat belts because here we go: Apple Developing Wiimote-Like Controller? – AppleInsider reports that a new Apple patent application reveals Apple has done research on a 3D remote control [...]
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Muxtape works on iPhone
Filed under: iPod Family, Internet, iPhoneIf you are a Web 2.0 fanatic (which, come on, who isn't these days?) then you probably know about Muxtape. For those of you who aren't religiously reading the latest Web application news at DownloadSquad, Muxtape is basically a way to share your personalized mp3 mixtape. Not only can you subscribe to the tape's RSS via iTunes, but it turns out that you can also listen to Muxtapes on your iPhone! Just navigate over to the Muxtape page of your choosing and select a song. Mobile Safari will then load the file and begin to play it like normal mp3 audio. How cool is that?Thanks for the info, Craig!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Article: Summary: What We Know About iPhone 2
Ever since Apple's first-generation iPhone unexpectedly began to disappear from Apple and its partners' store shelves, and supposed images of a next-generation device started to appear, discussion of the iPhone 2 has dominated the news. Unfortunately, many different reports, rumors, and proclamations are now floating around, so it's hard for fans to keep everything straight. Today, to make things easier on our readers, we've…
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Climate Counts: Apple lags on climate change policy
Apple has come a long way in improving its environmental efforts and publicly disclosing them. But Climate Counts' latest climate policy scorecard shows that Apple has a long way to go when it comes to global warming.Read More...
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First Looks: Kensington Mini Battery Pack and Charger for iPhone and iPod
Designed to offer around half an iPhone stock battery worth of additional power while on the road, Kensington's new Mini Battery Pack and Charger for iPhone and iPod ($50) comes with a Dock Connector-equipped battery pack, a clear plastic Dock Connector cover, and a retractable USB charging cable. You plug the cable into the battery and your computer's USB port to recharge the battery, which promises to add 3 hours of iPhone talk time, or roughly…
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First Looks: iHome iP99 Dual Alarm Clock Radio for iPhone + iPod
We've seriously enjoyed several of the many iPod clock radios that we've previously reviewed, but when the iPhone came out, there was a problem: put your iPhone anywhere near most of them and the speakers will be filled with chirping, with cell phone data activity sometimes causing even turned-off units to pipe up. For the last year, the only solution was to disable all of the iPhone's wireless features by turning on Airplane Mode. iHome's new iP99…
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AT&T’s Wi-Fi Tease for iPhone Users
IPhone customers found free Wi-Fi access at Starbucks and other AT&T hotspots. Then they didn't. AT&T's Web site promised free Wi-Fi. Then it didn't. AT&T is likely going to offer free Wi-Fi, but it is mum about when the teasing will stop.
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Apple to issue refunds for Powerbook, iBook replacement power adapters
Owners of Powerbooks and iBooks who purchased replacement power adapters after theirs began to spark should soon be eligible for a refund.
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Zune Sales
2 millions Zunes sold to date since they went on sale in November 2006. But it looks like they’re taking sales from Creative, not Apple or second-place SanDisk. ★
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Bokeh locks down your idle apps
Filed under: SoftwareI'll admit that when I first heard of the new utility from Elgebar Studios, Bokeh, my first thought was of Kenan Thompson's SNL exclamation ("Bokay?") and not the Japanese photography term (the control of out-of-focus areas) that presumably inspired the tool's name. Bokeh is a $17 utility from one of the guys behind iPod-music-sharing conduit Misu, and it's intended to do one thing: freeze your applications. No, really, it's a good thing.Bokeh allows you to put applications into suspended animation and free up additional processing power for your crunchiest tasks (3D rendering, Photoshop filters, etc.) when you need it most. You can select a single app for focus, or suspend applications one at a time. It's not the sort of thing everyone would need but in a production environment where time is money, it might be worth the cash. You can download a Bokeh demo directly from the site.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Failed power adapters spark settlement from Apple
iBook and PowerBook users are all too familiar with the sparking power adapters of yore. Apple has now reached a preliminary settlement over the failed power adapters, and will soon offer between $25 and $79 to eligible parties. Read More...
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AT&T’s on-again, off-again free WiFi for iPhones
It’s on-again! For those that haven’t been following the drama (shame on you!) here’s the scoop. AT&T last Thursday began trials of free WiFi service for iPhone users – and people picked up on it pretty fast. It was suspicious though because there was no mention of it from either AT&T or Apple. Then on 04 May [...]
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Video: Raging Thunder Roars onto iPhone
iPhone racing game revs our engines
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Climate Researchers Dream Up iPod-Based Supercomputer
Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have suggested building a supercomputer based on low-power embedded microprocessors to improve global climate change predictions. Using the embedded microprocessor technology used in mobile phones, iPods and other consumer electronic devices, the boffins propose a cost-effective machine for running complex computational models. Michael Wehner, Lenny Oliker and John Shalf describe using the new class of supercomputers for modeling climate conditions.
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Why Apple should release a game console
Featured links from the CNET Blog Network Why Apple should release a game console-- As more people trust and enjoy Apple products in the home, the company could easily capitalize on its success elsewhere and create a gaming console that could do the same. Verizon Wireless and I are no longer friends--There are few things in life more infuriating than dealing with cell carriers. DRM: it's like those zombie movies--No matter how many times the content owners wish it worked, DRM has a fundamental technical flaw: you have to give the key to the person you're trying to lock out! Microsoft gets this, even if the RIAA doesn't.
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C64 emulator for iPhone
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Odds and ends, Apple, iPhoneUnfortunately we don't have much more than a splash screen on this one, but Stuart Carnie sends word that he's used the Apple SDK to port a Commodore 64 emulator on to the iPhone. He has yet to put in a Save/Resume state mechanism, a way to browse for files and disks, or a virtual keyboard/joystiq to control it with, but the hard stuff is done, so by the time the App Store comes around, we may have a working C64 emu in there ready to go.As long as it's ok with Apple. In point of fact, we have no idea how any emulators might work in the App Store -- actually, we have no idea how any apps will get in the App Store. Sure, it would be cool to play the original versions of Sim City or Maniac Mansion or Elite, but without Apple's OK to let any of those on the platform, we may not be able to do so without jailbreaking the thing anyway. We'll see -- if Carnie, once his work is done, can't get an official emulator in the App Store, maybe we'll be able to try it out and put it to use in some other, less official way.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Quick Look: Tape Deck, simple audio recording on the Mac
A new sound recording app is out today for Mac OS X, and its unorthodox UI is a pleasure to use. Tape Deck knows exactly how to make audio recording easy, especially for those of us who just love... well, tape decks.Read More...
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News: Our weekly iPodweek summary is coming
iPodweek, iLounge's weekly newsletter recapping the last seven days in iPod, iPhone, iTunes and Apple TV news, articles, reviews, and more, will be sent out later today. In addition to rounding up the week's top stories, iPodweek also features giveaways and accessory discount offers from various companies. If you haven't yet signed up to receive iPodweek, there's still time to register and receive this week's edition…
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Sprint's new Instinct vs. iPhone (videos)
Posted by Dave MertenSoon you will be seeing advertisements comparing Sprint's new Instinct to an iPhone. Sprint is going to spend $100 million to promote their new iPhone competitor. The advertisements leverage the EV-DO and true GPS that are packed into the Instinct. Sprint is hoping to use that comparison to convince people...
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Article: Ask iLounge 5-9-08
This week's Ask iLounge topics: About iPod battery life and charging, Using Apple FM Radio remote on older iPod models, Scan and Fix dialog using iPod on Windows Vista, Preserving iTunes metadata when reinstalling Windows, Importing multiple tracks into iTunes, About iTunes and ID3 tags
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YouTube Find: 'Get a Mac' political parody ad
'Get a Mac' parody ads are now making their way into politics? Looks like it. Greg Macpherson is running for Attorney General in Oregon, and someone in his campaign came up with this clever ad: While I don't know this guy, and don't live in Oregon (so I can't really comment on this politics), I can say that this is a pretty good 'Get a Mac' parody ad, in my opinion. via TUAW.
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TapeDeck 1.0
New $25 audio recording app, a joint production of SuperMegaUltraGroovy and Toastycode. The gimmick is that it’s modeled after an ’80s era cassette deck. It uses a library for recording management — no interaction with the file system necessary — but you can easily send clips to iTunes or email. Worth a download just to watch the tape spin while you record. ★
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Can Apple dance with third-party retailers again?
Apple is getting its products in front of more consumers by branching out with retail chains like Best Buy. If not handled correctly, though, Apple could find these relationships doing more harm than good, just like they have in the past.Read More...
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Simiotica releases its aMaze! iPhone game
Posted by Dave MertenSimiotica, the international game developer, announces immediate availability of the iPhone and iPod Touch game aMaze! via Installer.App. aMaze! is very realistic transition of the classic wooden balance game Labyrinth, where players guide steel ball through a maze avoiding holes, to the iPhone.
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Digital Wrongs Management
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Multimedia, iTunesI don't think anybody likes DRM. Customers certainly don't like it: they want to listen to music and watch video where and when they please. I don't think it's that popular with the content providers, either, because it's not a perfect solution. It might cut down on some piracy, but by no means eliminates it entirely. DRM has come up recently in a few places, and companies have set up camps at two ends of the spectrum. Amazon.com is doing a booming business selling DRM-free music, sometimes for better prices than at the iTunes Store. On the other hand, we have NBC, who may or may not be partnering with Microsoft to create device software that (somehow) determines if a particular music or video file has been stolen. As much as I'm sure that both Zune users would appreciate having access to NBC's video library, the problem remains of how exactly Microsoft would do that, aside from splashing giant watermarks across everything. My money's on unicorn tears. How much more investment will there be in DRM before content providers realize it's an inefficient, ineffective way of deterring piracy? Sound off in comments.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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World Map of iPhone Availabilty
Lots more red added this week. ★
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Apple Patent suggests Wii-style remote for AppleTV
A patent application has fueled the speculation fires that Apple may create a “wiimote” styled remote for the AppleTV. While patents certainly don't mean that something is truly going to see the light of day, this one would be most welcome, in my opinion. One of the biggest limitations of the AppleTV is the clunky navigation when it comes to searching…well, anything. It takes way longer than it should to click through the alphabet to get to the various letters you need - and the longer your title, the worse off you are. With this new remote, should it ever come to pass, you'd have much faster access to your entire on screen keyboard, and it would make the entire browsing experience much more user friendly. Anyone that has ever used the Internet on a Wii can verify that the mouse-like design of the Wiimote is heads and shoulders above the abilities of a simple D-pad styled remote. There is no confirmation that this is coming anytime soon, of course, so we shouldn't get excited just yet - but I would put this towards the top of my list of patents that I hope Apple actually acts upon. What do you think?
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NBC streams Office, 30 Rock episodes in iPhone format
Anyone who visits NBC's site with an iPhone or iPod touch now has the opportunity to stream episodes of two TV shows, 30 Rock and The Office, in QuickTime format. Be warned, though: the videos may lock up your iPhone.Read More...
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10.5: Convert text to iTunes audio book via Services item
After reading this hint on macosxhints about how to create an audio file from text, I figured the process could probably be streamlined a bit. So, I created a Service (that appears in the Services menu) that operates on selected text. Select the plain text in your source location (text file, web page, email, etc.) and then select Services » Speak to iTunes Audiobook to speak the text into a track that will appear in the Audiobooks section of iTunes. Just remember to set the encoder quality beforehand in iTunes, because it's not configurable through AppleScript (I recommend using 'Spoken podcast'). Package download [40KB] For those curious few, the AppleScript within the service is as follows: ...
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Work in some windows while Dashboard is active
I use a small utility called Witch to switch between open windows in applications via Option-Tab, instead of using the built-in Command-Tab, which just switches between applications. I recently realized that, when Dashboard is active (F12), you can use Witch (Option-Tab) to select a window, and then you can do some things in this window while still having Dashboard active and frontmost. For example, you can select a TextEdit window and write in it, jotting down some notes relative to something in a Dashboard widget. This will work as long as you don't click the mouse button. I've found this quite useful at times. [robg adds: This could also be useful for selecting text in a background window and copying it (hold down Shift and use the arrow keys to select text, then press Command-C), for pasting into a Dashboard widget, if you forgot to copy it before you invoked Dashboard.]
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Improve stability of some USB-based wireless adapters
I'm using a D-Link DWL-G122 in versions C1 (and own a version B1, a D-Link DWL-122, a Linksys@Home 54g USB, and a Belkin F5D6050 USB -- insert sarcasm here), and have worked with (too) many similar Ralink or Prism-based USB wi-fi adapters on OS X over the last four years or so. One issue I experienced (with all of these adapters) was when the adapter was either under heavy load, or (especially) when using Internet Sharing in OS X, the adapter would randomly disconnect from its wireless network and lose all communication with the driver/config software. To fix things, it would require an unplug/replug to resume operation. With many people reporting this on the net, and having tried every suggestion I could find, I have finally found the answer that has since worked solid for over three weeks (and over 150gb of transfer) now without a single disconnection with any of my adapters! Just for good measure, I tried (and failed) with these solutions: A wide selection of Ma...
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Some ways to avoid some Word 2008 crashes
As part of my job, I edit large Word documents, usually created by Windows users. These documents include pictures, comments, tracked changes, and so on. Word 2008 seems to hate them -- it crashes more than a drunken toddler driving a Ferrari. Over time, however, I've developed a number of techniques to mitigate the disasters. If Word crashes and then restarts, don't accept its recovered document. Close it and then open the last version you saved. Also I only ever use Save As now, not File » Save, or Command-S. I think it's this form of saving that's causing the problems. Maybe the disastrous bug is part of a 'quick save' routine? Finally, if there's a document that Word crashes with, and continues to crash with, I had some luck opening it on a Windows version of Word using VMWare Fusion, and then saving it out again. This seems to iron out the bugs, but it didn't always work (and in fact, worked fewer times than it actually worked in the first place). ...
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Under The Radar News - Friday
Too little too late. A survey of economists says forthcoming tax rebate checks will not stimulate the U.S. economy. "Consumers have gone into the bunkers," one says. "A $600 check isn't enough to turn things around. It took so much to wilt consumer confidence, that it's not going to be rebuilt real fast." They apparently aren't listening to White House top economist Ed Lazear who recently said stimulus checks will boost growth as soon as this quarter. The pessimistic bunch also reduced its second-half GDP growth estimate from a month ago. (But see below.) Retail shoppers snub recession talk. Consumer companies, led by giants like Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), Ford Motor (F) and Hasbro (HAS), are by-and-large exceeding Wall Street estimates. "Why, if it's a recession, are all the economically sensitive stocks leading the market?" Wells strategist James Paulsen asks. S&P 500 consumer constituents have topped consensus estimates by a robust 11.5%, the most of the index's 10 industry groups. Financials have trailed the index by 6.3%. Newsday doesn't discount Dolan. Newsday (the publication) says Newsday (the company) is seriously considering Cablevision's (CVC) $650M offer, despite insistence from News Corp.'s (NWS) Rupert Murdoch that he will prevail with his lower $580M offer. "Interest in working with Cablevision has increased with the passage of time," a source says. Cablevision CEO James Dolan had no remarks on the topic during the company's recent conference call. On the one hand, Dolan has no apparent experience at running a newspaper; on the other Cablevision would be less likely to face regulatory hurdles. Sources also say Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman, who also bid $580M, is working up a revised offer. Blinkx blinds. Shares of UK search engine Blinkx plc (BLNKF.PK) jumped 50% on speculation of a takeover bid from Google (GOOG) and News Corp. (NWS). A clause which would see Blinkx paying $50M to Autonomy in the event of its buyout expires May 24. comScore says Blinkx-linked videos score more UK visits than those linked-to through Google UK. Synchronoss gets some help. Goldman analysts think Synchronoss Technologies (SNCR) can overcome its iPhone (AAPL) dependencies and shares will recover. (They're up 1.5% in early trading to $12.48.) Mother's Day stocks. In case you were wondering how you're going to foot the bill for those costly Mother's Day gifts, Stockerblog has ten stocks that may benefit from the widely-celebrated day. (AM, CSS, FLWS, HSY, NILE, RMCF, SIG, TIF, UNTD, ZLC) Jobs' jobs. Apple's (AAPL) latest job opportunities include multiple listings that hint at multi-carrier strategies in some of the iPhone's new territories, including Australia, Brazil and Mexico. UPS mulls Mumbai transporter. UPS (UPS) may be in talks to acquire Indian freighter AFL. Virgin courts Helio. Virgin Mobile (VM) is interested in combining its more-than five million subscribers with Helio's "cool" phones (Helio is majority owned by SK Telecom (SKM)). Both run on the Sprint (S) network. A look at the potential synergies. Small settlement, big implications. Barrick Gold (ABX) and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM) settled a dispute over asset-backed commercial paper. Barrick was angry the bank sold it about $66M of paper that is now almost worthless. Undisclosed terms are "mutually agreeable." More importantly, it clears the way for a planned restructuring of the C$32B ABCP (Asset-Backed Commercial Paper) market. Microhoo could have balanced ad market. Someone (besides Yahoo shareholders) regrets the breakdown of the Microsoft (MSFT)/Yahoo (YHOO) merger talks. WPP (WPPGY) CEO Martin Sorrell says the deal would have brought balance to a Google (GOOG) dominated marketplace. Needless to say, Sorrell's no big fan of a possible Google (GOOG)/Yahoo ad tie-up. Corporate bonds extend bounce. Investment-grade corporate bonds posted another strong week of sales. 28 firms, including Citigroup (C) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), sold $33.1B in debt.
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News: Apple offers credit to early Canadian iPod Owners
Apple is offering a $45 credit to Canadian iPod owners as part of a class-action settlement. The credit is available to Canadian residents who own a first-, second-, or third-generation iPod purchased before June 24, 2004. The settlement is a result of a suit by two iPod owners angry over the battery life of their devices, which they claim dropped to three hours (from Apple's claim of eight) after just one year of use. As many as 80,000 Canadians…