Jun 20, 2009 Jun 22, 2009 Sunday June 21, 2009
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Upgrading early and other benefits of AT&T's Family Talk plan
In the world of carrier-subsidized mobile phones you need to be a high-rollin’ AT&T customer (or a new iPhone buyer) to be eligible to upgrade from the iPhone 3G to 3GS for $199 (16GB) or $299 (32GB) that Apple and AT&T advertise. Although AT&T relaxed its eligibility standards slightly to include a few more iPhone 3G [...]
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Steve Jobs Had a Liver Transplant
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple CEO Steve Jobs recently underwent a liver transplant. Jobs, who has been on a leave of absence from the company since January, reportedly had the transplant about two months ago in an undisclosed hospital in Tennessee. As the Journal notes, Tennessee has a more liberal policy regarding waiting lists and residency requirements for transplants. This results in a median wait of 48 days for a liver transplant, vs. 306 nationally. As to why Jobs needed a liver transplant, it's possibly associated with his pancreatic cancer from 2004. The five-year survival rate for all liver transplants is around 75 percent. When contacted by the Journal regarding the status of Jobs, Apple spokeswoman Katie Cotton would only comment that “Steve continues to look forward to returning at the end of June, and there's nothing further to say.” Actually, there is. Back in January, Jobs sent an e-mail to Apple employees announcing his leave of absence. In the letter, he talked about his weight loss, about “getting to the root cause” of the problem, and reversing it. According to Jobs at the time, the cause had been determined. Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause — a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis. While it is possible that there was a misdiagnosis in January, there was no announcement regarding the updated status of Jobs' health, and the question then becomes whether there should have been. Unlike in 2004, when Jobs hid his illness from all but a few people close to him for nine months before surgery for pancreatic cancer forced him to reveal it, at least some members of the Board of Directors were kept informed. More importantly, Apple COO Tim Cook was officially running the company during Jobs' illness this time. It appears the company has adapted internally, if not externally, to the problem of Jobs' health. While the public has no right to know about Jobs' private life, perhaps a blanket policy of “no comment” would be better than questionable answers.
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iPhone 3GS dissected
iFixIt’s Kyle Wiens flew to London to get the iPhone 3GS several hours before the US release. He was one of the first people at the Regent Street Apple Store to get the device. After which he proceeded to take it apart. Wiens enlisted the help of MacWorld UK and some locals for one of his [...]
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T-Mobile plans July launch of new Google phone
Following huge introductions of the Palm Pre and new iPhone 3G S, T-Mobile today announces July availability of MyTouch 3G, the ...
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A great Apple Retail Experience story
Jason Kelly describes how Apple's retail experience impressed him on his first visit to an Apple Store: Most new Mac users rave about the solidity of the product, the no-bloatware out-of-box experience, and the sheer beauty of Apple's technology. What I want to focus on today, however, is Apple's superb retail experience. [...] Such a store shows a great deal of confidence in the products, which gives me confidence as a buyer. I'm not being rushed out the door with a flimsy piece of paper saying I have tech support for a year if I need it — just call this number in India, but don't under any circumstances bother us here — but am instead given all the time and freedom to arrive at about the only conclusion anybody can: I want one. — Big in Japan: Apple Retail Experience, seekingalpha.com, June 15, 2009 The result was a satisfied new customer: You know what else I wondered? What new epiphanies awaited me at the Apple Store. What other little miracles of technology whispered my name? What excuse could I find to visit my new friends in Ginza, and buy something else from them?
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Jobs' health again fuels speculation
Reports that Apple CEO Steve Jobs recently had a liver transplant are sparking speculation about the future of the electronics-maker ...
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Inside iPhone 3.0: Fix too-strict passcode lock settings for Exchange users
Filed under: Enterprise, iPhone If your iPhone was connected to an Exchange server for email, contact or calendar synchronization prior to your upgrade to the 3.0 software, you may have run into the same problem that was bugging me for a day or so: the timeout on the passcode lock gets set to "Immediate," forcing you to enter the code almost every time you pick up the phone. Secure, sure, but very annoying. Going to the usual settings location to adjust the timeout shows no choices other than the insta-lock; what to do? A thread on the Apple discussions boards points to the answer. Since the ActiveSync link to the Exchange server controls some security policies on the phone, you need to refresh those controls; the easiest way to do that, short of deleting and recreating the Exchange account, is to turn off all three sync modes and the Push setting. Once that's done, you can go back to the passcode lock screen and disable the lock or adjust the timeout. Put your sync settings back the way they were and your changes to the passcode config should remain in place. While this is an annoying quirk, it's not all gripes and grimaces in the Exchange support department. At long last, users of Exchange calendars can send meeting invitations (hallelujah!); Exchange 2007 users can even view the reply status of attendees. Users can specify additional mail folders for sync, and Exchange 2007 users can search server-side mail from their devices. For a full rundown on the enterprise-friendly features of iPhone OS 3.0, check out the Enterprise Integration guide via Apple's enterprise features page. Thanks to everyone who sent this in.TUAWInside iPhone 3.0: Fix too-strict passcode lock settings for Exchange users originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Meizo CEO: current M8 upgradeable to 3G, estimated cost about $190 to $220
We know, we know, it's gonna be awfully hard to part with the comfort of your current beloved Meizu M8, but trust us, change can be good. We've already heard reports of an Android-centric UI refresh, and now company CEO J. Wong has chimed in to outline a tentative upgrade plan for the upcoming M8 3G. Current users of the eerily familiar 8GB / 16GB device will need to pay approximately 1,300 RMB to 1,500 RMB (translation: about $190 to $200 US) for next year's model. Oddly enough, despite these estimates, he's not confirming any market selling price. Wong also adds the screen size has been expanded from the initially planned 3.54 inches diagonal to 3.6, with same 720 x 480 resolution. Keep saving your pennies, last we heard launch date was still (lightly) penciled in for March 2010.Filed under: CellphonesMeizo CEO: current M8 upgradeable to 3G, estimated cost about $190 to $220 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple's $30 apology for iPhone activation delays
Apple begins notifying iPhone 3G S owners that they may experience additional delays due to "system issues" and offers a $30 iTunes Store credit as an apology.
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3.0 is here, but where's the free security update for iPod touch 2.x?
Filed under: Security, iPod touchTUAW reader Jim Carroll is worried: "It is crunch time for your site," he warned ominously in an email yesterday. Jim is worried that security updates made available via the iPhone OS 3.0 updates last week will only be available to iPod touch users through the obligatory $10 upgrade. "Please use your power as an Apple site to raise the issue." Please, Jim. We're blushing. "As a long time computer user I am unaware of a similar incident where a company would charge for security updates," he writes. Companies charge money for updates all the time -- operating systems and anti-virus software take time and energy to make, and companies want to get their investment back. Apple has been kind with free updates to Safari, but only because they gain revenue from it via the Search bar. Apple has always charged iPod touch users for major updates, of course, but security updates have most often come free. 1.0.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, 1.1.5, 2.1, and 2.2 all included security fixes, but were free to iPod touch users. (The latter two cases were free for those who bought the 2.0 update.) 1.1.5 is an interesting case. It was released a few days after the 2.0 update, and included security updates that were wrapped into the 2.0 update. My advice? Have patience. This coming week or next, I have confidence we'll see an update for 2.x (2.2.2 perhaps?) that leaves out the new features, but includes the same security updates found in 3.0 at about $9.95 less. We're also beginning to hear whispers of a 3.0.1 update for the device to help resolve WiFi issues in the new release; a German iPod user reports being told by an AppleCare representative that an update is expected shortly. Take that with the appropriately sized grain of salt. Thanks, Jim & Oboewan!TUAW3.0 is here, but where's the free security update for iPod touch 2.x? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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3G S sales expectations shift higher, Apple offers $30 credit for activation issues
Filed under: iPhoneIt's Father's Day here in the USA, UK and Canada (best wishes to all the Mac daddies out there!), and if the tea-leaf-reading over the iPhone 3G S launch is accurate, it looks like quite a few of those dads may have gotten a shiny new phone as a gift from the spouse and kids. Which would have been really thoughtful and unexpected. If I had gotten one. Anyway. The pre-launch expectation from analyst Gene Munster was for a comparatively modest 500K units sold over the weekend vs. the 3G million-phone launch, but now his firm has suggested that may have been a conservative number, as noted by AppleInsider. Between AT&T's citing of 'hundreds of thousands' of pre-orders for the phone, and O2 announcing that first-day sales for the 3G S blew past the totals for the 3G last year, it's possible that the 3G S could creep up towards that million-phone number and blockbuster territory. Despite (or perhaps due to) the brisk sales pace, AT&T's activation infrastructure did not seem to be ready for the influx of account changes; this is a familiar situation, as last year's 3G launch triggered similar delays. Many new buyers (including our own Steve Sande) were faced with activation delays between two hours and two days. In recognition of the aggravation and inconvenience, Apple has begun emailing affected users with the offer of a $30 iTunes credit to be delivered Monday morning, according to Everything iCafe. If you got a credit email, please let us know.TUAW3G S sales expectations shift higher, Apple offers $30 credit for activation issues originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 21 Jun 2009 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Visual Voicemail hosed after an upgrade? Here's the likely solution
Filed under: How-tos, Tips and tricks, iPhoneThis happened to me last time I upgraded from my original iPhone to the 3G. I went to check messages, and instead of seeing the list of people who called, the phone simply dialed the voicemail number. The solution this time is the same as last time.Go to the AT&T web site, log in, and under Phone, Device Support you'll see an option to 'Reset Voicemail Password.' Go ahead and do that, and AT&T will send you a text message with a temporary password. Go to your iPhone, set up Visual Voicemail again as if your phone was new, and put your old password back in.It seems like AT&T could handle all this automatically, and it clearly works for some, but a quick check of friends who upgraded found quite a few with the problem. All this logging in and re-setting passwords is not the most elegant solution, but apparently it is the only solution.Hope this helps some of you.TUAWVisual Voicemail hosed after an upgrade? Here's the likely solution originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 21 Jun 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Talkcast reminder: iPhone 3.0 & 3G S week in review, 10pm Sunday
Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts If only we'd had any sort of Apple news to talk about this week! Last week Christina and the crew reviewed WWDC and looked ahead to this week's product introductions. You can download past shows from Talkshoe, Stitcher or subscribe in iTunes. We'll be live tonight (6/21 at 10 pm ET) and quizzing all the new iPhone 3G S owners on the team -- not to mention taking your calls, questions and suggestions during the show. We'll also offer a special Father's Day salute to all of the Mac daddies out there. Please do join in! To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, or you can try out the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VOIP lines (take advantange of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. Talk with you then! Recording support for the talkcast is provided by Call Recorder from ecamm networks.TUAWTalkcast reminder: iPhone 3.0 & 3G S week in review, 10pm Sunday originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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iLounge releases speed test videos of iPhone 3G S
Filed under: iPhoneTesting how speedy the iPhone 3G S "S for speed" really is has become de rigueur. iLounge has put together two videos comparing the facility of the 3G S to the 3G, last year's iteration of the iPhone, and to the second generation iPod touch. The operator tests four applications: Edge, Peggle, Real Racing, and Star Defense. They are all graphically heavy games with initial load times, and likely where the difference will be most exaggerated. As is to be expected from a phone named for its swiftness, the 3G S outstrips both the 3G and the iPod touch by a fair margin, though the iPod touch counters the 3G S a bit more easily than the 3G does. The videos don't offer any quantitative analysis, nor are they exact by any stretch of the imagination (you'll just have to trust the device operator to touch the application icons simultaneously), but it's comforting to know you that if dropped at least two bills, it was for a reason. Because the videos don't offer any guidance as to which device is where, I'll clue you in: in both videos, the 3G S is on the right.Continue reading iLounge releases speed test videos of iPhone 3G S TUAWiLounge releases speed test videos of iPhone 3G S originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 21 Jun 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Macsimum iPhone Video: Demo of iPhone Software 3.0 Copy & Paste
Posted by Dave MertenToday's Macsimum iPhone video demonstrates how to Copy & Paste using an iPhone running the 3.0 software.
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Steve Jobs: Workaholic, Innovative Entrepreneur and Inspiration
According to Wall Street Journal today, Steve Jobs had a liver transplant 2 months ago in Tennesse. He is recovering well according to the paper and plan to return to work later this month. Here is the link to the source: WSJ (06/20/2009) Steve Jobs is known for being very workaholic & innovative entrepreneur co-founding & running two hugely successful technology companies, Apple (AAPL) and Pixar (bought later by Disney (DIS)). He is an expert innovator and very passionate on innovation and technology advancements. His work ethics and visions are legendary. Unfortunately, the health of a human being is never certain no matter how much success and money a human has. We all should be grateful for his huge contribution so far to the technology & media landscape and wish him a great and sustainable health recovery. Steve Jobs' life story is inspirational. He came from a humble beginning. He was an orphan and a college drop-out.
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iPhone Tip: Moving Icons between pages running iPhone 3.0 software
Posted by Dave MertenMoving icons from one page to another on an iPhone can be a cumbersome task—especially if you have to move the icon two or more pages. You have to drag the icon to the side of the screen, wait for it to move to the next page, let up on...
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MacOSG: Latest 'Apple Technical Articles' released
Posted by Dave MertenBelow are over 20 Apple Technical Article recently released from Apple, including what to do if your application doesn't work with the new iPhone 3.0 Software Update.
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Sprella releases Toon Tango 1.0 (video demo)
Posted by Dave MertenSprella LLC is excited to announce the launch of Toon Tango 1.0, a fun and entertaining application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Toon Tango is for creating hilarious dancing cartoons of your friends. You create the toon using a face from a photo in your album or taken from...
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Sean O'Brien wins the A Business Tycoon Land on Mars Contest
Posted by Dave MertenSherylApps has announced Sean O'Brien from UK as the winner of the contest it held for its game 'A Business Tycoon' on app store. In the contest, the first user to unlock all the available luxuries was to be awarded an acre of land on planet Mars. Also starting from...
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ScreenSteps Pro adds video embedding and Pages/Word export
Filed under: Software, Cool toolsScreenSteps 2.6 is out, and has added two very useful features: the ability to export to Microsoft Word or Pages, and the ability to embed videos into your documents for online publication. We've covered this screen-based documentation application since its initial release, and it continues to be a personal favorite for me and an incredibly efficient way to create and maintain documentation for clients, employees and users. The video embedding is a huge deal for my workflow. I've found through years of working with clients that a PDF or online document and a video serve two very different audiences. Some folks, myself included, have a learning style that does not work with video tutorials. We require text and examples we can scan, search and bookmark. The other half are in a reverse situation; videos jibe with their learning style, but pages of text just cause a logjam in their brains. Ultimately, because I can rarely predict the learning style of a client, I end up creating both; documenting a procedure step-by-step, and then demonstrating it while I record the screen, using the manual I just created as a script. With ScreenSteps 2.6, I can now add a shorter video to each step or lesson, allowing me to serve both audiences a little more efficiently. Embedding video is as easy as copying the embed code from any video service which provides it, choosing the Step > Set Video Embed Code menu option and pasting your code. At this point, the "video embed" is a PR-speak way of introducing a feature which really has much more advanced possibilities. Quite simply, this feature allows you to embed anything you want, and -- at least in HTML exports -- have it interpreted within the documentation as Javascript/HTML. I plan to use this freedom to embed bookmarks in my videos using YouTube's Javascript API. You can also use it to insert code examples with HTML pre and code tags. The sky's the limit. On to the new export formats ... I really should say format, as it's a single option to export a Office Open XML format. This format can be read by and edited in most modern word processors, including Apple's Pages and Microsoft Word. As with ScreenSteps' other export formats, users can customize templates for their OOXML files, allowing strict adherence to standards within organizations with such requirements. It allows for some pretty darn good-looking Pages documents, too. A trial version of ScreenSteps 2.6 is available for download from Blue Mango Learning Systems. See the product page for further details. Pricing comes in two levels: $39.95US for the standard version, or $59.95US for the Pro version (which is required for the video embedding and OOXML export features).TUAWScreenSteps Pro adds video embedding and Pages/Word export originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 21 Jun 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple: WSJ Reports that Steve Jobs Had a Liver Transplant
Remember that rumor two months ago about Steve Jobs going to Memphis to receive medical treatment? Apparently, it was true.
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Does Flip Have a Chance in an iPhone World?
As successful as Pure Digital has been with their Flip line of video cameras - selling $150 million worth of them last year - they face a new type of threat that they can't defeat. The video capable iPhone, and video mobile phones in general, will make them irrelevant in the next couple of years. Flip cameras have really grown on me. A year ago I didn't see any point in it, since most point and shoot cameras did everything the Flip could do at the same or better price point, and they took good pictures, too. The Flip was very simple to use, but the software wasn't so great and it didn't play well with Macs. I didn't see the point in carrying the extra device.
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A Second Opinion on Palm Pre's App Numbers
By Devin ColdeweyThe Pre is emerging as a polarizing device, even more so than the G1 (which everyone agreed was kind of beta), probably because it's the closest thing to a legitimate threat that the iPhone has faced. Who wouldn't get defensive? With strong sales in its first two weeks and an entirely new OS for developers to do their thing with, it's strong out of the gate but controlled — because the jockey is holding the reins tight. Palm (PALM) didn't expect a dynamite launch or a million app sales in a week; what they've got so far is, if we can believe what they say, pretty much what they'd hoped for.
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FCC Starts Examining Carrier-Exclusive Phone Deals
Well, that didn't take long. It was only a few days ago that four U.S. senators sent a letter to the FCC, asking the agency to investigate whether these carrier-exclusive deals - such as the Apple-AT&T deal for the iPhone - limit consumer choice.
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Sirius iPhone Application Soars in Popularity
By Brandon Matthews Investors in Sirius XM (SIRI) were given a treat late Friday afternoon in after hours trading when CNBC's Silicon Valley Bureau Chief broke the news that Sirius XM's new iPhone and iPod Touch applications had become not only the second most popular free download overall but the number one free music app available from iTunes.
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Sirius and the Apple Effect
By Brandon Matthews A commonly accepted measure of any company's success includes its market penetration and/or growth rates. Eventually, every product or service reaches a peak in both areas. Stock markets offer investors an opportunity to take advantage of growing companies versus those who may have peaked and fizzled out. In the end, all stocks become pyramid schemes in a sense, which makes it imperative to know the difference, in order to know when to get out of any given stock.
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Verizon MiFi lets iPhone download big files on the go
Sitting on a plane during boarding on the way to start Road Trip 2009, CNET's Daniel Terdiman uses Verizon's new mobile hot spot technology to create a Wi-Fi signal and downloads a large file on his iPhone.
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Sirius Becomes a Global Growth Story
By Steve Garcia At long last with the release of the SIRIUS XM iPHONE application, investors and fans of the service have been shown the future beyond automobile subscriptions. The truth far outweighs the negative sentiment we have seen portrayed and embellished time and again in the financial and mainstream media outlets. The application released by SIRIUS XM (SIRI) allows access to some of the most exclusive content on any iPHONE or iPOD touch. This basically eliminates the need for a SATRAD specific device to listen in. It also would seem to give APPLE (AAPL) quite a few purchasers of the iPHONE they would not otherwise have gotten, as I have seen many comments regarding people willing to give up their Blackberry should the APP come out which it has. On the surface, a win, win situation for both companies. There is more to what is going on and in play than meets the eye.
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New Sirius Revenue Sources
By Dustin Hermes As all Sirius XM Radio (SIRI) listeners and investors know, the company released its highly anticipated iPhone application. Let's break down the importance of this from an investor's perspective.
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Inside iPhone 3.0: Enhanced controls for podcast & audiobook playback
Filed under: Podcasts, iPhone, iPod touchIt's on the master list of 3.0 features, but we've been sent enough tips and suggestions about it to conclude that the advanced podcast/audiobook controls came as a pleasant surprise for lots of iPhone and iPod touch owners who upgraded. In the 3.0 version, from the playback display for a podcast, tapping the screen brings up a set of expert controls: a button to email a link to the podcast's page on iTunes; a 30-second "What's that, now?" instant rewind button; and a playback speed control to give you 1/2 speed, normal or 2x "FedEx mode" playback. The scrubber bar itself has been given a charge, even though it doesn't look any different until you tap it; it displays the relative playback position within the episode being played. Dragging horizontally gives you high-speed scrubbing (previously known as "just plain old scrubbing"), but if you keep your finger on the screen and drag down, your scrub rate lowers step by step through half-speed, quarter-speed and 'fine scrubbing.' This detail control makes it a lot easier to cue up a particular spot in a long show or book chapter. I've started to enjoy listening to some of my longer subscriptions in 2x mode, especially when I have a fixed amount of time to listen to the podcast but I still want to cover as much of it as I can. Even shorter news-centric podcasts can sometimes benefit from a speed boost. If any of you try out the 2x mode on an audiobook, do let us know how it works for you. Surprisingly, I find myself using the 'email this' button quite a lot, especially to let friends and family know about some of my favorite shows. I imagine they'll be getting tired of that pretty soon.TUAWInside iPhone 3.0: Enhanced controls for podcast & audiobook playback originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 21 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Can Blackberry Maintain Its Rise in Popularity Among Teens?
Research In Motion's (RIMM) most recent earnings report triggered an interesting reaction from analysts and the investment community in general, as the bulk of post-earnings discussion seemed to focus not on the numbers themselves, but on the fact that 80% of the quarter's new Blackberry subscriber growth came from the consumer. For the sake of perspective, RIMM added roughly 3.8M net new Blackberry subscribers in Q1, and ~3.04M of these new subscribers were consumers, as opposed to businesses. While there is some degree of obviousness to the fact that businesses are providing fewer cell phones to employees, our informal research into the consumer aspect of Blackberry growth indicates that RIMM is currently reaping the benefits of having happened to produce a "cool" product. While analysts have properly classified the recent consumer based growth as more fickle in nature than business based growth, we think that due to the nature of the newest wave of Blackberry subscribers, the growth may be more tenuous than most perceive.It is fairly well documented that the Blackberry is the smart phone market's most dominant player: The most recent survey by ChangeWave credits Blackberry with 41% of the consumer market for smart phones. Additionally, the survey found that 11.2% of consumers plan to purchase a smart phone in the next 90 days, up from a figure of 6.8% when the survey began in June of 2005. So, we've established RIMM as the market share leader in a consumer market that has been steadily growing since 2005. With these facts established, there is a tendency to characterize the strong recent Blackberry consumer growth as the simple continuation of a trend that appears to have some degree of staying power. However, our anecdotal and unscientific investigation into the unscientific yet powerful concept of "cool" has led us to the conclusion that Blackberry's are in the midst of a sharp popularity increase amongst the teenage population - a segment of the population that does not adhere to brand loyalty.
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Cramer's Mad Money - Get 'Em While They're Cold (6/19/09)
Stocks discussed on the in-depth session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Friday June 19.Get 'em While They're Cold: BP (BP), JP Morgan (JPM), Apple (AAPL), Coke (KO), Pepsi (PEP), General Mills (GIS), Dominion Resources (D), Con Ed (ED)
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â Regarding the WSJâs Report That Steve Jobs Had a Liver Transplant
[This piece combines into a single narrative and expands upon three shorter pieces I posted immediately after this news broke Friday night.] Friday night around midnight, The Wall Street Journal published a report headlined “Jobs Had Liver Transplant”1 by Yukari Iwatani Kane and Joann S. Lublin. It stated: Steve Jobs, who has been on medical leave from Apple Inc. since January to treat an undisclosed medical condition, received a liver transplant in Tennessee about two months ago. The chief executive has been recovering well and is expected to return to work on schedule later this month, though he may work part-time initially. What’s intriguing about this story is not the question of whether Jobs actually had a liver transplant. I do not doubt that (although I’d like to see better sources for it). What is intriguing is the question of who leaked this information to the Journal and why. The WSJ’s Unusual Lack of Sourcing There are several highly unusual aspects to the Journal’s story. First is that they offer no source for the information â not even an âaccording to sources familiar the matterâ. But yet they state it flatly as certain fact that Steve Jobs had a secret liver transplant in Tennessee. Blockbuster news with no sourcing whatsoever. To call that curious is an understatement. And, coming in the opening paragraph of a page one story, it could not be a careless omission. The basic tenets of journalism are simple. One reports facts and how one knows them. The principal is much like that of publishing scientific papers, where one describes not just the results, but also exactly how the results were obtained, so that others can reproduce them. This is why named sources are so much more valuable than anonymous sources; with a named source, other reporters can contact the source to verify the information. But there’s an apt journalism adage from Lord Northcliffe: “News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising.” And so sometimes the only sources for certain information are those who cannot or will not allow their names to be used. Most publications, and certainly all publications of the stature of The Wall Street Journal, have strict guidelines covering the use of anonymous sources. My friend Matt Deatherage (publisher of the estimable MacJournals) quoted the following from the Journal’s own Wall Street Journal Guide to Business Style and Usage in a post to the MacJournals-Talk mailing list: ANONYMOUS SOURCES: Accepting a source’s request for anonymity sometimes is the only practical way to obtain important information, but we must be circumspect. On-the-record sources are always preferable because they may be held personally accountable for what they say and are therefore generally more certain to be scrupulously accurate. Also, readers are able to made judgments about the reliability of those whose identities are provided. In cases where the person’s identity is to be protected, take pains to indicate where his or her biases might lie: “an executive working for a competitor ⌠an executive who left the company in a management shakeup ⌠a laid-off employee ⌔ or “a close relative of the plaintiff.” Their story on Jobs’s purported liver transplant offers no sourcing for the reader to judge. It entirely hinges on the (admittedly significant) credibility of The Wall Street Journal itself. Again, I point all this out not to say that I don’t believe their report. I’m as big a cynic regarding anonymous sourcing as anyone, but I believe that Jobs indeed had a liver transplant in Tennessee simply because The Wall Street Journal has placed its credibility behind the story. There is no hedging or fudging in their report. If it’s not true, it would amount to one of the biggest mistakes in their esteemed history. But reputable news publications do not ordinarily report utterly unsourced news. (I cannot find another example of the Journal reporting completely unsourced page one news.) So: Why? Most major news publications have picked up the story, but only by sourcing the information to Journal itself. For example: Bloomberg, The San Jose Mercury News, ABC News, and The BBC. Bloomberg’s report is indicative of this second-hand reporting: Steve Jobs, co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple Inc., underwent a liver transplant two months ago, the Wall Street Journal reported, without disclosing the source of the information. Even The New York Times has published a piece (“Apple Chief Reportedly Had Liver Transplant”) but they too have no source for the news other than the report in the Journal. (Surely the Times has reporters digging into this story; the aforelinked piece crediting only the Journal ran almost 24 hours after the Journal’s story, and as of this writing, four hours later, has not hit the front page of nytimes.com.) The only publication claiming independent verification is CNBC, late Saturday night: Two sources confirmed to CNBC that Jobs had the surgery and another confirmed that his plane flew from San Jose to Memphis in late March. Further curiosity: whoever the Journal’s source, they didnât give the WSJ any publishable information regarding why Jobs needed a new liver — that part of the article is pure speculation, quoting doctors who have never treated Jobs personally. Is it because the Journal’s source doesn’t know, or because the source wouldn’t tell? There’s a big difference. Why Tennessee? There have been rumors circulating for months that Steve Jobs had moved to Tennessee for some sort of medical treatment. Here’s a rumor Barron’s Tech Trader Daily published on April 15, which in turn cites a report by Alexander Haislip of the PEHub Blog (which does not have publicly available archives). Haislip wrote: I spoke with a well-connected business person in Memphis this morning who says that there is a house in a swank neighborhood there that has been bought for a princely sum and is undergoing minor renovations in preparation for its new resident. He says he has reason to believe Apple CEO Steve Jobs is moving to the city to treat his pancreatic cancer. Several readers sent me this Barron’s link back when it was new, but I decided against linking to it because it was just so sketchily sourced. (And even now, if the WSJ report turns out to be completely accurate, the Barron’s rumor was wrong with regard to the treatment for which Jobs went to Tennessee.) Iâve ignored a slew of Jobs-related rumors over the past year because of the sourcing. One thing that struck me as wrong at the outset regarding these “Jobs-in-Tennessee” rumors is the question of why he’d bother going to Tennessee in the first place. Tennessee may be a lovely state, but, well, it doesnât sound like Steve Jobs country. You donât need to leave the Bay area to get world-class medical treatment. The Journal’s report has a good answer:2 The specifics of Mr. Jobsâs surgery couldnât be established, but according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which manages the transplant network in the U.S., there are no residency requirements for transplants. Having the procedure done in Tennessee makes sense because its list of patients waiting for transplants is shorter than in many other states. According to data provided by UNOS, in 2006, the median number of days from joining the liver waiting list to transplant was 306 nationally. In Tennessee, it was 48 days. But if the Journal knows that Jobs had a transplant, and knows that it was performed in Tennessee, why don’t they know which hospital? Again from their report: Three hospitals in Tennessee â Le Bonheur Childrenâs Medical Center in Memphis, Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville and Methodist University Hospital in Memphis â are designated as liver-transplant centers, according to UNOS. A spokeswoman for Le Bonheur said the hospital doesnât perform liver transplants in adults. A Vanderbilt spokesman said it didnât treat Mr. Jobs. A spokeswoman for Methodist University said Mr. Jobs isnât listed as a patient there. Reading between the lines, if Jobs had a liver transplant in Tennessee, it must have been at one of these three hospitals. Two flatly deny it, but the third, Methodist University, simply stated Jobs âisnât listed as a patientâ â present tense, not past tense. So it must have been performed there. But why canât the Journal state that as fact as well? Regarding the Timing and Source of the Leak That this news broke months after the purported transplant, at midnight on the Friday of what appears to be the most successful new product launch in Apple history, strikes me as beyond coincidence. My first thought was that it must be a deliberate, timed leak from Apple. Assuming the story is true and that Apple felt the need to eventually release the news, when better to release it than on the very day when it most appears that Apple has continued to thrive while Jobs was on medical leave? MG Siegler at TechCrunch speculates similarly: Weâd be remiss if we didnât note that the timing of this story appears favorable for Apple. This news breaks late on a Friday, after Apple has just held a successful launch of a very high profile new product, the iPhone 3G S, that sent the stock soaring today. Obviously, the market wonât be open again until Monday. I don’t see how the leak could have came from someone with a competitive interest against Apple. The timing is completely favorable to Apple; if the leak had came from someone wishing ill against Apple, it would have come at some time, any time, other than in the wake of the extremely successful iPhone 3G S launch. Plus, other than the surprise that Jobs had a liver transplant in the first place, the gist of the article is largely favorable to Apple. It emphasizes that Jobs is recovering, is still set to return to work this month, and has already been seen on Apple’s campus recently. It is also the case that it would be unconscionable for the information to come from someone with a position against Apple and for the Journal not to describe the source as such. Thus I see only three possible sources for the leak. Theory 1: That the information came without Jobs’s permission or knowledge, from a healthcare provider with knowledge of Jobs’s medical situation. Presumably, given the Journal’s report, from someone at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis. Such a leak would clearly be a violation of HIPAA privacy laws. This might explain the utter lack of sourcing and the certainty as to the veracity of the information, but it would not explain the perfect-for-Apple timing of the leak, which timing I firmly believe is simply too convenient to be coincidence. It would also raise serious questions regarding the ethics of the Wall Street Journal. I therefore discount this possibility. Theory 2: That the leak was authorized by Jobs himself. I doubt Jobs personally spoke to the Journal reporters (see below), but it could have been someone close to him (if so, I’d guess Katie Cotton or someone else high up in Apple Communications) doing it with his permission. The thinking behind this theory would be that if the information was going to become public eventually, why not control it and have it come out at the most advantageous time possible. This scenario would explain the certainty of the information, but not the odd lack of sourcing. My thoughts then ran to the possibility that perhaps Jobs himself is the source — he has occasionally called reporters personally. And if he offered the information only on the condition that it not be sourced to him by name, perhaps the Journal couldn’t bring themselves to describe Jobs himself as merely “a source familiar with the situation” or somesuch. But the second paragraph in the Journal story seems to preclude Jobs personally as the source: Mr. Jobs didn’t respond to an email requesting comment. “Steve continues to look forward to returning at the end of June, and there’s nothing further to say,” said Apple spokeswoman Katie Cotton. That language leaves the clear impression that Jobs did not personally contribute to the report, and it implies that Katie Cotton did not either. It’s one thing for reporters to omit information; it is something else entirely to purposefully mislead readers. There are also certain implications in the Journal’s story that cast Jobs in an unflattering light. William Hawkins, a doctor specializing in pancreatic and gastrointestinal surgery at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., said that the type of slow-growing pancreatic tumor Mr. Jobs had will commonly metastasize in another organ during a patient’s lifetime, and that the organ is usually the liver. “All total, 75% of patients are going to have the disease spread over the course of their life,” said Dr. Hawkins, who has not treated Mr. Jobs. Getting a liver transplant to treat a metastasized neuroendocrine tumor is controversial because livers are scarce and the surgery’s efficacy as a cure hasn’t been proved, Dr. Hawkins added. He said that patients whose tumors have metastasized can live for as many as 10 years without any treatment so it is hard to determine how successful a transplant has been in curing the disease. This is ugly business. They’re quoting a doctor who specializes in pancreatic and gastrointestinal surgery as saying (1) that it’s common for someone who had the cancer Jobs had to subsequently get cancer in their liver; (2) that liver transplants are not proven to help in such cases; and (3) obtaining a liver transplant in such cases is therefore controversial because it’s taking a liver that could otherwise have been put to better use by someone with some other type of liver ailment. There is no other way to read this than as an implication that Steve Jobs may have gotten a liver that should have gone to someone else. Keep in mind that this entire ugly implication is not stated as fact and is attributed as speculation from a doctor who admittedly has not treated Steve Jobs. But the fact that it is in the story at all makes me question whether any of the information in the story came with Steve Jobs’s permission, tacit or otherwise. Theory 3: That a member of Apple’s board of directors leaked the information to the Journal without Jobs’s permission or knowledge, or perhaps, if the matter of public disclosure had been posed to and dismissed by Jobs at a board meeting, expressly against Jobs’s wishes. The scenario I am imagining here is that Jobs does not wish to reveal anything regarding his medical situation, but that a member (or contingent) of Apple’s board believes it is in the company’s interest to release the basic gist of the story, regardless of Jobs’s wishes. This scenario would explain the timing, the certainty, and perhaps even the lack of sourcing. (Although if this scenario is the case, certainly Jobs himself must suspect the source of the leak is from the board.) Note also that some portions of Kane and Lublin’s WSJ report must have been sourced from someone on, or very close to, Apple’s board of directors: When he does return, Mr. Jobs may be encouraged by his physicians to initially “work part-time for a month or two,” a person familiar with the thinking at Apple said. That may lead Tim Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer, to take “a more encompassing role,” this person said. The person added that Mr. Cook may be appointed to Apple’s board in the not-too-distant future. […] At least some Apple directors were aware of the CEO’s surgery. As part of an agreement with Mr. Jobs in place before he went on leave, some board members have been briefed weekly on the CEO’s condition by his physician. Who else other than a source on Apple’s board would know that Tim Cook may soon join the board, or that some board members were briefed weekly?3 This third scenario is my best guess as to the Journal’s source. It sounds sensational to speculate that there is conflict in this regard between Jobs and at least some contingent of Apple’s board of directors, but sensational or not, it makes more sense to me than any other scenario. It also fits with my belief that Steve Jobs does not want to disclose anything about his health whatsoever. As usual, I’m linking to a Google redirection to the WSJ story. If I link directly to the WSJ web site, only paid WSJ subscribers will be able to read the story. The WSJ allows referrals from Google to see full article content. ↩ Apple board member and Jobs confidant Al Gore is from Tennessee. But his home is in Nashville, not Memphis, so I can’t think of any reason Gore would have played a role in Jobs’s decision to go there. ↩ In theory the Journal’s source could be Tim Cook, but that goes against everything I have ever heard about Cook. I believe him to be loyal, honest, and to have deservedly earned Steve Jobs’s full trust. I truly believe that Cook would much prefer to continue in his current role in an Apple with Jobs as CEO than to be CEO of a Jobs-less Apple. Plus, Cook doesn’t need to angle through the press for anything. If Jobs steps down as CEO any time in the foreseeable future, the CEO job goes to Cook. No one whose opinion I value doubts this. It’s simply a question of whether Cook runs operations as “COO” with Steve Jobs overseeing product development, or as “CEO” without Steve Jobs overseeing product development. ↩