Jul 3, 2009 Jul 5, 2009 Saturday July 4, 2009
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German Mac cloner: we're meeting needs that Apple doesn't
Posted by Dennis SellersA German firm, PearC, that earlier this year bean offering computers running Mac OS X, in apparent violation of Apple's user license, is expanding its operations into France, the Netherlands and Belgium, reports OSNews.
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Apple blames hot iPhones on the weather, others find oleophobic screen to be fleeting?
Don't worry, everybody, your iPhone baking itself to a crisp is no cause for panic, now that Apple has found the culprit: the weather and your heartless negligence. Apparently you've been leaving your brand new iPhone 3GS in a hot car, and the warm sensation you feel any time you hold the phone has nothing to do with beefed up processors or inadequate cooling. Phew, glad that's all sorted and now nobody will have any problems with self-destructive iPhones they paid hundreds of dollars for. Besides, it serves you right.Meanwhile, hapless Samsas Traum has found a problem of his own (pictured) that's sure to be blamed on some other act of god in the near future by Apple's spin team: the oleophobic coating is getting rubbed right off his screen. Apparently he has a bit of a fondness for a certain "Flick Fishing" app, which explains the highly localized nature of his oleophobic destruction. We haven't heard many other reports of a similar nature, but we'll keep an eye out for telltale Tap Tap Revenge markings on the iPhones of our rhythm-addled loved ones.[Thanks, Rafa]Read - Apple blames overheating iPhones on the weatherRead - Oleophobic coating wearing off fastFiled under: Cellphones, HandheldsApple blames hot iPhones on the weather, others find oleophobic screen to be fleeting? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Give us your tired, your poor, your best iPhone fireworks pix and videos
Filed under: iPhoneIf you have an older iPhone or the newer 3GS, we'd love to see how you do shooting your local fireworks displays tonight. We'll put our favorites into a gallery and publish them tomorrow.We know the iPhone isn't a Nikon or a Canon, but it still amazes us how good the images can be. The new 3GS phone has a bit more megapixel firepower and you may get better focus, but all cameras are welcome. If you have one of the newer iPhones, short videos are also in order. Please let us know where you took the images, and if there were any special techniques you used to make your photos stand out. If you tart your pix up with any apps or filters, let us know what you did.Have at it. Email your pix or videos to tuaw_fireworks@drop.io, tag them "tuawfireworks" on Flickr or upload them here to share them with our readers worldwide. And happy, snappy, 4th of July!TUAWGive us your tired, your poor, your best iPhone fireworks pix and videos originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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New MBP offers top display quality, but some beg to differ
Filed under: Macbook Pro For pro photographers who care about color fidelity on a laptop screen, there's good news from Rob Galbraith on the revamped MacBook Pro line: the new laptops offer improved color performance, which Rob's review describes as "better colour accuracy than any Apple laptop we've profiled since...2001." Color accuracy, display evenness and grayscale viewing are all noted as excellent; the only sore spots are viewing angle and the grating lack of matte screen options for anything but the 17" top model. He notes that TechRestore may begin offering matte-screen replacements for the smaller units soon, for those who can't tolerate the glossy glare. Not everyone is satisfied with the MBP screens, however. Designer Louie Mantia of the Iconfactory has a bone to pick with the screen quality of his new 13" unit; it's sporting a 6-bit display, which has been an issue with color-sensitive professionals for years now. To add insult to injury, the Apple store sold Louie the wrong DisplayPort adapter for his external display, and nobody at Apple HQ is willing to give him an answer on whether or not an 8-bit panel is even an option (hint: it's not, sorry about that). One could argue, as he does, that a 'Pro' machine ought to have a professional-quality panel... but that campaign's not likely to get much traction in the halls of Cupertino. Via Apple Hot News TUAWNew MBP offers top display quality, but some beg to differ originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Colorware offers up $6,000 Stealth MacBook Pro: it's really dark
Colorware's well known for offering up all sorts of consumer electronics in all sorts of hues, but the outfit has definitely stepped up its game with the Stealth MacBook Pro. This limited edition piece is an all-black 15-inch MacBook Pro with a matte display, 3.06GHz CPU, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, 256MB SSD, an 8x SuperDrive, zero gloss finish and a SofTouch coating that'll make it downright impossible for your fingers to stop stroking it. Reportedly, these will be limited to just ten units, and each one will cost a not-at-all affordable $5,999. See Apple, this is what you get when you voluntarily axe the BlackBook. Opportunity, lost.[Via Engadget Polska]Filed under: LaptopsColorware offers up $6,000 Stealth MacBook Pro: it's really dark originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Get Astraware Solitaire and some free fireworks
Filed under: Gaming, Software, Freeware, iPhone, iPod touchLast week, Handmark announced the release of Astraware Solitaire [App Store] for iPhone and iPod touch. Solitaire features a dozen different games, including the classics Klondike, Free Cell, Canfield, and Pyramid. As with most of Astraware's games, the 12 solitaire games are nicely animated, easy to play, and hard to master. The game is currently on sale for just US$0.99, so grab it before it goes up to the normal price of US$4.99. I personally love playing solitaire as a way to pass time on planes and while waiting for meetings to start. After installing Astraware Solitaire on my iPhone 3GS, I erased four other solitaire games that just didn't match up to the quality and variety of play. The new Trophy Deck feature will keep you playing for weeks, trying to collect all of the cards by achieving goals. Since it's Independence Day here in the U.S., you might also want to download Handmark's free fireworks app, featuring patriotic backdrops, festive fireworks, and music. From all of us here at TUAW, have a safe Fourth of July weekend!TUAWGet Astraware Solitaire and some free fireworks originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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iPhones ahoy! Making calls on cruise ships, updated
Filed under: Wireless, Odds and ends, Internet, iPhone, iPod touchTUAW reader Troy sent an email the other day stating that he'd found one of our posts from last August to be very helpful. In Using your iPhone on a cruise ship we talked about Cellular At Sea and getting your iPhone to send and receive pricey calls from many cruise ships. How expensive are they? Last year, they were running about US$0.79 per minute. This year, they cost about the same.Troy's email got me thinking about how to make cheaper phone calls on cruises, since I'll be on two cruise ships next year. Since last August, we've seen Skype for iPhone / iPod touch [App Store] appear, and for US$2.95 a month you can make unlimited calls to the USA and Canada over a Wi-Fi connection. That's great, but you're going to need to pay anywhere from $0.30 to $0.75 per minute for that Wi-Fi! And another big dead fly is floating in that soup -- the bandwidth on cruise ships is so incredibly low that your calls may not even go through using Skype or another VoIP app.Unfortunately, things haven't improved much in this realm since last year. My recommendation? Buy the biggest onboard Wi-Fi account you can afford (more minutes = cheaper per minute) and use it with your iPhone or iPod touch for emails, Tweeting your friends, using IM, and checking TUAW. If you want to send voice messages to your pals, record them in the new iPhone OS 3.0 voice memos app or (if you have a 3GS) with video, and then email the messages over Wi-Fi. Your friends can respond the same way.If you absolutely must have a two-way conversation, your cheapest alternative is going to be to wait until you're in a port, then use one of AT&T's international calling plans (or another carrier's plan if you're not in the US) or see if you can use Skype at a portside bar with free Wi-Fi. You probably don't want to use the ship's on-board satellite phone service at the US$6.99 to US$10.99 per minute rate!Do you have any other hints for cheap communications afloat, other than sending postcards from ports? Let us know in the comments.Thanks to Troy for reminding us about cruise ships and iPhonesTUAWiPhones ahoy! Making calls on cruise ships, updated originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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The MacReviewCast #215: SnapArt 2, FotoMagico, Mach Desktop, MacNerdNews
Posted by Dave MertenBy Tim Verpoorten This week we look at SnapArt 2, FotoMagico, Archive, Mach Desktop, Clipboard Evolved, Freeware plus much more. We have a lot of great folks on today's episode with their reviews and comments on software, hardware and websites that make using the Mac special. Plus I'll have the...
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'Macsimum Podcast' looks at Sonnet price cuts, iPhone boot camp, more
Posted by Dennis SellersThe June 26 Macsimum Podcast, hosted by Macsimum News Associate Editor Frank Petrie, is up. Today's episode includes: “Sonnet Slashes Price,” “iPhone Boot Camp,” “Pommegranite” and “Story 4.”

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Weekly App Store Picks: July 4, 2009
It's that time of the week when we welcome you to the weekend with a selection of the freshest picks for iPhone from the App Store. Hold your horses, though, because before we dive headfirst into a glorious ocean of iPhone apps, I've got a roundup of notable Apple news from the past seven days. We're starting the weekend by giving you the chance to win a free game for your iPhone courtesy of Poppy, an excellent one-man game studio in Japan. The game in question, Brave Man, is reminiscent of Bishop's knife trick from Aliens, except instead of an interstellar synthetic, you play a lumberjack trying not to cut his hand with a knife. Want to win a promo code for Brave Man? To be in with a chance, leave a comment at the end of this post telling me about the bravest thing you've ever done. Some unexpected bad news for early adopters of the iPhone 3GS this week when their new devices became literally too hot to handle. It turns out that the 3GS suffers from an overheating problem that is so bad that apparently white iPhones have been turning pink. Is that going to stop me from purchasing a 3GS? Absolutely not, I'll take mine in limited edition blazing hot pink, please. The latest update to the iPhone software, OS 3.1, has been rolled out to developers. This also means that it's probably not too long before it's pushed to regular iPhone users too. Expect a raft of fixes and updates to the OS, including improved boot time, fraud protection in Safari and the potential for video editing in third-party apps. There's been a slow drip-feed of app's hitting the store that support OS 3.0's new features. Notably, Remember The Milk is the first to-do app supporting push notifications. This means that, even when the app isn't running, it'll ping you a reminder for forthcoming tasks that need completing. It's a premium service, available only to subscribers, but one that may prove essential for iPhone-toting productivity connoisseurs. Over in the EU, several phone manufacturers have agreed on a standard charging interface for all cell phones, including Apple. The news of Apple signing up for this standard comes as a surprise. At first glance it implies that they would be dropping their traditional proprietary dock port from the iPhone. An Apple spokesperson cleared up the confusion, stating that iPhone will, at some unspecified point, start shipping with a micro USB adaptor. And finally, potential purchasers of the iPhone 3GS should head on over to Apple's brand new 3GS availability page. After serving an astounding one million devices in the opening weekend, sales are clearly going strong enough to warrant launching this handy inventory tool. Moving on to the picks, this week I've been looking at Jamble, Birdfeed, Rolando 2 and RunPee. Jamble ($5.99) I just can't get enough musical toys for the iPhone. I've even got a entire menu screen dedicated just to sound-related diversions. My favorites include Brian Eno's ambient music app Bloom and, of course, Leaf Trombone World Stage, winner of TheAppleBlog's coveted Golden Apple Award. Jamble, a clever creative toy for making your own mash-ups, may be another welcome addition to my sonic collection. The app takes a bunch of loops from artists including Gorillaz and David Bowie, then lets you seamlessly blend them together to create your own mash-up masterpieces. Birdfeed ($4.99) Not even a month after we get hit with Tweetdeck for the iPhone, (which, you should note, is available for free) comes another potential challenger to Tweetie's Twitter-client throne. The app is called Birdfeed and it's got a stripped down simple aesthetic, Ã la Tweetie, but unfortunately no Tweetdeck-style groups. If you're already comfortable with Tweetie, this may not be the app for you, but frequent tweeters looking for a change of client should definitely consider checking out Birdfeed as a simple, stylish and functional Twitter solution. Rolando 2 ($9.99) iPhone gamers, let us collectively rejoice. It's the second coming of Rolando in the App Store. Indeed, the app I've been waiting many months for has finally arrived at the App Store, albeit for the slightly pricey sum of ten bucks. The sequel takes place on a tropical island, updating the artwork with a semi-3D view and introducing tons of weird new gameplay quirks, including weird contraptions for destroying the bad guys and special floating characters. There's even a special shack dedicated to Manchester's funky beat maestro Mr. Scruff, where you can listen to all the tunes contributed to the game. We've got a full review coming to TheAppleBlog next week, so stay tuned. RunPee (99 cents) We've all experienced those extended sessions of torture, watching a movie, squirming in your seat, desperate to go rest but afraid to miss a critical moment. RunPee is a quirky stroke of genius and an app which will prove particularly useful for those with small bladders. The RunPee database contains a listing of the latest movies. Just pick the one you're watching and it'll provide a number of opportunities for which you can discreetly exit the movie theatre for some much needed relief. While you're away, the app gives you a countdown, to make sure you're back in time, alongside a plot summary for whatever you've missed. That's all the picks for this week. I'll be back in seven days with more news from the week and picks from the App Store. In the meantime, what apps have you been using this week? Market research you can use: Keep informed about Cloud Computing and IT Infrastructure. Learn more »