May 20, 2010 May 22, 2010 Friday May 21, 2010
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Sega Makes Sweet, Sweet iPhone Music
Back in the early days of gaming consoles, there was quite a bit of jockeying between Nintendo and Sega. While the latter eventually won the hardware war, Sega has shifted into creating software for other consoles and platforms. And the platform we, of course, are most excited about them bestowing their attentions on is the iPhone OS.What, you may ask, has us so singing the praises of Sega gaming? Oh, just a little game they're tweaking and prepping called Sonic 4. At least according to the Sega blog -- and they seem in a position to know.That's right, everyone's favorite hedgehog in his latest incarnation will soon be in your hot little iPhone and iPod touch. Now diehard fans know that Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 have been in the App Store for quite some time to feed your Sega addiction. But these are emulators, ported over games with little attention paid to the iPhone's specific configurations beyond how to add controllers without devouring too much screen real estate.No, no, this time around, Sega is promising to make the latest Sonic incarnation iPhone worthy. And that decision might be related to the software manufacturer's decision to push back the date of all platform versions of Sega 4 until the later half of 2010. While we're sad to hear of the pushback, we're glad to hear that Sega wants to get the software right rather than foisting something weak onto the market. Meanwhile, Nintendo, seeing their handheld market shrink in the wake of the iPad, remains determined to snub the Apple product line, calling Cupertino an "enemy of the future" while withholding their games from joining the App Store lineup. So while you will get your hedgehog, your Mario will just have to wait. And wait. And wait.
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GOP candidate accuses Apple of rejecting attack app
Republican challenger trying to unseat incumbent Rep. Henry Waxman says critical phrases like "Soviet-style regulation" should be allowed.
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Rocking the Objective-C[ountry]
Filed under: Cult of MacWhat happens when you tweet a silly off-the-cuff remark about wanting a Country/Objective-C song called "Retain My Heart (Or you might point to an invalid memory reference)"? Magic. That's what happens. Absolute weekend-ready magic! Italian Mac aficionado and brilliant songsmith Andrea "Camillo Miller" Nepori jumped into my e-mail in-box and delivered exactly what I had asked for: a heartfelt country rendition of what has got to be one of the lamest geekiest puns I've ever made. Nepori tells me that he recorded the music on his iPhone, adding a little reverb and compression in GarageBand before sending it on over to TUAW. A big round of public acclaim for the next biggest geek hit! Bravo! Download your own copy here (mp3). The little Objective-Country pun? Thanks to Neil Twist. TUAWRocking the Objective-C[ountry] originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 May 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments Apple - Unofficial Apple Weblog - Macintosh - Cult of Mac - iPhone
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Take a planetary tour with Solar Walk
Filed under: iPadSolar Walk is a nifty astronomy romp from the folks who did the popular Star Walk iPhone and iPad app. Instead of exploring the night sky and deep space, you get to tour our solar system in luscious 3D graphics. While the app is universal for the iPhone and iPad, the iPad version is breathtaking with crisp graphics and beautiful color. Tapping on any planet will take you close to it, and you can use your finger to orbit the planet and see it from any angle or zoom. You can see the planets on any particular date and time, and speed up the animation to watch the planets in their elliptical orbits. Tapping the info button gets you some information on all the planets, like size, gravity, composition and more. One omission is that the program doesn't tell you which planets are up for viewing on a particular night. You'll need Star Walk for that. Gallery: Solar Walk Screens TUAWTake a planetary tour with Solar Walk originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 May 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments IPhone - Unofficial Apple Weblog - IPad - Astronomy - Solar System
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Kara Swisher on the Anti-Apple Focus of Yesterdayâs Google I/O Keynote
Kara Swisher: Two at its rival was probably appropriate. Three, welllll, okay, if you insist. Unfortunately, the continued verbal jousts by many Google execs — including from CEO Eric Schmidt — onstage at the San Francisco developers conference at Apple got tired pretty quickly and soon felt petty, juvenile and, ultimately, made Google look needlessly defensive. People see what they want to see. Count me in with Swisher; I think it’s weird how the App Store and iPhone OS were so clearly the central focus of a Google keynote. Judging from my email and Twitter replies, though, there are clearly many others who saw Google as racking up one solid hit against Apple after another. â
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iPads Reportedly in Short Supply Across the US
If you've been looking to get your hands on an iPad, you might be waiting a bit longer than you expected. Apple's iPad supply chain can't keep up with demand according to some technology analysts.Gene Munster, technology analyst for Piper Jaffray, recently contacted 50 Apple Stores. Of the ones he contacted, 74% were completely sold out of iPads, and 26% only had "some" Wi-Fi models. None of the stores had any 3G models.Online orders are also taking a hit. Many online orders have shipping times between seven and ten days.Munster first estimated that Apple could sell 1.3 million iPads this quarter, but he now believes that his estimate is short. Recent analysts reports suggest that Apple is selling twice as many iPads as Macs per week.via MacNN
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Magic Window creates living photo art piece
Filed under: iPad Most iPad applications create a way for you to interact directly with your device via the human touch. Magic Window is not most applications. A $3.99 iPad application, Magic Window works when you put the device down. It transforms your iPad into a living photo art piece, creating a real-time window onto a virtual world. As the video here shows, you can select from fifteen pre-built time lapse experiences to display while your iPad rests on its stand. Photo sequences include both natural and urban viewscapes. You can watch sunset over the Pacific, clouds drifting over Vancouver city, sunset in Santa Barbara, and more. A subtle audio track accompanies each presentation. Most of the sequences ship in a stripped-down "sample size" version. You need to have access to a Wi-Fi connection to download the full image sequence to your iPad.TUAWMagic Window creates living photo art piece originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 May 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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AT&T's new early-termination fee for the iPhone: $325
The carrier is raising the fee for smartphones starting June 1, citing Verizon's move last fall as partial justification.
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Interesting Speculation From Sean Heber
Sean Heber: Theyâve been slowly training us developers to stick with the documented stuff and use their higher level APIs. They want us to accept their abstractions and work within them. This is usually rationalized under the guise of safety, compatibility, and quality control. Those are fine and acceptable reasons by themselves, but what if thereâs another purpose lurking behind the curtain? I think thereâs a chance that Apple is slowly building Objective-C into a managed environment similar to Java/.NET. â
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What We're Reading: Yoda and Pac-Man
On the reading list on Friday: Yoda, Pac-Man, Twitter in China.
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AT&T to Raise Fees for Contract Breakers
MercuryNews reports that AT&T will be changing up the way it prices contract-breaking fees, making smartphone purchasers pay more to break their contracts beginning June 1.The fee is currently $175 for breaking a smartphone contract, but that will be going up to $325. The regular phone price, however, is being decreased by $25 to just $150 to break a contract.Of course, this is a decreasing rate. For smartphones, the rate will decrease $10 for every month the customer stays in their contract, and $4 per month for regular phones.This news comes on the heels of the report that AT&T's CEO isn't worried about losing iPhone users to another carrier when and if the Apple-AT&T exclusivity agreement ends.
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hacksugar: Mirror your jailbroken iPad display with DisplayOut
Filed under: iPad Ryan Petrich's latest utility for jailbroken iPads just hit the Cydia store. DisplayOut for iPad sells for US$1.99. It allows you to mirror the iPad's screen out to an external display via an attached VGA or component/composite cable. Similar to earlier iPhone solutions like TV Out and ScreenSplitr, DisplayOut extends video out to the larger iPad screen. DisplayOut provides a great way to create application videos. It supports both in-app and Springboard video, so you can record complete sequences including application launch and run time. If there is any negative to the application, it is that the video doesn't quite fill the screen, and I couldn't find a way to increase the screen size; that's why the video on the Magic Window review appears on the small side. Positives include the excellent Settings integration. You can easily enable and disable video mirroring with a simple switch change. An adjustable refresh rate lets you increase video quality, albeit at the cost of more system resources. I found that some applications slowed down exponentially as the refresh rate grew. All in all, DisplayOut is a great little utility for anyone who has a jailbroken iPad, a video cable, and a desire to display or record iPad action. Note that you will need a recording device on the other end of the cable (VCR, DVD-R, or a video in device for your computer) to capture videos.TUAWhacksugar: Mirror your jailbroken iPad display with DisplayOut originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 May 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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News: Still time to enter the Vaja $100 Gift Code Giveaway
If you haven't yet entered our Vaja $100 Gift Code Giveaway, there's still time to do so. In our Giveaway of the Month for May, iLounge and Vaja are giving away five $100 Gift Codes good towards purchases made at VajaCases.com. To enter, simply fill out and submit the form on the giveaway pageâthe giveaway will end on May 31, 2010 at 11:59PM Pacific Time. Good luck! ...
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Carrie Bradshaw: a Mac no longer
Filed under: Cult of Mac Say it ain't so, Carrie! Our friend Christina Warren reports over at Mashable that the second Sex and the City film is featuring product placements from Hewlett-Packard rather than from Apple, including an entire site dedicated to the movie. As Christina points out, Carrie's Mac was practically its own character in the original Sex and the City TV series. The episodes were bookended by Carrie typing away on her PowerBook (a Pismo was mostly used). The laptop was the focus of its own episode when the motherboard fried and Carrie's boyfriend at the time tried to replace it with the first generation iBook, referring to it as a "purse." At age 25, moving across the country from my family for the first time, Carrie and her PowerBook were both a comfort and a symbol of power to me. They represented the modern, independent female journalist and I wanted to be like her. Okay, so I could never have the hair or the figure, but I did scrape together $175 to buy a used G3 PowerBook off of Ebay. When I did my second cross-country move, this one solo, I recorded my journey on that PowerBook and was pleased with my inner Carrie. The move by Sex and the City's producers appears to be motivated by HP's aggressive product placement program, and I'm sure that a good chunk of money was saved by having Carrie leap to Windows rather than upgrade to a 27" iMac and the latest MacBook Pro. It really is a shame, and I know I'll wince a little inside when I go see the movie. For me, Carrie Bradshaw will always be a Mac girl.TUAWCarrie Bradshaw: a Mac no longer originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 May 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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FTC closes its investigation of Google AdMob Deal
Posted by Dennis SellersThe Federal Trade Commission has closed its investigation of Google's proposed acquisition of mobile advertising network company AdMob after reviewing the deal and concluding that it is unlikely to harm competition in the emerging market for mobile advertising networks.
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The Engadget Show returns, this Saturday, May 22nd with Sprint's Evo 4G, Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch, and an Engadget editors Q&A!
Guess what humans? It's that time again -- the Engadget Show returns this Saturday, May 22nd at 5pm... and it's shaping up to be a killer! First up, we'll have an exclusive interview with Adobe's CTO Kevin Lynch (taped at the Google I/O conference), which is sure to be both informative and wildly entertaining. What's more, Josh, Paul, and Nilay will be putting the new HTC Evo 4G through its paces live onstage, then they'll be joined by our very own Chris Ziegler and Laura June for a hard-hitting round of Q&A with the audience. That's right, it's your chance to ask the Engadget editors anything, live and in-person, plus much more (see instructions in the bullet points below). And as usual, we'll have some rocking 8-bit music from minusbaby and visuals from notendo and plenty of those good 'ol Engadget Show shenanigans. You like giveaways? Well then, this is your lucky week (if you attend). Many of you will be walking away with shiny new Voyager Pro headsets, courtesy of Plantronics and we've got tons of Engadget t-shirts to hand out! Oh, and did we mention we're also giving away a brand new iPad (courtesy of The Little App Factory and bundled with all of their software titles)? Well we are, alongside a handful of other goodies. The Engadget Show is sponsored by Sprint, and will take place at the Times Center, part of The New York Times Building in the heart of New York City at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues (see map after the break). Tickets are -- as always -- free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served... so get there early! Here's all the info you need: There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free The event is all ages Ticketing will begin at the Times Center at 2:30PM on Saturday, doors will open for seating at 4:30PM, and the show begins at 5PM You cannot collect tickets for friends or family -- anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket Seating capacity in the Times Center is about 340, and once we're full, we're full The venue is located at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City (map after the break) The show length is around an hour If you have a question for the editor Q&A, email your question to showquestions [at] engadget [dot] com, or hand the question in to us at the venue by 3:30PM. You must hand in the query on an index card or piece of paper when you pick up your tickets. If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com. Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.Continue reading The Engadget Show returns, this Saturday, May 22nd with Sprint's Evo 4G, Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch, and an Engadget editors Q&A!The Engadget Show returns, this Saturday, May 22nd with Sprint's Evo 4G, Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch, and an Engadget editors Q&A! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 16:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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Chitika Research: Mac sales spike in April
Posted by Dennis SellersThe Mac OS X operating system has seen some impressive growth this year, according to Chitika Research, a full-service on-line advertising network serving over 2 billion monthly impressions across more than 80,000 websites.
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The Engadget Podcast, live at 5PM EST!
It's been a huge week of tech news and the boys are all in New York to talk about it... in separate locations connected over the internet, of course. Won't you join us live at five? The chat room below is open, so settle in and get comfy! P.S.- And hey, don't forget that Ustream has Android and iPhone apps if you're out and about and can't join in on the Flash-based fun below. Continue reading The Engadget Podcast, live at 5PM EST!The Engadget Podcast, live at 5PM EST! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 16:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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The Race for Market Cap: Apple vs. Wal-Mart and Microsoft
Apple's (AAPL) market capitalization (~$218.2 billion today) has been higher than Wal-Mart's (WMT) (~$191.5 billion) for about the last three months (see chart below), which is especially interesting considering that Apple's market cap was less than $10 billion in late 2003 when Wal-Mart's value was almost $200 billion. (Click charts to enlarge)Apple hasn't quite caught up yet to Microsoft's market capitalization, but it's getting pretty close - they're only about $15 billion apart now; $233.3 billion for Microsoft vs. $218.2 billion for Apple (see chart below).
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How the enterprise came to Apple
Apple never seriously went after enterprise sales, but in the end, the enterprise came to Apple on the client side.
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One district attorney's journey to iPad happiness
Filed under: iPadLet's face it. Apple and the legal profession have not always enjoyed a terribly close relationship. Since the advent of the word processor, being a lawyer practically required a PC. Lawyers' slavish dedication to Corel's Word Perfect, long after everybody else had stopped using it, is the stuff of legend. Database management programs were typically proprietary things, all requiring networks of PCs. Using a Mac in this environment required, at best, many workarounds, and, at worst, a separate PC to access various schedulers, run conflict checks and access documents. Recently, e-filing and the need to share and trade digital documents allowed for greater platform-independence. Macs, iPhones and now iPads claim their share of diehard legal adherents; you can get stories from the front lines of Apple integration in law from sites like The Mac Lawyer, MacAttorney, EsquireMac, the Disability Law Blog and the MacLaw mailing list. The legal world's growing acceptance of Apple means that lawyers like Ron Elkins can get their Apple mojo working. Ron, the District Attorney for Wise County and City of Norton, in Wise, VA, has shared the ways in which the iPad has integrated itself perfectly into his criminal practice. Ron not only accesses documents (PDFs and audio files) through Safari, but conducts presentations with Keynote, dictates with Dragon Dictation, and accesses files through DropBox and GoodReader -- all through his iPad. Here's hoping that Apple continues to make inroads into the legal community. It's been lonely. [via The Mac Lawyer]TUAWOne district attorney's journey to iPad happiness originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 May 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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iPhone/iPod/iPad apps for May 21
Posted by Dennis SellersHere are the latest iPhone/iPod touch/iPod/iPad apps announced. You can find 'em at the Apple App Store.
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Macsimum Recommended Reading' for May 21
Posted by Dennis Sellers“Steve Jobs In the Garden Of Good and Evil: Apple impresario Steve Jobs is preparing to overturn one of the most basic assumptions of modern technology—that the computer business is built on pornography.”—Wall Street Journal (http://macosg.me/2/ah)
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Your Macsimum Podcast for May 21st
Posted by Frank PetrieToday on Your Macsimum Podcast: “This Means War!” “A Bigger Slice of the Pie, Thank You,” “Pad Themes,” and ”...Story 4.”
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Free App Fridays: Maps
What's in a map? It tells you where you're going, where you need to go, and what's up ahead. Fortunately, Macs, Apple iDevices and maps go hand-in-hand. So, we went out in search of three totally free and very utilitarian map apps for your computers, your iPad and your iPhone, so you'll have a map on you wherever you go. Mac:FreeMindSo it's not exactly a map of the world, but it is a way to map out all of those thoughts you have circulating through your head. Simply put, a mind map is a great way to connect together ideas and get some sort of an understanding of an idea that's percolating in your brain. Mind maps are also great for organizing websites, lists and different categories.iPad:History: Maps of the WorldThis is one of those apps that's best before bedtime. Not only are the high resolution maps something to gawk at, but they're educational as well. You can pinch to zoom in and check out the surroundings of your favorite countries and continents during varying years. The app contains maps dating all the way back to the 4th century. iPhone:Transit Maps FreeNo matter what state you're visiting in the United States, it's always important to have a copy of the local public transportation system. With Transit Maps, you can automatically download the map of whatever city you're in straight to your iPhone and then zoom in to find your route information.
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AT&T follows Verizon, jacks up ETF on netbooks and smartphones
There's the good kind of follow-the-leader, and then there's this. While the world cheered as all four major US wireless carriers implemented prorated early termination fees, we can all hang our heads accordingly for this one: AT&T has just followed Verizon Wireless' march into the dark, evil corners of contractland by adjusting ETFs higher for netbooks and smartphones. In an email sent out to select customers, the carrier notes that beginning on June 1st (that's less than a fortnight away), customers who select "advanced, higher-end device[s], including netbooks and smartphones, will have an ETF of $325, reduced by $10 for each month during the balance of the service agreement." That's up significantly over the $175 ETF that affects all of AT&T's handsets today, though still $25 less than VZW's plan. The silver lining -- if you could call it that -- comes with this point: customers "who are buying basic and quick messaging phones will have a lower ETF of $150, reduced by $4 for each month during the balance of the service agreement." Naturally, existing contract customers won't see any immediate change, but you can bet you'll be nailed with the new terms once you head in this summer to pre-order that iPhone 4G. The full memo is posted after the break -- so much for "rethinking possible," huh? Update: AT&T has published an "open letter" explaining the changes. Thanks, Daniel! [Thanks, L.]Continue reading AT&T follows Verizon, jacks up ETF on netbooks and smartphonesAT&T follows Verizon, jacks up ETF on netbooks and smartphones originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 15:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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AT&T to raise fees for iPhone contract breakers
AT&T to raise fees for smart-phone contract breakers, lower charges for regular phones.
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News: AT&T to hike early termination fees to $325
AT&T is planning to raise its early termination fees for smartphones and netbooks from $175 to $325, Dow Jones Newswires reports, noting that the move comes amid rumors that AT&T may lose its iPhone exclusivity over the next year. Thankfully for current AT&T iPhone customers, the rate changes will not affect current contracts; instead, they will apply to all new and renewing customers beginning June 1. Notably, the higher cancellation…
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News: Apple begins populating international iBookstores
According to a report from Italian language iPadevice (Translated Link), Apple has begun populating the iBookstores of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK ahead of next week's iPad launch. According to the report, all of the currently listed books in Italy are from the free Project Gutenberg library, and while only one book—The Devine Comedy: Inferno—is available thus far in Italian, the…
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iPad supply constraints still in play, says Piper Jaffray
Filed under: iPadAs we noted earlier, finding the iPad of your dreams hasn't been getting any easier in recent days. Even with an assumed uptick in production to handle the imminent overseas launch, the search for available units on the ground in the US has been tough. Today's Apple 2.0 note on availability cites a report from Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, who found that 74% of the 50 retail outlets he surveyed had no iPads in stock, and those that did have some in house only had Wi-Fi models; the 3Gs remain scarce as four-leaf clovers. With 10 day delivery waits on online orders, it's clear that demand has not slackened -- but it may be that a good chunk of the manufacturing allocation is currently heading for the aforementioned country launches that will kick off one week from today. You would think that "We're selling every one of them we can make" is a pretty good problem to have, but that doesn't always play that well. In a classic maneuver known as "the market's glass of unicorn tears is half-empty," Munster simultaneously acknowledges that he completely lowballed his million-unit quarterly estimate for iPad sales while suggesting that the supply constraints may cause Wall Street to balk at AAPL's premium price if the company can't catch up with demand over the summer.TUAWiPad supply constraints still in play, says Piper Jaffray originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 May 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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TechUniversity: HTML Signatures in Mail
Apple makes it fairly easy to do basic text formatting for HTML signatures, but using HTML to create more complex signatures requires a bit more work. In this TechUniversity HTML Signatures in Mail screencast (subscription required), we'll take a look at how to create a custom HTML signature for use in Mail.app. View the full HTML Signatures in Mail screencast on TechUniversity (subscription required) Screencast Sample
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Chumby One
An internet appliance you'll use more than your blender The original Chumby, which mixes stuffed animal with internet appliance, was nothing if not memorable. Version two, the illogically named Chumby One, continues its mission of moving the good bits of the internet--streaming music, news, LOLcats, and more--off your Mac and onto its dedicated screen. A touch-interface drives this Wi-Fi-connected unit, so you can put it anywhere you need a lightweight internet station.After connecting to our network, we configured the Chumby at chumby.com, choosing from more than a thousand single-purpose widgets. You can add news feeds, Twitter clients, animated clocks, games, iTunes remotes, and more.Don't ask us to explain why the second-gen model is called One.The widgets you activate will automatically alternate, or you can set the Chumby to display a single widget until you change it. While the quality of available widgets varies widely, we found many that are perfect for the device, including a Flickr viewer that cycles through our photos and Chuck Norris Facts, an amusing look at the Texas Rangerâs fictional feats.We streamed songs from a Squeezebox Server and from online sources, but Chumby can also play content from certain USB-connected iPods. (Unfortunately, iPhones will only charge.) Since the Chumby One only has a single, warbling speaker, youâre better off tuning into This American Life rather than American Idiot--although you can connect headphones or external speakers.So what should you use this thing for? The Chumby could easily replace a clock radio on your nightstand with multiple alarms that can wake you with your choice of music. And it can also start playing your widgets in the morning--perfect for waking up to NPR, for example.Although itâs $30 cheaper than the still-available original Chumby (4 out of 5 stars, Sep/08), Chumby One is a tough sell even with its new features--notably an FM tuner, volume knob, and updated processor. We would prefer that it had retained the better speakers and whimsical styling of the original--its boxy, molded-plastic design looks more hospital than hospitable. While the One will take an optional FujiFilm camera battery for untethered power, the battery has been discontinued, so youâll need to do some digging online to find one. And like its predecessor, this Chumby forces you to endure ads; we didnât see many, but they turned us off faster than we could the Chumby.
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iTunes Hooks Up with Rotten Tomatoes for Movie Reviews
Sniff, sniff⌠whatâs that smell? Ah, itâs Rotten Tomatoes, now integrated with iTunes. Smells like a great idea to us!Flixster, the parent company of the popular Rotten Tomatoes movie review website, has announced that its popular âTomatometerâ scores have been officially integrated into Appleâs iTunes Store. Rotten Tomatoes aggregates movie reviews from leading critics all over the web and shares those reviews with movie fans.âThe Tomatometer, which is based on the reviews of hundreds of critics, is a trusted measurement of quality for millions of moviegoers, and has become a familiar sight to movie fans since Rotten Tomatoesâ inception in 1998,â the company announced in a press release. âFrom the iTunes Store, users can click for more information and head directly to Rotten Tomatoesâ popular website.âBetween parent company Flixster, the Rotten Tomatoes website and the combined companiesâ mobile apps, more than 30 million moviegoers get their information from these sources each month.In addition to the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer being integrated into the desktop version of iTunes, the data is also featured in both the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad versions of the iTunes Store -- protecting you from really bad movies on most any Apple iDevice you own, anytime.
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News: FTC clears Google/AdMob deal, cites Apple's iAd
The Federal Trade Commission announced today that it has closed its investigation into Google's proposed acquisition of mobile advertising company AdMob. According to announcement, the Commission found the deal “unlikely to harm competition in the emerging market for mobile advertising networks,” and that “although the combination of the two leading mobile advertising networks raised serious antitrust issues, the agencyâs…
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Microsoft releases 'sunset edition' of Money
Company puts out last version of discontinued personal finance program, this one intended for those who want to use product after online support is halted.
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iPhone Still On Top of Android Globally
The iPhone may have given up its edge in the U.S. market over Android recently, in terms of smartphone OS share, but globally it still leads Google's mobile OS. That's according to market research firm Gartner (via PC World), who recently conducted a survey of the global smartphone terrain covering the first quarter of 2010. That lead is thanks to two key international markets in which the iPhone still boasts a significant lead over its Google competitor. In Europe and Asia, Apple maintains a lead that amounts to around a 3 million unit advantage over Android. It's still a significant lead, but the fact is that Android is still in a very strong position in all world markets. It's especially strong because it's the fastest growing of all the smartphone operating systems represented in the survey, and it's experiencing that growth during a heady time for smartphone sales in general, with global sales overall seeing record increases. Put simply, Android is grabbing the most significant portion of an expanding pie. Android's share grew from 1.6 to 9.6 percent in Q1 2010, while Apple's share went from 10.5 to 15.4 percent. Both are still behind Symbian and RIM, but the shares of both those companies shrank during the period measured. Symbian, the worldwide leader, dropped to 44.3 from 48.8 percent. RIM slid from 20.6 to 19.4. Windows Mobile is the big loser overall, dropping from 10.2 to 6.8 percent, which puts it behind Android in the global rankings. More on iPad Your Mom Wants an iPad Mac Love iPad Sales Outpace the Mac Mac Love Supercharge Your iPad Browsing with iCab Mac Love One Month Later: The iPad Mac Love It's a mixed bag for Apple. On the one hand, it's still performing well in the global market, and two of the three major smartphone markets still have them positioned ahead of Android. On the other hand, Android's growth is meteoric, and the numbers would seem to indicate that customers new to the smartphone market are leaning in Android's direction overall. What's crucial to keep in mind is that Android's share grew from next to nothing to a significant percentage. It's highly likely that it'll continue to have similarly strong performance globally, since it can really only go from nothing to something once. Now that it's entrenched itself in the market at large, its growth rate will likely slip to something much more reasonable, like Apple's five percent gain. Will Android continue to threaten Apple's piece of the smartphone market pie? No doubt. Will it blow past iPhone OS and emerge as the dominant force in the market? That's much less likely. Android and Apple will contend with each other on the world stage, but it'll be a real fight, not a one-sided affair. Related GigaOM Pro Research: Who Owns Androidâs Future? Google â Or Apple?
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Apple's new campaign: Why you'll love a Mac
Filed under: AppleAs the "halo effect" brings new users to the Mac, Apple has prepared for their questions and concerns. A new online campaign called "Why you'll love a Mac" explains just that -- the benefits and pleasures of using a Mac instead of a Windows PC. Past Apple ad campaigns have focused on the direct experience of switchers, so this is familiar ground. The campaign's message is broken down into five categories: hardware, software, OS, support and compatibility. Each category is full of useful information. This is the kind of stuff, frankly, that I'd love to see in a TV ad. Sure, a cool and confident Justin Long panned out well, but just for once I'd like to hear about the terrific hardware or the benefits of OS X. As I said, the online campaign does a good job of breaking this down, and offers answers to questions common to switchers and others who are new to the Mac. Plus there are snazzy rollovers. If someone you know is riding the technological fence, do them a favor with a link to apple.com/why-mac. [via The Loop]TUAWApple's new campaign: Why you'll love a Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 May 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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End of 'Get a Mac,' end of an era
Apple has removed all Get a Mac ads from its site, redirecting visitors to a more prosaic explanation of the Mac's benefits. What next?
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Apple Pulls the Plug on the "Get a Mac" Ad Campaigns
Those "Get a Mac" advertisements you love so much? Yeah, they're gone forever. Apple has dropped its infamous advertising campaign. though it's very unclear what they'll be replacing it with. Some are speculating that the Cupertino-based company is looking to change its public image and focus more on the iPhone OS and the mobile electronics industry. Until Apple comes out with their next round of memorable ads, head over to YouTube to watch the Mac versus PC television ads. Or check out the mashup below.
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Dell's Pain Is SanDisk's Gain
The recent relative strength in SanDisk shares (SNDK) may be a direct reflection of the gross margin problems at Dell (DELL). On the first quarter earnings call yesterday (see transcript), Dell CFO Brian Gladden said the following in response to a question about component costs: I would say that components continue to be relatively tight. Memory has been a bit of a challenge. I think from our perspective and I think from the market's perspective, what you'll hear is that will continue to be a challenge for the next couple quarters. What we've done is lock in supply to the point where we're generally feeling pretty good about our capability to meet our needs on the supply side. I would say that the reality is that there's going to be continued pricing pressure there, and components are not going to be seeing the typical deflation that we've seen.
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Android Engineer Says Apple Got Complacent, iPhone Now Only âThird or Maybe Even Fourthâ Best
CĂŠdric Beust, Android engineer for Google: My take on the overall situation: I think Apple got arrogant just a tad too early. They were doing great, selling iPhones by the millions despite AT&T and they decided that they had already won, so they could become complacent. They kicked out Adobe, started locking down their product even more strongly than before, stopped innovating on the music front (where is http://itunes.com? Why do I still need an ugly client for the slightest synchronization task?), fell behind both in hardware and software, and Android eagerly filled the void. One of my tennis coaches once told me âI guess itâs okay to be arrogant if youâre the best in the worldâ. Apple became arrogant before they were the best in the world, and they are now going to have to fight hard if they want to stay third or maybe even fourth. They might as well give up. â
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Starting from zero on the iPhone home screen
Filed under: iPhoneThis is what my iPhone looks like right now. No, it's not because iTunes went crazy and deleted all my apps. I've downloaded over 150 apps from the App Store. Of those 150, I have roughly 100 of them still in iTunes. I've tried grouping them using springboard pages, but I find it frustrating because I don't usually have 12 related apps. (I'm really looking forward to Folders in iPhone OS 4.) Here's how I have been organizing my pages: Page 1 and 2: anything app I use a lot or that may pop up a "badge" that I want to see. Everything else: launch using search. Here's the thing: I've gotten used to putting some apps on page 1 or 2 because I think I'm going to use them. The Phone app? I finally moved it off my Dock, but I left it on Page 1, even though I bet it's one of the apps that I actually use far less frequently than others. Read on for more...TUAWStarting from zero on the iPhone home screen originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 May 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments AppStore - iPhone - Unofficial Apple Weblog - Apple - iTunes
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Dan Lyons Says Heâs Switching to Android
Apple is lazy, Steve Jobs is Howard Hughes, and Android is doing to the iPhone what Windows did to the Mac 20 years ago, and Android 2.2 is great: The new version of Android â version 2.2, a.k.a. Froyo â blows the doors off the iPhone OS. It’s faster, for one thing. It also will support Flash, something Apple refuses to do, mostly out of spite. […] Froyo also will let you buy songs over the air and download them directly to your phone. It will also stream songs from your music library to your phone. I don’t really use my phone as a music player that much, but still, it’s impressive that Google has this feature and Apple still doesn’t. Google has this feature, or has announced it? â
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BlackBerry Bold 9800 slides open, shows off promising WebKit-based browser
We've known RIM has had a WebKit-based browser in its rear pocket since Mobile World Congress, and with confirmation that BlackBerry OS 6.0 would have traces of WebKit throughout, this discovery was simply inevitable. The BlackBerry Bold 9800 (polarizing design and all) has just made its most interesting appearance yet, this time showing off a purported WebKit-based web browser with a trio of tabs collected up top. Never mind the fact that whoever was using this clearly wishes he / she was browsing on an iPhone -- it's the 100/100 Acid3 test result that really titillates. 'Course, that could very well be a JPEG loaded up to fool us all, but we aren't losing the faith just yet. Head on down to the source for a few more teases.BlackBerry Bold 9800 slides open, shows off promising WebKit-based browser originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 12:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink CrackBerry | TheCellularGuru | Email this | Comments
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Official Twitter App!
The official âTwitterâ application is here for the iPhone, and it is beautiful! Finally the horribly inaccurate and, at their best, relatively close in function knock-off Twitter Apps can be discarded! The âTwitterâ App is free for the iPhone and comes directly from the folks over at Twitter, and it shows! The look and feel is that of the legendary website with a touchscreen Apple twist to it. Simply drag a finger down on the âTwitterâ Appâs screen and the tweets are updated, making for a fun touchscreen pulling and result. Twitter has taken socialization via the Internet by storm since its inception and the amazing text message type interactions create quick and easy ways to provide information, bad humor (at least in my case), links and friendliness. Good as some of the free Twitter Apps have been lately, none of them have reproduced the awesome interface of the Twitter website, but the officials at the official site have donned it to an official tee. All of the Tweetersâ pictures appear alongside their tweets, just like on the site, and the list forms a picturesque iPhone experience. The search function in the âTwitterâ App is in real-time, and there are great sound effects that come when new Tweets emerge after a refreshing. At the bottom of the screen are the tweets and retweets buttons, the inbox button, the more stuff button and the search button. Exploring the more option shows the My Profile, Favorites, Drafts and the Account & Settings spot so that all of Twitterâs tools are present in the App! This is a must have! IMPULSIVE Review Grade: A+
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Play Pac-Man for Free on Google's Homepage
Hey, it's Friday, and it's also the 30th anniversary of the classic arcade game, Pac-Man! To celebrate, Google has tacked on a playable version of the game on its homepage with the words "Google" acting as the only barrier between Pac-man and his frenemies: Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde. To play the game, simply hit "insert coin" and get ready to run. Or, if you'd rather play with another person, hit the button twice so that your partner can play as Mrs. Pac-Man!Head on over to play now.
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Ouch - Fixing a Busted MacBook Screen
I have a MacBook Pro that I accidently picked up one day with my thumb on the screen, cracking the LCD. Is there a reliable company who can fix this, or do you folks know a solution? I heard that the Apple Store charges $800 to fix the screen. I might as well go out and buy a new computer if it costs that much.If youâre brave enough to attempt fixing it yourself, iFixIt.com can offer you parts and detailed, step-by-step guides. New guides for the unibody MacBook Pros were added to the site in January (ifixit.com/blog/?p=2197), and theyâre comprehensive and easy to follow, although the repair itself is still on the nerve-wracking side.That's gotta hurt! This busted MacBook Pro screen belongs to Mac|Life reader M. Reynolds, who sent in this question.If youâd rather leave it to the pros, you could search for a local authorized service provider at apple.com/buy/locator/service/ and call around for quotes. Online, we like TechRestore.com ($399 or less depending on model), MyService.com ($395 and up depending on model), and PowerbookMedic.com (instant quotes available). Assuming you like your MacBook Pro and arenât itching for an excuse to upgrade, repairing the screen is the way to go.
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Review: Instapaper for iPad
There are many times throughout the day that I see a website that I want to flip through, or an article I want to read, but I don't have the time to read it. I used to leave these tabs open on my screen, but since Firefox and Chrome both have ram leak issues, eventually, I'd just close down the windows and never read the articles. I had heard about Instapaper before, but up until recently, I didn't know what it was. Then I did some searching, and sure enough, it was the answer to my prayers. Instapaper is a web service that allows users to save web pages for later reading. You sign up for a free account, then bookmark a web page. Anytime you see a site you want to read later, you click on the “Read Later” bookmark and voila, the page is saved on Instapaper's site. Turns out that they also have an iPhone and iPad version, named Instapaper Free [iTunes Link] and Instapaper Pro [iTunes Link]. I started my mobile Instapaper experiment with the free version for the iPhone. This version is only on the iPhone, but it works just like the iPad version pictured above. Every page you save loads up almost immediately when you turn on the program. Click on an article and a text version of the same page comes up for your reading pleasure. I liked it so much that I loaded up the Pro version on my iPad, which is available for both platforms. The Pro version adds folders for storing old articles, a dictionary word look up feature, and a few others. It's well worth the $4.99. This is one of those apps that changes your life. I can now read anything I want whenever I want, at my convenience. This may seem like a simple thing, but I wasted hours every day looking at, saving, then reading pages, killing my daily productivity in the process. Now I can just pull my iPad out, read the site whenever I have time, and not worry about it. It's arguably the best $4.99 I've spent on an App. If you've got a similar problem to mine, then take a look at Instapaper. The service itself is free, and it's only $5 for the App, so I say it's a good buy. Don't believe me? Go for the free version on the iPhone to test it out. Trust me when I say that it will change the way you surf the web.
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News: Latest iLounge Weekly coming later today
The latest edition of iLounge Weekly, our weekly newsletter covering all things iLounge, is coming later today. iLounge Weekly is a summary of the week's best news, reviews, and feature articles weâve published, and it also features giveaways and iPod accessory discount offers from various companies. Thereâs still plenty of time to sign up and receive this week's edition â just use the simple form below to submit your email address,…
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Google trashes iPhone OS, and it's right (updated)
Picture this: Apple as a punching bag, or as Apple as a Google's whipping boy. It sounds link an unlikely role for the Cupertino titan of tech, but it fit like a glove yesterday during Google's IO Conference in San Francisco.Google's Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra pulled no punches during Day 2 of the conference (conveniently immortalized on YouTube) when in his keynote announcing Android 2.2 (a.k.a. “Froyo”).Some choice nuggets:“..we faced a Draconian future, a future where one man, one company, one carrier would be our only choice” - which was greeted by a roar of laughter and applause. (about about 02:50 into part 1):Another dig on Apple by Google came at about 01:50 into part 2 when Gundotra talked about Android 2.2's cloud-to-device messaging API: “Let me be clear, this isn't a push notification designed to compensate for the lack of basic functionality like multitasking” (again to roars of laughter from the 4,000 assembled developers)About 08:00 into part 2 Gundotra trashes the iPad's performance when it goes head-to-head with Nexus Ones running Froyo (and Eclair).Then he trashes Apple's lack of over-the-air (OTA) anything on the iPhone (I've been saying this for years) about 03:00 into part 4. “Why don't you send it over the Internet, over the air.” Ouch.And let's not forget that Android 2.2 also includes Wi-Fi tethering, as I blogged yesterday.It's pretty hard for any rational person who watches the keynote not to agree that Android is simply a better mobile OS than iPhone OS. But if you've got an argument, I'd love to hear it in the TalkBack below.
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Google trashes iPhone OS, and it's right (updated 6x)
Picture this: Apple as a punching bag, or as Apple as a Google's whipping boy. It sounds link an unlikely role for the Cupertino titan of tech, but it fit like a glove yesterday during Google's IO Conference in San Francisco.Google's Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra pulled no punches during Day 2 of the conference (conveniently immortalized on YouTube) when in his keynote announcing Android 2.2 (a.k.a. “Froyo”).Some choice nuggets:“I remember Andy's second point. He said if Google didn't act, we faced a Draconian future, a future where one man, one company, one carrier would be our only choice” - which was greeted by a roar of laughter and applause. (about 02:50 into part 1 below):Another dig on Apple occurs at about 01:50 into part 2 below when Gundotra talked about Android 2.2's cloud-to-device messaging API: “Let me be clear, this isn't a push notification designed to compensate for the lack of basic functionality like multitasking” (again to roars of laughter from the 4,000 assembled developers):And let's not forget that Android 2.2 also includes Wi-Fi tethering, as I blogged yesterday (about 04:40 into part 2 above).And at about 08:00 into part 2 above Gundotra trashes the iPad's performance when it goes head-to-head with Nexus Ones running Froyo (and Eclair).While not a specific shot at Apple, check out Google's implementation of voice search in Android 2.2 (about 01:00 into part 3 below). Unlike Apple's, it works system-wide and can now decipher relatively complex phrases like “pictures of Barack Obama with the French president and the G8 Summit,” “Pictures of the Golden Gate bridge at Sunset,” and ” Delgato vineyards, Napa.” Oh and it's also understands Mandarin and several other languages. Also demonstrated was the ability to work with intentions from voice, for example, speaking “Call Fifth Floor Restaurant” brings up the dialer with the appropriate number.Probably the most exciting part of the voice recognition demo was the ability to dictate a phrase like “can you help me find the nearest hospital?” into Google translate (a Web app, natch) and have it translate it and read it back in French.Then he notes Apple's lack of over-the-air (OTA) anything on the iPhone (I've been saying this for years) about 03:00 into part 4. “Why don't you send it over the Internet, over the air.” Ouch.It's pretty hard for any rational person who watches the Day 2 keynote address and/or reads the Android 2.2 platform highlights not to agree that Android is simply a better mobile OS than iPhone OS. But if you've got an argument for iPhone OS, I'd love to hear it in the TalkBack below.[note: Sorry for all the updates, I munged the YouTube embeds several times and had to do them over.]
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News: iPhone 4G poll ends, iPhone OS 4 poll begins
With more than 3,300 votes from iLounge readers, our latest poll—“What do you think of the iPhone 4G prototype's design?”—has ended. Readers were given choices ranging from great to okay, bad, or awful, with a separate option for those without an opinion on the design. Based on the results, the new design appears to be quite popular. Nearly half of everyone that voted—49%—described the design as “great,”…
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FTC approves Google's AdMob buy, cites Apple's iAd competition
Google's attempt to swoop in and buy AdMob out from under Apple was looking like a Pyrrhic victory for a second there, as Federal Trade Commission approval of the deal hung in the balance based on concerns that El Goog would control far too much of the online advertising market. It's ironic, then, that Apple's acquisition of Quattro Wireless and the introduction of the iAd platform in iPhone OS 4 is what convinced the feds to let Google's acquisition go through -- the FTC says that Apple's entry into the market will provide significant competition to AdMob, regardless of whether or not it's owned by Google. That means Google's free to pursue all the ad-based initiatives in Froyo it announced yesterday at I/O, and it means we should see the already-heated rhetoric between Mountain View and Cupertino get another notch hotter. It's going to be a wild summer, folks -- get ready. Update: Here's a statement from AdMob founder and CEO Omar Hamoui on the deal -- he's got a fuller piece on his blog, linked below. "We are extremely pleased with today's decision from the Federal Trade Commission to clear Google's acquisition of AdMob. Over the past six months we've received a great deal of support from across the mobile industry - and we deeply appreciate it. Our focus is now on working with the team at Google team to quickly close the deal." FTC approves Google's AdMob buy, cites Apple's iAd competition originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 12:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Brad Stone (Twitter) | FTC, Google, AdMob blog | Email this | Comments
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Mike Silverman: âTen Ghosts of WWDC Pastâ
12-year WWDC veteran Mike Silverman on things that used to be a part of WWDC: These used to be an opportunity for attendees to give direct feedback to the various teams at Apple. There would be a feedback forum for each area (such as Quicktime, Core OS, Server, IT, etc.) and the session was basically an open mic where you could talk to the engineers in a structured but informal way. Best of all was the Vice Presidents Feedback Forum, where a bunch of Appleâs VPs would answer questions about anything. Can you imagine that now? My understanding regarding the much-missed Jamba Juice is that Moscone screwed them out of it — Apple’s stuck offering food and beverages through Moscone’s vendor list, and Jamba Juice isn’t on it. â
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Reading Guide for iPhone App Development
For those of you wanting to learn iPhone development, there are a number of resources available. Besides blogs (like ours) there are a number of books that can help pull things together for new and budding developers. New Stuff to Learn There's been a lot of press lately about Apple development tools and the programming language, which is Objective-C. While folks that come from a C and C++ background feel quite at home with Objective-C, there are various developer groups feeling left out of the iPhone app gold rush. Specifically, I am speaking to the legions of .NET and Flash developers who have spent many years mastering their craft and are now being asked to learn a new set of tools, programming language and SDK. As someone who went through that transition I thought I would document the books that helped along the way. While I did learn Mac development in a classroom setting, the books I'll recommend were instrumental to it all making sense. My recommendations are listed in suggested reading order. The Basics The first book that can help orient new Mac developers is Learn Objective-C on the Mac by Apress. While the book doesn't specifically focus on the iPhone SDK it does provide fundamental answers to beginner programming questions. This includes how to program Objective-C properties, methods, classes, variables and OO design. It also introduces important concepts such as NSDictionary and NSPredicate which become useful when learning database development using Core Data. Build On What You've Learned Once you get your bearings you can build on the fundamentals by reading Beginning iPhone Development by Apress. This book introduces the basic aspects of the iPhone SDK. As you may know, learning Objective-C doesn't necessarily make you an iPhone expert. You will also need to learn how to apply the iPhone SDK using Objective-C which is the focus of this book. More on iPhone Why the iPhone Platform is Still the Best Game in Town Mac Love Another iPhone 4 Slips Through Apple's Fingers Mac Love Best iPhone Apps for Your Media Center Mac Mac Love Android Outselling iPhone? No Surprise There Mac Love Create User Interfaces I've heard a lot of people comment about their experience with Interface Builder (IB). Granted, IB may not be what most existing developers are used to, I do find working with it to be fun and different. There's a lot you can do with IB, but working with XIB files (pronounced “nib”) IBOulets and IBActions can be complex. In the book Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X by Aaron Hillegass, he provides almost all of his code examples in an illustrated step-by-step approach. Readers also get exposed to additional concepts such as Key-Value-Coding, which is used in Mac desktop development. Fill In the Gaps At this stage you'll certainly understand most, if not all of the language syntax and SDK fundamentals. However, you may not understand why some things work they way they do. This may include items such as memory management, synthesizing properties, calling delegates and handling notifications. One of the best books to help fill in the gaps is Head First – iPhone Development by O'Reilly. It provides one of the best introductions to Core Data that I've seen. One cruise through this book and you'll be a happy camper. Build Something Cool By now you should have the knowledge to put your development ideas into action. Add to your new found expertise by reading More iPhone Development by Apress. This book skips the preliminaries and gets right into the good stuff such as Core Location, GameKit and the MediaPlayer Framework. I've been surprised by how many times I go back to this book as a reference for new and existing projects. Have a Reference Finally, the last resource that I recommend is the online reference material provided by Apple. This is not to say that its documentation is not good. On the contrary, it's a great resource, but almost to a fault. Due to the complexity of its documentation I find it most useful as a reference and not for learning new concepts. I feel many new developers rush to the iPhone Developers Reference documentation as their first information source only to be discouraged when none of it makes sense. Conclusion Learning iPhone Development is indeed challenging but is not impossible with the right resources. As you continue to build your skills in app development we'll be here to help take your ideas from concept to the App Store. In meantime these books should ease the learning curve.
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WSJ Reports on Developers Dropping Flash
Ben Worthen, reporting for the WSJ: Programmers and Web designers say clients increasingly are asking that their websites or applications be compatible with Apple’s iPhone and iPad. Those sites can’t be built with Adobe’s Flash technology, which is used widely for online video and animation but which Apple has banned from its devices. “Since the iPad came out we’ve had a lot of clients say that they just don’t want Flash on their sites,” said Chantelle Simoes, vice president at Ninth Degree Inc., a design firm in Dana Point, Calif., which has built websites for Sanyo and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Here’s the inevitable “but”: The problem for some companies is that HTML 5 is immature and still years away from broad adoption, said Jeffrey Hammond, an analyst at Forrester Research. It also isn’t supported yet by the most widely used Web browsers, such as Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer. Interesting use of the plural “browsers” there. Which are the other “widely used web browsers” that don’t support HTML5? â
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Playable Pac-Man Google Logo, Celebrating Pac-Manâs 30th Anniversay
The sound uses Flash, but the animation and controls are done using JavaScript — it’s pretty slow on my iPhone 3GS, but not bad at all on my iPad. â
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News: Scosche ships flipSync cable for iPod, iPhone
Scosche has announced that it is now shipping its flipSync charge and sync cable for the iPod and iPhone. Recipient of an iLounge 2010 CES Best of Show Finalist award, the flipSync is a keychain USB charge and sync cable, sporting retractable 30-pin and USB connectors that snap into the main, car remote-sized body when not in use. Scosche's flipSync charge and sync cable for the iPod and iPhone is available now and sells for $20. ...
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Android 2.2 Web Browser Running Rings Around the iPadâs MobileSafari
Big laughs at Apple’s expense at Google I/O. â
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ScanBizCards Contest: Winners!
Earlier this week, we announced a contest to win a free copy of ScanBizCards [iTunes Link], a program we reviewed.Well, it's time to announce the winners, who were chosen at random by our crack team or contest winner random choosers. You ready? Of course you are. Here they are: Alexis Aldo Johnson Dave Congratulations to the three of you! Expect an e-mail by someone with an Apple Gazette e-mail address in the next day or so. Thanks again for entering the contest, and be on the lookout for more contests soon!
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iPad Sold Out at Many Apple Stores
And they still aren’t on sale outside the U.S.: â74 percent of the stores we checked were completely sold out of all iPad models,â Munster said in a note to clients. â26 percent had some WiFi models in stock, and no stores had any 3G models available. We note that the stores have implemented a reservation system, by which customers can request to be placed on a waitlist for future iPad shipments, notified upon arrival, and given 24 hours to pick up the iPad. One Apple store representative indicated that the in-store reservation system typically takes 4-7 days.â â
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Apple pulls the plug on 'Get a Mac' ad campaign
There's been rumors that Apple had ended its long-running of "Get a Mac" ad campaign ever since Justin "Mac" Long said he thought they might be done last month, and it looks like that's now finally been confirmed by Apple -- the company has pulled all the ads from its site and is instead redirecting folks to its new "Why You'll Love a Mac" page. Of course, the move doesn't exactly come as a huge surprise considering that Apple hasn't produced a new one since its Windows 7-challenging ads last October, and Apple has certainly had plenty of prime material since then. Head on past the break for look at one of the more recent highlights, and hit up the more coverage links below if you feel like reminiscing a bit more. As for what's next for Apple, we can only guess. A triumphant return of Jeff Goldblum, perhaps?Continue reading Apple pulls the plug on 'Get a Mac' ad campaignApple pulls the plug on 'Get a Mac' ad campaign originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 11:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Mac Rumors | Email this | Comments
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Apple launches 'Why you'll love a Mac' campaign
Posted by Dennis SellersShowing a bit of overdue love for the Mac, Apple has kicked off a “Why you'll love a Mac” campaign. It urges folks to “Make the ultimate upgrade. To a Mac.”
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MobileMe gets more secure
Posted by Dennis SellersApple has updated its online service MobileMe, adding some new features, but especially improving security with all of the web-based apps, reports The Mac Security Blog. MobileMe is the company's US$99-per-year suite of Internet tools.
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flipSYNC is new keychain UB charge, sync cable
Posted by Dennis SellersScoshe Industries has released the flipSYNC, an US$19.99 keychain USB charge and sync cable. The flipSYNC, about the size of a car alarm remote control, provides users with syncing cable when on the go and fits on any keychain.
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Top Gun gunning on the Mac later this year
Posted by Dennis SellersParamount Digital Entertainment has announced a new Top Gun video game. Currently in development at doublesix the game will be available for Mac, PC, and Playstation 3 this summer, reports Inside Mac Games. Pricing and system requirements haven't been announced.
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Friday Favorite: BetterZip
Filed under: Friday FavoriteBetterZip is a utility I might not use every day, but I'm very thankful for it when I need it. It's an archive/compression utility which handles a broad array of archive formats, including ZIP, TAR, GZip, BZip2, and some that you rarely see on a Mac, such as 7-Zip and RAR formats. While the unarchiver built in to OS X can handle quite a few of these formats -- and is what I use on a day-to-day basis -- BetterZip adds a few very useful tools to the mix. BetterZip opens or creates your archive in a file-list format, and you can drag files between Finder and BetterZip to add to or extract from the archive. Creating new archives is just a "File->New" or Command-N away, and you can save them in Zip, TAR, TGZ, TBZ, 7-Zip or XAR formats. While the Finder lets you easily create archives by right-clicking a file selection and choosing "Archive," it doesn't allow you to easily edit the archive or add to it. For quick compression of one or more files for emailing, it's fine and I use it regularly, but for larger archives that need to be more flexible, BetterZip is an excellent choice. BetterZip also makes it easy to search large archives for a single file you're looking for. Read on for more reasons BetterZip is my Friday Favorite ...TUAWFriday Favorite: BetterZip originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 May 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments 7Zip - Unofficial Apple Weblog - RAR - ZIP - Data compression
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MacNotables #1018: Jason Snell on Google TV vs. Apple TV, Why TV is Difficult, The iPad as TV, The Flash Debate and More
Jason Snell, the Editorial Director of Macworld, comments on the current state of TV, including why it is such a mess, what the newly announced Google TV means for consumers in general and Apple TV in particular, and where the iPad fits in. Jason also weighs in on the Apple-Adobe-Flash saga, defending his position that Flash is less relevant than it was when the iPhone first came out, and explains his surprise that we're still talking about it. The conversation wraps up with Jason talking about the how the iPad fits into his life (so far), what apps he uses, and how it is affecting what he and his team do at Macworld. MacNotables is sponsored by SmileOnMyMac. Links: Chuck Joiner on Twitter The MacVoices Group Subscribe to MacNotables in iTunes Jason Snell on Twitter Google TV Apple TV with 160GB Hard Drive Ihnatko: Get ready for second-wave iPad apps by Andy Ihnatko on Macworld ABC Player NetFlix App MLB App Kindle App Zinio Magazine Newsstand App
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'MacNotables' looks at Google TV/Apple TV, Flash, more
Posted by Dennis SellersThe latest edition of MacNotables, a podcast that serves as home to Mac personalities who will comment on the latest news and opinions in the Mac community, is available.
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Run of the Mills: Apple and the cool factor
Posted by Dennis SellersBy Greg Mills No one who ever sees many movies or TV programs could possibly miss the many placement of Apple products on the screen. The cool factor that Apple has cultured is passed on to actors who appear to use a Mac.
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Editorial: Thoughts on Foxconn
Laura June has been an Editor at Engadget since October of 2008. The views expressed in this editorial are her own, cobbled together by hand, with love, in the United States of America, for a fair wage. I'm not an economist, and in fact, I've never been very good with money or math. I'm not a manufacturer either -- the only things I make with my own hands are quilts and cakes. I know, however, from these experiences, that the best products take time, and are made with care from the best available materials. It's obvious, by now -- or it should be -- that something's going on at Foxconn -- the owners of massive factories in China which most famously assembles Apple products (though it's also responsible for many, many others). There have been several suicide attempts this year -- at least a few of them successful (though it's been pointed out that the number is pretty much on par with the rest of China) -- and over the past few days we've seen what can only be called a shocking expose by a worker who went undercover there. It's clear, from this report and others (such as last month's National Labor Committee report on the KYE factory in Dongguan City) that most of the people who assemble our gadgets do so under conditions we, in America would never tolerate, and for a wage that is paltry, to say the least. I'm hesitant to pass judgment en masse on how an entire country or a specific factory does business, and I don't have the knowledge or expertise to do so. So I'm not going to.Continue reading Editorial: Thoughts on FoxconnEditorial: Thoughts on Foxconn originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 10:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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First Looks: Maclove Anti-Glare and Crystal Shields for iPad
The reigning kings of Apple accessory wackness are back with another collection of iffy "where's this stuff actually being sold, again" cases and film, this time for the iPad. Maclove's Anti-Glare Shields and Crystal Shields are billed as "super screen protection" for the iPad, but look and feel cheap. In a tell-tale sign of literally cut corners, the thin film doesn't fully wrap around the iPad's Home button, though the Anti-Glare film does actually…
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First Looks: Maclove iShow + Travel Pad Cases for iPad
The reigning kings of Apple accessory wackness are back with another collection of iffy "where's this stuff actually being sold, again" cases and film, this time for the iPad. Once you get past the packages, which feel like low-quality sandpaper, Maclove's latest designs aren't bad, but not good, either. The iShow Colorful Case is a set of five plastic back covers, each with a very high-gloss finish and an odd little marking in the bottom right corner;…
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Googleâs Apple Complex on Display at I/O
The claws were out at Google I/O today, where Google VP engineering Vic Gundotra gave his best Steve Jobs impression — by which I mean, an on-stage presentation of new launches that featured ample use of passive-aggressive jabs and humor at the expense of competitors, delivered to a rapt and supportive audience. Google VP engineering Vic Gundotra Gundotra's task was to present Android's new version — 2.2 (aka Froyo) — as a minor update in the grand scheme of things. But he made masterful use of market sentiment, at a time when the greater technology community is somewhat aghast at Apple's efforts to cut off Adobe and Flash at the knees. Feature after feature was presented in the context of the competition — Apple's iPhone and iPad — drawing big laughs and applause from the audience of a few thousand at San Francisco's Moscone Center. “If you believe in openness, if you believe in choice, if you believe in innovation from everyone, then welcome to Android,” was Gundotra's rallying cry. He explained that the mobile platform, from the time it was a top-secret product by Andy Rubin, had always been destined for this fight. “If Google does not act we face a draconian future,” Rubin apparently told Gundotra on the latter's first day on the job. Where Apple presents Flash as closed and buggy, and offers HTML 5 as an alternative, Google is trying to curry favor by being inclusive of all things web. The new Android will support the latest versions of Adobe's Flash and Air. Google's main objective is to advance the web as a platform, on PCs, on mobile and now the TV as well. And by playing nice with Adobe, Google got the beleaguered company to sign on to have Flash support Google's new open-source video codec WebM, an alternative to Apple's codec of choice, H.264. Gundotra posed Google as the benevolent enabler of users and the competitive marketplace: “It turns out that on the Internet, people use Flash. And part of being open means you are inclusive, rather than exclusive, and you are open to innovation. It's really fun to work with other folks in the ecosystem to meet the needs of users, much nicer than just saying no.” Gundotra walked through a new set of mobile ad formats quite similar to Apple's coming iAd advertising platform and network, which has drawn fire for the tight grip Apple is holding over the creation and deployment of ads. Gundotra pointed out that Google has been in the advertising business for 10 years. In introducing new Android APIs for communicating and updating the device, Gundotra poked at Apple's equivalent, alluding that they were “designed for basic lack of functionality like lack of multitasking in the operating system.” Then Gundotra pitched Android's new tethering and portable hotspot function as a mobile wireless solution for the iPad, receiving a big laugh. He also demoed JavaScript performance improvements on the new Android, which is a supposed two to three times faster, by using an app to show a speed test vs. the older version of Android and the iPad. Froyo killed the other two, easily lapping the iPad's performance within a few seconds. “I really wonder if we'll be able to get that in the App Store,” Gundotra said of the speed test app, jabbing at Apple's tight grip on the software available on its platform. Then came the punchline: “Oh, it's a web app; how great is that?” Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req'd): A Brighter Week Ahead for Flash
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Google I/O recap: more web than you can shake a frozen desert at
Whew, Google really knows how to pack it in. Two days of Google I/O and we've got enough info on the future of the web, phone, and television to write a couple sci-fi novels and retire. Of course, we aren't just bystanders here: we've also gotten our hands on the latest version of Android (2.2, codenamed Froyo) and put its through its speedy paces. You can catch up on all the action below. Liveblog Live from the Google I/O 2010 day 2 keynote! Google TV Clicker.tv brings streaming internet video to your TV's browser; it has a web browser right? Google TV turns on at I/O: runs Android and Flash, partnered with Sony, Logitech, and Intel Sony Internet TV, DISH first with Google TV this fall; Adobe, Logitech and others along for the ride CE-Oh no he didn't!: Sony's Sir Howard says 'when you beat Apple, you're dominating' Logitech's Google TV companion box includes smartphone apps, we go eyes-on (updated: video!) Android Froyo Foxconn's Tegra 2-powered Android tablet hands-on (video) Google's Larry Page says there's 'something wrong' if your Android phone's battery doesn't last all day Android Gingerbread is 'planned for Q4 2010' Android 2.2 Froyo officially announced Google claims Froyo has the world's fastest mobile browser Android 2.2 'Froyo' beta hands-on: Flash 10.1, WiFi hotspots, and some killer benchmark scores Flash 10.1 for Android beta unveiled: Hulu a no-show, Froyo now a minimum requirement Google adding over-the-air app installation and iTunes streaming to Android Android 2.2 SDK goes live, developers likely unable to crash Google's download server Web tech Google Wave opens doors to public, asks old friends for new chance Google launches open WebM web video format based on VP8 (update: hardware partners and Microsoft statement) Google partnership has GM OnStar exploring Maps, open APIs and more Google unveils Chrome web store, Sports Illustrated app impresses OnStar reveals mystery partner: Google mSpot stores your music* in the cloud, makes it available anywhere** Google I/O recap: more web than you can shake a frozen desert at originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 10:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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A possible fix for Spotlight re-indexing problems
This tip might be handy if Spotlight seems to take forever to re-index. I re-indexed Spotlight, and it started showing the spinning wheel. I was unable to pinpoint an obvious reason for this. Some weeks later I decided to get rid of most of the DYLD errors from the Console log. As a step in doing I booted the machine into safe mode, and cleaned all the system caches. After having done that Spotlight started working as it should again, reading the indices when performing searches. [crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described. I posted it as much as anything as a reminder that clearing the system caches should be a part of any regular maintenance plan, and often an early step in a troubleshooting procedure.]
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Changing QuickTime X hidden preference settings
There are a number of settings in QuickTime X which are not exposed in the Preference panel or the QuickTime Player app. These are two QuickTime-related CLI tools included in Snow Leopard that you may be interested in for exploring these settings, and adjusting their values: qtdefaults -- lets you set and reset many of the items formerly found in the QuickTime Preference panel. mediastreamsegmenter -- talks to IP-based encoder boxes used for HTTP Live Streaming. Read the man pages for these tools for a description of the settings they can affect and how to use them. There is also an excellent set of AppleScripts for managing hidden preferences in QuickTime X. The ReadMe file on the disk image documents what the scripts do, suggests a few ...
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Apple Owns 26% of Music Sales – Is That a Bad Thing?
A recent article published in Billboard, then clarified in Fortune, mentions that iTunes has increased their market share of the music market, up from 21.42% in 2008 to 26.65% in 2009. The first glaring thing that I noticed here was in the first paragraph of the Fortune article: Songs streamed directly to cellphones, once touted as the next big thing in digital music, failed to take off and is now rapidly losing ground to Apple's (AAPL) iTunes Store. I understand that they're talking about other systems, but the iTunes store does stream music to a phone, it just happens to be one phone. I guess I'm not really sure why this is a bad thing, because the tone of the Fortune article seems to be that the world is ending because Walmart doesn't have a bigger share of the pie. Maybe I'm just reading too much into things (I've been known to do that) but to me, this is kinda awesome. The only CDs that I've purchased in the past five years are ones that are out of print, not available on iTunes, or from indie artists. Otherwise, when I find a song or CD that I want, I go on iTunes and download it. And why wouldn't I? I then have access to the music on my iPad, iPod, iPhone, and both computers. I can even send it to my AppleTV if I want to listen to music on the TV – something I've never really understood. Now this is a problem if you don't own an iPod I suppose, but then you have other options. Let's say you bought yourself a Zune. You've got the Zune Marketplace for music and apps, and then you can burn your own CDs into the Zune interface. It's just as convenient. Or if you don't even own an MP3 player, you can just buy regular CDs. Sure, brick and mortar CD stores are all but gone, but big stores like Walmart and Best Buy are going to be carrying hard copies of music for the foreseeable future, so you've got options there. I suppose this is also an issue if you're worried about Apple taking over the world. I have no problem with running my music through iTunes, but I know people who do. If you want to run something other than iTunes, then support a platform. Right now I can't think of many real competitors to iTunes in functionality, but I'd love to have one. Competition breeds innovation, and the more competitors Apple has, the better it is for all of us. I hope Zune catches up so that Apple starts feeling the pressure and changes things up. Nothing wrong with that. I will get scared when Apple owns 50% of the market. Why? Because that means no one is even trying to take on mobile music, and at that point, people are going to start throwing around the “M” word about them. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy my easy access to music, whether it has DRM or not, and hope that someone tries harder than the competition is currently.
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Howard Stern digs his iPad
Filed under: iPadOh, my. Yeah, we know...another "celebrity x enjoys his/her iPad post" is hardly riveting reading, but this story is worth a mention. Any long-time Stern fan knows that 1.) He dislikes Apple and 2.) He's adverse to new tech gadgets. Unless he's pimping Sirius/XM hardware, you won't hear much fanboy gadget-gushing from Howard (he famously clings to Lotus Notes for much of his tech-based communication). This week on the show, he talked about the 64GB 3G iPad he received as a gift from Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. Calling it "pretty cool," Howard mentioned receiving the New York Times with it and taking screenshots of his wife, Beth O, appearing on a recent episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live via the ABC Player app. This story is less about the celebrity and more about the iPad winning over yet another unlikely customer. Good job, Apple!TUAWHoward Stern digs his iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 May 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Apple - Unofficial Apple Weblog - Howard Stern - IPad - Ashton Kutcher
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Friday Poll: What's your Twitter tool of choice?
This week brought the first official Twitter app for the iPhone. But not everyone has an iPhone or chooses to use theirs to tweet. So how do you go about tweeting?
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Seesmic launches iPhone app
The social network aggregator debuts iPhone app, letting you follow and update your Twitter, Facebook, and Ping.fm feeds in one shot.
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News: iPad in short supply prior to international launch
Both models of the iPad remain sold out or in short supply across the U.S. heading into the device's launch in nine countries next week. Citing a note from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, AppleInsider reports that out 50 Apple retail stores contacted, 74% were sold out of all models of iPad, with the iPad with Wi-Fi available at 24%, and no iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G units available at any of the stores. The report notes that the shortages have…
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Your Mom Wants an iPad
I've been amazed by the flood of negative press surrounding Apple's latest offering. I like what David Pogue had to say about the shape of a typical Apple product release — “months of feverish speculation and hype online,” followed by “the bashing by bloggers who've never even tried it,” followed by “people lining up to buy the thing” — and the iPad release has followed that trajectory quite nicely. But what's so surprising to me about the bad reviews is the general condemnation of the iPad's features. According to the blogosphere, most of the things that make the iPhone good make the iPad bad, which doesn't make a lot of sense. What's worse, though, is how much of the criticism is just facile. Are we really going to give big-name, prime-time, above-the-fold blog space to the iPad's bezel? I am disappointed. So while I agree that the iPad looks like the iPhone grew up and got a job as a picture frame, I'm disappointed that only very few seem willing to look past that to see that the two devices have very different goals. Whereas the iPhone was about convergence of features, the iPad is about convergence of activities. The iPad Versus the iPhone — What, You Mean They're Not the Same? The iPhone was designed from the ground up to change the mobile phone game with its features. Feature convergence was already a longstanding trend in the U.S. device market when the iPhone was released in 2007, having started with the first true smartphones like the Palm Treo in the early '90s. But despite a full decade of “convergent” devices, there was still no one device in the U.S. market that combined telephone, music, contacts, high-quality GPS, and usable Internet browsing until the iPhone. The iPhone let people do things that no other phone would. Add the iPhone's intuitive interface, polished appearance, and Steve Jobs' reality distortion field to the iPhone's (at the time) one-of-a-kind feature list and you get a bona fide, must-have, status symbol phenomenon on your hands. The iPad, on the other hand, is designed from the ground up to be incredibly simple, but still useful and robust. Whereas the iPhone let techies do things they couldn't do before at all, the iPad will let muggles do things they already do more easily. Time has turned the iPhone's touch interface from “newfangled” to “natural,” especially for the non-tech savvy crowd, so many people will find everyday tasks like email more satisfying on the iPad's intuitive touch interface. People can say a lot of things about Apple's products, but they can't say that they're hard to use. Apple's track record on usability is stellar, and the iPad is more than living up to its pedigree. The iPhone has also proven that apps are serious business, which means that iPad users can rest assured that if they want a simple-to-use app for playing poker, or planning a trip, or even looking at funny pictures of cats, the worst they'll have to do is wait. And remember, all 185,000 apps in the App Store work on the iPad out of the box. (They may not be pretty, but they work.) The App Store will make the iPad the average user's one stop shop for simple tasks and casual recreation. And because all apps come from the App Store, which has ratings and reviews for each one, finding good apps is easy because they're all in one place and just a keyword search away. But even though it's obvious that the iPhone and the iPad are pursuing different goals in different markets, the most common criticism of the iPad by far is still its perceived lack of features. It's true: the iPad lacks Flash support and HDMI output, and is not widescreen. But the people who have bought or are going to buy the iPad don't care. If these features are important to you, then the iPad isn't for you. Don't buy it. But it's important to understand that these features aren't important to everybody, even if they're important to you. The Whole Point of the iPad: The Market Because of the incredible amount of buzz that has surrounded the iPhone since its launch, it's easy to forget that not everybody has one, or even wants one. The iPhone was aimed at techies who needed access to high technology anytime, anywhere. That's a lot of people, to be sure, but it's not everybody. The iPad is aimed at a different market: people who want an easy-to-use computer that's powerful enough, as opposed to a souped-up phone. Is there overlap between these two markets? Sure. But they're not the same. The purpose of the iPad is to take iPhone technology and boldly go where no iPhone has gone before. There are three kinds of people when it comes to the iPad: people who won't buy it, people who will buy it and use it as their primary computer, and people who will buy it but will not use it as their primary computer. (There's probably at least one more group that says something like “*@#$ no I won't buy it!” but I'm trying to keep this article family friendly.) The iPad as a Primary Computer The people who will buy the iPad to use as their primary computer are not who you would call “power users.” They do simple things on computers, so a simple computer suits them just fine. How about your mom, for instance? Your mom uses her computer to play solitaire, check her email, poke around on msn.com, and leave embarrassing comments on your Facebook wall. The iPad is perfect for your mom. It's easy to use, hard to break, and (compared to a “real” computer) not too expensive. More on iPad iPad Sales Outpace the Mac Mac Love Supercharge Your iPad Browsing with iCab Mac Love One Month Later: The iPad Mac Love Who Got the iPad: Scorecard and Prediction Mac Love To your mom, the iPad's simplicity is a feature, not a bug. And when was the last time your mom complained that she can't distribute her app to her friends because there's no ad-hoc app distribution? How about never? Your mom loves that all apps come from the App Store because it gives her a better-than-chance shot at actually finding them. And to those who call Apple's closed platform restrictive and controlling: Bingo! But stop saying that like it's a bad thing. Instead of thinking about what you can't do on the iPad because it's closed, start thinking about what your mom can't do on the iPad because it's closed: Install that friendly-looking free PC tune-up Claim her prize for being the 999th visitor to imavirus.com Streamline her iPad with “convenient browser toolbars” Download RealPlayer and its 517MBs of “must-have!” add-ons Since Apple checks all App Store apps one-by-one, malware on the iPad just doesn't exist. I don't know why more geeks don't support the iPad for exactly this reason — it'll cut their mommy-related tech support calls in half. And about the other “missing” features: Does your mom even know what HDMI is? How about widescreen standards? Product features are only important if they're important to the people buying the product. (By the way, it took all my discipline not to crack a joke in a whole section of talking about your mom.) The iPad as a Secondary Computer The people who buy the iPad to use as a secondary computer will be trying to do one of a couple of things: liven up their dead time, or make their hard work easier. For the first case, think about a commuter who doesn't drive to work in the morning (New York City, anyone?). Now that the iPad 3G has hit the streets, they can read any newspaper in the world, catch up on their reading, play some games, and look at compromising pictures of their friends on MySpace with multitouch goodness on a beautiful 9.7″ color screen all for $629 down and $15-$30 per month. It's hard to call Kindle a good alternative for this market, even with free 3G wireless and a price tag of $259, because of its non-touch screen, lack of an App Store, slow Internet browsing, and because gosh, isn't color nice? The Nook hits a little closer to the mark because of its color touch screen, but it's still really just for books and other digitized print media, not for videos and apps. And both Amazon and Barnes and Noble have (or will soon have) iPad e-Reader apps, too, so it's pretty clear they don't expect their devices to out-compete the iPad on its own turf. But if you still don't think the iPad will be used by morning commuters to catch up on the news and such, there are a couple small companies like the Wall Street Journal and NPR who disagree. If I weren't so addicted to writing software in the morning (OK, all the time) and I didn't drive my morning commute, the iPad would be a no-brainer for me. The second crowd is thinking: sure, it's expensive, but so what? This market of overworked high rollers like doctors, lawyers, and investment bankers value their time more than they value their money, so any product that can make catching up on email or keeping up on the news either (a) go faster or (b) suck less will be on their Amazon wish list in a big hurry. And these guys aren't exactly what you'd call “price sensitive,” so for them productivity is king. Even the most expensive $899 price tag on the top model is well below their flinch point if it makes their work just a little faster or their life just a little more fun. The iPad As a Viable Product So if the iPad looks like a huge iPhone…well, good. I know a lot of people who could really use an iPhone-cum-tablet. iPhones don't do everything, but they do a lot and they do it well, and most important of all they just work. And if the iPad bears more than a passing resemblance to an iPhone, that's not a bad thing if you want to buy something that's a lot like an iPhone. And it looks like that's something a lot of people want to do. Your mom doesn't need a new widescreen computer with HDMI output and an open development process. Your mom needs a computer that does what she wants to do quickly and easily. That's why she wants an iPad. And she's not alone.
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News: Designers pushed to abandon Flash due to iPhone, iPad
A number of designers are being asked by their clients to ensure that their websites are iPhone- and iPad-compatible, forcing them to abandon Flash for development use in those cases, according to the Wall Street Journal. “Since the iPad came out we've had a lot of clients say that they just don't want Flash on their sites,” said Chantelle Simoes, vice president at CA-based Ninth Degree Inc., which has built websites for Sanyo…
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TUAW's Daily App: Mint.com Personal Finance
Filed under: iPhone Not all of the apps we spotlight here are new or games (though I admit that most of them have been lately). Mint.com's app has been around for a while, and it's just as useful as the site that gives it the name and functionality. If you have a bank account, you should at least give Mint.com a look -- just by plugging in your bank information (which is as secure as it can get on the site), you can start seeing patterns and trends in your spending even without doing anything at all. And after a few months of use, the site will even do things like create a budget automatically for you, tell you when you're spending more than you usually do, and even recommend ways to save your money. The iPhone app does all of that on the go, giving you instant access to your financial information wherever you are. You can check your accounts, edit your transaction records, and see your monthly budget (so even while out shopping, you can know exactly how much money you've got to spend) as long as your iPhone has a connection. You can get alerts when something goes wrong. And security even on the mobile device is excellent -- there's a password built-in to the app, so anyone using your phone can't get immediate access to your information, and if you lose your phone, you can even disable iPhone access directly from the web app, ensuring that no one who uses your lost phone gets any sensitive information from the app. Oh yeah -- and it's all free. Mint.com is definitely worth a look if you haven't installed it yet.TUAWTUAW's Daily App: Mint.com Personal Finance originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 May 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Unofficial Apple Weblog - iPhone - Mint.com - Personal Finance - iPhone 3G
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Video: Googleâs VP of Engineering Rips Into Apple
(Image & video courtesy of TechCrunch)While both Google and Apple might play down the obvious tensions between them, that didnât stop the search giantâs vice-president of engineering from reading Apple the riot act during his Google I/O keynote on Thursday.TechCrunch is reporting that Googleâs VP of engineering, Vic Gundotra, used his Thursday keynote at the Google I/O developer conference to not-so-subtly take pot shots at competitor Apple as he extolls the virtues of Android and why the world needs the open-source mobile platform.The interesting part, however, is where Gundotra relays a conversation with Android boss Andy Rubin, defending the then-unreleased platform as necessary to avoid âa Draconian future, a future where one man, one company, one device, one carrier would be our only choiceâ -- without a doubt, a spear thrown in Appleâs direction regarding the iPhone. It didnât take the Google exec but three minutes to get in his opening jab, and it didnât stop there.Gundotra then displays a poster of 1984 with the title, âNot the Future We Want.â The 1984 reference harkens back to Appleâs use of the same imagery in the iconic television commercial the company used to launch the Macintosh that same year, which is clearly coming back to bite them on the rump 26 years later.âSo if you believe in openness, if you believe in choice, if you believe in innovation from everyone,â Gundotra proclaims, âthen welcome to Android.âYou can see the YouTube video for yourself, embedded below.
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Info needed on firefighting software for the Mac
Posted by Dennis SellersOur next Migration Kit will look at firefighting software for the Mac. If you use or know of such goodies, drop me a line (dsellers@macsimumnews.com) no later than Wednesday, May 26.
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Macsimum Migration Kit: interior design software for Mac OS X
Posted by Dennis SellersThis Macsimum Migration Kit looks at interior design software for Mac OS X. Products covered include StyleDraper, Vectorworks Designer and SketchUp.
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Apple's Leaky Vietnamese Connection
For the third time is a little more than a week, information about an upcoming Apple product has been aired at the Vietnamese blog Tinhte -- the same blog that accurately predicted Apple's latest round of MacBook upgrades. The latest revelation at the site appears to be a prototype of a next-generation iPod touch sporting a built-in digital camera, which the site says has a resolution of two megapixels. Photos of the touch posted at Tinhte show an early test unit, according to Thomas Ricker writing at Endgadget.
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Steve Jobs Weighs in on Googleâs VP8 Codec
E-mailing a question to Steve Jobs is becoming a bit like shaking a magic eight-ball -- youâll frequently get an answer, but itâs bound to be short & sweet. On the subject of Googleâs WebM announcement this week, Jobs simply pointed one inquiring mind to a URL that did the talking for him.The Register has all the details on the latest missive to Steve Jobs, with software developer Kris Bloe inquiring picking the Apple CEOâs brain regarding Googleâs ârecent VP8 announcementâ -- specifically, that the search giant is using the video codec in their new open-source web format called WebM. Jobs answered in his usual short way, but this time with a URL that points to a blog post by a graphics developer who calls out VP8âs shortcomings when compared to the more popular H.264.The blog, penned by third-year college student Jason Garrett-Glaser, claims that the VP8 codec which Google purchased and is now using for WebM âappears to be significantly weakerâ for compression and actually takes longer to decode than H.264, the patented codec which Apple has been using for years, both with its iTunes movies, TV shows and music videos as well as with HTML5 in the Safari browser.Garrett-Glaser should know: He works on the open-source x264 project, a free software library for encoding H.264 video. He calls VP8 ânot ready for primetime,â specifically citing the codec as âa mess.â The student also feels that Google wonât be able to improve the VP8 spec too much. And while Google is touting WebM as open and royalty-free, many suspect that wonât be the case for very long.âWith regard to patents,â Garrett-Glaser concludes, âVP8 copies way too much from H.264 for anyone sane to be comfortable with it, no matter whose word is behind the claim of being patent-free.â Of course, for their part, Google is âvery confidentâ in their technology.Although it appears that Jobs is saying no to Googleâs WebM format based on his reply, Apple Inc. has yet to officially comment on the announcement, which came at the annual Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco on Wednesday.
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MindNode Pro update for Mac OS X adds image support
Posted by Dennis SellersMarkus Mueller has updated MindNode Pro, a mind mapping app for Mac OS X (10.5 and higher), to version 1.5. The upgrade adds image support and visual file links and brings a completely redesigned new toolbar.
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Gefen offers new USB to DVI HD
Posted by Dennis SellersTapped out of video ports but want to add a new display? Gefen makes it easier with the new USB to DVI HD. This tiny, US$149 adapter comes equipped with one USB input and one DVI output. Any USB port on the computer can be used to connect a digital display...
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ProteMac KeyBag for Mac OS X gets a database fix
Posted by Dennis SellersProteMac has updated ProteMac KeyBag , a keystroke recorder utility for Mac OS X, to version 2.1. The upgrade sports a database fix and more.
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Package Central ready for InDesign CS5
Posted by Dennis SellersZevrix Solutions has released Package Central 1.1, an update of the document packaging workflow automation solution for Adobe InDesign. The upgrade offers supports for InDesign CS5.
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Update of CosmoPod Safari extension adds support for HTML5
Posted by Dennis SellersCocoamug has released CosmoPod 4.4.1, an update of the Safari extension that lets you download Flash videos from web sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, etc.
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Astaro Solutions offer remote access to iPad users
Posted by Dennis SellersAstaro Corp., a unified threat management provider, says iPad users can securely connect to their business or home networks using the VPN functionality of the Astaro Security Gateway. This feature is included in the professional edition as well as in the Essential Firewall and Home Use edition that are both available...
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USB Fever releases new iPhone products
Posted by Dennis SellersUSB Fever has released two new products for the iPhone.
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Motama releases NMM 2.2.0 and TVCaster-SDK
Posted by Dennis SellersMotama has released the next version of its Network-Integrated Multimedia Middleware (NMM) for Mac OS X, Linux and Windows systems. NMM 2.2.0 is available at http://www.motama.com/nmm.html
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'Tech Night Owl' looks at Google & privacy, iPhone 4G prototype
Posted by Dennis SellersOn this week's “Tech Night Owl,” Gene Steinberg, the Owl himself, and guests look at Google and privacy, the iPhone 4G prototype story and more.
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Two new MacJury shows are live
Posted by Dennis SellersTwo new MacJury shows are live. Both discuss the Apple-Adobe-Flash brouhaha.
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Mac OS Ken: 05.21.2010
RBC Analyst Ups iPad Sales Estimate for 2010 / ChangeWave Looks at Trends in iPad Usage / Apple Now Taking Cash for iPad Sales / Netflix for iPad Update Brings Video Out Capability / Apple Reportedly Bringing International iPad App Stores Online / iTunes Increases Lead in US Music Sales in 2009 / Most People Playing Music on Cellphones Not Downloading Directly / Apple Sued for Selling Music Online / beta 4 of iPhone OS 4 Includes Ability to Edit User Dictionary / Apple Adds Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer Reviews to iTunes Movies / Apple Testing Webmail beta for MobileMe / Apple Updates Several Facets of MobileMe / Next Android Update to Include WiFi Tethering / Google Says 100K Android Phones Activated Every Day / NVIDIA Talks Smack About iPad in Face of New Dual-Core Tegra 250 / Sony Exec Says Apple is Arrogant and Sony is Not Anymore / Clayton Runs for Office on The Grizzly Bear Egg Cafe
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Nokia and Yahoo announcing partnership Monday?
Whether you call it prescient omniscience or just dumb luck, The Onion's latest lampoon seems to have correctly predicted the Y!phone (pictured above). Or at least something close. We just received our invite to a Yahoo press event on Monday where CEO Carol Bartz will try to wow us with the following: "An exciting announcement about providing global consumers with rich online and mobile experiences, and bringing forward a new era in keeping consumers connected." Kara Swisher of All Things Digital says that the announcement involves building Yahoo apps and services, including email and search, into a range of Nokia devices. The partnership, dubbed "Project Nike" after the Greek goddess of victory, has apparently been in the works for years. A "Yahoo-centric phone" is not expected to be part of the announcement according to Swisher's sources. For Yahoo's part, partnering with the world's largest maker of cellphones is likely its best chance to compete in the mobile space against Google's booming Android OS. The benefit for Nokia in partnering with an also-ran is less clear though -- guess that's why this is a Yahoo press event and not a Nokia-sponsored one. We asked Nokia the dealio but it refused to comment on "market speculation." Hey, we tried.Nokia and Yahoo announcing partnership Monday? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 05:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | All Things Digital | Email this | Comments
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iPhone 3G's Android port is ready to download
Had enough Android excitement yet? Of course not. Following up on the Froyo release yesterday, we've got the no less vital news that the iPhone 3G port of Android is now ready to download and install. Having shown off Google's OS running on a 3G two weeks ago, author David Wang has clearly had to iron out a few kinks before serving up the necessary binaries, but here they are now, replete with a handy install guide he's penned over at PC World. Time to get yourself on the dual-booting bandwagon, no?iPhone 3G's Android port is ready to download originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 03:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Redmond Pie | PC World (download), (how-to) | Email this | Comments