Jul 5, 2010 Jul 7, 2010 Tuesday July 6, 2010
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Apple previews MobileMe Calendar beta
Less than one month after launching its new Mail app, Apple on Tuesday announced a beta program for its new online Calendar application.
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Firefox 4 Beta Now Available to the Public
Mozilla announced the release of Firefox 4.0 public beta today. The beta of 4.0 has been out for a while, but only the techiest people dared to try it because of bugs and other various problems that goes along with beta software. However, this new beta includes pleanty of new features that makes one of our favorite little browsers even better.One of the new features in version 4.0 of Firefox is a updated user interface featuring tabs on top of the window (similar to how Chrome and Safari's tabs are placed). This new user interface is currently only available to Windows users, but Mac and Linux users shouldn't worry as this will be added in a future update to the beta.Additionally, Firefox 4.0 brings: -New Add-ons manager -WebM video support for HD videos -Better HTML 5 support-More privacy featuresMozilla also announced that support for syncing bookmarks, passwords, and settings will be coming in a future update along with more speed improvements. Of course, the syncing support should also come handy in conjunction with the Firefox Home application Mozilla announce earlier.You can view all of the new Firefox 4.0 features and download the new beta to try out for yourself on the Mozilla website. via 9to5 MacFollow this article's author, Cory Bohon on Twitter.
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After the iOS 4 upgrade: Fix for slowing Exchange sync
A recent Apple support note offers help for the times when iOS 4 slows way, way down during syncs with Exchange ActiveSync Mail, Contacts, and Calendars. The problem may also bring performance problems for Exchange servers.Immediately after updating to iOS 4, some users may notice that Exchange ActiveSync Mail, Contacts, or Calendars do not sync, or sync very slowly. In addition, some Exchange Server administrators may notice their servers running slowly.Apple says the work around for this issue is a new configuration profile that increases the time the iPhones will wait for the Exchange Server to respond to a sync request.For best results, the profile should be installed on as many iOS 4 devices at your company as possible.
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Updated: After the iOS 4 upgrade, a fix for slowing Exchange sync
A recent Apple support note offers help for the times when iOS 4 slows way, way down during syncs with Exchange ActiveSync Mail, Contacts, and Calendars. The problem may also bring performance problems for Exchange servers.Immediately after updating to iOS 4, some users may notice that Exchange ActiveSync Mail, Contacts, or Calendars do not sync, or sync very slowly. In addition, some Exchange Server administrators may notice their servers running slowly.Apple says the work around for this issue is a new configuration profile that increases the time the iPhones will wait for the Exchange Server to respond to a sync request.For best results, the profile should be installed on as many iOS 4 devices at your company as possible.Updated Sunday, July 11: This fix appears to have mixed results, according to the MacWindows blog.
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iMovie for iPhone 4 Gets Bug Fix Update
Apple issued an update for iMovie for iPhone 4 today in order to fix various bugs in the movie creation software. The $4.99 application for Apple's newest iPhone has proved to be quite a workhorse, even helping to make a short film, but it hasn't been without its shortcomings and bugs. Here's to hoping this update fixes most of the bugs.Apple notes on the update page that version 1.0.1 of iMovie for iPhone adds the following bug fixes:- Improved reliability when exporting movies containing photos- Resolved issue with music playback in a project- Additional performance and reliability improvementsYou can download the update or purchase it for $4.99 from the iTunes App Store [iTunes link].Follow this article's author, Cory Bohon on Twitter.
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'App farming' update: Apple says only 400 accounts compromised
Filed under: iTunesThe good news is, one crooked developer has been booted from the store. The bad news is, some iTunes accounts were pillaged to fund his rise to the top of the Books category. While Apple's official statement this morning simply reminded us to be careful out there (change passwords, check with your bank, don't get fooled again), some other sites have been continuing to dig into the App Store's funkier corners, turning up additional stories from users that had their accounts compromised (and in the process, dinging game developer Storm8, which was previously sued for collecting user phone numbers). More disturbingly, among the victimized iTunes account holders are at least a few who claim they did use strong passwords, didn't fall prey to phishing attempts, didn't have malware or keyloggers on their machines -- but one day discovered that hundreds of dollars of apps had been bought on their accounts. Creepy. The problem of Apple IDs being hijacked is not a new one -- developer Joe Streno pointed out the weak spots in the password change protocols when his account credentials were swiped back in June of 2009. In this particular go-round, late word from Apple (via Clayton Morris) is that fewer than 400 accounts were compromised, out of over 150 million accounts worldwide. Morris also reports that Apple will be tightening up payment security a bit, requiring more frequent entry of credit card secondary security (CVV2) codes. As always, if you've had an issue with unauthorized app purchases on your account, let us know below. TUAW'App farming' update: Apple says only 400 accounts compromised originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 23:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Apple - App Store - Unofficial Apple Weblog - Credit card - iTunes
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Strong Mac sales show no iPad cannibalization
Apple's iPad may be selling well, but it's not taking away from sales of the company's Macs, according to a new market research report released Tuesday.
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MobileMe iDisk Support For iPad Now Out
(Images courtesy of 9to5Mac)Time to get your App Store updater fired up! If you've an iPad, and are a MobileMe member, you can look forward to a new update for iDisk for the iPad! Apple released the update to their iDisk application to now include iPad compatibility, according to 9to5Mac. The app is now a single universal binary which can now live up to its fullest through the whole iDevice portfolio. As long as they're running iOS 3.1.3 or higher of course.And that's not all. Apple also bulked up the iPhone version with multitasking, retina display and iBooks support. As always, you must be a MobileMe subscriber, which can cost about $99 a year.Follow this article's author, Matthew Tilmann on Twitter
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AT&T Not Choking Upload Speeds After All
(Image courtesy of brandchannel.com)Earlier today, we brought it to you that some users were reporting troubles on upload speeds with their iPhone 4s. Well, as it turns out, AT&T wasn't putting their own "death grip" on data (at least more so anyway), and instead it was a hiccup with some HSUPA areas, according to AppleInsider.Reported upload speeds around the country had been at about 100Kbps, which was way down from what the HSPA-capable iPhone 4 can pull off. The highest affected areas were the major metro areas such as New York, and Los Angeles.Of course first guess was AT&T's doing, but as it turns out, it was caused by an unintentional glitch related to High-Speed Uplink Packet Access in some parts of the United States. If it's working properly, HSUPA can grant uplink speeds of about 5.76Mbit/s.A fix may be on the way, but AT&T was unwilling to comment Tuesday evening.Follow this article's author, Matthew Tilmann on Twitter
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How Many iTunes Accounts Were Compromised?
Not many. Clayton Morris reports: Apple told me that an extremely small percentage of users, about  400 of the 150 million iTunes users â that is less than 0.0003% of iTunes users, were impacted.  To the question of whether the iTunes servers themselves were ever in any danger of hackery Apple told me that the iTunes servers were not compromised in any way.  â
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Verizon Pokes At iPhone 4 With Ad
Verizon has a Droid X handset on its way, and in doing so, opted to take out a full-page ad in The New York Times. The bigger news is, that as part of the advertisement, there was a glaring shot at the iPhone 4, according to AppleInsider. While on the surface, the ad appears to be normal, touting the device's features such as an 8 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, or a 3G Mobile HotSpot for sharing Internet connectivity with up to five Wi-Fi units, as well as an HDMI output.Howwwwwever, there is also a pretty blatant statement about the reception features of the device. "Most importantly, it comes with a double antenna design," reads the ad. "The kind that allows you to hold the phone any way you like and use it just about anywhere to make crystal clear calls. You have a voice. And you deserve to be heard." Of course the statements seems to be referring to recent Apple comments, how if the iPhone 4 is held the "wrong way," it can cause a drastic decrease in reception. While Verizon's PR department does seem to enjoy lashing on the competition, it should be noted that that has come at a price in the past. A previous ad said that the Droid X had a 720p HD screen. But the actual resolution is 854 by 480 pixels, the same as the original Droid. The iPhone 4 maintains a 960 by 640 display. Regardless, it still puts an interesting twist on the whole Verizon/iPhone saga! Follow this article's author, Matthew Tilmann on Twitter
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iPhone 4 exceeds talk time promises
Tests from CNET Labs shows that the iPhone 4 delivers on Apple's battery promises and offers more juice than previous iPhone models.
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Adam Curry shows off iPhone apps in his own video show
Adam Curry's latest project, The Big App Show, is a free iPhone app that serves as a daily video show about iPhone apps.
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Mac sales still up, despite iPad release
Filed under: MacBook If the iPad is going to cut away at the audience for more full-featured computers, it's not going to be the Mac audience, apparently. Even though Apple introduced a tablet earlier this year, Mac sales are still up 35%, showing that the iPad is much more a new category all to itself than a subset of desktop or laptop users. NPD data from the month of May hints that Macs may see 19-23% growth year-over-year this year, which would top Wall Street's estimates. If there's an issue in Apple's line at all, it's the iPod -- that device is set up to be down 13% year-over-year, which is a higher drop than expected. But that's not a huge worry -- the iPad sells for more than the older, smaller devices, and rumor has it that Apple is going to refresh that line with new functionality anyway, from a cloud-based iTunes to better camera integration. So it looks, according to the data so far, like Apple has done what it wanted to: successfully created a new kind of computer, something that sits in between the mobile functionality of the iPhone and the full OS of the MacBook.TUAWMac sales still up, despite iPad release originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Apple - iPhone - Unofficial Apple Weblog - Macintosh - iTunes
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Speedtest app shows iPhone 4 trouble spot
As CNET waits for answers and solutions from Apple, we run reception tests. Results show that holding the antenna in the reported trouble spot negatively affects data speeds.
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Podcast #148: iPhones Could Get Pricey and Prince Denounces the Internet
This week's Mac|Life podcast follows Robbie and Flo as they ponder the increasing price of electronics, the low demand of iPhone 4s, and the burning question of whether or not they could ever live without their precious gadgets. Robbie also conjures up his favorite Prince song.Plus, we answer your hard-hitting Facebook questions!Got a question and don't feel like leaving us a voicemail? Drop us a question via Twitter twitter.com/maclife. This week's Battlestar Applactica picks:Pix'n Love Rush - $0.99Hulu Plus - FreeDon't forget, the Mac|Life staff would love to hear your thoughts, comments and ideas for the new podcast. Just leave a message on the Mac|Live question/comment line: (877) 404-1337, extension 622. Please limit the length of your messages to 1 minute max. We'll review these calls each week and feature our favorites, along with responses, on that week's podcast.To subscribe to the Mac|Live podcast series through an RSS feed, click here; if you want to subscribe through the iTunes Store, click here.
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iPhone developer banned over fraudulent practices
Apple bans a developer it says is responsible for complaints of hacked iTunes accounts and fraudulent app purchases over the weekend, removing his apps from the App Store.
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Found Footage: Browsing speed compared on the iPhone 4 and 3GS
Filed under: Found Footage, iPhone Thanks to Obama Pacman, here's a neat (audio muted) video comparison of web browsing speed over 3G on an iPhone 4 (shown on the left) and an iPhone 3GS (shown on the right). The test was done using only mobile 3G with Wi-Fi turned off, and it shows a variety of sites using Safari in a head to head comparison. In almost all the tests, the iPhone 4 was much faster in Web browsing. When you look under the hood at the iPhone 4's 3G performance, the improved browsing speed is not much of a surprise; CNET benchmarked the 4 against the 3G (not the 3GS) and found dramatic improvement across the board. Even against the more recent 3GS, the iPhone 4 delivered stronger download performance in Andy Ihnatko and John Gruber's tests. The processor is obviously kicked up a notch as well. MacRumors, running benchmark tests, found the iPhone 4 processor to be 31% faster than the 3GS using Geekbench 2.1. The iPhone 4 came in with a 2.514 score across routine tests like memory allocation and view drawing, easily besting the 3GS at 2.298. Both were tested under iOS 4. Benchmark tests are not really analogous to real life usage, of course, but they do give a basic indication for comparison purposes. So although it probably takes more muscle to paint the screen using the iPhone 4's high-resolution Retina Display, the faster A4 chip combined with the improved network throughput (when you've got all your bars, that is) seems more than up to the task.TUAWFound Footage: Browsing speed compared on the iPhone 4 and 3GS originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments IPhone - Apple - Unofficial Apple Weblog - iPhone 4 - Safari
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The iPhone 4 Proximity Sensor Thing
One of the problems with being the early adopter of any kind of technology is that there are going to be a few hiccups along the way. We already know about the antenna issue, but the other day, I experienced a problem which apparently, a lot of people are having. Except that mine is almost the exact opposite. Jason O'Grady at ZDNet touched about his post yesterday entitled, “The iPhone 4's second Vietname: the proximity sensor(updated).” Quite the attention-grabbing title. Here's his problem: The proximity sensor in the iPhone 4 is what tells it how close the phone is to your face so that it can turn the touchscreen off while youâre making a phone call. This has the effect of a) saving battery power, and b) preventing inadvertent touches of the screen by your face. The problem is that the proximity sensor in the iPhone 4 is on a hair trigger. Itâs either too sensitive, miscalibrated or both. In over three years of using the iPhone 2G, 3G and 3GS Iâve never accidentally hung up on, muted or put a call on speakerphone while holding it up to my face â not once. Yet Iâve done it a half dozen times on my iPhone 4 over the past weekend. He states later in the article that Apple should fix the issue in the next iOS update, and that they should delay the sensor by a second or two to help curb the problem. That would actually cause issues for me. I've noticed that I can put the iPhone down and the screen doesn't turn on right away, which can be annoying when you're trying to type in entries for a touch-tone system like I was doing the other day. I did see the screen flash on once when I was on a phone call, but it went off almost immediately and frankly, it could've been because I had the phone a touch away from my ear at the time. My hope here is that all of these problems are easy software fixes, which so far, seems to be the case. I'm not 100% sold on the antenna thing, but at least in the case of the proximity sensor, I think we're just an update away from a fix.
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Source: No broad job cuts planned at Microsoft
Although it may do some reshuffling and targeted job reductions in the new fiscal year, Redmond is not planning broad or deep layoffs, a source tells CNET.
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iOS Game Time - July 6, 2010
Welcome to our brand new regular weekly column. Every Tuesday, we march through the mediocre multiplayers, sift through the sordid sporting titles, and pound through the petty platformers to find the best, most interesting iOS gaming gems. Predators$2.99Chillingo LtdiPhone / iPod touch / iPad Just because weâre humans doesnât mean we always want to defend our species in videogames. In fact, most of the time, aliens are way cooler than humans. If youâve ever wanted to play as the baddest guy on the block, than download this app immediately. In Robert Rodriguezâs Predator (based off the summer blockbuster of the same name) you finally get to take control of the lethal alien assassin.Someone find us a mop.There are tons of combos and weapons to be unlocked, and it feels surprisingly fluid for something on a touch screen--almost as if it is a real game. However, this isnât your grandmotherâs hack and slash. Huge puddles of blood form after slaying clumsy humans, so if youâre the squeamish type, look elsewhere for your thrills. For $2.99, you get the universal app for Predators on iPhone and iPad. Itâs a killer deal.Check it out if you: liked Hero of Sparta. WarChessFreeIGFUN LLCiPad WarChess is now on the iPad flaunting circa-1994 aesthetics. The game is straightforward Chess despite the fantasy theme, and it utilizes a short advertisement at the beginning of the game to keep the cost at the low, low price of free.Graphics are laughably polygonal and the animations are a joke, but itâs totally worth it for the price. Itâs almost delightful how half-assed the animation rendering is.Only you have the power to protect his polygonal kingdom.When battle mode loses its novelty (almost immediately, it seemed) there are three different views to choose from, like a 3D board with more authentic pieces, and an uncomplicated flat view. The simpler the board, the less finicky the controls, but even though you're bound to make a few wrong moves in this game of chess, it might be worth it if you can beat the Orc army of Blacktile.Which board will you choose?You can play against friends on the same board, or compete against the computer. There are seven different difficulty levels to choose from, but unfortunately, even enchanted magical paladins can't help you play chess.Check it out if you: Spent your high school years playing Chess and cosplaying. Tunnel Shoot$0.99Backflip StudiosiPhone / iPod touch / iPad If flying through tunnels and shooting at random shapes with lasers doesnât sound very appealing, allow Tunnel Shoot to make a believer out of you. Tunnel Shoot takes the tried and true formula and puts it on the iPhone and iPad, and what do you know, it works better than ever.In order to move, players tilt the device from side to side. It feels wonderfully responsive, and a bit like holding a steering wheel. Everything is polished and fantastically addicting. In fact, the music, coupled with the neon colors, is more hypnotic than an Alakazam in a Pokemon battle.The best part of the game is how easy it is to pick up and put down. A round can be played in a few minutes, and after you explode into a billion geometrical shapes, you can post your high scores to Twitter and Facebook to further clutter up your friendsâ and enemiesâ social networks.By the way, Tunnel Shoot is this weekâs Editorâs challenge. Just try to beat our score.Editorâs High Score: 169,572.Check it out if you: ever wondered what it would be like to play Geometry Wars in a vacuum. Doodle God$0.99JoyBits Co Ltd.iPhone / iPod touchFirst, a word of warning: For some baffling reason, we couldnât get Doodle God to work on our iPhone. Once it would begin loading, it would abruptly quit. So, we let it sit. But the reviews kept pouring in, and people loved Doodle God. We wanted to play it so bad, we just fired it up on our iPad. Doodle God is a quirky little app in which you combine elements to make new elements. Thatâs really all there is to it. The more you create, the more options there are. Thereâs really no rhyme or reason to it, but guessing at what might create a new element is a satisfactory experience.She's a brick, ba dun dun, house.After every new element is created, a quote about the new element is presented. If you get stuck, you can ask the game for a hint. Itâs easy and enjoyable, though we have no idea why.Check it out: if you need a time killer that makes you feel like a god⌠like Gravilux. LandFormer FreeStreaming Colour StudiosiPhone / iPod touch At first glance, LandFormer is a simple puzzle game with cutesy graphics. But upon second glance, well, itâs still a puzzle game with cutesy graphics but itâs got substance.See? Look at all that substance.Minutes after you start playing, youâll find LandFormer is rewarding as all get out. It takes a remarkable amount of foresight, and if you make a single mistake, youâll spend valuable moves patching it up. Certain levels are unbelievably difficult even when thoroughly pondered and when you solve the harder puzzles, youâll feel like a total genius.Because itâs free, even puzzle-haters should have no hesitation downloading LF. Check it out if: your love for Puzzles is only exceeded by your love for elevation maps.So there you have it. Think you can beat our high score? Know a game youâd like to see featured? Sound off in the comments.Follow this article's author, Nic Vargus, on Twitter.
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iPhone sales expectations lowered due to supply shortage
Filed under: iPhone We've already heard that Apple is taking a risk by being low on supplies for iPhone 4, and now at least one analyst says it's too far: Shawn Wu of Kaufman Bros. is lowering his expectations for iPhone 4 sales this year. Of course, that means he's cutting expected sales from 9 million to 7.5 million (which means Apple would still make truckloads of money), but nevertheless, Wu says that "an inventory drawdown and screen supply constraints could impact near-term shipments over the next two quarters." Ouch -- that's pretty harsh by analyst standards. I think Apple was in the same boat with me on this one -- after such a successful iPad launch (and a not-bad 3GS launch last year), I didn't think that the iPhone 4 launch would provide too many issues. But from all of the anecdotal and sales data we've heard so far, it was huge -- much bigger than any of the previous iOS device launches so far. Apple's probably not worried -- 7 million phones is still plenty of phones for them. But it certainly seems, especially since a lot of stores still don't have phones ready and in stock, that they were caught off guard by demand.TUAWiPhone sales expectations lowered due to supply shortage originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Unofficial Apple Weblog - IPhone - Apple - IPad - IphoneOs
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What We're Reading: Andy Grove
Andy Grove on job creation, Android and HTC and another of those odd Google Maps sightings.
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PhoneHalo for your iPhone helps finds your keys
Filed under: iPhone If you've ever lost your keys in the house but have your phone, then PhoneHalo might be what you're looking for -- apart from your keys. The Bluetooth device attaches to something (typically keys) and allows you to "ping" the device via an app on your iPhone. It works the other way as well, although no word on support for backgrounding or push notifications. The video has a brief description, although the app isn't available on the iPhone yet. In the video, the narrator mentions a heavy social component, but I'm not really keen on telling my friends on Twitter and Facebook that a) I've lost my keys or b) where they are. Nevertheless, if you are a chronic key loser this could be your new best friend. Currently available for BlackBerry and Android, the iPhone version is slated for September 30 and you can (somehow) pre-order it now for US$1. You can order one PhoneHalo device (plus software for the currently-supported phones) for $59.95. Order 2 devices for $95.95 or 3 for $139.95. Or just tack a nail to the wall so you can hang your keys up.TUAWPhoneHalo for your iPhone helps finds your keys originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - Facebook - Twitter - BlackBerry - Apple
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The Future of Appleâs Retina Display
Apple has been known for incorporating one piece of technology across its entire product line. Most consumer tech companies will try something radically different with each product but Apple replicates what works across every product. This makes for a good user experience and it gives us the comfort that how it works on one device is something we expect to work the same on another, such as holding down the power button turns off your Mac, iPhone and even wireless keyboard. Historically, what you see in today's high-end machines will eventually make its way to the low end models like Apple's Airport Express getting 802.11n a year after the Extreme, or the MacBook getting glass multitouch trackpads 1-2 years after the MacBook Pro. These sort of hand me down improvements are normal, but what do these two principles tell us about what's coming next? Does iPhone's Retina Display give us a hint for the future of Apple's product line? Currently, most of Apple's displays, whether they are in a desktop, notebook or a standalone monitor like Apple's 24″ and 30″ Cinema Displays have a standard PPI (pixels per inch) ratio that is equal with most other displays from computer companies. The average is between 113-130 for most of Apple's displays. The iPhone 4′s retina display is a mind-boggling 326 PPI which produces clarity that no other display on any device from any manufacturer can match, at least in most of the consumer tech you'll find at the local Best Buy. Apple has raised the bar so high that every iPhone 4 owner I meet says to me that going back to the MacBook Pro or iMac display or even an iPod nano is a total joke and they've been spoiled by the new screen. I vote that Apple will make Retina Display the buzz word of 2011 as every product receives this as the key feature and trust me when I say that users (myself included) will shell out the cash to get the same clarity and crystal clear display quality that we've become so accustomed to on our iPhones. I could be wrong, but Apple has already laid the ground work for Retina Display in every Mac. A look at Apple's Dev Center docs reveals a technology known as Resolution Independence. Here's the intro: In the past, developers could assume that the resolution of screen displays was 72 dpi and that one unit in the application's drawing space corresponded to one pixel. Specifying a 100 x 200 window in the application would result in a 100 x 200 pixel window onscreen. However, with the introduction of LCD displays with higher pixel densities (often well over 100 dpi), maintaining a one-to-one correspondence between drawing units and screen pixels can result in images that are too small for most users. The solution is to make the drawing sizes specified by the application independent of the display's pixel resolution and allow arbitrary scaling between the two. Depending on the type of application, the user interface, and the drawing technologies used, you may need to update your code to provide the best user experience on a resolution-independent system. Of course, Apple added this to make things easier on developers as displays produced by Apple do fluctuate such as ordering a 15″ or 17″ Macbook Pro with the high-resolution display should yield a clearer experience for users and this is thanks to resolution independence. However, this minor technology can be leveraged and must be leveraged if Apple were to ever bump that spec from a measly 113 PPI to upwards of 326 PPI like we see on the iPhone 4. I've been very vocal about Apple's inability to keep up with resolutions that competitors like Dell provide on its notebooks. A 15″ notebook from Dell has had resolutions that triumph over Apple's for the longest time. Of course, those insanely high specs generally lead to text that's simply too small to read, but it's an option that Dell offers which Apple does not and the only way to completely shut down one of the only advantages a Dell has over a Mac is to up the PPI to Retina Display levels. Of course, there's much more involved. Only a handful of Macintosh computers have the IPS (In-Plane Switching technology) that you see in the iPad, iPhone 4 and Apple's flat-panel iMac. That's something we'll start seeing in Macs very soon and possibly before Retina Display makes its way to our computers. Apple has spent the last three years slowly moving each display to LED backlighting which reduces energy use but also offers a more accurate and complete back lighting and instant-on without the need for a warm up. It's an easy prediction to say that Apple will improve its displays, but it's obvious that Retina Display is just the beginning and it's a sign of things to come. When our eyes grow so used to the iPhone 4′s gorgeous display that we find ourselves preferring it over our Macs, Apple will release new computers that offer the same technology and we'll be lining up to get them. Trust me.
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Firefox 4 Beta 1 now available for download
Whoa, Nelly! Is that a Firefox 4 download button we're looking at? Why yes... yes it is! We can't think of a much better way to wrap up one's workday than by finding out that Mozilla's own Firefox browser has finally made the official leap to 4.0, with Beta 1 going live for the adoring public today. It's ready to be sucked down and installed for those with Windows, Linux and OS X-based machines, and the changelog itself is far too lengthy for this space (though it's linked below for your perusal). You'll obviously notice an overhauled look hitting you front and center, with a new add-on manager, support for the new WebM format, improved privacy settings and crash protection headlining the "big chart o' features." Give 'er a download and toss your thoughts on the new build down in comments below, cool? P.S. - Be warned that this may very well not work with your stable of add-ons right away, so we'd keep that stable 3.x.x build installed as a backup!Firefox 4 Beta 1 now available for download originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Firefox (download), The Mozilla Blog, Changelog | Email this | Comments
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Mac Sales Are Up 35%, Despite Arrival of iPad and iPhone 4
Mac sales are up 35% since May, which just goes to show you that the advent of a bunch of mobile products doesn't mean that Apple has fallen far from the tree. After all, computers are what they've always been about. â¨â¨Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, showed the NPD domestic retail data, which theorizes that Apple will sell between 3.1 million and 3.2 million Macs in June if this pattern continues. Apple could also have a year-over-year Mac unit growth of between 19 percent and 23 percent. "This is the second data point that suggests Apple is not seeing much cannibalization in its Mac business (from the iPad)," Munster saod.â¨â¨The latest data also shows that iPod sales have gone down 13 percent every year, though international sales are still going strong.Munster adds that "We believe in the long run Mac cannibalization will exist, but will be minimal," he said. "Apple has successfully limited the iPad functionality to primarily content consumption vs. content creation on a Mac. And relative to the iPod, the physical size of an iPad provides a meaningfully different value proposition (portability vs. screen size)."Via AppleInsider Follow this article's author, Florence Ion, on Twitter.
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The Beatles warm to digital downloads -- at least for others
Apple Corps still isn't ready to offer The Beatles' music via digital download. But Apple and its music distribution partner, EMI Music, said ...
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Andy Zaky on the End of the iPod Era
Andy Zaky: The first chart shows iPod revenue from 2006 to 2010. The second chart is of iPod unit sales. The third chart details iPod revenue as a PERCENTAGE of Appleâs overall revenue. This chart is important because it unmistakably illustrates how the iPodâs impact to Appleâs recorded revenue has been on a decline since 2006. It’s not so much that Apple’s iPod business is doing poorly, as that everything else — the iPhone and even the Mac — has grown. But the growth points to where Apple’s future is. â
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Mac sales see 19-23% year-over-year growth
Posted by Dennis SellersThe NPD Group says that Mac sales increased 35% in May and expects that Apple will sell 3.1 to 3.2 million Macs in the June quarter. That's year-over-year unit growth of 19 to 23%—better than Wall Street's consensus of 19% year-over-year.
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Microsoft investigating new Windows flaw
Software maker says it's looking into reports of a vulnerability that could allow malicious code to be run on machines running Windows XP or Windows 2000.
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Is AT&T capping data uploads on the iPhone 4?
Rumors are flying that AT&T is experiencing problems with its network and is restricting upload speeds on its 3G wireless network for iPhone 4 users.
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Proximity sensor woes caused by reflective ear canal
Filed under: Retail, Apple, iPhone Following the recent release of iPhone 4 several of you reported an issue with the proximity sensor running amok during your calls. Our poll results were dead even with 50.1% of readers seeing issues and 49.9% having no problems. At the time I considered myself in the all-clear category, but recently that changed. Read on for my story of woe, intrigue, and incredulity. TUAWProximity sensor woes caused by reflective ear canal originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments IPhone - Apple - Unofficial Apple Weblog - proximitysensor - Handhelds
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iPhone/iPod/iPad apps for July 6
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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Are Widgets Dead?
Those Dashboard-dwelling mini apps that seemed so nifty when Tiger came out have quickly lost their luster. Back before iPhone took the concept of mini apps and turned it on its head, widgets were a Mac userâs best friend. Released in 2005 as one of Mac OS 10.4 Tigerâs celebrated features, Dashboard opened a hidden layer of specialized tools designed to provide âfingertip accessâ to common tasks and simple utilities. For OS X users with cluttered Docks and overstuffed bookmarks bars, it was love at first sight.But what started as a passionate affair quickly fizzled into a relationship of convenience. The promise of widgets for every conceivable function gave way to a slew of crude clocks, calculators, and aggregators. Users of aging Macs also blamed Dashboardâs invisible background processes for performance hits and drained batteries.âWhen widgets premiered, they were new and interesting,â says print designer Brian Hunter. âBut sadly, the downside was that they were always running in the background, so I deactivated as many as possible.âSome users werenât content to merely close widgets. Inspired by his âhatred of not knowing if [Dashboard] was running,â Natal Vande Casteele created the unofficial DisableDashboard widget, and Mesa Dynamics president Danny Espinoza launched the Amnesty widget âto free widgets from the Dashboard modal space.â Other users tinkered with Terminal to free up precious RAM, and a few held out hope for new features that were slow to arrive.Today, there are 46 times as many iPhone apps as Dashboard widgets. Why is one app platform enthusiastically embraced by developers and another universally shunned? In a word: money.âDifficulty in generating revenue is likely the driving factor behind the apparent lack of developer interest in Dashboard,â says Stephen Mitchell, who developed the Countdown X widget. âPeople simply donât expect to pay for the use of widgets.âWithout the rigid approval process of the App Store or any way to develop a consistent revenue stream, developers paid little mind to capturing a broad audience and began to pigeonhole widgets to fit their specific needs.Since Apple hasn't done much to Dashboard, our widgets seem so 2005.âIt seems that the platform has been adopted primarily by those leaning toward the power-user side of things, and itâs extremely useful to them,â Mitchell says. âWithout revenue as a key factor in development, the driving force behind my own widget development has simply been the fact that I write widgets I know that I personally will use.âAnd apart from new Movies and Web Clip widgets in Leopard, Apple has done little to promote or improve Dashboard--itâs even lost its prime spot on Apple.com--ignoring developersâ pleas for streamlined downloads and usersâ calls for more flexibility.âApple never really added any new functionality to Dashboard, a decision thatâs always puzzled us,â Espinoza notes. Appleâs apathy is equally puzzling to developers of semi-popular widgets, making it difficult for them to support such a thankless platform.âAs a user, I absolutely see the usefulness of the Dashboard,â says Andreas Amann, creator of the Sports Fan widget. âHowever, itâs extremely hard to make any money off Dashboard widgets, which somewhat lessens the appeal.âThough Amann remains committed to providing âfeature-rich widgets,â he admits to spending more time developing profitable iPhone apps, a dilemma he doubts will be rectified anytime soon: âI donât expect many changes to Dashboard in the future. iPhone OS is too different to be able to merge with Dashboard, and the skill set required is very different.âAnd you probably shouldnât hold your breath for a mobile version of Amnesty, either.âA bunch of exclusively JavaScript and HTML widgets are really nothing more than pretty web pages,â Espinoza says. âAnd what iPhone user wants that?â
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Bria VoIP software for the Mac now supports multiple accounts
Posted by Dennis SellersCounterPath Corp., a provider of desktop and mobile voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) software solutions, has updated Bria, its multimedia communications softphone, Bria, to version 3.1. One of the most significant additions to the update is support for multiple accounts.
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IMDb Movies & TV for iPad Review
The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has been a respected resource for film and television for nearly two decades, and this free, universal app lets you tap into the titular database to learn about nearly any film or TV show in existence.IMDb's attractive interface offers easy access to movie and series pages, each of which typically includes cast and crew information, plot details, trivia, and memorable quotes, plus image galleries and a trailer. You can also look up local showtimes for flicks still in theaters, or read reviews from IMDb users and professional critics alike.IMDb's quick-loading interface offers plenty to look at.But for many, the real pull of IMDb are the extensive lists of fantastic -- and utterly horrible -- films, and the iPad app puts them at your fingertips via the main screen listing in landscape view, or a pop-over menu in portrait orientation. Whether you have a taste for greatness, or simply want to witness a filmic debacle, IMDb can quickly point you in the right direction.Ranked movie listings help make IMDb an invaluable resource.
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South Park Mega Millionaire FREE on iPhones
Watch out Kenny! Welcome the South Park kids onto the game show Mega Millionaire. As the hot pink haired Japanese game show host says on the âSouth Park FREEâ application: âHere we make young greedy contestants on roller skates pit their life in danger for petty sums of money!â The most famous four South Park inhabitants, Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny, arrive on the television obstacle course in order to help earn some cold cashâŚin Yen. The catch is that the show is meant to humiliate and maim its contestants along the way toward earning a meager winning. The âSouth Park FREEâ App uses the actual South Park cartoonâs voices and images, as the kids are strapped to wayward skates and placed on what looks like a giant and dangerous board game. Disgusting, suicidal and sumo wrestler based traps are placed around the board that leads to the ultimate prize: 10,000 Yen (which the kids do not realize is not a lot of moneyâŚyet). The controls are simple: tilt the iPhone and move Cartman to the side that is turned, while pressing on the screen causes the big boned elementary school student from Colorado to jump on the glowing Japanese board. Playing the âSouth Park FREEâ App one would never know that they were not in the show, so get it here[iTunes link]! The voices, backgrounds and kick ass Kenny deaths make the game ridiculously authentic, especially for a free iPhone offer. Enjoy keeping the kids alive for as long as you can! IMPULSIVE Review Grade: A+
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News: Apple releases iMovie for iPhone update
Apple has released a maintenance update to iMovie for the iPhone 4 addressing several issues with the 1.0 version. iMovie 1.0.1 improves reliability when exporting movies containing photos, resolves issues with music playback within a project and promises additional performance and reliability improvements. iMovie is available from the App Store in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Japan for $5 and is a free update for current users. ...
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Apple's iDisk app updated for iOS 4
Apple today released an updated version (v.1.2) of its MobileMe iDisk app (free, App Store) that supports the iPad and iOS 4.0.The updated iDisk is a universal app, meaning that the same app can run on both the iPhone and the iPad. The killer feature is multitasking support when running iOS 4, which allows you to quickly switch to another app and back to iDisk. When you re-open the app the last file or directory you were viewing is displayed.Other new features include the ability to play audio from your iDisk in the background while using another app and to open documents stored on your iDisk in compatible apps such as iBooks (PDFs) and Pages, Numbers and Keynote files in their associated apps.Version 1.2 also allows you to email a file on your iDisk from any email account that's configured on your device where previously it had to come from your MobileMe account.A nice upgrade all around.
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News: Pocket Informant adds iOS 4 multitasking features
Web Information Solutions has released an update to its Pocket Information calendar and task manager for the iPhone and iPod touch. The version 1.5 update adds support for iOS 4 background alarms, location and syncing on multitasking-capable devices such as the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch. Local Notifications allow calendar alarms to now be set locally rather than relying on a Push Notification server and Pocket Informant can now take advantage…
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News: Apple updates iDisk app with iPad and iOS 4 support
Apple has released an update to its MobileMe iDisk application, adding iPad support and iOS 4 multitasking capabilities. MobileMe iDisk 1.2 is now a universal app providing native support for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. The update also adds iOS 4 multitasking support for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and third-generation iPod touch devices with not only Fast App Switching support but also background audio allowing users to stream audio files from their…
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devsugar: Understanding iPhone 4 backgrounding
Filed under: Developer If you're looking for a simple and easy-to-follow introduction to iPhone 4's new backgrounding abilities, head on over to Oliver Drobnik's weblog and check out his latest write-up. You'll find a lovingly crafted graphic that walks you through the iPhone application lifecycle, showing how an application reacts to system changes like incoming phone calls or users' home button presses. A small portion of the chart appears at the top of this post. Don't miss Drobnik's write-up in addition to his flowchart. I like the case he lays out for using applicationDidEnterBackground as the perfect place for saving state before giving up application control. As he points out, applicationWillTerminate will not get called in many application suspension cases. Drobnik continues to refine his write-up, so keep checking back in for last-minute tuning and updates.TUAWdevsugar: Understanding iPhone 4 backgrounding originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - Unofficial Apple Weblog - Handhelds - Smartphones - Wallpapers and Themes
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Article: iPhone + iPad Gems: Eliminate: GunRange, Rubik's Cube + Slayer Pinball Rocks HD
Welcome to this week's gaming edition of iPhone + iPad Gems! Due to the launch of the iPhone 4, lots of apps have been piling up here for coverage, and we've had to pick and choose the ones that were most interesting—not necessarily the best—to highlight in this column. As such, we spotlight two titles that make use of the iPhone 4's new gyroscope hardware and screen, as well as a third game that makes a great impression…
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Apple Records goes digital, but still no Beatles
For the first time, music from the Beatles' label is available for download. That means Badfinger and Billy Preston, but not the Beatles. When do we get "Hey Jude"?
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Lenovo's Liu Chuanzhi: 'we are lucky that Steve Jobs has such a bad temper and doesn't care about China'
We're guessing that Lenovo chairman Liu Chaunzhi didn't intend spark a slew of sensational headlines when he spoke briefly with the Financial Times this week, but he did make a few statements that are hard to ignore (yet easily misinterpreted). The standout is that he reportedly said Lenovo is "lucky that Steve Jobs has such a bad temper and doesn't care about China," and that if "Apple were to spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer as we do, we would be in trouble." Of course, what's easily lost following the "bad temper" bit is that Chaunzhi is actually sort of praising Apple (albeit in a roundabout way), and he even later goes on to describe Jobs as "a genius," and the exception to his rule that a manager "needs to be the string on which he puts one pearl after another" -- he says Jobs is instead "a big pearl." For its part, while Apple hasn't commented on Chaunzhi's comments directly, it did point out that it's opening a new store in Shanghai this Saturday, and that it's on track to have 25 stores in the country by the end of next year.Lenovo's Liu Chuanzhi: 'we are lucky that Steve Jobs has such a bad temper and doesn't care about China' originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Financial Times | Email this | Comments
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Griffin Technology, Frontier Design Group present GuitarConnect, iShred LIVE
Posted by Dennis SellersGriffin Technology and Frontier Design Group have announced availability of Griffin's GuitarConnect cable and Frontier's iShred LIVE. With this combination of cable and app, your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad becomes a mobile guitar workstation.
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Flash comes to the iPad—well, sorta
Posted by Dennis SellersComex—the hacker responsible for the iPad “Spirit” jailbreak—has circumvented Apple's iPad Flash ban by coding an iPad port of Adobe's Flash runtime for Android, reports TG Daily. They've dubbed it “Frash.”
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Macsimum Recommended Reading' for July 6
Posted by Dennis Sellers“FaceTime and Why Apple's Massive Integration Advantage is Just Beginning: The success of iPhone 4 has been astonishing to witness, despite the antenna issues, proving once again that Apple has a unparalleled ability to differentiate around design and integration, not simply 'features'.”—TechCrunch (http://macosg.me/2/h5)
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Video evidence of the iPhone 4 death grip -- this time with real numbers
Filed under: iPhone You wanted a demonstration? You got a demonstration; we've put together a video to show how the iPhone 4 antenna issue is not simply a result of Apple's miscalculation of how many bars are being displayed. Our own Erica Sadun wrote an iPhone app (at the suggestion of Engadget's Nilay Patel) to display the raw signal strength, the number of bars, and what Apple calls the graded signal strength. Erica's tests (see video above) show that the "Kung Fu grip of doom" results in the signal strength dropping to almost zero. According to Erica, removing her hand from the antenna gap brings the signal strength back to normal. The Apple iPhone Bumper provides a cushion, but Erica's tests show that the death grip (otherwise known as holding the iPhone 4 normally in your hand, as shown in Apple's promotional video) can kill signal integrity even with the bumper installed, depending on the signal strength in your area. Marginal signal areas are affected most by antenna signal attenuation. Users in areas with strong reception will not see the same results. It looks like Apple needs to 'fess up on this issue, and soon. NBC's Today Show brought up the antenna problem this morning, continuing to publicize the issue to a nationwide audience. They also cited the wave of YouTube videos from irate owners showing the grip issue. You can view the Today Show clip by clicking the Read More link at the bottom of this post.TUAWVideo evidence of the iPhone 4 death grip -- this time with real numbers originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments IPhone - Apple - Unofficial Apple Weblog - iPhone 4 - Signal strength
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Neven Mrganâs iPhone 4 3G Reception Test
Neven Mrgan: The only conclusion I can draw from these data is that the iPhone 4 3G cell signal reception is really inconsistent. Indeed. â
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News: AT&T capping upload speeds for iPhone 4 users?
A lengthy thread on Mac Rumors' forums dating back to July 4 suggests that AT&T is at best experiencing data difficulties and at worst outright capping uploads speeds of iPhone 4 users. Many users report seeing upload speeds around 100kbps in places where they previously saw speeds of 1.0mbps and higher just a few days earlier. The phenomenon appears to be most common in major metropolitan areas, including, according to the thread, New York…
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The End of the iPod Era Part II: The Other Side of the Debate
I recently published an article arguing that the iPod's importance to Apple's (AAPL) overall quarterly revenue has diminished to the point of being almost irrelevant to Apple's growth. Yet, this article seemed to hit the nerves of iPod aficionados who ardently contend that the iPhone is an iPod, and to say otherwise, would constitute the highest level of blasphemy to the Apple investment community. So I thought that in the interest of fairness and balanced reporting that I would present the other side of the debate, and let my readers decide which of these viewpoints makes the most sense.In my previous article, I demonstrate how the facts according to Apple suggests that the iPod is no longer that large of a revenue driver when compared to Apple's other sources of revenue. I exhibit how the iPod as a percentage of Apple's overall revenue has been on a consistent and steep decline since Q1 2006. This is due in part to the iPod's maturing growth rate, and in large part, to the iPhone and Macintosh Computer taking the helm as Apple's main source of revenue.
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News: Geocaching 4.0 adds Google Maps, Photo Support and more
Groundspeak has released a major update to its Geocaching application for iPhone and iPod touch users. Geocaching 4.0 adds a number of popular user-requested features including a functionally redesigned user interface and Google Maps integration. Users can also take photos with the iPhone camera and submit them with geocache logs, submit logs for Trackable items and view and edit log submissions. It is now also possible for users to view any list…
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Twitter, for the non-PC crowd
Humorous paper products company Knock Knock offers up an analog version of everyone's favorite microblogging service.
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Apple is Abandoning the MacâŚand Why Iâm Wrong
Leading up to this year's WWDC in San Francisco, the amount of articles and speculation about Apple's commitment to Mac OS grew when Apple announced practically zero tracks dedicated to Mac OS and threw out the IT track completely. Apple also didn't give any Apple Design Awards this year to Mac OS Apps. The winners (listed here) were only iPad and iPhone apps. That decision actually inspired Ars.Technica to hold its own ADAs (Ars Design Awards) celebrating Mac OS developers and their work in the past 12 months. Developers gave their opinions on TUAW.com and this quote from Justin Williams of Second Gear Software gave his opinion: “Whether it's intentional or not, Apple is saying that the Mac is not an important platform compared to the iPhone and iPad. With great Mac-only software still being released by many top notch companies, I find it hard to believe that they couldn't find it in the budget to generate a few more of those glowing ADA awards.” Of course, this is all old news. iPhone 4 is out, iPad is still getting great new apps and Snow Leopard will only be a year old this August. Most of the developers who gave their thoughts on WWDC's lack of Mac specific tracks stated that Leopard shipped in 2007, Snow Leopard shipped in 2009 and that's three years of tracks dedicated to a largely unchanged operating system and it'll just be more of the same from Apple if you do attend those sessions. Besides, iPad is new, iOS 4 is hot and Apple should do everyone a favor by devoting more resources to it. I agree. But, there's the argument that I still want to make. The iPhone was released in 2007 running iOS 1.0 and now, in 2010 we receive our fourth huge update to iOS where Apple's Leopard and Snow Leopard are largely unchanged from a feature perspective and only maintain system improvements, speed enhancements and other changes. Snow Leopard was a welcome update and priced appropriately at $29 but I'm still using the same features in Dashboard, Spaces and Finder that I was in 2007, and that irks me a bit. When I sounded off on Twitter about this, the replies were all over the place. Most notably, people were saying that Apple has to compete in mobile and the competition (Google, Nokia, Palm) hasn't stopped innovating just so Apple can update its Mac OS with new features. Apple had to be happy with its desktop OS as is, maintain it and focus on mobile in order to maintain its competitive advantage and continue innovating beyond competition and it shows. Apple is the most profitable mobile company in the world, but why did it have to do one or the other? Steve said at the D8 conference a few weeks ago that Apple is the largest startup in the world, and we all know that Apple keeps teams small so innovation moves quickly and Apple maintains huge profitability with very low R&D costs compared to competitors. For that, shareholders must be proud and the big picture shows that Apple is doing a great job. Mac sales are still booming and Mac OS is still ahead of the competition, but that doesn't mean Mac users don't feel a little left out by Apple's choice to dedicate more resources to mobile. My second point is Apple doesn't have to act like a startup. Keeping teams small and focusing all of the best talent (which, according to Jobs is everyone at Apple) on a single product at a time is working for them but there are thousands of qualified people in the world who could do great things for Apple and help them simultaneously change the world both in desktop and in mobile without either product suffering. Even in 2007, Apple delayed Leopard's release because it was busy getting iPhone out the door. My fear is that Apple will continue to spend all of its time and money on what's hot right now. Those of us who were Mac users before the Intel switch and before the iPod know that Apple runs like a startup and thus what's not hot will suffer while it promotes and innovates in one area. iPod was the highlight of the majority of Apple events starting in 2004 and now the iPhone and other iOS devices get Apple's love but we have to ask, “where would Mac OS be if the iPod and iOS were never made?” Well, part of us knows that Apple wouldn't be at the size it is today without those products but we also know that the Mac OS could be light years ahead of where it is now if Apple only focused its resources on it. All we can do as the Mac faithful is trust that Apple will make the right choices and not let us down. We might be the most vocal bunch of Apple customers but we're also the most loyal. We stuck with Apple through the dark years, through the OS X switch and the Intel switch and we'll stick with Apple while it spends 90 percent of its time head first on the iPhone. I just hope this “phase” doesn't last forever. I want a new Mac OS and more breathtaking Mac OS computers.
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AT&T having HSPA upload speed problems in some markets
There's now a rather meaty thread on Mac Rumors' forums detailing problems that iPhone 4 users have had with miserably slow upload speeds in HSPA-equipped AT&T markets -- speeds that had in some cases been well over 1Mbps before the holiday weekend but have since fallen to 100kbps or lower. A popular theory is that AT&T decided to cap speeds in light of the iPhone 4's success and the danger it poses to network oversaturation, but we're not buying it -- 100kbps is ridiculously slow for an HSUPA-enabled network, even a heavily-used one, and there are huge markets (LA, for example) that seemingly aren't affected. We don't know what's going on, but we've reached out to AT&T for comment and we'll let you know what's up as soon as we do.AT&T having HSPA upload speed problems in some markets originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Mac Rumors | Email this | Comments
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Your Macsimum Podcast for July 6th
Posted by Frank PetrieToday on Your Macsimum Podcast: “Ain't Nothing New,” “There's An App For That?” “Macsimum Poll,” “To TV or Not TV? ” “We're In The Money,” and ”...Story 5.”
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Presented By:
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First Looks: Targus Truss Case for iPad
On the surface, Targus's new Truss Case for iPad ($50) looks sort of like a "me too" alternative to the many folios and flip cases we've already seen for Apple's tablet computer, but its appeal is in the details: professional-looking real leather on the outside, contrast stitched to match the color of the soft blue inner lining, which has far more padding than we've seen on earlier, similar products. The iPad-holding right frame can be locked into…
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US government posts more mobile apps
Filed under: iPhoneUS President Barack Obama famously used an iPhone app and several social media tools in his successful campaign for the White House. Now, the US government has released more mobile apps. Just this week, USA.gov has added several new apps, including: Product Recalls This mobile-optimized site lists product safety updates from Consumer Product Safety Commission, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Food and Drug Administration, and Department of Agriculture. My TSA Find out if a particular item will be allowed on your flight before you leave home and save potentially costly guesswork. FBI's Most Wanted An up-to-date list of those the FBI would most like to apprehend. Find Your Embassy Quick directions to the nearest American Embassy, no matter where you are. You'll notice that some of these are optimized mobile sites. The government is releasing apps for the mobile web, iPhone and Android. More than 100 apps are either available now or currently under development (though not all will be issued to the public). The government in your pocket. What more could you want? [Via Information Week] TUAWUS government posts more mobile apps originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Barack Obama - iPhone - Unofficial Apple Weblog - Federal government of the United States - President of the United States
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PopCap Games Coming to Android
Android users (we know there are some of you out there in Mac land), get ready to join the game realm that iPhone users have been reveling in for ages, now. PopCap has confirmed that it will release its famed titles to Android users very soon. "[We] can confirm that yes, we're bringing our games to Android over the rest of 2010 and beyond," said a PopCap developer to Pocket Gamer.There's also a pretty neato blank page at the PopCap site that shows there are intentions to bring popular titles like Plants vs. Zombies, Bejeweled and Peggle over to the Android platform.Via Pocket GamerFollow this article's author, Florence Ion, on Twitter.
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First Looks: Targus A7 Sleeve for iPad
Nearly four years have passed since Targus has released anything significant for Apple's digital media devices, so although the A7 Sleeve for iPad ($25) isn't exactly a breakthrough offering, it's nice to see the bag maker back in the neighborhood. From the outside, A7 looks just like any other single-zippered neoprene sleeve for the iPad, albeit with a water-resistant gusset around the side and bottom edges, but on the inside, a combination of distinctive-looking…
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Peek at Under-Construction Philly Apple Store
Glad to see construction is underway. See also: IFO Apple Store’s write-up on Apple’s just-opened flagship store in OpĂŠra (Paris), and their photo gallery. â
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News: Winners of Sound Earphones Giveaway announced
The winners of our Sound Earphones Giveaway have been announced. In the giveaway, five iLounge readers won a $100 Gift Card good towards any product at SoundEarphones.com. Congratulations to all the winners! Donât forget to enter our V-Moda Crossfade LP Giveaway, our Giveaway of the Month for July. ...
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News: iLounge announces the V-Moda Crossfade LP Giveaway
iLounge is pleased to announce the V-Moda Crossfade LP Giveaway. In our Giveaway of the Month for July, iLounge and V-Moda are giving away five Crossfade LP Headphones. In addition, V-Moda is offering the first 100 people who use coupon code “iLounge” on shop.v-moda.com a free set of Remix Remote earphones with the purchase of Crossfade LP Headphones. To enter, simply fill out and submit the form on the giveaway pageâthe giveaway will…
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First Looks: Speck SeeThru + SeeThru Satin for iPad
Combining the company's earlier SeeThru-series cases with its latest CandyShell for iPad, Speck's new SeeThru and SeeThru Satin for iPad ($50 each) are hard plastic and rubber hybrid designs that provide substantial coverage for the iPad's body. SeeThru is a completely clear frame with slightly frosted rubber used as edging, holding the iPad inside and enabling it to sit flat on any surface, while SeeThru Satin is supposed to be translucent with a…
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First Looks: Speck PixelSkin for iPad
Speck's colorful series of grippy rubber cases has finally made its way to the iPad: PixelSkin ($40) comes in three different colors for now, each with the same integrated button protectors, speaker, microphone, and port holes. Though PixelSkin doesn't include any screen protection, it has unusually substantial coverage for the front bezel, plus a rare built-in Home Button cover. There's just enough rubber here to feel substantial when on the iPad....
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Looptastic HD for iPad Review
Following numerous Looptastic iterations on iPhone, Sound Trends compiled all its portable music creation knowledge (and loop sets) into Looptastic HD, an approachable music creation suite for iPad. Using a simple drag-and-drop interface, Looptastic HD lets you arrange loops from a variety of genres into original creations, with the ability to swap between song parts in separate zones, apply special effects, adjust the tempo, and even record your own loops with the iPad mic or a Bluetooth headset.Looptastic HD comes pre-loaded with a handful of loop sets, but the built-in Loop Store currently houses hundreds of other free loops, including trance, hip-hop, and ambient beats. You can create custom loop sets for easy access, import and export loops to/from other compatible App Store music apps, and also transfer loops and performances to your computer via a Wi-Fi connection or the SoundCloud web service.Looptastic HD's drag-and-drop interface is pretty intuitive on the iPad screen.While most will learn how to use Looptastic HD through trial and error, we would've liked to see some kind of tutorial or built-in explanation of features.Dozens of free loop sets can be downloaded from the app's built-in store.
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News: Apple responds on hacked iTunes accounts
Apple has issued a response to reports of iTunes users seeing their accounts hacked and used to purchase certain apps in order to build App Store rankings. “The developer Thuat Nguyen and his apps were removed from the App Store for violating the developer Program License Agreement, including fraudulent purchase patterns,” Apple told Engadget. “Developers do not receive any iTunes confidential customer data when an app is downloaded.…
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Pulse Prognosis: Apple Price Targets
Who will be the first analyst with a $400 12-month price target for Apple Inc (AAPL)? JP Morgan's Mark Moskowitz last week leapfrogged to the top of the list of analysts tracked by Alacra Pulse, raising his price target to $390. Today Shaw Wu of Kaufman Bros, nudged his target up to $349 from $342 and maintained his Buy rating. This was despite a reduction in his estimate of iPhone shipments for the current quarter to 7.5 million, from 9 million. For the fourth quarter, Wu raised a forecast to 10.5 million units, from 10.4 million. He kept his calendar 2010 forecast at 40 million.
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Geocaching Version 4.0 features UI redesign and new functions
Filed under: iPhone, App StoreAs a longtime fan of the pastime of geocaching, I've been following the evolution of the official Groundspeak Geocaching app (US$9.99) since the painful early days. With the release of Geocaching version 4.0 yesterday, it appears that Groundspeak has raised the bar with a new design and additional features. If you're not familiar with geocaching, it's a location-based hobby where you seek caches (usually small containers with a logbook and goodies inside) based on hints, latitude and longitude coordinates, and a keen eye. You can also hide caches for others to find. GroundSpeak has a free Geocaching Intro app available if you're interested in learning about the hobby but don't want to make the $10 investment in the full app. So what's new in Geocaching v.4? A lot. The user interface has been redesigned to make it much more streamlined. I found that actions that formerly took a number of screen taps are now usually no more than one or two taps away. Although I'm not fond of long lists of features, there's no other way to show all of the additions and improvements: -- Google Maps integration (now have choice of Google Maps, Bing, or OpenStreetMap) -- Ability to take photos and submit them with geocache logs -- Ability to submit logs for trackable items such as geocoins and travel bugs -- A logs tab with displays of pending and sent logs -- Better reliability downloading pocket queries -- Online / offline indicator -- GPS acquisition status and location display -- Listen to iPod app during caching -- Support for home location (specified in geocaching.com user profile) -- Notepad for every geocache listing -- View any list of caches on map -- View trackables inventory Geocaching 4 has not been specifically rewritten for iOS 4 or the iPhone 4, so if you want to see the map graphics in all of their glory on your Retina Display, you're out of luck. A few screenshots of the revised app are included in the gallery below. Gallery: Geocaching version 4.0TUAWGeocaching Version 4.0 features UI redesign and new functions originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Geocaching - Groundspeak - iPhone - Google Maps - Unofficial Apple Weblog
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Lenovo Chairmain Says Apple Is Missing Out in China
From the chairman of Lenovo: “We are lucky that Steve Jobs has such a bad temper and doesn’t care about China,” Liu Chuanzhi told the Financial Times. “If Apple were to spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer as we do, we would be in trouble.” â
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Apple Studying Consumer Buying Habits for Better iAds
Apple is studying you. That's right--they're taking notes on your every move to study your buying habits. Apple is mulling over the data of its 150 million iTunes users to figure out how to pit their iAds up against big competitors like Google. Apple hopes that by examining the habits of consumers, they may be able to gain an advantage in the market by how well they target specific demographics. The company will analyze the music, videos and apps that customers are procuring from iTunes, App Store and iBooks to determine a profile that will better advertise to those types of consumers based on what they're purchasing. The iAd program began last week and Apple has already been pasting ads in iPhone apps, including ones from Nissan, JC Penney, Unilever (the makers of Dove soap), Best Buy and AT&T. Via BusinessInsiderFollow this article's author, Florence Ion, on Twitter.
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Integrating the iPad
My mother loves her iPad, but that's no surprise. The other day she told me about how much the iPad had changed her way of life and the way she did things. No longer did she have notebook after notebook of lists and notes; instead, it was all on the iPad. It got me thinking about the way the iPad has changed the way I do things, in ways that I never intended. Take my morning ritual, for example. Prior to the iPad, I woke up every morning, ate my breakfast, showered, then spent an hour on the computer putzing around until I got around to working. Instead, I now have my iPad on the table with my breakfast, propped up with a small stand. I check the web, look at all of my favorite news/blog sites, then go on my way. It's easily shaved 15 minutes off of my morning routine. Then there's work. I'm a blogger, but I do a few other things as well. One of those things involves photo shoots, which I do on the road. The other day, I went out and showed a client of mine all of the pictures he purchased from me on my iPad. Were my iPad camera connection kit already delivered, I would have shown the pics to him on the spot, as we worked. I even used Numbers to check my price sheet. Neat stuff. Of course, I don't just work, I also relax every now and then as well. I've discussed my love of comics here extensively, but I also like to play a few games here and there as well. The iPad is great for games that really suck you in, but don't have an involved storyline. I'm on Angry Birds HD all the time now, and once I beat that (which I already have on the iPhone, thank you), I'll be looking for another fun game. Bur the best thing for me about the device is the long battery life. I can go a week between charges, and that's no exaggeration. Right now, my only real complaint with the iPad is the lack of iOS 4, which is pretty obvious now that I'm using my iPhone 4 every day. Other than that, I've got no complaints. I never figured I'd use it this much, and yet, here I am.
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Developer bounced for gaming App Store
Over the weekend a nefarious Apple “developer” managed to capture 42 of the top 50 sales positions in the App Store's “book” category with apparently bogus content — and possibly sales.Thuat Nguyen, from the suspiciously-named “mycompany,” released a series of book apps in April that had little or no ratings or reviews and what appears to be artwork co-opted from Dragon Ball.It's not completely clear, but it appears that the increase in sales may have been due to hacked iTunes accounts that were used to purchase the bogus titles in question.Apple has responded and tacitly acknowledged that fraud may have occurred:The developer Thuat Nguyen and his apps were removed from the App Store for violating the developer Program License Agreement, including fraudulent purchase patterns.Developers do not receive any iTunes confidential customer data when an app is downloaded.If your credit card or iTunes password is stolen and used on iTunes we recommend that you contact your financial institution and inquire about canceling the card and issuing a chargeback for any unauthorized transactions. We also recommend that you change your iTunes account password immediately. For more information on best practices for password security visit http://www.apple.com/support/itunes.Image: Engadget
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Is AT&T Capping 3G Upload Speed?
I’m seeing this here in Philly. Just a few days ago I was getting over 1 Mbps upload speeds on my iPhone 4; today it’s under 0.2 Mbps. Latency is bad, too. â
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Developer bounced for gaming App Store (update: 400 accounts compromised)
Over the weekend a nefarious Apple “developer” managed to capture 42 of the top 50 sales positions in the App Store's “book” category with apparently bogus content — and possibly sales.Thuat Nguyen, from the suspiciously-named “mycompany,” released a series of book apps in April that had little or no ratings or reviews and what appears to be artwork co-opted from Dragon Ball.It's not completely clear, but it appears that the increase in sales may have been due to hacked iTunes accounts that were used to purchase the bogus titles in question.Apple has responded and tacitly acknowledged that fraud may have occurred:The developer Thuat Nguyen and his apps were removed from the App Store for violating the developer Program License Agreement, including fraudulent purchase patterns.Developers do not receive any iTunes confidential customer data when an app is downloaded.If your credit card or iTunes password is stolen and used on iTunes we recommend that you contact your financial institution and inquire about canceling the card and issuing a chargeback for any unauthorized transactions. We also recommend that you change your iTunes account password immediately. For more information on best practices for password security visit http://www.apple.com/support/itunes.Update: Apple has confirmed to 9to5Mac that 400 iTunes accounts were indeed compromised in the incident (a tiny fraction of the 150 million accounts) noting that Apple's iTunes servers weren't compromised.Image: Engadget
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Fake 0.2
New app from Todd Ditchendorf: Inspired by Apple’s Automator application, Fake looks like a combination of Safari and Automator and allows you to run (and re-run) “fake” interactions with the web. Power Users will love Fake for automating tedious web tasks like filling out lengthy forms and capturing screenshots. Developers can use Fake for graphically configuring automated tests for their webapps, including assertions. (Via Michael Tsai.) â
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Google Chrome gets some early device orientation 'plumbing'
We remember well the first time we managed to put an accelerometer in our possession to good use: back when the MacBook Pros started shipping with them as sudden motion sensors to protect the hard drive, someone hooked up some light saber noises to the tilt motion. A few months later we were pretending to make light saber noises with the Wii, and then the iPhone came along and democratized the accelerometer-based light saber noise for all of humanity. Next up? The browser. Firefox 3.6 already supports this capability, and now Chromium is getting some early work in that direction as well -- and with the browser-as-OS that Google's Chrome OS represents, Chromium's support of this feature is welcome news indeed. We hear that light saber noise-producing low fat snacks are next on the docket!Google Chrome gets some early device orientation 'plumbing' originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 12:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink CNET | WebKit Bugzilla | Email this | Comments
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AT&T Might Be Capping iPhone 4 Upload Speeds
The MacRumors forums are bustling with rumors that AT&T is capping download speeds. The forum attendees report seeing lightening fast download speeds, but slow upload speeds stuck below 100 kilobits per second. Additionally, the download caps seem to be taking place in the following ciites: NYC, Central Jersey, Boston, Orlando, Seattle, South Jersey/Philly, Columbus, Cleveland, West Houston, Phoenix, Northern Colorado, St. Paul/Minesota, Suffolk County/Long Island, Quad Cities, South Jersey, Denver, Detroit Metro, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Kansas City, Fairfax, and Minneapolis.Hopefully, we'll hear from AT&T about this issue later today. Are you experiencing any upload lag with your iPhone 4? Let us know in the comments below. via GizmodoFollow this article's author, Florence Ion, on Twitter.
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Analyst lowers iPhone sales predictions, ups iPad sales forecast
Posted by Dennis SellersIn a note to clients, Kaufman Brothers analyst Shaw Wu has lowered his sales estimate for iPhone from nine million units to 7.5 million for Apple's third fiscal quarter. His predictions for the Mac and iPod remain the same at 3.2 and 9.8 million.
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Emily Brill Investigates Jonathan Zittrainâs Financial Ties to Apple Competitors
Emily Brill: Professors at Harvard Law Schoolâs influential Berkman Center for Internet & Society consistently take positions on hotly debated business issues in support of companies like Google, which favor a free-wheeling Internet culture and less control over intellectual property, and against companies like Apple and AT&T, which — at least when it comes to hardware like the iPhone — favor closed digital systems and stricter intellectual property rights. […] What most readers donât know is that the Berkman Center and many of its leading professors have financial and personal ties to Google and other tech companies — ties that are not disclosed when these academics speak or publish, and that I discovered after auditing a class with Zittrain. â
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Nice white iPhone 4 mod
Filed under: iPhoneWhile we wait for Apple to begin selling white iPhones, people have been coming up with their own solutions. The folks at Engadget used several spare parts to build theirs. But TUAW reader Trevor took a decidedly simpler approach. First, he created a file with a JPEG of the vintage Apple logo and then sent it to Gelaskins' upload tool. From there, the process is simple. Using the online tool, drag the uploaded image to the iPhone 4 template and set it just so. You can even create matching wallpaper. Finally, make your purchase and let the Gelaskins worker bees do the rest. Yes, it's just a stick-on skin, but the vintage logo ads a bit of cool and, unlike Engadget's solution, all of the original parts are intact.TUAWNice white iPhone 4 mod originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments IPhone - Unofficial Apple Weblog - Apple - Gelaskin - Engadget
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iPad Dock Perfect for Writing
One of the best features of the iPad is its lack of features, especially when it comes to writing. Knowing that chat is not running and Twitter is turned off lets the writer focus entirely on the task of writing. However, typing on the iPad's software keyboard for anything more than a couple of paragraphs is frustrating, for me at least. That's where the Apple iPad dock comes in. Putting the iPad in the dock presents the writer with an elegant and enjoyable environment perfectly focused on cranking out text. At first, I resisted getting the dock, opting instead for the Apple iPad case. When using the iPad in the case, it is possible to set the iPad on its edge and use the bluetooth keyboard to type. Possible, but not elegant. The case is malleable and unstable, so while the case can balance the iPad on its edge, to interact with the touch interface still requires both hands. If you don't use one hand to steady the iPad, the first time you try to tap on a word in Pages you'll knock your iPad onto its back. I've done this more than once and it makes a sickening sounding “whack” noise. The case isn't all bad. Using the case in its other, more stable position, laying down with the small edge at the back, lifts the iPad up to a perfect reading angle, and a good angle to type using the software keyboard. Once you try to use the bluetooth keyboard at this angle though, it becomes much more awkward, since the screen is sitting farther back. There is no way to dock the iPad while it's in the case, but sliding it out of the case is fairly easy. The dock is small, and at first I was worried about how stable the iPad would be resting in it. It turns out that its much more stable than I expected. The dock is surprisingly heavy and solid, reassuringly so, and most importantly it doesn't distract with worry about the iPad tipping over like it does with the case. I'm not convinced that the Apple dock is the best stand for the iPad, but I am convinced of the usefulness of the dock for the purpose of writing. Combining the dock with a bluetooth keyboard and Pages is one of the most elegant and relaxing writing experiences I've ever had. I'm looking forward to many long hours with this setup. I'd love to hear your opinion on the case, the dock, or the software keyboard. Let me know your favorite way to interact with the iPad in the comments!
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Backstage: Insights On Early iPhone 4 Case Options
Now that the first dozen iPhone 4 cases are available—and since a lot is changing behind the scenes with these cases—I wanted to take a moment to fill you in on what we've been testing, seeing, and hearing over the past couple of weeks. Developers really rushed out the first handful of cases in order to get early options into AT&T and Best Buy stores, and in some cases are going back and fixing problems they discovered only after…
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Local Search, Social Networking and Gaming Are Coming of Age on Smartphones
Compete, a Kantar Media company, today released the results of its Q1 2010 Smartphone Intelligence survey, which showed major movement in the use of local search, social networking and gaming on smartphones. Compete's quarterly Smartphone Intelligence survey provides behavioral and survey-based insights into how consumers are using iPhones, BlackBerrys, Android devices and other smartphones.
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Shot Logger Pro released for Final Cut
Posted by Dennis SellersRed Lightning Software has released Shot Logger Pro, an on-set logging application for professional and amateur filmmakers and videographers. The US$299 app is designed to help you annotate and organize all shots during Final Cut Pro editing sessions. â¨
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Apple Store Haywood Mall to open July 10
Posted by Dennis SellersApple will open a new retail store in Greenville, South Carolina, this Saturday, July 10.
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News: Vaja debuts pair of cases for iPhone 4
Vaja has debuted its first two cases for the iPhone 4. The iVolution Top is a flip-style case with a fold-forward screen cover, a leather exterior, open access to most ports and controls, and embossed interior lining. It is available in a wide range of colors and leathers and sells for $80. The Classic Retro Slim Bag is a sleeve-style case offering a vertical front stripe and opening for the power button for $55. Both of Vaja's new cases for…
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Sony's 2010 ES line includes 3D and excludes online retailers; Android remote app on the way
Given the company's focus on 3D this year, it's not at all a surprise to see Sony's 2010 line of ES receivers (and lone Blu-ray player) touched up with a dash of 3D support and HDMI 1.4-compatible features, but it may be a shocker to see their sale restricted to "specialty AV retailers and custom installers." That means no Amazon.com or other online retailers, but wherever one finds the STR-DA5600ES, STRA-DA4600ES, and STR-DA 3600ES, they'll include IP, RS-232 and IR control support for easy home automation integration, iPhone remote control (Android -- and of course we'd expect Google TV -- version coming soon) as well as working as an Ethernet hub and DLNA streaming device. At the top of the line the STR-DA5600ES ships in September for $2,000 and is able to automatically calibrate audio for speaker types (like last year's), plus locations and angles, function as a DLNA Live Audio server itself and stream audio and video to other rooms via HDMI (six in, two out) or CAT5e. While the remaining models do a bit less, for a bit less when they all ship in August, the STR-DN2010 is a new model for 2010 at just $800. As for the Blu-ray player, the BDP-S1700ES ships with 3D movie play back, BRAVIA Internet video and Qriocity streaming WiFi and Gracenote database browser for $400 this August, check for a picture and specs on all after the break.Continue reading Sony's 2010 ES line includes 3D and excludes online retailers; Android remote app on the waySony's 2010 ES line includes 3D and excludes online retailers; Android remote app on the way originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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News: Gowalla updated for iPhone 4, iOS 4
Gowalla has released an update to its social location sharing app for the iPhone and iPod touch, adding support for iOS 4 multitasking and adding new high-resolution graphics for the iPhone 4 Retina Display. iOS 4 improvements include support for Fast App Switching and continuous tracking of nearby spots as well as other improvements in how Gowalla handles location tracking. New users can now sign up for a Gowalla account directly within the app,…
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Tech firms create apps to keep distracted walkers on path
Todd Atwood says he doesn't worry too much about accidents when walking down the street using his iPhone to make calls, send text messages or ...
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Lenovo Thinks Apple Is Missing the Boat in China
Apple has been selling a lot of iPhones out here in the States, and even across the world. But they're not moving a ton in China, and Lenovo thinks that's a bad move. This is all according to an article on CNet, where the chairman of Lenovo spoke out about Steve Jobs and Apple: “We are lucky that Steve Jobs has such a bad temper and doesn't care about China,” Liu Chuanzhi told the Financial Times. “If Apple were to spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer as we do, we would be in trouble.” Well, I'm not sure if that's entirely true. Let's get into the details a bit more. Sales are limited because China Unicom is currently the only carrier authorized to offer the iPhone for sale, although Apple has conducted on-again, off-again talks with China Mobile. The phone sells for $730 to $1,020, according to published reports, much higher than gray market smartphones and iPhone knockoffs. The phone also lacks Wi-Fi. Chinese regulations had prohibited the sale of any Wi-Fi device that does not use the country's own wireless standard known as WAPI (Wired Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure). As a result, Apple introduced the iPhone with Wi-Fi disabled in order to enter the Chinese market without delays. However, due to a relaxation of rules, devices sold in China can offer Wi-Fi as long as they also include WAPI. What this boils down to is that the iPhone in China is not *really* the iPhone. It's crippled without Wi-Fi, but also sells for a lot higher than it does in the US. Fact is, when the iPhone was going for more than $500 back in the day, Apple lost sales. And they realized this fairly quickly, so they cut the price and sales went up. On another note, China has tons of competition in the cell phone market, and frankly, the iPhone isn't anywhere near cutting edge. It's like pushing last year's technology for twice the price of the competition, making it a tough sell for anybody. I don't think that Jobs doesn't care about China, I just don't think that Apple has cracked that market as well as they expected. It's an uphill climb up there, but I think it's one nut that Apple can crack.
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iPhone 4 reception issues? A network reset might help
Filed under: iPhoneI know this sounds like a bit of Voodoo, but it's worth a try. If you've upgraded to the new iPhone 4 and have restored your old software, you may see what appears to be a signal drop-off. Let's stay away from the whole iPhone 4 "death grip" controversy; that aside, no matter what you do, you're not seeing as many bars or getting reception that's as good as what you had with your older iPhone. Here's something to try. On your iPhone preferences, navigate to "General," and then scroll down to the bottom where it says "Reset." Tap that, and then tap "Reset Network Settings." You'll get a warning, and the phone will reset to factory defaults. You'll likely lose some Wi-Fi passwords, but you may also find that your cellular reception gets a lot better. I have two friends who tried this, and they went from one or two bars to four or five at the same locations. This is the same trick they are doing at the Genius Bar, and my research shows that it can help in many (but not all) cases. We've talked about this fix before, but we have a lot of new readers, and some old ones, who may have missed it. There are also some discussions about this on the Apple support board. If you have seen a drop-off in reception, it's certainly worth a try. If it doesn't work, we're sorry. If it does, well, the price is right for the fix. Let us know in the comments if it helped, or sadly, if it didn't.TUAWiPhone 4 reception issues? A network reset might help originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments IPhone - Unofficial Apple Weblog - Apple - Genius Bar - Wi-Fi
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Apple responds on iTunes fraud, vaguely confirms said fraud
Over the weekend we saw reports of what appeared to be fraud occurring in the iTunes system -- namely, a rogue developer had somehow managed to snag 42 of the top 50 sales positions in the App Store's "book" category with seemingly bogus content. It looked as if there was some correlation between those suspicious sales and word of an increase in iTunes account fraud, but Apple had been mum on the subject over the holiday weekend. We've finally gotten a response from the company, and the folks in Cupertino say that the developer in question -- a gentleman named Thuat Nguyen -- has been chucked out of the Store altogether. Additionally, while they don't explicitly say fraud occurred, they suggest you check with your bank and kill your card if any of your info was stolen... which seems to suggest that something funky happened to some users. Here it is from the horse's mouth: The developer Thuat Nguyen and his apps were removed from the App Store for violating the developer Program License Agreement, including fraudulent purchase patterns. Developers do not receive any iTunes confidential customer data when an app is downloaded. If your credit card or iTunes password is stolen and used on iTunes we recommend that you contact your financial institution and inquire about canceling the card and issuing a chargeback for any unauthorized transactions. We also recommend that you change your iTunes account password immediately. For more information on best practices for password security visit http://www.apple.com/support/itunes. So it looks like even the walled garden isn't impervious to attacks -- here's hoping the problems were limited to a small group of people. Have any of you guys noticed strange charges on your account? Double check it right now!Apple responds on iTunes fraud, vaguely confirms said fraud originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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Jesper Thinks Apple Is Working on a New Language
Jesper takes a guess: After watching the eminently early and freely available WWDC 2010 session videos, I think my scales have finally tipped. It is my belief that Apple is definitely working on a new language to surpass Objective-C as their intended, primary, publicly recommended programming language, which I will call âxlangâ. I don’t know if he’s right, but I sure hope so. â
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Apple patents range from address switches to product design
Posted by Dennis SellersSeveral Apple patents have appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Following is a summary of each.
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Apple wants to improve ways to connect a media player with an external device
Posted by Dennis SellersAn Apple patent (number 7751853) for a female receptacle data pin connector for a media player system at the US Patent & Trademark Office. It indicates that Apple wants to improve ways to connect a media player (such as the iPhone, iPod and iPad) to external devices.
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V-Moda Crossfade LP Giveaway
iLounge and V-MODA are giving away five (5) Crossfade LP Headphones (retail value $250). Winners will be able to choose from three colors; Gunmetal Black, Phantom Chrome or White Pearl. Crossfade LP retail box includes: Crossfade LP premium over-ear headphones 36â remote/mic cable 69â stereo audio cable 1/4â adapter Jet black exoskeleton carrying case with carabiner One-year V-MODA premier warranty Replay Replacement Program â 50%…
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How to Obscure Command Line Passwords
Many command line programs, such as mySQL and Apple's Xgrid, are not OS X Keychain savvy, and require passwords in plaintext on the command line. This can also be true when entering things like SMB and AFP disk mounts from the command line. Command line text will not only appear in plain view on your screen and terminal scroll-back but it persists indefinitely in your bash history file on disk. It can even sometimes be viewed in process monitors that show your executing commands to other users. Here is a way to avoid that pitfall. A common approach is to put the passwords in environment variables the commands will access. For example, Xgrid will access the environment variable XGRID_CONTROLLER_PASSWORD if it is defined. However this does not solve the problem of how you get the password into the environment variable. Using the command line obviously is out. You can put it in your .profile or .bashrc in plain text, but this is again persistent on disk and your Time Machine backups a ...
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High-resolution bookmark icons in iOS 4
Many websites use special 'Apple touch icon' image files that allow home screen bookmarks to look good alongside app icons. However, AppleÂs original specification of a 59 x 59 pixel icon now looks rather low-resolution on an iPad screen or an iPhone 4 Retina Display. Perhaps Apple themselves were aware of the need to future-proof icon sizes, or perhaps they updated their files while developing higher-resolution iOS device screens, but the Apple site has a larger, 129 x 129 pixel home screen icon that looks much better than the smaller versions. With the help of an old hint from the time of the first iPhone, you can create your own high-res home screen icons too. There are a few steps to carry out before you can set the icon. First, you need to bookmark the Set Touch Icon bookmarklet found on this page in Safari on your iPad or iPhone 4. Next, create a 129 x 129 pixel PNG ...
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Monthly iPad orders surpass two million in July
Posted by Dennis SellersApple's monthly iPad orders to Taiwan makers surpassed two million units for July and the volume are expected to maintain above the level in the future, according to Mingchi Kuo, senior analyst for Digitimes Research.
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iPhone 3G is most recycled phone
Posted by Dennis SellersApple's second-generation iPhone, the iPhone 3G, is the most recycled handset in the UK, according to phone recycling comparison site, Sell My Mobile.
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Loaded: Puma phone for posers
Netflix inks a new movie studio deal, Apple waives the restocking fee on iPhone 4, and Puma launches a phone to make you look super cool.
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[Sponsor] Pocket Informant â Bringing Events and Tasks Together at Last
Nobody likes being shortchanged with what they can do on their phone, but the built-in calendar is typically just too basic. Pocket Informant provides real calendaring and task management in a single app. We believe you can do what you need on a phone without sacrificing power. That’s why Pocket Informant has been the top selling PIM for years. Our latest version includes templates, icons, and a new groundbreaking feature — location-based alarms (only on iPhone 3G/3GS/4 running iOS4 as of version 1.5). Available on iPhone and in review for iPad; coming soon for Android.
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Lenovo says Apple is missing the boat to China
Filed under: AppleWe've heard before that one of Apple's main areas of concern, as of late, is raising its quality in China, but here it is straight from the mouth of a competitor. During a recent dinner, Lenovo's founder allegedly said that his company was lucky that Apple hasn't stepped up in the Far East. "If Apple were to spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer as we do," he reportedly said, "we would be in trouble." A spokesman for the company later said that the remarks were taken out of their dinner table context. Apple replied by pointing out its upcoming Shanghai store opening and a few other initiatives that it's already begun in China. It's not news that Apple has to do better in China; in past earnings calls, Apple has said exactly that and pointed out that making headway in China is a large goal. It's very interesting to hear it from a competitor, though. That's almost confirmation that if Apple does what it's planning to and, in fact, does "spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer," then even well-heeled Chinese companies like Lenovo will end up running scared. [via MacStories]TUAWLenovo says Apple is missing the boat to China originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Apple - Lenovo - China - Unofficial Apple Weblog - Shanghai
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News: Apple increases iPad production ahead of July launches
Apple has increased its monthly iPad orders to its Taiwanese manufacturing partners to over two million units in July, according to a Digitimes report. Citing Digitimes Research analyst Mingchi Kuo, the report claims that Apple is estimated to have ordered roughly 2.3 million iPads in July with a mix of 58-60% iPad with Wi-Fi +3G models despite the Wi-Fi-only model's stronger sales in the first half of the year. The iPad is currently available…
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Letâs Go Crazy: Prince Says iTunes âAinât No Goodâ
(Original image courtesy of Mirror.co.uk)Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today 2 rail against digital music and iTunes in particular. So says the artist formerly known (and later still known) as Prince, who claims that âthe Internetâs completely over.â9to5Mac is reporting that rocker Prince has finally come forward to do his first British newspaper interview in a decade, where heâs giving away a CD of his next album, 20TEN, this coming Saturday with copies of The Daily Mirror. But despite giving his music away, heâs determined to keep it out of digital outlets such as iTunes.âThe Internetâs completely over,â explains the rock legend. âI donât see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They wonât pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they canât get it.âThe Internetâs like MTV,â Prince concludes. âAt one time, MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good.âWeâre guessing there must not be any Apple or AT&T retail stores near Paisley Park in Minneapolis, otherwise The Purple One might have changed his tune (pun intended) after seeing the mobs of people trying to get their hands on the new iPhone 4 -- which, last time we checked, requires iTunes to actually useâŚ(And before you comment about it: Yes, thereâs already a ton of Prince music available on iTunes, but most of that is owned by Warner Bros., the label that he famously worked overtime to extract himself from back in the late â90s.)Follow this articleâs author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
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First Looks: Incipio NGP Matte for iPhone 4
Conceptually uninspired but technically sound, Incipio's new iPhone 4 version of NGP Matte ($25) is almost the exact same case previously released by the company as Dermashot, only using a rigid semi-hard plastic rather than silicone rubber as the base material. NGP Matte has a flat, almost paper-like texture and fewer curves around the iPhone 4's face above and below the screen, using a more tightly tailored bezel design and included screen film…
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News: Apple CEO Jobs to skip Sun Valley conference?
Apple CEO Steve Jobs is now expected to skip the annual Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, according to new report. The Financial Times claims that Jobs has told some he plans to skip the event, while telling others that he was “leaning against” attending, but remained undecided. This contradicts a BusinessWeek report from late last month that claimed Jobs was expected to appear, and speculated that he would use the…
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News: SK Telecom in talks to offer iPhone, iPad in Korea
SK Telecom is in talks with Apple about offering both the iPhone and service for the iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G in South Korea. The Wall Street Journal reports that SK Telecom CEO Jung Man-won recently said that the companies were in talks, but admitted that âsome noises about problems with the latest iPhoneâ were worrisome. âWeâve built a solid reputation for offering good after-service for handsets, and we canât take any risks,â he added.…
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First Looks: Incipio Silicrylic for iPhone 4
It's probably the best Incipio case yet for the iPhone 4, and the most improved from prior generations of the same design: Silicrylic ($30) is a silicone skin with a hard plastic shell that snaps into place as a frame, enabling the case to protect all of the iPhone 4's side and top buttons while offering firm back coverage, and soft-contoured holes on all sides. Unlike earlier Silicrylics, the iPhone 4 version's two layers integrate seamlessly together…
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Apple Canât Keep Up with iPhone 4 Demand, But iPad Supply is Better
Supply problems overseas are putting a crimp in the availability of iPhone 4s, creating big headaches for Apple at the same time that iPad availability is finally improving, flying past the three million mark in July.AppleInsider is reporting that the iPhone 4 continues to be a hard item to come by, as anyone who has ventured out in an effort to get one probably knows. As a result, at least one analyst is lowering their sales estimates on the handset for the current quarter as a result of ongoing supply chain problems overseas.Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu told investors Tuesday that he was âshifting iPhone assumptions to later quarters due to the âhigh likelihoodâ that screen supply constraints and inventory drawdown will impact shipments over the next two quarters.â Wall Street is banking on 8.5 million iPhone sales for the quarter that just ended in June, but Wu now anticipates a number closer to 7.5 million, down from an earlier prediction of nine million.Such a downward shift would be bad news for Apple, who shipped a record 8.75 million handsets last quarter and is likely counting on higher numbers based on the insatiable demand for the new iPhone 4."The reason why we believe the inventory drawdown this time will be more impactful than previous drawdowns, is because this product transition involves two entirely new products: the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS," Wu explains. "The new iPhone 3GS with 8GB of storage is an entirely new model compared to the previous-generation 3GS with 16GB and 32GB of storage. With the new storage capacity, this is not as simple as taking the previous product and marking the price down."The news is much better on the iPad front, where analyst Wu is raising his own forecast for the June quarter to 3.5 million, up from 3.3 million. Overall, he expects that 10 million iPads will be sold in 2010, a slight bump in his earlier estimates of 9.7 million. Wu claims there is stronger than expected demand for the Apple tablet, but that availability is improving at last.Apple announced in late June that they had sold three million iPads in the first 80 days it was on sale -- a remarkable feat considering that only three weeks earlier, the company announced it had sold two million units in the first two months.Follow this articleâs author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
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TUAW's Daily App: HexaLex
Filed under: iPhone, App StoreHexaLex is a new title from developer Nathan Gray that offers up an interesting twist on the online Scrabble phenomenon. HexaLex has the same basic rules as most other word games (Words with Friends being probably the most popular iPhone title so far), with one big change: instead of squares, you use hexes to mark out the words. That creates a few interesting gameplay effects, including that you get a "bye" of two nonsense words per turn. If you can use the hexes to spell out multiple words, though, you can build up your score that way, too. Other than that, things aren't too different; you have a number of tiles to choose from, you can shuffle or exchange them as needed, and there's a full online complement to the game, complete with push notifications and nice options to brag or send messages back and forth. Unfortunately, the online service requires an account, which is something that probably would have been an obstacle for me if I was just checking out the game on my own. That's the main issue with a game like this -- if all of your friends are already playing Words with Friends, you'll be hard pressed to get them all to switch. Still, if you're a big wordsmith or if you have a few fellow players who are ready for a new variation on word games, HexaLex is worth a look. You can check the game out for US $2.99.TUAWTUAW's Daily App: HexaLex originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - Word game - Unofficial Apple Weblog - Scrabble - Friends
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Greg's bite: assorted Apple issues in the news
Posted by Dennis SellersBy Greg Mills Let's check the score on Apple vs Microsoft. The Mac OS is gaining market share, Windows is losing market share. The iPhone is thriving, the Kin has just been killed.
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Apple fourth on Experian Hitwise Hot 100 E-Retailer list
Posted by Dennis SellersApple ranks fourth in the latest UK Experian Hitwise Hot 100 E-Retailer list. Hitwise provides insights on how eight million UK Internet users interact with more than one million web sites, across 165+ industries.
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NYT: Your Next iPhone Might Be More Expensive
(Photo courtesy of The New York Times)The day of inexpensive iPhones, iPod touches and iPads may be coming to an end thanks to âsoaring labor costs caused by worker shortages and unrest, a strengthening Chinese currency that makes exports more expensive and inflation and rising housing costs.â Will that next device wind up costing us more?The New York Times is reporting that consumer electronics manufacturers who have become accustomed to getting their latest gizmo made cheaply in China may have to rethink their strategy, and that will undoubtedly affect Apple as well. Any way you slice it, manufacturing in China is about to get more expensive -- and you might wind up paying more for your next notebook computer, digital camera or smartphone as a result.âElectronics companies are trying to figure out how to deal with the higher costs,â says Jenny Lai, a technology analyst at an investment bank based in Hong Kong. âTheyâre already squeezed, so squeezing more costs out of the system wonât be easy.âOut of many of the consumer electronics companies manufacturing in China, Apple may actually be the best prepared. The iPhone maker has âfat profit margins of as much as 60 percent and pricing power to absorb some of those costsâ -- but others like Dell, Hewlett-Packard and LG survive on much slimmer profit margins and are more at risk if the manufacturing costs rise. âThe challenges are going to be much bigger for them,â Lai reveals.The reality is that even a device like Appleâs new iPhone 4, which is priced unsubsidized at $599 (a two-year contract with AT&T brings the price much lower), leaves very little of its sale price where the manufacturing is done. iSuppli estimates that the total cost to build the iPhone 4 is $187.51, with the least expensive part of the process being the manufacturing and assembly.Most of that is due to the fact that Chinese workers are paid less than a dollar an hour to âsolder, assemble and package products for the worldâs best-known brands.â Foxconn (a division of the Hon Hai Group of Taiwan) is at the top of that heap, with 800,000 workers in China alone. Jason Dedrick, a professor at Syracuse University, compares Foxconn to Wal-Mart stores. âTheyâre low-margin, high-volume,â he explains. âThey survive by being efficient.âDespite being mostly invisible to consumers, consumer electronics manufacturing is a $250 billion industry spread among only a handful of companies operating on the slimmest profit margins imaginable. The problem is, when an unforeseen wrinkle pops up -- such as the recent worker unrest that has resulted in a number of suicides at Foxconn -- the only answer is to pour money on the problem, and that may eventually drive up the costs of our gadgets here.âWeâve concluded Hon Haiâs labor-intensive model is not sustainable,â says Isaac Wang, an analyst with iSuppli Research in China. âThough it can keep hiring 800,000 to one million workers, the problem is these workers canât keep working like screws in an inhuman system.âFollow this articleâs author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
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My Writing Nook Teaches iPad Some Smart Word-Processing Chops
The iPad isn't designed for heavy word-processing. In portrait mode, its virtual keyboard is too small for comfortable touch typing. In landscape mode, the keyboard occupies so much real estate that the most text that fits on the screen is a paragraph or two. Those inadequacies may be tolerated for notes or short email messages, but they overwhelm the tablet's abilities when scribbling longer compositions. Apple practically concedes those deficiencies with its Pages application, which focuses its functions more on document design than composition.
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Lenova exec: thank goodness Apple doesn't care about China
Posted by Dennis SellersApple is missing a huge opportunity in the Chinese market, according to Liu Chuanzhi, the head of Lenovo, the country's leading computer maker. The company holds about 30% of its home market, which is one of the fastest growing globally and which is expected to become the world's largest within a...
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EU legislation could force Apple to change software policies
Posted by Dennis SellersPending EU legislation could force Apple to change its software policies, and EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes may also launch a probe into interoperability between various smartphone platforms, including iPhone, reports Rethink Wireless.
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Some Apple App Store accounts reportedly compromised
Posted by Dennis SellersCompromised Apple App Store accounts have been abused by rogue developers to boost their ranking and increase their sales, according to a report at The Register.
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Tee-Boy announces iPhone/iPad Developer Camp
Posted by Dennis SellersTee-Boy has announced the dates for its upcoming iPhone and iPad Developer Camp. The camp will be held Oct. 25-29 in the countryside of the Southwest Louisiana Cajun Prairie.
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CNS Menu adds background and foreground font colors for menu items
Posted by Dennis SellersComm-Unity Networking Systems has updated CNS Menu to version 1.1.10. This version—for both Mac OS X and Windows systems—adds support for background and foreground font colors for menu items, as well as fixes a few bugs dealing with mouse positions and mouse button presses.
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xcelMe announces free iPhone, iPad marketing webinar
Posted by Dennis SellersxcelMe—a provider of online iPhone/iPad development and marketing training—has announced a free, one-hour webinar entitled “Secrets to Marketing you iPhone/iPad Apps.”
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SyncMate for Mac OS X adds Bonjour support, more
Posted by Dennis SellersEltima Software has updated SyncMate, software for syncing data between a Mac to Windows Mobile handheld devices, to version 2.6. The new version adds Bonjour support.
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'Consumer Reports': iPhone 4 signal issues aren't unique
Posted by Dennis SellersA new “Electronics Blog” at Consumer Reports iPhone 4's supposed reception problems aren't unique and that all phones are subject to interference from the human who is using them.
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Semiconductor revenues will increase to $295 billion in 2011
Posted by Dennis SellersInternational Data Corporation (IDC) expects global semiconductor revenue to reach US$274 billion, $295 billion, and $344 billion in 2010, 2011, and 2014, respectively, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.8% over the 2009-2014 forecast period.
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URL Extractor update adds Adjustable Server Timeout
Posted by Dennis SellersTension Software has released URL Extractor X 3.1. Url Extractor X is a Mac OS X app for extracting emails address and generic URLs from files on the HD or directly from the web using a list of “starting” web addresses and working unattended after the startup.
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PDFpen for Mac OS X adds Evernote support
Posted by Dennis SellersSmileOnMyMac has updated PDFPen, its PDF editing and form-filling tool for Mac OS X, to version 4.7. Tex The update adds support for Evernote, the multi-platform memory enhancing service.
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Ruby on Rails bootcamp in Europe planned for August
Posted by Dennis SellersBig Nerd Ranch Europe is holding a Ruby on Rails Bootcamp Aug. 23-27 It will be held in a retreat outside Frankfurt, Germany.
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'MUG Event Calendar': MacSpeech, Wi-Fi picnic, more
Posted by Dennis Sellers“The MUG Event Calendar” roars back to life this week, with a wide variety of speakers, topics and presentations.
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iWeb SEO Tool for iWeb updated to version 1.9
Posted by Dennis SellersRage Software has released iWeb SEO Tool 1.9, an update of their utility for iWeb users to optimize their web sites for search engines. It's free for all iWeb users. (iWeb is the web creation component of Apple's iLife suite.).
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A decade later, Internet appliance dream is realized
Devices like the Audrey and Netpliance I-opener lived a short life, but paved the way for modern-day Net gadgets like the Kindle, iPad, and Xbox 360.
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PCs beat Apple in summer price wars
HP, Dell, Toshiba, and others still sell more laptops than Apple. Price has something to do with it.
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What's in store for the Mac? FaceTime
Posted by Dennis SellersFaceTime is one of the most highly touted features of the iPhone 4. I think it's just a matter of time before it comes to the Mac.
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China on the cusp of real estate slump: analysts
Real estate prices in major Chinese cities are set to decline significantly in the coming months as developers grapple with bloated inventories and skittish buyers, according to recent research.
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Apple, Google and Hulu Racing to Crack Digital Ad Code
Apple (AAPL), Hulu (GE, NWS) and Google (GOOG) are intensifying the race for a share of the $65 billion in broadcast TV advertising gradually shifting to online and mobile. Their success depends on grasping consumers' changing digital behaviors and attitudes toward video. So far, they are missing the mark, and television is struggling to find its way into the digital age.
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Rocketbox: Super fast, super smart mail.app searching
Spotlight searching in Apple Mail is pretty good, but what if it could be even better? Rocketbox is the plugin that delivers that wish — lightning fast, very smart searching, above and beyond what Spotlight can provide. This plugin offers the ability to filter searches by several clever criteria that work together quickly to find the needle in a haystack. The main interface shows how it works. An initial search term is further refined by mailbox, account, time range, and whether or not the email is flagged, has been replied to or forwarded. The results can be sorted by time or relevance: The search term is highlighted in the results preview, making it faster to see if the particular hit is relevant or not. The search terms themselves can be specified in a large variety of ways, including by boolean operators and by person: And it's fast. The developer, Central Atomics, provides a graphic that gives a good sense of the improvement: It installs itself as a classic mail.app plugin in the Bundles folder of your Mail Directory. So it's painless to remove either manually or with the uninstaller provided in the disk image. An option in the View menu allows you to toggle between Rocketbox and Mail's own search function (especially important for those who use the custom search features in MailTags ). Grey and white candybar stripes in the search box remind you that Rocketbox is installed and active. Matt Ronge has detailed his plans for the plugin's future development, including MailTags integration (yeah!), list view, domain searching and more. He writes in an email: Right now I'm doing major work on the engine to make way for these enhancements. Beyond that, I have ideas but nothing I want to make concrete yet (I have one big UI change planned, but can't comment on that yet). While he is coy about declaring his hand, he assures me that this next major version will be free for those who have bought version 1.0. Rocketbox is available from Central Atomics web site where you will also find some nifty searchable FAQs . It costs USD 14.95. Is it worth it? It depends how much your time is worth. I have a lot of email. After using it for a day, I can already see how much time it will save me. I am about to revise my ancient post on the Top 10 Things every Mail.app user should have. This will be in it. (Disclosure: I ought to say that Matt was kind enough to provide me with a license so that I could test out the plugin and write this piece. Thanks.) Related posts Smarter Searches in Leopard Mail Two tips to manage your email better PocketLight: Search Panther Mail, iCal, Address Book Mail.app vs the “new” Entourage Mail Type Select 2.6: Finder-like text matching in Mail.app, now universal
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Huzzah! Hawk Wings serves 5 million pages
I'm sorry for the lapse in taste, but I can't help myself. This morning at 6.05 am, Hawk Wings served its 5 millionth page to the world. At least, that's the total Mint has cranked up since I installed it in July 2006: So, 3,425 page impressions a day on average, every day for four years. Thanks to everyone who has dropped by, especially to those loyal readers who kept me in their RSS feeds despite repeated long periods of inactivity. Teary-eyed, as I stand before this milestone, I am grateful to several luminaries in the blogosphere who encouraged me to continue throughout the long stretch when the numbers were not so promising. *sniff* Thanks too to the aggregators who picked up my posts. Sweet! Blogging; it's cheaper than therapy. P.S. Obviously, this is small beer in the global scheme of things, but it is _my_ beer ;-) Related posts Hawk Wings: First birthday, problems Two Tips for Leopard's Address Book Two steps forward, one step back: A switcher's tale Services and Apple Mail rooSwitch Lite: Multiple profiles for Mail and other iApps
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Nokia sells wireless modem business to Renesas in order to focus on core business
Nokia just announced a $200M-ish deal to sell its wireless modem business to Japan's Renesas Electronics Corporation. The deal is part of a broader alliance to develop HSPA+ and LTE modem technologies while working together to research future radio technologies. Per the agreement, Nokia will transfer its wireless modem technologies for LTE, HSPA and GSM standards, "certain" related patents (interesting in light of the Apple lawsuits), and about 1,100 Nokia R&D staff to Renesas, the majority of whom are located in Finland, India, the UK, and Denmark -- assuming regulatory approval of course, something the two expect to receive by the end of the year. Why now? Well, according to Kai Oistamo, Executive Vice President at Nokia, "The alliance enables us to continue to focus on our own core businesses, connecting people to what matters to them with our mobile products and solutions." Sounds like somebody's slimming down in preparation for a fight. P.S. Though the 'Shop above only shows a Nokia USB modem, the agreement goes much deeper to cover the modem technologies used inside billions of Nokia handsets. So yeah, this is a fairly signficant change of direction for Nokia.Continue reading Nokia sells wireless modem business to Renesas in order to focus on core businessNokia sells wireless modem business to Renesas in order to focus on core business originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 04:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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Mac OS Ken: 07.06.2010
Apple Issues Letter on iPhone 4 and Reports of Reception Issues / Ars Technica Questions a Bits of the Apple Letter on iPhone 4 Issues / Apple Drops 10-Percent Restocking Fee for Returned iPhone 4s / Consumer Reports Stands Behind iPhone 4 / Apparent iTunes App Store Scam / IDC Numbers Show Nokia Losing Significant Ground in Western Europe / WSJ Says SK Telecom in Talks for iPad and iPhone / Net Applications Says iPad Beats Android Devices for Web Surfing in June / Nintendo Not Interested in iThings / NYT Says Apple TV is Next Big Project for Apple / Munster Makes the Case for Internet-Connect Television from Apple in 2 to 4 Years / Sony Drops Reader Costs in Ongoing eBook Price War / Study Says iPad and Kindle Slower than Books But More Enjoyable