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Journalists Cover Microsoft, Using Macs

It’s not an easy time for Microsoft — with Steve Ballmer having to field questions about being “buffoons” and an “evil empire”  at the shareholder’s meeting (.doc) — so when they get together “the world’s most influential technology pundits and online writers” (nb: we weren’t invited) for Mobius to discuss super-secret mobile tech you’d think [...]

Guide To Black Friday Apple Bargains: Cheap MacBooks, iPods and Accessories Galore

Here’s a guide for finding the best bargains on Apple-related gear during the infamous Black Friday sales on November 27. We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of gear from leaked photos of sales flyers and descriptions of sales.
The bargains include a 2.26 GHz MacBook + $150 gift card at Best Buy for $999.99 ; a 32GB [...]

Review: Voices Is Today’s Best Thing Ever, Grab It Now While It’s Cheap

New on the App Store is Voices from the clever folk at Tap Tap Tap. You can guess what it does.

Open it up, pick a silly voice. Helium is pretty silly. A microphone appears and the app even clears your throat for you (try it, you’ll see what I mean). Now speak your brains, and [...]

Review: Sony Walkman S540 Series Video MP3 Player

Press releases, you will hardly be surprised to hear, are rarely very interesting. But one arrived in my inbox a couple of weeks ago that made me double-take.
“Sony’s S Series Walkman,” it chattered, “is a serious challenger to the iPod Nano.” Gosh, really? Perhaps the Cult had better have a look at one, then, despite [...]

Quick Links in the Apple World



Brilliant iPhone Protest Video Rips Audio from “Think Different” Ad
— It almost makes me misty for the time when Apple was actually thinking differently…

Apple Replaces General Counsel After 10 Months — Are Feds sniffing around Apple about options back-dating again?

Downgrading iPhones from 1.1.1 to 1.0.2 Can Re-activate and Re-unlock them — This will make a heck of a lot of people happy.

Genius Bar Does Not, Even a Little Bit, Support Hacked iPhones — Thank heaven for the reverse upgrade, eh?

iPhones with 1.1.1 Update Play Low-Quality Audio Over Bluetooth — Dear Apple: Please, please, please, implement A2DP Bluetooth support in OS X. Love, Pete.

About the author

Petemortensen

Pete Mortensen is the communications lead for growth strategy firm Jump Associates and the co-author of Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, a book and blog that are significantly more interesting than you might initially think. Pete's particular Apple avocations are both around design--interface and industrial. Follow him on Twitter!

Email the author | Read more posts by Pete Mortensen.

2 comments

    “It almost makes me misty for the time when Apple was actually thinking differently…”

    Oh my God.
    Just because you wrote some lil iPhone app doesn’t mean you’re suddenly some freakin “crazy genius.”
    FFS, these people need to get over themselves!
    It may make you misty but it makes me nauseous.

    I totally agree with CoA, Apple has been one continous flow of innovation, defiance of standards and continued success since the 1997 Think Different campaign.

    With their success they’ve had to deal more and more with the “traditional corporate” machinery (RIAA, AT&T) and this has affected the way Apple operates and its image to hardcore fans, I agree. The whole iPhone affair has been completely breaking the rules of traditional dealings between cell phone makers and carriers, on both sides. The few details that have come to light are that Apple may be taking a cut of monthly subscriptions from AT&T, something unheard of, but then again AT&T must have asked for something in return, i.e. a minimal guarantee that they would make every effort to disallow the use of the iPhone in other networks. We don’t know if the contract calls for some serious lawsuits if Apple doesn’t comply, so they really have to now that they’re playing with “the big boys”.

    I’m not saying this whole thing is not slightly rotten, I actually am very upset that Apple has snubbed in particular Ambrosia Software with their iToner, as Ambrosia has been one of the prominent mid-size developers loyal to the Mac even during the “dark ages” in the 1990s. Then again it doesn’t mean Apple was particularly trying to block these apps, more likely trying to stop the iPhone from being used in other networks per their contractual agreements.

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