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Commuter Delays? iPhone Tube Refund App Pays for Itself

Londoners stuck in the tube now have a handy iPhone app to request ticket refunds.
Tube Refund, which costs $0.99, zaps off the request for riders whose journey is delayed over 15 minutes.
Depending on where you go and what time of day, a one-way tube ticket can cost from £1.80 to £4.00 ($2.75 – $6 circa) [...]

What’s Next For the iPad? A Tabletop iPad, According to Xerox PARC Circa 1991

Way back in 1991, just as Apple was transitioning from 68k to PowerPC chips, the braniacs at Xerox PARC were predicting it’s entire iPod, iPhone and iPad strategy. And next up for the iPad is a blackboard-sized device.
Nearly 20 years ago, just as personal desktop computers were taking off, researchers at Xerox started thinking about [...]

iPhone App Arms Users With Silent Panic Button

A new app called Silent Bodyguard features a panic button that sends an SOS distress signal with GPS coordinates to potential rescuers without alerting onlookers.
While the $3.99 app, available on iTunes, isn’t the first ICE (in case of emergency) app, this one is backed by Dr. Clint Van Zandt, former FBI chief hostage negotiator and criminal [...]

Early Apple Employees Auction Killer Collectibles

If there’s a good thing about the recession, it seems to be bringing some fine Apple memorabilia out of storerooms and closets.
Cliff and Dick Huston — ex-Apple engineers, for the record employees 27 and 25 — have decided to part with a treasure trove of Cupertino collectibles by auctioning them on eBay.

What’s on the block:

Apple [...]

Wow: 20% Of Mac Users Already Upgraded To Snow Leopard In Just One Month

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About 18% of all Mac users upgraded to Snow Leopard in just a month, new numbers from the online research firm Net Applications suggest.

Snow Leopard was released on August 28. Thanks to its low $30 price tag, Mac users are pouncing on it. But a nearly 20% percent adoption rate is fast — by anyone’s standards.

Net Applications estimates market share by measuring the number of visits to a network of sites, recording things like browser and operating system. According to the firm, about 1% of all computer users are currently running Snow Leopard. The firm estimates that 5% of computer users worldwide are Mac users, which means about 18% of Mac users are running Snow Leopard.

On interesting thing to note is the peak in Mac users during weekends. Presumably, people are surfing on PCs at work during the week, and using a Mac at home over the weekend.

Via MacRumors.

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About the author

Leander Kahney

Leander Kahney is the editor of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

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7 comments

    “According to the firm, about 1% of all computer users are currently running Snow Leopard.”

    I find a 1% market penetration to be quite unexciting – mainly akin to a rounding error – and not something to be crowing about.

    Just my 2 cents.

    you might like this article on mac operating system names over at the naming & branding blog ‘on the button.’ they muse on what will happen when apple runs out of cats…have a look: http://onthebutton.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/apple-snow-leopard/

    How many are still running Panther?

    Yes, there are quite a few. There are developers still getting complaints that their software doesn’t support Jaguar.

    Yes, well unlike some other operating systems, those with a year long public beta program, who shall remain nameless, we can trust that when we upgrade OSX, it will not be a major disaster leaving a nasty taste in the mouth for years to come! Much like any proper Unix upgrade I have done in the last 25 years, should hardly be noticeable that you have even upgraded.

    “It just works!”, as we always say!

    About time for Apple to open up and license OS X to the world? What has it got to lose? 5% share vs potential 95% by Microsoft? Great stuff should be shared by all..

    “What has it got to lose?”

    Mostly, the staggering profits generated by hardware sales (which is where Apple makes most of its money) versus increased software marketshare, much lower hardware sales, and hugely increased support costs by having to deal with non-Apple hardware.

    The day Apple licenses Mac OS X is the day Apple’s in such a bad way that it’s the last throw of the dice.

    “…when we upgrade OSX, it will not be a major disaster leaving a nasty taste in the mouth for years to come! … “It just works!”, as we always say!”

    Free Clues:

    1. Go to the apple support forum for the iPhone 3GS.
    2. Look at the threads on OS 3.1.
    3. Stop making silly remarks about Apple.

    Their stuff does NOT always “just work”. Many, many folks are VERY angry about 3.1 ruining their iPhones. And at this point, Apple can’t figure out how to fix it. And even worse, they won’t even acknowledge that a problem exists.

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