Apple - page 17

Finally, Apple is dragging one of the many copycat hardware makers into court for copying Apple’s brilliant ideas.

Or…

Apple joins in on the lawsuit frenzy to win in the courts instead of competing on features, price and user friendliness.

What are we to make of Apple’s recent lawsuit against Samsung? Is Apple right? Did Samsung “slavishly copy Apple’s innovative technology, distinctive user interfaces, and elegant and distinctive product and packaging design”?

What’s the likely outcome? Why Samsung? Why now?

The legal mumbo jumbo surrounding cases like these make them boring as hell. But the impact of this turn of events could be far reaching, and affect the future of computing and mobility.

What you need to know is that while this lawsuit seems narrow and specific — targeting a handful of Samsung devices for copying the iPad and iPhone — it’s really a warning for industry at large, and about the entire iOS family of products, from wristwatches today to desktops tomorrow and everything in between.

This is not about the iPad vs. the Tab. It’s about Apple’s very unique approach to everything vs. everyone else’s business-as-usual — and it’s about the future of computing.

Your iPhone does more than just make calls. It’s the perfect companion for almost every situation because there’s an app for almost everything. Having taken my iPhone 4 with me on a couple hikes to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, I can attest that it’s an amazing tool to keep by your side during outdoor excursions. Of course that is until you see your battery meter dip below 3%. At which point the iPhone 4 becomes just an expensive piece of metal and glass. To aid your charging dilemmas on your next camping trips, Solio has created a great line of portable solar chargers.

Solio’s Mono Charger ($60), combines a high-efficiency solar cell, with a long life lithium-ion rechargeable battery in a solid impact resistant casing for all those adventurers who need battery power no matter where they journey. The design of the device is incredibly simple. Nothing detracts from the solar panel, and it’s very easy to use. To begin charging simply place it in the sun and press the Start button on the back of the device. A red LED light will blink to indicate that it’s collecting energy.

The big news today is all about how Apple has apparently been busy secretly squirreling away data about your movements on your iPhone 4 or GPS-equipped iPad, and storing it in a file on your computer via syncing. Is this a big deal, or business as usual, just a giant tech company doing its thing?

[polldaddy poll=4946757]

If possession of any one app could ever be considered an instant ticket to membership in the Cult of Mac, this is it. Mactracker has been around since early 2001, and we’ve talked about it before on our site (Giles Turnbull thought it was so fantastic he included it in his list of 50 Mac Essnetials); but last week a newly-updated version hit the Mac App Store — which is enough to earn it a spot as today’s Daily Freebie.

The app lists painstakingly complete data on every Mac product ever made in an elegant, searchable, easy-to-use interface. The new update even brings with it the ability to track your Macs’ serial numbers, service work performed, etc.

The app is free, but we think a little donation at the app’s website (which is where those who’re allergic to the App Store can also download the app directly) is money well spent.

I tried to look up something this Sunday morning on Apple’s Discussion Forums and they were down. Now fast forward to this evening after all the obligatory Sunday events and the sites back up along with a big surprise.  Apple has launched Apple Support Communities. The site is back up in a big way.

Apple Support Communities are a revised version of Apple’s popular discussion forums. The site now makes it easier for Mac, Mac OS X, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and iOS users to find answers to problems or questions they might have.

The iPad has inevitably made its debut into the congressional debate over the federal budget.

On Friday, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. D-Ill., made reference to it during a rambling monologue concerning America’s budget and the state of our economy on the House floor.

Nearly a year ago, I predicted in my Computerworld column that Apple’s iPad would not only eat into netbook sales, but sales of laptops and even desktop PCs. It was an unpopular prediction.

If you look at the 300+ comments attached to that piece, you’ll see that the majority of commenters at the time thought I was crazy, stupid or both.

One wrote: “Obviously Mike Elgan has gone off the deep end on this one. This article is so naive to the real world, and so far fetched it makes me think this is nothing but, once again, a biased article by an iSheep in its purest form.”

Another said: “This article made me laugh out loud. I thought I was reading The Onion!”

Still others were more direct: “I’m pretty sure this is the stupidest article on the internet.”

You still hear people dissing the iPad these days, of course, but nobody dismisses it. Sales of the iPad have far exceeded the expectations of all but a tiny minority of us who were very bullish from the start. Analysts have had to raise and raise again their unit-sales estimates. Early doubters have been silenced.

Now, you might think I’ve come to brag that I was right and my critics were wrong about iPad replacing PCs. A Gartner report published this week says that PC shipments are down from last year. Overall PC shipments in the United States fell by 6.1 percent. HP was down 3.5 percent. Dell dropped 12 percent. And Acer took a nearly 25 percent hit in unit sales. Meanwhile, Apple’s sales grew nearly 20 percent.

One analyst at Gartner said the PC declines resulted from buyers “turning their attention” to media tablets and other devices. The “media tablet” market is a euphemism for the iPad, which owns 70 percent market share and is expected to sell in the 45 million unit range this year.

But no, I’m not here to brag. The replacement of PCs I predicted hasn’t quite begun in earnest. The replacement will come. And I will brag. But for now, it’s more interesting to see how the iPad is gradually undermining the foundations of PC dominance.

Here’s how Apple’s iPad is setting the stage for the decline of the PC.

When the clocks go forwards or back, people from New Zealand to New York miss their appointments because their iPhone alarm does not go off on time. Every time I complete a 10km run using my iPod nano, TIger Woods congratulates me on having completed another 500km. And as you read this, thousands of backups are failing because Time Machines are freezing in time.

What do these seemingly disparate events having in common? They’re all presumably the handiwork of Apple’s “B-team”.

For some people, getting the chance to work for Apple seems like one of the coolest jobs on the planet. Being surrounded by everything Apple. Super discounts on iMacs. Talking to customers about how incredibly magical the products are. If that all sounds awesome to you, then go ahead and disregard the fact that it’s easier to get into Harvard University than to get a job at Apple.

Here is Cult of Mac’s first-hand look at how the Apple hiring process plays out.

The Apple iPad turns one year old today. The first day the iPad was available was April 3, 2010. That was the day that I had  the Wi-Fi only model in my hands. It wasn’t until near the end of April 2010 that I finally got a hold of the Wi-Fi + 3G model. My life and the life of countless others hasn’t been the same since.

The iPad was met with some skepticism when it was announced in early 2010. The “magical and revolutionary” device was ridiculed, laughed about, and even mocked. People cried about it and the impact it would have on their businesses and Adobe cried about it. However, all that ended when people and developers got one in their hands.

Initial reviews like the one from Cult of Mac’s very own Leander Kahney were very positive and even first impressions were good. People loved it so much one of them even wrapped it in chocolate — only to give it away again to someone they loved.

The iPad proved itself again and again finding niche and mainstream applications for it at home and at work. The iPad may very well be the most popular Apple computing device in this decade. Although the iPhone may give it a run for its money. We’ll see. Maybe there will be a tie for that title.

The introduction of the iPad 2 last month will keep the iPad juggernaut moving along well into the 21st century. Frankly I cannot wait to see what Apple comes up with next!

Happy Birthday iPad! Congrats Apple.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFJxt8lZQjg

Jason Bradbury, the self-proclaimed Apple Expert, has discovered a simple hack that allows owners of the iPad 2 to take X-Ray style photographs through clothes. By applying a filter after blasting a subject with infrared light, the iPad 2’s camera can see through clothing. The best part of the hack is that you don’t need any type of training in radiology as it is incredibly simple and utilizes everyday household objects (infrared light and cellophane) to make it work.

The steps are quite simple:

1: Flood a subject with infrared light. Bradbury recommends using a digital camera with a night vision mode, or a children’s toy that uses infrared light. The infrared light penetrates the clothing and will be able to be picked up with the right filter.

2: Cover the camera on your iPad 2 with two layers of cellophane. The cellophane acts filters out the natural light enough to wear the infrared light comes in stronger and is picked up by the iPad 2’s camera lens.

3. Start snapping pictures. With your infrared source in place and your filter setup you are now ready to start taking some amazingly cool photos.

In what appears to be an effort to persuade users to not switch over to Verizon, AT&T is sending out marketing materials elaborating why their network is the perfect match for your beautiful iPhone.. Have the recent estimates that Verizon has snagged 10% of the US iPhone market-share after only a few months gotten AT&T a little bit worried that a lot of users will switch networks once the iPhone 5 comes out? Coupled with their recent gift of 1,000 free rollover minutes to customers, maybe AT&T is finally trying to put forth some legitimate efforts to satisfy their customers after years of complaints. I’ve been an AT&T subscriber since June 29th, 2007 (the day the first iPhone was released). Never once has AT&T decided to send me their seasonal magazine title “AT&T Magazine.” Yet for some reason I was greeted by their 12-page mag when I received my mail today.

The reasons AT&T says you should stay with their network are as follows:

AT&T’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile would result in new efficiencies and economies of scale. It would enable the provisioning of more and better services at lower cost than the two companies could achieve separately.

And that’s exactly why the Obama administration may block it.

I know everyone is interested in purchasing an iPad 2, but you are not sure about whether your local Apple store has any in stock. What we need is an Apple iPad availability Web tool like the one we had before for the iPhone 3GS in 2009. Back then that page declared:

The Apple Retail Store likely has your iPhone 3GS in stock. You can check the most up-to-date availability right here. Shipments of iPhone 3GS arrive most days, and availability is updated hourly. The 8GB iPhone 3G is currently available in all stores.

You could access the tool to check the availability of an iPhone 3GS in your state. I checked and the URL no longer works — even when you substitute the word iPad in it for iPhone in the old URL.

I think that Apple would probably re-launch this tool again if they had better inventory availability, but with the iPad 2 selling out and screen manufacturing problems they probably don’t really need this tool right now.

Hopefully all that will change soon and a site like this will re-launch for the iPad 2. Then you won’t have to stand in ridiculous iPad 2 lines any more.

Steve Jobs famously once quoted Picasso as saying: “Good artists copy; great artists steal.” And by that metric, Apple is a lousy artist.

Apple is stolen from by just about everybody. Microsoft and other companies steal design and interface ideas from Apple’s OS X. Cell phone handset makers steal Apple’s iPhone design elements. The new tablet market is essentially Apple’s iPad plus the tablets that steal ideas from the iPad. Everybody has stolen Apple’s approach to app stores.

There’s a difference between stealing ideas and stealing intellectual property. Stealing winning general approaches to doing things like multi-touch gestures on a tablet device is good. Stealing the code to do that is bad.

Microsoft has long been accused of stealing Apple ideas in the many designs of Windows that have occurred over the years. Windows has tended to be more challenging to use than OS X over the years, and Windows products tend to be less elegant. Because of all this, Apple fans often dismiss Microsoft as a company without innovation.

In fact, the opposite is true. Microsoft’s research wing is an under-appreciated engine of invention, in my opinion. And while Microsoft fails to productize some of its best inventions, it’s also occasionally successful at implementing new ideas in real products.

I’ll go further. Apple and its customers would benefit enormously if Apple were to steal the following five key ideas from Microsoft.

There’s long been a number of urban legends about how Apple came up with its iconic logo.

There’s the idea that the bite symbolizes knowledge, or that the overall image is a tribute to mathematician Alan Turing, who committed suicide by taking a bite of an apple laced with cyanide.

But here’s the real story.

In case you missed it, Apple stole the spotlight this year at SXSW by launching iPad 2 in a temporary popup shop right in the heart of Austin.

I had heard that Apple was opening a popup store at a secret location during SXSW, but the location wasn’t a secret for long.

Long lines, big signs, high fives—even dancing ensued once the twitterverse got wind of the popup’s location. It was a crazy fun time, so if you haven’t seen it yet, check the video and let your eyes behold the insanity of this brilliant iPad launch.

PS, excuse the video’s abrupt ending, my camera ate some of my video bytes.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2WHnDE3i7U

Months of anticipation. Hours of physically waiting. Finally, I got my claws on the iPad 2. First impressions: It’s amazing. It’s a lot like the original iPad only anorexic, sports two cameras, and packs beefier processing power. Apps are fast just like everyone is claiming. Photobooth is a lot more fun to goof around on that I thought it would be. It feels a little bit heavier than I expected, but not in a bad way. It’s solid. My only gripe so far is that the Smart Case doesn’t stay totally flush with the iPad’s casing when you flip it around the back of the iPad when using it. Stay tuned for our in-depth review coming soon.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3wKYDkCrMs

Almost shamefully, I’ve waited in line on launch day for every iPhone and iPad. Each waiting experience has had it’s highs and lows. All have definitely been memorable, but today’s takes the cake. Waiting in line at Apple’s Store at Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix, I was surprised to run into Phoenix Suns basketball player Mickael Pietrus waiting at the front of the line to get his hands on the iPad 2.

The only way to ensure that you have an iPad 2 today is to buy one from one of the many retail outlets. However, all retailers are not treated equally, so I’ll be giving you the run down on the best places to purchase your iPad 2 from.

Your best, hassle-free bet is to pick one up from an Apple Specialist. Here’s why:

It’s almost too easy to make a parody video of Apple and its products these days. The company follows an easily discernible regularity in its product launches and despite growing popularity and marketshare for all of its products over the last decade, Apple’s “image” is tagged with the weight of a certain “hipster cred” that tends to make for easy pickings when it comes to ridicule.

Director Dan Dobi and writer Steve Rogowski skate pretty close to several uncomfortable lines in this one, however, which, presumably is intentional.

After all, parody and sarcasm are about getting people talking, right?

When the Apple Store came back online yesterday after the announcement of the iPad 2, customers were a bit shocked to find out that Apple is not taking any pre-orders for the device until March 11th, the same day the product hits store shelves. Apple has always had a great track record of taking pre-orders on products after they’ve been announced, so we’ve been wondering just why they’ve changed policy this time. Could it be that they’re afraid they’re not going to have enough initial stock to satisfy store orders as well as online orders?

Rumors were flying around the web days before the event that Apple has been facing supply constraints for the iPad 2 and that the product was facing the serious possibility of being delayed until April or May. When Steve Jobs took the stage yesterday, he went out of his way to adamantly state that the iPad 2 would be launching worldwide in March, and not April or May. Is the move to eliminate pre-orders an effort to increase the lines at stores and build even more hype around the excitement of the launch? That could possibly be the answer but I think it’s a bit unlikely.

Apple just posted the full length video from this morning’s keynote. Users wanting to view the event can now stream the entire 72 minute video of Steve Jobs unveiling the iPad 2 by going to Apple’s website (click here for video). Also, if you’d like to download the video it’s been made available on iTunes (click here for iTunes download).

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_I9OEV6_Ak

Here’s the latest video that Apple has released on the iPad 2. Six minutes in length, it features Johnny Ive, Scott Fortsall, and few other Apple employees talking about the design and user experience of the new iPad 2.

update: here’s the video for the new Smart Cover in action

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCb4BOd8iXQ

Did you guys hear that the iPad 2 was announced today? Steve Jobs, in living legended status, even did the unveiling. Here’s everything that you need to know about what went down today at the Apple Keynote.

True to the rumors, Apple found quite a bit of things to update and tweak on the iPad:

They boosted up the processor considerably, switching from a 1GHz A4 processor to a 1GHz dual-core A5 processor. Along with the faster processor, Apple claims they’ve cranked up the graphics and are pumping out 9x the graphics performance, although there was no specification given on what they did to improve on the PowerVR SGX 535 graphics processor of the first unit.