Ed Sutherland - page 51

We start the day off with deals on two of Apple recently refreshed hardware. First up is the iMac Core i7 Quad. The 2.93GHz machine with a 27-inch screen is bundled with 8GB of RAM for $2,329. Next is an iMac Core 2 Duo running at 3.06GHz with a 27-inch display. We wrap up the top deals with Apple’s just-unveiled 24-inch Cinema LED widescreen LED display for $780.

Along the way, we check out the latest batch of iPad app freebies and iPhone app price drops. As always, details on these and many other items for your iPhone, iPad, iPod and Mac are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Oh, the days when mobile phone veteran Motorola was hawking the slim Razr while competitors had bricks. Darn these young whipper-snappers like Apple and their iPhone doo-hickeys. Motorola, maker of the Verizon Droid, now finds itself being outsold by Apple. The Cupertino, Calif. company sold 8.4 million iPhones compared to 8.3 million handsets for the Schaumburg, Il.-based Motorola during the second quarter.

Is your voice mail password now the property of some Chinese hacker? Millions of Android users who downloaded an innocuous wallpaper app from Google’s Android Market may be nodding their heads ‘yes.’ Turns out, that wallpaper app was sending voice mail passwords and many other bits of personal data to someone in Shenzhen, China, according to one report.

The exploit was downloaded “anywhere from 1.1 million to 4.6 million times,” reports Dean Takahashi of VentureBeat. The application grabs your browsing history, text messages, phone’s SIM card number and subscriber ID and sends it all to the www.imnet.us website, according to the report.

Listen up, iPhone 4 owners: get thee to a strong AT&T cell. That’s the advice of Wall Street Journal tech columnist Walt Mossberg on Apple’s latest handset.

Mossberg said the iPhone 4 works best in areas with “average or strong AT&T coverage”, however, he said the iPhone 3GS is a better choice for users living, working or traveling in spots with weak coverage by Apple’s exclusive U.S. carrier partner. AT&T “operates a network that has trouble connecting and maintaining calls in many cities,” he told readers.

We start the day with two deals on iPods. First up is the 2GB fourth-generation iPod shuffle for $35. Next is the 8Gb current iPod nano for $99 from the Apple Store. We wrap up our top deals with the latest batch of App Store freebies, including “QuickRemind” for the iPhone and iPod touch. Along the way, we’ll check out other deals, including the PowerBug, a new stand for the iPad and new software bargains for the Mac.

As always, details on these and many other items are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

For some time, the iPhone has been saddled with the award for data hog. So much so, data usage has become an excuse by AT&T to explain poor network performance and a recent cap on data usage by iPhone owners. But it turns out the iPhone is second to Verizon’s Droid, a new study released Wednesday indicates.

According to a report by Validas, Verizon’s non-Blackberry smartphones consumed 421MB per month compared to 338MB for AT&T’s iPhone. The study analyzed consumer bills from 2009 and 2010. The 2009-2010 Wireless Data Study “provides year-over-year trends and detailed distribution charts segmented by device and by carrier, providing unique insight into the explosive growth of wireless data, which carriers are benefitting most from it, and which user and device groups are most driving it,” notes the study.

Despite all the headaches over a rash of worker suicides, Foxconn should be resting easier today. Instead of headlines about overworked iPod assemblers jumping to their death, the electronics factory is being hailed as manufacturing half of the world’s electronics. The company, officially known as Hon Hai Precision Industries, seems to have caught a ride on a rocket – Apple.

“Foxconn’s customers are some of the hottest companies in the electronics business today, most notably Apple,” iSuppli associate Thomas Dinges said Wednesday. Foxconn, with a little help from the Cupertino, Calif. iPhone maker, posted nearly triple the revenue of it’s closest rival for first place. Foxconn, based in Taiwan, earned $17.1 billion in the second quarter, massively overshadowing No. 2 Flextronics International, which reported $5.9 billion.

To further promote HTML5 as the future of web graphics, Apple has swung open the door for extensions to the public. While introduced in June to developers, Safari 5.0.1 now can be downloaded. The Cupertino, Calif. company also opened its Safari Extensions Gallery, joining the ranks of Firefox and other browsers extending the basic browser.

Bing, Twitter and the New York Times are among the first extensions available for Safari. “We’re thrilled to see so many leading developers creating great extensions and think our users are going to love being able to customize Safari,” said Brian Croll, Apple’s vice president of OS X Product Marketing.

Safari Extensions are built with HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript web standards. They are available for download at the extensions.apple.com site.

[9to5Mac]

Apple today unleashed a number of goodies, including giving iMacs and Mac Pros more oomph with new processors and increased storage options. We have those deals today, along with many more items for the Mac lover. Along with the refreshed line of iMacs and Mac Pros, we’ll also look at a number of software deals for you iPod, iPhone and Mac.

As always, details on these and many other items are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Apple has refreshed its Mac Pro, giving the desktop workhorse up to 12 processing cores for a top speed of 3.33GHz, boosting performance by up to 50 percent. The refresh also provides users the option of four 512GB solid state drives.

“The new Mac Pro is the most powerful and configurable Mac we’ve ever made,” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With up to 12 cores, the new Mac Pro outperforms our previous top-of-the-line system by up to 50 percent, and with over a billion possible configurations, our customers can create exactly the system they want.”

Apple Tuesday updated its all-in-one iMacs with Intel’s Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors, confirming rumors that the Cupertino, Calif. company would completely replace the Intel Core Duo line of chips powering the desktop machines. The low-end 21.5-inch iMac now sports a 3.06GHz i3 processor for $1,199.

The mid-range 21.5-inch iMac is powered by a 3.2GHz i3 chip for $1,499, while the high-end 27-inch iMac includes a 2.93GHz Quad-Core i7 processor for $1,999.

Have you lusted after those new iMacs with the 27-inch LED screens, but already have a MacBook – or even Mac mini? Well, Apple must have heard your pleas, because Tuesday the Cupertino, Calif. company unveiled a 27-inch LED display compatible with all Macs — for just $999.

Maybe it was the recent high temps which struck the U.S. East Coast, but a lawsuit now claims Apple’s wildly-popular iPad tablet device just can’t stand the heat. In a complaint filed July 23, lawyers claim the iPad “overheats so quickly under common weather conditions” and “does not live up to the reasonable consumer’s expectations created by Apple.”

The lawsuit also claims when placed in direct sunlight, the iPad “turns off, sometimes after just a few minutes of use.” Filed in a federal court in Oakland, California, the lawsuit seeks class-action status, as well as unspecified damages.

We kick off another week of deals with a bargain on MacBooks. The Apple Store has a number of unibody MacBooks starting at $929 for a 2.26GHz unit. There is also an 8GB iPod touch for just $149. Lastly, to keep track of all those apps you are accumulating on your touch or iPhone is “App Chest” for the Mac, an application tracker and license managing software.

As usual, details on these and many other items (such as a USB adapter for your MacBook Air) can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

We wrap up another week of deals with three bargains for the Mac, iPod and iPad user. First up is the continuation of Apple’s back-to-School hardware sale. Buy a MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or iMac and get an 8Gb iPod touch for free. Next, if you have an iPad, keep it’s screen safe with this mirror-screen protector for just $4. Finally, if you are looking for a bargain on a new MacBook, check out this bundle from the folks at Expercom. Along with the 17-inch MacBook with a 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo processor, you also get three years of AppleCare for just $2, 058.

Along the way, we also check out Apple’s newly introduced iPhone 4 care program, the SquareTrade iPhone warranty, an iBook for just $300 and many more items. As usual, details on these and much more is available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Okay, demand for the iPad in Hong Kong may not match New York City, but for Apple, it could be an important precursor to how the device will be accepted in the all-important Chinese market. Friday was the first day the tablet device officially went on sale in Hong Kong. How’s it going? Ask a local salesperson.

“Crazy — the iPad is crazy,” Kurt Lo tells the Wall Street Journal. Lo’s usual orders from Chinese and Vietnamese customers have nearly doubled – 300 to 400 orders instead of the usual 200 to 300 per week. His Chinese customers are also expected to order between 10 to 50 iPads for the gray market.

Apple has a tiger by the tail with its iPad and suppliers are now complaining they can’t push them out the door fast enough to meet demand. The head of LG Display, a division of LG Electronics, told Reuters “Apple may have to delay launches of the iPad for some countries due to tight component supplies and strong demand.”

LG Display CEO Kwon Young-soo added that although it is considering upping production lines, “overall supply is likely to remain tight until early next year.”

Continued manufacturing problems with the white iPhone 4 prompted Apple this morning to announce another delay in the model’s availability. In a statement, the Cupertino, Calif. company said the white model won’t be available until “later this year.”

“White models of Apple’s new iPhone 4 have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected,” Apple added. The company emphasized the delay will not affect the availability of the black iPhone 4, however.

It’s iPad Day. We focus on two top deals for the iPad, along with a case for the iPhone 3G or 3GS. First up is the Grip Sleeve for the iPad from Belkin. The surface include a grippy texture with soft inner lining and a reinforced screen protector panel – just $25. Next up is the adventure game “Glyder” for the iPad. The game, available at the App Store, drops $2 from the price, making it free. Finally, we come to the Otterbox Defendor Case for the iPhone 3G or 3GS.

Along the way, we’ll also check out more iPhone app price cuts, several games and more items for your iPhone 4. As always, details on these and many other items are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

Long seen as a consumer-focused computer company, Apple reportedly now plans to use popularity surrounding the iPhone and iPad to go after small businesses. As part of the new drive, the Cupertino, Calif. company intends to hire more engineers at its Apple Store retail stores, along with offering conference rooms for local businesses, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Already Apple has begun searching for small business sales staff that could help local companies create computer systems, similar to what HP and Dell now offer. Apple stores that have created teams aimed at small business have seen revenue double, according to the newspaper. Small businesses in North America will spend $328 billion in 2011, up from $310 billion in 2010, according to Gartner.

You may want to mark today as a turning point in the long-running rivalry between Apple and Microsoft. The Cupertino, Calif. company will likely emerge from Microsoft’s shadow, earning more revenue this quarter than the software giant, according to an independent analyst.

“It’s likely that Apple will have surpassed Microsoft in revenue for the first time in the company’s recent history – and that it will continue to do so in the future,” Andy Zaky writes at AppleInsider. Tuesday, Apple announced $15.7 billion in quarterly revenue. Microsoft is expected today to announce $15.26 billion in revenue, according to Zaky.

AT&T has had a love-hate relationship with the iPhone. Today, however, the mood at Apple’s exclusive U.S. carrier probably is unadulterated adoration for the iconic handset. Along with announcing $30.8 billion in second-quarter revenue, AT&T said it activated 3.2 million iPhones during the financial quarter just ended. As the late-night infomercials often say – ‘But, wait! There’s even more.”

Despite the chatter about reception problems, AT&T said demand for the iPhone 4 was ten times that of the iPhone 3GS when it was released last year. Additionally, nearly a third (27 percent) of those were new subscribers. “That is, Steve Jobs and company helped AT&T bring in another 860,000 customers,” wrote All Things Digital’s Peter Kafka.

We start the day with a deal on a 2.66GHz MacBook. This Core 2 Duo machine has a 13.3-inch screen – all for $759. We also take a look at Textfree, a texting application for the iPhone or iPod touch available from the iTunes App Store. We wrap up our featured deals with a sale on various Capcom games for the iPhone.

Details on these and many other items (such as Radio Gaga and MYOB’s Checkout Point-of-Sale application) are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

It’s an envious spot to be in: Apple’s iPhone and iPads are in such demand that the Cupertino, Calif. company spent much of Tuesday’s earnings call emphasizing it is dancing as fast as it can. “We’re working around the clock to try to get supply/demand in balance, in the scheme of things, it’s a good problem to have,” Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook told reporters.

The record third-quarter profit report and news that every category except iPods were up, did more to quiet the ‘antennagate’ controversy than all the free iPhone 4 cases in Cupertino. ”Let me be very clear on this: We are selling every unit we are making,” Cook crowed. Indeed. Although analysts were nervous about the potential effect of talk about dropped calls having on earnings, today, Oppenheimer’s Yair Reiner summed up the current feelings: “Antennagate Schmantennagate.”

China Telecom has reversed course and now expresses interest in offering the iPhone to subscribers. The decision to sell the iPhone hinges on whether Apple will offer a CDMA version of the iconic handset, a Wednesday report suggests.

“If we can have an iPhone, that would be good, but we’ll just wait and see” if the Cupertino, Calif. company offers one, the Wall Street Journal quotes an unnamed China Telecom official. Reportedly, Apple is working on a CDMA iPhone, although the company has made no public comment.