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Macworld 2011 starts on Thursday, January 27 and runs until Saturday, January 29. The show floor is open from 10am – 6:00pm all three days.
Satarii is a small San Francisco startup trying to get a super cool iPhone video accessory off the ground.
The Satarii Star is a tracking device that follows your every move while shooting video. Just set the iPhone in the cradle and put the tracking device in your pocket. When you move, the tracking cradle swivels around to keep you in the frame. It’s a super clever idea and looks to work pretty well. See the video below (the fun starts a few seconds in).
Master storyteller Mike Daisey’s one-man-show “The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” is a theater piece that every Apple fan should see.
It’s a laugh-out-loud monologue about the world of Apple, but it delivers an important message: The products we love are made under inhumane conditions.
Here’s the moment when Apple sold its 10 billionth app over the weekend. The screenshot was captured by Fabio M Zambelli of the Italin tech blog, SetteB.IT.
Curiously, Zambelli took the screenshot at 10.30AM GMT. However, the winner of the sweepstakes says the winning app was downloaded at 9:30 GMT. “For 1 hour a lot of people wasted time,” said Zambelli in an email.
The winner of the Apple’s 10 billionth App download sweepstakes nearly made a horrible mistake: she hung up the phone when Apple called to say she’d won.
“I thought it was a prank call,” says Gail Davis of Orpington, Kent, UK. “I said, ‘Thank you very much, I’m not interested’ and I hung up.”
Apple has just announced the winner of the App Store’s 10 billionth download sweepstakes.
The 10 billionth app was downloaded by Gail Davis of Orpington, Kent, UK.
Gail downloaded the free Paper Glider app, netting her a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card.
Congrats Gail!
BTW: Looks like reader @Jack predicted the correct time frame in an earlier post trying to predict when the 10 billionth app would be downloaded.
Gossip rag Valleywag claims Tim Cook is gay. The evidence:
1. He appears to be single, a “lifelong bachelor.”
2. It’s the subject of gossip inside Apple.
2. Two “well-placed sources” say so.
If Cook steps into the CEO role, Apple’s other executives will encourage him to come out, Valleywag says. This would be a good thing for Silicon Valley and for gay rights.
Being gay is certainly no problem here in the San Francisco Bay Area. No one bats an eyelid. But Apple’s other execs are concerned about public perception, Valleywag says. Could it spell trouble for the Apple brand?
It’s not bad. Don’t miss the YouTube comments. Here’s a typical sample:
I can’t wait!!!!!! Finally!!!! iPhone on Verizon!!!!!
I get to dump my crapass Android piece of poop for a real smartphone!
yay
T-Mobile has hinted it may be the third U.S. wireless carrier to get the iPhone.
“Ask Apple,” said T-Mobile executives when asked whether it was getting the iPhone 4 at a press conference in New York today, according to Electronista.
Though neither confirming or denying, T-Mobile’s answer suggests that talks between the carrier and Apple are ongoing. Verizon used similar language in the run up to its announcement that it would be carrying the iPhone.
One issue that T-Mobile did discuss was the readiness of the iPhone’s radio chips. To work on T-Mobile’s network, the iPhone would have to support the 1,700MHz 3G band.
T-Mobile president Philipp Humm said while the current iPhone isn’t compatible with T-Mobile’s network, future 3G chips would support more cellular frequencies.
“We’re not part of the [iPhone] chipset today,” president Philipp Humm said. “But we have chipsets which support five, or up to 10 spectrum bands in the market, so we should expect there will be more degrees of freedom going forward.”
T-Mobile may be eyeing the iPhone 5, which is rumored to have a dual-mode chipset from Qualcomm with both CDMA and GSM. If it includes both 850MHz and 1,700MHz, Apple could produce a single phone that works on almost all carriers.
The great iPad 2 screen resolution debate rages on, this time with a downer rumor from Digg’s Kevin Rose.
There will be no change in the iPad 2’s screen resolution, said Rose on Twitter, citing his “iPad source.” (The tweet seems to have disappeared, but Rose posted a screenshot of his IM on Instagram).
Rose, of course, has a spotty record when it comes to predictions. Less than two week’s ago, he was saying it would have a Retina Display. The news is sure to a bummer for those of us holding out for a Retina Display, or something close.
Apple’s increasing use of tamper-resistant screws is a form of planned obsolescence, says one critic.
As previously reported, Apple is using proprietary five-point security screws in the iPhone 4 and new MacBooks Airs. The special screws were first used in the 2009 MacBook Pro to stop users from replacing the battery.
The screws are unique to Apple and serve one purpose only: to keep users out.
The plan, says iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens, is to force customers to upgrade their gadgets sooner than necessary. They also make them reliant on Apple for expensive repairs and upgrades.
“It’s a form of planned obsolescence,” says Wiens. “General Motors invented planned obsolescence in the 1920s. Apple is doing the same thing.”
Designer Charis Tsevis built this photo mosaic of Steve Jobs for the Italian magazine Panorama. Look carefully: it’s all Apple products. Can you spot the original iSight camera? Check the detail of the eye below.
Reader Adam from Cape Town thinks Apple should call the next iPad the “iPad 2x.” Here’s his reasoning:
Calling the next iPad the iPad 2x makes a lot of sense. It can be used effectively in their marketing messages, to differentiate it from the current iPad, and also to set it apart from its competitors.
It’s the iPad 2, twice as good as the original iPad, with:
2x resolution per axis (even if the camera will take smaller resolution pics).
2x the speed, with dual core processing.
2x the RAM, to achieve the above.
2x cameras. And if one of the cameras were 8.3MP, it would by 2x full HD…
One could add even more to the list.I’m pretty sure they won’t get 2x docks, but it would be a nice! Similarly, I doubt they’ll squeeze 2x battery life out of the new iPad.
Of course, the one thing that’s difficult to market is 2x as thin and/or light, makes more sense to say half as thin and/or heavy…
What do you guys think? Anyone got a better name?
This render is supposed to be Hewlett-Packard/Palm’s upcoming web tablet — or rather, two tablets.
According to Engadget, HP/Palm is working on a pair of tablets for launch February 9 and available later this year, likely September.
There’s a 9-inch webOS tablet codenamed Topaz and a 7-inch model named Opal, which will be pitched as an e-reader.
They feature a front-facing camera, micro USB port and a Touchstone back for wireless charging. There may be versions for different carriers: WiFi-only, AT&T 3G, and Verizon LTE in September; AT&T LTE in July 2012.
Most interestingly, the tabs are buttonless. There’s no Home button. The Home button is something that Apple is also interested in doing away with — and Apple has just introduced system-wide multitouch gestures in the latest iOS beta.
Apple’s blowout holiday quarter included the sale of more than 16 million iPhones.
That may seem like a lot, but look at the chart above from The Atlantic: it looks like Apple’s just getting started.
In the last two quarters, Apple sold 30 million iPhones — half of what it sold in the previous three years (60 million units). In other words, iPhone sales are starting to seriously kick up.
Some analysts predict 100 million iPhones sold next year. Yeah, that’s right: One. Hundred. Million.
That’s a big frickin’ number.
Apple COO Tim Cook is a bit of a cypher. Despite being the number two guy at Apple for a good dozen years, his public appearances have been few and brief.
To get better acquainted, check out this video of a commencement speech he gave at Auburn University, his alma mater.
In it, Cook thanks Steve Jobs for changing his life and how joining Apple in 1998, when the company was on the ropes, turned out to be the “best decision of my life.”
Thanks Les!
I hate to say it, but I have a bad feeling about Steve Jobs’ latest leave of absence. I’m not optimistic he will return to Apple. He’s been gravely ill and has cheated death, but there are some hard numbers about cancer and transplant survival rates that even someone as charmed as Jobs can’t escape.
I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but I get a feeling this is the start of Steve Jobs moving on from Apple. There will be a slow phasing out this year as he hands the reigns to Tim Cook. I expect it will be drawn out, a gradual transition of power. But I don’t think Jobs is returning to Apple.
The big question, of course, is how Apple will do without him.
The news of Steve Jobs’ latest medical leave is the top story on the New York Times‘ website right now. The Times‘ top slot is usually reserved for big international news stories, indicting the importance of Apple’s news to the business and technology world. It has pushed out news about Tunisia’s new government and a fresh Wikileaks scandal about offshore banks and alleged tax cheats.
Day Lyons, aka Fake Steve Jobs, has retired his online satirical column on news of Steve Jobs’ medical leave of absence. Lyons did this last time Jobs took medical leave, saying it was in bad taste to impersonate the CEO while he was sick.
This time around, Lyons has some harsh words for reporters who will inevitably pry into Jobs’ health:
Everyone here is shocked and saddened by the news that Steve Jobs is taking another leave of absence.
Whatever ails him, we hope he is treated successfully and makes a speedy recovery. Our sincerest best wishes go out to him and his family.
However, subtle differences in his two leave-of-abscence letters make us wonder whether things aren’t a little more serious this time around.
When will Apple sell its 10 billionth app? Next Friday morning (PST), according to my calculations.
Here’s how I worked it out. We took a screenshot of Apple’s app counter at about 8am on Jan 14th for our first report about the sweepstakes. It showed ~9,775,350,000.
At 8am this morning (Jan 16), it showed ~9,830,422,000. That’s a difference of about 55,072,000 apps in 48 hours, which means apps are being sold at a rate of ~1,147,333 apps an hour. (CNet says Apple is selling 1,000 apps every second, or 1,200,000 apps an hour).
The counter is approximately 170,000,000 apps short of 10 billion. At a rate of ~1,147,333 apps an hour, it would take 148 hours — or 6 days — to hit the 10 billion mark. Hence, early Friday morning.
Now, I’ve flunked math all through my life, and I am in no doubt I’m totally wrong (plus I’ve done a ton of rounding). So please help me out. When will the 10 billionth app be sold?
UPDATE: Reader Allan in the comments reckons it will be Saturday evening PST. Here’s his reasoning: “The counter is running at about four seconds per 1,000 apps (watching the counter), or 15,000 per minute. That’s 900,000 per hour, or 21,600,000 a day. When the counter hits 9.862 billion, there will be 138 million to go. At 21.6 million a day, it will take 551,232 seconds to go another 138 million, or 6.38 days, which is six days and a bit over nine hours. Set your alarms.”
Macworld is coming up fast and what better way to get attention than wearing our brand new, limited-edition MILF shirt?
The CultofMac team wore these shirts at CES last week and got a ton of compliments. We’re not exaggerating — everyone noticed this shirt. It’s perfect attire for a tech conference: smart, funny, stylish. And best of all — distinctive.
Available in slimming black and just $22.99, the limited-edition CultofMac MILF t-shirt is printed by Seattle-based MightTees. It’s 100% sweatshop-free. Designed, made, and printed in the USA.
Here are some more pictures:
Chris Chang of MICGadget blog has uncovered a new iPad 2 case with a pair of mysterious new holes.
The new openings are a rectangular slot on the upper right side (when viewing the iPad from the front), opposite the volume rocker and lock; and a smaller, squarer opening on the top of the iPad in the middle.
The makers of the case say it fits the iPad 2 “perfectly,” which means the new device may have capabilities.
Chang guesses that the top opening is for HMDI or mini-HDMI, and the side opening for a SD Card. Engadget on Friday claimed the iPad 2 will have an SD Card slot, although it places the opening on the bottom right of the new iPad, not the side.
Check out more pictures below.
Great news music fans: the excellent European streaming music service Spotify will be coming to the U.S. very soon.
According to the New York Post, Spotify has already signed one major music label and is about to snag Sony Music.
“Spotify is launching in the US, for sure … They’ve got the deals now,” a music industry insider told the Post.
Spotify is “the best desktop music player ever.”
New York Post: Spotify leaps to US. Euro music service near Sony deal
Willy Wonka would soil his britches! Chocolateer Timothy Childs controls his entire chocolate factory with his iPhone!
Childs in the co-founder of Tcho along with Wired’s Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalf.
Tcho (“technology” and “chocolate”) has a 30,000-square-foot factory on San Francisco’s waterfront.
It includes a chocolate “lab” where Childs cooks up new flavors. It’s all controlled by a custom iPhone app. “Using iPhone, I can actually log into each of the machines and control the times and the temperatures, turn them on and off,” he says.
Check it out in the video above.
Via Apple: Chocolatology meets technology and Gizmodo.