Leander Kahney - page 39

The new 27-inch iMac launched today has room for two internal hard drives, including a solid state drive (SSD) that could halve boot times.

Apple suggests putting the operating system and key applications on the SSD, and everything else on a traditional Serial ATA drive, which come in 1 TB or 2 TB capacities.

The iMac’s product page says:

To give your iMac a real performance boost, configure your 27-inch iMac on the Apple Online Store with an optional 256GB solid-state drive. You can choose it as your only drive or have it installed in addition to the built-in hard drive, allowing you to store the operating system, critical applications, and important files on the solid-state drive and your other files on the hard drive. Because solid-state drives have no moving parts, the computer can access data at over twice the speed of hard drives. Which makes starting up your iMac and launching applications faster than you ever thought possible.

This is the first time the iMac has been offered with dual drives. It’s not cheap, however: A top-of-the-line 27-inch iMac with a 2 TB traditional drive and a 256 GB SSD costs $2,899 — a $900 premium over the base $1,999 price.

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Apple’s Magic Trackpad looks like an optional peripheral for now, but it’s much more than that. It’s several nails in the mouse’s coffin. It may even be a stake through its heart.

Apple’s intent for the Magic Trackpad is clear: it’s a replacement for the mouse that brings multitouch gestures to the desktop. As more and more people use multitouch on their mobile devices, it’ll become more natural to use them on the desktop also.

Doug Engelbart invented the mouse, but Apple’s first Macintosh brought it to market and popularized it. And now, after more than 26 years as the primary UI device for desktops, Apple is beginning to phase it out. The success of Apple’s iOS platform, which uses multitouch as its primary interface, shows the path of Apple’s trajectory — it’s multitouch all the way.

I just got a call from Apple’s PR department to discuss today’s historical DMCA exception ruling that makes iPhone jailbreaking legal.

Unfortunately, because of the legal issues involved, the Apple spokeswoman would only provide me with the following statement on the record:

“Apple’s goal has always been to insure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience. As we’ve said before, the vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones as this can violate the warranty and can cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably.”

Got a spare $170,000 lying around? If so, UK jeweler Stuart Hughes will sell you an iPad covered in solid gold that weighs a hefty 5.5lbs.

The 64GB 3G iPad is covered in 2.5 kilograms of solid 24ct gold. “A magnificent combination of top of the industry technology and unrivalled craftsmanship was involved in creating this masterpiece,” the jeweler says. The iPad will be limited to 25 units.

Stuart Hughes sells a bunch of other blinged-up gizmos, including a $33,000 iPhone 4 covered in 150 grams of 24ct gold. It’s a 32GB model without a SIM lock. The gold doubles its weight to about 290 grams. It includes a hand-finished wallet made from Ostrich foot.

No word on whether the gold improves reception, but investing in gold has never been hotter.

Back in the day the entertainment industry tried to stop consumers from videotaping TV shows to watch at a later time. But the courts and Congress said taping TV shows is a non-infringing use of copyrighted works: it is “fair use.”

Now, the Copyright Office has determined that Apple locking the iPhone to prevent it running unapproved apps is an unfair restriction on consumers’ fair use rights.

Consumers should be allowed to jailbreak their iPhones and install whatever applications they like: not just those approved by Apple. Unlocking your iPhone to install non-approved apps is a legal exemption to the DMCA, the Copyright Office has just ruled.

To reach this conclusion, the Copyright Office applied the four famous “fair use factors” to the case:

I just got an email notification from Apple about my free Bumper case, which I just ordered using the iPhone 4 app.

“That was quick,” I thought. But then I saw the estimated ship date: Aug 27. And the estimated arrival? September 1st.

Did anyone get an earlier ship date?

Even though Apple recorded record revenues earlier this week, it is still trailing Microsoft, which just reported its own record revenues.

There had been some speculation earlier this week that Apple might surpass Microsoft in revenues for the first time.

However, Microsoft is still one jump ahead: It just had its best Q4 ever with $16.04 billion in revenue.

Apple recorded $15.7 billion in revenue.

Microsoft made the haul on sales of its old stalwarts, the Windows and Office software lines. It’s online and entertainment divisions, which include its mobile efforts, lost $696 million and $172 million respectively.

It’s only a matter of time before Apple passes Microsoft in revenues, and will likely come next quarter. Apple is estimating $18 billion but may hit $20 billion: it routinely lowballs Wall St. Apple already passed Microsoft’s market capitalization in May.

To see how big Apple could get, check out this Macworld story: Think Apple is big now? You ain’t seen nothing yet, which argues that Apple’s iPad, iPhone and overseas businesses are just getting started, while the Mac goes from strength to strength.

Apple has started issuing $30 refunds to iPhone 4 customers who bought a Bumper, report members of MacRumors’ forums.

For customers who bought a Bumper with a credit card, the refunds are automatic; no need to do anything. One forum member reports:

Just got off the phone with Apple to ask if I could get Bumper purchase refunded and he informed me that Apple has begun crediting back credit cards today and will be doing them in batches throughout the week.

Via 9to5Mac.

Would you like to ask Jason Fried, founder and CEO of 37 Signals, a question? Tomorrow is your chance.

Tune in at 11AM, Thursday, July 22, to a livestream of an interview with Fried, courtesy of HP’s Input|Output series.

Fried’s 37signals is behind the popular, Web-based workgroup services Basecamp, Highrise, and others. But in addition to Web apps, Fried is also an expert on the modern workplace, and how “the new workplace in the new normal.”

Fried is becoming well-known for his strong opinions about the inefficiencies of the typical workplace and how it’s designed for distractions. His ideas are spreading via his popular blog and Twitter feed. This story from Inc. magazine — The Way I Work: Jason Fried of 37Signals — serves as an introduction to Fried’s approach.

I’ve been invited to live tweet during the webcast with Fried, and would like to invite you to submit your questions. Fried will be discussing everything about the modern workplace, from physical layouts to management practices and what tech-tools are indispensable.

The interview will be livestreamed on Thursday at 11 AM PST or 2 PM EST. Tune in using this link.

To ask a Jason a question, post it in the comments below or on Twitter. Address your question to @lkahney with the hashtag #hpio, or do it yourself during the webcast using the #hpio hashtag.

HP’s Input|Output series has featured Chris Anderson of Wired; Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class; and John Battelle, Federated Media. Coming up soon is Clay Shirky, the renowned author and teacher.

Nice parody of an expensive Apple accessory (which makes a flaw into a feature) from designer Aaron Draczynski, aka @papermodelplane.

Via OS X Daily.

T-Mobile USA is very close to getting the iPhone in the fall, ending Apple’s exclusive relationship with AT&T, according to a highly placed source at the wireless company.

Talks between Apple and T-Mobile are at an advanced stage, our source says, and it’s 80 percent likely that the iPhone will be coming to T-Mobile in Q3.

The source works at T-Mobile but asked not to be quoted directly and to remain anonymous because they aren’t authorized to talk to the press.

T-Mobile’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom, which carries the iPhone in Germany, was able to influence, the source said. T-Mobile USA is the fourth-largest U.S. carrier with 33.7 million customers.

Apple’s massive data center in North Carolina will come online early next year, Apple execs said during an analyst conference call on Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s on-schedule,” said Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer. “We expect it completed by the end of the calendar year.”

The $1 billion center is as big as the world’s biggest data facilities, and has been the subject of much speculation since construction started in August 2009. Occupying 500,000 square feet, the data center is about five times the size of Apple’s data center in Newark, California.

Two months ago, Apple passed Microsoft as the most-valuable tech company. Soon, it may pass its rival in terms of revenues. Microsoft makes about $61.5 billion a year: Apple is on track to make $60 billion.

Question is: As Apple gets bigger and bigger, is it in danger of becoming the new Microsoft?  Did you prefer the old, underdog Apple?

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The iPad is a runaway hit and it’s going mainstream faster than anything they’ve seen, Apple execs are saying.

“It is not following a typical early adopter curve and taking a while to cross over into the mainstream,” said Apple COO Tim Cook during an analyst conference call.

The iPhone 4 is Apple’s fastest-selling device to date and there’s no sign whatsoever that the antenna issue is impacting sales or returns, Apple executives said.

“The demand for iPhone 4 is stunning,” said Apple COO Tim Cook during a conference call with Wall St. analysts. “Let me be very clear on this: We are selling every unit we are making.”

Cook said the antenna issue has had no impact on sales.

“My phone is ringing off the hook with people who want more supply,” he said.

He also said there is not a significant number of returns of the iPhone 4. In fact, there are fewer returns than iPhone 3GS.

“The ones for this specific (antenna) issue are extremely small,” Cook said.

Giving iPhone 4 customers free cases will cost Apple about $175 million, Apple executives said during a conference call with Wall St. analysts.

Apple reported another blockbuster quarter thanks to record sales of iPhones and Macs, making the most money ever in company history: $15.7 billion.

Even more unbelievable, Apple is projecting $18 billion in revenue next quarter—and the company is known for lowballing estimates.

Apple is likely to equal Microsoft in annual revenues this year, and may even pass it’s long-time rival. Apple is on track to make more than $60 billion in revenue this year, which is almost equal to Microsoft’s $61.5 billion. Apple already surpassed Microsoft two months ago as the world’s most highly-valued tech company.

Apple sold boatloads of Macs and iPhones. The iPad is also a big hit: Apple has shifted 3.27 million iPads since launch. The only downside was iPod sales.

Here are the key numbers:

• Macs: 3.47 million Macs sold, the most ever in a single quarter, and 33% more than last year.
• iPhones: 8.4 million sold, up 61% year-over-year.
• iPods: 9.41 million sold, down 8% from the year-ago quarter.

In addition, Steve Jobs hinted at even more new products this year:

“It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apple’s history with iPhone 4,” Steve Jobs said in a statement. “iPad is off to a terrific start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products still to come this year.”

Here’s the full press release:

The Pogoplug is a great little gadget that connects up to four hard drives to the Internet. It’s very handy for serving up files, music and movies to anyone, anywhere. We reviewed it very favorably.

Now there’s about to be a business version, the Pogoplug Biz, which adds a bunch of features for small and medium business (SMB) users. It’s like Dropbox, except the data is not on some other company’s servers. The Pogoplug Biz is available for pre-order for $299 and includes lifetime Pogoplug service.

What It Is: The Bubble Slider case is a distinctive hard shell from Hard Candy Cases that’s saved my iPhone 4 on several occasions now.

Why It’s Cool: When I show people my iPhone 4, they often spend as much time admiring the Bubble Slider case as the device itself.

PR expert Matt Seeger said Apple did issue a recall last Friday by providing iPhone 4 customers with free Bumper cases.

“From my perspective, this was a classic case of a recall,” said Seeger, who is chair of the Department of Communication at Wayne State University in Detroit. “They said, ‘Bring the product in, we’ll retrofit it.’ It’s not what most people think of as a recall, which is a safety issue. But this was a recall.”

The FCC has approved Apple’s Magic Trackpad, which means the device could be announced as early as this week.

A device known by the model number A1339 and described as a “Bluetooth Device” has just shown up in the FCC’s database. Given how quickly Apple has in the past announced devices that have just approved by the FCC, the Magic Trackpad could be officially launched within days.

The device would act as a big touch-sensitive trackpad for desktop computers, such as an iMac. It looks as though the device supports handwriting recognition, as well as the swipes and gestures found on the Magic Mouse and MacBook Pro trackpads.

Here are some more leaked photos of a prototype:

Don’t miss this: it’s a scream.

That hilarious animated Taiwanese news segment on Steve Jobs and the iPhone 4 we posted earlier now has English subtitles, thanks to reader Michael Chang.

It shows Jobs defeating Bill Gates in a lightsaber battle and donning a Darth Vader mask; cops breaking down the door of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen’s apartment; and Jobs cutting of the fingers of customers who complain about iPhone reception issues. “Just get rid of those fingers,” Jobs tells the customer. “Then there’s no problems.”

This is a guest column by Dan Burcaw, founder and CEO of Double Encore, which develops apps for iPhone (and now iPad). Dan is extremely passionate about why developers should work on iPhone apps instead of Android. Here he explains why Android developers don’t make money, and why Android apps will always be secondary to iPhone/iPad apps.

A few years ago, apps were novelties – a cute idea. Now there are over 250,000 of those cute ideas in the App Store alone – and the Android Market is catching up quickly.

Apps are like the Wild Wild West – and from a developer’s perspective, there’s definitely a shoot-out coming. Google vs. Apple. iPhone and iPad vs. Android. Who should you code for, and why? For that matter, as a consumer, which phone and apps should you choose?

On one hand, you’ve got Apple with the newly released iPad and iPhone – a well-established if tightly controlled platform. On the other, there’s the Shiny New Android platform, with its open-ended promise of apps and plenty of freedom – freedom of handset, freedom of carriers. It sounds like a developer’s paradise … which is in fact how Google markets it. But I predict that a year from now, developers and consumers alike are going to find the Android platform really disappointing.

Apple has posted video of this morning’s press conference about the iPhone 4’s antenna. You can watch it here. However, it does not include the juicy Q&A session, where Jobs rips the tech press for creating Antennagate.