Leander Kahney - page 50

This post originally appeared on our friend Graham Bower’s Mac Predictions blog. Graham’s post is pure speculation — but a good read nonetheless.

Take a sheet of letter paper and fold it in half. You’re holding something about the size of Apple’s new iSlate. Imagine that scrap of paper is a beautiful, shiny combination of glass, aluminum and plastic, weighing about 10 ounces. How does it feel?

The first thing you’ll notice is that, unlike the iPhone, you want to hold it with both hands. And this presents a bit of a problem. You don’t have a hand free to touch the screen.Your thumbs are resting on the edges of the device, and are not long enough or manoeuvrable enough to reach the middle. Your fingers, however, are idly stretched across the back of the device.

And this gives us the clue we need to suspect that there’s some truth the rumors doing the rounds that Apple’s working on a multi touch surface for the back of a new iPhone. But perhaps it’s destined for the new tablet, instead (or as well). More than just a gimmick, this all-new input method would enable users to interact with the device without moving their hands from its sides. It also has the benefit of enabling you to use the device without obscuring the screen with your hands.

Opening tonight in Brooklyn — an art exhibit based on obsolete Apple technology that examines the “fetishizing” of products that are soon discarded.

The installations include a mechanical interpretation of Steve Jobs’ famous Stanford commencement speech, and a doormat with Bill Gates’ face on it.

See the video and several pix after the jump.

Is this the best MacBook vinyl sticker mod yet?

“I made this the other day for an Apple fan, a BIG Apple fan,” says its creator, JiroBot, otherwise known as New Yorker Jiro Baskin.

Compare to the clever Snow White mod and the equally witty Carmen Miranda mod (hit the jump).

Still, Steve gets my vote. Anyone seen its rival?

Thanks Seth J.

Preliminary United States PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 4Q09 (Thousands of Units)

Note: Data includes desk-based PCs, mobile PCs and X86 servers.
Source: Gartner (January 2010)

Apple’s Mac shipments grew 24% in Q4 2009, riding the industry’s strongest growth period in seven years, according to new numbers from research firm Gartner.

Worldwide, the computer market bounced back in a big way at the end of 2009, Gartner says, largely on the back of low-cost netbooks and consumer laptops, which were heavily-discounted for the holidays.

“These preliminary results indicate the recovery of the PC market on a global level,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner in a statement.

Worldwide computer shipments grew 22.1%  in Q4 (numbering 90 million units).

Hewlett-Packard displaced Dell as the biggest PC maker in the U.S., and Acer established itself as the low-price leader.

In the U.S., Apple saw gains of 23.2% compared to Q4 2008 (which was dismal). However, competitors like Toshiba led the PC pack with 70.7% growth, trailed by Acer (48.4%) and HP (45.9%). Dell lagged with only 5.5% growth, largely because it didn’t discount for the holidays. “Dell was not as aggressive on pricing as its competitors in order to protect profits,” Gartner said.

Growth was driven by the consumer market — not the business market — and the Windows 7 was did not create additional PC demand, although Gartner said “the launch was a good market tool during holiday sales.”

“It was the strongest quarter over quarter growth rate the worldwide PC market has experienced in the last seven years,” Gartner said in a statement.

Full release after the jump.

LAS VEGAS — I’ve never paid much attention to laptop sleeves, but as they get fancier and fancier, they are becoming perhaps the most popular MacBook accessory out there.

At least, that’s according to one high-end sleeve and case maker from Australia.

LAS VEGAS – Pineapple Electronics’ Rumble KW Headphones have an unusual design, which makes them 100 percent waterproof. Unlike most other earbuds, the Rumble KW Headphones are good for swimming laps, snorkeling, or just taking a shower.

The in-ear style buds create sound not through sound waves, like traditional headphones and earbuds, but through bone conduction. The Rumble KWs vibrate bones in the listener’s skull, creating sound in the inner-ear.

“See, it has no holes whatsoever,” said Pineapple’s Philip Kye, as the Rumble Headphones played in a glass of water.

On the show floor of CES, the KW’s sibling headphones — Pineapple’s Rumble K Headphones, which aren’t waterproof — sounded pretty good, if a little muddy. The bass is outstanding, and they create a freaky buzzing and thumping in your ear.”The technology is tuned for lower frequencies, more bass,” Kye said.

The KWs are limited to 100 decibels, so can’t damage the listener’s hearing. They seemed well-suited for gaming — or listening to music while cleaning the hull of a boat.

Pineapple Electronics’ website.

LAS VEGAS — The iTamtam is perhaps the strangest iPod dock yet conceived — but also the most practical. It’s a sturdy iPod speaker that doubles as a stool. It is based on a famous stool from the sixties that’s now featured in the Museum of Modern Art.

“It’s a speaker you can sit on,” said Patrick Parma, a spokesman for Branex Design, the Parisian firm that holds the rights for the Tam Tam stool.

The seat was updated as a speaker for its 40th anniversary. Called the iTamtam, the speaker/stool has an iPod/iPhone dock on top and a pair of 25-watt speakers built under the seat.

Apple’s iPod earbuds are the next earring, says Deos, a New York jewelery company which makes crystal covers for the ubiquitous white earbuds.

“Coming from the fashion business, we asked ourselves: ‘What is the next earring?” said Deos partner Charles Siebenberg.

“This is the next earring,” he said, holding up a pair of white earbuds.

Encrusted in Swarovski Crystals, the $98 earbud covers snap right on the earbud speaker housing. Each pair has more than 200 Swarovski Elements and is available in solid colors, floating colors (gradient mixed) and patterns.

As well as Swarovski crystals, the company also sells covers with Swarovski Crystal cuffs, and covers made from diamond and titanium, aluminum, and sports silicone.

Of all the cases at CES, Ivyskin’s SmartCase looked to be one of the best. Made from tough polycarbonate in a range of colors, the SmartCase is a nice-looking iPhone/iPod case with a removable back plate that can be swapped out for an interchangeable battery pack (hit the jump for more photos of Ivskin’s Federa Hedayatnia showing how it works).

Computing legend and former Apple Fellow Alan Kay has kindly written a detailed note explaining a comment he made at CES, facetiously reported here. Looking for a newsy nugget from Kay’s complex talk, I was trying to make a joke about something profound being revealed at the CES gadget orgy. (“We all thought it was pretty funny too,” said Kay in a separate email).

Kay’s note explains a comment he made about the logical expression NOT BOTH underlying all human thinking.

“What I said was that all human symbol/logical REPRESENTATION systems and all computers past present and future can be made from NOT BOTH,” Kay says.

Kay’s full, fascinating email after the jump.

LAS VEGAS — Peter Sisson is the CEO of Toktumi, a San Francisco company with a cool app that adds a second phone number to your iPhone. He kinda looks like Roger Sterling, the silver-haired, hard-drinking, hard smoking character from Mad Men.

Except Peter isn’t smoking, and he isn’t drinking. But he’s certainly got the same moxie. Sisson borrowed someone’s badge to gain entrance to an exclusive, invite-only CES event so that he could pitch a new version of his iPhone app to some of the hundreds of press in attendance. I’m glad he did, because it’s a doozie.

UPDATE: My apologies, this story is incorrect. I followed up with Buffalo Technologies, who now say Apple had only an advisory role in the inclusion of Firewire. The decision was not an Apple mandate, and not all portable drives sold in the Apple Store have Firewire as well as USB, as readers have noted. In an email, Buffalo’s Brian Verenkoff says:

“Apple never insisted we do anything, nor can they force any company to do something they don’t want to. Obviously given the nature of this product, we designed it for the iPod/iPhone user base and did have ongoing dialog with Apple to make sure we developed a product that was compatible with their store and their customers. At the end of the day, every decision was made by Buffalo as to the product features.”

LAS VEGAS – Here’s something I bet you didn’t know. Every portable hard drive sold in Apple’s retail stores must include a Firewire port.

I found this out while getting a demo of Buffalo Technology’s Dualie, a combination iPhone/iPod dock and 500-Gbyte dockable hard drive.

LAS VEGAS — Camera snobs are up in arms about Samsung’s brand new NX10 compact DSLR, which is built on a proprietary lens format, making it incompatible with thousands of lenses out there.

But the NX10 isn’t aimed at lens junkies. It’s meant for soccer moms looking to step up from point-and-shoots, who could give two-hoots that the NX10 is incompatible with other cameras’ lenses.

A quick hands-on at CES gives the impression that Samsung hit the sweet spot. Wifey and I have 30,000 digital pictures of the kids, most of them terrible because they were taken with point-and-shoots. The NX10 is the kind of camera we might like: easy to use, easy to carry around and capable of taking damn fine pictures.

Playing around with it, I can say the NX10 is a well-built, fast and responsive camera that promises the quality pictures of a DSLR without the bulk or complexity.

LAS VEGAS — Businesses must have a mobile app. That was the message from a CES panel discussion of iPhone apps and their impact on culture, technology, advertising and entertainment.

At the session — iPhone Apps-Change Agents-App Breakthroughs, Video, Games, Mobile Engagement and Advertising — panelists urged companies to get working on mobile apps. Not just for the iPhone, but Android and Palm as well.

“It’s like 10 years ago when the debate was: ‘do I have to get a website or not?’” said Walker Fenton, GM of NewsGator’s Media & Consumer Products. “People were unsure, but these days, the answer is obvious: if you’re not on the Web, it’s like you don’t exist.”

Fenton added that companies must be on the iPhone.

“It’s almost a requirement,” he said. “You’ve got to be on the iPhone; same as you’ve got to be on the Web.”

He concluded: “If you are wondering about whether or not to get on the mobile, the answer is ‘yes’.’ Get on the mobile now.”

LAS VEGAS — The movie ticketing website Fandango is adding paperless movie ticketing to its iPhone app, an executive said at CES.

Fandango is currently testing an app upgrade that shows Fandango’s ticketing barcode on the screen of the iPhone, instead of having to print it out.

“We’re testing it now,” said Darren Cross of Fandango at a session on iPhone apps. “It’s not too far away. We’ll have it pretty soon.”

An iPhone app that could get you into movie theaters is a big step towards the long-promised ticketless future.

Right now, tickets purchased through Fandango’s site must be printed out at home, and the ticket’s barcode scanned at the theater. It’s pretty painless, but it would be much easier to simply display the barcode on screen.

However, tickets purchased through Fandango’s iPhone app (which is actually easier to use than the website) must be picked up physically at will call. It’s a minor inconvenience, but undermines the electronic nature of the transaction.

Here’s a good idea for virally marketing apps that Apple should think about — wirelessly beaming apps to other iPhones like the Zune’s music sharing feature.

Microsoft’s Zune is mostly a me-too product, but it’s one great feature is being able to lend music to friends Zune-to-Zune via Wi-Fi. Shared tracks can be played three times, after which they must be purchased from the Zune marketplace. It’s a great idea but tragically underused because there are so few Zunes out there.

LAS VEGAS — It was too early for most hungover CES attendees, but the brilliant computer scientist and former Apple Fellow Alan Kay explained the basis of all knowledge at a 9AM keynote speech here.

Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer offered a very brief glimpse of Hewlett-Packard’s upcoming tablet during his pre-CES keynote on Wednesday night. An appearance by the HP tablet was the most-anticipated part of his keynote because the device will likely go head-to-head with Apple’s upcoming slate, if and when it is released.

Although it was on stage at the Las Vegas Hilton for only a couple of minutes, the HP Tablet looks thin and polished — hardware wise anyway. Ballmer showed it running Windows 7 and Amazon’s Kindle for the PC software.

“You can flip through pages with your finger,” he said, flipping through pages with his finger. “And you can buy content from Amazon right within the app.”

He then proceeded to show a video running on the tablet, but was briefly frustrated when he couldn’t hit the tiny buttons on screen with his fingers. “Ooops,” he said after trying a couple of times. He eventually got it to play. Microsoft hasn’t yet optimized the tablet’s UI for big chubby fingers.

He didn’t mention the tablet’s name, pricing or ship date. He simply said, “It’s a beautiful little product” and it will be shipping “later this year.”

It appears to have a 10-inch screen and is very thin. It has no visible buttons on the top surface. The HP tablet will be one of the major products from a big-name manufacturer to compete with Apple’s device, which will likely be unveiled at a special media event in San Francisco on January 27.

LAS VEGAS — Orbitsound claims its T12 Soundbar sounds so good, they refused to demo it on the show floor.

“It just won’t do it justice,” said Ted Fletcher, founder of Orbitsound, which is based in London.

“It’ll revolutionize the way you listen to music,” he added.

LAS VEGAS — Dexim, a young Chinese company that is starting to win design awards, is at CES showing off an iPod/iPhone docking station.

The MHub Docking Station isn’t the most exciting product here, but looks well-made and well-designed, and promises to reduce a considerable amount of desktop clutter. It includes a iPhone/iPod dock, SD card reader and a three USB connections.

“It really reduces your desktop spaghetti,” said Patrick Tarpey, a spokesman for Dexim.

Priced at $80, the MHub won an International CES Innovations 2010 Design and Engineering Award, and competes with Griffin’s iSimplifi.

LAS VEGAS — Lasers make a big difference for pico projectors, says Microvision, which, coincidentally, is showing off the first laser pico projector made for iPod at CES.

Although pico projectrors are a crowded field, Microvision’s SHOWWX Laser Pico Projector is the first powered by laser, which gives it better color and infinite focus, the company says. Most other pico projectors are powered by LED.

LAS VEGAS — Powermat is a wireless charging pad for powering up gadgets without plugging them into their chargers. I’ve been testing a competing product from Pure Energy Solutions for several months, and found that wireless chargers really change your charging habits. My wife and kids, for example, who never charge their cell phones/iPods, have no trouble dropping their gadgets on the Pure Energy’s WildCharger charging pad. For once, there’s not a bunch of lifeless gadgets lying around.

Powermat has noticed similar trends among its buyers, and at CES is showing off several new, inexpensive charging pads priced to encourage users to have several pads around the house.

LAS VEGAS — The first piece of hardware to take advantage of the iPhone 3.0 OS’s much-heralded hardware interface has finally surfaced at CES. And of all things, it’s a speaker clock from Sharper Image.

LAS VEGAS — Ed Curran is a reporter for WBBM-TV in Chicago, and he’s shooting CES using an iPhone.

LAS VEGAS — The biggest electronics show in America —  the Consumer Electronics Show (or CES for short) — opens later this week in Las Vegas, but several companies paid big bucks to preview their new wares to the hundreds of journalists at a special preview event on Tuesday evening.

And there, in the middle of the room, was this bright-red Apple TV. Yeah, a high-def, flat-panel TV shaped like an Apple. The question is, what idiot would buy a TV shaped like an Apple?

“It’s unique, it’s fun, it’s apples,” said the flak unhelpfully.

Made by an unknown-to-me Chinese company, Hannspree, perhaps someone thought it might be mistaken for a real Apple TV, made by, you know, Apple? It has a remarkably Apple-like logo on the front (see the pic after the jump). And it does remind you of the old toilet-seat iBooks of old; the transluscent plastic ones with the carrying handle.

But the company was also displaying TVs covered in fur that looked like Polar and Panda bears, so who knows?