Leander Kahney - page 58

The Shanzai.com blog has posted pictures of a butt-ugly MacBook Air knockoff. It promises to be dirt cheap but misses the point by being fatter and uglier.

The knockoff also has a smaller screen — 11″ instead of 13″ — runs a shit processor and has no RAM (1.6GHz Intel Atom and 1GB DDR2).

Amusingly, the blog claims the Air’s design has been “improved” by the addition of some missing features, namely: a removable battery, two USB ports instead of one, and an internal slot for a 3G card (the Air has no 3G support built-in).

No word on pricing, availability or whether it can be hacked to run OS X. It does have a Windows key on the keyboard though.

More pictures and the full specs after the jump.

Via Engadget.

It looks like Apple is finally getting serious about security — not!

Apple has added a very rudimentary antivirus system to Snow Leopard, which is due out in stores Friday. The system is so basic, it kinda defies belief. It’s the Fisher Price of anti-virus blockers; a system so simple and limited, it appears basically worthless. It pops up a warning if you try to install an internet nasty, and advises you to move the file to the Trash. Here’s all you need to know in three easy steps:

* It includes information about just two Trojan Horses: OSX.RSPlug.A and OSX.Iservice. Both of these Trojans are in the wild but are fairly rudimentary. OSX.Iservice has been found in pirated copies of iWork on the file sharing networks; and OSX.RSPlug is typically found on porno websites masquerading as video codecs that need to be installed by the user, who types in their system password.

* It intercepts files downloaded only using Safari, Firefox, Mail, Entourage, Thunderbird and iChat and several other applications, according to The Register. It does not check files downloaded by hundreds of other applications or files on CDs, DVDs or USB thumbdrives.

* The system was quietlycadded to the latest builds of Snow Leopard. It’s present in build 10A432, the most recent version that is widely assumed to be Gold Master. It can be found in the system files: /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources/XProtect.plist

Of course, Apple may update the system in the future with more malware definitions and applications. Ironically, Apple is running a new ad touting the Mac’s invulnerability to viruses and headaches.

Here’s how Apple’s tablet will work and why it’ll be a paradigm shift. Using your fingers as an input device is extremely intuitive, and it’ll make the mouse and keyboard seem as antiquated as punch cards.

On the following pages is a gallery of concept designs created by Jon Doe, an anonymous grad student from Georgia who has done a LOT of thinking about how Apple’s tablet will work.

Doe has done a remarkable job of figuring it out. Over the course of a year, Doe has imagined how the device might work, what gestures it might support, and how Apple could adapt its popular iLife software to work in a multitouch environment. He’s created a blog to showcase his ideas and a series of YouTube videos. There’s so much to see, I’m publishing several posts over the next few days.

“The problem is that the current PC interface (PC as in Macs, Windows, and Linux boxes) is outdated,” says Doe. “We’re reaching the limit of what we can do with a mouse and keyboard.”

Check out the video and gallery after the jump to see why Apple’s tablet will be such an exciting device.

For just $35, a professional hardware called Reid will swap out your MacBook Pro’s optical drive for a super-speedy SSD drive.

Why would you want to do this? Because the SSD drive is an unbelievable 7x faster than a traditional hard drive, even a fast one. Use it as your boot disk, and the OS will fly. Store your movies and pron on the regular hard drive, which remains intact.

Reid already has this two-drive setup running on his new MacBook Pro. Reid took out the optical drive, which opened up a spare SATA interface. Apple doesn’t use standard SATA connectors, so Reid had to make his own by chaining together a couple of adapters from Fry’s and Amazon. It’s not pretty, but it works.

Reid is using the SSD as his boot disk and discovered that it runs an incredible 7x faster than his already fast 7200 rpm hard drive (which he’d upgraded also).

It cost about $300. “So, FOR LESS THAN APPLE CHARGES for the single 128GB SSD upgrade (which really is a POS, if you ask me), I got 280GB of reliable hard disk space. FmyWarranty!” he writes on his blog.

He’s now offering to sell the adapter for $30 apiece (plus free shipping). Or he will perform the upgrade himself for $35 (he’s a pr0). The customer supplies the parts. An 80GB SSD runs about $200.

“Just send me a heads up, a check, a second sata drive*, and your MacBook Pro (with a tracking #, PLEASE) and I’ll return the computer to you a day after it arrives (UPS $14.00).”

Email Reid at: [email protected]

Via Gadget Lab.

Apple has tapped the comic genius of actor Patrick Warburton for its latest “Get A Mac” TV ad. But despite a very promising start — you smile just seeing him – the ad is a dud.

Warburton is best known for playing Elaine’s boyfriend, David Puddy, on Seinfeld. The man is just funny, period. Unfortunately, Apple’s new “Top of the Line” ad is not. (Watch it below).

Warburton plays a top-of-the-line PC — a fast, smooth machine with a big screen.

The computer shopper — a young woman — is initially impressed, but is turned off when he admits he’s not immune to viruses and other headaches. The silly fool forsakes Warburton’s charms for the unbearable Justin Long, who plays the Mac.

The ad isn’t funny, just like the rest of the ailing series. This joke has definitely run its course. Like Sieinfield itself, it’s time for Apple to pull the plug.

Via iClarified.

Now that he’s back at work full-time, Steve Jobs is focusing his full attention on the Apple tablet, the Wall Street Journal reports. And he’s kickin ass!

“Mr. Jobs’s focus on the tablet has been jarring for some Apple employees, who had grown accustomed to a level of freedom over strategy and products while the CEO was on leave, said a person familiar with the matter. “People have had to readjust” to Mr. Jobs being back, this person said.”

This is excellent news. Nothing is better for Apple products than Jobs throwing a fit over them. It’s such an important part of the cooking process.

Also important is the ritual killing of the project during the development process. Almost every major project at Apple has been killed before it was started over, from the iMac to Apple’s retail stores. Killing a project and starting over is Jobs’s MO. The Journal says Jobs has already killed the tablet twice. The first time because the battery life was too short, and the second time because “there was insufficient memory,” the Journal says. (This last one’s a puzzler. Presumably it refers to solid-state memory (SSD hard drives), which until recently have been pricey. Perhaps earlier prototypes used SSD drives that were too small and crippled the device?)

Though the Journal report uncovers few new details, it does say that Jobs is currently working on the tablet’s advertising and marketing — which suggests the tablet’s launch is imminent. The Journal has no time line though: “The people familiar with the matter declined to give details on the tablet or disclose when the device would come out.“

Also, it’s stating the obvious, but the Journal notes that Jobs’s focus on the tablet is a clear sign of its importance. Although Apple has released several important pieces of hardware recently, the last product to get Jobs’s full attention was the prototype iPhone back in 2006/2007.

The report doesn’t detail what OS the device will run, which is perhaps the key unanswered question. Nor does it name the price: It’s somewhere between $399 and $999, the Journal helpfully reports.

Jobs is also recovering well from his liver transplant, the Journal says. “People close to Apple said Mr. Jobs is still thin as he recovers from the liver transplant, but his health has improved significantly.”

Good news all round.

Goggle’s Voice App undermines the one of the iPhone’s core functions — making phone calls, Apple said on Friday in a response to an inquiry by the FCC.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is looking into the rejection of the Google Voice iPhone application from the iTunes App Store. In an unexpected move, Apple has published  its response to the FCC on its website.

Apple says the Google Voice app hasn’t been rejected at all — it’s still under review. Apple is taking its time because Google’s app replaces one of the iPhone’s core functions — making calls — with its own user interface and telephony functions.

“Contrary to published reports, Apple has not rejected the Google Voice application, and continues to study it. The application has not been approved because, as submitted for review, it appears to alter the iPhone’s distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhone’s core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls, text messaging and voicemail. Apple spent a lot of time and effort developing this distinct and innovative way to seamlessly deliver core functionality of the iPhone.”

In addition, Apple says the Google Voice app doesn’t make use of Visual Voicemail or the built-in Messaging app. And it may violate users’ privacy by uploading contacts to Google’s servers with no assurances the data will be used in “appropriate ways.”

Many had speculated AT&T was behind the app’s rejection, even though the carrier has denied it. Now Apple says AT&T has nothing to do with it.

Apple’s response also throws some light on the murky approval process, which has drawn fire for being secretive and capricious.

* AT&T has no role whatsoever in approving or rejecting apps. The only restriction is no VOIP over the cell network, which is why Skype and similar apps are WiFi only. Weirdly, Apple says it doesn’t know if the Google Voice App has a VOIP element.

* Apple has 40 full-time trained reviewers. Every app is scrutinized by at least two reviewers.

* There’s an executive review board (*cough* Phil Schiller *cough*) to oversee policy and procedure. The review board meets weekly, and deals with apps that present “new or complex issues.” Apple says 95% of applications are approved within 14 days, and the team is working like dogs.

“Apple generally spends most of the review period making sure that the applications function properly, and working with developers to fix quality issues and software bugs in applications. We receive about 8,500 new applications and updates every week, and roughly 20% of them are not approved as originally submitted. In little more than a year, we have reviewed more than 200,000 applications and updates.”

Apple’s full response to the FCC after the jump.

UPDATE: Both AT&T’s response to the FCC and Google’s have been obtained by Engadget. AT&T’s answers are pretty much in line with Apple’s version of events. AT&T “had no role in any decision by Apple to not accept the Google Voice application,” the company says. AT&T says it sometimes “has discussions” with Apple if an app presents the risk of network congestion.

Oddly, Google’s response to the question about its app’s rejection has been redacted. Very odd, when Apple is openly offering its story to the public. Why would the injured party hide its version of events? Smells fishy.

In his first interview since performing Steve Jobs’s liver transplant earlier this year, surgeon James Eason spreads some interesting light on the case.

Namely, he denies Jobs gamed the transplant system; Tennessee has lots of livers for transplantation; the surgeon is the leading experts in recurrences of Jobs’s rare cancer; he treats far more poor blacks than billionaires; Jobs has a pretty good survival prognosis; and the CEO is a “genuinely nice person.”

* Trained at Harvard, Eason is THE leading expert in treating recurrences in the rare type of cancer Jobs had. This is why Jobs went to Tennessee to get a transplant. Jobs always seeks out the best in the field.

* Jobs did not cheat the system to get a transplant. “It’s not gaming the system,” Eason says. “It’s people choosing where they want their health care.”

* Jobs’s prognosis looks good. Eason only performs a liver transplant if he’s certain he can eliminate all the spreading cancer. About 70 percent of patients have healthy organs five years after surgery.

* Memphis has more livers than patients. Or did, until Eason ramped it up. His Memphis hospital performed 35 transplants in 2005 (before he arrived). In 2008, he jacked it to 120 transplants, and 90 so far this year.

* Jobs is “really a genuinely nice person”  and “a special person,” says the surgeon. Perhaps he also performed a personality transplant? Or more likely, Jobs made sure not to piss off the man who held his life in his hands.

Link to the Bloomberg interview.

The most important thing about getting a new bike is making sure it fits right. It’s all the difference between pleasure and pain — and very possibly a pair of blown knees.

The Test Rides iPhone app is a specialized but handy “virtual bike fitting room” that measures you up for a new bike. It looks handy for figuring out whether that beautiful bike on Craigslist will actually fit you.

First you take a picture of yourself from the side — you’ll probably need help. You then mark your joints on the picture: knees, elbows and ankles. The App calculates your body size.

Then you input the dimensions of the bike you want to buy – the top tube, bottom bracket, crank length, etc — and the App tells you whether the bike is a good fit or not. This part is a bit of work. Many used bike listings do not include all the measurments, and even the amount of info online about new bikes is inconsistent. While a lot of manufacturers have all the data, some do not.

Still, if you’re about to buy a new bike and have most of the measurements, spending $5 on this app seems like a good precaution to make sure it fits right.

Buy TestRides from iTunes.

Via GadgetLab.

Apple in Europe may unlock your iPhone if you have pay off your carrier contract, one blogger has discovered.

Olly Farshi of TheAppleBlog.com didn’t have to jailbreak or run ultrasn0w to unlock his iPhone.

He simply asked his carrier to unlock his iPhone 3G after paying off a two year contract. The carrier, Finland’s Sonera, submitted the request to Apple and the next time Farshi synced with iTunes, the software had him install an official carrier update.

Then iTunes displayed something rarely seen: an official message saying his iPhone had been officially unlocked. See the screenshot above.

“Regarding Sonera, think of it as a less-repugnant version of AT&T,” Farshi writes. “As the exclusive distributor of the iPhone over in Finland, Sonera has turned out to be a somewhat benevolent carrier.”

He continues: “Going the legit route was a much more painless process than using a proxy SIM or the Dev Team’s unofficial unlock. Also worth noting is that, unlike some of the illicit approaches, this unlock is permanent: I’ll be able to keep updating the iPhone’s OS without losing the ability to use any carrier SIM in the device.”

No word on whether AT&T will do this. Has anyone tried?

BTW: It is possible to buy factory unlocked iPhones for $1,000+.

Via Modmyi.com.

UPDATE: This now looks like a  Javascript alert buried on a webpage, not a push notification. See below.

The iPhone’s Push notification system may be vulnerable to spam and malware popups.

CoM reader NyxoLyno Cangemi was using NetNewsWire RSS reader on his iPhone when what appears to be a push notification for anti-virus software popped up. See the screenshot above.

The popup message says his computer has “vulnerabilities and threats” and needs an immediate virus scan.

The popup is a notorious “rogue anti-virus” message, designed to trick naive websurfers into surrendering credit card details to fake anti-virus vendors. The unsuspecting websurfer see the message, follows the link and buys fake anti-virus software that steals their credit card number and installs malware.

The website URL in the iPhone popup points to a known rogue site, safeonlinescanv4.com, according to security firm MacAfee’s SiteAdvisor service.

The iPhone 3.0’s push notifications allow messages or alerts to be pushed to the user — incoming IM messages or new e-mails, for example. Apple billed the system as an alternative to battery-draining background processes. NetNewsWire for the iPhone does not offer push notifications. I’ve contacted the developer, NewsGator Technologies, for comment.

Have spammers and spyware frauds found a way to spam iPhones using push notifications? Anyone else seen this?

UPDATE: I asked CoM reader Cangemi what he was doing when the message popped up. Cangemi says he was browsing a folder of links, not any particular site, which was showing a list of headlines from his Sirius radio RSS folder. “I was scrolling through the list at the time it happened, which leads me to believe it was a push notification and could have occurred no matter what I was doing,” he says. In the comments, reader Matt J. reports he got a similar popup while using Safari, which again suggests push.

NewsGator Technologies forwarded an email from NetNewsWire’s lead developer, who also says it looks like a push notification.

He says: “I haven’t seen this before. NetNewsWire doesn’t use the push notification system. But other apps do, and a notification can appear in front of any other app. So I have no way of knowing where this notification came from. Another possibility is that he’d gone to a web page in NetNewsWire that has a JavaScript alert that put up that popup. It would be great to know exactly what pages he’d visited, but I realize it’s hard to find out after-the-fact.”

As Cangemi says, he wasn’t visiting a particular page, but browsing a folder of links. So it looks like push notification is the culprit.

UPDATE 2: In the comments readers Michael Weisman and DerekS say it’s more likely a Javascript alert dialog. “The default buttons on a push notification are ‘Cancel’ and ‘View’ where ‘View’ would launch the pushed-app,” notes DerekS.

“NetNewsWire has an integrated browser for reading stories,” notes Weisman. “This probably was designed to come up when the user navigates away from a page, so it popped up after the user went back to the story list. Also, the push notification system has a ton of security. The whole thing is encrypted, and the user needs to approve an app before it will even send them. There is no way for an app to send malicious notifications without your approval.”

As Microsoft begins hiring for its first retail stores, the giant is showing it’s usual flair for naming. What Apple calls a “Genius,” Microsoft is calling a “Retail Technical Advisor.”

Microsoft is hiring for its first two stores in Scottsdale, AZ and Mission Viejo, CA., which are due to open in September. While Apple is at pains to emphasize that its retail jobs are “More than a retail job,” Microsoft puts the word “retail” in its job titles.

According to the job listings, here’s how Microsoft breaks down other jobs in the store compared to Apple.

Concierge = Retail Customer Service Associate-Full Time

Personal Shopping Specialist = Retail Sales Associate

One to One Trainer = Retail Trainer

And here’s how Microsoft pitches its store to employees, compared to Apple. Where Apple says, “Be the face of Apple,” Microsoft says “You have unique experiences, skills and passions—and we believe you can bring them all to Microsoft for a rich, rewarding career…” in retail. Which is more compelling and less BS?

Microsoft:

You have unique experiences, skills and passions—and we believe you can bring them all to Microsoft for a rich, rewarding career and lifestyle that will surprise you with its breadth and potential. Just imagine the excitement and satisfaction of what you can do, where you can go, and the difference you can make with the resources of Microsoft behind you.

Apple:

Be the face of Apple—help people learn about, shop for, and get the most out of their Apple products. That means we’re not just looking for people with retail experience. Creative pros, technical experts, and business consultants have a place here, too.

Via Techcrunch.

You have to see this to believe it. Above is a demo video of Paris 3D, a tourist guide to France’s beautiful capital city in photo-realistic 3D.

It looks absolutely stunning. The detail is unbelievable. Here’s a massive virtual city on your iPhone — right down to the gargoyles. There’s even people and vehicles — plus their shadows! — for added realism.

You can zoom in to particular streets or buildings, or zoom out to get a global view of the city’s layout. Tap on a building to get a data sheet on the structure, which includes the building’s history, photos, and where appropriate, phone numbers or opening times (like a museum).

Type a destination, and you zoom across the 3D city to see it.

You can to highlight particular categories of buildings — hotels and restaurants, for example, which show up color coded on the 3D map, making them easy to spot in a global view. The app is GPS-enabled, so you just tap a button to get directions. Street names are overlaid.

Performance looks fantastic. It renders better than Google maps. The demo looks like it was filmed on a iPhone emulator running on a developer computer. But if performance is as good on a real iPhone, it’ll be killer.

The app has just been submitted to the iTunes App store and should be available soon pending Apple’s approval.

The developer, Newscape Technology, claims it took twenty man-years of R&D over a four year period to develop, and is the first in a series of city guides.

Move over Google Maps!

Link to the Mobile 3D City website.

Via MacFeber.

ID Software’s browser-based shooter Quake Live is finally available for Mac users — mostly.

An update to the game’s servers means the game can be played on Safari on the Mac, but not Firefox.

“This update is Safari only, but we’ve pushed a ticket with the folks at Mozilla and hope to have the Firefox build fixed very shortly,” ID says.

Based on the popular Quake 3 Arena, Quake Live is a free, browser-based shoot-em-up. It features more than 40 arenas and five game modes, including duel, capture the flag and group deathmatch. Players can frag each other or computer-controlled bots, and can be matched according to skill level. The game requires a plugin to play. It is not Flash based.

The game went online earlier this year, but Windows only. It’s been wildly popular: more than 113,000 player accounts were created in the first six hours.

If you’ve never published a photo book using iPhoto’s built-in book publishing system, you should. They’re gorgeous. It’s amazing how your digital pictures take on new life when printed on the glossy pages of a bound book.

There’s now the option to print a larger hard-cover book measuring 10 inches by 13 inches, thanks to an iPhoto 8.1 software update. Until now, the largest book option was standard 11 inches by 8.5 inches.

The iPhoto ’09 update also adds new holiday cards and three new travel-oriented book themes.

Be warned: the update weighs 161MB. It is available to iPhoto ’09 users via Software Update.

Apple will to sell a massive 50 million iPhones a year by 2011, Wall Street analyst Toni Sacconaghi says.

In a research note on Wednesday, the Bernstein Research analyst said Apple will achieve this just by holding onto current market share and adding new countries and carriers.

Sacconaghi’s predictions are in line with estimates from a RBC report on Tuesday, which also estimates 50 million iPhones in 2011. Apple has sold 26 million units since the iPhone’s debut in 2007. Sacconaghi estimates Apple will sell 20 million in 2009.

* More smart phones: Smart phones will grow 27% a year in 2010 and 2011, Sacconaghi says.
* More carriers in more countries: Apple could add 11 million units by adding Verizon Wireless in 2011 when the exclusive AT&T runs out. Plus more carriers in existing markets will add 3.5 million in European and 4 million in Asia.
* China: Sacconaghi estimates a deal with China Unicom is worth 2.9 million iPhones in 2011; and maybe 6 million if Apple also adds China Mobile.

The numbers could be even bigger if Apple adds pre-paid iPhones and WiFi-only iPhones, Sacconaghi says. He notes 75% of the global cellphone market is prepaid.

Here’s a rumor about Apple’s upcoming tablet that makes a lot of sense: There’s actually two of them: an iPod tablet with a six-inch screen and a bigger tablet that runs full OS X.

And Apple may introduce one or both in September, according to veteran tech analyst Richard Doherty, who spoke to BusinessWeek.

Apple has developed prototypes of two different tablet machines—one that resembles a large-sized iPod and boasts a 6-inch screen, and another that features a larger display. Apple may launch one or both devices as early as September,” Doherty says. “A decision on whether and when Apple takes the tablet plunge lies with Apple CEO Steve Jobs,” Doherty says.

…

One of Apple’s prototype devices is able to run all Mac applications, and allows for video and audio editing and graphic animation, Doherty says. Another, which looks like a larger iPod, lends itself to watching videos, playing games, and reading e-books.

The two devices sound like the best of both worlds. An entertainment-oriented iPod tablet — like an iPod Plus — that runs the iPhone/iPod OS and is great for watching movies around the house; and a bigger Snow Leopard-capable device that can do real work. One for entertainment, another for education, kinda like Gizmodo’s Brian Lam suggested last week.

Doherty also predicts the tablet(s) could start as low as $679. It’ll be a hit because it’s got 65,000 Apps to run on it.

“Apple has a real opportunity to take the magic of the iPhone interface and give that more real estate to do the tasks… It’s an iPhone, but bigger. It’s something that you know, but bigger.” The device may be able to wirelessly access iTunes and Apple’s App Store, which offers more than 65,000 apps such as games, e-books, and calendars.

But what about the inside sources quoted by Jim Dalrymple and others that say the tablet won’t show until 2010? Perhaps the Mac tablet is for next year, and iPod Plus for 2009?

Apple is leading cellphones into a “new world order,” says one Wall Street analyst, and will clean up as smartphones become a big fat chunk of the overall cellphone market.

RBC analyst Mike Abramsky on Tuesday upped estimates for Apple, RIM, and Palm as smartphone sales take off — and Apple in particular will benefit selling 50 million iPhones.

Abramsky says smartphone penetration will be a whopping 35% of the global cell phone market by 2012 (504 million units). Apple and BlackBerry maker RIM will dominate, but Palm will be along for the ride too (if it survives the short term) because of its pretty good WebOS software.

Abramsky forecasts:

Apple: FY11 estimates $50.3 billion revenue (18% year-on-year growth) on 49.3 million iPhones. Price target upped to $250 from $190.
RIM: FY11 estimates $21.2 billion revenue (32% y/y growth). Price target $150 from $100.
Palm: FY11 estimates $3.2 billion revenue (52% y/y growth). Price target $25 from $18.

Report: Silicon Alley Insider.

UPDATE 3: The iPhone email issue looks like a real bug and not a settings issue after all. CoM reader Paul Taylor ran through the procedure described below, and all the email he ever deleted on his iPhone is still there going all the way back to the iPhone’s purchase in 2007. Says Paul:

I read your post ” Update x2…..” with interest because I was appalled to discover this problem in mid June and reported it to Apple after having no success correcting it (nor did three Apple ‘Geniuses’ one of whom was characterized by his peers as “The iPhone Genius — if he can’t fix it no one can.” He couldn’t).  I sent it off to Walt Mossberg on August 3rd to see what his efforts might produce but have seen nothing to date.

I had performed all the exercises described in your post (after doing thorough searches of all mailboxes on my Mac Pro and my ISP server to be sure the particular emails were NOT there.

BTW – with regard to the ‘Remove’ settings, ALL deleted emails back to the purchase of my original iPhone in 2007 were still there, so the day / week / month settings are immaterial, at least in my case. The problem apparently has always been present, the new search feature merely exposed it.

The only relief (not fix) I have found so far, has been to first make sure unwanted emails have been stripped from all mailboxes, then do a “Restore” on iTunes.  The relief is short lived — the ’emails that wouldn’t die’ are gone, but all email deleted following the restore begins to collect anew.

UPDATE: The iPhone email bug that caused such a fuss yesterday is not a bug but a configuration issue, says knowledgeable CoM reader Dr. Harry K. Zink.

If you properly delete your emails, this does not happen – i.e. remove the email from both SENT and INBOX, after which you need to go into the TRASH folder, and manually select the messages, and select DELETE again. This applies to IMAP, ActiveSync and MobileMe accounts. POP accounts are affected by this, but only because they are configured to retain deleted mail for a period set in ‘settings’ for that account — if you set it to one day, and wait 36 hours, the messages are also gone.

This is a function of the way IMAP and especially POP mail leave mail in the Deleted Items folder, or Trash folder, for the duration specified in the settings — it seems most users never bothered looking in their settings (the default is to keep deleted messages for a month before they auto-delete – you can also set it to a day, or manually delete instantly).

Furthermore, this does *not* apply to ActiveSync accounts, where a deletion is instant and complete (thus corporate kids can stop the sweating and heavy breathing – Apple’s got your back), and neither on MobileMe accounts (you know, Exchange for the Rest of Us). On IMAP accounts, if you manually delete it from the trash, the messages are gone as well. It’s POP accounts which have this issue.

So for the most part this is being blown terribly out of proportion – not by the original guy who discovered this, but by all ruminants and regurgitators, particularly those who are too lazy to properly investigate something like this.

To change the “Remove” settings for POP accounts:
1. Go to Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars
2. Select the account you want to modify
3. Go to >Advanced. Under the “Deleted Messages” heading, you’ll see the “Remove” setting. Choices are: after a day, a week, one month or never.
Screenshots after the jump.

Apple is aware of the iPhone email bug CoM first reported yesterday and will likely issue a fix in iPhone 3.1, the next major update of the iPhone/iPod OS.

“An internal tipster has provided us with proof that Apple is fully aware of this issue and will probably be including a fix in iPhone OS 3.1,” says Gizmodo.

Meanwhile, it appears the bug is limited to POP email accounts, not IMAP accounts. It is probably a Spotlight caching issue. Spotlight on the iPhone/iPod creates local copies of emails, which aren’t deleted when the originals are.

There seems to be several ways to fix the bug. Sometimes, simply waiting works; the message cache is eventually cleared. It’s also possible to erase the cached messages by loading and reloading them several times, according to Richard from 148Apps.

“From my messing around with email, the message actually disappears after viewing it a few times. At first I thought the email disappeared after deleting it a few times but I simply viewed the messages about 3 or 4 times and it disappeared.”

Instructions for configuring your iPhone POP accounts to delete email after jump:

Apple will host a special media event on Wednesday Sept. 9 (09/09/09) and there will be new iPods but no Apple tablet, according to John Paczkowski of All Things Digital.

Citing “sources close to the company,” Paczkowski says the event will be held in San Francisco — probably at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, a smaller venue which Apple has used before.

There will be upgrades to the iPod line and iTunes, which may get integration with social networks, but definitely no tablet:

“Our sources insist it will not involve any discussion whatsoever of the tablet that Apple is reportedly developing.”

Another All Things Digital report last week said Apple was was planning a media event for sometime during the week of September 7th, while the conventional wisdom is now that Apple will not introduce a tablet this year.

Apple usually holds its media events on a Tuesday (which gives the press and VIPs a work day for travel), but Monday that week is Labor day.

Never use your iPhone for incriminating or embarrassing emails you might not want others to see.

CoM reader Matt Janssen has just found a bug in the iPhone’s 3.x software that allows deleted email to be retrieved.

In other words, the iPhone and iPod Touch’s Mail app doesn’t properly delete email. Erased email messages can be easily retrieved using a simple search with the iPhone’s built-in search tool.

“Obviously this is could be a major security issue if you think you deleted something from your iPod but it’s not really deleted,” says Janssen. “You can still search through messages that are deleted. And this isn’t messages that are just recent. I found some messages that are over three or four months old.”

The bug could reveal embarrassing email sent or received by cheating spouses, or messages that kids don’t want their parents to see. It’s present in the software for both the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Janssen has made a video to demonstrate the bug. In the video, Janssen creates an email in a standard POP account, sends it to himself and then deletes it. The message appears to be gone from his inbox, but he’s able to retrieve it using the iPhone’s Search function. Janssen has to search for the deleted message twice. On first try, the Mail app crashes and sends him back to the Home screen. But on the second try, the message is retrieved and displayed. It even retrieves messages that are deleted from the server.

“Hopefully Apple will fix it in some later releases,” says Janssen.

Link to Jannsen’s YouTube video.

TomTom’s much-anticipated car navigation software for the iPhone is finally available on the App store for $99.99.

The software wowed at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference in June by proving the iPhone could be a platform for industrial-strength software like a turn-by-turn navigation system.

TomTom’s app offers the usual GPS features: route planning, turn-by-turn voice instructions, 6 million points of interest, and auto re-routing if a turn is missed.

But it also boasts tight integration with the iPhone, including pinching and zooming of maps, automatic rotation between portrait and landscape modes, and tight integration with the iPhone’s contact list (tap a contact and the software finds the quickest route to them).

The App also includes TomTom IQ Routes, a smart route-finding feature that recommends routes based on popular driving patterns.

Be warned: the App and it maps weigh in at a whopping 1.21GB. And at $99, the software is more expensive than rivals like CoPilot Live ($34.99), Sygic Mobile Maps ($39.99) or Google’s free Map app; but it doesn’t require a monthly service fee, like AT&T’s Navigator, which adds $10 a month on your phone bill as long as you use the app.

An optional car mount kit (pricing has not yet been announced) includes iPhone charging, a GPS-boosting antenna, a speaker for turn-by-turn instructions, and a microphone for hands-free dialing and Voice Command. The mount kit can be used in horizontal and landscape orientations.

The TomTom app is compatible with the iPhone 3G and 3GS. It is available on iTunes in four versions:

TomTom US & Canada – $99.99
TomTom Western Europe – $139.99
TomTom Australia – $79.99
TomTom New Zealand – $94.99

Google’s Eric Schmidt “resigned” from Apple’s board because Chrome and Android were encroaching on Apple’s core business, or so Steve Jobs says.

But what if the opposite were true? What if Apple is encroaching on Google’s core business?

Later this month, Apple is expected to break ground on a massive new data center in Maiden, North Carolina.

In terms of size, Apple’s data center is as big as they come.

“Apple is planning about 500,000 square feet of data center space in a single building,” says Rich Miller, editor of Data Center Knowledge. “That would place it among the largest data centers in the world… This would qualify as a big-ass data center.”

Question is, what will Apple use it for? Apple’s plans are secret, of course, and some have speculated it’s to support Apple’s growing  MobileMe business and online iTunes stores.

But Miller says the size of the data center hints at something else. Companies building centers this big are getting into cloud computing. Running apps in the cloud requires massive infrastructure: Google-size infrastructure.

“The companies that are building the biggest data centers tend to also have the biggest cloud ambitions,” says Miller.

The full interview with Miller after the jump:

Another fake but interesting spyshot of Apple’s tablet has been published by the French blog Nowhereelse.fr.

Says the blog (in translation): “The ball of rumors and other Fakes is clearly open. After photos of a so-called prototype of the new 3G iPod Touch, here is a rather realistic picture of what appears to be the famous MacTablet that we could in this case call iTouch … Anyway I take my hat off to its author if it is a Fake!”

It is fake. The staging with a Nokia cellphone is just too — well, staged. Plus, would Apple put the Home button at the bottom instead of the sides, where it would be easy to hit with a thumb?

Most interesting is that the tablet is shown displaying the “Welcome” message when installing OS X. Other recent tablet fakes have shown the device running the iPhone OS, or a version of. That of course is the big question: what operating system will the tablet run? We like the idea of OS X.

If a Japanese warlord from the Sengoku period had an iPhone, this is the case they’d protect it with. It’s handmade with special lacquer and gold dust, takes a craftsman four weeks to make, and costs a cool $1,000. It’s so special, it has its own protective case — that’s right, a case for the case.

Japan’s SoftBank BB has just started offering a series of five handmade iPhone cases called the Japan Texture line.

Designed with the help of a historian, the cases are inspired by the rich pageantry of the Sengoku period (1467 to 1615).

Each case comes in a swank wooden box, and includes a historical booklet and its own protective pouch.

Via CrunchGear.