Ogle this “mesmerizing” new window display at Apple’s flagship store in Palo Alto featuring billions of iPhone apps flying towards you.
It’s “the coolest window display I’ve ever seen,” says TechCrunch’s Jason Kincaid, who filmed the display above.
It is pretty trippy.
A security official has been suspended by Hon Hai Group after the suicide of an employee who lost an iPhone prototype, Bloomberg reports.
Hon Hai Group, one of the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturers, suspended a security official and turned the case over to Chinese authorities, the company said in a statement, but didn’t provide further details.
The security official is identified only by the surname “Gu.”
Last week, Sun Tanyong, a 25-year-old employee at Hon Hai’s Foxconn International Holdings unit committed suicide after losing one of 16 iPhone prototypes he was charged with mailing to Apple in California.
Tanyong leapt to his death off a dormitory at Foxconn’s factory city in Shenzhen. He had reportedly been subject to an illegal search and rough treatment by Foxconn security.
Hon Hai says it is unaware of the reasons behind Sun’s suicide, according to the statement.It offered the company’s condolences to Tanyong’s family.
Apple says it is awaiting the outcome of an investigation.
“We are saddened by the tragic loss of this employee,” spokesman Steve Dowling told Bloomberg. “We require that our suppliers treat all workers with dignity and respect.”
Foxconn is one of the largest contract makers of mobile phones, and produces Apple’s iPhone and iPods at its walled factory city. Home to 270,000 workers, the walled city has its own fire station and hospital, stores, restaurants, and recreation facilities. The giant factory also produces cell phones for Nokia and Motorola, Sony Playtation and Nintendo Wii, as well as PCs for Hewlett Packard and Dell.
Link.
Over the weekend, writer MG Siegler of TechCrunch opened a can of online worms with a furious rant entitled AT&T Is A Big, Steaming Heap Of Failure.
Complaining he hasn’t received Visual Voicemail on his iPhone for weeks, Siegler joins a growing chorus of pundits dissatisfied with AT&T, including Gizmodo, Wired and GigaOm.
But as some Techcrunch commenters point out, Visual Voicemail is bolloxed by a popular tethering hack, which allows the iPhone to share its internet connection with a tethered computer.
“I enabled the tethering hack weeks ago when it came out,” says one commenter. “It broke visual voicemail, so I reverted it. One heck of a coincidence if everyone’s voicemail spontaneously broke the same week that a tethering hack came out that breaks visual voicemail.”
Siegler didn’t respond to a query asking if he had tried the tethering hack, and he makes no mention of it in the comments to his post, where he engages in some back and forth with TC readers.
Either way, here’s a very simple fix to get Visual Voicemail back, while still enabling the tethering hack.
The MacBook Air is thin, sexy machine, but you wouldn’t want one smashed into your chest during a car accident.
That’s what happened to this MacBook Air above. It was sitting in a man’s lap when the airbag went off and crushed it into his chest, bending the lid like a Taco. Amazingly, the computer still works, but it left a MacBook-shaped mark on the man’s chest. The man is lucky — the MacBook Air is thin enough to slice through bread and human flesh (see the pix after the jump).
“He does have a bruise that matches the leading edge of the MacBook Air,” says Dana Stibolt, president of MacMedics, the Maryland repair shop that’s attempting to fix the machine.
Stibolt says the man had the MacBook Air open in his lap as he sat in the passenger seat. When the car was involved in a serious smash, the airbag deployed and “pushed the top edge of the MacBook Air (where the camera is) into him, and then kept pushing from the bottom of the hinge area effectively crushing it on his chest,” says Stibolt. Ouch!
The picture on the screen – which looks like a black-and-white mountain — is the pattern of the broken LCD.
Stibolt is hoping to replace the screen — the rest of the computer seems to work fine. More at MacMedics.
Apple has disabled AT&T tethering in the latest iPhone beta released to developers on Tuesday.
The iPhone OS 3.1 beta 2 disables a popular tethering hack for the AT&T network. The hack works on iPhone 3.0, even though AT&T does yet officially support it.
The hack enables data tethering (and sometimes MMS) by altering the iPhone’s IPCC carrier files. It’s easily enabled by visiting sites like BenM.at using mobile Safari on the iPhone.
AT&T has promised tethering later this year, but has yet to release details. The company is expected to be enabled in late summer and cost about $15 extra.
Thanks QuickPWN.
Today’s deals include a Samsung Netbook that can be hacked to run OS X, a 2TB external HD for a nice price, and a Philips 42-inch LCD HDTV for $850. And many more!
Two weeks after an iPhone 3GS was dropped in a swimming pool while recording video, the phone is still frickin’ working says its owner.
“I’m talking to you on it now,” says Khena Kara, the iPhone’s owner, speaking from his home in Nashville, TN. “It’s still going strong.”
Kara’s iPhone 3GS gained internet fame after Kara accidentally dropped it in a swimming pool while recording a video. The iPhone kept recording as it sank to the bottom, and as he fished it out. “It still frickin’ works!” he says in surprise as he pulls the iPhone from the pool. Kara posted the footage to YouTube, and it spread fast on blogs and Twitter. It has now been watched more that 500,000 times.
But many questioned the video’s authenticity. Most notably, Mashable wondered whether it was real.
“Yes, it’s real,” says Kara of the video. “It was the pool in my subdivision.”
Above is a video still of Kara taken from the iPhone video right after it was fished from the pool. And below it is a new picture of Kara taken with the same iPhone.
The new picture’s metadata appears to back up Kara’s story.
Spot the difference? One of these is a $30 iPhone Stereo Headset from Apple. The other is a $14 knockoff from the Philippines.
Thing is, the $14 copycat is as almost good as the original. It’s nearly physically indistinguishable. The sound is exceptionally good. And the microphone/remote works the same as it does on the genuine article.
Even the packaging is remarkably realistic.
Except there’s a few things that are off — a few minor details that give them away as fakes. Plus, they broke down after a week.
The audio manufacturer Shure is known for its excellent headphones, which makes it a favorite target of counterfeiters.
In May, Shure helped Chinese authorities bust knockoff shops run by two Shanghai companies that were making copycat Shure headphones. The raids uncovered large quantities of Shure E2c and E4c earphones, which sell for about $70 and $170 respectively, as well as headphones branded JVC and Audio-Technica.
Unlike copycats of yore, today’s counterfeiters are amazingly sophisticated and accomplished, turning out high-quality knockoffs that in some ways rival the originals. Flickr user digaderfox bought a pair of fake Shures on eBay last year, and documented the surprisingly high quality of the knockoffs on the photo site.
Apple is also is becoming a target of copycats, with amazingly good knockoffs of iPhones and headsets coming onto the market.
SEE ALSO:
Marvel At the Ingenuity of the Chinese iPhoney, iPhone Knockoffs Now Near Perfect
Paul Applebaum, Shure’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel, said counterfeiters are increasingly sophisticated. Some are setting up convincing factory-direct websites, or hijacking U.S. eBay accounts to make it appear goods are shipped domestically.
Full interview after the jump.
Security video from Friday’s violent armed robbery at the Apple Store in Arlington, Virginia, has been posted to YouTube.
The Arlington police are cleverly using YouTube to broadcast crime videos with appeals for help from the public.
The latest video is from Friday’s robbery at the Apple Store Clarendon in Arlington, in which a female employee was shot in the shoulder and wounded. The 26-year woman is in hospital in serious but stable condition, police said.
In the security video, the employee is seen opening the back door to the store after the suspect rang the bell at about 10.15 AM. She is led back into the store at gunpoint, and was shot soon afterward. The suspect fled on foot.
Police describe the suspect as a thin black male, aged 35-45, wearing a dark baseball cap and light-colored shirt and pants.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Arlington County Police Department Tip Line at 703 228-4242.
Or call Detective Alan Lowrey at 703 228-4199 or Detective Michael Austin at 703 228-4241. Det. Lowrey can also be reached via email at Alowrey@arlingtonva.us and Det. Austin can be reached at Mausti@arlingtonva.us.
Full text of the police description of the crime and appeal for help after the jump.
Thanks Pancho.
Updated: Police have confirmed that a 26-year-old female Apple employee was shot in the shoulder and injured at the Apple Store Clarendon in Arlington, Virginia, during a “violent armed robbery” at about 10.15AM.
The suspect rang a doorbell at the back service entrance and shot a female employee as soon as she opened the door, the Washington Post reports. A police spokeswoman said it is unclear if the employee had words with the shooter or put up resistance to the robbery.
According to the Post, only two employees were in the store at the time, the shooting victim and another employee who was in the main showroom. The other employee called police as soon as they heard the gunshot. It’s unclear if there were customers in the store at the time, the police said. The shooting occurred about 15 minutes after the store opened.
The shooting victim was injured in the shoulder. The injuries are not considered life-threatening, police said.
The suspect is described as a medium build black male, aged between of 35 and 45, with facial hair. He was wearing a dark baseball cap, a light-colored shirt and pants. He fled on foot, carrying a handgun.
Security camera footage of the shooting may be released to the public to help the search, police said.
The store is located in the tony Market Common outdoor shopping district, which is considered a quiet, safe area.
“I think it’s a sign of the times, the economy, when you have someone desperate enough to rob an Apple store in an area like this,” said a shopper who was planning to buy a new MacBook.
Unfortunately this is bunk, but it’s worth posting anyway because, well, I guess a ton of other websites will publish it.
A new non-slip rubber case for the “Apple iPod Touch 3” on a junk accessory website hints that the soon-to-be-updated device will have a camera. The rubbery red case has two holes on the back, presumably for a camera.
The third-generation iPod touch is expected in September, and is rumored to include a camera, which would be an obvious upgrade for the device.
However, the tip came from a reader “Jenny,” who has also tipped off CrunchGear and I4U News. Best guess is that Jenny represents the accessory website, Uxsight.com, and is trying to drum up traffic and Google juice.
In her email to CoM, she makes sure to mention the case’s low, low price. “Can’t vouch for the
creditability of the source,” she writes, “but I guess $1.69 is not much of a risk.”
Plus, why are there two holes — one bigger than the other? And why two versions of the case, one with the camera on the left, the other with the camera on the right? UPDATE: As readers kindly point out, I’m as blind as a bat. That’s the inside and outside of the case.
The first jailbreak application for the iPhone 3GS has been released by premier iPhone hacker George Hotz.
Named “purplera1n,” the unlocking software is Windows-only. Hotz says a jailbreak for Mac is “coming shortly.”
Hotz’s application requires an iPhone 3GS running the 3.0 OS, and the latest version of iTunes — 8.2. Hotz warns that the unlock s beat and to back up the iPhone before running it.
The unlocking process seems straightforward. Writes Hotz on his blog: “Connect your iPhone normally. Click ‘make it ra1n.’ Wait. On bootup, run Freeze, the purplera1n installer app. Hopefully you’ll figure out what to do from there.”
There is another jailbreaking application for the iPhone 3.0 from the iPhone Dev Team (The 19-year old Hotz was associated with the group, but split with it). The Dev Team’s app will not work on the iPhone 3GS.
Jailbreaking allows an iPhone and iPod touch to to run unapproved apps through unofficial installers like Cydia and Icy.
Jailbreaking is not unlocking, a different, distinct process that frees the iPhone from the current carrier and makes it available for use with other wireless networks.
Needless to say, Apple sanctions neither process. Both have their risks and have been known to “brick” devices.
Hotz gained fame in 2007 when he became the first person to unlock the original iPhone. Using a combination of software and hardware hacks, the then 17-year-old tried to sell the hacked iPhone on eBay, but pulled the auction when jokers raised the bid price to more than $100 million.
He shortly traded the unlocked iPhone for three locked iPhones and a Nissan 350Z with Terry Daidone, founder of Certicell, a phone repair company in Louisville, KY.
Up for sale is on eBay is a sketchy-looking, non-functioning white iPhone described as a prototype demo unit of the brand new GS model.
The auction has attracted two bids and is currently running at $305, even though the iPhone doesn’t work.
The seller says there’s a problem with restoring the software: “This device is not eligible for the requested build,” iTunes says when he tries to restore it.
The seller, vofffka, of Ocean City, New Jersey, says an Apple genius at his local retail store verified the iPhone as an Apple product, but can’t service it, “because it’s never been sold.”
WTF that means, who knows?
The seller has a very high rating. He is currently selling several unlocked iPhones.
Where did he get this prototype? Get this. In the QA section, a potential buyer asks the same question, and gets this reply:
“Hi! It is currently NOT WORKING, I got it on ebay a month ago and the guy I got it from told me he found it in the airport. Thanks!”
Yeah, that makes me feel real keen to bid on this item.
Here’s a link to the auction: White 16GB APPLE IPHONE 3G S PROTOTYPE UNIT!
More pictures after the jump.
Here’s a witty idea for putting you overheating iPhone to good use over the July 4 weekend, by freelance illustrator Chad Covino.
Despite touting its green credentials in new TV ads, Apple is ranked fairly low in Greenpeace’s latest survey of green electronics.
Greenpeace’s quarterly green scorecard was released on Wednesday, and while Apple got high marks for reducing toxic chemicals, it got low marks for not supporting global recycling initiatives or using more recycled plastics.
Overall, Apple scored 4.7 out of 10, putting it in the lower half of a pack of 18 electronics manufacturers. Nokia came top with a score of 7.45, and Nintendo came bottom with a score of 1.
Apple has been advertising the green credentials of its new MacBook line in TV ads — proclaiming them the greenest laptops ever.
Greenpeace’s 12th Guide to Greener Electronics ranks tech companies on three main criteria: reducing overall environmental impact, eliminating toxic chemicals, and recycling efforts.
Apple rightly has a reputation for making quality gear. The company doesn’t make junk that breaks down in a few months, or even years. Or even 20 years.
MacMedics, a repair shop in Millersville, Maryland, recently serviced a Macintosh IIci, which was on the blink after two decades of faithful service.
Introduced in September 1989, the Mac IIci is one of the most popular early Macs. It was the first to have built-in color video, three Nubus expansion slots, and a 40 or 80 MB hard disk. It originally sold for $6,700.
The machine was putting up funny patterns on the monitor. The client thought it was the screen, but it was actually the main logic board. He’d been using the machine for 20 years — 20 years! — and had no interest in upgrading to a modern Mac.
Michael Jackson is likely make more money in death than he ever did in life — the Elvis effect. And it’s already started.
Jackson sold a record 2.6 million digital downloads in just one week, according to preliminary sales numbers from Nielsen SoundScan.
The sales make Jackson the first artist to sell more than one million digital songs in one week. The week before his death, Jackson sold 48,000 songs, illustrating how big a jump this week’s numbers are.
Jackson’s records are dominating the charts. Six of his albums are in the top 10 Top Digital Albums chart, a record, and 25 of his singles are in the top 75 Hot Digital Songs.
Like Elvis, Jackson is likely to bigger earner in death than he was in life. Elvis earned a whopping $52 million in 2007 — $8 million more than living pop stars like Justin Timberlake ($44 million) and Madonna ($40 million), according to Forbes.com.
Counterfeit iPhones have come a long way. They’re now almost identical to original iPhones, fooling bargain hunters on sites like eBay.
Look at the video below from Dana Stibolt, founder of MacMedics, who was given a fake iPhone bought on the auction site.
At first glance, it’s almost identical to current models, from the touchscreen to the volume switches on the side and the dock connector on the bottom.
“It looks EXACTLY like an iPhone,” says Stibolt. “But it does not work very well, and when it does work, it is very slow.”
Last year, knockoff iPhones were easy to spot. They were thicker, bulkier and often had extra buttons or keyboards.
Mozilla’s new Firefox 3.5 browser, released on Tuesday, adds porn mode, big speed improvements and location services.
But one feature for MacBook users has been removed from previous beta releases — the multitouch twist gesture for navigating between tabs.
It’s a handy gesture. With a twist of your fingers, you can whiz through open tabs just like using Control-Tab.
Here’s how to re-enable it.
The iPhone 3.1 beta has been released to developers, and includes some cool features, including Voice Control over Bluetooth.
Baseband has been updated to 5.08.o1, so don’t install the beta if your iPhone has been unlocked with the ultrasnow hack — it will permantly lock it.
The beta also allows edited videos to be saved as a copy, preserving the original. And MMS is on by default, but doesn’t work for AT&T subscribers.
The full list, via the QuickPwn website, after the jump.
Apple is advertising a rare job in its storied design department — and it’s a cool one.
Apple is looking for a computer modeling expert to make 3D renderings of concept products.
“CAD sculptor/digital 3D modeler needed to create high quality CAD models used in the industrial design and development of new products,” says the job posting on the Dezeenjobs website.
Headed by Jonny Ive, Apple’s design department is one of the most famous industrial design groups in the world. Employing about a dozen world-class designers, the studio is responsible for a string of trendsetting products, starting with the original iMac (which launched an industry see-through electronics) to the iPod and it’s iconic white earbuds.
Whoever gets the job will be one of the first people in the world to get a peek at whatever Apple is working on. Only CEO Steve Jobs and a handful of top executives get to see products in development.
The vast majority of Apple employees don’t see a final product until the day it is launched, even if they helped build it. Software programmers never see the actual hardware, and hardware engineers work on bulky prototypes housed in big polypropylene boxes.
Only the design department gets to see the final shape of the new product, and the studio is ultra-secretive. Housed in a nondescript building off Apple’s main campus, entry is limited to a chosen few. Even Apple’s previous CEO, John Sculley, was denied entrance. His electronic badge wouldn’t let him (he threw a fit).
The job sounds cool, but the job posting warns it is not a design job, nor a stepping-stone to a design job. Too bad.
The full job posting after the jump:
Id Software has released Doom Resurrection for the iPhone and iPod touch. It’s the first official release for the iPhone/iPod touch in the storied Doom franchise, which is now 16 year’s old and still running strong.
The $9.99 game is an “all-new chapter in the Doom saga,” says ID Software.
The first-person-shooter is based on 2005’s Doom 3, not the seminal Doom Classic, which runs on just about every gadget known to man, including the original iPod (if it’s already hacked to run Linux).
Unlike previous versions of Doom, the gameplay is not free flow. The character moves along a pre-determined path, blasting zombies and demons and dodging oncomong projectiles. Aiming is controlled by the iPhone;s accelerometer and reportedly works well.
“We built a completely new play style for this game,” says ID Software’s CTO John Carmack. “We have no worries that we’re going to do something utterly not fun.”
Carmack says he plans to release his port of Doom Classic to the iPhone and iPod in coming weeks.
Steve Jobs is officially back at work after six-month’s medical leave, an Apple spokesperson just told Bloomberg reporter Connie Guglielmo in a phone interview.
“Steve is back to work,” said Apple spokesman Steve Dowling on Monday. “We are very glad to have him back.”
Jobs is working at Apple a few days a week and working from home the remainder of the time, Dowling added. Jobs reportedly returned to work last week, but Monday’s statement is Apple’s first official word.
Jobs took six month’s medical leave in January, promising to return by the end of June. Monday is June 29. During his absence, Jobs had a liver transplant in Memphis, TN.
LINK.
After using the iPhone 3GS for a week, here’s five of my favorite, non-obvious tricks I’ve picked up.
