Nicole Martinelli - page 30

If you’re going to steal an iPad, try not to target an Apple employee.

Case in point: two thieves had the bad luck to swipe a pair of iPads from the home of an Apple employee in San Jose.

The 31-year-old employee had already installed Apple’s Find my iPhone app, a free service to MobileMe paying subscribers that launched days just days earlier.

He called the police, then fired up the service from his iPhone. When the police arrived, they tracked the iPad and radioed in the location of the getaway car.

“He’s heading north; he just made a left,” the officers told the dispatcher.

Since they couldn’t pinpoint the exact car, they had to wait, watching the little icon move across a map of the city until it arrived in a cul-de-sac in a residential area where police could make their move.

By the end of the day, officers had returned all of the stolen equipment, identified by serial numbers, to the manager.

Two thieves in their early 30s had ransacked the Apple employees’ house for a total of $20,000 in computer equipment and other electronics including two iPads, an iBook, three laptops and an old PC, according to police reports.

Cult of Mac reader Ryan proves that Trix are not just for kids with this quick iPad stand made from an empty cereal box.

“I got the idea when i first got my iPhone 3G two years ago… At the time I made a stand out of a paper Starbucks cup for my iPhone. I was reminded of that this morning after scouring the Internet for a practical and affordable stand. My cousin finished a box of Trix and as she was making her way to the recycling bin, I decided to do a little recycling of my own.”

The finished stand should support your iPad in either portrait or landscape, plugged in or running on battery.

He’s reckons the project took about 10 minutes — here’s a complete how-to on his blog — and if you’ve got on how to improve his design, let him know.

Hold the phone — and don’t bother holding it “correctly” — law firm Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff, LLP is looking for  iPhone 4 owners for a possible class action lawsuit.

They are looking for people who “recently purchased the new iPhone and have experienced poor reception quality, dropped calls and weak signals.”

It’s a tough call for many cult of mac-ers: if you ordered ahead, waited in line and found the iPhone 4 drops reception faster than Britney Spear’s panties, you’re probably not happy about it. They’re banking that enough of the 1,700,000 iPhone 4s sold in just the first three days of the device’s release have enough unhappy owners to warrant a class-action suit.

They are not the only ones demanding Apple give customers some satisfaction: Gizmodo has stomped its sour grapes into a petition demanding the Cupertino company give up some free cases that may help fix the faulty phones.

Do you put faith in Steve Jobs’ claims that the slight snafu will be soon fixed or would you be willing to talk to the lawyers about it?

Via Valleywag

We’ve talked about the iPad suit, the iPad Pants and the iPad dress.

Cult of Mac reader Angela says all of this dedicated clothing design for the iPad is superfluous: “If you think iPad’s an overpriced iPhone/iPod touch that won’t fit in your pocket, you’re wearing the wrong pants.”

Here she is, wearing what she describes as a “fairly normal pair of pants (well, they look big on me, but they’d look normal on a guy) that fit an iPad into a side pocket.”

What do you think — time to put the cargo back into those cargo pants or not?

It is with some regret that we close the comment thread on the open caption contest for the historic meeting of Steve Jobs and Russian president Dimitry Medvedev: you guys are killing us.

Winner “nudge” who concocted the above simple but effective headline wins an trio of cool promo codes: iAnnotate iPad app, Soduku 2 and Hangman RSS for iPhone.

Special mentions to Jeremey Laflamme, Kevin Kestler, Julie and Alfredo for the laughs.

Russian President Dimitry Medvedev toured Silicon valley today.

Medvedev, who works on a MacBook and recently started using an iPad, posted a pic from his newly-inaugurated Twitter account of his meeting with Steve Jobs at Apple’s Cupertino campus.

It’s great to see a photo commemorating the visit, though their expressions are a little awkward.

Hmmm. This calls for a caption contest.

Best caption wins something Apple-related and cool.

Leave them in the comments, we’ll pick the one we like best on based on staff guffaws.

Waiting in line outside an Apple store is no longer just for fans: it’s business.  Two enterprising guys have put up tent space and chair space on website airbnb for spots in line for the iPhone 4 launch

A spot in the San Francisco tent — for the full-on can’t-wait-for-it fanboy experience — will run you $400 a night, more than the price of the new iPhone 4.

And you have to share the tent, too:

“Rent the tent I pitched outside of the Apple store in San Francisco and be the first person to get an iPhone. I have a 2 person tent and figured that if I couldn’t get my friends to join me, I would rent out the extra spot. I’m hoping to earn enough to cover the cost of my phone!”

Another airbnb listing offered a chair outside an Apple store for $200. It’s no longer being offered.

Perhaps the chair has already been occupied?

Via airbnb

A study by warranty provider SquareTrade found that 26% of all iPhones fail — break or suffer hardware malfunctions —  in the first two years of use.

Of course, SquareTrade sells warranties to cover all your iPhone health issues so the info requires a grain of salt. But their study of 25,000 customer claims did find that iPhone reliability is on the upswing. You can read the full report here [PDF].

Last year’s report covering the iPhone and iPhone 3G put the failure rate at 33%. For the iPhone 3Gs, they found most snafus came from power, followed by touchscreen, battery and button issues.

Conde Nast hasn’t given up entirely on food magazine Gourmet, it just plans on serving the leftovers in an iPhone and iPad app.

Gourmet, known for its literate articles and collectible recipes, hung up its apron in fall 2009. Conde plans to launch Gourmet Live, a free mobile version of the 70-year-old magazine title by the end of the year.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67PZjbDnBCI&feature=player_embedded
The app will offer a sampling of articles, recipes, video demonstrations and slide shows plus social media bells and whistles that will allow those grazing on the content to see which of their Facebook friends and Twitter connections have seen it and what they have to say.

Heavy users will be prompted to pay for a subscription, though the payment options haven’t been put on the menu, yet. It’ll be made in iPad-friendly HTML5, so perfect for propping up in the kitchen to execute that peppercorn roasted pork with vermouth pan sauce recipe.

Via WSJ

Twice in one week, enterprising thieves hit Apple’s Upper West Side store to snag shipments of iPads.

The low weight and easy portability of the iDevice makes it an easy target: in both incidents, thieves grabbed boxes of five iPads and ran away with them in broad daylight.

“Thieves are opportunists, and it’s the hottest gadget out there,” a police source told the New York Post. The first theft occurred mid-morning on Tuesday. A man swiped a box with five iPads while a delivery driver was stacking cartons outside his truck. The thief zipped down the street on foot and has not been caught.

Two days later, a thieving duo snatched another box of five iPads taking advantage of momentary distraction from a UPS driver. One of the pair asked the driver for directions, the other snagged a box and took off on foot down Broadway.

“We definitely have a heightened security presence,” said a worker at the store at Broadway and 67th Street. To improve the chances of getting them on the shelves, even the Apple employees are kept in the dark about  delivery times. “Even if I knew, I couldn’t tell you. We don’t know when we’re getting more in,” an employee said.

Via New York Post

Outraged over Foxconn suicides and poor working conditions, members of the Chinese Progressive Association protested what they called the “Death Pad” outside the San Francisco Apple store.

About 20 protesters from the labor group carried signs with the names of the suicides and handed out leaflets to busy shoppers on Saturday afternoon in front of Apple’s flagship Powell Street store. Their goal: get US consumers to think about where their favorite high-tech gadgets come from and how they are made.

“Although the tragedies happened in China,” CPA organizer Shaw San Li told the San Francisco World Journal, “we know exploitation of blue-collar workers happens every day in America too. Big corporations like Apple are taking advantage of workers.”

Via SF Bay Citizen

Apple knows where you are and plans to put that information to work.

The Cupertino company updated its privacy policy today to disclose that it may now “collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device.”

The new terms of service will pop up as a prompt next time you try to download or buy anything on the iTunes store — there is currently no opt-out option. (As Cult reader Joh pointed out — iOS4 users can opt out of iAd, however, online here.)

The only service to users mentioned in the privacy policy update is the recently-announced  “Find my iPhone” for MobileMe subscribers.

If you managed to get your order in before the colossal iPhone 4 pre-order server meltdown, be on the lookout for shipping confirmation from Apple and AT&T.

Apple started to confirm shipping notifications and FedEx tracking for the iPhone 4 yesterday, some with a June 23 deliver-by date. The official release is June 24.

Today, AT&T customers are getting some relief from iPhone 4 pre-order anxiety as shipping info and confirmation emails are being sent out.

Has your new device been confirmed as on its way yet?

Via MacRumors

Police in Sussex want to test an app that would let gun owners start the renewal process using their iPhones.

Part of a £3 million cost-cutting campaign, anyone who wanted to renew shotgun and firearm licenses would start via iPhone, then be visited in person by officers.

Not everyone thinks the streamlining is a good thing.
”We’ve got to be extra careful giving gun licenses,” Lyn Costello, of Mothers Against Murder and Aggression (MAMAA), said. ”We have this attitude that gun murders don’t happen very often so its OK to be lax, but it is not OK and we’ve got to do everything in our power to stop it happening again.”

Next time you leave your iPhone behind in a bar, there’s a free app from Apple that could help you find it.

The Find My iPhone app is now available for download on iTunes but requires a MobileMe account subscription.

It works like this: install the app on your “home base” (someone else’s iPhone, or an iPad, iPod Touch) and in the event that you lose your iPhone or it gets swiped, login to the app via MobileMe.

Apple put together a video love letter to itself where app developers from A-list firms talk about how delighted they are to work with the Cupertino company.

About halfway through the 5-minute or so video, the execs start talking about how much they don’t like working with other platforms. (Read: “Android?”)

“We’ve actually spent some time working with other platforms, it’s a night and day difference,” says Calvin Carter of Bottle Rocket apps who made the NPR app. “They are more difficult for the user, they don’t have the power or the tools available, they don’t have the distribution network. They don’t have the standards, both in hardware or software.”

“It is that handset fragmentation, if you will, that causes developers a lot of problems,” says Skarpi Hedinsson of ABC TV. “Because you’re now targeting individual devices.”

“It’s really evident in Apple’s APIs, in the developer’s tools, that you’re working with something really mature,” remarks Tom Conrad of Pandora. “Not something that was invented two years ago.”

Via Jordan Stark

Charles Parr wonders whether Apple’s wireless Magic Mouse would be any more enchanting if you didn’t have to change the batteries, so he whipped up the above prototype.

He says:
“I’m not a product designer by any means, but I know changing batteries all the time can be a pain… I would definitely like to have a rechargeable Magic Mouse that will utilize the same dock connector that Apple has on all their products.”

Parr sent the idea along to Steve Jobs, but hasn’t heard anything yet.
What do you think?

Via Charles Parr

With the snap of an iPhone camera, one police department is identifying suspects on the go.

Using an app called MORIS (Mobile Offender Recognition and Identification System), the police department in Brockton, Massachusetts is matching photos of suspects with a database in development by statewide sheriff’s departments.

Sean Mullin, president and CEO of BI2 Technologies of Plymouth who developed the app, explained that the app allows officers to identify suspects through facial recognition, iris biometrics and fingerprints – all on one device.

This Luxo iMac is living out its retirement as an elegant iPad stand.

Flickr user Rusty took his dear, departed 700MHz Flat Panel iMac and then spent a little of that trial and error time all DIYers know to mold the acrylic holder to the arm. (The first few tries, he notes, shattered or “bent weird.”) Then he added a pair of speakers into the base and a bluetooth keyboard.

This stand could pair very nicely with the Luxo lamp, or the iPad Mac Classic stand for an office space filled with retro repurposing.

The iPad may be seen as an expensive bauble, but at least one has proved worth the purchase price by helping its owner recover stolen goods.

Recently in San Francisco, a man was followed by a 16-year-old girl. First she asked him for money. He gave her some change. She continued following him, hit him up again for more money. When he said he didn’t have any, she pulled a knife on him and took his wallet, iPod and iPad.

The victim managed to call police, who tracked down the thief thanks to the iPad’s GPS. Turns out the teen thief caught the 38 Geary bus to flee the scene of the crime. The wallet and iPod were also recovered. The 75 cents, the SF Appeal notes, went to pay for the getaway bus ticket.

Source:  SF Appeal

Apple execs have a hard time telling the difference between porn and literature.

First Apple removed images from graphic novels of classics “Ulysses” and “The Importance of Being Earnest” for being, well, too graphic for the device that has been touted as “freedom from porn.”

Robert Berry, the illustrator of “Ulysses Seen,” told the New York Times that an image of a woman with exposed breasts was one of the offending panels in the comic version of the book.

Steve Wozniak will be taking a break from Segway Polo and dancing the tango to be interviewed on radio program “The American Entrepreneur” Tuesday, June 15.

Tune in from 3 PM – 6 PM (EST) online and call 412-333-1360 to ask Woz your most pressing Apple questions.

Host Ron Morris will be chatting to Apple’s other Steve about his personal history, the early days of Apple, what he is up to nowadays and what Steve thinks of the evolution of the computer industry since he and Steve Jobs launched their fledgling startup in April 1976.

Via TAE radio

The Cult of Mac team had a rollicking good time at BoxTone’s iNSpired party, checking out the machines and chatting to devs.

There were about 20 Apple machines on show, from the Apple I to the iMac. The best part, they were working machines — something the organizers probably regretted with a room full of people intent on playing with them while downing beer and inhaling scrumptious mini-sandwiches.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBQJ7eLx1Jo

We start with Wendell Sander, Apple employee no. 16, who fires up his Apple I for a memory dump using an iPod.

Steve Jobs says the iPad offers “freedom from porn.”

Some dudes say you can put that freedom where the sun don’t shine, Steve.

And to that end, these self-described “dudes” pwned iPad ads around Moscone center where WWDC 2010 is taking place this week.

You can see the video of their pornifying prank here.

They’ve sent a heartfelt (or maybe choose another organ) letter to Steve about it:

“You don’t want people looking at vaginas on a tablet device you named after a feminine hygiene product? Something smells fishy.”

Yuk, yuk. (Or maybe that’s just “yuck.”)

Cult of Mac reader Till Kresslein alerted us to this DIY paper version of the iPhone 4.
It’s a cute promo for a German Premium Reseller that gives the iPhone 4 desirous something to play with until the latest device is unleashed in Germany on June 24.

Just download, cut and paste.Till has already made one and assures us it looks pretty cool. For sure, it’ll look great beside your Steve Jobs paper doll.

Or wrap it around something, leave it in a bar, watch hilarity ensue.