Nicole Martinelli - page 44

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b58MqoW2ziw

Getting a step closer to completely paperless banking, some customers of USAA will be able to deposit checks using their iPhones.

An updated version of the bank’s mobile app out this week accepts checks that have been photographed with the iPhone.

In the demo above, a bank exec first enters the amount of the check, then lines it up on a desk to take a picture, flips it over to take a shot of the signature. After checking that the images lined up properly and hitting “submit,” the check is in the bank’s system.

“We’re essentially taking an image of the check, and once you hit the send button, that image is going into our deposit-taking system as any other check would,” Wayne Peacock, a USAA executive vice president, told the New York Times.

The check doesn’t have to be mailed or deposited afterward, customers are advised to void or file it.  To avoid fraud trouble, only customers with credit and some kind of insurance are eligible — an estimated 60 percent of the bank’s customers. Since USAA‘s customer base is largely military personnel, for those overseas it might just be the ticket.

The last time I deposited a check, the ATM scanned it directly, but as long as you don’t need to get cash out or do something else this is a nice time saver, especially if you’re a straight shooter.

A nice DIY effort from Denmark, this logo end table is the latest in Apple-inspired furniture we at CoM go nutty over.

This table comes to us from ilove code, not new to Apple-related decor projects, who put it together with help from his mom. The table top is made from medium-density fiberboard (MDF), the logo stands on an old bar-stool.

Especially like how the apple bite might facilitate use as a computer table, depending on the height.

Philadelphia police are trying to identify a woman jogger wearing an iPod who was crushed to death Wednesday night by a falling tree.

Chief Inspector Scott Small of Philadelphia Police says a 30-foot-long tree branch fell on the woman from 50 feet above as she ran at 6:35 p.m. on Forbidden Drive, a popular gravel trail through Wissahickon Valley Park in the Northwest part of the city.

Police suspect she didn’t hear it coming because of her iPod, which they could still hear playing when her dead body was found.

The mystery jogger sustained head injuries, what appears to be a broken neck and a compound fracture of her right leg.

The woman  police are looking for help to ID is described as white, in her late 20s or early 30s about 5-feet-5 and weighing 120 pounds.

Via Fox Philly, Philadelphia Inquirer

Ready to head-butt your Mac from the onslaught of everyday annoyances?

Use it for something better: emWave is a handy stress reducer just released in a Mac version that charts your heart rate and trains you to relax.

It’s the brainchild of Doc Childre, who founded a company called HeartMath in 1991 to create medi-gadgets for people seeking relief from stress and looking for greater mental clarity.

What is it?
Billed as a “Stress Relief System,” it promises big but comes in a small package.  You get an ear sensor for your heart rate that plugs into a USB key and a software program that monitors your heart rhythms and breathing, plus a CD training guide.  Initially unimpressed, after taking emWave through its paces for 10 days, I’m convinced nirvana may be something other than a band.

Details and full review after the jump.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giBNazD-Lm4

Apple launched a new pair of iPhone 3GS ads to highlight features common to newer and older devices.

Continuing the “there’s an app for that” meme, the rather underwhelming one above about sharing shows how you can exchange photos using Mover and contact info with Bump.  (The other ad focuses on travel apps for jet-setting iPhone owners).

With gazillions of apps available, the ad uses two that do a lot of the same things –  allowing users to share contact info, photos and files.

Both Mover and Bump are offered gratis on iTunes and earned three out of a five possible stars in customer ratings. (I downloaded Bump following the hype when it was the billionth app downloaded in the iTunes store, but haven’t had much occasion to use it.)

Which is better, or do you use both?

If you were building a better app ad, what would you have mentioned instead?

Do you leave coveted goods like iPods in plain sight around the house and forget to lock doors?

Well, if you live in Nottingham, England you just might find a police officer dressed up as “Burglar Bill”  entering your residence to teach you a lesson.

The charade is being staged to teach locals to wise up after some 285 homes were robbed in April and May by thieves entering through unlocked doors or open windows — police there say one-third of all home burglaries are perped this way.

Must-have gadgets like the iPod are a quick nick and hard to trace, they point out.

Detective Chief Superintendent Neil James said in a press release: “It only takes a couple of seconds for a thief to reach in through an open window or walk inside an unlocked door and steal a handbag, car keys, iPod and all sorts of other valuable items.”

You’ll be able to tell the artificial larcenist from the real deal because the police officer will don a get-up inspired by Hamburglar: striped shirt, mask and loot bag.

Once the fright wears off, police hope people will be more likely to use common sense habits to keep intruders out — close windows, lock doors and when at home, don’t leave keys in locks or on view and put keys out of sight to stop anyone who breaks in using your car as the getaway vehicle.
What’s still not clear: do the fake burglars give the iPods back?

Via This is Nottingham

A hip purveyor of denim goods in New York called Self Edge has launched an iPhone payment system.

Code named (ironically?) “Square,” it consists of a small, plastic card reader that fits into headphone jacks of iPhones (or iPod Touches) and transfers swiped credit card info to an app.

According to coolhunting, it works like this: a store employee totals up merchandise,  then the customer adds a signature with their finger via touchscreen. The customer then adds the email address where they want the receipt sent to.
Kiya Babzani, co-owner of Self Edge, told Cult of Mac that Square has plenty of plusses for retailers in a system “expected to expand beyond retail and credit card use.”

“There are no recurring fees for Square, so it costs nothing to sign up. Current fees are 2.5% (+.50 cents) per transaction, extremely low compared to regular credit card rates, they normalize the fees so even if the payer uses an AmEx card, you still pay the same 2.5% which is unheard of in the credit card processing world.”

Another nifty feature: the receipt includes a map showing where the purchase was made, nice if you have to prove those distressed denims were somehow a business expense.

What’s the customer reaction to the iPhone system so far?

Babzani says: “Most people are loving it and are interested in where the product will go once it’s rolled out on a large scale.”

Meanwhile, Apple stores still have those comparatively clunky Windows-based mobile devices, rumored to be replaced by an iPhone-based system in September 2009.

In the meantime, what do you think of iPhone payments?

Images courtesy Coolhunting

Nick Mangold, a  6’4”, 300-pound offensive lineman for the New York Jets, talked to uberfan Angel Navedo about, among other things, why he loves the iPod Touch but prefers a Blackberry to the iPhone.

The salient bits:

Do you consider yourself tech savvy?

Nick Mangold: I like to. I don’t know where I measure up to everyone else, but I like to believe I’m gadget and tech friendly. I’m a Blackberry guy.

AN: That hurts my feelings.

Nick Mangold: (Spots my iPhone) But I’m an iPod Touch guy! The iPod Touch is awesome. I think it’s a great device for games and messing around. But for dealing with emails and everything, I pick Blackberry—with the actual keyboard and everything—hands down. I can bang out a page-long email while I’m sitting, doing whatever. Touch screens, you know, I got fatter fingers. It’s not my thing.

AN: It definitely took some getting used to for me.

Nick Mangold: I’m just not a touch screen guy at all. I love it for playing games and stuff, but I keep them separate. If that requires me to carry two different things, I live with it.

The interview caught my eye after spending an afternoon thumbing on a number of keyboards in the quest to finally put my beloved first-gen smartphone out to pasture.

Not an Apple customer by kneejerk, the contract nonsense with the iPhone got me testing the Blackberry and a bunch of Nokias.  And leaving empty handed, for the moment.

Any advice?

Watch out the for sand and water, but bring your device to the fourth annual international meeting for iPhone and iPod fanatics in Riccione, Italy.

This Sunday, August 2, thousands of Apple fans are expected to stage playlist battles and contend for Apple-related prizes at the event organized by Italian site ipodmania.

How did it get started? Well, according to the press release in somewhat maccheronic inglisc:

“The iPod and the iPhone are a mania, there’s nothing to do, and we are subjugated by that insana disease, so we have decided to celebrate this obsession…”

Never mind that iPod/iPhone festivities at Aquafan, Europe’s biggest water park, will be a minefield for devices (everybody in the pool!), site founder Andrea Di Mambro says past editions drew thousands of fans from all over Italy, plus the UK, Germany, Spain and Russia.

A live concert from lounge virtuosi Montefiori Cocktail is also on, as well as tutorials from website staff on how to get the most out of your device.

If you happen to go, send us a report and pics.

With Apple’s tablet computer rumored to be just weeks away, CoM reader Sean sent us another take on what he thinks it’ll look like.

Instead of more or less an overgrown iPod Touch, his latest mock-up version has more of a tablet feel sporting a 7 – 10″ multi-touch glass display, all the better to video AIM your pals about dinner plans.

Other specs follow what he imagined for the much-awaited Apple netbook in his previous prototype: 1.6GHz Intel Atom Processor, 512MB – 1GB of RAM, 64GB flash memory, bluetooth, WiFi and a reduced version of OS X Snow Leopard to fit the device.

What do you think?

Yeah, it’s common sense to take your valuables with you when you park. Online police blotters make it seem, however, that a parked car is a virtual shopping mall for thieves.

A few recent examples:

— An iPod was reported stolen from a vehicle broken into in the 3100 block of Ebano Drive. (Walnut Creek, Ca.)

— Complainant reported that his car was broken into and an iPod and a stereo faceplate were stolen early Wednesday morning.  The in-dash stereo was damaged in an attempt to steal it as well. (Lufkin, Texas.)

— Apple iPod stolen  from unlocked vehicle, Snowden Ave., July 21. A vehicle window was smashed and Apple iPod stolen, first block of Karen Way, July 19. (Both in Atherton, Ca.)

— A vehicle parked at 31 River St. was burglarized on July 19 at 11:30 p.m. A window was smashed and an 8-gig iPod touch, a purse and an orange-and-black Tony Hawk BMX were taken. (Lewiston, Maine).

In at least one area, Arlington County, Virginia, police report thefts are up 20 percent this year — attributing the increase to gadgets nicked from cars.

“Most are larcenies from vehicles to include valuables left in cars, including GPS’s, MP3 players, purses, wallets,” said Kraig Troxell, spokesman for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.

“People walk by and see an iPod and a GPS on a car seat and just smash and grab,” Jody Donaldson, spokesman for Alexandria police told the Washington Post. “You’d be surprised how many people leave their car unlocked with that stuff out.”

Police advise if you leave your iPod in the car — at least put it out of sight — but warn that these thefts are bound to increase as more people use them.

“A lot of people have these items that used to not have them — BlackBerrys, iPods, iPhones, tiny cameras,” Donaldson said. “Think about how many people have this technology who didn’t a year ago.”

Apple has started re-issuing promo codes for +17 apps on iTunes. It’s unclear whether the lack of promo codes for these apps — which range from adult-oriented pics to eReaders which allow unfiltered content — was a glitch in the system or a ban.

One thing’s for sure, no promo codes hurt these +17-rated apps since journalists couldn’t try them out and therefore often avoided writing about them. One sex game app developer CoM spoke to said the lack of promo codes effectively hog-tied sales of saucy apps and discouraged them from making more.

The + 17 rating is supposed to act as a filter for adult content, according to the iTunes rating system. You must be over age 17 to purchase them because they “may contain frequent and intense offensive language; frequent and intense cartoon, fantasy or realistic violence; and frequent and intense mature, horror and suggestive themes; plus sexual content, nudity, alcohol, tobacco and drugs which may not be suitable for children until the age of 17.”

Many ratings are subjective: the Cannabis app, which helps users find medicinal pot, is OK for anyone over the age of 12, and some sex dice apps are approved for players over age nine.

Via PC World

If you feel there’s no such thing as too much screen real estate, you might want to recycle your old Mac as a display for your laptop.

Popular Mechanics suggests downloading  ScreenRecycler (there’s a gratis or $29 version) a driver that creates a virtual display that is then shared via VNC so you can multitask with two displays.
You can even use an old PC monitor (gasp!) for display as long as the main computer’s a Mac.
As someone who tends to keep old machines around long after they’re useful, I love this idea.

Anyone tried it?

Via Popular Mechanics

This handmade iPhone cover enlists an Apple icon born in the early 1980s to protect your smart device.

The gray felt case sporting a Happy Mac face is 5.125″ high x 3.25″ wide, so it should fit all iPhone models.

I’d buy it just for the tiny, embroidered Apple rainbow symbol in the corner.

$25 on Etsy.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XOtCFNaNUg

Apple recently complained to Microsoft about its “Laptop Hunter” ad series where pseudo-everyday consumers go on a shopping quest to buy computers on a limited budget.

In what Microsoft Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner called “the greatest single phone call,” Apple lawyers rang up to lament the ads weren’t accurate — since the company shaved prices off Macs, some by as much as $300 hundred dollars, in June.
Microsoft agreed to edit the ads to reflect this.

So what changed in the ad campaign? Not much.

The first edited ad is “Lauren and Sue,” where a mom-and-daughter team are in the market for a computer for under $1,700.

Originally, the ad showed law student Lauren declaring:

“This Mac is $2,000, and that’s before adding anything.”

“Why would you pay twice the price?” asks Lauren’s mom. “I wouldn’t,” says Lauren, who heads to the checkout with a $972 Dell laptop.

In the updated version, the specific price is edited out but Lauren does a drive-by of the Macs, dismissing the MacBook Pro (“this one only has a 250GB hard drive”) before sentencing: “It seems like you’re paying a lot for the brand.”

Microsoft’s Turner told journalists that his company plans to “keep running them and running them and running” the Laptop Hunter ads — and it’s easy to see why. They don’t need specific prices to use the expensive-but-not-really-worth-it Mac argument.

Via Ad Age

Tod Kurt put together this clean, clear iPhone dock from four pieces of acrylic scraps. He was inspired to create it after buying a case that wouldn’t work with traditional docks. More details and close-up pic after the jump.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWQ_UV-9Wb4

This video, from Drew Carey’s libertarian-leaning ReasonTV, is supposed to convince Americans that they shouldn’t buy iPods.

Why?

They may be “designed by Apple in California” but almost all of the 451-odd parts hail from abroad — the screen from Japan, the battery from Chile the CPU design from Britain — and it’s assembled, of course, in China. (The info comes from a 2007 report you can download the pdf here).

So the iPod, goes the ReasonTV argument, is not an American product.  Buying them is not patriotic — real patriots would take a hammer to them. (Though if you stick with the video until its nearly 10 minute conclusion, it comes back around to why buying them isn’t all bad for the US economy).

The beauty-bashing the foreign-made beast action happens at about 2:30.

Confession: I know I’m missing the point, but even watching these chicks smash what look like fake iPods makes me cringe.

As Apple ponders a makeover of some of its stores — the first international remodel is underway in Bluewater (UK) — it’s a good time to consider which of the over 250 retail outlets are worth making a pilgrimage to, or a slight detour if something goes awry while you’re on the road.

The top five must-see Apple stores, as per travel site Jaunted, are London, Tokyo, Sydney, New York — and Scottsdale.

What’s on your list? Let us know in the comments.

Pics and nominations after the jump.

Reports of faulty iPod batteries — from the torched Saab or the recent problems in Korea over Nanos –  are occasionally in the news.

One investigation now claims that Apple lawyers tried to hush-up battery problems that have led to fires.

Amy Clancy at KIRO TV, the CBS affiliate in Seattle, spent seven months trying to obtain documents about iPods from the national Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The delay? Apple lawyers filed “exemption after exemption,” her report says.

She eventually got through the smoke to obtain 800 pages said to be the first comprehensive report into how many iPod batteries go up in smoke, some of them burning their owners.

Those pages contained some 15 incidents of fiery MP3 players, some you can download from the TV site, including a jogger who says she still has a penny-sized burn scar on her chest from wearing an overheated iPod. Apple is said to have told her it was an “isolated incident.”

Out of the millions of iPods sold, are the faulty batteries too few to be significant or  not?

Via ZDnet

A British thief was busted in Germany after posing as broke tourist selling his iPod and electronics gear to get home.

The sorta-samaritans walked away and realized instead of MP3 players and video gear they had bought a camcorder bag full of potatoes.

It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book — buy a cell phone in a parking lot, find out it’s got sand instead of hardware in it — but the thief pulled off the bait and switch at least 26 times.

His accomplice has not been caught yet — and police in Dusseldorf warn he may be armed.
Should someone approach you, remember only Zune owners would sell their devices to get home.

Via The Sun

If you’ve told the kids 100 times not to interrupt while you work in the home office, maybe it’s time to download a new app that emits a high-frequency pitch that anyone under the age of 25 finds seriously annoying.

Called Kids Be Gone, it works like a teen deterrent device first used by British police to disperse unruly underage crowds by emitting a shrill tone only they can hear, 18.000 hz. (Kids and the under-30 crowd still have sensitive hair cells in their inner ears plus full aural capabilities people gradually lose as they age — try the demo for a similar service after the jump).

A CoM reader wrote in after our story on the Apple symbols pried from dead computers and transformed into jewelry to say that he’s been doing the same for years.

The reader, who goes by the handle univac, set up a gallery of what he calls “liberated logos” on Flickr –  there’s something wonderful about seeing the evolution of them side by side.

His collection includes a ton of iconic rainbow Apple symbols (including one possibly from a 512 “Fat Mac,”) plus larger ones from laserwriters, G3s and Quadras.

More pics after the jump.

If your memory is a little hazy on where to find a medicinal pot supplier, there are a couple of apps for that.

The Cannabis app, available on iTunes for $2.99, helps users locate the nearest medical marijuana collectives, co-ops, doctors, clinics, attorneys, organizations and other patient services in the thirteen states where pot is legal for medicinal purposes.

Cannabis is the work of a Devin Calloway — web engineer and medical cannabis patient and self-described “digital activist” — and software engineer Julian Cain. The pair will donate $0.50 of every app sold to found a cannabis non-profit reform fund.

Cannabis isn’t the only app on iTunes for pot-seeking people. The other cannabis finder is called California Herbal Caregivers and, for $0.99, offers a list of the state’s 700 dispensaries on-the-go.

Despite Apple’s ongoing policing for “inappropriate” apps, both pot apps are rated 12+, or suitable for anyone over the age of 12, for “infrequent/mild alcohol, tobacco or drug use references.”

High anxiety, anyone?

Dave Lawrence over at Newton Poetry had some fun with Photoshop making this retro-future homepage for Apple products. He picked a critical year in Apple history, 1983, when the company faced competition from IBM and the flop of the $10,000 Lisa.

Inspired by “how Apple’s web site has changed over the years,” Dave “thought it’d be cool to use it as a time-traveling template to take a peek into the past… It’s not accurate, of course, because I took some embellishments on the iPhone prototype and the fact that some sort of World Wide Web existed during the Reagan administration.”

Still, it’s an interesting take on web design—as well as what’s gone right and wrong with Apple products over the years.

Dave also mentions he’d like to see what would happen “if someone took a snapshot of Apple.com as it would appear throughout the years before its actual launch in 1996. For instance, I’d love to see what the homepage would’ve looked like on the Newton’s launch day, or the first PowerBook, or System 7.”

Anyone game? Send us your what-may-have been mock-ups.

We’ll give a prize to the best entry.

Hat tip to CoM reader Raphael.

If you’re looking for sturdy earphones with good sound isolation, the Shure SE110 may be a good swap for your Apple earbuds — if you don’t mind the bulky, three-foot cord.

First the good:

The Shure SE110 headphones come with a two-year warranty for materials and workmanship, the first thing you’ll notice after unboxing is that are built to withstand a lot of wear.

The cord and jack are thicker and more solid than regular Apple earbuds and, even after a short trial, I’d be willing to wager they last the warranty. If they do, at $79 per pair, the price is decent for the overall quality.

I like to think I’m a lover not a fighter, but the beating my iPod earbuds take indicates otherwise: a pair lasts about six-to-nine months, if that, in the cycle of gym bag to computer bag to handbag. (My old Apple pair in the pics below have been glued back together, note the sad fray around the buds).

So sturdy is a big selling point for me. Over the years, I’ve waffled between getting Apple replacements or versions that cost about half of the $30 Apple price, since they seem to last about as long anyway.

More pics and full review after the jump.