iPod - page 22

The Miami company selling a generic PC that runs Mac OS X says it will fight Apple in the courts — but it’s reasoning seems flawed.

Psystar says it has ported OS X to run on a $400 machine called the OpenMac — in violation of the OS X’s shrinkwrap license, which restricts the software from being installed on any non-Apple branded machine.

But a spokesman for Psystar told InformationWeek that Apple’s shrinkwrap license for OS X violates U.S. antitrust law.

“What if Microsoft said you could only install Windows on Dell computers?” said the spokesman, identified only as Robert.

He continued: “What if Honda said that, after you buy their car, you could only drive it on the roads they said you could?”

But the spokesman seems to be confusing monopoly with abuse of monopoly. Having a monopoly is not illegal — abusing that monopoly is.

And although there’s no definitive court ruling on the enforceability of shrinkwrap EULA licenses (End-User License Agreements), Apple will likely sue under the more sweeping Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which criminalizes the circumvention of copyright controls.

Apple has encrypted core segments of OS X — including portions of the Finder and Dock — in an overt anti-piracy effort, according to eWeek. Security researcher Bruce Schneier, said companies are using the DMCA as an anti-piracy measure, but also to prevent reverse engineering. Any attempt to break the encrypted code is in violation of the DMCA.

Psystar’s OpenMac claims to be a 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo machine with 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, integrated Intel graphics, a DVD burner and four USB Ports. Most of the components can be upgraded.

Photo: Kevin Dean

Here’s a great story from the Consumerist about Dell’s hairy customer service. Guy sends his Dell laptop to Texas for replacement, the new machines comes back with pubes in the keyboard!

When I opened up the new laptop, I saw the screen was scratched and dirty, and the keyboard was covered in debris. Wait, not debris….what is that? HAIRS!? Not just any hairs – these could only be described as pubes. I hate to be so crude, but pubes are pubes. Not the incidental curly hair, but rather mini-tufts between the keys. My only guess is that Ron Jeremy was the previous owner.

Now that’s service.

Hacker Benjamin Heckendorn, better known as Ben Heck, has shoehorned the motherboard of an Apple IIGS into his own custom-made laptop case.

The Apple IIGS Original Hardware Laptop has a 15-inch color screen, built-in CompactFlash as a pseudo hard drive and stereo speakers.

The amazing piece of engineer has a glowing blue logo that flashes yellow when the disk is busy. Heck even made his own keys for the board, laser-etching each key.

It seems like it must be in danger of bursting into flames at any moment, but Heck says it puts off no more heat than a pocket calculator.

Released in September 1986, the IIGS was a powerful computer for its time, with advanced color graphics and stereo sound — the GS standing for “Graphics” and Sound.”

Heck says the hack was requested by an unnamed party. My money’s on Woz.

Heck has lot more pictures and video on his site.

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A company called Psystar is advertising a $399 pseudo-Mac called the “OpenMac,” which it claims is made from standard PC parts and is compatible with OS X Leopard.

Based in Miami, Florida, Psystar is courting a legal smackdown from Apple, which ended its official “clone” program in 1997 after Steve Jobs returned to run the company. Intended to grow the Mac platform, the clones instead took market share from Apple, seriously impacting its botttom-line.

Which is why Apple will likely pounce on Psystar: the Mac is Apple’s most profitable line, and the last thing Apple wants is a company producing low-cost knockoffs.

Apple will likely center on the use of Leopard: The operating system’s software license forbids it being installed on non-Apple hardware.

Psystar’s butt-ugly OpenMac claims to be a 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo machine with 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, integrated Intel graphics, a DVD burner and four USB Ports. Most of the components can be upgraded with better graphics or bigger hard drives. Psystar says:

Filed Under: FutureWatch

What I’m going to say will likely disturb some folks, particularly in light of the fact that iTunes just became the #1 music retailer in the world this month. But work with me a little.

The online music revolution has not occurred, yet.

That’s it. No wild speculation, or tin-foil hat accusations, (and yet your characteristic sensationalism remains –ed)

That is the whole of the thing. While other industries have seen often dramatic effects on their business as a result of the internet, the music business is much like it was when my dad had a music store 20 years ago. Consumers still shop, they buy records, or singles they’re interested in. In short, online music has not been changed by the internet (save for the piracy aspect), it remains the same “Buy and Consume” metaphor it has always been.

In the spirit of disrupting future software patents by publishing prior art, after the break we’ll discuss in detail exactly how Apple could change all that.

In more good news, the first review of Inside Steve’s Brain — my new book about Steve Jobs — has been published by Macworld.com. Even better, reviewer Dan Pourhadi likes it.

In his new book, Inside Steve’s Brain (Portfolio, 2008), however, Leander Kahney attempts to go beyond the obvious by offering a detailed, concept-oriented, blow-by-blow look at Apple CEO and what makes him tick–his history, his ideas, his ideals, his reasoning, his behavior, his relationships, even his footwear choices.

Kahney’s the right person for the job, too: He has an extensive history covering Apple and Steve Jobs since the early 1990’s, has written two previous books on the company, and has been running Wired’s Cult of Mac blog for ages.

Macworld is a tough audience, so I’m especially glad they liked it. The book is out next week.

Watch this dog scroll through the iPhone picture library as though it’s been using an iPhone all it’s life!

Via WSJ.

Charlie Miller, the same man who hacked the iPhone in 2007 has successfully hacked a MacBook Air running OSX 10.5.2. He won a free Air and $10,000. Competitors were unable to hack the system on day one, as organizers allowed only attacks over a network. Day two allowed organizers to visit web pages or open messages in e-mail clients. Apple is working on the problem.

More here:

https://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/03/28/mac-hacked-two-minutes-flat

Submitted by lukeM|V

Look closely at the driver’s side window on Space Shuttle Endeavour. What’s that white thing floating around the cabin in zero G?

Look closer…

It looks like an iPod Classic!

It was spotted in this high-res photo of the Endeavour, by eagle-eyed TUAW reader Walker. The Space Shuttle is presently docked with the International Space Station.

According to TUAW, space-bound iPods have to have their lithium batteries replaced with specially certified alkaline ones. And iPods aren;t allowed inside the ISS, since they aren’t certified as safe on the space station.

Auto sales are collapsing in Japan, especially among young people who view the car as a climate-destroying anachronism, according to a fascinating report in the Wall Street Journal.

“Young people can borrow their parents’ car, and I think they’d rather spend money on PCs or iPods than cars,” says the student with shaggy hair who is in no rush to get a driver’s license.

Sales of cars in Japan have dropped to the lowest level in a decade. Only 25 percent of Japanese in their 20s want a car, down from about 50 percent in 2000, according to a recent survey cited by the Journal.

Disdain for the car is a growing phenomenon worldwide, the Journal notes.

The drama caused by lithium-ion batteries just continues to snap, crackle and pop along, according to our friends at Epicenter, as an old-school iPod nano reportedly began shooting sparks out while recharging at a home in Japan.

Overall, details remain spotty about the case, but the problem supposedly surfaced in January in Kanagawa Prefecture southwest of Tokyo. Once again, officials are blaming those occasionally unstable lithium-ion batteries. While no one was injured during the mini fireworks show, Japanese officials have publicly chastised Apple for failing to report the incident earlier (the company submitted its report on March 7). In the meantime, Apple has been ordered to look into the matter further and report back to the Ministry.

This could be a major black eye for Apple is it turns out to be a widespread problem. A recall on the previous generation iPod nano would be extraordinarily costly. Has anyone ever had problems with older nano batteries?

This afternoon’s stock sell off after Apple reported some amazing Christmas numbers was initially puzzling. Apple had its best quarter ever — selling a record 2.3 million Macs — yet Wall Street dumped the stock in after hours trading.

Initial reports blamed the sell off on Apple’s cautious guidance for the current quarter. Plus there’s the receding economy, which will put a pinch on Americans’ gadget buying habits.

But here’s the reason: the iPod’s amazing growth has finally slowed to zero.

For the first time in six years, Apple’s key product saw no growth year-to-year in the crucial Christmas period. And there’s only one way to go form here: down.

Looks like the iPod gravy train is finally slowing, and from here on in, we’ll see declining year-on-year sales of Apple’s key gadget.

Chart: Silicon Alley Insider

Via: Infectious Greed

Nilay Patel at Engadget has a fascinating post about Apple’s $20 charge for Mail, Maps and a few other apps on the iPod touch, allegedly because doing otherwise would run Apple afoul of Sarbanes-Oxley Act accounting requirements. Essentially, the argument goes, Apple is required to charge for any “major” features that aren’t enabled upon shipment for any product that doesn’t have its cost spread across a recurring subscription business model, as the iPhone and AppleTV are.

Which sounds plausible, until you realize that Apple has enabled such features as podcasts, search games and others for the iPod without charging for it. Not to mention which, iTunes is perpetually upgraded for free, no matter what you’re installing it on, whether you even own an iPod or not. Patel puts it well:

iPod name or no, the iPod touch is essentially a little computer, and the whole purpose of software is to enable “significant unadvertised new features” on a computer. For Apple (or anyone) to say that a mail app is a “significant new feature” for a computer is pushing the line just a bit far, and it makes us wonder how the company accounts for new versions of iTunes, QuickTime, and Safari, each of which add new features to already-sold Macs — and how things are going to play out when the iPhone / iPod touch SDK is released next month.

Seriously. Something stinks in Cupertino. Why the heck should a consumer have to care whether the device they buy gets reported as subscription revenue or not? That’s a company’s problem, and it’s goofy to discriminate between products on an arbitrary basis. Just sounds like a way to get some extra bucks out of touch owners to me.

Via Engadget.

Gotta love that sky-blue. I know some people aren’t into the fatty nano, but I didn’t know they were especially prevalent in Thailand. Flickr user Mr. Neutron sets us all straight on that point.

Via BoingBoing

MacRumors reader Zippster learned the hard way that iPod Touches and fast-moving treadmills don’t mix:

Apple’s support of Java in Mac OS X continues to be totally pathetic, as Alex Popescu points out.

I’m usually calm and trying to understand the decisions some are making. But this is f%^$% unbelievable: Apple has released a developer preview of Java6, but it is meant only for 10.5.1 or later. Are they kidding me? A guy has been able to build Java6 for Mac by his own, has packaged it for both Tiger and Leopard, and Apple comes out 1 month later with a 10.5.1 only? That’s incredible arrogant.

Yeah, and it’s only for 64-bit Macs, so first-gen Intel iMacs, MacBook Pros and MacBooks are out of look. BOO. When a hobbyist can put together more useful and broad implementations of a freaking API than you can, it’s time to wonder why you even bother. Come on, Apple. What’s the deal?

Unbelievable: Apple releases Java6, but”¦ « mindstorms

Via Digg. Image from the Apple Collection

Blogged with Flock

Tags: apple, java, developers, pathetic

Well, it’s command-line for now, but the iPod touch has been hacked to enable VoIP calling by a modder going by Eok.
The hack uses the utility SvSIP, which was originally created to enable the same capability on the Nintendo DS. It’s pretty far from usable by mere mortals for the time being — typing can be enough of a pain on the virtual keyboard, let alone doing any mucking around in a shell script — but this is fun. The touch is an iPhone in all but communication connectivity only anyway, why not make it a true little brother to the iPhone?

Also, can I get a German layout for my iPhone? I love the look of “QWERTZUIOP”.

Via iPodNN

We have three of Energizer’s new Energi To Go iPod battery extenders to give away.

To win one, simply decorate your Mac, iPod, or iPhone for the holidays and email the picture to [email protected].

We’ll post the pictures here next week. The three best will get an Energi To Go battery extender. The Energi To Go is a $20 battery-powered iPod charger that juices all iPods equipped with a dock connector. It runs on two AA batteries (Energizer recommends lithium AA batteries for better performance). It will charge an iPod nano for up to 46 hours; and an iPod video for up to 32 hours, Energizer claims.

Steve Jobs was inducted in California’s Hall of Fame in a swank ceremony in Sacramento last night hosted by Gov. Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver. Jobs was among 13 visionaries and trailblazers honored, including Ansel Adams, John Steinbeck, Elizabeth Taylor, John Wayne and Tiger Woods.
Apparently Jobs wasn’t thrilled about attending, but Shriver made the honor contingent on attending the induction ceremony. She told local affiliate KNBC that she had a hard time convincing Jobs to attend. “He’s trying to balance children, family, business, he doesn’t like to be singled out,” she said. “He believes that Apple is the star of the Silicon Valley, not him.”

There’s streaming video of the riveting ceremony here.

In the rush to create high-markup accessories for the iPhone, one company is hawking the Pogo Stylus: a pointing device for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch — two products expressly designed to be used without a stylus.

Is there really a market for this? I imagine the pudgy fingered might take a look, as might people who have become accustomed to poking around their smartphone with a little pen. But the whole point of Apple’s multitouch is doing away with pointing devices. But the market for iPod accessories is worth more than $1 billion annually, so companies are taking a throw-it-out-and-fingers-crossed approach.

Available now from the company’s website for $25.

A lot of people, like me, had the misfortune of buying a 3G iPod, loving it, and absolutely hating its terrible battery life. Apple eventually provided a product recall following a class-action suit, but the replacements weren’t that much better. At this point, my factory installed battery literally averaged just 45 minutes of life each charge. Less if I tried to skip a song or change playlists.

To really get this lovely vintage gear in top shape, an upgrade with longer life is called for. Lots of companies are now offering service to install new batteries, but that’s for wimps!

Ready to take on the challenge, I ordered a DIY kit for iPod battery replacement last week, and tonight I got the process down. It’s easy, and it’s fun. So click through for a complete step-by-step photo guide to installing a third-party battery.

I’ve been pretty hard on NBC Universal President Jeff Zucker lately for his dramatic unwillingness to pursue a digital media strategy makes any sense. As reader Imajoebob pointed out yesterday, not every big media CEO is so clueless. Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman, speaking that the Mobile Asia Congress, is a revelation. Consider the following:

“We used to fool ourselves,’ he said. “We used to think our content was perfect just exactly as it was. We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding. And of course we were wrong. How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won.”

Or this:

“For years now, Warner Music has been offering a choice to consumers at Apple’s iTunes store the option to purchase something more than just single tracks, which constitute the mainstay of that store’s sales,” he explained. “By packaging a full album into a bundle of music with ringtones, videos and other combinations and variation we found products that consumers demonstrably valued and were willing to purchase at premium prices. And guess what? We’ve sold tons of them. And with Apple’s co-operation to make discovering, accessing and purchasing these products even more seamless and intuitive, we’ll be offering many, many more of these products going forward.”

Incredible. It’s not a Zucker world after all.

Via MacUser UK

I’ll be in and out this week, as I’m at the Designing User Experience Conference in Chicago through Wednesday. It kicks off tomorrow evening at 4:15 p.m. Central. Not sure what will be of Mac interest (some will, I’m sure), but you can see my live run of it at https://www.twitter.com/cultofmac

Say hi if you’re in the hood!

As reported earlier this week, Apple has pulled out a final hardware revision for the holiday season, pushing out new MacBooks that gain a 200 Mhz speed bump and new integrated graphics hardware replacing the much-maligned GMA 950 with Intel’s GMA x3100. The line starts at $1,099 for a 2 Ghz Core2Duo with a Combo Drive and an 80 Gig Hard Drive, Ranging up to $1,499 for the BlacBook with 2.2 Ghz Core2, 160 Gig drive and super drive.

Quite wonderfully, the entire line standardizes with 1 Gig of Memory on-board, which should make Leopard perform well on these boxes regardless of configuration. Apple also now allows custom builds of MacBook Pros up to 2.6 Ghz Core2 for an extra $250 over its base configurations.

I’ve done some quick research into the performance of the GMA x3100, and this isn’t the consumer mobile gaming chipset we might hope for to make the MacBook a peer to the iMac as a gaming platform. Here’s a very positive review from Tech.co.uk of the GMA x3100 running Windows.

The GMA X3100 also continues the philosophy of Intel’s previous graphics solutions (going back as far as its discrete i740 line), and that is one of compatibility. While there’s rarely been the power available to run games at anything more than PowerPoint slideshow speeds, being able to render those images correctly means that you’ll often put up with poor frame rates as long as everything looks right.

In testing, the improvement this new engine offers over the older solutions isn’t massive – 3DMark06, the industry benchmark for ascertaining the capabilities of graphics engines in general, returned a score of 416. While this result is twice that from the previous generation of integrated graphics, it still proves that integrated graphics aren’t for next-generation titles. Top-end cards score around 8,000, with even cheaper cards managing scores around the 4,000 mark.

In real-world performance terms, the low throughput of this engine shows when trying to play Doom 3 back at the high-quality setting at 800 x 600 – less than 10fps isn’t playable. Half-Life 2 fared a little better at 18fps, but surprisingly this score is bettered by its last-generation graphics, which were 5fps smoother. Despite the presence of hardware T&L, the lack of fill rate is clearly a limiting factor.

Yeeeahh. MacBook Pro is still the only credible gaming portable from Apple. Actual video performance is surprisingly good, but 3D is seriously lagging. Any fence-sitters moved to make a purchase now with this announcement?

Mac Rumors: Apple Updates MacBooks to Santa Rosa, GMA X3100; 2.6GHz MacBook Pro

Tags: macbook, hardware, apple, product, announcement

Now that the iPhone and iPod Touch have been cracked wide-open again, my friend and colleague at Wired, Michael Calore asks the most important question: Is there a killer app on either device?

Thanks to new breakthroughs made this past weekend by a disparate team of hackers, Jailbreaking your iPhone or iPod Touch is easier than ever. But just because you have the freedom to hack the phone’s software and run your own third-party applications, should you? And should you do it now, rather than waiting until February? Is there already an application available which makes the risk of bricking your device worthwhile?

Head over to vote. It’s a fun little poll, and the it’s anybody’s game right now.