Fujitsu's marcom manager Megan Fowler with the new ScanSnap S1100 Mobile Scanner
SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2011 — The world was supposed to go paperless decades ago, but we’re still swamped with paper. You can take pictures of business cards and receipts every now and again, but for serious paper junkies, something like Fujitsu’s ScanSnap S1100 Mobile Scanner may fit the bill.
The ScanSnap S1100 is claimed to be the smallest scanner in the world. Powered by USB, the sheet-feed scanner can suck up everything from receipts to multi-page AT&T phone bills.
Launched at CES earlier this month and being shown at Macworld this week, the ScanSnap S1100 can scan directly into desktop software like iPhoto and Word, or cloud-based apps like Google Docs and Evernote. The scanner costs $199.
AltiGen's Niel Levonius with the iFusion Smartstation iPhone dock.
Business isn’t usually this cool, but who wouldn’t want this iPhone-dock-cum-desk-phone? Just plug in your iPhone, and it becomes your office phone.
Brand new at Macworld 2011, Altigen’s $169 iFusion Smartstation iPhone dock features a Bluetooth speakerphone and receiver that you can cradle under your chin, Don Draper style.
Paired with the company’s PBX app which provides eneterprise-level phone management features, it allows your iPhone to replace your office phone as well as your home phone. Bye bye landlines.
Pundit John Gruber of Daring Fireball speaking at Macworld 2011.
SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2011 — Apple is perceived as closed and proprietary, but the company has been very generous to the open web, and that generosity has benefited Apple in turn, says pundit John Gruber.
Speaking at Macworld 2011’s opening Industry Forum, Gruber noted that most of the best browsers on the market today are based on Apple’s WebKit, an open source browser engine developed and supported by Apple.
Apple allows its competitors to base their browsers on Apple’s technology, including Google, Nokia and Palm. Indeed, Palm’s entire webOS is based on Apple’s Webkit.
Why does Apple do this?
Because an open web is beneficial to Apple. Ten years ago, most software vendors developed for Windows and Apple was locked out. Napster is a good example, Gruber said. Napster was built for Windows, and Apple users were was largely excluded until third-party Mac clients were build much later.
These days, software companies build for the open Web. Twitter and Facebook, for example, were built for the Web.
“When Windows was the baseline platform for the industry, Apple was left out,” Gruber said. “But these days, if companies develop for the Web, Apple is included.”
This wouldn’t have happened if Apple hadn’t supported and encouraged the web as a development environment, partly by giving Webkit away.
“Apple has benefited tremendously from the rise of the Web,” said Gruber. “And the Web has benefited from contributions from Apple.”
Macworld 2011 is being held at Moscone West, the same venue as Apple's WWDC. CC-licensed photo by w00kie: http://www.flickr.com/photos/w00kie/212367760/
SAN FRANCISCO, Macworld 2011 — Proving that the show can go on without Apple, Macworld 2011 opens today and is bigger and better than ever.
Well, bigger and better than last year.
This is the second year of Macworld without Apple, but the show has attracted 10% more exhibitors than 2010 and is on track for 25,000 visitors, organizers say.
“The show is shaping up good,” Macworld general manager Paul Kent told CultofMac.com. “If the numbers go right, we’re going to have about a 25% increase in attendance.”
Master storyteller Mike Daisey’s one-man-show “The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” is a theater piece that every Apple fan should see.
It’s a laugh-out-loud monologue about the world of Apple, but it delivers an important message: The products we love are made under inhumane conditions.
NOTE: This is a guest post by ex-PC user Mike Wilson. It was originally published at Gears of Biz.
I have a MacBook at home and a Mac Mini at work. I absolutely love my Macs. I can’t live with out them. However, there are still things I hate about my Macs that I wished weren’t a part of my life. So don’t hate me for taking a couple shots at my machines… It’s all in good fun.
Below are those Top 5 things I hate about the Mac.
1. He appears to be single, a “lifelong bachelor.”
2. It’s the subject of gossip inside Apple.
2. Two “well-placed sources” say so.
If Cook steps into the CEO role, Apple’s other executives will encourage him to come out, Valleywag says. This would be a good thing for Silicon Valley and for gay rights.
Being gay is certainly no problem here in the San Francisco Bay Area. No one bats an eyelid. But Apple’s other execs are concerned about public perception, Valleywag says. Could it spell trouble for the Apple brand?
The screws are unique to Apple and serve one purpose only: to keep users out.
The plan, says iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens, is to force customers to upgrade their gadgets sooner than necessary. They also make them reliant on Apple for expensive repairs and upgrades.
“It’s a form of planned obsolescence,” says Wiens. “General Motors invented planned obsolescence in the 1920s. Apple is doing the same thing.”
Designer Charis Tsevis built this photo mosaic of Steve Jobs for the Italian magazine Panorama. Look carefully: it’s all Apple products. Can you spot the original iSight camera? Check the detail of the eye below.
Apple has released another software update for the late 2010 model MacBook Air. The update isn’t currently showing up in Software Update, but it can be downloaded directly using this link.
Apple’s comments on what the update does are rather sparse all they say is that:
This update resolves an issue with some MacBook Air (Late 2010) systems that prevents the system from sleeping.
The new MacBook Air has had a few problems with the sleep/wake features of Mac OS X as well as video problems being reported by early adopters (myself included). However, I have not seen or experienced the problems that people continue to complain about regarding external monitors and video.
Try this update out and let us know by leaving a comment how it works out for you.
The news of Steve Jobs’ health problems has saddened a lot of Apple fans. Rather than sit around speculating what may or may not be wrong with Steve’s health, we want to do something to try and lift his spirits. But we need your help.
We’re asking all our readers and anyone else who’s a fan of Steve Jobs to use their creativity and join us in making an awesome Get Well Soon video message.
Click on the YouTube video above and submit your own video reply. You can upload video or record a quick message with your webcam. It’s the easiest way we can think of to get a bunch of video messages that we can edit together into a big group message.
Uniquely express your well wishes to Steve and upload it. The more video replies we can get the better. It’s your choice if you wish to make your message funny or dramatic or sincere. Just make it you. Spread it on Twitter with #getwellsteve.
Let’s let the world’s best CEO know that we care about him.
Here are step-by-step instructions showing how to use YouTube’s Video response feature. And again, please spread the word.
Apple COO Tim Cook is a bit of a cypher. Despite being the number two guy at Apple for a good dozen years, his public appearances have been few and brief.
To get better acquainted, check out this video of a commencement speech he gave at Auburn University, his alma mater.
In it, Cook thanks Steve Jobs for changing his life and how joining Apple in 1998, when the company was on the ropes, turned out to be the “best decision of my life.”
I hate to say it, but I have a bad feeling about Steve Jobs’ latest leave of absence. I’m not optimistic he will return to Apple. He’s been gravely ill and has cheated death, but there are some hard numbers about cancer and transplant survival rates that even someone as charmed as Jobs can’t escape.
I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but I get a feeling this is the start of Steve Jobs moving on from Apple. There will be a slow phasing out this year as he hands the reigns to Tim Cook. I expect it will be drawn out, a gradual transition of power. But I don’t think Jobs is returning to Apple.
The big question, of course, is how Apple will do without him.
The news of Steve Jobs’ latest medical leave is the top story on the New York Times‘ website right now. The Times‘ top slot is usually reserved for big international news stories, indicting the importance of Apple’s news to the business and technology world. It has pushed out news about Tunisia’s new government and a fresh Wikileaks scandal about offshore banks and alleged tax cheats.
Dan Lyons, aka Fake Steve Jobs, with Tiffany (aka Bike Helmet Girl) and Veronica Belmont
Day Lyons, aka Fake Steve Jobs, has retired his online satirical column on news of Steve Jobs’ medical leave of absence. Lyons did this last time Jobs took medical leave, saying it was in bad taste to impersonate the CEO while he was sick.
This time around, Lyons has some harsh words for reporters who will inevitably pry into Jobs’ health:
Macworld is coming up fast and what better way to get attention than wearing our brand new, limited-edition MILF shirt?
The CultofMac team wore these shirts at CES last week and got a ton of compliments. We’re not exaggerating — everyone noticed this shirt. It’s perfect attire for a tech conference: smart, funny, stylish. And best of all — distinctive.
Available in slimming black and just $22.99, the limited-edition CultofMac MILF t-shirt is printed by Seattle-based MightTees. It’s 100% sweatshop-free. Designed, made, and printed in the USA.
The Multitasker Large bag from Hadaki is an adorable messenger bag suitable for any girl — teen and up.
The bag seems especially popular with parents who buy them for teenage daughters to take to school. Indeed, my fourteen-year-old daughter, Nadine, has been using the Multitasker bag at her high school for several weeks.
Weighed down by algebra and biology books this sturdy and stylish bag has held up remarkably well, unlike her poor back!
Early registration discounts expire Monday for MacTech Boot Camp, the one day immersive event for Mac consultants and uber-geeks held at the start of the MacWorld Conference and Expo in San Francisco on January 26.
With seminars covering topics such as:
Marketing in a Community
Client Documentation, Passwords and Records
Troubleshooting Hardware
Networking Basics and Troubleshooting
Printing Setup and Troubleshooting (Wifi, USB, Bluetooth, and Wired)
iOS Support
Windows on the Mac Options
Viruses and Security
and more, MacTech Boot Camp offers a rich vein of resources designed to enhance the credentials of any Mac IT consultant offering services to the home, SOHO (small office home office) and SMB markets.
Those looking to obtain Apple certification may also sign up for a study session and exam prior to the Boot Camp on January 25.
Apple made big gains in Q4 2010, increasing Mac shipments by a whopping 23.7 percent — the highest gains of any PC maker in the U.S.
And if you factor in the iPad, the gains would have been even bigger.
Meanwhile, the overall PC industry grew only 3.1 percent during the holiday quarter, according to the latest estimated numbers from the market research firm Gartner.
The first thing you’ll notice about Twitter v2.0 for the Mac, which is available for free via the Mac App Store, is that it doesn’t look like a regular Mac OS X application. The applications author, Loren Brichter, has completely tossed Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines for the Mac aside and Apple not only allowed him to do so, but allowed his application into the Mac App Store — much to the surprise of many developers.
I’m surprised that Apple, which has been so overly anal about iOS apps in the iTunes App Store, would allow this in the first place. I don’t know about you, but I’m beginning to wonder about Apple and the future there. It’s probably the forgone merger of the iOS and Mac OS X GUI interfaces. I’m not sure I’m ready for that – I’ve always boasted about the Mac OS X interface and how it improves my work flow.
So outside of the controversy about Twitters unique GUI it isn’t all that bad if you are looking for something simple. Some of it is actually kind of neat, yet that doesn’t overshadow the fact that it falls short of the iPad version that it appears it is trying to emulate.
Apple has released the sixth developer preview of the forthcoming Xcode 4. The new update has been posted to Apple’s developer websites for Mac OS X and iOS. Primarily it offers iprofiler a new command-line tool along with a new framework for measuring application performance. It also wouldn’t be your typical Apple software update without additional enhancements and bug fixes from the previous version released last November.
The iprofiler command-line tool helps developers to measure an applications performance without having to launch the Instruments application. However, its output can be analyzed by Instruments later for a complete performance evaluation.
The new framework introduced in the update is called DTPerformanceSession and it allows an application to create performance measurements of itself or other applications.
Complete information about the Xcode 4 Preview 6 and a download link are available to registered Apple Developers through Apple’s Developer website.
Apple has released an announcement, via e-mail, that enhancements to iWork.com Apple’s public beta online service for iWork ’09 users have been released.
This announcement came out of the blue regarding a service that has definitely been off the radar for a long time and in beta for longer than I can remember. It’s future isn’t clear considering the pace at which Apple is deploying features on it. Perhaps that will change this year with the rumored release of iWork ’11.
I had originally experimented with the Mac App Store on my desktop computer installing a number of free and paid for applications. Now, I’ve finally gotten around to trying to install the same applications onto my MacBook Air just to see if I could, but I already know that I can. The licensing model of the Mac App Store allows it.
Unfortunately tonight the Mac App Store isn’t working and according to AppleCare there are two suggested ways to work around this that you need to try when the Mac App Store gives you an ambiguous error message: @@errorNum@@.
