News - page 1847

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Here in America, AT&T’s rather desperately trying to convince people to buy the Lumia 900 by saying it’s a “notch above” an iPhone.

In Russia, though, Nokia’s taking a different tack and trying to get people to buy the new Lumia 900 with this advertisement, in which they seem to imply that being locked into a two-year contract with a garish Lumia phone is like being entombed alive in a metal box filled with bad techno music, seizure-inducing flashing lights and half-a-dozen garishly made-up Russian call girls covered in glitter and reeking of cigarettes and vodka.

What iPhone fan could disagree with that metaphor?

[via Apple 2.0]

Today mark’s the 35th anniversary of the iconic Apple IIe, the first PC that can really be said to have achieved true mainstream success, but between the Apple IIe and the Mac, there was another computer: the venerable Apple Lisa, which Steve Jobs named after his daughter Lisa Brennan-Jobs.

The Lisa was a first for Apple in many ways: the first Apple computer to have a GUI, and the first Apple computer to ship with a mouse… both ideas that were borrowed by Steve Jobs from his historic visit to Xerox’s PARC labs. Unfortunately, due to both its price ($10,000 new) and the repeated delays, the Lisa never took off, and was in fact almost immediately replaced by the less expensive Lisa 2.

If you’ve got a 25K bill deep wad of Washingtons, though, you can now pick up a rare Lisa 1 computer system in original box on eBay, courtesy of the same seller who put that $100K 128K Mac prototype on sale earlier this week.

Last week, the Department of Justice filed its lawsuit against Apple and several large publishing companies alleging a complex conspiracy to fix e-book prices and to limit competition among e-book retailers. It didn’t take long for Apple to fire back in a public statement, claiming that the allegations set forth in the DOJ’s complaint “were simply not true” and that Apple’s actions actually served to break “Amazon’s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry” and to encourage — not hamper — competition. Who’s telling the real story?

Thursby last week released ADmitMac PKI 4. The release is a specialized version of the company’s ADMit Mac software that focuses two factor authentication. The solution is largely aimed at government customers and regulated industries like healthcare where data security is paramount.

Thursby’s ADMitMac is an Active Directory integration solution that offers several features beyond the built-in Active Directory support that Apple provides in OS X. It offers Mac management capabilities, improved browsing of Windows network resources including Microsoft’s distribute file system, and a number of other administrative tools.

As spotted by the beautiful souls over at Reddit, someone in Apple’s patent filing department seems to have taken a shortcut in illustrating an application for way to make a touchscreen iMac useable by tracing the hands of of the divine Renaissance artist, painter and sculptor, Michelangelo.

Hey, you know what they say. Good artists borrow, great artists steal. And trust me, you don’t Apple’s patent clerks drawing their own hands if you value your sanity.

If you’ve ever wanted to own a rare piece of Apple history that looks like totally rad then this new eBay listing for a Prototype Apple eMate 300 might be the perfect. The only eMates Apple produced had a solid dark green casing rather than the clear casing you see above. The seller estimates only 6 or so of these clear eMate 300s were produced and it looks quite similar to the first generation iBook that derived a lot of inspiration from the eMate series.

If you got fat stacks of cash that you’re just looking to throw around, you can buy this bad boy on eBay right now for a whopping $8,499.00. Take a peak after the jump for even more pictures of Apple’s crazy touchscreen eMate prototype.

Visual editing software Smoke may now be in the clear for prosumer or indie filmmakers.

Autodesk’s latest version of Smoke will cost $3,495 and you can run it on your MacBook Pro. While that same wad of cash may still be enough to get you a cruddy used car, that’s about one-third the $15,000 price the California-based multinational was asking for the previous version of the software released just last year. The more affordable price may put cool effects like green screens and 3D within reach.

Despite the fact that competitors like Rdio have had one for ages, It’s taken Spotify frickin’ forever to release an official iPad app. That may be about to end though, as a Swedish technology journalist has just posted the above screenshot of what appears to be Spotify’s official iPad app… perhaps not-so-coincidentally ahead of a special announcement Spotify has planned for Wednesday.

Let’s hope it is the official app: it’s far past time, and applying a Twitter-like pane approach to the app is actually pretty brilliant. This app actually looks worth the wait.

[via The Verge, iDB]

Recently, we’ve been highlighting some of the major partnerships that are beginning to form between mobile management and mobile/cloud services vendors. These partnerships are strategic and aim to enable IT workflows that better secure, support, and monitor iPhones, iPads, and other mobile devices than what any one company could offer. So far, these partnerships and the integration of solutions that they offer haven’t included Apple or the basic management tools that Apple makes available for free – until now.

Mac and iOS management provider JAMF has posted a guide to integrating the company’s signature solution with Apple’s free Configurator tool to streamline iOS deployment.

Apple is set to expand its environmental concern by teaming up with China’s Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs to audit its Chinese supply chain for pollution. Joint investigations are expected to start “in the next few weeks,” according to one report, with “a maker of printed circuit boards” the first of Apple’s suppliers to enter the spotlight.

Apple is reportedly gearing up to launch its much-anticipated “iPad mini” during the third quarter of 2012 in an effort to “counter attack” the upcoming Windows 8 tablets. The 7.85-inch device is expected to cost between $249 and $299, which will also allow it to compete with cheaper Android devices from the likes of Amazon.

Episode 8 of The CultCast is in iTunes now, and if you’re itching for a new Macbook Pro, you’re not going to want to miss it.

Join us and special guest, Ars Technica Writer Chris Foresman, as we reveal the secrets of the rumored new Air-like Macbook Pro, and explain why Intel says it could pack a Retina Display; and Facebook just bought Instagram, is now the time to jump ship?

All that and lots more on this week’s CultCast — subscribe now on iTunes!

You know what needs the AirClip? The iPad needs the AirClip. As it is, the finger-friendly grip is an accessory for the iPhone 4/S, and it actually looks pretty great. The AirClip is a clip-on grip that lets you shoot photos and videos one-handed.

Exactly one month after the device made its debut in the U.S. on March 16, the new iPad will arrive in South Korea and 11 additional countries this week.

We were hugely exited for SoulCalibur when the classic fighter made its debut on iOS back January. And while we were very impressed by Namco Bandai’s efforts, like many reviewers, we were disappointed by the lack of any multiplayer modes. After all, that’s what fighting games are all about, right?

Thankfully, Namco has now rectified that with an update that brings local multiplayer over Bluetooth… except for the iPod touch.

With the Flashback trojan now threatened by extinction thanks to Apple’s new removal tool, it’s time to turn our attention to another threat. A vulnerability in Microsoft Office is allowing the “Backdoor.OSX.SabPub.a” trojan to infect systems running Mac OS X and use a Java exploit to avoid detection from anti-malware products

Once on your system, the trojan can feed back screenshots of your system and execute commands.

Apple has promised to issue a major update to Final Cut Pro X “sometime during 2012” that will deliver a number of new features, including multichannel audio editing, dual viewers, and more, to its professional video editing software. The Cupertino company provided all the details to producer, editor, and director Larry Jordan.

We’ve told you guys all about the new Steve Jobs film starring Ashton Kutcher. It’s not the blockbuster film based on Walter Isaacson’s biography Sony is working on, but many Apple fans have kept close eyes on the independent film as production has started to ramp up. Now that we know Kutcher will be playing Jobs, a recent interview with producer Mark Hulme revealed the movie’s title – Jobs: Get Inspired – and that the plot of the film will cover Jobs’ life from 1971-2000.

Despite my desire for this movie to be great, we keep hearing new details that reinforce that the flick is bound to be terrible. Mark Hulme’s recent interview only exacerbated my dread. Rather than being able to pull a Kathryn Bigelow and drop an amazing indie movie out of nowhere, the team behind Jobs: Get Inspired are probably destined to lay a dud.

Here are five signs why Jobs: Get Inspired is probably going to be terrible:

Spotify is a wonderful platform for streaming music and sharing playlists with your friends, but the service’s lack of an official iPad app has been a great disappoint for Apple users. Spotify’s main competitor, Rdio, boasts a beautiful iPad app that lets its users browse and play music.

Spotify has been saying that an official iPad app is coming for over a year, but the trail has grown cold for many months. There are no unofficial Spotify for iPad app alternatives in the App Store at the moment. But it looks like that’s going to change soon.

Following two independent Java security updates and one last patch to detect and remove the Flashback trojan, Apple has released another software tool for getting rid of Flashback on a Mac running OS X Lion without Java installed.

Flashback is the name of a virus that was able to infect a Mac and link it up to a botnet of around 600,000 other Macs. If you’ve updated your Mac with the latest Java patch, you should be fine, but Apple has provided this new tool for safe measure to Mac users running Lion without Java already installed.

An unconfirmed report surfaced yesterday saying that Apple CEO Tim Cook was spotted at Valve’s headquarters in Bellevue, Washington. Whenever Cook is spotted out and about, people take notice. The CEO of the world’s most valuable company doesn’t personally visit other tech companies to simply have a chat.

Many speculated as to why Cook would be visiting Valve, maker of popular game series like Half-Life, Team Fortress and Portal. Valve also boasts an incredibly robust online PC gaming platform called Steam that operates similarly to Apple’s App Store.

We’ve gotten word that Cook was indeed at Valve yesterday, and what’s more, Apple is planning a full-on assault to take over the living room. This assault won’t just be limited to the long-rumored Apple HDTV set, but will also include a revolutionary home console as well.

Verizon continues to blanket the US with 4G LTE while the rest of the carriers desperately play catch up. We’re quick to complain about Verizon’s high prices but at least they’re putting that money to work. Today, Verizon announced it will be expanding its 4G LTE reach in ten California markets as well as Reno, Nevada within the coming weeks. 3G will soon be a thing of the past for those living in the following California cities:

One of the traditional ways for IT professionals to highlight their knowledge of specific technologies and technical concepts is through the acquisition of certifications. There are a number of vendor-crafted certifications available as well as vendor-neutral certifications that illustrate competence in various technical disciplines like troubleshooting and repair, security, healthcare, and overall network management. Certifications have never guaranteed a job in and of themselves, but they do help candidates sell themselves to recruiters and IT managers.

One of the many challenges with the consumerization of IT, mobility, and cloud services trends is that they are dramatically shifting the skill sets required to succeed in the IT field. As a result, the perceived value of certifications has fluctuated as softer skills like business integration and project management have become more desirable. The need for professionals that have extremely specialized skills is being surpassed by the need for IT generalists.  

Episode 8 of The CultCast just hit iTunes, and this one is more action-packed than an Aw-nuld Schwarzenegger flick from the 1990s.

Join us and our pal, Ars Technica Writer Chris Foresman, as we divulge the secrets of the rumored new Air-like Macbook Pro; explain why Facebook just ate Instagram and what it means for you; and the scary new Flashback virus — is your Mac infected?

All that and lots more on this week’s CultCast — subscribe now on iTunes!

It seems that every week for the past few months, there’s been at least one or two announcements of app developers, cloud service providers, and mobile management vendors developing strategic partnerships to create or integrate their products into a single unified workflow.

Box’s OneCloud initiative, in which the storage provider teamed up with more than two dozen app developers to create seamless workflows for several different business and productivity tasks, is probably the biggest example of this trend. Others include Quickoffice launching its own cloud service as well as integrating with Accellion’s kitedrive, LogMeIn’s new Cubby service, and CloudOn’s virtualized version of Microsoft Office that integrates with Box and Dropbox for storage.