News - page 2075

Well that was quick: last week we posted about the Steve Jobs in Carbonite case for the iPhone, and quipped that Apple’s Cease & Desist letter was likely on its way. And in fact, indeed it was. Greg Koenig, the case designer, wrote on his Studio Burb page on April 27:

Well it was fun while it lasted. Yesterday, Society6 was issued a cease and desist from Apple’s lawyers. So I’m sorry to say that the cases and skins are no longer available. Sorry for the inconvenience.

As would be expected, the case has already hit eBay. Originally $35, current auction prices are averaging about $50 with a couple hitting $150 already. That’s a decent chunk of change for a small piece of plastic, but looks like it’s now a genuine collector’s item. One with a clever photo skin.

Credit: David Sedlmayer, used under a Creative Commons license.

Today is the day that will bring us one step closer to the death of the cloud. That crucial new part of the internet that is gaining popularity due to the likes of Hulu, Netflix, MobileMe, DropBox, Crashplan, etc. is about to get another blow — AT&T on Monday started restricting the amount of data its millions of broadband customers are able to use in a month. Data is now restricted to as little as 150GB a month.

That isn’t good news — users should an uproar over the whole thing. It means that a large number of people using broadband in the U.S. will be severely limited in what they can do online. They might risk extra charges or even total loss of their broadband access. This comes as Apple is rumored to be on the verge of introducing a more Cloud-based model of computing for millions of customers.

A Colorado builder is incorporating iPads into new homes.

Apple’s magical device is used regulate all the electronic systems in the house — from lights, motorized blinds, entertainment systems (music, TV etc.) to baby monitors and closed-circuit cameras. The docks are built in but the iPads can be removed.

We all know iOS 5 will inevitably be revealed at June’s WWDC, but the internal testing of iOS 5 is already in full sway, according to 9to5Mac… with the most conspicuous device absent being the iPhone 3GS (although not the iPod Touch 3G).

Even if iOS 5 does debut at WWDC, it’s likely to not be out for another few weeks, giving developers time to update their apps. What are the features you’d most like to see in iOS 5? Let us know in the comments.

According to the lads over at Boy Genius Report, iOS 4.3.3 — which is the update that will famously fix the problem of iPhone location tracking — is coming soon, and they’ve got their hands on it.

What’s new?

• The update will no longer back up the location database to iTunes.
• The size of the location database will be reduced.
• The location database will be deleted entirely when Location Services are turned off.
• Battery life improvements.
• iPod bug fixes.

iOS 4.3.3 should be out in the next two weeks, and Apple will likely also close that pesky jailbreak hole revealed by iOS 4.3.1.

[via Redmond Pie]

With netbooks and Windows-based laptops fading into a landscape increasingly dominated by tablets and smartphones, chip giant Intel would be wise to become Apple’s go-to for custom chips, one analyst reasoned Monday. “A partnership between the two companies would drive dominance in tablets similar to Wintel’s dominance in PCs,” Piper Jaffray chip expert Gus Richard tells investors.

Noting “Intel has no market share in the next wave of computing,” Richard also sees an opportunity for the chipmaker. Citing “a number of inputs” the analyst believes Apple is moving away from its contentious arrangement with Samsung (which has both sued and competes with the Cupertino, Calif. company) toward Intel, Toshiba and Micron, among others.

The iPhone tracking jokes were aflutter on Twitter yesterday as pundits awaited the live broadcast from President Obama on the news of Osama bin Laden’s death.

It was hard to resist (and to be honest, few tried) a tie-in with Apple’s iPhone story, here’s Starline Hodge’s take.

Could the usually inflexible Apple be showing some wiggle room on the troublesome issue of iPad-based magazine subscriptions? Time Inc. – which publishes Fortune, Time and Sports Illustrated – has worked out a deal to provide a free iPad app to its print subscribers. Until now, Apple has required both subscribers and non-subscribers to pay separately for the iPad version.

The deal follows a number of meetings between Time’s lawyers and Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet services, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The deal “is a sign the two sides are moving closer,” the Journal writes.

Amid the poor revues and analyst concerns, Research in Motion’s PlayBook tablet has at least one vocal supporter, electronics retail giant Best Buy. Without offering any hard numbers, the retail chain announced its sales of the tablet “far exceeded” its expectations.

“We’re finding that customers are even more interested in purchasing once they’ve tested the PlayBook in the store,” BestBuy said in a statement. The positive statement from an important big-box retailer comes as RIM tries to rally the troops at its annual BlackBerry World Conference this week.

A new Safari feature hidden within the latest Mac OS X Lion build is expected to compete with services like Instapaper and ReadItLater as a method of saving pages for later reading. The ‘Reading List’ feature appears to be partly based on HTML and javascript, and is likely synchronize bookmarks between Mac and iOS devices.

Discovered by MacRumors, Apple’s description of the feature is the following:

Reading List lets you collect webpages and links for you to read later. To add the current page to your Reading List, click Add Page. You can also Shift-click a link to quickly add it to the list. To hide and show Reading List, click the Reading List icon (eyeglasses) in the bookmarks bar.

The feature is currently inactive within the latest build of Lion, so those running the release won’t be able to try it out just yet, but as a massive Instapaper addict I can’t wait for Reading List to go live.

Hints of Apple’s upcoming cloud-based storage service – now dubbed iCloud following the company’s takeover of the iCloud.com domain – have been found within the third release of the Mac OS X Lion developer preview under the ‘Castle’ codename.

First discovered by Consomac.fr is a ‘Find My Mac’ feature thought to offer the same functionality as the ‘Find My iPhone’ feature built into MobileMe. What’s more interesting, however, are the strings that indicate users can upgrade from MobileMe to a service called ‘Castle.’

‘Castle’ is believed to be the codename for iCloud – the cloud-based storage service that Apple is currently developing. The service is expected to offer users a way of storing their music and other content in a digital locker, which they can then stream to internet connected devices such as the iPhone and iPad, and save storage space which would usually be taken up by storing content locally.

The service got its ‘iCloud’ name after Apple purchased the domain from a Swedish company called Xcerion, who offer a similar storage service. Xcerion received $4.5 million to rebrand the service and give up the iCloud.com domain.

Citing sources “familiar with the matter,” a new report suggests Apple will launch its new lineup of iMacs tomorrow, May 3rd, featuring Intel’s newest family of Sandy Bridge processors, and the company’s high-speed Thunderbolt port in place of the current Mini DisplayPort.

Apple has recently been taking steps to ensure a smooth roll-out of the new iMacs, according to the same sources, who apparently continue to provide accurate information when it comes to Apple’s plans, says the AppleInsider report. One confirmed that a “visual night” is scheduled for the early morning hours of May 3rd, “so it is highly likely that whatever new product that is going to be refreshed or introduced will be done on [that day].”

A “visual night” is when several Apple retail employees are called in to work throughout the evening and into the early hours of the morning to make changes to store layouts, often removing old products to make room for new ones.

Previous reports have already speculated that Apple was getting ready for the imminent launch of updated iMacs, and stock of the current generation all-in-one is slowly diminishing. The last time the iMac family was updated was some 9 months ago.

Credit cards at the ready!

As with any new Apple product, shortly after its release the white iPhone 4 received a customary teardown to see what’s inside. You’d be forgiven for thinking the internals for the white device are exactly the same as those featured within its black counterpart, but surely Apple changed something while it was delayed for all those months?

Well, the first teardowns for the new device reveal changes to both the proximity sensor and the rear-facing camera lens. One of the rumored issues which caused the white handset’s delay was light leakage into the camera; it seems Apple has rectified this issue with a more recessed camera lens.

As you can see in the comparison photo (top), the camera lens on the white device on the right is embedded much deeper into its surround, when compared to the lens featured on the black device on the left.

As for the proximity sensor, these are also different on each device, however, it’s currently unclear how the two components differ. Its obvious from recent images of the white iPhone 4 that Apple has modified the design of the proximity sensor externally: what was once tiny little holes above the device’s speaker is now a much more pronounced opening.

WWDC next month is likely to provide our first sneak preview of the fifth major release of the iPhone and iPad operating system: iOS 5. But with so many enhancements and additions over the years since its launch in 2007, what could Apple possibly add next? This week’s iCloud revelations suggest it might be file management.

Apple applied for a broad patent on location tracking services back in September 2009 — the kind of location tracking that is now causing a storm of controversy.

The patent application, entitled “Location Histories for Location Aware Devices,” throws some light on the iPhone tracking issue, which is soon to be the subject of a Senate hearing.

Earlier this week, I was interviewed by a Russian TV crew about Apple. They were a bit surly and aggressive, not like polished, ingratiating TV people here in the U.S.

They kept asking strange questions about Steve Jobs, as is if he were a crooked oligarch. “Vy does Steve Joybs vant to be dictator? Vy does he vant to dominate ze vorld?”

Remember Comic Life – the awesome application for creating comic books out of your photos that used to be bundled with Intel Macs? Well, now it’s available on the iPad; taking the latest functionality from the desktop application and wrapping it up into an easy to use touch interface.

Comic Life for iPad has everything you need for creating and sharing comics, including fun and quirky templates, stylized image filters, and an easy-to-use drag and drop placement. You have full control over the design of your comics with a huge selection design options – colors, fonts, gradients, balloons, captions, panels and more.

Create comics out of the photos in your device’s photo library, then add balloons, captions, lettering and templates to tell your story; while the smart text layout and image filtering functions ensure your projects always look fantastic.

Use the integrated e-reader to view your creations in fullscreen, and when they’re ready for the big time, share them with your friends via Facebook and email. You can also print your comics via AirPrint and share them between other iPads with the intuitive ‘drag & drop’ feature.

Comic Life from Plasq is currently on sale for a limited time to celebrate its App Store release. Grab it now for $7.99!

To celebrate his third wedding anniversary, Sean Ohlenkamp of Toronto, Canada, placed a folder on his wife’s desktop.

When she clicked “Click Here,” she discovered a message written using folders nested within folders. See for yourself. It’s charming and clever:

How did she react?

“She liked it. Wasn’t too happy about me clearing all her icons off her desktop but she liked it. :) We enjoy doing things with or for each other instead of buying gifts.” Ohlenkamp wrote in the comments on YouTube.

Via TUAW, Neatorama, and Nerdcore

If you haven’t gotten your fill of Royal Wedding Memorabilia yet, and want something that lasts and communicates your feelings, consider the Royal iPhone Collection from Goldgenie. The 32GB Royal iPhone is available in three versions – Platinum, 18 Ct. Gold and Rose Gold and includes a VS1 8.50 ct. diamond and sapphire bezel and embellished Apple logo.

Apple has released an update to its Mac OS X 10.7 Lion beta. The 1.24 GB update is third build of the new operating system, which is expected to be shown off at WWDC in June and released to the public in the summer or fall.

The update is available to registered Mac developers running Lion Developer Preview 2. It can be downloaded through Software Update. The release contains no release notes and appears to contain only minor UI tweaks, according to tweets crossing the wire. It’s unlikely to be a big update. That will come with Developer Preview 3.

Although I’m a loyal Chrome man on the desktop, I tend not to care much for competing browsers on iOS… not because they don’t often do functionality better than Mobile Safari, because let’s face it, they often do. However, Mobile Safari’s privilege of being the default browser on iOS means there’s a lot of functionality you just can’t really do with an alternative browser.

It’s a pity, because if not for that, Terra for iPad would get a sensational recommendation: not only does it have an attractively minimal interface that supports tabbed browsing (as well as nifty full-screen functionality that quickly whisks the tabs out of the way when you want to be immersed), but also a very intuitive library of multitouch gestures. Best of all, it’s free. Give it a shot.

Yes, Virginia, Apple did indeedpurchase the iCloud.com domain from Swedish cloud computing company Xcerion. But when it launches, don’t expect it to just be a locker for your streaming music. It’ll also encompass all of the functionality currently provided by MobileMe, and more…

If you’re willing to trust a company by the name of CompuExpert with your Mac peripheral needs, the Wow-Keys dock is a pretty nifty idea: an iPhone dock embedded right into a working keyboard. Just by loading up the Wow-Keys app, you can use the docked iPhone as a num pad or function keys to your desktop Mac, while keeping your media files synced and your iPhone fully charged.

The only drawback? Sort of expensive at $99.99, sort of ugly with that Windows key and sort of unavailable for sale until May 24th.

[via Redmond Pie]

Epic Games, in co-operation with Chair Entertainment, brought us Infinity Blade, one of the most graphically impressive, no-compromise game on the App Store. Infinity Blade costs $9.99, and not only is it worth every penny, but for the price, it’s graphically equal to many games on modern consoles like the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360…. and Epic sees app games as possibly killing off consoles once and for all.

Steven Levy‘s new book about Google In The Plex revealed a few juicy nuggets about the relationship between Apple and Google.

At first, Larry and Sergey wanted Steve Jobs as their CEO. Then the two companies had a long honeymoon, sharing board members and collaborating on groundbreaking software. But then it all soured when Google released Android, and Steve Jobs hid the iPad from Eric Schmidt, even though he was sitting on Apple’s board.

We had a chance to ask Levy for more detail and insight into the relationship between Apple and Google. Here is our exclusive Q&A: