News - page 2084

After launching to the tune of 100,000 downloads per month, Wired magazine’s iPad edition has settled down to a more subdued distribution of between twenty- and thirty-thousand downloaders monthly. In order to try to get that number on the rise again, Conde Nast is set to offer the May issue of Wired for iPad for free with the download of the official app.

Free magazine content isn’t the only new edition to Wired, though. Conde Nast has baked in some new (and overdue) sharing features to the app, allowing readers to share links to articles on Facebook and Twitter. Since some of Wired‘s iPad content isn’t online, the app handles these links clunkily, by directing those following the link to download the latest issue of Wired magazine instead. Surely, the Daily’s approach of a screenshot capture of the page would be a better fit?

Also new to the Wired app: new shopping features that allow Wired reader to click a “buy now” button next to product names, advertisements, product reviews and the like. This will send readers over to Amazon via the in-app browser; any purchases made will give Conde Nast a referral payment.

Why the sudden generosity? Wired’s Howard Mittman said that it was time to show users how much the Wired app has improved, and giving away an issue for free was the best way to do it.

Park Bench Software has fallen afoul of CBS over the former’s Star Trek inspired diagnostic application, DiagnosticPADD, which uses an interface lifted from the PADD device used by the crew members of the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-D in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

It’s worth noting that while Park Bench Software never cites Star Trek in the app or the app description, it appears that CBS is well within its rights here to force the removal of DiagnosticPADD from the App Store. After all, they own the trademark on PADD, and the applications’ interface is clearly modeled after the LCARS computer interface, which CBS has a copyright for.

That said, it’s rather sad that CBS decided to go the C&D route here when they could have just had a conversation with Park Bench Software and licensed them to release an officially sanctioned Star Trek version of DiagnosticPADD. Surely that would have been a better version for everyone: CBS, Park Bench and the fans.

The iPhone may now rank third for smart phone market share, but it is still number one for banking applications.

Market researchers TowerGroup found that Android currently has  31.2 percent of the market share; 30.4 percent is owned by RIM; Apple has 24.7 percent. Trailing them by large amounts are Microsoft Window 7 phones with a paltry 8 percent and Palm devices are just at 3.2 percent.

But banks are writing applications for mobile services such as account access and online bill pay for the iPhone because that’s the phone for which most other industry developers are creating applications.

“But support for the Android is surging,” said Andy Schmidt, TowerGroup’s research director for commercial banking and payments, speaking at the company’s annual financial services conference in Boston.

Other banking-related findings: about 60 percent of phone purchases this year will be completed on smartphones and 56 percent of the 200 banks attending the conference offered neither mobile bill pay or mobile gift cards.

Side question: how much banking do you currently do on your mobile phone?

I downloaded my bank’s app, but the only time I actually used it was while on vacation to check credit card charges.

Via MacWorld UK

Remember all the anticipation and hype surrounding Verizon and the iPhone? Speculation morphed from ‘if’ to ‘when’ to now how much effect will adding the carrier have on Apple’s revenue picture. Now a prominent Apple watcher is writing Verizon’s launch of the iPhone 4 was ‘disappointing.’ Instead, the true test of how much oomph Verizon puts into iPhone sales may not come for months, when some expect Apple will introduce the iPhone 5.

“In some ways, we see the iPhone 5 as the true Verizon iPhone launch; the first time Verizon customers will have access to a new version of the iPhone,” writes Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster. He believes many Verizon customers stood on the sidelines, waiting for the iPhone 5 “instead of buying the mid-cycle iPhone 4.”

Citing the strength of iPad and iPhone demand, one Wall Street analyst Friday increased his estimate of Apple’s second quarter earnings. The Cupertino, Calif. company will likely announce $24.42 billion in quarterly earnings, up from a previously projected $24.42 billion, according to J.P. Morgan.

Analyst Mark Moskowitz told investors he foresees Apple selling 18.4 million iPhones, up from 16.6 million. He however slightly trimmed his expectations for iPad 2 sales to 5.4 million units, down from 6 million. Moskowitz concerns about the iPad 2 were “timing related and not structural,” citing a “temporary stall-out of shipments.” The analyst recently announced Apple held an “insurmountable lead” in the tablet market and the iPad 2 could burst the bubble of rivals trying to catch up.

Bamboo has some marked advantages. It’s attractive, cheap, lightweight, environmentally sustainable and an excellently edible distraction in fending off a sudden panda-in-musth attack.

The Silva is a particularly handsome exercise in bamboo. Shaped to fit 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pros, the Silva case is CNC machined and hand assembled, then fit with a leather strap for easy carrying. Inside, things are padded with wool felt. Despite its strength, the end weight is negligible just two pounds.

Attractive? Check. Lightweight? Check. Environmentally sustainable? Check. Excellently edible, as long as you don’t mind a panda gobbling your laptop? Check. The only quality the Silva case does not share with its material of choice is cheapness: one of these will cost you $180.

id software is a game developing company known for pushing the hardware of any platform they embrace, starting from their earliest triumphs on the PC with Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake and continuing last year with Rage HD on iOS.

Don’t expect to see id software release their games on Android any time soon, though. It’s just not worth their effort, and it’s all about the benjamins… or at least jacksons.

It’s the brand of Adobe’s shame: “Flash Player Required.” Almost four years after the iOS platform took the world by storm, Adobe still hasn’t been able to get Flash Player on Apple’s platform, and while their arguments that Apple was just being unreasonable might have held some weight a couple of years ago, the failure of even modern Android systems to deliver decent Flash performance is very much a testament to the correctness of Jobs’ Thoughts on Flash.

It looks like Adobe’s finally ready to give up the fight, at least in part. Adobe has just announced a new method in which Flash video content can be streamed to iOS using HTML5.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogHcJT0bvUg

Gameloft released a teaser trailer on Thursday for its upcoming N.O.V.A Elite title heading to the App Store. Although it hasn’t been confirmed, from the gameplay video the title looks to be completely dedicated to online multiplayer action – and it looks pretty damn good.

N.O.V.A Elite is expected to hit the App Store very soon – possibly as early as next Thursday. There are currently no details on price, though Touch Arcade speculates that it could be free; following in the footsteps of ngmoco’s Eliminate Pro – the free online multiplayer that brings in cash through in-app purchases for “power ups.”

In true N.O.V.A. style, Elite looks to be an intense, action-packed shoot ’em up – and I can’t wait for its release. Check out the trailer above and leave your thoughts in the comments.

Shortly after the release of iOS 4.3.2 yesterday, hackers discovered that the firmware update can be jailbroken successfully with the latest version of Redsn0w and PwnageTool bundles. These are, however, tethered jailbreaks – which means you’ll need to connect your device to your computer every time you need to reboot.

Though it’s possible to jailbreak the latest iOS release, it is still a good idea to stay away from the update for the time being if jailbreaking your device is important to you. There is yet to be an announcement from the Dev-Team regarding a jailbreak for this firmware, and there’s a chance you may lose your untethered jailbreak completely if you upgrade.

Apple has just released Safari 5.0.5 – an update for Safari on Mac OS X  which offers unspecified bug fixes and security updates for Apple’s web browser application.

The release notes read:

This update is recommended for all Safari users and includes the latest security updates.

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

In addition to the Safari update Apple has also released a Mac OS X Security Update 2011-002. The release notes read:

Security Update 2011-002 is recommended for all users and improves the security of Mac OS X.

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

All these nifty updates follow the release of iOS 4.3.2 earlier today.

In a followup to Bloomberg’s story this morning, the Wall Street Journal says that Apple is positively confirming the release of the white iPhone 4 this spring. You know… again.

Other than that, there are no details, including whether or not Verizon, AT&T or both will get the device. There’s also no word as to whether Apple releasing the white iPhone 4 after a nine month delay means that the iPhone 5 will be delayed past June, although that’s certainly where the smart money is resting right now.

The white iPhone 4 was originally supposed to come out shortly after the black iPhone 4 debuted in June of last year, but it has been repeatedly delayed due to issues with light leaking through the glass plate and onto the camera sensor.

If you’re an Apple fan (and if you’re reading this, it’s probably safe to assume you are), you’ve probably heard of these neat pillows from Throwboy.com. Throwboy makes a whole slew of cool Apple and geek inspired throw pillows. I love’em, and thought I’d be a nice guy and score some for you, our beloved Cult of Mac viewers and readers.

If you’d like to qualify to win one of these super stuffed plushes, good news, it’s super easy! Here’s how to get yourself in the running:

Doubtless because creeps look indistinguishable from the pizza delivery guy on the iPhone’s tiny, standard-def screen, Logitech yesterday released an HD, iPad-version of their remote CCTV app, Logitech Alert.  The app allows the user to monitor hi-def feeds, complete with “rich audio,” from an installed Logitech Alert CCTV camera system over the Internet.

While the app is free, the hardware starts at $300, and lets you observe a live feed from your iPad or iPhone; you can also view footage recorded onto your computer’s HD directly. An extra $80/year will net you the full Monte, allowing remote review (with an iDevice) of recorded footage from your computer’s HD.

The App’s page states “please use Wi-Fi for the best video and audio performance and experience,” which we’re assuming means the service will function over 3G, albeit most likely with hobbled performance.

Apple has just released iOS 4.3.2 – an update for all devices that support the 4.3 software – except the Verizon iPhone 4 (CDMA) – which fixes a FaceTime bug and an issue that prevents some international users from connecting to 3G networks on the iPad.

The release notes read:

– Fixes an issue that occasionally caused blank or frozen video during a FaceTime call

– Fixes an issue that prevented some international users from connecting to 3G networks on iPad Wi-Fi + 3G

– Contains the latest security updates

As usual with an iOS update, jailbreakers should avoid updating their devices, especially if they rely on an unlock. Dev-Team member MuscleNerd has warned hackers with messages on Twitter, confirming that Apple is working hard to prevent untethered jailbreaks:

ultrasn0w unlockers stay away from today’s iOS 4.3.2!

Apple sure is aggresively patching these untethered jailbreaks lately (but that’s better than lawsuits)

The iOS 4.3.2 update is now available to download via iTunes. Verizon users get the same bug fixes, but they come in the form of iOS 4.2.7 – also immediately available.

Seriously: Imagine your kids being able to play around with all the wonders of physics — without the fear they might slice off a finger (or two), or burn their eyebrows off.

That’s the basic idea behind the brilliant Xperica HD for the iPad, a physics sandbox that lets high-school kids (or anyone, really) make sense of physics through playing with interactive experiments. The first four modules are free, with $4 netting the remaining half-dozen set of physics experiments.

While the first set is all about physics, the developer told us they’ll soon have experiment sets in other spheres of science (like chemistry) available soon, with some modules in each sphere being released for free — and that they might make all the modules free at some point (which might make one hesitant to buy the extra modules, we think, but there ya go).

Imagine building a fast car and only being able to initially drive it on a crowded city street. That is sort of the position Apple is in with its iPad 2, according to one Wall Street expert. Demand (horsepower) far exceeds supply (the crowded street). Which is why Apple stock – despite being likely to meet the Street’s consensus – still has room to grow.

“The takeaway likely will be that iPad was supply-constrained and has an open growth opportunity in calendar 2011 and calendar 2012,” Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster told investors Thursday.

If you purchased a MacBook Pro between 2007 and 2008, you’re probably aware that Apple had more than a little bit of trouble with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GTs they used to build the Pros that generation. In fact, Apple’s been repairing MacBook Pros for customers for free since October of 2008 if they experience blank screens or image distortion issues related to the faulty GPUs.

A new report by Mobile Magazine suggests, though, that the tool Apple has been using to determine whether or not a defective 8600M GT is responsible for rendering your MBP unusable is in itself faulty, and may have resulted in several false positives for logic board and not GPU issues.

The problem? Apple’s fixing 2007 and 2008 MacBook Pros with GPU issues for free. Logic board replacements, on the other hand, usually cost more than a grand.

When I first bought my iPad 2, I did so for one particularly sordid use. Coming home, I drew the blinds, closed the bedroom door and turned my iPad on with a moan of anticipation. When my girlfriend came home from work unexpectedly an hour later, she discovered me in the dark — startled but defiant — smearing goo all over my tablet.

I speak, of course, about 2D Boy’s multi-platform, physics puzzler sensation, World of Goo. It’s one of the best games on the iPad, selling over 125,000 copies in its first month on the App Store alone. And now? World of Goo HD has gotten a universal update, allowing owners of the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and last two generations of the iPod Touch to enjoy their own sordid goo-smearing session.

If you already own World of Goo HD on iPad, the universal update is free. If you only want to play the game on your iPhone, though, you can purchase the handheld version sans the HD for just $0.99. Trust me, that price makes World of Goo the best value on the App Store, bar none.

The guys over at iLounge wanted to figure out why Apple had decided to so radically change the design of the iPad dock between the first and second generation of the device, so they decided to tear that sucker open and see what they could find.

Their conclusion? The iPad dock was made bigger and heavier to provide a more stable base, which is obvious enough. But I was more interested by their takeaway:

The biggest takeaway from the experience? Case incompatibilities aside—and they increasingly seem to be by design—Apple builds these docks amazingly well. Given that we’re talking about $29 accessories that look like they’re made entirely from plastic, they were surprisingly challenging to disassemble, resilient to all but surface damage, and unusually substantial for items that could have just as easily been rendered disposable. The industrial engineers only cut obvious corners on the sequel in ways that would never impact an average user, replacing internal screws and glue with more efficient fasteners. They obviously also created a dock that uses substantially more metal than before while maintaining the same $29 price. It’s actually pretty impressive.

Of course, that’s the difference between Apple and other electronics makers in a nutshell: a commitment to quality in even the most superfluous accessory. The iPad Dock could have just been a piece of molded plastic with a USB passthrough cable, but it’s not.

[via 9to5Mac]

What did the addition of Verizon Wireless mean for the iPhone’s battle against Android? The extra U.S. carrier resulted in an 8.2 percent bump, eroding the multi-carrier open source platform’s lead over Apple, according to a new survey. Android’s share of impressions fell to 48 percent in March, while iOS rose to 31 percent, up from 27 percent. That’s the word from the latest Mobile Mix report by Millennial Media, an independent mobile network.

Although 14 of the top 20 mobile devices use Android, Apple’s iOS still leads in applications, with nearly half of the applications written for the Cupertino, Calif. company’s device.

Late last night, the iOS App Store experienced a wide scale bug that affected the listings of hundreds of apps. Under the app’s “Requirements” listing, a new product became listed as possibly compatible with iOS apps after iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad: “ix.Mac.MarketingName.”

What does it mean? Possibly and even probably nothing, but the “Mac” designation in the string implies a Mac that can run iOS apps.

Following a long 10-month delay, the wait for Apple’s white iPhone 4 could soon be over, according to three people with knowledge of the company’s plans. The device will be available through both AT&T and Verizon Wireless and will launch by the end of April.

A Bloomberg report on Wednesday cites three people who are familiar with Apple’s plans, while another report published on Thursday by Reuters cites two more who also claim the white iPhone 4 is currently in production.

A bout of manufacturing challenges have delayed the device – which is rumored to have included paint that becomes discolored and peels under heat, light leakage into the camera, and light leakage out of the case – the device that many thought would never see the light of day could finally be released from the Foxconn factory.

Despite a message on Twitter last month from Apple’s vice president Phil Schiller, confirming the white device would be available this spring, the recent removal of any image depicting the device from Apple’s website fuelled rumors that the handset would not be launching.

[via AppleInsider]

Artist Christopher Locke makes iPhone speakers from salvaged trumpets.

Selling for $400 apiece, you’d be surprised how good they sound. Check out the video below:

The latest beta version of Safari now features a do-not-track privacy setting to prevent online advertisers from tracking users as they surf the Web.

The tool has been added to the latest version of Safari in Lion, the upcoming update to OS X expected to go public this summer.

Safari is the third major browser to add a do-not-track setting. It joins Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Mozilla’s Firefox include it, but Google’s Chrome does not — yet.

Google, of course, is one of the web’s biggest online advertisers. It’s also worth noting that Apple offers an in-app advertising program called iAds that competes with other forms of advertising, online and off.

Wall Street Journal: Apple Adds Do-Not-Track Tool to New Browser