News - page 2181

Although Apple’s mobile advertising platform iAd debuted in June with 0 percent of the market, the interactive ads found in apps for the iOS platform may soon have 21 percent marketshare, tied with Google’s mobile efforts. Apple’s gains are coming at the expense of Google and other more well-established online advertisers, suggests a new report.

According to IDC estimates published by Bloomberg Businessweek, Google’s share of mobile advertising will fall to 21 percent in December, down from 27 percent in December 2009. Yahoo will also take a hit, dropping to 9 percent, down from 12 percent. (Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz recently predicted Apple’s advertising platform would ‘fall apart.) Likewise, Microsoft’s market numbers will be trimmed to 7 percent, down from 10 percent. As for Nokia, its mobile ad share almost disappears from the radar screen to 2 percent.

Although Adobe said Apple’s recent decision to relax rules on developers using Flash in IOS applications had little effect, the change was enough to get EU regulators to drop an antitrust investigation into the Cupertino, Calif. company’s practices. European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia Saturday “welcomed” Apple’s change of heart.

Earlier in September, Apple announced it would permit developers to use third-party tools to create applications for the iOS platform. The restriction was seen as aimed at Adobe, which had released a tool permitting developers to use Flash in applications for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. As a result, Adobe restarted development of a Flash tool in Flash Professional aimed at the iPhone.

Last week, the internet was buzzing with reports that Apple would be delaying the new Apple TV from its original September release to some time in mid-October. The hypothesis behind these reports was based on users receiving e-mails about expedited shipping being refunded. This hasn’t stopped the Apple TV from shipping in September since mine has already shipped although it won’t arrive until October 1st.

If you haven’t checked  your Apple TV order status yet then head over to https://www.apple.com/orderstatus and check now. Let us know in the comments if yours is on the way or not yet.

The Observer’s John Naughton wrote an interesting piece for this weekend’s paper arguing a point that many of us would raise our hands and agree with: iTunes is bloated beyond belief, and Apple needs to do something about it.

Naughton points out that iTunes is at the center of the new Apple empire. Apple’s success depends largely on iDevices, and iDevices tend to get plugged into computers. And when that happens, they need iTunes to hold their hand.

The problem is that iTunes has become less than the sum of its parts. Weighed down by the multitude of tasks it has been assigned, iTunes has become slow, unwieldy, and confusing.

If you’ve updated iTunes to 10.0.1 in the last day or so, you might have noticed that Ping is pushing itself in your face rather more forcefully than before.

One thing: there’s the Ping sidebar on the right. Another: there’s a new Ping drop-down menu that appears in your music library, alongside any song you have selected.

They’re fine if you use Ping, but if you don’t, you might want to get rid of them. The sidebar is easy to deal with, you can hide it with a click. But the drop-down menu requires a little more tinkering to get rid of.

After a disappointing Wi-Fi-less iPhone debut last year, more than 1000 people lined up to be among the first to buy an iPhone 4 at the Xidan Joy City Apple Store in Beijing on Saturday.

A number of Apple fans camped out for the release, according to a report covering the launch, with the coveted first place in line going to Yu Zhong Hui, who lined up in the early morning hours Thursday. “Physically, it’s been painful. But mentally, I’m very happy,” Yu said.

“It’s like waiting in line to see a movie star,” said 26-year-old systems engineer Sun Jian Kuan. “No phone can best the iPhone.”

China Unicom, the mobile carrier for the device, has reported 50,000 users signed up for an iPhone 4 on the first day of pre-orders. China’s pricing for iPhone 4 without a contract is 4,999 yuan ($744) for the 16GB model and 5,999 yuan ($893) for the 32GB model.

[Computerworld]

Comment Of the Week comes from reader Dayne Jones.

Earlier this week we published the following headline about Steve Jobs ranking in Forbes’ annual rich list:

Steve Jobs Ranked 42rd Richest American In Forbes Annual List

“What’s 42rd?” asked one reader, to which Jones replied:

“It’s pronounced “Forty Terd”

Made me laugh. Here’s the thread.

While it’s nice to use FaceTime to “show junior to your senile father-in-law” or “try to force a smile out of your spoiled brat,” wouldn’t you rather use your iPhone 4 to look at live naked girls?

The first porn service to target iPhone 4′s video chat feature FaceTime is betting that you do.  iP4Play is promoting itself with a kiss between adult stars Kagney Linn Carter and Natalia Romero in this video.

In the video, after mocking the current wholesome,  family-oriented iPhone ads, the pair bra-and-pantie clad blondes are induced to smooch for a client, a dude in a polo shirt — Morgan Grimes’ older brother? who declares: “Oh my god, this is so awesome!”

Way back before the iPad, there was the HTC Shift, a 7-inch UMPC with a 1024 x 600 touchscreen, a full QWERTY keyboard, EVDO data functionality and an 800MHz Intel A110 CPU. For mobility buffs, it was then what today’s tablets are to them now, but it cost an arm and a leg at $1,500. Even worse? It ran Windows. Vista. That alone was enough to drop the ‘f’ from the product’s name.

These days, you can probably pick up an HTC Shift pretty cheap on eBay, and while there’s still little to recommend it over an iPad (or, heck, even the Galaxy Tab) it turns out that the diminutive little UMPC is Hackintoshable, with OS X Leopard running pretty much flawlessly on it, with the exceptions of WiFi and the fingerprint reader.

If for whatever reason you’ve got a Shift around, or find yourself morbidly curious enough to pick one up cheap on eBay to make yourself one of the tiniest Hackintoshes around, you can find the instructions over on the XNA Developers forum.

New reports Friday added to growing speculation a CDMA version of Apple’s popular iPhone 4 may appear in early 2011. Industry publication Digitimes, citing “industry sources”, claims supplier Pegatron will begin building the handset in November. The new iPhone version will hit 3 million to 4 million units in the first three months, and 10 million by mid-2011.

The 10 million figure may suggest the phone is targeted at Verizon, often-cited as the first U.S. carrier to sell the device once AT&T’s exclusivity expires. Many believe Verizon could get a CDMA iPhone as early as January. The 10 million initial shipment would not be enough to also support a CDMA iPhone 4 going to a second carrier, such as China Telecom or Sprint, reasons the web site.

After a long period of scuttlebutt, the Associate Press is now reporting that Target will start selling Apple’s iPad.

Starting October 3rd, Target stores around the country will stock all three versions of the WiFi-only iPad, and apparently (as well as mysteriously) a single flavor of the 3G model, at least according to numerous media reports.

When Apple first unveiled the iPad earlier this year, my dirty secret was that I was less excited about the tablet itself — which innerly I dismissed as just a big iPod Touch — than I was about finally having a use for the gorgeously vintage leather brown courier bag I had picked up at the local flea market months previous for a song, and agonized ever since over something to do with.

Over time, my allegiances have shifted: I love everything about my iPad with a complete passion, where as my bag has become a hated symbol of love crippled by broken promises, like a woman you wait until your wedding night for whose legs fall off mid-coitus. That metaphor isn’t actually as utterly insane as you might think, because my once treasured courier bag’s clasps continuously rip off under the weight of the bag’s contents, and no matter how I might reaffix them, they just won’t stay on.

Meet the iPad courier bag that is going to get me to chuck my old one in the garbage: the Cobra Courier XS, a sleek and sultry bag crafted from black 1680 dernier ballistic nylon and trimmed with the most supple of Nappa leather. Gentlement, this is the kind of bag you buy an iPad for, and I’m even happy with its price… a respectable $145.

Garry’s Mod started out as a simple modification for Valve Software’s Half-Life 2 that allowed players to goof around with the physics, models and other assets inside the game files.

Over the last six years, however, Garry’s Mod has taken on a life of its own, supporting every Source engine game under the sun, including Half-Life 2, its episodic expansions, Portal, Counter-Strike: Source, Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2, as well as blossoming into a full retail title.

Now it’s on the Mac, having been released by Valve through their popular Steam for Mac digital delivery service. Steam is having a 50% off sale on the title right now, so it costs only $4.99… although you should be aware that to actually use Garry’s Mod to make elaborate Rube Goldberg machines or — as in the videos embedded above and below — absolutely hysterical internet videos, you’ll need to own at least one Source engine game.

Check out some of the more classic products of Garry’s Mod after the jump.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAWqUtR9QIM

Are you the owner of an iPhone 3G who is disappointed that you can’t run deathmatch with friends through Apple’s new match making service, Game Center? A jailbreak and some hacking could get you up and running, if you’re feeling bold.

Over at Redmond Pie, Taimur Asad goes through the process of getting jailbreak running on an iPhone 3G… which is (coincidentally for this experiment) the only iPhone that can currently be jailbroken under iOS 4.1 right now.

File this one under ‘seeing is believing.’ A rumor is spreading Friday morning from China that a speculated 7-inch iPad is “a finished product.” While Shanzai.com cites only talkative suppliers, the web site claims the supposed device looks more like an iPhone 4 than an iPad.

In order to prevent another iPhone 4-like prototype disaster, Apple has five different designs floating around to prevent anyone blabbing, according to the site. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about a planed smaller iPad. In August, the Chinese-based Economic Daily News reported a smaller and lighter iPad was being considered by the Cupertino, Calif. consumer electronics maker. The most recent report, however, by Digitimes, suggested a second-generation iPad could appear the second-quarter of 2011. The new tablet device would retain the original 9.7-inch screen, but add a front-facing camera already used by the iPhone 4. The report claimed this iPad model was in “advanced testing stages.”

Look at any of Apple’s newest iPods — the new Shuffle, the touchscreen nano, the iPod Touch — and you will find three devices as tiny, svelte or both as Cupertino can possibly make them. In fact, all of these devices are scarcely thicker at this point than the width of their widest single element —the 3.5mm audio jack — which means that if they are ever going to lose any more chunk, that audio jack is going to need to get even smaller.

It turns out that is exactly what Apple is currently working on, according to a recently filed patent. The new audio jacks uses deflectable “pogo pins”, instead of the usual cantilever beams which extend into a jack cavity and are pushed out of the way when your headphone plug is inserted, allowing audio and electricity to be transmitted.

The iPad is already having an effect – real or perceived – on the netbook market. Although one retailer has backtracked on statements that the iPad is cutting into netbook demand, now comes word from manufacturers that they’d rather churn out more profitable tablets.

“The launch of Apple’s iPad has dampened the sales of netbooks, and with prices of netbooks dropping below costs amid decreasing shipments, panel makers would rather transfer their capacities to produce tablet PC panels as producing netbook panels means losing money,” industry publication Digitimes writes Friday.

I like this photo gallery that Apple has put together to plug the power of the iPad as used by archaeologists at Pompeii.

You’d think, looking at the shiny iPads on their smart wooden desks in the Apple Store, that using one inside a muddy pit would be a terrible idea.

But it seems that as long as they’re wrapped in a decent case, they serve as excellent outdoor computers. The lack of moving parts means fewer chances for dirt to get inside, and the lack of keyboard means you can use the muckiest of fingers and still get your data entered without a problem.

Also of interest is the selection of applications used by real archaeologists in the field. FM Touch for mobile Filemaker databases, iDraw and OmniGraffle for sketching out discoveries and charts.

The guy in charge of the dig believes he’s already saved a year’s worth of data entry time. And this quote says it all: “A generation ago computers made it possible for scholars to move away from just looking at pretty pictures on walls and work with massive amounts of information and data. It was a huge leap forward. Using iPad to conduct our excavations is the next one.”

Never letting a good opportunity go to waste, Scoopertino reveals that Steve Jobs’ recent incident at Japan’s Kansai International Airport was actually a field test of Apple’s newest product:

“iPod ninja fits into that sweet spot between the iPod touch and a small handgun,” says Apple spokesperson Ted Wetmore. “It gives you peace of mind. You can either enjoy your music on the device — or you can fling it at anyone who looks at you funny. With a little practice, you can take down a foe at 50 feet.”

However, there is a dark side to the new iPod. As iPod ninja sales boom, some blogs are already reporting a “death grip” problem even worse than the one that plagued iPhone 4. If you hold iPod ninja in a certain way, you may require immediate medical care.

“There is a learning curve,” admits Mr. Berry, “and Apple does recommend the use of a protective case.” [Scoopertino]

Credit card, photo ID and criminal background check required for purchase.  This could have the potential to be a real killer product….

[via iPhoneSavior]

Look at this incredible picture from London’s Mail on Sunday showing the massive crowds that line up every morning to buy unlocked iPhone 4s.

The Mail claims the unlocked iPhones are being shipped to Asia and the Middle East, where the iPhone 4 has yet to go on sale. Unlocked handsets can be sold for double their purchase price. At first I thought the picture was from the grand opening of Apple’s new Covent Garden store, which opened recently, but the Mail says the lines are forming every morning:

At 6.50am in Covent Garden security guards stopped people from joining the queue. About 230 were cordoned off behind airport-style barriers waiting for the shop to open.
At 7.30am a manager came out and stood on a chair and said: ‘We have iPhones for you. We will open the store in half an hour. Just be nice. Be orderly.’A cheer broke out as the shop doors opened just before 8am.

The New York Times says the same thing is happening in NYC, but may slack off when the iPhone 4 goes on sale in China on Saturday: Buyers Send iPhones on a Long Relay to China.

Thanks Kato.

CES won’t be around for another few months or so, but there’s already big iPhone news emerging from Las Vegas. Wahoo Fitness, start-up created with the purpose of transforming the iPhone into a serious fitness tool, is introducing their two big “Fisica” products at Interbike, the annual bicycle trade show taking place in the desert for the next few days.

You know me, you know I love my iPhone photography toys. One of my favorites is QuadCamera, which I last mentioned here back in 2009.

The app has undergone a steady series of updates since then, but the latest adds support for both of the iPhone 4’s cameras. Now you can take multi-shot photos of yourself, or of anything you might wish to hold above the iPhone 4 while it’s lying face-up on a table. I decided to spare you the horror of my own unshaven, sleep-deprived, stress-ridden visage in favour of some shots of my MBP, but I’m sure you get the idea. There’s always Flickr.

(If you’ve upgraded to iOS 4.1, make sure you check for and install the very latest QuadCamera update, otherwise you’ll encounter a bug that prevents the app launching.)

Many other photo apps have come and gone, but QuadCamera is one of the small handful that’s remained on my iPhone ever since I bought it. It’s quick and it’s fun, and well worth dropping a couple of bucks on.

If anyone expected Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg to use an investor conference Thursday to spill his guts on whether the carrier will soon be selling the iPhone, they were sorely disappointed. Instead, Seidenberg played his cards close to the vest, not once mentioning the topic on so many tongues: how soon will AT&T’s exclusive arrangement with Apple end.

However, the CEO “said he hopes Apple Inc. will come around and allow Verizon to sell the phone for a new network it’s building,” according to the Associated Press. That 4G network won’t be complete until next year, Seidenberg said. His appearance comes prior to a planned keynote address in January at CES 2011.

Welcome to the Volkspad. What the Volkswagen did for autos, the iPad could do for mass adoption of Apple computers – or so says a keen observer of Cupertino, analyst Gene Munster. “We see the iPad as the Mac for the masses,” the Piper Jaffray analyst told investors Thursday.

The Apple tablet will be “a secondary computing device for those who already have a primary computer, a primary device for those who could not previously afford a Mac, and the first Apple product that will be a success in the enterprise,” Munster writes. The iPad will outsell the Mac in 2011 with 21 million units expecting to ship next year – nearly doubling the analyst’s previous forecast for 14.5 million tablets. With such a rosy picture, little wonder the analyst believes 94 percent of tablets sold this year will carry an Apple label.

Think Geek — those purveyors of gadget accessories you never even knew you needed — are now collecting preorders for this awesomely clever iPhone case with flip-out keyboard.

Although we arch an eyebrow at those who simply can’t get over the lack of physical QWERTY keys on the iPhone, the TK-421case is perhaps one of the more cleverly designed accessories to bring some thumbable texting buttons to Apple’s touchscreen handset that we’ve seen so far. The keyboard flips out from where it is hidden at the bottom of the case, solidly clicking into place and pairing with your iPhone through Bluetooth so that it can be used like a thumbpad to answer texts, respond to emails or type in blog posts.

The Tk-421 comes in two separate models which will both ship in November for $49.99, one for the iPhone 3GS and one for the iPhone 4. If you have a 3G or lower, though, you’re out of luck. As Think Geek notes: “. Yes. We know that the iPhone 3G is the same form factor as the 3GS but unfortunately Apple decided that the 3G was just too slow to add Bluetooth™ keyboard support into the OS… go figure.”