Sachin Agarwal is one of the founders of hip email blogging service Posterous – but he used to work for Apple, and like a lot of us, he has opinions about OS X.
His latest is something that sparks a certain amount of controversy, because he’s predicting the imminent death of the Finder.
The iPad Guided Tours that Apple published yesterday are a great way of getting a better idea of what it will actually be like to use an iPad.
But they also show us how Apple’s own “My Documents” feature – first spotted by us back in February – will work.
Keen computer collector Melissa Maloney has a lot of iPods. A LOT of iPods. And quite a few computers too, including an ancient Canon Cat.
I saw her stuff and wanted to ask her: Why do you have so many iPods? What’s the appeal of these old computers? So I did. And here’s what she said.
Ever the genius engineer, Woz has figured out a simple and elegant way to run two iPhone apps simultaneously (otherwise known as multitasking).
He has two iPhones.
Having two iPhones also doubles his battery life.
“By the way, I solved the problem of battery life and [the lack of] multitasking on the iPhone,” Woz told Dan Lyons of NewsWeek. “I just have two iPhones, so if the battery runs down on the first one, I can use the other. And if I’m talking on one, I can use the other one to look something up. You would not believe how much use I get out of that.”
Genius.
The New York Times this morning calls Tony Fadell the “godfather” of the iPod (he’s leaving Apple for greener pastures). But the title should probably go to Jon Rubinstein, the former head of Apple’s Mac and iPod divisions and now CEO of Palm.
The history of the iPod’s development is told here and here, but the short story is:
1. In late 2000, Steve Jobs asked his executive team to look at gadgets people were attaching to the Macs. Perhaps Apple could do a better job of designing them. Videocameras were an obvious candidate, but they were already pretty good. Jobs wasn’t sure Apple could do better. But early MP3 players were a different story — they were horrible.
2. Jon Rubinstein, the head of hardware, hired Tony Fadell to look into making some prototypes, but the project didn’t go into high gear until Toshiba showed Rubinstein a tiny 1.8-inch hard drive it had just developed. They had no idea what to do with it, but Rubinstein did.
3. Rubinstein called Jobs to tell him he’d found the perfect technology for an MP3 player, and he kept Fadell on to oversee the early protoypes. Fadell did such a good job, he went on to become head of the iPod division and eventually took Rubinstein’s job.
As Steven Levy says in his writeup of the iPod’s development, The Perfect Thing:
There is no single “father of the iPod.” Development was a multitrack process, with Fadell, now on staff, in charge of the actual workings of the device, Robbin heading the software and interface team, Jonathan Ive doing the industrial design, Rubenstein overseeing the project, and Jobs himself rubbernecking as only he could.
However, I give credit to Rubinstein, who was at the heart of the development process. He had the initial technological insight, put together the team to develop it, and led the charge to keep improving and updating the device. If there’s a godfather of the iPod, it’s Jon Rubinstein.
As a journalist, and a bit of a design geek who’s dipped a toe into the arcane world of tabloid page layout, it’s always oddly thrilling for me to read from a front page that’s actually been printed. Or at least looks like it was intended to be printed.
Kiosko.net, a virtual gallery of the day’s front pages from the world’s top newspapers, is one of those must-visit sites if you’re a newspaper aficionado — and now it has an iPhone app (and yes, it really has gotten to the point where we start making references to newspapers as if they were LP records or Sinclair Spectums).
The first shipments of iPads have arrived at the huge UPS facility in Louisville, KY, and will soon be heading to customers’ home towns.
The UPS shipping info for CoM’s iPad, which was ordered last month, says the iPad is undergoing “UPS internal activity” (whatever that is) in Kentucky. UPS ‘s all-points international air hub is based in Louisville.
We were surprised the iPad is already here. When we last checked the shipping info a couple of hours ago, the precious iPad was supposedly sitting in Shenzhen, China, where it was assembled.
Little did we know it was being airfreighted to the U.S. and would soon be rescanned into UPS’s system.
UPS system is unbearable, btw. The constant updates providing an incentive for obsessive checking and rechecking. I can’t wait until Saturday.
Here’s a very cool mockup of the iPhone 4G with an aluminum “unibody” enclosure from our friend Graham Bower of MacPredictions.com.
The mockup takes its style cues from Apple’s current lineup of unibody MacBook Pros, which are carved from single slabs of aluminum. Metal gives the iPhone a much nicer look and feel.
Like today’s rumors, Graham is predicting a front-facing camera and a high-resolution screen. A high-res screen would allow the iPhone to display more than one app at a time (multitaking!):
And given that the iPhone OS now supports multiple resolutions, a higher resolution screen is also eminently possible. Perhaps we’ll even be able to pinch and zoom the icons on the Springboard. A higher resolution screen also makes dashboard widgets for the default Springboard screen more likely – it’s hard to believe that Apple will sit by while Android and Windows Phone 7 Series are enjoying this feature.
Thanks Graham!
One of the coolest new features introduced in Leopard’s version of Mail is the ability to automatically add contact details to Address Book. Just hover the mouse pointer over something that looks like an address or phone number, and a box magically appears that lets you import the info, with the details brilliantly ending up in the right places. Well, good news: Now, an app has brought the feature to the iPhone.
Several tidbits of information about the iPhone 4G are circulating today:
The front-facing camera has been rumored for some time and evidence for videochat capabilities has been found in the iPhone 3.2 SDK. The 960×640 screen is double the current 480×360 resolution.
Engadget says the high resolution (most Android phones are around 800×400) will earn the name “iPhone HD” (makes sense). Engadget was also tipped the iPhone will be launched on June 22nd (a Tuesday, naturally).
The Apple-designed A4 chip is a full system-on-a-chip with better graphics capabilites than the current Samsung-made ARM CPU, making it capable of powering the HD screen without taking a performance hit.
And third-party multitasking was pulled from the iPhone 3.2 SDK at the last minute, so it’s ready to go for both the iPhone and the iPad.
Via 9to5Mac, Daring Fireball and Engadget.
If you want to do any serious typing on the iPad, the iPad Keyboard Dock is going to be a must-have accessory… but what if you want to use your existing Bluetooth keyboard? It’ll already work just fine with your iPad just fine, but the challenge is one of positioning. You need some way to prop your iPad up, monitor like, while you type.
The BookArc from TwelveSouth is a parabola of aluminum lined with silicone to slap your iPad into when you want to do some serious typing. Unlike Apple’s own dock, it supports both horizontal and vertical docking, so you can type in any position.
There’s no launch date or price for the BookArc yet, but if the MacBook Arc is anything to go buy, expect it to cost about $50. That’s probably too much when you can just buy yourself any one of the many kickstand-boasting protective iPad cases about to come to market and have all of the BookArc’s advantages while maintaining portability.
When you’re out and about, it usually behooves you to keep a coiled iPod docking cable with you, if just to charge your devices… but they’re easy-to-forget in their ungainliness.
Scosche’s latest product is an elegant solution to the problem of ubiquitous cable possession: the flipSYNC USB charger and transfer cable will juice up and sync your iPhone or iPod when you need it, and when you don’t, it coils up into a keychain about as small as your automobile’s alarm fob.
The flipSYNC is available from Scosche’s official site for only $20.
Although a few wishful thinkers held out hope far past Apple’s announcement, it’s pretty clear at this point that the iPad’s not going to have an OS X like dashboard out of the gate… but that’s not to say a third-party developer can’t step in to pick up the slack.
Cernegie Mellon Student Rich Hong has just released this teaser video for his widget-based dashboard app for the iPad. It looks and acts just like OS X’s own Dashboard capabilities, which is great. Just pluck this in your springboard and you”re golden.
There’s no telling if Hong’s Dashboard app will catch-on — third-party widget support will be key here — but it looks fantastic. In fact, with the right widgets, an iPad Dashboard app might allow for some remedial multi-tasking (say, writing a report while simultaneously referencing an article in an adjacent browser widget) until iPhone OS 4.0 creeps out.
[via Techcrunch]
You only had to listen to the gasps that filled the room when Steve Jobs announced the iPad’s price to figure out that Apple’s tablet is incredibly inexpensive… not just for what it is, but for an Apple product.
In case you needed further proof, though, check out this incredible infographic by Vouchercodes.co.uk that puts the iPad’s dirt cheap price in perspective.
How cheap is the iPad? Not only is it 43 times cheaper than the Apple Lisa (the most expensive computer Apple’s ever sold), but it’s the cheapest major new product Apple has ever introduced short of the iPod.
Early adopter or not, there is simply no reason to feel bad about picking one up at $499. Apple products just don’t come at a better value.
[via Gizmodo]
Artist Andrew Fulton wants an iPad, but like most artists, his means are meager. He shaves with a rusty bottle cap to save money on razor blades, he’s sold all the kidneys to the black market that he can, and his only nourishment is Mulligan Stew or the stray baked bean stuck to the inside of a discarded can. What’s a poor pencil slinger to do?
Well, Fulton’s happened upon an ingenious little plan to buy an iPad: sell Apple fans iPad-related art to raise money for his own device. His drawings are cute, quirky, marvelous and bizarre: I thought the iPad-slicing ninja was my favorite until I saw the tongue-kissing duo of blue-skinned aliens sucking face between Apple tablets.
He only wants $20 for a duotone drawing or $125 for a full-color strip. I’m sure some of our readers wouldn’t mind becoming a patron of the arts to help a fellow Mac fan get an iPad of his own.
[via TUAW]
Owners of the upcoming iPad will have to pay for annual OS updates, according to a new Apple user agreement released online. Buyers of the tablet device expected to hit stores April 3 will get one free update, according to the Cupertino, Calif. company.
“Apple will provide you any iPad OS software updates that it may release from time to time, up to and including the next major iPad OS software release following the version of iPad software that originally shipped from Apple on your iPad, for free,” the company said.
With the iPad mere days away, no one’s likely to evacuate their various collection sacks if a new version of iTunes supporting iPad syncing drops this week. It’s a certainty, and MacRumors has a round-up of features to expect.
According to MacRumors’ source, the biggest change will be to add a new “Books” section for managing e-books, which will fuse with the existing “Audiobooks” category. To make everything easy, iTunes will automatically detect whether you’ve got an iPad or iPhone connected, to eliminate confusion as to whether or not books can be synced to the device.
Some big changes are also coming to Genius Mixes, iTunes 9’s auto-generated playlists, and will allow for more nuanced user control including the ability to rename mixes and rearrange them by dragging and dropping, as well as delete any unwanted Genius Mixes.
Another improvement is that all iPods will now have the option to auto-covert the bitrates of digital audio files to 128kbps AAC in order to save space and fit more songs on a device.
Expect the 9.1 update no later than Friday.
Apple’s been pretty explicit that for right now, there is a maximum order of two iPads per customer… but no one told Apple founder, celebrity dancer and tech enthusiast Steve Wozniak. The affable beardo with the head bigger than the sun has told Newsweek that he’s buying three iPads this weekend.
On Woz’s part, one of the iPads will be the stock WiFi and another 3G model. He’s also ordered an iPad for a friend.
Woz seems to think the iPad will be a big hit: “The iPad could lower the cost of acquiring computers for students. I think it’s going to be huge in the education market. Think about students going off to college. They want an Apple product, but their parents don’t want to spend that much. Now they have the ideal thing.”
As for Wozniak, he’s mostly going to use the iPad for mobile web browsing. “At first I thought, this is not for me. I have the iPhone for mobility and a computer for my computer life. [But] with the iPhone there are certain things it just doesn’t do well, mostly in browsing. It’s horrible to navigate a map on an iPhone because of the screen size.”
Accompanying a report that Verizon may begin selling a new iPhone are rumors Apple is developing a new handset dubbed the iPhone HD. The new handset would be powered by the same A4 processor as the iPad and include a forward-facing camera suitable for teleconferencing.
Daring Fireball blogger John Gruber wrote Monday the handset would use the iPhone 4.0 software, permitting users to multitask applications. Gruber has dismissed a recent Wall Street Journal report suggesting the Cupertino, Calif. company is working on two new iPhones – one CDMA version for Verizon Wireless – as a “lame entry in the iPhone rumors game.”
Taiwanese chip and touchscreen maker Elan Microelectronics Corp. has asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to ban the import and sale of some Apple Inc. products — including the almost-in-your-hands iPad — alleging patent infringement.
Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch, MacBook, Magic Mouse and iPad use technology which the company claims infringes Elan’s patent “352” granted in 1998 for detecting the simultaneous presence of two or more fingers, Elan said in an email statement today.
“Our goal is to protect our technology and to stop sales of those products in the U.S.,” Elan spokesperson Dennis Liu told Bloomberg.
This isn’t the first time Elan, which bills itself as the “smart human interface expert,” tries to give Apple the eFinger: they filed suit against Apple in a California court over another touscreen patent, “353,” in April last year.
Apple has not yet commented on the suit.
One thing is certain: patent lawyers on both continents will be keeping a shine on their shoes. On March 2, Apple filed a complaint with the ITC against Taiwan’s HTC Corp. alleging its patents were breached, though the cases are not related.
After nine years, iPod co-creator Tony Fadell has opted to exit Apple to get a hand in “green” tech.
Fadell is credited with hatching the idea of a hard-drive-based digital music player in the 1990s. He first took the concept to Real Networks, but left after just six weeks due to clashes with CEO Rob Glaser.
Fadell found fertile territory for the project at Apple, where he was the first member of its iPod hardware engineering team in 2001. Working with Jon Rubenstein, Michael Dhuey and Jonathan Ive in under a year, the iPod was born.
Fadell was was promoted to vice president of iPod engineering in 2004, then named senior vice president of the iPod Division in April 2006.
His final exit isn’t that much of a surprise: Fadell stepped down from that position in 2008, staying on in an advisory role to Steve Jobs.
The forty-year-old Fadell kept mum about the motives behind his decision but told the New York Times that he was saying adios to Apple to advise companies and pursue private investments with a focus on green technology.
“My primary focus will be helping the environment by working with consumer green-tech companies,” he said. “I’m determined to tell my kids and grand kids amazing stories beyond my iPod and iPhone ones.”
Apple is working on two new iPhones for a summer launch, including an iPhone for Verizon, the Wall Street Journal claims.
While Apple has unveiled a new iPhone every June or July since launching the product in 2007, the new model with CDMA capability, the cellular technology used by Verizon, is notable because Apple and AT&T Inc. have long had an exclusive relationship with the iPhone. That has given AT&T a competitive edge over other carriers including Verizon for the last three years.
While Apple has unveiled a new iPhone every June or July since launching the product in 2007, the new model with CDMA capability, the cellular technology used by Verizon, is notable because Apple and AT&T Inc. have long had an exclusive relationship with the iPhone. That has given AT&T a competitive edge over other carriers including Verizon for the last three years.
A Verizon iPhone has looooong been rumored, the Journal story is a major step towards confirmation. The Journal cites “people briefed on the matter.” Apple, AT&T and Verizon all declined to comment.
A Verizon iPhone would be a huge win for Apple. Verizon is the biggest carrier in the U.S, with 91.2 million customers. It’s network is reputed to be the fastest and most reliable.
As the launch of the iPad approaches, Apple has published a slew of guided video tours of the new device.
Published on Apple’s website, the tours include guides on how to use Safari, Mail, YouTube, and the iWork suite.
The tours also include a closer look at the iBooks app, which now seems to have previously-undisclosed features like word search, table of contents and a ratings/review popup. The tour also reveals a system-wide Dictionary.
All in all, the iPad looks really slick. I can’t wait for Saturday.
The 10.6.3 update has just been released and includes a raft of bug fixes for QuickTime, OpenGL and more.
The 437.2MB update is available via Software Update and is recommended for all users of Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
The list of fixes, enhancements and improvements is after the jump:
We’ve all heard the saying, “the only thing better than an iPad is a free iPad” (and if you haven’t, you have now, because I just said it). No, we’re not crazy enough to be giving away free iPads. But we know who are: the folks over at VIVmag.
