Safari Gains Top Billing As Internet Explorer Alternative
A Firefox developer is crying foul over Microsoft’s decision to place Apple’s Safari ahead of the open-source browser in a ballot aimed at European Windows users. The decision gives Safari a “disproportionate advantage” over the Mozilla-built Firefox, argues designer Jenny Boriss.
“Windows users presented with the current design will tend to make only two choices: IE because they are familiar with it, or Safari because it is the first item,” she said. Boriss stressed her opinion does not reflect the views of Mozilla.
Demand for Apple’s iPhone is reportedly outstripping supply, causing some Wall Street prognosticators to caution investors yet foresee a bountiful 2010 first quarter. Friday, one analyst suggested a wait-and-see policy ahead of Apple’s October 19 revenue statement. Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner told investors they should “keep some powder dry” and purchase shares following the earnings report.
Apple said in September it had sold 3.5 million iPhones with three weeks left in the month. Now analysts believe Apple could report Monday sales of twice that, or more. The third quarter period would be the first since Apple released the iPhone 3GS in late June.
Leopard “consistently outdid” Microsoft’s soon-to-be released Windows 7 operating system, according to to a head-to-head time test. Apple’s latest OS X operating system outpaced Windows in both boot-up and shutdown, according to a review conducted by CNet.
Leopard needed 36.4 seconds to boot up versus 42.7 seconds for Windows 7. The gap was even more significant in the time needed to shut down the 2008 MacBook Pro. While Snow Leopard required 6.6 seconds to shut down, Windows 7 took 12.6 seconds, the study found.
Desperate, but not serious. The clone's keyboard. @pocket-lint.com
This iPhone clone found by a reporter at a trade show in Asia comes with about as ugly an add-on as possible: a squashed qwerty keyboard with keys that look like veneers gone wrong.
It’s pretty ingenious, as much as lacking in aesthetics, since the keyboard is integrated into a protector case (which also looks fittingly hideous) with a custom connector for the phone.
For those of you who want an external keyboard for your iPhone, would you want it badly enough to use this one?
A week back, my interest was piqued by Retina (App Store link), a 99-cent augmented reality app that aims to assist color-blind users. I interviewed developer Stefan Fürst of Media Atelier for some background on the app.
Cult of Mac: What was the inspiration behind Retina? Why did you decide to make it?
Stefan Fürst: The idea was born when my red-green blind bicycle buddy was talking in a very convinced way about his green bike he likes so much. He had been riding it for two years and had no idea it wasn’t green at all.
How does it work, and how did you decide on the interface?
The interface has been kept very simple to make it suitable for everyday use. The list of colors might look very short and inaccurate to non-color blinds—but to figure out if an object is green or red this works perfectly.
What feedback have you had from colour-blind users?
One of them made me to add the saturation indicator and told me that this helps him a lot.
In which ways do you think augmented reality apps will evolve in the future?
I believe that there are almost endless possibilities, but most uses would need higher processing power to make them run smoothly on an iPhone or other mobile device.
What are your future plans for iPhone apps?
Actually I am more of a Mac Developer, extending my desktop apps with iPhone helpers. I developed Retina for my color-blind friends and hopefully a lot of other people having problems in recognizing colors.
Having garnered some feedback from early Retina adopters, it seems there’s definitely interest in this kind of app, although Retina itself appears to have trouble with subtler colors, and it often claims it’s ‘too dark’ or ‘too light’ to make an assessment. However, for 99 cents, it’s worth a look for anyone severely color-blind wanting a quick and easy way to ascertain the color of things like clothing.
Last week, we published The Complete Guide to Unlocking and Jailbreaking your iPhone and iPod Touch. Here’s a list of must have apps and tweaks that you’ve enabled by following our guide. Through Cydia, you can download and install each item below and add new functionality and usefulness to your iPhone. I give you the Top Ten Must Have iPhone Jailbreak Apps:
As the U.S. East Coast prepares for an early snowfall, we have some deals on MacBook Pros that will keep you toasty, entertained and with a few more dollars left in your wallet. We start off with two MacBook Pro choices; one with a slightly slower processor at $749 and another with a fast 2.2GHz cpu, more software, but a smaller screen (13-inch versus 15-inch.) We then have a face off with armbands for your iPod or iPhone and an assortment of other gadgets.
For details on these and other products (like the V-Moda Vibe noise-cancelling earbuds), check out CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.
iSkin just launched a new line of silicone keyboard covers treated with Microban, a secret germ-fighting sauce adding in during the manufacturing process.
Whether you believe in the germ-fighting power of the additive or not, keeping a skin on your keyboard will certainly keep the falling crumbs from your breakfast and bits of ick from settling in — since most office workers are exposed to more germs from their keyboards than toilet seats.
Plus, you can wash it with warm, soapy water.
The new line covers external keyboards and laptop models, prices range from $24.99 – $34.99.
Not sure I would’ve sprung for a keyboard condom in the past, but the amount of grit that never seems to come out of a keyboard plus paranoia over swine flu makes it seem like a small price to pay.
Apple is testing a new version of its Mac Pro equipped with a six-core processor from Intel. The new computer could be introduced in the first quarter of 2010 and may prompt a discount for earlier Mac Pro machines. The report by Hardmac is based on an unnamed source.
If correct, the new Mac Pro desktop will boost the current 8MB L3 cache to 12MB using the Gulftown Xeon chip. The update would permit 12 threads for each CPU. Apple will likely double the six-core to 12, reports said. The Gulftown is the codename of Intel’s unreleased chip expected to be named the Intel Core i9 or Xeon 5600 series for servers. The six-core processor will be Intel’s first and its as-yet unreleased status could give Apple a brief exclusivity.
Apple Vice President Phil Schiller has hinted at a new advertising campaign to counter the upcoming launch of Windows 7. Speaking about the potential upgrade hurdles a PC user might face, Shiller told BusinessWeek: “Any user that reads all those steps is probably going to freak out. If you have to go through all that, why not just buy a Mac?”
Schiller told the magazine the expected Oct. 22 launch of Microsoft’s new operating system “presents a very good opportunity” for the Cupertino, Calif. company. According to BusinessWeek, an ad campaign could poke fun at Microsoft users undergoing the upgrade.
Apple sales grew 6.8 percent in the third quarter of 2009, causing its U.S. marketshare to reach 8.8 percent in the third quarter of 2009, a slight improvement over the 8.6 percent posted during the same period in 2008, a report on global PC sales shows. The numbers came amid signs consumers purchasing mobile computers drove sales during the period. Some 17.8 million PCs were sold overall in the U.S. during the third quarter, a 3.9 percent increase from 2008.
The Cupertino, Calif. company shipped 1.5 million computers during the third quarter of 2009. By contrast, Apple shipped 1.4 million in the same quarter last year. Many of those sales were part of back-to-school sales, a critical part of the U.S. growth, according to Gartner.
Expert iPhone hackers confirm that the newest iPhone 3GS model updates the bootrom to iBoot 359.3.2, which completely blocks all the current jailbreak solutions, including PwnageTool and blackra1n. The new model that started shipping last week has an iBoot that ‘fixes’ 24kpwn exploit, which is currently the base of all the aforementioned jailbreak solutions.
Found at first by a hacker named Mathieu Hervais, it has now been confirmed by DevTeam members CPICH and MuscleNerd. This means that the hackers will now have to work hard on finding a completely new solution.
Those who want to jailbreak might be able to find an older/refurbished iPhone with an earlier boot ROM. Otherwise, you will have to wait till the next major jailbreak solution, which might take months.
Apple has been preventing users from jailbreaking since the first ever firmware update. The main reason behind this is prevent customers from unlocking their iPhones to use with different carriers. Most jailbroken devices end up being unlocked at some stage, which has a negative impact on carrier’s monopoly of the device. This indirectly effects Apple’s earnings.
Another reason could be piracy, which too has a similar impact in terms of reduction in revenue from the AppStore. But preventing jailbreak to stop piracy sounds pretty lame as Apple definitely has the potential to develop a better and effective anti-piracy system.
Pretty bad news but will it really prevent you from getting a new iPhone 3GS?
Remember when Apple CEO Steve Jobs showed a photo of the low-cost Flip Video camcorder prior to announcing the iPod Nano would get a 640×480-pixel camera? No? Well, Flip Video does. Wednesday, the company released an updated version of its Mino HD camcorder with double the memory and a spiffier look.
The Mino HD will ship with 8GB of memory, up from the previous 4GB. The camcorder also includes a HDMI-out so it can be hooked-up to high-definition TVs. The device also gets a better screen (along with a size boost from 1.5-inches to 2-inches) for outdoor viewing, plus a brushed aluminum case.
New photos and descriptions of a Barnes & Noble e-reader leaked Wednesday, whetting consumers’ appetite ahead of next week’s press conference promising a “historic” announcement. The e-reader supposedly combines features found in Amazon’s Kindle, as well as a touch-screen interface similar to Apple’s iPhone.
Gizmodo provided the details, describing the unnamed e-reader as combining a Kindle-like e-ink 6-inch main display but opting for a LCD touch-screen panel rather than physical buttons. The 480×144-pixel panel with 155dpi resolution will be used to flip through books similar to Apple’s “coverflow” technology allowing people to quickly review their music collection.
Apple Wednesday endorsed Wi-Fi Direct, an industry plan to eliminate the need for hotspots in order for wireless gadgets to connect. The standard, expected to be available by the middle of 2010, may mean increased competition for Bluetooth and allow iPhones, iPods and iBooks to easily network.
“Wi-Fi users worldwide will benefit from a single-technology solution to transfer content and share applications quickly and easily among devices, even when a Wi-Fi access point isn’t available,” Wi-Fi Alliance executive director Edga Figueroa said in a statement.
The peer-to-peer standard would be available for new Apple products, as well as older products. In 2008, Apple said one goal for its line of iPods was to be “one of the first WiFi mobile platforms.” The standard also comes as Verizon promotes its MiFi as a way to create a mobile WiFi router using cellular networks.
Because abilities of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth overlap, the new Wi-Fi Direct standard could compete with the short-range wireless connection technology in areas such as printing and and other peripherals. Apple already uses Bluetooth for its line of wireless mice and keyboards.
HAVA just launched a mobile player for iPhone, putting it further into competition with rival service Slingbox.
They call it place-shifting, but lingo aside it allows you to control your live home TV from broadband Internet or computer or mobile phone — and watch it in another room, across town or while stuck in an airport abroad.
HAVA also has DVR capability to allow users to start a recording to their PC or attached storage, pause, rewind or fast forward live TV.
The Hava iPhone app costs $9.99 and you’ll need one of their devices, which start at $149.00 for the platinum HD model, plus broadband connections on both ends and a WIFI connection for your iPhone. (The Slingbox Solo starts at $179 and its companion iPhone app costs $29.99)
Ever since the two companies launched within a year of each other about five years ago, debate has sprung up — in both the Hava community and the Slingbox camp — about which one is better.
Let us know which one you’re using and whether you’d recommend it.
Apple may enable iPhone and iPod touch users to receive FM radio via a built-in feature previously dormant, says a report. The Cupertino, Calif. company is developing a radio.app that operates similar to the FM feature in the latest iPod Nanos, according to the 9to5Mac blog.
Although the latest iPhones and iPod touch devices have long been able to broadcast via an FM signal, allowing hands-free operation in cars, reception of FM signals until now has been limited to the Nike+ system. Release of the Apple-built FM app is delayed as engineers work out kinks in integrating Mobile iTunes Store transactions. The function, already available for the iPod Nano, lets listeners of radio stations that support tagging to get song information available from iTunes and purchase music.
The art of automata is all about making beautiful mechanical objects out of wood and other materials.
When Murtaza Lakdawala discovered automata, he also got inspiration for a neat project: a hand-cranked rotating stand for his iPhone. And this is the result.
PwnageTool for Mac has been updated to version 3.1.4 by the DevTeam. This new update basically adds firmware 3.1.2 jailbreak support. It currently supports jailbreaking all the devices except iPod Touch 3G.
PwnageTool is currently compatible with Intel Mac only. The reason some would prefer it to blackra1n is that it allows you to ‘hacktivate’ the phone (use it without AT&T’s iPhone data plan) and the unlock is preserved even through firmware updates. However, to unlock an iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS,make sure that you have a firmware 3.0 (or 3.0.1) baseband on the phone.
We’ve all customized our iPhones to fit our personality, but how about the ultimate: your DNA? A French company is now offering to turn your DNA code into an iPhone wallpaper.
All it takes is a bit of genetic code via a mouth swab (provided by the company, Helys.) Pick the perfect hue among several choices and send the sample back. Within two weeks you get a 100 dpi image (320×480 pixels) emailed back to you. The cost: $146.
iPhone users can now go keyless, if they want to spend $500 for the Viper SmartStart system.
The app is available, gratis, on iTunes. But you need a Viper receiver that costs half a grand to be able to say goodbye to your keys. (If you’ve already got a Viper system, you can add on the iPhone SmartStart module for $299.)
SmartStart lets you lock or unlock your car, set the alarm, start it from remote, unlock the trunk and there’s a “panic or car finder” for those parking lot nightmares. You can also manage more than one car on it and assign more than one user per car — which the company says is great for families but somehow I imagine more “War of the Roses” shenanigans.
Cool idea, but I can’t imagine paying that for it. How much would you spend to control your car from your iPhone?
A personalized Dell laptop: better than "Steve's way?"
In a shameless rip off of the Burger King slogan, Dell wants customers to know you can have your computer, your way by personalizing it with some fugly case designs.
“You can have it Steve Jobs’ way or you can have it your way,” Ed Boyd, VP of consumer experience design told journalists last week while promoting Dell’s Design Studio.
Launched in 2008, the customization program will boost its current offer up to 350 designs and patterns plus team logos and colors. The images are imprinted on the computer with a sub-surface image that penetrates the shell and wraps around the laptop — so the Dell logo is still visible.
Design Studio customization, which will go worldwide next summer, tacks $85 on to the cost of a Dell laptop.
Apparently, Boyd doesn’t think people who fancy a bit of customizing are smart enough to put some cool stickers on their Macs instead.
When it comes to gadget-hungry teens, Steve Jobs makes Oprah look like some cable-access talking head. At least that’s the findings of a telephone survey of 1,000 12 to 17-year olds. Jobs was deemed the ‘most admired celebrity entrepreneur’ by 35 percent polled versus 25 percent for TV magnate Winfrey.
By comparison, skateboarding legend Tony Hawk received 16 percent of the votes and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had 10 percent of the survey results.
Rather than hissing each time Microsoft introduces a new version of its Windows operating system, maybe Mac fans should cheer. That’s the opinion of one analyst who says Windows actually boosts Apple hardware sales. “No negative correlation exists on AAPL’s hardware sales when Microsoft launches a new OS,” according to financial analyst Brian Marshall of Broadpoint.AmTech.
Although Apple has parlayed Windows into a highly-publicized nemesis of Mac owners, sales of Cupertino’s computers actually rose when Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows 98 were released. “Ironically, we believe new OS launches from MSFT may have acted as a ‘delayed accelerant’ to AAPL’s computing sales,” Marshall said.
