Over at Core 77, this earbud holder was an in-house entry in this month’s one-hour design challenge to make something useful out of business cards.
Eric says he’s been using it for a week and its still holding up..In any case, it’s a nice way to use those out-of-date cards (dot-com bust, anyone?) instead of just recycling them…
Other Apple-related entries in the business card challenge include an iPhone stand and speakers. Feeling creative? There’s still time to enter the contest — the top five entries win 1,000 business cards.
Stanford’s School of Engineering recently launched a 10-week course on iPhone programming, available gratis on iTunes.
The video podcasts of about an hour each that teach programming for the iPhone and iPod Touch are the same ones offered on the Palo Alto campus, minus the tuition, with a few days lag time.
“There’s a lot of interest in the iPhone,” said Brent Izutsu, Stanford’s project manager for Stanford on iTunes U. “This course provides an excellent opportunity for us to show the breadth and depth of our curriculum and the innovation of our students.”
Not surprising, now that the media are calling the race to make money-making apps the new “gold rush.”
Via Apple Insider
I spent a week in Paris recently, and although I was on vacation, I was still on the lookout for Macs. I almost missed this homage to the Apple design while I was out shopping with my uncle. Fortunately, he saw this excellent window display at the Printemps department store and stopped me to take some photos.
The display case, several large windows long, was completely littered with Apple products. See if you can count them all. You can also see the reflection of the other side of Boulevard Haussmann.
A 20-year-old Brooklyn man charged with raping a woman in New York got busted because he was so intent on stealing the victim’s iPod that he left his own cell phone behind.
According to the indictment, the NYT reports, Jonathan Salva grabbed a woman from behind around 4 a.m. on Feb. 21 as she walked along West 28th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, while listening to her iPod (or iPhone, reports vary.)
Salva made off with the device, but left his own cellphone at the scene, authorities said.
Salva pleaded not guilty to predatory sexual assault, a top charge that could put him behind bars for life. He was held in lieu of $250,000 bail.
One note of levity from the controversial G20 summit in London is the exchange of gifts between US President Barack Obama to Queen Elizabeth II.
The AP reports: Obama’s gift of an iPod to Queen Elizabeth II came loaded with 40 songs from popular Broadway productions, including “The King and I,” “West Side Story” and “Dreamgirls.”
The iPod (exact model unspecified) was given to accompany a rare coffee table book of songs by composers Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, which Obama also gave the queen. It also came loaded with video of her time in Washington and Virginia in 2007 during a private meeting overnight.
The Queen is reported to have owned an iPod since 2005, so maybe he was thinking it was time for an upgrade.
Among the standards, few selections stand out — “Seasons of Love” from “Rent” and “The Best of Times,” from “La Cage Aux Folles.”
Wonder if they the tracks were selected by Reggie Love, Obama’s 26-year-old-jack-of-all trades and designated iPod stocker, who is following the President on his overseas trip.
Hmm. This was one of the suspect newslets (see today’s date) that at least gave me a chuckle: a touchless iCar, especially designed to let kids drive themselves around.
Brought to you by mobile open source software company Funambol, the car was designed by CEO Fabrizio Capobianco.
“I grew tired of driving my toddler daughter everywhere, ” said Capobianco. “The other day, she grabbed my iPhone and mastered it in 10 minutes. That provided the inspiration to add finger gestures to iCar. It’s so intuitive even a five year old can give the finger while driving.”
A jab at a “competing” Microsoft car was also thrown into the press release: “Microsoft also today announced its highly anticipated MiCar. The MiCar not only lacks a steering wheel, it has no wheels, period. In initial test drives, MiCar was completely immobile yet still managed to crash. It is available in one color only, “Death-Screen Blue.”
I blame the fact that Pete Mortensen was not here liveblogging it tonight for Cult of Mac.
“I gave it a good try,” Wozniak said after being voted off the show. Few ever expected the burly billionaire engineer to win the contest, least of all Wozniak himself.
Despite having criticized the program’s scoring system in the past couple of weeks, in the end, he said performing on the program made him feel like “the luckiest person in the world.”
In an unpredictable turn of events on Woz’s tumultuous “Dancing With The Stars” gig, his partner Karina Smirnoff has asked him to walk (not fox trot or tango) her down the aisle at her upcoming wedding.
The dancer will wed former DWTS co-star, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who was paired with Denise Richards. Richards and Chmerkovsiy were eliminated unexpectedly on last week’s show.
Smirnoff says of Woz:
“He’s a little out of his element but has the biggest personality you’ll ever meet. He’s super funny and super charming.”
Awww. Let’s hope the pair makes it out of tonight’s show — it’s largely thought his internet fan base is keeping Woz in the running in what has been described as not so much dirty dancing but stinky.
Came across the Italian edition of CoM founder Leander Kahney’s book on Steve Jobs (“Inside Steve’s Brain“) the other day in a shop in Milan.
The title in Italian has been translated as “Inside Steve’s Head.” Perhaps the idea of being in his brain was considered a little too graphic?
It looks like the Spanish edition took the same route…Curious to see if there are any other differences in title translations, if you spot any, let me know…
Skype for iPhone is due to be announced at CTIA 2009 on Tuesday morning.
The world’s busiest long distance service provider and its new partner Apple helpfully made the free Skype for iPhone app available for download via the iTunes AppStore (opens iTunes) Monday night, and a quick lap around the track implies quite an upgrade to iPhone’s voice functionality.
Simply logging in with a user’s current Skype username and password automatically populates the mobile apps’ database with contacts, recent call history, and account information including avatar image, profile information, Skype Credit account balances, Online number information and voicemail history.
Making a call to a Skype friend is as easy and intuitive as it is from the familiar PC interface, and the sound quality on a connected call is equal to that using a headset on a PC, especially when using a headset with mic attached to the iPhone or iPod Touch.
It should be noted that Skype voice calls are dependent on the initiating caller having a strong and stable WiFi connection to place and maintain the call. Weak or intermittent WiFi connectivity will downgrade call quality and easily lead to dropped calls, and Skype will not in any way access or rely on the cell network to complete or maintain voice calls.
Another issue some may have yet to consider in championing the arrival of Skype as a watershed in mobile VoIP calling is the limitation imposed by Apple’s mobile OS that prevents more than one app from running at a time.
Should an iPhone user be engaged in a Skype call when a normal cell phone call comes in, the WiFi connection will be broken, and the Skype call automatically dropped as the cell call rings in. Absent the ability to place an iPhone in “Do Not Disturb” mode, this will remain a persistent potential problem for those relying on the iPhone’s ability to deliver voice over WiFi.
Otherwise, at first blush, Skype appears to have delivered a seamless integration of its PC-based application for making calls over IP networks.
More details will come to light as hundreds of millions of Skype users begin to make and receive calls using iPhone and iPod Touch.
It will be interesting, as well, to see how the introduction of iPhone 3.0 operating software, due this coming summer with its promise of push notification may affect Skype for iPhone’s usability.
Doubt I’ll be making lunch on my MacBook anytime soon, but its ongoing overheating and fan problems have made me wonder whether the rumors they get hot enough to cook on are true.
Wonder no more: flickr user Digital Monk tossed a little egg yolk on his MacBook Pro and in 10 minutes, voila , cooked it. (Unless it’s an early April Fool’s joke…)
He says:
“I’ve read in more than one instance that you can cook an egg on a Macbook pro. Of course, whoever was saying that was using it as a metaphor to explain how hot these laptops can really get. I have always nodded my head in agreement that mbp’s heating problem is something Apple is not taking seriously (Do you hear us Apple? Grrrr!). Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fantastic machine, far superior than the laptops that run Window or what have you. But it does have it’s own share of drawbacks.
Today I decided to see for myself if you could really cook an egg on a Macbook pro! So I ended up placing some yolk on my MBP. And it didn’t take more than 10 minutes to find out if MBP is also a cooking machine! Above are the results.. I did not actually taste the yolk, but it was cooked alright!”
In a nice little piece of Internet archeology, an interview with graphic designer Rob Janoff on the creation of the iconic Apple rainbow logo has resurfaced at zlok.net.
In 1976, Janoff worked as an art director for Regis McKenna where he created the logo, it was a pro-bono gig.
“For inspiration, the first thing I did was go to the supermarket, buy a bag of apples and slice them up. I just stared at the wedges for hours,” recalls Janoff. The fruit of his labor: a simple 2-D monochromatic apple, with a healthy bite taken from the right side. Jobs loved the conceit-only he suggested it be more colorful. Janoff’s boss disagreed, insisting the logo be made all black to save on printing costs.
“But Jobs was resolute, arguing that color was the key to humanizing the company,” says Janoff. “So I just put colors where I thought they should be, not even thinking about a prism.” What thanks did Janoff, now the owner of his own Chicago-based graphic design firm, get for all his hard work? “Not even a holiday card.”
Skype’s much-anticipated VoIP application for iPhone and iPod Touch will launch in the iTunes AppStore on Tuesday, according to a report at Cnet, which published Sunday evening a pre-launch review.
Set to go live in the AppStore in concert with its introduction at CTIA 2009, Skype’s Apple product is said to leverage a couple of nice iPhone-centric features such as being able to take a photo from within Skype to serve as your avatar image, or pulling a picture in from the camera roll — and the look and feel is less heavy on Skype branding, more attuned to other apps for Apple’s mobile platform.
The Cnet review found lack of SMS, file transfer and conference calling set-up disappointing but those features may well be forthcoming in a post iPhone 3.0 update.
The big question is whether Skype will get the VoIP ball rolling on iPhone and iPod Touch, where other apps such as Truphone, Fring and Nimbuzz, which have offered different levels of VoIP capability on the iPhone for a while already, but have yet to take off.
Apple filed for patents last September that suggest the company may be working on biometric security technology together with optical and voice recognition software to enhance traditional password security for its devices.
According to a report published for the first time this week, the patent filing describes methods for embedding sensors beneath touchscreens and trackpads to recognize fingerprints and vein patterns; device cameras and microphones would authenticate retinal patterns or facial features and recognize a user’s distinctive voice. There is even a suggestion of collecting DNA samples to recognize a user’s genetic sequence. Biometrics could also be context-sensitive and detect the shape of a user’s ear before allowing a call to go through, for example.
A series of Microsoft ads are aimed at budget consumers worried about price tags, further perpetuating the pricey Mac myth.
Associated Press reports the ads were shot by recruited unwitting subjects by posing as a market research firm studying laptop purchasing decisions.
It picked 10 people who answered a call for volunteers on Craigslist and other websites and sent them out with a camera crew and budgets ranging from $US700 to $US 2,000. If they found a computer that fit their criteria, they could keep it.
In the first 60-second ad, a red-haired recent college grad named Lauren is on the hunt for a speedy laptop with a 17-inch screen and a “comfortable” keyboard, all for less than $1000. She strides into an Apple store; then, the scene jumps to her walking out empty-handed, telling the camera that the only laptop in her price range has a 13-inch screen.
Back in the car, she sighs and says, “I’m just not cool enough to be a Mac person.”
Lauren heads to Best Buy next and buys a Windows notebook made by Hewlett-Packard Co. for $US699. And she wasn’t alone. While some might have been able to find an Apple computer that fit the budget, Microsoft said none of the people they filmed picked a Mac.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNhBwA7BLho
If you had any doubts about it being a very Bollywood moment — after Slumdog Millionaire won 10 Academy Awards and even the Pussycat Dolls got a themed “global goddess” makeover and pop song — this faux iTunes ad uploaded on youtube by Bollywood Hipster is the tipping point.
The mix of ancient and modern Indian dance styles is set to the themes song from movie Bachna Ae Haseeno.
Grab your parka, hat and gloves and book your tickets early for WWDC 2009, June 8 – 12 at San Francisco’s Moscone Center West.
Apple announced the dates Thursday via its Developers Connection website for the annual conference that provides developers and IT professionals with in-depth technical information and hands-on learning about iPhone OS and Mac OS X technologies from over 1000 Apple engineers who created them.
Easily one of the most eagerly anticipated Geek festivals on the calendar, this year’s conference should draw even more interest than usual due to the impending arrival of iPhone 3.0 and Mac OS X 10.6, known as Snow Leopard.
Early-bird registration for the conference is $1,295 until April 24th, after which the entrance fee goes up $300. Current ADC Student Members and student Team Members in the iPhone Developer University Program can apply for a WWDC Student Scholarship for free admission to the conference.
From the Euclid Sun Journal police blotter for the greater Cleveland Area:
FOUND PROPERTY, VOELKER AVENUE: A man found an Apple computer at 7 p.m. March 16 on the street at Babbitt Road. He believed the computer may have been mistakenly left atop someone’s car roof when the car was driven away.
Apple must have the sweetest distribution deal in the entire retail universe, if a report published Wednesday at TechCrunch is to be believed.
The AppStore refund policy allows purchasers a full refund up to 90 days from the date of download of any application purchased in the iTunes AppStore. Which seems questionable enough in the light of, say, the Android Market’s 24 hour return policy.
But a clause in the developer’s contract all iPhone developers must sign in order to have their apps sold in the AppStore indicates that in addition to a three month return policy, “Apple will have the right to retain its commission on the sale of that Licensed Application, notwithstanding the refund of the price to the end user.”
In effect this means Apple will charge 100% of the sale price to a developer for every refund given, even though the developer only got 70% of the price of the sale in the first place.
Many iPhone app developers are on the record as having no problem with Apple’s 30% sales commission for applications sold through the iTunes AppStore. The thinking goes that independent developers gain access to many more potential customers by having their products in the widely visited venue, save tons of money on marketing and transaction costs and generally benefit from being associated with the legitimacy of the Apple brand.
When consumers get wind of this policy, which may be a new development, according to the TechCrunch report, developers of some widely purchased though basically useless apps could be in for a rude awakening.
UPDATE: No developer is likely to go bankrupt in the real world, according to a level-headed explanation posted Thursday by Erica Sadun, a developer/blogger for ArsTechnica.
The reason, which makes perfect sense when you think about it, is that Apple never gives refunds, except in extreme circumstances and then, only after causing the customer many headaches.
Apple released a firmware update Wednesday for owners of 2009 unibody 17″ MacBook Pros meant to resolve issues with Nvidia graphics processors that have been causing display anomalies for some users.
Reports on March 6 described complaints related to the Nvidia GeForce 9600 graphics processor in new 17″ MacBook Pros that were causing lines to appear all over some users’ notebook displays, as reported in Apple support threads and in comments to Cult of Mac’s original post.
The firmware update released Wednesday applies only to 2009 model 17″ MacBook Pros. Users wishing to apply the firmware fix should consult Apple documentation for information on how to apply the update.
Let us know in comments whether the firmware solves the problem.
Apple was granted a recent patent, no. 7,508,662, for a handle arrangement with integrated heat pipe.
Here’s how it’s summed up in the patent application: “As portable electronic device designs become more compact, managing thermal loads in integrated circuits (e.g. processing units) becomes more challenging.
One reason for this challenge is that high powered portable devices can generate significant amounts of waste heat energy over a relatively compact area. As such, damage due to heat cycling may cause collateral damage to components in close proximity to heat generators. In conventional solutions, fans may be utilized in coordination with a heat sink to dissipate generated waste heat. In some examples, where fans are utilized to cool components, battery life may be significantly lowered.
“Although conventional methods as illustrated may be effective, as noted above, power requirements for fan usage may, in some instances significantly reduce battery life making such a solution somewhat undesirable. Furthermore, use of a fan may, in some examples, contribute to an undesirable increase in noise level. Therefore, handle arrangements with an integrated heat pipe are presented herein.”
The iBook G3 Clamshell had a handle (removed on later models), a quick search turned up third-party handles for newer models, too, though at about $45 you might be better off with a case.
Have you bought handles? Would you like to see them on your next laptop?
Spotted this yesterday in Milan: a small stool with a faux-Apple logo, missing the bite and a few colors but unmistakably inspired by the iconic rainbow.
Wonder who, for about $17 (€12.90), would want to sit on it, PC people?
Nearly 900 people RSVPd for the boxee meetup Tuesday at Webster Hall in NYC, where the “bleeding edge” media center platform is announcing brand new partnerships with Pandora, Radio Time and PBS, as well as a more robust API and a new XUL-based framework for the boxee browser that will enable easier interaction with any web-based video (translation: Hulu web pages).
With the new Pandora station, boxee users can listen to their personal quickmix and favorite stations, as well as create new stations, making music in the living room more accessible than ever.
BoxeeHQ is also releasing a new PBS app today, and the company promises its new API will allow developers to build apps using XML pages and Python scripts, giving them control over everything they want from a UI perspective.
They offer as an example the new implementation of Radio Time, an application built using the new API that will allow users to stream over 100k terrestrial radio stations from around the world.
By adding new access to more music and continuing to add to and refine access to video content, boxee is definitely pressing its case as a force to be reckoned with in the breaking down of barriers between internet and traditional media content.
