News - page 2340

Future Audio Workshop has developed a groundbreaking application for iPhone and iPod Touch that may point a way to the future of global music distribution, making other portable formats look like wax cylinders by comparison.

Deadmau5 Remix is a $3 app that lets anyone with a mobile Apple device running iPhone 2.2 (or higher) firmware, regardless of their level of experience, mix and remix every song on a 10 track album by one of the hottest stars in the electronica firmament.

Users can change BPM, control up to four concurrent effects, skip to the next phrase or back to the last one, loop a phrase, and cross fade between the two tracks, or from one to the next.

And since the tool is so easy to use, it lets anyone DJ a dance party by plugging their device into a stereo and getting a groove on.

This app could lead to a wholesale change in the way music is consumed, according to Wired blogger Eliot Van Buskirk, who points out that, because an iPhone app can contain audio, video, images, software, lyrics, web links and games — all of which are updatable from the server side — an $18 CD starts to look fairly ridiculous.

As other mobile phone platforms embrace the app store model, cellphone makers are sure to enable installing apps like this on millions of devices. When that happens, as Van Buskirk writes, a plain old MP3 could seem just that: plain and old.

Via Wired Blog Network

Mike Pinkerton, who has been building web browsers since before you were on the internet at all, is something of a hero of mine. He’s worked on all sorts of Mozilla and Mozilla-offshoot code, and was one of the key people behind my daily browser of choice, Camino. This man knows how to build browsers, kids.

These days he works for Google on the team that is building a Mac version of Chrome, Google’s browser of choice for the next few years.

And he’s just posted this little announcement:

“This week, everything came together and we can now load web pages in the renderer processes and display them in tabs.”

(There’s also a screenshot at the other end of that link, which is worth seeing.)

There’s still a pile of work to do, but the news is that one of the most important aspects of Chrome – that a tab can crash without taking down the whole app – is working as expected.

Partly because I’m impressed by what I’ve seen of Chrome on Windows so far, and partly because I’ll happily install anything that Mike Pinkerton’s worked on, I’m very excited about this. Chrome for Mac might – just might – be the browser I’d be prepared to leave Camino for.

19-year-old Shawn McKenzie has been found guilty of first-degree murder for the stabbing death of Michael Oatway over an iPod.

Oatway, 23, refused to give the iPod he’d borrowed from his girlfriend to McKenzie while the two were on an Ottawa bus in September 2006. McKenzie stabbed him once in the heart, then fled.  He was arrested the next day.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger sentenced McKenzie to life in prison. The judge tried the 19-year-old as an adult, finding that a youth sentence would not be sufficient to hold him accountable for his actions. He will not be eligible for parole for 10 years.

Via National Post

Score one for Ashton Kutcher. Tired of being baited by paparazzi, Kutcher used his jailbroken iPhone 3G with live video streaming service Qik to immortalize the nastiness he and wife Demi Moore endure as they try to get through the airport.

You can see Kutcher’s video here, about 36 seconds into the rough, on-the-fly account, a cameraman calls Moore a “crazy little bitch.”

Zune software and hardware efforts are going separate paths, with Zune services expected to appear on non-Microsoft devices later this year, reports said Friday.

The Media Center/Mediaroom unit will take charge of the Zune services while Windows Mobile will direct Zune hardware.

Enrique Rodriguez, who heads the new Zune software efforts, told CNET his goal is to “make sure the service comes into every device.”

We start this week with The Belgian Constitution.

Yes, the *actual Belgian Constitution*. As in, the Constitution of the nation of Belgium. Not a joke app. The real thing. Look:

“One of the most important changes was the introduction of the Court of Arbitration whose competencies were expanded by a special law of 2003, to include Title II (Articles 8 to 32), and the Articles 170, 172 and 191 of the Constitution. The Court therefore developed into a constitutional court and in May 2007 it was formally redesignated Constitutional Court.”

See?

I think this goes some way to proving that Rule 34 applies not just to the internet, but to the App Store: if you can imagine it, there is (or there will be) an app for it.

Moving on.

Somebody at the hospital was bored. In a good way, though. Since 2007, the Radiology Art project has been putting everyday objects under a CT scan, then turning them into art with the help of an iMac.

Here’s an iPhone. (You’re invited to contact them if you can help identify the components).

and an iPod.

What you see in the iPod:  “The LCD screen is in pink. Behind the screen and to the most cephalic extreme of the body, a gray battery pack can be seen. Various other electronic components can be visualized including the control sensor array which is arranged in a circle below the LCD screen. Note the headphone jack in the upper right part of the image proximal to the battery pack.”
How do they do it?

After using GE CT scanner,  they process the images in Osirix software on an iMac. Colors are assigned based on the varying densities of materials present in the object. Depending on the spread of densities within a particular subject, black or white backgrounds are chosen.

There’s a gallery of all the objects scanned so far, some of them can be bought as prints, the toys are especially cool.

Two stories in the iPhone developers ecosystem Thursday illustrate the challenges of navigating the path to fame and fortune on the back of a cleverly written app and its AppStore sales.

First comes news from AppCubby, whose experiment with 99¢ pricing we reported on a few weeks ago, saying, indeed, selling apps for 99¢ and depending on voluntary donations to cover the gap between success and failure is, for AppCubby anyhow, unsustainable.

Blogger/developer Erica Sadun relates how Apple’s own Department of AppStore Security is quashing some innovative developer marketing efforts and refusing to approve any app that advertises a contest or promises prizes or awards in the app itself or in its AppStore description.

Sadun uses the example of iFartMobile’s currently selling app, which advertises a $5000 prize to one lucky user for submitting a winning video of the app in action, saying Apple’s lawyers want no part of being named in potential suits against developers who may fail to deliver on contest prizes advertised through the AppStore. Developers are now being told no app using contest or sweepstakes marketing will be approved.

With the news this week there are now more than 20,000 apps on iTunes, it’s clear a lot of people out there are hoping to strike it rich panning for AppStore gold.

One can hardly blame Apple for trying to police the panhandlers, though, as Sadun points out, it can be frustrating for developers when the policing lacks transparency.

In a bid to attract PC “switchers,” Apple has begun redesigning its retail locations to focus more on Mac OS X and iPhone applications, according to a report Thursday.

The retail facelift is part of Apple’s “Why You’ll Love a Mac” theme, complete with images designed to highlight the differences between Macs and PCs, according to the IfoAppleStore site.

Among the changes will be greater concentration on Apple’s iLife and iWork software packages. Stores will offer iPhone 3Gs and iPod touchs loaded with applications available for customers to try.

After several rounds of fruitless talks with China’s largest carrier, Apple may ink an iPhone agreement with another carrier May 17, reports said Thursday.

China Unicom, the nation’s second-largest mobile carrier, confirmed it and Cupertino were discussing iPhone distribution.

“Yes, we are in talks with Apple Inc.,” a China Unicom executive told China Business News. The talks have been ongoing since October, according to the report.

Apple executives voiced confidence in iPhone sales for the second quarter ending in March, according to an analyst Thursday.

Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi told investors Apple’s top executives “appeared confident” after speaking with operations chief Tim Cook, chief finance officer Peter Oppenheimer and product head Phil Schiller earlier this week.

Apple’s confidence ahead of its second quarter guidance is bolstered by news Mac inventory is “below target level,” action that could increase Mac growth, according to Sacconaghi.

The iPhone was also a reason for Cupertino to be happy. The executives were “most bullish” about its handset business and the possibility of increasing market share.

Ted Nugent wants to put a little “Love Grenade” into your iPod on Valentine’s day. There are three of his tracks on the V-day list, along with a little obligatory Otis.

The Motor City madman says: “Picking the right mood songs and placing them in proper order could change your destiny, and set your ship of life sailing on that stormy sea known as matrimony.”

Here’s The Nuge’s V-Day Playlist:

1. “Wang Dan Doodle” — Howlin’ Wolf
2. “The Flame” — Cheap Trick
3. “Whole Lotta Rosie” — AC/DC
4. “Wango Tango” — Ted Nugent
5. “When A Man Loves A Woman” — Percy Sledge
6. “I’ve Been Lovin’ You Too Long” — Otis Redding
7. “Feels Like The First Time” — Foreigner
8. “My Love Is Like A Tire Iron” — Ted Nugent
9. “Brown Sugar” — The Rolling Stones
10. “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang” — Ted Nugent

There are relationships where saying “Wang dang, what a sweet poontang a shakin’ my thang as a rang-a-dang-dang in the bell” says it all…

Nugent is also promoting a “Valentine’s Couple Hunt” where you and your sweetheart can spend February 14 stalking wild boar or exotic rams “using guns or the preferred method of the god of love.”

Via Idolator

It’s not exactly Shazam for fonts, but WhatTheFont is a pretty cool new app in the AppStore that will identify or make pretty darn good suggestions for identifying almost any font you find in the wild.

Using the iPhone’s built-in camera, users can photograph the text in question (or choose an existing image from the camera’s photo albums). The app allows you to crop the image, focusing on only the important parts before uploading to the WhatTheFont web-based identification service.

After confirming which characters are used in the image, the app provides a list of possible matching fonts, which users can either e-mail a link to a MyFonts page with more info on that font, or open the page in the iPhone’s built-in Safari web browser.

iPod Touch users can even get in on the action by using any image saved from apps such as Safari and Mail.

The app is free in the AppStore.

Via MacMerc

Om Malik, a notable technology blogger, gave up on his iPhone Wednesday.

Citing ongoing and ultimately insurmountable frustration with AT&T’s network, Malik decided to ditch the iPhone and opt for a T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8900 for email and SMS. “I also signed up for a plain-vanilla voice service from Verizon Wireless. And I already have a 32 GB iPod Touch for surfing and music,” he said.

Admitting all that is probably not an ideal solution, Malik – wiith over 1800 friends on Facebook and nearly 20,000 followers on Twitter – found solace in the fact his new devices “can all be charged using the USB port of my Macbook, thereby obviating the need for extra chargers.”

Given that his decision rested solely on the deficiencies of AT&T’s network in the San Francisco Bay Area – ungodly stretches of time “searching” for the network, slow download speeds of web pages, problems with email, static, dropped calls and shoddy call quality – and he professed love for the iPhone, it’s a wonder he didn’t just jailbreak it.

Apple may be putting the finishing touches on a new streaming video service that would allow iTunes users to access purchased video content without the need to download and store it on a local machine, according to a report Wednesday at AppleInsider.

iTunes Replay would let users stream content such as movies and TV shows directly from Apple-owned servers in a manner similar to Amazon’s Video on Demand (formerly known as UnBox) and the Instant Watch service from Netflix, and may also improve the experience of the company’s Apple TV set top box, allowing users to stream purchased media directly from Apple’s servers without syncing or copying files between Apple TV and a computer running iTunes.

The report is unclear whether Apple intends to move toward a “streaming only” distribution model for the typically large files created by video content, or if iTunes Replay would merely represent an option for consumers with fewer concerns about retaining physical control of their purchased media content (and less storage in which to keep it).

To the extent that media distributors such as Apple, Amazon and Netflix embrace the streaming distribution model, consumers may find relief from the need to maintain ever greater storage capacity for growing media libraries. Though the trade-off – and guaranteed consumer dissatisfaction – will arise over bandwidth limitations that already make even a YouTube-watching experience sub-optimal at peak demand times in some places in the US.

After a round of saber rattling that left Palm and Apple hurling threats of patent infringement lawsuits, the Sunnyvale, Calif. company Wednesday attempted to smooth any ruffled feathers.

Palm had “no issues with Apple” patents and is “very respectful of other companies” patent portfolios, Palm chief Ed Colligan told an audience at the Thomas Weisel Technology & Telecom Conference.

The comments follow a week of verbal sparring between Palm and Apple over the upcoming introduction of the Pre, a touch-screen handset from the Treo maker.

Users of Apple’s online MobileMe service are once again the target of false e-mails sent by phishers attempting to persuade Mac users to divulge private information.

The e-mail purports to come from Apple, offering some friendly assistance with renewing MobileMe subscriptions; all that’s needed is your credit card information.

“Attempts to charge your credit card have failed,” the false e-mail mourns.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6BrtXI9Da4

If you’re one of the many out there who lives wild and free with a jailbroken iPhone, this is a big week for you.

First we reported on the availability of some serious porn for you, and now it appears you can have turn-by-turn voice navigation, courtesy of the dev team at xGPS.

xGPS uses Google’s map data and driving directions, adding a real-time navigation readout and a voice engine.

If you expect you might lose your data connection during the drive, you can also select a map area to download ahead of time.

Watch the ModMyi video above to learn more.

The app also supports a number of external GPS units, so 1st-gen iPhone and iPod Touch bad-boys and girls can get in on the fun too.

Via Gizmodo

Apple’s App Store has reportedly crossed the 20,000 download mark, suggesting the popular site has added 5,000 iPhone and touch applications since mid-January.

Apple refused to comment on a report the figure was reached less than a month after the Cupertino, Calif.-based company announced 15,000 App Store entries. The update was reached Tuesday, according to the Apptism site.

As of Wednesday morning, the App Store held 20,410, according to Apptism.

Computer chip makers saw worldwide demand for microprocessors fall 17 percent during the fourth quarter – a dive that is expected to continue in 2009, a market research firm said Wednesday.

“After hinting at a decline last September, the market fell off a cliff in October and November,” IDC research director Shane Rau told Macworld.

Rau said microprocessor shipments fell 17 percent during the quarter and more than 11 percent compared to the same quarter in 2007.

Although much has been made about Apple’s decision to drop copy-protection from iTunes Plus, the option still keeps music lovers tethered to a limit range of media players, according to a Wednesday report.

Unlike unprotected MP3 files, iTunes Plus creates songs that won’t work on devices requiring Microsoft’s Windows Media Player, the Chicago Tribune reported.

In a survey of compatibility of iTunes Plus purchases with a number of non-iPod music players, Chicago Tribune’s Eric Benderoff found iTunes Plus songs use the AAC file format.

“The problem is that Apple’s ‘unprotected files’ are in AAC format, which Windows Media player does not support,” Benderoff wrote.

A few Apple fans have turned their love for the company, mixed with moments of frustration, into a (distracting?) hobby with cross-stitch projects.

One crafty fellow, who goes by the name Benjibot, started when his 4G iPod conked out. He needled out his pain by creating the following “dead iPod” cross stitch.

He has a few other clever Mac-related projects for sale in frames on Etsy that highlight some of the more ominous icons, including the bomb.

Speculation that Apple will unveil an inexpensive iPhone was revived Tuesday. RBC analyst Mark Abramsky expects Cupertino will unveil a $99 iPhone sometime this summer.

Abramsky, citing “checks”, told clients the handset is likely to eschew 3G, GPS and include a $15 data plan. A low-end iPhone could hike Apple’s share of the smartphone market to nearly 20 percent, according to one report.

While a $99 iPhone could mean handset sales for Apple, it could also cannibalize iPhone and iPod sales. The downshift might force Apple to sell triple the number of iPhones to take up the slack, according to Abramsky.

Update: apparently, this is old news. I guess I’ve been out of touch — sorry — LM

From The Onion… Enjoy

Walking that tight-rope is Kaufman Brothers’ analyst Shaw Wu. Wu told clients Apple hasn’t fallen victim to the economy like PC makers because of the Cupertino, Calif.-based company’s well-maintained elitist image.

A number of technologies, ranging from PCs to cell phones enjoy a commodity status. In a poor economy, companies fear being “commoditized.”