News - page 2361

Apple is in talks with three major music studios that have held out selling songs on iTunes free of copy protection, according to a report Thursday. If successful, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony BMG titles could be part of Apple’s iTunes Plus.

Although CNET described discussions as “still preliminary,” an agreement would expand Apple’s iTunes Plus option to include music from all major studios. When the program was launched about a year ago, only EMI signed onto selling tunes free of restrictions that tied iTunes purchases to an Apple device.

With its iTunes and iPod dynasty, Apple has dominated digital music sales. However, a growing number of rivals — Amazon, Microsoft and MySpace among them — have used DRM-free MP3 music to loosen the stranglehold.

Apple Wednesday released a software update permitting the Apple TV device to operate more as a hub for digital content. At the top of the list of enhanced features included in the 2.3 software: AirTunes streaming.

The new ability opens possibilities for Apple TV owners to listen or view content from either another Apple TV or Airport Express speakers.

Additionally, the update expands access to your iTunes playlists, permitting videos, podcasts or music to be accessed via Apple TV. In October, Apple released an update that included the latest features in iTunes 8.0, including support for the new Genius playlist function.

The update also adds support for third-part remote controls besides Apple’s and music volume control.

Users of the streaming-media service boxee are advised to not install this latest upgrade. Apple TV users are reporting the 2.3 upgrade disables boxee.

Flickr user raneko had a mucky Mighty Mouse, and decided to take it to pieces and clean it. This wasn’t something Apple intended to happen, so it’s quite an involved process – you can follow raneko’s progress from this photo in his Apple set (which has a bunch of other great Apple pics in it).

(Photo used under Creative Commons license. Thanks to raneko.)

Last month, the Texas LEGO User Group included a model Apple retail store on main street for the Austin Maker Fair. You can also take a look inside the store, though Lego for Lego, we prefer the interior of this mini Apple store, though the logo roof on the Texas model is pretty sweet.

Via TUAW

The big tech news of the last few days is that Hewlett-Packard‘s 2008 earnings are better than analyst estimates — and this most recent quarter should be their strongest. It was a major bright spot from one of the world’s largest companies, showing that the current credit crisis doesn’t actually mean that the entire economy has shut down. Specifically, the tech sector might be in less trouble than everyone else.

And it made me wonder, yet again, why exactly stock analysts continue to assume that Apple can’t continue to grow and innovate in the coming years. After all, if one organization knows something about hitting the gas during a down time to get light years ahead of the competition, it is Apple. The stock chart I’ve reproduced above from Google shows the performance of AAPL since the introduction of the iPod in the depths of the post-9/11 and -Enron recession. Even with the recent precipitous drop in AAPL (it’s down almost 60 percent since January), the stock is worth about eight times what it was before the iPod (when you factor in the stock split in 2005).

The iPhone is burning up the charts. Apple has its strongest line-up of laptops in the history of the company and is gobbling up market share. The iPod touch and new nano has cemented Apple’s lead in the media player market. When people aren’t buying cars and houses, they still find time for personal entertainment — it’s a comfort when everything else is crazy. With Apple’s current technology and product pipeline, I believe that Steve has the organization poised to thrive once again. They’re going to maintain their position, continue growth, and get out ahead in creating new markets while their competitors are battening down the hatches and sticking to doing what they already know.

What Apple has to offer isn’t going away because credit is scarce. If anything, it may grow even more appealing.

Italian priest Father Paolo Padrini came up with the idea of a free prayer app for iPhone and iPod Touch users. This virtual breviary, or book of hours, gives the morning prayer, evening prayer and night prayer or complines for the day.

Right now, it’s available only in Italian but Spanish and English versions are on the way.

It certainly looks less clunky than the iRosary.

Via American Magazine

On a day when HP beat Apple to the punch with the idea of a multi-touch notebook, Apple fan and Flickr user nthnschrdr‘s design for a multi-touch Mac Pad is something worth dreaming about…

Be sure to go to the Flickr page and check out the photo’s embedded notes.

MacSign is a French website where you can get your Mac and Apple news delivered in sign language. The “newscasters” in the Welcome segment all wear long-sleeve black t-shirts for that authentic Apple feel, and the site makes nice use of Keynote ad QuickTime in its design. Segments are avaialable for download as Podcasts in iTunes and can be streamed to AppleTV as well.

In a media world with so much visual and auditory competition for our attention, a visit to the MacSign site is a disarmingly placid experience.

Coming November 28 from my favoite iPhone case-maker, Incase, is the PowerSlider for iPhone3G, a combination hardshell case and power solution.

For about $100, the PowerSlider promises to protect your iPhone investment in a cool-looking “soft-touch” hardshell, and its rechargeable lithium-ion polymer (1330mAh 4.2V) battery will more than double the 3G’s battery life, according to company specs.

The case comes with a custom USB cord to let you charge and sync without removing the phone from the case.

Additional power supplied by the PowerSlider will give you up to 330 hours of Standby time; up to 5 hours of Talk time on 3G network and 10 hours on 2G network; up to 7 hours of video playback; and Internet use of up to 5 hours on 3G network and 6 hours on Wi-Fi.

PowerSlider will be available at Apple Retail Stores, Best Buy Mobile stores, and on the web at both Apple and Incase.

New reports suggest discount retail giant Wal-Mart will begin selling the iPhone Dec. 28, a move raising some eyebrows while also expanding Apple’s retail strategy, according to other experts.

An AT&T memo obtained by the Boy Genius Report outlined plans to offer the iPhone first in select Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club locations, followed by nationwide availability to more than 3,000 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores.

“We are pleased to announce that Wal-Mart has reached agreement with Apple to offer iPhone 3G in Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart managed Sam’s Club Connection Centers nationwide beginning December 28, 2008,” according to the memo.

If you’ve ever wondered what your MacBook looks like through an X-ray, here it is, courtesy Jason. Looks pretty amazing.

Via The After Mac

Snow Leopard, Apple’s code name for its upcoming Mac OS X 10.6, is slated for release early next year, according to Cupertino inside data accidently made public last week.

In a slide presentation before the Large Installation System Administration (LISA) conference, Jordan Hubbard, head of Apple’s Unix Technology Group, let slip Leopard will be released during the first quarter of 2009.

Although the offending slide was removed, the information spread far and wide, providing both Mac fans and rivals a clearer window into Apple’s schedule. In July Apple had said only that the new operating system would be available “in about a year.”

The information leak comes as both Apple and Microsoft ready launches of operating systems. Windows 7, the successor to Redmond’s much-criticized Vista, will be unveiled around the middle of next year.

The quirky brand born from a Toyota Camry trunk in 1989 (known for T-shirts and, no, they don’t make cupcakes) has just added its crossbone-cupcake logo to these cases for the iPhone and iPhone 3g. They come in silver or hot pink and cost $24.99 from the online store.

Via Ctothejl

A California judge Tuesday preliminarily dismissed Psystar’s antitrust lawsuit against Apple. Judge William Alsup rejected the Mac clone-maker’s counterclaim, writing Apple’s computers and Mac OS X software “are not wholly lacking in competition.”

Alsup gave Psystar until Dec. 8 to amend its countersuit to bolster its argument that Apple was preventing third parties from selling computers based on its Mac OS X operating system.

In a 19-page opinion siding with Apple’s motion to dismiss Pystar’s August countersuit, the judge ruled that Pystar’s legal team failed to support the “counterintuitive claim that Apple’s operating system is so unique that it suffers no actual or potential competitors,” according to AppleInsider, which first reported the decision.

In August, Psystar filed the countersuit following Apple’s July lawsuit alleging the Florida company infringed its copyrights and patents by selling computers with a modified version of the Mac OS capable of running on PCs.

Apple reportedly is readying the January launch of new quad-core iMacs powered by upcoming Intel chips, reports said Wednesday. The upgrade would allow Apple to offer lower-cost iMacs while increasing the performance of current dual-core processors supplied by the California chip giant.

The chips, the 2.33GHz Core 2 Quad Q8200, 2.66GHZ Core 2 Quad Q9400 and 2.83GHz Core 2 Quad Q9550 were designed for all-in-one desktop computers and generate less heat. The new CPUs would drop iMac power requirements from 95W to 65W, according to Taiwan-based Digitimes.

In addition to lower power consumption, the new quad core chips would mark a switch by Apple from mobile processors, which were picked for their lower power demands and ability to stay with the iMac’s slim appearance.

Along with Apple, the new Intel chips could appear in all-in-one desktops sold by HP, Dell and Acer.

Earlier this month, Apple announced it wouldn’t announce more hardware updates until January. The word from Cupertino followed repeated rumors that the computer maker would unveil new iMacs in November.

When you switch on Voice Search in Google’s Mobile App for iPhone, you see a little bit of warning text underneath which reads:

“Voice Search only works in English, and works best for North American English accents.”

Tish and piffle, I thought to myself when I read that. I’m sure it’ll understand my humdrum Estuary English accent perfectly well.

But you know what? The warning was put there for a reason. Because so far, every search I’ve done has failed when I use my normal voice, and worked when I put on my appalling attempt at an American accent.

So thank you Google for giving us voice search, which is officially the New Best Thing Ever (better than the last Best Thing Ever, at any rate). But curse you, Google, for making me sound like a complete idiot every time I want to do a voice search for something in public.

There’s been a lot of hoo-hah about Apple’s video DRM restrictions that make it impossible for some content you own to be displayed on some display screens you also own.

OrbLive is an iPhone app that that streams video from a Windows PC to the iPhone. It can deliver any video or audio that’s stored on the the PC, YouTube content and, most important, live television if you have a TV tuner installed on your PC.

Orb is the first application to deliver such functionality through the App Store with a streamlined interface that also allows access to live Internet television and cable/antenna television with a properly configured tuner.

Orb Networks says the application is “coming soon for Mac and Linux computers.”

But who knows how long this party will last? Apple recently banned Cast Catcher, a streaming Internet radio application in the same vein as AOL Radio and Pandora (both of which have been available through the App Store almost since its inception), because the application “transfer(s) excessive volumes of data over the cellular network.” Orb, with full video and audio streaming over 3G, ostensibly falls into the same category.

Via iPhoneAtlas

For at least two weeks running now, the most popular free app on the iTunes AppStore is Stylem Media‘s Backgrounds app.

Offering thousands of wallpapers in expected categories such as Nature, Beaches, City, Cars, Stars, Sunsets, Patterns, Swirls, Hearts, Animals, Models, Trees…the app appears to be a wild success.

Has the iPhone begun to diminish Apple users’ reputation for creativity? I mean, how hard is it to find a wallpaper of your own design?

So, you’ve got your iPhone but you just lost your job? Or you’re looking to move to where the opportunities are in this contracting market? Job Compass could be the app for you.

Not yet available on the AppStore, but with the final version of the app having been submitted to Apple, this $3.99 offering from Securicy Ventures will leverage the iPhone’s location-aware capabilities and seamless integration between maps, web and email.

Job Compass’ protocols are patent pending, according to Securicy spokesman Titus Blair, who told Cult of Mac, “we have over 2+ million listings with more added daily. You can email the listing to yourself inside the app (without leaving) as well as apply online if you want.” Blair added that future releases will offer driving directions and other cool job hunting tools to help refine the search and locate relevant jobs.

It’s said in a declining economy, smart people go where the opportunities are. Job Compass might be just the thing to help you find one right around the corner.

There’s loads of wonderful stuff in the Google LIFE photo archive, and Gruber’s warning is apt indeed: it’s a time-sink.

Needless to say, Apple has a presence within that archive.

How many times has Steve appeared on the cover of Time? Five, it seems: once in the early days, a second time in a candid shot, the third time with the first gen iMac, next reflected in the screen of a G4 iMac, and finally as the man who knows what’s next.

Mac users are being warned to beware of a new scam by hackers to plant a Trojan horse. RS.Plug.D is a more flexible update of the RS.Plug.A threat discovered in 2007, a security software vendor claimed Tuesday.

Like the original, the new version relies on Mac users to visit malicious porn sites, according to Intego. Unlike RS.Plug.A, this trojan software opens a security hole enabling hackers to repeatedly download files to your system.

When on a suspect porn site, visits will be shown an error message: “Video ActiveX Object Error,” followed by a message that the browser is unable to view the video file and a request to start a download.

In about 10 days, Mapflow will launch a free iPhone app called Avego for car pooling. (The home page says they’re waiting for Apple Push capability).

The nice thing: though the Avego app exploits smartphone capabilities, you don’t have to have an iPhone to hitch a ride.

MacBook fans are in an uproar after discovering the new laptops contain hardware-based copyright protection that prevents the viewing of iTunes movies on some external displays, such as a second monitor or a projector.

“This movie cannot be played because a display that is not authorized to play protected movies is connected,” is the warning MacBook users receive when using an external display that doesn’t support the High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) protocol.

The HDCP technology is part of Apple’s Mini DisplayPort Content Protection built into MacBooks. Hollywood studios looking to protect their movies appreciate the 128-bit copy protection measures included in DisplayPort, according to reports.

As we enter the critical holiday shopping period, the future of Apple’s iPod hangs in the balance as two courts consider a patent lawsuit over memory chips. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Spansion Inc. Monday named Apple, along with other customers of Samsung in a dispute over alleged abuse of flash memory patents.

While the Delaware lawsuit, covering six patents, asks for damages and an injunction against Samsung, Spansion’s case before the International Trade Commission could result in blocking imports of Apple and other makers of devices containing flash memory chips, according to the Wall Street Journal.

A wide range of gadgets, from MP3 players to cell phones and digital cameras, use flash memory. The ITC could forego an import ban if it views the blockage would impose undue harm on a company.

China Mobile’s CEO Tuesday gave the latest hint Apple may still get its iPhone into the world’s largest marketplace by the end of 2008.

“China Mobile is still interested in [bringing the ] iPhone into China Mobile markets,” Marketwatch quoted Wang Jianzhou when addressing the GSMA Mobile Asia Conference. The carrier’s head didn’t provide details, citing a non-disclosure agreement with Apple.

China, with over 600 million mobile users, remains a highly-prized target for Apple. CEO Steve Jobs has said he expects to sell the iPhone in the Asian country by the end of the year.