News - page 2371

If you’re going down under, or know someone who is, have them pick up an iPod for you. The free fall of the Australian dollar has made it the cheapest place to buy one.

A survey of 62 countries found that an Apple iPod 8gb nano, measured in US dollars, cost $131.95 US dollars in Australia. That’s five percent cheaper than in Indonesia, where the same iPod would cost $138.47.

In Hong Kong, which used to top the cheap iPod scale, the same MP3 player now costs $148.36, almost exactly what it retails for in the US, $149.

Ok, so a “currency discount” of about 14% percent isn’t enough to warrant consumer electronics spending spree down under but it’s interesting to see how the iPod indicator/Big Mac idex on these prices fluctuates.

Via AFP

In this dark, puzzling British comedy starring Mackenzie Crook (Pirates of the Caribbean, the original The Office series) as a tube driver who has to kill someone to fulfill his dream, the plot twist is underlined in one of the final scenes when a Mac shows up.

Official site: Three and Out

Just a few days after announcing that Mac support for Netflix’s Watch Instantly service was on the way, the company has opened the door to its public beta here. With a quick install of Microsoft Silverlight 2.0, you’ll be good to go — not even a browser restart was necessary for me. I’ve been playing with it for about an hour now, and I’m really impressed. At least on my (admittedly brand-new) MacBook, it loads almost instantly, the video and audio quality is great, and the suggestions really do mesh with my taste. And none of the bizarre error messages I’ve seen in reviews of the older Windows version.

The site suggests that a 1.5 Ghz Intel chip is the minimum for Mac support. Anyone with an older machine had the chance to put this service through its paces?

Virginia Commonwealth University design student Kyle Buckner had an assignment “to create a pedestal to hold [a] ‘precious object’.”

We hope he received an A+ for the hand-carved wooden stand he created for his iPhone. Complete with Home Screen icon “leafs” that connect to a rod that spins inside the stand’s main arm, Buckner’s piece is made completely of wood, save for bits of plexiglass which connect each icon leaf to its “branch” on the stand.

Via MacLife

Other World Computing, an Illinois-based technology company, announced today the availability of a new service that converts your existing Intel Core 2 Duo based MacBook into a tablet computer that lets you draw and write directly on the screen.

Called Modservice, for prices starting at $1300, OWC will convert your Apple machine into an Axiotron Modbook.

MacBook owners who want to convert their computer into a Modbook can also have OWC upgrade the base features of the MacBook for additonal performance and capabilities. Available services include memory upgrades up to 4.0GB; higher capacity and/or faster internal hard drives up to 500GB; and faster DVD and CD burning with a new SuperDrive. They offer a Hard Drive Data Transfer option so your data can be backed-up and reloaded after the Modbook conversion is completed.

The Modbook has the same input/output features of the MacBook, retaining the full range of MacBook connectivity options via 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0 (two ports), FireWire® 400 (one port), Bluetooth 2.0 and AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi 802.11n.

Intended for artists, mobile users, students and professionals, the Modbook uses integrated Wacom pen-enabled digitizer technology to offer users unique flexibility and control over the creative process.

It should be noted pre-modded Modbooks are also available from Axiotron, starting at $2200.

Designer Gopinath Prasana has concocted this wireless MP3 player that would keep your tunes handy, no hands required. And despite the girly name, it looks pretty unisex.

The prototype metal bracelet has a blue inner band that fills with air for a snug fit and a multi-touch track pad for easy navigation.

Nothing to keep you from discreetly turning it up or down in front of your boss.

Via Yanko Design

Apple’s continuing quest to develop in-house microprocessor design capabilities hit a roadblock today, when IBM filed suit seeking to block one of its chief design architects from joining the Apple team.

Mark Papermaster, IBM’s former vice president of microprocessor technology development, had hoped to join the company in November to begin working closely with Steve Jobs and other Apple executives shaping the development of proprietary processors for servers and handheld devices.

In a lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York, IBM attorneys described Papermaster as “IBM’s top expert in Power architecture and technology.” He most recently managed IBM’s blade server division and is also the author of several papers on chip development at IBM. The New York computer giant used to make PowerPC processors for Apple before the company switched to Intel’s processors in 2005.

CNet writer Tom Krazit penned a wide ranging article discussing the various possibilities Papermaster’s move to Apple could signal, from increased focus on ambitions in the enterprise market and cloud computing services, to continuing development of mobile platform processors begun with the company’s purchase of PA Semi earlier in the year.

In the end, he suggests “Papermaster’s hire might wind up as a partial solution to all those questions over what Apple should do with its pile of cash: give a chunk of it to IBM to make this case go away.”

Japanese mobile telecom provider Softbank announced Thursday it will offer iPhone customers a peripheral digital TV tuner slated for arrival by mid-December. With sales of the iPhone in Japan already looking to be only half what the company once expected, Softbank appears to be hoping the availability of high quality One Seg TV broadcasts will lure more buyers to the Apple phone in the saturated Japanese mobile handset market.

The device, with a footprint only slightly smaller than the iPhone itself, is expected to cost about $100 and will also feature the ability to extend the iPhone’s battery when connected to the iPhone by a dock connector.

Color me skeptical that the vaunted Japanese consumer’s love of gadgetry will make this a game changer for iPhone’s fortunes in Japan.

Via Crunch Gear

It seems unlike Apple, which has scoffed at inexpensive Macs and been viewed as catering to higher-income consumers. However a new study suggests the iPhone is fast becoming a favorite of low-income buyers.

From June through August, iPhone sales grew 48 percent in households earning between $25,000 and $50,000 compared to 21 percent growth overall, according to comScore.

The researchers found low-income consumers see the iPhone as a way to consolidate costs of a phone, broadband connection and music device.

Over in the Cult of Mac’s new design post’s comments, we’ve had some pointers regarding what certain readers don’t want to see on the site, in terms of content. Since that article’s about the site’s design, I figured maybe we should have a comments thread dedicated to Cult of Mac’s content.

So, here it is. Please let us know what you like about the site’s content and what you don’t like. What would you like to see more of? What would you like to see ground into the dirt? Where possible, please be constructive in both praise and criticism, rather than just typing “you guys are rubbush” and laughing maniacally in front of your Mac. Shortly before noting the typo, obviously.

Apple’s iPhone was among one of the few bright spots in a gloomy third quarter for cell phone manufacturers.

Apple now has 2 percent of the global cell phone market during a time when cell phone makers scrambled to adapt to slowing consumer sales. In September, the Cupertino, Calif. company reported selling 6.9 million iPhones during the third quarter, a 516 percent jump over the previous year.

“Apple has become firmly established as a top ten vendor,” Strategy Analytics announced.

Analysts Thursday said global cell phone shipments either shrank or rose a tepid 5 percent to 8.5 percent.

As you’ve probably noticed (assuming you’ve been here before), Cult of Mac today got a new paint job. We’ve made a bunch of changes, most of which are designed to make the site simpler to use and the information within easier to access.

Having found that about 90% of Cult of Mac’s readers are using displays 1200px or wider, we’ve widened the site, to provide more space for content, [update]and then put it back the way it was, because lots of people complained. The simpler, cleaner layout means less wasted space and more focus for the articles, along with the ability for us to more easily add components. And the new navigation should make it easier for you to stream the content you’re most interested in. We’ve also rehoused the ‘top stories’ to the sidebar, meaning they’re accessible from all pages.

Over the coming months, further changes and upgrades will be made to the site, but please use the comments section of this post to tell us what you’d like to see. What do you like and not like about the site? How can we improve Cult of Mac and make it the Mac site for you?

AT&T announced today the availability of free WiFi access for its iPhone customers at thousands of hotspots nationwide. The company sent text messages to iPhone users and put up an informational web page noting the new service, but some greeted the news with skepticism based on aborted rollouts of the service in May and in July.

Among the hotspots slated to offer the service are airports, hotels and other public locations where one often must pay a fee to access WiFi networks. AT&T even offers a handy Starbucks location finder on its web page. After reading about this I was in the mood for an afternoon coffee, so I went to one of the several Starbucks in my neighborhood and, lo and behold, it worked.

Now, if it works the next time I’m in an airport, I’ll be really stoked.

Good news: you may already have the black mock-neck, 501s, New Balance sneakers and an iPod Touch in your wardrobe.
Bad news: any costume you have to explain a few times until everyone is too drunk to care isn’t your best bet.

Unless maybe you drum up interest on your Fake Steve Facebook profile beforehand…

Via iPhone Savior

The Unofficial Senator John S. McCain iPhone Application is an amusing little diversion available for jailbroken iPhones. Made by a Portland, OR-based developer named Alex, who describes himself as “just a guy who makes stuff and puts it on the internet”, the app may have been rejected by The AppStore even before the senator himself has had the opportunity to be rejected by America’s voters.

‘Tis the season for carving interesting designs into pumpkins and Apple fans never miss an opportunity to show their loyalty. Check out our gallery of ghoulish gourds and if you’ve got a Mac-o-lantern to show off, send it in to our photo submission email address; we’ll feature entries on the site.

Instructables shows you how to turn an old Mac itself into a Mac-o-lantern, and you can see another page full of Apple carved pumpkins at The Apple Collection.

Apple’s gross margin for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 is expected to “well-exceed management’s guidance of 30 percent,” Financial Alchemist blogger Turley Muller commented Wednesday.

Turley, one a few financial bloggers who’s predictions closely mirrored Apple’s fourth quarter results, said the Cupertino, Calif. company is acting wisely, given the economy.

“This cushion should help Apple exceed earnings expectations even if the economy adversely affects its business,” the blogger wrote.

Handset maker Motorola has reportedly decided to focus on the open-source Android platform, dropping most of its other cell phone designs – as well as more employees.

“They were like a drunk asking for another drink in the software area,” Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney explained to Cult of Mac.

After laying-off 10,000 employees and unsuccessfully attempting to regain its past glory, the Schaumburg, Ill.-based company will cut at least four handset platforms, choosing to concentrate on Android and two other handsets, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources Wednesday.

John McCain and Barack Obama gave a list of their top 10 tracks for Blender this summer:

BARACK OBAMA
1. Ready or Not Fugees
2. What’s Going On Marvin Gaye
3. I’m On Fire Bruce Springsteen
4. Gimme Shelter Rolling Stones
5. Sinnerman Nina Simone
6. Touch the Sky Kanye West
7. You’d Be So Easy to Love Frank Sinatra
8. Think Aretha Franklin
9. City of Blinding Lights U2
10. Yes We Can will.i.am

JOHN McCAIN
1. Dancing Queen ABBA
2. Blue Bayou Roy Orbison
3. Take a Chance On Me ABBA
4. If We Make It Through December Merle Haggard
5. As Time Goes By Dooley Wilson
6. Good Vibrations The Beach Boys
7. What A Wonderful World Louis Armstrong
8. I’ve Got You Under My Skin Frank Sinatra
9. Sweet Caroline Neil Diamond
10. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes The Platters

As the campaign winds down, journalists scrambling for something to say have analyzed these iPod ready playlists again.

Would either of these rock your vote, one way or the other?

Stickers on your Mac are a colorful, yet old-school way to personalize your gear. Kind of like what you used to see on the guitar cases and road gear of traveling musicians back in the day.

Thanks to commenter karina Grotz, we’ve learned about EtchStar, the creative technology company that will custom laser engrave your Mac, iPhone, or just about anything, with something from their hundreds of pre-made images or even with original art of your own.

It’s all the rage among the iCelebrity set down in LA and does offer a unique way to show your style, brand your gear and create something of a theft deterrent.

Check out the gallery of some cool designs below and visit the EtchStar website for more.
All images © EtchStar, LLC.

You’ll remember the $1000 iPhone app, I Am Rich, that made it to the AppStore in August just because it could. Well, for a savings of $100 you can get an app that actually does something useful, like monitor your multiple IP based surveillance cameras.

For only $900 Lextech Labs’ iRa serves the mobility needs of the high-end security industry, enabling users to view multiple video feeds and directly control pan-tilt-zoom cameras from their iPhone or iPod Touch.

iRa is not something you just download and off you go, however. Interested parties are strongly encouraged to locate a surveillance equipment integrator before purchasing the app. End users who download iRa from the iPhone App Store must have a working knowledge of network and digital camera system installation and configuration, with support for the app and for configuring hardware available exclusively through local integrators.

Once installed and properly configured, users can enjoy easy viewing of many video feeds in full screen video view or thumbnail view; pan, tilt and zoom control camera motion; use the touchscreen’s familiar finger drag and pinch controls; and get automatic discovery of properly configured network cameras.

Happy spying!

Custom made or off the rack, these cashmere cases from Italian company iKashmir, or IK for short, dress your Apple gear in style. We’re especially fond of the black kimono models, but more classic button-down men’s and women’s sweater styles are also in the mix.

Available for your iPod, iPhone and laptop in range of colors and in wool felt, right now you’ll have to visit the Milan showroom to get them.

Giant discount retailer Walmart has slashed its price for MP3 music to 74 cents, challenging both leader Apple and Amazon. The Bentonville, Ark. chain also announced Tuesday it’s MP3 store will offer a free download with each music CD purchased.

The new pricing is limited to what Walmart calls its “Top 25,” songs from such artists as Coldplay, Nickelback and Carrie Underwood.

Recycling in my building is vetted by an angry old man who knows exactly what to do with Tetra Pak, then loudly berates anyone who doesn’t get it right.

For those of you who don’t have such a helpful neighbor there’s Recycler. Siavash Ghamaty developed a free iPhone app that helps you keep track of what plastic recyclables are allowed in your local pickup.

San Diego-based Ghamaty says he developed it “to remind myself of what items I can throw into my recycling and which just don’t go.”

It looks pretty no-frills, but it could save some headaches.

What is it about MacBooks and stickers? What drives people to cover that pristine white (or black) plastic with other people’s brands and logos?

Some people even start putting stickers on the inside. Maybe they ran out of space on the outside.

But now, you see, I’m wondering. Who has the most stickered MacBook of them all? Should that even be a contest that people would want to win? Are the MacBook-stickerers good or are they bad?

So who’s got the most-stickered Macbook around here? Links to your be-stickered masterpieces, please.

All pics used under Creative Commons license. Top: State of the Macbook by psd; middle: untitled by sunshinecity; bottom: Okay, I think I have enough now by Mat Honan. Thanks to all.