News - page 2391

When there are more than 15,000 apps vying for one’s favor like so many new puppies in a box, deciding which ones to try might well come down to picking the ones with the cutest mugs. And of course, how does the AppStore display its puppies, uh, mugs? With galleries of app icons, that’s how.

So, unless you’re hip to some strong word of mouth on a particular app, or you know a few of the 500,000 iPhone app developers newly minted in the past year, you might as well start with something like the “50 iPhone Apps With Icons That Don’t Suck” approach taken by Dr. Macenstein.

A quick browse through the doctor’s post reveals worthy apps may in fact come with worthy icons, such as Dizzy Bee, the highly addicting tilt game, seeker, a free business and residential listings search app, and Rocket Taxi – Cab Finder, an app that uses GPS or WiFi to help you find the nearest cab company.

I feel the doctor went a little strong to the games section with his picks, but the AppStore is overweighted with games, so maybe it makes sense. What do you think? Would you check out an app based on its cute icon alone? What are some of your favorite iPhone app icons?

Via Macenstein

Steve Wozniak gave his own unique and valuable perspective on Steve Jobs, Jobs’ health and Apple culture in an interview on NBC11 in San Jose over the weekend, saying, “What [Jobs] says, we ought to accept,” referring to the public’s insatiable curiosity about the Apple CEO. “No matter how much he gave, in explanations and explanations and explanations, there [are] a lot of people that keep wanting more and more.”

In addition to defending Job’s public statements on his health and the culture of privacy at Apple generally, Woz allowed that “Apple has some incredible people…followers of the Apple mentality, followers of Steve himself,” who will lessen the impact of a short six month absence. “The products coming out of Apple, out of tech companies, have a long tech pipeline…they work their way through for a year, year and a half…Those products are in the pipeline, they’re not going to be disturbed.”

Woz even spoke of an epiphany he had in the shower, about how Jobs’ medical leave might benefit Apple: “He wants a rest. The rest and peacefulness. What do you do when you rest? Sometimes your mind floats. A person like him works out better concepts and products and ways the future could be and way we live our lives better than any individual could. Probably a great thing for Apple.”

Gotta love Woz’s positivity.

I’ve received two “friend tech support” complaints about slow Internet access and seeing lots of ads for Vimax on just about every website all of a sudden. Today, I found the solution thanks to an article on Boing Boing referencing an Apple Support thread on the issue.

The software causing the problem is related to your DNS. Instead of showing your usual ads, they’re replaced with the offensive advertisements. Mulder on the Apple Support thread provides this insight and fix:

“Reinstalling Mac OS X will not solve the problem, as it’s not with anything in OS X. If you have no Trojan Horse, then it would seem your ISP is doing this. So try this:

click Apply Now and quit System Preferences. Then restart Safari and see if the problem continues.”

Results as follows: “Its worked zoop!! Zoop!!” and “I too obtained immediate results – thank you!“. If you have any problems, consult the thread itself for details on the debugging process and solution.

Ustream is bringing streaming webcam video to the iPhone, perhaps in time for you to watch the historic inuaguration of President Barack Obama from the nation’s capital next Tuesday, if Tim Cook can make a little rain in Cupertino over the weekend.

Via Gizmodo, via TechCrunch

Proving it really is the coolest company on the web, Google unveiled this week the Prado layer in Google Earth, an amazing bit of functionality that lets users zoom into almost any spot on the planet for a detailed view of what’s to be found there using the company’s earth mapping product.

The Google Earth Prado layer also includes 3D models which allow you to fly around the Prado buildings to experience the museum as if you were actually there. The paintings have been photographed in very high resolution and contain as many as 14,000 million pixels (14 gigapixels).

The iPhone version of Google Earth is not yet updated to support this feature, so you’ll have to use your desktop earth to get there.

As Wall Street looks forward to Apple next week reporting revenue for the holiday period, Goldman Sachs analyst David Bailey thinks Cupertino may encounter problems with the March quarter.

Apple’s double-digit growth rates may well sputter as the company “will undoubtedly be affected by softer consumer demand” for its pricier products, Bailey told investors Friday.

The analyst told clients Apple’s revenue for the March quarter will be between $7 billion and $8 billion. Wall Street is forecasting $8.24 billion in revenue for the period.

This prototype bedside lamp with an iPod dock and speaker has simple curve design, it’s exactly the kind of thing that is yes, useful, but that you could buy just for the looks.
Props to designer Sang-Hoon Lee, hope to give more details soon.

Via Yanko Design

Proving itself to be The Little Engine That Could of an otherwise dismal economy, Apple’s iTunes AppStore has reached an inventory of over 15,000 applications (some of which do not exist to reproduce the sound of flatulence) and has entertained more than 500 million downloads since its debut six months ago.

It took just 5 weeks for the AppStore to deliver more than 200 million downloads, whereas it took 6 weeks to go from 200 million to 300 million. So, the volume of interest in applications for iPhone and iPod Touch is increasing impressively, although the most recent bump is likely a result of Apple’s mobile gadgets having been popular gifts this past holiday season.

Via Mashable!

A little more interesting than your usual hodgepodge of stickers, these black die cut vinyl decals fit on 13″, 15″ and 17″ laptop covers.

Giving your MacBook a little animal appeal, there’s a version with a cat fishing for a goldfish, or a squirrel munching on your Apple logo.

Made by a Milwaukee corporate designer by day who lists his favorite materials as vinyl and a 15-inch MacBook Pro…

$11 on Etsy

Apple is preparing to open its first store in Philadelphia, designed by the same firm responsible for its Fifth Avenue retail location in New York City, according to a Friday report.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company has signed a lease to move into a former restaurant situated to attract upscale shoppers and diners, reported the Macnn Website.

Although few details were provided, Apple would remake the Brasserie Perrier restaurant, using the Bohlin Cywinski Jackson architectural firm. The architects lead construction of many key Apple Stores in the U.S. and Great Britain.

Jake of 8bitjoystick.com: I use my old Mac SE as a door stopper. I know that’s blasphemy.

Rott3npeanut: I’ve turned my Mac into a PC so I can use it to record.

Giant Pangolin: I turned my Mac into a half-Mac, half-PC for only $159.

SAL-E: I use my old Mac as a grandfather clock

trevyn: I use my old Mac for running Indigo.

Come on, kids. Confess. What do you use your old Mac for? (No file/print/music servers please; something more interesting. The weirder the better.)

(CC pic from jake of 8bitjoystick.com)

There’s a thriving developer community here in the UK, but not such a thriving calendar of conferences and get-togethers.

The people behind MacDev2009 are hoping to change that with their event in April this year.

The speaker list is looking pretty good, including as it does the likes of Bill Dudney (creater of Riddle Racer and Dot Game, among others, Matt Gemmell, whose source code is found in an impressive variety of applications, and Fraser Speirs, (FlickrExport creator and the person who tipped me off about MacDev2009 in the first place).

There will be 11 hour-long sessions during the weekend, aimed at intermediate or advanced developers – not much at all for beginners. The session list looks very interesting. As Fraser puts it: “You really, really want to be at this one if you’re a Mac Developer.”

Here’s an iPhone stand on the opposite end of the spectrum of one I wrote about a few weeks ago.

Given the the snark I leveled at the ingeniously simple iBend, I’m just speechless about the Ped 3.

$40 from Thought Out

Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who underwent pancreatic cancer surgery in 2004, may be headed back to the operating room to remove his pancreas, a doctor Thursday told financial publication Bloomberg.

Wednesday’s announcement that Jobs would leave for a six-month medical absence could indicate complications from the earlier surgery that removed portions of the pancreas, bile duct and small intestine, said Robert Thomas, head of surgery at Melbourne’s Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

Although Thomas isn’t intimately familiar with the health condition of the Apple founder, the medical expert told Bloomberg that a “pancreatic leak” could require the pancreas to be removed and insulin to keep the Silicon Valley icon alive.

A couple of the larger media egos on the Apple beat got into a public spat on CNBC Wednesday, in the wake of Steve Jobs’ sudden decision to step aside from day-to-day operations in Cupertino.

Newsweek columnist Dan Lyons, who outed himself as the man behind the formerly wildly popular blog Fake Steve Jobs told CNBC’s Silicon Valley bureau chief, Jim Goldman, he’d been “played” and “punked” by his sources at Apple.

Goldman had previously reported, in the wake of Jobs’ decision to forgo the keynote address at Macworld 2009, that his sources had assured him the Apple CEO was fine and healthy and that the company’s decisions around Macworld had more to do with its long-term market strategy, and had not been guided by any concerns about Jobs’ health.

The clip is a bit of Kabuki theater that reminds one of nothing so much as children squabbling over a dying parent. It devolves, as so many of these things do, into a tempest of shouting and mewling. The conversation’s moderator sums it up nicely at the end, saying, “nobody can hear anything you guys are saying because you’re talking all over one another, and we’re out of time.”

Sad.

Via Cnet

Apple has dropped “Mac” from the name of its operating system, filing new trademark applications referring to just “OS X.” The move could be just the latest effort to rebrand the overall company.

The new trademark applications were filed in Trinidad and Tobago following the June 2008 Worldwide Developers Conference where Apple banners announced “OS X Leopard.”

The move may have been made to distinguish the company’s OS X Leopard computer operating system and the OS X used by Apple’s iPhone, according to Apple Insider.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs was forced to take a six-month medical leave following an ailment “preventing his body from absorbing food,” the New York Times reported online Wednesday.

The report, citing medical experts with knowledge of Jobs’ health, told the newspaper the founder of the Cupertino, Calif.-based company was not leaving due to a reappearance of pancreatic cancer which sidelined the Jobs in 2004.

Medical experts also told the executive to reduce stress, a factor that could inflame the illness, according to the Times.

Despite concern over what the six-month absence of Steve Jobs will mean for Apple, “sales will be unaffected,” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said Wednesday.

Munster, known for his bullish outlook on Apple, told clients interim CEO Tim Cook will lead the company without a hiccup in product development.

Although Cook took temporary reins of Apple in 2004 when Jobs underwent cancer surgery, that episode lasted only one month, a fraction of the six-month absence Jobs’ announced Wednesday.

U.S. News & World Report named the “Get A Mac” campaign one of the best marketing jobs in recent times, putting it up there 13 killer campaigns including “What happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas” and “Will it Blend?”

Here’s why:

Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign, which launched in 2006, puts the hip, easygoing Mac against the hapless, problem-prone PC. “The message of these ads is clear,” says communications professor Stephen Marshall, author of Television Advertising That Works.

“Every one of them says, ‘Don’t be this guy.’ You don’t want to be the PC.” The TV ads also appeared online, and the company released a series of web-only ads to capitalize on consumer interest in the characters. People got the message–Mac’s market share grew by 42 percent.

Lesson: Create engaging characters in your online video to help grow an audience that’s receptive to your brand.

Interesting to see some praise outside the community, since the campaign has won several awards but hasn’t always been loved by ad critics.

Via US News

RBC Capital Markets Thursday downgraded Apple to ‘underperform,’ also slashing the stock’s target price to $70 from $125.

The analyst firm also told clients the percent of people who say they expect to buy a Mac or iPhone over the next three months slipped in January.

Just 28 percent of people responding to a January RBC/Changewave survey reported they would buy a Mac laptop, down from 33 percent in Nov. Likewise, 30 percent of people said they intend to purchase an iPhone, when asked in December, slipping from 34 percent in September.

Apple products are a natural for high falutin’ teen drama “Gossip Girl,” where just about everything the upper East Siders use has a recognizable brand name.

Gossip Girl, however, is sponsored by Verizon. To keep them happy, producers artfully block the Apple logos from getting into shots, but as a result Apple’s presence is almost more consipicous than it would be otherwise. The shot on the left reminds me of the trick directors use to hide pregnant actesses by placing plants and furniture to hit just mid-tummy.

A nice slide show non-Apple Apple product placement on Gossip Girl at Geek Sugar settles an ongoing argument I’ve been having with a friend over whether Dan’s laptop is a Mac or not…

Photos courtesy of The CW

Funnyman Jim Carrey keeps his love alive with wife, former playmate and comedian Jenny McCarthy, by dancing for her on iChat.

McCarthy tells OK magazine (with much enthusiasm!)  that she and her Yes Man text and use iChat to keep in touch while he’s on the set.

Jenny says she and Jim also use a web cam from time to time.

“I haven’t done any dancing, but I make him do that!” she says. “It’s nice! With the iChat, we’re always afraid that there’s a third party watching! We’re a little bit careful, but it’s a great way to have that face connection!”

She also confesses that between the two of them there’s not much ha ha-ing around the house. Somehow I find that hard to believe, especially if he’s shaking his groove thing for her regularly.

Via OK

Mac Tower from Sait Alanyali on Vimeo.

So here’s another fantasy Mac design from Sait Alanyli, the guy who did the [L-shaped Mac mini](https://cultofmac.com/l-shaped-mac-mini-might-be-shape-of-things-to-come/5523) concept that we featured here back in December.

This is the Mac Tower, and I have to confess there are some things about it that I find rather appealing. The ideas of a pop-up casing and a pop-up remote are very cute, and the thought of putting a battery inside with enough juice to power a Time Machine backup in case of sudden mains power loss is, well, one of those things you wonder no-one has done before.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: There’s an Apple II conference? And they do it *every year*?

Yup. There is. And they do. And they have been for the last 19 years. They call it KansasFest.

Come this July (21st – 26th), it will be 20 years, and the organizers are celebrating the anniversary with some special speakers and, they hope, lots and lots and LOTS of Apple IIs and associated stuff.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced he will take a medical leave of absence until June in an email letter sent Wednesday to all Apple employees.

Citing continued distractions stemming from curiosity over his personal health that have affected him, his family and “everyone else at Apple,” Jobs admitted his health issues are “more complex than [he] originally thought” and has asked Tim Cook, Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, to be responsible for Apple’s day to day operations until Jobs’ intended return to the company in June.

Jobs said that he plans to remain involved in major strategic decisions while he is away and said the company’s board of directors fully supports this plan.

The full text of Jobs’ email is after the jump.