News - page 2404

Apple, long viewed as primarily consumer-oriented, now supplies more smartphones to corporations, taking the No. 2 spot from Palm’s Treo and breathing down the neck of RIM, according to a survey released Thursday.

Apple’s iPhone now has 14 percent of the corporate market. Palm’s Treo fell to 11 percent and third place while RIM’s BlackBerry held 76 percent of the market, according to a ChangeWave Research survey of IT spending plans.

Apple’s gains came mostly at the expense of Palm, which lost 4 percent of its marketshare to the iPhone. Meanwhile, RIM saw its lead trimmed by one point.

Although one analyst described the iPhone as often just corporate bling, the shifting numbers indicate an attempt to keep ahead of the curve in terms of the iPhone in a business.

“IT managers don’t want to be caught flat-footed,” Kevin Burden, ABI Research’s chief wireless analyst, told Cult of Mac.

As the holidays loom ever closer and the global economic get worse and worse, Apple’s doing its bit to encourage a little seasonal spending.

The new iPhone Your Life section on apple.com is full of tips and tricks for new iPhone users, encouraging them to dive into the App Store and look around.

There are recommendations and staff picks, and on the Top Apps page there’s limited web-based access to best selling apps in a range of categories – the first time I’ve seen Apple replicating some of the App Store functionality on the web.

The Tips and Tricks page is also a good starting point for Christmas Day iPhone newbies (of whom, I have no doubt, there will be many).

(Via John Gruber)

Travis Hammond is a graphic designer located near Baltimore, Maryland. He works for a private auction firm and a local magazine, and does freelance photography and design work. He’s also a bit of an Apple nut, if these among many other examples of his Mac, iPod and iPhone inspired creativity are any indication.

See more at his website and his Flickr pages

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Now that iPhone Firmware 2.2 is out (all 245.7MB of it), what do we all think of it? Initial reactions around the web seem broadly positive, and my own experience so far matches that. In recent weeks I’ve been seeing quite frequent application crashes on my 2nd gen iPhone, so I’ll be interested to see if they happen less often now. On very first impressions, the phone feels faster and snappier in use post-update.

Most of the changes were published in advance, but there are some hidden extras that are new to me.

The busiest shopping day of the year is traditionally the day after Thanksgiving, known in the Retail Trade as Black Friday. And this year, anticipation appears to be building for some of the best Black Friday deals to be had for netbooks, the super-cheap small laptops from many manufacturers that may get even cheaper for a retail minute.

Here’s a custom Google search for Black Friday deals, and you’d be well advised too, to be on the look out at local hardware retailers for returned notebooks pre-installed with Linux.

We’ve seen rumors of deals to be had on a Dell mini-laptop, and powerful arguments for why netbooks may just dominate the holiday shopping season.

When you get your hands on your mini-deal, see the references below for tips on how to get ’em to run OS X:

Install OS X on an Acer Aspire One – courtesy of reader Javier Canadillas; thanks, Javier!

Guide to installing OS X on Lenovo IdeaPad S10

Run Mac OS X on an Eee PC

Run Mac OS X on an MSI Wind

If you come across ways to get OS X on other netbooks, be sure to let us know about it in comments.

One of my favorite Mac programs is Garage Band. As a musician and songwriter, I am endlessly impressed with how much creativity and flexibility Apple has built into the program, for my money the star of the iLife bundle.

I learned about a new little trick for creating one-touch sound effects using Garage Band‘s Musical Keyboard, as described by writer Christopher Breen in MacWorld.

You can map up to 18 of the program’s built-in sound effects (select Sound Effect from the Software Instrument Info pane), or pre-recorded AIFF files dragged from the Finder, to keys on the Mac keyboard (as shown above) and save the whole set as an “Instrument” to be called for use in creating any new podcast or other recording project.

Be sure to see Breen’s article for the step-by-step instructions for utilizing this handy tip.

Mac userTom Klaver says, “Command-Tab in this case brings me command-slap, because when I invoke the command-tab keystroke to switch to another app, almost every time this weird unidentifiable
thing happens.”

Anyone else experiencing this problem?

Think you’ve got the hands or, in the case of iPhone, the fingers of a surgeon? You’ll soon be able to find out with a new mobile game from developer ngmoco, inc.. Dr. Awesome, Microsurgeon MD is an iPhone game that lets you import friends from your address book and “perform surgery” on them in a Qix meets Trauma Center gamescape environment, according to blogger Brandon Boyer at Boing Boing.

Check out the trailer above and get scrubbed.

Microsoft, a day after slashing prices of its Zune media player, Thursday threw a bone to fans of DRM-free music, offering a $15 per month Zune Pass subscription for essentially $5.

Microsoft said it would allow Zune Pass subscribers to keep 10 songs (worth around $10) per month that they can own, even if the subscription ends. Previously, copy-protection meant songs downloaded from the Zune marketplace would be disabled if the $15 per month subscription service expired.

“People want the freedom to listen to whatever they want across millions of songs, combined with the confidence that they can keep their favorite tracks forever,” Chris Stephenson, Zune’s general manager of global marketing, said in statement.

Apple has filed a patent application to add always-on status indicators to the iPhone. The innovation would address a common task for cell phones but a headache for owners of the touch-screen handset.

In most flip-phones and even other touch-screen devices, users can instantly know when they’ve missed a call or received a voice-mail message. However, for iPhone users, it requires turning on the phone and going into settings to retrieve the information.

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.