When Google and Amazon launched their cloud music services, they did so without signing deals with the four major music labels. Apple will not be following suit, and according to music industry insiders, having all the contracts signed is what’s going to let Cupertino kick the competition’s teeth in.
Wow. Is developer GhostBird really shoe-horning this much functionality into the second iteration of their legendary photo-editing app, PhotoForge? Looks like they’ve crammed practically every post-processing tool and feature on the planet into what will probably amount to an under-$5 app: curves, real layer support (including masking), ability to edit raw files (and images up to 20MB), editing timeline and a big pile of sharing options.
Add to that a smorgasbord of filters that simulate papers, processes, cameras and you’ve got the makings of what looks like the killer photo app. GhostBird also claims fast processing times — how they’re able to pull this one off, and just how fast it’ll clock on the slower processors of the 3G/s is the big question, though; we’ll know in a couple of weeks, the timeframe the developer has suggested for the app’s release.
Will Apple, as rumored, shift the MacBook line over to an ARM processor this year, starting with the MacBook Air? If you answered yes to that question, one analyst has some compelling reasons why you might just be huffing fumes.
Would it surprise you to know that the iPad 2 suffers from a bug that causes universal color gamma issues during video playback, resulting in low contrast and washed out blacks?
A Chinese gadget maker of dubious distinction, vowing to directly clone a popular, in-demand Apple product? Is this even real life????
The one-two punch of the iPad and the new 11.6-inch MacBook Air have basically killed netbooks off, but Google doesn’t seem to be paying attention: they’ve just announced the first two commercial netbooks running the new Chrome OS. Christened ‘Chromebooks,’ they’re like little MacBook Welfares.
We start out with a MacBook, an iPod and an iPad deal. First up, the Apple Store offers several MacBook Air laptops, beginning at $849 for a 1.4GHz model with 64GB SSD and 2GB of RAM. Next, there is a deal on a 64GB iPod touch for $240. (This is the previous fifth-generation.) We wrap-up the spotlight with an iPad 2 case that also serves as a kickstand.
Along the way, we also check out other accessories for the iPhone and iPod, as well as the iPad. As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.
I just don’t get this Kickstarter project. Called the iKeyboard, the idea is to make the iPad easier to touch type on without adding bulk to either your iPad or your gadget bag.
But as a guy who does a lot of touch typing throughout the day, I’ve got to say, I’m a bit mystified by how exactly trying to type through a bunch of rectangular holes is going to make iPad writing easier for me.
Google Music Beta launched yesterday, beating iTunes into the cloud by at least a couple months, but with one big drawback: it wasn’t supposed to work on iOS devices, but just one day later and Google Music is already up and running on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.
Here’s how to use Google Music on your iDevice.
It sounds like the poster boy (or product) for “have your cake and eat it too”: Third Rail Mobility‘s new backpack-battery system is a slim case (callled the Slim Case, just to be confusing) that allows their removable 1250 mAh Smart Battery to snap on. Smart? Heck, the battery sounds like a genius: Besides being able to power other electronic devices off its micro USB port, “stacked Smart Batteries will automatically and seamlessly transfer power to create as many fully-charged batteries as possible,” says the press release.
The whole kit runs $90, or the case and battery can be bought individually for $40 and $60, respectively. And right now, it’s only available for the iPhone 4 (Android flavors coming soon).
If you’re read this expecting to see Linus Torvalds and Steve Jobs exchange body blows in court, read the headline again: that homophone can be confusing, the ‘e’ matters and the company we’re talking about here is Linex, a Florida company that licenses wireless technology.
Even so, Linex and Apple are revving up to go to court, and if Linex has its way, the import of all MacBooks will be banned, along with Apple’s Airport Extreme and Time Capsule products.
Are Apple sales cooling off? That’s the belief of one Wall Street analyst who tells investors Wednesday the Cupertino, Calif. firm may have seen a 7 percent drop in April sales, compared to a historical increase of nearly 5 percent increase for the third quarter. But when we’re talking about Apple, a “slowdown” needs to be put in some context.
When it comes to the iPad, you’re either a cheapskate or a sheik. That’s the message coming out of new data published by Context, which says that most people either buy the cheapest iPad or the most expensive one.
This is the latest smash-and-grab theft to hit an Apple store in the US. The security cam shows head-to-toe black clad thieves who broke into the store in Crocker Park, Ohio at 4:30 am.
They move like pros — unlike earlier smash and grabs, where you can see the idea was just to break in and load up with Apple goodness — each one runs to a specific area for loot.
In about 30 seconds, they have loaded up large black duffel bags with stolen goods and are out of the store. Police say they snatched 24 laptops and an iPod.
Breaking those trademark Apple retail glass storefronts has become such an epidemic that the FBI is investigating whether there are professional gangs.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb7X8ch04Vs&feature=player_embedded#at=17
Here’s a kind of love song, disguised as a hate rant, by an alt chick in a low-slung tank top who smokes home rolled somethings and “definitely touches herself while she thinks of Mac products.”
She’s young and hip, yet professes to hate hipsters, and pens the kind of poison lyrics only the truly cool possessed with enough self-detachment will find funny. It’s all very meta.
“I remember a time when I could walk out the door and not hate the sight of every other person under 29.”
She’s got such a sweet voice when she tells you to take that effing iPad and shove it-up-your-effing-you-know-where-you bleep-bleep-bleep-bleeper and buy a real book. (I’m sparing the expletives here, but surely you can fill in the blanks).
Will there ever be a similar song about hipsters with Nooks or Kindles or Galaxy Tabs?
Via Buzz Feed
iOS applications that alert drivers to DUI checkpoints and speed traps could soon be pulled from the App Store following a review by Apple that will determine whether or not these applications are illegal.
Guy Tribble, Apple’s Vice President of Software Technology, told senators during a U.S. Senate subcommittee yesterday that the company is currently looking into the legality of these applications, and will pull them if they are breaking the law.
While a number of publishers ink special deals with Apple to bring their content to the App Store, Apple’s new in-app purchasing rules are forcing publishing middle men out of business. That’s the message from the creators of iFlow Reader, which just shut down.
“We put our faith in Apple and they screwed us,” Philip Huber of BeamItDown Software told users. The developer got squeezed between Apple’s demand for a 30 percent cut and other expenses. “Our gross margin on ebooks after paying the wholesaler is less than 30 percent, which means that we would have to take a loss on all ebooks sold,” Huber explained.
Now that several reports show the iPad eating into sales of traditional low-cost PCs, the blame game has begun – starting with Acer. You may recall Apple sales in the U.S. recently surpassed Acer, which fell 42 percent. The computer maker’s former CEO now blames the company’s slowness in responding to the iPad threat.
“I already saw if we want to become a major player in this new world, we needed to do certain investments, mainly on software and on smartphones and tablets, on touch,” ex-CEO Gianfranco Lanci told a blog earlier this week. Lanci resigned in late March amid reports he was blamed for the iPad cannibalizing Acer’s market.
iAd slots in iOS applications designed for children will no longer be filled with adverts, according to an email one developer has received from Apple.
Mike Zornek, the developer of the Dex a Pokemon browser application for iPhone and iPod touch, noticed that his iAd fill rates had dropped and emailed Apple’s iAd Support Team for an explanation:
OCZ has just announced its Agility 3 and Solid 3 series of 2.5-inch solid-state drives aimed at users dying to get their hands on a super-speedy SSD, but with a tight budget to contend with.
While the iPad has seemingly countless uses, one fairly uncommon one is the ability to use it as an external display for your Mac. iDisplay, a simple little app from the App Store, lets you achieve this. After all, if you already have the iPad, why not use it to your advantage? This video will show you how to set up iDisplay and tweak it to your liking.
Last fall we reported on the sale of Apple 1 system #82, which sold at a Christie’s auction for over $213,000. A rare piece of computing history, many wondered what the buyer, Italian businessman Marco Boglione, planned to do with his prize purchase.
Turns out like many collectors of old tech, Boglione wanted to fire that puppy up and relive the past! The system was brought to Politecnico di Torino University in Turin, Italy. After a careful power-up sequence designed to gracefully coax 35-year-old transistors back to life, the Apple 1 ran a simple BASIC program displaying the words “Hello Polito” on an old NTSC monitor – to honor the university and (presumably) the famous “Hello, World” program many students of programming are familiar with.
In a fitting meeting of old and new, a MacBook Pro was used to send control instructions to the Apple 1.
Those who are familiar with my long smoldering side-joint, Ectomo, know I might have a little bit of thing for the Eldritch, the R’lyehian, the Nyarlathotepesque. Cthulhu, in other words.
So I’m sure you’ll excuse the steaming pool of ejaculated central nervous system at my feet as I write this, because I got a little bit excited when I heard tell that indie dev Red Wasp Design is bringing Call of Cuthulhu: The Wasted Land to the iPhone and iPod Touch.
See that? It’s a just-awarded patent for an iPad boasting a landscape-oriented dock connector port in addition to the regular port-oriented one.
I’m sure there’s at least a few of you guys out there who are looking at that line-drawing and clawing strips of flesh out of your face in frustration: “ARGH… WHY DIDN’T APPLE RELEASE THAT?” Sorry, guys. The Department of Redundancy Department called, and they wanted their port back.
As promised, Apple sent V.P. Guy Tribble to Washington to address Senator Al Franken and other stuffy politicians about the so-called LocationGate scandal.
Cupertino’s message? Same as it ever was: we don’t track user locations. Period.
“We do not share customer information with third parties without our customers’ explicit consent. Apple does not track users’ locations. Apple has never done so and has no plans to do so,” said Tribble.
Curiously, while Apple may not track users’ locations, the United States Department of Justice would like mobile providers to start, allowing the Department of Justice to attain records that would “enable law enforcement to identify a suspect’s smartphone based on the IP addresses collected by Web sites that the suspect visited.”
What’s good for the goose isn’t necessarily what’s good for the gander. Apparently, it’s only okay for the government to keep track of what you do with your smartphone, not Apple.
