Cult of Mac

An update to the ultrasn0w unlocking tool that will fix bugs with the latest version of iOS is nearly ready to go public. Dev-Team member MuscleNerd revealed on Twitter yesterday that all issues with the 4.3.1 firmware are now fixed, and that the unlock will be go live after some testing.

The new version of ultrasn0w will not unlock new basebands, however – it’s purely for users that have already performed the hack on their device and wish to retain the unlock when they update to iOS 4.3.1.

When it’s ready, ultrasn0w will be available to download through Cydia. Users updating to 4.3.1 will need to use the latest version of PwnageTool (Mac) or Sn0wBreeze (Windows) to preserve their baseband.

[via iPhone Download Blog

It’s another one of those Android marketing meetings.

Big Boss is angry.

“We tried radical,” he fumes. “You gave me radical, but it’s not good enough.”

You’re right boss, you say. Not good enough.

Apple is working on a new dock connector for its devices that will boast high-speed connections including USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt, according to a new patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday. Entitled “Reduced Size Multi-Pin Male Plug Connector,” the patent reveals a smaller 30-pin dock connector that will also feature a dual-lane DisplayPort.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isUFXNYT80k

You’ve got to watch this video. I know April Fool’s Day is long gone, but this one is worth it. It’s the perfect set-up: a local news team prepped a segment about a new app that emits smell and taste via “piezo-electrics.” The other anchor, who’s in on the joke, tells his colleague that amazingly, it works. Skeptically, she tries it out, and everyone cracks up. Very funny.

Via NextRound

Don’t get me wrong — I love chunky; chunky is great to hold, easy to get along with. Thin, though — well, thin is just plain fast. It’s stealthy, slinky, looks great sitting on a desk. Of course, we’re talking about the latest addition to Seagate’s line of GoFlex modular drives, the GoFlex Slim external laptop drive.

Seagate says it’s the “world’s thinnest”; we haven’t whipped out a tape measure yet, but our very brief hands-on time with the 9mm-thick drive at CES definitely left us with the impression it was stealthy. We’re thinking the drive is probably aimed broadly at professional women, judging by its product shots.

The fast-spinning, 7200RPM drive comes in one flavor and price right now: $100 for 320GB.

If you’re the kind of person who loves to watch commercials – you’ll love Apple’s new iAd Gallery application that just hit the App Store. Apple describes the application as a “celebration of advertising,” allowing you to view every iAd currently on the network.

Featuring adverts from some of the world’s biggest brands, a spinning wheel view lets you scroll through the collection of iAds and view the ones that take your fancy. If you really enjoy a particular add, you can ‘love’ it and make it one of your favorites. You can also search the collection by advertiser, category, or feature.

It’s not just ads, however – you can also learn more about the products advertised and the advertising agencies behind them.

Despite all of its features, I’m still not sure I get the point of the iAd Gallery application. I spend a lot of time trying to avoid adverts, especially within iOS applications, so the idea of an app – with no other content but iAds – is my idea of a virtual nightmare.

Having said that, it’s certainly worth checking out – if only for a few minutes. In true Apple style it’s well made, easy to use, and contains a catalogue of iAds that aren’t quite as boring as other adverts.

Only Apple could get away with making an application full of its adverts and still be respected.

[via AppAdvice]

Apple has pressured Toyota to remove a custom theme for jailbroken iPhones advertising the Scion car.

Available through Cydia, the interface theme was perhaps a sign that jailbreaking was gaining mainstream acceptance.

However, Cydia was contacted on Monday night and asked to remove the interface theme. According to Toyota’s advertising agency, Velti, Apple contacted Toyota and asked for the theme to be pulled.

Toyota complied to “maintain their good relationship with Apple,” according to a spokesperson for Velti speaking to ModMyi.com.

Apparently the controversial theme had been available since February 10th, but flew under Apple’s radar until Toyota started advertising it on sites like ModMyi.com at the the end of March and it got some press.

Jailbreaking is not illegal, but Apple says its voids warranties.

Via MacObserver.

Celebrated computer iconographer Susan Kare is offering limited-edition prints of her famous Macintosh icons for the first time.

The signed and numbered prints include the world-famous Happy Mac icon and Moof the Dog Cow.

The prints are available from Kare Prints and range in price from $89 (8.5” x 11” edition of 200) to $499 (30” x 40” edition of 100).

Hit the link for more detailed pictures of the prints:

We start out with a number of deals on the MacBook Air, including an $849 model with a 1.4GHz processor and 64GB SSD. Next is a roundup of iPad accessories from Verizon Wireless, ranging from stylus pens to covers. Finally, there is a deal on a 27-inch LED Cinema Display for just $849.

Along the way, we check out iPhone 4 cases, iPad cases, warranties and software. As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Some Texas residents can now report crime or suspected illegal activity directly to police from their iPhones.

Called Eye on Laredo, the app was made available gratis in iTunes March 23 and deemed suitable for anyone over the age of four.

Local Sheriff Martin Cuellar is billing the app as the 21^st century upgrade for the neighborhood watch program, though it sounds a little more like digital vigilante.

The front page of the gossip rag The National Equirer February 17 shouted about the untimely demise of Apple’s founder and CEO Steve Jobs: “APPLE BOSS 6 WEEKS TO LIVE.”

That headline was derived from a medical source quoted by the newspaper: “One of our experts – Boca Raton, Fla., critical care physician Dr. Samuel Jacobson, who has not treated Jobs – told The ENQUIRER: ‘The poor guy! Judging from these photos, he is close to terminal. I would say he has six weeks.'”

Well, needless to say, the doctor was wrong and the whole “six weeks to live” thing was just sensationalist baloney. Jobs is very much alive. And since his paparazzi death sentence more than six weeks ago, he has dined with the president and launched the iPad 2.

More indications that the iPad is cutting into PC sales, as well as their suppliers. Tuesday, one analyst put a “hold” recommendation on Intel’s stock, telling investors the iPad 2 could eat into notebook demand.

Canaccord Genuity analyst Bobby Burleson also lowered his price target on Intel shares to $19 from $22. Intel reportedly could announce disappointing second-quarter sales due partly to the supply disruption from Japan, along with Apple’s impact on notebook sales. He cut Intel 2011 revenue expectations to $48.75 billion, down from a previous $50.5 billion projection.

A new survey is out attempting to measure the satisfaction of iPhone 4 users with the two U.S. carriers now offering the Apple handset. If you bypass the statistical dead-heat on the level of overall satisfaction, twice as many iPhone 4 owners report dropped calls on AT&T as compared to Verizon Wireless.

An average of 4.8 percent of people surveyed by ChangeWave said they had dropped iPhone 4 calls on AT&T, versus an average of 1.8 percent of Verizon customers surveyed. The percentages closely align with a survey of general cell phone customers which found 4.6 percent of AT&T subscribers and 1.4 percent of Verizon customers reported dropped calls.

Images have surfaced of an iPod touch equipped with a capacitive home screen button and 128GB of storage space. The device is marked with a “DVT-1” badge previously found on an iPod touch discovered back in 2010, and thought to be the code Apple uses to identify prototype devices.

Other than the capacitive home button and the increased storage, it doesn’t look like anything else is different in these pictures with regards to hardware. However, what’s interesting is that it looks like the device is running version 4.2.1 of iOS, suggesting that it may have been in testing for some time.

The quality of the pictures is poor, and it looks as though the build quality of the device is just as bad – indicating that the device featured is rather a fake than a next-generation iPod prototype.

iPhone customers who jumped AT&T’s ship for Verizon upon the unveiling of the CDMA iPhone did so for mostly one reason: better call quality. But does the data back up the hope?

According to Changewave’s February data, it sure does. Their survey found that new Verizon iPhone users are experiencing fewer dropped calls than their friends over at AT&T, with only 1.8% of all Verizon customers experiencing dropped calls compared to almost 5% at AT&T.

Those numbers are really good for Verizon. Even better, 46% of future iPhone 4 buyers say they’ll get a Verizon iPhone, compared to only 27% for AT&T.

Estimated growth of PC sales in 2011 were cut in half while demand for tablets increase, prompting one Wall Street analyst to tell investors Tuesday Apple’s iPad has ‘usurped’ a portion of PC sales.

Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore trimmed his PC sales forecast to 4 percent growth, down from the 9 percent growth previously expected. Meanwhile, he expects 2011 tablet sales to increase to 45 million units, up from his previously expected 40 million. The analyst believes Apple will sell 35 million of the 45 million tablets.

I wondered how long it would take for someone to release a song or album that had been recorded using GarageBand for the iPad. Well, not even a month after its launch, pop punk band The Ultramods are the first to record all instruments and vocals for their 12-track album using the $4.99 application.

In an interview with The Loop, the band – which writes “pervy pop punk” and “technologically obsessed new wave” music – said that all of the instruments used on the album were those included in the GarageBand app.

If you’d like to hear their album, ‘Underwear Party’ is now available in the iTunes Store for $10, or you can listen for free on the band’s website.

Though The Ultramods are the first to record an album with GarageBand, English band Gorillaz announced back in November that their upcoming album ‘The Fall’ was recorded entirely on an iPad using a range of third-party apps. The album was released to the band’s fan club in December, and is currently available for pre-order through iTunes with an expected release date of April 19th.

The iPad 2 has beaten off competition to earn the top tablet rating in a recent Consumer Reports test. Devices tested along with the iPad 2 included tablets from Archos, Dell, Motorola, Samsung and ViewSonic. In a press release issued on Tuesday, electronics editor Paul Reynolds said that Apple’s device is ahead of its competitors on both quality and price:

So far, Apple is leading the tablet market in both quality and price, which is unusual for a company whose products are usually premium priced.

Each tablet was evaluated in 17 criteria, which included touch screen responsiveness, versatility, portability, screen flare, and ease of use. The iPad 2 topped the ratings, scoring ‘excellent’ in nearly every category.

Apple’s chief competition for the time being is the Motorola Xoom – which boasts the same 10-inch screen as the iPad but adds a built-in memory card reader and support for Adobe Flash. However, the Xoom’s $800 price tag doesn’t do it any favors.

The biggest difference between the 10 tablets tested was battery life. Obviously the iPad 2 came top with an impressive 12.2 hours of use, while the Archos 70 Internet Tablet could only manage an embarrassing 3.8 hours.

The first generation iPad was also part of the test, beating many of the other tablets but drawing equal with the Xoom.

So, it’s official – right now the iPad 2 is the best tablet available. But you already knew that.

Speaking at a keynote session at Storage Network World in Santa Clara, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was asked how tablet devices had changed the computer industry – his answer was that these devices are for ‘normal’ people – not geeks. Woz told the audience of enterprise storage engineers that:

The tablet is not necessarily for the people in this room. It’s for the normal people in the world.

Woz also said that it was also Steve Jobs’ intention to create products that were normal consumer appliances:

I think Steve Jobs had that intention from the day we started Apple, but it was just hard to get there, because we had to go through a lot of steps where you connected to things, and (eventually) computers grew up to where they could do … normal consumer appliance things.

A lawsuit filed by Mirror Worlds LLC related to patents which they claim Apple infringes in Cover Flow has been successfully appealed. On Monday a federal judge overturned a jury’s verdict and ruled that Apple was not guilty of patent infringement, which could have cost the Cupertino company $625.5 million.

U.S District Judge Leonard Davis said that the evidence wasn’t enough to support the damage award:

“Mirror Worlds may have painted an appealing picture for the jury, but it failed to lay a solid foundation sufficient to support important elements it was required to establish under the law. The evidentiary record is insufficient to support the jury’s damage awards.”

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If you’re on holiday in Madrid, Spain, and missing your iOS device, a new service developed by PadInTheCity means you can rent an iPad to use on your trip. For €39 (around $55) per day, visitors can rent a 3G iPad, with unlimited data access, and nearly 30 pre-installed tourism and business apps to help them make the most of their trip.

One of the big questions everyone’s asking about the iPhone at the moment is whether or not a fifth generation device will launch this summer. According to a new report from Korean site ETNews.co.kr, Apple is planning to release the iPhone 5 during the 4th week of June, with Korean carriers SK Telecom and KT among the first providers to offer the device:

iPhone 5, the next model of iPhone 4, will be released on the coming 4th week of June. In the midst of the iPhone 5 postponement rumors, Apple has confirmed that iPhone 5 will be released as planned and it will be released simultaneously in Korea through SK Telecom and KT.

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A couple of screenshots have just leaked of Microsoft’s Windows 8 tablet user interface.

Currently in pre-beta, Windows 8 is Microsoft’s shot at building a UI that’s suitable for both tablets and PCs. Windows 7 is not being ported to tablets. Early versions of Windows 8 have reportedly been shipped to Microsoft’s hardware OEM partners. So far, the UI hasn’t been seen, but two new screenshots indicate it is based on tiles, very much like Windows Phone 7.

The screenshot above shows the home screen, which features Microsoft’s Bing search engine front and center. Underneath are big tiles for shortcuts to Web apps or Web pages. Each app opens in a full-screen version of Internet Explorer, according to Within Windows, which first published the screenshots (The site is currently down. The screenshots have been republished at WinRumors)

The screenshot below shows a new e-reader app that includes built-in support for Adobe’s PDF format. Looking at the diagrams in the screenshot, it will include page scrubbing (to quickly scrub through a document) and multi-touch pinching and zooming. Apple may not like that.

Microsoft appears to be pushing a new file format called AppX (.appx), which will reportedly allow Windows Phone 7 developers to repackage apps in AppX and offer them through an app store that will be built into Windows 8. Sound familiar?

Our take? It looks OK. The tiled interface is pretty good on Windows Phone 7, but why are there still scrollbars if the interface is full-screen?

Since its refresh in October 2010, the popularity of Apple’s MacBook Air has been rapidly increasing according to new research by J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz. Sales of the device have seen a 333% year-over-year rise, with a projected annual revenue of a whopping $2.2 billion.

Moskowitz said in his research note:

“We believe that the growth rate of the MacBook Air stands to moderate, but we expect the product to exhibit increasing contribution to the overall Mac business,” Moskowitz wrote. “(The fourth quarter of calendar 2010) was the first quarter in which the MacBook Air accounted for greater than 10% of total Apple Mac units. More importantly, the MacBook Air accounted for 15% of total notebook sales during the quarter, versus 5% in the prior year.”

The latest refresh to the MacBook Air line introduced an ultraportable 11.6-inch model – a perfect alternative to users looking for the portability of a netbook but with the stability of a Mac. When the device first launched back in January of 2008, a 13-inch machine was the only option, with a starting price of $1,799. Now there are two machines to choose from, both of which come equipped with SSD hard drives as standard, starting at just $999.

It’s believed that the lower starting price and a choice of two notebooks are the main reasons behind the growth in popularity of the MacBook Air.

[via MacRumors]

The official Facebook application for the iPhone has been updated today, introducing new features that allow you to view your friends’ Places check ins in map view, check into events you’re attending, and ‘unfriend’ people directly from your device. The update also makes improvements to the news feed and the notifications UI.