We start the day with a deal from the Apple Store on 13 Core i5 and Core i7 MacBook Pro units, beginning at $1,439 for a 2.53GHz i5 model. Also on tap is a deal on the iLife ’11 home productivity software suite for just $30. The spotlight wraps up with a 20 percent discount on cases for the iPad and Amazon Kindle.
Along the way, we check out a number of other bargains, including software and hardware. As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.
Woot! Sparrow for Mac — the Tweetie-like email client that has become my go-to Mac email app — just got its long promised 1.1 update, and it’s a beefy one: it brings universal IMAP support to the mix.
What does that mean? Sparrow is no longer a Gmail only client: it should work with almost any webmail service now. If you haven’t given Sparrow a try simply for lack of support of your choice of webmail, you now no longer have an excuse.
That’s not to say Sparrow isn’t still mostly a Gmail-centric app, though. In fact, Sparrow 1.1 improves upon its predecessor’s support for Gmail functionality and now allows you to switch between your regular inbox, priority inbox and unread items.
Along with stability improvements and bug fixes, Sparrow also features a redesigned preferences panel that allows multiple signature support. Other changes include a format bar in the compose window, a new minimalist mode that hides message previews, improved scrolling performance and multitouch gesture support.
If you haven’t already bought Sparrow, it costs $9.99 in the Mac App Store. There is also a Lite version which can only be used with a single account at a time, but it has yet to be updated to 1.1.
Valve Software’s incredible Steam platform came to OS X last year after years of Windows exclusivity, and as far as I’m concerned ushered in a refreshing new era in OS X gaming, in which Mac gamers were afforded all the same perks on our platform as Windows gamers have long taken for granted on theirs.
It looks like Valve’s love for Apple might not stop at OS X, though. Valve is now apparently looking into expanding Steam into iOS.
For Mac fans the patch of land in North Carolina owned by Apple is akin to Area 51: everyone knows it exists, but few know its true purpose. Speculation has centered on some cloud-based service requiring beefy data pipes. While a recent report seemed to suggest the Cupertino, Calif. company doesn’t plan to kill the golden goose with free streaming music, one analyst Tuesday offered a number of possibilities.
According to Bernstein’s Toni Sacconaghi, potential uses for the data center range from expanding Apple’s streaming and advertising business to a voice “interface” based on the tech giant’s recent Siri acquisition.
These updates and suggested fixes worked for some, but unfortunately they didn’t work for everyone. People are still complaining on Apple Discussion Forums about problems they are encountering when connecting their MacBook Airs to external displays.
People were hoping that the next Mac OS X release would solve these problems. That update, Mac OS X 10.6.7, was released yesterday.
It didn’t solve the problem for some people, but we’ve gotten some clues on how to resolve the problem for others.
Think the big deal with the iPad 2’s rear-facing camera is all about snapshots and videos? Think again.
The augmented reality gurus over at Metaio sound pretty darn excited about the new iPad 2 for two key reasons. The first is obvious: it has a much larger screen, which makes the iPad much more useful for, say, mixed-reality games than the iPhone ever was. The second ingredient is the iPad 2’s new, explosively fast dual-core A5 processor.
The hubbub over the app from Christian group Exodus International keeps growing. The petition against the app for “homosexual strugglers” has reached nearly 130,000 signatures.
Apple has still not responded and, at this writing, the free app is still in the iTunes store. The battle is also being waged in the reviews for the app – currently there are 371 five-star reviews and 836 one-star reviews.
Exodus International spoke to the Christian Post about how they hope Apple the reviews won’t shake the initial 4+ rating for their content – meaning it contains no objectionable material — and how the app has been misunderstood.
UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who participated! I had a great time reading all your comments. Congrats to Mitchell Chin (youtube user: Sportwin) and Mark Fleser (youtube user: markfleser) on winning a small stack of assorted Gear Ties from Nite Ize. If you’re one of those two people, check your youtube account, I just messaged you!
If you missed my gushing review of these brilliant Gear Ties from Nite Ize, check it out here to see what all the fuss is about.
I love these little rubber-bonded-over-pliable-steel pieces. I use them so often and they work so well, they’ve become one of my favorite new products.
Well, I got to thinking that you, our dear CoM readers and viewers, might love them too. So I asked Nite Ize if they’d be willing to give some away to you, and they responded with a resounding “yes!” So, if you’d like to qualify to win some of these little wonders, you only need to do two simple things:
After a long wait, Research in Motion announced Tuesday morning pricing for its PlayBook tablet identical to Apple’s iPad 2. The 16GB Wi-Fi version is $499 32 GB costing $599 and a 64GB model priced at $699. RIM’s tablet hits U.S. and Canadian Best Buy stores April 19.
“Previews of the BlackBerry PlayBook have generated tremendous excitement and we know that customers are eager to get their hands on one,” Craig McLennan, Regional Managing Director, North America, Research In Motion, said in an announcement.
Given how difficult it is to get an iPad 2 in America right now, you didn’t have to be a die-hard cynic to think that Apple was going to have to repeat 2010’s one month international delay in launching the iPad internationally.
Not so! Apple wants everyone to know that the iPad 2 will still launch in 25 more countries this Friday.
Apple also announced that all models of iPad 2 will be available in Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and additional countries in April.
As with the American launch, customers will be able to purchase their iPad 2 directly at an Apple retail store starting at 5pm local time. If you want to order one online, you can do so through Apple.com at 1am that same day (the press release doesn’t say, but presumably this is Pacific Time).
If you’re an international customer planning on ordering an iPad 2 online, keep in mind that even the U.S. customers who ordered their iPad 2s within minutes of the order page going live had to wait 3-5 business days for their iPad 2 to ship (mine only came yesterday). Also, U.S. customers who didn’t order their iPad 2s quickly now face a 4-5 week wait. Set your alarms and get ready to be patient. To explore more about thehistory on Mac and how previous Apple devices evolved, check out this detailed timeline.
How is Apple capable of launching in 25 countries when they can’t even supply the United States? My guess is that they’ve either been stockpiling iPad 2s for the international launch, or that current US delivery estimate times are massively informed by projected international demand.
Either way, if you’re someone who has been trying to get an iPad 2 at your local Apple Store, only to have a shady gray market iPad 2 smuggler purchase it out from under you every time, take heart! As the gray market overseas is a huge part of what is contributing to current shortages, iPad 2 availability through retail channels should actually improve when the tablet is available in more countries.
With the iPad 2 set to launch internationally on Friday, it’s time to set our eyes upon the next big thing… the iPhone 5’s debut in June or July. Apple certainly is: China Times is reporting that the iPhone 5 has entered trial production and is scheduled for wide scale release in Q3 of this year, which aligns with the iPhone’s traditional late June / early July release date.
As for what the iPhone 5 will look like, the latest report supports rumors suggesting that the iPhone 5 will mostly be similar to an iPhone 4s, with the major differences being a slightly larger 4-inch touchscreen in the same form factor (accomplished by having less room between the side bezels of the device), as well as a metal chassis to make the device lighter and improve antenna sensitivity.
Despite being on medical leave, Steve Jobs has been ordered by a US Magistrate to answer questions in court about the iTunes music store and Apple’s supposedly monopolistic behavior, Bloomberg reports.
The order was imposed by US Magistrate Judge Howard R. Lloyd, who is ruling over a class-action lawsuit aimed at Apple and iTunes. Steve Jobs will have to submit to “limited” questioning of under two hours, with questioning to be focused only on the changes that Apple made to their iPod software back in 2004.
Joey Chun had an idea, and the idea was this: a cute iPhone stand with a sturdy fold-out arm, so you can use it as a viewing stand, or to keep your device still while recording video and taking photos.
While the big news of the day is Apple suing Amazon for violation of their (in my totally non-legal opinion) overly broad claims to owner ship of the term “App Store,” there’s another heady tech lawsuit hitting the feeds this evening: Microsoft has just filed a patent lawsuit against Barnes & Noble, accusing the company of infringement through their Android-based Nook e-reader.
What’s this all about? If you recall, early last year, Microsoft licensed some of their key smartphone patents to HTC, who was sued by Apple a month or so previously for allegedly violating their patents with HTC’s line of Android phones. That helped protect HTC, and Microsoft came to similar agreements with other Android device makers.
You know who didn’t pay up when Microsoft approached them, though? Barnes & Noble, whose latest Nook e-reader is essentially a budget, touchscreen Android tablet. So they’re suing.
Disney is an entertainment giant. But with assets valued at a total of just (!) $81 billion, Apple could probably snap it up with the money Tim Cook uses to wedge his office door open with. There are people who will swear up and down that an Apple/Disney buyout makes perfect sense — particularly given Steve Jobs’ history as a major Disney shareholder.
Recently Francis McInerney, a consultant at North River Ventures, called the deal “frighteningly obvious” and said that “the logic is so great this could happen tomorrow.” Rumors of an Apple/Disney merger go back at least as far as 1999 when it was reported that Disney planned to acquire both Apple and Pixar in a $12 billion stock swap, with Steve Jobs being ordained CEO of the mega-company. Since then, this rumor has come back with surprising regularity — although it’s unknown exactly why Apple would be interested in running theme parks and making animated movies.
The AFL-CIO is opposing Steve Jobs’ reelection to Disney’s board of directors.
The AFL-CIO, which holds about 3.8 million Disney shares, says Jobs’ poor health, plus his job as CEO of Apple, make him a bad choice for Disney’s board. Jobs is likely to be reelected at Disney’s annual meeting on Wednesday.
Jobs is the largest individual sharholder with 7% of Disney’s stock, awarded after the 2006 purchase of Pixar.
The union isn’t the only group opposing Jobs. It is joined by an institutional investment group that is also questioning Jobs’s reelection to the Disney board because of his health.
Institutional Shareholder Services notes that Jobs has attended less than 75% of board meetings in the last three years, and wonders if Jobs should be reelected.
“Jobs’ poor attendance in three of the past four years, and recent leave of absence from his primary employer, raises questions about his ability to fulfill his responsibilities as a director of the company,” ISS wrote in a note to shareholders.
ISS stopped short of rejecting Jobs but said shareholders deserve greater disclosure about his ability to function as a director.
If you have a 27-inch iMac or 27-inch Apple LCD Cinema Display and you don’t already know about the Kanex XD, then you should. This miniature aluminum box enables you to take any device with a HDMI connection – such as your PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, or Blu-ray player – and hook it up to your iMac or Cinema Display via the Mini DisplayPort connector.
It’s perfect for casual gaming at your desk or catching a Blu-ray in your lunch hour, and it’s a great way to make the most out of your expensive Apple display.
Following the incredibly successful launch of the iPad 2 in the U.S., it seems that once again Apple is struggling to meet the demand for its highly sought-after tablet, and this could mean dreaded delays for international launch dates. If the iPad 2 doesn’t arrive on time in your country and you’re keen to get your mitts on the latest device soon, here are four ways of getting one imported from the U.S.
Apple filed a complaint in California on March 18, accusing Amazon of trademark infringement and unfair competition in regards to the upcoming “Amazon Appstore,” an online marketplace for Android devices.
“We’ve asked Amazon not to copy the App Store name because it will confuse and mislead customers,” Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet told Bloomberg.
Apple is seeking a court injunction on the “App Store” name and unspecified damages. According to the suit, Apple has applied for a trademark on “App Store,” but the application has been opposed by Microsoft. The matter will go before the trademark appeal board.
This is gorgeous. Everyday is a $2 app that reminds you, once a day, to take a photo of yourself. Then it combines all the photos you’ve taken into a timelapse movie of your changing features.
On the first day of spring, everyone’s favorite desktop feline has shaken the snow off its spots: Apple has just released Mac OS X 10.6.7, the latest update to their Snow Leopard operating system.
What’s new? Big fixes include a boost to Back To My Mac’s reliability, some minor updates to the Mac App Store, resolves an issue with transferring files to SMB servers and incorporates a number of security fixes.
Big bugs fixed include an issue with mid-2010 MacBook Air kernel panics, AirPort driver issues, improved brightness on external displays and a DVD player playback issue only seen on 64-bit Macs, as well as a rare issue that could cause users accounts to disappear after the system went to sleep.
In addition and per usual, the latest update to Snow Leopard supplements an already excellent operating system with the standard gaggle of enhancements to stability and compatibility.
If you want to check out the full list of changes, you can find it below. Otherwise, Mac OS X 10.6.7 can be downloaded through Software Update, or directly by clicking here.
At her next performance at the Manchester International Festival in June and July, Icelandic musician and loveable weirdo Björk will apparently unveil a “bespoke gamelan-celeste hybrid”, “bespoke digitally-controlled pipe organ” and “30-foot pendulum that harnesses the Earth’s gravitational pull to create musical patterns” across six shows.
Now, I love Björk. I also love a good old gamelan-celeste hybrid as much as any man possibly can, as long as a gamelan-celeste hybrid is what I think it is… namely, some sort of chicken-horse. However, I wouldn’t be posting this little bit of news if Björk didn’t tie her latest professional eccentricity into Apple somehow… and, by gad, she has.
Apparently, Björk’s show will come with several “companion apps” which should be available on iTunes soon. No one quite knows what they are going to do, but I’m going to guess that, at the very least, they’ll allow users to initiate a good Björk-style bespokening of their very own.
The Smart Cover for the iPad 2 is undeniably pretty nifty. Even though it’s not much more than a sheet of polyurethane with some magnets in it, it feels less like a case than a gadget in its own right, thanks to its smart design allowing it to function as a stand, as well as the way the iPad 2 has been built to detect the presence of the Smart Cover and wake itself up or go to sleep accordingly.
If you’re happy with the first-gen iPad, you probably wish you could at least buy a Smart Cover that would work with it. Unfortunately, the original iPad lacks the magnets built into the case allowing the Smart Cover to attach… but you can always glue them on yourself
The guys over at Three Russians Used A Pencil have a pretty good walkthrough on how to make your Smart Cover work with the original iPad. It’s not perfect — the system doesn’t wake from sleep when you peel the Smart Cover off, and the stand functionality is a tad wobbly — but it works, and even without the “smart” part, the Smart Cover’s pretty neat.
Given the recent publicity given to the iPad 2 grey market, especially overseas, you’re probably not going to be surprised to hear that many people waiting in line for an iPad 2 at Apple’s flagship 5th Avenue Store after every delivery are being paid to wait in line and buy their iPads for someone who will then sell them overseas. These line-waiters tend to make between $100 to $200 dollars for their services, and with iPad 2s going for at least twice and sometimes three times their retail price on eBay or in other countries, grey marketeers are obviously interested in soaking up as many iPad 2s as possible.
What might shock you is just how big a problem this is. According to the New York Post, though, more than half of the 400 people in line at Apple’s 5th Avenue Store last Thursday handed over their two purchased iPads in exchange for cash to a man sitting in a nearby BMW-X5.
“This has been going on for days,” one Apple Store employee said. “I feel for the die-hard customers who want the product but can’t get it.”
