Cult of Mac

Just as Wintek has scored the contract to make touchscreens for the white iPhone 5, Chinese workers at the Taiwanese company’s Suzhou plant have urged Apple to look into the slate of chemical poisonings at the plant which they said could still hurt their health.

The issue is hexyl hydride, a chemical used by Wintek between May 2008 and August 2009 instead of alcohol to speed up production of Apple touchscreens. In an open letter published in a local Chinese newspaper, workers referred to hexyl hydride as “a killer that strikes invisibly.”

Symptoms of hexyl hydride poisoning include sudden numbness in hands, swelling and pain in the feet, tiredness and faintness. Long-term exposure can lead to permanent nerve and eye damage. 137 Wintek workers had been hospitalized because of the poisonings.

A German man tired of relying on public services to ferry him around in his wheelchair has developed a crowdsourced iPhone app with info on access to public places.

Though Raul Krauthausen doesn’t lament the services available for the physically handicapped in Germany – special taxis and grocery delivery, etc. – he wanted more flexibility.

“Sometimes I feel I’m treated like a child who isn’t allowed to decide specific things by myself,” said the 30-year-old who suffers from a genetic disorder that makes his bones brittle. “I want to remain flexible and not be dependent on when a driving service has time to pick me up.”

Over at The Loop, Jim Dalrymple is contradicting today’s reports that both the iPhone 5 and iPad 2 might be delayed by three months each, saying that both products are “on schedule” according to his own sources.

Of course, what “on schedule” means depends on where you’re sitting. They still might ship three months later than expected.

The rumor mills are spinning about what many expect to be a new MacBook Pro appearing this week. Now comes hints (although couched in qualifiers) that the iMac may also get a face-lift, concentrating on its screen. The all-in-one desktop unit was last updated in July 2010, when Apple unveiled the addition of Intel’s i3, i5, and i7 family of processors, along with ATI Radeon graphics for a starting price of $1,199.

Tuesday, Taiwan-based industry publication Digitimes cited “supply chain sources” that the Cupertino, Calif. company “may also launch its new iMac along with its MacBook, and the company may also make some changes over the screen size allowing panel cutting to reach its optimization.” In December, the publication reported a new iMac could be released in the first half of 2011.

Your iTunes library might get even more hi-fi soon, as CNN reports that Apple alongside other digital music retailers are in the process of trying to knock a few music publisher skulls together and upgrade the sound quality of digital music files.

It sounds like every Apple fan’s dream: you start a new job and while you’re riffling through the desk they’ve assigned you, you come across a dusty little Apple branded artifact…

Amazon has released a new series of television advertisements continuing to stress its Kindle e-reader is the future – not the Apple iPad. You may remember in our last episode, we left the pair on a beach where the Amazon device was played by a gorgeous woman and the iPad a nerdy guy. When we return, the Kindle is still the happy-go-lucky successor to the printed book and the iPad is still a bulky gadget with a screen full of glare.

Although the Kindle is a one-trick pony (albeit done very well) and the iPad can tackle a multitude of tasks, the Seattle-based Internet book-seller is taking advantage of the current tiff between Apple and publishers, as well as growing signs readers are moving towards the e-reader. In the new 30-second commercial, Amazon highlights the Kindle’s portability, its 30-day battery lifespan and its light weight.

Apple is asking its retail employees to sign non-disclosure agreements ahead of a secret, all-hands meeting to be held this Sunday, Apple Insider is reporting. It could foreshadow a major launch, a media event or both.

Have you ever seen a great YouTube video that you wanted to download but didn’t know how?

The browser extension FastestTube solves that. The free extension works with Safari, Firefox, Chrome, Opera and even Interent Explorer!

This video will show you where and how to get FastestTube, as well as download a video and save it to your hard drive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph97RbPIh_U

Earlier today, we reported that the iPad 2 might be delayed until June because of production bottlenecks, but noted our skepticism of the report, saying Apple wouldn’t release the iPad 2 and the iPhone 5 in the same month.

A mere hour later, Business Insider is now reporting that the iPhone 5 might not launch until September, citing a note from FBR Capital Markets analyst Craig Berger.

Berger writes, “”For the iPhone 5, we continue to hear that a July launch is unlikely, with various casing suppliers and touch suppliers still ramping up, with some chip vendors not having yet received firm iPhone 5 orders, and with other sockets like the image sensor (most likely going to Omnivision exclusively, but with some potential for Sony to split that socket) still in flux. Given these factors, we think a September launch is more likely, off from Apple’s traditional iPhone launch schedule, but giving the firm more time to enhance its next-generation instant communications on the phone.”

If true, this would allow the iPad 2 to occupy the iPhone’s previous launch spot of September, possibly pushing the iPod Touch back into November or December… as well as give early Verizon iPhone 4 adopters three months less reason to kick themselves when their hot new phone is made obsolete.

In the wake of Apple’s new in-app subscription rules, we’ve already seen revolt from the makers of Readability and TinyGrab, who sent out blistering open letters yesterday explaining how Apple’s new rules effectively barred them from the App Store.

TinyGrab’s take was particularly interesting: the new in-app subscription rules prevent software-as-a-service apps (like Evernote, Dropbox, TinyGrab and more) from coming to the App Store at all. But in a recent email from Steve, the on-leave Apple CEO says that that’s not the intention at all…

Nine months in, Apple still hasn’t managed to ship the elusive white iPhone 4. A problem with the painting process on the white glass plate causes light to leak onto the camera sensor, washing out images. At this point, you’d think Apple would just give up and move on, but the white iPhone 5 is the Moby Dick to Steve Jobs’ cantankerous, turtlenecked Ahab. We’re in the realm of obsession here.

None the less, a brief note over at Digitimes says that Apple is already looking towards the future of pastiness, and have just signed Wintek to be the sole touch panel supply for all white iPhone 5s.

I suppose the comfort in all this is that, given what a debacle the white iPhone 4 has been, you can bet on the fact that Apple will have the white iPhone 5 perfected as a point of pride at launch.

Given Apple’s history fulfilling a yearly iOS device refresh cycle, we’ve been taking the iPad 2’s debut in late March or early April as read, but if a recent analyst report is to be believed, Cupertino might very well miss that day… delaying the iPad 2 into June.

According to a report by Yuanta analysts Vincent and Alison Chen, the iPad 2 may be delayed until June because of “production bottlenecks” at manufacturer Hon Hai Precision.

“Our checks suggest new issues are being encountered with the new production and it is taking time to resolve them,” said Chen in the report. “As a number of Android 3.0 tablets are being launched in April and May, the delay in iPad 2 shipments may give the Android camp a brief window of opportunity.”

Apple is helping finance a major remodel of Stanford Hospital (where Jobs was photographed by the sleazy National Enquirer). But is Apple also helping design the $2 billion facility, perhaps based on the design of its retail stores?

Check out the rendering of the atrium above. Look familiar? Note the massive skylight, the marble floors. Is that a Genius Bar on the right?

Most important, the brains behind Apple’s stores — Ron Johnson — is intimately involved.

Volcano Escape – ($1.99) iPhone – Games

One of my favorite games to hit the iPhone recently is Volcano Escape – a brilliant new action platformer that takes you on a fun-filled mission to escape a scorching hot volcano, while a hoard of tribal minions attempt to ruin your progress and barbecue your bones. Wield a selection of impressive weaponry that includes grenade launchers, jet packs, and shotguns, and take out the evil tribe on your route to safety through a rich 3D environment with beautifully bright visuals.

Volcano Escape is a terrific platformer that provides level after level of action-packed entertainment, which, together with its crazy characters and explosive weaponry, makes it one of the greatest games in its genre.

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The broad application of Apple’s new App Store subscription guidelines to everything from magazines (sensible) to Kindle books (questionable) to Readability (delusional) to Tiny Grab and possibly DropBox (downright silly) could end up being the single-worst business decision the Cupertino Colossus has made in the last decade, for one very simple reason: it seeks to maximize App Store revenue at the expense of making iPhones and iPads the most attractive hardware platforms on the market. Getting 30% of Readability’s revenue cannot possibly justify the risk of making the iPad sell a few hundred thousand fewer units.

The new MacBook Pros expected later this week will boot off solid-state drives, claims Boy Genius Report, citing unnamed sources.

In addition:

• The new MacBook Pros will feature larger glass trackpads. It’s hard to imagine how this is possible, but they’ve been growing with each successive machine, so maybe so.
• The lower-end models will have 8GB-16GB SSDs for Mac OS X, and will also come equipped with a regular hard drive. This will offer the benefits of SSDs — instant on and super fast performance — while also providing lots of room for power users’ files (video and Photoshop).
• The higher-end models will be SSD only, just like Apple’s new MacBook Air line.
• The new machines will be up to a half-pound lighter than curent models. Again, hard to imagine how this is possible given that Liquidmetal rumors are unlikely.
• The report also note there will be five different SKUs, jibing with previous rumor reports.

Boy Genius Report: New MacBook Pro models imminent; we’ve got some new details

Oscar Backstage Pass – ($0.99) Universal – Entertainment

To help you make this year’s Oscars the most enjoyable, the official Oscar Backstage Pass application for iOS gives you access to live streams from exclusive cameras places throughout the red carpet, the Kodak Theatre, and the Governors Ball, so that you can go beyond the TV broadcast and experience more live action as it happens. Watch the 83rd Academy Awards with this ingenious interactive application on your iPhone or iPad and get access to more stars, more glamour, and more of everything you love about the Oscars.

Its brilliantly designed user interface makes it easy to navigate between each live camera and shows you exactly where each camera is placed at the awards – this marvellous idea ensures you won’t miss a single moment of Hollywood’s biggest event.

Watch the Oscars live this Sunday, February 27th, at 8et/5pt on ABC.

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We start off another week with a new crop of price cuts from the iPhone App Store, along with an iPad app and a bargain on a 27-inch LED Cinema Display for your Mac.

Along the way, we also check out some music accessories for your iPod, a carbon fiber skin for your iPhone 4 and software for your Mac. As always, details on these and many more items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

The makers of Readability aren’t the only small app developers openly criticizing Apple this morning for their prohibitive new in-app subscription and purchasing guidelines. The makers of Tiny Grab — a social screen grabbing service — have just posted an open letter of their own, explaining in detail how the new in-app policies would prevent them from coming to the Mac App Store.

Why? Apple’s new guidelines don’t allow them to offer goods that exist outside the app and the app store… a must for any cross-platform, digital locker app that exists by selling access to new features or more storage instead of traditional in-app content.

We’ve already seen two of the major streaming music subscription services openly revolt in response to Apple’s newly prohibitive in-app purchase guidelines, demanding a 30% cut on all subscriptions, products and services offered through any iOS app. Now smaller devs are starting to pipe up too.

Arc90 — the developers of Readability, a cross-platform Javascript plug-in that enhances online content by simplifying it down to its barest and most readable elements — were developing an iOS subscription app leveraging Instapaper’s technology that would allow them to give 70% of their income to the content producers being read through their service. It was an innovative and practically revolutionary plan to reward authors for their work while enhancing the user’s reading experience by stripping out advertisements, and you can read more about Arc90’s plans for the app in our exclusive interview.

Unfortunately, it now seems that Readability will not be coming to iOS: according to Apple’s tightened restrictions, the Readability app was rejected by Apple for utilizing a subscription system that doesn’t use Apple’s In App Purchase API.

Apple, in other words, wants their 30% cut…. and Arc90 is hopping mad about it, having posted a scathing open letter about the matter on their official blog, in which they accuse Apple of greed and turning their backs on the developers who made iOS such a rich, dynamic and innovative platform to begin with.

The Arc90 blog is being hammered right now, so we’ve posted a copy of their letter after the jump.

The incredible indie sensation Minecraft has sold over 1.3 million copies since it was first released halfway through last year, and it’s still only in beta. Expect the amount of copies sold to quickly grow as high as one of Minecraft‘s physics-defying, voxel-based fantasy structures in 2011, though, because dev Mojang has just announced that Minecraft will be coming to iOS in 2011.

This one’s for the sharps: an official pack of playing cards featuring OS 7 icons instead of faces and suits is now available on eBay. It’s a real Apple product, originally sold only to Apple employees from the Apple campus store.

Current bid is a respectable £51.00, although my guess is that before bidding ends, you’ll be out a bad Blackjack streak in Vegas’ worth of chips to acquire this lovely retro deck. I’m tempted to bid myself: this would be the perfect deck to add insult to injury to the inamorata in my ongoing, fifteen-game Cribbage winning streak.

[via MacStories]

Wireless carriers in the United Kingdom are drastically lowering their subsidized prices on the original iPad, strongly suggesting that they are clearing inventory in anticipation of the imminent launch of the iPad 2.

In November of last year, Cult of Mac reported that the iPhone 5 would gain a near-field communications chip, which would enable an ambitious remote computing scheme that would effectively allow you to take your desktop Mac’s settings and files “on the road” with you, syncing it with another Mac just by waving your iPhone in front of the screen.

Now Apple has been awarded a software patent for a new OS X feature that could be an integral part of their future remote computing plans: it describes a way for users to secure vital files in a virtual ‘safe deposit box’ which would then encrypt them and possibly even upload them to the cloud.