Even when it debuted at the time, the iPad was conspicuous for its lack of forward-facing camera. Apple had obviously considered it: the iPad’s frame actually contains a hollow in which a standard iSight camera fits perfectly. Why didn’t they pull the trigger? Hindsight being 20/20, it’s pretty obvious now that Apple did not choose to install a camera in the first iPad because they hadn’t yet readied their FaceTime video chat standard: it would be stupid to supply hardware in the iPad that only Apple’s competitors were ready, at the time, to capitalize upon.
Now that FaceTime is out for the iPhone, iPod Touch and Mac, the iPad is obviously the next in line. Now a new report suggests that existing iPhone camera supplier Omnivision will also be tasked with creating the iPad’s camera.
I always thought the original Nintendo Famicom controller lost its allure when it made its way to the United States in 1986 as the joypad for the NES, so I’m glad to see the Famicom controller’s classic design live again, this time as a polycarbonate case for the iPhone 4. Gorgeous.
If you’re expecting an imminent refresh of Apple’s MacBook, Mac Pro and iMac lines supporting the blistering fast USB 3.0 standard, don’t hold your breath: Steve Jobs says they don’t care about USB 3.0 right now.
Apple has released an updated version of iPhoto ’11 version 9.0.1. The update, which is currently available within Software Update on your Mac, will fix data loss issues that users have been reporting after updating from iPhoto ’09 or earlier. According to Apple:
This update addresses issues that, in extremely rare cases, could result in data loss when upgrading a library from an earlier version of iPhoto.
By now, everyone that wants a white iPhone 4 knows that you aren’t going to get one any time soon. So in the meantime, while you are waiting for the white iPhone 5, check out the banned white iPhone 4 video (warning: NSFW) by clicking the read link below.
Time Sink monitors how you use your Mac – which applications you use, and how long you use them for. It collates and aggregates this data over time, displaying it an attractive chart.
The screenshot above was just taken from the iPhone page of the Apple Online Store. Notice something missing? The elusive white iPhone that Apple keeps promising us has now been removed, fuelling rumors that the device has been canceled entirely.
The white iPhone was delayed for the third time earlier this week, with its released date being pushed back until next spring. The exact reason we’re yet to get our hands on the white device is still yet to be confirmed from Cupertino, with the company simply explaining it’s “more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected.”
Several reasons have been speculated, however, including a color mismatch between the device’s glass and home button, light leakage out of the iPhone, and – as Cult of Mac discovered – light leakage in to the device that causes problems when taking pictures.
So, has the time come for Apple to finally throw in the towel and admit that its white iPhone 4 will never hit the shelves? Are there even customers still waiting for the device, or have they just given up and just purchased its black counterpart?
We’d be interested to know if you’ve been holding out for the white iPhone 4, and how you’d feel about Apple cancelling the device – let us know it the comments!
We close out the week with a couple deals for the MacBook Pro and price drops on several iPad applications, including the venerable Pac-Man. Along the way, we’ll also take a look at other price cuts for iPhone apps, as well as accessories for your favorite handset.
As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.
This is one of those simple little things that’s so obvious, and so simple, that it’s easy for newcomers to miss.
How do you rename a file on a Mac? If you’re coming from Windows, you’ll be accustomed to right-clicking on it and choosing the “Rename” menu item, but it’s not there on OS X.
This little lot (22 Macs, 2 PCs) belongs to London-based 21-year-old student Brent (who declined to give us his surname). It’s one of the latest pics in his Mactastic Flickr stream which is jam packed with Macs, iPods and iPads. Only some of them are pictured in use as doorstops.
Brent says: “You can put it down to just not having time to sell the older models every time I upgrade. As a result of this, I’ve gained a collection.”
His current working machines are a 27″ iMac and a MacBook Pro. He’s not got one of the new Airs yet but I’m pretty sure he’ll have one soon…
Steve Jobs says that multitouch must be horizontal, but for some reason, I don’t think this is quite what he had in mind: the Table Connect for iPhone is a close-to-complete project that marries a 58-inch multitouch surface with your jailbroken iPhone 4 through a 30-inch Dock Connector… not only charging your iPhone but turning your desk into your iPhone.
I’d want one to perch my iMac, but seeing as how I’ve never once seen the surface of my desk underneath its perpetual detritus of tobacco ash, beer bottles and discarded Starbucks cups, it might be money ill spent.
The iPad is reported to be the fastest-selling electronic device ever and government leaders aren’t being left behind.
British Prime Minister David Cameron is the latest world leader have an Apple iPad. Cameron was regaled with two iPads as housewarming presents when he took residence at No. 10 Downing Street.
Both business mogul Mike Faith and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg had the bright idea of sending over the tablet computer.
Cameron wanted Apple’s “magical device” enough to pay out of his own pocket for it (£429, about $650) and stock it with £164 (about $262) of books. The iPad sent over the pond from Bloomberg is still unopened in the box.
Probably since I can no longer cram one into my pockets along with my house keys ever since I donated my parachute pants to charity, I haven’t found Apple’s notebooks to be nearly as prone to scratches as the iPhone. Your mileage may well vary, though, so rest assured that Zagg’s invisibleSHIELD line of protective coatings are now available in sizes suitable for sticking on a new 11- or 13-inch MacBook Air.
Valve’s excellent Steam for Mac digital delivery service is having a Halloween sale this weekend, pretty much guaranteeing that if it’s spooky, on the Mac and features zombies, ghosts or monsters, you’ll be able to download it for the price of a Monster Mash.
If you’re a Mac gamer, here are the titles that are available at a discount this weekend:
• PopCap’s Plants Vs. Zombies — $4.99 (50% Off)
• Valve’s Team Fortress 2 (now featuring the Horseless Headless Horsemann in a scary new map) — $9.99 (50% Off)
Apple’s just seen fit to tighten up the Terms and Conditions applying to iTunes rentals… and in doing so have finally closed a loophole that allowed rented television shows to be transferred between the iPad and other iOS devices.
Here at Cult of Mac, we love the crowd-sourced, gadget-creating think tank at Quirky.com, and their latest is a fantastic answer to the tangle of USB cables snaking out of the back of your iMac.
Here's how the DJ duo got the shoe flow flowing. Via Createdigitalmusic.com
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyFL_ZKgTaQ
Need to put a spring in your step on a fall Friday?
Check out this video by Japanese break beat duo Hifana, it came out awhile back but we think it’s awesome.
The idea? For an ad campaign to showcase the flexibility of Nike Free Run+ shoes in Japan, they DJs use the footwear to make music, contorting and twisting the shoes to get different sounds, then battle it out DJ style
A MacBook Pro is at the heart of the operation that one half of Hifana, Daito Manabe, set up to make some sweet footie music. Nike gives a nod to the Apple power behind the project with a blink-and-you-missed it shot of a pair of MBPs in the beginning of the video.
Hip to be Square, Foursquare that is: US Voters with iPhones can share their experiences with friends
During the final stretch of the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, a number of different media organizations set up different kinds of maps to track real-time activities at the polls. Wired.com, for example, set up a voting machine problem map where voters could use a ZeeMap we had set up to tell us what went wrong in their experience.
Fast-forward to 2010. Foursquare, the mobile social geolocation service, has teamed up with Google, Pew, a couple of get-out-the-vote groups and a couple of Washington DC-based technology and design firms to update that idea.
The coalition recently launched its “I Voted” project, which enables iPhone Foursquare users to broadcast the fact that they voted to their friends, and to report what it was like, and whether there were problems like long lines or voter intimidation.
The idea is to harness the attributes of peer pressure and political campaigns’ competitive spirit to spur more people to actually vote. Another side benefit of this project is that it could potentially uncover trending problems at polling places.
On election day itself, all the data emanating from this activity on Foursquare will stream to an online map to give people a big-picture portrait.
The project so far is an experiment. It started off as an idea being batted around between some young political technology consultants on Twitter this June.
Mindy Finn, a co-founder of EngageDC, one of the participants that set up this project, sees the application’s use this election day as a dry run for the 2012 presidential election. Political campaigns could possibly use it to ignite socially-inspired viral voting campaigns.
“We’re certainly not at critical mass right now,” Finn said. “But the potential for this type of social voting, and the use of geolocation services to encourage civic engagement, the potential is just huge.”
At last week’s Back to Mac event, Steve Jobs made a pretty compelling argument against imbuing multitouch into desktop and notebook displays. He argued — rightfully, I think — that multitouch is only workable ergonomically when a gadget can be positioned horizontally: if you have to keep leaning forward to interact with a touchscreen, you quickly develop gorilla arm.
I was pretty satisfied with that answer as to why Apple wasn’t exploring multitouch displays in their current iMacs, Mac Pros and MacBooks, but if you’re not adverse to a case of gorilla arm or two, Troll Touch is now offering a couple of options to bring multi-touch to Apple’s 27-inch LED-backlit Cinema Display.
Earlier this week, Apple finally launched a local version of its online retail store in China.. and within 10 hours managed to completely sell out of all available iPhone 4s. As 9to5Mac notes, since Apple’s attempted on cracking down on iPhone 4 scalping in its retail stores by forcing anyone looking to buy a handset from them directly online, this effectively means there’s not a single iPhone to be had in the country… unless you’re willing to pay a scalper his premium.
Apple’s latest record-breaking iPhone sales was enough to make the Cupertino, Calif. company the No. 4 mobile phone vendor worldwide, passing BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, according to research firm IDC. Although Apple has consistently scored among top smartphone vendors, this is the first time the iPhone maker has made it into the top ranks of general cell phone providers.
As a result, RIM pushed Sony Ericcson out of the top five for the first time in six years, according to IDC.
The iPhone’s been big in Japan for awhile: back in 2009, it commanded an amazing 72.2% market share of the nation’s smartphone segment. That’s a huge chunk of the pie, but because most Japanese customers were gravitating towards featurephones over smartphones back in 2009, that 72.2% market share only actually translated to 4.9% of the entire Japanese cell phone market.
Not to worry, though: smartphone sales in Japan have continued to grow over the last year, and the iPhone is still the best selling smartphone in all of Nippon.
If the back of your iPod or iPod Touch looks anything like the back of my iPod Touch, it probably looks like it’s spent a few hours in a rock tumbler on a low stuffed with diamonds… but if a new Apple patent application pans out, Cupertino may already have some plans to unleash new scratch-resistant coatings on their gadgets in the near future.
Although there are a lot of gadget makers looking to come out with their own answers to the iPad in the coming months — most notably RIM with the BlackBerry Playbook and Samsung with the Galaxy Tab — you’ve got to give them credit: the tablets they are releasing aren’t just iPad clones.
You can’t say the same for this tablet though, plucked out of a cheap electronics shop in the alleys of Shaghai: it’s an iPad clone through and through.
The iPad is synonymous with Apple, but according to Taiwan-based company Proview, Cupertino is stomping all over their trademark on the ‘IPad’ name… and they want Apple to pay up.
