Early MacBook Air adopters have been reporting problems with their new notebooks that include video problems and frequent kernel panics. Now some of these users have released pictures and video evidence demonstrating the flickering video and computer freezing issue that appears to be happening on nearly all 11-inch and 13-inch models of the new MacBook Air.
We were the first to report this issue last week-end and since then there are more reports of other MacBook Air users encountering the same problem. Users in Germany are reporting problems and the folks at MacWorld have reported seeing the problem happen on of their new MacBook Airs.
It’s doubtful as to whether any online apps will be able to match the gadgetry the pundits have on television to interpret election results, but one elegant graphic on the New York Times’ web site has been optimized for the iPad, and looks worthy of a bookmark.
SocialPhone is a brand new app for iOS that combines an impressive, full-featured address book with access to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter in one handy application.
At 9 AM ET on Thursday, November 4, the Skyfire Browser will be coming to iOS and will allow users to watch Flash video on their iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch by converting it to HTML5.
Priced at $2.99, Skyfire Browser has been available on Android devices since May 2010, and has been incredibly popular with 1.5 million downloads. Now, after a “rather rigorous review,” Apple has finally approved the app for iOS devices, and it will soon be available in the App Store.
We begin with several refurbished MacBook Air laptops, starting at $849 for a 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo 13.3-inch model. Also on tap is a two-year iPad warranty from SqaureTrade. The warranty covers drops and spills. The spotlight is also on a new batch of free App Store titles for the iPhone and iPod touch, including “Finger Traffic Navigator”, a line drawing puzzle.
Along the way, we’ll also check out storage options, ways to keep your iPhone 4 in power, as well as software for your Mac. As always, details on these and many other bargains can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.
Apple’s advertising team has thrown a lot of hyperbolic adjectives at the iPad like “legendary”, “amazing” and “magical,” but their latest advertisement might be pressing it. “Cinematic,” sure. “Elementary”…. uh, okay. But by the time we’re at “full size” and “electric,” I think maybe we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel here.
Evil Dead — Sam Raimi’s story of five horny college kids who go to an abandoned cabin in the woods to do their rutting and accidentally unleash an ancient, murderous evil — isn’t as well known as its sequels, Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness. It’s a more serious and frightening film, and Bruce Campbell’s Ash (known in the first movie as “Ashley”) has yet to become the chainsaw-handed, catchphrase-spitting zombie killer we’d all come to know and love later in the franchise.
It also seems like a bad fit for an App Store game, but I’ve got to tell you, this trailer for the upcoming Evil Dead game has won me over. You’d think using Mii-like bobblehead avatars to tell the story that prominently features melting zombies, ankle-stabbing and tree rape would just fall apart, but instead, the trailer’s just incredibly funny and well done… not to mention loyal to the spirit of the (NSFW) original trailer, which I’ve embedded below.
At first, Chris Pollock‘s hack to connect his iPhone to a computer’s serial port seems like a “because I can” sort of project, but in reality, it appears that it’s actually incredibly useful.
Why? Chris apparently works in IT, and as it turns out, a jailbroken iPhone armed with a serial port connector and many of Cydia’s console packages is a godsend for an IT worker: it’s an entire computer that you can just whip out of your pocket in a pinch to do some mainframe troubleshooting.
Fantastic. Now if only your could use this serial port hack to sync through iTunes.
If you’re the type who likes to do all of your shopping in one place, good news: Target stores have confirmed that starting on November 7th, the Big Bullseye will be selling the iPhone.
The Sesame Street Workshop’s charming take on Apple’s “There’s An App For That Campaign” and featuring the so-called “iPogo” is plenty cute, but after watching the whole thing, does anyone else think that the idea of a pogo stick with knives built into the handle might not entirely be child-friendly?
If you use a pair of Monster brand headphones using Apple’s Remote and Mic technology and if you’ve been noticing your iPhone or iPad fritzing out on you when they’re plugged in, don’t worry: it’s not in your imagination and you haven’t just gotten a dud pair. There’s an issue with Monster cans, and Cupertino is very aware of it.
It seems that Google and Apple might be in another bidding war… this time to acquire BOKU, a payment startup which aims to bring “bank-grade payments technology” to mobile gadgets like the iPhone or iPad.
Apple has never been very happy with the prospect of fixing your iPod or iPhoneunder warranty just because you dropped it in the toilet. That’s why they’ve started cramming so many moisture sensors into the gadgets: the tiny stickers — which change color if they are exposed to an inordinate amount of moisture — give Apple an excuse to deny you service if things get too wet.
Apple’s rationale here is pretty sound. After all, if you trip and spill your iPhone into the drink, that’s pretty clearly not their responsibility. The problem is that those moisture sensors and their accuracy are both highly contentious: Apple’s fighting a lawsuit in which a California woman claims they are trigged erroneously by the humidity, and indeed, those who live in more humidclimes have been complaining about false moisture positives for years.
With that in mind, it’s sort of distressing to see that the new MacBook Air uses a record amount of moisture sensors internally. In fact, by my count, there are 9 moisture sensors exposed in the image above alone… and there’s apparently even more hidden underneath connectors.
A major point update to Snow Leopard is likely to start shooting down through Software Update soon, if internal reports pegging the imminent release of OS X 10.6.5 are accurate.
It sounds like the setup to a heist movie: a speeding truck smashing through a wall, screeching to a halt and almost instantly disgorging itself of a gang of robbers, perhaps all wearing disguising Dead President masks. Take away the masks, though, and you have the real-life caper of a bunch of Apple-coveting thieves who just hit up a reseller in Oregon.
More confirmation of what most already assumed: Apple’s iPad dominates the tablet market. Earlier, we reported 80 percent of people considering a tablet plan to buy an iPad. Now comes word from another research firm that Apple owns more than 90 percent of the global market, with Android-based equivalents far behind in the single-digit basement.
According to Strategy Analytics, 95.5 percent of tablets sold in the third quarter bear the Apple logo. In addition, the Cupertino, Calif. company shipped 4.4 million iPads, higher than the 4.19 million Apple reported for September.
The growth of tablets – particularly Apple’s iPad – is dampening consumer demand for low-cost netbooks. Only 14 percent of people planning to purchase a laptop in the next ninety days will pick a netbook – a 10-point drop from this summer, according to ChangeWave.
“The decline of Netbooks is attributable to a combination of factors including the end of the recession and the mounting penetration of Tablet computers – notably the Apple iPad,” said Paul Carton, Vice President of Research, Tuesday. The company’s October survey of more than 3,000 consumers also found plans to purchase a laptop remain flat at 8 percent while future desktop purchases grew by just one point to 6 percent, compared to August.
Unkrich during production of "Toy Story 3" in November 2009 (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
This is a guest interview by Mike Bastoli of The Pixar Blog, a popular news blog about the studio.
Lee Unkrich is the director of Disney-Pixar’s Toy Story 3, the highest-grossing animated film of all time, which was released on DVD, Blu-ray and iTunes today. He also served as co-director of Toy Story 2 and editor of Toy Story, and is a member of Pixar’s Senior Creative Team.
Unkrich is an avid Mac user and Apple ‘addict’ who can be spotted at Apple’s events from time to time. “Whenever I’m invited, it’s something awwwwwwesome,” he tweeted to his 80,000 plus followers on Twitter ahead of the launch of the iPad in January.
Here’s an exclusive interview with Unkrich, who talks about his first Mac, Apple cameos in Pixar’s movies and Steve Jobs feeding his Apple addiction.
Living in the Eurozone, it can often be frustrating to go to buy a new Apple product being appraised of its cost in dollars, only to find Apple charging an amount in euros far greater than what the exchange rate would imply.
In truth, the price discrepancy is usually (mostly) imaginary: if a Mac costs $999 in the States and the same in Euros, most of the discrepancy is made up by the obligatory Value Added Tax. Still, Apple does make a small but real margin on every Mac sold in Europe compared to the price they charge in America… and when the exchange price fluctuates, sometimes Apple can seemingly come way ahead.
It’s good to see Apple occasionally jiggle their European Mac prices to more closely align with the current exchange rate. In fact, Cupertino’s just done exactly that in Europe, dropping the price of the two Mac mini models from £649 to £599 and £929 to £879 in the U.K., and from €809o to €709 and €1149 to €999 in the rest of Europe.
That makes it a good time to buy a mini if you’re a European. You might want to get in on this soon, before the exchange rate fluctuates again and Apple changes its mind.
Apple’s massive new data center is a 21st-century broadcasting system to rival the TV networks of old, says a leading expert in cloud computing.
Nick Carr, author of the “The Big Switch” a bestseller about the cloud, says Apple’s North Carolina facility is a “broadcasting system” not unlike NBC or CBS, but one that distributes software as well as media.
“Apple increasingly views its mainstream computers, from iPod Touch to iPhone to iPad to MacBook Air, as media players, with “media” spanning not just audio and video but also apps,” Carr wrote in an email. “From that perspective, the North Carolina data center can be seen as essentially a broadcasting system that will enable Apple to make the shift from a downloading model of media distribution to a streaming model. It’s a proprietary broadcasting system (not altogether unlike traditional broadcasting systems), which means it’s a very different model of the cloud from the open model promoted by Google.”
At 500,000 square feet, Apple’s $1 billion data center will be among the largest in the world. The unusual size of the data center suggests that Apple has ambitious plans for cloud computing.
It’s assumed it will be used to stream music and movies from iTunes. Reports suggest the company is going to build a big office complex next door and is “going after the cable market.”
But it goes deeper than that, says Carr. The facility will help transition Apple from a download model of computing to a streaming model of computing.
Here’s what else he had to say about Apple’s unique take on the cloud:
The first interesting tidbit to surface from the iOS 4.2 GM firmware release today is the fact that there is a new multitasking bar on the iPad.
The new version sports both brightness and volume controls for quick access to these settings. In addition to the regular audio controls and screen orientation lock Apple has added a new AirPlay button just to the left of the volume control.
BGR is reporting that as of October 28, 2010 all AppleCare Protection Plans now have a 30-day window within which they are transferable to new products. The ability to transfer these plans was previously available only on AppleCare for the iPhone.
Apple hasn’t formally announced this change to the public as far as I know, but it appears that this rule will apply to purchases within the same product family. For example, if you purchase a MacBook Pro with AppleCare and then change to a MacBook Air within 30-days the theory is that you would simply transfer the AppleCare to the MacBook Air.
Earlier today, Apple released the Gold Master version of iOS 4.2 and the corresponding SDK to developers, bringing the current version of both to 4.2 GM (builds 8C134 and 10M2423 respectively). The update follows the release of the previous beta by about three weeks.
In addition to those updates Apple also has a beta 2 version of iTunes 10.1. However, iTunes hasn’t gone to Gold Master status and there is no indication that this will happen soon.
If you love Bees, Hedghogs, Cats, Sushi and Dungeons you’re going to get hooked up with our App Code giveaway on Facebook this week! We’ll pick five random winners to win 6 great apps and if you want a chance to get your hands on some these iPhone and iPad apps this week, then follow the instructions carefully below:
Post a tip on our Facebook wall. The tip can be anything related to Apple/Mac or it can be a suggestion for an app that you’d like us to review.
Your post on our wall will be your entry into the giveaway, only ONE entry is allowed per person, and the giveaway will last until 11:59pm PST tonight. We’ll contact the winners on Wednesday about how to get the codes!
Optional step – Tell us what you think about these apps if you own them already in the comments section.
Special Thanks to Appular for helping us put together these app code giveaways! If you’ve got a mobile app that you’d like marketed effectively, contact the good folks at Appular!
We start off November with a great deal on a 16GB Wi-Fi iPad – just $449. The Apple Store has more than a dozen factory-refurbished iMacs, including a 22-inch model powered by a 3.06GHz i3 for just $1,019. Finally, for those in the U.S. who haven’t gotten enough ghosties and ghoulies, get some undead action on your iPhone with the Zombie Flick app.
Along the way, we’ll also check out several cases for your iPhone, some apps and assorted other items for your Mac. As always, details on everything can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.
