Cult of Mac

Yes that’s right, now you can capture yourself throwing up while filming a first-person view of the rails as you fly through that new 120 mph ride at Six Flags — all with the same iPhone (so long as it’s an iPhone 4).

Flexicorder ($1) features on-the-fly switching from shooting video normally with the rear camera to shooting with the front facing camera; it also lets the user adjust video resolution.and aspect ratio. Images captured through the forward-facing camera normally appear horizontally flipped, so the app also flips the image to look as if they were shot with the rear-facing lens.

We start the day with a deal on an 8-Core Mac Pro Xeon Workstation. The model is powered by 2.4GHz processors and includes 16GB of memory for $3,879. Also, there is a deal on an iPhone 4Superleggera case from Acase with two screen protectors. The final deal in today’s spotlight is an iP9 Clock radio for the iPhone or iPod.

Along the way, we’ll also check out other hardware and software deals for the iPhone, iPod or Mac. As usual, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

Who knew it might turn into infographic week? Here’s another visualization of the battle raging among companies in the mobile communications universe. This one plots the contestants’ current positioning and trend directions on XY axes of profit share and market share — and it raises some interesting questions:

Should we be talking about manufacturers or platforms? Is the ultimate success of one dependent on the success of the other (ie: can HTC thrive and Motorola whither if Android’s popularity continues to increase)? Do consumers have manufacturer, platform or carrier loyalty — some combination thereof, or no loyalty whatsoever?

And perhaps most crucial of all, can we get George Kokkinidis to re-do this chart?

Via [Horace Dediu]

Apple is known for its tight control of the message, so the announcement that Apple will release its fourth-quarter financial results has the media in high anticipation. With a company threatening to knock energy giant Exxon off the S&P 500 leaderboard, potential questions are not hard to find.

The iPad is heralded as the “fastest selling electronic device in history” and the Cupertino, Calif. company sold 100,000 iPhone 4s in the first four days in China. Little wonder then that analysts like BMO Capital’s Keith Bachman keeps raising forecasts for the September quarter. Wednesday, Bachman forecast 11.5 million handsets were sold in September, up from his previously-expected 10.4 million. However, that increase may be too tepid. Apple could sell more than 12 million iPhones in the three-month period, the analyst suggests.

Although Apple had little to say in the midst of the so-called ‘Antennagate‘ hoopla, the frenzy of reports of signal trouble and the company’s response will likely be a subject when the firm’s executives face the media. How much did the problem hurt Apple?

Apple’s never really been very strong when it comes to designing usable mice, but they have certainly always been innovative: from the Mighty Mouse to the Magic Mouse to the Magic Trackpad.

Apple’s latest discovered patent describes a mouse that could have been: the Ambidextrous Mouse.

For the second year in a row, Apple CEO Steve Jobs tops a list of teens’ most admired entrepreneur.

His popularity slipped somewhat from last year, when 35 percent of  1,000 12 to 17-year olds polled said they looked up to him in the Junior Achievement Teens and Entrepreneurship survey.

Now the man who creates the gadgets teens fight to keep in schools is admired by 23 percent of them.

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Sega’s long-awaited return to the 2D roots of their most famous speedster rodent is coming to the App Store tomorrow, and as you can see in the trailer above, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 looks pretty faithful to the original Sonic games for the Sega Genesis… you know, before the whole franchise leapt into 3D and was marketed predominantly at furries with masturbatory echidna fantasies.

Looking pretty good, and I know loads of iPhone gamers will be excited about this, but on my part, I’ve never found running at 1000 miles per hour into an undodgable wall of spikes very fun, which seems to be the defining element of the series. I think I’ll probably give Sonic 4 a pass.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ky9sowEKBo

I sometimes wonder what monsters haunt the nightmares of Apple’s resident designer, Mr. Jonathan Ive. He’s so prim, so meticulous, so clean and proper, but on those nights when he has a slice of pepperoni pizza a little too close to bed time, what horrors does he dream up? Some horrible Cenobite iMac dragging itself bloodily across the floor whispering “Make way for the new flesh:” a biomechanical monstrosity of Foxconn components crammed into the pulsating sack of some skinless, cancerous stomach?

Or is it something more like this cardboard box Hackintosh, put together by the guys over at One Block Off the Grid — a cooperative for buying photovoltaic solar panels at a group discount — after one of their Macs proved too slow to run Adobe After Effects?

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i31omgvWDTQ

Up until 1996, id software’s Doom engine was pretty much the de facto technology driving the best and most advanced PC computer games on the market, including Doom, Doom 2, Heretic, Hexen and Strife. Then id software released their next game engine, Quake, which boasted true 3D environments, and any game that still ran on Doom’s 2.5D engine was barely worth a laugh.

That was very unfortunate for HacX when it was released in 1997. The last commercial game using the Doom engine, HacX boasted some incredible enemy, weapons and level design, but was ultimately as ignored at retail (where it was passed over for flashier games running on truly 3D engines) as it has been forgotten by all but the most die-hard retro gamers.

I was delighted to hear, then, that HacX has gotten a new lease on life, as it has been ported as a free app for the iPhone and iPad. It’s still using the Doom engine, just this time it’s using the updated iPhone engine released by id software’s own lead programmer, John Carmack.

Here’s hoping that HacX can finally get some of the recognition it deserves this time around.

We absolutely loved that fantastic chart we posted yesterday showing off the litigious melee amongst smartphone companies as they all try to figure out which of their thousands of patents are enforceable and which are nonsense… but, infographically, it was a bit ugly, like a particularly inelegant illustration of magnetic repulsion found in a 70s-era high school physics book.

The updated chart by George Kokkinidis above conveys the same information more attractively, with clean geometric precision, sexy fonts and color coded arcs.

We approve. Maybe the Guardian should hire this guy instead of doing all of their infographics in Powerpoint ’97.

For some time we’ve heard talk that T-Mobile in Germany would get the iPhone 3GS, ending that nation’s exclusivity for Apple’s popular handset. Now comes word that Vodafone will launch the iPhone 4 in Germany on October 28. The report from a German Mac site said the carrier will begin airing ads for the iPhone 4 on Oct. 18.

We have also independently confirmed the report with a T-Mobile employee in Germany. Although the Vodafone iPhone 4 is expected to be locked to the second-place carrier, O2 is also believed to be preparing to sell an unlocked version in Germany soon, according to the report. Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile’s parent, has 37 million German customers. Vodafone has 34.9 million subscribers and O2 has 16.3 million members.

The promise of a free iPhone should always be subject to the skeptical arching of an eyebrow, but Facebook users should be extra cautious over the coming days, as new malware promising free iPhones to those who click on a link is taking the social network by storm.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeDTJZtFfI0

Sharp has just matched the iPhone 4’s touchscreen pixel for pixel with their new IS03 Phone, but that’s not going to stop Apple from crowing about the Retina Display in their latest ad, highlighting the fact that the world’s “highest-resolution phone screen ever” will make “every freckle, every wrinkle” (and presumably every wart, every melanoma, and every port wine stain) look clearer and more beautiful than ever before.

For extra points, check out those impossibly beautiful Twitter friends the iPhone 4 hand model has. Compared to that, my Twitter friends are a sad collection of hobos.

Readers should rightly file the following tidbit under “highly-speculative”: a rumor site suggests this morning Apple is looking to hire a blogger. The Cupertino, Calif. company supposedly met publicly with a mobile editor for Tech Crunch, now owned by AOL. A tipster thought he saw the usually-secretive Apple PR team hand the blogger what was described as “an offer packet.”

Before someone takes the report hook, line and sinker, there are caution flags waving and warning sirens blaring. For starters, there was the Keystone Cops incident over the lost (or stolen?) iPhone 4 prototype. Remember how Gizmodo’s possession and eventual return of the device triggered a police investigation amid Apple’s claims the handset was stolen? Remember how Apple sued (then settled) with the blogger behind thinksecret.com over unauthorized leaks?

Still, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has almost become a regular contributor to some blogs, firing off short missives on products and services. Other mobile companies, such as Nokia and Orange, have also hired professional bloggers to tout their brands. However, doesn’t Apple already have a wide array of bloggers commenting on every major (as well as minor) announcements impacting the company and its millions of customers?

[via: Gawker, 9to5]

Sparrow is a new email client for OS X, which takes a fresh approach to displaying and managing email.

You have until midnight, October 6 to enter your best iPhone snaps to be part of a traveling exhibit of the best in iPhone Photography.

Winners will be showcased in Apple stores around the US — Chicago (Oct. 21), New York’s Soho Store (Oct. 29) and in Santa Monica (Nov. 11).

Your best shots must be done on an iPhone, unaltered and family friendly (this is retail, people).

Take a look at the litigious melee going on among companies trying to squeeze profits out of the mobile communications landscape. It’s a wonder we have phones and operating systems at all, isn’t it?

Interestingly, the one suit against Google by Oracle is somewhat misleading, given that many of the suits represented by the flying arrows in the graphic relate to Google’s Android operating system, including all of the ones filed by Microsoft.

Microsoft, with its Windows Mobile 7 OS about to ship, is asserting intellectual property infringement cases against Motorola and HTC, claiming Google’s Android operating system runs afoul of patents it holds for several important tasks handled by today’s new generation of smart phones. Specifically the software giant says Android copies its patented methods for handling email, contacts and calendar synchronisation, scheduling meetings and notifying applications of changes in signal and battery strength.

Via [The Guardian]

Well, it took nearly a year, gut Google finally put Goggles into its mobile search app for the iPhone, according to a blog post Tuesday.

A feature Android users have enjoyed since last December, Goggles allows a Google mobile Search user to tap on the camera button to search using Goggles. The blog post said “Goggles will analyze the image and highlight the objects it recognizes — just click on them to find out more.”

The feature remains a Google Labs project and thus should evolve and improve with time. It works reasonably well, according to Google, for things such as landmarks, logos, and products, but not so well yet for animals or food.

Via [TechCrunch] [iTunes app link]

Steve Jobs joined California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in signing legislation to establish the U.S.’s first nationwide kidney donor registry.

Jobs, who received a liver transplant in 2009, has been credited with providing the impetus for the bill.

“As a transplant recipient, I know how precious this gift of life is,” Jobs said at the signing ceremony in Palo Alto. “And on behalf of those future transplant recipients who will now receive organs because of this new law, I want to thank governor Schwarzenegger, Senator Elaine Alquist and all of the legislators who voted for this law. Thank you all very much.”

Schwarzenegger said the registry will vastly increase the number of donors and make it much easier to find recipient matches. Only one quarter of qualified donors in California are currently signed up on registries, he said.

Donors can sign up here: Donate Life California.

There’s a webcast of the signing ceremony here.

I spend a lot of time at Starbucks using my iPad. It has been interesting to see the evolution of questions and comments I get from strangers waiting for their lattes. (This is one of the disadvantages of using an iPad in public. People interrupt you.)

For the first month or two, I got a lot of questions like “Is that an iPad?” and “How do you like it?” Gradually, questions about the wireless keyboard have become more common. I’m often surprised by how many people don’t realize that you can use an iPad with a keyboard.

But most people who come up to me at Starbucks really want to know: “What would I really use it for?” I can see they want one. They know it’s the new hotness. They’ve heard everybody talking about it. They just don’t know what it’s for.

Grammy winning rapper Lil’ Wayne is discovering the sound of silence in jail.

During his last month in prison, he’s confined in “punitive segregation,” where he’ll spend 23 hours a day alone.

The punishment was meted out after Wayne got caught with a contraband iPod. Officers found the telltale Apple earbuds and charger hidden in a bag of potato chips, while another inmate stashed the 28-year-old rapper’s MP3 player.

We start off with a faux-leather case for your iPad. Features a screen protector, access to all functions, magnetic closure and more for $13.50. Next is a refurbished 16GB iPhone 4 for $149. We wrap up our featured deals with a two-year warranty on the iPad. This extended warranty covers drops and spills.

Along the way, we check out a number of cases for your iPhone, as well as other add-ons for your iPod. As always, details on these and many other items can be found on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

It’s selling for just $99, and you know Apple’s making a profit, but exactly how much does it cost to make every second generation AppleTV? Just $64, according to market research firm iSuppli.

Over the past few months, we’ve certainly seen our fair share of cases grafting a working keyboard onto the iPad. We love the idea, but we’ve yet to see a really solid execution.

Perhaps the PADACS iPad Keyboard Case is the, well, iPad Keyboard Case we’ve been waiting for. Unlike the competition, it features a hard physical keyboard with firm plastoc keys instead of softer, rubbery ones. That should make the PADACS more satisfying to hammer out prose on from a tactile perspective, but those paranoid about scratching their iPad display may want to stay clear.

Perhaps the most noteworthy thing about the PADACS iPad Keyboard Case, though, is that the Bluetooth keyboard comes with dedicated keys for Select All, Copy, Cut, Paste, Blank Screen, Slide Show and Search… as well as Command, Option, Function and Control Keys. That’s something I don’t think the competition actually has, and puts the PADACS about on the same level of functionality as iPad’s own $69 Keyboard Dock… albeit at a $30 premium.

[via Ubergizmo]

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHl6GTls6m0

Capcom’s Dead Rising series for the PC and the Xbox 360 is an acquired taste, despite the fact that it’s central conceit is the chocolate meets peanut butter of zombie games: killing the slavering, flesh-hungry dead in an American shopping mall. Now it’s coming to the iPhone later this year in Dead Rising Mobile, but can Capcom make the series work on a handheld device?