Cult of Mac

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZGskdaJww0&feature=player_embedded

Back in the days before the iPad, there was the ModBook, a MacBook-to-tablet conversion that could be expensively undertaken by those willing to send off their laptops to the plucky boys over at Axiotron along with a check for $900 bucks. I imagine the iPad has killed off a good chunk of their business, but there are always going to be some people disappointed that Apple’s tablet took the approach of a “big iPhone” when what they really wanted was a convertible OS X tablet / notebook.

If you’re one of those individuals, great news: instead of giving Axiotron your $900 bucks to convert your MacBook into a tablet, a hacker over at Enigma Penguin has come up with a DIY approach that costs just $50.

For years, Colorware has made a business by taking the prized gadgets of individuals with — perhaps — more money than taste and slathering them in multi-chromatic hues as if they were color-blind hussies. It’s strange, then, to see them entering the iPad case market, but so they are with their latest product: Grip for iPad.

Another sign that Kindle should beware: iBooks is the most popular free application for the iPad and iPhone.

According to Distimo, a start-up that analyzes app stats, iBooks has made the top ten list of free apps available on iTunes from July to September. This constant hovering in the most popular category is a ranking Distimo believes may be “influenced by the fact that Apple pushes this application to iPad users.”

Games are still less popular on the iPad than the iPhone, Distimo notes. In the Q2 version of the report, half of the top ten paid iPad apps were “productivity tools” like note taker app Penultimate and presentation app Keynote. In the Q3 report, the trend continues:  there is still just one game — old school classic RealSolitaire —  among the ten most popular free applications  for iPad, compared to four in the Apple App Store for iPhone.

While Target may be the latest brick-and-mortar retailer to begin selling the iPad, now comes word giant online retailer Amazon is also stocking the popular tablet device. Amazon, which also makes the rival Kindle e-reader, until recently offered customers Apple’s latest product via third-parties.

According to the Seattle-based company’s website, Amazon directly ships and sells the 32GB and 64GB Wi-Fi versions. The move was made unannounced, except for various online news sites, such as 9 to 5 Mac, which picked-up on the change.

How much can being a control freak cost Apple’s iAd program? In the case of Adidas, the price reportedly was $10 million. That’s the figure one publication this weekend reported the Cupertino, Calif. company lost because “Apple CEO Steve Jobs was being too much of a control freak.”

According to Silicon Alley Insider, Apple rejected three advertising concepts proposed by the sporting goods maker, causing the iAds campaign to hit the showers. “Advertisers complain about the lack of control over visibility into where their ads appear, lack of third-party ad serving tools, and other issues,” the report said. Although Apple plans to open up the process in the future, “some advertisers have lost their patience.”

Meet Paolo Tosolini. He’s a blogger and podcaster in Italy.

And this? Well, this is Paolo’s idea for a “video jacket”.

Stuck for inspiration for something different to do with his iPad, Paolo thought of a way of wearing it at special events, for what he calls “guerilla marketing promotion activities”.

Which sounds to me like the modern equivalent of the sandwich man, wearing someone else’s advertisement while prowling the streets.

I predict that the iPad sandwich man will soon be a common sight in our cities, walking the streets with animated ads playing at front and rear.

Anyway, that gives me another idea.

My idea depends on the next iPad having a user-facing camera. You could set up two iPads just like Paolo has done: one on your back, and one your front. Send the image captured by the front camera to the rear iPad; and send the image captured by the rear camera to the front iPad: behold! You’ll have an iPad-shaped hole right through your body!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOnUmO7oLgA

ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection is a new ZX Spectrum gamer for the iPhone that’s made its way in to the App Store today. The application features 6 full games, each with game-specific controls, and it’s only $0.99!

The six games included in the first release are:

• Turbo Esprit #3 on top 100 best games, voted for by visitors to World of Spectrum
• Saboteur #10 on top 100 best games
• Chuckie Egg the classic, developed by Nigel Alderton
• Harrier Attack inspired by the conflict in the South Atlantic
• Frank Bruno’s Boxing the UK #1 Best-Seller
• Buggy Boy the arcade original driving game

Each game is 100% original, and is accompanied by authentic Spectrum sounds. There are extensive playing instructions for each game built-in, and you can play in both portrait and landscape modes.

Elite Systems, the developer of ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection, has explained in the description of its app that volume one is still a little rough around the edges, and that any issues you may experienced will be ironed out in future updates. Some of its plans for future updates include a further six games with volume 2, which will be released within a month, and then an in-app shop to purchase more games with volume 3. And Elite’s plans don’t stop there:

Commercial agreements have already been reached with two more publishers (including one of the 80s biggest) taking to more than 200 the number of games available for inclusion in the forthcoming updates or volumes of ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection. (This will keep us busy through to Vol. #6 and beyond). Also, we’re in discussion with the owners of 100s more, including some of the most well known, with the aim of bringing them to you too.

Check out the video at the top of this post to see ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection in action.

IS Drive is an application that allows you to manage downloads on your ImageShack Drive account from your iPhone. It was recently approved for sale in the App Store, but did the application slip through Apple’s tight approval process?

If you’re not familiar with ImageShack Drive, it’s a paid service that allows you to download files using a torrent. So, with the IS Drive application on your iPhone, what you have is essentially a BitTorrent application for iOS, something Apple would normally frown upon.

According to TorrentFreak, they have spoken to the developer of IS Drive who has confirmed that the application is clearly intended to help users manage their torrents through their ImageShack Drive account, as well as managing torrents from sites like ISOHunt or Mininova. The developer also mentions that he intentionally chose not to use the word ‘torrent’ in his app’s description. Could this be why it slipped through Apple’s net?

Some users may familiar with IS Drive from Cydia, where it was previously available under the name ‘Jack Torrents.’

Is this another application that has slipped through Apple’s strict approval process that’s soon to be removed when its full functions come to light? Or has it been accepted as a result of a change in Apple’s guidelines that’s seen third-party Google Voice applications reappear in the App Store again recently?

IS Drive is currently still available in the App Store at the time of writing this, with a price tag of $4.99. But don’t forget, you’ll also need a paid account from ImageShack to use the application.

Vintage Macs come and go, Vintage Mac Museums typically tend to Grow.  One particularly impressive Museum is Moving On. The Mac Museum of Franklin Park, NJ has been put up for sale on eBay:

Due to the owner’s pending relocation, The Mac Museum of New Jersey is closing its doors, and this wonderful collection of vintage Macs and rare Apple products is being sold.

This famous collection and its curator have been featured on CNN, MacAddict magazine and The RetroMacCast podcast. The auction of consists of more 20 rare and distinguished Apple products, several books, manuals, installer floppy disks and CDs, along with nine framed posters, speciality items and more. Note: This collection will only be sold in its entirety as a complete collection. [eBay]

Models include the Lisa, Mac 128k, Plus, SE/30, Color Classic, Mac Portable, TAM, Newtons, etc., along with lots of posters, peripherals and paraphernalia.  A trove of Mac lore indeed; if I had the room, and the money, I’d love to add this all to my own collection.  How much is all this Mac history worth?

We’ll know on October 7, when the auction ends. Some lucky collector will take the prize – then need to pick it all up in a big truck themselves!

[via RetroMacCast]

This week’s top iOS games features EA Sports’ latest addition to the Fifa series in Fifa 11, which delivers console quality gaming to your iPhone. Offering an outstanding visual experience on the Retina display, and improved controls that make for fluid gameplay, Fifa 11 gives other soccer games in the App Store some great competition for 2011.

BIT.TRIP BEAT HD is an arcade game from Namco that fuses Pong with interactive beats in a colorful, pixelated environment. Listen to the different beat progressions and try to survive the onslaught of spectacular retro visuals as you bounce back beats from where they came. BIT.TRIP BEAT also features an intense multiplayer mode that allows you team up with your friends.

The incredibly addictive 0.03 Seconds Pro tests your reaction time using various different puzzles over 24 challenging stages, and then rates your score out of 5 stars. The puzzles seem simple, but you’ll be tearing your hair out as you try to beat the reaction time for each level and grab a 5-star score.

We also have an awesome augmented reality game that’s probably the best yet for iOS, and a chance to win one of the games featured in this week’s post.

This week’s must-have iOS apps features a new application that allows you to have free, high quality video calls over both Wi-Fi and 3G. Tango Video Calls is free a application to download, and works on other smartphones as well as the iPhone.

PDF Expert for iPad is Readdle’s latest application that delivers the ultimate solution for all your PDF needs on your iPad. It lets you read and annotate PDF documents, highlight text and make notes. You can also edit the documents you have stored on your Dropbox, iDisk, and Google Docs accounts.

PlainText is a free text editor compatible with all of your iOS devices that uses your Dropbox account to save your work. It has a paper-like interface that provides a nice, simple feel, and it’s a great substitute to iOS’s built-in Notes app.

Hot on the heels of the new Apple TV , Google is launching its own set-top box next week.

Made by Logitech, the Android-based will be unveiled next Wednesday October 6 at press events in San Francisco and New York (see the invite below).

Like Apple’s device, the Google TV is black, although it’s quite a bit larger than Apple’s diminutive box (see David’s photos comparing it to the old Apple TV). The Google TV will run on a 1.2-GHz Atom processor with 4 GB memory, 802.11n Wi-Fi, two HDMI-out ports, Dolby 5.1 surround sound and a pair of USB ports. It will also offer video-chat at 720p if you connect a webcam.

It promises an innovative search-based interface. Search for what you want, and it displays content from the Web, cable, satellite and compatible DVRs. Here’s a trailer showing how it works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25X8yD0SCpM

Check out Steve Wozniak’s fun cameo on The Big Bang Theory last night. There’s actually a couple of good jokes.

We close out another week of deals with bargains for about everyone. There is a used 13-inch MacBook running a 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo processor for $460, a crystal jelly skin case for your iPad for just $4, and James Cameron’s “Avatar” comes to the nearest iPhone or iPod touch.

Along the way, as Apple gets set to shutter its free case program, we offer a bevy of options for your iPhone. As usual, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Yuck — it even moves. By Mio I-zawa.

Via Laughing Squid.

Ever wonder how they come up with those great songs you hear in TV, film, advertising and interactive media? You know, those songs that sound like they might be huge hits but are actually songs you’re probably hearing for the very first time?

Odds are — in recent years, at any rate — producers of that TV show, film or ad got the music from Jingle Punks, a New York-based firm with a proprietary search algorithm and a huge (and growing) library of independent music that is changing the way music makes it into consumer media almost overnight.

Time was, creative directors in the entertainment industry sat in offices behind mountains of cassette tapes and CD jewel boxes, sifting through demos sent in by every Indy band from Bellingham to Boca Raton, searching for the right sound to make their productions sing. Often it amounted to drudgery as a job and a crap-shoot for musicians and songwriters, who never knew if their masterpiece would get played for the right set of ears.

Now, thanks to Jingle Player, an iPad app with advanced meta-tagging magic built inside, former drones for the likes of NBC, MTV, VHI and countless ad agencies on Madison Avenue are suddenly freed from their dank hovels to roam the earth brandishing iPads, fulfilling the dreams of indy musicians toiling in obscurity. The Jingle Player’s secret sauce lies in its ability to serve up the right songs based on the way people actually talk about music, using pop culture-relevant terms instead of technical music business jargon.

At first glance, offering an open-source mobile operating system like Android, wouldn’t be a major profit center for Google. However, one analyst Friday offered multiple ways Android could even further enrich the Mountain View, Calif. firm’s coffers, including become its own ‘virtual telco’ for smartphone owners.

Google gains $500 million per year because Android offers hardware makers and carriers an attractive alternative to payments to Apple for the iPhone, according to Goldman Sachs analyst James Mitchell. In addition, although Apple leads the mobile apps market and is increasing its share of the mobile advertising pie, Google collects 30 percent of apps sold through its Android market and 40 percent from in-app advertising via AdMob.

Perhaps most intriguing, however, was the potential for Android to turn Google Voice combined with Google’s stake in Clearwire into what Mitchell calls a “virtual telco.”

“Google could use Android to evolve into a virtual telco, providing a single contact number and populating its Internet-based calling services,” the analyst told investors.

There is a downside for Google, however. The analyst foresees slow growth of search in Europe and Apple’s continued domination of the mobile Internet.

[Fortune]

New details emerged Friday on Apple’s apparent plans to offer a touchscreen iMac. The Cupertino, Calif. company reportedly is testing samples of capacitive touch panels for a lighter and thinner desktop model with at least a 20-inch screen. The report that Apple is still considering touch panel designs may indicate a new iMac will not appear before 2011.

“The new iMac is rumored to have a good vertical and horizontal viewing angle, and its projected capacitive touch panel will adopt a one-glass solution, which integrates the touch sensor and cover glass, to reduce thickness and weight,” according to Taiwan-based industry publication DigiTimes. Apple’s tests involve samples from Sintek Photronics, which the report suggests “has a good chance” of becoming the supplier for the new iMac models.

One of the reasons owners of the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS have been waiting for a jailbreak for iOS 4.1 is to enable the iPhone 4’s impressive HDR functionality on their older handsets… a hack which is already available for jailbroken 3G and 3GS users on the iOS 4.1 beta through a Cydia app.

It looks pretty likely, though, that these users won’t need to jailbreak their devices to enable HDR functionality… Apple seemingly intends to add HDR in a software update coming down the line.

When Apple first unveiled Ping, its new music-based social network half-baked into the latest version of iTunes, Facebook integration wasn’t just promised… it was listed as a feature on Apple’s own promotional pages.

Nonetheless, much to users’ mystification, Ping launched with Facebook support M.I.A., a deal having fallen through at the last minute after fifteen months of talks due to what CEO Steve Jobs described as “onerous terms” on the part of the social network giant.

According to Silicon Valley Insider, though, Facebook CTO Bret Taylor is now saying that he is “very confident” that Facebook and Apple will figure out a way to work together on Ping.

Look-Up is an augmented reality shoot-em-up for iPhone (not iPad or iPod) in a Space Invaders style. And it’s fun.

Swarms of 1950s-style flying saucers fly down at you from the sky – you point your phone back at them and hit the fire button. Zappity zap zap. I tried it this morning in my office in flooding-with-rain Wiltshire, but I suspect it would be more exciting to play when you’re outdoors in the sun, like the guys in this demo video:

OK, you’ve used your iPhone to control robots. Now you can turn it into one, if you have the same techno wizard chops as Kazu Terasaki, the guy who’s done just that.

Here’s the video:

Perhaps “walking” isn’t quite the right word here. They’re sort of “sliding” their way across the table. But hey, all robots have to start somewhere, right?

(Via Gizmodo, and about half of Twitter this morning)

When Mozilla finally releases Firefox 4.0 for OS X, Mac users might notice that browsing has gotten quite a bit snappier for them, as it now looks as if hardware acceleration may, at long last, be coming to Firefox for the Mac.

It’s far from certain, though. The next beta of Firefox 4.0, b7, is the last before feature freeze kicks in on the latest version of the popular alternative browser… and Mozilla’s OS X software engineers have just decided to try to sneak it in.

One rather mystifying omission from the new AppleTV’s feature set is the fact that it does not seemingly have the ability to play 1080p video. That’s a crock: hardwarewise, the new AppleTV is more than capable of 1080p, because the iPhone 3GS was capable of it, and it didn’t even have an A4 CPU to draw upon. The second-gen ATV should be more than up for the task if that lesser platform could manage it.

And, as it turns out, it is.