In today’s deal highlights, we focus on the iPad and iPhone. First up is a free business and finance app for your iPad, including “Pocket MBA – 101 Financial Solutions Course.” Next is the latest round of free iPhone applications, such as “Palm Heroes.” Finally, there is a two-year SquareTrade warranty for your iPhone. The $93.75 warranty goes beyond AppleCare to provide protection for spills and drops.
Along the way, we’ll check out other iPhone software, cases and a deal on an 8GB iPod touch. As always, details on these and many other items are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.
Most Apple events kick off with some bluster, and Steve’s holding suit with some bragging about Apple’s new retail stores located in further-off climes.
First off, their new Shanghai Store, which took 18 months to restore with a 40-foot high glass cylinder made in single pieces of glass. “That’s a landmark in glass engineering,” says Apple.
Next, the new London Covent Garden Store, which was Apple’s 300th. And soon: Spain.
All in all, Apple Stores are drawing in over 1 Million Visitors a day. The Apple Store is a phenomenon with a bigger populace than some nations.
Looking robust, Steve Jobs has just taken the stage at the Yuerba Buena Center — exactly on time — to announce this year’s new iPod models.
What to expect? A new iPod Touch boasting a Retina Display and A4 CPU, most likely. A new touchscreen Shuffle. The possibility of a new, rebranded AppleTV called the iTV. And maybe — just maybe — iTunes in the cloud.
Apple is live-streaming today’s big announcement, so you’ll be able to see the new iPod firsthand. The link isn’t live yet, but should be soon — Apple takes the stage at 10 a.m. Pacific time.
ABC Disney and Fox have given Apple a ‘go’ signal on a plan to sell 99-cent episodes via iTunes. However, the agreement is limited and is being labeled as “experimental.” The limited agreement is expected to be announced Wednesday, alongside a redesigned $99 Apple TV as part of a media event called by the Cupertino, Calif. company.
The Wall Street Journal, citing “people familiar with the matter,” reports Fox has agreed to offer Apple shows it “both produces and airs,” including series such as “Bones” and “Glee.” The limitation is in light of concern some networks have expressed that the 99-cent pact could hurt lucrative re-run agreements.
Startled by the rumors that Apple intends to launch its own streaming television today the rest of the industry is already reacting: Sony intends on launching its own music and video subscription service tonight.
According to a report by the Financial Times, Sony’s new service will launch on its PlayStation 3 video game console at first, and then gradually creep out to other Sony-brand, internet-connected devices like Sony Walkman players, Vaio computers, Bravia TVs and even Sony Ericsson mobile phones.
Sony’s not the only one setting up shop with a streaming media subscription service: Amazon is also apparently inking some deals right now to allow it to stream television shows and movies, speaking with NBC Universal, Time Warner, News Corp and Viacom.
It certainly seems like other companies think Apple’s got a big announcement up their sleeves for later today, and are scrambling to catch up.
What with the contentious relationship between Intel and Apple, you’d think Apple CEO Steve Jobs wouldn’t be pleased about the chip giant acquiring Infineon’s wireless business, the firm that supplies baseband chips for the iPhone. However, Intel’s CEO says Jobs was overjoyed at the news.
“Steve was very happy,” Intel CEO Paul Otellini said in a Fox Business TV interview. There were a number of companies competing for [Infineon’s wireless unit]. I think they [Apple] are very happy Intel won the bid.” Tuesday we reported Intel acquired Infineon for $1.4 billion.
Here’s a rumor that has my heart leaping in my chest: later today, Apple intends to offer the option of 3G with their fourth-gen iPod Touches.
According to the rumor, the new iPod Touches would have the option of 3G, similar to the iPad. For users willing to pay a hundred dollars more for their Touch, it would come with a built-in tray for a 3G micro-SIM.
I can’t tell you how onboard with this rumor I am. While I’ve debated whether or not a retina display and FaceTime would be enough to get me to upgrade my third-gen iPod Touch, the addition of 3G to the fourth-gen would be enough for me to dump my iPhone for good. Who needs it when you’ve got 3G, a multitasking operating system like iOS 4 and a SkypeOut account?
We’re only four hours away from knowing the truth. Right now, I’d say that I think 3G is on the iPod Touch roadmap eventually, but perhaps not today. I think a lot will rest on whether or not the next iPod Touch gains any thickness. It looks like Apple already intends on cramming two cameras into the iPod Touch, which is already a miraculous spatial trick: getting a 3G radio in there without increasing the device footprint would be a design miracle.
Got an old lamp-style iMac sitting dusty and unused since you first swooned over it back in 2003? Gut it, install a Larson Scanner Kit into the base and plop it on your head and you’re ready to attend your next Halloween party as… well.. take your pick? iMaCylon? Cyclops from the OS X-Men?
According to Apple, there’s no problem with the iPhone 4’s antenna… or, at the very least, no problem it doesn’t share with all of its competitors. But are they being disingenuous? According to a new rumor, Apple is very much hard at work on an updated iPhone 4 that alleviates the signal attenuation problems once and for all.
The rumor comes via the admittedly questionable source of a spokesperson for Mexican wireless carrier Telcel, who says that Apple will release an updated iPhone 4 by the end of October… a date which will closely follow the end of Apple’s own iPhone 4 Bumper program, which is Cupertino’s current PR band-aid slapped over the problem.
It’s an interesting rumor, but I think it’s a bit spurious. Apple’s said over and over again there’s no problem: they can’t reverse course on that without reopening the debate, and possibly making themselves even more liable in class-action lawsuits. If Apple significantly redesigns the iPhone 4’s antenna, there’ll be a name for it: the iPhone 4.
Flickr user Marc Krenn has posted this amazing mock-up of what we might possibly expect the new, updated iPod Shuffle / Nano with the 1.13-inch touchscreen to look like when Steve Jobs finally unveils it this afternoon. I think he’s probably nailed it except for the colors: Apple’s chromatic preferences of any given season are always unpredictable.
While I’m thinking about it — and this is as good a place as any to muse — there’s been a lot of debate as to whether this new touchscreen iPod is going to be an update to the Nano or the Shuffle. We’ll know in about five hours, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder if Apple doesn’t intend to converge both models into a single device.
After all, both the Nano and the Shuffle are aimed to the same kinds of consumers: the budget conscious, the footprint conscious and the athletically minded. If Apple can add a touchscreen display to the Shuffle, what’s the point of the Nano, and if the Nano gets as small as the last-generation Shuffle… well, what’s the point of the Shuffle at all?
There’s some holes in this theory, I know: the Nano has a widescreen display for watching movies, which this new Nano/Shuffle/whatever would be hopeless for. It also comes with a camera, which is obviously going to be left out of this new design. But if Apple intends on trying to push iPod customers who want a camera and video capabilities up the ladder to the entry-level iPod Touch, and if they can bring a Shuffle/Nano hybrid down to below, say, $100… I wonder if what we’re seeing here is Cupertino’s attempt to simplify the iPod line-up by merging two distinct devices into one.
Apple is live streaming Wednesday’s iPod event as a test of its massive new data center, we’ve been informed by a source.
Apple’s first live video broadcast in years is a test of the server farm’s ability to stream a future version of iTunes for iOS devices, our tipster says.
“The goal is to monitor traffic load and quality,” says our tipster, who asked to remain anonymous to preserve their connections at Apple.
With the rumor-mill at a fever-pitch for tomorrow’s guitar-shaped event, Apple announced today that it will provide a live video stream as Steve Jobs introduces various new pieces of hardware and software and holds them next to his head. The stream will go live at Apple.com at 10 a.m. PDT tomorrow, and the excitement will build for the next hour.
But there’s a catch — you need to watch on an iOS device or a Mac with Snow Leopard. So you Windows, Linux, Android, and even older Mac users will need to stay tuned to Cult of Mac for live updates. See you tomorrow!
Forget battery packs or antenna boosters. In my book, this built-in bottle opener is a truly useful addition to an iPhone case.
The iBottleoppener is a $19.99 case for the iPhone 3G or 3GS with a bottle opener on the back. It’s available for pre-order, but avoid the promo video, which is bad infomercial cheesy.
Danish illustrator Mads Peitersen has been painting a series or really imaginative pictures showing the anatomy of technology. His guts of an iPhone pic is particularly cool.
“Smartphones today are soo advanced and good they almost behave alive. And becomes an extension of your body,” he writes.
There’ll be a new $99 AppleTV tomorrow with Netflix movie streaming, Bloomberg reports.
Apple Inc., preparing to announce a new set-top box that delivers TV to consumers, will include movies from Netflix Inc., according to three people with knowledge of the plans.
The streaming service would be available on the revamped version of Apple TV, due to be introduced tomorrow in San Francisco, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans havent been made public. Users would pay a subscription fee to Netflix for the service, the people said.
The new AppleTV will cost $99 — $130 less than the current model, Bloomberg says. Apple will also update iTunes and offer a new iPod touch with a higher-resolution screen (likely a Retina display to match the iPhone 4’s).
The new Apple TV is rumored to be renamed iTV and run a version of iOS, possibly making is capable of running apps and games from the App Store. There’s no word on whether Netflix’s service will be an app or integrated into the device, as it is with some DVD players.
Netflix already offers a subscription movie streaming service through a wide variety of devices, from Blu-Ray players to TiVo and game consoles. There are also Netflix apps for the iPhone and iPad that stream movies and TV shows to subscribers.
iPad-slash-Pogoplug users, quit yer whining that your iPad doesn’t print, find an iPad-sans-Pogoplug user and launch into an obnoxious victory dance in their immediate vicinity.
That’s right, Pogoplug has just begun rolling out a firmware update that’ll enable printing from any iDevice (so iPhone/iPt users get to shake a little booty also) to any 2005-or-newer vintage Epson or HP printer. The release says the rollout will stretch out over a week, so be patient.
All-business, pink-hating Pogopluggers and ‘Pluggers with their ‘Plugs way over on the other side of the room from their routers will be happy to hear that the $300 Pogoplug Biz (which ditches the hot pink highlights for stark grey and comes with a whole bunch of enterprise upgrades) and the $30 Wireless Extender (a USB dongle that obviously obviates the need for an ethernet cable connection) ship today. More good news: Current Pogoplug owners get the Wireless Extender for free.
An iPhone app that works as a stethoscope may change the way doctors work in a heartbeat.
So far, some three million physicians have downloaded the $0.99 iStethoscope to be able to monitor the heart rates of patients on the go.
According to creator Peter Bentley, a researcher at University College London, “smartphones are capable of saving lives, saving money and improving health care in a dramatic fashion.”
Bentley hopes that in the future smartphones could become mobile vital sign monitors, “fully fledged integrated designs capable of taking ultra sound scanners or monitor a patient’s blood pressure.”
With some 80 percent of doctors say they expect to be using a smart phone by 2012, this inexpensive app definitely quickens the pace of many. Although the heart-monitor app is undoubtedly handy, it does sound slightly awkward to use without a bit of practice.
The Apple universe is all a twitter on the day before the Cupertino company makes its holiday product announcements. The folks at bookmaker.com are wagering that we’re most likely to see an iPhone 4 revision and a bigger, better iPod Nano. (Yep, that’s over 100%. For once, the fuzzy math isn’t mine, that’s how betting odds work).
These outcomes are slightly different from what CoM and most of you readers believe, if our reader poll is at all trustworthy — most expect the iPod but also something new for Apple TV and iWork.
Anybody willing to put their money where their mouth is?
The Oxford English Dictionary will not be printed again thanks in part to the iPad, Alastair Jamieson reports for The Telegraph:
Simon Winchester, author of ‘The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary’, said the switch towards online formats was “prescient”. He said: “Until six months ago I was clinging to the idea that printed books would likely last for ever. Since the arrival of the iPad I am now wholly convinced otherwise.”
We start the day off with three hardware deals: the first is a 22-inch iMac powered by an Intel core i3 running at 3.06GHz for $1,049. Or, for the same amount, you can grab a MacBook Pro laptop. Finally, if you are seeking more horsepower, how about an 8-core Mac Pro Workstation with 16GB of memory for $3,879?
Along the way, we’ll also check out the latest crop of iPhone app freebies, as well as more cases for your Apple handset. As always, details on these and many more items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.
Once upon a time, BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion could count on its corporate customers as a stable source of revenue. Not so much now, as the iPhone and Android-based handsets invade the once safe inner sanctum of big business. That change is so drastic, one analyst warns that RIM is “under a sizeable threat.”
Bernstein Research analyst Pierre Farragu Tuesday cut his target price for RIM stock to $40, down from $55 and reduced his earnings per share expectations for 2011 and 2012. This after Farragu found 200 U.K. and U.S. companies held “a scary outlook” for RIM’s corporate customer base.
If you are looking for one of Amazon’s lower-priced Kindle e-readers, you soon may only have to look as far as your neighborhood Staples retail location, the giant office supply company announced Tuesday. Staples’ 1,550 locations this fall will carry Amazon’s recently reduced-priced $139 Kindle, as well as the $189 Kindle 3G and $379 Kindle DX.
The Staples tie-up makes the second bricks-and-mortar retailer offering the Kindle. Earlier this year, Amazon announced its device would be sold by Target.
