Cult of Mac

I’d like to add my congratulations to those of the many TidBITS readers who’ve wished Adam Engst and his team all good wishes on reaching their 1000th issue this week.

I’ve been reading TidBITS for as long as I’ve used Macs, and consider it one of the finest, best-written, and most useful Mac publications around.

What separates it from the crowd is the way each and every article is carefully and lovingly assembled. Much thought is given to every detail, and there’s plenty of detail to think about because TidBITS articles never skimp on covering a news item or a software review from every possible perspective.

You know, when you start a TidBITS software review, that it will be balanced and well researched. You know that when you’ve finished reading it, you’ll have a good idea of that product’s potential value for you or your business.

There’s also a feeling of genuine warmth from the TidBITS writers and readers alike; discussion there is reasoned, sensible debate. Forum users will go out of their way to help one another. It’s a breath of fresh air.

So congratulations to all at TidBITS on 1000 issues of your superb email newsletter; here’s looking forward to the next 1000. And 1000 more after that.

Jabra’s new Stone headset is the first non-dorky Bluetooth headset I’ve ever seen.

Actually, it’s the second. The first was a Secret Service-style single earbud from Hong Kong that clipped to your shirt. Trouble is, it sounded awful.

The Stone should have no such trouble: it supports A2DP (good for music, even though it’s a single earpiece) and has nice, clear noise-canceling microphone. Volume controls are handled by the surface of the Stone, which is touch-sensitive – how cool is that?

It’s called the Stone because when docked into its portable charging dock, the pair look like a polished stone.

But boy, does it need that charging dock. Battery life is a skimpy two hours talk time, according to Jabra (and less than an hour according to one early review). The charging dock is good for three charges of the headset before it too has to be recharged. Standby is 12 hours.

Jabra’s Stone costs $130 and will be available exclusively from AT&T in early November. Might be worth the price  for the cool touchscreen volume controls — and for not making you look like Lieutenant Uhura.

It’s been said countless times: one indicator of Apple’s superiority over Microsoft and Dell (and other major computer and electronics manufacturers that are — for the most part — associated with Windows) is the fact that Apple inspires creativity in the general populace on a scale that dwarfs the influence of any other computer-oriented company you’d care to name.

Some evidence of this can be found in the following gallery of 10 simply awesome wallpapers themed around nothing more complicated than the Apple logo. Perhaps you know others in this specific genre that belong in this class — we invite you to let us know about it in comments below.

And if you can find anything comparable out there built around a logo from Microsoft, Windows, Dell, HP, etc., do let us know about that, too.

Apple’s COO Tim Cook says competitors are still trying to catch up with the original iPhone, which was launched more than two years ago.

During a conference call discussing today’s Q4 earnings, Cook was asked about competition hotting up for the upcoming holiday season. How will Apple maintain momentum and differentiation?

“We feel very confident,” Cook said. “People are still trying to catch up to the original iPhone, and we’ve long since moved past that.”

Ouch. Take that Google and Palm. And although it wasn’t mentioned by name, the question was clearly referring to the upcoming Droid phone from Verizon and Motorola, which is based on Google’s Android.

Verizon has launched a weird iDon’t advertising campaign that supposedly highlights all the things the iPhone doesn’t do — like run simultaneous apps. But while the Droid is getting early notice for being very thin (even with a slider keyboard), there’s still no sizable library of apps for it to run — and that’s what Cook is referring to.

The iPhone is a true mobile platform, not just a nice piece of standalone hardware. And a platform is something that takes years to build.

It’s going to be a big day for Apple stock tomorrow if after-hours gains stick. Apple’s stock was up to as much as $204 in after-hours trading. The company reported record profits on blockbuster sales of Macs and iPhones — all during one of the worst economic downturns this century.
Apple’s sales defy logic,

“Recession? What recession?” said Steve Jobs and co. on Monday as Apple reported record sales and near-record revenues for 2009’s fourth quarter.

While Wall Street and most of the technology industry limped along for the last three months, Apple’s fourth quarter revenues rose to a whopping $9.87 billion — the second best quarter ever after last Christmas.

Apple sold a record 3.05 million Macs during the quarter (17% year-on-year increase); 10.2 million iPods (down 8%); and 7.4 million iPhones (up 7%).

“We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter,” said Steve Jobs in a statement. “We’ve got a very strong lineup for the holiday season and some really great new products in the pipeline for 2010.”

The results do not reflect the new accounting rules that recently went into effect allowing Apple to realize iPhone and Apple TV sales, which are currently spread over two years. If these sales were taken into account for the quarter, revenue would have been $12.25 billion, Apple said.

The company is a runaway profit machine. Gross margins were up to an unbelievable 36.6%, which rocketed profits 46% to $1.67 billion for the quarter. Yeah, that’s a lot of cash. Companies like Dell and HP are lucky if they can squeeze 5% profits out of their products.

Internet genius/sockpuppet Fake Steve Jobs, aka Dan Lyons, has just posted to his blog the following teaser post:

We’re going to have news tomorrow
Can’t tell you what, obviously. But there’s something brewing. Gruber doesn’t know about it, but the people we care about are being briefed in advance. Stay close to your Mac or iPhone, and have your credit card ready.

Sounds like we have a date for those updated iMacs and white MacBooks, eh? And it would also be a logical step given Phil Schiller crowing that Apple has the opportunity to reap huge rewards during the Windows 7 launch, which kicks off Wednesday…

When Apple’s recently reported in-app feature was unveiled, it was largely taken as a way to head-off piracy. However the ability to let users of free apps easily upgrade to paid versions may instead by seen as a way for Apple to keep developers in an increasingly competitive arena.

Unlike in the past, developers can permit owners of a free iPhone app to upgrade to a paid version within the application. Previously, upgrading to a paid version required a second trip to the App Store, another download and more hassles for iPhone developers.

As we recently reported, PCalc recently added calculator censorship, protecting fragile little minds from seeing the word ‘boobies’ (and others) more or less spelled in old-fashioned upside-down numbers.

James Thomson, PCalc’s creator, states that the 1.8.1 upgrade is at least three times as draconian, now filtering ‘words’ punctuated by a decimal point, and those in languages other than English.

But wait! A hero looms on the horizon: the self-same James Thomson has rallied against iPhone calculator censorship and calculator-based freedoms, taking a stand against his “cruel paymasters” at TLA Systems, the evil umbrella corporation responsible for DragThing and PCalc, owned by evil, dictatorial James Thomson.

Now you can nip into PCalc’s advanced settings, scroll to the bottom, flip your device and turn off iPhone censorship, shortly before reverting to a five-year-old, typing 5318008, and never getting any work done again.

Hurrah for James Thomson and PCalc, freeing us from the calculator tyranny imposed by James Thomson and PCalc!

We start the week with an Apple Store deal on MacBook Pro laptops. This price cut comes as a $200 Amazon discount on Mac Pro desktops is being reported and talk of an imminent hardware refresh remains in the air. Also on tap: a deal for on-the-go iPod touch owners with a deluxe armband, plus in-car bluetooth that gets its energy from the Sun.

As always, for details on these and other bargains (like App Store freebies), check out CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

Has Verizon lost all hope of gaining access to Apple’s profitable iPhone? That seems to be the message in the aftermath of the carrier’s advertising blitz promoting the upcoming release of the Motorola-built Droid cellphone using Google’s Android 2.0 operating software.

Verizon takes dead aim at the iPhone with its “iDon’t Droid” advertising campaign kicked off over the weekend:

iDon’t have a real keyboard
iDon’t run simultaneous apps
iDon’t take night shots
iDon’t allow open development
iDon’t customize
iDon’t run widgets
iDon’t have interchangeable batteries
Everything iDon’t
DROID DOES

Unsaid but very clear is that the commercial burns any bridges Verizon might have had to offer the iPhone.

Handicapping Apple earnings reports has become a bit of a hobby for Wall Street investors. As the Cupertino, Calif. company readies release of fourth-quarter sales figures later Monday, the latest round of three-piece tea leaf-readers are projecting Apple will report a 13 percent jump in earnings on revenue between $8.7 billion and $10.5 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters Financial foresee Apple earnings reaching $1.42 per share, higher than Apple’s own public expectations of between $1.18 to $1.23 per share, according to the Wall Street Journal. In 2008, Apple reported earnings rose 26 percent to $1.14 billion during the fourth-quarter ended September 30.

The second in a series of five t-shirt giveaways, correctly name this mystery Apple item and you could win a T-shirt.

Not just any T-shirt: choose from the Apple-inspired designs at might tees, which include the I Love Lisa we wrote about, a retro-style logo and Steve Jobs in typeface.

A Firefox developer is crying foul over Microsoft’s decision to place Apple’s Safari ahead of the open-source browser in a ballot aimed at European Windows users. The decision gives Safari a “disproportionate advantage” over the Mozilla-built Firefox, argues designer Jenny Boriss.

“Windows users presented with the current design will tend to make only two choices: IE because they are familiar with it, or Safari because it is the first item,” she said. Boriss stressed her opinion does not reflect the views of Mozilla.

We end this week with a motley of Mac items, including a number of MacBooks starting at $620. For the music lover, our top trio is rounded-out with a deal on 30GB iPod videos for $99 and the Philips iPod Docking system. Along the way, we also highlight more speakers, keyboards and accessories suited to the Mac cultists.

For details on these and other bargains (such as the diNova wireless keyboard for Macs), check out CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

Back in July this year, I wrote a short scribble on my personal site listing a handful of ideas for iPhone apps.

The first was something I called “Supermarket Spotlight”, and it was described thus:

“Like Spotlight on your Mac, but for supermarkets in meatspace. You tell it that you’re in Tesco in Trowbridge, then start typing in the product you’re after. It tells you: ‘Aisle 12, section 2, top shelf, on the right if you’ve got your back to the cash tills.’ Either that, or it simply does the augmented reality thing and takes you there, beeping louder as you get closer, like a geiger counter.”

I never expected anyone to actually make it.

Demand for Apple’s iPhone is reportedly outstripping supply, causing some Wall Street prognosticators to caution investors yet foresee a bountiful 2010 first quarter. Friday, one analyst suggested a wait-and-see policy ahead of Apple’s October 19 revenue statement. Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner told investors they should “keep some powder dry” and purchase shares following the earnings report.

Apple said in September it had sold 3.5 million iPhones with three weeks left in the month. Now analysts believe Apple could report Monday sales of twice that, or more. The third quarter period would be the first since Apple released the iPhone 3GS in late June.

Leopard “consistently outdid” Microsoft’s soon-to-be released Windows 7 operating system, according to to a head-to-head time test. Apple’s latest OS X operating system outpaced Windows in both boot-up and shutdown, according to a review conducted by CNet.

Leopard needed 36.4 seconds to boot up versus 42.7 seconds for Windows 7. The gap was even more significant in the time needed to shut down the 2008 MacBook Pro. While Snow Leopard required 6.6 seconds to shut down, Windows 7 took 12.6 seconds, the study found.

This iPhone clone found by a reporter at a trade show in Asia comes with about as ugly an add-on as possible: a squashed qwerty keyboard with keys that look like veneers gone wrong.

It’s pretty ingenious, as much as lacking in aesthetics, since the keyboard is integrated into a protector case (which also looks fittingly hideous) with a custom connector for the phone.

For those of you who want an external keyboard for your iPhone, would  you want it badly enough to use this one?

Via Pocket Lint

It’s Friday and it’s time for our weekly digest of tiny iPhone reviews, courtesy of iPhoneTiny.com, with some extra commentary exclusive to Cult of Mac.

Under review this week: AboutTime, Privately, Pro Football Live!, Hanoi Plus, Brave Man, 5ft Monkey, Orbital. As always, all id.gd links are to the relevant App Store page.

A week back, my interest was piqued by Retina (App Store link), a 99-cent augmented reality app that aims to assist color-blind users. I interviewed developer Stefan Fürst of Media Atelier for some background on the app.

Cult of Mac: What was the inspiration behind Retina? Why did you decide to make it?
Stefan Fürst: The idea was born when my red-green blind bicycle buddy was talking in a very convinced way about his green bike he likes so much. He had been riding it for two years and had no idea it wasn’t green at all.

How does it work, and how did you decide on the interface?
The interface has been kept very simple to make it suitable for everyday use. The list of colors might look very short and inaccurate to non-color blinds—but to figure out if an object is green or red this works perfectly.

What feedback have you had from colour-blind users?
One of them made me to add the saturation indicator and told me that this helps him a lot.

In which ways do you think augmented reality apps will evolve in the future?
I believe that there are almost endless possibilities, but most uses would need higher processing power to make them run smoothly on an iPhone or other mobile device.

What are your future plans for iPhone apps?
Actually I am more of a Mac Developer, extending my desktop apps with iPhone helpers. I developed Retina for my color-blind friends and hopefully a lot of other people having problems in recognizing colors.

Having garnered some feedback from early Retina adopters, it seems there’s definitely interest in this kind of app, although Retina itself appears to have trouble with subtler colors, and it often claims it’s ‘too dark’ or ‘too light’ to make an assessment. However, for 99 cents, it’s worth a look for anyone severely color-blind wanting a quick and easy way to ascertain the color of things like clothing.

When iTunes 9 came out, a lot of people (myself included) were delighted to see a new feature that allowed you to re-arrange the apps on your iPhone’s screens using your desktop computer.

Hooray, we cheered. No more tedious dragging of little wriggling icons from one screen to another. Now we can put our apps where we want them to be, and never have to worry about them again.

Wrong.

It turns out that using this feature in iTunes 9 is a complete waste of time, thanks to the way the iPhone OS works. Here’s why.

Last week, we published The Complete Guide to Unlocking and Jailbreaking your iPhone and iPod Touch. Here’s a list of must have apps and tweaks that you’ve enabled by following our guide. Through Cydia, you can download and install each item below and add new functionality and usefulness to your iPhone. I give you the Top Ten Must Have iPhone Jailbreak Apps:

As the U.S. East Coast prepares for an early snowfall, we have some deals on MacBook Pros that will keep you toasty, entertained and with a few more dollars left in your wallet. We start off with two MacBook Pro choices; one with a slightly slower processor at $749 and another with a fast 2.2GHz cpu, more software, but a smaller screen (13-inch versus 15-inch.) We then have a face off with armbands for your iPod or iPhone and an assortment of other gadgets.

For details on these and other products (like the V-Moda Vibe noise-cancelling earbuds), check out CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

iSkin just launched a new line of silicone keyboard covers treated with Microban, a secret germ-fighting sauce adding in during the manufacturing process.

Whether you believe in the germ-fighting power of the additive or not, keeping a skin on your keyboard will certainly keep the falling crumbs from your breakfast and bits of ick from settling in — since most office workers are exposed to more germs from their keyboards than toilet seats.

Plus, you can wash it with warm, soapy water.

The new line covers external keyboards and laptop models, prices range from $24.99 – $34.99.

Not sure I would’ve sprung for a keyboard condom in the past, but the amount of grit that never seems to come out of a keyboard plus paranoia over swine flu makes it seem like a small price to pay.

Via iSkin