Processed food mongers Kraft thought they might cop some of Apple’s cool by sticking an “i” in front of a new product.
Meet iSnack 2.0. It’s Vegemite (for the uninitiated, concentrated yeast extract) plus cream cheese. In one handy jar.
(Forgive me Australians: it sounds like it should’ve been directly marketed as an emetic.)
The new Apple-esque name was chosen from 48,000 entries in a contest. The winning entry was coined by 27-year-old Dean Robbins, who, we’re guessing because he’s also a web designer, is probably also a Mac user.
After a slow start this week, the Apple deals are again flowing. We begin with Belkin’s TuneFM transmitter for the iPod. This brings up an interesting question for iPod/iPhone users: how frequently are you tuning to your tunes or phone rather than actual radio broadcasts? The results may be surprising. We continue on with more refurbished iPhones from AT&T and wind up our top trio with an intriguing aluminum iPhone case – complete with stand.
As always, details on these and other bargains (such as the latest round of App Store freebies) can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page.
Don't call it a comeback. The Newton and iPhone @http://www.mediabistro.com/mobilecontenttoday
After a 15-year hiatus, Apple has taken Newton Tablet developer Michael Tchao back into the fold.
Tchao, once part of the original Newton team, will now be a vice president of product marketing.
Steve Dowling, the Apple spokesman who confirmed the hire did not say exactly what the man who helped create the grandfather of PDAs will be doing in Cupertino.
The NYT speculates that he’ll be helping define the market for an Apple tablet; though they can’t resist calling the Newton a “groundbreaking but failed personal digital assistant. ” (Most other takes, including ours, say the product was axed when Steve Jobs returned.)
It’s not such a big jump from the Apple tablet to Tchao’s most recent gig, serving as general manager of Nike Techlab, which designed armbands and running shoes to integrate with iPods.
It’s just as easy, for now at least, to speculate he’ll be doing more in-house integration with these devices.
What it is: A simple puzzle platformer in which you play Jeremiah the Frog, a cheerful fellow trying to escape Satan’s curse by turning floor squares red and green with his hops — all to the music of brilliant indie rock outsider Daniel Johnston.
Why it’s cool: Didn’t you read the description? Ah, well. The play control is smooth and easy to pick up, the graphics are beautiful and cartoony, and the soundtrack is amazing. I’ve only been playing for five minutes, but I’ve already heard “Some Time Spent in Heaven.” Better still, Jeremiah is based on a mural Johnston painted in Austin, Texas, who cheerfully declares “Hi, How Are You?” to people on the campus of the University of Texas. But it’s a good game whether you know that or not.
Where to get it: On the App Store, of course. Link. It’s only 99 cents for a limited time.
It’s a well-known fact around these parts that Tweetie is the best of all Twitter clients (and it’s exclusive to iPhone and Mac, as all great things are). Today, we got to see just how much better it can get, as developer Loren Brichter and somebetatesters shared their thoughts on the much-anticipated Tweetie 2.0, which should be released for both Mac and iPhone within the next week.
First, the bad news. Though the Mac version will be a free upgrade, Tweetie 2 for iPhone will be $2.99, given that it’s a complete rewrite (and functionally a different app). But it looks to be well worth your hard-earned $3 bill. Here’s a taste of the functionality:
Full persistence (you can do something else and come back to the app, and it’s like you never left; who needs multitasking)
Landscape support
Support for Project ReTweet API and future geolocation APIs
View threaded conversations
Sync with Address Book for full communication integration
Video support
Drafts manager
New compose screen, including @user picker, recent hashtags, multiple attachments manager and more
Short URL previews
Same code base as Tweetie for Mac
Yeah, you saw that last bullet right. From a functional standpoint, Tweetie for both platforms will be a single application, which means (most) of this goodness is coming your way. I can’t wait to get my hands on it. Take a bow, Mr. Brichter.
When a gadget has a doppelganger, the differences between the two are automatically thrown into sharp relief. Because Seagate’s DockStar runs on Pogoplug technology and uses the Pogoplug interface, our review of Cloud Engine’s Pogoplug a few weeks back pretty much covers the DockStar completely.
The DockStar performs the same exact function as the Pogoplug: it’s an instant, easy-to-use internet connection for any hard drive. Transfer files to a USB thumb drive or portable drive, plug it into the DockStar, then access the files from anywhere on the Internet. But there are three differences between the two products — one of them a big catch.
Apple announced today that there have been 2 billion downloads from the App Store. But how many of those were paid, and how may were free?
The mobile advertising firm Mobclix claims its app analytics shows that paid apps represent 77.3% of the App Store, while the other 22.7% of apps are free. However, far more free apps are downloaded than paid.
“For app developers, this means it’s much harder to get your paid app discovered,” the company says.
While there are 20 categories of apps in total, for example, the two most popular categories — Games and Entertainment — account for more than a third of all apps in the store. Together, the Games and Entertainment categories make up 35% of all apps.
At the other end of the scale, the smallest five categories — Social Networking, Photography, Finance, Medical and Weather — account for only 6.2% of the App Store.
The site also lists the most popular apps in the 20 different categories.
OK, recently exhibited at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art. (Huge version of this.)
When does an operating system UI element become a work of art? Is it when Artie Vierkant replicates it many times over and makes it into a huge print? Or was it art in the first place?
Here’s one of those ‘lifeboat’ questions: you’re on a snowy mountain, the rescue ‘copter is 8 eight hours away and your iPod runs out of juice. Do you a: listen to the whistling wind and stay toasty warm inside a heated jacket or b: hotwire your jacket to power your ‘pod? That may be the situation if you purchase the Refugium Jacket from Mountain Hardwear.
The $375 jacket claims to keep you toasty warm for 8.6 hours using Ardica’s 10-watt power source located in the coat’s shell near a person’s shoulder blades. The heat can be adjusted (there are three settings) by pressing a tab near the chest.
But for CoM readers, here’s the real feature: a USB adapter can re-route the energy used to heat the jacket to an iPod. Of course, it’ll cost you $50 extra to contemplate whether listening to your favorite tune really is to-die.
Maybe James Bond will finally get an iPhone, now that it has driven his iconic Aston Martin out of the top spot of cool brands for the UK market.
The iPhone was neck and neck with the high-end car maker, coming in second last year. After being in the top spot for four years in a row, the Aston is surrounded by Apple electronics.
The top four spots in the annual Cool Brands list are iPhone, then Aston Martin, Apple and the iPod. (Nintendo rounds out the top five. Other car makers like Ferrari and Mini placed 15 and 17 respectively.)
It’s an interesting victory of relatively affordable personal electronics over luxury — in the top 20, Apple also triumphed over Dom Perignon, Rolex and Vivienne Westwood.
Aston Martin, however, hasn’t quite lost its cachet, if the rumors are true that iPod designer Jonathan Ives drives this sleek little number (check out the Bond-related plates) we spotted parked outside Apple’s Rock n’ Roll event.
Apple's App Store has seen 2 billion downloads in just 15 months. Image brazenly stolen from 9to5Mac.com: http://www.9to5mac.com/app-store-2-billion-downloads
The number of apps downloaded from the App Store has passed a cool 2 billion, Apple said on Monday.
That’s means the App Store is growing like a weed. In late April, Apple announced the App Store hit one billion downloads, and 1.5 billion three months later in July — on the store’s first birthday.
The latest 500,000,000 mark took just two-and-a-half months to hit. That means about 6 million apps are being downloaded EVERY DAY. That’s a pretty mind-boggling number.
In addition, the number of apps is now 85,000 from 125,000 developers, Apple’s press release said.
We’re on the home stretch, feeling the last rays of Summer and preparing for the inevitable ‘frost on the pumpkin’ (for non-U.S. readers a quick trip to Wikipedia might be in order) marking October. Meanwhile, we dwell indoors, warmed by the heat generated by our Macs and thoughts of even more gadget deals. This week kicks off with a dual dock from Gigaware to juice up both your iPod and iPhone, a faux leather case from Kroo if the PETA folks come knocking at your door and a pair of “digital performance” glasses which we take as just cool-looking computer specs.
Details on these and other bargains can be found after the jump at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page.
Orange is saying nothing yet about prices and contract tariffs, nor has the company pinpointed a launch date. It has put up a web page where people can register their interest.
O2 has had the exclusive deal since 2007 and generally done a decent job of it, although it has been criticized for poor data network reliability and high prices for tethering and roaming. A little bit of competition is probably going to be a good thing.
A few weeks back I provided a quick preview of Cadence, an app for iPhone that promised to allow a totally new way to browse your music collection — by tempo. It’s out in the App Store now for $2.99 (link will launch iTunes), and having spent time with it today, I can confirm that it does exactly what it promises to. Unfortunately, setup is both wonky and time-consuming, which was disappointing.
To find out whether Cadence is for you, click through.
With Apple’s recent ridiculous app store refusals, now is the perfect time to free your phone. Jailbreaking your device might seem too difficult to take on, but by following the steps below you can easily add a video camera to your 3G, or tether your Macbook to your 3GS. This How-To will guide you through jailbreaking your specific device using either Pwnage Tool or Redsn0w. Also included are simple instructions to unlock your device, letting you use it with different carriers.
Note: 3GS, 2nd gen and 3rd-gen iPod Touch owners who have recently updated to firmware 3.1 cannot jailbreak their phones unless they revert back to 3.0.1.
Here’s some pictures of the rare Apple I that will be up for auction on eBay early next week. Hit the jump for more.
As reported earlier, the historic machine will be up for auction shortly, likely next week. The owner, Monroe Postman, hasn’t announced the date of the auction.
Postman picked up the Apple I at an estate sale around 1980. He doesn’t remember the details, including how much he paid.
Can Microsoft ever do anything right? The company has some produced some pretty good advertising for Windows 7, but for some inexplicable reason, the ads will not be shown on TV. Microsoft’s best advertising in years is restricted to a dusty corner of YouTube, where no one will see them.
At the Tokyo Game Show, the booth babes try to keep people's minds off Apple. Pic by GodOfSpeed: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28537954@N04/3953230803/
At the giant Tokyo Game Show, everyone’s freaking out about Apple, the New York Times reports.
Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are more worried about Apple and it’s new iPhone/iPod platform than the worst recession in decades, the Times says.
Apple’s recent foray into video games — with the iPhone, the iPod Touch and its ever-expanding online App Store — is causing as much hand-wringing among old industry players as the global economic slump, which threatens to take the steam out of year-end shopping for the second consecutive year.
The industry sees a big shift to casual gaming on cellphones and other handhelds, rather than expensive, overpowered consoles. Consumers are buying $0.99c games, rather than dropping $50 on big, blockbuster titles with multimillion dollar budgets and massive development teams. Of the 758 games debuted at the show, 168 are for cellphone platforms, the most ever.
Some game developers say Apple’s App Store is the biggest recent breakthrough in gaming, and the industry is better off trying to find new business models rather than new consoles.
“We are going to move away from a market where it’s the hardware that fights against each other,” one developer said during a presentation. “We are going to be moving to an era when different software stores fight against each other.”
The beloved Dogcow Moof! t-shirt from RedLightRunner is now a rarity.
It’s always a little dicey doing a “Best of” Apple t-shirts post because the really, truly best Apple t-shirts have always been the limited edition, short-run t-shirts that Apple prints up for employees and other associates, the ones Guy Kawasaki wrote about in his 1990 book, “The Macintosh Way.” In it he draws a flow chart depicting Apple’s process for making great products and the first step is: Order t-shirt.
However, for those of us not lucky enough to get our bods into one of these rare and memorable pieces of Apple attire, there are a number of outlets in the US and the UK (and probably elsewhere as well) where you can pick up some cool threads and show the world where your allegiances lie.
Hit the jump for a gallery of 10 we think are worth checking out.
New iMacs are just around the corner, according to reports, and may be released in a matter of weeks. While some recent rumors suggest the machine may get a Blu-Ray drive, a SD Card reader seems much likelier, especially as card readers are now included in the 13″ and 15″ MacBook Pros.
The iMac is also rumored to get new processors, but reports are all over the place. Mac4Ever says the iMac will get quad-core chips, and possibly Xeon processors, while MacRumors says the iMac will stay with dual-core chips.
Mac4Ever also predicts a mouse with a surface that is 100% touch-enabled, allowing for advanced configuration options. There’s alos an aluminum remote in Apple’s pipeline, which sounds nice and classy.
Meanwhile, AppleInsider is saying the entry-level MacBook may also get a revamp shortly. The MacBook may split into a couple of sub-$1,000 models, AI says, thanks to the crummy economy, and may also be available in weeks.
AT&T’s long-awaited MMS update for the iPhone is finally ready. Just plug your iPhone into iTunes and hit the “Check for Update” button.
You should get the dialog message above, saying: “An update to your carrier settings for your iPhone is available. Would you like to download it now?”
Hit “Download and Update” and wait a few seconds. The update is done is a jiffy. Then go to your iPhone and launch the Messages app. There should be a little camera icon to the left of the text input box at the bottom. Hit it, and you’ll be able to send pictures or video with your text messages. Try it: it’s a lot of fun.
PS: Some users are reporting they have to manually reboot their iPhone after installing the carrier update.
The critically-acclaimed Bioshock game is coming to the Mac on October 7, Feral Interactive has announced.
The game was released for Windows and the Xbox 360 in August 2007, more than two years ago. Isn’t it great that game developers are so dedicated to the Mac platform?
In addition, the Mac version requires a dedicated video card: it doesn’t support Intel’s integrated GMA video cards, used in some MacBooks and iMacs, and all Mac Minis, except the newest models.
If you’ve developed migraines attempting to navigate Apple’s oh-too-cute one-button iPod Shuffle interface while fuming over the controls on the iPod’s proprietary headphones, we might have your answer: the Tapstick.
The $30 Tapstick is a double-whammy. Not only does the device return your buttons for play, pause, skip, navigate and the VoiceOver feature, the accessory from Scosche plugs into any headset.
Although minimalism is hot – witness the iPhone’s sleek design – carried to its natural conclusion brings us form over function with the Shuffle a prime example. While reviving a few buttons may seem like a small move in the right direction, it should save many Shuffles from being relegated to the spare change drawers and unused gadget box.
TomTom’s Car Kit will be priced at $119.95 when it is introduced next month and will be compatible with all iPhone models, the company said in a brief statement on Friday.
Earlier this week, it looked like the Car Kit might also include the iPhone app. But TomTom’s statement now makes it clear that the Car Kit will be sold separately from TomTom’s $100 app, bringing the total price to $220 — the same as a dedicated GPS unit.
TomTom’s GPS system is getting pretty good reviews — Gizmodo gives it a B+ — although the mount kit might raise that grade if it amplifies the app’s voice instructions as promised.
TomTom announces today that the TomTom car kit for the iPhone will have a recommended retail price of EUR 99.99 or USD 119.95.
The TomTom car kit will be available this October and will be sold separately from the TomTom app. It will be compatible with the iPhone 2G, 3G and 3GS.
All further details on the car kit will be made available soon.
