Sony Wednesday introduced two iPod speaker docks with Wi-Fi streaming. The NAS-Z200iR (shown) includes a hand-held remote allowing media to also stream from your PC, PlayStation 3 or the Internet.
Along with Wi-Fi streaming, the networked Sony unit includes a CD player, AM/FM radio plus USB inputs.
A more streamlined unit, the CMT-Z100iR, provides what’s described as a “stealth” display, providing rear access to controls.
Welcome to Macintosh, the feature length documentary that explores the many ways Apple, Inc. has changed the world, jumped from the international, independent film festival circuit to pay-per-view cable TV Wednesday.
The film, which relies on notable personalities associated in one way or another with Apple, such as Andy Hertzfeld, co-creator of the original Macintosh, and long-time Mac evangelist Guy Kawasaki, tells the inside story of what makes Apple different and will now be available to over 20 million subscribers to the Comcast cable network in both the Pay-Per-View section and the “Movie” section of Comcast’s On Demand service.
“The goal was to make a film that you can show to anyone, even someone that has never used a computer, and have them understand why so many people love Macintosh,” says Josh Rizzo, Co-Director. “Availability to all US Comcast customers goes a long way toward completing that goal.”
If you’ve seen it, you know Welcome to Macintosh is really a love song to Apple and though the film is in no way authorized, sponsored or otherwise approved by the company, it’s a good bet there will be cheering in Cupertino once the ancillary sales begin to roll in from people who come to Apple through having seen the film.
Are you tired of walking, running or otherwise moving to eek a bit of electricity from the numerous gadgets converting kinetic energy into power for your iPhone?
Get ready for extra talk time for just being alive. The Dyson Energy Bracelet converts the temperature difference between your body and the surrounding environment into enough electricity to talk a few more minutes on your favorite Apple communications device.
The bracelet includes a mini USB connection which Apple and other cell phone makers earlier this week approved as a universal standard (at least in Europe) for recharging mobile phones, starting in 2010. A price and distribution date have yet to be announced. More information is available at Yanko Design.
Unlike the Viber Burst kinetic device we talked about recently, the Dyson bracelet employs the thermoelectric effect to convert body temperature into electricity. Although the thermoelectric effect is commonly used in temperature sensors, it can also be used to generate power. (Here’s a fuller explanation of the science behind the gadget.)
Michael Jackson is likely make more money in death than he ever did in life — the Elvis effect. And it’s already started.
Jackson sold a record 2.6 million digital downloads in just one week, according to preliminary sales numbers from Nielsen SoundScan.
The sales make Jackson the first artist to sell more than one million digital songs in one week. The week before his death, Jackson sold 48,000 songs, illustrating how big a jump this week’s numbers are.
Jackson’s records are dominating the charts. Six of his albums are in the top 10 Top Digital Albums chart, a record, and 25 of his singles are in the top 75 Hot Digital Songs.
Like Elvis, Jackson is likely to bigger earner in death than he was in life. Elvis earned a whopping $52 million in 2007 — $8 million more than living pop stars like Justin Timberlake ($44 million) and Madonna ($40 million), according to Forbes.com.
Counterfeit iPhones have come a long way. They’re now almost identical to original iPhones, fooling bargain hunters on sites like eBay.
Look at the video below from Dana Stibolt, founder of MacMedics, who was given a fake iPhone bought on the auction site.
At first glance, it’s almost identical to current models, from the touchscreen to the volume switches on the side and the dock connector on the bottom.
“It looks EXACTLY like an iPhone,” says Stibolt. “But it does not work very well, and when it does work, it is very slow.”
Last year, knockoff iPhones were easy to spot. They were thicker, bulkier and often had extra buttons or keyboards.
Mozilla’s new Firefox 3.5 browser, released on Tuesday, adds porn mode, big speed improvements and location services.
But one feature for MacBook users has been removed from previous beta releases — the multitouch twist gesture for navigating between tabs.
It’s a handy gesture. With a twist of your fingers, you can whiz through open tabs just like using Control-Tab.
Here’s how to re-enable it.
What it is: Archon Classic is an iPhone app that brings my favorite-ever Mac game to the iPhone — perfectly. It’s basically like extraordinarily Manichean version of chess — the battle between not just white and black pieces, but light and dark forces. And instead of merely taking other pieces as you do in chess or checkers, you must battle for each square you try to claim, with action and heated attacks. Whether you’re a phoenix, a shapeshifter, a golem, or a troll, you need quick reflexes to win.
Why it’s cool: Way back when my family got its first Mac Plus, one of the very first games we installed on it was Battle Chess, a title that had chess pieces actually fight each other instead of claiming their squares. Here’s the problem. It was actually completely lame. It was exactly like chess, except that it had slow-loading and highly repetitive animation sequences. I wanted real battle chess. I wanted to fight for each inch of precious territory. Needless to say, I stopped playing.
My frustrations were quickly remedied when my cousin introduced me to Archon for the NES. It was exactly what I had been looking for but better. We had a fierce, almost bitter rivalry. He was inevitably Light forces, I was Dark. And we would play again and again for hours. Eventually, I found Archon for Mac, and enjoyed it in its keyboard-driven black-and-white glory. Every once in a while when we get together, we still play it.
All of which is why I’m so geeked to play Archon Classic for iPhone. The $4 game has updated graphics sharper than any previous version, an intuitive touch interface, and the smoothest emulated D-Pad I have ever experienced on the platform. I played one game, and it was just like old times. Anyone who has ever enjoyed the original Archon will love this. I haven’t tried the multiplayer over WIFI yet, but I’m looking for challengers, if you’re interested.
Where to get it: You can find the App Store link here.
In a move that’s a bit like thumbing his brush at the lawyers who sent a nastygram when we mistakenly reported David Hockney’s gallery artworks were created on his iPhone, the artist is offering free downloads of three wallpapers made on his device.
The unsigned trio of flower paintings from the 72-year-old pop artist maestro — painted with the Brushes app on his iPhone (it’s revealed for certain this time) — do sort of look like something you could do yourself.
The iPhone 3.1 beta has been released to developers, and includes some cool features, including Voice Control over Bluetooth.
Baseband has been updated to 5.08.o1, so don’t install the beta if your iPhone has been unlocked with the ultrasnow hack — it will permantly lock it.
The beta also allows edited videos to be saved as a copy, preserving the original. And MMS is on by default, but doesn’t work for AT&T subscribers.
The full list, via the QuickPwn website, after the jump.
What it is: Lala is a newish (about a year old) web-based music marketplace, but to brand it as simply that does an extreme disservice to an interesting, innovative Internet destination that, given enough publicity, strong management and bit of good fortune could become the first online music store to give iTunes a real run for its money as a music distributor.
Why it’s cool: When I was a kid growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, I spent uncounted hours in the music listening rooms at the back of Pop Tunes on Summer Avenue, where I discovered the heritage of the city they call the Home of the Blues, and learned about the ground-breaking artists who gave birth to the Blues’ baby, Rock & Roll.
Pop Tunes was a great spot to get in out of the hot summer sun or the cold winter rain, where I could browse the racks, amassing a stack of LPs and 45s, both old and new, and head for one of the four or five sound-proof listening rooms at the back of the store, where I’d listen to my heart’s content before deciding which of the albums or singles my meager allowance or paper route money would buy me any given week.
By the time I left home for college in another of the great music cities in the US – New Orleans – I had a music collection numbering over 1000 lp records and another few hundred 45rpm singles.
What does my ancient music-buying experience have to do with Lala and this review?
Apple is advertising a rare job in its storied design department — and it’s a cool one.
Apple is looking for a computer modeling expert to make 3D renderings of concept products.
“CAD sculptor/digital 3D modeler needed to create high quality CAD models used in the industrial design and development of new products,” says the job posting on the Dezeenjobs website.
Headed by Jonny Ive, Apple’s design department is one of the most famous industrial design groups in the world. Employing about a dozen world-class designers, the studio is responsible for a string of trendsetting products, starting with the original iMac (which launched an industry see-through electronics) to the iPod and it’s iconic white earbuds.
Whoever gets the job will be one of the first people in the world to get a peek at whatever Apple is working on. Only CEO Steve Jobs and a handful of top executives get to see products in development.
The vast majority of Apple employees don’t see a final product until the day it is launched, even if they helped build it. Software programmers never see the actual hardware, and hardware engineers work on bulky prototypes housed in big polypropylene boxes.
Only the design department gets to see the final shape of the new product, and the studio is ultra-secretive. Housed in a nondescript building off Apple’s main campus, entry is limited to a chosen few. Even Apple’s previous CEO, John Sculley, was denied entrance. His electronic badge wouldn’t let him (he threw a fit).
The job sounds cool, but the job posting warns it is not a design job, nor a stepping-stone to a design job. Too bad.
The full job posting after the jump:
Congratulations are in order to the winners announced Tuesday among the more than 2500 entrants to Fuze Meeting‘s recent “Tell a Story” contest for designers and other creative users of Fuze and the web-based presentation sharing site Slide Share.
The $5,000 Grand Prize went to SlideShare user “slides2407” for the presentation “Drunkenomics – The Story of Bar Stool Economics”, while four additional category winners, including the makers of “Super Cool Dudes” (embedded above), who won for Best Design, collected iPhones and $100 iTunes Gift Cards.
SlideShare supports Keynote, PowerPoint, OpenOffice and PDF presentation formats and is one of the fastest-growing communities of presentation-sharing ideas on the web.
The contest was judged by a panel of business and technology luminaries including
If you’re looking for a “green” way to protect your new iPhone, felted cases appear the latest fad for eco-conscious Apple fans. The latest example: the Domo Kun iPhone case. The felt case, designed for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPod Classic, is emblazoned with Domo Jun, the monster serving as a Japanese TV mascot.
The felt monster measures 4.7-inch x 3.1-inch, but the Etsy artist announced Tuesday the hand-made item was sold-out, just a day after putting the iPhone/iPod holder on the site. A similar fate met another iPhone case, a felt version of an old-style rotary phone.
Remember when Lonnie told you about an easy, fool-proof way to turn on iPhone tethering in the US? Well, there’s a way, way easier method, and it’s much, much more foolproof.
Simply point Mobile Safari to https://help.benm.at, select your country, download the profile for your carrier, and install. The settings menu will add an Internet Tethering toggle in the Network section. Then just pair with your computer over Bluetooth or plug in via USB and go. No restart required. It’s really that easy.
Performance has been rock-solid in my experience, both for tethering Mac and Windows machines. Performance is terrible on EDGE and very nice on 3G, with battery life not noticeably worse than just browsing on Safari. And maybe a little bitter once the display goes to sleep. But I’m not running BitTorrent through the thing, either.
AT&T should have a killer offering on their hands once this actually ships. It would also be nice if AT&T tweaks the interface so you can turn on tethering without pulling your phone out of your pocket. Honestly, the only complaint I have. Anyone tried it outside the US? Really seems like something that should fly under the radar so long as you’re not downloading the whole Internet over it…
And, it goes without saying, this is use at your own risk and Apple will laugh at you if you brick your phone.
(And yes, I know we’re late, but I never recommend running something risky on your hardware if I haven’t done it myself. This is as close to safe as it gets.)
Richard Lai via Engadget
Id Software has released Doom Resurrection for the iPhone and iPod touch. It’s the first official release for the iPhone/iPod touch in the storied Doom franchise, which is now 16 year’s old and still running strong.
The $9.99 game is an “all-new chapter in the Doom saga,” says ID Software.
The first-person-shooter is based on 2005’s Doom 3, not the seminal Doom Classic, which runs on just about every gadget known to man, including the original iPod (if it’s already hacked to run Linux).
Unlike previous versions of Doom, the gameplay is not free flow. The character moves along a pre-determined path, blasting zombies and demons and dodging oncomong projectiles. Aiming is controlled by the iPhone;s accelerometer and reportedly works well.
“We built a completely new play style for this game,” says ID Software’s CTO John Carmack. “We have no worries that we’re going to do something utterly not fun.”
Carmack says he plans to release his port of Doom Classic to the iPhone and iPod in coming weeks.
UPDATE: The headline and photograph in this article have been updated to correctly state the standard agreed to by the handset makers referenced in the story.
Major cell phone handset makers including Apple, Nokia and Research in Motion (RIM) have agreed to back a European Union initiative to support standard device chargers that will charge any phone through a micro-USB port, according to a Reuters report Monday.
The agreement among 10 companies controlling 90% of the cell phone market in Europe calls for phones compatible with standard charging devices to be available in Europe beginning next year, according to EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen, who said, “People will [no longer] have to throw away their charger whenever they buy a new phone.”
At its inception, the agreement applies only to data-enabled smartphones, perhaps the fastest growing segment of the mobile handset market, and will affect only devices produced for use in Europe.
Verheugen hailed the agreement as a boon for consumers as well as the environment and estimated it will help reduce tons of eWaste generated annually by consumers.
Significant unanswered questions remain: what took them so long, and where is the rest of the world in this deal? Do device manufacturers have to be cajoled by regulatory bodies continent by continent to adopt a standard that should have been in place at least a decade ago?
Steve Jobs is officially back at work after six-month’s medical leave, an Apple spokesperson just told Bloomberg reporter Connie Guglielmo in a phone interview.
“Steve is back to work,” said Apple spokesman Steve Dowling on Monday. “We are very glad to have him back.”
Jobs is working at Apple a few days a week and working from home the remainder of the time, Dowling added. Jobs reportedly returned to work last week, but Monday’s statement is Apple’s first official word.
Jobs took six month’s medical leave in January, promising to return by the end of June. Monday is June 29. During his absence, Jobs had a liver transplant in Memphis, TN.
LINK.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk51XP-KZMg
So you don’t really need a MacBook that morphs into an unmanned aerial vehicle to get your express letter delivered, but kudos to the folks who made this video showing that the French postal service might be capable of movie-like transformer special effects.
Via The Register
iTunes is hosting a free month-long concert series — 31 nights, 62 bands — at London’s Roundhouse in July.
With that many acts, there’s bound to be something to tickle your eardrums, the line-up so far includes Oasis, Madeleine Peyroux, Kasabian, The Hoosiers and Franz Ferdinand.
Tickets for the third iTunes Live concert series are give-aways, only, drawn from a pool of friends of the free music fest on Facebook. (And just like your real friends, the organizers have will access to your profile information, photos and your friends’ info).
If you can’t make it to London, you can check out live broadcasts and video highlights, before the concert recordings are sold at 22 iTunes stores worldwide — again, if you become an Tunes EU fan on Facebook .
Via MacWorld
Is your iPhone about to die, and you’ve lost your cell phone charger? An Australian design student now has an answer: just get moving. The Viber Burst design concept will turn walking, jogging or any movement into a cell phone battery recharge in just two seconds.
“Viber Burst can be worn as a feature piece of contemporary jewelry on footwear, it can also be a key ring or kept in a handbag,” designer Josh Pell said. The device includes a variety of designs and colors that “enable the user to connect with the product on an emotive level,” the Swinburne University student told the Australian Design Awards.
Although no production date was announced, the Viber Burst can attach to your shoe, purse or be held in your hand. The device is weather resistant and built to withstand punishment: the components use a flexible circuit board. When a product does appear, look for it in recycled packaging, designer Pell said.
The iPhone Dev Team, the tireless hackers who provide software to jailbreak iPhones, know how to unlock the iPhone 3G S, but have decided to hold off releasing the software publicly pending Apple’s next move in the two year-old cat and mouse game between the company and the rogue user community.
“We can jailbreak the 3GS right now,” said a statement at the Dev-Team Blog, “but making our jailbreak public at this point … would in fact be detrimental to many more people than it would help. So we feel it’s best to keep our version of the jailbreak out of Apple’s sights for the time being.”
The crux of the problem seems to be a Dev Team concern that Apple will soon release an update to 3.0 software that will close the ultrasn0w exploit released last week that jailbreaks iPhone 3G running 3.0 software, and that many people who want to get an iPhone 3G S don’t have one yet.
“Once the [3G S] jailbreak is out, Apple will fix the iBoot-family bug we use to accomplish it,” the blog post explains. “[Apple] will simply stop signing the old iBoots and only sign the fixed ones. If you bought your phone after Apple has done this, there’s nothing you can do…the jailbreak isn’t going to work for you.”
For now the team has decided to work on 3.0 software issues such as push notification and will wait and see what Apple does next.
EOS Wireless has taken the iPod dock – of which there must be hundreds on the market by now – and given it a twist that may appeal to many people who’ve had the desire but not the funds to install a multi-room music system to play music from one central station throughout a home or office space.
We went hands-on with the EOS Wireless Stereo and gave it a thorough listen over the past three weeks and have our considered opinion about this ingenious set-up for you after the jump.
After using the iPhone 3GS for a week, here’s five of my favorite, non-obvious tricks I’ve picked up.
A couple of weeks ago the Swedish site Dreamfeld.se posted a video showing the iPhone operating system running on a Mac Pro and a big multitouch screen.
The video was pretty impressive. It looked like the world’s biggest iPhone running on a 24-inch monitor. The video soon went viral on blogs, YouTube and Twitter. It’s been watched more than 300,000 times and is still being passed around.
But the whole thing is a fake; a viral video experiment to see how many hits could be generated.
How did they do it?
A Parisian iPhone owner was videoing friends in a backyard swimming pool when he accidentally dropped it in the water. Amazingly, the iPhone kept recording and was working fine when he fished it out.
“It still frickin’ works,” he says amazed into the still-recording camera. Watch the video of the entire episode below.
And it still works fine, says the owner. “Phone still working fine with no issues whatsoever,” he says in the comments to the video. “I’m probably the luckiest guy alive!!”
Although the iPhone 3GS is an exceptionally well-made piece of hardware, it is NOT waterproof. This iPhone had a rubbery condom cover on, which probably helped it survive the dip in the pool.