Cult of Mac

Last week I posted some half-baked rants about iPhoto 09, and as usual the comments briefly buzzed with some agreement and disagreement.

But there was also this comment, from reader KaL MichaeL (reproduced sans editing):

“I love your blog except when you say anything negative about an apple product. I feel that if you are promoting the Mac Cult then you are a apple Fan end to end.”

And that… that struck me as a little weird.

No personal criticism intended, KaL MichaeL, but words cannot express how much I disagree with you on this.

The Cult of Mac celebrates all that’s good and great about Apple and its products, but that doesn’t make us blind to its failures and errors. A blog that simply promoted Apple and Apple fandom from “end to end”, as you put it, would be beyond dull. In fact, it would probably be a little bit like Hotnews: nothing more than PR puffery.

And that’s not what we’re all about. We don’t want to do that. We want to celebrate what Apple does (in our opinion) right, and moan in a grumpy manner about what it does (in our opinion) wrong. What else, after all, is the blogosphere for?

Cult readers, now’s your chance to cut me down and demand more slavish devotion to the Church of Mac. Or not.

Confirmation came Tuesday from Fortune on just how popular games are to iPhone users. Games comprise about 21 percent of the almost 19,000 applications from Apple’s App Store.

“Six out of the top 10 paid apps on Apple’s App Store are currently games or entertainment programs,” Fortune’s Philip Elmer-Dewitt wrote.
The nugget of information comes from 148Apps, a site that tracks applications offered to iPhone and touch owners.

The report echos ComScore, which recently announced iPhone users outpace every other segment for game downloads: 32.4 percent versus 3.8 percent for most cell phone owners.

A hint about when Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple may unveil a new generation of iPhones came Monday from a far-away source: the sands of the United Arab Emirates. In an off-handed remark, a carrier said new iPhones could be released in June.

A new Apple handset “is due out in June,” Mark Davis, Program Director for UAE carrier Etisalat, told a local business newspaper.

The comment followed news Etisalat would offer the iPhone 3G February 15th in the UAE and later in Saudi Arabia.

Troubled cell phone maker Motorola Tuesday announced its shipments were cut in half during the fall, its marketshare falling to 6.5 percent.

The Schaumburg, Ill.-based company said it shipped 19.2 million phones during the December quarter, a 47 percent decline from nearly 41 million handsets sold during the same period in 2007.

As a result, the company posted a $3.6 billion quarterly loss highlighted by continued bleeding by its Mobile Devices group. Motorola said the group ended the December quarter down $595 million. The handset area lost $388 million during the same period a year ago.

Accomplishing what Apple has so far failed to do, Google has now created a todo list that syncs perfectly between your desktop, the web, and your iPhone.

Michael Bolin, one of the engineers who works on the Tasks function in Gmail, announced a new iPhone-optimized Tasks site that you can visit at gmail.com/tasks.

I’ve been playing with it this morning and so far, it looks and works great in Mobile Safari. And hey, get this: I can add a todo to the list while I’m out and about, and it *magically* appears in Gmail when I return to my computer! How about that?

It’s worth pausing for a moment here, and reminding ourselves that Apple STILL has not supplied iPhone users with todos or text notes that sync with their Macs. I’ve come to the conclusion that Steve Jobs, Tim Cook and the rest of them simply don’t have anything to do, and therefore don’t understand why anyone else should need a sync-able todo app.

Therefore, I propose that henceforth this should be known as Give Apple Management Things To Do Day, or GAMTTD. If Tim Cook’s any good with a hand drill at the top of a ladder, my gutters could do with replacing. Any time this week would be good, Tim.

These iPod Nanos bedecked with crystals look a little like the flashy glasses Elton John used to wear. (No, the look is not understated).

John, 61, put his signature on 1,000 of these limited-edition iPods for a cause. A percentage of the proceeds (12.5%) go to his AIDS foundation.

In addition to 250 Swarovski crystals, the iPods also come pre-installed with “Rocket Man: The Definitive Hits.”

Prices range from about US$565 (£400) for the 8GB model, the 16GB model runs $636 (£450).
Available online from February 9.

The iPhone, the iPod and Apple all made the top ten of a list of 100 brands commanding attention and participation from social communities online.

The iPhone reigns as the number one most social brand of 2008, outscoring parent company Apple, which ranks number three in the list complied by social media marketing company Vitrue. Overall, Apple dominates by also securing iPod at number seven and the Mac legacy brand at number 16.

That gives Apple or Apple products three spots in the top ten and four in the top 20.

The top 20 is ruled by media and entertainment brands including CNN, Disney, Xbox, MTV, Sony, Nintendo, PlayStation, Turner and Fox News.  Full line-up here.

The list was compiled by analyzing online conversations on a variety of social networking, blogging, micro-blogging, photo and video sharing sites. Vitrue then gave them a composite score and ranked brands by it.

Interestingly, the rankings don’t take into consideration social networking bastions like LinkedIn, Myspace and Facebook. The reason? “The Vitrue 100 is measuring companies that are using social technology, not those who are the technology.”

Hmmm. This is the second year Vitrue has done the study, I suspect the line between using technology and being technology will blur. Wonder if the rankings would be super different if they were included…

Photo used under Creative Commons license, thanks to jm3 on Flickr.

Via Macnn

Does one cheer Alesis for coming up with the TapeLink USB or ask, “what took you so long?”

The TapeLink USB is a dual-well cassette deck designed to digitally archive audio. The device allows users to transfer cassette recordings onto a hard disk, flash memory, CD or iPod. Connection to a computer is provided via USB, with support for 16-bit, 44.1 kHz CD-quality recordings. Two different dubbing modes support either normal or high-speed dubbing. The deck also features full auto-stop capability to keep irreplacable old tapes from breaking. It works with metal or CrO2 tapes and features on-board LEDs for visual reference to sound levels.

The device comes bundled with three different apps to assist in archiving: SoundSoap Standalone Edition (SE) for reduction of background noises such as room noise and electrical hum; Audacity, a lean, clean, excellent piece of audio-editing software; and EZ Tape Converter to assist with transfers.

TapeLink USB is compatible with Mac OS X and carries an estimated street price of $200.

Really, what did take so long?

Via electronista

In a world wth iPod docking stations on offer from what seems like thousands of different companies, the stylish XIS100 iPod Docking Station from Xantech is the first such product designed for the high-resolution television revolution.

It features a unique component video output capability that will let owners of the new 480P video output iPods see their video in full native resolution on a plasma, LCD or other compatible TV screen with component video output. It also features the full iPod menu on its screen and offers full on-board browsing.

The XIS100 is compatible with all current iPods and comes with a 15 button remote with chrome finish. The dock station with touch panel also features an On-TV menu display for music and video navigation.

Support for English, Japanese, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German and Russian; no info yet on exact availability date or price.

Via Slippery Brick

Image © Chris Chan

Apple Retail Stores’ same-store revenues – a key retail metric comparing sales of stores open for at least a year – fell 17.4% in the December quarter from a year earlier, according to a report at Barrons. That should come as no huge surprise, given the economic contagion sweeping the globe.

What’s interesting about the report, originally issued by Needham hardware analyst Charlie Wolf, is that Apple also turned in an extremely impressive sales-per-square-foot performance of $4700 for the year, highest among electronic retailers by far. Foot traffic at Apple’s brick and mortar emporiums was only down 1.8%. , indicating the computer giant’s products retain a certain cache for beleaguered consumers, who remain interested to touch and play with the bright and shiny things in Apple Stores, even if they can’t afford to buy them at previous rates.

This is why we use Macs. Well, it’s one reason, anyway.

There’s always a lot of talk in the blogosphere how one day Macs will no longer be impervious to computer viruses and malware, but every time there’s a real-world example of a computer network going down due to some kind of security issue or DOS attack, it seems PCs are the machines that get hit and Macs are the machines that keep going and going.

A computer virus hit the Vancouver school district on January 7, forcing 10,000 PCs off-line so district IT staff could wipe them clean, an arduous undertaking that, three weeks later, remains unfinished.

An online student forum by Point Grey secondary students identified the virus as Win32.Krap.b trojan, a bug that affects mostly Windows operating systems, shutting down computers as soon as users try to start them. Vancouver School Board spokesman David Weir said each of the district’s Windows machines were shut down, taken off the network and are being individually scanned and repaired as necessary. The project has caused major disruption throughout the school system, and frustration among teachers and students alike.

The report in the Vancouver Sun describing the situation noted that a Macintosh computer lab funded by the Parents Advisory Group at one school in the district was unaffected by the problem. Smart parents of the kids at that school.

Via Edible Apple

Stumbled upon this lovely, lit-up Apple logo carved into a real Apple by Flickr user Evelina.

How did it come about?

She tells us: “I belong to a group, where we set a ‘scavenger hunt’ for each month and the theme for January was trademarks.  I like to think a little outside the box… a shot of a MacBook or i-Phone was too simple, so I played in the kitchen with an apple, my daughter and a craft knife!”

Its another variation on  actual apples getting the Apple logo, but to make this one you won’t have to wait a month while the apples “tan” in the sun.

If you have other cultish photo projects, let us know!

Image used with permission.

In a sign of where power now rests in the music industry, music label heads “operated in fear” Apple might pull their albums from the dominant iTunes store, according to a Monday report.

In a behind-the-scenes post-mortem of the recent agreement creating a multi-tiered pricing arrangement for songs sold on iTunes, Apple was able to get labels to give up their piracy fears and sell their songs through the iPhone, the New York Times reported.

A breakthrough occurred after Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Sony’s chairman got into a Christmas Eve shouting match. Soon afterwards, the lone hold-out signed-onto the agreement, according to the report.

Apple is asking disgruntled iTunes customers to report incidents of overcharging when requesting copy-protection be removed using the new iTunes Plus upgrade.

“Customers with the Shopping Cart enabled have been experiencing issues with iTunes Plus upgrades of individual albums,” Apple e-mailed Macworld.

Some customers complain iTunes was charging the full price of an album (usually $10) instead of 30 percent to upgrade to iTunes Plus. The DRM removal service recently was modified, charging users per song they wanted upgraded, rather than requiring you pay for your entire library.

Apple now reaches a record 9.9 percent of Web users, according to an Internet monitoring firm. Net Applications reported a 0.3 percent jump in January of Macs surfing the Web.

A year ago, 7.57 percent of Internet access was Mac-based.

The number seems to run counter to fears the economy coupled with a post-holiday slowdown might hurt Apple’s online percentage.

Adobe is working with Apple to develop a version of Flash specifically for the iPhone, according to a report Monday. Adobe’s CEO said tailoring Flash for the touch-screen handset required Apple’s involvement.

“It’s a hard technical challenge, and that’s part of the reason Apple and Adobe are collaborating,” Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen told Bloomberg while at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Although 80 percent of handsets use Flash, in 2008 Apple CEO Steve Jobs dismissed the standard and light versions of Flash and said Adobe needed another version for the iPhone.

A carrier announced Monday a deal to sell Apple’s iPhone in the United Arab Emirate and Saudi Arabia.

Emirates Telecommunications Corp. (ETC) said the iPhone 3G would be available in February, however other details were not disclosed. The deal would be Apple’s first iPhone 3G agreement in the UAE, according to Reuters.

Eithad Etisalet, a subsidiary of ETC, will offer the iPhone to cell phone users in Saudi Arabia.

Apple may translate Cold War tactics to the marketplace, using the threat to unload its “nuclear arsenal” in an attempt to derail Palm’s iPhone rival, a patent attorney told Bloomberg Monday.

If swords are unsheathed, the battle could leave both parties bloody and Apple’s image altered, according to the news report.

“The best deterrent of a nuclear arsenal is not to use it,” Morgan Chu, patent lawyer for Los Angeles, Calif.-based Irell & Manella told Bloomberg.

There are a lot of envelope-style sleeves for your Mac: leather from Bally, a sturdy vinyl version and plenty of handmade fabric ones, too.

A nice variant on the theme: these from Spanish company iSobre have a spark of color on the inside. Hand-made leather, they’ll provide protection for the MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. They come in basic manilla, plus black or white with pink, green, or blue insides.

So you can show your the world that, yes, your computer is thinner than the presentation your boss insisted on printing out for clients.

Available online at iSobre.

Can this Casio phone give the Palm Pre a run for its money?

It features dual screens. On one side is the traditional screen many cell phone users are accustomed to, with a full phone keyboard. But twist the screen around, fold it down, and the phone becomes a touchscreen multimedia device similar to the iPhone.

With a 5 megapixel camera, microSD card slot, Bluetooth connectivity, and video recording, it’s got features and specs Apple’s mobile computing device can’t touch. It’s scheduled for Japan release in February, though there’s no word yet on pricing.

They’ve sold a lot of watches over the years, haven’t they?

Via DVICE

With apologies to all who cannot yet receive Hulu. Your time will come.

Great story over the weekend from a TUAW reader who related how being able to produce evidence of his auto insurance saved him from getting a $200 ticket and having his driver’s license pulled after being involved in an auto accident somewhere in the snowy Midwest.

Seems the poor guy couldn’t produce an insurance card for the county sheriff who showed up to investigate the fender-bender, but while Johnny Law was writing up the paperwork, the quick-thinking iPhone user logged into his GEICO account and was able to satisfy the officer’s yen for documentation by having GEICO email a PDF of his insurance card, which the lucky driver produced on his iPhone touchscreen. The cop accepted it as proof of insurance and did not issue the citation.

When the technology historians look back on the development of the iPhone, they will surely remember this as a golden age. Not only have the last few months seen the arrival of dozens of flatulence generators and “flashlights,” but today, we have an application devoted solely to the exploits of MC Hammer.

Just in time. HammerTime, if you will. The new app (iTunes link) has lots of incredibly useful features, including streaming versions of Hammer music videos, his Twitter feed, upcoming events and his official blog. It’s like becoming best friends with Hammer — except he doesn’t put all his friends on the payroll anymore (bankruptcy will teach you some hard lessons). All that, and it was developed by the creators of iFart. Visionary.

When you look on its gorgeous UI and well-thought-out logo, can you possibly deny that this was the very reason the iPhone was created? Of course not. Welcome home, Hammer.

Via Gizmodo

Those who simply cannot wait for Google to release the official version of Chrome for Mac have the option now of checking out CodeWeavers’ free Chromium download, a proof of concept project to get Windows executables to be run as-if-natively on Intel-based Unix operating systems such as Linux and Mac OS X.

Sound like fun?

Those interested in previewing the Chromish experience on the Mac should understand, first, that it only works on Intel CPU architecture – no PowerPC – and has no auto-updater, so if you’re a security skeptic, forewarned is forearmed.

Chromium is built from the open source Chrome code base, however and CodeWeavers helpfully provide a tarball for the source code for those who like to get under a browser’s hood, but, there are still some fairly significant reasons to think hard about whether Google’s browser is for you, even if the official Mac version was on offer.

As presently built, Chrome’s “porn mode” – a feature that allows one to browse the Internet without passing identifying information to visited web pages – is not supported on sites such as Facebook, nor is Chrome capable of being used to collaborate via Google’s own Google Docs application, as an article Sunday at TechCrunch points out.

So, if you’re just insatiably curious about what they’re up to down in Mountain View and you want to give Windows developers a leg up on marketing their wares to the Mac community, go get you some Chromium.

The Contra Code is the most famous video game cheat code ever – Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left Right, B, A. eBattalion, developers of the puzzle game FLIP, have built it in to their iPhone and iPod touch app, allowing savvy players to unlock all the levels in FLIP’s “Puzzle” and “Speed” modes.

Full disclosure: I got off the video game train shortly after it pulled out of the Pong station. I think I was trying to get someone with ID to buy me a beer in the PacMan station, and I turned around and all of a sudden, the train was gone and I just never got back on. I know. That makes me both old and non-conversant with something like 80% of the people on the planet.

But I came across this at Macenstein and I think it seems like something that could maybe be built into more than just one of the AppStore’s thousands of games.

So tell us, Cult of Mac gamers, is FLIP the only iPhone/iPod Touch game that can be unlocked using the legendary Contra Code?

Surely there are other hidden gems and “easter eggs” out there, for Apple-oriented developers are nothing if not whimsical and versed in the historical arcana of game and software lore.

Let us know what you’ve found in comments and we’ll feature the best bits in another post.

This post has been edited to correct the author’s error transcribing details of the Contra Code in the original. Thanks to commenters who pointed it out.