An iPod Touch or iPhone is now considered necessary equipment for journalism students at the University of Missouri.

As of fall 2009, an iPod Touch is the minimum requirement (an iPhone is a plus) for incoming freshmen to j-school, providing orientation information and course materials.

It’s not the first time universities have adopted Apple devices, but it may be the first time they approach something like mandatory. (Would-be Woodwards and Bernsteins won’t have to flash their iPods at the door and there will be no penalties for not having one, the requirement stated.) The journalism school has also required students to have laptops with wireless capabilities since 2005.

Brian Brooks, associate dean of the Journalism School, said the idea is to turn the music player into a learning device.

“Lectures are the worst possible learning format,” Brooks told the Missourian. “There’s been some research done that shows if a student can hear that lecture a second time, they retain three times as much of that lecture.”

What it is: Star Walk is the official mobile astronomy guide for the International Year of Astronomy (IYA 2009), a $5 app for iPhone and iPod Touch that makes enjoyment of the celestial universe easier and possibly more enjoyable than anything outside a professional telescope.

Vito Technology, developers of the app, recently updated this popular title with improved existing features and several new functions. The new version (1.5) has even more striking graphics, enhanced speed, more images and a greater depth of information than the release version, which has already spent more than 4 months in the Top 25 paid apps of iTunes’ App Store.

Why it’s cool: Star Walk not only gives you a reliable guide to the present night sky based on your current location, it lets you change perspectives to locations thousands of miles away. It can also take you back in time to look at different events (such as eclipses) in the sky on specific dates; view lunar phases and learn about the discovery of constellations’ images and the reason for their shape. Use the super cool ‘infra-red’ night mode for easy outdoor stargazing without adding your device’s bright lighting to the ambient environment.

The new version has been improved with more stars and constellations to look at, with better and more precise images, more reliability and more speed.

The app makes stunning use of the iPhone accelerometer to change your perspective or point of view with just a swipe of the screen and provides zooming capabilities to allow you to travel in to deep space to find out the state of our knowledge of the outer universe.

New Features in the current version include:

♦ constellations on & off setting
♦ sounds on & off setting – but don’t turn them off; they are way cool!
♦ magnitude selection (allows you to show only stars with chosen brightness)
♦ spatio-temporal bookmarks – must admit to still learning about this one
♦ pictures of all constellations (from 10 upgraded to 110)

I’ve been playing with Star Walk for a couple weeks now and it’s definitely become a favorite app to use for stargazing as well as to show off some of my iPhone’s capabilities to friends and curious strangers.

Where to get it: $5 at the App Store.

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computers and one of the most recognized engineering geeks in the world, joined the Board of Directors of TechForEducators.com – a Sausalito, CA-based purveyor of goods and services designed to improve the performance of educators – the company announced Wednesday.

“Woz inspired a generation of technologists – including myself,” explained Matt Spergel, President of TechForEducators.com. “The Apple II was an engineering tour de force and an amazing learning tool. We are deeply honored to have Steve contributing his infectious optimism and creativity to our company.”

Wozniak has a strong record of support for children and education, having been a founding sponsor of the Tech Museum of Innovation and the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose. He also “adopted” the Los Gatos School District, near Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, CA, providing students and teachers with hands-on teaching and donations of state-of-the-art technology equipment.

In partnership with the Kids In Need Foundation, TechForEducators.com provides exceptional value to education: for every $1 a customer spends on product at TechForEducators.com, $1.25 worth of free school supplies is also provided to impoverished students. The company carries quality products at competitive prices, all with a money-back guarantee.

“TechForEducators.com represents the best in trying to do good things for our students and teachers,” Wozniak said. “I’m looking forward to the great things they have planned for education.”

AdWhirl, a platform for iPhone applications that allows developers to switch between ad networks on-the-fly, has released a report indicating that applications that crack the top 100 in the Free Apps list can make between $400-$5000 a day in advertising revenue.

Sam Yam, co-founder of the company formerly known as Adrollo, says AdWhirl has signed over 10% of the top 50 applications in the App Store to the platform and is serving 250 million ad impressions per month. AdWhirl’s platform gives developers access to multiple iPhone ad networks at once, allowing them to compensate when one network doesn’t have enough ad inventory, something Yam says happens as much as 40% of the time.

Having launched only in the last month, AdWhirl reports going rates of $1.90 eCPM (effective cost per thousand impressions) and 2.6% CTR (click-through rate), numbers that should make both advertisers and free app developers optimistic about the viability of the ad supported free app business model.

[TechCrunch]

Apple got top marks all three laptop categories in “Consumer Reports” special computer issue.

Five Apple laptops made the cut. In the 13-inch category, MacBooks took all three top spots:
The 13-inch aluminum MacBook ranked No. 1, the solid-state MacBook Air No. 2 and the white plastic 13-inch MacBook came in third, in a tie with the HP Pavillion dv3.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro came in first in the 14- to 16-inch category.

In the 17- to 18-inch category — the same category where Lauren of “Laptop Hunter” ads chooses an HP over a Mac — was taken by the 17-inch MacBook, which scored 80 out of a possible 100.  (The HP Lauren opted for ranks fourth.)

The results amount to “embarrassment of plaudits,” (Apple polishing?) for Fortune mag —  perhaps to avoid looking gushy, Consumer Reports put a PC on the cover in question…

Image via TechCrunch

Apple moved quickly to remove an embarrassing listing on the iPhone web app directory which promoted the notorious QuickPWN software, which jailbreaks iPhones and iPod touches to allow unfettered application installation. Apple removed it tonight around 11 p.m. after coverage around the Mac blogosphere, including here at CoM. The link still comes up on Google, but the page is blank.

Why does this snafu matter? Because this little slip-up is yet another sign that Apple is completely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of content it needs to curate these days: Music, TV, Movies, and Podcasts in the iTunes Store; thousands upon thousands of apps for iPhone and many more that never make the cut; and an equally huge collection of web apps for iPhone on the website.

In a lot of ways, Apple has become one of the world’s biggest content gatekeepers. And the approval of Baby Shaker and the rejection of the Nine Inch Nails app are pretty clear evidence that the company still has a lot of work ahead to grow into the role.

Perhaps it’s just another indication we truly live in Opposite World, but it seems odd, at best, to find a link to QuickPWN on Apple’s website.

After all, the company has made it abundantly clear it believes the practice of jailbreaking an iPhone or iPhone Touch should be deemed illegal.

Apple is involved in a very public fight with the Electronic Frontier Foundation over the matter and there are obviously many many dollars at stake.

So, yes, odd. Then again, it’s a big company…

[Thanks Adrian!]

For a full page image of the link on Apple’s website, click here.

Microsoft’s controversial Laptop Hunter ads were probably conceived, pitched and perhaps created on  Macs, if these office snaps of the ad agency behind them are anything to go by. They show the desk of Alex Bogusky (with two Macs) at Crispin Porter + Bogusky plus the surrounding office space, also full of Macs.

I wouldn’t mind getting paid to sell PCs, as long as I didn’t have to work on them, too.

Via rixstep

Kyle Buckner is a very talented fellow and his primary muse is Apple.

We’ve featured some of Buckner’s work before and he’s also got a spread in the June issue of Mac|Life magazine. He may well be one of the hottest Apple-inspired artists in the US right now.

Buckner sent us photos of his most recent school project, in which he was tasked to create a “Bookart”. Apple obsessed as he is, he was inspired to create a scale model of a MacBook.

Buckner constructed the casing out of wood, routering all the corners and then priming, sanding and painting the pieces white. The hinge system replicates the real Mac’s and is fully constructed out of hand cut MDF wood.

After he painted the pieces, he used a pencil to add the fine details. He drew the screen and full keyboard and penciled in every tiny phillips head screw at its location.

His piece is 3/4 the size of an original MacBook.

We apologize to anyone who got too excited by our earlier post teasing that this might be Apple’s new netbook. It’s a Monday night. It’s not football season.

Does anybody remember laughter?

‘

Image via Innovation 2.0

Yesterday’s news that the Federal Trade Commission was investigating whether occasional collaborations between Apple and Google constitute anti-competitive practices is all the rage this morning. Apparently, a 1914 law makes it illegal for a person to sit on the boards of two companies if it will reduce competition between them. Apple and Google share two directors between their boards — so the only question is whether their presence has reduced competition.

And honestly, the answer is not at all. If anything, having Google CEO Eric Schmidt on the Apple board has made it more awkward as Android has started to diffuse into the market. Even though Google’s apps for the iPhone are among the best on the device, the proliferation of iPhone competitors from Le Goog is setting up for a head-on collision between Mountain View and Cupertino.

According to experts, even if anti-trust violations were determined, the likely upshot would just be for the directors to step down from one of their two boards. No biggie. But the case highlights that American business law doesn’t really understand Silicon Valley. Out here, it’s only natural that you would simultaneously compete and collaborate. You share secrets and then try to use them against each other. It’s in the DNA here. But the law, as they, is blind.

We have more images that will take time to process and details about the provenance of this device we must parse, so bear with us until all can be revealed.

To advertise it’s recycling chops, a Canadian home improvement company has cleverly recycled a giant Apple billboard in Montréal.

Canada’s version of Home Depot, Rona, hung a banner underneath an Apple billboard with a line of multicolored iPods dripping colored paint.

Rona’s banner shows the paint being collected in paint buckets. The clever mashup advertises the company’s paint recycling program.

“Nous recuperons les restes de peinture,” the tagline says, which translates to: “We collect leftover paint”

Link to Cyberpresse report in French.

Thanks Hypersky.

Following rumors that Apple and Verizon are wooing each other, Wired.com is asking, “Which cellphone network is the best?”

To answer that question, Wired.com is asking for your help testing the speed of U.S. cellphone’ networks.

The test is open to all smartphones on all networks. Simply:

1. Ensure Wi-Fi is turned off and 3G is enabled on your smartphone (not the slower EDGE connection).

2. Load your smartphone’s browser and visit https://inetworktest.com/wired.*

3. The test will run automatically as the page loads. When it’s done loading, tap your carrier (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile or Sprint), and your results will appear.

4. Add your details to Wired.com’s results map here: https://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/05/3gstudy

Wired.com’s study follows up on an iPhone-only survey last year, which concluded connection problems were AT&T’s fault, not the iPhone’s.

As Wired.com notes, “A carrier’s network performance is a dealbreaking factor for consumers shopping for a smartphone, whether it’s the iPhone, the HTC G1, or a BlackBerry Storm.”

The test is .

Myst, once upon a time the world’s most popular graphic adventure video game, has arrived at the App Store. The $6, 730MB piece of mobile bloatware, requiring a whopping 1.5GB of free space on Apple’s iPhone or iPod Touch, isn’t likely to revive the title’s popularity, in this reviewer’s opinion.

Even the trailer demands nearly an egregious seven minutes of a curious person’s time to sit through, an eternity in our fast-paced modern world. Over a minute and a half to get past the credits?

This is a group of developers who must think very highly of themselves indeed.

UPDATE: Reznor states on Twitter that the app has now been approved—unchanged.

Once again, the App Store is in the news for the wrong reason. We recently covered its bewildering rejection of the South Park app, but things really came to a head with Tweetie, which had an update booted because some App Store approval person found a rude word in that day’s Twitter trends.

Well, Apple’s at it again. Trent Reznor of NIN fame posts that the ‘nin: access’ app has been rejected on the grounds that it enables access to a podcast that has a song with a rude word in. As Reznor notes, using rather colorful language, Apple’s own Mail app lets through emails with rude words, and Safari can be used to access questionable content. But his app, which enables access to a podcast that can be streamed to the app, featuring the song The Downward Spiral, apparently enables access to external content that Apple thinks will warp fragile little minds.

It warms the cockles when we hear of games coming to the Mac, but a more recent addition is older than most. Qwak, released late last week, has a lengthy pedigree, having first appeared on the BBC Micro way back in 1989. Now, 20 years later, this indie production has made it to Mac OS X, and we tracked down the game’s developer, Jamie Woodhouse, to ask him about the conversion.

The original version of Qwak, running on a BBC Micro home computer.

Cult of Mac: What is Qwak?
Jamie Woodhouse: Qwak is a super-playable, cute, arcade coin-op-style puzzler/platformer. The current version is the fourth incarnation of the game—it was preceded by BBC Micro, Amiga, and Gameboy Advance versions.

The object of Qwak is to make your way through the game’s 70 levels, spread across six visually unique worlds, collecting fruit, gems, and power-ups as you go. On each level, you collect all the golden keys, and then calmly make your way to the exit door! Simple, huh? But look out for baddies (you can throw eggs at them) and raining spikes of death as you go!

You can play alone, or with a friend. In two-player mode, you can co-operate and work as a team, or be more aggressive, throwing eggs at each other, leaving your teammate at the mercy of the baddies. Some levels feature secret areas that require a good portion of problem-solving skills to get to, pulling levers, collecting coloured keys, and opening gates in just the right order.

Qwak for the Commodore Amiga ramped up the quality of the graphics and depth in the gameplay.

What inspired the original game, and why did you create it? Why have you regularly ported Qwak to various platforms over the years?
I love making the kind of game that I personally like to play. With Qwak, I guess the combination of skill, puzzles, and problem-solving are what I like. I always thought Qwak was a cool game concept, and something I could improve on and take to the next level. So that’s my excuse for repeatedly making the same game over and over!

Reaction to this latest version of Qwak has been really good. Though most people say it’s not easy, it’s not so hard as to put people off—it’s often described as being ‘challenging’ with ‘one more go’ appeal. In today’s gaming climate, games seem a lot more sedate and easy, and so I guess Qwak’s at the ‘challenging’ end of the spectrum! That’s a good thing though, I hope!

Why did you decide to create a Mac version of Qwak and how did you go about doing so?
Quite a few people asked about a Mac version. I had all the source and assets for the game, so figured it wouldn’t be a big job to port from PC to Mac. It was quite painless in fact—only four weeks from getting my lovely Mac mini to finished product. That was the first time I ever had or used a Mac, and I have to say I’m getting along quite well with Macs so far. So, yeah, in terms of hardware, I just got a Mac mini, and used the official Apple development environment (IDE), Xcode.

The Mac OS X conversion is a fast-paced two-player action game.

What are your future plans regarding games? Any plans for an iPhone Qwak?
I’m certainly going to have a play with the iPhone development tools and SDK—they’re already installed on my Mac. Unsure if I’ll do an iPhone version of Qwak, although I am very tempted. I can certainly see myself making more games for the Mac, and will do something for iPhone too, I’m sure.

What advice do you have for anyone considering porting a PC indie game to the Mac?
The main thing, early on, is to make sure you have a network of support. This can be other game developer friends, or game development communities and online forums such as idevgames.com and indiegamer.com. Most people making indie games are quite passionate about that they’re doing and are always happy to give advice. Other than that, dive in and give it a go—the Apple documentation for developers is generally quite good, and the development tools are free.

Later levels of Qwak are stacked full of features and foes, and you need quick reactions to survive.

Qwak is available for £12.99 (about $19) from qwak.co.uk; the same site also hosts a free demo that you can download.

Back in February, Rapid Repair began supersizing iPods (30GB, 60GB and 80GB original iPod video) with new 240GB hard drives for $300. (Null any warranty, however).

In the first two hours the service was available, Rapid Repair received 300 orders – more than its inventory could handle. A month later the company had solved its supply problem and upgraded 500 iPods, though the drives are again out of stock.

The 1.8-inch Toshiba hard drives are roughly the same size as regular iPod hard drives. Thanks to  advances in storage technology, the company tapped into a market for expanded iPods that the computer giant isn’t serving, Fortune reports.
Image courtesy Rapid Repair.
Via Fortune

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j-DGrWry6k

Tap out lines on your iPhone with a credit card, then iSnort them with a rolled up bill. Sort of: it’s a video demo that you have to synch your livin’ large faux coke habit to (on a jailbroken iPhone, not surprisingly it hasn’t been approved by Apple), rather than an actual app that responds to your gestures.

Why bother? Creators Irish filmmaker Peter ‘Magic’ Johnston (of the 15-second film festival) and co-pilot Steven Henry push iSnort thusly:
“Be the envy of in-crowd. Get ejected from nightclubs. Shock and amaze your so-called friends. Get oral sex from Z-list celebrities.”

iSnort costs £5 ($7.40). Maybe it’s good for a chortle…

Via Gawker

What it is: An iPhone conversion of Dave Theurer’s then-terrifying missile defense game. By tapping on the screen, you launch missiles from your silos, protecting six cities. When they’re all gone, the game chillingly displays ‘The End’ rather than the usual ‘game over’ message.

Why it’s good: 1980s arcade games were based around immediacy and playability and are therefore potentially perfectly suited to iPhone. In the case of Missile Command, the original’s trackball controls have been replaced with far more immediate touch controls. While this makes the game easier in the short term, it can also lead to rapidly wasting your arsenal—and every missile counts when you get to the frenetic later levels.

Purists might balk at the dodgy fonts (c’mon, Atari, get out an update that ditches the comic lettering and uses the brutal type of the original), and the bundled ‘modern’ version offers nothing over the original (and in many ways looks uglier), but for five bucks, this is old-school gaming at its finest.

Where to get it: Missile Command is available on the App Store, and is at the time of writing being sold for $4.99. For more on Missile Command itself, see the surprisingly accurate Wikipedia article.

A vocal cadre of iPhone app developers is none too pleased with the treatment they receive from Apple and may be considering a suit for breach of contract, according to a report at TechCrunch.

Examples of complaints on developer forums indicate that some developers remain unpaid for sales of their products on the App Store dating back to last fall and the report cites email exchanges between at least one developer and and the finance department at Apple in which the developer is informed his complaints about not being paid “border on harassment.”

Whether any actual lawsuits are in the offing is purely speculative at this point, but the discord is curious in the light of Apple’s recent recession-beating revenue performance and the stunning, widely publicized success of the App Store.

Adding iPod connectivity as standard equipment on their vehicles could save American automobile manufacturers from extinction, according to recent research by Jacobs Media.

The study conducted among 21,000 listeners of rock-music radio stations from around the US suggests high-tech features play an important role in the vehicle-purchase decision and that carmakers should not miss key opportunities to include and market such features to consumers.

The study asked prospective vehicle purchasers to rate the most desired features and options relating to entertainment, music, and information. Nearly half (47%) of the respondents said iPod and other MP3 player connectivity was “very important” to them, ranking above satellite radio, GPS, DVD player, and HD Radio.

The finding that a large percentage of consumers are considering American cars – coupled with the fact that so many respondents want iPod connectors, – presents opportunities for American carmakers to differentiate themselves in the marketplace, according to Jacobs Media President Fred Jacobs.

“The automakers are struggling to generate sales in a challenging economic environment,” Jacobs said. “but outside of KIA’s new commercials for their Soul, iPod connectors are not in the sales proposition. It’s a missed opportunity. Satellite radio and GPS won’t move the needle – but iPods will.”

[MarketingCharts; Thanks Dave]

About a week ago, MacFormat posted a partial image of a mysterious Apple device “without comment”, saying it had been submitted anonymously by email.

It was just a tease, though, as MacFormat Illustrator Adam Benton had submitted via email his case for what you see here, a full-fledged Apple Media Pad, Cupertino’s answer to the world of netbooks.

In Benton’s conception, “Your entire Home folder – all docs, photos, movies and music – would live ‘in the cloud’ on Apple’s servers. Regularly used files would be cached locally, but the system would enable you to keep files in sync between the tablet and your desktop Macs, whilst getting away with a smaller SSD.”

Benton’s idea calls for a that dock would support USB and FireWire, plus Mini DisplayPort, and Bluetooth to be used for peripherals like headsets and keyboards. The OS would be the iPhone and iPod touch OS, scaled up to support the larger display, with integrated 3G connectivity – proper 7.2Mb/sec HSUPA – to keep users connected to Apple’s servers at all times.

See more details at MacFormat and start checking that secondary market for WWDC keynote tickets.

Police in Allentown, Pennsylvania don’t mess around with iPod thieves. When a woman had an iPod stolen after meeting a potential buyer for it from craigslist, they sent an undercover agent to bust two teen theives.

Police contacted the same 17-year old through craigslist and set up a meeting for him to buy an iPod. He showed up with the same friend about 6:30 p.m. and met with the female detective. The teen snatched the iPod from the detective and he and his accomplice tried to run.

Both were charged with robbery, theft, receiving stolen property, conspiracy, resisting arrest and criminal use of a communication device. (This last charge, it seems, has to do with illegal activity on craigslist. )
Via The Morning Call
Via The Morning Call

Photo of anti-iPod theft poster in London used with a CC  license, thanks weegeebored.

Who says the iPhone’s virtual keyboard is the biggest drawback of Apple’s groundbreaking mobile device?

CNet UK pitted the iPhone against an Asus eee PC netbook in a highly unscientific, yet grueling extreme typing test – and the results might surprise many who feel they just couldn’t bear the thought of trying to type without tactile keys.

Love to see them run this against the Palm Pre when it comes out in a few weeks.

[Gizmodo]

What do you get when you combine the Cult of Mac with the Cult of LEGO?

You could do worse than Bjarne Tveskov, who took the happenstance of a 7″ photoframe that looks quite like the screen from his favorite iMac G4 and decided to create a mini-version of it using LEGO elements.

The model lacks actual computer hardware but the screen can display videos, images and TV (there’s a digital TV tuner built in to the photoframe).

More images at Tveskov’s blog.

[Boing Boing]