A free app from magazine Consumer Reports available on iTunes may help harried shoppers decide in a hurry which model is worth it in the coming holiday season.
Categories include: cars, electronics, home and garden, babies and kids. Early adopters have a few complaints (centered around the search function, or lack thereof), it could still come in handy.
If you’ve ever wondered what your MacBook looks like through an X-ray, here it is, courtesy Jason. Looks pretty amazing.
Via The After Mac
Snow Leopard, Apple’s code name for its upcoming Mac OS X 10.6, is slated for release early next year, according to Cupertino inside data accidently made public last week.
In a slide presentation before the Large Installation System Administration (LISA) conference, Jordan Hubbard, head of Apple’s Unix Technology Group, let slip Leopard will be released during the first quarter of 2009.
Although the offending slide was removed, the information spread far and wide, providing both Mac fans and rivals a clearer window into Apple’s schedule. In July Apple had said only that the new operating system would be available “in about a year.”
The information leak comes as both Apple and Microsoft ready launches of operating systems. Windows 7, the successor to Redmond’s much-criticized Vista, will be unveiled around the middle of next year.
The quirky brand born from a Toyota Camry trunk in 1989 (known for T-shirts and, no, they don’t make cupcakes) has just added its crossbone-cupcake logo to these cases for the iPhone and iPhone 3g. They come in silver or hot pink and cost $24.99 from the online store.
Via Ctothejl
A California judge Tuesday preliminarily dismissed Psystar’s antitrust lawsuit against Apple. Judge William Alsup rejected the Mac clone-maker’s counterclaim, writing Apple’s computers and Mac OS X software “are not wholly lacking in competition.”
Alsup gave Psystar until Dec. 8 to amend its countersuit to bolster its argument that Apple was preventing third parties from selling computers based on its Mac OS X operating system.
In a 19-page opinion siding with Apple’s motion to dismiss Pystar’s August countersuit, the judge ruled that Pystar’s legal team failed to support the “counterintuitive claim that Apple’s operating system is so unique that it suffers no actual or potential competitors,” according to AppleInsider, which first reported the decision.
In August, Psystar filed the countersuit following Apple’s July lawsuit alleging the Florida company infringed its copyrights and patents by selling computers with a modified version of the Mac OS capable of running on PCs.
Apple reportedly is readying the January launch of new quad-core iMacs powered by upcoming Intel chips, reports said Wednesday. The upgrade would allow Apple to offer lower-cost iMacs while increasing the performance of current dual-core processors supplied by the California chip giant.
The chips, the 2.33GHz Core 2 Quad Q8200, 2.66GHZ Core 2 Quad Q9400 and 2.83GHz Core 2 Quad Q9550 were designed for all-in-one desktop computers and generate less heat. The new CPUs would drop iMac power requirements from 95W to 65W, according to Taiwan-based Digitimes.
In addition to lower power consumption, the new quad core chips would mark a switch by Apple from mobile processors, which were picked for their lower power demands and ability to stay with the iMac’s slim appearance.
Along with Apple, the new Intel chips could appear in all-in-one desktops sold by HP, Dell and Acer.
Earlier this month, Apple announced it wouldn’t announce more hardware updates until January. The word from Cupertino followed repeated rumors that the computer maker would unveil new iMacs in November.
When you switch on Voice Search in Google’s Mobile App for iPhone, you see a little bit of warning text underneath which reads:
“Voice Search only works in English, and works best for North American English accents.”
Tish and piffle, I thought to myself when I read that. I’m sure it’ll understand my humdrum Estuary English accent perfectly well.
But you know what? The warning was put there for a reason. Because so far, every search I’ve done has failed when I use my normal voice, and worked when I put on my appalling attempt at an American accent.
So thank you Google for giving us voice search, which is officially the New Best Thing Ever (better than the last Best Thing Ever, at any rate). But curse you, Google, for making me sound like a complete idiot every time I want to do a voice search for something in public.
There’s been a lot of hoo-hah about Apple’s video DRM restrictions that make it impossible for some content you own to be displayed on some display screens you also own.
OrbLive is an iPhone app that that streams video from a Windows PC to the iPhone. It can deliver any video or audio that’s stored on the the PC, YouTube content and, most important, live television if you have a TV tuner installed on your PC.
Orb is the first application to deliver such functionality through the App Store with a streamlined interface that also allows access to live Internet television and cable/antenna television with a properly configured tuner.
Orb Networks says the application is “coming soon for Mac and Linux computers.”
But who knows how long this party will last? Apple recently banned Cast Catcher, a streaming Internet radio application in the same vein as AOL Radio and Pandora (both of which have been available through the App Store almost since its inception), because the application “transfer(s) excessive volumes of data over the cellular network.” Orb, with full video and audio streaming over 3G, ostensibly falls into the same category.
Via iPhoneAtlas
For at least two weeks running now, the most popular free app on the iTunes AppStore is Stylem Media‘s Backgrounds app.
Offering thousands of wallpapers in expected categories such as Nature, Beaches, City, Cars, Stars, Sunsets, Patterns, Swirls, Hearts, Animals, Models, Trees…the app appears to be a wild success.
Has the iPhone begun to diminish Apple users’ reputation for creativity? I mean, how hard is it to find a wallpaper of your own design?
So, you’ve got your iPhone but you just lost your job? Or you’re looking to move to where the opportunities are in this contracting market? Job Compass could be the app for you.
Not yet available on the AppStore, but with the final version of the app having been submitted to Apple, this $3.99 offering from Securicy Ventures will leverage the iPhone’s location-aware capabilities and seamless integration between maps, web and email.
Job Compass’ protocols are patent pending, according to Securicy spokesman Titus Blair, who told Cult of Mac, “we have over 2+ million listings with more added daily. You can email the listing to yourself inside the app (without leaving) as well as apply online if you want.” Blair added that future releases will offer driving directions and other cool job hunting tools to help refine the search and locate relevant jobs.
It’s said in a declining economy, smart people go where the opportunities are. Job Compass might be just the thing to help you find one right around the corner.
Late last night I made the mistake of staying up to listen to a talk radio show on BBC Radio 5 Live. The host, Richard Bacon, used the final hour of the show to generate some calls from listeners with the simple call to arms: “PC or Mac?”
Talk show radio shows love topics like this. Ones on which everyone has an opinion.
Sadly, most of last night’s opinions were painful to hear. Not because the PC crowd were dismissing Macs and Mac users wholesale, but because they were using such age-old arguments to do it.
There’s loads of wonderful stuff in the Google LIFE photo archive, and Gruber’s warning is apt indeed: it’s a time-sink.
Needless to say, Apple has a presence within that archive.
How many times has Steve appeared on the cover of Time? Five, it seems: once in the early days, a second time in a candid shot, the third time with the first gen iMac, next reflected in the screen of a G4 iMac, and finally as the man who knows what’s next.
Google’s voice search application for the iPhone is nothing short of spectacular. After tantalizing would-be users with either a PR goof or a brilliant marketing ploy that resulted in a delayed release on the AppStore, the updated version of Google Mobile finally hit on Monday and I got it on to my phone last night.
It’s like the home screen says, “For voice search, just bring the phone to your ear and speak. Really, no buttons required!” The program offers to let you watch a video to learn more, but it’s about as easy as it gets to call up a search results page that gives you just what you’re looking for simply by speaking into the phone.
When I searched for “70 Harper” the program returned results for “cindy harper,” but when I amended the search to “70 harper street, san francisco” I got a Google map pinned exactly to the address I spoke into the phone. Speaking about the incredible performance of this free app with my colleague Leander Kahney this morning, he agreed Google has served up something pretty amazing, saying, “it even understands my weird English accent.”
Say what you will about Google having worn out its welcome, or being on the downside of its rise to Internet glory, this advance in mobile search technology is a huge leap forward in this reviewer’s opinion. The iPhone may not yet be a fully functioning Star Trek communicator, but Google’s voice search brings it closer than many thought we might get.
Mac users are being warned to beware of a new scam by hackers to plant a Trojan horse. RS.Plug.D is a more flexible update of the RS.Plug.A threat discovered in 2007, a security software vendor claimed Tuesday.
Like the original, the new version relies on Mac users to visit malicious porn sites, according to Intego. Unlike RS.Plug.A, this trojan software opens a security hole enabling hackers to repeatedly download files to your system.
When on a suspect porn site, visits will be shown an error message: “Video ActiveX Object Error,” followed by a message that the browser is unable to view the video file and a request to start a download.
In about 10 days, Mapflow will launch a free iPhone app called Avego for car pooling. (The home page says they’re waiting for Apple Push capability).
The nice thing: though the Avego app exploits smartphone capabilities, you don’t have to have an iPhone to hitch a ride.
MacBook fans are in an uproar after discovering the new laptops contain hardware-based copyright protection that prevents the viewing of iTunes movies on some external displays, such as a second monitor or a projector.
“This movie cannot be played because a display that is not authorized to play protected movies is connected,” is the warning MacBook users receive when using an external display that doesn’t support the High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) protocol.
The HDCP technology is part of Apple’s Mini DisplayPort Content Protection built into MacBooks. Hollywood studios looking to protect their movies appreciate the 128-bit copy protection measures included in DisplayPort, according to reports.
As we enter the critical holiday shopping period, the future of Apple’s iPod hangs in the balance as two courts consider a patent lawsuit over memory chips. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Spansion Inc. Monday named Apple, along with other customers of Samsung in a dispute over alleged abuse of flash memory patents.
While the Delaware lawsuit, covering six patents, asks for damages and an injunction against Samsung, Spansion’s case before the International Trade Commission could result in blocking imports of Apple and other makers of devices containing flash memory chips, according to the Wall Street Journal.
A wide range of gadgets, from MP3 players to cell phones and digital cameras, use flash memory. The ITC could forego an import ban if it views the blockage would impose undue harm on a company.
China Mobile’s CEO Tuesday gave the latest hint Apple may still get its iPhone into the world’s largest marketplace by the end of 2008.
“China Mobile is still interested in [bringing the ] iPhone into China Mobile markets,” Marketwatch quoted Wang Jianzhou when addressing the GSMA Mobile Asia Conference. The carrier’s head didn’t provide details, citing a non-disclosure agreement with Apple.
China, with over 600 million mobile users, remains a highly-prized target for Apple. CEO Steve Jobs has said he expects to sell the iPhone in the Asian country by the end of the year.
Tech makes cheating more, not less complicated. Case in point: a desperate wife, going by the name of Susan042764, asked on the Apple forum whether raunchy photos of her husband could have automatically attached themselves to an email (send to a woman’s address) due to an iPhone “glitch.”
Honey, for your sake, we hope that’s the only “virus” he catches.
Via Inluminent
The Fail Whale enjoying a well-earned break, yesterday.
Today’s big question: what is the best Twitter client for iPhone? I asked everyone in my house, but neither of them had an opinion. So I asked Twitter instead.
At the time of writing, there’s a lot of praise for Tweetsville and Tweetie (not actually publicly available yet, it seems) and Twittelator.
My favorite right now is Twitterfon. I only discovered it a few days ago, while discussing iPhone software over a pint in the pub, but it as soon as I’d got it installed, it replaced Twitterific as my daily quick-must-check-my-Tweets-else-I’ll-probably-die app. (Did someone say something about time and attention? No? Good.)
Why do I like Twitterfon? Mainly because it’s fast, also because it looks like an iPhone app. Twitterific was too pokey, too cramped, too dark, for my liking.
Annnnnyway. What’s your fave iPhone Twitter tweet-o-tron, oh lovely Cult reader? Hmmm?
Now, personally speaking, I find this very weird indeed. But some people might like the idea, so I thought it was worth mentioning.
You’re probably already aware of TextMate, which like most text editors eschews a lot of the user interface stuff you see in other apps. There’s a window, with text in it, and there are many many commands you can use, but there’s not much to see: there’s no toolbar.
SuperMate doesn’t add a toolbar, it’s more like adding a skin. It tinkers with TextMate’s panels and tabs and a few other things like the web preview window, and just Leopardizes them a little.
Personally, I think TextMate’s just fine as it is. But if you’d like to see it a bit more, um, purple, maybe this will be of interest.
Apple released a firmware update today designed to fix trackpad issues reported by users of new MacBook and MacBook Pro notebook computers released in October.
Affected users can download and install the new firmware from the Software Update function in OS X or go to the Apple Support download site and retrieve it from there.
The company lists a resource for more information that currently goes to a “Not Found” page, but may provide additional information at some point.
After the bacon scarf, tiara and bicycle comes this whimsical (and mercifully faux) bacon case for the iPhone. According to German designer Antjes, the felt case really looks like a piece of bacon. “You can feel the irregular (texture) and the illusion is perfect.”
Bringing home the iBacon will set you back €25 (circa $32) plus shipping…
Via Nerdgrind
When I wrote about the new voice capabilities of Google’s iPhone search app on Friday, I was a little surprised it was not yet available on the AppStore. But it was relatively early in the day and I figured it would show up at some point. This morning, Charlie Sorrel writes at GadgetLab that Apple “forgot” to put Google’s app on the store.
Can that really be true? Sorrel refers to the fact that Google is subject to what he calls the “same arbitrary application approval scheme as everyone else,” and calls attention to a post by Michael Arrington at TechCrunch naming Google as the aggrieved party, saying “Apple really screwed up.”
I wonder. Might it not have been prudent for Google’s PR machine to have confirmed its application had been approved and was going to be available before kicking into high gear? Apple has thus far no comment on the situation and, as of this writing the voice search-enhanced Google Mobile app is not available on the AppStore.
For the second time this month, Barclays Capital’s Ben Reitzes reduced his target price for Apple shares. Citing lower handset expectation and increased pressure on higher priced products, Reitzes
On Nov. 7, Reitzes trimmed his target price for Cupertino shares to $121 from $125.
The Barclays analyst told investors he expects a two percent drop in first quarter 2009 earnings to $9.4 billion, down from $9.6 billion. Apple may earn $34.4 billion for 2009, a drop from $35.7 billion previously expected. In fiscal 2010, Apple earnings could rise 18 percent to $40.55 billion, a drop from $42.8 billion early estimated.