Cult of Mac

The ‘will he or won’t he’ question was answered Tuesday when Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced he’ll offer a $999 MacBook in time for the holiday shopping season.

Although the price cut is on the entry-level 2.1GHz white plastic MacBook and not on one of the nifty unibody aluminum notebooks introduced, the news appeared to satisfy some analysts.

“I think it is important to note that MacBook pricing is coming down. Nobody is immune to the consumer,” Vijay R Rakesh, ThinkPanmure analyst, told Cult of Mac.

The gathering of the tribe has begun at Apple HQ in Cupertino this morning, where, in 30 minutes or so, the company will turn the spotlight on its line of notebook computers. I’ll be updating this post with relevant details of the pronouncements from the Town Hall stage during the event, so refresh the post to keep in the news and check back later today for Cult of Mac reaction to and analysis of all the new gear.

The Apple Store has gone off-line in preparation for the stocking of new inventory; no doubt the company’s server array will get a workout in the next 24 hours.

Follow the news after the jump.

The LA Times, nothing if not the newspaper of hard knocks, offers this feature of best tunes for the economic blues, assuming you haven’t “pawned your iPod weeks ago.”

Picks include:
The Clash, “Career Opportunities”
Crystal Waters, “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)”
Bob Marley “Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)”

Still working out whether this is supposed to be funny. And wondering why “Working in a Coal Mine” (Devo’s version especially) and “Hard Candy Christmas” didn’t make the cut.

Buddy, can you spare a Shuffle?

Threadless, online purveyor of uber-cool community-designed tees, now has an iPhone app for on-the-go purchases.

Much like the Tag Show queries on Flickr or Picasa, the app connects to the Threadless database of new shirts and loads designs on your iPhone for quick perusal.

Fringe benefit: the T-shirt designs also make cool wallpaper.

The free app was designed by Ian Marsh.

Via App Craver

After talking up the benefits of a sub-$1,000 notebook, the rumor mill is now soft-peddling the idea as everyone waits for Cupertino’s notebook event slated for 10 a.m. Pacific (1 p.m. ET).

In a post claiming what will and won’t appear, Daring Fireball blogger John Gruber calls analyst speculation of $800 notebooks so much “jackassery” leading up to Tuesday’s unveiling.

Gruber and others are talking of Apple lowering to $999 the price of the 2.1 GHz MacBook which had cost $1,099. In addition, two new MacBook Pros and MacBooks will be introduced. Also rumored: a glass trackpad that also acts as a trackpad button and the replacement of Intel’s graphics chipset for NVIDIA.

“We would be surprised if they didn’t have a $999 MacBook option” for investors, Piper Jaffray Apple hardware analyst Andrew Murphy told Cult of Mac Tuesday.

“If not, (Apple) has some explaining to do,” Murphy said.

He bases his belief on Apple’s prior statements of a “product transition” prompting lower margins.

Monday, Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi estimated Apple could gain up to 69 percent in potential revenue if a sub-$1,000 notebook is released.

Better late than never: Oxford and Cambridge have joined scores of prestigious universities around the world making lectures available for free on iTunes.

So far, iTunes U offerings from Oxford include J. Craig Venter on genomics and and intro series about the university narrated by noteworthy alum, ex-Monty Pythoner Michael Palin. It will expand to 150 hours.

Rivals Cambridge allow users to download over 80 Naked Scientists “enhanced podcasts” (not sure we want to think about what the enhancing involves) by Dr. Chris Smith.

Oxford Vice Chancellor John Hood said, “We hope that this service will make Oxford’s diverse range of audio and video material more widely accessible to applicants, alumni, supporters of the University, and the intellectually curious.”

Via The Student Newspaper

The App Store just gets weirder with every passing day. To celebrate, consider this the first in an occasional series of posts looking at the weirder stuff that’s popping up there.

10 seconds ago is a strange audio widget that records the ambient sounds coming in through the mic, delays them by, um, ten seconds, and plays them out through the speaker. Or, as the app’s maker puts it:

“When you try, don’t you think your vision sometimes hinders your concentration on the sound? If so, then try this tiny app.”

Couldn’t have explained it better myself. (There’s a pro version too, sonic delay fans.)

Sometimes, when Macs die or are horribly injured, their displays turn into beautiful works of electronic art.

Sometimes, though, they just die ugly.

Maybe this one was upset by the number of files stored on the desktop. Whatever the cause, I think “DesktopImpazzito!” is the perfect reaction, even though I haven’t the faintest idea what it means.

(Image used under Creative Commons license. Thanks to Lozofun on Flickr.)

The creators of Where To, one of the more successful iPhone applications to appear in Apple’s AppStore since its launch in July, have decided to divide their company (tap tap tap) and its assets, and to continue on separate creative and business paths.

tap tap tap co-founder John Casasanta detailed circumstances underlying the split in a blog posting today, indicating the success of his venture with Sophia Teutschler had led to insurmountable differences between them about everything from advertising and marketing expenditures to design decisions.

Under the terms of their agreement to move forward, Teutschler will get the iPhone app Tipulator and two apps-in-progress, I’m Here and Groceries. She will publish the apps under her Sophiestication brand. Casasanta said, “[Sophia] is a good UI designer and I have faith that she’ll put out a great app even if the direction she takes it isn’t exactly where I would’ve gone with it.”

Casasanta will retain the tap tap tap brand with apps the company had in early development but had not yet announced. A previously assembled design team will remain with tap tap tap and Casasanta expects to name two new programmers to develop both current and future projects.

The fate of the drinking and dining guide whose success prefigured the split, Where To, remains up in the air. With gross sales of around $200,000 in the three months it was available on the App Store, according to Casasanta, he and Teutschler decided to pull it from the App Store pending resolution of their differences. Casasanta reports they will seek a buyer for Where To and its assets via sale by auction, and that he and Teutschler will split the proceeds of any sale.

“I’m going to put out a post in the next couple of days detailing our plans to sell it off,” Casasanta wrote in his blog posting today, saying, “full details will be coming soon along with complete financials for it including the marketing costs, etc.”

Wow, it doesn’t get much more thrilling than this: I’m announcing the winner of the first contest-with-Wine-Gums-as-a-prize ever here on the Cult, and probably on any other US-based Mac-centric blogs! Incredible!

We asked you to caption a funny picture of a G5 Mac on a street corner, and loads of you chipped in with witty responses. HUGE thanks to everyone who contributed, what a gorgeous bunch you are.

The winner of the packet of Wine Gums is…

Andy, with his caption: “I’m just waiting for the front side bus.”

Strong contenders for the prize were John Handelaar for “To avoid benzene hazard, keep in a well-ventilated area,” and El Vez for “Will compile for food”.

Wow. Blown away to discover that Tommy Hilfiger, the man whose clean-cut, simple designs spell yesteryear americana rocks out on his iPod.

Here are two of three selections on his hot button:

“The Rolling Stones: Sympathy for the Devil I like the lyrics, I like the drums, I like the guitar my favorite band ever.

Jimi Hendrix Experience: Are You Experienced? It reminds me of the Fillmore East, in New York, but I also loved Hendrix’s style. I thought the way that he created this vintage rock’n’roll look was very cool.

The trouble with these features, meant to replace the “top ten desert island album” party question, with the amount of storage even on a Shuffle, how can he give such a miserable selection?

I mean, does he really have only three songs, three playlists on his iPod? C’mon.

Via The Sunday Times

Giant discount chain Wal-Mart in November may become the second retailer to sell Apple’s iPhone, a report said Monday.

Wal-Mart, which already sells a huge number of iPods, could announce a deal Nov. 15, just two weeks before the retail sector’s “Black Monday,” according to the Boy Genius Report website.

In September, electronics retailer Best Buy began selling iPhones, making it the first third-party retailer to offer the Apple handset.

Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney told Cult of Mac if the report is true, the addition of Wal-Mart with its 3,500 stores, would be a good move.

“Problem is that Wal-Mart shoppers are on budgets and the iPhone is expensive for them both in device cost and service,” Dulaney wrote in an e-mail.

As we await Apple’s Tuesday notebook announcement, one analyst says offering a sub-$1,000 notebook could increase Apple’s potential revenue by up to 69 percent.

If Apple unveils a $900 laptop, the move would increase Apple’s potential revenue by 50 percent, Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi said in a Monday note to investors.

If rumors are true and the Cupertino, Calif. company rolls out an $800 laptop, the news could boost Apple revenue by 69 percent.

Things the “brick” is almost certainly not (but see note below):

• a redesigned Mac Mini
• a thing you stick your iPhone into
• a thing you stick your MacBook into
• a thing you watch TV on
• a thing of any sort
• or a manufacturing process
• or a new OS

Something the “brick” absolutely 100 per cent is not:

• a thing that the vast majority of people give a damn about
• worth posting about on Twitter
• going to be dull

(Note: Unless it is, of course)

Your guesses and predictions welcome below, but to make it more fun, you are not allowed to predict anything that’s been predicted before. Your rumor mongering must be strictly original and as creative as you like. After all, it’s not like any other blogs bother with facts these days.

(Image used under Creative Commons license. Thanks to m8f8 on Flickr.)

A California Inn is dubbing itself the world’s first “iPhone hotel.” When guests check into the Malibu Beach Inn, they’re asked if they have an iPhone or iPod Touch. If guests have got the gear, hotel staff loads an app called “Hotel Evolution” from Hollywood software firm Runtriz, to the device. If they don’t, they’re given a 16gb iPod Touch (with the application pre-loaded) to use during their stay.

Guests punch in room number plus security code for access to hotel services: order room service, set a wake up call, request dry cleaning, extra blankets or replace forgotten toothbrushes, check your messages or set your room to “Do Not Disturb.” Shopping, eating and cavorting info for the area is on tap, too. Cost to the hotel is about $10 per room, no word on whether the cost is passed on to guests.

Feeling a bit like an over-Botoxed actress on this one, I’d like to get excited, you know, move some facial muscles, but just can’t.

First, because the usual hotel Flintstone phone service, paper “do not disturb” sign and flesh-and-bones concierge do just fine most of the time. And the fact that most people travel with electronic gear — cell phone, mp3 player, pda, computer, watch — means that stuff like the wake-up call function isn’t all that necessary. The idea of a loaner iPod Touch is cool but you just know it’d be left in a cab, stolen, get stepped on or something. Then what?

It’ll be more interesting if it were to catch on and be widely available abroad, where lost-in-translation mishaps are the order of the day or for foreigners in the U.S. in a bunch of other languages to avoid that problem of not understanding what was just mumbled at you from across the counter.

So, what do you think, is the iPhone Hotel future perfect or conditional?

Via Washington Post

There were some good cameos in Adam Sandler’s guffaw-fest “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan,” like Charlotte Rae, (Mrs. Garrett in “Facts of Life”) as a superannuated, sexed-up hair salon client, but Mariah came through with a spot-on Mac endorsement.

Mariah plays herself in the movie. While she’s in her dressing room, Zohan comes in to fight nemesis Phantom there. The fight is interrupted when Zohan gets a phone call. The dialogue detours into product placement territory, starting with the make of his phone, then this gem, about two-thirds through the scene…

Mariah: “I can never figure that Bluetooth shit out though.”

Zohan: “Mariah, it’s very simple you stick it to your PowerBook. Go ahead, Phantom will tell you.”

Phantom: “Mac or PC?”

Mariah’s assistants, in unison: “Mac.”

Spotted a Mac in a movie or magazine? Let me know.

I met some Facebook developers at a campus recruiting event recently, and we had a long discussion about computers and Facebook’s development. Apparently, the majority of Facebook’s developers use Macs, both at home and at work.

This is interesting on its own, but when I found this video of Facebook hitting 100 million users, I’ve got to say I got excited. Every desk in the whole office has a Cinema display and the new keyboard! It looks like most of the displays are hooked up to MacBook Pros, but I like to imagine that there’s a hefty Mac Pro hidden under those desks, happily chugging away, a secret perfected Facebook interface hidden on its hard disks.

Experience the sensations and mind twisting perceptions you get by ingesting psychotropic drugs – without the harmful side-effects – using a cool new app from Reality Jockey, Ltd.

Available today on the AppStore, the free single release and the $2.99 album release of RjDj will amaze and amuse you with its combination of built-in soundscapes and the unique contribution your personal reality brings to the party.

Using the microphone of your iPhone, RjDj takes the sounds of whatever ambient environment you find yourself in and morphs them into the single built-in track on the free version, or into one of six tracks on the album version, to both create and influence the music you hear.

The program also allows you to record the unique sensations you have while walking through the city, sitting with friends at a cafe, or playing with children in the garden, which you can save and listen to like a normal music track. Well, maybe not normal, but the effects are stunning, sometimes jarring, nonetheless.

In a world of one-off apps available for the iPhone, RjDj is one I could see going back to again and again.

Swiss designers Big Game have just launched a collection of pimped everyday objects called “New Rich” by replacing one plastic part on each with real gold.

In it are Apple earbuds with a gold “bolo tie” look, lending a hint of bling to your iPod. Subtle, yes. Practical, no. Cool, definitely.

The idea behind it?
“We’ve picked standard, universal products, and replaced a part of each object by an equivalent in gold”¦We love the shrewd blend between the down-to-earth functionalism of mass-products and the ultimate precious material: gold.”

Prices to come…

via Josh Spear

Seek shelter for your iPod Nano with a case made from a recycled cassette tape.

These one-of-a-kinds cost $45 each, with a $5 rebate for viral marketing. Only about a dozen are left.

They’re from Contexture Design in Vancouver, the smart folks behind cases made from old 45s for iPods. Those have already disappeared faster than mini-bruschettas at a press conference, however.

Contexture’s Nathan Lee told us the 45 iPod classic cases were a limited edition project and that they don’t plan in cranking out any more.

So get these while you can. Similar cases for newer Nanos to come, so keep an eye out.

Looks like the Apple logo, clears the air around your desk. Not sure how clean it’ll really keep the five cubic meters that surround you, but maybe it makes a nice white noise to drown out your office mates.

$22 from Brando.

Via Geeky Gadgets

Pictures: Fantasic mockups by Miguel Surez

This is guesswork, but here’s the likely feature list of the new MacBooks due October 14:

* Penryn Core 2 Duo chips: 2.4GHz, 2.66GHz, 2.8GHz, and 3.06GHz.

* 2GB of RAM (MacBook); 4GB of RAM (MacBook Pro).

* Hard drives: 160GB — 320GB.

* Glossy widescreen TFT screens. On the MacBook: 13.3-inch (1,280×800 resolution); MacBook Pro: 13.8-inch (1,366×768).

* Integrated NVIDIA graphics system.

* New, all-aluminum enclosures, white, black and silver. (Would love to see multiple colors, but think its unlikely — it’s an inventory nightmare, especially for high-priced products).

* Enclosure is tapered: very thin at the sides, thicker inthe middle, like the iPhone 3G and MacBook Air.

* Magnetic lid latch on all models (replacing mechanical clasps on the MacBook Pro).

* All ports on left side — including FireWire 800.

* Slot-loading optical drive on right (no Blu-ray).

* Extra-large battery pack running full width of computer at the front, under the touchpad.

* Recessed keypad like MacBook Air. Keys are Chicklet style on MacBooks, black and backlight on Pros.

* Price: Starting at $800. This is the mysterious “product transition” that Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said in July would impact Apple’s gross margins.

“We will be delivering state-of-the-art new products that I cannot discuss today that our competitors will not be able to match,” Oppenheimer said during the Q308 conference call.

Your captions, please, for this lonely G5 as it sits watching the world go by in a quiet Danish street. According to Google Translate, the photo’s title on Flickr means “on the walk.”

Clean and funny please. Extra points for poetry, flowery language and use of puns. Lolspeak is banned.

Winner (as chosen by me) will be sent a small packet of Wine Gums. Deadline for entries is midnight (GMT) tomorrow (Friday 10th October 2008).

Photo used under Creative Commons license; thanks to Kofoed on Flickr

“The spotlight turns to notebooks.” So goes the just-released invite from Apple to an Oct. 14 media event. The e-mail to media appears to lend credence to a bevy of reports that Cupertino is set to launch a low-cost notebook computer.

Earlier this morning, a number of tech news sites, lead by the Inquisitir, reported an $800 laptop is among a price list that was released to Apple retailers.

The rumors were also backed up by a series of leaked photos published by a Taiwan website. Among the photos was a 13-inch aluminum Apple laptop.

Analysts have speculated Apple may “refresh” its hardware with a sub-$1,000 Mac. Long known for its pricey hardware, Apple has seen its sales impacted by the sluggish economy.

The Taiwan-based website apple.pro, source of leaked MacBook photos in July, is busy again today with new photos purporting to show the aluminum casings of Apple’s next-gen line of notebook computers.

AppleInsider claims to have confirmed the photo posted earlier today by The Inquisitr is indeed the aluminum “brick” casing for the new 15″ MacBook Pro.

Other pictures from the apple.pro site purport to show Apple’s upcoming aluminum 13-inch MacBooks.

Click on the thumbs above for larger images.