Let’s flash back a few months to October, when an iOS developer called Applidium ported the indispensable VLC video player to the App Store as a free download. It was a great day for iOS device owners who wanted a more robust way of watching videos across many different codecs, but one of the lead contributors to the VLC project, Rémi Denis-Courmont, decided to get pissy about it. Why? Because VLC was released under a GPL license, and he felt that Apple wrapping a port of VLC in App Store DRM ran counter to that license.
Well, score a victory for VideoLAN, I guess. Denis-Courmont has successfully had VLC pulled from the App Store in response to a claim that the app violated VideoLAN’s licensing agreement.
The Verizon iPhone is a truly exciting prospect for us geeks, for most people, it’s not going to be a big deal. It won’t be an all new phone, or substantially different hardware-wise from the current iPhone 4… it’ll just be on a different network, and that the difference between GSM and CDMA technology is profound just won’t matter to most people.
That puts Verizon in a little bit of a pickle: short of blaring on about how much superior their network is to AT&T’s (and they will do just that), what are they going to do to to easily differentiate the Verizon iPhone from the AT&T iPhone and make it seem like a different product entirely?
LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — The annual Consumer Electronics Show this year was dominated by 3D TVs and Android tabs, but there was still plenty to see for Mac and iOS fans.
As the show wraps up, here’re our picks for the best gear on display in Sin City this year. Most, but not all, is Apple-related.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — If the brief look we stole of the Altec Lansing lineup is anything to go by, we’re going to be even more thrilled with their hardware this year than we were last year (when their InMotion Compact garnered a 4.5/5 rating). They’ve kept the key ingredients of intriguing-yet-simple design and cool features, but we get the impression everything seems somehow to be more grownup.
A good example is the just-released InMotion Air: An elegant, steel-grey rhomboid that streams music at a distance of up to a whopping 100 yards with the included wireless adapter, or via Bluetooth (at considerably less range); it also comes with a seven-hour battery. The InMotion Air will be available in February for $200, through Radio Shack or online through Altec Lansing.
AL has some additional tricks up its sleeve, which they revealed to us during a closed-door tour of their lineup; we can’t tell you exactly what they’re up to, because we had to sign a non-disclosure agreement just to get inside. But it’s cool, and it’s coming soon.
The Wall Street Journalreported today that the Verizon iPhone will be announced Tuesday, January 11.
The announcement will happen at an event at New York’s Lincoln Center and will be headlined by Verizon President and COO Lowell McAdam, according to the story.
Journalists were sent invitations by Verizon today, but those invitations did not specify what the announcement would be. The Journal says the iPhone announcement was confirmed by “a person familiar with the matter.”
LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — Check out this simply stunning 3D-mapping technology from Swedish-based C3 Technologies that elicited a uniform reaction of “holy %$*@!” from us when we saw it. One reason for its precision is that it was developed from recently declassified missile targeting technology originally developed by Swedish aerospace powerhouse Saab.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — Android tablets have a ways to go — that seems to be the emerging consensus here at CES.
I couldn’t help but notice all the floor chatter going on while people were playing with any one of the dozens of new Android tablets here on display at CES. As I listened, the crowd consensus became clear to me—not only are all the new Android tabs not as good as the iPad, they’re not even close.
Why? Well that’s what I started wondering. I wanted to hear unfiltered reviews on what potential users were thinking. So after hearing the 100th person murmur something like, “this doesn’t work nearly as good as the iPad,” I starting getting nosy and asking them why.
The million people who downloaded Apple’s Mac Store yesterday are turning themselves into PCs, says Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde.
“Apple is going on the path to control computer use,” he told Forbes via e-mail, adding that Steve Jobs’ company is “forcing you to use their App Store to get programs.”
Whether you think the Mac App store makes Apple more like Microsoft or not, the confusion generated by the first iteration of the store – our post on what happens when you try to install apps you already have reads like something out of a Windows joke book – is definitely un-Apple like.
Students with iPads, courtesy Seton Hill University.
Seton Hill University in Greensberg, Pennsylvania was one of the first to announce it would hand out iPads to students – launching the program before the device was even available — now it’s the first enter into legal action against a student over one.
Michael Sellers, 18, enrolled in Seton Hill and was handed his school-mandated iPad and MacBook. He left school shortly afterwards for unspecified reasons.
“On Aug. 18, Michael Sellers signed a contract with Seton Hill University that if he left the university … he would return the iPad within 10 days,” along with the MacBook, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Working as a Mac consultant brings me in contact with several dozen different Macintosh systems every month. Many needs and tasks are common – OS upgrades, backups, system slowdowns, troubleshooting startup or WiFi problems. Like any good mechanic there are a few items in my toolbox which I favor above others. From built-in tools like Disk Utility, Network Utility and Console to third-party tools like DiskWarrior, FileSalvage and iStumbler, these items help get the job done.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — The TRYX could have been designed by Jonny Ive’s evil twin brother: It’s charismatic and completely striking — but in a dark, angular way. I really couldn’t believe my jaw was dropping over a camera’s looks when I first saw it up close, but that’s exactly what happened. The TRYX’s form factor also has one really cool trick up it’s sleeve: the rim of the case swivels around and turns the whole thing into a sort-of tripod. It’s very slick, and it feels and looks satisfyingly well-designed.
Casio has made sure to back up the good looks with substance, and absolutely stuffed the 12-megapixel point-n-shoot with equally stunning performance too: Ultra-wide angle 21mm lens; HDR; touch-screen controls; the ability to capture seamless, 360-degree panoramic images with a single sweep; some sort of high-speed zoom system (which we didn’t get to try out); even a self-timer that’s motion-activated; and arguably the most impressive function: the ability to capture slow-motion video at 240 frames per second.
It’s coming in April, and it’s yours for $250. Press release with full specs here.
In a move that might well have Fake Steve quaking in his boots, Apple has just struck down the Twitter account of one of the growing number of tech parodists poking fun at Cupertino and its products.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — Pioneer launched its SmartCradle for the iPhone at its CES presser today, further proving that the aftermarket auto industry seems to be embracing the iPhone with rapidly increasing gusto.
They really pulled out the stops on this one, hardware-wise: a dedicated GPS receiver with an external antenna, which they said will give even newer iPod Touch models GPS capability; an accelerometer and gyro sensor for better location awareness; hands-free calling an integrated amplified speaker with the ability to vary volume based on ambient noise; and audio/video output. Of course, it’ll also charge the iPhone; Ted Cardenas, Pioneer’s director of marketing, made of point of this — but since the iPhone won’t last long with location services going, any dock even remotely similar already includes charging ability. Nary a whiff on price or availability yet.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — Still a day to go before CES is officially at full steam, we found a few nuggets at a Tuesday night press event.
First up is a pair of solar-powered goodies from Eton. The Soulra 2 is the pumped-up version of the original Soulra dock (which was featured in our 2010 Holiday Gift Guide). It’s got eight speakers, a massive flip-up, high-capacity solar-panel providing eight hours of tunes on just five hours of charge, and a facelift — we think it looks much more refined than its predeceessor.
Proving that news embargoes and electronics trade shows attended by tens of thousands of people do not play well together, word of Blue Microphones’ new Yeti Pro USB microphone leaked from the desert Tuesday night as the giant Consumer Electronics Show began picking up steam in Las Vegas.
The highly anticipated successor to Blue’s successful, top-of-the line USB microphone, Yeti Pro is the first USB mic to combine 24 bit/192 kHz digital recording resolution with analog XLR output, making it potentially one of the finest, most versatile recording tools on the market.
Like its predecessor, the plain old Yeti, Yeti Pro features premium condenser capsules set in Blue Microphones’ proprietary triple capsule array, which supports four different recording patterns for capturing a wide range of recording situations.
Yeti Pro looks quite promising from here, an assessment shared by CES judges, who made Yeti Pro a 2011 CES Innovations Winner in High Performance Audio. The mic is set to retail for $249 and should be available at authorized Blue Microphone distributors later this month.
LAS VEGAS — After hours of driving through the cow-infested flatness of California’s Central Valley, CultofMac Editor Leander Kahney and I have finally arrived in Vegas, primed to report from this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. The doors only officially open on Thursday, but here’s some of the sparkly new stuff we saw released today that we’re mega-pumped to get our hands on at this year’s show:
A company called Ten One Design has announced a $25 joystick for iPad called Fling that attaches to the screen with suction cups.
The Fling goes on top of the on-screen controls, and replaces your direct finger or thumb. The joystick is mostly clear plastic, so you can see through it.
Does this defeat the whole purpose of using an iPad for gaming, which is direct touch on an elegant surface? Or is this just cool?
New features have quietly been introduced to iTunes movies that allow users to search for specific words within a film’s script, and select their favorite clips to share with their friends through social networking sites. The features are being “quietly tested” in recent movies released by Sony Entertainment Pictures, as noted by PaidContent.org.
The movies that are known to include the new features at present are “The Other Guys,” which provides users with a search button enabling them to enter words to be found within the film’s script; and both “Salt” and “Resident Evil: Afterlife,” which include the “clip & share” function that allows users to select their favorite scenes and then share them with their friends through social networking sites. Users also have access to a playlist of songs from the movie and an opportunity to purchase them from iTunes.
The introduction of these new, iTunes-only features gives movie fans an incentive to purchase the latest films through Apple’s iTunes Store, rather than on DVD or Blu-ray. According to PaidContent.org, the capabilities found in the latest Sony movies are unique to iTunes, and not just a repackaging of additional content available on the Blu-ray or DVD counterparts:
“Mind-blowing add-ons? No, but they do represent the intent of studios like Sony, which declined comment, to offer differentiating value on digital platforms from that on DVD, where extras are often nothing more than a collection of additional short videos.”
These new features are only accessible to users who choose to purchase movies from iTunes, rather than rent them.
Where do you characterize the iPad and iPhone in the music making process? They can be your instruments, recording console, video edit system, and playback devices all in one. With new tools comes new talent, taking advantage of what progress has to offer. The Age of the iDevice in Music has only just begun.
Korean musician Yoari and an all-iDevice band performed this cover of Beyonce’s Sweet Dream in June 2010. The apps used in the piece are noted during the performance – a nice touch. And not a bad jam!
So, you were a very good boy or girl this year and Santa brought you a brand new Mac.
Maybe it was a sleek MacBook Air, perhaps a studly MacBook Pro or a bright and shiny iMac for your desktop. You say it was an old-school Mac Pro workstation? Well, bully for you!
Isn’t it time to make a few resolutions about how you’re going to love and care for your new machine so you can get the most out of it and keep it running in tip-top shape long after your Apple Care subscription runs out?
Here are five suggestions to help you do just that:
1. Have a back-up plan.
The number one mistake made by 99% of the people who wake up one day with an empty feeling in the pit of their stomach as they realize all their photographs, all their music, all their software and the outline for that Oscar-winning screenplay are just…gone — is having no backup.
Fortunately (or unfortunately), Apple has left you no excuse for not having your data backed up, at least since the introduction of Time Capsule and its integration with Time Machine, a built-in backup solution that’s been part of OX X since 2007.
A 1 terabyte Time Capsule is only $299 and unless you are one of those Pirate Bay or LimeWire scofflaws you’re probably never going to fill it up.
Don’t want to pay the Apple premium for seamless integration and “Designed in California” panache? Dozens of excellent third-party backup solutions await from the likes of LaCie and Seagate — there’s even an eco-friendly Green solution from Hitachi subsidiary SimpleTech, the USB 2.0 [Re]Drive, made from bamboo and recycled aluminum.
Regular backups for your computer system are like roughage in your diet: just do it and you’ll never never be sorry you did.
Happy new year! Are you interested in learning why you should jailbreak your iDevice in 2011? Or are you just looking for some cool apps and tweaks after recently jailbreaking? Look no further!
In this guide, we’re covering ten of the most popular jailbreak apps and mods you can obtain through Cydia. These usually wouldn’t be possible, but with the help of jailbreaking, they are!
Incredible technology products have emerged in the last 10 years, from Web 2.0 sites to Twitter, GPS-enabled smart phones to cheap pocket video recorders.
On New Year’s Day, 2001, blogs were still largely unknown to the public. RIM had yet to launch the BlackBerry, and Palm hadn’t yet announced its Treo. Blu-Ray was still several years in the future. Google hadn’t even started working on Gmail. A 3.1 megapixel camera cost $700. Almost nobody had heard of social networking.
There’s no question that technology has completely changed our world in the past ten years. But if I had to pick one product that was more impactful and more culture-changing – in other words, the most important technology product of the decade, it would have to be the Apple iPad.
Thanks to the advent of Steam for Mac, the dedication and ingenuity of indie developers and the App Store’s raising of awareness of Apple and its products, 2010 was the best year for Apple gaming since, well, the Big Bang.
We can’t even pretend to have played all the games that came out this year, or even a tenth of them. There were a lot of great games that escaped our radar, or we just didn’t get the time to play. Heck, we don’t even have editorial consensus amongst ourselves.
After the jump, though, you can find at least my list of 2010’s iOS and Mac games that siphoned away most of my time, causing me to miss deadlines, emotionally neglect my girlfriend, and extend my index fingers by three inches through callus mass alone. What were the games that extended yours? Let us know in the comments
