Category: Apple

Cult of Mac has published an interesting article discussing the rumored Apple tablet:

The tablet is Apple’s answer to the exploding netbook market, but it won’t be a piece-of-junk netbook. The last thing Apple will do is glom a touchscreen onto a low-cost laptop. It won’t even put a touchscreen on a regular desktop like an iMac. It makes little sense to touch an iMac’s screen when it is sitting upright. But drop the iMac into your lap, and touching objects on the screen makes perfect sense, and seems perfectly natural.

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Dave Winer:

There’s still a ton of Woz in the Mac, I am typing this on a gorgeous unibody MacBook Pro, which is probably the most lovely computer I’ve ever used. The software I’m using has never been approved by Apple, and can be downloaded from the Internet. Next to it is an iPhone, which I use only as a phone, an IM device and a communicating camera. It sucks as a phone. The IM is okay and the camera is really nice. But as a platform it’s a complete total disappointment.

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TUAW:

Yesterday, AT&T responded to press questions about this by sending a P.R. email:

“AT&T does not manage or approve applications for the App Store. We have received the letter and will, of course, respond to it.”

Ouch. It is going to be fun to watch how Apple handles this.

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Google Voice, of course, is Google’s new online service that allows you route all your calls through a new, independent phone number. The service also transcribes and stores voicemails, SMS messages and more. It’s quite handy, but it’s complicated to use from the iPhone, as it requires a user to launch Safari and use a somewhat painful mobile site to make calls and send texts.

To remedy this, a couple of iPhone developers created apps that replicated the functionality of Google’s site but in a way much easier to use.

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Reuters:

Apple Inc said on Friday it has issued a software update to fix a vulnerability that security experts said could allow hackers to take control of the iPhone and use it for identity theft.

The security flaw in Apple’s hugely popular smartphone was disclosed Thursday at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, a major forum for exchanging information on computer security threats.

Researchers showed how iPhones could be broken into by sending computer code via the phone’s Short Message Service (SMS) system. Mobile phones use SMS to send and receive text messages along with software upgrades.

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Apple kbase article HT3743:

As designed by Apple, the iPhone OS ensures that the iPhone and iPod touch operate reliably. Some customers have not understood the risks of installing software that makes unauthorized modifications to the iPhone OS (“jailbreaking”) on their iPhone or iPod touch. Customers who have installed software that makes these modifications have encountered numerous problems in the operation of their hacked iPhone or iPod touch.

Examples of issues caused by these unauthorized modifications to the iPhone OS have included the following:

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting Apple will attend the 2010 Consumer Electronic Show. 2010 of course, is the first year that Apple won’t be at the Macworld Expo:

Apple plans to attend the show’s 2010 version, marking the first time in memory the Cupertino, Calif., consumer-electronics giant will be there.

No news on a Jobs keynote, however:

At a dinner with journalists this week in San Francisco, CEA’s Shapiro was asked whether he’s invited Jobs, who recently returned from medical leave, to keynote the show. Yes, Jobs has been asked, but nobody from Apple has gotten back to him, Shapiro said.

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Apple Insider, on Microsoft’s retail plans:

The retail locations will sell Microsoft software and first-party hardware, such as Zunes and Xbox 360 consoles. Third-party Windows software and Xbox games will also be available.

[…]

Last week, Microsoft’s tentative plans for its retail locations leaked online. It exposed that the company intends to imitate Apple stores, down to their layouts and even the presence of a dedicated “Guru Bar” for help.

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Yes, you read that correctly, according to Macworld:

EMC Corp. on Tuesday announced that EMC Retrospect 8.1 is now available through its distribution channels. The new release of the venerable Mac backup and archival software application adds back support for PowerPC-based Macs and also improves performance on Intel-based Macs.

A curious development, considering 10.6 is dropping PPC support.

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Ars Technica:

The “Cocktail” project would see a further evolution of such ideas. “It’s all about recreating the heyday of the album when you would sit around with your friends looking at the artwork, while you listened to the music,” one executive familiar with the plans told Financial Times. The problem is that most of today’s digital music audience has little or no recollection of the album’s heyday.

“It’s not just a bunch of PDFs,” said one executive. “There’s real engagement with the ancillary stuff.” One reported feature is that songs can be played directly from these interactive booklets without going into iTunes to play the tracks—though it’s not clear if iTunes must be running for the magic to work.

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AppleInsider has once again stirred up the rumors surrounding the Apple tablet:

It seems like a long time coming. Nearly two years have past since AppleInsider exclusively reported in September of 2007 that Apple’s next big product initiative would be a modern day reincarnation of its beloved-but-defunct Newton MessagePad. And it’s believed the device had been slowly evolving as an R&D project for at least a year prior.

The 10-inch, 3G-enabled tablet, akin to a jumbo iPod touch, is the latest brainchild of chief executive Steve Jobs. That distinction, as insiders will tell you, carries its share of baggage. Under the critical eye of Jobs, contours must be precise, each pixel of the interface has to match a particular vision, and there can be no fault — no matter how slight — or it’s back to the drawing board.

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TUAW:

Recently, we reported that developers were not able to request promo codes for their iPhone apps if the app had received a 17+ rating due to having an embedded web browser, unfiltered 3rd party content, or contained excessive violence or sexual content. This restriction severely limited the ability of the developers to distribute promotional copies of their software to generate publicity and awareness of the app.

Several other outlets picked up on the story, and developers sounded off as well. Luckily, it seems that Apple has been listening: over the past few days, we have received word from a number of developers stating that they are now able to request promo codes for their 17+ apps. While Apple has not made any official comment on the issue, it appears that they have quietly conceded this battle to the developers, once again enabling them to distribute promo codes as needed for all of their apps.

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