We’d heard just under a month ago that Apple was mulling the possibility of adding matte display options to more than just its flagship 17-inch MacBook Pro, and lo and behold, it seems the anti-glare revolution has begun. Starting now (like, right now), those in the market for a new unibody 15-inch MacBook Pro can order one directly from Apple with an anti-glare widescreen display, packing 1,440 x 900 pixels and a LED backlight. Sadly, the privilege will run you an extra $50 over the traditional (mirrored) glossy panel, and it will replace that svelte borderless look present on glossy MBPs with a silver frame bezel. A brief look around Apple’s international sites also shows it available elsewhere in the world for similar amounts, though we’re still curious as to what machine will be next in line for the upgrade, er, “option.”
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On Verizon
I know Apple has a sweetheart deal with AT&T, and that the notorious wireless provider pays handsomely for the privilege. However, it’s been over two years, and I think it’s time for Apple to give the public the option of a choice of wireless providers.
If that day ever comes, the iPhone is going to destroy a lot of competitors that are currently safe simply due to being on a different network.
Farewell, tr.im
With Twitter’s 140-charcter limit on updates, several URL shortening service cropped up in the last 18 months out of nowhere.
A few months ago, Twitter added bit.ly support to its homepage, effectively making it the most popular URL shortener out there.
It didn’t help rival tr.im:
tr.im is now in the process of discontinuing service, effective immediately. Statistics can no longer be considered reliable, or reliably available going forward. However, all tr.im links will continue to redirect, and will do so until at least December 31, 2009. Your tweets with tr.im URLs in them will not be affected.
‘A Community Lens’
From WMCTV Channel 5, here in Memphis:
In Tennessee, The Chattanooga Times Free Press has been setting aside more space for local news and puts all national news through a community lens, says publisher and executive editor Tom Griscom. The newspaper has a weekday circulation of about 73,000.
Griscon says if people “really want to read about the Iraq war every day, you are not going to buy our paper. You will buy The New York Times.”
Ice-T, The Apple Technician
On Upgrading to a New OS
Microsoft has produced a chart outlining the different options available to users who are looking to upgrade to Windows 7. Gizmodo has a nice big version of it here.
It’s unbelievably confusing. Just looking at it gives me a headache. With so many different versions of Vista and 7 in the mix, the possibilities are almost endless, but many users will have to take the “Custom Install” path, which Microsoft describes as basically a clean install.
CBS is Bleeding
CBS Corp. saw its profit all but wiped out in the second quarter, as the recession continued to eat into advertising revenue across its TV, radio and outdoor-billboard businesses.
The New York media company relies heavily on advertising, especially at its broadcast-TV network. Television ad revenue fall 13% in the quarter, to $1.15 billion, from a year earlier, even though CBS has been the only one of the four biggest U.S. TV networks to increase its prime-time audience this season.
Comcast Starts DNS Redirection Service
Domain Helper currently works in cases where a URL includes a properly-spelled top-level domain (such as “.com”) at the end and where the site name is not a registered domain name. When activated, Domain Helper redirects users to a comcast.com page that is powered by Yahoo Bing search. The layout of the results, however, suggests that the goals are less about helping you find your intended destination and more about presenting you with ads.
Apple Repsonds to Ninjawords Issue
Phil Schiller of Apple responded to John Gruber after Gruber’s piece about Apple censoring Ninjawords — an iPhone dictionary app — made the rounds Tuesday.
Schiller:
You are correct that the Ninjawords application should not have needed to be censored while also receiving a 17+ rating, but that was a result of the developers’ actions, not Apple’s. I believe that the Apple app review team’s original recommendation to the developer to submit the Ninjawords application, without censoring it, to the App Store once parental controls was implemented would have been the best course of action for all; Wiktionary.org is an open, ever-changing resource and filtering the content does not seem reasonable or necessary.
The iTab Mini
I stumbled across this set on Flickr today of a tablet Mac created from remnants of a 12-inch PowerBook and a MacBook. It’s pretty impressive.
10.5.8 Released
‘Apple censored an English dictionary’
Gruber, on Ninjawords, a iPhone dictionary app that Apple has censored:
In other words, not only must the dictionary be censored — a dictionary — but even after being purged of “objectionable” words it would only be considered with a 17+ rating. Even after agreeing to these terms, it took another two weeks for Ninjawords to appear in the App Store.
[…]
Every time I think I’ve seen the most outrageous App Store rejection, I’m soon proven wrong. I can’t imagine what it will take to top this one.