Iphone Updates

Should you be expected to pay for something if you are unable to use it?  That’s one of the questions currently causing no small amount of frustration over at deafmac, as they remonstrate with AT&T with regards the lack of a data-only plan for the iPhone.  Chad Taylor contacted AT&T when he noticed they were offering a voice-only version of the Apple contract, to point out that it smacked of discrimination for deaf users to whom inclusive minutes are useless.  The carrier responded first by pointing him in the direction of another handset that can be bought with a deaf-friendly plan, and then withdrew the voice-only option leaving the cheapest iPhone contract at $59.99 a month.

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Could it be that the mark of a true business mastermind is identifying the oddest source of extraneous cost and ruthlessly scything it out?  If so, Apple iPod chief Tony Fadell might just be a genius: the latest patent application to go public from the company, bearing his name, is for a collapsible CD or DVD adaptor that snaps around an 8cm disk and makes it the correct, 12cm diameter to fit safely into a slot-loading drive.  The reason for this new splash of intellectual property?  Saving on shipping and production costs of software releases.

 

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Seemingly solid confirmation that Apple have a 3G iPhone waiting – or at least being polished up – in the wings for a 2008 launch came this week from AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, and with it a rise in Apple stock price from $180.22 to in excess of $184.  The 3G handset, which is set to answer criticisms from reviewers and consumers alike as to the mediocre data access speeds of the original, EDGE-based iPhone, is rumoured to utilise the low-power Broadcom BCM21551 chipset announced in October, which packs 7.2Mbps HSDPA and graphics processing onto a single chip.

 

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In giving iWork ’08 a five-star rating, Neale Monks (macworld.co.uk) points out that the suite offers “good value for the money,” is “easy to use,” offers “genuinely useful templates,” exports to Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and “integrates nicely with Mac OS X.” Of the three applications that comprise iWork ’08, Monks says that “Keynote ’08 thrashed PowerPoint back in 2003, and it just keeps getting better.” He celebrates the fact that the new toolbars in Pages ’08 “are now chock full of new buttons and menus” that “show off its dramatically improved word-processing chops.” And he suggests that Numbers, the newest member of the suite, “may well redefine how people use spreadsheets. It’s powerful, beautiful, and surprisingly versatile.”

So by now you’ve heard about a little multi-touch device called the iPhone right? And you’re well aware that Nokia is set to deliver their new S60 Touch Interface and likely a few new touch-screen devices sometime in 2008. Well, according to Richard Windsor, a London-based analyst with Nomura, Nokia could see “delays or holdups” in its smartphone strategy if Apple decides to unleash its army of lawyers in defense of its over 200 iPhone-related patent filings. (Note: that’s “filings” not patents granted for intellectual property.) According to Mr. Windsor, “I think Apple will likely view Nokia as infringing on its user interface patents.” Having said that, he further speculates that Apple and Nokia will likely end up in a settlement by 2009 in order to avoid a lengthy Qualcomm vs. Nokia battle in the courts. Of course, in a system whereby laggards and leaders attempt to gain or maintain competitive advantage through lawsuits and lobbyists rather than the innovations of their own engineers, anything goes. And yeah, we know there are a lot of ifs in there. Still, don’t forget that Apple failed to defend the “look and feel” of its Mac OS in court against Microsoft back in the Windows 2.0 days, and Nokia’s been making touchscreen devices for years, not months like Apple. So, lesson learned or big trouble in little Espoo, what say you? We’re guessing the latter if that demonstration device (on the right) is ever released.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Over the weekend, security researchers announced a vulnerability in QuickTime‘s handling of the RTSP streaming protocol, and Windows-only exploit code is already circulating. The flaw allows attackers to craft specially formatted RTSP responses that cause a buffer overflow, and as a result they can execute arbitrary code in the context of the logged-in user. Unfortunately, there are plenty of ways to get someone to click a malicious RTSP link, including sending it in email or including it on a website. While Symantec notes that IE and Safari for Windows appear to be resistant to the exploit code, opening a malicious RTSP link in current versions of Firefox or in QuickTime Player would allow the exploit to run.

For now, there is no Mac version of the exploit (cold comfort to the millions of iTunes for Windows users); hopefully there will be a QuickTime security patch on both platforms before any additional exposure occurs. Rich Mogull at TidBITS has some helpful tips for securing your network, including blocking the RTSP protocol both at the firewall and for outbound connections via Little Snitch.

Update 10:30 am Thursday: Commenter Moulles points out that a cross-platform exploit for the RTSP flaw, which could target either PCs or Macs, has now been published.

One of my great Dock tricks (and I use the term ‘trick’ loosely), no longer works in Leopard. The old ‘put a folder in the Dock and get a hierarchical menu’ trick has been obsoleted by Stacks. Stacks are pretty, I’ll give Apple that, but they aren’t as useful to people who have lots of Documents or Apps on their Macs. Good thing for Quay 1.0 has now been released and my hierarchical menus are back!

Not only are they back, but they’re better than ever. Quay allows you to set the way the menu is sorted, the size of the icons on that menu, and the look of the Dock icon. Another thing worth noting is that ‘Quay folders’ appear on the right side of the Dock separator, as they should, and Quay itself doesn’t have to be running in order for these ‘Quay Menus’ to work.

The developer notes that no undocumented APIs are used, and the Dock isn’t hacked in anyway. Quay costs €7, and there is no free trial (if you want more than one Quay folder though, you have to pony up the cash).

A lot has changed in the video production realm over the past year, and thankfully, Apple’s recent Final Cut Express 4 addresses these new advancements in camcorder capture and post-production technology. It’s been a full year and a half since Final Cut Express 3.5, and there’s a number of notable updates and enhancements that make the latest version 4 worth a look.

Thankfully, Jeff Carlson at Macworld gives us a nice look at some of the new additions in Final Cut Express 4, which was released less than two weeks ago. The software now includes AVCHD support, mixed video format timeline functionality, 50 new FxPlug plug-ins, the new ability to import iMovie ’08 projects, and more. Give his advance look a read to learn more about this important inclusions. Sounds like this one will be worth the update. Expect a full review from the Macworld folks soon.

Google has announced that the next version of Google Desktop (we’ve written about Google Desktop before) will allow users to run Google Gadgets alongside Mac OS X Widgets in the Dashboard. This new functionality should be available tomorrow.

I don’t use Google Desktop or Gadgets, and rarely use Dashboard widgets, so I just can’t get excited about this. However, I know they each have their devotees, so those among you have something to look forward to tomorrow.

I used the original Boot Camp beta last year just to see it work. I applied the subsequent updates, but haven’t tinkered with it since.

Today, I received an email from Apple that reads, in part:

“…With the introduction of Leopard, the Boot Camp Beta program has ended. The Boot Camp Beta software will expire on December 31, and Apple won’t offer further updates of Boot Camp Beta for Mac OS X Tiger.“

There’s your warning, Tiger users. The Boot Camp beta expires December 31st. Upgrade to Leopard or run unsupported. You don’t want that, of course. Windows needs all the support it can get.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

The iPhone launch here in the U.K. has been hotly debated over recently, with all sorts of (lacklustre) sales figures mentioned, and a fair-few inaccuracies in supposedly factual coverage. An investigation by the BBC (being aired tonight) brings the launch yet more dangerous criticism – although on this occasion it’s levelled at reseller Carphone Warehouse, who according to Auntie have apparently been misleading customers over insurance for the iPhone. The reason for the agressive (and inaccurate) upselling? Sales persons’ desire to grab a slice of commission for the insurance sale.

The investigation, as part of the BBC’s Watchdog programme airs tonight, 8pm on BBC1.

If you’ve been watching TV during the last few days chances are you have already seen this: Apple has released a new iTunes commercial. The new commercial features Mary J. Blige singing ‘Work That’ out while those iconic silhouette dancers dance around with hip mounted iPods (not an iPhone in sight!).

What do you think about these iPod/iTunes ads? Still cool, or is it time for Apple to come up with something fresh? Sound off in the comments.

Well slap my Safari and call me Susan– it seems that the rumors of Inquisitor’s demise (like so many things nowadays) were greatly exaggerated. Apple Reporter points out that Inquisitor, the Safari search plugin that everyone likes so much, has been “repackaged” for Leopard. Originally, we were told that the fact that InputManagers were being discontinued in the new OS would kill off Inquisitor and other Safari plugins that used them, but Inquisitor works.

Of course, as we’ve already noted, noone knows for how long. But it seems that instead of deleting them whole hog, Apple just reined InputManagers in, and Inquisitor was able to stay in business. Good news.

Lara Croft is back on the Mac. Feral Interactive let us know that they have released Tomb Raider Anniversary for our favorite architecture.

There are a few hitches– it’s Intel processors only at this point (though a Universal binary is due next year), and like most 3D games lately, GMA video cards are out. 10.4 is listed, there’s no indication of whether the game works in Leopard or not. The good news is that while a lot of Tomb Raider games lately have been terrible, this one is supposed to be a nice return to the spelunking of old. The Windows version got reviewed favorably, but there’s no word yet on exactly how the Mac version looks. We’ve heard good things about other Feral ports– maybe this kind of release is just what Mac gaming needs a lot more of.

When the cat’s away, the mice will play.

The cat being Steve Jobs (absent from Apple in 1996) and the mice a team of Newton developers who found themselves alone with 4,000 modems and a video camera. As you’ve undoubtedly surmised, they created an impressive domino-type arrangement of the modems in the halls of Apple.

The video is longer than it needs to be, so skip ahead a bit. While you’re at it, dig the 90′s fashion statements. Flock Of Seagulls Nirvana concert, anyone?

We Mac users take our web browsers seriously, which helps account for the fact that there are just so many of them to choose from. For my money the top browser on OS X is Camino (though Safari 3 is closing in fast). Camino, as you can see from the accompanying picture here, makes a big deal out of its ‘Mac Style,’ and it does feel much more at home on a Mac than Firefox does (though the Firefox team is working on that).

Camino is free, as are most browsers these days (Ominweb, I’m looking at you), but that doesn’t mean you can’t chip in to support development. The Camino Project recently announced that they can now take donations. Working with the Mozilla Foundation the Camino Project has setup a way for you to donate money to support the app, and get the added bonus of writing it off on your taxes. Best of all, the Mozilla Foundation will offer a 2 for 1 match until the end of the year, or until the donations reach $10,000, whichever comes first.

If you’re a big Camino user be sure to head on over to their donation page and send ‘em a few dollars.

Not all preferences appear in your iPhone Settings application. As I discussed rather thoroughly in my Modding Mac OS X book, it’s not that hard to dig through applications and discover undocumented–or in this case unpromoted–preferences that add spice to your Mac or iPhone. I decided to put the iPhone’s SpringBoard to the test. That’s the app that runs your main home page. This core application contained over a dozen user-settable preferences. I tested them all and selected my six favorites. If you have access to the command line, you can start having fun with these settings yourself. This post shows you how.

Continue reading A half dozen fun undocumented iPhone preferences

Fortune’s Big Tech blog has posted an interview with Greg Joswiak, the head of iPod and iPhone marketing. In the interview, Joswiak talks about the evolution of new iPod features and how Apple has taken the device beyond just a simple music player.

Of particular interest (at least to me) is Joswiak’s mention of iPhone application development and sales. He talks about his excitement in bringing “legitimate” developers into the iPhone application space (heh) and promises digital application signatures. Although he spins this as a way to ensure the application on your iPhone is the correct application that the developers intended to ship, it’s also pretty obviously a way to ensure that the application on your iPhone has been vetted by Apple. The apps will conform to a development environment that maintains “security and reliability” while offering “some really cool things”, i.e. no unlocks and a possibly limited subset of the development space.

One thing the article makes clear is that the SDK will not be invitation only. Joswiak says the SDK will bring in grassroots small developers as well as “legitimate” developers, a move he sees as “awesome”.

Quick Look is a beautiful thing, and in my view practically itself worth the cost of admission to Leopard. Unfortunately, the more you get used to it, the more annoying it is when you get to a file format that Quick Look doesn’t support. Fortunately, Apple was smart enough to design Quick Look with an open architecture that allows developers to write their own plugins and support more file formats, which Japanese developer Taiyo used to write two excellent plugins.

The first addresses a serious annoyance with the default Quick Look implementation on folders. If you invoke Quick Look with a folder selected in the Finder you’ll get…a picture of the folder icon. Frankly, that’s pretty stupid. Taiyo’s Folder Quick Look Plugin fixes this by displaying the folder’s contents, which is how it should have been done in the first place. Likewise, Taiyo’s Zip Quick Look Plugin displays the contents of zip files.

I’m sure we’ll be seeing more and more of these expansions of Quick Look in the days ahead, which will make this quintessential Leopard feature that much more useful. Both the Folder Quick Look Plugin and the Zip Quick Look Plugin are free downloads. Place them in your /Library/QuickLook/ or ~/Library/QuickLook/ folders and they should work immediately.

Once again, TUAW is pleased to present you with a selection of free songs and videos from around the world. Many of these iTMS items won’t be free for long, so grab your copies before the week is up. And don’t forget: If you want to buy these on your iPhone or iPod touch, make sure to sign into your account in iTunes before you sync.

Continue reading iTunes: Free Tuesday

This week, Google released a new version of Maps including a new beta feature — My Location. My Location uses the same technology as Navizon’s GPS free positioning system. Using cell phone towers to locate your position provides your general location within 1000m. The application pinpoints your location, and puts a blue transparent circle around the location to show that you could be anywhere within that circle.

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After speculation that France Telecom would offer an iPhone unlocking service for around €100, the official word from the carrier has confirmed that customers choosing to buy the handset after its launch this evening will have the option of either an iPhone-specific plan, a generic Orange plan or of buying the phone completely unlocked.  As in other countries with the iPhone, the carrier has put together a number of special iPhone contracts each with a 2-year service agreement and unlimited data access; these are priced from €49 to €119 a month, with the iPhone itself costing €399 ($589).  Alternatively, for €649 and a €100 unlocking fee, Orange will sell you a carrier-independent iPhone; that puts it comfortably into the predicted price range quoted by network CEO Didier Lombard.

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A London-based analyst is predicting tension between the Apple and Nokia camps come 2008, as the Finnish company develops the latest, touchscreen-focused upgrade to its S60 cellphone OS.  Already seen in promotional films, the Nokia Touch appears to use a capacitative touch-sensitive panel called Haptikos that adds haptic feedback to an OS that appears – in pre-release videos at least – to borrow heavily from the iPhone’s interface.  Richard Windsor, an analyst at Nomura, believes that “Apple will likely view Nokia as infringing on its user interface patents” and seek to delay development and production of the next-gen Nokia handsets.

 

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Carphone Warehouse, the sole retail partner in the UK selling the iPhone on the O2 network, has been found mis-selling cellphone insurance in an undercover investigation for the BBC’s consumer-rights programme Watchdog.  Prompted by shoppers frustrated by Carphone Warehouse staff’s hard-sell tactics, researchers for the programme went undercover into stores; in three out of five they were told that, should they lose or have stolen their iPhone without taking out insurance, they would not only have to buy a replacement handset but sign up to a second contract.  In fact, the new iPhone would continue on the old contract.

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With 2 more days left, Sean Heber from iApp-a-Day continues his objective to make an iPhone application everyday for the month of November. Today we have a cool application that allows you to view random wallpapers that other people are using, save them on your phone, and use them as your wallpaper. You can also share your wallpaper amongst the world.

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iRadio is basically the “JesusApp” of the iPhone. It is an app we had all been looking forward to and when it was finally released, our jaws dropped in amazement. Well, iRadio still isn’t the application it could be. Though there is a small team of developers, they seem to be hitting the right spot for the users, and continue to do so in every update.

Be sure to hit the cut for my opinions of what could be included in future updates to make iRadio the ultimate application for the iPhone.

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One week after T-Mobile Germany unveiled their plans to sell an unlocked version of the iPhone for €999, in doing so satisfying an anti-competition ruling engineered by Vodafone and prompting a flurry of interest in what could prove to be an alternative unlock method, comes news regarding France Telecom’s intention to offer more flexibility as to which SIM can be used in the Orange iPhone.  CEO Didier Lombard is quoted as claiming the device will be priced at “over 500 euros, but well below 1,000 euros” which would put it in the $740 to $1,500 range; meanwhile, there are suggestions that Orange will, for a price, unlock a French iPhone soon after purchase.

MacScoop reports that for around €100 France Telecom will remove the SIM lock from the iPhone, allowing those who do large amounts of travel to use local SIM cards in their handset and thus avoid high roaming charges.  However that fee does not break the two-year contract, meaning that although you could use another carrier’s service you’d still be paying Orange a monthly fee.

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Apple and O2 have been taking hits recently for poor sales performance of the iPhone in the UK, with would-be users complaining that the price is too high and those who have taken the plunge having problems with coverage.  Nevertheless, O2 have been calling it the “fastest selling device [we’ve] ever seen” and the company estimated 100,000 handsets would be activated in the first fortnight of availability.  Sources close to AppleInsider, however, cast a different light, claiming that the flagship Regent Street Apple store was still working from stock delivered prior to the 9th November launch.

 

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Decidedly silly, but we love a bit of crazy domino fun here at MY iTablet, and it’s even better when the dominoes themselves are actually tiny totems of Apple heritage.  It seems that on an unstressed day back in 1996 part of the Apple Newton team decided to put around 4,000 “surplus” modems for the prematurely-PDA into action, only rather than set up a huge, impractical dial-up connection they stood them all on end and then knocked them down.

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At Iona College in New Rochelle, New York, iMac offers the best of both worlds, allowing students and faculty to “run their Mac-based programs of choice, while still enabling access to the Windows applications they need.” Says Dimitris Hilaris, Iona’s associate vice provost for IT, “Now that we have the versatility of being able to put both operating systems on one computer and the pricing is competitive, it doesn’t make sense not to go with Apple.”

So states Tom Yager (InfoWorld). “People buy Macs,” Yager reports, “because the platform as a whole is perfect, full stop. Leopard is a rung above perfection. It’s taken as rote that the Mac blows away PC users’ expectations. Leopard blows away Mac users’ expectations, and that’s saying a great deal.” Leopard, Yager says “is remarkable; it’s more and better software than anyone should sell for $129.”

With the photos you have in your iPhoto library, you can create memorable—and highly personal—gifts for someone this holiday season. Stunning photo books, gorgeous calendars, handsome photo cards, and professional prints up to 20×30 inches—all featuring your beautiful photographs. It’s fun and easy to create such gifts, but if you’d like someone to receive them by December 25, you’ll need to place your order by no later than December 14 (express shipping) or December 11 (standard shipping).

Visit the iPhoto website for more information. And if you’d like some help creating your iPhoto books, calendars, prints or cards, sign up for a Hands-on iPhoto Holiday workshop at your local Apple Store.

Happy Cyber Monday! Lots of online retailers are offering up discounts today and tomorrow, but if you use PayPal, you have the opportunity to save even more. At select merchants (see the entire list and details here), you can get 20% cash back if you pay with PayPal (the ceiling is at $50 for cash back per PayPal account, so maximum purchase price of $250 for the full discount), starting today. Some merchants are running the sale longer than others, so check the individual sites for details.

What does this have to do with Apple and Mac users? Well, although the Apple Store is not a selected merchant (it doesn’t take PayPal, but it is offering free shipping today), lots of stores that sell Mac products or accessories are on the list. NewEgg.com carries Macs, iPods, software, RAM and accessories; 20% off on a $200 iPod Nano, with free shipping and a free holster, is an unbeatable discount. eBags.com has a great selection of laptop bags (the 20% PayPal cash back is enough for me to bite the bullet and order the Tumi messenger I’ve been eying for ages). BarnesandNoble.com has lots of great books about Apple and Apple products and Overstock.com often has great deals on older Apple products and on iPod accessories.

If you use PayPal and have been waiting for some deals for gifts for yourself or others, right now might just be the time to start shopping.

Not quite done with that holiday shopping? A little birdie tipped us to the upcoming “Give Good Food to your Mac” promotion, officially opening tomorrow — if you’re already a customer of one of the participants, you might get a preview link in the mail today. A ragtag band of European developers has put together this bundle discount: buy any 3 applications from the list, get 30% off your total, and scaling up from there (5 apps = 40%, 7 apps = 50%, 10 apps = 70% discount). Could add up to substantial savings, especially if you’re paying in weak greenbacks like us Yanks must.

The list of available programs (full rundown in the bottom of the post) includes such heavy hitters as web authoring app RapidWeaver, bitmap diva Pixelmator and project management tool Merlin, among lighter fare such as iStopMotion, CoverScout and Expert Wine Cellar. While you’re waiting for the annual MacSanta discounts to fire up, go ahead and check out GGFTYM.

Continue reading Give Good Food to Your Mac promo discounts Euro-indie apps

Reader Guglielmo sent word that the first four French iPhone ads hit the airwaves today (also viewable at apple.com/fr in a wide selection of resolutions). The ads end with the tag screen of a November 29th on-sale date for the French model.

Unfortunately I don’t speak French, so I can’t comment on the ad scripts, but as far as I can tell they hew fairly close to the original US versions, subbing in Le Monde for the NY Times and other culturally appropriate substiutions. I do think that “un pâle imitation d’internet” is a pretty awesome phrase, though. You can compare the German and UK ads at their respective pages.

Thanks Guglielmo

Although there are lots of good FTP options out there for the Mac, my personal favorite is Yummy FTP. It’s lightweight, feature rich, FAST (it’s why I stopped using anything else) and now it’s Leopard Compatible. Version 1.7, which was released on November 20, includes the following updates (per the Yummy Software web site):

• Mac OS X 10.5 ready
• QuickLook Integration
• Leopard UI update
• New icons
• Finder-like rename
• Bookmark color labels
• Bug Fixes

Additionally, a 1.7.1 beta update was released on November 22, making QuickLook behave more like Finder (pressing space bar opens or closes the QuickLook pane) and fixing a few other bugs.

Yummy FTP is $25 for a single-user license, but you can try it out for free for 30 days.

For finding updates to all your installed applications, you can go with an annual subscription to VersionTracker Pro or MacUpdate Desktop, or try the free alternative: metaquark’s in-development AppFresh (first reviewed here in March). With tight integration to the iusethis application info repository, AppFresh does a spot-on job finding updates to mainstream and indie apps alike, and it’s getting better with each release.

Earlier in November, the first preview release with full Leopard compatibility popped up on metaquark’s site. I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks and it works like a charm — downloading and optionally installing updates found via iusethis’ appcasts or Sparkle updates without fuss or complication. If you’re a serious update maven, you probably already have one of the pro apps, but if not you ought to check out AppFresh.

Well, as you might have guessed, we’re all turkey’ed out here at TUAW headquarters (located in scenic Hendersonville, NC) and as a result there won’t be a talkcast this week — sorry! Join us next Sunday night (12/2) at our normal 10pm ET timeslot.

Meanwhile, we’re surveying the team here for favorite Mac and iPod/iPhone podcasts, and we’ve got a short list going; if you have must-listen or must-watch Mac podcasts, let us know so we can check them out. Also, a quick plug for our own Christina Warren in her costarring role on the Squadcast, the video podcast from Download Squad — highly entertaining.

Our picks for podcasts + those suggested by your comments:

• Shawn King’s Your Mac Life, inexplicably left off the original list. If Adam Curry is the Podfather, then Shawn is certainly some sort of capo.
• Mac Attack!
• the Maccast
• Typical Mac User Podcast (TMUP) – Victor and I are trying to schedule a cohosted show for early December, more on that as it develops.
• Talk Show — Gruber and Benjamin are the Harold and Kumar of podcasting.
• Retro Mac Cast, featuring vintage Mac discussion.
• MacBreak Weekly — Leo Laporte’s star-studded show, with occasional special guests.
• MacBreak Tech, the geekier side.
• Mac OS Ken, suggested by Carlos. Mac news with attitude — sounds like our kind of show.
• Mac Geek Gab – John & Dave lean more technical than most shows.
• MacDevNet – both Late Night Cocoa and the Mac Dev Roundtable are great for developers and would-be developers.
• Apple Phone Show — MacBreak’s Scott Bourne on the iPhone.
• ScreenCastsOnline — though there’s a paid version that’s well worth it, the free instructional screencasts are also a treat.

Post your podcast picks in the comments, por favor.

Happy shopping Friday everyone. In addition to the online Apple store discounts today, we have some tips on local sales from our readers.

“Our local Apple reseller is debuting their “Outlet Center”, a place to find deals on refurbished older and last generation Macs & accessories, this weekend. They have everything from G4 iBooks to G5 PowerMacs to the last generation iMacs, starting at $399. Several of the machines even have Applecare left on them and their original boxes… If you’re in the Louisville area be sure to swing by MacAuthority (128 Breckenridge Ln) and see what kind of deals they have going on Friday and Saturday. A nice touch is that you won’t have to fight the mall crowds just to get your Mac fix http://macauthority.com/“

“The local retailer here in Athens, PeachMac, just sent out an email offering $20 off Leopard and $20 off iPods on Friday only. They have been great to us since they opened in May and we will be there Friday to take advantage of this deal. peachmac.com“

“Springboard Media in Philadelphia is offering some Black Friday specials as well. http://www.springboardmedia.com/apple/“

Thanks for the tips!

There are plenty of ways to get pictures from your Mac up to Flickr; among them the ‘official’ and free tool, Flickr Uploadr, which is now being revised to version 3. The second beta version of v3 is out for download. This uploader is an open-source project, so anyone interested in the source code can download that along with the compiled app.

New in v3 of the uploader tool is the capability of tagging, sorting and setting permissions on multiple photos prior to the upload to Flickr, along with a preflight resize to reduce data transfer and help keep you under your upload threshold. The beta currently has a menu display problem under Leopard but seems to be otherwise functional and speedy (Christina noted that it’s dramatically faster than the web-based upload tool). Get those turkey pictures online!

As Mat mentioned earlier in the week, Apple’s one-day online sale for the US is today (12:01 am to 11:59 pm Pacific Time) and the details have just been released:

MacBooks: Up to $101 off
iMacs: Up to $101 off
iPod Shuffle: $68 ($11 off)
iPod nano: from $138 ($11 off)
iPod classic: from $228 ($31 off)
Airport Extreme: $158 ($21 off)
Airport Express: $88 ($11 off)
Wireless Mighty Mouse: $58 ($11 off)
Apple Bluetooth Headset: $108 ($21 off)
iLife and iWork: $68 each ($11 off)
Microsoft Office (all versions): $100 off, which combined with the Technology Promise, could bring you Office 2008 Special Media Edition for a mind-blowing $49.95 + $6.99 shipping for the upgrade next year. That’s quite a deal.

There’s also a plethora of deals on plenty of other accessories on the store which we simply don’t have room to post. For additional Mac shopping tips, you might also want to check out dealmac.com. Happy shopping!

People on TV really are different from you and me. Already we know that with the power of bionic hearing, they can use their iPhones upside-down; now apparently they’ve got special iPhones with mil-spec video capabilities as well. Evidence: last week’s “Designated Target” episode of CBS’s NCIS. You can watch for yourself on CBS’s innerTube player or purchase the episode in iTunes.

Shortly after the opening credits, as the team analyzes the brutal dual murder of a Pentagon official and a cabdriver, one of the NCIS agents (Sean Murray’s “Tim McGee“) analyzes the video captured from the cab’s onboard camera — by plugging the camera into his iPhone with what appears to be a combination RJ-45/iPod docking cable. Lo and behold, this frankencable allows the iPhone to display the cab video in strikingly high-res black and white. Perhaps Erica has been consulting for the Pentagon?

If you see further examples of such blatant iPhone abuse, by all means send them in.

Thanks Heidi

How much is your iPhone contract worth to Apple? Today, we got a concrete answer. It’s worth €600. According to MacRumors, Deutsche Telekom will start selling an unlocked iPhone for €999 as well as the locked €399 version that comes with a two year contract. For those who don’t want to jump over to google, that €600 is equivalent to $879.48 at today’s exchange rate. That’s very, very close to the New York Time’s estimate of $831 late last month.

I worked up a little math based on these costs and our recent options coverage. At the going American rates, you pay $399 for the iPhone. Add to that either $1440, $1920, or $2400 for the individual 2-year costs and clearly Apple is getting a huge chunk of that money. If you go the contract-free way that I did, those costs drop to $1200 for the least expensive plan, assuming a 2-year period of use. If you then, as I did, go ahead and drop your data plan, that number drops even lower, to $719.76. In other words, I just became a loss to AT&T if they have to fork over the full normal value to Apple for two years. What do you think? Is AT&T sending a fixed amount or a percentage of the monthly fees?

As the long-awaited iPhone and iPod Touch SDK launch gets closer, it turns out that some people have had an early Christmas present thanks to Apple prematurely releasing “rough versions” of the development kit necessary to code officially-sanctioned third-party applications.  According to Electronista’s sources, a handful of companies have had access to the kit for the past two weeks, and are aiming to unveil their products in advance of the rest of the development community who will only receive the SDK in February 2008.

“Although treated as a welcome development, the SDK will not be the same as writing a Mac OS X application and has its clear limits, people familiar with the matter say. These details are unavailable, though the features are broad enough that at least one major social networking site is reportedly interested what the native platform can offer versus existing web code” Electronista

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We’re yet to see full Exchange support for the iPhone – remember, that means calendar and contacts synchronisation as well as push-email – but if your schedule is managed by Google’s online Calendar service then you’re finally in luck.  GooSync, whose eponymous product keeps your cellphone and calendar wirelessly synchronised, have seemingly released their iPhone client early (it’s down as being expected Q1 2008), meaning you can now keep appointments and address book updated across both.

 

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As predicted, the launch of Apple’s iPhone in the UK hasn’t been as smooth as its US counterpart.  Although preliminary research indicates awareness of the slick handset is high – with three-quarters of British customers stating that they were aware of the iPhone and more than a quarter expressing some degree of desire for it – a mere two-percent have put it on their Christmas shopping list with price the single most dissuading factor.  Analyst Richard Jameson, of research firm GfK NOP, blamed existing cellphone culture and the curse of the network subsidy as the primary stumbling blocks:

“We must take into account that the UK mobile market’s success has been down to subsidised handsets, so the iPhone’s price really stands out. Consumers are not used to paying in excess of £200 for a phone” Richard Jameson, GfK NOP

Meanwhile, those who actually have justified the purchase are in some cases discovering that the most holy thing about the Jesus-phone is the coverage.

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The first hands-on reports are coming in from buyers of the iPhone in Germany who have splashed out the full €999 asking-price for an unlocked handset.  It turns out to be a typically Apple-streamlined process [translated], although if you were hoping to buy the phone and then flaunt it with an alternative SIM straight away you’ll be disappointed.

 

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After a few days of slightly less interesting apps from iApp-a-Day, they released a nice social networking type application for the iPhone. World is an application that allows you to chose your position in the world, snap a photo, and upload it to their server. The application will browse random positions on the globe and show random pictures people have taken from their positions.

Getting closer to the end of November, we’re coming up to the end of iApp-a-Day. We’re not sure if Sean Heber will still be making applications for December, but he has come up with some very good breakthrough apps that really show the iPhone off.

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We’re big fans of MultiTouch here at MY iTablet, and it looks like Apple feels the same way.  Three patents first filed shortly after the iPhone’s US launch indicate that the technology is developing from the small-scale screens of their cellphone and its iPod Touch cousin into something more suitable for larger displays.  Unlike the current touchscreen, which can recognise multiple finger contact-points, the new patents describe a touch-panel that can recognise a full hand in contact, then filter out the palm and track the finger movements and gestures.

 

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Continuing with updates from gpsPhone, tonight was indeed another night filled with fun and joy for all of us playing endless hours of pokemon our favorite old time Game Boy Advanced games on our iPhone and iPod touches. Tonights release is 0.1.0 with what appears to be one or so new features added to the Emulator.

The new feature(s) can be found after the cut.

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