Iphone Updates

TUAW reader Matt Daughtry tipped us off about this refurb AT&T iPhone deal for just $249 with free shipping. Much as I tried to buy one, the awful AT&T web design just would not let me add one to my cart and check out. If you have better luck and can leave some how-to tips in the comments, I’ll greatly appreciate it. $249 for an 8GB iPhone is a terrific deal, especially for everyone who now needs a spare development unit.

Update: Mystery solved, iPhone purchased. I ended up having to clear my cookies because my existing login as a GoPhone customer was interfering with the purchase. Took an hour on the phone with AT&T and them saying: “But we can’t sell to you, you’re a GOPHONE customer!” while I begged them to ignore that fact since there was nothing on the site that said the purchase was not available for GoPhone users.

“For me,” writes Jim Dalrymple (macworld.com), the MacBook Air “is all about travel. It’s so light, taking it on the road is a no brainer, so that’s how I set it up.” Using .Mac iDisk syncing, Dalrymple “moved all of my documents onto that disk” allowing him to access his “documents on the Air and my home computer.” He then “installed iWork and left GarageBand on the drive,” letting him “write my stories, check e-mail, surf the Web and compose song ideas while on the road.” Dalrymple says that “after using it for the past few weeks, I’m loving my MacBook Air.”

Eagle-eyed TUAW reader Gary spotted this job posting over at Yahoo! advertising for Apple Retail workers in Jackson, Mississippi. As of this posting, there are no Apple Stores in Mississippi.

Thirty-seven out of our fifty United States have at least one Apple Store. Perhaps that’s because California is hogging them all, topping the list with thirty-eight.

If any TUAW readers in the Jackson, MS area spot some suspicious construction, snap a photo and let us know. Here’s hoping your store opens soon.

Thanks, Gary!

All you need is GarageBand — and a bit of inspiration — to write a really great song to enter in the American Idol Songwriter Competition. The contest has just begun, and we have the perfect way for you to hone your GarageBand skills. Just sign up for the Idol on iTunes Songwriter Workshop. It’s coming to an Apple Retail Store near you starting this weekend. Find out all about the Competition and the free Workshop.

Unless you’re reading this via the RSS feed, you can’t help but have noticed that we’ve redesigned and relaunched the site. We’ve decided to take MY iTablet back to its roots: riding the iPhone Buzz! The name might be different, but you can still expect the same great mixture of news, reviews and opinion together with our active iPhone community.

In the countdown to Firmware 2.0, the iPhone juggernaut is going to pick up speed: we’re expecting Enterprise-grade business apps, the best mobile gaming that the big software houses can offer, and so much portable entertainment that you’ll have to spend twice as much time out of the house just to keep up with it all. We’re also predicting big-headline ructions as Apple shoulder their way among Microsoft, RIM and new guys Android. Exciting days, and iPhone Buzz will be bringing you the best of it. Keep reading!

Technology writer Brad Stone (nytimes.com) reports some dramatic M:Metrics’ survey findings: of the 10,000 adults surveyed, “84.8 percent of iPhone users” access news and information on their iPhone, compared to only “13.1 percent of the overall mobile phone market and 58.2 percent of total smartphone owners.” Other results were just as interesting, prompting M:Metrics analyst Mark Donovan to conclude that iPhone “really fits the kind of digital lifestyle that a lot of people who are jacked into the Internet all the time are used to.”

Fire up Software Update, Mac users. Security Update 2008-002 has been released. According to Apple, this update “…is recommended for all users and improves the security of Mac OS X. Previous security updates have been incorporated into this security update.”

So, it improves security. How exciting. As usual, we ask you to report any problems you encounter after installing this update. Good luck, true believers! Note that this update, like the earlier Safari 3.1, requires a reboot.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Apple today introduced the world’s fastest web browser for Mac and Windows PCs — Safari 3.1. In addition to loading web pages 1.9 times faster than Internet Explorer 7 and 1.7 times faster than FireFox 2, Safari 3.1 runs JavaScript up to six times faster than other browsers. Available for free download for Mac OS X and Windows, Safari 3.1 is also the browser to support the latest innovative web standards needed to deliver the next generation of highly interactive Web 2.0 experiences.

Despite having only been available for less than 12 months, the iPhone’s form-factor is already well-cemented; could an Apple handset sporting anything other than a full-face touchscreen be viewed as a true iPhone? Brand recognition is great, but it can be stifling as well, especially if you want to introduce new form-factors but still preserve the functionality you’ve built up. After all, any handset with the iPhone’s GUI but with, say, a smaller display would cause a drop in usability. Staska from Unwired View has been doing some patent digging and come up with what might be Apple’s solution to the issue: titled “Dual-Sided Trackpad”, it describes a clamshell cellphone with a transparent, flip-down touchpad covering a large display. When closed it can be used like the original iPhone – touching the screen directly – but when open the reverse side of the trackpad is active.

(more…)

A lot of iPhone dev types have known about the SBMobileScreenshotr preference for a very long time. What we didn’t know was how to make it do anything. The software programming site RipDev solved the mystery.

After setting the preference

If you’d rather not edit your property lists directly, add http://repository.ripdev.com as an Installer repository and install Apple Screenshot Enabler. Warning: trying to remove the mod via Installer.app caused my phone to reboot. It just would not uninstall properly.

Thanks TJ

Here’s a nice bit of information. Many iTunes customers bought season passes to television shows in iTunes that never aired as a result of the recent writers’ strike. As of this writing, Apple has begun addressing their concerns.

In an email that has been delivered to some customers, Apple describes how customer plans will be extended into the next season, or refunds will be issued:

“We will make all additional episodes which are broadcast during the 2007-08 season available to you as we receive them. If the season does end up with fewer episodes, you will receive a partial refund to make up for the difference.”

Also, some customers are finding an instant iTunes Store credit that may be used towards the purchase of any two TV episodes, music videos, or short films on the iTunes Store.

Let us know if you receive one. Thanks, Apple!

TUAW reader Matt Daughtry tipped us off about this refurb AT&T iPhone deal for just $249 with free shipping. Much as I tried to buy one, the awful AT&T web design just would not let me add one to my cart and check out. If you have better luck and can leave some how-to tips in the comments, I’ll greatly appreciate it. $249 for an 8GB iPhone is a terrific deal, especially for everyone who now needs a spare development unit.

Update: Mystery solved, iPhone purchased. I ended up having to clear my cookies because my existing login as a GoPhone customer was interfering with the purchase. Took an hour on the phone with AT&T and them saying: “But we can’t sell to you, you’re a GOPHONE customer!” while I begged them to ignore that fact since there was nothing on the site that said the purchase was not available for GoPhone users.

Eagle-eyed TUAW reader Gary spotted this job posting over at Yahoo! advertising for Apple Retail workers in Jackson, Mississippi. As of this posting, there are no Apple Stores in Mississippi.

Thirty-seven out of our fifty United States have at least one Apple Store. Perhaps that’s because California is hogging them all, topping the list with thirty-eight.

If any TUAW readers in the Jackson, MS area spot some suspicious construction, snap a photo and let us know. Here’s hoping your store opens soon.

Thanks, Gary!

The iPhone hacking community is at it again, and they’re not going to take the SDK for an answer. The dev team has recently found out how to install and run iPhone firmware 1.2. This is supposedly the SDK-only developer version, which runs the iPhone (Aspen) simulator. Firmware 1.2 may end up re-released as version 2.0 in June, assuming there are no showstopping problems. There is no word yet on how they got access to the firmware, but it is still a cool video, and looks like the real deal. In this video, you can see the following 2.0 features:

• New calculator with squared buttons
• iTunes Wi-Fi Store with a missing button (and missing text under the “search” icon)
• Select multiple messages to be deleted/moved in Mail
• New calendar setting (with Time Zone support)
• Microsoft Exchange in the new Mail accounts
• Parental controls
• Cisco VPN settings

However, not shown was the AppStore (which was clearly displayed on the home screen) or the search feature in the contacts list. This video is just a taste of what firmware 2.0 should bring — it also makes me look forward to getting it in June.

Thanks Adam!

Unless you’re reading this via the RSS feed, you can’t help but have noticed that we’ve redesigned and relaunched the site. We’ve decided to take MY iTablet back to its roots: riding the iPhone Buzz! The name might be different, but you can still expect the same great mixture of news, reviews and opinion together with our active iPhone community.

In the countdown to Firmware 2.0, the iPhone juggernaut is going to pick up speed: we’re expecting Enterprise-grade business apps, the best mobile gaming that the big software houses can offer, and so much portable entertainment that you’ll have to spend twice as much time out of the house just to keep up with it all. We’re also predicting big-headline ructions as Apple shoulder their way among Microsoft, RIM and new guys Android. Exciting days, and iPhone Buzz will be bringing you the best of it. Keep reading!

We are live tonight (Sunday 3/16) for this week’s talkcast, 10 pm ET, with an open agenda and a willing spirit — now all we need is you. Join me, Dave Caolo and Christina Warren (who’s just back from SxSW with an update on Apple and the power geek crowd) as we take your calls and answer your questions.

You can join the conversation on TalkShoe by using the shiny new browser-only client; you can also use the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client that we all know and love. For the web UI, just click the “TalkShoe Web” button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. You can also listen in on the Talkshoe page or call in on regular phone or VOIP lines: dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077.

For those of you eagerly waiting for last week’s iPhone SDK show to hit the feeds… we appreciate your patience. Unfortunately we are trying to sort out the letter of the law on Apple’s confidentiality clause for iPhone developers, and until we have some clarity on what our panelists can say publicly we have to hold onto the tape. I hope to have guidance shortly and get the show sanitized for release this week.

Despite having only been available for less than 12 months, the iPhone’s form-factor is already well-cemented; could an Apple handset sporting anything other than a full-face touchscreen be viewed as a true iPhone? Brand recognition is great, but it can be stifling as well, especially if you want to introduce new form-factors but still preserve the functionality you’ve built up. After all, any handset with the iPhone’s GUI but with, say, a smaller display would cause a drop in usability. Staska from Unwired View has been doing some patent digging and come up with what might be Apple’s solution to the issue: titled “Dual-Sided Trackpad”, it describes a clamshell cellphone with a transparent, flip-down touchpad covering a large display. When closed it can be used like the original iPhone – touching the screen directly – but when open the reverse side of the trackpad is active.

(more…)

If you’re still using Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac, then it is time to fire up the updater because there is a critical update awaiting you and your copy of Office. Here’s what the AutoUpdate software says:

The iPhone is the ultimate gaming device – Nokia are you worried yet?

Gameloft said it will develop more than 15 game titles for Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iPhone in 2008.

A New York-based mobile-gaming developer said it intends to develop mobile game titles built on Apple’s iPhone software-development kit released Thursday.

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Earlier this week, AppleInsider reported on an Apple TV patent filed in 2006 and just published; it shows DVR features, and the patent also includes a feature where the iPod could be docked with the Apple TV to sync content for on-the-go viewing.

“For example, program data for upcoming programs, e.g., for the next month, can be downloaded and stored on the remote control device,” Apple said in the patent. “Thereafter, a user of the remote control device can search programs that are to be broadcast and determine which programs to record. The recording settings can be programmed onto the remote control device, and then be provided to the video device when a data communication is established between the remote control device and the video device.”

If Apple manages to implement DVR functionality for the Apple TV, it could definitely bring a game-changing device to the TV industry. Who knows, it could become a direct competitor to the TiVo. Be sure to look through our gallery of patent filing pictures.

Apple is really taking baby steps…keep in mind that it’s only a small portion of apps that are affected by this restriction. Games or utilities can still save their application status to disk often allowing you to resume where you left off when you start it back up.

But the single biggest issue we’ve found is in the 100 page iPhone Human Interface Guidelines. It’s a public document, but you must be a registered iPhone developer to see it. We’ve embedded it below via docstoc.

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As Brett noted in February, the long-in-development next installment of the classic Mac game Dark Castle has been expected “any day now” for years. Rent fans sing along with me: No Day But Today — the release of Return To Dark Castle has finally happened, and you can buy the game at this moment from the SuperHappyFunFun site. Unfortunately, the planned level editor will not be included with this version of the game.

On the one hand, I’m very excited to revisit this diversion from my childhood; on the other, I wonder what my jaded offspring will make of the throwback fun of pitching rocks at bats and jumping off of ropes. $30 says they’ll enjoy it as much as I did back in the day.

Full feature list after the break.

Thanks Mark!

Continue reading Abandon your Sunday plans: Return to Dark Castle ships

Epocrates®, Inc., developer of mobile applications used by more than 500,000 healthcare professionals, is excited to announce that it has begun development of its clinical software products for the iPhone operating system. Epocrates was one of only five companies, including Salesforce.com, AOL, EA and Sega, to be highlighted by Steve Jobs during the iPhone Software Roadmap media briefing.

“By putting so much computing power into such an elegant mobile device, Apple has opened up tremendous opportunities for application developers”, said Kirk Loevner, Chairman and CEO of Epocrates, Inc. “The technology and software in the iPhone OS will allow us to create new and innovative applications that help improve patient safety and provide healthcare professionals with an unsurpassed user experience.”

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I was under the impression that Apple said they wouldn’t allow code parser such as Sun’s JVM on the iPhone.

Sun came to the conclusion it could make a JVM work on the iPhone after taking 24 hours to look at information on Apple’s SDK. Sun saw nothing in the public statements preventing the JVM from being one of the applications enabled on the iPhone, said Klein. Apple released the SDK in conjunction with the beta release if its iPhone 2.0 software; the general release of iPhone 2.0 is scheduled for June.

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It’s easy to envy the Swiss, what with the fine chocolate and the neutrality and such. Now, another reason to long for the refined air of the Alps: the Swiss version of the Apple Store website is indicating availability on the supercharged 802.11n version of the Airport Express, as yet unnannounced in the US of A (translation here). With the domestic Apple Store showing 1-2 week ship times for the AE, we might well expect to see the new device next week, possibly on, I dunno, Tuesday.

An Apple-branded 802.11n router that supports AirTunes and printer sharing, all for $99? Sounds good to me. Hopefully, not too good to be true.

(Just noticing that Apple’s press photo of the AE, reproduced here, shows it plugged into the top outlet — blocking the lower socket completely. Aesthetics over functionality, anyone?)

Update 11:30 pm ET: Looks like someone got threatened with a Swiss Army knife, as the Swiss store has been normalized back to the current model of the Airport Express. You can see the translated page screenshot, as it was a few hours ago, after the break.

Thanks Thomas and James!

Continue reading Swiss Apple Store page tips the 802.11n Airport Express

As developers eagerly download the iPhone SDK, is the gloss beginning to rub off? Robert Balousek spotted a potentially app-upsetting clause in the software’s documentation regarding third-party apps and background processes. It seems Apple is concerned that iPhone users might feel some of the molasses drag that Windows Mobile handsets experience when there are too many programs running in the background; rather than deal with that as creatively as they’ve managed the rest of the SDK, though, they’ve issued a blanket ban on any third-party software running when not the in-focus app. That means – no matter whether IM client, image editor or game – the program has to quit.

“Only one iPhone application can run at a time, and third-party applications never run in the background. This means that when users switch to another application, answer the phone, or check their email, the application they were using quits” Apple SDK documentation

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We’ve commented on the MacHeist / Speed Download 5 saga before, and the entire episode clearly led to some heated passions. As a recap: Speed Download 4 was included in the MacHeist II bundle, and shortly thereafter Speed Download 5 was released. However, Yazsoft required MacHeist customers to pay an upgrade fee even though MacHeist II ran during a period where purchases of SD4 direct from Yazsoft were eligible for a free upgrade.

Anyway, after much controversy back and forth it appears that the matter is headed towards an equitable resolution. MacHeist’s John Casasanta has posted in the Macheist forums that Yazsoft is now willing to offer free SD5 upgrades to MacHeist II customers until March 27. You need only enter your MacHeist details at this webpage. Alternately, for $15 you can get two SD5 licenses plus a free upgrade to SD6. Finally, if you’re already paid the $15 you can request a refund, or just keep your two SD5 licenses plus free upgrade to SD6. See Yazsoft for full details.

In any case, it’s good to see this matter resolved. Just remember that if you’re a MacHeist II customer you have to act by March 27 to claim the free upgrade.

Thanks Phill!

Scrolling through a list of over 1,200 contacts is a pain in the ass. It’s one feature that 1.1.4 firmware sorely miss. Come on Apple, what’s taking you so to implement search?

Neither Steve or Phil spoke of the feature at the iPhone 2.0 SDK announcement, but thanks to blargkaboom’s finding, there’s a hint that we may see search in the upcoming firmware release. They noticed what appears to be a small search icon in the iPhone’s Contact application.

Eagle-eyed reader Walker was perusing hi-res photos of the Space Shuttle Endeavour (which is circling the planet at this moment, docked to the International Space Station in low-earth orbit) when he spotted an iPod through the crew cabin window. It’s a massively cool find and we thought you’d like to know it’s not the first time an iPod has braved the 3G hurtle into space.

• When the unmanned Jules Verne spacecraft launched earlier this month for its historic docking with the ISS, it took along several commemorative items, including an iPod containing a special list of songs chosen by the winner of a 2007 contest.

• STS crew member Leland Melvin went to the ISS last month aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis, and he took along an iPod pre-loaded with his favorite Christina McBride album and a few songs he’d composed on the piano.

• For Charlie Hobaugh’s flight last year, he let his kids load his iPod for him. (Wow, that’s trusting — he could have spent the 13-day mission listening to Alvin & the Chipmunks).

Getting an iPod into space isn’t easy. The lithium batteries have to be replaced with specially certified alkaline batteries. Once docked, crew members can’t bring them on board the Space Station, however, since they haven’t been certified as safe in that environment.

Your iPod may never make it to outer space, but if you want to protect it on your daily land-based EVAs, why not wrap it in a piece of history? Get a case from everQuest Design that’s made from a piece of the Soyuz parachute. From one space geek to another, I ask you: how cool is that?

Thanks Walker!

Thanks to Mac OS X Leopard, its even easier to collaborate with others on your network. Not only does Leopard facilitate the sharing of files, it also lets you start interactive screen sharing sessions. Screen sharing offers a great solution for training a co-worker or running a Keynote presentation on a networked Mac clear across the room. Watch the latest Quick Tip of the Week to learn more.

If you’ve applied for Apple’s iPhone Developer program, check email for your rejection letter. The twitterati are reporting widespread disappointment and anger as thousands of iPhone developer hopefuls have received a “Thank you but no thank you” message in their inbox. The emails are arriving with the subject of iPhone Developer Program Enrollment Status.

Did you get accepted? Do you know anyone who did? Let us know in the comments. Some readers are reporting acceptance — if you’ve been accepted please send us some more details – but they appear to be confusing the iPhone online developer SDK download with the “iPhone developer program,” which you can learn more about at Apple’s site. What we are talking about here is the $99 signup for the developer program, which includes a signing certificate to allow applications to run on physical iPhones and not just in the Aspen simulator. Just because you have downloaded the Xcode SDK components does not make you an iPhone dev Jedi — if you haven’t paid your $99, or you haven’t been invited to pay it, you have no lightsaber.

Continue reading iPhone developer rejection letter mass mailing

Ok, I’m confused. Back when AT&T announced the $99.00 unlimited option, it was my understanding that existing and new iPhone owners have the option to pick the $99.99 unlimited voice in addition, pay $20 for 200 SMS text messaging and unlimited web/email. Then if they want unlimited text, tact an additional $20 to the plan. The grand total comes out to $140.

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Now featuring support for the faster 802.11n Wi-Fi specification, the new AirPort Express Base Station delivers up to five times the performance and twice the range of the previous model. The world’s smallest 802.11n-based mobile base station, the new AirPort Express offers a great option for anyone who wants to set up a high-speed wireless network, share a printer wirelessly, or stream iTunes music wirelessly from a Mac or PC with AirTunes. And because its so compact, you can take AirPort Express with you and set up an ad hoc wireless network in your hotel room. Available immediately for Mac and Windows, AirPort Express sells for just $99.00.

Speaking as a hemi-hemi-Austrian, I was crushed when, as a child, I discovered my Grandmother’s family had come from the one without the kangaroos. Despite their marsupial deprivations not to mention the extreme lack of monotremes, the Austrian iPhone launch is due to kick off tomorrow, the 14th of March with an 8GB iPhone selling for €399 and 16GB for €499. (Google monetary conversion tells me this is “Like Way Expensive”, aka starting at $615.)

T-Mobile will offer two talk plans, a basic and a “Supreme” plan (possibly called a “Royal with Cheese” in France). The plans include just 3GB data, which according to our loyal readers should last about 17 days of normal use — so go easy on the YouTube videos unless your Konditorei has free WiFi.

A big old Danke to Ranier Perl.

Update: Who knew?

With the iPhone SDK announcement last week, some of us here at TUAW were expecting a Worldwide Developer Conference date to be announced. Thankfully, the world has been put to rights, as Apple has now announced that WWDC will run from 9th – 13th June at San Francisco’s Moscone Centre (West Hall). With three tracks (iPhone, Mac and IT) if you’re a developer or IT Pro this is probably a conference you’ll want to be at — and students are encouraged too, with Student Scholarships usually available.

Whilst the ticket prices are forthcoming, it’ll Tickets get you 5 days of sessions, Apple engineers, (likely) a Steve Jobs keynote and plenty you can’t talk about. With the arrival of the iPhone SDK, we’d wager this years conference is frankly going to be a little popular (what with the full public release likely to arrive around the same time) so it might be prudent to book at your earliest convenience.

Pricing for this year’s WWDC is US$1295 for a single ticket, US$5180 for 5 tickets (saving you $1295). Apple are also offering combined packages of ADC membership and a WWDC membership.

Yesterday we posted about the Apple press release announcing that the SDK had been downloaded more than 100,000 times in four days. It’s also worth noting, however, that Apple basically confirmed that several well-known developers are officially supporting the iPhone and bringing some exciting applications to everyone’s favorite handheld. In addition to the developers represented on stage at the SDK event, of particular interest are:

• Intuit (of Quicken fame) which wants “to create powerful iPhone applications.”
• Namco, specifically mentioning Pac Man and, my favorite, Galaga.
• NetSuite, developer of SuitePhone (CRM software similar to salesforce.com).
• PopCap games, working on the extremely addicting Peggle as well as classics Bejeweled and Zuma.
• Six Apart, which is developing an iPhone native TypePad blogging client.

In short, it’s obvious that the App Store is going to be chock full ‘o goodness once June rolls around. Personally, I’m slightly worried that with Peggle and Galaga on my iPhone I’ll never get anything done.

Let me tell you something about people from Brooklyn: we are, by nature and environment, edgy risk-takers who live life like we’re driving a Maserati down the PCH. Or a Camry up the BQE. Anyway, you don’t want to mess with us — and specifically, you don’t want to mess with Mike Solomon, a creative director who’s apparently got cojones the size of Jonathan Ive’s awards cabinet.

What did Mike do that earns him the title of Mac Jock Extraordinare? Faced with a weekend on-site video editing project that would require 20 GB of space and only having 10 GB free on his laptop, he didn’t bow to the conventional wisdom — send a production assistant to Staples for a new 500GB drive, or weed out his Downloads folder. No, he decided the best way to free up the needed space was to out-and-out delete his 65 GB iTunes library, the media addict’s equivalent of flushing your stash when the cops show up. Then, when he returned home later, he simply restored his library from Time Machine — no muss, no fuss.

Mike, we salute you and your outside-the-box approach to capacity management. Next time, though, might we suggest a portable drive?

Whois or “Who is,” is a way to query for contact information (or domain name ownership information) about the person or company in control of a site. If you want to know who runs a website, you don’t have to look any further than your Mac and opening a Terminal window.

All you have to do is open Terminal.app (/Applications/Utilities/) and type in “whois” and space followed by a URL. For instance, the following command would give you the whois information for tuaw.com: whois tuaw.com.

You can do this for almost any website; however, some domain names use some form of a hiding service from their registrar that allows them to hide their contact information. Be forewarned that you shouldn’t use information like this to stalk people!

Please note that if you have Terminal-itis, or are scared of the Terminal, you can use Apple’s Network Utility in Mac OS X to do a whois query. Just open Network Utility.app (in the /Applications/Utilities/) and click the “whois” tab. From there you can enter a URL and do a query, all within a pretty “Aqua-licious” user interface.

A MacRumors post suggests that the recently released, “Intel-only” iPhone SDK works on PowerPC Macs as well. According to the post, it worked fine on a iBook G4 running Mac OS X Leopard. The post did go on to say that Xcode displayed an error message upon trying to build a project, saying that the “target architecture does not match.” Errors like these are to be expected, but at least those PowerPC-using developers can start to develop for the iPhone. There is no word yet on how the $99 digital certificate will work on the PowerPC Macs.

3by9′s website has the full details on how to get the SDK running on your PPC Mac.

[original post by 3by9]

The Inquirer isn’t just counting their chickens before they hatch — they’re counting all the feathers, the chicken feet, and even the eggs of those chickens, too. When we first heard that the slide you see above (reportedly from a CeBit presentation from Intel) apparently meant that Apple was going to put an Intel x86 “Moorestown” processor in the iPhone, we did a double take, and then a triple take (how is the iPhone not the one labeled “Premium Smartphone?”), and then we said, “they’re kidding, right?”

But no, apparently they weren’t: Apple Insider has jumped on the x86Phone bandwagon as well (granted, they originally jumped in December of last year). It took Apple about ten years to decide to switch its computer line to Intel chips, but if you’re willing to believe the reasoning on this one (and personally, I’m not), it’s only going to take a tenth of that to decide that the iPhone needs an x86 chip, too.

“I’ve never had to wait less for any application to launch or process to complete,” says Michael DeAgonia (computerworld.com) in his review of the new Mac Pro. Calling it “an amazing machine that is as fast as it is stable, offering pure brute force and processing power at a competitive price,” DeAgonia concludes that the latest version of the Mac Pro “is beyond the sum of its parts. It’s the technological equivalent of a well-played symphony: Each individual piece is solid in its own right, but everything is amplified once they’re put together in concert.”

There’s dog years and Internet years, but this is the first time we’ve heard of a special definition of ‘a year’ when it comes to warranty coverage.

TUAW reader Tom Moore bought his AppleCare agreement on May 3rd, 2006, and recently called Apple to activate the coverage on an older iPod. Like all iPod AppleCare coverage, it’s a two year agreement (3 year coverage applies to computers and servers), and the telephone rep told him it runs through May 2008 — at least it runs through the 1st of May, instead of the 3rd. Why not cover until the 3rd? It’s because AppleCare defines a year as exactly 365 days — whether it’s a regular year or a leap year. Seems kind of stingy on Apple’s part, but that’s the way the coverage crumbles.

Update: Tom has asked that we mention he found the experience with AppleCare and the ‘lost day’ to be amusing rather than upsetting. So noted for the record!

Thanks Tom!

What does an Apple advert do for an unknown indie artist without a US album release to her name? In the case of Yael Naim it meant debuting at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 with 135000 downloads of her song, “I’m a New Soul”. It also meant Atlantic Records pushing her US album debut forward by two months. According to this Adage report, Apple gets away with paying about half the going rights rate, in return artists receive unmatchable exposure.

Says David Pogue (nytimes.com). Waxing enthusiastic about the forthcoming iPhone 2.0 software, Pogue explains that following its release, “there will be thousands of iPhone programs, covering every possible interest.” And they’ll be available 24/7 since “Apple will preinstall the iPhone Apps Store right on every phone.” The move will turn iPhone into “an engineering tool, a game console, a free-calls Skype phone, a business tool, a dating service, an e-book reader, a chat room, a database, an Etch-a-Sketch,” and, Pogue predicts “a gigantic success.”

“It’s clear that the platform is gaining momentum,” states Jim Goldman (cnbc.com). Goldman’s comments stem from the revelation this morning that more than “100,000 iPhone developers downloaded the beta version of the SDK in the first four days that it was available.” And to the fact that Intuit, Namco Networks, NetSuite, PopCap, Rocket Mobile, Six Apart, and THQ Wireless have joined Sega, salesforce.com, Electronic Arts, and ePocrates in expressing enthusiasm for the SDK and their interest in creating software for iPhone.

ifoAppleStore is reporting that plans are in place for a third Apple Store in Australia.

While construction on the Sydney store is underway and a Melbourne store is rumored to be planned for the Chadstone Shopping Centre, it looks like a third store will be build in Chatswood (north of Sydney).

Australia received a little attention from Apple earlier this year when iPhoto books, etc. became available for the first time.

If any of our friends in Australia snap a spy photo of these locations, please let us know!

Tom Yager (infoworld.com) expects gobs “of great software for iPhone and iPod touch” by the end of the year. All thanks to the recently released SDK, which Yager describes as “the simplest, best-documented, and most enjoyable experience for mobile application developers.” Comparing it to other mobile software environments, Yager says the iPhone SDK “blows them away.” In fact, Yager contends that once available, iPhone 2.0 software “will instantly transform high-end consumer phones and music players, and it will gradually alter the landscape for commercial mobile devices.”

French Mac site HardMac has posted the step-by-step process of changing a Time Capsule’s hard drive. Specifically, they swapped the original 500 GB Seagate SATA drive for a Western Digital 1 TB Green Power drive.

The actual removal of the existing drive won’t be too tricky for people used to tinkering with hardware. In fact, the whole thing was simple. The Time Capsule immediately recognized the unformatted drive, formatted it and made it available to Time Machine.

They chose the Green Power drive because they’re designed to use a varied rotation speed, based on demand so, it’s much quieter than the original Seagate (according to HardMac).

It’s about time iPhone carries this feature, If you are like me, having 280 contacts is a nightmare to lookup for an individual contact.

While Apple may have been intending to demonstrate their new Enterprise features last week, they also – likely accidentally – unveiled another upcoming addition to the iPhone: contacts search. Spotted by Daniel Ahdout, the functionality is hinted at by the appearance of a small magnifying glass icon at the top of the list; you can see it yourself at 9 minutes 30 into the official Apple SDK Roadmap video.

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In the first four days since its launch on March 6, more than 100,000 iPhone developers have downloaded the iPhone SDK, Apple today announced. Leading developers such as AOL, Electronic Arts, Epocrates, salesforce.com and Sega have already demonstrated amazing applications using the SDK, and developer response continues to be phenomenal with more developers embracing the platform.