Filed under: Retail, Odds and ends
A teen in New York has been arrested for leaving a threatening note on the screen of a computer at an Apple Store. The 17-year-old boy was joking around with friends when he typed a note on screen promising “a bloody death” to anyone working in the store via a “bomb loaded with C4, strapped to my chest.” The note was then signed with the name of one of his friend’s fathers. He claims he typed it just to be funny, and then forgot to delete it when he left, but the District Attorney in Staten Island says it’s no joke — the kid faces up to seven years in prison.
I can’t help but think they’ll let him off the hook eventually. Sure, it was a stupid (really stupid) thing to do, and they should come up with a punishment that teaches the kid a lesson, but time in prison labeled as a terrorist seems a little much for showing off to friends in an Apple Store. Maybe they can have him do some in-store lip synching performances as a community service.
[via Cult of Mac]
TUAWNY teen arrested after leaving threatening note on screen in Apple Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Hardware, Odds and ends, iTunes
Scott Moritz over at The Street has new rumors about the tablet today (though be warned, Moritz isn’t first in the hearts of Apple crystal-ball gazers): he says that the tablet does not include any Intel chips inside, and that Apple has instead elected to go with another provider for the little pieces of metal, silicon and plastic that will power what many expect to be the new revolution in portable computing. He cites Apple’s “design manufacturing partners” as sources, although of course neither Intel nor Apple have anything to say about the subject.
And elsewhere in the tablet rumorscape, John Gruber has a followup to his big tablet speculation post that’s worth a read. He says that yes, of course, the App Store will deliver apps to the platform, that yes, there may be an SDK delay (although don’t forget, we’ve already heard about a possible new SDK going around), that yes, the new tablet may offer up non-app iTunes content from indie providers, and finally that no, the tablet probably won’t have Flash, for the same reasons that the iPhone doesn’t.
Which all sounds legit, though even Gruber admitted in his other post that his theories were based on reasoning more than any secrets he’d heard. We’re getting a pretty good picture of the tablet as we go along here — odds are it’ll get even clearer before we see the thing on stage.
Rumors and speculation: No Intel in the tablet, no Flash either originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Rumors and speculation: No Intel in the tablet, no Flash either originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, iTunes, Holidays, MobileMe, Music
January 1 is always a little strange. A quiet time after a night out, a time to take the tree down and deal with all the green light cords that started out so neatly applied and wind up a tangled maze of complexity. Time to get rid of all the holiday wrappings and hope the trash pickup is soon.
It is also a time to reflect on all things Apple and how the ecosystem of products has changed our lives in ways we sometimes forget or are barely aware of.
This morning I was in a melancholy mood and needed some music to match. I thought a good idea was for some music by Eric Ewazen, [iTunes link] who writes some pretty deep and mystical compositions. I had already bought some of his tracks from the Apple Store. In the old days, waking up on a holiday and craving some music you don’t have was a lost cause.
Now I can get what is admittedly an obscure album of music, download it to my computer, put it on my Sonos system with a few clicks and sync it to my iPhone for my morning jog. Basking in the early morning Arizona light I loved hearing Ewazen’s ‘Hymn for the Lost and the Living’ while contemplating a new year with new challenges. Apple enabled much of what I was able to do, and we take it for granted, but when you stand back from it all you can see how changed our lives are.
Some of my other favorite things from this year include MacSpeech Dictate, software that allows me to reliably dictate my emails, some longer reports, and even some of my TUAW posts. It’s truly science fiction in the here and now (or is it ‘hear’ and now?) and some updates in 2009 made it easier to use and far more accurate.
Continue reading January 1 reflections on my favorite things
January 1 reflections on my favorite things originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
January 1 reflections on my favorite things originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Odds and ends, Apple
Finnish mobile device manufacturer Nokia today filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), alleging that Apple is infringing on seven distinct Nokia patents in its iPhone, iPod, and Mac product lines.
Nokia says that Apple has used its patented technology to create key product features in terms of cameras, antennas, power management, and user interface. The technologies allow Nokia to create small devices, deliver longer battery life, lower their manufacturing costs, and provide better user experiences.
The complaint isn’t the first shot in the war between the two mobile phone giants. In October, Nokia sued Apple over alleged infringement on GSM and wireless LAN patents. This month, Apple countersued Nokia, charging that Nokia was stealing technology from 13 Apple patents and attempting to obtain more money from Apple than other companies. Apple also charged that Nokia was also trying to obtain access to Apple’s intellectual property with respect to the iPhone since Nokia had copied and is now using that technology.
Nokia has lost a tremendous amount of market share since the iPhone was released in 2007, and the company’s profit margins are slim compared to those of Apple and BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion. The battle between Nokia and Apple is heating up, and it’s only going to get more intense as Apple fights for more market share in the mobile phone world and Nokia tries to hold onto its former glory.
[via AppleInsider]
TUAWThe battle escalates: Nokia files patent infringement complaint against Apple originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Humor, Software, Odds and ends, iPhone
Here’s a nice post-Christmas mind bender for you — it’s created by a company named Ogmento (they specialize in augmented reality applications — get it?) and is an iPhone app that creates an augmented reality version of the iPhone. In other words, they put an iPhone in your iPhone so you can iPhone while you iPhone. Dawg.
Why did they do this? Apparently it’s a promotion for the iPhone launch by Orange Telecom in Israel. But it’s pretty crazy — the iPhone inside the app even runs apps, though they’re just still pictures. And it’s a little disappointing that you interact with the fake iPhone via the real iPhone’s touchscreen. If it really was an augmented reality demonstration, wouldn’t you interact with the augmented reality iPhone just by moving your hand in the air where it should be?
Maybe that’s too mind-melting after a relaxing Christmas day. At any rate, enjoy the crazy video above. This isn’t anything we’ll see coming to the App Store any time soon, we’re sure, but it’s just the kind of thing to get your mind up and running again after all that egg nog and holiday cheer.
TUAWiPhone … in an iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Multimedia, Odds and ends, iPhone, iPod touch, App Review
Empire is a venerable British movie magazine that has amassed quite a library of film reviews since it was first published more than 20 years ago. Their reviews tend to be aimed at the enthusiastic film buff, rather than academics. I have always found the reviews entertaining and a worthwhile read.
Now, the entire Empire archive has come to the iPhone and iPod touch with the Empire Movie Guide [iTunes link]. The US$4.99, 8.9 MB app puts all of the reviews on your phone without need for a data connection. As a nice bonus, Empire grabs the most recently published reviews over the air when you are connected and launch the app.
The Empire app contains about 9,000 reviews, searchable by actor, director, genre, writers, or release dates. Want to share the reviews with friends? Empire allows sharing via email, Facebook, and Twitter.
If a movie or soundtrack is available in the iTunes store, the review provides a purchase link. The Empire Movie Guide won’t help you find movie times or locations, but it does put a library of well-written reviews in your hand.Empire is a venerable British movie magazine that has amassed quite a library of film reviews since it was first published more than 20 years ago. Their reviews tend to be aimed at the enthusiastic film buff, rather than academics. I have always found the reviews entertaining and a worthwhile read.
Now, the entire Empire archive has come to the iPhone and iPod touch with the Empire Movie Guide [iTunes link]. The US$4.99, 8.9 MB app puts all of the reviews on your phone without need for a data connection. As a nice bonus, Empire grabs the most recently published reviews over the air when you are connected and launch the app.
The Empire app contains about 9,000 reviews, searchable by actor, director, genre, writers, or release dates. Want to share the reviews with friends? Empire allows sharing via email, Facebook, and Twitter.
If a movie or soundtrack is available in the iTunes store, the review provides a purchase link. The Empire Movie Guide won’t help you find movie times or locations, but it does put a library of well-written reviews in your hand.
TUAWIntelligent and insightful mobile movie reviews: the Empire Movie Guide app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Hardware, Odds and ends, iMac, Mac mini, MacBook Air
The sust-it website, which provides rankings of energy usage and annual energy cost for thousands of appliances, home entertainment devices, and computers, has announced that Apple’s Mac mini fills the top four spots for the most efficient desktop computer in their latest listing.
The 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mac mini is at the top of the chart, sipping just .94W when turned off (power still goes to circuits monitoring the power status of the computer), 1.71W when in sleep mode, and just 12.6W when turned on but in an idle mode. sust-it calculated the energy cost per year for the mini (without a monitor, of course) as US$5.51 when calculated with the average US electrical rate. It’s interesting to note that this model is no longer produced by Apple, and that the new 2.26 GHz mini is even more energy efficient. Apple’s own environmental report for the mini shows that the revised model uses only .80W when turned off, 1.39W in sleep mode, but 13.4W while in idle mode.
Not surprisingly, other Apple models were near the top of the charts in both the laptop and all-in-one computer categories. The 1.86 GHz MacBook Air was barely edged out of first place in the laptop category by the HP Pavilion DM3. Although the two laptops had identical annual energy costs (US$2.39), the HP model had lower sleep and off power consumption than the MBA.
In the all-in-one category, the top iMac came in 6th behind eMachines, Acer, Asus, and MSI all-in-ones. Although the sust-it site is citing an iMac model that is no longer produced, even the new iMacs would be a bit behind the list-leading eMachines EZ1601.
If the power consumption and CO2 footprint of your computer is of concern to you, the sust-it site is a good place to make comparisons. Be aware, however, that due to the fast-paced changes in the computing world, the lists may be inaccurate at any particular point in time. In addition, it doesn’t appear that sust-it looks at the total lifecycle energy consumption of the computers, something that Apple provides in their environmental reports for each model. When energy consumption and CO2 production are factored from raw materials at the beginning of production to recycling of an obsolete machine, Macs may very well lead the pack in all categories.
TUAWApple’s Mac mini tops chart of ‘green’ computers originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Portables, Odds and ends
Excel nerds rejoice! What you see above is the result of a laptop reliability study conducted by third-party warranty shop Squaretrade. The study looks at over 30,000 notebooks over the course of 3 years to determine the final reliability statistics. The results may not surprise you; for instance, netbooks fail 40% more often than premium laptops and Apple’s MacBook line has above-average reliability.
The report itself is fascinating to read and the graphs are simple to understand. Also, it is nice to see an independent study confirm what I’ve known for years: HP makes low quality laptops. A note of personal interest, had I purchased a Vaio all those years ago rather than a Presario, I might never have switched to Mac.
[via Engadget]
TUAWThis just in: MacBooks are more reliable than netbooks originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Software, Tips and tricks, Odds and ends
After several years of trying to figure out what task manager for Mac and iPhone worked best with my peculiar style of organization, I finally settled on Things from Cultured Code. The Mac application is easy to use, uncluttered, and can take advantage of many keyboard shortcuts, while the iPhone app [iTunes Link] gives me a portable version of the Things database to take on the road. While the iPhone app can do a local sync to a Mac, it still doesn’t do over-the-air syncing, which I hope Cultured Code will add in a future release.
When I made Things my task manager, I needed to make sure that I could use the same database on both my desktop Mac and my MacBook Air, since the Mac version doesn’t do syncing either. It turns out that one of the easiest ways to do this is to use the wonderful cloud storage application Dropbox to hold my Things database, and then point Things on both Macs to use the shared database.
Fortunately, a Brit by the name of Bradley Wright had already done all of the hard work and had written up some command-line instructions on how to do this. Brad does all the work in the Terminal; here, I’ll describe how to do most of the work in the Finder with the exception of creating a symbolic link at one point.
Continue reading Tips and tricks: Putting Things in your Dropbox makes syncing simple
TUAWTips and tricks: Putting Things in your Dropbox makes syncing simple originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Humor, Software, Cult of Mac, Odds and ends
We’ve mentioned Throwboy here on the site before — they make handmade pillows, usually in the shape of Mac-related icons. And they just recently sent word about a brand new line of pillows: just in time for Halloween, they’ve branded the Finder and related icons with a little October 31st flavor. Sure, they’re silly and pretty useless (really — who buys a pillow for a one day-a-year holiday?), but just look at them! The FrankenFinder especially is pretty darn charming.
As usual, they’re $29 each, or $100 for the whole set of four, which includes the Finderstein, Count Macula, Mac-o-lantern, and the great-looking Spooker. Shipping takes around 3-6 weeks, though if you order ASAP, they can probably make sure and get it to you before Halloween this year (and they’re only available until 10/31 anyway, so pick yours up soon). Each pillow is 9″ by 11″ and made of comfy fleece, plus seriously, they’re scarily cute.
Gallery: Throwboy Halloween Finder pillows
TUAWThrowboy releases Halloween Finder pillows originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments