In a sea of bulky, boxy waterproof cameras that do little to encourage stashing them in a pocket and bringing along for the ride, the Pentax Optio WS80 is a refreshing change — it’s tiny, and practically begs to be stuck in a pocket and brought on the next romp. But that scaled-down size is at least in part responsible for scaled-down performance.
Harry McCracken at Technologizer is worried that Apple’s rumored purchase of Lala could be the best thing for iTunes – or the worst.
Harry has been testing LaLa’s as-yet-unreleased iPhone app, and it’s just like iTunes in the cloud. The app streams your iTunes music collection to wherever you are, plus you can buy new songs for a dime (well, streams of new songs).
“…all of a sudden, the iPhone’s relatively skimpy memory isn’t nearly as much of an issue, since you can stream all the music you’ve got in iTunes on a PC or Mac to your phone. You can also listen to and buy songs from Lala’s 8-million song store. It’s all surprisingly fast for a streaming service, and it even caches recent music you’ve listened to so you’re not completely out of luck if you don’t have an Internet connection.”
Harry is in love, and hopes that Apple will roll Lala’s functionality into iTunes if Apple buys the company. But he’s also worried that Apple may be buying Lala to kill it — it’s a competitive threat to iTunes.
Over at Silicon Alley Insider, the same notion is implicit in a quote from an industry insider who says LaLa’s licenses are non-transferable:
One industry source with years of experience in the digital music business is very surprised by the apparent deal. “I would be completely shocked,” he says. “None of the licenses are transferrable (not that Apple has a hard time getting licenses). Why would they buy it? Again, I’d be shocked.”
Thing is, as far as I know, Apple has no history of buying companies to shut them down. Anyone know any examples? And as Elliot Van Buskirk at Wired points out, Apple does have a history of buying companies to kickstart new products. Apple’s iTunes was based on SoundJam.
In addition, as we reported in August, Apple is building a one of the world’s largest data centers in North Carolina. Given it’s enormous size, the new data center is likely to focus on cloud computing, perhaps hosting services like Lala’s for Apple’s giant iTunes customer base.
A new study looking at decades of cancer data has concluded that cell phones do not cause brain tumors.
Scientists looked at cancer rates in Europe after cell phones were introduced and found no rise in brain cancers. If there was a link between cell phone radiation and brain tumors, there would have been a rise in cases after the mid-1990s, when cell phones became mainstream, the researchers figured.
Luckily for us, there wasn’t.
Reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI), the Time Trends in Brain Tumor Incidence Rates study analyzed national cancer registeries in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden between 1974 to 2003 — a mountain of data that covers the entire adult populations of those countries, a total of 16 million people.
Spot the difference between photographer James Duncan Davidson ‘s iconic photo of the of the first iPhone — snapped at Macwolrd Expo in 2007 — and Verizon’s new ad for the Droid smartphone. Says the snapper:
“I’m kinda speechless right now and I’m not quite sure what to think of it. Whoa.”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLDxv9ohH2s
Harrods department store launched this limited edition 24 karat gold-plated iPod backed by a good cause they hope will induce Scroogy types to part with some extra cash this holiday season.
Laser engraved with the autograph of footie superstar Frank Lampard, the 8GB Midas iPod goes for £264.50 ($440 circa) or £433.81 (64GB) ($722 circa), that’s about £100 over the regular UK retail price for the 8G and £130 for the 64GB.
Lampart will donate all of his royalties from sales to the Teenage Cancer Trust.
This is hardly the first blingy benefit iPod — UK company Gold Genie which is behind this effort seems to be specialized in them — but it will be interesting to see how well they sell in these Bah Humbug! times.
Steve Jobs quietly advised the One Laptop per Child project, founder Nicholas Negroponte said at the University of Pennsylvania yesterday.
Said Negroponte:
“I got an email from Steve Jobs (the night the laptop was revealed) he said you can’t build it for a hundred dollars, and my answer was oh yes I can. He was actually a very good critic, and each time we got to a point, I did talk to him.”
Of course, Jobs was right (Gizmodo reviewed the OLPC and concluded it was “a piece of shit”) but at least he tried to help, unlike Microsoft. Negraponte said Microsoft tried to “thwart” the project at several turns.
Jobs has a reputation as a bastard. And there’s no public record of philanthropic efforts (if any) but this shows he at least has a little bit of heart.
Via TheDigitalLifestyle.tv and Gizmodo.
Apple UK Friday announced ‘iTunes 12 Days of Christmas,’ a promo offering Europeans daily free music, videos, apps and TV episodes between Dec. 26 and Jan. 6, 2010.
A free download will be available for 24 hours at the itunes12daysofchristmas.co.uk site.
The promotion also includes a contest with a chance to win an engraved yellow iPod nano.
Last year’s promotion features free music from Katy Perry, Lily Allen and The Ting Ting Tings. The pro is sponsored by O2, Ticketmaster, Capital FM, Heart FM and The Times, reports said.
The Droid, the Motorola-made smartphone sold by Verizon, is now taking the iPhone head-on, comparing Apple’s iconic handset to a “tiara-wearing digitally clueless beauty pageant queen.” The new ad, entitled “Pretty” features a blonde woman applying lipstick while walking and admiring an iPhone-looking device.
“It’s not a princess, it’s a robot,” the commercial intones, referring to the Android-based handset. “A phone that trades hair-do for can-do.” Verizon is the rival to AT&T, currently the exclusive iPhone carrier in the United States. Recently, Verizon and AT&T have traded salvos both on-air and in the courtroom.
Companies considering introducing products in China may use Apple’s experience as a textbook on what mistakes to avoid. China, with billions of consumers, would seem to be the perfect market for the iPhone, one of the hottest consumer gadgets the Cupertino, Calif. company sells. However, CEO Steve Jobs and others made a number of unforced errors in China, besides those widely-publicized, according to Forbes.
In a review of the lackluster launch of the iPhone in China, Shaun Rein of the China Market Research Group, details several factors which likely caused Apple to stumble right out of the gate.
In theory, officially introducing China up to the charms of the iPhone should have been a coup for Apple, potentially generating the sale of millions of handsets in the largest market on Earth. But the reality looks far bleaker: according to data from the official Chinese online iPhone store, Taobao.com, only five iPhones were sold in the first two weeks of its online availability.
Taobao.com is not the only place selling iPhones: Apple’s carrier partner in China, China Unicom, is also selling iPhones, but has not released official numbers. That said, Taobao.com’s numbers should be viewed grimly: it’s the largest and most frequented electronics site in China… the Chinese equivalent of Amazon.com.
Two weeks ago, we mentioned that the ALK’s CoPilot Live app, an already inexpensive iPhone GPS option, went on sale for $20 (from $35) during Thanksgiving.
Today, ALK announced they’re introducing a similar deal — now $25 — through the end of December.
To make the deal even more enticing, they’re making available a “Premium Live” package that includes live traffic info and routing (from the same source as the $80 Navigon app), a live Internet local search feature and something I haven’t seen before on a GPS app: A live gas-price feature that can route you to the cheapest gas near your location.
The Premium Live option runs an extra $20/year, but the savings from hassle-free routing to cheap gas might just make the package valuable enough to pay for itself.
Two guards in Washington, D.C. were arrested after allegedly smuggling in must-have items for prisoners — namely iPods, cell phones and chargers.
An inmate tipped off the FBI in October 2008 that corrections officers were getting contraband tech — along with the usual stuff like cigarettes — for a price to prisoners.
Two male corrections officers and a female security guard were arrested this week for federal bribery charges on suspicion of accepting cash to smuggle cellphones and iPods. The men are now on administrative leave, the woman was released on personal recognizance.
An undercover FBI agent posing as the brother of an inmate bribed one of the men $300 to smuggle an iPod and charger inside the big house.
Why are iPods verboten in prison?
According to an email sent to Washington Post’s Crime Scene blog , Apple devices are so sought after they constitute a security hazard:
“Inmates may use the components of devices such as iPods to compromise security equipment within the correctional facility. In addition, such items are in high demand and may be stolen or used by inmates to gamble with others…this has the potential to trigger conflict, assaults and other violent behavior.”
Wonder if the playlist on the decoy iPod had “I Fought the Law” on it or some irony-free offerings…
Via Crime Scene
It appears Apple’s iPod touch-based point-of-sale system is drawing interest from retailers looking to use the current proprietary hardware and software for selling more than Macs and iPhones. The Cupertino, Calif. company is considering commercializing the system following massive interest.
“Since the debut of the iPod POS, inquiries have been coming from all directions, including from end-user small businesses, larger chains and system integrators,” according to ifoAppleStore. The iPod maker has instructed Apple Store salespeople to collect contact information from people expressing interest “apparently to create a database of potential customers,” the report said.
Yet another analyst Thursday joined the chorus of voices singing Apple’s praises in a sluggish PC market. Mac sales will grow 26 percent in 2010, far outstripping PCs forecast to grow just 16 percent year over year.
Looking forward, Robert Cichra, analyst with Caris & Company, predicted Apple will have 4 percent of the market share for 2010, providing what the analyst termed “considerable headroom” for more growth.
Apple’s App Store next year will reach the 300,000 mark, tripling the number of applications available for the iPhone and iPod touch, according to one analyst’s preview of 2010. The continued growth of the App Store is at the leading-edge of what analyst firm IDC sees as a ‘platform shift’ to mobile devices and away from the PC.
“We predict at least 300,000 iPhone applications by the end of 2010,” wrote analyst Frank Gens. Many of the new apps will come from businesses as consumers and companies pick the iPhone for their most commonly-used applications.
James Thomson of PCalc fame noted late yesterday on Twitter that the App Store’s again updated the way it deals with app sorting: “Looks like sort by release date in [the] App Store only sorts by original release date now, not update date. Say hello to page 342 of Utilities…”
Thomson’s referring here to PCalc now being housed on the penultimate page in the massive utilities section, because it was one of the earliest apps on the store, released on July 11 2008. However, the app was last updated on October 18.
Although release date sorting was open to ‘abuse’, dodgy developers regularly updating apps to move them to the top of the list, it strikes me as a bad decision to list apps by their original release dates, regardless of how often they’re updated. What impetus does a developer have to update a major app released in 2008, if no-one’s going to see the update unless Apple deigns to include it in ‘new & noteworthy’ or ‘what’s hot’? This decision could start a spate of app removals and ‘updates’ via entirely new products, reducing the likelihood of free updates for long-time users.
A simple workaround would be for Apple to provide an alternate sort option of ‘recently updated’, which would, presumably, make everyone happy. In the meantime, some of the earliest developers for the platform who care about updating their apps just got another kick in the crotch.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntyXvLnxyXk&
Magazine publishers are drooling at the upcoming Apple tablet because it will allow them to repurpose their content for the digital age with minimal changes — and possibly charge for it.
Wired magazine, for example, has for a long time been trying to find a way to republish the mag digitally — but preserve the layout, especially the splashy ad spreads for advertisers. So the tablet is perfect for them. It’s the mag — on a screen.
Sports Illustrated is the latest magazine to join the fray with a slick-looking demo you can watch above.
It actually looks pretty cool. It’s an interactive magazine that preserves the best of the format — the big pictures, the slick ads — with digital-age multimedia and interactivity. Maybe the tablet will save the mag industry after all?
Via 9to5Mac and Media Memo.
Remember that famous mosaic portrait of Steve Jobs that Fortune commissioned made from popular Apple products?
Well, a reader of Day Lyon’s Fake Steve blog created this portrait of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer from snaps of Microsoft’s most memorable product — the blue screen of death. Check out the detail of Ballmer’s tongue:
This is actually quite astounding. Dear Reader Fraser has created a mosaic using 80 random Windows crash shots to portray Uncle Fester. Below is a detail of the tongue. Click on both to see them in greater detail. The full file is really amazing — we hope to make it available as a download soon so that you can print it out, frame it, give to people you don’t like as a winter solstice holiday present — you get the idea.
For what it’s worth, Fraser says he’ll create a poorly drawn portrait of anyone — just check out his site, PoorlyDrawnPortraits.com. Much love, Fraser. You sick bastard.
I’m more of a dog person, but the “Cats Love Macs” photo stream on Flickr is one of my guilty pleasures. (Yeah, I know).
Love this recycled iMac now in use as a cat basket that British Macintosh support/dev user nicknamed Mikmac created for pussy Pixel, who snuggles up in it quite nicely thanks to a soft pillow where the computer’s hardware once was.
So you’re shopping, or going ice skating, or heading to some place where hot mulled wine makes the holiday cheer flow.
You take a cab — the parking! — and when grappling with scarf, gloves, maybe a kid or two and some packages, leave your iPhone or iPod on the taxi seat. This is the grim scenario taxi drivers in London paint of the holidays — your favorite device left to the seasonal altruism of the driver or next passenger.
Some 10,000 mobile phones are left behind by customers every single month in London alone, plus another 1,000 iPods and memory sticks. December is the worst month — or best if you’re of the finders-keepers mentality — for expensive gadgets left behind, according to a survey by Credant Technologies.
Steve McMenara, from TAXI magazine, said: “This is the worst time of year for forgetting property at the back of cabs, especially mobile phones and laptops. More people travel into London to buy their Christmas presents during this period who are not regular cab users, they hop a cab to get back to their train stations – and it’s always about an hour later we get a panicked call on their mobile phones asking for them to be returned.”
London taxi drivers say they manage to return 80% of devices left behind; in New York just 66% of cabbies handed lost devices over.
“Back in the good old days when a Window was something you looked out of, and a Mac was something you wore in the rain, it used to be small items like brollies and briefcases stuffed full of boring office papers. Now it’s laptops, smartphones and thumb drives, all chock-full of valuable information to an identity thief,” said Sean Glynn, vice president of Credant Technologies.
Ever leave your iDevice in a cab and get it back?
Via T3
Touch Arcade reports that EA’s action adventure game Mirror’s Edge is coming to iPhone in January. Although originally boasting a first-person perspective viewpoint, with your character sliding under barriers, jumping across ledges, and doing all manner of death-defying leaps and bounds, it’s likely the iPhone version will be closer in character to Mirror’s Edge 2D.
Also interesting is this game will prompt a legal showdown on release. Tim Langdell of Edge Games has forced two indie iPhone games off the App Store for using Edge within their names. In both cases, Apple has complied with these challenges, which has been strictly in compliance with the DMCA, according to commentators. Accusations of mark trolling have led to EA challenging the validity of these marks (source: Kotaku), and any resolution is likely a year away.
When Mirror’s Edge appears on the App Store, Langdell will have no option but to challenge it, under the precedent he’s already set. And Apple will have no option but to pull the game, based on what it’s already done regarding Killer Edge Racing and Edge (now, temporarily, Edgy in the US and UK). It’s one thing when Apple stamps on an indie’s head, but it’s going to be interesting to see what happens when an EA game gets yanked unceremoniously from the store, due to spurious rights-infringement claims. Popcorn at the ready!
Like an iPhone for Titans: a hypothetical lozenge in ebony, aluminum and glass!
We never quite see the end of Tablet Mac rumors on the Internet, and it’s easy to get swept up in the madness of crowds over the skintiest of them. Let’s not let too much foam collect in the saucer of our collected under lips over the latest headline to hit the feeds, though: “Apple takes control of TabletMac trademark” looks pretty exciting at first blush, but it’s probably just business as usual for a large company protecting its trademark.
The development comes by way of Axiotron, that neat company that will take your MacBook and $699, rip out its display, replace it with a pen-based screen, break its spine at the coccyx and flip it around one-hundred-and-eighty-degrees to give you a Tablet Mac. In fact, they went as far as to register a trademark for TabletMac with the Trademark Office.
Sometime in the last year, though, Axiotron transferred the TabletMac trademark to Apple. It’s easy to take that trademark transfer as significant (bolded), a sign that Apple is soon to send a hoary Jobs down from Mount Silicon with a divine, multitouch tablet of its own.
In reality, though, if Apple is working on a Tablet Mac, it’s unlikely to be called any such thing. I suspect the real source of this is just standard protection of Apple’s “Mac” trademark, and the whole thing was settled as easily as an email rattled off to Axiotron: “Hey, you guys are doing cool work. Transfer the TabletMac trademark to us before we have to rearrange your face.”
[via Mac Rumors]
Edit: As several readers have pointed out, the film is also available on Hulu. Check it out.
MacHeads, the documentary on, well, the Cult of Mac, is now available to view for free online courtesy of SnagFilms, a documentary library. As Lonnie reported way back in January, the film premiered at MacWorld 2009 before an audience of more than 1,000 before seeing release on Amazon Unbox and iTunes.
To check it out, just click Play on the marquee above. Enjoy!
Thanks, Mike!
The iPhone can already be used to buy coffee; now it can sell it too. Square, a new venture from Twitter co-creator Jack Dorsey, lets retailers swipe credit cards using a tiny reader that plugs in to the audio jack on an iPhone.
Using an iPhone to collect money is nothing new, and apps like Credit Card Terminal and iSwipe Pro have been around for awhile. But Square marks the first time a card can be physically swiped — and, says a post in Wired’s Epicenter, that also means the ability to accept gift cards.
Square’s website says that card swiping can begin immediately after account setup, with “no contracts, monthly fees or hidden costs.” Square also says it will do cool little things like email customer receipts and keep track of how many lattes to go till that free tenth one.
If it works as advertised, the system might spread quickly among retailers and consumer alike simply because of its elegance and ease-of-use. And as you may have noticed with Dorsey’s previous project, sometimes that’s all it takes to change the game.
[via Wired]
Yup, it’s just that easy — Kentucky-based MHA’s new Airlock app turns your Mac into a proximity sensor that un/locks the computer’s screen when your iPhone enters a user-defined range; it can also do nifty things like run apps when it senses your iPhone enter or exit the area. And there’s nothing to install on your iPhone, it just sits there and looks pretty (and broadcasts a Bluetooth signal, of course).
Yeah. Well, that’s the theory. Unfortunately, Airlock would have nothing to do with my iPhone — repeated attempts failed to get my 3GS to even show up on the pairing screen. MHA says they’re aware of the problem, that it seems to affect newer iPhones, and that they’re working to fix it.
Until that happens, I’ll just have to laugh at the clever writing on MHA’s website and marvel at technology’s potential.
Airlock is downloadable for a limitlessly renewable three-hour trial; $7.77 will let you use Airlock without having to ask to try it every three hours.