iPods have been banned in schools from Australia to Idaho by officials citing reasons from cheating to social isolation, but one at one Massachusetts school students prevented the ban saying that the MP3 devices help them study.

The Natick School Committee canceled its vote on banning iPods after about 70 students students packed the town hall  to  ask members to let them hang on to their iPods in school, The Boston Globe reported.

“When I listen to music, it helps me concentrate,’’ said senior Craig Dickey, who said he has attention deficit disorder. He likened the music on his MP3 player to white noise, saying, “It blocks everything else out.’’
“It’s hard to focus without it,’’ student Patrick Shaughnessy said. “The ones not listening are the ones who are talking’’ and disrupting study halls, he said.

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If you’ve not had the pleasure of reading the interviews at The Setup before, I urge you to set aside some of your precious time and go and read them today.

When you’re viewing something like a web page, or an email message, or a PDF – anything that isn’t a text field for typing in – you can use the spacebar to scroll down in page-sized increments, just like a Page Down key that you were probably used to having on a Windows machine, and now won’t have if you’re using a Mac notebook.

It’s just as easy to go in the opposite direction. You can scroll up again by hitting Shift + spacebar.

(For the record, Page Up on a Mac notebook is officially done using Function+Up Arrow, and Page Down with Function+Down Arrow. But a lot of the time, using the spacebar is quicker and easier.)

I would never have thought to include this in the list of 100 tips, because I thought it was so universal. I’ve been using this trick for so long, it’s become second nature, and I just assumed that everyone used it.

But a post on Reddit today caused the penny to drop: it turns out that many of the readers there hadn’t discovered this little gem, so I thought it was worth passing on to you as well.

(You’re reading the 32nd post in our series, 100 Essential Mac Tips And Tricks For Windows Switchers. These posts explain to OS X beginners some of the most basic and fundamental concepts of using a Mac. Find out more.)

Paypal is about to release a new version of its iPhone app that will allow users to deposit checks simply by taking its picture.

It’s a killer idea and super convenient. Just take a picture of the front and back of a check with your iPhone’s camera, and it will be added to your PayPal account. The new version of the Paypal app will be released in the next day or so, PayPal’s Laura Chambers revealed on Wed. at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco.

Depositing checks by cell phone camera has been implemented by a couple of banks already. USAA Bank was the first to launch mobile depositing capability, followed by Chase. Citibank and Bank of America have similar systems in the works.

Via Techcrunch.

Finding Game Centre compatible games in the App Store can certainly be a pain. Fortunately, new badges are coming to the App Store in iOS 4.2 – like the one in the picture above – that will instantly make it clear while you’re browsing for a new game which ones support Apple’s social gaming network and feature Game Centre achievements.

Even though we now have a dedicated Game Centre section, I’ve found that this isn’t updated often enough, and that it can sometimes take several days for games to appear within this category. Badges that highlight these games will certainly save you some time if you’re an avid iOS gamer.

[via MacLife]

An iFixit teardown of Apple’s brand new AppleTV has revealed some interesting details about the new device’s insides, most notably the inclusion of onboard storage and its internal similarities to the iPad.

Despite a focus on streaming content, rather than storing it, the tiny new device includes a Samsung 8GB NAND flash chip, something Apple has chosen not to publicly disclose. Interestingly, right along side this NAND chip is an empty slot that could possibly accommodate another chip if more storage was necessary.

The new AppleTV also features 256MB RAM, which is the same as the iPad and the iPod Touch, but less than the iPhone 4 which packs 512MB. Another similarity to the iPad is that AppleTV runs the new A4 chip and Broadcom Wi-Fi chip.

The discovery of this onboard storage in the new AppleTV gives more hope to users wishing to jailbreak their device to run apps, games, and other content. It also means that we’d have somewhere to store our downloads from that AppleTV App Store that MacRumors recently reported about.

Sega have been working hard throughout 2010 to bring Sonic 4 to the iPhone, which they confirmed back in May would be coming to the iOS. Today they have announced an official release date of October 7th!

Sega have ported two of their Sonic the Hedgehog games to iOS to date, and these have received mixed reviews. Some people love them for bringing their favorite childhood hedgehog to their palms, while others are disappointed with them for providing slow, jumpy gameplay, and a poor control system.

I’m very much looking forward to Sonic 4, and I’m hoping these issues will be ironed out in Sega’s latest port. Touch Arcade have been lucky enough to get their hands on a nearly complete build of the game at E3 in June, and they were blown away by it.

Interestingly, the release date of Sonic 4 for iOS means that the game will be available in the App Store before it arrives on any console; it won’t arrive on the Wii until October 11th, the PlayStation 3 until October 12th, and the Xbox a day later on the 13th.

The video above is a first look at Sonos’ brand new app for the iPad, which makes for an awesome multi-room stereo system.

Paired with a couple of Sonos’ S5 players, the iPad app makes it easy to play music from your computer’s iTunes library, as well as a ton of online sources, including thousands of Internet radio stations and streaming services like Pandora and Last.fm.

Released last night, I’ve been playing with the app all morning and I’m delighted with it. I haven’t got this much kick out of audio gear for a long time. Sonos’ S5 speakers cost $400 each and sound great.

We start out with a variety of deals. First up is a neoprene sleeve for your iPhone for just $3.29. The sleeve protects your investment against water and includes a fold-over enclosure. Next up is a 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro with a 15-inch screen and three years of AppleCare for $1,849. Speaking of AppleCare, Expercom has a two-year AppleCare Protection Plan for your 13.3-inch MacBook Pro, MacBook or MacBook Air for $169.

Along the way we also check out number of applications for your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch, including ESPN Scorecenter XL for your tablet, Monster Mayhem for your iPhone and Rocketeer. As always, details on these and many other items (like Apple’s Magic Mouse) can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

Back in May, Apple passed Microsoft as the most valuable technology company in the world based upon market capitalization, but the lead was slim, putting Microsoft just $2.94 billion down of Apple’s $222.12 billion. What’s the race look like now?

Well, here’s a hint: since May, Apple has released a new AppleTV, iPhone and iPod Touch while Microsoft has released… nothing. No surprise then that Apple’s now increased its lead over Microsoft to an astonishing $49.53 billion. Apple is now worth $263.75 billion… making it only $52.47 billion shy of displacing Exxon as the most valuable American company.

Curiously, there’s one number that Apple is behind on: patents. In the past eight years, Apple has secured only 1,033 patents, while Microsoft has gone on the offensive, racking up over 8,000 in five years alone. Even Dell has more patents than Apple. If only number of patents alone was an accurate measure of innovation, Dell stock would be a good investment right now.

This is gorgeous.

Sherwood + Meister’s Block 22 iPad stand is carved fro a block of kiln-dried Ipê, lending it a resilient and waterproof build and a handsome natural patina, which in the Block 22’s cases is supplemented with a light finish.

The stand aspect of the Block 22 works about how you’d expect: you just slot your tablet into the 22-degree notch in either portrait or landscape. What I like more though is the round bowl in the back to hold ear buds, connector cable or car keys: it’s a subtle flourish, but an incredibly useful one.

This is just incredibly handsome design, but it’s the price that’s the handsomest single aspect of the Block 22: it’ll only cost you a mere $35.

[via Gadget Lab]

Thug Shotz is a new iPhone game where players “match the slime with the crime”  and “pick the crackhead” using real mug shots.

The app was first rejected by Apple on moral grounds, then approved. Thug Shotz ($0.99) is also available in a “Cell-ebrity” version ($1.99) where you can hook up the A-lister to the crime.

The shaudenfreude fest — in the same vein as controversial Busted! Real Mug shots app, but created by a different company called It’s Bailey Entertainment (IBE) — was first rejected by Apple on moral grounds, then approved. (Note: the screenshots are stock photos, but all photos in the game are real people.)

Cult of Mac talked to IBE Founder K. Patrick Whalen about how the app, which started as a lunch time diversion of “guess the perp,” made it into iTunes.

Dell said Wednesday it will launch a 7-inch Android-powered tablet device “within the next few weeks,” according to a Wall Street Journal interview with the computer maker’s China executive. The tablet would join the already unveiled “Streak” tablet and be the latest in what CEO Micheal Dell recently described as a “whole slew” of new products.

“In fact, very much in the near future we’ll be launching the seven-inch tablet as well as the additional three-inch product,” Amit Midha, Dell’s Great China President, said. Dell launched a five-inch tablet in the U.S. earlier this year and plans to offer it in Australia, starting Friday for $628. The device will also enter China “later this year,” according to Midha.

Halloween’s coming up, and I know what you’re thinking: “What costume can I wear that will also accommodate me pocket room enough to carry around my iPhone with me without delving into the more odious choice of nature’s pocket to store my cherished handset?”

Don’t sweat it: we’ve got you covered. Just go as Batman this year and pick yourself up this TDK Batman Utility Pouch, complete with a functional iPhone holster.

Made from cowhide leather, the belt comes with a bronze metal finish, chrome studs and adjustable buckle; only 750 will be made, with each one costing $149. Don’t expect veracity for your money, though. Shamefully, the smartphone Batman uses in the Dark Knight is indisputably a Nokia, not an iPhone.

[via Chipchick]

Running iOS on another device would be a damn intimidating undertaking without the source code, but theoretically, there’s nothing necessarily stopping you from running another operating system on your iPhone or iPad. It’s all ARM architecture, after all. Heck, we’ve even already seen Android running on a jailbroken iPhone, but it just raised the most obvious point: if you can run iOS on your device, why would you want to run another operating system on it?

Like many questions in the hacking scene, it all comes down to “because it’s there,” an answer which probably also explains the image above: Google’s Chromium operating system running on an iPad. The port was accomplished by this guy, who claims that instructions on how to install Chromium to (presumably jailbroken) iPads will soon follow, albeit with some “major caveats.” Like the major caveat of infecting your tablet with an inferior operating system, for instance?

Apple is again challenging Nokia in court, this time on its home turf, Europe. The Cupertino, Calif. company Tuesday filed suit against the Finnish cell phone giant, claiming Nokia violated the same 9 patents which led to an ongoing legal battle in U.S. courts.

The patents cover technology related to GSM and wireless transmissions. While Apple had no comment on why it filed a UK lawsuit, Nokia told Reuters it was investigating the claims. The two companies expect to wait until 2012 before a U.S. court takes up the case. The U.S. International Trade Commission told both companies the body will look into both complaints.

Although the iPhone 4 is superior hardware to even the latest iPod Touch, the fourth-gen Touch does have a leg up on its sibling in at least one area: making FaceTime calls. While the iPod Touch’s FaceTime app makes it easy to initiate video calls through its built-in app, the iPhone makes you place a voice call first.

FaceNow levels the playing field between the fourth-generation iPod Touch and iPhone 4. It’s simplicity itself. Just open up the application, add a contact from your address book and you’re ready to make a FaceTime video call to them: the app will at that point bypass all the usual steps and just make a straight video connection, no voice call required.

Interested? FaceNow is available on the App Store right now, for the attractive price of jack squat.

About two weeks ago, Steve Jobs told a college journalism student to “leave Apple alone.” That e-mail exchange left a bad taste in people’s mouths; it was pretty rude. But that hasn’t been my experience at all.

I also wrote to Jobs about the same time complaining about the problems I’ve had with my iPhone 4. But instead of being told to leave Apple alone, Steve got his people right on it.

I received a phone call from Steve’s Corporate Executive Relations (his A-Team of executive ninjas who get shit done), and a week later, I’ve got a new iPhone 4 after receiving extra special customer service.

I’ve had continual problems with the iPhone 4’s proximity sensor ever since I got my first iPhone 4 on launch day back in June. Cut a long story short, I’ve spent weeks dealing with Applecare and Genius Bar Geniuses, and three replacement handsets. It’s been a frustrating and irritating experience. Finally fed up, I sent the following email to Steve himself.

The Sonos Controller for iPad is now available on the iTunes App Store.

The app turns the iPad into a music hub for WiFi-connected Sonos players, streaming music from a variety of online music sources.

We got a sneak peek earlier this summer and were very impressed. The slick app makes digital music very easy — especially listening to online music services like Pandora, Rhapsody, Last.fm and the fantastic Mog.com. Using the iPad as a big Wi-Fi remote control, you can play music from your iTunes library, thousands of online radio stations, satellite radio subscriptions, or online sources.

Sonos sells wireless music players that make it easy to get multi-room audio around your house. Plug in a player in each room and stream music to each one (or the same music to all of them). Sonos’ products have won kudos for painless setup, ease of use, relative low-cost (you can spend a lot more) and innovation — this is the home stereo of the future. The iPad app takes it to the next level.

Analyst Michael Gartenberg is a fan. “I’ve been testing for a while and it shows the power of the tablet platform perfectly,” he just tweeted.

Sonos Controller for iPad [Sonos]

Sonos controller app page [iTunes]

Earlier today, Apple released another update to the iOS 4.2 beta and the corresponding SDK to developers, bringing the current version of both to 4.2 beta 2. The update follows the release of the previous beta by about two weeks.

In addition to those updates Apple also released a new beta version of iTunes 10.1.

President Obama may be running the most Mac-friendly White House to date — including launching the health care reform program from a MacBook Pro — and even though he famously quipped he was too clumsy to work an iPod, he has now opened his iPod playlist for Rolling Stone — at the tail end of an exhaustive interview —  to reveal what music gets him moving.

Like a lot of people, the 2,000-tracks on Obama’s Apple MP3 player skew towards old favorites:

“I am probably still more heavily weighted toward the music of my childhood than I am the new stuff. There’s still a lot of Stevie Wonder, a lot of Bob Dylan, a lot of Rolling Stones, a lot of R&B, a lot of Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Those are the old standards.”

To infuse some new life into his old school tastes, he gets suggestions from his personal aide, Reggie Love.

Apple’s hard-charging COO TIm Cook has denied rumors he’s leaving Apple to be the CEO of HP.

Cook denied the rumors this morning while speaking to analyst Brian Marshall of Gleacher & Co.’, Barrons reports:

Tim Cook will not be going to HP, he loves Apple,” Marshall tells me Cook told him.

Apple’s stock took a pounding this morning on the rumor. Cook is credited with turning Apple into a paragon of operational efficiency and is pegged to be Steve Jobs’s successor.

Plans for Steve Jobs’ new house have been dug up. They show a fairly modest 5,000-square-foot house with five bedrooms and a private vegetable garden.

If anything, the conceptual plans submitted to the Woodside Town Council depict more of a small, private retreat than any towering glass-and-steel tech chapel or totem of wealth. According to these initial designs, Jobs intends to populate the 6 acres with an assortment of indigenous flora; a simple three-car garage; a modest 5 bedroom home with plenty of windows and decks; a network of lighted stone walkways; and even a private vegetable garden. Everything is neat, tight, pragmatic, and in its place.

Gizmodo: The Plans For Steve Jobs’ New House

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmF5_b40swc

I type over one hundred words per minute, and by and large, they are the words zombies taught me to type thanks to the fantastic 1999 title, Typing of the Dead, in which wave after wave of flesh eating zombies are splattered into gibs not by the rapid fire staccato of a machine gun, but by quickly typing words like ‘daffodil’ and ‘snapdragon.’

For years, I’ve been waiting for Sega to port Typing of the Dead to iOS to help me do for my texting what I once did for my typing… to no avail. But Screw Attack’s tribute title Texting of the Bread might fill the same void with twice as much cuteness: it takes the central gameplay of Typing of the Dead, adjusts it to fit the iPhone’s soft keyboard and changes the villains to bloodthirsty ginger bread men.

If you’re interested in knowing more, Touch Arcade has posted a thorough review of the game here. Texting of the Bread can be downloaded now on iTunes for just $1.99.

We start off with three hardware deals. MacConnection.com has a bargain on a 13-inch 2.4GHz MacBook for just $850. Next is a 20-inch iMac desktop running at 2.66GHz for $930. For the more demanding users, there is also a deal on a Mac Pro 4-Core 2.66GHz Xeon desktop for $1,175.

Along the way, we’ll also check out new iPhone cases, more software and many other items. As usual, details on these and more bargains can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.