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| Wednesday, April 30, 2008 |
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Apple's popular 20-inch and 24-inch all-in-one iMacs now come with upgraded specifications across the board; all available immediately.
Apple today updated its all-in-one iMac line with the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors and the most powerful graphics ever available in an iMac. With prices starting at $1200, iMac includes faster processors with 6MB L2 cache and a faster 1066 MHz front-size bus across the entire line, and 2GB of memory standard in most models.
For the first time, the 24-inch iMac features an optional NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS with 512MB of video memory, to deliver up to two times standard performance for graphics intensive applications. Providing the latest in connectivity options, iMac also includes built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wi-Fi networking, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, Gigabit Ethernet, built-in iSight video camera, a total of five USB 2.0 ports (including two on the Apple Keyboard) and one FireWire 400 and one FireWire 800 port.
The iMac furthers Apple's commitment to environmental progress with recyclable and durable materials including scratch-resistant glass and professional grade aluminum. Every model in the iMac line is rated EPEAT Silver and the iMac also meets the Energy Star 4.0 requirements for power consumption. Customers who purchase any qualifying Apple computer can recycle their old PC or Mac for free via the Apple Recycling Program.
Every Mac in the Apple lineup comes with iLife '08, the most significant update ever to Apple's suite of digital lifestyle applications, featuring a major new version of iPhoto and a completely reinvented iMovie, both seamlessly integrated with the new .Mac Web Gallery for online photo and video sharing. Every Mac also includes Leopard, the sixth major release of Mac OS X. Leopard features Time Machine (automatic backup), a redesigned Finder, Quick Look (instantly see files without opening an application), Spaces (creates groups of applications and instantly switches between them), a new desktop with Stacks, as well as enhancements to Mail and iChat.
The new 20-inch 2.4 GHz iMac has a suggested retail price of $1200, and includes 1GB of DDR2 SDRAM, 250GB 7200 RPM SATA hard drive, a slot-load 8x SuperDrive (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) and ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128MB GDDR3 memory.
The new 20-inch 2.66 GHz iMac has a suggested retail price of $1500, and includes 2GB of DDR2 SDRAM, 320GB 7200 RPM SATA hard drive, a slot-load 8x SuperDrive (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) and ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB GDDR3 memory.
The new 24-inch 2.8 GHz iMac has a suggested retail price of $1800, and includes 2GB of DDR2 SDRAM, 320GB 7200 RPM SATA hard drive, a slot-load 8x SuperDrive (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) and ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB GDDR3 memory.
Build-to-order options include a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up to 4GB DDR2 SDRAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS with 512MB of video memory and up to a 1TB SATA hard drive on the 24-inch iMac; up to 4GB DDR2 SDRAM and up to 750GB SATA hard drive on the 2.66 GHz 20-inch iMac; and up to 4GB of DDR2 SDRAM and up to 500GB SATA hard drive on the 2.4 GHz 20-inch iMac
Source: InfoSyncWorldLabels: Apple, ATI, Core 2 Duo, iMac, Intel, Nvidia |
| posted by Perimbean @ 4:30 PM |
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Apple posts graphics firmware update for iMacs
by Peter Cohen, Macworld.com Apr 29, 2008 5:10 am
Apple on Monday released an update for iMac computers equipped with ATI’s Radeon HD 2600 Pro or Radeon HD 2400 XT graphics card installed, running Mac OS X v10.5.2 or later. The update is available for download from Apple’s Web site.
The update — version 1.01 — makes a change to the graphics card firmware on these systems that improves system stability, according to Apple. Once it’s done, the Mac’s Boot ROM or SMC version information (as listed in System Profiler) will read 113-B2250L-259.
The Radeon HD 2600 Pro and Radeon HD 2400 XT have been available in the iMac since August, 2007. They remain standard issue on the system today, though Monday’s introduction of a refreshed iMac model now offers Nvidia GeForce 8800GS graphics as a configure-to-order option; Apple claims the Nvidia graphics are up to 2.2x faster than the ATI graphics are in Quake 4 benchmarks.
Source: MacWorldLabels: Apple, ATI, iMac, Nvidia |
| posted by Perimbean @ 1:00 PM |
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Apple powers up iMac with Penryn processor
Faster CPU on tap, and better graphics for some
By Gregg Keizer
April 28, 2008 (Computerworld) Apple Inc. refreshed its iMac desktop line today by bumping up CPU speeds across the board and adding faster graphics to the top-end 24-in. model.
The graphics boost is aimed at gamers and at consumers and professional users who want faster image processing, said Apple. "We want to make the iMac even more appealing to even more people, whether that's gamers looking [to play] great games or consumers and creative professional who want to run pro-level software faster," said Tom Boger, senior director of Apple desktop product marketing.
Although the move had been anticipated by several Apple enthusiast sites and blogs, it was a low-key upgrade: Apple did not hold an event to announce the new machines.
Prices did not change for the three existing models -- $1,199 and $1,499 for the 20-in. iMac, and $1,799 for the 24-in. system -- while the high-end 24-in. configuration actually dropped by $100, to $2,199. The new model packs an Nvidia GeForce 8800 GS card with 512MB of memory. It's the first time since last August's revamp of the iMac lineup that Apple has offered a card from Nvidia Corp. Until now, the only graphics supplier for the aluminum-clad iMacs was ATI, a division of Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
"In tests [the Nvidia card] is 2.2 times faster than the [ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO] card that comes standard with the 24-in. iMac," claimed Boger.
Apple said it included Boot Camp drivers for the Nvidia GeForce 8800 GS card in the update it issued last week, for the program that lets Intel-based Macs run Windows XP or Windows Vista.
All iMacs received faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors based on the 45-nanometer Penryn architecture. The 20-in. iMacs are now powered by 2.4-GHz and 2.66-GHz chips, whereas they were previously running 2.0-GHz and 2.4-GHz processors, respectively. The larger, 24-in. systems come with either a 2.8-GHz or 3.06-GHz chip, rather than the 2.4-GHz or 2.8-GHz CPUs used earlier.
With the exception of the least-expensive 20-in. iMac, the new machines include 2GB of memory standard, twice as much as when they debuted last year. The revamped iMacs also boast a 1066-MHz front-side bus -- up from 800 MHz -- as well as 6MB of Level 2 cache on the CPU, up from 4MB. All systems come with Mac OS X 10.5.2, the newest version of Leopard, as well as iLife '08, a consumer-oriented suite that includes iPhoto and iMovie.
Apple launched the current generation of iMacs last August and until today had not updated them.
In the first three months of 2008, Apple sold 856,000 desktop machines, the vast bulk of them iMacs -- 37% more than in the same period last year. For the quarter overall, Apple sold nearly 2.3 million Macs, a 51% year-to-year gain; according to Gartner, that growth rate was three and a half times the industry average.
Source: ComputerWorldLabels: Apple, Intel, Nvidia, Penryn |
| posted by Perimbean @ 11:30 AM |
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| Monday, April 21, 2008 |
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PayPal considers blocking browsers
Posted by Robert Vamosi
April 18, 2008 1:07 PM PDT
PayPal is seriously considering blocking some browsers from accessing its site, according to a paper (PDF) available to shareholders.
Titled "A Practical Approach to Managing Phishing," the paper admits that there's no one silver bullet to prevent fraudsters from making money on the Internet. However, authors Michael Barrett, PayPal's chief information security officer, and Dan Levy, the company's senior director of risk management for Europe, say companies could and should start addressing five specific areas:
- Prevent fraudulent e-mail from getting into users' in-boxes
- Prevent phishing sites by shutting them down
- Authenticate users so that stolen credentials can't be used on PayPal
- Prosecute fraudsters to the full extent of the law
- Focus on brand and consumer recovery
Of these, the paper focuses mainly on e-mail prevention and phishing-site blocking. For e-mail prevention, the authors cite Yahoo Mail as an example and point to its use of domain keys to identify legitimate and illegitimate mail marked as coming from PayPal.
Most controversial is the idea of blocking "unsafe" browsers, or browsers that do not currently include antiphishing tools. PayPal says it would first notify users when they log in if they are using an unsafe browser. Later, PayPal would simply block the use of the browser entirely.
PayPal is interested in enforcing new Extended Verification SSL certificates used by Internet Explorer 7 and the upcoming Mozilla Firefox 3. EV SSL highlights the address bar in green when the site has been certified. Other browsers, such as Apple Safari and Opera, do not currently include these protections.
Browsers not on the desktop could also be barred. On Monday, researchers cited the Apple Safari browser on the iPhone and Nintendo's use of the Opera on its DS and Wii gaming systems as lacking adequate antiphishing protection.
Source: NewsLabels: Apple, Firefox, Internet Exploer, Mozilla, Opera, PayPal, Safari, security, SSL |
| posted by Perimbean @ 12:00 PM |
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| Sunday, April 13, 2008 |
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China Mobile balks at iPhone talks
12 April 2008
(UPI Business News Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) China Mobile isn't negotiating with Apple Inc. for sale rights to the U.S. company's iPhone because of concerns about business models and commercialization.
China Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou said Saturday that such business concerns have prevented the two sides from initiating talks to sell the Apple phone system in China, China's state-run news agency Xinhua said.
Our door will remain open as long as there is customer demand, Wang said.
Apple initially planned to get its iPhone into the lucrative Chinese market this year, having released it in the United States last year.
The iPhone comes equipped with mobile phone services, as well as Internet, video and music services.
Wang told Xinhua the current number of China Mobile customers exceeds 380 million and continues to expand monthly thanks to customers in China's rural areas.
Copyright 2008 United Press International
Source: TMCnetLabels: Apple, China Mobile, iPhone |
| posted by Perimbean @ 6:30 PM |
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China Mobile, Apple yet to open formal talks over iPhone launch
2008-04-12 21:09:11
BOAO, Hainan, April 12 (Xinhua) -- China Mobile has not started formal negotiations with Apple Inc. over the iPhone, despite the intention of both sides to cooperate.
Details about issues such as business models and commercialization have prevented the companies from entering formal talks. No time frame was available either at the moment, China Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou said on the sidelines of 2008 conference of the Boao Forum for Asia on Saturday in China's southern Hainan Province.
"Our door will remain open as long as there is customer demand," said the head the country's largest cell phone carrier during a panel discussion on the sustained growth and development of the telecom industry.
Apple launched its iPhone -- a hand-held device that combines a mobile phone, a wide-screen iPod and an Internet device into one -- in the United States in January 2007. It planned to launch it into the Asian market this year.
Wang said China Mobile subscribers currently totaled more than 380 million, nearly 30 percent of the country's total population. The number had been expanding six to seven million per month, mostly fueled by consumers in the rural areas, he added.
He foresaw a robust future for the telecom industry, both at home and globally, as mobile communications were a "consumption of low energy" and a stimulus for other products such as mobile music.
More than 200 million China Mobile users have used their phones to download music or songs, he said.
China, one of the world's fastest-growing cell phone market, was expected to have nearly 600 million people using mobile phones this year.
Source: XinHuaNetLabels: Apple, China Mobile, iPhone |
| posted by Perimbean @ 6:30 PM |
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Apple iPhone 2 features GPS, Nike+, Apple TV remote and more
APRIL 12, 2008 | BY DAVE PARRACK
The rumours concerning the next instalment of the iPhone from Apple are still coming thick and fast, and the latest concern some exciting new features. The next iPhone, as well as offering the obvious 3G connectivity, could feature GPS, Nike+, Bluetooth Stereo, and even double up as a remote control for Apple TV.
Of course, these rumours, compiled together by Gizmodo from various sources, except the Apple TV one, which is also doing the rounds, have to be taken with a pinch of salt. But still, it’s nice to dream isn’t it?
Nike+ looks like a shoe-in, with Nike supposedly confirming the inclusion itself. The applications will exploit the iPhone’s graphical capabilities, and also utilise Wi-Fi and 3G. The Nike+ Coach software, which you can use to log your training, and improve your routine, is set to make iPhone users fitter than they currently are.
The rest of the features are rumoured after strings were found in the firmware update indicating them.
‘HeadphonesBT’ and ‘RoleA2DP’ could indicate support for Bluetooth Stereo headphones.
‘RoleGPS’ may indicate GPS support.
‘RoleRemote’ has been translated as the iPhone being used in a remote control capacity, probably for Apple TV.
All or none of these could end up being accurate, but the chances are at least some will. Put these new features with the new pricing structure and design functions, and a total picture of the new iPhone starts to become clear.
It’ll be priced at the same level as the current iPhone, but will basically be a new and improved model in every way you can imagine.
We should know what is and what isn’t true in the next 60 days, as all the signs are indicating that Apple will officially unveil the release in that time frame. Until then, let the speculation continue - it’s the new game sweeping the nation.
Source: BLORGELabels: Apple, Apple TV, GPS, iPhone, Nike |
| posted by Perimbean @ 6:15 PM |
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| Saturday, April 12, 2008 |
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New Apple seeds in Blackberry patch
Ray Beatty
April 12, 2008 12:00am
DID you know that there was once an Australian computer called the Wombat? Famous, even historic - it left the world a legal benchmark. The Wombat was an Apple II clone back in the mid-1980s.
Apple at this stage was the king of the personal computer and it fought like a tiger to protect the copyright of its read-only memory program.
The Federal Court found in favour of our marsupial, then the Full Court swung Apple's way, then the High Court swung back.
Meanwhile the world watched and waited - is a computer program a creative work, like a book or a painting, or not?
In the end Parliament amended the Copyright Act to cover computer programs. Apple won the battle - but lost the war.
IBM had meanwhile brought out the PC and allowed clones and third-party developers free rein, and today there are more than 10 PCs for every Apple.
A quarter of a century on Apple finds itself in the same situation. This time the contest is iPhone versus Blackberry.
That ubiquitous corporate yuppie tool has built itself a powerful fortress and it's going to be a long siege for Apple to conquer it.
Its major disadvantage has been self-inflicted: it did all the third-party development itself, whereas Blackberry has more than 650 companies devising programs and applications and games and gimmicks every day.
Apple boss Steve Jobs is no fool, and he learned his lesson all those years ago. In March he amazed the world: Apple unlocked the flood gates and encouraged the developers to flow.
For all the little computer companies it was like Christmas.
Papa Steve gave them the chance to create the enterprise mobile phone that they had always wanted - and that Blackberry already has.
Now they can create the hundreds of programs like you have on your office computer. These include access to music, movies, video, graphics - all working off your iPhone.
But of course Blackberry and its third-parties have been doing this for years. They have their own devotees.
And you can bet they won't stand still, so look forward to some fireworks and some great deals.
Mind you, Apple isn't all generosity - it also expects its pound of flesh.
Any iPhone application you successfully sell will be subject to a royalty fee of 30 per cent. Ouch, that puts a premium on the product's cost.
There's one major roadblock to this cosy plan for a happy marriage. And that is the problem of penetrating the glittering corporate market.
It has taken the MD a couple of years to get the hang of writing emails on the golf course and you can be pretty certain that he will be reluctant to learn a new machine in a hurry.
The same goes for his many executives, and the IT department which has a lot of expertise invested in keeping everyone's Blackberries humming.
Word on the street is that iPhone has not made much progress in penetrating the city skyscrapers - and that's where the real money is.
Now that Jobs has opened the field to the band of Apple developers, he must be anxiously waiting for one of them to invent the irresistible killer application that will drag in the punters and make Blackberry jam.
Source: News.com.auLabels: Apple, BlackBerry, iPhone |
| posted by Perimbean @ 12:57 AM |
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Apple's Time Capsule makes wireless backups a snap
This "AirPort Extreme on steroids" lets Leopard users perform quick and easy wireless backups
By Ken Mingis
April 11, 2008 (Computerworld) One of the biggest selling points in last fall's release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard was the inclusion of Time Machine, a nifty new app aimed at making that most onerous of tasks -- backing up data -- not only easy to do, but fun.
For laptop users, however, Time Machine offered something of a conundrum. To back up files, you still had to plug in an external USB hard drive -- meaning you lost out on one of Time Machine's best features: the ability to back up your data continuously in the background without any extra work by you, the user.
Now plugging in an external drive may seem like a minor task, given the obvious advantages of having all of your files, photos, songs and applications safely backed up. Nonetheless, it was a hurdle. And since 90% of Apple Inc.'s customers told the company in surveys that they don't back up data regularly, any hurdle is one too many.
That's where Time Capsule, which was announced at the MacWorld Expo in January and is now on store shelves, comes in extremely handy -- especially for laptop lovers like me. By allowing wireless backups, it lets Time Machine shine for those of us who don't want to lug around a backup drive or tether our laptops to one sitting on a desk somewhere.
Apple offers two Time Capsules: The 500GB model sells for $299, and the 1TB version goes for $499. Both effectively cut the proverbial USB cord when it comes to backups.
AirPort Extreme on steroids
I've been using Time Capsule for a few weeks now, courtesy of Apple, and have found it to be an ideal backup for anyone with a Mac -- especially a MacBook, MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. Not only does it serve as an 802.11n Wi-Fi router, beaming the Internet throughout the house or small office, but it also marries that router with a server-grade Serial ATA hard drive spinning at 7,200 rpm.
(Incidentally, Windows-based systems -- and Macintoshes that haven't been upgraded to Leopard -- can use Time Capsule for wireless network access. However, these machines don't have Time Machine, which only comes with Leopard, meaning they're missing a key piece of the backup equation.)
The device itself it looks a lot like an AirPort Extreme on steroids -- it's housed in a flat, gleaming, all-white square case that's about 7 in. wide and about an inch high. It's also noticeably heavier than the Extreme, no doubt because of the hard drive inside. Time Capsule offers the usual complement of ports in the back that allow you to share an Ethernet Internet connection with three other computers and plug in a USB printer for shared printing. The only functional difference between it and an AirPort Extreme router is the ability to store data.
You can set up Time Capsule in one of two basic ways: as an all-in-one solution in which it serves as both your wireless router and your backup drive, or as an adjunct wireless drive that connects to your current network. If you're still using an old 802.11b AirPort base station -- or relying something more PC-centric such as a wireless router from Linksys or D-Link Corp. -- and you're looking for something simple to set up and use, you'll want to go with the first option. That's because Time Capsule allows you to take advantage of the greater data-transfer speeds offered by the newer 802.11n Wi-Fi standard while at the same time adding storage to your network.
An easy setup
Setup is simple. Plug your Ethernet cable into the Time Capsule, make sure it has a valid IP address (you may need to restart your Digital Subscriber Line or cable modem first), launch the AirPort Utility, and set your network preferences to your liking. Then launch Time Machine, which will recognize the hard drive inside the device and allow you to designate it as your backup drive. Select "Back Up Now," and sit back and wait. And wait. And wait.
According to Apple, you should plan on waiting a few hours while Time Machine does its first backup. Since it's copying all of your files wirelessly, this process will take longer than doing so over a hardwired Ethernet connection. Apple's advice: Start your first backup before you go to bed and let it run overnight. After that, each backup is incremental and takes no more than a few minutes, depending on how many files have changed since the last backup was done.
I can vouch for the amount of time needed for the first backup, which I started one evening just before 8 p.m. I needed to back up just over 68GB of data on my MacBook Pro. Since my network is a mixed 802.11b/g/n network, and the Time Capsule was 15 feet away from my computer -- and on the other side of a wall -- my transfer speeds were slower than if I had used 802.11n only with the device and my computer close to each other. It took all night for the backup to complete. But when it was done, all my files had been safely duplicated.
If you're only interested in adding wireless storage to an already-existing 802.11n network, just plug the Time Capsule into a wall outlet, launch the AirPort Utility, set up the device to join your network, and then use Time Machine to back up your files. No major network revamp is needed, although you will have to "switch" between your current network and Time Capsule the first time you add it to your network.
I used the "Manual Setup" option to make sure the Time Capsule settings matched those of my network; just make sure you choose "Extend a wireless network" in the Wireless Mode drop-down menu. I used this setup when connecting Time Capsule to my mom's pre-existing AirPort Express network -- and to my own AirPort Extreme network -- and it showed up on each network without a hitch.
Two storage options: official and not
If you just want to use Time Capsule to back up your data wirelessly on an existing 802.11n network -- and you already have an AirPort Extreme base station -- the decision-making can get a bit complicated. You actually have two options: one official, one unofficial. The official one is to buy a Time Capsule and just add it to your current network as I described above. Or -- and this has been a bone of contention in recent months for Leopard users -- you can plug an external USB drive into an AirPort Extreme and use that "AirPort disk" for backups.
This feature, which Apple does not yet officially support, was made live last month with the release of updates for AirPort Extreme and the AirPort Utility application. The move basically followed through on a promise that CEO Steve Jobs made last year before Leopard was released. At the time, he said AirPort disks would work with Time Machine. But that feature was pulled from Leopard before its release in October, to the annoyance of a lot of Apple users.
Although that function has been turned on (and is exactly how I use Time Machine at home), Apple does not yet officially offer support for it. In fact, the updates released last month made no mention of AirPort disks. Users first found out they could access hard drives attached to AirPort Extreme base stations through Time Machine only after the updates came out.
Is Time Capsule better for backups?
So why get a Time Capsule if you already have an AirPort Extreme? Why not just buy the external drive of your choosing and plug it into your Wi-Fi router?
According to Jai Chulani, senior product marketing manager for AirPort, the hard drives in the Time Capsule are "server-grade" models that have a higher mean time between failures (MTBF) rating than consumer-level drives. In other words, they should last longer than drives you buy off the shelf, although there's some dispute about how reliable a number that MTBF figure is. "These are the cream-of-the-crop drives," Chulani said in an interview. "They're the same ones we use in our Xserve products."
A second reason to opt for Time Capsule is that backups will be somewhat faster, since the drive is integrated with the device, not attached via a USB connection. According to Chulani, a Time Capsule operating in the 5-GHz band will offer read/write speeds of 10MB to 15MB/sec., while a setup with an external drive plugged into an AirPort Extreme router will offer speeds of 5MB to 9MB/sec.
Whether that difference in speed is a major selling point depends on the user's need. As Chulani was quick to note, those speeds are only ballpark figures, since interference and network quirks can easily affect them. Personally, I'm content with what I already have: an AirPort Extreme with a 1TB Lacie drive that I've partitioned so I can back up both of my laptops.
But being able to add a Time Capsule to an existing network like my mom's means she may luck out when her birthday rolls around in May. Right now, she has to plug in a USB drive to back up all the Clay Aiken songs, videos and pictures she's accumulated on her laptop. Remember what I said about eliminating hurdles? A Time Capsule means she wouldn't have to plug in her backup drive whenever she thinks about doing a backup.
Better yet, a Time Capsule allows you to archive data as well. In my mother's case, she could accumulate enough of her Aiken files (her collection is called "clack" for some reason and seems to grow exponentially) to fill up a Time Capsule. Those files could then be downloaded to an external drive for archival purposes, and Mom could start accumulating more.
The process is simple: Just plug an eternal drive into the Time Capsule, click on "Archive" in the AirPort Utility, and the files are stored for future use. When you think about the explosion in digital video that has occurred in recent years, being able to back everything up and then archive it will no doubt come in quite handy in the years ahead -- especially as the per-gigabyte price of storage continues to fall.
Final decisions
If you're uncertain about whether to get an AirPort Extreme or a Time Capsule, look at it this way. An AirPort Extreme base station costs $179. The entry-level Time Capsule gives you all of the features of the base station and 500GB of built-in storage space for an additional $120. The 1TB Time Capsule adds $320 to the cost of a base station (for a total cost of $499). Given that external 1TB hard drives sell for only a little less than that at retail, the price of convenience is competitive.
Time Capsule performs exactly as billed, offering an easy way to keep all of your files backed up wirelessly. Yes, the first backup will take a while, depending on how much data you have. But it's so set-it-and-forget-it simple that it's worth doing. After that, you can relax, knowing that if your computer dies unexpectedly or your internal hard drive fails, all of your data -- whether it's critical work-related files or a folder of Clay Aiken videos -- is safe and sound.
Source: ComputerWorldLabels: 10.5, Apple, Mac OS X, Time Capsule, Time Machine |
| posted by Perimbean @ 12:47 AM |
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Nokia Tube to take on Apple's iPhone
New Delhi, Fri, 11 Apr 2008NI Wire
The colourful, multi-functional Apple iPhone has proven itself as an instant hit in the high-end phone market all over the world thereby challenging other mobile handset makers like Nokia to come up with such products. Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone manufacture has announced to launch a new iPhone like product named ‘Nokia 5800 Tube’.
The new Nokia 5800 Tube is designed accordingly to the shape and size of iPhone with similar functionalities and certainly it is expected to further give a boost to the mass adoption of mobile internet. The Nokia Tube is designed to run on the lately developed Symbian operating system, the S60.
The company has not disclosed much about the device but mentioned that it would come with a iPhone like tilt touch screen with ‘3G’ or higher ‘G’ features and of course a camera with a minimum of 3.2 megapixel plus auto-focus.
As per speculations the phone would have a 3.2-inch touch screen having 16 million colours in comparison to the 3.5-inch multi-touch display of Apple’s iPhone.
On software application, Nokia Tube is expected to come handy with Java and flash support on its web browser, which iPhone has been reluctant to add on its Safari browser.
Nokia’s Tube is expected to have Wi-Fi or 3G HSDPA connectivity with Bluetooth 2.0 and even GPS. As per expectation it is also most likely to enable with a 3.5mm headphone jack and TV-output port for a wide-screen view.
As of now there is not much compliance about Nokia 5800 Tube’s price, availability and launch date. It is expected to be released somewhere in the last quarter of 2008.
However, it would be interesting to wait and watch the response of Apple as it is most likely that it may come with another more advanced 3G product by 2009 but considering the market share of Nokia this should not be an issue for the company.
Nokia 5800 Tube specifications
• 3.2-inch touchscreen display with 16 Million colors (Tactile Feedback)
• 3.2 megapixel camera plus autofocus
• Quad-band (850/900/1800/1900Mhz) GSM/EDGE radio
• 3G UMTS/HSDPA
• Bluetooth 2.0
• WiFi
• GPS
• 3.5mm headphone jack, TV-out port
• 140MB on-board storage
• First device powered with S60 touch
Source: NewstrackIndiaLabels: Apple, iPhone, JavaScript, Nokia, Nokia Tube, S60, Safari |
| posted by Perimbean @ 12:41 AM |
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Apple's OS Edge Is a Threat to Microsoft
A recent upgrade to the Mac operating system moves Apple closer to challenging Microsoft for overall computing dominance, even in the corporate market
by Gary Morgenthaler
The 20-year death grip that Microsoft has held on the core of computing is finally weakening—pried loose with just two fingers. With one finger you press "Control" and with the other you press "right arrow." Instantly you switch from a Macintosh operating system (OS) to a Microsoft Windows OS. Then, with another two-finger press, you switch back again. So as you edit family pictures, you might use Mac's iPhoto. And when you want to access your corporate e-mail, you can switch back instantly to Microsoft Exchange.
This easy toggling on an Apple computer, enabled by a feature called Spaces, was but an interesting side note to last fall's upgrade of the Mac OS. But coupled with other recent developments, the stars are aligning in a very intriguing pattern. Apple's (AAPL) recent release of a tool kit for programmers to write applications for the iPhone will be followed by the June launch of iPhone 2.0, a software upgrade geared toward business users.
Taken together, these seemingly unrelated moves are taking the outline of a full-fledged strategy. Windows users, in the very near future, will be free to switch to Apple computers and mobile devices, drawn by a widening array of Mac software, without suffering the pain of giving up critical Windows-based applications right away. The easy virtualization of two radically different operating systems on a single desktop paves a classic migration path. Business users will be tempted. Apple is positioning itself to challenge Microsoft for overall computing dominance—even in the corporate realm.
KERNEL OF COMPUTING MIGHT
Such an idea rarely finds expression in public. Apple today is a "consumer-products company." Each new Apple product unveiled—from iPod to iPhone—comes with the excitement and glamour of Steve Jobs' "reality distortion field." Yet if you look at the larger picture, broader battle lines are forming. It's as if Jobs were a general from the 19th century, quietly massing troops out of view and under cover of trees. Mere "features" like Spaces look increasingly "strategic." On present course, an Apple assault on Microsoft's (MSFT) seemingly impregnable enterprise monopoly now appears quite possible by 2010.
It all started with Mac OS X, the multi-core, multi-processor platform officially released in 2001. Based on "Mach," a university UNIX research prototype, Mac OS X represented a clean break with the computer industry's uniprocessor past. The modular new OS allowed Apple to condense its core task management function into a tiny computing kernel.
That kernel has proved easily adaptable across the entire Apple product line, from highly complex servers all the way down to the relatively simple iPod Touch. Such modularity allows Apple to add whatever functions are necessary for each product environment—all while maintaining cross-product compatibility.
By contrast, Microsoft has held on to an OS tethered to the 1980s, piling additions upon additions with each upgrade to Windows. With last year's arrival of Vista, Windows has swollen to 1 billion bytes (a gigabyte) or more of software code. The "Mach" kernel of the Mac OS X, however, requires less than 1 million bytes (a megabyte) of data in its smallest configuration, expanding modestly with the sophistication of the application.
This bloating has saddled Vista users with increased costs and poor performance on average computers. Bloating has also led Microsoft to fragment its OS product line: one OS for the server, desktop, and laptop; one for cell phones and Zune music players; and a separate OS for its Xbox gaming console. Finally, through sheer complexity, bloating makes every subsequent "enhancement" of Windows buggier than the last. Thus, the current Vista product fiasco (BusinessWeek.com, 1/23/08).
TOWARD AN APPLE-FLAVORED OFFICE
The contrast between Microsoft's and Apple's product development strategies couldn't be starker. Where Microsoft is increasingly hamstrung by OS rigidities, Apple moves flexibly and swiftly. While Microsoft struggles to bring a kernel-based "Windows 7" to market in 2010, Steve Jobs has declared Mac OS X the right platform for the next decade of new products. Engineering improvements in one Apple product quickly find use at low cost in another. While Apple's "multi-touch" screen innovation made its debut with the iPhone, it appeared on the MacBook within 60 days. With this sort of flexibility, Apple is ever-free to target existing markets or invent whole new ones.
Given these advantages, how might an Apple assault on the corporate market play out?
• Despite Apple's relative scarcity on corporate desktops, Mac laptops are already well accepted within the enterprise, with a market share of more than 20% and growing. For business travelers, the new MacBook Air, some three pounds lighter than comparable Windows-based laptops, already offers one huge advantage. And now, with the ability to jump back and forth between Mac and Windows applications, more corporate users are bound to embrace Mac laptops.
• While Mac desktops offer a growing number of superior features over Windows desktops, it's still not enough to persuade corporate IT departments to make a switch. So for now, Apple will merely strive to hold the line on its current share of the business desktop market and apply greater marketing pressure elsewhere.
• Apple's recently introduced Leopard servers compete in a market of unhappy Vista server buyers where Microsoft's market share is only 40%. Leopard has a decent chance to expand from its small beachhead.
• Surprisingly, it's the 4.8-ounce iPhone that will sweep Apple decisively back into the enterprise. Even without any enterprise applications, the iPhone has seduced business users with the prospect of easy listening (iTunes), easy surfing (Safari), and easy compatability with a Mac computer. And with the impending business push, the device will soon provide corporate e-mail access and perform serious computing tasks such as setting calendars, checking inventory, figuring prices, and taking orders on the spot.
MORE MOBILE, MORE APPLE
As corporations become increasingly mobile, the pressure will build to make them Apple-centric from top to bottom. Rising sales of Apple laptops and iPhones will make the Mac OS only that much more mainstream and acceptable to corporate IT departments. By 2010, the number of iPhones in use could approach 100 million. It's possible that the iPhone's share of the U.S. smartphone market (28% in the fourth quarter) will soon approach the 70% share iPod now holds in the MP3 market.
The final piece to this puzzle would be the rebirth of the Apple applications development ecosystem. The new Software Development Kit (SDK) for the iPhone not only allows independent developers to create new applications for that device but also brings them back to the Macintosh platform. That means any program written for the iPhone can be easily adapted into a Mac computer version as well. The response has been huge: More than 100,000 developers downloaded the SDK in the first week of its availability. And iPhone's popularity for mobile business applications can only grow. (Put Vista on a cell phone? I don't think so.)
So, the battle ahead seems clear: It's Apple's seamlessly integrated software strategy, minimally sized and maximally efficient, competing against Microsoft's strategy of multiple incompatible, bloated, and fragmented operating systems. It's Apple's growing customer acceptance vs. Microsoft's rising customer pain. By failing to modernize its operating system in a timely way, Microsoft has left its flank wide open for an all-out assault from a once-vanquished rival.
Source: BusinessWeekLabels: Apple, Mac OS, Microsoft, Vista |
| posted by Perimbean @ 12:37 AM |
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| Tuesday, April 08, 2008 |
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Apple to launch new, greener Macbook and Macbook Pro range
Author: Desire Athow| Date: 08 April 2008
Apple, the iConic computer and consumer hardware manufacturer, is reportedly planning to completely overhaul its current Macbook and Macbook Pro range of laptops to make them greener.
AppleInsider has news that Apple will introduce more eco-friendly material like aluminium and stainless steel which are more expensive and more stylish than bog standard plastic.
Upgrading to more noble material would also help differentiate Apple's laptops from other laptop manufacturers and justify the price premium.
Similarly, this will allow Apple to present a more uniform Mac product matrix and bring down manufacturing prices as well.
The next major refresh which will also certainly see the introduction of more solid state based laptops and brand new processors from Intel, will happen in August or September, on time for the US Back to school period.
The laptops will also come with second generation Centrino-bound Penryn mobile chips running at speeds between 2.26GHz and 2.8GHz.
Apple will also have cracked the problem of finding the perfect heat sink as the laptop itself will help dissipate the heat generated by its components.
Source: ITPro PortalLabels: Apple, Macbook, Macbook Pro |
| posted by Perimbean @ 7:15 PM |
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Apple notebook lines to see major design changes, sources say
By Kasper Jade
Published: 12:35 PM EST
Apple Inc.'s existing MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks will be the last of their breed, as both product families are destined for major design changes upon their next refresh, AppleInsider has learned.
Of the two, the 13-inch consumer MacBooks will undergo the most significant metamorphosis, shedding their plastic enclosures for ones constructed from more eco-friendly materials such as aircraft-grade aluminum and stainless steel, people familiar with the matter say.
The move, which makes good on a promise by company chief executive Steve Jobs to push towards a "greener Apple," will also mark an end to Macs that come clad in the now tawdry looking white enclosures that began with front face of original iMac nearly a decade ago.
Similarly, the MacBook Pro is also bound for aesthetic revisions, which like their upcoming MacBook counterparts are described by those familiar with the products as borrowing several design cues from the August 2007 aluminum iMacs and all-new MacBook Air. The end result, those same people say, will be a more uniform Mac product matrix in terms of design and material usage, and a MacBook offering that will far outclass its rivals.
Though precise details are admittedly limited given the ongoing revision process, it's presumed this will include instances of matte black on portions of the casings, oversized trackpads, and the adoption of the MacBook Air's keyboard by the MacBook.
While the footprint of the 13-, 15-, and 17-inch systems will remain largely unchanged, Apple will reportedly be free to perform some trimming around the edges, similar to -- but nowhere near the same magnitude -- as what was accomplished with the MacBook Air, and to a lesser extent, the rear of the aluminum iMacs.
Compelling the Cupertino-based firm to introduce radical revisions across its notebook lines at this juncture are two primary factors. The first is the company's industrial design cycle, which typically spans 18-24 months.
Neither the MacBook nor MacBook Pro have undergone an aesthetic or structural revision since adopting Intel chips back in the first half of 2006, meaning both will sport outdated outfits by Apple's design standards come mid-year.
The design of the MacBook Pro is particularly dated, having been introduced in January of that year with a form factor largely reminiscent of the late PowerBook G4, only 20 percent slimmer. MacBooks, arguably the fresher of the two lines, saw the most significant overhaul of all Intel-bound Macs systems just a few months later with their robust, magnetic-latching enclosures. (AppleInsider provided coverage and details of both design revisions (MacBook Pro: 1, 2; MacBook: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) in the months leading up to their respective introductions.)
Also paving the way for redesigned enclosures at this time are logic-board changes on the part of Intel that offer Apple the opportunity to reassess and slightly modify the notebooks' internals. Both the MacBook and MacBook Pro are to receive "Montevina"-based processors from the chipmaker's upcoming Centrino 2 platform, which require a new "Socket B" logic-board. The second-gen mobile Penryn chips will boast a 1066MHz front-side bus and clock between 2.26GHz and 2.8GHz.
Intel's roadmap calls for Montevina to splash down this June, around the same time Apple will host its annual developers conference in San Francisco. However, it's unclear at this time whether the Mac maker will use that forum to showcase its new notebook designs, or reserve their unveiling for a different stage at a slightly later date.
Although Apple has been amongst the first PC manufacturers to adopt Intel's latest mobile technologies over the past two years, there's often a window period of several weeks (or months) between the chipmaker's formal announcements and the arrival of supporting Mac systems. Therefore, it's believed volume shipments of Montevina-based Mac notebooks won't take place until sometime during the third calendar quarter of the year, which spans July through Sept.
Nevertheless, Apple has been on a tear as of late when it comes to notebook sales momentum, and the new models are only expected to accelerate that growth. According to the most recent data from research firm NPD, sales of Mac notebook systems in the US retail sector rose 64 percent year-over-year for the month of February, compared to an average 20 percent increase for the rest of the industry.
While awaiting new MacBooks and MacBook Pros in the third quarter, Apple enthusiasts will have a pair of other major product launches to anticipate. First and foremost will be a complete refresh of the company's desktop computer families, which will include iMac and Mac mini systems built around current generation Core 2 Duo mobile processors based on Intel's Penryn architecture.
Also expected within the next 60 days is an eagerly anticipated update to the company's iPhone handset that will operate on third-generation wireless networks, which promise speed increases of up to 10X for Internet-related functions.
Source: AppleInsiderLabels: Apple, Macbook, Macbook Pro |
| posted by Perimbean @ 6:30 PM |
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Apple Q2 2008 report on April 23 may show big Mac sales
By Charles Jade | Published: April 07, 2008 - 12:03PM CT
Apple will announce its earnings for the second quarter of the fiscal year on April 23, and while the second quarter is typically the weakest for Apple, there may be some surprises. Of course, it will be no surprise when Apple beats its guidance, which was $6.8 billion in revenue and $0.94 EPS. While this pales in comparison to record revenues of $9.6 billion last quarter, it is a marked gain from the same period last year's $5.26 billion in revenue. As impressive a 30 percent in revenue might be to shareholders and Wall Street, the real news for Mac users is talk of another 2 million Mac quarter.
Last quarter, Apple had record Mac sales of 2.3 million units, which broke the record of 2.1 million the previous quarter, which broke the record of 1.67 million the previous quarter—you get the point. The Mac platform has been enjoying the Intel Renaissance for two years now, and as the chart shows, analysts are predicting Mac sales to be up nearly a third from the same time last year. More astonishingly, Apple may nearly double Mac sales from the same period in 2006. While part of the success this quarter may be a result of the popularity of the MacBook Air, clearly the Mac has become the alternative platform of choice for consumers worldwide (who have lots of money).
Likewise, the iPhone has been enjoying some measure of success, though this quarter may reveal just how much. Expect the first question asked by analysts (and not answered by Apple executives) at the conference call to be about when the 3G iPhone will be released. However, the number of iPhones sold this quarter may be the best indicator of that. With a prediction of 10 million iPhones sold in CY 2008—don't even start with me about it being through 2008—Apple must sell, on average, 2.5 million iPhones per quarter. While the holiday quarter will no doubt boost sales, if the iPhone sold less than 2 million units this quarter, expect a 3G iPhone sooner rather than later. Conversely, if the current shortages are a result of insatiable lust for the greatest phone ever made, expect Apple to milk that cow for all it's worth before introducing a new model.
As for the iPod, sales are expected to be flat at around 10 million units—a flatness that Microsoft's Zune would no doubt kill someone for. Finally, we may see some numbers on the Apple TV, now that it has a business model worth a damn. If we don't, well, there's always Apple TV 3.0 next year at Macworld Expo.
This quarter, though, it's about the Mac. 2 million and counting!
Source: ArstechnicaLabels: Apple, iPhone |
| posted by Perimbean @ 1:00 AM |
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| Sunday, April 06, 2008 |
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Study of iPhone Users Reveals Interesting Habits of Apple Customers
Posted Apr 3, 2008 by David Silverberg
iPhone users are happy with their gadget, use email as the top feature, but are upset at how some of the websites the phone fails to display, a new study has found. Find out why iPhone users are young technophiles with money to burn.
Digital Journal — Ten months after the release of Apple’s iPhone, a consulting company has released data on consumers who bought the much-hyped phone. A new study by Rubicon Consulting reveals several interesting tidbits about today’s iPhone users: they’re young, rich, and taking advantage of mobile email. Also, AT&T should be smiling wide these days – the study estimates the iPhone has increased the company’s gross service revenue by about $2 billion per year.
If you wanted to paint a complete portrait of the iPhone user, just pore through the 35 pages Rubicon compiled after interviewing 460 iPhone owners in the U.S. How would we describe typical iPhoners?
They’re young, with half of them under 30 and close to 15 per cent calling themselves students. They are also technologically sophisticated — only 1 per cent of respondents described themselves as a “Technology novice.”
There’s a price to pay for early adoption. The iPhone has increased a user’s monthly cellphone bills by an average of 24 per cent, or $228 extra per year. So is it more money, more problems? Or the opposite?
Close to 80 per cent of iPhone customers said they are very satisfied with their product. What gave them the grins? The music and touch-interface features pleased users the most, while battery life and wireless speed were not ranked high in the satisfaction score.
Reading email is common practice for 72 per cent of respondents. But the authors of the study note:
It's not at all surprising that the iPhone is used less often for composing email than
reading it, since the device lacks a physical keyboard.
And although iPhone users say their mobile browsing habits have increased since buying the unit, 40 per cent of them say they had trouble viewing some websites on the display. The authors once again chime in with their insight, saying, “This is not surprising, considering that the iPhone browser does not currently support Adobe Flash, which is used in many websites for animation and user interface.”
It looks like the iPhone packs a serious punch — a quarter of iPhone users carry it with them instead of a notebook computer. And half of the iPhones replaced conventional mobile phones.
Apple is selling to its subscriber base, the survey found: at least three-quarters of U.S. iPhone users are previous Apple customers. Apple is doing everything right by branching into a new market, the study said, adding:
The lesson for other companies is that satisfying customers is about a lot more than just selling them upgrades of what they have today. Managed properly, a loyal user base is also a springboard for creating new businesses.
Finally, the Rubicon study offered several suggestions to Apple. Most importantly, improving the iPhone browser should be a top priority, even though Apple and Adobe are fighting over how Flash can be implemented into the phone. The authors warn, “Until and unless Flash becomes available on the iPhone, another mobile company might be able to steal away iPhone customers by creating a better browsing device.”
American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu predicted Apple will sell 11 million phones by the end of 2008.
Source: Digital JournalLabels: Apple, iPhone |
| posted by Perimbean @ 1:30 PM |
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| Saturday, April 05, 2008 |
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Apple, Adobe, and 64-bit Photoshop
Posted Apr 3rd 2008 1:00PM by Mat Lu
Adobe's announcement that Photoshop CS4 will be 32-bit only on OS X has the Mac web buzzing today. Accusations of blame are being shot at both Adobe and Apple by various pundits (though notably not by the companies themselves). Fortunately, some of the better Mac pundits are also weighing in with interesting opinions on this development.
Over at Ars, John Siracusa has penned an interesting historical account of the relationship of Adobe and Apple, and the Carbon API which is at the center of the controversy. He somewhat grimly sees this Photoshop development as the furthering of bad blood between the two companies and suggests that "the real storm may be yet to come" as Adobe and Apple clash over Flash and Air, etc. (witness the Flash on iPhone kerfuffle).
Over at Daring Fireball, John Gruber takes up the question of CS5 -- i.e. the next version of Photoshop after the aforementioned CS4 -- which will be biggest Cocoa port ever attempted. He points out the interesting difference between Photoshop and Microsoft Office in that the former shares a codebase between Windows and OS X, while the latter represents two completely separate projects on the two platforms. The big question is whether Adobe will even be able to pull off the Cocoa port in time and maintain its cross-platform nature (though as both Johns have pointed out, Lightroom bodes well in this regard).
In any case, this drama is just beginning to play itself out and depending on how you look at it we're in for a good many years of entertainment or frustration as the Cocoa transition of Photoshop progresses (never mind the next version of Office).Labels: 32-bit, 64-bit, Adobe, Apple, Carbon, Cocoa, Lightroom, Photoshop |
| posted by Perimbean @ 1:45 PM |
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Apple plugs QuickTime with 11 patches
Apple released a slew of patches for QuickTime, fixing a variety of security problems.
Jeremy Kirk
PC World
Thursday, April 3, 2008; 9:19 AM
Apple released 11 patches for its QuickTime multimedia program on Wednesday, fixing a variety of problems that could allow a hacker to execute malicious code on a machine.
It's at least the sixth time Apple has patched QuickTime since October, as researchers and hackers have been closely examining media players for vulnerabilities. As operating systems have become more secure, vulnerabilities in applications have become a favored route to break into a PC.
The patches address security issues, enhance reliability and improve the compatibility of QuickTime with third-party applications, Apple said.
Apple credited identification of more than half of the problems described to TippingPoint, a security vendor that runsZero Day Initiative, a program that rewards researchers for finding vulnerabilities.
Many of the problems with QuickTime occur when the application opens a movie that has been specially crafted to take advantage of flaws in the software. Several of the vulnerabilities are buffer overflows, where a problem with an application's use of memory can be exploited in order to run other code.
The up-to-date version of QuickTime is now 7.4.5. Apple's Software Update function will download the new patches for computers running Windows and Apple's Mac OS X.
Source: WashingtonPostLabels: Apple, QuickTime, security |
| posted by Perimbean @ 1:00 PM |
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Apple passes Wal-Mart, now #1 music retailer in US
By Eric Bangeman | Published: April 02, 2008 - 10:45PM CT
Over the past few years, we have watched Apple climb the music sales chart courtesy of the iTunes. Last month we learned that Apple passed Best Buy to become the number two retailer in the the US in December. Now, Apple has ascended to the top of the charts, surpassing Wal-Mart for the first time ever, according to an NPD MusicWatch Survey for the month January contained in an internal Apple e-mail which was leaked to Ars Technica but has not been officially published.
The news was announced in an e-mail sent this afternoon to some Apple employees, a copy of which was seen by Ars Technica. It includes a screenshot of an Excel file showing the top ten music retailers in the US for January 2008, and Apple is at the top of the list. The iTunes Store leads the pack with 19 percent, Wal-Mart (which includes the brick-and-mortar stores as well as its online properties) is second with 15 percent, and Best Buy is third with 13 percent. Amazon is a distant fourth at 6 percent, trailed by the likes of Borders, Circuit City, and Barnes & Noble. Rhapsody is in the tenth slot with 1 percent.
The fact that a digital-only retailer has ascended to the top of the sales charts is not unexpected, but it does demonstrate just how much the music landscape has changed since the beginning of the decade. The NPD Group has been tracking a "sharp increase" in digital downloads over the past several months as physical sales dry up. According to NPD's research, 48 percent of US teens didn't buy a single CD in 2007, compared to 38 percent in 2006.
It has been a dizzying climb for Apple, which only managed to pass Amazon to become the number three music retailer in June 2007. The biggest surprise is Amazon's drop to the number four slot, which might be explained by consumers using iTunes, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy gift cards to buy music after the holiday season—and those gift cards certainly helped propel Apple to the number-one position.
For the music industry, there is a dark side to Apple's ascension to the top of the charts. Buying patterns for digital downloads are different, as customers are far more likely to cherry pick a favorite track or two from an album than purchase the whole thing. In contrast, brick-and-mortar sales are predominantly high-margin CDs. For 2007, that translated into a 10 percent decline in overall music spending according to the NPD Group, and it's a trend that's expected to continue for the foreseeable future.
Overall, paid downloads accounted for almost 30 percent of all music sold in January, a number that would have been unthinkable just a few short years ago. With the Big Four labels throwing off the DRM shackles and experimenting with new delivery models like Last.fm's free streaming service, the future looks bright for digital music distribution.
Update: note on "debunking"
We have seen some stories this morning claiming to have debunked this report based on conjecture (no factual detail or analysis). We repeat: the document says what we said it says, and you can see it for yourself. The documents were also distributed to Apple employees, and show Apple as the number-one music retailer during the period in question. That can't be debunked, sorry. (Sure, you can claim that the data is bad, or sampled incorrectly, but there's no proof of that yet.)
Also, I already noted that the results are influenced by gift card usage, and I noted that other retailers on the list have gift cards, too—don't forget that fact. A sale is a sale, as well. We could also argue forever over whether or not gift cards sales matter, but note that no one was bothered by Apple's December results which included a great deal of gift card purchases as well (but didn't inspire any debunking that time around).
This is a monumental event for Apple, because while the company may not be guaranteed the top spot for eternity—or even the following month—it is something many thought would never happen. But in closing, rest assured that this report is accurate.
Source: ArstechnicaLabels: Apple, iTunes |
| posted by Perimbean @ 11:56 AM |
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| Thursday, April 03, 2008 |
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Microsoft says Apple "Not going to catch up" in phone market
Updated: Wednesday April 02 2008
Microsoft has said that its new Windows Mobile platform will be one you'll want to use for life before slamming Apple's mobile phone dominance plans.
Speaking to Pocket-lint at the launch of Windows Mobile 6.1 in London, Scott Rockfeld, group product manager at Microsoft's mobile communications business, when questioned how Apple and Google poses a threat to Microsoft's Mobile OS said:
"We are not at all worried. We think we've got the one mobile platform you'll use for the rest of your life."
Rockfeld also confirmed that Microsoft was still waiting to see what the Open Handset Alliance do with the launch of the Android platform before acting:
"As for Google and Android we are still waiting for what they are going to do", Rockfeld said.
However Rockfeld was quick to dash Apple's hopes of dominating the smartphone market: "They are not going to catch up", he said before reminding us that Microsoft shifted more licences of its mobile platform than RIM and Apple did handsets put together last year.
The comments come as the company announces a new version of its mobile phone operating system Windows Mobile 6.1.
Source: SkyLabels: Apple, Google, Microsoft, RIM, Windows Mobile |
| posted by Perimbean @ 3:37 PM |
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| Wednesday, April 02, 2008 |
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Can the Apple logo make you more creative?
Posted by Andrew Nusca @ 7:26 pm
Apparently so, according to yesterday’s Science Daily. In a recent study by Duke University and the University of Waterloo, Canada, researchers found that even brief exposure to established brands can cause people to inherit the behaviors championed by those brands.
Or in other words, exposure to the ubiquitous Apple might just turn you into Justin Long.
In the study, the researchers pitted two distinct brands against each other — “nonconformist, innovative and creative” Apple versus “traditional, smart and responsible” IBM:
The team conducted an experiment in which 341 university students completed what they believed was a visual acuity task, during which either the Apple or IBM logo was flashed so quickly that they were unaware they had been exposed to the brand logo. The participants then completed a task designed to evaluate how creative they were, listing all of the uses for a brick that they could imagine beyond building a wall.
People who were exposed to the Apple logo generated significantly more unusual uses for the brick compared with those who were primed with the IBM logo, the researchers said. In addition, the unusual uses the Apple-primed participants generated were rated as more creative by independent judges.
Similar results were found with the Disney and E! Channel logos, with those primed with the Disney logo found to act more honest than their E! counterparts.
A fascinating bit of science, isn’t it? With findings like these, maybe I should retool my office desk a little bit — with logos from Google (thinking outside the box), Nike (speed) and Lexus (luxury). Or at the very least, ask IT to junk my crusty, less-than-inspiring Dell Inspiron.
With consideration to these findings, what logos would you surround yourself with?
Source: ZDNetLabels: Apple, Dell, Disney, Google, IBM, Lexus, Nike |
| posted by Perimbean @ 7:33 PM |
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Apple's 3G iPhone to debut in May
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-01 10:05
The much-awaited iPhone with 3G is coming in May, according to a report by the Bank of America. Both Apple and AT&T, its exclusive carrier partner in the US, have said a higher-speed version of the popular device is coming, but they haven't set a date. The BOA's research report was authored by analyst Scott Craig and cited Friday by the Reuters news service.
Three Million in May
Craig said that there will be "an initial small build in May," and "significant production" in June. Despite the report, AT&T and Apple declined comment. But June would be a good time for the release, as there is an iPhone developers' conference that month, as well as the release of new firmware.
Craig added that he expects production volume to be higher than earlier estimates, even his. He predicted the production run in May will be more than three million iPhones, with another eight million in the third quarter. Previously, he had projected eight million iPhones for all of 2008.
Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with JupiterResearch, said he expects Apple to refresh the iPhone sometime this year, but he doubted outsiders know exactly when that might be. "Apple keeps it own schedule," he noted.
A refresh of any sort could help Apple meet its target of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of this year. As of January, Apple has said it had sold about four million.
3G on the iPhone "would be a nice addition," Gartenberg said, but the real question is what Apple or third-party developers would do with the additional bandwidth that they haven't already done with, for instance, AT&T's EDGE.
Websites, Business Users, Europe
The faster cellular bandwidth could give users more reliable access to media-rich websites. It could also enable third-party developers to create applications that assume some consistent access to high-speed connections. Recently, Apple released the second beta version of its iPhone software developers kit, and a variety of developers are working on applications for the popular device.
One of those companies is Microsoft. Some observers have noted that extending its portfolio to the iPhone would be, in part, a defensive move for Microsoft, since it has been a leading provider of Mac-based applications, most notably Microsoft Office for Mac.
Microsoft's interest in application development is also related to Apple's plans to provide Microsoft Exchange support for the iPhone. If users send Microsoft Office documents as attachments, it's in Microsoft's interest to make sure everything works as it should. With 3G capability, the iPhone takes another step toward becoming a respectable tool for business users exchanging large file sizes.
Finally, 3G would make the iPhone more competitive in Europe and elsewhere, where 3G is more common than in the US.
Source: ChinaDailyLabels: Apple, Exchange, iPhone, Microsoft, Office |
| posted by Perimbean @ 7:25 PM |
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Apple sued over missing millions of colours it claims for new iMac
Andrew Clark in New York
The Guardian, Wednesday April 2 2008
Apple's latest iMac desktop monitor boasts the broadest rainbow palette in the computer world with a capacity to display "millions of colours", according to its marketing material. Or does it?
A Texas resident has sued Apple for deceptive advertising on the grounds that a 20in version of the iMac can display only 262,144 true colours.
Any further hues, claims plaintiff Chandra Sanders, are produced through a technological trick of showing several similar shades at high speed. "Apple is duping its customers into thinking they're buying 'new and improved' when in fact they're getting stuck with 'new and inferior'," said Brian Kabateck of Kabateck Brown Kellner, a Los Angeles law firm seeking class-action status for the suit.
The updated version of Apple's popular desktop computer was launched by the company's founder, Steve Jobs, at a ceremony in August. Among the key selling points was a glossy display providing crisper images that Apple said was ideal for watching movies or editing photos.
A 24in version of the iMac, priced at £1,149, fulfils Apple's promise by displaying 16.7m different colours, according to the lawsuit, filed in San Jose, California.
But a 20in version costing £799 has a 98% narrower range, causing "crippling" problems for people editing pictures or movie clips because simulated "trick" colours do not appear smooth, the complaint alleges.
Kabateck said: "Beneath Apple's good-guy image is a corporation that takes advantage of its customers. Our goal is to help those customers who were deceived and make sure Apple tells the truth."
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal strikes against the Silicon Valley technology company, which is still fighting action over alleged boardroom abuse of executive share options.
A software firm called Mirror Worlds sued Apple last month claiming that the firm's iTunes store and iPod players infringed its patents for stacking files.
Krausner Technology, a New York company, filed a suit in March against Apple and AT&T claiming that the iPhone uses its technology for displaying information about voicemail messages on the handset's screen.
Source: GurdianLabels: Apple, iMac, iPhone |
| posted by Perimbean @ 4:00 PM |
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Could Samsung Instinct knock out Apple's iPhone all-touch king?
By Philip Berne, 2 April 2008
Around the time when AT&T will pick up the 3G iPhone, Sprint will start offering a, likely, cheaper competitor. Does the Samsung Instinct have what it takes?
Samsung Instinct
The Samsung Instinct is a surprising phone in many ways. It is surprising how similar the interface is to the iPhone. Don't think clone, it's more like a fraternal twin. It has its own visual flourishes and subtleties, and the overall effect was very smooth. The phone is still in beta, but many of the interface design features, like skimming through lists, worked nicely, better than we've seen on any non-Apple device so far. The device was a beta, so there were still bugs. most notably in the voice commands feature that controls the phone and enable voice searching. The Web browser has an interesting panning features that uses the phone's camera for browser navigation, it's worth checking out our video to see how it works. Otherwise, features like EV-DO Rev. A and laptop tethering means that this phone could take consumers to the next level in terms of mobile expectations. Let's hope the Web browser can handle today's internet well. Release: June 2008. Price: $300.
Pros: Cool interface, nice touches and a clear level of polish. Lot's of high-end features, including fast networking.
Cons: Beta version of the phone still a bit buggy. We worry it's too close to the iPhone, without enough originality.
Source: InfosyncworldLabels: Apple, iPhone, Samsung |
| posted by Perimbean @ 3:45 PM |
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| Tuesday, April 01, 2008 |
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Apple dealt double blow over Mac OS X security
Unpatched vulnerabilities and an arrogant attitude make Apple worse than MSFT
Security experts in Canada and Europe have served up a double dose of bad news for Apple in the last few days - proving the haters right when it comes to Mac OS X security.
Over at CanSecWest in Vancouver, a competition to hack laptops armed with Mac OS X, Windows Vista and Linux saw the MacBook Air fail on the second day with the successful hacker winning both the MacBook Air and a $10,000 (£5,000) prize. Windows Vista for its part didn't fold until the the third day (and then using a Adobe Flash vulnerability), while a laptop equipped with Linux prove to be unhackable by the time the competition's close.
Moving closer to home, two IBM researchers at a Black Hat convention in Amsterdam revealed that Mac OS X has a greater deal of unpatched vulnerabilities than Windows Vista, and that Apple had an unhealthy disregard for security experts who notified the company of flaws.
Both scenarios point to obvious shortcomings in both Mac OS X and Apple's attitude, but are things really as simple as that?
Mac OS X security row
A row has already kicked off over the CanSecWest event between OSNews and Mac site Roughly Drafted.
Roughly Drafted contends that CanSecWest - which is sponsored by Microsoft among others - has a vested interest in finding fault with Mac OS X. Site owner Daniel Dilger also accuses the hacker - Charlie Miller - of bias against Mac OS X and attending the event fully-armed with a hack that he knew would work, as opposed to probing the operating system for vulnerabilities 'on the ground'.
OSNews counters that the flaw shows how vulnerable Apple and Mac OS X are becoming now that Apple hardware and software are becoming more popular.
However some commenters at Ars Technica have also pointed out that the the Mac OS X flaw was only revealed after the competition rules had been relaxed after no-one gained access to any of the machines after the first day. Existing and known vulnerabilities were also excluded - something that will have worked in favour of Internet Explorer.
The vulnerability apparently exists in some open source code used in Apple's Safari web browser. The exploit is not publicly available and Apple is currently working on a patch.
Black Hat attack
The IBM researchers over at Black Hat reinforce this view, arguing that Apple tends to publish patches late, and that it seems more concerned about the negative PR coverage, rather than taking security seriously. Particularly worthy of note is this comment from the researchers' white paper [PDF link]:
"Comparing the number of unpatched vulnerabilities per vendor for the period since January 2002 we observe a striking difference between Microsoft and Apple.
"On average Microsoft succeeds to keep the average number of unpatched vulnerabilities below 20 at a steady number.
"On the opposite, Apple seems unable to stabilise the number of unpatches vulnerabilities in recent years. We observe a steady increase in recent years for Apple. It seems that Apple's security processes cannot cope with the side-effects of the increased popularity of their products."
You could argue, of course, that none of these things are as clear cut as that - the CanSecWest conference and competition is held precisely so security researchers can find and report vulnerabilities to software makers, and that the exploit Charlie Miller found was never likely to impact Mac OS X users out in the wild.
More worrying is the IBM finding. It seems to show that Apple has a cavalier attitude to security, but that doesn't really square with the facts. Apple has gone to great lengths in Mac Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard to improve security - from sandboxing to security signing for applications. It's also a fact that there are relatively few threats to both Mac OS X and Linux compared to the tens of thousands on the Windows platform.
If anything, the news from the last few days should show that Mac users have no reason to be smug or complacent on security - and that they need to start taking measures to prevent themselves from being exposed. And that has to be a good thing for everyone.
By Rob Mead
Source: TechRadarLabels: Apple, Linux, Mac OS, MacBook Air, Microsoft, security, Windows Vista |
| posted by Perimbean @ 9:00 PM |
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Apple was founded on April 1, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne to sell the Apple I personal computer kit.
They were hand-built by Steve Wozniak in the living room of Jobs’ parents’ home, and the Apple I was first shown to the public at the Homebrew Computer Club. Eventually 200 computers were built. The Apple I was sold as a motherboard (with CPU, RAM, and basic textual-video chips) — not what is today considered a complete personal computer. The user was required to provide two different AC input voltages (the manual recommended specific transformers), wire an ASCII keyboard (not provided with the computer) to a DIP connector (providing logic inverter and alpha lock chips in some cases), and to wire the video output pins to a monitor or to an RF modulator if a TV set was used. The Apple I went on sale in July 1976 and was market-priced at $666.66.Wozniak came up with the $666.66 price because he liked repeating digits.”
Source: WikipediaLabels: Apple, Ronald Wayne, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak |
| posted by Perimbean @ 7:30 PM |
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