And just like that, O2’s reign of terror comes to an end. This month sees the end of O2’s exclusive rights to sell the iPhone in the United Kingdom, and Orange has already announced it has a deal in place with Apple to sell the device. … Read More »
Last week at the IDF 2009 Conference in San Francisco, Intel unveiled a new next-generation data transfer technology dubbed Light Peak. It’s basically an optical subsystem comprised of lasers, modules and probably the odd Flux Capacitor here and there. The outcome is transfer speeds of … Read More »
Installing a new operating system on Day One is often a foolish undertaking. Yet, there I was, installing Snow Leopard the night of the 28th. I took the plunge day one for two reasons: as a tech journalist specializing in the Mac, I felt I owed it … Read More »
In the latest example of Apple going green, the technology company has launched a revised and expanded web site, Apple and the Environment. While the company, to date, has largely focused on reporting the environmental impact of its manufacturing processes, the updated site also examines Apple … Read More »
Lately, rumors have been popping up that new iMacs could well be on the way. Well now AppleInsider is reporting that they’re not only real, but that they’re already here. Or, “here” in the sense that they exist in physical space, at … Read More »
Those of you hoping to augment your TomTom GPS iPhone experience shouldn’t have to wait too much longer. As Engadget reports, the TomTom iPhone Car Kit page on Apple’s online store temporarily went live earlier today in the UK, with an asking … Read More »
Apparently, as far as the folks at Apple are concerned, all roads lead to Cupertino. Toying with your latest Apple purchase, it’s not unusual to marvel at the visual joys of the Cupertino company’s product design — gorgeous electronic objects one and all, whether it be the … Read More »
It took the designer-store concept from Apple. It took the Genius Bar concept from Apple. What’s left for Microsoft to take from Apple as it gears-up to the launch of its first brick-and-mortar retail stores? Well, the staff, of course. According to The Loop, Microsoft is poaching … Read More »
One of the great things about the iPod nano is that you can use it with Nike+ to track your workouts. Or you could, if the fitness center would let you bring the media player in to the gym. Life Time Fitness, a U.S.-based gym chain, … Read More »
Poor old Microsoft. You can’t blame them for trying, can you? Back at the start of the decade it gave us its vision for tablet computing in the form of Windows XP Tablet Edition and (via its OEM friends) a series of bulky, underpowered, overly-expensive machines. Now … Read More »
The iPhone’s camera app is OK, but it really leaves much to be desired. That was why Snapture came to exist in the first place. Snapture is a jailbreak app that many users on that side of the fence have sworn by for quite … Read More »
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In 1999 I was building websites with UltraDev and Drumbeat. I was playing with DHTML and a cool new thing called CSS. I was dropping the word “recordset” into conversations with other geek friends via the just-released MSN Messenger Service. I considered myself pretty technologically accomplished. … Read More »
It’s fall premiere season, and that means new shows. But it also means sparkly new ads to fill all those commercial breaks. New Apple ads for the iPhone provided pleasant relief for me yesterday from the tedium of the two-hour Heroes premiere. On a side … Read More »
Apple’s advertising is clever, visually attractive, hip, and funny. It does a great job of showing off what its products can do, and how your life could change as a result. What Apple ads don’t talk about is money. As someone who’s already more than willing … Read More »
iTunes 9 brings about a much more flexible setup for syncing. It’s definitely an improvement, in some senses, but still far from perfect. In fact, many might be quick to term some of the options as “feature creep.” Check out some of our thoughts on … Read More »
When I first heard that some of the first PSP Minis out the gate would be ported iPhone apps, I admittedly got a little bit excited imagining the competitive power of iPhone games on a platform with actual physical hardware controls. Turns out I should’ve reserved … Read More »
Now that Snow Leopard is on the prowl, thoughts turn to what Mac OS 10.7 might be called. When it was announced that Mac OS 10.6 would be christened “Snow Leopard,” there was some speculation that Apple was running out of big cat names for its OS … Read More »
Apple beat Microsoft to market in terms of new operating systems (although “new” doesn’t really apply in the case of either 10.6 or Windows 7), but that means Microsoft will have the spotlight uncontested when it launches Windows 7 on Oct. 22. That’s why one research … Read More »
The one thing many people did not expect with a new version of iTunes was that Apple would use the opportunity to cause dissent among its fanbase by introducing another new user interface. Some classify the new styling as “needed” and “elegant and refined” while others … Read More »
No one said Apple’s partnership with China Unicom is exclusive, right? It’s an open relationship. Y’know how it is, dinner dates, the cinema, maybe even occasionally meeting the parents. But it’s totally cool for them both to see other people, OK? And that’s precisely what’s happening. Back … Read More »
With the new iPod nano featuring a built in video camera, Apple’s latest commercial really highlights how easy it is to use. Entitled “Nano Shoots Video,” the spot makes it look super easy and trendy to shoot video, but does the commercial really tell the … Read More »
I bought my iPhone 3GS from the Apple Store in London’s Regent Street. It’s one of Apple’s flagship stores, so on any given day of the week it’s usually busy. And when I use the word “busy,” what I really mean is “insanely, painfully, dizzyingly frantic.” … Read More »
One of the most compelling new feature in Snow Leopard is Grand Central Dispatch, which can make it easier for developers to write software taking advantage of the multiple cores in our computers. On Sept., 10 Apple released the user library component of Grand Central to … Read More »
Despite protestations by Steve Jobs that the evolution of the iPod touch has always been towards gaming, the deconstructionists at iFixit may have found the missing camera link in its latest teardown. Prior to the Apple event last week, rumors of a camera in the iPod … Read More »
It just wouldn’t be an iPhone OS update without the usual accompanying cries of anguish from end-users, now, would it? It seems Apple just can’t get the update process right; and there’s really no good excuse for it. Over on the Apple Support user discussions forum … Read More »
Those disappointed that the music event last week failed to update Apple’s all but forgotten set-top box, may find hope in the company’s move to lower the price of the 160GB Apple TV by $100, to $229. That new price for the 160GB model was the … Read More »
For me, the Home Sharing feature introduced in iTunes 9 has been a long time coming. I’ve always run at least two Macs, one desktop and one notebook, and over the years I’ve tried various solutions for sharing media between multiple machines. Of course, there was … Read More »
I was watching the NFL season opener yesterday between Pittsburgh and Tennessee when I got a nice surprise. A new “Get a Mac” ad aired during a commercial break, along with the existing Patrick Warburton “Top of the Line” spot. The new commercial, called “PC … Read More »
Having spent a day with iTunes 9 and OS 3.1 on an iPhone and iPod touch, I find that I am completely smitten with a feature I pretty much completely ignored before yesterday. I’m referring to Genius, which hadn’t lived up to its name … Read More »
I was recently asked in a tweet, “Have you completely abandoned Windows now?” I realized, with some genuine surprise, that not only had I stopped using Windows in any meaningful way, but actually stopped using it the moment I got my hands on my first (modern) … Read More »
This week’s arrival of Spotify in the App Store (right now limited to UK, Sweden, France, Spain, Norway and Finland stores) could be the ideal opportunity for us all to throw iTunes in the trash and experience the freedom that Spotify has to offer. Speculation was rife as … Read More »
Across the pond, our European neighbors have been enjoying Spotify for some time now. It’s only fair that Apple should continue on in that vein and approve Rhapsody for the American masses. Sure Rhapsody costs money and Spotify doesn’t, but it does … Read More »
Pioneers of the Inevitable, makers of Songbird, the open-source alternative to iTunes, has just secured a new round of financing, saving it from death and placing its platform more aggressively as a competitor to Apple’s venerable media player. According to TechCrunch, Pioneers of the … Read More »
For a very brief time yesterday, Sky News reported that, finally, The Beatles would make their musical debut on iTunes. The source for the report? None other than Yoko Ono herself. But don’t go fire up iTunes too soon; both the Sky News report and Google’s … Read More »
My iPhone 3GS is amazing. It is fully integrated into my life. With its various apps I’m constantly on top of Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, and RSS feeds. It would definitely be a challenge to switch. However, I’m also a gadget geek who always wants to switch … Read More »
It has been a little over one year since the iTunes Store was blocked in China for the heinous crime of selling the album “Songs for Tibet.” Now The Wall Street Journal reports that the Chinese government, which hasn’t banned or blocked anything in … Read More »
With Apple’s music oriented media event right around the corner, everyone is abuzz with thoughts about new iPods, Apple TV updates, tablet rumors and more. The one thing we can all but guarantee besides new iPods is an update to iTunes. But what … Read More »
Oh Apple TV, will you ever cease to have new competitors arise to elbow into your already paltry market share? Internet video giant YouTube wants to be next in line. The company is in talks with Sony and other major studios about offering newer movies as … Read More »
Originally introduced in OS X Tiger, Automator is a drag-and-drop form of scripting. You can create workflows to easily speed up many tasks. With each version of OS X, Automator has seen some improvements, but with Snow Leopard, it finally realizes its … Read More »
If you watch TV, then you probably can’t erase the memory of Vonage commercials from your brain, no matter how hard you try. The voiceover IP (VOIP) provider has been in business for quite a while now, but it has been losing ground to cheap alternatives … Read More »
It’s a bad idea to ask a geek if they “need” some new gadget. Invariably, the answer will be an emphatic “yes!,” followed by all manner of perfectly reasonable explanations as to why. I’m guilty of this behavior. Every self-respecting tech-enthusiast is guilty of it, too. … Read More »
For a while the blogosphere has been running its mouth off about how “Snow Leopard is just a service pack Apple has the gall to charge for.” TechRadar.com reports, “Despite all of the necessary ‘under the hood’ improvements in Snow Leopard, this release has the inescapable … Read More »
Good old Gene Munster. He’s just obsessed with Apple, ain’t he? In a note yesterday to clients, and reported by AppleInsider, Munster answers 14 “questions” about Apple that cover such topics as its iPhones, iPods, Apple TV, Retail Stores, AT&T partnership and more. In short, it’s … Read More »
If you’ve got one of Axiotron’s awesome Modbooks, and you’re running Snow Leopard, you may have already stumbled across a few features that make your Mac so much easier to use. It’s unlikely Apple had Axiotron in mind when it included these features, though, … Read More »
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Pay Attention 007: The iPhone Is Cooler Than You
How the world has changed. When my father was my age, there was nothing more cool or impressive than driving an Aston Martin, toting a Walther PPK and ordering your dry martinis shaken, not stirred. That’s what James Bond did. And Bond was seriously cool. Bond was … Read More »