Author: Blancer

With RIM promising that the BlackBerry Playbook is going to be an “iPad killer” (yeah, right), what do the geniuses in Cupertino have in the queue to make everyone else play catch-up again?

According to the highly authoritative tech news source TeamCoco, spearheaded by none other than Conan O’Brien, it’s the iDea. Take a look at the first ad for the new product on the next page.

Continue reading iDea: A new Apple product courtesy of TeamCoco

iDea: A new Apple product courtesy of TeamCoco originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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During its earnings conference call, Apple re-confirmed it is not adopting the current generation of LTE chipsets in its iPhone handsets. According to Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, Apple would have to redesign the iPhone to accommodate the first generation LTE chipsets used in smartphones such as the Verizon Wireless’ HTC Thunderbolt. Apple is not willing to make that concession at this point and will wait for future generation LTE hardware before it adopts this 4G technology.

For iPhone fans, this means an LTE-enabled smartphone from Apple is at least a generation away. The iPhone 5 may hit this year, but it will support current 3G technology and possibly the 4G HSPA+ technology that AT&T is rolling out on its network. Folks looking forward to downloading full-length HD movies in one minute will likely have to wait until 2012 for this high-speed connectivity to land on their iPhone.

Apple confirms LTE iPhone is at least one generation away originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier this month, a research report from BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk concluded that the HTC Thunderbolt was outselling the Verizon iPhone. This report was based on anecdotal evidence gathered from sales employees and their impressions of which handset was selling faster. Needless to say, the methodology behind this analysis led us to be skeptical of these results; as it turns out, that skepticism was well-founded.

During Verizon’s earnings conference call, the wireless carrier confirmed it sold 2.2 million iPhones in the six weeks the handset was available on the network. The carrier also confirmed the 4G-enabled HTC Thunderbolt sold 260,000 in the two weeks it was available. On average, then, Verizon was selling about 360,000 iPhones and 130,000 Thunderbolts per week.

This is a whopping 230K difference in units sold that favors the iPhone. If you stretch out the Thunderbolt sales to six weeks and assume sales continue at the rate noted above (not necessarily the case, as sales would tend to spike at the beginning of the window and trend down, but giving the Thunderbolt the benefit of the doubt) Verizon would have sold 2.2M iPhones and only 780K HTC Thunderbolt handsets.

Verizon iPhone selling faster than the HTC Thunderbolt originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, color me unsurprised.

Remember the TUAW post from Tuesday about M.I.C Gadget’s iHub 2, which is a small 4-port USB hub that features a cool glowing Apple logo? In that post, M.I.C Gadget’s iHub 2 looks like Apple lawsuit bait, I conjectured that it wouldn’t take too long for Apple’s legal team to mail out the cease and desist notice.

This morning, we received a number of emails from people who had ordered the iHub 2. The manufacturer has contacted them with the news that Apple has “warned” M.I.C Gadget to stop selling the device:

Shocking! Astounding! Completely predictable!

My feeling is that “working hard to rectify this” means that “we’re trying to send out everything we’ve sold while making promises to Apple that we’ll never make Apple-logoed products again to avoid getting sued.” After making the iHub 2 and the Steve Jobs action figure, M.I.C Gadget will probably be the focus of the Eye of Sauron Apple Legal for a long, long time.

By the way, the video that accompanied the iHub post has been pulled as well.

Thanks to all of the iHub buyers who sent us this tip.

iHub 2 cease and desist notice issued: We called it originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This morning Verizon released its quarterly earnings for Q1 2011. While the wireless carrier did not reveal its iPhone sales figure in the press release, its earnings conference call confirms Verizon sold 2.2 million iPhones in its first six weeks of sales (compared to the 3.6 million reported by AT&T for the first three months of 2011, a 2x longer period). Combined, Verizon and AT&T sold 5.8 million iPhones, which means that total US sales account for about 30% of the 18.6 million Apple sold worldwide in the quarter. Apple COO/acting CEO Tim Cook mentioned on yesterday’s Apple earnings call that US sales were up 155% year-over-year, and iPhone sales in greater China were up 250% versus the year-ago quarter (both leading the curve of 113% growth in total sales).

According to AT&T, its iPhone churn rate remained steady in the 1st quarter, which suggests most Verizon iPhone sales come from current Verizon Wireless customers who waited patiently for the carrier to land the iPhone. It will be interesting to see how these numbers play out over the next year and a half. A growing number of AT&T iPhone customers will come off their current 2-year contracts and have a choice of carriers. Will the Verizon iPhone lead to a mass exodus from AT&T, as theorized, or will AT&T continue to hold its own? How many would-be carrier jumpers will wait for the hypothetical autumn release of the iPhone 5?

Verizon and AT&T combine to sell 5.8 million iPhones in Q1 2011 originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s a nice little article over at Apple Matters about how, wonderful though Apple might be, there are still some things that others do better – in particular, certain apps for your iOS devices.

Their list starts with the US$1.99 Instacast, which indeed does a better job of managing and finding new podcasts than you can do yourself by searching through the iTunes Music Store on your iPhone.

Next comes PhotoSync, also $1.99, which adds wireless syncing for your photos between your iPhone and desktop. If it only synced everything else wirelessly, I’d be first in the queue to buy it.

Finally, they list Stash Pro, the image management app for iOS devices, which seems a little expensive to me at $3.99, but it does allow you to download images directly on your iOS device from websites, and you can add keywords, titles and ratings to images.

My personal list of apps that I use because they’re better than any Apple offering starts with Dropbox. It simplifies my mobile life to the point where it’s a pleasure to access files on the go.

What apps do you use because they’re better than anything Apple can offer? Let us know in comments.

iPhone apps that beat Apple’s default apps originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re an Apple keyboard or MacBook user, you’ll know how useful the F1-F12 function keys can be when mapped to Apple functions such as brightness control, Expose and play controls. But what happens when you need the function keys to behave in a non-Apple mapped way? Sure you can hold down the “fn” key, but that can get a bit tedious. You could also switch the Apple and standard functions using Keyboard Preferences, leaving Apple functions under the control of the “fn” key, but again, how often do you really need the standard function keys under normal circumstances?

This is where the tiny utility Palua, from the folks at Molowa, comes in. It’s a minuscule little app that sits in your menu bar and lets you switch between standard function and Apple keys with a quick Cmd+Opt+Tab or via the menu bar. Once you’re done with the standard keys, just press Cmd+Opt+Tab again, and everything will be put back to normal – simple and effective.

If you’re a photo or video editor, someone who works a lot with custom keyboard maps or you just need the standard F1-F12 keys every now and again, then the US$0.99 Palua, available from the Mac App Store, could be just the ticket.

Palua allows you to quickly switch between standard and Apple function keys originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bulletproof is a new game that’s out on the App Store right now. The premise is interesting and a little macabre, as you’re tasked with stopping bullets from a firing squad by touching in the right places on screen. I like it, actually. The action starts slow and eventually becomes pretty frantic. The simple, but effective, graphics keep you on your toes (or fingers, as the case may be).

But the most interesting thing about this app is the story behind it. It was actually commissioned by Amnesty International from developers Mobigame, and it’s being sold to raise awareness of human rights violations from around the world. All proceeds from Bulletproof are going to Amnesty International (minus, presumably, Apple’s standard 30 percent cut), and the game itself is a pretty effective way of getting the message across.

This isn’t the only instance of charity organizations looking to video games to raise money for their cause. OneBigGame has been doing just that on iOS and other platforms. But this is a solid cause and a solid app as well.

Amnesty International releases iOS game to raise money and awareness for human rights originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yes, the classic NBA JAM title has been released by EA for iOS, and it’s got everything you remember from the old console version: the crazy announcers, the quick games and even some kooky special characters. The iPhone version was released a little while ago for US$4.99, but this week EA has added a free version to try out as well as an iPad version for $9.99.

The UI is a little clunky with virtual buttons just laid over the screen in the iPhone version, but it works well enough, and the graphics look as good as the modern version on the Wii. There is local multiplayer via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but there’s no Game Center integration or online play, which is too bad. Still, it’s a quality port of the recent console title, and as I said, all of the fun stuff you remember about the old game, including the over-the-top dunks and announcer Tim Kitzrow. If you missed out on this one when it came to consoles, it’s probably worth picking up for iOS.

TUAW’s Daily App: NBA JAM originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Get your glad rags out, because it looks like Apple’s preparing to celebrate the 10th birthday of its first retail stores at the end of next month.

Employees have been told they can’t request any vacation time in late May, possibly because Apple’s planning some sort of event to mark the anniversary. The first Apple Retail Stores launched on May 19, 2001 in McLean, Virginia’s Tyson’s Corner Mall and at the Galleria in Glendale, California. The Glendale store has even achieved cult status now with the store number designation 001.

It is possible that the holiday blackout is due to a new product launch; new Sandy Bridge iMacs are due, and there’s always the iPhone 5. However, the iMac doesn’t seem special enough to stop all staff going on holiday, and the iPhone 5 now seems more likely for September. The most recent holiday blackouts were for the Verizon iPhone 4 and the iPad 2.

If Apple is planning a birthday party for its retail stores, will you be going along? How do you think Apple should mark the anniversary? Let us know in the comments.

(Edited to fix store name.)

Apple planning May event to celebrate its 10-year retail anniversary originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The iPhone and iPad seem to be storing location data about your travels using cell tower information. Whether you believe that Apple is secretly spying on you or just storing the locations of cell towers for some purpose, such as speedier connections to said towers, if you don’t like it, you now have an option. Ryan Petrich, a renowned jailbreak app developer, has released a free little utility called “untrackerd” that runs in the background and continuously cleans stored location history data.

You will, of course, have to have a jailbroken iPhone or iPad to install the app from Cydia, but if you’re not happy about the possibility of your iPhone or iPad’s location history being accessible, then head to Cydia now and install the 37 KB app from the BigBoss repository for peace of mind.

[via 9to5Mac]

Untrackerd wipes stored location data on your jailbroken iPhone originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The developers behind the Qwiki website have produced a pretty cool iPad app version of the site. The app looks like a great way to experience Qwiki’s narrated-encyclopaedia version of the world, offering location-sensitive lookups and making full use of the touch-capabilities of the iPad.

“Qwiki’s fundamental belief has always been that media consumption is moving off the desktop,” says co-founder and CEO Doug Imbruce. The company, which recently raised $9 million in funding, has released the app for free.

[Via Mashable]

iPad explorations with Qwiki originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Late last month, a troubling font issue came to light after Apple rolled out version 10.6.7 of Mac OS X. The update appeared to cause problems with the printing and PDF handling of OpenType PostScript fonts. Apple has not officially acknowledged the problem, but a growing thread on Apple’s discussion boards details the issues Mac users are experiencing.

Good news for those affected by this font problem as forum member KJK555 claims to have a fix. KJK555 has released an installation package that replaces the affected 10.6.7 ATS.framework binaries with the previous 10.6.6 versions. The ATS.framework is involved in the font layout and management of Apple Type Services

Before you jump for joy, the initial success rate of this fix is mixed. Some folks claim font issues in apps such as LiveType disappear, while others are still reporting problems with Adobe apps like Acrobat distiller.

If you are plagued by this problem and don’t want to wait for Apple to roll out an official update, this solution may be worth a try. As always, proceed at your own risk, as there is always the chance of a negative outcome when you start mucking around with system components, such as fonts and printing. If you do bravely forge ahead and apply the fix, give us a shout in the comments and let us know how it works for you.

Thanks, Laurie!

Possible fix for font issues in 10.6.7 originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone and iPad on iOS 4.x.x secretly tracks you location (all your moves). Security researchers made new discovery that Apple’s iOS for iPhone, iPad tracks device’s longitude and latitude. That location information is then stored on your computer’s hard drive once it’s synchronized with the device and can later be accessed by anyone with right computer skills/softwares.

In the light of this secretly location tracking discovery, Ryan Petrich has released a Cydia tweak “Untrackerd” to prevent iOS from tracking your location and saving it to consolidated.db.

• Continuously clean up location’s history data in the background.
• This package installs a daemon (process that can run in the background) to clean the consolidated.db file.
• No new icons are added to your homescreen. There are no options to configure.

Your device must be jailbroken to install untrackerd. You can jailbreak your device using the guides linked below:

How to:Jailbreak iOS 4.3.2
How to:Jailbreak iOS 4.3.1
How to:Jailbreak iOS 4.2.1

1. Now open Cydia from your homescreen;
2. Go to Search tab and search for Untrackerd;
3. and install it.

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@BenHarvell is a freelance writer and former editor of iCreate magazine. He writes for a wide range of international technology magazines and websites including Macworld, MacFormat and MacLife. He’s on Twitter,blogs at www.benharvell.com and is currently enjoying the latest social network, Tout.

So the gloves are off and two former bedfellows (at least in terms of component sales), Apple and Samsung, are ready to fight. I thought I’d jump in here and pick my side. I’m backing, without question, Apple.

Now this isn’t because I’m an iPhone user or that I’ve used some pretty awful Samsung phones in the past, it’s because I really dislike the current opinion that this imitation of a UI is in some way helping the market and bringing about evolution. It’s not. I also disagree that Apple is suing for the sake of it. Apple has to sue in this case.

I base these opinions largely on the comparisons between the Samsung and Apple mobile UIs. Packaging and hardware are, I would say, less important parts of this lawsuit and probably harder to make stick. The UI argument is also the clearest infringement of Apple’s designs and patents and the one that simply bugs me the most.

I’m not particularly sure that the “Trade Dress” allegations are quite as strong for all parts of the suit either. This is Apple basically saying “you’re tricking people into thinking they’re buying an iPhone”. Let’s face it, you would have to be a complete moron to think you were actually buying an iPhone when you walked out of a store with a Samsung. I think the key difference is not thinking you’re buying an iPhone, but buying an equivalent and that’s where the UI plays a part.

Put the Samsung Vibrant or Galaxy S and the iPhone next to one another and there are some startling similarities. It’s not just the icon layout (which is nigh on identical, including the dock!) but even the icon images look the same. Looking at the two side by side, a consumer without a lot of tech knowhow could certainly believe that both devices ran the same software and offered the same feature set.

The lawsuit aside for a second, however, when did it become cool to simply rip off an idea? Samsung must appreciate the likeness between its TouchWizz interface and Apple’s iOS and presumably believes that this similarity might sway consumers not ready to leap into an iPhone contract or pay for their phone. That’s Trade Dress. Like the slew of avian-oriented iOS games that flooded the App Store once Angry Birds became a hit, Samsung’s designers either got lazy or accidentally hit copy when they meant to press “create derivative”.

Apple has built itself a slick mobile OS that looks good and works well. It has looked good since 2007. To say that Apple is suing because it’s scared of Android is madness. Like any artist would, Apple is defending its own, unique UI design from another who has simply rebranded it.

Apple might not be able to claim that a mobile device that is mainly made up of a screen is its own copyright, but what’s on that screen is all its own work.