Category: I-phone

Those of you who joined us for last night’s TUAW Talkcast know that one of the Mac OS X 10.6.5 issues that we discussed dealt with PGP WDE (Whole Disk Encryption), a Symantec product that is used to encrypt an entire hard drive. PGP WDE is very useful to those who carry sensitive information on their MacBooks, as they can be assured that nobody can access the info or even boot the machine without knowing the encryption password.

Mac OS X 10.6.5 “broke” PGP WDE, with users of the product unable to boot their Macs at all. Rich Mogull at TidBITS looked into the issue and provided a wonderful explanation of how disk encryption works, as well as why the OS update caused the problem.

As Mogull explains, PGP WDE integrates with the Mac firmware so that powering up the computer forces it to enter a special unencrypted state that displays nothing but a password prompt. Entering the correct password then decrypts the normal operating system, which is in an encrypted partition on the disk. To display the special password prompt at bootup, PGP makes changes to the boot.efi file that is used by your Mac to begin loading Mac OS X.

What happened? The shipping version of 10.6.5 overwrote those changes to the boot.efi file, so the pre-boot password prompt was never loaded. Symantec had tested PGP WDE with the beta versions of 10.6.5 with no problems, but apparently something was changed by Apple at the last minute before distribution of the update.

Symantec has posted a recommended upgrade process, and has also created a PGP Recovery CD image that can be downloaded and used if you’re already upgraded to 10.6.5 and are stuck in “an unbootable state.” As we mentioned on the TUAW Talkcast last night, problems like these are a good reason to keep a bootable clone of your hard drive on hand.

Why 10.6.5 and Symantec’s PGP Whole Disk Encryption didn’t get along originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ethan Smith of the Wall Street Journal writes that iTunes will soon be carrying the Beatles catalog, according to “people familiar with the situation.” According to Smith, this deal was finalized recently — as late as last week — between Apple and EMI group.

If so, this plays into the Beatles-style hints of today’s teaser announcement on the Apple home page and supports the notion that iTunes will begin selling the Beatles music as early as tomorrow.

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Thanks, badtzmaru

Wall Street Journal confirms Beatles on iTunes originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 17:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bump is an older app on the App Store that allowed you to “share” contact information with another local phone not actually by Bluetooth, but by simply placing the two phones near the same location, and then sharing the information across a wireless network. Now, Bump is apparently adding a new trick to its arsenal. In version 2.2, out on the App Store now, you can actually “share” any of the songs in your iTunes library. Bump still doesn’t actually push information from phone to phone — instead, it will read out the song’s information, and then give the receiving phone a YouTube link to hear the song, as well as links to preview and buy the song on iTunes (assuming it is available).

It’s an interesting way of getting around the licensing restrictions that have prevented hearing the same music on multiple devices, and of course it solves the trouble of getting two phones up and wirelessly connected long enough to actually push a file across. A neat little bit of innovation for an app we installed on the iPhone a long time ago.

Bump adds music-sharing upgrade originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple will host holiday-themed workshops for kids ages six to 13-years-old this month. Topics will include photos, videos and presentations. That sounds just swell, but the bad news is that the workshops will take place at a very limited number of Apple Stores.

Only 12 stores are participating, including some in Colorado, Florida, Michigan and New York. You can find the full list here. The number of workshops also varies from store to store. For example, Colorado’s Flatiron Crossing Apple Store has just one, 90-minute workshop listed, while New York City’s Upper West Side store lists six over four days.

Unfortunately, I’m out of luck here in Massachusetts as there aren’t any listed. Selections probably depended on each store’s typical traffic and number of trained staff, among other things. If you’re lucky enough to attend one of these, have fun and let us now how it goes.

[Via ifoAppleStore]

Apple to offer youth workshops at select stores originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Business Insider recently surveyed 500 iPad users about their habits with some interesting results. Among the most interesting is that nearly 80 percent of respondents (77.6) said they use their iPads more often now than they did when they first got them, suggesting that, after the novelty had worn off, customers continued to use their iPads. Even more so, in fact.

The study also found that 71 percent of participants use their iPads between one and five hours per day. Additionally, 28.9 percent said that their iPad has become their primary computer. Personally, I use mine as a supplement, but my wife hasn’t touched our MacBook Pro since the iPad came home.

Most participants reported spending the bulk of their iPad time browsing the Web (37.7 percent) while 39.4 percent claim to have downloaded between 20 and 50 apps (most people paid for about 10 apps).

There’s more, of course, which you can read here. It’s an interesting study with a decent-sized sample.

iPad owners’ usage increasing over time originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There is at least one Scrooge this holiday season, and it’s Ashok Kumar of Rodman & Renshaw. While there had been estimates of 6 million iPad sales by the end of the year, Kumar has pulled back to an estimate of 5 million because the iPad, and other tablet PCs are just not “must have” purchases.

Other issues may be difficulties in the supply chain, and the analyst notes that Dell and Samsung are cutting back production due to lower-than-predicted sales. Apple has expanded retail outlets who sell the iPad, including Target and Verizon. It’s also been noted by some observers Kumar himself that sales of the 11.6-inch MacBook Air could be cannibalizing the Pad (emphasis on the ‘could be’ as opposed to ‘shown to be with hard evidence).

Apple has estimated sales for 2010 of 4.9 million iPads. Of course it’s all speculation for now. The new iOS 4.2 could stimulate tablet sales, and it should be noted that Apple almost always exceeds predictions. Even Mr. Kumar is still bullish on Apple, and rates the stock as a “market outperform.”

We should note for the record that Kumar’s scorecard as a predictor of market trends and product announcements for Apple is, to put it mildly, quite spotty. Take his iPad estimates with the requisite large grain of salt.

[via the Mac Observer]

Analyst says Christmas may not be so green for the iPad originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Update: Version 1.1 of the 10.6.5 updater is online. If you’re going with it, best to use the Combo updater.

If you were listening in on the Talkcast last night, you heard Steve relay a tale of woe from a client who rushed to update his server to the latest Snow Leopard build, 10.6.5, only to encounter a slew of Open Directory problems — and with no backup to revert to safely. (Let it go forth from this time and place: Do Not Do This.)

Seems like his buddy may not have been alone in finding the update less than ideal: AppleInsider reports that the update has been “quietly pulled” from Apple’s servers.

The problems with the update, as reported on Apple’s discussion boards, include DNS resolution issues, LDAP/Open Directory master hiccups and remote storage/server connection drops. None of it good, and none of it immediately subject to workarounds; let’s hope there’s a patch to the patch sometime very soon.

10.6.5 Server update pulled by Apple originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Shortly after the Japan iAd deal was sealed, Apple is rumored to be ready to launch iAd in Europe this week. The Financial Times reports that a number of very big brands are already on board, and that Apple will make the announcement later this week. L’Oréal, Renault and Nestlé are reportedly among the early adopters.

Apple has twice delayed the European roll out of iAd, the Financial Times suggests, because agencies are balking at the US$1 million minimum meant to attract top names. One anonymous advertiser said that many still see iAd as “experimental,” and are hesitant as a result. “Clients don’t really take [iAd] that seriously yet,” he said. “It goes in the experimental category, along with most of the rest of mobile advertising.”

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal suggests the opposite; Apple’s efforts have given an across-the-board boost to mobile advertising.

Good luck to Apple and its partners in Europe.

iAd will launch in Europe this week originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If there’s one thing we love here at TUAW — besides Apple, of course — it’s music. And it especially rocks our world when these two great loves meet.

So, when we got wind that Agile Partners (makers of GuitarToolKit and TabToolkit, which, by the way, are fantastic) and Guitar World Magazine were collaborating on an iOS app, well, you can only imagine, the TUAW offices were in a ruckus.

Today sees the launch of Guitar World Lick of the Day: an iOS app that teaches you a new guitar move every day, by the pros. With tutorial videos featuring Guitar World instructors, and the likes of Joe Satriani and Zack Wylde (to name a few), now you can have that master class you’ve always wanted!

So, how does it work? You download Lick of the Day free from the App Store. It comes preloaded with a few sample lessons, but the idea is that you subscribe to the lessons for either one-month (US$4.99), three-months (US$12.99) or six-months (for US$19.99).

Each lesson is video instructed with a corresponding practice mode. In the practice mode there are settings that control the music notation, tempo of playback, a looping option and playback with a metronome. A “dynamic fretboard” will show your fingers where they need to go, synchronizing with the scrolling music notation. It’s all very sharp and effective. And if you’re left handed, don’t fret! You can invert the fretboard to accommodate. Finally, each lesson has a “performance note” that’s written by a Guitar world instructor, too.

We’ve had a brief play around with the app and can safely say that we are already shredding it up like never before. The tutorials come in a variety of styles / genres of music for guitar: from rock and blues to jazz and country licks.

With iPad and iPhone / iPod touch versions, If you’re a guitar player and you’re looking to improve your skills and technique, we’d definitely recommend you go and check out Lick of the Day, now! However, if you’ve never picked up a guitar or you can only just manage Kum-ba-yah-my-Lord, you might need a more experienced friend to help you get your head around it.

Either way, Lick of the Day is an exciting and effective app that we can’t wait to spend more time with.

Hit the read button for some PR shots of the app and a video about the app.

Continue reading Guitar World & Agile Partners introduce Lick of the Day app

Guitar World & Agile Partners introduce Lick of the Day app originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple has battled a thriving gray market in China over the last few years, and hopes that getting new products into customers’ hands more quickly will help to address the problem.

You’ll remember that the iPhone didn’t hit the Chinese market until 2009, a full two years after the U.S. launch. In that time, a hugely disruptive gray market emerged and continues to operate.

Since then, the delay between U.S. and China product releases has shortened. The iPad and iPhone 4 became available in China just six months after their respective U.S. release, and Apple intends to sell the MacBook Air in November, just about a month after hit shelves in America.

Apple products are becoming more popular in China, despite that fact that they still represent a niche market (Apple holds just 5.9 precent of the Chinese smartphone market share, for example). Of course, these delays aren’t entirely on Apple’s shoulders, as all electronic devices sold in China must first receive the approval of several governing bodies.

Apple to release products in China more quickly originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Houzz launches a new iPad app for home design fans originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is it all about iTunes? Big stuff is going down tomorrow, as you know if you’ve happened upon Apple’s front page today. Our TUAW back-channels are all aflutter as we are brainstorming as a group to figure out Apple’s big tease. We’ve been searching the web, scanning HTML source, scanning the iTunes application bundle and more all to try to second-guess what might be happening.

No, we don’t have any firm answers, but here are some of the things that we think might be included in tomorrow’s developments. We’ll run down our thoughts and discoveries to date, which we will be updating and amending as new facts come to light.

So take these thoughts for what they are — guesses and observations. We’re not certain about any of it, and we’re happy to be corrected or pointed towards more or better facts. Feel free to jump in in the comments — we’re dying to hear what you think as well.

Continue reading iTunes November announcement: The likely and long-shot possibilities

iTunes November announcement: The likely and long-shot possibilities originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 11:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MacMegasite reports that Hooked In Motion has released the iCollect Movies HD 1.0 app (US$4.99), which lets movie fanatics catalog their Blu-ray, DVD, HD DVD, UMD, VHS, Betamax, and Laserdisc collection right on their iPad. While the iPhone version, iCollect Movies Pro ($2.99), can use its camera to scan the barcode and find your movies, iPad users will have to manually enter either the title or the barcode, which some users may find a minor inconvenience — at least until the iPad gets a camera, which will hopefully be sooner rather than later.

Once movies are cataloged, iCollect Movies provides detailed notes from IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes along with regions, subtitles, and aspect ratios. A built-in search function allows users to search for all the movies they own starring a specific actor, how many times a movie has been watched, and any ratings that they may have recorded in the past.

iCollect Movies HD 1.0 for iPad syncs with iCollect Movies Pro for iPhone and directly with the icollectmedia.com website. This allows users to back up and share their collections via the Web and other Apple devices. If I hadn’t ditched my entire DVD collection a while back, I could totally find a use for an app like this. For those of you with a huge video library, it may be worth a look.

iCollect Movies HD catalogs your movie collection on your iPad originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple has posted a cryptic teaser to Apple.com which reads, “Tomorrow is just another day. That you’ll never forget.” Four clocks display what we assume is the announcement’s start time (7:00 AM in CA, 10:00 AM New York, 3:00 PM London and midnight Tokyo).

What could that be? Your guess is as good as ours. Let the speculation begin!

Apple teases iTunes event for tomorrow originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you were intrigued by our former coverage of Pulse, a slick reimagining of how RSS feeds can work on the iPad and iPhone, but were put off by the modest asking price, here’s a good way to start your week. As the New York Times reports, Alphonso Labs has secured $800k in venture capital funding and is moving to a different business model. It is now trying to “attract more users, and with them, paid partnerships with publishers and advertisers.”

This sounds like we’ll end up with in-app ads in the long run, but for the moment, none are present. It’s also likely that it’ll be doing more deals with content producers to spotlight their feeds in the “featured” section of the app, which is a less intrusive way for them to generate revenue.

If you’ve never used Pulse, it’s more like Flipboard than traditional RSS readers, like Reeder. It arranges feed content into attractive, image-heavy scrolling areas that try to create the feel of a glossy personalized magazine. This is both a strength and a weakness — it works better with some types of feeds than others — but overall it provides a pleasant way to catch up with the news over your breakfast.

Update: following numerous commenters expressing concerns that, having paid for a previous version of Pulse, they would now be subjected to ads, we contacted Alphonso Labs for a statement. Click through to see what it said.

Continue reading Updated: Pulse News Reader for iOS now free

Updated: Pulse News Reader for iOS now free originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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