Category: I-phone

Not really, but a news piece from ABC News in Australia is reporting that factory workers in southern China have fallen seriously ill after working in a plant responsible for producing Apple laptops and iPhones. According to the workers they were admitted to the hospital after breathing toxic vapors from n-hexane. After breathing in the vapors they became dizzy and were unable to walk.

Correspondent Stephen McDonell cannot confirm whether the factory where this took place is an official Apple supplier or a Chinese factory that produces fakes. One of the workers kept Apple logos they were gluing on with n-hexane to provide proof they were working on Apple products, which does little to prove if this was a legit factory or not.

Workers falling ill while working on Apple products is nothing new. It was reported earlier this year that 62 Employees at Wintek had to be hospitalized after being exposed to n-hexane.

Of course Apple would not confirm it had sourced products from companies based in China, but say it has tightened requirements regarding workplace safety at its suppliers.

Desktop alarm clocks don’t have many features, take up a lot of space, can take some time to set, and are especially annoying in the morning. For these reasons it is a great idea to invest in a nightstand app for your iPhone, iPad, or iPhone Touch, so here a couple have been reviewed for you.

Nightstand: The Professional Alarm Clock ($1.99)

This app is loaded with lots of features to help you wake up in the morning and start your day. The alarm that you wake up to is easy to set and allows you to wake up to an actual alarm, a radio station of your choice, or a song from your music library. The actual clock is big and easy to read, but unfortunately you cannot view it in landscape mode. Nightstand: The Professional Alarm Clock also provides you with the weather, and even though it does not give you tons of information, it still gives enough for most people. This is viewed by switching from nighttime mode to daytime, and doing this opens up other features in addition to weather. From here you can listen to the radio or your iTunes library right through the app, and by selecting the “News and Internet” tab you can view visual bookmarks that you added which make it quick and easy to view your favorite sites in the morning right from within the app, without getting out of bed and without even opening up Safari. This app has a nice interface, but could use a small update. The backgrounds are not really visible, and making the buttons look a little newer and more updated, and maybe some other small visual tweaks, would make this app even better.

iHome + Sleep (free)

The main screen looks very nice, although the unnecessarily large black box with the time obscures the background. Aside from that you get the date and the weather, as well as the ability to control music from your music library. Here you will also find a slider, which you are supposed to slide when you go to sleep and wake up. This is an interesting feature and you slide it in order for it to provide you with sleep stats, such as how often you hit snooze and how many hours of sleep you get. iHome + Sleep also allows you to set alarms with the ability to wake up to a buzzer, your own music or the radio. You can adjust the snooze time, add vibration, and even set a sleep timer to fall asleep to music. And for this times when you need to do something before you sleep or right when you wake up, this app allows you to set reminders for you to view at both those times. You can also have multiple user accounts, and create messages to quickly post to twitter and facebook when you wake up and go to sleep, also choose your own custom background, and it is compatible with some iHome products. Unfortunately there is no landscape mode, but they say this feature is coming soon, along with the option to fade alarms in and out.

Kensington Nightstand (free)

A simple yet stunning interface, Kensington Nightstand looks great and provides you with the time and weather. It would be nice if the clock was a little bigger in portrait mode, but fortunately it supports landscape as well, which makes the clock a nice size. Here it also provides the date, current conditions and temperature, and the high and low temperatures. Tapping the weather brings up a five day forecast, and brightness can easily be adjusted by sliding your finger. The default appearance is the nicest in my opinion, but you have the options to make it look like a flip clock or digital clock if you prefer. One major downside is that there is no built in alarm clock. Instead it suggests that you set an alarm using the default clock app, the open this app and leave the alarm running in the background. Incorporating a feature filled alarm clock would be a much needed addition to this app.

Nightstand Central ($0.99)

The best looking app of them all, Nightstand Central also provides plenty of features and is absolutely worth the $0.99. The clock and backgrounds look amazing and the weather and date are integrated perfectly. It can be viewed in landscape mode as well, and a two-finger tap on the clock allows you to adjust its size and position on the screen. Alarms can be set with different sounds and snooze times, can be faded in, vibrate, and can be set to repeat on the days of your choice. You can set a sleep timer to fall asleep to music, and set wallpaper to change at a selected interval. Brightness can be adjusting by sliding with two fingers and shaking will activate the LED flashlight (if applicable) and activate snooze when the alarm goes off. Overall this is the nicest of the nightstand apps and is my personal favorite. With tons of features and a gorgeous interface, you can’t go wrong with this app.

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Apple launched a Chinese-language version of its online store today with all of Apple’s product lineup in place, including the online-only (PRODUCT) RED iPod nano, and a selection of third-party products.

In addition to this, a Simplified Chinese version of the App Store was rolled out with localized apps and the most popular paid and free apps in China.

The top paid iPhone app in the Chinese app store is Cartoon Wars 2: Heroes. You’ll find your Angry Birds fix all the way down at #7.

[Via MacRumors]

Apple introduces online Chinese store, App Store now in Simplified Chinese originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fans of streaming music service Spotify might not want to read this story. The last time Apple bought such a company, it lived on for about six months before being unceremoniously shuttered. Hopefully if a rumored buyout of Spotify does go through, the service will face a happier outcome than Lala did earlier this year.

The rumor of early stage talks between Apple and Spotify comes via Techcrunch, so it’s probably worth grabbing a big hunk of salt to go with it. According to Michael Arrington’s source, Google nearly bought the music streaming service last year for US$1 billion, but the parties couldn’t come to terms on grandfathering the existing licensing deals with the music labels.

There have been rumors that Apple would add a music subscription service to iTunes for several years, and the imminent launch of the company’s North Carolina data center have accelerated those rumors. Previously Lala was expected to be the basis of a subscription plan, but that has gone nowhere yet. Apple and Spotify apparently aren’t even at the stage of talking price or terms yet, so this may not go anywhere… assuming that they are even actually talking.

[via Electronista]

Rumor: Apple looking at buying Spotify… to incorporate it or close it? originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’ve been holding off on buying an iPhone 4 because you were waiting for the white version, you may as well give up and go black. Reuters reports that the white iPhone 4 has been delayed until spring of next year. If you’ve been paying attention at all over the past few years, you’ll know that’s only a few months before the iPhone 5 will likely come out, so waiting for a white iPhone 4 really doesn’t make any sense now.

Apple hasn’t given any reason for the delay, and the news seems doubly odd since the white iPhone 4 showed up in the update for Apple’s dedicated app for their retail stores this morning. Rumor has it that Apple’s manufacturers can’t get the iPhone 4 exactly the shade of white the company wants. Who else thinks it’s odd that Apple used to make just about everything in white, but the iPhone 4 somehow can’t make the grade?

[via macstories]

White iPhone 4 delayed until Spring 2011 originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 19:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The hottest toy in the UK this year isn’t a stuffed animal or a dress-up doll — it’s an Apple device. The top three spots on a list of most-wanted gifts in the UK were taken by Apple’s iOS devices, with 39% of kids and parents polled saying that iPhones, iPods, and iPads were wanted under the tree this year. Not that they need it — the same survey found that kids today also had 39 different toys and games to play with — more than twice as many as their parents had when they were younger.

The iPhone 4 comes in at the top of the list (naturally, contract included, it’s the most expensive of them all), followed by the iPod touch and the iPad. Microsoft’s Kinect system for Xbox and Playstation’s Move controller are also on the list, further down, and the Flip video camera makes an appearance as well.

Of course, these are wishlists, not actual gift purchases — just because kids want the iPhone 4 doesn’t mean Santa is going to shell out for it.

iOS devices top survey of UK children’s most-wanted gifts originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple is apparently going to give the App Store approval staff some time off over the holidays. But don’t worry, you’ll still be able to shop. It’s just that developers who are rushing to get holiday-themed apps into the App Store will need to make sure that they get their content approved before the holidays arrive.

According to Macgasm, the content lockdown has occurred at Christmas in the past. This will be the first year that Apple is throwing the Thanksgiving holiday in late November into the mix as well, ensuring that the App Store folks can get their fill of the U.S. Thanksgiving feast and watch lots of college and pro football. Developers won’t be able to make changes or submit new apps during the lockdown periods through iTunes Connect, the portal that devs use to coordinate app entries in the store.

There will also be a freeze in the Top App listings during each of the holidays, so developers might want to make sure that they’re at the top of the heap before taking a short vacation — they’ll get a few more days of App Store listing love that way. Developers are also reminded to pre-schedule any price changes during the freeze, as they won’t be able to adjust pricing for special sales during the lockdown.

App Store locked down for Thanksgiving, Christmas holidays originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just in time for the holiday gift buying frenzy, online retail behemoth Amazon has taken the wraps off of a new way to help separate your money from your wallet. A free new iPad app, Windowshop, optimizes the Amazon shopping experience for the device.

I had a chance to download and use the new app this morning, and I like the fact that it has been written from the ground up for the iPad. It only allows browsing in landscape orientation, which is fine with me, but might irritate some who prefer the more book-like portrait mode.

Upon loading the app on your iPad, you’ll immediately see columns of products arrayed on a side-scrolling screen. You can log into the app with your Amazon account, which then enables recommendations from the retailer and makes it way too easy to use one-click buying.

Performing a search in the new app lists applicable products by store — I did a search for “micro four-thirds cameras” which brought up results in Camera & Photo, Electronics, Books, Musical Instruments (???), and Sports & Outdoors. After scrolling the Camera & Photo store listing up and down with my finger, I found the camera I wanted to look at and tapped on it. A window containing photos of the camera, pricing information, details, reviews and more appeared in an animated swoop, and I could then tap and flick my way through information about the camera.

Above and below the item are small arrows that point to similar items, like a 3D lens that works with the camera or an accessory battery pack. All in all, it’s a very natural and smooth way to window shop for items that you may end up buying. Kudos to Amazon for developing an iPad shopping app that definitely shows a lot of design savvy. Check out a few screenshots below for an idea of how the app looks and works.

[via TechCrunch]

Windowshop from Amazon feels like a catalog on your iPad originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple hasn’t shown a lot of initiative on the gaming side of things (this past “Back to the Mac” event was the first time the company even mentioned Steam coming to the Mac, something even Valve has admitted is a huge deal), but apparently Steve Jobs still has somewhat of a competitive streak.

Former Microsoft exec Ed Fries (who I just talked with last weekend at BlizzCon, strangely enough) has told Develop the story of developer Bungie being bought by Microsoft, which was the event that turned Bungie from a high profile Mac developer into a studio that made Halo games specifically for Microsoft’s then-new Xbox console. Fries says that a very frustrated Steve Jobs placed a call to Steve Ballmer, furious that Microsoft had nabbed Bungie, and Ballmer then asked Fries to call Jobs back to “calm him down about the whole thing.”

Fries did, and the talk eventually spawned an initiative on Microsoft’s side to get some of their PC games ported over to the Mac. But as gamers know, Apple’s desktop platforms have never been very gamer-friendly, and developers still say that even with the switch to Intel, Apple still has a little ways to go to make the platform a solid choice for gamers.

I’d say the real catalyst in all of this is the iPod touch, more than anything else. Apple’s App Store was a real breakthrough in terms of letting developers release and profit off of their software, and the iPod touch specifically has been a real boon for gaming (which, you could argue, has helped drive the recent resurgence in Mac gaming, including the Steam for Mac release and a few other high profile developers embracing the platform). We’ll have to see if that happens with the Mac App Store as well — most of the issues with developers right now have to do with technical issues rather than a lack of distribution channels, but having an easy way to release and update software on the Mac certainly won’t hurt.

[via Ars Technica]

Report: Steve Jobs was ‘furious’ over Microsoft’s acquisition of Bungie originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Several Chinese laborers are reporting serious illness after being exposed to a toxic chemical while assembling iPhones. According to reports, the workers inhaled vapors of a chemical called n-hexane while working in a poorly-ventilated room.

An ABC News foreign correspondent gained access to the Number Five People’s Hospital in Suzhou, where the workers are being treated, to speak with them. They said that n-hexane was being used to glue and polish Apple logos on Apple iPhones that “…they assumed were not fakes.” The workers, some of whom have been hospitalized for half a year, state that they became dizzy and eventually were unable to walk. Most report continued pain in their legs.

in a similar story, manufacturer Wintek recently halted the use of n-hexane after workers became ill. Wintek makes touch screens for many Apple products. Affected Wintek employees also report chronic leg pain following otherwise successful n-hexane treatment.

Wikipedia describes n-hexane as a hydrocarbon that is often “…used in the formulation of glues for shoes, leather products, and roofing. They are also used to extract cooking oils from seeds, for cleansing and degreasing all sorts of items, and in textile manufacturing.”

It’s interesting to note that the Chinese manufacturer is not mentioned in the story. It’s well known that Foxconn workers assemble Apple iPhones, and that they have endured their own sets of hardships.

To the best of our knowledge, it’s unknown if this is about a Foxconn factory, a third-party factory sub-contracted by Foxconn to help meet the incredible demand, a counterfeit plant, etc. We’ll follow this story and keep you updated.

Workers allegedly poisoned while making iPhones originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been couple of rocky years for Garmin. They offered a GPS phone to compete with the iPhone, but it didn’t sell well. It was a good navigator, but not a very compelling phone. Then Garmin tied up with ASUS to bring an Android and Windows Mobile version of the phone to market. That pretty much cratered too, and now it looks like the Garmin and ASUS partnership will dissolve in January.

Now there are reports that Garmin will pursue the app business, and that may include an iPhone version. It’s probably what Garmin should have aimed for at the start. With Garmin out of the cellphone business the way is clear to develop apps for the new Windows Phone 7, iOS devices, and the Android phones.

The company won’t disclose sales figures for the phones sold under the ASUS partnership, but it’s a likely bet Garmin will be joining Navigon, TomTom, Magellan and others in the app store.

In the past Garmin has developed and sold products for Mac desktops and laptops, but support has been very spotty.

[via the Kansas City Star]

Garmin may have an iPhone app store offering originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When the new MacBook Airs were introduced, many were shocked to see a 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor in the standard 11-inch model and a 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo processor in the standard 13-inch model. Isn’t that a step backward? The previous generation had either a 1.83GHz or a 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo processor standard.

The folks at Macworld ran some formal benchmark tests on both the 11.6-inch and the 13-inch Airs, comparing them to their predecessors and even a 13-inch MacBook Pro. The results may surprise you. To begin, the Speedmark 6.5 score doubled when comparing the 13-inch 1.86GHz MacBook Air and the 2009 13-inch 1.86GHz MacBook Air (Speedmark is Macworld’s benchmark test suite). Most of the gains were made over drive-based tests, as the new Air’s flash storage was able to show off a bit. Duplicating a 1GB file on the new Air took 13 seconds; compare that to 69 seconds on the model from 2009. Likewise, compressing a 2GB folder was 21% faster on the new Air.

Other benefits include graphics improvements, despite the new Air’s integrated subsystem. The nVidia GeForce 320M in the current Air produced over 3 times as many frames per second while running Call of Duty 4 when compared to the nVidia GeForce 9400M that’s in the 2009 MacBook Air.

Processor-intensive tasks were also better on the current Air and the 13-inch model even out performed a 13-inch MacBook Pro when it came to drive-related tasks. Specifically, both models of the Air were faster in the file-duplication tests and compression tests.

There’s much more of course, and we recommend you read the full report. In short, flash storage is a huge benefit, the battery life is improved and the current line of processors needn’t make us cringe so severely.

Macworld posts MacBook Air benchmark results originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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