Category: I-phone

The past few weeks have been fascinating for Apple watchers. The business press has been reporting that the brand, formerly a pariah in the buttoned-down world of corporate IT, is now being accepted with open arms. We had a story yesterday about the growth of Mac sales in the government and enterprise markets, and now the Wall Street Journal is reporting on how the iPad is finding a home in the business world.

In the WSJ Tech piece, reporter Ben Worthen notes how the iPhone was banned by companies when it first came out in 2007 for being inappropriate for the workplace. The iPad, however, has been quickly embraced by companies.

One such success story cited in the WSJ piece talks about Chicago-based law firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP. The company pre-ordered 10 iPads prior to the release of the device in April so that they could learn how iPads could be used with the company’s internal systems. The technology department at the firm now supports more than 50 attorneys with iPads, and they plan on issuing iPads as a less-expensive alternative to laptops soon.

TUAWWSJ says iPads gaining acceptance in corporations originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Last weekend provided not one, but two opportunities for me to do some upgrades to some “old” MacBooks to bring ’em up to workable condition. To start with, one client of mine wanted to get rid of an unused MacBook, so I decided to purchase it from her as a machine for training. The other client had one of the original 15″ Intel Core Duo MacBook Pros and doesn’t want to spend the money on a new machine. In both cases, the machines were running older versions of Mac OS X, had insufficient RAM, and had hard drives that were both slow and small. The following post is a textbook example of how you can bring new life to slightly old Macs by just spending enough money to upgrade the memory, OS, and hard disk drive.

For the MacBook, I decided that I wanted to max out its RAM, add more hard drive space, and speed up the hard drive while I was at it. I wanted to set up the machine with Mac OS X 10.6 and a Boot Camp partition running Windows 7, with an alternative external boot drive containing Mac OS X Server 10.6. The machine’s initial setup: 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Penryn) CPU, 2 GB of RAM, and a 160GB 5400 RPM SATA hard disk. I chose to max out the RAM to a total of 6GB, purchase a 500GB 7200 RPM drive for the internal drive, and procure a USB 2.0 bus-powered external shell for the existing drive. This MacBook was also running Mac OS X 10.5.8, and I wanted to update it to the latest version of Snow Leopard. Click “Read More” to find out how the upgrades went.

TUAWMacBook makeovers bring new life to a couple of old laptops originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TUAWNo Comment: Inception explained for Mac users originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The BBC reports that a web scam is affecting a number of iTunes accounts that are linked to PayPal. Amounts ranging up to $4,700 were reported on Twitter and through Techcrunch as being stolen.

All signs point to users falling for an online scam known as phishing. People will get e-mails that look similar to those from official sources urging them to change their user name and password for security reasons. They’ll be redirected to a fake website which collects the credentials.

The perpetrators then use the information to engage in further scams, such as the royalty scam we reported on earlier today. MobileMe was a target for phishing in the past. There are also new ways of ferreting this information being developed, such as tabnabbing that could even fool those who are familiar with these sorts of scams.

One of the best defenses against phishers on a Mac is to invest in 1Password. If you click on a fraud e-mail and it tries to get you to change a password, it’s going to detect the phishing site and steer you away.

Otherwise, use common sense. Neither Apple, PayPal or any legitimate company will send you an e-mail asking for personal account information. If you get an e-mail asking for your full name, Social Security Number, credit and/or debit card numbers, passwords, etc., it is always fraud. Likewise, never click on an e-mail link to access your account. Go directly to the web site itself. If you have a parent or child that is not web-savvy, double check to make sure that they have not fallen for any of these scams.

If you are a victim of this, contact PayPal immediately. The company told the BBC that it will reimburse any unauthorized charges.

[All Things D reports that Apple is denying any iTunes-specific security breaches, adding to the likelihood that the account credentials were phished. -Ed.]

TUAWThousands stolen through iTunes/Paypal scam originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TUAWiPhone-controlled 3D display, via ping pong balls and air pumps originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Piczle Lines is pretty much the perfect iPhone game. It’s a quick, pick-up and play puzzle affair, with a Japanese puzzle style that is easy to learn but gets twistier and tougher as it goes along. It’s well-polished, with a cute story mode and extra puzzle packs to play and buy as you go along. And oh yeah, it’s free to download and start playing.

You should probably be headed over to the App Store by now, but just in case you want to know more, Piczle Lines has you assembling (very low resolution) “photos” by drawing out various colored lines. The start and end of each line are marked by numbers saying how many line segments the lines take up, so your job is to connect the lines in just the right way, recreating whatever pictures you come up with.

Gameplay is simple and easy — the app tracks your movements very well, and undoing a line is as simple as tracing it back the way it came. The game starts out very easily, with obvious solutions to the puzzles offered, but it gets tough quickly, as vast line segments must be drawn exactly the right way to match up the numbers on either side. Piczle Lines is a lot of fun, very well made, and the fact that it’s a free download (with extra puzzle packs to buy if you happen to complete the main set of 20 puzzles) is just icing on the cake.

TUAWTUAW’s Daily App: Piczle Lines originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I guess with all of the money flowing around iTunes, sooner or later someone would have to try to steal some of it. Twelve people have been charged in the UK with basically laundering money through iTunes — they were allegedly uploading their own tracks onto the music sales service, then buying those same tracks with stolen credit card numbers. The fraudsters nabbed over $300,000 worth of royalties in just a four month period between September 2008 and January 2009.

The Register doesn’t note how the 12 (who come from a surprising number of various jobs and backgrounds) came up with this idea, or how they got caught, although there was an investigation underway by the FBI. iTunes wasn’t the only service defrauded — Amazon was reportedly used for some of the transactions as well.

The suspects are scheduled to appear on bail next month, and I’m sure both Apple and Amazon have taken steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Even so, out of all of the millions if not billions of dollars running through iTunes, if this $300,000 is all of the theft they need to worry about, Apple’s doing pretty well anyway.

[via MDN]

TUAW12 people charged in iTunes royalty fraud originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today we presents a collection of best jQuery plugins for August 2010.

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After many months of users having to resort to third-party or jailbroken apps to get push notifications from Gmail, Google has finally released an updated version of its iPhone app that now handily does that all for you.

The update — which is now freely available in the App Store — allows you to sign into one or several Google accounts and set up Gmail and Google Calendar push events, which work just as you’d expect. It’s not yet clear how consistently quick the app is at alerting you of new mail, though it seems to have a significant delay upon initial testing. So far connectivity to my Gmail account using the Mail app responds much quicker.

As you can see from the screengrab of the update, you can specify quiet times for notifications, which could be handy if you tend to get a deluge of mail in the wee hours of the night. Google customers rejoice: push notifications are finally here!

TUAWGoogle app gets updated with push notification for Gmail originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We looked at Naturespace Holographic Audio back in May of 2009. I liked it then, and I like it more now. Naturespace is a free iPhone app that plays back carefully recorded natural environments designed for listening on headphones.

The recordings are created using the binaural technique, where two closely spaced microphones approximate the distance between your ears. When you put headphones on, the results can be dramatic and hyper-realistic.

The free app has no ads, and comes with six audio environments which are very relaxing and can simply transport you to another place. With good headphones (I use the B&W P5) you get a 3D illusion, at times even hearing things that appear to be above or behind you.

TUAWNaturespace gets a welcome update for iOS 4 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you happen to believe John Mellencamp, the Internet is the equivalent of the A-Bomb.

“I think the Internet is the most dangerous thing invented since the atomic bomb,” he said last week at the Grammy Museum, as reported by Canada’s The Globe and Mail. “It’s destroyed the music business. It’s going to destroy the movie business.”

Oh, and that little doo-hickey called the iPod that happens to be all the rage? He listened to one of the remastered Beatles CDs, then to the same song on an iPod.

“You could barely even recognize it as the same song. You could tell it was those guys singing, but the warmth and quality of what the artist intended for us to hear was so vastly different,” he lamented.

And, Mellencamp is quite sure that rock and roll will go the way of the dodo since no one will listen to it any longer. It’s not like there’s a store where people could easily buy his entire music catalog, along with other rock and roll gems.

[Via Edible Apple]

TUAWJohn Mellencamp is not an iPod fan originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve had a few iPad stands that we’ve talked about on TUAW, and all of them do the same thing to one extent or another — they prop up the iPad so that you can view the screen without holding the device in your hand or lay it down on a desk.

EasyStand for iPad is a $19.99 device that is simple, well-made, and does exactly what it is supposed to do. The device comes in two colors, Metallic Black and Metallic Silver, and features two slots that are at slightly different angles. If the angle at which your iPad is being held seems too steep, just turn the EasyStand around and pop the iPad in the other slot. Both slots are felt-lined to protect your iPad, and there’s a tiny “finger notch” that makes pressing the Home button possible without moving the iPad from the stand.

I was initially concerned that the hard material of the EasyStand would make it susceptible to sliding on hard surfaces like desks and countertops, but found that there are four non-skid bumper feet included that can be installed on the bottom of the stand. With the feet installed, the stand is not going to move. The bumper feet also keep the stand from scratching wood desks if you happen to get something sharp trapped underneath.

TUAWTUAW review and giveaway: EasyStand for iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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1984 wasn’t just a landmark year for Apple, but it was also the year that Steve Jobs bought an aging mansion. Jobs lived in the house, originally built in the 1920s, for 10 years then rented it out. Since 2001, he’s tried to get the mansion torn down to build a new home, saying that it was ”
one of the biggest abominations of a house I’ve ever seen,” but preservationists stopped him. He even tried to give it away in 2005, but that didn’t succeed.

AppleInsider reports that Uphold Our Heritage has dropped its appeal of a demolition permit issued to Jobs in 2009. The group wanted two residents to dismantle and move the house two miles away, then open it to the public once a year, which actually falls in line with the original demolition terms from December 2004. However, the couple who wanted to do this had a number of stipulations for both Jobs and the town, the Menlo Park Almanac reported, and they later dropped their bid. Other attempts to salvage the home were blocked due to Uphold challenging Jobs in court. Historically significant parts of the home will be removed and preserved, per the 2009 permit.

AppleInsider produced a photo gallery of the house last year after a photographer noticed that the house’s gates, doors and windows were entirely open.

TUAWAt last, Steve Jobs may demolish old home originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s a new week, and with that comes a new batch of Apple rumors. This time we’ve got more hints about the forthcoming Apple TV (or is it “iTV”) and what could be a new iPod touch screen.

First, Digg co-founder Kevin Rose has been chatting up the new Apple TV. According to Rose, it will be launched in September and “change everything.” He says that we can expect iOS apps, a la carte offerings from the major networks (goodbye, cable bill) and MobileMe picture and video sharing.

The whole thing will interact with a remote control app on other iOS devices. He’s pretty much in keeping with Engadget’s report. We’re starting to feel quite secure that the future Apple TV will run iOS apps.

In other news, M.I.C Gadget has posted pictures of what it claims to be the front LCD and bezel for the 4th generation iPod touch. Labeled “Apple (c) 2010”, the part bears a small hole near the top bezel that could conceivably allow a front-facing camera to peek through. It looks like the real deal to us. A front-facing camera on the iPod touch wouldn’t be a surprise at this point.

There’s your Apple rumor round up for Monday. More to come.

TUAWApple rumor roundup: iTV, next-generation iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple continues to show tremendous growth in the enterprise and government markets, as Mac sales spiked sharply over the last three months.

AppleInsider cites a report from Charlie Wolf of Needham & Company this week that Apple saw a 200.8% year-over-year growth in government sales for the month of July. That’s a huge number, and significantly higher than the 12.1% of growth that PC sales showed over the same period.

Likewise, sales grew 49.8% in the business market during the same time period. Large companies out-purchased small businesses, picking up 98.3 more Macs than they did in the previous year.

Wolf hesitates to call the figures a pattern, saying “Whether the June blip was a one-quarter phenomenon or something more enduring should be revealed in future quarters.”

As for education, traditionally a stronghold for Apple, sales grew 14.7% during the same period. Recent reports show that college and university students in the US are buying MacBooks in huge numbers.

TUAWGovernment, enterprise Mac sales surge originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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