9to5 Staff

For all of you iPhone developers and wannabes, Apple’s having a "tech talk" in San Jose on Dec. 12th for your learning pleasure.

How about a little more notice next time, eh?

Due to overwhelming interest, we are pleased to announce that we’ve added an iPhone Tech Talk this Friday, December 12, 2008 in San Jose, California.
Learn about the tools and technologies you’ll use to create great iPhone applications, then work with the experts to optimize your code, refine your user interface, and apply the knowledge you gain from the sessions.
Whether you’re new to iPhone development, a seasoned professional, or an IT pro, you’ll find a session designed just for you. Plus, learn how to get your application in front of millions of users on the App Store.
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to hear from and work with the experts. The event is free, but space is limited. Register for this iPhone Tech Talk today.

How would you feel if you were given the opportunity to make $16 billion, in exchange for a 10,000 dollar investment, and you passed it up? This is the case with Stan Veit of Computer Shopper, who was offered a 10 percent stake in Apple early on in exchange for a $10,000 investment, and turned it down. While he tries in this article to act as though he isn’t upset he didn’t make the investment, you have to believe there is some regret.

Veit tells the story of his first encounter with the Steves which certainly has some comic overtones.

 Check out the full article here… its a very entertaining read.

Even though Adobe, Belkin, and several other companies have announced their intention to back out of January’s Macworld Expo in San Francisco, IDG World Expo, the company behind the conference isn’t worried.

A spokesperson for the company told The Industry Standard that Adobe "will still be actively participating in the event" and that "every year [IDG sees] a certain percentage of exhibitors pull out of the even for their own business reasons. In this economic climate, it shouldn’t be a surprise to see this."

The company goes on to state that this year’s expo will be similar in size to last year’s event.

See the full article at The Industry Standard for more.

How desperate are people not to get Vista?  Dell thinks they are very desperate.  People buying already razor-thin-margined Dell computers are now being charged $150 to downgrade to Windows XP (that’s 1/2 the cost of some of their more popular machines).  That is up from $50 that was charged last month.  Perhaps it is one of their best selling "features".

Maybe its time to offer all of their  machines with a no OS configuration, surely most people are upgrading from an old XP machine and can just transfer the license. (OEM licenses don’t transfer.

No wonder used XP machines are selling so well. 

Brain hurts

Surface meets the iPhone.  Check it out here.

Tomorrow, Netgear, at Barclays Capital Global Technology Conference, is going to have a few announcements.  We’ve been told that they have a specific new Macintosh related product that will get some airtime.

Anyone hazard a guess as to what it could be?  Might be big…might be small.  But we’ve been told, by an official source, that:

" I just found out from xxxxxx that there will be a specific Mac-related product announcement at the event"

Hopefully it is a fat ReadyNAS that comes at a reasonable price – and it is in the blue business color – we don’t trust the white consumer stuff anymore…

That is all….

I had a long talk with Bob Morris, director of platform enablement for ARM’s mobile processor group.  While he wasn’t able to mention Apple specifically, he did go into many reasons why a company like Apple would choose the ARM architecture over Intel (performance/Watt – sound familiar?).

He also left me with some internal Powerpoint slides which seemed to tell more of the story.

Read the Computerworld article

So the Walmart thing is still going on.  Bloomberg today confirmed (it’s hard to keep Walmart’s employee’s mouths shut it appears) that they will indeed be pushing the iPhone.  Interestingly and contrary to other reports, they do say there might be a $99 model:

Analysts say Apple may offer a discontinued 4-gigabyte version through Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart and sell it for $99. Apple currently sells two models at $199 and $299.

They go on to quote Shaw Wu:

“A $99, Apple-branded cell phone is inevitable,” said Shaw Wu, an analyst for Kaufman Brothers in San Francisco. “One of the key things Apple needs to do to drive broader iPhone adoption is to build a more complete product line” with low- end, mid-range and high-end products, Wu said in a Dec. 5 note.

Which means there is absolutely no chance there will be a $99 iPhone.  Ever.

Image from Macrumors

We were in the neighborhood (sorta not by accident) so we thought we’d drop in on the Gizmodo Gallery for a look around.  Word on the street was that there was some pretty impressive Apple prototypes of old on display from Frog Design.

Brian, Matt & Co. didn’t fail to impress.  While all of this has been seen before, it hasn’t yet been captured in blurry iPhone with dying battery in bad lighting.  With that..

Apple’s first stab at a tablet..there were and will be more.

More, slightly clearer picts below…

This is one of many Apple phone prototypes…

And the 20th Anniversary Mac.  We’d still take one…if it wasn’t bolted down.

You think your government is backwards and behind the times (and corrupt!)?  Well, it probably is, but maybe not as much as Egypt’s.  The NYTimes today covers the fact that Egyptian iPhones don’t have use of the GPS chip.  Apple modified its phone without any public acknowledgment. 

Mr. Gabr described in his e-mail message what he considered to be the faulty rationale for the policy in Egypt.

“From a technical point of view, this is totally pointless because Google Maps works flawlessly here — you can even get a clear snap (with accurate coordinates) of places you’re not supposed to see.”

As an aside, he said that months ago he “bought an American iPhone 3G via eBay” with full functionality. “Cheaper, earlier and without compromise,” he wrote, signing his note with a self-satisfied smiley-face.

Although, not a big deal in itself, the question has to be asked how far handset makers will go in order to appease governments.  There is a slippery slope.  If you scroll down a bit, you’ll get the summery laid out nicely:

“We may not know what the maximum impact of openness is,” he said. “But we do know that in the most closed places the worst things happen.”

Germany’s Munich Apple Store opened this week (Cool full page VR) to crowds usually reserved for Oktoberfest.  The store, at 1 Rosenstrasse, is the first of five retail shops that Apple plans to open in Germany.  The store itself, unsurprisingly, isn’t much changed from those you know and love, as the pictures below from ifoAppleStore and ifun.de attest.  Here’s a live webcam as well.  Oh, and hit up Apple’s official German Store page if you plan on being in the area.

We sheet you not.  Adage says, with a straight face, that Microsoft is pushing out a clothing line as part of its new ad campaign.

Microsoft Turns to Crispin and the Rapper Common for New Clothing Line
New branded apparel is meant to suggest Microsoft’s 1980s salad days.

It’s no surprise that Crispin Porter & Bogusky—the agency Microsoft is relying on to make it cool—had a hand in the line of urban geek shirts expected to hit select stores on December 15. Crispin conceived of the collection, the branding and many of the designs, as well as all the marketing materials, an agency representative said…

The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant once again called upon a celebrity spokesperson to help it gain some street cred, this time, in the form of rapper Common. He contributed designs to the collection, reminiscent of the 80s, a time when he and Microsoft both came of age.

The line features retro MS-DOS fonts and a Bill Gates mugshot tee. It launched this week with a bash in New York.

Microsoft calls it "a clothing line that taps the nostalgia of when PCs were just starting to change our lives…" one that’s made to "showcase the DOS days of the software company that now connects over a billion people."

The clothes are the latest extension of Microsoft’s "I’m a PC"consumer marketing blitz from Crispin, a response to rival Apple’s long-running "Mac vs. PC campaign" from TBWA Media Arts Lab.

First thing we did?  Check the calendar.  Nope, not April 1st.

Second?  dibbs on Blue T-shirt of death.

The iPhone’s best (probably) long term competition is the Android platform.  We’re guilty of being just a little bit interested in what those Google people are going to do with their platform.  A little birdy told us that some Netbooks would soon be arriving with Android as the OS.  But that’s for a different day.

Today, Android is definitely stepping up the "openness" quotient in their ecosystem by offering a SIM unlocked G1 phone "to developers".  It is available in the US with free shipping for $400.  Not bad really.

It will soon be available in UK, Germany, Japan, India, Canada, France, Taiwan, Spain, Australia, Singapore, Switzerland, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Poland, and Hungary.  Other countries will follow.

Note that Android Dev Phone 1 devices are not intended for non-developer end users. Since the devices can be configured with system software not provided by or supported by Google or any other company, end users operate these devices at their own risk.

Yeah, right.

Erica Sadun over at Ars found a little tidbit of programming joy in the form of an undocumented way to push iPhone video to an external TV display.

Freeverse, makers of Moto Chaser (iTunes link), took this information and got their application working on the external display in a few hours.   This obviously opens up the possibility for more gaming opportunities although, for many, the Apple Composite AV Cable on the iPhone/iPod touch is cost prohibitive.

The hidden libraries, documented below:

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2354974&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=ff9933&fullscreen=1

Want to learn a language?  Want to do it for free?  iTunes U has you covered (iTunes link).

Harshes on iPod at about 2:10. "Just a music player (this is a PODcast!)". "Its part of the reason we are in the situation we are in now".  He’s obviously very up on recent developments.

Don’t even try to sit through all of it.

var so = new FlashObject (“http://natalie.feedroom.com/bizweektv/player/Player.swf”, “Player”, “320”, “240”, “8”, “#cccccc”);so.addVariable(“skin”, “player”);so.addVariable(“site”, “bizweektv”);so.addVariable(“fr_story”, “844fc277b0fdc8dbf2fd68b00344c508df816ae2”);so.addVariable(“hostURL”,”document.location.href”);so.addVariable(“videoratio”, “43”);so.addParam(“menu”, “false”);so.addParam(“quality”,”high”);so.addParam(“allowFullScreen”,”true”);so.addParam(“allowScriptAccess”,”always”);so.write(“flashcontent”);

Also loves that he tries to talk slow to us, like we can’t…understand..people…who…talk…at…normal…speed..

From the Wall St. Journal Business Technology Center section comes the reassuring news that Barack Obama is indeed an iPod user.  The brouhaha started when Philadephia Philadelphia writer, Neal Santos, blogged that he caught Obama at the Gym with a Zune.  Unfortunately for the Zune community, it isn’t so.

We think we figured out where the problem was.  See, Obama was using the best iPod theft deterrent available to mankind.   Presidents-elect need theft protection too!

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thepartim-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B0012JCZYM&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrFrom the 9to5mac/toys section we bring you holiday shoppers the deal of the day.  A new 16Gb iPod touch generation 1 for $219.  That is about the same price as Apple sells its refurbished edition for and $80 (almost 30%) off of the original price.  It is also cheaper than the new 8Gb Model retail price. 

Inexplicably, the 8Gb Gen 1 is more at $235.

Remember Gen 1s don’t have hardware volume control, speaker, and have no capability for Mic input but are otherwise mostly the same as Gen 2 feature-wise.  The new iPods also have a processor that can be ratcheted slightly higher.

Recently, analysts noted that iPods were in short supply in Amazon and other retailers’ inventories.

Late 2008 MacBook Air users have been reporting grey horizontal lines across the screens of their laptops according to Tidbits. 

There have been slight variations in the description of the issue, but most accounts agree the lines are grey or white, horizontal or slightly angled, granulated or pixelated in appearance, and are very subtle. Overall the lines are said to give the screen the appearance of a piece of parchment or recycled paper. Also, the lines are said to appear at the initial boot; they do not develop over time. See what the lines look like for yourself in this photo.

Forum posters say that Apple has said there will be a fix in upcoming firmware updates.  It is not known whether the delay in base model  MacBook Air with HDD was because of this or a related flaw.

More information can be found on both Apple’s discussion forums and the MacRumors forums.

Wow, Just Wow.  If you live in Argentina and were peeved you couldn’t get your hands on one of those sweet, sweet Psystars, it is your lucky day.  For the other (Earth’s population-3) of you, disregard.

Check out the comparison below.  One good thing?  Matte screen ;-)

Apple’s Argentinian lawyers? Vamanos!

via Engadget

Compare nuestra Open iMac PRO Compare our Open iMac PRO
Modelo Model	OpeniMac PRO + LG 20 pulgadas OpeniMac LG 20-inch PRO +	20 pulgadas 20 inches	24 pulgadas 24 inches
Precio Price	U$S 1.710 U $ S 1710	U$S 2.165 (precios de promoción) U S $ 2,165 (promotion price)	U$S 2.650 (precios de promoción) U S $ 2,650 (promotion price)
Procesador Processor	Core 2 Duo de Intel a 3,0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 3.0 GHz 6 MB de caché de nivel 2 compartida 6 MB of shared L2 cache	Core 2 Duo de Intel a 2,66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.66 GHz 6 MB de caché de nivel 2 compartida 6 MB of shared L2 cache	Core 2 Duo de Intel a 2,8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz 6 MB de caché de nivel 2 compartida 6 MB of shared L2 cache
Pantalla Screen	Monitor LG con pantalla panorámica brillante de 20 pulgadas (visibles), 1.680 x 1.050 píxeles LG widescreen monitor with a brilliant 20-inch (viewable), 1680 x 1050 pixels	Pantalla panorámica brillante de 20 pulgadas (visibles), 1.680 x 1.050 píxeles Glossy widescreen 20-inch (viewable), 1680 x 1050 pixels	Pantalla panorámica brillante de 24 pulgadas (visibles), 1.920 x 1.200 píxeles Glossy widescreen 24-inch (viewable), 1920 x 1200 pixels
Memoria Memory	4 GB de memoria SDRAM DDR2 (PC2-5300) a 667 MHz (2 módulos de 2 GB) 4 GB of DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300) to 667 MHz (2 x 2 GB)	2 GB (dos módulos SO-DIMM de 1 GB) 2GB (two SO-DIMM modules for 1GB) Opcional: hasta 4 GB Optional: up to 4 GB
Disco	Serial ATA II de 500 GB a 7.200 rpm – 16 MB de buffer Serial ATA II 500GB 7200 rpm – 16 MB buffer Opcional: hasta 4 unidades Optional: up to 4 units	Serial ATA de 320 GB a 7.200 rpm 320 GB Serial ATA 7200 rpm Opcional: hasta 750 GB Optional: up to 750 GB	Serial ATA de 320 GB a 7.200 rpm 320 GB Serial ATA 7200 rpm Opcional: hasta 1 TB Optional: up to 1 TB
Unidad óptica Optical drive	Unidad SuperDrive de doble capa a 8x (DVD±R DL, DVD±RW y CD-RW) SuperDrive 8x double-layer support (DVD ± R DL, DVD ± RW / CD-RW) Opcional: unidad adicional Optional: additional unit	Unidad SuperDrive de doble capa a 8x (DVD±R DL, DVD±RW y CD-RW) SuperDrive 8x double-layer support (DVD ± R DL, DVD ± RW / CD-RW)
Gráficos Graphics	GeForce GS de NVIDIA con 1 GB de memoria de vídeo GDDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GS with 1 GB of GDDR3 video memory	Radeon HD 2600 PRO de ATI con 256 MB de memoria de vídeo GDDR3 Radeon HD 2600 PRO from ATI with 256 MB of video memory GDDR3	Radeon HD 2600 PRO de ATI con 256 MB de memoria de vídeo GDDR3 Radeon HD 2600 PRO from ATI with 256 MB of video memory GDDR3
Vídeo Video	2 salidas DVI, VGA, S-vídeo 2 DVI outputs, VGA, S-video Admite 2 monitores externos con resolución digital máxima de 2.560 x 1.600 píxeles y analógica de hasta 2.048 x 1.536 Supports 2 external monitors with digital resolutions of up to 2560 x 1600 pixels and analog up to 2048 x 1536 Opcional: Webcam con micrófono Optional: Webcam with microphone	Cámara iSight integrada Built-in iSight camera Salida de mini-DVI compatible con DVI, VGA, S-vídeo y vídeo compuesto (mediante un adaptador que se vende por separado) Mini-DVI output compatible with DVI, VGA, S-video and composite video (via an adapter that is sold separately) Admite un monitor externo con resolución digital máxima de 1.920 x 1.200 píxeles y analógica de hasta 2.048 x 1.536 Supports an external monitor with digital resolution up to 1920 x 1200 pixels and analog up to 2048 x 1536
Ampliación Enlargement	8 puertos USB 2.0 8 USB 2.0 ports 4 puertos FireWire 400 4-port FireWire 400	Tres puertos USB 2.0 en el iMac y dos USB 2.0 en el teclado Three USB 2.0 ports on the iMac and two USB 2.0 on the keyboard Un puerto FireWire 400 y otro FireWire 800 One FireWire 400 and one FireWire 800
Sonido Sound	Altavoces externos con un amplificador External speakers with an amplifier Salida de audio para altavoces y óptico digital Audio output for speakers and optical digital Entrada de línea y de audio óptico digital Line input and optical digital audio	Altavoces incorporados con un amplificador interno digital de 24 vatios. Built-in speakers with an internal digital amplifier of 24 watts. Micrófono incorporado Built-in microphone Salida de audio para altavoces y óptico digital Audio output for speakers and optical digital Entrada de línea y de audio óptico digital Line input and optical digital audio
Ethernet	10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit) integrada 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit) Integrated	10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit) integrada 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit) Integrated
Conexión inalámbrica Wireless Connection	Opcional Optional	Wi-Fi AirPort Extreme (802.11n) integrada Wi-Fi AirPort Extreme (802.11n) integrated Módulo Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) integrado Built-in Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) integrated
Accesorios incluidos Included Accessories	Adaptador de DVI a VGA. DVI to VGA. Teclado Genius y mouse Genius láser Genius Genius keyboard and mouse laser Opcional: teclado Genius Wireless Keyboard y Mouse inalámbrico Genius Optional: Wireless keyboard Genius Genius Wireless Keyboard and Mouse	Mando Apple Remote, teclado Apple Keyboard y ratón Mighty Mouse Apple Remote, Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse Opcional: teclado Apple Wireless Keyboard y Mighty Mouse inalámbricos Optional: Apple Wireless Keyboard and Mighty Mouse wireless
Lector múltiple Multiple reader de tarjetas Card	6 a 1 6 to 1	NO
Otros sistemas operativos Other operating systems	Opcional: Dual boot con Windows XP o Windows Vista Optional: Dual boot with Windows XP or Windows Vista	NO
Pruebas realizadas con XBench Tests conducted with Xbench
Descargue XBench versión freeware Xbench download freeware version