9to5 Staff

Two parts ingenious, one part hilarious, the new Ocarina iPhone Application is putting our late night infomercial hero to shame.  The app actually uses the mic port to detect air blowing into the devices and converts it to kick ass music. One note, while it is beyond awesome on our 3G iPhone trials, it doesn’t seem to work on EDGE iPhones – the speaker is too close to the mic. 

A little ‘Stairway’ (o noes!) after the break.

Introduction

Ocarina is the first true musical instrument created for the iPhone. Both experts and beginners will be amazed by this innovative player. Ocarina is sensitive to your breath, touch and movements, making it even more versatile than the original. Unlike other musical applications, there are no pre-compiled riffs so musicians will find unlimited opportunities for self-expression. Advanced options allow you to choose between diatonic, minor and harmonic scales. Or channel your favorite video game adventurer with Smule’s Zeldarian mode.

Also, like most Smule products, Ocarina is a social application. Tap on the globe icon and you will see and hear other Ocarina players throughout the world. The globe view will highlight the source of the music. Rate your favorite performances so that others may benefit from your judgment. Name your Ocarina if you want listeners around the world to identify your performances. With this robust application beautiful music is created, appreciated and shared.

Optimized for 3G phones; for first generation phones we recommend upgrading to the 2.2 firmware when it becomes available.

Who would have thought it? Businesses like the iPhone.  Will we see an Enterprise Halo Effect?

Besides Qik video streaming, currently the number one reason to jailbreak your iPhone is easy, fast, wifi tethering.  We currently use PDANet which takes about 10 seconds to get going and runs fantastically over Wifi.  You can even attach more than one computer and all of your Internet apps work (unlike NetShare).  The one downside is that it does wear the battery down pretty durn fast.  Not a problem if you just plug into your laptop’s USB however.

Back to the news at hand.  AT&T is announcing that they are going to probably make some sort of 3G tethering plan available.  Bluetooth?  USB?  Wifi?  No one knows.  However, what’s almost certain is that it will cost more than the PDANet’s $Free.99.

You’ll have to excuse us if we’re not excited.

What you see here is a fairly interesting video (btw, thanks Crunkgear). Someone has hacked a real keyboard onto an iPhone. Cool right?

Thing is, this is a glimpse of the future. Not the Macworld ’09 future, more like the WWDC ’09 type of future. The iPhone docking plug will kind of take a reverse role where it will now connect to peripherals whereas before the iPhone was the peripheral.

You’ll plug in a connector (or UWB if you are into that type of thing) into a monitor.   Keyboard/Trackpad/Internet of course will all be wireless.   Yes, the iPhone is your computer.  Your netbook.  In less than 1 year.  Cortex A8, PA Semi. 

note: No sources were used in making of this post. Just speculation of the purest variety..

AllthingsD (which means automatically blessed by Walt) does a review of the Blackberry Bold.  It pretty much meets expectations…for a Blackberry.  Big, beautiful screen, great physical keyboard, fast internet and email access and more bells and whistles all around.  But we can’t help but feel the dissapointment in the size and feel of the thing.

‘the Bold reminded me of my grandparents’ new Buick: handsomely polished and luxuriously comfortable, with plenty of extra bells and whistles. As much as I like the plush feel of this ride, it can feel as big as a boat when I need to park or navigate narrow city streets. Likewise, the Bold’s large size affords mobile extravagances like a keyboard I could use without looking down and a leatherette-covered back panel. But when tossed in a bag or even held in my hand, the BlackBerry Bold simply feels too heavy and too big.’

Sounds like somebody has been using an iPhone for too long and is having trouble with going to other devices wethinks.

http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/452319854

MacRumors is reporting that Steve Jobs sent one of his quick and dirty emails to a MacBook user who was having trouble with the new glass trackpad.  We are also having troubles with our glass trackpads as described. 

At first we thought they’d be solved by getting used to the form of the trackpad, but they continue.  Maybe Apple could employ some sort of Trackpad learning" to help us get used to these things.  We are not alone it seems as discussion boards are filling up with problems.  If you’ve had any issues, let us know in the comments.

Some people are even complaining about the click noise (no problem with that here!)

http://widgets.clearspring.com/o/48ff995c49a30ff2/49110dabd96d2ab7/490532f277debe70/54748f6b/-cpid/ffbd76980a525a

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm7JH1FT_yM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1]

Well that mystery is solved.  Sort of.  The big brouhaha over IBM’s departing blade server director, Mark Papermaster who was going to join forces with the PA Semi people at Apple and take over the chip making world?

Nope.

He’s going to be in charge of Apple’s iPod® and iPhone™ hardware.  I guess that is more fun than blade servers.  It is strange that IBM is suing as Papermaster’s new role shouldn’t affect IBM at all.

It also marks the departure of Tony Fadell, "father of the iPod".

From Apple:

Mark Papermaster Joins Apple as Senior Vice President of Devices Hardware Engineering

CUPERTINO, California—November 4, 2008—Apple® today announced that Mark Papermaster is joining the Company as senior vice president of Devices Hardware Engineering, reporting to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Papermaster, who comes to Apple from IBM, will lead Apple’s iPod® and iPhone™ hardware engineering teams. Papermaster has 25 years of product and technology experience, and was previously a vice president at IBM.

Apple also announced that Tony Fadell, Apple’s senior vice president of the iPod Division, and his wife Danielle Lambert, vice president of Human Resources, are reducing their roles within the company as they devote more time to their young family. Fadell will remain at Apple as an advisor to the CEO. Lambert will depart the company at the end of this year after a successor is in place.

“Mark is a seasoned leader and is going to be an excellent addition to our senior management team,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Tony and Dani have each made important contributions to Apple over the past eight years. We’re sorry to see Dani go, and are looking forward to working with Tony in his new capacity.”

Papermaster has a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Texas, and Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Vermont in 1988. He is active with the University of Texas where he is a member of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Advisory Council.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

Press Contact:
Steve Dowling
Apple
dowling@apple.com
(408) 974-1896

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxSOBXXZzGg&hl=en&fs=1]

For all of you that hoped to see updated iMacs and Mac Minis for the holidays, we have some bad news for ya.  What you see is what you get.  Apple confirmed to Macworld (the magazine) today that all of the Novemeber update rumors were false.

“Our holiday line-up is set,” Apple spokesman Bill Evans told Macworld.

Oh well, it never hurts to buy a big fat Apple gift card for that special someone and then let them go nuts after the Macworld event.

Oh, and no new products until January?  What ever are we going to occupy ourselves with?

The Obama campaign makes its case… McCain talks tech with Walt Mossberg If anyone sees any better videos, put them in the comments. As tech people, the candidates’ stance on technology issues is important to us.

Surprisingly, it didn’t go so well…

Gearlog via MDN

http://astore.amazon.com/thepartim-20

It was love at first sight with Drobo.  The smart hard drive enclosure was the (albeit more expensive than we had hoped) answer to our questions of "Why doesn’t someone make a smart NAS with good expandability and let me worry about getting the drives.  Make it have easy to configure setup and expandable while you are at it?"

Drobo has been getting a little better and better for the past year.  First a Firewire 800 version, then Droboshare, a stand alone Drobo NAS maker (Can control two Drobos).  Now Drobo has gone and become a platform with Drobo Apps.

Drobo is based on Linux and the developers have opened the platform for the development of little bits of functionality done by 3rd party programmers.  Currently there are about 30 apps.  Favorites include:

• Yoics – Remote access to your Drobo and DroboShare from a web browser or mobile device like the iPhone
• Firefly iTunes Media Server
• Web, NFS, Rsync and FTP servers

The Drobo development SDK is available in case you have the next great NAS idea.

Slightly annoying but also slightly instructional video here.

Props

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thepartim-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B000PDLZ1A&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thepartim-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B0012MF4G0&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

Didn’t get to go to WWDC on the company dime?  Missed all of the educational programs?  Got a few bucks left in the expense account to burn before the year is over?  Apple has you covered.  All three tracks of classes offered at WWDC are available for download from the iTunes store. 

Before you go reaching for your iTunes gift card, they aren’t cheap.  $500 each or $1000 for the whole set.

http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/video_player/view/default/swf.jhtml

I think the genius of Colbert is that he is either sarcastic or genuine depending on your point of view. I think. Maybe I don’t understand the other point of view.

NVidia says 8GB, Apple says 4Gb…how much RAM can you put into the new unibody MacBook and MacBook Pros?  Longtime 9to5Mac sponsor RAMJET has found the sweet spot offering up 6GB kits.

MacBook Aluminum:
The MacBook Aluminum uses a new high speed form of memory called DDR3-1066. The system maximum is 6Gigs with the installation of one 2Gig and one 4Gig SO-DIMM.

Non-Stacked IC’s: Ramjet uses a Non-stacked module for the 2GB and 4Gig module for the MacBook. The cheaper stacked IC variety of 2GB and 4GB SO-DIMM runs hotter and draws more power, which hurts performance and decreases battery life. Ramjet ONLY uses premium non-stacked chips.

That being said, the 4GB modules currently run at $600 a pop so this isn’t for the faint of wallet.  If that doesn’t scare you, why not upgrade that hard drive to 500GB while you are at it?

 Via Macrumors

Frankly, we had given up hope of finding a Firewire interface for our MacBooks without employing some insane soldering skills.  Imagine our surprise when we happened upon Pixela’s USB to Firewire adapter.  Before you rip your credit cards out, we have to break out the bad news…

It’s WindowsXP (like you’d run anything else?) only at the moment.   Hypothetically, that leaves Bootcamp and virtualization as options, but much too much trouble to get a Firewire port for most.  When pressed on whether they’d make Mac drivers, Pixela has said they’d consider it.  How about hurrying up with that decision…Apple, care to send a few engineers their way?  It isn’t like they don’t make any Mac software.

If you are still willing to plop down for this piece of tech, it is currently running $120 retail.

Via ZDNET

In case anyone thought that Apple wasn’t serious about designing its own chips, some news today might put another nail in that coffin.  According to Tom Krazit over at C|Net, Mark Papermaster, former chip guru at IBM and Vice President of Development, IBM BladeCenter, left IBM to take on a role at Apple. 

Apple’s former PowerPC partner, IBM, isn’t letting Papermaster go without a fight..

Mark Papermaster, until recently IBM’s vice president of microprocessor technology development, plans in early November to join Apple in a position that will see him working closely with Apple CEO Steve Jobs in what IBM believes is an attempt to expand Apple’s presence in the markets for servers and chips for handheld devices, according to the copy of a lawsuit filed by IBM against Papermaster. IBM is suing Papermaster to prevent him from joining Apple and divulging trade secrets related to IBM’s Power chips and server products, according to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

IBM issued this statement: "Mr. Papermaster’s employment by Apple is a violation of his agreement with IBM against working for a competitor should he leave IBM. We will vigorously pursue this case in court."

While Krazit thinks that Papermaster is heading to Apple for its Xserve products (which frankly would be nice), it is interesting to note that while his latest job was with the blade server division, he has a long history of chip development and authoring many papers on PowerPC architecture.

This chip knowledge would be much more valuable to IBM than his blade server management role.  Keep in mind that before PA Semi got bought by Apple a few months back, they were specialists in…wait for it…PowerPC designs.  Could Apple be bringing back the ultra-low power PowerPC for iPhone type equipment?  Why Apple is snapping up all of this PowerPC talent?  We checked his background.. Papermaster has very little to no experience in ARM design.

Walt Mossberg, always the big fan of Macs, has one gripe you’ll hear over and over again. There is no entry level, basic Mac.  Not even for you Walt, not even on Christmas… Yeah, we aren’t holding our breath…http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/452319854