9to5 Staff

Hard to argue with this video (thanks).  Yes, there are some problems with iPhone 2.0.x.  Even if you have every application in the App store, 8 hours is a long time.

We are really hoping 2.1 fixes all of these issues :D

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1603632&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

…and we were upset with out 30 minute sync times !

Meanwhile over in Redmond, Microsoft has an all-new plan to wean a little extra cash out of people still afflicted with the world’s dominant OS – irritate people until they cough up.

What?

Well, plan is that the company is doing some more of its famed Office Paperclip magic, changing Windows Genuine Advantage (which no one likes because the only genuine advantage it offers is to MSFT)…anyway, so the new look to combating piracy of the OS the company spent years pushing at people in order to make it pervasive means those using pirated copies of Windows (why pirate it, when  you can simply not use it?) can expect their desktop wallpaper to be replaced with a black screen every 60 minutes.

Also, to remind you that executives at the world’s biggest and richest software company need a few extra treats for the table come the next shareholder’s meeting, "copies of Windows deemed to not be genuine will also have a translucent watermark above the system tray, which Microsoft calls a ‘persistent desktop notification.’ Don’t you just love double-speak? "Persistent Desktop Notification sounds so much more grown-up than the old traditional expression, "pester message".

Oh and the scheme will be focused on the product edition that is most often stolen, Microsoft says, which – c’mon everyone, you know which one it is – is Windows XP (the version people actually prefer using because it almost works a bit).  By the way, can you even get a legitimage copy of XP anymore?

Now, while home users and persistent pirates will probably be able to handle this low-level irritation, we over here at 9to5Mac can’t help but feel this to be just Microsoft’s gentle way to tell business users with pirated software that it just might be a good idea to pay for XP (which they can’t) or upgrade to Vista (which they don’t want to). Wonder how many Mac sales Microsoft’s all-new approach to protecting its (now defunct) OS investment will generate?

And what about those of us who don’t want Vista and can’t buy XP?

Just a thought, anyway…

Via: CustomPC

 The battle between Apple and Dell continues apace, and it’s not the low-cost computer company that’s winning the war as the world jitters on the edge of recession.

Apple isn’t just beating the computer industry in terms of growth and profitability (anyone mention that to Michael Dell last night?), but also seems set to kick against the prevailing economic climate, at least for now – and has grabbed now nearly half of the lucrative US student market.

A recent survey by Student Monitor found that 13% of all undergraduates expect to buy a new notebook this fall. "Of those, 43% say they plan to get a MacBook or MacBook Pro, nearly double those who said they expected to get a Dell notebook, and seven times as many as those who plan to buy from HP," Business Week reports.

One flaw – students prefer Dell’s (low cost) desktops – though even that’s a slim advantage as students prefer notebooks by a factor near five to one, the report informs.

With all the survey results indicating Apple’s in the ascendancy, the company seems set to deliver a record three million Mac sales in the quarter which ends next month – a new record for Cupertino and 800,000 more Mac sales than achieved in the previous same quarter one year ago. And with Piper Jaffray estimating iPod sales of eleven million and four million (we think more) iPhone sales in the quarter, Apple continues to make waves.

The good news doesn’t end there. Apple now holds 8.5 per cent of the US computer market, putting the firm in third place behind Dell and HP. "In the second quarter, it saw its year-on-year growth rate in unit shipments hit 38%. That’s three times the rate of growth at Dell, seven times faster than HP, and nine times faster than the PC industry as a whole," BusinessWeek continues.

"Students want to buy products that are cool, and the perception about Windows at the moment is anything but. The iPod tends to entice people from Windows over to the Mac, and the iPhone will only add to that trend," the report added.

Enterprise results seem promising, too, with Benjamin Gray of Forrester Research recently reporting that Mac adoption among business users has QUADRUPLED since 2006.

A separate survey released today reveals 32 per cent of US consumers planning to buy a computer plan to buy a Mac. "Apple’s reached the tipping point," said Paul Carton, ChangeWave’s research director. "Where the early adopters and the discretionary spenders were leading the charge, now as we go into the 30 per cent range [for planned purchases], the change to Apple looks permanent. What we have in the end, actually we’re sort of there now, is that buying an Apple is as normal as buying a Dell or an HP [computer] in America."

Dell, meanwhile, appears wounded, revealing it pulled in $16 billion in revenue in the last quarter for just $616 million profit. Apple in its last quarter saw profit of $1.07 billion on revenue less than half that of Dell’s, $7.46 billion.

With the company expected to release all-new iPods, including a lower-cost iPod touch next month, alongside MacBooks, MacBook Pros a much improved iTunes 8 (now with music subscription?) and – some claim – iMacs (we think Apple may have enough on its plate without that last upgrade) we’re pretty certain as we head into the closing months of 2008, and Apple’s first FY2009 financial quarter, we’re looking at more growth ahead in Cupertino – though recent failings in the iPhone 3G and MobileMe launch suggest the company may need to reinvigorate and motivate its tired, but hard-working staff.

The iPhone tether issue keeps coming in and out of conversation.  First, rumors said that it would be added to the 3G iPhone, then it never came.  Then Nullriver released Netshare for a day before it was taken off (it is a pain in the backside btw but works for emergencies).   Now someone says they have word that there are talks between Apple and AT&T on this.

Some screenshots would be nice (especially with header information), but apparantly a Gizmodo reader got a message from Stevo’s iPhone saying the following:

AT&T offers data plans for BlackBerry that include tethering for an additional $30 per month (a total of $60 per month for the BlackBerry+tethering plan).

It seems ludicrous that the same thing is not offered with the iPhone. I understand the desire to prevent tethering with the current data plan, but I am willing to pay more money to allow tethering! With such an advanced device, why can I not do so?

From "Steve" to their reader:

We agree, and are discussing it with ATT.

Steve

Sent from my iPhone

So take it for its worth…

…the email could have easily been made up or said something like "rocket powered tablet".  Going forward, can we get a little more info?

Google today announced plans to introduce an App Store for its forthcoming mobile platform, Android.

"The Android Market will allow developers to offer both free and for-purchase applications to people with Android based smartphones. Built-in support for the Android Market will be included in the Android OS," says Android Authority.

The store will be hosted by Google, which says the store will offer search, download and install facilities, and will also offer a feedback loop so users can tell developers about their experience with applications they download and use. Kind of like App Store app reviews in iTunes.

"Initial Android based devices will run a beta version of the Android Market that will only support free apps and will not provide full analytic data to developers," the report claims.

The Apple App Store has beeen a big hit so far even though it may be partially responsibe for some of the issues with the 3G 2.0.x software.   Google would be smart to follow Apple’s lead.

 We’ve all been waiting for it, we all know they’re in the pipeline, and while we don’t want to speed up time (cos you can’t roll it back) we’re looking forward to what September will see falling from the Apple tree. .. could these be the products that we see?

These are just the latest and greatest set of (made up) pictures showing you just what could be on its way, cf. Digg Founder Kevin Rose. You know – goodbye short and stubby iPod nano, hello return of the new longish model, with a sideways screen, ho yus…

So – is this the face of the all new iPod nano? Short answer, no, but it’s possible they aren’t that far off the mark. Being Apple of course, who really knows?

 Eagle-eyed Apple watchers may have grown a little misty-eyed this morning when they potentially came across an obituary of CEO Steve Jobs, published by Bloomberg – but don’t fret – news of the death of Jobs has been grossly over-exaggerated.

What actually took place was a simple error, as Cult of Mac reports, Bloomberg updated its obituary for Jobs yesterday, only to accidentally send the story to all the organisation’s subscribers.

"An incomplete story referencing Apple Inc. was inadvertently published by Bloomberg News at 4:27 p.m. New York time today. The item was never meant for publication and has been retracted," Bloomberg quickly warned.

That the obit was updated is also no cause for alarm – most major media outlets hold the obituaries for notable celebrities on file, presumably so they can all scramble to publish these faster than their competitors in order to secure web traffic – but these obits aren’t usually published until someone, erm, well until someone dies, basically.

And while Jobs’ known brush with cancer, combined with a recent illness got the gossip-mongers (including us) all in a tizzy in recent weeks, the publication of the obit does not in any way imply that there’s a senior job going in Cupertino. (Though given recent iPhone and Mobile Me cafuffles there may well be a less senior job going for the right person…)

Returning to the obit, Steve’s going to be fairly pleased, we guess. The Bloomberg write-up extends across 17-pages (not at all bad for such an incredibly private person). Oh and there’s lots and lots of gushing praise for the man in the report, here’s a two highlights, but you can read the whole thing here:

– "In terms of an inspirational leader, Steve Jobs is really the best I’ve ever met," Bill Gates.

– "Steve had these dreams of being one of the great people that has companies and makes products that change the world." Steve Wozniak.

And now we have you all thinking about Jobs, we though we may as well offer another re-run of his Stanford Commencement address. Enjoy:

Google has bought its open-source Gears technology to Safari, releasing a beta version of Gears for Safari earlier this week.

"We are excited to share a beta version of Gears for Safari with you!!  We would love for you to install it and test it and file bug reports so we can  polish it and find all the corner cases. ," said Google’s Jeremy Moskovich, announcing the beta software release on the Google Gears Google Group.

Google Gears is an open source browser extension that lets developers create web applications that can run offline, meaning, for example, that a user can access and work on Google Docs offline. It also improves the speed and reliability of web applications used off or online.

Google warns the software is a beta release only, and may break your browser – in fact, the company went a step further than that, warning, "Chances are it will break your browser. Please proceed with caution."

System requirements: Safari 3.1.1 on Tiger 10.4.11 or Leopard 10.5.3. A list of known bugs is available here, while the software itself is available for download here. The beta version will auto-update as new builds ship.

Gears already works on Firefox and Internet Explorer; Opera is working on a version for both its desktop and mobile browsers.

US fans of hilarious movie, "Tropic Thunder", should rush now to iTunes, which is offering the fake documentary "Rain of Madness", a parody of "Hearts of Darkness", the classic making-of documentary for "Apocalypse Now" for free. That’s right, this also hilarious spoof is available now for free from iTunes, though only in the US at present. Across the pond we live in hope – and have to put up with this YouTube clip. Enjoy!

As widely-expected, Vimpelcom, Russia’s second-largest mobile phone operator will join the largest carrier, Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) in offering the iPhone in Russia.

The smaller company confirmed the news this morning, saying, "Vimpelcom announced today it has signed an agreement with Apple to bring iPhone 3G to Russia, expected later this year.

With the Russian population pegged at 140,702,094, release of the device in the huge country is likely to be a major bonus for Apple. Company CEO Steve Jobs has reportedly suggested the company hopes to have deals in place for launching the iPhone in Russia and China before the end of the year. Russian’s have an average per person GDP of c. $14,700 (CIA World FactBook), but much wealth is concentrated in the hands of the emerging middle classes, who are already purchasing iPhones on the grey market in their thousands.

While mobile networks are patchy in some parts of the country – though not within the all important metropolitan areas, the demand for the iPhone in Russia is expected to be very high. Russia already has 600,000 iPhone users, who acquired the device on the grey market 

Reuters has previously suggested the iPhone 3G will launch in Russia in October, possibly amid another next round of country additions, like the ones due today. Apple expects to sell 3.5 million iPhones in Russia in the next two years, according to Reuter’s sources have also claimed. Analyst Eldar Murtazin  told Reuters: "Total sales by the Big Three carriers will amount to 3.5 million iPhones within the next two years."

Its thought Apple will introduce the device in Russia at a high price – c.$900,

We’re not completely convinced, but local reports claim Apple’s preparing to open up its iTunes Store in India – and suggest the company may have booked initial sales of up to 400,000 iPhone 3Gs…

The report could be based on crossed messages – Apple’s iPhone 3G launched in India last week, so in support of the new device a new iTunes Store for India has already been opened up – but this only offers iPhone applications at this time.

Indian newspaper the Business Standard expects the company to extend what’s on offer through the store, introducing music downloads, podcasts, and eventually film and TV shows. Apple sources dismissed the notion as "rumour and speculation", the report points out.

The iPhone 3G also seems off to a strong start in India, the report indicates, informing that 400,000 people registered for the device with Apple’s two carrier partners in India, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone-Essar.

“We have received applications from 200,000 prospective customers who have registered through SMS and on our website. We have begun issuing the handsets through 400 Airtel outlets and 19 Apple resellers across 65 locations in India,” Bharti Airtel’s CEO (Maharashtra & Goa), Manu Talwar, said.

While initial interest is very high, the newspaper notes that this is likely to wane after the rush, because the iPhone 3G costs much more in India than it does in most other countries – 31,000 Rupees (£386, $708) for the 8GB version, and 36,000 Rupees (£448, $823) for the 16GB model of iPhone. These prices are the unit prices, with carrier subscriptions extra.

Ah, Microsoft, but let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach. And you can’t reach a whole lot higher than the International Space Station (ISS), which NASA this week revealed had a few extra astronauts on board last month – a Windows Virus known as Gammima.AG. 

This virus, which affects Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP machines, was first detected on Earth in August last year before heading off on its unexpected journey into space. Gammima AG is widely used to steal log-in data for online games in the Far East, the BBC reports. And the virus was carried to the station on laptops infected by the virus.

Gets better: "Nasa said it was not the first time computer viruses had travelled into space and it was investigating how the machines were infected."

Probably because the machines on the Space Station are running an insecure operating system, known as Windows, we reckon.

Space news website SpaceRef broke the story about the virus on the laptops that astronauts took to the ISS.

Oh –  and it’s possible that some of us Earth-dwellers could have been infected by a computer virus sent from space: "The laptops infected with the virus were used to run nutritional programs and let the astronauts periodically send e-mail back to Earth," says the BBC. And the laptops used by astronauts don’t have anti-virus software installed. 

Image illustrates an iPod on a space shuttle, by the way…

Do you think Nasa should switch to Mac?

A major security vulnerability has been identified within the iPhone 2.0.2 software – a flaw which affects users who have password-protected the device…

The simple trick, "gives anyone full access to your Mail, SMS, Contacts, and Safari, reports a member of the MacRumors forum.

And the trick requires the technological skills of a five year old – essentially someone trying to access a password-protected iPhone simply needs to tap the emergency call button, and then double tap the home button and then…

An unapproved user doing this would land in the iPhone owner’s favourites area. If the iPhone has web addresses, phone numbers or email addresses stored there, then the invader can gain access to this information.

There’s a video detailing the flaw on the Gizmodo website. 

UPDATE: iPhone users who want to guard against this flaw have a really simple solution – in (Settings) General access the Home Button Settings, and switch double-clicking from ‘Phone Favorites’ (default) to iPod. Then all any space invader will gain is access to your music collection. Perhaps that should be the new default, pending a repair? (Thanks to reader, 9to5Noob for the suggest).

UPDATE 2: From a 9to5Mac reader (who cites MacRumors for this tip) in comment below: "a better option is to switch double-clicking to ‘Home Page’ rather than ‘iPod’ which then returns to the passcode entry screen rather than give access to the iPod contents. This is from another posting in the MacRumors forum so not claiming credit for this."

 Apple’s continued decision not to offer support for Flash within the iPhone may have some unintended consequences (other than the misleading ad slap the company received this week) – now Adobe will release beta software to make Photoshop Express work with a Windows Mobile phone.

Adobe plans the release of a beta of a Windows Mobile application (for Motorola Q9 Music and Q9 Global; Samsung’s Blackjack I and II; and several members of the Treo 700 series) which enables users to access its online service.

The application will work with the online Photoshop Express service, which is being rebranded Photoshop.com, which will soon be made available with an advanced service package offering 20GB of storage for a $50 anual fee.

It’s a limited success: the Windows Mobile application won’t have the image-editing features you’d expect, but will let users organise and upload images to the service from their phone.

Hey – but iPhone owners aren’t left in the cold – we can use the Shozu app/service to move images to Photoshop.com from an iPhone!

Microsoft has a big ass surprise for us on September 9th…too.  It isn’t rainbow iPods and it certainly isn’t lasers either.   You see…they are saying goodbye to lasers.  What could it possibly be? 

Update: the image in on Microsoft’s Website is called "hw_home_bluetrack_teaser.jpg"   and appears to refer to a new technology for using mice on various surfaces.  It is also the world’s largest selection of squeezable stress dolls.

So, will this be the moment that after 30 years, Microsoft invents something new rather than taking an existing technology and "mainstreaming" it?   Will it overshadow the iPod launch?

In any case, sharks will sorely miss their lasers.

 Update 2:  That "mystery" didn’t take long to solve….

Apple is beginning to gain sales from enterprise customers – even as corporate IT spending shrinks, the latest ChangeWave survey reveals.

ChangeWave has announced some of the findings from its latest corporate IT purchasing survey, findings which show the downturn in the US economy is "far from over", and point to an even greater pullback occurring in corporate spending. "At the same time, the Apple iPhone is beginning to gain traction in the corporate marketplace even as RIM maintains a big market share lead," observed ChangeWave Research director, Paul Carton.

While RIM dominates the corporate spending sector with 79 per cent of corporate buyers planning a smartphone purchase electing a BlackBerry, Apple continues to gain ground, with 17% of corporate buyers planning a smartphone purchase electing an iPhone, the researchers said.

"Apple continues to show considerable momentum in terms of corporate planned purchases – up 4-pts from previously," Carton observed. "In short, while recent ChangeWave consumer surveys have shown the iPhone 3G having a huge impact on consumer demand, the current results show the iPhone is beginning to gain real traction in the corporate market as well."

And ChangeWave’s research also confirmed the emergence of an iPhone halo: "In yet another positive for Apple, 19% report the release of the 3G iPhone has made their company More Likely to purchase Apple products in the future – only 1% say Less Likely. Thus, the 3G iPhone release appears to be having a positive ‘halo effect’ in terms of improved overall corporate purchasing intentions for Apple products in general," researchers said.

Despite the good Apple news, the survey of 1,947 respondents involved with IT spending in their organization and conducted August 11-21 revealed some gloom. "We asked respondents if their 3rd Quarter IT spending was on track to date, and the results were the worst we’ve seen in a ChangeWave survey," Carton adds.

Three-in-ten (30%) say they’ve spent "Less than Planned" – 3-pts worse than our May survey. Just 12% have spent "More than Planned." And 29% of respondents said their company’s IT spending will decrease (or there will be no spending at all) in the fourth Quarter.

Economic worries, slowed comsumer spending, high energy costs and instability in the wake of the upcoming election were all cited as inhibitors to purchase plans by the researchers.

UK advertising regulators have laid down the law, telling Apple not to repeat a TV ad for the iPhone – because it exaggerated the device’s internet capability. 

The offending ad showed a finger touching the iPhone’s weather icon, showing the forecast for Cape Town and then navigating through a Heathrow Airport area map, a Safari icon, hotels and stock market webpage.  The iPhone rang and the hand was shown answering it.  

During the ad, the voice-over said " You never know which part of the internet youll need.  The do you need sun cream part? The whats the quickest way to the airport part? The what about an ocean view room part? Or the can you really afford this part? Which is why all the parts of the internet are on the iPhone".  The ad ended with on-screen text that stated "iPhone. Only on O2". 

But the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) declared the ad to be misleading, because two viewers "believed the claim that all parts of the internet were accessible was misleading because they understood that the iPhone did not support Flash or Java, both integral to many web pages."

Apple argued that the aim of the ad was to highlight the benefit of the iPhone in being able to offer availability to all websites. Apple also argued that "Java and Flash were examples of proprietary software they (Apple) had chosen not to enable on the iPhone." 

The ASA considered that the claim  made in the ad would lead some viewers to expect Flash and Java support, and declared the ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1 (Misleading advertising), 5.2.1 (Evidence) and 5.2.2 (Implications). It must not be broadcast again in the UK in its current form.

Digital media is coming of age, and as it does a host of distinct, niche-based services are emerging focused on distinctive markets. And while these services may take some customers away from Apple’s iTunes, they clearly owe a debt to Cupertino.

Today’s big news comes from the BBC, whose BBC Worldwide arm has elected to launch its own ad-supported online music service, offering a huge collection of original BBC audio and video recordings. 

BBC Worldwide plans to begin testing the new service in November, and has its eyes on a January launch of the new service, which will offer music fans a range of items, from Old Grey Whistle Test recordings to Glastonbury Festival highlights – and the huge and historically important collection will be made available for free streaming online, a report claims. 

The material will also be made available DRM-free at prices based on those charged by iTunes, with the broadcaster hoping to offer a huge host of material in future. The BBC already works with Apple’s service, recently making hit comedy series, ‘The Young Ones’ available for sale through the service.

In the red corner, Universal Music UK, the company behind LostTunes and a few other clearly anti-Apple moves, has introduced its latest offering, this time a new soundtracks download store, called TheMusicFrom. This store offers soundtracks from over 200 Universal movies, sold DRM-free.

Despite imminent recession, the Apple-inspired tsumani in digital distribution seems set to continue, with recent research from StrategyEye suggesting that the sector will continue to grow, despite any future recession.

78% of broadcasters believe that their long term revenues will be affected positively by audience migration to online sites – "so we can expect much more from the BBC, Project Kangaroo, NBC et al. – and iTunes TV show sales seem set to grow into a valuable part of the overall matrix," a report explains.

Growth in online advertising and a focus on social networks also seems likely to become ever more important in the future development of the industry, which will also see increasing focus on mobile devices a la iPhone and device ubiquity, as seen in iPlayer.

The former feature is one of the many additions being bandied around for iTunes, which many industry-watchers expect will see a major update next month. While there’s nothing written in stone until Apple announces it, some reports predict the digital media service will finally offer some form of social networking between users (designed to boost film, app and music sales), as well as a much-discussed iTunes subscription service.

According to TechCrunch, Apple is on a tear with its 3G iPhone and will sell its 12 millionth this week. That means that it will soon match its whole 1st year in sales…in under two months.  Depending on the source, Foxcon is producing 150K iPhones a day or a slightly more conservative 800K/week.  Either way, that is a lot of iPhones.  And, (as Techcrunch notes) what’s even more interesting is that that means that the market for iPhone Apps is growing at an astonishing rate as well.

No Apple Store in the neighborhood?  AT&T locations too far to drive?  Never fear.  You can get your iPhone at the neighborhood BestBuy or BestBuy Mobile on September 7th.  No word on crazy financing with no payments until 2010 or if they will try to sell you that oh.. so… valuable extended warranty but knowledgable BestBuy associates are standing by to help.

You world traveler you.  You rack up the miles and $ with your international web browsing iPhone.  Finance is not impressed and is planning on cutting into your arugula salad stipend.

But wait!

AT&T is throwing you a bone.  Sort of.  As of today, you can juice up your international data minutes with some more prepay options.  The new 100mb and 200mb plans will filled up your iPhone with a few more megabytes of un metered data in places that weren’t covered before.  Your new options below.

20mb = $25

40mb = $60

100mb = $120

200mb = $200

Get an unlimited data plan SIM in the country of your choice?  Priceless.

Thanks Gizzy