iOS Devices

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.

We aren’t big gamers over here but we have to admit the Tap Tap line is a lot of fun. 

Today, Tap Tap Dance is out in its $5 glory (iTunes link).  Artists included below but more expected soon.

Oh, and our favorite: the NIN edition

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUzjdApQn7Y&hl=en&fs=1]

– Technologic by Daft Punk
– Zdarlight by Digitalism
– Phantom Pt II (Soulwax Remix) by Justice
– Stratosphere by Junkie XL
– Disco Lies (Remix) by Moby
– Midnight Madness by The Chemical Brothers
– Goldrush by Tiesto
– Compressor by Soul Magic Orchestra (Exclusive)
– Where’s Your Head At by Basement Jaxx
– Daylight (Exclusive Morgan Page Remix) by Sunny Levine

http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1079049304

Built on the back of the XBMC/Plex.app’s GPL’d hard work, Boxee is now rattling Apple’s cage just a bit harder.  Today they announced support for Netflix download service on all platforms except AppleTV (still working on that one).  They also added some other content sources:

• a new Hulu – looks more like hulu.com, enables you to login (so you can get your Hulu Queue), works faster, and playback should be greatly improved on Apple TV
• a new YouTube – new look, as well as higher quality video playback. some of these YouTube clips look pretty good on your 46” LCD
• a new CNN, Flickr, Picasa and Apple Movie Trailers – we’ve re-written all of these plug-ins to work faster and look better
• Boston Globe’s The Big Picture – it’s a great photo-blog, which we really like, and thought could be pretty cool in a 10-foot experience. if you’ll like it we could bring much more of these type of services (let us know!)
• integration with MTV Music – when you click on an album you’ll see a new option to let you watch music videos of the artist. check it out. MTV said they can give us higher quality videos, and we have a few more ideas for providing a great music video experience on boxee
• theWB – on our quest to bring more TV content to boxee theWB is the latest addition. it means shows like Buffy, Babylon5, Firefly, One Tree Hill and The O.C. are now available on boxee

on the bug fixing/polish front:

• support for skip forward, rewind in Hulu, CBS, etc. – this is a big one.. should work now. the code behind it is sooo ugly that yuvalt had to chew on anti-nausea tablets while writing it
• improved streaming of podcast, trailers and youtube videos – we rewrote the buffering/caching mechanism. Skip and rewind within video streams is now much better
• more boxee less crashee – it’s still alpha, and it will crash from time to time (we promise), but this version is supposed to be more stable. we are trying to weed out those nasty bugs – help us out by submitting bugs to support@boxee.tv or post in our forum
• faster scanning of local/network media – your movies, tv shows and albums should be identified faster. if you have a huge music collection then you could still cook a 7-course dinner, wash the dishes and read a telephone book before it will be done, but it’s greatly improved..
• new on-screen keyboard – as dave described when he reported the bug “typing a URL with our on-screen keyboard is a once in a lifetime experience. you do it once, and never want to do it again”. so we made it a bit better
• faster loading of the movies/music screen in case you have hundreds or thousands of albums..
• fixes and new look for to the lyrics and subtitles features – the new auto-scroll of the lyrics is arbitrary… but sometimes it works pretty well. fooled me the first time I tried it

BGR has the goods on a proported $99 4GB iPhone going on sale at Walmart on Dec 28th.  Sounds good initially.  You can still keep the  high ground with your 16GB monster while the unwashed masses go about with thir $99 – can barely hold the Star Wars Trilogy – handset.  More marketshare, more potential customers for apps, more websites designed for iPhone.  Woot!

But, as we’re sure many of you know, the two year plan that is required costs $80- $100 a month depending on the plan you choose.  If you can’t afford the extra $100 for an iPhone, are you going to be financially able to get on a $100/month plan?  Sounds like a poor financial decision. 

Perfect for the Walmart demographic?

Maybe, just maybe, Apple has some EDGE iPhone chipsets (sans GPS) laying around ready to go for another run.   Heck, even the old design was pretty solid.

So, maybe also at lower plan prices?  Even the old AT&T plan prices would be a gift for the holiday season.

Will a $100 giftcard to Walmart will be the "must have" gift this year?

After three long, painful months of waiting on edge, the planet can join together in jubilation, for Apple has finally started shipping their in-ear headphones. A lot has happened since these headphones were announced, including the downward spiral of the US economy, so the likelihood that people will decide to shell out 80 bucks for these is about as slim as the chance that they will stay in my ears. Nevertheless, its nice to see a delayed product finally ship, no matter how late it may be.  This looks to be a great product at a very un-Apple like great price.

Cinema Displays, check. In-Ear Headphones, check. Mini-Display Port to Dual-Link DVI… not quite.  Just in time for Eastern Orthodox Christmas maybe.

Oh and by the way, for some inexplicable reason the volume control doesn’t work with the iPhone.  Just because it has volume control on the device itself?  WTF

 The fanboy alert is ready for anyone who dares to defend this.

"Use of the iPhone’s accelerometer controls to launch grenades & the touch screen to aim at and shoot enemies."  -enough said. 

Brothers in Arms (iTunes link) is a new title from Gameloft.   We probably won’t buy it but the idea of launching grenedes using the accelerometer seems…um, awesome!

More screens below.

Two big stories today that I don’t understand.  Can anyone help?

1. Apple is suddenly warning its users to use Anti-Virus software.  Apple has always recommended anti-virus software – especially to enterprise customers.  They do it because they want Apple users to be safe and for Virus makers to know that their user base is protected. 

Do a quick search on Apple Docs and you’ll find a number of them.  Here’s one from 2002.  Here’s one from earlier this year.  There are plenty more.  This isn’t at all new.

6) Check for Viruses
Macs are far more less likely to get a computer virus like Windows PCs are prone to but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. If you don’t already have antivirus software, you may want to consider making a purchase. If you have the software installed, be sure to keep your virus definitions up to date—you can find the latest updates on your software manufacturer’s website.

 I mean didn’t they used to give out Virex with a .Mac accounts?  WTF.

2. Also, Mini DisplayPort is going to be licensed for free?  It is a VESA-approved open standard that Apple has no control over.  Displayport has 20 pins.  Mini DisplayPort has 20 pins.   The "mini" isn’t any sort of technology.  It is just an adapter.  It is like saying I am going to license mini-USB adapters.  4 pin to 4 pin. 

Apple may want to help other companies make parts for their hardware but they are by no means licensing the DisplayPort Technology.  Nor is there any technology in a DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort adapter.

Am I nuts?

Apple doesn’t air all of the ads they produce. MacBlogz found 7 that never hit the boob tube. Are there any others out there you can think of?

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEZOABjd2jQ&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]
See the rest on www.macblogz.com/2008/11/30/unaired-apple-commercials-the-definitive-list/

Microsoft is having a bad month. Redmond is losing share in Web metrics as well as in the OS market.  (Oh and people are buying up old PCs for the XP licenses)

In the broader operating system market (depicted below) you’ll notice that Apple’s OS’s (Mac and iPhone) now operate at over 9.25 percent of the market. Microsoft dipped below 90% for the first time ever in this survey.

Firefox also had a great showing, scoring over 20% of the browser Marketshare for the first time ever.  Safari and Chome also gained ground on Internet Explorer.

Joost isn’t brimming with fantastic content, though there are some interesting titles for sure.  However, it is now on the iPhone (iTunes Link).  Interestingly it works only over Wifi.  While this is a nice little application, it is most important because it means that slightly more exciting applications like Hulu and Slingplayer are both possible. 

This class of media broadcaster seems like a great pick for the iPod touch – since AT&T isn’t letting the video stream to be played over 3G.  Early reports day it is more than slightly buggy but its on the store – which is the big victory

So, it was bound to happen at some time. Linux is now booting on the iPhone.  It still has a long way to go in the "features" department but tinkerers will no doubt be interested in playing with the iPhone and its new capabilities.  Don’t expect a mainstream version any time soon…head to OpenMoko if that is your thing.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2373142&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

via Engadget
 

We’ve been hard at work finding good Apple-related deals for you guys over the past few months but thought we could really step it up a notch by getting one of the experts involved.

So, we went to the best deals site out there, Dealnews, and we’ve pulled only their Apple related merchandise into our blog posts.  From time to time we’ll put a post onto our frontpage content (if it is that insane) but it will constantly be updated (about 20-30 posts/day) on our new Toys site: 

http://9to5mac.com/toys

You’ll be able to comment on the products just like any other blog post and give your fellow 9to5mac readers some direction with their purchasing.  Perhaps you know of better deals out there or you have some positive or negative opinions about the products being offered?  Let everyone know. 

We’ll feature the top 5 deals in a block on the right side of the page and also have a link to 9to5mac.com/toys at the top nav bar. If you are a feed type of person, grab the feed here.  Other than that, get shopping!

Just a little ‘for instance’: $120 for a 1.5TB hard drive with free shipping

9to5mac sometimes may recieve financial beneft from purchased items through our affiliate programs and partner, Dealnews.

You are going to need some headphones and 5 minutes of wasted time here. Looks like this was filmed at famous Mac Store Tekserve in Manhattan and paid for by drive manufacturer Seagate.  See if you can count how many sharks they jumped.

Notable lines include: ‘I got more ports than a wine store do.’

Swissmiss via TUAW via Steve via Jim

According to Paul McCartney, who is obviously not too tied up with this stuff, the Beatles aren’t yet close to showing up on the iTunes Music Store.  That being said, he acknowledged that there were indeed negotiations between Apple Corps/EMI and Apple, Inc.  And they are continuing.  Sort of.  He’s not too bothered:

"We’d like to do it," McCartney was quoted as telling the BBC on its website on Tuesday. "We are very for it, we’ve been pushing it. But there are a couple of sticking points, I understand.

"Last word I got back was it’s stalled at the moment," McCartney added. "But I really hope it will happen because I think it should." 

McCartney said that EMI, which has acted as the distributor for the Beatles since the early 1960s, "want something we’re not prepared to give ’em.

"It’s between EMI and The Beatles I think — what else is new?"

The solo catalogues of all four members of The Beatles are available digitally, and fans are keen for the group, the most successful in pop music history, to follow suit.

"We have been working hard to secure agreement with Apple Corps to make the Beatles’ legendary recording catalog available to fans in digital form," said a spokeswoman for EMI.

"Unfortunately, the various parties involved have been unable to reach agreement, but we really hope everyone can make progress soon."

It would seem that most of the people waiting for the Beatles to go digital would have already used alternative means to put their CDs or LPs on iTunes and that holding out for an official Beatles release is becoming less and less of a priority.

We knew the new iPod touch had its processor cranked a bit higher (500MHz vs. 412MHz) than its predecessor and the results prove it.  The reason for Apple cranking up the juice on the iPod touch vs. the other devices (including older iPod touches) is still unknown but Apple appears to be intent on distinguishing otherwise almost identical hardware with software changes.  The iPod touch appears to be a gaming device first while losing other capabilities for navigation…

At the same time as giving the device more ooomph, the latest firmware is denying iPod touch users one of the major features of the 2.2 firmware, Google Streetmaps.  It was purposely disabled (because of the accounting – you have to pay for features?).  Not to worry jaibreakers, You can enable it again fairly easily.

Will we continue to see the lines diverge?

via engadget

That took a litlte longer than 24 hours but it’s a weekend so we’ll give the Pwnage crew a break.  There is now a jailbreak for the new 2.2 version of the iPhone and iPod touch. 

Of note, the 2.2 software updated the baseband on the 3G iPhone and the Dev team warns against Pwnage the regular old way on this one as you’ll upgrade the iPhone 3G to the new, less hackable baseband.  Instead, they’ve put together a plan which gives iPhone 3G owners a way to enjoy 2.2 Jailbroken without updating the baseband. 

What’s best for the Dev team is best for us.  Hopefully none of the reported problems with 2.2 pop up for you jailbreakers out there.

Update: OK go for it!

While we are excited to get our hands on things like Google Street View and Podcast direct downloads (no push notifications?!), the iPhone Dev Team warns us that upgrading an EDGE OR 3G iPhone to 2.2 will break the jailbreak and activation.  They expect to have an update out shortly to adress this. 

Now that we’ve performed our civic duty to warn jailbreakers, let’s look at what the new update has in store for us: