Tech Industry

There’s a furiously healthy grey market in the iPhone in China — we wonder how it works? Turns out it is quite complicated, involving early morning queues at US Apple Stores, backstreet sales deals at stores in Chinatown, unlocking, shipping and later sale in China, where the devices actually get made.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Independent artists are finally making their long, slow progress onto Apple’s social network for music, Ping.

Ping, which launched after months of development without support from Facebook and with limited involvement of the labels, was originally castigated for offering a major label bias.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Forbes reports that Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is now worth $6.9 Billion topping Steve Jobs’ 2010 networth of $6.1 Billion. Interestingly enough, Jobs’ $6.1 Billion is one billion more than he had in 2009, meaning he netted a billion bucks in one year.  Not bad for the guy who made the Mac, iPod, iPhone and iPad.

At least you can trust Jobs with your personal info, kinda.

To gauge the author’s knowledge, check out this statement: “It’s speculated that the Facebook phone with run on Google’s Android operating system, currently offered by Verizon (Apple has a deal with rival AT&T).” – Clearly someone familiar with the mobile landscape in the US.

Apple’s attempt at 99-cent TV show rentals is off to a choppy start, with NBC Universal chief exec Jeff Zucker saying his network ain’t about to follow Fox and Walt Disney to rent movies via the service.
Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK-fnAnLX3o&fs=1&hl=en_GB]

Hey we’re just hearing this from the BBC so it must be true, but it looks like some of those iPhone apps out there aimed at kids may sometimes manage to fool children into making in-game purchases using a grown-up’s credit card. We also have Apple’s response to this.

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izNoF1SWtSg&w=670&h=401]

Intel’s optical connectivity standard Light Peak may not be a huge success once the company begins offering it to PC makers, but as a technology it could open the door to future furiously fast optical interconnects extending all across the gamut of the consumer and the professional/server markets, an engineer from an unnamed “top-tier” PC company said today.
Expand
Expanding
Close

http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:359744

The whole ‘kids wiping their identities when they turn 18 thing ‘ was a joke!

(anyone find an international/Flashless version? Hit us in the comments)
Expand
Expanding
Close

COMPUTERWORLD: Apple’s on track to deliver the iPhone on US carriers other than AT&T early next year, the latest reports claim, but at least one analyst suggests iPhone sales growth may have slowed down (while setting new records). And perhaps the iPad really is ‘magical’.

Read More

The age of future motoring is scurrying fast toward us, and it looks like the iPhone could be coming along for the ride, at least according to Mercedes and BMW, who showcased a pair of eScooters at the Paris motorshow this week, both of which use the iPhone as the sole driver interface.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple’s recent move to allow applications developed using Adobe’s Flash Packager for iPhone tool for CS5 has had some effect, but only a “muted” one, claimed Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen during that company’s Q3 financial call.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple creates amazing devices, sometimes you can’t help yourself and feel compelled to simply touch them, to feel their delicate electromagnetic chemistry shimmer under the contact with your skin. Almost like they’re alive.

No, this isn’t now, silly, but it sure will be a hallmark of Apple’s products of the future,
Expand
Expanding
Close

Speaking of the change-everything iPad as I seem to from time-to-time AT&T has some interesting wit and repartee for us — alleging there’s already over half a million iPads on its US 3G network — meanwhile the survey results are in and the iPad is (I can feel blushes in Cupertino) the highest-scoring product a leading consumer satisfaction index has ever tracked.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Here’s news for all you socialites out there — it appears Apple and Facebook chatted for over a year before the launch of Ping, and the talks gave us … nothing.

Recall when Apple boss Steve Jobs says Facebook demanded “onerous” terms?
Expand
Expanding
Close

The below chart is so telling, showing as it does Apple’s slice of mobile industry profits in comparison to its actual sliver of a slice of the mobile industry itself.

With this in mind, Canaccord Genuity today began offering coverage of AAPL stock, citing a buy rating and rather stonkingly high $356 per share price.

The analysts have astutely spotted that not only can Apple create innovative products, it also knows how to make money selling them.

Via: Apple 2.0 @ Fortune

Expand
Expanding
Close

COMPUTERWORLD: Apple’s Steve Jobs was excited at the Star Trek-like use of video in a FaceTime chat with Jony Ive when announcing iPhone 4 — but take a look at Apple’s recent purchases and a ride on the Apple rumor mill and you can’t help but see the jigsaw pieces falling into place that mean the science fiction future is here.

Read More

Adobe today updated its Premiere Elements and Photoshop Elements for Mac and PC.  Adobe is touting ‘magic’ in this upgrade saying:

“The Photoshop brand has been creating groundbreaking imaging magic for 20 years, and Photoshop Elements has been making that magic accessible to mere mortals for nearly a decade. The Content Aware Fill technology introduced with Photoshop CS5 is one of our most exciting innovations ever, so we’re thrilled to be able to make it accessible to photo and video enthusiasts in this latest Elements release.”

Content Aware Fill is a pretty awesome technology.

Abobe is offering a $20 rebate on each bring the price down to $80 each or buy both together for $150-$30 rebate = $120.

For an additional $50 Adobe offers a plus package which gives users 20GB of online space to share their media.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple’s leader Steve Jobs has often conceded his respect for Sony, but scored a home run around the Japanese consumer electronics company when he introduced the iPod, after which the rest is now history. Now Sony plans a fightback, running to the cold embrace of Google’s Android for a future iPhone competitor (probably).
Expand
Expanding
Close

Update: Microsoft has a dummy howto page up here.  The links don’t work but obviously Microsoft’s prepping itself

If you are quick and a Microsoft Volume License customer you can now download the Mac Office 2011 from Microsoft. It appeared on Microsoft’s Volume license page over night and readers have already downloaded their copies.

We’re not sure if this is a mistake or an early gift for volume customers.  It weighs in at 972MB (not GB!) and no license key is required. It’s labelled as “Office for Mac 2011 Standard”. However, it includes the full package (including Outlook and Messenger v8).  Look for:

SW_DVD5_Office_Mac_Standard_2011_English_MLF_X16-99088

The official release wasn’t expected until late October.  Some screenshots below (Thanks Jared!)
Expand
Expanding
Close

Led by the Apple iPad tablets seem set to become a big big business in 2011, with flash memory shipments set to triple as a result, according to iSuppli.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Say what you like about Apple, but when push comes to shove part of the reason for its success is that at heart, consumers love their Macs.

The table shows us the results of an American Customer Satisfaction Index survey which showed Apple totaled a 86, (up from 84) out of 100 for the past 12 months. The company has hit a new high in customer satisfaction.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Wow.  So MacSpeech is no more.  First MacSpeech ditched their own speech recognition engine for the market and technology leader Nuance in 2008.  Then, Nuance bought the Macintosh speech recognition program earlier this year, and the ‘MacSpeech’ brand was up in the air.  Now it is officially  Dragon Dictate 2 for Mac. (MacSpeech Scribe still exists)

Nevermind the name.  The product is solid.  I’ve been playing with the new Nuance Dragon Dictate 2 for Mac which uses the same best-in-class speech recognition engine as Dictate 11 for PC, and have to say this is a more than worthy upgrade.

The biggest difference for me, straight out of the box, is that you don’t have to use a USB/Bluetooth microphone.  I was able to set the program up to use my MacBook Pro’s built in mic.  At a normal distance it is able to recognize my voice in a quiet room.  If there is any kind of noise in your work environment or you need better accuracy, use a USB or Bluetooth headset.  A cheap but functional USB headset is supplied with the boxed version but you’ll be much happier with a $20 Plantronics from Amazon.

The accuracy with a headset seems at least as good as the previous version and probably better.  I usually go a few paragraphs between missed words, and that is often the result of my mumbling or using a word that no dictionary would recognize.  There is a 20 minute training program at the beginning but you’ll be impressed at the results even if you don’t spend the time training (I imported my profile from a previous version).

Another nice thing about this version is that it allows multiple microphone profiles per user.  I use the built in Mac mic in my office but a Logitech headset when I’m out and about.  I could add one of those in ear Bluetooth headsets if I wanted to look like a douche…but I’ll pass.

One other interesting new feature I’ve been playing with is the ‘mouse movements’ via speech.  You can actually move your mouse around the screen with voice commands (see directions below).

Overall, a great product gets even better.  Let’s hope they get to name parity with the PC version next time around.

Dragon Dictate 2 for Mac is available for $199 retail package or $179 for software download only and $49 for an upgrade from MacSpeech 1.x.

Expand
Expanding
Close