Appletell | Apple, Mac, iPhone, iPod | News, Rumors, Reviews, How-Tos

The New York Times is reporting that Apple has filed a patent for a new advertising technology that will make commercials impossible to ignore by freezing the user’s device and forcing them to interact with the ad (by clicking or answering a question) before the device (both video and music) will continue operation. The patent was filed last year and was made public last month.

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FourSquare is a social media application designed to bring people together in the real world, using geolocation and other social media apps. After you register (for free), you can “sign in” to locations around town and it’ll notify your friends (and other FourSquare users) where you are. If you register your Twitter or Facebook account, you can broadcast your location using those as well (it will also scan your list of friends to find out if any of them are on FourSquare).

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The Apple vs. Psystar lawsuit isn’t going well for the “open computer” maker, as the judge in the California lawsuit has granted all of Apple’s summary decision requests, and denied all of Pystar’s. Think of it as the Lightning Round of the judicial system; it means the judge felt there was enough evidence right now to support Apple’s claim of copyright infringement and a DMCA violation. He also supported their motion to seal.

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WriteRoom is a simple word processor; so simple, in fact, that all you can do is write because it takes over your entire screen, with your text floating in the middle of it. Other applications are hidden in the background. WriteRoom features two modes: plain and rich text. In the latter you can bold, underline and italicize, as well as set color and fonts.

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MacHeist, purveyors of the popular MacHeist Bundle, have a smaller yet sweeter deal available for today (Thursday, Nov. 12th) only: six applications available free of charge when you register with their site. As of this writing, the applications are free for the next 5 hours, which puts the expiration at about 11pm, EST.

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Look’s like somebody’s got some explaining to do. Microsoft’s Partner Group Manager Simon Aldus put his foot in his mouth and started running when he told the PCR website that Windows 7 was borrowing from OS X: “One of the things that people say an awful lot about the Apple Mac is that the OS is fantastic, that it’s very graphical and easy to use. What we’ve tried to do with Windows 7—whether it’s traditional format or in a touch format—is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics.

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I’m not sure why everyone’s doing their “Of the Decade” lists going into 2010, but here we are. As part of the wrap-up of the Aughts, Newsweek has assembled various “experts” to give what they feel were the worst predictions of the decade, and Fake Steve Jobs (Daniel Lyons) starts the list off with Sir Alan Sugar’s prediction that “The iPod will be dead, finished, gone, kaput,” made in February 2005.

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To use Adobe After Effects is to stare into the face of madness. And I mean that in the best way possible. The simplest way to describe it is as Photoshop for video; you can import it, add special effects, or even use it to create video from scratch. This program is so mind-bogglingly powerful that the fact that it not only exists but can run comfortably on my MacBook Pro is awe-inspiring.

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Lee Clow, the chief creative officer at that ad agency that created Apple’s iconic “1984” ad, as well as the “Think Different” and “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” campaign, has stepped down from his position at TBWA/Media Arts Lab. The Apple account will be in good hands, however, as the new CCO is “Duncan Milner, executive creative director on Apple and a TBWA alum since 1990.”

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I sometimes worry I’m too easy of a reviewer; that I dish out fours and fives by default, remember only the good parts of games, glossing over the rough edges, and just generally giving designers the benefit of the doubt. Then I run into games like Pitz and Pang, now out for the iPhone and iPod touch. It’s not that they’re bad games, it’s just that the controls are so wonky—for both of them— that I feel like I’m fighting with the interface rather than the game itself.

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