Appletell

Time Machine is Leopard’s built-in backup solution. Backing up every hour, Time Machine keeps all of your files safe on either an external FireWire/USB drive, or a networked drive like Apple’s own Time Capsule. Time Machine is a pretty limited service at the moment - you can only have it back up every hour, and it will not prevent backups from being corrupted when your laptop runs out of battery.

According to AppleInsider, Mac OS 10.5.3 is going to bring us more options and features for Time Machine. The latest build of 10.5.3 (9D29) seeded to developers shows an updated version of Time Machine which lets laptop users stop background hourly backups when using battery power. No doubt this update also includes some various “bug fixes” for Time Machine, and hopefully makes it more speedy at preparing backups. It should eliminate a lot of battery loss from backing up over a Wi-Fi connection, and incomplete backups when your battery dies.

• What is going to happen at Macworld 2009?
• PlayStation 3 firmware 2.53 available now, may make you yawn
• YouTube goes widescreen

The presence of a LED lit display in Apple’s relatively new MacBook Air has apparently brought the technology to the forefront of new machines.  However, it is not just computers as you would expect, LCD televisions are also jumping on the bandwagon.  There is expected to be a large 16.7 million devices using this technology by the end of this year compared to a measly 4 million in 2007.  One reason the technology is so appealing is because of its even lighting and low energy consumption.  On the other end, one reason it has been adopted so slowly is due to its high cost.

I don’t know about you, but I’m all for longer battery life in laptops.  Not only that, but LED lit displays take up about only half the space of a traditional CCFL backlight which allows for thinner machines.  Once the price falls a little lower due to higher production, we could be seeing LED displays a lot more in the future.

Via [MacNN]

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After a Japanese man’s iPod nano caught fire while recharging (see here), officials are investigating a possible defect in the MA099J/A iPod nano model. Approximately 425,000 iPod nanos with identical model numbers have been shipped between September 2005 and September 2006. Fortunately, no one has been harmed due to the fire, although a possible defect in the iPod nano model is being investigated.

Apple has not denied any of the statements, although has refused to comment further. Japan is requesting that Apple look into the problem and report back to the Japanese government once an explanation was found.

Lithium-ion batteries, used in many electronics such as laptops, digital cameras, and iPod nanos, have been known to be the cause of many fires in electronics and recalls across the world for quite while. Many of the fires reported are due to overheating incidents, which is a possibility for this incident as well, although it is still under investigation.

• Apple: Wait, no, stop, you don’t need Antivirus software
• Apple releases list of most downloaded iPhone games of 2008
• What is going to happen at Macworld 2009?

The MacBook Air wowed us all on Tuesday, and as the time passes, some specific details have begun to reach the Internet. For example, Apple’s claim of 5 hour battery life is much more reasonable than usual. Ars Technica achieved 5 hours with WiFi on and the screen at half-brightness while browsing the web and doing other productivity tasks. Also, the battery is not user replaceable. So you can’t swap out your battery on the fly. Instead, you will have to pay $129 for a new battery and Apple will replace it for you, free of charge. This can be done by mailing it to Apple in Cupertino, CA and wait 5 days, or just bring it in to your local Apple store.

With WiFi on, my MacBook Pro maybe does 2 and a half hours of battery, making the MacBook Air’s battery quite impressive for such a slim machine.

Via [Ars Technica]

• First German Apple store to open in Munich, Germany, says “Guten tag!“
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While most agree that Apple’s MacBook Air sure is a looker, there is some discrepancy on the internet about it’s usefulness and its price value. One of the biggest concerns raised was the fact that the MacBook Air has an integrated battery. The concerns are that the replacement is expensive, time consuming, or impossible altogether.

In fact, the replacement can be accomplished in as little as 3 minutes by a trained service technician, according to Apple. It probably won’t take much longer for an everyday user to replace, either, though it is likely that that would void the warranty.

The back of the Air is easily removed with a regular screwdriver, and from there the battery can be removed with the same screwdriver and tugged from the chassis. It is not soldered to the motherboard.

All in all this is great news for the MacBook Air and doubters of the product’s reliability.

Via [AppleInsider]

• Apple to offer netbook in 2009 despite Jobs’ comment?
• Apple airs tv ad claiming the new notebooks are the “world’s greenest family of notebooks”
• Apple releases QuickTime 7.5.7, addresses playback via Mini DisplayPort

I really didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I read this. Then I realized that I had laughed so hard that I was crying which solved my problem. Speaking of problems, as soon as the iPhone was launched people were worrying about the battery ‘problem’, how long would it hold it’s charge, how long could you use the iPhone for, how to replace it without sending it into Apple etc etc. Well here is one problem solved for you - you can now know when the battery will actually pack up on you!

Like most things in this cruel world, your iPhone’s battery must die someday. Unlike most things, it is easy to predict the exact date and time it will permanently crap out. To help you panic, er, prepare, try the iPhone Death Watch; simply enter the date you purchased your phone, and, based on scientific calculations, the calculator will provide an estimate for the day your precious device’s battery will bite the dust.

For those brave enough to test this out, here is the link. Madness? Maybe not as much as you think as there is a certain logic to their approach:

“Our methods for finding a date were simple: we used a fully-charged iPhone the way one typically would. That meant four phone calls, between three and ten minutes each; listening to the iPod on a 40-minute commute to and from work; checking Google Maps at one point when we were lost on the way to a meeting; and checking e-mail a whole bunch of times over both Wi-Fi and EDGE. The phone lasted about 30 hours. Counting in the four hours or so it takes to trickle-charge over a USB port, the iPhone gets about 34 hours, or roughly 1.5 days, per charge.“

Apple says that after 400 charges, the phone will hold 80% of a charge. Alas, they wouldn’t tell us any more than that. (When we inquired, they skirted the issue.) Regardless, we’ll push it a bit beyond 400 charges and say that you’ll really feel like replacing your battery at 450 charges.

Thus, 450 x 1.5 = 675 days.

So, if you bought your iPhone at 6 PM on June 29, 2007, your phone will kick the bucket on May 4, 2009 at 6 PM

Personally I think that you will have got fed up with the ‘old’ technology by then and will be hankering after the next ‘must have’ product from Steve and his team, so you probably don’t have too much to worry about.

• Apple releases list of most downloaded iPhone games of 2008
• What is going to happen at Macworld 2009?
• Apple: Wait, no, stop, you don’t need Antivirus software

Apple has quietly released some new information regarding the iPhone’s

user replaceable

non-user replaceable, iPod-like battery. Under warranty, Apple will replace the iPhone’s internal battery if it’s charge “drops below 50% of it’s original capacity.“ If you aren’t one for AppleCare, you can choose to pay the company $85.95 US to ship the phone out and get the battery replaced.

Of course, others may just decide to follow the iPod trend: By the time the battery is going, you just go buy the latest revision. If you aren’t too keen on spending even more money on your new iPhone, then you may want to check out this list prepared by Apple, with tips on how to optimize the battery’s charge.

Read [Apple] via [TUAW]

• Apple releases list of most downloaded iPhone games of 2008
• What is going to happen at Macworld 2009?
• Apple: Wait, no, stop, you don’t need Antivirus software