Appletell

I’ve always been a fan of iSkin’s Mac and iPod accessories. They are sometimes slightly more expensive than the competition in the iPod accessory area, but the quality of their products makes the price worth it. Like many other Mac and iPod related companies, iSkin have been showing off their latest gear at the Macworld Expo 2008.

They have demonstrated four new products:

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Picasa has been a popular and successful photo organizing tool from Google, for Windows, for a long time now. I guess Google never thought about bringing it to the Mac because, let’s face it, iPhoto has everything you need already. I was surprised when I heard that Google is going to launch a Mac version of Picasa. I’m not so sure this app will do so well - seeing as the majority of Mac users will either use iPhoto or Aperture to manage their photo libraries. And as for online photo storage, Flickr and .Mac seem to be popular amongst Mac users. But then again, they brought Google Desktop to the Mac - a direct competitor with one of Tiger and Leopard’s most notable features.

Duncan Riley of TechCrunch was lucky enough at the Macworld Expo this year to dig out the truth out of an unexperienced Google employee. It “is under development and will be launched later this year”. I guess I can’t complain about a product that isn’t launched yet. For Windows users, it’s probably the best application for free. But if you have the latest version of iPhoto, I can’t see a reason to switch.

Via [MacUser]

The MacBook Air is for most people a completely new revolution in computers. Its striking design is only .16 to .76 inches thick and it weights only 3 lbs. This is clearly a special laptop - something far apart from the competition. Some older Mac users that were around in the times of the PowerBook Duo may be thinking “why is Apple returning to the ultra-portable notebooks again?”. The MacBook Air is aimed at a very different market to their other computers in my opinion.

The MacBook Air is obviously not designed to be a primary computer; but a notebook that you take on airplanes and other travels - where all you need is an internet connection to browse the web and check your email. This is more designed for business employees more than average consumers - the price says that alone. The processor speeds are also a let down. This is of course because the computer is so thin and light, and also because there needs to be maximum battery life possible.

Macworld’s guide covers basically everything you need to know and ever will need to know about the MacBook Air. From questions of how the under-the-hood technology managed to be so compact - to questions about purchasing the notebook.

Via [Macworld]

I still think it is unfair that Apple is charging $20 for a software update that should have been free. Engadget has the rumor that if you bought your iPod Touch after January 1st, then you are eligible for a free software update.

“If you got your touch after January 1st, you should still be within the window of Apple’s price protection, meaning Apple’s standard policy for this stuff should allow you to update your touch apps and apply for a credit back on the $20 levy.”

Apple hasn’t confirmed anything on this subject yet - maybe they were expecting people to pay up the $20 because they thought they “had to”. Even if this does turn out to be true, it won’t apply to many people. The majority of people would have bought iPods over the Christmas period. All of those people are now stuck with a $20 fee for 5 apps that new customers and iPhone owners get for free. Instead of complicating this situation, Apple should just do the right thing and make it free to all of us. After all, we are the early adopters - and we should be treated just as well as new customers are.

Via [Engadget]

When Microsoft announced the new Zune’s back in November, Microsoft’s Robbie Bach made a comment that finally, the Zune was “a worthy alternative” to the iPod. Steve Jobs was questioned about that comment by an interviewer this week at Macworld. The response was very unexpected. Some may even say it was harsh.

“Was he inebriated?” Jobs asked CNBC reporter Jim Goldman, and then continued with, “Do you even know anyone who owns a Zune?”

Funny, I don’t know anyone who owns a Zune. Last summer when I went on a trip, I saw one man in an airport with one, and stared at it as if it was a relic. Obviously, Steve Jobs doesn’t even consider the Zune a worthy alternative, and is having a good laugh in Cupertino while the guys in Redmond are welcoming people to the social.

Via [Apple Gazette]

Yesterday, We reported on a cheat that would allow you to circumvent Apple’s time constraints on movie rentals. The cheat would allow you to increase the time before the rental expired by years. By setting your clock forward weeks, months etc., you could trick iTunes into giving you a lot more time to finish your flick.

This bug worked in both Mac and Windows, but the same day that Gizmodo reported on it, Apple apparently dropped a fix. Changing your system time and then trying to play movies now gives a “5103 error.” Of course with such a huge bug, I didn’t expect it to take very long for Apple to implement fix, but a few hours must be a record for them.

Gizmodo said they would continue to play around with their system time to see if they could find another way to trick iTunes, but I think Apple has gotten all the bases covered now.

Apple’s iPhone Firmware 1.1.1 was the big iPhone fiasco last year- it caused tons of reports of “bricked” or unusable iPhones. Anyone who had hacked their iPhone to use another network was at a high risk of having their iPhone rendered unusable. At the time Apple said that the bricking was not intentional, but was a side effect of the update on top of unsupported hacks. They also rightly said that they had no responsibility to fix it, but it seems that they may have gone out of their way to do just that.

iPhone Firmware 1.1.3 gives hope to all with bricked iPhones sitting on their mantles. Gizmodo was able to regain their jailbroken iPhone’s purity with only a few snags. The iPhone was previously hacked with AnySIM and they were able to restore it to AT&T and use the phone and data transfers.

The biggest snag Gizmodo ran into was that they had to restart the iPhone and re-register in order to get the registration to work.

Firmware 1.1.3 is free and available when starting up iTunes.

Read [Gizmodo]

Apparently Steve Jobs isn’t as nice as he would have you believe. Fangirl “Violet Blue” re-tells her experience of walking up to Steve and asking him for a picture:

So, I saw that Steve Jobs was just hanging out on the Macworld expo floor, not in conversation, not talking to anyone, and poking at his phone in the middle of the public so I walked over. Thinking a girl—in this case, a fangirl, me—will never get anything if she doesn’t ask for it, I lightly touched his arm and said “hi“. He looked at me, and I blushingly asked if it would be okay for me to ask if I could take a picture with him. [...] He told me curtly, flatly that I was rude. And turned his back to me. The small circle of people around him sniggered. That woman you see actually snort-laughed at me, and rolled her eyes.

Now the man standing to Steve’s right is Phil Schiller, and the woman is Katie Cotton, who is Apple’s PR head. She posted this picture (to the right) on her Flickr account, which is the only picture she was able to get of Steve since he declined to take one with her in it. Shortly after she was “blown-off” by Steve, Robert Scoble captured her on video sharing her experience. Whether or not her story is exactly what happened, we may never know.

If what “Violet Blue” is saying is true, it sort of changes my view of Steve a bit. Though if a random person came up to me and touched my arm and asked for a picture, I would be a little concerned as well. You can read Fake Steve’s response to the matter, as real Steve hasn’t commented yet.

Via [Tech Digest]

Many think that the iTunes Movie Rentals have too strict time limitations. You only get to watch your movie for 24 hours once you have started playing it. Clever hackers have developed a simple loop in Apple’s system, which allows you to rent movies, and keep them with plenty of time to watch them. The hack has to do with you changing the time of your computer’s clock.

Set your computer clock to the year 2009, begin to play the movie, and then set the clock back to 2008. You will then have one full year to watch your movie instead of a measly 24 hours. This is very handy if you need more time to watch the movie. This hack is a major oversight in Apple’s movie rental DRM, and will most likely be fixed in an upcoming iTunes verion.

Via [Ars Technica]

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]