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- App Review: iBank Mobile
App Quick Stats
The developers of iBank, the robust alternative to moribund Quicken for the Mac, have gone mobile with their latest product. With iBank Mobile for the iPhone and iPod touch you can bank on the go, but probably not go it alone.
To be fair, there is no perfect personal finance manager (PFM) in the App Store. There are standalone apps like the cryptically-named iXpenselt, and cloud apps like Mint and Quicken Online Mobile — which unbelievably does not sync to Quicken for the Mac or PC.
Synchronization with the desktop is where iBank Mobile comes in. Certainly, it was a much improved experience over using it as a standalone application. Creating fake accounts, transactions, and categories using iBank Mobile for the purpose of review was incredibly time consuming. Having said that, once iBank Mobile is up and running, it follows the money pretty well.
Accounts
Left, the Home screen provides an overview of accounts and access to the spartan control scheme: Home, Spending, Settings, Sync, and New Transaction. The Spending screen shows categories and activity. Drilling down from Spending lists transactions sorted by category, each transaction selectable for details. Transactions can also be accessed by account.
The interface is straightforward and useable to this point, with one minor complaint. Accounts can only be sorted alphabetically, though they can be grouped in two lists: Primary and Other.
There is also an issue regarding general performance, at least on an iPhone 3G. Upon first accessing accounts, totals may appear as "calculating" until iBank Mobile catches up. Scrolling through transactions is a little sluggish, too.
Transactions
Creating a transaction is a guided process: Account → Transaction Type & Amount → Payee → Categories & Memo. Payee editing benefits from autocompletion, which is great, but lack of a "back" button through every step of the transaction process is not so great.
Split transactions work well, especially if you already have a list of categories, as there is no autocompletion here: select or create. Categories are best derived from the desktop software, which underscores an important point. Whether using iBank Mobile is a chore or a pleasure really comes down to whether or not you use iBank for the Mac. Syncing is where iBank shines.
Synchronization
Even if you don't plan on syncing with iBank, the passcode option protects your transaction data on the iPhone, while encryption is used during syncing. As for syncing itself, it just works. Via Wi-Fi, MobileMe, or WebDAV, setup is simple. Syncing more than 5,000 transactions took about five minutes, while normal syncing after setup takes seconds.
Summing Up: Bronze Award
As a standalone application, iBank Mobile is rather spartan; no online options, no bill calendar, no charts, no budgeting, just transactions and spending. According to the developers, customer feedback will be a driving force in updates, though direct download of transactions from financial institutions is a priority. For now, I don't recommend iBank Mobile as a standalone PFM, but then I don't recommend any standalone PFM application for the iPhone and iPod touch. However, I do recommend iBank Mobile as complement to the desktop product.
The value in iBank Mobile is tracking where your money goes as you spend it over time, like cash from an ATM withdrawal. That information then easily integrates into iBank for the Mac through the excellent syncing options. What you do with that information is up to you, but the first rule of personal finance is knowing where the money goes, and iBank Mobile makes that possible wherever you are.
Переслать - Apple, Foxconn Comment on Worker's Death
Yesterday may have been when Apple hosted its quarterly earnings conference call, but the company’s financial performance was somewhat overshadowed by the tragic death of a worker at an iPhone manufacturing facility. The factory, run by supplier Foxconn, is located in the Chinese city of Shenzen. Apple has previously come under fire for the labor practices of its Asian suppliers, most recently Wintek, which makes displays for the computing company.
The worker, 25-year-old Sun Danyong, was responsible for the final packing of a sample shipment of 16 iPhones. When one of said iPhones went missing, suspicion fell on Sun, and Foxconn management launched an investigation into the matter. Reports also indicate that a security officer, Gu Qinming, physically struck him during a confrontation regarding the theft. Sun denies the allegations.
While it isn’t clear whether or not Sun was actually found to be responsible following the investigation, he fell to his death from a 12th story window on July 16, an apparent suicide.
Foxconn spokesman James Lee admitted that the company’s management bore some responsibility for the incident, saying, “[H]is suicide, for whatever reason, in a way reflects a management defect on the part of Foxconn…especially over the troubles faced by our young employees.”
Apple also commented on the matter. Jill Tan, a spokeswoman for Apple based out of Hong Kong, stuck to the company’s principles and standards in a brief statement made to the Associated Foreign Press: “We are saddened by the tragic loss of this young employee, and we are awaiting results of the investigations into his death. We require our suppliers to treat all workers with dignity and respect.”
Sun’s death occurred only two days after a Bloomberg article went to press detailing the risks Chinese factories and their apparent disregard for labor law pose to Apple’s international reputation.
Market research you can use: Keep informed about Cloud Computing and IT Infrastructure. Learn more »
Переслать - Six Tips for Supercharging Safari
Although Safari improves with every version released, it remains difficult for one browser to cater for everyone’s needs. Firefox has successfully approached this problem through the use of Add-Ons, but Safari continues to lack any widely promoted form of plugin or extension functionality.
Despite this, I still remain a huge fan of Safari’s simplicity and speed and am reluctant to switch to another browser. Fortunately, several different methods remain for enhancing and “supercharging” Safari. Today I’ll be taking a look at six applications and tweaks for getting more out of Apple’s latest browser — from saving passwords more effectively to downloading video content.
1. Banishing Flash
Flash is a web technology that can be used to great effect for enhancing design, displaying video, and offering better typography. Unfortunately it is commonly abused and over-used, leading to a frustrating browser experience.
Click to Flash is a plugin for disabling Flash on every webpage by default, providing a simple placeholder instead. If you’d like the Flash content to display, just click the placeholder. You can also right-click and add a site to your white-list, always automatically displaying Flash content in the future.
Although this may seem like a fairly unusual plugin, it can dramatically speed up the loading times of websites. Flash content is commonly used for advertisements or unnecessary animation and, the small number of times you do actually want to view the Flash content, it’s only one click away.
2. Saving Passwords
The default password saving functionality built into Safari is fairly good, but far from perfect. First, it isn’t all that secure — anyone using your computer can login with a saved password. Second, there’s no way to automatically store a password when creating a new account on a website.
1Password is a Safari plugin which can help enormously with password storage, and remains incredibly secure. It allows you to store multiple logins for a site, set a “master password” to unlock all your saved details, and will automatically fill and submit login forms for you.
It’s priced at $39.95, but can save an enormous amount of time. A companion iPhone application is also available, so you can keep all your passwords with you on-the-go.
3. Glims
Glims offers a wide “cocktail” of different features to Safari and can improve many different aspects of the user interface. After using it for a few weeks, you may wonder how you ever managed without it. A few of my favorites are:
- The ability to add thumbnails to Google and Yahoo search results
- The addition of full-screen browsing capability
- Auto-closing of the download window (how many times have you needed to close that pesky window!)
- Automatically organize downloads by date
- Adds website icons in each Safari tab
Each feature can be turned on or off as you require. The only downside is that you may notice a slight slow-down in Safari performance. Nothing too critical, but it can be slightly frustrating at times.
4. Easy Tweeting
Although a plethora of desktop Twitter clients are available for OS X, there’s no harm in adding a simple way to tweet in Safari itself. After all, it’s probably where you first encounter a link or website worth sharing with your followers.
Safari 140 adds a basic plugin to Safari, which will auto-fill a new tweet with the current URL (automatically shortened, of course). After setting it up with your Twitter login credentials, it can save a huge amount of time. Safari 140 won’t replace a dedicated desktop client, however — it’s purely for posting quick links.
5. Block Those Ads
Many of us would enjoy browsing the Internet far more without the presence of advertisements. Sure, they’re a vital way for websites to generate income, but occasionally we all need an ad-free day.
Safari AdBlock is a simple, free plugin that aims to strip advertisements from websites as you browse. It works surprisingly well and can lead to a far less cluttered web experience.
AdBlock: Before and After
One welcome feature of AdBlock is its ability to clean up a page’s layout after removing the advertisements. This means that a site is not left with large, gaping spaces where sponsorship slots used to be.
6. Easily Download Videos
Much of the web’s video content is served through Flash and can be difficult to download for later viewing. Few plugins are better at assisting with this process than CosmoPod, which works with almost all sites serving video content.
Not only will CosmoPod download video content, but with one click the plugin can download the file, convert it to an iTunes/iPod compatible format, and place it in your iTunes library. Everything integrates with the Safari interface for a seamless downloading experience.
What do you use?
I would be interested to hear any plugins or tweaks you use for enhancing Safari. I firmly believe that it’s the best browser available for OS X, but am enthusiastic about finding ways to make the app perform better and make my life easier!
Переслать - Rumor Has It: Apple's Tablet to Be Verizon Subsidized
Now that the rumor mill has settled on October as a launch date for the still-unconfirmed Apple tablet device, it’s getting around to explaining just how said device will be sold to the public. At this rate, someone will be fondling a production model in low light and taking blurry cam photos by next Tuesday.
The Street is reporting (with a fair degree of confidence, I may add) that not only is an Apple tablet a done deal, it’s a deal done with Verizon. A source, who asked not to be named, speaking to The Street said that Verizon will indeed be offering a subsidy on the new device for customers who sign up for a mobile data plan to be used with it. Though the two companies will be working together to mitigate consumer costs, their relationship won’t be as chummy as the Apple/AT&T relationship, according to the source.
The report also asserts that the upcoming tablet has been in development for two years, but that Apple has been waiting to see if consumer desire to prod a screen with their grubby mitts would become more than just a passing fad before introducing a larger, mobile computing-oriented device. The continued success of the iPhone and iPod touch would seem to indicate that the multi-touch interface is here to stay.
The success of an Apple tablet will depend upon how useful consumers see it as being, and on what the perceived value of such a device is, considering the relatively high cost it will likely command. I’ve often expressed desire for an OS X-running tablet device in the past, but my criteria for wanting one includes it being Wacom penabled, so that I can use it for working directly with illustration programs. If, as has been suggested, the upcoming tablet uses only finger-based input and runs iPhone OS, instead of OS X, it will lose a lot of its appeal for me. Besides being better suited to e-reading, I’m not sure what else a larger format iPod touch would bring to the table that I really desperately need.
A Verizon subsidy could go a long way towards making the device more attractive, since I’d want such a device to be perpetually connected anyway. Problem is, wireless providers won’t be in a position to compensate consumers to the tune of $200 to $400 the way they can with the iPhone, since subscription fees for a data-only device will be considerably less than a voice and data plan combined. If this device is real, Apple will be treading a thin line between professional features and consumer cost, and could land themselves squarely in no-man’s-land as a result.
Photo courtesy of flickr user factoryjoe.
Переслать - Thanks, Apple: Wireless Broadband Exploding
Wireless broadband is growing like wildfire. Current estimates are that by the end of the year there could be over 250 million subscribers to HSPA connections (the tech behind 3G wireless broadband).
With over 26 million iPhone’s sold in the past 2 years, and sales of the iPhone 3GS booming, Apple is clearly playing a major role in the growth of wireless broadband tech.
GigaOM has the full rundown on the growth of wireless broadband around the globe.
Переслать - Updated Yahoo! Messenger for iPhone "Pushes" AIM Aside
Yahoo announced today an eagerly awaited update to Yahoo! Messenger for the iPhone that brings about support for push notifications, joining rival AIM. With the latest updates, Yahoo is continuing to push the bar (pun intended) and give AIM a run for its money (pun not intended).
If you are new to chatting, the three major players in the market are AIM, Yahoo and Microsoft (what market are they not part of?). While AIM remains at the top of the mountain (offering great integration for MobileMe customers), rival Yahoo is making it harder for users to stay attached to AIM’s service. For those who aren’t completely satisfied with what AIM has to offer, Yahoo! Messenger is a great alternative or supplement and is a bit more robust, with support for adding users of Microsoft’s MSN Messenger service.
Yahoo has been vocal about its dedication to the iPhone platform, and its support is appreciated and apparent. Unlike AIM, Yahoo! Messenger for the iPhone also supports sending/receiving photos via your built-in camera. It also exists as a free application, and isn’t cluttered with ads like AIM’s free counterpart. Several unique features of Yahoo! Messenger are also supported, including its popular “Buzz!” feature. In true iPhone style, you activate it by simply shaking your phone.
If you are someone who enjoys chatting with users who do not use either service, Yahoo! Messenger also features the ability to send messages to mobile users over SMS, saving iPhone users from SMS charges (similar to AIM).
Having used both AIM and Yahoo! Messenger on my iPhone, I’m a bit biased towards Yahoo’s offering. With better support for seamlessly moving between mobile and desktop use (actually forcing me to sign off my desktop), this keeps me from “losing” messages in one location, unlike AIM. During testing, I kept inadvertently leaving AIM “signed on” on my iPhone and messages were being routed there, instead of showing up in iChat, on which I was logged in as well.
Yahoo! Messenger for iPhone is a free download on the App Store. Check it out and let us know what you think!
Переслать - Microsoft Retail More Like Brick-and-Mortar Advertising Depots
Microsoft is counting on a turncoat to help jump-start its recently-announced efforts to compete with Apple on the retail store front. Former VP of Apple’s Real Estate department, George Blankenship, has been confirmed as a consultant attached to Microsoft’s retail efforts, which should bear fruit beginning this fall.
Blankenship is responsible for shaping the way Apple chose to place its inaugural retail locations, along high traffic routes in places with extremely high property values. The gamble was that being in upscale shopping centers would offset the high lease price of the store locations because it would attract bigger fish, or shoppers with more money to spend and more inclination to spend it.
That’s apparently the approach Microsoft wants to copy when setting up its own brick-and-mortar chain, which will obviously carry hardware from a variety of manufacturers, since it doesn’t make any computers. Those third-party partners might be interested to know that Microsoft’s apparent goal with its shiny, new, expensively placed stores won’t actually be to move product, but to showcase it.
AppleInsider cites an earlier leak as suggesting that Microsoft will be using the storefronts more as an environment for hands-on demos and product showcasing than as a place to aggressively sell product. I think it realizes that it will have a hard time staying competitive with the wide range of online and traditional retailers who sell its products, many of whom have much more leeway with regard to pricing than Apple generally allows its authorized resellers.
In a world in which ignoring advertising is becoming easier to do (TiVo, ad blockers, consumer resistance through overexposure), Microsoft might be on to something with a brick-and-mortar retail approach to raising brand awareness. The Apple Store, after all, is an iconic monolith in the mind of the American consumer, owing to the unity and uniqueness of its design. Let’s see if Redmond can come up with something equally evocative.
Переслать - Rumor Has It: New iPod Touch With Camera/Mic Already in Production
By now, we’re no stranger to rumors of a new iPod touch model complete with a built-in camera and microphone. Even without sources backing up these claims, it just seems like the logical next step for Apple to take with the device if it wants to keep providing consumers with an incentive to upgrade. The latest word is not only that these rumors are accurate, but that the device in question is already on the assembly line in China.
The source, a “well-connected” one talking to Wired.com, claims that circulating rumors about the camera and microphone are both spot on. They even confirm that the camera included in the new iPod touch (which was last updated at the beginning of September in 2008, making this the longest interval between model changes) will indeed be able to capture both images and video. And it will include an external mic, in addition to the external speaker and headset support included in the current iteration.
As Wired points out, this will make it an ideal device for use with existing Skype applications already available in the App Store. The combination of the two could make the iPod touch a viable home phone replacement for those who already only use their landlines for long distance anyways. They also note that combined with a Verizon MiFi, it basically becomes an iPhone without the cruddy AT&T network and attendant charges.
I’d long suspected that Apple was holding off on including these phone-like features in the iPod touch to differentiate between it and the iPhone in order to avoid cannibalizing sales, but my own experience has been that touch owners are much more inclined toward an iPhone purchase than not. I think Apple has realized this “gateway drug” phenomenon has little to do with hardware features and a lot to do with a constant data connection and cell phone features.
Which leads me to believe that they only reason they’re pacing the release of the rest of the iPhone’s extra bells and whistles to their portable media player platform is for differentiation between models, not across product lines. That means there’s hope for GPS integration in future versions, which I think we’ll see if turn-by-turn apps on the iPhone become a significant success. Also don’t forget that the iPod touch was actually the first to get built-in Nike+ support, so expect to see at least one surprise when this device does launch, which should be in two to three months, if Wired’s source is accurate.
Переслать - Apple Conference Call: Yes on "Pro," Cannibalizing iPods, No on Netbooks
Peter Oppenheimer and Tim Cook hosted Apple’s third-quarter fiscal 2009 conference call, the “best non-holiday quarter ever” for revenue, and the second-best quarter for Mac sales.
For investors, if you didn’t suffer through the conference call, transcripts will appear sooner or later, but within the dry financial data there were few interesting facts for consumers. I counted three.
Slapping the “Pro” moniker on the 13″ unibody MacBook was a brilliant idea.
While no figures were released, portable sales saw a 13 percent increase year-over-year, and an “acceleration of sales” after the new laptops launched at WWDC. The response to the 13″ MacBook Pro has been “very favorable.” The point was made that previously you had to pay $2,000 for a pro laptop, but now pro machines start at only $1,200. Before the transition, the white MacBook was the leader in consumer sales, but now the 13″ MacBook Pro is selling fast enough to constrain supply.
Apple is OK with declining sales of “traditional” iPods.
The company is “cannibalizing” itself — surely there is a better metaphor — by upselling consumers from Shuffles, nanos, and Classics to the iPod touch and iPhone, though how that would account for an overall decline in iPod sales of 7 percent year-over-year was not explained. Nonetheless, it was announced that iPod touch sales are up 130 percent year-over-year. Based on a comment about “45 million” iPhone OS 3.0 users, we can subtract 26.38 iPhones sold to date to arrive at some 18.62 million iPod touch users. Clearly the iPod touch is becoming as important to Apple as the iPhone. It wouldn’t be surprising if rumors of a new iPod touch ushered in a segmentation of models and a price drop, like the iPhone 3G and 3GS, probably at an Apple Event in the fall.
Apple still hates netbooks.
Tim Cook deflected a question about a device with a “larger screen where you can do more than on the iPhone” using the same talking points: slow, cramped, small keyboards and displays. While not wanting to “discount anything in the future,” the company does not “see a way to build a great product for this $399, $499 kind of price point.” Apparently people who buy netbooks often become “disenchanted,” and most want “full-featured notebooks.” That may be true, but considering Toshiba and Acer both saw double-digit jumps in market share last quarter, clearly there is strong demand for netbooks.
Let’s hope that if no MacBook mini is on the horizon, there will soon be a fabulous tablet device that will be the subject of next quarter’s conference call.
Переслать - Apple Q3 2009: MacBook Pros, iPhones for the Sales Win
Reporting results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2009, Apple shattered expectations with big profits boosted by the all-new lineup of MacBook Pros and the iPhone 3GS.
The company reported revenue of $8.34 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.23 billion, or $1.35 earnings per share (EPS). This beat consensus estimates of $8.2 billion of revenue and $1.17 EPS. For the same period last year, Apple earned $7.46 billion in revenue and $1.19 EPS. While this was good news, even better was Apple’s gross margin, 36.3 percent, compared to 34.8 percent last year. This is important because of concern that a down economy and price cuts on Macs might impact profits.
Not surprisingly, Steve Jobs was pleased. "We're making our most innovative products ever and our customers are responding," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We're thrilled to have sold over 5.2 million iPhones during the quarter and users have downloaded more than 1.5 billion applications from our App Store in its first year."
While the financial news matters to investors and employees, consumers interested in Apple products should be pleased too. The Mac, the iPod, and the iPhone all sold well for the quarter, but after reports of market share loss, the Mac was the big surprise.
More than 2.603 million Macs were were sold in the quarter, an increase of four percent over last year, just short of the all-time record of 2.611 million sold during the holiday quarter of 2008. This is especially good news after the second quarter of this year, which saw a year-over-year decline of three percent. Of those Macs sold during the third quarter, laptops outsold desktops two to one, continuing a trend towards portability that has been ongoing for years. Apple does not break down sales by individual model, but it’s very likely the 13″ MacBook Pro had an impressive debut.

Regarding iPod sales, numbers were in line with expectations. 10.215 million iPods were sold in the third quarter, compared to 11.011 million for the same period last year. Again, this coincides with projections of flattening sales, though it should be noted that “flattening” means more than 50 million iPods sold yearly. Also, it’s a given that some consumers are choosing iPhones over iPods.

As for the iPhone, total sales were 5.208 million for the quarter, counting both iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G sales, the former on sale for only 11 days of the quarter. The earnings report in October, after the fourth fiscal quarter ends in September, will be the first full quarter for sales. Since the launch of the iPhone 3G was in July of last year, it seems unlikely the iPhone sales will break the record of nearly seven million units sold during Q408.
Analysts will likely be asking for iPhone projections during the conference call, as well as probing for information regarding the rumored tablet. While Apple executives will “not comment about future products,” there’s always something to be found in their obfuscation. Check back for a summary post later to find out the details.
Переслать - Jailbreak: The Poor Man's iPhone 3GS
Having iPhone 3GS envy? Well, if you already have iPhone OS 3.0 jailbroken, here’s how to make your last-year gadget feel just a tad more like the new iPhone 3GS.
Battery Percentage
Many users were disappointed to learn that Battery Percentage is exclusive to the iPhone 3GS, and not a general feature in iPhone OS 3.0.
There are two ways to turn on the battery percentage in the jailbroken iPhone OS 3.0.
1. Through SBSettings
If you have SBSettings installed, simply tap on “More,” then “Extras.” There you will find Enable/Disable Numeric Battery.2. Through AsBattery
If you prefer to have the stock Battery Percentage toggle found only in the iPhone 3GS, you’ll need AsBattery. To install AsBattery:- Fire up Cydia.
- In its “Search” section, type in iPhone-notes. What you are doing is looking for the repository that AsBattery is hosted in. Install this repository.
- In Cydia’s “Changes” section, look for “AsBattery” and install that.
- Reboot your iPhone.
Once you’re back in, the battery percentage toggle will be present in Settings → General → Usage.
The magic that AsBattery does is it adds the string
gas-gauge-batteryto a file called M68AP.plist (if you have an iPhone), N82AP.plist (if you have an iPhone 3G), N45AP.plist (if you have an iPod touch 1st-generation), or N72AP.plist (if you have an iPod touch 2nd-generation).Video Recording
Jailbreakers have long enjoyed Cycorder, a free app that records video in MPEG 384 x 288 at 6—15 fps, depending on lighting conditions. Sure, it's far from the 640-by-480-pixel at 30 fps capability of the iPhone 3GS, but, hey, I’ll take some video over no video any day. It's better than nothing.
Voice Control… somewhat
If you're so inclined towards voice dialing, there's always Vlingo and Melodis Voice Dialer. Both apps work pretty well, though you can’t do neat stuff like ask your iPhone what song it’s currently playing (and have it reply!). One other notable voice-related app is, of course, the Google Mobile App, though it should be noted that this app does not do voice dialing.
Vlingo has one neat feature. You can dictate a status update for your Twitter or Facebook account.
Isn’t North Always Up?
Sorry, it’s a hardware limitation. But it’s not that bad. Do a search for “compass” in the iTunes App Store and you’ll find a plethora of apps purporting to show you the way to The Great North. Most, if not all, of these apps require you to be outdoors and to be actually moving, since they employ GPS to find out your bearing.
If you are in a built-up area, there is an easy way to find our which way north is. Fire up Maps and let it find your current location. Since all maps are drawn with north pointing up, all you have to do is do a visual survey and orientate your iPhone so that any roads around you line up with their counterpart on the map.
But if you're out in the middle of nowhere with no distinguishable landmarks, you’ll have to settle for sticking a compass on the back of your iPhone.
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Переслать - My Netbook: The iPhone
A few weeks ago my dad had some pretty hefty surgery. All told, the surgery itself was seven hours long, and by the time I left the hospital it was almost a 14-hour day. He was in the hospital for almost a week and by the end of his stay, one thing had become very clear: my iPhone had become the command center for my life and had squashed any thoughts I’d ever had of getting a netbook.
I’m not saying I don’t think there is a market for a device that’s larger than an iPhone but smaller than a MacBook — heck a few years ago when I was covering E3 for the gaming industry, I’d have loved a small device I could sit in a corner of the show floor and could bang out copy on. While researching this article, I took a gander at the Dell Mini 10v (the spiritual successor to the Dell Mini 9, only with a 120GB drive and larger keyboard with standard key placement) and had a few minutes of drooling and fantasizing about a small laptop to write on during lunch, or a "throw it in my bag and not worry if it gets stolen" laptop before closing the web page and muttering, “Really, Crumpy, what the heck are you going to do with that? This could be another $300 device that sits in a corner."
All Things Are Not Equal
It’s not a fair comparison to plop an iPhone down next to a hacked Dell Mini running OS X and proclaim them the same. However, while a netbook is a list of pros and cons when compared to a full-sized laptop, the iPhone is as well when measured against a netbook. For, me, though, the trade-offs are worth it.
I have a Whitebook as my primary computer. When Dad was in for surgery I had planned on working remotely on Elizabeth (all my computers are named from characters in Young Frankenstein) from the waiting room. With the amount of SMS messages, Twitter updates and e-mails I was sending out to concerned people, I ended up just moving files I was reviewing over to the iPhone and just worked off that. Since the iPhone had become Central Command that day, I could cut and paste updates very easily to the different mediums. It also helped that the work I had brought with me was a PowerPoint file I was reviewing and I could flip through that just as easily on the iPhone.
I’ve also found that, while I’m comfortable using my laptop on a desk, or propped up on a lap desk in bed, using it on my actual lap isn't very comfortable. By contrast, as odd as it may seem, I was very comfortable working on the iPhone in the uncomfortable chairs in the waiting room. I certainly wouldn't want to work eight hours on it, or do a heavy document revision, but, for flipping through a deck while SMSing, Twittering, and emailing, it was fine.
Being Productive
"This is a one time deal," I thought to myself on the way home. "There's no way I'm going to view the iPhone as anything resembling a laptop/netbook substitute." Over the weekend, while spending lot of time watching Dad sleep, I'd crack open Elizabeth and try and work on articles. A combination of the glare from his window, more uncomfortable chairs, and the bustling of the nursing staff made the laptop difficult to use. I downloaded QuickOffice to try out, and before I knew it, most of my article on Macs in the Enterprise was written. I was amazed how productive I was for the task at hand — roughing out a blog post.
Really, though, I shouldn't have been. Since the day I got the device, the iPhone has become more central to my life each and every day. While it doesn't have a decent-sized keyboard, a large screen, or the ability to do complicated tasks, the iPhone does have two things going for it no netbook has: an always-on Internet connection at no extra fee other than my standard AT&T cell/data package; and the ability to fit easily in my pants pocket.
Comfort and Convenience
For me there are the two sweet spots: the always-on Internet and small size. I'm willing to accept the limitations of the platform. While most of my posts for TheAppleBlog and my personal site pass through the iPhone in some fashion, the WordPress web interface on the iPhone isn't responsive enough to do the final edits and submit it — especially if there are graphics involved. For just creating content, I’ve had great success. More than a few paragraphs of this article were written on QuickOffice waiting for elevators and cafeterias to open. If I needed to finalize more articles remotely, that might tip the scales towards a netbook.
Until recently, I've always thrown my MacBook in the bag with me as I head to work. Unfortunately, using my personal Mac as my primary computer stopped being cute and was generating some serious issues for Corporate so I've had to stop using it. As more and more of my data and life exists in the cloud, combined with the ever-present connection the iPhone has to the Internet, I've started thinking twice about undocking Elizabeth and bringing her with me. I use Evernote on all my computers so I can tag and have access to all my notes regardless of what computer I'm on. I use Culture Code's Things on the iPhone and OS X to manage my to-do lists. I use Google Sync to keep my calendars synced through the cloud between iCal and the iPhone, and use the web interface at work to quickly add entries. Since QuickOffice can read from an iDisk, I've started thinking of getting a MobileMe account just so I can work off the same version of a document from any computer.
Portability Isn’t a Big Issue for Me
I don't travel enough to enjoy the benefits of the ultra-small size of a netbook. As I said earlier, if I were still covering gaming conventions where carrying around the a full-sized laptop all day would be grueling without a sherpa to lug the thing, or flying enough to want to work on the tray table, I'd be ordering a Dell Mini 10v and Hackintoshing it in no time.
Granted, It’s Not Perfect
That's not to say everything has been lollipops and rainbows. The iPhone is a closed device with no native file management. The advantage to QuickOffice is I can grab files off my iDisk (iDisk or Dropbox syncing across multiple computers is the one remaining temptation I have for a netbook). Getting files onto the device is often a multiple-step process, and I might need to think ahead and identify key files I’d need access to without the cloud. Also, the screen really is too small to have any sort of reference material up — I play D&D every Friday with my friends, and it’d be nice to have a small device I can read reference materials from.
These quibbles are minor, though. With my iPhone I can write, surf the Internet, e-mail, watch movies, manage my life, and play games from a device that fits comfortably in the front pocket of my pants. Major, long-form work is done on Elizabeth. Anything netbook-sized to me feels like one of the beds Goldilocks rejected.
Переслать - Apple and RIM Share Small but Lucrative Piece of Cell Phone Pie
Apple commands a relatively paltry share of the worldwide cell phone market, despite the success of their iPhone. That’s because, regardless of appearances, the field is overwhelmingly dominated by regular old dumbphones, which still outsell smartphones by a wide margin. In fact, Apple and RIM still only command three percent of global cell phone sales taken together, with all smartphones only accounting for only 13 percent of mobile phones worldwide.
The secret to the success of both RIM and BlackBerry? That tiny three percent market share accounts for 35 percent of the world cell phone industry’s profits. For the sake of comparison, consider that Nokia, the largest mobile phone maker in the world, made 46 percent of cell phones last year, and reaped only 55 percent of the profits. All of this is according to Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff, recently featured in the Wall Street Journal (subscriber content).
Modoff goes on to predict that this year, RIM and Apple’s share could grow to five percent, and give them 58 percent of total profits. As long as they keep making incremental gains, and stay atop the burgeoning smartphone market, both companies stand to make huge financial leaps in a market that still has plenty of room for growth.
The reason Apple and RIM make so much money off of their handsets compared to ordinary cell phone manufacturers has to do with the subsidies wireless companies are willing to offer on the devices. iPhones are subsidized, on average, to the tune of $400, while BlackBerrys generally get $200 knocked-off per unit. The average non-smartphone device only receives about $100 in subsidies by comparison, resulting in a comparatively tiny profit margin.
For both companies, the next step will be trying to wrestle service providers into offering low-cost alternative data plans in order to convert more regular cell users into smartphone owners. As demand for their products continue to grow, and as other phone manufacturers like Nokia start to see just how much more lucrative the smartphone market is, makers of the devices will begin to have a lot more sway when it comes to convincing providers to amend their offerings.
Just look at what Apple has already achieved with the iPhone. They’ve successfully fielded a device that cuts into the provider’s ability to make money off of games and application add-ons, navigation software charges, ringtone downloads, and so on. AT&T’s concessions to Apple in those areas represents a huge blow to the power wielded by wireless providers, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they could wrest away more control in future exclusivity dealings.
Photo courtesy of flickr user JazarellaMozarella
Переслать - A Closer Look At Apple's Icons
As a follow-up to my article on the hidden gems of Apple's design, and inspired by the comments that you, the readers, left, I wanted to take a closer look at some of the icons of OS X. In a follow-up article I will check out some of the hidden messages and "easter eggs" that Apple has hidden in its icons, but first, I felt it was important to revisit the history of some of these icons that we see on a daily basis.
Icon Garden
Any discussion of Apple's icon design should begin with a discussion of some of Apple's most infamous 8-bit icons from its original GUI. Apple used to feature large versions of these in its icon garden at 1 Infinite Loop, however at some point around 1998, Apple removed the icons. Featured amongst the garden were classic icons, such as the eraser, hand, stopwatch, and even Clarus the Dogcow. (Moof!)
Check out how the paint bucket is "filling" the grass with green and the paint brush and pencil have just finished "creating" the flowers.
Whoa! The eraser is erasing the flowers!
Similar Colors
Depending on how cluttered your Dock is, you may or may not have noticed that the most prominent colors chosen by Apple for its icons is from the blue family. This trend was originally favored in Apple's hardware (the original Bondi blue iMac, for instance). Associated with the sky or the ocean (a la OS X's original UI codename Aqua), the blue also evokes a sense of stability, trust and calmness. (It really does make the infamous Blue Screen of Death a lot less harsh than if it were red.) It wasn't until the release of Leopard that Apple shipped with a default desktop background that wasn't blue.
Evolution of Icons
Some icons in OS X have evolved over time. Occasionally there may be some rhyme and reason to changing icons, such as the inclusion of the video camera for when iChat AV was originally launched, or the major redesign of iMovie between iMovie HD and iMovie '08.
Other times, icons are seemingly changed sporadically, like the evolution of the iTunes icons. Originally every new version came with a new icon, but even that trend has wavered.
Other applications have also seen different icons with new versions, such as Backup, iDVD, iPhoto and Keynote. Though the Keynote icon has not seen a drastic change since Keynote '08, the version that ships with iWork '09 updates the date of the fourth-quarter report on the icon to Q4 2009.
Alternative Uses
Some icons depict their contents, such as the icon for a photo or a typeface. Other icons present users with dynamically updating information, such as the iCal icon which changes to reflect the current date. Other icons "change" by badges that indicate various information (unread emails, download speeds, etc.).
Another example are icons for exported vCards. If you have set them up in Address Book, they will export with their photo in the icon.
With the introduction of Snow Leopard this fall, users will once again begin to find new uses for icons, as the operating system allows users to preview media directly on the icon itself.
Bonus iPhone Icon
If you haven't had a chance yet to take your iPhone or iPod touch into Starbucks, when you do, you'll notice a new icon in your iTunes Store app. Specifically the Starbucks icon, and it is the only navbar icon on the device that exists in full color and not the usual masked blue color as typically seen.
Have you noticed any other unique or interesting icon changes or features?
Переслать - Hands-on With Microsoft's New Document Connection Tool
In my article Macs in the Enterprise: A Firsthand Tale, I mentioned the hardship I was having dealing with editing documents directly from a SharePoint site.
As a result, I can only perform the most basic of tasks. I can upload and approve documents, but I can't edit a document directly on the server as I can if I'm accessing the library on Internet Explorer and a Microsoft SharePoint-compatible application. It's kind of a pain downloading and re-uploading documents when the changes are relatively minor. Later this year, Microsoft is planning on adding the ability for Office 2008 to interact directly with SharePoint, so that might help.
That functionality was part of the recently-released Service Pack 2 for Office 2008. Specifically, you can now check out, edit, and check in documents directly on a SharePoint site. I had a few moments today to test it out and here’s my report from an hour or so of testing.
Before I get too far into the SharePoint tools, I wanted to talk about the speed increases. I have a 2006 MacBook with 2GB of RAM. Even running the latest version of Office 2008, my load times were fairly long. I’ve noticed a significant improvement with SP2. I didn’t do any time tests, but they feel about half what they were. They certainly patched in more snappy.
Without getting into the PC/Mac debate too much, I’ll just say how Microsoft has integrated SharePoint within Office 2007 for the PC is amazing — I can even launch workflows on documents. The Document Connection Tool, however, earns an enthusiastic “Eh, well, it’s not bad.” Granted, I can finally edit a document on the site without jumping through a lot of hoops, I still can’t manage workflows and approve documents for publication. It’s not a big omission; I can do those just fine from the browser.
While the Document Connection Tool is a standalone program, you can access it from the File menu in Word and PowerPoint (oddly, I did not see the option in Excel).
The Open From Document Connection Screen
The first time you launch the program, you’ll be greated with a blank window. Choose “Connect to a SharePoint Site…”
A blank Document Connection Screen
Enter in your SharePoint info.
Entering in your SharePoint information
You can also connect to an Office Live Workspace (an online collaboration tool similar to, but not exactly like, Google Docs). Regardless of which you connect to, you’ll manage your documents in this screen (for Corporate Security reasons, I’m showing the connection to my personal Office Live Workspace, not my company’s SharePoint site).
Managing Documents
You manage documents in either location similarly. The biggest difference is in SharePoint you click “Check Out” to edit a document; in Office Live you click “Edit.” In terms of working with existing workspaces in Office Live, the Document Connection Tool is adequate. When it comes to managing those workspaces, it’s not that great. While I can upload a new document to an Office Live workspace (its version of folders), it doesn’t appear I can create new workspaces or delete documents (the “discard” button is grayed out).
Also, these tools seem to assume you have an Internet connection. There doesn’t appear to be any sort of offline syncing similar to Google Gears — while the press release claims offline document caching, I haven’t seen where the cache files are kept, and the only way I’ve been able to open a cached file is from the Recents menu. However, that’s from testing with Office Live, I didn’t test with my production documents on my SharePoint site.
While the Document Connection Tool is a good first step, there are a few things I’d like to see added: the ability to approve documents and manage workflows on a SharePoint site, and the ability to check out a document from both SharePoint and Office Live for offline editing — or make it clearer where I can find them.
Переслать - Blu-Ray Direct Control Coming to iPhone and iPod Touch
The stars must be in alignment, because I only just finished watching “2 Fast, 2 Furious” this past weekend (yes, boredom can make you do terrible things) and now it’s been revealed that the follow-up, “Fast & Furious,” will boast some innovative new features when it hits Blu-ray July 28. Universal has just announced that the Special Edition Blu-ray release of the Vin Diesel/Paul Walker car film will ship with an iPhone app that interacts with the disc media.
It’s an intriguing use of both an iPhone application and BDLive capabilities, which, on compatible Blu-ray players, allow the disc media to connect with a viewer’s Wi-Fi network in order to download content, connect directly with other users, and so on. So far, I’ve yet to use the BDLive features on any of the Blu-ray movies I own, since they seem largely to be silly bells and whistles included just for the sake of increasing the value proposition of the disc-based media.
While I’m not actually much of a “Fast & Furious” franchise fan, despite (or because of) my weekend viewing, I do want to get my hands on a copy of this new special edition to see just how the iPhone integration is executed. So far, all that’s clear from Universal’s release on the subject is that the iPhone app will be able to control a special feature that allows viewers to view and interact with different cars from the movie in a virtual garage. The app will be released free via the App Store for Special Edition owners to download.
I’m hoping they don’t stop there, since it would probably be a simple next step to include playback controls in the very same app. Even without that, though, this could represent a turning point for special features and movie tie-in apps alike, both of which right now seem like weak promotional tools that are generally a waste of time for viewers and developers alike.
Poking about at a virtual car may not seem like a revolutionary new way of interacting with media, but it is a surprisingly well thought-out special feature, given the context: “Fast & Furious” fans are often car enthusiasts, and will care about what’s under the hood of the vehicles that make an appearance in the film. And controlling virtual models of automobiles on screen via a touchscreen device isn’t gimmicky, it’s just the most intuitive way for that sort of thing to work.
This time around, I might not actually go out and buy the movie, because, seriously, it’s “Fast & Furious”. But release a “Star Wars” (original trilogy) Blu-ray Special Edition with the exact same features for starships, speeders, and ground assault vehicles, and money will be no object.
Переслать - Official BlackBerry Desktop Software for Mac Coming in September
Many, many months ago, it looked like an official solution for syncing BlackBerry devices with the Mac (including media and iTunes playlists) was right around the corner. Now, almost a year later, RIM is finally making it official. But don’t get too excited. You still have to wait until September before the new software will be available for download.
BlackBerry Desktop Software for Mac, which should allow you to do pretty much everything you can do using the Desktop Software for Windows package currently available, will be available as a free download from BlackBerry.com. In addition to iTunes playlist syncing, you’ll also be able to manage your contacts, calendars and tasks, and install new software packages, if you’d rather not use App World to download them to your device directly.
In addition to a brief overview of the features of the new Desktop Software for Mac, Andrey at Inside Blackberry (the company’s official blog) also posted screenshots of the application in action. It looks a lot like their official Media Sync solution for Mac, but with a lot more options, as you’d expect from a program that does so much more. And it’s nice to see that RIM is paying attention to the desires of its users, as Apple-loving BlackBerry users have been clamoring for just such a program for years.
If you’ve been eagerly awaiting this release, and want to be first in line when it does eventually come out, you can sign up to be notified of its availability via BlackBerry’s web site. Users who want to get a taste of iTunes playlist syncing, without all of the other features, can download a Mac-compatible version of BlackBerry Media Sync that came out back in December of last year.
Переслать - 27 Bluetooth-enabled Multiplayer iPhone Games
The iPhone/iPod 3.0 OS allows third-party applications to utilize the device’s Bluetooth capabilities for two-player games. The first (and only) application I had that supported this in an update was Flight Control, and since then, whenever my wife and I are on a train, we occupy our time playing this.
The huge advantage of multiplayer Bluetooth compared with Wi-Fi is that you just need the two devices, no Wi-Fi access points or Internet connectivity is required. This is truly awesome, although as we cry, “Arrrgh sooo close!” loudly on public transport we can get some strange looks. We’ve loved playing Flight Control, but I thought that by now there must be a good number of other Bluetooth-enabled games. So I’ve searched the App Store and found the following games are the only ones that support multiplayer gameplay over Bluetooth. This list will hopefully grow soon with more complex quality titles.
Flight Control — 99 cents
Direct planes so they can land without crashing into each other. Each player controls different colors and needs to send the other player’s colors off screen to the other player’s device.
F.A.S.T – Fleet Air Superiority Training — $1.99
For great graphics and a true dog-fighting two-player experience.
Bomberman Touch 2 – Volcano Party — $2.99
Play the classic Bomberman game against a friend in either head-to-head mode, or co-operative mode.
Attack From the Dead — 99 cents
Play with a friend in zombie killing, co-operative mode action.
iSamurai Bluetooth — 99 cents
Swing your phone around like a samurai sword and have a sword fight with a friend.
Showdown Poker — 99 cents
Play poker against a friend.
Showdown Quickdraw — Free
Have a Wild West-style gun-slinging match with a friend.
Tank War – Bluetooth Battle — 99 cents
Battle a friend with tanks in a bitter neon colored war.
Attack – Wireless Bluetooth Space Battle — 99 cents
If you don’t like tanks, maybe you prefer to fight in spaceships instead. Battle head-to-head.
Tic-Tac-Touch: FS5 — Free
It’s Tic-Tac-Toe; what else is there to say?
Touch4 FS5 — Free
Remember playing Connect 4 from your childhood? Relive the experience.
Briscola — $1.99
Play the Italian card game “Briscola” against a friend.
Heads Up Poker 3G — Free
This is another multiplayer Poker game.
SG Mahjong — 99 cents
This lets you play Mahjong against up to four people at once.
Scopa — $3.99
Play the Italian card game “Scopa” against a friend.
ShapeShape — 99 cents
In a game that looks like a cheap knock-off of Rolando, two-player mode lets you race against a friend to finish a level, as well as allowing you to share custom levels made with the level editor.
Pong – iPhone Edition — 99 cents
There couldn’t be a more simple game than pong, the first computer game ever made.
Checkers Lite — Free
The classic game of checkers. Everyone knows checkers.
Combat On Palm — Free
Two player head to head space combat action.
Trivia Wars — 99 cents
Challenge a friend to a trivia content.
Mancala Lite — Free
Play the game of Mancala against friends.
Reversi Lite — Free
Play the age-old game of Reversi (also known as Othello) against a friend.
iPunchOut Boxing — 99 cents
Have boxing battles against a friend by holding onto your device tightly and swinging your fists around.
Speed Lite — Free
Play the card game of Speed against a friend.
Cheap Tactics — 99 cents
Challenge a friend to this simple strategy RPG game.
BattleFrogs — 99 cents
Similar to Battleships, but with frogs on lily pads. Guess where a friend has placed their frogs by throwing rocks.
Bluetooth Hot Potato — 99 cents
Pass the hot potato to other players before it burns up.
No doubt that despite my searching efforts I may have missed a game — or perhaps one has just been released. Let us know your favorite Bluetooth multiplayer game in the comments.
Переслать - Mac Office 2008 SP2: Speed, Stability, Compatibility
Speed, stability, compatibility — that’s the mantra from the Mac Business Unit for SP2, which will be released today at 10:00 a.m. PDT.
Besides bug fixes, general improvements include faster launching of applications, as well as better performance within, like scrolling in Word and calculation speed in Excel. PowerPoint users will now be able to create motion-path animations, as well as define their default theme.
A new tool, Document Connection, provides Mac Office users improved access to documents through Microsoft SharePoint and Office Live Workspace. Safari 4 is now supported for accessing the browser-based services. According to Microsoft, file-sharing and document fidelity are the most important features for Mac Office users.
“There’s never been a better time to try Office 2008 for Mac — with SP2 we are not only delivering on top customer requests mid-cycle, but also taking a first step in bringing Microsoft software plus services to Mac users,” said Mike Tedesco, senior product manager for MacBU at Microsoft.
Unfortunately, those waiting for the return of Visual Basic for Applications will be disappointed. While the MacBU is planning on restoring VBA, that won’t be happening until the next release of Mac Office, for which no date has been announced.
The free update, around 300MB, will be available at Mactopia, as well as through Microsoft’s software autoupdate.
Переслать - Suit Alleges Apple in Bed With the Mafia
In a bizarre story over at Ars Technica that seems like the plot of a terrible mafioso movie, a man named Gregory McKenna is claiming that Apple knowingly colluded with the Mafia (and various governmental agencies) to help them threaten him with death via his iPod mini. According to McKenna, it is apparently fairly standard practice for Apple to add receivers and transmitters to its portable media players as a special service for organized crime.
Apple attracts its own fair share of wacko legal action, but this one is so intricate in its level of detail that it deserves a closer look, if only to admire the craftsmanship. McKenna believes that not one, but two separate iPods contained Mafia bugs. One, a Shuffle he picked up on eBay, makes a little sense, since it would be easy to tamper with the hardware after the fact, if the Mafia was really committed to doing so.
It’s the other, an iPod mini he bought new from an Apple retail store, six months after the model was officially discontinued, that vaults McKenna’s story into the realm of complete absurdity. The sheer number of steps required for Apple to have specifically targeted McKenna for the receipt of a specially modified iPod mini boggle the mind. I guess that’s what makes it a conspiracy theory, instead of a coincidence theory.
Why, you may ask, did the Mafia even care enough about McKenna to harass him so diligently for so long? He apparently once worked for a modeling agency which he claims is just a front for the mob. And he was so good at what he did, the couldn’t let him just get away. The Mafia is the one job you can’t quit, after all.
Apple isn’t the only defendant named in the suit. McKenna also believes that every law enforcement agency from the St. Louis PD to the Department of Justice was in on the plan, since (shockingly) none would take his allegations against the Mafia seriously. The suit also targets an auto repair shop that conspired to bug his car, and a private investigator who helped “cover up” the existence of surveillance devices by conveniently not finding any when hired by McKenna to do so.
In total, McKenna is seeking $14.3 million in damages from all the defendants named in the suit, much of which is accounted for by the $550,000 in lost wages he claims to have missed out on as a result of conspiracy effort. Oh, that must be the reason I’m not making half a million a year, too. I knew it couldn’t be my decided lack of marketable skills.
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