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- OtterBox Reflex Series case for iPhone 4: First look
When it comes to smartphone cases that can stand up to almost anything, OtterBox pretty much defined the market. Starting with the multi-layer Defender Series and then moving on to the more sleek Commuter Series, Colorado-based OtterBox has always made iPhone cases that can stand up to a lot of abuse. However, for some iPhone owners the rather bulky design of the previous cases left a lot to be desired.
OtterBox industrial designer Adam Wibby took his inspiration for the new Reflex Series (US$44.95) from the world of automobile design, where a "crush zone" is sacrificed to reduce the impact on the passengers within a vehicle. Taking this idea through design and testing, Wibby and the OtterBox team found that they could build very thin hardshell cases with a shock-absorbing "reflex zone" made of a more flexible silicone material.
As the design was fine-tuned, the team did a Finite Element Analysis to test the shock-absorbing properties. The analysis showed about a threefold reduction in the shock of a drop, and Wibby notes in the video accompanying this post that an iPhone in a Reflex case will actually bounce.
The Reflex case adds very little weight; my electronic postal scale showed that it weighed in at 0.9 oz (about 26 grams), which brings the total weight of iPhone 4 and Reflex case up to about 5.8 oz (about 164 grams).
Continue reading OtterBox Reflex Series case for iPhone 4: First look
OtterBox Reflex Series case for iPhone 4: First look originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Authorized Steve Jobs biography due in early 2012
As we reported in February of 2010, Walter Isaacson, former managing editor of Time magazine, has been working on an authorized biography of Apple CEO Steve Jobs for some time. Over at Apple 2.0/Fortune, Phil Elmer-Dewitt reports that iSteve: The Book of Jobs has been completed and will be published in early 2012.
It may be surprising that someone as intensely protective of his privacy as Steve Jobs would authorize anyone to tell his life story. After reading Elmer-Dewitt's profile of Isaacson, though, it's a little clearer why Jobs has finally opened up. Isaacson's résumé is very impressive indeed, as are his biography subjects to date: Benjamin Franklin, Henry Kissinger, and Albert Einstein.
There's a one-degree-of-separation TUAW connection to Isaacson, as it happens. Our lead editor Mike Rose was in charge of new media at Entertainment Weekly in the mid-1990s when Isaacson was running Time Inc.'s Pathfinder web portal for the company's magazine titles, and they worked together on occasion. Mike says he doubts that Walter will see fit to send him advance galleys of the Jobs biography for old times' sake, but it never hurts to ask.
With Isaacson behind the project and Jobs as its subject, iSteve sounds like it should be a fascinating read. For an alternate take on the choice of Isaacson as the official iBiographer, see Michael Wolff's piece here.
Authorized Steve Jobs biography due in early 2012 originally appeared on TUAW on Sun, 10 Apr 2011 23:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Talkcast tonight, 10pm ET: Pro video preview from NAB
It's Sunday night, and that means talkcast time! This week, as the NAB convention kicks off in Las Vegas, we look ahead to the highly-anticipated next step in pro video editing from Apple. Yes, the rumor mill around Final Cut Pro is percolating with extreme prejudice, so there's no better time to bring in our editor friends & colleagues (including our own Chris White) to talk about what we can expect and what we might wish for in the next FCP/FCS version. Our special guest tonight is John Foster of KnowTech.tv.
We'll also tackle the news of the week plus your questions and comments -- and if there's time afterward, there's always the TUAWTF aftershow (never recorded, often regretted).
To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, the embedded Facebook app, or download the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the TalkShoe Web button on our profile page at 4 HI/7 PDT/10 PM EDT Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (yay for free cell phone weekend minutes!): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8.
If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free Blink or X-Lite SIP clients; basic instructions are here (if you like Blink, the pro version is available in the Mac App Store). Talk to you tonight.
Talkcast tonight, 10pm ET: Pro video preview from NAB originally appeared on TUAW on Sun, 10 Apr 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Apple hired lobbying firm in February
The LA Times says Apple has slowly begun hiring more lobbyists in Washington, D.C. to protect its interests as it has grown from a niche player to one of the tech sector's biggest powerhouses. Apple has traditionally placed little reliance on lobbyists, but in February of this year, Apple contracted the services of the high-powered Washington lobbying firm of Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock.
The move comes as Apple has grown from a company worth $2.5 billion in 2003 to a behemoth with $300 billion in market capitalization, and from $37.5 billion in sales in FY2008 to $65.2 billion in FY2010. Accordingly, the company has tripled its lobbying expenses in that time to $1.6 million. The move for more pull in Washington comes as Apple is increasingly coming under the microscope of antitrust issues, primarily regarding the iTunes Music Store, the App Store, and the iBooks Store. [Apple's lobbying expenditures are quite small in comparison to US cell carrier partners AT&T and Verizon; each telco spent more than $15 million on lobbying in 2010. The highest lobbying bill for an individual corporation belonged to Pacific Gas & Electric last year, which spent more than $45 million. -Ed.]
Last year a clause in Apple's iOS SDK spurred an an antitrust investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice over anticompetitive measures regarding the banning of the porting of software originally written for Adobe's Flash, Sun's Java or Microsoft's Silverlight/Mono to the iPhone OS. Also just last month Steve Jobs was ordered to give a deposition relating to monopolistic behavior over the iPod and the iTunes Store back in 2004.
Besides Apple, Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock represents other powerful companies, including the NFL Players Association, BP America, UnitedHealth Group, and the Recording Industry Association of America.
Apple hired lobbying firm in February originally appeared on TUAW on Sun, 10 Apr 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - "Unpleasant Horse" shows Apple isn't afraid to reject big developers
Apple has taken a lot of flak about the seemingly arbitrary rejection of apps in the App Store. Often small developers who have had their apps rejected cry foul stating that Apple would never reject apps from bigger publishers. Earlier this week, however, Apple showed that even big publishers aren't immune to Apple's ban hammer.
PopCap, publisher of megahits like Plants vs. Zombies, submitted an app called Unpleasant Horse. The game's objective is to jump a Pegasus-like horse from cloud to cloud. If you miss a cloud, the horse falls to the earth and is chewed up in a meat grinder. The app was prompty rejected by Apple. In response to the rejection, PopCap tweeted "WTF? Apple rejected Unpleasant Horse cuz of 'mature content?' We thought horses dying in meat grinders was wholesome family entertainment!"
But as the New York Times points out, the tweet was later removed and PopCap has stated that they will appeal the ruling and submit the app again with a higher age rating. It's unknown what rating the game was originally submitted with, but the rejection of Unpleasant Horse goes to show you that Apple's acceptance or rejection of an app, while sometimes seeming arbitrary, at least affects large and small developers alike.
"Unpleasant Horse" shows Apple isn't afraid to reject big developers originally appeared on TUAW on Sun, 10 Apr 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - More talk that the next Final Cut Pro will be the best thing since sliced bread
Okay, it's getting to the point now that the next Final Cut Pro better be the best thing ever invented because everyone who has played around with it seems to think it is.
The latest heap of praise comes from Mark Raudonis, head of post production at Bunim/Murray Productions. Raudonis talked about the upcoming "awesome" FCP at a FilmMarker Magazine pre-NAB panel discussion. While Raudonis didn't give away any new features, he did have the following to say about the new Final Cut Pro, including a quote from Henry Ford:
"I would also end with Henry Ford: 'If I asked people what they wanted, they'd tell me they wanted a faster horse.' So, Apple is very good at going their own way and figuring out where things will be. They may not ask you what you want. They are going to tell you, 'We're going to invent something different.' And that's kind of my take away from it. I was very impressed, it was awesome and look out, I believe they say it will be available in Spring 2011. So, that goes all the way up to June 20th. So, that's what I know, that's what I can say, and if there's anyone from Apple out there, I hope you don't sue me."
I've worked with my fair share of video editors over the years and if there's one truth about them it's that they are very picky people. If a current editing suite works for them there's no reason to reinvent the wheel. But reinventing the wheel seems to be exactly what Apple has done with this next Final Cut and the fact that so many video editors are heaping extraordinary praise on it has me salivating just to get a glimpse of the next version of Apple's powerhouse video editing suite.
For those of you into editing, watch the entire video after the break. There's a lot of good talk about the future of video editing -- and some speculation on where Apple wants to lead it.
[via MacRumors]
Continue reading More talk that the next Final Cut Pro will be the best thing since sliced bread
More talk that the next Final Cut Pro will be the best thing since sliced bread originally appeared on TUAW on Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Steve Jobs was top choice for Google CEO
Steven Levy's new book, In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives, has some interesting insights regarding the relationship between Steve Jobs and Google throughout the years. Perhaps most interesting is the fact that when Sergey Brin and Larry Page were looking around for a new CEO their first choice was Jobs.
Jobs turned them down, but saw enough in Google to see that it could be a success; he offered to mentor the two founders, going so far as to provide them with access to his closest advisers. After Jobs declined the Google CEO position, Brin and Page chose Eric Schmidt as CEO and Schmidt also later joined Apple's board of directors. That's when things quickly took a turn for the worse.
As Levy states in the book, Jobs was "furious" when he visited Google's Mountain View headquarters and saw that the Android OS sported iOS features like pinch to zoom, among others. Shortly after that visit, Jobs told an Apple town hall meeting what he really thought of Google: "We did not enter the search business. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake: they want to kill the iPhone. We won't let them [...] This don't be evil mantra? It's bullshit."
The book also states that after Jobs found out about Android's similarities to iOS, he felt betrayed enough to somehow keep the development of the iPad hidden from Eric Schmidt while he was still a board member of Apple.
[via The Daily Mail]
Steve Jobs was top choice for Google CEO originally appeared on TUAW on Sat, 09 Apr 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Verizon rumored to sell a 16 GB Motorola XOOM 4G LTE
There are a number of possible reasons why Verizon may be about to sell a 16 GB version of the Motorola XOOM 4G LTE Android 3.0 (Honeycomb). Perhaps they sold so many of the earlier WiFi-only and 32 GB models that they couldn't resist; perhaps consumer demand was so strong they simply had to give in; or perhaps they sold both of the earlier samples they had in stock and now there's a space on the shelf they have to fill with something (I joke, I joke).
Electronista has speculation that it'll cost around US$700 or less, which seems a little on the "hmm, I'll think about it" side of affordable But then it is a 4G tablet. Rather, it will be as soon as the part necessary to make it work on the 4G network becomes available.
Will this be the iPad-beater for which Motorola, presumably, is hoping? What do you think? Let us know in comments below.
[Via Electronista]
Verizon rumored to sell a 16 GB Motorola XOOM 4G LTE originally appeared on TUAW on Sat, 09 Apr 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Two years after Fred Wilson dumped AAPL...
We all make predictions that don't turn out as planned. For example, this morning I said I'd have a few beers, enjoy a barbeque in the sun with friends and perhaps go to the cinema tonight. Turns out I have two daughters under the age of 3, so there went my day. But at least I'm not kicking myself like Fred Wilson must be.
Wilson is the the venture capitalist managing partner of Union Square Ventures who, two years ago, famously announced that he was selling all his shares in Apple because he didn't believe the company was "being straight with investors" over Steve Jobs's health. "My average price on my entire position in Apple is US$96, so I'll take a small loss on this and a small gain on the stock I bought during the meltdown last fall."
He sold at $91.36 -- and at close yesterday Apple shares were at $338.08, up $246.72 or 270%. He sold Google at the same time but announced a short time later he was buying back into the search giant. See the chart above for how that one worked out for him.
Maybe he only had one share in Apple (although $246.72 would go nearly halfway towards a new iPad 2), maybe he's happy with that 50%-plus gain in Google's value. Or maybe he's still kicking himself now. Me, I think we'll have that barbeque tomorrow.
[Via Daring Fireball]
Two years after Fred Wilson dumped AAPL... originally appeared on TUAW on Sat, 09 Apr 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Plex 1.1 for iOS adds functionality, interface changes
Put simply, Plex version 1.1 is everything that FrontRow should be. For a start, it streams to your iDevice, presents plenty of online media...you get the idea. The only advantage FrontRow has is price, and at US$4.99 Plex probably won't break the bank.
The latest version includes many new and updated features, like improved subtitle and audio stream selection support, Direct Streaming and Direct Play support.
One interesting addition is TV out and AirPlay support, though the latter is still "experimental," which suggests less-than-optimal performance.
Plex 1.1 also offers much improved live encoding. For example, Plex 1.1 will note what your Apple TV 2 can manage and only convert what needs to be converted, leaving other streams intact.
Plex 1.1 is available from the App Store now for $4.99. Also, grab Plex for Mac to enjoy video, music, pictures and more. Have fun, media buffs!
[Via MacStories and 9to5 Mac]
Plex 1.1 for iOS adds functionality, interface changes originally appeared on TUAW on Sat, 09 Apr 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - My main computer, 2004 versus 2011
In 2004, I bought my first Mac. I'd used Macs for decades before that, but those Macs always belonged to someone else. The first Mac that I called my own was a 233 MHz PowerBook G3 I bought off eBay for the princely sum of US$205. It quickly became my main machine, which thrilled my wife because it meant she could have her PowerMac G4 all to herself again.
A few weeks ago, I bought an iPad 2. I had barely used an iPad before dropping $829 on one, but after two years of using various iterations of the iPhone, I expected a certain level of familiarity. Today, the iPad 2 performs most of the tasks that my MacBook Pro used to handle. In fact, besides editing and posting on TUAW, downloading files and photo editing, I barely use my Mac anymore -- and considering that it has a history of breaking and is now out of warranty, that's probably a good thing.
Now the fun part: comparing my first Mac -- the PowerBook G3 -- to the iPad 2. As expected, the iPad 2 is superior in almost every way. Check out the details below, noting how much the "limited" iPad, a machine that some pundits hesitate to call a "computer," has to offer compared to the state-of-the-art from 1998.
Continue reading My main computer, 2004 versus 2011
My main computer, 2004 versus 2011 originally appeared on TUAW on Sat, 09 Apr 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Oscium's iMSO-104 turns your iPad into a mixed signal oscilloscope
Inventive people continue to demonstrate how versatile iPads are. The latest example we've found turns the device into an oscilloscope.
Oscium developed the iMSO-104 mixed-signal oscilloscope for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch "quickly and easily," the company says, thanks to Apple's iOS and MFi (Made for iPod, Made for iPhone, and Made for iPad) developer programs. "It boasts a 5 MHz bandwidth and up to 12 MSPS (megasamples per second) sample rate, while simultaneously analyzing up to one analog and four digital signals," says Oscium.
The sensors use Cypress Semiconductor's PSoC(R) 3 programmable system-on-a-chip to manage two-way communication between the sensors and your device The app is in the App Store now for free, while the full hardware rig will run you US$279.99. That's not a bad price for an oscilloscope.
[Via Engadget]
Oscium's iMSO-104 turns your iPad into a mixed signal oscilloscope originally appeared on TUAW on Sat, 09 Apr 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Verizon iPad 2s feel the need to roam ... constantly [Updated]
Update: All Things D reports that Apple is aware of the issue and working on it.
A number of owners of Verizon iPad 2s are reporting that their devices seem to be having issues accessing the Verizon 3G network. As discussed in the Apple support forums and reported by GigaOM's The Apple Blog, the iPads are fine fresh out of the box, displaying Verizon as the carrier in the upper left of the iPad status bar. It's when owners activate an account with Verizon that things start getting a little strange.
Once the account has been set up, the word "Roaming" appears where the carrier name should be. This is usually an indication that a user is no longer on his or her carrier's network, and is using data roaming. The problem gets even stranger -- to use data service, even in an area with only a strong Verizon network signal, the iPad owner has to turn data roaming on.
GigaOM's Charles Jade notes that the problem may be related to the Preferred Roaming List, which is an internal database common to CDMA devices that determines how the device connects to a network. Some Verizon iPad 2s just aren't recognizing Verizon cell towers, so they display the "Roaming" indicator. Verizon doesn't charge subscribers for U.S. data roaming, so there's no extra cost involved, but the issue is still annoying.
Affected iPad 2s can be returned to Apple or Verizon stores for replacement, although the replacement models may still exhibit the same symptoms. There is some discussion that iOS 4.3.2 might include a fix for the roaming problem, but until then Verizon iPad 2 owners who are seeing the issue will have to be content to roam.
Verizon iPad 2s feel the need to roam ... constantly [Updated] originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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