the icrazee Apple blog

Moving to Posterous Spaces

2011-12-15T17:03:00.001-08:00

The icrazee blog has moved to Posterous Spaces under the new domain ihing.me. The current posts have been migrated to Posterous Spaces and new posts added. The reason for the move is Posterous Spaces has a simple clean web interface. The iPhone App is also killer. It's going to be exciting times on the new platform. Please make sure you visit.

iTunes 10.5 Update

2011-10-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

Apple today release iTunes 10.5 which has been upgraded to work in conjunction with the official release of iCloud tomorrow. According to Apple with iTunes in the Cloud, the music you download to one device automatically appears on all your devices. So the song you buy from your Mac at work is ready and waiting for you on your iPhone when it’s time to drive home. Regardless of where you click or tap Buy, iTunes will automatically download your new songs, apps, and books to your other devices over Wi-Fi or 3G.

In addition the new iTunes supports iTunes Match, where songs you’ve imported from CDs can be stored in iCloud. And you can play them on any iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC — whenever you want and wherever you are, without syncing. iTunes Match is just $24.99 a year. iTunes determines which songs in your collection are available in the iTunes Store. Any music with a match is automatically added to your iCloud library for you to listen to anytime, on any device. Since there are more than 19 million songs in the iTunes Store, chances are, your music is already in iCloud. And for the few songs that aren’t, iTunes has to upload only what it can’t match. Which is much faster than starting from scratch. Once your music is in iCloud, you can stream and store it to any of your devices. Even better, all the music iTunes matches plays back from iCloud at 256-Kbps AAC DRM-free quality — even if your original copy was of lower quality. This is pretty cool, so are you ready to sign up for iTunes Match?

iPhone 4S Pre-Orders Top One Million

2011-10-11T10:20:00.000-07:00

I pre-ordered an iPhone 4S last week friday, the first day of pre-orders. Well it seems pre-orders of the iPhone 4S have topped one million in a single day, surpassing the previous single day pre-order record of 600,000 held by iPhone 4. Wow, that's amazing! I am sure a lot has to do with iPhone users who have the original iPhone and iPhone 3 wanting to upgrade in order to run iOS 5 and get a faster phone. So have you pre-ordered an iPhone 4S? Here is a snippet of Apple's announcement of the record pre-orders:

CUPERTINO, California—October 10, 2011—Apple® today announced pre-orders of its iPhone® 4S have topped one million in a single day, surpassing the previous single day pre-order record of 600,000 held by iPhone 4. iPhone 4S is the most amazing iPhone yet, packed with incredible new features including Apple’s dual-core A5 chip for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics; an all new camera with advanced optics; full 1080p HD resolution video recording; and Siri™, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking. “We are blown away with the incredible customer response to iPhone 4S,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The first day pre-orders for iPhone 4S have been the most for any new product that Apple has ever launched and we are thrilled that customers love iPhone 4S as much as we do.”

iPhone 4S Pre-Ordered

2011-10-10T15:24:00.000-07:00

The iPhone 3, I am currently using has been painful to use over the last year. It's performance has been sluggish since updating to iOS 3 and it slowed down even further after updating to iOS 4. With the imminent release of iOS 5 which only runs on the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and now the iPhone 4S, I decided to pre-order an iPhone 4S. What also forced me to upgrade is the release of iCloud, which only syncs with iOS 5 and is a replacement of MobileMe. If you have a me.com email address you will need to transition it from MobileMe to iCloud by June 30, 2012.

I pre-orderd an iPhone 4S from Rogers on friday morning and I was number 2802 in the queue. I just logged in today and I am now 2726. Wow I have a long way to go! Can't wait to get the 4GS so that I can retire the snail paced iPhone 3. I'll probably use it as an iPod Touch in my car to play music. So are you planning to upgrade, have you pre-ordered an iPhone 4S. Let us know.

Steve Jobs Passes Away

2011-10-05T20:27:00.000-07:00

It's a sad day, Steve Jobs passed away today at the age of 56, after a long battle with cancer. Our hearts go out to his family.

Apple announced on it's website, "Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple."

Steve was a visionary and the computer industry and Apple are going to really miss him. It's weird that a day after the latest iPhone announcement by Tim Cook, the new CEO of Apple, Steve passes away. It's almost like Steve said, "Tim you now ready to take over".

Apple Launches iPhone 4S

2011-10-04T13:42:00.000-07:00

Today, Apple announced the iPhone 4S, which did not come in a new iPhone skeleton as expected but came packed with new features. The iPhone 4S now comes with Apple’s dual-core A5 chip used in the iPad 2 which has up to 2X faster performance and 7X faster graphics. The iPhone 4S also comes with an all new 8 megapixel camera with advanced optics and full 1080p HD resolution video recording. New to the iPhone and only available in the iPhone 4S is an intelligent personal assistant called Siri, the company they bought in May last year. Siri helps you get things done just by asking using natural language. Can't wait to play with Siri! With the announcement, Apple also announced the launch of iOS 5 which has over 200 new features. In addition, Apple also announced iCloud, a complete replacement of MobileMe which has a set of free cloud services that work with your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac and PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and push your content to all your devices. So what do you think of the Apple's announcement yesterday?

Apple Shipments Via UPS

2011-09-27T21:23:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased a MacBook Air 13" from the Apple Online Store and it shipped within 5 days directly from China. Yes, just 5 days plus some time zone changes! In fact it was 2 days earlier than estimated. Now I might have been lucky to have just placed my order in before a shipment was heading out. Either way the shipment by UPS from China to North America within 5 days door to door is phenomenal. Below is a copy of the shipment progress of the MacBook Air from the UPS tracking page.

OS X Lion Free of Charge

2011-09-24T14:24:00.000-07:00

I recently bought a new iMac 27" as the two 20" iMacs I have both contain 32 bit Intel Single Core Duo processors which do not support the latest 64 bit operating system OS X Lion. To find out if your current Mac has at least an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 or Xeon processor, click on the Apple icon at the top left of your screen, then choose About This Mac. The single core iMacs were the first Macs to be switched over to the Intel processor and came out in late September 2006. It's amazing but my two iMacs run just great, a little slower than I'd like after five maintenance free years. Never had to re-install OS X or have any type of blue screen of death and never had to turn it off, it just worked. It's sad I am sunsetting a perfectly useable machine.

When I was setting up the new iMac, I was surprised to find that it was installed with OS X Snow Leopard and not the latest OS X Lion, the reason I bought the new iMac in the first place. Feeling annoyed, panicked and shocked I checked my invoice and the Apple Online Store but did not see any mention of the version of OS X the iMac came with. I called the 1-800 number on the invoice and spoke to Apple Support. It turns out if you bought an iMac after July 21, 2011 you are eligible for a free upgrade to OS X Lion but you must complete the order within 30 days. I happened to be heading out on vacation for three weeks just when the iMac arrived and did not have time to set it up until almost a month later. I was lucky to be just within the 30 days! I guess Apple has inventory still installed with OS X Snow Leopard but it would not be obvious to a new Mac user that Lion is not installed. In fact I would not have known immediately but the day before I upgraded my MacBook Pro to OS X Lion so I could tell the differences. Here is the link to the free OS X Lion Up to Date Program. Hopefully, you did not miss out on the free upgrade.

Apple Introduces iCloud

2011-06-15T20:47:00.000-07:00

Last week Apple introduced iCloud which is a rebrand of their current MobileMe services. I have been using MobileMe for several years now and my iPhone, iPad, iMac and MacBook Pro are all kept in sync. MobileMe keeps your Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Notes, Safari Browser Favourites and Mac Desktop all in sync. With iCloud, Apple have now extended this syncing to Music, iBooks, Photos, Backups and Documents. Even better iCloud will now be free with OS X Lion and iOS 5. So what do you think of the announcement of iCloud. Here is the official release from Apple.

SAN FRANCISCO—June 6, 2011—Apple® today introduced iCloud®, a breakthrough set of free new cloud services that work seamlessly with applications on your iPhone®, iPad®, iPod touch®, Mac® or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and automatically and wirelessly push it to all your devices. When anything changes on one of your devices, all of your devices are wirelessly updated almost instantly.

“Today it is a real hassle and very frustrating to keep all your information and content up-to-date across all your devices,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iCloud keeps your important information and content up to date across all your devices. All of this happens automatically and wirelessly, and because it’s integrated into our apps you don’t even need to think about it—it all just works.”

The free iCloud services include:

The former MobileMe® services—Contacts, Calendar and Mail—all completely re-architected and rewritten to work seamlessly with iCloud. Users can share calendars with friends and family, and the ad-free push Mail account is hosted at me.com. Your inbox and mailboxes are kept up-to-date across all your iOS devices and computers.

The App Store™ and iBookstore℠ now download purchased iOS apps and books to all your devices, not just the device they were purchased on. In addition, the App Store and iBookstore now let you see your purchase history, and simply tapping the iCloud icon will download any apps and books to any iOS device (up to 10 devices) at no additional cost.

iCloud Backup automatically and securely backs up your iOS devices to iCloud daily over Wi-Fi when you charge your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Backed up content includes purchased music, apps and books, Camera Roll (photos and videos), device settings and app data. If you replace your iOS device, just enter your Apple ID and password during setup and iCloud restores your new device.

iCloud Storage seamlessly stores all documents created using iCloud Storage APIs, and automatically pushes them to all your devices. When you change a document on any device, iCloud automatically pushes the changes to all your devices. Apple’s Pages®, Numbers® and Keynote® apps already take advantage of iCloud Storage. Users get up to 5GB of free storage for their mail, documents and backup—which is more amazing since the storage for music, apps and books purchased from Apple, and the storage required by Photo Stream doesn’t count towards this 5GB total. Users will be able to buy even more storage, with details announced when iCloud ships this fall.

iCloud’s innovative Photo Stream service automatically uploads the photos you take or import on any of your devices and wirelessly pushes them to all your devices and computers. So you can use your iPhone to take a dozen photos of your friends during the afternoon baseball game, and they will be ready to share with the entire group on your iPad (or even Apple TV®) when you return home. Photo Stream is built into the photo apps on all iOS devices, iPhoto® on Macs, and saved to the Pictures folder on a PC. To save space, the last 1,000 photos are stored on each device so they can be viewed or moved to an album to save forever. Macs and PCs will store all photos from the Photo Stream, since they have more storage. iCloud will store each photo in the cloud for 30 days, which is plenty of time to connect your devices to iCloud and automatically download the latest photos from Photo Stream via Wi-Fi.

iTunes® in the Cloud lets you download your previously purchased iTunes music to all your iOS devices at no additional cost, and new music purchases can be downloaded automatically to all your devices. In addition, music not purchased from iTunes can gain the same benefits by using iTunes Match, a service that replaces your music with a 256 kbps AAC DRM-free version if we can match it to the over 18 million songs in the iTunes Store®, it makes the matched music available in minutes (instead of weeks to upload your entire music library), and uploads only the small percentage of unmatched music. iTunes Match will be available this fall for a $24.99 annual fee. Apple today is releasing a free beta version of iTunes in the Cloud, without iTunes Match, for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users running iOS 4.3. iTunes in the Cloud will support all iPhones that iOS 5 supports this fall.

Apple is ready to ramp iCloud in its three data centers, including the third recently completed in Maiden, NC. Apple has invested over $500 million in its Maiden data center to support the expected customer demand for the free iCloud services.

Pricing & Availability
The iCloud beta and Cloud Storage APIs are available immediately to iOS and Mac Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iCloud will be available this fall concurrent with iOS 5. Users can sign up for iCloud for free on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 5 or a Mac running Mac OS® X Lion with a valid Apple ID. iCloud includes 5GB of free cloud storage for Mail, Document Storage and Backup. Purchased music, apps, books and Photo Stream do not count against the storage limit. iTunes Match will be available for $24.99 per year (US only).

iTunes in the Cloud is available today in the US and requires iTunes 10.3 and iOS 4.3.3. Automatic download of apps and books is available today. Using iCloud with a PC requires Windows Vista or Windows 7; Outlook 2010 or 2007 is recommended for accessing contacts and calendars.

iPad 2 Thinner Lighter

2011-04-25T13:49:00.000-07:00

I've been using the new iPad 2 since it came out and I've found 15 great reasons to like it better than the original iPad. If you're thinking of upgrading I'd pull the trigger right now but if you the cautious type, you can read my next 15 posts and then decide.

When you pick up the new iPad 2, you'll notice how light it feels. Come on eBook readers Kindle, Kobo, do you really stand a chance. The newly designed iPad 2 is 33 percent thinner and up to 15 percent lighter coming in at 1.33 pounds or 601g. It has sculpted rounded edges so it feels smooth in your hands. The iPad 2 feels really light weight while you're surfing, checking email and reading iBooks. Make sure you don't add a heavy folder style protector which will make the iPad 2 feel like a hard cover instead of a paper back. I have added the new Apple Smart Cover to protect the front and a Zagg Invisible Shield to protect the back.

Read my next post which will provide insight into the new A5 processor. If you already have the iPad 2 let us know what you think of the thinner lighter feel?

iTunes 10.2.2 Update

2011-04-22T14:05:00.000-07:00

Apple released iTunes 10.2.2 which provides a number of important bug fixes. The new iTunes update addresses an issue where iTunes may become unresponsive when syncing an iPad. It resolves an issue which may cause syncing photos with iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to take longer than necessary. It also fixes a problem where video previews on the iTunes Store may skip while playing. Best of all the new iTunes update addresses issues that improve stability and performance. This has always been Apple's software development foresight in addressing stability and performance regularly in updates.

Tunes 10.2 came with several new features and improvements, including:

Syncing your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 4.3.
Improved iTunes Home Sharing where you can browse and play from your iTunes libraries on any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 4.3.

For information on the security content of this update, you can visit: support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

Apple Reports Fiscal 2011 Second Quarter Results

2011-04-21T00:05:00.000-07:00

Apple announced its financial results for the fiscal 2011 second quarter at a live webcast at 2 p.m. PST today. It was another record breaking quarter. A 28 percent increase in Macs sold from the same quarter a year ago. That is just under 3.8 million Macs. Apple also sold 18.65 million iPhones and 4.69 million iPads. Way to go Apple, we at iCrazee salute you! Here is the official release from Apple:

CUPERTINO, California—April 20, 2011—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2011 second quarter ended March 26, 2011. The Company posted record second quarter revenue of $24.67 billion and record second quarter net profit of $5.99 billion, or $6.40 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $13.50 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.07 billion, or $3.33 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 41.4 percent compared to 41.7 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 59 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple sold 3.76 million Macs during the quarter, a 28 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 18.65 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 113 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.02 million iPods during the quarter, representing a 17 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The Company also sold 4.69 million iPads during the quarter.

“With quarterly revenue growth of 83 percent and profit growth of 95 percent, we’re firing on all cylinders,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We will continue to innovate on all fronts throughout the remainder of the year.”

“We are extremely pleased with our record March quarter revenue and earnings and cash flow from operations of over $6.2 billion,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $23 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $5.03.”

You can view the webcast using QuickTime at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq211 and it will be available for replay for approximately two weeks.

iPad 2 Arrives Internationally

2011-03-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting for the iPad 2 with front facing camera since the original iPad came out. Well the wait is finally over. The iPad 2 will go on sale in 25 international countries tomorrow Friday, March 25. iPad 2 will be available at Apple retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers at 5 p.m. local time, and online through the Apple Store beginning at 1 a.m. iPad 2 with Wi-Fi will be available in the following countries. Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

iPad 2 Worth the Wait

2011-03-09T17:00:00.000-08:00

Apple officially announced the iPad 2 at a keynote event last week. The announcement came via Steve Jobs who made the announcement at the event he said he could not miss. When the original iPad was first announced I indicated I can't wait to get one but that I was obsessed about having a camera on my iPad. Well I waited all this time for the iPad 2 and I think it was worth the wait. There are so many new features which I'll outline in my next post but if you have not read it, here is the official release from Apple.

SAN FRANCISCO—March 2, 2011—Apple® today introduced iPad™ 2, the next generation of its magical device for browsing the web, reading and sending email, enjoying photos, watching videos, listening to music, playing games, reading ebooks and much more. iPad 2 features an entirely new design that is 33 percent thinner and up to 15 percent lighter than the original iPad, while maintaining the same stunning 9.7-inch LED-backlit LCD screen. iPad 2 features Apple’s new dual-core A5 processor for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics and now includes two cameras, a front-facing VGA camera for FaceTime® and Photo Booth®, and a rear-facing camera that captures 720p HD video, bringing the innovative FaceTime feature to iPad users for the first time. Though it is thinner, lighter, faster and packed with new features, iPad 2 still delivers up to 10 hours of battery life* that users have come to expect. iPad 2 is available in black or white, features models that run on AT&T’s and Verizon’s 3G networks, and introduces the innovative iPad 2 Smart Cover in a range of vibrant polyurethane and rich leather colors.

“With more than 15 million iPads sold, iPad has defined an entirely new category of mobile devices,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “While others have been scrambling to copy the first generation iPad, we’re launching iPad 2, which moves the bar far ahead of the competition and will likely cause them to go back to the drawing boards yet again.”

With the new front and rear cameras, iPad 2 users can now make FaceTime calls to millions of iPhone® 4, iPod touch® and Mac® users so they can see family and friends anywhere there is Wi-Fi. Photo Booth lets you apply fun visual effects, including eight photo special effects like Squeeze, Twirl and Kaleidoscope, to photos captured by either camera.

iPad 2 comes with iOS 4.3, the latest version of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, with new features including faster Safari® mobile browsing performance; iTunes® Home Sharing; enhancements to AirPlay®;** the choice to use the iPad side switch to either lock the screen rotation or mute audio; and Personal Hotspot to share an iPhone 4 cellular data connection over Wi-Fi.*** Additional iPad 2 features include a built-in gyro for advanced gaming; HSUPA support for enhanced 3G upload speeds on iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G on AT&T, and HDMI Video Mirroring that lets users mirror their iPad screen on an HDTV using an optional adaptor.

The innovative new iPad 2 Smart Cover provides protection for the iPad screen while maintaining its thin and lightweight profile. Designed with a unique self-aligning magnetic hinge that makes it easy to attach and remove, the new iPad 2 Smart Cover automatically wakes iPad 2 when it’s opened and puts it to sleep when it’s closed, and has a soft microfiber lining to help keep the screen clean. The Smart Cover also folds into a stand for typing or viewing videos and is available in vibrant polyurethane for $39 or rich leather for $69 in a range of colors, including a (PRODUCT) RED one which helps support the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Apple also introduced two new apps: iMovie® and GarageBand® for iPad, both available on the App Store℠ for just $4.99 each. With iMovie, iPad 2 users can shoot and edit videos right on their iPad and post their movies to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo and their MobileMe℠ gallery; watch them on their iPod®, iPhone or iPad; as well as view them on their HDTV using AirPlay and Apple TV®. GarageBand turns your iPad into a collection of touch instruments and 8-track recording studio, allowing you to perform with onscreen keyboards, guitars, drums and basses using multi-touch gestures–even if you don’t play a musical instrument.

iPad 2 runs almost all of the over 350,000 apps available on the App Store and there are more than 65,000 native iPad apps available from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. The iTunes Store gives iPad users access to the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalog of over 14 million songs, over 50,000 TV episodes and over 10,000 films including over 3,500 in stunning high definition video. The iBooks® app for iPad includes Apple’s iBookstore℠, the best way to browse, buy and read books on a mobile device.

Pricing & Availability
iPad 2 with Wi-Fi will be available on March 11 for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) for the 16GB model, $599 (US) for the 32GB model, $699 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G will be available for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G compatible with the Verizon network will be available in the US only for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad 2 will be sold in the US through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers. iMovie and GarageBand for iPad apps will be available on March 11 for $4.99 each from the App Store on iPad or www.itunes.com/appstore.

iPad 2 will be available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK on March 25; and in many more countries around the world in the coming months. Further international availability and pricing will be announced at a later date.

iOS 4.3

2011-03-05T08:59:00.000-08:00

Apple recently released its latest major update to the iPhone and iPad Operating System called iOS 4.3. The new update includes a faster mobile Safari, iTunes Home Sharing similar to the Mac where you can now share your iTunes library, AirPlay Improvements and a new Personal Hotspot which allows you to share your iPhone 4 data connection. iTunes Home Sharing is a very cool feature! So have you downloaded iOS 4.3? Let us know your experience with it. Here is the official release from Apple:

SAN FRANCISCO—March 2, 2011—Apple® today introduced iOS 4.3, the latest version of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system. New features in iOS 4.3 include faster Safari® mobile browsing performance with the Nitro JavaScript engine; iTunes® Home Sharing; enhancements to AirPlay®; the choice of using the iPad™ side switch to either lock the screen rotation or mute the audio; and the Personal Hotspot feature for sharing an iPhone® 4 cellular data connection over Wi-Fi.

“With more than 160 million iOS devices worldwide, including over 100 million iPhones, the growth of the iOS platform has been unprecedented,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iOS 4.3 adds even more features to the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, across three blockbuster devices—iPad, iPhone and iPod touch—providing an ecosystem that offers customers an incredibly rich experience and developers unlimited opportunities.”

The Safari mobile browsing experience gets even better with iOS 4.3. The Nitro JavaScript engine that Apple pioneered on the desktop is now built into WebKit, the technology at the heart of Safari, and more than doubles the performance of JavaScript execution using just-in-time compilation. With the Nitro JavaScript engine, Safari provides an even better mobile browser experience working faster to support the interactivity of complex sites you visit on a daily basis.

New iTunes Home Sharing allows iOS 4.3 users to play music, movies and TV shows on an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch® from their iTunes library on a Mac® or PC over a local Wi-Fi network. With a simple tap you can enjoy all the media in your iTunes library wherever you are in your home. You can stream a movie from your Mac in one room to your iPad in another or stream an iTunes mix to your iPod touch from the office to the kitchen. With Home Sharing on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch you’ve got your entire iTunes library in your hands wherever you are in your home.

iOS 4.3 includes enhancements to AirPlay, the breakthrough wireless technology that allows users to stream music, photos and video to Apple TV®. With iOS 4.3 you can stream additional content including video from third party apps and web sites, videos from the Photos app and previews from the iTunes app to your TV.* AirPlay also allows you to bring photos to life on the TV screen by using one of the stunning new slideshow transitions, or shoot a video on your iPad 2, iPhone or iPod touch and stream it directly from the Photos app to Apple TV.

The new Personal Hotspot feature in iOS 4.3 lets you bring Wi-Fi with you anywhere you go, by allowing you to share an iPhone 4 cellular data connection with up to five devices in a combination of up to three Wi-Fi, three Bluetooth and one USB device.** Joining a Personal Hotspot is easy and once the feature is enabled a status bar displays how many devices are currently connected. Every connection is password protected and when not in use Personal Hotspot turns itself off to save battery life.

More than 10 billion apps have been downloaded from the revolutionary App Store℠ and more than 350,000 apps are available, including more than 65,000 native iPad apps, to consumers in 90 countries. Users of the more than 160 million iOS devices around the world can choose from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel.

Availability
iOS 4.3 will be available to iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users as a free software update on Friday, March 11. iOS 4.3 is compatible with iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 (GSM model), plus third and fourth generation iPod touch. For more information please visit www.apple.com.

Mac OS X 7 Lion to have iPad Features

2010-12-11T14:51:00.000-08:00

Recently, Apple previewed the upcoming Mac OS X 7 dubbed Lion. Apple are calling this new release of Mac OS X, "The Power of the Mac OS X. The Magic of iPad". Mac OS X 7 Lion has been inspired by software innovations in the iPhone and iPad. Lion will have multi-touch gestures, a Mac App Store, a new Launchpad for apps, support for Full Screen apps and a new Mission Control view of all your apps running. With Lion apps auto save and resume when launched.

"Lion brings many of the best ideas from iPad back to the Mac, plus some fresh new ones like Mission Control that Mac users will really like,” Jobs said in a press release. So are you ready for Mac OS X 7 Lion? We at iCrazee can't wait!

Mac App Store
Although there are many Mac Apps that you can already download from Apple's third party software website, the Mac App Store will now be a new way to discover, install and automatically update desktop apps. Just like the App Store on iPad or iPhone, the Mac App Store offers an easier way to browse and purchase apps. It will also simplify the way apps are installed on the Mac. You will be able to just click once and a new app will be downloaded, installed and ready to go. Sounds pretty cool, way to go Apple!

Launchpad
In Mac OS X Lion, Apple has created LaunchPad which makes the Mac OS X desktop like an iPad. You now will have instant access to all your the Mac apps. You just click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, the open windows fade away and are replaced by an elegant, full-screen display of all the apps on your Mac. Also with just a swipe of your mouse you can see multiple pages of apps and you can arrange the apps in any way you like by dragging an app icon to a new location or by grouping apps in folders just like the iPad or iPhone.

Full-Screen Apps
Using the inspiration from the iPad, Apple has made every app full screen enabled. You can bring an app to full screen with one click or switch to another full-screen app with a swipe of your mouse. You will also be able to swipe back to the desktop to access multi-window apps. There will be system wide support for full-screen apps. This is very cool!

Mission Control
In Mac OS X Lion, Apple has created a powerful and handy new feature called Mission Control that will provide you with a comprehensive view of what’s running on your Mac. It gives you a bird’s-eye view of everything including Exposé, Spaces, Dashboard, and full-screen apps all in one place. With a simple swipe gesture, your desktop zooms out to Mission Control. There you can see your open windows grouped by app, thumbnails of your full-screen apps, Dashboard, and even other Spaces, arranged in a unified view. And you can get to anything you see on Mission Control with just one click. Making you the master of all you survey.

Safari 5.03 Software Update

2010-11-22T19:39:00.001-08:00

Apple recently released Safari 5.03. This is a minor software update but recommended to be installed. This update contains improvements to usability, compatibility, stability, accessibility and security, including more accurate Top Hit results in the Address Field, more accurate results in Top Sites, fixes for an issue that could cause content delivered with the Flash 10.1 plug-in to overlap webpage content, more reliable pop-up blocking, improved stability when typing into search and text input fields on www.netflix.com and www.facebook.com, improved stability when using JavaScript-intensive extensions, improved stability when using VoiceOver with Safari. For detailed information on the security content of this update, please visit this site: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

iOS 4.2

2010-11-22T13:25:00.000-08:00

Apple today released its latest major update to the iPhone Operating System called iOS 4.2. One of the major new features is AirPlay which is a new feature for streaming music, video and photos wirelessly from iPad, iPhone and iPod touch to Apple TV. This is a very cool feature! So have you downloaded iOS 4.2? Let us know your experience with it. Here is the official release from Apple:

CUPERTINO, California—November 22, 2010—Apple® today announced that iOS 4.2, the latest version of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, is available today for download for iPad™, iPhone® and iPod touch®. iOS 4.2 brings over 100 new features from iOS 4.0, 4.1 and 4.2 to iPad including Multitasking, Folders, Unified Inbox, Game Center, AirPlay® and AirPrint.

“iOS 4.2 makes the iPad a completely new product, just in time for the holiday season,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Once again, the iPad with iOS 4.2 will define the target that other tablets will aspire to, but very few, if any, will ever be able to hit.”

iPad users can now run their favorite apps and switch between them instantly, while preserving iPad’s legendary battery life. Users can organize their apps with drag-and-drop simplicity using Folders, and Mail now features a Unified Inbox, fast inbox switching and a threaded message view.

Game Center allows iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users to challenge and play friends or be matched automatically with new opponents, showcase their scores and achievements, and discover new games their friends are playing.

AirPlay is a new feature for streaming music, video and photos wirelessly from iPad, iPhone and iPod touch to Apple TV®, transforming Apple TV into a great accessory for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. iOS users also will be able to use AirPort Express® and AirPlay to stream wirelessly to any stereo or powered speakers, or directly to AirPlay-enabled speakers coming to market in the months ahead.

AirPrint is a next-generation Wi-Fi print architecture that dramatically simplifies printing by completely eliminating printer drivers. A selection of AirPrint enabled printers including the HP Photosmart, HP LaserJet Pro and HP Officejet will be the first to support printing direct from iOS devices. iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users can simply tap to print their documents or photos wirelessly to any printer that supports AirPrint.

The Find My iPhone (or iPad or iPod touch) feature is now free to use without a MobileMe℠ subscription and helps you locate your missing device.* The Find My iPhone app is a free download on the App Store℠ and lets users easily locate a missing device on a map and have it display a message or play a sound. Users can even remotely lock or wipe data from a lost device to protect privacy.

Other new features that iOS 4.2 brings to the iPad include: the ability to rent TV episodes directly to iPad using the iTunes® App with a 30 day viewing window and a 48 hour session window once playback is started; the ability to easily find and highlight specific words and phrases on web pages in Safari®; enhanced enterprise support so businesses can take advantage of stronger security features, new device management capabilities and improved enterprise integration; industry-leading accessibility enhancements; and support for 25 additional languages, including Korean, Portuguese and Traditional Chinese.

The revolutionary iPad allows users to connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before. You can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, using the innovative Multi-Touch™ user interface. iPad weighs just 1.5 pounds, making it easy to carry and use anywhere.

Today, customers have downloaded more than seven billion apps from the groundbreaking App Store and more than 300,000 apps are available to consumers in 90 countries, with more than 40,000 native iPad apps. Over 125 million iOS users around the world can choose from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel.

Availability
The iOS 4.2 update is available today to download to iPad, iPhone and iPod touch by syncing the device with iTunes 10.1. iOS 4.2 is compatible with iPad, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, second and third generation iPod touch (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB) and new iPod touch. Some features may not be available on all products. For example, Multitasking requires iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, third generation iPod touch (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB) or later.

iTunes Cloud Based Media Service

2010-11-15T13:51:00.000-08:00

It's hard to ignore that Apple is going to announce something big about iTunes tomorrow. The apple.com home page has the slogan "Tomorrow is just another day. That you'll never forget. Click back here for an exciting announcement about iTunes." It's also not hard to miss that this is a global announcement as Apple has count down clocks displayed for California, New York, London and Tokyo. The speculation is Apple will announce that a cloud based media service will be available through iTunes. Music and movies will be made available through streaming on a monthly rental subscription. Can't wait this is exciting times for streaming media over the Internet.

Mac OS X v10.6.5 Update

2010-11-13T19:43:00.001-08:00

Apple just released a new point release v10.6.5. This Mac OS X Update is a welcome addition to an already stable release of Snow Leopard. The 10.6.5 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes that:

improve reliability with Microsoft Exchange servers
address performance of some image-processing operations in iPhoto and Aperture

address stability and performance of graphics applications and games
resolve a delay between print jobs
address a printing issue for some HP printers connected to an AirPort Extreme
resolve an issue when dragging contacts from Address Book to iCal
address an issue where dragging an item from a stack causes the Dock to not automatically hide
resolve an issue with Wikipedia information not displaying correctly in Dictionary
improve performance of MainStage on certain Mac systems
resolve spacing issues with OpenType fonts
improve reliability with some Bluetooth braille displays
resolve a VoiceOver issue when browsing some web sites with Safari 5

For detailed information on this update, visit:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4250.

For information on the security content of this update, visit:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

Apple TV 2.0

2010-11-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

Unlike other Apple products I held off buying an Apple TV as I was not convinced that the features and price were a good mix for what I envisioned Apple TV should do. However, I recently bought version 2.0 as the price was right at $99 US. Also the new pocket size device is perfect for installing behind a TV mounted on a wall. Wow, the new Apple TV is so simple to install and has most of the features you and I would want. It lacks web browsing but I am not really sure I want to surf on my 52" Sony Bravia while sitting on the couch. It's great for browsing through photos with visitors. You can watch movies and music videos you downloaded onto your Mac and stream them to your TV. You can also view YouTube clips. I rented an HD movie directly from Apple TV and the quality was just great. I'm thinking of possibly subscribing to NetFlix for $7.99 a month but will sign up for a free month first to see what movies they have. Downside is you need one for each room you have a TV in. Also you'll need to buy an HDMI cable.

FaceTime on Mac

2010-10-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Apple announced the public beta of FaceTime for Mac. It's an entirely new application that allows Mac users to video call iPhone 4 and iPod touch users as well as other Mac users. It features an intuitive interface and automatically uses your Address Book contacts. There is no need to create a special video call list. FaceTime works with the built-in camera and microphone on MacBooks, iMac and the newApple LED Cinema Displays. You can now download the public beta for free at the Apple FaceTime for Mac page and it will be standard with the the new release of Mac OS X Lion. Question is what has happened to iChat as there are some similarities? Also now that the iPhone 4 has two cameras, when will the Skype app be updated to allow video calls between Macs and iPhones?

Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

2010-10-18T15:32:00.000-07:00

Apple announced its financial results for the fiscal 2010 fourth quarter at a live webcast at 2 p.m. PST today. It was another record breaking quarter. A 27 percent increase in Macs sold from the same quarter a year ago. That is just under 3.9 million Macs. Apple also sold 14.1 million iPhones and 4.19 million iPads. Way to go Apple, we at iCrazee salute you! Here is the official release from Apple:

CUPERTINO, California—October 18, 2010—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2010 fourth quarter ended September 25, 2010. The Company posted record revenue of $20.34 billion and net quarterly profit of $4.31 billion, or $4.64 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $12.21 billion and net quarterly profit of $2.53 billion, or $2.77 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 36.9 percent compared to 41.8 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 57 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple sold 3.89 million Macs during the quarter, a 27 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 14.1 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 91 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.05 million iPods during the quarter, representing an 11 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The Company also sold 4.19 million iPads during the quarter.

“We are blown away to report over $20 billion in revenue and over $4 billion in after-tax earnings—both all-time records for Apple,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPhone sales of 14.1 million were up 91 percent year-over-year, handily beating the 12.1 million phones RIM sold in their most recent quarter. We still have a few surprises left for the remainder of this calendar year.”

“We’re thrilled with the performance and strength of our business, generating almost $5.7 billion in cash flow from operations during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $23 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $4.80.”

You can view the webcast using QuickTime at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq410/ and it will be available for replay for approximately two weeks.

iTunes 10.0.1 Update

2010-10-01T09:37:00.001-07:00

With the recently release iTunes 10, Apple released a Facebook like feature for music enthusiasts called Ping. iTunes 10.0.1 builds on Ping and now makes it easier to share your favorite music with friends. You can now Like or Post about music right from your iTunes library. Using the new Ping Sidebar, you can also easily see the recent activity of a selected artist in your library or all artists and friends you follow. The iTunes 10.0.1 Software Update also fixes a number of important bug fixes, including: addressing an issue where the picture quality of a video changes depending on whether the on-screen controls are visible, resolving an issue where iTunes may unexpectedly quit while interacting with album artwork viewed in a separate window, fixing a problem that affects the performance of some third-party visualizers, addressing an issue where the iTunes library and playlists appear empty and resolving an issue that created an incompatibility with some third-party shared libraries.

iPhone 4 Camera with LED Flash

2010-09-25T14:34:00.000-07:00

In my last iPhone 4 post I reviewed the iPhone 4's Multitasking capability. No review can really describe the quickness of switching between apps. You have play with the iPhone 4 to really appreciate it. So head off to an Apple Retail store and play with it for yourself. I'm still trying to decide whether it's worth upgrading to the new iPhone 4. Is the multi-camera necessary?

The camera built into the iPhone 4 is now a 5-megapixel camera and has a new high dynamic range (HDR) setting. With HDR the iPhone 4 captures three photos per scene with different exposure levels and then combines the best elements. You can then see the regular and HDR photo. In addition to HDR the iPhone 4 has a built in LED flash that automatically fires in low light. The LED flash uses an advanced backside illumination sensor. The quality of the iPhone 4 photos in low light is definitely far superior to the iPhone 3. The new 5 megapixel camera has a 5x digital zoom which really helps bring your subjects closer. You can tap on the iPhone 4's display to focus anything in the picture. This is a pretty cool feature. The front facing camera enables you to take self portraits and make video calls using the new FaceTime technology. An added bonus is that video can now be shot in HD. I think I am closer to upgrading to the iPhone 4.