iPhone NEWS & RUMORS

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:14:00 +0000

Hello everyone..
What's going on..i'm hit me up on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/farisb?ref=name

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:08:00 +0000

I'm Back

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:43:00 +0000

Hey Everyone, i'm back.
I am going to start slowly by looking at some apps and providing some reviews.
We will go from there.

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:07:00 +0000

Back to my Mac through iChat

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:43:00 +0000

Back to my Mac through iChat

http://allforces.com/?p=316&akst_action=share-this

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:32:00 +0000

iPhone Magic read and enjoy!

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 05:28:00 +0000

I’m an owner of an iPhone and I’m happy every time someone asks me to show it off to them. It amazes me that even after all this time, the iPhone still gets so much attention when I use it. I’ll put it through its paces and smile when I hear the oohs and ahhs. Even though people know about the iPhone, for one reason or another they just haven’t seen one up close nor held one in their hands and tried it out for themselves.

And now that Apple released the latest 1.1.3 version of the iPhone’s operating system, there’s even more to show off such as the pseudo GPS ability in the Google Maps application. However, I’ve recently been using something that brings a whole new meaning to showing off the iPhone.

The reactions I’m getting to the software products from Hottrix are like nothing I’ve seen before. Basically, Hottrix has produced a series of videos that run on the iPhone and other mobile devices, but they aren’t perceived to be videos by the people watching them. Before I go any further, let me dispel any concerns about what Hottrix is offering. These are not applications that could void your iPhone’s warranty. Nor are they Web applications that require you to go online to run them. They are simply mpeg4 videos, which run just like any other video you’d run on your iPhone.

You download them and use iTunes to install the videos into the iPhone’s iPod Video library as you would any other. But these videos have been designed to fool you into thinking that you are actually looking at the iPhone’s home screen. But in fact, they are a running video of the home screen. And depending on the Hottrix video you are running, some very bizarre things are going to happen.

My favorite one so far is actually Hottrix’s latest. It’s titled iGoldfish, and here’s how I set it up. I’ll be using my iPhone or showing it off when I surreptitiously run the iGoldfish video. I happen to mention that just the other day, I dropped my iPhone and it fell into the water. After the horrified looks appear, I smile and say not to worry and that I’ve discovered that while the iPhone really isn’t waterproof, it still continues to work just fine. The only problem I’ve noticed is that whenever I tap on the glass a few times (I begin to tap on the iPhone’s glass that’s displaying the home screen), something begins to happen that didn’t happen before I dropped it into the water.

At that very moment, you begin to hear bubbling noises and a really large goldfish swims in from the edge of the display in front of the home screen image. This is not a cartoon goldfish but the video of a real goldfish! Jaws drop. I nonchalantly continue to explain that I’ve decided to keep her in my iPhone and have named her “Goldie.” I then position my pinched fingers at the top of the iPhone and pretend to drop a bit of food for her. Of course I’ve timed the video just as a bit of food appears at the top of the screen and floats down in front of Goldie where she eats it with a loud, audible crunch. Goldie then swims off to the left and you still hear the bubble noises. The observers go wild and say things tantamount to “Oh my god, I’ve never seen anything like that!” And that’s just one of the videos you can get.

My favorites include iBeer, iMilk, iWater and iChampagne. With these, you again begin by showing the iPhone home screen. I say there’s a hidden switch I can press whenever I’m thirsty. Pressing it makes the home screen vanish and you see and hear the iPhone fill up with the beverage of choice. You shake it a bit and then hold the upper right corner to your mouth and begin drinking. As you tip the iPhone further back, the beverage looks as if it is pouring out into your mouth. For Halloween and Goths, a blood version is also available. Just a little practice and you’ll have them eating out of your hand with this one.

And speaking of eating out of your hand, there’s iMunchies. Shake your iPhone and it begins popping popcorn. With this video, you stick your index finger and thumb behind the iPhone and it looks like your finger is reaching in and grabbing a kernel. Pop it into your mouth, swallow and then pour the rest of them into your cupped hand with crunching sound effects included. Eat with gusto.

Hottrix offers a variety of other videos for the iPhone and other mobile devices such as a video that makes it look like you’re getting an important call from work complete with a frantic voice screaming something inaudible. It’s perfect when you need an excuse to make your escape from someone.

As I said, the iPhone is a lot of fun when you’re using it seriously and just playing with it. But now there’s more to playing on your iPhone than just playing games. With the offerings coming from Hottrix, your fun is just getting started. These are a real blast, and you’re going to want them all. Prices range from $1.99 to $2.99 per video.

Visit the Web site at www.hottrix.com.

iPhone and iMac get to watch TV

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:48:00 +0000

Today equinux entered the TV receiver market for Mac OS X in the United States. equinux' TubeStick hybrid offers more flexibility to enjoy your favorite TV shows on your Mac, iPhone or iPod. The newly announced USB TV receiver allows you to watch, pause and record live television on your Mac in HD quality. And with The Tube software that comes with TubeStick hybrid, users can even chat with other viewers during each TV show. With the new TubeToGo web services you can schedule, manage, publish and watch TV recordings via iPhone or iPod touch on the go.

"We're really excited to introduce TubeStick hybrid today. Nearly ten months after we started to reinvent digital television on the Mac with our The Tube software, we're more than happy to provide our solution to US customers as well", says equinux CEO Till Schadde. "With TubeToGo we introduced another thrilling add-on, that brings your TV recordings directly to your iPhone or iPod touch."

TubeStick hybrid - Always Ready for Reception

TubeStick hybrid has two built-in receivers, enabling you to watch free-to-air digital HDTV (ATSC) as well as digital (QAM) and analog (NTSC) cable television. In areas with ATSC, reception can be picked up by the antenna, in HD quality. The TubeStick hybrid has a white, minimalist design and is one of the smallest devices in its class. It comes with a white compact antenna and a break-out cable, that allows users to connect to their camcorders, analog video recorders and game consoles using S-Video or Composite. TubeStick hybrid is designed to fit perfectly in the USB port of MacBooks and MacBook Pros, without blocking other necessary plugs.

Watch, Chat, Record, and Go with The Tube

TubeStick hybrid includes The Tube 2, equinux' latest edition of its TV solution for Mac users. The Tube is the latest TV software for Mac OS X, that allows you to watch, pause and record your favorite TV shows on your Mac. You can even chat with other TV viewers, while watching a TV program, using the TubeTalk feature. The Tube provides you with manual and automatic Timeshift and lets you rewind the current program to record it from start with its Déjà Vu functionality. With The Tube you can schedule recordings of your favorite TV shows, manage them in a library and sort them by name or by date. The Tube supports Mac OS X's Spotlight to search for recordings and displays a QuickLook preview when showing them in Finder for Mac OS X 10.5.

Remotely Manage and Access your Favorite Recordings

Today equinux also introduced TubeToGo, an optional web-based service that allows you to remotely schedule, manage and watch your recordings with your iPhone or iPod on the go. TubeToGo lets you remotely schedule recordings via a web-based iPhone application, and publish your recordings library on .Mac or to a remote FTP server and watch it via WiFi connection on your iPhone or iPod touch. You can also setup The Tube to automatically create Video Podcasts to watch your favorite shows on the go, even when you're offline.

Price and Availability
TubeStick hybrid will be available, starting in February at your local Apple reseller, from Amazon or the equinux Online Store for only $129.95. TubeStick hybrid is exclusively designed for the US market. TubeStick hybrid is shipped with the latest edition of The Tube and a one month trail for TubeToGo web service. TubeToGo will also be available from February on a subscription basis.

About equinux
equinux (www.equinux.com), located in San Mateo, CA (USA) and headquartered in Munich, Germany, develops and distributes successful Mac solutions for professionals and consumers alike. Today users from all over the world rely on equinux' award-winning and trusted applications. The business solution VPN Tracker is the market-leading VPN client for the Mac OS X Platform. iSale, equinux' successful eBay auctioning solution won several Apple Design Awards, and currently represents the 2006 winner in the most competitive category "Best Mac OS X User Experience".
All product and company names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Copyright © 2008 equinux AG. All rights reserved
equinux – Technology for my life.

iPhone sync with multipule computers.

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:43:00 +0000

Editor’s Note: The following article is an adapted excerpt from the recently-published Take Control of Your iPhone, a $15 electronic book available for download from TidBits Publishing. The 195-page ebook helps readers understand what’s going on under the hood of the iPhone, with lots of tips for using the iPhone more effectively and an emphasis on troubleshooting assistance for solving problems related to activating, syncing, application crashes, iPhone freezes, handset security, and more.

Although you can certainly sync multiple iPhones to a single computer, the reverse of that—syncing one iPhone to multiple computers, isn’t generally recommended by Apple.

Should you decide to ignore Apple’s advice and connect your iPhone to a secondary computer, don’t worry. Nothing is selected for syncing by default. That is, no contacts, calendars, music, video, or any other data will be selected in iTunes, so there will be no automatic syncing and no potential loss of data on either your iPhone or the computer.

If you click the Sync button, however, an initial sync does occur. Unlike with most iPods, no warning advises against this. Happily, it is still the case that no data are lost on either the iPhone or the secondary computer. All that happens is that an iPhone Backup file is created.

However, if you enable any of the checkboxes in the Info, Music, Photos, Podcasts, or Video tabs, the Apply button appears. If you click Apply, you do typically get a warning message. The exact content of the message, and what will happen if a sync occurs, varies depending upon what you selected. [Note: Although there are minor differences in the user interfaces, the iPhone and the iPod touch behave very similarly here.]

Music, video, and podcasts
If you enable syncing of music or video content (assuming you have previously synced music or video to your iPhone via the first computer), you get a message similar to the one in Figure 1.

Figure 1. This message appears when you set iTunes to sync music or video on a secondary computer (that is, a computer that isn’t the one you sync with normally).

If you continue with the sync, it will erase all the iTunes-specific content on your iPhone, replacing it with the content from the secondary computer, but leaving photos and info content (contacts, calendars, Mail accounts, and bookmarks) intact, despite the use of the word “erase” in the message. Any settings changes you made on the iPhone should remain intact as well.

If your iPhone contains songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store and you connect to a secondary computer that is authorized to play music from your account, the message in Figure 1 includes an additional button to “Transfer Purchases.” See this Apple article for details.

Oddly, at least on recent iterations of the iPhone software, the above warning message does not appear when you attempt to sync podcasts from the secondary computer—even though podcasts are also part of an iTunes library. Instead, either no message appears or a message appears that states that only podcasts will be affected by your sync. In either case, if you go ahead and sync, you’ll get the same result: the newly selected podcast(s) replace the podcasts currently on your iPhone—while the music and video media on your iPhone remain unchanged and intact. I am not sure why podcasts are an exception here, but they are.

Photos
If you enable photo syncing on the secondary computer, you get a message like the one in Figure 2. If you go ahead with the sync, all photos on the iPhone will be replaced, but all non-photo content should remain untouched.

Figure 2. This message appears when you set iTunes to sync photos on a computer different from the one with which you normally sync.

Contacts, calendar events, Mail accounts, and bookmarks
If you tell iTunes to sync any of these types of data and click Apply, you get a message like the one shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. This message appears when you set iTunes to sync iPhone’s contacts on a computer different from the one with which you normally sync.

In this special case, you can choose to merge information between the iPhone and the second computer rather than overwrite the synced data on the iPhone. The merged data, now on your iPhone, would then sync back to your main computer the next time you sync with it. Thus, this allows you to combine all the types of information managed on the Info tab (contacts, calendar events, Mail accounts, and bookmarks) in multiple computers.

Merging of Info data is the one case where syncing with a second computer can be useful. You can use the iPhone as a means of merging two sets of data from separate computers.

In all other cases, syncing an iPhone with a second computer results in data from the second computer overwriting similar data from the first computer, which is not typically what you want. However, if you had an unusual setup where you wanted, for example, to sync your iPhone to one computer for photos and to another for music, syncing to both computers could accomplish this. To do so, sync photos but not music on one computer, and vice versa on the second. Keep all other settings and content synced with just the first computer.

Sync to More Than One iTunes Library
How would you like to be able to sync music, video, and pod-casts from a second computer to your iPhone, without erasing the content from the first computer that is already on your iPhone? It can be done, but only if you have a "jailbroken" (hacked) iPhone. If so, install SwapTunes via the Installer application on your iPhone.

The only other option is to manually combine the content from multiple computers into a single iTunes Library, on one computer, with which you sync your iPhone.

iPhones Missing in Action

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 20:14:00 +0000

The disappointments on the iPhone front started early for Apple, as TheStreet.com first reported in July. Apple failed to sell out the 1 million iPhones it had supplied on the weekend of the product's debut. The goal was an internal target, say people familiar with the plan.

But Apple didn't exactly blow the number out of the water when reported that it sold 270,000 iPhones in its fiscal third quarter. That total was seen as a letdown to analysts, who had predicted sales of between 200,000 and 700,000 for iPhone's debut quarter.

In the most recent quarter, the gap between what Apple sold and what the telcos activated grew even wider.

As RealMoney columnist Tero Kuittinen points out, Apple says it shipped 2.3 million iPhones and AT&T says it activated 900,000 new iPhone subscribers for the same period.

Tech investors are pondering a bit of a mystery: Apple's (AAPL - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) missing iPhones.

By some analysts' estimates, there are 1.4 million iPhones unaccounted for. That is roughly the gap between the nearly 4 million iPhones Apple says it has sold, and the number of iPhone activations by AT&T (T - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) and Apple's European telco partners.

The discrepancy comes amid concerns that Apple's white-hot growth phase has fizzled following what was viewed as disappointing guidance from the company this week. The news also reignites fears that the hugely hyped iPhone may not be quite as popular as first estimated.

Analysts at Sanford Bernstein estimate that Apple has shipped 3.75 million iPhones in total, while telcos have activated about 2.35 million phones. The total unactivated unlocked phones might account for 20% of the difference, leaving 670,000 unaccounted for, says Bernstein.

If the estimates are true, Apple is facing a growing pile of unsold iPhones. The company did not provide an immediate comment.

One of the problems for the iPhone sales is that the current model is a slower 2.5 generation technology, and a faster 3G iPhone will be unveiled in early summer. Another damper on demand, say observers, is AT&T. Consumers have strong feelings about the quality of wireless network coverage, and AT&T has not swept any quality awards on this front.

iPhone vs. Nokia E70 ..read and enjoy!

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:57:00 +0000

Please check out the link below, it might be the funniest thing I have seen.
This link provides a review of the iPhone as well as comparisons to a Nokia E70.

I was at work when I read this and could not stop laughing.

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=iphone

iPhone aka iGutiar

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:50:00 +0000

iPhone Guitar Hero - Watch more free videos

iPhone jailbreak 1.1.3

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:30:00 +0000

Members of the iPhone Dev Team (publicity shy, natch) say they have figured out a “jailbreak” for the recently 1.13 iPhone upgrade.

Publicity shy? Yea. We are talking aboutjailbreak team user names such as netkas, NerveGas, asap18, bgm, Bugout, bushing, chris_, dinopio, drudge, Fred_, gray, MuscleNerd, natetrue, pr3d4t0r, roxfan, Turbo, Zf[strike], np101137, pumpkin, and kroo.

(MuscleNerd. Hah!)

I certainly do not endorse performing the steps I am about to cite. However, it does appear that doing this will quite likely release your iPhone’s heretofore mortal lock with AT&T Mobility.

That said, those folks bound and determined to jailbreak their 1.13-powered iPhone via Windows would perform the following steps:

Start with a 1.1.1 or 1.1.2 jailbroken phone with Installer.app installed.
Plug in your phone via USB to your computer. Download, extract, and run iBrickr Special 1.1.3 jailbreak edition (ibrickr.exe in the archive).
iBrickr will determine what firmware you are running on your phone and make sure you can run the update.
iBrickr will then guide you through the process of obtaining and modifying the 1.1.3 firmware (make sure to read everything thoroughly).
iBrickr will upload the new firmware image to your phone. Note that this only puts the file on your phone and does not modify it at all, yet.
When iBrickr finishes (should take about 10 minutes), it will tell you to go to Installer and install the “1.1.3 soft upgrade” package. Do that.
When the installer finishes (this should take another 10-15 minutes), your phone should reboot with a fresh activated 1.1.3 firmware.
Like I said I can’t suggest you try this. I only wanted to tell you how those thrillseekers who are trying the latest iPhone unbrick are doing it.

Wonder how long until the antidote comes down from Cupertino…

iPhone Webclip for your Website

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:03:00 +0000

If you've already downloaded the latest iPhone 1.1.3 software update, then you know you can bookmark your favorite sites on your iPhone/iPod Touch's home screen. Unfortunately, since this is a still a new feature, most site owners are not sure how to create those glossy web clips that appear when you bookmark a site on the iPhone's homepage. Lucky for you, I came across Apple's iPhone Dev Center where they've posted step-by-step instructions on how to do this. Those familiar with favicons should have no problem creating an iPhone web clip, since the process is very similar.
If you're a site owner, I recommend you take a few minutes to create a web clip for your site. It's extremely easy to do, and your visitors will love your for it. Here's how to get started:
Open your image editing program, such as Photoshop, and create an image that's 57 x 57 pixels. Safari will crop larger images, so you can create one slightly larger if you want.
Save the icon in your computer as an 8-bit PNG file, and name it "apple-touch-icon.png."
Upload the image to your site's root directory, just like you would save a favicon image.
Now open up your site on your iPhone/iPod Touch, tap the plus sign at the bottom of the screen, and select 'Add to Home Screen.' Rename site if necessary.
Hit the home button, and admire your new shiny icon.
You can also reorganize and delete icons on your home screen by:
Clicking and holding one of the icons until they start to wiggle
To move icons, hold and drag them to the desired position
To delete an icon, simply tap the "X" next to each icon
Click the home button when you're satisfied

Delicious and Digg Test

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 18:01:00 +0000

Test

iPhone remote for your iMac

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:20:00 +0000

There is this super scary web based applicaiton that lets you control every aspect of your computer.

It's called Remote Buddy http://www.iospirit.com/index.php?&sid=5406295Gda4f2adf882fb9be

Download and tell me your impressions.

iPhone Rumors

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:11:00 +0000

I head fourth hand that there will be a 3G iPhone coming out in June with 16GB capacity.
It is unconfirmed but I wanted to see if anyone else heard the same thing.

iPhone Last.FM

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:00:00 +0000

A few days ago we sent out some cryptic invitations to a press conference in New York that Felix and Martin are presiding over. We’ve had fun in the office reading the rumors and speculation, but it’s time to spill the beans:

As of today, you can play full-length tracks and entire albums for free on the Last.fm website.

Something we’ve wanted for years—for people who visit Last.fm to be able to play any track for free—is now possible. With the support of the folks behind EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner—and the artists they work with—plus thousands of independent artists and labels, we’ve made the biggest legal collection of music available to play online for free, the way we believe it should be.

Full-length tracks are now available in the US, UK, and Germany, and we’re hard at work broadening our coverage into other countries. During this initial public beta period, each track can be played up to 3 times for free before a notice appears telling you about our upcoming subscription service. The soon-to-be announced subscription service will give you unlimited plays and some other useful things. We’re also working on bringing full-length tracks to the desktop client and beyond.

Free full-length tracks are obviously great news for listeners, but also great for artists and labels, who get paid every time someone streams a song. Music on Last.fm is perpetually monetized. This is good because artists get paid based on how popular a song is with their fans, instead of a fixed amount.

We will be paying artists directly.

We already have licenses with the various royalty collection societies, but now unsigned artists can put their music on Last.fm and be paid directly for every song played. This helps to level the playing-field—now you can make music, upload it to Last.fm and earn money for each play. If you make music, you can sign up to participate for free.

We’re not printing money to pay for this—but the business model is simple enough: we are paying artists and labels a share of advertising revenue from the website.

Today we’re redesigning the music economy. There are already millions of tracks available, and we’re adding more every day. We will continue to work hard to bring this to everyone in the world.

Macbook Air Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:44:00 +0000

After evaluating the state of the ultraportable market historically (poor) and the specs Apple is doling out with this device, it seems almost too obvious that very few people will be willing to buy this junker.

Let's face it -- the MacBook Air is nothing more than a gimmick to make people believe Apple is a trendsetter that knows the best way to bring "cool" products to the masses. But what everyone seems to forget is that this company already has a slew of "cool" products and there's no need for something that's underpowered and overpriced.

Suffice it to say, the MacBook Air is nothing more than a toy that has no promise and will flounder in stores. Why you ask? It's simple.

First off, let's look at Apple's current stable of notebooks. The company offers the MacBook, which is slim and small in its own right and features the same size screen as the Air. Not only that, but it sports far superior specs and is only 0.32-inches thicker than the Air when comparing them at their thickest points. Oh, and let's not forget that it only weighs 2 pounds more and starts at $1099, compared to the Air's $1799 pricetag.

On the other side of things, Apple's MacBook Pro is built with the power user in mind and although it's much bigger than the Air, its entry-level price is just $200 more.

So let me get this straight -- I can have a Mac that's barely thinner than its brother, underpowered, but admittedly "cooler" for an additional $700? Now let's be honest -- who in their right mind would spend an additional $700 on a device just because it looks nicer?

Now, I know that some Apple zealots are screaming right now saying that it's all about portability and it's not meant to be the workhorse the other MacBooks are, but if you're telling me that you can't carry a MacBook around because it's too big and too heavy, you might want to see a doctor.

Another problem that Steve Jobs failed to address during his keynote speech is, who in the world is going to buy this toy? My guess: the diehard Apple fanboy and people with enough money in the bank that they don't mind spending $1799 on a product they'll use in their car or at coffee shops.

Beyond those two groups, who else is really buying this thing? Can anyone honestly say that the average consumer will run down to their local Apple store, excited to get their hands on their first Mac, and choose the Air over the MacBook if they're looking for something small?

I can hear it now: "Hold on, so what you're saying is that I can get a much faster and better-equipped computer that's barely larger for $700 less? Where's the cash register?"

And while I don't think the lack of an optical drive is a big deal by any means, think of the average person just looking to get their hands on a Mac and listening to others tell them how it "just works." How will they feel when they get the Air home, try to install Office and realize the optical drive is missing? Sure, they can go through the trouble of connecting to another computer in the home and pop the disc into that drive, but doesn't it significantly reduce the allure of having a device that "just works"?

Of course, it doesn't quite end there. So far, ultraportable sales have been flat, to say the least, and aside from a few bursts in sales every now and then, the ultraportable market is not the best to enter if a company is looking to increase its market share and turn a profit.

So why did Apple decide to get in on the ultraportable game? More than likely, it's because the company thinks it can do no wrong. And who can tell Steve he can? Not only has the iPod been an unbridled success, but the iPhone is selling extremely well and Mac sales have never been stronger.

But for the first time in years, Jobs and company has committed a blunder that could have enormous consequences. Not only is the MacBook Air a glorified toy that won't be used by the vast majority of consumers, it's overpriced and lacking any significant benefit of ownership other than its looks and multi-touch trackpad.

If you're looking for portability, save $700 and buy the MacBook. If you're looking to spend money, go the extra mile and find yourself a MacBook Pro. Suffice it to say, there's no need for the MacBook Air.

iPhone hacks for 1.1.3 could it be?

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:12:00 +0000

The folks behind the two hacks to Jailbreak the iPhone and iPod Touch 1.1.3 firmware have been in a dilemma. Release now and risk having the hack broken again when Apple ships its official software development kit for the iPhone, or sit on the hacks and release them after the next Apple update.

According to iPhone Atlas, there may be a third way. One of the two jailbreak methods will be released today, and the other held back until after the SDK is launched. A nice workaround in theory, but it seems that the hack we'll get might include some hardware modification, which will put it out of most user's abilities.

Also, many current third party applications won't work on 1.1.3. Apple tightened security on the iPhone by making all applications run as a regular user instead of the root, or super user. Apparently the NES emulator has already been updated to work, with other programmers hard at work on their own applications.

Macbook Air Video NEW!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:09:00 +0000

This is a great video Watch and enjoy!

Macbook Air Stack up

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:02:00 +0000

We can all agree that the MacBook Air is a slick-looking little laptop. It's so thin! You can't argue with that! But if you're in the market for a small, high-performance laptop, is it the best option? I pored over specs for four similarly positioned and more-or-less similarly priced laptops to see if you'll get your $1,800 worth out of the Air. Let's go to the chart, shall we?

It turns out that, surprise surprise, you pay a premium for a tiny form factor. The MacBook Air is seriously expensive for the guts you get inside, but Apple isn't the only company guilty of charging insane amounts for smaller computers. Just look at the Sony Vaio TZ150N, for example. $2,100 for a 1.06 GHz processor? Are you kidding me? I don't care how small, it's still a rip-off.

The best deal—if you don't mind an extra pound of weight and half-inch of thickness—is the Dell XPS M1330. It bests the MacBook Air in nearly every single category, delivering about 30% more processing power, 50% more memory, over 300% more hard drive space, plus a dedicated graphics card. All of this, for $300 less. But also, two hours less of battery life, thanks to the new smaller and more efficient Core 2 Duo processor in the MacBook Air.

But it's really no surprise that a form factor as striking as the MacBook Air's warrants a premium price. Super-slim and light laptops as a category have yet to come down from the stratosphere, dollar-wise. It's a form factor that SSD just makes loads of sense for, lightening them up and cutting down on battery life, but that drives the price up even further for the time being. Chips are still getting smaller and screen technology keeps improving. In a couple of years, these form factors will be reasonably priced with great specs, but until then, prepare to pay a huge chunk more for a bit less power, just so you can brag about having the thinnest computer on the

Youtube on your iPhone just got a little better

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:41:00 +0000

YouTube first dipped its toe in the mobile world in November of 2006 with a deal to deliver some video clips through the VCast service of Verizon Wireless. Last year it created a mobile Web site accessible on many Sprint and AT&T phones. But the site only carried a small slice of YouTube content. And it has another subset on the iPhone.
Today, the company is unveiling a new mobile at m.youtube.com that it said will carry most of YouTube’s catalog, or tens of millions of videos. The site will also have personalization and community features that it lacked before, so users will be able to log in and subscribe to certain channels or have easy access to their favorite videos. And they’ll be able to upload videos directly from their mobile devices.
“The mobile experience will be much closer to the Web experience,” said Hunter Walk, a YouTube product manager.
For now, the new site will have no impact on Google’s bottom line, as it will be free of ads. Mr. Walk said the new site is intended to get existing users of YouTube mobile to spend more time on the site and to grow the YouTube mobile audience. “We want more and more people try mobile video for the first time,” he said.
Watching videos on mobile phones remains a niche activity. YouTube said its mobile site will be accessible from devices that are capable of streaming video and that run on 3G networks. According to the company, that’s about 100 million devices worldwide, a small fraction of the more than 3 billion cell phones in use around the world. What’s more, many of those devices, especially overseas, run on limited data plans, so watching videos can prove expensive, as YouTube notes on its mobile Web site: “YouTube Mobile is a data intensive application. We highly recommend that you upgrade to an unlimited data plan with your mobile service provider to avoid additional charges.”

MacBook to buy or not to buy, that is the question

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:14:00 +0000

As the Macintosh guru in my group of friends and colleagues, the question on everyone's mind over the past week (other than what happened to Apple's stock price!?) is "what do I think of the MacBook Air? - and should I buy one?" Rather than answer everyone separately, let me share my pre-1st hand knowledge/thoughts. Keep in mind, I've been called an Apple Fanboy enough times for me to think it might be true....

The MacBook Air is an amazing piece of machinery. It is ahead of its time on a lot of fronts. However, some details certainly are cause for concern.

The processor. Intel is late on their delivery of their ultra-low 45nm laptop chips. Clearly, the MacBook Air is the exact computer that these types of chips belong in. So Apple and Intel spun it as going out of their way to do something special. That something special was jimmy-ing a 65nm chip onto a board that was made for a 45nm one. The 45 nm chips will be arriving by mid-year and will likely be put in rev 2 of the MacBook Air. They will use less power per CPU cycle and that five hour battery life could easily turn into six - and with the reduced power consumption, they might be able to crank the processor speed up to and beyond 2 Ghz or maybe even fit in some more wireless options..
Wireless. I am not talking about Wifi which the Air has the best money can buy, I am talking about 3G/WiMAX here. It isn't built in. For the road warriors that this device is made for, having 3G Internet access is almost a prerequisite. Of course you can get a decidedly unsexy USB 3G "dongle", but Apple is going to eventually have to cave to pressure and start including these things in its products. Dell, HP and others have included this functionality for years! Apple could even partner with their iPhone buddies, AT&T on this and offer a seamless package. Or how about WiMAX with Intel? Intel is building WiMAX into its next round of CPUs. Again. Rev 2
As much as I hate to say it about Apple - or any company - Rev 1 parts are glitchy - especially the first ones off of the assembly line. I pre-ordered/picked up one of the first MacBook Pros out of the factory a few years ago. Over the course of that first year, nearly every part on it had to be replaced (Motherboard, HD, battery, etc). It is almost a whole new machine after all of the part swaps. That doesn't mean Apple wasn't quick and happy to replace everything - and it is still a solid machine: I am typing on it now as a matter of fact. However, it was a pain to lose it for a few days at a time and my early impressions of it shot my confidence in its quality. These MacBook Airs are going to be going to the people who don't really have that much patience and desire to send it back to Apple for a few days while they swap defective parts - especially at the price premiums.
Option 1: 80Gb Hard Drive. I've booted my MacBook Pro from an iPod before. It isn't fast - I wouldn't want to have to do this on a regular basis - especially on a brand new, expensive machine. Apple may have added a few tricks, but the bottom line is that the 80Gb hard drive is still a 1.8 inch 4200 rpm iPod hard drive - which is not only significantly slower than 2.5 inch drives at 7200RPM but also more prone to damage from shock. The early reviewers also didn't get the hard drive version of the MacBook Air to review - so we won't know how fast/slow it is until it hits the streets. Apparently there is not enough room in there for the 160Gb iPod hard drive either - it isn't an option. That is tight! The next round of 1.8 inch drives will be faster, smaller and store more information. Me? I don't want to be using an iPod drive on my laptop - which leads to...
Option 2: That $1000 64Gb SSD drive. It is the top of the line, fastest 1.8 inch form factor solid state drive out there. But this is an area that is growing by leaps and bounds. Soon there will be 128Gb (or 96GB - there is a 48Gb SSD drive afterall) sized drives available for this thing. By midyear or earlier they should be hitting the same price points at the current 64Gb SSDs. Meanwhile the 64Gb drives will cost about half of what they do now. Those price points seem a lot more digestable to me.
Docks. Right now there isn't much in the way of docking stations for this thing. With the exception of Kensington's USB dock not much comes close. This is definitely a problem in need of a solution. I'd like to see something that plugs into the MicroDVI port as well - and include a superdrive in a sexy package - these laptops aren't going to the aesthetically challenged.
Overall speed. The specs of the MacBook Air pretty much line up with a last generation (Rev B) Mac Mini or 1st generation Rev A MacBooks. Some specs are lower, some are higher. So you'd expect a similar experience from this machine. For the high-end target market to which this is obviously aimed, that speed may not sit well.
Expandability. Everyone has been talking about the lack of expandability of the MacBook Air - which overall I think is unfair, concessions had to be made. However, some things do stick out. RAM. It doesn't take up much space and I want as much as possible. Apple, make a 4 GB option! Street prices say this should be $300 more (Rev 2?) but Apple charges 2-5 times more than street costs. Realistically, pricing details this small won't matter to high end users. Battery. There have to be more options. I am sure someone will make a MagSafe adaptable external battery/crank/solar charger - but until then, once you use your 4-5 hours, you are SOL until an AC/DC outlet avails itself. Think ten hour overseas flights without power - believe me, they exist.
Size. "Thin! thin! thin!" If Apple had its way, that is all you'd hear about. Well that isn't the only dimension that matters. The truth is that this is hardly an utraportable. It has roughly the same footprint as a MacBook - with the same wasted space around the edges of the screen and keyboard. As such, it won't fit in a standard purse like a Sony TZ and won't open as comfortably on a tight airplane ride as a true ultra-portable. Think about it as a MacBook sliced in half. Perhaps Apple will offer a 14 inch screen in Rev 2 that actually goes to the edges of the device or shrink the footprint to the edges of the screen/keyboard. Here is the MAcBook Air compared to a full sized MacBook Pro.

Price drops. As this is an Apple/early adopter device, the price will drop significantly for the next round. We saw this in the iPhone and we see it every time Apple astounds us with new products. It isn't just component costs - which will be significant - it's also the ramp up of production numbers which will bring prices way down. This could easily be late 2008 or 2009's MacBook.
But for a lot of people, these things - or anything else - don't matter..You know who I am talking about. The person who:

saw the machine and said "I have to have it" without needing to hear any of the details
has virtually unlimited discretionary spending money
cares much less about the specs and more about aesthetics
is spending most of his/her time on the web and email - who needs more of something to show off than a real workhorse.
Not to mention that these people will probably be the first ones to get the Rev 2's anyway.

Truthfully, there are a lot of legitimate reasons to snap up one of these beauties - and as they said in the earnings call last week, Apple is getting lots of orders for these things. But they obviously are only for the select few who can justify its unique characteristics.

For the rest of us, it might take some consideration.

iPhone enjoys free AT&T Wifi

noreply@blogger.com (Faris Bazzari) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:10:00 +0000

Free. It's a great word.

And now you can use free and your other favorite word -- iPhone -- in the same sentence, as long as you subscribe to AT&T's broadband service.

According to the Associated Press and CNN, AT&T said Wednesday that will be make its 10,000 Wi-Fi hotspots free to almost all broadband Internet customers starting next week.

Until now, that access was reserved for subscribers to the company's premium broadband services.

I'm one of the lucky ones in this case and I've had the free Wi-Fi for a while now because I have AT&T broadband. I must say that I don't use it all that often; the only place that's really close by is the McDonald's in the base of my apartment building.

But when I really want to use Wi-Fi in my lobby, I order a side salad and log in. The log-in process is cumbersome and takes about 5 minutes. But once you are in, it works just fine.