Macalicious

Apple’s Mac sales on the rise

2009-07-01T19:54:33Z

According to Morgan Stanley’s Kathryn Huberty, Apple (AAPL) is the computer maker with the “most upside” as the PC market begins to stabilize after the dismal first quarter of 2009.

There’s some good news for Hewlett Packard (HPQ) and Dell (DELL) in the report to clients Huberty issued overnight Wednesday, but it’s mostly attributed to enterprise cycles and inventory restocking.

Apple, however, is a different story.

“Even before the new Macbook Pros launched,” she writes, “Apple began to outperform the broader commercial PC segment — with commercial Mac shipments up 25% [month over month] in May versus market growth of just 1%.”

iPhone OS 3.1 Beta Available for Developers

2009-07-01T19:40:44Z

Following closely on the official release of iPhone OS 3.0, Apple has seeded a developer build of version 3.1, build 7C97D, along with the SDK.

The point release appears to be more than bug fixes, too. A number of sites, including Gizmodo, are reporting features like:

Faster boot time
Bluetooth voice control
Access to video editing through APIs for third-party developers
Non-destructive editing of video by allowing saving of copies
Fraud Protection, or phishing warnings, as an option in preferences for Safari

AT&T Navigator brings true turn-by-turn navigation to iPhone for $9.99/mo.

2009-06-24T01:11:37Z

Somanumbatching AT&T today announced the availability of its location based services app - AT&T Navigator, powered by TeleNav - on Apple’s iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S. Using the latest iPhone OS 3.0 software the app brings full audible and visual turn-by-turn navigation service over AT&T’s 3G network.

iPhone Tethering and MMS Hacks Surface

2009-06-18T21:15:37Z

Many AT&T iPhone customers have been disappointed by the carrier’s lack of support for both Internet tethering and MMS at launch for iPhone OS 3.0. A pair of new reports today highlight a couple of iPhone hacks for enabling tethering and/or MMS with…

Apple releases iPhone OS 3.0

2009-06-18T21:13:01Z

Finally, the wait is over! Apple released iPhone OS 3.0 yesterday to a hungry audience of iPhone lovers just itching to get their paws on the new software update. Overall, we were pleased with the 3.0, however, many people would argue that some of the most satisfying new features should have been there from the beginning. We’re looking at you Cut/Copy/Paste and Search. But those aside, the update seems to have made the iPhone sing a little bit, with noticeable speed enhancements from app to app.

Here is a more complete list of what you can find in the new 3.0 update:

Cut, Copy & Paste: Quickly cut, copy, and paste text from application to application. Select entire blocks of web text with a tap. Copy and paste images from the web, too.
Landscape Keyboard: Rotate iPhone to landscape to use a larger keyboard in Mail, Messages, Notes, and Safari.
MMS: Send MMS messages and include video, photos, audio, and contact info. Even tap to snap a picture or shoot a video right inside Messages. MMS support for U.S.-based AT&T customers won’t be available until late summer.
Spotlight Search: Find what you’re looking for across your iPhone, all from one place. Spotlight searches all of your contacts, email, calendars, and notes, as well as everything in your iPod.
Voice Memos: Capture a memo, a meeting, or any audio recording on the go. Voice Memos works with the built-in iPhone microphone or with the mic on your headset.
Improved Calendar: Create meetings via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and subscribe to calendars with new CalDAV support.
Buy Movies, TV Shows, and Audiobooks: Download movies, TV shows, music videos, and audiobooks from the iTunes Store on your iPhone.
Safari Improvements: Enjoy faster performance, autofill user names and passwords, and more.
Internet Tethering: Share your Internet connection with your laptop with Internet tethering via Bluetooth or USB. Tethering is not currently offered in the U.S. and some other countries.
Stereo Bluetooth: Connect compatible Bluetooth stereo headphones, car kits, or other accessories.
Automatic Wi-Fi Login: Log in to a Wi-Fi hotspot and iPhone automatically logs you in when you connect again.
Sync Notes: Never leave a note behind. Now you can sync all the notes you write on your iPhone back to your Mac or PC.
Parental Controls: Decide what music, videos, and apps your kids can access.
iTunes Store Account: Create and log in to one or more iTunes Store accounts directly from your iPhone.
YouTube Login: Log in to your YouTube account to save and sync bookmarks and rate favorites.
Shake to Shuffle: Give iPhone a shake and it shuffles to a different song in your music library.
New Languages: iPhone supports 30 languages and more than 40 keyboard layouts.
MobileMe Find My iPhone and Remote Wipe: Find your iPhone if you lose it and protect your privacy with Remote
Wipe.
Run the Latest Apps: Run the next generation of iPhone apps, like peer-to-peer games and more.

So how did your upgrade go? Will these new features keep you tied over for a little while or are you going to still buy an iPhone tomorrow? Let us know in the comments, can’t wait to hear what you have to say!

Say hello to the all new iPhone 3G S

2009-06-09T16:16:59Z

Well the wait for the long-anticipated next-gen iPhone has finally come to an end. The iPhone 3G S was announced yesterday at WWDC and it looks pretty darn slick. Apple has dubbed it the “fasted iPhone ever” and the new hardware improvements are impressive. Some of the new features include:

Increased performance: Up to 2X faster than the previous iPhone 3G model.
Extended battery life: The updated version now ships with talk time expected around 5 hours with up to 10 hours of video playback.
3-Megapixel camera: Takes great still photos with a built-in autofocus feature that also lets you tap the display to focus on anything you want.
Video: Shoot high-quality VGA video in portrait or landscape. Trim your footage by adjusting start and end points. Then share your video in an email, post it to your MobileMe gallery, publish it on YouTube, or sync it back to your Mac or PC using iTunes.
Voice Control: Voice Control recognizes the names in your Contacts and knows the music on your iPod. So if you want to place a call or play a song, all you have to do is ask.
Cut, Copy & Paste: Cut, copy, and paste words and photos, even between applications. Copy and paste images and content from the web, too.

There are some other features that will hopefully be available soon, such as Internet Tethering and MMS messaging. For those of in the U.S., we’ll have to wait until AT&T gets their act together to enjoy these new features.

What did you think of the keynote? Are you happy with the new iPhone and features? Let us know in the comments!

WWDC 2009 Rumor Roundup: iPhone, Snow Leopard, Laptops?

2009-06-08T15:01:28Z

WWDC 2009 is upon us and we’ve traditionally provided a rumor roundup prior to the big event to summarize the most likely rumors surrounding the Apple event. The product that seems to be getting the most attention ahead of the keynote is the next iPhone. But there are also rumors in the halls of Moscone West that imply that we might even see a ship date for Snow Leopard and a mention of new laptops.

Jobs on track for a June return, will we see a media event?

2009-06-05T03:56:41Z

The Wall Street Journal reports that Steve Jobs is on track to return from his six-month medical leave of absence later this month.

While Mr. Jobs has been on sick leave, some Apple directors have gotten weekly updates about his medical condition from the CEO’s physician, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Jobs’s recovery “is coming along” and he is on schedule to return to work later this month, said this person, who has seen Mr. Jobs in recent weeks.

“He was one real sick guy,” added this person. “Fundamentally he was starving to death over a nine-month period. He couldn’t digest protein. [But] he took corrective action.”

While there has been much speculation about whether Jobs will make an appearance at next week’s Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple has continued to officially claim that he will not return until the end of the month. The Wall Street Journal’s sources claim that, true to Jobs’ style of showmanship, Apple is preparing for his return to coincide with a media event of some sort.

iTunes 8.2 Update Available Ahead of 3.0 Release, QuickTime Security Flaw Patched

2009-06-02T18:47:32Z

iTunes 8.2 became available for anyone and everyone with a Mac, not just developers, late yesterday. A pre-release version of the update has been available to registered iPhone developers since the release of iPhone OS 3.0 beta 4 a few weeks ago, and is required for those hoping to run the 3.0 software on their Apple handheld devices. The release at this time strongly suggests that iPhone OS 3.0 will go live very soon, possibly immediately following the WWDC keynote speech taking place next week.

iPhone 3.0 autofocus camera, compass, UI outed in China

2009-06-01T02:07:44Z

Chinese Blog UMPCFever has photographically confirmed two previously rumored features of the iPhone OS 3.0—an autofocus feature for the still picture camera, and a digital compass—along with new details on their user interfaces. Believed to rely upon new camera hardware found in the upcoming 2009 iPhone, the autofocus feature places a blue box on the existing camera screen to show the current area of crisp focus, enabling…