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Archive for the ‘@CNN’ Category

Mplayit Provides iPhone App Discoverability Via Facebook

Written on November 19, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 3 people have commented

I spend an awful lot of time poking around in the App Store in both iTunes and on my iPhone, just in the hopes of finding something new and exciting to download and use on my device. It’s not an ideal situation, and I often wish Apple would throw out its tired model and completely [...]

iCarte Turns the iPhone Into an RFID Reader

Written on November 18, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 6 people have commented

Earlier we reported that the next generation of iPhone might have an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) reader built in, if rumors prove true. Well, there’s no need to wait that long, if near-field communications (NFC) is what you’ve got a hankerin’ for. Wireless Dynamics has announced a device called the iCarte that will add both [...]

Anachronistic Twitter Client Released for Classic Macs

Written on November 18, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and No one has commented

If you’re still running an old Mac PowerBook 550c or something similar, it must be really annoying to not be able to use Twitter via a native client. That’s probably your No. 1 concern, in fact, on your OS 8.1-running machine. You could always use the web interface, but that’s not really a fair solution, [...]

Apple Ranks a Lackluster Fourth in Notebook Reliability Study

Written on November 17, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 19 people have commented

Apple is fairly reliable, but not the most reliable company of all when it comes to notebooks, according to a new study by research firm SquareTrade. The top honor goes to Asus, which surprised me, but I suppose shouldn’t have when I consider the build quality of my fairly inexpensive Eee PC. Toshiba and Sony [...]

Apple’s Black Friday Sales Leaked Early

Written on November 17, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 21 people have commented

If you’re planning your holiday shopping but want to get a good grasp of the budget available to you in advance, it helps to know what kind of deals you’re going to get. Luckily, Apple’s Black Friday discounts have been leaked early, so you can factor in those price reductions while you’re figuring out how [...]

Apple’s App Store Approval Process Now Includes an Automated Layer

Written on November 17, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 12 people have commented

App Store developers now have more to contend with than just the fickle tastes of the humans Apple has reviewing submissions. Now, submissions also go through an automated filter that determines whether or not the app is obeying the rules and not using any of Apple’s private APIs, which is a no-no, according to the [...]

Apple Set to Release “Concierge” App to Make Scheduling Appointments Easier

Written on November 16, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 6 people have commented

Scheduling a Genius Bar or One to One training session appointment has never been that difficult. Just go to Apple’s web site, enter some information, and you’re done. But a new rumor over at AppleInsider suggests that it’s about to become even easier, thanks to a new in-house developed iPhone app that could be forthcoming [...]

What if OnLive Came to the iPhone?

Written on November 16, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 5 people have commented

OnLive made a lot of noise when it first appeared on the scene way back in March at the Game Developer’s Conference of 2009. It’s a service that’s said to be able to make a gaming machine out of any computer that can run the latest browsers, which would effectively end the madness that is [...]

AdMob Could Have Gone to Apple, Sources Say

Written on November 16, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 3 people have commented

AdMob, the mobile advertising firm that recently made headlines thanks to a Google acquisition, might have become part of the Apple fold if things had worked out differently, according to a report by Bloomberg that appeared this weekend. Apple reportedly approached AdMob with interest before the Google deal went down.
That’s according to “people familiar with [...]

The Apple Store: An Unsung Hero

Written on November 13, 2009 by Charles Jade and 7 people have commented

Apple previewed its Upper West Side store in New York yesterday. Besides welcoming the media into the company’s latest example of retail minimalism taken to its logical extreme, Apple Senior VP Ron Johnson talked retail.

Glass and stone enclose 8,500 square feet of retail space on street level, topped with a glass ceiling 45 feet above, and [...]

App Store Devs Flaunt Copyright Troll With Name Changes

Written on November 13, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 8 people have commented

iPhone devs are a rebellious bunch, and they don’t like to be bullied by anyone other than their Apple, which both frustrates and affirms their existence. Now, in light of what some might call a campaign being waged against the App Store by a well-known trademark troll, many iPhone devs are protesting what they see [...]

Blu-Ray App for iPhone Arrives Courtesy of Universal

Written on November 11, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 8 people have commented

Universal Media announced awhile ago that it would be introducing iPhone control into some of its Blu-ray titles, starting with “Fast & Furious,” the Vin Diesel/Paul Walker romp that saw the lucrative car racing series return to its humble origins. Now, Universal is extending the iPhone/Blu-ray connection to a much wider swath of its library [...]

Apple Surpasses Nokia as Most Profitable Cell Phone Maker

Written on November 11, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 7 people have commented

Despite controlling a much smaller share of the market, Apple is now much more profitable than Nokia, overtaking the handset maker as the most lucrative company in the business of selling cell phones. Apple also overtook Samsung during the last financial quarter, so it actually jumped from third to first place overall among global cell [...]

VESA Issues Mini DisplayPort Standard

Written on November 10, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 3 people have commented

Earlier this year (right at the beginning, in fact), we brought news that the Video Electronics Standard Association (VESA) might potentially make the Mini DisplayPort standard, meaning that manufacturers outside of Apple can now use it in their products without Apple’s approval, including rival computer makers, among others.
The Mini DisplayPort (mDP) standard is described as [...]

O2 UK to Officially Unlock iPhones Following Competitor Launch

Written on November 09, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 7 people have commented

O2 just announced what seems like a fairly magnanimous gesture on its part today, in preparation for the launch of the iPhone on other UK carriers and the end of iPhone exclusivity in that country. That should mean that O2 customers who want to take their business elsewhere can have their phones unlocked as early [...]

Jailbreakers: First iPhone Worm Discovered, Features Rick Astley

Written on November 09, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 2 people have commented

The first iPhone worm has been discovered. It comes to us via Australia, and appears to be limited to that country for now, although it has the potential to spread. It also stars Rick Astley, so to speak. The work changes the iPhone’s wallpaper to an image of the 1980s pop singer, who’s enjoyed a [...]

Rumor Has It: 8GB 3GS, RFID-Capable iPhones on the Way?

Written on November 06, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 2 people have commented

What better way to end the week than with two fresh, shiny new iPhone rumors to chew on? According to various reports, the iPhone 3GS could get an 8GB model just in time for the holidays, and Apple is said to be testing iPhones that support radio-frequency identification (RFID), a tech that allows devices to [...]

Art or Virus? Symantec Villifies Spoof Apple “Trojan”

Written on November 05, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 6 people have commented

Security firm Symantec is warning computer users about a new Mac-specific Trojan that deletes files on the user’s hard drive, according to Techworld.com. It has dubbed the piece of malware “OSX.Loosemaque,” and uploaded a YouTube video of how it goes about its nefarious purpose.
Basically, it’s a Space Invader clone wherein when you kill an alien, [...]

Command & Conquer: Red Alert Brings the Red Menace to Your iPhone

Written on November 04, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 4 people have commented

It’s a game series that’s gotten much love over the years, despite, or perhaps because of, the cheesy live action cut scenes featuring actors like Tim Curry. Now, Command & Conquer comes to the iPhone with Command & Conquer: Red Alert ($9.99, iTunes link), named after its PC and console counterpart released in 1996.
How well [...]

App Store Hits 100K in 481 Days

Written on November 04, 2009 by Charles Jade and 5 people have commented

481 days. That’s how long it took the App Store to go from opening its virtual doors with 500 applications on July 11, 2008 to a catalog of more than 100,000 applications downloaded more than 2 billion times.

Not surprisingly, the folks at Apple are pleased.
“The App Store, now with over 100,000 applications available, is clearly [...]