For the most part, things seem to be in a holding pattern with few big news stories or juicy rumors flowing out of the Apple wing of the gadgetosphere as we approach t-minus 10 days until Phil Schiller and friends deliver the keynote address at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 8. So let’s get straight to it:

• Apple did release some new product this week with the quietly upgraded entry-level white MacBook, which gets bumps in processor speed (2.0 to 2.13), hard drive (120 GB to 160 GB) and RAM speed (667 MHz to 800 MHz, but still the same 2 GB installed)–all for the same price of just under a grand.
• If you’re tempted by the low prices on external hard drives (and who wouldn’t be when you need to a couple gigabytes for a movie download and digital audio files are growing in size as their bit rate sizes grow), Matt Newburg at TidBITS has some tips on how to format your new drive for optimal usage with your mac
• My pal/colleague Jeff Carlson wrote up a collection of tip tidbits in his most recent Seattle Times column, including one how how to block Flash in the Safari browser (something I thought only Firefox could do–having this utility might help bring me back into the Safari fold).
• The upcoming Palm Pre (which is getting a release on the weekend before Apple’s WWDC) looks like it will sync music directly from iTunes, and Gizmodo breaks down the tech of how Palm is likely achieving this.
• Rumor Roundup: Apple may introduce a family of super-thin MacBook Airs, including a new entry-level model with a price starting at $1300–not exactly a netbook-beating price (via Pocket-Lint). Steve Jobs has been sighted around the Apple campus this week, and Steve Wozniak reports that Jobs sounds “healthy” and “energetic”–which will only fuel speculation that Jobs will make a cameo at WWDC.
• Looks like AT&T is improving its 3G network–moving from a maximum throughput of 3.5 Mbps to 7.2Mbps–in preparation for the on-rushing new iPhone model, which Ars Technica notes is expected to have a 3G radio that’s compatible with the faster speed. Glenn Fleishman also notes at TidBITS that the iPhone has always been a 3G network-intensive device and will be even more so with the likely addition of tethering (connecting your laptop to the 3G network via the iPhone) in the arsenal of AT&T service offerings.
• Now we know why Hulu wanted to pull its content from Boxee: this week a Hulu Desktop application was released, enabling you to not only free Hulu from the web browser but also control it with your Apple remote.
• In a followup to a news item from last week, Apple has relented and approved the Eucalyptus e-book reader for sale in its App Store–despite its continued ability to access the Kama Sutra.
• Aric reported earlier this week on the announcement of the iPod touch-competing Microsoft Zune HD, and it seems to stack up well with the iPod touch with its touchscreen and HD radio/HD video output capabilities. But Christopher Breen at Macworld reminds us what the Zune HD lacks: an App Store, which can transform a HD-loving touchscreen music player into a small tablet-like computer.
• The Apple Blog points to an article in USA Today that describes changes to Apple’s One to One training and support program–which has been a great way to educate switchers new to the Mac environment–and sought out further clarification from Apple. It looks like the program will only be offered to folks who buy Macs from Apple directly (web or retail location) and that there’s no grace period–you need to decide to enter the program on the day you make the purchase.

  If you’re not familiar with One to One, it’s a pretty sweet deal: for a $99 subscription, you get to meet with an Apple trainer at an Apple Store once every week for an hour to go over stock training (how to make a video in iMovie) or answer specific questions you have. My mother-in-law made the switch to a Mac from years of using Windows PCs and the One to One program was extremely helpful in assimilating her… I mean getting her ramped up on how to get the most out of the Mac.

• And finally… if you haven’t see it yet, be sure to check out the cover to this week’s New Yorker, which was drawn entirely using the Brushes iPhone app (which is on sale for a limited time, no doubt due to all the publicity its garnered). Check out the video below to see how it was composed:

–Agen G.N. Schmitz

Before we get to this week’s breathless rumors about the next iPhone (yes, there have been online sightings via T-Mobile in Austria, a report from Australia that the current 16 GB model is end-of-life, and reports that AT&T is running out of stock), I thought I’d share a bit of a conversation I had with a friend of mine. As I’m involved in writing and research a lot of different technology (and especially Apple-related gear), I get a lot of questions from friends and family about both buying advice and and tech support, and a friend of mine who is looking to replace his iBook G4 was wondering which direction to go for a family-oriented desktop–Mac mini or 20-inch iMac. Here’s how I broke it down for him:

Mac mini: The appeal of this machine is its size and price–at $600 for the entry-level machine you’re getting a decently powerful processor and much better graphics than previous incarnations. But the gist of the minimalist Mac mini is that you’re going to have to add a few things (monitor, keyboard/mouse) if you don’t have them lying around already. Since the latest Mac mini still doesn’t have an HDMI output, you’ll need to be mindful that any monitor you add includes a DVI connection (and one with HDCP copy protection, so that you can enjoy worry-free viewing of iTunes content). Since my friend wasn’t looking for a large screen size, I suggested this 22-inch Dell monitor.

Additionally, since the entry-level Mac mini only comes with 120 GB of hard drive space and 1 GB of RAM, I recommended an external hard drive (1 TB models are super cheap these days) for both backup and media storage as well as upgrade RAM to 4 GB (one of the least expensive ways to ensure you get optimal computing performance, especially with a processor that’s a bit on the slow side). The hard drive addition is easy-peasy, but you’ll need a putty knife, an adventurous spirit, and some helpful guidance. With both the Mac mini and the iMac, I recommended adding an AppleCare protection plan that extends warranty coverage from 1 year to 3 years. So the price (before any taxes are applied) breaks down thusly (all prices noted before any taxes are assessed):

$600 for Mac mini + $200 for monitor + $40 for keyboard/mouse combo + $120 for hard drive + $110 for RAM upgrade + $2.50 for putty knife + $150 for Mac mini AppleCare = $1,222.50

iMac: Now, prying open a Mac mini case with a putty knife isn’t everyone’s idea of fun, and gathering all my recommended equipment might seem like a scavenger hunt. That’s where the all-in-one iMac comes in. Due to price, space and usage consideration, my friend was interested in the 20-inch iMac, and it’s a pretty good choice for a family computer with a faster processor (2.66 GHz) that won’t feel too slow a couple years down the line and more hard drive storage (320 GB) and RAM (2 GB) right out of the box. Knowing my friend’s current usage (music/photo management, elementary-level learning games, web browsing), I decided not to push him to upgrade the RAM immediately. But when he does want a boost (with an 8 GB maximum capacity–double that of the Mac mini), it’s far easier to do the upgrade. And while the hard drive is larger, I still recommended getting an external hard drive as media files will keep getting bigger and bigger and it’s important to back things up. So, here’s the tally with the iMac:

$1200 for iMac + $120 for hard drive + $150 for iMac AppleCare = $1,470

For $250, you’ll get a stronger computer right out of the box with a lot less hassle. However, you’ll definitely save some money going with the Mac mini (and be able to shave even more off the cost if you already have a monitor/keyboard/mouse that you like), and it allows for upgrading your peripherals now and in the years to come (say, when larger HD monitors come further down in price). Ultimately, it comes down to a trade-off between convenience and customization and how comfortable you are in either of those camps.

Alright, let’s get onto news of Apple-y goodness from the week that was…

• In regards to iPhone rumor-mongering, John Gruber at Daring Fireball offers the most complete and cogent rundown of the iPhone hardware that’s likely to be coming out sometime this summer (and announced on June 8 at WWDC). The most intriguing bit of his rundown is the boost in CPU speed (as well as RAM) and how it will make the iPhone feel like a major leap forward.
• An AT&T honcho confirms that the company would consider lowering the price of data plans for the iPhone and other smartphones in its stable by as much $10 a month… as long as there was a ceiling on the amount of data used over 3G connectivity.
• Apple stock analyst Gene Munster has another against-the-grain speculation this week (last week, he took the announcement of Phil Schiller as WWDC keynote speaker to mean that there would be no iPhone announcment) claiming that there will be no Apple iTablet until 2010. Munster believes the device will be priced between $500 and $700 and possibly be subsidized by a cellular carrier. Ars Technica notes that the big hurdle for the iTablet will be blending the OS and the UI of Mac OS X and iPhone OS. But we could perhaps see something earlier as Electronista reports that contract manufacturer Wintek will be providing 10-inch touchscreens to Apple sometime in the second half of 2009.
• Seth Weintraub at Computerworld wonders whether Apple is going to get back into the digital camera game, with Apple rumored to be purchasing both 3- and 5-megapixel sensors for upcoming products. Yes, I wrote “get back into” as Apple indeed once offered a digital camera called the QuickTake with a whopping 640 x 480 VGA resolution back in 1994 (which I totally forgot about).
• Book Talk: My the latest edition of my pal/colleague Jeff Carlson’s iMovie 09 and iDVD for Mac OS X: Visual QuickStart Guide should be shipping sometime next week. Because he’s added so many pages covering the new features of iMovie ‘09 (I’ve gotten a sneak peek and it’s been helpful with my recent initial forays into the software), he and his publisher are offering the iDVD portion of the book as a free download. Another of my favorite authors, Joe Kissell, has updated two of his Take Control ebook titles that are great for folks just learning about the Mac OS X environment as well as provide good reminders for more advanced users. Troubleshooting Your Mac will help you diagnose and fix problems that crop up while Maintaining Your Mac provides daily/weekly/yearly prescriptions to help you avoid trouble (and if you’re housebound on a rainy Memorial Day weekend, it might be a good time to start on the yearly tasks like cleaning the dust from your keyboard, changing passwords, and removing unneeded files).
• Speaking of books, looks like Apple has another snafu on its hands with the rejection of the Eucalyptus e-book reader (which provides free books from the archives of Project Gutenberg). Seems that while the app doesn’t come with any offending material, you could potentially download the potentially offending Kama Sutra. Oh my. Of course, you could download the same title using other iPhone apps, including Amazon’s Kindle app and Stanza. For more on this, see Technologizer, Cult of Mac
• And speaking about the Kindle for iPhone app, it’s been updated with the ability to choose different background and text colors as well as the ability to read in landscape mode (via IntoMobile).
• Much has been made about Boxee and how delicious it is to hack an Apple TV with it in order to gain access to streaming video from a variety of sources (including Netflix), but Joel Johnson at Boing Boing Gadgets has a contrary opinion largely based on the slow processor speed of the Apple TV.
• And finally… if you’ve bought a lot of MacBooks (and I mean a lot) and you’re wondering what to do with the boxes, Gizmodo offers an idea: create a dresser out of ‘em:

  

–Agen G.N. Schmitz

It’s now less than a month until Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which kicks off with the keynote address at 10am PDT on June 8 delivered by… Phil Schiller and a “team of Apple executives”. Thus, it looks like Steve Jobs is going to remain true to his word and stay away from work until his leave of absence officially ends at the end of June. So that’s one mystery solved with the bigger mystery of the next version of the iPhone still dangling in the wind. Earlier this week, the usually sane/reliable Apple analyst for Piper Jaffray, Gene Munster, took Schiller’s keynote announcement to mean that there would be no iPhone announcement and that the focus of the keynote and the conference would be on Mac OS X Snow Leopard. But, to quote the estimable John Gruber of Daring Fireball, “That’d be goofy.” As he points out:

(I)f there are any new hardware features — like say a video camera or magnetometer — that means new APIs, and if Apple wants to have WWDC sessions for the new hardware-specific APIs, they have to announce the hardware first.

And John Paczkowski over at All Things Digital reminds us that since Apple has pulled out of Macworld, WWDC is the only big event it has to unveil a major new release. My guess of what this may portend is that the new iPhone hardware is just going to receive some incremental bumps to its feature set (i.e., more memory, more imaging megapixels, etc.) and won’t get any new design overhaul (as was repoprted by Hard Mac this morning)–thusly placing more emphasis on the iPhone 3.0 software (which would rightly be the focus of a developer’s conference).

As for the new iPhone hardware, speculation is ramping up that there will be three models based on a snapped pic of Best Buy’s inventory system posted by Phone Arena (via Ars Technica among others), which shows three handsets labeled as “Project Charlie” coming from AT&T (most likely variations in memory size and color).

• In other rumors, Hard Mac also claims that, as per Apple’s yearly refresh cycle, the iPod touch and iPod nano will get new models in September with both also tantalizingly getting cameras (since every mobile gadget that we carry today obviously needs a camera).
• Amazon announced this week that it had created an iPhone-optimized rendering of its Kindle Store (seen at right) for easier browsing of books that you can wirelessly send to the Kindle for iPhone app (link opens iTunes). However, simply typing in the URL for amazon.com/kindlestore into Safari won’t get you there, as that opens up the full Amazon web page. Rather, searching for a title or selecting a category from the iPhone app’s How to Get Books section will open Safari to the appropriate iPhone-friendly template, or by using this iPhone-specific link (note that you’ll get a 404 error on any browser other than Safari on the iPhone).
• This week Apple dropped the OS X 10.5.7 update, and if you found that it produced issues with external monitor resolutions, Andrew Bednarz over at The Apple Blog has some resolutions to your problem.
• Tip of the week: controlling iTunes with just your keyboard from Macworld.
• The SlingPlayer Mobile iPhone app is finally a reality, but it’s a $30 investment (on top of your initial Slingbox/catcher investment). And it only works when connected to a Wi-Fi network, as AT&T confirmed that it was behind the crippling of the app’s use of cellular 3G connectivity (unless you jailbreak your iPhone). For more on how good the app is, check out this hands-on review at Macworld
• Apple and Microsoft continue to duke it out on the airwaves, with Microsoft’s latest Laptop Hunters ad (featuring a second Lauren)…

  …followed up by Apple’s most direct response to date to the LH ads:

• Microsoft also started going after Apple from another angle, with an ad featuring former Apprentice contestant Wes Moss pointing out that it costs $30,000 to fill the “latest” iPod (in this case, the large-capacity 120 GB iPod classic up with music and that the all-you-can-listen Zune Pass subscription (at $15 a month) for the Microsoft Zune player is the more economical way to go. As Dan Moren at Macworld notes, this uses some interesting accounting with each song purchased individually from the iTunes store (no album bundling) and nothing imported from your existing library of CDs. And the rub of the Zune Pass subscription model is that once you end the subscription, all of that music goes away unless you purchase those tracks and albums separately.
• And finally… a very creative use of packing materials from Apple MacBook boxes–a chandelier dubbed the Styrolight, which won the Sustainable prize in Design Within Reach Austin’s M+D+F competition (via Cult of Mac).

  

–Agen G.N. Schmitz

Another week closer to Apple’s WWDC, another week of flying rumors about the next version of the iPhone as well as OS X 10.6 (aka, Snow Leopard). First off, one of the most welcome rumors about the iPhone I’ve seen so far in this run-up is that AT&T might be dropping its monthly entry-level iPhone plan by $10–from $69 to $59 (as reported by several sources). Thats a $120 savings per year, and quite welcome in this down economy. Unfortunately, there’s not much to this rumor aside from the fact that the source–Cote Collaborative analyst Michael Cote–believes it will happen. In other iPhone-related rumors, the Boy Genius Report reports that the new iPhone hardware might have a built-in magnetometer for use with a digital compass. But even more interesting is this tidbit from Crave:

One of the interesting things you can do with a digital compass is introduce augmented reality-type applications, as MacRumors suggests. Mobile augmented reality can use a phone’s camera and compass to let a device capture an image of a location, like San Francisco’s Union Square, for example. Information from the compass would allow names of locations to pop up on top of the image.

On the Snow Leopard side of things, AppleInsider reports that Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard will incorporate support for native WWAN hardware–i.e., 3G cellular connectivity–based on a screenshot of a breakout of networking devices in the system profiler. So, maybe that’s not the juiciest of rumors (as it could just make it easier to use third-party USB dongles and the like rather than built-in 3G chips), but it’s certainly interesting in light of all the buz of an iTablet. Now onto other Apple-y goodness from the week that was…

• Just when I started using Tweetie as my Twitter client for both Mac and iPhone (link opens up iTunes), my old standby Twitterific has come out with version 2.0 software for both Mac and iPhone. I’ll check it out, but I’m leaning toward Tweetie more and more–especially with its threaded conversations to help make sense of replies (hat tip to The Apple Blog).
• The SlingPlayer iPhone app may actually be seeing the light of day as TUAW reports that a search for “Sling Media” in iTunes brings up the name of the company (but nothing beyond that). At least it’s a start.
• I’ve been meaning to finish my Backblaze online backup, but have put it on hold as I decided I needed to first do a bit of clean-up of my MacBook Pro. The Backblaze application is certainly helpful in allowing you to identify folders to exclude on your hard drive, but I noticed that some items that were getting backed up (and thus using precious bandwidth) really didn’t need to be. Cary Bohon over at TUAW has a good suggestion for Mac spring cleaning using OS X’s Smart Folders feature.
• Sascha Segan over at PC Mag writes that the long-rumored Apple iPad (Apple’s tabletized take on a netbook) would certainly outsell the newly released Kindle DX but wouldn’t bother Amazon as much as it would newspaper and magazine publishers.
• The iPhone 3G was bested in sales during the first quarter of 2009 by the BlackBerry Curve 8300 series smartphone–which benefits from multiple models available on all major carriers and, as The Business Insider points out, had the advantage of a two-for-one deal running at Verizon.
• Macworld magazine’s new issue is chock-full of tips and tricks to getting the most out of your iPhone, including 11 ways to sync data (including a way to avoid Apple’s MobileMe’s $99 annual subscription for syncing contacts, calendard and more), ways to utilize the iPhone 3G’s integrated GPS, and some unique uses of the camera.
• While making the rounds at Macworld, I also noticed Rob Griffiths writing about why Firefox is his preferred browser (over Apple’s Safari)–it’s not just the add-ons (which, for me, are indispensable) but also the way it handles URLs (matching keywords that you type, not just auto-completing).
• However, while I don’t use Safari much, it’s still handy for some uses (Flash-heavy sites that are frustrating to dig into with my Firefox Flash-blocker add-on, etc.) and essential for others, including the newly released QuickBooks Online for Mac. Compatible only with Safari 3.1 (not the 4.x beta), it comes in a three flavors (one of them being free) and, as The Apple Blog touts, makes it easy for multi-user accounting tasks. I’m most curious about how easy it will be to share data with my accountant, as the current round-tripping method (from Mac to Win and back to Mac) is cludgey at best. In related financial info, Lifehacker takes a look at the Quicken Online Mobile iPhone app
• Looking for a quick-and-dirty way to share contacts or images between two iPhones? Check out the free Mover iPhone app (which operates over Wi-Fi) over at TUAW, which also posts a demo video that shows just how easy it is.
• Microsoft is doing a pretty good job with its Laptop Hunters ads in kicking up some Mac fanboy dust, but it might want to think twice before it makes Sabretooth angrier–or at least Liev Schrieber, the actor who plays the character in the new X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie, who says he switched to a Mac due to Word’s continued misspelling of his name (via Macworld).
• And finally… a portrait of Steve Jobs by designer Dylan Roscover using the text from the old Think Different ad campaign as rendered in various Apple-related fonts (via Cult of Mac).

  

–Agen G.N. Schmitz

The Apple rumors have been flying fast and furious this week, so let’s sort through what’s been whirling about. First off, USA Today reported that Apple and Verizon were considering joining up for an iPhone offering next year, at which time AT&T’s exclusivity runs out. Now there are certainly many reasons Verizon would love to get on the iPhone bandwagon, but I’m in agreement with folks like my pal, all-things-wireless guru Glenn Fleishman, in being firm in my belief that Apple is not going to be making a CDMA version of its iPhone. For those of you not up on your cellular acronyms, both Verizon and Sprint use the CDMA method of cellular transmission while AT&T and T-Mobile as well as most of the rest of the world uses the GSM standard–thus, there’s a much larger market worldwide for a GSM phone. Additionally, Verizon will be transitioning in the next few years to a new 4G cellular standard called LTE, which makes moving to a CDMA-based provider seem like a waste of time since, as Roughly Drafted put it, “that’s where the puck is, not where it’s going.”

EVDO will be EDGE two years from now. In 2011, Apple doesn’t want to be back in 2007 again. It would be ridiculous for Apple to spend a year developing an EVDO mobile stack so that it could offer potential AT&T switchers a lazier alternative for another year before everyone began wanting a mobile device faster than EVDO or today’s UMTS can deliver.

But then another rumor floated out via Business Week that not only were Verizon and Apple in talks about offering an “iPhone lite” device but that there was a second device in discussion–”a media pad that would let users listen to music, view photos, and watch high-definition videos” that could place phone calls over Wi-Fi. Could this finally be the long-rumored touchscreen iTablet (check out this really cool fanboy concept of a MacBook Touch, seen below over at 9to5Mac) or an Apple netbook? But then came another Rumor that Verizon and Microsoft were chatting up a smartphone rival to the iPhone referred to as Project Pink (for a better read on who’s zooming who, check out this article over at Slate’s Big Money site).

Hopefully we’ll be able to sort out these and other rumors after the keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which will be held starting June 8.

• Speaking of WWDC, it’s now sold out (and in record time; via Cult of Mac).
• AppleInsider reports that Apple may introduce some cheaper models in response to the growth of netbook sales as well as a counterpoint to the much-discussed Laptop Hunters ads from Microsoft. Another one of the LH series was released this week, this time with the spending limit upped to $2000 to help Sheila get a notebook with a fast processor, big screen and that’s “able to cut video.” She passes on a MacBook Pro because it only has 2 GB of RAM, but as Electronista notes it would only cost Sheila about another $100 to add in another 2 GB.
• In another video follow-up, the SciFi Network’s Dvice blog released more Talking Gadget Theater installments with the computerized voices of the Amazon Kindle and the Apple iPod shuffle taking on more hallowed scenes from the sci-fi geek canon: Empire Strikes Back (”I’m your father…”) and Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan (”Khan!”).
• AppleInsider traffics in another rumor in which the upcoming version of QuickTime X Player will support direct upload to YouTube.
• MacRumors forum posters noticed that the latest iTunes 8.2 beta version released to developers included code that could point to support for the reading/recognizing of Blu-Ray discs (though Betanews throws some cold water on this).
• Based on a patent filing, Ars Technica reports that Apple might move to notebooks made of carbon fiber–which would be much lighter than aluminum.
• If you run multiple iTunes accounts (as I do), the iPhone 3.0 software looks like it will be adding the ability to switch between accounts on the iPhone (currently, you have to switch accounts using the iTunes desktop software).
• A couple weeks back, it was reported that AT&T had altered its terms of service to make the use of a video-shifting applications (such as the in-development and nearly ready-to-release SlingPlayer Mobile iPhone app) not kosher. After that reporting, AT&T backtracked and pulled the language, but Electronista reports that it’s back in there.
• If you live in the Seattle area, the local alternative weekly The Stranger has released its first iPhone app. The free Cocktail Compass (link opens iTunes) supplies a list of nearby bars (based on your GPS coordinates) that are hosting happy hours, as well as offers the ability to sort for features such as billiards and allowed dogs and an easy call for a cab at the end of the evening.

• And finally, some questions to ponder this weekend: Will Palm spoil the next iPhone’s coming out party by releasing its Palm Pre the day before the WWDC keynote address? Will Disney/ABC’s acquiescence to joining Hulu (which was created by NBC and Fox to compete with iTunes) with its 30 percent buy-in ultimately kill the iTunes Store? And will Hulu release an iPhone app?

–Agen G.N. Schmitz

Pretty much everyone tap-tap-a-tapping away at a keyboard has noticed how the standard black, silver and blue colors that have dominated personal computing over the years have been challenged recently. On the PC end of things Dell has led the way recently with its splashy Design Studio laptop models, while Apple broke the color barrier ahead of the curve with the iMac, iBook and AlumaMax. But this has been all on the outside. Unfortunately there has been far less color on the inside of things, where the majority of us have the most contact with our boxes. Sure there is the Optimus Maximus and other OLED models, but we need more, much more. Thankfully, Korean peripheral manufacturer Luxeed’s color-changing desktop keyboard from a few years back is getting an update in ‘09.

The new version, seen in the upper right corner, is the Luxeed U5. Not nearly as flashy as the previous model, which came off as a total sci-fi immersion experience straight out of the firing room of the Deathstar, or perhaps the equally phantasmagorical experience of a dance floor of a “Saturday Night Fever” era discotheque, but the new model still manages to liven things up. It features colorful, programmable and patterned LED buttons, and maybe most importantly is compatible with Macs, as well as Linux and Windows based PCs. Pretty nice. My only qualm is that I can’t order a laptop with this configuration. Now if Luxeed could bust into that market, look out!

Unfortunately Luxeed’s translated Korean site is pretty limited and limp, but Technabob.com reports that the the U5 is available for pre-order in Korea now for the equivalent of $77. It should eventually be available in all markets, but there is no news on that as of yet.

–Tom Milnes

This week saw the release of Apple’s second quarter earnings, which bucked the trend of the current economic recession by posting better than expected results with growth in both the iPhone and iPod spaces but rather understandable decline in the Mac space. Other factoids of interest (culled by World of Apple) include the iPod having a 70 percent market share, 21 million iPhones sold to date, and no CDMA-based iPhone (sorry, Verizon and Sprint). Several blogs reported earlier in the week that Taiwan-based Foxconn was in the running to land orders for the Apple netbook (fanboy rendition to the right), and COO Tim Cook responded to a question about Apple doing a netbook with a pithy response: “When I look at what’s being sold in the netbook space today, I see cramped keyboards, terrible software, junky hardware, very small screens, and just not a consumer experience and not something that we would put the Mac brand on, quite frankly.” But then he fanned the flames:

(I)f we find a way where we can deliver an innovative product that really makes a contribution, then we’ll do that. We have some interesting ideas in this space.

In other Apple-y goodness from the week that was…

• Should a new iPhone get released this summer (and signs are definitely pointing that way), it’ll run faster on AT&T’s 3G network, with the carrier confirming that it will be doubling its 3G speeds to 7.2 megabits per second (Mb/s) this year (via AppleInsider).
• Rumor Revue: Treehugger reports that sources at LG in Korea say that Apple will be using OLED screens in its next notebooks (perhaps as early as June, in conjunction with WWDC, but I wouldn’t hold your breath). At the very least, we should be seeing some minor bumps in the speeds and feeds for the MacBook and MacBook Pro lines at WWDC. In other rumors, Silicon Alley Insider says that a “badass” Hulu iPhone app is coming soon and Hardmac wonders if Apple might be able to turn on the Bluetooth 3.0 spec early in its iPod Touch and next-generation iPhone
• There’s been much ado about the long-rumored iTablet notebook that Apple may or may not be working on, but Houston Neal writes that such a device would be the perfect tech partner for a new health care system with electronic medical records (EMRs).
• Ars Technica reports that work is continuing at a good pace on both the next version of the Mac OS (10.6 Snow Leopard) as well as the next update to the current 10.5 Leopard OS (which would take us to 10.5.7). AppleInsider reports that Snow Leopard will make it easier for corporate users to securely access email, contact and intranets without having to tunnel through the corporate firewall using VPN.
• Looks like Steve Jobs really is resting and recuperating, based on the dearth of private jet expenses that Apple filed with its SEC statement this week.
• Rich Rosen over at O’Reilly thinks that the New York Times and Wall Street Journal (as well as other old media newspapers) could learn a thing or two from how USA Today has designed its iPhone app (link requires iTunes), which adds a bit more flash to its navigation and information presentation than the more staid NYT and WSJ.
• Apple’s billionth iPhone/iPod touch app was downloaded yesterday, and Apple confirms that 13-year-old Connor Mulcahey of Connecticut was the purchaser with his downloading of the free Bump app (which can send contact information to another Bump user). He wins $10,000 iTunes gift certificate, a MacBook Pro, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule and, as my pal Jeff Carlson put it on Twitter, universal envy. At least he didn’t download the app that’s caused the biggest headache for Apple to date–the now-removed Baby Shaker.
• Speaking of Twitter, the popular Tweetie iPhone app has now been ported over as a Mac client in both a paid version and free ad-supported version. MacUser has a good first look at the software (and Jim Dalrymple at Macworld says he’s switching from Twitterific), which has some interesting twists such as an iChat-like UI, easy viewing of conversations (which pulls together all the tweets associated with an @ reply chain; see image at right for example), support for multiple accounts and lots of keyboard shortcuts. I’ve been a Twitterific user/fan for some time now and I’ve certainly grown accustomed to its rather spare interface. I’m going to play around with Tweetie over the next week or so and see if I’m going to switch, but one thing that I like better in Twitterific is better control over how often the program will appear with updates (Tweetie informs you that new tweets have been posted by changing the color of its menubar icon, whereas you can set Twitterific to appear on top of your desktop at scheduled intervals).
• The iPhone allows you to add bookmarks from the Safari web browser to the home screen for one-click access to favorite sites, but it sure would be handy if there were one-click home screen options for other actions like calling or text messaging someone. Enter the Red Monkey app (covered by TUAW), which does just that and more, including sending an email or looking at an address (or current location) on the Map app. Red Monkey is a free app, and it’s joined by four additional red-tinged apps from e-Lips (Lizard, Bird, Turtle and Buffalo)–each priced at $0.99–so that you can have a total of five one-click icons on your home screen.
• If you’re a vegetarian in an unfamiliar locale and looking for a good and veg-friendly place to eat, be sure to check out the VegOut iPhone app, which identifies and categorizes restaurants as vegetarian, vegan or veg-friendly in your proximity and integrates with Google Maps (via Macworld). And because it uses the HappyCow social network as its database, it should be a good global reference (my wife and I relied on comments from HappyCow for a trip to Paris some years back to find some great hidden veggie spots).
• Trance DJ Paul Van Dyk has an iPhone app created for DJs coming out soon with tools like a BPM counter, a frequency analyzer, and a seismic reader for your turntable to check how much vibration it’s experiencing. That’s a little beyond my DJ needs, but it does have a virtual glowstick. Check out the video of Paul introducing the app over at Gizmodo.
• Road warrior tip of the week: If you carry your Airport Express with you while traveling for Wi-Fi connectivity, you can use the base station’s USB port (designed for connecting a printer) to charge your iPhone or iPod (via Macworld).
• Woz Watch: Check out Lifehacker’s lengthy interview with Steve Wozniak, which covers such topics as what email program he uses (Eudora. Seriously.) and using jailbroken iPhones.
• And finally… the Leon/Voight-Kampff/Holden scene from Blade Runner as performed by the voices of Amazon’s Kindle 2 and Apple’s new third-generation iPod shuffle.

–Agen G.N. Schmitz

Not a whole lot of iPhone hardware rumors this week (though Taiwan’s DigiTimes has released a list of manufacturers who will be supplying components), but the big news of the week is that AT&T is doing what it can to keep exclusive hold of the iPhone for one more year. AT&T’s current deal with Apple runs out in 2010, and Ars Technica reports that AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson is in talks with Apple to keep the love going until 2011. Verizon’s CEO Ivan Seidenberg stepped into the back-and-forth this week saying that he’d love to have the iPhone running on his network, but that it won’t happen until its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network is running. As AppleInsider notes, LTE is the direction that CDMA-based Verizon and both GSM-based AT&T and T-Mobile are heading, which would make it easier for Apple to create devices that would run on a single core technology. And as Macworld’s iPhone Central notes, opening up the iPhone to multiple networks would be a boon to consumers who would have a wider choice of plans and pricing as well as introduce more competition between the carriers (which is always a good thing). Now, onto more Apple-y goodness from the week that was…

• Microsoft and Apple continue to sling mud at each other over Microsoft’s recent spate of Laptop Hunters ads (see here, here and here, with Apple finally offering a short comment that “a PC is no bargain when it doesn’t do what you want.” And Macworld’s Jim Dalrymple adds a couple of points that Microsoft doesn’t bring up in the ads (which do a good job at pushing the meme that Macs are just cool, aesthetic paperweights):
  

  Have you noticed that Microsoft never mentions Vista? It’s like the OS doesn’t exist anywhere except on the hard drives of poor, unsuspecting consumers. Apple talks about OS X all the time. Have you ever wondered why? Because it works. It’s that simple. The Mac works for photos, movies, music, DVDs and almost everything else you can throw at it. Windows Vista boots up most of the time–that’s something, I guess.

  What about all those hidden costs that Microsoft doesn’t tell you about in the ads? As soon as you get a Windows PC home–and most definitely before connecting it to the Internet—you will need virus protection.

• While I’ve been trying to get her on the bandwagon for the last year or so, my wife still says that she won’t acquiesce to an iPhone until it comes in a clamshell form. Don’t hold your breath, I tell her, but perhaps this Chinese iPhone Nano knock-off would satisfy her (though it has none of the Apple-y goodness of the iPhone operating system).
• Dave Zatz at his Zatz Not Funny blog is certainly not laughing about his HP MediaSmart EX485 home server. While the new incarnation of the MediaSmarts are compatible with Apple’s Time Machine backup software, it turns out that “the ‘Restore System from Backup’ feature of Time Machine is not implemented”–something Zatz discovered after digging around the MediaSmart support minutiae on the HP site while trying to do just that, restore his system from Time Machine stored on his MediaSmart.

  To break this down a bit more granularly, this means is you can recapture individual files easily from Time Machine, but you can’t restore your entire system from the Time Machine database stored on a MediaSmart. I’ve always read that Time Machine is not the best option for a whole system restore due to how long it takes (and, as Duncan Davidson points out in detailed coverage of his own system restore, application caches and indexes need to be recreated). And that’s why I have two different backups on two different hard drives–a Time Machine backup on a portable Seagate FreeAgent Go for grabbing files that have gone on walkabout and a full bootable copy of my system (created using SuperDuper!) on a desktop Seagate FreeAgent (with the new model looking quite sexy). A dual hard drive investment might seem a bit overboard, but with hard drive prices hitting the basement (a 1 TB drive for around $125), it’s an investment worth making that won’t kill your budget.

• Speaking of which, if you’re Time Machine backups are feeling a little slower than they ought to be, check out some tips at diagnosing and fixing the problem over at O’Grady’s Powerpage.
• One last note about backups… Joe Kissel (the zen master of backing up data) reports at TidBITS that Backblaze, a new online backup service, has opened up its service to Mac users (previously it had been in invite-only beta form) for a monthly fee of $5 a month for unlimited data storage (or a $50 annual subscription). In addition to restoring data over the interwebs, you can also choose to have the company send you your data overnight on DVD or hard drive (for an added cost). The Apple Blog also notes that Backblaze allows you to “filter out specific files and folders, and clip out media types and file sizes that you want Backblaze to ignore.” I’ve been excited about this since its announcement at Macworld, and I’ll be trying out this service in the coming days and will provide an update as to how it’s going in a few weeks.
• On this date in 1977, the Apple II was introduce with an 8-bit processor running at 1 MHz, 4K of RAM, and a not so speedy audio cassette interface (via Apple Matters).
• AppleInsider reports some new discoveries within the beta-basting iPhone 3.0 software, including easier clearing of windows in the Safari web browser, the ability to show battery power percentage, and adding Data Detectors to new applications (which can sniff out, say, a string of 10 numbers and then making it clickable as a phone number).
• Survey Says: Macsimum News reports that the MetaFacts research group recently looked into the differences between Mac and Windows users, and that found Mac owners use their computers for a wider range of activities as well as spend more time on their computers than watching TV. And the NYTimes’ Bits blog reports that Apple garnered the only “good”rating in a survey of PC customers’ experience by Forrester Research. Finally, IntoMobile has a poll running, asking whether or not you use your smartphone to check mail and such while on the porcelain throne.
• Uh oh… looks like AT&T may have had a hand in denying approval of the SlingPlayer app for Apple’s App Store (via Electronista).

• And finally… get ready for the new Star Trek reboot (opening in just a few weeks; I’m very curious to see why Kirk is always looking beaten up in the trailers) with the new Star Trek Phaser iPhone game (link opens iTunes). It’s a freebie, which is probably a good thing as I’m certainly at a loss to explain how to play this game other than haphazardly tap the screen to make phaser noises.

–Agen G.N. Schmitz

The closer we get to June, the louder the buzz is becoming about the likelihood that we’ll be seeing new iPhone hardware to go along with the iPhone 3.0 software. The IntoMobile blog (among others) has been speculating that there will be two iPhones, and this week a Kaufman Bros. analyst increased that speculation based on reports from supply chain and industry sources. Fortune’s Apple 2.0 blog covers his findings, which include one iPhone with a more powerful processor and longer battery life as well as the possibility that AT&T will offer more price-flexible data plans. In regards to the process/battery angle, Cult of Mac reports that code for the iPhone 3.0 software indicates support for the 802.11n wireless standard, which could improve battery life. (My pal Glenn Fleishman considered this possibility back in late March, and came to the conclusion that the iPhone would benefit from 802.11n Wi-Fi, but the processor would also need to be improved. Also check out some more technical details about the advantages of 802.11n from Roughly Drafted.)

Additionally, it’s looking like the new iPhone will have video capture capabilities (and a battery percentage in the menubar) according to a screenshot from The Boy Genius Report. And Gizmodo reports that video editing tools have been spotted within the code of the iPhone 3.0 firmware.

• Rumor Revue Leftovers: According to a patent discovered this week, the MacBook unibody construction design might make its way to a future iteration of the iPod. And Apple has reportedly ordered 100 million 8 Gb (gigabit) NAND flash chips for delivery later this year, which AppleInsider considers suspicious as these 8 Gb chips represent only 1 GB (gigabyte) of storage and wonders whether these are finalized chip packages or bare chips that will be stacked to create a higher density memory chip.
• Microsoft is in all-out competition with Apple these days, releasing another of its Laptop Hunters ads (this time with a Mom and son shopping for a gaming laptop, and getting excited when they find one with Blu-ray) and continuing its Apple Tax meme to show that Mac hardware is far too expensive compared with PCs. Microsoft posted a tax return mock up that shows the savings you’ll get when purchasing two Windows systems compared to two Mac systems, based on an analyst white paper that was sponsored by Microsoft. Not surprisingly, many have found the white paper heavily padded in favor of Microsoft
• And in other polling data, Piper Jaffray reports that 100 percent of surveyed teens want to buy an Apple iPod at some point in the next 12 months–leaving the Zune at 0 percent (down from 15 percent from the same survey back in the fall of 2008) (via Podcasting News). This morning my 2-year-old vigorously and repeatedly stated “I… need… iPod…” during our drive to drop me at my office, so it looks like Apple’s got firm grip on the toddler market as well.
• I’m not really one to clutter up the spare aluminum look of my MacBook Pro, but this take on Magritte’s “The Son of Man” in the form of a vinyl sticker from Etsy for Apple laptops is tempting–it comes in gray, black and white (via Cult of Mac).
• Apple’s App Store is approaching 1 billion downloaded iPhone/iPod touch apps, and it’s celebrating with an online countdown and contest that could win you a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule, and a MacBook Pro. It looks like I’ve helped the cause with 66 apps (though not all–including some election ‘08 trackers and various kid-friendly apps for travel) are being used currently on my iPhone. The most popular iPhone app is Tap Tap Revenge, which Pocket-Lint reports has a 32 percent install base across all Apple app users.
• For my iPhone dictionary, I’ve been using a web app version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary (i.word.com), which I saved as an icon to my iPhone’s home screen. But the nature of the web app is that you have to be connected to the internet to use it (or have a good connection to get a decently quick return from your search, which isn’t always the case with my OG iPhone). This week Dictionary.com released its free iPhone/iPod touch app (based on the Random House unabridged dictionary), and it kicks butt. The 36 MB app not only provides dictionary definitions and thesaurus, but also features auto-completion of words and audio pronunciations of words. Additionally, you can view dictionary/thesaurus look-ups offline, though you’ll need an Internet connection for word pronunciations (hat tip to TUAW).
• Another discovery I made this week is iStat menus from iSlayer (hat tip to Cult of Mac). I already use and am a big fan of their iStat pro dashboard widget, which provides an easy-to-read overview of what’s happening with your Mac system (from memory and CPU usage to network I/O and fan RPM). The iStat menus application (installed as a preference pane) duplicates that info, but places it in the Finder’s menubar and allows you to pick and choose what you see. Additionally, it’s got a Date and Time menu item that I like better than the standard Apple version. (Additionally here’s a lil’ menubar tip: to move items, first select the menubar icon with the Cmd key, then hold down and drag to where you want it placed; note however that not all menubar items may be movable.)
• iPhone tip of the week: I can’t believe I never figured this out on my own, but Ars Technica discovered that you can turn on Wi-Fi connectivity even when you turn on Airplane Mode (which, by default, turns off the cellular and Bluetooth radios as well as Wi-Fi). However, this can’t be replicated for turning Bluetooth on while leaving cellular connectivity off.
• iLounge reports that first- and second-generation iPod shuffle units are experiencing syncing issues when used with iTunes 8.1.

• And finally… NBC has been playing around with the cult of Steve Jobs this week on both 30 Rock and Chuck, and TUAW compiles the Hulu-fed video clips for your enjoyment.

–Agen G.N. Schmitz