Seattle Times: “Mobile Me is worth the price”

Glenn Fleishman on special assignment for the Seattle Times reports that with Mobile Me’s new features, that the service is finally “worth the price.”

Apple has finally assembled a set of features for its hosted MobileMe service that makes it worth its subscription fee for the right user. As a critic of the service in the past, I find myself with naught but praise these days.

Apple’s hosted service has gone through three name changes and innumerable feature modifications over its lifetime, but now has a strong appeal to many iPhone or iPod touch owners, as well as those who have Macs at multiple locations.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

Apple releases “emergency update for Apple TV”

Late Saturday, Apple issued an ‘emergency update’ for its Apple TV device due to a problem that makes the device’s content disappear.  The company sent out an email to all registered Apple TV customers:

Dear Customer:
If you’ve installed the Apple TV 3.0 software update, you should immediately update to version 3.0.1. This prevents content from temporarily disappearing until it is resynced.

To update your Apple TV software:

1. Reboot your Apple TV (unplug the power cord and plug it back in)
2. Select Settings > General from the main menu
3. Select Update Software
4. Select Download and Install

Note: Your Apple TV will conduct a restart, which is followed by the Apple logo and a status bar.
For more information, please refer to this article: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3116

If you need further assistance with your Apple TV, contact AppleCare.
Sincerely,
Apple TV Team

Radio Shack to start selling iPhones

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:

RadioShack Will Introduce iPhone

“As part of its ongoing mobility strategy, RadioShack is pleased to announce that it will introduce Apple’s iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in a limited number of company-owned stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth and New York City metropolitan areas beginning later this month. RadioShack expects to introduce iPhone in stores nationwide in 2010. For more information about exact store locations and product availability, visit www.radioshack.com. For more information about iPhone, visit www.apple.com/iphone.”

Apple creates “Reserve and Pick up” for Holidays

Mid Friday, Apple announced a new service for its customers.  The new service, called “Reserve and Pick up” allows someone to reserve an iPod or a Mac and then pick it up anytime between December 15th until the 24th.

For more information, click here.

Rare photos of Steve Jobs

Steve and “Woz” pose for the cover of
Time Magazine showing the Apple II.

Fortune Magazine publishes a story about Apple’s Steve Jobs and some never before seen photos of the iconic figure.

To read the article, and to see the photos, click here.

Beware of “Art Project” video game for Mac

A 1980s-style video game attacks the Mac platform, deleting users’ files as they progress through the level and shoot enemies. While its creator clearly warns of the consequences, the software has been labeled a Trojan horse.

The software created by Zach Gage is described as an “art project.” The “game” generates aliens based on the number of files on a user’s computer, and killing them deletes a file. Upon the player’s death the game is supposed to delete itself. It includes an online raking of players’ scores.

“By way of exploring what it means to kill in a video-game, Lose/Lose broaches bigger questions,” the project’s creator said. “As technology grows, our understanding of it diminishes, yet, at the same time, it becomes increasingly important in our lives. At what point does our virtual data become as important to us as physical possessions? If we have reached that point already, what real objects do we value less than our data? What implications does trusting something so important to something we understand so poorly have?”

While Gage sees his project as art, Symantec views it as a Trojan, though “Lose/Lose” is not seen as a great threat at the moment. The malware’s creator even warns on his Web site what the application does, and upon starting the game, players are also cautioned that it will result in the deletion of files from their computer.

But the security firm cautioned that the threat, called OSX.Loosemaque, could be modified by someone with “more malicious intentions” and passed on to unsuspecting users without the current warnings.

In a video demonstrating the Trojan, Symantec showed how the game begins to delete files on the system as aliens are killed, in a top-down shooter designed in the style of classics like Galaga. After a number of aliens were killed, the program attempted to delete a critical system file, which caused the malware to crash.

“You’ll notice that while I’m blowing up the ships, the files in my Documents folder are disappearing,” the video states. “It looks like the game chooses users’ documents first, and then it moves on to preference files contained within the very subfolders of the user’s home directory.”

Cult of Mac noted that the game has also been defined as a threat by Sophos Anti-Virus and Intego VirusBarrier X5. The software was first released in September.

Viruses on the Mac platform remain scarce, but with the recent release of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, Apple included enhanced malware protection.

Source: AppleInsider.com

Press Release: Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac released

November 4, 2009

Most Seamless Solution Enables Users to Tailor Windows-on-Mac Experience to Serve Diverse Needs

RENTON, WA., November 4th, 2009 —Parallels today announced the availability of the fastest, most seamless Windows-on-Mac solution ever: Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac. This is the latest version of the number 1 Mac system utility, currently enabling more than 2 million users to run Windows, Linux and other operating systems side-by-side with Mac OS X. According to performance research conducted by Crimson Consulting Group, Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac performs 22% faster than the nearest Windows-on-Mac competitor in standard productivity testing of Windows 7 64-bit on a MacBook Pro. In addition, version 5 is up to 300% faster for virtual machine operations than the previous version.  For 3D and graphics performance, tested under the industry standard 3Dmark 2006 Professional test suite the new version performs up to 7 times better. Users can test this for themselves with a free trial from www.parallels.com/desktop.

“As the OS battles rage between Microsoft, Apple and Linux, we provide a completely customizable solution that enables people to use the applications they need with the fastest performance available, regardless of the operating system,” said Serguei Beloussov, CEO of Parallels. “Parallels continues to build on its proven track record of innovation, responding to our customers by providing the fastest, smartest and most powerful Windows-on-Mac experience available.”

There are more than 70 new features in Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac, many of which give users the flexibility to work in the way they want. Users can choose how much or little Windows they want to see, from running Windows in Full Screen mode where Windows completely covers the Mac user interface to the new Crystal view mode which makes Windows completely disappear. Users can even get a Mac-like experience in their Windows applications, using the intuitive Apple Trackpad Gestures technology to pinch, swipe, and rotate as they do in Mac applications.
“Ideally PC emulation should be transparent and invisible, and Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac goes a very long way towards this,” said beta tester and executive in the mining industry Nic Clift. ” The thing that strikes me most about Parallels Desktop for Mac is that it is trouble-free, consistent with what I expect of Mac software, and has proved to be a remarkably convenient and easy way for me to maintain as much access to the world of Windows as I want. Parallels works as neatly with Boot Camp as it does when running seamlessly in the background, along with my everyday Mac software. If anything, version 5 has made Windows emulation even more transparent and trouble-free and unless one wants to get involved with the details of set-up it is easy to forget that it is even running.”

Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac introduces more than 70 new features and enhancements, offering a computing experience that is:
Faster…

Full support for Aero in Windows Vista and 7 through Windows WDDM driver, including Aero Flip 3D

Virtual machine size automatically optimized for best performance with Parallels Compressor

Improved performance for Linux guest OS from KVM paravirtualization
“The excellent 3D graphics performance of Parallels Desktop for Mac makes it Autodesk’s preferred Mac virtualization software for customers who choose to run AutoCAD or our other design and engineering software on the Mac,” said Andrew Mackles, Director of AutoCAD Product Management at Autodesk.  “We are excited about the further graphics enhancements in Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac and the potential to improve the customer experiences.”

Smarter…
A more Mac-like experience in their Windows applications through Apple Trackpad Gestures technology (pinch, swipe, rotate and more), horizontal scrolling and the application of Full Screen active corners and curl page effect
Copy & Paste fidelity for formatted text and complete layouts including images, even between Windows and Linux guest OSs
Freedom and flexibility to run Windows and Mac applications across multiple monitors

More Powerful…
7 times better graphic performance for games and 3D applications than the previous version with Direct X 9Ex with Shader Model 3 and OpenGL 2.1 support
Superior graphics performance for Linux guests through OpenGL 2.1 support
Full hardware resources can be utilized with support for 8 virtual CPUs, 64 bit Windows and Snow Leopard Server 64 bit
Easily move PCs (including Windows 7) and 3rd party virtual machines to the Mac  with the enhanced Parallels Transporter

Availability and Pricing
Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac is available in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish starting today- Additional localized versions will soon be available in Chinese, Czech, Hungarian, Japanese, Polish and Russian in the coming weeks
The standard retail price (SRP) of Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac is $79.99, including $175 worth of additional software for free: Parallels Internet Security 2009 by Kaspersky (1 year subscription); Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0 (Disk Management); Acronis True Image 11 Home (Backup and Recovery Solutions).
Current Parallels Desktop users can upgrade their existing software for $49.99. Users that purchased version 4.0 on or after October 1st 2009 qualify with a proof of purchase for a free upgrade to version 5. Customers who purchased from the Parallels Online Store will be notified directly with their upgrade key. Customers who purchased Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac with Channel/ Retail/ e-tail Partners have to proactively claim their free of charge upgrade at www.parallels.com/keyfor5/.

Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac is available starting today at the Apple Store, Amazon.com, Best Buy, Fry’s Electronics, MacMall, MicroCenter, Target and hundreds of other retail locations nationwide.

Volume pricing and site-license opportunities are also available for new customers by contacting the Parallels Sales Team at sales@parallels.com or 425-282-6400.
A free trial of Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac is available along with in-depth information, videos and screenshots of the new features at www.parallels.com/products/desktop.

About Parallels — Optimized Computing

Parallels is a worldwide leader in virtualization and automation software that optimizes computing for consumers, businesses, and cloud services providers across all major hardware, operating systems, and virtualization platforms. Founded in 1999, Parallels is a fast-growing company with more than 700 employees in North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information, please visit www.parallels.com.

Press Release: Apple Announces Over 100,000 Apps Now Available on the App Store

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:

CUPERTINO, California—November 4, 2009—Apple® today announced that developers have created over 100,000 apps for the revolutionary App Store, the largest applications store in the world. iPhone® and iPod touch® customers in 77 countries can choose from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. App Store users have downloaded well over two billion apps, continuing to make it the world’s most popular applications store.

“The App Store, now with over 100,000 applications available, is clearly a major differentiator for millions of iPhone and iPod touch customers around the world,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The iPhone SDK created the first great platform for mobile applications and our customers are loving all of the amazing apps our developers are creating.”

“The App Store has forever changed the mobile gaming industry and continues to improve,” said Travis Boatman, vice president of Worldwide Studios, EA Mobile. “With a global reach of over 50 million iPhone and iPod touch users, the App Store has allowed us to develop high quality EA games that have been a huge success with customers.”

“With 10,000 downloads a day, worldwide customer response to our I Am T-Pain App has exceeded our wildest expectations,” said Jeff Smith, CEO of Smule. “The App Store has given us a unique opportunity to create and grow a very successful business, and we’re looking forward to an exciting future.”

Apple continues to improve search and discovery with new features including Genius for Apps, App Store Essentials selections, sub category listings and more valuable customer reviews. With the recently introduced iTunes® 9, it’s also now easier than ever to organize and sync your apps right in iTunes and they will automatically appear on your iPhone or iPod touch with the same layout.

The release of iPhone OS 3.0 this summer made over 100 new features available to iPhone and iPod touch users including Cut, Copy and Paste; MMS; landscape view for Mail, Text and Notes; stereo Bluetooth; shake to shuffle; parental controls; automatic login at Wi-Fi hot spots and Push Notifications. These new features have been incredibly popular with customers and there have already been more than two billion Push Notifications sent to apps available from the App Store. Additionally, the recently introduced In App Purchase feature for free apps means leading developers will now be able to offer customers the choice of buying content, subscriptions and digital services from directly inside their apps.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

Press Contacts:
Natalie Kerris
Apple
nat@apple.com
(408) 974-6877
Simon Pope
Apple
simonp@apple.com
(408) 974-0457
NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple’s PR website, or call Apple’s Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042.

Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, iPhone, iPod touch and iTunes are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

AT&T suing Verizon over ‘Map’ ads

AT&T has filed a lawsuit against Verizon over their “There’s a Map for That” as campaign claiming that Verizon is misrepresenting AT&T’s coverage area, as AppleInsider.com reports.

The suit seeks a temporary restraining order and a injunction to stop Verizon from “disseminating misleading coverage maps” of AT&T’s areas of cellular and data coverage. AT&T is also seeking damages in the suit.

AT&T had previously contacted Verizon directly on October 7th, requesting that the ads be withdrawn or modified. Verizon responded by dropping the words “out of touch” from the ads and included the phrase “Voice & data services available outside 3G coverage areas” in small print at the end of the advertisements.

AT&T claims that the ads in their current form convey the message that AT&T has no coverage in the areas that are blank on the 3G maps that are shown. AT&T contends that the 2.5G (EDGE) network is available in a much wider area, so to imply that there is no coverage is misleading.

Verizon has released a series of aggressive ads targeted toward AT&T and the iPhone specifically in conjunction with the release of Motorola’s Droid phone on the Verizon network. Verizon’s “iDon’t” ad directly compared the Droid to the iPhone, claiming that the Droid has superior features.

Rumor: Apple disables Intel Atom support in next update of Snow Leopard

AppleInsider.com is reporting that it has heard that Apple is disabling support for the Intel Atom processor in its next update for Snow Leopard.  This will not allow anyone to install the operating system on a computer with an Atom processor.

Mac OS X 10.6.2, the forthcoming update for Apple’s Snow Leopard operating system, is reported to disable support for the Intel Atom processor, preventing unauthorized PC netbooks from running the operating system.

Users at OS X Daily claim that Mac OS X 10.6.2 prevents Snow Leopard from running on systems with Atom processors. No official Apple products use the low-cost, low-power chip from Intel. For now, users on unauthorized Atom machines are recommended to stay with Mac OS X 10.6.1.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

New iMacs experiencing preformance problems?

Web site Engadget.com is reporting that users of Apple’s new 27-inch iMac are having problems, such as performance, shut down, and other issues.

It’s not at all clear what the root cause of the problem is, but we’ve noticed a big uptick in people complaining about performance issues on new 27-inch iMacs on Apple’s support boards. The most common symptom seems to be incredibly slow Flash video playback, but people are also claiming that there’s a bug forcing the hard drive to spin down, that there’s a corrupted Snow Leopard build preinstalled, and even that the problem is bad permissions, which is basically how an OS X user gives up trying to figure things out. Apple hasn’t said anything yet, but neither of the 27-inchers we have here are having problems, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed while we wait for an official resolution. Video of the issue after the break.

Apple updates Apple TV software and iTunes

Late Thursday, Apple updated its Apple TV software.  The new software includes an all-new interface (shown above), complete compatibility with iTunes LP, iTunes Extras, Genius features, and has the ability to include Internet Radio.

“The new software for Apple TV features a simpler and faster interface that gives you instant access to your favorite content,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services. “HD movies and HD TV shows from iTunes have been a huge hit with Apple TV customers, and with Apple TV 3.0 they get great new features including iTunes Extras, Genius Mixes and Internet radio.”

The company also issued an update to its iTunes software to be compatible with the new Apple TV software.

New ‘Terms of Service” for iTunes suggests Apple TV update soon

People who have been making purchases on the iTunes store have been presented with  a new “Terms of Service” agreement that seems to suggest a coming update for Apple’s Apple TV product.

Note the second Paragraph.

Rumor: Apple’s engineers increasing overseas trips for new Tablet?

Reporter Alaska Miller of the Silicon Valley Insider is reporting that Apple is stepping up trips overseas with its engineers to try and get a Tablet like device ready for ’sometime soon?’

Apple is working on some sort of tablet computer, which has reportedly been eating up much of Steve Jobs’ time.
So it makes sense that Apple engineers would be spending more time on planes lately, shuttling between the U.S. and Asia, where its manufacturing occurs.

Indeed, a source tells us a system integration engineer friend of his at Apple has been ramping up his travels back and forth between China lately, broadcasting word of his travels over the Internet.

There’s even a few weeks scheduled during the Christmas holiday season.

Signs pointing to the holy grail of Apple products — the tablet — coming soon?

 

Apple releases update for Magic Mouse

Early Wednesday, Apple released an update to its Magic Mouse device for both Leopard and Snow Leopard that enables additional functions of the device.  The update can be gotten via software update.

VMWare announces Fusion 3 for Windows 7

Early Tuesday, the makers of VMWare Fusion has released version 3 which now has native support for the new Windows 7.  What this means is, users who currently have VMWare Fusion for Mac can now update their copy for $39.99.  New users can purchase the software for $79.99.

For more information, go to the web site.

Apple quietly drops Macbook Pro CPU, RAM upgrades prices

AppleInsider.com is reporting that Apple has quietly dropped its prices of the MacBook Pro line – in some cases nearly $1,000.00

Numerous readers contacted AppleInsider to note that high-end MacBook Pro configurations have dropped hundreds of dollars in price — in some cases near $1,000.

In addition, the Australian online store, as of Monday, cut prices on MacBook Pros by up to $700 AUD. The 17-inch model, which previously sold for $3,999 AUD is now $3,299.

Windows 7 upgrade hell for students

CNN/Money’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports on how the upgrade to Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows 7, is not going so well for the next generation of Microsoft customers – students.

College students who took advantage of a “deal too sweet to pass up” have run into a bit of trouble.

The $29 electronic version of Windows 7 Home Edition sold for Microsoft (MSFT) through Digital River (DRIV) doesn’t seem to install properly on some 32-bit Vista machines.

Apparently the download files weren’t properly packaged and when some users tried to “unload the box” they got an error that read:

To read the rest of the article, click here.

Let’s see, what to be for Halloween? How about an iPhone?

Now here’s something that I want….  Enjoy the video:

Source: mashable.com

Kindle software coming for Mac users

Sometime in the future, Amazon.com will be making a version of its Kindle book reading software available for the Mac “sometime in the future” according to a representative that was speaking at a news conference about a Windows version.

No word on when that will be.

TomTom Car Kit for iPhone now available

Apple’s online store is now selling a car kit for the iPhone that’s designed to be used with the TomTom iPhone app.

The car kit is priced at $119.95, and the shipping time for it is 2-3 weeks.  The car kit is also available at Apple’s retail stores.

For more information, click here.

NASA iPhone app now available in app store

The U.S. Space Agency (NASA) has made a free iPhone application that allows someone to obtain the latest information about anything NASA.

The app has information such as:

* Up to the minute news.
* Keep track of the International Space Station’s location.
* Photos and videos of NASA’s missions.
* and more.

For more information, click on this [iTunes link]

Windows 7 crashes and burns on Japanese TV

No comment is necessary for this video:

Apple: Windows 7 will not work on some 2006 Macs

Apple has issued a memo to its retail partners that some 2006 Macs who have Boot Camp installed may not work.

These models include:

• iMac (17-inch, Early 2006)
• iMac (17-inch, Late 2006)
• iMac (20-inch, Early 2006)
• iMac (20-inch, Late 2006)
• MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2006)
• MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2006)
• MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2006)
• MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2006)
• Mac Pro (Mid 2006, Intel Xeon Dual-core 2.66GHz or 3GHz)

The memo also states that Apple hopes to issue a fix by the end of the year.

Additional Source: AppleInsider.com

Apple begins anti-Windows 7 ads

Late Thursday, Apple began running its anti-Windows 7 ads on major TV networks.  One of the ads point out the ‘deceptiveness’ that Microsoft has done over the years.

To view the ads, go to the Apple ad Gallery.

Magic Mouse needs Mac OS X 10.6.2

Several readers from other web sites are pointing out that Apple’s new Magic Mouse device needs Mac OS X 10.6.2, which has yet to be released to the general public.

“To use your Apple Magic Mouse and its full range of features, update your Mac to Mac OS X version 10.5.8 or later and install the Wireless Mouse Software Update 1.0; or update to Mac OS X version 10.6.2 or later.”

OS X 10.6.2 is still in beta with an unknown release date.

Oh, one more thing . . . .

Along with announcements of new iMacs and MacBooks, the company also offered some add-on announcements:

- New Apple Remote:

* Aluminum made
* Operates an iPod Touch, iPhone, or newer Macs.

Price: $19.00
More Info: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC377LL/A

- Airport Extreme:

* Faster Performance.
* Connects up to 50 users.

Price: $179.00
More Info: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC340/AirPort-Extreme

- Time Capsule:

* Faster backup performance.
* More reliable connection

Price: $499.00 (2TB)
More Info: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC344LL/A/Time-Capsule-2TB?fnode=MTY1NDA0Mg&mco=MTMzNzU2MjI

Apple announces new Hardware

As predicted by other Apple news web sites, Apple has announced new hardware offerings.

Among those are:

- New iMac:

* Big LED backlit displays – 21.5 inch or 27 inch.
* Wireless keyboard and Mouse – comes standard.
* Dual-core Intel processors (up to 3.06Ghz).
* Comes with new “Magic Mouse” (see below).

Price:
21.5″ – Starting at $1,199.00
27″ – Starting at $1,699.00
More info.: http://www.apple.com/imac

- New MacBook:

* Unibody enclosure.
* 1.08 inches thin.
* 4.7 pounds.
* Built in 7 hour battery.
* LED blacklit display.
* Glass, multi-touch Trackpad.

Price: $999.00
More Info: http://www.apple.com/macbook

- Mac Mini:

* 2.26 or 2.53Ghz Intel Core Duo.
* 2GB or 4GB RAM.
* Superdrive.
* 160 GB Hard Drive.
* 5 USB Ports.
* Firewire 800.
* Snow Leopard standard OR Server option.

Price: $599.00 or $799.00
More Info.: http://www.apple.com/macmini

- Magic Mouse:

* Uses same technology as the iPhone, iPod Touch, and Trackpads.
* Entire Mouse is multi-touch aware.

Price: $69.00
More Info.: http://www.apple.com/magicmouse

Verizon targets AT&T / Apple with new ad / phone

Over the weekend, Verizon ramped up an ad campaign against AT&T and Apple showing the shortfalls of AT&T’s 3G network by claiming it has more access points then AT&T does.

Then, another TV ad hit the airwaves with a phone from Verizon that tries to show the limits and pokes fun at the Apple iPhone, by pointing out the limitations of the device such as the availability of open source software, limited 3G capabilities, etc.

Monday, web site Boy Genius obtained a photo and information about a soon to be released phone that was jointly developed by Motorola and Google to go head to head with the iPhone (pictured below).

Apple’s online store went offline for a time on Friday

Some readers took note that the Apple online store went offline Friday afternoon around 3:45pm Eastern.  The store was back up around 5:45pm Eastern.

Apple is known for doing this while they update the store for new products.  But non showed up.