Chad’s News

A recent study found, among other things, that people thought more creatively if they viewed the Apple logo before performing a task. This is an example of priming, and it really seems to work. I remember hearing of a study where women were reminded of the stereotype that females can’t do math, and they performed worse on a math test than women who had not been reminded of the stereotype. The interesting thing about the current study is that the subjects were exposed to brands—apparently the huge amount of money put into brand awareness is having an effect.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

The MacBook Air, with its minimalist design, lack of visible ports, and (optional) solid-state drive, was unusual enough to flag a man going through airport security. He was eventually released, but not in time to catch his flight.

Link: http://www.michaelnygard.com/…
(via Engadget)

Amazon has added the Sony BMG catalog to its library of DRM-free music downloads. This is significant because Amazon now has all four of the major US music labels on board and is a serious competitor to Apple’s iTunes store. Note that, with the exception of EMI, Apple is required to sell the same music with copyright protection.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

Astute Chad’s News readers already know that iPhones released in the United States will work with only one service provider: AT&T. Many consumers found this to be outrageous, and the hacking community quickly figured out how to unlock the iPhone so it can be used with other carriers. Be warned, however, that Apple is very unhappy about this, and performing the unlock will almost undoubtedly void the iPhone’s warranty. Ars Technica has gone so far as to suggest that Apple may permanently disable any unlocked iPhones, turning them into expensive bricks.

Be sure to check out this picture (via Digg), which I think is hilarious.

I prefer the older “wheel” interface, but it looks like this is the direction in which Apple has decided to go.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

NBC will be withdrawing its video products from the iTunes store, and Universal has refused to sign a long-term contract for its music. At the heart of it all is Apple’s pricing scheme—with the producers wanting higher prices.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/…

UPDATE: Ars Technica has some more information on this topic, including a rumor that Apple wants to decrease the price of videos.

Apple has announced a $200 price cut on its iPhones, as well as a revamped line of iPods. If you bought an iPhone within the last two weeks, you can get the price difference refunded. If you’re not eligible for the refund, however, it looks like Apple is giving out a $100 store credit.

Link: http://ap.google.com/…
(via Kim Komando)

Apple has now sold over 3 billion songs from its iTunes store (which has only been in business since 2003). That’s pretty impressive.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

I’ve seen some pretty good “Will It Blend” videos, but this one takes the cake. Who would have thought an iPhone could be reduced to a few metal scraps and some black powder. (Here’s an alternate link if the video on the web site doesn’t work.)

Link: http://www.willitblend.com/…
(via Slashdot)

Digital Rights Management (DRM) is the bane of all music-lovers and has caused its share of problems with Sony. But two recent news items indicate that DRM may soon be a thing of the past. First, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has publicly stated that he is willing to consider an iTunes price increase, but only if the labels agree to drop copy protection. Second, Amazon.com has signed a deal with EMI (one of the major labels) to sell their music online without DRM. These are good signs and may mark the beginning of the end of music copy protection.

On May 16th, Engadget posted a blog entry stating there would be significant delays for upcoming Apple products. Seven minutes later, massive sell-offs caused Apple’s stock to drop by over $4 a share, reducing its market capitalization by $4 billion. Here at Chad’s News, we monitor Engadget on a weekly basis for stories of interest, but I had no idea they were -that- influential. What’s worse, however, is that their source (an email from inside Apple) turned out to be a hoax. The email was from within Apple’s mail system, but the facts were incorrect.

Note that the two stories below differ in their facts by about a dollar of stock price drop, so you be the judge.

Link #1: http://www.techcrunch.com/…
(via digg)

Link #2: http://www.washingtonpost.com/…
(via Kim Komando)

Apple has officially announced the (horrendously overpriced but revolutionary) iPhone. From the article, the iPhone “allows users to listen to music, make phone calls, send text messages and e-mail, surf the Web, and take and upload photos, all using a wide touch screen and a single button.”

Link: http://news.com.com/…