Chad's News

Last week Apple introduced its latest invention, the iPad. Despite the fanfare, I don’t believe the iPad will dramatically change the state of the art. I expect the chief reason for buying an iPad will be its advanced eBook reading capabilities.

The iPad has been described as a large iPhone. It can run all existing iPhone apps without modification. It runs the Safari web browser but has no support for Flash, which disables quite a few websites. It does not have a built-in camera, nor does it allow you to make phone calls (even VoIP is prohibited for now).

Link #1: http://arstechnica.com/…

Link #2: http://www.engadget.com/…

A 13-year old boy gave up his iPod for a week and used an old Sony Walkman instead. It took him 3 days to realize there was a flip side to the cassette tape. (I once owned the same Walkman model that he used.) His reactions are quite interesting and show how far we’ve come in the area of portable music. On another note, the Walkman was recently named as the top music invention in the last 50 years.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/…
(via Slashdot)

Apple does not like Mac clones, but Psystar is going against Goliath and selling them anyway.

Thanks to Josh for this topic.

Link: http://www.psystar.com/…

At the WWDC last week, Apple made made several announcements about the iPhone. For current users there’s the upgrade to iPhone OS 3.0, which has many new features, including the following:

• Cut, copy, and paste
• Landscape keyboard
• Multimedia messaging service (MMS) (although you can’t use it yet because AT&T, the US carrier, doesn’t support it)
• Tethering (once again, not yet supported by AT&T)
• Voice recording

The OS will be available on June 17^th.

Then there’s the new iPhone 3G S, which is similar to the iPhone 3G but has twice the speed, four times the disk space, and almost double the battery life. Engadget has a side-by-side comparison, and Consumer reports has a good overview. The 3G S will be priced at $199 (16GB) and $299 (32GB) for new and end-of-contract customers in the United States, and will go on sale June 19^th.

The real controversy over the iPhone 3G S, however, is what’s happening to existing iPhone owners. If you’re already in the middle of less than a year into an AT&T iPhone contract, the prices go up by $200 (there is a cheaper way to do this). Additionally, the current iPhone 3G is being reduced in price to $99. So if you recently purchased one at the higher price, too bad for you. (There was an available credit, but it expired on June 14^th.)

If you purchased a new 3G on or after May 9^th, you can trade it in for a 3G S for a small restocking fee. According to the Consumerist, “AT&T has extended its one-month price protections for recent 3G purchasers to May 9 so iPhone 3G users who bought their phones that day or later can still turn it in and get the new iPhone 3G S for the same price on June 19. To qualify for this extended return policy, customers will need to visit an AT&T retail store and pre-order iPhone 3G S between June 8 and by June 18.”

Thanks to Josh for suggesting this topic.

Update: AT&T has changed its upgrade pricing for current subscribers who are 11 months or more into their contract. And it turns out that I was wrong in the article above—it was previously possible to get the less expensive 3G S prices if you were a year or more into your current contract.

Myst is my all-time favorite computer game. It’s now available as an application for the iPhone and iPod Touch—with enhanced graphics to boot!

Link: http://osxreality.com/…
(via digg)

Apple has been making changes to the standard 1⁄8” audio jack. Take a look at the picture in the linked article to see what I mean. My (older) iPod came with the normal three-part headphone adapter.

Link: http://www.appleinsider.com/…
(via digg)

Apple’s iPhone App Store recently served up its 500 millionth download, nearly double the amount from just one month previously. Looks like Apple has another winner on its hands.

On a related note, here’s an article on how the iPhone’s touch screen works. Turns out it isn’t like the others.

Thanks to Josh for this topic.

Link: http://www.businessweek.com/…

Buying music from the iTunes Store has taken a turn for the better. First, all songs will be DRM-free. Existing libraries can be upgraded for 30¢ per song. The music files will still be in Apple’s AAC format but can be converted to MP3 by right-clicking on the song in iTunes. Second, there’s a new pricing system, with three price points: 69¢, 99¢, and $1.29. I’m assuming that popular new releases will be the highest, while older, library songs will be the lowest. The majority of songs are DRM-free right now, with the remainder switching over by the end of March. The new pricing scheme will take effect in April.

Link: http://www.apple.com/…
(via Lifehacker)

Chad’s News has previously discussed the iPhone’s inability to display web pages that use Adobe Flash. Even though Apple’s products are overpriced, I usually recommend them because of superior user interfaces and stability—but this is one decision with which I disagree. Especially since one-third of all web pages use Flash. And Apple’s competitors are taking up the slack. According to the first linked article, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and Google’s Android will both support Flash. The second linked article is an opinion piece on why Apple will never allow Flash on the iPhone. Of note is this: “Allowing Flash … would just be too dangerous for Apple, a company that enjoys exerting total dominance over its hardware and the software that runs on it.”

Link #1: http://www.mobilecrunch.com/…
(via Lifehacker)

Link #2: http://blog.wired.com/…
(via digg)

Windows Vista users may want to hold off before updating to iTunes version 8. For some users, it’s crashing their systems whenever they plug in an iPod. See the linked article for details.

Link: http://www.computerworld.com/…
(via Kim Komando)

Update: If you are experiencing this problem, here’s how to fix it.

An iPhone commercial has been banned in England because it falsely claims that “all the parts of the internet are on the iPhone”. The problem is that the iPhone can’t handle pages with Flash or Java, which make up a non-trivial percentage of the ‘net.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/…

Apple has a store that sells applications for the iPhone. Anyone can submit an app, and once it’s officially approved, the app is posted to the store and can be purchased. A German man named Armin Heinrich created an app that displays a red gem [video]. He called it “I Am Rich” and put a $999.99 price tag on it. The description was very clear that this app essentially did nothing. Surprisingly, eight people purchased it, although two of them later asked for refunds. Apple has since pulled the app from the store.

Link: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/…
(via digg)