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TechVi host and videographer extraordinaire Randall Bennett invited me to participate in a discussion on recent rumors about a new device from Apple. I appeared on today’s episode of TechVi along with CNET journalist Erica Ogg. We talked about the rumored Mac tablet, a gadget that Apple may offer by 2010 that will compete against netbooks in the $500 to $700 price range. Clues pointing to the Mac tablet include numerous patents, information leaks throughout the supply chain, a rumored relationship with Verizon and some vague language from the upper echelons of Apple. Many tech journalists (including myself) think it’s only a matter of time before we see this new device. The questions we have now are on the details — will it have a full operating system or will it end up being an iPod Touch on steroids?
Imagine cranking up your iPod to listen to the totally awesome song “Gimme Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment” by the Ramones when you suddenly get a stinging, tingling sensation in your ears. Did your iPod just zap you? And if it did, what happens if you listen to “Teenage Lobotomy?”
The other day, Justin Berka posted about a patent application that Apple filed for biometric technology that could be embedded into electronics such as the iPhone. That means that rather than sliding to unlock your iPhone or iPod, perhaps the machine will read your fingerprint instead. A diagram included with the application suggests that sensors may be embedded in the same part of the screen used to unlock the devices now.
In a typical Apple touch (sorry for the pun), the company’s application said the point is to make biometric recognition as simple as possible, which is the reason for the embedded sensors. You’d let your i(whatever) scan your fingerprint to log you in rather than making it a secondary process.
AppleInsider’s Aidan Malley said Apple computers might use the trackpad or embedded cameras for biometric validation.
Hey iPhone users, if you’ve been waiting for your very own copy of Skype, you don’t have much longer to wait. Jessica Dolcourt of CNET’s CTIA blog wrote Sunday that the Skype application promised at CES 2009 will be available on March 31. Unless someone’s gotten his or her calendar mixed up, this isn’t an April Fool’s joke.
The application works very much like Skype‘s regular computer-based application, Dolcourt said, with some notable exceptions. For one, it looks more like an iPhone app than it does Skype’s normal appearance.
So you might say, “why on Earth would Apple permit the Skype application on the iPhone? Doesn’t it conflict with their customers using the AT&T network?” Well, sort of. But not really. To use iPhone Skype, you have to be within range of a WiFi network. VoIP doesn’t work over the AT&T network, which would sort of defeat the purpose anyhow.
The MP3, as you know, is the standard file format found on pretty much every portable digital music player in the world. Even if you use another format predominantly, such as Apple’s preferred AAC files, your iPod will still play MP3s. But in general, audiophiles don’t like MP3s. Why? They’re lossy. That means that there’s a lot of digital information that gets tossed out when you put a CD in your computer‘s drive and rip it to MP3 files.
This comes in handy when you want to say your music player will hold 35,000 songs, but these players are getting larger and can handle more information. Yesterday on Ars Technica, John Timmer posted about a new digital audio file created by Thomson, the MP3HD, that may allow you to take better advantage of that great big music player you carry in your pocket. Thomson was one of the companies behind the original MP3, and has been working on this new format for a while.
Chinese crackers have found a way to create codes that fool Apple’s iTunes Store into giving credit where credit’s not due — enabling them to download whatever they want from the store without paying a dime.
Yesterday Erica Sadun at Ars Technica published a story about the phenomenon, explaining that the crackers have put up thousands of forged iTunes numbers up for sale — though they don’t actually create the plastic cards you see in stores. Really, it’s not a new phenomenon. Sadun quoted an article in Outdustry which explains that a $200 iTunes code can be had for $2.60, when just six months ago it was $46.78.
Sadun said that pirated iTunes Store codes aren’t limited to Chinese Web sites, and are showing up on eBay, too. Ars Technica contacted Apple for comment, but they hadn’t yet responded.
I found this article in The New York Times as I was eating breakfast this morning and when I got to work I had to take a look for myself. Amazon.com has released an application called Kindle for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
When you launch the application, you land on the main screen, where you can begin reading your books. At the top right, there’s a button called Get Books — press it and you find out that your options for buying books are to purchase them on your computer and upload them to your iPod. Or you can buy them using Safari on the iPhone or iPod. It’s pretty simple.
The software also supports Amazon.com’s Whispersync function, so if you’ve bought books from Amazon.com before, you can read them on your iPod or iPhone.
Oddly, I was thinking just this morning that despite the popularity of some older arcade games, that no one would put out something as simple as Space Invaders again. Turns out, I was wrong.
For the uninitiated, Space Invaders is a simple game. There’s an invading horde of creatures slowly making your way to your planet. Your job is to shoot them down with your … cannon? Rocket ship that doesn’t leave the ground? Gun thingy? … that slides back and forth horizontally and can hide behind shields, at least, until the invaders reach that level, when they disappear. That doesn’t sound fair, does it? Nor is it fair that with each alien you take out, his or her buddies speed up a notch, until the last one’s chugging downscreen at an alarming and very hard-to-hit rate.
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