In what may be the top sleeper story in technology this past year, Apple has been making key inroads into the corporate computing market.

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A bug in the iOS alarm system seems to stop one-time alarms from working after 2011 begins.

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Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, has filed a suit this week against Apple, Google, Facebook, AOL, Netflix, Yahoo, and several others claiming patent infringement.  Allen filed this suit on behalf of his old company Interval Licensing LLC, which is no longer in business.  He claims, however, that they hold various patents that are “fundamental to the ways that leading e-commerce and search companies operate today.”

What does that mean, exactly?  Allen’s claim is that Interval patented “technologies that display related content, provide unobtrusive on-screen alerts, and recommendations based on preference or online activity.”  His stance is that AOL’s ‘related links’ falls into this category, as does Facebook informing you via news feed what your friends are watching and playing, and Netflix’s recommendations based on your ratings of movies you’ve watched.  Also, the alert systems used by AOL, Yahoo IM, Apple, and the Android mobile OS are being targeted as infringing.

This suit was originally filed back in August, but the judge threw it out the first time, needed more specifics.  Well Allen has now re-filed, and we’ll have to wait and see how the courts view the case this time around.

Paul Allen Files Amended Patent Suit Against Apple, Google, and Others

View full post on Android News, Rumours, and Updates

Apple sold a ton of iOS devices, one iPhone caught a thief, Verizon’s on the horizon, and Kindles are doing okay, too.

View full post on Macworld

Apple announced on Monday that the company’s popular Mac OS X Downloads site will no longer feature third-party software, directing developers instead to the upcoming Mac App Store.

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Apple on Tuesday released an Apple TV software update that corrects minor playback and downloading bugs.

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Apple and Google are reportedly among the bidders lining up for bankrupt Nortel’s patents and intellectual property, sales that could generate $1 billion.

View full post on Macworld

Apple kit’s never cheap, and the Apple 27-inch Cinema Display, stunning though the image is, does little to break that notion.

At £899 before January’s VAT rise, this costs more than an 11-inch MacBook Air, although you do get a heck of a lot more screen space.

The panel packs in 2560×1440 pixels, which is more than most 27-inch monitors. You can comfortably fit two Safari windows alongside one another, or even a narrow Twitter client, such as Tweetie, Mail or a web page.

The display has in-plane switching (IPS) as well, so colours remain bright and vivid even at tight viewing angles. The picture is bright and pinsharp – text looks fantastic and you can see every detail in a photo.

Gradients display well too and there’s a clear distinction between 0% and 5% black, as there is between 95% and 100%. Colour gradient bars are smooth, although single-colour consistency isn’t as good as we’d hoped for a display of this price.

We noticed a slightly darker area along the bottom of the panel, especially with the blue pixels. And with the display showing all-black, it looked noticeably lighter towards the bottom. While this happens with most displays and is dependent on your viewing angle, with the Cinema Display sitting normally on our desk, the lighter lower area felt more pronounced.

And, lest we forget, the screen is glossy. This means the picture looks stunning, but you do get a fair amount of reflection. The solution is to try to position it where you won’t get light shining on it, but this won’t always be possible, so keep this in mind, especially if you intend to do a lot of graphics work.

It would have been nice to see Apple offer an antiglare surface, like it does with the 15-inch MacBook Pro.

As for other features, it’s got an iSight camera, mic, three powered USB ports and built-in speakers. And we were impressed by the sound system, which sounded deep, thanks to the built-in sub-woofer.

All this connects to your Mac via a single cable with three connectors on the end – USB, MagSafe power adapter for MacBooks and a Mini DisplayPort. This means it’ll work with most Macs from 2009 or later, including the whole current range.

But if you’re looking to upgrade your monitor and your Mac doesn’t have a Mini DisplayPort, you should look elsewhere – getting a converter is costly. The wire’s also very short and can’t be swapped out for a longer one, so if your Mac Pro tower is under your desk, you may have to fork out for extensions.

Height and cost

But our two biggest complaints? First, the height of the display: it stands slightly lower than the 27-inch iMac and isn’t height-adjustable – we had to use a monitor stand (or a stack of books) to make it ergonomically comfortable, which rather spoils the whole look.

Second, there’s the little matter of price. £899 is a serious amount of money for a display, especially when you can pick up a decent 27-inch LED display for under £400, though admittedly with fewer pixels.

But we’ll leave you with this little nugget: at the time of writing, there was a 27-inch iMac on the Apple Refurb Store for £1,169 – so at just £270 more, you could bag a fully fledged computer instead.

Related Links

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Apple used its Back to the Mac media event back in October to unleash a new version of the iLife software – as well as the new MacBook Air.

iLife ’11 features a new and improved version of the iPhoto app, which includes full-screen view and the ability to share photos on Facebook and Flickr from within the app.

iPhoto can also pull in photos directly from your Facebook and Flickr feeds, which will live within the interface. There’s also the new Places functionality which highlights geotagged photos on a map.

The UI – which also includes a slideshow feature – has also been overhauled to look a little more like an iOS app than previous versions.

Also part of iLife ’11 is a new version of iMovie. The big news here is the inclusion of face detection technology which makes it easier to find movie frames featuring certain people from within your footage.

There are also 15 new movie trailer pre-sets to allow amateur auteurs to compose the best possible advert for their new blockbuster.

iMovie ’11 also boasts a better audio editing experience to allow easier adjustments to audio levels and new “one-click” sound effects.

Garage Band has also undergone a facelift, with a cool feature called “groove time” which brings all of the other instruments into time with the “star instruments”, so if the guitars are out of time with the drums, you can fix that in one click.

The new “How am I playing” feature will allow users to play along with real orchestras and receive feedback from Garage Band on their instrumental performance – kind of like a Guitar Hero for Garage Band.

iWeb 3.0.2 and iDVD 7.1 are also included in iLife, but not reviewed separately here.

Apple’s iPhoto ’11 is all about new ways of enjoying and sharing your photos. This is achieved with improvements to the full-screen mode, the online sharing features and the books, cards and slideshow tools.

Also, the full-screen mode has been extended so that you can now browse your Faces, Places, Events, Albums and Projects. You can choose which of these you want using buttons at the bottom of the screen and then double-click the Album, say, that you want to look at.

Albums look very different now in full-screen view. Previously, they were just entries in the source list, but in this new mode they get their own icons, just like Events – they’re styled like stacks of photos, with the Key Photo you’ve selected on the top. When you’ve finished browsing your Album, you click a button at the topleft to go back to the main view.

The full-screen mode is a terrific way to browse your photos, especially if you’ve got other people crowded round your Mac to watch.

Full-screen view

But there is a flaw. Full-screen view feels different and separate to the standard view. It’s like an alternative interface rather than an extension to the existing one. And you’ll still have to swap back to the standard view for some routine housekeeping tasks, including imports.

Never mind, though, because iPhoto ’11 has lots more to offer. iPhoto will now download existing Facebook albums from your account, however they were uploaded; it can post pictures to your Wall, as well as albums, and can upload Profile pictures too.

The comments synchronisation is smart – comments made by your Facebook pals show up in the photo’s Info panel.

iPhoto’s new book tools are equally impressive. The highlights here are the new dynamic theme browser, which uses your own photos to preview the book design, the fact that you can edit books in full-screen mode, and an All Pages view that shows you the layout of your whole book in a single screen.

The Autoflow feature will make your highest-rated photos the biggest, use face detection to crop photos intelligently and keep photos together when they were taken on the same day. It really does take just a few minutes to make a ready-to-print, professional-looking book, and the design themes are good enough to flatter even the most amateurish pictures.

Apple’s new letterpress cards are pretty pricey, but it’s the quality of the production process and the finished product that you’re paying for. And while a couple of the six new slideshow themes are a bit odd, the overall standard is excellent.

But is this all a bit superficial? Yes, a bit. If all you want iPhoto for is to organise and fix up your photos, there’s really not much here that’s different. The reorganisation of the editing tools is handy, but other aspects of the interface design are less successful.

You now have to click a button to activate the search box on the bottom left, as well as using the thumping great Info panel on the right rather than a little box at the bottom of the source list to type in photo descriptions.

You’ll soon adapt to the new screen layouts, though, and iPhoto’s new sharing options are so good you might be inspired to start using your photos in new and more adventurous ways, which can only be a good thing. Besides, it’s only £45 for the whole iLife suite, and for this you’re getting new versions of iMovie and GarageBand too.

Since iMovie’s complete overhaul in 2007, its mantra has always been to appeal to novice users. While more experienced video editors complained of this streamlining, beginners positively lapped up the changes. The interface was clearer, the options sparse, and the way it worked was completely different from any other video-editing program on the market.

Over the last two revisions, more advanced tools have been added, but these are cleverly hidden by default so as not to intimidate a person launching the program for the first time. Yet they offer enough power to perform complex edits without having to resort to more advanced applications such as Final Cut Express or Final Cut Pro.

So what’s been introduced this time around? The feature that’s taken most of the limelight is Movie Trailers. With it, iMovie can help you create impressive-looking trailers. You can even add a company logo that looks uncannily like one of those from the big Hollywood studios.

But although it works incredibly well and iMovie will tell you which shot you need next, finding a requested close-up or wide shot within your clips can be a daunting task. Therefore, don’t think about using Movie Trailers until you’ve analysed your footage using the People Finder command.

This process also figures out the type of shot that’s been used, and coupled with iMovie’s keyword tool, it makes creating a trailer a breeze.

Audio is back

The other big new feature is the re-introduction of audio editing (it was available in iMovie ’06 but has been conspicuous by its absence ever since).

The way it’s handled is remarkably simple: every action is performed by dragging and dropping: if you need to raise a clip’s volume, drag its audio level up. Need to lower a specific section? Select it then drag down – iMovie even creates handles on either side to gradually fade the changes (drag these points to alter them as well).

You also have a collection of 20 audio filters to alter the track’s pitch, make it sound as if it was recorded in a wide open space, make a voice more robotic, and so on.

The new One-Step Effects are designed to make complex visuals in seconds with hardly any input from you: just select the clip, or part of the clip, you wish to modify then go to the Menu Bar’s Clip menu to select from one of seven options.

But that’s not to say these effects aren’t customisable – that part’s up to you. There have been a few tweaks in other places too: you can now upload your finished film to Vimeo and Facebook in addition to YouTube and MobileMe. You even have the option of exporting your work at the highest HD resolution available: 1920×1080.

The Maps feature has been improved as well and now gains a zoom option, although this is nowhere near good enough if all you want to do is depict your trip between Bath and Oxford. However, it’s still the best tool for transcontinental travel.

Uploading upgrade

The best part, though, is that all these new features are tucked away and casual users would most likely never notice them. For instance, you can have a traditional left-to-right timeline view, rather than the default top-to-bottom configuration.

So iMovie ’11 is now easy enough for novices, but powerful enough for editors serious about film-making yet not quite ready to jump to Final Cut.

GarageBand ’11 isn’t a radical upgrade; instead it largely builds on features introduced in GarageBand ’09, along with bringing across useful tools from Logic, Apple’s more advanced audio production offering. The end result is an unremarkable update, but nonetheless one that will without doubt benefit both beginners and dedicated amateurs.

First, it’s worth noting that everything that made GarageBand great last time around remains in this version. You still have first-class tools for the quick-fire creation of loop-based songs and podcasts, while those who want more depth can go for MIDI and recorded audio.

There are loads of high-quality voices, effects and mixing tools built in, and a largely intuitive interface for working with everything.

Lessons for everyone

The update is primarily concerned with three things: lessons, electric guitars and timing. On the first of those, Apple has added a bunch more free lessons (including genre-specific collections, such as Pop Piano and Blues Guitar) but, more interestingly, it has gone all ‘Guitar Hero’ on GarageBand with the video game-like ‘How Did I Play?’

This new feature enables you to record your performance alongside the teacher’s and get a running accuracy score. Progress is graphed, so you can easily see if you’re improving over time, and exactly where you’ve been going wrong.

On the piano, this is a fantastic motivational tool and it makes the lessons more fun; on guitar, GarageBand doesn’t always seem able to recognise correctly played chords, to rather comical levels in the Chord Trainer, which we aren’t ashamed to admit led to us yelling “but I am playing E!” at a slightly bemused iMac.

Elsewhere, electric guitarists will be happy to see the amp and stomp box collection expanded. You get seven new amps and five new stomp boxes (bringing the totals to 12 and 15, respectively), providing many hundreds of new combinations for guitarists to rock out to.

Annoyingly, external controller options remain thin on the ground – in fact, GarageBand only officially appears to support the £300 Apogee GiO.

The time is right

On the timing front, Apple’s brought across Groove Matching and Flex Time from Logic. Groove Matching enables slightly sloppy timing between tracks to be globally fixed with a single click and will undoubtedly prove invaluable to many users; Flex Time is for amending the duration of single notes and can be impressive, but we found it more fiddly to use.

It’s a pity Apple didn’t bring across multiple time signatures from Logic, too, but perhaps that’s asking for a bit much; however, it wouldn’t kill Apple to finally enable you to open more than one GarageBand project simultaneously to make it easier to move content between your songs. Still, we’re only complaining because we love GarageBand so much.

For amateur musicians, it’s easily worth the price of iLife on its own; as a pure upgrade, it’s a slightly tougher sell, at least if you own GarageBand ’09. That said, we reckon Groove Matching alone will pay for itself in no time if you work with a lot of live-recorded audio, and ‘How Did I Play?’ adds a much-needed injection of fun to lessons, making you far more likely to persevere with your learning regime. And remember: if you’re buying a Mac, iLife is included!

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Not to be outdone by Motorola, Apple is going to try to win the numbers game by adding 12 more patents to their lawsuit to bring the total up to 24.

11 of the 12 patents are:

U.S. Patent No. 5,455,599: “Object-oriented graphic system”
U.S. Patent No. 5,519,867: “Object-oriented multitasking system”
U.S. Patent No. 5,566,337: “Method and apparatus for distributing events in an operating system”
U.S. Patent No. 5,915,131: “Method and apparatus for handling I/O requests utilizing separate programming interfaces to access separate I/O services”
U.S. Patent No. 5,929,852: “Encapsulated network entity reference of a network component system”
U.S. Patent No. 5,946,647: “System and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data”
U.S. Patent No. 5,969,705: “Message protocol for controlling a user interface from an inactive application program”
U.S. Patent No. 6,275,983: “Object-oriented operating system”
U.S. Patent No. 6,343,263: “Real-time signal processing system for serially transmitted data”
U.S. Patent No. 6,424,354: “Object-oriented event notification system with listener registration of both interests and methods”
U.S. Patent No. RE39,486: “Extensible, replaceable network component system”

The move to add the 12 patents to the suit is in response to Motorola attempting to invalidate the patents mentioned above.

Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs has said “We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it, we’ve decided to do something about it.”

[via Apple Insider]

View full post on Android Phone Fans

And the rivalry continues!

Danish publishing fir Mediaprovider recently attempted to submit an all-Android-related magazine application dubbed Android Magasinet to Apple’s App Store. Well, you know what happened next… it was denied.

Apple contacted Brian Dixen, Mediaprovider’s managing director, shortly after rejecting the app:

Too bad Android Magasinet didn’t make it to the App Store. Maybe, just maybe, some iPhone fanatics could’ve been converted to Android. Let’s be honest, the grass is much greener on the other side; Android green to be exact.

Android-related magazine app rejected from Apple App Store

View full post on Android News, Rumours, and Updates

It’s been nearly two months since my last culinary bacon experiment, a lapse for which I must humbly beg your forgiveness. But this week is all about food and family for most Americans, so I figured there could be no better time for a new stop on my Great Bacon Odyssey.

The idea for bacon-apple fritters grew out of a discussion I had with GeekDad’s fearless leader, Ken Denmead. We figured that, since other forms of pork are often served with apples — think of pork chops with applesauce, for example — why is bacon left out? So I got to thinking about the ways to prepare apples that would work well with bacon. My last experiment was for “bacorn” dogs, so I got to thinking about apple fritters. There’s something about taking a piece of nice, healthy fruit, dredging it in batter and cooking it in hot grease that seems quintessentially American. So what could be better than adding bacon to it?

Ken and I batted a few questions back and forth: Should the bacon be chopped up in the batter, or wrapped around the apple slices? If the latter, should there be anything in between the apple and the bacon? How to ensure the bacon is fully cooked before the apple turns to mush? What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

I decided that the best bacon flavor would come from the bacon being wrapped around the apple prior to coating, and that simply partially precooking the bacon slices before wrapping them around apple slices would avoid both undercooked bacon and mushy apples. I decided on a simple beer batter for the coating, and got cooking.

The first order of business was the batter. One cup flour, one teaspoon salt, one cup beer (Magic Hat #9, as it was what we happened to have in the fridge), mixed together thoroughly and left, covered, on the counter for an hour, then a little water added to make it more liquid for easier coating — it doesn’t get much easier, or better, than that. As the batter approached readiness, I fried the bacon slices until a lot of the fat had rendered (another advantage of precooking), but they hadn’t started to crisp up yet — crispiness being the enemy of wrapability, which I declare to now be a word. While the bacon cooled, I started the canola oil heating up to 375°F in the deep-fryer, then peeled and cored the apples.

I cut the (Gala, though any sweet, firm apple should work) apples into wedges about ½ inch thick. I hesitated for a moment, trying to decide if I should cut the bacon slices and do a half-slice per fritter. Then I realized how silly that idea was, and went ahead with one bacon slice each. I wrapped the bacon around the apples, using a toothpick through the apple and bacon to keep everything together until it was cooked. A quick dredge in the batter, letting the extra drip off, then into the fryer basket. My deep-fryer is on the small side, so I went with only two fritters per batch. After four minutes, I took them out, let the oil drain off, and then removed them from the basket to sit on some paper towels.

And it was there that the only problem arose: the fritters were stuck, hard, to the basket. I ended up pulling them off by force, leaving some of the batter on the bottom of the basket, which was unfortunate but it was too late to do anything about it. Once they’d cooled a bit, I tried one.

Verdict: <George Takei>Oh myyyy!</George Takei>. So good I’m not sure I can go back to bacon-less apple fritters, truly! My wife — who is a huge fan of good old traditional apple fritters with a little powdered sugar on top — tried them and pronounced them delicious. Then my kids tried them. My son liked the one he had, but wasn’t sure he wanted another. My daughter, on the other hand, liked them so much she finished her first before my wife could get a picture of her eating it, and then had a second and a third (she’s going through a growth spurt, and so is eating way more than usual).

I highly recommend this to anyone who likes apples and bacon. I would suggest, however, using a deep pan for the frying rather than a standalone deep-fryer, because I had to stop making the fritters after three batches due to the amount of solid brown batter that coated the bottom of the basket. Deep-frying in a pan should avoid that problem. I think the fritters would make an excellent appetizer, or perhaps even side dish, for Thanksgiving dinner — though like all deep-fried foods, of course, the fritters should be eaten as soon after cooking as possible. I should also note that, while for the first batch I wrapped the bacon as you see in the photo above, I wrapped it around the whole slice, at an angle, for the other two batches, and I found that worked better to ensure you get the bacon taste in every bite.

Since the idea for this one was cooked up (heh) by Ken and me, nobody gets a ThinkGeek gift certificate this time. Please send me more ideas (either as a comment here or via email), though, because a $25 gift certificate will go to those whose ideas I use in future installments. I promise it will be much less than two months before my next stop on my Great Bacon Odyssey. Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans, and happy rest-of-the-week to those readers outside the U.S.

See the Flickr set of the preparation and cooking. Read all the Great Bacon Odyssey articles.

All photos by Matt or Jen Blum.

View full post on GeekDad

Apple on Monday released an upgrade to its iOS operating system that brings a number of iPhone functions, like apps folders, multitasking, and background apps, to the iPad.

The iOS 4.2 upgrade is free and is available today You can download it to iPad, iPhone and iPod touch by syncing the device with iTunes 10.1. The iOS 4.2 is compatible with iPad, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, second and third generation iPod touch (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB) and new iPod touch.

Some features may not be available on all products. For example, Multitasking requires iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, third generation iPod touch (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB) or later.

In parallel with the iOS 4.2.1 update, Apple has released the Apple TV 4.1 firmware, which primarily adds support for AirPlay. Airplay is a feature that allows wireless streaming of audio and video content from one device to another.

Apple’s “Find my iPhone” feature is now free–if you have an iPhone 4, iPad, or newest fourth-generation iPod Touch. It previously was available only by the subscription-based MobileMe service. The two best features of Find Me, according to C/Net, are its ability to remote-wipe all data if necessary, and its triggering of a played-back sound even if the device in question is set to silent.

PC World says there are Ten Features It Still Needs

View full post on dailywireless.org

Apple is bringing a new service in the UK called the Apple Consultants Network, and is seeking certified Mac specialists to join the scheme.

View full post on Macworld

The holiday season’s coming up and I’m willing to bet a lot of people are in the market for a nice tablet device to give to their loved ones or to make for a nice gift for themselves. The question: what should they buy? Not too long ago, the obvious answer was “iPad.” It wasn’t the first tablet ever to come out, but it was the only modern tablet that could break into mainstream and get people ready to spend hundreds of dollars for what most ended up calling an oversized iPod Touch (yours truly included.)

But the market has changed, as often tends to do, and Samsung has come out with the first real potential threat to Apple and they’re literally selling it everywhere, just as they did the Samsung Galaxy S – their flagship line of Android-based handsets, currently. Now, shoppers will stop into their local Best Buy retail stores and see giant ads for the Tab up against giant ads for the iPad and they’ll have questions. A lot of questions. And even though the iPad – at first sight – would seem like the surefire best bet, the process is still going to prove to be very difficult.

Thus: we break it down. What should you get? In unbiased fashion, I take a look at the hardware, software, and overall ecosystem of both devices and determine which would be the better buy to put under that nice tree this december.

Hardware

The Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Apple iPad are very similar, hardware wise, but are different enough to take a closer look at each. Here, I’ll pick apart every nook, cranny, corner, and angle of each device and I’ll determine a “winner” in that category. I’ll also take a look at the software, but let’s get to the gears that make these devices tick.

Size and Display

Perhaps the first thing people look at when they look at a tablet device (or any device where the display is an important piece to the puzzle) is the display itself. Which is larger? Which looks better? Brighter? Has more vibrant colors? Has a higher resolution? Your average consumer won’t care about the technical details of that last question as it’ll fly over their heads anyway, but it does play into some of the questions before it. The Samsung Galaxy Tab has a 7-inch capacitive LCD touchscreen with a WSVGA resolution of 1024×600 opposed to the iPad’s 9.7-inch capacitive display with a higher resolution of 1024×768 (what an older computer monitor would generally run on.)

It’s easy to think that the bigger size and resolution of the iPad gives it an automatic win, but you have to consider that – in a smaller 7-inch package found in the Galaxy S – the lower resolution really doesn’t do much to change just how great the display looks because it’s pushing only a marginally-less amount of pixels into a screen that’s nearly 3-inches smaller. Having used both of these devices myself, I can’t really say one display completely destroys the other, but there is a noticeable pop in color vibrancy and brightness to be had on the iPad over the Galaxy Tab. If we’re going based on looks alone, then the iPad would be the clear victor.

But the size plays a major factor in comfortability and portability, too. Tablet computers are seen as mobile devices, even if they were never meant to be, and the iPad is simply less mobile than the Galaxy Tab. If you want to use that thing on a subway, too bad. Want to palm it with one hand while walking down the street? Good luck. The Galaxy Tab is still a beast to hold, but you CAN hold it as well as you need to for one handed operation and you can stow it as easily as you could a small netbook.

For these reasons, I have to give the ultimate prize to the Galaxy Tab. That’s not to say people can’t walk around with the iPad with one hand (I’ve seen it personally, and I’m sure there are cases that exist to help you hold it with one hand), but it’s just so much easier to do on the Galaxy Tab. The loss in screen real estate is a bit of a bummer, but if you’re going to be expecting a full-screen laptop-like experience from a tablet, why not just get a MacBook air?

Processor

There really isn’t much to say here: the iPad has an A4 processor – just like what you see in the iPhone 4 – and the Galaxy Tab has Samsung’s Hummingbird – just as you’d see in the Samsung Galaxy S. And both of these processors are based on the same family of chipsets, with differences coming only in slight form. The difference comes from how the software utilizes the hardware, but we’ll get into that a bit later. For now, there’s no clear cut winner here.

Memory and Storage

Both of these devices come with a lot of gee-bees (or gigabytes, as you technophiles would rather call them): the Apple iPad can be had in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB configurations, while the Galaxy Tab can be had in both 16GB and 32GB configurations. The iPad, though, doesn’t allow you to expand the storage, while the Galaxy Tab allows you to add up to 32GB more with the use of a microSD card. Ultimately, flexibility is king and the Samsung Galaxy Tab allows you to get just as much as you need.

I know, I know: who wouldn’t want as much as they can get? Sure, you can make a case for the iPad in that regard, but when you start discussing price, then you’ll learn why some will want to shy away from Apple’s more capable options. We’ll afford the Samsung Galaxy Tab the victory, here.

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy Tab has a front-facing and rear-facing camera, the iPad doesn’t. Winner: Samsung Galaxy Tab.

“What’s that Rob? You want more substance in this paragraph? Fine…” Cameras on mobile devices are important to a lot of people. Even though most people who own a tablet device will also likely be carrying their phones, which most likely will have a camera on it, you won’t want to put your tablet away just so you can pull your phone out, snap a pick, then put the phone back, and take the tablet back out and go about your business. That’s clunky and unnecessary, and I’m quite surprised Apple didn’t consider as much when they had the iPad in research and design.

But what’s more important here is the front-facing camera. Say you’re walking one day and you find a spot to sit down and eat. (Alone? Blech.) You get lonely and want some company, but don’t want to limit yourself to just talking. Introduce a tablet with enough screen-size to make the experience worthwhile. The Samsung Galaxy Tab enables that, and a lot of people are going to eat that up at the point of sale. There have been murmurs that the iPad would be getting at least one camera whenever apple decides to unveil the next iteration, but as of right now, it’s as dry as a desert in this area. Winner: Galaxy Tab.

Battery

I honestly don’t know what type of battery capacity the Apple iPad has, but I can say that it smokes the Galaxy Tab’s 4,000 mAh battery. That’s not to put the Galaxy Tab down at all: 7 hours of continuous video playback is VERY respectable, but 10 hours is even better. (We’ve even seen some users able to go a few hours beyond Apple’s advertised battery life.) If we assume that these two are using the same or similar battery capacity and technology, then it means the iPad is just more efficient in software, hardware, or both. Regardless, the Apple iPad lasts longer and that’s all you need to know. It gets the “#1″ badge in this category.

Connectivity

Both of these devices fail just as miserably as each other for one reason: proprietary connector. I’m sorry, but in today’s world of finicky, cheap charging cables that must be replaced with 30x the amount of cash it takes to make the darn things, we would like something a bit more standard. We expected as much from Apple, but Samsung completely ditched any form of USB and went with their own proprietary connector. Both devices have WiFi, both have Bluetooth, and both will accept the draw here. (Albeit a very sour draw. For shame.)

Browsing

The iPad doesn’t have flash, the Galaxy Tab does. Honestly, the screen real estate provided by both of these devices are more than enough to facilitate a pleasing browsing experience. Things are smoother on the iPad, but they can be just as smooth on the Galaxy Tab on your every day website. The option to use flash is a major factor considering a lot of these full sites push a lot of flash content out. Even still, some people don’t need or won’t prefer flash, and if you take that away, the iPad is the smoother experience as browsing is on all iOS devices. Pick your poison: this one’s a draw.

Videos and Media

Samsung’s made quite the reputation for themselves with the media experience you can get out of their flagship Galaxy devices, and the Tab is no different. DivX and XviD support gives you that much more freedom in loading your videos without any issues, and the same goes for the type of audio you can play. Both devices can expand their capabilities through the virtue of apps, but out of the box, the Samsung Galaxy Tab is going to give you the best video experience you can find on a device this size. If you’re an iTunes buff just as much as you’re a music buff, then the ecosystem with that desktop software will play a large factor, but it’s not necessary. We’ll throw the bone to the Galaxy Tab on this one.

The Determining Factors

When it comes down to it, you’ll need to consider four major things (some of which we discussed above): software, camera, the size/weight/”wieldy-ness” of each, and price. Above any other factors, these will most-heavily weigh into the purchase decision as we look from the average consumer’s point of view.

Software

iOS on Apple’s iPad completely pounces on the Tab with Android 2.2 and TouchWiz, but that’s not to imply that iOS is flat-out better than Android. Their market is bigger and got off to a very fast start, as evidenced by the tons of great apps submitted that take advantage of that HD resolution and 10 inch screen. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab has native apps that make great use of the extra real estate, but there’s no real market for tablet-specific apps yet. They’re urging developers to create apps for bigger screen sizes and resolutions, but the sense of urgency just isn’t there from third-party developers. Perhaps we’ll see a shift with the introduction of Honeycomb and all of the tablets sporting it, but for now, the Android market will make the Galaxy Tab just feel like an oversized Galaxy S. iOS also takes advantage of hardware acceleration so everything is smoother across the board, as it is in the handset sector.

Camera

One of the benefits of having a large screen with a camera is the ability to capture your memories and play them back on the same device. That’s very important to a lot of people, and the iPad just doesn’t facilitate this. The Galaxy Tab even gets the added benefit of having a front-facing camera so you can video chat with your friends and family on that nice-sized screen.

Size/weight

The iPad is still quite light despite its size, but it’s much more comfortable to carry around a 7-inch device than it is a 10-inch device. You can use a 7-inch device with two hands and no surface, while trying the same with an iPad could prove disastrous, uncomfortable, and/or just impractical.

Price

Say what you want about the Samsung Galaxy Tab’s price, but the iPad is just as expensive, if not more when you get into the higher storage tiers and when you talk about adding 3G radios. “But you get so much more with the iPad! And Apple overprices their merchandise by a lot more than any other manufacturer!” That’s true, but the truth is they ALL inflate the price. After you figure in every single cost it takes to create and market one Samsung Galaxy Tab or Apple iPad, they have to see a return on the device. Everyone does it, and while you may feel that the Galaxy Tab’s “inferiority” should bring its price down, that’s just not fair to Samsung. Expect to pay more than $5-600 for any configuration of either of these devices without carrier-provided subsidy. This one’s a draw.

Yes, we chose the Galaxy Tab over the iPad if you go by the tally count, but numbers won’t dictate the result here. Being Android fans, we’d always give the benefit of the doubt to the Galaxy Tab, but being unbiased in this quick comparison between two of the biggest tablet devices on the market today, we’d have to give the victory to the iPad. Even with the Galaxy Tab winning 2 of the 3 most weighted factors, the iPad wins in software which is VERY important to the overall experience. (If we were to distribute the weight of the four factors, software would get 50% of the influence with the other 50% being evenly distributed to the remaining three.)

Without software, the hardware isn’t all that special. We’re certain Samsung, Google, and Google’s other hardware partners will be able to catch up in due time, but as of right now, it’s just not there. To be frank, it’ll just be a more pleasant experience to walk into an Apple Store or Best Buy or what have you, buy an iPad, and be happy with the decision as that monstrous tablet-specific app store proves why software will always be king. We hope and fully believe that Google and company will get there, but Apple walks away with the victory this holiday season.

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Shh: don’t spook the wild Apple stories. This week, the Macalope’s stalking the sleepy Beatles, rare iPad pricing, and the ever-elusive Woz in its native habitat.

View full post on Macworld

Apple posted an early-morning message on Monday teasing consumers with the promise of something new to come for the iTunes Store.

“Tomorrow is just another day. That you’ll never forget,” reads the message on Apple’s home page. “Check back here tomorrow for an exciting announcement from iTunes.”

This has already been a big year for iTunes. The store earned more than $1 billion in revenue last quarter, launched a new version in September and unveiled social networking with Ping. What else could be coming for the largest digital music store in the U.S.?

As always, there are few clues from the tight-lipped company pointing towards what that announcement might be. But, that hasn’t stopped tech sites from offering up their opinions. (…)
Read the rest of Unforgettable iTunes Announcement on the Way from Apple

AppCraver.com, 2010. | Unforgettable iTunes Announcement on the Way from Apple | Best iPhone Applications | Top iPhone Apps

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Those waiting for iOS 4.2’s public release may have to sit tight just a little longer: in a surprising move, Apple on Thursday released to the developer community a Golden Master (GM) build of 4.2.1.

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Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder, was recently interviewed for a Dutch-language newspaper called “De Telegraaf” in the Netherlands where he made a statement regarding who he believes will be the dominant mobile OS, and he didn’t say iOS! Wozniak believes that Android will be the dominant OS on mobile devices, overtaking iOS in much the same fashion the PC/Windows had taken over Mac/Apple. With claims like that, maybe Google should look into offering Steve Wozniak a job, and not Steve Jobs. Not sure what I mean by that? Click here to find out!

He stated that Apple’s iOS and iPhone are still the most reliable and consistent in the mobile market based on consumer reports, but noted that people want choices and diversity, which is something they can get with Android devices, given the wide array of manufacturers and special features. Steve says it best here by stating, “There aren’t any real complaints and problems. In terms of quality, the iPhone is leading”, then continued by saying however,”Android phones have more features.” Wozniak also believes that the Android OS and devices will eventually meet iOS hardware for quality, consistency and consumer satisfaction.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak Says Android Will Dominate iOS

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Apple has reimagined the MacBook Air and we’ve been using one full time for a few days now. Since Steve Jobs pulled the original out of that manila envelope back in early 2008, Apple’s premium laptop has been somewhat of an enigma. At the time it wasn’t underpowered, but it has never exactly sparkled either.

And it has gained notoriety as the ultimate coffee table computer – well, that was until the iPad came along. The new model retains the sense of haughtiness and has now been launched in two models – 13 and 11-inch.

This is the 13-inch version – we’ll review the smaller model separately. The new model is so thin at its bottom end that it’s hard to grasp to open it – just 0.3mm. The laptop is a real wedge shape and people are extremely impressed as to how thin it actually is. The indented part near the trackpad can seem quite sharp though and, while we haven’t caught ourselves on it, it’s a distinct possibility.

As with the original Air, the hinge can easily hold the weight of either half of the notebook, so if you hold the screen with the keyboard part raised, the keyboard section won’t drop down.

The Air’s real problem remains price – for a laptop of this core spec, Apple’s latest MacBook represents extremely poor value for money. With only 128GB (or 256GB if you pay for it) of onboard storage, many would be hard-pushed to use it as their only machine. And, given that, the question has to be asked whether you can really afford it. A huge number of people would surely prefer to plump for the extra storage and oomph that a MacBook or MacBook Pro can offer.

In terms of ports, you get a Mini Display Port connector and headphone jack. There’s also an SD card slot in the side (plus an additional USB port – there’s now one on either side).

Once again there is no Ethernet port, so you can only connect to networks wirelessly, and no DVD drive. This is to be expected of such a slim machine, but be sure to consider your needs carefully before buying. Once again, you can install software over the air from a DVD drive on another PC or Mac on your home network.

A big omission is the backlit keyboard which was inside the original Air but not this new model. However, despite its compact dimensions, Apple has still managed to fit a full-sized keyboard into the slim chassis. The isolation-style design makes it incredibly comfortable to use.

The Air also now has the full size multi-touch gesture-enabled glass trackpad from the MacBook and MacBook Pro, too. You can effortlessly scroll through documents, zoom in and out of photos and rotate images using a range of easy-to-master finger gestures.

Performance-wise, the specs have improved, but there hasn’t been a big boon in this area. Intel developed a special version of the Core 2 Duo when the MacBook Air originally launched and it’s this processor that has been retained – albeit with better performance.

1.86GHz is the standard in the 13-inch now. Beyond the issue of physical room, there’s also the issue of cooling, but the fact is that the MacBook Air is now a decidedly poor performance relation of the MacBook and MacBook Pro with their latter-generation Core processors.

The main addition is in terms of flash storage, now available in 128GB as standard, with a build-to-order option of 256GB in the 13-inch, though 2.13GHz is an option.

The screen surround is still metallic silver, and the Air now contrasts with the look of the MacBook and MacBook Pro which both now have black screen surrounds. Because of those design changes, it almost seems like there’s something old-Apple about the screen surround of the new Air.

The camera has been changed from an iSight camera to a FaceTime camera, but essentially it’s still the same hardware underneath – you can use a beta software add-on to communicate with iPod touch and iPhone 4 owners.

The Air has received a boost in terms of graphics though, with the Nvidia GeForce 320M which has dripped down from the MacBook Pro. If the Air had not had a decent Nvidia chip, it would have been a serious flaw in this design.

The MacBook Air now has a deep sleep mode, which kicks in after your MacBook has been sleeping for about an hour. Apple says that the battery can last up to 30 days in this mode and, while we haven’t found it to dispose of too much power when in this mode, we obviously haven’t had it for 30 days to test that particular claim.

While the original MacBook Air had a terrible battery life of just over two and a half hours, this latest model runs for nearly six hours, a great improvement.

The battery remains non-user replaceable.

And in terms of raw performance, the Air is finally able to compete with the best ultraportables in the business – even if it doesn’t have the processor grunt of many cheaper laptops with Core i3 and i5 processors. Indeed, the performance of the Air vastly exceeded our expectations, running Apple’s iMovie and iPhoto video and photo editing tools with aplomb. Even mid-level gaming is possible.

The flash drive means it boots in absolutely seconds, but it’s not cut out for serious video editing or other processor intensive tasks such as serious Photoshop work. The flash storage is extremely rapid – apps load in seconds and while 2GB of memory may not be enough for some, all the standard programs seem quite happy with it, as was Office 2008 (we didn’t have 2011 at our disposal at the time of testing).

A key criticism of the original MacBook Air was its limited performance, so it’s great to see the problem rectified. Applications open and respond quickly and smoothly. Graphics are even more impressive for such a slim machine, thanks to those MacBook Pro-spec graphics.

While the standard 128GB of storage is poor compared to many Windows-based machines, many purchasers of the Air will just be looking for a machine to take out on the road rather than a core workhorse. Unless your needs are light and you employ extra storage, this is still a secondary machine.

By fixing many of the significant flaws of the original, the MacBook Air is fi nally a viable rival to the best ultraportables on the market. While it is still not the most comprehensively equipped sub-2kg machine, it is certainly the most luxurious and its improved power now makes it as capable as it is gorgeous.

We liked

The flash drive is exceptionally speedy, and the whole package is extremely pleasurable to use. It really is a fantastic Mac that zips along for basic tasks including media and productivity apps.

We disliked

The cost makes the MacBook Air exactly what everybody knows it to be – an expensive luxury that looks the business. More power is surely a requirement for many using a Mac for work or serious pleasure and Intel will surely have to do better for the next generation of the Air. We’d also like our backlit keyboard back please.

Verdict

If you’re going to go and buy this laptop, you have to know exactly why you want it. Despite the flash memory and great graphics, it’s seriously underpowered for the kind of money you’re paying – and you have to be completely comfortable with paying such a sum, though flash memory remains expensive, so that’s worth remembering.

Portability freaks may prefer to go for the smaller 11-inch model, even though the screen real estate is far better here. Aside from the obvious aesthetics, the only other explanation for buying this laptop is the ultimate portability it offers.

Having carried it around, used it on flights and trains and used it for many different purposes, this is surely the ultimate travelling companion – one of the best laptops for mobility around. But light PC laptops are available with more powerful processors – they just don’t look this good. Somebody asked us whether it was the best combination of portability and power. It’s great for the former and average at the latter. Have you got the money?

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After a few minutes of digging around LG’s new Optimus One YouTube page, we came across a second promo video. This time around, we’re treated to a 4-minute, cinema style movie with Da Vinci Code-esque clues and Wizard of Oz-like dreams.  As they do with their claymation “Once upon a time…” clip, they take aim for Apple, and Steve Jobs.  Well, not a guy named Steve Jobs, but someone named “Applehead” who wears jeans and a black turtleneck.  Hey, at least this time around, we get to see the phone in action!

LG ‘Crack the Code’ Video Takes Bigger Swipe at Apple [VIDEO] originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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LG decided to go full cinematic trailer with the LG Optimus One. Can you guess who they take cryptic pot shots at? Stick around for the credits for additional lulz.

For some more LG Optimus videos, visit their YouTube channel.

[via Android Guys]

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Apple has not proved that rival phone maker Nokia infringed Apple patents, the staff of the U.S. International Trade Commission said in a pre-trial memo.

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Apple is suing Motorola, saying that Motorola has infringed on patents related to its smartphones. Apple said in a filing that the Droid, Cliq, BackFlip and other phones from Motorola violate its patents related to the iPhone’s touch screen and user interface.

Motorola sued Apple last month, related to smartphone patents.

In total, Apple is claiming six patents across two lawsuits against Motorola, as detailed on Patently Apple. The lawsuit is a counter-attack against Motorola, which in October claimed that Apple infringes upon 20 of its patents, so 26 patents are actually in play.

A new report from NPD shows that Google’s Android continues to eat away at the market shares of Apple’s iOS and especially RIMM’s BlackBerry OS.

Some 44% of all smart phones purchased in the last quarter were running Android, says NPD. Apple’s iOS actually rose one percentage point to 23% while RIM fell from 28% to 22% between the second and third quarters.

Canalys says global smart phone sales grew 95% from the year-ago period to 80.9 million units. Nokia kept its lead with a 33 percent share (world-wide), but Google’s Android (Open Handset Alliance) ended up taking over 25 percent of global OS market share — beating out both Apple and RIM. Apple has a 17 percent share, and RIM’s 15 percent, according to Canalys. Android devices moved from 1.4 million to 20 million devices shipped.

View full post on dailywireless.org