Apple seeks reliability engineer for multi-touch Macs
The development of multi-touch displays at Apple is expanding to the company's Mac division, according to a
job listing on the firm's website.
Originally
found by Engadget, the description asks for an engineer familiar with stress testing and other experiments on pre-production hardware who will support both "Mac and iPod hardware groups" for new technology.
The posting reflects an increasing amount of abstraction for touch input at the Cupertino, Calif.-based electronics giant. A second job posting, discovered by AppleInsider, is aimed at recruiting a senior hardware engineer for a
Touch Technology team and focuses on creating new multi-touch flat panels for a variety of devices, regardless of their exact role.
"Pushing the envelope to design and ship innovative products (like the iPhone) with best-in-class technologies and user experiences is the main goal of the touch technology team at Apple," the posting reads.
People familiar with the matter have previously confirmed with AppleInsider that the Mac maker is developing a
Newton-like slate computer, while multiple patents have been filed for
advanced touch interfaces that can be used both inside and outside of displays.
Aluminum iMacs plagued by off-color LCDs
Owners of Apple's latest iMac models have been newly rebuffed in their attempts to resolve color gradient flaws on their systems' screens, according to
reports.
Beginning the day of the all-in-one computers' launch in early August,
threads in Apple's support discussions have surfaced that complain of screens with fading colors or with conspicuous color banding, either of which can cover some or all of the display and frequently make precise visual editing impossible.
"As a graphic designer I could not keep the iMac because the gradient was pretty pronounced on my display," says one discussion member. "It was darker on top and a lot lighter on the bottom, [and] therefore I could not see solid colors."
However, while thousands of users have posted to or viewed the threads, the system builder has in recent days begun locking down these discussions and sometimes deleting them entirely, preventing owners from voicing their concerns.
The issue primarily affects 20-inch iMac models, but has also been reported on a small number of 24-inch units. Apple engineers are reportedly aware of the screen flaws.
Quicken to appear as iPhone web service
Intuit is prepping a web-based version of its Quicken financial software as an iPhone-oriented online service, the company has
revealed this week.
While the service will run on multiple mobile devices and full-sized computers, its initial format is designed with the Apple handset in mind and should appeal to a young, technically-savvy audience that may never have used dedicated financial software in the past, Intuit says. The functionality will resemble the basic retail software and allow users to download bank information as it's updated and track spending.
Instead of an up-front cost, the company will charge a $3 monthly subscription fee to use the service. An introduction is scheduled for January 8th, a week before the start of the Macworld San Francisco expo on the 15th.
Get it by Christmas:
B&H is offering a
free shipping upgrade on
ALL PRODUCTS as a last minute holiday special, including Apple
MacBooks,
MacBook Pros,
iMacs, and
iPods. All items in stock and purchased by 11:00pm Eastern today (12/19/07) will be upgraded to 2-Day shipping at no extra charge and are guaranteed to arrive by Christmas.
Filed under: Software, iPhone 
Update: Despite the presence of the iToner 1.0.5 press release on Ambrosia's news page, the download page is currently offering up 1.0.4. Ambrosia's press rep has contacted us and says, "Sorry for the confusion and also the inconvenience. We are aware of an issue with iToner 1.0.5 and are currently working on it. For now, please revert back to using 1.0.4 -- we'll release another update in the near future. Thanks for your understanding and support." The busy bees at Ambrosia Software have cranked out several updates this week, including the $15 iPhone ringtone tool iToner 1.0.5. (improved support for iPhone OS 1.1.1 + bug fixes); the free envelope printing utility EasyEnvelopes 1.0.6 (unspecified fixes and enhancements); the $15 menubar search enhancement iSeek (Leopard compatibility); and the $19 file transfer streamliner Dragster 1.0.5 (Leopard fixes). All can be demoloaded from Ambrosia directly. Now that there's a blessed method for using GarageBand (not free, but bundled with new Macs) to create custom ringtones, it will be interesting to see how iToner continues to evolve and extend.
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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, OS, Security  What might Apple's surging sales of Macs have to do with the security of your computer? Possibly, a lot. In a recent CIO interview (conducted by our very own Lisa Hoover), Ollie Whitehouse, an architect for Symantec's Advanced Threat Research Team said that as the Mac keeps growing in popularity, so will the exploits. This theory has been around for as long as OS X, if not longer but lately it seems to be gaining some credibility. There was the Mac " virus" last year, though it actually managed to infect less than 50 Macs in the wild. There was the report of a " dramatic increase" in OS X malware recently. And just yesterday ZDNet posted an article on vulnerabilities found in three operating systems: Leopard, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. They said that Mac OS X had the most vulnerabilities of the three (though it is worth noting that they are "vulnerabilities," not actual exploits. Windows still reigns supreme on that front). Could these analysts be right? Should we be worried about the continued security of our chosen platform? Should Apple start focusing on OS X's security rather than simply adding more features? Only time will tell, but one this is certain: it is a scary world out there. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: Software  Chronos has just introduced a new product called iClipBoard 1.0. This clipboard manager keeps track of what you've copied to the clipboard and makes it available in an attractive side shelf. Not only does it track the current contents of your clipboard, but it keeps a history of everything you've copied (defined by parameters you setup, and if you copy something you don't want people to know about don't worry, you can delete something from the history). The shelf also has a quick preview so you can easily find that picture or snippet of text you copied days ago. iClipBoard will go for $29.99 but is available for $19.99 until December 31st. [via carpeaqua] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: iPod Family, Odds and ends  I don't know how many iPods I've ruined by accidentally showering with them. Picture it, there I am grooving to my jams (usually something by Paul Anka or They Might Be Giants) and I work up a healthy sweat. I immediately hop into the shower and before you can say, 'Goodnight, nurse,' my iPod shorts out. I thought I was doomed to lead an iPodless shower existence, but then I found the TearDrop iPod Water Resistant Bathroom Speaker. These droplet shaped speakers are the perfect accompaniment to any shower, and they only cost $58. When you add in the lovely colors and the fact that they are 'big in Japan,' I think you have a real winner here. [via Krunker] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: Internet Tools, Open Source  If there is one thing geeks like to do it is benchmark things. From how fast their code runs, to how quickly their Mac renders video, the geek has an insatiable need for metrics. The geeks behind the WebKit project (that's the open source HTML rendering engine that powers Safari) wanted to measure how fast Safari's JavaScript Engine really was. They looked at the existing JavaScript benchmarks and decided none of them did what they needed, so they built SunSpider. At the moment SunSpider is at 0.9 but it has been released so people can fiddle with it and give feedback. Test it out with your favorite browser and see how it stacks up. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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 We get a quick glimpse of a minotaur-esque alien, but not much else in the teaser trailer.(Credit: 3D Realms) One of the longest running jokes in the gaming industry is the development of the first-person shooter Duke Nukem Forever, the long expected next edition of the franchise. Originally begun back in 1997, the game first released a trailer at E3 1998. Developer 3D Realms released a different trailer at E3 2001...and it's been rather quiet ever since. Until yesterday. On the 3D Realms forums yesterday, Duke Nukem co-creator and 3D Realms co-owner George Broussard unexpectedly announced that a new teaser trailer for the game would be released today. The trailer was released shortly and has already cropped up all around the Web. The embedded YouTube version below appears to be the official submission from 3D Realms. So...ten years of development gets us a few seconds of aliens (including a giant squid-like beast), Duke chomping his trademark cigar while pumping iron, a tattered American flag, and a crappy catchphrase. Somehow, I don't think that's enough to negate the Vaporware Lifetime Achievement Award that Wired bestowed upon Duke Nukem Forever back in 2004. (However, related sci-fi shooter Prey was stuck in development circles for 11 years, and it turned out to be a pretty good game.) There have been rumors of an extended trailer for Duke Nukem Forever to soon follow, but I haven't seen any official statements yet. If you've got the scoop, tell me about it in the comments. You can also download a high-definition version of the Duke Nukem Forever teaser trailer from CNET Download.com.
The research firm notes that the $44 touchscreen and sensors, which are sourced from the combination of German-based Balda and other Far Eastern suppliers, are the most expensive components of the player, accounting for approximately 28 percent of the product's total cost.
"Functionally, the Apple iPod touch is an iPhone minus several features, including cell-phone capability, Bluetooth and certain software elements," said Andrew Rassweiler, teardown services manager and principal analyst for iSuppli. "Otherwise, the core features of the iPhone user experience are all present in the iPod touch, including orientation sensing, web surfing via Wi-Fi and the product�s signature feature: a 3.5-inch diagonal touch screen with multi-touch sensing."
Rassweiler estimates that Apple's iPod touch and iPhone designs share about 90 percent of the same components. Among them are a Samsung Electronics video/applications processor -- a chip based on an ARM microprocessor core and employing stacked on-package memory -- which comprises another 8.5 percent of the player's bill-of-matials at $13.19. The two touchscreen devices also share a power-management IC from NXP Semiconductors, costing $2.61 and accounting for 1.7 percent iPod touch's total cost.
However, the touch�s design differs from the iPhone in that it is uniquely optimized to meet its form-factor and cost requirements, iSuppli said in its report. To cut space usage, the touch makes use of some advanced packaging for its components not seen in the iPhone, including 0201 diodes and passive components in 01005 enclosures on the touch�s WLAN module.
"This is the first time iSuppli has seen these components in a product we�ve torn down,� Rassweiler added. "Apple products always seem to push the envelope in terms of space savings, and therefore we often first see the newest, most-compact components in Apple products."
See more high-quality iPod touch teardown photos.
The iPod touch design also pushes the envelope in terms of memory density; the high-end version of the product includes 16Gbytes of NAND flash memory, more than any product in the Apple iPod line. In contrast, the high-end iPhone offers only 8Gbytes of NAND flash.
Another notable difference is in the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design. The touch employs a single PCB as opposed to the iPhone�s modular two-PCB design.
See more high-quality iPod touch teardown photos.
Other differences between the iPod touch and the iPhone include a new set of components to support the touch�s Wireless LAN (WLAN) functions and the location of the touch-screen circuitry on the main PCB -- rather than on the touch-screen module.
Based on the history of the various Apple iPod products, iSuppli has assumed a total lifetime of one year for the first-generation iPod touch. The firm estimates that if Apple follows its historic product pattern, it will manufacture about 8.5 million first-generation iPod touches during the approximate one-year period from the third quarter of 2007 through the beginning of the third quarter of 2008. At that time, iSuppli expects the first-generation touch will be replaced by a new product in the third quarter of 2008.
However, the firm hedged its bets by explaining that its forecast could be impacted if Apple chooses to replace the iPod touch sooner to coincide with the introduction of a new model of the iPhone. Furthermore, if the product lifetime extends to two years, production could increase to as much as 20 million units, the firm said.
"The touch, along with the nano, may drive Apple�s HDD-based iPods close to extinction in the near future,� added Chris Crotty, senior analyst, consumer electronics, for iSuppli. "While not a dollar-for-byte match for HDDs, flash now offers sufficient capacity that many consumers are willing to trade off storage for advanced displays and features."
Get it by Christmas: B&H is offering a free shipping upgrade on ALL PRODUCTS as a last minute holiday special, including Apple MacBooks, MacBook Pros, iMacs, and iPods. All items in stock and purchased by 11:00pm Eastern today (12/19/07) will be upgraded to 2-Day shipping at no extra charge and are guaranteed to arrive by Christmas. |
 The iFi rocked my world. (Credit: Klipsch) Klipsch has just made a limited number of these available on its website, for just $249! This blog originally ran on November 29. I have fond memories of Klipsch's three-piece iPod speaker. Back in 2005 it stood out in a field of itsy bitsy iPod speakers--the iFi came with a bona-fide 8-inch, 200 watt subwoofer and a pair of two-way satellite speakers. Wow, what a concept, speakers you could actually place far enough apart to create stereo imaging. Most of today's iPod speakers, including high-end contenders like Bowers I gave it an 8 rating and the average user rating was even better, the readers gave it an 8.6. Back in June, 2005 the iFi retailed for $399; I'm sure you can find used ones on eBay for a fraction of that price.
Microsoft's product marketing tends to be fairly dull. Even inside the company, its methods for naming, marketing, and packaging have been the subject of scorn and derision. So, that makes this commercial for its Sync in-car entertainment system all the more noteworthy. The company illustrates the power of the system's voice controls, by showing what happens when you take those commands beyond the car. It's a good approach to explaining a whole new type of technology--something that is often tough--just ask TiVo. What do you think? Does it make you want to get the system, or does it just make you laugh. Or does it not even do that?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Apple, Leopard  Newsflash: Microsoft messed up. Yes, I know, that doesn't come as news to most of you (that's why you're here), but Joe Wilcox over at eWeek was surprised by the fact that while Apple's Leopard Family Pack pricing lead to some nice sales numbers, Microsoft instead decided to discontinue their family pack prices. Basically, you could buy OS X 10.5 as a single copy for $129, or a "family pack" (installations for 5 Macs) for $199. And a whopping 33% of Leopard sales were of the family pack version, even though OS X doesn't require any validation at all-- users could just have bought the $129 version and installed it five times. What's the difference? Wilcox says that Apple trusts their customers, and as a result, users who feel the family pack is worth it are willing to pay. Microsoft, on the other hand, demands validation from their users. Wilcox also quotes an analyst (which in this case is Latin for "he who states the obvious") saying that Leopard had a blowout launch, much better than Vista. But that's a big duh, so I won't even bother comparing OS X to Vista-- I'll leave that to the Mac commercials. What else do you need to know? Clearly, Microsoft is just plain doing it wrong. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Rumors, Odds and ends, Apple, iPhone  The iPhone continues its trek across the world-- the next country to have a rumored release is Japan, and sources there say that DoCoMo will likely be the company to release the Gadget of the Year there. But both NTT DoCoMo and Softbank Mobile have spoken with Apple, and DoCoMo, says a local news agency, might not want to be as generous with sharing the subscriber revenue as some other companies Apple has worked with before. Then again, is Japan really that excited about the iPhone anyway? They've had some pretty awesome personal communication devices for years, and while the iPhone is definitely a quality device, my suspicion is that it won't stick out nearly as high above the rest of the options over there. Of course, on the third hand, Apple may consider the Eastern market all bonus cash anyway, and may take a dive on the subscription rates just to get what they can. All speculation at this point, of course-- it's up to DoCoMo and Apple to decide what they want to do and how they want to do it. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: Gaming, iPod Family, Software, Odds and ends, Universal Binary  Boy, it seems like everyone was waiting for me to write up my gift guide before releasing some interesting Mac games this year. First Horde of Orcs comes out, then Sonic of all things appears on the iPod, and now here's two more fun gaming experiences appearing on the Mac. First, our sister gaming blog Joystiq reports that PopCap's crack casual game Peggle has appeared for OS X, and just like most of PopCap's games, it's so addictive it should probably be regulated by pharmacologists. It's a universal binary, too, and right now it's only $10 (50% off from a sale on PopCap's site). Be prepared to disappear from your relatives for long stretches of time over the holidays, though-- anyone who can only play one round of this at a time is either not human or just in serious trouble with their spouse. And MacNN reports that Bomberman has now appeared on iTunes as well. Hudson Software has produced an official port that features an "intuitive control scheme" (that I'd be interested to see), an exclusive boss stage for the iPod, and the option to play the game's music or your own during gameplay. Wild. That game is $5 and available as a download from iTunes. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas for Mac gamers-- turns out there may be more underneath the tree than we hoped earlier in the year. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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According to people familiar with the matter, Tuesday evening gave way to the first test builds of the software update for developers, including a 354MB bare-bones delta build and a 362MB combo updater -- both of which were labeled Mac OS X 10.5.2 build 9C7.
The Cupertino-based Mac maker reportedly asked those developers to focus their testing efforts on an expansive list of components running some 37 items long. Among them were Data Detectors, the Mac OS X Dock, the Finder, grammar checking, iCal, iChat, Mail, Parental Controls, Quick Look, Rosetta, Safari, Time Machine, and Leopard's 802.11 AirPort implementation (which has troubled some MacBook users.)
Meanwhile, the list of fixes and Leopard code corrections already baked into the 10.5.2 release runs even larger at a whopping 76. In particular, Apple appears to have placed an extra emphasis on its implementation of CUPS (Common Unix Printing System), fixing several distinct issues with the modular printing system, such as problems with reverse order printing and print jobs that had been placed on hold. Fixes for AirPort shared printing were also implemented, according to those familiar with the software.
In addition, Apple continues to free its Rosetta PowerPC compatibility layer of memory leaks while also tying loose ends in the new version of its Mail client -- correcting anomalies with mail flags, the display of certain fonts in mail windows, and the way Mail data detectors interface with iCal.
Mac OS X 10.5.2 build 9C7 stands as just the first external distribution of the impending Leopard update, which is not expected for released to end users until early next year. Previous rumors had suggested the software could arrive alongside new hardware at next month's Macworld Expo, which kicks off January 15th. |
Data extracted from the firm's quarterly Digital Music Monitor revealed that half of all Mac users paid to download music tracks from sites like iTunes during the third quarter of 2007, compared to just 16 percent of PC owners. In addition, Mac users were also more more likely to purchase CDs, the data showed.
"There's still a cultural divide between Apple consumers and the rest of the computing world, and that's especially apparent when it comes to the way they interact with music," said Russ Crupnick, vice president and entertainment industry analyst for the NPD Group. "Mac users are not only more active in digital music, they are also more likely to buy CDs, which helps debunk the myth that digital music consumers stop buying music in CD format."
According to NPD's consumer panel data, unit-volume sales share for Apple computers increased from nearly 6 percent in 2006 to almost 9 percent this year (January through October). "Apple's growing share in the personal computing environment -- and continued success with iPod sales -- is a potential harbinger for the continued growth of digital music," Crupnick said.
Overall, more than 32 percent of Mac users report purchasing CDs in the third quarter of 2007, compared to just 28 percent of PC users. In addition to purchasing CDs and downloading music, Mac users are also more likely to listen to music and watch videos on their MP3-players and computers, according to NPD. While 34 percent of Mac users had uploaded music to their MP3 players, just 16 percent of PC users had done the same. Mac users are also much more likely to listen to music files on their computers (56 percent) than are PC users (31 percent).
"While the market for digital music is growing, it's growing slower than many would like it to -- CD sales are still declining and digital music has not entirely replaced those lost sales," Crupnick added. "The more consumers become comfortable paying for digital music, the more chance they will evangelize to others. And at this point in the game, it's the growing base of Apple consumers that are the industry's low-hanging fruit when it comes to migrating from physical CDs to digital music."
NPD discloses that the objective of its quarterly Digital Music Monitor is to measure music acquisition activities for key consumer segments, as well as other technology and entertainment activities that could influence music acquisition trends. The firm weighs and projects data to be representative of the U.S. Internet Population age 13 and older.
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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, OS, Switchers   Like it or not, lots of us who own Intel-based Macs have to run Windows from time to time. Although Boot Camp is pretty fantastic if you need to run a processor intensive application (or you want to play games), virtualization is the more attractive solution for users who need to access productivity applications, like Microsoft Office 2007, but don't want to have to live in the Windows environment. The two big players in the virtualization field are VMWare's Fusion and Parallels' Parallels. Both applications let you install a Windows XP or Vista virtual machine on your Intel Mac without having to leave OS X, both offer a level of integration between the two operating systems and both retai for $79.99 (USD). So, which virtualization program is the fastest? Well, that's what MacTech attempted to find out in their exhaustive benchmarking trials, comparing Fusion 1.0 (build 51348), Parallels 3.0 (build 5160) and Boot Camp head-to-head-to-head in a variety of different computing tasks. So what's the bottom line? Because of how the software if designed to integrate between the two platforms, Parallels came out ahead in many of MacTech's tests. For certain more processor heavy uses, VMWare, thanks to its ability to take advantage of both cores, came out the best. For networking performance, Boot Camp was king. While I found the benchmarking tests very interesting - and useful - prospective buyers should be aware that in the middle of MacTech's testing procedure, all three Windows options for OS X were upgraded. With the release of Leopard, Boot Camp came out of beta and VMWare is now at version 1.1 and Parallels was updated on December 5 to build 5582. I know just from my own unscientific experience, Fusion 1.1 improved significantly in speed and overall performance from version 1.0 and while I was a big fan of Parallels under Tiger, I have "switched" to Fusion for Leopard. Trial-versions are available for both programs. Remember that in order to use Windows XP or Vista, you need a valid user license. Thanks, Rich.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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