iOS4 is out – how do you like it?
Well, we’re just 3 days away from the iPhone 4 launch and all the excitement and waiting in line that goes with such things, but even if you aren’t going to be one of the “early adopters” of the new iPhone, you can still get in on that iOS 4 goodness. Apple today released the iOS 4 update (via iTunes) which will bring (most of) the super cool new features of the iPhone 4 to your iPhone 3G S.
Unfortunately, that’s where my coverage ends, as I just put my iPhone 3G S up on eBay (feel free to buy it, I put together a nice bundle) and I decided to keep my iPhone’s OS stuck at 3.1.3 (7E18) for anyone who might wish to jailbreak it.
So… leave me a comment telling me how awesome it is, and rub my face in the fact that I cannot play with it (until I go home and break update the Bride of Macenstein’s phone, that is). What’s the most awesomest feature? How’s the internet radio in the background working? I NEED DETAILS PEOPLE!
Apple iPhone OS 4 Event – The Good, The Bad, and the Meh
Filed under: Apple Bashing, Apple Fanboyism, Awesomeness, Opinion, Software, Updates, iPhone
Today’s Yesterday’s iPhone OS 4 preview was chock full of announcements, and I’d wager to say there was at least something for everyone to like (assuming you don’t run an iPhone advertising or social community). As always when there is a big Apple event, we like to go over the key points of the day, and rate them as either good, bad, or meh. So sit back, relax, and prepare to have your opinions formed for you. Read more
Apple’s most ironically named event, ever
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Cynicism, That's Weird..., Updates, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPod nano, iPod shuffle
Well, Apple’s “It’s only Rock ‘n Roll, but I like it” event has come to a close, and it had virtually nothing to do with Rock ‘n Roll, or even music in general. Sure, just about every announcement made today had something to do with the iPod, iPhone, or iTunes, yet it was all about apps, video cameras, price drops, and pedometers.
So, what did Apple announce? Well, new iPod touches with more capacity, faster processors (presumably matching the iPhone 3G S) and bigger storage (even bigger than the iPhone). New iPod nanos – also with video cameras – as well as a built-in pedometer for workouts and an FM radio (what? No AM!?!?!) The shuffle got no love, but did receive a price drop, so maybe someone will buy it now.
But the big news is iTunes 9, which got a major revamp to accommodate music apps. Yes, new Genius features for recommending apps you might like based on your buying preferences, new iPhone/iPod touch application managing from within iTunes, and new application ranking charts to make developers happier. Top it all off with the new iPhone/iPod touch OS 3.1, and you have a music-less announcement rivaling a Mac Pro unveiling. Even the much rumored Beatles announcement was a no-show. Sure, Apple announced they would now offer LP bundles for some albums which will tack on music videos and photos to Album purchases, but since iTunes pretty much single-handedly killed the album format, this two-minute announcement hardly warranted taking over the event poster.
All in all it was a pretty decent (albeit expected) series of nice hardware updates, and a nice update to iTunes (that should have come 2 years ago).
One more thing
But of course to any true Apple fan, the fact that we got to see Steve Jobs back on stage and standing on his own power was the biggest thrill of the afternoon (although I would have personally preferred to see him walk through some sort of hoop or something to prove there were no wires controlling him).
Top Ten Reasons to Upgrade to Snow Leopard TODAY
I’ve seen more than a few interweb critics panning Apple’s Snow Leopard as merely a service pack update, but since installing Snow Leopard yesterday morning, I’ve decided they couldn’t be more wrong. Sure, the only REAL change is the 64-bit stuff that likely won’t matter until sometime around when OS 10.7 comes out, but I’ve noticed more than a few “must-have” goodies that each on their own would more than justify the upgrade cost. Here’s 10 reasons why you should upgrade to Snow Leopard today.
1: State of the Art: The version number (10.6) is now 20% higher than version 10.5.
2: Performance: The “Jelly” visualizer in iTunes feels like it might run slightly faster
3: Another word for “awesome”. Snow Leopard includes an all-new thesaurus – the Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus second edition. That’s right.
4: Time-saver: CyberDuck no longer launches, thus saving you tons of wasted ftp-ing time.
5: All-new look: There are now a couple new Snow Leopard-themed wallpapers
6: Rack ‘em and Stack ‘em: “Stacks”, the Dock view nobody ever used, has been updated (although you still won’t use it)
7: Faster shut down: Because…. um who has an extra 8 seconds to spare in this crazy world of ours?!
8: Big Time Graphics: Finder icons can now be as large as 512 by 512 pixels, four times as big as Leopard was able to dish out!
9: Automatic time zone setup: Apple says “If you’re traveling around the world, the last thing you want to worry about is whether your computer is set to the correct time zone. ” I think they meant to say was “the last thing you’ve probably ever worried about is whether your computer is set to the correct time zone”. But hey, it’s there.
10: It only costs $30: And if you have more than 1 Mac, you can rationalize the cost by bringing it down to $15, $10 (or even lower!) with multiple installs. (Oh, don’t act so high and mighty – we all know you never buy the family pack).
The Creeps! updated – win a free code
Filed under: Awesomeness, Free Stuff, Games, Slow News Day, Updates, contests, iPhone, iPod Touch
Above: One of The Creeps! new under water levels.
The Creeps!, a kick-ass Tower Defense game (and one of the few iPhone games that has stayed on my iPhone after 6 months) has just been updated, and to celebrate, Super Squawk Software was nice enough to give us a free game code to give away. Yes, it’s only a 99¢ game, and yes, Super Squawk is using this as a cheap way to get a $300 ad on Macenstein for 99¢, but hey, the game really DOES rock, the update is a substantial one, and there is pretty much nothing newsworthy going on right now. It is kind of a perfect storm for The Creeps!
Above: Ahhh, the low battery warning. Always a sign that you like a game.
Anyway, as I mentioned, this is no mere bug fix update – Super Squawk has added a total of 8 new maps, 5 new Creeps, and a cool new Paper Shuriken weapon to help you defend your sleeping child from the things which go bump in the night.
To Enter: Simply leave us a comment telling who you think the creepiest celebrity is (and no, you can’t say me). The Free code will only work in the US iTunes store, so you need a US iTunes account to claim the prize. You have until Saturday the 16th at midnight EST (the witching hour) to enter. Winner will be selected randomly. Thanks, and good luck!
Apple announces it still makes Xserves
Filed under: Apple TV, Opinion, Updates, Useless Information, Xserve
Apple today announced that not only do they still make Xserves, but they actually updated them. According to Apple, the new Xseres “deliver up to twice the performance of the previous system,” and feature Intel’s new “Nehalem” Xeon processors and a next generation system architecture, giving the ew Xserves up to an 89 percent improvement in performance per watt over the previous model, which they were still apparently selling.
Above: Introducing the… all-new… Xserve? When on your big launch day you get squeezed out of even the little bottom pics by “American Idol on iTunes”, you know you are the red-headed step child of the product line.
I was pretty sure Apple had discontinued the Xserve around the time they discontinued the Apple TV, but a friend of mine says that Apple never actually discontinued the Apple TV, they just forgot to mention it for a couple years. Both models are expected to receive a future update sometime in late 2013.
I have no idea what this just did…
Filed under: Software, That's Weird..., Updates, iPhone
Um… OK.
Hooray, another enigmatic Apple update! Anyone know what this did? I assume this now resets my AT&T contract period and gives them the right to charge me for internet radio usage. I guess I’ll find out next month…
Apple releases iPhone firmware update 2.2.1 with tons of new features!
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Cynicism, Opinion, Updates, iPhone
HAHAHAHA… OK, here’s what it really does..
This update contains bug fixes and improvements, including the following:
- Improved general stability of Safari
- Fixed issue where some images saved from Mail do not display correctly in the Camera Roll
Well thank GOD! I knew that when Palm announced their new touch screen Pre that the healthy competition would light a fire of innovation under Apple’s ass, and I was right!
The Mac mini is the “Nelson Muntz” of the Apple product line
Anyone looking for further evidence of Apple’s rampant neglect of the Mac mini (aside from, you know, the obvious signs like the whole “431 days since an update” thing) need look no further than the Mac mini’s product page.
Oh sure, the web guys tried to freshen it up with a new keyboard and headphones, but check out that 5th gen iPod! If the mini were a Simpsons character it would be living in a shack with an chain-smoking alcoholic mother and wearing a tattered blue vest.
Thanks to our friends at Mac Soda for the tip!
iTunes 7.7.1 …And Apple’s QC problems keep on comin’!
Apple released iTunes 7.7.1 this evening (via Software Update). According to Apple, the update:
iTunes 7.7.1 includes fixes to improve stability and performance.
I consider myself a big fan of both stability and performance in general, so I’m all for this update. Unfortunately, the improved performance doesn’t seem to include cutting down on my insane backups times (still usually between 20-minutes and an hour).
And two other things I found odd…
First, after the update, I checked to see if any of my iPhone apps had been updated today. I was a bit surprised to see iTunes thought I had 29 apps in need of updating, even though I had updated them as recently as this morning.
And second, I have my iPhone set to “only sync selected applications”. However, after updating iTunes, while that preference is still selected, iTunes went ahead and re-check marked all my applications, seemingly forgetting my selections.
Boo-Hoo
Ok, so neither of these is the end of the world, but it does mean I had to go through the trouble of redownloading/installing the updates, as well go through the painstaking task of deleting the apps I did not want on my meticulously arranged iPhone home screens that had gotten re-synced, (and then of course sitting through another 35 minute backing up of my iPhone).
Given the number of “quirks” (to be polite) many of us have experienced with the latest iPhone update, I admit I got my hopes up when I saw this update. I suppose since nothing has gone smoothly for me since updating the iPhone to the 2.0 firmware I shouldn’t be surprised by any of this, but I just wanted to see if any of you shared my experience before I go on another whiny rant about Apple QC.
