Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video We apologize for the blurriness of the image — imagine you are looking through the photographer’s tears — but what you see before you is supposedly an esploded iPod touch…
via Engadget
ZapMedia on Wednesday sued Apple alleging the company?s iTunes Store is using patented technologies for distributing digital media over the Internet…
via MacWorld
NEW YORK — They provide New Yorkers with a daily portable soundtrack, but the darker side of the iPod is being blamed for a nationwide spike in violent crime.
New FBI stats indicate the teenage obsession with the trendy minimusic players has triggered a jump in robberies, including some that have resulted in murder.
“Your iPod can definitely get you hurt, or even killed, if you’re not careful in public,” Urban Institute researcher John Roman told the National Daily News.
Roman and his colleague Aaron Chalfin analyzed the FBI figures and produced a report tracking the startling “iCrime wave.”
Nationwide, robberies were up 3.9 percent in 2005 and 6.8 percent last year.
Meanwhile, overall theft fell 6 percent and auto theft dropped 5 percent during the same time span.
Although the crime stats don’t specifically chart iPod holdups, Roman said it is the most likely reason for the surge.
A telltale sign that iPods, costing $70 to $400, are at the root of the troubling trend is that juvenile robbery arrests climbed 18 percent last year after a 44 percent decline during the previous decade.
“People carry less cash now because of check cards, and the big jewelry fad has faded,” Roman said. “(iPods) are the only explanation of why this crime spike is happening now.”
iPod touch owners are being offered the Wi-Fi hotspot service Apple has previously announced for the iPhone in the UK.
Wireless network operator The Cloud, the same partner Apple and O2 will use for the iPhone’s Wi-Fi access, is introducing a £3.99 per month tariff for iPod touch users from today. iPhone owners will get the service for free with their O2 contract.
The new Wi-Fi service is called Cloud Unlimited Music and is not subject to any minimum term contract.
“We believe this is a significant step forward in making music, podcasts and video available when, and wherever, people really want it,” said Owen Geddes, group director of business development at The Cloud. “iPhone users will soon be able to make the most of our Wi-Fi network with O2 and The Cloud when the iPhone is introduced in November, and we want to make sure people who have the WiFi-enabled iPod touch are able benefit from our network of over 7,500 hotspots, too.”
by Oliver Garnham
Users may not be able to add Apple features to an unlocked phone |
Apple has warned that anyone attempting to unlock their iPhone to use with an unauthorised mobile network could find their phones irreparably damaged. The company said that modified mobiles would become “permanently inoperable” once Apple updates were installed.
It follows a flurry of hacks claiming to unlock the phone, which is tied into the US AT&T network and O2 in the UK.
Apple has denied that it is “doing anything proactively to disable iPhones that have been hacked or unlocked”.
Cat and mouse
The warning will be seen as a pre-emptive strike by Apple in the ongoing battle with hackers who are increasingly making unlocking software available to iPhone users.
Unlocking the phone allows iPhone owners to use the phone with the network operator of their choice rather than the authorised ones chosen by Apple.
 |
“Apple is saying that if you buy the iPhone and unlock it, you could preclude yourself from getting new features. Apple updates might not install properly and you could find that you own a £270 brick,” said Ben Wood, director of research firm CCS Insight.
At the launch of the iPhone in the UK, Apple boss Steve Jobs admitted that the firm was engaged in a “game of cat and mouse” with the hackers. He added jokingly: “We’re not sure if we are the cat or the mouse.”
Unlocking the phone has also created a growing market for unauthorised applications, including wallpaper and ringtones.
Mr Wood said he thought the way Apple was marketing the iPhone had made hacks inevitable.
“It set the challenge that the iPhone was unbreakable and the temptation was too much. A small army of hackers started work on this project as soon as it was launched,” he said.
The fact that the iPhone can be bought off the shelf without signing up to a mobile contract, coupled with the decision to launch it with a single operator in the US and the UK, have added to the reasons why hackers are keen to open the platform up, said Mr Wood.
Apple is planning to release its next software update - which will allow users to purchase music from the iTunes store via a button on the iPhone - next week.
It has said it wants to “continuously delight” users with new iPhone features.
Not so long ago, there were reports that wearing expensive athletic footwear in certain neighborhoods marked you as a target for robbery and possibly even assault. Criminals, it seemed, coveted those sneakers.Now a study by the Urban Institute correlates a recent upsurge in violent crime to the spectacular popularity of iPods, as documented by the FBI.
According to an institute press release, iPods are, in the lingo of criminologists, “criminogenic,” which translates as “crime creating.” Maybe “thug bait” would be clearer to a lay audience concerned about personal safety.
In making the link between street violence and iPod use, the institute discovered that youth robbery arrests jumped 11 percent in 2005 and 21 percent in 2006, while adult robbery arrests rose only 1 percent and 5 percent during those years.
That doesn’t really answer the question of the extent to which the robbers were motivated by a desire to relieve somebody of an iPod.
But while the empirical data may not be particularly convincing, the institute indicated that it was impressed by anecdotal evidence. Thus, the press release offered the following: “In the first three months of 2005, major felonies rose 18 percent on New York City’s subways; but if iPod and cell phone thefts are excluded, felonies actually declined by 3 percent.”
Along those lines, the statement also offers a useful and cautionary observation. An iPod, the institute notes, derives at least part of its appeal from the fact that it can distract the user from humdrum reality. In so doing, of course, it also gives thieves the advantage of surprise.
In other words, you may value your iPod for its hypnotic power to lull you into deep reveries, but you go there at your peril and may be rudely awakened by somebody who wishes you ill.
– Finlay Lewis, Copley News Service
While many considered the LCD issues plaguing some iPod Touch units a hardware issue, Apple just released a firmware update for the device that appears to fix the problem.
That’s the issue many Touch owners are dealing with at the MacRumors forums right now, it APPEARS to fix the problem.
Some forum members speculate that the update, which is a huge 150 MB, alters the contrast and brightness settings of the LCD screen. Others simply believe that the incorrect application of the LCD coating theory was just plain wrong, but that raises the question: Why did Apple admit to shipping faulty units if it could’ve asked users to wait for an update to fix the issue?
No one can answer that question, but one thing’s certain: the update significantly fixes, at least to a degree, the LCD issue.
Many users are commenting on their varying degrees of success with the update, with nearly all users declaring that the update fixed their “defective” LCD screen. Those without faulty iPod Touch units report mixed results with some seeing no difference in screen quality while others swear that the LCD screen on their units got better. Some, unaware that their iPod had a problem, report that they didn’t know the screen could look as good as it did.
Whether or not the screen problem is a hardware or software issue, it looks like the iPod Touch firmware update is a definite recommendation for all users unlike the iPod Touch firmware update also released today. If you’re looking for proof, check out page 4 of the thread on the MacRumors forum, in which a member pasted before and after pictures of a dark movie scene.
What is it? Sansa Clip MP3 player
Price: $40 US (one GB) and $60 US (two GB)
Rating 4 of 5
Why you need it: You love listening to your tunes at the gym, but want a wearable player with a readable screen at the right price.
Why you don’t: You’re happy with your current player and size doesn’t matter to you.
Our rating: Four mice.
Flash memory maker SanDisk has been making life miserable for most of its competitors in the MP3 player market since entering the space with no prior experience a couple of years ago.
After all, SanDisk invented flash storage cards and is the world’s largest supplier of those products.
So it was natural to use its expertise in flash memory and pick up the audio technology that combines with it to make the most common MP3 players these days.
It’s no surprise that within 18 months, SanDisk went from an unknown in the flash-memory-player world to No. 2 behind
market dominator Apple.
Now, with the introduction of the Sansa Clip, SanDisk is really going after Apple and its iPod Shuffle, both in functionality and price point.
Designed for the fitness buff or traveller, the compact Clip — which comes with a clip to make it wearable — features an FM radio with ample presets and recorder, microphone and a bright OLED screen for easy navigation of tunes.
And the aforementioned price point doesn’t hurt, either, considering the Shuffle is $79 for one GB.
SanDisk says the rechargeable battery will supply up to 15 hours of life which, if you’re keeping track, trumps the Shuffle’s 12 hours.
Available at electronics retailers in Canada next month.
The share boost helps Apple continue to rebound from recent lows and ride anticipation that the company will soon unveil a new iPod. Apple shares have been volatile all year as investors have tried to factor the intangible buzz surrounding the iPhone, new iMacs and possible new iPods into their valuation models.
Shares were recently trading up $3.03, more than 2%, to $137.11, but are still below their 52-week high of $148.92 reached in early July.
“Apple’s valuation is a tough call especially with the iPhone business, which is a new market and we really don’t know yet how it’s going to affect earnings,” said Darren Chervitz, director of research for the $102 million Jacob Internet Fund, which owns Apple shares.
The company has reportedly reached agreements to begin selling the iPhone in Europe. Investors have said that the company’s products are catching on in developed European markets as the iPod and iTunes music downloading service has put Apple’s other products in the spotlight.
Apple’s valuation, based on the ratio of its price-to-earnings forecasts, seems high if the estimates are based on the company’s computer business, says Chervitz.
Investors in the Cupertino, Calif.-based company currently pay about $37 for every $1 of earnings vs. $20 for the average computer maker, according to annual estimates from Thomson Financial.
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — Apple is expected to unveil revamped iPods at a special event on Wednesday in San Francisco.
The Internet is buzzing with speculation sparked by enigmatic Apple event invitations bearing an image of a silhouetted iPod-wearing figure dancing above the words “The beat goes on.”
“It’s an iPod refresh,” principle analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley told AFP. “That is what the buzz is.”
Apple’s iPod has become the most popular MP3 audio player in the world since its debut in 2001. Its most recent addition to the iPod line is the matchbook-size Shuffle introduced a year ago.
The full-size iPod has not been updated since a video-playing “fifth-generation” was introduced in October of 2005.
A recent Apple earnings report shows an unprecedented year-over-year ebbing of iPod revenue growth as customers opt for cheaper models in the line.
