Slashdot Mirror

Intel Macs can. Oh, and so can PowerPC macs.

Intel Macs can. Oh, and so can PowerPC macs.

For everyone worried about malicious TIFF exploits, you might want to take a few seconds and re-read those jailbreak features listed on the AppSnapp page. See number 6? Not only does the team jailbreak your phone, add Installer.app and fix YouTube, but they also repair patch Safari's TIFF exploit hole. Yes, you read that right. These amazing hackers have done Apple a huge favor and fixed the very same exploit they used to jailbreak.

http://lifehacker.com/software/how-to/jailbreak-your-iphone-or-ipod-touch-with-one-click-316287.php

Jailbreaking the iPod touch/iPhone is now an utterly simple, one-click affair--which means if you've been waiting to jailbreak your iPod touch or iPhone (since the 1.1.1 firmware upgrade), the time is now. Just point your Safari browser to http://jailbreakme.com/ and click the Install AppSnapp link. It may sound scary, but the web site takes advantage of a mobile Safari exploit to install Installer.app (the gateway application for installing more applications) to your device. If you give it a try, here's what you can expect.

Choosing between a family vacation and a new iMac isn't going to go in Apple's favor. If they are going to remain relevant in a tough economy, they are going to have to seriously lower their prices

While I can't explain why, while we are in a tough economy now Apple's sales are actually good.

In case this Google news topic disappears:

• "Survey: Next 90 days look good for Apple"
• "Survey: Plans to buy a Mac hit an all-time high"
• "Survey: Apple riding high on news of economic woes"
• "Next 90 Days Look Good for Apple despite Consumer Electronics Spending Down"
• "Mac sales may hit record highs despite decline in consumer spending"
• "Consumer electronics spending down, but not for Apple"
• "ChangeWave: Apple Mac planned purchases for next 90 days hit new all-time high"
• "Demand for Macs remains high in spite of spending"
• "Report: Mac Spending Up Despite Poor Outlook for Consumer Electronics"

Falcon

Most people run the OS that came with their unit. I'd hardly look at upgrade numbers to gauge much of anything.

Those Dells come with either XP or Vista, and some come with both. I don't look at version number much myself. The last Windows I was enthusiastic about was NT4, which was the only version of Windows I didn't have trouble with. I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro I got about 13 months ago. It came with 10.4, Tiger, and though I got Leopard later I haven't installed it yet. I might but don't know if I will. Leopard doesn't add anything I care about much right now. On the other hand I might order a new one, which will come with Leopard, in the coming months. This one's graphics is 1680 X 1020 and I want to get one with 1920 X 1200 resolution. I want to start a photography business so I want the higher resolution.

I haven't looked to see what OS the laptops I see are running but I've been seeing more and more MacBook/ MacBook Pros (which is growing in market share),

Yes it is growing and that's good for the industry as a whole. But even so Vista is still easily outselling OSX at 5 to 1, and probably more like 8 to 1.

While PC sales are a mixed bag Mac sales are setting new records. According to one poll 34% of respondents plan to buy Mac laptops and 30% desktops. Now I don't know the poll methodology, which probably effects the outcome. However even though consumer spending is down people say they are more likely to buy a Mac.

the glowing apple is easy to spot but I know of no way to tell what version of Windows is running without looking at the OS.

You can't tell what version of OSX they are running either without looking at the OS. You'd be suprised how many are still running 10.4 or earlier.

Perhaps I went about it wrong but one point I wanted to get across is that I've been seeing more people with Mac laptops than I used to see.

As for Vista, its really not -that- hard. A glace at the taskbar will give you a pretty good idea in most cases.

I try not to look at other people's screens, Mac or Windows. Heck for all I know some may be running Linux, whether on a Mac or PC. Actually before I got my Mac I was thinking of installing Ubuntu up it to dual boot. But not seeing a good reason I decided not to.

Falcon

Also interesting is that people at MS apparently nicknamed it 'Porn Mode'.

Those crafty Microsoftians, always innovating! Only 3 years behind this time... I think that's a new record! *rolls eyes*

Apple's applications that come with the iPhone can run in the background and access the contents of the user's iPod

How about we focus more on functional software that helps us do useful things, rather than software that fucks around with our systems for the sake of it? (...) That's the only thing I really care about any platform, what are it's capabilities, what can it do, what DOES it do for me?

But the GP's two restrictions restrict the iPhone's capabilities.

Here's a few things useful the iPhone can't do for you, but could if it allowed background processes and access to the iTunes library:

1. A last.fm client which can scrobble (the official client is actually worse than the jailbroken client, thanks to Apple's restrictions)
2. A chat client which doesn't require you to give your name and password to a third party if you want to remain logged in
3. A LoJack for the iPhone (also useful if you tend to forget stuff at friends' places)
4. A social network-type application which automatically alerts you when you're near a friend
5. A music player which keeps playing your music even when you go use Safari or some other application

And a ton more. These are a few of the things the iPhone doesn't do for you as a result of Apple's restrictions. And none of them are "software that fucks around with our systems for the sake of it."

For the record, I own an iPhone.

The latest update, courtesy of TUAW:

Hi, NetShare is back on the Apple Store, hopefully for good this time! We're not quite sure why Apple took down the NetShare application yet, we've received no communication from Apple thus far. NetShare did not violate any of the Developer or AppStore agreements to our knowledge. It is unknown how mobile phone carriers may react to using the program. Or if they are even in a position to tell. My personal advice is to not go NUTS just yet by downloading tons. Also be aware that contracts/carriers vary in what they offer from country to country, please be careful your service doesn't have a metered limit, that if you go over may incur extra costs for you.

Does this mean Slashdot will be correcting this post, writing a new post to report on the restoration, or do we have to hope that an AC will get modded to +5 to give this a sliver of visibility?

In the short term, it's all academic anyway. So far as I'm aware, there's no Bittorrent client available for either my iPhone or Blackberry anyway.

there already is, in a kinda-sorta manner.

http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/02/iphone-gets-native-p2p-torrent-software/

I can't speak for linux or Windows, but Apple has had these issues covered for quite a while.

Wireless:
Apple updated their signal meter in Mac OS X Tiger (version 10.4 in 2005) to reflect just this - it previously indicated signal strength, but was updated to instead indicate throughput, since that's a "real" measure that user experience will actually match.

Battery:
Battery life (%) is indicative of how many milliamp hours remain as a ratio of current total battery capacity (again, in mAh). There's a cool utility, coconutBattery, that also lets you compare that to your battery's original capacity. Battery life (time) is the computer's best guess, based on current power usage patterns, at how long it can last, considering both the mAh and the burn rate.

TFA reads like the ravings of a conspiracy theorist. In at least some systems, there's hard logic behind these gauges and it really isn't a matter of tricking or marketing.

Stanford has announced that it will be offering an iPhone development course. I would also expect that many books on iPhone development are being edited to be published soon. For these to occur, iPhone development information cannot be under NDA. So it's just a matter of time. Apple is not stupid.

A shiny, new laptop loaded with Vista, of course. He's earned it!

And a couple of accessories to go with it: A dongle that will allow him to install Mac OS X on said laptop, and an Ubuntu CD if he would rather go that route.

Don't think he wouldn't choose one of those options, because even he knows that Windows, in its current state, is unusable.

Bill sure did pick a good time to get out. I imagine when Windows 7 receives its inevitable bashing in the press, he'll be content just giving his money away, saving the world, one gift from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation at a time.

And where's the comment playing down the seriousness of the first proof-of-concept? The one that uses an unpatched ARDAgent vulnerability?

Some Mac users just can't face that they're not as invincible as Apple marketing wants them to think, and reject any evidence to the contrary.

Comix:
Ctrl-Alt-Del http://www.cad-comic.com/
Diesel Sweeties http://dieselsweeties.com/
Questionable Content http://www.questionablecontent.net/
Penny Arcade http://www.penny-arcade.com/
xkcd http://xkcd.com/

Blogs:
Warren Ellis http://www.warrenellis.com/
Thighs Wide Shut http://thighswideshut.org/
Kids with Guns http://patrickben.livejournal.com/

Geeky Blogs/Mags:
Boing Boing http://www.boingboing.net/
Cool Hunting
365 Tomorrows
Grinding.be http://grinding.be/
io9 http://io9.com/
Lifehacker http://lifehacker.com/
Slashdot
Wired http://www.wired.com/rss/index.xml
AppleInsider http://www.appleinsider.com/
Macenstein http://macenstein.com/default
The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com/
Macworld http://www.macworld.com/

Dirty Stuff:
Fleshbot http://fleshbot.com/tag/straight
FlickrBabes http://flickrbabes.com/
UseMyComputer http://usemycomputer.com/
Homocidal Insomniac http://homicidalinsomniac.blogspot.com/

News:
Salon http://www.salon.com/

Posts like this that use underhanded techniques and shoddy math to prove a biased point aren't helping the Mac community. In fact, they're making it look even worse because, once found out, they are (rightfully) transformed into key evidence for clueless Apple fanaticism, which can easily harm the reputation of almost anyone with something genuinely educated and relevant to say about Apple or their products, whether it's a good or *gasp* unpleasant statement.

Hey, if you don't like what is in snow leopard, no one is forcing you to pay for it. Just wait for the next release you do feel is worth the money.

Well when EA announced they were going to have simultaneous releases of pc and mac games they announced they would be using cider for their games. From that point on, all the games EA has released mac versions for have been via cider.

So I'd say it is probably using cider. This backs me up

http://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/15/will-wright-mac-users-will-love-spore/

In the US, it is possible to use the iPhone with an AT&T pre-paid SIM card and plan. I presume you've already performed the cost benefit calculation, as the break even minutes between pre-paid and post-paid plans is pretty low for a business user, especially with the rollover minutes allowance.

I'd like to half-correct myself now that I see that the "In Rainbows" album, which is not part of the EMI-owned back catalogue, is also available for unbundled digital download. Without being able to do more research (lacking iTunes for one thing), it seems that what's happened is that EMI's now doing the same for all of their older albums. Sort of in the same vein as the greatest hits compilation and the $160 flash drive 'deal'.

http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/03/radiohead-on-itunes-yup/ --- This happened for In Rainbows back in January
http://www.ateaseweb.com/2008/06/03/full-radiohead-catalogue-available-on-itunes/ --- for the rest of the albums this June, with accompanying EMI representative commentary

Oh. Nevermind.

Before people claim that they can't run certain games off of OS X, do your research. Just like Rise of Nations, someone thought Team Fortress 2 doesn't run on OS X. It has run on OS X via Crossover Office, for months. http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/17/tuaw-hands-on-with-crossover-games/

Bad argument. Try again, and at least study up before you give false support.

Can't speak for DEO (did you mean DIO?) but Robert Palmer's over here.

When deciding to buy Office in order to get my business critical information I should have considered the optiona: a) Not buy office b) go out of busiess due to not being able to get the information that I need in order to operate.

I use NeoOffice, the native Mac port of OpenOffice.org, which is a couple of versions behind OO.org and I haven't had any trouble opening Office 2007 documents and I've opened up several of them. Now whether it can handle macros I don't know as I don't know if any the docs had scripts. If you're counting on being able to open docs and want to make sure anyone you send docs to can also open them them you all need to use the latest MS Office. And MS Windows version, as there are incompatibilities between Office for OS X and Office for Windows. You also ignore *nix users. It may not concern you if you're a closed shop, but for others can be.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog reports that the new SDK is available, which should rescue any iPhones or iPod Touches from the Pink Screen of Death.

It's surprising to see Apple drop the ball like this. You should probably post a new SDK before the old ones expire and prevent developers from working. This is an amateur mistake.

http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/08/third-iphone-beta-sdk-is-live/

What he said... no details about what has changed.

deploy it on their phone

Even if they have to pay $99, is that so terrible?

Hey, fuckface! Quit spreading FUD!

Or, I guess you didn't hear: 'Jobs' announced an Apple-approved SDK for the iPhone/iPod Touch to be released, um, THIS MONTH about FOUR MONTHS AGO.

Stupid Git.

Um, I believe that MacOS X dropped the use of TPM-chip copy protection soon after it was introduced, and only a few notebook motherboards ever had TPM chips on them. In fact, I'm not sure if any retail versions of OS X nor any publicly-available Apple motherboards actually had TPM support.

I'm not sure how you drastically misunderstood what I said, since you quoted the relevant portion. Let me try to clarify a bit:

"Maybe we'll see another browser? ... I'd be happy with [a browser] that just stripped out all CSS."

Isn't that more or less what you suggested? (Other than that I'm content to wish; I've got more than enough projects to keep me busy already.) Of course such a feature would be optional, and not once did I suggest that Safari should do that by default. SInce I'm not requiring a CSS-less browser should be shoved down anyone's throat, I think the ADA and you would be OK with that. It's all about choice, right?

Besides, it's not CSS that makes pages accessible, it's the application of CSS to a properly-coded page. The whole point of CSS (well, one of the big ones, anyway) is that you can strip the STYLE information completely out of a page and what you're left with is a nice, semantically-marked-up page that can be understood by a human, machine, browser, or any number of accessibility aids. So to say that CSS is a great aid to making pages accessible is not quite correct.

CSS is great. Separating style from content is a Good Thing, and one of the things it does really well is make accessibility easy. (easier) I never, ever said people should stop using CSS. What I did say (more or less) is that I'd like to have a browser that (optionally) ignores it. Rather than looking at a page with text in a needlessly narrow column and having to zoom in and then scroll, I'd rather see text at the full width of the page to begin with. This is for two reasons: 1) zooming in is an extra step 2) once you're zoomed in, when scrolling up and down, it's easy to accidentally scroll side to side a bit, and then it's hard to get the text exactly centered again.

The crappy screen is a good reason not to purchase. Check Apple's support forums, look at all the threads about malfunctioning displays (some even without proper coatings?) and you might think twice. I'd have bought one months ago except for the screen issues.
 
If you don't get the "bad coating" effect then watch out for the halo effect.

All Intel Macs can boot from USB hard drives. That wasn't an option with the PPC stuff, but Apple added it a while back, perhaps preemptively for uses like this. It was always stupid only being able to boot from firewire anyways.

You're quite mistaken about software. There are thousands of quality free software for the Mac. Thousands of quality shareware too. And thousands of commercial apps with high price tags.

Try http://www.macupdate.com/ or http://www.tuaw.com/ or http://www.versiontracker.com/ to start. You can also install thousands of free apps from sourceforge or freshmeat that were originally meant for linux or the command line... you even have access to X11 apps!

I've got one bit of good news for you--ringtones are freely-creatable now. You've got to jump through some hoops to get purchased music on there, but anything you ripped on your own--any audio that you can get into GarageBand at all--will work. And as for third-party apps, Apple said before the launch that they wouldn't be allowed, and now they're going to put out an SDK will be out in a month or two after all. Furthermore, Apple never said it would be anything but an AT&T exclusive, so I really don't know where you got the idea that it was going to free us from telcos, feed the hungry, bring peace to Earth, etc. It is hardly the first piece of hardware--from Apple or any other PC or electronics (*cough*sony*cough*) company--whose capabilities are artificially limited.

Assuming your iPhone is still 1.1.1 and can be jailbroken, your wish has been granted?

http://www.tuaw.com/2007/07/25/tether-your-iphone-to-get-online-with-edge/

-JoeShmoe
.

It has "FREE" anywhere internet access. With a built-in Web browser. (It doesn't understand Flash, but some consider that a bonus.) $400 amortized over the years you'd use the internet from anywhere (not to mention the reading bit), doesn't start to sound so bad.

Though I have to say, if you have $400 burning a hole in your pocket, I highly suggest you upgrade your phone first. That thing has been amazing on many more levels, and it will load up your PDF books just fine (just email it to an account that the phone can check, or go to a URL). And, oh boy, when the SDK gets released, oh, maybe in the next couple of months, it will continue to improve (or you can just hack it now, like I did).

I was going to buy a Kindle for my g/f for Xmas, who loves to read, but she is still using a clunky RAZR, so I think I'm pitching in for the iPhone instead. ;)

"Is it just me, or is there something a bit weird about naming a product for reading books with a word which means "to set on fire"? Now, maybe as a name for an Apple product..."

Fixed that for you.

iKindle. Burn different.

Now, I don't have an iPhone, but even I know that you CAN edit MP3s and use them as ringtones VERY easily just not officially. And there are a LOT of applications that do this now.

And you CAN in fact view the filesystem on an iPhone easily - just have a look here

I have Windows Mobile phones and they are not that good. I'm not in the market for an iPhone either. I love my Symbian phones though. But I will say this for the iPhone, it's not about the hardware - it's how you use it.

Give me a break about how your WM phone already does more than the iPhone. Or how it has a better camera and 3G. Take touchscreens, they are not new, but they work better on the iPhone. And that's because the software is much, much more user friendly than what Microsoft makes. That's why I would consider an iPhone, but never again Windows Mobile.

Why should Apple have allowed free use of MP3-ringtones? They should not. The music is a licensed piece of property that belongs to the artist. If you want to edit and reuse it, make sure it's fair use and in accordance with the terms of use. For Apple it's crucial to stay legal and not mess with the music industry I guess. Don't expect them to forget it.

Now, I don't have an iPhone, but even I know that you CAN edit MP3s and use them as ringtones VERY easily just not officially. And there are a LOT of applications that do this now.

And you CAN in fact view the filesystem on an iPhone easily - just have a look here

I have Windows Mobile phones and they are not that good. I'm not in the market for an iPhone either. I love my Symbian phones though. But I will say this for the iPhone, it's not about the hardware - it's how you use it.

Give me a break about how your WM phone already does more than the iPhone. Or how it has a better camera and 3G. Take touchscreens, they are not new, but they work better on the iPhone. And that's because the software is much, much more user friendly than what Microsoft makes. That's why I would consider an iPhone, but never again Windows Mobile.

Why should Apple have allowed free use of MP3-ringtones? They should not. The music is a licensed piece of property that belongs to the artist. If you want to edit and reuse it, make sure it's fair use and in accordance with the terms of use. For Apple it's crucial to stay legal and not mess with the music industry I guess. Don't expect them to forget it.

beat me to it. he didn't turn in his ipod.

http://www.tuaw.com/2007/05/24/flickr-find-microsoft-amnesty-bin-for-ipods/

Is it funny that I just read an article about revirginizing (locking back) your iPhone before coming to /.?

http://www.tuaw.com/2007/10/23/iphone-elite-team-announces-revirginizer-release/

This may be helpful for those unlockers who want to upgrade the software from 1.0.2 to 1.1.1.

This is what happens when you get into bed with Microsoft.

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that Highfield (Director of Future Media and Tech at the BBC - responsible for the iPlayer plan) is receiving substantial kickbacks from MS. He lies to the public and the government; he has no respect for many of the BBC's primary values, or the BBC Trust, non-Windows users... I could rant on this subject for hours but I get too worked up about it.

See this:

"The only thing that might stifle innovation would be the process of approving new services because that can take a long time. With BBC Trust approval framework for new services, we won't always be able to be number one"

Clearly, to Highfield, BBC Trust is just an irritant; an obstacle to navigate. More choice quotes here

"...[Apple's] proprietary and closed framework for digital rights management gives us headaches [but] it is one of our top priorities to re-engineer our proposed BBC iPlayer service to work on Macs."

Er, it's Microsoft's proprietary and closed framework for DRM (upon which the iPlayer is based) that is giving them headaches. At least the iTunes Store is multi-platform!

By adopting MS DRM, Highfield made the wrong decision from the outset and now he's stuck because he's blown his budget on MS proprietary, single-platform technology and the BBC Trust are wondering where the promised Linux and Mac clients are. When the Christmas deadline comes and goes with no satisfactory solution, we should start a new petition to the BBC Trust to have Highfield removed from his position.

Now why the hell don't reviews ever mention stuff like that? I'd have bought a Mac for that feature alone.

Perhaps because Apple doesn't publicize the feature either. There are many cool things that the Mac OS can do that aren't well publicized. Another example is universal spell checking, which I also never hear mentioned.

When an update is about to be installed on a system with an unknown state - the update process should fail and refuse to continue the installation.

What is now becoming clear is that many unlocked phones come through the upgrade unbricked, albeit re-locked. Considering that recognizing an unlocked phone should be a simple matter of a checksum, it seems clear that Apple was not intentionally "bricking" phones. There are reasons to believe that this is likely an unintended side effect of an update designed primarily to enhance iPhone security. If it was not intentional, Apple is in the clear, as they are under no legal obligation to debug an update to work with phones that have been modified in violation of warranty. And indeed, it seems that while Apple is under no legal obligation to do so, Apple sotres are restoring "bricked" iPhones. Moreover, it is not as if Apple failed to warn owners of unlocked iPhones that applying the update would likely harm their phones.

2) Some owners are reporting on technology blogs and Apple's own forums that the update is deleting contacts information, as well as photos and music, on iPhones that have not been modified in any way.