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iCell in the Works?
SirWraith writes "Ars Technica is running a story speculating on the possibility of an Apple cellphone." From the article: "At last week's CES, Motorola officially dumped Apple with its new ROKR E2 phone and its new iRadio digital music service. ... After the ROKR's lackluster launch, speculation abounded that Apple was saving the 'good' iTunes phone for itself, and the new 'Mobile Me' trademark lends credence to that line of thinking. At this stage of the game, it looks like Apple is moving in the direction of launching its own cellular service complete with its own lineup of phones (or phone, as the case may be)."
Remember that trademark language is designed to avoid the possibility of other companies piggybacking on the term. "Mobile Me" could just be a suite of portable products that Apple is considering, but the company wants to avoid some cell phone-maker coining the term and creating brand confusion; thus it includes the language about telecommunication services.
Here is the actual excerpt from the trademark office about what Apple's filing covers. Notice how buried "cellular" is:
Computer services; computer data recovery; data analysis being computer services; computer programming; updating of computer software; maintenance of computer software, computer and communications networks, and computer systems; research and development of computer hardware and software; website design, creation, hosting services; customized imprinting and design of messages, correspondence and other written communication which are delivered by electronic transmission; computer on-line services for the search, retrieval, indexing and organization of data on computer and communication networks; providing use of on-line, non-downloadable software; providing use of on-line, non-downloadable software for communications via local or global communications networks, including the Internet, Intranets, Extranets, television, mobile communication, cellular, and satellite networks; analyzing data to detect, eradicate and prevent the occurrence of computer viruses; computer services relating to the protection of computer hardware, computer software, computer networks and computer systems against computer viruses, attacks, or failures; computer services for enhancing the performance, security and functionality of computer and communications networks; computer help-line services; technical support services relating to computers, computer software, telecommunications, and the Internet; consultancy and provision of information and advice relating to the aforesaid; all provided on-line from a computer database or provided from facilities on local or global communications networks, including the Internet, Intranets, Extranets, television, mobile communication, cellular, and satellite networks
Actually, the 1 GB iPod shuffle is available to order again.
Because Bluetooth is painfully slow. The spec says 1Mbit, but in reality it's probably an order of magnitude slower that.
The hidden option was removed from the System Preferences in 10.4.2 or thereabouts. I can confirm that it worked, though. I rotated the display on my iBook and had a hard time resetting it. Try moving the mouse pointer with a mouse pad that's rotated by 90 degrees ...
This is doable in the Monitor System Preference. Also, I know of several 3rd party monitors that rotate. Rotation was supported for OS9 by a 3rd party Control Panel, but no one supported it in OS X until Tiger.
I don't necessarily see it as a sign of things to come, just a requirement that should have been it OS X 10.0, or at least 10.2.
The article states this - 'Mobile Me relates to a number of goods and services, including "telecommunication services for the dissemination of information by mobile telephone'. The worst thing about the Motorola phone (which is also an Mp3 player) was the lack of access to iTunes while mobile. The only people that can provide this are Apple. So Apple is trademarking some marketing terms related to the ability to access iTunes across mobile networks. This would enable future mobile phones (e.g. Motorola) to access/buy tunes via the handheld while mobile. Theres nothing to really say that Apple is playing on making mobile phones.