Leander Kahney's Blog, page 1510

November 1, 2011

This Cute Little PlugBug Will Charge Your MacBook And iPad At The Same Time

Oh, this is slick. The PlugBug by TwelveSouth is an accessory for your MacBook that solves the problem of how to charge an iPad 2 and your laptop at the same time from a single outlet, and it does so pretty damn ingeniously if you ask me.

So here's the deal. Apple's got their MagSafe power bricks so protected by patents that it's impossible to sell, say, an aftermarket MagSafe brick that charges a MacBook and iPad from the same bifurcating cable.

TwelveSouth got around this restriction in a pretty clever way. At the top of every MacBook power brick is a removable wall socket adapter, which you can even plug standard laptop power cables into. The PlugBug just snaps into the power brick adapter slot and offers a 10W USB port to simultaneously charge your iPad and MacBook at the same time.

I love it. Heck, I'm putting in my order now. If you want to do the same, it'll cost you just $34.99 with free shipping in the US.

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Published on November 01, 2011 09:25

Samsung Demands iPhone 4S Source Code And Details Of Carrier Subsidy Agreements

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Samsung is currently drafting up a crafty plan to get Apple's new iPhone 4S banned from Australia, and to help its case it is requesting "the source code for the iPhone 4S firmware" and details of the company's subsidy agreements with carriers Down Under.

According to a report from SmartOffice, Samsung counsel Cynthia Cochrane told the court that the Korean company not only wants the source code for the fifth-generation iPhone's firmware, but also the details of agreements Apple holds with Optus, Telstra, and Vodafone in Australia, specifically the subsidies these carriers pay for the device:

It goes to show that since the iPhone 3G was made available in Australia in July 2008, the impact on the market for every iPhone product has been significant, and has lead to a substantial increase … in market share by revenue. If subsidies are given for the iPhone 4S, there are less to go around for my client's products.

Samsung believes Apple's iPhone source code will reveal whether or not the Cupertino company has infringed three of the its wireless 3G patents. However, in typical fashion, Apple won't back down easily. Apple claims it has licensed the wireless patents from Samsung under the FRAND standard, which requires the patents to be offered at a fair and reasonable price because they are necessary for many companies to provide wireless products.

Apple also claims a third-party license owned by Qualcomm, which develops the chip found in the iPhone 4S, automatically covers the company, and that it will "have to wait for advice" before handing over the information that Samsung is requesting.

However, Samsung claims the agreement doesn't cover Apple Down Under, and that Apple has denied previous attempts to extend the license internationally.

The legal battles between Apple and Samsung show no signs of settling any time soon. The latest case is scheduled to continue on November 4.

[via 9to5Mac]

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Published on November 01, 2011 08:31

iPhone 4S Sales Boost iOS's Web Lead Over Android

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Credit: Net Applications

Although the gap between Apple and Android appears to be shrinking in terms of overall market share, it's bigger than ever when it comes to the share of the web. In October, web-connected iOS devices rose to 61.6 percent. By comparison, online Android devices comprise 18.9 percent, a paltry sliver of Google's overall mobile market share.

According to Net Applications, which measures the share of web usage by mobile devices, connected iOS devices in October rose 7 percent to 61.64 percent, while Android's share increased by 2 percent to 18.9 percent from 16.9 percent. Highlights of the report include Apple's strong iPhone 4S mid-October launch and the fact that October was the first time Internet-connect Android devices overtook Java ME units, with mobile devices running Java ME falling to just 12.84 percent from 18.52 percent.

As for which mobile OS holds the lead in browsers, StatCounter reported for October Safari (when combining its iPhone and iPod touch numbers) held a 23.36 percent share of the market. By contrast, Android claimed 20.88 percent, enough to just beat out Opera.

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Published on November 01, 2011 08:24

Latest Mac Trojan Attacks Your GPU To Generate Bitcoins

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Despite reports that Bitcoins are near enough dead, hackers have created another Mac Trojan that attacks your computer's GPU in a bid to generate the digital dollars, as well as your precious personal information.

The hack has been named by anti-virus organizations as 'DevilRobber', and it's currently being distributed by torrent websites. It installs a Java-based application onto your Mac called 'DiabloMiner', a combination of a Trojan horse, a backdoor, and a "stealer" that thieves your personal data and any Bitcoins that may be on your computer, according to security vendor Intego.

If you're unfamiliar with Bitcoin, it's the first decentralized digital currency that you can send over the internet. There's no middleman, which means the fees to send and receive Bitcoins are much lower than similar services, and you can use them worldwide. Bitcoins are generated by 'miners' that donate their computer's CPU to solving certain mathematical problems, which are difficult to perform.

The first sign of an infected system is unusually slow performance, Graham Cluley of Sophos wrote in a blog post, adding:

It's becoming clearer every week that Mac users need to take malware protection more seriously by running anti-virus software.

Now that security experts are aware of the issue, however, an upcoming patch or update to your virus definition list is expected imminently.

Have you been affected by the latest Mac malware?

[via Gizmodo]

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Published on November 01, 2011 07:57

Here's The Reason We Could All Be Waiting A Long Time To Install Siri On Our Older iOS Devices

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Over the weekend, we showed off Siri running on a jailbroken iPhone 4 and iPod Touch 4G thanks to the tireless efforts of iPhone hackers chpwn and Steve Troughton.

Clearly, Siri works just fine on lesser devices like the iPhone 4 and iPod touch, but despite this, chpwn and Troughton warned that we wouldn't see an authorized release anytime soon. Now chpwn is clarifying why, and it's just as the Dev Team warned us: Siri on non-iPhone 4S devices require piracy.

Here's the problem in a nutshell. Even though Apple's iPhone 4S firmware is on the internet for all to download, the only people who are legally authorized to run any files in that firmware are people who own an iPhone 4S.

So just to copy Siri's files off an iPhone 4S firmware file, you're committing piracy unless you own a 4S. Okay, that's a bummer, but what if you want to copy your Siri files from your iPhone 4S to your iPad 2? That's legal, right?

Yup, totally legal. But here's the rub: Siri's baked so deeply into the iPhone 4S that it takes a jailbreak to suck all of its digital marrow out. And since there's no iPhone 4S jailbreak yet, that's not so easy to do.

You'd think if history was any guidance, we'll see an iPhone 4S jailbreak soon… but it's worth noting that Apple's A5 processor makes jailbreaks a lot harder, as best evidenced by the fact that the iPad 2 still isn't jailbroken outside of userland exploits like JailbreakMe, and even then only under iOS 4.3.3. So we could be waiting to get Siri on our older devices for quite a while yet.

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Published on November 01, 2011 07:48

App Store Yanks Amazon Cloud Music Player, Google Music Could Be Axed Next

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Image: Jessica Finson

A third-party app allowing iOS devices to stream music via Amazon's Cloud Drive has been yanked from the App Store amid reported legal concerns, and that's not all: the developer says Apple is delaying approving an update for another music app that streams music from Google's similar cloud music service.

aMusic is an app by Innovative Solutions, which streams music stored in Amazon's Cloud Music Locker to any iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. According to Apple, though, "legal issues" prevent it from being approved. Those murky legal issues have all the hallmarks of music industry interference.

Innovative Solutions' developer James Clancey told the website Evolver.fm that his aMusic app's App Store absence "is temporary" but didn't have a date when it would reappear.

Innovative has also developed gMusic, a streaming music app using the Google Music service. Although originally approved by the App Store, an update has been held up for two weeks for unknown reasons.

What makes the so-called "legal issues" so strange is that both the Amazon and Google streaming music apps supposedly avoid thorny licensing issues by requiring users to either upload their music collection to the cloud manually.

Unlike its cloud competitors, Apple has teamed up with the music industry for its upcoming iTunes Match service. Not only does iTunes Match allow users to instantly mirror their iTunes libraries in the cloud without manually uploading their tracks first, users can also re-download higher bitrate, CD quality versions of those songs on any Apple device. However, iTunes Match differs from Google and Amazon's cloud music services in that users can only download tracks, not stream them.

Amazon and Google's position has been that they don't need any additional licenses to allow users to host their tunes online, but the music industry has hinted that they don't agree. Innovative Solutions may have been caught in the first crossfire between Amazon/Google on one side and the music labels on the other. As usual, though, Apple's played it smart and safe and gotten all their deals in order before going live, guaranteeing that while the competition trades blows and wastes resources, they're out of the fray entirely making money.

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Published on November 01, 2011 07:32

iTunes Is A "Digital Vampire" Killing Artists Says The Who's Pete Townshend

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With a cough of dust and a slithering of centipedes, The Who's Peter Townshend has once more fallen out of his coffin to roam the world. This time, rock and roll's elder statesmummy has emerged from his tomb with a purpose: to call Apple and iTunes a "digital vampire" that "bleeds artists."

Townshend's argument is this. Because Apple makes 30% of every iTunes track sold, it's sucking artists dry. Unlike the music publishers, though, iTunes doesn't give anything back, such as "editorial guidance and creative nurtur[ing]."

"Is there really any good reason why, just because iTunes exists in the wild west internet land of Facebook and Twitter, it can't provide some aspect of these services to the artists whose work it bleeds like a digital vampire, like a digital Northern Rock, for its enormous commission?" Townshend asked.

Well, okay, let's do the math here. In 2010, Apple earned thirty cents for every ninety nine cent track. The labels, on the other hand, earned 53 cents per ninety nine cent track. The average artist? Makes just nine cents per track.

Look, Townshend. First of all, "creative nurturing" isn't a distributor's business, it's a label's. Saying otherwise is absurd. It's like saying Barnes & Noble should be held responsible for setting up writer's colonies. A distributor's job is to sell; a publisher's job, on the other hand, is to make sure they secure the best talent by investing in up-and-coming artists and helping them generate the best content available.

Second, the music industry is making almost twice what Apple is making on every iTunes track. Apple's existing agreement with the music industry recognizes that labels put a lot of work into nurturing and growing talent.

You want to complain about something? How about complaining about the fact that less than ten percent of the proceeds of each track sold on iTunes go to the artist who actually wrote the damn thing? But like most popular rock artists, Townshend has crawled into bed with the labels. He's one of them now, and so for all his talk about artists being sucked dry by the iTunes nosferatu, his real problem is that he thinks the music labels should be getting a bigger bellyfull of blood.

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Published on November 01, 2011 06:58

October 31, 2011

Hulu Plus Apple TV App is Ready for Prime Time, But Apple Won't Pull the Trigger [Rumor]

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It appears that Apple has had a Hulu Plus app for the Apple TV cooking in Cupertino for over a month, and the app is running on prototype Apple TV units inside Apple's headquarters.

According to 9to5Mac's sources, a Hulu Plus app is "ready to roll out" to current Apple TV users right now. Apple hasn't pulled the trigger yet due to "political" reasons, like the fact that Hulu Plus directly competes with the TV section of iTunes.

"While there are no technical issues standing in the way of the Hulu Plus release on Apple TV, there appear to be some political ones. At some level at Apple, there appears to be some consideration that the Hulu Plus app could eat into iTunes TV sales on the Apple TV. Where Netflix tends to run older programming, iTunes is the Apple TV's only outlet for current TV programming."

So, there's a Hulu Plus app in the works for the Apple TV, yet Apple obviously considers the service as a threat to iTunes. While it's true that both iTunes and Hulu Plus offer current TV episodes, the $7.99/month Hulu Plus service is based on a subscription streaming model and iTunes is downloads only. Netflix doesn't really play into the equation, as it mainly focuses on movie titles and cataloging older TV seasons to watch in bulk.

Whenever you get involved with Hollywood, there's always a lot of red tape. That rule is no exception with Hulu. Currently, the Hulu iOS app can't stream content to the Apple TV via AirPlay. The Hulu Plus iPad app can play video via HDMI on a HDTV, but only in standard definition.

There were rumors months ago that Apple was actually considering buying Hulu, but the deal reportedly never even got past initial talk between the two companies. Google was allegedly also interested in Hulu at one point.

Hulu Plus is available on select set-top boxes, like the Roku. Apple implementing the service into the Apple TV would be a huge win for customers.

There's also the chance that Apple will introduce a video streaming subscription service in iTunes, or even an iOS app to compete with cable providers. There are many factors at play, but hopefully Hulu will make its way to the Apple TV sooner rather than later.

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Published on October 31, 2011 21:02

Government iPad Stolen Before Testing Even Starts

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There are a few red faces over at the Veteran's Affairs Department headquarters in Washington. The day after they unboxed iPads for a pilot program, one of the tablet computers was already missing.

The iPad had not been issued to an employee and did not have any apps or information loaded on it, according to VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker.

It sounds as if they thief seized an opportunity: Baker said that if the iPad had been formatted, the $50 million department-developed cyber security app would've been able to find it. The data service plan was cancelled as soon as it was discovered missing. Security footage hasn't yielded any info about the theft that included another 21 computers.

Blog Next Gov reported that the iPads will be loaded with an app of patient records as well as other apps. Those records will be downloaded only by doctors in encrypted form.

The hiccup is a small one in an 1,000 iPad-deployment. Baker said that while there are currently only 500 Apple devices (iPads and iPhones) in use at the VA, he expects the number of iPads to mushroom a thousand and eventually tens of thousands. The VA has plans to roll out 100,000 tablet computers (Android and Apple) and in line with the U.S. CIO's recently unveiled "Future First" plan to move to cloud computing.

Via Next Gov

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Published on October 31, 2011 18:05

Check Out This Completely Unrealistic, Yet Still Awesome, iTV Concept [Gallery]

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Spotted by 9to5Mac, artist Guilherme M. Schasiepen has posted a gallery of concept iTV images. The images depict a multi-touch TV set with 3D that doesn't require glasses.

Color us skeptical, but the idea of a touch-screen television seems absolutely unrealistic. This concept is still pretty gorgeous, however.

While the TV itself looks great (check out this awesome 360 degree pan), no one is going to want to walk up to their TV set and touch the screen to control it. Besides that aspect and the ambitious no-glasses 3D technology, we think this concept has some worth.

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Here's what Steve Jobs told Walter Isaacson about the future Apple TV:

"'I'd like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use,' he told me. 'It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud.' No longer would users have to fiddle with complex remotes for DVD players and cable channels. 'It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.'"