Leander Kahney's Blog, page 2270

iPhone App Unlocks Secrets of the Uffizi Gallery

The Uffizi Gallery in Florence is one of the largest treasure troves of Renaissance art in the world, but getting around the meandering rooms searching for sparse or missing signage can be a challenge.
Getting good information about the paintings usually means bringing a guide book and often overlooking anything but the A-list paintings.
Enter the official [...:]

Apple: U.S. Wi-Fi and 3G iPad to Ship April 30

After much speculation about whether 3G iPads pre-ordered in the U.S. might be delayed until early May, Apple cleared up the questions, announcing customers who ordered the devices early will receive them on April 30.
"The Wi-Fi + 3G models of its magical iPad will be delivered to US customers who've pre-ordered on Friday, [...:]

100 Tips #10: How To Quickly Switch Between Apps

Some of our previous tips have guided you around the Dock, but you might not always want to use that.
Sometimes, you just want to quickly flit between applications, and constantly taking your hands off the keyboard to use the mouse or trackpad can be annoying.
This tip shows you a quick way to switch [...:]

Analyst: Mac Sales Up 25 Percent in March

Ahead of today's earnings report by Apple, analysts are weighing-in on what we could expect to hear from the Cupertino, Calif. electronics powerhouse. Mac sales were up 25 percent in the March quarter, according to one analyst.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimated Apple sold between 2.8 and 2.9 million Macs during the second quarter, based [...:]

How To Remove 3G Limits for Applications – 3G Unrestrictor

Even with a little boost to 20MB over a 3g connection, and VoIP recently being allowed thanks to an SDK update, the iPhone's potential continues to be impaired by data restrictions set by AT&T. If you've taken the plunge and jailbreaked your device, there's a $2 app that will let you stick it to the man [...:]

My Close Encounters With Steve Jobs: Meeting Steve

This is the first installment of "My Close Encounters with Steve Jobs," a fantastic series of stories about the early days of the Mac written by the founder of Macworld magazine, David Bunnell.
Bunnell meets Jobs for the first time. He's nervous because Jobs is in "an extremely foul mood" says the receptionist, maybe because he [...:]

Bing Sets Music Free on iPhone App

Microsoft and its upstart search engine Bing have partnered with mobile music system developer Melodeo to bring iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users 100 great songs from every year between 1947 – 2009 – for free. Since coming out earlier in April at $1.99, the app Top 100s by Year has taken on sponsorship by [...:]

Cool LEGO Robot Skeleton Arm Keeps Your iPhone Steady

Assuming that the price of Tiffen's soon-to-be-released Smoothee iPhone Steadicam would be beyond his budget, Babyology writer Ben Gurnsberg built this amazing iPhone steadicam robotic arm out of spare LEGO Technic pieces.
It looks cool, but how'd it work? Not well, says Gurnsberg.

Unfortunately, this story has a sad ending.  I forgot to take one small thing [...:]

Apple's Latest iPhone Ad: Backpacker

Apple has just unveiled a new iPhone app that, as usual, focuses on taking existing iPhone apps and functionality and applying them to a relatable real-world experience, as conveyed by a pleasant and unassuming narrator.
The "Backpacker" ad follows a young traveler in Barcelona as he uses his iPhone 3GS to find hostels with the free [...:]

Californian Woman Sues Apple Over Faulty iPhone Moisture Sensors

Inside every iPhone is a moisture sensor: a small dot of liquid-sensitive material that turns bright pink if the iPhone's insides have been exposed to being submerged. It's the method Apple uses to protect itself from having to replace iPhones that clumsy customers have dropped in a puddle, their beer or a toilet.
Now [...:]