The Apple 3G iPhone is shown in this publicity photo released to Reuters June 9, 2008. Apple Inc on Monday unveiled a next-generation iPhone with faster Internet access that will run on advanced wireless networks and sell for as low as $199 -- half the current entry-level price.
(Apple/Handout/Reuters)By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Tue Jun 24, 4:15 PM ET
NEW YORK - The cheapest model of Apple Inc.'s new iPhone, which is about to go on sale for $199 in the U.S., costs about $173 to make, according to an estimate by research firm iSuppli Corp.
The phone, which updates last year's model with faster Internet speeds and an improved navigation feature, goes on sale on July 11.
Apple's profit is much more than the $26 difference between the cost and retail price. The retail price is subsidized by the exclusive carrier, AT&T Inc. In effect, the carrier will be buying the phones from Apple at a higher price, then selling them at a loss that it earns back through monthly service fees.
ISuppli estimates that AT&T will subsidize each phone by $300. Other analysts have put it at $350. In either case, the subsidy creates a substantial margin for Apple.
ISuppli said the margin appears to be higher than for other Apple products, which are generally priced 50 percent higher than their cost of materials and manufacturing.
The Portable iPod Video Enlarger and DVD Player is a gadget that can solve all iPod Video watching problems at once. It comes with a big 8 1/2" widescreen LCD that is 2 3/4 times larger than the iPods screen! It uses active matrix technology, which makes screen draw images faster than typical LCD monitors, resulting in a sharper, more detailed resolution. iPod is carefully placed in the plastic case at the right side of video enlarger, it can charge, remains fully functional and is protected from scratches. If you want to watch movie with someone, you will find useful the dual headphone jacks, and if there are more than two viewers then remote control and AV output feature will come in handy. However, big screen means big battery drainage: you will be able to watch one-two movies before the battery will be depleted, it allows three hours of continuous DVD playback on a five-hour charge and four hours of iPod video playback, so do not forget to charge it before a long trip.
This gadget will be very useful for enhancing the video watching experience on iPod. Moreover, the ability to play DVD frees you from that entire DVD-to-iPod conversion problem, which troubles many iPod owners. While selling at almost the same price as usual portable DVD players, its connectivity with iPod makes this gadget a lot more interesting. If you liked it, you can get it for 269.95 dollars.
source
The days of lugging around and pulling out hefty guide books could be nearing an end: The eyePhone, a program currently being developed in Europe, uses a combination of satellite information, object-recognition software and Internet data to provide information on landmarks in a scene captured through a mobile phone's lens.
The user snaps a photo, highlights a building or mountain or some other major site, then waits as the object-recognition program, developed by SuperWise Technologies AG, identifies this image and links it to the relevant facts. Initially, the search draws on pre-processed information, but by clicking on "more," you can gather additional details. The advantage of the Apollo object-recognition system, according to its developers, is that it can work in a variety of weather or lighting conditions, and effectively picks out objects regardless of the person's position. In other words, you don't need to be standing in a certain place for it to recognize a church or mountain peak.
Check out this promo video; but don't get too anxious, since the technology probably won't be available for consumers until 2009 or 2010.
Journalists test an Apple iPhone following its introduction in Berlin September 19, 2007.
(Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)
Attendee Wil Gieseler talks on his Apple iPhone in front of a iPhone poster at the MacWorld Conference in San Francisco, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008.
(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
For a long time, Apple fans have been hoping for a slim and lightweight version of the MacBook to come along. Even the lightest MacBook was over 4.5 pounds (2kg).
And so, after a long wait, it’s finally here. The MacBook Air.
Debut at the MacWorld 2008 yesterday, the MacBook Air is currently the world’s thinnest (and may I add, the coolest) notebook in the market, measuring a mere 0.76-inch (1.94cm) in height and 3lbs (1.36kg) in weight.
The Goodies
It packs a punch as well, sporting a 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of memory, 80GB PATA hard disk drive, 13.3-inch glossy widescreen display, MacBook-style keyboard with backlighting, super-cool iPhone-like multi-touch trackpad, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1+, and an awesome 5-hours battery life on Wi-Fi.
The Baddies
Sounds amazing! But surely it has its cons right?
Sure enough, upon closer inspection you might ask, “Where did the optical drive go?” Apparently, Apple ditched the optical drive to make the thinness possible. Quite a pain if you are a frequent user of optical drives.
But as always, Apple offers alternatives. First is the new Remote Disc feature, which is a software that you install on another Mac or PC on your home network, and it automatically shares that computer’s optical drive with your MacBook Air. The second alternative is to purchase the optional external SuperDrive at US$99.
Good things come in slim packages. And slim packages come with heavy price tags. A MacBook Air with the above mentioned specifications is currently priced at US$1,799.
And there is a higher-end model which has a better 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a 64GB solid-state drive instead of the regular disk drive. We’ll probably see less of this model on the streets, as it has a heavy price tag of US$3,098.
Pre-order
The MacBook Air is perhaps the best Apple notebook by far for the road warriors. Lightweight and long battery life, with decent specifications to boot, what more could you ask for? It is available for pre-order now from the Apple Store.
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and China Mobile (0941.HK) have called off talks to launch the U.S. firm's popular iPhones in China, dashing speculation the device will hit the country's store shelves soon.
Shares in China Mobile, the world's largest cellular operator, sunk to an intraday low minutes after the news, sliding nearly 3 percent to HK$130.00 in late afternoon trade.
The iPhone, a cellphone that accesses the Internet and plays music, sells for about $500 in the United States -- about double the average monthly salary in China. News that the two telecoms giants were in talks over the device's potential launch in the world's largest telecoms arena helped Apple's stock climb more than 10 percent on November 13.
"Our parent has terminated talks with Apple over the iPhone," a spokeswoman for listed China Mobile said, confirming several unsourced Internet reports. She would not elaborate.
Experts said last year that the iPhone would have to navigate a spate of technical, content and fee issues unique to China, including a standard revenue-sharing agreement that China Mobile would be sure to dislike, before any launch could proceed.
The iPhones -- one of the hottest gadgets to hit U.S. and European stores in 2007 -- might also be incompatible with China because of their "locked" SIM cards. That meant the device would not be able to piggyback another operator's network.
It's unclear what Apple, which has declined to comment on the issue, planned now for China.
China Unicom (0762.HK) (CHU.N), the smaller of the country's only two wireless carriers, said in 2007 it had no plans to bring the device into the country but was open to the idea.
(Reporting by Vinicy Chan; writing by Edwin Chan; editing by Anne Marie Roantree)
Be.ez, a leading manufacturer of multimedia accessories in Europe and Asia, is due to launch at Macworld 2008, the LA Volute Thema, a new spin on two of its bestselling Mac sleeves and bags for the winter season.
(Photo: Business Wire)
The original iPod is displayed after its introduction by Apple Computer Inc. chief executive officer Steve Jobs during a news conference in Cupertino, Calif. in this Oct. 23, 2001 file photo. Since the iPod debuted in 2001, more than 119 million have been sold, helping to propel Apple's market capitalization from $6 billion to $155 billion.
(AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, file)
A journalist holds the Apple iPhone in this June 29, 2007 file image. Microsoft will not launch a product that competes directly with Apple Inc's iPhone, Chairman Bill Gates said in an interview with Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
REUTERS/Mike SegaA new version of QuickTime is available from Apple that plugs security holes in the software for both Mac and Windows users.
QuickTime 7.3.1 was published Thursday afternoon in order to plug unspecified "security issues," according to Apple's Web site. But the fixes appear to correct the Real Time Streaming Protocol issue identified in late November that could lead to unwanted visitors if you visited a Web site that contained code taking advantage of the flaw.
Four separate patches are available on Apple's site, three for the Mac OS X big cats Panther, Tiger, and Leopard, and one for Windows. You'll also likely be prompted by Apple's Software Update feature to download the fresh version.
Apple also published release notes about a new implementation of Java Friday morning for software developers running Tiger, Mac OS X 10.4, that fixes multiple vulnerabilities. The problems were corrected with Leopard, according to Apple.
We had a pretty good idea that a new iPhone would be coming in 2008, but what will it look like?
A report from Goldman Sachs Wednesday spotted by AppleInsider doesn't exactly shed much more light on that subject, but says that Apple is gearing up to deliver two new iPhones next year. The first one sounds like it will be just a storage upgrade with more flash memory in the first half of the year, while the second half of the year should bring the long-awaited 3G iPhone, according to the report.
Not one, but two iPhones could be released next year, according to Goldman Sachs.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Both Apple CEO Steve Jobs and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson have indicated that 2008 is the year for the 3G iPhone, so that's not much of a surprise. An iPhone that could connect to 3G (third-generation) data networks would allow for faster download speeds, but Apple has held off on introducing such a model to this point because of concerns over battery life, according to Jobs.
Goldman also thinks that Apple is getting ready to introduce a newer version of Apple TV, which had a disappointing first year. But the report doesn't make much sense; it says Apple is going to attach an LCD screen to Apple TV. Maybe I'm missing something very obvious, and feel free to point it out below, but I just can't fathom why Apple would want to do that. Apple TV's problems have nothing to do with the lack of a display.
Anyway, the report also says that Goldman can't find as much evidence of the long-rumored ultraportable notebook that's supposedly on tap for Macworld, saying that "possible design issues" might have delayed that model. Just another day in the Apple rumor business.
With the scrutiny the iPhone has received since its launch earlier this year over network lock-in, ASERT believes that hackers will be enticed by the possibility of attacking Apple users and the opportunity to ‘be the first’ to hack a new platform.
Geez, what kind of twisted mind would deliberately concoct software that could turn your Precious into a useless lump of semi-toxic whatnot?
Ask.com today announced a new feature called AskEraser that deletes a user's search activity data from the company's servers.
Jaikumar Vijayan, Computerworld
In what's likely to be seen as a privacy-friendly move, IAC Search & Media's Ask.com search engine Tuesday announced a ew feature called AskEraser that deletes a user's search activity data from the company's servers.
When enabled by the user, the feature will completely delete search queries and associated cookie information from Ask.com servers -- including IP addresses, user IDs, session IDs and the text of queries made, according to the company. In most cases, the deletion will take place within a few hours of the time a search is completed, the company said.
The feature is available to users of the company's U.S and U.K. search engines and is designed to give users more control over their search data, the company said in a statement. "AskEraser is simple, straightforward and easy-to-use. It is an idea whose time has come," Ask.com CEO Jim Lanzone said in a statement.
The new feature is a step in the right direction, but it doesn't go far enough in addressing consumer privacy concerns, said Jeff Chester, executive director for the Center for Digital Democracy, a Washington-based nonprofit. Allowing users more control over their search data is likely to give Ask.com -- which lags behind Google and other search engines -- an important PR boost, Chester said. It also strikes all the right notes at a time when there is growing concern around online privacy, he said.
But there are important caveats to keep in mind, Chester said, Ask.com, for instance, will still collect and store user search data by default, unless the user specifically enables AskEraser, Chester said. And enabling AskEraser does nothing to prevent third parties with whom Ask.com has relationships from collecting and storing search data.
With third parties, Ask.com will continue to supply user information such as IP addresses, the last URL visited, browser and platform type, data in undeleted cookies from Ask.com and the search query data itself. A recent Ask.com deal with Google Inc. for search display advertising would also allow the search giant to gain access to some of its smaller rival's search data, Chester said.
Ask.com has also said that it will also retain user search data in cases where it is required by law to do so, according to Chester. Formal legal requests for search data will continue to be honored, even if AskEraser is enabled.
As a result, Chester argued that Ask.com still hasn't fully addressed consumer privacy concerns.
"Some privacy advocates will suggest that this announcement shows the 'market' is working," he said. "No doubt, that's what Google and the other online advertisers opposed to a serious privacy policy will echo, whispering it to regulators, lawmakers and journalists. That's why a national privacy policy is required."
InformationWeek
"People were generally happy with the tools we've offered in [Office] 2007," Reed Shaffner, product manager for Microsoft Office, said in an interview. "You're not going to hear about a ton of new features." Office 2007 has seen strong sales that Microsoft officials have credited with significantly bolstering the company's financial earnings.
SP1 is available today as a free download from OfficeOnline and will be available as an automatic update between three and six months from now. It will also be available for companies through Windows
Microsoft said in November that Office SP1 wouldn't be available until next year, so it might be considered an early release.
Before release, Microsoft limited beta testing to some large enterprises and internal Microsoft users, an indication that the company believes Office 2007 SP1 isn't as significant as some other products that go through a much more intensive testing phase before release. Shaffner said SP1 shouldn't cause any compatibility problems, but added that companies should test it anyway before releasing it across their businesses.
Most of the changes are relatively minor, including specific fixes to increase stability under certain conditions, including the five bugs that most often crashed each Office application. Other improvements include compatibility with Windows Server 2008, improved performance and better protection from security
Apple's iPhone takes another step to becoming a business tool
Astaro Corporation is offering iPhone support to virtual private networks controlled by its Astaro Security Gateway appliance.
This support allows iPhone users to connect to such networks using their home and business networks. It means iPhone users can access email and internal sites protected by Astaro's security solution.
The company claims setting the system up requires just a few clicks to create VPN access on the Astaro appliance side.
Astaro's product offering is available commercially for business, the company also offers a free home user license which offers protection to ten IP addresses.
"As an Apple iPhone user myself, we have made it extremely easy to access networks protected by Astaro Security Gateway" said Gert Hansen, chief security architect and co-founder of Astaro. "It's a great feeling to
provide everyone with an iPhone the ability to connect to their networks for free. It turns the iPhone into a real business tool, albeit a very stylish one."
Astaro has created a configuration guide providing step-by-step instructions on how to configure Apple's iPhone and Astaro Security Gateway VPN settings.
This document as well as Astaro's free home user license download is available from the company's website.
