Apple maxes out during CES
Apple marketers have been playing a curious game this week, with a string of announcements coinciding with the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. They have unveiled a new 1U rackserver, the Xserve, using two 3GHz quad-core Xeon processors, which they boast is "up to twice as fast" as its predecssor. Also a "fastest yet" Mac Pro using two 3.23GHz quad-core Xeon processors. And today it is announced that iTunes pricing will be standardised across Europe, promising to end within six months the much resented mark-up for the UK.
An Apple statement implied that this mark-up is the fault of record labels, which it says charge more for this country than elsewhere in Europe. The statement said: "Apple will reconsider its continuing relationship in the UK with any record label that does not lower its wholesale prices in the UK to the pan-European level."
The turnaround will of course have nothing to do with placating Europe, which has a more questioning attitude towards Apple product lock-ins than the company's US fan base.
The announcements may have been timed to keep Apple in the news during CES. But they will also raise speculation about what there is left for Steve Jobs to announce in his keynote at next week's Apple love-in, Mac World 2008. Let's hope it's that much-rumoured Mac ultra-portable.
Posted by Clive Akass on January 9, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
iPhone could increase Apple viruses
The iPhone might be a catalyst for new Mac viruses and malware admitted anti-virus experts at F-Secure.
The iPhone runs a basic version of OS X, so any malware written for it might attack Mac desktop and laptops too. Although there are a lot of unknowns, there's no doubt that the more devices Apple sells, the bigger a target it becomes. Apple's financial statements suggest its on track to sell 6.5-7 million desktops and laptops in 2007. This makes the 10 million iPhones Jobs wants to sell in 2008 a much bigger target.
A proof of concept trojan horse, where a Safari browser vulnerability meant hyperlinks got the phone to call premium rate numbers, was demonstrated last month.
All research suggests hackers and malware writers are focussing on making money through their work, which hasn't been a major issue up until recently and the well structured and easy to access billing system inherent to mobile phones makes them an attractive target for criminals. In fact, the Russians saw their phone bills go sky high in one such attack last year.
Of course, it's not just the iPhone that is becoming vulnerable to such attacks and a far more pressing concern are insecure spying tools that have serious consequences for our privacy. Iain from Vnunet has more on that though.
F-Secure specialises in mobile anti-malware products and Kimmo Alkio, CEO of the company, said mobile phone attacks aren't a big problem, but are growing, especially since smart phones are set to outsell PCs by 40million units in 2009.
For now, Alkio let the facts speak for themselves: “There are approximately 350 known malware on the mobile phones compared to over 400,000 malewares on the PC.”
Posted by Emil Larsen on September 27, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack
PCW goes on Safari
Our story today about all the vulnerabilities that have been found in Apple's new Safari browser may seem a little unfair, considering that this is beta code in which one would expect to find bugs. In fact the whole point of beta testing is to find them. But if you shoot your mouth off as much as Apple chief Steve Jobs does, you must expect to get some flak back - and he did say the browser would be secure from Day One.
I've been using Safari intermittently for a day and quite like it. It has a clean design and crisp response and seems to run some of our company's web-based apps rather better than Explorer. Cliff Joseph will be posting a full review soon. But it has to be said the Apple, for all its self-proclaimed user friendliness, is not above giving its users cryptic messages. The one above left appears occasionally when you click the Back button. Its reference to a "form" may mean something to Apple's coders, but in the context of what I was doing it means nothing to me.
Posted by Clive Akass on June 13, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
The evolution of Apple: Steve Wozniak interview (audio)
We interviewed Steve Wozniak a while ago, who talked about his early days with Apple, designing the first computers and how the company has since evolved.
Our news editor Clive Akass recorded it for his notes, but we thought Apple fans might like to hear what Steve had to say. So the sound quality is not great, as we never intended it to be broadcast.
I've left much of it in, just chopping out rambling questions/answers that went off on a tangent and the waitress asking what they wanted to drink! The ending, by the way, is genuine - after that Steve and Clive started talking about digital voice recorders.
To give you an outline of the flow, here's what Steve talked about:
- Making the Apple 1
- The Apple 2
- Bill Gates in the 70s
- His plane crash/the Macintosh project
- Leaving Apple
- Going into teaching
- His view of Apple now
- The iPod
- Shafted by Jobs
- The Mac architecture
Posted by Rob Jones on February 9, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Apple gets more out of Vista
Apple is telling Windows users to put off upgrading to Vista until it has a compatible version of its iTunes software ready, according to the BBC.
Apparently music and video purchased from the online store can fail to play. Other problems supposedly include poor animation and other media, contact and calendar synchronisation problems.
The announcement comes as Bill Gates added fuel to the fire by slating Apple's amusing 'get a Mac' ads. No news is bad news and, like every other Vista story, Gates has given Apple credence by commenting on OS X.
On a side note, type in Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs into Google and you get a fascinating array of articles criticising Jobs for doing so little for charity, despite having a $4bn fortune. As a show-man I'm sure he could stir up hysteria about a charity in the same way he made Apple fan boys go crazy for iPhones... think iCharity.
Posted by Emil Larsen on February 5, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
'iPhone can't make calls' - shock report on the best phone ever
For those of us who have yet to get near an iPhone, there was some clarification in The Sunday Times yesterday of what the fuss is all about. Tom Dunmore, billed as the first UK journalist to get his paws on the machine, says that it is indeed "darn sexy".
The interface, which fronts a version of the MacOS, has context sensitive controls and features like the ability to pick out voicemails from pictures of the caller. Nothing new there, then.
A proximity sensor deactivates the screen when you put the device to your ear, and a tilt sensor reorientates the screen according to whether you are holding it in landscape or portrait mode.
Dunmore also reports that the screen is hard to type on, and describes the devices's 4-8GB of memory and 2megapixel camera as "unexceptional".
And then he tried and failed to make a phone call on it. "The software isn't quite completed yet," an Apple man told him.
Hmm...
Dunmore also pointed out (as has PCW) that the lack of 3G will entail slow web browsing. This point was echoed in The Observer by John Naughton, who wondered how well the screen would stand up to scratching - and also whether the device would prove "as unreliable as the iPod range appears to be."
He also questioned the iPhone's use of a built-in battery, rather than the swappable ones usual in mobile phones. He asked: "Will users have to send their phones back to Apple when the batteries give up the ghost?"
This issue caused huge embarrassment for Apple after an iPod user was told it would be cheaper to buy a new player than replace his batteries. The company later introduced a refitting service - at a price.
None of this is to say the iPhone is a duff product. It will probably be a success even if, like just about every Mac product of the past few years, it is only half as good as the company's chief executive Steve Jobs says it is.
Posted by Clive Akass on January 15, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Apple's homepage fuels Macworld rumours
With Macworld fast approaching, various rumours are flying around as to what Jobs & co will be presenting to the world.
In a typically immodest fashion, Apple's website (albeit the US version) is fuelling the hype by proudly stating "The first 30 years were just the beginning. Welcome to 2007".
So what exactly will Apple be launching this year? A new range of iPods seems inevitable, as does an upgrade to its MacBook - possibly an ultra-thin model. We'll also get to delve deeper in to the features of the forthcoming OS X 10.5 (aka Leopard) and its joint movie download service with iTV.
But we get the feeling there might be something slightly more significant. An iPod mobile phone has often been talked could well be on the cards for 2007, but the decreased battery life might be something Apple won't be willing to accept.
Macworld starts on January 8th and we'll be bringing you the latest news as it happens.
What do you want Apple to release in 2007? Post your suggestions below...
Posted by Will Stapley on January 2, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Virtual reality collides with the iPod
You can now watch the videos on your iPod through virtual reality glasses.
Called the Mikimoto Beans i-Theater, the unit claims to offer the wearer the experience of a 50" plasma screen.
The glasses weigh 78g, have dual qVGA (320x240) TFT screens, integrated stereo headphones and will run for six hours.
Since 5G iPods only offer up to 640x480 pixel playback and a qVGA screen has 1/27th the resolution of a standard 50 inch plasma screen, the size/quality claims are a little dubious.
The goggles appear to have a lower resolution than similarly priced alternatives that don't have any iPod branding. RCA plugs (phono connectors) mean you can connect other devices like portable DVD players.
I will personally laugh my chops off the day I see someone wearing these glasses on the tube. The neon blue lights flashing out the front of the unit will be great for Xmen/Geordie wannabes.
They cost $329.00 (around £199 inc. VAT) and are available now.
Posted by Emil Larsen on November 28, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Toxic and organic apples don't mix
Yours truly was the PCW reporter in the field when Greenpeace got chucked out of Mac Expo today.
I was having a friendly chat with Greenpeace when a man in a black suit, who identified himself only as the events manager for Mac Expo, turned up and claimed there had been complaints of 'intimidation and antagonism' towards other stalls and visitors.
Up until then I had been chatting with Greenpeace about the research they had done. They offered me a free organic English apple and a leaflet about brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and other toxins used in PCs. Greenpeace told me how they'd pressured HP and Dell into setting up recycling campaigns and banning BFRs and other toxins from their products. HP and Dell account for 40 per cent of the PC market and are now considered amongst the most environmentally friendly in the industry. As we mentioned in our news story, Apple is the next target because it is one of the worst offenders.
When I asked the Mac Expo events manager for an explaination (and told him that I was a member of the press) he got red-faced and cited complaints from the visiting public for Greenpeace's eviction. When I later returned to the stall, Greenpeace had been replaced with two giggling girls pointing me in the direction of the Konica Minolta stand.
I did manage to have a quick chat with Paul Earnshaw, logistics coordinator at Greenpeace, who said: “it baffles me”. He paid £2000 to have a stall at Mac Expo and now feels a little cheated by Apple.
Posted by Emil Larsen on October 26, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Apple lock-ins could burst the Ipod bubble
Figures from Jupiter Research indicating that iPod owners buy only five percent of their tracks from Apple's ITunes online store seem on the face of it to provide the company with a good defence against accusations that it is abusing its market position by locking its users into its products.
It is not clear from reports of the research whether the 5 percent figure merely reflects the proportion of new downloads to the average size of users' existing record collections, ripped for use on the Ipod. The Ipod will import unprotected tracks, in formats like MP3 or Wav, but not tracks using rival digital-rights-management systems such as that used by Microsoft Windows Media Audio.
Neither will the iPod work with any online music store other than Itunes, which is rather like a CD player being restricted to playing disks only from the device's manufacturer.
Apple does similar tricks with the impressive iLife package of 'digital lifestyle' applications it gives away with Macs, which can lock users into the company's online services to a degree Microsoft could never get away with. Apple could argue that it does not dominate the market to the extent that Microsoft does, but neither is it a minnow in the fishpond.
There have been moves in Europe, particularly France, to try to force Apple to open the iPod to rival services. But the Jupiter figures could be interpreted as a sign that competition could do this without legislation and that users are getting wiser about the technology.
The iPod bonanza, which has seen Apple sell 1.5 billion tracks online, is not going to last forever. There are countless rival players that do not carry the same restrictions, and Apple has been slow to bring a portable video player or musical phone to market. The company could come badly unstuck if it tries to lock people into its video downloads when there are plenty of other sources available.
Perhaps even more dangerous for Apple is the risk of tarnishing its image as a somehow more virtuous alternative to the Great Satan Microsoft. Defects in iPods, and Apple's unsatisfactory response to them, have already dented its reputation for reliability. If it starts to be perceived generally as being guilty of anti-competitive practices, it could lose some of the momentum it has gained over the past five years.
Apple's biggest, perfectly legitimate, restrictive practice is to prevent other manufacturers from making and selling Mac compatibles. The bean counters might argue about whether the company would benefit from allowing its hardware to go the way of the PC, with Apple making money purely from the software. But the move would cause some fun and games in the PC world, and it would certainly have Microsoft watching its back.
Posted by Clive Akass on September 18, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (19) | TrackBack
Zune steals iPod's thunder
No sooner had the dust settled on Steve Jobs' announcement of improvements to the iPod range than Microsoft replied with details of its Zune portable media player.
The Zune has been subject to much rumour and speculation over the last few months when news of its development leaked in July.
Microsoft has told us that the Zune will be a 30GB player with a 3in screen. The main attraction of Zune is its wireless capability enabling two players to interact with each other.
Carefully laid plans for digital rights management are in place. You can share songs between Zunes but will only be able to listen to a protected track you've received three times over three days. After that you can highlight the song to purchase at the Zune Marketplace online music store.
Surely Apple has something like this in the works themselves but even if not it'll take an awful lot of effort to dislodge the iPod from the top.
Posted by Marc Delehanty on September 15, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Smallest mp3 player in the world
Apple has unveiled what's now the smallest mp3 player in the world: the second generation iPod shuffle. Details were announced yesterday along with other changes to the iPod range.
This thing really is tiny, measuring a mere 4.1cm high, 2.7cm wide and 1cm thick. It makes the iPod Nano look positively huge. It's thinner than, but not quite as compact as, the Q-Be. To prevent it getting lost among the chewing gum, keys and tissues in your pocket it has a clip on the back. This is part of the emphasis on "wearability" for this ultraportable iPod.
The battery life is 12 hours, there's 1GB of storage and it's expected to sell for £50 when it ships in October.
Posted by Marc Delehanty on September 13, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Viewdock: LCD displays with iPod dock
Viewsonic has announced a new range of LCD displays called Viewdock. They are the first displays to come with a dock for an iPod incorporated into the design.
This dock will provide the USB connection to your PC for charging and data transfer but also will enable you to control your iPod with the menus displayed on the much larger widescreen display.
As is common with Viewsonic's other monitors they will have good audio capabability: built-in speakers, subwoofer and microphone. So the quality when playing music through the monitor should be better than some of the cheap speaker docking systems for iPods.
Viewdock monitors have a number of other extras: several USB ports and an 8-in-1 memory card reader. They are part of the "Made for iPod" line of approved accessories.
Posted by Marc Delehanty on September 12, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
New Mac Pro has some nice touches but watch those lock-ins
Apple evangelist Tim Bogel was in London today showing off the latest iMac skews and the new Mac Pro, which supersedes the old G5, and it has to be said that they look pretty good. Apple has always been good at introducing neat little tweaks to less glamorous parts of its systems - a good example is the MagSafe power connector on the MacBook. The Mac Pro has two or three little touches like this. It has four easily accessible pull-out drive trays (above left): to add a disk you pull one of these out (above right), bolt the drive to it, and slide it back. No fumbling about with wires and plugs, banging your knuckles on the power supply, inside a cramped system box.
We will be reviewing them, so I won't rehearse all the specs here, except to say that the Mac Pro uses two of Intel's new dual-core Woodcrest-class Xeon server chips, giving a total of four cores, and should have Apple's many professional graphics users drooling.
This allows you to trip over the power lead without bringing the laptop down with you, because it simply disconnects itself. It means that if you break your neck, at least you have your computer there in hospital to keep you company.
The four PCI Express slots each has a captive thumbscrew that allows you to secure a card without recourse to a screwdriver - or the usual ritual of dropping the screw into the depths of the machine and spending the next ten minutes trying to dig it out.
And the 667 MHz DDR2 fully-buffered memory sits on its own pull-out daughterboard (right)for easy upgrading. 
You do get this type of innovation in the PC world, of course, but it is often slow to take off because so many components are de facto standards. Apple can create its own standards, which has disadvantages, include the fact that you tend to get locked into its hardware and software. Bodel says Apple 'does not support in-the-field upgrading of processors' on its iMacs and he was no sure about the Mac Pro
Apple used its own form of heat sink on the Mac Pro memory and could not guarantee that all third-party memory modules would work with it. But he said generously: "Typically when you open up the system box you do not void your warranty."
Posted by Clive Akass on September 8, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
A $100m chunk of Apple
Apple has paid $100m to Creative to licence patents for use in all its products.
This is a fair chunk of change and settles the ill feeling that was brewing between the two tech companies. In May Creative asked the US International Trade Commission to investigate possible infringment of its patents by Apple.
The patents in question centre around the menu navigation on portable audio players like the iPod Nano. Not content just to deal with the matter at hand, Apple countersued. It claimed that Creative had infringed on its patents.
More countersuits were thrown about until today's announcement. It now seems that the bitter wrangling is water under the bridge as Creative is to join Apple's 'Made for iPod' program and begin producing its own line of iPod accessories!
However in a parting shot Apple's CEO Steve Jobs said "Creative is very fortunate to have been granted this early patent."
Posted by Marc Delehanty on August 24, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
A slice of Apple
Apple's highly profitable Ipod and Itunes player/service combination has finally attracted the attention of tech behemoth Microsoft.
Over the last week details have been emerging of Zune, Microsoft's mp3 (or more likely wma!) player which will no doubt integrate tightly with the next version of Windows Media player.
While Apple surely has contingency plans in place, what of the smaller manufacturers like Creative and Sandisk?
Despite releasing some pretty cool portable music players recently, their lack of a direct tie-in with a download service (something we like by the way) does mean that fickle consumers can move between brands when they upgrade to newer models.
Without a consolidated base like Apple has they're the likely losers in an Apple vs. Microsoft war. Ultimately, if these big two use their financial might to sell at very low margins, we'll see lower prices in the short term but possibly less in the line of competition and innovation in the future.
You only have to look at Microsoft's entry to the console market to see how big of a splash they can make.
Posted by Marc Delehanty on July 28, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
An Apple Origami would be great - but will it really happen?
News that Apple has patented a 'proximity detector' for use in a pen interface inevitably prompts speculation that it may be developing a Mac tablet to rival Microsoft's Origami ultra-mobiles.
The patent describes a smart surface that can sense the presence and position of a nearby object, allowing as a finger or stylus to control an electronic device without actually making contact with it.
There is nothing new in proximity control, which is possible on many existing tablet computers. Apple seems most likely to use its implementation on some kind of music player, seeing the Origami either as a dead end (as do a surprising number of industry insiders) or as a format that will take some time to establish.
Apple might be advised to hold back, learning from Microsoft's successes and mistakes, and waiting for the power-efficient processors and fast links like UWB that that will finally give us truly portable computing.
But a Mac ultra-mobile with the design flair of the Ipod would undoubtedly be a winner, even using today's technology, and it could kick-start adoption of the format.
If Apple waits too long, not only will it have to suffer the indignity of flogging 'portables' conceptually decades behind those of its major rival, but it risks being pre-empted in the market.
A basic Origami at the right price (sub-£400) could sweep the world, and consign all Apple's beautiful Ipods to history. And there are plenty of companies, like Samsung, with the money and market clout to do it.
Posted by Clive Akass on July 22, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
iDon't and Sandisk doesn't either
I've never been a fan of all the restrictions which surround the use of iTunes and iPod. So when I saw this anti-iPod ad on the tube I was intrigued.
The source of the ads is iDont.com, the website behind Sandisk's viral marketing effort to capture a chunk of the mp3 player market back from Apple who dominate thanks to its ubquitous iPod. Its call to action:
The time has come to rise up against the iTatorship.
Whether or not deriding iPod users as iSheep, iDroids, iChimps and iPuppets will damage iPod's
reputation and impact its popularity remains to be seen.
What is clear though is that Sandisk's ability to capitalise on this advertising campaign will largely rest on the quality of the player it's offering as an alternative: the Sanso e200. It does promise replacable batteries ...
Posted by Marc Delehanty on June 2, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Review: Dual core Apple Macbook - in black!
We managed to get hold of the new Core Duo Apple Macbook, which came out today.
We've looked at the black version - a change from Apple's usual white chassis. It looks good, but you pay an extra £130 for the privilege, and the only extra is an additional 20GB of hard disk, which seems pretty expensive for so little.
Otherwise, the big story around this notebook is its use of Intel's dual core processor, which gives it plenty of extra performance over previous models.
UPDATE: Our in-depth review is now online, or alternatively you can read our first impressions of the new Apple Macbook.
Posted by Rob Jones on May 17, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Silicon skin protects Apple iPod's screen from damage
We've been getting complaints over the past few weeks about the quality of screens on Apple iPods, a problem that first reared its head last year with concerns over cracking screens.
We thought Apple had sorted the problems out, but from reading your comments, it seems not. We've asked Apple why we're still hearing of these problems, and will report back once we have an answer, but in the meantime, a company called iSkin has released Evo3 to protect the screen.
Costing £24, it's designed for owners of the video iPod, comes in a number of colours and is made of silicon. Apart from providing shock-proofing and protection from moisture, it also includes a scratch resistant screen protector.
Posted by Rob Jones on April 25, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Apple launches 17in Macbook Pro
Apple has updated its Macbook Pro notebook, giving it a larger 17in screen, which will please the graphics designers among its users.
Like the 15.4in version, which we reviewed in early March, this is again an Intel Core Duo machine, using 2.16GHz CPU, coupled with 1GB of memory, ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics and 120GB hard disk drive, so the specifications are pretty decent.
The 17in widescreen display has a resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels, so the display should be bright and clear. Software includes iLife 06. You can get the full technical specifications here.
It weighs 3kg, which is a little heavy if you need to carry it around all day, but that's the price you pay for a 17in screen.
It ships next week, for £1,999.
Posted by Rob Jones on April 24, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Apple sends Windows to Boot Camp
It was only a matter of time before Apple relented and gave people an easy way to run Windows XP on its iMacs - and today it introduced Boot Camp to do just that.
We asked Apple reps about running XP on an Intel-based Mac when they first came out, and were told that while it was possible, they weren't going to tell us how to do it.
Then last month a competition to run Windows on a Mac was won, and from that point Apple was always going to swiftly offer its own software.
Boot Camp is a great move by Apple (love the name too), because it makes the iMac even more attractive, especially as some core software, such as Adobe Photoshop, can't yet run natively on the machine. Plus it means games not available on the Mac can now be played.
Later this year it will be integrated into Leopard, Apple's next release of the Mac OS X operating system.
But it won't cause Microsoft any real heartache either - not in the short term anyway - because you do need a copy of Windows XP to load onto the iMac. That does mean swelling Microsoft's coffers, which may be a step too far for some Apple aficionados though.
Posted by Rob Jones on April 5, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Apple Ipod speakers with a booming price
With iPod accessories becoming a must-have for owners of Apple's music player, two very different types of speakers have been released.
The first, which we've already reviewed are Gear4's extremely small and light Pocket Party v2 speakers. They cost £25, and are aimed at anyone that wants total portability and isn't too fussy about sound quality.
They're okay, but have in our opinion one major fault - you can't change the volume, other than setting them at high or low!
The second, from Think Outside, are a lot less portable - although still small enough to transport - but have a whopping 40watts of power, which is very loud compared to the 1w Gear4 speakers.
Called the Boomtube H2O1, they are, as the name suggests, tube shaped and can be used with any mp3 player, CD player or your laptop. They're made of aluminium and include a sub-woofer.
We've no idea of the sound quality - we'll get them in, test them and let you know. But first impressions are that the price is going to be a serious drawback, because they cost a massive £170.
This puts them well above the price of every other set of travel speakers we've ever seen, some of which have pretty good sound quality.
Posted by Rob Jones on February 14, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
