Gear Diary » Apple

FBI Releases File on Steve Jobs

Douglas Moran — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:30:05 +0000

Steve Jobs passed away several months ago now, and the burst of news at the event, followed by the (just days later) release of Jobs' biography by Walter Isaacson, has pretty much abated. So what possible news could Jobs be making now, from beyond the grave? Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Chinese Manufacturing Has Always Been Abusive … Why Blame Apple ONLY?

Michael Anderson — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:00:17 +0000

There was a recent article in the New York Times that pretty much singles out Apple as being to blame for the work conditions in China. Sure, they off-handedly refer to 'other companies' and repeatedly say 'other devices' as a footnote, but again and again it is Apple, iPhone and iPad that are mentioned. Apple, the company that was one of the very last consumer electronics companies making stuff in the US while taking heat from everyone about how much their stuff cost and how slow they were to move from platform to platform? All of those other companies - Dell, Compaq, HP, IBM - were faster moving ... because they were already running Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Wait … Apple TV Is More Popular Than Roku?

Michael Anderson — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:15:01 +0000

There is always loads of data to mine in corporate earnings announcements, and yesterday's Apple announcement is no different. Dan covered the highlights including iPhones, Macs, iPads and iPods ... but I noticed a mention at GigaOM about AppleTV sales. Apparently AppleTV sold 1.4 million units during the last quarter. I really didn't think too much about that because I am constantly reading about how more and more game consoles are serving as full-service home entertainment systems since they can run Netflix, Hulu and more. I also just assumed that Roku and other 'set top boxes' were dominating much like Kindle and Nook ebooks dominate Apple's iBooks. I assumed that because while Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Apple’s Amazing Quarter Makes the iPhone Bigger Than ALL of Android!

Michael Anderson — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:45:09 +0000

It was only a few weeks ago when I posted the news that Android and iOS were in a virtual tie for market share of the smartphone market based on recent data, I said that 'everyone wins'. I still believe that - I think that having strong competition in any market makes everyone work harder ... and the results are better products for us as consumers! Last week Nielson put out estimates of smartphone market share for the fourth quarter of 2011, showing that iOS had significantly closed the gap with Android for recent months. Now, after the final tally from Apple we have a report at Reuters showing that Apple Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Apple By the Numbers… Wow… Simply Wow.

Dan Cohen — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:15:34 +0000

In case you missed it, Apple is doing well. (Okay, ridiculously understated and then some.) Yes, Apple reported revenue of over $46 billion and saw its profit exceeded $13 billion for the quarter. That translates to $13.87 earnings per share. For comparison sake, at this time last year the company earned $26.74 billion, or $6.43 per share. Yeah, wow. 'Nuff said. Apple's CEO Tim Cook was positive but also a bit understated in saying

We're thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads, and Macs,". "Apple's momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline.

Here's a quick look at the numbers. The iPhone was on a tear with Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Someone At Apple Was A Ghostbusters Fan…

Carly Z — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:15:00 +0000

I love "Ghostbusters". It's one of my favorite movies of all time. In fact, I had a plastic Stay-Puft Marshmellow Man decorating more than one of my apartments post-college. How can you not love it? It's pretty much the perfect movie. And according to The Verge, back in the '80s someone at Apple felt the same way, and made an anti-IBM/pro-Apple video called "Blue Busters". It's funny, though honestly I think the joke goes on for about a minute longer than necessary. Still, for the one-two punch of nostalgia and surrealism it's worth watching the whole thing! Then maybe pop in the real Ghostbusters while playing on your iPhone ;)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Via Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Agency eBook Pricing Model Under Anti-Trust Scrutiny!

Carly Z — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 02:30:17 +0000

The European Union has finally stepped up to handle the biggest issue facing the economy today. It's a long time coming, but someone is finally asking questions and looking for answers. Yes, the "agency model" for ebooks is finally being investigated! What, you thought I meant something else? ;) According to Businessweek, several publishers as well as Apple are listed in the investigation, but not Amazon. My guess is that since Amazon was not soliciting contracts for the agency model (they were forced into it after a very public battle) they're not under the microscope. It will be interesting to see if Amazon or any other retailer besides Apple gets included in this as the investigation Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

iOS App Knowtilus Pro: Tabbed Web Browsing, text editing, and translation all in one! – Review

Matthew Hall — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:00:22 +0000

I'm always looking for ways to use Siri with new iOS applications to allow me to write on the go. But if I am going to pay for an application I want it to do more than one thing at a time. As I was reading through Dan's article on using Elements to be able to sync dictated notes I thought I would download Elements. During my search I happened upon the iOS application Knowtilus Pro. Knowtilus is a web browser that has 3 tabs. I usually don't buy iOS applications that cost more than a few dollars but I made an exception with Knowtilus Pro at $9.99. I like the ability to Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

One More Tablet Gone; Can Microsoft Avoid the Same Fate?

Judie Stanford — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 20:50:13 +0000

image courtesy of BerryReporter

Clinton recently wrote an opinion piece entitled, "As RIM Writes Off The Playbook, The Pressure is on Microsoft to Make a Complete Windows 8 Tablet", in which he says:

This morning the Wall Street Journal reported that RIM is taking a $485 million charge for their lackluster tablet, the Playbook. The charge comes by way of a markdown in the value of the massive inventor that RIM still has of the devices. It is a brutal and costly reminder that if you kinda-sorta-maybe-woulda-shoulda your tablet strategy, the price can be steep. Very steep.

and

The challenge facing Microsoft is that they are behind when it comes to a tablet strategy. Regardless of what

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Gear Deal: Save Big on Apple TV

Dan Cohen — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:45:16 +0000

Today's deal brings us the current generation Apple TV for less than we have previously seen it. This generation is 80% smaller than the previous models and comes with a built-in power supply and bundled remote. It has built-in HDMI, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Ethernet connectivity, a built-in IR receiver, Optical Audio and a Micro-USB connector. Yes, it doesn't have offer any built-in storage so it relies entirely upon streaming but it works great. And with HD movies starting at $3.99 and commercial-free TV shows at just 99¢ per episode you'll love yours! Oh, and the new Apple TV also streams content from Netflix, YouTube, and Flickr, as well as music, photos and videos. Remember, this is BYOHDMI, bring Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

The Latest Cool Steve Jobs Video – NeXT Computer ‘Entrepreneurs’ Feature

Michael Anderson — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:00:18 +0000

For most people, Steve Jobs is the iconic black-turtleneck & jeans wearing icon who led Apple from near bankruptcy to become the most valuable public company in the world before he passed away recently. But there are more and more historical views of him popping up all over the place - and this is one of the coolest I have seen. It is from a PBS series called 'Entrepreneurs', with an episode from late 1986 looking at NeXT Computer when it was merely 11 computers and a long road ahead before shipping their first computer. It is great to see how Jobs interacted with employees, and of course the use of the now-familiar Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Microsoft’s Claims of TellMe Being ‘Basically the Same as Siri’ Put to the Test

Michael Anderson — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 20:25:41 +0000

Sometimes there is no better way to demonstrate that what a company is saying is pure rubbish than by putting it to a simple test. Apple's Siri was released to simultaneous cheers and yawns - cheers from those who use it and yawns from Microsoft and Google (and their fanboys) saying that they already have the same technology. This week Microsoft made a big deal about how they already had a 'Siri-like' technology and all Apple had going for it was 'good marketing'. This is very similar to what Google has said, and is the sort of thing that plays well to the faithful. But is it true? TechAU took a look Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Ten Lessons Learned from Steve Jobs’ Biography: An Entrepreneur’s Take

Dan Cohen — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 21:00:03 +0000

My friend Peter K is a speaker, author, health and success coach, nutritionist and physical therapist. (His website Peter K Fitness tells his story, introduces his method and explains how his approach has helped countless people lead a healthier lifestyle. Some impressive testimonials are there too!) Peter is Elana's health coach and played a huge role in her becoming as fit as she now is. (It also turns out that I had the privilege of officiating at his wedding more than a decade ago. A connection we did not make until Elana met him for her first training session.) Peter is an entrepreneur at heart. He recently read the Steve Jobs biography and, to use his own words, the "book really resonated" with him. He jotted down a few thoughts while reading it and shared them with me. I, in turn, asked if I could share them with all of you. And so, with no further ado I present to you "Peter K's What Steve Jobs taught me about being successful in business". Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Samsung Shows Lack of Class in Latest Galaxy S II Commercial

Michael Anderson — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:15:48 +0000

As someone pointed out in response to the Galaxy Nexus commercial - that was made by Google, which is why it was excellent. Now we get one for the Galaxy S II made by Samsung ... and it is NOT. Back in the 80's Apple produced two infamous commercials - 1984 and Lemmings. They are well known by name more than 25 years later for very different reasons: 1984 showed a single person striking out against tyranny to choose her own path and give others the opportunity to make their own choices as well. Lemmings was infamous for ... well, calling PC users a bunch of mindless idiots. Which is pretty Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Apple’s Black Friday Sale Details Revealed!

Michael Anderson — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:30:51 +0000

Earlier this week Apple sent all of their customers an email containing the image above promoting a Black Friday sale but not specifying anything. It is a classic Apple move intended to generate interest without actually revealing anything. Well, the folks over at 9-to-5 Mac have gotten their hands on the actual sale brochure for Apple's Black Friday event! Check out the image below: Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Holiday Gift Guide: For All Gamers

Dan Cohen — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:15:05 +0000

From the Editorial Staff of Gear Diary: Is there someone in your life who loves gaming? If so, here are five gifts with which you can't go wrong.

XBOX360 (or Playstation 3)- not an inexpensive gift, but more and more families are using consoles as a way of gaming, streaming video, and more! The Xbox 360 250GB Holiday bundle is just $299.99 in our Amazon Affiliate Store. The PlayStation 3 160GB System is just $249.96 in our Amazon Affiliate Store

iPod Touch - As Mike wrote here, the DS and PSP are fading Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Ribbz Case Winner Announced!

Travis Ehrlich — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:00:00 +0000

I recently reviewed the unique Ribbz protective case for iPhone 4/4S and was impressed with the protection it provides without adding much bulk. (Click here to read the entire review of the white Ribbz case.) The company was generous enough to send an extra case, this one in red, for us to give away to a lucky reader.

I could not make myself go all in with a true test until the case took a big drop on accident. When I am driving, I have a terrible habit of laying my phone in my lap so when getting out of the vehicle, the phone is often sent flying onto the pavement below

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Review: mSecure 3.0 Password Protection

Jeff Frantz — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:00:43 +0000

I have been using the same password protection program for quite a few years. I've thought about switching on a number of occasions, but it's always is too much of a hassle, or the software that interests me isn't available on enough platforms. So when I was recently offered an opportunity to review mSeven Software's mSecure 3.0 I was at least a little ambivalent about it. However, I figured it certainly wouldn't hurt to review the software; I would just create some dummy data, load it on a test device, put it through its paces, do a brief write up, and be done. I was surprised, though, to find that I actually liked mSecure Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Apple Releases ‘iTunes Match’ to the Public – Your Music Library in the Cloud!

Michael Anderson — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:11:41 +0000

With the release of iTunes 10.5.1 Apple has finally brought iTunes Match to everyone rather then those of us who have been using it in beta. If you are not familiar with the service it isn't the music streaming that had been long rumored but rather something far more powerful and, potentially usable. What the service does is scan your iTunes library and line up those songs that you have in it with those that are currently available on iTunes. Then, if there are songs that you have that are not available in iTunes, it will upload the remaining ones. This, in and of itself, is pretty powerful but it's the next aspect that Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Gear Deal: Apple MacBook Pro 13.3″ 2.3GHz Core i5 Notebook (Early 2011)

Dan Cohen — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:59:51 +0000

It isn't often that an Apple product is our daily Gear Deal but that what our Gear Sponsor has for us today! This deal is on the 13" MacBook Pro with a 2.3GHz Core i5 processor. This model dates from early 2011 and has the Thunderbolt port, Gigabit Ethernet, a FaceTime HD camera, the SDXC card slot and, of course, it has the durable Aluminum unibody design that has been such a huge hit. .Normally $1199 this laptop is just $1,037.99 with this deal. Thanks to an additional $50 mail-in rebate that comes all the way down to just $987.99. Better still, it will ship for free and there is no tax in most states Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Siri Outage Reveals Not Success or Failure … But Loneliness

Michael Anderson — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 18:30:29 +0000

Late last week one of the big features of the recently released iPhone 4S - Siri - suffered an outage, which was widely reported. Beyond that, there were those who took the outage to indicate either massive success ... or massive failure on the part of Apple and the service. But I see something different ... loneliness. If you look back to the very first few things people tested on the iPhone 4S with Siri, it was telling it they loved it. You can see it featured in this Gizmodo article from right after the launch. And here are just a few 'Siri ... I Love You' clips Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

A Must Read: A Sister’s Eulogy for Steve Jobs

Judie Stanford — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 21:15:15 +0000

I'm not going to lie. I got teary as I read it Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Localscope For IOS Updates to Include More Languages and Integration

Travis Ehrlich — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:15:39 +0000

I love when applications continue to grow and update along with the maturity of the iPhone and iOS. With all of the location advances and search possibilities with Siri, those features have been front and center in today's tech news. There are many options for such apps on the iPhone and one if my favorites that I use often is Loacalscope. I reviewed the initial version of the app here in March and have used it ever since. Localscope has gone through several updates with the most recent bringing integration with 11 popular GPS applications and the ability to speak 19 different languages. The fact that users do not have to depend exclusively

Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Macbook Pro Utility You NEED for Better Battery Life: gfxCardStatus

Michael Anderson — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:15:59 +0000

Perhaps it was because I was using the Sony Vaio S-series laptop with its 15-hour battery, but I never really looked critically at the battery life on my 2011 15" Macbook Pro. But recently I have been using it almost exclusively and have felt that I should be getting more hours between charges. My assumption - particularly how the fans would spin up even when I was doing nothing particularly challenging - was that there was something related to the graphics card. So I looked around and found that the dynamic switching on the graphics cards will often leave the system stuck using the discrete card when the integrated is more than enough (for Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Steve Jobs Biography Out Now

Dan Cohen — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 02:08:00 +0000

The 60 Minutes piece on Steve Jobs this evening was more than a bit interesting, and it gave some new insight into the man who created the amazing company that is Apple. Now the official biography is out. The easiest way to pick it up??? Through the Amazon Kindle Store [affiliate link], of course. If you read the book please make sure to share your thoughts with us below Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

T-Mobile Working Hard (At Apple Stores) To Fight Lack of iPhone

Thomas R. Hall — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 02:00:51 +0000

Poor T-Mobile. They are now the only major mobile carrier in the US not carrying the iPhone. With the release of the iPhone 4S, now AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint have the iPhone 4 and 4S. Which leaves T-Mobile as the odd man out. But T-Mobile is trying to fight back. First, they issued a press release stating that they would love to carry the iPhone, but it is up to Apple. In the same press release, they explain reasons they feel their network is superior. Don't get me wrong - I really love T-Mobile, as does Francis. Their "4G" network speeds are currently unmatched and very reliable, but Verizon is quickly gaining Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

iOS 5 Tip: Am I Sending an iMessage or SMS (Text) Message?

Thomas R. Hall — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 01:00:49 +0000

There are several new features in Apple's iOS 5. One of my favorites is the updated Messages application. Previously, Messages only allowed sending of SMS and MMS messages. As part of iOS 5, though, Messages can now send SMS and Text messages to phone numbers (as it always could), but can also send iMessages over a network connection, bypassing your text message plan. How do you tell which one you're using? Well, turns out Apple made it easy to tell when you are sending each message type, visually. They use two visual cues: color and the message in the input box. Text Message Text Messages (SMS, MMS) use a Green conversation bubble and the message Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

GreetingCardUniverse Looks to Capitalize on Apple’s Entry Into Paper Greeting Card Space with Hallmark

Douglas Moran — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:30:05 +0000

I know watching old Hollywood black and white films is a bit of an acquired taste--I struggle with it sometimes, too, and I'm a serious film buff. Some films are worth the struggle, though; seriously. They manage to both stand the test of time, and entertain you even though they're in B&W and contain no CGI. I mean, everyone should watch Casablanca at least once, right? Treasure of the Sierra Madre (if only for the "We don't need no stinkin' badges!" scene). Citizen Kane (though once is enough, in my opinion). Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (if only so you can see that horrible corruption is not new to Washington). And one of my favorites is Mr Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

An Open Letter to Apple

Dan Cohen — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 18:30:33 +0000

Dear Apple, Wow, you had quite a month. Sure, it's only been a week and a half since Steve Jobs died but, wow, what a way to honor him! So many releases, updates etc. in such a short period of time. I'm impressed. So maybe it didn't go quite as smoothly as you might have liked, but I have to attribute a good deal of that to the fact that we are all so impatient that we insisted on downloading everything you made available as soon as you released it. No one on the planet can handle their servers being hammered as hard as yours were. I remember the MobileMe debacle quite well, and this Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Simon and Schuster’s Missed Opportunity For Steve Jobs’ Biography

Carly Z — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:15:45 +0000

Sarah and I were eating dinner last night and discussing Steve Jobs and his legacy. She pointed out that it would have been fitting for Simon and Schuster to release Steve Jobs' biography as an iBooks exclusive for a few days prior to street date release. Not only would this reward Apple fans, it would generate buzz for iBooks and stoke demand for the biography across all formats and platforms! Sadly, unless they're planning something awesome last minute, it looks like there won't be any special iBooks deal. However, you can preorder the biography now at both Amazon and B&N. It's $17.88 for the hardcover and $16.99 for the ebook at both stores Continue reading on Gear Diary ...