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Macworld Team

>> Postings for July 2009

Get me rewrite: Microsoft alters Laptop Hunter ads

Mon, 27 Jul 2009

Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner may have done “cartwheels down the hallway” when Apple called him to complain about the Redmond, Wash.-based company’s “Laptop Hunters” campaign. But he must have cartwheeled past Microsoft’s legal department because, as Advertising Age reports, the company has quietly altered its ad campaign in an apparent response to Apple’s complaints.

The “Laptop Hunters” campaign, you may recall, features actors-on-the-street looking for low-cost laptops that meet some rather specific technical specifications. I do not believe I am spoiling the outcome of the TV commercials when I tell you that each one ends with the person choosing a Windows-based laptop. As easily as it may be to pick apart Microsoft’s argument, there’s no denying the ads have been effective, even forcing tweak its own “Get A Mac” campaign in response.

Philip Michaels | Read more...


Is Apple hiding problems with fiery iPods?

Thu, 23 Jul 2009

Apple iPods have overheated and burst into flames and smoke on a number of occasions, causing both injuries and property damage. And Apple has fought to keep federal government reports of these incidents from becoming public, according to a Seattle TV station.

KIRO-TV posted a story on its website Wednesday that details its investigation into a series of fiery iPod episodes that have affected numerous users across the US. In some cases the overheated iPods, including recent Shuffle and Nano models, have even burned their owners.

Jeff Bertolucci | Read more...


iPhone suicide case spotlights tech’s dark side

Thu, 23 Jul 2009

The computer or smartphone you're using now, do you know who made it?

Where it was made? Never mind the logo or brand on the case. It won't tell you much.

Jeff Bertolucci | Read more...


iPhone App Store roulette: A tale of rejection

Thu, 23 Jul 2009

Think back to May 26, 1995. Steve Jobs was wandering in the desert, fiddling with some company called Pixar that made animated movies of dancing desk lamps, and planning his next step for NeXT. Bill Gates ruled the computing world and wrote a famous memo announcing that Microsoft was falling terribly behind in dominating the Internet, which Gates was sure to be a "tidal wave." Microsoft control was slipping and he could feel it.

My brain keeps returning to the moment in time when Gates recognized the difficulty in controlling the creative impulses of the world - because I've been twiddling my thumbs waiting for Apple to approve my iPhone App version of my book, "Free for All."

Peter Wayner | Read more...


New Apps will give iPhone Blu-Ray power

Tue, 21 Jul 2009

You'll soon be able to control Blu-ray content right from your iPhone.

Universal has announced plans to launch a new series of iPhone apps that'll interact with its Blu-ray movie releases. The apps will allow you to tap into interactive features and access other extra info stored on the Blu-ray discs.

JR Raphael | Read more...


Microsoft: Running scared

Fri, 17 Jul 2009

Were you to look at the news in the past couple days, you might be excused for thinking that we’d revved the DeLorean up to 88 miles per hour and jumped back to the good old days, when Microsoft and Apple were constantly at each others' throats. Only this time, the positions are seemingly reversed: it’s Apple who’s flying high, and Microsoft who’s trying to play the part of the scrappy underdog.

Apple has gained a lot of traction over the past decade. The iPod pushed the company back into the mainstream, and Cupertino only continued gaining currency as Mac OS X matured and it released some of the slickest machines around. Add in Microsoft’s own problems dealing with Windows XP and its less-than-stellar successor, Vista, and Microsoft has started seeming like a non-entity these days.

Dan Moren | Read more...


MS Exec: Apple Complained About Laptop Hunters Ads

Thu, 16 Jul 2009

A funny thing happened at Microsoft's 2009 Worldwide Partner Conference on Wednesday. In a presentation with various company executives, Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner claimed that Apple actually called to complain about the Laptop Hunters ad campaign, according to a transcript of the presentation (via Gizmodo).

Here's the pertinent excerpt: "And you know why I know they're working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey - this is a true story - saying, "Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices." They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I've ever taken in business. (Applause.)

Nick Mediati | Read more...


Apple's iPhone and iPod monopolies must go

Wed, 15 Jul 2009

With a year and 1.5 billion downloads under its belt, maybe its time for Apple's App Store--and Music Store--to get some competition. Whether Apple likes it or not.

Is it really in customers' best interest for Apple to have such tight control over what iPhone and iPod users can buy? Of course not.

David Coursey | Read more...


Apple iPhone 3GS vs. Palm Pre: In Real Life

Tue, 14 Jul 2009

My Palm Pre dialed 911 without my knowing it. "How did you find out," you ask? The dispatcher called me back to make sure I was all right. You don't see that in many product reviews, do you?

Well, forget about being first - I'm perfectly happy to write the last few words on the iPhone 3GS and the Palm Pre. I spent two weeks with each, using them as a normal human would- - not as a reviewer sprinting to get first-posting bragging rights would.

Darren Gladstone | Read more...


Apple's iPhone buzz off

Tue, 14 Jul 2009

Apple has such notorious levels of secrecy that rumour has it Dan Brown’s new novel includes a chapter where symbologist Robert Langdon breaks into Jonathan Ive’s design studio in Cupertino to decipher secret new Mac keyboard designs. (BTW, remember the cryptex in the Da Vinci Code? This cylindrical container featured five alphabetical dials that had to be arranged in the correct sequence to spell out a five-letter code word in order to open and access the parchment message inside. Seeing as how the whole world has read the book I hope I don’t ruin things by reminding you that the code word was ‘Apple’.)

Despite the carefully engineered mystery shrouding its new product launches, Apple thrives on what old-school strippers refer to as “the reveal”. An army of breathless bloggers type up every word of the Apple press event where CEO Steve Jobs (or recently a more portly, boring version) starts by reading out splendid statistics to calm down the over-excited hacks as they await the rumoured ‘new thing’.

Simon Jary | Read more...


Are Schmidt's days numbered on Apple's board?

Mon, 13 Jul 2009

Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt said that he will talk to Apple about his role on its board of directors, in light of recent news that Google will get into the operating system business, reports Reuters.

“I’ll talk to the Apple people. At the moment, there’s no change,” Schmidt said in a briefing with reporters at a technology conference in Sun Valley, Idaho on Thursday last week.

Peter Cohen | Read more...


Microsoft bites back

Thu, 09 Jul 2009

It was sort of a way of restoring balance. A few months ago I installed Mac OS 10 on a Windows netbook. So, karmically, I had to install Windows on my MacBook.

The way I did it involves two great freebies and a potential threat to everything we know and love as Mac users.

Andy Ihnatko | Read more...


Delicious Library iPhone app yanked from App Store

Wed, 08 Jul 2009

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the App Store. Delicious Monster’s iPhone companion app for its popular Delicious Library 2 media-cataloging application was removed from the App Store on Tuesday, though not, as it turns out, at the behest of the usual culprit, Apple.

Rather, this time the objection came from online retail supergiant Amazon.

Dan Moren | Read more...


Why the Apple iPhone can't be 'killed'

Thu, 02 Jul 2009

Every few months, some new hopeful to the smartphone market will garner enough hype where various media outlets will dub it an "iPhone killer".

The idea behind such pronouncements is that Apple's flagship device is ready to be toppled from its perch and that a new device is primed to take its spot atop the smartphone market. Every time the supposed "iPhone killer" hits the market, however, its sales come in well below the iPhone's sales numbers.

Brad Reed | Read more...


Original David Hockney iPhone artwork available to download

Wed, 01 Jul 2009

To coincide with Imagine: David Hockney - A Bigger Picture on BBC1 last night (available on iPlayer) the BBC is offering a chance to download a small selection of original iPhone artwork from the acclaimed artist. You'll need to be quick as the offer is only open for 48 hours.

Now in his 70's, Hockney continues to playfully experiment creating art using his iPhone, a device he discovered only a few months ago.

Nick Spence | Read more...


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