Apple Archives - Page 47 of 89

Reading Between the Lines: “Thoughts on Flash”

Steve Jobs lays out six reasons why Apple is not supporting Flash in one of his rare direct communiqués on Apple’s Web site. Jobs says that Adobe has portrayed Apple’s reluctance to a business decision but that the reasons are mostly technical. The essay reveals it to be somewhat of a mixture although it boils down … Read more

The iPhone DVR Remote Scheduling Apps

While TiVo may have been the first to offer remote scheduling, a number of television service providers have functionally leap-frogged them by offering dedicated iPhone DVR apps. Most of which take it to the next level with two-way communication, allowing one to view a list of previously recorded programming, view upcoming recordings, and delete recordings right from an iPhone.

Comcast mobile App

Experience the best features of Comcast Digital Voice®, Digital Cable and High Speed Internet services on the go-right on your iPhone and iPod touch. Watch trailers for the latest movies available On Demand. Schedule programs to record on your DVR from your iPhone and iPod touch and view your upcoming recordings so you never miss a show again. (expected to be available to most markets by summer 2010)

Verizon FIOS DVR Manager

FiOS is making its DVRs even more accessible by giving customers the ability to program them remotely through their mobile devices. That means that Verizon FiOS customers never have to worry about missing anything they want to watch, as they’ll always be able to set their DVRs to record from virtually anywhere they happen to be. It also means that customers can set parental controls, set bookmarks, browse and search TV programming, set a series recording, view the DVR status and see how much space is left for recording, browse and search VOD listings, and see their lists of scheduled and recorded programs.

DISH Remote Access

Introducing DISH Remote Access – a whole new way to manage your DVR and record your favorite shows – anytime, anywhere with your iPhone™ or iPod touch®. With the touch of a fingertip you can easily browse the program guide, schedule DVR recordings and manage your DVR library as if you were at home. Manage recording conflicts, delete shows you’ve already watched, view and adjust your recording schedule.

iPhone Rhapsody Takes The Music Offline

Rhapsody’s iPhone app has been updated to more closely resemble their original mobile service by enabling offline listening. Music caching, originally alluded to in October, is limited to only playlists at the moment. While the service won’t truly be feature complete until album downloads are made available and Apple provides that multitasking this summer, at a lowered $10/mo, … Read more

Web Browsing B&N Nook as iPad Killer?

I admit it, I got a little excited when I read the Nook would be getting an (official) web browser. And the Barnes and Noble’s 1.3 software update hit yesterday. In addition to that (beta) web browser, the Android-powered Nook sees some performance and UI enhancements, along with a pair of games, and B&N in-store … Read more

The Apple TV Hobby Carries On

At Apple’s earnings call earlier today, COO Tim Cook reiterated the second class citizenry of AppleTV. As paraphrased by Macworld: Apple TV market isn’t that large, so that’s why we classify it as a hobby, so nobody gets the wrong impression that it’s anywhere close to the other markets. A number of us use the product, love … Read more

Is This The Next iPhone?

Engadget’s quite confident they’ve got pics of what could be the next gen iPhone. I had some initial doubts, assuming Apple would have had them yanked and given the unexpected, but not unattractive, seams/gaps. But both elements can be explained away… Apple may not want to show their hand by having their legal staff write letters and word on the street is that this could be a hand-milled prototype.

As handsome as the device is, real or otherwise, the way it’s played out in the blogosphere has been unusual… in seeing Engadget’s original post revised a number of times and word that the “owner” has been shopping around a hands on for $10,000. Assuming this is a legit iPhone HD prototype, paying for info could open a legal can of worms. Dependent on who possesses the phone and how it was acquired. Also, unexpected is Gizmodo’s radio silence on the matter. Are they making a play at the device, do they believe it’s fake, or do they fear being frozen out of a review unit? Curiouser and curiouser.

We rarely speculate on rumors here and I don’t have the Apple sources Engadget and Gruber do. So, I’d rather focus on the sorts of iPhone enhancements it would take to get us to upgrade or switch carriers.

No New 13″ Macbook Pro For Me

Like many, I was anxiously awaiting the Macbook Pro refresh. And, like many, I was disappointed that 13″ model didn’t see the more significant processor upgrade that its 15″ brethren were treated to. The new 13″ MBP features astounding battery life, on par with the iPad, that I’d most definitely appreciate (along with a backlit keyboard and SD slot). But my primary complaint with the current 13″ unibody Macbook (late 2008 model) is that spinning beach ball. Something I’d hope to see significantly less of with an Intel Core i5 processor. Incidentally, this same sort of Apple decision is why we don’t own a 21.5″ iMac. The fact that I don’t want a larger screen shouldn’t imply that I don’t want larger processing power.

ZNF regular Greg Glockner suggests my response is one of a fanboy. However, I imagine a true fanbois would be one who thanks Steve Jobs for his insight and makes a purchase without evaluating his computing needs. I had a buyer lined up for my current 13″ model at half of what I originally paid, never minding those Snow Leopard and 2GB upgrades (bringing me to 4GB total). But I can’t justify the ~$600 out of pocket expense for marginal improvement in processing power… especially when I could find a similarly equipped Windows laptop for much less. Then again, Apple’s portable laptop hardware is generally more thoughtfully designed than the MS contingent.

First look at Opera Mini on the iPhone

As announced last night, the Opera Mini web browser is now available as a free download from the iPhone App Store (iTunes). This is one of the first real alternatives to the Safari web browser that ships with the iPhone. While there are other browsers in the App Store, they all use the same WebKit … Read more