iSights.org

When Is New Not New? On The App Store, Of Course!

Apple recently pulled the "Show All New Applications" menu item from the iTunes based version of the App Store, apparently deciding that the "New" applications block at the top of the page served the same purpose.

It doesn't. Especially when the "New" applications are cherry-picked from all of the new submissions and--worse--the entire list is only updated once a week. If that.

As the above screenshot shows, as of today, October 6th, the most recent "New" application listed is from September 26th. Ten days ago. And this despite the fact you can dive into practically any category and see more recent applications. Some released as recently as October 5th. Yesterday.

Apple needs to return the "Show All New Applications" list, or add a "Just Added" block that automatically shows ALL of the new submissions during the last week, or get their store editors off their sorry rear ends and actually update the store listings.

New indeed.

Is Apple stealing ideas from iPhone developers? No.

iPhone Atlas is running an article asking if Apple stealing ideas from iPhone developers. The Atlas article, in turn, is based primarily on accusations being made by Jonathan Zdziarski, best known for the iPhone 2.0 "emergency call" passcode hack.

Fundamentally, Jonathan accuses Apple of attempting to patent a home screen idea previously used by an application called Intelliscreen.

He writes, "At the worst, this is an attempt to steal a concept. At the very best, it's an attempt to patent something that was so obvious, a competitor figured it out long before Apple did."

So is it true? Is the big Apple ripping off some poor defenseless developer?

Quick answer: No. Apple did not rip off Intelliscreen.

Intelliscreen, however, could have ripped off Apple. Keep on reading for the proof.

Worthless App Store "Reviews"

Is it just me, or are you also getting tired of all of the application "reviews" on the App Store that say nothing more than "first post", ask "who would want this", complain about the price, or offer some other in-depth opinion of an application... that they don't even own.

I'm especially fond of the "reviews" that complain about features and point you to some other application, often free, that supposedly does the same thing... when it's obvious they haven't used either one, and as such have no way of knowing that app B is actually and in fact a true replacement for app A. Who cares? It's free.

Personally, I think you could increase the quality of the reviews considerably if you limited the ability to review an application to those customers who have actually purchased, downloaded, and installed the application in question.

Another issue relates to the current mess with Electronic Arts, Spore, DRM, and Amazon.

Plug In Your iPhones: Software Update 2.1 Is Ready

If you have a 3G iPhone, or an original iPhone that you've upgraded to 2.0.2, then it's time to plug it into iTunes 8 and click that "Check for updates" button.

Why? Because the new iPhone 2.1 update is now available from Apple's servers. Weighing in at 237.8 MB , it promises:

• Decrease in call set-up failures and dropped calls
• Significantly better battery life for most users
• Dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes
• Improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
• Faster installation of 3rd party applications
• Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes for users with lots of third party applications
• Improved performance in text messaging
• Faster loading and searching of contacts
• Improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display
• Repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages
• Option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts
• Genius playlist creation

Will it deliver? I'll know in approximately 27 minutes.

Visit the Apple iPhone Software Update page for more information.

What's Apple's Mystery Product?

According to AppleInsider, Apple's chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer revealed that the company will make a key "product transition" that cuts back on its profit margins to help shut out rivals.

As such, the forums and chat rooms are busily dissecting each and every word and attempting to apply them to Apple's product line. Are we talking new MacBooks? New desktops? New iPods? What?

Personally, if Apple's serious, and if they REALLY wanted to take a crack at an aging product line with the highest price and fattest margins... I'd look at the Cinema Displays.

iPhone 3G Sales "In Perspective"

TechDirt is running an article placing iPhone sales "in perspective". Recent mobile handset numbers show that 282 million phones were sold in the first quarter of this year, and that Nokia alone appears to sell approximately 1.28 million handsets per day.

Mike concludes, "So, yes, selling 1 million handsets over the weekend is a nice round milestone -- and certainly other handset makers are probably jealous of the attention it's getting. But, it's not having a huge impact on the overall handset market just yet."

But let's compare Apple's to Apple's, shall we? According to Gartner, worldwide smartphone sales in 1Q 2008 totaled 32.2 million units, which would put the average daily sales of higher-end phones at roughly 358,000 units.

Or in other words, Apple sold -- singlehandedly, and per day -- almost as many smartphones over this weekend as all of the other manufacturer's combined.

Plus, if Apple meets its numbers of selling 10 million phones in 2008, they'll have gained roughly 10% of the entire worldwide smartphone market. Which, ignoring the low-end "free" handsets sold by Nokia and others, also just happens to be be the most profitable end of the market.

Just, of course, putting things into perspective...

Updated iPhone Applications Already Available

If you're one of those who purchased and downloaded iPhone applications over the weekend, you might want to check to see if your brand spanking new application has already been updated.

I did, and found that Cro-Mag Rally, BoxOffice, NetNewsWire, NYTimes, and World News NetWork (AP) were just a few of the applications that have already received bug fixes and updates since the App Store opened for business last Friday.

iPhone App Store Up To 800 Applications

If you browsed through Apple's new App Store on Friday and didn't see anything of interest you might want to look again. The number of applications listed has increased increased daily, going from Friday's original 535 to just over 800.

In related news, Apple has stated in a press release that they've sold 10 MILLION applications since Friday (or Thursday, for those of us who jumped the gun).

Undoubtedly, many of the applications "sold" were free, but 10 million of anything in three days has to be an impressive number in anyone's book.

iPhone Hackers Root Cause Of 3G Lines

The three and four hour long iLines of iCustomers waiting to get iPhones across the US arose from a perfect storm of three contributing factors.

First to shoulder their share of the blame are the consumers themselves, who got exactly what they demanded, and as such were effectively hoist on their own petard. More on that later.

Second was Apple's misguided decision to simultaneously release the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 2G 2.0 software update on the same day.

Finally, the third portion of blame needs to be placed directly at the feet of the iPhone hacker community.

Most of it, actually.

iPhone Lines - We're Waiting, We're Waiting

From a marketing standpoint, Appe's decision to require in-store activations guaranteed long lines and the appearance of high consumer demand as loyal customers patiently awaited entry into their local store.

But when you're the one forced to stand in one of those lines while each and every phone sold goes through a fifteen minute activation process, it takes on an entirely different perspective.

And one completely different from the original "pay for it and you're out of here" process.

Apple can only hope that the future experience of owning and using the new 3G iPhone will wash away the memory of those wasted hours and the dissatisfaction of that decision.

BTW, this entry was generated during one of those wasted hours...

First iTunes App Store photo

The new App Store home page, available from iTunes 7.7.

Upgrade To iTunes 7.7 Before Buying iPhone 3G

The "App Store" upgrade from iTunes 7.6 to iTunes 7.7 is now available via Software Update.

In retrospect, it's obvious that iTunes 7.7 would be released before Apple shipped the iPhone 3G, as Apple's own instructions on upgrading from 2G to 3G require you to sync and backup your existing phone's settings, and then use that backup to "restore" your new 3G phone's settings.

And for that to work, you're going to need new software.

So if you're planning on moving up to a new 3G phone tomorrow you need to run, don't walk, to your Apple menu. From there run Software Update and then download iTunes 7.7. With that under your belt, you'll be set to install the iPhone 2.0 software update when it's released later today.

Install 2.0, then do your backup and you'll be ready to sync up your new iPhone 3G tomorrow.

It's unfortunate that Apple didn't allow more time between the release of 7.7 and 2.0 and the July 11th iPhone release date, but they didn't, so start downloading NOW.

One can only hope Apple's servers are up to the load...

[UPDATE] They weren't...

Convert Your External SuperDrive? Not.

TUAW has an interesting article on how to mod your MacBook Air's SuperDrive so that it can be used with other computers.

Unfortunately, this is NOT a good idea, as the Apple drive has significantly higher power requirements than that provided by a standard powered USB port. Especially when used in the DVD-burning mode.

If you look at similar third party drives, you'll notice that nearly every one REQUIRES an external power supply, or REQUIRES a Y-connector designed to sip power from two USB ports.

In short, this could be a very good way to screw up your computer's USB controller. Don't try it.

iTunes, HBO, and Variable Pricing

Once upon a time, content pricing on iTunes was strict and unwavering. Every song was $0.99, no less, no more, and the music labels went along. They screamed and complained and cried... but they went along.

After all, it was Jobs way or the highway.

But in full deal-making mode, Apple just announced that HBO has joined the iTunes universe, with programs from some series priced at the "standard" $1.99 TV rate, and others a buck higher at $2.99.

And now, some pundits proclaim, the floodgates are open, with anyone and everyone now about to demand special dispensation.

But will they? And even if they do, will Apple grant it?

Apple, Intel, and PA Semiconductor: Part 2

In part one of this series we looked at a few reasons why Apple may have purchased PA Semiconductor, and debunked a few possible reasons as to why they didn't.

And in doing so, we were left with two valuable concepts that need further exploration: how to differentiate Apple's platform from all of the other generic beige boxes out there, and how to protect OS X from thieves and pirates.

But if the answer isn't in moving the Mac platform back to a proprietary processor design, then what gives?

What can PA Semi do for the Mac?

Apple, Intel, and PA Semiconductor

There's been a lot of speculation regarding Apple's recent $278 million dollar acquisition of PA Semiconductor.

Some believe that Apple did it simply to regain technical expertise in chip design for its its consumer electronics divisions (iPods, iPhones) and others simply for the companies' patent portfolio. A few misguided souls even believe that Apple did it in preparation for an eventual move to its own custom processor designs.

Personally, I think the primary reason lies elsewhere.

Apple Updates Apple TV Update

No, that's not redundant. Apple yesterday released Apple TV update 2.0.2, which according to my research fixes the 5GHz network connectivity issues introduced by the previous 2.0.1 update.

To recapitulate events, on Friday, March 28th Apple released Apple TV update 2.0.1. This update to Apple TV "Take 2" supposedly "improved stability" and added a few minor features, like a Genres option under My Movies.

In addition, this update also pretty much bricked the Apple TV for video playback.

The iPhone's Biggest Missing Feature

With both the WWDC and the iPhone's launch anniversary approaching, speculation is once again running rampant regarding the 3G iPhone.

When will it be announced? When will it ship? What features will it have? What chipset will it use? Will it have real GPS or fake? Will the back be metal, paper or plastic?

On, and on, and on.

Readers are asked again and again, "What features do you want?" What makes it a "must have", as opposed to being a total piece of garbage?

But in all of the articles and all of the replies, there's one "must have" feature that's continually forgotten and constantly overlooked. And one which would have me standing in line to upgrade at nearly any price.

And so would you, if you stopped to give it a second's thought.

A Reality Check On iPhone Restrictions

Many bloggers, developers, and people who should otherwise know better have been complaining about the "restrictive" native of the iPhone SDK and Apple's seemingly "arbitrary" limitations on iPhone applications.

Therefore it was with great interest that I read an article by Craig Hockenberry of Twitterific fame, which dramatically illustrates just what happens when Apple's guidelines are bypassed.

Apple TV Update Brings New Problems - UPDATED

In the motion picture industry, a "take" refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot. Let someone flub a line or miss a cue, and on you go to the next take.

This process continues until everyone gets it right

That being the case, it would seem that Apple TV's "Take Two" monicker is appropriate. Especially when we consider Friday's latest 2.0.1 update.

After installing 2.0.1, my Apple TV constantly loses its 802.11n network connection. I've had my Apple TV permanently drop off the network at least a half-dozen times while in the middle of streaming movies, and twice while browsing titles.

That particular "Take Two" 160GB Apple TV exhibited none of those symptoms immediately prior to the update, nor does a second, version 2.0 Apple TV I tried moving to the same location.

Apple TV Update Brings New Features

Apple released software update 2.01 for the Apple TV Friday, which was reported as fixing bugs and adding new features to the interface.

Although, to be precise, it appears to add one new feature, the addition of a "Genres" option when browsing your own movie titles.

Those of you with large movie libraries (you know who you are) will no doubt welcome this, as it lets you break down your monolithic list of movies into much more manageable sections, which in turn makes it more likely that you'll find something to watch based on your mood (action, horror, romance, whatever).

But while welcome, and long overdue, the Apple TV interface is still lacking in needed functionality.

Time Machine And The AirPort Extreme: What You Need To Know

This week Apple released a software update named "Time Machine and AirPort Updates v1.0", which "is recommended for all users and includes compatibility improvements for using Time Machine with Time Capsule, as well as AirPort driver fixes."

While we don't know everything that it does, one thing we do know is that it finally fixes the problem of not being able to do backups to USB drives attached to an AirPort Extreme.

So here's what you need to know, and do, to get things working.

AirPort Express Goes N: One Down, Three To Go

Apple just updated the AirPort Express to use next-generation 802.11n wireless technology, promising to to deliver up to five times the performance and twice the range of the previous model.

It's about time.

But since Apple still has three products restricted to 802.11g networks, your ability to actually see those performance enhancements remains problematic.

The iPhone SDK: Promises Broken, Promises Kept

Back when the iPhone was originally announced at MacWorld San Francisco, much was made of the fact that the iPhone wasn't just a phone, but a software platform in its own right.

Build on OS X we were told, Apple would be able to quickly and easily add applications and extend existing functionality.

But in reality, this never occurred.

Apple's Application Store: Not Just For iPhones?

In an earlier article I discussed how Apple new iPhone application store will promote an avalanche of applications as developers flock to both a super cool hardware platform and a marketplace designed to promote their creations to every iPhone owner.

In fact, the store is the only place where the average user can acquire third-party applications. A system described by many as being a "walled garden" around the iPhone and the iPod touch.

A point that has so many profound ramifications that one has to ask: can Apple enforce it? And if so, will they extend the concept to its obvious conclusion?