Federico Viticci

10777 posts on MacStories since April 2009

Federico is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of MacStories, where he writes about Apple with a focus on apps, developers, iPad, and iOS productivity. He founded MacStories in April 2009 and has been writing about Apple since. Federico is also the co-host of AppStories, a weekly podcast exploring the world of apps, Unwind, a fun exploration of media and more, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about portable gaming and the handheld revolution.
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@viticci.macstories.net
viticci@macstories.net

Apple Using New Headphone Jack in iPad 2?

An Apple patent published in September 2010 revealed the company was working on a new headphone jack design that would allow to place significantly smaller headphone jacks in future iPhones and iPods. According to Kevin Fox at Fury.com, Apple might have implemented the new design in the iPad 2, which features a headphone jack to fit the iPad’s smaller form factor and it’s set “in to a steep curve”.

The original iPhone also placed the headphone jack on a curved exterior surface, but did so by insetting it, with the disastrous side-effect that only headphone plugs that strictly adhered to the spec would fit deep enough into the recessed space to complete the connection.

This time however it looks like there’s no recession at all. In fact, the opposite seems to be true: A plug fully inserted into the jack will have a surprisingly large portion of its ground ring (the outermost metal band) exposed to the elements.

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AT&T iPad 1 Owners Experiencing Issues with iPad 2 Upgrade

iLounge reports of a series of data activation issues experienced by original iPad owners when trying to upgrade the AT&T service for the iPad 2. As noted by the iLounge staff, an iPad 2 registered with a an existing, fully paid AT&T data service failed to activate; the second iPad 2 unit, set up with a new account, activated “almost immediately”. AT&T is offering two data plans for the iPad with the first one starting at 250 MB (at $14.99 per month) and a second tier with 2 GB traffic at $25 per month.

iLounge details the two issues original iPad owners may run into:

First, the iPad 2 will not activate. Second, the user will either have to manually swap the Micro-SIM cards between the iPad and iPad 2 units, or AT&T will disable the iPad’s Micro-SIM in order to allow the iPad 2’s Micro-SIM to work. The AT&T representative claimed that a user who chooses the latter option will have to buy a replacement card should they want to restore 3G service to the older model, as the first Micro-SIM will no longer be usable.

To enable the service on multiple iPads, AT&T customers will need to set up different accounts as the carrier’s system isn’t able to register two devices at once. While Apple didn’t make any specific mention of iPad 2 WiFi + 3G upgrade plans for iPad 1 owners, many expected the procedure to be simple and easy as swapping the SIM cards at any time with the same account on multiple devices.

Apple: Demand for iPad 2 Is “Amazing”→

Apple: Demand for iPad 2 Is “Amazing”

Speaking to The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple, Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller said the consumers’ demand for the iPad is “amazing”.

Demand for the next generation iPad 2 has been amazing,” Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller, told The Loop. “We are working hard to get iPad 2 into the hands of every customer who wants one as quickly as possible.”

Apple would not say exactly how many iPad 2s were sold over the weekend.

The launch of the iPad 2 saw long lines at Apple Stores across the US, delayed shipping times on Apple’s website and several retail stores sold out of units. A survey revealed 70% of iPad 2s are being sold to new customers, and an analyst predicted Apple would sell 600,000 copies over the launch weekend alone.

At this point, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see an Apple press release announcing 1 million iPads sold later this week.

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Byword: Distraction-less Writing App For Mac

Byword, a new app by Metaclassy, aims at bringing a minimal, focused writing environment to the Mac. The OS X platform isn’t new to this kind of applications that want to take the distraction away from your writing experience: Ommwriter for Mac tried to provide an uncluttered background for your text that, eventually, turned into a distracting experience for many due to the use of sounds and animations; the usual Text Edit, on the other hand, still maintains a strong hold on users with its minimal UI and powerful text editing features. When combined with apps like Think, Text Edit can become the ultimate writing app for the Mac.

Byword, however, wants to step up the game with a really minimal interface made of no toolbars, and just text on a light background. You can run the app in its own window, but Byword is meant for distraction-less fullscreen mode that will feel just right on Lion, but works well on Snow Leopard as well. When you’re writing in Byword, nothing else is on screen. Just you and the cursor. Read more

ScreenFloat: A Better Way To Capture Information with Screenshots

ScreenFloat by Eternal Storms Software – the same developer behind Flickery for Mac – is a new app released in the Mac App Store last night that allows you to take screenshots that will float above other windows on your Mac. Why would you want to do that, instead of the classic CMD + Shift + 4? Because sometimes information can’t be copied & pasted, and a screenshot is the best you can do to have the information you need a few clicks away. With OS X’ default screenshot-taking capabilities, you’ll still be forced to switch between the main app you’re using (say, the browser or a text editor) and the screenshot you just took, perhaps opened with Preview or Quick Look. So Eternal Storms thought that, when screenshots are the best way to quickly capture information, your Mac should be able to let you easily and quickly take a look at the image. Read more

Apple Showcasing “Great AirPlay Apps” In The App Store

With the release of iOS 4.3, Apple enabled third-party developers to implement the AirPlay streaming technology in their apps, a feature that was previously exclusive to Apple’s own software on iOS 4.2. On the new iOS 4.3, not only does Safari allow you to stream video content from the browser to an Apple TV, developers also got the possibility to use the AirPlay APIs (after several requests) in their applications. Apps like Air Video or StreamToMe greatly benefit from the addition of AirPlay without any manual hacking.

To celebrate the new feature for all developers, Apple has put up a section on the App Store to showcase the first apps that make great use of AirPlay. “AirPlay-Enabled Apps” collects 11 different apps that have been updated to support wireless streaming, The list includes the VEVO Player, Air Video, ESPN Magazine, and Discovery Channel HD. All these apps let you beam video from your iOS device to the Apple TV in your local network.

You can find the section here, and we hope Apple will soon update it to feature more great apps for the iPhone and iPad. The problem? If you have a Verizon iPhone you might be out of luck.

iPad 2 Is Jailbroken

Jailbreaking the iPad 2 is quickly underway, as revealed by @comex and @chpwn this evening on Twitter. The Jailbreak has yet to be packaged, and no release date has been announced. Shown to be running on a white 3G iPad 2, Cydia is displayed as ready to launch – a replacement exploit found in the latest version of iOS 4.3 enabled the hackers to install Saurik’s directory. Previous works by @comex include an iBooks fix in the 4.2.1 jailbreak that enabled users to read DRM’d content, and a universal jailbreak web tool for iOS devices.

Phil Schiller: White iPhone This Spring

The elusive white iPhone 4 has become one kind of a myth among tech bloggers following Apple news and fans willing to get their hands on a different colored model of the popular device. Initially announced in June 2010 at the WWDC then delayed multiple times due to alleged manufacturing issues (light leaks, color paint, picture quality have been mentioned in the rumors), a series of DIY replacements have surfaced in the past months, but none of them quite managed to win the hearts of consumers that, at the same time, kept hearing about this white unit finally becoming available in Spring 2011.

Now it is Apple’s Phil Schiller to confirm the news officially through his verified Twitter account: the white iPhone is coming this Spring. In a reply to a customer, he says the white iPhone is a “beauty”. We have no doubts about it – well, at least basing on what we saw back in June 2010.

A number of reports in the past weeks suggested Apple had fixed the production issues with the device and it is now ready to ship it in volume. It’s also worth noting that Schiller didn’t mention the “iPhone 4” in his tweet, but we think it’s pretty clear that we’re not talking about an iPhone 5 available in Spring. It’s unclear whether Apple will release only a GSM version of the device, or both GSM and CDMA for Verizon. [via Engadget]

Donate To Red Cross for Japan Through iTunes

As noted by 9to5mac, Apple has enabled an option in the iTunes Store to donate to the American Red Cross for the Japan relief fund. If you want to make your donation to the earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan, you can by visiting this page and choosing to donate $5, $10, $25, $50, $100 or $200. Everything happens through the iTunes account you already have – a clever move to make donations easy and just a click away for iTunes users.

100% of your donation will go to the American Red Cross, which is set to provide food, shelter and assistance to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami.