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We’re still waiting for Tweetie 2.0 for Mac to be announced (though we’ve heard something new is going on this week) yet a lot of developers haven’t given up on developing and refining their own unofficial Twitter clients. And since Apple released Safari 5 with the possibility to install extensions on it, it was just a matter of time until someone developed a “full-featured” Twitter client for it.
Meet Ostrich.
If Apple were to recall the iPhone 4 (it’s likely they won’t), how much would it cost America’s most expensive company? Estimated at 1.5 Billion dollars, a recall which would be an incredibly expensive venture that Cupertino isn’t interested in perusing. Though if Apple doesn’t act on the iPhone 4 issues, the company is prospected to lose $900 Million anyway, possibly losing up to $200 Million each week the issue isn’t resolved. A cost effective solution could be to distribute free bumpers to customers; Apple sells the bumpers at $30 a pop, but it would only cost Apple $1 per iPhone to distribute free bumpers to customers as a patch according to Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi.
[via AppleInsider (Recall and Loss Estimates) and TUAW]
The Android comes with free Google Maps Navigation. iPhone owners will often downplay this feature of Android handsets, but for me it’s the definitive feature that has kept me from using an iPhone handset for my daily needs. Google Maps Navigation is super convenient to have, and I’m looking forward to when Apple releases a similar, competitive product of its own (if they ever will that is). As Apple’s and Google’s relationship dissolves in the smart-phone market, they may be looking to absolve themselves of Google’s services at some point down the road. Mainly their Maps feature.
The next big market for Apple is Asia, specifically the Chinese market. We’ve already seen their brand new Shanghai store (it looks grand), and Apple has confirmed that a total of 25 outlets are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2011. This is in line with earlier reports, and it’s just another drop in the bucket for the $40 Billion dollar company.
[via Macnn]
As I entered junior high, iPods were the big thing everybody had to have. I remember carrying around the fifth generation black iPod Video, the most awesome thing out at the time. When a repair accident left the LCD damaged, I shelved the aging unit and purchased the iPod touch once that landed in stores later in senior high. This was long before an App Store existed on the device, and after three years of owning the iPod touch, I’m looking forward to the next refresh later this year.
Launch products can have software bugs (or hardware defects) that will need to be ironed out, and TUAW may have discovered an issue we were initially unaware of. The TUAW investigative team did a few unscientific tests and a little bit of a Apple research (perusing through support forums), and maybe verified the following.
While testing out the Jawbone Icon wireless Bluetooth headset recently, the parties I called complained of diminished sound quality on their end. They talked about overly compressed muffled sound, with decreased dynamic range. Over at the Jawbone end-user forums several threads have been discussing exactly that.
It turns out that problem is not isolated to the unit I tested, let alone the manufacturer. At Apple’s discussion forums, other Bluetooth headsets are apparently producing the same distortion effects when used with many iPhone 4 units.
TUAW questions whether this issue is related to the iPhone 4 antenna issues (it might be), but I’m not ready to confirm that just yet. For those of you with bluetooth headsets, how has your experience been with the iPhone 4?
[via TUAW]
For those unfamiliar with Psystar, they’re the guys who adamantly want to sell OS X on PC hardware. They sold cheap alternatives to Apple products, and were challenged by Apple to cease and desist all activity. The courts issued Psystar a permanent injunction against making Mac clones, though that hasn’t stopped the crazed company from pursuing the case in the most ludicrous ways possible. They’ve now requested an Appeal against their injunction, and of whatever breath of life Psystar has left, they plan to persuade the “court to adopt a radical revision of the Copyright Misuse doctrine that would in effect destroy copyright and force all copyrighted works to be licensed.” A little insane, but expected from the bunch.
TUAW reports Apple’s response, stating that ”Psystar’s grossly overbroad per se theory of copyright misuse would eliminate fundamental rights guaranteed by the Copyright Act – the rights to control the reproduction, modification, and distribution of copyrighted works.”
Honestly, this whole saga would have been a lot more awesome if Psystar had made an OS X tablet. I mean, they could have been cool at least.
[The Mac Observer via TUAW]
Senior Vice President of iPhone Software Scott Forstall has recently joined Twitter with a verified account, though if he’s just protecting his name, he may want to make his Tweets private to prevent the public from using him as a lever for customer support. I imagine Forstall is doing just that: protecting his name on Twitter. He doesn’t have a profile pic and hasn’t tweeted anything, so until we see those crazy eyes, the account’s just a placeholder.
However, TechCrunch speculates on the possibilities, mainly that Forstall is either interested in learning more about Twitter for a future iOS implementation. Though After Apple’s incredible profile on Twitter, I imagine Cupertino already has some insight into the company’s operations and software.
And don’t forget the rumors that Apple was thinking about Facebook integration for the iPhone. Nothing came of that with iOS 4, but integration of Facebook and Flickr in software such as iPhoto, suggests that Apple isn’t opposed to such partnerships. For the iPhone, Twitter could be a perfect one.
I can see the headlines now. “iPhone 5. 140 Characters Re-imagined.” Or something magical like that.
[via TechCrunch]
