Link Your Computer And iOS Device With myPhoneDesktop: Double Pass Giveaway!

We’ve talked about myPhoneDesktop before on MacStories but we thought it deserved a short ‘re-review’ to accompany today’s giveaway. Keeping it simple, the premise of myPhoneDesktop is that it provides a portal through which you can easily transfer data and information from your desktop computer to your iPhone or iPad.

Broadly speaking the app transfers four types of data including phone data (both numbers and text messages), website URLs, text and images. When you send any of that data from your computer, and there is both a desktop and web client, it will be pushed straight to your device with a notification.

But where I think the app becomes most powerful is when you have the data on your iPhone or iPad. In the corner of the app it has the “Open in” icon where it literally has a wealth of options for your data. There is everything from the obligatory search with Google, to send by email, add to contact, send SMS or launching another app with that data. Importantly, the developers aren’t resting on their laurels, since we last talked about myPhoneDesktop there have been a few updates that continue to add more app integrations including Navigon and InstaTodo.

In reality I have only just scraped the surface of what this app can do, for example it also integrates with Google Voice and Skype, so make sure to check out the myPhoneDesktop website to learn more and get your own copy. Today we’re giving away 5 ‘double passes’ of myPhone desktop – in other words the five winners will receive two promo codes, perfect to give one copy to a iPhone-toting friend or family member, or (god forbid) use it as a belated Father’s Day gift. Details of the give away are past the break.

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Mac mini and Mac Pro Refresh In August?

According to Cnet’s Brian Tong, sources have confirmed that updated models of the Mac mini and Mac Pro will come out in August. With a series of tweets on his profile Tong says the “all new” Mac minis and Mac Pros with Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt technology will be released towards the end of July or first week of August. A report from two weeks ago claimed that Apple was looking to refresh the Mac mini and Mac Pro server line-up in July, though Tong seems to believe both the consumer and server lines will receive the much anticipated CPU and Thunderbolt upgrade to follow changes in the MacBook Pros and iMacs.

Tong correctly pinpointed the changes in the 2011 iMac refresh months ago and was the first one to claim back in February that the MacBook Air family was on track for a June update. Several rumors from different publications in the past months have indicated Apple was working on new MacBook Airs with faster processors and Thunderbolt, and the most recent theories suggest the update will come out either in late June or July.

Another report from last week also claimed Apple won’t release new Macs until OS X Lion comes out, and considering Lion’s scheduled July release, it would make sense for Apple to put new Airs for sale (the MacBook Air is now Apple’s most popular notebook) with the new OS preinstalled. In other tweets, Tong also confirms Lion will come pre-installed on new Macs this summer.

Wacom Launches Bamboo Paper, Promotes iPad Note-Taking With A Stylus

Wacom may have been fairly well known for its stylus based displays that many digital artists used, but in recent years it has started to shift its focus towards the consumer market with its Bamboo range of products. A few months ago it launched the Bamboo Stylus, a high-end stylus designed for the iPad and just a few days ago it released Bamboo Paper – an app for the iPad designed for note-taking with the Bamboo Stylus.

Whilst it isn’t the most fully featured note taking app, it offers a strong set of features and although Wacom recommends their stylus when using the app, it still works with just a finger. Your notebook can have an unlimited number of pages and there is also the option to add ruled lines or a graphing grid to the pages.  Where the app falls a little short compared to some other similar apps is that it only offers 3 options for the brush thickness and 6 brush colors.

Some of the other features of Bamboo Paper include the ability to bookmark pages, mirror the display to a TV or projector, as well as print, email or save note pages or even entire notebooks.  Whilst the app works well with just a finger, the Wacom video demonstrating Bamboo Paper with a Bamboo Stylus does look really interesting – jump the break to view it.

Bamboo Paper for the iPad is available in the App Store for free until July, at which point it will cost $1.99.

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iOS 5 Will Apparently Support Nitro In Web Apps That Are Pinned To The Home Screen

Safari received quite a substantial speed bump with iOS 4.3 when Apple added the Nitro engine, a powerful JavaScript engine. However, some were left disappointed when it was revealed that the engine didn’t work with web apps that had been pinned to the home screen.

It seems that iOS 5 will eventually fix this inconsistency and bring those web apps up to speed. It comes after a user on Hacker News answered a question asking whether Nitro was included for those web apps pinned to the home screen.

This is probably breaking my NDA to say this, but yes, they did. Web.app now has the ‘dynamic-codesigning’ entitlement, which enables Nitro.

Apps that use the UIWebView alternative to Safari apparently won’t be getting Nitro, though the same user says that this is a security restriction rather than an inconsistency.

[Via CNet]

Apple Posts New iPad 2 Commercial: “Now”

Apple has posted a new iPad 2 commercial on its website and official YouTube channel entitled “Now”. Similarly to previous commercials, “Now” puts the focus on what is possible to do with an iPad 2, things like holding a book store in your hands, “listen to a magazine” or “touch the stars”. Apple’s short, elegant and concise iPad commercials want to capture the essence of the iPad as a personal device to do things that were impossible before.

Now, we can watch a newspaper; listen to a magazine; curl up with a movie; and see a phone call. Now, we can take a classroom anywhere; hold an entire book store; and touch the stars.

Because now, there’s this.

Among the featured apps, FaceTime, Spin Magazine, iBooks and the award-winning Star Walk. Apple’s previous iPad 2 commercials were called “We Believe” and “If You Asked”. Check out the new video below.
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Apple and Samsung Execs In Talks Over Lawsuits, U.S. Judge Asks Them “To Get Along”

The patent litigation between Apple and Samsung revealed interesting details at a hearing on Friday in a San Jose, Calif. federal court, where U.S. Judge Lucy Koh asked representatives of the two companies if it was possible to “get along”, ironically promising to send them a box of chocolate, Reuters reports. In mentioning the relationship between the two companies (Samsung provides electronic components for some of Apple devices including the iPhone and iPad), Judge Koh also asked if there was a chance to get executives from Apple and Samsung in a meeting, with Apple attorney Harold McElhinn effectively confirming that the case got the attention of high-level executives, who have been meeting and talking over the lawsuits filed against each other in Europe, Asia, and the United States.

At a hearing on Friday in a San Jose, Calif. federal court, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh referenced the close business relationship between the two companies. “Can’t we all just get along here?” asked Koh, who suggested the companies try to resolve the case through alternative dispute resolution outside of court.

“I will send you with box of chocolates, whatever,” Koh said.

Additional details weren’t provided by Apple or Samsung attorneys. The patent litigation between the two companies started back in April, when Apple sued Samsung over the look and feel of the Galaxy devices running the Android operating system with Samsung’s custom graphical skin. As Samsung began filing countersuits in Asia, Europe and later the United States, Apple then asked the court Samsung should hand over prototypes of the Droid Charge, Galaxy Tab 8.9, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Infuse 4G and Galaxy S 2 to Apple’s external legal team for evaluation in regards to the lawsuit. Samsung fired back by asking to see production units of the unannounced and unreleased iPhone 5 and iPad 3. Most recently, Apple extended the patent infringement claims to other Samsung devices and said the company (described as “the copyist”) is trying to harass Apple by demanding production of trade secrets.

iCloud To Avoid File Conflicts with Versioning

In the latest episode of The Talk Show with Dan Benjamin, Daring Fireball’s John Gruber hints at a basic versioning system that will be built in iCloud to avoid the file conflict dialog boxes that have been one of the major issues with the existing MobileMe service. In MobileMe, if things go wrong and the system thinks you have two different versions of the same file, a dialog box will ask you to manually choose one and resolve the conflict. According to Gruber, that will change with iCloud: rather than ask users to choose a file and resolve the conflict, the system will always decide which version of an item (Address Book entry, bookmark, and so forth) is the right one. Users won’t be asked to manually resolve an issue by picking the version they think is right. Furthermore, unlike MobileMe Gruber says iCloud will have a versioning system with an interface that will allow users to “go back in time” and choose another version – think of Time Machine or Versions, as implemented in Lion.

Here’s our transcript of the most important parts – make sure to listen to the full episode here:

Gruber: The new way does not involve merging and conflicts. […] It doesn’t mean that Apple has magically solved the tech difficulties of syncing. […]

You’ve got 3 devices let’s say. Server-side data stored somewhere on a server, and you’ve got an iPhone and you’ve got a Mac. All data is up to date, say Address Book. You have an entry for Dan Benjamin and all it has is an email address. In all three places it’s the same and I sit down at my Mac, I add your home phone # to your contact and then I sit down with my iPhone at the same time (say everything’s offline) and enter Dan’s home # manually, but I enter it wrong. What happens when you sync? You’ve entered two phone numbers in two places, and at the server there’s no phone number. As it stands now MobileMe often will offer you a dialog box telling you that there is a conflict. It presents it to you and you have to pick which one is right. […]

In iCloud I believe you will never be presented with such a dialog, no matter how much has changed in one of the instances while it was “offline”. The server-side iCloud, when there seemingly is a conflict, will make a decision and it will decide which one is the best (in Apple’s terms the “truth”). That is what Steve Jobs means when he says “The Truth is in the Cloud.” iTunes will decide which one is right and that’s it. iCloud will push that right one to any device that has this account that has a different version. But, here’s the trick - what happens if it’s not the right one? On the server side, it will remember all of the other ones, almost like versioning. There will be some sort of interface like “go and look at your contacts.” There will be some sort of way to say “show me previous versions and let me pick the one that is right”. You pick it and push it back up into the cloud and tell it “that’s the truth” and Apple will push it out.

Dan Benjamin: Whatever is the most recent change will propagate but here are previous versions to pick from if you want.

Gruber: Apple won’t reveal it but iCloud, on the server, will determine the truth when it detects a conflict that will never be published. It will act like a “black box”. Most cases it will go by the most recently implemented change – it will be undefined. The key is that if there is a conflict, they will remember the different conflicting versions. If it picks the “wrong truth” it will be able to go back and get the right one. That’s what I mean when I say no more merging or conflicts. iCloud will make its best guess at merging & conflicts other than having you pick it.

Dan Benjamin: Do you know this or is it just a theory?

Gruber: I know this. What I don’t know but I beleeve, again, is that I think iBooks is an example of this in action. If you have the same iBook on the iPhone and iPad and take them both offline and flip a couple of pages on the iPhone then flip a different number of pages on the iPad, and them put them both online and they go to sync their “read state” or “current page state” to iTunes servers, iBooks never presents you a dialog. […]

iBooks is and has been one of the testbeds for what Apple is now calling iCloud.

iBooks has indeed been capable of automatically choosing bookmarks, notes and read state for quite some time, even before iOS 5 beta and iCloud. Apple has made no official mention of iCloud web apps or versioning features yet, but the possibility of choosing past versions of a file seems to fall in line with Apple’s recent developments in basic, easy to use versioning for everyone as seen in the Lion developer previews.

Apple Details Lion Upgrade For Education and Business

TUAW reports an Apple Sales document released today details the upgrade process for business and education customers willing to purchase OS X Lion when it comes out in July. Apple has already outlined the Lion Up-to-Date program, which will allow customers who have purchased a Mac from Apple or authorized reseller to get the new OS for free, by filing a request within 30 days of Lion’s release. According to the Sales document, the upgrade path for business customers will be the following: by calling 1-800-854-3680 or using the Business Store, a minimum purchase of 20 license will cost customers $29.99 per license. With the same minimum purchase of 20 licenses, Apple is offering “maintenance contracts” (which will ensure a free upgrade to the next version of OS X) at $49.99 per license.

As for education, schools will get Lion at $39.99 per license with a minimum order of 25 licenses as part of the Apple Software Collection package, which includes OS X, iLife and iWork. TUAW also explains other licensing and deployment options:

Existing Volume License, Maintenance, and Apple Education Licensing Program customers will receive one redemption code for each contract that can be used to download Lion from the Mac App Store. That single copy of the Install Mac OS X Lion application is used to install Lion on other Mac systems at the school or business.

Once the install app has been downloaded, administrators just copy it to the target systems and run the installer. Administrators can use the System Image Utility in OS X Lion Server to build NetInstall (link to PDF) or NetRestore images to assist in performing mass deployments.

Apple has announced OS X Lion will come out in July at $29 exclusively on the Mac App Store as digital download. More details on the upgrade process and re-installation options due to the lack of physical media will likely be posted soon after the launch of the OS.

Cupcases: Tasty Accessories for your iPhone and iPad

There’s nothing more delightful than a delicious cupcake to brighten up your day, and Cupcases has opened up shop to deliver the same joy of a homemade dessert to your family of iOS devices. Sporting three hand crafted cases for your iPhone and iPad, there’s certain to be something for everyone. While the leather iPhone wallet is great for stashing credit cards, and the cotton case – frosted with dark chocolate leather – would be an excellent companion for the winter months, I really like the stitched iPad sock that’s currently available for $9.99. While I hate to admit I actually love those little adorable socks for iPods, the giant iPad sock can keep an iPad warm and cozy (and keep your screen safe from nicks) as you carry your device and toss it in a bag. One of our writers has already purchased the green koozie, and I just might have to do the same.

Check out Cupcases’ range of products at Cupcases.com.