Rubbernet Monitors Your Mac Apps’ Network Usage

If monitoring bandwidth and network usage on a Mac is your thing, Conceited Software’s latest app might just be what you need. Rubbernet is a €30 tool that can be installed on a local machine and networked Macs (unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be support for Hamachi computers just yet) and provides an easier solution to more complex applications like Little Snitch, which besides network monitoring also offers firewall functionalities and lots of settings to play with on an app-by-app basis. Rubbernet, powered by a nice interface design and a daemon that runs in the background all the time on your Mac, allows you to see what apps are consuming bandwidth on your computers, and what kind of connections to remote servers are being established.

The app supports multiple accounts (as you can see in the screenshot above), but I haven’t been able to test it with another Mac on my local network. The Summary app gives you a glimpse of all the active apps that are connected to the Internet, including upload and download rates. The Connections and Activity tabs, on the other hand, will show you all the single IP addresses your Mac is connecting to including, in the case of single applications under Activity, a breakdown of all remote hosts, open ports, and a graphical visualization of downloads and uploads over time. These graphs update in real-time, with a minimal footprint on your Mac’s memory.

You can download Rubbernet here. A free trial is available, so you should check it out and see whether the app can recognize your networked Macs and improve the way you keep network usage under control. No one wants to let Dropbox eat all the bandwidth during an Apple event.

[Disclaimer: Conceited Software’s Rubbernet is a MacStories advertiser. This is not a sponsored review, as it’s entirely based on my personal experience with the app.] Read more

Apple No Longer Pursuing “POD” Trademark

Seven years in the making, Apple is giving up on pursuing the POD trademark. While this doesn’t have an effect on on Apple’s iPod brand, it does open up the opportunity for competitors to brand their products using the POD nomenclature. Patently Apple makes this point clear:

Any competitor who wishes to brand a device with the word “Pod” is able to do so without any legal ramifications from Apple. That should make copycats like Samsung, very happy indeed. Will someone try to introduce something like an “ePod” device in the future? – Yes, more than likely.

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office has published Apple’s abandonment, citing April 13th, 2011 as the day Apple dropped the trademark. Although Apple is no longer pursuing securing the Pod trademark, do they have anything to worry about? The iPod is a household name, and consumers are every skeptical of “copycat” products in the marketplace. You only need to look at iPad and MP3 competitors to see how well Apple dominates, and I doubt anyone else using the word “POD” is going to confuse Apple educated consumers.

[via Patently Apple]

Kickstarter Project: Smart Shell - iPad 2 Case That Works with Smart Covers

Alex Britton of SnapCases.com has an idea to keep the back of your iPad 2 scratch free while letting you use the Apple Smart Cover you have purchased - the Smart Shell.

Apple’s Smart Cover doubles as a screen protector and a stand; it even turns your device off or on when hiding or revealing the screen. The Smart Cover doesn’t offer complete protection to the back of the iPad 2, so it is still exposed to scratches and dents. The Smart Shell helps out where the Smart Cover doesn’t, it’s a 0.8 milimeter thin shell and prevents those ugly scratches and dents. Additionally, it comes in a clear color so you can still show off that beautiful Apple logo. The Smart Cover snaps right onto the back of the iPad leaving space to attach the Smart Cover.

Video after the break. Read more

With iMac Orders Delayed, We’re Expecting a Refresh

CNET’s Brian Tong previously reported at the end of March that now would would be a bad time to purchase an iMac, as a refresh coming in May would bring no cosemtic changes, but Thunderbolt and Sandy Bridge would flesh out the range of Apple’s refreshed desktops. 9 to 5 Mac reports that the iMac is continually seeing supply restraints for the current generation of iMacs, and that a source revealed new iMacs should be shipping next week as Apple stops shipping to resellers this week.

Due to an unexpected delay, we are unable to ship the following item(s)
by the date that you were originally quoted:

Z0JP, IMAC 27\”/5750/SD
will now ship on or before
May 02, 2011

We’re keeping an eye out for May 3rd and 4th delivery dates, and we expect a MacBook Air refresh to include Sandy Bridge processors in June, with Thunderbolt products to hit the mainstream this summer.

[via 9 to 5 Mac]
Image via: MacRumors

Next Generation iPhone 4 Revealed to Have 3.7-inch Screen?

M.I.C. Gadget reports that they’ve gotten hands on with an iPhone they’re pretty sure isn’t an iPhone 4, but possibly an updated model that includes a 3.7” display, and the same proximity sensor as the white iPhone 4. The new display is nearly edge-to-edge, bumping up the screen size but not nearly large enough to be a 4” display as previously rumored. M.I.C. Gadget also speculates that it may have an A5 processor (a prototype model) that game developers are using to build games. Strings in iOS 4.3 revealed that the iPhone was slated to receive the updated processor, and recently a white iPhone was rumored being tested on T-Mobile’s network packing an A5 processor. A bigger screen has been seen floating around on leaked design documents in the past.

Read more

Lion May Sell on Combination of Reinstall Drives and Optical Media

With the MacBook Air refresh, Apple introduced the concept of installing the OS via a packaged thumb drive, leading us to speculate that Apple would make the transition from DVD to a new digital format with the distribution of Lion. John Brownlee from Cult of Mac reporting on AppleBitch notes that Apple may hold on to optical media a little bit longer, possibly offering consumers the choice of both disc and digital formats when they purchase a new copy of Lion to update their Macs. It’s possible Apple will continue to sell optical discs in stores (while bundling all new Macs with a copy of Lion on a thumb drive) as they transition away from optical media, and Brownlee notes that the speculation comes as a result of the disc version of Lion having shown up in Amazon of Germany’s listings.

You could ship Lion exclusively on thumb drives, but the biggest problem I see is in ditching the disc completely is cost. While thumb drives are inexpensive to produce, I’m making the assumption that the costs for producing optical media are cheaper, and as long as the current MacBook and Mac line of Apple computers still have an optical reader, there’s no reason not to utilize it. However, MacBook Air owners wanting to upgrade will either have to purchase the SuperDrive or install Lion from another Mac remotely if Apple doesn’t provide the option of selling the thumb drives on their own. Who knows? Maybe they’ll sell both as a part of this crazy transitional phase.

[AppleBitch via Cult of Mac]
Image via: http://www.maciverse.com/

Apple vs. RIM: Who sells more smartphones?→

Apple vs. RIM: Who sells more smartphones?

For the year, RIM shipped 52.4 million devices. Apple topped them by shipping 57.39 iPhones. That’s about 5 million more iPhones sold than RIM shipped BlackBerrys.

Jim Dalrymple from The Loop offers insight into just how Apple sales figures are trending against RIM’s BlackBerry. Steadily since Apple’s fourth quarter in 2010, they’ve been selling more iPhones than RIM has reported shipping. Combine this with Apple’s reported figure that 88% of Fortune 500 companies are testing or deploying the iPhone today, and the outlook doesn’t look good for RIM. Don’t forget about the PlayBook.

Permalink

Could iPad 2 Sales See a 200% Boon in Sales for Q3?

In Apple’s Q2 2011 fiscal results, Apple announced that only 4.7 million iPads were moved for the quarter, and Time Cook went on record for saying that the iPad 2 has the mother of all backlogs and that they’re working to resolve the issue to deliver backlogged iPad 2s to customers worldwide. Apple believes it can meet the increasing demand for Q3, and so does Asymco’s Horace Deidu. The analyst believes Apple could sell up to 9.8 million iPads in Q3, a 200% increase if Apple can meet current demand (which Cook later iterated was not a result of the recent natural and infrastructure disasters in Japan).

Read more