Woman Tries To Get Past Airport Security with 44 iPhones Around Her Body

Looks like we have another “this is just wrong” story here. If yesterday’s suicide attempt from a woman who lost her iPhone wasn’t enough, here’s what we have today on the menu: a woman who wanted to become an iPhone smuggler and tried to a) get past airport security with 44 iPhones around her body in b) typical Georgian outfit. Picture the scene. 44 iPhone 4’s below the outfit to get them into Israeli without paying taxes. Must have sounded like a good plan to the woman.

The Ben-Gurion International Airport security staff of course got suspicious over this woman who was walking slowly, asked if there were any problems and the woman replied “she was not feeling well”. Perhaps 44 iPhones are a bit too much for anyone? Anyway, security called a full body scan and surprise, they found a Cupertino treasure in there.

You know what’s missing from this curious story? A white iPhone. Just because. [Engadget via Haaretz]

James Murdoch Confirms The Daily Subscriptions, Launching In The “Next Few Weeks”

Rumors about News Corp.’s The Daily, an upcoming digital newspaper for the iPad, have been floating around for months now. The publication, result of months of hard work from a team of 100+ journalists in New York, is expected to introduce a new automatic subscription system through iTunes and to be heavily based on images and videos. Until now, though, these have been more or less rumors.

At the DLD Conference in Munich, Germany, James Murdoch, son of Ruper Murdoch and Chairman & CEO of News Corp, gave some additional details about The Daily. Weekly subscriptions at $0.99 have been confirmed by Murdoch himself, and the app should finally launch in the “next few weeks”. Read more

iPhone, iPad Rumored to Get NFC Technology, Large Opportunity Awaits

A report by Bloomberg today suggests that Apple’s next iPhone and iPad are likely to feature NFC (Near-Field Communication) technology that would allow various forms of data transfer between the iPhone and another NFC capable device. Richard Doherty of consulting firm Envisioneering Group explains that the technology would be primarily used for making purchases at physical stores, expanding Apple’s reach in commerce beyond just iTunes.

Near-Field Communication is a technology that can send and receive data between two such devices with NFC that are up to 4 inches apart. The technology has gained popularity in recent times, most notably being included in Google’s Nexus S.

By including NFC into the iPhone and iPad, Apple could use it’s existing iTunes accounts and give consumers an alternative to more traditional financial services by Visa, MasterCard and PayPal. Richard Crone, an industry advisor suggests that “It would make a lot of sense for Apple to include NFC functionality in its products.”

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Microsoft Tries to Convince Enterprise that the iPad is Inadequate

So with Microsoft previous attempts at a tablet/slate/UMPC/pad not going so well and with Ballmer unhappy about how successful the iPad has been, Microsoft has started a new strategy. This strategy involves putting together a marketing campaign targeting the enterprise market and claiming the iPad is not secure or flexible enough to be deployed in the enterprise.

Undoubtedly this is an attempt to try and stop or slow the iPad penetration into the enterprise after it was revealed 80% of the Fortune 500 companies were deploying iPads. The 10 page PowerPoint presentation also encourages Microsoft’s partners to position Windows 7 tablets against the iPad.

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BootXChanger Revitalizes Your Mac Boot Screen

Apple’s default boot screen is an admittedly bland and very grey affair, luckily BootXChanger (which has had more than three years of development) offers a simple drag and drop way to add your own image and change the background color.

It’s recommended that the image you use to replace the Apple logo should be 90x90 pixels, any larger and depending on your Mac it may be resized or not show up at all. Images can have transparency and this is a good way to ensure the image matches the background. As a nice extra touch, BootXChanger comes with some sample images such as the old rainbow Apple logo and the Finder logo.

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iOS 4.3 Apps Already Being Approved

It appears that Apple has started approving applications that use features that will officially be introduced in the upcoming iOS 4.3 software update. StreamToMe, an app we previously reviewed here, has been updated a few hours ago with support for AirPlay video streaming, a functionality that’s not available on the current iOS 4.2. Being the feature exclusive to iOS 4.3, you won’t be able to try it unless you’re a developer. An Apple TV running the latest pre-release software is also required.

Does this mean iOS 4.3 is just around the corner? Beta 2 was shipped last week and we’ll likely see Beta 3 this Wednesday. Apple usually goes into 4-5 betas and a GM seed before public release, so we speculate we might see the final version of iOS 4.3 in late February. But then again, issues may come up in iOS betas at any time.

iPad “Best Thing to Happen to Meetings Since the 1960s”→

iPad “Best Thing to Happen to Meetings Since the 1960s”

Ben Brooks is right about the iPad as a device for meetings:

There is an artificial barrier between you and everyone else because of those damned laptop screens.

The iPad changes all of this, it can sit slightly angled on the table and not be a a barrier to anyone, or even completely flat on the table mimicking a notepad. Further, because the screen is not staring you in the face, participants get a more open sense about how you are using it — that is people can see what you are doing on it. This is crucial to making the other meeting attendees feel like you are actually paying attention.

The real difference, though, is once again made by apps: easy-to-use yet powerful software like Screens, iFiles, Omnifocus, Dropbox and FileBrowser can turn the tablet into a killer machine for business purposes. “Apps” is where the competitors will need to catch up with.

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App Store Gets Official Twitter Account

It looks like Apple has just started sharing status updates with an official @AppStore account on Twitter. The account isn’t verified yet but its first tweet has been retweeted by the already verified @iTunesMusic. So why is the App Store on Twitter? Well, according to the first public message:

Welcome to App Store on Twitter! Follow us to discover new apps, get exclusive offers, and share with friends.

It will be interesting to follow the tweets from this account closely and see if they mirror the apps Apple features every Friday on the App Store homepage. This new account expands the set of official Apple services and personalities on Twitter.com: @iTunesMusic and @iTunesTrailers tweet new material from the iTunes Store on a daily basis and @pschiller has been busy sharing Instagram pictures lately. Apple is also active on Facebook and Youtube, where all the commercials and keynotes end up in HD.

On a side note, Scott Forstall hasn’t tweeted yet.

Update: the account is verified now. [Thanks, Florian]