Bites from the Apple: We’re Back…

October 16, 2009 · Posted in Apple

After a couple of weeks traveling with the family and then having to face up to a load of work that always seems to await you after vacation (which starts to make you question why you should go on holiday to begin with), I’m back on the Apple news hunt. It doesn’t look like the landscape has changed much since I’ve been away–we’re still no closer to an iTablet or tethering capabilities from AT&T, and there’s still no refreshed Mac desktop hardware for the coming festive season.

But wait… is that the infamous “We’ll be back soon” yellow Post-it I spy over at the online Apple store this afternoon? Yes, it was, but now the store’s back and nothing’s obviously been changed. That said, we could be seeing new versions of Apple’s iMac and Mac mini soon (perhaps as soon as next week, but then again I’ve been hearing that for the past couple of weeks). AppleInsider has some intel that the new models will sport top-of-the-line Intel Core i7 quad-core processors. Electronista has a bit more detail on what this could mean as far as under-the-hood and marketing matters:

Although in most cases much faster than existing Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad systems, their low clock speeds in full quad-core use would likely push Apple to advertise their maximum clock speeds under Turbo Boost instead. The 1.73GHz chip runs at up to 3.06GHz when one or more cores aren’t needed and may see Apple advertise the higher speed instead.

Unfortunately, it also sounds like the inclusion of Blu-ray drives was pulled at the last minute. Well, let’s get on to more of the week that was in Apple-y goodness (and disappointments):

One of the things I did before our multi-stop, two week trip to visit family was load up my iPhone with apps to entertain our 2.5-year-old toddler (favorites from the trip included Pre-K Safari, Truckformer and Matches), and I’m always on the lookout for new titles. This week, iLounge takes a look at two interactive storybooks for youngin’s–Itsy Bitsy Spider and Little Red Hen–and gives both positive marks for rather different takes at this app category.
Rumor revue: HardMac reports that the next version of the Mac Pro may include a hexacore Xeon processor (i.e., that’s six cores of power) for shipment in 2010. 9to5Mac reports that a radio app is being developed in-house by Apple, which would take advantage of the FM radio that’s already built into iPhones and iPod touches (but hasn’t been turned on yet by Apple). The app would include the same live pause feature of the latest crop of iPod nanos as well as the ability to purchase songs heard on the radio (from a compatible station that supports tagging) directly from the Mobile iTunes Store.
Gizmodo highlights two iPhone concept interfaces from Ocean Observations–one for Cover Flow multitasking and one for Expose-style management of all your app screens.
The Tweetie 2 iPhone app has been released, and Insanely Great Mac has a video review of the new features, which includes a draft mode that enables you to tweet what’s on your mind and upload at the next opportunity you have a connection (Pocket-lint also has a just-text review). The downside–owners of the original Tweetie (such as myself) will need to pay for the upgrade–that hasn’t necessarily been standard practice in the iPhone app world, but it’s SOP in the regular software world, so we should start getting used to that.
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Why is this lunkhead smiling?
I’m not much of a gamer, but I couldn’t resist the release of the FIFA 10 soccer game iPhone app from Electronic Arts. Soccer games are my one video gaming weakness (and the only reason I bought an original XBox years ago), and I’d previously tried last year’s version of Real Soccer from Gameloft (which has now been updated to an ‘01 version, with a free version for you to try), but it was never that captivating. FIFA 10, on the other hand, has been downright addictive. And the best part of it is the realism–from the hard slog of a season with a team that can get beat even by the bottom relegation zoners to the cleverness you need to run through defenders or snatch the ball away from attackers when defending. (Frankly, as a Chelsea supporter, the biggest downside of the game is seeing Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney mug every time I start the game… but I’m adapting.) iLounge takes a look at both FIFA 10 and Real Soccer 2010, and FIFA comes out on top.
MakeUseOf has a review up of the recently released Dropbox iPhone app, and they’re frustrated at its inability to edit and upload files. If you’re not familiar with Dropbox, it’s a cloud-based file synchronization service that works in the background to upload files from the Dropbox folder that gets placed on your desktop and then synchronize that file with any other PCs running Dropbox that are associated with your account (or with collaborators sharing portions of folders). I recently worked on a project helping a colleague with a book update, and the fast, automated synchronization of source and finished materials made our remote collaboration seamless. And while the Dropbox iPhone app hadn’t been released in time, I would have been fine with just the viewing capabilities. For more on Dropbox app, check out this overview from Glenn Fleishman over at TidBITS.
If you’ve got a a Canon PIXMA MP990, MP640, or MP560 printer, there’s now an iPhone app that enables you to print directly from your iPhone.
Rob Griffiths over at Macworld takes a look at Apple’s new policy of allowing in-app purchases for free apps–which should eliminate the “free lite” versions of apps and now allow you to upgrade to a full version of an app after trying it out.
And finally… I love this hand-crafted iPhone/iPod touch dock (via Cult of Mac). And you can make your own with plans at creator Murtaza Lakdawala’s web site.