Apple

U.S. military enlists iPod Touch for battlefield

Updated at 1:25 p.m. PDT to clarify that apps being developed for iPhone as well.

The hottest new battlefield weapon in Baghdad is also a hot item on the home front.

Apple's iPod Touch is proving to be a valuable tool to members of the U.S. military, according to a report in Newsweek.

The report notes that the iPod performs many functions in this time of "networked warfare," enabling soldiers to be linked with other soldiers, as well as intelligence resources, such as aerial images from drones and translation software.

Soldiers can use applications … Read more

Apple rumor: Launch e-mail from an iPhone note?

According to developers poking through the latest version of the iPhone OS 3.0 beta, it seems that the Mobile Notes application in iPhone OS 3.0 is capable of detecting phone numbers, URLs, and e-mail addresses when viewing a note. Once detected, which the operating system shows by underlining the data, simply touching that item launches the corresponding Phone, Mobile Safari, or Mobile Mail application. (Source: AppleInsider)

When Apple unveiled the iPhone 3.0 OS in March, it only showed off a few of the new features that are going to arrive with the next release. Developers are being … Read more

Report: Hulu app coming to the iPhone soon

Silicon Alley Insider is reporting that a dedicated Hulu application is indeed on its way to the iPhone and should be here in just a few months.

SAI says the application will work over Wi-Fi and AT&T's 3G network, meaning that users will be able to view programming anywhere with a fast data connection.

Rumors suggesting that an iPhone-friendly version of Hulu swirled around this time last year, however, they predated the launch of the App Store, and Hulu flat-out denied that one was being worked on.

This time around, though, it's far more plausible, with … Read more

Apple tops PC customer satisfaction survey

Apple easily outdistanced its peers in a PC industry customer-satisfaction survey conducted by Forrester Research that found PC companies are only slightly more well-liked than insurance companies.

An overall satisfaction rating of 80 percent was good enough for Apple to trounce the second-place finisher, Gateway, which scored 66 percent. Forrester surveyed 4,564 U.S. consumers online in October in compiling the results, which were published Friday on the research firm's Web site.

Apple and Gateway were followed by HP, Compaq, and Dell, respectively in the survey results. (Compaq, though part of HP, is generally counted separately in branding … Read more

Mossberg gives Apple's MobileMe thumbs up

Apple's MobileMe Web service has finally improved to the point where The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg feels it worthy of a recommendation.

Mossberg, whose opinion can make or break a product or service, has revisited his earlier take on the MobileMe service, which got off to a disastrous start when it was launched last summer. MobileMe lets Mac or Windows users sync their contacts, calendar info, and e-mail across Macs, PCs, and iPhones for $99 a year.

When the revamped service hit the Internet last July, it was plagued with so many outages and glitches that Mossberg--usually … Read more

Apple patent filings hint at iPhone evolution

Apple could be providing a glimpse into some new features for future iPhones in a couple of patent applications the company recently filed.

The blog MacRumors.com reports that Apple has published two patent applications in the past few weeks that focus on features that incorporate motion and gesture user interfaces. One patent was published two weeks ago. And the other one was published Thursday.

The iPhone already has an accelerometer that allows users to shuffle songs on the iPhone by shaking it. And the motion-detecting technology has also been widely used by application developers who have incorporated the functionality into games and other kinds of apps for the iPhone. But Apple appears to be moving a few steps further in making motion an even bigger part of interacting with the iPhone.

Apple notes in the first of the patent filings that interacting with mobile devices while also engaging in another activity, such as jogging or running, can be dangerous as users might be distracted while they're trying to advance to another song or answer a phone call. The new gesturing technology would try to solve this issue. According to the patent filing:

There is a need for providing a user interface in a personal media device that minimizes either or both a user's physical and visual interactions with the personal media device, especially while the user is performing other activities that require, for example, the user's visual senses.

… Read more

Piper: iMac refresh boosts Mac, iPhone sales off

If Piper Jaffray's survey of U.S. Apple store activity holds water, the company's second fiscal quarter might not have been as bad as some had feared.

Apple is getting set to report earnings for its second fiscal quarter next week, and the tech industry is watching closely to see if Apple has managed to diffuse the impact of an economy in recession for the second straight quarter. Few are expecting a blowout from Apple, but Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster is now more confident about Mac and iPhone sales for the quarter than he was in February.… Read more

A year on, Psystar still defying Apple

One year ago, an otherwise sleepy April in the Apple universe was turned upside down by a tiny company from Southern Florida, kicking off a real-world Clone War between Apple and Psystar.

Today, the essential question regarding Psystar is unchanged: does the company have the right to sell computers with Apple's Mac OS X Leopard preinstalled, as it has been doing since April 14, 2008? Psystar set off shock waves through the Apple world that week, as an army of journalists, bloggers, fanboys, and detractors set off on a manic search for anything and everything related to the company … Read more

Report: AT&T looks to extend iPhone pact

AT&T has found the golden goose in its iPhone partnership with Apple and it wants to keep it alive.

The original deal had AT&T as the exclusive carrier of the iPhone until 2008, at which time Apple would be allowed to start selling the wildly popular smartphone on other carriers. But the companies met last August and decided to extend that partnership through the end of this year.

Now, AT&T wants to extend that deal a bit further--say another two years. AT&T's chief executive is talking with Apple to keep that … Read more