Apple

Familiar Apple rumors are making the rounds again this week as Macworld looms in the distance, one month away.

Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research put out a research note Monday morning spotted by D: All Things Digital saying that Apple plans to release something from "a completely new device category" next year. He fails to explain exactly what such a product might encompass, but speculates that it will be based around a processor designed by the former P.A. Semi engineering team.

As a result, the usual rumors (Mac tablet, iPhone Nano, iKindle) are under discussion within … Read more

The iPhone and T-Mobile G1 come with pretty much full-fledged Web browsers, and Google now is according them that status by showing search ads on the phones.

Advertisers bidding for search ads through Google's AdWords service now can choose to have ad campaigns run exclusively on iPhones and the T-Mobile G1, the first phone with Google's Android operating system, which also has a robust browser. Alexandra Kenin, product marketing manager for Google's mobile ads team, announced the move on the company's Google Mobile Blog Monday.

By using the "iPhones and other mobile devices with full … Read more

The iPhone is coming to Wal-Mart Stores, though when and for how much is still unclear.

Four electronics department managers at Wal-Mart stores in Delaware, New Jersey, and New York said Monday that they were already training employees to sell Apple iPhones. Two department managers, who didn't want their names used in this story, said the phones are expected to go on sale on December 28. Bloomberg News reported Sunday that a Wal-Mart employee in Stockton, Calif., expects to start selling iPhones on December 15.

Department managers on the East Coast also said they expect to be selling both … Read more

After rumors surfaced last week regarding a $99 iPhone sold through retail giant Wal-Mart, Bloomberg has apparently partially confirmed the speculation, citing "two store representatives saying the world's largest retailer will carry two models of the Web-surfing handset this month."

The store will reportedly start selling iPhones on December 15, just in time for the holidays. No mention of a $99 model was made, with store representatives allegedly confirming only 8GB and 16GB models and the standard $199 and $299 prices, respectively.

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas.

Updated at 2:45 p.m. PST with Fring details.

Apple may have a new mobile phone to compete with--one that runs on its iPod Touch.

The MP3 player can be transformed into a mobile phone with the help of a free application from Internet telephone company Truphone.

The Truphone application allows users with a Wi-Fi connection to make and receive phone calls via voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, with other iPod Touch owners, users of the Google Talk's messaging service, and customers of Truphone's Internet telephone service. The company said it expects to add the ability … Read more

If you're intrigued by multitouch technology as much as I am, you've probably been following it pretty closely and are at least impressed by its potential.

But what could it do better? According to Apple, taking the "touch" out of multitouch would be a good first step.

According to an article on AppleInsider, Apple has issued a 30-page patent that touches on the implementation of proximity sensors into its multitouch technology on devices larger than the iPhone.

The multitouch sensors combined with proximity sensors would let users interact with the given interface without actually having to touch the screen. Now, this seems a tad ridiculous to me, and is anyone really too lazy to move their finger an extra inch? Yeah they are, but that doesn't make it a good idea.

Apple sees some different applications for the technology. According to the company, users would have the capability to turn off the entire touch-screen panel, or just portions of it. In addition, users would able to power down one or more of the computer's systems by dimming or brightening the screen as they see fit.

Awesome, huh?! Alas, no. OK, I may be missing something, but why would you need a proximity sensor to do this? You could just move your finger another inch and accomplish the same thing. The only unique feature Apple cited from the filing was the idea that you could highlight virtual buttons on a display without touching them. This could prepare the button for actually being pushed. Again, how is this useful?… Read more

Apple has announced catalog and download numbers for iPhone applications in the form of a full-page ad that ran in Friday's edition of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

The ad, which can be seen after the page break, boasts that more than 300 million applications have been downloaded from a catalog that now tops 10,000 different apps. That information confirms recent reports on the total number of available programs. Still missing, however, is any sort of breakdown on how many of those 300 million downloads were free versus paid applications.

As Apple pointed out in an e-mail to CNET News, the App Store launched in early July with just 500 applications, and has reached the 10,000 benchmark in less than half a year. … Read more

It's just a rumor at this point, but the usual anonymous tipsters have told the Boy Genius Report that Apple is planning to sell a $99 iPhone at Wal-Mart. There's been some debate about whether this would be a good idea for Apple. One financial analyst ran the numbers and believes that Apple would double or triple sales while still maintaining very healthy margins of more than 40 percent. Other onlookers have noted that Apple does not typically play the low-cost high-volume game; it certainly made fools of any suckers who believed the $800 laptop rumor.

I'll … Read more

Google has released a Mac OS X version of a plug-in that lets people use its Google Earth software as a browser plug-in.

The move means a smaller but significant crowd can rely on Web pages that employ the sophisticated aerial viewing options the software provides. But Mac fans should brace themselves for a 47MB download from the Google Earth API page.

The size is large because Google provided a universal binary file that runs on both PowerPC-based and Intel-based Macs, a Google representative said in a forum posting about the availability of the Mac version. "There are also … Read more