Apple Archive

Daniel Hooper has come up with a number of tweaks to the iPad keyboard to make text entry better. Various websites are in awe, but the basic gist is something I've mentioned before: just implement a few arrow keys - default on many Android keyboards - and be done with it. Hooper uses gestures to perform the functions of the arrow keys, but they are non-discoverable and most likely error-prone (you'll hit the keys) - and thus more complex. Arrow keys. All I ask for.

"In 2007, software developer Laurent Sansonetti launched an open source software project called MacRuby. It aimed to build a Ruby interpreter on top of the Objective-C runtime, providing a seamless bridge between Ruby and OS X "Cocoa" ecosystem—and it succeeded. Now Sansonetti hopes to do something similar for iOS."

"I've been developing a new tweak for iPads called Quasar. Quasar is a tweak that allows you to run your apps in windows in your iPad. Just like in a window-based operating system, you can resize, move, close or full-screen windows." This is really, really cool - and quite useful, too, especially for iPhone-only applications. It's in the Cydia Store for $9.99.

"Apple, the world's most profitable technology company, doesn't design iPhones here. It doesn't run AppleCare customer service from this city. And it doesn't manufacture MacBooks or iPads anywhere nearby. Yet, with a handful of employees in a small office here in Reno, Apple has done something central to its corporate strategy: it has avoided millions of dollars in taxes in California and 20 other states." Sure, this is all legal for companies to do (and Apple obviously isn't alone) but it does show you how much sense of morality companies have. Answer: none. But hey, it's legal, and the law is never wrong, right?

Another solid quarter for Apple. "The Company sold 35.1 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 88 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 11.8 million iPads during the quarter, a 151 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 4 million Macs during the quarter, a 7 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 7.7 million iPods, a 15 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter." The official Apple Money Pile: $110 billion. That's where those 47% profit margins you pay go to!

Dude buys $4000 MacBook Pro. GPU make/model in this laptop is proven to be defective. Apple launches repair program that covers the machine. Apple refuses to fix or replace the dude's $4000 laptop. Dude tries several different ways of getting Apple to admit fault. Apple doesn't budge. Case goes to court, in front of a judge. Apple sends two (2) (twee) (deux) (zwei) (dos) (dva) (dau) lawyers to handle the case. Dude takes care of his own defense, obliterates Apple. Judge summons Apple to pay for the laptop and court costs. During the court case, the Apple lawyers admit openly that replacing the logic board would have cost Apple nothing, since Nvidia foots the bill. Apple paid for two, most likely quite expensive lawyers, to prevent having to pay nothing to replace a laptop. This is pure insanity.

"Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, and Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO, will host a conference call to announce the outcome of the company's discussions concerning its cash balance." Interesting. They have $100 billion on the bank - any guesses? Dividend payout? A large acquisition?

"Yesterday Apple launched iPhoto, its photo management app, for the iPad and iPhone... And we're rather pleased to find they're the latest to switch to OpenStreetMap. The OSM data that Apple is using is rather old (start of April 2010) so don't expect to see your latest and greatest updates on there. It's also missing the necessary credit to OpenStreetMap's contributors; we look forward to working with Apple to get that on there." Pretty ironic coming from a company suing the living daylights out of everyone over rounded corners and bouncy-scroll effects, but alas, I'm sure there's some construed justification coming up from the usual suspects.

"Apple's iOS is starting to get a little long in the tooth. There, I said it. The overall look and feel of the operating system has not changed since its 2007 debut. Sure, Apple has piled in plenty of new features, but the core of the operating system is the same as it was five years ago. It needs a refresh. I'm not saying iOS is ugly or anything, but it's starting to look a little old."

Today MacMan updated Chimera to version 1.8. For Mac OS X developers, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion support has been added. This version will be included in the next MultiBeast release.

Today Samsung AV product lead Chris Moseley had comments about Apple's rumored entrance into the television marketplace that sound eerily similar to that which Palm CEO Ed Colligan's said a few years back about how Apple's ability to simply walk into this market and figure it out like they had managed to do after years of research.

Way back in 2005, only a few months after I joined the OSNews team, I interviewed Wim Schermer, founder and then-owner of the largest chain of Apple "Premium Reseller" stores in The Netherlands, MacSupport (now iCentre). In fact, Wim Schermer was the first Dutchman to buy a Macintosh - the original Macintosh, that is - in The Netherlands, and went on to start his Apple reseller business in 1988. While the interview covered many aspects, one thing always stuck with me: Schermer was concerned about what would happen to his business if Apple were to open an official Apple Store in The Netherlands. Seven years later, his concerns are becoming reality.

Apple reported its quarterly results, and thanks to the iPhone 4S and the iPad, Apple is putting out bizarre figures - 37 million iPhones, 15.5 million iPads. "The Company sold 37.04 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 128 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 15.43 million iPads during the quarter, a 111 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 5.2 million Macs during the quarter, a 26 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 15.4 million iPods, a 21 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter." Is this the end of Android's dominance, or just a single uberquarter due to the new iPhone?

Apple's education event just ended, and just as Ars Technica said, Apple announced better support for textbooks, as well as a textbook authoring tool. The textbook authoring tool is heavily inspired by Keynote and Pages, and hence, I already know it's going to be top-notch and very pleasant to use. In addition, the company also repositioned iTunes U as a Blackboard competitor. As great as all these new tools are, several large red flags went up in my mind: I remember what it was like being the only student who didn't use Windows. Update: "Any e-textbook author that wants access to the iPad-toting masses must make his or her work an exclusive to iBooks 2."