Author: Brandon

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News

Apple iPhone – Carriers = Good Idea?

Will the Apple iPhone have its own SIM card? In Europe, sources say have reported that Apple and Gemalto have been working closely together to develop a special SIM card for the Apple iPhone to be used in Europe. The SIM card would allow users to purchase the Apple iPhone directly from Apple’s online store or an Apple Retail Store. After purchasing the Apple iPhone, you can get the phone to work by using the App Store.

The SIM card, which is usually used to carry identification information about the subscriber for the carrier, will be integrated into the iPhone. The SIM card will allow people to buy the phone through Apple’s online store or at an Apple Retail Store and choose their carrier at the time of purchase. An application that is available from the App Store also allows customers the ability to purchase the phone and choose their phone carrier through that application. Both reduce the need for visiting or calling a cell phone carrier.

If Apple does use this new SIM card, it would cut out cell phone carriers out of the device retail game, even though the phone will still be allowed to operate on cell phone carriers. The Gemalto SIM card is embedded in a chip that has a flash component that can be modified and a ROM area. The ROM area alone contains the data related to IT and network security. The flash component would receive the carrier information and data.

This new idea would be very ideal for Europe because of the many carriers. It would also be an advantage for people who travel and want to swap carriers depending on where they are, such as other countries. This is very convenient for consumers and would be a great advantage for the Apple iPhone. Let us know what you think.

Comments?

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Average Joe's Tips

Add Some Extra ‘Magic’ to Your Trackpad with BTT

Apple finally got the trackpad right when they made it glass, multi-touch, and entirely clickable; but it gets even magic-er with a little customization courtesy of Better Touch Tool.

Apple natively offers some (limited) customization of trackpad gestures, but the free application BetterTouchTool deserves credit for making the hardware as useful as it is. BTT allows you to assign commands to 50+ gestures – from ‘5 finger swipe down’ to ‘3 finger tip-tap left’ – and better yet, assign unique gestures to unique applications. BTT also implements the pretty useful ‘Snap’ feature found in Windows 7, used to view two windows side by side (which I find very useful when comparing or transcribing data).

My favorite implementation of BTT is in Chrome; where four finger swipes left and right move me between tabs and three finger swipes up and down create and close tabs. I also  use it to control Spaces (five finger tap to view all, ‘tip finger swipe’ to switch between) which allowed me to actually enjoy the benefits spaces without having to wait for OSX Lion. Other cool features are ‘Live View’; a window that shows you’re finger motions on a virtual trackpad and the command that is recognized (so you can practice your ‘tip-taps’ and ‘tip swipes’), and you can easily toggle BTT on and off from the taskbar in case you have to share your mac with your clumsy fingered roomate.

The trackpad has come quite a long way (and has definitely destroyed its portable-input-device competition) and while it may not yet be ideal for gaming, graphic design, and other involved processes, it adds significant value over the mouse in everyday tasks; like web, editing documents, and viewing media, and may even beat out the mouse and become the input method of choice for the everyday user. I mean IBM definitely never created a desktop version of their ThinkPad’s little red dot…

For more details head to the Better Touch Tool site, or if you’ve heard enough download it now.

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News

Top 10 Mac OS X 10.7 Rumors

Ever since the announcement about the “Back to Mac” event, there have been rumors all around. Below are the top ten Mac OS X 10.7 rumors to date.
  1. FaceTime is not only for the iPhone 4, but also for the newest iPod touch. There are rumors that since the iPhone 4 and the iPod touch both have FaceTime, they will incorporate FaceTime into iChat in the new Mac OS X 10.7 Server. iChat is a built-in IM client that already has video calling, so FaceTime would make a great addition.
  2. Another rumor is that they will redesign the user interface. The new iTunes 10 has new graphical changes such as lack of color in the sidebar. Typically, the user interface of iTunes changes and the user interface of OS X also changes.
  3. One of the most common rumors is that the newest server will be named Mac OS X 10. 7 Lion. Apple sent out invites that read, “Back to Mac.” The invite also had a picture of Apple’s logo cut out of a sheet of metal and behind the cracks, there is a lion. The Lion most likely represents the big cat names they included with the OS X, such as Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
  4. Will Mac OS X 10.7 be spectacular? We will not know yet, but rumors out there say that Mac OS X 10.7 will include big changes because of the suspected “Lion” nickname. The Lion is the king of the jungle and can symbolize big changes coming to Mac OS X.
  5. Some might say that the new Mac OS X 10.7 will make it so there is multi-touch. Does that mean a touch screen like the iPhone 4, iPod touch, and iPad?
  6. The iOS App Store is such a great success. Will there be a Mac OS X App Store?
  7. Apple has already filed patents to incorporate iOS into Mac OS X in an iMac Touch and MacBook Touch. There are rumors that Dashboard will be replaced by an iOS layer.
  8. The upcoming Mac OS X may also have cloud computing and storage.
  9. The new Mac OS X 10.7 is likely to include NTFS support. The current Mac OS X can not support NTFS and relies on third party developers and the open source community to support NTFS.
  10. Last but not least, the Dock and Finder will probably be updated. There will probably be improvements and new features.

That concludes the top ten rumors. What do you think?

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News

Verizon Wireless Offers iPad at Stores Nationwide on October 28

BASKING RIDGE, New Jersey and CUPERTINO, California — On October 14, 2010, Verizon Wireless and Apple announced that the iPad will be available at Verizon Wireless Stores nationwide beginning on October 28. Verizon Wireless will offer three bundles of the iPad. The three bundles, $629.99 for iPad Wi-Fi 16GB + MiFi, $729.99 for iPad Wi-Fi 32GB + MiFi and $829.99 for iPad Wi-Fi 64GB + MiFi are offered. Verizon Wireless also offers monthly access plan of up to 1 GB of data for just $20 a month. Verizon Wireless will also offer all three iPad models by itself.

AT&T will offer all three 3G iPad models in stores nationwide. AT&T will offer 16GB for $629, 32GB for $729, and 64GB for $829. AT&T offers data plans that are $14.99 for 250 MB and $25 for 2 GB.

Verizon’s announcement to start selling iPad is very significant. Verizon has been competing with AT&T with the phones like the Motorola Droid X and the HTC Droid Incredible. AT&T has been the only service provider that has sold the iPhone, but there has been rumors that Verizon will finally start selling the iPhone. AT&T has been known for selling the iPhone while Verizon has been known to sell the popular Android-powered phones. If Verizon begins to sell the iPhone, AT&T will lose its competitive advantage that it has by being the only service provider to sell the iPhone.

The fact that Apple is allowing Verizon to sell the iPad shows that there is growing relationship between the two companies. It appears as if there is a nice partnership forming between Verizon and Apple.

What do you think? Opinions? Comments?

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News

Oh no! Not enough iPhone 4s!

In China, there is currently a shortage of iPhone 4s. China Unicom, the mobile carrier of the Apple iPhone 4 in China, has announced that it sold out all of the 100,000 iPhone 4s within four days of its release. China Unicom had previously reported that 200,000 people had pre-ordered the iPhone 4, but stopped online reservations and only allows users to pre-order by going directly to the retail stores. The iPhone 4 sold out much quicker compared to the launch of the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in China. It took more than a month for China Unicom to sell 100,000 of the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS when they were first launched compared to the four days it took for the iPhone 4 to sell out 100,000 units. Apple has said that more iPhone 4s will be expected to arrive on October 1. China Unicom is offering customers who sign up for the 16GB iPhone 4 with a 2-year contract and a 286 RMB monthly plan will get the iPhone 4 free of charge. The deal is so striking that it is said to be the cause for the huge demand for the iPhone 4.

The iPhone 4 is very popular in China. People in China are choosing smartphones above typical phones with fewer features. There is such high demand for the iPhone 4 because of the media attention. I think that the iPhone 4 is going to be very successful in China, especially when the deal is so attractive to the people in China. People will jump at the chance to get a free iPhone 4 with a 2-year contract and monthly plan. Apple needs to ship more iPhone 4s to China while the demand is high. China Unicom is waiting for the next shipment and is advising customers to check back often to see if the iPhone 4 is available yet. Would you buy one?