Bites from the Apple: Two Great Tastes that Taste Great Together

Quarterly results for Apple are due to be released on Tuesday (July 21), and while they're expected to be good, they sadly won't take into account my personal Apple stimulus program that I initiated last week with the purchase of two of the new crop of iPhones (one for me, one for my wife) and the top-of-the-line MacBook Pro (heck, even my mother-in-law chipped in with a new 13-inch MBP). And I'm loving the new features that both of them brought. While i's great to have video recording and the cut-and-past feature rocks, the best thing about the iPhone 3GS truly is its faster processor. I've been using OmniFocus (link opens in iTunes) as my task management application since last summer, but it opened and synced so slowly on my EDGEy/OG iPhone that I had pretty much given up on using the iPhone app and just used the desktop software. But with the combined speed increase in both processor (which makes opening the app nearly instantaneous, where before it took several seconds) and cellular connectivity, I'm finding myself returning OmniFocus on the iPhone and feeling better about spending the dough for both desktop and iPhone apps (which totaled about $100).

I'm loving how solid the unibody MacBook Pro feels, and both how silent it runs and how quickly it responds from sleep. My first impression of the glossy screen was a big wow--the colors and brightness were so much better than my 2007 model MacBook Pro. However, I'm starting to understand some of the complaints about the glossiness of it--with the main problem being reflection. My wife and I watched a movie on the MacBook Pro and I had trouble not concentrating on her mirrored image on the screen, plus my limited use of the MBP in directly sunny conditions have been challenging. AppleInsider reported this week that Apple has heard enough complaints that it's considering offering matte display options (currently now only found with its 17-inch model) to the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros.

• The image above comes from Balmuda Design, which offers the NumberKey iPhone app that turns your iPhone/iPod touch into a 10-key pad (connecting to your Mac or Windows PC using Wi-Fi).

• The big rumor of the week is yet another re-hash of the long-gestating iTablet rumor... but this time it's being reported by a reportedly reputable journalistic source--the China Times (translation link via The Apple Core). According to the report (via Gizmodo and Ars Technica among others), Apple will release its take on the netbook in October for $800.

• My colleague Jeff Carlson writes in the Seattle Times about his experiences using DropBox to network remote computers and synchronize files between several different Macs, and then using Growl to receive notifications that files have been synced. And Macworld's iPhone Central reports that an iPhone version of DropBox is being readied for release, which will enable you to sync files between your iPhone and Mac.

• 9to5Mac reports that the Fring iPhone app has been updated with push notifications for both incoming VoIP calls and instant messages (IMs)--which can transform an iPod touch into a much more workable phone alternative. Before this update, The Apple Blog also did a survey of 10 other IM apps with a handy comparison chart, and crowning the free, multi-network-receiving IM+ Lite as the champ. The IM+ with Push app adds, as the name suggests, push notification and is currently on sale for $4.99 in the App Store.

• As Tom noted earlier this week, the latest version of iTunes has killed the Palm Pre's syncing capability with Apple's music management software. TUAW offers Pre owners some alternative ways to keep the music syncing--including The Missing Sync and Salling Media Sync.

• Arggggh... when will EA (Electronic Arts) release its FIFA series soccer game to the Mac? TUAW reports that FIFA 10 will be coming out in October on a slew of platforms save for OS X for the Mac and iPhone. Rather than focus on the big guns in its arsenal, it seems that EA is going small by creating a micro-studio devoted to low-cost iPhone gaming called 8lb Gorilla, and it's come out with its first release called Zombies and Me (link opens in iTunes)--which MobileCrunch finds underwhelming even for $0.99.

• Over at the iTunes Store, you can party like it's 1985 with its hot new sales concept--digital 45s (as noted in Macworld). Now as an oldster who still owns all of his 7-inch singles (including my highly prized Japanese/Spanish version of The Police's"De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da"), I kinda like this concept. In the old days, many bands would often pair a hit song with an unreleased B-side, and the iTunes Store pulls together some interesting chestnuts by Prince, Van Halen and Michael Jackson from the mid-1980s. It'll be interesting to see if this concept has legs with contemporary artists.

• And finally... speaking of the decade when video began to slowly but surely kill the radio star, Gizmodo has posted a re-imagining of what today's Apple web site would look like with products from 1983:

  

  And from the Apple Matters history section, a reminder of the birth of Aldus Pagemaker (which has since morphed into Adobe's InDesign) back on July 15, 1985.

--Agen G.N. Schmitz