End User

Bites from the Apple: You Get a Case, You Get a Case, Everybody Gets a Case

Last Friday, Steve Jobs pulled an Oprah when trying to put AntennaGate in its rear-view mirror, unleashing free cases to the iPhone 4 masses to deal with the furor over the long-gestating Death Grip.

If you've been too busy following the travails of Lindsay Lohan and aren't up to speed on the iPhone 4's technical woes, the gist is that placing your fingers on the black line on the lower left side of the iPhone 4's metal band (which is actually its antennae), you will degrade your reception (and transmission). This black line actually separates the two external antennae of the iPhone 4--one for cellular connectivity and one for Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/GPS--and by blocking it with your hand, your body can absorb some of the signal and thus create dropped calls or poor reception. Thus, using a case to prevent your hand from touching the iPhone 4's antennae should improve things (as Consumer Reports suggested, which in turn prompted Apple to finally make its public statement last Friday).

Image courtesy of Macworld.

(For a nicely thorough and very readable explanation of the underlying technical and scientific aspects to this kerfuffle, check out Rich Mogull's TidBITS piece--Why Using an iPhone 4 Case May Improve Signal Strength.)

Anyhoo, the takeaway from Friday's presser with Steve Jobs is that Apple will be offering free cases to iPhone 4 owners through September 30. Not that Jobs, who seemed rather testy on stage, was really pleased about this, as Farhad Manjoo in Slate picked up on:

As Jobs sees it, the only problems with the iPhone 4 are the pesky "laws of physics," which pretty much ensure that anyone who holds a mobile phone in her hands is asking for trouble. The only reason people have been focusing on the iPhone is that blogs keep singling Apple out, perhaps because "when you're doing well, people want to tear you down."

Still, if you want to be a total jerk about it and keep insisting there's a problem with your magical iPhone, Jobs has an offer for you. "OK, great, let's give everybody a case," he said. Happy now, whiners?

So Apple will be offering its silicone Bumper case (which covers just the sides of the iPhone 4, not the back) for free. And there are reports that the Bumpers are no longer on sale at the Apple site. However, there is a caveat--Apple can't make enough Bumpers for all the current 3 million (and growing daily) iPhone 4 owners, so they'll be offering additional cases sourced from a variety of manufacturers. While the offer won't get official until probably Friday of this week (July 23), there are rumors floating around that the cases might be lacking a bit of style.

Personally, I haven't been that affected by the Death Grip throes, but free is free, right? However, I'm not a big fan of silicone cases as they're just too hard to slip in and out of my pocket--and even though the Bumper only covers the sides, I'm stilly wary about this sticky factor. And frankly, if I want a case for my phone, I want the one that's going to work for me the best--functionally and stylistically--not just any freebie. So, this is one free offer I might not take advantage of (the coupon-clipping, free-sample-lovin' Minnesotan who lives deep within me is gnashing his teeth right now).

If you're looking for just the right case for you, be sure to check out the full range of iPhone 4 cases (as well as other compatible accessories) available at the Amazon Cell Phones & Accessories store--such as the chrome Hard Candy Bubble Slider on the left or the Gumdrop Skater Nation soft-touch polycarbonate case on the right.

--Agen G.N. Schmitz

Get more latitude out of iPhone 3Gs photos

 

I took these photos on a recent pre-season get-away in Jamaica. Admittedly the scenery did all the heavy-lifting for me, but they were pretty good for making my friends jealous. But the kicker is that they were taken on an iPhone, and ready to e-mail like this right from the phone. My travel partner, also standing there with her smartphone, gaped a bit: "How the heck?"

The answer is simple; a couple apps that quickly, simply, and effectively increase the tonal range your phone camera can capture: Pro HDR (iTunes link) and TrueHDR (iTunes link). HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, a technique that has been so overused in photography in recent years to create garish images that many of you likely rolled your eyes just seeing the acronym. But HDR is just a tool to fix the inherent problem most digital cameras have of being able to capture a much smaller range of lights and darks than the human eye, and few cameras need fixing as badly as a tiny cell phone camera. With all of those pixels crammed in to a space so small, each pixel isn't receiving very much light, and that tends to mean noisy images with blown out highlights. The noise problem is hard to fix, but tonal range is relatively simple: Just take a picture exposed for the shadows, another for the highlights, and slap them together. And that, simply and easily, is what both of these applications do.

Note: because these apps rely on selective metering, which the iPhone 2G and 3G cameras can't do, it has to be a 3Gs (or future phones)

Since they're both paid apps, you probably don't want to download them both (but I did). So which is better? On paper, that would definitely go to Pro HDR. TrueHDR only exports downsized images, and you're stuck with whatever you get. Pro HDR exports full-sized images, and has simple but effective controls to help you get the best final product:

 

But there's just one problem: It's nowhere near as good as TrueHDR at actually merging the photos. As you can even see from their own product screenshots, above, it tends to merge with horrible halos, one of the things that gives HDR photography such a bad name. TrueHDR is relatively seamless. I've merged two photos below with both products, ProHDR on the left and TrueHDR on the right. It's not even a question which one looks better to me.

So if you're just exporting to the Web, which is what I tend to do with iPhone shots anyway, TrueHDR may be the better choice. But if you're a control freak and can live with halos, give Pro a try.

Bites from the Apple: Something Tablet-ey This Way Comes

With this week's official confirmation that Apple will unveil something big and game-changing and seemingly splattered with color, we can finally breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the end is finally in sight--much like the final resolution-producing season of LOST. But much like that show's myriad storylines and uncertain futures (or pasts) for its characters, I'm certain that there are sure to be disappointments as not everything that we've been hoping to learn and understand about Apple's new tablet device will get wrapped up in a tidy bow.

Most assuredly, there will be oohs and ahhs and gasps of delight on the day of the reveal, followed by the traditional gadgetosphere kvetching that Apple tripped over itself by not including a coveted feature. But we'll ultimately be left hanging wondering what impact the iSlate/iPad/iBook/iSlab will really have on us everyday technology users and, on a macro level, the tech/publishing/entertainment industry.

It will take some time to decipher whether the world (and in particular tech consumers with pinched wallets) is ready to splash the cash for a new gadget paradigm. And the answer to that will also stem from how willing consumers are to embrace pixels over paper, as it's looking like Steve Jobs and Apple are working in overdrive to do deals with trade and educational book publishers as well as newspapers--an arena that Amazon has owned up till now with its Kindle.

Will you be one of the "tens of millions" forecasted to purchase a tablet device (or NetTab) in 2010, and in particular an Apple tablet? Do you see it providing a tech niche that you've been hankering for? Let us know what you think in the comments. We'll continue on some more tablet-related news for the week, and check back later in the weekend as we'll have another edition of Bites that will be (mostly) tablet-free.

• It was revealed this week that Apple has applied for a trademark for the name iPad, though it's got a fight on its hands with Fujitsu, the original holder of that trademark (which brings back memories of the falderal over the name of the iPhone, since it was already used by Linksys for a VoIP phone). And iPad has become the new frontrunner for Apple's new device--though I'm saddened the iCan't believe it's not a newspaper monicker isn't getting better traction (via 9to5Mac).

• AppleInsider reports that this Flickr fanboi concept image (seen above) is said by unnamed insiders to be the closest to what the final Apple tablet will look like--or as AI says, "largely redolent of a first-generation iPhone that's met its match with a rolling pin."

  

• The Register muses that the heart of Apple's new book/newspaper/music/TV "consumption device" will reside in Apple's new data center in Catawba County, North Carolina, slated to be finished by the end of the year.

  (Apple) wants you to continue to buy (or rent via subscription services) tunes, videos, apps, games, and other content from its ludicrously successful iTunes Store [...]. And it wants to serve ads to you while you're blissfully enjoying your iPad entertainment. Witness Wednesday's rumor that Apple is in talks with Microsoft about a deal to ditch Google and go Bing--a search engine with a graphic-heavy style that's a natural for the iPad.

• While it will be the centerpiece of the January 27 event, the iPad probably won't get into your hands until June due to "minor issues" of battery life and durability (which, really, don't sound that minor).

• The Boy Genius Report notes that AT&T is said to be prepping its network " compensate for unannounced devices and also future devices that will use 'heavy data.'" And Fox News (via Electronista) has reported that Verizon is also in final discussions to carry and service the Apple tablet.

• 9to5Mac reports that the iPad looks to be using Apple's homegrown battery technology--the same kind used in its most recent crop of MacBook/MacBook Pro lineup.

• iLounge dug up some interesting tidbits, including the fact that the tablet will have dual dock connectors (enabling both portrait and landscape charging) as well as having enough room to fit in a faster Wireless-N (802.11n) Wi-Fi antenna.

• And finally... a look at what how proposed Apple tablet with 10.1-inch screen stacks up in size against the iPhone and the Newton MessagePad 2000 from Gizmodo's Jesus Diaz. Also be sure to check out Jesus' mini history of the tablet computer and what he feels Apple needs to do to make its tablet a broader success where previous Windows-based tablets became a niche.

  
  

--Agen G.N. Schmitz

Bites from the Apple: Ghost of the Machine

In years past, the Macworld Expo was held during the same week as CES and Apple's keynote rollout of the latest and greatest often upstaged what was going on in Las Vegas. But with Apple pulling out of Macworld and the Expo getting shifted to early February (and no doubt reduced in size without Apple's presence), we just have the ghost of Apple haunting the big launches of CES--from comparing the Nexus One to the iPhone to weighing all the new tablet devices against the mythical iSlab/iSlate/iBook/iTablet.

Speaking of that unseen/unknown 800-pound gadgety gorilla, longtime Mac observer Jim Dalrymple offers a few counterpoints to John Gruber's cogent prognostication from last week. Dalrymple predicts two different tablets with two different constituencies--much like the iPhone and iPod touch--with one offering dual Wi-Fi/cellular broadband connectivity and the other (probably with a smaller screen size) with just Wi-Fi. And he warns not to get too cozy with the iSlate name as Apple most likely has quite the collection of trademarks saved up (and the fact that HP already is going with Slate for its tablet). Christopher Breen over at Macworld also ponders the coming of the Apple tablet and muses what it could mean for the publishing industry (both book and magazine) and what Apple's acquisition of online advertiser Quattro Wireless might mean (i.e., moving from just a hardware/software company to one that emulates Google's advertising revenue from users of said hardware/software).

And as we get closer to the January 27 Apple event (that hasn't been fully confirmed yet by Apple, though Andy Ihnatko has already booked his flight to SF), the rumors are flying faster. Today, Reuters (via MacRumors) is reporting that a manufacturer has been selected for the iSlab's aluminum case and that the device should be in the second quarter of 2010 (which jibes with Dalrymple's forecast of an April). And it's looking likely that Apple will be shunning Intel for processing power and turning to chip made by another Apple acquisition, P A Semi. And Cult of Mac has an unnamed tipster reporting the iSlab's UI is going to require a bit of a learning curve.

• In other rumors floating about this week, 9to5Mac reports that Apple might be looking for LED flash components (i.e., for flash photography) for its next revision of the iPhone. And speculation is growing that the fourth generation iPhone will indeed be going to Verizon Wireless, and as a CDMA-only model.

• Boxee, the media center software, has officially released its beta software to the masses (as well as released its first hardware with D-Link). The software will run on Mac, Windows and Ubuntu Linux, and Boxee promises that a version is being worked on for Apple TV users.

• The Facebook app for the iPhone (link opens in iTunes) got updated this week with push notification capabilities as well as ability to sync Facebook contacts with your iPhone’s Address Book (via The Apple Blog). I also noticed that you can also select the polarizing Facebook Live Feed (either you love it or hate it) instead of just status or news updates.

• Joe Kissel, one of my favorite tech/Mac writers, has a new Take Control e-book out called Take Control of Easy Mac Backups, which is aimed at folks who want an easy introduction to the best ways to back up their Mac(s) but don't necessarily need all the technical details of Joe's super-sized Take Control of Mac OS X Backups tome. Head on over to Take Contol books to get a sample of the new book to see if it's the right fit for you.

• Apple's getting greener, according to Greenpeace, as it's vaulted to fifth place on that watchdog's quarterly Guide to Greener Electronics (via The Apple Blog)

• A faithful Macenstein reader has discovered that the chirping sound the iPhone makes when you plug it into your Mac's for syncing was originally used for the movie Minority Report (and they've got the video evidence).

• And finally... Kuo Design has posted a pretty thorough set of magazine covers over the years featuring Steve Jobs. Here are a few of my faves:

  
  

--Agen G.N. Schmitz

Bites from the Apple: Tabletin' in 2010

After a year of conjecture, false starts, and fanboi dreams, it's looking like the Apple tablet device (the iSlate/iGuide/iTab/iPad/iSlab) may finally become reality at the end of January. John Paczkowski of All Things Digital reports that the rumors of Apple making the big announcement at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco is on, but is slated for Wednesday, January 27 (not the 26th, as many had presumed since Tuesday is typically an Apple roll-out day).

But the big question still remains--what is this thing that seems to be all things to all fanbois? John Siracusa at Ars Technica brings a bit of reality to the table by noting that the consumer electronics device that Apple is about to drop will not include magical alien technology:

There's also the popular notion that Apple has to do something entirely new or totally amazing in order for the tablet to succeed. After all, tablets have been tried before, with dismal results. It seems absurd to some people that Apple can succeed simply by using existing technologies and software techniques in the right combination. And yet that's exactly what Apple has done with all of its most recent hit products--and what I predict Apple will do with the tablet.

That means no haptic-feedback touchscreen, no folding/dual screens, no VR goggles or mind control. Instead of being all that people can imagine, it'll just be what people expect: a mostly unadorned color touch screen that's bigger than an iPhone but smaller than a MacBook.

Going further, John Gruber at Daring Fireball asks the $250-per-share question: If you already have an iPhone and a MacBook; why would you want this? To which he answers:

Do I think The Tablet is an e-reader? A video player? A web browser? A document viewer? It’s not a matter of or but rather and. I say it is all of these things. It’s a computer.

And so in answer to my central question, regarding why buy The Tablet if you already have an iPhone and a MacBook, my best guess is that ultimately, The Tablet is something you’ll buy instead of a MacBook.

I say they’re swinging big -- redefining the experience of personal computing.

It will not be pitched as such by Apple. It will be defined by three or four of its built-in primary apps. But long-term, big-picture? It will be to the MacBook what the Macintosh was to the Apple II.

Apple clearly sees that the computing path for today's young generation is the touch UI and seamless mobility, and the iSlate/iGuide/iTab/iPad/iSlab has the potential to change and challenge the marketplace like Apple has done with the Macintosh, the iMac, the iPod and the iPhone. As long as it avoids the pitfalls of the Newton as being a clever device with a lot of potential, but not enough practicality for the purchase price.

• Several sites around the gadgetosphere have posted what are purported to be the specs for the 7-inch iSlab, but as TUAW notes, it is just more diversionary smoke. Move along. Nothing to see here.

• If you received a new iMac or MacBook over the holidays and aren't very familiar with the Mac OS, check out this free video primer from ScreenCasts Online full of tips for using the Dock, Stacks, managing windows, and more.

• The best of the Oughts, the worst of the Oughts... Macworld publishes its picks for Apple's most significant products of the decade (with the original iPod, seen at right, topping the list) as well as the worst (including the fatty third-generation iPod nano and the Apple TV, which has certainly been a bit of a disappointment of missed opportunities to this point).

• With the calendar turning to a new year, Apple and AT&T have officially not met their promises for adding Windows 7 support to Boot Camp and iPhone tethering (respectively)

• IntoMobile positively reviews the iPhone game for the movie Avatar (which, btw, is definitely worth the wait to see in a 3D-equipped theater), noting that one of its strongest points is the length of time it takes to both tell the story and complete the game.

• Our friends over at TidBiTS have just released an iPhone app that plugs you directly into some of the best Mac news coverage and how-to articles on the interwebs. Give it a shot--it's a freebie.

• My colleague Glenn Fleishman (a contributing editor to TidBITS and a Dr. Who junkie) has a very detailed review of the Mac mini server edition over at Ars Technica--giving it a positive assessment for small business users with the warning that you'll still need to do some tweaking.

• Based on a job listing, Electronista wonders if we'll be seeing 802.11n Wi-Fi in the next version of the iPhone.

• With the iSlab getting all the attention these days, CNet's Nanotech blog wonders how Apple might rejigger its MacBook Air ultraportable laptop.

• Question of the Week: One of my resolutions for the new year (and I'm sure I'm not alone) is to be a better financial manager. I've used Quicken 2007 for the Mac in the past, and Intuit is finally getting around to releasing a new version of Quicken for the Mac (dubbed Quicken Essentials) in early 2010. But I'm also curious about iBank and was wondering if anyone's got some opinions on it. If you do, please leave it in the comments

• And finally... the perfect bedding set for Apple/iPod touch fans (via Technabob and Slippery Brick). I'm pretty sure my nearly 3-year-old, iPhone-mad toddler would ditch his construction vehicle bedding set for this:

  
  

--Agen G.N. Schmitz

Apple's Magic Mouse Cuts Largest Slice of Mouse Marketshare To Date

Amidst all the talk of speculation regarding iSlates tablets, new iPhones, and the success of the iPod Touch, Apple has another headliner as 2009 comes to a close: according to AppleInsider, for the first time, Apple's mouse sales have captured over 10 percent of the mouse market share. All thanks to the Magic Mouse.

The Magic Mouse debuted in October of this year, touting a buttonless, multi-touch sensitive shell, the first consumer mouse of its kind to offer such capabilities. And while, in general, reviews of the mouse have been mixed, there seems to be enough consumer drive behind the Magic Mouse to elevate the Apple share significantly.

BoingBoing's Rob Beschizza put it best, encapsulating just what is right and wrong with the Magic Mouse:

After the first minute I hated it. After a day I loved it. After a week, I'm on ibuprofen. I like the Magic Mouse, especially the touch-sensitive surface and flick scrolling, but am just not sure how long my metacarpals can take it.

The future of mice, it seems, takes quite a bit of getting used to, even for the most avid gadget reviewers. Like the Mighty Mouse before it, and the classic stylings of the original Apple USB Mouse (or, as it's lovingly called, the "hockey puck"), the Magic Mouse doesn't look like any other mouse out there, which is a hallmark of Apple design. Most consumers are so accustomed to using a two or three-button mouse that any derivation is difficult to get used to. Having used many of the Apple predecessors to the Magic Mouse, and ultimately using a Logitech run-of-the-mill in the end when the Mighty Mouse wheel started acting up, I'm approaching it all with skepticism.

Much of my reservation has to do with the swirling speculation regarding the purported Apple Tablet and not necessarily the functionality of the new Magic Mouse. With applications already available to turn iPods and iPhones into functioning computer touch mice, how viable is the mouse market going to be heading into the next decade? And while the Magic Mouse is certainly heads and shoulders above other mice on the market as far as capability, design, and functionality, it's no guarantee that the mouse will have staying power at all.

As AppleInsider points out:

Whether or not Apple can sustain its increased sales volume of mice sales over time remains to be seen. New Apple products are usually accompanied by publicity and buzz that pushes their sales through the roof in the early going, but often those sales die down over time.

If the tablet supports a mouse, as the iPhone blog cautiously rumors, then it's spectacular timing (assuming that the iSlate, or whatever it will be called, will be out in January); however, if the iSlate doesn't have any peripheral mouse capabilities, it's a bit of a head-scratcher. If consumers are ready for it, the iSlate could render the Magic Mouse, and all other mice, obsolete.

--Natania Barron

Bites from the Apple: You Say iSlate, I Say iSlab

One of many fanboi mockups of the iSlate/iTablet/iPad (via the iPhone Blog).

The unreleased 1990s MessageSlate prototype (via MacRumors).

Based on rumors and patent filing conjecture, this is what some thought the iPhone would look like back in 2006.

While visions of sugarplums and iMacs danced about in sleepy holiday heads this past week, the gadgetosphere was in rumor churn overdrive with some possible details on the coming tablet computer/device from Apple. Known up to now in the fanboi universe as the iTablet or iPad, MacRumors reported that the device might be called the iSlate based on Apple's acquisition of the islate.com domain name and potentially Apple being behind a dummy corporation called Slate Computing, LLC (with the latter potentially clouding things a bit with that company also trademarking "Magic Slate"). MacRumors also reminds us of an old prototype that Apple worked on in the 1990s called the MessageSlate, a tablet version of the Newton.

Whether or not the iSlate makes it as the final name for this device (certainly not my first choice), it's looking likely that we'll see it debuted to the masses by the end of January. The Financial Times techblog reported on December 23 that Apple would be scheduling an event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on January 26. Meanwhile, the Boy Genius Report went all in with a source saying there's a 100 percent chance of a 7-inch iSlab (my new favorite choice for nomenclature) getting announced. And today, AppleInsider reports that Apple has place mass orders for 10-inch display panels with a new "unidentified glass strengthening process" that is presumed by various sources to be the reason that the iSlab was delayed from coming out last fall.

Electronista reports that Kevin Rose of Digg.com--who hasn't necessarily been known for his spot-on pre-release proclamations--has proclaimed that the iSlab will make Amazon's Kindle a hit on eBay as owners rush to the new new tech in town. But Harry McCracken at Technologizer reminds us of the speculative prehistory of the iPhone and how wrong so many people were in the run-up to its announcement. We really won't know what the iSlab will look like or what it's primary function (e-books? newspapers and magazines? TV?) will be until late January, but with reports coming out that Steve Jobs is happy with his new product, it could very well be worth the wait.

• Aside from the hardware mysteries of the iSlab, another question to be answered is what form of OS X operating system it will run. TUAW highlights speculation from Apple consultant Michael Kimble wondering whether Apple will formally start to differentiate its various OS X flavors (such as OS X Mobile, OS X Touch, OS X Desktop and OS X Server)

• In other rumors, Wired's Gadget Lab notes a report from the Taiwanese Digitimes news site that Apple has ordered 40 milliion 5-megapixel image sensors, most likely destined for the next version of the iPhone (as well as possibly the iPod touch). And Public Radio International (via Boy Genius Report) reports that Apple is stepping up its efforts to sign up content providers for a subscription-based Apple TV service. And it seems CBS and Disney are interested.

• Macworld gives a positive review to Iomega's StorCenter ix2-200 network-attached storage (NAS) device, which offers 4 TB of storage right out of the box (it also comes in 1 TB and 2 TB flavors), Time Machine backup and iTunes server capabilities for Mac users, and an interesting BitTorrent download manager.

• Considering an Apple hardware purchase in the near future? Gizmodo offers its opinions on whether or not now is the time to buy (based on historic release patterns and such). I always say, if you have the need (i.e., more than just desire), there's no need to wait (unless you're a month away from a guaranteed Apple event).

• If you're a MacBook or Magic Mouse owner and want more control over multitouch gesturing, check out the BetterTouchTool, which lets you add and configure more gestures (via Lifehacker).

• The Apple Blog lists its top 11 iPhone apps for 2009, which sadly leaves off my fave for the year--the FIFA 10 footy (soccer) game.

• And finally... I'm not sure who really needs this Frankenstein of a Mac mod that combines a coffee maker, subwoofer and Mac mini in the body of an original iMac, but it's pretty frakking cool (from Kiwidee via TUAW).

  
  

--Agen G.N. Schmitz

Bites from the Apple: Last-Minute Shopping (and Savings)

A fairly slow news week on the Apple front, what with holiday falderal moving into overdrive, so let's get right to the Apple-y goodness (and get back to gift shopping before it gets too late)...

• If you're considering a GPS app for your iPhone, now's a great time for purchasing as the competition has been driving down the price in time for holiday giving. Currently, the TomTom iPhone app is $50, while the Navigon app is down to $60 and Magellan has lowered its price to $80. To sort through all the GPS possibilities for your iPhone, check out this Macworld review of nine of the big navigation apps (written by my pal/colleague Glenn Fleishman), which surprisingly puts the subscription-based AT&T Navigator at the top of the heap.

• The Apple Blog reminds us that the latest crop of MacBook/MacBook Pro models are also a great companion to your HDTV these days, with a little help from a DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter and an HDMI cable (perhaps an affordable option with Amazon Frustration Free Packaging).

• And speaking of seasonal savings, the entire catalog of Take Control e-books is on sale for 50 percent off--including the e-book version of publisher Adam Engst's iPhoto 09 Visual QuickStart Guide (a great resource for Mac newbies). If you're new to Take Control books, check out some of the highlights at TidBITS.

• Looking to try out some new software? Check out Lifehacker's list of most popular free Mac downloads for 2009 (including the not-exactly-free, but very affordable Snow Leopard OS X update).

• TUAW points to a new file sharing site--Droplr--which resides in your Mac's menu bar for quick access and provides up to 1 GB of storage space. The site seems to do well for smaller files, but it choked a couple of times on my attempt to upload a 100 MB file.

• With the release of the beta versions of Google's Chrome Web browser, Apple's Safari browser has been knocked down to 4th place in worldwide market share behind the new kid on the block (via MacRumors).

• Some worrying news about VLC, the Swiss Army knife of media players (and one of my most used pieces of software)--development has been stalled on the Mac 64-bit update as Mac developers are involved in this volunteer open-source project have dwindled to nil. If you know C, Cocoa and Xcode and are interested, be sure to hit them up on their Developers page (via multiple sources, including MacNN).

• Verizon continues to tweak AT&T by saying that it's ready to handle the data demands of iPhone users once Apple's exclusivity with AT&T is over in the coming year (via Boy Genius Report). But if this is the kind of service that iPhone users can expect from Verizon, maybe it's best to stick with the devil you know.

• Continuing in the rumor vein, it looks like we would be seeing 64 GB iPhones and 128 GB iPod touches with Toshiba launching new 64 GB NAND flash memory chips in early 2010 (the iPod touch, which isn't saddled with some of the additional hardware of the iPhone, can pack two of the memory chips).

• And finally... Apple received several accolades from AdWeekMedia this week in its review of the past decade's advertising, including ad campaign of the decade for its Get a Mac series (as well as brand of the decade and product of the decade for the iPod). The Get a Mac campaign has been running since 2006, and here's a reminder of a couple of the ads from that first year:

--Agen G.N. Schmitz

The Droid You Are Looking For: Droid Knocks the iPhone from Time's Top Spot

Earlier this week, Time Magazine announced their yearly Top Ten lists, and at the head of the gadget pack was quite a surprise. The Motorola/Verizon Droid was crowned as Top Gadget of the Year—no small feat—while the iPhone languished in the 4th place position. Thankfully, the editors Lev Grossman and Peter Ha, give us a little light into their reasoning:

The Droid is a hefty beast, a metal behemoth without the gloss and finish of the iPhone, but you don't miss it. The Droid's touchscreen is phenomenally sharp and vivid, it has an actual physical (not great, but good enough) keyboard, and best of all, the Droid is on Verizon's best-of-breed 3G network. It's Android's first credible challenge to the iPhone.

How did the Droid de-throne the iPhone? Well, while much of the whole “iPhone killer” press is just clever media chatter, there’s something exciting about seeing a real competitor to the market that's important to recognize. Since 2007, when the iPhone was first made available to the public, cell phone and smartphone manufacturers have also been scrambling to come up with something to compete. It's never been a matter of getting the technology, necessarily; it's been a matter of getting the whole package right, and impressing its viability upon the public. Still, very few have risen to the challenge, and certainly none have attracted the loyalty Apple seemingly had on day one.

But for the last half of the decade, while people were tripping over themselves and pledging their first born children to get iPhones, Android has steadily gained in reputation and promise. The first release of an Android phone, the G1 by T-Mobile, was a bit lackluster. Chalk it up to T-Mobile service and, in general, the clunky design. And, as CNET observed, even the new, second-generation Android phone MyTouch still leaves much to be desired with a variety of gaps in its design including the lack of "standard 3.5 millimeter headset jack, a file manager, and camera-editing options".

So with T-Mobile still lagging behind, the buzz about a true "iPhone killer" (sometimes I feel like they're talking about Highlanders and not cell phones) has been feverishly pointing toward the new Motorola Droid, partnering with Verizon Wireless. And the editors at Time may be right, albeit a little premature in their ruling.

While their marketing strategy is certainly nowhere near as slick as the Apple approach, Droid has cleverly combined a powerful name in the cell phone game, Motorola, with a certain geeky trendiness that’s likely to appeal to a larger audience. Before the iPhone, nothing was more visible than the Motorola RAZR. Forget if the interface was horrible, it came in silver and pink and just looked like it might have fallen off of a spaceship. (I lusted after one until I finally caved and bought one, only to be so disappointed with the UI that I abandoned it for my old phone)

But now there’s no worry about bad interface since the sleek Droids use Android 2.0. And for the many customers frustrated with AT&T and T-Mobile, combining forces with Verizon wireless is a stroke of genius. It may just prove to be that alchemical mix needed to rattle the Apple from the tree. Or at least make the tree rock enough to get them worried.

It's no argument that the iPhone has forever changed the way that we think about and use our cell phones. But while it's dominated the market for the last few years, it's also done something else rather remarkable: it upped the ante. It’s exciting to see the innovation in other companies finally taking shape and to speculate about what the next decade may bring. Seeing how far Android has come in so few years is certainly refreshing. 

Bites from the Apple: Wrapping It Up

It's come to that time on the calendar to summarize favorites of the year as well as offer some thoughts for gift giving, and I don't want to disappoint. While this might seem a tad on the obvious side, my favorite new Apple-related item from the last year has been, hands down, the iPhone 3GS. I upgraded after owning the original iPhone (which has now been shuffled to my mother, who's enjoying it to the point where I had to tell her to stop texting me after 11pm), and I've come to love the iPhone 3GS even more. The increased processing speed is now something I take for granted, but it was rather astonishing to see how much faster it really was compared to the OG iPhone.

The iPhone 3GS has also afforded me the ability to slim down my pockets, as I rarely take along a digital camera or my Flip Mino HD thanks to the improved camera coupled with its 3G upload speeds to either Flickr or Facebook. I also didn't expect that I'd use the GPS function that much as I'm pretty navigationally secure in my driving around Seattle, but I find that I hit Google Maps as soon as I'm in the car to check on traffic. I also got an iPhone 3GS for my wife, and watching her discover it, play with it, and uncover new possibilities has definitely made it my favorite purchase of the year.

Some other favorites from the final year of the Oughts:

• I've also been very satisfied with the new 15-inch MacBook Pro, which has provided excellent processing power and very decent on-the-road battery life from the new non-swappable battery. I don't get near the 7 hours that Apple claims you can get (perhaps if only using iChat?), but it's a significant improvement over the previous iteration's battery.

• My wife received my old MacBook Pro as her very first Mac, and my pal/colleague Jeff Carlson's Snow Leopard Pocket Guide has been great at getting her acclimated to her new computing environment. Unlike myself, she doesn't really enjoy cracking open a computer how-to book, so this one is perfect for her (and anyone else in that same boat).

• While my wife has barely looked back at her old Gateway Windows laptop, she did need to have access to Windows to run her AutoCAD architecture software. And the interface improvements to Parallels 5 (including the Crystal mode, where Windows applications run even more seamlessly within the Mac environment) makes her forget she's even running Windows. For more on Parallels 5, check out his extensive review over at Ars Technica.

• As far as iPhone apps, I'd have to say that my favorites of the year are really for my toddler, who takes over my iPhone from time to time (yes, Apple products are a family affair around our home). I was already a fan of the developers at Duck Duck Moose with its Wheels on the Bus iPhone app (link opens in iTunes), but they proved they weren't one-trick ponies with the release of the Old MacDonald and Itsy Bitsy Spider iPhone apps--they're richly illustrated, smartly immersive, and slyly humorous.

Now, onto the news of the week that was in Apple-y goodness:

• If you're looking for more gift ideas or new hardware/software for yourself, check out Macworld's Editors' Choice Awards and Dan Frakes' Mac Gems of the Year (including my favorite utility discovery of the year--ScreenSharingMenulet).

• The big news of the week was confirmation of last week's rumored acquisition of online music streaming service Lala by Apple. Gizmodo reports that The Wall Street Journal (subscription only) wrote that Apple will evolve the iTunes store into a web model, where you'd be able to access and manage your iTunes library through a Web browser. But Ars Technica points out that a cloud-based iTunes could run into interference from the usual suspects--record labels. Some other tidbits floating around this story--Gizmodo reminds us that iTunes was once an acquisition (based on the old SoundJam software) and that Apple looks to have stolen Lala from the clutches of its growing rival, Google.

• Speaking about toddler use of the iPhone, Ars Technica reports that the iPod touch is becoming the gateway drug to the iPhone for the younger generation, based on numbers showing that the users of the iPod touch are gaining on iPhone users according to numbers from the Flurry analytics firm.

  "It's basic 'Life Stage' marketing—if you can appeal to a user, get them used to your platform early, it's a major competitive advantage," Peter Farago (Flurry's vice president of marketing) said. "Parents that don't want their kids having phones, but maybe have bought them an iPod or Gameboy in the past, are much more likely to get them an iPod touch."

• The Google Chrome Web browser beta is now available for download for Mac users (as well as Linux users), though it's hobbled by the fact that extensions that Windows users have been enjoying with Chrome won't be available for Mac beta users until early 2010 (they'll be made available to developers this weekend, according to The Apple Core). For a hands-on look at Chrome for Mac, check out Ars Technica.

• What to do when an iPhone app gets updated and becomes horked? Philip Michaels at Macworld's iPhone Central suggests deleting it and restoring an older version via your Time Machine backup.

• If you're looking for an online backup service to supplement your Time Machine and bootable external hard drive backups (which you're all doing, right?), Scott Rose (a contributing editor to MacLife) compared the top 5 online backup services and found Backblaze (which I use as well) to be his favorite.

• The Apple Blog looks into its crystal ball to see what Apple will bring us in 2010, including the Mac lineup (including the iTablet), the i- suite of Apple software, and cloud computing (with MobileMe and Lala). Oh, here's one certainty for the new year--a new version of the iPhone.

• If you haven't seen it, be sure to check out the article from last Sunday's NYTimes business section on the game-changing importance of Apple App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch--a good review of both successes and frustrations.

• If you run into trouble with AT&T coverage on your iPhone (dropped calls, bad data connection), now there's an app for that. Download the Mark the Spot iPhone app to let AT&T know the precise location of the problem (via Lifehacker).

• Here's another use for the already hotly multitasking Mac mini--diaper warmer.

• And finally... a gorgeous representation of what an Apple Tablet device and UI could look like via Gizmodo:

--Agen G.N. Schmitz