Okay, here’s the deal. Jobs Co. has caught wind that all kinds of people want to see 3rd party apps on their iPhones and iPod Touch devices. Its rather amazing as people were really just keeping it quiet, but Steve is an upstanding guy. He was apparently out beating the street with a strained ear to find out what people really wanted. After due diligence, Steve announced that Apple will be shipping an SDK (Software Development Kit) for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This will allow developers to create real applications for these handheld sweeties. I’d say you can look forward to Flash-enabled Firefox pretty soon here, kids! Read on for the announcement text. Continue reading »

written by Tyler Regas

What is it about Apple? There are a dozen major makers making and selling hundreds of models of mobile phones all around the world, yet they go after the Apple iPhone. Sure! Why not!  Greenpeace, that even-handed group, put out a report stating that Apple’s manufacturing parters are using toxic chemicals in the popular iPhone. Duh! I’d be interested to see how many handsets are made using the same substances. So, these rocket scientists are considering taking Apple to court, suing to have Apple remove these items from the manufacturing process. Good luck with that! [Source: ABC News]

written by Tyler Regas

‘Nuff said. Click here.

written by Tyler Regas

Those snappy guys over at Goldman Sachs have caused Apple’s stock to goose up 2% by announcing that they are advising Apple stock will jump from US$165 to US$195 by the end of the year. This is likely in anticipation of Apple’s roll-out of the long awaited Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard” which should be coming out any second now. Interestingly, research is indicating that the Mac will overtake iPod and iPhone sales, but GS doesn’t see that as a problem, suggesting that stock jockeys buy now to make some sweet dough.

Morgan Stanley has also indicated that they believe Apple sales will grow but are suggesting that the stock price may hit as much as US$225 by next year. Time will tell.

written by Tyler Regas

How would you feel if you went into a Target store, bought an iPod, took it home, opened it and found rocks, returned it, given store credit due to “store policy”, sent to another store to find another iPod, get that iPod, and open it only to find more rocks? Probably not as bad as the 14-year old girl who was getting rocks instead of an iPod for her birthday.

Whats worse, however, is how Target treated the girl and her mother. The mother merely wanted to get her daughter something nice, but had a budget to deal with. She took advantage of Target’s 10% purchase discount for new Target Card members, but the stores were apparently limited to offering a store credit. Bad play, Target. Bad play.

Read this sad tale at the Star - Telegram.

written by Tyler Regas

It was bound to happen sometime. Some guy in Atlanta noticed that flames were coming out of his pants pocket and licking up his shirt. It turns out that it was his year old iPod Nano. I guess its not all that surprising. After all, it is a battery powered device and batteries can catch on fire. Apple is no stranger this products igniting in flames, but its also not exclusive to them. Dell’s Flaming Laptops® have gotten a lot more publicity in recent years. There hasn’t been a significant fire-related problem since the PowerBook 5300 back in 1995. Still, to have a Nano flame on in your pants can’t be a fun experience.

written by Tyler Regas

On Thursday Apple Computers released the much anticipated 1.1.1 firmware update for the iPhone. It is apparent that Apple is firing back at consumers with unlocked iPhones , but the update will also impair the use of third-party applications such as the ‘essential’ AppTapp installer. The 1.1.1 update offers several new features to the iPhone, many of them addressing security within Safari, Mail, and Bluetooth. Read more at ZDNet

written by Eric

Apple is finally responding to the groups who are offering ways of bypassing the SIM usage restrictions placed on the popular iPhone. Currently, US-based iPhones are only usable on the AT&T network, but some smart people have figured out a few ways to get the device to work on other GSM networks. Apple, clearly a bit peeved about this behavior, has come out stating that future upgrades would disable cracked iPhones, but some are saying that Apple could be breaking the law by making such a threat.

The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act of 1975 states that is it illegal to void a products warranty if changes to it do not damage the product. Opponents of Apple’s response are claiming that the changes do not alter or modify anything in the iPhone but the software, which can easily be reverted back to the original. However, George Hotz’ iPhone hack, the first one to be proven to work, involves hardware modification, as you can clearly see in “Step 3″. This operation unquestionably voids the warranty, and this is very likely what Apple is aiming at. What, do you think Apple’s lawyers are stupid?

Regardless, the outcome of this row should be very interesting, indeed.

written by Tyler Regas

In a chat with some folks, Stephen “The Woz” Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Inc., gave Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple and the other co-founder, the business for dropping the iPhone price so quickly and steeply. The Woz goes on to say that he loves the iPhone, though it still needs some work. Apparently he’s a really big fan of Bluetooth, and the iPhone doesn’t handle it well. Hmm.

Oh, and if you get the idea that Woz is some kind of idiot from the transcription, don’t. The idiots are the ones who transcribed the conversation. That is some of the worst I have ever seen. The Woz is a very, very bright guy. Ahem! He created the Apple hardware platform, yo!

written by Tyler Regas

Wow. Universal has reportedly declined to sign a new two year contract with Apple. Instead they are opting to go with a month-to-month and will be offering other services exclusives to some of their artists. Its clear that Universal has seen that they have made a mistake selling on iTMS and see the light shining bright and sparkly over at the Zune camp. Lord knows that Microsoft has been selling dozens of them, after all. With 1% of the market how can Universal go wrong! Having 74% of the market just isn’t enough! Dipwads.

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: Bad Politics, Laugherating