For both iPhone users and developers, a new service from Amazing Mail pushes the envelope — quite literally — of what a mobile device is capable of. The on-demand printing company is offering an integration service for iPhone developers, allowing for the creation of applications that are able to send physical postcards or printed photos.

Two applications have already put this feature into production — Postino (free) and PicCard (99 cents). Both offer the ability to print and send physical copies of photographs taken on your iPhone, priced at between 99 cents and $1.99, depending on where you’re shipping to.

AmazingMail’s CEO Chris Lynde notes:

Postino and PicCard are fabulous examples of how developers can generate margins of 100 percent or more with our web-to-print engine. We’ve already seen both of these apps evolve their feature sets in a matter of weeks based on iPhone user feedback.

For iPhone Users

Postino is a good example of how the service can work. You snap a picture with the iPhone camera, select a frame, draw an accompanying message or signature, and enter the address details of the recipient. The app can also send cards via email, if you’d prefer not to pay for the physical service.

Postino

For Developers

The ability to easily integrate physical printing with the iPhone allows developers to exploit a new revenue stream, particularly with the recent addition of in-app purchasing to the iPhone software.

Key features of this new web-to-print service include:

• Print and mail the next business day to any country
• High quality card printing
• Automatically standardize recipient addresses for maximum deliverability
• Easy-to-use HTTP submission method
• Wide flexibility in terms of the content able to be printed
• Environmentally friendly mailing options

A range of potential uses present themselves, both for personal use (sending family postcards or photos to friends), and for business. The relatively low cost of shipping is appealing — $1.50 to send a postcard internationally is certainly acceptable. It will be interesting to see how the model is adopted, and how developers look to merge their applications with a physical printing service in coming months.

From a slightly different perspective, the addition of dock connector APIs in the latest iPhone 3.0 software may further the ability to print directly from the iPhone. I wouldn’t be surprised to see accessory manufacturers produce a portable digital photo printer, as so many have already done for digital cameras.

A Step Backwards?

Part of me feels that this is a move back to a traditional postal medium and unlikely to work long term. The very notion of a “postcard” is beginning to feel slightly antiquated in the modern age, when you can upload images and video to services such as Flickr as you travel.

That said, I’ll certainly be taking one of these applications with me on my next trip, and hope to impress a few friends back home with some unconventional postcards. Work colleagues may be comfortable with Flickr and YouTube, but I know for a fact my grandparents will still feel excited to pick up a customized iPhone postcard from the letterbox.

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Once a year, Fortune releases its ranking of the top 500 global companies, and in recent years Apple has usually managed to nab a spot. This year, it rose to almost exactly the middle of the field at 253, up from 337 last year. The ratings are based on gross revenue, so it isn’t surprising to find larger PC manufacturers like Hewlett-Packard (32) and Dell (115) ranked significantly higher, despite the fact that Apple enjoys healthier profit margins.

Rankings are based on performance over the course of the last year, so the new list represents results for 2008. Apple first made the cut of the Global 500 list only two years ago for 2006, when they placed near the very bottom, at 492. Considering the short time frame, that’s actually a fairly impressive 2-year gain.

Take into account, though, that collective earnings for the list taken as a whole declined 85 percent this past year, which marks the most significant loss since Fortune began compiling it. Apple, Quanta, and HP were the only computer manufacturers on the list to post gains, with Apple outpacing all with a 38 percent boost in overall profits.

The results show that, if nothing else, Apple has been especially resistant to the effects of a down global economy thus far. Their success with the iPhone 3GS, coupled with the recent popularity of the newly upgraded 13-inch MacBook Pro, suggests that that resilience will continue through the summer and probably into the holiday season, especially if the rumored iMac price cuts come through as predicted.

The Fortune Global 500 is not to be confused with the Fortune 500, which only ranks American companies. When that list was released earlier this year in April, Apple had broken the top 100 for the first time since Steve Jobs’ return to the company in 1994. It reached number 71 on that list.

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We’d like to say thanks to this month’s sponsor of TheAppleBlog:

• Mozy: Back up your photos, music, and files with Mozy for as low as $4.34 per month.

Skype calls are fun, especially given the quality of the mic/speaker hardware built into most currently offered Macs. You get hands-free calling, which is especially great if you’re already using your computer anyway. Not everyone has Skype, though, and even fewer people have Skypeout credit, which allows you to call standard mobile phones and landlines. Now there’s a way to call via your iPhone and a Bluetooth connection through your Mac, so you can get all the benefits of Skype (except for video) using your wireless minutes.

BluePhoneElite has previously supported a variety of other phones for Mac calling, but only this latest version brings the much-requested iPhone support to the table. It should work with both the 3G and the 3GS, though I’ve only been able to try it out using the latter. I should also note that I wasn’t able to get it to connect successfully with my iMac, though it worked with my Mac mini and my MacBook Pro. As Smoking Apples points out, it does appear to be a bit buggy in this release, but when it does work, it works simply and well.

I’m sure at least a few people will wonder aloud about why this is even useful, but trust me, as someone who spends the bulk of their day plopped firmly in front of at least one computer screen, the ability to field and make calls from the same device you’re working on, without undue use of your hands or even headset devices, sounds like quite the blessing. So far, BluePhoneElite does not support text messaging on the iPhone (though it does with other devices), so it falls just short of being the ultimate phone/computer work combo. It’s $25 for a full license, but a free 14-day trial ensures you’re not buying anything you can’t/won’t actually use.

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They say you can’t time the market, but for some lucky folks, there is special time to buy a new Mac and related accessories. By doing nothing other than waiting for this magic time, you could save an average of 5-9 percent on a new computer. It’s all about being at the right place at the right time.

The right place is one the eight states that have computer-inclusive sales tax holidays, and the right time is usually a weekend in August.

Many state legislatures, in an effort to ease the costs of going back to school (and help themselves get re-elected), have enacted laws specifying periods of time where certain purchases are tax-free. Common exemptions include clothes and back-to-school supplies. Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee also exempt certain computer purchases from sales tax. Click on the sites of any of those states listed above and you’ll be linked to their respective Tax Holiday Information pages.

Each state does it a bit differently, and it can be confusing trying to figure out what’s included and what’s excluded. For example, mail order sales may still be taxed. Some cities can opt out of the state laws, and some cities may charge other taxes that are not exempt. Occasionally the computer cannot be used for business purposes and some peripherals are excluded. None of the states require that the computer be used for educational purchases nor must you be a resident of that state, so if you live near one of these eight states, it might be worth a drive to save some money.

If you decide to take advantage of a sales tax holiday, note that Apple stores will be packed. Go in a few days before and pick out the items you want and find out the exact rules. Based on past experience, Apple stores will have a procedure to get you in and out quickly on the tax holiday weekend, as their stores will have long waits. Want to avoid some of those lines? You might consider purchasing at an Apple Authorized Reseller.

Unless, of course, you like paying taxes!

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When writing about Microsoft’s previous Laptop Hunters ad, I made the following plea:

So, Microsoft, I’m begging you to bring back Lauren #1. Give her the same $1,000 budget so she can easily rule out a Mac

In its newest ad, the company did reduce the budget (to $700), and I think this tack is its best bet.

The ad itself is unremarkable, but the “hunters” could easily rule out the Mac because of their budget. They didn’t have to invent ridiculous “excuses” that only make it clear they’re ill-informed. They simply had to point out there’s no Mac under a grand and be done with it.

It doesn’t mean they didn’t say stupid things (for example, I love it when he says “See how it just seems a lot more sturdy” when he’s not even holding the device). It’s especially stupid because having that line spoken while showing a silver PC reveals a massive case of “Unibody Envy.” And it doesn’t make the laptop they acquired any better. As I said about the original Lauren’s $700 choice:

Don’t kid yourself into thinking you got anything more than you paid for, or found some sort of computer bargain, or know some secret the rest of us aren’t clued in on. You asked for little, and that’s exactly what you got.

The point of using a low budget isn’t about the PC they get, it’s about avoiding comparing it to a Mac. Face it: When a valid comparison takes place, PCs frequently lose. It’s much better for Microsoft to avoid any comparison at all.

Want some additional advice, Microsoft? Run more of these sub-$1,000 ads. They tout low PC cost, get a shot at Apple, and yet avoid any direct comparison. It’s a win-win-win for you. Sure, the buyers get mediocre hardware, but what do you care? You’re selling software.

Oh, and bring back Lauren.

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Via the Quicken Blog, Intuit has announced a February release for the oft-delayed Mac financial software.

Intuit spokesperson Scott Gulbransen sought to “clear the air” regarding the rumored demise of Quicken for Mac. In recent days, Intuit had removed information about the formerly named Quicken Financial Life for Mac from its web site. This action, shortly after Microsoft’s cancellation of Money, may have led some to believe Intuit was giving up on a client-based application for the Mac in lieu of its online service. According to Gulbransen, the truth is much simpler: Intuit screwed up.

Feedback from Mac customers led us to rethink our approach to developing Quicken for Mac. We went back to the drawing board and are making changes to everything from what the program does to how it looks.

After being shown at Macworld Expos two years running, QFLM was finally released as a beta earlier this year. Reception was cold. As Gulbransen notes, “We learned the product was not doing what we – nor customers – wanted it to do.” Accordingly, development was reset, with changes including a new register, better reconciliation model, and a “robust” migration function for current Quicken users, including Quicken for Windows. They also dumped that idiotic name.

Intuit will be taking pre-orders for Quicken for Mac starting in October. Considering the troubled development history of the product, waiting until release would seem like a good idea. After all, what’s another seven months after three years?

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Rolando 2 is the sequel to Rolando, a game which proved that the iPhone can compete with Sony’s PSP and Nintendo’s DS in the handheld console wars.

Just over a year after opening, the App Store is coming into its own. Indeed, there’s the dodgy dirge of novelty joke apps, but at the other end of the spectrum, we’re seeing publishers like ngmoco producing smart and fun apps.

Ngmoco is the publisher that picked up the original Rolando, reviewed here back in December, and pushed it in to the realms of essential iPhone titles. Rolando 2 is ngmoco’s latest release. The game features tilting puzzle platforming action with music from Mr. Scruff, and includes Plus+ network integration for achievement and score tracking.

Tap ‘n’ Tilt

Setting the scene for the game’s exotic island adventure, the opening sequence sees a deadly disease threatening the Kingdom of Rolando’s inhabitants. It’s up to the crew of the HMS Plunderful, joined by Rolando’s dozy royalty, to travel to a distant land in search of the cure.

Alongside setting up the game’s story, the playable opening sequence also acts as a handy tutorial. You play The Finger, able to control various Rolando characters and tweak elements of the environment.

Just like the original, the controls are ingeniously simple: tap an individual Rolando, or drag a box around several, then just tilt your iPhone to get them rolling. A quick swipe upwards triggers a jump, and certain yellow objects dotted around the environment can be tapped, dragged and twisted in various ways.

Rolling in New Features

Levels are a blend of platforming and puzzling — avoiding the bad guys and ensuring safe passage to the exit for the jaunty little Rolandos. Just like the original Rolando, most maps are centered around block pushing, button triggering and door opening.

Rolando 2 builds on the original, though, introducing new features and twists every few levels. This litany of loveliness takes the game from a simple platforming adventure into the realm of a multicolor spectacle.

There are the bomb trees, carrying, as nature apparently intended, a range of different bombs, including rolling sticky bombs and, less destructive but no less useful, water bombs — great for growing giant plants from tiny shrubs.

There’s the neanderthal-esque native, Rolando, who, after eating a hot chili, inflates and begins floating through the level. And there’s the Boom Finger which transforms your own finger into a digit of destruction, allowing you to off enemies and forge new paths through the levels.

If there’s one drawback to the game’s seemingly constant inventiveness, it’s that it occasionally feels a tad overwhelming — there are so many ideas crammed in, it obscures the purity of the game’s fundamentally fun tilt ‘n’ roll controls.

Ears & Eyes

On music and artwork duties, both Mr. Scruff and Mikko Walamies have returned. Walamies is behind the game’s charming characters, and he’s done so much with so little, injecting humor and character into a cast of, essentially, rolling ball faces.

The game exceeds expectations in the artwork department, too: Rolando 2 is now in 3-D, from the game’s Super Mario World-style game hub, to each individually crafted level.

Pie-eating, tea-drinking, funk-spinning Manchester DJ Mr. Scruff also features in Rolando 2. Not only do his gorgeous grooves accompany each level, he’s even got his own Music Shack where you’re able to take a leisurely roll through the soundtrack.

Diamonds & Disappointments

The iPhone’s connectivity isn’t forgotten, either. Ngmoco has integrated Plus+, a network connecting iPhone gamers with each other. You’re able to share scores, issue challenges to other players, and track in-game achievements.

There are a few issues, though. A sound is missing here and there, and certain game objects intrude on the gameplay, but it’s so incredibly infrequent.

My concern is that the constant barrage of new ideas and gameplay twists means that the game, like its petite, rotund heroes do so frequently, will become lost in a confusing jungle filled with shiny, new playthings.

I’ve heaped on praise and extolled its many magnificent moments, and yet it must be noted that there’s room, albeit a very tiny bit of room, for improvement.

Summing Up: Golden Apple Award

Rolando 2 is a wonderful game. What’s more, it exploits the iPhone as a gaming platform so effectively. It makes use of the iPhone’s user interface, never falling back on virtual control-pad buttons. There’s connectivity with Plus+ and even music from Scruff.

The characters look good enough to consume as, I imagine, some of the island’s native tribe members would do so, given half the chance. And the gameplay is fundamentally fun and consistently inventive.

All that sounds too analytical, though. It’s a convoluted way of trying to say it’s really a very good game. A more effective way of summing it up would be to give Rolando 2 TheAppleBlog’s coveted Golden Apple Award, so that’s what I’ve done.

All that’s left to say is that Rolando 2 is the new benchmark for iPhone gaming and, as such, I highly recommend that you download it.

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It’s hard to deny how handy it is to plug an iPod into a Mac, fire up iTunes, and watch your device sync with your computer automagically. Take the Mac or iTunes out of the equation, though, and syncing gets a little trickier.

If you don’t like iTunes, or you use Linux as your primary operating system, it’s still possible — easy, even — to sync your iPod’s media files. Just grab one of these three free, open-source music managers, and you’ll be up and running in no time. Like most open-source software, these projects have a strong community of users who are eager to jump in and help if you run into any glitches while installing or using these apps, so don’t hesitate to ask for help if you need it.

Banshee — One of the most robust media players around, Banshee syncs podcasts, music, video and audio files with your iPod. It also snags album artwork from MusicBrainz, lets you create smart playlists, and filters your entire library by album or artist. Banshee was designed for Linux operating systems, but also works on a Mac, so it’s perfect as an iTunes replacement.

Rhythmbox — This music management app does just about everything but sing along with your tunes. Rip CDs and organize them into playlists, manage automatically downloaded podcasts, grab lyrics and album art from the Internet, and easily transfer music to your iPod. Designed to work with the GNOME desktop, many Linux distributions come already bundled with this app, so check to see if you have it before downloading.

Amarok — This app has a load of integrated Web services that help you locate, buy and manage music from Web sites like Magnatune, a terrific place to buy tracks and support indie artists. Amarok imports your existing iTunes database, creates dynamic playlists, and supports more than 45 languages. If you need to sync a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch, then this is the app for you. Amarok was created for use with the KDE desktop, but it’s also possible to get it up and running on a Mac. There’s no official support for it yet, though.

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I’ll posture that not many of us know the anniversary of the date we purchased most of our cellular phones — at least not before the iPhone hit the streets. (And if you do remember, hopefully you remember other, important anniversaries, too!) But things changed on June 29, 2007. Lines formed, and tons of iPhones were sold. Similar happenings have occurred both summers since, as the iPhone hardware has been updated. And although I’m on my third iPhone model, I’m not concerned with what my next phone will be, because I’ll own an iPhone for life.

This concept seemed like a fairly singular thought when it crossed my mind recently. But then I saw a link on Gruber’s site to this photo on Flickr. The subsequent comments clearly indicate that I’m not alone in holding my iPhone above those that came before. No longer do I scour the Internet for news of the next big thing (unless it’s iPhone-related, of course).

iPhone for life (I’m not a tattoo guy, but if I were…) is a concept I absolutely believe in. It sounds awfully shortsighted and absolute, I realize, but I have faith in Apple. The company has proven time and again that it can innovate, and lead the pack. With my iPhone, I have all the features in my pocket that I could ever care to have. The army of developers who flood the App Store with hundreds of new apps each week mean that I’ll always be able to find whatever I want to extend the abilities of my iPhone. As competition, such as the Palm Pre, hits the streets, apps have become a big deal. And while marketing departments have hung their hat on the ‘apps’ buzzword as of late, they’re playing catch up in a big way.

Beyond just the iPhone, Apple has turned the act of purchasing — and using — its products into something special. The designs alone elicit awe and excitement. Apple gets at them early, too, with offerings like free camps so little ones can learn to love its products while they’re impressionable (my son is enrolled in Summer Camp at the local store over the next couple of weeks, and is totally stoked about it). Adding free technical support and workshops takes it that much further. There’s a feeling that you belong to something when you own an Apple product, and that is what I believe makes the brand as sticky as it is today. Apple is not just a brand; it’s a culture.

I’ve seen firsthand the way that the iPhone has taken the iPod’s “Halo Effect” to the next level. Many friends have picked up iPhones over the past 24 months. They’ve loved these smartphones so much that they’ve gotten excited about taking the plunge into an entirely new computer system as well. (Some are even going for a MacBook just because they figured it would sync with their phone easier — at the very least, a great excuse to jump on the bandwagon!) Once they’ve taken that step, almost unanimously, they’ve wondered to me how they ever got along on the PC for so long when such an awesome alternative was out there waiting.

Not everyone is a gadget junky, as I myself tend to be. This life tends to be one of neglecting the gadget you’ve got, while drooling over the one that will hopefully come. But I’ve found bliss with my iPhone. Using the iPhone is just a great experience, not necessarily perfection (blasphemer!), mind you, but it truly is a joy to use. Apple already had me as a lifelong customer with its computers. But the iPhone has nestled its way into a niche in my life that for a very long time, was up for grabs. No longer — iPhone for life, baby!

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Yes, the iPhone 3GS is still hot out of the oven (too hot, perhaps?), but if you’re a true gadget addict, then you probably can’t help but think ahead to what Apple could possibly cram into the next iteration to ensure consumer mouths continue to drool. Of course, if you’re like me and you were ensnared by only the promise of better internals and a video camera this time around, it shouldn’t take much to accomplish that.

According to Unwired View, future versions of Apple’s smartphone could boast a lot more in the bells and whistles department. They’ve assembled a variety of Apple patents that, together, represent an exciting vision of what an iPhone 4G (3GSX?) could look like.

See and Speak

There’s already some interesting work being done by third-party developers around image identification on the iPhone, but Apple looks to be aiming to bake real-world object ID right into the platform. The phone would be using a combination of technologies to identify things that you point it at, including the camera, RFID or barcode scanning, and context filters (i.e., museum, grocery store, small island fishing community, etc.). You can almost smell the ecommerce potential in something like this.

Never Forget a Face

iPhoto ‘09 brought us Faces, a feature which recognizes faces you tag once in photos and automatically groups them together. It’s black techno-magic, is what it is, and I won’t have any part in it. But if you’re less superstitious and old-fashioned, it can be pretty handy. Now it looks like it might be coming to the iPhone.

Face recognition can have any number of applications, including the ability to custom tailor access privileges depending on who’s handling the device. No music with explicit lyrics for Junior, for instance, but Daddy doesn’t have to remove Ol’ Dirty Bastard from his iPhone entirely.

Built-In CRM

If you’re an iPhone business user, this next feature might seem especially promising, particularly if you’re in sales. Customer relationship management (CRM) is a huge part of successful sales, and it generally involves making sure you stay up to date on the personal and professional lives of your clients.

This patent foretells a feature that notifies you if you have unread communications from a contact before you call them. That way, you’ll avoid awkward situations like calling someone to check on the progress of a contract when he’s just sent you a detailed email explaining everything that’s wrong with it.

Another business-related feature will inform you if a message you’ve sent out to multiple recipients has failed for specific individuals within that group, and then give you a chance to resend only to those members who didn’t get the memo. Both of these last two features obviously have applications beyond the enterprise, too, but they seem most relevant to the business world.

I Do Impressions

Want your phone to talk to you and sound like Sir Paul McCartney while doing so? Or, if you’re particularly self-obsessed, in your very own voice? The last patent of the batch outfits your iPhone with the ability to do just that.

Weirdly, the scenario Apple uses to describe the usefulness of this speculated app is kind of an iPhone-as-surrogate-mother situation. It imagines a bleak future in which you have to have your iPhone read to your child in your voice because you’re too busy. Even if this patent does become reality, I hope we never reach the point where that becomes something many of us require our phone to do.

I don’t know about you, but I’d say most of the fun of new iPhone hardware is the anticipation and speculation leading up to the actual release. Not that I’m against getting my hands on the physical hardware once it does come out, of course.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user onebutan-iphone.

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So there’s a new OS that’s based on the web, relies primarily on a web browser, and whose native apps are web apps. Old news, you say? We already know about Palm’s WebOS. No, I don’t mean that one. This one will primarily target netbooks. Still old news, you say, because we know a modified Android is coming to netbooks soon. No, I don’t mean that, either. I’m speaking of a Linux kernel with a modern web browser. Way old news, you say, since Linux distros and Firefox were available on netbooks even before Windows. No, no, I don’t mean that, either.

I’m talking about Google’s brand-new (on paper) Chrome OS. Introduced only a day ago, I’m disappointed we didn’t get a comic book to describe to us simpletons how this will revolutionize our life. Because it’s from Google. So you can run the company’s services. And see its ads.

With all the talk about how this impacts Microsoft, Linux, Apple and hardware manufacturers, the most important participant is ignored: the consumer. We already knew netbooks were primarily a geek’s toy, at best mildly interesting to general consumers, until Windows became available on them. Suddenly, they became an even cheaper cheap laptop, and sold in the millions. That’s still their consumer image today, and still fuels their sales. Google says people are clamoring for a leaner base from which to just launch a web browser, but that’s exactly how netbooks began — with the Linux/Firefox combo already mentioned — and consumers didn’t go there.

Besides, if Google just wants a newer web experience, it could port Chrome to Linux and work with a Linux distro to strip it to run lean. There’s no reason whatsoever for Google to write its own OS if this is all it wants, especially given that its first OS hasn’t exactly taken the world by storm.

Since this is Google, there are numerous posts hailing Chrome OS and questioning how it will change everything. I’ve seen the Wayne Gretzky “puck” quote bandied about. It’s nice to talk about skating to where the puck will be — Steve Jobs used it, and Apple seems to get there. The problem is that Jobs usually knows the users’ end goal, and therefore does know where the puck will be. Others do not. In fact, they frequently don’t even know the puck is going to be in the rink, let alone near the net.

Here are some things to consider before we get too excited about Chrome OS:

• It’s vaporware. Over a year away? That’s a lifetime in this market.
• In timing the announcement near Windows 7’s RTM, Google may hope to stall potential netbook gains Windows 7 might garner for Microsoft (i.e., The “Google OS” is coming, let’s wait). A market-freeze-via-vapor-announcement is classic Microsoft, and though it’s amusing to see its own tactic used against the company, it doesn’t make it any better coming from Mountain View instead of Redmond.
• Given Google’s track record, we can expect to see it in a year (assuming it’s on time) with a beta tag for maybe two years.
• Will being “Google” be enough to push the masses (there are those pesky consumers again) into buying netbooks in droves like the availability of Windows did?
• Netbooks are a familiar and traditional form factor; there’s nothing really different there. Consumers have shown they want a familiar and traditional OS on them.
• The real creativity in operating systems today is in the smartphone world, and will require a non-traditional form factor — not a small laptop — to carry over into larger devices.

Finally, Google’s announcement implies a certain disdain for a traditional computer OS, like it’s something that only hinders launching Google’s browser to use Google’s stuff. Sorry, while my browser is one of the apps I run all the time, I have many others as well. The web is nowhere near ready to replace this. It hasn’t the ubiquity, it hasn’t the reliability, it hasn’t the diversity and it hasn’t the speed. The idea that in a year we’ll begin moving from OS’s providing great flexibility and numerous functions — of which using the web is just one — to some “all-web” OS is not analogous to skating to where the puck will be; it’s analogous to people who once thought flying cars were just around the corner.

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Apple has released version 4.0.2 of Safari for both OS X 10.4 and 10.5 (but not Snow Leopard), as well as Windows XP, Vista and 7 beta. The 40MB update is available through Software Update and download via Apple’s web site.

The release notes, cryptic as usual, state the update improved “the stability of the Nitro JavaScript engine and includes the latest compatibility and security fixes.” A Knowledge Base article states that 4.0.2 addresses two vulnerabilities: cross-site scripting attacks and arbitrary code execution. Both of these vulnerabilities require visiting “maliciously crafted web sites,” but nonetheless are excellent reasons to update. Of course, the Mac version requires a restart, as updating Safari updates WebKit and the associated frameworks.

Those hoping for other changes, like a return of page loading progress in the address bar, or the refresh button going back to the left of the address bar, will be disappointed. Top tabbers, those who preferred the short-lived experiment of tabs being in the title bar, are also going to be displeased. It’s time to let go. Upgrading from the Safari 4 beta has to happen sooner or later, and what better reason than better security?

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If you’ve been enjoying your new iPhone 3GS, but have been missing the freedom of jailbreak since your hardware upgrade (and you were skittish about the early purplera1n release), then you’re in luck, because yesterday the Dev Team officially released updated versions of redsn0w and ultrasn0w that are compatible with Apple’s newest handset. That also means you can unlock the device (though earlier versions of ultrasn0w were technically compatible as well) without worry. Except for the usual worries, which are, as always, many and include potentially voiding your warranty.

As some of you may recall, the Dev Team was originally planning on holding off on a 3GS jailbreak release until after the official 3.1 firmware update from Apple dropped. In doing so, they were hoping to prevent Cupertino from plugging the exploit they use to access and jailbreak the 3GS with the next release. Dev Team member George Hotz (Geohot) took issue with that cautious stance, pointing out that playing cat-and-mouse with Apple was basically unavoidable anyway, so why not just tackle exploits as they become available, instead of trying to put one over on the software giant? In their post, the Dev Team doesn’t actually debate the merits of either position, they just plainly state that there was no reason to hold back the release with purplera1n already being widely available.

If you can get past the dangers inherent in any jailbreaking activity, and you really want to try out great Cydia and Icy apps like Backgrounder, Boss Prefs, and all the rest, head on over to the Dev Team Blog now for more info on where you can find the official releases. Call me boring, but I’m sticking with my vanilla 3.0 install until Apple irons out all the quirks of the latest device, just in case a trip to the Genius Bar becomes a necessary last resort.

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I’ve been playing with Fluent News on the iPhone for the last day, and consider it a fine first effort as a news reading app. However, when it comes to sharing the news stories you’re most interested in, it falls short.

Reading

On my iPhone’s first Home page, I have readers for the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and AP Mobile. I may very well be able to replace them all with Fluent News. It culls news from a myriad of sources’ mobile sites and aggregates them into its page views. By default, you see Top News, but are only two taps away from other categories (e.g., U.S. News, Business, Sports, etc.).

I’m impressed with the speed of the app, as it does most of its work in the background. I’m also impressed that it shows only one headline for a given major story, and then adds a button for “related” stories that lets you see other sources’ stories. This keeps the primary lists short, yet still allows you to see full coverage. And all from one app. It’s a very good idea, and for reading purposes is well implemented.

There’s an ad at the bottom of the first page of links, but instead of being stationary, it scrolls with the page, so the majority of the time you don’t see any ads when reviewing headlines. When you click on an article to read it, you see exactly what that particular source’s mobile news looks like. This means articles do not display consistently, but only because, say, the NYT mobile format does not look like CNN’s; it’s not a bug in the program. By grabbing these sources’ already-formatted data, it keeps things fast.

Finally, the data when pulled down is local to the phone, so you can read it even when not on a network (though of course you won’t pull in later data until connected). All in all, the reading experience on this thing is very good, and I like the idea of replacing several icons with just one on my Home page.

Sharing

So you’ve read a great story and want to share it with your friends/family/whatever. Fluent News allows this, but it falls down here. The app has ties to email, Twitter and Facebook.

For Twitter, go into settings and enter your account information. Then, when reading an article, click the Share button (you get all three choices) and click Twitter. What happens is that a tweet is composed for you, and all you can do is say OK or cancel. You don’t get to write the tweet, or modify it any way. Did you want to quote the article in your tweet, or shorten the URL? Too bad.

Clicking the email button transfers you to the email app. Here, at least, the pre-written text can be modified, but it leads to another issue with Fluent News’ sharing: Its article reader is “dead.” It’s a read-only environment. Click a link? It goes nowhere. Click and hold a picture to save it? Nope. Copy and paste? Nope. So even with an email there’s no way to quote from the article, or do anything else.

The above reader limitations wouldn’t be bad if the reader had a button to open the article directly in Safari, but for now it has no way to do so.

And the above isn’t even the worst part. I haven’t yet discussed the URL it sends. You might reasonably expect it to be a URL for the article you’re reading, but no. Instead, it’s a link to a Fluent News page that contains a link to the article you’re reading, and in some cases an ad for downloading the iPhone app (as if you only share articles with iPhone users).

Frankly, lots of people I share with are not going to get this. If they get an email saying this is a great article to read, and then click the link only to see a Fluent News page of links, they’re going to reply to me that I must have sent them the wrong URL because it isn’t the article I mentioned. I don’t see why Fluent News has to turn sharing a link into a page hit/ad for their site.

So how do I get around this?

1. Email the link to myself.
2. Click the link in the email.
3. Click the link on the resulting Fluent News web page.
4. Now I have the article in Safari, and can interact, email or Twitter as I normally would.

That’s quite a bit of extra work, but at least I know everyone will get a link that takes them directly to the article I’m raving about. Well, the mobile version of the article I’m raving about, which looks pretty weak in a desktop browser.

In some cases, the mobile page allows you to select the “normal” view, in which case that would be step 3.5 above. But in the example shown here, I don’t have the option.

Summary

If you don’t share lots of links, or are fine with pre-written text and a detour through a Fluent News web page to get to the article, or have no desire to interact with an article you’re reading, then none of this matters to you. For me, I’m using the reader, but will take the workaround above any time I decide to share a link, and hope Fluent News will save me a lot of trouble by adding a button to open the current article in Safari. And do it soon.

Fluent News is available in the App Store for free.

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VLC media player, an open-source application from the VideoLAN project, finally reached version 1.0 today. The software had its original start back in 1996 as a school project from engineering students at the Ecole Centrale Paris (though it wasn’t released as an open source project until 2001).

Through many point releases before today, VLC has continued to expand its capabilities, offering support for HD codecs, a diverse set of file formats, live recording, AirTunes streaming and more.

Crazy Formats, Got Ya Covered!

VLC is based on FFmpeg, which means it supports a wider variety of codecs and file formats than your typical QuickTime or Windows Media Player can handle, such as MKV, Og, or FLAC. (There are, of course, alternatives, such as Perian and other plugins to add additional support to QuickTime, but VLC has some more tricks up its sleeve.)

Since it’s a packet-based player, VLC supports playing content that could be partially corrupted or is incomplete. This reason alone makes VLC a popular media player for torrent lovers. VLC is a great addition to your system and is a recommended download for switchers who are used to viewing AVI files on the PC, since the AVI container supports a myriad of codecs that are not all supported natively on the Mac platform.

The 1.0 release of VLC, codename Goldeneye, is available for both Intel and PowerPC platforms (though it does require Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6) and can be downloaded here. If you’re using Mac OS X 10.4.x or earlier, you can download the previous build of VLC, version 0.9.9a, from here.

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Late yesterday evening, the folks at Google made official what many have suspected for months, or even years: They’re working on an operating system. The new OS, dubbed Chrome OS after Google’s recent entry into the ongoing browser wars, will have speed and Internet connectivity as its two top priorities, and be based on a Linux kernel, making it the ideal candidate for netbooks (and, as a result, probably the strongest competitor for Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 7).

Chrome OS is still a long way off, since Google says it won’t be available for consumer use until the second half of 2010 (when it’ll ship on some netbook devices), but when it does drop, it will no doubt change the OS landscape significantly and irreversibly. The question is, who will take the most significant blow as a result of Google entering the fray as a major third competitor in the mainstream OS wars?

The spin seems to be that Google is aiming their guns squarely at Windows 7 with Chrome OS, since netbooks appear to be the devices which would benefit the most from running the extremely slimmed-down OS. Basically, Chrome OS will run Chrome the browser, and that’s about it. User interface elements will be kept to an absolute minimum, and the sole purpose of the OS itself appears to be to get you online as fast as possible so that you can begin using web applications, which will be the bread and butter of Chrome. It’ll work automatically with any existing ones, and development for Chrome OS will be as simple as developing a new web app.

Considering my current set-up with my Eee PC 1000HE, on which I’ve created Chrome application shortcuts or Prism SSB apps for just about every major function I need, Chrome OS sounds like exactly the kind of thing I’m looking for. But Google’s OS, while said to be “initially” targeted at netbooks, will be compatible with any computer using ARM or x86 architecture, so it could be used on other systems, too.

So while Windows will definitely lose some users to the new OS, how will Apple fare? Will Boot Camp installs of Chrome allow people to ignore future iterations of Leopard a pass, in favor of what promises to be a much more lightweight and direct approach to how we use our computers? I think the days of a web-based OS being used as our primary operating system are much farther off than Google would hope, since many people still either aren’t aware of, or don’t trust, cloud-based information storage and retrieval for most types of data. And I think that will save Apple significant revenue impact in the short term. TheNextWeb is already thinking about a Google/Apple face-off as a result of Chrome OS, and I think they’re right, in terms of the long view.

What’s more immediately relevant, though, is what Google’s announcement means for Apple tangentially, by way of netbooks. Apple still staunchly refuses to play that particular game, despite the fact that other holdouts like Sony are finally coming on board with the concept. The first reply I received when I posted the news about Chrome on Twitter this morning was a friend asking whether this will finally push Apple to follow suit. It’s an obvious question, and one everyone from Redmond to Cupertino must be asking themselves right now.

Given a smart, simple solution that just works from Google, casual users who need a laptop but don’t necessarily need it to do that much will be flocking to Chrome-toting devices in droves, abandoning other potential notebook markets to do so. Despite Google’s announcement being software-related, I think the real impact will be in hardware, at least where Apple’s concerned.

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Pinch Media, an analytics firm for iPhone OS developers, has found evidence of a third-generation iPod touch. An “iPod3,1″ string has been showing up as the version identifier in its online logs, with first- and second-generation identifiers for the touch being “iPod1,1″ and “iPod2,1,” respectively.

In a blog posting, Pinch Media reported applications using its analytic tools on “iPod3,1″ devices first appeared in April, with usage increasing in May. Besides being popular, the applications being used appear to have no shared traits.

This isn’t the first time the “iPod3,1″ identifier has appeared, either. The identifier was found in a beta release of iPhone OS 3 in March, along with “iPhone3,1,” “iFPGA,” “iProd0,1,” and “iPod2,2″ identifiers. For that reason, this information should be treated as news, rather than rumor. However, there are rumors of new case designs for iPods, most notably ones with holes on the back for cameras, but it’s the identifier strings that matter.

With high confidence in the evidence of a new iPod touch, it can also be asserted that the new model will be released soon. For the last three years, Apple has introduced new iPods in September, including both generations of the iPod touch. Also, the current iPod promotion is scheduled to end on Sept. 8.

While the release of a new iPod touch in the fall seems to be a certainty, more nebulous is the question of the summer: Should I wait? The iPhone 3GS significantly outperforms the iPhone 3G due to a doubling of RAM, a new GPU, and a CPU running 50 percent faster at 600MHz. While the iPod touch would benefit from more RAM and a new GPU, the CPU is already running at 533MHz, making 600MHz less impressive. However, the CPU in the iPhone 3GS is under-clocked, its maximum being 833MHz. If this is due to power saving, rather than heat issues, it’s possible the next iPod touch could also see a boost of approximately 50 percent, and that would definitely be worth waiting for.

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One of the only reasons I’ve stuck it out with my MobileMe account, despite numerous quirks, annoyances and outright failures, is push email. For the iPhone to be useful to me as a business device, I need it to keep me up to date on my email in real time (or as close to it as MobileMe’s push can achieve). Contact and calendar syncing are nice, but both can now be done using your Google information if you’d rather not pay the $100 annual MobileMe subscription fee. Gmail push would complete the picture, and it could be on the way.

And by could, I mean it definitely exists, as demonstrated by TechCrunch’s hands-on with the app that makes it possible. Yes, it’s via a third-party app, and there is no official word from either Google or Apple that Gmail push on the iPhone has finally arrived. Not surprising, considering the money Apple stands to lose in MobileMe subscriptions if Gmail, which is not only incredibly popular, but free, manages to replicate the one trick MobileMe still has up its sleeve.

The app, called GPush, is the product of a development company called Tiverias, and it uses Gmail’s IMAP IDLE feature and Apple’s push notifications to deliver near-live updates from your Gmail inbox. All the app itself does is provide a login screen, after which point you never really have to open it again. Once set up, it will display text alerts containing the sender address and subject from each new email you receive. That is, if it’s allowed to.

The question surrounding GPush isn’t whether it can pull off what it claims to be able to. That it can do just fine, as TechCrunch’s tests prove. The question is, will Apple ever allow GPush to exist in a form that’s widely available to all users via the App Store? Cupertino has a vested interest in blocking Gmail push, since some users (like me, for instance) might walk away from MobileMe were it to become available, resulting in an obvious loss in revenue.

If Apple does block the app, regardless of what (if any) excuse it cites as the reason for the rejection, it will cast even more doubt on the already suspect App Store submission review process. Basically, it seems like the only reason to keep IMAP IDLE support out of the built-in Mail app is to block Gmail push, so it wouldn’t surprise me if GPush never sees the light of day. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

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I’m a huge fan of Moshi’s Apple-centric line of products and accessories. In fact, my entire collection of Apple products has now been complimented by Moshi. For example, I use the iLynx USB/Firewire hub and Celesta keyboard with my iMac; my iPhone is protected by the iGlaze 3G; and recently, my Macbook Pro experienced a thorough makeover.

Over the years I have owned a variety of Apple laptops, and each one inevitably ends up with scratches on the screen, discoloration on the wrist area, disgusting keys, and other forms of wear and tear. I decided to not endure this experience with my new aluminum MacBook Pro. My goal is to maintain a pristine look for as long as possible, and I intend to achieve this goal by combining Moshi’s products into the ultimate protection solution.

Clearguard MB: $25

The Clearguard MB is a thin cover for your MacBook or MacBook Pro keyboard. Installation is simple: lay it across the keyboard. After a few minutes of typing, it’s barely noticeable. It’s virtually transparent so your backlit keys are still visible in dark rooms. I have been using it for a couple of months, and you can clearly see how my keyboard still looks like I just slid the computer out of the box. Cleaning the Clearguard is a simple process involving dish soap and water.

The best part about the Clearguard MB is I no longer see key indentations on the screen (a problem MacBooks and PowerBooks have experienced for a long time). Below is a picture of the Clearguard after a couple months. See the keys on the right side? I’m impressed.

Palmguard: $20-$28

The Palmguard is used to protect the area where your wrists sit on the computer. For me, that’s the part that receives the most damage over time. I’m always amazed at how powerful skin oil is. Again, installation is simple: Line up the Palmguard carefully in the corners and then firmly slide your hand across. If you aren’t satisfied, it’s easy to take the Palmguard off and try again without leaving any residue.

In the past, I used a competitor’s product to protect the wrist area. One thing missing was something to place onto the trackpad area. The Palmguard comes with a separate piece just for that. The accuracy and clickability (I just made up that word) of the trackpad are not affected.

Moshi sells a variety of Palmguard products to match the color and size of your Apple laptop. Below is a picture of the Palmguard after a couple months. Again, I’m impressed.

iVisor AG: $35-38

iVisor AG is the flagship laptop protection product by Moshi. Not only does it protect the screen from scratches, dust and fingerprints, but it also eliminates glare. Remember when we had a choice between matte and glossy screens for our MacBook Pros? Well, this is as close as you can get to owning an aluminum MBP with a matte finish without swapping the screen.

Installation is shockingly easy. You just line up the corners, press down, and firmly slide your hand across the screen. The air bubbles you see while applying a protective layer on your iPhone are not a problem. I was nervous about this, but fortunately Moshi delivered on its promise. There’s a hole at the top for your iSight, and a transparent part in the black border so the “Macbook Pro” text on the bottom is still visible.

Below is the iVisor after a few weeks. No reflection, no scratches.

Conclusion

A MacBook Pro is an investment. It deserves to remain in perfect condition. What I love about Moshi’s products is that they can be installed in minutes and they perform to my standards: no air bubbles, no scratches, and no damage.

I purposefully did not include outer cases because I dislike adding bulk to the laptop. Also, a simple and artistic way to protect the top from scratches is to add a Gelaskin.

Moshi products are available for purchase at Dr. Bott and nuCourse.

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