Image courtesy of Gizmodo

With new rumors about the much anticipated Apple tablet hitting Monday, it seems fair to ask how one is supposed to decode the storms of speculation that have long whirled around the company and its products.

Some thrive on rumor and innuendo about Apple - the largely well-regarded Macrumors attracts over 6 million unique visitors per month, AppleInsider nearly a million - and with Apple’s penchant for absolute secrecy over its design department and product development it’s no surprise whispers and baseless fantasy comprise much of what passes for “news” about Apple.

If Apple really is coming out with a tablet in October, or AT&T really is going to open tethering to the US iPhone market in September (a persistent rumor AT&T continues to deny with respect to both price and timing), does it benefit anyone to know about it now? And if it turns out there is (again) no tablet, or that tethering comes tomorrow for free (you wish), how does that affect the way one is supposed to receive the next rumored news item about what they’re up to in Cupertino?

These questions are one small aspect of the larger debate about the ways news and journalism are changing in the Internet age. Traditional news organizations have been cutting resources for true investigative journalism for years, in favor of selling ads and eyeballs with cheap sensationalism, in part because it often seems that’s what the public wants, but also because it’s easier to publish a rumor than it is to get at the truth or to take time to think about and craft a well-reasoned opinion piece.

Monday’s rumor about the Apple tablet originated with a report at the China Times, which is no tabloid sheet, and appears to be based on information about companies high up in the Apple supply chain that a respectable news organization would be able to source and confirm before printing as news. Do standards of journalistic ethics prevail at major news organizations in Asia? Have budgets for investigative journalism survived the impulse to feed the public’s insatiable desire for knowing what the future holds?

The answer to such questions holds the key to understanding how to receive a report about what Apple has up its sleeve. What you believe comes down to whatever you can know for yourself and who you can trust to tell you the truth. Ultimately, no one really knows until the lights come up at the next Apple “event” - and, after all, anticipation is more intoxicating than feeling you already know what’s coming.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Today’s deals include Jensen’s $25 Docking Digital Music System for iPods, a RCA digital camcorder and Apple’s Mac Family box set and many more.

Details of these and more Daily Deals can be found on the CoM Daily Deals page.

Jensen Docking Digital Music System for iPod, $24.99. (With free shipping, that’s $3 under last week’s mention and the lowest total price we’ve seen.) This player and charger for iPod features a standard AM/FM radio and dual alarm. It also lets you wake to radio, alarm, or digital music.

RCA Small Wonder EZ200 microSD Card Digital Camcorder for $59.99 with free shipping. (That’s the lowest total price we’ve seen by $9.) This camcorder features a 1.5-inch LCD, microSD card slot, charging dock, 1GB of onboard memory, and more.

Mac Box Set Family Pack for $139.49 plus $7.99 for shipping. (That’s the lowest total price we’ve seen by $10.) This bundle includes iLife ‘09 and iWork ‘09, as well as Apple Mac OS X 10.5.6 Leopard. Each is good for up to five computers.

Several free applications available for a limited time from Apple’s App Store, with price drops from $1 to $3. The apps:

Silkworm’s Swat: Fly swatting game (pictured)
Slingshot Scientific’s TemperaChirp: Cricket-based temperature calculator
GreatApps’ Smudgik: Interactive photo blending
Earthscape’s Earthscape: Geotagged photo explorer / sharing
InMotion Software’s Recess: Ball-balancing game
EZMCOM’s ActivIdentity: Pin-protected software token

HP 2009m 20inch Widescreen LCD Monitor in Black/Silver for $129.98 with free shipping. (That ties last month’s mention as the lowest total price we’ve seen.) Sales tax is added where applicable. It features a 1600×900 resolution, 5ms response time, 300 cd/m² brightness, 1,000:1 contrast ratio, integrated speakers, and both VGA and DVI-D (with HDCP) inputs.

Fantom G-Force 1TB eSATA/USB 2.0 External Desktop Hard Drive, $100.99 with free shipping. This $20 mail-in rebate cuts the price to $80.99. (That ties our mention from a week ago as the lowest total price we could find by $35.) It runs at 7200 rpm and features a 16MB cache. Rebate expires July 13.

Pelican HardBack Notebook Case, model no. 1080-000-110, for $61.77 with free shipping. (Although it was $2 less in March (since expired), that’s the lowest total price we could find by a buck.) This waterproof, crushproof, dustproof case has an interior measurement of approximately 12-3/4-inch x 9-3/4-inch x 1-3/4-inch.

Crayola 3-Piece Computer Kit, $10. Shipping adds 97 cents, or choose Site-to-Store. (Even with shipping, that’s tied with our January mention and the lowest total price we could find for this set.) Sales tax is added where applicable. It features a full-size, brightly colored EZ-Type Keyboard, water-globe mouse, and customizable picture-frame mouse pad.

The Apple Store has several factory-refurbished peripherals and accessories in its Special Deals section, all at price lows. (Click “Mac Accessories” on the left.) Each qualifies for free shipping, although sales tax is added where applicable. A 1-year Apple warranty applies to all items, the same a new units. Items are removed from Apple’s site when sold out. The deals:

Refurbished Apple MB167LL/A Wireless Keyboard, $69
Refurbished Apple MB397LL/A MacBook Air SuperDrive, $79
Refurbished Apple MB321LL/A AirPort Express 802.11n Base Station, $85
Refurbished Apple MB276LL/A Time Capsule 500GB (pictured), $199

The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia in Hardcover, $70 with free shipping. (That’s tied with our June mention and the lowest total price we could find by $5.) Published in December 2008, this 3-volume hardback set documents Star Wars’ 30-year cultural phenomenon, covering everything from Anakin to Zuckuss.

OfficeMax offers the Tyler Computer Desk, model no. OM061-01CD, for $129.99. (With free shipping, that’s a $50 drop and the lowest total price we could find.) Sales tax is added where applicable. Features include a Cherry laminate surface, glass shelf, and more.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Hottie Show is one of dozens of 17+ apps available for the iPhone.

If Apple is to be believed, the iTunes App Store is a smut-free zone. App developers, however, are treading a fine bikini line between nudity and prudery, offering dozens of apps with racy, soft-core content, ranging from “Bikini Inspector” to “Peekababe,” where a nipple covered in wet gauze or a woman clothed only in hot-pink mesh is considered clothed enough by Apple standards.

When Steve Jobs introduced the App Store on June 9, 2008, porn was at the top of the list of content that would not be allowed in apps.

“There are going to be some apps that we’re not going to distribute,” Jobs said. “Porn, malicious apps, apps that invade your privacy.”

Apple has taken steps to enforce Jobs’s pledge. In  late June, Apple shuttered the Hottest Girls app which featured 2,000+ pictures of naked girls. A week later, the company nuked another app, BeautyMeter, which showcased pictures uploaded by users, some of them clearly underage. “Apple will not distribute applications that contain inappropriate content, such as pornography,” reiterated Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr in late June after the company removed Hottest Girls.

So you might think iTunes offers nothing in the way of salacious eye candy.

Hardly. The iTunes store affords many ways to find a locked bathroom interesting for 10 minutes, in a range of tastes.

Click through the gallery below for some of the smutty apps we found in the App Store. If we missed some, please add them the comments.

Most of the apps are found in the “Lifestyle” and “Entertainment” sections. Some are tucked away in the “Photography” category. Some masquerade as games (Crazy Eights with the Hooters girls, anyone?) but the intent is clear.

Some, but not all, bear the 17+ rating for “frequent/intense mature/suggestive themes” and or “infrequent/mild sexual content or nudity.”

None, however, feature nudity. This is the line Apple will not cross. But the boundary is constantly being pushed by app sellers. Sometimes, it looks like developers may have replaced topless pics to avoid Apple censorship. More frequently however, users often complain in ratings about peek-a-boo nudity — apps that promised topless but didn’t deliver.

And surprisingly, given Apple’s stance, there are a couple of apps very similar to BeautyMeter, which allows users to upload their own pictures, making it very difficult to police for “inappropriate content.” Pretty Map, for example, is another social networking app with “beautiful girls” to view and rate. But although we downloaded Pretty Map expecting to get some smut, the buggy app didn’t come through.

Amateur Bikini

The Amateur Bikini app is billed by publisher McApps as “the closest you can get to porn on the iTunes store.” If so, the picture above is the closest thing you can get to porn. The developer says the app is aimed at fans of bikinis and lingerie who like to see hot babes “dressed in bikinis.” $0.99.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

When boy meets girl in comedy “500 Days of Summer,” he’s wearing an iPod. She hears the Smith’s “There is a Light that Never Goes Out” emoting from his headphones and they’re off.

That’s nothing new:  the iPod crops up in plenty of movies. But this may be the first time a director used one to coach actors.

Director Marc Webb, who comes to the big screen from the music video world, gave actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel iPod Minis to help them prep.

Webb packed the devices with songs that he listened to while breaking down the script. The actors also had a playlist designed to  convey the mood he was going after on each day of shooting. Deschanel told the WSJ she particularly liked day 44, dominated by Regina Specktor.
Webb bristles at the rom-com label, but from the description and trailer, it sounds like rom-com but with an oh-so-ironic twist:

After our hero spends a great evening with heroine, he bounds out of her house with a bounce in his step and a dance routine stolen from a million musicals breaks out, set to Hall & Oates’ “You Make My Dreams.”

Webb told NPR that particular song is probably overused in movies — but that’s part of the joke. “It’s like a shorthand for joy,” he says. “We’re trying to relate what’s going on inside somebody’s head, not the objective reality of it.”

“500 days of Summer” hits screens July 17.

Via NPR

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Today’s deals include refurbished Apple MacBook Pros, starting at $1,349, Floating iPod speakers from Excaliber,the Archos 5 Internet Media Tablet and many more.

Details of these and more Daily Deals can be found on the CoM Daily Deals page.

The Apple Store has 21 factory-refurbished MacBook Pro notebooks in its Special Deals section. (Click on “MacBook Pro” in the left sidebar to find them.) That’s the best selection we’ve seen in several weeks. With free shipping, many are at lowest-we’ve-seen prices. All come with a 1-year Apple warranty, the same as new Macs. Sales tax is added where applicable. Items are removed from Apple’s site when they sell out. The systems, each with free shipping:

Unibody MacBook Pro MB470LL/A Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz 15.4-inch Laptop, ($1,349)
Aluminum MacBook Pro MB487LL/A Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz 15.4-inch Laptop, ($1,349)
Unibody MacBook Pro MC026LL/A Core 2 Duo 2.66GHz 15.4-inch Laptop, ($1,699)
Aluminum MacBook Pro MB486LL/A Core 2 Duo 2.5GHz 17-inch Laptop, ($1,799)
Unibody MacBook Pro MB604LL/A Core 2 Duo 2.66GHz 17-inch Laptop, ($1,949)

Excalibur SoundMaster 145 Floating Wireless Speaker System for iPod for $39.99 with free shipping. (That’s $13 under our mention from June and the lowest total price we could find by $57.) An iPod dock transmitter and one speaker are included, but the system is expandable.

Archos 5 250GB 4.8-inch Internet Media Tablet for $279.99 with free shipping. (It’s the lowest total price we could find by $50.) This media tablet features a 4.8-inch 800×480 touch-screen LCD, 250GB hard drive, 802.11g wireless, USB connectivity, and compatibility with Mac and PC.

Kodak EasyShare Z1085 IS 10-Megapixel Digital Camera in Black, $88.99 with free shipping. (That’s a buck under our mention from two weeks ago and $70 under the best we could find for a new one.) Features include a Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon 5x optical zoom, video capture up to 1280×720, optical image stabilization, a 2.5-inch LCD, SD/MMC card slot, 64MB internal memory, and more.

Kingston 19-in-1 External USB 2.0 Card Reader, model no. FCR-HS219/1, for $13.69. (With free shipping, it’s $1 over our March mention, since expired, but it’s the lowest total price we could find by $5.) It features compatibility with virtually every kind of media card.

Several free applications are available for a limited time from Apple’s App Store, with price drops from $1 to $4. The apps:

AwesomeSauce Apps’ myMassage: Vibrating personal massager
DMBC’s iSurvive - Military Grade Survival Manual: Survival manual
Mark Locker’s GPS Info: Raw GPS information
Mediafly’s Mediafly: Video + Audio Podcast Edition: On-demand personalized video channels
9Bit Labs’ iNietzsche (pictured): “Pocket-sized existentialist”
99Games Online Private Limited’s Aqua Jigsaw: Marine life puzzles

Samsung SyncMaster 23-inch Widescreen LCD Monitor for $219.99 with free shipping. (This $20 mail-in rebate cuts it to $199.99. That ties our May mention as the lowest total price we’ve seen for this display.) It features a 2048×1152 native resolution, 5ms response time, 20,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 300 cd/m² brightness, and DVI-D and VGA inputs. Rebate expires July 31.

Other World Computing cut prices on many of its OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro FireWire 800/USB 2.0/eSATA RAID Drives, as noted below. Ground shipping is $5.75. Each drive includes Intech Hard Disk SpeedTools, ProSoft DataBackup II, cables, and 3-year warranty. The drives:

640GB with 32MB cache, $199.99 (was $210)
1TB with 32MB cache, $219.99
1.5TB with 64MB cache, $279.99
2TB with 32MB cache, $289.99 (was $295)
2TB with 64MB cache, $319.99 (was $330)
4TB with 64MB cache, $719.99 (was $780)

Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Internal Hard Drive, model no. HD103UJ, for $84.99 with free shipping. This $10 mail-in rebate drops it to $74.99 ($0.07/GB). (That’s a $3 drop since our mention from a month ago and the lowest total price we’ve ever seen for this hard drive.) This 3.5-inch drive features a 32MB cache and runs at 7200 rpm. Rebate expires July 20.

Elgato EyeTV Hybrid USB 2.0 HDTV Tuner, model no. 10020974, for $119.99 plus $6.99 for shipping. (Although that’s $3 over our May mention, since expired, it’s still the lowest total price we could find by $2.) Powered by Elgato’s EyeTV 3 software, the EyeTV Hybrid provides analog and digital signal decoding, support for 720p and 1080i HD, S-Video and RCA connectivity for game consoles/set-top boxes, and a compact USB 2.0 enclosure. Deal expires July 14.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

After my post yearning for more battery life out of my iPhone 3GS and hoping that the Mophie Juice Pack Air might hold the solutions to all of problems, a reader, who shall remain anonymous, tipped me off to some unresolved problems with the current generation fo the combination iPhone case/battery pack.

At left is one of two screenshots he sent me purporting to show the Juice Pack Air refusing to provide power to his iPhone (which kind of defeats its purpose). He bought one, was told it was defective, was given a replacement, and found it had the same troubles.

Here’s his explanation:

“It only happens if you discharge your iPhone to 20% warning. Then allow the Mophie to charge your iPhone 3GS until its depleted. Once it’s at zero charge the errors happen in the iPhone 3GS every time. I think those errors even crashed the phone once, but this is unconfirmed but feel its right since it was left to charge, placed in an outer mesh pocket of a laptop bag and found unresponsive later until removed from the Mophie and hard reset. Sigh.”

Anyone else seen these issues? I’ll admit, it has me back in a wait-and-see mode again…

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

The iphone nano: Like throwing your two favorite things in a blender. Via Solomobi

There’s been a lot of concern of late about just how sophisticated Chinese bootleggers have become at creating counterfeit Apple products. Leander got snookered by near-perfect iPod earbuds, the head of Apple Switzerland was furious to receive a gift of a bootleg iPod shuffle, and we’ve all seen an increasing number of knock-offs popping up all over the place, potentially undermining Apple’s value.

But for all our concern, there are also magical gifts like the above “iphone nano,” which looks as elegant and beautiful as if Conan O’Brien had done a “What If They Mated?” segment on his show for the iPod nano and the iPhone. Simply stunning. I know I’m jealous.

Solomobi via Engadget Mobile

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

eeno's iPod, post meltdown

UPDATE: According to today’s reports, Apple will not recall iPod Nanos in Korea, but exchange faulty batteries.

An  Apple Korea spokesman denied the recall,  telling  Joong An Daily “the problem iPod Nano products were sold between September 2005 and December 2006. These products are no longer being sold in any of Apple Korea’s stores.”

Apple will recall first-generation iPod Nanos in Korea after complaints that faulty batteries cause the MP3 devices to overheat and explode.

Since December 2008, four users filed complaints with the the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards over bugged iPod Nanos — three of them were for battery meltdowns while recharging.

The agency prodded Apple to recall first-gen iPod Nanos; Apple agreed to accept the recall recommendation but refused further comment.

Reports of iPod Nano battery meltdown have cropped up before, Japanese government launched an investigation into battery snafus in 2008.

Ever had an iPod battery overheat and liquify? Any success in getting a replacement?

Via Korea Herald, WSJ

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Today’s deals include Belkin’s AC/USB wall charger for $8, the iPod/iPhone iSpeakers system and Samsung widescreen 20-inch LCD display.

Details of these and more deals can be found on the CoM Daily Deals page.

Belkin Universal AC / USB Wall Charger, $7.99 with free shipping. (That’s a $12 overnight drop and the lowest total price we’ve seen.) Works with any device that charges via USB, though you’ll need to supply your own USB cable. Deal ends July 15.

Today only - iSpeakers Speaker System for iPods/iPhone and MP3/MP4 Players, $2.99. (With $4.99 for shipping, it’s the lowest total price we could find by $9.)

Samsung 20-inch Widescreen LCD Monitor for $179.99 with free shipping. Add it to your cart and it falls to $115. This $20 mail-in rebate chops it further to $95. (That’s tied with last month’s mention and the lowest total price we could find by $25.) Sales tax is added where applicable. Features include a native resolution of 1600×900, 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 300 cd/m² brightness, 5ms response time, and both DVI and VGA inputs. Deal ends July 10.

iHome Rotating Alarm Clock for iPod and iPod touch, $59.99 with free shipping. (That’s $2 under our May mention and the lowest total price we’ve seen.) Features include a rotatable orientation for movie viewing, battery backup, snooze, iPod dock, AM/FM tuner, auxiliary input for other audio players, and remote control.

Canon DC-310 DVD Camcorder, $149.99 plus $8.89 for shipping. Coupon code “EMCLVLX42″ chops it to $119.99. (That’s $16 under our April mention of a refurb and it’s $71 under the lowest total price we could find for a new, factory-sealed unit.) Features include a 2.7-inch LCD, 37x optical zoom, 1152×864 recording resolution, DIGIC DV II image processor, electronic image stabilization, SDHC card slot for still images, and more. Deal ends July 15.

Several iPhone and iPod touch applications available from the iTunes App Store have recently dropped in price. Each is the best deal we’ve seen on that title. The deals:

PunkStar Studios’s Panda Saver for 99 cents ($2 off): Accelerometer-based physics game
Sophiestication Software’s Groceries (Grocery Shopping List) for 99 cents ($3 off): List-maker
Amalgamated Coders’ TwinShot3D for 99 cents ($2 off): 3D Anaglyph image capture
WebArtisan’s Food Additives for $1.99 ($2 off): Food additive reference
Frontier Code’s Diary for $1.99 ($3 off): Password-protected diary software
Paramount Digital Entertainment’s TOP GUN for $1.99 (pictured, $1 off): Arcade flight simulator
Christopher Manouvrier’s Trady for $3.99 ($1 off): Handy-work assistant

BlackBerry 8300 Curve Chrome Desktop Charging Pod, $7.99 with free shipping. (That’s a buck under last week’s mention and tied for the lowest total price we’ve ever seen for this charging dock.) It combines with any travel or data cable charger to charge and/or sync a BlackBerry smartphone. Deal ends July 15.

Iogear Bluetooth Stereo Audio Transmitter, $43.24 with free shipping. (That’s $2 under our April mention and the lowest total price we could find by $5.) This transmitter plugs into any 3.5mm jack (found in most audio devices) and allows you to listen to music through most Bluetooth-capable headsets or audio systems.

Dane-Elec 4GB Capless zMate USB 2.0 Flash Drive, $10.77 with free shipping ($2.75/GB). (That’s the lowest total price we could find by $6.)

Lexmark P350 Portable Photo Printer for $29.99. (With free shipping, that’s $20 under our last mention in 2007 and the lowest total price we could find by far.) Features include a 2.4-inch color display, 4×6-inch borderless printing, and USB connectivity.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Ocado is one of the UK’s classier supermarkets. It’s online-only (although closely linked to meatspace retailer Waitrose) and most people would probably say it appeals to the better-off kind of shopper.

It’s also, as of this week, a pioneer of iPhone shopping. The free Ocado app does a few clever things that the other big retailers might want to keep a close eye on when they finally get round to building apps of their own.

For one thing, the app comes with Ocado’s full catalogue of 18,000 products, so you don’t need a net connection to browse and add stuff to your basket. Add things when you think of them, whenever it’s convenient. And next time your phone’s online, it’ll sync all your actions with your Ocado account.

It falls down with a bizarre bug: your phone’s clock has to be set to 24 hour clock mode for the app to install and run correctly. If it isn’t, the app falls over and very critical comments start appearing on the App Store. The developers know about this, though, and say they’ll have it fixed soon.

This app is a sign of things to come. Online shopping has grown enormously in the UK over the last decade or so, and it’s going to grow ever bigger if people can shop more conveniently, away from their home computers. Rival (cheaper, more popular) supermarkets are no doubt hard at work on similar apps (for iPhone and other platforms) right now, and it will be very interesting to see how they compare.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Make easy photo collages & slideshows with Pix Remix

What it is: Pix Remix is a new iPhone app from Bay Area-based Jump Associates and Originate Labs that lets you turn photos - taken with or stored on your iPhone - into slideshows, collages, and interesting pan & zoom presentations — and makes it incredibly easy and intuitive to share them in email or post them to Twitter and Facebook from right within the app.

Why it’s cool: Impressive for an initial release, Pix Remix is loaded with effective tools for personalizing your photo shows, with built-in transitions including fade/dissolve, push, drop and spin out; and the collage function makes it easy to drag, resize and bring photos to the front or back. The pan and zoom function lets you become an instant documentarian, guiding your viewers’ eyes from one spot to another on individual pictures, zooming in to a special detail area. Text can be added to give photos captions or tell a story about your show.

Once you’ve got your photo show together, Pix Remix makes it easy to share in email or to post to your Twitter page or your Facebook profile. Email recipients have the option of viewing your work on a web page or within the Pix Remix app on their iPhone; updates to your Twitter status automatically append a bit.ly url that sends viewers to the Pix Remix web page for your show; shows can be posted directly to your Facebook profile, where your contacts can view your creations right within Facebook, without ever having to leave the site.

Pix Remix is so intuitive and easy to use, I made my first collage and sent it to myself in email while I sat on the porcelain throne in my office during my morning constitutional today!

Where to get it: Pix Remix is available now on the iTunes App Store; it sells for $2.99.

Important Disclosure: Cult of Mac contributor Pete Mortensen is the communications lead at Jump Associates and works in the firm’s growth strategy consulting business. He was involved in the original brainstorming sessions that led to the development of Pix Remix but was in no way affiliated with the writing of this product review, nor did his association with Cult of Mac influence the author’s use of the application or his conclusions regarding its quality or value.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Word Flipper is an addictive, fast-paced word search game for iPhone and iPod Touch that just hit the iTunes App Store with update 1.1 and is bound to generate new buzz with some excellent feature updates.

One user describes it as “Sort of Boggle meets Dance Dance Revolution with a carnival twist!” but it really must be played to be appreciated.

Jamie Grove, Word Flipper’s developer, said, “I wanted to make a game that combined my love of word games with the fast-moving action available on the iPhone/iPod Touch,” which he’s done by incorporating innovative use of the iPhone OS accelerometer.

The new version also incorporates social media functionality, with achievement awards, global leaderboards, and integration with Facebook and Twitter.

Word Flipper (iTunes link) is available now on the App Store and sells for 99¢.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Josh Darrah's wooden case

This is the latest in a series of keen, green-leaning Apple accessories, like the iPhone stands made of wood or the steampunk-esque iPod case.

Josh Darrah, an Australian graphic designer, crafted this iPod Mini case entirely in wood — with a nifty matching charger dock.

Darrah told Stuff he spent about four weekends to craft the case out of just $12 USD in materials — Australian red cedar for the main shell and Camphor Laurel for the click wheel and base.

He used screws instead of glue, making it a little greener (he did employ some double sided tape to secure the clickwheel).
(More pics after the jump).

His inspiration?

“I was given a new iPod Mini for Christmas and I just couldn’t leave my trusty old Mini to sit unused somewhere,” he commented on Flickr. “So I decided to finally try a wooden shell mod on him that I had wanted to do for a long time.”

The final product with matching wood dock

Check out his making-of flickr stream and let the wood times roll…

Thanks to CoM reader Mark Reinhoudt

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Todays deals include a refurbished Apple 30GB video iPod for $100, Canon EOS T1i, Samsung 22-inch 1080p widescreen monitor and many more.

More Daily Deals can be found on the CoM Daily Deals page.

A refurbished Apple iPod video 30GB MP3 Player in White ($99.99 with free shipping.)

Canon EOS Digital Rebel T1i 15.1-Megapixel Digital SLR Camera with the Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens, model no. 3818B002, bundled with the Canon PIXMA MP980 Wireless Multifunction Photo Inkjet Printer, model no. 2922B002, and the EasyStore 4GB SDHC Secure Digital High-Capacity Card for $1,108. (Add the camera and the printer to your cart individually, the SDHC card appears automatically). ($300 mail-in rebate cuts it to $808.)

Samsung 21.5″ Widescreen LCD Monitor in Piano Black, model no. 2243SWX, for $189.99. (Coupon code “22X6DLMFK6K92G” drops it to $134.99.)  This pivoting monitor features a 1920×1080 (1080p) resolution, 1,000:1 contrast, 5ms response time, and DVI-D and VGA video inputs. Coupon ends today.

Fantom G-Force 2TB eSATA / USB 2.0 External Hard Drive ($209.99 with free shipping. $20 mail-in rebate drops it to $189.99).  Rebate ends July 15.

CP Technologies N_Max WBR-6001 802.11n Wireless Router for $40.99. (A $15 mail-in rebate cuts it to $25.99.) Free shipping. Rebate ends July 14.

Dell 1320c Network Color Laser Printer for $179. Apply coupon code “22X6DLMFK6K92G” and it falls to $161.10. (With free shipping, that’s the lowest total price we could find by $13.)

Emerson 19″ Widescreen LCD HD Television for $178. Shipping adds$12.97 or choose free Site-to-Store. (Even with shipping, it’s $55 under our mention last August and the lowest total price we’ve seen.) Features include a 1440×900 native resolution, built-in ATSC (HD) and NTSC tuners, 8ms response time, and VGA, component, and other video inputs.

HP02-Compatible Inkjet Cartridge 8-Pack for $39.95. Add coupon code “DEALMACHP02″ to cut it to $34.95. (With $4.95 for shipping, it’s the lowest total price we’ve seen for this bundle by $5.) It’s compatible with HP Photosmart 3110, 3210, and 3310 printers, among others. Deal ends July 14.

HP 50-watt 2.1 Speaker System for $59.99 with free shipping. Coupon code “SV7356″ cuts it to $49.99. (That’s the lowest total price we could find by $7.) It features two satellite speakers with dual micro full-range drivers, a subwoofer, wired remote, and more.

Creative Labs cuts up to 60% off select items as part of its Christmas in July Sale. The sale yields some of the best discounts we’ve seen from Creative. Choose from MP3 players, speakers, headphones, sound cards, and more. (Orders over $75 qualify for free shipping; otherwise, shipping starts around $8.)

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

XMenu from the Devonthink people is one of those freeware apps that I recommend to every Mac user I meet. The latest update, version 1.9, is newly released and boasts visual refinements and a helpful new feature.

For the uninitiated, XMenu is a Menu Bar widget for getting to stuff quickly without leaving the app you’re in. What I like most about it is its flexibility. You can have six different shortcuts in your Menu Bar if you like, or just one if you prefer to keep things simple.

That’s what I do. I use the user-defined widget and throw aliases for useful files and folders into ~/Library/Application Support/XMenu - that way, I keep my Menu Bar uncluttered but XMenu still gives me quick click access to stuff like my todo.txt, my income and expenses records, and a handful of use-them-every-day folders.

If your Dock is overcrowded with folders or stacks that you don’t use because, well, because it’s overcrowded, then you should have a look at XMenu. This latest update adds a text snippets manager that works just the same as the user-defined widgets. Put some plain or rich text files in the right place, and XMenu will let you insert them into any app with two clicks.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

People have been speculating about a Google OS for years, and finally it’s official. Chrome OS will be open source, free, and popping up on a netbook near you in about a year or so from now.

And do you think Apple’s worried? Nah.

Apple doesn’t give a damn about netbooks, as it has already made crystal clear.

I’ve no doubt that Chrome OS will be a huge success, especially if it ends up being as fast and as simple as Google promises. On netbooks, it will perhaps cut into sales of Linux-based devices, and to a lesser extent the ones running Windows 7. And we shouldn’t underestimate the potential of Windows 7 - it’s the best thing to come out of Microsoft in a long, long time.

And that’s what Google is taking aim at. The intention is to eat into Microsoft’s market share, to get Chrome OS installed on netbooks first, then notebooks and desktops later. Apple, even with eight per cent or whatever it claims nowadays, isn’t in its sights.

I doubt if anyone at Apple even gives a damn. Assuming they are building a tablet-like gadget to take the MacBook name and do to other tablets what the iPhone is doing to cell phones, they’ll also be working on an OS X + iPhone OS derivative to run on it. And if that’s the case, it’ll be very interesting to see how it stacks up against Chrome OS.

But anyway. Hi Google. Welcome to the OS club. It gets hot in here sometimes.

UPDATE

M’colleague Leigh McMullen emails me to point out that Chrome-as-an-OS was something he predicted way back in September last year, in a post entitled Google Sets Sights on Windows and its entertaining follow-up Chrome is an OS, Not a Premature Googasm. Both worth re-reading in light of today’s news.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Today’s deals include a Samsung Netbook that can be hacked to run OS X, a 2TB external HD for a nice price, and a Philips 42-inch LCD HDTV for $850. And many more!

Find more deals every day on the CoM Daily Deals page.

2.8-lb. Samsung Intel Atom 1.6GHz 10″ Netbook for $369 + free shipping (Well-made hardware that makes a great OS X HackBook: lowest total price we’ve seen by $11)

Fantom 2TB eSATA / USB External Hard Drive for $190 after rebate + free shipping (lowest total price we could find by $30)

Apple Back to School Sale: Buy a Mac, get an iPod touch for $0 after rebate

Refurbished Apple iPod video 30GB MP3 Player for $100 + free shipping

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for $509 + free shipping (lowest total price we could find by $11)

Samsung 23″ Widescreen 1080p LCD Display for $153 + free shipping (lowest total price we’ve seen)

Philips 42″ 1080p 120Hz Widescreen LCD HDTV for $849 + free shipping (lowest total price we could find by $74)

HP 50W 2.1-Channel Speaker System for $50 + free shipping (lowest total price we could find by $7)

HP Officejet Pro 8000 Inkjet Printer for $20 after rebate + free shipping (lowest total price we’ve seen for this printer)

HP02-Compatible Inkjet Cartridge 8-Pack for $35 + $5 s&h (compatible with HP Photosmart 3110, 3210, and 3310 printers, among others. Lowest total price we’ve seen for this bundle by $5)

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Two weeks after an iPhone 3GS was dropped in a swimming pool while recording video, the phone is still frickin’ working says its owner.

“I’m talking to you on it now,” says Khena Kara, the iPhone’s owner, speaking from his home in Nashville, TN. “It’s still going strong.”

Kara’s iPhone 3GS gained internet fame after Kara accidentally dropped it in a swimming pool while recording a video. The iPhone kept recording as it sank to the bottom, and as he fished it out. “It still frickin’ works!” he says in surprise as he pulls the iPhone from the pool. Kara posted the footage to YouTube, and it spread fast on blogs and Twitter. It has now been watched more that 500,000 times.

But many questioned the video’s authenticity. Most notably, Mashable wondered whether it was real.

“Yes, it’s real,” says Kara of the video. “It was the pool in my subdivision.”

Above is a video still of Kara taken from the iPhone video right after it was fished from the pool. And below it is a new picture of Kara taken with the same iPhone.

The new picture’s metadata appears to back up Kara’s story.

Here’s the full picture of Kara emailed to CoM. The photo says it was sent from an iPhone. The picture’s metadata says it was taken with an iPhone on July 5 — almost two weeks after the pool video was posted.

The photo’s GPS data points to a subdivision outside Nashville, and the Google satellite image of the subdivision shows a large swimming pool. Kara asked that the satellite image not be published.

“I don’t want that many people to know where I live,” he says. “There are too many weirdos out there, and if you had seen some of the responses I’ve gotten, you’d swear I posted a video of me killing a puppy or something. It’s crazy.”

The crazy response is partly because of the video’s popularity, and partly because of the Mac-versus-Windows flame war it started.

“This thing has taken on a life of its own,” adds Kara, who speaks with British accent even though he is half French, half Sicilian. He was born and raised in Paris, France, and educated by a British tutor. His father is a famous French movie star.

“I had no idea how much attention it would get. It’s insane. I had no frickin’ idea.”

Questioning the video’s authenticity, some wonder if Kara put the iPhone in a waterproof case before he dropped it in the pool.

Kara says the iPhone was wrapped in a rubbery case, but it’s not waterproof.

“It’s a cheapo rubber case,” he says. “I don’t remember the brand. The case might have helped, but all the holes are still exposed, so it didn’t make that much difference.”

Others have accused Kara of working for Apple.

“I’d be happy to work for Apple,” says Kara laughing. “I’ll move to Cupertino if you want me to. They can send me free stuff too.”

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Having now lived with an iPhone 3GS for the better part of three weeks, I remain incredibly impressed with the device. It’s powerful, fast, and running extremely mature software that’s delightfully quirk-free.

That said, it’s also become apparent that if you’re actually interested in using the phone for its intended use (web browsing, e-mail and video), battery life is ridiculously inadequate. In spite of assurances at WWDC, the 3GS only lasts marginally longer than the 3G, and I often need to charge up mid-afternoon to make sure i have decent battery for my train ride home.

Yesterday, things really went out of wack, and I could literally watch my charge diminish by 2 percent per minute when I was doing nothing so much as leaving it on my desk. A restart fixed it, but it was an extreme case of a persistent problem.

I started thinking about all of this thanks to Joel Johnson’s review of the Mophie Juice Pack Air over at BB Gadgets today. I still think having any case would be a downer, but the extra battery power is becoming increasingly necessary to enjoy my long-awaited iPhone in the manner I choose. That said, I can’t really bring myself to by one of those big battery packs that hold four times the charge, or what have you — afraid of losing it.

What’s been your experience? Do you moderate your Flight Control play to preserve your talk time? Or do you sport a bonus battery pack?

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

In the unlikely event that you’ve been yearning for more browsers on your Mac, and in the even less likely event that you wish you could splash out money for one; well, sunshine, your prayers have been answered.

For iCab, the last Mac browser that still costs money, is still being updated and has just reached version 4.6.1. And it can be all yours for 20 bucks. (I’m wracking my brains, and I can’t think of any other browsers that cost money these days - not since OmniWeb went free. Shout if you know of another.)

You over there with the glazed eyes: snap out of it for a moment. This is app with some history, you see. iCab’s been around for, as we say in these parts, donkeys years. Since before Safari was a glint in Steve Jobs eye. Since before anyone had even thought of Firefox. The first release was in 1999. Versions of it still run on System 7, if that’s your bag.

So, um, should you buy it? Well if you need a browser for your ancient beige box - or collection of same filling your attic - then you won’t have a lot of choice. But even the OS X version isn’t a bad browser. It has some nice features. I particularly like the Page Overview and Links Overview, which let you find your way through busy web pages quickly and easily.

Let’s put it this way: if everyone still charged money for their browsers, iCab would still be able to compete for your money alongside the rest of the gang, its head held high.

But when superb browsers can be had almost everywhere you look, when Safari 4 comes with your Mac, and when you can roll your own decent browser in about 10 seconds flat if you feel the urge, iCab’s fee is the only thing that people ever notice about it. Pity, really.

(Oh, and: Hi everyone! It’s me again. Back at the Cult. Watch this space for more posts about stuff-I-find-interesting and inane candy-based competitions. Perhaps.)

UPDATE

Splutter! Gasp! There’s more!

I had no idea that there was an iCab for iPhone (where of course, paying for browsers is still completely fine by everyone). But there is. And by all accounts, it’s rather good. Blimey.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

A momentous day.

Exactly one year ago, Apple brought forth the iPhone App Store, which has gone on to become the greatest gift to Twitter’s growth imaginable. Among other things.

Let’s hope they have it really perfected by next year.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Hyperwall in WWDC 2009, Live from App Store from Imagebakery on Vimeo.

By all accounts, the iPhone 3GS launch has been a tremendous success for Apple. Despite launching in a down economy, the new model managed to sell as many units in its first weekend as its predecessor with little sign of slowdown. It’s also been an incredibly smooth launch. Though the iPhone 3G launch was marred by product shortages and buggy software, Apple’s kept a steady supply of hardware in the channel, and iPhone OS 3.0 is quite stable for such a new release.

But as effective as Apple has become in managing all of the aspects of the iPhone that it controls (hardware and first-party software), the launch also reveals the challenges the company faces in its efforts to take advantage of a larger network. AT&T’s signal strength continues to be a subject of much heated debate, and more crucially, Apple’s position as minder of a large software platform with thousands of developers looks increasingly untenable.

I don’t need to go into detail about the numerous cracks in the App Store facade of the last year: the baby shaking app, the unapproved porn, the copyright infringement, the excellent apps inexplicably rejected for arbitrary reasons and the apps that never made it out of the approval process one way or another. What I can say is this: the release of the 3GS has inspired a burst of app submissions the likes of which Apple has never seen before. When the App Store first opened a year ago, it had a flurry of submissions, but a smaller pool of developers. This is the first real “event” period since the iPhone dev community has grown, and the submission pool is not unlike the giant hyperwall of apps that dominated the conversation at this year’s WWDC.

A developer friend tells me that a pre-release version of his app was checked off and approved in a week in the period immediately before the 3GS announcement. The final release, submitted the day of the WWDC keynote on June 8, took nearly four weeks to get through the system, and I’m told that Apple has even notified its developer community that all apps are taking between three and four weeks to vet. That means it takes four times as long to get new products to consumers, four times as long to fix bugs, and four times as long to go from finished work to money-making.

If Apple wants to maintain the dominance of the iPhone and the success of the App Store, it needs to find a more effective way to manage the sheer volume of submissions it’s tackling. Too much crud is making it through, and too much brilliant code is sitting on the shelf. The iPhone is by far the best mobile platform today. Unless Apple learns to treat its developers better on the front end (I hear payment works brilliantly), they won’t be loyal when the next Next Big Thing comes around.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

The United States Department of Justice has taken the first baby steps that could eventually lead to an official investigation of the Telecom industry and the effects its exclusive carrier agreements have on consumer prices and choices, according to a Wall Street Journal report Monday.

The initial review looks to determine whether large U.S. telecom companies such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. have abused the market power they’ve amassed in recent years, according to people familiar with the matter.

Largely moribund and hamstrung by internal politics and inefficiency during the Bush administration, DOJ under President Barack Obama has seen renewed relevance as an arm of the Federal government and has lately signaled business as usual could soon be ending for an industry left to its own devices during the past decade or more.

Many people have long decried exclusive carrier agreements that make popular gadgets such as Apple’s iPhone available only to consumers willing to sign multi-year service agreements with AT&T and likewise Blackberry’s Storm to those who’d sign with Verizon.

The Wall Street Journal quoted the Justice Department’s antitrust chief, Christine Varney, saying she wants to “reassert the government’s role in policing monopolistic and anti-competitive practices by powerful companies.”

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Apple’s iPhone has recently become the most popular camera on Flickr, one of the Internet’s most well-regarded photo sharing social media sites.

Expressed in “percent of members” terms, the iPhone has lately bested two models of Canon’s EOS Digital Rebel, of which the XTi had long been the clear favorite choice of Flickr members.

UPDATE: Since this post was originally published, the Flickr site’s graph has been changed, and now shows the iPhone is the #2 camera among Flickr members, resting just behind the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi, which has apparently enjoyed a bump in popularity for which the previously published graph did not account.

[Thanks Rafael, for the heads-up on the graph change!]

Among popular camera phones, the iPhone has outdistanced its rivals since its release two years ago and recently widened the gap between its nearest competitor, the Nokia N95, by a huge margin.

The data is to be taken with a grain of salt as anecdotal and largely unscientific, but it is interesting to note such graphic evidence of popularity for a phone camera that had been denigrated by many as one of the most pitiable features of Apple’s popular smartphone.

Apple recently upgraded the specs on the iPhone camera, giving it a boost in pixel capacity and adding both variable focus and video capabilities, which should only increase its attractiveness going forward.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Exploded Mac: the Poster

Love the Exploded 128 Mac tee but find there are only so many places you can wear it? You can hang up your Apple love with Garry Booth’s take on the inner workings of this milestone Mac, it’s part of a trio of retro-Mac posters.

snippets from Mactrilogy posters

You can also deck your halls with “Macronaut,” Ray Frenden’s space-age voyager who looks like he’s lost Command or create a den of antiquity with  Gary Gao’s “Mac Ghosts,” specters of computers past.

This is a limited run of fewer than 100, offered at a package price of $39,  so if you’re interested in the Mac Poster Trilogy, make a move.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

One of these iPhone headsets is from Apple; the other is a knockoff.

Spot the difference? One of these is a $30 iPhone Stereo Headset from Apple. The other is a $14 knockoff from the Philippines.

Thing is, the $14 copycat is as almost good as the original. It’s nearly physically indistinguishable. The sound is exceptionally good. And the microphone/remote works the same as it does on the genuine article.

Even the packaging is remarkably realistic.

Except there’s a few things that are off — a few minor details that give them away as fakes. Plus, they broke down after a week.

These $13 knockoffs are as good as the genuine article.

The fact that counterfeiters are ripping off $30 earbuds doesn’t surprise experts.

“It would not surprise me that they would knock off low price items because the margin is extremely high on Apple accessories,” said Andrew “Bunnie” Huang, VP of engineering with Chumby, who has spent years working in Chinese hardware factories. “If they can pass them off as real they still make a boatload of money. Plus, the effort to set up a line to copy something like this is relatively small in China.”

SEE ALSO:

Marvel At the Ingenuity of the Chinese iPhoney, iPhone Knockoffs Now Near Perfect

Advertised as genuine Apple iPhone Stereo Headsets, I bought two pairs last month on eBay because they were half the price of Apple’s. Surplus or something, I thought. The eBay seller says they are based in New Jersey, but the earbuds were sent from the Philippines. Free shipping.

At first I thought they were genuine. The packaging is perfect. The box has all the Apple branding, and the same plastic tab Apple uses to hang the boxes from hooks in its stores. Inside, there’s the same white plastic pouch and a warranty pamphlet that’s an exact facsimile of Apple’s.

The counterfeit earbuds have the same packaging as genuine Apple earbuds.

That stuff is easy. Much harder is getting the nearly the same build quality as the genuine product.

The knockoffs are as almost good as the originals, except in small details. They sound as good (and Apple;s headsets have remarkably good sound), and the cords are made from a similar, medium-duty, tangle-resistant rubber.

The microphone, which doubles as a remote, works exactly the same. It answers calls, pauses and restarts songs, and skips to the next song if you double-click it — just like the genuine article.

The functionality of the fakes is the same. The microphone/remote answers calls, pause music, and skips songs with a double-click.

Everything was hunky dory until they broke down after just a week. One of the earbud speakers blew, and the mic/remote became extremely unreliable, pausing and starting songs at random, and frequently skipping to the next song.

So I gave them a closer look, and noticed the microphone/remote has a slightly spongy feel. It doesn’t ‘click’ like Apple’s iPhone headsets. There’s also a little glue leaking from some of the seams — a manufacturing imperfection that would never pass Apple QA.

The microphone/remote has a 'spongy' feel and a smudge of glue that would likely fail QA in an Apple factory.

The wires are also a noticeably different material when compared to the genuine article. They are harder, not as pliant and rubbery. Then the boxes started to look a little funny. The printing isn’t right. It’s a little lower quality than Apple’s. It’s also a lighter shade — see the photos below.

And then there’s a tiny “China” brand missing on the lanyard, next to where the wires split to the left and right ears.

I opened the other pair, and the microphone/remote is noticeably badly assembled. The two halves don’t meet at the seam. Plus, it doesn’t work — at all.

The microphone/remote on this knockoff headset was poorly assembled. Plus, it doesn't work. Another pair bought at the same time did work.

Compare the knockoff on the right to the genuine Apple headset on the left. You can see that this particular pair of fake earbuds is shoddily put together.

The fakes are so well made, there’s a chance they aren’t fakes at all. Maybe they’re Apple rejects. Instead of being recycled or trashed, they’re sold on the grey market. Or perhaps some of the parts are genuine Apple parts, bought from an official supplier, and some parts are knockoff. Or maybe they are simply older stock that’s being sold off cheap, and I just happened to pick two crappy ones.

The eBay seller from the Philippines didn’t respond to messages asking for explanation or comment. Apple also didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Jeremy Horwitz, editor-in-chief of iLounge, who has tested almost every iPod and accessory under the sun, said he’s seen plenty of counterfeit headsets.

“Companies have been making knockoffs of the prior microphone-less iPod headsets for years, in different colors and sometimes in different materials,” he says. “They are very common in China, and generally of poor quality, with plastic sealing seams and other imperfections that Apple would never abide.”

Horwitz said the iPhone Stereo Headset doesn’t contain particularly complex technology, making it relatively easy to copy. There were rumors last year that Apple’s new headsets contain a proprietary control chip that has to be licensed from the company.

However, Horwitz says only the Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic that were released in late December contain the chip. The iPhone 3GS headphones also likely feature the chip. The headsets that came with the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G are “comparatively simple,” says Horwitz.

“Making a knockoff of the original Apple iPhone Stereo Headset is relatively straightforward,” he says.

The audio manufacturer Shure has battled counterfeiters for years. In late May, the company helped Chinese authorities raid wholesale stores and warehouses full of knock headsets branded as Shure, as well as JVC and Audio-Technica.

“Customers should be highly cautious of Shure products that are priced unreasonably low at retail outlets online,” the company warned.

Two of these are fakes. The real Apple product -- purchased from an Apple store -- is the box in the middle.

No detail is overlooked. The knockoffs even have the same plastic hooks.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

The audio manufacturer Shure has battled knockoffs for years. http://www.flickr.com/photos/digaderfox/

The audio manufacturer Shure is known for its excellent headphones, which makes it a favorite target of counterfeiters.

In May, Shure helped Chinese authorities bust knockoff shops run by two Shanghai companies that were making copycat Shure headphones. The raids uncovered large quantities of Shure E2c and E4c earphones, which sell for about $70 and $170 respectively, as well as headphones branded JVC and Audio-Technica.

Unlike copycats of yore, today’s counterfeiters are amazingly sophisticated and accomplished, turning out high-quality knockoffs that in some ways rival the originals. Flickr user digaderfox bought a pair of fake Shures on eBay last year, and documented the surprisingly high quality of the knockoffs on the photo site.

Apple is also is becoming a target of copycats, with amazingly good knockoffs of iPhones and headsets coming onto the market.

SEE ALSO:

Marvel At the Ingenuity of the Chinese iPhoney, iPhone Knockoffs Now Near Perfect

Copycats Target $30 Apple Earbuds, And These Are Perfect

Paul Applebaum, Shure’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel, said counterfeiters are increasingly sophisticated. Some are setting up convincing factory-direct websites, or hijacking U.S. eBay accounts to make it appear goods are shipped domestically.

Full interview after the jump.

CoM: How big a problem is counterfeiting for Shure?

Applebaum: It’s difficult to know, because there is no reliable data about the counterfeit market. Making and selling counterfeit products is a criminal activity, and as you might expect, counterfeiters are not eager to report their sales figures. Because Shure is an industry leader with a strong brand name, we’re an attractive target for counterfeiters. There are actually two different categories of activity that can be described as ‘counterfeiting’, and Shure is subject to both. First, some counterfeiters offer products that bear no resemblance at all to any Shure product, but they apply a Shure name or model number to it and offer it for sale as a Shure product. Second, some counterfeiters offer products that are visually similar to a Shure product, but don’t sound or work the same at all.

CoM: Has it increased/decreased?

Applebaum: With the increasingly globalized economy, counterfeiting continues to proliferate. This may be partly because modern technology makes it easier to produce counterfeits and the internet makes it easier to market and sell them to unsuspecting buyers.

CoM: Where are the knockoffs sold — and how much for?

Applebaum: Most counterfeit Shure products are offered for sale to consumers through online-only dealers and through auction sites such as eBay. The pricing usually falls into the “too good to be true” category. Recently, we have noticed a proliferation of English language websites based in China that invite customers to “Trade with China Suppliers”, “Buy Wholesale from China” and “Deal Direct with the Factory”. Genuine Shure products are not distributed through any of these. We’ve also seen cases where dormant eBay accounts have been ‘hijacked’ to make it appear that the counterfeit item is being shipped from the U.S., but the package that arrives comes from an address in China, with no other information.

CoM: How good are the knockoffs — what’s the quality like?

Applebaum: In every case where we have obtained an example of a counterfeit product, it has been of extremely poor quality or, in some cases, completely non-functional. The counterfeit may look similar to a Shure product – especially in a low-quality photo posted on a website – but the product is inferior in terms of sound quality and durability.  Unfortunately, the buyer is usually unable to contact the seller because they have no phone number, no email.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Security video from Friday’s violent armed robbery at the Apple Store in Arlington, Virginia, has been posted to YouTube.

The Arlington police are cleverly using YouTube to broadcast crime videos with appeals for help from the public.

The latest video is from Friday’s robbery at the Apple Store Clarendon in Arlington, in which a female employee was shot in the shoulder and wounded. The 26-year woman is in hospital in serious but stable condition, police said.

In the security video, the employee is seen opening the back door to the store after the suspect rang the bell at about 10.15 AM. She is led back into the store at gunpoint, and was shot soon afterward. The suspect fled on foot.

Police describe the suspect as a thin black male, aged 35-45, wearing a dark baseball cap and light-colored shirt and pants.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Arlington County Police Department Tip Line at 703 228-4242.

Or call Detective Alan Lowrey at 703 228-4199 or Detective Michael Austin at 703 228-4241. Det. Lowrey can also be reached via email at email hidden; JavaScript is required and Det. Austin can be reached at email hidden; JavaScript is required .

Full text of the police description of the crime and appeal for help after the jump.

Thanks Pancho.

Arlington Police posted the following crime alert to YouTube:

At approximately 10:15 a.m. on July 3, 2009, an unknown man rang the doorbell at the service entrance to the Apple Store in the 2700 block of Clarendon Boulevard.

An employee walked to the back of the store to answer the door. A short time later, another employee heard a gunshot. The victim, a 26 year old female, was found suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to the right shoulder. The suspect had already fled the area on foot. The victim was transported to an area hospital where she remains in serious but stable condition.

Anyone who has information about this shooting or the identity of the suspect is asked to call the Arlington County Police Department Tip Line at 703 228-4242 or Detective Alan Lowrey at 703 228-4199 or Detective Michael Austin at 703 228-4241. Det. Lowrey can also be reached via email at email hidden; JavaScript is required and Det. Austin can be reached at email hidden; JavaScript is required .

Witnesses can also call Arlington County Crime Solvers at 866-411-TIPS (8477). Crime Solvers offers a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest. Callers to Crime Solvers do not have to give their names and do not need to testify in court.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

What it is: iPlay Music, a Mountain View, CA company, produces music learning software and operates a web-based store in the iTunes mold that just launched an innovative Chords for iTunes app that gives musicians an easy way to synchronize music in an iTunes library with a Quicktime video showing the chords to play along with a particular song.

Why it’s cool: The Chords for iTunes app is a promising tool for learning to play popular songs, whether you are a guitarist or keyboard player, and offers easy to read visual cues to the chords of songs such as Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay, Proud Mary, Refugee, When I Come Around, and more.

At present there are but 26 songs available to download for free, but the iPlayMusic Store offers a host of additional paid downloads that teach everything from 12 Bar Blues to Reggae strumming to Swing and Rock chord formations. The catalog of downloadable lessons is a bit thin in the early going, but many of the basics that underly a strong foundation in musicianship are covered and for those just beginning to learn an instrument, iPlay Music products and services are well worth checking out.

A couple of cool features of the software allow you to slow down a song while remaining in pitch so you can play along at the speed you need to learn the song, and an Export to iPod feature, that allows you to put the lessons on your iPod or iPhone so you can take them with you on the go.

Where to Get It: All the info you need is available on the web at the iPlay Music site. The Chords for iTunes (Beta) app is a free download, and many of the lessons available on the iPlay Music Store are available for free as well.

Most paid content sells for 99¢ and multi-lesson packages and Family Packs can go for up to $29.95.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Image courtesy Marshall Aerospace

Feel slightly bad for the folks at Marshall Aerospace out on the tarmac, using forklifts or putting planes together who got used to listening to ambient or Vegan-a-Go-Go podcasts while on the job.

Following the advice of a health and safety expert,  the 1,500 employees of the Cambridge, UK company have been banned from using iPods at work.

“There have been no particular incidents,” said an unnamed spokesman in a press release. “But on our site there are aircraft, forklift trucks and so on moving around - and we are a precision engineering firm. We feel that people should always be concentrating fully.”

He added: “We don’t get middle-aged employees wearing iPods but we do see employees in their 20s who listen to music while working.”

Comforting to know the young ‘uns won’t be distracted on the job.

What other professions should be banned from using iPods at work?

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Take note, readers: eReaders apparently offer frequent/intense mature/suggestive themes! Well, at least this one does.

Again, the problem isn’t so much Apple’s decision—although it seems heavy-handed for a text-based eReader that only grabs content from Project Gutenberg—but a lack of consistency. At the time of writing, Free Books (App Store link) is rated 12+, while Stanza (App Store link) is rated 4+, despite it providing access to Project Gutenberg and a bunch more content.

Here’s hoping Apple soon starts levelling the playing field for all, because it’d be a huge shame for a great piece of indie software to lose sales due to having a rating none of its similar competition has.

Eucalyptus is available for $9.99 on the App Store and comes recommended if you can deal with the kind of mind-warping infrequent/mild alcohol references, infrequent/mild profanity, infrequent/mild horror themes, frequent/intense mature/suggestive themes and infrequent/mild sexual content that Apple argues you’ll find in the text of classic out-of-copyright novels.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

For all of its public perception as a great censoring overlord, the Chinese government leaves plenty of wiggle room for computer manufacturers, including Apple, to avoid complying with recently mandated strict Internet filtering requirements.

While foreign and domestic makers of computers running Windows will eventually have to ship their machines with controversial Green Dam Youth Escort software, other machines running Mac OS X or Linux, for example, will be exempt from the mandate, according to a report at Yahoo Tech.

An Apple sales representative in Beijing indicated Green Dam is not being bundled with Macs sold at the Apple Store there because the software, which blocks pornography and “sensitive” political content, is not compatible with the Mac’s operating system.

In addition, a Lenovo spokesperson confirmed its computers running Linux are also being shipped without Green Dam and said the Ministry of Industry and Information and Technology is not requiring non-Windows machines to come with the program.

A source connected with Green Dam developers said they are testing the software on non-Windows platforms but did not indicate when or if an OS X compatible update might be released.

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Police at the Apple Store Clarendon in Arlington, Virginia, where an employee was shot during an armed robbery. Picture by Fox 5.

Updated: Police have confirmed that a 26-year-old female Apple employee was shot in the shoulder and injured at the Apple Store Clarendon in Arlington, Virginia, during a “violent armed robbery” at about 10.15AM.

The suspect rang a doorbell at the back service entrance and shot a female employee as soon as she opened the door, the Washington Post reports. A police spokeswoman said it is unclear if the employee had words with the shooter or put up resistance to the robbery.

According to the Post, only two employees were in the store at the time, the shooting victim and another employee who was in the main showroom. The other employee called police as soon as they heard the gunshot. It’s unclear if there were customers in the store at the time, the police said. The shooting occurred about 15 minutes after the store opened.

The shooting victim was injured in the shoulder. The injuries are not considered life-threatening, police said.

The suspect is described as a medium build black male, aged between of 35 and 45, with facial hair. He was wearing a dark baseball cap, a light-colored shirt and pants. He fled on foot, carrying a handgun.

Security camera footage of the shooting may be released to the public to help the search, police said.

The store is located in the tony Market Common outdoor shopping district, which is considered a quiet, safe area.

“I think it’s a sign of the times, the economy, when you have someone desperate enough to rob an Apple store in an area like this,” said a shopper who was planning to buy a new MacBook.

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Unfortunately this is bunk, but it’s worth posting anyway because, well, I guess a ton of other websites will publish it.

A new non-slip rubber case for the “Apple iPod Touch 3″ on a junk accessory website hints that the soon-to-be-updated device will have a camera. The rubbery red case has two holes on the back, presumably for a camera.

The third-generation iPod touch is expected in September, and is rumored to include a camera, which would be an obvious upgrade for the device.

However, the tip came from a reader “Jenny,” who has also tipped off CrunchGear and I4U News. Best guess is that Jenny represents the accessory website, Uxsight.com, and is trying to drum up traffic and Google juice.

In her email to CoM, she makes sure to mention the case’s low, low price. “Can’t vouch for the
creditability of the source,” she writes, “but I guess $1.69 is not much of a risk.”

Plus, why are there two holes — one bigger than the other? And why two versions of the case, one with the camera on the left, the other with the camera on the right? UPDATE: As readers kindly point out, I’m as blind as a bat. That’s the inside and outside of the case.

Link to the store.

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A screenshot of the purplra1n website, which offeres the first jailbreak app for the iPhone 3GS.

The first jailbreak application for the iPhone 3GS has been released by premier iPhone hacker George Hotz.

Named “purplera1n,” the unlocking software is Windows-only. Hotz says a jailbreak for Mac is “coming shortly.”

Hotz’s application requires an iPhone 3GS running the 3.0 OS, and the latest version of iTunes — 8.2. Hotz warns that the unlock s beat and to back up the iPhone before running it.

The unlocking process seems straightforward. Writes Hotz on his blog: “Connect your iPhone normally. Click ‘make it ra1n.’ Wait. On bootup, run Freeze, the purplera1n installer app. Hopefully you’ll figure out what to do from there.”

There is another jailbreaking application for the iPhone 3.0 from the iPhone Dev Team (The 19-year old Hotz was associated with the group, but split with it). The Dev Team’s app will not work on the iPhone 3GS.

Jailbreaking allows an iPhone and iPod touch to to run unapproved apps through unofficial installers like Cydia and Icy.

Jailbreaking is not unlocking, a different, distinct process that frees the iPhone from the current carrier and makes it available for use with other wireless networks.

Needless to say, Apple sanctions neither process. Both have their risks and have been known to “brick” devices.

Hotz gained fame in 2007 when he became the first person to unlock the original iPhone. Using a combination of software and hardware hacks, the then 17-year-old tried to sell the hacked iPhone on eBay, but pulled the auction when jokers raised the bid price to more than $100 million.

He shortly traded the unlocked iPhone for three locked iPhones and a Nissan 350Z with Terry Daidone, founder of Certicell, a phone repair company in Louisville, KY.

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As the issue of overheating iPhones heats up, Apple might be preparing to point the finger at iPhone owners who fail to keep their iPhones within acceptable temperatures.

Apple recently updated its knowledge base advising iPhone owners how to keep their devices within acceptable operating temperatures.

For many, this was not the answer they were hoping for because Apple’s solution to an apparent defect appears to be to place the burden on the user to ensure their iPhone’s temperature remains within an acceptable range.

What’s troubling about Apple’s position is that it sets the stage for Apple to adjust its iPhone service policy based on the argument that damage caused by overheating the iPhone is the fault of the iPhone’s owner – not Apple.

Remember how Apple resolved the problem with the iPhone’s oversensitive moisture sensor, which some claimed was activated by sweat?

That’s right, if you bought an iPhone with a defective moisture sensor that subsequently gets tripped by sweat or humidity you have to pay Apple $199 for a replacement under the theory that Apple cannot confirm that your iPhone was not exposed to water.

Sound familiar?

Now that Apple has begun to warn iPhone owners of the potential risk of operating iPhones at high temperatures, Apple might begin treating overheated iPhones the same way as iPhones that appear to have been exposed to water.

After all, the iPhone does warn you if its temperature gets too high. Will you be penalized for not taking measures to cool it down? Apple could be embarking on a slippery slope.

Over the course of the last week complaints have surfaced about Apple’s new iPhone 3G S’s propensity to overheat. Although there is little doubt that some sort of defect is afoot, most reports have done little more than repeat the same story: iPhones overheating and, in some cases, turning brown.

Some have speculated that the defect is related to the iPhone 3G S’s new high capacity battery or its 600 MHz processor. Some have blamed the iPhone 3G S’s GPS unit. Others have pointed the finger at the iPhone 3.0 Software – citing the fact that their older iPhone 2G’s and 3G’s had been showing signs of overheating after updating to 3.0.

On June 25, 2009 Apple issued a warning on its support knowledge base indicating that users should take measures to ensure that their iPhones remain (between -20º and 45º C (-4º to 113º F).

What happens if Apple decides to adjust its service policy on iPhones that have been exposed to high temperatures? Suddenly iPhone owners might be forced to pay a premium if their iPhone was used in Southern California or left in a car on a hot summer day. After all, Apple has put iPhone owners on notice.

The jury is still out as to whether this reported issue poses a widespread threat to iPhone owners. Apple, as it appears, certainly feels the same way because they have yet to issue a formal admission to the existence of any manufacturing or design defect. Rather, Apple seems to be hoping that the problem goes away.

Perhaps you can help us gauge how pervasive this problem is?

Is it the new 3G S hardware, a design defect, or manufacturing defect? Does it have something to do with the 3.0 software itself? Or, perhaps, it is a combination of both?

Are the phones overheating completely on their own or under specific circumstances (i.e. running large Apps, iPhone insulated under pillow or blanket, iPhone left in the sun or a hot car)?

If you believe your iPhone has been displaying symptoms of overheating, please contact us with your story in the comments below.

Please explain your iPhone’s symptoms, tell us what model it is and what version of the iPhone OS it is running. What Apps are you using?

Take photos if possible (especially if your iPhone’s body has been affected by high temperatures). We look forward to hearing from you.

This article is copyright Cultomedia Corp.

Up for sale is on eBay is a sketchy-looking, non-functioning white iPhone described as a prototype demo unit of the brand new GS model.

The auction has attracted two bids and is currently running at $305, even though the iPhone doesn’t work.

The seller says there’s a problem with restoring the software: “This device is not eligible for the requested build,” iTunes says when he tries to restore it.

The seller, vofffka, of Ocean City, New Jersey, says an Apple genius at his local retail store verified the iPhone as an Apple product, but can’t service it, “because it’s never been sold.”

WTF that means, who knows?

The seller has a very high rating. He is currently selling several unlocked iPhones.

Where did he get this prototype? Get this. In the QA section, a potential buyer asks the same question, and gets this reply:

“Hi! It is currently NOT WORKING, I got it on ebay a month ago and the guy I got it from told me he found it in the airport. Thanks!”

Yeah, that makes me feel real keen to bid on this item.

Here’s a link to the auction: White 16GB APPLE IPHONE 3G S PROTOTYPE UNIT!

More pictures after the jump.

Via Fixyourthinking.com

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Here’s a witty idea for putting you overheating iPhone to good use over the July 4 weekend, by freelance illustrator Chad Covino.

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Image courtesy New Hope Christian Fellowship

In a move to bring the gospel to the mobile masses, Honolulu-based New Hope Christian Fellowship is claiming to be the first church to broadcast its weekend services live via iPhone.

Though some remain skeptical about the live streaming capabilities of iPhones, even the 3GS, New Hope Christian Fellowship officials say they did a successful test church service run “with hundreds of users” and have enough faith in it to  launch regular live video of services on Saturday, July 4.

“We are always looking for ways that we can leverage technology to reach people where they are at,” said New Hope’s Interactive Developer Peter Thourson in a press release.  “Through live streaming video on iPhone and iPod touch, users across the globe will be able to continue to attend church regardless of where they are.”

Over 12,000 people regularly attend the five weekend services held in six locations in Hawaii, the church says.

This is not your analog, snooze-inducing service coming from a place of fire and brimstone — check out the goofy “money rap” video and the cheerful-looking celebrants who wear leis.

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iPhone hosts nearly half the ads served on mobile platforms.

Apple now has overall market share leadership in the worldwide smartphone segment, having overtaken former frontrunner Nokia based on browser calls for mobile ads. A recent report at BNet Technology cites AdMob statistics that show Apple with 49 percent of mobile ad traffic in the first quarter of 2009, compared to 32 percent for Nokia.

The market shift may have less to do with customer preferences for Apple’s hardware, however, as a recent smartphone industry analysis from Gartner notes; services and applications have become the primary drivers of smartphone success.

The stats appear to vindicate Apple’s approach to application distribution via the iTunes App Store. William Volk, CEO of entertainment and business apps vendor PlayScreen, said on a professional forum posting that “other stores simply aren’t matching the ARPUs [average revenue per user] of the Apple App store.”

The iPhone OS also enjoys a comfortable lead over every other mobile operating system, including Symbian, Research in Motion (RIM), Palm and Windows, with May numbers showing iPhones had 68% of the browser requests in the survey.

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