In this week’s show a number of laptops of netbooks get refreshed with new technology, Taiwan researchers show off a speaker made of paper, IBM’s Watson plans to compete on Jeopardy and celebrities gather in Los Angeles for cell phone parties.

A new report by research company J.D. Power and Associates ranks Apple number one on its list of customer satisfaction among smart phone manufacturers.

Filed under: Software, iPhone, iPod touch

Last month Amazon released the free Kindle application for the iPhone in the US [App Store link], shortly after the Kindle 2 hit the market. If you haven't used it yet, it works quite well. Users can buy books (but not subscriptions) from the Kindle Store via Mobile Safari for reading on their iPhones, although the purchasing process is easier from a desktop browser. Unlike the Kindle, the iPhone app is able to display color images, but it lacks text-to-speech as well as a direct connection to the Kindle Store. Whispersync, which synchronizes ebooks between the iPhone app and Kindle, works as advertised.

A few weeks ago, we posted a comparison of ebook readers featuring, among others, the iPhone app Stanza [App Store link]. As Steve mentioned, Stanza works with nearly every ebook format, even Project Gutenberg etexts. I only used Stanza briefly to check it out and I can say that the UI was very nice. Additionally, the folks who created Stanza have an existing relationship with ebook seller Fictionwise. In fact, Fictionwise created an ebook store just for Stanza users.

This week, we've learned that Amazon has acquired the company behind Stanza. We can only assume that aspects of Stanza will make it into a future release of Kindle for the iPhone.

TUAWAmazon has acquired Stanza originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This app is a promising mobile offering for absentminded crafters who want to keep track of yarn stashes, needles and hooks, and open projects.

AppleInsider reports that Apple is planning to introduce cheaper Macs, possibly as soon as this coming spring. According to AppleInsider the move comes as consumers switch to budget computers such as netbooks.

Details no where exactly the cheaper Macs will appear are not known but AppleInsider notes that Apple could reduce the price of the MacBook in the near future as part of revisions across the line.

While exact pricing is unclear or still undetermined at this time, the Mac maker earlier this month quietly flaunted its capacity to deliver a premium system at near recession pricing when it began offering educational institutions a 2GHz, 20-inch aluminum iMac for $899. Even when priced at a $100 to $150 markup for the consumer markets — as Apple is more than likely eager to preserve its margins — such an offering would make a material dent in the entry-level cost of owner or switching to a Mac.

Ed anche questa volta il Jailbreak del Firmware 3.0 Beta 4 non si è fatto attendere. Lo sblocco avviene tramite una versione modificata di QuickPwn ed è solo per Windows ed iPhone 3G. Funziona esattamente come la versione precedente e quindi vi riproponiamo il download e la guida:

Ricordiamo che il firmware 3.0 può essere scaricato legamente soltato dagli sviluppatori. Con questa guida eseguiremo il Jailbreak e l’installazione di Icy, ma non di Cydia, poichè la maggior parte delle applicazioni che utilizzano il MobileSubstrate non funzionano e non devono essere installate. Ci si riferisce quindi a Winterboard, biteSMS, backgrounder, Five Icon Dock, e tante altre. Funziona invece l’SSH, l’unico tweak davvero essenziale. Attenzione: Se avete un iPhone 3G straniero, non aggiornate al 3.0, altrimenti perderete la possibilità di utilizzare Yellowsn0w, probabilmente per sempre.

Requisiti:

• Firmware 3.0 beta 4 scaricato nel vostro computer
• QuickPwn 3.0 beta 4, che potete scaricare cliccando qui oppure qui

Guida:

La guida allo sblocco è la solita, ed ormai la conoscerete a memoria, quindi procediamo in questo modo:

1. Come prima cosa, bisogna partire dall’iPhone che monta già il firmware 3.0 beta 4, quindi Aprite iTunes, cliccate sul tasto ALT (mac) oppure SHIFT (windows) della tastiera, e contemporaneamente anche sul tasto Ripristina di iTunes. Selezionate quindi il Firmware 3.0 dal vostro computer ed attendete il completamento dell’operazione.

2. A questo punto, avviate il nuovo QuickPwn, e selezionate le seguenti opzioni, in base al vostro dispositivo:

• Per un iPhone 3G italiano, spuntate: Jailbreak

3. Partiranno delle operazioni automatiche, fino a trovarvi sulla schermata di istruzioni per attivare la modalità DFU. Eseguite i semplici passaggi, ed attendete il completamento direttamente sul dispositivo.

Per entrare in DFU basta spegnere il telefono, cliccare sul tasto Home+Accensione per 10 secondi, e continuare a premere Home per altri 10 secondi. Apparirà una schermata viola, e dopo un pochino di tempo riuscirete ad utilizzare il 3.0 Jailbroken.

Grazie LoreMac

An alum of the Missouri School of Journalism, Zach Honig (appscout.com) was pleased to learn that his alma mater was hosting an iPhone app design competition. Seventy student teams vied for the yet-to-be-awarded top prize, and at least two of the apps created during the competition — NearBuy and Newsflash — have already appeared on the App Store. And earned rave reviews.

The Wall Street Journal explores some of the detail behind a number of recent moves Apple has made. It all started last April when it was revealed that Apple had acquired custom chip design company P.A. Semi. Recently Apple has started hiring key figures from the chip industry, including Mark Papermaster.

WSJ cites people familiar with Apple’s plans saying that the acquisition of assets and staff could aid Apple in designing and manufacturing “chips to sharply reduce the power consumption of its hit iPhone and iPod touch devices, and possibly add graphics circuitry to help its hardware play realistic game software and high-definition videos”.

Additionally the move would allow Apple to beat rivals to the market with new features and aid Apple in keeping details under the hood without external chip suppliers giving away key secrets.

People familiar with the situation say Mr. Jobs told P.A. Semi engineers last April that he wanted to develop chips internally and didn’t want knowledge about the technology to leave Apple. Mr. Jobs is on medical leave and was unavailable for comment.

WSJ also points out that while most industry competitors to Apple are outsourcing manufacturing and laying off staff Apple is bringing it in-house despite the financial recession.

Filed under: Odds and ends, Surveys and Polls, iPhone

Given all the other good publicity the iPhone has been getting, it won't come as any great surprise that the J.D. Power survey released today says:

Apple ranks highest among smartphone manufacturers with a score of 791, performing particularly well in ease of operation, operating system, features and physical design. LG (772) and Samsung (759) follow Apple in the rankings.

Other interesting findings are that smartphone users send an average of 17 emails a day, and 82 percent report that they use things like address books and to-do lists to stay better organized.

The survey included 2,648 smartphone users who owned their phone for less than 2 years. In general, smartphone users are increasingly satisfied with their purchase, compared to prior surveys. Users queried listed these attributes they wanted in a smartphone, in order of desirability: ease of operation, operating system, features, physical design and battery function.

TUAWJ.D. Power says iPhone tops smartphone ratings originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iBirthday è un’applicazione disponibile in Cydia che permette di tenere sotto controllo tutti i compleanni dei nostri amici. E’ disponibile in due versioni, una gratuita ed una a pagamento ma purtroppo nel trial non si possono utilizzare tutte le funzioni disponibili. Vediamole meglio:

  

L’applicazione si compone di 4 Tab sulla parte inferiore. Il primo mostra i prossimi compleanni, ordinati dal piu vicino al più lontano, Il secondo invece mostra tutti i compleanni ordinati secondo la data ed il terzo secondo il Nome del nostro contatto. Tramite le impostazioni si ha accesso a due funzioni avanzate, disponibile soltanto agli utenti che scelgono di acquistare la versione completa, ovvero:

• La possibilità di visualizzare un badge rosso sull’icona della springboard nel caso di compleanni in giornata
• La possibilità di nascondere l’età delle persone
• Cliccare sugli eventi per visualizzare il contatto rubrica

L’applicazione è stata sviluppata dalle stesse persone di iBlackList, la versione completa costa 6,99$ ed è disponibile in Cydia tramite la repository di BigBoss.