The Apple Crumble

New iMacs, MacBooks, Mac Minis, Magic Mouse and Remote

2009-10-20T23:47:00.003+01:00

Multitouch Mighty Mouse

2009-10-04T09:33:00.002+01:00

Along with rumours of new iMac to be announced soon there is a new rumour of an updated multitouch Mighty Mouse (that's alot of m's).
This is a very welcome update as I'm sure I'm not the only person to have the trackball clog up and stop working properly.

I remember mentioning an idea to a friend a while ago where you could scroll by moving both fingers like on the MacBook touchpads. If they are going down this multitouch route it would be nice if you could also use it to zoom in and out by pinching and somehow activate expose too.

If they incorporporated this and got rid of the ball it would certainly make it a very impressive and more useful device.

New iPods and iTunes 9

2009-09-10T09:52:00.002+01:00

Here is all the latest releases from the Apple keynote yesterday.

Hidden Snow Leopard Features

2009-09-06T10:02:00.004+01:00

Ok so the new video is up showing the new features of Snow Leopard, but here some extra hidden features that Matt has found in the latest OS.

Apple Tablet?

2009-07-27T20:30:00.004+01:00

There seems to be even more evidence in the last few days that Apple will release a 10 inch touchscreen tablet computer/media player this year, with even the Financial Times commenting on it.

If this device does surface it would be a worthy rival to not only netbooks with its size and internet access but also the Kindle which can download books, magazines and newspapers for on the go reading.

It would definitely be really good for films as you could buy or rent films from iTunes and then watch them on a more generous screen than the current iPhone or iPod screens and without the extra bulk of a full computer. Also the bigger screen would be a welcome improvement for playing games on the go.

I'm sure it will be out just in time for Christmas and will no doubt revolutionise the netbook market much like the iPod did to music players and iPhone has to phones.

Apple Netbook In October?

2009-07-14T12:27:00.002+01:00

There are alot of new rumours about at the moment of an Apple netbook with a 9.7 inch screen being released in October just in time for Christmas. This isn't the first time such a device has been talked about but it seems a little more likely at the moment.

It is said to be a touchscreen tablet form, which I think will be a better approach to the netbook market and if ever released will at first be criticised by competitors before loads of other small touchscreen computers hit the market.

The rumoured price is $800 which is quite high for a netbook but that is with the added "Apple Tax". This product would be filling the gap between the iPhone and the Macbook, having something with a bigger screen but keeping the portability.

The main question I have is what operating system will it run on? Full Mac OS X like on ordinary macs or an simplified OS similar to that of the iPhone.

10 Things You Might Not Know About The iPhone 3GS

2009-06-09T21:59:00.002+01:00

I'm sure you have read up on all the new features of the recently announced iPhone 3GS but here are 10 additional facts you might not have read about.

1. It’s highly resistant.
Apparently the iPhone 3GS has a highly-resistant finish to its body, meaning that it is now water and oil resistant.

2. Same size, same shape.
The iPhone 3GS is exactly the same size and shape as the old iPhone 3G but is 2g heavier. But this means you can use all of your current cases and accessories with it.

3. Photo genius!
It knows how close you are to your subject, and automatically switches to “Macro Mode” when they’re around 10cm away.

4. It comes with Apple’s remote headphones.
You get Apple’s own earphones, complete with the multi-button remote, which has a single control key and volume controls, and a mic like the iPod Shuffle.

5. Video editing: waste not, want not,
Editing any video you capture actually destroys everything you throw away. Once that ‘waste’ has gone you can never get it back. So you will have to be careful.

6. O2 will support tethering and MMS from day 1.
Unlike AT&T, which is stalling until later this Summer, O2 will support tethering an MMS from day one. That said you will need to pay more for a web access bolt-on for tethering. MMS messages, meanwhile, will be taken out of your existing text allowance, with one MMS equalling four texts.

7. Remember, remember.
The iPhone 3GS, like your Mac, will remember text that you’ve entered into websites and auto-fill so there’s no need to repeatedly enter e-mail addresses, postal addresses or usernames.

8. Talk to me.
Voice control on the iPhone 3G S understands full sentences, and even dictated phone numbers. So you can say “what song is this?” for example. Or “play more songs like this”, and the iPhone 3GS will understand you.

9. Where am I?
It has a digital compass, and it doesn’t just work in Google Maps. Apple has built a new Compass app, which can switch between true north and magnetic north, as well as using GPS to give full coordinates. Double tapping the location icon in Google Maps spins the map to be the right way round.

10. Accessibility, thy name is iPhone.
There are a number of new features on the iPhone 3G S that make it highly accessible for disabled users. The VoiceOver function, for instance, lets the iPhone 3GS read out what’s on screen. It’s much more accessible for partially sighted users as well, thanks to a new high-contrast white-on-black display option, and a zoom feature that springs into action when the screen is double-tapped with three fingers. And for anyone who can only hear in one ear, the iPhone 3GS can even be set to “mono audio” mode.

Original article from The Mirror.

Airport Mania Review

2009-05-29T17:22:00.005+01:00

Click here to download the app, or here to try the free version first.

Apple To Buy Twitter

2009-05-05T20:12:00.002+01:00

Since the recent talks of Googles offer to buy Twitter being refused, there are now fresh rumours of Apple wanting to buy the micro blogging site.

Apparently they have offered $700 million in cash for the website which now has more than 25 million users.

This seems like a strange purchase for Apple but I would be very interested to see what they would do with it.

iPhone Video

2009-05-01T10:09:00.002+01:00

Apparently the next iPhone will be able to record video and will even feature an iMovie App so that you will be able to edit your footage and immediately upload to YouTube.

So with all these rumours is there a possibility that the Apple could be taking on Flip with their new phones.

One Billion App Downloads

2009-04-10T21:08:00.003+01:00

The number of downloaded apps from the AppStore for the iPod Touch and iPhone is about to hit a billion.

And to celebrate this Apple are giving away $10,000 iTunes Gift Card, an iPod Touch, a Time Capsule and a MacBook Pro. Seriously what would you do with $10,000 in iTunes!

To enter all you have to do is download an app and you will be automatically entered (or you can press the cheeky 'Enter to win without purchase' link!).

Games On Big Multitouch Screen

2009-04-09T15:36:00.000+01:00

Illusion Labs the creators of Sway and Touchgrind have got thier hands on a big multitouch screen and scaled their iPhone games onto it.

As you can see in the video below the games work in the same way that they do on the phone but on a much bigger display. Although both games look impressive, the way you can see the whole skate park on Touchgrind makes it look really good to play on a bigger screen.

4OD on Mac!

2009-04-08T14:16:00.004+01:00

The day has finally come, Channel 4 On Demand is now available on Macs and all Channel 4 have to say about it is 'Sorry'.

They have done this in the same way that iPlayer initially did by using a built in Flash player. Click here to check it out.

iPhone 3.0 Hidden Features

2009-04-07T20:20:00.003+01:00

Hidden files within the new testing versions of 3.0 show a few new features that weren't announced at the event last month and that may even hint towards a new iPhone release in June.According to MacRumors there is video recording, an auto-focus settings for the camera and a magnetometer, which would give the phone a built in compass to assist the GPS.

Also Boy Genius Report has found what appears to be voice dialing and more evidence to suggest video recording.

Let's hope all these signs are pointing to a brand spanking new iPhone in the Summer.

"Not cool enough to be a Mac"

2009-03-28T10:17:00.003Z

So this recent advert from Microsoft is just ridiculous.

First thing to note is that she goes into the Apple store at around 12 seconds walking in front of a man carrying a tripod and a camera bag. Then she walks back out of the shop and the man has only got about a step further, so she obviously had a good long look around!

Then when she buys her PC at the end she proclaims "I got just what I wanted", but wait a minute didn't she 'want' a Mac in the first place?

WWDC 2009 Announced

2009-03-26T18:35:00.003Z

Apple have just announced that the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Fransisco will be between the 8th and 12th June 2009.

Hopefully this will bring the release of a new/updated iPhone, some more information about Snow Leopard, of course the new iPhone software 3.0 and hopefully some surprises!

Also Steve Jobs is due to return in June so maybe he will be presenting it, either way expect many rumours between now and then.

Unlocked iPhone For Sale On Play.com

2009-03-24T12:54:00.004Z

You can now (in the UK) buy an iPhone unlocked so that you can use it on the phone carrier of your choice from online retailer Play.com.

The 8GB model is priced at £549.99 and the bigger 16GB is £599.99, these prices are pretty high compared to their price of £342.33 and £391.27 retrospectively if bought on Pay As You Go on O2.

Even though this price difference seems steep people appear to be willing to pay this much to have the phone on the network of their choice as the 16GB version is already out of stock.

iC*unt?

2009-03-18T09:22:00.003Z

A new number game app called iCount was featured on the front page of the Apple App Store yesterday which isn't the problem, the problem is with the logo.
As you can see the misplaced 'o' makes this app read in a completely different way. It seems Apple may have also spotted this unfortunate positioning as it was soon removed from the front page.

iPhones 3.0's 100 New Features

2009-03-17T18:56:00.003Z

Ok, so the live Apple event has just finished and they had alot to announce for the new 3.0 software for the iPhone which will be coming out in the summer.

I will try and sum up the main new features here:

In-App Purchase - Buy additional features within an app eg. new levels in a game, more cities in a city guide, accessories for your Sims characters.

Peer To Peer Connectivity - Use Bluetooth to connect to other iPhones wirelessly a bit like the DS. No longer a need to both be within the same network. Can play games, send business cards etc.

Accessories - Developers can make apps that work directly with an accessory such as a FM Transmitter that has an app which find the best frequency based on location and then changes the transmitter to that frequency. This also work over Bluetooth and I can also see a few gaming controllers being made to work with this.

Maps - Google Maps can now be embedded into apps, so no more switching back and forth. Turn By Turn will now work, but developers need their own maps (lets hope Tom Tom make one).

Push - It's finally ready, so you can get updates from apps such as IM's and Twitter even when they are closed. Did this instead of background process because it saves battery and maintains good performance.

Cut, Copy & Paste - Pretty self explanatory, will work in all apps.

Messages - Can now forward and delete individual and multiple messages. There is now MMS so you can send contact cards (Vcard), audio files, location and obviously photos.

Voice Memos - New app where you can record, trim and send voice memos.

Spotlight - A universal search which has its own home page to the left of the first one. It can search your mail, notes, iPod and contacts.

Others - Notes Sync, landscape keyboard, audio/video tags, live streaming, shake to shuffle, Wi-Fi auto login, Stereo Bluetooth, iTunes account creation, , Anti-Philshing, Call Log, Parental Controls, Media Scrubber, OTA profiles, VPN on demand, Languages, YouTube subscriptions, YouTube accounts, YouTube ratings, Encrypted profiles and auto-fills.

Phew that is alot of updates, bring on the summer!

Which ones are you most looking forward to?

iPhone Art

2009-03-16T19:12:00.003Z

These pictures of places around New York have actually been drawn on an iPhone using an application called Brushes which is £2.99/$4.99 in the app store.

You can see more from the artist here, these look really good and it's hard to believe they have been created on a phone!

Third Party Headphone Problem

2009-03-16T11:11:00.002Z

If a third party company wants to make headphones for the new iPod Shuffle with the built in controls then they have to have an Apple licensed authentication chip. This is a special chip inside the headphones that allows them to work with the shuffle, so without it they will be useless.

This means that they will have to pay Apple a fee just to get them to work and I'm sure that this extra fee will then be passed on to customers in the overall price.

Mac OS X 10.5.7 Bug Fixes

2009-03-15T15:04:00.002Z

In the upcoming Leopard update, known as Juno within the company, there are reportedly over 80 fixes.

These updates are wide ranging but a few of the key areas are iChat, iCal, Safari and the HFS+ file system. This is pretty good news to me as I have had many problems with iChat since getting Leopard in 2007. Also they are including an updated version of Abode Flash which includes a few additional bug fixes.

Although it may be a while until this is a public release I look forward to this popping up in my Software Update.

Exploding "iTouch"

2009-03-15T09:05:00.004Z

A mum in Ohio is suing Apple for $150,000 because her sons "iTouch" exploded in his pocket.She claims that not only did the iPod Touch set fire to his trousers but also melted through to his leg causing second degree burns. A section of the lawsuit also states "He continues to suffer from both physical and mental conditions which will cause him to suffer pain, mental distress, emotional distress, and otherwise for the rest of his life."

I know that it is pretty bad that the player exploded in the first place and if this is true, this really needs to be looked into, but is it really that traumatic that he will suffer from distress for the rest of his life?

One thing that seems a little bit odd about this case is that apparently the iPod was turned off at the time, so I really can't understand how it detonated. The only phrase that comes to mind is "liar, liar, pants on fire".

App Management Concept

2009-03-14T14:07:00.000Z

This is a concept idea, by a user called svdomer09, it's a way of sorting your apps on your iPhone from within iTunes.

If you have an iPhone and alot of apps you will know it can be quite a task to keep them organised or to move them from one page to another. Well this idea is to make this task alot easier.

You basically have a representation of your iPhone screens and you can just drag, drop and delete the apps however you want them. You can even lock in apps into a certain place, so I would keep my most used on the first screen and then you could order the rest alphabetically.

I really hope that Apple see this and try and implement it into a future version of iTunes in some way as the current method of managing apps is poor.

iPhone OS 3.0

2009-03-13T13:19:00.000Z

So apparently on the 17th of March a preview will be released of 3.0.

It will probably be a few months before you will be updating your iPhones to 3.0 but at least we we get a look at what is to come later this month. I will keep you filled in.

New iPod Shuffle

2009-03-11T18:12:00.000Z

So today Apple launched the new version of the iPod Shuffle.
The good news is:
It's small, smaller than an AA battery apparently.
It holds 4GB of music, double the storage of the 2nd generation.
It still has the clip on the back.

The bad news is:
There are no buttons on the device.
You can only use Apple earphones, unless you buy an extra adapter.
There are only two colours.

To see a more in depth talk about this release watch the new video here.

I am really not sure about this one, maybe there is a reason this was such a low key release.

Music With iPhones

2009-03-10T10:50:00.000Z

Here is a band called The Mentalists playing a cover of Kids by MGMT, but they are only using their iPhones and iPod Touches.

They are using Ocarina, Retro Synth, miniSynth and DigiDrummer Lite. This is a pretty good example of the musical apps you can get in the App Store.

Welcome

2009-03-05T09:44:00.000Z

Hi, welcome to The Apple Crumble, the website to run alongside the video series.

Here will be even more iPhone app reviews, rumours, news and basically anything interesting Apple related as it happens!

Add this page to your bookmarks and make sure to check back to catch up on the juicy Apple gossip as it happens.

Also make sure to check out the Twitter page here.