The non-Apple tech world is focused on the Consumer Electronics Show this week, leaving Apple news outlets to reminisce on fourth quarter and holiday sales and look forward to Apple’s next move. A Piper Jaffray analyst estimates that Apple sold 30 million iPhones last quarter, higher than expectations and up from last year. He said that the iPhone now accounts for nearly half of Apple’s revenue, and the iPad for 21 percent.
The MacBook Air line showed an increase in sales of 20 percent according to some reports. This contrasts with sales in the rest of the laptop industry which were down.
Apple confirmed this week that it purchased Anobit, a maker of high performance flash memory. Apple is the largest buy of flash memory in the world, using the chips in all iOS devices.
There are rumors of a special Apple event coming on Jan. 19 in New York. This could be an announcement of a new textbook service for the iPad. The Steve Jobs biography mentions that Apple is interested in changing how textbooks are distributed.
“I ‘liked’ your restaurant. I also gave it a thumbs up, five stars, +1 and added it to my favorites.”
“I’d rather just get a decent tip for once.”
Another decent Texas Holdem poker game out there is the popular Zynga Poker. This is actually better known for being a Facebook app, but playing on your iPhone or iPad actually puts you in the same pool of people, I believe. You never know what you are going to get in terms of player styles and conversation, so be warned. But it is sometimes good to practice in this just-for-fun poker game.
If you go into your Trash folder you can Control+Click on some items and select Put Back to move the item back to its original location. This only works with files that have been cleanly moved from the Finder to the Trash by dragging or similar actions. It won’t work with items moves to the Trash by other applications or in special situations, like from system folders and some other locations.
Apple has started going after web sites that allow people to obtain iOS apps without paying for them. This week Apple started issuing take-down notices to sites that help people with jailbroken iOS devices get App Store apps for free. Apple faces many difficulties in helping app developers, since these sites are mostly outside of the U.S. and can move and change easily.
Jonathan Ive, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Industrial Design, was knighted this week by the Queen of England. Ive is the talent behind many of Apple’s recent designs, including many iMacs and MacBooks, the iPhone and iPad.
In Lion you can create a new folder and place the currently selected items in it with one command. Just select the items you want to put in the folder, then choose File, New Folder With Selection. You can also use Control+Command+N.
Remember the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Art, when Indiana Jones runs away from the temple after stealing the gold idol? That’s basically the idea behind the very addictive and free Temple Run for iPhone and iPad. You run down a path jumping, sliding and dodging obstacles to see how far you can get before you trip up. A fun, quick play.
“I want to get that new novel, but I can’t decide on the format.”
“You mean hard cover or paperback?”
“What is this 2010? I mean iPad, Kindle, Nook or audio book.”
Skitch has long been a favorite on the Mac for snapping and annotating screen captures. Now there is a version of Skitch for the iPad and it’s free. While it can’t take screen captures, it can grab them from your Camera Roll and allow you to annotate them and post or email them. You can do the same with any photo on your iPad, or take new ones if you have an iPad 2. One cool feature is the ability to create and annotate a map right inside the app. Very handy.
With no official news from Apple to report, tech journalists have filled the gap by reporting this week on ever rumor they could find. But it is important to remember that most Apple rumors turn out to be wrong, except for the parts that are obvious. For instance, there surely will be an iPad 3, but when it will come out and what features it will have are merely speculation.
The iPad 3 rumors peg the release date of such a device as anywhere from January to April. Most rumors mention a high-resolution retina display, like the iPhone. However, a large 10-inch retina display may be too expensive to produce in the iPad’s price range. Other rumors talk of a 7-inch iPad variant, which is also unlikely given Apple’s insistence that a 10-inch screen is ideal, and poor reviews of other 7-inch tablets.
Many rumors this month have centered around an Apple Television. An “iTV” has been rumored for years, helped along by the existence of the set-top Apple TV device and parts being made for Apple computer displays and iMacs. Mentions of a television in the Steve Jobs biography are the main fuel for these rumors, but it would be a strange move for Apple to enter such a crowded low-margin business.
In Lion you can change the size of the icons and text in the left sidebar of Finder windows. Go to System Preferences, General. Then change Sidebar Icon Size to Small, Medium or Large. This setting also affects the size of the sidebar icons and text in Mail.
“If you throw the parakeet at your brother one more time I’m going to take your iPod touch away once and for all!”
