AOL Radio for iPhone gives iPhone users free access to more than 200 AOL Radio stations and 150 CBS Radio stations while on the go. Among other features, the player automatically adjusts the bandwidth of the stream based on connection speed, and automatically highlights local CBS Radio stations based on the user’s current location. The award represents a significant milestone in AOL’s efforts to “get back to the Mac.”

Built using Apple’s Beta iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK), the new application gives users immediate, free access to over 350 online radio stations, including 150 local CBS RADIO stations and custom channels plus more than 200 AOL Radio channels.  The AOL Radio iPhone application will be available as a free download with the launch of Apple’s App Store. 

AOL Radio for iPhone leverages iPhone’s Core Location framework to detect a user’s location and automatically display CBS RADIO stations nearest to the user.  Additionally, AOL Radio for iPhone automatically adapts to the current connection speed of the device providing low-bandwidth streams when on a cellular network versus higher quality audio for WiFi connections. 

Read an interesting related post on NYT

The old vulnerability that Aviv Raff reported to Microsoft long time ago is described in two articles by Aviv Raff: IE7 DLL-load hijacking Code Execution Exploit PoC, and Internet Explorer 7 - Still Spyware Writers Heaven, both dating back to 2006(yeah that’s really “a long long time ago”). This vulnerability lies in Windows Internet Explorer loading program library files(DLL) from user’s Desktop instead of its own library file folder(usually C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32), when filenames are set to some specific values.

The encore to the original iPhone, which launched nearly a year ago amid unprecedented industry buzz, is widely expected to be the main attraction when Chief Executive Steve Jobs takes the stage at Apple’s developers’ conference next Monday.

The new iPhone will be accompanied by support for corporate e-mail and a slate of new programs that could help boost sales of the devices, which sport a touch-sensitive screen, wireless Internet access and iPod-style media functions.

“The thing for Apple is to be able to leverage the iPhone for further innovation, or they run the risk of being the next (Motorola) RAZR, which was iconic in its own way, but for which innovation did not come fast enough,” Shiv Bakhshi, director of mobility research for market research firm IDC.

Apple has declined to comment on what Jobs will announce, but analysts are betting he will show off a long-rumored phone running on a so-called 3G, or third-generation, network.

That would address one of the chief complaints about the current iPhone: the speed at which it calls up Web pages on AT&T Inc’s pokey EDGE network.

That is a particularly important concern in Europe, which is ahead of the United States in building new networks and where sales of the iPhone have lagged.

“I see 3G as important for the U.S. but essential for overseas,” analyst Avi Greengart of Current Analysis said of a faster iPhone.

“It will be appreciated by technology enthusiasts and anybody who wants to get fast Web browsing outside the hot spots.”

A new iPhone may be a catalyst for Apple stock, which has risen 50 percent over the past three months. Investors have regained confidence that demand for the company’s computers and iPod media players is holding up amid fears the U.S. economy is headed for recession.

Inexpensive iPhone?
There is also speculation Apple could bow to a cellphone industry practice and offer a subsidized iPhone, an arrangement where AT&T could kick in a couple hundred dollars to make the devices more affordable. AT&T already gives Apple a slice of the monthly service fees it gets from iPhone subscribers.

“We think that actually Apple could talk about a very disruptive business model, or a change in their business model, embracing subsidies where necessary, multiple carriers to help get the iPhone into more hands,” Lehman Brothers analyst Ben Reitzes told a conference call last week.

But more important than the actual hardware will be new services and programs that can tap the increased power.

Some reckon that will include the ability to download songs from iTunes using the cellular network. IPhone users now have to be connected to a Wi-Fi network to get music from Apple’s online store.

Apple also likely will roll out its highly anticipated support for corporate e-mail, a capability it showed off earlier this year and that is expected to give iPhone a push into business, which now overwhelmingly use Research In Motion Ltd’s Blackberry devices.

Apple may launch its iPhone “applications store” that will sell programs made by developers outside of Apple. The service marks an about-face for Jobs, who initially blocked third-party software from the device.

“That’s important for developers who can now build this out as a critical platform for Apple,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Jupiter Research. “The potential here is sort of unlimited.”

The PowerBook Prank

[Source: MacRumors forums]

New releases and catalog titles are coming from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios, according to Apple.

New releases available for purchase are priced at $14.99 each; catalog titles — that is, older titles that are still in circulation — are mostly available for $9.99 each.

It’s a step forward for the iTunes Store as a source for new video entertainment. When Apple first announced the availability of movies through the iTunes Store, it was indicated that Apple would offer new movies within 30 days of their availability on DVD. Now the company’s promising them the same day.

Apple is kicking off the new feature of the iTunes Store with new releases this week including “American Gangster,” the crime drama starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe; and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” a drama based on the true story of French fashion editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who, at the age of 43, suffered a debilitating stroke that left him almost entirely unable to move except to blink his left eye.

Other recently released movies available to purchase from iTunes include “Juno,” “Cloverfield,” “I Am Legend,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks” and “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.”

The movies can be viewed using a Mac or PC, iPod with video, iPhone, or Apple TV.

Apple now counts over six million songs, 600 TV shows and more than 1,500 films available through the iTunes Store, with 200 of those movies available in high definition video.

Psystar has caught a lot of flak since announcing its Open Computer and Open Pro computers with Leopard preinstalled a few weeks ago. Last week, the company posted a video to its website showing off the new office as well as a trio of Open Computers running Windows XP, Ubuntu, and Leopard. The video indicates that Psystar really does have an office and its computers really do run Mac OS X.

Gizmodo reader Patrick boots his Psystar Open Computer into Leopard “pretty damn fast.”

Now, a customer says that he has actually received an Open Computer, and sent a video to Gizmodo showing the machine booting Mac OS X. The video clearly shows the monitor cable connected to the Mac clone (just so we all know Psystar’s machine is the one booting Leopard). The reader, identified as Patrick, says System Profiler reports the machine as a Mac Pro, but Software Update won’t recognize the machine for updates.

Now that the Open Computer is apparently shipping, this should hopefully allay some fears that Psystar is a fake company ripping people off. Maybe Woz will order his this week. Of course, we here at Ars are strong believers that “the proof of the pudding is in the eating.” We continue to patiently wait on our review unit that we were promised two weeks ago, and will report our findings when, and if, we do receive it.

Source: Gizmodo, arstechnica

For people who need to be connected to their mails, there is nothing better than BlackBerry. RIM has gone through its ups and downs, and I am impressed how they have continuously improved on their devices.

And RIM is going to innovate. There are rumours of the touchscreen based (iPhone) Apple Killer phone that will take the wind out of iPhone. We have already seen such devices from other makers, so why will RIM not be able to do that.

Today, it is easy to copy designs, and the first moved advantage lasts only for about a year. While iPhone has its advantages, BlackBerry has its own. There will be some wins, some losses, but overall I have strong suspicions that NYT’s predictions (or fears) will be even close.

It’s going to be fun to watch the “Smartphone” battlefield though. Who will win? What do you think?

A source (Apple Inc employee), who chose to remain anonymous, told us that senior executives of the two companies have already met once on Tuesday and the next meeting has been scheduled for Friday morning. The source confirmed that the executives will continue discussions over licencing and implementation issues of iPhone haptics.

Apple’s competitor Nokia - whose upcoming phone is likely to be called Tube 5800 - has also licenced haptic technology from Immersion Corporation that will enable it to incorporate a wide range of tactile feedback in it cellphones. Haptic technology refers to technology which interfaces the user via the sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations and/or motions to the user, but it should not to be confused with touch or tactile sensors that measure the pressure or force exerted by the user to the interface.

Apple’s on-screen keyboard has a major drawback as it lacks “haptic response.” In other words, users cannot feel the keys as there is no pressure back on the finger when a virtual key is released. Haptic technology allows users to use a touchscreen and receive feedback like they are pressing on real buttons through vibration technology.

Immersion Corporation develops haptic technologies that engage the sense of touch in the digital world for communicating, driving, designing, training, or just for fun.

Source:palluxo.com

]]> http://techwatch.reviewk.com/2008/04/leaked-apple-to-licence-haptic-technology-for-iphone/feed/ http://techwatch.reviewk.com/2008/04/lightning-fast-ipods-and-iphones-coming-soon-apple-acquires-obscure-processor-company/ http://techwatch.reviewk.com/2008/04/lightning-fast-ipods-and-iphones-coming-soon-apple-acquires-obscure-processor-company/#comments Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:26:44 +0000 techwatcher http://techwatch.reviewk.com/?p=135 Forbes reports that Apple has agreed to purchase chip manufacturer P.A. Semi for $278 million. The company, founded in 2003, focuses on sophisticated, low-power chips that could possibly used in future models of the iPhone.

The decision to center the iPhone design around a chip that Apple could own marks a significant strategic choice by Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs, and is aimed at ensuring Apple can continue to differentiate its flagship phone as a raft of competitors flood the market. According to a source affiliated with the chip company, Jobs and Senior Vice President Tony Fadell led the tiny group of executives who spearheaded the acquisition, which included negotiations that took place in Jobs’ home.

P.A. Semi and Apple are no strangers to each other, as the chipmaker was reportedly courted by Apple to possibly provide Power-based chips before Apple finally settled on the switch to Intel.

Recent rumors have suggested that future platforms based around Intel’s forthcoming Atom processor might be targeted for the iPhone, but Apple’s acquisition of P.A. Semi suggests that this may not be the case.

The 150-person chip company, P.A. Semi, was founded in 2003 by Dan Dobberpuhl, who was a lead designer for the well-regarded Alpha and StrongARM microprocessors developed by Digital Equipment in the 1990s.

P.A. Semi apparently has the chops too. Last year the company announced a 64-bit dual core processor that it claimed was around 300% more efficient than its nearest opponent. Products featuring a P.A. Semi engineered chipset wouldn’t hit shelves for at least a year or so. Blam over at Giz thinks that Intel and ARM are probably less than thrilled at this news. He also thinks (and I do too) that it’s logical for Apple to work in its own internal hardware in order to produce better devices. Here’s to speculation. But for Steve it’s likely this is all part of the plan.

The buy has come as a surprise to many analysts, who expected Apple’s headline-grabbing relationship with Intel to see future mobile devices using the chip company’s own Atom platform, itself a low-power design. It’s been suggested that Apple’s acquisition is in part to further seal off the potential of upcoming products leaking, which has historically plagued the run-up to each eagerly-anticipated launch. Negotiations took mere weeks, although prior to the Intel deal Apple and PA Semi were in talks which then fell through.

This doesn’t mean, of course, that we’ll see a PA Semi chip in the 3G iPhone; the deal is too recent for that. But given the ongoing rumors of an Apple UMPC - possibly in the form of a larger, maybe QWERTY-equipped iPod Touch - and the iPhone’s further blurring of the smartphone, MID and UMPC niches, it’s unsurprising that the company is looking for highly efficient mobile processors. According to Forbes, Apple plans to continue to supply and support existing PA Semi customers, but keep future chips exclusively for itself.

PayPal public relations have clarified their position as below:

PayPal is developing features to block customers from logging into PayPal when using obsolete browsers on outdated or unsupported operating systems. An example of such a browser/OS combination might be, for example, Internet Explorer 4 running on Windows 98. We have absolutely no intention of blocking current versions of any browsers, including Apple’s Safari, from our website.

Apparently, a research paper released the week before by Michael Barrett, the firm’s chief information security officer, mentioned that the payment service would ban browsers that lacked a way to block known or suspected phishing sites, and didn’t support Extended Validation (EV) certificates, was what sparked off this piece of news and thankfully PayPal has responded soon enough. Safari is one browser that does not come with an anti-fraud blocker, and it also does not support EVs - a recently introduced digital certificate system that is meant to reassure consumers that the site has been vetted and is legitimate, leading people to speculate that this PayPal paper has also lumped Safari under the same roof as the mentioned Internet Explorer 3 from 1996 and Microsoft’s 1997’s IE4 as well.

Here’s a little bit of history lesson for the uninitiated - Apple currently supports only Safari 3.0 with security updates as well as various patches, and good to know that Safari 2.0 which shipped with Mac OS X 10.4 (aka Tiger) is still supported as well, unlike IE4 that came with Windows 98. PayPal’s revised criteria is “obsolete browsers on outdated or unsupported operating systems” will be blocked, which means IE5 is no go when 2010 rolls around while Safari 2.0 on Tiger will continue to receive support until Apple ships the successor to Mac OS X 10.5. Keep on shopping, guys!

Source: Computer World

The latest news today on this one is that Brian Caufield of Forbes.com managed to get a short phone interview with Psystar founder, (and no doubt stressed-out) president Rudy Pedraza. Pedraza insisted that the company is the real deal and they will make good on all of their orders.

Get Psystar President Rudy Pedraza on the phone, however, and he insists Psystar is for real. “That’s just completely wrong–we’re not out to steal anyone’s money, we want to earn it,” Pedraza says.

His explanation? The company has been overwhelmed by demand. He says his credit card processor, PowerPay, locked down his account for processing too many credit cards. When he turned to PayPal, Pedraza says Psystar’s account with the online payments specialist was quickly overloaded, too.

Pedraza explains the address changes by saying he had to move the company into a 40,000-square-foot warehouse. “We have thousands of machines we have to build and ship out,” Pedraza says.

“It’s not that we can’t provide the product or [that] Apple can stop us from providing the product,” Pedraza says, adding he’ll be able to start taking orders again soon. “The truth is, we can’t process your credit card.”

Still, Pedraza is short on the sorts of details most startups won’t shut up about. He won’t go on the record about his educational background, detail his professional history or name any previous ventures. The company’s Open Computer is based on a machine put together by his brother (whom he won’t name), he says. Nor will he say how the new computer works. He will say the company has 16 employees, and he just hired four more.

Another question mark hanging over Pedraza’s venture is Apple. One of the first thing Apple founder Steve Jobs did when he retook control of the Cupertino, Calif.-based computer maker in 1997 was to shut down the companies then cranking out authorized Apple clones. It was a controversial move, but one that has been forgotten as Apple’s stock price–driven by a host of new gizmos and and updated software for Apple’s computers–has soared.

More than a decade later, Apple is gobbling up market share, largely thanks to its slick new operating system. The computer maker grabbed 6% of the U.S. personal computer market in the first quarter, according to IDC, up from 4.9% the year before.

Pedraza, however, says Apple can do better. “The real problem is you have to buy Apple hardware to use [Apple software] and that’s preventing many people that would otherwise run OS X from being able to use it,” says Pedraza, adding that he’s paying retail price for Apple’s software every time he installs it on a new machine. “I just want to help Steve Jobs make more money.”

Pedraza says he hasn’t heard from Apple about his venture–yet. Is he nervous about what Apple will say? “Nope.”

Technically, however, there is little stopping someone from building machines loaded up with Apple software. Plenty of Web sites will walk users through the process of putting OS X on a PC, says Andrew Storm, director of security operations at San Francisco-based network security specialist nCircle. “But nobody has gone mass-market with it,” he says.

So, if what Psystar is offering is doable, how can Pedraza shut up the skeptics? “If I were [him], I would go to the local news station and ask for a two-minute spot and bring a customer, bring the device with them and show it working,” Storm says. “When that happens, I think the whole story is going to turn around, and we’re all going to be eating it.”

Pedraza is promising to get a reference customer, and we’ll keep you up to date. Meanwhile, if you’re a Psystar customer, let us know how it’s gone. Better still, if you’ve taken delivery of one, send us a picture or a video. The less mystery, the better.

From the Psystar website:

“It is our pleasure to inform you that our store is up and running thanks to our new high volume payment processor. To all, we challenge you, let’s see if we can max this one out. Regarding shipping, orders placed the week of April 7th are currently being shipped. We will be shipping units out of our new facility starting Monday, April 21st, including those orders placed the week of April 14th. Orders are being shipped in the order that they were received, don’t worry, you’ll get yours soon. Upon shipment an email notification including tracking information will be sent to you, no need to ask.”

Source: Forbes

(A side note: Gizmodo put its foot in its mouth and deleted this post about Psystar being a hoax - original link was http://gizmodo.com/3​80488/psystar-expose​d-looks-like-a-hoax. Now they have a post on Latest in Psystar Saga: Mac Clones Supposedly Shipping Right Now + New Facility Up Close)

Related Posts:

Psystar draws angry protests

openmac-for-399-a-pc-white-box-running-unmodified-leopard-how-long-can-apple-let-them-go

And it didn’t really take long for the world to take note - and draw an angry response from one of the principal hackers involved in developing the software involved.

Aside from the legal ramifications of selling “white-box” systems running Apple’s Mac OS X, questions have arisen over the exact nature of Psystar, the firm advertising the systems; and even whether it exists. Psystar appears to be a small operation that has only recently established a Web presence, and which is struggling to cope with the sudden interest aroused by its Mac clone. The product’s name has changed over the past week, from Open Mac to Open Computer. Psystar’s e-commerce site has suffered outages, and while it is currently functioning, users have noticed some anomalies–at one point, for instance, the site required users to submit a credit-card number, but then would accept only PayPal payments. There are also posts on the web which suggest that all this is a big joke!

OSx86 anger
If the Open Computer does in fact exist, Apple might not be too happy about it–but neither will the hackers who have developed the “OSx86″ software Psystar claims to use. Thus far, Apple has made no concerted effort to stamp out the OSx86 project, which consists of various patches allowing Mac OS X to run on commodity hardware, no doubt in part because it has been used only on a small scale and is relatively difficult to implement.

Psystar is proposing, however, to use OSx86-developed tools as the basis for its systems. On its Web site, the firm specifically mentions PC EFI V8, an emulator for the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) that lies between OSX and the Intel firmware.

Netkas, the programmer who led the PC EFI effort, retorted angrily to Psystar on his blog. “This is a violation of my authorship rights on PC EFI V8,” he wrote. The patch’s license forbids any “redistribution… for direct or indirect commercial purposes”, Netkas wrote.

Following complaints from OSx86 hackers, Psystar added a statement to its website crediting Netkas for the PC EFI software. “To the open-source community: thank you,” the statement said.

The installation of OSX on a non-Apple computer is expressly forbidden by Apple’s end-user licensing agreement (EULA). Nevertheless, some lawyers have said Apple will have a hard time stopping firms such as Psystar from breaking the agreement, because of the relative weakness of breach-of-contract disputes.

Source: ZDNet, Psystar, Netkas

Discovered by the creators of the popular ZiPhone jailbreak and unlocking utility, a small, nondescript entry in the new firmware used to identify the phone’s chipset refers to a device known as “SGOLD3.”

Sleuthing reveals this to be an Infineon chipset, the SGOLD3H (PDF), which both supplies the baseband for cellular data on GSM phones and serves equally as a general application accelerator and an audiovisual processor.

The iPhone currently uses a predecessor of the chipset, the SGOLD2, to drive its communication link.

However, the new chipset is distinguished from this earlier hardware (also listed in the iPhone firmware) for its 3G cellular data access. Unlike the EDGE-only chipset from the current Apple handset, the new Infineon hardware not only adds 3G over HSDPA but runs up to the international standard’s newer 7.2 megabit per second spec — twice the speed of the 3.6-megabit access seen on most HSDPA networks.

It also supports WCDMA, a related 3G technology needed for countries such as Japan and Korea, where the GSM service used by Europe and North America is rare to non-existent. Analysts have already warned that Apple’s planned expansion into Asia this year will demand 3G.

However, the chipset doesn’t take full advantage of AT&T’s planned 3G expansion this year. The exclusive home of the iPhone in the US is currently upgrading to HSUPA, an improvement over HSDPA that dramatically improves upload speeds. The Infineon chipset provides faster downloads than normal HSDPA but doesn’t address upstream connections beyond what’s already provided in the older 3G standard.

Still, the newly discovered hardware references all but confirm the dependence of a 3G iPhone launch on Apple’s firmware overhaul, which is officially scheduled to debut sometime in June. It also corroborates past claims by analysts that predicted an Infineon chip at the heart of an iPhone upgrade due in mid-year.

The introduction of a 3G iPhone is considered essential not just to the delivery of the iPhone to more areas but also to deliver services over cellular networks that typically suffer over slower EDGE connections, such as large downloads from the upcoming App Store.

Infineon’s processor also enables new options for video that aren’t present in the SGOLD2, such as live recording and two-way video calls, though only unverified rumors have so far suggested that Apple will add a front camera and video chats to the iPhone’s feature set.

Facebook is close to putting an uncomfortable and embarrassing legal episode behind it.

ConnectU founders Tyler Winklevoss, left, and Cameron Winklevoss, right, and Divya Narendra. (Photo: Charles Krupa/Associated Press)

A person briefed on the status of dueling lawsuits between Facebook and the competing site ConnectU said on Sunday that Facebook was finalizing a settlement with the founders of ConnectU — brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and their colleague, Divya Narendra.

The ConnectU founders were accusing Mark Zuckerberg and the original crew behind Facebook of pilfering their profitable idea back in 2003, when they were all Harvard students. Facebook had filed a countersuit, accusing ConnectU of unfair business practices.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. In the meantime, all motions in the case against ConnectU have been terminated.

ConnectU did not immediately respond to an e-mail message requesting comment. A California federal judge had ordered the parties into mediation last year.

The ConnectU founders asserted that they hired Mr. Zuckerberg, then a sophomore at Harvard, in 2003 to help create a campus-wide dating site called Harvard Connection. They say that he stalled on the project for months while nurturing his own idea and ultimately starting TheFacebook.com. The case cast doubts on Mr. Zuckerberg’s ingenuity, and discovery efforts turned up some embarrassing material — like his diary. Facebook clearly needed to make the suit go away before a widely expected initial public offering that could come as early as next year.

A Facebook spokeswoman said the company would not comment on legal matters. But the person briefed on the status of the negotiations said motions to dismiss the cases were expected to be filed “within weeks.”

Source: NYT