The New York Times recently put up their paywall, blocking users from reading over a certain number of articles a month. Their pricing scheme is sort of a mess but I can understand charging for quality content. That’s not really the point though, their paywall implementation makes it difficult for paying users to share content with nonpaying users. For instance, if you’re a paying iPad customer and you send an instant message to your friend with an article, and they already hit their monthly allowance, well, tough, they can’t read the article… or can they?

Beyond the Paywall: Reading New York Times Articles for Free

Using the magic of Google we can read New York Times articles for free. It takes about two seconds, here are the steps:

• Find the title of the article you want to read (Google is smart, you don’t need the exact title)
• Open google.com and type in the general title followed by ‘nytimes.com’ and search

The top result is pretty much guaranteed to be the article you’re looking for. Let’s use an example; someone wants to read the full NYT book review of “Physics of the Future” and we know the book is written by Michale Kaku, so my Google query to skirt the NYT paywall is this: “physics of future kaku nytimes.com” the key is here to include ‘nytimes.com’ at the end of the search time. Let Google do their magic and low and behold:

The first result is the Times book review we wanted to read. Great huh?

Even Faster: Paste the NYTimes.com URL into Google
If you’re sharing an exact URL with someone who hit their article limit, have them paste that directly into Google too. Then they just need to click on “I’m Feeling Lucky” and they’ll get pushed right beyond the paywall.
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Believe it or not, lines are still forming for iPad 2. Nearly anytime a store gets a shipment, they sell out within an hour or two (if you’re still looking, check iPad 2 stock at stores in your area) . Amazingly enough, this is going on around the world, as demand is far exceeding supply. What does this mean for sales numbers? Is Apple selling more or less than expected?

How many iPad 2’s has Apple sold?
At this point, it’s a guessing game. So far we’re left to analyst opinions, with some upwardly revising their sales forecasts. Charlie Wolf of Needham and Co (via AppleInsider) says that “the launch of the iPad 2 so far exceeded our expectations that it was evident our 2011 and 2012 shipment forecasts were dramatically low.” In Wolf’s case, he predicts that Apple will sell 30 million iPad 2’s this year, which is 10 million higher than they originally expected. With availability as constrained as it is, 30 million iPads a year doesn’t sound that outrageous to me, it might even be higher.

Apple Q2 FY11 Conference Call may have the answer
Apple has remained silent, but with constant sell outs and lines forming around the world, it isn’t much of a stretch to assume sales have been through the roof. The soonest we may hear some numbers from Apple could come on their Q2 FY11 conference call this April 20. The call starts at 2:00pm PST and you can listen live on Apple.com’s investors page.

Want to use a rotated display on a MacBook? You can do exactly that, and the same way that you rotate screen orientation on a display connected to a Mac can be done with the built-in display of a MacBook, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air (pictured).

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Are you bored with the Mt Fuji and Space wallpapers from Lion?

Try out this 8-bit rendition of the default Mac OS X Snow Leopard Aurora wallpaper.

OK so it’s probably not quite 8-bit in terms of colors, but the pixelation brings back that retro feeling.

Combine it with PixelSafari and you’ll be wishing you had antialiasing again in no time.

You can grab the full sized 2560×1600 version from SimpleDesktops, believe it or not, it actually looks pretty nice as a desktop background. Try it yourself, it has a beautiful retro feel to it.

This was found on Twitter via @MacGasm.

Gotta love a good wallpaper! Pixels and all!

Just a few hours ago we found out the dates of WWDC 2011, and now the event is already sold out. Wow, think there’s much interest in this or what?

Despite being a developers conference, it’s safe to assume that a fair amount of tickets went to journalists, bloggers, and Apple fans as well. There’s no word yet on how many tickets the event included, or if the WWDC Student Scholarships are going to be affected by the sell out. We’ll keep you posted.

Update: Naturally, WWDC 2011 ticket scalpers are already trying to profit off of the sold out conference:

I wonder how many total tickets went to speculators and scalpers? If the iPad 2 is any indicator, there’s going to be a fair share of them out there.

We’ve become spoiled expecting a new iPhone every summer, but it looks like iPhone 5 will not be released at WWDC 2011 after all. Apple’s own WWDC press release states that the event will be a “preview of the future of iOS and Mac OS X” with no mention of hardware, but it’s the well-connected Jim Darymple who squishes the hardware talk:

Apple’s apparent focus on software in its WWDC announcement backs up what my own sources are saying about the annual conference. That is, expect a software show in 2011, not a hardware event.

Darymple then reminds us that WWDC is not intended to be a public event anyway, “It’s important to remember that this is a developer conference, not a consumer show.” This is true, but Apple has also used WWDC events in the past to unveil new iPhones, and there has been much speculation that the same would occur this year.

Further evidence that iPhone 5 may not be coming this summer comes from the Japanese Mac blog Macotakara, who cites sources in China who say that iPhone 5 has not begun manufacturing yet, and instead it may be released sometime in the fiscal 2012 quarter, which would be somewhere between October 2011 to March 2012.

While we might not see the iPhone 5 anytime soon, consumers actually will get a new iPhone this year… Apple has said the white iPhone 4 will be released in Spring of 2011.

Apple has announced the dates of WWDC 2011 as June 6 to June 10, which is just a day later than the rumored iPhone 5 release date.

Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of marketing, says “At this year’s conference we are going to unveil the future of iOS and Mac OS,” with a note that “If you are an iOS or Mac OS X software developer, this is the event that you do not want to miss.”

It’s likely the “future of iOS” refers to iOS 5, which was recently rumored to have been delayed until fall. Whether the public release has been delayed or not, it sounds like we’ll at least get a good look at iOS 5 at the start of summer.

The future of Mac OS X is likely in reference to the expected Mac OS X Lion release which is slated for summer. Since we’ve already seen Lion however, Schiller seems to suggest that there is more news coming about Mac OS X than people may have expected. Cloud support? New features? Better integration with iOS 5? We’ll have to wait until June to find out.

Apple’s WWDC 2011 will have over 100 technical sessions taught by Apple engineers, and have over 1000 Apple engineers on site to provide developers with code-level assistance and insight into using the newest technologies. This years WWDC will also feature Apple Design Awards for iPad, iPhone, and Mac apps.

The cost to attend the 5 day conference is $1599, tickets typically sell out fast so you’ll want to reserve yours quickly at Apple.com.

If you’re a fan of minimalist workstations and desktops and you have an iPad, you’ll like this trick.

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iOS 5 may be scheduled for a fall release, and not alongside the predicted iPhone 5 release day at WWDC 2011, according to TechCrunch.

Citing sources, the report says that iOS 5 will be a “major revamp of the OS” and heavily based around cloud services that Apple has yet to launch. Potential cloud services from Apple could be iTunes or MobileMe related, cloud storage, or even wireless syncing as the New York Times mentioned earlier in the year.

The most unusual claim in the report is that iOS 5 might be announced alongside an iPad 3, which seems odd considering that Steve Jobs proclaimed 2011 the “Year of iPad 2” during the newest iPad unveiling last month.

Earlier, TechCrunch suggested that Mac OS X Lion GM is on the way, months ahead of schedule.

You probably know that Mac OS X Lion will add TRIM support for SSD’s, but what can you do right now if you’re on 10.6? If you’re brave, you can use this unsupported hack that enables TRIM for most SSD devices under Mac OS X 10.6.7.

The app is called TRIM Enabler and it works by loading a kernel extension from MacBook Pro 2011 models (with TRIM support) into your Mac OS X kernel, this forces TRIM to be enabled. All you have to do is click on “Patch” to enable TRIM, but the current version does not support one-click disabling, so if something goes wrong, you’ll have to boot into Safe Mode to disable the extension manually.

WARNING: This is completely unsupported software. We are not responsible for any damage or data loss that may result from enabling this feature. Always have a backup of your data, and proceed with caution and at your own risk!

You can download it directly here or visit the developers site.

I have an SSD in a new MacBook Air and I have not tested this, nor do I have plans to test it. Personally, I’m going to wait for official support from Apple, there’s likely a good reason they left it out of 10.6.7.

Update: TRIM Enabler v1.1 has been released that includes backup and restore functionality, the download link has been updated to this version.

Want to play some old school DOS games on your Mac? Grab Boxer, it’s a great MSDOS emulator that runs perfectly in OS X complete with a beautiful interface.

And not to worry, it even comes with a few games bundled right with it, including Commander Keen, Epic Pinball, Ultima Underworld, and X-COM. And, if you’re a retro gamer, you can get more DOS games and just drop them in the fancily styled games folder to play those too.
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I love my MacBook Air 11.6″, it’s ultra portable, very snappy, all the things you’ve already read about it and more. The one thing I hate about it? Finding a sleeve that fits.

If you’re in the same boat as me, here’s some advice; don’t shop around for a generic 11″ netbook sleeve that proclaims “fits MacBook Air!” – they don’t fit. I’m pretty sure most of these are just sleeves designed for cheapy 10″ PC netbooks that the manufacturer figures “hey it’s neoprene, it’ll stretch to fit the Air!” which, in a best case scenario, is like someone wearing a t-shirt eight sizes too small for them. Case in point is that frowny face image, clearly a 10″ netbook sleeve that the MacBook Air 11.6″ can be sort of crammed into but then the zipper won’t work. Great.

Just because something is made of neoprene and can stretch to sort of barely cover a product it wasn’t intended to be used on doesn’t mean it fits. Be careful shopping round for a “MacBook Air” sleeve, because half of them are just labeled as such because, technically a MacBook Air fits in there. One such “MacBook Air” sleeve I found fit about as snug as a hot dog in a hallway, it was huge and clearly not intended for the Air 11.6″ let alone the 13″ model. I mean sure the Air fit, but the Air fits in the middle of my living room too, you know what I mean?

I just want a proper case for my MBA11, one that fits snugly and offers some protection. Sure there’s the Macvelope Envelope look-a-like case, but the color is a little obnoxious. I just want a black case that fits properly. Why is this so hard to find?

We’ve received a few questions from those outside of the USA asking if the iPad 2 3G model from the USA will work in their home country. The answer is generally yes, assuming your local cell provider is a GSM compatible network and that you have a micro-SIM card that will fit into the iPad 2 3G (you can also carefully cut down normal SIMs to fit, see link at the bottom of article).

This is also great news for international travelers, since you can just swap in a new sim in a new country and you’ll be online. Of course just because you can use elsewhere doesn’t solve the problem of actually finding an iPad 2 in stock somewhere, and you must buy the 3G AT&T model which is one of the most popular versions.

Unlocked iPad 2 works in the USA with T-Mobile
The iPad 2 being sold unlocked is not just useful to those outside of the USA though, being unlocked means the device can also be used with T-Mobile in the United States. This is just a matter of plugging in a T-Mobile compatible micro-SIM with a data plan and activating it on the TMO network. That said, the number of users activating iPad 2’s on US Tmobile is probably small since the data plan that AT&T offers with the 3G model is a pay-as-you-go plan.

What about the iPad 2 CDMA model?
As of now, the CDMA iPad 2 is not unlocked. It’s possible that someone will figure out how to do this in the future like Cricket and ChinaTelecom have with the CDMA iPhone 4, but for now you should get an iPad 2 3G model if you want to use it outside of the USA on a cellular network.

What’s the deal with locked hardware anyway?
Unlocked cell hardware is somewhat unusual in the United States, which goes partially to explain the popularity of the jailbreak and unlock movements, and those who setup iPhones as pay-go phones. Carriers here typically like to lock devices to their network to prevent people from leaving their service with the same hardware. The thought goes that since you’d have to buy a new phone for a new network, you’re more likely to stay on your existing one. The plus side to this is the locked carrier will usually subsidize the hardware price in the USA, which is why you can get a new iPhone for $199 with a 2 year contract. Carrier unlocking is rare elsewhere in the world, with many countries in Asia, the EU, and elsewhere in North America allowing users to go to whatever network they want.
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Remember how you can rotate a Macs screen orientation? Here’s a Mac setup that features just that… with a MacBook Pro. This a MacBook Pro 15″ sitting on its side next to an Apple Cinema Display hooked up to a Mac Pro, and from the looks of it the screens fit perfectly together. The iPad doesn’t quite fit in but it’s a nice addition nonetheless.

Now before you go trying this on your own, it’s worth mentioning that the photographer swapped an SSD into the MacBook Pro “since the platters in an HDD can’t much handle being sideways” so you’ll want to consider that before rotating your MacBook Pro 90°.

This was found via SimpleDesks

It wasn’t long ago that Mac OS X 10.7 Developer Preview was released, but now TechCrunch is reporting that Apple may be releasing a GM candidate of Mac OS X Lion in the near future. The details are somewhat sketchy, citing just what they’re “hearing” from an unspecified source:

…Apple is gearing up to deploy an OS X Lion update to developers that they may be classifying as the “GM1″ release, we’re hearing… But from what we’ve heard, this is only the initial Golden Master candidate. In other words, don’t get too excited just yet

If this sounds a little strange, it is, because GM (Golden Master) software builds are typically what is used for mass production, indicating a finished product. TechCrunch’s Seigler even notes this, saying the “title [is] reserved for software that is complete,” so it would be a bit unusual for Apple to start labeling GM builds in the fashion of beta releases. Outside of last minute bug fixes, versioning stable builds is typically something reserved for RC (Release Candidates) builds. That said, the Lion Preview is quite stable and I dual boot between 10.7 and 10.6 regularly, so it’s certainly possible that Lion development is coming along ahead of schedule.

Apple has already announced that Mac OS X Lion will be released in summer of 2011. Most guesses are that the Mac OS X Lion launch will be the same date as iPhone 5 may be released, which event calendars pin on June 5 at WWDC 2011.

via TechCrunch

Apple has released iOS 4.3.1 update for users of iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 GSM, iPad, iPad 2, iPod touch 3rd gen and 4th gen. The update consists mostly of bug fixes, here are the release notes and changelog:

iOS 4.3.1 Software Update

This update contains improvements and other bug fixes including:

• Fixes an occasional graphics glitch on iPod touch (4th generation)
• Resolves bugs related to activating and connecting to some cellular networks
• Fixes image flicker when using Apple Digital AV Adapter with some TVs
• Resolves an issue authenticating with some enterprise web services

If iTunes doesn’t automatically notify you, you can download iOS 4.3.1 by attaching your iOS device to iTunes and then checking for software updates within the app. If you’d rather download iOS 4.3.1 IPSW directly, you can do that too using the links below.

iOS 4.3.1 Direct Download

These are direct download links of iOS 4.3.1 IPSW files from Apple. Right-click and “Save As” to download:

• iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 4 GSM
• Pad 1
• iPad 2 WiFi
• iPad 2,2 (3G AT&T?)
• iPad 2,3 (3G Verizon?)
• iPod Touch 3G
• iPod Touch 4G

Noticeably absent is iOS 4.3.1 for iPhone 4 CDMA. Regarding iPad 2,2 and 2,3, if you own one of those devices and you are directly downloading IPSW, you probably know what you’re doing and know which is for Verizon and which is for AT&T, but I don’t have access to that hardware to confirm either at the moment.

Note for those on Windows: these are .IPSW files, if your browser is saving them as .zip or any other archive, you need to rename the file to .ipsw for iTunes to be able to use the firmware. This is not an issue that affects Mac OS X users.

Apple is looking to license AirPlay to TV manufacturers, according to a new report from Bloomberg. TV’s with built-in AirPlay support would allow users to stream media directly from their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and other Apple hardware, directly to the TV without the need of an Apple TV box. The “devices that could be used for video may be available this year,” according to Bloombergs source.

This report from Bloomberg is significant because it seems to address the long discussed rumors of an Apple branded television. Instead of Apple producing an actual television to compete with the TV heavyweights, they can instead license the use of their AirPlay streaming media technology and be included in a wide range of televisions. This would be a winning situation for nearly everyone involved, including the TV makers, Apple, and the consumer.
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Wondering how the iPad 2 specs make a difference in gaming? Check out this picture of Real Racing 2 HD taken by Andy Ihnatko during his iPad 2 review (image via Flickr), the difference is pretty remarkable for an existing game: less jaggies, better anti-aliasing, better framerates, just better graphics all around.

That image doesn’t surprise me too much when you start looking at the iPad 2 graphics benchmarks, here’s an impressive chart from Anadntech which really shows off the iPad 2’s enhanced GPU:
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