The 27″ iMac is a beautiful machine, this picture amuses me because it shows just how large the screen really is, dwarfing the older iMac and the 23″ Acer LCD next to it!
[ via Flickr ]
One of the Mac Mail apps many talents is the ability to automatically detect when a flight number is present in an email, and then give you the option to view the flights status by using the flight tracking Dashboard widget in OS X.
Yes seriously, the Mac eMail app can track flights! This doesn’t even require a plug-in, it’s all built into Mail for Mac, which passes the appropriate data onto the Flight Tracker tool to then gather more details and display the flight on a map.
iPhone 4 is here, it’s awesome, and everyone wants one. But what’s it going to set you back? What is the price of the phone and what’s the cost of the new AT&T data plans? How much is it to upgrade from an existing iPhone? Can you buy one without a contract? You know that iPhone 4 availability began on June 24, and now you’ll know how much it’s actually going to cost to get in your hands. This is the ultimate iPhone 4 pricing guide, read on.
The all new iPhone 4 is available in two colors, white and black, and each has two different storage capacity options that effect the price of the phone.
Keep in mind that in the USA, to get iPhone 4 at these prices you will have to renew or sign up for a 2 year contract with AT&T.
You’ll be able to buy iPhone 4 outside of an AT&T contract for an unsubsidized price, but it’s not cheap:
The reason for the high price is because the phone is no longer subsidized by the AT&T 2-year commitment. Suddenly that contract is looking appealing huh? But be sure to get the right data plan for your use.
If you’re a new AT&T customer you’ll have three data plans and pricing options to choose from:
It’s really important to know how much data you use, so if you’re an existing customer be sure to check your AT&T iPhone data usage before going into a new plan.
What about Unlimited Data? Unlimited Data is no longer offered, but if you are a current AT&T customer and you are still under an iPhone unlimited data contract, you can keep the unlimited data plan for $30/month as long as you do not let the contract or plan lapse. If you let it lapse or do not renew the unlimited data contract, you will not be able to get unlimited data again on AT&T. Again, once you lose unlimited data you will not get it again!
You’ll be able to upgrade to iPhone 4 if you already are in contract with an iPhone 3G or 3GS, but you’ll need to:
Note the $18 fee is waived for many people who’s contract expires anytime in 2010. You can check your AT&T iPhone upgrade eligibility to find out your contract eligibility and if the fee applies to you. The above applies to those iPhone 3G and 3GS subscribers who upgrade in 2010, after 2010 the price of the new iPhone goes up to $399 and $499, so if you’re thinking about upgrading you’ll want to do it in 2010.
According to MacRumors, AT&T will be offering both rebates and credits to recent purchasers of iPhone 3GS.
AT&T will be offering bill credit rebates for users who purchased an iPhone 3GS between May 7th and June 7th, with customers set to receive $50 (16 GB) or $100 (32 GB) if they file a request with the company. The offer is good for 30 days from the date of purchase, with those in the early portion of the purchase window (May 7th through May 14th) having until June 14th to file their requests.
The same story reports that AT&T may be offering iPhone 3GS users the option to upgrade to iPhone 4 if they pay the price difference between the phones:
iPhone 3GS customers who purchased handsets between May 7th and June 7th the option to upgrade to iPhone 4, only paying applicable price differences. Customers who purchased a “closeout” iPhone 3GS after June 7th are not eligible for these offers.
This information has not been confirmed and is based on some documents obtained by a third party. It’s entirely possible the rebates and credits won’t hold true.
The new iPhone is already selling like absolute hotcakes and is continuously sold out. Apple has done it again!
As many loyal Safari users already know, the dedicated “refresh” button was removed from the browser’s toolbar starting with the release of Safari 4. It seems that Apple decided it would be better placed at the end of the location bar. The “new” format also includes a much smaller button which quite frankly is much harder to get to and easier to miss.
Now that Safari 5 has the ability to use Extensions, you can bring back the classic look and feel by enabling the the “Safari Reload Button” Extension.
We have discussed in the past, some of QuickTime X’s hidden talents. Using a yellow slider control (iPhone Movie Editing anyone?), you can trim audio files from directly inside of QuickTime Player. The next time you need to MacGuyver yourself a ringtone, try this simple process:
Open an audio file in Quicktime X (X just means version 10).
These convenient and simple features are always a welcomed addition to any media player. When that media player is part of the Operating System, it’s even better!
Hate it when you click on an iTunes link or an App Store link and the iTunes application launches, forcing you out of your browser and into the cludgy music / everything media app? You’re not alone! Fortunately with a little free extension, you can completely stop iTunes and App Store links from opening iTunes entirely.
And yes, this completely stops iTunes launching when an iTunes link is clicked from the Safari browser.
Read more »
Spotlight is amazing at finding files buried deep within your Mac, but what if you found the file you wanted, and you don’t know what folder it’s contained within on the Mac, or if it’s buried deep somewhere in Mac OS X?
The answer is as easy as a keystroke, because with a simple key modifier you can quickly launch the containing parent folder of any item found in Spotlight on Mac OS.
Ok so anyone that uses Google has probably noticed by now that you can change the background image of Google.com and set it to something you’d like. Today though people are finding a surprise; whether they set an image or not the Google background picture has changed!
The wait is over, Team Fortress 2 has been released for Mac OS X. Often called TF2, Team Fortress 2 is a fun multiplayer first person shooter that has cartoony graphics and fast paced gameplay.
The system requirements to run Team Fortress 2 are similar to other Steam games; Intel processors only, newer versions of Mac OS X, and a decent video card. Obviously the better your Mac the better the game will run. Read on for some tips you can use to improve the performance of TF2 in Mac OS X (the tips work for Windows versions too btw).
If Team Fortress 2 performance is a little slow on your Mac (either lagging graphics or low FPS rating), give these tips a try:
Performance reviews of Team Fortress 2 on a Mac have been mixed so far, while some gamers say the app runs great, other users are reporting choppiness, general bugs, lagged network play, and lower frame rates than they’d expect. Much of these problems are likely the result of growing pains, as this is the first version of TF2 to show up on the Mac platform. It’s safe to assume that most of these complaints will be ironed out in update patches released over the coming weeks as Valve refines the Mac user experience, so hang in there if you’re experiencing anything unusual!
Valve was a day late on the release (not that they ever set a definitive date for TF2 for Mac), the protocol had been that every Wednesday a new Steam game is available for Mac gamers to download. I don’t hear anyone complaining though, everyone is just excited to get their hands on the fun filled FPS.
The announcement came on June 9 in a peculiar manner from Valve’s TF2 blog:
Big things are happening RIGHT NOW at Valve. Things involving cultivated tree-fruit. BIG things. Things that rhyme with “grapple.” Things that rhyme with “Speem Gortress zmavailable on the Babac.”
Not today. But tomorrow. BIG THINGS. Stay tuned…
Obviously cultivated tree fruit rhyming with ‘grapple’ is Apple, and this is indeed pretty big news for Mac gamers. TF2 has been a big hit in the Windows world, and now Mac users will get to join in the multiplayer fun. So when you launch Steam you’ll be able to download the Mac TF2 client, awesome huh?
Here’s a screenshot of Team Fortress 2 in the Mac section of Steam:
For a limited time the price is $9.99, or you can get it as part of the larger Orange Box for $29.99. The game was actually free to play until June 14th, and you’ll get a free set of in-game earbuds as well (not sure how that works exactly).
So WWDC charged full steam ahead this year with news about iOS 4 with a noticeable absence of things related to Mac and Mac OS X.
This is pretty much what many developers had feared when WWDC 2010 was first announced as being App Store centric.
So what gives?
We at iOS Daily suggest it’s about the inevitable splitting of computer uses:
…the future of computing is already branching into two groups of computer users: the average person, and the creators…
Basically, the average person doesn’t need a Mac, they can get by fine with an iPhone and iPad. Meanwhile, creators and developers will still need a Mac so that they can create content for the average person. Interesting theory, and I think there is a lot of truth to it.
You can read more at our new sister publication “iOS Daily: Does iOS signal the death of the Mac?”.
Slightly off topic, It’s worth mentioning that iOS Daily is brand new, so don’t be surprised if some things aren’t working 100% quite yet.
Sure the original iPad wallpaper background is phenomenal, but there are a lot of other fantastic potential background pictures out there for iPad too!
Case in point: A friend of mine just sent me this absolutely amazing picture of the night sky over Maui taken by photographer Eric Rolph.
Maybe I am an Apple nerd, but the first thing that I thought was: this will make an awesome iPad background picture!
Click through the image or on the Flickr link to get the full size version, it’s rather large at 1267×1900, but it does indeed make an awesome iPad background pic.
If you want some other really cool pics, check out Eric’s photostream on Flickr, it’s full of amazing photography.
iPad friendly resolutions: we have received a few requests to provide the image at a more iPad friendly 1024×1024 resolution, so we cropped the picture into two variations. Click through the images below for them:
I use screenshots constantly to share bits of information with people, and they can be really helpful when troubleshooting as well.
Here’s all you’ll need to know about taking screenshots in Mac OS X, from capturing the screen in Mac OS X Finder and within applications, to changing the default screenshot file type, to taking screenshots from the command line.
You can use any of these commands to take screenshots directly in Mac OS X Finder or any running applications:
Some of the above instructions are borrowed from our print screen on a Mac article.
You can change the default file type for screen captures by using a terminal command. Most major image formats are supported including PNG, PDF, GIF, TIFF, and JPG, we’ll go with JPG since that is a common type of web graphic:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg
Then you must kill the SystemUIServer for changes to take effect:
killall SystemUIServer
You can take screenshots from the command line by using the screencapture utility:
screencapture test.jpg The screen capture will then appear in the directory that the command was executed.
If you want to open the screencapture in Preview immediately after being taken, type:
screencapture -P test.jpg
You can also take screenshots silently, without the sound playing with -x:
screencapture -x silentscreenshot.jpg
If you would like to have a delay added to when the screenshot is taken use -T followed by a number of seconds:
screencapture -T 3 delayedpic.jpg
Specifying a file type is easy with the -t flag:
screencapture -t pdf pdfshot.pdf
Naturally you can combine them all together:
screencapture -xt pdf -T 4 pic.jpg
You can get a full list of screencapture flags by typing:
screencapture -h
In case you missed it, iPhone 4 is a big deal. Running iOS 4, it’s packed with amazing features that blow any other smartphone out of the water. A powerful processor, high density screen resolution and display, video chat, HD video recording and editing, camera with flash, it’s all there.
Supply is still struggling to keep up with demand, stores continue to sell out quickly. We’ll keep you updated on the latest availability information.
The following list applies to the USA demonstrating current iPhone 4 availability at stores:
iPhone 4 supplies will be replenished periodically at most Apple Stores and resellers throughout the summer months. Reports indicate that while additional shipments of iPhone 4 will be arriving, they too are expected to sell out.
Apple continues to cope with strong demand for iPhone 4 as the device remains a hot commodity, here’s the latest we know on availability :
For the USA, France, Germany, United Kingdom, and Japan, iPhone 4 became available on the release date of June 24, all of the release date phones were quickly sold out. Pre-orders for iPhone 4 started June 15th and quickly sold out. Due to the immense pre-order demand, AT&T did not start selling iPhone 4 in stores until June 29.
Apple has again delayed the release of the White iPhone 4, due to challenging production constraints. Apple has confirmed that the white iPhone 4 will not be available until late July, due to production difficulties. Historically, the Black iPhone has sold out faster and been more popular than the white iPhone. Here is the press release from Apple, issued June 24, 2010:
White models of Apple’s new iPhone® 4 have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected, and as a result they will not be available until the second half of July. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.
The newest press release, issued on July 23, 2010 regarding the delay of the white model specifies a date of ‘later this year’:
White models of Apple’s new iPhone® 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.
The 4th generation iPhone is being released at different dates throughout the year around the world. Here are the expected release months and accompanying countries.
June: USA, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Japan
July: Australia, Canada, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
September: Additional countries are expected to have iPhone 4 available by the end of September. Apple says 88 countries are planned to carry the device.
Here are the current US resellers of iPhone 4. Not all resellers took pre-orders:
iPhone 4 is is offered in two models and the pricing depends on the storage capacity.
* iPhone 4 16GB: $199 (requires renewing AT&T contract in USA)
* iPhone 4 32GB: $299 (requires new 2yr AT&T contract)
Both iPhone 4 models are available in black and white at the same price. You can get more information about iPhone 4 price structures, including data plans, upgrade prices, the price of iPhone 4 without a contract (it’s not cheap!), and more, at our iPhone 4 price guide.
If you already have an iPhone in contract and you want the newest model there are very reasonable options for you too. Check your iPhone 4 upgrade eligibility with AT&T and you likely won’t have to wait until your old contract expires. In most cases, you’ll be able to renew your contract and buy the new iPhone with a minimal (if any) fee, and this fee is usually waived for anyone whose contract expires in 2010.
Upgrading to iPhone 4 is easy and expected. Initial sales figures say that 77% of the initial wave of iPhone 4 purchases are upgrades from existing iPhone customers, Apple and AT&T are aware of this and intend to make upgrading to the new device a simple process.
We’ve had several emails asking us what the difference is between iPhone 4 and iPhone 4G – there is no difference. iPhone 4 is the proper name, but because it’s the 4th generation iPhone some people are referring to it as iPhone 4G, which is technically incorrect and is not the name of the product. Regardless of the naming convention, the device continues to run on the 3G network.
This is another question we get asked frequently. While supply of iPhone 4 continues to be limited, your best bet at getting your hands on the device is either to order online and wait until it ships, or to go to Apple and AT&T stores, since they are the official manufacturer and carriers. When demand eases, you should be able to visit any of the other resellers and pick up the device, but this could take weeks or even months.
No, there is no central database of iPhone 4 availability that is in the public hands, only Apple holds this data. That said, we do our best to update this page based on information we receive from users and our own inquiries. The only way to check if iPhone 4 is available at any particular store is to call to verify existing stock.
If you have a lot of albums by a single artist, it’s nice to be able to group all their music together by artist and by album.
To do so, you’ll want to sort iTunes Albums by the Artist rather than just the alphabetical title of all albums by all artists.
Doing this is easy, in iTunes list view, click on the ‘Album’ column header a few times until the text changes to “Album by Artist”.
In the midst of all the exciting news about iPhone OS iOS 4 and the new iPhone 4, Apple snuck in yet another bit of innovation in the release of Safari 5. With little surprise, the most advertised of new features are enhancements to the rendering of HTML 5. Of the HTML 5 improvements, full screen video support is of most intrigue due to the on going “war” (of sorts) between Apple and Adobe over video content delivery. The release notes also talk about how Safari’s Nitro Engine will run JavaScript 30% faster than Safari 4, 3% faster than Chrome and over twice as fast as Firefox 3.6. Last but not least is the addition of Bing to the list of available search providers and (finally!) Safari now has support for Extensions, or as the rest of the web broswing world calls them, “Plugins”. Read on for a more complete list of features.
Read more »
Apple has renamed iPhone OS to iOS, which is appropriate considering the operating system runs on more devices than just the iPhone. iOS 4 encompasses the iPhone, iPad, the iPod Touch, and there are rumors that it will run on future versions of the Apple TV. With over 100 new features in iOS 4, it’s an exciting free software update.
The iOS 4 software update for iPhone and iPod Touch is available now for download. Launch iTunes and plug in your device to see the download and update option.
Availability and release dates depend on the device. iPad users will be waiting longer for iOS 4 update than those who own other devices.
It is likely that iOS 4 on iPad has a delayed release because it will include features that are iPad specific, thus taking longer for Apple to develop.
* Multitasking – run multiple applications at the same time
* Folders – organize apps into folders
* Improved Mail – multiple mail accounts in a single inbox, open attachments in 3rd party apps
* iBooks – browse, buy, and read eBooks
* Create iPod playlists – create playlists directly on your iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad
* 5x Digital Zoom – the same digital zoom technology that’s included in digital cameras
* Tap to Focus Video – video will refocus to whatever you tap on screen, cool!
* Faces & Places in Photos – view photos based on where they were taken and who is in them
* Home Screen Wallpaper – change the background picture on your devices home screen (this feature is already on the iPad)
* Gift Apps – send apps as gifts to others
* Spell Checking – built-in spell checker for Mail, Notes, and other apps that access the function
* Wireless Keyboard Support – use a wireless keyboard on the iPhone (you can use a wireless bluetooth keyboard with the iPad right now)
iOS 4 will work with iPad, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 3G, and newer iPod Touch 2nd and 3rd generation units, but the feature set degrades on older devices. For example, iPhone 3G can not use multitasking or change the background picture, and neither can the 2nd generation iPod Touch. It’s strongly speculated that the performance of iOS 4 will be best on iPhone 4 and iPad.
Have you ever wanted to know how you can check to see if your AT&T account is eligible for an iPhone upgrade? You can instantly check your AT&T iPhone upgrade eligibility by dialing a simple short code on your phone.
This is super easy, here is how you can check your iPhone upgrade eligibility with AT&T:
Read more »
Did you know that you can use a MacBook 13″ MagSafe power adapter on the 13″ MacBook Pro? Or a MBP 15″ adapter on the 13″ models? And the 11″ MacBook Air adapter with a 13″ MacBook Pro, and so forth? In most cases you can interchange power adapters, this also means the older white MagSafe adapters work just fine on the new 2010 MacBook Pro 13″ model, and vice versa. In other words, if you just upgraded to a new MacBook, don’t toss the old MagSafe adapters!
