The Apple Core

November 9th, 2009

Gallery: Droid vs. iPhone - battle of the screens

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 5:00 am

Categories: Display, Droid, Screen, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Screen, Pixel, Droid, Smart Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Jason D. O'Grady

Much has been made of the screen on the new Droid smartphone from Motorola and Verizon Wireless. The 854 x 480 pixel, 3.7-inch panel is 273% larger than the iPhone’s 320 x 480, 3.5-incher and is setting itself apart as one of Droid’s flagship features.

Droid’s screen features a whopping 410,000 pixels compared to the iPhone’s 150,000 - and more pixels means more screen real estate and more detail. The Droid’s larger, higher-resolution screen is better suited for viewing Web pages and separates itself from the iPhone in screen intensive tasks like photo, video and gaming.

I’ve posted a brief gallery comparing the two screens. Some highlights are after the jump…

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November 9th, 2009

Gallery: Droid vs. iPhone

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 4:00 am

Categories: Droid, Gallery, iPhone, iPhone 3GS

Tags: Apple iPhone, Keyboards, Smart Phones, Hardware, Peripherals, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Jason D. O'Grady

I’ve posted a gallery of the Droid smartphone by Motorola and Verizon Wireless. The first several photos are views of the handset by itself and the last provides a comparison to the iPhone. The hardware design of Droid is solid if a little bulky. It’s larger and heavier than the iPhone (6 oz. vs. 4.8 oz.) but that’s a side-effect of the slide out keyboard. The keyboard requires some effort to slide up and isn’t spring-assisted like some other devices like the Sidekick. The keyboard itself is disappointing and mushy as I said in my review, but there’s always the virtual keyboard which arrived in Android 1.5 (Cupcake).

Check out all the pictures here.

November 5th, 2009

Droid Preview: iPhone's first real competition has arrived

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 8:05 am

Categories: Android, Android 2.0, Verizon

Tags: Apple iPhone, Google Inc., Google Android, Droid, Calls, VZW, Smart Phones, Keyboards, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology

I’ve been testing the new Droid mobile phone from Motorola running on Verizon Wireless for a couple of days and have to admit to being impressed by way the new handset has filled many of the gaps left by the iPhone.

I’ve been a fan of Android since the G1 came out on T-Mobile on and wrote the Google Phone Pocket Guide for PeachPit Press.

Verizon is marketing Droid squarely at potential iPhone customers by promoting its features that aren’t available on the venerable Apple device.

Droid’s biggest advantages come courtesy of Google’s Android operating system, which graduated to version 2.0 (code named Eclair). Android is maturing quickly and its open platform, background apps,  widgets and customization expose many of the chinks in the iPhone’s armor. When you combine Android 2 with the hardware features included in the Droid handset – including its physical keyboard, removable battery, 5MP camera and expansion slot – you have a potent one-two punch against the iPhone.

As expected, the Verizon network is its best feature. Calls are clear and I haven’t had a single dropped call in my testing. My iPhone displays the “Call Failed” error at least once per day. VZW is also attempting to lure customers away from the iPhone (and AT&T) by promoting the company’s superior 3G data network with its There’s a map for that campaign.

While themes and widgets may seem trivial, they’re a welcome upgrade over the iPhone which provides no customization options without jailbreaking the device. Mac users may be concerned about the lack of native sync software for the Mac, but luckily Google Contacts sync natively with Address Book and Google Calendar syncs with iCal.

Droid’s optional haptic feedback, which provides a slight vibrating feedback as keys are pressed, is another welcome addition. Another major upgrade in Android 2.0 is the addition of Google Maps with driving directions which provides voice-assisted turn-by-turn directions based on GPS. On the iPhone GPS with directions costs extra – including a hefty monthly fee.

While a physical keyboard may seem like a good idea, I find Droid’s mushy with not enough key travel. To make matters worse, it doesn’t auto-correct as you type. The good news is that Android 2.0’s virtual keyboard has an improved layout which improves accuracy and includes a smart dictionary that includes contact names.

The Droid is available tomorrow for $200 (after a $100 mail-in rebate) and requires a minimum $70 monthly service plan for two years – text messaging costs extra. Droid comes with a 16GB MicroSD card, expandable up to a 32GB.

November 4th, 2009

I Am T-Pain enjoys 10,000 downloads per day

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 8:20 pm

Categories: Announcement, App Store

Tags: App, Smart Phones, Digital Music, Handhelds, Digital Media, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Hardware, Jason D. O'Grady

Apple today announced that the App Store now offers more than 100,000 apps for the iPhone and iPod touch, making it the largest application store in the world.

Apple has a pretty substantial head start in the market with 10 times the apps of its nearest competitor, the Android Market, which has 10,000 apps. Rounding out third place is Blackberry App World with 3,000.

The most surprising part of the Apple press release was Jeff Smith’s (CEO of app wunderkind Smule) admonition that his I Am T-Pain ($2.99) app gets a whopping 10,000 downloads per day.

Apple also noted that 2 billion apps have been downloaded since the App Store opened on July 10, 2008.

November 4th, 2009

Bare Bones updates BBEdit

Posted by David Morgenstern @ 10:29 am

Categories: Developer, Software

Tags: Folder, Behavior, BBEdit 9.0, Supply Chain Management (SCM), Apple Mac OS X, Apple Mac OS, Enterprise Software, Software, Operating Systems, David Morgenstern

BBEdit, Bare Bones Software’s leading HTML code and text editor was updated to Version 9.3 on Tuesday with new features and interface tweaks.

The product page for BBEdit 9 is topped with “It doesn’t suck.” And they are right.

Bare Bones said the update is free for all customers with BBEdit 9.0 through 9.2.1. Here are some items from the change list that caught my eye:

Invisible File handling. In previous versions, BBEdit would let users search inside SCM administrative directories when they uses the “Search Invisible Folders” command. Now, that’s an option that customers must turn on via a pref.

When scanning folders for various purposes (multi-file search, Find differences, and others), SCM administrative directories are specifically ignored, even if “Search Invisible Folders” is turned on: CVS, .svn, .git, .hg, .bzr. This avoids potential disasters that can result from indiscriminate search and replace in such directories. If, however, you choose to live dangerously, you can allow BBEdit to see inside of these directories:

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November 3rd, 2009

Thursby updates DAVE and ADmitMac solutions for Windows networking

Posted by David Morgenstern @ 9:11 am

Categories: 10.6, 64-bit, Snow Leopard, Windows 7

Tags: Apple Macintosh, Windows Networking, ADmitMac Version 5, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Microsoft Windows 7, Software, David Morgenstern

With recent changes coming to both Mac and Windows OSes, Thursby on Tuesday released new versions of ADmitMac, its Windows Active Directory client software for Macs, and DAVE, its file- and printer-sharing solution. The updates feature support for Mac OS X 10.6 Leopard and Windows 7.

The previous ADmitMac Version 4 and DAVE Version 7 did not support Snow Leopard and a link to uninstalling instructions was featured on the company’s support pages (and still is). The current versions of ADmitMac for CAC and ADmitMac for PIV are still incompatible with Snow Leopard.

ADmitMac Version 5 improves compatibility with Active Directory and now supports the Windows Group Policy console.

Administrators can manage their domain users in a consistent way – regardless of whether they use a PC or a Mac. And ADmitMac requires no Active Directory schema changes.

According to the company, DAVE Version 8 supports all current Windows operating systems including Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, Windows 2000 and WIndows NT

When running on Snow Leopard, both products now support 64-bit multi-threaded operation and multiple processors.

The ADmitMac v5 upgrade is $89.95 for users of Version 4.x; the DAVE v8 upgrade is $69.95 for users of Version 7.x.

November 3rd, 2009

Snow Leopard: Don't get caught in date handling change in AppleScript

Posted by David Morgenstern @ 6:49 am

Categories: 10.6, Snow Leopard

Tags: AppleScript, Scripting Languages, Software/Web Development, Web Development, David Morgenstern

As users migrate to Snow Leopard they will find that AppleScript is less forgiving about date and time formatting. Formerly reliable scripts, years old, may fail.

I was reminded of this change in a MacTech article by scripting consultant Ben Waldie, president of Automated Workflows and author of many books on AppleScript scripting.  (The article can be found in hardcopy in the latest issue of MacTech magazine, which is all about Snow Leopard. I bet that many will also appreciate the detailed rundown of changes to launchd in Snow Leopard by Greg Neagle at MacEnterprise.)

Waldie says that “coercions from strings to dates are also a bit finicky in Snow Leopard.” Previously, AppleScript was more forgiving in its handling of dates, he said. However, now date and times that ran correctly will either fail or work at the wrong time.

For example, if you had a script that ran at 5:00 a.m., it won’t run. It now needs to be formatted as AM. No periods allowed.

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November 2nd, 2009

UPS introduces iPhone app

Posted by David Morgenstern @ 12:14 pm

Categories: iPhone, iPhone 3GS

Tags: United Parcel Service Of America Inc., Apple iPhone, Shipment, GPS, Smart Phones, Handhelds, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Hardware, David Morgenstern

UPS late last week released UPS Mobile, a free iPhone app that lets users manage shipments.

The app offers capabilities whether or not a user has a ups.com account. In addition, it uses the iPhone 3G series GPS to help users find a nearby service point.

Mobile is specially designed with features that let you easily manage your shipments on the go. This app lets you track and nickname shipments, create shipping labels, find UPS service locations via GPS, and estimate shipment costs and delivery times.

Without logging in, you can:
- Track package and freight shipments
- Find UPS service locations via GPS
- Estimate shipment costs and delivery times.

When you log in with a my UPS ID, you can also:
- Nckname tract shipments
- See your recent tracks from ups.com
- Create shipping labels to e-mail, then print. (For US domestic or US to international document shipments.)
- Access your ups.com address book
- Use saved shipping and payment preferences

November 1st, 2009

Making Apple's Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard work in Windows

Posted by David Morgenstern @ 9:39 pm

Categories: Bluetooth, Boot Camp, Windows

Tags: Mouse, Wireless Keyboard, Apple Inc., Wireless, Keyboards, Microsoft Windows, Mice, Hardware, Peripherals, Operating Systems

A recent Apple Support Note says that “certain features” on the new Magic Mouse and the Apple Wireless keyboard are having trouble in Windows on Boot Camp.  A fix was posted for downloading late last week.

Certain features such as up-down scrolling on the Apple Magic Mouse and brightness controls, volume controls, the Eject key, and the key combination Control-Alt-Delete on the Apple Wireless Keyboard (2009) may not work with Boot Camp.

The fix is the Bluetooth Update 1.0 for Windows and must be downloaded to your copy of Windows XP or Vista running in Boot Camp. Hey, not a word about System 7.

November 1st, 2009

Holiday Gift Guide 2009: Best iPhone & iPod touch apps

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 9:24 pm

Categories: App Store, Holiday Gift Guide, iPhone, iPod touch

Tags: Apple iPhone, Apple iPod, Twitter Inc., Video, Road Trip, Apple iPod Touch, App, Smart Phones, Corporate Communications, Consumer Electronics

It’s that time of the year again! It’s hard to believe, but this time last year, we only had 5,000 apps to choose from in the App Store – this year there’s more than 85,000 apps to choose from. What a difference a year makes. Whether you’re looking for an app for yourself or to give to the iPhone or iPod touch user on your list, look no further.

I’ve got a couple of recommendations that will help you keep up with Twitter friends, store all your passwords, be more fuel efficient, count calorie and have a little fun in the process! Can’t decide? That’s ok too, you always give your special someone an iTunes gift certificate, they’re great for apps and music.

TweetDeck for iPhone

TweetDeck is best Twitter client on the desktop, so it’s not surprising that it’s also the best Twitter client on the iPhone (App Store, free) and iPod touch.

It features multiple accounts, growl notifications and a unique column interface that allows you quickly swipe between all friends, mentions, direct messages and saved searches – or any combination thereof. You can even sync your column preferences between the desktop and iPhone apps. TweetDeck for iPhone could use a better trends interface, but it’s other

Although there are literally hundreds of Twitter clients on the App Store, TweetDeck is still the top dog. (Don’t agree? Tweet me your pick @JasonOGrady)

[Vendor site] [App Store]

Bonus pick: Boxcar is a free app that displays a push notification any time someone mentions you or sends you a DM, and it works for Twitter and Facebook.

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