Review of MsgFiler 3.0.1 for Mail

MsgFiler 3.0.1 for Mail Review

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Source: macworld.com

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MsgFiler is the fastest way to move, copy, and label messages in Mail. It also offers useful features for navigating and managing mailboxes.

Back in early 2008, I reviewed MsgFiler 2.0.2, a plugin for Mac OS X's Mail program that lets you file or copy messages using the keyboard, no matter how many mailboxes you have. It quickly became one of my favorite Mail add-ons, and it's one of the major reasons I was able to migrate from my previous e-mail client, Entourage, to Mail. (Yes, Gmail lovers, some of us still like to file mail in folders.)

MsgFiler has seen a few updates since that review, but it recently received a major overhaul to mark the software's debut on the Mac App Store.

MsgFiler 3 (Mac App Store link) offers a number of dramatic improvements that make it even more useful. The biggest change to MsgFiler is that it's no longer a Mail plugin. Thanks to Apple's rules, Mail plugins aren't allowed on the Mac App Store, so the developer has remade MsgFiler as a standard OS X application that communicates with Mail using AppleScript. As long as the MsgFiler app is running when you're using Mail - it's best to set MsgFiler as a Login Item and let it run in the background - its features are available to Mail.

Like MsgFiler 2, the new version makes it easy to file messages to any mailbox. With one or more messages selected, just press MsgFiler's keyboard shortcut - Command+9 by default, but you can change it to whatever you like - and up pops a search window. Type the first few letters of the desired mailbox, and MsgFiler shows a list of all matching mailboxes, sorted by relevance. Otherwise, type a few more letters of the desired mailbox's name, or use the down-arrow key to move down the list. (If you include a space when typing your search term, MsgFiler performs a wildcard search. For example, typing mac re will search for any mailbox that includes mac and re in its name - in my case, finding a mailbox called Macworld Reader Feedback.)

By default, once you press Return to file a message, MsgFiler's window disappears, although you can choose to have the window remain open until you press the MsgFiler keyboard shortcut again - you can even navigate and select messages in Mail while the MsgFiler window is open.

As I mentioned in my previous review, once you've performed the filing procedure a few times, it becomes second nature - and it's a whole lot easier on your hand/wrist/arm than using a mouse or trackpad to drag a message to a mailbox. (Check out the developer's example videos for some nice demos of MsgFiler in action.) To make filing messages even faster, you can designate frequently accessed mailboxes as favorites that will always appear at the top of the results list.

MsgFiler also tracks your filing habits, listing recently accessed mailboxes immediately after favorites. And search results are numbered, letting you use keyboard shortcuts to jump directly to a mailbox.

If you'd rather copy a message to the selected mailbox, leaving the original message in place, click the Copy button or press Shift+Commmand+C. Alternatively, you can view ("open") the selected mailbox in Mail - without doing anything with selected messages - by clicking Open or pressing Command+O, making MsgFiler useful for quickly switching Mail's window to a particular view. (You can switch MsgFiler's default action - the one that occurs when you press Return - to Move or Copy if you use one of these commands frequently.) You can also add a color label to selected messages, and create new mailboxes, right from within the MsgFiler window.

MsgFiler provides a number of useful options for tweaking its behavior. You can restrict mailbox searches to the account you've selected in Mail's Mailboxes pane. You can restrict searches to mailbox names or open them up to full mailbox paths - if you've got mailboxes inside folders, the latter option includes the folder names in searches. You can choose for searches to be case-sensitive or -insensitive. MsgFiler can automatically add a color label to - or remove the color label from - any message it files. Finally, you can force MsgFiler to exclude from its searches mailboxes with names that include specific words or strings.

How much use have I gotten out of MsgFiler? The program provides a nifty count of the number of messages you've filed, and after around three weeks of use, the counter tells me I've filed over 1800 messages - that's a lot of wrist-killing drag-and-drop I've avoided!

There are a couple drawbacks to MsgFiler's conversion from a Mail plugin to an application. The first is that the application version can't exclude from its searches accounts that are offline or inactive - the plugin included this feature. The second is that performance suffers a bit - according to the developer, the plugin's tighter integration with Mail made it faster at loading the mailbox list and at filing messages to IMAP mailboxes (those hosted on your e-mail provider's IMAP servers, rather than "On My Mac).

However, you can restore much of the plugin's speed by manually downloading - guess what - a Mail plugin! Available from the MsgFiler Website, the MsgFiler Engine Mail Plugin improves performance dramatically, and I highly recommend you install it. The plugin is a clever way for MsgFiler to work around the Mac App Store's rules, but it also means you'll need to manually check for, and download, updates to the plugin, since such updates won't be handled by the Mac App Store. (Before installing an updated plugin, be sure to quit both Mail and the MsgFiler application.) Alternatively, you can skip the Mac App Store version altogether and download the older plugin version of MsgFiler, currently at version 2.1.0 - the developer has promised it will be maintained for compatibility with future versions of Snow Leopard, as well as Lion, although you lose out on version 3's new features.

MsgFiler is one of my must-have apps, and I wouldn't be using Mail without it.

Besides the increase in productivity it provides, it also dramatically reduces my repetitive mousing and trackpad-swiping. Best of all, it's simple to use - just press a keyboard shortcut and type a few letters. While there are other Mail add-ons, such as the excellent Mail Act-On, that include message filing among their more-varied feature sets, I find MsgFiler's mail filing to be faster and more efficient - enough so that I actually use MsgFiler together with Mail Act-On.

If, like me, you're a compulsive message filer, you need MsgFiler.

If you'd like to try MsgFiler before purchasing it, the developer recommends downloading the latest beta.

Concepts: Msgfiler, Mac, Mailbox, App, Plugin, Mail Plugin, Internet, Filing, Mac App Store, Keyboard Shortcuts

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Jobs Returns to Introduce a New iPad

Image via Wikipedia

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Source: gainesville.com

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SAN FRANCISCO — Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, interrupted his medical leave on Wednesday to introduce the company’s much-anticipated new iPad, a thinner, faster and lighter version of its popular tablet computer that will sell at the same prices as the original models.

Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Mr. Jobs alluded to his leave but neither commented on his health nor said whether he planned to return to the company in the near future.

“We’ve been working on this product for a while and I just didn’t want to miss today,” he said.

The iPad 2 includes front and rear cameras, allowing video conversations, and comes in black and white versions. It will be available on March 11 in the United States at prices ranging from $499 to $829. It will be available in more than two dozen other countries on March 26, Mr. Jobs said.

But the details of the product were somewhat overshadowed by Mr. Jobs’s unexpected presence. His appearance lifted the mood of Apple’s fans and investors who have worried about the deteriorating health of the company’s visionary leader. Mr. Jobs was greeted with a standing ovation as he walked on stage in an auditorium here, and within minutes, Apple’s shares jumped more than $3, or nearly 1 percent.

“It is clear that he is still in charge,” said Tim Bajarin, an analyst with Creative Strategies. “His presence underscores how important he feels the iPad is to Apple’s future.” Though gaunt, Mr. Jobs, who turned 56 last week, looked roughly the same as he had in October, the last time he appeared in public to introduce a product.

In a sign of the intensifying competition in the tablet market, Mr. Jobs not only promoted the features of the overhauled iPad, but also took potshots at Apple’s rivals, calling them “copycats” and saying they had been unable to match the first iPad on features or price. The market for tablet computers is far more competitive now than when Apple began selling the iPad nearly a year ago. Companies like Samsung, Dell, Motorola, Research In Motion and Hewlett-Packard have introduced rival tablets, though some will not be available until later this year.

But Apple’s rivals have yet to make significant inroads with consumers, in part because they have had difficulty matching the iPad’s pricing. The Motorola Xoom, for instance, costs $800. The Samsung Galaxy Tab is available for about $500, but at 7 inches, is much smaller than the iPad, which is nearly 10 inches.

The new iPad is built around a new chip that Apple designed, called A5, which is faster than its predecessor. Mr. Jobs said graphics performance would be nine times as fast. The new iPad is 8 millimeters thick, one-third thinner than the original and slightly thinner than the iPhone 4. Mr. Jobs said that at 1.3 pounds it was a fifth of a pound lighter than the earlier model, yet it has the same 10-hour battery life.

“It feels totally different,” Mr. Jobs said.

Alluding to the white iPhone 4, which Apple announced but never introduced, Mr. Jobs said the white iPad 2 would be available from Day 1. The new iPad’s 3G models will support connections from AT&T and Verizon.

Mr. Jobs predicted that the iPad 2 would help Apple widen its lead in the market. “We think 2011 is clearly going to be the year of iPad 2,” Mr. Jobs said.

Some Apple developers said that they were impressed by the iPad 2, noting that it was more powerful yet simple to use.

“The technology is becoming more and more invisible,” said Ge Wang, the co-founder and chief technology officer of Smule, a company that makes virtual instruments for the iPad and the iPhone. Mr. Wang, who also directs an orchestra of digital instruments at Stanford, said Smule had considered making its software available on other tablets but had decided against it for now. “Nothing else comes close,” he said of the iPad.

While the iPad 2’s improvements are significant, analysts said they were largely expected.
“There were no big surprises,” said A.   M.   Sacconaghi Jr., an analyst with Sanford C.   Bernstein & Company.   “It is an incremental step forward.   But it certainly makes Apple very competitive in the market today.”

Mr.   Sacconaghi said the new features, along with the iPad’s stable of more than 65,000 apps, would ensure that Apple retained its lead in the market for now.

Apple did not update the figures for iPad sales.   In January, the company said it had sold nearly 15 million iPads in 2010, generating about $9.5 billion.   Mr.   Jobs said 65,000 apps had been tailored for the iPad.

Apple’s share of the global tablet market reached 85 percent by the end of 2010, according to estimates by eMarketer, a research firm.   Apple will sell an estimated 34 million iPads in 2011, or more than triple the 10 million tablets expected to be sold by its rivals, eMarketer said.

Along with the new iPad, Apple introduced a new version of its software, iOS, and two new popular applications already available on its Macintosh line of computers: iMovie and Garage Band.

Mr.   Jobs also announced that books from Random House, a holdout publisher, would be available on its iBookstore.   He said 100 million books had been downloaded since the company introduced the store a year ago.

Underscoring Apple’s power in digital media distribution, Mr.   Jobs also said iTunes had recently surpassed 200 million accounts with credit cards that enable customers to buy music, videos, books and apps with a click.

In a show of Apple’s knack for innovative design, Mr.   Jobs demonstrated a new thin iPad cover that attaches to the tablet through magnets, is able to turn the device on and off, and doubles as a stand.

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• Watch The Video from the Official iPad 2 Launch by Steve Jobs (crenk.com)
• Apple plans 12m iPad 2 shipments in Q2 2011 (slashgear.com)
• As expected, Apple introduces iPad 2 (blogherald.com)

Apple discontinues sale of MobileMe retail boxes as overhaul looms

Apple discontinues sale of MobileMe retail boxes as overhaul looms:

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Source: appleinsider.com

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"Apple on Thursday removed the $99 MobileMe product from its online store and notified resellers that it has discontinued the retail box for its cloud-based syncing product, suggesting the company is prepared to launch a rumored overhaul of the service.

 The MobileMe single license and family pack are no longer available on Apple's online store. In addition, resellers have indicated to AppleInsider that both the MobileMe Single User product (identified as MC660Z/A) and Family Pack (MC661Z/A) have been declared "End of Life" by Apple.

Users of MobileMe were also notified of scheduled maintenance for the me.com website. The service's Web-based applications may not be accessible to some users for about a half-hour tonight, after which normal service is expected to be restored.

The changes come as Apple is rumored to be revamping the MobileMe service, and is also said to be considering making the product free. The New York Times reported this month that Apple plans to turn MobileMe into a free service that would serve as a digital "locker" where users could store photos, music and videos.

Apple has been rumored to be pursuing a cloud-based iTunes service, particularly for music streaming, for years. The Times said that such a move would negate the need for a large amount of local storage on mobile devices like the iPhone.
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Related articles

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• MobileMe online-only shift detailed by leaky Genius (slashgear.com)
• Apple removes MobileMe from online store, discontinues retail boxes (engadget.com)

Drift Off to Sleep With iTunes & New Sleepytime 1.1.2

Image via Wikipedia

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Source: macworld.com

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Have you ever wanted to listen to music as you drift off to sleep, and have the music turn itself off after you've made it to the land of Nod?
Most clock radios can do this, of course, but if you want to play music from your Mac until you fall asleep, it's more complicated.
Simplifying this process is the idea behind Sleepytime (Mac App Store link), a nifty application that can rock you to sleep with your favorite tunes.
Fire up iTunes and start playing whatever you want to listen to, and then launch Sleepytime.
Choose how long you want iTunes to play (in minutes, hours, or even days), as well as the duration of the fadeout that occurs after that time (in seconds or minutes).
Finally, you can opt to have Sleepytime display a soothing black backdrop with track information while iTunes plays.
Set a time to wake up, choose a playlist, and decide whether you want the "alarm" to start at full volume immediately or to fade in so you won't be jolted awake by the sudden sound.

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• Why Your iPod Won't Sync to iTunes (brighthub.com)
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Five Quick Tips to Speed Up Your Mac

Image via Wikipedia

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Five Quick Tips to Speed Up Your Mac

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Whether we want it to happen or not, our systems all get a little sluggish from time to time. Sometimes it's a full hard drive slowing ...

1. Do a widget inventory.

Widgets are easy to forget about. On a rainy afternoon you may add half-a-dozen just to check them out and then completely forget that they exist by the next morning. But some of those widgets will keep running even when you’re not using your dashboard. It’s always best to keep your widgets, like the rest of your digital life, stripped down to only what you’re actually using.

2. Declutter your desktop.

Windows users enjoy the luxury of having a small army of icons cluttering up their desktop without any ill effects. Us Mac users aren’t so lucky. Each icon on your desktop is treated by OSX as its own window. Same goes for the items on your dock. And while having a handful of icons on your desktop probably won’t make a noticeable impact on overall performance, a full desktop will. Time to get those organized and off the desktop! (just a sidenote, this one shouldn’t help Leopard users. It looks like OSX 10.5 finally tackled this problem.)

3. Keep an eye on the Activity Monitor.

While this may sound like common sense, you’d be surprised at how many little programs are eating up big chunks of your memory. The massive slowdown that prompted my most recent clean up was the result of a tiny little background application I used for PS3 media streaming eating up more than half of my systems available resources. While I don’t have a fix for the program, disabling did provide an easy fix for my system. Had I not checked the Activity Monitor I would have been losing my mind over this one.

4. Turn off unused features.

Remember that time last Spring you turned on Bluetooth to get that picture off your mobile phone? Or that roommate that wanted to jack your signal via internet sharing? Did you remember to turn them off? Take a hunt through your System Preferences and make sure everything you don’t actually use is disabled (but if you’re not sure, and we can’t stress this enough, don’t disable it. We’d hate to see you switch off something you needed and not be too sure on how to get it back).

5. Delete unused preference panes.

Every now and then we download programs that install preference panes, and then forget all about them. The real problem? Lot’s of these will load in the background at startup. Luckily it should be as easy as a right click to remove. If it’s not you can always manually delete them by going to / Library / PreferencePanes.

A lot of this is probably common sense, but it never hurts to see it spelled out. What tips and tricks have you found help you get the best performance out of your Mac?

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Easily download files from URLs on your Mac

Image via Wikipedia

Quickly download files from URLs | Mac OS X | Mac OS X Hints

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Source: macworld.com

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Using this tip, you will be able to create a service on OS X that will enable you to highlight a URL to download and use your new service to download it without opening any other application.

Let's say a friend sent you a link to an app or an MP3 file, and you just want to download the thing.
Normally, you'd copy the URL, open your browser, and paste the URL into the address bar. In some browsers, you'd even need to paste the URL into the address field, hit Enter, wait until the file loads, and then save it.
From the list of templates, select Service.
At the top right of the window, set the service to receive selected URLs in any application.
Then, in the Internet group of actions, double-click on Download URLs.
That will add it to the editing window on the right.
By default, it will download URLs to your Downloads folder; if you wish them to go somewhere else, select that other location from the Where drop-down.
Save the service and give it a name, such as Download Selected URL.
Now, in any app that supports services, find the URL of a downloadable file (or, for the purposes of testing, any URL at all) and select it with your cursor. Open the Services submenu from the application menu and select Download Selected URL from the list. (Or right-click on the selected URL and choose the service from the context menu’s Services section.)
The file connected to the selected URL should download to your selected folder.
If it's especially large, you'll see a spinning cogwheel on the right side of the menubar while the service is running; clicking on that will open a menu where you can cancel the download if you wish.
When the download is done, check the destination folder; your file should be there.
You can make this quicker by assigning a keyboard shortcut to your service: Open System Preferences and select the Keyboard preference pane.
In the Keyboard Shortcuts tab, select Services from the list to the left.
Find Download Selected URL in the list on the right and double-click to its right.
You can then enter a keyboard shortcut - Control-Command-D, perhaps - to assign it to your service.

Concepts:

Mac, download, app, Macworld, Prices, selected URL, accessories, keyboard, Customer Service, Publishing, Cameras, business, ipod, Leopard, Internet

Second iOS 4.3 beta picked apart for clues about upcoming iPad 2

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Source: arstechnica.com

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Apple has released iOS 4.3 beta 2 to developers, and some digging into various system files has already revealed clues to new features that may be coming to the next-generation iPad.

It also hints at new social media services, Ping notifications, and a possible February 9 announcement date for the next-gen iPad hardware.

Providing some clues about future camera features for the iPad is an image used to show a preview of what a new wallpaper image will look like on your home screen.

That image contains icons for what looks like FaceTime, Camera, and PhotoBooth applications.

This suggests that the upcoming iPad hardware revision, expected in the next couple months, will indeed have at least a front-facing camera if not also a rear-facing camera.

Other system files suggest that PhotoBooth will offer image filters like Thermal Camera, Mirror, X-Ray, Kaleidoscope, and more.

Additionally, this image shows that the icon for Calendar appears to be set to February 9.

9to5Mac speculates that this could be a hint that Apple will announce (though not necessarily ship) new iPad hardware on that date.

The same image in previous versions of iOS showed the date as January 27, the date the original iPad was announced.

Apple announcements have often been scheduled on Tuesdays in years past, though, and February 9 is a Wednesday.

Apple's special announcement events have been known to come on other days of the week, so this date is at least plausible.

Other evidence in iOS 4.3 beta 2 suggests that Apple is paying more attention to social media services for its mobile ecosystem.

For instance, Ping will now have the ability to receive push notifications (for whatever that's worth) in iOS 4.3.

Additional strings and messages buried deep within the system reveal a "Media Stream" feature that looks to be incomplete, leading to speculation that the feature won't be ready until iOS 5 or later.

However, it appears to reference features like "Find My Friends" to locate friends nearby, as well as sending "Photo Streams" to those friends.

The feature also seems to be connected to MobileMe, possibly for syncing and media storage, suggesting Apple will integrate more features into the service to justify its $99 yearly fee.

The social media features aren't iPad-specific, however, and are likely to work across iPhones and iPod touches as well.

Media Stream and Find My Friends probably won't surface until well after the next-gen iPad's expected launch in late March or early April.

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• iOS 4.3 launching next week, tie-in with iPad 2 reveal? (dialtosave.co.uk)
• iOS 4.3 SDK and Beta Reveals Wireless Syncing, New Sports App (cultofmac.com)
• Apple to announce iPad 2 alongside iOS 4.3 release at event next week (edibleapple.com)
• Five Ways the Android-Powered Google Tablet Is Better than the iPad [Tablet Battle] (lifehacker.com)

Image via CrunchBase

iPhone complex passwords with only numbers

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Source: hints.macworld.com
Contributed by: computergeeksjw - Jan 31, '11 07:30:00AM

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If you're like me, you decided not to use a 'complex passcode' on your iPod touch (or iPhone) because you can see each letter of the passcode as you type it, making it easy for someone to learn your passcode. Well, recently I decided to try a complex passcode with only numbers.

I discovered that if the passcode contains only numbers, the iPod will use an all-number keypad like the 4-digit passcode.

Here are a couple of screenshots to illustrate how this looks:

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Power Tip - How to really shrink the Dock

Image via Wikipedia

How to really shrink the Dock Operating Systems Mac OS X Hints Macworld

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Source: macworld.com

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You probably already know that you can shrink (or enlarge) the Dock by clicking and dragging the bars that separate the applications from folder stacks.
You probably also know that you can adjust the Dock size in System Preferences, by opening the Dock pane and draging the Size slider whichever way you want.
But these tools can only take you so far: They'll make the Dock small, but not really small.
To do that, you need to open the Terminal (Applications/Utilities) and type:

defaults write com.apple.dock tilesize -integer 8

Press Return, then type:

killall Dock

The number at the end of the command can range from 1 (too small to be useful) up to 16 (the smallest size you can achieve with those other tools); 8 is tiny but still visible.
To make such a small Dock useful, you'll probably want to turn on Dock magnification: In the Dock preferences pane, check the box by Magnification and adjust the slider.
If you want to get back to a more normal size, the easiest way to revert this setting is to open that preferences pane again and use the Size slider; as soon as you click and drag it, you'll be returned to the normal size range for the Dock.

Related articles

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• DockView vs. HyperDock: Head-to-Head (appreaders.com)
• Change System Preferences by script (macworld.com)
• Command-Click OS X Dock Items to Show Them in Finder [Mac Tip] (lifehacker.com)
• Quickly Create A New Document In The Current Folder With Neu 1.0.1 (think-act-do.blogspot.com)
• Top Ways To Customize The Look Of A New Mac (brighthub.com)
• How to really shrink the Dock (macworld.com)

DropBox Review

Image via CrunchBase

DropBox Review Summary

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Source: Macworld.com

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Put simply, Dropbox is an amazingly useful combination of a Web service and a Mac OS X program that work together to make your data accessible from anywhere and to keep it synchronized between your computers.

Once you've installed the Dropbox application and set up a Dropbox account, anything you place in a special Dropbox folder on your Mac is automatically copied to the Dropbox servers, as well as to any other Macs you've set up with that Dropbox account.

If this sounds a bit like the iDisk feature of Apple's MobileMe service, that's because it's similar - except that Dropbox is fast and reliable.

Dropbox is also smarter about copying files: It transfers smaller files before larger ones, copies only the parts of each file that have changed, and compresses all data for the trip.

And Dropbox is better about handling sync conflicts - if the same document is modified on two computers at the same time, Dropbox keeps both copies, adding a "oeconflicted" message to the name of one.

For example, I personally use my Dropbox folder for storing all my in-progress documents, letting me work on those documents from any of my Macs.

I can also access those documents using the Dropbox app for iPhones and iPads, and I can even edit them on my iOS devices using apps such as the Elements text editor.

In addition, many Mac programs, such as TextExpander and 1Password, can use Dropbox to ensure all your Macs have the same settings and data; and because your Dropbox folder is a standard Finder folder, you can use Automator or a utility such as Hazel to automate task across your Macs.

Strengths:

Dropbox offers hassle-free access to synced files on all of your machines.

An amazing feature is that you can also retrieve deleted files, so this product also provides a versioned backup solution.

Dropbox offers a generous 8GB of free storage space, which can be upgraded to 50GB or 100GB plans for a monthly fee.

Weaknesses:

Some users may find 8GB of storage space is rather limiting, but this can be upgraded for a monthly fee.

Overall:

Dropbox truly is one of those amazing must install applications.

More importantly, customer service on the forums is excellent.

Overall:

I've only been using Dropbox for about 3 months now, but I can say, hand on heart, that it is one of the best pieces of software that I have ever used in my life.

Dropbox is an indispensable part of my workflow, and it keeps getting better and better with each release.

Now that it handles most Mac metadata properly, it integrates seamlessly with the Finder; and with Web-browser access, as well as Dropbox software—and Dropbox-enabled third-party programs—available for OS X, Windows, Linux, and iOS, you can access and edit your data from anywhere and any device.

I have yet to find an easier way to share data with other computers and other people. And did I mention the outstanding DropBox documentation?

Note in the PC world review they list "but forces you to do all your sync management from one unmovable folder" This is not true.

Related Resources:

• Videos about DropBox
  
• How to get more out DropBox
  

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Concepts:

dropbox, folder, Mac, reviews, sync, feature, storage, backup, Networking, Macworld, computers, account, app, Mice, Automator.

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Steve Jobs - Is he the Seed of Apple Computer Innovation

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

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Source: suite101.com

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There are many interesting entrepreneurs but Steve Jobs certainly has been an inspiration and marvel in his field, leading Apple to an immensely successful company.   As Philip Elmer-DeWitt posts on January 17, 2011 in his article Thinking the unthinkable: Apple without Steve Jobs “Jobs brings something to Apple that's harder to measure […].

A Different Sort of CEO

Wikipedia reports that Jobs' biological parents – Abdulfattah Jandali, a Syrian Muslim graduate student who later became a political science professor, and Joanne Simpson, an American graduate studentwho went on to become a speech therapist– later married, giving birth to and raising Jobs' biological sister, the novelist Mona Simpson.


After attending Cupertino Junior High School and Homestead High School in Cupertino, California, Jobs visited after-school lectures at the Hewlett-Packard where he was hired to work with Steve Wozniak as a summer employee.


Hard to imagine that the successful CEO in those days slept on the floor in friends' rooms made a few pennies by returning Coke bottles and receiving free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple.

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Digitimes: iPad 2 Will Ship With 5 New Features

Image via Wikipedia

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Source: thenextweb.com

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Digitimes has cited a report from Chinese news portal Economy Daily News which suggests that Apple’s next generation iPad will incorporate five new features, adding video calling, lighter body, USB ports, new display technology and new 3-axis gyroscopes.

The new features have long been subject to speculation, different sources have already suggested that Apple will feature its FaceTime technology in the iPad 2. With both front and back cameras, users will be able to use the FaceTime service on their iPad, contacting friends and family on their iPhone 4, iPod Touch and Mac computers.

It has also been rumoured that Apple were experimenting with using carbon fiber panels and utilising thinner glass, reducing the mass of the iPad, a device that is currently considerably heavier than other tablet devices in the market. Introducing Apple’s Retina Display technology, coupled with thinner and lighter glass, will ensure high-resolution output and colour performance whilst making the device more portable.

The mention of USB ports is very interesting, particularly as Apple users have long campaigned for them to be added to their tablet devices. This would also signal that iOS would need to be updated to include file management support, something Apple has never offered within its operating system previously.

By adding 3-axis gyroscopes, its possible that Apple will usher in a new wave of tablet physics games, allowing the company to target gamers and younger customers.

Apple understandably remains tight-lipped about its plans, we can expect more information to become available at the beginning of 2011.

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Apple to up iPad 2 resolution to 2048 by 1536

Image via Wikipedia

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Source: digitimes.com

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As Apple is set to start mass producing its next-generation iPad 2 at the end of February, and sources from upstream component makers pointed out that Apple is increasing iPad 2's resolution to 2048 by 1536 and the new strategy is expected to widen the company's technology gap with its competitors.

Apple has also recently started adjusting its iBooks 1.1 application with some designs for bookmark icons to allow it to support the larger resolution, noted the sources adding that the larger resolution should provide the company's App developers more convenience, while all future applications will be able to run under any of Apple's machines including the 27-inch iMac.

In 2011, Apple's iPad series should be able to ship more than 40 million units, the sources estimated. Apple is estimated to have ordered 1.6-1.8 million iPads in January with the order volumes for February expected to drop. iPad 2's initial shipments are expected to be 400,000-600,000 units.

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Image via CrunchBase

iPad 2 to Have SD Card Slot & Qualcomm Chip [RUMOR]

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Source: mashable.com

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Summary:

More details are surfacing about the next generation of iPhone and iPad, including that both devices will feature Qualcomm chipsets and that the iPad 2 will have an SD card slot.
The Verizon iPhone 4 utilizes a Qualcomm chipset instead of the Infereon version used in the AT&T/GSM iPhone in order to connect to Verizon's CDMA network.
However, Engadget reports that the Verizon iPhone 4 is just the first of many Apple devices that will use Qualcomm as its primary chipset.
Both the iPhone 5 and the iPad 2 will utilize a dual CDMA/GSM chipset from Qualcomm, assuring that both devices work on Verizon and AT&T simultaneously.
There won't be a need for two different versions of the same device.
According to Engadget's sources, the new iPad will be slimmer and sleeker, but will retain its 10-inch screen.
It will have two cameras (something that we've often heard) and a "super high resolution" screen much like the Retina Display in the iPhone 4, though it won't have the same pixel density.
The most surprising revelation though is that the iPad 2 will have an SD card slot built into the device.
And contrary to previous reports, it will not have a USB port.
Still, the ability to load and unload media and documents via a traditional SD card is a surprising but welcomed addition.
The iPad is on track for an April release, once again in line with previous reports.
There is no word about what new additions will be made to the iPhone 5, but it is going once again be a complete redesign of the device.
It will run on Apple's A5 multi-core CPU.
One thing it won't have is support for 4G LTE connections, though.
While we have to classify all of this information as unconfirmed rumors, all of this information lines up with previous leaks and reports about Apple's upcoming 2011 line of iOS devices.
We want to stress though that Apple still has a few months before the release of either device, so they could easily change designs or features before their eventual releases.
InsiderLeak: iPad 2 going CDMA/GSM dual mode, iPhone 5 dual-coreElectronistaPC Magazine -Mashable -Beatweek Magazineall 73 news [...]
http://aditmemble.com/gadget/ipad-and-iphone-will-use-chip-dual-mode/ iPad and iPhone Will Use Chip Dual-Mode?
version used in the AT&T/GSM iPhone in order to connect to Verizonâ¬(TM)s [...] Read more on Mashable This entry was posted in Ipad and tagged iPadonly, newspaper, postponed.
http://technologyischangingus.wordpress.com/2011/01/15/ipad2-and-iphone5/ iPad2 and iPhone5 «Technology Is Changing Us
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Concepts:

Lists, ipad, iphone, rumor, social media, screenshot, chip, news, video, dual-core, Qualcomm, apple, app, Mobile, tech.

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Rumours of a New IPad in Early 2011

Image via Wikipedia

Apple May Unveil a New iPad in Early 2011, Analysts Say

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Source: businessweek.com

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Summary:

Nov 19 2010(Bloomberg)
Apple Inc. may introduce a thinner iPad in the first half of next year with features such as a camera for video-calling and chips made by Qualcomm Inc. that let it work on global wireless networks, analysts say.
Production may start as early as January, with an introduction to the public by February or March, said Mike Abramsky, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets in Toronto.
The device will feature Qualcomm chips that allow a Web connection on both GSM and CDMA networks, the dominant radio standards used in mobile phones, said Brian Blair of Wedge Partners, who said he expects an April debut.
"They can sell it around the globe without having to worry if it works with one carrier's network or another carrier's network," said Blair, who is based in New York.
Infineon Technologies AG, whose wireless business is being acquired by Intel Corp., now makes those radio chips for the iPad.
The announcement's timing would put the iPad on an annual cycle of introductions similar to those of iPhones and iPods.
Paul Jacobs, chief executive officer of San Diego-based Qualcomm, declined to comment when asked in a Nov. 16 interview if his company's chips will be part of new products by Apple.
Apple declined to comment, said Natalie Harrison, a spokeswoman.
Suppliers of parts to the iPad have had fourth-quarter orders cut by about 10 percent, said Patrick Wang an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities in New York.
The most likely explanation is that Apple wants to draw down inventory ahead of the new model's launch in the first quarter of 2011, he said.
New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.
The shares have risen 46 percent this year.
Qualcomm, up 3.7 percent this year, advanced 24 cents to $47.96 in Nasdaq trading.
The iPad, which went on sale in April, accounted for about 13.7 percent of Apple's revenue last quarter, more than the nine-year-old old iPod media player.
The device helped establish a market for tablet computers that blend the capabilities of a smartphone and notebook computer, leading rivals such Samsung Electronics Co. and Research In Motion Ltd. to introduce their own models.
Apple may sell 48 million iPads next year, said Blair.
--Editors: Margot Slade, Romaine Bostick
To contact the reporters on this story: Adam Satariano in San Francisco at asatariano1@bloomberg.net; Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net

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Concepts:

Business, Jobs, Blog, Apple, Ipad, Schools, Innovation, Management, Marketing, Stocks, Networks, Technology, Investing, Special Reports, Qualcomm

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