This is a webpage where macs@pacs members can share news, ideas, and technological happenings.
Saturday, September 19, 2015
New to MAC
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Some Summer Fun for browsing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=17DPJHNVx2Q
Just fun to watch!!!!
What's that tree? Try Smithsonian's new app to see
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2011-06-10-smithsonian-tree-app_n.htm
"Scientists have developed the first mobile app to identify plants by simply photographing a leaf. The free iPhone and iPad app, called Leafsnap, instantly searches a growing library of leaf images amassed by the Smithsonian Institution. In seconds, it returns a likely species name, high-resolution photographs and information on the tree's flowers, fruit, seeds and bark."
Article: 6 Free iPhone Apps to Get Tiny Techies Learning Outdoors
http://www.naturallyeducational.com/2011/04/free-iphone-apps-kids-outdoors-nature/
“A big part of my educational philosophy is that learning best occurs with a genuine physical connection to the material. And nature is like a giant laboratory where children can use all of their sense to explore, ask questions, and perform experiments.”
Traveler’s Quest
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/06/07/tuaws-daily-iphone-app-travelers-quest/
"Traveler's Quest is an oldie but a goodie in the App Store -- it's a GPS-based treasure hunting map that will send you searching around your own area for virtual treasure with a game layer on top of it. It's simple to play and learn, but there's an addictive quality to hunting down and finding a certain location with your iPhone's GPS that will keep you playing while out and about, whether you're wandering around a vacation spot this summer or just exploring your own neighborhood."
Kaleidoscope Camera
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/05/30/tuaws-daily-mac-app-kaleidoscope-camera/
Kaleidoscope Camera is a simple little US$0.99 app that'll keep the kids amused for a little while longer. It produces a beautiful kaleidoscope effect using your built-in iSight or FaceTime HD camera and allows you to record the results to standard definition MOV files.
Library of Congress
How the Library of Congress is building
the Twitter archive
Checking in on the Library of Congress' Twitter archive, one year later.
by Audrey Watters | @audreywatters
http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/06/library-of-congress-twitter-archive.html
“In April 2010, Twitter announced it was donating its entire archive of public tweets to the Library of Congress. Every tweet since Twitter's inception in 2006 would be preserved. The donation of the archive to the Library of Congress may have been in part a symbolic act, a recognition of the cultural significance of Twitter. Although several important historical moments had already been captured on Twitter when the announcement was made last year (the first tweet from space, for example, Barack Obama's first tweet as President, or news of Michael Jackson's death), since then our awareness of the significance of the communication channel has certainly grown.”
Find Free images online
http://heyjude.wordpress.com/find-free-images-online/
Including images with postings enriches the experience for the reader and can also help to illustrate or support the writer’s viewpoint.
10 Apps you should install first on your iPad
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/06/04/10-apps-you-should-install-first-on-your-iphone/
“Now what?" you may be asking yourself. "I've heard about all the great apps that are available for the iPhone, but where do I start?"
Postcardly turns digital pics into real postcards
https://postcardly.com/auth/index
The newly launched Postcardly service bridges the gap between your digital snapshots and the real world by turning your pics into actual postcards that will make your grandmother happy and answer your 12-year-old's question: "Mommy, what's a postcard?"
Ten Must Have iPad Apps for Readers | Dear Author
http://dearauthor.com/ebooks/ten-must-have-ipad-apps-for-readers/
The article explains several of the most popular apps for reading.
Steve Jobs’ Mega Mothership Shows Building Planning Is Broken [Opinion] | Cult of Mac
http://www.cultofmac.com/steve-jobs-mega-mothership-shows-building-planning-is-broken-opinion/100020 “The video of Steve Jobs presenting Apple’s plans to build a new “mothership” in Cupertino to the local council was absolutely hilarious! Not just because of the absurd questions the councillors asked but their obvious lack of professionalism, understanding of architecture and ridiculous fanboy-ism.”
video on YouTube that shows Steve Jobs explaining his new plant to the town planning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtuz5OmOh_M&feature=player_embedded
What Apple’s ‘Spacecraft’ Campus Will *Really* Look Like | RazorianFly
http://www.razorianfly.com/2011/06/11/what-apples-spacecraft-campus-will-really-look-like-humor/
“Receiving the unhindered green light from Cupertino’s mayor, Gilbert Wong, and set for completion in 2015, Apple’s “spacecraft” campus is getting a lot of media attention this week.”
Apple Will Last 100 Years, Says The Economist
http://www.cultofmac.com/apple-will-last-100-years-says-the-economist/100592 “To celebrate IBM’s centenary next week, the world’s leading financial magazine, The Economist, took a look at what high-tech companies might survive 100 years.”
“Like IBM, it had a near-death experience in the 1990s, and it is dangerously dependent on its founder, Steve Jobs. But it has a powerful organising idea: take the latest technology, package it in a simple, elegant form and sell it at a premium price. Apple has done this with personal computers, music players, smartphones and tablet computers, and is now moving into cloud-based services (see article). Each time it has grabbed an existing technology and produced an easier-to-use and prettier version than anyone else. This approach can be applied to whatever technology is flavour of the month: Apple has already shifted from PCs to mobile devices.”
Visualizing Childrens' Plans For The City Of The Future In Pop-Up Book Form BY Morgan ClendanielTue Jun 14, 2011
http://www.fastcompany.com/1759885/visualzing-childrens-plans-for-the-city-of-the-future-in-pop-up-book-form “Ask a kid what they think the future will look like, and you'll get some strange answers. But if you actually listen, you might get some good ideas.”
Steve Jobs' comic book bio coming to stores in August
by Kelly Hodgkins
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/06/14/steve-jobs-comic-book-bio-coming-to-stores-in-august/
“Steve Jobs' official biography comes out next March, but those who don't want to wait that long to read about iSteve can grab a comic book biography from Bluewater Productions.”
•Geek Trend: Tempting Fate Creating Steve Jobs Collectibles [Gallery] | Cult of Mac
http://www.cultofmac.com/geek-trend-tempting-fate-creating-steve-jobs-collectibles/100895
“In the last few years a kind of cat and mouse game has evolved between Apple Legal and some of the more daring (and creative) members of the Cult of Apple: tempting fate by selling Steve Jobs collectibles, and risking the wrath of Apple. How long before your Cease & Desist letter arrives?”
Article: iPhone 4 Is Headed To Space On Final Space Shuttle Mission
http://www.cultofmac.com/iphone-4-is-headed-to-space-on-final-space-shuttle-mission/100029
“A pair of iPhone 4s running an experimental science app are heading for the International Space Station next month, it was just announced at Apple’s WWDC.”
“Two iPhone 4s certified for space travel will be on board Space Shuttle Atlantis, the shuttle fleet’s historic final mission, STS-135.
Due to take off from Cape Canaveral on July 8 the iPhone 4s will be running the SpaceLab for iOS app from Odyssey Space Research, which will be used for space research. They will remain on the ISS for several months for the crew to conduct a series of experiments.
Among other things, the app will help ISS astronauts find their relative position is space by matching pictures of the Earth taken with the iPhone’s camera to a database of coastline maps in the app.
A $0.99 “terrestrial” version of SpaceLab for iOS app is available today from the App Store. According to the company: “Flight data from the experiments are expected to be collected, analyzed, and then shared via this app on the App Store.”
Final Space Shuttle Mission Will Feature iPhones
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/06/iphone-space-shuttle/
“The iOS-based software, called SpaceLab, will come pre-loaded on two iPhone 4s. Testing the software isn’t mission-critical, but it may lead to terrestrial commercial devices being repurposed for space in the near future.
“When Apple added gyros to the iPhone, it suddenly became a small avionics platform,” said Brian Rishikof, CEO of Odyssey Space Research, the company that designed SpaceLab. “You can imagine using it to do backup functions to recover navigational state. If it has any potential life-saving functions, it suddenly becomes a whole different animal.”
“We’re attempting to show how a commercial product that millions of people use can function as spaceflight hardware,” Rishikof said. “Once you demonstrate that it’s capable, you begin to wonder what else is possible.”
Check Out Simspons Creator Matt Groening’s 1989 Apple Student Guide
http://www.cultofmac.com/check-out-simspons-creator-matt-groenings-1989-apple-student-guide-hilarious-gallery/100326
iOS 5 To Allow 1080p Video Export
http://www.macstories.net/news/ios-5-to-allow-1080p-video-export/
“Following the increasing speculation about the next-generation iPhone getting an 8-megapixel camera, the iOS 5 beta seeded to developers earlier this week keeps providing interesting details on features that Apple is baking into the OS, but aren’t ready or usable yet as they’re being built for future devices. In addition to iOS 5 enabling playback of 1080p video files scaled down to 720p as Apple hasn’t built a screen with enough resolution to support 1080p, 9to5mac points to more code strings from the developer beta that seem to confirm developers will soon be able to activate video export options at 1080p in their applications. This means Apple’s apps like Camera and iMovie, or other third-party solutions, will be capable of saving 1080p files with the public release of iOS 5. Previously, developers could only export videos to 720p.”
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Pogue asks AT&T about iPhone 3G calling plans

by Peter Ha
see full article at link below. http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/07/02/pogue-asks-att-about-iphone-3g-calling-plans/
"Nothing we didn’t already know, but it’s nice to have most of the answers in one place for us all to refer to if need be.
Q: Does the new $70 iPhone plan include any text messages?
A: No. This is our standard pricing for 3G PDA’s and smartphones. It’s a combined voice and unlimited data plan. The data portion is $30. It does not include text messages, which are extra. Data pricing reflects the fact that customers with these devices tend to use a lot of data.
Q: What do text messages cost, then?
A: You pay an additional $5 a month for 200 messages, $15 for 1500 messages, or $20 for unlimited text messages. Once again, this is identical to what we charge for text messaging on all our PDA’s and smartphones.
Q: Why is the business rate more expensive than the standard iPhone rate?
A: Business pricing for the iPhone is $45 for unlimited data, plus a voice plan. Business customers tend to be heavier users of data than consumers, and we price our service accordingly.
Q: Does AT&T offer one of those “unlimited” $100-a-month plans, like its rivals, for the iPhone?
A: Yes, we do. The plan is $100 a month for unlimited calling. To that, you add $30 for unlimited data usage and whatever text messaging you want.
Q: What happens if you already have an iPhone and want the new one?
A: Current iPhone customers are eligible to upgrade to the iPhone 3G. All you have to do is bring your old iPhone to the store and get the new one activated. By the way, since the original iPhone is still a terrific device, you can give it, for example, to a family member or a friend and they can reactivate it for service. Among other things, the 2G [original] iPhone can use the new iPhone 2.0 software, connect to Apple’s new applications store, and of course get music, podcasts and more from iTunes. It will continue to work on AT&T’s Edge network.
Q: Is there any discount if you have more than one iPhone?
A: No.
Q: What about the family plans?
A: As you might expect, our family talk plans are available on the iPhone 3G. All you do is add the unlimited data plan to the new iPhone and you are good to go.
Q: What’s the early-termination fee?
A: It is the same early termination fee we charge other customers—namely, $175. As you may know, we put a new policy in place effective May 25. New and renewing customers on or after that date have their early termination fee reduced by $5 for each month of their service agreement. (Prior to that, the fee was a flat $175, whether you were 2 months or 22 months into your contract.)
Q: How does the iPhone 3G plan pricing compare with, say, the Treo or BlackBerry plans?
A: Exactly the same as on our other PDA’s and smartphones.
Q: What are the international options?
A: We suggest that our iPhone 3G and other wireless customers always call us before traveling outside the United States, so we can suggest pricing plans to meet their needs and save them money:
* For $6 a month, the AT&T World Traveler plan offers significant discounts off standard roaming rates when calling from 85 countries. Calls from most countries in Europe, for example, are just $1/minute vs. the standard rate of $1.30/minute.
* There are two international data plans for iPhone customers: $25/month for 20 MB of data in 41 countries, or $60/month for 50 MB of data in 41 countries.
We can also offer simple tips on how to minimize unexpected charges, including turning off data roaming when you are outside the United States, if that is what you would like to do.
Q: So have we officially seen an end to the unwitting $6000 phone bills from people who took their iPhones overseas?
A: If customers will follow the steps I described in the previous answer, this kind of unexpected “surprise” should be minimized. In fact, our Web site offers some tips for iPhone customers about using the device outside the United States.
Q: What improvements have been made to the AT&T network coverage since a year ago, when it got such terrible Consumer Reports rankings?
A: There is a lot of good news on this front. First of all, the iPhone works on AT&T’s ultra-fast 3G wireless network, which can deliver typical download speeds of up to 1.4 mbps. No carrier offers faster data speeds. We still have plenty of room left to increase data speeds even further on our 3G network. We could see maximum speeds next year as high as 20 mbps, for example. We don’t have to rush to the next generation of wireless technology. Some of our competitors have to move quickly to 4G because their 3G technology doesn’t allow them to increase speeds further.
We have already deployed our 3G network to more than 280 metropolitan areas in the United States, and plan to be in 350 by the end of this year. In addition, over the last four years we have invested some $20 billion to improve our wireless network.
Finally, a word on Consumer Reports: it surveys opinions, and that is certainly fine. But it does not measure actual network performance.
Q: Since you have to activate the iPhone 3G in the AT&T store now, won’t that create massive lines for days?
A: We don’t think so. It goes without saying that we are anticipating heavy demand for the new iPhone, and our stores will be ready for it. We estimate that activation should take about 15 minutes. We have lots of experience with long lines and will be very well prepared."
Related Posts
Is Cuil killing the Internet?

While the world gets excited over Google’s new open-source browser, Chrome, a new story is emerging about one of the Web’s next-generation utilities: Cuil, the search engine heralded as a “Google killer,” might just be taking out the entire Internet, one site at a time.
As TechCrunch’s Don Reisinger reports, Cuil’s Twiceler indexing bot is so bandwith-hungry that it’s shutting down sites all over the Web:
See the full article here: http://blogs.zdnet.com/gadgetreviews/?p=338
IDF and the new Mac notebooks
The Intel Developer Forum makes it clear what Apple’s new notebooks - which I (Robin Harris) predict will be announced Tuesday, September 16 - will offer. Will it be worth the wait? If longer battery life and higher performance are important to you - yes.
And if you weren’t waiting? The new designs and features may make you rethink your allegiance to Windows - as so many already have.
IDF tells us a lot
So what’s coming? Here’s what the Storage Bits crystal ball reveals:
* Quad cores.
* Switchable graphics.
* WiMax.
* Solid-state disks.
* Larger memory capacity.
* RGB LED backlight.
* No internal optical drives.
* Blu-ray support.
* 64 bit hardware -
* A glass trackpad the size of …
* Pervasive power management.
But what will they look like?
Apple has lots of other technology that it can incorporate to create a real geewhiz experience. No one in the industry does it better. Whatever they do there will be some hits and some misses but the image of their design leadership will continue.
The Storage Bits take….
Apple’s notebook team has been working on these products for years. Their tight HW and SW integration coupled with Microsoft’s long development cycles means that Apple will be well positioned to take market share.
Click here for the complete article: http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=352
Apple: “Let’s Rock” on September 9
Apple has sent out media invitations for a special event next week.
An invitation for the Sept. 9 event in San Francisco, sent to media today, is entitled “Let’s Rock” and shows a silhouetted dancer holding an iPod, Apple’s music and video player.
The event will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Fransico, CA at 10 am PT on Tuesday, 9 September 2008 according to the invite.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Slashdot: News for Nerds and Things That Matter.....
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