Apple tells Workers, “Cancel Vacation Plans between Thanksgiving and Xmas”

Why? Apple Slim Sub-notebook may be available for Holiday selling season. The Street writes that Apple has told some employees to cancel vacation plans between Thanksgiving and Christmas in preparation for a big year-end sales push[...] Thanks to CLIFFosakaJAPAN for providing this nice story on Digg.

What other users say about this:

johfirth: yeah every major corporation does this, called black out days, even movie theaters do this… not really something to pay to much attention to.

macslut: Name one retailer that doesn’t restrict vacation time between Thanksgiving and Christmas?

nixuseleven: @trunkster “…I usually don’t complain about Apple news but this is actually pretty lame. What’s next, the schedule for Apple’s payroll?…”

I can post that, if you’d like.

vikingshelmut: Please for the love of Christ stop referencing articles on The Street as facts. I’ve never seen such horrible reporting in my life. These guys admittedly make stuff up all the time with no basis in fact. First Moritz says Apple will sell 1mil iPhones in first weekend (wrong). Then he says Apple is cutting production by half due to lower than expected sales (wrong). Result? Stock tanks (buy low). Now he is saying that iPhone production is going up because they will sell a zillion of them by xmas, and that Mac sales will increase a ton as well. Result? Stock price run up for easy profit. I really don’t see how any of this can be legal. Seems like they are manipulating the system for their own benefit. Drives me CRAZY!
I am in the wrong business.

c0n724ll10n: DO THE SUBNOTEBOOKS COME WITH PERISCOPES LOL

seeinpixels: This is standard procedure, nothing to get excited about. I heard it every year when I worked there.

roberto_deneero: i want a website that tells me what’s being served in Apple’s cafeteria on Infinite Loop

sonnydeejay: idon’t care

tont0r: Obviously no one here has ever worked at a retail chain.

Vermifax: Holidays suck and blow.

nycmac247: pls let it be a new 2400!!! Please mommy – sooo cool!!!

http://www.laist.com/attachments/chrisullrich/powe …

MonkeyHugger: WTF is a subnotebook?

jads: Happens *every* year in Apple Retail andis called the holiday blackout period. It’s usually from Thanksgiving until ~ the week after Macworld.

IllBeBack: iVomit

toetagger: I think they would just not let them schedule it to begin with. More BS speculation.

Useful Command Line Tricks for Mac Users

Useful Command Line Tricks for Mac UsersThat Mac you’re viewing this web page on using a pretty graphical interface? That’s a Unix-based system which can run the powerful and age old command line utilities of the most advanced Unix beard. If you’ve never launched the Terminal, you’re missing out on a plethora of Unix tools that offer[...] Thanks to Ecstasy for providing this nice story on Digg.

What other users say about this:

schestowitz: Seems like standard bash, but some of these Apple-specific CLI tools are really nice. It’s nice to see how they made it possible to interact with Spotlight ‘under the hood’ as well. A little like dcom and other interfaces that make a lot of stuff scriptable…

Let’s bring back ‘Command-Y’…a pretty cool pre OS X trick

Those of you who have never known a Mac Pre-OS X likely do not remember Command-Y, but it performed a pretty cool trick. In earlier Mac OS’s, that keyboard shortcut combination invoked the “Put Away” function, which did 2 things.[...] Thanks to CLIFFosakaJAPAN for providing this nice story on Digg.

What other users say about this:

Guess What? The Mac’s New Best Friend Is Windows

Forget the so-called iPod “halo effect” as the primary cause for an increase in Mac sales the past year or so.The Mac’s new best friends are Windows Vista and XP.[...] Thanks to obeezy for providing this nice story on Digg.

What other users say about this:

BrandonPerry: I bought my Dell because it is an all in one laptop, small size, resistant to viruses, the seemless merging of the laptop and Linux, and it is fast. I don’t even use microsoft office.

ownt

kevinmotel: I bought my macbook because it is an all in one laptop, small size, resistant to viruses, the seemless merging of the laptop and OS X, and it is fast. I don’t even use microsoft office.

bbrosemer: Guess what apple doesn’t care as long as they keep selling their products.

KevenM: That new best friend who’s somehow always there and mooches all your stuff.

bullsfan03: Did you seriously just put “Best friend” and “Vista” in the same sentence?

cave: You know what would be great for Apple sales, but they would never do? When you buy a new mac online, you should be able to configure if you want OSX or Windows or Both pre-installed. And Apple should heavily market these options on TV spots. I’m positive that mac sales would go up trough the roof in a very short time. Most computer buyers aren’t even aware that you can install windows on a mac yet, and even if they do, people don’t want/know how to install Windows themselves.

vault: A lot of new mac users are only willing to switch if they know have the option to run Windows apps…the proprietary app they need for work, the occasional game, etc.

Would hardly say Vista is anyone’s best friend though

allaboutdatiki: I’ll buy that for a dollar.

OpenOffice coming to the Mac natively

OpenOffice is going to be able to run natively on the Mac in 2008.[...] Thanks to obeezy for providing this nice story on Digg.

What other users say about this:

schestowitz: msaleem had it front-paged yesterday, so that would have to be a duplicate.

Meizu’s MiniOne M8 GUI exposed: hello Chinese iPhone

Ok Meizu, seriously, with your M7 just announced and your CEO J.Wong posting these new interface shots of the M8 to your user forum, how can we or any straight taking rag not call you for what you are: a brazen Chinese Apple cloning machine? We understand that any full-screen, touchscreen phone or DAP will look pretty similar given the limited…[...] Thanks to macbot for providing this nice story on Digg.

What other users say about this:

myone: This is the first time i saw the meizu’s phone. I must admit that it looks good and definitely smaller than iphone. What makes me think that the iphone is a superior product is the demo of the interface on the apple’s website. So maybe meizu can do the same for their phone. Well, seeing is believing. If meizu’s phone is as good, i may just buy one.

p9939068: Forgive me when I point out the obvious, but the M8 can never be like the iPhone, not even close. It may look like the iPhone (software and hardware interface wise), but to say it’s a rip off is a complete insult to the iPhone. This silly chinese phone does not have a static electricity sensor screen, does not have a proximity sensor, does not have a light sensor, and does not have an accelerometer. How can it ever remotely compare to the iPhone?

And there are people here who has the cheek to accuse Apple of ripping from HTC? Name me one other phone with an accelerometer…pfft, how silly, really.

I am a proud owner of 3 iPhones, and I am proud and gleeful every single time i take mine out to use. It is both a pleasure to use it, and a pleasure to be seen using it. I say let the cheapos buy their cheap M8/other ripoff products. When they take out their M8s in public, it will be like wavering a banner with words “LOOK AT ME! I AM A CHEAPO! I CANNOT EVEN AFFORD AN IPHONE, THAT’S WHY I SETTLED FOR THIS CHEAP RIP OFF!”. While we, the people who is willing to spend on a real quality product, continue to use our iPhones (and other product of innovation) with pride. They can buy the M8, maybe even convince/cheat themselves into thinking that it’s superior to the iPhone, but deep inside, they know they’re nothing but dogs trying to reach the moon.

And to those who hopped onto the “iphone has no software” bandwagon, take a look at this list before commenting. These are all native apps created by the community, in oh, about 3 months? http://iphone.exploit.org/pxl/

I’m a singaporean chinese, but seriously, damn the china chinese. Progress is the result of innovation. This isn’t innovation, and hence to call it progress is nothing more than mere hypocricy in the face of human stupidity, undeserving of any respect whatsoever.

ummagummas08: I bet that the post, when translated to english, would be like this-

Wow, I’d really like an iPhone, but I don’t like what they’ve done with it, so here’s what I would improve, rofl. (10$ some body reads this on some social news site and thinks its real LOLLL!!!!111!!!!)
-Meizu

mromanuk: It could be great if it come with Linux, I would love to have an open platform to develop for.

stockjones: The original article was in Popular Science.
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/e7e48a137b …

stockjones: The Meizu is what the iPhone should have been. Its feature set will blow away the current iPhone. Now you folks know the real reason why Apple dropped the price on the iPhone. Nokia will also be coming out with their iPhone type phone. Read the Popular Mechanics article yourself.

Apple screwed you in the pooch.

pyrates: And what about this?

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/01/11/iphone-an …

Apple did the same thing. That’s what I call a hiprocrite. Face it, Apple came out with something that yes I do want for once, and another company comes along to have the same features but beat on price, thats the market. Boo frickin who.

FHKE: You can’t input Chinese on an iPhone but you can (assuming the mock up screenshots are going to be implemented) do that on a M8 BTW…

Ron247: This was in a Discover magazine. =P article was referring it as the iClone.
i hear this copy iPhone is MUCH more user friendly than that damned overpriced iPhone. If you could make your own, improve it, make it lower cost… id def. get it over an iphone.

gkeirns: Haha this is classic! Its common knowledge that Apple cloned the design of several other phones in the production of the iPhone. Yes, their product is fantastically beautiful and is a testament to how feature convergence can produce a stunning gadget, but people who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

Technology is generally stolen from what came before, and there is little about a cellphone that can be considered innovative. You should be welcoming direct competition to the iPhone, which will hopefully force apple to have higher quality control on their products, push their price mark down, and make it a more competitive and rich market.

mediterrenean: We, Chinese people, are ashamed of sick companies like this! Meizu has even tried to deny the cloning!

joe90210: that’s awesome, hope the cost is low, I’d get one

soupyc: There was a great article in PopSci last month about Chinese product clones and how they measure up against the real thing. I’m pretty sure I saw something similar to this in the article. Though I was surprised to find that PopSci said that most of the clones are the same, if not better, quality-wise.

IsaacCubed: Willp2: Of course it was made in China…asians make everything

tykauffman: Meizu knows exactly what they’re doing and they’re making a tremendous amount of money doing it. Even Sir Marketing McJobs admits on Triumph of the Nerds documentary that “Good artists copy, great artists steal”. If Meizu didn’t mimmic Apple’s iPod with their M6 and Apple’s iPhone with their M8 so closely, they wouldn’t get free marketing from goobers like you. Even with a copycat reputation, awareness of the Meizu brand and product line (and thus sales) has exploded due to “rants” just like this one. Irony is throwing gasoline to put out a fire! “You’re not fooling anyone.” says Engadget — oh, yes .. yes they are!

Slim Aluminum MacBooks Coming Soon from Apple

Details from the same people who had accurate info on the latest iPods.[...] Thanks to kyc050564 for providing this nice story on Digg.

What other users say about this:

jmschlich: Here’s to hoping that they don’t release a pro line of smaller screen-resolutions with this. I just bought my MBP.

sellitman: I heard the new Macbooks will have a Superdrive underneath the keyboard. Any truth to this rumor?

toetagger: You’ll see the same color line up as the Nanos in aluminum. Sweeeeet!

GregGunn: When?

dudefaceguyman: I hope not. At least for a little while longer. I just got a black Macbook last month and it would suck to get slapped in the face like that with a brand new Macbook lol.

This is interesting too, since Macbook is their highest selling computer system-I mean why fix what’s not broken? Bah what am I saying, it’s Apple. They always fix what’s not broken. Arr

alakata: Slimmer slower hotter.

motiontomove: oh shoots

I just got the white one a few weeks ago.

holyreality: very exciting.

spynovel: I’m reading this on my 2 week old white Macbook. I love it but now I know what it feels like to be an Apple customer on the verge of a sudden product rollout…I’ll get over it.

yellowbuddy: How bout a slim Macbook PRO? PRO, Apple, PRO!

Also: aggressively priced in my mind would be a drop of some $500… but that’s the price you pay for an Apple product.

WesMantooth: Oh man I just bought a new macbook this morning. I knew this would happen.

Palaceguard: Geesh Apple I just bought a Macbook. Where is my rebate? I’m emailing Steve Jobs

Christbait: God damn, can apple fans not get any more shallow? Who cares what the hell it’s made out of and how it looks, depends what’s INSIDE the damn thing.

rYno: I’ve been waiting till this next update hits… I’m hoping the Santa Rosa hits and the new GPU and this “slim” update would be cool too all for when leopard hits…

Wilddigi: Let’s see all the Apple fanboys whine for being a beta tester for the plastic macbooks. Maybe we will get $100 dollars store credit again

Woot mocking Apple with their open letter to Zune customers

I have received more than three emails from Zune buyers who are upset about Woot dropping the price of the Zune by $20 one month after it went on sale the first time. After reading every one of these emails, or at least scanning their subject lines, I have some observations and conclusions.[...] Thanks to queste for providing this nice story on Digg.

What other users say about this:

histgyro: Gosh! it was good

zenfilm: I bought an iPhone early and appreciate the $100 refund…Zune doesn’t even constitute a good first try at a media appliance. The Woot joke feels more like it is a jab at Microsoft’s little music box.

aristotle0dude: What’s a Zune? Is that some kind of iPod?

mishsquish: Dugg for the guy’s name. Larry Stalin.

Awesome.

grapesofbaath: Does the Zune at least have a removable battery? I hate that about the iPods. Apple basically knows that rechargeable batteries start dying off after a year and half, and suck big time after two years. And since you can’t replace the battery yourself and have to send it off to Apple for 85 dollars + shipping, they want you to say screw it, I’ll just buy a new one. Smart business, shitty fucking ethics. It’s just the great marketing team Apple has that keeps the fanboys thinking Apple is so consumer-friendly. They are way more anti-competitive with their iPods and Mac hardware than Microsoft is, just on a much smaller scale since they aren’t as pervasive as Windows.

Palaceguard: Apple forced me to spend 3 days in line and pushed my hand with the credit card on the counter to buy the iPhone without flash. Damm you Apple, I’m going to DELL using windows vista

nunofgs: Europe

naonao: I thought they were mocking Microsoft and just being funny but whatever.

junk: Hahaha, love the shark coming out of the water to attack the happy people on the Zune screen.

ZenMojo: *dead*

tavio: I love my zune, and still use it after buying the iphone.

webjoseph: Apparently people did, it’s all sold-out now! It sold old so fast, I didn’t even catch it on my facebook woot watcher.

mariachi: buried as inaccurate – don’t see anything about apple in there at all

scmik1999: did anyone actually buy a zune?

Zeike: Where on earth is he getting gas for $2.69?

15 things Apple should fix in iPhone 2.0

Our version of Apple’s to-do list for the next-generation iPhone includes GPS, 3G, mobile iChat, video capture and many more goodies.[...] Thanks to verge for providing this nice story on Digg.

What other users say about this:

jgerry: Streaming iTunes directly to an Airport Express via WiFi would be nice too.

aariel: “Given my slower typing speed, one feature that I miss from my Treo, which ran Windows Mobile 5″
Am I the only one who finds that sentence to be kind of fishy? Doesn’t the Treo still run Palm OS?

davidwinograd: How about group deletes of email?

krokodil: I think it is much better to see what are most wanted features for iPhone accoridig user voting are. Digg style:

http://iphonewishlist.net/

SirZRX: All the points mentioned are capped by software not by hardware , i just matter of time until the hackers release a fully functional iphone firmware with all capabilities mentioned except 3G and GPS.! IMO…. Happy Mexican iPhone owner!

demonbaby: Until the iPhone lets me run Linux and capture high-def video that streams to everyone via liveblogged webcast via HSDPA 2.0 (yeah it doesn’t exist yet but the iPhone should have it) while editing Excel spreadsheets and being tracked via GPS on a full-featured 3D Google Earth application, I’ll be sticking with my Nokia!

…Seriously, why is everyone so concerned with the iPhone being the GodPhone with every possible feature imaginable that anyone could possibly desire? More concerning are the people who don’t consider it a phone worthy of their purchase UNTIL it has a fantasy wish-list of features far beyond any other phone in its price range.

I’ve been using the iPhone since launch, as a replacement for a Blackberry, and it’s a remarkably sexy device that does more, more elegantly, than my Blackberry ever could. The feature list is already through the roof (especially when you include 3rd party software), and the obvious improvements like copy/paste and iChat are likely coming via software updates. So why do so many people need it to do everything a MacBook can do before they’ll consider it worthy? Every device starts somewhere, and for a phone to start where the iPhone is right now is nothing short of remarkable. Using it on a day-to-day basis feels light years beyond any other phones out there, if for nothing other than the elegant experience, touch controls, iPod integration, and gorgeous display. Relax, enjoy what it is right now, and I don’t doubt that the features will keep rolling in over time.

Anyway, it’s not like Apple is sitting around saying, “hey, this guy on the internets said the iPhone would be faster if we made it 3G. Do you think we should do that?” There’s a reason it is what it is right now, and there’s a reason the next iPhone won’t have some of the absurdly niche features that hundreds of internet wish lists have labeled requirements.

astorg: All this adds up to a powerful set of reasons (especially lack of push email other than Yahoo, who want to switch to Yahoo Mail just to be able to use it on an iPhone?) and the lack of decent Exchange integration, no Bluetooth…

Frankly, until all this is available, I’ll be sticking with my BlackBerry pearl.

rubyeyes: 0. MMS
Not sure where the ichat thing comes from. The web-based Meebo works pretty nicely as a chat client. It’s not like your going to be able to use the camera with ichat if they do implement it. The camera is on the back of the phone while you type. Well unless you want them to have a nice view of your crotch.

GreenAlien: 1. 3G
2. iChat AV
3. More memory. 16gb to match the iPod Touch, but 32gb will be the sweet spot.
4. Third-party app support.
5. Video capture with Youtube upload.
6. Podcasting client, plus subscribe to podcasts via the wifi iTMS.

VitriolAndAngst: I would let the video camera wait for later.
Of the rest of that list, 3G and a landscape keyboard are the best ideas. 16G ram would be nice as an upgrade option (as available).

Open up the Development of the Phone with a certification process. You want to destribute, you pay a testing fee.

Let developers make use of that “Starbucks button,” so that they could allow people to upload things like museum tours and product information (the user gets the choice of accepting it).

Support Keynote playback. I can guarantee you a few thousand field agents at our company, if you make the iPhone a platform for presentations. A salesperson could use this phone for MOST of their business. Perhaps a wireless USB adapter like you made for tunecasting to display the video on a TV or projection system — maybe partner with elGato to provide that.

Allow Quart Composer to run on the iPhone.

lochness: Only 15 !!!!?!?!?! C’mon there’s gotta be at least 25 things that need to added, fixed, made to work, or improved.
That ass-cam green camera for a start.
No video … WTF ?
Where’s my bluetooth ?
No MMS …. get with the TIMES apple.
and the beat rolls on…

johnpaul191: have any of you guys actually used GPS? i mean REAL GPS, not cell phone pseudo-GPS based on triangulation between towers. it uses satellites, and therefore you need to be “in view” of them. i’m all for the fake GPS if it works, which i understand it does, but that’s a far cry from GPS.
1) it’s power hungry
2) it needs to “see” the sky. it does not work indoors, under a porch, inside a car etc. they often do not even work well in a city because of the buildings blocking the view of the sky. that’s why the car units have to be pushed out on the dashboard, or use an external antenna.
GPS is pretty awesome if you are out hiking, on a motorcycle, snowboarding, whatever. the fake GPS that uses cell phone towers is probably a lot more useful. *most* people with iPhone probably have jobs that are under a roof, so if the GPS can’t figure out where they are, and then locate the closest restaurant, it’s useless. nobody is going to stand outside and hold their arms up in the sky to get a signal. though that may look really funny?

bethune: I would rather have Wi-Fi syncing than bluetooth syncing because it would be faster.

mlivebc: Wrong link, here is the right one: http://thinkspotting.com/entrytype1_des.php?entry_ …

mlivebc: Here’s my list: http://thinkspotting.com/entrytype1_des.php?entry_ …

iPod touch Screen Problem Fixed!

The screen problem that so many people were having (the negative effect) seems to be fixed on the new week 38 ipod touches![...] Thanks to cupofjoe for providing this nice story on Digg.

What other users say about this:

ogram: My 16GB iPod Touch has crashed four times in the first three weeks, requiring a restore, and now the fourth time, the thing refused to be stored. Unfortunately, since it was a gift that was engraved, getting this lemon replaced has been awful — because I want to retain the engraving. I went to the Apple Store, and they wouldn’t receive the lemon iPod Touch and have the replacement shipped. I have to ship the lemon to Apple. Then, to add another level of fun and games, they won’t ship the replacement until either 1) my lemon iPod Touch arrives at their repair facility, or I give them my credit card number, which they will bill if I don’t send the lemon iPod Touch. What kills me is that I am standing in an Apple Retail Store, within easy distance of beaning a dozen different Apple employees with this dead iPod, and I still have to ship it to Apple. Two things: 1) don’t get the “free” engraving and 2) don’t confuse the Apple Retail Stores with the company that makes the crap they sell.

Chaosweaver: It also has the 9C738 serial number. I just stuck it on the charger and judging by what I see, the screen is much brighter like the iPhone, and the blacks aren’t washed out and negative. YAY!

Chaosweaver: I went back and exchanged my iPod touch which was packed in the Bailey Rae box and they gave me that Macy Gray one. Check it out…

greenamp: I think I’ll just wait until the next revision when they will drop in price and have bigger storage.

mrminty: A company fixed a design flaw in their products to keep customers happy because a lot of them complained? Holy shit! This is entirely commonplace, especially with first gen products, but because it’s Apple, doing this is REVOLUTIONARY!! HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!! THEY PROVIDED BASIC CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!

tigerpaper: Apple sucks – I pre-ordered the touch on the day of release (which hasn’t shipped yet) but they’ve been selling them all over the place in-store!
I need to stop being apple’s bitch – I’m about to end this abusive relationship.

digger77: That’s my brother’s article!

onemoretry: To those wondering about the week naming scheme, week 38 indicates the 38th week of manufacturing. They didn’t start manufacturing them on the release date.

gowanis: i had a bad one, returned it, and just got a new one (“week 38″). the new one is good!

ExtraLife: Got one that still says week 37, but has Grey on the front and works perfectly. Had the old one and returned it so I know the diff, and so don’t completely dispair if you got a wek 37…if they have the new box, you might be in fat city like me.

norbiu: Has anybody hacked this thing yet?

Squaros: How about you all try your hardest to hold on to your money for about… 2 more weeks. You can snag a week 40 model. It’ll probably have dropped $100 or so too.

peter337: I hesitated to purchase but read about the week 38 fix on Apple forums and decided to go to at Apple Stonestown, San Francisco. Before the purchase, I asked the cashier if the serial had 38 in it. Upon personal inspection of the good serial, I purchased the 16GB. The display units I tested were still W37 and it had terrible blacks. Going home to test my new unit, I could see no problems with the blacks. I tested with http://techmind.org/lcd/greyscale.html to make sure the last color, 00 was the darkest in the image. All other reports I have read, found that W38 units have good blacks as well.

toetagger: If the bad ones are still being sold then it’s NOT fixed!

Foden999: Buried for being the billionth fucking ipod/iphone topic.