1/9 Cult of Mac

Please add updates@feedmyinbox.com to your address book to make sure you receive these messages in the future. Cult of Mac Apple Ditching MacWorld in Favor of CES? January 8, 2009 at 2:07 pm Apple is ditching MacWorld to instead exhibit at CES next year instead, according to one source. The source, citing “friends who work at Apple,” insisted the company is ditching MacWorld because it will “go large” at CES, which typically runs concurrently with MacWorld in early January. The International Consumer Electronics Show, or CES, is the big annual gathering ot the consumer electronics industry. Held in Las Vegas over several days, it attracts more than 2,700 companies from all over the world, including technology giants like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. Apple has never had a presence at the show, exhibiting at MacWorld instead. In 2007, Steve Jobs managed to eclipse CES by unveiling the iPhone at MacWorld, but typically the technology press prefers CES, which has more companies and therefore more news.  If Apple were to be a presence at CES — with Steve Jobs possibly giving a keynote speech — it would no longer have to compete with CES for press attention. In addition, Apple is now more of a consumer electronics company now than a computer company, making CES a much better fit than MacWorld, the source said. The source insisted his information was solid, not just speculation.  “It’s a done deal,” he said. Fatten your iPhone with Chocolate Case January 8, 2009 at 1:57 pm Sold in a package made to look like a candy bar, this brown silicon case wraps your iPhone 3G in yummy goodness, though it does bloat the sleek line of the device. The fatten-up might make a high-tech phone look slightly tired, though it does bring to mind Wired co-founder-cum-chocolatier Louis Rossetto. About $25 at online store USB fever. Via Gadget Dose Many Happy Returns: ID your iPod, iPhone January 8, 2009 at 1:31 pm Say you lose your iPod or iPhone and some good Samaritan finds it, but there’s no way for them to get it back to you because there’s no contact info on it. If you’ve got an iPod Touch or iPhone, enter a free app called DogTag, which adds an ID icon and allows you to put the contact info of your choice. Even If you’ve got a passcode, the info is still accessible as a DogTag wallpaper. The brainchild of Ian Cinnamon, who has been programming since age seven, the app was released a few days ago, and so far the handful of reviews are mostly positive. For older iPods, one quick way is to name your device with an email address (my iPod nano and older pods support the “@”). This way, if the iPod is plugged in, your contact info pops up on the desktop and in iTunes. You can also add your info to “contacts” or “notes” on iPods, too so they don’t have to plug it in to go looking for you. (Although if they really dig, the name information you assign will come up, too, in the settings>about screen). I hit on naming mine with an email address after spending a frustrating 20 minutes at the gym trying to convince the guy at lost and found that yes, the iPod containing, among other things, just the contralto part of “Lacrimosa” and three cover versions of “Mah Na Ma Na” was, in fact, mine. Have you devised a good way to ID your iPod or iPhone? Any luck with getting it back? Sharing is caring, let us know in the comments. iBaby Wear States the Obvious, Still Kinda Cute January 8, 2009 at 1:13 pm The concept does sum up a lot of iLife for infants, but the trouble with these iPooed and iPeed onesies is that once your baby soils the Apple-inspired jumpsuit, you’ll have to change them out of it. About $16 for a set of two on Etsy. They come in a range of colors (white, pink, blue and green) and sizes to fit babies up to 34 pounds. Apple Hands Out $100K Raises To Three Execs January 8, 2009 at 10:15 am Photo: Cishore/Flickr While CEO Steve Jobs received his traditional $1 annual salary for 2009, three top execs each received $100,000 raises, Apple told federal regulators Wednesday. Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook, finance head Peter Oppenheimer, and Mac hardware senior vice president Bob Mansfield had their paychecks boosted, as well as their stock portfolios. Cook, often mentioned as a possible replacement for Jobs, will earn $800,00 per year. Oppenheimer, Apple’s Chief financial officer, will make $700,000 per year, while hardware chief Mansfield will make $600,000. Along with the fatter paychecks, the three executives received restricted stock grants. Cook received a grant for 200,000 shares of Apple, while Oppenheimer received 150,000 shares and 120,000 for Mansfield. Apple’s stock closed up two percent Wednesday at $91.01 per share. While the global economic downturn has hit Apple’s hardware sales, the impact was made even more personal for Jobs, whose 5.5 million shares lost about half of their worth, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. When he returned to head Apple in 1997, the stock was selling at $200 per share, making them worth more than $1 billion. However, after the turbulent 2009 stock market, Apple’s stock price fell to $91.01. The decline means Jobs’ stock holdings in Apple are worth half, or $500 million. Expo's Best of Show Picks Lack Inspiration January 8, 2009 at 3:42 am Macworld announced its 10 Best of Show picks for 2009 Wednesday afternoon, reinforcing the uninspired pall Apple’s looming withdrawal has cast over this year’s entire event. From the hundreds of thousands of feet of floorspace taken up by Conference exhibitors at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, Macworld editors’ only significant hardware find was the Windows Home Media Server from HP. My purpose here is not to pick apart each official choice, or even to come up with my personal alternative Best of Show picks - though give me another couple of days to walk the Expo floor and I might. I aim only to point out that when your top hardware pick at a trade show dedicated to Apple and Macintosh-oriented computing is a device that requires a Windows-based PC for initial installation, it’s cause for a little existential self-reflection. Macworld did ferret out one item at the show that looks quite promising in my view - a Bluetooth Web Cam from ecamm network. To be available by spring 2009 at an MSRP of $150, the ecamm BT-1 streams 640×480 H.264 video and 48 kHz AAC stereo audio from up to 30 feet away from a paired Mac. Your Mac has a built-in web cam you say? Well, with the BT-1 and its mini flexible tripod, you get the freedom to adjust the position, pan, and tilt of your web cam imagery. It's also mountable on any standard camera tripod to give you further flexibility in filming. You and the editors of Macworld seem to have forgotten that old slogan Apple rode to the success from which it now abandons the Macworld Conference and Expo: Think Different.   This email was sent to asidhu1.themacblog@blogger.com . Don't want to receive this feed any longer? Unsubscribe here.