Explosives, firearms, knives, and liquids are no longer the most annoying no-nos when it comes to air travel. Effective January 1st, carrying extra Lithium-based batteries -- ie, those used in laptops -- in checked luggage will not be permitted on US flights.
"Why, oh why?" you ask? Our buds at the Mothership give the low-down:
In February 2006 a United Parcel Service flight landed at Philidelphia International Airport after the crew detected a fire in its cargo. The National Transportation Safety Board said later that it found several burned out laptop batteries on the plane, and could not rule them out as a possible cause of the fire.
You'll still be allowed to travel with batteries that are installed in devices (laptops, cameras, etc.), as well as extra batteries as long as they're in plastic bags and carried on as hand luggage. You can get more details on the new ban at Macworld, or at SafeTravel.dot.gov.
Travel rules are getting crazier and crazier. All I want to know is when the DOT will start banning passengers who haven't showered or used deodorant in weeks. Now that's a travel health hazard.
As a community, we're all about giving back. We've got the likes of MacSanta, PRODUCT (RED) iPods, and $100 iPhone credits. Now the world's toughest programmer (I hear he has the belt to prove it) has launched an effort to support the endangered lemurs of Madagascar.
Delicious Monster's Mike Lee has opened up Club Thievey, named after an incorrigible stuffed lemur (pictured) owned by his wife. The idea is simple: donate $100 to the Madagascar Fauna Group and Mike will send you your very own stuffed lemur for free. Then, take a shot of you and your lemur and it'll get posted on the site. A number of indie Mac programmers like Brent Simmons, Gus Mueller, and Daniel Jalkut have already pledged their support to Club Thievey, but don't worry, you don't have to be a developer to join. Plus, if you donate tonight, you can join the elite Founding Troop.
If you're looking for more info on Club Thievey, or why the lemurs are worth saving, check out the link above and you'll find a veritable cornucopia of information from Mike. I know $100 is a lot, especially after Christmas, but you can also set up a recurring payment for a smaller amount if you want, like $10 a month. Besides, is that really too high a price for not incurring the enmity of the world's toughest programmer? Heck, it'd be a steal at twice the price!
Look at that face! So charming, so adorable. Is it any surprise that Vinnie Jobserino (aka Steven P. Jobs) cleaned up at CNBC's Face of Business '07 poll? None at all, say we. We mentioned the poll when it went up the other week, and while we'd like to pride ourselves on having something to do with Jobs's tremendous victory, he probably didn't need our help.
Just how badly did he crush the competition? Jobs garnered 78% of the vote, which is all the more impressive when you realize that the number two spot was held down by Chuck Prince, former Chairman and CEO of Citigroup, who picked up 6.9% of the vote. No, that's not a misprint. The closest of Jobs's peers were the boys at Google, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt, who slotted in at #4 with 3% of the vote. Look, you just can't beat Steve Jobs. He's like one of those unstoppable '50s science-fiction movie giant ants or something. Just get out of his way or you'll be trampled to death by the Jobsian Juggernaut (that's his nickname from his wrestling days).
Forget Christmas, forget New Year's, forget Macworld Expo. The event I'm waiting for with no less anticipation than with which your average five year-old stays up on Christmas eve is coming up on January 22nd, the week after Expo kicks off. That's right: it's time once again for Apple's quarterly earnings.
We're talking Q1 2008 here, as Apple's fiscal calendar doesn't precisely line up with the actual physical calendar. This is the holiday quarter which is typically Apple's highest earning quarter in the year, so expect good results. If we may flash you back to the earnings predictions from the Q4 2007 conference call, CFO Peter Oppenheimer issued guidance expecting revenue of approximately $9.2 billion and earnings per diluted share of roughly $1.42—and consider that Apple's guidance is usually on the conservative side, so don't be surprised if the final numbers exceed that.
As always, Apple'll be holding a conference call/webcast of the financial results, scheduled to take place on the 22nd at 5PM Eastern. You can rest assured that we'll be, as always, liveblogging the event with our usual barely contained excitement.
We've previously covered a couple ways to force your Mac to execute a Time Machine backup on your own schedule instead of Apple's once-an-hour interval. But say you're on another computer—a MacBook, for example—and want to force your desktop to run a Time Machine backup. Yeah, you could use screen sharing, but what if you're on a pre-Leopard Mac, or Back to My Mac isn't working (preposterous, I know!).
Our colleague Monsieur Griffiths over at Macworld's Mac OS X Hints blog has the solution to these woes: force Time Machine to run a backup via Terminal. That's right: you can even force your machine to backup from the Windows box at work. Here's the integral command you'll need to run once you've logged in via ssh:
/System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle/Contents/Resources/backupd-helper &Simple, isn't it? Once you've run it, you're all set; Time Machine will start chugging away back on your Mac, and you're free to go about your business once again.
If you're planning on ordering iPhoto books and calendars from Apple in the next two months, today is your lucky day. Until the end of February, Apple is offering discount codes to shave 20% off your book or calendar order. For books, you'll want to enter NAWinterBook08 when you check out; for calendars, enter NAWinterCal08.
The fine print: this should not only work in all versions of iPhoto, but also in Aperture (which can, in case you didn't know, create photo books). You can use it as many times as you like. And unfortunately for our international readers, as far as I can see, this is US-only. Happy book-creation!
MacNN brings us word of a customer satisfaction survey that, no surpise to any of us, puts Apple at the top. ForeSee results says 79% of consumers were overall satisfied while more specifically, it scored 75% for “Manufacturer Direct” sales and 73% for the physical stores.
Sadly, Apple trailed Amazon which had a 82% satisfaction rating (that’s really impressive). However, when it came to Apple’s more direct competition (HP, Dell, Gateway, and Sony), it’s still king. That’s what really matters.
I’ll admit I’m a little confused by the closing paragraph. It reads “Satisfaction with online experiences, and overall volume of sales, are outpacing those of brick-and-mortar retail locations, with 72-percent of customers saying that they were likely to do most of their shopping online, and 62-percent saying they will get the majority of their shopping done in physical retail locations.” 62 + 72 = 134. How many percent are going to do most of their shopping online and in retail stores? I think they might be confused about the question.
We’re all going to need to uninvite the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg from your New Years parties. He’s reviewed a Dell computer favorably.
the Dell XPS One is the first Windows all-in-one desktop I’ve tested that I believe matches or exceeds the iMac in hardware design.
Say it ain’t so Walt. You can’t really be saying that Dell’s hardware design is better than Apple’s. Maybe he’s gone blind. Ok, really he likes all the bonus extras like the built-in TV tuner, media card reader, and the like. Then he goes and writes something that might get him reinvited.
I still recommend the iMac over the XPS One for several reasons other than hardware design.
It’s all about the software. On that front, Apple bundles in a lot of useful software instead of the useless trials that Windows box manufacturers litter their desktops with. Come back to us Walt, you know you like Apple’s design better.
Good bye, Wal-Mart, and good riddance. The retail giant shut down its video download store this past week with a whimper, not a bang. Honestly, we can't blame you if you didn't hear about it when it happened on the 21st: who was really buying video from them anyway?
Wal-Mart launched its video store back in February of this year, at which point it was doomed to failure due to its lack of compatibility with the iPod and its fun, fun, fun DRM schemes. Not to mention that the price points were not Wal-Mart's traditionally bargain basement figures, as they didn't want to risk cannibalizing their extremely lucrative DVD sales.
No refunds will be offered for existing purchases, though those videos will be able to be played back—but only on the computer on which you bought it. That's right: get a new computer at any point, ever, and you're out of luck. I'd say that I'm pretty glad that I didn't invest any money in Wal-Mart's store, except that it wasn't compatible with Macs anyway. No tears shed here.
[via Daring Fireball]
At Macworld Expo '07, I sat in on a press briefing from Axiotron and Other World Computer (OWC), where they introduced the theoretically-first-ever tablet Mac, the ModBook. Later, I met with OWC's president, who was touting the thing like it was the greatest invention since two-finger touchpad scrolling.
But as Apple has learned, too much touting and not enough shipping bites you in the ass. The ModBook was delayed and delayed and delayed into near-tech-oblivion, and the idea of the tablet-y goodness all but left our minds.
But there's hope now that the two companies will finally be shipping the mutated MacBook in early January -- January 8th, says blogger JK, who posted an email from OWC with the new ship date for his ModBook order.
The date puts its release right before Macworld '08 -- a potential problem for the company duo, aptly notes Infinite Loop's Erik Kennedy, since some strong rumors peg Macworld as the supposed venue for the introduction of Apple's new mini-portable. Are sub-notebooks and tablets the same? Nope. But no one knows what Apple is really announcing at the keynote -- and it'd be wise for anyone to wait until after January 15th to place their ModBook orders.
In the meantime, check the new ModBook specs: GPS now comes standard on all models (previously it was a $99 add-on); it also has all the specs of the new MacBooks (obviously), including more RAM, faster processor, etc. Check the site for more details -- but really, hold off on those purchases 'til Macworld. You know. Just in case.
[via WIRED]
(P.S. This is my 100th post. Woo!)
