Mac News Briefs: Omni Group releases OmniGraphSketcher
The Omni Group on Wednesday released OmniGraphSketcher, a new graph creation tool. There were also updates to iPod Access, Cocktail, and Mystical Tint Tone and Color.
Source: rss.macworld.com
Review: HP 12C Financial Calculator for iPhone
A 100-percent functional picture-perfect clone of the financial tool of choice for many finance professionals, this iPhone app can easily be used in place of the physical calculator. Even though it doesn’t include much in the way of added iPhone-specific features, HP 12C Financial Calculator is still very useful.
Source: rss.macworld.com
iShop is dead
So it finally came. For the past few months, rumors have been floating around that iShop was going to shut its doors and leave the Apple business forever. There are people who doubt the rumors, saying that there is no way in hell that someone as famous as the person who made F1 in Singapore possible [...]
So it finally came.
For the past few months, rumors have been floating around that iShop was going to shut its doors and leave the Apple business forever. There are people who doubt the rumors, saying that there is no way in hell that someone as famous as the person who made F1 in Singapore possible was going to close down his Apple business.
However, since about a year or so ago, iShop’s performance has been going down the drain.
iShop, once “Asia’s biggest Apple Reseller”, was never one of the more popular Apple Premium Resellers in Singapore, constantly losing out to Epicenter and Multimedia Integrated in terms of sales. Few knew about iShop’s location as well, as Epicenter has the advantage of being the nearest to the Orchard MRT station and the history of being “Applecentre Orchard”.
Despite all these disadvantages, iShop HAD quality service, HAD staff who knew the local Apple market, HAD finances and connections that made them a very close partner with Apple Singapore, being entrusted with Apple training for the region, and being one of only two educational suppliers in Singapore for Apple.
iShop’s main mistake was probably its management. The management put in place at iShop was one that is highly experienced in FASHION AND APPAREL sales, not computer sales. They also failed to promote their talented sales staff, losing allmany of them in the past two years to Apple resellers such as Cathay Photo and Epicenter. Wrong decisions(regarding sales commissions) were made in the hope of stopping the neverending losses the physical shop made, resulting in loss of morale, followed by a huge drop in quality of service.
Servicing-side wise, the story was most likely roughly the same. There had been a constant decrease in numbers of Mac users who are willing to send in their faulty Macs to iShop, instead opting for the more famous Epicenter (servicing done by Sapura) and eServ/Micro2000 (who provides probably the better service experience compared to other Apple service centres locally). iShop also stopped most of their outreach to local institutions the last time I checked.
Furthermore, in recent years, with the increase in numbers of smaller sized Apple resellers such as iStudio, conveniently located in neighborhoods and prominent locations, there was absolutely no need for anyone to go to iShop to do their servicing or to buy Apple accessories. iShop became the local “Apple Museum”, where people go to play with their Macs, take a look around and leave without buying anything.
When iShop started, it showed much promise, with many hoping that it could overtake Epicenter as the more popular Apple Premium Reseller (many today still hate Epicenter to the core for its practices). Alas, it was a sad tale of lost opportunities and wrong decisions.
Now, hopefully I can get some nice deals at the firesale……
P.S. This post was written with information that I acquired personally, should there be errors I am most willing to be corrected.
Source: macryu.com
Review: 2XL Supercross for iPhone
The high-end graphics in 2XL Supercross make it one of the best-looking racing games for the iPhone and iPod touch. In fact, everything about this game is visually pleasing.
Source: rss.macworld.com
Review: MobileStudio for iPhone
This excellent and powerful application for managing files is not necessarily for the average user. But power users with a lot of file-management demands will find that MobileStudio fits the bill nicely.
Source: rss.macworld.com
Where NOT to buy a Mac from in Singapore
Singapore Mac users, let me pose a question to you. Where did you buy your last Mac? In recent years, due to the sudden increase of the popularity of Macs, many local computer and consumer electronics chain jumped on board the Apple bandwagon and became Apple resellers. Which spiked a lot of comments of the non-Mac people and [...]
Singapore Mac users, let me pose a question to you.
Where did you buy your last Mac?
In recent years, due to the sudden increase of the popularity of Macs, many local computer and consumer electronics chain jumped on board the Apple bandwagon and became Apple resellers.
Which spiked a lot of comments of the non-Mac people and casual consumers to say “Wah. Apple opening more Apple Stores in Singapore leh. Cool”.
They probably never thought that they could not be more wrong.
Apple don’t have a single Apple Store in Singapore. More new Apple resellers are just opening up. And this might not be such a good thing after all.
Let me explain, with my limited knowledge of Apple reseller policy from working with various resellers and Apple Singapore, how the retail side of things work.
Before I start though, forget the Apple Online Store. The Apple Online Store is really Apple. And is probably the only place you should buy from if you want protection from sudden changes in line-up.
For example, if you buy a MacBook today, and a new one comes out tomorrow, you are stuck with the old one if you buy it from a retail store in Singapore. That includes buying it from Universities, if Sapura still has not changed their policy. If you buy it from the Apple Online Store though, you can ask for an exchange. Therefore, the much safer purchase route.
Okay back to retail. There are basically two types of retail resellers, the normal reseller and the Apple Premium Reseller(APR). The former, well, no exact rules to buying and selling. The latter though, have to follow a strict policy of how to sell their Macs. Their stores’ design and display have to be advised and checked by Apple Singapore, and the inventory they carry have to follow strict rules as well, such as having no competitors’ computers.
Resellers don’t have to be strictly APR though. For example, Pacific City has a branch in IMM Singapore that is APR, having the Apple Store concept and design, with no Acer computers in the same store, but for their other stores in eg. Marina Square and Plaza Singapore, they are non-APR and Pacific City could carry Acers in them. And since the non-APR stores don’t have to follow Apple’s rules, they could place whatever they like in the display, even if it’s not the current lineup.
Which brings us back to the problem that prompted me to write this post in the first place. While in the olden days (just 3 or 4 years ago really, not THAT old), even the old non-APR resellers(like SGL Marketing, an old-time MUGS favourite vendor, or Pacific City, who occasionally broke the rule and tried to sell old stock a day after the new ones are released) will be nice enough not to openly display old models without specifically stating that they are for clearance, these days I see a lot of new non-APR resellers doing exactly the opposite.
For example, I saw certain non-APR resellers (but fashioned their stores to look very very APR-like with white furniture and green t-shirts) displaying, in the following order, their MacBooks. MacBook White, MacBook Unibody, MacBook Pro OLD, MacBook Black, MacBook Pro Unibody, with nothing to differentiate between the old lines and the new lines. I suspect that, unless you say specifically, no one is going to tell you the difference.
What is wrong with this?
The problem here is that, a casual non-Apple-fan consumer might decide to buy a present for a relative, walks into a Song Brothers store(of Sim Lim Square “fame”), looks at the MacBook range, and decided to buy a MacBook Black thinking that it’s not really that different from other MacBooks. Note that, here I am assuming the staff who served the consumer is nasty and did not warn the consumer that it is old stock and not the latest range when buying. Note again, however, that resellers have a higher priority to sell off their old stock since Apple will never take it back, and might give their promoters more incentive to sell off old stock. So the consumer buys the MacBook Black, gives it to the relative only to have the relative complain that it is not the latest MacBook Unibody and that the consumer did not even buy the MacBook Black at refurbished prices (maybe cheaper than it used to be, but not as cheap as refurbished ones), causing unhappiness.
And then, because the consumer have no knowledge that it’s really the reseller and not Apple, blames Apple for selling old stock openly.
Some may argue that the resellers have to sell off their old stock. Can’t the resellers be nice enough to place them away from the latest range and put a big tag “For clearance! Good discounts!” on them?
Maybe they can’t. Sometimes when the line refreshes prices drop, and since the resellers are making marginal profits (Apple sells the systems to reseller at near MSRP), they can’t knock that much off the price.
It seems that Apple is being terrible to their resellers here, as Apple won’t take back old stock, but do you hear iShop, Multimedia Integrated, and Epicenter complaining? (They do grumble, but not openly) You don’t. Cause local resellers make their profits by marking up the prices of cheap accessories.
In the end, the resellers themselves chose to become resellers, so they can’t complain. But consumers do have a choice of not buying from these formerly long-time Sim Lim Square mindset-based Apple resellers, that offers the Sim Lim Square buying experience instead of one that is Apple-crafted.
Source: macryu.com
iPhone Apps - are you keen enough to wear them?
The iPhonegoizmo team have been researching the fitness apps that have been bombarding us from iTunes (25 released in the last three days alone). More on the results in a later post. We have been intrigued by the different hardware now being made available in wearable form (eg Sony) and got to wondering: Just what type of [...]
The iPhonegoizmo team have been researching the fitness apps that have been bombarding us from iTunes (25 released in the last three days alone). More on the results in a later post.
We have been intrigued by the different hardware now being made available in wearable form (eg Sony) and got to wondering:
Just what type of hardware are people willing to wear in their determination to get fit or have fun? Just how much oddness, or inconvenience is tolerable?
After all, some of this hardware is quite geeky, we thought! So we decided to ask! Below are a number of images of various fitness/sports hardware being worn. Just select the option you WOULD be prepared to be caught dead in!
a) Work out at the gym with Sony W series Wearable WALKMAN MP3 Player?
b) Go swimming with wearable waterproof H2O Audio iPod/headphone system?
c) Water sports with wearable waterproof iPhone system by H2O Audio?
d) Watch sports videos on the go with MyVu?
OK, now choose which, if any, you would be willing to be seen wearing?
Source: www.iphonegizmo.com
Steve Jobs is alive and well!! (Not exactly 100% healthy, but definitely not in a life threatening situation)
Steve Jobs and Apple released public statements with regards to Steve Jobs’ health today. As expected, Steve Jobs has been suffering from an hormone imbalance which caused him to lose weight rapidly throughout the past year. It has been widely speculated that the condition was an after effect of his procedure to cure him of his [...]
Steve Jobs and Apple released public statements with regards to Steve Jobs’ health today.
As expected, Steve Jobs has been suffering from an hormone imbalance which caused him to lose weight rapidly throughout the past year. It has been widely speculated that the condition was an after effect of his procedure to cure him of his cancer which he undergone a few years ago.
Here is the statement from Apple;
It is widely recognized both inside and outside of Apple that Steve Jobs is one of the most talented and effective CEOs in the world.
As we have said before, if there ever comes a day when Steve wants to retire or for other reasons cannot continue to fulfill his duties as Apple’s CEO, you will know it.
Apple is very lucky to have Steve as its leader and CEO, and he deserves our complete and unwavering support during his recuperation. He most certainly has that from Apple and its Board.
And here is His Steveness’ own words;
Dear Apple Community,
For the first time in a decade, I’m getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.
Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.
I’ve decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.
As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.
Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause — a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.
The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment. But, just like I didn’t lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery.
I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple’s CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.
So now I’ve said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.
Steve
See that you Gizmodo bastards? All of you should fuck off and stop publishing ever again. You people are an absolute disgrace to the journalism world.
Here’s hoping that Steve Jobs lives on healthy, forever and ever!!!
Source: macryu.com
Cataloging Mail by date
If you miss Entourage’s Saved Searches when you move to Apple’s Mail, put Mail’s smart mailboxes to good use.
Source: rss.macworld.com
FREE - The Bump App makes the above two obsolete! And really takes advantage of the iPhone technology. All that is required is bumping two hands together while holding an iphone and the contact details are transferred. It does need two iPhones to work! - but is great for exchanging business details with other iPhone owners. 
So - eliminates the need for a business card! (3 star rating)
out contact address and phone numbers, web pages, and photos from our iPhone Photo Album. We can also take a photos with our iPhone and print it straight away. Handy!(3 star rating)
online database to allow potential iPhone 3GS customers in the U.S. to check stock levels for the various models at Apple Retail Stores. Availability is updated at least hourly. Apple deployed similar tools for both the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G, although these previous versions only updated nightly with stock levels for opening the following day.
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<p><i>Source: feedproxy.google.com</i></p>
<p><b>iPhone</b> 3GS Jailbreak Is In the Works!
<p> 12 hours ago the <a target=)
Dev-Team announced that the use of the 24Kpwn exploit, that was originally made for iPod Touch 2G, can in fact be used on the iPhone 3GS! This is great news for anyone who can’t wait to jailbreak/unlock their iPhone 3GS!
