AppleTalk Thursday #16

Hello folks and welcome to another edition of AppleTalk Thursday. Got a lot of Apple news to get into this week so let's get right into it.

Apple Looking to Give MobileMe Customers Alternative Payment Option

Apple is exploring ways to give MobileMe customers an alternative payment op.... Currently, the only way to pay for MobileMe is via credit card. In Germany, 80% of purchases are done via bank draft debit. Course this kind of puts to end speculation that MobileMe will be free when it gets its makeover in the Spring.

Microsoft and Dell Execs make Fools of Themselves...Again!

Stop me if you heard this one before. Both a Microsoft and Dell executive have come out and said that the iPad is just a fad or that it is too closed and complex *feel free to laugh at this point...I sure did* Hey Microsoft and Dell suit...A sphincter says what? Yeah, thought so! Sorry, I would play the clip from Wayne's World, but Paramount might sue me.

Skype for Mac Issues

So fellow Mac users, how is the new Skype for Mac treating you? Personally, I haven't used it much as I tend to use the iPhone version over the desktop one. But it seems to be giving a lot of users a headache.

Verizon iPhone Most Popular Phone in February

No surprise here, but the Verizon iPhone was the most popular selling phone for the month of February. Take that Motorola and HTC!

More OS X 10.7 Features

So a couple of interesting tidbits as we get closer to seeing Mac OS X 10.7 Lion hit the shelves. iCal will now have an annual view calendar and have more of an iPad view to it.



Also of note is iChat will support Yahoo Messenger chat finally! But it will not support Yahoo video and audio due to Yahoo using a proprietary model.


Apple rolls out new iPad 2 commercial "We Believe"

This is quite a good commercial, almost Mission Statement in a way on what makes Apple well, Apple! Also Consumer Reports just ranked the iPad 2 as the best tablet device.

iPhone 5 to sport an 8MP Camera?

So thanks to a slip by Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer, there is speculation that the camera in the next iPhone will be an ... supplied by Sony. Hmmm!

AT&T boosts early Smartphone Upgrade Pricing

AT&T this week hiked the early upgrade costs on its smartphone line by $50 for each model. So if you want to upgrade early...save a little extra now.

Heart Monitoring App allows Doctors Remote Monitoring

A new iPhone and iPad app allows doctors to monitor a patients ECG in nea.... Pretty cool stuff that will free up doctors to do other things and still be in touch with vital patient data.



iPhone Coming in June After-all?

You will recall that I previously stated that the iPhone would be delayed into the Fall with speculation of LTE technology being added. Well now there is speculation that a late June release date is still on track for the iPhone 5. We will find out at WWDC I guess for sure.

Apple releases iAd Gallery app

So, got nothing better to do on your iPhone besides playing Angry Birds or logging your calories? Well you can now see what kind of ads are being used in Apple's iAd....

Apple orders up 12 Petabytes of storage for iTunes video content

In another move that makes you say, "Oh my gosh, what are they going to do next?", Apple is ordering 12 Petabytes of storage for video content on iTunes. I'll let you hardcore geeks tell me just how much capacity 12 Pb's are.

iPad 2 coming to Toys R Us?

Here is an interesting tidbit regarding the possibility of the iPad 2 coming t... soon. Ok, I'm going to say it...I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys R Us kid!

Well, that is going to do it for this week's AppleTalk Thursday. Sorry no app reviews this week, but I will have some lined up for next week. Have a great day!