Macgasm

The more successful a company gets, the more people are going to be looking to tear them down a little bit. It’s normal, and it’s happened to a lot of companies long before Apple came around. It’s not overly surprising then that Apple has decided to create a new Vice President position to oversee quality control, and ensure that Apple’s products meet the highest levels of quality. Apple users have come to expect it, and Apple’s delivered it time and time again.

But, every now and then a chink in the armour turns up, either justly or unjustly, and everyone gets in a tizzy over the problems. Someone needs to be responsible for these problems, and to make sure that they never make it into production.  This is where Jeff Williams comes in to view.

Who is Jeff Williams? As of today Mr. Williams will be reporting to Apple’s COO Tim Cook directly. He’ll also be responsible for “end-to-end supply chain management” and ensuring that Apple products meet the highest standards of quality. He’s been with the company since leaving IBM in 1998, has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from Duke University. He sounds like a perfect fit for the new position, and we’re not alone in that opinion. Apple seems to like him quite a bit as well. AppleInsider has him slated to earn approximately $27.4 million dollars in stock options, and stock grants. They’ve also speculated that Apple’s grooming him to replace Tim Cook as COO, should Steve Jobs step down at any point in the future.

Article Via AppleInsider

One of the powers of OS X is the ability to create shortcuts for any menu item in an application. It’s come in handy before, and it’s coming in handy again this time. I’ve been struggling with a billion windows lately, and it’s been a pain keeping track of what’s open. I found myself wishing I could combine all of my windows into tabs in one Safari window. Turns out it’s easier than I originally thought it would be.

1. Go to your system preferences
2. Click on Keyboard
3. Select the Keyboard Shortcuts Menu
4. Click the + sign
5. Select Safari.app from the Application Drop down list
6. In the Menu Title section type in the exact name of the menu item. In this case it’s “Merge All Windows”
7. Then hit the keyboard combination you want to use in the Keyboard Section. I used CMD+M.
8. Click Add.

Now, every time I hit CMD+M in Safari all of my windows combine into one window with a bunch of tabs. It’s made me sane again.

Hat tip goes out to Chasetastic, Mitchell_jj, and thomasborowski on twitter for their suggestions.

Apple’s mobile Safari is a great browser. It offers great standards compliance and speed, but it isn’t everything for everyone. It can’t print money or leap tall buildings in a single bound, so there will be people that want a different mobile browsing experience. Luckily, there are options out there for the iOS, so I decided to highlight some of the most popular right here:

Opera Mini

This app had a fair bit of controversy around it before Apple approved it. Because it doesn’t use the WebKit rendering engine that is built into iOS, it does all of the rending on Opera’s servers, and then sends the compressed results to your device. It works well enough, but the user interface isn’t quite as slick as Safari. I’d only recommend using this if you’re worried about conserving bandwidth. You can get this app for free.

Download >>

iCab Mobile

iCab Mobile is much more of a normal situation. This browser doesn’t use any server-side tomfoolery. Like nearly all of the alternate browsers for iOS, it takes what Safari does, and adds some features. If full screen browsing, a built-in download manager, and a guest mode interest you, you should take the time to try out iCab. You can buy this app for $1.99 USD.

Download >>

Atomic

Atomic is another WebKit-based browser for iOS. It features customizable search, offline viewing, font size management, a customizable user agent string, and Twitter and Facebook link sharing built in. Atomic is perhaps the most feature rich Safari alternative, and you can buy it for only $0.99 USD.

Download >>

Mercury

This WebKit-based Safari alternative sports some pretty great features. It has ad-blocking, private browsing, and offline viewing. Mercury is a very close competitor to Atomic. You can buy this app for $0.99 USD.

Download >>

With the official release of version 2.0.1, Skype for iOS now supports the multitasking feature of iOS. If you’re using an iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, or an iPod Touch 3rd Gen, you’ll be able to keep Skype running in the background as you use other applications. You’ll be able to receive and continue calls even when you’re in the middle of completing a task.

This is what the multitasking model used in iOS 4 was designed for — keeping an important function of an application turned on while eliminating the bells and whistles of the full app. This gives you everything you need while conserving as much battery life as possible. It might not be a panacea, but it is a pretty slick implementation of multitasking that effectively has shut up the competition in regards to the “Multitasking Checkbox.”

What are your thoughts on the new multitasking Skype? Is it everything you hoped for? Let us know by leaving your thoughts in the comment section of this post. When you give us feedback, we’re able to taylor our content to better fit your needs.

Article Via MacWorld

If there was ever a company that embodied Apple’s design philosophy Twelve South would be it. Peter Cohen tweeted recently, “Twelve South needs to stop designing beautiful accessories for my Apple products.” We have to agree, Twelve South keeps blowing our collective macgasm minds with kickass products for our Apple products. First it was the BookArc, then it was the BassJump, and now it’s the Compass.

The Compass is a stand for your iPad that looks exactly like a compass. No, not a compass that you’d carry around on a hike, but a compass you’d use in math class. The device is elegant, and it’s probably one of the first iPad stands that have broken the mold.

Would you buy one of these things for $39.99? I certainly would. Hell, what do I mean would? I’m already cracking my wallet.

Is your 3G phone so painfully slow that you find yourself cursing it? Do you live in Canada? Well, if the answer is yes, then you’re going to be happy to know that iPhone 4 is finally coming to Canada. First to make an announcement is Telus, and it’s expected that Rogers and Bell will be following suit in the next couple of days.

If you’re a Telus customer you’ll be able to place your order on July 30th, 2010. You should also pay a little attention to what’s been going on in the US with their supply issues. If Telus has procured a substantial number of iPhone 4s, there’s a good chance that it’s a limited supply, considering the backlog in other first release nations. I’d get ready to pick up that phone and order the iPhone 4 one minute after midnight to order the device. Otherwise you could be waiting for a shipment a lot longer than you might want.

Article Via Telus

If you’re anything like we are, you probably fully expect companies to play the supply and demand game. It makes complete sense why a company would withhold their supply to increase demand. Perception is everything, and if a product is constantly sold out, it means that it’s selling well, which in turn means that people are buying them up, making the device extremely popular.

Nintendo is notorious for this every year around the holidays. All year long you can pick up a Wii, but it seems like every holiday season there’s a huge demand for the Wii, and supply simply dries up. The next thing we know, there are reports on the news about the Wii being a hot ticket item again, and everyone finds themselves in a frenzy to pick one up before their neighbour does.

This is why it doesn’t surprise me that Gene Munster asked Cook straight up why Apple is constantly running out of stock. Apparently we’re on the same wave length, because the thought has crossed my mind a number of times over the last year as well. Does Apple withhold supply to increase demand?

Tim Cook, Apple’s COO had this to say, “We do not purposely create a shortage for buzz.” So there you have it. Apple claims they don’t slow down supply in order to increase the buzz around their devices, “purposely.” Depending on how big of a skeptic you are, that “purposely” could be a pretty big loophole. But, it’s good to hear that Apple’s not artificially creating shortages, and instead are legitimately selling out products faster than they can make them.

I have a hard time seeing a company who just increased their profits by $3.25 billion this quarter playing with their supply curve. People want their devices, and they want them now. If they can’t get them, they’ll pickup a substitute, as evidenced by the success of the Android platform on Verizon.

A couple of days ago we wrote up an article highlighting Stuff.TV’s claims that Apple intended on charging for iOS4 for the iPad, which in our opinion would have been a huge step backwards for the device. It was suggested that the update would come in around $10.00, which is right in line with the other Touch updates that we’ve seen.

But, AppleInsider has pointed out that Apple’s licensing agreement “specifically stats that the next major iPad OS software release will be free.” But, that’s where Apple’s promises end, and speculation begins.

While the update to iOS 4 might be free, subsequent releases might not be. It makes complete sense that Apple wants to get everyone on the same page with iOS 4. Having everyone using the new OS means that software developers can forge ahead with their applications, without having to worry about compatibility issues.

The last we checked, and trust me I’m no lawyer, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is still in practice, and Apple’s previously cited the Act for the reasons behind the iPod Touch update charges. I have no idea how, or what the heck that Act stipulates, but I’m pretty sure we’re not done hearing about it just yet.

Ergo, enjoy the iOS 4 update for your iPad, but don’t be surprised if you’re charged for subsequent updates.

PS: I’ve always wanted to use ergo in a post. *high-five*

Article Via AppleInsider