Macgasm

On Thursday, at the 2009 Intelligence Warfighting Summit, Raytheon announced that they are developing a series of mission software applications designed for the iPhone.  At the summit, Raytheon showcased their One Force Tracker. This app allows the military to pinpoint their targets’ exact position using the Iphone’s GPS system. In a New York Times blog post, it says that there will also be maps that will use augmented reality qualities to show battlefields. “Maps with an overlay of points of interest are familiar to every GPS user. The Raytheon app would use the same concept, but points of interest might be known sniper sites or safe fallback positions,” says the New York Times.

“Raytheon’s experience with mobile communications in the tactical environment and the government customers’ need for low-power, simple plug-and-play applications led to the development of a real-time situational awareness application using Apple‘s touch technologies,” said Dr. J Smart, chief technology officer of Raytheon’s Intelligence and Information Systems business.

Raytheon indicated that the iPhones would have to be altered to have increase security that the military would need. They will also address the battery issue that the iPhone has, so that the military will have a longer-lasting iPhone. In a press release, Raytheon stated that they are working with Apple on these military apps. In the past, Apple has been very strict with what apps they approve. Also, these military apps will cause the iPhones to be altered to address some of the extra features that the military will need. Will Apple actually do this?

If Apple wants to get into the government and business arenas, then they should definitely assist Raytheon in doing this. In business, companies usually only supply Blackberries. This could leverage the iPhone as a business phone, which really hasn’t been the case in the past.

On Monday, Apple and Psystar have finally strike a deal in the copyright case that has been going on for months. If you haven’t heard, Apple was suing Psystar for shipping out Intel-based systems with Mac OS X preinstalled on them.  Apple finally got what they wanted because Psystar has agreed to stop selling these Mac clone computers.  A statement was released about the deal:

“Psystar and Apple today entered into a partial settlement that is embodied in a stipulation that will be filed with the Court tomorrow,” Psystar’s motion of Monday began. “Psystar has agreed on certain amounts to be awarded as statutory damages on Apple’s copyright claims in exchange for Apple’s agreement not to execute on these awards until all appeals in this matter have been concluded. Moreover, Apple has agreed to voluntarily dismiss all its trademark, trade-dress, and state-law claims. This partial settlement eliminates the need for a trial and reduces the issues before this Court to the scope of any permanent injunction on Apple’s copyright claims.”

It doesn’t seem that this ends Psystar creating these clone-Mac computers. Psystar will now shift responsbility for their customers to do the dirty work. Psystar has been able to do this by a product they designed called Rebel EFI, which they are fighting to keep out of the deal. This will allow their customers to still install Mac OS X on their systems. Does this mean that this allows Apple to sue individuals, similar to the music industry?

Psystar said released following statement about this shift: “Psystar’s end users do not engage in commercial use of Mac OS X and their use would qualify as use for ‘internal purposes’ even under the standards articulated by Apple in its summary-judgment briefing.”

We’ll definitely see how this concludes.

Kaneda – Art for iPhone, originally uploaded by kaneda99.

Rumors are flying that Apple is working on a “world mode” iPhone that is compatible with Verizon Wireless” CDMA network. According to the Money Times, here are the rumored iPhone specs:

• Handset set to release in 2010 will have a smaller screen
• 2.8-inches, way smaller than the current iPhone’s 3.5-inch display
• Place calls over Wi-Fi
• Display photos
• Play music as well as high-definition video

The Apple/AT&T exclusivity deal is suppose to end next year, but no one is for sure if it will or not. Apple would benefit greatly if they were to end this deal because they will be able to extend their popular phone to a stable network and leave behind the connectivity issues that AT&T has.

However, can this be true? It makes you wonder if it is being that Verizon has been heavily advertising new Android phones, the DROID being recently released. Verizon seems to be partnering up with Google, so is there any room for Apple? Then there are the rumors that the Palm Pre is suppose to head to Verizon next year as well.

It will be interesting to see the events unfold in the next few months. For someone who wants to get an iPhone or an Android phone, I will hold off on getting any new phones until next year to see if the rumors are true.

Apple will be spending $4-million dollars to renovate a triangle in a run-down area in Chicago. This area is next to its future Halsted Street retail store. The agreement was signed on 19 August with the Chicago Transit Authority to use that money to add subway access to that area.

“In the agreement approved at an August 19th Chicago Transit Board meeting, in exchange for the improvements the CTA will lease the bus turnaround to Apple at no cost for 10 years, with options on four, five-year extensions. The CTA will also give Apple “first rights of refusal” for naming the station and placing advertising within the station, if the CTA later decides to offer those rights.”

Chicago officials hope that this will bring developersand other shops to this run-down part of the city.  I wonder what Apple will call the renovated subway station: iTrain, iMode, or iLuvApple.  Regardless of the name, it’s great that Apple is doing this because they are helping Chicago and creating new jobs.

Via ifoAppleStore

It seems like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was not pleased with Apple’s departure on Monday. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue wrote a letter to Apple that was screaming sarcasm. Here is an excerpt published in the Wall Street Journal:

“It is unfortunate that your company didn’t take the time to understand the Chamber’s position on climate and forfeited the opportunity to advance a 21st century approach to climate change,” Donohue says in the letter, which goes on to slam the leading proposal in Congress to limit U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions as one that “will cause Americans to lose their jobs and shift greenhouse-gas emissions overseas, negating potential climate benefits.”

This letter shows that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is aware of what it means with a big player like Apple leaving the Commerce due to their latest stance against environmental issues. Instead of writing this letter, why didn’t they write a letter or something about the 21-century approach that the Chamber plans to take against greenhouse gases, and how this would cause American to lose their jobs? The only thing this caused was for Apple and environmentalists to snicker about how this is starting to make you realize that your past actions are causing you present headaches.

We’ll see the next actions that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce or Apple will take.  Don’t forget the popcorn!

Image Credit: MyEyeSees

Apple is the fourth and largest company to quit the US Chamber of Commerce due to difference of opinion concerning environmental issues. The federal efforts to limit greenhouse gases has not been as ambitious as it should be, so companies are now leaving in order to raise awareness of these concerns. “Apple’s departure is a clear signal that more and more of the chamber’s members want it to download a new tune when it comes to climate change,” said Peter Altman of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

This was due to the US Chamber of Commerce’s opposition to last week’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) attempt to regulate about 14,000 coal-burning power plants. This is going to be a huge blow to the US Chamber of Commerce because Apple is the first technology-based company to leave and also to have consumer products that many people are loyal to.

I wonder how the US Chamber of Commerce is going to proceed after this. It’s baffling that they are not trying to back something that would help the environment, which affects people and animals as well.  Recently, a high official compared environmental issues with the Scopes trial, which had to deal with a teacher teaching his students evolution. Many environmentalists were very upset over this because it made it seem like environmental issues are in the imagination of a few people, when in reality is something that can be backed up by scientific research.

I’m glad that Apple did this. Hopefully it gets the US Chamber of Commerce to wake up and start doing something over the environment.

Get the Tee: Here.

There were rumors in the past about Apple possibly inventing  its own search engine.  However, the idea slowly died down as quickly as it was circulated.  If Apple decidees to create its own search engine, it would more thank  likely be more of a mobile search engine to go with its popular iPhone.  Apple was rumored to have disliked the search functionality on the iPhone, so it would make more sense for them to do this.  With Google, Bing, and Yahoo being the forerunners of search engines, I don’t think that Apple would stand a chance.  Also, it wouldn’t make sense to create one just for Safari because not everyone uses the browser.

“The idea gets its latest traction because Apple has recently ejected Google CEO Eric Schmidt from its board.  Apple and Google are in competition with each other on a number of fronts. There is Apple’s Safari versus Google’s Chrome browser, which is not yet ready as a Mac OS X browser but is close to release. There is the iPhone and O/S versus Google’s Android mobile phone O/S, and Apple banning Google Voice from the iPhone.”

Read more: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/04/apple_search_engine/

Apple has just released Safari 4.0.2.

The security announcement indicates that “An issue in WebKit’s handling of the parent and top objects may result in a cross-site scripting attack when visiting a maliciously crafted website. This update addresses the issue through improved handling of parent and top objects.”

This will affect a Mac or PC, so leave the battle for another day.  Download it now and protect yourself from malicious attacks.