Your going to need to know how to setup it up through a Wi-Fi network though, which is not as hard as it seems. If you are not particularly fond of the new MacBook keys you can choose from one of the other more traditions key skins. Windows users are out of luck this time as the application will only work on a Mac.

With every iPhone update that Apple releases they try to find ways to crush advancements that the iPhone Dev Team are making. We expect firmware 2.2 will have a few different tweaks to prevent jailbreaking, what we didn’t expect was that the new MacBooks would be the next wave of defense.

People over at Howard Forums are complaining that they are unable to jailbreak their iPhone using the Pwnage Tool on newly purchased MacBooks.  The new MacBooks do not recognize iPhones that are placed in recovery mode (DFU Mode), a vital step in the jailbreaking process.  It seems the creation of the modified firmware is where Apple has decided to put an end to it. This is going to create problems because users who are not trying to jailbreak their phones can not restore their iPhone anymore.

It seems the way Apple has stopped progress is in a small software modification as not much else has changed. It looks like the culprit in this case just may be the new build of iTunes. As with all the attempts that Apple makes to stop people from jailbreaking their phones, it is only a matter of time before the iPhone Dev Team finds a way around it.

[Via Engadget and HowardForums]

Of course, the current rumor is that Apple themselves are preparing a MultiTouch UMPC or tablet of their own, based on the iPod Touch and iPhone, and possibly reviving the Newton name.  However such a device would not be a direct competitor to the Modbook, which, courtesy of its high-sensitivity digitizer pen, is being targeted at artists and design professionals.  It will certainly offer far more accuracy than might be possible with a fingertip.

To hammer that point home, Axiotron are planning to take the Modbook to the MacWorld Expo, where a number of designers, architects, cartoonists and animators will demonstrate its abilities.  Ironically, that’s similar to the exclusive SlashGear footage below, shot at last year’s MacWorld:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN_e_Y1oIp8[/youtube]

“We believe NAND Flash drive sizes have now reached capacities that Apple would consider large enough to include in a new MacBook model.  As a result, a new, smaller version of Apple’s MacBook, and possibly an entirely new product, is more likely to be launched at MacWorld in early January” Gene Munster, Analyst

Munster also suggested that the iPhone would gain a mobility-friendly version of the file finding app Spotlight, enabling system-wide searches and contextual keyword strings.  Such a feature – coinciding, he believes, with the iPhone being officially opened to third-party applications – would strengthen the handset’s claims as a smartphone rather than a high-end fashion cellphone. 

[via SlashGear]

Using a piece of software already in Erica’s arsenal, autosnap, File Catcher means you can trigger remote photos from your iPhone as well as keep a long-term backup of all the images you take.  Useful if you’ve only got a 4GB iPhone and are wary of how much space is left.

Erica kindly offers up the software free, although you’ll need to have Jailbroken your iPhone in order to use them.  Let us know in the comments how you get on!

[via TUAW]

An evolution, perhaps, of the FingerWorks TouchStream MacNTouch, which replaces standard MacBook keyboards with a trackpad platter, the patent describes the usability drawback of a non-edged keyboard and Apple’s vision of a potential improvement:

“User acceptance of the TouchStream.TM. integrated typing, pointing and gesture input devices manufactured by FingerWorks demonstrated that learning to type on a smooth, un-textured surface is possible, but takes substantial practice. In many ways, typing on such a surface is almost like learning to type all over again. It is believed that mainstream acceptance of typing on touch surfaces will require shortening of the typing re-acclimation period, which, in turn, requires improved keystroke tactility”

Of course, in the move away from mechanical components in laptops it seems strange to imagine a newly complex mechanism which would rise beneath the keyboard, but this could be some sort of electrostatic “memory” surface rather than a traditional frame.  Still, while you shouldn’t expect to necessarily see this in Apple Stores anytime soon, it would be an interesting development for the much-rumored Mac Tablet: a screen that could be touched and gestured on, but then which could also be used as a pretty precise keyboard.

The problem sees the read/write heads of the drive make contact with the storage platters, gouging tracks in them with no chance of repair.  Clarke blames poor quality manufacturing standards in Chinese factories, but also saves some ire for Apple themselves:

“We believe that any sizeable manufacturer would by this stage be aware of such a problem and issue a product recall notice, or an offer to have the drive exchanged for a suitable alternative at their own expense” Duncan Clarke, Retrodata

Current advice for Mac owners with Seagate drives of Chinese origin is to make regular back-ups and consider replacing the storage.  Neither Apple nor Seagate responded to The Register’s request for comment.

Apparently Apple is looking to update the MacBook lineup along side the release of Leopard. They aren’t sure if the update will bring Santa Rosa to the MacBook line or if it will just be some slightly faster speeds.

They are pretty sure whatever it is the top-end won’t exceed 2.2GHz processor speed so Apple can keep a good distance between a MacBook and a MacBook Pro. Santa Rosa sounds likely, as my friend Ewdi pointed out, its cheaper to buy one type of processor.

MacBook Poised for product rev [via ThinkSecret]

If tradition is any hint Apple has tended to do some sort of PC hardware update in the fall, this time it should also yield a new version of the OS too. Who knows, it’s a big enough announcement that it might be its own separate announcement.

All I know is that if/when they start sending out invites to the event, and we get one, we’ll be there. More than likely we’ll also be live blogging it too, so keep and eye out for the announcement and the banner to the right for an upcoming Apple event.

Well, Apple reports 270,000 iPhones sold during the quarter – impressive, since it was released a mere 30 hours before the quarter ended – and they expect to sell their one-millionth handset by the end of the September quarter.  Unit sales exceed AT&T’s own activation figures (146,000 over the same period), for the most part due to unprecedented demand for a handset overwhelming the activation process:

“AT&T said more iPhones were sold in the first weekend than they had sold in the first month of any other wireless device in their entire history” Tim Cook, Chief Operating Officer, Apple

Yet the figures must be tough reading for the analysts who so wildly overinflated reports of iPhone sales and bandied about predictions such as “it’ll sell it’s millionth in less than a week”.  Thankfully for Apple the stock market has proved unconcerned by the varied fiscal badinage: stock closed up $2.37 (a rise of 1.76 percent to $137.26), and in after-hours trading that’s fluttered to over $4.50.

There was also a healthy business in iPhone accessories, hitting $5 million for the quarter, while sales of MacBook notebooks rose 42-percent to 1.13 million and comprised 64-percent of all Macs sold during the period.

From a news standpoint, it will be interesting to see how the public and media react now to analyst reports given the monumental over-hype of the iPhone launch.

Trusted though they might be, the sources didn’t (or couldn’t) say whether such a tiny machine would have a built-in optical drive, although MacScoop point to the 6.8mm Panasonic CD/DVD burner announced earlier this year which, at just 99g, certainly wouldn’t add too much bulk. 

Ultra-slim notebooks have long been rumoured as an addition to Apple’s offerings – as well as the prospect of so-called Tablet-Macs likely using the same multi-touch capacitative screen technology as the iPhone.  Considering the potential revenue from expense-account wielding business users (who love to have the lightest, most-toteable machine) Apple would be daft not to be considering the market.

[via SlashGear]