Updated specifications for 13 inch MacBook Pros (old configuration in brackets)

Updated specifications for 15 inch MacBook Pros (old configuration in brackets)

As you can see from the configuration above,  anyone who recently bought the 13" 2.26GHz MacBook Pro must be cursing themselves.

It is interesting to note that even the high end MacBook Pros have the total memory capped at 4GB. In fact now all configurations carry 4GB. There are two reasons – 4GB RAM is usually good enough for most users and secondly DDR3 RAM is not cheap. If you really want to upgrade to 8GB,  you need to spend a whopping $400 extra!

Ever wondered what is the most expensive MacBook Pro configuration you can buy? Well, you can get the best of the best for a low price of $7,505. This configuration includes a 24 inch LED cinema display and a 512GB solid state drive. Obviously many of us would have to mortgage our house to get one of these!

Most Expensive MacBook Pro (Configuration)

The advantages of Jailbreaking iPad

Jailbreaking iPad opens up more possibilities than on an iPhone. iPad has better hardware and bigger screen and hence it can replace a netbook with much better battery backup. We may see custom Linux distributions capable of running on iPad. The immediate benefit of course is that iPad users can download applications rejected by Apple from other app directories such as Cydia. It also enables complete customization of iPad OS. Who knows, someday someone may even find a way to run Windows XP on iPad!

However the lack of some of the essential hardware on iPad makes jailbreaking less appealing. For example, lack of an integrated camera.

How blackra1n works on iPhone?

Blackra1n works on a specific exploit on iPhone/iPad devices known as the USB Control Message exploit. By manipulating the call to function usb_control_msg it is possible to overwrite sections of memory.  See this page for the details of this. However in the case of iPad, the precise exploit that Geohot used is not yet known.

Apple is refusing to allow flash in its devices claiming that its implementation is buggy and it is not suitable for its devices. So the only option to develop software for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad was to use the Xcode and iPhone SDK on Mac machines. It also meant that developers need to learn Objective C to build iPhone apps. Adobe thought that they can work around these limitations by providing a cross compiler which will convert Flash programs directly into iPhone’s ARM binary code. Till now Apple approved any app submitted to App store provided it met all its guidelines and hence a number of apps built with a preview release of Flash CS5 got into app store.

With iPhone OS 4.0 onwards this whole cross compiler process becomes illegal. Adobe may  probably release iPhone cross compiler as part of Flash Processional CS5. But any developer building an iPhone/iPad application on it will be taking a huge risk since Apple may reject it during App Store submission. Technically there is nothing that can differentiate between the ARM code generated by Xcode and Flash Professional. Apple can insert a unique signature to code, but the same can be easily inserted by Flash professional. But even releasing the cross compiler may be illegal.

Now I think Adobe deserves what it got. They could have directly contacted Apple before going ahead and developing a cross compiler. Things like these should teach giant companies like Adobe that they can’t be arrogant all the time. One day Apple may also get a taste of its own medicine. 

Obviously what Apple did makes a lot of business sense. They want people to use their own platform to build apps. Proliferation of cross compilers is not a good thing in long run. It can lead to inefficient code(?) as well. But the real reason seems to be that Apple wants complete control over its platform. They don’t want somebody to create a better development platform for building apps in iPhone and iPad. It also shows how easy it is to decimate the competition when you put restrictions on a platform. I now wonder why Microsoft was harassed by various governments all these years. Compared to Apple, they are angels

There is one more interesting aspect to the Apple/Adobe tussle. There are a lot of Flash game developers out there. It is not easy to compete with them if you are a pure Objective C developer building games for iPhone. So this is a good news for all the Objective C developers out there!

The error is not uniform. Sometimes you get no error at all, but still the 3.1.2 is neither downloaded nor installed. Sometimes it gives a message “Unknown error 2020″. I tried upgrading iTunes and it turned out that it is the latest. I also tried resetting the iPod firmware. Interestingly the original firmware was downloaded without any issue which indicated that this may not be a download server issue. Finally I found a workaround quite accidentally.

There is a simple workaround to get 3.1.2 firmware installed on your iPod touch. Just download a free app from the Apple iTunes Store. This download somehow triggers the iPod touch upgrade download! Initially a 0.4KB file is downloaded which triggers the download of 240MB iPod touch software upgrade.

Problems like these remind me of the good old days when you can do upgrade to a device simply by downloading a file manually. If the file is available for download, it is guaranteed to work. For upgrade etc. iTunes should be made optional. They should give a alternate download location from where the upgrade can be dowloaded and directly moved to the iPod/iPhone.

What is new in iPod Touch 3.1.2 firmware?
3.1.2 firmware upgrade is a minor bug fix release. It contains fixes related to video streaming and sleep issues.

Very funny

Apple shipped 1,606,000 Macintosh® computers and 21,066,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 28 percent growth in Macs and 50 percent growth in iPods over the year-ago quarter.

Wow! More than 20 million iPods per quarter! Profits may again jump this year if iPhone sales pick up. If the current iPhone buzz is any indication, crossing 2 billion profits is not far!

Turns out Apple is not happy about all the publicity. Someone has created a skin for Windows Mobile phones that looks very similar to the new iPhone user interface. Shortly after Paul O’Brian posted a link on an xda-developer forum to the interface, he got a cease and desist letter from Apple’s lawyers. The lawyers warn, “The icons and screenshot displayed on your website are copyrighted by Apple, and copyright law explicitly prohibits unauthorized display and distribution of copyrighted works. Apple therefore demands that you remove this screenshot from your website…

Well done Apple! Harassing bloggers is an easy way to increase your business. I have a feeling that some of the Apple lawyers are Microsoft employees!

Note the cool scrolling – just like iPod. The photo zoom is bloody impressive and all that for $500!
Guys, you need to wait – iPhone is only available from June 2007. And yeah, I am still scanning for iPhone stuff

The equation is,
iPhone = big iPod + mobile phone + Wifi browsing + some cool ideas

What is Good?

Pretty big and impressive display at 3.5 inch – Apple utilized maximum space for display. This will substantially improve video playback and browsing experience.

Wifi support and the multi tasking support – Yes, Wifi support is basic now. Still I would rate it as one of the best features.

Advanced sensors are pretty interesting! – The proximity sensor detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away.
An ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the displays brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, thereby enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time.

What is Bad?

But there is one feature which is disappointing. The built in camera is only 2 Mega pixels. I don’t think anything below 3.2 Mega pixels is good enough now. I hope they will upgrade it to 3.2 soon! Then probably I will buy it

Complete specifications,

Screen size – 3.5 inches
Screen resolution – 320 by 480 at 160 ppi
Input method – Multi-touch
Operating system – OS X
Storage – 4GB or 8GB
GSM – Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)
Wireless data – Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0
Camera – 2.0 megapixels
Battery – Up to 5 hours Talk / Video / Browsing. Up to 16 hours Audio playback
Dimensions – 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches / 115 x 61 x 11.6mm
Weight – 4.8 ounces / 135 grams

Now the expectation on the new stuff they are going to announce has reached its peak! Dreamhost predicts on what it is going to be

For functions from e-mail and instant messaging to mobile MySpace and ESPN, computer users are increasingly turning to the “fourth screen” – the one on their cellphones – which is evolving to adopt more characteristics of the three previous generations of screens: movie, television and computer.

That shift may well be underscored on Tuesday when Steven Jobs, the chief executive of Apple Computer, is expected to unveil an Apple phone representing his company’s new mobile communications strategy – highlighted by a device that may include Jobs-inspired refinements like a sleek ceramic case and a transparent touch screen.

Only time will tell whether this will turn out to be the pocketpc killer like what iPod did to other MP3 players. Well, one thing is sure, it won’t be that easy.