Cody Fink

1547 posts on MacStories since January 2010

Former MacStories contributor.

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What Overheating iPad? Judge Dismisses Class Action Lawsuit

Does the iPad overheat when used outside under directly sunlight or warm weather? U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogol has thrown out the case, where plaintiffs claimed Apple deceptive Apple marketing. The plaintiffs argued that books “don’t shut down,” arguing Apple advertised that the iPad was able to be read “just like an open book.”  Computerworld reports that this case didn’t go very far.

“The Court concludes that these allegations are insufficient,” Fogel wrote in his order. “At the least, Plaintiffs must identify the particular commercial or advertisement upon which they relied and must describe with the requisite specificity the content of that particular commercial or advertisement.”

I’m not going to outside and roast my iPad on the sidewalk and wait for it to overheat, but with any sort of common sense (or perhaps purchasing sense) you should realize the iPad’s screen is pretty glossy and isn’t desirable to read in sunlight in the first place. The Judge has given the plaintiff thirty days to gather evidence per his request, but what could they dig up? Commenters, do you think Apple any of Apple’s advertisements or website promotions could be sufficient for this case?

[Computerworld via Macworld]


Steve Jobs Kicked In The Face In LG Optimus Pad Promotion

The LG Optimus Pad promo was just another boring tablet video that was more effects than awesome product showcase. At about a minute in, however, any morning coffee drinker would have instantly rewound the tape only to ask, “Did I just see get Steve Jobs get pummeled in the face?” We’re not kidding: In a mock game of Street Fighter (apparently called Spec Fighter), Optimus starts the match with a swift flying kick and stomach punch to none other than Apad, modeled after Steve Jobs. Tasteless? Of course. I mean, they didn’t even show the part where Jobs used his Hadouken. Video from CrunchGear after the break.

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Nokia Borrows iMovie Loop For Microsoft Partnership Announcement

If Nokia’s recent announcement to partner with Microsoft wasn’t enough to stir up the #fail hashtags on Twitter, leave it to the Apple geeks to point out that Nokia is using their biggest competitor’s theme in their recent announcement. While Apple’s audio loops are royalty free, it’s still amusing to see a competitor using the Macbook theme (Pendulum) in their Microsoft get-together. Check out what Adrian Boioglu from Boio.ro has dug up after the break.

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Super PLS To Be iPad’s Next Display Technology?

Samsung’s cheaper to produce but ultimately superior new panel technology, Super PLS (Plane to Line Switching), is rumored to make an appearance in Apple’s next iPad. While an increase of resolution is unknown (and unlikely), Super PLS costs 15% cheaper to manufacture than the iPad’s current IPS technology, while offering 10% greater brightness for viewing. If Apple is known for one thing, it’s their early adoption and implementation of new and powerful display technologies.

Samsung’s PLS technology is superior to IPS in many regards. The viewing angles provided by PLS are improved as the display actually shifts the shape of the individual pixels so they are displayed brighter and with better contrast from more angles.

iFixYouri and 9 to 5 Mac’s proposed unveiling of Apple’s next display technology is reportedly produced by LG, but Apple typically uses multiple display manufacturers to meet demand.

[via 9 to 5 Mac]


We Think You’ll <3 Joypad Too: We Have Ten Copies To Give Away

If you’re not already familiar with my love of Joypad, you might want to check out yesterday’s video filled review. It’s really neat (and nerdy) to pull an iPod touch out of your pocket to play a classic on your Mac or PC with a virtual controller, and I think you’ll love this app-controller gone must-have-gizmo too. We’re giving away ten copies of Joypad to several lucky readers this weekend, so if you love blasting pixel pirates or have an iOS toting gamer in your life, you might want to click the tweet button after reading our rules past the break.

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MacDropAny: Symlinks Made Easy

While symlinks are funny creatures (you’d never want to sync a Symlink from a Mac to a PC), they can be amazingly valuable if you’re keeping multiple Macs with equal paths in harmony. MacDropAny is a nifty Dropbox Addon that allows you to point to any folder on your computer outside of Dropbox via a symlink inside of Dropbox. It’s recommended that you don’t sync your Applications folder, but that documents folder might be nice to backup. There’s no application screenshot here: MacDropAny is so simple just a couple of menu prompts will walk you through the process.

[DropboxAddons: MacDropAny via Lifehacker]


Echofon For iPad & iPhone Update to 4.0

How could Echofon’s magical sync-a-bilities get anymore improved between Echofon on the desktop and your favorite iOS devices? How about the addition of user streaming to the iPad, global push notifications for direct messages, and the ability to temporarily mute tweet happy users? User streaming is something I’ve wished for in all clients as long as it continues to retain your place on the timeline (Twitter for iPad is good at this), and not too many have successfully took a swing at Echofon’s syncing features. There’s nothing more annoying that re-reading a garbage bin full of old tweets - pick up where you left off with Echofon, and download the free updates in the iTunes App Store via the links below.

Echofon for iOS, Free

[Business Wire: UberMedia: Echofon 4 Press Release via The Next Web]


Fuel Collective’s ImageGlitch Destroys JPEGs, TIFFs

If you’re designing for a Trent Reznor project, Fuel Collective’s ImageGlitch literally achieves the task by having users delete lines of code from the image’s code makeup. A glitchy app will have glitch results: you can’t just delete any line of code, but some fidgeting in the text editor allows you to suddenly edit out lines, alter color, and completely screw up any of those vintage family photos you’ve saved to your hard drive. I don’t know how safe this is, but it’s recommend that you back up anything before you start deleting data from those image files. I might try it to create some new graphics for a site I’m working on, but I think Fuel Collective has already beaten’ me to the punch.

Download the destructive image editor in the Mac App Store for $.99.


Rumor: Apple Prototyping A 2.3” iPhone At $200 Without Contract? Customers To Choose Own Network?

With the tech world still suffocating from iPad 2 rumors and John Gruber’s predictive iPad 3 lineup bomb, Bloomberg reports this afternoon that Apple may be planning to rekindle their iPhone line with new models to better compete with Android. What’s in the mix? A rumored Apple iPhone prototype is said to be a third smaller than the current iPhone 4, meaning it would be on par with HP’s Veer at approximately 2.3 inches diagonally. How do you undercut the competition? By finally offering American consumers the option to purchase a $200 smartphone without an obligatory contract.

Apple can sell it at a low price mainly because the smartphone will use a processor, display and other components similar to those used in the current model, rather than pricier, more advanced parts that will be in the next iPhone, the person said. Component prices typically drop over time.

Whether or not you care to dig into the gigahertz war in smartphone processor technology, the current hardware for the iPhone 4 would still be relevant for the next year, despite Android handsets launching with dual-core processor. iOS, being extremely efficient would fly with a 1GHz processor pushing pixels on a 2.3 inch display. With the same great camera, the baby iPhone would be an excellent edition to Apple’s lineup when paired with larger display of an iPad. (Personally, I don’t think these smaller displays are just for tweens.) The phone would be free if purchased on contract.

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