Cody Fink

1547 posts on MacStories since January 2010

Former MacStories contributor.

[email protected]

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Denon Gets AirPlay Via $60 Firmware Update

Want AirPlay on your Denon AVR4311, AVR3311, AVRA100, or DN7 Multimedia System? Prepare to shell out a sixty dollar upgrade for the privilege – Denon isn’t new to up-charging customers for software updates such as this one, but we think it’s a little absurd that they don’t just give you the proprietary update for free. Audiophiliacs looking to stream lossless audio to their receivers will pay for the privilege – everyone else can just buy a used Airport Express on eBay for the same price.

[via Macworld Australia]

iPad Simulator Crafted In JS & CSS3 Works - Has Multitasking

Put this on the top of the, “Most impressive things I’ve seen today!” list. Alex Wolkov has taken an iPad, and simulated it virtually with JS & CSS3. Launch apps, surf inside the iPad with a web browser, and even launch the multi-task bar with the home button. Quit apps, delete others, and shuffle icons around just as you would on a real iPad. This is all in web code, and the project is open-sourced on github so you can take a gander. Fair warning, make sure you have a relatively good screen resolution on your monitor so you can view the iPad in full while you play around.

[iPad Simulator via Forrst]

Apple Stores Everywhere: List Of Store Confirmations To Open 2011

With over 150 store openings as of last September, you can expect the 2011 Apple Store season to be huge. Where’s the money? Apple must be a fan of MacStories, because Cupertino will be brining our international audience (Italy in particular) a little slice of home throughout the year. That’s not to say new stores won’t open in the United States (New York’s pretty lucky to be getting yet another store), and we advise you to check past the break for a run down of expected store openings according to ifoAppleStore.com’s latest report.

Read more

Homebrew Satarii Star iPhone Dock Follows Your Every Move

A couple of pals under the name Satarii have been working out of a garage-office for the past year perfecting the Satarii Star, an iPhone dock that follows your every move. In conjunction with a wearable tracker, the Satarii is a rotary base that follows you around around a scene such as your living-room. FaceTime conversations would be rather awesome when you could grab a cup of coffee without having to worry about the ol’ shaky cam, and imagine the possibilities in self-producing quality video? Imagine the MacStories reviews that could come of this thing! We’re pretty excited about this neat gadget because it’s a novel idea. Support the team and help Satarii reach their goal of $20,000 so we can see this thing get some legs.

[IndieGoGo via Engadget]

Zune HD Can Sync To Mac While Windows Phone 7 Controls iTunes

While Microsoft isn’t officially advocating the Zune HD march onto OS X, a simple tweak to your Windows Phone 7 Connector software for OS X can add syncing capability in no time. With a little tweak of the .plist file, nate8nate over at Zuneboards discovered this terminal trick:

defaults write com.microsoft.Windows-Phone-7-Connector ZuneEnabled -bool YES

Nate was able to sync pictures and movies to his Zune HD – you might want to give it a try if you’re tired of syncing to that unused Windows box.

If you’ve upgraded to a Windows Phone 7 device, you might be happy knowing your iTunes playlists are now controllable over wifi. This isn’t an official Microsoft implementation, bur rather something you can add for $1.99 on the Marketplace. The WP7 Remote app not only has a pretty nice icon, but also turns your iTunes library into something terrible unique (or dare I say, Zune like?).

[via Engadget 1, 2]

Who Wouldn’t Want To Perch This Wireless Speaker?

Interested in a two-piece wireless speaker and charger that looks like half a zen-birdhouse? Check out the Perch Mobile Wireless Speaker from Quirky. A two piece design elegantly flips around so you can stand it up, lay ‘er down, and stream your music through bluetooth through the little guy. It includes an AC Charger and allows you to dock, erm, Perch your iPhone for a makeshift bed stand, perfect for something like Rise if you’re not into the default alarm clock. It’s also compatible with Androids, Windows phones, and Blackberries, but face it – it doesn’t look as cool without an iPhone nested in its maw. It’s kind of pricey at $179.99 during pre-order (it’ll be $199.99 once it launches), and we think for the commitments needed it’d have been better left to Kickstarter.

The Verizon iPhone Is For App Lovers

Let’s state the obvious, Fink. Geez. I’ll be blunt: this is an, “Should I keep my Android phone or get the new iPhone on my Verizon contract?” post. Specifically, I’m talking to my fellow Android owners who’re on the fence about switching to the Verizon iPhone.

I’ve been sitting on this article all day between five thousand or so words of rant material, iPhone gawking, Android squawking, and just about every title under the sun that would attract more iPhone and Android fanboy rage than my little heart could handle. Good grief! I told Federico that this piece could do me in for a few days – this one was hard to write. “Ticci!” I said. “This is too controversial for the Internetz! They’ll explode!” After much deliberation I decided to focus on one specific aspect of Android and the iPhone, instead of comparing the platforms as a whole (there’s simply too much to talk about). After dramatically toning down the content, today’s topic is all about apps and the phones that have them, but which one is better for you?

As someone on Verizon who’s had a year long matrimony with an Android… do you dare click the read more link? I think you should.

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OWC Aura Pro Express: MacBook Air SSD’s Get Faster

If the blazing speed of Apple’s built in SSD for the MacBook Air isn’t fast enough, head over to OWC and check out their Aura Pro Express. Featuring write speeds up to 275 MB/s over Apple’s factory 215MB/s, you’re looking at a 15% increase in face melting performance. At the top of the line, you can nab yourself a 360 GB Express SSD if you still can’t live out of the cloud, though that’ll set you back an easy $1,180. You can nab a 180 GB model at a cooler $500, and you’ll still get OWC’s chip based encryption, RAID-like data protection, and ultra-efficient wear leveling that any good SSD drive should have. I don’t know if I’ll pick one of these bad boys up any time soon, but we’re sure there will be plenty who are willing to grab their torx screwdrivers and empty their pockets for one of these.

OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express SSD

Verizon iPhone To Launch February 3rd?

The Boy Genius Report suspects that an impending vacation freeze at Apple from February 3rd to the 6th indicates an important first four day weekend to focus on sales of a new handset. Coinciding with last year’s similar June 24th through June 27th, also a Thursday through Friday, and Verizon’s typical Thursday launch days, the rumored release of a Verizon iPhone during this period is plausible.

In addition, Verizon Wireless typically launches new devices on Thursdays. WhileBGR has not yet confirmed that the Verizon iPhone is the device we’ll see debut on the 3rd, the timing lines up very well with previous reports; no other Apple products have been rumored to be launching in this time frame.

I’m of two thoughts when it comes to a Verizon iPhone selling before the AT&T phone, but this is my main issue: Would Apple launch an iPhone 4 now only to release a new one on AT&T in a few months?

[via BGR]

Update: Verizon just sent out invitations for a special event they will hold on January 11. Maybe the Verizon iPhone is really happening this time.