Toluu

The Macalope: An Apple blog

Most recent posts from CNET Blogs.

This Christmas, your company's getting an iPhone in a boxAugust 7 2008

George Ou (yes, that George Ou!) has an interesting preview of David Maynor's (yes, that David Maynor!) presentation tomorrow at DEFCON 16.

The horny one doesn't know if David's ingenious idea was inspired by the dick in a box, but to riff on a theme:

1) Get a box
2) Put a hacked iPhone attached to an external battery and running reconnaissance or penetration (ahem) tools in the box
3) Mail the box to your girl some company
4) Penetrate (the Macalope said "ahem" already!) said company

And that's how you do it!

While many companies have their shipping and receiving done at separate locations because of more traditional kaboom-related threats, this is still pretty Mission: Impossible.

The usual jokers will probably take this as another sign of why iPhones shouldn't be allowed in the enterprise.

If wishes were horses.July 24 2008

It's shoot for the moon daze, people! Following up on Al Gore's challenge to convert all electricity production to wind, solar and recumbent bike power in the next 10 years, two other probably even less likely to be accomplished challenges were raised.

First, TechCrunch wants users to build them a dead-simple web tablet for $200. There's that can-get-other-people-to-do-it spirit that made this country great! Make sure you get a tetanus shot before taking those test models for a spin! Some of those edges might be sharp.

Now one of the founders of Ubuntu maker Canonical, Mark Shuttleworth, says he wants the operating system that's fun to say to "blow right past Apple" in terms of an artful desktop experience. Right. Look, the Macalope has some really nice things to say about Linux and Tux himself, who he frequently plays against in the Mythical Creatures Intramural Softball League. But artful experiences are rarely, if ever, created by committee. Also, it's not just the presentation layer that separates Ubuntu from OS X. It's also this. It's not enough to look goo

The dark secret behind iPhone battery lifeJuly 23 2008

Rands on the Twitter:

PEOPLE the battery life appears less because YOU CAN'T PUT THE DAMNED THING DOWN.

That would pretty much explain it.

Remote controller? You're soaking in it!July 22 2008

In a review of Apple's quarterly post-conference call beating on the market (yawn, SEEN IT), ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes hits upon a gem of an idea while musing on the much-discussed upcoming "product transition".

Revamped AppleTV that's App Store compatible - Give the AppleTV a Wii Remote-like controller and it's ready to bring Super MonkeyBall to the world.

Let's ignore the fact that Apple's sold more iPhones and iPods touch ("iPod touches" just sounds wrong) than Apple TVs so Super Monkey Ball already reaches a wider audience. And let's also ignore the fact that this doesn't completely describe a transition to a lower-margin product. Instead, let's run with the remote controller idea. Because the remote controller is already in your hand.

It's the iPhone and the iPod touch. Both have the accelerometer and already act as a menu remote with Apple's Remote app. Rolling out the App Store to the Apple TV is a fabulous idea that could really add legs to an otherwise average device. Upscale the graphics and you're good to go. Game makers can create their own remote applications, allowing them to configure the buttons any way they like. Sure, there are some problems with that. Games may be a very good example of an instance where a physical button can be the difference between virtual life or death ("I thought I was pressing 'fire' and instead I was pressing 'n

iPhone launch-o-mess-o-ramaJuly 11 2008

As you know, the Macalope's not galloping out this morning to get an iPhone 3G. Particularly since he feels like he just got a new iPhone yesterday with the 2.0 software update.

And it seems that might not be a bad idea all around. Taking a look on the Twitter, MacUser's Dan Pourhadi says AT&T's in-store activation system isn't working and they're telling people to activate at home (that won't get you a phone you can unlock, though, unless you want to pay $600 for it -- failure to activate).

Meanwhile, MacVoices' Chuck Joiner says the AT&T store he's at is out of black 16 GB models. Oh, you can order one and it'll get there in 7 days. But if a truck pulls up to the back of the store with more later in the afternoon, you still have to wait for yours to arrive next week. The Macalope's seen that model lots of places, but it never gets any less annoying.

As with the last launch, AT&T stores are going to be far easier to get into than Apple Stores. Unless you're looking for a 3-hour meetup with your Apple-loving brethren, get thee to an AT&T store.

Or wait until this afternoon. Or tomorrow.

Reports to the contrary notwithstanding, waiting a few hours for one isn't going to kill you. Really. Well, at least there's not direct proof that it will kill you.