Stan's List

MacWorld 2010 is considered a success due to the number of attendees. Crowded bothThursday and Friday. due to the expo being only in the North conference center. Apple was always on the South side and thus crowds were divided between the two sides with more on the South side than the North where smaller venders usually were found.

The Showwx laser pico projector can be connected to any device that display photos or video, such as a Mac Book or iPod or iPhone. Always stays in focus, whether projecting a 6 inch image up to 200 inches, in WVGA (848×480) format. The battery can usually power projection of an entire movie before requiring recharge. The Showwx should be available in the US in March, they had a working prototype at the expo. It is currently available in Europe and Asia. Certainly deserved the best of show award.

Office for iPhone or IPod Touch allows viewing, editing and creating MS Word and Excel documents. Many of the commands in the full version are included in the iPhone/Touch version and are listed on their web page. A number of the commands take advantage of the iPhone/Touch, particularly the Excel commands.

Both the Showwx and Office for iPhone/Touch would seem useful together, though graphs are not mentioned as a feature.in Office for iPhone/Touch.

Eye-Fi adds Wi-fi to your camera, enabling one to send photos to their computer without connecting either one to each other.

There is a compatibility page, as some camera’s can not accept a 4 GB SD memory card. My Nikon D50 can not read more than a 2 GB memory card, whereas my wife’s CoolPix S710 can.

Eleven Engineering, a semiconductor company, has targeted a new wireless technology for use in portable devices with what it contends is better-than-Bluetooth performance in stereo music applications. This company is the chip maker, partnering with potential product companies.They were demoing a wireless speaker system, nothing tempting. The technology is the key, it they can convince their partners to use their circuit board in their products. As said, Wi-Fi is preferable to Blue-Tooth. Any product using the symbol, which is a abstract of TRIK will be assurance they are using Eleven Engineering’s technology.

This version of the software includes the following improvements and supersedes all previous versions:

Bug fixes

Only available via iTunes when you connect your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Getting ready for Friday’s iPhone 3G and iPhone/iPod Touch software version 2.0, iTunes 7.7 includes an updated iTunes Phone Driver and Apple Mobile Device Support for their remote-control application available now in the App Store. The App Store is open and you can download iPhone/iPod Touch applications The 2.0 software is not yet available, and is necessary to take advantage of this new store.

Use iTunes 7.7 to sync music, video, and more with iPhone 3G, and download applications from the iTunes Store exclusively designed for iPhone and iPod touch with software version 2.0 or later. Also use the new Remote application for iPhone or iPod touch to control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home — a free download from the App Store.

The SF Chronicle names a number of game developers who are showing great interest in the iPhone and iPod Trust, that users can anticipate some fine games, “We are very enthusiastic about the iPhone as a platform and we think Apple has done it right on the hardware and the delivery platform, said Michel Guillemot, president and CEO of mobile gamemaker Gameloft. “We think from the consumer point of view, it’s going to very successful and we are eager to participate in this.”

“Developer reaction to the iPhone SDK has been incredible with more than 100,000 downloads in the first four days,” said Apple’s Philip Schiller.

The other mobile platforms now look pretty pathetic by comparison — not so much because their technologies are bad, but because their business infrastructure is so primitive, former Chief Competitive Officer and VP of Product Planning at Palm, writing for MobileOpportunity.

Thursday, Apple is to announce the iPhone and iPod Touch SDK and the rules for its use. According to iTWire Apple will limit access to the camera, Wi-Fi and other sections, but not the dock connector. Apparently this will only apply to applications that have a price and not to those that are free. Will this discourage development? More …

Sales of both the iPhone and all the iPods, not surprisingly, hare been slow. Consumers have throttled back their discretionary spending with the possibility of a recession.

9to5Mac has received information that Apple will reduce the price of both iPhone and iPod Touch by $100 and discontinue the 8GB iPod Touch and iPhone. One reason could be memory prices have fallen. Also, with the 3G iPhone only months away, this creates some price spacing. Lower sales are the most likely. More …

The new prices are expected to be

16GB iPod Touch 16Gb iPhone – $399

32GB iPod Touch $399

iPhone is available now in the original 8GB model for $399 and a new 16GB model for $499.

The iPod Touch is still available in the 8GB ($299) and 16GB ($399 and now 32GB ($499)

If you buy any 20th Century Fox DVD labeled ‘iTunes Digital Copy’ you’ll will have a digital copy along with the physical DVD. You can view the movie on your Mac, iPod, or iPhone as many times as you like (since you own the movie) but the digital copy can only be imported into one iTunes library.

This AppleCare article explains just how to transfer that digital copy into iTunes, and once done, into video iPod, Apple TV or iPhone.

Seen as further battle with M$$$$, IBM has announced they will port Lotus Note to both the iPhone and iPod Touch. According to eWeek, IBM will release a email package for Lotus Notes at its Lotusphere conference on January 21st. Also, Lotus Notes and Lotus Symphony will be released for the Mac.

With it expected Friday, it fair to say the update has finally arrived. Available only through iTunes. There likely will not be a standalone installer. Reports from Europe of the 1.1.2 update this weekend stated that overall speed had increased, additional keyboard layouts and more editing options. There is also good and bad news. The update repairs a TIFF exploit that could have allowed execution of arbitrary code. The bad news is that the TIFF exploit was the method Jailbreak used for entry.