MacRumors

Apple's interest in Near Field Communication (NFC), the short-range wireless technology that supports such services as "tap and go" credit card payments, has been well-established, but a new report claims that Apple maybe be planning to include the technology in the fifth-generation iPhone to allow Mac users to essentially keep a portable version of their Mac on their iPhone and wirelessly allow any compatible Mac to run as if it was their own Mac.

If users wave a NFC-equipped iPhone at a NFC Mac (they need to be in close proximity to interact), the Mac will load all their applications, settings and data. It will be as though they are sitting at their own machine at home or work. When the user leaves, and the NFC-equipped iPhone is out of range, the host machine returns to its previous state.

"The Mac authenticates with the iPhone, which contains a lot of the information the computer needs, such as bookmarks, passwords and other data," said our source, who asked to remain anonymous. "The system would essentially turn any Apple computer into your own - like you're actually working on your own computer. Same settings, look, bookmarks, preferences. It would all be invisible. Your iPhone would be all you needed to unlock your Mac."

The source reports that smaller items of information such as passwords, documents, and preference files would be stored directly on the iPhone, but that larger chunks of data such as applications and music and photo libraries would likely have to be stored in the cloud to be included in the service, given the sizes of those items and the relatively slow transfer speeds used in NFC.

According to the source, Apple has been working on this implementation of NFC technology for "some time", but it is of course possible that it may never see a public release.

Apple is reportedly investigating an issue with a number of Monster-branded headphones designed to use Apple's Remote and Mic technology. According to photo screenshots of an internal Apple service bulletin, headphones included on the extensive list do not meet Apple's technical specifications and can cause iPods and iPhones to play and pause erratically.

Several Monster headphone models using Apple's Remote and Mic technology do not meet Apple's technical specifications. These headphones use conductive flanges, which can result in electrical shorts that cause an iPod or iPhone to pause and play erratically. Customers may not be aware that the issue is caused by the headphones and may believe that the iPod or iPhone is defective instead. There are no known safety concerns and no known risk of damage to the iPod/iPhone or headphones.

The list of nearly two dozen headphone models affected by the issue include representatives of Monster's Lil Jamz, Jamz, Turbine (Pro and Basic), and Heartbeats lines. The service bulletin does not appear to recommend a specific course of action for Apple representatives or the customers affected by the issue, but they should presumably contact Monster for support.

Update: Monster has provided BGR with a statement on the situation:

Monster was recently made aware by Apple that some of our Jamz, Turbine and Heartbeats headphones with ControlTalk may experience some irregularities under certain circumstances (it does NOT affect ControlTalk Universal). This irregularity potentially affects a very small fraction of our headphones and to this date we have received no customer complaints. However, because the customer experience is our top priority, Monster immediately stopped shipment of all potentially affected products.

With the exception of the black or chrome Heartbeats with ControlTalk, this issue does not affect any other of the Beats by Dr. Dre products. If you think you are experiencing a problem with one of the headphones listed below, please contact Monster customer service [http://www.monstercable.com/service] to receive a replacement.

Potentially affected products include ControlTalk versions of Lil Jamz, Jamz, Turbine, Turbine Pro and Heartbeats.

With the release of iTunes 10.0.1 in late September, Apple unveiled the Ping Sidebar, offering users the ability to experience deeper integration between their music libraries and Apple's music-focused social network launched in iTunes 10. The new functionality did, however, do away with the earlier "Genius Sidebar" that had offered users song recommendations based on items in their own libraries.

As noted by MacStories, Apple late last week quietly tweaked the sidebar yet again in an attempt to offer the best of both worlds, offering both Ping and Genius functionalities in a renamed "iTunes Sidebar".

The Ping dropdown menu next to each song in users' libraries also continues to be offered, allowing users easy access to the service's functions and artist profiles.

The new iTunes Sidebar does not requires a revised version of iTunes 10 delivered via software update, as the sidebar's contents are loaded entirely from Apple's servers.

Several weeks ago, we noted that users in New Zealand and Australia had discovered a bug in iOS 4.1 that caused recurring alarms to go off an hour early after those countries switched to daylight saving time beginning in late September.

At the time, Apple representatives in Australia reported that the bug would be addressed in an upcoming software update, which many users had hoped would be a quick iOS 4.1.1 fix rather than having to wait until iOS 4.2 sometime this month. A fix has yet to appear, however, and with the UK and other European countries ending daylight saving time this weekend, the bug is striking a significant new population of users.

And with European users ending daylight saving time as opposed to the earlier groups in the Southern Hemisphere that were beginning daylight saving time, the bug means that European users are seeing their alarms go off an hour late.

Daylight saving time ends in the United States and Canada on November 7th, setting the stage for a fresh spate of oversleepers if Apple does not provide an iOS update this week.

Update: Several forum members in the United States have also reported experiencing the bug, although the reason for it is unclear, as daylight saving time in the U.S. does not end until next Sunday.

If you haven't yet downloaded the VLC Media Player for iPhone/iPad, now's a good time to do so. A formal copyright complaint has been issued against the software by one of the individual contributors to the VLC project. As a result, it seems likely that Apple could pull the app from the App Store:

Today, a formal notification of copyright infringement was sent to Apple Inc. regarding distribution of the VLC media player for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. VLC media player is free software licensed solely under the terms of the open source GNU General Public License (a.k.a. GPL). Those terms are contradicted by the products usage rules of the AppStore through which Apple delivers applications to users of its mobile devices.

The reason for the complaint is an apparent incompatibility between the GPL license and the App Store policies -- at least according to the FSF. The App Store terms have changed since FSF originally posted about the App Store conditions, possibly allowing the GPL and App Store conditions to coexist, but there seems to be dissent amongst the VLC developers on the topic. The official VideoLan site has endorsed the port of VLC to the iPhone and iPad and their official twitter has since posted saying "So far, VLC is not going out of the AppStore" and "Maybe the FSF should actually ask us our opinion instead of writing misleading articles about VLC". The internal debate is being discussed on the mailing list.

At present VLC Media Player for iPhone/iPad remains available on the App Store.

Update: Jean-Baptiste Kempf (a VideoLAN developer) has posted a lengthy analysis of the issue, but the bottom line he gives is "lawyers are boring, FSF is FUDing, AppStore terms have changed, answer is not simple. Jump to Conclusion of II. and III."

if Steve Jobs' latest customer email is to believed, it seems Mac users will have to continue to wait for USB 3, According to an email response inquiring about USB3 for Mac, Steve Jobs reportedly wrote:

We don't see USB 3 taking off at this time. No support from Intel, for example.

USB 3 has been previously rumored to be coming to the Mac Pro and iMac lines, though the latest email casts some doubt on how quickly Apple will adopt the new standard. USB 3 promises higher speeds for external devices.

Apple is continuing its rapid-fire releases of Mac OS X 10.6.5 builds to the developer community, pushing out Build 10H568 as we head into the Halloween weekend. According to those familiar with the new build, this latest version continues to contain no documented known issues and Apple requests that developers focus their testing on the same set of areas as in the last several builds: 3D Graphics, Printing, QuickTime, Time Machine, and USB Devices.

The previous build of Mac OS X 10.6.5 was seeded on Monday, with that build coming only four days after its predecessor. Apple appears to be continuing with daily internal builds of Mac OS X 10.6.5, as the new version offers an increment of five builds since Monday's developer release.

It appears that Apple may be racing to put the final touches on Mac OS X 10.6.5 for a release in the near future to support iOS 4.2, which itself is due for release sometime in November. In a rather unusual move, Apple has been providing registered iOS developers with access to select Mac OS X 10.6.5 developer builds alongside iOS 4.2 builds, as the updated Mac operating system is required to support the AirPrint feature coming to iOS devices with iOS 4.2.

In early October, Motorola announced that it had filed suit against Apple over alleged infringement of a number of patents by a broad range of Apple products, including the iPhone, iPad, "iTouch" (presumably iPod touch), and certain Mac computers.

Late Friday, in a seemingly retaliatory move, Apple filed suit against Motorola over the potential infringement of six Apple patents covering Multi-touch technology. The legal documents uncovered by PatentlyApple reveal that the lawsuit encompasses the following Apple patents:

- Ellipse Fitting for Multi-Touch Surfaces
- Multipoint Touchscreen
- Object-Oriented System Locator System
- Touch Screen Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for Determining Commands by Applying Heuristics
- Method and Apparatus for Displaying and Accessing Control and Status Information in a Computer System
- Support for Custom User-Interaction Elements in a Graphical, Event-Driven Computer System

The offending Motorola devices include the Droid, Droid 2, Droid X, Cliq, Cliq XT, BackFlip, Devour A555, Devour i1, and Charm. The mobile industry has been littered with lawsuits between the major players. Apple specifically is involved in lawsuits with Nokia, HTC, Kodak, Elan and now Motorola. Motorola is also being sued by Microsoft over a number of their mobile patents that may be used in Motorola's Android phones.

Apple has released a version update (9.0.1) for iPhoto that should prevent the possibility of data loss when upgrading to iPhoto '11.

This update addresses issues that, in extremely rare cases, could result in data loss when upgrading a library from an earlier version of iPhoto.

A support document walks through the process to prevent this from happening. The instructions, however, are a bit confusing due to the naming and version numbers of iPhoto.

iPhoto '09 = iPhoto 8.x
iPhoto '11 = iPhoto 9.x

The launching of iPhoto '11 initiates the upgrade process to your old iPhoto library which is where data loss can occur.

Before an existing iPhoto library can be used with iPhoto '11 it must be upgraded. This process occurs when you open your library with iPhoto '11 for the first time. In extremely rare cases, if you do not follow the recommendations below during the upgrade process you may experience data loss. This article outlines the various events that may occur during the library upgrade process and offers advice on how to avoid data loss.

So, the proper steps of upgrading an existing iPhoto installation to iPhoto '11 appears to be:

1. Backup your existing iPhoto Library
2. Install iLife '11 (which includes the iPhoto 9.0 upgrade)
3. Install iPhoto 9.0.1 update from Apple. It should appear in Software Update.
4. Only after installing 9.0.1 should you then launch iPhoto, which will then prompt you to upgrade your iPhoto library

Several readers have pointed out that app ratings and reviews are currently missing from App Store listings as viewed through iTunes. The reason for the change is unknown, but reports of it have been trickling in over the past fifteen hours and Apple has apparently yet to acknowledge the issue.

The issue appears to be a bug rather than an intentional change to the App Store, as ratings and reviews remain visible in both the browser-based iTunes Preview pages for the apps and in listings viewed through the App Store application on iOS devices. Consequently, we expect the ratings and reviews to return to the iTunes App Store in the near future, or that Apple will at least offer an update on the situation.

Updated: As suspected, the reviews have returned so it appears it was simply a temporary outage.

An Apple patent application published yesterday has been gaining some attention for its discussion of a system for creating a nitride layer on the surface of stainless steel components to assist in providing durability and scratch resistance while allowing the natural color and texture of the stainless steel to remain visible.

Apple notes that the nitrided stainless steel components "can be used for a variety of applications, such as to form outer housings for a laptop computer, media players, cell phones or other similar devices." According to Apple's patent application, the stainless steel components are immersed in a high-temperature, nitrogen-based salt bath for up to an hour an half, allowing for nitrogen to penetrate the surface of the steel and combine with chromium atoms in the stainless steel alloy to create a ceramic nitride layer 15-30 microns thick on the surface of the steel.

While some reports have suggested that Apple is considering using the technology in future products, the nitrided stainless steel is likely already in use on the stainless steel band of the iPhone 4 that has garnered significant attention as part of the antenna reception issues experienced by some users. The patent application describing the technology was filed in April 2010 but is essentially identical to a provisional patent application that was filed in April 2009.

Adobe's John Nack points to a demo of a new tool from the company that would allow developers to easily convert their Flash projects to a combination of HTML5 and related non-Flash technologies. The tool, demoed at Adobe's MAX 2010 conference earlier this week, is not yet promised for a public release, but it is clear that the company is looking at ways to help developers offer their content in multiple formats.

Are you surprised? Don't be. As I've written many times, Adobe lives or dies by its ability to help customers solve real problems. That means putting pragmatism ahead of ideology.

Flash is great for a lot of things, and this week's demos showed it's only improving. It's not the only game in town, however, and Adobe makes its money selling tools, not giving away players. Let's help people target whatever media they need, as efficiently as possible.

Apple has of course been pushing HTML5 and other standards as an alternative to Adobe's Flash technology, and developers are increasingly getting on board as they seek to keep their content compatible with Apple's popular Flash-less iOS devices. One recent study concluded that more than half of the H.264-encoded video on the Internet is now available in HTML5 format, but with Flash used in many other capacities besides video presentation, Adobe's new tools could help developers of some of these other implementations more easily move their content to HTML5.

Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times made headlines as the first flagship news publications to confirm that a Verizon iPhone is set to launch early next year.

In a lengthy profile of Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg published today, Fortune adds its voice to the chorus of confirmations and takes a look at the relationship between Apple and Verizon.

The next step, the iPhone, remains shrouded in secrecy, and neither company will discuss it. But people familiar with its development say it is a fait accompli. Verizon, sources say, will sell its own version of the iPhone 4, which will work on Verizon's CDMA-based 3G network. Unfortunately for globe trotters, the first version of the phone likely won't be built to work outside the U.S. -- it probably won't carry a special chip that can turn it into a "world phone."

The profile of Seidenberg reviews how Verizon turned down the opportunity to be the exclusive iPhone carrier in the United States back in 2005, fearing the level of control insisted upon by Apple and the demands for revenue sharing from monthly customer fees that were a feature of Apple's initial arrangement with AT&T. Once Apple decided to go with AT&T for the original iPhone, conversations between Verizon and Apple ceased until early 2007, after the iPhone had been introduced but before it had reached the market.

Seidenberg broke the silence. In the spring of 2007, months before the iPhone launch, he secured an audience with Jobs at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., and asked, "Why are we in your doghouse here?" It turns out that for all of Verizon's concerns about ceding control and sharing fees, Apple was wary of building a device for Verizon's CDMA network because it didn't use technology that allowed a phone to seamlessly operate around the world, as AT&T's network does.

Meetings between Seidenberg and Jobs continued in the following months, and Apple reportedly began to come around in late 2007 just as AT&T began receiving criticism for its network performance under the load of the iPhone. While it has taken nearly three additional years for discussions to progress to the point where the companies have a business relationship with Verizon offering the iPad in its retail stores, the much-anticipated Verizon iPhone appears set to follow close behind.

Barron's reports on a new research note from research firm Detweiler Fenton claiming that OmniVision Technologies has won the contract to supply image sensors for both a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera and front-facing VGA camera for the second-generation iPad. The report claims that the revamped iPad will debut in the first quarter of 2011, likely relatively late in the quarter.

The research firm contends the new iPad will ship with two cameras, a 5 MP camera and a VGA camera, and likely will support Apple's FaceTime video chat software. Detweiler says their early read is that Apple will build 2.5 million units of the next iPad in calendar Q1, providing an incremental 5 million units of demand from Apple for OVTI, which also supplies sensors for the iPhone.

A front-facing camera for the next-generation iPad has been a solid assumption considering the proliferation of Apple's FaceTime video chatting capabilities, but a rear-facing camera has been less of a sure bet.

Rumors dating back a number of months have also pointed to the possibility of a 7-inch iPad to join the existing 9.7-inch form factor, but Apple CEO Steve Jobs' recent criticism of tablets in the smaller size coming from competitors strongly suggests that the company is not pursuing such a release.

Research firm IDC yesterday released results for global mobile phone unit sales in the third quarter of 2010, highlighting Apple's leap into the top five vendors to grab the fourth spot behind Nokia, Samsung, and LG, and ahead of Research in Motion.

Apple leapt ahead of several vendors in 3Q10 including RIM, which it surpassed by 1.7-million units, and Sony Ericsson by 3.7-million units. The company's record shipment performance can be attributed to the introduction of the iPhone 4 in 17 new countries last quarter. The record performance came despite "Antennagate," the name used to describe the controversy around alleged iPhone reception problems, in July.

Apple's 90.5% year-over-year growth dramatically outpaced the overall industry's 14.6% increase.

The report points to the key role smartphones are playing in the growth of the broader mobile phone industry, with Apple and Research in Motion both having joined the top five overall mobile phone vendors over the past few quarters and showing the strongest growth among those companies. Based on expectations of a continuation of that trend, IDC projects that the smartphone market will grow by 55% this year.