Samsung’s New Pretty Printers to Be Apple Exclusive

Apple likes exclusives, as evidenced by O2’s alleged offer for the iPhone. But it looks like it goes the other way, too, as Apple has gained for itself a deal with Samsung to be the exclusive outlet for that company’s beautiful new piano-black printers.Anyway, the printers will be available at Apple Stores and apple.com at $300 or $200, depending on whether you grab the standalone or the all-in-one.

 

EW SLEEK, ULTRA-COMPACT SAMSUNG PRINTERS TO BE SOLD EXCLUSIVELY AT APPLE RETAIL STORES

World’s most compact printers are both stylish and easy to use

IRVINE, Calif., September 18, 2007

Samsung Electronics America, Inc., the world’s second largest manufacturer of laser printers, today announced that its ultra-compact monochrome laser printer, the ML-1630, and multifunction printer, the SCX-4500, will be available exclusively at Apple Retail Stores nationwide and online at www.Apple.com. These two new printers are perfect products for consumers who value both style and functionality. The devices – which are two-thirds the size of traditional laser printers – feature high-glossy and seamless exteriors that create a truly ultra-minimalist design. Samsung’s new, innovative laser printers meet consumer demand for reliable electronics that aesthetically harmonize with any office or home environment. The ML-1630 and the SCX-4500 will be sold exclusively at Apple Retail Stores until they are widely released in January 2008.

“Samsung is consistently looking for opportunities to enrich and diversify the global printer market,” said Jang-jae Lee, Senior Vice President of the Digital Printing Division, Samsung Electronics. “In turn, we are thrilled to team up with Apple, a true leader in its field, for the U.S. release of our newest printers. The ML-1630 and the SCX-4500 include button-less touch-sensor panels that reduce the user interface. Plus audible alerts and blue LED scan-process indicators ensure that the devices are extremely user-friendly.

“Among electronic products, printers are very complex and sophisticated,” said Jun Won Bae, Senior Designer, at Digital Printing Division of Samsung Electronics. “In turn, we wanted to create a printer with a simple exterior design that would serve as a counterbalance to its interior complexity.”

“Samsung has taken the printer – which is often considered as an add-on device – to an entirely new level of artistic refinement,” Lee added. “These days, consumers are looking for products that are not only functional, but that also reflect their own personal styles.” Samsung’s new printers will available at Apple Retail Stores and apple.com.

MSRP is $299 for the SCX-4500 and $199 for the ML-1630.

New Apple iMac Unveiled

Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced two new iMacs at the start of an event held this morning (Tuesday 8/7/07) at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.

The latest iMacs are a 20 inch and 24 inch model, both made from aluminum and glass and come with the new keyboard featured in my previous post here. The new iMacs along with the new keyboard are much much thinner than the previous versions. Both of these iMacs are now available from the Apple Store.

The specs:
20 Inch Version:

 

 

• $1,199
• 20-inch, 1680 x 1050 LCD
• 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 1GB RAM
• 250GB SATA
• 8x SuperDrive
• ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT

20 Inch Version Souped Up:

• $1,499
• 20-inch, 1680 x 1050 LCD
• 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 1GB RAM
• 320GB SATA
• 8x SuperDrive
• ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro

24 Inch Version:

• $1,799
• 24-inch, 1900 x 1200 LCD
• 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 1GB RAM
• 320GB SATA
• 8x SuperDrive
• ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro

 

iPhone Display at a AT&T Store Reboots, Runs Win XP

An iPhone display at a AT&T store reboots and is running Windows XP instead of Mac OS. Pretty funny after all the Mac fans were picking on Microsoft on how the Zune commercial was made on a Mac, and how “all media types and artists” use Macs…BLAH BLAH BLAH!

iPhone: Will It Blend?

So we’ve all grown to love our nifty lil iPhones.  They can make phone calls, play your music and videos, let you surf the web and allow you to watch Youtube videos, and a whole lot more.  But the question is…will it blend?

Well the curious guys over at WillItBlend.com put it to the test.  Click here to watch the video.

Possibly the New iMac Keyboard (Leaked Photos)

The guys over at Engadget have received images of the rumored new iMac keyoard. It looks pretty slick.

Click here to check out the pics.

IPhone Flaw Lets Hackers Take Over, Security Firm Says

Hackers have found a way to hack into the iPhone using exploits via the built in Safari browser:

Source: New York Times

A team of computer security consultants say they have found a flaw in Apple’s wildly popular iPhone that allows them to take control of the device.

The researchers, working for Independent Security Evaluators, a company that tests its clients’ computer security by hacking it, said that they could take control of iPhones through a WiFi connection or by tricking users into going to a Web site that contains malicious code. The hack, the first reported, allowed them to tap the wealth of personal information the phones contain.

Although Apple built considerable security measures into its device, said Charles A. Miller, the principal security analyst for the firm, “Once you did manage to find a hole, you were in complete control.” The firm, based in Baltimore, alerted Apple about the vulnerability this week and recommended a software patch that could solve the problem.

A spokeswoman for Apple, Lynn Fox, said, “Apple takes security very seriously and has a great track record of addressing potential vulnerabilities before they can affect users.”

“We’re looking into the report submitted by I.S.E. and always welcome feedback on how to improve our security,” she said.

There is no evidence that this flaw had been exploited or that users had been affected.

Adding Custom Ringtones To Your iPhone

Looking to add custom ringtones to your new iPhone. Here’s a step by step guide on how to do it. The instructions make use of both the iPhoneInterface and jailbreak hacks which opened up full access to the iPhone’s UI and filesystem. Unfortunately, the former only works on the Intel-based Macs at the moment.

The instructions (23 steps) can be found here: http://www.hacktheiphone.com/iphone_ringtone_installation.html

Warning – Do Not Use Your iPod During a Thunderstorm!

Becareful with your iPods while out in a thunderstorm during lightning!! Read….

Lightning Strikes Reported by iPod Users

By LINDA A. JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer 

Listen to an iPod during a storm and you may get more than electrifying tunes. A Canadian jogger suffered wishbone-shaped chest and neck burns, ruptured eardrums and a broken jaw when lightning traveled through his music player’s wires.

Last summer, a Colorado teen ended up with similar injuries when lightning struck nearby as he was listening to his iPod while mowing the lawn.

Emergency physicians report treating other patients with burns from freak accidents while using personal electronic devices such as beepers, Walkman players and laptop computers outdoors during storms.

Michael Utley, a former stockbroker from West Yarmouth, Mass., who survived being struck by lightning while golfing, has tracked 13 cases since 2004 of people hit while talking on cell phones. They are described on his Web site, http://www.struckbylightning.org .

Contrary to some urban legends and media reports, electronic devices don’t attract lightning the way a tall tree or a lightning rod does.

One Week Review Of My iPhone

So as I sit here writing this, next to my laptop lays the Holy Grail of cell phones right now – the Apple iPhone. I purchased my iPhone on the day of its release, Friday, June 29th. Its been a week since I’ve owned this extremely coveted device and I think I’m ready to report on what I like and dislike about it.

First and foremost, without any bias or to simply praise the iPhone, I want to start off by saying that the iPhone is the nicest, slickest, and the phone with the best interface that I have experienced to date. Mind you…I’ve gone through my array of mobile devices through the last decade or so…

As I had mentioned in a previous blog entry, I had no issues activating my iPhone through iTunes on June 29th. It was an extremely easy process and went quiet flawlessly. In less than 5 minutes, my iPhone was registered, a new number assigned to it, and it was ready to rock. In order to register and activate the iPhone, the most recent version of iTunes – v. 7.3 needs to be installed on your PC or Mac.

To make a phone call using this device is pretty quiet simple. All you have to do is either type out the phone number on the touch screen or select one of your contacts. The clarity of the call was ok although in some instances there was a problem with the volume/loudness on the call and I could barely hear anything the person on the other end was saying. This may have just been signal strength or network issues, even though I had a very strong signal as did the person I was speaking with.

In addition to the simple way of making phone calls, another neat feature unique to the iPhone is the visual voice mail feature. It’s a totally new and refreshing way to get voice mails and it makes you wonder why no other phone company thought about this yet?!

The iPhone has a built-in, 2.0 mega-pixel camera that works great for a camera phone. The large screen on the iPhone makes picture taking more fun than even on a regular digital camera. You can view the images in landscape or portrait mode just by rotating the iPhone ninety degrees in either direction. You can then flick through the images or play a slideshow. The only downfall with the iPhone here is that you cannot shoot any videos at all.

The iPhone also has built in speakers that are great to use with the iPod feature. The volume can be easily controlled and is adequate for being able to listen to your music without headphones/earbuds.

Browsing the web or watching YouTube videos by simply clicking a button on the screen is great. The videos off of YouTube look really good on the iPhone’s screen. While surfing the web, you can zoom in on content real easily by touching the screen with two fingers and moving them apart at a 45 degree angle.

Setting up an email account was quiet easy for me as well. I use Gmail for my email right now, and in less than a minute, the iPhone was setup and able to receive my emails. Just make sure that you setup/turn on your POP email on your email providers site.

The Google Maps feature is another very cool tool. You can easily look up businesses by name or category, plot a course from one location to another, and easily call them with a touch of a button. As you type in a location, the iPhone tries to match it to one of your contacts. You have access to both Google’s regular and satellite maps and can view a list of driving directions with traffic information turned on or off.

To use all of these Web features you need to be either connected to a Wi-Fi network or use AT&T’s EDGE network. The iPhone easily finds Wi-Fi networks, and displays them on the screen. By simply clicking on one, you can easily connect to it.

The battery life of the iPhone is decent, but on mine I come no where close to Apple’s ratings of 8 hours of talk time and 6 hours of internet use. My iPhone is usually in need of a charge after an extensive period of use in a couple of hours. This might be because of my settings and the giant screen using up a lot of power. I’ll have to do some real testing on the battery life and report back!

Breaking Open An iPhone! What’s Inside and the Costs

So…now that you have your pretty little iPhone, wonder what the inside of it looks like?!  Here are some pictures of what the innards of the iPhone look like:

Breaking the iPhone Open:
  The $27 touchscreen module that enables the iPhone’s cool touch navigation originates from Balda and TPK Solutions.

This closeup shows the bottom of the iPhone’s applications circuit board. The open slot (1) houses the AT&T SIM card; the iPhone not only is locked to AT&T service, but it’s also locked to the specific AT&T SIM card that comes with it. We tried inserting a non-iPhone AT&T SIM card–and the phone wouldn’t recognize it. Hidden under (2) is 8MB of multipurpose flash memory–which is in addition to the iPhone’s 4GB or 8GB of primary flash storage.

The heart and soul of the iPhone…Pictured here: The quad-band GSM (850-, 900-, 1800-, and 1900-MHz)/EDGE transceiver (A); power amplifier (B); Bluetooth 2.0 chip set (C); the wireless 802.11 a/b/g chip set (D); the baseband chip set (E); and power management chip set (F).