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“I don’t want to cater to one hardware or one software platform one way to another, and Flash eliminates iPhone users,” said Virgin America’s Chief information officer Ravi Simhambhatla.Virgin America’s Flash-free Web siteVirgin America’s move away from Flash doesn’t spell the end of Adobe’s multimedia delivery platform, especially since nearly every personal computer includes the…

I figured that headphones with two drivers for US$79.00 was a good deal, even with contrary ear tips, so I bought a set. Sure enough, the ear tips seem to like my ears more than the headphones they came with. Six months later I managed to lose one of the ear tips that fit, the…

Apple hasn’t said exactly what security-related responsibilities Ms. Snyder will have, but based on her job history, she’ll likely be directly involved in beefing up the security features in the Safari Web browser.[Thanks to Macworld for the heads up.]

Strike 1: Quicken struggles to survive. Prior to the release of Quicken Essentials, Quicken for the Mac had not seen a major upgrade since Quicken Mac 2007, released well over three years ago. For the record, I am still using Quicken Mac 2006 (as the 2007 version did not add any new features that mattered).…

Retro Recorder turns your iPhone or second generation iPod touch into a tape recorder in that it records, saves, and allows you to send your recording to yourself or others. iPhone OS 3 includes a recording app, called Voice Memos, so as part of this review I compared the two applications. Retro Recorder Home Screen…

The election did not come as a surprise, as there are no currently controversial members of the company’s board of directors. Eric Schmid, Google CEO, was the closest thing to a controversial member, but he resigned his position in 2009. When asked by a shareholder if Mr. Schmidt had behaved properly during his tenure at…

The name of the winner, and which song they downloaded hasn’t been revealed yet.

On February 11th, I wrote an editorial, “What Should Apple Do About Adobe?” Part of the discussion related to Adobe’s Flash Player on the Mac, updates and security. Inevitably, the comments escalated to a discussion of Steve Job’s distaste for and blocking of Flash on the iPhone and iPad. The question is: is Apple’s stance…

Each of those characters feature powers that help players solve puzzles, such as the White Rabbit’s ability to stop time and the Cheshire Cat’s knack for making things appear and disappear. Players can also use their iPhone’s GPS, camera, and photo library unlock hidden objects, which are also unlockable by playing the game, for those…

One new product that garnered a lot of attention at Macworld Expo 2010 is YAPPER from SachManya. The application, which won a DEMO: Best of Show award during the convention, is new on the market. Using a WYSIWYG style editor, it creates apps for iPhone and iPad and processes them through the Apple acceptance process,…

As is typical for this sort of hot-button issue, reactions to Apple’s move have been sharply divided. Some applaud Apple’s decision; others view it as an unwanted and unnecessary intrusion. However, for this article, I want to step back from the smaller controversy surrounding “sexy apps.” Instead, I want to focus on what I believe…

DJAY from Algoriddim is an all-in-one DJ application for Mac OS X with features for new and experienced DJs. Watch David Gallant’s video review to see if DJAY is ready for your next party. DJAY lets users beatmatch music, organize playlists, use transition effects, and organize party tunes in a simple Mac OS X interface.…

Apple has so far been mum on what it intends to do with the facility, which first came to light in 2009, and was officially confirmed by local North Carolina sources in July of 2009. It is largely assumed that the company will begin expanding its cloud computing services, and that the facility will be…

Also note that when I refer to the iPhone in this article I also mean the iPod touch as well. Someone famous once said that there is nothing certain in life but death and taxes. I believe it. In fact, of the two, taxes is worse. You can only die once. It seems that every…

There are applications on the market that can be designed to help monitor financial records. Quicken and Excel come to mind, but both are expensive and neither will actually remind you to pay your bills on time. Chronicle, by LittleFin Software is designed to do just that. The recently introduced Chronicle 3, allows you to…

Mr. Jobs met with The Journal’s editorial staff to pitch them on launching the paper on the iPad, part of which included a salespitch to dump Flash for video and slideshows for presentation on the iPad. In the process, he called Flash a “CPU hog,” and said it was filled with security holes, and even…

Launched in 2006, the two STEREO satellites are actually in the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, one ahead of the Earth and one trailing behind the Earth. The goal is to monitor the Sun, with stereo capability, and reveal eruptions and events that could affect power grids and near Earth orbit satellites.View of Sun (171…

“Steve Wozniak is a renowned technology leader and innovator, and we are pleased he will kickoff MILCOM 2010,” Joanne Maguire, executive vice president, Lockheed Martin Space Systems and co-general chair of the conference, said in a statement. “For industry, government and other stakeholders involved in communications technologies, MILCOM 2010 is the single must-attend event where…

There are many solutions for sharing files with others on the Internet. Some have some risks, and some are rather technical and not appropriate for non-technical associates. Pogoplug is a device that serves files, isolated from your own LAN, to others on the Internet in an easy, secure fashion. Think of it as your personal…

Yup. I’ve been down this road before. Still, I never expected I would be traveling it for an app of my own. Yet that is exactly what happened. I am the author of an ebook called Take Control of iPhone OS 3. Last year, Adam and Tonya Engst (the people behind the Take Control Books…

Apple’s business model for its new, but not yet open, iBooks Store for books and magazines follows the same model the company uses at the App Store: Publishers and app developers would receive 70% of the revenue from a book sale or a subscription, and Apple retains control over the relationship to the customer, including…

There are no categories, and they are listed in no particular order. Without further ado, below you’ll find the recipients of the The Mac Observer’s Editors’ Choice Awards for 2010. Office2 from Byte Squared – iPhone Office application. Office2 allows you to view, create and edit MSWord .doc and Excel .xls documents right on the…

The two hackers that have been blocked so far are Sherif Hashim and iH8sn0w. Hashim discovered an exploit in iPhone OS 3.1.3 that could let users owners unlock the iPhone 3G and 3GS for use on any cell network, and iH8sn0w is behind the Sn0wbreeze project that lets Windows users jailbreak iPhones updated to OS…