We know spring doesn’t officially start for another two weeks, but the way the weather and the sun have been playing with our minds lately, it feels like it might really happen on schedule. Of course, if we know winter, there’s always at least one more trick up its sleeve. But this weather! It almost makes us not want to be inside playing with our tech toys.  So load up these links on your iPhone and get stepping out like us, because it’s another sunshiney week of the best of the best from Mac|Life. Features: – 10 Reasons Why You Can’t Always Rely on GPS on the iPhone – We like to laugh when we see people with smartphones and a GPS system; it seems so redundant. But the iPhone’s GPS isn’t perfect (none are), and you might find yourself needing and not wanting. Here’s how it can happen, in ten easy steps. Worst case scenario isn’t the bear, however; it’s having to use Bing maps. How-Tos: – Getting Started with Final Cut Pro – If there’s anything as complicated and as ever-changing as digital video editing, let us know, because it makes our head hurt. Apple’s good for taking the sting out of lots of things, and Final Cut Pro goes a long way toward doing so, but if you’re just getting started, it’s good to get a little help from your friends. Of course we mean your friends at Mac|Life. Reviews: – CarMD 2100 Handheld Tester – It seems only yesterday we were talking to a coworker who needed just this exactly little handy device. Well, actually, it was over a year ago, but you get the picture. If it had been yesterday, we’d have shoved this article under his nose and told him to diagnose his own car trouble in a snap.

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In Case You Missed It: Mar. 1 – Mar. 7

Your car can either be your best friend or biggest foe depending on how well you maintain it. But with the advent of the car ECU (that’s “engine control unit,” aka the car’s computer), many of the tweaks that gearheads could perform manually are handled behind the scenes by the car itself. When’s the last time someone told you they had to adjust the fuel mixture on their carburetor? The ECU takes care of that for you, on the fly. Of course, when the Check Engine Light (CEL) begins to glow on the dash, most drivers panic, and for good reason. The CEL could be something as minor as a fuel cap that needs to be tightened–or it might signify that one of your cylinders misfired. CarMD enables you to take some of the guesswork out of determining exactly what’s wrong with your ride with the help of its literally named 2100 Handheld Tester. Call it doctor–Dr. Drive Good. The CarMD 2100 connects to the industry standard OBD2-compliant 16-pin port found on most vehicles manufactured since 1996. After downloading diagnostic information from your car, you plug the device into your Mac and are presented with a list of problems recorded by the vehicle, as well as its likelihood of passing a smog test. Information is displayed clearly and can be printed out so you can take the information to your local mechanic (or fix the problem yourself, if you’re automotively minded)

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CarMD 2100 Handheld Tester

Filed under: Apple Corporate , Surveys and Polls , Apple , iPad For the third year in a row, Apple has topped the list of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies. The list was based on a poll of 4,200 executives across the world’s top companies, and by the highest margin ever, they picked the Cupertino-based ” mobile device company ” as the world’s most admired brand. Obviously the millions of MacBooks, iPhones, and iPods played a factor, but it sounds like the iPad sealed the deal this year. BMW’s CEO is quoted waxing poetic about Apple’s brand power: “The whole world held its breath before the iPad was announced. That’s brand management at its very best.” GE has actually had the most appearances at number one on the list, and Apple needs to stay high for two more years to take that record. But it’s certainly possible — if the iPad is as popular as expected, and Apple follows it up next year with an updated version and the kind of software revolution that the iPhone brought to handheld computing, they probably will nail down the top spot yet again. Apple tops Fortune’s Most Admired Companies list again originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Apple tops Fortune’s Most Admired Companies list again originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Apple tops Fortune’s Most Admired Companies list again

GPS is an amazingly transformative technology, originally designed for military commanders to pinpoint enemies and navigate through hazardous battlefields. Though GPS has since spread to car navigation devices and handheld camping gizmos. Starting with the iPhone 3G, Apple began integrating GPS into their mobile device with features users eventaully took for granted. Except when those features fail because, though GPS is now almost ubiquitous, it certainly isn’t perfect. Even the iPhone, cool as it is, has a few flaws that keep it from being the seamless experience Steve Jobs no doubt wants it to be. Here’s a list of the top ten reasons GPS can fail on the iPhone. 1. Tall buildings: Most iPhone users, especially those in New York and San Francisco, are intimately familiar with AT&T’s spotty service, but what they may not realize is that their urban environment is also working against them. GPS is a line of sight technology that needs a clear path from phone to satellite and back again. In a dense city packed with skyscrapers like New York, finding an unobstructed patch of sky to divine your location can be a serious challenge. 2

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10 Reasons Why You Can’t Always Rely on GPS on the iPhone

While Tuesdays are known for Apple product launches, today the company announced not a new Mac but a lawsuit over patent infringement related to the iPhone. The target was mobile phone maker HTC , and none other than Steve Jobs was making the accusations. “We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.” At issue are some 20 patents relating to the “iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture and hardware,” though specifics have not yet been divulged, nor has there been a response from HTC. More details will undoubtedly be made public as the lawsuit proceeds in both the U.S. District Court in Delaware and with the U.S. International Trade Commission. Nonetheless, the accusation of intellectual property theft over handheld device patents sounds oddly familiar, except it wasn’t Apple making the accusation recently, but Nokia. In December, Nokia sued Apple over patents relating to standards covering “wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption,” accusing Apple of “attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia’s innovation.” Apple promptly countersued , General Counsel Bruce Sewell also using the S-Word, stating that “other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours.” If this all sounds harsh, it is. The flurry of patent lawsuits and counter-lawsuits is something of an anomaly, in that companies like Apple, HTC, and Nokia normally use their massive patent portfolios to protect themselves from litigation.

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Apple Sues HTC Over iPhone

Every couple of years, Square-Enix dusts off the first couple of games of the Final Fantasy series, gives them a vigorous spit polish and then throws them on the gaming handheld du jour. So if you haven’t played Final Fantasy I or II on the original NES, PSP, PlayStation, GBA, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, ad

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“Final Fantasy I & II” now available on the App Store

Don’t call it a port–Street Fighter 4 for iPhone and iPod touch is an entirely new game with the same look and feel of the console games and classic arcade cabinets. What’s different, of course, is the way you play the game. With a bit of added UI ingenuity from the "visual pad" engine, Capcom delivers a surefire hit that’s definitely going to tire out your thumbs.     The game pits eight characters against each other, including original favorites like Ryu, Ken, Chun Li and Street Fighter 4 newcomer Abel. There are four ways to play the game: Tournament, Dojo, Free Spar and Training Room, with the most notable being Dojo. The Dojo mode of game play is like a basic boot camp for newbie Street Fight players (like myself), or fighters that want to hone their special-moves skills. You can either quickly spar with a character of your choice or choose to engage in Tournament mode, which pits you against seven AI-controlled opponents each more difficult than the last. Multiplayer mode is an entirely separate entity and it will not be available via Wi-Fi or your iPhone’s 3G network, but rather through Bluetooth, which limits game play to you and a friend within feet. The simulated touch controls were incredibly accurate, even though there is only a directional pad and four on-screen buttons. The fluidity of the joy stick movements and button pushes were almost exactly as if we were in the arcade smashing buttons on a wooden cabinet. The controls are also entirely customizable, as you can place them anywhere on the screen. There’s also a special move assist that automatically engages your move with just the touch of a button, instead of requiring you to memorize a sequence of buttons. And for the more cautious types, the optional Auto Guard feature automatically shifts your character into a defensive position to block simple attacks. 

The new Street Fighter 4 was designed to appeal to handheld gamers who don’t have the time, money, or interest to purchase a dedicated console

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First Look: Street Fighter 4 for the iPhone — Hadoken!

Rumors have persisted for three years that Apple would be adding a front-facing camera to the iPhone similar to high-end devices from Nokia and others — and a new patent revealed this week shows that the day may finally be near. AppleInsider , Gizmodo and others are reporting on the newly-disclosed patent filing that shows “improved video and photo performance on handheld devices” which includes a sketch that clearly shows a front-facing camera as part of an Apple handset. The patent is called “Apparatus and Method for Compensating for Variations in Digital Cameras” (say that three times fast!), and the document mainly outlines the ways in which Apple could “account for variations in the lens manufacturing process.” As any user who’s hand to get a replacement for a broken or malfunctioning iPhone may have noticed, not every camera is built exactly the same. "Similar cameras manufactured on similar product lines may operate non-uniformly. For example manufacturing variations may result in variations in response to external stimuli, such as ambient light," the patent application reads. "Such variations in camera responses may produce a non-uniformity in images rendered by digital cameras of the same type, consequently, leading to an inconsistent product performance and to variations in product lines(s)." Apple’s solution — and the main purpose of the patent application — would use acquired “video images of colored light” to measure the light intensity and compensate for it accordingly. But the real story in the patent filing is the concept of a front-facing camera at long last. Potential iPad owners were discouraged to find that the device had no camera of any kind — particularly disappointing for a light, portable device with such potential for videoconferencing. As AppleInsider points out , “a forward facing camera on an iPad or iPhone could allow for video conferencing, self-portraits or self-recording with the portable hardware.” Sounds good to us! (Image courtesy of AppleInsider)

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Apple Patent Reveals Front-Facing Camera on Handset

The BBC announced today that it will soon offer iPhone apps for its news and sport content.  The apps will then be followed by version for the BlackBerry and those running the Android operating system. The BBC said that the apps were developed because more people use "sophisticated handheld devices" to view content. CCS Insight analysts think the apps would "increase tension between publishers of paid-for content and those reliant on other revenue."  Some think the news industry is struggling to find the means to get rolling within the digital world. "Whilst the BBC’s impulse to enter an already crowded news and sport apps market place is understandable, the move belies the fundamentally competitive nature of the Corporation’s approach to new services," said Emily Bell, director of digital content at the Guardian.  "Applications are a long way away from being ‘broadcast’ media, and, unlike the web, they form a market which the BBC is seeking to disrupt."  Bell continued saying the "considerable cost" of developing apps for all platforms meant the BBC was in "territory most publishers could not afford to inhabit." On the contrary, Erik Huggers, BBC director of future media and technology, said the BBC audience "want to access the digital services that they have paid for at a time and place that suits them. Today’s announcement means that we are catching up with our audiences," he explained at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. As for the actual app, which is due in April, will provide content from the BBC News website, including features such as written stories, correspondent blogs as well as audio and video.  Users will be able to send comments and pictures directly to the newsroom.  The sports app will be released just in time for the World Cup, which begins in June. Image courtesy of Zahipedia.com  

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BBC To Offer Up News/Sports Apps Soon

Filed under: Apple Corporate , Hardware , Apple Financial , Apple , iPhone Apple has expanded its trademark on “iPhone” with the inclusion of the US Patent and Trade Office’s (USPTO) “category 28,” which reads as “handheld unit for playing electronic games.” Other USPTO categories included in the trademark are number 9 (mobile phone and digital audio player) and number 38 (electronic data-transmitting device). Note that Apple filed to include category 28 way back in December of 2007, so don’t take it as a sign that the next gen iPhone will be a gaming monster. This news is no great shakes, but an example of Apple covering its bases. For example, back in 2002, Apple applied to register the iPhone trademark in China, but that application was limited to computer hardware and software, not mobile phones. Earlier this year, Apple took control of the “i-phone” trademark in China (yes, “i-phone”) from manufacturer Hanwang Technology , who briefly sold a device with that name in 2003 (three years before the iPhone’s introduction). [Via Engadget ] Apple secures iPhone trademark originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Apple secures iPhone trademark originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Apple secures iPhone trademark