MacNN today reported that the U.S. Patent Office has published a patent application from Apple, describing a proximity-based social networking tool. The plan appears to be the ability for people in the same general area (as defined by the span of a WiFi network or Bluetooth connection) to spontaneously form groups and exchange information. The actual text of the patent describes a "trusted service" that tracks time and location info from wireless-enabled devices and invites users in close proximity to virtually connect. The images included were based on the iPhone or iPod touch. It also looks as if sharing your calendar, address book, email, and text messages with other members of a group is as easy as a touch of a button. Part of the description reads, "During private or public events (e.g., concert, tradeshows, business meetings, weddings, rallies), a typical individual may have many brief contacts with individuals for which they would like to have further correspondence post event." In other words, you can easily (and hopefully, only voluntarily) swap contact info and more with others in your general vicinity. So, who is this trusted service that keeps track of where you were, when you were there, and who you were with

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Filed under: Apple We’re only days away from the release of the iPad , and that means analysts are doing crazy business — they’re laying out as many predictions as they can before theory becomes actual numbers. Our friend Gene Munster is first — he says that despite the introduction of a brand new category, Mac sales will be even better than investors expect this quarter, with a whopping 26% to 31% year-over-year growth. Apparently retail data suggests that Macs are flying off of the shelves , and that Apple should end up with almost 3 million Macs sold in the March quarter. PC sales in general are also expected to increase , with the iMac carrying a whole quarter of all desktop growth this year. Desktop sales are finally headed upwards for the first time in a few years, and along with bigger sales numbers in terms of netbooks and notebooks, Apple’s iMac platform is leading the charge. International sales are also expected to drive the PC market — if the numbers are right, this will be the first time ever that sales internationally take up 50% of the desktop PC market. Interesting predictions, all. There’s no question, I think, that Apple will make plenty of money this quarter. The question going forward will be whether the iPad steals sales that would have gone to the iPhone or to a MacBook. But if the past numbers with the iPhone are any indication, big interest in the portable devices actually drives Apple’s desktop sales as well. Analysts: iMac to take over 25% of PC sales, Mac to see 31% growth originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .

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Apple has redesigned its iWork.com Website for the iPad and iPhone, allowing documents to be viewed on touchscreen devices. The company also unveiled new ways to share documents, allowing documents to become public. The updated interface now allows documents to be scrolled using a finger, an action that has become common for iPhone users and upcoming

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Last week DynDNS released its beta support for Wide Area Bonjour and DNS Service Discovery. This means that if you own your own domain name, and you have a Custom DNS service with DynDNS, you can configure your Apple AirPort device (AirPort Extreme, AirPort Express and Time Capsule) to present itself as part of that domain, automatically updating your domain name and broadcasting configured services. What is Wide Area Bonjour? Wide Area Bonjour enables the same zero-config automatic service discovery functionality over the public Internet that we all enjoy on our local network (seeing our shared files, printers, scanners and so forth). If you have a MobileMe account and utilize the Back To My Mac functionality, you’re already using Wide Area Bonjour without even knowing it. Why would we use this? Most of us who use DynDNS use it to be able to let the IP Address that our ISP give us resolve with a friendly domain name (such as myname.homedns.org). This basic free DynDNS service works really well as long as you have a third-party router that supports DynDNS (which most of them do). Unfortunately Apple, being Apple, does not support DynDNS in its routers, leaving you to run the OS X DynDNS updater application on your computer. The downside to this is that if your computer is asleep and your home Internet connection drops and reconnects (giving you a new IP address) DynDNS does not get updated until the computer wakes up. When wanting to use Snow Leopard’s Wake On Demand feature this is a problem, so this has meant “tough luck,” requiring you to run the DynDNS Mac client on multiple machines and hope the IP updating occurs often enough. It generally works fine, with the occasional expected downtime when your home IP changes at midday if computers are sleeping. Does it work?

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This week Apple tweaked up the iWork.com service a tad by including new sharing features and improvements to the UI, according to AppleInsider . Delving in, Apple stated that users can now create a public link which will allow them to share documents with large groups of people or on websites and social networks.  You’ll no longer need to set a password or send out an invite.  Anyone who is in possession of the public link will be able to view documents that are shared in such a manner, but cannot add comments or notes. Apple also went to say that users would now be able to download documents that get shared on iWork.com without ever having to leave from the Shared Documents page.  That same page also gives users the capability to track the number of times that their public documents are viewed. Lastly, Apple also redesigned the iWork.com’s Sign In and Shared Documents page for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch, in order to make it less of an effort for users to access their documents while they are on the go. "The new interface and improved scrolling help you find your shared documents faster," according to Apple.  "Visit www.iwork.com from your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch to view your shared documents." However, in order to get the most out of this service, Apple is advising users to make sure they are using the latest and greatest version of iWork on their Mac.  And if you so enjoy the service, they are requesting that you leave them some comments on the new updates. iWork image courtesy of macsales.com  

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Apparently, you can secure venture-capital funding and launch a successful business all from an iPhone.   Case Study: Amos Winbush Occupation: Founder and Chief Executive Officer, CyberSynchs Gear: iPhone 3GS loaded with Citibank (to keep track of startup finances), Facebook (to keep track of CyberSynchs’ fan page and connect with fellow entrepreneurs), and Twitter (to stay abreast of business news and keep followers informed) Who knew that Pret A Manger at East 17th and Broadway could be such a locus of wheeling and dealing? Listen, we know you love your MacBook. And we love ours. But consider what a hassle it can be when you’re working on the road. A MacBook has to be painstakingly removed from a messenger bag or backpack and plugged in regularly for power (good luck with finding that A/C adapter). And you can’t really use it unless you’re sitting down. And you have to manually connect to whatever Wi-Fi hotspot you can find. And then there are the interminable delays while you boot and launch applications. Plus your MacBook apparatus weighs you down mightily–five pounds or more, and that’s on a good day. Yet for most professionals–especially at the executive level–getting work done without a computer is foolhardy at best, impossible at worst. The notebook is a necessary evil that represents a basic cost of doing business when you aren’t anchored to a desk. Amos Winbush took that conventional wisdom and slapped it in the face. When he launched CyberSynchs, a company that makes data-synchronization software, in 2008, he did it with little more than the iPhone in his pocket

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Have Google and Apple stopped having super-fun sleepovers with smores and pillow fights? The New York Times seems to think so and we’re not that surprised. An analytics firm points to some surprising sales information concerning Android and iPhone handsets. Finally, one of our favorite apps and services makes an announcement that makes us sad. So very sad.  Plus, we answer your hard-hitting Twitter and Facebook questions! Okay, they weren’t that hard-hitting. Got a question, but you’re afraid to leave a voice message because of Witness Relocation Dept. rules? Drop us a question via Twitter twitter.com/maclife . This week’s Battlestar Applactica picks: More Toast! – $.99 Curious George Coloring Book – $2.99   Don’t forget, the Mac | Life staff would love to hear your thoughts, comments and ideas for the new podcast. Just leave a message on the Mac | Live question/comment line: (877) 404-1337, extension 622. Please limit the length of your messages to 1 minute max

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Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPhone , iDevice Apps Today, Navigon announced another App Store first with MyRegion, a guidance app with in-app map purchases in the U.S. MyRegions has all of the great features from the North American version of MobileNavigator that made it the best navigation app on the App Store. But what makes MyRegion different is that you can buy the maps that you need, when you need them, from inside of the app. Navigon’s MyRegion splits North America into 4 regions: Eastern, Central and Western U.S. and Canada. If you’re planning on doing most of your driving in one or two of these regions, then the MyRegion app is a great choice. If instead you are on the border of two of these regions, or if you drive very long distances, then you are better off sticking with Navigon’s MobileNavigator for North America. Both are great choices with tons of features. MyRegion actually gets one of the Mobile Navigator 1.5 features early: MyRoutes. This feature offers more flexibility in navigation by presenting you with more than one route when you enter a destination. MobileNavigator users will have to wait a little longer for this update to hit the app store later this spring. Navigon currently has introductory pricing on all of this goodness. The app and first region are $5 off at $24.99, and each additional region is $2 off at $12.99. Plus, you can get Traffic Live (real time traffic data) for just $19.99 ($5 off). I have to hand it to Navigon once again; they’re ahead of the pack as usual, showing other guidance app companies what they need to do next

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Electronista reports that Wearable began shipping their AirStash wireless flash drive today. Those concerned about the lack of an SD card slot now have a highly portable way of accessing media on SD/SDHC cards wirelessly. The AirStash is effectively a portable WiFi access point with an SD slot. It has a pop-out USB plus for easily loading files from your computer to an SD card. Then carry the small unit with you and access it as a wireless network through the iPhone app. It has its own battery, so it doesn’t add any extra drain on your iPhone. It connects at 802.11g rather than 802.11n, so don’t be expecting 720p HD video on an iPad. But they claim a full 30 frames per second at 640×480. The AirStash supports a wide variety of video, audio, and image formats, but surprisingly also claims support for web pages, Keynote, Numbers, Pages, PowerPoint, and Acrobat files. Since it acts as a WiFi access point, it should let you take extra documents with you on a trip and share them with every laptop in the meeting. Don’t have a DVD system in your car? Your kids in the back can watch movies on their iPod touches streamed from an AirStash as seen in the video below:      

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Gizmodo reports that Stephen Vale has filed suit against Apple on five break-of-warranty counts and one claim of unfair competition. Why? He perspired so heavily that the headphone inline controller shorted out. According to the filing, Vale perspired heavily during a workout session and the moisture ran down the cord into the inline controller. He took it to his local Apple Store, and they gave him a replacement cord–presumably without handling the original unit. Apparently the new cord didn’t work, which got Vale worked up into a…well, you know. Vale’s point is that Apple advertises the Shuffle as being perfect for "working out," "running" and "on the road"–which he says is false. The filing also states that when he went to the Apple Store, "Plaintiff was told it was alright to exercise with the music player, but not to sweat." The class action suit is filed in the state of California, and seeks unspecified damages for Vale and other sweaty Californians who join the class.

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