If there’s one thing that I’ve wanted to be able to do for years, it’s to set up a direct Wi-Fi connection to another device without having to actually be near a Wi-Fi base station, or going to the trouble of getting an ad-hoc network set up on both devices. This type of peer-to-peer networking is nothing new; back in the Newton MessagePad days we could beam address cards and data between devices through an IrDA connection.
Now the Wi-Fi Alliance has announced that this will be possible next year through the use of Wi-Fi Direct. Wi-Fi Direct will come built into many new devices and can be implemented in existing devices through software updates. Wi-Fi Direct competes directly with Bluetooth, and will provide much faster data transfer speeds (using more power, unfortunately). According to the Wi-Fi Alliance,
“The specification, previously code-named ‘Wi-Fi peer-to-peer,’ can be implemented in any Wi-Fi device, from mobile phones, cameras, printers, and notebook computers, to human interface devices such as keyboards and headphones. Significantly, devices that have been certified to the new specification will also be able to create connections with hundreds of millions of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED legacy devices already in use. Devices will be able to make a one-to-one connection, or a group of several devices can connect simultaneously.”
I can imagine that at some point in 2010, we’ll be able to sync our iPhones using Wi-Fi Direct, directly send address book information to other iPhone-toting people, and enjoy high-speed multi-player gaming fun. Apple is a sponsor corporation for the Wi-Fi Alliance, so adoption of Wi-Fi Direct on Macs, iPhones, and future Apple equipment will hopefully be swift and widespread.
Several of our readers suggested that we take a look at Waze, a free navigation app [iTunes link] that depends on other users for reports of traffic tie ups, accidents, and speed traps. It also functions as a turn-by-turn navigator with spoken directions, although it doesn’t have text to speech capabilities for naming streets or points of interest.
As a navigator Waze is fine, but it seems to be missing a lot of residential addresses. Waze had a nasty habit of jumping my vehicle icon to a nearby parallel street, and while it was nice to have both 2D and 3D maps, the software seemed to change the zoom factor without me telling it to. This erratic zooming seemed to happen when I went to a menu and then returned to the map.
The maps aren’t very attractive. There are both day and night views for the Waze maps, but even when set to ‘auto,’ the night map comes up no matter what time of day it is. The maps and POI data are all downloaded from the internet, so if you’re in a “dead zone” for data, you have no navigation.
As for the social functions of the app, they are a great idea, but in reality you’re only going to get information in a densely populated areas. Even then, you may not get much of anything in terms of reported incidents. If you go to the Waze web page and look at the national map for reported incidents, it is pretty lightly populated. Of course, that should get better as more and more people use Waze. A clever aspect of the app is that it keeps track of where you are while you’re navigating, and uses your speed to add to its database of road conditions.
I think Waze is promising, and if you don’t want to spend money on a turn-by-turn nav app, it’s a start. To be really useful some of the bugs need to be fixed, the address data needs to be more complete, and there need to be a heck of a lot more people using Waze so there is more incident reporting.
This app is free and implements some creative ideas. If you’re thinking about getting a nav app, but you’re on the fence, make the risk-free download of Waze and see if it enhances your driving.
They are the first line of defense in the last frontier. Alaska State Troopers, a new series, premieres tonight at 10P e/p on Nat Geo. Learn more at www.natgeotv.com/alaskastatetroopers
Apple increased Mac unit sales and market share in the U.S. during the September quarter, according to research firm Gartner. Reversing three consecutive quarters of year-over-year unit sales declines, the market as a whole increased 3.9%, an unexpected gain for the segment, but Apple was able to increase its own unit sales by 6.8%, increasing market share from 8.6% to 8.8%.
When I opened my iPhone 3GS, I was surprised to find that the power adapter was nothing but a little 2-prong AC plug (I live in the US) that allowed you to plug in the standard USB to 30-pin connector to charge the phone.
I wanted to get a spare; checking online told me that the Apple Store wanted US$29 for the little plug, which just seemed like too much for too little, so I went shopping.
On eBay I found a bunch of auctions based in Hong Kong selling what looked like the exact same thing for anywhere from under around $2-4, and they often included the USB cable to boot.
I ordered four from a vendor and after a few weeks received them. They looked perfect, right down to the little green dot — but none of them worked. They might start charging, but after a few minutes the iPhone would beep a few times and I would be informed that “this accessory is not compatible.” And so it went for all four pieces. After sending some pictures back and forth and reading a few emails containing a combination of surprise and amazement from the vendor, my money was refunded.
Undaunted, or maybe just dumb, I went back to eBay and found another vendor that claimed to be selling, “100% Brand New Original OEM Charger and Original OEM USB Cable for iPhone/iPod” for around US$4. I just checked eBay and found this same vendor raising the price to US$10 in one auction and lowering it to $US.01 in another.
Our sharp-eyed iPhone goddess, Erica Sadun, alerted us to the fact that there’s a small, but potentially important, update that has just shown up in Software Update.
Performance Update 1.0 “addresses intermittent hard drive-related stalls reported by a small number of customers.” It may not show up for you, unless you have one of the following Macs:
MacBook Air (Mid 2009), MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2009), MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009), MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2009), MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.53GHz, Mid 2009), iMac (20-inch, Mid 2009), MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2009), MacBook (13-inch, Early 2009), MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2009), MacBook (13-inch, Aluminum, Late 2008), MacBook Air (Late 2008), MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008), iMac (24-inch, Early 2009), iMac (20-inch, Early 2009), Mac mini (Early 2009)
If you own one of these models, be sure to load the update at your earliest convenience, especially if you have experienced the problem described in the update notes.
Thanks to Erica and to Joachim Bean, who provided the link to the Apple KB article.
Apple released Performance Update 1.0, an update for the company’s MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air models that addresses, “intermittent hard drive related pauses reported by a small number of customers.”
The population of Apple Stores in the state of New York will grow by one this Saturday, October 17th. Apple is opening the new Manhasset location on Long Island, about 15 miles east of LaGuardia International Airport.
This will be Apple’s 14th store in the Empire State, and will have all of the typical features found at the stores — the Genius Bar, T-shirted employees, an iPhone Activation Zone, and tables full of your favorite Apple toys. Of course, you can always hang out at the store for the free Wi-Fi and genial atmosphere; we’re all expecting our very own David Winograd to be a constant fixture at the store.
We always love to see photos or video from Apple Store openings, so if you’re there on Saturday at 10 AM ET and happen to get us some good shots, be sure to upload your work of art to tuaw.tumblr.com.
Apple and Psystar have been embroiled in litigation for quite a while now. At the core of the dispute: Psystar modifies Apple’s operating system software so that it can run on its clone machines. It then sells its computers with Mac OS installed to, well, anybody who wants one. As you can imagine, this does not make Apple happy.
Anybody familiar with The Great Clone Crackdown of 1997 will tell you that Apple likes to keep a very tight grip on any device that presumes to run its software. Apple points out that Windows machines are a mishmash of often conflicting hardware and suffer from quirks and errors and incompatibilities that such a set up can bring.
More than a year later, now that discovery has been completed, the two parties have each filed for summary judgment, which, in effect, asks the judge to rule in favor of the filing party because enough evidence has been shown that either makes or breaks the lawsuit.
Psystar’s argument, and the one covered in its motion, somewhat relies on the “first sale doctrine” which says that any purchaser of a copyrighted product can then take that lawfully-made copy and sell it, so long as no additional copies can be made. For its part, Apple says that when one “purchases” its OS, you are only purchasing a license to use the product. Its Software Licensing Agreement (SLA) quite clearly states [PDF link to Snow Leopard SLA] that the user cannot modify the software to run on a non-Apple system.
The idea that what you are purchasing is a license to use the product is pretty commonplace among software manufacturers, because, the argument runs, you can cut any software company’s profits off at the knees if every purchaser became an owner with free rein to redistribute the software. Apple states that no software company in its right mind would put the money into research and development of any software product at all if that were the end result of bringing its product to market. Groklaw suggests this could have ramifications for FOSS and and the GPL.
Trans Intl announced Wednesday a new product called DX4 that adds four new hard drive bays to your Mac Pro. Coupled with a PCIe host adapter, the DX4 can house any four 2.5″ Solid State Drive (SSD) or hard drive
If there’s one thing that I’ve wanted to be able to do for years, it’s to set up a direct Wi-Fi connection to another device without having to actually be near a Wi-Fi base station, or going to the trouble of getting an ad-hoc network set up on both devices. This type of peer-to-peer networking is nothing new; back in the Newton MessagePad days we could beam address cards and data between devices through an IrDA connection.
Several of our readers suggested that we take a look at 
When I opened my iPhone 3GS, I was surprised to find that the 
The population of Apple Stores in the state of New York will grow by one this Saturday, October 17th. Apple is opening the new 
Apple and 