Second Mac Clone Maker Set To Sell, With a Twist

CWmike writes “Another company is preparing to sell Intel-based computers that can run Apple’s Mac OS X. But unlike Psystar, a Florida clone maker that’s been sued by Apple, Open Tech won’t pre-install the operating system on its machines. Open Tech’s Home (equipped with an Intel dual-core Pentium processor, 3GB of memory, an nVidia GeForce 8600 CT video card and a 500GB hard drive) and XT (which includes an Intel Core 2 quad-core CPU, 4GB of RAM, an nVidia GeForce 8800 video card and a 640GB drive) machines will sell for $620 and $1,200, respectively. Open Tech is prepared to do battle with Apple if it comes after Open Tech. ‘We definitely would defend this,’ said [Open Tech spokesman] Tom. ‘The only possible case that Apple can make, the only one that has any chance, would be based on the end-user licensing agreement.’”

Inside Apple’s iPhone SDK Gag Order

snydeq writes “InfoWorld’s Tom Yager takes a closer look at Apple’s iPhone SDK confidentiality agreement, which restricts developers from discussing the SDK or exchanging ideas with others, thereby leaving no room for forums, newsgroups, open source projects, tutorials, magazine articles, users’ groups, or books. But because anyone is free to obtain the iPhone SDK by signing up for it, Apple is essentially branding publicly available information as confidential. This ‘puzzling contradiction’ is the ‘antithesis of the developer-friendly Apple Developer Connection’ on which the iPhone SDK program is based, Yager contends. ‘You’ll see arguments from armchair legal analysts that the iPhone developer Agreements won’t stand up in court — but those analysts certainly won’t stand up in court on your behalf.’ Anyone planning to launch an iPhone forum or open source project should have ‘a lawyer draft your request for exemption, and make sure that the Apple staffer granting it personally commits to status as authorized to approve exceptions to the iPhone Registered Developer and iPhone SDK Agreements,’ Yager warns.”

IPhone 3G Jailbreak Released, Paves Way For Open Source Apps

PainMeds writes “iPhone Atlas is reporting that the first jailbreak for the iPhone 3G has been released, and includes the popular Cydia community installer for distributing free games and applications. Since Apple’s SDK was released, web sites have criticized Apple for the restrictions placed on both what developers could write and what APIs they were allowed to use. Others have noted the SDK’s incompatibility with the GPL. The Cydia installer has provided a distribution channel for both open source software and software that would otherwise be impossible to build using the restricted SDK. A few applications are already out, including MobileTerminal and NES.app, a Nintendo game console emulator. In just over a week, open development is finally here for the iPhone 3G!”

Apple Climbs Into Third Place In U.S. PC Market

Tibor the Hun writes “According to Gartner and IDC, Apple now has between 7.8 and 8.5% of market share. While those numbers are not astonishing, they are not insignificant, and their growth does not seem to be slowing down. Will the pearly gates of acceptance open up for them once they reach the magic 10%, and will that have a positive effect on desktop Linux adoption? Hard to tell, but it’s good to see that normal people (not just us geeks) are choosing to go with a different OS, rather than staying with the headache-inducing Windows.”

Apple Suit Demands That Psystar Recall OpenMacs

Da’Man writes “The Psystar saga takes another series of turns. Not only is the website down but an examination of the suit filed by Apple shows that the Cupertino Goliath wants Psystar to recall all Open Computer and OpenServ systems sold by the company since April. It seems that Steve Jobs is out to totally sink Psystar and put an end to Mac clones.”

1200-Baud Archeology

jamie found this singularly geeky article on reconstructing Apple I BASIC from a cassette tape. It claims to offer the first confirmed perfect dump (BIN) of the 4096 bytes of this venerable interpreter. Terrific fun for the whole family. “The Apple I is extremely rare. Only 200 were built, and less than 100 are believed to be in existence. Neither Steve nor Woz own an Apple I any more, and neither does Apple Inc. The cassettes are even rarer, as not every Apple I came with one… So here is how to decode the signal. Let us first open the audio file in Audacity and look at the waveform… It is now time to write a small program to measure and dump the width of the pulses.”

Free SMS On IPhone 3G Via AOL IM Client

Glenn Fleishman writes “Jeff Carlson has discovered that you can bypass the 20 cent per message or $5 to $20 per month fees for SMS (text messaging) with the iPhone 3G and AT&T by using AOL’s downloadable instant message client for iPhone 2.0, which is free. Just like the full-blown AOL IM system, you can add buddies that are the phone numbers of cell phones you want to send SMS to, and you establish a two-way conduit. The recipient still pays for SMS (if they have a fee) on their end, but if it’s another iPhone user, you could coordinate with them via SMS to use instant messaging instead.”

IPhone 2.0 Jailbroke

dch24 was one of many who noted that the iPhone 2.0 software has already been unlocked writes “If you were wondering how I was doing push email tests on iPhone OS 2.0 and Vodafone UK, this is the reason why. The code wizard commandos at the iPhone Dev Team have been working on this non-stop since the early days of beta testing. In fact, I had iPhone OS 2.0 running on my iPhone since last week. That was version 5A345, two below 5A347, but identical in functionality.”

Full Review of the iPhone 2 On Launch Day

With the launch of Apple’s brand-spanking-new 3G iPhone today, Engadget has a great review of the product and many of the prominent features. The review has quite a few good pictures and is not shy about technical details, but I guess they would know a fair bit about it, having ripped one apart yesterday. “The wireless industry is a notoriously tough nut to crack, and it’s become pretty clear that the first iPhone wasn’t about total domination so much as priming the market and making a good first impression with some very dissatisfied cellphone users. With the iPhone 3G, though, Apple’s playing for keeps. Not only is this iPhone’s Exchange enterprise support aiming straight for the heart of the business market, but the long-awaited 3rd party application support and App Store means it’s no longer just a device, but a viable computing platform. And its 3G network compatibility finally makes the iPhone welcome the world over, especially after Cupertino decided to ditch its non-traditional carrier partnerships in favor of dropping the handset price dramatically. $200? We’re still a little stunned.”

Apple Launches ITunes App Store With 500+ Apps

L. Miriam writes “Apple launched the iTunes App store for the iPhone and iPod Touch today, following the earlier launch of iTunes 7.7. There are over 500 applications available for download, with prices ranging from free to around $35. Both MySpace and Facebook apps are there, as well as a mix of games, utilities and ebooks. You can download applications now, but you can’t do anything with them until the iPhone/iPod 2.0 firmware is released. The App Store can’t be accessed directly through iTunes, but Mobile Computer explains how to get to it, and has a few screenshots, too.”