One More Thing

Psystar's Open Computer has arrived.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

The Open Computer has landed at CNET Networks.

My colleagues over at CNET Reviews in New York have managed to get their hands on a review unit of Psystar's Open Computer, and they've got all sorts of pictures to share. For those of you who just woke up, Psystar is selling computers with Mac OS X Leopard as a preinstallation option, which is not part of an official program run by Apple and involves the use of some trickeration in order to get things up and running.

Click here for an unboxing video, or here for a slideshow. Rich Brown of CNET Reviews says he'll have a formal review of the Open Computer up this evening, so make sure to check back for that as well.

All sorts of questions about Psystar's legitimacy arose about the company after it was inundated with orders, forcing its Web site offline and causing its initial payment provider to cut ties with the company. But the kinks appear to have been worked out.

I ordered an Open Computer as just a regular customer, not as a reviewer, and received a call this morning from Psystar that my order is ready to ship if I was willing to switch to a black case. Apparently the white cases are in heavy demand; there would have been a 10-day back order if I wanted to keep the white case.

And now that the

The iPod survey is back up and running, please take a minute or two to share your thoughts on the iPod if you haven't already.

News.com survey

Click here to take CNET News.com's iPod survey

Due to an overwhelming response yesterday in just a few hours, we had to close our iPod survey before we could upgrade to a larger account that permits more responses. We got nearly 1,000 responses in 3 hours, which was far more than I anticipated when I signed up for the basic account. Thanks to PollDaddy.com for helping us get back up and running this morning.

The idea is to gather some information on how News.com readers are currently using their iPods, or any MP3 players, in preparation for a story next week about the future of the iPod. We've spent a lot of time over the past six months talking about the iPhone and the Mac, so it's high time we take a look at the device that is perhaps most responsible for Apple's success this decade.

Sony Ericsson wants mobile software developers to have the best of both worlds.

Next week at JavaOne, the company plans to demonstrate its Project Capuchin, which will allow software developers to create applications for mobile phones that can use pieces of both Java ME and Adobe Systems' Flash Lite to create their applications. The company plans to release a set of APIs (application programming interfaces) and a software development kit in the second half of this year to bring the two different mobile development styles together.

For example, Java developers could decide to use the richer user interface technology found in Flash Lite, said Ulf Wretling, general manager, head of developer program and communications for Sony Ericsson. Or maybe a developer wants to use Java's three-dimensional graphics for a mobile game but would prefer to use Flash Lite for menus, he said.

The problem with this kind of project is that while it creates a "bridge" between the two technologies, as Wretling put it, it also pulls developers away from the current road map for both Java and Flash Lite. The difference here is that developers will still be able to create regular Java or Flash applications using this set of APIs, just mixing and matching technology from the other camp as needed.

This technology will be used on the mass-market mobile phone, not the smartphone category with more sophisticated operating systems. Sony Ericsson phones will arrive in the second half of the year with this technology, but the ... Read more

At least one Psystar customer has received their Open Computer, as I continue to await mine.

(Credit: Psystar)

Mac clones large and small are popping up all over the place these days.

Psystar has managed to get past a tumultuous week earlier this month to get Open Computers into the hands of its customers. The Open Computer is being sold with Mac OS X Leopard as a preinstalled option for Psystar's customers, in what is expected to at some point draw some legal attention from Apple.

Check out this video on Gizmodo of the Open Computer, which sounds like an airplane taking off, in all its glory. I ordered a unit two weeks ago that was supposed to ship on Monday, but I haven't received an updated notice that it has left the factory. My colleague Rich Brown in CNET Reviews is also expecting a review unit for a formal review of the product, so watch for that in the coming days.

Engadget also found video of the Oqo handheld computer running Mac OS X Leopard, the result of a project undertaken by a forum member at Oqo Talk. I wouldn't call the Oqo Leopard model ideal, as it takes a full 2 minutes and 30 seconds for the system to boot. But if you wanted a preview of a future Mac mobile Internet device, this might be it.

Might Apple be ready to formally embrace unlocking with a new iPhone pricing structure at AT&T?

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AT&T plans to sell the 3G iPhone for $199 when it arrives in AT&T's stores in June, according to a report, in a sign that Apple may have given up on locked iPhones.

Fortune is reporting that you'll be able to buy a $199 iPhone in AT&T's stores, and only in AT&T's stores, when the new model arrives around the one-year anniversary of the iPhone launch. The report says Apple will sell 8GB and 16GB versions of the new iPhone for $399 and $499 in its own retail stores.

This report, based on the word of a single anonymous source, raises no less than 28 zillion questions. My first thought is that if this is true, the only way Apple would go along with its partner's intention to dramatically undercut its pricing would be if Apple plans to sell unlocked iPhones in Apple stores.

Apple seems to have acquiesced to the demand for unlocked phones, embracing the development as a sign of strong iPhone demand on its last earnings conference call. It also has not updated the iPhone firmware since February, even though the hacking community broke that update almost instantaneously.

So, if Apple was ready to embrace the unlocked model, AT&T would need a way to keep people locked into two-year contracts. People

Is the iPod Touch the future of Apple iPod lineup, or are people always going to want something simpler?

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UPDATE 9:10am PT - The poll is back open, check it out if you missed out yesterday.

All the adulation bestowed on Apple these days tends to bypass the product that set the stage for its amazing run this decade.

Without the iPod, Apple would be a very different company. The stunning growth of the iPod transformed Apple, the music business, and the consumer electronics industry, and also showed that what people wanted in a handheld computer was a simple user interface built into a stylish package.

Coming off Apple's latest earnings call, however, all the focus is on the Mac and the iPhone. And deservedly so: Apple's Mac business hasn't been this healthy since Ronald Reagan was president and the iPhone has the mobile phone industry scrambling. But what about the iPod?

iPod growth has slowed almost to a halt. Unit shipments of iPods were up just 1 percent compared to last year, while revenue growth was up just 8 percent. The first quarter of the year is not exactly prime iPod buying season, but the days of runaway iPod growth seem over as the market becomes saturated.

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Click here to take CNET News.com's iPod survey

That doesn't necessarily mean that Apple's in trouble, as no one has managed to mount a credible threat to its ... Read more

The back of the iPhone might be turning black with the arrival of the 3G model.

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Apple might have decided to make a few cosmetic changes to the next-generation iPhone.

As Lawrence Peter might say, it's deja vu all over again as we await the arrival of the 3G iPhone. Engadget has the latest, claiming they've been in touch with a tester who says Apple plans to ditch the aluminum exterior in favor of a "glossy black" plastic-like material and, more significantly, add a GPS chip.

I'm not sure what to make of the decision to drop the metal look until I can see the actual product, mock-up images notwithstanding. But the addition of a GPS chip would be a solid move, and probably unlock some interesting applications that could take advantage of GPS and the accelerometer inside the iPhone.

Two other minor changes, according to Engadget, will be that the new iPhone's headphone jack will be flush with the exterior, and not recessed like the original unit. And the new model will apparently be slightly thicker, although no metric was provided to shed light on exactly what "slightly" means.

There are six things that developers need to keep in mind when developing for mobile computers, six things that don't necessarily come into play when thinking about PCs.

Zumobi's Ben Bederson answers questions following his session on developing software for mobile computers.

(Credit: Tom Krazit/CNET News.com)

That's how Ben Bederson and John SanGiovanni, co-founders of Zumobi, described their philosophies of mobile computing: immediacy, adaptability, one-handed use, visual elegance, put the user in control, and thinking differently. The two engineers hosted a session during the waning days of the Web 2.0 Expo for Web developers interested in making products for smartphones, mobile Internet devices, or whatever convention we settle on to describe the next generation of mobile computing.

Bederson is a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, and spends much of his time researching human-computer interaction, which is getting a fresh look after 20 years of desktop computing. The surge in interest in mobile devices gives researchers a clean slate to figure out how people want to use computers, and Bederson and SanGiovanni have their theories.

Let's take those one by one:

• Immediacy. People have no tolerance for an hourglass on their smartphone, Bederson said. Developers should aim for a 15-second interaction: Take the phone out of the pocket, access the information, put the phone back in the pocket. It should only be out of that pocket for 15 seconds, otherwise, you're going to frustrate the user.

• Adaptability. The iPhone

The 8GB iPhone has practically disappeared from the U.K. after a price cut last week.

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Price apparently was an object for U.K. iPhone shoppers.

The decision by U.K. carrier O2 to cut the price of the 8GB iPhone prompted shoppers to exhaust stocks of that model at O2's Web site and at Carphone Warehouse, an authorized iPhone reseller. Pocket-Lint confirmed with Carphone Warehouse that the 8GB models are kaput, and O2 told the site that while online stocks of the 8GB model are gone, retail stocks are dwindling fast.

It was only a week ago that O2 cut the price of the 8GB model from 269 British pounds ($533) to 169 British pounds ($335), a move that was seen as a inventory-clearing measure ahead of the expected introduction of a 3G iPhone. Both Carphone Warehouse and O2 told Pocket-Lint they were "reviewing" whether to order more 8GB models from Apple, which is yet another hint we're going to see a new model soon.

Does this mean Apple has a 32GB iPhone planned for the 3G launch, expected to come in June at or around the Worldwide Developers Conference? Perhaps, although it's only been a few months since it upped the capacity to 16GB. At that time, Apple's Greg Joswiak said the company still believed there was demand for a 8GB model, but that stance might have changed to reflect a "bigger is better" mentality.

A 3G version of the BlackBerry 8800 series, like the 8820 shown here, could be delayed until August.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Updated 4/25, see explanation at bottom.

A technical glitch in an upcoming BlackBerry release will prevent an iPhone-Blackberry showdown in June, according to Fortune. AT&T will delay the launch of the BlackBerry 8900 from June to August after concerns about call quality, the magazine reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources. The 8900 will be Research in Motion's first 3G BlackBerry for AT&T, and it had been expected to make its debut right around the same time as Apple is expected to launch a 3G version of the iPhone. UPDATED 6:10pm PT - The device would be the first 3G BlackBerry for AT&T's network, not in general, as the BlackBerry Global Edition launch last year runs on Verizon's 3G EV-DO network. Thanks to mrtokyo below for pointing that out.

RIM and Apple are the two major smartphone companies in the U.S., and that head-to-head competition is expected to intensify when Apple releases the enterprise-friendly software update known as iPhone 2.0 in June. RIM has a lock on the corporate smartphone market in this country, and has been making inroads into the consumer market. Apple is taking the exact opposite tack, going after consumers with the initial iPhone release and announcing plans to put a suit on the iPhone in March.

Fortune speculates that the delay might be an ... Read more