August 19th | Posted by Dr. Macenstein

We’ve heard mixed reports as to whether the Japanese love or hate the iPhone, but if these shots are any indication, it would appear the Japanese are more than a little curious about Apple’s phone, to say the least.

Apparently on Tokyo news stands there are no fewer than 4 iPhone-specific magazines dedicated to the device – no small feat when you realize the iPhone only hit the streets a month ago. It’s even more impressive when you realize that in the US I think there are now only 2 or 3 major Mac publications still in physical print, and those cover a wider spectrum of Apple news (and have a much larger potential audience). Yes, it would appear the iPhone is flying higher than Mothra in Japan. Of course, apparently a good portion of the magazines are dedicated to tutorials on how to jailbreak your 3G iPhone, but still, this can’t be bad news for Japanese iPhone sales.

[via amarinalameda]

August 18th | Posted by Dr. Macenstein

Apple has announced that in order to make up for the numerous and seemingly unsolvable glitches running rampant throughout their MobileMe service, they will be offering yet another free 2 month extension to MobileMe subscribers in addition to the 30 day extension they already have doled out.

To me this like going to a restaurant and ordering a thick, juicy steak, only to be served a rancid bowl of overcooked broccoli instead. The out comes an apologetic waiter carrying out 2 more bowls of broccoli to make amends for the mistake instead of just bringing out that steak you ordered in the first place.

Actually, I think if I tried a little harder I could come up with a better steak-based analogy, but suffice it to say, (Continue reading…)

August 18th | Posted by Dr. Macenstein

You heard right (well, actually you read right, unless the guy next to you was reading this same article out loud). We here at Macenstein are showing our appreciation for our beloved Mac Chicks by giving away a free 8GB iPod nano* to each and every Mac Chick of the Month we feature. So ladies, get those entries in, and fellas, grab your cameras and girlfriends, and start shooting!

August 18th | Posted by Dr. Macenstein

Koi Pond is one of the more popular paid apps for the iPhone, and I can definitely understand why. First, at 99¢, it’s as close to free as Apple lets a developer get without simply giving away their app. But more importantly, Koi Pond is one of those cool little apps that really shows off just how powerful and interactive the iPhone graphics can be, and one of those apps we iPhone owners love showing our non-iPhone owning friends who then lamely look down at their Verizon handsets which can more or less simply display the time.

I had seen Koi Pond on the iTunes store for some time, but only recently decided to give it a shot. For some reason the stills on the store just didn’t seem all that compelling to me, and if in looking at my screengrabs you feel the same way, let me just say Koi Pond is all about subtle motion, and must be seen in action to truly be appreciated (Continue reading…)

August 18th | Posted by Dr. Macenstein

Thanks so much to all of you who entered our $75 iTunes gift card giveaway, courtesy of Headline. We wish we could give you all gift cards, but unfortunately, in the end, (much like in Highlander) there can be only one.

So, who won? Well, none other than… (Continue reading…)

August 17th | Posted by Dr. Macenstein

If you are one of those people who think the iPhone 3G’s industrial design isn’t quite up to the beautiful brushed aluminum standards set by the 1st gen iPhone, don’t worry. Have we got the phone for you!

Above: Nope, that’s not the iPhone, folks.

I caught a bit of flack for comparing Lian Li’s XB01 Xbox case to that of the Mac Pro, but if anyone says this (Chinese? Russian?) import is not an iPhone rip-off, I’ll eat his hat, and the hats of up to 6 of his friends.

Behold the MiPhone M99i by DigitalRise. Even the name is just “iPhone with an “M” slapped on the beginning, and a trailing number tacked to the end because Windows mobile users seem to like their gadgets to sound like Star Wars droids (Continue reading…)

August 16th | Posted by Dr. Macenstein

Remember when “David G.” started that MobileMe status blog at the personal request of Steve Jobs to keep everyone up-to-date on MobileMe’s flaky outages? “Be assured people here are working 24-7 to improve matters,” wrote David, “and we’re going to favor getting you new info hot off the presses even if we have to post corrections or further updates later.”

Well, that first post was July 25th, followed by a quick update on July 27th, followed by another on July 29th. So far, so good. Unfortunately, that July 29th entry was followed by… nothing. Yes, the July 29th post, which ended with the line “Next post later this week” has been the last update for nearly 3 weeks now, and some folks who are still experiencing daily outages, such as faithful Macenstein reader drfunk, have gotten fed up.

“I sent an email to Steve Jobs and Eddie Cue complaining about MobileMe telling them that after 4+ years using my .mac as my work email, I have to change it because its flat out just not reliable. Well someone from Steve’s office called me, actually, and they’re getting me some sort of in house support guy, sounds like he does inside tech support for them. Plus she sent me her contact info, and said feel free to reach out directly any time i have a problem. But when I talked to her, she acknowledged that they’re not putting any info out on it [the MobileMe status blog] on purpose, because they can’t iron out what is causing it. It sounds like they get one thing fixed, something else goes bad, etc…”

So, the good news here is that Apple’s MobileMe customer service seems very nice, apologetic, and about as helpful as they can be, however the bad news is that Apple still doesn’t seem to know how to get MobileMe working the way they intended for all of its customers.

I suspect a different type of “fire” will be hitting Apple’s MobileMe division soon if things don’t work themselves out soon, as in “here’s your walking papers now beat it” fire.

August 15th | Posted by Dr. Macenstein

Odds are if Apple ever decided to resurrect the Pippin and it would look more like the Apple TV or a Wii than a Mac Pro, but still, for hard core Mac gamers who are desperately trying to forget they enjoy playing games on a Microsoft console, case maker Lian Li has the answer.

Their XB01 case for the Xbox is more than a little reminiscent of the long-in-the-tooth-styling of the Mac Pro and the G5 tower before it, and may be just the thing to help camouflage the Xbox 360’s design. Made in Taiwan with the “Finest Quality Craftsmanship”, Lian Li’s case promises to keep your machine running cool, and will run you a cool $150 to do so.

Above: OK, maybe not a total rip-off. They didn’t put the Apple logo on the side…

Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader chaplare for the link!

[via Kotaku]

August 13th | Posted by Dr. Macenstein

Faithful Macenstein reader Justin over at When Will Apple? proposes an interesting theory on at least one cool new feature we may see in the next iPhone firmware revision.

Makes sense to us Justin, and would more or less cement Maps’ position as the iPhone’s most useful standalone App (well, maybe outside of Safari). It would also likely kill off couple of those overpriced, under-featured, city-specific transit apps that litter the iTunes store (yes, I have been burned).