Apple

Google confirms FTC 'discussion' pending over Schmidt-Apple relationship

Correction at 2:50 p.m. PDT: This story initially misquoted Kent Walker. He confirmed that Google was aware of a "pending FTC discussion" into Schmidt's board seats.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Google confirmed that the Federal Trade Commission plans to hold discussions with the company over a possible conflict of interest due to CEO Eric Schmidt's participation on both Google and Apple's board of directors.

In response to questions posed by reporters during a lunch meeting with Google executives--including Schmidt--Google vice president and general counsel Kent Walker confirmed that Google was aware of a "… Read more

Intel and Novell take aim at Android with Moblin

Google's still-nascent efforts to dominate the mobile market, already reeling from Apple's surging iPhone platform, were dealt another blow on Thursday when Intel and Novell announced that they will collaborate to promote Intel's Moblin operating system, a rival Linux distribution for mobile devices.

Whereas Google is initially targeting smartphones with Android (though an Android-based Netbook has apparently been released), Intel is targeting Moblin at Netbooks.

Additionally, Android and Moblin aren't simply two different Linux distributions, in the way that Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server are. Android and Moblin use Linux in different … Read more

Report: AT&T to cut iPhone service plan by $10

AT&T may slash the price of its iPhone service plan by $10 when a new version of the touchscreen smartphone is launched this summer, according to a story on TheStreet.com.

The article cited analyst Michael Cote of Cote Collaborative saying that there is a "strong possibility" that AT&T will drop the entry-level price of its service plan to $59 from $69. Apple is expected to unveil the latest iPhone on June 8 during the company's World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

AT&T declined to comment for this story, and Michael Cote did not respond to an e-mail request for an interview.

The price cut would likely help make the iPhone, which now retails for $200 with a two-year service plan with AT&T, more appealing to more mainstream customers. I've been saying for quite some time that the biggest hurdle to widescale adoption of the iPhone or any other smartphone in the mainstream market is the high price tag of the service contracts.

Consumers have shown that they are willing to pay anywhere between $100 and $200 for a sophisticated smartphone device. But the monthly service charge, which starts at $69 for the iPhone, is much harder to swallow.

It puts the real cost of the iPhone 3G over the life of the two-year contract at a whopping $1,856, which includes the price of the 8GB phone and 24 months of the most basic iPhone voice and data plan. It doesn't include the activation fee or taxes and other fees associated with the account. For subscribers who need more voice minutes or unlimited texting, the price tag is even higher.

Still, a $240 reduction in the overall cost of the phone over the life of the contract could entice some cost-conscious consumers.… Read more

The 404 337: Where Dan Levy makes it rain

Our good friend Dan Levy from OntheDLPodcast joins our show today in our studio and witnesses the first-ever live 404 unboxing! Justin's choice to buy a refurbished Macbook Pro turns out to be the right decision after all.

We then talk with Dan about various stories from around the Internet, including one out of Dublin, in which a student's fake Wikipedia edit actually wound up in newspapers as legitimate! This leads us into a a discussion of proposed legislation that would make it basically illegal to slander someone online. Isn't that what the Internet was created for?

All this and more, plus Calls from the Public on today's show! Also, make sure to check out Blogs With Balls if you're interested in the just-as-nerdy sports blogosphere.

Sorry to those looking for today's video stream--a few technically difficulties prevented us from uploading the video. We've got everything figured out and tomorrow we'll be back up on CNET TV!

Leave us a voicemail 866-404-CNET or e-mail us at the404 [at] cnet [dot] com!

EPISODE 337 Download today's podcast |  Subscribe in iTunes audio |   Subscribe in RSS Audio|   Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Apple releases iPhone OS 3.0 beta 5 to developers

Apple's engineering department is still working hard toward the summer release of iPhone OS 3.0. The difference now is that Apple's engineering team has hit warp 5--well, beta 5 actually--only 8 days after releasing beta 4. Talk about zippy. It is likely that the speed up is attributed to the rapidly approaching WWDC 2009.

Like most Apple updates, we suspect that the new beta 5 includes several stability and performance enhancements that might make the beta more pleasing to use, if you are testing it.

As previously reported, we've heard from some early beta testers complaining (… Read more

Things to organize your life

Things for iPhone is a well-designed, easy-to-use, highly scalable task-management app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and it's even better when paired with the Mac desktop app of the same name. Like its desktop counterpart (with which it can sync over Wi-Fi), Things for iPhone offers a clean, intuitive interface based around the popular "Getting Things Done" productivity method. Tasks are collected under Projects (sets of smaller subtasks), Areas (areas of responsibility, such as work or family), and an In-box "waiting area" for unsorted tasks.

Things has a handy Today list (which displays the … Read more

The stickmen are coming!

StickWars is a fun and unusual arcade-strategy game that shows promise for future versions. The game's interface--in which you defend a castle from an endless horde of stick-figure "barbarians"--is inherently entertaining, as you tap and swipe (i.e., fling) incoming invaders, hurling them off the castle walls at high speeds, to meet their bloody demises (which can be quite bloody, depending on how you set the variable cartoon blood settings) on the ground below.

The game's strategy revolves around earning money, based on how many kills you rack up, and also on capturing barbarians. Train … Read more

Turn iPhone images into art

CameraBag is a fun way to make great-looking iPhone photos with retro-looking effects. You can either take a picture from within the application's interface or you can pick a shot you've already taken from your image library. From there, you simply choose an effect from the drop-down menu on your touch screen, or swipe your finger to cycle through the 10 available effects to preview your image.

Image effects have names like 1974, which give your images that particular grainy quality, or Instant, which adds the familiar white frame along with that retro image quality. We think this … Read more

Ow My Balls for iPhone: Make Joe hurt

If you're a fan of dystopian humor, like in the movie "Idiocracy," this may be the game for you.

Introduced Monday by Jetson Creative, Ow My Balls! is a funny game that brings some unusual humor to the iPhone (and iPod Touch).

The game incorporates gravity simulation, funny sound effects, and a very peculiar method of directional acceleration.

I was a little dispirited by the name and the nature of the joke but I tried it anyway. After all, the game made it through the parental vetting process for Apple's App Store.

In the game, you'… Read more