A year on, Psystar still defying Apple

A year on, Psystar still defying Apple
Today, the essential question regarding Psystar is unchanged: does the company have the right to sell computers with Apple's Mac OS X Leopard preinstalled, as it has been doing since April 14, 2008? Psystar set off shock waves through the Apple world that week, as an army of journalists, bloggers, fanboys, and detractors set off on a manic search for anything and everything related to the company and its desktops.Psystar emerged a year ago as a small independent system builder, the likes of which can be found in any medium-size town in the U.S. What provoked the interest and ire of the Mac community was Psystar's decision to ship so-called "white box" systems with Mac OS preinstalled alongside systems with Windows Vista and Linux, in defiance of Apple's licensing policies for that operating system.Psystar recently updated its flagship product, the Open Computer, and CEO Rudy Pedraza promises that more products are yet to come.In an interview, Pedraza acknowledged that the past year has been quite a challenge, but he's glad that at least so far, Psystar has been able to provide an alternative to Apple. "(Our customers) are people who would otherwise be unable to afford an Apple computer, and they are just happy about it."Whether or not Psystar sees another anniversary will depend in large part on legal wrangling in Northern California, far from Psystar's Doral, Fla., headquarters. The litigation between Apple and Psystar appears to be in a bit of a lull as the one-year anniversary passes, with lawyers immersed in the discovery phase of the trial following months of lawsuits and countersuits from both companies.Apple's stance is pretty clear: the end-user licensing agreement that comes with Leopard forbids the user from installing that operating system on anything other than an Apple-labeled computer. Psystar, on the other hand, is attempting to argue that Apple is abusing its copyright on Mac OS X in requiring the operating system to run on Apple hardware after Psystar unsuccessfully tried to lodge an antitrust defense.Little has changed on the legal front in recent months, but it seems worthwhile to take a step back and look at how Psystar has, and hasn't, changed the nature of the computer business. First off, Psystar does not appear to have made a huge dent in Apple's Mac business.I've been using one of the original Psystar Open Computers for almost a year.James Martin/CNETMac desktop shipments have indeed slipped since March 2008, from 856,000 units in the quarter ended March 2008 to 728,000 units in the quarter ended December 2008. But Apple and analysts attributed that decline to three main factors: an aging iMac lineup (refreshed in March 2009), the ongoing shift in consumer preferences from desktops to notebooks (Apple's notebook shipments increased 17 percent over that time span), and the general slump in the economy that took hold in the second half of 2008.Psystar will not release sales figures, but Pedraza said that sales have exceeded his expectations to date. Pedraza said the company is still planning to release a notebook, but hinted that it might be something more along the lines of a Netbook rather than a full-sized notebook.What Psystar has accomplished is to prove that a Mac OS computer that was not designed by Apple can deliver a satisfactory experience. CNET was one of the first to order an Open Computer in April 2008, and I've been using that machine as my primary work system ever since with few issues.It's certainly not perfect: while I've been able to download every update to Leopard released since last April, I have not always been able to download and install updates for Apple application software through Software Update, such as iTunes and iLife. If something goes wrong with the OS, I'll have to venture down a complicated restore process involving a second installation CD that likely contains the magic files Psystar needs to bypass Apple's restrictions on where Leopard can be installed. And needless to say, the Open Computer is not the sort of thing that makes an IT department all giddy.Still, the Open Computer is otherwise an almost identical Mac experience to the MacBook Pro I use at home. When it comes to reliability and service, Psystar may not be able to compete with Apple, but for people who know their way around a computer, the Open Computer is a Mac.And that could have huge ramifications for the software industry if Psystar is able to overturn Apple's end-user licensing agreement, which could usher in another Mac clone era just when the operating system's popularity is arguably at an all-time high. The first Mac clone era did not go well for Apple, and it's not hard to see similar problems occurring if the perception of Mac OS X as stable and reliable start to wane as it is forced to interact with hardware for which it was not designed. Already, Psystar imitators such as PearC are trying their hand at the market.An awful lot has to happen before Apple has to worry about anything like that. Psystar is a clear underdog against Apple, and the trial is not scheduled to begin until November.But the Little Mac Cloner That Could is a year old this week, and is continuing to sell Open Computers under Apple's nose. How many more years does Psystar have?

How to use Photovine

How to use Photovine
Photovine, Google's photo-sharing app for iOS devices, is now open to all. Let's take a quick look at how this free app works.Photovine is set up similarly to Instagram, with a large button centered in the bottom menu for snapping a picture, which you can attach to a "vine" or create your own. A vine is a theme around which photos are grouped. Vines I saw included Nutella, Out a Plane's Window, Jordans, Breakfast of Champions, Green, and (of course) Kittens.When viewing a vine, you can "like" a photo and add a comment. You can "watch" vines that interest you by tapping the Watch button in the upper-right corner, and they are then added to your Watching list. Two other lists of vines are labeled Fresh and Popular. Vines that you create or contribute to get added to your Watching list. You can also follow other users, which helps you keep tabs on their Photovine activity. You can find friends through Facebook, Twitter, your address book, or searching by Photovine user name.When you are browsing a vine and tap the center button in the bottom menu, the camera app opens and the picture you snap will then get added to that vine. You can then add a 40-character caption and choose to share on Facebook or Twitter, currently your only social-networking options. (Why Google launched Photovine without Google+ integration is a mystery to me.) You can also "loop in your friends." Looped-in friends will receive a message in their Photovine inbox about your recent post. Tap the Post button in the upper-right corner and your photo gets added to the vine.Here I am adding to the Nutella vine with--what else?--a picture of Nutella.Matt ElliottIf you are not viewing a particular vine when you snap a photo, you can then create your own vine. As you type out a title, existing vines appear to avoid duplication. To flip through the photos in a vine, you can use the arrow buttons below the images or just swipe sideways.You can add vines that interest you to your Watching list.Matt ElliottIn addition to the photo button on the bottom menu, you'll find buttons labeled Activity, Vines, Inbox, and Profile. The Activity page simply lists the photos you've added to vines. The Vines page lists various vines, under the Fresh, Popular, and Watching headers. You inbox includes notifications and messages; you'll get a notification when someone chooses to follow you or loops you when they post a photo, and messages are simply text messages sent from user to user. Lastly, from your Profile page, you can see your followers, those you are following, the photos you've liked, and thumbnails of your posts. You can also upload an image for your profile picture, which by default is a monkey because, I suppose, monkeys like climbing on vines.Your profile page shows who is following you, who you are following, and your recent posts.Matt ElliottThe design is very un-Google like, with no mention of Google in the branding and a light-green-and-brown color scheme. There are also no filters, which I would consider the biggest omission of Photovine. Photo filters are what make apps like Instagram and Hipstamatic so creative and fun.So, that's Photovine in a nutshell. Do you think you'll try it in addition to or in place of Instagram or Hipstamatic? Please share your photo-sharing habits in the comments below.

App store downloads shine on Christmas

App store downloads shine on Christmas
The volume in overall App Store downloads also grew by more than 50 percent in December (with estimates for the final week of the month) over November, surpassing Flurry's estimate of only 20 percent.Flurry's Vice President of Marketing Peter Farago spoke with CNET about the success of the App Store. Though some forecasts question how much further the App Store can grow, Farago thinks this is just the beginning. "The growth has been meteoric for Apple for iPhone and iPod Touch penetration," he said. "They're already past 50 million units in the marketplace for iPhone and iPod Touch."Farago notes that while the iPhone is a killer device that gives people a portable computer in their pocket, Apple knows it needs third-party developers, which is one reason the company controls the store. And developers will go wherever they can get a good customer base, realizing that they can build an app once for the App Store and draw in a lot of consumers.Even recent criticisms leveled against the App Store haven't dented its growth. Though some developers have complained that the App Store is hard to deal with, Farago says there are a lot of success stories from people who have created and sold apps through Apple.Farago also sees the iPod Touch as Apple's silent killer, with a huge market share that will help the company in the years to come. "What I'd be scared about if I were a phone maker is that Apple has a relationship now with all these teens and pre-teens using a device that is basically an iPhone with the radio turned off," he said. "They've got 24 million [customers], and with Christmas, probably add a couple million or so to that. All those kids are getting trained to be iPhone users in the next two to five years."Google's Android Market can't compare with the App Store at this point, but its recent download volume should offer Android vendors some holiday cheer. December downloads from the Android Market store grew by more than 20 percent over November. Downloads for Motorola's Droid, in particular, rose 93 percent on Christmas Day compared with the three previous Fridays of the month. The Droid also captured 48 percent of all download volume versus other top Android devices, including the myTouch 3G, G1, and the HTC Hero).FlurryFarago also sees the Android market off to a promising start. The installed hardware base isn't there yet, but that may start to change next year as Flurry expects about 50 new Android devices to hit the market. Once enough of those devices get into the hands of consumers, more developers may be drawn to create Android apps.Of all Android devices, the Droid is so far leading the way. "It's the most successful [Android] headset that enables downloading pretty easily," said Farago. "For a phone that's not the iPhone, it's got a pretty good installed base."Though Android may always play second fiddle to Apple, at least in the foreseeable future, that doesn't mean the Android Market can't have a significantly good business, notes Farago. Flurry predicts that by the end of next year, 150,000 apps will be available for Android phones, up from around 20,000 to 25,000 now. Flurry provides analytics for mobile app developers to help them track downloads for their applications. As such, the company is able to determine which mobile devices are downloading which apps.