By Marjorie Gorospe
INQUIRER.net

HAVING a hard time with your own PC? Tired of not being cool enough to switch to an Apple computer? Well, you don’t have to go any further to find sexy and cool Apple products located in one store. There’s now one in Alabang Town Center owned by Ben Loo.

INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter Lawrence Casiraya got to talk to Ben Loo and here’s the video interview:

A fan of Apple products, Loo opened an Apple store, dubbed Switch, to encourage more local users to consider switching from using the PC to Apple. The store offers everything from the latest iPod, iPhone, MAC notebooks and other peripherals genuinely manufactured by Apple Inc.

Loo calls his target market “potential switchers.” The store in Alabang may be a long drive for most people. But he wants to concentrate first in small community and not jeopardize their business with the current competition.

Having been an Apple user for a long time, Loo admits that he is always awaiting for the next innovative Apple product.

At the present, he’s very excited and is looking forward to all “switchers” coming to see his store.

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DUE to pressures from developers, Apple has finally decided to drop the non-disclosure agreements that software developers for the iPhone are required to sign, a report from Agence France-Presse said.

Excerpt:

WASHINGTON — Apple said Wednesday that it was dropping a controversial non-disclosure agreement that software developers who wanted to create applications for the iPhone mobile telephone had been forced to sign.

The non-disclosure agreement, or NDA, prevented software developers seeking to take part in the iPhone Developer Program from discussing their work, even with colleagues.

Apple’s move to drop the NDA came just days after Internet search giant Google jumped into the mobile telephone market with a handset powered by Google’s open-source Android software.

The ability of outside developers to freely write applications for the phone, the T-Mobile G1, which Google developed with telecom carrier T-Mobile, is seen as a major selling point by Google and its partners.

Also from the Apple website:

We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect, so that others don’t steal our work. It has happened before. While we have filed for hundreds of patents on iPhone technology, the NDA added yet another level of protection. We put it in place as one more way to help protect the iPhone from being ripped off by others.

However, the NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone’s success, so we are dropping it for released software. Developers will receive a new agreement without an NDA covering released software within a week or so. Please note that unreleased software and features will remain under NDA until they are released.

Thanks to everyone who provided us constructive feedback on this matter.

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Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs is far from sick, as he launched the new line of iPODs, Agence France-Presse reports.

Excerpt:

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs on Tuesday unveiled new iPod models and iTunes stores upgrades for the coming holiday season as he brushed aside reports about his health.

Jobs kicked off a theatrical press event in downtown San Francisco by poking fun at persistent rumors about his health.

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Probably you’ve already downloaded the iTunes version 8.

According to Apple’s website, iTunes 8 features a “genius sidebar and playlist” feature, which we found not working in countries like the Philippines. We almost fell out of our chairs in excitement, as we read the Genius Sidebar feature but was quickly doused by this message, “Genius sidebar is not available in your country.” Bummer.

More about Genius Sidebar:

While you reacquaint yourself with the music you already own, let Genius introduce you to new music you’ll love. As you select songs in your library, the Genius sidebar displays songs from the iTunes Store that go great with it. The Genius sidebar won’t recommend songs already in your library, and you can preview and buy recommended songs directly from the sidebar.

Okay, a quick notes on the new features:

A “grid view,” which makes organization of your music easier, we believe. So you have the traditional and confusing view, the cover flow, and now this, grid view.

High-definition shows are now available on iTunes 8. Apple says you can now purchase select episodes of your favorite TV shows in high definition for just $2.99. We hope this is also available to Philippine users.

Finally, “enhanced accessibility.” iTunes 8 has been made more screen reader friendly on both Mac and PC. Well, if you have a terabyte of music, what would you do? Hope this helps you wade through your growing library of music.

“Manage your iTunes library using VoiceOver in Mac OS X Leopard or Window-Eyes for Windows XP and Windows Vista. Or use your screen reader to purchase or download content from the iTunes Store — including iTunes U,” Apple says.

So there you go, what are your thoughts?

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I’ve seen fast, but this takes the cake.

The guy behind ZiPhone, the turnkey app that simplied iPhone unlocking and put it within the reach of everyone for free (and putting lots of would-be hack-trepreneurs out of business in one fell swoop), claims that his software can already do the same for the new iPhone 3G on his blog ZiPhone Status. We don’t know how he can do that, given that the new iPhone won’t be out until July 11, but we’ve seen stranger things before.

Zibri himself said on the blog on a post dated June 10 that he was still waiting to get his hands on the 2.0 software and a unit, but two days later posts that he’s already patched and unlocked the firmware baseband. He also says all the carriers are supported already (and even adds our own Globe Telecom to his long list).

We’ll see. In the meantime we’ll order a large grain of salt to go, please.

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