Apple’s posted a new advertisement for iPod+iTunes up on the Apple site’s iPod+iTunes page in the Featured on iTunes section. The new ad features a silhouetted Mary J. Blige singing Work That from her new album Growing Pains, and was initially aired on TV in the US yesterday.

Personally, I think the dancing silhouette with funky backgrounds has gotten a bit old and Steve should get his ad agency to think up something new. Of note is the fact that it seems a bit silly that the new ad still features a white iPod when there is none in the current line of players that is actually a white iPod. Doh.

Stocks too, actually.

It’s been found that Apple has been spying on iPhone users by sending back info on your IMEI and iPhone usage by secretly phoning home the information everytime an iPhone user uses the Weather and Stock widgets built into the phones.

Say what?

Website uneasysilence claims that there is code embeded in the widgets (and presumably others as well - is Mail part of this?) that tracks the information and sends it back to the mothership via a special URL, and the site says it has proof. So when you update the Weather or check on your AAPL stock on the phone, Apple knows the specific phone you’re using, your IP address, your weather interests - and your stocks. And this info collection is done worldwide. Huh?

Fine print in your iPhone EULA says you actually agreed to this invasion of privacy:

When you interact with Apple, we may collect personal information relevant to the situation, such as your name, mailing address, phone number, email address, and contact preferences; your credit card information and information about the Apple products you own, such as their serial numbers and date of purchase; and information relating to a support or service issue.”

If you use the iPhone legally, there’s hope that you might be able to do something about it, but those among us with unlocked and jailbroken units might not have a leg to stand on as far as this invasion of privacy is concerned.

If this is true, it’s the height of irony that the original Mac ad about Big Brother watching is true - and that Apple is Big Brother.

Just a heads-up.

This post may not be too much use to our overseas readers, but here in the Philippines, Mac users here who have Metrobank accounts who have been chomping at the bit to do online banking will find this good news.

The Metrobank system has been uncooperative with Macs ever since, forcing Mac users to turn to the dark side for their online banking needs. Well, as of yesterday, all seems to be fine with Macs and MetrobankDirect. I have it on good authority that the bank has been working hard all this time and they’ve finally licked it.

For Metrobank money matters via Macs go here.

One of the consistent weaknesses of the entire iPod/iPhone line for its entire six year life is the iconic white earphone set that comes in the box.

They’re not absolute dreck, but neither are they up to the hardware they come with. Merely adequate, there hasn’t been much improvement since 2001, save for the inline remote/mic built into the cord with the ones that come with iPhones. And hey, what about those foam things, huh? They don’t last long - if you can keep them at all, that is; I wonder what Apple was thinking including them in the box. Using them’s a clear mark of an iPod newbie.

It’s as if the earbuds were mere afterthoughts they threw in the box with the iPods and the iPhone; maybe they assumed it was an unnecessary effort and expense to give nice ones we could actually appreciate, spending all the R&D budget just on the hardware. But if they assumed that we’d dump them eventually in favor of better third party buds, it doesn’t make sense that they made it exasperatingly difficult for iPhone users to swap out the buds for better ones with the repressively off-sized audio port they built into the phone. I mean, WTH?

There are very few third-party buds with plugs that fit, and even rarer third-party iPhone-specific buds that have the same remote control/mic built into them (one of the better ones is the V-Moda Vibe Duo, but its bassy, in-ear noise-cancelling style isn’t for everyone; in fact, users have noted that it’s an unsettling experience to use these in-ears as a handsfree set for some reason.)

So to the rescue come enterprising companies that literally bridge the gap. Ranging from cheap to ridiculously expensive, the adaptors can be as plain as can be, or savvy enough to find a way to add a mic function to your existing third-party multimedia-ready buds.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

Received a ton of cases in the office for review in my magazine from Digital Walker. Here are some on my desk. Heck of a lot to go through, really. One a day?

Catch the reviews in the next issue of Mobile Philippines.