News Roundup for December the 9th

Did we mention that some MacBook Airs were having display problems? As the mock-up shown here demonstrates, the problem manifests itself as a series of annoying horizontal lines. The effect is similar to that seen on ‘laid’ paper. Much hilarity thus ensued.

Now, we all know that the iPhone 3G has been a bit of a stunner in the success department, what with the millions of sales and the tacit endorsement by celebrities from the President-Elect on upwards. But we all know that Steve and the boys won’t settle for anything but the highest of accolades. Well, yesterday their dreams came true, as Five’s Gadget Show awarded the iPhone their prestigious “Viewers’ Gadget of the Year” gong. What could possibly top that? Maybe a couple of top ten rankings in eBay’s list of America’s Pop Culture Obsessions for 2008. Still not hot enough for you? Then how about the news that, yes, the iPhone is coming to Wal*Mart stores before the end of the year. But rumours of a cut-down $99 4Gb version have been universally dismissed, as have reports that the phones will be sold in family-friendly 4 packs.

So you’ve got your iPhone. How about some stuff to put on it? Are you into advertising? Then we’ve got a treat for you, as Google announces they’re going to start allowing advertisers to specifically target iPhone owners. No word yet on whether they’ll be able to tell where you bought your iPhone. Because, I mean, Wal*Mart iPhone owners… Yeah. Okay, so ads aren’t really your thing. How about some DRM-free music? The random rumour of the week suggests that Apple’s going to be going completely sans DRM today. (Or possibly next Tuesday.) We’ve already had reports last week of more DRM-less tracks creeping out from various record labels. Could this really be the day they set the music free? Mikey, it sound like Steve heard you. But why the delay? It could be we’re waiting for el Jobso to finish personally vetting each and every track — something he does as a side effect of his constant quest to find the perfect iPod advert tune. Who will be the next bunch of unknowns to get their big break thanks to the dancing silhouette guy? Boy, Steve’s just like Simon Cowell, only with a lower waistband.

Meanwhile, it looks like OS X 10.5.6 is almost upon us, bringing with it both good cheer and over 100 bug fixes. That should tide us over until Snow Leopard makes an appearance. And if you can’t wait that long, you can keep yourself occupied reading the OpenCL specs.