Your time to order from the Apple Store before the holidays is running low, Amazon’s interest in buying a smartphone company is running out, and a statue of Apple’s co-founder may be running a small software firm in Hungary. The remainders for Wednesday, December 21, 2011 are about to run the table.
Get Your Order in Time for the Holidays (Apple Store)
It’s the last day to get things shipped from the online Apple Store before Christmas, so if you haven’t finished your shopping yet, place those orders now! And trust me, trying to explain to a teenager that their iPhone’s not there because you missed a deadline is just going to end in tears—probably yours.
iTunes Store: Complete My Season frequently asked questions (FAQ) (Apple Support)
Apple posted a knowledge base FAQ on its recently unveiled Complete My Season feature of the iTunes Store, but some customers may be unhappy at the answers: “4) No many how times you click the Complete My Season button on Firefly, there will not be any more episodes.”
Amazon weighed buying RIM but interest cooled: Sources (Chicago Tribune)
Apparently Amazon had BlackBerry-maker RIM in its shopping cart, but after thinking matters over decided not to proceed to checkout. Probably a good idea, since the return policy is murder. Literal murder.
2012 Marks Final CES Keynote for Microsoft (The Official Microsoft Blog)
Microsoft has announced that this will be the last year it holds a keynote or has a booth at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. In a surprise move, the company simultaneously said that it would be presenting the keynote at Macworld|iWorld in 2013.
Steve Jobs Statue Unveiled in Budapest (PR Newswire)
It’s the world’s first Steve Jobs statue! Located outside of the offices of Budapest-based software firm Graphisoft, the bronze sculpture of the late Apple CEO is reportedly so lifelike that three separate engineers have claimed it fired them.
Product News:
IMDb Movies & TV 2.4 – The Internet Movie Database has rolled out the latest version of its iOS app, adding the ability to create an account directly from the app, Watchlist and History buttons on the home screen, improved Facebook sharing, and more. Additionally, iOS 5 users can now receive notifications for entertainment news, new trailers, and theater showtimes. Free.
Piezo 1.1 – Rogue Amoeba’s audio-recording app has been updated with support for recording conversations from Skype, iChat, FaceTime, and other VoIP services. The program keeps the audio from callers and recipients distinct by shunting one to the left channel, the other to the right. Piezo 1.1 is a free update for anyone who already owns the program; for new owners, it’s $10 from the Mac App Store or directly from Rogue Amoeba.
Google Voice 1.4.0.2372 – Google has updated the iPhone client for its Google Voice service, most prominently adding multi-recipient texting and contact auto-complete. Sprint iPhone users also now have the ability to take advantage of that carrier’s Google Voice integration, routing all calls to the Phone app. There’s also a multi-line text entry field with character count, and one-touch copy-and-paste in the dial pad. Free.
Office2 HD 5.0 – The word processor component of ByteSquared’s office suite for the iPad gets some new layout and formatting tools, including multi-column layouts, shapes, rulers, section breaks, and floating images. It also gets new versioning tools, which let you revert to up to ten previous versions of a document, and footnotes and endnotes have been improved. Office2 HD 5.0 (the entire suite, which also includes an Excel-compatible spreadsheet tool and a PowerPoint-compatible presentation tool) is available in the App Store for $8; it’s a free update for current owners of the suite.