Gizmodo: address

Apple and Google Combine Forces to Explode Your Address Book

John Herrman — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:50:00 EDT

The ability to sync your Address Book contacts with Gmail—one of 10.5.3’s most useful new features—could have used a bit more real-world testing. Rather than just syncing your beautiful, groomed, deliberately added contacts like any reasonable person would expect, Address Book downloads all of your Gmail account’s automatically collected addresses as well, which is to say pretty much everyone you’ve ever emailed, ever.

Despite this Rolodex-wrecking flaw, Leopard’s update introduced plenty of other features that actually make the operating system better. Spaces now behaves like a proper virtual desktop system, and Time Machine is significantly more reliable, as well as playing nicer with Time Capsule. Mail, iChat, Airport and Automator also underwent minor refinements. Taking into consideration these enhancements as well as a number of critical security fixes, 10.5.3 is still a recommended download in spite of the Address Book goof. For those who just had to click every new radio button in 10.5.3, the same helpful reader who sent in the Gmail sync warning has posted a quick fix here.

[Brian King]

Apple Employee Address Reveals iPods With OS X, AppleTV Focus, and Improved Macs

Jason Chen — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:47:42 EDT

In addition to giving Apple employees a free 8GB iPhone by the end of July, Steve Jobs had a few more things to say in Apple's closed-door internal meeting today.

First, Jobs talked about how new Macs they have coming up will be "off the charts," and then talked about how they want the four pillars of their business to be Macs, iPods, iPhones and Apple TVs. Right now their focus is on the iPhone, but Apple TV will get its turn later.

Also addressed was an iPod with OS X, which sounds to us like an iPhone without the phone or communicator functions (but with the touchscreen).

Other interesting details he talked about was the 6 p.m. launch time (he didn't want people to take off from work), and the use of EDGE in the iPhone (battery, deployment issues). We're sure the employees were most excited about getting a free iPhone, which probably colored their response to all the other announcements.
Internal Apple Stevenote: iPhone, iPods with OS X, and "off the charts" Macs in the pipeline [Ars Technica]

Solar-Powered Address'o'Gauge

Travis Hudson — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 11:28:00 EDT

If you happen to live in an odd part of town that is damn near impossible for delivery drivers to find, this may be a good addition to your household. This device charges with delicious rays of sunlight and can then display up to five numbers, commonly for the address. The entire unit itself is approximately a foot wide, so easily mountable anywhere you please.

This device would also be good for folks who have easy addresses to find, but they just enjoy spelling out naughty words in digital numbers. Hooray for 80085. – Travis Hudson

Product Page [Via Coolest-Gadgets]

Hands-On: Matterinc Solar LED Numbers

Charlie White — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 19:15:13 EDT

Looking for some rich-looking house numbers that you can spot in the dark from 50 feet away? These Matterinc Solar LED Numbers can do the trick, and we know because we tested them. We put them on the west side of our facility for about five hours each day, and they stay lit well into the night, longer than any of us nightowls can keep our eyes open.

They look great, their two bright white LEDs backlighting the numerals that are laser-cut out of anodized aluminum. You have your choice of either brushed aluminum or go-with-everything black. Those LEDs emit a surprising amount of light, too, and it's not that weird-looking blue hue or urine-yellow color of many LED lights.

Our verdict? These are excellent. They're a bargain at $17.99 per numeral, and they look like they cost a lot more. We liked the way they lit the way for our fellow revelers to easily find our crib late at night. Definitely worth it.

Product page [matterinc]
Review: Matterinc Solar LED Numbers [Consumer Electronics Net]