tagged w/ Apple Computers
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In a shocking development out of Cupertino, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has stepped down, the board naming Tim Cook as his replacement. The company said "Steve's extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world's most innovative and valuable technology company," and Steve himself had this to say:
I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.
I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.
As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.
I believe Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.
I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.
Steve
Developing...
http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/24/steve-jobs-resigns-as-ceo-of-apple/In a shocking development out of Cupertino, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has stepped down, the... more
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One thing I like about iOS 5 is the rounded toggle button that appears within the settings. I cringe when I look at the rectangular buttons of iOS 4. This seems crazy, but there's a scientific reason for this preference.
Rounded corners are easy on the eyes and easy for the brain to process. That's because the fovea of your eye can process circles at a rate much faster than squares. You prefer circular objects because your eyes and brain don't work as hard.
Rounded corners also point inward and focus your eyes on the content inside an object. A squared edge is the exact opposite — it focuses your eyes on the stuff outside of the object. When you look at the rectangular buttons of iOS 4, you have to work harder to shift your gaze from the outside to the inside of the button. In iOS 5, there's little work involved. You look at the round button, your eyes focus inward and you make your selection with ease.
http://gizmodo.com/5832428/why-some-people-prefer-the-round-toggle-buttons-of-ios-5One thing I like about iOS 5 is the rounded toggle button that appears within the... more
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Mac developer Phillip Ryu has written a compelling post on Google + describing his experience with software piracy as a young high school student.
Ryu doesn't tell everyone to go out and steal software (he calls himself "a rare reformed past-offender"), but he does point out how access to a cornucopia of pirated software as a youth helped to shape his interest in computers and software as an adult. Check out his story on Google + and share your thoughts on this 21st century form of youthful indiscretion.
http://gizmodo.com/5829797/in-defense-of-youthful-piracy-one-mac-developers-viewMac developer Phillip Ryu has written a compelling post on Google + describing his... more
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It, as they say, is on. Google's Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, David Drummond, made an appearance on the company's official blog today with a post not-so-subtly-titled "When patents attack Android," which directly addresses what he calls a "hostile, organized campaign against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and other companies, waged through bogus patents." Drummond then goes on to cite a number of examples of this "organized campaign" from those trying to "strangle" Android, including Apple and Microsoft teaming up to buy Novell and Nortel's old patents "to make sure Google didn't get them," Microsoft seeking $15 licensing fees for each Android device, and lawsuits against the likes of Barnes & Noble, HTC, Motorola, and Samsung.
According to Drummond, those efforts amount to a "tax" that makes Android devices more expensive for consumers and manufacturers alike, and that "instead of competing by building new features or devices, they are fighting through litigation." He further goes on to bemoan the "anti-competitive strategy" that's "escalating the cost of patents way beyond what they're really worth," and closes things out by noting that he's encouraged by Justice Department investigations into the aforementioned Novell and Nortel patent issues. Hit the source link to read the full post yourself.It, as they say, is on. Google's Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer,... more
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What happens when you're in China and your MacBook Air knockoff breaks down? You bring it to the Genius Bar of an Apple Store, of course. And what'll they do? They'll fix it out of the kindness of their hearts.
This is supposedly what happened to a Chinese man who visited the Pudong Apple Store in Shanghai, China. The MacBook Air was confirmed to be a knockoff and the store was indeed a real Apple-certified location. Pretty nice of them to help this man out, isn't it?
http://gizmodo.com/5825784/real-apple-store-fixes-fake-macbook-airWhat happens when you're in China and your MacBook Air knockoff breaks down? You... more
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I don't like it. Not one iota. But frankly, it doesn't much matter -- Apple's officially done with the optical drive, and there's no evidence more strikingly clear than the mid 2011 refresh of its Mac mini. Last year, that bantam box arrived with a $699 price tag, pep in its step and a personality that could charm even the most hardened desktop owner. This year, a $599 model showed up on my doorstep promising the same, but instead it delivered a noticeable drop in actual functionality. Pundits have argued that you could tether a USB SuperDrive to the new mini and save $20 in the process compared to last year's rig, but does relying on a cabled accessory go hand-in-hand with beauty and simplicity? No, and I've every reason to believe that Apple would agree.
Despite the obvious -- that consumers would buy a mini to reduce the sheer burden of operating a convoluted desktop setup -- Apple's gone and yanked what has become a staple in both Macs and PCs alike. For years, ODDs have been standard fare, spinning CDs, DVDs, HD-DVDs (however briefly) and Blu-ray Discs, not to mention a few other formats that didn't do much to deserve a mention. Compared to most everything else in the technology universe, the tried-and-true optical drive has managed to hang around well beyond what it's creator likely had in mind, but it's pretty obvious that 2011 is to the ODD what 1998 was to the floppy drive. At least in the mind of one Steven P. Jobs.
For those who claim to be a bit newer to the world (read: not "of age"), you may not be intimately familiar with the backlash that came as the original iMac was introduced. Front and center sat a tray-loading optical drive, but a 3.5-inch floppy disc drive was nowhere to be found. "On a computer aimed at the home office and education?!" Yes, on a computer aimed at the home office and education. Without polling a soul, Apple decided the industry should move right along, and those insistent on maintaining a legacy profile were given the oh-so-abhorrent (I kid, I kid) option of snapping up an external alternative. I'm guessing here is where you start to see history repeating itself.
Over the past few years, Apple's been slyly but deliberately severing ties with a piece of hardware that most rational humans still view as essential on a full-scale computer. Nearly three years ago to the day, the original MacBook Air was introduced alongside a $99 external SuperDrive -- a peripheral that was nearly as tall as the laptop it was designed to complement. At the time, I never really saw it as the beginning of the end. My failure was not realizing that Apple rarely does one "thing" without eventually spreading that very "thing" as far as it can reasonably go... and oftentimes, further. I also cheered the move; it was a necessary sacrifice to craft the slimmest ultraportable known to man, and the simple reality is that ultramobile machines are engineered with compromise in mind. It's a well-recognized assumption that a ludicrously small computer will be lacking a few features that are prevalent on larger machines, just for the sake of being abnormally small.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/27/editorial-apples-officially-over-the-optical-drive-for-better/
more @ linkI don't like it. Not one iota. But frankly, it doesn't much matter --... more
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New music video we produced for Napp Sacc!
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10 months ago
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Hulu needs owners who aren't ancient and terrible. Apple needs a streaming video service that isn't ancient and terrible. So based on those unconfirmed reports that Apple is interested in buying Hulu, I have only one demand: DO IT.
Just imagine for a moment what Hulu would mean for iTunes, and vice versa: Gone would be the days of having to buy $20 season passes one by one. Instead, a single subscription fee would handle everything. You'd use iTunes to push episodes of shows onto your iOS device for offline viewing. And the Apple TV would become the focal point of your living room. In its current form it's a neat piece of technology, but aside from AirPlay and Netflix (the latter of which we all have on like four different devices), Apple TV is hardly a must-have. Apple knows it, too, referring to its streaming hocky puck as a "hobby" during this week's conference call, while adding that there is much more they could do with it. Acquiring Hulu would definitely be doing a lot.
The timing all makes sense. Apple is making its big push into cloud/streaming technologies with iCloud and iTunes in the Cloud. And they have a ton of cash to play around with—$76.2 billion. That's enough to buy Hulu nearly 40 times over.
Hulu, meanwhile, is a company in flux. Its broadcast network owners approach the idea of streaming with hostility and were never quite sure whether they wanted to grow it or smother it before they decided to dump it.
But Apple? They'd make it work. They've got the silver tongue and muscle to get what they want out of content companies (see: the record labels). Jobs not only used to own Pixar in its entirety, he also sold it to Disney to become that company's largest shareholder and an active member on its board of directors. He knows how the industry works. If anyone can get more shows and movies (please, god, more movies) on Hulu, it's Jobs. In Apple's hands, Hulu could become the end all, be all destination for streaming content. Especially since integrating Hulu with the iTunes store would likely create an instant, substantial user base above and beyond those who already subscribe.
Of course, such a deal probably would also mean the end of Hulu other streaming devices (in time). Apple likes to wholly absorb the companies it buys. Hulu would almost certainly become an Apple brand, and when was the last time you saw an Apple service on a non-Apple device (PCs notwithstanding). The service would probably be available on Windows, much like iTunes and Safari are. But when whatever prior agreements expire, Hulu would likely cease to exist on Xbox, Roku, Boxee, PS3, Tivo, etc. It'd be an Apple TV exclusive. But it'd still probably be worth it.
And what's the alternative? Hulu sells to Yahoo and gets run into the ground by inept management? Or to Microsoft, where it will be swallowed whole by the corporate whale and lost inside its belly forever? Or maybe they end up as a Google property, which wouldn't be so terrible, except how do YouTube and Hulu peaceably coexist?
But more than that, it's time for the world of streaming media to come of age. Apple is a company who embraces new ideas. Hulu is a company that embraces new ideas. Yes Spotify is close to capturing the attention of the listening masses, and Hulu is close to doing the same with video. But as Netflix can attest, the streaming video world is much tougher than that of streaming music. Hulu needs the business savvy of a company like Apple to help them give users what they want: television over the internet.
Do it for yourself or do it for us, Apple, I don't care. Just do it.
http://gizmodo.com/5823765/dear-apple-can-you-just-please-buy-hulu-please?tag=top
-Adrian Covert : GizmodoHulu needs owners who aren't ancient and terrible. Apple needs a streaming video... more
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One security researcher discovered the password protecting the microcontroller in MacBook batteries is not unique for every notebook and is easily hackable. It could brick your battery, or worse, install malware that's nearly impossible for the average person to scrub.
According to Forbes, Charlie Miller is the man who discovered this vulnerability and he plans to present his research at the upcoming Black Hat conference.
The batteries' chips are shipped with default passwords, such that anyone who discovers that password and learns to control the chips' firmware can potentially hijack them to do anything the hacker wants. That includes permanently ruining batteries at will, and may enable nastier tricks like implanting them with hidden malware that infects the computer no matter how many times software is reinstalled or even potentially causing the batteries to heat up, catch fire or explode. "These batteries just aren't designed with the idea that people will mess with them," Miller says. "What I'm showing is that it's possible to use them to do something really bad."
Miller thinks it might even be possible to remotely blow up a battery on command, though he also says that for a hacker to gain access, they would have to discover a second vulnerability to gain initial access to a computer. Still though, scary.
http://gizmodo.com/5823997/macbook-batteries-are-totally-hackable-wait-whatOne security researcher discovered the password protecting the microcontroller in... more
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There are signs that Apple’s Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme are poised for an update, based on diminishing stock of the current models. One suggestion was that the next Time Capsule, which includes a hard drive, might download and cache software updates for iPhones and Macs on the local network. John Gruber even dared to hope that this might provide a way to get iOS firmware updates without a computer. While that’s a neat possibility, I think there’s another, more interesting one. What if that cache could be used for iCloud media streaming?
iCloud is rumored to be, among other things, a cloud-based music service that would let you stream songs, and perhaps movies or TV shows, from your collection to your iPhone over the Internet. Streaming requires buffering to avoid stuttering or pauses as you wait for content to arrive. A bigger buffer is required if you want to rewind and fast forward, or skip a chapter in a movie. While storage is somewhat limited on an iPhone (8 to 32 GB), a Time Capsule has a much larger drive — up to 2 TB. If the Time Capsule, which also acts as your Internet router, were to cache the content from iCloud, it would be like having your own Content Delivery Network (CDN) in your house to guarantee smooth streaming.
Having a local cache of content from iCloud would also make it easier to pause on one device and pick up the stream on another. Say you were listening to an album on your iPhone while working in the den. You could move to the kitchen to start making dinner, and push the stream to your Apple TV connected to the stereo in the next room. Or maybe you could push your movie streamed from the cloud from the small screen of an iOS device to your TV without skipping a beat. Ars Technica heard from a source that new AirPort hardware might run iOS, which would make this kind of thing even easier.
AirPlay would make a nice update to the AirPort Extreme as well. Adding an optical audio out to the router, like the one the Express has, wouldn’t be difficult. And while we’re on the subject of adding support for features, why not AirPrint? The current AirPort Express, Extreme and Time Capsule have USB ports to support wireless printing. Is it much of a stretch to imagine AirPrint-compatible printer sharing so that iOS devices could use any printer connected to an AirPort, even if that printer doesn’t directly support AirPrint itself?
I would love to see some updates to the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule. And while caching software updates would be useful, caching iCloud music and video and adding support for AirPlay and AirPrint sounds a lot sexier to me. The AirPort devices haven’t seen an update since 2009, and adding CDN capabilities would certainly make for a splashy refresh. What do you think?There are signs that Apple’s Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme are poised for an... more
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After his son was born in 2009, Satoshi Tagomori started having nightmares that the bookshelves lining his cramped living room would rain heavy tomes on the infant. Armed with a cutting board, the 28-year-old pharmaceutical company employee chopped his 850 titles to fit inside a cheap scanner and converted each book into a PDF file. His library now lives in his preferred tablet computer, a Samsung Galaxy Tab. "There was just no more room for books when my son was born," he says.
Japan's famously small living spaces—the country's average home size is half that of the U.S.—make it a natural market for such space-saving innovations as digital books. Japanese have taken to tablet computers, especially Apple's (AAPL) market-leading iPad. While the iPad has opened the doors for e-books, the publishing industry has been slow to walk through them and still offers few Japanese-language editions. A cottage industry of pulp-to-PDF scanning startups are filling the void and now offer to digitize books for a modest fee.
Some Japanese, such as Tagomori, are doing the scanning on their own. Fujitsu's PFU scanner-manufacturing subsidiary says sales of its consumer models rose 80 percent in June, the month after the iPad was released, and more than doubled the following month. The Tokyo-based company had to charter special flights from its China factories to meet demand, according to Tadashi Oura, PFU's head of marketing.
Publishers have been slow to react to the change in reading habits in part because they're reluctant to offer digital titles at reduced prices, as is common in the U.S., says Toshihiro Takagi, an analyst at market researcher Impress R&D. It also took time to develop standards for how Japanese characters, which are read from top to bottom rather than left to right, should be displayed on various screen formats. "People are taking matters in their own hands because the publishers are not meeting the market's needs," says Toshihiro Takagi, an analyst at Impress.
One of those people is Yusuke Ohki, a 28-year-old entrepreneur in Tokyo. As pre-release iPad fever hit Japan last April, Ohki and a childhood friend, Shinya Iwamatsu, founded Bookscan. The startup charges 100 yen, or $1.22, to digitize a book and produce PDFs replete with original highlighting and marginalia. After Takafumi Horie, a well-known Internet entrepreneur, tweeted about the company, a wave of media attention followed. Bookscan now has 140 employees and about 12,000 customers. Despite plenty of competition—Ohki estimates Bookscan is one of 60 such companies—the startup has a four-month waiting list.
Independent book scanners are filling a void but may also create headaches for copyright owners. Under Japanese law, book owners are allowed to digitize their libraries for personal use, but there's always the risk that "these homemade contents begin to circulate illegally," says Nobuo Kurahashi, an analyst at Mizuho Financial Group in Tokyo.
The bottom line: The rise of book-scanning startups in Japan is a sign of latent demand for e-books, which publishers have been slow to meet.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_08/b4216033233882.htmAfter his son was born in 2009, Satoshi Tagomori started having nightmares that the... more
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If you’re a die-hard baseball or basketball fan, Steve Jobs just made your day.
With its latest software update for Apple TV, Apple is now offering easy streaming of MLB and NBA games directly through its $100 media-streaming unit. All you need an active subscription to either service, and you can have unlimited access to every baseball and basketball game through your Apple TV, subject to local blackout rules, of course.
MLB.TV streaming had previously been available for Roku and PlayStation 3, but built-in Apple TV functionality brings an ease of use and integration previously unseen. There are two subscription models for MLB.TV, $100 a year for standard and $120 for the premium offering (which boasts home and away broadcasts, in-game DVR capability, and different camera options).
NBA League Pass has also been available for online streaming and directly mobile apps for Android and iOS, and the Apple TV bundle comes in two sizes: a $65 option if you pick seven teams to watch, as well as $100 for unlimited streaming. (Although, real penny-pinchers could just purchase the mobile version, which costs $70 less than the Apple TV version, and just AirPlay that to your HDTV, another new feature of iOS 4.3.)
How much more business will the move bring in for Apple, MLB and the NBA? Millions of dollars over time, although much more Apple TV penetration will be needed before that comes to bear. (It’s been less than three months since the company announced sales of 1 million Apple TVs.) But if you’re a sports fan who has been hesitant to plunk down a Benjamin for Apple’s media-streaming marvel, this update just made your resistance all the more futile.
http://www.wired.com/playbook/2011/03/mlb-nba-apple-tv/If you’re a die-hard baseball or basketball fan, Steve Jobs just made your day.... more
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1. iPad 2 is lighter and thinner
Apple called it an all-new design. And it is. The main physical thing is that the new iPad is thinner - 33 per cent thinner, clocking it at 8.8mm. Incredibly, that's thinner than the iPhone 4 which clocks in at 9.3mm. It's also 15 per cent lighter, which is welcome. You wouldn't want it to be completely lightweight, but a bit less weight is good. It's also available in white as well as the original black.
2. The iPad 2 has FaceTime
The new iPad has the expected front-facing VGA camera (as well as one on the back). What's the point of the one on the back? Like the iPhone 4's rear snapper, it takes 720p video. And that's enough for us.
3. The iPad 2 battery life stays the same
The iPad 2's battery life is apparently not limited by the new design - it has the same 10 hour battery life as before, with a month of standby time (tsk, real-world figures please). Still, that's quite impressive when you think about the reduced size of the unit.
4. As does the iPad 2 display
The new iPad has a 9.7-inch display which, yep, is exactly the same. So the large-scale retina display wasn't ready as we suspected. iPad 3 should sort that one out.
5. iPad 2 goes dual-core
A few months ago, a dual-core processor would have made headlines. Now they're 10-a-penny and in many an Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet. The new processor is called the Apple A5 and is based on ARM's Cortex-A9 design. And it's probably clocked at 1GHz again.
6. iPad 2 graphics will be awesome
All Steve Jobs said was that the graphics capability would be 9x that of the current iPad. WOW! All he said? That promises serious gaming awesomeness (and it helps that the device now also has the gyroscope from the iPhone 4 and latest-gen iPod touch). The graphics will still be some version of Imagination Technologies' PowerVR SGX graphics technology.
7. iPad 2 has iOS 4.3
The latest version of iOS ships with the iPad and will be available for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch on 11 March. There's faster Safari browsing performance; iTunes Home Sharing and thankfully an enhancement to AirPlay. Let's hope it works now. (By the way, iPhone 4s can act as Wi-Fi hotspots too).
8. The stupid button problem has been fixed
When the first iPad came out, the switch on the side locked the orientation. Super cool, everybody thought. Except Apple did a typical Apple thing and changed it to become a mute button. When there was already a volume control on the other side of the device. iOS 4.3 gives you the choice about what to do. That's what happens when you listen to your customers. Thanks, Apple.
9. The iPad 2 has HDMI out
It will set you back around £30 for the cable, but you can connect your iPad up to the TV and charge it while doing so. What's more you can have HDMI Video Mirroring that lets you mirror your iPad screen on an HDTV. Cool for presentations and the like – or just playing movie content.
10. The iPad 2 features HSUPA
The iPad 2 also features HSUPA support. That means faster browsing and downloads over 3G. Like mobile broadband. It's only available on the iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G, naturally. Expect this to come to the iPhone in the next update too.
11. The iPad 2 UK release date is 25 March
Apple has announced that the Apple iPad 2 UK release date is 25 March. T-Mobile and Orange told TechRadar they are stocking iPad 2 "when it becomes available later this month". O2 told us it wouldn't be selling the new tablet but would be offering data plans for it, while Vodafone offered a stern "no comment". Thanks for the clarity there. As iPad 2 costs the same in the US as the original iPad, expect the models to start at £439 here.
12. iPad 2 sees Apple come out fighting
As well as some serious gnashing of teeth at competitors during Steve Jobs' keynote, even the press release gets nasty. "While others have been scrambling to copy the first generation iPad, we're launching iPad 2, which moves the bar far ahead of the competition and will likely cause them to go back to the drawing boards yet again." Unfortunately though, it's just not true. In terms of specs – if not looks – the latest Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablets are a match for the new iPad.Source: http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/apple-ipad-2-12-things-you-need-to-know-932790#ixzz1FWy4TiVU1. iPad 2 is lighter and thinner
Apple called it an all-new design. And it is. The... more
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