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Apple Now Accepting iPad Apps, Planning “Grand Opening” of iPad App Store

Apple is now accepting iPad apps for a “grand opening” of the iPad App Store, according to an email just sent to registered developers.
“iPad will begin shipping soon and your opportunity to be part of the grand opening of the iPad App Store starts today,” the email says.
There’s no details about when the store’s grand [...]

Security Expert: “Mac OS X Is Safer, But Less Secure”

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Tech site H-Online has an interesting story today, quoting security expert Charlie Miller about his forthcoming talk at the CanSecWest conference next week.
He says OS X is full of security holes. There are lots more than in Windows, he claims.
And yet: OS X is a safer system to use. Why? Because, in the words [...]

Apple Devotes Entire Home Page To Jerome York Obituary

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If ever you needed a sign that Apple was a different kind of technology company, this is it.
What other computer manufacturer would remove its top-selling, hype-inducing, industry-altering new product from the prime spot on its website home page, and replace it with an obituary to an investor?
This is one of those “Here’s to the [...]

Coming Soon: Steve Jobs, the Sitcom

Fake Steve creator Dan Lyons just signed a deal to bring Steve Jobs to another small screen near you.
The half-hour series called “iCon” is billed by the presser as “a savage satire centering on a fictional Silicon Valley CEO whose ego is a study in power and greed.”
Making sure the barbs prick will be the [...]

Disney Reboots Retail Experience, With Apple Assistance

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Photo by Stephanie Diani for the New York Times

Very interesting news from the New York Times: Disney is completely overhauling its retail stores, with Steve Jobs at the helm.

Theaters will allow children to watch film clips of their own selection, participate in karaoke contests or chat live with Disney Channel stars via satellite. Computer chips embedded in packaging will activate hidden features. Walk by a “magic mirror” while holding a Princess tiara, for instance, and Cinderella might appear and say something to you.

It’s your birthday? With the push of a button, eight 13-foot-tall Lucite trees will crackle with video-projected fireworks and sound. There will be a scent component; if a clip from Disney’s coming “A Christmas Carol” is playing in the theater, the whole store might suddenly be made to smell like a Christmas tree.

It’s a great article, well worth the read. Most notable is Jobs’s insistence that Disney build a full-scale prototype of the entire store in order to figure out how to get the experience just right. I can think of few events more telling in the transformation of Apple from niche computer-maker to taste-maker to the world than that of Disney asking Apple retail specialists for help in defining great experience design.

I mean, eight years ago, Apple didn’t even have stores. Disney created Disneyland. How’s that for turnabout?

Disney Plans Extensive Overhaul of Mall Stores New York Times

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About the author

Petemortensen

Pete Mortensen is a design strategist for consulting firm Jump Associates and the co-author of Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, a book and blog that are significantly more interesting than you might initially think. Pete's particular Apple avocations are both around design--interface and industrial. Follow him on Twitter!

Email the author | Read more posts by Pete Mortensen.

One comment

    Folks often like to make note of the connections between Jobs and Disney/Pixar but I think this is an example of how those connections can be used to benefit all parties. Lord knows the staff at those stores could use some work. I’ve been in several and they are dead weight. Barely say hello. It’s crazy cause sometimes I’m not sure they registered that anyone is in the store. which means I could probably unload a shelf of stuff into a paper bag and walk out and they wouldn’t have a clue. Sad.
    So maybe if they are going to spend all this money on fluff they will also revamp their staff’s attitude

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