France - page 3

The Touchfire keyboard has all the functionality of a standard keyboard, but in a paper-thin, transparent rubber that fits directly on your screen. You can still view the entire screen right through the keyboard with the ability to touch and swipe as if nothing was there – and Cult of Mac Deals has it for $42 for a limited time!

The Touchfire is a true Kickstarter success story. The creators Steve Isaac & Brad Melmon jump started the process on Kickstarter and with a goal of $10,000 they ended up blowing it out of the water with raising more than $200,000! Since their campaign ended in 2011 they’ve been in full force delivering one of the most revolutionary iPad products to consumers around the globe.

Apple continues to rollout 3D Flyover support to Maps users all over the world, and it appears the features latest destination is Paris, France. Until this week, Lyon was the only French city that boasted Flyover support, but that’s no longer the case.

Apparently, junior minister for digital economy Fluer Pellerin thinks that Apple shouldn’t have rejected AppGratis from the App Store last week. Her remarks to the French media make it clear that she feels the tech company isn’t behaving ethically in its dealings with AppGratis, a French startup, or others like it, calling the move “an issue of fairness,” and “extremely brutal.”

Not only that, but Pellerin feels that European regulators might want to think about taking action against Apple for the rejection.

In France, the proletariat is not a force to be trifled with. There are expectations on how companies are to treat workers: whether there are enough golden crusted, freshly baked baguettes in the breakroom, for example, or how many fromage breaks one gets per hour. “Vive les grenouilles!” the workers cry, sousing themselves silly with wine.

It’s a good system, but Apple has fallen afoul of it, with seven Apple Stores in France now being rapped on the knuckles for violating a French law that prohibits employers from making their workers work past nine PM at night.

Although Apple did not revamp the aged Mac Pro line last year, Tim Cook and Apple executives have reiterated their commitment to the Pro segment in the last six months on at least a couple of occasions, and it is believed — somewhat skeptically, true, by some current Mac Pro owners who want to replace their dying machines — that Apple will release a freshly redesigned Mac Pro in 2013, especially since they can no longer sell existing Mac Pros in Europe starting March 1.

Now an anecdotal report confirms that an Apple representative has confirmed to a French computer seller that a “new range of Mac Pro will be released in spring 2013.”

This could mean anything. It could be wishful thinking, it could confirm a new Mac Pro range that is changed just enough to get around new E.U. environmental regulations that prevent the Mac Pro from being sold there, or it could harbinger an exotic new Mac Pro design in total. We’ll have to wait and see.

Source: Macg.co
Thanks: Anthony N.

If you live in Paris, France, and you’re hoping to bag an iPhone 5 from your local Apple store on Friday morning, you may get there to find that it’s closed. Workers at two Parisian stores are reportedly threatening to strike over pay on what could be Apple’s busiest retail day in the company’s history.

Everyone wants the latest hot Apple product, even gangs of masked thieves carrying deadly assault rifles.

According to reports from Twitter, the music subscription service Rdio, appears to have secretly launched in the U.K. and France. While Rdio has yet to chime in on the subject, users in those locations are now able to sign up for a free 7-day trial of unlimited listening. Everything seems to work, although I’m hearing quite a few people in the U.K. are unable to stream or download a significant number of albums (probably why we haven’t heard an official announcement from Rdio).

The Apple rumor mill got thrown into a tizzy this morning when an obscure interview with renowned French designer Philippe Starck surfaced. According to translations of a radio interview with France Info, Starck said he was working on a “revolutionary” new project with Apple to be unveiled in the next 8 months.

iTV? New iPhone? A yacht for the late Steve Jobs? A new Iron Man suit? Everyone immediately started speculating about what the mythical project could be. As it turns out, Starck was probably just referring to his design work for a new Apple Store.

It seems the refurbishment to Apple’s Fifth Avenue retail store in New York City may have been a practice run for something a little more elaborate. Take a look at the picture above; that’s a new Apple retail store that’s coming to France and it’ll be almost entirely transparent.

South Korean smartphone maker Samsung learned a lesson about the pace of Italian justice Friday. A Mulan court rejected the company’s call for a preliminary injunction against sales of the iPhone 4S. This is Samsung’s second denial in Italy, a court refused to block the iPhone 4S in that nation back in October.

Apple is being sued by its largest reseller in France. Profit by eBizcuss’s 16 locations dropped 30 percent during the third quarter due to Apple cutting the number of iPad 2s and MacBook Airs shipped, claims CEO Francois Prudent. The tipping point appeared when the tech giant opened its first French retail location in 2009, the lawsuit alleges.

Does talk of the Euro economic crisis make your eyes glaze over? Perhaps this will get your attention: The down European economy is costing the iPhone marketshare as consumers keep a tight hold on their cash. The bright side: the U.S. and U.K. love of everything Apple has become stronger.

Apple is slowly rolling out international support for iTunes Match today, with the service appearing in the U.K., Australia, and parts of Europe. The music matching service has been exclusive to the U.S. since its launch earlier this fall, but it made its way to Brazil earlier this week. If you can’t see it where you are, here’s a handy tip to get it working.

In the ever-changing patent wars, somedays you are the windshield and some days you are the bug. After coming up roses Thursday, Apple finds itself on the losing side against Samsung and Motorola.

Samsung has a hit on its hands. Unfortunately, it involves being thrown out of court — this time in France. To add insult to injury, not only did a French panel call an attempt to ban iPhone 4S sales “disproportionate,” but ordered the South Korean smartphone company to pay Apple’s legal bills.

Robin Williams popped up on the Ellen DeGeneres show the other day to talk about “the new future” that Siri offers, and as he is wont to do, he used it as an opportunity to break out an outrageous impression of Siri as a stereotypical, cheese-sniffing Frenchman, dripping with contempt for the American bourgeoise.

[via Techcrunch]

The iPhone 4S has been official for less than a day, and Samsung is already plotting to block the device’s launch in some parts of Europe. The Korean electronics giant has announced that it is filing a preliminary request to have an injunction slapped on Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone in both France and Italy.