News - page 2236

Uh oh. The Department of Justice just keeps on moving their anti-trust magnifying glass farther and farther away from Apple’s competition with Amazon, blowing up the pores on the whole iTunes apple skin. The DoJ is now reaching out to Hollywood as they investigate their anti-trust case against Cupertino.

According to the New York Post:

“The [Justice Dept.] is doing outreach,” said one Hollywood industry source. “You can’t dictate terms to the industry. The Adobe thing is just inviting the wrath of everybody.”

Added a senior source at a media company: “If Apple thinks it’s going to increase its monopoly with the iPad, it should look at the history of other walled gardens.”

While the DoJ is just “investigating” right now, an anti-trust case — scurrilous or not — is pretty much inevitable at this point: Apple is now the biggest tech company in the world, and since so many big, powerful companies are now smaller than them, they’re going to lobby to knock Apple down a few notches in whatever way they can.

Skype’s been teasing us with the promise of this for a while now, and we postulated they’d add the feature after Apple revealed iPhone OS 4 would include background VoIP — and yesterday it finally arrived: Skype’s iPhone app now works over a 3G network.

The rash of suicides at Foxconn are not due to harsh working conditions but the plight of China’s migrant workforce, says an open letter signed by a dozen Chinese sociologists.

The letter blames the string of Foxconn suicides on the social problems faced by China’s vast class of migrant workers.

Originating from poor rural areas, Chinese migrant workers are often rootless and isolated, cut off from friends and family. Instead of finding good jobs in urban factories, they are often too poorly paid to settle in their new cities, and have limited access to education and healthcare. With no prospects at home, they are stuck. The sociologists call it the “path of no return.”

We have made them live a migrancy life that is rootless and helpless, where families are separated, parents have no one to support them, and children are not taken care of. In short, this is a life without dignity.

The sociologists note that at the end of 2008, the population of Shenzhen exceeded 12 million, but only 2.28 million were registered as permanent residents. The giant Foxconn plant, which employs upwards of 600,000 workers, is located in Shenzhen.

The sociologists call on Foxconn and the Chinese central government to boost wages, and improve access to housing, eduction and healthcare. They also say demand workers be given a “voice,” which presumably means unions.

We call on every enterprise, to make a conscientious effort to increase migrant workers‘ pay and rights, and allow migrant workers to become true “citizens of the enterprise”.

Here’s the full text of the open letter:

Fake Steve tears down bullshit claims that the Foxconn suicides are below China’s national average (see Fast Company, ZDNet, Daring Fireball, Wall Street Journal, Alley Insider and others).

Working together with our colleagues in the PRC’s propaganda ministry we have developed a great new counter-narrative that we’ve been pushing pretty hard in background conversations with friendly hacks. Basically it’s the notion that Foxconn’s suicide rate is actually below the national average of China, meaning that if you’re working at Foxconn you’re actually less likely to commit suicide. That’s right. The truth is, we are actually saving lives in China.

Fake Steve continues:

But, see, arguments about national averages are a smokescreen. Sure, people kill themselves all the time. But the Foxconn people all work for the same company, in the same place, and they’re all doing it in the same way, and that way happens to be a gruesome, public way that makes a spectacle of their death. They’re not pill-takers or wrist-slitters or hangers. They’re not Sylvia Plath wannabes, sealing off the kitchen and quietly sticking their head in the oven. They’re jumpers. And jumpers, my friends, are a different breed. Ask any cop or shrink who deals with this stuff. Jumpers want to make a statement. Jumpers are trying to tell you something.

Fake Steve: Our new spin on the Foxconn suicide epidemic

Via Owen Thomas.

It’s always bugged me that I can’t change my Twitter account settings, see who I’m following/being followed by or tweak my bio on my iPhone without the pain of having to visit Twitter’s website.

Enter Tweep: it lets the power-tweeter do all that behind-the-curtain stuff, and more — fine-tune location settings, examine fellow tweeps with excruciating detail and a whole bunch of other stuff that, frankly, I’ll never mess with. About the only thing it doesn’t let the user do is tweet.

And though Tweep has actually been around for a few months now, the developer has just cut its price from $5 to free, as a promotional ploy to coincide with the app’s  support of the iPad.

Update: As noted by Toolate in the comment section, it should be plain to any daft twit (meaning me) that many of the functions offered by Tweeps are actually available through Twitter’s official iPhone app (although the more obscure functions, like fine-tuning how accurately tweets report a user’s location, are not available on Twitter for iPhone).

With the cover blown on a next-generation iPhone, how might we expect Apple to surprise Mac fans at the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco? One analyst suggests the Cupertino, Calif. company may use the platform to introduce a cloud-based version of iTunes, as well as updates for the Mac Pro and MacBook Air.

“Other announcements we are picking up that could potentially be made are iTunes.com, a web-based version of [Apple’s] iTunes client, and new Mac refreshes with faster processors and graphics, namely the Mac Pro and MacBook Air,” Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu told investors Friday. The Mac Pro and MacBook Air were last updated in March and June 2009.

Boxee, the innovative software solution that puts the Internet on your television, has long been among the brightest lights in the strange hinterland inhabited by users of AppleTV.

Friday, the company announced a new partnership with Wolfgang’s Vault, the virtual motherlode of live music recordings, that immediately sweetens the pot for those intrepid souls who dare to invite the Internet into the living room.

Lest one mistake Wolfgang’s Vault for a sparkly bauble dangled at aging Boomers and Hippies lost in nostalgia for the Summer of Love, the company also offers access to plenty of current music, including high-fidelity recordings from artists such as Death Cab for Cutie, Ani Difranco, Sean Hayes and Vampire Weekend.

The t’Light sounds more like a rejected noun from the Middle Earth dictionary than a product you’d actually buy, but it’s a fantastic idea: an attractive, minimalist 3 watt LED desk lamp containing a USB port, an iPhone dock and a jack which emits enough power to juice your laptop… although there’s regrettably no adapter available for a MacBook, since Apple frowns on anyone else making them. That’s hardly the t’Light’s fault, though, and the price isn’t wholly unreasonable: it costs only $90.

First released in 1989, Jordan Mechner’s swashbuckling classic The Prince of Persia is now available on the App Store.

Called Prince of Persia Retro, the game puts you in the roll of the eponymous hero, who only has one hour to defeat the villainous vizier Jaffar and rescue the imprisoned princess to save the day.

The iPhone version costs $0.99, and if you’re the type who likes spamming your Facebook friends with pointless updates… it’ll do that for you too. Go grab it if you’ve got any love of the original: this is a great port, and it’s nice to see one of the best games for the Apple II restored for the iPhone.

If you’re a hopeful author sitting on what you hope to be the next great literary classic — or, failing that, the next mopey emo vampire series that you think will sell like gangbusters amongst the indiscriminate Hot Topic tween market — great news: Apple’s just released information on self-publishing on the iBookstore.

It’s a bit more complicated than just uploading your fan fiction, of course. Basically, you need to have a manuscript in ePub format, a 13-digit ISBN, validate against epubcheck 1.0.5 and contain no unmanifested files, as well as a US Tax ID, a valid iTunes Store account, and an Intel-based Mac running Leopard or higher. But once you’re established, you can start selling your books online, even internationally.

I’ve been really waiting for this: I can’t wait to read the first self-published iBooks blockbuster. Hell, time to head back to Scrivener and try to write one myself.

In the first year of Windows Phone 7’s launch, Microsoft wants to sell 30 million licenses by the end of 2011… three times the amount of iPhones sold in its first year.

What a joke. There’s simply no way Microsoft can manage that. They aren’t even in the game at this point, and Windows Phone 7 is, at best, playing a game of catch-up with iPhone OS 3.0. Meanwhile, iPhone OS 4.0 — an operating system attached to the world’s best selling smartphone — is right around the corner. And that’s not even mentioning Android, a far superior and more fully featured mobile operating system that is available to every handset manufacturer for free.

Let’s run the math. In the first quarter of the year, Apple sold 8.8 million iPhones compared to Microsoft’s 3.7 million licenses for Windows 7. So for Microsoft to sell 30 million licenses by the end of 2011, they essentially need to keep pace with the most popular smartphone in the world’s sales, without any app library or existing users, while competing with not one, but two superior operating systems with thriving user and app ecosystems, one of which is free.

Perhaps I should just end this post here with one final word: lolwhut?

[via Apple Insider]

The iPhone has always been seen as a consumers handset. But now comes word 40 percent of iPhones are purchased by business. “Four out of 10 sales of the iPhone are made to enterprise users,” Ron Spears, head of AT&T’s Business Solutions, told a Thursday conference.

When the iPhone first appeared in 2007, business users were disappointed because it didn’t match the security of a BlackBerry. The word on the street, according to Spears: “‘Oh my God, it’s not BlackBerry secure. This is not going to work on the enterprise space.'”

This seems like an absolute no-brainer to me, but over on their official blog, Adobe is asking whether iPad owners want the company to make it possible to view native PhotoShop PSD files on their tablets.

Muses former Photoshop Product Manager, John Nack:

I periodically hear requests for the ability to view Photoshop PSD files on devices like the iPad (for example, browsing files that one has synced via Dropbox).

This is obviously a capability that Adobe could build. The question of course is whether we should build it (as opposed, say, to building something else).

I’m not sure if Adobe’s really this obtuse or what, but of course the iPad is the perfect device for an artist or graphic designer to use to show prospective clients his portfolio at a meeting, peeling back layers and perhaps making light modifications on the go. Heck, I’m not either an artist or a graphic designer, and I want that functionality.

Although still lower than the national average, Apple’s manufacturing partner Foxconn’s worker suicide problem is becoming such a public relations nightmare, so it’s understandable that their announced plan to raise wages for about 420,000 factory workers is being seen by many as a way to mitigate worker deaths.

The pay raise is substantial: each worker will currenly earning $131 a month will get a 20% pay hike. On Foxconn’s part, they claim the pay hike has been planned for some time… but it’s hard to believe the recent publicity about worker conditions hasn’t, at the very least, pushed this plan onto the fast track.

Employees seem hopeful. “[The pay hike] may help the suicide situation, because we workers just need money and the financial pressure on us is great,” one worker said.

It’s been a long 57 days, but if you’re in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland or the UK, and you jumped to pre-order an iPad when it was first announced, you’ve probably already gotten one in my hands.

On the other hand, poor suckers like me who missed the initial pre-order date due to their own idiocy have another couple of weeks to wait. And if you aren’t from one of the international countries blessed by the hand of Jobs for the first round of international iPad launches, but instead live in some more exotic and fragrant clime, you’ll have to wait until some time in July before you get an iPad at best.

So, which of our own chattering non-Yankee natives are now holding an iPad in their hands? What do you think? Is it everything you hoped it would be? Sound off in the comments!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FncILxajmlw

Rats: just as we were hoping for a heart-pumping, fist-waving performance from Steve Ballmer, a la’ Monkeyboy iPod mash-up above, Microsoft has officially denied he will be appearing at Apple’s WWDC via Twitter:

Steve Ballmer not speaking at Apple Dev Conf. Nor appearing on Dancing with the Stars. Nor riding in the Belmont. Just FYI.

There’s hope, though perhaps he will be considering a stint on “So, You Think You Can Dance?” or emceeing a roller derby match.

Via App Zone

“It is a long game,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told reporters on Thursday in response to Apple overtaking his company on the stock market. “We have good competitors but we too are very good competitors.”

He added: “I will make more profit and certainly there is no technology company on the planet that is as profitable as we are.”

“Let’s see what happens as I am still pleased that 94 times out of a 100 somebody picks a Windows PC,” he said.

Microsoft shares closed at $25.01 on Wednesday, giving it a market cap of $219.18 billion. Apple closed at $244.05, a market value of $222.07 billion.

Apple now sells 70 percent of digital music in the U.S., a retail market research firm announced Wednesday. Additionally, Internet retailer Amazon now ties with Walmart as the second most-common source for music purchases nationally, just the latest sign of declining demand for physical CDs bought in brick-and-mortar stores.

Earlier this month, Billboard announced Apple sells 28 percent of all music, with Walmart a distant second at 12.5 percent of music sales.

NPD also announced Apple’s rate of growth is slowing, picking up one percentage point over the previous year, perhaps indicating the Cupertino, Calif. company is maxing-out at seven of every 10 digital music purchases in the United States. By comparison, Amazon gained four points for 12 percent, a level shared by Walmart.

Digital sales now comprise 40 percent of total music purchases, a five percent increase over last year, according to NPD. “Online shopping offers consumers who still want CDs more variety than they would get in a brick-and-mortar store; plus recommendations, and other interactive features that raise the overall value proposition for music buyers,” Russ Crupnick, NPD vice president of industry analysis, said.

Unclear is how much market Google might capture after a recent report the Mountain View, Calif. Internet giant is planning a service converting iTunes downloads for Android users.

[via AppleInsider]

UPDATE: Microsoft denied Ballmer would be present with a pithy tweet. Darn.

There may be a few surprises at the upcoming June 7 WWDC keynote after all.

Barron’s reports that a sliver of that day’s agenda (exactly seven minutes) has been allotted to a Microsoft presentation. Speculation is that the microphone would be handed over to none other than that bouncy preacher with the overactive sweat glands himself, Steve Ballmer. He just may be giving that signature rallying cry of “Developers! Developers! Developers!” to a Mac audience:

Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with tiny Global Equities Research, contends that 7 minutes of the June 7 keynote by Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been blocked off for a presentation by Microsoft (MSFT) to talk about Visual Studio 2010, the company’s suite of development tools. Chowdhry says the new version of VS will allow developers to write native applications for the iPhone, iPad and Mac OS. And here’s the kicker: he thinks Microsoft’s presentation could be given by none other than Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Using VS would allow PC folks to make apps without having to switch over to a Mac and employ Xcode, reasonable enough, but the disparity in speaking styles (and clothing styles) make Ballmer’s air time at the Apple event a little hard to imagine.

If the spectacle is anything like the fake video above of his incursion at MacWorld, sign me up.

China Telecom, the nation’s largest fixed-line carrier, has up until now, stood on the sidelines as Apple’s iPhone entered the Asian marketplace. Now comes word the carrier will enter the fray, joining China Mobile in expressing interest in offering the iPad.

“If there’s a demand from customers, we welcome any creative new device,” China Telecom CEO Wang Xiaochu said Tuesday. Wang said his company and Apple are evaluating customer interest in the device, according to the Wall Street Journal. “Both of us have to evaluate the market situation in China to see how large the market demand would be,” he said. “It will determine whether we have any interest in any cooperation.” The telecom is also working with Research In Motion and Palm. As in the U.S., Chinese carriers are eying smart phones as a way to gain more revenue.

Apple, long an irksome thorn in the backside of software giant Microsoft, Wednesday overtook the Redmond, Wash.-based company as the most valuable technology firm. The Cupertino, Calif. company was worth $223 billion at the end of yesterday’s trading, compared to $219 billion for Microsoft.

Key to Apple’s rising fortunes are the iPod and iPhone, turning the desktop computer company into a global consumer electronics giant focused on entertainment and mobility. Apple’s share prices have skyrocketed in the past year, doubling its price to over $244. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s shares have remained relatively steady, inching up to $25, compared to $20 a year ago.

Pop quiz. You’re at your local AT&T store when two unarmed men rush in and steal multiple iPhones without harming anyone. What do you do?

a) Calmly wait for the police to arrive and take your report.

b) Rush out of the store on foot, pull out your hand cannon, brace your legs and fire round after round at the fleeing get-away vehicle as onlookers and passers-by scream in terror and dive for cover, all the while laughing maniacally after every squeezed off shot.

Most of us would pick the former, but Roger Witter of Gresham, Oregon chose the latter and ended up in jail for it, prompting the local police to issue this statement in the understatement of the year:

“It is important to remember that no matter how frustrated one may be with crime and the criminal justice system, it is not permissible to use deadly force in this type of situation.”

The two iPhone thieves remain at large… probably because Witter’s Dirty Harry jackassery distracted police long enough for them to make their clean escape. What a doofus.

Here’s a device filling a mystery niche if I’ve ever seen one: the iP49 is a bulky, fold down clamshell travel alarm clock which includes a dock for an iPhone or iPod… itself a travel alarm clock. Double indemnity of redundancy. ho!

Personally, I’m not sure I get it, but in case you do, the iP49 features separate weekday/weekend alarms, customizable snooze times, gradual wake and sleep volume controls so you don’t start off the morning swallowing your tongue.

It also boasts “Bongiovi Acoustics’ patyented Digital Power station technology and four neodymium compression drivers,” which sounds impressive and promises to provide “studio quality” sound wherever you are. It also boasts both an AC adapter and a built-in, rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

The iP49 is available from iHome now for $159.99.

If you pre-ordered an iPad and you live in the land of Marmite and Pickle, keep an eye out for a member of your local postal constabulary this morning: according to reports, numerous Brits are claiming that their iPads are already en route or already delivered, a day before Apple’s May 28th U.K. launch.

It seems like Apple might have been prepared for this: according to reader Paul B., they’ve pushed Pages, Numbers and Keynote to the UK App Store, which weren’t available until now.

Any of our readers hailing from Albion holding an iPad in their hands yet? Brag to us poor sucker continentals in the comments.

The Windows era is over announces Joe Wilcox at Betanews. Is it?

He certainly makes a compelling argument. Like other tech behemoths before it, Microsoft’s products are simply being rendered irrelevant by new technologies, new ideas, and new products that have come out of the blue and swept them aside.