The House of Mouse becomes very animated when talking about the possibilities the iPad offers. Disney CEO Bog Iger Tuesday described the new Apple device as a “game-changer,” saying the tablet will enhance the television-watching experience.
“The interactivity it will allow on a portable device with such a high quality screen is going to enable us to really start developing products that are different than the product that you typically see on an Internet-connected computer, or on a television screen,” Iger said during a quarterly Walt Disney Co, earnings call.
A page from Vook romance tale "Promises." Courtesy Vook.
Vampire scribe extraordinaire Anne Rice just agreed to make a video-enhanced book or Vook for the iTunes store.
Her effort may provide a necessary lifeblood to the genre, even though she’s not risking much by giving video treatment to a 1984 story first published in Redbook magazine. Set in 1888, “The Master of Rampling Gate” is a vampire tale of two siblings and a foreboding mansion that has already been published as an audio book.
Rice’s Vook, priced at $6.99, will launch with iPod Touch and iPhone versions on March 1, a strategic move before the iPad hits the scene.
The iPhone 3GS. Creative Commons-licensed photo by Fr3d: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fr3d/2660915827/
Two new voices have joined a chorus of analysts predicting AT&T will remain the exclusive U.S. iPhone carrier through 2011. A belief that Apple would cut AT&T loose this summer is giving way to a sentiment that the carrier will be given more time to improve its network and find a way to supplement its smartphone offerings.
Barclays Capital analyst Vija Jayant told investors Tuesday AT&T will probably remain the exclusive iPhone carrier through the rest of 2010. The analyst said Apple’s use of AT&T for the iPad “is a vote of confidence in AT&T’s network by the equipment maker.” The move “could suggest the iPhone exclusivity may continue, at least through the end of 2010,” he added.
Another research firm is reporting how much it costs Apple to build it’s new iPad. ISupply said the 32GB version with 3G costs $287.15 for the parts and manufacturing. The iPad’s low cost to build may provide the Cupertino, Calif. company the “wiggle” room to lower the device’s retail price if needed.
Although the iPad’s parts cost $219.35, the $80 multi-touch screen and $17 processor adds to the final tally, according to iSuppli. Even so, the 32GB iPad costs only to build is only 39.4 percent of the eventual retail price, the analysts said.
Used with a CC-license, thanks sheriffmitchell on Flickr.
Apple topped a survey of brands that Europeans are “passionate” about.
Some 10,000 Old Continent dwellers of 15 nations were asked to reveal their passions for online research agency Panelteam.
Consumer electronics all got Euro-folks hearts racing: the top five brands are Apple, Sony, Coca-Cola, Samsung and Adidas. (And this despite the relative high cost of Apple products — compared to US prices — and without the benefit of ad campaigns like “Get a Mac” in most countries.)
German-based sportswear maker Adidas was the only European company in the top five, though regional passion preferences turned up local companies for each country.
Earlier today, I was reading Infoworld’s article, The iPad questions Apple won’t answer. The first question they listed was “Can you save and transfer documents to the iPad?”, and their assumed answer was “No”; they suggested that the only way to do this would be to open a document from an email message.
I read that and I knew it wasn’t the case. I knew I’d seen something that suggested to me that the iPad has on-board storage for documents. It was something I’d seen somewhere before, and for a moment I couldn’t think where. Then I remembered.
Courtesy of PopCap Games’ Twitter account, I can now tell you the exact date that my girlfriend will plant herself in her apartment with her iPod Touch and gradually undergo a zombie-like desiccation process herself: February 15th. Because that’s the day that Plants vs. Zombies is finally coming to the App Store.
Plants vs. Zombies is an adorable, hilarious and disgustingly addictive tower defense game in which you must set up rows of specially powered anthropomorphic plants to fight off wave after wave of brain-munching zombies. You can play it over at Pop Cap’s site for free, or buy it for OS X for $20. And let me tell you, if the iPhone port is half as good as the OS X version, we’re looking at one of the best iPhone games of the year.
Australian retailer Woolworths is buying time in the latest Apple logo dispute.
At the core of the corporate tussle is a “W” logo of a peeled apple with leaf filed back in August 2008 for the 80-year-old supermarket chain.
The new logo was supposed to symbolize fresh produce, but speculation was that Apple opposed it because the retailer might also slap blanket trademark on “fresh” computer products and home electronics, causing confusion for customers. Woolworths already sells own-brand credit cards and mobile phone plans.
It never takes long for the Dev Team to pry open the seams of the latest iPhone OS firmware, tickle its insides and come up with a fresh Jailbreak. Less than a week after Apple released their iPhone OS 3.1.3 update, the Dev Team followed it up with an update of their own: Pwnage Tool 3.1.5.
Here’s the caveat: the iPhone OS 3.1.3 update was pretty insignificant. The only real bug fix for non-Japanese users was improvement of the battery life indicator in rare cases. If you haven’t noticed a problem with your jailbroken phone, especially an iPhone 3G or 3Gs, you shouldn’t upgrade, since if you mess up your Pwnage, you risk losing your carrier unlock forever.
Apple’s iconic iPhone, despite increasing pressure from Google, has 25 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, keeping it in the No. 2 slot, according to a new study. Apple’s domestic market share actually grew 1.2 percent as rivals lost ground.
The ComScore Mobile Subscriber Market Share research measured the period ended December, 2009. Although RIM remains the No. 1 smartphone in the U.S. with 41.6 percent, its shares fell 1 percent compared to September. Microsoft, in third place, had 18 percent, losing 1 percent from the September quarter.
Apple’s refusal to spec their devices with memory card readers continues to irritate. My assumption has always been that the lack of an SD card reader on the iPhone has to do with two things: discouraging customers from buying the lowest priced iPhones and cheaply supplementing the storage with an SD card instead of shelling out a couple hundred more on the higher-capacity models, and making sure iTunes is the only real entry to shift to the device.
Still, when Apple updated the iPhone OS to firmware 3.0, adding functionality for iPhone peripherals into the mix, it was only a matter of time that we’d see an aftermarket SD card reader accessory… and here it is, ZoomIt.
Essentially, you plug the ZoomIt SD reader dongle into your iPhone or iPod Touch’s dongle connector, launch the free ZoomIt app and you’re free to shift any file supported by the OS to and from your device.
Of course, this isn’t really an expandable storage solution, but it wouldn’t be a bad way to backup photos from your camera while you’re on the road… and it should even work on the iPad. You can pre-order the ZoomIt now for $50, with a ship date in April.
The Apple Store went down for a little bit today, and while we all got hopeful for a Core iX MacBook update, most of what Apple ended up delivering was the usual assortment of Valentine’s Day deals (and why not? An iPod gifted to a loved one usually lets you steal a base). But there was one significant new product to be had: Aperture 3, a significant 64-bt update that adds up to 200 new features to Apple’s pro photo software package.
Some of the more frivolous new features are the ones you’re already using in iPhoto ’09: face detection and tagging, along with direct Flickr and Facebook exporting. Others are entirely new: Brushes, for example, brings reversible and non-destructive painting to Aperture, including Photoshop stalwarts like dodge, burn, contrast and saturation curves.
Aperture 3 databases have also been written: you can now merge and sync libraries, which should make it easier for professionals to take their libraries on the road. Slideshows have also been significantly improved, integrating photos, audio, video and text into single files that can be exported to iTunes and played natively on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Aperture 3 costs $200, although existing users can opt to pay $100 to upgrade. There’s also a 30-day free trial available.
Will Apple unveil a new line of MacBook Pros today? Some signs point to the possibility the Cupertino, Calif. may announce new laptops with faster chips to coincide with this week’s Macworld Expo 2010.
The first tea leaf isa French gadget blog which quotes an anonymous source. The source “who works for Apple just tell me that the new MacBook Pro line will be launched tomorrow,” according to blogger Steve Hemmerstoffer. The MacBook Pro, which has not seen a major change since last June, could receive faster Intel chips.
Since 2007, they’ve also published the twice-weekly school paper dubbed “The Optimist” (a commentary on future journalists?) for the iPhone.
“The faculty as a whole and the department discussed it, and we said we have to do this,” Dr. Cheryl Bacon, chairwoman of the department of journalism and mass communications told The Daily Orange. “It’s just too good of an opportunity to pass up.”
Apple says it will stay “nimble” on pricing for its newly-released iPad, dropping the price to attract more customers. This comes as a new survey indicates a doubling of consumers not interested in buying the device once the tablet shifted from rumor to reality.
“Apple seemed to indicate it would respond with price cuts if demand for the device wasn’t revving up the way it liked,” Credit Suisse analyst Bill Shope said. Shope met with Apple officials last week. Shope said Apple “will remain nimble (pricing could change if the company is not attracting as many customers as anticipated.)”
You can tell it's a party by the disco ball. CC-licensed pic by Steve Rhodes.
The best thing about Macworld was always the parties. MacWeek’s annual Mac The Knife Party was a drunken bacchanal for the ages; Peachpit and O’Reily put on nice literary soirees with cash bars; and Microsoft’s events always had fancy hors d’oeuvres.
Even Apple, a stranger to shows of public hospitality, once threw parties with generous helpings of food and booze. I got so ploughed at one event, I forgot my heavy laptop bag — computer, camera and all. Apple designer Jonny Ive kindly picked it up and lugged it about all evening until we ran into each other later at a nightclub, and he handed it back.
Peter-Paul Koch is a man with opinions about the mobile web. And his latest opinion is a trifle controversial: Mobile Safari, he says, is this generation’s Internet Explorer 6. All the rage now, but destined to be hated by webdevs of the future.
Photographer/podcaster Lisa Bettany is first in line for the 2009 Macworld keynote. CC-licensed photo by Scott Meizner.
Macworld 2010 opens today. It is the 25th annual gathering of Mac users. That’s right, 25 years!
But thanks to the absence of Apple this year, this “Mecca for Mac Heads” may be the last. So check it out while you can.
The show runs for 5 days. The Expo showfloor opens on Thursday at noon.
For the first time since the eighties, it now includes a Saturday. Expect big crowds, lots of kids.
There’s 250 exhibitors, down from 400 last year. Here’s the Exhibitor List.
Attendance is expected at about 30,000 visitors. (But most Expo visitors this year got free passes instead of paying the usual $25 fee).
People are hoping this isn’t the last Macworld but consider the history. As Jim Dalrymple notes: “Apple pulled out of Macworld Expo Boston/New York — it failed; Apple pulled out of Macworld Expo Tokyo — it failed; Apple pulled out of Apple Expo Paris — it failed.”
Someone is looking for a Steve Jobs look-alike, like this guy, who was snapped at the San Francisco Dyke March in 2008 by photographer/comic Heather Gold.
Someone is looking for a Steve Jobs look-alike for an “impersonator event” on Friday and Saturday in San Francisco’s SOMA — the area around Macworld.
The actual job isn’t specified, but looking like Steve is important, of course, but so is “punctuality.”
“If necessary, we can provide a black turtleneck and glasses,” the Craigslist ad says.
Pay is $100 a day. Wanna bet it’s handing out Gold Club flyers?
Last month, we wondered how many people would care about the iPad’s restrictive DRM shackles, which makes Apple the only available supplier of software for the iPad through the fact that users can only download software onto the gadget from Apple’s App Store (unless someone figures out a way to jailbreak it — which’ll probably happen within the first 48 hours after it ships, considering the fact that the iPad’s OS is based off the continually jailbroken iPhone, and the supposition that every genius hacker on the planet is spending every waking moment thinking about it).
Books were just 3 percent of the apps tested for the upcoming iPad.
At the time, Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ remark about ebook pricing being the same whether sold by Cupertino or Amazon seemed rather optimistic. At the time, Amazon controlled ebook pricing and the ebook market, while Apple had just released the iPad. However, just weeks after the tablet was unveiled, Amazon will now adopt Apple’s price structure when the iPad starts shipping in March.
“By agreeing to accept a new pricing model, Amazon has publicly acknowledged the sudden emergence of a rival that may not only threaten its highly popular Kindle franchise but also its total domination of e-books,” the Wall Street Journal reported this weekend.
For those of you who’ve never used it, Omnigraffle is a wonderful visual design tool that can be turned to all sorts of tasks. It can create any manner of diagram, but works even better when enhanced with template themes that add specific visual widgets.
This particular set of widgets gives you almost everything you’d need to mockup an iPad app of your own. It includes drop-downs, alerts, the software keyboard, and loads more. Various bits of text are customizable, so your mockup looks as real as possible.
It will be even better when Omnigraffle itself is ported to the iPad – something that Omni Group boss Ken Case told us they would do as soon as possible (more about that here.)
The Internet can always be counted on to promptly deliver simulacrums of the latest announced Apple product created in two distinct geek mediums: LEGO and papercraft.
Last week, we had the inevitable LEGO iPad, so it was only a matter of time we got the origami version. Here it is, courtesy of Obamapacman: a DIY iPad papercraft mockup.
It’s a pretty simple project. Just print the model out on a color printer at 150 DPI, cut along solid lines, fold on the dotted lines and glue the yellow seams together; then off to the local cafe, prowling for Apple-loving geek girls, gullible suckers or both!
Late last week, a word of warning to iPhone and iPod Touch app developers was posted on Apple’s official developer site: “If your app uses location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user’s location, your app will be returned to you by the App Store Review Team for modification before it can be posted to the App Store.”
It’s a strange little note. The iPhone’s Core Location functionality is already opt-in, and it seems useful from both a developer and user’s standpoint if advertisements are tailored to a user’s individual experience… and location is a big part of that.
The wording is also worrying: what does “primarily” mean? That’s another one of those vague App Store Review Process wordings that just leads to headache down the line.
There are a few interpretations on this. When Apple tries to launch their own in-house iPhone ad network, they may want to position location-based advertisements as a major advantage of their service. On the other hand, this simply could be about limiting advertising-based apps from needlessly hogging the GPS radio and draining battery life.
If I were to guess, I’d say the latter is true. Hopefully Apple will clarify matters in due time.
The first signs of how the iPad will be handled internationally are appearing, including talk of carrier subsidies. Months before Apple said it will announce international deals for the tablet, one carrier is already planning to sell subsidized iPads requiring two-year 3G contracts.
Hutchison Australia reportedly will begin offering the iPad with a $455 (333 Euro) rebate when customers sign-up for a two-year contract offering 5GB of data for $41, or 30 Euro.
