We all known Apple moves in mysterious ways, making changes that disrupt the lives of users with few warnings. Users Monday reported some movies are vanishing from the shelves of the iTunes Store.
Like in the Eagles’ “Hotel California,” a variety of movies can be bookmarked on iTunes but can’t check out. An error window appears when such flicks as Michael Clayton, Atonement and Charlie Wilson’s War are selected, according to Macworld.
The mystery may be some rights-management issue, although the movies involved span several studios, Ars Technica points out.
This isn’t the first time iTunes users have scratched their heads over movies available through iTunes. A recent uproar occurred after iTunes customers discovered new MacBooks included hardware-based copyright protection features which prevented some movies from playing on third-party displays.
Device maker Belkin said Monday it would pull-out of the upcoming Macworld Expo in order to concentrate on partners hurt by the crumbling economy.
The news confirms speculation from last week that Belkin would join Adobe and a growing list of Apple companies either bypassing or curtailing their involvement in the premiere Mac product showcase.
“We are not exhibiting at Macworld, but we will be holding meetings with our channel partners,” Belkin spokeswoman Melody Chalaban confirmed to Macworld. Belkin has also withdrawn from the Consumer Electronics Show.
Wal-Mart employees have confirmed the retailer will begin selling the iPhone before the end of December, however talk of a $99 Apple handset remain mostly in the rumor stage.
Although neither the giant discount retail nor the exclusive carrier AT&T have officially disclosed their plans, both Bloomberg and the Mercury News quote retailers confirming the iPhone is set to be sold by Wal-Mart after Christmas.
Citing unnamed employees at five California Wal-Marts, Bloomberg Monday reported workers are being trained to sell the 8GB and 16GB iPhones. Friday, the Mercury News reported other California Wal-Mart managers were being trained to offer the iPhones.
Anytime you can pick up something for $50 that would otherwise cost you more than $450, it’s worth a second look. Such steep discounts can be a sign of utter worthlessness in some cases, in others, possibly a short-lived bargain you’re thankful to have come across.
MacUpdate has one such opportunity Mac users might want to take a look at. They even have a cute little countdown clock on the page telling you how long you’ve got left to decide to pull the trigger. At this writing the clock stands at 10d 21h 2m 42s.
Among the software titles in the bundle:
Drive Genius 2 ($99): Currently the highest-rated disk utility on the market. Used by Mac Geniuses at Apple Stores, Drive Genius diagnoses and repairs problems with your hard drive, optimizes your system, and much more. Buyers receive a link to download a bootable DVD image of the software to burn, which can be used to boot and fix any Mac that can run Mac OS X 10.5, including Apple’s newest laptops.
RapidWeaver 4 ($79): Create powerful, professional-looking Web sites quickly and easily.
MacGourmet Deluxe ($44.95): Think iTunes for food – track recipes, plan meals, manage wines, and more.
LittleSnitch 2 ($29.95): Monitors your network connection to make sure your Mac only sends out what you want it to.
KeyCue 4 ($27): Displays full keyboard shortcuts for all your applications; learn them and work faster.
MacPilot 3 ($19.95): Access hundreds of hidden features to customize and improve your Mac OS X experience.
iVolume 3 ($29.95): Ensures all your iTunes tracks play back at the same level, so you never have to adjust the volume individually.
There’s more. See the post at MacMerc or head on over to MacUpdate. The clock is ticking.
Just in time for getting a little bit of the backstory before the 25th Anniversary of Mac kicks into high gear, Computer Shopper has a great look back at the very early years of Apple Computers by Editor in Chief Emeritus Stan Veit. We’re talking early enough that Steve Jobs was willing to give away 10% of the company for $10,000, according to Veit.
The long article is well worth a read for Veit’s inside take on the two young, “long haired hippies and their friends” who eventually revolutionized the world. It’s not an especially flattering portrait of Jobs, though it’s had plenty of company on that score over the years. The article does contain some great early pics of Jobs and Woz and some of the earliest Apple gear.
Those in the business of making or selling music may be familiar with a lot of the information, but FATdrop drops a lot of interesting tidbits for music fans, artists and industry types alike.
The post confirms that Apple pays between 60-65-cents for each 99-cent song download through its service, doesn’t demand exclusivity and offers various marketing tools, including a link maker and Tell-a-Friend, a viral email marketing tool.
If you’re interested in learning a bit about the world of digital distribution Apple created with iTunes, or curious about the raft of other concerns offering their spin on the platter, the FATrrop piece is worth checking out.
FATdrop is a digital music delivery company which this week won a prestigious Digital Media Award for ‘Best Breakthrough Business 2008″² in recognition for the growth and success it’s achieved with its digital promo service, used by industry to manage pre-release music.
You may have heard that one of the linchpins of the federal government’s multi-pronged effort to save the crumbling American economy may include Uncle Sam himself underwriting home loans at 4.5%.
What better time then, to spend $4.99 on an iPhone app that may help you navigate the treacherous waters of real estate finance and help you make sound financial decisions for you and your family?
Foggy Noggin Software’s Loan Shark app is a timely, easy to use loan calculator. Enter the information you know, click a button for the field you want calculated, and Loan Shark fills in the amount for you.
With Loan Shark for iPhone and iPod Touch (requires 2.0 update) you can:
* Enter loans from different banks and save for later comparison.
* Calculate how long it will take to pay off credit cards.
* Determine how much in interest loans are costing you.
* See in real time how an extra payment a year affects your loan.
* Easily compare loans to see which is best.
The app lets you calculate any component of the loan, including payment, interest rate and loan amount; see the full Amortization Table for the lifespan of the loan; set your local currency in preferences; find Banks in your area. It also calculates semi-annual interest for Canada and other countries.
Foggy Noggin has some other cool looking software projects, too, including desktop and cookie managers, so be sure to check out their website.
Blogger Rick Yeager has launched iPod and AppleTV podcast versions of his whimsical on-line gadget guide.
The fast-paced podcasts feature a no-nonsense style that one reviewer describes as “perfect for people who want to learn something or pick up a new skill quickly without enduring the news digest format used by other podcasters.” Yeager’s takes on gadgetry feature instructional info and tips and tricks for the Mac-curious, geeks and professionals alike.
The MacMerc podcast subscription is free on iTunes.
When I think of high-powered, busy professionals the first word that comes to mind is not “Zen” but that certainly has not stopped Hladecek from marketing its new collection of iPhone ringtones as “Professional ringtones designed with executives and the fashion-forward in mind.”
The iRingPro Zen Collection is 21 tones, among which you’ll find no annoying songs, or silly sound effects. The collection consists of tones – not “tunes” – that are “smart, attractive, livable alerts engineered to ensure universal appeal, and provide a high tolerance for routine use and repetition.”
Each tone features moderately longer pauses between ring repeats than what many are used to. The designers believe this cuts down on the hurried fumbling that can occur when a cell phone rings unexpectedly, giving you time to see who’s calling, often before the second ring.
And of course there is the personal branding that comes from your ringtone. A snippet of “My Humps” or “The Immigrant Song” says something about you. iRing Pro ringtones seek to ensure that what is perceived when your phone rings is technically advanced, considerate, and enviably fashionable.
The Zen collection sells for $9.95 and is available for download directly from the designer. They come in “Meeting Grade” and “Active Grade” styles, with the meeting tones being subtler, lower pitched, and richer, while the active tones are stronger, more resonant, and present. Om, baby.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one, but Greystripe, a San Francisco-based rich media advertising platform for mobile content claims to have developed ads including Flash IAB medium rectangles and game-in-game (or “tailgate”) ads giving advertisers the ability to target the iPhone audience for the first time with Flash content.
In an effort to make it easier for the online media buyer to purchase mobile, Greystripe claims to have brought creative power to the iPhone with Flash creation tools allowing brands to extend any online advertising campaign directly into mobile content as well as the ability to create miniature advertiser-branded games in Flash and place them before, during or after existing iPhone games.
“Using the iPhone’s revolutionary platform, Greystripe has solved the serving, reporting, third-party tracking and, best of all, ad creation problems that have plagued the mobile advertising industry since inception,” says Michael Cai, Director of Digital Media and Gaming at Parks Associates, according to a BusinessWire release made public on Thursday.
Michael Chang, CEO and Co-founder of Greystripe was quoted as saying, “We have made it easy for advertisers by removing barriers to execution. Brands like Jeep, RadioShack, New Line Cinema, Rock the Vote and Yahoo! have seen strong results.”
If true, this would seem to come as news to Adobe, which claims to have been thus far stymied in the effort to develop a mobile version of Flash that is compatible with Apple’s SDK for iPhone developers.
We reported last week on developer/blogger Erica Sadun’s discovery of an undocumented feature in Apple’s iPhone SDK that allows video out from an iPhone to be displayed on a TV monitor. Friday she revealed what is sure to become a popular exploit of this feature.
Sadun contacted developers at Freeverse, producers of the popular mobile game Moto Chaser and convinced them to create a TV version of their game. In a few hours, Freeverse code monkeys were able to come up with the demo version of Moto Chaser featured in the video above, which seems to herald happy days ahead for fans of iPhone gaming.
The detailed technical ins and outs of how Freeverse managed to pull off its feat are available in Sadun’s post at Ars Technica, but it’s worth noting that the TV version of the game played best on the second-generation iPod touch. The newer touch is built on a 532MHz CPU versus the original iPhone’s 412MHz. This extra speed helps up the frame rate produced by the device, the key component for any first person interactive video game.
Several months ago when I logged into my Netflix account to check my queue and saw the world’s best movie rental service was offering instant streaming, I got all kinds of excited. Despite the joy of impressive two day turn-around service on physical DVDs through the US Mail, I thrilled to the prospect of being able to watch something new right now.
Clicking the “Learn More” button brought me quickly to earth, however, and I must admit I was disappointed, though not surprised to learn the streaming service was, at that point, available to Windows users only.
To their credit, Netflix rolled out a beta version of their “Watch Instantly” service to a limited number of Mac users at the beginning of November, and it’s clear the company values its Mac subscriber base because Thursday it sent out an email saying the streaming service is now available to all Mac users.
Except “all” doesn’t mean “every” in this particular case. The Microsoft Silverlight-based player requires an Intel processor, so the only Mac users who can “Watch Instantly” are those who bought Macs built by Apple in the past three years. As anyone who’s been paying attention knows, that’s an awful lot of potential Netflix customers, but as an Apple fan who appreciates the extended useful life Steve Jobs’ company builds into its products and who happily tends the flame of devotion for my five year-old PowerBook G4, I feel a little left out of the Netflix party.
It’s all good, though, because now I have another reason to sing the praises of the U.S. Mail.
Internet giant Google is among several technology companies reducing their presence at the upcoming Macworld Expo, a report said Friday.
According to AppleInsider, event organizer IDG is “frantically negotiating” to keep Google and other unnamed high-profile exhibitors from bypassing the annual gathering of Mac companies.
A 20 percent drop in companies planning to attend has forced IDG to extend a sign-up discount through Dec. 8, according to the Web site.
An Australian video electronics maker will enter the cell phone business January, offering the “Agora,” the second handset to use Google’s Android operating system.
The cell phone by Kogan Technologies, will start at $193 and offers a 2.5-inch touch screen, QWERT keyboard, 256MB of memory (expandable with a microSD card) and Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 3G support. The handset allows 400 minutes of talk time and 300 hours of standby, according to CNET.
The Agora can be only be ordered from Kogan’s Web site begins shipping Jan. 29, 2009.
Apple faces yet another lawsuit over the performance of its iPhone 3G. The latest court challenge charges hardware defects cause calls to be dropped when using 3G.
James Pittman made the claims to a Northern District of California federal court in San Jose on Nov. 26.
In his lawsuit, Pittman alleges Apple of misrepresentation, violating California’s Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, unjust enrichment and unfair competition of business and professions code.
ONE: It turns out that we’re not the meanest bunch of technology users when our beloved kit is harshly criticized in the media. The Cult of Mac is a peaceful one compared to the rapid spine-chilling rage of the Church of Blackberry. It’s true. David Pogue said so.
TWO: Chris Pirillo is a kindly soul, and decided that today he would spell out five good reasons for switching to Mac. I’m not sure I agree with all of them (“social benefits?” euw, no thanks), but it’s always good to see former Windows users and prominent bloggers spelling out what a good idea it is to be running OS X.
The Sharper Image at one time employed 2500 people and had a thriving catalog business along with what were, at the time, innovative retail stores specializing in high-end electronics and gifts. Early in 2008 the 30 year-old company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, closed all its stores and continued to operate as a remnant of its former self, distributing a limited number of items through retailers such as Macy’s and Dillards, and as a department under the Amazon brand.
The company released a new product on Thursday that may – or may not – signal brighter days ahead for the former cutting edge gear purveyor. Their breakout product, slated to demo at Macworld 2009, is called the “SoundBag,” a top-of-the-line backpack designed to transform the listening experience for commuters, travelers and digital music lovers.
Featuring patented “flatpanel” sound technology designed by The EnE Group, “the SoundBag embodies The Sharper Image’s reputation for innovation, form and function that translates to a terrific user experience,” according to Federico de Bellegarde, vice president of Licensing at The Sharper Image.
With marketing material using terms such as “audiophile” and “surround sound,” the backpack can store and connect any portable digital device — including MP3 players, iPods and iPhone units — to a patented flat panel speaker, which is cleverly both part of the backpack or may be detached and used independently.
A 3.5mm mini-plug in the shoulder strap links the media player to the speaker and a protective clear covering allows access to the player’s controls without having to remove it. The detachable speaker also features a built-in stand and auxiliary input that enables users to play other audio sources, such as a portable DVD players and notebook computers. The speaker offers 8-10 hours of playback powered by three AA batteries.
Suggested retail for the SoundBag is $99. If it produces “audiophile” quality sound at that price, perhaps the Sharper Image will live again.
Roaming charges were the two dirtiest words in mobile telephony for the longest time. Without getting into the technical details, they referred to the gargantuan spigot mobile service providers were authorized to open, sluicing cash from your financial reserves whenever you wished to make a call outside your regular plan’s designated service area. A 5 minute call back home to check on the kids during a weekend getaway to the mountains could end up costing as much as a full night in a fancy place where they put mints on the pillows at night.
As calling plans have become more “unlimited” in nature and providers’ service coverage areas have expanded, domestic roaming charges have become all but a thing of the past. But mobile service providers are ever loathe to give up easy money when they can get it, and nowhere is the money easier today than charging unsuspecting mobile data users outrageous fees for attempting to access data, such as email or web browsing on smartphones, especially when domestic users try and use their phones overseas.
Follow after the jump to hear how bad it can get and find out what you can do to avoid getting sore in all the wrong places.
Tap Tap Dance, from the makers of the wildly popular Tap Tap Revenge, is an all new music game for your iPhone or iPod Touch, featuring top hits from some of the biggest electronic artists in the world like Moby, Justice, Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers, and more. Built on the 2.0 engine of the free app Tap Tap Revenge, Tap Tap Dance features familiar rhythm game mechanics, presented in an all new smoother, richer package for $4.99.
Tap Tap Dance features 10 dance tracks, including:
– Technologic by Daft Punk
– Zdarlight by Digitalism
– Phantom Pt II (Soulwax Remix) by Justice
– Stratosphere by Junkie XL
– Disco Lies (Remix) by Moby
– Midnight Madness by The Chemical Brothers
– Goldrush by Tiesto
– Compressor by Soul Magic Orchestra (Exclusive)
– Where’s Your Head At by Basement Jaxx
– Daylight (Exclusive Morgan Page Remix) by Sunny Levine
The game includes an exclusive track by Soul Magic Orchestra, and an exclusive remix by Morgan Page of Sunny’s Levine’s Daylight. Three of the tracks, “Technologic,” by Daft Punk, “Disco Lies” by Moby and “Phantom Pt II” by Justice come with their own exclusive themes, offering game players a portable interactive music video experience, right on the iPhone or iPod touch.
Tap Tap Dance game is available now in the US from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch and coming to select international App Stores soon.
UPDATE: This article has been corrected to reflect Shazam’s compatibility with iPhone only and not iPod Touch, as originally indicated. We regret any confusion our error may have caused.
I’ve been wanting to write about Shazam, the music discovery software app for iPhone, for a while now, but since it’s been around for a good while and is one of the most popular downloads on the AppStore, it didn’t seem there was any news there.
Shazam’s developers announced they have extended its database to include additional North American, Asian and European content, however, and Shazam now offers the facility to recognize songs in a database that has grown to include 8 million different songs.
“This increase in our database cements Shazam’s position as the leading mobile music discovery service in the world,” says Will Mills, Shazam’s Head of Music, and adds the app’s unique user experience “has made Shazam the perfect partner for mobile phone operators and handset manufacturers across the world.”
In September the company announced that more than 20 million customers had used Shazam to identify over 100 million tracks so far, numbers that are likely to continue growing along with the size of the app’s database.
Behold, the work of Sait Alanyali, designer of things. His plan for an L-shaped Mac mini might leave you a little bemused, to put it mildly, but apart from the hemisphere, what other shapes have been cruelly ignored by Jonathan Ive and his Mac design minions in recent years? Why haven’t we seen a tetrahedron iMac? A rhomboidal iPod? What about iWork packaging that takes the form of a Möbius strip?
While you’re pondering that, have a look at Sait’s Ikea-hacked work station. He even painted the plastic surrounds of his cheap monitors white, so that they’d look the part.
Apple’s meteoric rise amid a crumbling economy is about to be doused with a cold shot of reality, a financial analyst warned investors Thursday. Mac sales will grow 10 percent in 2009, far below the earlier projected 43 percent increase, Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster said.
Munster cut his price target for Apple stock to $235 per share, down from $250.
“The economic and consumer spending outlook has deteriorated significantly over the last month, which we expect to continue through 2009,” Munster told clients.
The analyst expects Apple to earn $41.22 billion in 2009.
More smartphones are using Apple’s OS X operating system than Windows Mobile, a researcher said Thursday. Apple’s software now has 12.9 percent of the global smartphone market, pushing Microsoft out of No. 3 behind RIM and handset giant Nokia.
OS X-based smartphones – fueled by Apple’s popular iPhone – saw a 327 percent year-over-year increase, rising from 3.4 percent of the market in the third quarter of 2007. The increase far outstripped the 11.5 percent annual increase in the overall smartphone market, according to Gartner.
By contrast, Microsoft’s marketshare fell 3 percent to 11.1 percent.
Mac software maker Adobe Wednesday announced it will eliminate 600 jobs as the company blames weak consumer demand and the U.S. recession for less-than-expected fourth quarter revenue.
The San Jose, Calif.-based firm projected it would earn between $912 million to $915 million for the quarter ended Nov. 28, far below the $930 million Wall Street expected. Adobe had earlier estimated revenue between $925 million to $955 million.
Weaker than expected demand for Adobe’s Creative Suite 4, released in October, was given as one reason for the shortfall.
