Cult of Mac

In an interview with Peter Kafka over at All Things D about the launch of their new Music Unlimited streaming music service, Sony’s Tim Schaaf — who worked at Apple for fourteen years as a senior executive in charge of Quicktime, and was intimately involved in the company’s media products — allowed himself to be drawn into comment about his former employer, specifically in regards to Apple’s new in-app subscription and purchasing policies.

“It seems a little aggressive,” Schaaf said about Apple’s new policies, which threaten to kick from the App Store any app developer who fails to offer their app’s products and subscriptions through Apple’s in-app purchase mechanism, or offers them more cheaply elsewhere.

“Sounds like a good thing for Android,” Schaaf concluded, referring to Google’s less prohibitive terms as part of their competing One Pass in-app purchase and subscription service, and implying that developers would begin to flee the App Store if his former employer did not buckle.

Ouch. Do you agree with Schaaf’s assessment?

I know, it may seem like blasphemy to some of our readers (does it? Feel free to weigh in), but some Mac owners have (gasp) Android phones. For them, then, the release yesterday of TeamViewer for Android will let them access their Macs from their Droid-like phone of choice, for free — just as iPhone and iPad users have been able to do for about a year or so now.

Just install the desktop client on your Mac, pop the app on a suitable phone and you’re pretty much good to go. TeamViewer works with Windows (and Linux) boxes too; though if you’re a Windows user with an Android phone, the Cult of Mac logo is probably starting to burn your retinas right about now.

Apple was the only big name in mobile that didn’t show up at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week… but it didn’t stop the iPhone 4 from winning the show’s Best Mobile Device Award.

According to the judges, the iPhone 4 won because “it has a great screen, sharp design, fantastic materials, and phenomenal ecosystem for app developers. In a tight race, the iPhone 4 built on the success of its predecessors to set the pace for smartphones.”

Ouch. That’s got to hurt: beaten by a company that didn’t even show up. All was not totally bleak for the Android and Windows Phone 7 device manufacturers in attendance, though: one of their own in HTC won the Device Manufacturer of the Year Award. Personally, though, we think that should probably have gone to Apple too.

Inception: App Edition – (Free + $11.99 in-app purchase) Universal – Entertainment

Inception: App Edition is one of the first of Warner Bros.’ App Store releases that not only delivers the full Inception movie, but also offers a stack of movie extras all within an app. You can download the movie on to your device to play at anytime, even when you’re offline, or, if you’re keen to save space, you can stream the movie over Wi-Fi or 3G. The app features five exclusive tracks, bonus features that take you behind the scenes, an array of movie film posters, and multiple languages.

For film fans and movie buffs, Inception: App Edition is the ultimate way to experience this breathtaking film on your iOS device, and it features hours worth of additional content you wouldn’t normally have access to if you’d have purchased the film through the iTunes Store.

The Dark Knight is also available as an ‘App Edition’ from Warner Bros.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0AsGfcJjuc

Starfront: Collision – (Free + $6.99 in-app purchase) iPhone – Games

Starfront: Collision is the latest in Gameloft’s long string of smash hit releases, and claims to be the epitome of real-time strategy games. It packs 20 action-packed missions across five gorgeous environments, a competitive online multiplayer mode, and striking 3D-redered environments, making it one of the best RTS titles for iOS to date. Discover the deep and engaging story of a war of resources told throughout the solo campaign, or wage war against friends in 4-person online multiplayer. Live your first battles as a commander completely free, and if you’re ready to take up the challenge of the full game, you can unlock it through an in-app purchase.

Gameloft has once again looked at an incredibly popular game and created an iOS alternative that doesn’t disappoint. It’s a model they’ve been following for while with their App Store releases, and one that certainly seems to be working incredibly well for them. For fans of Blizzard’s Starcraft series and other real-time strategies, I highly recommend Starfront: Collision – with its near-perfect UI and control system, countless hours of intense gameplay, and eye-popping 3D visuals, I think it’s one Gameloft’s most impressive releases so far.

Here’s the cover of the March 2011 edition of Wired magazine, which just showed up in the mail:

1 million workers

90 million iPhones

17 suicides

This is where your gadgets come from. Should you care?

Yes, you should care. We do. Kudos to Wired for shining a much-needed spotlight on this important issue.

We start the day with some deals on iPhone and iPad applications. A new crop of iPhone app freebies includes the Talking Dragon, an interactive character. For the iPad is a new selection of applications with price reductions, including “Mad Skillz Motocross.” We also take a look at a number of iPad bargains, including a 16GB Wi-Fi tablet for $459.

Along the way, we also check out some Macs, including a 6-core Mac Pro running at 3.33GHz. The bundle also comes with 8GB of RAM and software for $4,081. As usual, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

On Monday, we reported how Apple is working on a streaming-only iPhone. The smaller, lighter device will have limited storage. Media and data will be streamed to the device over the network, like the second-generation Apple TV.

In November, we reported that the iPhone 5 will use a Near Field Communications chip (NFC) to enable an ambitious remote computing system. Wave the NFC-equipped iPhone near any compatible Mac, and the user’s entire Home directory will be loaded onto the guest machine — files, photos, music and even the same desktop background. It will be as though the user is sitting in front of their home computer. Apple has even patented the system.

How are the two related?

It’s unlikely that Apple will use Liquidmetal for the new MacBooks that are expected any day now, but it sure would be sweet. Check out how svelte the machines would be if Apple used the extra-stiff material.

Mockup by designer Dario Crisafulli.

Via SagiaMente.

Who wants one?

Apple announced its new plan for content publishers this week, and already it’s making money for the publishing industry by enabling wild, eyeball-grabbing headlines guaranteed to bring in the readers.

“Apple Just F****d Over Online Music Subs”

“Steve Jobs to Pubs: Our Way or Highway”

“Apple Launches Subscription System, Gouges Publishers in the Process”

“Apple Subscription Plans Anger Content Providers”

Digital-publishing-technology provider NewspaperDirect called Apple’s new policy ” unjustifiable,” “inexcusable,” “self-serving” and “ridiculous.”

The International Newsmedia Marketing Association felt “betrayed.”

OK, OK. We get the idea.

Movie critic Roger Ebert summarized another view in some quarters by tweeting: “Steve Jobs contributes his bit to the destruction of print media.”

That’s a compliment, not a criticism, by the way.

Meanwhile, just a day after Apple unleashed its new plan, Google unveiled one of its own, called Google One Pass. USA Today says the Google plan “undercuts Apple.”

So let’s collect ourselves and think this through. Is Apple’s plan really a major slap in the face to the publishing industry? Will it help kill print? And is Google’s One Pass a preferable alternative?

At this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha hinted that Google might be on the cusp of releasing its own answer to iTunes in the coming months.

In reference to their upcoming tablet, the $799 Xoom, Jha said that Android Honeycomb 3.0 would put Motorola in a better position to compete with the iPad because it “adds video services and music services.”

“If you look at Google Mobile services [in Android] today, there’s a video service, there’s a music service,” Jha said. Then he corrected himself. “That is, there will be a music service.”

The Apple halo. Once seen as a way to boost products, the magnetic power of Apple’s complete iOS family – the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad – are now helping the Cupertino, Calif. tech giant blow past anemic PC sales. The latest evidence: Mac shipments in December 2010 rose 23.5 percent – seven-fold the PC market’s 3.4 percent. The iPad, again, gets the credit.

“The halo effect emanating from the iPad will be even stronger than the iPhone halo effect in the business market if only because the iPad is a kissing cousin of Apple’s family of notebook computers,” said Needham analyst Charlie Wolf. Just how strong the halo has become is glaringly obvious when you break down Apple’s success in various markets.

How much money are you worth to mobile advertisers? Much more than an Android users, that’s for sure… at least according to this infographic put together by the boys over at Mobclix.

Of course, just how much money you’re worth depends a lot on what you mostly end up doing on your iPhone. Utilitiy users are worth almost $9.50 each on average, compared to just $7.20 for the same category on Android. Entertainment users are worth a few bucks less ($6.70 on iPhone, $4.90 on Android) and games are worth the least at just $4.00 per iPhone and $1.90 per Android device.

Mobclix came up with these numbers by taking their monthly advertising revenues for each app category and dividing them by users in a given month. At first blush, it looks like utility apps are where it’s at when it comes to mobile advertising, but as Mike Schramm reminds us, those numbers are skewed by the sheer volume of people spending more time on their iPhone in Angry Birds than editing spreadsheets on them.

If you’re ready to play at smuggling illegal immigrants over the US border, check out the demo for “Smuggle Truck.”

The game, from Boston company Owlchemy Labs hasn’t yet been approved by Apple, but you can try it out on gaming portal Kongregate for free.

“Smuggle Truck: Operation Immigration” has released a storm of controversy – and free publicity – for the game devs hope will be approved for iTunes by March.

Capcom’s Smurfs’ Village has garnered an astonishing volume of controversy since it first debuted in the App Store.

The issue? Smurfs’ Village is a freemium title: free to play, but all of your progress in the game is tied to collecting “Smurfberries” (a Roald Dahl inspired sexual euphemism if I ever heard one). You can buy Smurfberries to quicken your progress as in-app purchases.

The controversy all stems from the fact that it’s a freemium game with a subject matter aimed almost exclusively at small children, coupled with Capcom’s decision to price Smurfberries in ridiculously expensive bundles.

Pocket Gamer reports that Apple is hopping mad about the situation, with Steve Jobs playing the Gargamel to Capcom’s Smurfs. The company has apparently gone as far as to haul Capcom into their offices to chew the game maker out.

More proactively, though, this whole Smurfs Village debacle might result in a shortening of the iTunes login window (or the time iOS allots to make purchases after you have entered your iTunes password before you have to enter it again) from fifteen minutes to just five.

If Apple shrinks the iPhone to nano size with a screen that runs edge-to-edge and no Home button, how will users quit apps and return to the Home screen?

Developer Max Rudberg suggests that users could squeeze the sides of their iPhone to close apps. He writes:

This could be a real wow effect. Seeing how the phone reacts to your grip and then having the app vanish in the palm of your hand.

To avoid ‘squeeze to go Home’ from happening by accident, a visual cue could show that pressure is being applied. In this concept, the app begins to shrink to reflect the pressure that is being applied. When the pressure goes over a defined threshold, the user is returned to the Home screen.

The strength of a users grip will of course vary. Therefore, a setting for how much pressure that’s needed before an app is exited could be a good idea.”

Rudberg, who runs Max Themes and created popular jailbreak themes Glasklart HD and Serious SBSettings HD, suggests the iPhone nano have a pressure-sensitive body. He made a cool video showing how it would work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7uk_sxYW98

[via iPhone Download Blog and MacStories]

Apple reportedly has 60 percent of touch panel components under contract, potentially resulting in a “tight supply” for rivals of the Cupertino, Calif. firm’s iPad. As a result, companies such as HP, Research in Motion and HP are muscling out “second-tier” tech firms and prompting a potential 2011 shortage of glass capacitive touch panels for the tablet PC industry.

Hoping to not repeat slow iPad sales due to tight supplies, Apple is taking a new strategy to guarantee the parts are available to meet demand. “In 2011, Apple’s strategy of taking up most of the capacity should help the company quickly expand its sales, while reducing its competitors’ shipment growth,” writes industry publication DigiTimes.

It may have taken Apple three years, but iOS is finally in a state that there aren’t a lot of perceived criticisms when it comes to its feature-set. The niggling criticisms of naysayers like copy-pasted and multitasking have been addressed. What’s next for iOS 5, then?

9to5Mac has put up an interesting overview of what they think is coming in 2011 to iOS. With the operating system itself pretty robust, they believe that Apple will focus more on apps and services this year by leveraging many of their recent acquisitions in maps, voice control and cloud technology.

For some fun adventures surfing the HTML5 web as through a vintage NES, download Pixelfari and give it a spin. Built upon Safari, it’s of questionable import or usefulness, but it isneat. Twitter and Facebook are especially fun.

Our friends at Hong Kong-based M.I.C. Gadget have received a letter from Apple! It’s not a very nice one though. It concerns the Pineapple CEO action figure, which portrays our favorite technologist as a star-throwing ninja (remember the story about Jobs being stopped at airport security?).

“Mr. Jobs has not consented to the use of his name and/or image in the Product. Unauthorized use of a person’s name and/or likeness constitutes a violation of California Civil Code Section 3344, which prohibits the use of any person’s name, photograph or likeness in a product without that person’s prior consent… The figure and its stand are replications of Mr. Jobs image and Apple’s trademark. The thin attempt to “disguise” the figure in its current iteration does not impact the fact that you are plainly trading on Mr. Jobs image…”

M.I.C. Gadget says it’s sorry and will no longer sell the action figure.

Actually, we are wondering what took the law firm so long to send us an email to request us to cease the marketing and sale of the figure. We reviewed it on January 18, and we received the email on February 8. That’s almost a month time! We believe someone from Apple has bought the figure so the lawyer took so much time to look for us. So, who bought it??

M.I.C. Gadget: Apple Is Not Happy With The Pineapple CEO Action Figure

Imagine this scenario: your Mac crashes and all of your files are gone forever. Do you want this to happen to you? If not, Time Machine is the perfect solution. It automatically backs up your Mac every hour, so you can always have the peace of mind that your files are safe. The video below describes how you can set up Time Machine quickly and easily.

Apple will build a massive store in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal, Cult of Mac independently confirmed.

The store will open in the fall, likely early September — and it will be Apple’s largest retail space in the world.

The store already has a name: Apple Store, Grand Central, according to a source close the company. The source said Apple will be making an internal announcement within the next month or so.

“The company will certainly pull out all the stops on this one,” said the source, who asked not to be named.

This year is the 10th anniversary of Apple retail, and Apple wants to make a big splash, our source said. Apple’s retail operation has been a spectacular success, helping fuel the company’s explosive growth and creating shops that make twice as much money as Tiffany & Co.

Rebutting the National Enquirer’s morbid rumors that he is near death, Steve Jobs will be among the attendees at President Barack Obama’s dinner with tech industry leaders in San Francisco tomorrow, an inside source tells ABC News.

At today’s White House press briefing, press secretary Jay Carney said that the focus of the event will be “innovation and job creation” with business leaders “who know a lot about private sector job growth.”

The full list of attendees has not yet been released, but it has been learned that outgoing Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Paul Otellini of Intel are also on the guest list.

Apple’s stock is taking a hit on fresh rumors that Steve Jobs has only a few weeks to live. Apple stock is currently down about three points in after-hours trading. It’s likely to take a big hit tomorrow when the markets reopen. The stock dropped a few points last week on rumors that Jobs was in hospital.

The sleazy rumors, published by the supermarket tabloid National Enquirer, reportedly show photos of Jobs outside the Stanford Cancer Center in Palo Alto, his home town. The pictures don’t seem to be available online, but apparently show Jobs looking very thin and frail. The tabloid says Jobs has dropped from 175lb to just 130lb and has just six weeks to live. The topic is lighting up Twitter.

We don’t know whether the information is correct, but we certainly hope not. Best wishes Steve.

Daily Mail: Paper publishes shocking pictures of skeletal Steve Jobs claiming ‘cancer-stricken Apple boss may have just six weeks to live’

Readlines – ($0.99) Universal – News

Readlines makes great use of your iOS device while it’s sat in its dock on your desk, and turns an otherwise boring blank screen in to a big, bold stream of random headlines from your Google Reader RSS feeds. In the same way that the recent Trickle application displays tweets from your Twitter feed, Readlines cycles through your unread stories and displays a constant stream of headlines. Clicking on a headline that interests you will take you straight to Safari where you can read the whole article.

If you use your Google Reader account like I do, you’ll get hundreds of news stories every day that you’ll have to sift through to get to the good stuff that you want to know about. With Readlines you can simply get on with your work while your headlines are streamed to your desk, and it makes picking out only those that interest you incredibly simple.