Awhile back it was reported that the iTunes Store is one of the biggest media companies in the world. The iTunes Store generated $8.5 billion in revenue last year, which is more than many of America’s top media companies combined.
Apple has been the tech industry’s pioneer for abandoning physical media, and iTunes is a testament to the success of digital downloads. According to a new report from the NPD Group, iTunes dominates its competitors in terms of online video on demand.
Pocket, the link-saving service formerly known as Read It Later, has been updated on iOS with a few new additions. Most notably, Facebook sharing has been added and tied into iOS 6’s direct Facebook integration. That means zero setup required inside the Pocket app.
A couple workflow-related improvements have also been made.
Penultimate for iPad has today received its first major update since it was acquired by Evernote back in May 2012. In addition to Evernote syncing, the app offers a number of nifty new features, the most impressive of which is handwriting search — which uses handwriting recognition technology to allow you to find notes you’ve written by hand. And if that wasn’t enough, the app is now completely free.
Given what a smash success the iPad mini is, it’s reasonable to assume that the next-generation iPad might borrow a few design queues from it’s little sibling. Indeed, we’ve already heard the first rumors of just that. Technologically speaking, though, how will Apple make the iPad 5 as thin and light as the mini? By aping the mini’s display technology.
SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/iWORLD 2013 – Steve Jobs isn’t here at Macworld to kick off the show with one of his famous Stevenotes. But we got the next best thing – an shoddy actor who played Steve Jobs in a movie.
Ashton just opened Macworld with a Kutchernote, and unfortunately he didn’t come out in his full Steve garb, but he did give us some insight into what it was like to play Steve Jobs as well as his “geek credentials,” but more importantly, he said that Steve Jobs is his idol and that he tries to emulate him when he’s doing his angel investments.
Thanks to the increasing popularity of Google’s Android platform, Google Play revenue increased more than sixfold during 2012. The boost has helped the search giant gain ground on Apple’s App Store, but it still has a lot of work to do. Despite that growth, the App Store still rakes in 3.5 times more cash than Google Play does.
SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/iWORLD 2013 – After you’ve brushed up on your iPhone photography skills and checked out the gadgets on the Expo floor, there’s still a few Apple-related things to do in San Francisco.
It’s a bit disappointing that the strip clubs have decided to stop offering their usual MacWorld free passes – and we don’t recommend you follow Apple maps to the Tenderloin to visit “My Butt,” either — but here are a few ideas.
Hands up if you remember Dial-a-song. You don’t? Man, those were the good days. Even if you don’t remember them, now’s the time to re-live them on your iPhone. Like it’s an old phone. A dial-a-song phone.
Rovio’s latest “Escape from Hoth” update to Angry Birds Star Wars is out today, adding 20 new levels, mynock pigs, and an epic boss battle. It’s available to download now on Android and iOS, and it’s completely free to those why already own the game.
SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/iWORLD 2013 – Maintaining a Mac is a lot easier than a PC but it still requires some work. After a few years of use, your hard drive space starts to shrink and finding the right files to delete isn’t always obvious.
MacPaw is releasing a new app to help people free up more space on their Macs. It’s called CleanMyMac 2 and it will dive deep into your harddrive to clean out all the crap you don’t need.