Could Apple have done any better? We think so. Photo: Google Photo: Google
Now that Google has pulled Glass off the market, for the time being at least, we’re left with a handful of questions that can’t be easily answered — even by a face-mounted computer.
Questions like, “What went wrong?” And, “What didn’t go wrong?” And, perhaps most enlightening of all, “How would Apple have gotten Glass right?”
While Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior VP of worldwide marketing, was not a fan of Glass, we’re certain Cupertino could have found success with a head-mounted wearable. Here’s how.
We love GIFs here at Cult of Mac and 2014 did not disappoint in providing us with twelve months worth of hypnotic images that deserve to be watched, over and over and over.
We already highlighted the most GIF-able moments of 2014, but in our final GIF roundup of the year we’re busting out the best images of the year that came out of Cult of Mac’s GIF making factory (also known as Buster’s underpowered MacBook Air). We GIF’d everything from Tim Cook’s ice bucket challenge, to the hilarious Bendgate controversy that was the Internet’s joke du jour for weeks.
The first wave of apps marking the partnership of Apple and IBM are here. Photo: Apple/IBM Photo: Apple
After unveiling a partnership with IBM back in July this year — designed to combine IBM’s enterprise data specialties with Apple’s iOS hardware and software — Apple today announced the first 10 of its iOS apps released as part of the agreement.
In a press release, Apple’s Phil Schiller describes it as a “big step for iPhone and iPad in the enterprise,” and notes how “Apple and IBM are bringing together the world’s best technology with the smartest data and analytics to help businesses redefine how work gets done.”
Steve Jobs introducing the iPod mini. Photo: Apple
The $350 million class action lawsuit against Apple might not even have a legitimate plaintiff anymore, but the trial continued in Oakland today with one of the key witnesses being none other than Steve Jobs himself.
The late Apple CEO appeared on a TV monitor in court today in an unreleeased deposition video that was filmed six months before his death in 2011. CNET reports that in the video Steve Jobs maintained the same stance as Eddy Cue and Phil Schiller earlier this week, that Apple wasn’t trying to block competitors and hurt customers by removing some songs off of iPods. It was simply protecting iTunes from hackers and trying to not violate its record label contracts.
Jobs’ demeanor and responses reportedly suggested he wasn’t taking the antitrust case very seriously, and that Apple didn’t perceive any competitors as legitimate threats.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Apple has been fighting an iPod-related class-action lawsuit for nearly a decade now, but just as the trial is heating up in Oakland, the New York Times reports that the lawyers suing Apple have suddenly found themselves down to just one plaintiff.
The $350 million case accuses Apple of stifling competition on iTunes from competing music services by deleting songs off users’ iPods from September 2006 to March 2009. But lawyers in the case have withdrawn one of the named plaintiffs today, after they discovered her iPod wasn’t purchased during the time period in question.
Eddy Cue and Phil Schiller have both testified this week at the trial regarding Apple’s use of DRM. Evidence from Steve Jobs is also expected to be presented, however, there might not even be a case by the time they get to it.
Apple was forced by major record labels to implement digital rights management technology in iTunes, according to testimony in an ongoing class-action lawsuit that accuses Cupertino of stifling competition with competing music services.
Apple contemplated licensing its DRM, called FairPlay, to other companies, “but we couldn’t find a way to do that and have it work reliably,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Tim Cook and U2 just got roasted for forcing music onto customers’ iPhones, but from 2007 to 2009, Steve Jobs’ Apple was allegedly playing a different tune, and deleted music off of iPods that was purchased on rival music services.
That wouldn’t have been so bad if it were just your embarrassing Nickelband albums, but attorneys for consumers at the ongoing antitrust lawsuit, say iTunes deleted all rival files without ever giving users a warning that they were about to lose their tunes.
Steve Jobs made an appearance Monday as a key witness in Apple’s most recent antitrust lawsuit — courtesy of a video deposition taped shortly prior to his death in 2011.
The lawsuit concerns a long-running class action antitrust lawsuit dating back to 2005. It is argued by the plaintiffs that Apple gained an unfairly monopolistic position by blocking competitors from putting their music on iPods.
Jobs avoided many of the questions he was asked during the 2-hour video deposition, saying that “I don’t remember,” “I don’t know” or “I don’t recall” a total of 74 times — including when he was asked if he was familiar with what the lawsuit was about.
A few typically snappy Steve Jobs moments did crop up, however. Responding to a question about the former iTunes rival Real Networks, Jobs replied, “Do they still exist?”
Previously unseen emails and a videotaped deposition of Steve Jobs is set to play a key part in a long-running class action antitrust lawsuit against Apple, which goes to trial this week.
First filed back in 2005, the lawsuit argues that Apple put itself in a monopolistic position by refusing to allow iPod customers to use non-iTunes music on their iPods, thanks to software upgrades issued by Apple. The case saw little action for its first seven years, but picked up steam with a judge’s ruling in May 2012, and is now finally arriving in the court room.
“We will present evidence that Apple took action to block its competitors and in the process harmed competition and harmed consumers,” the lead plaintiffs’ lawyer was quoted as saying in an article for the New York Times.
iOS 8.2 is here. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
The mad dash to develop the first wave of Apple Watch apps has just begun, and to go along with the new WatchKit for devs, Apple has also released the first iOS 8.2 beta this morning.
iOS 8.2 beta 1 includes support for WatchKit, which allows Apple Watch apps to connect to and run processes on your iPhone in the background. In a press release announcing the update’s availability, Phil Schiller said, “With the iOS 8.2 beta SDK, developers can now start using WatchKit to create breakthrough new apps, Glances and actionable notifications designed for the innovative Apple Watch interface and work with new technologies such as Force Touch, Digital Crown and Taptic Engine.”
Release notes for the beta don’t mention other major new features, but we’ll report on any surprises we find, once we get it installed. The iOS 8.2 beta is available to registered developers in the iOS Dev Center, along with a new Xcode 6.2 beta as well.
You can also grab iOS 8.2 from the direct download links below: