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Would You Pay for Apple's Cloud Music Service?
Apple might charge for its rumored cloud-music storage service, according to a new report from CNET. The tech site says that “music industry insiders” are saying cloud-storage for iTunes libraries won’t be free, at least not after an initial trial period. What those charges might be is anyone’s guess, but it raises the question of whether or not cloud music is something people will pay for.

Amazon currently doesn’t charge anything for its Cloud Drive and Cloud Player service, at least not until you exceed the included 5 GB limit. You can also get 20 GB of storage free for a limited time when you buy an album, but after the promotion ends, that’ll cost $20 a year. Google is also rumored to be considering paid subscription options for its yet-to-be-announced cloud storage and music service. Apple already charges for cloud file storage through its MobileMe product (though rumors the service will go free persist), so the idea that it would put a price tag on a new iTunes-related service is well within reason.

But even if it’s reasonable for Apple to want to charge, would you pay for a cloud music offering from the Mac-maker? As someone who already pays for MobileMe because of the convenience factor, I’d likely also be willing to put up a small annual fee in order to be able to access my iTunes library everywhere, from any device, using a service that requires little to no setup or maintenance. But there are other options out there for remote streaming of your iTunes library content, and some might argue that cloud-based streaming should be included in the existing cost of iTunes music. Let us know your take in the survey below and in the comments.

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New TweetDeck for iPhone Warrants a Look From Twitter Power-Users
TweetDeck Tuesday introduced an updated iPhone app that sports a completely new design. The app is so different, in fact, that it’s actually a brand new app, and requires a separate download, as the previous TweetDeck iOS apps have been removed from the App Store entirely. The changes are good reason for Twitter power-users, who may have given the app a pass previously, to take a second look.

I’ve used TweetDeck in the past, albeit sporadically, to keep track of the the multiple Twitter feeds I’ve had to manage. I’ve since cut down to only two accounts (thanks to Twitter lists) but I still find that my Twitter apps of choice (the official client, and lately Tweetbot) don’t handle multiple accounts as well as they could. TweetDeck was good at this, but I always ended up leaving it because it left a bad taste in my mouth in terms of visual and UX design.

The new app looks much better than its predecessor. TweetDeck opted for a much cleaner, simpler interface, and one that does a great job of letting your stream of updates take center stage. It’s a smart design that acknowledges the design restrictions of the iPhone’s relatively small screen and only fits into that space what’s necessary, so that nothing comes out feeling crowded.

My only complaint with regards to interface design is that when you’re zoomed out to manage your columns, the interface feels definitely un-iOS. Some unnecessary and not-so-smooth animations and attempts at portraying 3-D depth here would be better replaced with a more basic tab switching interface lifted from Apple’s mobile Safari browser. It doesn’t really detract from the app’s usability, but it does stick out as one weak element of an otherwise strong design.

TweetDeck’s greatest strength, new and old, is in its ability to handle multiple Twitter (and other social network accounts) in one place, and that gets improved in the new version, too. I love that I can swipe through columns from multiple accounts, ordered in whatever way I choose, but now you can also quickly and easily manipulate individual columns to pull from a wide variety of feeds. You can see tweets from multiple accounts, Facebook updates, and even Foursquare checkins (though you can’t yet add Foursquare accounts from the mobile client) all in one place, and easily turn off and on various elements using simple slider switches.

The app is missing some things that users of the official Twitter app might miss, like support for push notifications of @ replies, but it does have support for fast-app switching, which is again something that will make power-users happy.

TweetDeck says a completely overhauled iPad app will soon follow (the old, buggy version is gone from the App Store) and based on what the iPhone app brings to the table, it can’t come soon enough. TweetDeck for iPhone is still free and ad-free, so it’s definitely worth checking out, especially if other mobile clients don’t offer the flexibility you’re looking for. I’d also argue that this is should probably make TweetDeck an even more attractive option for a possible purchase by Twitter, which can position it as the “Twitter for Business” client.
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Just How Big Is Apple's Cash Pile?
Apple announced that its cash stockpile had increased by another $6.1 billion (even after around $900 million for supplier prepayments and capital expenditures is taken out) as of the end of the company’s second fiscal quarter for 2011. That brings the company’s total for liquid assets, including cash, and short- and long-term marketable securities, to around $65.8 billion. Market intelligence firm Asymco Tuesday provided some insight regarding what that number actually means in the context of Apple and its market position.

A $65.8 billion cash pool is not something that garners as much attention as new Macs, iPhones or iPads, but it is one of Apple’s greatest strengths, and something that none of its competitors can even approach. Here are some key takeaways from Asymco’s attempt to put things in perspective:
- If Apple’s revenue streams stopped completely, current cash would keep operations going for more than 7 years, or until mid-2018.
- Apple’s cash pile represents about half of Google’s total enterprise value.
- Cash-on-hand for Apple represents a greater worth than Nokia, RIM and Motorola Mobility’s market caps combined.
- Apple’s single quarter cash growth was higher than the market cap of many companies, and just about matched Motorola Mobility’s with the 900,000 in pre-payments added back in to the total.
- Apple has enough funds on hand to put the company’s CFO among the top 100 largest fund managers in the world, and above any single hedge fund manager.
I think the most important takeaway among those listed above is that Apple is unique among its competitors by ensuring it has time to recover in the case of any considerable missteps. A huge cash fund means that risks like the iPad, which no doubt was incredibly costly and time-consuming during the R&D phase, can be taken on without necessarily endangering the future of the company or Apple’s existing lines of business. After all, there’s nothing like a $65 billion safety net to encourage bold moves in product development and innovation.

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OS X Lion Resources Point to Retina Displays in Future Macs
Apple may be readying high res or “Retina” display Mac computers, according to resources discovered in the latest developer preview build of Mac OS X Lion (via Cult of Mac). The discovery of new larger wallpaper and higher resolution icons indicates Apple may be planning to as much as double the resolution of current Mac displays.

Doubling the resolution of current Macs won’t create the kind of pixels per inch (ppi) that the iPhone 4 boasts, which makes it impossible for human eyes to discern any visible pixellation effects, but it will accomplish a resolution jump of the same magnitude as that which occurred between the iPhone 3GS and the most recent model. OS X Lion icons have a resolution of 1024×1024, double that of the current 512×512 icons found in Snow Leopard.

The apparent plans to double Mac resolution is also backed up by another source: MacRumors reports that Apple has built “HiDPI display mode” support into OS X Lion. HiDPI is what Apple uses in iOS to allow developers to provide both standard and 2x graphics in order to support both standard and Retina Display devices. It would seem to suggest that Apple is planning to provide Mac displays that operate at double resolution, but that maintain the same size for interface elements, making everything twice as crisp, just like on the iPhone 4.

OS X Lion is almost definitely launching in June, but that doesn’t mean we’ll see retina display Macs launched alongside it. Apple may just be building these features in now in anticipation of a later high-res display introduction. The MacBook Pro, for instance, is set for a major overhaul according to recent rumors, but that won’t arrive for at least another six months in all likelihood. A double resolution display would be a significant selling point if a total makeover really is in store for the machine. Of course, reports point to a possible June launch of refreshed MacBook Airs, which would make it a prime candidate for the first Retina Macs if they end up being the first Apple computers to ship with OS X Lion preinstalled.

I definitely expect Apple to make this leap sooner or later. It’s an inevitable progression, and one which the iPhone 4 set the stage for over a year ago. Were Apple not to leverage that tech in other product lines, I’d be very surprised. That the company is preparing for its arrival in Lion is a good sign we’ll see it reach shipping with Macs within the next two years (the general life cycle of a major OS upgrade), but it’ll depend on whether or not higher res displays become affordable enough to allow Apple to maintain margins without raising prices.

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5 Great Mac Tools for Designing Apps
There comes a point in the creation of every great app that you move from concept to implementation. On the design side, this is when you feel like you have your wireframes and storyboard walk-throughs (or collection of bar napkins) at a point where you want to start “real” development. There are definitely some great tools for the iPad to help solidify your app concept from a more abstract design point of view. Looking at the more tangible side of visual design, I’ve found the following tools available in the Mac App Store to be quite helpful.

Choosing the Right Colors

ColorBlender ($1.99). When choosing a color palette for your App, you either have an eye for it or you don’t. For those of us who don’t have it, ColorBlender can help out. There have been a lot of studies on how humans are affected by different colors, and there are certainly combinations of colors that are hard on the eyes. The main function of ColorBlender is to create a palette with six harmonious colors that will make looking at your app pleasant, or at least tolerable, for most people. The only thing this app is missing is a good color picker, but that’s quickly remedied using OS X’s included DigitalColor Meter utility. After choosing a base color in the DigitalColor Meter, ColorBender will help you select a collection of harmonious colors to use throughout your app.

AppControls ($19.99). Once you have a solid color palette picked out, the next step will be to use that palette when creating various controls throughout your app. AppControls will help you create the artifacts necessary to create some great looking controls. You can copy the values of the colors generated in ColorBender, and paste them into the Color Picker of AppControls. Even if you don’t like the limit of six colors that ColorBender generates, you can at least use it to select the two colors that will be used to create a smooth gradient on your controls. All you need to do is the following:
1. Use the DigitalColor Meter to select the color you want to use as your primary color, and hit the Shift+Cmd+H key combination to hold the colors on the screen.
2. Type the color codes into ColorBlender to set your six harmonious colors.
3. Copy the value of the color you want to use directly from ColorBlender’s screen and paste it into AppControls color picker.
Preparing for App Store Submission

LittleIpsum (Free). How many time have you tried to size up how a data entry or large text display field will look by pounding random keys on the keyboard? A tool named LittleIpsum provides a better way. It generates Latin text in varying lengths including words, sentences and paragraphs. The text is then copied to your clipboard, and ready to paste into your app.

Status Barred ($0.99). Occasionally, you may want to pull together a collection of screen shots for the current state of the application, either to update documentation when designing a change in the way the application works or simply to craft your marketing material. Status Barred is a simple little app that will crop off the carrier status bar from the images you take so that the focus in on your app, and not your carrier.

Icons ($2.99). The final Mac App in this collection of design apps will help in the creation of icons, both for and within the app. It can also be used to help with the design of any support or marketing web sites that will be created. Icons could not be easier to use. Start with a 512×512 square image, drop it into the tool, and generate your icons. You can even round the edges and add that cool glass look.

While these tools individually are no match for Adobe’s creative suite of tools, for the price, they add up to a competitive package. And like the start of a thousand bee stings, it only makes sense that this tightly focused new breed of apps help others create more great task-specific software as the App Store model continues to propagate.

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Weddar Makes Weather Reporting a Social Affair
A new weather app for iOS launched Monday makes weather forecasters out of all iPhone users. The crowdsourced approach to weather reporting used by Weddar means you’ll have an accurate impression of how the weather on the ground actually feels, instead of just static numbers that don’t necessarily tell the whole story.

Of course, how weather feels is a subjective affair, but that’s the point of Weddar. It humanizes the weather report app by connecting real people to make weather more experiential, and creating an ongoing group conversation around what it’s like outside. It uses a crowdsourcing model to make weather reporting “hyper-local,” according to Weddar co-creator Ricardo Fonseca. Since people are doing their own reports, instead of depending on a service, weather reporting can happen “even in places where other services could not reach,” Fonseca says.

As someone who has and continues to use a wide variety of weather apps on my iOS devices and on my Mac, I can personally attest to how frustrating it can be to receive inaccurate reports from somewhat distant reporting stations. Here in Toronto, for instance, weather info often comes from Pearson Airport, which is a far cry from the city’s downtown. Weddar doesn’t provide specific temperature reporting, opting instead to let users choose from nine one-word descriptors (including Hot, Perfect, Freezing and OK) and four conditions (rain, snow, etc.) with three levels of strength each. Reports are then posted on a Google Map within the app alongside all others for the area. Checking in with what people in my immediate vicinity are saying about what it’s like outside, even if its only a report of the general conditions, seems like a considerable improvement over depending on automated reports that can’t convey experiential information.

Fonseca asserts that I’m not alone when I find cause for those kinds of complaints regarding traditional weather reporting. “Weather is one of the most important aspects in people’s lives,” he says. “People everywhere at anytime are talking about it. They’re never happy with weather reports and blame weather reporters for not being accurate.” That dissatisfaction is the key to Weddar’s success, according to Fonseca:

Long-term engagement will come from, we believe, the app being useful solving this issue for them. We see Weddar as "people powered" but you can also see it the other way around as "Power to the People.” People helping each other with accurate and personal reports is a powerful (and as we have been seeing, addictive) thing.

Fonseca and the Weddar team are also planning additional social features that will make the app even more useful, including photo sharing of current weather conditions. The app also employs a reward system that uses a user leaderboard to track the most engaged users. Even considering those elements, Fonseca says “the crucial thing for long-term [engagement] will be if people find the app useful in their daily life,” something he says they’ve seen promising evidence of during the beta and today with the official launch.

Fonseca and the entire Weddar team hail from Portugal, and he says they were inspired to create the app in the face of so much negative press about his home country regarding its financial woes. He and his team “wanted to do something cool and unleash it to the world to show people that Portugal is not only “IMF rescues, crisis and sun.’” The Weddar team completely bootstrapped the app’s development and creation in order to achieve that goal, and the app is currently free and also ad-free, but he stresses that they have a solid business plan in place that he says will be implemented “in a later stage of Weddar’s development.” For now, Fonseca’s plans for Weddar mainly involve reaching the most users possible, because “that’s the way the service will be useful to people.”

Right now, you’ll likely only see a lot of local reports if you’re based in Portugal, but it’s only day one. The clever interface and remarkably simple user experience provided by Weddar, along with the usefulness of its feature set guarantee we’ll see uptake expand steadily across the world as more people discover this App Store gem.
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How To Upgrade Your MobileMe Calendar Safely
If you've been waiting to upgrade your MobileMe Calendar to the "new" CalDAV model, the deadline of May 5 is fast approaching. Since my business runs on iCal, I approached the upgrade with reluctance and some healthy fear. Here are my recommendations and a walkthrough of the process that should hopefully make the task less daunting for you.

Backup, Backup and Backup

No matter what backup solution you use (Time Machine, online, manual), now is the time to run a full backup just in case. Additionally be sure you've synced all your iOS devices to your Mac. If you do "over the air" syncing you should be fine.

Just to be extra safe, I ran two additional backups within iCal. Under the File Menu in iCal is the Export Function. First, create a full iCal Archive under the Export Menu. That backs up your entire iCal calendar list en mass. However, I alo backed up each and every calendar to an .ics file by choosing each one and then going to File, Export, and then Export. This backs up each calendar manually.

Log Into MobileMe and Begin the Process

Now that you have triple redundancy on your calendars, you can begin the process. Log into your MobileMe account via Safari (just to play it safe don't use alternate browsers) and then click the icon in the upper left for iCal, which is the familiar spiral day-at-a-time calendar icon. You should be presented with a window reminding you to "Upgrade to the new MobileMe Calendar." Click "next" and you'll be presented with the system requirements. Since CalDAV only works with Leopard or Snow Leopard, Tiger's been fully de-clawed for iOS. If you fail to move to CalDAV your MobileMe calendar sync won't work unless you move to 10.5 or 10.6 and if you do, Tiger will no longer sync without a third party helper like BusySync.

After confirming your devices meet the requirements, click "Upgrade Now" and the process begins. You'll see a series of conformations that the calendars are being prepared and upgraded.

What's happening in the background is your existing calendars that were synced with your computer and MobileMe are making their move off your computer and into the cloud. When complete, your calendars exist on MobileMe servers and your iCal merely provides another way of accessing them. Your iOS device should be smart enough to notice the change and modify itself as well. Now your calendars will exist on MobileMe's servers and your other devices merely access the data, similar to the way IMAP works for email. Syncing is virtually instant since modifications are transferred directly to the cloud.

Trust, but Verify

Just to play it safe, I had some preset test routines ready to make sure everything when smoothly. I waited about 20 minutes to do the following to make sure all the changes propagated:
1. Add an item via iCal and verify it shows up on my iOS and Mac OS devices and MobileMe's website
2. Add an item via each iOS device and verify it shows up on all other devices
3. Modify an event on each device and make sure that change shows up
4. If you have any calendars shared with someone, make sure they follow steps 1-3 for your calendar and you do the same for theirs, after they’ve also performed the upgrade
Snags, Errors, and General Weirdness

If all goes well, you are done! However with computers, everything doesn’t run so smoothly all of the time. In my particular instance one of my calendars was somehow corrupt enough to not make the move to the cloud, but I could still access it on my desktop. I kept getting errors in the upgrade process until I deleted the calendar from my desktop. After the upgrade was complete, I then imported the .ics file I backed up earlier manually. It work, but if it hadn’t, I was going to use Time Machine to restore a version that wasn't corrupt and then I'd again move it to MobileMe manually.

I was a big user of BusySync and BusySync has specific instructions and caveats on how to make the move with their software. As for other secondary services, I'm disappointed that syncing with Google became more complex after the upgrade. I had to manually add my Google shared calendars.

Once the upgrade is complete, the way others subscribe to your calendar has changed. They now can have both read as well as write access to your calendars and most likely you'll manually have to invite them to your calendar by using the Share command under the Calendar Menu within iCal. I had to manually re-invite people.

Another snag I personally ran into was on my MacBook, when I first launched iCal, it kept all the old calendars and then MobileMe created the proper CalDAV settings automatically but kept those old local calendars so everything was duplicated.

Two great websites to help ease the transition are here and here. If you ran into any snags or have any suggestions about upgrading your MobileMe calander, be sure to let us know in the comments.

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Email From Jobs: Apple Doesn't Track; Google Does
Steve Jobs has reportedly issued one of his typically terse email replies regarding the location tracking database that resides unencrypted on all iOS devices, according to MacRumors. In an email exchange that came to light Monday, Jobs (or whoever answers the sjobs@apple.com email) told a concerned user that Apple doesn’t track location info, but its competition, on the other hand, does.

I reached out to Apple to confirm the authenticity of the email, but have yet to hear back. Here’s the full text of the alleged email exchange:

Q: Steve,

Could you please explain the necessity of the passive location-tracking tool embedded in my iPhone? It’s kind of unnerving knowing that my exact location is being recorded at all times. Maybe you could shed some light on this for me before I switch to a Droid. They don’t track me.

A: Oh yes they do. We don’t track anyone. The info circulating around is false.

Sent from my iPhone

Google actually addressed concerns of location tracking on Friday, with a spokesman for the company admitting that if a user opts-in to using location services (an option which is on by default when setting up an Android device for first use), anyonymized location data is regularly sent to the company in order to help “provide a better mobile experience on Android devices.”

According to a letter from Apple General Counsel Bruce Sewell last year, Apple collects data for similar purposes, but the assertion in the email above that “we don’t track anyone” would appear to contradict that. It’s probably more in reference to the “consolidated.db” file that stores location info locally. There’s nothing to suggest that the info stored in that file is accessible to outside parties, including Apple, so that’s probably what’s being referred in this case.

Apple’s iOS location tracking file has garnered a lot of attention from U.S. and international press and lawmakers since it was put on display by researchers at the Where 2.0 location services conference last week. We reported that it had actually been public knowledge for a while, but it didn’t catch the attention of the media the way it has now. Whether or not it’s being blown out of proportion, Apple will have to address the issue in some manner soon, since it doesn’t look like it’ll go away on its own at this point.

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Blogged: White iPhone Arriving This Week
The white iPhone 4 is set to arrive sometime very soon, according to multiple reports, and most indications point to a release later this week. There’s little doubt the white iPhone will get here very soon, but the real question is, why now?

The latest from 9to5Mac finds that the white iPhone 4 is now listed in a Best Buy inventory report, with a sale start date of Wednesday, April 27. That news followed reports that Vodafone UK had already begun selling the white iPhone a little bit early, according to Engadget . MacRumors indicates two other European sources (one from Norway and one from Holland) suggest an April 27 launch date. AppleInsider then reported that, according to “people familiar with the matter,” Apple’s U.S. retail stores started getting promo materials for the white iPhone launch over the weekend in preparation for a launch “within the next week.”

After more than nine months of delays, the white iPhone 4 being released now could serve multiple ends for Apple. It could offer a late boost to iPhone 4 sales ahead of the usual June device redesign, for instance. Buyers still on the fence about whether or not to wait for a new device might only require the availability of the elusive second color to convince them to go ahead and make a purchase. And members of the buying public not as familiar with the details of Apple’s usual product release cycle might be equally swayed.

Recent reports have suggested, though, that Apple might not be releasing the next iteration of the iPhone until the fall, in which case a white iPhone 4 might serve as a hold-over to try to keep sales steady in the meantime. Of course, there’s no official confirmation of Apple’s release plans for the iPhone 5 as of yet.

I think a white iPhone 4 making it to market is significant for two reasons. First, it shows Apple isn’t the kind of company that lets things slide. At this point, many considered the white iPhone 4 vaporware, myself included. It was just a product announcement that didn’t become a shipping product. It’s something that happens with fair enough frequency in the consumer electronics world. But it isn’t something that happens at Apple. If Apple says it will ship something, it will, and a white iPhone 4, even nine months delayed, upholds that reputation.

Second, it’s probably a good indicator that Apple means to continue to leverage the design. The white iPad 2 probably borrows from the technical lessons the company made in getting the process of painting glass surfaces white with its iPhone 4 design, but if Apple devoted as much time and effort to this as it seems to have, then you can bet we’ll see it carried forward in other device designs. Specifically, we should expect to see an iPhone 5 that looks very similar to its predecessor.

If the white iPhone 4 arrives this week, I’ll definitely take a trip down to the local Apple Store to check one out, but there’s no way I’m putting any money down on it until the hardware gets an upgraded. Anybody feeling differently?

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Fresh Apple

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

GigaOMApple (9 сообщений)

tweetdeck-feature

Choosing the Right Colors

Preparing for App Store Submission

weddar-05

Backup, Backup and Backup

Log Into MobileMe and Begin the Process

Trust, but Verify

Snags, Errors, and General Weirdness

Blog Archive