Thursday, June 16, 2011

TheAppleBlog — Apple and iOS News, Tips and Reviews (15 сообщений)

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  • 5 cool features of iOS 5 you may have missed

    iOS 5 is currently enjoying a lot of attention, and Apple’s not exactly discouraging it; $99 buys anyone a developer account, which provides full access to the developer preview. But if you’re being patient, here’s a list of some of the niftier lesser-known features that promise to help make Apple’s mobile devices even more of a treat to use and own.

    1. Storage space usage by app. You can’t really find out much about how you’re using your available space on iOS today. Luckily, Apple’s added a Usage screen that allows you to see at a glance exactly how much space is being used by each app on your device, including the iPod music player. It also tells you how much of your iCloud storage you’re using, and lets you manage it right from the settings app.
    2. Custom vibration patterns. One of the accessibility options Apple added in iOS 5 is the ability to tap out your own custom vibration notification pattern, which you can then assign to a specific contact, or make your general silent notification.
    3. Shortcuts for commonly used phrases. In iOS 5, you can create shortcuts for phrases you use often. So, for instance, “ttys” could actually be used to trigger the full sentence “Talk to you soon” to be automatically typed in text messages. Great for general use, and even better for business users who find themselves using a lot of stock phrases and courtesies.
    4. Headset as shutter release. Apple crowed that you can now use your iPhone’s volume up button as a shutter trigger in the Camera app, but that functionality translates to your iPhone’s headset, as well. This effectively makes an Apple headset into a shutter remote, which could come in handy if you’re trying to take night photos without the flash using something like the Glif tripod mount.
    5. Track information on tap and hold. If you’re using the new iOS 5 music app, and you can’t see the full name of the artist or track you’re thinking about listening to, you can now tap and hold the item to bring up a little balloon with the artist and track name information. It’s a small thing, but one that really shows Apple’s commitment to user experience.
    As a bonus, I’ll also note that iOS 5 brings the emoji keyboard to everyone, which isn’t really a new feature since it was actually there all along, just hidden for those outside of Japan unless you downloaded an app to unlock it. I love those cute little emoticons, and plan on using them with alarming frequency in tandem with iMessage. Are there any other neat little features you’re looking forward to that I’ve missed here?

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  • PayPal serves up mobile payments with Pizza Express

    We all crave a good meal with friends at the local pizzeria now and then. But after devouring a couple of meat lover specials, every minute spent waving a hand in the air miming “check please,”— let alone waiting for a server to take for your credit card, swipe it, and bring it back—can seem like an eternity.

    Customers of a British restaurant chain with iPhones in their pockets and a registered PayPal account need never suffer the interminable wait again. Starting today, diners at all 370 Pizza Express restaurants will be able to use the chain’s iPhone app to pay for their meals at the table via PayPal in “less than a minute.” No wait-staff intervention needed.

    Here’s how PayPal describes it:

    Whip out your iPhone, tap in the code on the Pizza Express app, checkout with PayPal and walk out the door. Easy as that! You can even add a tip and redeem voucher codes. You don't have to go to the counter or wait for the waiter to run your credit card.

    As PayPal battles with competitors like Square for dominance in the mobile payment field, the company has been pushing its code  so developers can easily incorporate PayPal into their apps. While other food vendors are using the service, Pizza Express is the first restaurant chain to integrate PayPal Mobile into its platform and represents one of the largest PayPal integrations to date.

    PayPal isn’t the only company going after the food service industry. Square is also aggressively courting restaurants with its new app-based payment system that lets customers pay from their mobile phones with credit cards, but not PayPal.

    On the hardware side of the spectrum, startups like E La carte are teaming up with restaurants to offer tablets on tables that offer the ability to pay at the table as well as play games and order food.

    With mobile payments still in its infancy, it will take a while before a winning platform can be crowned. But one thing is clear. Regardless of which platform wins the restaurant war, waiters of the future will likely have a lot more time on their hands. If they have jobs at all.

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  • One reason Apple isn't sweating the prospect of iTunes Match piracy

    Source: Asymco

    When Apple announced iTunes Match, a scan-and-match service for your entire music library, not just for songs bought through iTunes itself, it seemed to many that it could open the door to even more piracy of digital music, which is already a rampant problem. At the time, I suggested Apple might be anticipating the future of digital music distribution and getting out ahead of the competition early. Apple might also be less worried about the prospect of digital music piracy now that App Store revenue looks poised to overtake money made from iTunes music sales in just a few short years.

    Asymco (via Silicon Alley Insider) estimates that based on current trajectories, income based on app sales will pass income based on iTunes music sales in just three years. iTunes music only generates about twice the income of App Store sales, owing to a much higher amount of retained revenue on app sales. Users buy about 67 songs per iTunes account on average, but also about 62 iOS apps, so revenue from apps is growing at a higher rate than is revenue from iTunes music sales.

    iOS is a platform designed with the future in mind, and since it’s only three years old, we’ve probably only just seen the beginning of its success so far. Digital music, by contrast, is being attacked from all sides by alternative content delivery methods, including subscription services, and even free, socially sourced options like newcomer turntable.fm. Amazon and Google are offering cloud streaming services, and iTunes Match is a way to stay one step ahead of the competition. But as users increasingly turn to services like Spotify, and those services begin to play nice with record labels, the pay-per-track and download is beginning to show its age.

    Apple knows apps are key to the future of its content revenue picture, and Asymco’s analysis serves to make that clear. Apple is still king when it comes to digital music, but to stay there in the long term, it has to shake up the way it does business. With the App Store, Apple still has the smartest business model around, and the one that’s most appealing to developers and consumers alike.

    Featured image courtesy of Flickr user Paul Sapiano under CC BY 2.0.

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  • Don't be left behind: 5 Mac apps that won't make the Lion cut

    Apple intends to ship OS X Lion in July, and many programs people rely upon now have an unofficial expiration date, since Apple appears to be removing the ability to use PowerPC-only software in OS X via Rosetta. Many users will need to come up with alternatives if they plan to move to Lion. If you or someone you know uses the programs below, it’s time to start shopping around.

    1. Microsoft Office 2004

    Let’s face it, Microsoft Office isn’t cheap, and Office 2008 wasn’t that great. Some features in 2004 weren’t in 2008 (though many were reintroduced in 2011), and when 2008 included the new .docx format, 2004 users didn’t want to move to a new format that could cause problems. Because of these issues, it’s not unusual to find users two versions behind. Alternatives: Office 2011, iWork, Google Docs.

    2. Appleworks

    Appleworks, why can’t we quit you? I’ve been a fan of Appleworks since the Apple II days. You worked equally well on Mac and PC, and included a database that’s easier to use and understand that those used by either Filemaker or Access. In fact, Apple was still selling Appleworks until 2007. Fortunately, iWork will open most files in Appleworks format and Apple has a full transition guide about moving Appleworks files over to iWork. Database users will either need to export the file to spreadsheet format or move up to Filemaker. Alternatives: iWork, Filemaker, Bento.

    3. Freehand

    Die-hard Freehand users refuse to use Illustrator. Freehand MX was the last version released before the purchase and discontinuation of the product by Adobe. Freehand holdouts might balk at the cost of Illustrator, or at having to relearn using new software, but it’s time to move on, or Lion won’t be able to open your files. Alternatives: Illustrator (this guide will help).

    4. Eudora

    Eudora was an outstanding cross-platform email program and a longtime Mac standard. It easily imported into Apple Mail, Thunderbird, or Microsoft’s Entourage, but some of us, myself included, were lazy and didn’t import old emails. Instead, if I needed an ancient email, I just opened Eudora. Now’s the time to import those emails before you run into problems with Lion. And if Eudora is still your primary email program, it’s definitely time to move onto something else. Alternatives: Penelope/Eudora Open Source, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Outlook.

    5. Quicken 2007

    Although Intel Macs have been out since 2006, Quicken still hasn’t updated the program. And Quicken 2007 is still being sold, because Intuit’s new product, Quicken Essentials, is a scaled-down version of its 2007 predecessor. Essentials lacks features such as bill pay and sophisticated stock tracking. Intuit generally keeps their Mac products somewhat behind the PC versions. Intuit’s suggestions for what to do with the end of Rosetta are laughable. Fortunately, a wide variety of alternatives exist for these users, but be sure to research these carefully, and import your data into a new program before you make the move to Lion. Alternatives: iBank, Moneydance.

    What still-in-use programs will you have to say goodbye to when you make the leap to Lion?

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  • Yahoo tackles mobile app discovery, but why?

    Yahoo thinks it has an answer to the mobile app discovery challenge for both Apple iOS and Google Android devices, launching its own software and website to help consumers find apps more easily. The new Yahoo AppSearch website and AppSpot software leverage the company’s search service and can make application suggestions based on the software currently installed on a smartphone. Search results include ratings, reviews and provide direct links to the iTunes App Store and Android Market for easy installation.

    I took the new software for a spin on an iPod touch, and while it provides a pleasing interface, I’m not sure it brings a better experience. AppSpot will return results with each letter entered, which is nice, but Apple’s own App Store app does the same. And a search for “run” on both yielded nine app choices in the native Apple store, while Yahoo’s AppSpot provided only four choices. Yahoo’s app also recommends apps in different categories, called “Today’s Picks for You”, but I didn’t see any that appealed, except for apps I already use. Why recommend the Kindle app, when I already have it installed?

    I do like the barcode integration feature, however, which is powered by RedLaser. Results for apps on the AppSearch website include a QR code, which is the App Store or Android Market link for the installation information. Tapping the barcode icon in AppSpot brings up the barcode scanner on an iOS or Android handset and brings you to the appropriate install page on the phone. This isn’t groundbreaking — Android’s Market supports this natively, for example — but it doesn’t require a separate third-party barcode scanning app.

    It’s likely that the Android version of AppSpot will see more downloads than the iOS edition. Although Google has been improving the Android Market experience, app discovery for Android phones can still be a challenge. Part of that problem may be due to the lack of app curation by Google, as some of the apps are of poor quality. This can clutter up the Market, making it difficult to find higher quality software for Android phones. It’s for this reason that Android app stores from Amazon and Barnes & Noble don’t simply mirror the entire Android Market, but instead use a curation and review process for software.

    Overall, I’m wondering why Yahoo is getting into the app discovery game, given that it’s a relatively crowded space already occupied by Appolicious, Chomp, StumbleUpon, Zwapp, Appsfire and many others, not to mention the native app stores themselves. Adding yet another app discovery engine could confuse consumers even more when it comes to finding apps, recommendations and ratings. While some may find Yahoo’s new software and service useful, it seems to me that the strategy is simply one of trying to stay relevant in the mobile space.

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  • Why Apple's new Back to School deal is good business

    Apple has unveiled its Back to School promotion for 2011, and it’s . . . different from what it has been in years past. Rather than a free iPod (or a $200 discount on iPods costing more than that), as Apple has previously offered, this year, when you purchase a new Mac with education pricing, you get $100 credit for use at the Mac App Store, the iOS App Store, the iTunes Store or the iBookstore. Yay?

    Looked at it purely from the perspective of monetary value, this year’s deal is definitely less of one than what Apple has offered previously. So why is Apple getting stingy with the rebates when it appears to be at its most successful?

    First, it’s possible Apple doesn’t need the back to school bump anymore. Education used to be Apple’s bread and butter, but lately the Mac maker has been reaching a much broader audience, thanks to sales of iOS devices and the halo effect those are having in other segments. Apple might also just have found that it no longer needs to use Macs to move excess inventory of iPods ahead of the usual fall refresh, if they’re selling well enough on their own. Or possibly, it’s shifting all of its product update cycles, since the iPhone didn’t get a June update this year. If there’s no new iPod touch in September, Apple doesn’t have to get rid of its existing stock between now and then.

    Apple is also cutting margins elsewhere, so it may need to make up for that by lowering the overall value of this year’s discount. Lion will now be distributed exclusively via the Mac App Store and will retail for only $29.99 for a copy that can be used on all computers authorized for use with your iTunes store account. Snow Leopard, by contrast, costs $29 for a single upgrade license, while a five-user family pack costs $49. Apple also separated out the apps from its iLife and iWork suites this year, making them available for cheaper as individual apps on the Mac App Store. As Apple continues to drive down the price on its software offerings, hardware margins become even more important as a source of revenue.

    Finally, consider that in the past few years, Apple has gone from a computer company that also sells mobile devices to a mobile device company that also sells computers, and now potentially to a cloud company that sells hardware to leverage that ecosystem. If the hardware platform is no longer the center of Apple’s universe, it stands to reason that it would offer a promotion that doesn’t emphasize one aspect of its hardware business over another.

    Personally, I’ve got plenty of iOS devices, but one thing I can always use more of is software for those gadgets. I think Apple is thinking that most of its Back to School Mac buyers will be in similar circumstances. Plus, $100 gift cards are a nice way of giving the Apple development community a little boost. What do you think? Are you on board with Apple’s latest promotion or not?

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  • Apple might not get social, but Facebook doesn't get mobile apps

    Facebook is planning on launching an HTML5-based web app platform codenamed Project Spartan, according to TechCrunch , in order to take on Apple in the mobile app market. The project will be entirely web-based, which allows Facebook to avoid handing over any control to Apple. Facebook may be great at social, and social gaming, but if it really is planning this, it doesn’t yet have a good grasp on what mobile users are looking for.

    Apple’s App Store is a huge success, and it’s ironic that the introduction of native apps came largely at the behest of iPhone owners, who were dissatisfied with the company’s initial policy of only allowing third-party software on the platform via web apps. Web technology has made great strides since then, and HTML5 makes it possible to recreate rich-media effects without resorting to Flash, which is too resource-hungry for most current-gen mobile devices, and is barred from iOS devices. But despite advances, web apps have yet to prove themselves as a viable alternative to local native software. The Chrome Web Store, for example, powered by Google, hasn’t shown any signs of real success, and in fact, some have suggested it’s quite the opposite, including developers actually selling in the store.

    Facebook does bring a built-in audience of 700 million users to the table, so it has that going for it. And a decent chunk of those users partake in social gaming from developers like Zynga, the makers of FarmVille, on Facebook’s desktop web platform. But Farmville, and many other social games that use in-game currency to make most of their money, have already found a profitable route to mobile thanks to Apple’s App Store. A Facebook offering might immediately appeal to some of these developers (the social network allegedly has 80 involved in the initial Project Spartan launch), but to prove a viable alternative in the long run, Facebook will have to either offer a better value proposition to devs (by giving them a bigger cut) or show that developers can reach more users than they do with native offerings.

    For a store that resides entirely on the web, that’s a tall order, because it means convincing mobile users to shift their idea of what constitutes mobile software once again. It’s hard to understate how different it is to ask mobile users to pay for an application, versus asking them to pay for access to what basically amounts to a website. Facebook web apps will apparently carry a “Facebook wrapper” with basic Facebook functions and access to Credits, Facebook’s virtual currency, but it won’t change the fact that it’s a web page you’re looking at. To mobile users who have embraced the app store model, this will likely feel too much like backsliding.

    I’m not at all of the opinion that mobile apps will ever replace the web, but I think we’ve also reached a point where web apps will never replace native ones. And Facebook, which still doesn’t treat the iPad as a mobile device, despite the fact that it has much more in common with the iPhone than with any PC, isn’t going to change that.

    Apple may not understand the social web, as undertakings like Ping demonstrate, but it did seem to acknowledge that by partnering with a company that does when it introduced Twitter integration in iOS 5. Facebook, on the other hand, seems to have a blind side when it comes to monetizing mobile users, and Project Spartan is just another sign that it isn’t going to “get it” any time soon.

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  • These are the developers filling Google's iPad app gap

    Google hasn’t made nearly as many native apps for the iPad as it has for the iPhone, so you can probably count Google among those who think a web-based, cross-platform solution is just as good as an app when it comes to tablets.

    The problem with many web sites and apps (which really are the same thing) is that they were initially designed for mouse-based navigation. While you can create touch-friendly web sites, data-driven native apps that access the cloud via Google’s published APIs are much more responsive and provide a better overall experience Here’s a list of some of the best native apps created by third-party developers that leverage Google services on the iPad.

    ReederReeder. As far as RSS readers go, Silvio Rizzi’s Reeder for iPad is quite possibly the best on the iPad. The layout is brilliant, and the Mr. Miyagi “swipe-on, swipe-off” method of changing the read status of an item is perfect. Full integration with Google Reader, iOS and Mac apps, and a wide variety of sharing options make this a must-have.

    GVConnectGV Connect. Google Voice comes in handy on the iPad, especially for managing your contacts, listening to your voicemail, and sending text messages. With Andreas Amann’s GV Connect you can do all that and more.  With another app called Talkatone, you can even place voice calls using your iPad.

    GeeTaskProGeeTaskPro. There are definitely more sophisticated task managers out there, but when it comes using Google’s to-do list, Memengo’s GeeTaskPro app has everything you need. With offline task management and support for task hierarchies, this app beats the mobile web version hands down.

    QuickOfficeConnectQuickOffice. Working with Google Docs on the iPad via Safari is possible, but awkward. And if your network connection isn’t up to par, you can be in for a world of hurt. Document solutions like QuickOffice Connect Mobile Suite for iPad offer offline editing of documents pulled from your Google Docs collection.

    WebAlbumsWeb Albums. Web Albums is what MobileMe Gallery should be. With its ability to cache photos for offline viewing, Scott Sykora’s Web Albums for iPad accesses Google’s Picasa online photo service, and is a great way to share and view your photos.

    All of the solutions above provide an interface tailored to the iPad, and also allow you to cache information locally for access when the device isn’t connected to the Internet.  As the battle for users shifts from devices to the cloud, Google’s head start on Apple may erode as their browser-based strategy leaves many missing the native app experience.  Thankfully, third-party developers like the ones mentioned here understand the true value that the iPad and Google’s services have to offer when combined.

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  • Dijit and Beacon: One remote to rule them all

    Universal remotes have been around for years, but they’ve mostly been limited by the devices they’re connected to. But with the release of Griffin Technology’s Beacon IR controller, video viewers will be able to navigate live TV, video on demand and multiple streaming video services all from a single application. And San Francisco-based startup Dijit will provide the universal mobile remote control application that enables users to control multiple video devices connected to their HDTVs at once.

    We wrote about Dijit a few weeks ago, noting its ability to control Roku media streaming boxes. But the app, along with Wednesday’s release of Beacon to the public, opens up a whole new realm of devices that can be navigated. The Dijit app connects to the Beacon hub via Bluetooth and then provides universal access to content through the software. Users can add their TVs, DVRs, Blu-ray players, and multiple streaming devices such as Roku and Apple TV devices — basically anything that has an IR controller.

    The Dijit app provides the same sort of up-down-left-right navigation capabilities that are available on typical TV remotes, but improves on the search and discovery functionality available through typical electronic programming guides. In addition to accessing the traditional grid program guide available to cable subscribers, it enables users to search, navigate and manage movies in their Netflix queue. The app also has social sharing capabilities built in, enabling users to rate, comment on and share what they’re watching through social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

    The release of the Dijit app and Beacon controller follows the trend of “appification” for video remote control. A number of cable, satellite and IPTV providers, for instance, are all seeking to improve search and navigation of their content, and many are turning to mobile applications for the iPhone, iPad and Android mobile devices to do so. But those applications typically only work with the live and on-demand video feeds that they control. Dijit provides an extra layer of sophistication by accessing multiple devices.

    Dijit and Griffin aren’t the only ones that are seeking to unify the experience between devices — the recently released Peel controller also provides an iPhone into a remote control for multiple devices as well. But the Griffin Beacon has the benefit of hitting major retailers, including the Apple Store, both online and in retail locations. This is a hot space, and we’ll be keeping tabs on new entrants as they come out.

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  • Could Google Sync updates push Android users to iOS?

    Google added three new features to its Google Sync solution Wednesday, all of which are specific to Apple iOS devices. The trio of changes will make it easier for users of the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad to interact with Google’s Gmail and Calendar services. These improvements from Google, along with the upcoming new features in Apple’s own iOS 5 platform, could sway some Android users back to Apple’s mobile devices.

    Here’s a rundown of what’s changed in Google Sync for iOS:

    • Server search. Instead of limiting email searches to the mail stored locally in the iOS Mail application, searches can be extended to Google’s Gmail servers. This is how Gmail in Android works, and it brings value because of Gmail’s archive feature. Unless mail is specifically put in the Trash, its available for searches forever.
    • Calendar invites. Google Sync users can now accept, decline or edit Google Calendar events directly in the iOS Calendar application.
    • Send as your alter ego. In Gmail for Android, users can choose which email address to send from, via a drop down menu. Now with Google Sync, iOS users can effectively do the same, directly within the Mail application.

    The lesser Google experience on iOS isn’t the only reason that some consumers opt for Android devices, of course. Some don’t care for Apple’s control over both its ecosystem and its platform, for example, although such control guarantees a certain user experience for all. Others like to customize and tinker with their handset far more than Apple allows. And a lack of useful features such as Google Voice and Google Navigation in Maps have made Android more appealing for some.

    While Google could keep holding iOS back from good integration with Google services, there’s little need for it to do so. While the two companies are clear competitors, they each have different approaches to mobile. Apple earns millions from the sale of hardware that supports its ecosystem, while also making money on the digital goods in that ecosystem. Google on the other hand, earns no money directly from the sale of mobile hardware, but instead hopes to get its services in the hands of as many people as possible. Doing so gives Google information, which it uses to create revenue-generating services. Catering to all mobile devices places money-making ads in front of more eyeballs.

    The timing of the Google Sync improvements with the fall arrival of iOS 5, however, could result in some switchers from Android to iOS. When I examined some of the new iOS 5 improvements from an Android user’s perspective — Notification Center, iMessage, and wireless synchronization — I found much to like. Yes, a few of the iOS 5 features are mirror images of what Android always does, but as I said earlier this month, “[T]o be honest, it really doesn't matter to me who created a feature or function vs. who might have copied or borrowed heavily. At the end of the day, if the smartphone is improved and meets my needs, that's all that counts.”

    Another thought on the timing comes from my iOS-totin’ colleague, Darrell Etherington: Could Google be adding these features now to try to lock in more iOS users into Google services before Apple’s iCloud breezes in?  It’s a logical thought, because there’s no reason Google couldn’t have added the new Google Sync features for iOS uses prior to now. And now that MobileMe is closed to new users until the iCloud service goes live, it’s a good time for Google to pull more iOS owners into its world. For suggestions to do so effectively, check our recent post that provides tips and tricks to make an iPhone play nicely with Google.

    Ultimately, though, I think there’s a little more potential for Android owners to consider a switch as opposed to Google gaining more users through the existing user base. How about it Android users: Between iOS 5 changes and the new Google Sync features, is there any chance of a switch to Apple in your future?

    Thumbnail image courtesy of Flickr user geoliv

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  • Franken offers bill to protect consumer mobile privacy

    Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced new legislation Wednesday that would required platform operators like Apple and Google, as well as app developers, to ask for explicit consent before sharing user location info with third parties. The bill is based on hearings held in May by the Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law.

    It looks like those hearings could result in more than just stern warnings and requests for mobile companies to voluntarily comply with its suggestions.

    The Location Privacy Protection Act, as proposed by Franken and Blumenthal, would close a loophole that allows “smartphone companies, app companies and even phone companies offering wireless Internet service to freely share their customers’ location information with third parties without first obtaining customers’ consent.” Cable and phone companies are already barred from doing so, and Franken and Blumenthal think that restriction should apply to mobile users as well.

    Apple’s iOS and Google Android apps already seek permission from users when an app wants to use their location information, but few users are aware that by granting permission, they are also allowing developers to share said info with other parties for marketing and other purposes. Nearly half of the top 101 apps for both iPhones and Android smartphones share a user’s location with third parties, a December 2010 investigation by the Wall Street Journal  revealed.

    Location-aware apps are now omnipresent, even when it isn’t immediately apparent why they should offer such functionality. And although there’s some indication that most users haven’t been particularly worried about how location data is used, alarm bells certainly started to ring after the discovery that Apple’s iPhone stored location information in an unencrypted file until a recent update.

    It’s unclear what the implications of the bill will be if it becomes law. Most likely, app developers and platform operators like Apple will have to inform users every time an app or service wants permission to share your location information with third parties. This could theoretically be handled by an altered permissions alert upon app launch, but the bill would also apply to other instances, too. For instance, when you browse the Internet on your smartphone, your wireless provider is free to disclose location information about your whereabouts while browsing.

    Regardless of whether you think location information is worth worrying about or not, the fact remains that increasing consumer awareness about how this info gets used can’t really be considered a bad thing. Developers might disagree however, as the ability to sell anonymized info to marketers can provide a key revenue stream. Still, let’s hope that if this bill does get passed, it results in changes that make mobile data collection more transparent for the average smartphone user.

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  • Vlix gets more social and adds effects

    The list of video-sharing apps in the Apple App Store continues to grow, with a number of startups all seeking to become the “Instagram of video.” In its efforts to increase social engagement on its own app, Spotmixer, the company behind Vlix, has improved on a number of social features within the app.

    We wrote about Vlix a few months ago when it first launched. Since then, Spotmixer has been working on adding new features to enable easier navigation and sharing of posted videos, as well as tighter controls to ensure users only share videos with people they want to share them with.

    The biggest change to the app comes with the ability to follow other users and browse videos posted by those users. By clicking on a user’s name, you can now browse all the videos that user has posted, as well as view all of that user’s followers and people the user is following. While the vast majority of Vlix users are creators who use the app for editing, adding effects and sharing, the app maker hopes that adding the ability to explore the social graphs of users will increase the amount of video consumption that happens within the app.

    To that end, Vlix has also added the ability to “re-post” a video to one’s own feed. Following the Twitter and Tumblr model for sharing the work of others within one’s social feed, the re-post feature is designed to allow users to make videos “go viral” within the Vlix community.

    While improving the ability to drill down into social connections and share videos within the community, Vlix also clarified its privacy controls to ensure users share videos with the right contacts. The update gives users the ability to share not only with all of one’s followers, but with a private feed of followers specifically marked as friends.

    Finally, the app has added new effects to its roster. For users who enjoy the Instagram-like ability to edit down and spruce up their videos, the addition of twinkling stars and the ability to zoom in on videos from within the app have been added to an already impressive list of effects that include black and white, fast forward and old film filters.

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  • In business, the iPad is for bigwigs and shot-callers

    The iPad’s assault on the enterprise definitely appears to be a top-down phenomenon, according to a new report by the makers of iOS app TradePub.com. Seventy-one percent of the app’s registered users hold a title of ‘Manager’ or greater, TradePub says. The report also reveals some interesting statistics about how those decision-makers use their Apple tablets in the course of doing business.

    In addition to the 71 percent of iPad users (drawn from TradePub’s 30,000-strong installed base) who were at least managers, 48 percent of were at the level of “Director” or above. While TradePub’s audience may skew toward higher-level employees because of the nature of its content (it offers trade magazine and technical support documentation downloads), this does back up previous reports that the iPad is generally seeing a top-down adoption pattern in general.

    TradePub’s report also showed that users consume more content on the iPad than on the iPhone. TradePub.com app users in general request 45 percent more reports and assets from the iPad app than they do from the iPhone app. It makes sense, if you consider that the iPad’s 9.7-inch screen is more conducive to reading than the iPhone’s smaller 3.5-inch display. Longer-form content works best on the iPad, TradePub concludes, which is probably why two-thirds of U.K. iPad owners use it for reading newspapers and magazines, too.

    Surprisingly, the top days for accessing content from the TradePub app were on weekends. TradePub attributes this to professionals shifting industry research and catching up with trade trends to the weekend to avoid work-related interruptions. The app’s presence on the iPad might also be a contributing factor, since the device can blur the lines between work and home use. Late evenings and Sundays were the most popular times for app access.

    The iPad seems to be getting use as a tool that enables enterprise users to better stay on top of work after hours and during down time — worth considering if you’re a business thinking about deploying iPads as a way to extend productivity.

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  • 4 tips (and a hack) to make your iPad work-worthy

    Reading Darrell’s recent post 7 iPad Habits of Highly Effective Remote Workers prompted me to look more closely at how I can really do work on my iPad.

    I have to admit, I’m still not convinced that the iPad will be my laptop replacement. However, with the help of the Apple wireless keyboard and some other peripherals and apps, it can come close. Here are some tips to make your iPad work-worthy.

    1. Make audio calls via VoiP. Audio calls via Skype on the iPad work like a dream. Just plug in the earbuds that you usually use for your iPhone, fire up the Skype app and make your audio calls. There are other VoiP apps that will work on the iPad without charging fees, such as Viber, but they require that the other person also has the same software on her device. You can even use Google Voice on the iPad,  albeit with a little extra elbow grease.

    2. Editing images and video. You can get digital photos and videos directly from your cameras using the Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit, which comes with a USB adapter and SD Card Reader. I was a little skeptical about using the iPad touchscreen for editing images, but after downloading and trying the free PhotoPad by ZAGG, I’ve found it makes it fairly easy to manipulate images, including color and contrast adjustments, rotating and sizing, adding color fills, and even treating images with filters. You can also get Adobe Photoshop Express for free if you’re already familiar with Photoshop.

    For video, an app like Splice can help you do some basic video editing (including combining photos and video) for free, or there’s Splice Pro for $1.99. For more editing oomph, you can go for iMovie for $4.99, although it requires a front-facing camera on your device (so iPad 2, iPhone 4 or 4th-generation iPod touch only).

    3. Recording voice memos and podcasts. There are a variety of voice memo–recording solutions you can use on your iPad using its built-in microphone, including Voice Memos for iPad by KendiTech, which is similar to the Voice Memos app on the iPhone. For 99 cents, you get the basic version; for an additional 99 cents via an in-app purchase, you get the ability to trim your memos, email memos and download to your computer via USB. The export button makes your memos available via iTunes File Sharing. QuickVoice is another iPad option to record and email audio clips up to 5 MB in size for free. The $2.99 to upgrade to QuickVoice Pro can handle up to 20 MB clips. You can record and export audio clips via iTunes for free using iRecorder voice memos.

    If you want more editing features, try GarageBand ($4.99). Although it features instruments, you can use it for podcasting as well.

    Here’s a little voice recording hack I learned from a fellow podcaster: You can use the Camera Connection Kit and USB adapter to plug in a lightweight USB microphone to your iPad to increase the quality of your voice recordings. Using a USB mic also helps to cut down on background noise that the built-in iPad mic might pick up.

    When I tried to use my high-end Rode Podcaster microphone, my iPad told me it required too much power, so it did not work. But when I plugged in the Konami microphone from my Wii Glee Karaoke game, it worked pretty well. A quick search online reveals that some podcasters use the Blue Microphone Yeti with their iPads.

    3. Powering slide presentations. If you’re looking to connect your iPad (or iPhone or iPod) to a standard LCD projector or other VGA-compatible display, you can purchase the Apple VGA adaptor for $29. You can also opt to invest in a handy, super-portable projector, such as the MicroVision ShowWX Laser Pico Projector, starting around $199, or the Mili Pro 2.0 Projector, for around $369.95. To make sure that your PowerPoint presentations are easily accessible on your iPad, check out MightyMeeting, an app that I wrote about recently. Thanks to a recent update, you can also now control your Keynote slideshow presentations on the iPad using an iPhone or iPod touch.

    4. Editing Microsoft Office docs. For an app that provides combined file storage with Microsoft Office document editing, check out Soonr, which I wrote about recently. Alternatively, you can also use other file storage/sync solutions, such as Dropbox and SugarSync, and combine them with editing apps like QuickOffice and Documents To Go to provide similar functionality.

    What apps, peripherals and hacks have you tried to make your iPad work-worthy?

    Image courtesy of stock.xchng user KillR-B

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  • Is Facebook about to have the last word in iPhone photo sharing?

    Facebook is about to lunch a doozy of a photo sharing app for iOS, according to TechCrunch . The app will enter a space that’s already crowded with startup offerings such as Color, Instagram, PicPlz and more, but Facebook obviously already brings a lot of clout when it comes to photo sharing. So how will the picture change if a Facebook app does develop?

    Let’s just get this out of the way: If Facebook releases this app, it will get downloaded, and used, a lot. Photo sharing is one of Facebook’s most-used features, with around 6 billion photos uploaded each month, or approximately one for each person on earth. Even third-party apps that aren’t particularly well-designed that plug into Facebook’s photo feature do well, like iLoader for Facebook, currently at number 15 in the top paid Photography apps in the App Store.

    Facebook also seems to be paying attention to what users are liking about other photo sharing apps like Instagram, Color, Path and WITH, since it appears to incorporate friend tagging, likes, comments and other social features that may go above and beyond what these apps already provide. Providing those features on the existing network means Facebook won’t have to convince users to sign up for something new, or depend on the kindness of strangers as WITH must do with Twitter, since it uses Twitter’s network as the sole source of its membership.

    There’s no debating that consumers would use a standalone Facebook photo sharing app (which could become part of the site’s primary iOS app down the road, according to TechCrunch). But would it spell the end for competitors? Yes and no. I’d argue that it will hurry the demise of apps that missed the mark to begin with, such as Color, which reportedly saw only five photos posted during a particularly busy time at last week’s WWDC, an event that hosts thousands of iPhone developers. Color also just saw the departure of President and Co-Founder Peter Pham, according to reports Wednesday morning, which is never a good sign for a startup this early in.

    But stickier apps like Instagram should be able to stay afloat, even with Facebook throwing up a huge wake. The iPhone-only app recently hit the 5 million user milestone, with roughly 26 million photos taken each month. It’s a far cry from Facebook’s volume, but consider that Instagram is just eight months old, with only a single mobile client on a single platform. In the same way that people don’t use Facebook to the exclusion of Twitter, or vice versa, I expect Instagram users wouldn’t jump ship if and when this Facebook photo sharing app launches. Like Twitter, Instragram offers a different set of experiences and expectations, maybe precisely because you’re extending beyond your normal social graph.

    Will a Facebook offering shake up the space? No doubt, and it will be very hard for apps having trouble attracting an audience as it is, and for new apps coming up to come up with interesting ways to differentiate themselves. But I don’t think it’ll eclipse all possible competition. What do you think? Would you still use Instagram or other clients if Facebook offered something functionally similar?

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