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- Senior iCloud product manager John Herbold leaves Apple
John Herbold, a senior product manager for Apple's iCloud service, has updated his LinkedIn profile to show that he's no longer with the company in Cupertino. Herbold's LinkedIn now shows that he works for a company called HealthTeacher, and his work at Apple is in the past. He also says that working with Apple "was a great privilege. Now I get to take that experience and apply it to the enormous challenge of materially improving youth health."
Herbold is only the latest in a growing line of big Apple executive exits, including Bertrand Serlet a little while ago, and Ron Johnson from the company's retail division. Still, for a company as big as Apple, all of these exits are likely just more indicative of usual turnover rather than a motivated mass exodus.
Senior iCloud product manager John Herbold leaves Apple originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Verizon unlimited data to end in July
Bad news, Verizon users. The rumors were true, and Verizon will be ending its unlimited data plan this July. According to AllThingsD, Verizon confirms it's moving "to a more usage based model in July," with exact details to come later on.
Unfortunately, it's unclear what Verizon still plans to do -- the company has said that its unlimited plans were always only for a temporary time, though AT&T of course grandfathered its unlimited plans in (and I'm still using one, though I can't ever change it or add things like hotspot or tethering). It sounds like Verizon wants to shut down the plans for good, but there may still be a chance for someone on on an unlimited plan currently to keep it.
We'll have to see. In the meantime, yes, change is in the air for affected Verizon users. With mobile bandwidth rising as quickly as it is, these companies are pushing as quickly as possible to move towards more usage-based plans.
Verizon unlimited data to end in July originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Dev Juice: Help me fix my UIView animations
Dear Dev Juice,
I'm having an issue with UIView animations, that I'm struggling to describe in keywords, so I can't find anything helpful with Google. The problem is that I can't seem to work out how to make a UIButton move relative to the bottom of the parent view, as I shrink the parent view.
I've managed to get the other views inside the parent to scale with an autoresize mask, but I cannot for the life of me work out how to make the bottom (or even center) of my button clip on to the bounds of the view.
Not sure if that accurately paints the picture, and I'm not sure if it's relevant, but I'm making a widget for NotificationCenter. Hope you can help, I'm tearing my hair out.
Thanks,
Rory W.
Dear Rory,
It's still the autoresizing mask you have to deal with, but you need to be working with the struts instead of the springs.
The Autosizing pane in Interface Builder lets you establish a fixed distance between a view and its parent's edge. Imagine setting a view at 40 points from the top and left of the superview. Enabling the top and left struts in the inspector fixes that view at its relative position. When you use a right or bottom strut, those distances are also maintained. The view must either move or resize to stay the same distances from those sides.
The equivalents of struts in code are UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleLeftMargin, UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleRightMargin, UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleTopMargin, and UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleBottomMargin.
These flags allow a view to resize by expanding or shrinking in the direction of a given margin without affecting the size of any items inside. Although each of these correspond to the struts of Interface Builder's Autosizing pane, they act in the opposite way. In IB, struts fix the margins; the flags allow flexible resizing along those margins.
Enjoy your afternoon sip of Dev Juice!
Dev Juice: Help me fix my UIView animations originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - WWDC Interview: WebIS
Neil Ticktin (Editor-in-Chief, MacTech Magazine and MacNews) interviews Chris McSorley of WebIS, makers of PocketInformant, at WWDC 2011. Chris was kind enough to tell us about their thoughts on the announcements on WWDC, and how it will affect their plans moving forward.
TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers at WWDC 2011 about the keynote announcements and how Apple's new technologies will help them and their customers. We'll bring you those videos here, MacTech.com and MacNews.com. Also, check out the free trial subscription offer for MacTech Magazine here.
WWDC Interview: WebIS originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me find a better alarm
Dear Aunt TUAW,
Why do all iPhone alarm clock apps have to simulate an old and unattractive 7-segment display? Or the old, cheap, unattractive flip-clock display? I understand the gee-wiz factor of emulating these classic displays, but aren't we way past that point? I would love to see a simple, attractive and reliable alarm clock app for the iPhone without 7-segment or flip displays. Does such an app exist?
Thank you!
Your loving nephew,
Pete L.
My Darling Pete,
Auntie is right there with you on alarm clocks. Auntie is so over mornings. Just let her sleep in or bring the caffeine right to her, along with roses and a tasteful continental breakfast, as she rises to a well-designed iDevice app's summons.
After receiving your letter, Auntie set out on a hunt for beautiful clocks. Thanks to many of her electronic nephews and nieces, she tracked down the following suggestions that offer alternatives to the humdrum.
Emerald Observatory (US$0.99) offers a stunning clock that's full of astronomical information without sacrificing a clock or a daily alarm. Observatory was the single-most recommended application in Auntie's search. The presentation includes the phase of the moon, the current time, sunrise and sunset times and much more.
Night Stand HD ($1.99) offers some handsome analog displays as well as those 7-segment and flip presentations you're looking to skip.
Clockus ($0.99) puts a mechanical spin on 7-segment output with elements that flip and adjust to show the time.
Art Clock Van Gogh (free) provides a beautiful take on waking up. It has a criminally small audience (only nine ratings to date), and offers over 50 impressionist backgrounds.
Unfortunately, the highly recommended Pencil Clock from Paz Interactive seems to have disappeared from the store -- but the screen shots that Auntie has been able to track down show that it really had a fabulous and non-traditional take on time.
Hopefully one of these apps will strike your fancy and help you transition away from the boring 7-segment/flip-clock run-of-the-mill alarm apps.
Love & hugs,
Auntie T.
Thanks to gonzopancho, NienorGT, pTracker, josh_m, Consumer_NeXT, mssres, rosskimes, zyafa, LucasTizma, jeffmc, and everyone else who tweeted suggestions...
Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me find a better alarm originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Ngmoco hires Ben Cousins, creates Ngmoco Sweden
Ngmoco has picked up former EA developer Ben Cousins, the man behind much of that company's free-to-play services at the EAsy division. He will establish a new studio under ngmoco called ngmoco Sweden, which will create games and content using ngmoco's (and parent company DeNA's) services and platforms.
At EA, Cousins was instrumental in setting up the free-to-play shooter Battlefield Heroes, as well as the more hardcore spinoff, Battlefield Play4Free, so it's likely that in his new position at EA, he'll be heading up some free-to-play projects more tailored to a traditional gaming audience than ngmoco's current social and casual initiatives. Cousins also used to work at DICE, the company behind EA's Battlefield series, which is also based in Sweden, so there could be a few employees from that developer following him across to the new division at ngmoco.
All in all, this is good news for iOS players and fans of ngmoco's games in general. I can't wait to see what titles come out of ngmoco Sweden first.
[via Joystiq]
Ngmoco hires Ben Cousins, creates Ngmoco Sweden originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - LogMeIn goes disk -- and saves my weekend
Ages ago, we posted about LogMeIn's new file management and transfer capability. It wasn't until this weekend that it sunk in how utterly brilliant this feature is.
Look at me. I'm a parent to a teenager. (Yes, there's proof.) When visiting Fort Collins over the weekend, disaster struck. I'd copied over the new "9 Lives of Chloe Whatsherface" to the iPad but I'd forgotten to transfer that all-essential "Teen Wolf".
LogMeIn to the rescue. With its remote disk features, it gave me total access to my home computer including the Teen Wolf episode that my EyeTV 250 had recorded for us, which I easily copied to the iPad.
You can browse your entire computer. In my case that included the external drive I use for EyeTV recordings. Just select the file you need and tell LogMeIn where to transfer it to. There's a complete local file file hierarchy you can use within the application and it works far better than it sounds.
Once there, iOS 4's app-to-app document sharing let me move it over to VLC (yes, I am lucky enough to have downloaded it before bad things happened) so my child could revel in, well, whatever there is to revel in with regards to Teen Wolf.
LogMeIn Ignition for iPad retails at a hefty thirty bucks, which may put you off from buying it. But if you can swing the cash, between its excellent "give me my home computer on my iPad" features and now its file transfer update, it can really deliver some power-hitting performance.
As for the Cat-versus-Dog smackdown? My teenager far preferred Chloe, even with her risible fake claws[1].
Update: Commenters ask: "Why didn't you use Air Video". I adore Air Video and recommend it highly. We needed her to watch in the car while on the go, on a Wi-Fi only iPad. For the record, as a quick google will show, I have been using LogMeIn on my iPad for well over a year.
TUAW is commonly provided with not-for-resale licenses or promo codes to permit product evaluations and reviews. For more details, see our policy page. Promo code requests are not guarantees of reviews.
[1] It's never too early to start SAT prep
LogMeIn goes disk -- and saves my weekend originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Final Cut Pro X hands-on video (Updated)
Final Cut Pro X (US$299) has only been available in the Mac App Store for a few hours, but that's not keeping FCP fans from making amazing videos that showcase its features and capabilities.
As you'll see in this 10-minute video from Matt Pearce, the new app borrows heavily from the UI of iMovie, but retains the power that Final Cut Pro is known for. In the video, Matt discusses some downloads that are available to add music clips and other features to FCPX. For your downloading pleasure, we present them to you:
Final Cut Pro X Content - over 1300 rights-free sound effects and audio effect presets
Motion 5 Content - including Motion templates, Library content, and sample media
ProApps QuickTime Codecs - recommended for all FCPX users, providing 8 different codecs
Update: One of our commenters pointed out the following information listed on the Mac App Store page for Final Cut Pro X -- it can burn Blu-ray discs.
[via MacStories]
Final Cut Pro X hands-on video (Updated) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - TUAW's Daily Mac App: TextWrangler
Trawling through and editing code can be loveless task. TextWrangler is a free app from the Mac App Store that could make it just a little bit more bearable.
Brought to you by Bare Bones Software, the folks behind Yojimbo and the incredibly powerful BBEdit, the free TextWrangler is pretty intuitive and feature rich. Starting out as BBEdit lite, TextWrangler is a fully fledged editor in its own right. You've got pattern matching, full search and replace, syntax highlighting for quite a few source code languages, code folding, which compresses the code down to a more manageable length, and many other text manipulation and batch processing features.
The interface is pretty simple to navigate with most needed tools available via an icon or keyboard shortcut, plus there is some decent text color-coding that makes reading code a little easier. You can open and save over FTP and SFTP, streamlining HTML authoring. TextWrangler even has support for both AppleScript and Mac OS X Unix scripting, making batch processing easy.
Whether you're looking for a decent editor for HTML, CSS, XML or anything else, TextWrangler is a great free starting point. If you're just looking for an editor for writing plaintext files, a replacement for TextEdit, or modifying XML, .plist files or something similar, then TextWrangler is more than up to the job.
TextWrangler is available for free in a slightly limited form from the Mac App Store and in its full glory from the Bare Bones Software website and will work on Mac OS X 10.5 and up.
Continue reading TUAW's Daily Mac App: TextWrangler
TUAW's Daily Mac App: TextWrangler originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - WWDC Interview: HearPlanet
Neil Ticktin (Editor-in-Chief, MacTech Magazine and MacNews) interviews Steven Echtman of HearPlanet at WWDC 2011. HearPlanet offers an intriguing service: a location-based audio tour guide app. Available for iOS and Android, HearPlanet partners up with businesses and individuals to publish audio guides for locations and has optional coupon offers and informational links (like calling a location, or visiting a website). We covered HearPlanet a while back.
TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers at WWDC 2011 about the keynote and how Apple's new technologies will help them and their customers. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll bring you those videos here, at MacTech.com and at MacNews.com. Also, check out the free trial subscription offer for MacTech Magazine here.
WWDC Interview: HearPlanet originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Aluratek Mini Surge Dual USB Charging Station: Pocket-sized power package
One of my major gripes while traveling is the lack of available wall sockets in hotels, as I often have two or three devices while my wife brings her iPhone and iPad. To help keep us from fighting over where to plug in our gadgets, Aluratek is now shipping the Mini Surge Dual USB Charging Station (US$19.99).
Design
What's so great about this little white box? In one small package it offers two USB charging ports and three grounded AC outlets (American-style plugs), all while providing 612 Joules of power surge protection.
The prongs on the plug on the back of the Mini Surge fold flat for travel, keeping them from damage in transit and from scratching any of your gizmos. Unlike some portable power solutions I've tried before, the prongs on the Mini Surge lock into place so you know they're going to stay extended when plugging the device into a socket.
The Mini Surge is designed to handle up to 1800 Watts of power at a current of 15 Amps. If you're planning on plugging in a lot of "big equipment," ensure that you won't exceed that limit. Most portable electronics won't have a problem.
Using the Mini Surge Dual USB Charging Station
Fortunately, I have a lot of stuff that I need to charge up and keep powered, so I have the perfect setup for trying this out. I plugged an iPhone 4 (with a cable to charge up a Mophie Juice Pack Air) and an iPad into the USB ports, and my MacBook Air, Apple Battery Charger, and an iPad 2 with charging brick into the AC outlets.
I'm not sure of the total power load on the Mini Surge as a result, but the device didn't get warm at all. There's a green LED to let you know that the surge protection is working -- if you are hit with a surge the light will go out if the protection is no longer sufficient to keep your gadgets safe.
I love the fact, even with five devices connected, I still had an empty socket on my wall.
Conclusion
There are similar solutions available from other brand-name vendors. Belkin's Mini Surge Protector with USB Charger (US$24.99) also has three AC outlets and two USB ports. While the prongs on the plug don't fold down as they do on the Aluratek Mini Surge, the Belkin device does rotate through 360° so that you can actually fit two of them on one standard two-socket outlet -- one pointing up, one pointing down, or each pointing an opposite direction sideways.
For a few years, I've had a Kensington Portable Power Outlet ($24.99). It also has three AC outlets, two USB ports, and surge protection, but has the added flexibility of a 17" flat power cord that means it can also be a short extension cable.
In terms of price and size, the Aluratek Mini Surge Dual USB Charging Station really has the edge. I have a personal mission to keep reducing the amount of bulk carried on my travels, and this is an attractive and lightweight way to keep all of my devices powered up without carrying too many adapters.
Aluratek Mini Surge Dual USB Charging Station: Pocket-sized power package originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Video App Demo: Meeting Spot
We spoke to Nilay Patel of Selligy at WWDC, and he was kind enough to show us Meeting Spot, an app for visitors in San Francisco attending events near Moscone Center. Selligy's backend technology sounds promising, as it goes beyond mere location-based data or simple keyword matches, and tries to bring you better information. In essence, they want you to get recommendations as though you had a resident there telling you all the cool, somewhat hidden places to check out. In practice the app worked reasonably well, perhaps better than Urbanspoon but not as thorough as Yelp (although you can see Yelp pages for venues). We're looking forward to seeing Selligy's tech expand beyond niche apps like this one. Check out the demo below.
Video App Demo: Meeting Spot originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - 1Password 3.6 adds Lion support, drops Leopard/PowerPCs (Updated)
1Password 3.6 is out now with a plethora of changes. Most notably, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion is now supported while OS X 10.5 Leopard and PowerPC support has been dropped.
David Chartier writes that the number of 1Password customers who are using Leopard or a PowerPC-based Mac has fallen into the single digits. Dropping Leopard/PowerPC support enables developers to shrink 1Password's size by 12 percent.
Chartier told TUAW that AgileBits looked into adopting Snow Leopard features such as Grand Central Dispatch in January 2010. The Snow Leopard features make it easier to do things under the hood, having a big impact on user-end experience, but essentially weren't possible with Leopard.
AgileBits co-founders made the final decision to pull Leopard support after consulting with the rest of the team, including support personnel and developers. Chartier said that less than six percent of 1Password users are on Leopard.
Leopard users can download an older version of 1Password as needed.
Lion support, on the other hand, means that 1Password will be compatible with the OS from the day it's available in the Mac App Store. The Safari extension also received an update to match it to the Chrome extension that debuted in November.
Other changes to 1Password include:
- Adds support for Firefox 5 while dropping support for Firefox 3.
- Adds support for Fluid
- Adds support for the upcoming Dropbox 1.2
- Changed the About page to reflect the company's name change to AgileBits.
- Removed Camino extension
- Can use Amazon CloudFront as an alternate download location
- A number of other bug fixes and changes
1Password 3.6 for Mac requires OS X 10.6 or higher. A single-user license is US$39.99 and a family license is $59.99. Upgrade pricing varies, depending on the original date of purchase. A free trial is available.
Update: Chartier clarified that the redesigned Safari extension will only be seen in Lion. Snow Leopard users retain the current extension.
Update 2: Chartier let us know that the redesigned Safari extension will be available to Snow Leopard users once Apple releases Safari 5.1, which is currently in developer preview.
1Password 3.6 adds Lion support, drops Leopard/PowerPCs (Updated) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - 76% of iPhone users will adopt iCloud
A survey by RBC Capital Markets states the obvious: a majority of iPhone owners will use Apple's new free iCloud service when it launches this fall.
According to the survey, 76% of iPhone owners will use the free iCloud service and another 30% will use the US$25 yearly iTunes Match service. iMessage may be as popular as iCloud with 73% of iPhone users looking forward to using iOS-specific messaging service.
This high rate of adoption is not surprising. Who wouldn't use a free service that is bundled into the OS and makes life easier by seamlessly syncing information across devices?
76% of iPhone users will adopt iCloud originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Firefox 5 for Mac is available, brings updated UI and new privacy feature
Firefox 5 has landed and is now available to the public. The latest version of the popular web browser includes over 1,000 improvements, the most notable of which is a new Do Not Track privacy feature. This feature is found in the preferences and lets you easily opt-out of online tracking found on some websites.
Other new features include support for CSS animations, improved HTML 5 support and a new Add-ON SDK for web developers. The familiar Awesome bar sits at the top of the browser along with App tabs for common apps and Panorama tabs that can be organized into groups.
The Mac version of Firefox 5 is available here for download. Enjoy!
Firefox 5 for Mac is available, brings updated UI and new privacy feature originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Kanex AirBlue: A portable Bluetooth music solution
Kanex is well-known for their cable solutions; items like the Mini DisplayPort to HDMI cable are great for pumping video from Macs to HDTVs. Now the company has come out with the AirBlue Portable Bluetooth Music Receiver (US$49) -- a small device that you plug into speakers, AV receivers, automobile AUX ports, and other common audio inputs -- and then beam music to from your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.
Kanex provided one of these small black disc-like receivers for testing purposes, and it's a handy little device for getting rid of a few more cables in your life ... although you will need a cable to connect it to your audio input.
Setup and pairing
Setup of the AirBlue is a piece of cake. For a cord-cutting solution, the AirBlue comes with a lot of little cables (below). One of these is a standard USB to Mini-USB cable that's used to charge the unit. Charging the AirBlue will take about 4 - 5 hours, and once it is fully charged it will work for up to 20 hours.
When the Airblue is full of power, you can then take the little 2" diameter flat black disc and plug one of the included cables into it -- a standard 3.5 mm to 3.5 mm audio cable or a 3.5 mm to RL audio cable for speakers.
Pairing the unit is also quite easy. Dead center in the top of the disc is a small button with a built-in blue LED light. Pressing it for 6 seconds puts it into discovery mode, indicated by the LED flashing about 4 times per second. At this point I picked up my iPhone, went to Settings > General > Bluetooth, and saw the Kanex AirBlue show up in the list of Bluetooth devices (below). With a single tap, the iPhone and AirBlue were paired.
Using the AirBlue
I was particularly interested in using the AirBlue in my car, a Honda CR-V that has a center console between the driver and passenger seats that contains an auxiliary audio port. My mission? To blast tunes from the iPhone to the sound system in my car and also see what would happen if I tried to use it to listen to Navigon Mobile Navigator turn-by-turn instructions.
Rather than use the standard 3.5 mm to 3.5 mm audio cable that came with the AirBlue, I took the opportunity to try out an Ipevo Bendi ($14.95 for two). It's a semi-rigid audio connector; think of a pipe cleaner (chenille stem for the non-smokers out there) with audio cables in it. I like the fact that the Bendi held the AirBlue up and off of the console.
Once plugged into the AUX port, I turned the AirBlue back on by holding down the power button for a few seconds, and then launched a Grateful Dead tune in the iPod app on the iPhone. With a tap on the AirPlay button, I was able to select the AirBlue as the recipient of the music (below) and had "Friend of the Devil" blasting from my car speakers.
Just to check the range of the Bluetooth connection -- advertised as 30 feet -- I opened the doors on the car, grabbed the iPhone, and started walking away from the car. I was well over 70 feet away before the signal actually dropped, and could easily stand 60 feet away and still hear the music playing.
Navigon Mobile Navigator is set up to work with the iPod app, reducing the volume level of music when the application decides it needs to talk to you. Sure enough, "Sugar Magnolia" faded away in volume as the Navigon app tried to give me directions to a nearby gas station, and then increased the volume back to normal once it was done. Very nice!
Conclusion
There are a lot of similar solutions available for Bluetooth connections to speakers. For example, the Belkin Bluetooth Music Receiver ($49.99) is about the same size and also comes with similar cables. Monoprice sells a generic receiver for $19.92, so if you're looking for a device you can probably find one that's less expensive. However, I'm happy with the Kanex AirBlue's range, ease of setup, looks, and excellent low-noise sound quality. It's tiny enough to go on trips with me and my iPhone, and will work great in rental cars.
The Kanex AirBlue is currently available for pre-order on the Kanex website.
Kanex AirBlue: A portable Bluetooth music solution originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - iPhone 4 most popular camera on Flickr
The iPhone 4 is now the most popular camera on Flickr, with a caveat. More on that in a minute. The smartphone's 5-megapixel shooter has finally surpassed the Nikon D90 as the top camera on the photo hosting and sharing service. It's been a slow and steady rise for the iPhone 4 since its debut in June 2010. The cameraphone now sits above the powerhouse D90, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi and the EOS Rebel T1i.
Not surprisingly, the iPhone 4 also dominates in the cameraphone category with its closest competitor, the iPhone 3G, a distant second. The only non-Apple product in the top five cameraphones is the Android-powered HTC Evo 4G which sits at the bottom along with the iPod touch.
This isn't the first time an iPhone has topped the Flickr popularity chart. In 2008, the original model reached number one despite its 2-megapixel camera.
The caveat is in Flickr's fine print. Specifically, it notes that "camera phones are undercounted." Statistics reflect the service's ability to identify the camera used to take a photo of video. Flickr admits that it's successful "about 2/3 of the time." Still, Flickr receives over 4,800 images shot with iPhone 4s per day, accounting for about 9 million photos. The iPhone 3 remains the overall champion, accounting for almost 36 million submissions.
iPhone 4 most popular camera on Flickr originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Hawaii, Miami Apple Stores to be remodeled
Apple's retail improvement and expansion continues in both Hawaii and Florida. The Ala Moana store in Hawaii is slated for a complete overhaul starting soon. The retail outlet will be moving several doors down to a temporary location that will house the Apple Store until construction on its permanent home is completed. The project will cost US$250,000 but it's money well spent as the Ala Moana store is located in one of the top U.S. malls for foot traffic and per-purchase totals.
Upgrading an Apple Store is not always smooth sailing, though. Apple recently pulled a proposal to demolish and move to a new building near its current Miami Beach, Florida location. According to the proposal, Apple would move from its current store on 738 Lincoln Road to a new store at 1001. The move was derailed by the city's Historic Preservation Board which rejected the plans because they wanted the new building to be smaller and match the historic architecture of this district in the Florida city.
[Via Macnn]
Hawaii, Miami Apple Stores to be remodeled originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Apple unveils new 3 TB Time Capsule model (Updated)
Just as we were digesting the Final Cut Pro X arrival, word comes that Apple is also unveiling a new Time Capsule model. The 3TB model appears in the image header of the Time Capsule page on Apple's website, but full product details are not yet available. We'll keep you updated as new information is released.
The part numbers and FCC IDs of the new units leaked last night, so it was reasonable to expect the actual devices pretty quickly. TUAW first reported that an AirPort/Time Capsule refresh was in the works back on June 1, when retail supplies of the wireless routers began to dry up.
Update: The new 3 TB Time Capsule will be priced at $499 and is available now on Apple's web site. The 2TB is $299. Looks like the product got a capacity bump, but that rumored tie-in to iCloud did not materialize.
[hat tip MacStories]
Apple unveils new 3 TB Time Capsule model (Updated) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Final Cut Pro X launches, $299 in the Mac App Store
Apple's professional video editing/production flagship app has been rebuilt from the ground up and repriced for the Mac App Store. Final Cut Pro X is now available for $299.99 via the store, and the accompanying Motion and Compressor apps are $49.99 each. This pricing represents a dramatic drop versus the previous edition of the suite.
FCP X is a completely new version of the editing app, with the new Magnetic Timeline (trackless editing) and clip connections to link effects/title elements to primary footage. Your raw videos can be tagged with keywords, collected, analyzed and organized easily with the new content management library tools. The app's internal plumbing has been overhauled to make it 64-bit, entirely Cocoa, fully parallel and all-around faster (it now leverages the GPU for effects and can render in the background).
The full feature list will take days or weeks for video pros to digest, and there's going to be a substantial learning, workflow and implementation curve for anyone planning to move edit operations -- so FCP X isn't going to change the world overnight. We're checking in with leading Xsan integrators for their reactions to the news. Still, with a $300 buy-in, the opportunity for would-be editors to level up to professional tools is cheaper than ever.
Apple's press release below.
CUPERTINO, California-June 21, 2011-Apple(R) today announced Final Cut Pro(R) X, a revolutionary new version of the world's most popular Pro video editing software which completely reinvents video editing with a Magnetic Timeline that lets you edit on a flexible, trackless canvas; Content Auto-Analysis that categorizes your content upon import by shot type, media and people; and background rendering that allows you to work without interruption. Built on a modern 64-bit architecture, Final Cut Pro X is available from the Mac(R) App Store[TM] for $299.99.
"Final Cut Pro X is the biggest advance in Pro video editing since the original Final Cut Pro," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "We have shown it to many of the world's best Pro editors, and their jaws have dropped."
"I'm blown away by what Apple has done with Final Cut Pro," said Angus Wall, Academy Award-winning film editor. "Final Cut Pro X is incredibly modern and fast, but most importantly it lets you focus on telling your story in the most creative way, while it actively manages all of the technical details."
At the heart of Final Cut Pro X is the Magnetic Timeline, a trackless approach to editing your footage that lets you add and arrange clips wherever you want them, while other clips instantly slide out of the way. You can use Clip Connections to link primary story clips to other elements like titles and sound effects, so they stay in perfect sync when you move them. You can even combine related story elements into a Compound Clip that can be edited as a single clip. The groundbreaking new Auditions feature lets you swap between a collection of clips to instantly compare alternate takes.
Content Auto-Analysis scans your media on import and tags your content with useful information. Final Cut Pro X then uses that information to dynamically organize your clips into Smart Collections, so you can easily find the clips you want by close up, medium and wide shots as well as media type and the number of people in the shot. You can also tag parts of clips with Range-based keywords to add custom search criteria to your media.
Completely rebuilt from the ground up, Final Cut Pro X is a 64-bit app that takes full advantage of the latest Mac hardware and software so you never have to wait for the next edit, even if you're working with 4K video. Final Cut Pro X uses multi-threaded processing and the GPU on your graphics card for blazing fast background rendering and superb real-time playback performance. Additionally, a ColorSync-managed color pipeline ensures color consistency from import to output.
Final Cut Pro X also includes powerful tools for audio editing and color correction, and is complemented by two companion apps, Motion 5 for professional motion graphics and Compressor 4 for advanced media encoding, available from the Mac App Store for $49.99 each.
Pricing & Availability
Final Cut Pro X is available today for $299.99 from the Mac App Store. Motion 5 and Compressor 4 are available today for $49.99 each from the Mac App Store. Full system requirements and more information on Final Cut Pro X can be found at www.apple.com/finalcutpro.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.Final Cut Pro X launches, $299 in the Mac App Store originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Apple releases iTunes Festival features, app
The iTunes Festival London is a month-long series of concerts featuring more than sixty artists performing in London's Roundhouse. The fun starts on July 1st and Apple's got you covered with an iOS app, steaming shows and exclusive music in iTunes.
The free universal app, aptly named iTunes Festival London 2011, offers details on the month's lineup plus live and on-demand video of highlighted performances (for a limited time). Fans like me who aren't in London can still get a peek at what's going on.
Meanwhile, a featured page in iTunes lists albums available from the scheduled performers. Watch for live tracks once the shows begin. In the meantime, check out these photos from previous years.
Tickets are free and distributed via a lottery. Good luck and have fun!
Apple releases iTunes Festival features, app originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Diversion
Diversion may not look like much, but it makes up for any shortage in graphical quality (yes, the characters do look that goofy) with a solid bunch of gameplay that's surprisingly fun despite the simple premise. The pitch here is "a platformer on rails," so you play as a 3D character who's always running forward through a world, and it's just up to you to jump at the right times. Again, that sounds simple, but it's surprisingly interesting with lots of strange jumps to make and figure out across over 100 levels.
There's also an amazing amount of content to unlock -- there are over 150 different characters to play with and plenty of secrets to find across the game's 3D worlds. Normally I'd say it's unfortunate that there's no Game Center involved, but in this case, it's not really needed as the challenge is simply just passing the levels rather than racing through them.
Diversion does an excellent job of providing just that, and especially at its current price of just US 99 cents.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Diversion originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Create photo albums right on your iPhone with Album App Mini
As we're well into vacation season, Album App Mini is a well-timed app to send your pictures to friends and family, in nicely formatted photo albums, without having to invoke software on your laptop or desktop.
Album App Mini lets you import photos from your camera roll or online photo services, like Flickr or Facebook, and create attractive templates and add text. Photos can be cropped, scaled and rotated. Text can be any color you choose, and there are several fonts and type-styles to work with. The app has 30 layouts for photo placement, which is certainly more than enough, and it has 5 themes. Album App Mini also has a tutorial, which was a bit difficult to get into. It looked like a video you touch to start, but in fact, it was a set of static pages that you scroll through.
Albums can be several pages, and the completed albums can be emailed -- something the iPhone software doesn't supply natively. You can upload photos to MobileMe galleries, but it looks like that function may be going away when iCloud appears.
When you're done, you can email your finished album or send it to Facebook or Twitter. I noticed some image degradation when I emailed the album, so it looks like things aren't going out at full resolution. The app also supports AirPrint.
Album App Mini is a reasonable US$0.99, although extra themes cost money, which is a growing practice I'm not wild about. I'd rather spend an extra buck on an app and get the whole thing. I like the way this app works, and I'm going to give it a full try on an upcoming photo trek to New Mexico. It's a nice way to send a finished product while you are on the road. You can see some screenshots in the gallery, and feel free to comment on any other similar solutions you have seen and like.
Create photo albums right on your iPhone with Album App Mini originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule part numbers, FCC filings surface
In further evidence that updates to the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule are due any day now, Engadget reports that FCC filings for the next-gen AirPort Extreme have surfaced, while 9to5 Mac has received part number info on both the AirPort Extreme and two models of Time Capsule.
Supposedly prices will drop across both AirPort devices, and the Time Capsule will come with two choices in capacity for its built-in drive, either 2 TB or 3 TB. Supplies for the Time Capsule in particular have been constrained in physical stores for a few weeks, and shipping times for the device have slipped in many of Apple's online stores, too. References to both devices cropped up in a recent AirPort Utility software update, so all signs definitely point to a product refresh soon.
Engadget notes that Apple typically likes to debut new hardware on the store on Tuesdays; while we can confirm that's traditionally the case, more minor bits of accessory-type hardware occasionally crop up on other days instead. The next time the Apple Store goes down (if it actually goes down at all), don't be surprised if there's a bunch of new AirPort hardware waiting for you when it comes back up.
AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule part numbers, FCC filings surface originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 05:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Mobile apps leaving the web behind in usage
Mobile ad company Flurry has released a new analysis on its official blog stating that customers are making the transition lately from using the mobile web to spending more of their daily time in mobile apps. In the early days of smartphone prominence (and by "early days," we mean about three years ago), the main feature on mobile phones was the web. You could check email, look up web pages, or browse the web on your smartphone, and that's how most people used them.
Since the rise of iOS, however, mobile apps are picking up that time spent. And as you can see from the chart above, customers are now putting more time into mobile apps (about 9 percent more, it turns out) than browsing the mobile web. It should be noted that both stats are still growing -- customers are spending more time on mobile phones than ever. But mobile app usage is growing even faster.
It's not hard to see why this is, either. Mobile apps are maturing quickly, and it's easier to get information from many of them now than it was just browsing around the web. Mobile apps also offer features like offline access and other things that the web doesn't, so this shouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone.
Mobile apps leaving the web behind in usage originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Talking Ben and friends get representation from William Morris
How do you know that you're on the fast track to Hollywood stardom? Getting a good agent is the first step -- and the fuzzy, funny characters in Outfit7's app stable have found the best.
Talking Ben the Dog, Talking Tom Cat and the rest of the Talking Friends apps animated characters are now represented by William Morris Endeavor, the Tinseltown powerhouse led by Entourage inspiration Ari Emanuel (the brother of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel). The companies intend to bring the characters into films, TV and other entertainment properties.
The company's apps have been downloaded over 135 million times across both Android and iPhone platforms; they feature characters that repeat back what you say in supposedly adorable fashion, and they react to various pokes, strokes and smacks in a cartoony manner. The latest Talking Tom 2 app (available free for both iPad and iPhone, but in separate versions) features interaction with Talking Ben (a cantankerous former chemistry teacher, which is actually quite academically impressive for a dog) and the option of having Tom call the 'old' Talking Tom on the phone so the two cats can mimic each other in a loop.
If you're thinking "Wow, as a parent I have to be sure never to let my kids get hold of any of these apps, lest I lose my bearings and throw my iPhone out the car window in a fit of temporary madness," it's probably too late already. Did I mention they've been downloaded 135 million times?
Talking Ben and friends get representation from William Morris originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Apple's infrared 'camera kill switch' patent application hits a nerve
Picture this: You're out for a stroll on the streets of Vancouver when suddenly you find yourself caught up in a depressed mob of hockey fans. Riot police are striking a young man with their batons near a squad car. You pull out your iPhone to capture a video of this seeming abuse of force -- only to see a flashing message on the screen that says 'Recording Disabled.'
Earlier this month, Patently Apple analyzed a patent application filing that Apple originally submitted in December of 2009. The patent application covered several ways to communicate with a cellphone through its camera using a coded infrared light transmission.
Simply pointing your phone's camera at a properly equipped museum exhibit, for example, could load a webpage about the artifact on display or offer additional details about its origins. An auction house or fashion show could easily provide pricing, availability or 'click to bid' buttons. The technology would work like a giant, invisible QR code -- although it couldn't do the bidirectional sharing that Google's demo showed earlier. You also couldn't block it with a bit of masking tape, since the infrared data stream is captured by the phone's camera itself, not by a separate sensor.
That's the user-affirming side of the patent. The other big use case, however, is for the infrared transmission to tell the phone "Hey, no pictures here!" The suggested applications are for concert halls, movie theaters or even sensitive corporate/government facilities -- giving those venue owners an easy way to block photography or videotaping of copyrighted or classified materials. Whether you think that's a terrible idea or an awesome idea may rest on whether or not you own a concert hall or a movie theater.
Of course, Apple patents or patent applications often don't evolve into actual, shipping Apple products. (Remember the 'undead ads for content time' patent? Ick.) Nevertheless, even in the hypothetical case, the spectre of a 'kill switch' for the iPhone camera is not sitting all that well in certain circles.
The Save the Internet coalition has published a suggested open letter to Steve Jobs that suggests this patent application is deeply repugnant to the ideals of freedom: "[T]housands of people across the Middle East have used cellphone cameras to document violent government abuses. This technology would also give tyrants the power to stem the flow of protest videos and crack down on their citizens with impunity." The petition continues, "If this tool fell into the hands of repressive regimes or malicious corporations, it would give tyrants and companies the power to silence one of the most critical forms of free expression."
Now, there's a wide gulf between blocking cameras at concerts and quashing dissent by democratic activists -- at least in theory. First of all, would-be repressive regimes would have to set up expensive equipment in advance, which would work only at short range -- and even if they did that there'd be no guarantee that all the phones in the area would comply with the invisible orders, so the requisite shakedown of all camera-enabled devices by armed enforcers would still have to be done. In the chaos and commotion of the kind of situations that would tend to motivate large-scale iPhone videography, it's by no means clear that this 'kill switch' would even work. As my colleague Chris Rawson points out, your average infrared TV remote control is thoroughly flummoxed by simple sunlight.
None of this, however, means that it's prudent to stand atop the slippery slope of external device controls and say "Looks like a nice ride down." It's easy to think, as I did when first reading the admittedly hyperbolic language of the petition, "Look, the iPhone is not the only camera in the world; professional bootleg videographers don't use crappy cameraphones at all, protesters have many different kinds of phones and cameras at their disposal, and as soon as this capability gets rolled out people will simply jump to another platform to work around it." [Never mind the fact that Flickr now shows the iPhone 4 as the most popular camera on the site, bar none. -Ed.]
The problem is that market reaction takes time, and in the thought experiment I played out at the beginning of this post there's no time to react. If you were in a traffic stop that went wrong, a political rally with a bad outcome, a movie theater where someone was being assaulted -- there's no chance to go back in time and say "You know, that iPhone camera kill switch may not have been such a good idea after all."
It's impossible to say, without access to Apple's labs, whether this technology is truly viable, whether it would work in daylight, and whether it could really be used in the situations envisioned by the petition writers. It's equally impossible to say whether Apple intends to implement and commercialize this invention, or even if the company's patent application would be granted. Maybe Apple's secret objective in pursuing this patent is not to implement it in products -- to keep the concept off the market in perpetuity, or at least for the life of the patent. But that doesn't seem likely, and in the absence of comment from Apple about whether and how the capability would be implemented in future iPhones (a comment that is undoubtedly not coming anytime soon), all we have is our questions.
Apple's infrared 'camera kill switch' patent application hits a nerve originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Dropbox security bug temporarily allowed logins without authentication
Earlier today, a code update to Dropbox introduced a bug that temporarily allowed access to users' accounts and files without authentication via the company's web interface. For approximately four hours, from the time that Dropbox made the changes until the service's developers were able to correct the error, user accounts were accessible by merely typing in the email address associated with the account.
"This should never have happened," Dropbox says on its blog. "We are scrutinizing our controls and we will be implementing additional safeguards to prevent this from happening again."
TechCrunch notes that many Dropbox users store sensitive files using the service, and it's a sobering thought that such files were theoretically freely accessible by anyone for any period of time. Dropbox claims that less than one percent of users logged into the service while authentication was inadvertently optional, and it logged out all user sessions as a precaution.
This is not the first time concerns have been raised over possible security issues with Dropbox, but the fact that user accounts and files were accessible without authentication may mean that users looking for a secure online file storage system may want to look elsewhere when iCloud debuts this fall.
Dropbox security bug temporarily allowed logins without authentication originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Samsung denies being in talks with Apple
The Apple/Samsung legal feud continues. This week a US district judge suggested to the two companies that they should try to settle their patent infringement suits out of court, citing the companies' close business relationships. Apple's and its legal council seemed to agree and Apple's lawyer told the judge that executives "at the highest levels" of two companies were actively meeting to work things out. However, Samsung denies those talks are even happening.
The Korean company told UK site V3 that "We are unaware of any meetings or discussions between the two sides over this matter." Apple recently came to a patent settlement agreement with Nokia, and many in the industry -- not to mention the courts -- hope Apple and Samsung can come to a similar settlement. However, the primary argument Apple has with Samsung isn't about technology patents, it's about Samsung stealing the look and feel of the iPad and iPhone to use in its own products. Needless to say, it's unlikely that a case will be settled out of court when one company says that it's talking to the other to try to resolve the issue and the other company says no such talks exist.
Samsung denies being in talks with Apple originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 22:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - MacBook Air could sport new Intel ULV processors
The rumored revision of the MacBook Air, which is expected to go on sale by the end of July, could sport Intel's new ULV chipsets, according to CNet. "ULV" stands for "ultra-low voltage" -- something that is very important for ultra-slim laptops like the MacBook Air.
In addition to the low power dissipation of the new ULV chips, they also offer much faster processing speeds. Here's a rundown of the ULV chipset offerings (and their prices) that Intel just announced:
- Core i7-2677M: 2 cores, 1.8 GHz (turbo boost to 2.9 GHz), 4 MB cache, 17 watts, $317
- Core i7-2637M: 2 cores, 1.7 GHz (turbos to 2.8 GHz), 4 MB cache, 17 watts, $289
- Core i5-2557M: 2 cores, 1.7 GHz (turbos to 2.7 GHz), 3 MB cache, 17 watts, $250
Earlier today, another next-generation MacBook Air rumor surfaced that alleges the next version of the Air will also come in a black anodized aluminum body.
MacBook Air could sport new Intel ULV processors originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 21:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Apple email reveals iCloud storage details
An email sent from Apple to a MobileMe member reveals some details about Apple's upcoming storage allocation in iCloud. When users sign up for a free iCloud account, they will receive 5 GB of cloud storage. However, when users near their 5 GB limit, they'll receive an email from Apple like the one this MobileMe member received today, as MacRumors reported. The email reveals what happens if you hit your 5 GB limit.
If you max out your data storage, your iOS devices will no longer back up or save new data to iCloud, and any emails sent to your me.com email address will bounce back to the sender. The good news is that media or apps that you purchased through iTunes don't count against your 5 GB iCloud allotment.
Still, if you're going to be saving many large files on iCloud, you're probably going to need more than the 5 GB of free storage eventually. The email from Apple states that iCloud users can buy more storage right from their iOS devices or on a Mac or PC; it doesn't, however, state any pricing or in what increments users can buy additional storage.
iCloud is expected to fully roll out in the fall with the release of iOS 5, but users with an iTunes account can test out some of its services now by redownloading apps they've already purchased.
Apple email reveals iCloud storage details originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Capcom puts iOS titles on sale, post-Father's Day weekend
Capcom didn't get the memo about hosting app sales this past Father's Day weekend apparently -- the company has instead put four of its titles on sale for just a buck today. Right now, you can pick up Street Fighter IV, Devil May Cry 4 refrain, Dead Rising Mobile or Resident Evil Mercenaries all for just a Washington each. Those are all solid titles that offer more than a buck's worth of entertainment.
The great Death Rally (which, disclaimer, I'm in as a cameo) is also on sale for 99 cents, and there might be a few other sales from the weekend still poking around: Army of Darkness Defense is still free, for example. If you're interested in one of those, better grab it quick!
Capcom puts iOS titles on sale, post-Father's Day weekend originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Five ways for iOS developers to deal with Apple's new subscription guidelines
Over the weekend, Hulu subtly updated its iOS application to comply with Apple's revised in-app subscription guidelines. As Mike Schramm posted earlier, it removed the link on its main sign-in page that allowed users to visit hulu.com/plus to sign up for service.
Apple states in section 11.14 of the developer agreement that applications can provide access to material from subscriptions outside the application so long as the application doesn't provide an external purchase link -- this is a retreat from Apple's original position on subscriptions, which is that they had to give App Store sales 'most favored nation' pricing equivalence with sales from outside the system. Users can visit your website and sign up there, but if you sell from within the product, it has to go through Apple's in-app purchase system. Apple receives 30% of those sales.
Here's the current verbiage on the agreement:
11.14 Apps can read or play approved content (specifically magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, and video) that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app, as long as there is no button or external link in the app to purchase the approved content. Apple will not receive any portion of the revenues for approved content that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app
For all we know, Hulu was okay with its change. After all, it won't have to fork over 30% of its app-sourced subscriptions to Apple. The conversion rate from free app to paid subscriptions through that link might have been very small indeed. At the same time, could Hulu have lived by the wording of the guidelines without sacrificing the sales push from app to site to signup?
TUAW brainstormed up five other ways Hulu might have played things. Here are our suggestions that developers might want to consider when facing the same guidelines and the same need to move forward to a compliant app.
Use indirection. Instead of providing a sales link, provide a help link. "Learn more about Hulu Plus" could transfer the reader to information about what Hulu Plus is. That in turn could convert to sales through a further link, without providing direct in-app links to a purchase page.
Downside: Apple isn't stupid. Unless the page truly provides information about the product rather than a sales pitch, you're better off avoiding the indirection.
Skip the link. So long as your text does not provide a live link or button, you should be able to specify how to sign up for service, e.g. "Interested in Hulu video access? Visit hulu.com/iwantmyhulu from any browser." If the URL isn't clickable, that's within the rules as written. It could even be more indirect than that, mediated by a search: "Want thousands of TV episodes at your fingertips? Use Google or Bing and search for 'Hulu Plus sign-up' to join."
Downside: Again, this might not make it through Apple review. While it respects the letter of the developer agreement, it certainly breaks the spirit. True, "button or external link" is a fairly clear guideline; a text URL without a hyperlink behind it is not a 'link' in the generally understood sense... but the App Store reviewers might not see it that way.
Promote the benefits. Speak to your users, explaining why subscription services would help them with your app from within the app. You can verbally and visually upsell your app, even adding buttons and screens that discuss "what subscribing to Hulu Plus can do for you," without ever linking to that external website.
Downside: Apple may determine that your sales pitch for materials not included in the basic application detract from the user experience.
Leverage social marketing. A "Tell a friend about Hulu Plus" link could send off an e-mail with all the information and links you need to explain the service and allow users to sign up.
Downside: Users might not get that the information on signing up for service is available for them as well as for their friends. It's a pretty indirect way to get your message and links across. Of course, there could be a 'Copy me on this email' checkbox in the Tell a Friend UI.
Be aggressively transparent. Hulu did not hide why its update shipped. In "What's New in Version 2.3.2" in iTunes, Hulu writes, "Compliance with new rules for subscription-based apps." At the same time, it didn't make a big deal about it on its home page. Was that a missed opportunity?
Websites can act as a bully pulpit as well as a sales tool. Front and center, Hulu might have described why the update shipped, i.e. to remove the link in order to comply with Apple's rules, and further promoted its product -- but it did not. As a large brand with excellent presence, it probably didn't need the extra push-to-monetize that website editorializing might have brought.
Downside: This is a really indirect way to gain sales that you used to promote through your product. Why tick off Apple publicly if you don't have to? On the other hand, Apple does respond to community pressure. If your cause is just and true, you shouldn't have to feel that you can't publicly stand behind it while still doing business with Apple.
So there you have it. Five suggestions that could help upsell your subscriptions without violating 11.14. Agree with these? Or do you think there are better ways to handle your sales pushes? Let us know in the comments.
Five ways for iOS developers to deal with Apple's new subscription guidelines originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Rumors suggest possible black MacBook Air
Rumors have pegged a new MacBook Air to be released between now and the end of July. The most obvious upgrades to Apple's popular ultra-thin laptop include a Thunderbolt port and Intel's Sandy Bridge processors. However, a new rumor suggest that Apple could at least offer one model of the upcoming MacBook Air in black.
MacRumors has reportedly received several independent tips that Apple is set to use a black anodized aluminum case on "at least some models" of the next MacBook Air. While there are no hard details to confirm the multiple tips, Apple has offered a high-end black MacBook in the past in addition to the white MacBooks it sold. Given the popularity of the MacBook Air, a black model isn't all that unlikely as it would allow Apple to further differentiate MacBook Air offerings for prospective buyers.
The MacBook Air was last updated in October 2010.
Rumors suggest possible black MacBook Air originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Future phones may send data and apps via photography
You know the drill: you want to send a Google map from your iMac to your iPhone, so you email a link to the page to your iPhone, open Mail on the phone, and then tap on the link on the email message to open Apple's Maps app. If MIT and some Google researchers have their way, you'll soon be able to just snap a photo of a web page on your Mac screen to open it on your phone.
The capability was demonstrated in May at a computer-human interaction conference. Project Deep Shot is the brainchild of MIT grad student Tsung-Hsiang Chung and Google's Yang Li, and works not only for transferring tasks to mobile devices, but from those devices back to personal computers as well.
Google owns the technology, but has not said if or when it will make Deep Shot available to the public. Be sure to check out the video below for a demonstration of the technology in action.
[via AllThingsD]
Future phones may send data and apps via photography originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Dear Aunt TUAW: Installing new betas borks my production Xcode
Dear Aunt TUAW,
Every time I install a new Xcode beta these days, it kills my production Xcode and I can't submit to App Store. What gives? I thought you said that Xcode installs could live side-by-side in separate folders!
Your loving nephew,
Scott McA.
Dear Scott,
Although you can use separate folders for each installation of Apple's IDE, many of the tools used to create and submit packages live in the /usr/bin directory. And, when it comes to a shared folder like /usr/bin, the rule is last-installed-wins -- your subsequent Xcode installation will overwrite the older versions of the tools in that folder.
To get around this you can disable the UNIX Development install option on the "Installation Type" screen of the Xcode installer. This option, which is enabled by default, adds command-line development tools onto the shared install volume. Unselect it during your beta install, and you should be able to skip the development tools re-install when you use the older Xcode version.
Auntie adds that qualifying 'should' because a good fresh install of a release Xcode almost always fixes any problems left around by a beta install, even if you pick all the right options while installing.
Hugs and good luck,
Auntie T.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Installing new betas borks my production Xcode originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Average US smartphone data usage climbs 89%, cost per MB drops 46%
Using your iPhone more and more? You're not alone. Data usage on all smartphones is soaring, according to new research by Nielsen.
In a monthly analysis of cell phone bills for more than 65,000 lines, smartphone users, especially iPhone and Android users, are using more data than ever. Nielsen notes that 37% of all US mobile users have smartphones.
Comparing data from a year ago, smartphone data consumption is up 89%, averaging a monthly 435 MB. Nielsen also notes that users are paying about the same for data as they were a year ago, so when factoring in the increased usage, the cost per unit has dropped about 50%.
These numbers have huge implications for carriers who are surely going to want to increase prices to make up for the explosion of data consumption. Most carriers, including AT&T, have dropped unlimited data plans, and it's likely that when new models of phones come out, AT&T and the others will force those who are grandfathered with unlimited plans to give them up.
Average US smartphone data usage climbs 89%, cost per MB drops 46% originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Hulu Plus app tweaked oh-so-slightly to comply with Apple rules
Hulu made a subtle change to its iPad app this weekend, cutting off that bottom line you can see in the screenshot above. Yes, per Apple's rules on charging for in-app subscriptions, Hulu can't actually link to its own site to promote its own subscription service for video streaming of TV episodes, movies and such.
Apple's rules say either no links whatsoever to outside subscription signups, or both in-app subscriptions (which means a flat 30% goes to Apple directly) and offsite links. Since Hulu doesn't want to give any cut to Apple, the choice has apparently been made to simply offer the app as a service itself, rather than an ad for the site subscription.
Will this affect Hulu's sales? Probably not too much -- I'd assume that most Hulu users are already subscribers, or at least know about the option already. Clearly the company determined it was more important to get the app out there than to worry about using it as an advertising tool.
We'll have to wait and see how (or if -- some companies have already confirmed that they won't be dealing with in-app subscriptions at all) other subscription services handle Apple's restrictions.
Hulu Plus app tweaked oh-so-slightly to comply with Apple rules originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - TUAW's Daily Mac App: Wunderlist
Have you ever found managing and syncing your task list more difficult than it really needs to be? Wunderlist is the answer.
An incredibly simple, intuitive and good looking program, Wunderlist makes creating, syncing and clearing a list of tasks quick and easy. Either use the "Add your task here" box or hit Cmd+N or Cmd+T to create a new task. Next, set a date using the calendar or leave it with no date and "Star" those tasks that are the most important. If a task needs more information, attach a note to it to store information or outline some necessary detail.
It's possible to create separate lists of tasks as well, so if you've got a party to organize, you just break down everything into tasks in their own list. That list can be shared with any of your friends who are using Wunderlist either on the Mac, a PC, Android, iOS or the Web. If they haven't been introduced to Wunderlist yet, they get an invitation to join. It's also easy to use CloudApp directly from Wunderlist to share your task list publicly via email, Twitter, Facebook or any other messaging service via a Cloudly link.
Wunderlist for Mac syncs with the cloud, keeping your Mac, your work PC, your iPhone, iPad or Android phone all on the same page. No matter where you complete or create a task, it'll be in sync across all of your devices.
Wunderlist is available for free from the Mac App Store and syncs with a free Wunderlist online account and with the free iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows apps. If you create and manage tasks on your Mac or mobile device, you really must try Wunderlist.
Continue reading TUAW's Daily Mac App: Wunderlist
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Wunderlist originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - uBeam developing "Wi-Fi for energy" to enable wireless charging
The day when we don't have to plug in our consumer electronics is getting closer, thanks to a new startup named uBeam that has developed a safe way of beaming power to your devices.
Rather than using inductive charging, which has a very short effective range and usually requires that the charger and device be in close proximity to each other, uBeam uses an ultrasonic transducer to convert power from your wall socket into inaudible sound energy. On the device side, there's a battery adapter that converts the sound energy back into power to charge your batteries. The ultrasonic frequency used is well above the range that can be heard by humans or dogs.
uBeam wants to develop wireless charging units for home and commercial use, with the idea that businesses like Starbucks could install a transducer on the ceiling of each coffee shop to provide power to gadget-happy customers who have a uBeam battery adapter.
The product idea was developed by two recent University of Pennsylvania graduates, and they demoed a proof of concept device made from off-the-shelf parts for Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at the D9 conference. Check out the video below for more information about the technology and the plans uBeam has for making your future even more wireless.
uBeam developing "Wi-Fi for energy" to enable wireless charging originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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