Feb 17, 2010 Feb 19, 2010 Thursday February 18, 2010
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20 Years of Image Editing: Photoshop from 1.0 to CS4
From its humble beginnings on a grad student's Mac Plus to its complete photo-editing domination, Photoshop has changed the world in 20 short years. Photoshop is everywhere. And while fundamentally it is the standard professional-quality image editor, it’s also a cultural touchstone with a reach that extends to advertising, fashion magazines, television, film, and the news. Lighter versions like Photoshop Elements, Photoshop.com, and even Photoshop Mobile on the iPhone have distilled its power for the masses, and sites like PhotoshopDisasters.blogspot.com chronicle painful misuses for everyone to point at and giggle about. “Photoshop” the verb was even added to Webster’s dictionary in 1992.In such a Photoshop-saturated society, it’s easy to forget that the software hasn’t been around forever. Since February 2010 marks the 20th anniversary of Photoshop 1.0, now is the perfect time to revisit everything from Adobe’s systematic dismantling of its competition to the way the software was used to make Katie Couric “lose weight.” Two Decades of Photoshop We give you every single Photoshop release, plus the effects of Adobe's software on its competition and our culture. 1987 Release: Thomas Knoll, a PhD student at the University of Michigan, creates a program called Display for his Mac Plus. It can display 256-shade grayscale images on a 1-bit black-and-white screen with dithering. 1988 Release: Display is renamed Photoshop, and the Knoll brothers (Thomas and John, an effects expert at Industrial Light & Magic [ILM]) license the first version to Barneyscan, a slide-scanner manufacturer. Approximately 200 copies of version 0.87 ship bundled with the scanners.Cultural: The first working version of Photoshop appears at Apple, and the era of Photoshop piracy begins as engineers pass it around amongst themselves and gape in awe. 1989 Release: John Knoll demos Photoshop for Adobe's primary art director Russell Brown and founder John Warnock. Adobe signs a distribution deal with the Knoll brothers. 1990 Release: Photoshop 1.0 ships. It requires an 8MHz processor and 2MB of RAM. The software fits on a single 3.5-inch floppy disk. Key features include color correction, image optimization for output, Curves, Levels, and the Clone tool.Cultural: Photoshop is used extensively at ILM during postproduction work on The Abyss. 1991 Cultural: ILM continues to use Photoshop to create digital composite shots for movies like The Rocketeer, Hook, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day.Release: Photoshop 2.0 (code-named Fast Eddy) ships with CMYK support, Duotones, the Path tool, and rasterization of Illustrator files. But the HSB and HSL color modes in 1.0 are gone.Cultural: John Knoll covertly releases a program to revert Adobe Photoshop's "eye" application icons back to the original "1HR Photo Shop" icon.Release: Adobe releases an SDK for third-party plug-in development. Later in the year, Aldus (developer of PageMaker) releases the Gallery Effects plug-in package. 1992 Release: Kai Krause releases Kai's Power Tools, a popular plug-in set for Photoshop featuring graphically rich (and often bewildering) visual interfaces. 1993 Release: Photoshop 2.5 (code-named Merlin) ships with 16-bit image support, palettes, Quick Mask, Dodge and Burn tools, and the Variations visual color-correction tool. This is the first Photoshop version available on Windows as well as Mac. 1994 Cultural: Time magazine runs a cover photo of O.J. Simpson that was photoshopped with very dark color correction, creating controversy over how African Americans are portrayed by the media.Release: Photoshop 3.0 (code-named Tiger Mountain) introduces image layers, often considered the most important feature ever added to the program.Release: Alien Skin Software delivers the first drop-shadow effect plugin for Photoshop.Competition: Adobe acquires Aldus, keeping PageMaker on life support by burying Windows-only image editor PhotoStyler.Competition: HSC Software introduces Live Picture, billed as a next-generation nondestructive image editor, for a whopping introductory price of $3,995. 1995 Competition: HSC Software lowers Live Picture price to $995 in one fell swoop, angering early adopters who paid full price.Competition: Quark introduces XPosure image-editing software at the Seybold Seminars in Boston. Developed in conjunction with Japanese electronics giant JVC, the product boasts a nondestructive filter featuring "lenses"... but it never ships. 1996 Release: Photoshop 4.0 (code-named Big Electric cat) ships with nondestructive adjustment layers, Actions, macros, grids, guides, the Free Transform tool, and a radically redesigned user interface. Photoshop 4.0 LE (Limited Edition) is bundled with a wide range of image scanners.Competition: Macromedia ships its xRes image editor, which also features nondestructive image editing. Although it soon became another footnote in image editing hisotry, you can still see a bit of its DNA in Adobe Fireworks. Next Page: Photoshop Timeline continued >> 1997 Competition: Former Apple CEO John Sculley becomes chairman of Live Picture and tries to salvage Live Picture technology for web applications. 1998 Release: Photoshop 5.0 (code-named Strange Cargo) ships. New features include the History palette and its multiple undos, editable type, layer effects (now called Styles), spot colors, ICC color management, and the Magnetic Lasso tool. CMYK files go to 64-bit (16 bits/channel). The new 3D Transform plug-in is the forerunner to the 3D menu in the current Extended version, and this is also the first Photoshop that supported integrated online updating.Competition: Live Picture is spotted selling in mail-order catalogs for under $100. 1999 Release: Adobe ImageReady 2 becomes part of Photoshop 5.5, allowing animated GIFs and sliced JPEG images. This release also adds the Extract command (for isolating images from their backgrounds), the Art History Brush, and Save For Web. 2000 Release: Photoshop 6.0 (code-named Venus in Furs) includes vector-based shapes, content layers (solid, gradient, and texture fills), Layer Styles, the Liquefy filter, a tool options bar, layer-based slicing for HTML work, and an extensive interface overhaul. 2001 --- 2002 Release: Photoshop 7.0 (code-named Liquid Sky) ships with the Healing Brush tool, a revamped brush engine, integrated image browser, custom workspaces, and even a spell checker. It's the last version that runs under OS 9.Release: Adobe releases the consumer-oriented Photoshop Elements package, which replaces the earlier LE versions of Photoshop that were bundled with many third-party scanners and digitizers. 2003 Release: Photoshop 7.0.1 update includes support for RAW image formats via the Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in.Release: Photoshop CS (code-named Dark Matter), included in all Adobe Creative Suite editions, has layer groups, the Shadow/Highlight and Match Color tools, text on a path, the Lens Blur filter, custom keyboard shortcuts, and JavaScript support. CS is the first version to require activation, have Standard and Extended versions, and a PDF manual.Cultural: Photoshop CS also includes code to automatically detect attempts to scan currency banknotes, fueling many conspiracy theories. 2004 --- 2005 Release: Photoshop CS2 (code-named Space Monkey) ships with Bridge (which replaces integrated Browser), Smart Objects, Spot Healing tool, Vanishing Point and Red retouching tools, HDR (high dynamic range; 32 bits per channel) merging abilities, and the Lens Correction filter. A rather significant but subtle addition to CS2 is the ability to select more than one layer at a time. 2006 Release: Adobe releases a public beta of Photoshop Lightroom, an image-management database aimed at professional photographers.Cultural: Newswire service Reuters is caught in a scandal when it's busted using Photoshop to enhance smoke plumes in an image of Beirut.Cultural: CBS's official photo of news anchor Katie Couric is photoshopped to shave a few too many pounds off her frame. 2007 Release: Photoshop Lightroom 1.0 ships.Release: Photoshop CS3 (code-named Red Pill) ships with native Intel processor support, Smart Filters, the ability to import and process video, significant interface revisions, the Black and White conversion tool, far more support for editing images with more than 8 bits/channel, and a seriously improved Clone tool. 2008 Release: Adobe launches the Flash-based Photoshop Express app on Photoshop.com, offering limited image-editing functionality and online storage.Cultural: Iran's state-run media agency releases a photo of a missile test, altered to add a fourth missile. (The third missile from the right is a clone of the second missile.)Release: Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 is released, adding 64-bit operation, multiple-monitor support, localized image corrections, and enhanced editing abilities.Release: Photoshop CS4 (code-named Stonehenge) ships with OpenGL acceleration, Content Aware Scaling, 64-bit support for Windows Vista (but not Mac!), improved RAW image processing, and auto layer-alignment tools. 2009 Release: Adobe makes Photoshop.com available for the iPhone as a free mobile edition, delivering limited image editing on the run.Release: Adobe launches a public beta of Lightroom 3.0, featuring better grain- and noise-management tools. 2010 Cultural: Photoshop turns 20! China is the traditional gift, but we'd prefer CS5. Next Page: The Evolution of Photoshop Splash Screens >> Making a Splash We’re so used to seeing a splash screen every time we open Photoshop that we hardly pause to glance at it any more. But really, the wild, way-out splash screens on the beta versions of Photoshop over the years are a lot more eye-catching. Peep this gallery of the beta splash screens next to their official-release counterparts. (Click to enlarge) Version 2.5 Version 3.0 Version 4.0 Version 5.0 Version 6.0 Version 7.0 Version CS Version CS2 Version CS3 Version CS4 Next Page: Vintage Photoshop Toolbars >> Vintage Tools The photoshop toolbar has evolved over the years too--first to add more tools, then to streamline its appearance and take up less space. Next Page: Interview -- Photoshop Unmasked >> Photoshop Unmasked Two Adobe power players talk about Photoshop's birth, evolution, and future. Adobe’s Senior Creative Director Russell Brown and VP of Product Management for Professional Digital Imaging Kevin Connor are two of the brightest stars in the Photoshop galaxy—they’ve rung up 38 years of Adobe experience between them. Brown even won an Emmy in 2008 for his Dr. Brown’s Photoshop Laboratory show on tv.adobe.com. We probed their giant, Photoshop-filled brains with these chin-scratching questions… Mac|Life: What are your first memories of seeing Photoshop?Russell Brown: My first viewing of it was when John Knoll gave me a demo in 1989. I recall that he created a soft-edge selection mask and painted into it with a soft-edge brush. Wow! This was downright amazing. Nothing like it was possible on the Macintosh or PC at the time. Technology like this was only available on high-end prepress systems. I knew that what I was seeing was a serious new tool that was going to change my life.Kevin Connor: Prior to joining Adobe, I was working at a small startup company. We had one copy of Photoshop installed on one of the Macs in the office, and I remember stepping through the menus and tools just to see what they could do. It was probably version 2.5. I also remember a freelance designer we worked with at the time marveling at all that could be accomplished by manipulating color channels. Mac|Life: Russell, is there a specific Photoshop feature that you can't live without?RB: That would most definitely have to be layers. Nothing can replace layers. I’m sure that about 90 percent of our users might say the same thing. Mac|Life: Kevin, how do you see Photoshop evolving over the course of the next decade?KC: A number of trends will influence that. From a technology standpoint, the big trend is computational photography. Increasingly, software algorithms are being used to derive photographs that could not be directly captured using traditional optics and sensors. Today, this technology can give us seamless panorama photos or wide-angle shots with no distortion, but in the future, it may even give us the ability to manipulate a photograph in three dimensions, adjusting vantage point and focus after the capture. Ultimately, it can also lead to software that is smarter about understanding the contents of a photo and can manipulate it as more than just a collection of pixels.Another trend that will affect Photoshop’s future is the distribution of workflows across the web and mobile devices. It may not make sense to move all of Photoshop into a web-based application, but certain things may be done better on the web or on the road, and products will start to blur the line between the desktop, the web, and other devices. As we manage these big changes, we also need to continue to evolve the Photoshop interface so that these new capabilities can fit in naturally, while older capabilities can be refreshed and improved. Of course, it’s hard to say yet precisely what you’ll see in five years or 10 years, but these are things we’re already working on today that we expect to influence the product for some time to come. Mac|Life: Russell, any particular online Photoshop resources you'd recommend to our readers?RB: Definitely. In fact, here's a list of my favorite websites for Photoshop information:>> blogs.adobe.com/jnack/>> www.photoshopuser.com/psuser.htm>> www.mogo-media.com/welcome-pst.php>> www.photoshopnews.com>> www.lynda.com>> www.russellbrown.com Mac|Life: Do you think there will ever be a viable competitor to Photoshop?KC: There’s always competition, but if we do our jobs right, people just don’t notice! I’m being a little facetious, but my point is that Photoshop is a very big target, and companies both big and small have continuously taken aim at it. They just haven’t generally been successful.
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PowerPage Podcast Episode 126
Episode 126 of the PowerPage Podcast is now available. You can either download it from the iTunes Store or directly (36.3 MB, MP3). Panel: Jason O’Grady and Rob Parker Topics: We do our post-mortem wrap-up of Macworld Expo 2010 and Apple puts the smack down on iPhone hackers. Here’s what’s on our Macs this week: Jason Thermapak Heatshift [...]
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Meerkat 1.5 automatically reconnects your SSH Tunnels
Filed under: UNIX / BSDMeerkat turns SSH tunnels -- a fairly obscure and complicated concept -- into a feature anyone should be able to use, and does so in a very Mac-like way. I've known about SSH tunnels for a long time, but I've never been able to get them working. The concept is simple enough: a SSH connection is formed between two computers, allowing for secure access between them. (For more, see SSH: Tunneling Explained.) What would you use a SSH tunnel for? Here are a couple possibilities: you can stream your iTunes library across the web for free. Our local library has a terribly onerous "web filter" which even blocks Delicious and a bunch of other useful sites. By setting up a SSH tunnel and SOCKS proxy I can avoid that filter. If I want to access my webhosting management panel, I have to do so from a "known" IP address or go through a multi-step process to register another IP. By using a SSH tunnel, I can securely connect to my webhosting company and then access the tunnel. But how do you setup ssh tunnels? You could do it manually via Terminal.app, but that's not very Mac-like. We've mentioned Meekat before but even then I wasn't able to get it to work until recently. What made the difference? The new "Tunnel Setup Assistant." When version 1.5 was released, it added something very cool, especially for laptop users: automatic reconnection. Combine it with NetworkLocation and you can have a nearly seamless and flexible set of rules to let you access all of your information securely, regardless of where you are. (It's also fully AppleScript-able.) If you've ever tried to setup a SSH tunnel before and gave up because it was too complicated or too much work, give Meerkat a look. It's a slick program that should appeal to power Mac users of all shades. There's a 14-day demo, plenty of time to figure out how it works and how to use it. A license costs US$19.95, and there's a 30-day guarantee. If you have any questions, I found the developer, Justin Miller, to be very responsive.TUAWMeerkat 1.5 automatically reconnects your SSH Tunnels originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Apple - iTunes - IP address - TUAW - Tunneling protocol
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Apple seeds another build of 10.6.3 to devs
Filed under: OS, Software UpdateApple seeded another build of OS X 10.6.3 today. This latest build number is 10D558. This is just nine days after Apple seeded build 10D552. iPhoneinCanada is reporting that the current build focuses on Apple Filing Protocol, AirPort, Graphics Drivers, and QuickTime, as well as the following: Performance improvements for 64-bit Logic Addresses compatibility issues with OpenGL-based applications Includes changes to QuickTime X that increase reliability and enhance security Improves printing reliability and compatibility with 3rd party printers Addresses issues that cause background message colors to display incorrectly in Mail Issues that caused machines using BTMM and Bonjour Sleep Proxy to wake unexpectedly Issues with recurring events in iCal when connected to Exchange servers This is the fifth build of 10.6.3 Apple has released since January. While no time frame for release is ever given, generally the closer in time the builds come to one another, the better likelihood that a release is imminent.TUAWApple seeds another build of 10.6.3 to devs originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Apple - Software Update Apple - Operating system - QuickTime - OpenGL
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Vital Signs: States grapple with insurers' rate hikes
As health-insurance premiums rise beyond what many people can pay, some states are experimenting with more aggressive ways to protect consumers from skyrocketing premiums in the individual market.
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Joby demonstrates brilliance with Gorillapod Magnetic flexible tripod
It's the ultimate "why didn't I think of that?" concept, but kudos to Joby for doing more than just keeping a bar story to itself. Following in the footsteps of the magnified Gorillatorch, Joby decided to add a few magnets to the feet of its tried-and-true Gorillapod flexible tripod. The result? The Gorillapod Magnetic, of course! Reportedly, this little bugger supports digital cameras and camcorders weighing up to 11.5 ounces, and it should go on sale worldwide this April for an undisclosed amount. We know you've been dreaming of a way to snap group photos while inside those steel prison bars, and at long last, those dreams can be become reality. In related news, the company is also showing its professional side with the April-bound Ballhead X, which is described as a "portable yet sturdy" head that can pan, tilt, and rotate cameras up to 11.1 pounds, and while it's designed to play nice with the Gorillapod Focus, it should work fine with 3/8- and 1/4-inch threads on other tripods. Full release is after the break. Gallery: Joby Gorillapod Magnetic and Ballhead XContinue reading Joby demonstrates brilliance with Gorillapod Magnetic flexible tripodJoby demonstrates brilliance with Gorillapod Magnetic flexible tripod originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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NAND flash memory supplies constrained (again)
Filed under: Hardware, iPod Family, Portables, iPadTwo things happen like clockwork every year: Apple raises the capacities on its NAND flash-based iPods and the iPhone, and analysts like iSuppli release a report saying that worldwide supplies of NAND flash are likely to be constrained as a result. The supply constraints aren't likely to affect Apple, which signed a supply deal with Toshiba last year, but other companies that depend on flash memory for their consumer electronics products may find themselves scrambling to find enough memory to keep production going ... just like last year, and the year before that, when analysts said almost exactly the same thing. iSuppli predicts Apple will ship in excess of 33 million iPhones this year with an average capacity of 35.2 GB of NAND flash memory -- consistent with a doubling of capacities across the line. 2010 sales estimates for the iPad range from 4 million units and up, and the iPod touch may also see a capacity bump to 128 GB in September/October. That all adds up to a lot of flash memory. With the introduction of the iPad and a likely storage increase to 64 GB for the next-gen iPhone in mid-year, it's no surprise that chipmakers will have a hard time keeping up. [Via All Things Digital] TUAWNAND flash memory supplies constrained (again) originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - Apple - IPod Touch - IPod - Toshiba
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CE-Oh no he didn't! Part LXVIII: Only Apple and dope smokers claim to know the future of tablets, says Dell VP
What we'd normally brush off as pretty standard mainstream tech piece became comedy gold thanks to the acerbic wit of Dell's John Thode. The VP of mobile devices was discussing its companies entry into the tablet industry (all the while promoting the Mini 5, of course) and seemed to downplay Apple's iPad momentum. "It's really hard to kind of do the same thing over again twice or three times... [Apple] is going to have more competition here." A rational statement, but here's where it gets interesting: "If anybody tells you they know exactly what's going to happen here, they're either Apple, or they're smoking dope." Don't tell John, but we hear Gartner just hired the entire cast and crew of Dazed and Confused for a special analytics department.CE-Oh no he didn't! Part LXVIII: Only Apple and dope smokers claim to know the future of tablets, says Dell VP originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | WSJ | Email this | Comments
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Noby Noby Boy out now on iPhone, and it's awesome
Filed under: Gaming, Software, Odds and ends, Apple, Developer, iPhone, App Store, Music Keita Takahashi is a strange guy. He's most known for delivering the brilliant Katamari Damacy to us on the Playstation 2, a game in which you rolled around a ball that stuck to everything in the world, growing bigger and bigger as more and more stuff collected on it. But after that early success, he's gotten weirder, at one point saying that he didn't want to make games at all, and then releasing Noby Noby Boy for the PS3, an "experience" in which you stretch a tubelike creature named BOY, which in turn stretches another creature named GIRL, out into the solar system with all of other players in the world. It's the kind of thing that has to be played to be understood, and even then, you don't understand it so much as experience it. Noby Noby Boy on the iPhone is a similar release: while it's an app that comes from a game platform, it's actually in the Productivity section of the App Store. Even though the goal seems to again be to stretch the BOY out as far as you can, while in turn stretching GIRL along with PS3 players ("cross-platform compatibility!" exclaims the ingame Fairy, the most charming and weird help system you've ever seen), it's really just a chance for Takahashi's brilliance to run wild on the iPhone platform. There's more to explore, do and experience in this app than any other $1.99 app I've seen, and while some of it is wacky, and strange, and just plain crazy, Noby Noby Boy is a product of imagination -- both his and ours. Just like Takahashi's other projects, Noby Noby Boy is both easy to use and hard to explain. Fairy helps by bringing in some interesting explanations as you browse through the app for the first time, but really, most of the app is just an invitation to play and twist and explore using all of the iPhone's various interfaces and features. You can just stretch the BOY by using multitouch, or you can switch to a GPS screen, and stretch him by moving out into the real world. You can use the camera to take pictures in a few different ways, including an augmented reality-style view that has the BOY bouncing around a real-time view from the iPhone's camera (even on my 1G iPhone). You can play music straight from the iPhone's library, but the UI is of a music-bot, whose hands and feet are the controls. You can keep "notes" on BOY in a number of different categories, using a wild little mini-app that prints letters on the creature as it stretches. And you can email and correspond with other "players," including uploading your stretching to increase the GIRL's length, or just emailing pictures of whatever you've created in the game. Some people will load up Noby Noby Boy and wonder what the point is, and that's a fair reaction -- even Takahashi admits in this game that his PS3 version didn't quite go over as planned. But there's so much to do and play with and explore here that the app asks a little bit of imagination from the player as well -- it's up to you what you want to do with what he's created. Just wanted to make a silly picture and send it to your friend? You can. Want to dive in and figure out how to stretch the BOY farther, looking for secrets about how the game works in the background? Go ahead. Want to just start up the GPS, turn the game off, and travel as far in the real world as you can, checking back later to see what's happened in the app? You can do that, too. We've had quite a few games released on the App Store, obviously, and while a lot of them have been copies or re-releases from games that would work on other platforms, very few have been experiences that could only happen on the iPhone. Noby Noby Boy for iPhone is one of those. Something as crazy as this could only have come from Takahashi, and all of the things he's created here could only have been put together on the iPhone. That's a great achievement for just $1.99.TUAWNoby Noby Boy out now on iPhone, and it's awesome originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Noby Boy - iPhone - App Store - Keita Takahashi - Katamari Damacy
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Olympic notebook: Meet the Games' youngest reporter
10-year-old Brennan LaBrie, in town to cover the Games as a Time magazine "kid reporter," is already a veteran journalist.
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School district uses MacBooks to illegally spy on students
Posted by Dennis SellersPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania: Lower Merion School District officials used school-issued laptops—MacBooks— to illegally spy on students, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.
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Apple's E-Book Pricing Flip: Chaotic or Cunning?
Apple's role as the book publishing industry's white knight may be over even before it has begun. Cupertino may not be willing to allow publishers as much leeway in setting their own e-book prices as previously thought, according to a New York Times report. After unveiling the iPad Jan. 27, Apple shook the e-book world with its statement on e-book pricing. Several major publishers have agreed to provide content at the iPad's iBookstore. That sparked a battle with Amazon.com, which capped e-book prices on its Kindle e-readers at $9.99.
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Macworld 2010: TUAW's Best in Show
Filed under: Macworld, Peripherals, Developer, iPad Our videos are almost all posted, the interviews are all transcribed, and the impressions are all done and published -- we're finally bringing our Macworld 2010 coverage to conclusion. It was a heck of a show -- while there wasn't a lot of attention outside the conference floor from folks expecting more about Apple, on the show floor itself there was clearly an excitement and a sense of opportunity for lots of companies who might have been overshadowed by Apple's presence in the past. It was a smaller show, for sure, but in some ways it was also a better show. We're still not completely sure what will happen next year, but Macworld 2010 was a success -- not as big a success as it was when Apple was putting wind in the sails, but a success nevertheless. We saw a lot of stuff at the show, from dozens of accessories, to the wild Parrot AR.Drone, and even the closest thing to an iPad that we could find. After clicking on the link below, read on to see what a few of our bloggers had to say about the best of what they saw at the show. Gallery: Macworld 2010 Show Floor First Look Mike Schramm: Flying the Parrot AR.Drone was a hoot, though I'm not actually sold on buying one -- it seems complicated for a "toy." In terms of software, both Papershow and the Algoriddim djay 3 software impressed me a lot. But my favorite product at the show wasn't even for sale -- I really enjoyed seeing the iPad mockup, and finally getting a feel for what the most-missed device at Macworld was really like. Mike Rose: The several flavors of iPhone-friendly gloves were a stark reminder of winter's grip on most of the country, even as San Francisco was pleasantly temperate. The Papershow presentation/whiteboard system was impressively put together and will definitely appeal to educators and executives alike. What really shook me up, though, was the $10 demo of the Square payment system for iPhone and iPod touch. Just a tiny dongle and some software, but the new project from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has the potential to change lives (and ease revenue collection) for millions of independent professionals, craftspeople and consultants. Steve Sande: The best in show? TUAW's live coverage! But I'm biased... Seriously, though, there wasn't just one thing. I was impressed with how much attention my OWLE Bubo received during Macworld Expo, and the company wasn't even at the show this year. Square was incredible, so I'll second Mike Rose's comments. Blue Microphones really stole the show with the Blue Yeti mics that they lent to us for the TUAW booth / studio, and the new version of the Mikey for iPhone. The Mophie Juice Pack Air in red with the soft-touch finish was flying off of the shelves at the Expo. That's it from those of us at TUAW. Most of us are still wading through the piles of brochures, washing clothes, and attempting to make up for lost sleep during the week at Macworld 2010, so we'll excuse the bloggers who didn't add their comments. We would, however, love to hear from TUAW readers who attended the show. What did you think was the best or most unique thing you saw at Macworld?TUAWMacworld 2010: TUAW's Best in Show originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - Apple - San Francisco - Macworld Conference & Expo - Unofficial Apple Weblog
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A Wishlist of Features for the Next Round of Cellphones
As mobile phones reach a plateau of innovation, what can we expect from the next generation of mobile devices? Here's a wishlist of six features that could help move mobile technology forward.
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School allegedly uses students' laptop webcam for espionage, lawsuit ensues
Hold onto your butts, kids, we've got a doozy of a story. Let's take this one slow: a class-action lawsuit has been filed in Pennsylvania accusing the Lower Merion school district of "unauthorized, inappropriate and indiscriminate remote activation" of webcams in laptops issued to students, without prior knowledge or consent. The tale begins when Assistant Principal Lindy Mastko of Harriton High School informed a student that he was "engaged in improper behavior in his home"; the suit alleges that when pressed for details, Mastko told both the boy and his father that the school district could remotely activate the webcam -- a capability that is apparently being used. The school district has yet to respond to the accusations, so at this point we've only got the plaintiff's side of the story -- for all we know this kid took a picture of himself and somehow accidentally uploaded it on the school network. Then again, some purported Lower Merion students just emailed Gizmodo and claimed that their MacBooks' green webcam lights went on at random times, but they were told by IT support that it was just a technical glitch. Holy alleged invasion of privacy, Batman, this could get mighty interesting. PDF of the complaint available below. Update: The Lower Merion School District superintendent Christopher McGinley has issued an official response on its website, acknowledging "a security feature intended to track lost, stolen and missing laptops." Going further, he says the district " has not used the tracking feature or web cam for any other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever" but that the matter is "under review." [Thanks, Yossi] School allegedly uses students' laptop webcam for espionage, lawsuit ensues originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Boing Boing, WHYY | Lawsuit (PDF), Gizmodo | Email this | Comments
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The Engadget Show returns February 27th with Boxee's Avner Ronen, Windows Phone 7 Series, and more!
If you're a fan of entertainment of the digital variety, you'd be a fool to miss the next live taping of The Engadget Show. We'll be sitting down with Avner Ronen, creator and CEO of Boxee and taking a look at the forthcoming (and very anticipated) Boxee Box. We'll also be discussing Avner's strategy for taking on the networks and cable providers, and the best methods of defending oneself from Jeff Zucker. Not only that, but we'll have a Windows Phone 7 Series device on hand for a demo and discussion, plus the regular kind of Engadget Show zaniness you've come to know and love. You can also expect good clean music from Nullsleep, and stunning visuals from Outpt and Paris. If you miss this one, you'll basically have zero good stories to tell your grand children. The Show is sponsored by Sprint, and will take place at the Times Center, part of The New York Times Building in the heart of New York City at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues (see map after the break). Tickets are -- as always -- free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served... so get there early! Sprint is also offering 50 guaranteed tickets to The Engadget Show taping to the first 50 entrants who text "ENGADGET" to 467467 or enter online! Standard text messaging rates apply. Click here for the Official Rules and see how to enter online. Here's all the info you need: There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free The event is all ages Ticketing will begin at the Times Center at 2:30PM on Saturday, doors will open for seating at 4:30PM, and the show begins at 5PM You cannot collect tickets for friends or family -- anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket Seating capacity in the Times Center is about 340, and once we're full, we're full The venue is located at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City (map after the break) The show length is around an hour If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com. Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.Continue reading The Engadget Show returns February 27th with Boxee's Avner Ronen, Windows Phone 7 Series, and more!The Engadget Show returns February 27th with Boxee's Avner Ronen, Windows Phone 7 Series, and more! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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Celebrity Eclipse 'iLounge' described as an 'Apple store at sea'
Ah, yes. The open sea, fine dining, relaxation, and an Apple-certified employee available to troubleshoot your iMovie problems. That's the case on the new Celebrity Eclipse cruise ship at least, which is set to make its maiden voyage this April complete with a "Celebrity iLounge" on board. Described as a "hip, modern lounge," the iLounge includes an internet cafe equipped with 26 workstations, a second retail space where guests can try out and buy various Apple products and accessories (yes, Celebrity is now an Authorized Apple Reseller), and a third "enrichment center" that will offer classes on the iLife suite of programs and other general topics. Of course, it's not a real Apple Store at sea. Floating cubes can be a bit tippy.Celebrity Eclipse 'iLounge' described as an 'Apple store at sea' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Cruise Notes | Celebrity Cruises | Email this | Comments
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TUAW review and giveaway: Bill Atkinson PhotoCard for iPhone
Filed under: Software, Developer, iPhone, Apple History, App Store, App Review When it comes to famous names in the Apple pantheon, Bill Atkinson ranks very high in the list. The brains behind MacPaint, HyperCard, the Mac OS menu bar, and a host of other innovative software applications has been a professional nature photographer since 1996, but now he's melded his development mojo with photography and released his very first iPhone app, Bill Atkinson PhotoCard for iPhone. At first glance, the US$4.99 app looks like yet another postcard app for the iPhone. But when you actually start looking at the details of PhotoCard, you realize that it's much, much more. To start with, the app comes with 150 of Atkinson's fabulous nature photographs that can be used in the creation of postcards. That takes care of the front of the postcard, but what about the back? Like many of the apps of this genre, PhotoCard has a space for typing in a message to the recipient. It ups the ante with 150 stamps to add to your card (more on these later). There are also 325 little stickers that can be added to the back of your card. Once the card is ready to send, you have your choice of either sending it to the recipient via email or having the card printed on an HP Indigo digital press and then sent through snail mail. When it comes to famous names in the Apple pantheon, Bill Atkinson ranks very high in the list. The brains behind MacPaint, HyperCard, the Mac OS menu bar, and a host of other innovative software applications has been a professional nature photographer since 1996, but now he's melded his development mojo with photography and released his very first iPhone app, Bill Atkinson PhotoCard for iPhone. At first glance, the US$4.99 app looks like yet another postcard app for the iPhone. But when you actually start looking at the details of PhotoCard, you realize that it's much, much more. To start with, the app comes with 150 of Atkinson's fabulous nature photographs that can be used in the creation of postcards. That takes care of the front of the postcard, but what about the back? Like many of the apps of this genre, PhotoCard has a space for typing in a message to the recipient. It ups the ante with 150 stamps to add to your card (more on these later). There are also 325 little stickers that can be added to the back of your card. Once the card is ready to send, you have your choice of either sending it to the recipient via email or having the card printed on an HP Indigo digital press and then sent through snail mail.TUAWTUAW review and giveaway: Bill Atkinson PhotoCard for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - AppStore - Bill Atkinson - Apple - MacPaint
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News: Zirak Mobile releases Scanner & Fax app
Zirak Mobile has released a new application for photographing and sending out documents directly from the iPhone. Scanner&Fax; allows users to take pictures of documents with the iPhone camera, enhance them and organize them into multi-page PDF files. The resulting PDF documents can be transferred to a computer over Wi-Fi, saved to Google Docs, iDisk or WebDAV, or sent via e-mail or fax. Faxes are sent via the InterFax online fax service and users…
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Apple adds ability to browse iPhone/iPod touch app categories to iTunes Preview
Posted by Dennis SellersEarlier this month Apple added the ability to preview iPhone/iPod touch apps via iTunes Preview. Now it's added the ability to browse application categories.
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Apple blocks iPad import records from public access
Posted by Dennis Sellers With the March delivery date of the new iPad approaching, Apple has blocked its bills of lading and other import records from public access, according to a report by Trade Privacy, a trade data protection company based in Reston, Virginia.
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Review: Pyramid Distribution iClooly Alumi Stand for iPhone 3G/3GS
Unlike Just Mobile's Xtand and Thermaltake's Luxa2 H1-Touch, iClooly Alumi Stand actually encloses your entire iPhone 3G or 3GS inside of a frame that extends around 0.2” beyond each edge of the device. Parroting the design of the Apple iMac computer that was then in production when iClooly was first released, there's an aluminum leg at the bottom, and a device frame that starts with a half-inch of aluminum—the only part…
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Jobs reportedly calls Flash a dying technology
Posted by Dennis SellersApple CEO Steve Jobs once called Blu-ray a “bag of hurt,” and he apparently feels the same way about Flash. According to a Valleywag” report, Apple's head honcho tried to convince “The Wall Street Journal” to ditch Flash and move to the iPad.
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iPhone/iPod apps for Feb. 18
Posted by Dennis SellersHere are the latest iPhone/iPod touch/iPod apps announced. You can find 'em at the Apple App Store.
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Apple Doubles iPhone’s Cellular Network Download Limit
I've cursed the 10MB over-the-air cell data download limit on Apple's iPhone many a time, especially when trying to grab a podcast or game for use on the train while traveling. Things got slightly better in that regard today, since Apple doubled the download limit for apps, games and iTunes content over 3G and Edge data connections. Of course, I noticed the bump in download capacity when I absentmindedly tried to download a podcast that exceeded both the old and new limits, so it's hard to say as of yet how much of an improvement in user experience this actually represents. Likewise, so far every other article I've seen regarding the change has found out about it by trying to download something that's far larger than 20MB. So why the change? Well, presumably there actually are some apps, video or podcasts out there that are between 10 and 20MB in size, so there is that. Maybe it indicates that a milestone has been reached by AT&T in terms of its ability to handle greater bandwidth usage, but somehow I doubt that, too. I can't help but think that the real reason has to do with the upcoming iPad. Since half of the iPad models will sport 3G connectivity, it makes sense to expect users to want to be able to access more content using that connection, especially given that they won't be using the cellular connection for making calls or doing anything phone-related. I'm just speculating, but I think it's also possible that the sweet spot for Apple's visually rich e-book and e-magazine content will fall somewhere in that 10 to 20MB range. Pocket Gamer has another interesting take on why Apple upped the limit. According to them, many iPhone developers were tailoring their games and apps to fit just under the 10MB cap, so that it would be easier for customers to purchase the software on the go from anywhere. An impulse buy, after all, isn't nearly as likely to be made when you're at home in the comfort of your Wi-Fi network, where you have so many other diversions vying for your attention. Accordingly, a cap increase should result in a corresponding increase in the level of App Store software releases. As Pocket Gamer's Spanner Spencer puts it: Double the available app size for remote users should therefore make for some doubly impressive products. In all likelyhood this is in preparation for the inherently larger size of iPad games and apps. Let's hope this analysis proves correct, because it should mean promising things are on the horizon for iPhone and iPad users alike. Related GigaOM Pro Research: How AT&T Will Deal with iPad Data Traffic
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Ngmoco cancels Rolando 3, says it can't fit into a free-to-play model
Filed under: Gaming, Software, Developer, iPhone, App Store Here's some unfortunate news out of Ngmoco: The company tells IGN that while there was a Rolando 3 (the second sequel to the very popular and excellent rolling iPhone platformer) in progress, the game has been essentially canceled, and will never see release in its current form. Why? The second game wasn't exactly a sales success (though Ngmoco's Neil Young admits "it's done fine"), and it was that lack of a big splash that made Ngmoco turn the corner into "freemium," or the model of releasing free games that offer in-app purchases for premium content. They've had a lot of success with their Eliminate Pro shooter, and they want to adapt that model for all games: get a few hits for free, spend some real money on in-app purchases for the rest. And apparently when they couldn't bring that model over to Rolando 3, they scrapped the title. That's a real shame -- not every game on the App Store has to be a runaway hit, and Rolando 3 seems like a perfect candidate for the "slow burn"; release it at a price of $5 or $6, and just let it sit there as an example of great gaming on the iPhone (and the upcoming iPad). But Ngmoco has made their decision, and Rolando 3 is no more. They say the series isn't gone for good -- if they can figure out a way to do "freemium" with Rolando, we could see the roly poly guys on the iPhone again. You'd think that paying for a level or two at a time would work just fine, but who knows what Ngmoco's reasoning is on this. If I get a chance to talk with them at next month's GDC, I'll ask. [via Joystiq] Update: Reader Zyber sent us a petition he's started to try and get the game released. Online petitions aren't exactly proven to be effective, but we'll throw our support behind it just the same.TUAWNgmoco cancels Rolando 3, says it can't fit into a free-to-play model originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - Ngmoco - App Store - Neil Young - Rolando
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News: Apple CEO Jobs pushes WSJ to dump Flash
During a recent meeting with executives from the Wall Street Journal, Apple CEO Steve Jobs aggressively dismissed Adobe's Flash technology, urging the publication to develop non-Flash alternatives for its video and other interactive content. Citing people familiar with the meeting, Silicon Alley Insider reports that Jobs called Flash a “CPU hog,” claiming that the iPad's battery performance would drop from 10 hours to 1.5 hours…
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'MacVoices' looks at the HyperMac products
Posted by Dennis SellersOn the new MacVoices, Jennifer Lynn of HyperMac discusses their iPod, iPhone and Mac battery solutions.
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Keep your eyes on the Sun safely with free 3D Sun app
Filed under: Freeware, iPhone, iPod touch, App ReviewI really love to find cool, free apps, and I have a good one for you. 3D Sun, developed in collaboration with NASA scientists, will alert you to solar flares and storms which can disrupt communications on earth and trigger spectacular northern lights. Activating the push feature provides instant notification of major solar activity.. Clicking on the app will give you detailed information, as well as a current picture of the surface of the sun provided by the NASA 'Stereo' satellites. You can rotate the view of the sun with your fingers, and pinch in and out to zoom. The 2 satellites don't have a 360 degree view, so there will be a dark sliver where the cameras can't see. Using this app is a lot safer than trying to see these phenomena with the naked eye or even using some of the not-so-safe solar filters that are around. In addition to the 'live' view of the sun, you can view recent pictures of the sun in different bands of the spectrum, and you'll get a look at the rather fascinating magnetic field lines that are above the surface of our friendly orb. The app also features a collection of stills and movies showing solar events and events triggered by the sun. The app is just out, so grab it if you are interested. I'd also remind our scientifically prone readers of the terrific NASA app that Steve Sande reviewed in October. 3D Sun has scads of images, videos, launch information and more, and it's another freebie. These apps run on the iPhone and the iPod touch. I think you should go for launch on both of these. A-OK? Check the gallery for more screen shots: Gallery: 3D SunTUAWKeep your eyes on the Sun safely with free 3D Sun app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - Sun - NASA - Solar flare - IPod Touch
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Review: Contour Design rE-charge Universal for iPod & iPhone
A little history: Incase was amongst the first companies to create an all-in-one wall and car charger for iPods, and initially released the functional but physically somewhat awkward Incase Charger in 2004. Contour was much later to the game, first showing prototypes of rE-Charge Universal back in 2008, but didn't get the subsequently tweaked final design out until later in 2009. Though the finished product initially looks like an oversized…
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News: Apple patent details camera bias compensation
A newly-published Apple patent application suggests the company is working on new manufacturing processes that would provide consumers with a more consistent experience when using cameras built-in to the company's products. Entitled “Apparatus and Method for Compensating for Variations in Digital Cameras,” the patent explains that imaging sensors and lenses can vary slightly from unit to unit, resulting in inconsistent operation.…
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Sony intros 3D-capable STR-DN1010 A/V receiver
Sony's already introduced 3D TVs and 3D Blu-ray players, and it's now finally followed those up with a 3D-capable receiver for those who need to pass through 3D video while internally decoding high res audio. That model, the STR-DN1010, is naturally a 7.1 A/V receiver, and boasts 110 watts of power per channel, along with four HDMI ports (including one with Audio Return Channel plus three component), support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, upscaling of any video source to 1080p, support for Sony's S-AIR wireless system, and a Digital Media Port to accommodate iPod docks and other accessories, among other standard fare. Look for this one to land in March for $400, along with two other new non-3D models (the STR-DH710 and STR-DH510) that will run you $300 and $230.Sony intros 3D-capable STR-DN1010 A/V receiver originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Sony | Email this | Comments
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Kingston ships 256GB DataTraveler 310 USB flash drive to affluent Yanks
No matter how you slice it, having 256GB on your keychain is pretty rad. For those living in various regions of the world not named America, they've had access to the DataTraveler 300 for just under a year. Thankfully, the Kingston finally realized that Yanks love capaciousness as well, and the DataTraveler 310 is the solution that very sect has been longing for. Hailed as the first 256GB flash drive to ship in the States, the DT 310 is capable of holding up to 54 DVDs or 1,984 JPEGs of your undercover lover, and it'll function just fine with Windows, Linux and OS X-based systems. We're told that it'll sport data transfer rates of 25MB/sec (read) and 12MB/sec (write), but chances are you'll never get the opportunity to put those claims to the test. You know, given that astronomical $1,108 MSRP. Gallery: Kingston 256GB DataTraveler 310 USB flash driveKingston ships 256GB DataTraveler 310 USB flash drive to affluent Yanks originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Hot Hardware | Email this | Comments
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Patent application hints at future of Magic Mouse
Filed under: Accessories, HardwareThe US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application that hints at the future of Apple's Magic Mouse. It describes three new sensors and a triple-axis gyroscope to detect the roll, pitch, and yaw of the mouse. This means that a user could tilt the mouse from side to side to produce a horizontal scroll, a vertical scroll or to tilt a graphic. Additionally, the mouse described in the patent has a convex underside to make all that tilting easier. You can see the full application and even more images here. Of course, Apple patents many technologies that never see production. The Magic Mouse became the first multi-touch mouse when it was released last year, replacing the Mighty Mouse and its temperamental scroll wheel. We'll have to wait and see if this even more magical mouse gets produced. [Via MacDailyNews]TUAWPatent application hints at future of Magic Mouse originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Apple - multitouch - Apple Mouse - MagicMouse - Scroll wheel
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Apple patents range from theme-based slideshows to device testing
Posted by Dennis SellersSeveral Apple patents ranging from theme-based slideshows to device testing have appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Here's a summary of each:
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Apple patent hints at forward-facing camera in future portable devices
Posted by Dennis SellersAn Apple patent (number 2010039530) has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office that shows that Apple plans on beefing up its picture and video recording performance on portable devices. Also, a look at the patent shows that future iPhones and/or iPod touches and/or iPads could sport a forward facing...
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NewsGator unveils iPhone, iPad clients for Microsoft SharePoint
Posted by Dennis SellersNewsGator, the company making SharePoint social, has released SharePoint's first native social iPhone client. It, and a companion client for the soon-to-be-released iPad, provide on-the-road users with direct access to their enterprise social computing environments without the need for a browser.
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Kingston Digital ships 256GB USB Flash drive
Posted by Dennis SellersKingston Digital, the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, has released the DataTraveler 310, which it says is the first 256GB USB Flash drive in the United States. The company has also released a SDHC Class 10 card in 16GB and 32GB capacities.
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One iBook, Two iBook, Red iBook, Blue iBook
One of the great excitements about the iPad bringing books to its large screen was the potential for comic books and magazines to really deliver some killer content. The 9.7" color screen could bring seriously enhanced readability as well as create a new genre of interactive graphic media.In response to one overlooked demographic, Oceanhouse Media has launched additional iPhone and iPod touch apps featuring some beloved children's titles. And they've got their eyes set on the iPad.Released a week ago, the three titles The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss's ABC, and Dr. Seuss Camera - The Cat in the Hat Edition render beautifully on the iPhone. The former two are ebooks that offer the option of being read to by a professional narrator or reading by yourself. And both include word highlighting to improve printed word recognition as well as pan and zoom functions and background audio for affect. The camera app allows users to insert themselves into scenes from the book or even become characters such as Thing 1 and Thing 2. And according to The Loop, the developer is in the works to bring its entire library into the iPad world. Based on the success of their How the Grinch Stole Christmas from last year, as well as the “Best Just for Fun Kids App” nomination for Grinchmas, Oceanhouse Media is pursuing a canny strategy. The release of classic Dr. Seuss books alongside apps that are related in content, such as The Cat in the Hat camera app and The Grinch camera app, helps strengthen the relationship for consumers of Oceanhouse with the beloved Dr. Seuss. A successful sale of one title almost guarantees additional purchases. And priced out in the $2.99 - $3.99 range, it's a cinch parents will be snatching these up.While the big five major publishers and Amazon and Apple wrangle over various pricing mechanisms, Oceanhouse Media president Michel Kripalani isn't wasting any time gearing up for the iPad release. As the official Dr. Seuss iPhone/iPad content developer, they've got a decent and long catalog of titles to roll out. “We are very bullish on the outlook of interactive book titles on the iPad," he told The Loop. And he has every reason to be. Consider a little going-off-to-college gift of an iPad with Oh, The Places You'll Go already loaded, and you can begin to see where this is going.
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Research group: Apple's revenue with exceed $100 billion in five years
Posted by Dennis Sellers The Research and Markets research group has published a report on “The Future of Apple.” And the research group says that future looks very, very rosy.
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Apple patents show revolutionary input devices
Posted by Dennis SellersNew Apple patents at the US Patent & Trademark Office show that Apple is planning on tweaking its input devices—and apparently has new devices at least in the planning stages.
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StarCraft II Hopefully Coming to a Mac Near You
Fret not, Mac gamers. Though your PC brethern may be infiltrating your Twitter feed with inane status updates boasting their Zerg domination, you can lay low knowing deep in your heart that Blizzard is, allegedly, developing StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty for both Mac and PC. The current closed beta version is only available for PC users that signed up ahead of time, but a Mac version should be coming soon, accoding to The Loop. StarCraft II picks up where the original series left off 12 years ago, chronicling the ultimate struggle for intergalactic supremacy among the Terras, Protoss and Zerg. As standard with almost all Blizzard titles, the game will also have multiplayer support through Battle.net. Blizzard expects to ship the finished product sometime later this year. Artwork from the official StarCraft II site.
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Confirmed: Apple upped its App Store over-the-air download limits
Filed under: Apple, iPhone, App StoreAlthough Apple's just-released iTunes Connect guide for App Store developers (version 5.3) reminds them that over-the-air downloads for app purchases are still limited to 10MB, users are reporting that Apple may have quietly changed this policy. As the screen shot here (sourced from Italian website AllMobileWorld) shows, the standard 10MB complaint appears to be updated to a 20MB limit. This is, as yet, the first TUAW has heard (or, more literally, seen) of the matter, but the screen shot does not appear faked. Given that Apple updated the iTunes Connect material on Tuesday, this could have simply been an oversight in the developer documentation that does not reflect the new policy. Have you seen this dialog? Does it say 10MB or 20MB for you? Let us know in the comments, and do mention which carrier you are using in case it is an European-only phenomenon. Update: We have now confirmed the change with carriers in multiple countries. One report from Denmark indicates that users there remain at at 10MB limit. Thanks, everyone who tipped us about thisTUAWConfirmed: Apple upped its App Store over-the-air download limits originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments AppStore - iPhone - Apple - iTunes - Unofficial Apple Weblog
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Apple's e-book pricing may match Kindle
While it's widely been presumed that the big publishing houses are flocking to Apple's "agency" model because it allows them to set prices, are publishers really going to get better margins selling their books on the iBook Store than they are on Amazon?
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Bits Scan: Thursday's Tech News Roundup
Over the past 18 months, hackers have breached more than 2,500 private and government computers, Kodak isn't happy with Apple and Research and Motion, and David Pogue reviews Google Buzz.
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Strata online professional courses announced
Posted by Dennis SellersStrata has announced the Strata Power User live online training course series. These initial courses will be taught by designers Chris Tyler and Jean Probert.
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Google buys reMail; kills iPhone application
Google yesterday acquired email search startup reMail then promptly killed the company's iPhone app.
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News: Apple blocks import records ahead of iPad launch
Apple has taken steps to block its ocean freight import records from public view ahead of the launch of its new iPad tablet computer, according to trade data protection company Trade Privacy. According to a press release issued by Trade Privacy, industry competitors and media will be unable to acquire any early intelligence on Apple products arriving on U.S. shores from foreign manufacturers, preventing outlets like ImportGenius—which predicted…
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Your Macsimum Podcast for February 18th
Posted by Frank PetrieToday on your Macsimum Podcast: “It's A Snap,” “Up, Up, Up,” “Got Them Ol' Kindle Blues” and ”...Story 4.”
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iPhone devsugar: App Store approval in...one hour?
Filed under: AppleApproximately one hour after uploading his new application update to iTunes Connect, Bristol-based iPhone developer Rob Jonson of Hobbyist software got the surprise of his week: an official Apple green light. His latest update to his VLC Remote application had been approved and was ready for sale. VLC Remote allows you to control a Mac- or Windows-based VideoLAN playback client from your iPhone, basically duplicating many of the features you'd get from a standard Apple Remote. His update wasn't complicated. "It was a simple problem," he told me over the phone this morning. "One of the buttons stopped working because of a stupid error. I missed a break in a case statement." So he uploaded his bugfix at about 11 PM local United Kingdom time. Just before midnight, he checked his e-mail before heading off to bed. The Apple approval was sitting in his in-box. A recent update, submitted last week, had taken only a day to receive approval. "With 24 hours, I was very impressed. But one hour? I couldn't believe it. Clearly Apple has changed the game." "It's awesome," he said. "It makes me less scared to put out an update. " As Jonson explained, updates used to involve a two week process. During that time, you didn't "...want to do any more work until it [went] through. You [made] yourself do something else in the meantime" like switching to another project development, to allow time for Apple to finish processing the submission. "Now, I know I can have it sorted out very quickly, it's so much easier for me to improve my app." He contrasted Apple's new response times with Palm's, which continues to introduce long delays between app submission and review. "If a user finds a bug, and I fix it, I have to send a request to cancel the update before I can submit a new update." This is similar to Apple's policy of developers self-rejecting an app submission, but takes more work. You must wait for the cancel request to process. "Palm hasn't got the update process sorted yet for its app store." With Apple, he can now submit his updates and know that they will be handled promptly. For now, Apple's excellent turnaround time means two things. First, it's going to greatly improve the ability of developers to deliver bug updates in a timely manner, without being burdened by long delays that cause development downtime. Bug fixes will reach users sooner and the App Store ecosystem will improve as a consequence. Second, it's going to speed the process of developer entry into the iPad arena. Shorter turn-around means that iPad-specific apps will start filling App Store shelves without the kind of months-long ramp up that was needed when iPhone apps first debuted. With just sixty days between iPad announcement and the first units expected to hit the shelves, Apple's rapid app review promises that developers can put their iPad goods in the hands of consumers nearly as soon as the iPad starts shipping. Shorter review times are a great move on Apple's part and a win for all parties: developers, customers, and Apple.TUAWiPhone devsugar: App Store approval in...one hour? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments AppStore - iPhone - Apple - Unofficial Apple Weblog - iTunes
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Apple Increases 3G Download Limit To 20 MB
We all know a lot of apps out there can be data hogs, at least when it comes to downloading them. Sometimes you come across that really cool app, and want to download it before you forget about it, only to remember you're not near Wi-Fi, and it's over 10 MB.  Now in a move that's most likely gearing up for the iPad launch, Apple is raising the bar of the maximum size of apps that can be downloaded over 3G to 20 MB.  Of course in the past, the limit has been set at 10 MB. While the change in download size might not seem like a large increase, many developers prefer their apps be available over 3G, since most apps are bought on the go.If this is indeed in preparation for the iPad, it could pose a problem. The iPad's increased resolution will mean a greater demand for better graphics, which could pose some issues in terms of space. But with the increase, developers can have a better chance at having more graphically enhanced apps AND still garner 3G sales.  Via AppAdviceImage courtesy of WordPress.com
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Apple’s e-Book Pricing May Start High, But Won’t Necessarily Stay That Way
One of the main reasons I like buying e-books for my Kindle instead of physical ones is the price advantage. Yes, portability is nice, and I don't have to line my apartment walls with bookshelves just to hold everything, but I still do value the book as an artifact, so pricing is really the major attraction. Apple's $12.99 to $14.99 price range for the iBookstore has begun to erode that primary advantage. Luckily, according to a new report by the New York Times, Apple's higher prices aren't necessarily a permanent thing. Instead, sources at the publishing houses who've made agreements with Apple suggest that built-in discounting provisions will result in book prices dropping as low as Amazon's fast disappearing $9.99 price point. Under the agency model Apple uses, it will take 30 percent of each e-book sale made, while the publisher gets 70 percent of the take to distribute between itself, the author and other involved in the making of the book. The agency model along with a complicated formula related to the price of print books led publishers to suggest that price points for new fiction and non-fiction releases would fall somewhere between $12.99 and $14.99. Publishers then took that higher price point back to Amazon and essentially insisted that the online bookseller institute a similar model. Under Amazon's model, the Kindle maker actually lost money on every e-book, counting instead on revenue from hardware and on building market share to turn a profit. The New York Times describes how this worked: Amazon has effectively lost money on each sale at that price because it buys and resells e-books as it purchases printed books, by paying publishers a wholesale price generally equivalent to half the list price of a print edition. That means that on a $26 hardcover book, Amazon would typically pay the publisher $13, losing just over $3 on a digital edition it sells for $9.99. The NYT's sources, three people involved in the discussions between the publishing houses and Apple, note that even though books will indeed be sold at a higher initial price through the iBookstore, Cupertino built provisions into the agreement that would allow them to discount the prices of hot selling e-books, including those found on the NYT's bestseller list. Apple wants the ability to undercut or match competitors' prices for these books, which are often offered at significant discounts in other sales venues. A book that becomes a bestseller could then see a price drop from say $12.99 to $10.99, or even as low as $9.99, according to the sources. Even books not on the bestseller list would be eligible for this lower-than-normal pricing, since it will be tied to the going print rate for the book. The $12.99 to $14.99 number is based on a new hardcover selling price of $26, and Apple wanted the ability to offer more attractive prices for books that have a lower starting print price. Apple has the right idea. The reason e-books are attractive to many is a combination of convenience and pricing. But the pricing advantage only exists if consumers aren't willing to wait for paperback editions of the books they're purchasing to come out. If they are, though, they can probably buy a physical book at around the same price or lower than its e-book counterpart. If Apple and its publishing partners really want to make a splash in the e-book market, they have to extend their policy of ultra-competitive pricing to the paperback market, too. $9.99 is, for me, the exact price at which I will opt to buy an e-book over a paperback, even if I can find the print version for slightly cheaper, owing to the convenience factor. I suspect I'm not alone, as Amazon didn't just pull the number out of a hat. If Apple can hit that sweet spot more often than not for books that have been around for awhile, I'll gladly give them even more of my hard-earned cash.
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Apple support doc addresses issue with Aperture 3
Posted by Dennis SellersApple has released a new support document for its Aperture photo editing and management software for photographers. Version 3 was introduced earlier this month.
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Disney sees lots of potential in the iPad
Posted by Dennis Sellers Disney, which recently acquired Marvel Comics, sees “more potential in the iPad than any medium it's looked at in a long time,” according to the Pocket Gamer web site.
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SeedCode releases new calendar extension for FileMaker Pro 10
Posted by Dennis SellersSeedCode has introduced a new calendar extension for FileMaker Pro 10. Calendar Pro can be pasted into your own FileMaker file. The calendar has been completely rewritten to take advantage of FileMaker 10.
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Apple doubles 3G over-the-air purchase size to 20MB
Posted by Dennis Sellers The Pocket Gamer web site is reporting that Apple has doubled the size of apps that can be downloaded from the Apple App Store over 3G or cellular data to 20MB.
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eBook prices on the iPad may be lower than expected
Posted by Dennis SellersSince Apple announced the iPad, and the accompanying iBookstore, it's been expected that eBooks would see a price hike above the US$9.99 typically found at Amazon. However, that may not be the case, reports The New York Times.
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News: Adobe CEO blasts Apple's 'proprietary' business model
Speaking in an interview at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen criticized Apple for its decision not to support Flash on its iPhone OS devices, according to a Computerworld report. Reiterating stats claiming that 85 percent of the top 100 Web sites in the world use Flash and that it delivers 75 percent of Internet videos, while hailing its “powerful ecosystem” of partners, Narayen said Apple isn't…
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Panic's free ShrinkIt turns humongous Illustrator PDFs into tiny ones
Filed under: Software, Cool tools, DeveloperThe brilliant minds at Panic noticed that something interesting was happening with PDF files created by Adobe Illustrator. Like many developers, Panic uses Adobe Illustrator to create icons and other image resources for their applications. The resulting PDF files, which were relatively "big-boned" (a politically-correct way of saying "fat"), would magically shrink in size when they were run through Apple's Mac OS X PDF processing. Apple's method is used when you save a PDF from Preview, which explains why most of the time those files are fairly small in size. Being the intelligent chaps that they are, the Panic engineers decided to look into the cause of this. What did they find? "Will started digging into the files and brother, you won't believe what he found. Swatches, patterns, preview bitmaps, all sort of metadata; even though we'd specifically turned off all the extra options when saving from Illustrator: Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities, Embed Page Thumbnails, etc." Apparently just opening the obese PDFs in Preview and then saving them would shrink the file sizes dramatically. Rather than force their staff to go through this process each time they found a large Illustrator PDF, Panic did what most developers would do and wrote an application to automate the process. Devs can simply take a big batch of files, like the contents of an application's Resources folder, drop 'em onto ShrinkIt (download link), and watch the file sizes magically shrink. According to Panic, ShrinkIt can reduce an app bundle size by 4 megabytes. While ShrinkIt is a Panic-internal utility, the company has made it available to the world for free. Please note that ShrinkIt is primarily made for shrinking simple vector-resource PDFs, and probably won't work well on press-ready PDFs.TUAWPanic's free ShrinkIt turns humongous Illustrator PDFs into tiny ones originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Adobe Illustrator - Apple - Mac OS X - Adobe Systems - Portable Document Format
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'MacVoices' looks at the new version of Neat Receipts
Posted by Dennis SellersOn the new MacVoices, Mark Gollin, vice president of Mac Product Development of The Neat Company shows off the new version of the Neat Receipts software that lets you can, organize and search documents, receipts, business cards and more.
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Monster debuts Butterflly in-ear headphones
Posted by Dennis SellersMonster has introduced its new Butterfly in-ear headphones ($199.95), created in conjunction with fashion designer Vivienne Tam.
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10 Ways to Make MobileMe Perfect
When Phil Schiller unveiled MobileMe onstage at WWDC in 2008 and described it as “exchange for the rest of us,” I was sold. Who wouldn’t be? All my email, contacts and calendar data pushed to all my devices, all of the time? My entire digital life kept seamlessly, perfectly synchronized with zero effort on my part? I was completely sold. But MobileMe had a rocky start. By “rocky,” I mean to say that it was an unmitigated disaster, released to the public when it wasn’t even properly baked. Since then, only about five people (including me) have bothered to pay for an annual subscription. But despite all that early negative coverage, I can honestly say that the vast majority of the time, MobileMe works brilliantly. Of course, there are things that could be done to improve it. And at a time when about half of all new Macs are sold to Switchers, and the iPhone is dominating the smartphone market, it seems a prudent time to ponder what Apple could do to make MobileMe not only brilliant, but irresistible. So, in no particular order… Webmail The web-based mail interface is sleek, minimal and…a bit rubbish. I totally get Apple’s design aesthetic, but every other webmail service on the planet offers more compelling functionality and mail management. The UI feels like it was made in 1998, not 2008. There’s no reason it can’t make it totally modern and totally “Apple.” Performance This is another web app issue. The web-based Mail, Contacts and Calendar are too slow. There are odd days when they just pop on the screen -– sometimes so fast I have to wonder whether it was the browser doing a little javascript burp. But other days they’re so painfully slow they time out. This happens to me on different machines, on different networks, in different browsers. Browsers While we’re on the subject of browsers…if Google can get Gmail to work in different browsers without resorting to smug incompatibility warnings, Apple should be able to do the same. Dear Apple Engineers: So what if a customer is using IE7? Plenty of people are. That’s not going to change any day soon. Stop worrying about it and just deal with it. Sync Speed There are times when a change takes an interminable length of time to propagate through the system to my other devices. Not often, but it would just be awesome if that never happened. Gallery Overhaul The MobileMe Gallery looks beautiful. It’s also fantastic for sharing pictures and videos with family who would feel intimidated in Flickr. Yet, Apple really ought to look hard at Flickr and take notes; there’s a lot more the Gallery could do to make it a killer web app. Massive Storage Upgrade This one’s easy. In fact, I expect to see this happen, and soon. Google offers gigabytes upon gigabytes of free storage via Gmail, Picasa and Google Docs. Even Microsoft offers more generous storage with Mesh, FolderSync and other Windows Live services. By comparison, MobileMe’s 20GB is not only meager, it’s downright mean-spirited. More Granular Sharing Options A MobileMe “family pack” already exists, but doesn’t offer the same kind of flexibility and fine-grained data-sharing one would find in an Exchange service. I’d love to “link” my MobileMe account with my spouse’s so we can both access and edit selected calendars. A global address book would be awesome, too. In a multi-Mac/iPhone household, that kind of granular sharing would be invaluable. iPhone Backup Speaking of iPhones, how about automatic wireless backup of an iPhone’s other data not already synced through MobileMe? Sure, emails, contacts and calendars are already covered, as well as Safari Bookmarks. But how about adding SMS messages to that list? Or application preferences? I dream of a day when I can restore my iPhone, or migrate to a new iPhone, and not have to spend an inordinate amount of time tediously configuring app settings one by one; instead, I’d enter my MobileMe data into the iPhone and a few minutes later all my preferences for all installed apps would be set for me. Bliss! iWork.com Schiller did say that iWork.com was free while it remained in beta. So once that service gets upgraded into something worth actually using (issues which range far beyond the scope of this article!) and Apple starts charging us to use it, it makes sense that all paying MobileMe subscribers should get unfettered access. Right? iTunes in the Cloud Imagine being able to synchronize your entire iTunes library (and I do mean everything in your library) to the cloud and then being able to access it over the web through any Internet-connected device. Would that be worth something to you? Say, $99 per year? So there you have it — that’s my modest list. Ten simple suggestions for improving and expanding the MobileMe service that will make it a no-brainer for both Mac and PC users alike. What do you think MobileMe needs to lift it from the doldrums? Share your ideas in the comments below, but, do me a favor -– resist saying “You’re crazy for paying when Gmail is free.” I know I’m crazy. But this isn’t about me. Related GigaOM Pro content (sub req'd): Is It Time for the “Web OS”?
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Sony introduces waterproof digital still camera
Posted by Dennis SellersSony has introduced two new Cybershot digital still cameras: the DSC-TX5 (shown) and the DSC-H55. Slim enough to fit in your pocket or purse at less than an inch thin—about the size of a deck of cards—the TX5 is certified waterproof (up to 10 feet deep).
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Patent Patrol: Apple Granted Multipoint Display Patent
Chalk up another one for Apple’s patent team: The U.S. Patent Office has granted Cupertino a patent for a multipoint touchscreen.iLounge is reporting on the new patent (by way of website Patently Apple) entitled “Multipoint Touchscreen,” U.S. Patent No. 7,663,607. The patent appears to be intended for the iPad (and future iterations of same), since it covers “a larger, two-hand touchscreen.”The summary of the patent describes “a transparent capacitive sensing surface that can sense multiple simultaneous touches and at distinct locations, similar to the technology seen in the recent announced iPad,” according to iLounge. “This allows the computer to react to the multiple touches at once, allowing for more advanced interation than possible on a single-touch sensing surface.”The new patent, first filed on May 6, 2004, doesn’t grant Apple total domination over capacitive sensors, of course, but it will certainly make the competition frustrated as they try to find ways to work around it -- assuming they don’t want to pay Cupertino for borrowing the technology, that is.The full patent description follows: “A touch panel having a transparent capacitive sensing medium configured to detect multiple touches or near touches that occur at the same time and at distinct locations in the plane of the touch panel and to produce distinct signals representative of the location of the touches on the plane of the touch panel for each of the multiple touches is disclosed.”(Image courtesy of Engadget)
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J.D. Power: overall call quality decreases, especially with cell phones
Posted by Dennis SellersAs the number of smartphone customers has continued to grow during the past six months, call quality performance has declined during that same period of time, according to the J.D. Power and Associates' “2010 Wireless Call Quality Performance Study(SM)—Volume 1.”
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Adobe Photoshop turns 20 on Friday; celebrations underway
Posted by Dennis SellersAdobe Photoshop turns 20 on Feb. 19. To celebrate the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) will be hosting a special Photoshop 20th Anniversary celebration for over a thousand attendees in San Francisco at the Palace of the Fine Arts Theater today.
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News: Ngmoco shifts to free-to-play pricing model, shelves Rolando 3
Developer Ngmoco, known for popular games such as Rolando and Star Defense, is reportedly planning to shift to a “Freemium” pricing model for its game lineup, doing away with charging up front for titles. Already found in games such as Eliminate and Touch Pets Dogs, the free-to-play approach gives away the games for free and relies on in-app purchases to generate revenue by selling additional content and power-ups within each game. In…
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Macworld 2010: Steve Shepard of Storyist
Filed under: Macworld, Software, Video Last year we reviewed Storyist, the software for writers. It's a great app that lets you manage all aspects of a writing project, like plot points, research, characters and more. Once you're done writing, you can export to many popular file formats, as well as prepare your document for an editor, for use as a screenplay or even digital distribution. I sat down with Steve Shepard at our Macworld booth to discuss the app, how to get the most out of it, his experiences at the show and finally whether or not he's got any plans for the iPad. Check out the video above to see our conversation.TUAWMacworld 2010: Steve Shepard of Storyist originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Writers Resources - Arts - TUAW - Steve Shepard - Macworld
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Helios makes Mac Time Machine back-ups for server environments
Posted by Dennis Sellers Helios has announced two new backup software tools to enhance Apple Time Machine backups to Helios EtherShare UB+ network volumes. Helios TM Image Builder and Helios TM Browser together offer customized backup disk images and status monitoring.
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News: Apple iBookstore prices to be lower than expected?
While publishers have cheered Apple's decision to allow e-book pricing as high as $14.99, that number may act as more of a price ceiling than a general guideline, according to a new report. Citing at least three people with knowledge of the discussions between Apple and major book publishers, the New York Times reports that Apple inserted provisions in the agreements requiring publishers to discount prices on best sellers, possibly to as low…
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News: AppBox Pro update adds themes, new features
AllAboutApps has released an update to AppBox Pro, its popular multipurpose iPhone application. AppBox Pro is a collection of small utility apps that provide features such as battery life information, unit conversions, date calculations, tip calculators, translations and much more. The new version adds support for themes and background images, a secure wallet app, a calculator on numeric entry keypads, and a strobe feature in the flashlight tool.…
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News: Google acquires iPhone developer, pulls app from App Store
Google has purchased reMail, a mail account searching service, and has pulled the company's app from the iTunes Store. In an update on his personal blog, reMail founder and former Gmail engineering intern Gabor Cselle writes that “Google and reMail have decided to discontinue reMail's iPhone application, and we have removed it from the App Store… If you already have reMail, it will continue to work. We'll even provide…
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Apple's obsessive secrecy hurting relations with overseas suppliers
Filed under: Apple Corporate, Rumors, Bad AppleApple's obsession with secrecy is legendary. For all the rumors and leaks that stoke media attention, very rarely do we have a clear picture of a new product until Steve Jobs comes out on stage and shows it to us. Even people who work for Apple often have very little idea what the company is up to; retail employees at Apple Stores usually don't know any more about upcoming products than anyone else, and retail managers have told me the first clear picture they get of new products is when they arrive on a truck. Even people who work in Apple R&D on products like the iPad operate in a "cone of silence," with security measures in place at Cupertino's labs that sound like something out of a James Bond film. And last year, an employee of Chinese supplier Foxconn allegedly leapt to his death to avoid further interrogation after he "lost" an iPhone prototype. A new report from Reuters offers more insight into Apple's cloak and dagger world. Confidentiality agreements are only the beginning when it comes to Apple's tactics with its overseas suppliers. Apple contacts suppliers at the last minute, often only weeks before a product's release, and provides information about its products on a strict "need to know" basis. Apple also divides its projects between multiple suppliers, meaning that for a product like the iPhone, no one supplier is responsible for producing or assembling all of its components. As a result, even most of the people who are standing on the assembly line making Apple's products have no idea what they look like when they're finished. Only a handful of very closely monitored workers are responsible for final assembly. Apple also has a unique vetting process for its contractors: it will switch up product suppliers occasionally, issuing them different products, all in the name of hunting down and squashing leaks. Well, that and an attempt to thwart cheap knockoffs -- a somewhat common practice in certain parts of the manufacturing world. One South Korean supplier has stated Apple makes "unreasonable requests." The company's demands for customization in its designs means suppliers are left with equipment and components that can't be used for other clients, and excess inventory cannot be repurposed. The Reuters report paints a very dark picture of Apple's relations with its suppliers. The company has its reasons for being secretive, some of them more valid than others, but it seems incredibly ironic that the same company who satirized George Orwell's 1984 in their iconic Super Bowl commercial now employs the same sort of police-state tactics with both its own employees and its overseas contractors. As much as I enjoy using Apple's products, reports like the one from Reuters make it hard for me to like the company itself. Read the Reuters report for yourselves, and then let us know how you feel about Apple's obsession with secrecy in the comments. [Via AppleInsider]TUAWApple's obsessive secrecy hurting relations with overseas suppliers originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Apple - Steve Jobs - iPhone - Unofficial Apple Weblog - Reuters
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Scholastic teams with Tales2Go to stream kids' audio stories to the iPhone, iPod touch
Posted by Dennis Sellers Scholastic Audio, a division of Scholastic—the global children's publishing, education and media company—has announced a partnership with Tales2Go to include Scholastic Audio titles on the Tales2Go service.
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NYT: Apple’s iBookstore Prices May Be Lower Than Expected
Seemingly contradicting recent reports that iBookstore pricing on the iPad will fall between $12.99 and $14.99 for new releases, The New York Times has a new report which indicates the $9.99 price point may not be dead after all.Amazon’s Kindle established the price of electronic new best sellers selling for $9.99 -- even though the company was purchasing them from the publishers at a higher price and selling them at a loss. Since the introduction of the iPad, a trio of the big five publishers have pressured Amazon to drop that model and go with the more traditional agency model -- at a higher sale price -- which gives them 70 percent of the loot and leaves Amazon with the remaining 30 percent.Apple has been expected to follow the same model, which has been successful for them with the App Store via iTunes. But The New York Times is now reporting that Cupertino may have left themselves some wiggle room in their negotiations with publishers, which allows them to sell the most popular books at a discount.“According to at least three people with knowledge of the discussions, who spoke anonymously because of the confidentiality of the talks,” the report claims, “Apple inserted provisions requiring publishers to discount e-book prices on best sellers -- so that $12.99-to-$14.99 range was merely a ceiling; prices for some titles could be lower, even as low as Amazon’s $9.99. Essentially, Apple wants the flexibility to offer lower prices for the hottest books, those on one of the New York Times best-seller lists, which are heavily discounted in bookstores and on rival retail sites.“Moreover, for books where publishers offer comparable hardcover editions at a price below the typical $26, Apple wanted e-book prices to reflect the cheaper hardcover prices,” the report concludes. “These books might be priced much lower than $12.99, even if they did not hit the best-seller list.”Of course, Apple had no comment as usual on the report, but it makes sense to us -- it’s not hard to imagine there will be a lot more iPads than Kindles in the world after its late March debut and the publishers can afford to lose a few bucks per book and make it up in volume.
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Agile Gives a Peek at 1Password for iPad
(Images courtesy of Agile Web Solutions)It’s no surprise to find that iPhone and iPod touch developers have been busily reworking their apps since the iPad was unveiled at a media event last month. One developer is bursting with so much excitement that they’ve given a preview of what’s to come on their company blog.Agile Web Solutions is a favorite among Mac users for their popular 1Password software -- a one-stop depository for website passwords, saved identities, credit card accounts and much more. Their accompanying iPhone app (available in both basic and pro versions) manages to pack most of the desktop version features into a compact form, but clearly the iPad’s extra real estate will be a huge blessing for the 1Password team.“We aren't content to leave you with using that 2x button on our iPhone app. It's an iPhone app!” writes developer David Chartier on Agile’s blog. “And while it is the Best 1Password iPhone App Ever (if we may so humbly say ourselves), the iPad is an entirely different beast, and we're giving it the utmost attention it deserves.”The screenshots featured here -- which are only part one, with more promised soon -- are currently mostly design mockups and not fully functional as yet. But the interface changes to adapt to the iPad certainly show that the Agile team is working hard to adapt their software in the best way possible.“Check out those gorgeous icons, the item list with alphabet scroller, and the stylish bolts that really bring the item detail area together,” the post continues. “And yes, we have popovers! I told you we're hitting the iPad in a big way.“We’re not finished yet, but we think we're on the right track. We want to bring you the best 1Password on iPad experience possible, so let us know what you think of our prototypes here in the comments!”1Password fans can head over to Agile’s Switchers Blog to weigh in with their own feedback. In the meantime, if you haven’t experienced the software, head over to the Agile website to purchase 1Password 3 for only $39.95 or get the iPhone & iPod touch version for $4.99 (or $7.99 Pro version).
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News: Apple bumps iPhone cellular download cap to 20MB
Apple has quietly increased the limit for over-the-air downloads from the App Store and iTunes Store on the iPhone. Until recently only content under 10MB in size could be downloaded over an EDGE or 3G connection—downloading of larger apps and media content had to be done over Wi-Fi. This limit now appears to have been increased to 20MB in both the App Store and iTunes Store on the device, allowing users to download larger applications and video…
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News: Bongiovi Acoustics releases iTunes DPS plug-in
Bongiovi Acoustics, developers of the Digital Power Station (DPS) audio enhancement technology used in the iHome iP1 speakers, has announced a new DPS Plug-in for iTunes. The plug-in, released initially for Mac OS X users, promises to enhance the sound of any Mac's connected speakers or headphones. A version for iTunes for Windows is planned for later this year. According to the company, the plug-in is designed to improve the brightness and…
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Gorillacam Swings In With Bunches of Tasty Photo Features
Without Apple headlining, MacWorld 2010 was proclaimed a snoozefest before it even started. Now it's over and we're all left to sift through the various blog posts and news articles coming from reporters on the scene -- which are decidedly fewer in number and weaker in excitement than in previous years. One item that did catch my eye was about Joby's new accessories. Joby makes Gorillapods -- those clingy little portable camera tripods that you can pose in various ways to get a steady photo almost anywhere.
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Ipanamea is a mobile app company for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad
Posted by Dennis SellersA team of engineers, developers, and marketers have joined forces to create Ipanamea, a privately owned software company determined to use the ever-growing technological capabilities of mobile applications to create tools for personal productivity on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.
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Freshly Squeezed Reviews: For You ToGo
Posted by Dennis SellersFood, food, glorious food. From the finest dining experience to the most satisfying of burgers, we all crave one type or another. And when that craving hits – where to go? What type—Chinese, Italian, Mediterranean? I don't want to spend time debating the issue—I WANT TO EAT!! How about just the...
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Inside the Olympics' 'mission control'
While problems and controversy have found the games elsewhere, it's been smooth sailing inside the main technology center.
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Is Apple green enough?
Posted by Dennis SellersThe headline is a question the company's shareholders have to answer soon. Apple will hold its annual meeting next week, and on Apple's proxy ballot is a measure that if approved would compel the company to publish a Sustainability report.
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Gefen releases three new Mini Display Port Adapters
Posted by Dennis SellersSo you want to connect your new Apple computer equipped with Mini DisplayPort to a flat panel display using HDMI, DVI or DisplayPort? Gefen makes it happen with three new Mini Display Port Adapters.
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'MacVoices' offers a Roundtable look at Macworld 2010
Posted by Dennis SellersOn the new MacVoices, the Mac Roundtable crew took the talks about Macworld 2010, Apple's absence, provide some show picks, and answer audience questions.
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Lone Pine Capital Dumps Mastercard and Priceline
(This post is part of our series on tracking hedge fund portfolios. If you're unfamiliar with tracking investments they disclose via SEC filings, check out our series preface on hedge fund 13F filings.)Next up is notable stockpicker Stephen Mandel and his hedge fund Lone Pine Capital. Mandel's firm is named after a historical lone pine tree at his alma mater, Dartmouth College. Before founding his own firm, Mandel worked at Julian Robertson's legendary Tiger Management. Lone Pine seeks to identify companies with good management teams that are trading below intrinsic value. Lone Pine's main fund, Lone Cypress, was up 17.7% for 2009 as noted in our 2009 hedge fund performance numbers post. Additionally, its Lone Kauri was up 12.1%, Lone Cascade up 44.4%, and Lone Dragon Pine up 72.9%
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Kindle for BlackBerry e-reader app now available
Amazon is today adding BlackBerrys to its stable of Kindle-compatible devices and also taking the opportunity to remind us that it's working hard on Mac and iPad versions of its software. The app is a freebie download for Americans (sadly it's not international just yet) and should offer the same functionality as its PC and iPhone brethren -- namely automatic syncing via Whispersync and what Amazon hopes will be a seamless reading experience from one device to the next. There's also an in-app book store, as well as the ability to create bookmarks and view annotations from other portable Kindle readers. Go download it at the Amazon link if you care, or move right along if you don't.Kindle for BlackBerry e-reader app now available originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Business Wire | Email this | Comments
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GelaSkins releases 'National Geographic' designs for laptops, iPhones
Posted by Dennis SellersGelaSkins, a provider of artist-supported protective covers for mobile devices, has released new “National Geographic” designs, providing a range of images from “National Geographic” photographers for laptop and iPhone skins.
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Mac OS Ken: 02.18.2010
NPD Shows Mac Sales in January Up 36 Percent Year Over Year / Credit Suisse Says iPad and Other Readers to Wreck Amazon eBook Dominance / iPhone Serves Rogers Well for Another Quarter / Google CEO Says Not Interested in Competing with Data Providers / Silicon Alley Insider Says Charging for the OS Will Kill Windows Phone 7 / Apple Reportedly Banning Apple IDs of Known Jailbreakers/Unlockers / German Site Sees Indication of Fourth Apple Store in the Bundesrepublik / OpenOffice.org Adds New Features and Security Fixes to Update / MacNN Spots Purported MacBook Prototype on eBay