Mon, Apr 30, 2012
The headlines make it sound like Oracle, the inherited owner of Java, has generously stepped in to help protect Mac owners from infections like Flashback. There's an important backstory, though, that hasn't hit the headlines.
Although Steve Jobs tried for years to get out from under the Java ball and chain, last week Tim Cook finally coerced Oracle into supplying updates for its own software. It only took 700,000 infected systems to convince Oracle to handle Java on OS X itself.
Christina Bonnington,
Wired:
Hipmunk UI/UX designer and iOS developer Danilo Campos explains it succinctly: “The very simple short answer is it’s easier to make a good-looking, attractive iOS app compared to making an Android app.”
I look at families that are successful. They love and take care of each other, and are repaid in ways that make everyone happier.
I look at families that are unsuccessful. Everyone looks after number one, and they gradually drift apart.
Stephanie Peatling And Jim O'rourke,
The Age:
Computer giants Apple and Microsoft will be asked to defend their pricing policies at a federal parliamentary inquiry into why Australians pay far more for music and game downloads than overseas customers.
The terms of reference are being finalised by Senator Conroy, but the inquiry will begin later this year and be conducted by the House of Representatives standing committee on infrastructure and communications.
Sun, Apr 29, 2012
Of the Macs that have been infected by the Flashback malware, nearly two-thirds are running OS X 10.6, better known as Snow Leopard, a Russian antivirus company said Friday.
Apple's Stock-Market Sway
Steven Russolillo and Jonathan Cheng, Wall Street Journal
Lion is not a new operating system, so the people at Mozilla have had plenty of time to support some of these innovative features that other third party developers have long embraced. How many more versions of Firefox do we have to go until they build a proper Mac browser?
Cross-platform UI development are never going to be good citizens on any platforms. Firefox, Word 6, and almost all Java programs -- you use them only if you have to.
Over the past several years, we have created an incredible number of jobs in the United States. The vast majority of our global work force remains in the U.S., with more than 47,000 full-time employees in all 50 states. By focusing on innovation, we’ve created entirely new products and industries, and more than 500,000 jobs for U.S. workers — from the people who create components for our products to the people who deliver them to our customers. Apple’s international growth is creating jobs domestically since we oversee most of our operations from California. We manufacture parts in the U.S. and export them around the world, and U.S. developers create apps that we sell in over 100 countries. As a result, Apple has been among the top creators of American jobs in the past few years.
Apple also pays an enormous amount of taxes which help our local, state and federal governments. In the first half of fiscal year 2012 our U.S. operations have generated almost $5 billion in federal and state income taxes, including income taxes withheld on employee stock gains, making us among the top payers of U.S. income tax.
Setting up an office in Reno is just one of many legal methods Apple uses to reduce its worldwide tax bill by billions of dollars each year. As it has in Nevada, Apple has created subsidiaries in low-tax places like Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the British Virgin Islands — some little more than a letterbox or an anonymous office — that help cut the taxes it pays around the world.
Apple serves as a window on how technology giants have taken advantage of tax codes written for an industrial age and ill suited to today’s digital economy. Some profits at companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft derive not from physical goods but from royalties on intellectual property, like the patents on software that makes devices work. Other times, the products themselves are digital, like downloaded songs. It is much easier for businesses with royalties and digital products to move profits to low-tax countries than it is, say, for grocery stores or automakers. A downloaded application, unlike a car, can be sold from anywhere.
Sat, Apr 28, 2012
The thought that Android will “fade away” is only likely if Google can’t find an answer to the mobile / desktop integration that Apple and Microsoft are bringing to the table.
I think the integration between desktop and mobile is going to be beyond look-and-feel. Think iCloud. Third-parties will have a difficult time doing the integration because the native APIs will all point to iCloud.
Beginning in the latest update to Java SE 7, however, Oracle has made OS X (from Lion forward) a fully supported platform for both Java deployment—including a Java Platform 1.7 compliant JVM—and Java development. Update 4 includes a full OS X version of the Java Development Kit (JDK) and JavaFX 2.1.
Version 3.0 of the lightweight CRM app, released this week, folds in several new capabilities, including the ability to link iOS documents to your contacts. You can import those files from your computer over Wi-Fi, via Dropbox, or even through email.
Another useful option for capturing short videos of laughing babies and/or game-winning-hit scenarios at baseball games, Camera Awesome's video options include a "Precord Video" setting that automatically buffers and saves 5 seconds of video before you press the record button.
Fri, Apr 27, 2012
What bothers me is that many of the questions Apple asks don’t have solid answers that I would necessarily give twice in exactly the same way, or answers that I could be certain of typing correctly.
For a company that prides itself on providing the best user experience, this is simply unacceptable.
Apple Retail Stores have replaced the iMacs that traditional served as their “kid’s table” with iPads. The tables, which had previously been decked out with a quartet of iMacs, now sport 4 iPads instead.
But an interview, SwayMarkets founder Amos Epstein said many developers have reported similar circumstances: An app is approved, goes viral, hits the Top 25, and then gets removed for some previously unforeseen coding goof that Apple later discovered.
That has led the general developer community and Epstein to believe that overworked Apple reviewers, with thousands of apps waiting in the approval queue, likely don't test apps too thoroughly at first. But once they gain popularity, the Apple team gives them a closer look.
Once in a while, you might feel like you're being watched. Lately, I know I am, thanks to a smart-phone app that stealthily tracks my every move, no check-ins required, with greater accuracy than common geolocation tools.
Called Placeme, the free app takes advantage of the smart phone's sensors and its GPS and Wi-Fi capabilities to figure out where I go and for how long, and stores this data in a private log on my iPhone.
I've been putting iBooks Author through its paces in the hopes that the interactive iBook will bring me some added sales of a recently self-published e-book. I wanted to get this review out sooner, but you can't really know how well this program works unless you actually have something to publish. A bird's-eye view of a publishing tool doesn't do it justice—you have to use it in production to really see its strengths and weaknesses.
Apple Inc. is building another place to feed its legion of employees. The pervasive high-tech giant received city approval to construct a new 21,468-square-foot cafeteria exclusively for Apple workers.
"We like to provide a level of security so that people and employees can feel comfortable talking about their business, their research and whatever project they're engineering without fear of competition sort of overhearing their conversations," Dan Whisenhunt, Apple's director of real estate facilities, said at Tuesday's meeting. "That is a real issue today in Cupertino because we've got other companies here in our same business."
Strictly for Apple employees who are working near, but not in, Apple campus. No tourists allowed.
Wonder if you can buy food to go, someday.
While in a Mac's default configuration, Safe Mode will work, there are some instances where special configurations or errors may prevent it from working.
MacAce unveiled a new MobileMe replacement service called MacMate on Wednesday—an all-in-one service designed to replace the Apple-hosted MobileMe that is scheduled to pine for the fjords on June 30.
Thu, Apr 26, 2012
With the launch of its Creative Suite 6 and its companion Creative Cloud, Adobe has unveiled its professional editing package, Premiere Pro CS6. Whereas Premiere Pro CS5’s most notable features—64-bit processing and the Mercury Playback Engine—were under the hood, many of CS6’s new features are evident at a glance. Here are the details.
My Dock reflects my priorities. Does yours?
According to research out today from the ad network Chitika, when analyzing web browsing traffic, Apple’s iOS mobile platform drives the highest proportion of search queries: 54 percent of all iOS web traffic is devoted to search, the company says. Its Macintosh OS is the second-most search-friendly: some 48 percent of all web traffic on Macs is in the form of search queries. Both are well above the average percentage of search queries across all major platforms, which stands at 36 percent, says Chitika.
Is Apple working on a secret search-engine project? Is Siri just the tip of the iceberg?
The Tor Onion router network is essentially a series of virtual tunnels that your connection will bounce through before reaching the destination. While connecting through Tor is slower than a non-tunneled connection would be, it has the upshot of making it almost impossible to monitor your activity online — it’s the closest you can get to anonymity online.
The invasion of apps on toys continues with this weeks release of Foam Fighters Pacific from WowWee ($9.99), a set of three-inch styrofoam gliders that you can suction cup under your iPhone’s outside camera. Align the wings with an on-screen template and the app’s augmented reality features superimpose a WWII dogfight over your living room.
Once upon a time, the Mac line accounted for as much as half of Apple's income. But in the first quarter, computer sales were just 13% of the company's near-record revenue.
From what I can see, there is a long-term vision for Mac OS X brewing inside Apple, and Mountain Lion is but just another small step towards that vision.
If you’ve been looking for an easy way to, say, beam iTunes or iPad audio to an iPhone connected to your car’s system, the latest Airfoil Speakers Touch gets the job done. And if your audio listening habits are made of more complex and variegate needs, you can stay assured Airfoil Speakers Touch will equally serve you well thanks to the combination of Rogue Amoeba-made and third-party utilities mentioned above.
If you have file-sharing access via a hosting company, a storage system like Amazon, or your own servers, Nolobe’s Interarchy ($30) and Panic’s Transmit ($34) offer Finder-accessible access.
Apple is now accepting nominations for its annual Apple Design Awards given out during WWDC. Apps that are well-designed, state of the art, and innovative—and available via the App Store or Mac App Store—are eligible for consideration.
In fewer than two hours after they first went on sale, tickets for Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference have sold out.
Wed, Apr 25, 2012
The conference will take place from June 11-15 in San Francisco, where developers will "learn about the future of iOS and OS X."
According to Apple, some of the WWDC 2012 activities will include the usual technical sessions led by Apple engineers, hands-on labs where there'll be coding assistance and insight into development techniques, and (the best part) "the opportunity to connect with thousands of fellow iOS and OS X developers from around the world."
Ken Segall worked closely with Steve Jobs as ad agency creative director for NeXT and Apple. He was a member of the team that created Apple’s legendary Think different campaign, and he’s responsible for that little “i” that’s a part of Apple’s most popular products. Segall has also served as creative director for IBM, Intel, Dell, and BMW.
The "i" branding is, obviously, very successful for Apple, but a part of me is sad that Apple isn't selling a plain "Macintosh" anymore.
Jean-Marie Hullot, a computer scientist and a longtime associate of Steve Jobs at Apple and NeXT, is one of the iPad’s genre-benders. A start-up he founded called Fotopedia has started to attract a following with its own growing catalog of apps that seek to combine the elegance of photo-rich coffee table books with some of the utility of travel guides. Mr. Hullot has a passion for travel and photography that is reflected in Fotopedia’s apps, which typically focus on a single place or theme.
"I've always hated litigation and I continue to hate it," Cook said, but "we just want people to invent their own stuff." Cook went on to say that the company is open to the possibility of settling with the likes of Samsung, Motorola, et al "if we could get to some kind of arrangement where we'd be assured [they are inventing their own products] and get a fair settlement on the stuff that's occurred," but emphasized that such a thing would only happen as long as "Apple does not become the developer for the world."
And some other companies will say: "I've always hated litigation and I continue to hate it. We just want people to invent their own names" instead of stealing from others. :)
This free app’s single purpose is getting your document from your Mac to your Kindle in the easiest way possible.
As an increasing number of designers now cross the divide between print and Web—and further between Web, tablet, smart phone, and a vast number of devices where designs must hold their own—Adobe has crafted InDesign CS6 to be the workhorse to carry the heavy load. InDesign takes over many tedious and time-consuming tasks, from gathering and saving content to mocking up pages for different devices, so designers can concentrate on the creative process rather than on mechanics. Here are the highlights of the new InDesign CS6.
All told, Apple tallied record March quarter sales for its iPad, iPhone, and Mac lineups. The company also saw record results for its retail stores during what chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer called “the most amazing March quarter that Apple has ever had.”
Tue, Apr 24, 2012
Where would you point the finger?
SkyDrive for Windows will allow users to drag-and-drop files (up to 2GB in size) to and from SkyDrive folders. Similar to Dropbox, all files and SkyDrive content will be managed in one central folder that syncs with Microsoft's online cloud storage. There is also a new fetching files option that allows SkyDrive desktop users to access, browser, and stream files from a remote PC running the latest preview of SkyDrive desktop — handy if you forgot to sync a particular file from your desktop PC while you away from your PC.
Clear’s minimal, completely one-handed and features a beautiful UI that fades into the background. It’s what a list app should be.
If your iPhone pops up a message demanding you configure some security settings, don’t panic. Apple confirmed Monday to Macworld that such prompts, requiring that you select and answer three security questions before grabbing apps (or even app updates) from the App Store, are indeed legitimate.
To me right now, Microsoft’s consumer business feels like Nokia’s smartphone business a few years ago: the numbers look fine, and in some cases even good, but the world is quickly changing. If you just look at the past five years of what Apple has done versus what Microsoft has done, it’s not hard to imagine Microsoft’s business being completely dominated by the enterprise side of the equation in another five years. That will still make for a great business, but it’s not the Microsoft that many of us have known.
Mon, Apr 23, 2012
Dropbox, the Internet-hosted file-synchronization service, updated its desktop, mobile, and Web app software on Monday to allow any file or folder stored in a user’s sync folder to be shared with other people via a Web-accessible link. The shared files and folders make use of Web-based previewing that allows images, videos, and documents to be viewed, heard, or paged-through without an external application, as well as simply downloaded.
A Seattle blogger who goes by the handle Rex won a small-claims lawsuit he filed against Apple after it reneged on a promise to fix his defective computer. This kind of man-bites-dog moment is rare, but in the wake of legislation that allows companies to prohibit customers from filing class-action suits against them, watchdog groups say small-claims court is the only weapon consumers have left.
A 69p iOS app appeared on Apple’s iTunes Store on 20 April, enabling users to stream 55 TV channels straight to their iPad or iPhone without any additional cost. It was downloaded by thousands, and received over 2000 five star reviews. The app, however, has now been revealed as a scam.
David Morgenstern,
ZDNet:
According to fresh warnings by security vendor Intego, another Java vulnerability is attacking Macs that haven’t been patched with Apple’s Java for OS X Lion 2012-002 and Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 7, released earlier this month. Meanwhile, the security analysts warned that many copies of older versions of MS Word haven’t been patched and are being infected.
With the launch of Creative Suite 6 (CS6), Adobe has realigned, tightened, and refocused its collection of software and targeted bundles into four disciplined groups. With Photoshop CS6 at the helm, CS6 reflects the updated, streamlined, real-world workflow of many creative operations. Adobe has long acknowledged that print and online creative projects were converging, and this version of Creative Suite demonstrates that.
Adobe has launched the much-anticipated sixth version of its Creative Suite—14 separate applications, including two companion apps—spanning a vast range of creative workflows and pursuits, targeting artists, graphic designers, photographers, videographers, multimedia specialists, and Web designers.
At the same time, Adobe has debuted Creative Cloud, an overarching collection of products and services of which the new Creative Suite 6 (CS6) is a huge part. Creative Cloud encompasses all of CS6 and throws in a broad selection of new online applications and services that will be available only by subscription.
Allegations of price fixing are hard enough to prove in mature industries such as steel or railroads, where arguably executives could control prices by dining together in posh restaurants. The highly dynamic digital economy is different. A more humble, more technology-savvy Justice Department would have exercised restraint by letting the e-book market evolve instead of ordering it to freeze into a single model with a single provider at a single price point for consumers.
While I have a solid collection of tools on my iPad, the real advantage isn’t what it runs. It’s the way the size and form contribute to how I use it.
One option for carriers is to push other devices in stores. An Android device from Samsung, say, or the new Nokia Lumia running Windows, is more profitable for them than selling an iPhone.
But don't expect the carriers to hurt Apple's lucrative mobile-phone franchise any time soon. That is because consumers still want iPhones. The best way for carriers to reduce iPhone sales would be to make them noticeably pricier than rival devices.
Sun, Apr 22, 2012
It is often said that design should be invisible. More importantly, design should empower. An interface that is not only easy to use, but fun to use, engages the user and creates an experience where obstacles are easier to overcome, and thus an experience where the product is easier and more effortless to use. Done right, skeuomorphism can retain the simplicity and ease of use of an interface while empowering users to act.
The technology company was initially tight-lipped about the US case but last week broke its silence to declare itself innocent and paint itself as a hero for breaking Amazon's "monopolistic grip". It said the iPad's bookstore "fostered innovation and competition".
However, it has taken an altogether different approach in Brussels. Joaquín Almunia, the European Union competition commissioner, said he has received settlement offers from Apple and all the publishers other than Penguin.
Are EU's settlement terms better for Apple than US'?
Sat, Apr 21, 2012
A little over a week after releasing an update to its Office 2011 for Mac, Microsoft has stopped pushing out auto-updates for Service Pack 2 over a flaw that corrupts identity databases in the company's Outlook mail client.
With Apple’s accelerated OS release cycle, leaving Leopard’s Java security unsupported after less than three years is unfair to users and a potential class action lawsuit waiting to happen since Apple’s extended warranty (AppleCare) is designed to support the Mac for three years.
I’m have to admit being a bit baffled by how nobody else seems to have done what Apple did with the Macbook Air – even several years after the first release, the other notebook vendors continue to push those ugly and *clunky* things. Yes, there are vendors that have tried to emulate it, but usually pretty badly. I don’t think I’m unusual in preferring my laptop to be thin and light.
I am using a MacBook Air 11-inch for my work, and I absolutely love this machine.
Contrary to reports by several security companies, the Flashback botnet is not shrinking, the Russian antivirus firm that first reported the massive infection three weeks ago claimed today.
Also on Friday, Liam O Murchu, manager of operations at Symantec's security response center, confirmed that Dr. Web's numbers were correct.
Definitely not good news for Apple.
It’s a dead simple way to exchange encrypted files with other people without a lot of overhead or fuss in making the exchange work securely. DropKey is also secure and powerful enough that security wonks will like it, too.
This will be great for groups working outside of the traditional office network.
Like antitrust lawsuits launched by the Department of Justice in the U.S. and the European Union, the Quebec suit claims that Apple colluded with book publishers to artificially set electronic book prices higher than the $9.99 standard Amazon had set for most of its electronic books.
Both Apple and Amazon do not sell e-books in Singapore, where I live. I guess with all these lawsuits, I will have to wait a little bit longer for them to start selling here,.
Fri, Apr 20, 2012
Apple is to expand its presence in Cork, creating more than 500 jobs in what is being described as a “huge boost” for the country.
So what can we learn from Flex’s experience? Turns out, he’s not alone: Googling reveals others have solved their iOS devices’ inability to charge with a similar restart maneuver.
There are many tips and tricks that can make working with iTunes a bit faster or easier, and we’ve gotten a number of questions about such techniques. In this installment, I answer questions about some of the little things in iTunes, tips and tricks that every iTunes user should know.
But all of the money, web traffic, and cheap cardboard boxes in the world can’t buy two huge factors that contribute to Apple’s modern success: time and taste.
This is a rant; an unapologetic, no holds barred rant on why something that I hold in such high esteem – my iOS devices – could have come from the evildoers who created this spawn of Satan: iTunes.
Recent Redux’s pop up window lists more information and it’s updated live. From within the context menu you can preview, open, copy, share, copy file paths, and find an item in the Finder.
District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, rejected the companies' bid to dismiss claims brought under the federal Sherman antitrust law and California's own antitrust law, the Cartwright Act.
"The fact that all six identical bilateral agreements were reached in secrecy among seven defendants in a span of two years suggests that these agreements resulted from collusion, and not from coincidence," Koh added.
Karissa Bell And Leah Yamshon,
Macworld:
Instagram users unsure about a Facebook future have plenty of options, especially on the iOS platform. Several iOS apps promised mobility, social features, and filters and effects of their own. Consider these apps as possible ways to fill the Instagram void.
TeleTweet, a Twitter client from Shacked Software, let’s you tweet from the courtesy of your very own digital Morse code machine.
No, I no longer wish I had an 11in Air. What I have here – a third-generation iPad and an Apple Wireless Keyboard – is better. I have better-than-good native iOS apps to handle almost all of my mobile needs. When only a desktop app will do, I have VNC, and/or the wonderful OnLive Desktop service that allows me to run Microsoft Office on a virtualised Windows 7 server.
I don’t see doom for the 11in MacBook. But I do think whatever Apple does to this Mac will tell us a lot about how the company wishes to define computing in general, and Mac OS specifically, for the next five years.
Thu, Apr 19, 2012
In an article sent to MobileMe customers, Apple has recommended that potential customers get in touch with Apple to receive a free DVD of Snow Leopard so that users can upgrade to Lion, and move to iCloud.
Cunha's experiences illustrate a growing dilemma for corporate website strategists and developers: We live in an increasingly mobile society, and managers, coworkers and customers increasingly access the Web from mobile devices. If you want the mobile Web experience to be truly accessible, you may need to create a scaled-down version of your website for iDevices, and keep Flash off it.
IPhoto is comprehensive and easy to use, which is one of the toughest tricks for an app. Comprehensive apps are like the really smart guy at the party whom people like to talk about but no one wants to talk to. More often than not, ambitious apps are so complicated that they leave you with the feeling that you’re stupid.
But Apple, which makes iPhoto, has done a great job of making the software accessible, especially on the iPad, where the app’s Help feature is one of the best I’ve seen.
Apple Inc wants to go to trial to defend itself against U.S. government allegations that it conspired with publishers to raise prices of electronic books, a lawyer for the Silicon Valley giant said in court on Wednesday."Our basic view is that we would like the case to be decided on the merits," Apple lawyer, Daniel Floyd, told U.S. District Judge Denise Cote. "We believe that this is not an appropriate case against us and we would like to validate that."
Scientists and hobbyists who want to use their iOS devices as tricorders now have a new tool to help them to bring that dream to life. Byte Works has released version 2.0 of techBASIC, a US$14.99 scientific and educational programming environment for iOS that can be used to pull in data from internal (accelerometer, magnetometer, and gyroscope) and external sensors.
Have you ever wished you could change the background of OS X Lion’s Dashboard or Mission Control features? Or the look of the login screen or LaunchPad? If you browse the tips on Mac OS X Hints, you’ll find a bunch of individual hints—most requiring trips to Terminal or digging into system-level folders—for making these kinds of tweaks. But an easier approach is to use Lion Designer.
Wed, Apr 18, 2012
This upgrade features an updated interface designed to streamline workflows and save designers time-consuming and distracting back and forth between applications. Other new features include font panels, custom font digests, favorite fonts, preview colors, auto activation plug-ins for Adobe Creative Suite software, and increased Web font capabilities with the addition of integration with Google Fonts.
If the vaunted Agency Model were not a sham, publishers could simply make portability a standard provision of their agency contracts: "Thou shalt enable portability". And that would be it. No collusion around pricing or discounts would be needed. Amazon could discount the living daylights out of their ebooks, but customers would still judge its competitors on their merits.
I had covered Jobs for Fortune and The Wall Street Journal since 1985, but I didn't come to fully appreciate the importance of these "lost" years until after his death last fall.
Apple said that its data center now under construction in North Carolina will use about 20 megawatts at full capacity. Greenpeace put the estimate at 100 megawatts.
In response, Greenpeace's lead IT industry advocate Gary Cook questioned how Apple's 500,000-square-foot data center would only consume 20 megawatts, but welcomed more transparency from Apple.
Sounds like RIM, who initially thought iPhone couldn't be done.
It's not fair.
My MacBook Air is now my “desktop” and my iPad is now my “laptop”.
Greenpeace has issued a report that slams the cloud computing efforts of Apple, Amazon and Microsoft for consuming too much energy that's harmful to the environment.
Think of all the plastic saved by not having thumb drive and USB cables. :)
Much of your choice will come down to general design and specific features. If you need pagination, you'll probably stay with Instapaper. Looking for curated content from editors or others? Readability or Instapaper might be the best choice. Otherwise, Pocket is as good a choice as anything else out there, and it comes at a very nice price.
Competition is good. I just wish that "free" doesn't mean your data will be owned by Facebook soon.
Sharing is good, and with digital technology, sharing is easy. So sharing must be legal. If ebooks mean that readers' freedom must either increase or decrease, we must reject any decrease.
Apple should allow publishers and authors to sell DRM-free books.
When Dan Kerzner wants to show his colleagues at Microstrategy the latest numbers for the company, he calls them into a conference room that's equipped with a television and he fires up his iPad—and without further fuss the spreadsheet on his tablet is on the big screen for all to see.
MacJournal doesn’t address every problem you may encounter when writing. But if you keep a journal, write a blog (or a couple of blogs), or just want to have a great place to jot down your thoughts without worrying about losing them, then MacJournal 6 is hard to beat.
Most passengers probably don’t care what their pilot uses to fly the plane as long as they arrive on time and with as little turbulence as possible. But I can tell you as someone who lives with a pilot, using his iPad to prepare for flights is the best thing to happen to him in a decade of flying.
DragonDrop lets you “pause” the drag & drop action by temporarily placing a file — being it an image, text document, webclip, or just about anything OS X can drag & drop (even colors) — in a floating shelf. When you’re ready to “resume”, you can pick up the file and drop it on your destination as it came from the original source.
It’s unforgiving of mismatched setups, can run hot and a bit noisy - and the software needs regular updates, but this is a very useful box of tricks. With a top transfer rate of 10GB/s, Thunderbolt ensures real-time video processing tasks, while the ability to handle dual 1080p HD video streams makes the Ultrastudio 3D ideal for getting into stereoscopic workflows.
Artboard 1.4 is a very promising creative app that is bogged down by various quirks. Advanced users might want to wait for the app’s next major release before climbing aboard, but it’s a great starting point for novices looking to try their hand at vector illustration.
Tue, Apr 17, 2012
While you can turn the plug-in on or off using this setting in the Java Preferences utility, doing so will not make it stay on. Instead, regardless of how it is enabled, the system will disable the Java plug-in if you have not used any Java applets within about a month's time, and require you to re-enable it manually.
It is unclear why $9.99-or-less should be considered a fair and optimal price of e-books, given that it was imposed on publishers by a retailer who at that time controlled nearly 90 percent of the e-book market—in addition to playing a major role in distributing the publishers’ physical books.
Why should one price be more fair than another? I'd say the DOJ should force book publishers to sell books under both agency and wholesale model, and let Apple and Amazon (and Google) fight it out among themselves.
“It’s not a project with Apple. It’s a private project that began with Steve Jobs and that has been taken over by his wife,” said a spokesperson for Starck, confirming that the project is for a yacht that Jobs had been working on. This yacht will reportedly have an Apple-store-like aesthetic that’s sleek and minimalist along with 40-foot long glass walls.
You […] need an application that turns your Mac into an AirPlay device—one that your iPad can mirror its display to.
Mon, Apr 16, 2012
You would be hard-pressed to find another database product that is so polished, eye-catching and fun to use. FileMaker also works seamlessly across mobile devices. Although users can't leverage the new capabilities of FileMaker Pro 12 without upgrading all connecting client devices to version 12, and it's not a database option for larger organizations, it's a well-engineered database solution that gets more advanced with each new version.
Apple had called for the case to be dismissed, pointing out that in-app purchasing can now be disabled.
However, US District Judge Edward Davila said the hearing could now go ahead.
The trial version of iWork ’09, Apple’s productivity suite that includes Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, is no longer available on the company’s website for download. The company has replaced the former iWork trial webpage with a message informing customers that iWork is available on the Mac App Store.
Is Apple leading by example, or did Apple just don't have the resources to update the trial versions too?
The fact that iTunes encompasses syncing, media management and playback from one centralized hub is a feature, not a hindrance.
For the moment, Jobs is the publishers’ best ally. “Steve is very proud that Macmillan put a gun to Amazon’s head,” the insider said. But in the long term Apple and Google will not necessarily be better partners than Amazon. One day, they, too, will complain about the cumbersome publishing process, or excessive prices. Just days before the iPad went on sale, on April 3rd, there were rumors that Apple might list best-sellers for as little as $9.99. Apple agreed to the agency model for just one year, and, as publishers are acutely aware, Jobs has a history, with music and television companies, of fighting to reduce prices. One publisher said, “Maybe Apple will want to come back in a year and bite our heads off.” The iPad may even make it possible for Amazon to reach new consumers. Apple now offers about sixty thousand e-books, far fewer than Kindle does, and Amazon has launched an app that allows it to sell e-books on the iPad. No matter where consumers buy books, their belief that electronic media should cost less—that something you can’t hold simply isn’t worth as much money—will exert a powerful force. Asked about publishers’ efforts to raise prices, a skeptical literary agent said, “You can try to put on wings and defy gravity, but eventually you will be pulled down.”
There are some ironies here. Amazon views e-books as cheap software sold to animate device sales, in this case, the Kindle. And who does that remind you of? Ah yes, Apple, which shrank music to a 99-cent single business to propel the sale of iPods.
Sun, Apr 15, 2012
Apple distinctly erred when it sat for two months on an update from Oracle, which maintains Java, for the Flashback exploit. This mistake should serve as a wake-up call within the company to turn such patches from outside sources into updates for Mac OS X much faster.
Sat, Apr 14, 2012
Mac users should make sure they have applied Apple's latest Java update and installed anti-virus software after a new Trojan targeting OS X was spotted in the wild.
Ironically discovered on Friday 13th, the new Trojan - Sabpab - uses the same vulnerability in the OS X's Java plug-in to infect Macs, warns security firm Sophos.
The compact little device contains a digital TV tuner for receiving standard-definition Freeview broadcasts, along with a small extendable aerial and a rechargeable battery that lasts for about three hours. It has built-in wifi (802.11g) for streaming the TV signal, so you don’t need to muck about with cables when you’re setting it up.
It did that by requiring the publishers to lower the price of any e-book sold in the iBookstore to match the lowest price of any retailer, even if a publisher didn't have any control over that retailer's price.
So Apple's suggestion that publishers had a free reign to set prices at the iBookstore is a bit disingenuous. Apple indirectly dictated the pricing of e-books at the iBookstore by requiring publishers to sell their wares there at the lowest price found on the Internet.
This is the part that I don't think will play well with Apple's agency model.
So I’m guessing that WWDC 2012 will be the week of June 4. And I hope we don’t need to wait much longer to find out.
Or, as Macro also guessed, "maybe there won't even be a WWDC." Or maybe it will be in Beijing.
You can now press that keyboard shortcut at any time to toggle Wi-Fi on and off; a semi-translucent Wi-Fi graphic appears on the screen to confirm the action.
Saves one more icon's space on your menu bar. Which is quite valuable.
For what Hype does in terms of creating animated and interactive content, it’s both easy to use and convenient, and will be attractive to designers who would otherwise be reluctant to get their hands dirty with HTML5 and JavaScript code.
Reached for comment, an Apple spokeswoman said the company is not working on a new product with Starck.
John Paczkowski's guess that the project is with the Jobs family rather than Apple Inc makes sense.
Unlike the iTunes, iBooks and App stores, iCloud has no way of making money directly. It’s a big, bold red line on the books. But Apple made and gives iCloud away because it makes their hardware more desirable.
It is very difficult to achieve what iCloud potentially can achieve if your data are jointly controlled simultaneously by multiple vendors, all of whom have different agenda.
In the PC era, you have Microsoft and PC vendor (Compaq, Dell, IBM, etc). In the post-PC era, add in Google and smart phone manufacturer (Samsung, Nokia, HTC), and you have a mess.
Except that they can’t split iTunes into multiple apps because many, if not most iOS users are on Windows. iTunes is Apple’s one and only foothold on Windows, so it needs to support everything an iOS device owner could need to do with their device. Can you imagine the support hurricane it would cause if Windows users suddenly needed to download, install, and use 3-4 different apps to sync and manage their media on their iPhone? It’s completely out of the question.
Presenters at the North American IPv6 Summit expressed annoyance that the latest version of Apple's AirPort Utility, Version 6.0, is no longer compatible with IPv6. The previous Version, 5.6, offered IPv6 service by default.
Indeed, Comcast is giving only a conditional recommendation for Apple's AirPort Utility to be used along with its new home networking service for IPv6. In contrast, Comcast offers a blanket recommendation for various IPv6-enabled home gateway models from D-Link, Cisco and Netgear.
The French designer Phillippe Starck said in a radio interview with France Info that he is working with Apple on a “revolutionary” new product that will be unveiled within the next 8 months. He gave no hint at what the product might be. He said he met regularly with former Apple CEO Steve Jobs before his death last October.
The judge’s refusal to dismiss the case does not mean the parents will win, but it does increase the pressure on Apple.
Fri, Apr 13, 2012
The DoJ lawsuit plays, it seems to me, right into the hands of Amazon. Yes, we'll have cheaper books, but at what cost? Is it worth paying a little bit less for a title if it threatens the future existence of the publishers who are bringing us the books? Or will we be happy getting everything we read from a vastly reduced pool of presses?
Custom greeting cards are great way to show friends and family that you care (and that you’re creative). They’re also a snap to put together with Pages '09. With spring birthdays, not to mention Mother's Day, Father's Day, and graduations on the horizon, here’s how you can create an original photo greeting card for an inkjet printer in less than 20 minutes.
Six months and 85 million customers later, iCloud has proven to be a substantial improvement to sync a user’s email, contacts, address book, and other data accessed by Apple apps. With third-party developers, however, adoption of iCloud sync and storage features has turned out to be a bit tricker, and possibly less intuitive than Apple’s own implementation due to the early nature of the platform.
The Mannheim regional court backed an earlier court decision that banned Apple from offering the service for synchronizing emails on devices in a patent proceeding brought by Motorola Mobility.
The court said Apple must pay damages to Motorola Mobility, but didn't specify the amount.
Michael Connelly and Sherman Alexie are among authors who view the Justice Department's suit against Apple and five publishers as acting against writers' interests.
Apple’s penchant for control may have contributed to the spread of a virus that has infected more than 600,000 Macs.
"The DOJ’s accusation of collusion against Apple is simply not true. The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon’s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry. Since then customers have benefited from eBooks that are more interactive and engaging. Just as we’ve allowed developers to set prices on the App Store, publishers set prices on the iBookstore."
"Instead of an MFN designed to protect Apple's ability to compete, this MFN was designed to protect Apple from having to compete on price at all, while still maintaining Apple's 30 percent margin."
It combines two pieces—an iPad app and a small “streamer” component that runs on a Windows 8 system. The combination offers a remote connection that is surprisingly responsive and faithful to the Windows 8 experience.
Probably quite useful for Windows 8 developers, but, really, you will want a "real" Windows tablet to test your app.
The seller claims the computer is the only example to feature a 5.25in “Twiggy” floppy disk drive, which had featured in the Apple Lisa computer.
Apple has begun to ask iOS device owners for the answers to security questions as part of an effort to beef up Apple ID security. iPhone users began widely reporting the change on Thursday, though the changes actually began happening sometime in the last 24 hours. Not all iOS users have seen the request pop up yet, however, leaving some confused about whether the prompt is legitimately from Apple.
Declan McCullagh and Greg Sandoval,
CNET:
One reason lies in the Justice Department's 36-page complaint, which recounts how publishers met over breakfast in a London hotel and dinners at Manhattan's posh Picholine restaurant, which boasts a "Best of Award of Excellence" from Wine Spectator magazine. The key point is that Apple wasn't present.
I'll tell you this, friends: It's hideous and it's loud and it's heavy and it's huge… but I love typing on it.
The update improves connectivity for SkyDrive, provides upload functionality improvements for SharePoint, and has some language fixes in German and Italian. There are also fixes for Exchange, printing fixes for Word and Powerpoint gets full screen views.
Apple released an update patching the Java vulnerabilities exploited by Flashback earlier this month. Thursday’s additional Java update goes a step further, removing the most common variants of the Flashback malware.
Finally.
Thu, Apr 12, 2012
A Tokyo judge this week ordered the Japan arm of the Cupertino, Calif. company to pay Y600,000 ($7,400) in damages to a local couple after the wife sustained burn injuries, according to local press reports.
BBEdit is fast and flexible, with a gazillion preferences, and its HTML tools help me format complex texts such as lists and tables with a single keystroke. There are hundreds of features I will never use, and many that I don’t even know about, but as someone who generates text for a living, BBEdit is the best investment I have ever made in any software.
Steve immediately shot his idea down and told the guy that he would probably trip and fall if that were the case. Steve also suggested he should get a girlfriend so he has someone to keep him company while running. I can not watch this Project Glass video without recalling this moment.
Nostalgia is great, but this app doesn’t belong in a museum—it belongs in my Dock. That’s the biggest endorsement I can give.
Happy birthday. Glad to have BBEdit in my Dock too.
The purpose of antitrust law isn’t necessarily to protect smaller companies from larger companies, or even to prevent monopolies per se — the purpose is to protect consumers from the impact of a monopoly or collusive behavior.
The length of that cooling-off period is reported to be one of the sticking points for Apple, and it's easy to see why.
An extended cooling-off period -- in which Amazon goes back to selling bestselling e-books for $9.99 and Apple is still adding its 30% surcharge to the publishers' prices -- could seriously damage Apple's e-book business.
Worse still, it could keep the books off the iBookstore altogether.
But the model they came up with makes sense even without collusion, giving the publishers perhaps their best chance of survival.
A panel of labor activists called on Apple today to increase the amount it pays for devices from suppliers such as Foxconn in order to improve working conditions for employees that make the gadgets.
When Apple entered the fray, it offered publishers the ability to set their own prices. Under the Apple arrangement, known as “agency pricing,” publishers received 70% of the retail price and Apple took a 30% commission. But Apple also insisted that publishers couldn’t sell more cheaply to any of its rivals. The publishers then were able to impose the same model on Amazon.
The combined result of the changes was to eliminate discounting of many popular e-books. Overnight, many national best-sellers went from $9.99 on Amazon to $12.99 and $14.99.
Sales of Mac security software have jumped since the news broke last week about a massive malware infection of Apple computers, according to application statistics and some antivirus vendors.
This makes me think that there may be another factor that’s holding back iTunes; and I fear that it’s contractual.
Wed, Apr 11, 2012
The U.S. filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple Corp., Hachette SA, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster in New York district court, claiming collusion over eBook pricing.
Apple and Macmillan, which have refused to engage in settlement talks with the Justice Department, deny they colluded to raise prices for digital books, according to people familiar with the matter. They will argue that pricing agreements between Apple and publishers enhanced competition in the e-book industry, which was dominated by Amazon.com Inc.
It’s not that I don’t want the ability to send and receive iMessages from my Mac. There’s an undeniable convenience to having a single way to reach me, no matter which device I’m using. But at the same time, I think that cramming that functionality into Messages is just slightly off—call it sticking a round peg into an oval-shaped hole.
Apple paid a paltry £10million in UK corporation tax in the last financial year, despite earning an estimated £6billion in the country over the period.
It is the latest technology firm to be accused of avoiding UK tax, following Amazon and Google.
OS X's Spotlight is a great tool for finding that file you lost or launching apps, but it can do a lot more than just find the occasional file. Here are some of the coolest Spotlight tips, features, and shortcuts to make your Mac a time-saving, file-searching powerhouse.
Apple is developing software that will detect and remove the Flashback malware.
In addition to the Java vulnerability, the Flashback malware relies on computer servers hosted by the malware authors to perform many of its critical functions. Apple is working with ISPs worldwide to disable this command and control network.
Doing day-to-day work in an administrator account poses an elevated security risk. Here are some options for how to switch to a standard account.
Hoping to capitalize on the smartphone’s continuous need for juice, Iomega has released SuperHero, an iPhone dock that not only charges but also backs up content.
A high-level Apple retail employee here in London told me today that the company is planning to stock its London area retail stores with international replacement MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and MacBook keyboards. This way, the retail outlets will have the spare parts on hand should international journalists need a quick turnaround on a damaged laptop.
The updated app better embraces Lion, streamlines preferences, revamps the editing window, and introduces a slew of other new features, to boot.
Boris Sharov, chief executive of the Moscow-based security Dr. Web says he learned Monday from the Russian Web registrar Reggi.ru that Apple had requested the registrar shut down one of its domains, which Apple said was being used as a “command and control” server for the hundreds of thousands of PCs infected with Flashback. In fact, that domain was one of three that Dr. Web has been using as a spoofed command and control server–what researchers call a “sinkhole”–to monitor the collection of hijacked machines and try to understand their behavior, the technique which allowed the firm to first report the size of Apple’s botnet last week.
Tue, Apr 10, 2012
Rather than continue to patch a sync system that was wonky to begin with and has only gotten worse, it’s time for Apple to take a step back and re-think device syncing entirely.
A more fundamental point, however, is that Apple and other corporations owe their very existence to the society that gives birth to them. Readers must understand that neither corporations nor shareholders create corporations. They are all chartered by government.
This week, a large consortium of mobile-ad firms launched a new technical approach to tracking users of free apps. The consortium says the new method protects users' privacy, and will allow people to opt out if they prefer not to have their behavior logged. That opt-out mechanism would be modeled on those offered by online-ad companies for people who do not want their browsing history used to tailor ads.
When you want to print a quick copy, just drag a file (or more, if you like) on top of the desktop printer and, in short order, your printer gives birth to a printed copy of your document without an intervening print dialog box.
Mon, Apr 9, 2012
One of the most innovative gadgets in a generation — the Apple iPhone — would not have hit the market in 2007 were it not for a 60-year-old glass factory in this Central Kentucky town of 8,300 people.
But that scenario is just not going to happen and not just because the iPad is so closely intertwined with Apple‘s identity. Without a doubt Apple will react to any signs of iPad replacing “tablet computer” by consumers and companies the way I would if I saw a rat scurrying about the kitchen: with revulsion, horror and an immediate call to the professionals with instructions to kill, kill, kill. Which is basically how Apple responded several years ago when “Pod” began to morph into generic use.
Sun, Apr 8, 2012
Britain's advertising regulator is deciding whether to launch an inquiry into Apple Inc's marketing of its latest iPad following what some customers said were misleading claims about access to 4G, which is not available in the country.
The iPod, which was the first digital music player when it came out in 2001, is still the name people use for "digital music player" or "MP3 player." And it appears Apple's iPad is headed down the same path.
Fish takes the form of a "tap essay": single sentences presented one at a time on the device's small screen, without any links or other distractions. The whole thing takes about five minutes to read. Then you read it again, because it's so good, which reinforces Sloan's central point: one definition of "love" is "that to which we return".
What I find unacceptable are arbitrary drawbacks that are created deliberately by those who design and develop ebook-reading software. In particular, I’m appalled by the shortcomings with notes and quotes that ebook software developers design into their products, especially in light of the growing movement to replace traditional textbooks with their ebook equivalents.
Sat, Apr 7, 2012
Search the web for “Apple HQ,” and most of the results you get will be pictures of Apple’s Cupertino headquarters — from the outside. Usually with some fanboy standing next to the “1 Infinite Loop” sign. But what we really want to see is what’s inside ultra-top-secret place where all our favorite gizmos are dreamed up.
A second security firm took a shot at estimating how many Macs are infected by the Flashback malware and it arrived at the same conclusion as the first—more than half a million machines. That figure, documented in a Kaspersky Lab blog post published on Friday, would mean Flashback has infected slightly more than 1 percent of the 45 million Macs in existence.
Also:
Fri, Apr 6, 2012
The U.S. has lost that industrial base and it’s extremely difficult to get it back. It’s not about unions, jobs Americans don’t want - it’s about delay.
The sliding camera button on the iOS 5.1 home screen is a perfect example of Apple favoring obviousness over simplicity and even elegance.
Thu, Apr 5, 2012
According to an internal AppleCare document, Apple is actively investigating a series of WiFi-related issues affecting the third-generation iPad.
Are tablet apps the book of the future? In order to find out, I talked to authors, publishers, and app programmers, and read more than a few book apps.
It would seem that the missing iPhone prototype wasn't "priceless," after all. Apple has apparently reached an out-of-court settlement to keep a San Francisco man from suing the company over what his attorney -- and virtually everyone else -- called an "outrageous" warrantless search of the man's home, car and computer last summer by two Apple employees accompanied by four city police officers.
Does Apple have a secret backdoor to hand over your passcode to authorities? The general consensus among our experts was "probably not." Does Apple assist law enforcement in their attempts to crack your PIN/passcode using methods the security world is already aware of? We'd be surprised if they weren't. And can law enforcement, with enough time and effort, brute-force their way past your passcode? The experts we spoke to gave a resounding "yes," though the level of effort required will coincide with the complexity of your passcode and how bad they want the data.
It is easy to say that this is the best version of FileMaker Pro yet. That is almost always the case with a new version. Though I wish I could create and save my own layout themes, my other complaints are minor and involve changes that I recognize were probably necessary. If you are one of the millions already using FileMaker Pro, the only reason not to upgrade immediately is the change in the file format, which requires a little planning and perhaps some budgeting. If you are new to FileMaker Pro, this version is the easiest one ever to recommend.
All you have to do is launch System Preferences, select Mission Control, and uncheck the Automatically Rearrange Spaces Based on Most Recent Use option.
Snapguide and Paper have two things in common. Both appeal to the creative side of mobile users, and both are themselves beautifully made and deceptively simple to use.
I think it’s these qualities that are going to provide a roadmap for more iOS apps to come that will appeal to the artsy, creative side of people, rather than the traditional consumption-oriented theme of what have so far been the most popular types of apps on Apple’s platform.
Everyone use iPhone, and everyone deserve some apps built for them.
Wed, Apr 4, 2012
Training materials prepared by the Sacramento sheriff's office include a fill-in-the-blanks court order that, with a judge's signature, requires Apple to "assist law enforcement agents" with "bypassing the cell phone user's passcode so that the agents may search the iPhone."
People often come up to me in the street and say, “Stephen, why don’t you pop some clothes on, there’s a good fellow.” Another thing they will ask is, “How many phones have you got with you today?” And it’s that second common question we’re going to concentrate on in this blessay.
Apple has extended its European warranties to include repair of products up to two years after purchase, to bring the company into line with European law.
Though brief, Angry Birds Space is a much more sophisticated, entertaining, and complex game than its predecessor and is everything a sequel should be.
As we noted in our original investigation, Apple can potentially decrypt and access all data stored on iCloud servers. This includes contacts, notes, unencrypted e-mails, application preferences, Safari bookmarks, calendars, and reminders.
This was recently confirmed by a source speaking to Ars, and security researcher and forensic data analysis expert Jonathan Zdziarski agreed. "I can tell you that the iCloud terms and conditions are pretty telling about what the capabilities are at Apple with respect to iCloud, and suggests they can view any and all content," Zdziarski told Ars.
Tue, Apr 3, 2012
The good news is that you can sync iCloud to Dropbox. The bad news is that it's a one-way sync from iCloud to Dropbox. But if all you want to do is backup iCloud files and be able to retrieve previous versions from Dropbox, it's pretty simple to do.
The latest variant, discovered by security researchers at F-Secure and dubbed OSX/Flashback.K, takes advantage of a weakness in Java SE6. That vulnerability, identified as CVE-2012-0507, allows the malware to install itself from a malicious website the user visits, without needing the user to enter an administrator’s password.
David Morgenstern,
ZDNet:
Could it be that these easy-to-shoplift cables are so valuable (or rare) that they must be left in the back room? Or is it that there are few sales of the cables and they don’t warrant a spot on the shelves?
A clipping lets you easily insert pre-defined bits of text into a document. A clipping can be any length of text, and it can contain placeholders that are swapped out with the corresponding value when you insert the clipping.
At $2 per month, Tweet Marker Plus offers new functionalities and a web interface for Twitter users, while keeping the basic sync you may already be using in Tweetbot or Twitterrific completely free.
Mon, Apr 2, 2012
When he became chief, many people wondered whether Mr. Cook, a skilled manager of Apple’s operations, could ever rival the visionary influence of Mr. Jobs on Apple products. Instead, it appears Mr. Cook could make his earliest and most significant mark by changing how Apple’s products are made.
Both CEO have different strength, but both of them surround themselves with other talented people that have other complementary strengths.
Sandvox is a tool for casual web builders. Though there are lots of plug-ins supporting social media and dynamic services, we’re now living in an age of content management systems rather than standalone websites. Still, for a modest, personal presence this is a program that can get the job done if you haven’t the time or inclination to learn any coding.
Most people are happy to personalize their phones with, say, a case covered in plastic jewels. But some opt for surgical modifications.
Lightroom 4 doesn't make big strides on the quality front, but the new features are significant and well executed. Lightroom 3 users have little reason not to upgrade—the Maps, Books, and rejigged tonal adjustments should appeal to both professionals and hobbyists. If you're looking for the best option for video handling in a photo management app, this is definitely it. The evaluative chromatic aberration sounded promising but Lightroom's results aren't as good as the other RAW apps that have this feature. This is the only underwhelming part of version 4. Overall, this is a great update to a great application.
David Morgenstern,
ZDNet:
Depending upon where you look for results, Mac OS X Lion is running on 30 or 40 or whatever percent of machines in the Mac installed base. All agree that this number keeps climbing.
Sun, Apr 1, 2012
For the consumer, the personal cloud and the entire ecosystem of devices and services will help drive new customers and retain old ones. Companies that have invested into this new paradigm will see the greatest success. And that’s why iCloud isn’t just a feature for Apple devices and platforms, it’s the key that will determine the company’s success in the future.