MyAppleMenu - Mon, Jun 22, 2015

Mon, Jun 22, 2015The Per-Stream-Basis Edition

Changing Minds

Apple Says It Will Pay Taylor Swift For Free Streams After All, by Peter Kafka, Re/code

Cue says that Swift’s letter, coupled with complaints from indie labels and artists, did indeed prompt the change. He said he discussed the about-face with Apple CEO Tim Cook today. “It’s something we worked on together. Ultimately, we both wanted to make the change.”

Cue says Apple will pay rights holders for the entire three months of the trial period. It can’t be at the same rate that Apple is paying them after free users become subscribers, since Apple is paying out a percentage of revenues once subscribers start paying. Instead, he says, Apple will pay rights holders on a per-stream basis, which he won’t disclose.

To Taylor, Love Dave, by Dave Wiskus

Sure, there’s a valid argument to be made for this being a worthwhile way to win new ears and end up making more money overall. But that’s not an excuse to behave thoughtlessly or further marginalize the value of someone’s work. If there’s a burden of subsidy to driving the adoption of a new service, that burden is on Apple, right?

It seems like there’s a misunderstanding that you’re crying foul or accusing Apple of something shady, when I believe you’re just using your position to argue for the fairest possible deal.

Stuff.

Microsoft Beats Apple On Its Own Turf With Outlook iPad And iPhone App, by Peter Moon, AFR

Microsoft has done something that seemed inconceivable. Its latest mail app for iPhone and iPad beats Apple on its own turf. What were the chances that Redmond would spawn a mail client for iOS that's slicker, more usable and more powerful than Apple's nearly ubiquitous Mail? Well they've done it so convincingly that it surely isn't a fluke.

Apps To 'Gear Up' For Summer Engineering Fun, by Jinny Gudmundsen, USA Today

The lazy days of summer provide a great time to tempt the tinkerer out of kids. With this collection of apps, kids can "gear up" for summer engineering fun by playing games that turn them into inventors. By solving mechanical puzzles, they will learn how simple machines work. The digital wacky machines they build may spark the desire to design their own Rube Goldberg-type machines.

Tweetbot 2 Review: Twitter Mac App Has A Crisper Design But Is A Work In Progress, by Glenn Fleishman, Macworld

The latest OS X release, Tweetbot 2, is a welcome update with a more appealing design, but it still has some room to grow to feel polished and fully up to date. Given Tapbots’ ongoing development on both platforms, it’s easy to see where things are going, but they can’t get full marks for this version without further revisions.

Econ Technologies Updates ChronoSync, ChronoAgent For OS X, by MacTech

Explore And Experience The Photos Of Richard Avedon On Your iPad, by Michael Zhang, Petapixel

Notes.

Cook Says Chinese Tastes Considered In Apple Product Designs, by Edwin Chan and Lulu Yilun Chen, Bloomberg

The company considers details including color palettes to suit local tastes, Cook said in an interview in the June 17 Chinese-language version of Bloomberg Businessweek, published under license by Modern Media Holdings.

The decision to offer a gold iPhone last year reflects in part the popularity of that color among Chinese users, he added. Greater China, which includes Taiwan and Hong Kong, is now Apple’s second-largest market and has become a battleground for the company as it vies with Samsung Electronics Co. and Xiaomi Corp. for smartphone supremacy.

Wait Wait... Kardashian!?!

What's All The 'Kommotion' About Kim Kardashian On 'Wait Wait'?, by Elizabeth Jensen, NPR

I will admit it. In my not–quite five months as NPR's Ombudsman, I've found one reliable source of joy: the Monday morning email—there's at least one each week—from a listener outraged by whatever bad taste joke Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! has told on its latest episode. This Monday, the inbox was overflowing.

Parting Words

German city of Karlsruhe just issued a parking ticket to artist Erwin Wurm for one of his bent car sculptures pic.twitter.com/PFugnxLJjt

— Sham Jaff (@sham_jaff) June 21, 2015

Thanks for reading.