All Entries Tagged With: "Apple"

Apple’s Sept 1 event to be streamed via Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming technology

Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming technology isn’t the open standard Apple reckon it is, at least not yet. It is pretty cool though, allowing direct video streaming from HTTP that passes over and under firewalls to bring Quicktime X and iPhone video to you, the rumour-hungry end user. Apple’s Sept 1 event rides on sharp expectations this year. Rumours that the iPod nano will shrink, that the iPod touch will sport FaceTime cameras, and that the TV will be updated, are on the line.

Apple’s event will be held at 10:00AM PDT and available from www.apple.com. You can catch the entire Sept 1 Event press release here.

Android Marketplace strangled by porn and piracy

The Android Marketplace cracked

The Android Marketplace has real success stories such as Aaron La’s Advanced Task Manager; its open slant gives opportunity to many developers who can’t afford a Mac to join a huge market place. Every day, Android grows, and barring the all-out success of Windows Phone 7, it is destined to remain at the top, at least as market share leader. But, all is not well.

According to the Reg, Google’s hands-off approach allows its Marketplace to drown in oceans of porn just as the App Store was chocked by useless apps (fart and flashlight) in its early days. There is another negative effect: piracy. Despite the fact that the average selling price for Android apps is less than their iPhone, developers are strangled by app pilfering. The net result is that 49% of Android developers are making less than they expected and only 27% making more than they expected. Again, there is no question that Android is the market leader. For developers, it is an attractive platform. But it isn’t the heaven and spice that disgruntled iPhone developers may think it is. Google needs to adapt to keep its most important customer, the developer, happy. Happy, loaded developers make great apps. Currently iPhone Development, while a lot more controlled, has a friendlier, more lucrative face; it also tends to sport much more high quality apps.

Fanboi VS Fanboi – there is no middle ground

Image courtesy of funny-potato.com/blog

Get over it Fanbois, you can’t separate your favourite product from the pile of others. Security this, security that, market penetration, user base – irrelevant to proving which product is ‘better’. Want to talk about app numbers? About OEM growth? Go ahead. But no matter how you crack it, you’ll only prove one point: that you are capable of only proving one-sided points.

In this article, I will aimlessly rail on the sort of clueless fanbois blogger we see around the net.

Apple refuse to sell DRM-free eBooks

Image courtesy of funny-potato.com/blog

Canadian Science Fiction giant, Cory Doctorow, has put up a nice piece about why Apple and Sony suck. Rather than getting into boring techie talk, he very stealthily opines as a writer who longs for a DRM-less world, one where users can share, buy, borrow, and lend digital content as easily as they do non-digital content. As a content creator, his is a unique and important viewpoint that clashes directly with antiquated pro-Bono business models. Doctorow’s body of science fiction is captivatingly modern and so too are his finger-to-the-man opinions that hopefully, will help change the way digital books are circulated.

iPhone 4 to be a hit in Samsung’s Korea

Good shot, JoongAng

I was walking past the lovely espresso machine in my wife’s semi-lovely work place: Institute Pasteur Korea, today, and saw the ironic JoongAng Daily (a bloody big paper) headline: iPhone 4’s D-day beats expectations. Indeed, the iPhone 3gS has been a hit in the political island of the Republic of Samsung South Korea since last November when South Korea finally allowed smart phones into the country. The same 2009 also allowed the first non-Korean handsets in, severing Oprah-thick layers of corporate sabotage. Korea is beset by anti-competitive practices. While Joongan Daily and its corporate supporters may not like that a foreign company is making waves in the gaming nation, the general populace is all atwitter about the iPhone. The news of course is that in less than 13 hours, pre-orders for the iPhone 4 reached 130 000 units.

More scathe after the gap:

It’s time to Frash your iPhone 4 (tutorial included)

Probably the most advertised “flaw” of the iPhone is, of course, Flash (or lack thereof). Well, at least until the recent Antennagate Anyhow, after the whole Apple vs Adobe saga over the last year or so, one would be safe to assume that hell will freeze over before the infamously resource-hungry platform finds it’s way onto the iOS. Well, it seems it’s time for the Devil to start shopping for a new pair of wooly underwear because Comex, the developer responsible for the most recent iDevice jailbreak, has just updated Frash – the port of the Android flash player for the iOS.

Apple posts Antenna Performance webpage

Some of you maybe pleased with yesterday’s announcement of free Bumper Cases for every iPhone 4 purchased, while others may have felt that Apple did not do enough to address the reception issues. With much at stake, and 17 more countries selling the iPhone 4 come July 30th, Apple has posted a page dedicated to antenna performance - one aimed at showing all current and potential owners that signal lose in smartphones (depending on how it’s held) is unavoidable. Images and videos demonstrating a drop in signal strength for the BlackBerry Bold 9700, HTC Droid Eris, Samsung Omnia II as well as the iPhone 4 and 3GS are included in the webpage.

And to show the world that they do in fact test antenna performance on all their products, Apple has also posted some info on their very impressive antenna design and test labs. More than $100 million has gone into this state-of-the-art facility and you can bet that the iPhone 4 had gone through all sorts of testing right here before being launched.

If all this recent drama has raised some doubts about buying an iPhone 4, perhaps checking out these two webpages will help make your decision a little easier.

Apple’s Awesome iOS 4 Apps

Apple seems to be on a roll of late with App Store app lists. First came The Best Games You’ve Never Played, a roundup of hidden gems that haven’t quite burned up the app charts. Now they’ve released the Awesome iOS 4 Apps list, a collection of apps and games that have been updated to take advantage of iOS 4′s new features, like support for the Retina Display and Multitasking/Fast App Switching. Here are some notable that have made the list:

• Apple Inc. , iMovie – $4.99
• Element Collection , The Elements for iPhone 4 – $9.99
• Software Cellular Network Ltd, Truphone – Free
• PopCap Games, Plants vs. Zombies (TMA Review) – $2.99
• PopCap Games, Bejeweled 2 + Blitz – $2.99
• Steve Sprang, Brushes – iPhone Edition – $4.99
• Marco Arment, Instapaper (TMA Review) – $4.99
• TomTom , TomTom U.S.A. – $49.99
• Sophia Teutschler, Articles – $2.99
• Gogo Apps, Inc., Tap Tap Revenge 3 – Free

Now I haven’t tried all 42 apps on the list, but I don’t think I’d consider all of them to be awesome. I suppose it’s all a matter of personal preference and interests (and of course, apps that actually have been updated for iOS 4 already). The entire Apple roundup can be found right here on iTunes.

Apple releases ‘Find My iPhone’ app: Locate your lost or stolen iPhone and iPad

Only several days ago, Apple released their Apple Store app to allow users to browse and shop for Apple products, reserve the latest iDevices and even make appointments for 1-on-1 help sessions (Genius Bar). And now, the big A has released another handy lil app to help users locate their lost/stolen iPhone and iPad. Should you be unfortunate enough to lose your iDevice, simply install the Find My iPhone app on another iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to see where it is on a map. You can then display a personal message on the lost device (telling the other party to return it or else…) and even have it remotely locked and ensure that all the data is wiped. Of course, the one catch here is that you have to subscribe to the mobileme service ($99/yr or 60 day free trial) in order to make use of this app. If you’re not already a subscriber, perhaps being a new owner of the upcoming iPhone 4 will change your mind. More info after the gap.

Apple Inc. , Apple Store – Free

Unity and other 3d-party engines safe from the Great Flash War of 2010

With all of the hype surrounding the magnificent iPhone 4 and the imminent release of the iOS 4.0, Apple has snuck in an amendment to their infamous and controversial ToS 3.3.1 that made it seem no code interpreters, other than Apple’s are allowed. What this did originally was bar all of the would be Flash-to-native-iOS apps created using the Adobe CS5 suite from ever hitting the AppStore.

At the same time this paragraph technically made all of the widely distributed multi-platform engines, like Unity as the most widely known example, illegal. Despite this, the extent to which Apple was going to enforce this rule was uncertain. Thankfully, with the latest change it is obvious Apple was a bit harsh in their original implementation of the rule and have appended ToS 3.3.2, stating that with Apple’s prior written consent an app may use embedded interpreted code in a limited way if such use is solely for providing minor features or functionality (full wording after the gap).

Whether this will truly exclude the developers using tools such as Unity remains to be seen, but it is definitely an indication that the big A wants to calm the community down a bit.