Graham Spencer

917 posts on MacStories since January 2011

Former MacStories contributor.

graham@macstories.net

Apple Implementing Light Peak Technology In The Near Future?

CNet yesterday reported that Apple is expected to be one of the first adopters of Intel’s Light Peak technology, possibly starting with next week’s rumored MacBook upgrades. The technology is touted by Intel as a way to eliminate the many different cables that computers use such as USB, HDMI and FireWire, creating an all-in-one connectivity solution and Intel has detailed that a first half of 2011 launch is expected.

A source told CNet that Apple intends to adopt the technology in the near future but will supposedly brand the connection under a different name to Light Peak. Whilst CNet couldn’t deduce whether or not the rumoured MacBook update on February 24 would include a Light Peak announcement or inclusion, there has been rumors of more than just a spec-bump in the next update of the MacBooks, possibly suggesting the inclusion of Light Peak.

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Fruit Ninja Sells 6 Million Copies, Slices 150 Billion Fruit and Decides to Fund a Fruit Orchard!

Less than a year since launching, Fruit Ninja has been purchased a whopping 6 million times on the iPhone and over 150 billion fruit have been sliced and slaughtered! In an odd twist of events, Halfbrick has decided to in their words, “make amends for fruit death worldwide” by working together with the ‘Fruit Tree Planting Foundation’ to establish and fully fund a fruit orchard.

Halfbrick has chosen to fund an orchard in a low-income Native American community to not only provide fresh fruit as sustenance to the community but also allow the community to have some long-term income. The project is part of the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation’s Reservation Restoration program and will be fully run by them at the cost of Halfbrick and you will be able to receive updates from the Halfbrick blog and the FTPF website.

[Via Joystiq]

iPad and iPhone Beats Kindle In The UK, But Not In The US

Market research firm Book Marketing Ltd has revealed to GigaOM that in the UK both the iPad and iPhone are beating the Kindle as an eBook reader most used by consumers based on data from last September. The story however is very different in the US however with the Kindle far ahead after stellar growth throughout 2010 as the graph below the break demonstrates.

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The Future of MobileMe: A Mix of Facebook, Foursquare and uStream?

Cult of Mac is today reporting that some of the new features in a supposedly revamped MobileMe could include a live video streaming service, a location based check-in system and a geo-tagging service. The information was gathered from an anonymous source that said Apple is working ambitiously on cloud computing features for MobileMe, particularly to enable sharing data and location-based services.

The centerpiece of the re-invigorated MobileMe would be a “dynamic webpage that sounds like a mashup of Facebook, Foursquare and Ustream.” This page would aggregate information garnered from a users iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch including the users location, photos and videos. This sounds like a similar service to what Apple was granted a patent to last year regarding ‘Social Workflows’ which would allow simple sharing of information with others.

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Windows Phone 7 Connector: Microsoft’s First Mac App Store App

After being in public beta form since October, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 Connector application for Mac has lost its beta tag and is available in the Mac App Store – Microsoft’s first app to be in Apple’s new app store. The application gives Mac users the ability to sync music, photos, videos and podcasts to a Windows Phone 7 phone or a Zune.

Whilst Windows Phone 7 Connector is simplistic and not as full featured as the Zune software on Windows, it does feature iTunes compatibility and can also update the firmware on Windows Phone 7 phones. It is available for free in the Mac App Store.

[Via Engadget]

Shazam’s Music Sourcers Add Jobs To Music Industry, Give Music Lovers Their Ultimate Job

Shazam the popular music-identifying app on mobile phones is giving some music aficionados their ultimate job, listening to new music all day as a ‘music sourcer’. The New York Times spoke to one such person working for Shazam, Charles Slomovitz whose job requires him to hunt down new music and artists to ensure Shazam’s music-identifying engine can identify song that its users may hear.

Shazam has grown to a user base of over 100 million users who ping the service 3 million times a day, and Andrew Fisher, Shazam’s chief executive says that “when people use a service like Shazam, they expect it to work all the time”. As a result Mr. Slomovitz and others around the world who find new music are vital to ensure the accuracy of Shazam, which is available in over 200 countries. Similarly Pandora has also created new jobs in the music industry with its so called ‘musicologists’ who analyze songs on the basis of numerous characteristics to give users the ability to find similar music.

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The Backlash Over Apple’s Subscription Service Begins

Less than a day since Apple unveiled it’s somewhat new subscription rules and unsurprisingly there is already some backlash from publishers and suggestions of possible antitrust investigations. The most prominent content provider that has spoken out so far is Rhapsody, effectively signaling that Apple’s 30% is not economically viable for them after paying music publishers and as a result will not be implementing the new subscription service and policy.

Rhapsody’s president Jon Irwin issued a statement and amongst noting that it would be “economically untenable,” he also noted that they will be “collaborating with our market peers in determining an appropriate legal and business response to this latest development.” This certainly gives the impression of possible legal action if that avenue is open to them and interestingly enough The Wall Street Journal contacted several law professors and reported that Apple’s new policy could potentially “draw antitrust scrutiny”.

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Portal 2 Available For Pre-Order Now

Well after some delays, Portal 2 is now finally available for pre-order for an expected release of April 18th.  Mac users can pre-order the game for US$44.99 on Steam or at selected retail shops, some of which have special pre-order offers;

Special pre-order offers vary at participating outlets around the world and include a variety of dollars off and/or exclusive in-game content for those who reserve the game for purchase before it is released the week of April 18. These include $5 off the full price, exclusive in-game skins for the coop bots (Atlas and P-body), and more.

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