Posts in news

iOS 6 Confirmed: New Banners Up at Moscone West

It’s been a couple days since we last checked in on the progress at Moscone West, and today it appears that new banners at WWDC are confirming expected discussion around iOS 6, Apple’s next iteration of their mobile OS. Banners in the halls of Moscone West are showing off a slick blue logo with a silver 6 inside, perhaps signifying that fresh coat of paint Rene Ritchie discussed as a possibility on iMore. We’re looking forward to Monday’s Keynote, and in the meantime we’ll continue updating our Moscone West 2012 post with great photographs as they come in.

The first floor layout of Moscone West is different from last year — in the photo above you can see the iOS 6 signage in comparison to last year’s open floor with rope lines. Banners have been hung on the 2nd floor of Moscone West, and there’s different banners for Mac Messages, Mac Notification Center, and for a Mac Game Center. WWDC 2012 is already shaping up to be a big event, and we’ll have more photos soon.

Past the break, we have a couple more photos for your viewing pleasure. Thanks again to @SteveStreza for the amazing pictures!

Read more

New iPhone UI Concept Shows Mission Control, Dynamic Notification Badges, And More

It’s pre-WWDC speculation time. This year, like most, many people think about what new features and capabilities the next version of iOS could include. After watching some concept videos (including one by Jan Micheal Cart) and reading some iOS 6 wish lists, designer Joost van der Ree also decided to present some of his ideas on how Apple could improve the usability of iOS in a short YouTube video.

Read more

Apple Agrees It Misled Consumers With “WiFi + 4G” And Accepts AU$2.25M Penalty, Judge Yet To Approve Settlement

UPDATE: The Court has been adjourned and Justice Bromberg will receive confidential information from Apple (currently unclear what that will include, but presumably some sales and/or refund numbers) by next Wednesday. A decision about whether or not the penalty is appropriate can then be made.

In Australian Federal Court today, Apple has told the court it is willing to accept a AU$2.25 million penalty after agreeing it misled consumers by initially marketing the new iPad’s cellular capabilities as “with WiFi + 4G” in Australia. Apple accepted the penalty that the ACCC proposed which also requires Apple to contribute $300,000 to the ACCC’s legal fees. Colin Galvan, who is representing the ACCC noted that the ”substantial” penalty would amount to a warning to the computer industry that “such conduct will not be condoned”.

Although both Apple and the ACCC have now agreed on a proposed settlement, Judge  Mordy Bromberg must yet approve the deal. Judge Bromberg has said that he wants more information about the extent of misleading advertising after Apple has so far refused to provide any information about how many iPads have been sold, returned and how much revenue and profit Apple has earnt.

“I have some concern… that the agreed facts might be a little thin to allow me to do what I need to do and that is determine whether the proposed penalty is appropriate,”

Timeline of Events

  • On March 27th the ACCC announced it would initiate legal action against Apple for making misleading 4G claims in its marketing of the new iPad in Australia. The issue arose because although the new iPad supports US and Canadian 4G networks, the hardware in the new iPad does not support any of the Australian 4G networks.
  • Across Europe a few countries began to keep an eye on the issue and consider investigations into the issue after fielding complaints from consumers.
  • On March 30th, Apple clarified its iPad marketing in Australia by explicitly noting that “it is not compatible with current Australian 4G LTE networks and WiMAX networks.
  • On April 5th, Apple gave Australian customers the ability to get a full refund of the new iPad if they purchased it under the assumption of it supporting Australian 4G networks up until the 25th of April. They also informed Australian resellers to update marketing to explicitly mention the incompatibility with Australian 4G networks.
  • On May 12th Apple decided to rename the WiFi + 4G model to WiFi + Cellular - across the whole world (including the US and Canada), eliminating the confusion over whether the iPad supported 4G in a particular country like Australia, where it did not.

[Information via @NorrieRoss, @LucyBattersby, @_kate_osborn and The Australian]

TestFlight Introduces their TestFlight Desktop App Beta for Developers→

TestFlight Introduces their TestFlight Desktop App Beta for Developers

This afternoon, Hjalti Jakobsson (@Hjalti) announced the availability of the TestFlight Desktop App private beta.

TestFlight Desktop App, now in private beta

We’re really excited to share an early version of TestFlight’s Desktop App. We think this will be a significant and much needed change in developers’ beta release workflow. Since we’re still in beta, we’d really appreciate you testing the app and providing feedback.

TestFlight’s Desktop App brings TestFlight’s powerful management features to the desktop, resulting in iOS archive detection from the menubar, the ability to set permissions for testers, automatic dSYM detection, and faster upload speeds. Developers can simply visit https://testflightapp.com/desktop/ to download the beta app and provide feedback before TestFlight’s public release.

Permalink

Airfoil Speakers Touch is Back in the App Store, But…

Paul Kafasis on Apple’s takedown of Airfoil Speakers Touch and its reintroduction into the App Store:

We’re pleased that Airfoil Speakers Touch is once again available in the iOS App Store, enabling you to use Airfoil to send audio from your Mac or PC to Airfoil Speakers Touch running on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. However, in order to get Airfoil Speakers Touch back into the store as a receiver for Airfoil, we had to remove its ability to receive audio directly from iOS and iTunes via AirPlay. This was quite disappointing to us, as we’d provided a feature that thousands of users found quite useful.

Airfoil Speakers Touch was removed from the App Store on May 24th, specifically for its Enhanced Audio Receiving feature which turned your iPhone or iPod into an AirPlay receiver. For instance, you could stream audio from iTunes to an iOS device that was connected to your home audio equipment. The feature was sold as an in app purchase — Kafasis states that over 7,000 customers paid extra for the functionality.

We now know that Apple’s issue with Airfoil Speakers Touch was specifically related to its recently-added ability to receive audio directly from iOS devices and iTunes. This was not properly conveyed in our initial conversations prior to the removal of Airfoil Speakers Touch from the store, and Apple’s representatives apologized for the fact that the entire process was “poorly handled”.

Apple’s problem with Enhanced Audio Receiving stems from Rogue Amoeba’s use of AirPlay in the app — Apple hasn’t made available any APIs for iOS devices to act as AirPlay receivers. Rogue Amoeba made clear that they weren’t using any Private APIs in their implementation. As John Gruber speculated, perhaps it wasn’t the issue of an API, but rather that Apple simply didn’t want a high profile AirPlay Receiver in their App Store.

John Gruber:

I think the bottom line is that Apple is saying that apps are not allowed to act as AirPlay receivers on iOS, but there’s no App Store guideline that explicitly forbids that. So they’re citing App Store Review Guideline 2.5:

Apps that use non-public APIs will be rejected.

Kafasis specifies what guidelines Apple used to remove Airfoil Speakers Touch from the App Store:

Regardless, Apple is using the authority they provide themselves in the guidelines and program license agreement to remove apps they don’t like. Specifically, they cited a provision in the App Store Review Guidelines which allows them to reject apps “for any content or behavior [they] believe is over the line”. That’s certainly disappointing, and frustrating, but it’s the nature of the system Apple has created.

Kafasis is upset, and rightfully upset, this his customers paid for a feature that was swiftly taken away without good reason. It’s also frustrating for customers, who may have specifically downloaded the app to pay for and use this feature. Instances like this can have negative impacts on the reputation of the developer if customers are unaware that the removal of a feature they paid for was mandated by Apple. Kafasis writes that Apple licenses AirPlay to lots of vendors, and that Apple might not want their own products to compete with AirPlay enabled hardware sold in stores. Rogue Amoeba had no choice but to comply and do the best they can to provide the remainder of the app’s functionality for existing customers. As far as outcomes go, I think it was the best compromise, but certainly not ideal.

[via Rogue Amoeba, The Next Web]

Can a command line shell be Mac-like?→

Can a command line shell be Mac-like?

Introducing a new command line shell from Ridiculous Fish (@ridiculous_fish):

The new fish is a POSIX command line shell with delightful, intuitive features like autosuggestions, 256 color syntax highlighting, web based configuration, and lots more. Best of all, these features just work, out of the box. No arcane syntax, no twiddling obscure knobs.

It’s easy to install and integrates seamlessly into iTerm or Apple’s Terminal. Fish (fishfish) is optimized for speed and is packed with easy-to-use features that allow newbs like me to customize my environment to my liking. Setting up and using fish is simple:

Edit /etc/shells as root, and add the line (if missing): /usr/local/bin/fish
Then run: chsh -s /usr/local/bin/fish

You can download fish here.

Permalink

Angry Birds Space Downloaded 100 Million Times in 76 Days

This morning, Rovio Entertainment (@RovioHQ) tweeted that their latest franchise hit, Angry Birds Space, has been downloaded 100 million times in just over a period of two months.

When we last heard from Rovio, Angry Birds Space was touted as the “fastest growing mobile game” after hitting 50 million downloads within the first 35 days, and 10 million downloads within the first 3 days. Comparatively, when Angry Birds first launched in December of 2009, it took until June, 2010, to reach 5 million downloads.

As the popularity of the iPhone and Angry Birds has exponentially increased, Angry Birds fans are more than happy to get a dose of the kid and adult friendly gameplay. Rovio recently reported that Angry Birds was downloaded one billion times in May, after reporting 648 billion downloads in December. Apple’s all time record charts noted Angry Birds as the top paid iPhone app, with an HD version on the iPad being the second top paid app.

When we looked at Angry Bird’s success last November, we charted its exponential growth and made note of its addictive gameplay. At the time, gamers were racking up more than 300 million minutes per day playing Angry Birds, putting in well over 200,000 years of pig crushing, crate smashing, and star collecting fun.

[Rovio via iDownloadBlog]

MacUpdate June 2012 Bundle: 11 Mac Apps for $49.99

Today, there is a new MacUpdate Bundle that comes with a selection of top-notch Mac productivity apps, utilities, and games for just $49.99. The MacUpdate June 2012 bundle includes some of MacStories’ favorite Mac apps including the excellent Espionage (our review) and the ultimate calendar and to-do list manager for your Mac in BusyCal. If you tried purchasing the included apps individually you’d be paying nearly $450, so if you’re looking to beef up your collection of Mac apps this is a terrific deal at just $49.99.

The MacUpdate June 2012 Bundle includes:

  • Parallels Desktop 7 - The most trusted solution for running Windows applications on your Mac, as well as other operating systems.
  • BusyCal - The ultimate calendar and to-do list manager for your Mac.
  • ScreenFlow - A powerful, easy-to-use screencasting software for your Mac.
  • Civilization V - the latest installment of the legendary turn-based strategy game.
  • Jaksta - Capture audio and video from the Web with unprecedented ease.
  • Espionage - A data security solution that protects your files and folders in a unique and convenient way.
  • Speed Download - A lightning-fast download manager that ensures your Internet connection is utilized to its full extent.
  • Attachment Tamer - Gives you complete control over your Apple Mail attachments.
  • KeyCue - A handy utility for learning and memorizing keyboard shortcuts.
  • A Better Finder Rename - The most complete renaming solution available on the market today.
  • My Living Desktop - Transform your desktop into a moving, living environment.
  • If you help spread the word about this bundle, MacUpdate will give you a copy of RedHand, a $5 value, for free.

Disclaimer: For every bundle purchased through MacStories, we receive a small kickback. If you’re interested in the bundle and supporting the MacStories crew, please use the link here or any of the affiliate links above.

Apple Starts Decorating Moscone West with WWDC 2012 Banners

A few days earlier than expected, Apple has started decorating the Moscone West in San Francisco for its upcoming WWDC 2012, which kicks off on Monday, June 11. Last year, with WWDC 2011 set for June 6, Apple started decorating Moscone on June 2, famously showing the previously unseen iCloud logo ahead of the event.

Like last year, our friend @SteveStreza has managed to capture a series of photos of the work in progress at Moscone West. Right now, it appears only a large banner has been put in place, highlighting the focus on third-party apps with a “Where great ideas go on to do great things” tagline. The first banner, using the same colorful background seen on the official WWDC website, shows icons for various third-party apps and games including Tweetbot, Foursquare, Path, Hulu+, Instagram, SpellTower, Twitter, TED, Evernote, Facebook, CNN, and StockTouch.

We have received the first photos of Moscone West, and included them after the break.We will update this post with more photos as we receive them throughout the day.

Read more