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OS X Lion Includes Nuance Voices, Samples Available Online

[image via 9to5mac]

A number of reports from multiple sources over the past months pointed at Apple willing to ink a deal with speech recognition company Nuance over the implementation of text-to-speech and mobile speech recognition technologies in iOS devices, with a preview of the new functionalities scheduled for the WWDC, where the company is rumored to show off iOS 5 with deep Siri integration – Siri is a “personal assistant” app which used Nuance’s tech, among other things, that Apple bought last year. As noted by Netputing, however, it looks like the Apple / Nuance licensing deal might extend to a broader level, with voices from a Nuance product (Vocalizer, nèe RealSpeak) being embedded in Lion since Developer Preview 1. The voices were included in the first beta of Lion seeded to developers in February, but only last week the website noticed the names and settings in the Text Speech preference panel were strikingly similar to Nuance’s offerings.

The new voices in Lion still can’t be utilized as they return an error upon installation, but the samples can be demoed for free following the direct links below, courtesy of OS X Daily.

Mac OS X Lion is set to include a wide variety of new high quality text-to-speech voices in a multitude of languages, thanks to a long suspected partnership between Apple and Nuance, a speech technology company. The new voices are of surprisingly good quality and speak in major world languages including English, Mandarin, German, Japanese, French, Spanish, Thai, Bahasa, Portuguese, Hindi, Russian, and many more.

While the rumors indicated Apple was working closely with Nuance over speech implementation in iOS devices, Nuance might have licensed its full portfolio of international digital voices to Apple for usage in iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion. A demo of these new features will likely happen at the WWDC, which is less than a month away. [via MacRumors]

Instagram 1.7 Released, Brings New Profile View

While we’re still playing with Carousel and looking at its beautiful interface for the Mac, Instagram – the official app – has received a majore update on the iPhone that reaches version 1.7 and adds a number of new features, alongside the omnipresent speed improvements and stability enhancements (for older phones this time). Instagram 1.7 brings custom notifications for likes and comments – in the Edit Profile screen, you can specify whether you want to receive notifications from everyone, people you follow, or simply turn them off. This is a welcome addition if you were being annoyed by continuous notifications and badges. In the same screen, you can now add a Bio to display on your public profile. And profiles have gotten a brand new grid view as well, which makes it easy to check out photos at a glance on profiles that have hundreds, if not thousands, of uploads.

Instagram 1.7 is available now in the App Store.

Another Analyst Claims iPhone 5 Won’t Have NFC

Over the past months, several rumors indicated Apple may or may not implement Near Field Communication (NFC) technology into the next iPhone, scheduled for a Fall 2011 launch. While The New York Times reported NFC would eventually find its way on the iPhone, but perhaps not the iPhone 5, others suggested the new iPhone was being built with NFC capabilities in mind, with some even claiming NFC could bring advanced remote computing features when paired to a Mac.

The NFC rumor mill was brought back to full activity this morning with a new report from Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi, who says the next iPhone won’t feature such a tech because it simply isn’t ready for mass consumer adoption, and Apple never embraced promising technologies just for the sake of having them on their feature list.

John Paczkowski at All Things Digital posted some parts of Sacconaghi’s note:

NFC-based mobile payments require NFC-capable POS terminals,” Sacconaghi wrote. “Only 51,000 retail locations support contactless payments (per Verifone’s 10K); given that First Data alone deals with 4.1M merchant locations in the U.S. this suggests current penetration of just over 1 percent of merchant locations. Clearly, a higher critical mass is needed before mobile payments would take off.

We do not expect the iPhone 5 to feature an NFC-based payments solution, and instead expect Apple will evaluate and come to market with partners or a complete solution later, perhaps when NFC infrastructure is more established,” he said in a note to clients. “We note that Apple did not release the first cloud-based music offerings, or the first 3G or LTE handsets, and entered mobile advertising only after Google bought AdMob – instead, the company has made its name from re-inventing MP3 players, smartphones and most recently tablets/netbooks, and would retain the option to eventually do the same with mobile payments.

Admittedly, Sacconaghi’s report sounds like Apple common sense – with 1% penetration in retail locations and the lack of clear standards for consumers, NFC still seems like something Apple might like, but it’s not ready to completely roll out yet. The opportunity for Apple to enable mobile payments and smart music recognition (as demoed by Google at the I/O conference) tied to iTunes accounts is huge, but if the company – as they usually do – really wants to reinvent the NFC system as most people know it, we’re going to have to wait for another generation of devices and larger consumer adoption.

Apple Releases Lion Developer Preview 3 in Dev Center

Following the release in Software Update last week, Apple just released Lion Developer Preview 3 in the Mac Dev Center as a direct download through the Mac App Store. Changes in Lion DP 3 can be found in our previous coverage, and we’ll update this post as more details come in. Build number of Preview 3 is 11A459e – same of the Software Update version.

The new build in the Mac Dev Center comes after a series of reports of users unable to correctly download and install Lion Developer Preview 3 through the Software Update mechanism.

Update: Lion Server Developer Preview 3 is also available as a separate download from the Mac App Store.

Apple Schedules US Retail Meeting on May 22

According to a tip we received from a trusted source, Apple will hold an all-hands employee meeting in US retail stores on Sunday, May 22. The retail meeting will start at 7 AM, an “unusual time” says our source, considering Apple usually holds this kind of meetings on Sunday evenings, after stores close.

Store meetings at 7AM Sunday across United States. Unusual time. Expecting some announcement. All stores, brand-wide US. Don’t know about other countries.

Last week, Cult of Mac reported the Apple Store in Fresno, CA, was planning on holding an employee meeting on Saturday, May 28. Our source says it’s normal for store leaders to choose a different meeting date within a certain window, and that could be the May 22-29 week. Of course, there’s plenty of room for speculation about this retail meeting: with the WWDC approaching (kicks off in San Francisco on June 6), Apple might want to train employees for the rumored new MobileMe features, iCloud, or some other product scheduled to be announced at the developer event – as also suggested by MacRumors back in April. It’s worth noting, however, that Apple celebrates the 10th anniversary of Retail this week, with several websites claiming the company was on track to set up special events and store merchandise for the anniversary.

AppleInsider reported on April 20 Apple was restricting employees from taking time off between May 20-22; our source says that’s because of the all-hands meeting set for May 22, though he couldn’t confirm as to whether it’s an anniversary-related meeting, or an internal training for new products and announcements.

Update: BGR has posted more details on the event Apple may be planning for its retail anniversary. These include NDAs to sign, overnight shifts at Apple Stores through mid-Sunday, May 22, new hardware to install and a password-protected folder for employees called “training.”

During the overnight shift, it’s going to be required that employees lock cell phones in the main office. They will also have to sign an NDA with Apple.

There are a wide variety of roles, we’re told, for the overnight shift. This includes all visuals staff, a manager, a business team member, a few Genius team members, one back-of-house employee, and a few generic Apple specialists.

Apple stores have apparently already received hardware to install, and are expecting more hardware to come on Friday or Saturday. All materials that Apple stores have received have been instructed to be under lock and key until after close on Saturday night.

Apple employees will be putting up black curtains at all stores so that people walking outside cannot see inside.

Employees have had to download gigabytes of data from Apple corporate labeled, “training” in a password-protected zipped folder that won’t accessible to managers or anyone else until Saturday afternoon.

BGR also confirms meetings are scheduled for Monday morning, May 22.

Elgato HDHomeRun Streams Digital TV To Your Macs, Lets You Record & Export

Elgato’s latest addition to the EyeTV software family for OS X machines and iOS devices is the HDHomeRun, a small device that can be connected to your TV and home router to share digital TV over a network. Combined with EyeTV for Mac and Windows Media Center for PCs, the HDHomeRun allows you to stream TV content from antenna or cable channels, send it off to multiple computers simultaneously for live streaming, and record it for later viewing with options to export to iTunes for maximum iOS compatibility. Alternatively, thanks to the EyeTV app for iPhone and iPad, users will be able to stream digital TV to mobile devices as well. Some of these features, like 3G streaming or iTunes compatibility, are of course iOS and Mac specific.

The HDHomeRun retails at $179.95 and it comes as a bundle that includes the device and the EyeTV 3 software. What’s really cool about the HDHomeRun digital tuner is that it can stream TV content to two connected desktop machines at the same time, allowing two users to watch and record separate shows and programs. Streaming can be enabled either wirelessly or via Ethernet, and a list if supported channels in your country can be found here.

With the EyeTV software for Mac, you also get popular features like:

  • Watch, pause, and rewind live TV on your Mac
  • Search two weeks of Program Guide listings; includes one year of free TV Guide data, with optional renewal for only $19.95 per year
  • Set up schedules to record your favorite TV shows
  • Edit out unwanted content
  • Share recordings with other Macs on the same network

Placed next to an Apple TV, Elgato’s HDHomeRun seems like the perfect solution to get your favorite digital TV programs available over the air for Mac and iOS streaming and recording. The product is available now for purchase on Elgato’s website, and we look forward to a full review in the next weeks.

ProductiveMacs Bundle: 8 Great Mac Apps at $29

Given all the great apps available for the Mac, wouldn’t be great if someone bundled together some really powerful utilities that help you get work done? How about utilities like Keyboard Maestro, Mail Act-on, TextExpander, and Path Finder all in one shot? If the addition of HoudahSpot and Today wasn’t enough, then how about the killer price tag of $29? The ProductiveMacs bundle, organized via Apparent Software (who just picked up Socialite from Realmac Software) are hosting a bundle that features a fine collection of seriously powerful software for your Mac.

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Seagate Announces Portable Wireless Hard Drive for iOS Devices

With all the recent talks about MobileMe and the cloud, it’s easy to forget most users still don’t have access to fast and reliable Internet connections that would allow them to stream their entire music library, movies and photos off the web. Whilst streaming is undoubtedly the future of media consumption (just look at the Apple TV, Google Music Beta, Netflix, or Spotify), managing media locally still plays an important role, especially for iPhone and iPad owners who are forced to keep everything organized into iTunes, and sync. Seagate wants to become the new middle man in this scenario, and with the official announcement of the GoFlex Satellite this morning, it looks like they have a chance to provide a better solution for many users.

The GoFlex Satellite is an external portable 500 GB drive that’s got a wireless connection and can stream content up to 3 connected devices at once. It’s got a built-in battery with 25 hours of promised life, and can stream 5 hours of continuous movie content. It works with iPhones and iPads through the GoFlex Media app, but Seagate says it’ll also be compatible with other WiFi-enabled devices and it will be accessible on a local network from a web browser. The portable drive, offering way more storage than an high-end iPhone or iPad, is clearly meant to carry all your music and HD movies around, bridging the gap between local storage and streaming. So while you’ll have to carry yet another gadget in your bag, at least no cable will be required to beam content to iOS. Most of all, music and movies won’t need to br synced locally to an iPhone or iPad; on the other hand, media can be transferred from your Mac or PC to the GoFlex Satellite with a USB 3.0 (USB 2.0 compatible) cable and the Media Sync desktop software.

With the growth of the tablet and iPad markets and the larger volumes of high-quality media now being consumed, there is a clear need for access to content that is not plagued with the challenges of streamed video over the Internet,” said Patrick Connolly, vice president and general manager of Seagate’s retail group. “The unfortunate fact is that these popular new mobile devices are hampered by their limited storage capacity while one of their primary functions is that of media consumption.

“With the GoFlex Satellite mobile wireless storage, we wished to create an elegant solution that provides real value to the multitude of iPad users out there by delivering a seamless connection to local storage. No longer will a consumer feel as though it is a compromise to purchase a lower capacity tablet or iPad. With GoFlex Satellite, people will be able to carry their entire media library with them without the need for wires or the web at a fraction of the cost of adding 3G or purchasing or a higher capacity tablet.

In spite of non-exceptional battery life (5 hours of video doesn’t sound exactly great, considering I like to watch my Lost episodes one after the other), I think this is a great idea, and I’m definitely looking forward to the product. The GoFlex Satellite ships this summer, and it’s available for pre-order now at $199.99 from Seagate.com, Amazon and BestBuy.com.

Castlerama Takes On Epic Citadel with Unreal Engine for iOS

If you were one of those who followed or watched Apple’s September 1, 2010 media event – where, among other things, iOS 4.1 and Game Center were officially unveiled – then you most definitely remember Epic Games’ Mike Capps and Steve Jobs talking about a revolutionary game that would set new technical standards on iOS devices. The game was based on the popular Unreal Engine ported to iOS, and on stage it was presented as a work-in-progress demo called Epic Citadel, also released for free on the App Store. The demo was impressive: there was nothing to do besides wandering around a medieval village, but the graphics, the lightning and the details were impressive. Tech-wise, everything about Epic Citadel was amazing. And as you may know, the game evolved and eventually became a real adventure with a plot and sword fights: Infinity Blade, based off the Unreal Engine and Epic Citadel’s first-person setting, was a huge success on iPhones and iPads.

As the story goes, however, other developers have tried to implement the Unreal Engine powerful set of tools in their games. The latest entry in the Unreal Engine-based game market is Castlerama by the Codenrama development studio, a first-person game with a striking resemblance to Epic Citadel and its environment. Castlerama seems to offer different landscapes though, as well as its own control scheme based on two virtual analog sticks displayed on screen.

The developers also explain their decision to accept “compromises” in order to make the game run on new devices like the iPad 2 and older units like the iPhone 3GS:

While developing Castlerama, we had to face the fact that newer devices such as iPhone4s and iPad2s are very different from their predecessors, iPhone3GSs and iPads, in that the former have twice as much memory. In order to have the app run on all devices, we had to compromise quite a bit, pushing the old devices to their limits (risking crash if other applications are left running) while keeping the new devices well behind their capabilities. In the future we believe we will have to develop two versions for each application.

Castlerama is available for free in the App Store as a universal download. With more games supporting the Unreal Engine coming out in the near future, it’ll be interesting to see how Castlerama will manage to provide a unique experience for iPhone and iPad owners. In the meantime, check out the app’s demo video and a walk down the Epic Citadel memory lane below. [9to5mac via TouchArcade]
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