Usually I’m Gung Ho for anything Apple does, but after shafting Mac developers from the Apple Design Awards, I felt that Apple had removed an important element from the community. Ars Technica apparently feels the same, and will host their own Ars Design Awards specifically for those developing for OS X. Apple, if you aren’t going to recognize great developers and designers for their work, somebody else will.
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Ars Technica thinks Mac Developers Need Love Too
Android Outselling iPhone means Jack Squat
9to5 Mac reported earlier this morning that Android’s market share is surpassing Apple’s iPhone according to the NPD Group. Suggesting that Android holds 28% of the smartphone market compared to the iPhone’s measly 21%, things are looking great for Google and friends right? Well considering the iPhone is only on one carrier in the United States (and produced by a single manufacturer), compared to the four big carriers Android is on and multiple manufacturers, why hasn’t Android captivated more than 30% of the marketplace? Heck, they should be up there with RIM by now if their phones were really that good.
Book Publisher Lulu Now Publishes to iBookstore
Authors looking to publish their books through Lulu can now get their books in Apple’s iBookstore. Basically, Apple takes 30% from each sale. From whatever’s left, Lulu takes 20% and you get to keep the leftovers. That’s not too bad if you can manage to sell a thousand or so books, and being someone whose considering writing some epic novels of his own, I’d be happy to have Lulu distribute my works.
The “iPhone OS 4.0 For iPhone 2G” Project
Some hackers are trying to port iPhone OS 4.0 to the original iPhone “2G”, which was released back in 2007 and Apple decided to keep away from the OS 4.0 goodness.
“We are rewriting the 4.0 beta firmware released by Apple to create a custom firmware that can run on devices iPhone 2G which is no longer available. To do this we studied the architecture of the firmware previously released by Apple on the device trying to understand how is it different from the released versions on other devices, in particular that of the iPhone 3G device, which is what most resembles the smartphones.”
You can follow the development here or follow the project on Twitter as @RebuildingGroup.
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Lady Gaga To Appear In The iPhone 4G Commercials?
9to5mac reports on a deal between Apple and the 24yo pop singer Lady Gaga about the commercials for the upcoming “iPhone 4G”. As 9to5mac suggests, Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball Tour starts on June 28th, a few week after the WWDC.
When asked about this rumor, Lady Gaga’s label Polydor said “no comment”. If this will turn out to be true, I honestly don’t see a better way for Apple to push its new product among teens who’re still using a Blackberry. We’ll see.
New Macbook Air Coming Tomorrow?
Macworld.com.au suggests that a new product might be coming tomorrow, according to a “well-placed source familiar with Apple inventory levels and product refreshes”, the same source who predicted the new Macbook Pros one week before they actually arrived.
“The source says the number, MC516LL/A K87 BETTER BTR-USA, most likely points to a Mac product due to the ‘BETTER’ segment of the product code.
There is some potential it could refer to a 27in display, which has been rumoured to be coming to match the 27in iMacs. However, it looks like there are several thousand on their way to Australia this week, which suggests a major new product.
We’ve also heard whisperings that the current MacBook Air is difficult to come by, despite showing an estimated shipping time of 24 hours on the Apple Store.”
So there you have it. If something’s really coming, be sure to stay tuned tomorrow.
New “Highly Critical” Vulnerability Discovered in Safari
Secunia has discovered a new vulnerability in Apple’s Safari browser, which can be used to compromise a user’s system. The security hole is confirmed in Safari 4.0.5 for Windows and “other versions may also be affected”.
“The vulnerability is caused due to an error in the handling of parent windows and can result in a function call using an invalid pointer. This can be exploited to execute arbitrary code when a user e.g. visits a specially crafted web page and closes opened pop-up windows.”
Security update coming for Safari, perhaps for a 4.1 version? And could this 4.1 version the one with “full HTML5 support”? We’ll keep you posted.
Steam for Mac: Video of Team Fortress 2
Obama: “With iPods and iPads, Information Becomes a Distraction”
AFP reports the following statement from Barack Obama:
“You’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t always rank all that high on the truth meter,” Obama said at Hampton University, Virginia.
“With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, – none of which I know how to work – information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation,” Obama said.
He bemoaned the fact that “some of the craziest claims can quickly claim traction,” in the clamor of certain blogs and talk radio outlets.
“All of this is not only putting new pressures on you, it is putting new pressures on our country and on our democracy.”
I’m leaving the comments to you american guys. What do you think? Do you think he’s indeed right about gadgets (why Xboxes and Play Stations too, anyway?) making information a form of entertainment rather than a tool for democracy?