Apple Second “Coolest Brand” In The UK→

Apple Second “Coolest Brand” In The UK

According to the latest CoolBrands survey, Apple’s gadgets and computers aren’t the coolest brand among UK consumers, leaving the #1 spot to British manufacturer of luxury cars Aston Martin. The BBC reports this morning:

Stephen Cheliotis, chairman of the CoolBrands Expert Council, said: “Cool is subjective and personal. But being identified as a Cool Brand by the British public and a panel of influential opinion formers implies it is a brand that most Brits wish to own.

“Votes are based on a wide criteria of factors but these brands are clearly delivering cool in the eyes of consumers and influencers alike,” he said.

Apple’s devices are often described as elegant and “cool”, but there’s no denying Aston Martin’s James Bond cars have their very own historic charm, too. In this year’s CoolBrands index – which is voted by consumers as well as a group of “experts” in brand recognition and popularity –  BlackBerry and Google came at 6th and 7th place, respectively, with Harley-Davidson behind Apple at the 2nd spot. The full list can be viewed on CoolBrands’ website.

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Realmac’s Analog: Apply Filters & Share Your Photos

Released today on the Mac App Store after months of teaser videos and private betas, Analog is the latest creation by Realmac Software, makers of great apps for the Mac like Courier and LittleSnapper. As the early preview videos suggested, Analog is an application to quickly edit and “beautify” your photos in a way that has been made popular recently by iOS apps like Instagram and Camera+ or, on the Mac, Flare by The Iconfactory. Whilst Analog undoubtedly shares some similarities in the main concept with these applications (pick a photo, apply a filter, share it), the execution and attention to detail of the Realmac team makes sure Analog can stand out from the crowd of post-processing utilities.

I’ve been playing with Analog, and I like it because it is extremely simple, focused, and elegant. Everything from choosing a filter to cropping an image has been made intuitive and fast, with some graphical elements (like the sharing menu) inspired by recent iOS interface guidelines brought over to OS X by Apple. Most of all, Analog is fast: I tried the app on my 13-inch MacBook Air (entry model), and filters were applied in less than a second – Analog is very snappy and responsive.

When you fire up Analog for the first time, you’re presented with a large “drop” area on the left, and a sidebar for filters and borders on the right. To start editing an image, you have to drop it into Analog’s main window; once an image is in there, you can start choosing filters and borders to “give your photo some soul”, and share it with your friends. The typical navigation and usage pattern of Analog is fairly simple: import photo, process, share.

Analog offers 20 filters, which have been carefully researched by Realmac over the past months to make sure each one of them has its own personality (something we know that matters in this kind of apps) and will make your photos look great. Now I’m no photography expert, but I can recognize a nice filter when I see it. Analog’s filters range from washed out (Hefga, Golden Hour) to black & white (Noir, Dark Knight, Bromide – three B&W variations with different grey scales and contrast) to contrasty (Memory, XProcess) and other interesting options that I can’t quite classify (Kyoto, Hawkeye). Analog’s filters look good, and I definitely like the choice of 20 different filters offered by Realmac. You might argue some of them look similar to each other, but the developers have also implemented a system that ensures scratches, noise and other effects are always randomized on each processing session.

A photo processed and exported using Analog

To switch between effects you simply have to click on them; a switch button at the top of the sidebar enables you to choose borders, which will look instantly familiar if you’ve used other apps like Instagram and Flare. Read more

Report: iTunes Music Store Coming To 10 More European Union Countries

The Rzeczpospolita newspaper of Poland is reporting that Apple is preparing to launch the iTunes Music Store in 10 more European Union countries. The newspaper does not specify an exact date for when Apple might launch the new region-specific Music Stores but their sources note it could be “at any time”, possibly as soon as this October.

The newspaper names Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic as definite countries where the iTunes Music Store will soon be launching, but the other 7 are not known. As MacRumors points out, only 12 of the 27 European Union member countries do not yet have the iTunes Music Store. This list includes: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

The iTunes Music Store is currently available in roughly two dozen countries unlike the App Store which is available in many more dozen countries (including all 27 EU nations) — mostly due to more complicated licensing issues that arise when dealing with music.

[Rzeczpospolita via MacRumors]

Apple Could Be About To Discontinue The iPod Shuffle and Classic

Apple could be about retire the iPod classic and iPod shuffle as part of a “product transition” that was hinted at by Apple in their last earnings call. The news comes from TUAW who seem reasonably confident that at some point this year Apple will axe the two devices — likely keeping the iPod nano and iPod touch, for now.

To back up their source’s information they cite a recent report from CNet in which it was noted that the iPods now only make up for 8% of Apple’s total revenue. As the above graph shows, iPod sales have also been stagnant or falling over the last few quarters and although Apple doesn’t break these figures down model by model, its believed the iPod touch is what has held iPod sales up. Interestingly the iPod’s 10 year anniversary is coming up soon on October 24th and as CNet said it would be a nice for Apple to say “It had a great run, now go buy an iPhone”.

The shuffle is basically the same form factor as the nano, minus a screen. The classic uses a platter-based hard drive, while Apple is largely transitioning to flash-based memory solutions. The shuffle’s lack of a screen has been an issue since it first appeared as a memory stick with music playback functions. If Apple killed these off, all of its iPods would have touchscreens, and something tells me it wants it that way.

Concluding their report, TUAW notes that their source is “NOT an analyst” and that Apple’s plans are to consolidate the iPod line into just the nano (which would become Apple’s lowest-end iPod) and the touch. The iPod touch would become the premium iPod, with few changes except the availability of a white version.

[Via TUAW]

A Look At Instagram 2.0 Filters→

A Look At Instagram 2.0 Filters

Owen Billcliffe at my glass eye takes an in-depth look at the new filters introduced in Instagram 2.0, as well as the updated ones:

Instagram said that all the filters have been completely re-written to work with the new live preview system and to output far higher resolution images, and it seems to me the re-writes just haven’t nailed the original look. I have a feeling this may be for technical reasons, that the new engine for live preview just can’t support certain features like textures. I suppose it’s also possible the Instagram guys wanted to make some tweaks deliberately but if they did then that’s not cool in my opinion. Users preferring the social side may not mind much, but I had some favourite filters that just don’t feel the same at all and I know I’m not alone.

I don’t use Instagram as much as I’d like to, but I’ve noticed the same issue Owen has with the new filters – Instagram 1.0 had more “personality” in that developers weren’t afraid to have absurdly colorful, contrasty, washed out filters. As Gruber notes, that’s what made Instagram fun. The new filters are less washed out and contrasty, some look very similar to each other – you should take a look at Owen’s gallery with comparison shots before and after the upgrade.

The Instagram developers have a good track record with updates and I’m sure they’ll listen to feedback. Although I do wonder if these changes are somehow related to Apple’s upcoming CoreImage support in iOS 5.

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iPhone 5 Prototype from Foxconn Sold To Case Manufacturer?

With Apple’s iPhone media event now only a few days away, questions still remain weather Apple will announce a “completely redesigned” device, as several rumors claimed, or a minor revision with improved processor and camera. In the past months, rumors have indicated both possibilities – an iPhone 4S type of device with iPhone 4-like design and better specs, as well as a more powerful handset with a redesigned, thinner chassis.

In an article published earlier today, M.I.C. Gadget claims to have the details behind the proliferation of alleged iPhone 5 cases in China – according to the website, a “lost” iPhone 5 prototype from Foxconn may have ended up being sold to a Chinese case manufacturer, and thus the hundreds of the “iPhone 5 cases” we’ve seen so far.

With its past experience, one might think Apple would have been able to track that prototype down in a heartbeat. However, Apple was outsmarted. The person who had access to the prototype wiped the phone’s software, thus disabling the GPS hardware needed to track it down. It was then allegedly sold to one of the iPhone case manufacturers for RMB ¥20,000 (about $3,100). We were told that Foxconn was aware of the loss and had penalized internal management for the incident. We also heard from another source that the person who “lost” it was paid to do so.

M.I.C. Gadget says the iPhone 5 prototype was a final design, although concealed inside an iPhone 4 enclosure – just like with last year’s iPhone 4 leak, although this wouldn’t explain how a supposedly wider and taller device would fit inside an iPhone 4 case. However, according to the rumor, the device shares the thinner “tear drop” design hinted by This Is My Next back in April. Apple is also believed to have lost a next-generation iPhone prototype in a bar in San Francisco, which triggered a somewhat curious internal police investigation.

Apple is expected to unveil the next-generation iPhone on Tuesday, October 4th.

FIFA 2012 Comes To The Mac→

FIFA 2012 Comes To The Mac

Electronic Arts and TransGaming have announced the release of FIFA Soccer 12 for the Mac, The Loop reports. This is the first time the popular soccer franchise is available on the Mac platform, and as usual with TransGaming’s OS X release, the port has been done using the Cider translation engine. Cider has been used in the past years in several Mac games including the recently re-released GTA series.

FIFA 2012 comes with important changes in the physics and artificial intelligence engines:

Chosen Best Sports Game by E3 Game Critics, FIFA Soccer 12 brings to the pitch the game-changing new Player Impact Engine, a physics engine built to deliver real-world physicality in every interaction on the pitch. Revolutionary gameplay innovations inspired by the real-world game make FIFA Soccer 12 deeper and more engaging. All-new Precision Dribbling creates a higher fidelity of touch on the ball for better control in tight spaces, more time to make decisions on attack, and more control over the pace of the game. Innovations in attack are balanced by a re-designed defending mechanism called Tactical Defending, which fundamentally changes the approach to defending by placing equal importance on positioning, intercepting passes and tackling.

FIFA 2012 requires a Mac with OS X 10.6.8 or later, Intel Core 2 Duo or better, 4GB RAM, and ATI HD2600 or Nvidia GeForce 9400M or greater. You can buy FIFA 2012 for $39.99 at GameTree Mac.

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Firefox 7 Officially Released

Last month Mozilla officially introduced a new version of its browser, Firefox 6, but we noted that work on Firefox 7 was already underway as part of Mozilla’s new six-weeks fast release cycle. Firefox 7 has been officially released today, adding a number of memory and engine improvements to make the app speedier, and more reliable. Mozilla says they have “drastically improved” memory handling – this is something that Mozilla announced back in August when they claimed that Firefox 7 would use 50% less memory to address memory leaks, crashes, and general instability with lots of different open tabs. On Windows machines, a new rendering backend is said to be increasing performances of Canvas operations, whilst all platforms are getting better password and bookmark sync with Mozilla’s built-in sync tool.

The most visible change in Firefox 7 is the lack of the http:// prefix in the address bar:

The new Firefox also brings some changes for developers:

New tools in Firefox make it easier for developers to build snappy Web experiences for users. A new version of hardware-accelerated Canvas speeds up HTML5 animations and games in Firefox. This allows developers to build more compelling and interactive Web experiences like Angry Birds or Runfield.

Firefox now supports the W3C navigation timing spec API so developers can measure page load time and website navigation against bandwidth speed, website traffic and other factors. This API allows developers to test user experiences remotely and easily and quickly optimize websites and Web apps for different types of users.

From the release notes:

  • Added support for text-overflow: ellipsis
  • Added support for the Web Timing specification
  • Enhanced support for MathML
  • The WebSocket protocol has been updated from version 7 to version 8
  • Added an opt-in system for users to send performance data back to Mozilla to improve future versions of Firefox
  • Fixed several stability issues
  • Fixed several security issues

With version 7, Mozilla has also implemented a new usage statistic functionality called Telemetry that will help the company collect usage information (memory, CPU, startup speed) to improve future versions of Firefox.

Beginning with version 7, Firefox includes functionality that is turned off by default to send to Mozilla non-personal usage, performance, and responsiveness statistics about user interface features, memory, and hardware configuration. The only Potentially Personal Information sent to Mozilla when this functionality has been enabled is IP addresses. Usage statistics are transmitted using SSL (a method of protecting data in transit) and help us improve future versions of Firefox. Once sent to Mozilla, usage statistics are stored in an aggregate form and made available to a broad range of developers, including both Mozilla employees and public contributors. Once this functionality is enabled, users can disable it in Firefox’s Options/Preferences. Simply deselect the “Submit performance data” item.

Telemetry is off by default and needs to be manually enabled. The feature can also be deactivated from the Preferences.

Firefox 7 can be downloaded here. The latest version of the browser still doesn’t come with Lion-specific fixes and features, but mockups posted recently by Mozilla’s Product Visual Designer Stephen Horlander suggested the Firefox team is experimenting with new interface elements and navigation options for Firefox on OS X. Read more