“Inside Apple” Reveals Steve Jobs Anecdotes, Apple’s Little Known Facts

In Adam Lashinsky’s latest feature story on Fortune magazine’s new issue – available now on the iPad at $4.99 as single in-app purchase, and free for Fortune subscribers – the author reveals several unknown anecdotes about the company, internal management, and Steve Jobs. The story is full of interesting details for Apple fans and journalists, as well as little known facts about the personality of the CEO, Steve Jobs.

Lashinsky, for example, tells the story of the 2008 launch of the iPhone 3G and MobileMe, which didn’t go exactly well for Apple. MobileMe – a rebranded version of iTools and the .Mac service – promised to offer continuous web access to mail and calendars, as well as sync options for iPhones and iPod touches. The initial rollout, however, was affected by slow loading times and servers constantly down, which lead to speculation as to whether MobileMe was really ready for public release, with many questioning the premium fee Apple was asking for one-year usage of the service. In Fortune’s story, Lashinsky says Steve Jobs summoned the entire MobileMe team for a meeting at the company’s on-campus Town Hall, accusing everyone of “tarnishing Apple’s reputation.” He told the members of the team they “should hate each other for having let each other down”, and went on to name new executives on the spot to run the MobileMe team. A few excerpts from the article:

Can anyone tell me what MobileMe is supposed to do?” Having received a satisfactory answer, he continues, “So why the f*** doesn’t it do that?

Jobs was also particularly angry about the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg not liking MobileMe:

Mossberg, our friend, is no longer writing good things about us.

MobileMe went under major design changes in the past years, reliability improved and the service is now rumored to go under a complete facelift by the launch of iOS 5 with a new name, iCloud. Read more

Reeder for Mac Beta Update: New Features, Tweetie-like UI

I had some pretty good words about the first beta of Reeder for Mac that came out last December, but since then it seemed like Silvio Rizzi – the main developer of Reeder – disappeared from our radars releasing minor updates to the iPhone and iPad versions (focused on Readability integration) and extending the expiration date of Reeder for Mac (public beta) by one month at a time. After a few updates following the feedback Rizzi got after the (insanely popular) launch of the beta, the app was left available for download with a few fixes coming out every once in a while. Six months later, it looks like we’re back to the start: a new beta of Reeder for Mac with lots of new features is available (and like the last time, I’ve been testing it for a while), but the app is still nowhere to be seen in the Mac App Store. This time, however, with Reeder for Mac Public Beta 14, we might have an almost-complete and full-featured RSS reader for our desktops that not only looks better than ever, but it’s also packed with features, new gestures, and interface schemes.

The new beta is available for download here. Without re-reviewing the app all over again (in spite of the additions it still retains 80% of the features seen in the first beta, reviewed here), I’d like to focus on the key areas that Rizzi improved, redesigned and, overall, simply evolved into something new. First off, the app comes with a new optional “minimized layout” that, following a trend started by the original Tweetie for Mac and later re-ignited by other apps like the popular Sparrow email client, places your Google Reader’s source favicons in a narrow sidebar on the left, with unread items in the main panel. The minimized layout, unlike the standard one, doesn’t come with a right panel to read articles: everything happens in a single window, much like Twitter for Mac doesn’t display additional sidebars and popovers when you’re interacting with your timeline. In the new Reeder beta, clicking on a title will open the article (with a neat animation) in the same panel; tap the close button, and the article will bounce back to reveal the main list of feeds again. In this new single-window approach, all the interactions with Google Reader or external services either happen though gestures or keyboard shortcuts – support for both of them has been improved in the new version.

Reeder for Mac retains an iOS-like feel that’s even more visible in today’s beta. The app was accused of being the first iOS app coming to the Mac without considering the nature of the desktop platform; however, as Apple is proving with the Lion developer builds and the latest updates to its flagship applications, it really looks like the future of the Mac will be heavily inspired by iOS. Back to the Mac, as Steve Jobs said, and Rizzi knows this. Reeder for Mac feels like a desktop iOS app more than ever, with support for swipes and pinches to navigate and open / close articles, monochrome icons in the top toolbar to share an article or open it in the browser, and a general feel attached to it that makes Reeder perfect for OS X Lion already, in spite of the OS not being available yet. Whilst the classic reading mode reminds us this is a desktop application meant for RSS power users with lots of features and deep Google Reader integration, the minimized mode and enhanced gesture-based navigation proves, once again, that Reeder is an app with an iOS background that’s coming to a new Mac ecosystem, the one that will start populating our MacBooks and iMacs this summer.

The app is far from finished, though. Whilst Rizzi tells me he’s still planning on making the app available through the Mac App Store, there are some aspects of the app that are not yet completed, such as full subscription management and downloads. However, this new beta confirms that the developer has been busy addressing the issues reported in the first versions: search finally works, and he even implemented a new “appearance” settings panel that will allow you to change Reeder’s color scheme from the much criticized sepia background to something more Mac-like. I love this preference panel: I’m a “standard” user as you can tell from the screenshots in this post, and I appreciate the little touches like the Preferences window fading to let you see the modifications you’re making to the app. Furthermore, the “article list row height” slider enables me to make the app even more minimal with narrower headlines. I quickly skim through hundreds of headlines in my daily news workflow, and I don’t really need to see a three-line preview before deciding to open an entire article. That’s why minimized mode works for me (by the way, you can switch between the two modes at any time by hitting a button in the bottom toolbar).

One thing I’ve always wanted from Reeder for Mac but Rizzi never implemented is the ability to click on a website’s favicon in the upper toolbar to reveal options like “unsubscribe from this source” or “refresh this source only.” Perhaps they’ll come in the final release – which should happen relatively soon at this point, considering the entire app has been rewritten since the original beta and most of the functionalities are working.

Overall, this new beta of Reeder is a terrific improvement over the past version, which was aimed at porting the Reeder experience to OS X, but perhaps lacked the right amount of features that could make it absolutely stand out. With minimized mode, more gestures and an iOS-like approach to news reading, Reeder for Mac leads the way for great things to come. Download the beta here, and check out more screenshots below. Read more

Rovio Nominated for Three Develop Awards

When people spend 200 million minutes playing your game every day, you’d start thinking you’ve done some good to the world of mobile games. Rovio, makers of Angry Birds, have been nominated for three different Develop awards, as noted by TUAW, which include Best Use of a License or IP, Best Indie Studio, and Best Handheld Studio. The Develop awards focus on the best names in the video game and software interaction industry, and Rovio’s inclusion in the nominations doesn’t surprise at all: the last 12 months have been insane for the Finnish company, which saw its game become the most popular in the App Store worldwide and collaborated with Hollywood studios for a spin-off of the series based on animated film Rio.

The Develop Industry Excellence Awards will take place on Wednesday, July 20th, 2011 at the Hilton Brighton Metropole Hotel, UK. The awards and categories include sections like Technical Innovation and Audio Accomplishment, as well as Business Development and Publishing Hero. We’re pretty sure Rovio will manage to bring home some awards this summer – which will also see the release of new Angry Birds games including, perhaps, a real sequel to the original iPhone game.

Conde Nast Will Implement Apple’s Subscriptions Starting Next Week

Over the past weeks, several reports pointed to major publishers and publications starting to use Apple’s in-app subscriptions in their magazine and newspaper apps for iPad, quite possibly ahead of the rumored June 30 deadline that will require developers of existing “publishing apps” to implement subscriptions, or get pulled from the App Store. Following the big names from the last weeks – Hearst confirming subscriptions coming with the July issues of magazines like Popular Mechanics and Oprah Magazine or Time Inc. inking a deal with Apple over free access for print subscribers – The New York Post reports Conde Nast, publishers of dozens of magazines also available on the iPad in digital form, will begin relying on in-app subscriptions starting next week with The New Yorker, available on the iPad since last September. The decision to move forward with subscriptions and The New Yorker apparently came after the death of Osama bin Laden, with Conde Nast looking to “capitalize” on the coverage through subscriptions and digital content for iPad.

Conde Nast is very close to a deal to begin selling digital subscriptions via Apple’s iPad.

The New Yorker will become the first publication from the S.I. Newhouse, Jr., empire to be available via subscription on the popular tablet, and it will happen early next week, said a source familiar with the situation.

Conde Nast is also planning on dramatically slashing the prices of single-issue downloads for other iPad magazines like Wired, Golf Digest, Glamour, Vanity Fair, Self, Allure and GQ: the issues will be sold in-app at $1.99, down from the current $4.99 and $3.99 (Glamour). This will keep the prices in line with the current newsstand print editions, and it will also allow Conde Nast to sell annual iPad subscriptions at $19.99. With developers and publishers expected to implement subscriptions before the end of next month, the amount of magazines and newspapers featuring subscriptions will likely increase, allowing Apple to showcase even more in the App Store’s homepage.

Apple Negotiating With Nuance Over Voice Recognition Technology?

A TechCrunch post from late yesterday suggests that Apple and voice recognition company Nuance have been negotiating a deal for months following Apple’s acquisition of Siri. Siri, which Apple acquired last April, developed an iPhone app that was marketed as a “virtual personal assistant” and would listen to audible questions from a user (such as “where can I find parking around here”), and would respond with an answer.

In a previous report, TechCrunch said that they believed the acquisition of Siri would lead to iOS 5 having “assistance technology [that] is said to be deeply integrated into the OS for all the different services offered.” However, Apple has had to renegotiate deals with all the partners of Siri since it acquired them and apparently the one hold out is Nuance. According to TechCrunch’s sources, the negotiations between Apple could be as big as an acquisition or just a partnership.

Apparently an acquisition is unlikely at this stage, likely for a number of reasons mainly surrounding the cost; Nuance is a public company valued at over $6 billion, furthermore much of that value is because of various licensing deals that would likely be stopped if Apple bought Nuance. The other alternative is that Apple partners Nuance and licenses the voice recognition technology; and at this stage it is the more likely option according to TechCrunch’s sources. The hold up is apparently because of Nuance CEO Paul Ricci being a “really hard bargainer”, going as hard as Steve Jobs would in the negotiations and resulting in a standoff between the two companies.

Apple does have alternatives to dealing with Nuance, it could build its own service but this would be fraught with legal issues (Nuance holds many patents) and would take time (that Apple may not want to spend) or it could go with Google, but given the current smartphone battle this seems unlikely. Consequently it seems unlikely that Apple has any good alternative here, particularly given how well the Nuance voice recognition technology works.

With with WWDC rapidly approaching, and iOS 5 fairly likely to make some kind of appearance, one would presume that Apple would be at this stage rushing to finalise a deal with Nuance, particularly if it is a major cornerstone of the iOS 5 experience. One final point made by MG Siegler in the article is that;

And the truth is that Nuance needs Apple too. Not only are they also threatened by Google, but Nuance technology is simply not very meaningful without apps that utilize it like Siri. And many of those apps are appearing guess where: iOS.

[Via TechCrunch]

Giveaway: Transfer Files, Manage Computers, and Log In with LogMeIn Ignition

LogMeIn Ignition for the iPad and iPhone has long been my favorite choice as the app that I use to remotely connect to my desktop and laptop computers when I’m on campus or away from my office. What I really appreciate about LogMeIn Ignition is that setup is super easy (just like with all LogMeIn products), requiring nothing more than a download of their client software that gives you always on, always secure access to your Desktop screen.

Recently, LogMeIn updated their iOS app with the ability to transfer files between machines running LogMeIn’s desktop client, and to your iPad so you can cache files locally if you forgot to push that business report to Dropbox. While we’re impressed with the spaces-like-ability to remotely manage so many machines at once all while transferring files, I’m even more impressed with just how good LogMeIn’s on-screen controls are. Unlike other apps that require lots of fidgeting with touches, taps, and scrolls, I feel LogMeIn has done the best in creating the most user-friendly experience. As the mouse cursor moves in tandem with your finger, you can make taps, double-taps, and pinch actions anywhere on the screen, and LogMeIn will intuitively perform click and right-click actions while zooming windows into focus. Performance remains buttery smooth as well (especially over WiFi), thanks to the ability to fine-tune how the desktop is presented on your 1024x768 display. If you’re helping a customer via one of LogMeIn’s Pro² account (or simply helping a friend with a free account), you can retain the desktop’s screen resolution and simultaneously remove effects and wallpaper; the configuration options are smart, friendly, and unobtrusive.

LogMeIn Ignition doesn’t require a subscription to use for personal use, and only costs $29.99 as a universal app in the App Store. Best experienced on the iPad with the great real estate it offers, you’ll have immediate access to your Windows PCs or Macs on the road at any time. LogMeIn has given us three copies of the app to give away to our readers, which we are incredibly excited to share with you. You’ll find all the rules and details you need after the break.

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Skype Bug Leaves Mac Users Vulnerable to Exploit: Updated

Those running Skype on OS X are vulnerable to an exploit that allows attackers to gain root access on target machines. Through an instant message, attackers could deliver a malicious payload that would give them remote access via a shell. The severity of the issue has already been addressed by the Skype team, and should be fixed in a future update. In the meantime, a proof of concept reveals the need for caution with recent OS X security warnings and concerns.

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Use AppleTV video caching for faster AirPlay viewing→

Use AppleTV video caching for faster AirPlay viewing

Dan Frakes from Macworld writes on how the Apple TV caches content streamed via AirPlay:

The latest Apple TV doesn’t have a hard drive, but it does have 8GB of internal memory. Some of that memory is used to store the Apple TV’s operating system and other software, but a big chunk of it is used to cache media—video, audio, or photos—for better performance. If you’ve ever streamed a movie from your Mac or from Netflix, you’ve seen the blue progress bar “fill up” as the Apple TV stores a chunk of that content (a technique often called buffering). When you’re watching the video, the Apple TV actually reads the stored data, rather than the data streaming over the network; as stored data is used, it’s discarded and replaced by new data. This is why you (usually) don’t see stutters and freezes in streamed video, even with a choppy network connection.

But this caching doesn’t just happen with media streamed over the Internet or from your Mac—it also happens when streaming, say, video from an iPhone. And, in fact, that video stays in the Apple TV’s cache until the memory is needed for something else.

The idea is that your wireless network might not be up to snuff to instantly stream video from your iPhone or iPad. By using the aforementioned knowledge of how caching works, you can “prepare” the Apple TV for company by streaming media at least once to avoid a thirty or forty second delay when your revisit that content. Instead of re-buffering the streamed content, the Apple TV will recognize you’ve already played that content, and simply read that data locally. It’s an interesting tidbit of knowledge (the fact that the Apple TV doesn’t flush its cache every so often), for those lacking the bandwidth. But where you have the capacity, video on the local network should start streaming in three to four seconds.

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Week Calendar Comes To The iPad

When I first reviewed Week Calendar for iPhone in March, I called it a powerful alternative to Apple’s standard calendar app for iOS devices. It’s not that Apple’s Calendar.app lacks basic functionalities or is utterly broken: in fact, I think Calendar is more than fine for most users. But if you’re willing to get the most out of your MobileMe, Google Calendar, Exchange or CalDAV calendars, UtiliTap’s application is the full-featured alternative to install on an iPhone. And today, you’ll be able to enjoy Week Calendar on the iPad as well, thanks to an “HD” counterpart that’s just been approved and is now available at $2.99 in the App Store.

Week Calendar HD has all the features from the iPhone version, only on a bigger screen and with visual cues from Lion’s calendar app. The difference between the iPad’s native Calendar and Week Calendar HD is very subtle, but Week Calendar implements a leather background and bits of torn paper in a way that’s more reminiscent of Lion than Apple’s own app. Clearly some people are going to hate this choice if they were looking for a cleaner UI as seen on the iPhone, and perhaps the developers will revise their decision. I don’t know, but right now this is what you get. And, more importantly, what matters is that Week Calendar still outpaces Apple’s calendar solution when it comes down to views, gestures, copy & paste support or mere customization of the calendar. Week Calendar’s biggest advantage over Apple’s cal is support for multitouch with copy & paste, possibility to add a new event with tap & hold, easy resizing of events and pinch to personalize the selected view. You can tap and hold an existing event to move it around and change its start and end date; you can “cut” an event and paste it somewhere else; you can access an event’s info panel with a single tap, rather than having to tap the Edit button like in Apple’s calendar. Again, this works like the iPhone version but it’s been ported successfully to the iPad with the use of popovers and bigger real screen estate. From the Event Details panel, like on Week Cal for iPhone, you can set an alert, availability status, custom color, or find your away around four buttons that allow you to share an event, print it, email it or add it to the template list. Week Calendar, in fact, can turn any event into a template to use again in the future. Notes, invitees and local contacts can be attached to an event, too.

The selection of settings is equally impressive. You can turn on time zone support and specify when the week or weekend start,  manage new events’ default preferences and the aforementioned templates (these will save you a lot of time), customize standard colors to assign a color by default to events that meet certain title criteria. There’s more: you can activate TextExpander integration (save even more time), turn off drag & drop entirely, completely overhaul the way the app displays days and weeks. For instance, you can change font sizes, enable out-of-view indicators, tell the app when a day starts and ends. Anything else is just Week Calendar for iPhone, running on the iPad with a new UI: lots of features, yet easy to use.

If you’re a calendar nerd, Week Calendar HD for iPad is a dream come true. It’s got all the customization options you’ve always wanted from the tablet’s calendar app, plus a design consistent with Apple’s recent standards and tons of gestures to simplify navigation. Get it here at $2.99.