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Readability Is The First Victim Of Apple’s New Subscriptions

Three weeks ago, web service Readability launched a completely revamped version of its “read later” platform including support for Instapaper (Marco Arment is an advisor to Arc90, the company behind Readability) and a new subscription system that allows publishers of content consumed through Readability to get 70% of the fees paid by subscribers.

It works like this: you sign up to Readability as a reader paying a $5 monthly fee, but you can decide to pay even more if you’re willing to support the project. Once you’re ready to use the service, you install a bookmarklet in your browser that will save articles for later in an uncluttered view that’s perfect for late-night reading sessions and mobile devices. Yes, it really is similar to Marco Arment’s Instapaper. In fact, the developers announced that the first official Readability iOS app would be heavily based on Instapaper – which also happens to have introduced support for sending logs to Readability a few days ago. Instapaper and Readability thus have become two integrated platforms for reading content and sharing it with your friends – but Readability’s unique twist allows publishers (like MacStories, or any other weblog) to get a kickback for every article saved for later. It’s a genius approach no one ever tried before. Read more

iOS Devices Become Kinect Controllers In Dodgeball Game

In the past, we saw several interesting Kinect hacks making their way to iPads and Macs thanks to the efforts of a vivid developer community willing to get more out of Microsoft’s motion-controlling peripheral than simple Xbox pairing and gaming. In fact, we were able to get our hands (and eyes) on a free Kinect 3D viewer available in the Mac App Store and an iPad playing together with OS X in a cool futuristic experiment. But hackers, as usual, don’t stop at curious experiments that are worth nothing but a quick test.

A group of hackers last week managed to build a custom Kinect setup that allows iOS devices (iPhone and iPad) to fire balls in a dodgeball game playable by a gamer in front of Kinect. The UI design isn’t as beautiful and attractive as Microsoft’s version of the same thing built on top of Windows Phone 7, but as you can see from the video below it definitely seems to be working.

The video is available for your viewing pleasure after the break. Who’s going to build a Kinect Angry Birds with iOS devices as controllers now? [via Engadget] Read more

T-Mobile & Orange iPad Price Drop Hints at New iPad Soon

Numbers are starting to point toward the arrival of Apple’s iPad 2 (and 3?). UK Carriers T-Mobile and Orange have dropped their iPad pricing, possibly making room for the iPad 2 arrival very soon, maybe in a matter of weeks.

When new versions of products are on their way, it’s very typical for retailers to drop pricing to clear out current stock. It’s not just a “sale” price either, but more significant. Now T-Mobile and Orange are both selling the iPad for £99 on their 24-month contracts. Previously, Orange was offering the iPad WiFi + 3G at £199.99 to existing customers and £229.99 for new customers - this price drop is offering a savings of at least £100 on each. T-Mobile, meanwhile, is only offering the discount to existing customers.

Last year Apple unveiled the game-changing iPad in late January with sales starting on April 3rd. Since we’re currently in-between those dates, and have yet to hear anything official from Apple, we could see the iPad 2 peek it’s beautiful head within the next few weeks. On the other hand, the reduced price could just be Orange and T-Mobile offering customers a bargain; but who wants to believe the later? Not us, that’s for sure.

[via TechRadar]

You Don’t Eat This Angry Birds Cake - You Play With It First

We know people spend an incredible amount of time playing Angry Birds every day, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that, once the iOS game is done, people keep on thinking about their beloved birds and pigs. Remember the LEGO set, arcade booth and cake? Angry Birds aficionados (dare we say fanboys) don’t just refine their skills on iPhones and iPads: they are truly immersed in the world imagined by Rovio.

So here comes the interactive Angry Birds cake, playable with a real slingshot and, of course, made of chocolate, icing and so forth. It’s a cake made for a boy named Ben. It took 10 hours to make, and only 2 minutes to destroy.

Ah, the kids playing with real-life Angry Birds. I didn’t have the chance to eat a Super Mario when I was a kid. Check out the video below. [Electricpig via Gizmodo] Read more

You Too Can Have Steve Jobs’ Poker Face with Official Apple Cards

Are you a die-hard Apple fan that wants to get some rare memorabilia? Well you had better check out this listing on eBay where an official Apple-branded pack of cards is on auction!

The pack of cards feature OS 7 icons of bombs, clocks, Mac face and trash cans instead of the traditional clubs, hearts, diamonds and spades as you can see above. The pack was purchased at the Apple campus store in 1997 which was one piece of merchandise that was Apple branded and sold only to Apple employees. In other words, these cards are rare and will be undoubtedly worth quite a bit!

The listing is open for another six days and as of writing was at a bid of £28.00, but that’s likely to rocket as Apple fans across the world discover this quirky gem and bid to get their hands on it.

[Via The Next Web]

Apple’s Subscriptions and Consumers→

Apple’s Subscriptions and Consumers

This piece by David Carr at The New York Times gets to the main point of subscriptions as seen by Apple, not publishers:

Publishers say their objections are less about the steep revenue split than the lack of data. But publishers who sit out Apple subscriptions will be bypassing a huge embedded base of not only iPad users, but also the very people who have already shown a willingness to pay for content. It’s worth pointing out that publishers are already in the business of selling products to consumers they have no data on: it’s called the newsstand. Cosmopolitan and People know nothing about the millions who buy their magazines at retail stores, and that doesn’t stop their respective publishers from making a ton of money there.

Apple knows many publishers already have digital subscriptions in place on their websites, but they also know many readers would like to jump to digital versions altogether if only the subscription system was simple, integrated in a single place or device. So looking at Apple’s subscriptions from a consumer perspective, here’s what we get:

Keep in mind that consumers could not care less about revenue splits. In pushing through a plan that publishers are unhappy with, Apple is able to position itself as an advocate for consumers, enabling one-touch transactions while keeping their data private from a host of media providers.

Publishers have every right in the world to guard their business model, but it won’t please their potential audiences.

Publishers may pass on this new Apple plan, but consumers will be disappointed to know they can’t have Condè Nast’s publications available through this fancy iTunes payment thing. By playing the “advocate” role, Apple has cleverly implemented a way to rewrite the rules and keep their cut at the same time. Consumers, in the very end, want content and they don’t care about publishers’ issues. They’re just going to say “why can’t I subscribe to Wired here?”.

And if this strategy doesn’t work, you can stay assured Apple will change.

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WiFi2HiFi Makes Streaming Music From Your Computer to a HiFi Easy

Just released today is WiFi2HiFi, a new iPhone and iPod Touch app that effectively allows you to use your device to stream audio from your computer to an iPod dock, stereo system or anything else that can connect to the 3.5mm jack or the 30-pin port. It virtually emulates the AirPort Express feature of streaming audio from a computer to connected sound system, but how well does it work? I was given a pre-release build to review and a review follows the break.

Read more

‘I Am Number Four’ Director On Hollywood & iPads→

‘I Am Number Four’ Director On Hollywood & iPads

(Above: Michael Bay using his iPad on the set of ‘Transformers’)

Film director DJ Caruso describes his experience of using the iPad as a productivity tool while shooting ‘I Am Number Four’:

I got it, I don’t want to say as a toy, but then I realized about a week into prep that my storyboards were coming on it, my previs was on it, my script was on it, I don’t carry my script anymore. I started getting emails from two of my storyboard artists who work in Los Angeles and I have this application where I can mark up the boards – I’m a terrible drawer – and I can mark up the boards and send them back. It just became this amazing production tool.

There’s more than a director discovering this new tablet computer as a useful gadget, though. In fact, DJ Caruso says almost everyone at Hollywood from assistants to actors to directors now has an iPad, and not just to play Angry Birds during breaks. He even tells the story of when he got into an email conversation with Spielberg about the apps they had installed and used for work purposes.

The coolest part, however, is about the supernatural powers of the main character of his movie being controlled by a custom-made iPad app:

Pettyfer’s character John Smith, an alien, discovers during the film he has several supernatural powers. One of those powers is that he can control light through his hands. During filming, Alex wore a flashlight-like contraption wired up through his jacket and it was activated… by an iPad off screen.

It turns out, some people do create content on their iPads. Looks like Hollywood is indeed hooked on iPads. [via TUAW]

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