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Apple iDevices Dominate Encoded Web Video

More than ever people are watching videos on mobile devices these days. So, when a website encodes their videos, they must decide which devices to support and encode their video to play on different smart phones and tablets. According to Encoding.com is reporting that, nearly 78 percent of its customers (MTV to PBS) encode mobile video to play on Apple’s iDevices, and only 4 percent specifically for Android devices. 18 percent encode for 3GP format, which is used by feature phones.

This data is based on which preset options Encoding’s customers choose. It doesn’t mean that only 4 percent of videos will play on Android devices (which after all support Flash, MPEG-4, and 3GP), but that only 4 percent of Encoding’s customers bother to select the Android preset, which provides the optimal viewing experience on those devices. Whereas choosing the Apple presets is pretty much the default right now, and as noted earlier, iOS was embraced rather quickly. Encoding’s 1,400 customers are fairly representative of video producers across the Web, spanning media, advertising, retailers, and developers.

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The Onion Chooses The iPad As One Of The Most Influential People Of 2010→

The Onion Chooses The iPad As One Of The Most Influential People Of 2010

We easily could have written about Steve Jobs, the iconic CEO of Apple, and adequately described the iPad in that predictable context. But instead, we made the radically unorthodox decision to grant this product—a one-and-a-half-pound wafer of aluminum and glass, mind you—the same status accorded to members of the human race. You’ve already read through a number of stories constructed around people, but just when you expected to encounter another, we pulled the rug right out from under you.

This year, we are choosing a computer as one of the most influential people of 2010.

Also:

Anyway, not to brag, but we’re pretty fucking proud of ourselves.

Yes, you should be. At least you didn’t realize Mark Zuckerberg was worth a price in 2010.

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Prizmo for iPhone Now Lets You Scan To Evernote and MobileMe

Prizmo for iPhone is an excellent port of the popular Mac app by Creaceed  which lets you scan just about any kind of document and apply smart OCR to it. The iPhone app – we reviewed it here – also lets you upload your scans to Dropbox and CloudApp. At least it used to.

The latest 1.1 update, released today, adds support for two much requested online services: Evernote and MobileMe. Evernote just happens to have a brand new 2.0 version available for Mac users today. Together with bug fixes, better in-app documentation and additional languages, Prizmo now lets you easily upload any document to these two new services.

Prizmo for iPhone is available at $9.99 in the App Store.

Genius Mixes Are Back With iTunes 10.1.1

Just a quick update to let you know that together with the release of iTunes 10.1.1 earlier today, Apple seems to have fixed the “missing Genius Mixes” reported by many users last week.

Either built in 10.1.1 or a server-side fix on Apple’s end that has been deployed today, go update your iTunes now, activate and / or update Genius (Store -> Turn On Genius, Store -> Update Genius) and enjoy your Genius Mixes again.

[Thanks, Jonas]

The Mac Orchard Has Lost Its Last Apple

The Mac Orchard (as we know it) is shutting down. Drew Saur, the founder, is closing down his popular Macintosh applications repository. The site hasn’t been updated since July and Saur has decided to say his final good-bye today. The Mac Orchard has been around for 15 years (since 1995) and was a place for Mac users to find Internet software.

Over the years, Internet usage has evolved and many of these older network protocols, like NNTP, now have web-based counterparts. The debut and subsequent improvement of Mac OS X also changed application usage patterns. Mac users no longer need an alternative email client or web browser as the native mail client and Safari web browser are sufficient for most people. The nail in the coffin was Apple’s announcement that it is bringing its App Store to Mac OS X. The Mac App Store will provide a bounty of applications and user reviews, all of which are easily accessible from the user’s desktop. W hen the Mac App Store rolls out sometime next year, there will be little utility in maintaining a dedicated website that has a similar function.

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Multi-User iPad Concept

If the iPad feels like a communal device to you (it sure does for me), then I guess multi-user login is something you’re hoping for Apple to add in iOS 5. Think about it: every member of your family, or one of your friends, could grab the iPad, and log in with his credentials. That means he’s going to have his apps, settings, photos and music in there. He or she won’t have to see your secret Facebook messages in Mobile Safari anymore.

While multi-user browsing could be easily accomplished with an app such as Switch, what we have here is a concept showcasing a built-in multi-account feature for the iPad. Yes, it’s got 4 unlock menus in the lockscreen. Yes, we do think it could be implemented a lot better.

But hey, it’s a concept. The idea is cool, the overall design could use some refinements. Still, this is exactly what I need. [via Kottke]

Evernote 2.0 Out Of Beta, Now Available For Mac Users

A few weeks ago we reported that Evernote launched a 2.0 beta version for Mac users to test some of the major new features like Stacks and in-app notebook sharing. In spite of the fancy name, stacks are basically folders for your Evernote notebooks that reside in the (redesigned) left panel. Stacks, sadly, are exclusive to the desktop client and won’t show up in the web version of Evernote.

Evernote 2.0 is now out of beta and available for download on Evernote’s website, or through the app’s built-in software update tool. This 2.0 update is pretty huge and comes with a lot of features such as support for up to 250 notebooks, a new attachment button to attach a file to a note and linked notebooks.

You can read about the new features over at Evernote’s official blog.

Star Walk Updated: AirPrint, Christmas Edition

Star Walk, the award-winning app by Vito Technology, was updated yesterday to include lots of new features…and a Christmas edition. That’s right folks, you have to find the hidden Santa in the night sky. I’m not kidding:

As you would assume, he is somewhere in the sky. Find out exactly where Santa is right now.

I’m sure he is somewhere, but I thought he was somewhere on Earth. Still, the 5.1 version (both for iPhone and iPad) also comes with AirPrint support to let you print stars and constellations wirelessly. That’s pretty cool, better than Santa support on my opinion. Or maybe I’m wrong and I’ll spend 3 hours tonight trying to find the man in red. New stars have been added to the app’s catalog – we’re talking about exoplanets and big stars with more info about spectral class and distance from Earth. Last, additional satellites info and tons of big fixes.

Star Walk for iPad is available at $4.99 in the App Store. The iPhone version is available at $1.99 here.