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Posts tagged with "apple"

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

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.

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Apple Awarded Patent for a ‘Safe Deposit Box’ Feature

Apple was recently awarded an interesting new patent regarding a possible feature in OS X in which users could secure vital files in a ‘safe deposit box’ which would encrypt and hide the files from access as well as potentially uploading them to the cloud.

The patent describes a simple process in which users would be able to drag a particular file to a safe deposit icon that would then secure the file and also upload the secured file to the cloud. Users could then access any secured files that are in the safe deposit box by verifying their identity. Patently Apple suggests that it could either be included in Lion’s Time Machine as an added feature or perhaps as a small ‘pro’ utility for those who want some extra security for their vital files and data.

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Apple Implementing Light Peak Technology In The Near Future?

CNet yesterday reported that Apple is expected to be one of the first adopters of Intel’s Light Peak technology, possibly starting with next week’s rumored MacBook upgrades. The technology is touted by Intel as a way to eliminate the many different cables that computers use such as USB, HDMI and FireWire, creating an all-in-one connectivity solution and Intel has detailed that a first half of 2011 launch is expected.

A source told CNet that Apple intends to adopt the technology in the near future but will supposedly brand the connection under a different name to Light Peak. Whilst CNet couldn’t deduce whether or not the rumoured MacBook update on February 24 would include a Light Peak announcement or inclusion, there has been rumors of more than just a spec-bump in the next update of the MacBooks, possibly suggesting the inclusion of Light Peak.

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Fruit Ninja Sells 6 Million Copies, Slices 150 Billion Fruit and Decides to Fund a Fruit Orchard!

Less than a year since launching, Fruit Ninja has been purchased a whopping 6 million times on the iPhone and over 150 billion fruit have been sliced and slaughtered! In an odd twist of events, Halfbrick has decided to in their words, “make amends for fruit death worldwide” by working together with the ‘Fruit Tree Planting Foundation’ to establish and fully fund a fruit orchard.

Halfbrick has chosen to fund an orchard in a low-income Native American community to not only provide fresh fruit as sustenance to the community but also allow the community to have some long-term income. The project is part of the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation’s Reservation Restoration program and will be fully run by them at the cost of Halfbrick and you will be able to receive updates from the Halfbrick blog and the FTPF website.

[Via Joystiq]

iPad and iPhone Beats Kindle In The UK, But Not In The US

Market research firm Book Marketing Ltd has revealed to GigaOM that in the UK both the iPad and iPhone are beating the Kindle as an eBook reader most used by consumers based on data from last September. The story however is very different in the US however with the Kindle far ahead after stellar growth throughout 2010 as the graph below the break demonstrates.

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Google Docs Can Now Preview Apple Pages Files

Good news for Mac users who rely on Google Docs for their document management needs: the popular online service added support today for 12 more file types – most notably including Apple’s Pages and Adobe’s Illustrator and Photoshop. The full list of supported files below:

  • Microsoft Excel (.XLS and .XLSX)
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 / 2010 (.PPTX)
  • Apple Pages (.PAGES)
  • Adobe Illustrator (.AI)
  • Adobe Photoshop (.PSD)
  • Autodesk AutoCad (.DXF)
  • Scalable Vector Graphics (.SVG)
  • PostScript (.EPS, .PS)
  • TrueType (.TTF)
  • XML Paper Specification (.XPS)

The Docs online viewer has thus become a full-featured solution to preview the most popular file formats. In December, Google brought desktop document editing to the iPad.