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Posts tagged with "apple"

On iPhone, Android And People’s Perception

I was watching Chuck last night, and just like every episode recently aired I noticed there were many iPads and iPhones around. I don’t know if this is a trend amongst producers or Apple paying for product placement, but the thing is - Apple products are everywhere in today’s TV shows. I’m referring to “TV shows” as it’s the only kind of content coming from television networks I regularly consume nowadays.

So while I was watching and yet another iPhone showed up, my girlfriend - who is not exactly a “tech savvy” type - said: “Look, another iPhone 4”. The same happens every single time in the other shows we follow.

I also noticed, though, that there are other kinds of gadgets showing up every once in a while, namely non-Apple cellphones. They’re usually Motorola, HTC, Samsung Galaxy devices (I also spotted a Nexus One on Chuck) running, as you may guess, Android. I know those are Android devices, and when I see them I usually whisper “look, that’s an Android phone”. But I know those are Android devices, because I’m a geek who’s interested in technology and reads dozens of tech blogs every day. Do regular people notice these products at all? Read more

14 Hours Later, Ratings and Reviews Still Gone From The App Store

We noticed this last night and we thought it might be a temporary glitch, but 14 hours later reviews and ratings are still nowhere to be found in the App Store.

If you try to open an App Store app page, in fact, you’ll notice that ratings and user reviews have simply disappeared. The “Customers also bought” section is in there, and reviews are accessible through Apple’s web view for iTunes pages, but you can’t find them in the App Store.

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A Cloud Over The Mac App Store

Wayne Dixon over at Macgasm, about how app data will be backed up with the Mac App Store:

So this leads me to wondering something: how does the application’s data get backed up? Right now within the iOS App Store, your data is backed up when you sync your iOS device and this information is then backed up again when you backup your computer (you do backup your computer, right?). But if your application data is just stored locally and you do have to do a re-install of your computer, even though you are able to download the software itself again, your data may not be easily placed in the correct location, even with backups.

When Apple announced the iOS-like model for the desktop we didn’t really wonder much about how the backup model was going to be carried over to the Mac. Is it going to be carried over at all? On the current version of OS X (and on previous iterations as well) each app stores its data in various folders on the hard disk. Usually it’s the “Application Support” folder inside a user’s library, but preferences, caches and databases may be stored somewhere else. Not to mention the possibility to manually select a different destination for the main database in some applications, think of 1Password, Candybar and DEVONthink. Is the Mac App Store going to change this? Read more

Steve Jobs Is “Back to the Jet”

Steve Jobs is back in the air. Well not the Air (which apparently is doing great), but literally in the air with his private jet. Taking a look at Apple’s 10K form for fiscal year 2010, Fortune noticed a $93,000 reimbursement to Steve Jobs for private jet expenses in Q4 2010, namely fuel and pilot salaries.

Private jet expenses accounted to only $12,000 in Q3. Clearly Steve traveled a lot during the last quarter, and we can only speculate about the people he met and the deals he closed.

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Back to the Cloud

When I bought my first iPhone, I didn’t realize I would need the cloud someday.

By “cloud” we usually mean “online sync” nowadays. The possibility to keep different devices’ settings, email accounts, app databases in persistent synchronization. OmniFocus uses the cloud, for example. Simplenote is a cloud-based note taking application. Dropbox is the non-plus ultra of cloud-connected setups.

Then there’s MobileMe. Apple’s own sync infrastructure / online drive / web-based app suite that has managed to gain quite a few users over the years but, according to many, is still struggling to find an identity. What is MobileMe? Why does Apple keep on redesigning its web interface and doesn’t ship a major overhaul of the underlying engine instead?

OS X left the desktop and landed on the iPhone to gave birth to iPhone OS. Years later, iPhone OS evolved into the 2.0 version of Apple’s original mobile vision, iOS for iPhone and iPad. The once-OSX-now-iOS is going back to the Mac with Lion.

.Mac and iTools were tied to the Mac. The newly renamed MobileMe later approached the web and iPhone as lovechilds to keep safe and constantly connected. Two years after the introduction of MobileMe, it is time for Apple to go back to the cloud. Read more

Apple’s Secret Conference? Next Week.

It seems like Apple is back to the events. Business Insider reports that Apple is holding a “secret conference” for selected developers in Cupertino next week:

Apple is hosting an event for iOS developers in California next week, we’ve heard from an industry source. The event begins next Tuesday, and runs for three days, we’ve heard.

We are short on details, and we have not seen any public information about it, but it sounds like this will be a more intimate version of the iPhone Tech Talks that Apple hosted around the world last year.

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Apple Delays White iPhone Again Until Spring 2011

So there you have it. The white iPhone 4 is basically not coming at all, at least not as we know it. Reuters reports:

Apple Inc said on Tuesday that it would delay release of the white iPhone yet again, this time until next spring.

“We’re sorry to disappoint customers waiting for the white iPhone again,” Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said. When asked why the white phone would again be delayed, Muller declined to comment.

Ouch. The iPhone 5 is supposed to be announced by the same time next year. Or wait, maybe the “white iPhone 4” is going to become the “iPhone 5”, with an improved antenna design and the same “sandwich” look of the current model. And maybe a Verizon deal in there somewhere. Time will tell, as the wise men say. But unveiling a mid-generation iPhone in Spring is surely a strange move from Apple.

Apple and Spotify Discussing An Acquisition?

According to the latest rumor published by Michael Arrington over at TechCrunch, Apple and European-based music streaming service Spotify might be in the very early stages of discussing an acquisition.

“Apple, Inc. (AAPL) in negotiations to acquire Spotify,” read the tip that came in yesterday via email from an anonymous source. Most tips are just outright false, but we dug into this one a little bit.

Here’s what we heard – Apple and Spotify are in on again, off again discussions about an acquisition, but at best it’s very early in the process. No firm price has been offered, no term sheet tabled. Still, it’s interesting that the two are talking.

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