Posts tagged with "apple"

Angry Birds Updated With New Episode, Rovio Boasts Of 1 Million Downloads A Day

The unbelievably popular Angry Birds app has today received a new update, version 1.6.0, which brings a new episode for users to play with. The new underground episode, titled ‘Mining and Dining with the Burrowing Piggies’, is jam packed with another 15 levels to complete.

With a bottomless appetite, the bad piggies have burrowed deep in underground caverns to hide the eggs they stole from you. Use the landscape and geology to your advantage to chase the pigs out of their hiding holes, gather rare gems, and retrieve the eggs!

The new levels are cave themed and as usual there are jewels to find, but there is also new a gameplay mechanic – shoot at the hanging stalactites to “pop those pesky burrowing piggies”. Apart from the new levels, Rovio has tweaked some existing levels that were stonewalling people. The app update is available for both the iPhone version version and iPad version of Angry Birds.

Meanwhile, Peter Vesterbacka CEO of Rovio, spoke at the openIDEAS Conference in Europe today and revealed that the Angry Birds games are now seeing over a million downloads per day. You may recall that Rovio revealed that over Christmas Day last year it saw its most successful day ever with one million downloads – now that’s a daily occurance. In recent times it had also surpassed 250 million downloads.

[Via The Next Web]

Yahoo Tries To Improve App Search With Yahoo! App Search And AppSpot

Yahoo today launched a new search service that aims to improve the searching experience for the iPhone App Store and the Android Marketplace. The service brings a new app called Yahoo! AppSpot to the iPhone and Android as well as the Yahoo! App Search website.

With 425,000-plus apps in the Apple App Store and 200,000 apps in Android Market, we know finding what you want can be exhausting. And even more challenging: There are times you don’t know the specific name of the app, so you’re leaving it up to chance that you’re actually downloading the app you really want.

Yahoo claims to be able to search the App Store and Android Marketplace more intelligently as well as also offering users personal recommendations from within the AppSpot app. The personal recommendations feature works by first taking a look at all the apps you currently have on your iPhone (it asks for permission) and then displays eight suggestions for each category of the store. Unfortunately the recommendation system seemed very poor for me at least, suggesting a rather bizarre range of apps from ‘Alphabet Car’ to ‘Justin Bieber Revenge’ to ‘Foreclosure Search’.

Both the website and the app from Yahoo gives you all the same information that Apple’s own store provides, including: a description, rating, price and screenshots. If you choose to download the app through the AppSpot app it will launch you straight over to the App Store app. If you’re on the website on your Mac/PC though it will give you the option to either send an SMS with a link, open up the iTunes Preview page in your browser or display a QR code with the link embedded (the AppSpot App has a QR reader inbuilt).

You can try Yahoo! App Search from here and download the Yahoo! AppSpot App from here. Jump the break for a video promo.

[Via Engadget]
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Apple Launches 2011 Back To School Promotion In US And Europe, Features $100 Gift Card

As had been rumored and then confirmed last night, Apple has launched its 2011 Back to School promotion today, featuring a $100 gift card for use on any of Apple’s digital stores. The promotion runs from today until September 20th this year and is available for college students and faculty staff.

When you buy a new qualifying Mac with Apple education pricing* from June 16, 2011, through September 20, 2011, you’ll get a $100 Back to School Card

The qualifying Mac’s include the MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and iMac – all of which are at a discounted rate for students. The gift card will work on the Mac App Store, App Store, iTunes Store or the iBookstore. The promotional page also highlights some accessories to help you “Gear up for college” as well as suggested “Apps for Studies” and “Apps for Study Breaks”.

The promotion has also launched in the UK where a £65 gift card is offered and in various other European countries where a 75 € gift card is offered.

Apple Removes App That Revealed The Most Common PINs

On Monday we reported on what the most common PINs were for users of the Big Brother Camera Security app after its developer had added the ability for the app to anonymously send back those PINs. Many were not happy about hearing this and Apple was clearly among those as the Big Brother Camera Security app was pulled from the App Store yesterday.

In a blog post, the developer of the app, Danial Amitay explains that the app was not obtaining the actual lockscreen PINs but rather those used for his app. He also quells fears by explaining that when the app sent the data to his server it was “literally sending only that number (e.g. “1234”) and nothing else”. Amitay had presumed (when he added the function) that it would be within the iTunes EULA for him to do so, as it states the following (emphasis added):

b. Consent to Use of Data: You agree that Application Provider may collect and use technical data and related information, including but not limited to technical information about Your device, system and application software, and peripherals, that is gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, product support and other services to You (if any) related to the Licensed Application. Application Provider may use this information, as long as it is in a form that does not personally identify You, to improve its products or to provide services or technologies to You.

Amitay says he is actively trying to work out the issue Apple had with the app and get it back into the App Store soon. If it means he has to get rid of the code that sent the PIN data, he says would “gladly” do that, understanding the concern it raised. He does say however that he had planned to warn users not choose the obvious PINs that the data had revealed in a future update.

[Via Macgasm]

BBC iPlayer Rolling Out To Western Europe By Year’s End

A number of countries in Western Europe will be the first to experience the BBC iPlayer outside of the UK as the BBC begins its international rollout this year. Fans of BBC content such as Doctor Who that live in Western Europe will be the first that will be able to access it and other BBC shows (including archive content) on the iPlayer app available on the iPad.

The BBC will begin the rollout for Western Europeans sometime before the end of the year and at a monthly cost of something under $10 – the fee has yet to be finalised. The content library will be available on the iPad app but only in English at this stage.

For its international rollout of the BBC iPlayer, Jana Bennett who works for BBC Worldwide said to The Guardian that they are looking forward to adding collections of content for various genres including music, comedy and documentaries. She says that the international version is a “different proposition” from its British counterpart that is primarily for catch-up content.

The freedom from catchup means that we’ve got a lot more flexibility in terms of what we put on there and how we present it.

[Via The Guardian]

VP Of Retail Ron Johnson Leaving Apple for J.C. Penney

The Wall Street Journal reports Apple’s VP of Retail Ron Johnson is leaving the company to become J.C. Penny president and, eventually, chief executive officer. Johnson joined Apple in 2000 and greatly contributed to the realization and success of Apple’s retail division across the world, becoming the public face for the company when it came down to talk about retail stores and, in the most recent years, the popularity of iOS devices in the Apple Stores. The WSJ says a public announcement hasn’t been made yet, but should happen later today.

J.C. Penney Co. is tapping Ron Johnson, head of Apple Inc.’s iconic retail stores, as its new president and eventual chief executive, people familiar with the situation said.

The company is expected to announce Mr. Johnson’s appointment later today. Mr. Johnson will become CEO in the next few months, succeeding long-time leader Myron “Mike” Ullman. He joined Apple from Target Corp., where he was vice president of merchandising for stores.

More information about Johnson’s career are available from Apple’s PR bio:

Ron Johnson joined Apple as senior vice president in January 2000. Reporting directly to the CEO, Johnson leads Apple’s retail strategy and is responsible for its overall execution and performance. Under Ron’s leadership, Apple has opened over 300 stores to date. Johnson has over 20 years of experience in retail and merchandising as well as a strong track record for delivering consistent year over year growth for billion-dollar companies.

Before Apple, Johnson held various management positions at Target, another US-based retail chain, contributing to the expansion of Target stores playing a key role in marketing and branding for the company. If true, The Wall Street Journal’s report seems to suggest Johnson is going to back to his roots to lead a massive retail distribution chain across the United States – becoming CEO is undoubtedly a big step forward from Senior VP of Retail at Apple.

Update: J.C. Penney has just confirmed the news – Ron Johnson will become CEO starting November 1, 2011, and invest $50 million in the company:

Myron E. (Mike) Ullman, III, chairman and chief executive officer of J. C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP), today announced that Ron Johnson, an innovative and highly regarded retail executive, has been named the Company’s next chief executive officer, succeeding Mr. Ullman in that role. Mr. Johnson will assume the CEO position on Nov. 1, 2011, and report to Mr. Ullman, who will become executive chairman. Mr. Johnson will also join the Company’s Board of Directors, effective Aug. 1, 2011.

Mr. Johnson said, “I’ve always dreamed of leading a major retail company as CEO, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to help J. C. Penney re-imagine what I believe to be the single greatest opportunity in American retailing today, the Department Store. I have tremendous confidence in J. C. Penney’s future and look forward to working with Mike Ullman, the Executive Board and the Company’s 150,000 associates to transform the way America shops.

Update #2: In a comment to All Things Digital, Apple says they’re “actively recruiting” for Johnson’s replacement in retail:

Apple confirmed his departure in a brief comment to AllThingsD. “Ron is excited about this opportunity and we hope it goes well for him,” a spokesperson said. “We’ve got a great retail team in place and are actively recruiting for his replacement.

Below, Apple’s popular iPad: Year One video featuring Ron Johnson talking about the iPad’s retail success. Read more

Apple: Samsung “The Copyist” Is Attempting To Harass Us

There’s been some news on the Apple vs. Samsung patent battle today with some recent Apple filings coming to light where Apple alleges that Samsung is “attempt[ing] to harass” them and that Samsung’s demands are not made in good faith – even going so far as to label Samsung as “the copyist” in the documents. It comes after Samsung requested Apple to hand over the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 (or the most recent prototype) to Samsung’s lawyers, which itself was a response to Apple’s request for several Samsung products that hadn’t yet been released (although they were announced).

Samsung’s Motion to Compel is an improper attempt to harass Apple by demanding production of extremely sensitive trade secrets that have no relevance to Apple’s likelihood of success on its infringement claims or to a preliminary injunction motion.

This Friday (1:30 PM Pacific Time) Apple and Samsung will meet with their judge for the purpose of discussing Samsung’s request for expedited delivery (Samsung gaining access to the next generation iPhone and iPad). Apple’s recent filings are in preparation for this court session. FOSS Patents has given the filings a good look over and found some highlights.

As many had expected, Apple’s lawyers make the note that Samsung is asking for much more than what Apple asked given that the Samsung products, although unreleased, had been fully revealed and were available for pre-order. By contrast the next generation iPhone and iPad do not officially exist – in fact it notes in its filings that “Apple is widely recognised as one of the most secretive companies in the world”.

It also tackles the idea that whilst Samsung’s law firm may not leak the details of the iPhone 5 and iPad 3, it could use their knowledge of them to form future patent infringement theories for other companies it represents – which includes other major Android device makers including Samsung, Motorola and HTC.

It also puts the argument that since no future iPhone or iPad products are included in Apple’s complaint of Samsung products, there isn’t reason to show them. It also dismisses Samsung’s suggestion that future design changes “could indicate that Apple is not as consistent as it claims, and consequently Apple’s related rights could be weaker”. Be sure to head over to FOSS Patents if you want a more thorough review of the recent filing and if you want to remind yourself of what the lawsuit is about, be sure to head over to read This Is My Next’s excellent analysis.

[Via FOSS Patents]

Some Early Signs Of iCloud Web Apps Found

Details of iCloud, particularly over any potential web apps, have remained murky at best since Steve Jobs introduced the service at WWDC last week. Yesterday Joshua Topolsky of This Is My Next obtained what seemed to be a confirmation that web apps would not be offered with iCloud as they were with MobileMe:

Let’s be clear about what happens when iCloud goes live – according to what was described on stage at the event, and what I’ve confirmed with Apple PR –the service will effectively replace the current web offerings of MobileMe. That means that when the cutoff date of June 30, 2012 comes around for users, the web-based email client, calendar, contacts app, and other components of the web suite will cease to exist.

This drew a sceptical response from many, a post by John Gruber is representative of that scepticism, and today MacRumors seems to have found that Apple is actually porting iCloud to at least some of the MobileMe web apps. One of their readers sent themselves a Calendar invitation in iOS 5 and received a link to the iCloud.com domain. The above image illustrates what was linked to – and identical page to the current MobileMe invitations system (visually at least) except that was on the iCloud.com domain and had some iCloud branding at the bottom of the page.

It seems reasonable that Apple is working on at least some level of web support for the iCloud components but as usual they won’t confirm anything that they aren’t ready to talk about. If you wanted some more convincing of the reader’s screenshot jump over to this iCloud.com link and see for yourself.

[Via MacRumors]

Update: Well-sourced Apple journalist Jim Dalrymple at The Loop says iCloud will have a web interface, with Apple saving some interesting tidbits for iCloud’s public launch this Fall:

As for Josh’s Apple PR confirmation. The only thing I can think of is that there was some kind of misunderstanding. Daring Fireball’s John Gruber says Topolsky is making a “bad assumption.” That sounds about right to me.

Of this, I am sure — Apple will have a Web-based interface for iCloud. In fact, I expect an even cooler interface than the latest updates we saw with MobileMe calendar and email.

 

Apple To Offer $100 iTunes Credit Instead Of An iPod For Back To School Promotion?

Apple’s ‘Back to School’ promotion is scheduled to start up again sometime very soon and if reports from today come true, the promotion could be a bit different to years past. 9to5 Mac is reporting that when a student purchases a MacBook this year, they will receive a $100 worth of iTunes credit rather than what has previously been an iPod Touch in recent years.

Launching three months before the September iPod event Apple seems to have every year, the ‘Back to School’ promotion was largely viewed as one way of clearing out iPod inventory ahead of the refresh in September. Previous rumors of this year’s promotion suggested that Apple was set to offer $200 off the price of an iPad.  As always, regardless of the bonus offered during the promotion, students get an education discount on the cost of any Mac they purchase.

[Via 9to5 Mac]