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Posts tagged with "apple"

CCleaner Coming To The Mac, First Beta Available Now

CCleaner, widely praised amongst Windows users, is making its way over to the Mac, with a first beta release available now. For those who are unfamiliar, CCleaner has been a Windows application that lets users easily delete and clean up their computer of temporary files, caches and other files that clog up their computer’s space, with many also using it for privacy, clearing out their browser data.

Being the first beta release, the OS X version has far less features than the current Windows version does. Nonetheless it still includes the core features of removing caches, cookies and history from either Safari or Firefox as well as clearing out the Trash, Recent Files and Servers and the Temporary folder.

Piriform, creators of CCleaner have said that they plan to release a full version within a few months, so expect more beta releases soon with support for more applications and more cleaning features. You can download the first beta release for OS X here.

[Via Lifehacker]

Apple Thanks Apple Store Employees In Tenth Anniversary Poster

Apple didn’t openly celebrate the tenth anniversary of its retail stores except for using the occasion to role out iPads as an interactive “smart sign”. However it has been noticed that in the back-end of stores, Apple has sent a tenth anniversary poster. The poster is almost philosophical in its review of the past ten years of Apple stores, highlighting the successes, failures, trivial facts and lessons learnt.

Jump the break for a recreated version of the poster, or head to ifoAppleStore for a transcribed copy of the poster. Otherwise, here are some highlights that we thought were interesting:

We’ve learned that a 32’6” transparent glass box can stand tall even among the giants of the Manhattan skyline.That when glass becomes as iconic as the Fifth Avenue Cube, it can also become the fifth most photographed landmark in New York City.

We’ve also learned that getting these details perfect can feel like trying to move a mountain. Sometimes two. But in the end, the effort is worth it. Because steel, glass, and stone can combine to create truly unique and inspiring spaces.

We’ve learned that a visit to the Genius Bar can fix more than just computers. It can also restore a customer’s relationship with Apple

We’ve found that when we wear black T-shirts, we blend in. And when we wear too many colors it’s confusing. But blue shirts are just right. We’ve also learned that it takes precisely 4,253 stitches to embroider the Apple logo on those blue shirts. And we even figured out which direction the stitches should go in.

As beautiful and iconic as our stores may be, the people who create and staff those stores are what matters most. So on this 3,652nd day we say think you to very single one of you. We say thank you to thosewho were there on the first day, to those whose first day is today.

[Via MacRumors]

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Apple Paying Record Companies Up To $150 Million For iCloud

According to The New York Post, Apple will hand over between $100 and $150 million in advance payments to the four major record labels as part of its iCloud deal with them. Each of the four, which includes Sony Music, EMI, Warner Music and Universal, were offered between $25 million and $50 million as incentives to get on board with Apple. The exact figures will ultimately depend on how many tracks consumers end up storing on Apple’s iCloud offering.

Yesterday we reported on the expected initial cost of iCloud, which is rumoured, to be free for the first year and $25 a year after that. The New York Post also notes that Apple will take a 30% cut of fees, the music publishers receiving 12% and the rest to going towards record labels and artists.

We also reported yesterday that Apple had finalised its iCloud deals with Universal Music, which was the hold out record company.  The New York Post also notes that the size of the advance payments was the major stumbling block for Google, which had apparently been negotiating with the music companies before launching its cloud music offering last month. The official iCloud announcement will come on Monday at the WWDC keynote.

[Via The New York Post]

 

iCloud Detailed: Initially Free with iTunes Purchase, $25 a Year Subscription

The Los Angeles Times details the undisclosed features of iCloud, which has been reported by Apple to be a significant staple in Monday’s WWDC keynote. The LA Times reports that iCloud will initially be offered free with a purchase from the iTunes Store, meaning a digital download may fetch you free online storage or perhaps a free subscription, similar to Amazon’s current offering where they offer free cloud storage for a year with an album purchase (many took advantage of Lady Gaga’s $.99 album for this additional deal). Users will want to build their libraries relatively quickly, and the subscription is said to be available at as little as $25 per year. CNet previously suggested that the service wouldn’t be free, but could be around $20 a year. This looks like it’ll be a little of both as Apple introduces users to the service.

The LA Times says Apple initially plans to allow consumers to store their data on Apple’s servers, and would like to offer much more than music in the realm of movies, television, and and other digital content through iCloud’s publishing platform. Whether that storage involves uploading your own media or having iTunes scan your library is currently unknown, but we’re hoping for the latter.

The agreements, finalized this week, call for Apple to share 30% of any revenue from iCloud’s music service with record labels, as well as 12% with music publishers holding the songwriting rights. Apple is expected to keep the remaining 58%, said people knowledgeable with the terms.

The report comes when Apple’s network devices are reported to be ready for an upgrade, perhaps providing some form of iCloud caching for media playback. Apple just sealed the deal with Universal Music Group, and now with iCloud details leaking (as well as iCloud branding), it’ll be hard to keep the Lion in its cage over the weekend.

[via Los Angeles Times]

Apple Seals the Deal with Universal Music for iCloud

Greg Sandoval on CNet reports that Apple has sealed the deal with Universal Music Group this afternoon, which gives the Apple the biggest selection of content from their previous deals. With Universal on board, Apple now has all four of the major record labels including EMI, Sony and WMG,  available for its upcoming iCloud service, and all that’s left is to pull the trigger on the upcoming service. Universal Music contains many popular artists such as Kanye West and Lady Gaga, and while Apple still has some work to do when it comes to publishers, they’re all but guaranteed to be offering a huge music selection in the cloud. As Peter Kafka explained earlier, publishers own various compositions, and require different terms and payment in terms of online distribution.

[via CNet]

App Stores and iTunes Showing Trouble Worldwide [Update: Back Online!]

If you wanted to download Angry Birds, take a gander at Apple’s new WWDC app, or download Lady Gaga’s newest album, you may have noticed that iTunes and the App Store ecosystems are failing to download or accept purchases worldwide. While content may still be accessible to browse, Engadget first noticed that the podcast section of iTunes has gone offline, followed by failure by many to download apps from the iOS and Mac App Stores. The most common issue right now is that users can’t download apps from the iPhone or iPad, with symptoms of slow loading times, download failures, and general errors popping up in several countries worldwide. Several users are reporting problems, so either Apple is working on the backend (perhaps this service disruption as something to do with iCloud), or a server or two have decided to bite the dust at the wrong time. Apple Discussion forums such as this one are starting to crop up during this moment of inconvenience, and we’ll keep you updated as the afternoon progresses.

[Updating…]

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Tim Cook: Tablets To Outsell PCs Over The Next Several Years

In a report by Goldman Sachs analyst Bill Shope, Tim Cook speaks some pretty bold words about the future of the tablet market and the PC market. Speaking with Shope, he says “he sees no reason why the tablet market shouldn’t eclipse the PC market over the next several years”.

Shope notes that Apple, in the statement is more “overtly optimistic” on the long-term prospects of the platform than they have in the past. In the report itself, Shope suggests that Apple will sell 8.1 million iPads in the June quarter, compared to last year it would be 72% increase.

Apple executives were also touting the fact the iPhone is now officially available from 200 carriers worldwide, and that ten years since opening, its retail stores are doing well.

[Via BusinessInsider]

 

Backflip Studios Hits Milestone With 100 Million Downloads Of Its Mobile Games

Backflip Studios, the developer behind the popular iPhone games of Paper Toss, Ragdoll Blaster 2 and Strike Knight today announced that their mobile games have been download more than 100 million times - as a comparison, Angry Birds has been downloaded over 200 million times. It notes that roughly 80% of the downloads have originated from the iPhone, with about 20% from Android.

Backflip has around 25 million monthly active users, which is already up from 20 million in December last year, even more impressive is the 2.5 million daily active users that Backflip entices across its entire network of games. Roughly a third of the company’s revenue comes from App Store sales whilst another third comes from advertising (last October advertising was worth half a million dollars per month for Backflip) and another third from in-app purchases. Backflip’s success isn’t slowing down either, its revenue and user growth is between double and triple what it was just a year ago and its free games generate more than a billion impressions a month.

The Backflip team, which is self-funded and has 23 employees, is ramping up for a number of game releases coming this summer. Launching today was Strike Knight HD, the iPad version of the popular bowling game, and then there will Shape Shift, Backflip Solitaire and Boss Battles. Most, if not all, will initially be offered for free, following the success of Backflips ‘Summer of Free’ promotion that drew the company a huge success.

[Via VentureBeat]

Patent Hints At Apple’s Traffic Service for Calendar Alerts

When Apple posted the location tracking Q&A to address the questions raised after two researchers discovered iOS was keeping a database of cell towers and WiFi hotspots iPhones and iPads used in the past stored unencrypted on a user’s computer, the company also revealed that, besides crowd-sourced WiFi hotspot and cell tower data, they were also collecting crowed-sourced traffic data to build an improved traffic service to launch in the next couple of years. Much speculation led to believe Apple was finalizing work on its own maps service after the acquisition of poly9 and Placebase, though a report from last week and a tidbit from Google’s Chairman Eric Schmidt confirmed the upcoming iOS 5, which will be unveiled on Monday, will keep using Google Maps.

Whilst Apple’s mapping technology and traffic service seem to be in the works for a future version of iOS, perhaps iOS 6 in 2012, a new patent uncovered by AppleInsider today gives us a glimpse at how Apple could use traffic data, GPS signal and the Calendar application to build a service that keeps users informed on appointments and meetings and how long it would take to get there, with real-time information. The patent, entitled “Dynamic Alerts for Calendar Events”, was filed in 2009 and published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently. According to the application, Apple is envisioning a system where an iPhone can send a calendar alert based on location and time required to get to a specific location; by analyzing upcoming events and appointments, the operating system would be able to look at the location, consider external factors such as weather and traffic, and calculate how much time it would take to get to the destination. The user would be alerted with a popup on screen, which in the patent design shows “map” and “routes” options as the system would also provide a way to find the best route based on road conditions, traffic, and so forth.

Location-based alerts and scheduled reminders are currently possible in a variety of iOS applications – however, a centralized system developed by Apple would rely on years of crowd-sourced data collection to bring extensive information and, perhaps, accurate predictions on traffic and road conditions. Apple is expected to preview iOS 5 at the WWDC keynote on June 6, though such traffic service won’t likely find its way in the new OS.