Talkingapple's List: 130

• • all that was a flop...or was it?
    They must have learned something from it and decided to go the opposite way from everybody. (explain)
    
    I think we will only know if it was a good idea or not when we have experienced Mountain Lion for some time.
• Apple reminded users in an email this morning that the iWork.com public beta will shut down July 31. In the email, as seen below, Apple encourages users to grab their documents by closing time.

• e iCloud Beta portal has since been activated for developers enrolled the iOS 6 beta at beta.icloud.com. The site displays "Beta" tags on Calendar, Find My iPhone, Notes, and Reminders -- the last two being new additions to iCloud.
• The web version of Find My iPhone has been polished, with a battery status icon as one new feature.
• Notes is a fairly faithful reproduction of the skeuomorphic notepad on the iPhone.

  • Why does Notes have to be tied to an email account and not just iCloud?

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• • There is just no way they can pay people to look if even 5 minutes into every app, let alone in detail.

  • Is Apple even checking software anymore. Surely they would have tools to figure out what parts of the phone the app is accessing, or at least what the app is uploading. 
    
    I wonder if they just gave up and wait for somebody to notice and complain. Outsourcing for free! :)
• ours after it was highlighted by a security firm, Russian-language malware on the iOS App Store was removed by Apple and is no longer available for download.
• application named "Find and Call,"
• The application was revealed by Kaspersky earlier on Thursday to be a Trojan that would upload a user's phone book to a remote server. From there, the server sends out text message spam to all the contacts in the user's address book with a link to download the application.
• malware has routinely been found on Google's more open Android platform. Last year one security firm claimed that Android malware had increased by 472 percent in just one four-month span.

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• We had a temporary issue that began yesterday with a server that generated DRM code for some apps being downloaded. It affected only a small number of users.

   

  “The issue has been rectified and we don’t expect it to occur again,” Apple said. Those who have an affected app can re-download it from the App Store.
• Sources told Macworld that Apple will be removing one-star app reviews developers earned unfairly because of the company’s server issue.

• f your PC is running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 you will qualify to download an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for just $39.99 in 131 markets.

  • That is great in comparison to the £180 or whatever it was for Windows 7. But there's a catch here. 
    
    None of these machines that you might have running any other version of Windows will work well with Widnows 8. So really, you're paying £30 for the privilege of pulling your hair out.

• Unnamed sources told SemiAccurate (via The Mac Observer) that Microsoft's largest OEM partner HP has decided to dump Windows RT, the ARM processor-powered version of the company's upcoming Windows 8 OS, possibly in favor of Google's Android.

  • To be honest, I don't really care if all these OEMs ditch Microsoft, it just means they will have no excuse but to just create the best iPad competitor ever.
    
    Let them compete
• Microsoft will have a definite pricing advantage as it won't have to pay the $90 OS licensing fee applied to OEMs planning to use either Windows RT or Windows 8 Pro.

  • This is an interesting parameter we did not consider when comparing the surface to the Google Nexus line.

• • You would have guessed this as these things are not yet available in the UK store.
• The INQUIRER, a Google spokesperson confirmed that the Nexus 7 won't feature these three categories, which will remain an exclusive in US for the time being. They said, "The UK version will feature all of the options currently available in the UK Play store",
• pre-order page links to the official Nexus 7 homepage, which boasts that the tablet features "the world's largest collection of eBooks, millions of songs, thousands of movies and TV shows, and a growing selection of magazines."

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• currently working with Foxconn on a new smartphone product, one that would compete head-to-head with the iPhone and Android
• wider range of low-priced hardware devices that bolster its strategy of making money from digital books, songs and movies.
• Amazon is also said to be looking to acquire a portfolio of wireless technology patents that would help it stand up to competitors
• considerable amount of interest with its Kindle Fire

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• • I really like the idea of an all in one thing. In fact, when you're watching something you can start typing and search through program from any channel. 
    
    Ultimatly you will always need more than one box if you want every single service. Unless of course the content goes through an iPad, which by the way costs the same as this.
    
    Too expensive! I tell you what, for this kind of price, people are half way to a good 50" TV with  a bunch of these services.
    I don't know.
    
    
• access to programmes broadcast over the previous week from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel Five, as well as the ability to pause and rewind live TV.
• He said it would cost £299, but added that he would not be surprised if that fell to £99 in a couple of years.

• Sky has said it would add its Now TV product offering access to movies, sport and entertainment at a later date.

   

  STV, Scotland's ITV franchise, also plans to offer on-demand content soon.
• include Amazon's Lovefilm
• Humax box does not include wi-fi
• It's a great mistake that they haven't integrated wi-fi into the hardware at this stage. The future is all about integrating handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets with a TV and you can't do that without a wireless connection.

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• Apple has agreed to pay $60m (£38m) to Chinese firm Proview to settle a dispute involving rights to the "iPad" name, a court in China has said.

• Apple had bought the global rights to the "iPad" from Proview's Taiwanese affiliate for $55,000 (£35,000).

   

  However, the Chinese firm had argued that its affiliate did not have the rights to sell the iPad name rights for China, which is one of the fastest-growing markets for Apple's products.

  • Surely that should be a Proview problem. You can't come back and ask for £40b because of an internal mistake.
    
    Also, you should not be able to ask for that sort of money when your product is not competing.

• It had accused Apple of deceiving it into selling the rights to the name by setting up a company, IP Application Development Ltd (IPADL) in the UK.

   

  It claimed that Apple said the trademark was "an abbreviation for the company name".

   

  • It shouldn't really matter who you sell it to, but for ho much. It's like selling something to a rich or a poor man, it should not make any difference.

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• Unwired View now points to a report [<="" a="">Google translation] from Chinese site MyDrivers.com claiming that Apple will indeed be launching a 7.85-inch iPad later this year. According to the report's anonymous supply chain sources, the iPad mini will carry roughly the same thickness as the iPad 2, with Apple using Sharp's indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) technology to create a thinner and brighter display.
• IGZO displays had been rumored for Apple's third-generation iPad, but they were apparently not ready in time

• Bloomberg weighs in with its own claims that Apple will be looking to introduce the device in October for availability before the end of the year.

  The new model will have a screen that’s 7 inches to 8 inches diagonally, less than the current 9.7-inch version, said the people, who asked not to be identified because Apple hasn’t made its plans public. The product, which Apple may announce by October, won’t have the high-definition screen featured on the iPad that was released in March, one of the people said.
• • This is pretty much confirmed now.
• The report also indicates that Apple has been mulling the idea of a smaller iPad since the launch of the original model

  • I will have a better idea of 7 inch display when my Nexus 7 arrives
• The Wall Street Journal has added its own claim that Apple's component suppliers are ramping toward mass production of a smaller iPad beginning in September.

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• Joel Bernstein
• The iPad has always had a logical resolution of 768x1024, a 9.7″ (diagonal) screen, and a logical DPI (points per linear inch) of 132.
• The iPhone and iPod touch have always had a logical resolution of 320x480, a 3.5″ (diagonal) screen, and a logical DPI of 163.
• Give tappable elements in your application a target area of about 44 x 44 points.”
• • There would still be a few problems for developers like if your app was a ruler app, or a few other problems, not big ones though.
• 44 points is 0.33″ on the iPad, and 0.27″ on the iPhone.

  • The buttons (like a "Done" button) are slightly bigger on the iPad because the DPI have always been lower on iPad. 
• If the iPad’s screen were scaled to 163 DPI, it would be 7.85″ diagonally.

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• the last update having occurred 427 days ago the time seems ripe for new model
• • Apple insider adds that stock is limited throughout resellers.

  • You have to release Ivy Bridge iMacs this year, that's for sure. I don't see retina in these. In fact, the new MacBook Pro Retina really was dubbed as the future or experimental. 
• Marco Arment suggested that the interim non-Retina iMac refresh would happen some time in the latter part of this year
• Now, a new report from DigiTimes claims that Apple's supply chain is indeed preparing to provide components for an updated iMac, with an eye toward a launch in October of this year.

  Apple's supply chain reportedly will start supplying components for the mass production of Apple's upcoming new iMac all-in-one PC in July with the device's official launch possibly around October, according to sources from upstream supply chain.
• DigiTimes believes that Apple will include Retina displays in the new models.

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