Ben Bajarin:
By owning all the key components from designing the system-on-chip, to the hardware and software security layers, the operating system, the hardware itself, and the underlying cloud framework, Apple is uniquely positioned to create a security solution unlike many others.
A new advertising campaign allows companies to pay CNET to repost positive reviews on their homepage. Guess who took advantage of that program? You guessed it, Samsung.
It will be interesting to see which Apple executives Microsoft tries to get to run the company. You know it’s going to happen. Apple has all the products that Microsoft wished it had.
You can read it for yourself.
That’s the best news Microsoft has had in years.
Peter Kafka:
Kennedy also dismissed concerns about Apple’s impending iTunes Radio launch, which will directly compete with his service. This one would be easier to take at face value if Pandora’s PR machinery wasn’t working so hard to downplay Apple’s entry.
But, for the record, Kennedy repeated the lines he has always used to describe competition in the past. “We’ve now been around for eight years. We’ve seen competitors large and small enter the market and, in some cases, exit the market,” he said. “I’ve never seen an analysis that identifies an effect from any competitor … we don’t see the picture changing.”
Yet Pandora is removing the 40 hour listening limit for mobile users two weeks before Apple introduces iTunes Radio. Pandora may not have seen any effect from previous competition, but they’ve never faced Apple before.
BlackBerry, Nokia and Microsoft never thought they’d see any effect from Apple either. You see where that got them.
We don’t know how much Apple paid for the several-person team it acquired very recently. But we heard from people knowledgeable about the deal that the company plans to directly integrate Embark’s technology into Apple Maps.
Nice scoop for Jessica Lessin.
So App Cubby is no more, but the people are the same. David Barnard is one of the good guys in the development scene who cares about his customers and the apps he makes. He’s showcasing a new app called Perfect Weather on the Contrast Web site.
The new Nexus 7 has all the makings of a great tablet but it’s been plagued by multiple problems ever since its release, including faulty GPS and a bug-riddled touch interface. Because of this, Consumer Reports is warning tablet fans to avoid buying Google’s newest tablet until the company fixes all these issues. The publication in particular singles out the Nexus 7′s shoddy touch screen implementation as particularly headache-inducing.
Apple is probably sending a cake to the Nexus 7 team for making its tablet suck so bad.
Apple on Thursday made some significant changes to its “Apple and Education” Web site, adding resources, stories, planning ideas and more for students, teachers and IT staff.
Apple products took the top positions for the smartphone and tablet categories in a recent survey conducted by Nikkei PC magazine. In fact, multiple Apple products landed in the top three in both categories.
ReadQuick helps you read faster than ever before. Designed for the iPad, this app helps you speed read your way through your reading list. ReadQuick displays the articles of your choice one word at a time at a pace you set. It is the only app that teaches you how to speed read while getting through your daily reading.
It has support for Pocket, Instapaper and a Featured, as well as giving you your reading stats.
Great article by Bobby Solomon on how making “hollow icons” aren’t going to confuse your users.
The National Security Agency’s snooping practices may be costing American companies a lot of money. German publication Zeit Online has obtained leaked documents that purportedly show that IT experts within the German government believe that Windows 8 contains back doors that the NSA could use to remotely control any computers that have it installed.
Wow.
Due to a friend’s tip, he discovered one of his photos as winning entry on Samsung Camera’s photo contest „Live the moment“ on Facebook. Horizontally flipped, slightly cropped and digitally altered with an instagram filter, a user submitted the photo as his own to the contest via his instagram profile – and won. Samsung Camera made a congratulatory shout out on Facebook, including the picture.
Seriously, even I’m starting to feel bad for them.
Jim and Dan talk about Jim’s so-called “Apple-centric” stance, the upcoming iTunes Festival in London, the gold iPhone 5S, hacking Facebook, the Samsung watch, and Katy Perry. Also, Dan’s eviscerates the new Jobs movie.
Sponsored by Shutterstock (use code DANSENTME8 for 30% off), Hover (use code DANSENTME for 10% off), and Squarespace (use code DANSENTME8 for 10% off).
So true. Sometimes “perfect” isn’t so perfect.
Daniel Jalkut is talking about his profession as a software developer, but the lessons could be applied to many occupations.
Circling the drain.
AT&T Inc. has been sued by Al Jazeera for refusing to carry the Qatar-based broadcaster’s new U.S. cable-news channel as part of its pay-television service.
BusyCal’s unique and powerful features include customizable calendar views, scrolling Month and Week views, an integrated Info Panel for quickly viewing and editing events, integrated To Dos that display in the calendar and carry-forward until completed, custom font sizes and styles, graphics, live weather feeds and moon phases, and a menu bar app for quick access to the current day’s events and weather.
BusyCal supports iCloud, Exchange, Google Calendar, and other CalDAV servers, enabling you to sync and share your calendars through the cloud with other Macs running BusyCal or the built-in Calendar app on OS X, as well as iPhones and iPads running the built-in Calendar app on iOS.
New version just released.
Much respect beard.
This is a great app. I don’t like to-do apps, but I like Finish.
Apple is going all out this year with a star-studded line-up at its iTunes Festival—Katy Perry will close out the show, according to a story on AP.
They released a new Zildjian Artist MIDI Groove Library today, but the best product they have is the Andy Johns Classic Drums. He is the master.
I made it 2:25 through and had to stop.
Jason Snell:
In its first major hardware upgrade in three years, TiVo introduced its fifth-generation hardware DVR series on Tuesday. On sale now with the odd nickname of “Roamio,” the new boxes promise a faster user interface and built-in streaming to iOS devices. At first glance, this new generation of TiVo looks like a big step up for cable TV subscribers who want to ditch their generic cable DVR.
I just bought this. It’ll make for a nice read on my upcoming flights.
The Canadian military has been secretly test-driving a $620,000 stealth snowmobile in its quest to quietly whisk troops on clandestine operations in the Arctic.
Clearly the stealth sled dog experiment didn’t work out.