∞ iCloud will have a Web-based interface

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When Apple introduced iCloud at last week’s Worldwide Developer Conference, there were no discussions about a Web-based interface for the service, which lead some to believe that there wouldn’t be one. I don’t believe this is the case.

Most of the fervor comes from an article written by Josh Topolsky, which is based on the keynote and what he confirmed with Apple PR. Getting around assumptions based on what Steve Jobs said or didn’t say at the keynote is easy. However, getting around confirmation from Apple PR is a little more difficult.

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∞ Lawyer says Apple may settle iCloud lawsuit

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After announcing its iCloud service last week at WWDC, Apple was slapped with a lawsuit from Arizona-based iCloud Communications. Apple bought iCloud.com from Xcerion and has 11 applications registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Apple also owns the … Continued

∞ Apple to pay Nokia in patent lawsuit settlement

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Apple and Nokia ended their back and forth patent lawsuits on Tuesday with Nokia coming out the victor.

In a press release issued by Nokia, the company said Apple would make a one time payment, presumably for the time Apple has been infringing on the patents, as well as ongoing royalties. Specific terms were not released.

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∞ If you think WWDC wasn't successful, you weren't paying attention

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Sometimes I think people just don’t pay attention. A major event like WWDC comes, Apple introduces some great products, and still some people think there is little innovation.

Just to recap, Apple announced Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud. The significance of these announcements are not only in their product categories, but also with the entirety of the announcements and how they fit together.

It’s true that Apple didn’t release any new hardware, but we knew Apple wasn’t going to release hardware back in March. That’s no surprise, so let’s look at the significance of the software.

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∞ PlayBook is the 'herpes of tablets'

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RIM may want people to compare its PlayBook tablet to the iPad, but journalists have a less complimentary comparison for the device.

While I was attending WWDC last week, CNN said the PlayBook was the “herpes of tablets.” Apparently the news organization was trying to return the PlayBook to RIM and got no response.

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∞ The Loop celebrates its second birthday

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On June 8, 2009 during the Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, I launched The Loop. I’m happy to say that two years later, we’re still going strong.

It’s been an incredible two years for Peter Cohen and I at The Loop. Traffic has grown by an incredible amount, regular readers comment on stories, tips from companies and readers alert us to upcoming news, and we’re having a lot of fun.

The Loop is what you could say is my third life in the Mac journalism world. Starting with the launch of MacCentral in 1994 and moving to Macworld in 1999 and then The Loop in 2009.

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∞ NetNewsWire sold to Black Pixel

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Brent Simmons sold NetNewsWire, one of the most popular RSS readers in the Mac market, to NewsGator a number of years ago, but that’s not the end of the story. Simmons told Ars Technica on Friday that he was behind … Continued

∞ Meeting Spot app aims to make WWDC easier for meetings

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There was a new app released yesterday by Selligy called Meeting Spot that is going to help out a lot of people at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference being held next week.

Meeting Spot lets you check out all of the cafes, coffee shops, restaurants and sandwich around Moscone to find the perfect place to have a meeting, lunch or both. I’ve been in this position many times, so the app definitely appeals to me.

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∞ Apple tops RIM in U.S. mobile market share

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Market research firm comScore on Friday released its latest report detailing mobile market share in the U.S. It’s good news for Apple, but continued bad news for RIM.

According to the survey that included more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers, Apple has overtaken RIM to land the third spot in U.S. mobile subscribers. That gives Apple an 8.3 percent share, up from 7.0 percent in January. RIM fell 0.4 points to 8.2 percent.

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∞ J.P. Morgan: iPad competitors failing

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After the release of the original iPad, companies crawled out of the woodwork to announce a tablet of their own. However, those companies are finding that consumers don’t just want a tablet, they want an iPad.

A report released on Thursday by J.P. Morgan Chase says that demand is not what Apple’s competitors had hoped for. In fact, production of tablets has dropped by about 10 percent, according to NYTimes.

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∞ Motorola says 70% of returns are because of bad Android apps

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There was some startling news from Motorola on Thursday as the company’s CEO spoke at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Technology conference.

According to Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola, of all the Android devices that are returned, 70 percent come back because of Android apps and the negative effect they have on performance.

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∞ Apple releases official WWDC app

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Apple on Thursday released an app for developers of next week’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

Aptly named “WWDC,” the app lets you search the conference schedule, make a reservation at the User Interface, App Review, iTunes Connect, Program Support, or Developer Publications lab, view floor diagrams of Moscone West, and create a custom schedule of the sessions, labs, and events you plan on attending.

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∞ Pixelmator 2.0 adds content-aware fill, healing, retouching tools

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The guys behind image editing application, Pixelmator, on Thursday announced the new features that will be in the 2.0 release scheduled for release later this summer.

As a long time user of Pixelmator, I’ve always been impressed with the feature set of the application and its of use, but these new features take the application to new heights.

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∞ Elements update adds Markdown footnotes support

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Justin Williams on Wednesday released a new version of Elements, his text editor for iOS, adding many new features and fixing some bugs.

Built for iPhone and iPad, Elements 1.6 adds support for rendering Markdown footnotes in the Markdown preview as well as dictionary lookups via the Terminology app for iOS from Agile Tortoise.

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∞ Beatles Anthology collections to debut exclusively on iTunes June 14

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We sure have come a long way in a short period of time. iTunes went from not having any of The Beatles to having music released exclusively on the music service.

EMI on Tuesday said the The Beatles’ three remastered Anthology music collections will debut on June 14. Anthology, Vols. 1-3 are available for preorder on iTunes starting today.

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∞ Report: Android apps not making money for developers

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There have been many reports talking about how Android or is more popular than iOS and vice versa. However, if you’re a developer and want to make money, you should be on iOS.

Citing a report from research firm Distimo on Friday, Fortune’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt shared some interesting statistics. For instance, out of of 72,000 paid apps in Google’s Android Market, only two have sold more than 50,000 copies.

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∞ PayPal sues Google for stealing trade secrets

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Yesterday morning, Google announced Google Wallet. By the afternoon, PayPal launched a lawsuit against the company, claiming it stole the technology.

I’ve seen very few lawsuits with the twists and turns that this one has and I’m sure it will only get better. It not only involves stealing technology, but trade secrets and even employees.

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∞ Analyst says Apple passes Nokia in 'share'

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Market research firm Asymco says that Apple has passed Nokia in terms of mobile share. The big question is what exactly does “share” mean?

The author of the report, Horace Dediu, notes that there are many measurements of share these days. For example, there is the share of all handset units sold; share of installed based of handsets (penetration); share of smartphones; share of mobile computers; share of value (revenues) captured; share of profits; share of platforms; share within a given platform; and share by regions/countries/geographies/demographics.

Basically, there is a share for almost every measurement you can think of.

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∞ Apple sues white iPhone conversion kit company for trademark infringement

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Apple on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against a company that makes iPhone version kits. The kits basically turn your black iPhone into a white iPhone.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the lawsuit claims that Fei Lik Lam a/k/a Phillip Lam and whiteiphone4now.com, are “infringing and diluting Apple’s famous trademarks, in willful violation ofthe Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1051 et seq.) and for engaging in deceptive practices and unfair competition in willful violation ofNew York state Jaw.”

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∞ Senator Franken asks Apple, Google to require privacy policies for apps

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U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) asked both Apple and Google to require “clear and understandable privacy policies for all of their apps.”

The Senator made the statements in a letter sent to both companies.

“If the companies agree to this request, consumers who purchase apps from Apple or Google’s app stores would have a clearer understanding of what information is being collected about them and with whom it’s being shared,” wrote Franken.

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∞ The Heist topples Angry Birds as App Store's top selling app

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A new game from the folks who brought Mac users the MacHeist software bundle has done the unthinkable — it toppled Angry Birds as the top selling app on the App Store.

The developers told The Loop on Wednesday that The Heist sold 25,233 copies in about half a day. That was enough to give them top spot on the App Store, at least for single day sales — they still have a ways to go to beat Angry Birds for cumulative sales, but they are well on their way.

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∞ Apple MacBooks top all Consumer Reports laptop categories

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If you were wondering how good Apple’s MacBook line of portable computers are, the answer is simple — they are the top computer every category on Consumer Reports.

Apple’s 11-inch MacBook Air scored a 62 out of 100 taking the top spot in the small laptop section. Scoring a 56, Gateway came in second while HP came in third with a 49.

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