There’s been a lot of discussion about the lawsuit alleging that Apple is somehow defrauding its customers by selling a 16 Gig phone, which yields about 12 Gigs of usable space.
Business
Predicting the future
In April of 2013, less than two years ago, Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins announced the Glass Collective, “an investment syndicate among our three firms, to provide seed funding to entrepreneurs in the Glass ecosystem to help jumpstart their ideas.”
Follow this link and take a look at the picture. Does this look like the future? Two years ago, it did, at least to some pretty smart people.
Xiaomi and a culture of copying
As Xiaomi contemplates entering western markets, it will no doubt have a strategy in hand for dealing with more stringent intellectual property protections. The question is, will it change its stripes? Here’s the latest and greatest example…
ITG report finds strong Apple Pay momentum
Apple Pay momentum is growing, and is a real threat to PayPal.
Apple addresses allegations made in BBC documentary detailing working conditions In China
The Telegraph:
The BBC’s Panorama programme sent undercover reporters to Pegatron factories on the outskirts of Shanghai, where it claims to have uncovered poor treatment of workers and a breach of standards on workers’ hours.
In an email to around 5,000 staff across the UK, Apple senior vice president of operations Jeff Williams said both himself and the chief executive were “deeply offended by the suggestion that Apple would break a promise to the workers in our supply chain or mislead our customers in any way”.
Interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo designer behind Mario, Zelda
Nothing earth-shattering in this interview, but interesting to get to know the decision maker behind Mario, Zelda, and Amiibo, the NFC-based technology that is emerging as a core part of Nintendo’s future.
This is where Apple’s money comes from
Business Insider posted an infographic showing the relative contributions to the bottom line from these sectors, in descending order: iPhone, iPad, Mac, iTunes & Software, Accessories, and iPod.
Blackberry Classic
BBC News:
Blackberry has launched what it calls a “no-nonsense” smartphone, the Blackberry Classic.
A phone designed to stem the flow of losses.
A rare, in depth Jeff Bezos interview
Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget is a long time Amazon investor. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider. Blodget invited Bezos on stage at this year’s Ignition conference for an interview. Bezos does not do a lot of interviews, let alone one of this length and scope.
The video of the complete interview is below. Follow the headline link for the text excerpts, with video excerpts and some interesting sidebars.
iOS 8 App Development Becomes a “Bring Me a Rock” Game
Adam Engst, writing for TidBITS:
The common thread that ties these disparate apps together is that all are trying to take advantage of iOS 8’s new Extensibility features. Those include custom keyboards, Notification Center widgets, custom Share actions and extensions, photo and video editing extensions, and document provider extensions — iMore has a comprehensive explanation of Extensibility.
The problem is that Apple has not published clear guidelines about what is acceptable.
There are a lot of issues related to the App Store that are troubling developers.
Dozens more companies sign up for Apple Pay
New York Times:
On Tuesday, Apple announced that in recent weeks the company had signed up dozens more banks, retail stores and start-ups to adopt Apple Pay, the company’s new e-commerce product, which allows customers to buy things with little more than a wave of their iPhone.
Lots of progress here.
Intel and Apple, an incredible missed opportunity
Jean-Louis Gassée takes on Intel, pointing out a missed opportunity (Intel passed on a chance to be the sole supplier of iPhone processors) and a lack of focus on mobile, and on Apple in particular.
The growth of the App Store
Om Malik breaks down a report on App Store revenue from Macquarie Capital Research, giving us some very interesting numbers.
Lessons learned about HealthKit from Duke and Oschner
Duke University in North Carolina and Oschner Health System in Louisiana are two of the first hospitals to incorporate HealthKit into their day-to-day operations. Duke’s Dr. Ricky Bloomfield and Oschner’s Dr. Richard Milani spoke about their experiences at the mHealth Summit earlier this week.
Glassdoor ranks Apple 22nd on best places to work, calls Apple “paradise of jobs”
Glassdoor released their seventh annual Employee’s Choice awards, honoring the best places to work in America.
Apple and IBM deliver first wave of apps from new partnership
The apps are vertical in nature, targeting specific industries such as travel, banking, and insurance. They are built with a combination of IBM’s vertical savvy and Apple design skills.
Grappling with the culture of free in Napster’s aftermath
Terrific article, partnered with the video below. Clearly, the culture of free is at the soul of many new business models. As you craft your business plan, you must consider the possibility that someone out there will do the same thing for free.
News organizations fight to release Steve Jobs deposition video
CNET:
Some of the last video footage taken of the late Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs shown in antitrust court last week may see the light of day after lawyers representing the Associated Press, Bloomberg and CNN filed a motion with the court to have it released.
Facebook’s crusade to reach every human on the planet
Time’s Lev Grossman, writes about Mark Zuckerberg’s relentless quest to get every human on the planet online and on Facebook.
Barnes and Noble terminates Microsoft Nook agreement
Wall Street Journal:
Barnes & Noble Inc. has terminated its commercial agreement for its Nook e-reader with Microsoft Corp. , a move it said provides a clearer path toward the impending split of its business.
British government proposes 25% Google tax
New York Times:
As some in Europe call for multinational companies to pay more taxes, Britain on Wednesday proposed a new 25 percent tax on the local profits of international companies, including tech giants like Google that use complicated structures to reduce their tax burden.
Are you a robot? The next generation of CAPCHA
Google is building what it hopes is a much less annoying replacement for CAPCHA, the mechanism that tests to see whether you are a bot or a human.
Apple accused of deleting rivals’ songs from users’ iPods
The iTunes antitrust trial started on Tuesday and the mud is definitely slinging.
L.A. school district responds to iPad initiative subpoena, FBI investigating
What a mess.
Sony hackers leaked at least 5 unreleased movies on-line
Sony Pictures was hacked last week, bringing its operations to a halt. Now, Sony has discovered that at least five screeners (review copies of unreleased motion pictures) have been leaked on-line.
Wikipedia’s complicated relationship with net neutrality
Why Wikipedia sees the flip side of the net neutrality argument.
The actual numbers (red and black) behind a successful indie band’s tour
In the linked article, Jack lays out all the numbers from their last tour, which netted them a total of -$11,819. That’s not a typo, they actually lost $11,819. But wait, this is not a sob story. This is a success story and well worth the read.
New York Times faces layoffs if buyout offer falls short
Tough times for the Gray Lady, along with the rest of the newspaper industry.
How iPads are making airports less terrible
The Verge:
Over the next 18 months OTG will install 6,000 iPads on tables, bars, and stations near waiting areas throughout United Airline’s terminal at Newark. Flashing your boarding pass in front of the iPad’s camera pulls up your United profile, with flight information, travel updates, and frequent flier miles. The program, which is opt-in, learns your preferences from your past purchases and recommends things it thinks you might want to buy. If you never buy the orange juice, it will start showing you other options; if you keep buying steak frites, it will show you steak sandwiches.
Interesting changes coming to the airport experience.
Raising the bar on lavish perks and worker happiness
Wall Street Journal:
At companies hoping to be the next big thing and older ones trying to keep up, the role of office manager has transformed into a so-called workplace coordinator, who often leads a staff of aim-to-please specialists.