When Star Walk launched it was one of those “only on the iPad” kind of apps. Since then many have used it as their digital window to space.
Vito Technologies, which built the original, is back with Star Walk 2. While it may not seem like there is much to improve on, the developers have taken the time to find enough enhancements and new features to justify an entirely new app.
Not only has Star Walk been my go to astronomy app, it was the app I always used to “show off” how cool the iPad was. I’ll be buying this version, too.
PDFpen Scan+ offers scanning and OCR from your iPhone and iPad. Scan directly from your iPhone or iPad camera. Batch scanning is quick with post-process image editing. Scan cropping is fast and precise. With the new PDFpen Scan+ 1.4, you can automatically upload scans to Dropbox or PDFpen’s iCloud storage. After OCR, preview the results, then copy the text for use elsewhere. Share your scanned PDF, with embedded OCR text, by email or to your favorite cloud service. PDFpen Scan+ works on both your iPhone and your iPad, and it’s available on the App Store.
Using cutting-edge techniques, Dr Louhelainen was able to extract 126-year-old DNA from the material and compare it to DNA from descendants of Eddowes and the suspect, with both proving a perfect match.
It’s hard to argue with DNA, but I’m sure there will be lots of explanations coming.
TiVo, arguably the Cadillac of DVRs with support for streaming media services, is getting ready to roll out a big rig. The TiVo Mega, slated to ship early next year, will pack 24TB of hard disk space—eight times the storage on the TiVo Roamio Pro, the current top-of-the-line model. Put another way, that’s enough to stash more than three year’s worth of standard-definition television on one DVR.
For our latest shoot-out we thought we would have some fun and put the Universal Audio 1176LN limiter versus the UAD 1176LN plug-in to see which one you prefer, or maybe if you can’t tell the difference.
I find this stuff fascinating, especially with a company like Universal Audio. They have made some of the best hardware for years, but they also take great pains in making the software indistinguishable from the hardware.
Today we are beginning to test a new way for you to discover and buy products on Twitter. For a small percentage of U.S. users (that will grow over time), some Tweets from our test partners will feature a “Buy” button, letting you buy directly from the Tweet.
I don’t have a problem with this. We want to cut down the amount of clicks we have to go through to purchase things, so if I can buy directly within the app, why not.
Amazon launched the phone July 25, and it was widely seen as a bit of a flop with slow usage growth, according to market research (Amazon hasn’t released any sales numbers).
Not long after Tim Cook took over as full time CEO, he made a promise: “We’re going to double down on secrecy.” A few years on from that comment, it seems, as with most of Tim’s public comments, that it was more than just empty marketing speak. From the completely redesigned iOS 7 in 2013, to the launch of a whole new programming language, Swift, at this years WWDC, to the announcements that are about to be unveiled, Apple are tighter lipped and appear to be more controlled than ever.
At first blush, it might seem as if the exact opposite is true. We seem to know a lot about what’s coming, including detailed specs. But I’ll wager that there’s plenty of wow coming, even if what we think we know is spot on. So much has been written about the iWatch, but have you seen even one leaked image? If Apple does indeed announce an iWatch tomorrow, full credit must go to Tim Cook’s ability to keep his “double down on secrecy” promise.
Any watch Apple makes will need to be incredibly light, incredibly thin, and unobtrusive to the point where you forget you’re wearing it. When you go for a run, do you want to be wearing a Rolex or a FuelBand?
An excellent question. If I am heading out to a business meeting or a more formal dinner, what would I want to be wearing? The same watch? Now that would be a trick.
I do not believe that there will be a single iWatch. I think this will be a broad product category, similar to the iPod product line. I expect Apple to introduce several types of wearable devices, built around an iOS-based software platform. Apple will be targeting a wide range of users with these devices, rater than trying to sell a one-usage-fits-all device. From the basic fitness tracker user, who just wants to count steps or other activity, to the user willing to pay a premium for a fancy watch, I think there will be iWatches for everyone.
Interesting speculation. If there even is an iWatch.
One final thought, a bit of speculation of my own. In an earlier post, Jean-Louis Gassée speculated on the inclusion of Near Field Communication in a potential iPhone 6 as part of a payment system. Is it possible to squeeze NFC into a watch sized device?
Jean-Louis Gassée weighs in on the potential for Apple to introduce an iPhone 6 with some form of payment system tomorrow. At the heart of his essay is this:
Apple doesn’t want to displace the key players — the banks and credit card companies — any more now than they did a decade ago. Credit card companies, for example, play a hard-to-replace role in policing transactions. It’s not always pretty or convenient when one has to call a US number from Europe because the system “tripped” over an unusual transaction, but it works.
One can’t imagine Apple even thinking of storing and lending money, of trying to “capture a fraction of the flow”. If the company does introduce a near field payment system, it won’t be as an attempt to make money in itself, it will simply be another extension of the Apple ecosystem, another way to make iDevices more attractive.
The question at large: If Apple does introduce the ability to use a near field communication enabled iPhone 6 as part of a larger payment system, will a transaction fee be part of the model, or will the added value to the ecosystem be enough?
In other words, does Apple have to make money on each transaction, or is the selling point (and ecosystem lock-in) of the convenience of using your iPhone to pay at the checkout enough of a win?
Rock Paper Scissors has serious players, organizing leagues, and sponsored tournaments that draw hundreds to compete for cash prizes. In 2006, Bud Light sponsored a tournament and offered a $50,000 cash prize.
While RPS advocates are eager to validate it as a serious pursuit, they also intend to have a good time. That said, if during a tournament you try to throw some sort of fourth move like dynamite that beats rock, paper, and scissors, you’ll be asked to leave.
Leave it to Canadians to come up with competitive “Rock, Paper, Scissors” and tie it into drinking beer.
Conspicuous consumption and status-seeking are major drivers of the Asian market in particular, and are why Asians make up over 50% of the luxury market by nationality. In the case of handbags, you absolutely are saying something with your selection: a Louis Vuitton bag is many people’s first luxury purchase, and shows you have some means; a Chanel bag, on the other hand, signifies you are at least upper middle class, maybe even rich.
At the top of the heap, though, is Hermès: sport a Birkin bag and there is no question as to your status.
While I don’t agree with all of his points, it’s a very instructive way to look at Apple and perhaps how and where they see their place in the market.
Writing for the LA Times, Chris O’Brien poses the question, are we as consumers ready for the iWatch?
Are we ready? I’m not entirely convinced that the answer is yes. I’ve tried many smartwatches and never found anything particularly compelling about them. I’ve played with a few mobile payment services and never felt like they offered a greater convenience than just whipping out a credit card. And I’ve never taken the plunge to use any of the various health monitor gadgets.
And that’s Apple’s strong suit. They are uncanny at judging our appetites as consumers, a craving that frequently can’t be explained by simple logic. Apple has a savant-like savviness at predicting just what we’ll respond to, and at what price point.
Then again, when I first saw the iPad back in January 2010, I didn’t feel particularly moved by it. It was only when I eventually bought one that I suddenly couldn’t remember how I’d managed without it. Just like I did with my first iPhone and iPod.
Apple has invited top fashion editors and bloggers in unprecedented numbers to its Tuesday launch gala, further evidence that the iPhone maker is preparing to take the wraps off a smartwatch.
“It confirms that they have a play in wearables and that they want to appeal to the fashion world, and not just technology consumers,” said Lauren Indvik, editor in chief for Fashionista and another first-time invitee.
The event next week gets more and more interesting every day.
Terminal is the Mac OS X command line tool that gives you access to unbridled destructive power (i.e., step carefully). You’ll find it in Applications / Utilities. If you are brand new to Terminal, here’s a very gentle intro.
If you use Terminal on a regular basis, take some time to dig into Craig Hockenberry’s fantastic Terminal tricks blog post. Some of these you’ll know, but some will likely be new to you. It’s deep, it’s long, and so well written. Pass this one along to your tech friends. [via iOS Dev Weekly]
Phil McNamara captures the eruption of Mount Tavurvur volcano from a boat off Papua New Guinea (eastern edge of New Britain island). When you see the explosion, keep your eyes on the clouds surrounding the island, then count the beats until the boom hits. Fantastic video. [h/t Jason Perlow via David Barnard]
Designer Marc Newson is joining Apple as part of senior vice president of design Jonathan Ive’s team, the company told VF Daily on Friday.
Newson, who will continue to be based in the United Kingdom, will be an employee of Apple, and will be frequently traveling to the company’s Cupertino, California, headquarters. The industrial designer has had his work archived by MoMA, and has been commissioned by Ford, Nike, and Qantas Airways, among others.
Jonathan Ive you know. One of his best friends, Marc Newson, might not be quite as familiar a name to you but he is also a world-class designer.
During my time in Australia, the relaxed lifestyle of the Aussies, Kiwis, and Europeans we met contrasted sharply with the “live to work” mentality so ingrained in American culture. To them, it isn’t about your place in life or how you make a living; it’s simply about living well.
Contrary to what many people think, this philosophy doesn’t have to clash with being ambitious. It just means making a fun, fulfilling life your first priority.
Living in Vancouver, I’ve met and known a lot of Australians and am always amazed at their wanderlust. There’s a lot of good advice in this column, particularly for those in college. Travel while you can.
In the case of Apple, the shareholders claim that Cook and others, including directors Al Gore and Bill Campbell, breached their fiduciary duty to the company and engaged in “waste of corporate assets.” They want the court to order Apple’s board to implement better governance measures, and for Cook and the other defendants to pay restitution to shareholders and to pay the shareholders’ legal bills.
173 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (71.8 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in July, up 3 percent since April. Apple ranked as the top OEM with 42.4 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers (up 1 percentage point from April). Samsung ranked second with 28.4 percent market share (up 0.7 percentage points), followed by LG with 6.4 percent, Motorola with 5.7 percent and HTC with 4.7 percent.
That’s a pretty significant lead for Apple and they are outpacing Samsung in terms of growth.
Lastly, we as the end users are always the weak point in security. That’s not to absolve tech companies of blame: in fact, it’s a key challenge they should all be working to overcome, while managing the balance between removing the barriers to good security and maintaining strong protections for users.
I think this sums up the whole iCloud situation for me.
Executives at Europe’s big consumer electronics trade fair this week in Berlin readily admit to hoping that Apple can crack the missing code for everyone. Where the U.S. innovator leads, its rivals plan to follow by bringing their own improvements or by seeking out profitable niche markets that Apple ignores.
“This is what we wanted,” Sunny Lee, CEO of Samsung Electronics’ European business told Reuters when asked about Apple’s likely debut.
I bet that’s exactly what Samsung wanted. Not that they’ll copy everything that Apple does, no, not Samsung.
Earlier this year, Motorola ended its short stay with Google when it was sold to Lenovo.
TechCrunch has confirmed reports that Lenovo is buying Motorola Mobility from Google. This is the division within Google that the company purchased in 2011 for $12.5 billion. Motorola Mobility will go to Lenovo for $2.91 billion.
Lenovo-owned Motorola quietly released a smart-watch yesterday, the Moto 360. Everyone’s tastes differ of course, but for me, this is the watch that sets the bar for Android and for smart-watches. This is the watch that you should keep in mind when and if Apple announces an iWatch next Tuesday.
There are competing watches from Samsung, LG, and Pebble, and they all share a common Android heritage and a common design aesthetic. In my opinion, they are clunky and wrongly sized for most wrists.
The Moto 360 is the least objectionable of all the designs, and that’s the point. At a minimum, watches are supposed to tell the time and look good. All of the current smart watches tell the time quite well. None of them meet that second criteria.
When Apple first announced the iPhone, there were plenty of competing smart phones. All of them let you make phone calls and do things like send and receive email. That was the bar that Apple had to clear and they did it easily, leaving an entire industry in the dust.
Given how mature and well funded the industry has become, it is unlikely the iWatch can turn the smart-watch industry on its ear. But there is much room for improvement, both aesthetically and functionally. To me, the Moto 360 is the bar to clear. And it has obvious functional flaws (for example, the chopped area at the bottom of the watch face seems to be dead screen space) and suffers from the single wrist size problem (it’s way too big for anyone with small wrists). And the design is nice, but no competition to any of the higher end watches.
Still, the bar has been set. Watch the video embedded below to get a sense of the Moto 360. Looking forward to Tuesday.
Apple said it plans additional steps to keep hackers out of user accounts, but denied that a lax attitude toward security had allowed intruders to post nude photos of celebrities on the Internet.
To make such leaks less likely, Mr. Cook said Apple will alert users via email and push notifications when someone tries to change an account password, restore iCloud data to a new device, or when a device logs into an account for the first time.
This is just one of many steps Apple will take to protect themselves and users.
