Microsoft had originally been planning to unveil its next-generation Xbox details at an event in April, but The Verge has learned that the company has pushed this back to May. Windows watcher Paul Thurrott revealed recently that Microsoft is planning an Xbox event for May 21st, and we understand this date is accurate. This is the tentative date for a next-generation Xbox announcement, but Microsoft had originally planned an April 24th event.
Hopefully Microsoft will be slightly more forthcoming with details about the next Xbox than Sony was with details about the PlayStation 4.
If you missed it the first time around – or were one of the thousands of customers who couldn’t download their promised comics – Marvel is giving you another chance. They’re featuring a giveaway of over 700 comics you can read on your computer, iPad and elsewhere. The only catch is that you have to register before 11:59 PM Eastern Time on April 9th to get the invitation.
If you need to do anything with PDFs, you need PDFpen. You can add a signature, make changes to text and images, correct a typo, fill out forms–and that’s only the beginning. Got a scanned document? PDFpen includes OCR so you can convert that scan into text that can be searched, copied, and corrected. Want to remove sensitive info such as tax ID numbers from your PDF before sharing it? PDFpen can perform redaction, removing the stuff you want to keep private.
The big news is that PDFpen 6 is now available, and the new features make it more powerful and easier to use than ever. The interface and tools have been updated and improved. And now you can export your PDFs to Microsoft Word format for sharing or editing. If you want to see the new features in action, check out the great video by David Sparks where you can see the new features.
Buy PDFpen for $60 in the Mac App Store or directly from Smile. Or buy PDFpenPro for $100 and you’ll get advanced features like form creation tools and document permission settings. Find out more at Smile Software.
Based on a newly published office action from the USPTO, dated last Wednesday, the issue has in fact mostly been resolved without Apple having had to address the examiner’s objections. Presumably responding to the publicity surrounding the initial decision, the USPTO has preemptively withdrawn its two main objections to Apple’s objections.
This was widely expected to happen when the issue was first raised.
The book is less about Jobs, and more about what Bushnell thinks companies need to do to rethink their hiring practices.
“One of the big concerns I have is that most of the HR departments in a lot of companies are hiring away from creativity and they don’t know it,” Bushnell said in an interview. “For instance, they are requiring everybody to have a college degree. The most creative people I know couldn’t deal with college.”
For many people, Facebook is the Internet, just as AOL was before it. And just as Facebook is the best way for them to experience the Internet in a browser, Facebook Home is going to be the best way for those people to experience the Internet on a phone.
Do you enter uncharted territory, make your own mobile operating system, and hope people switch?
Of course not. You make your competitor’s system yours — overnight. Facebook Home is a trojan horse designed to steal the Android experience, and the Android user base, right out of Google’s hands.
It’s a brilliant move by Facebook, especially since Google is trying so hard to compete with Facebook. I chuckle every time I think about it.
My guess is that many — most? — of these people are Facebook users, and could easily see some utility in having Facebook features highlighted on their phones. And — bonus — Facebook’s software looks good. Much better than the junk that ships with typical low-end Android devices.
I agree with Dan. Facebook has a lot of users that couldn’t care less about what phone they have. They check email and Facebook — that’s who they are going after with Facebook Home.
Thanks to Doxie for sponsoring The Loop this week. There’s never been a better time to go paperless. Doxie scans your paper – simply, automatically, and with no computer required. Just push the button and insert your sheet. Doxie scans anywhere in your home or office with a built-in rechargeable battery and memory.
When you’re ready to organize, sync scans to your Mac or iPad, just like a digital camera. Doxie’s elegant Mac app creates multi-page searchable PDFs you can save or send to Evernote, Dropbox, or via iMessage. Doxie even works with your iPad with both Apple’s Lightning and 30-pin SD Card Reader accessories.
If it is upheld, the ITC can order any infringing device to be barred from importation into the United States. Apple has alleged that Samsung’s Galaxy, Transform and Nexus devices, among others, were among those made with the infringing technology.
The judge said Samsung did not infringe portions of another patent that detects a microphone when plugged into a headphone jack.
Both the iPhone and the iPod touch make for stellar pocket cameras, and the iPad and iPad mini aren’t too bad in a pinch either. An iOS device isn’t perfect for every photographic need. But it can serve awfully well in many situations where you might once have needed a digital camera.
The App Store sports what seems like a million different camera and picture apps. But have you really gotten the most out of the app that’s included with iOS? Serenity Caldwell offers some solid tips on how to take great pictures using just that.
Manufacturing beautiful and functional hardware is more difficult than ever due to capital demands and a lack of hardware experience on most startup teams. My experience at Apple taught me some important lessons about hardware design and production that, if heeded by hardware startups, provide an opportunity to bring innovative products to market without suffering setbacks – or even failure – from preventable mistakes.
Sensible advice from a guy who learned from the best.
This actually happened. An e-commerce website had been designed and developed. Launch had been initiated, and it was abruptly taken offline in mid-air.
I can’t even imagine how heartbreaking that must have been.
Having watched Mark Zuckerberg introduce the new Home interface for Android phones, Wall Street analysts wresting with the implications for Facebook, Google and Apple drew on every literary, musical and film reference they could think of, including The Wizard of Oz (“There’s no place like home”), ET (“Phone home”), Simon and Garfunkel (“Homeward Bound”) and, in a stretch, Robert Frost (“Fork in the road”).
Due to a lawsuit by VirnetX, Apple will be changing the behavior of VPN On Demand for iOS devices using iOS 6.1 and later.
Devices using iOS 6.1 and later with VPN On Demand configured to “Always” will behave as if they were configured with the “Establish if needed” option. The device will establish a VPN On Demand connection only if it is unable to resolve the DNS name of the host it is trying to reach. This change will be distributed in an update later this month.
Tech journalists can write about privacy and the virtues of quitting Facebook all day long. The rest of the world won’t even hear about it, because they’ll be too busy getting immersed in the lives and identities of the friends they agree with.
