Apple updated its Apple TV software on Monday adding a number of new features.
Among the changes in the latest software update is support for Bluetooth keyboards, something many users have been asking for with the Apple TV. The update also added the “Up Next” feature found in iTunes and the ability to browse and play all purchased music.
One major feature added to Apple TV is iTunes in the Cloud. This was previously available to users that purchased iTunes Match.
You can download the update on your Apple TV by going to Settings > General > Update Software.
Apple customers in Britain have begun to seek compensation after the search giant bypassed security settings on their iPhones and Mac computers, allowing it to track their browsing habits.
Don’t be evil Google. Also funny that the American press isn’t all over this — if it was Apple being sued, it would be front page news everywhere.
Count Acer as being disillusioned with Windows 8, but seeing a future in Chrome. President Jim Wong says that Windows 8 “is still not successful,” while touting the benefits of Chrome notebooks, which he says already account for between 5 percent and 10 percent of Acer’s U.S. sales.
At 5 to 10 percent of Acer’s US sales, Chrome notebooks aren’t creating a tectonic change in the laptop market, but it’s interesting to see people getting used to the idea of a notebook running purely in the cloud.
Google officials say changes in the [Electronic Communications Privacy Act] are needed to prevent law enforcement from obtaining certain e-mails and other content without search warrants, and to give documents stored on cloud services the same legal protections as paper documents stored in a desk drawer. Cloud services, which didn’t exist when the privacy law was passed, let users store and process data on remote servers via the Internet.
Good for Google for trying to hold together the tattered remains of the Fourth Amendment.
An ITU group has approved a successor to the H.264 video encoding standard, opening the door to future video transmission using only half the bandwidth that’s now required.
H.265 is also known as High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC). It improves video quality and doubles the data compression ratio compared to H.264 (the standard heavily leveraged in Apple’s QuickTime video technology). It scales up to 8192 x 4320 resolution, making it suitable for use with Ultra High Definition (UHD) signals.
Barnes & Noble plans to close about twenty retail stores a year over the next ten years, the company’s retail CEO Marshall Klipper told the Wall Street Journal.
Up until 2009, Barnes & Noble was expanding at a rate of about 30 stores a year. Looks like more and more people are buying books from Amazon (and, presumably, e-books).
Android is going from strength to strength. Around 600m of the nearly 2 billion smartphones ever sold use Google’s mobile operating system, estimates Horace Dediu, the boss of Asymco, a mobile-analysis firm. How odd, then, that nearly two-fifths of those that remain in active use, both old and new, rely on outdated versions of it.
Glenn Fleishman explains one of the biggest flaws of Android – how cheap handsets, fast development and loose controls by Google adds up to hundreds of millions of handsets running outdated and unpatched versions of Android operating systems.
iTunes 11 introduced some interface changes that longtime users, myself included, found very jarring. Kirk McElhearn has updated his “Take Control of iTunes” e-book with new content about iTunes 11.
The deal complements AT&T’s existing holdings in the B block, the company said in a press release. The new spectrum will help the company deploy 4G LTE services and meet mobile broadband demand from smartphones and tablets, it added.
I stopped by the Izotope booth today and got a demo of all the latest plugins, including Ozone 5, the company’s mastering system. New versions of Ozone 5 and Nectar, Izotope’s vocal suite are available as AAX native plug-ins from their Web site.
Looking back, it’s clear how uninviting and offensive that language is to many people, not just women. It’s not something we’re proud of. We are sorry about the message that was conveyed then. We don’t support or condone sexism at Klout, and our culture today has matured from what it was then.
This is now
We’ve come a long way since that spring. Today, we are over 65 Kloutlaws, 20 percent of whom are women…
Kudos to Klout for owning the problem, accepting responsibility and moving on.
Every year I walk away from NAMM with a product I felt was the best at the show — I saw that today. It’s called the Sound Control 6 from DiabloFX.
Digital stompboxes that model effects are great for guitar players, but many guitarists would rather use their traditional analog gear. Sound Control allows you to use your analog pedals, but you can also make presets and activate them wirelessly with the foot switch.
Basically, you put up to 6 analog pedals in Sound Control and connect them to the unit. Each preset (a total of four) has an on and off switch for each pedal connected. On Preset “A” you want an Overdrive and Chorus pedal, you flip the switch for those. From that point on when you stomp on preset “A” your pedal choice will be activated. You choose your pedals like that for each of the presets and you’re done.
This is a very cool piece of hardware and something I have to get.
Back in the 70s and 80s, Atari Inc. created dozens of coin-op games that were designed to hook players in, take their money, and by the end, have them beg to play one more time.
Nolan Bushnell described these games as “Easy To Learn, Tough To Master,” and they were the genesis of the today’s casual and mobile game market.
With Atari’s impending bankruptcy and sale, it’s time they looked back at some of their little known coin-ops that could be translated into hit mobile and downloadable games. Who knows, some of these could be hits for the company’s next owner!
For a much smaller number of apps that are using Facebook to either replicate our functionality or bootstrap their growth in a way that creates little value for people on Facebook, such as not providing users an easy way to share back to Facebook, we’ve had policies against this that we are further clarifying today (see I.10).
The service I’ve gotten in there is consistently excellent, as it is at even the highest volume stores. Staff are always friendly and attentive when they’re not managing mobs of people. Even McNulty admits that Geniuses can make a very bad situation much better.
The company’s profit per square foot is the best in the retail business. Apple’s retail store profitability is ahead of premium luxury brands like Tiffany and Coach, or even wildly popular yoga outfitter Lululemon.
And that’s in part because of the mobs of people that Scott and I inflict ourselves upon. Many Apple retail stores are overpacked with people buying products, asking questions or having products serviced. Which makes being a grumpy misanthrope even more of a drag.
Apple’s addressed one problem McNulty talks about – getting the attention of a staff member long enough to buy a product – and made an app for that. If you’re already using an iPhone, just whip it out and buy stuff right off the store shelves without ever having to interact with a human at all. His wife’s solution – raising her hand – works too. So does shopping online.
I’d love a deserted Apple store, but Apple can’t really lower the density of customers in their store and maintain the same high profit per square foot. That requires a careful buildout, and Apple hasn’t leapt without looking like Gateway did many years ago. That story ended badly.
Apple Stores are busy but the service is still excellent and Apple’s made it easier to pay than ever. I don’t see the problem, outside of their (and society’s) absurd requirement that I wear some kind of leg covering.
A question I look at as I analyze specific companies is who is building a strategy to be a long term company. Many tech companies develop strategies and create corporate vision in the 3-5 year range. Many also don’t even go that far as they are only planning 1-2 years out. There are a rare few companies who strategize a bit longer and Apple is one of them.
If you are at all worried about what Apple’s stock valuation today means in the scheme of things, read Ben’s piece and then settle down.
In October 2012, that Librarian of Congress, tasked with regularly reviewing and determining whether the exceptions to the DMCA are still valid, changed course from previous decisions in 2006 and 2010 and determined that, in short, there exists enough unlocked phones, carrier unlocking options, and other options for consumers, such that unsanctioned unlocking of cellphones no longer needed to be a protected right.
