July 26, 2012
Written by Peter Cohen
Tricia Duryee for All Things D:
“We want to make it as easy as possible for the 2,500 games on Steam to run on Linux as well. It’s a hedging strategy. I think Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space. I think we’ll lose some of the top-tier PC/OEMs, who will exit the market. I think margins will be destroyed for a bunch of people. If that’s true, then it will be good to have alternatives to hedge against that eventuality.”
Valve recently revealed plans to make its Steam game service run on Linux (it’s been on OS X since 2010). He sees Steam on Linux as a positive way to make Linux appealing to mainstream users, suggesting that games drive “consumer purchasing behavior.”
Newell thinks Windows 8’s Windows Store — Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s Mac App Store — is a threat to the long-term viability of game developers. But more than that, he sees Microsoft’s efforts heading towards a “closed platform,” which he says couldn’t have resulted in businesses like his flourishing.
Written by Peter Cohen
Ingrid Lunden for TechCrunch:
[Sprint] says it sold 1.5 million iPhones in the quarter, some 40 percent to new postpaid customers. That is exactly level with the number of iPhone sales it had last quarter. The iPhone push helped contribute to strong postpaid net additions of 442,000, double the number Sprint reported last quarter and the same quarter a year ago.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Neil Hughes, AppleInsider:
A new, extensive patent application details how a new iPhone model with a near-field communications chip could serve as the connected centerpiece of an automated digitally connected home.
I don’t normally mention patents because they are just ideas that could take years to ever make it into a product, if they ever do. However, I thought this was cool.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Most instruments only allow you to play one sound at a time, but with Tachyon, you can seamlessly blend between any two sounds as you slide your fingers up and down the screen.
Jordan is not only a friend, but also one of the most talented musicians I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. It is really amazing to watch him sit down with an instrument, whether that’s a keyboard or an iPad, and play.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Michael Lopp:
The best stories, the ones we love, have a surprise ending. Since Steve returned to Apple, an essential part of the keynote was the anticipation of the unexpected, and that means aggressive and invasive secrecy. Not because they don’t want you to know, but because they want to tell you a great story.
Another great piece from Michael.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Apple on Wednesday updated its Podcasts app for iOS, adding a significant number of improvements. While many people complained about the first version of Podcasts, I was quite happy with what they brought out. Many of the things that people thought should be included in this app seemed to be on the high-end side of the fence. I contended when the app was first released, and still believe today, that Apple made a useful app for the majority of users, leaving the high-end market for its third-party developers.
Having said that, it is good to see Apple paying attention to one of its newest iOS apps with so many improvements.
According to Apple the following changes have been made to its Podcasts app:
- Significant improvements to performance and stability
- Podcasts in your library now show the number of unplayed episodes
- Top Stations now show the podcast title if artwork is missing
- Playback speed is now remembered when playing the next episode
- Fix for a problem where the Subscribe button is inactive
- Resolution of an issue where Top Stations artwork may not appear
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Avid have posted a knowledge base article on Pro Tools compatibility with Apple’s OS X Mountain Lion. While the article talks about Gatekeeper, it doesn’t say that Pro Tools will not work with the new operating system.
I’ll be installing Pro Tools on Retina MacBook this weekend to see how it works.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Todd Bishop:
Apple sold 1.3 million Apple TV devices during the June quarter, an increase of 170 percent over the same quarter a year ago.That still qualifies as a “hobby,” according to Apple CEO Tim Cook, who disclosed the number in response to an analyst’s question on the company’s earnings conference call. But here’s an interesting data point: Microsoft sold 1.1 million Xbox 360s worldwide during the same time period.
Doesn’t mean anything, but still interesting.
Written by Peter Cohen
Jason Schwartz for Boston magazine:
Back at the softball field in Dracut, Schilling is still having trouble fathoming what happened. “I’ll find myself in the middle of the day, just aching,” he says. He concedes that he’d promised his employees 60 days’ warning if the money ever looked like it was going to run out, but argues that the situation was moving too fast for him to keep sending updates. “It wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell anyone,” he says, “it’s I didn’t know what to say.”
If you read one article about the massive implosion of “Kingdoms of Amalur” video game maker 38 Studios – founded by former Major League Baseball pitcher Curt Schilling – let it be this one. It’s an incredibly in depth look at the company’s rise and fall, and the dangers that celebrity hubris bring to such an enterprise.
If you use iPhoto or Aperture and you’ve made the migration to Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8), make sure to fire up the Software Update system preference or get over to the Apple Web site to download the latest patches. Aperture 3.3.2 and iPhoto 9.3.2 are now in circulation.
Aperture 3.3.2 makes some other changes, according to Apple:
- Addresses issues that could affect performance when entering and exiting Full Screen mode
- Auto White Balance can now correct color using Skin Tone mode, even when Faces is disabled
- Projects and albums in the Library Inspector can now be sorted by date in addition to name and kind
- Includes performance and stability improvements
iPhoto also gets a few tweaks under the hood. In addition to the requisite “performance and stability improvements,” it adds Messages and Twitter to sharing options.
Written by Peter Cohen
Tim Kiladze for the Globe and Mail:
Right after Apple Inc. announced its profits on Tuesday, the first news reports all fixated on just how badly the tech giant missed earnings estimates of $10.37 (U.S.) per share. The main message: this was horrible news. … Analysts shouldn’t be paid to tell us where they think earnings will come in. They should be able to coherently explain what the earnings mean and what to watch out for. They’re in the business of analysis, after all.
Kiladze nails it. After last night’s earnings report, in which Apple exceeded its previous guidance for the quarter, financial reporters quickly noted that Apple missed analyst expectations. But analysts are consistently wrong about Apple’s earnings, so why do we put any stock in these people’s guesses at all?
Mac security software firm Intego claims to have isolated a new Apple malware called OSX/Crisis. Describing OSX/Crisis as a “Trojan dropper,” Intego says the malware installs without any user interaction, and will attempt to hide itself on systems with root access.
The malware is designed to work with Snow Leopard and Lion, according to Intego, and it “calls home” to a specific IP address every five minutes to await further instructions. Intego also suggests that OSX/Crisis has been crafted in such a way “to make reverse engineering tools more difficult when analyzing the file,” a technique common in Windows malware but uncommon in Mac malware.
The company indicates that they haven’t seen OSX/Crisis “in the wild.” The company has updated its VirusBarrier X6 software to detect and remove the OSX/Crisis malware, however. Users should update their definitions file to the latest version to make sure they’re covered.
I flew to New York last week to meet with Apple executives and talk about Mountain Lion, the company’s next major version of OS X. I also picked up the final version of the operating system before it was released to the public and have been using it on a Retina MacBook Pro, doing my final evaluations.
There will be tens of thousands of words published on Wednesday when Mountain Lion hits the Mac App Store [Editor’s Note: It’s now available], but let’s face it, what you really want to know is whether Mountain Lion is worth the upgrade. Let’s get that out of the way now — yes, it is definitely worth it.
Mountain Lion costs $19.99 and comes with more than 200 new features — that’s a bargain at twice the price.
The new features aren’t just eye candy that you’ll use once or twice and then forget, either. Gatekeeper, AirPlay Mirroring, Facebook and Twitter integration, Power Nap and Notification Center all make Mountain Lion the easiest, most secure and most efficient operating system that Apple has ever released.
One thing that many people have been confused about since Mountain Lion was first introduced is its association with iOS. Is Mountain Lion becoming more like iOS? I asked Apple that question and the answer was “no.”
Apple said that it is optimizing each of its operating systems for the device it’s intended to be used on. iOS for the mobile devices and OS X for the desktop and notebook computers.
This does, however, allow the company to utilize one of its most powerful tools — iCloud. The integration with iCloud is my favorite feature of all. In fact, I would say it is the single most important reason I like Mountain Lion so much.
With iCloud on Mountain Lion and iOS, you can share all of your most important information, including calendars, contacts, bookmarks and email, but you can do so much more.
Documents in the Cloud allows you to share, edit and save Pages, Numbers and Keynote documents from any Apple device. In fact, when you go to open a document with the new version of iWork, it will default to iCloud and not to your Mac’s local directory. By using iCloud in this way, you can also access your documents from your iPad and iPhone as well.
Changes made to those documents are automatically synced to the cloud, even if you don’t save them manually. It’s interesting to watch a document open on your iPad while being edited from your Mac — within seconds, of changes being made on the Mac, the iPad document updates live.
Even simple things are better with iCloud integration. I don’t think I’ve ever used Notes on my Mac, but with Notes being shared from iOS to my Mac, I’m using it all the time now. I used to email myself song ideas when I would think of them, but they get lost quickly in mounds of email I get. With Notes, I just jot down the idea on my iPhone and it immediately syncs with my Mac and iPad.
Things like that just make everything easier.
Mountain Lion is also very clear on what it is sharing and notifying the user of changes. Take the Facebook integration, which will be available in Mountain Lion later this year, as an example.
After you sign-in to Facebook, you will notice that your contacts will be integrated with their Facebook information. The Facebook integration doesn’t mean you are automatically singed in to Facebook on the Web — that is completely different than the system level integration that Mountain Lion is using.
I’ve been using Mountain Lion since February when I first met with Apple to get a look at the new operating system. The operating system is stable, secure and it has made my working and personal computing life much better.
You can’t ask for much more from your next operating system. At $19.99 it’s a steal.
July 24, 2012
From Apple’s third-quarter results statement:
“We’re thrilled with record sales of 17 million iPads in the June quarter,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve also just updated the entire MacBook line, will release Mountain Lion tomorrow and will be launching iOS 6 this Fall. We are also really looking forward to the amazing new products we’ve got in the pipeline.”
So there you have it, folks. Mountain Lion is due tomorrow, July 25th. Apple staged a similar release schedule last year with Lion (the day after Apple’s third-quarter earnings announcement).
Apple on Tuesday reported a quarterly profit of $8.8 billion profit on $35 billion in revenue.
According to Apple, the company sold 26.0 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 28 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. It also sold 17.0 million iPads during the quarter, an 84 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter.
In addition, Apple sold 4.0 million Macs during the quarter, a two percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter and Apple sold 6.8 million iPods, a 10 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.
