Google CEO Larry Page announced yesterday that Google+ now boasts more than 90 million users worldwide, more than double the number of users it had in the previous quarter. Page also said that engagement on the social networking site has been “growing tremendously” as “over 60% of [users] engage daily, and over 80% weekly.”Page did not provide data for how many user accounts were actually active, however.
Interesting statistics. How many of you are signed up for Google+ and, more importantly, how many of you use it on a regular (daily) basis?
All Apple is doing with this restriction is saying that if you directly profit from this free tool and platform that we have created, then we deserve our cut. Which seems entirely fair to me.
The range of opinion on Apple’s policies regarding distribution of iBooks Author-created content is fascinating and runs the gamut from fair to “APPLE IS EVIL!!!!”.
The camera is normally a big selling point, but in Singapore Apple’s iPhone 4 and 4S are now available without the function — to cater to military personnel banned from taking image-capturing devices into army camps.Camera phones were banned in the city state’s military installations in 2007 after photos of sensitive training activities were posted online.Prices listed on M1’s website showed that adapted versions of the iPhone cost Sg$49 ($38) more.
It’s probably just a matter of time before this model is widely available for other military and business customers.
One of the highest profile digital textbook startups is Kno, which started out with its own oversized tablet but now focusses on delivering textbooks through its iPad app.On the surface, things don’t look so great for Kno, but CEO Osman Rashid is nonplussed: “We love the fact that so much light has been put on digital textbooks. Now we will fight on who has the better product, more interactive features, and a bigger catalog.”
It may be just the Kno CEO “whistling past the graveyard” but Kno has its work cut out for it for mindshare if not actual market share. As usual, time will tell.
For guitar players, keeping the guitar in tune during a performance was nearly impossible, until now. I stopped by the EverTune booth today at the NAMM show and really couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
EverTune inventer Cosmos Lyles showed me the unit installed on a Gibson Les Paul and another on a Fender Telecaster. It basically replaces the bridge of the guitar with a specially designed EverTune unit.
Lyles claimed that the EverTune bridge would keep the guitar in tune regardless of what happened when playing. I took him up on the challenge, plucked the low E and then grabbed the tuning peg and turned it. Believe it or not, the guitar stayed in tune.
Lyles said the EverTune worked by keeping a constant tension on the string. If you want to adjust the tuning, you do it from the bridge, much the same way you would tune a guitar with a Floyd Rose on it.
All this time we’ve been waiting for technology to be the tuning savior, but it’s springs, physics and math that ended up doing it.
Anyone can create a book for iBooks with Apple releasing the iBooks Author app in the Mac Store. It uses simple drag and drop features with Word files and images so that everything is done for you. Since iBooks Author requires you to have OS X Lion installed, it makes it difficult for those of us who have not upgraded from Snow Leopard yet.Here is how you can get around that and install iBooks Author on Snow Leopard.
I pressed the companies on whether or not technology manufacturers were simply producing too many gadgets, outpacing real consumer demand with iterative, insubstantial changes. “Are we creating demand where there isn’t any?” I asked.
He makes an interesting point. One of the issues we hear all the time about CES is that there is just “too much”. Too much of everything. As Topolsky says, “For a journalist, it’s daunting — for shoppers, it’s starting to seem impossible.”
Apple’s education event in New York on Thursday revealed the company’s plans to change the way textbooks are used by students in both K-12 and college environments using iPads. But is Apple overstepping its bounds? iPads in schools are still the exception, not the rule. Apple thinks the iPad offers a compelling enough learning opportunity to overcome bureaucratic adoption hurdles.
McGraw-Hill normally sells high school textbooks for $75 a pop. Now it says it will sell electronic versions of the same books, via Apple, for $15 apiece. How can the publisher make that work?“Volume,” says McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw, which is the usual answer for this kind of digital question.
Toronto lawyer Michael Deverett bought a MacBook Pro, an iPod Touch, cables and programs for $2,248.53 at the Apple store in the Yorkdale Mall.He didn’t notice anyone following him…to his car. He didn’t notice anyone following him on the drive home or pulling up near him when he stopped at a convenience store to buy a soft drink for his daughter.In the two minutes it took Deverett to buy a drink, thieves smashed a hole in the rear window of his car and made off with his Apple purchases.Deverett sued Apple, claiming that…Apple had a duty of care to warn store customers of the danger.
Deverett eventually settled with Apple for full replacement costs and legal fees. “Apple Canada does not owe a duty of care to customers once they have left its retail store,”’ according to the statement filed by Apple Canada in the Deverett lawsuit.
Thomas Lane for Talking Points Memo, quoting from a statement from Sen. Harry Reid:
“In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday’s vote on the PROTECT I.P. Act.
Reid says he’s “optimistic that we can reach a compromise in the coming weeks,” but has taken PIPA off the table for now until that compromise can be reached.
As websites including Wikipedia shut down and millions of Americans complained to lawmakers about the potential for government censorship, Chinese netizens spoke admiringly of the public rebellion. Such a display in China would be nearly impossible right now, given Beijing’s tight grip on citizens’ online activities.
An important contrast that conscientious American citizens should bear in mind, always. It’s one thing to say your government is censorious. It’s another thing entirely to actually live under such an oppressive regime, and it must make us that much more vigilant to protect our rights.
“… the government asserts that Megaupload merely wanted the veneer of legitimacy, while its employees knew full well that the site’s main use was to distribute infringing content. Indeed, the government points to numerous internal e-mails and chat logs from employees showing that they were aware of copyrighted material on the site and even shared it with each other.”
Megaupload’s takedown raised eyebrows, coming so soon after SOPA’s supporters beat a hasty retreat following the protests earlier this week. Anderson paints a picture that clearly defines Megaupload as a harbor for pirate activity, but also scratches his head at some of the stranger points of the indictment.
We have a few sponsorship slots open for February and March. If you want to get your product in front of The Loop’s extremely good looking readers, drop me a line. Your sponsorship is exclusive for the week and will be sent out through the RSS and Twitter, as well as a link on the Web site. You can get more details on the Sponsorship page.
The latest addition to the Symphony I/O module line-up, the 16×16 Analog I/O Module allows you to pack 32 channels of premium Apogee conversion into one Symphony I/O (two module spaces per chassis).
I haven’t seen this one yet, but I’m going to try to stop over this afternoon.
China Unicom, the country’s second-largest telecom operator by subscriber numbers, said it has large stocks of Apple Inc’s iPhone 4S handsets available for purchase.That’s despite Apple’s Chinese stores halting supplies of the device and scalpers charging a markup of as much as 1,000 yuan ($158) for each handset.Apple announced on Friday that the iPhone 4S will not be available in stores in Beijing and Shanghai “for the time being”, after angry shoppers pelted the company’s store in the capital’s upmarket Sanlitun area with eggs and quarrels broke out between scalpers and security guards.
Apollo is the first professional, high-resolution computer audio interface that delivers the sound and feel of analog recording. This FireWire 800 / Thunderbolt ready interface combines genuine UA analog design with class-leading sound quality and onboard Realtime UAD Plug-In Processing — giving music producers classic analog tones from Neve, Studer, Manley, Lexicon and more.
I just got back from the UA and this unit looks really nice. It has 18 in x 24 out and works with all major DAWs. It will be available in March.
I spent my first full day of the NAMM music show with friends from Fender at the company’s new visitor center and custom shop in California.
According to Fender, the factory employees about 700 people — there are two shifts running 16 hours per day building guitars. The company produces about 540 guitars each day — 500 factory guitars and about 40 from the Custom Shop.
Fender representatives said each guitar goes through about 250 steps to complete. That takes it from a block of wood to a guitar that is ready to be shipped to a customer.
Apple just posted the streaming video file of the video from today’s Apple Special Event in New York City. Streaming video requires Safari 4 or 5 on Mac OS X Snow Leopard or Lion, Safari on iOS 3 or later, or QuickTime 7 on Windows.
THR is designed to fit where, when, and how you play when you’re not on stage. With big amp response, incredible effects, and hi-fi stereo sound in a package that’s built to meet all of your off-stage needs, you’re about to begin a new chapter in your playing.
They demoed this for me this morning and it had a great sound. I want one of these.
The Loop liveblogged Apple’s education event, where Apple has introduced iBooks textbooks, iBooks Author, a creation app, and the new iTunes U app. Please read on for details.
AmpKit LiNK HD is based on USB digital audio technology, providing high fidelity while eliminating crosstalk and feedback. It’s perfect for AmpKit’s authentic high gain amps.
Some nice features on the LiNK HD. AmpKit is my goto amp software on the iPhone and iPad, so I’ll be interested to see how this interface does. I’m expecting good things though.
AT&T will hike data rates by $5 on all new subscribers:
As the AT&T network gets even faster with 4G LTE deployment – up to 10 times faster than 3G – and devices and applications become even more sophisticated, it’s clear that data usage will surge even more.Taking all of this into account – and our ongoing commitment to deliver value to our customers – we’re launching new smartphone and tablet data plans on Sunday, Jan. 22. The new plans give customers more data for more value. Existing customers will be able to keep their current plans but can also choose from one of the new plans.
AT&T’s previous $15 plan will cost $20 (data allocation goes up to 300MB), the former $25 plan is now $30/3GB and the $45 plan is now $50/5GB.
Gleb Polyakov and Igor Zamlinsky are Kickstarting this project:
We’re making a commercial-quality espresso machine at a consumer-friendly price. There are basically two kinds of home espresso machines on the market today. The affordable models have no good mechanism of temperature or pressure control. These machines can’t pull consistent shots.But we’re engineers, and we knew that we could design a machine that was just as good as the expensive models – for less. And because we’re coffee enthusiasts ourselves, we kept the consumer experience in mind, and included features that we ourselves lusted after in an affordable machine.No other machine at this price point offers high-end quality, PID-controlled customizable temperature and pressure, pre-infusion, or shot-time settings – we do.
Coffee is important – don’t argue. Good coffee is great and great coffee can be sublime. This Kickstarter espresso machine project is already fully funded at over $330,000 and makes me wish I had gotten in on the ground floor and wish I had $300. It’s a coffee machine by geeks for geeks!
I used to think that technology could help education. I’ve probably spearheaded giving away more computer equipment to schools than anybody else on the planet. But I’ve had to come to the inevitable conclusion that the problem is not one that technology can hope to solve. What’s wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology. No amount of technology will make a dent.It’s a political problem. The problems are sociopolitical. The problems are unions. You plot the growth of the NEA [National Education Association] and the dropping of SAT scores, and they’re inversely proportional. The problems are unions in the schools. The problem is bureaucracy.
Granting the quote is from 1996 and many things have changed since then, it still might be interesting to keep in mind in light of tomorrow’s Apple (assumed) education announcement in New York City.
Market research firm IHS iSuppli is projecting that in-app purchases will account for 64% of total app market revenue by 2015, up from 39% in 2011. These percentages reflect the total from both iOS and Android smartphones. In-app purchases already represent 45% of iOS app revenue and 31% of the highest-earning Android apps.
I often take iSuppli figures with a grain of salt, but there’s no question that iPhone and other smartphone users overwhelmingly prefer free apps when they can get them. It’s a trend that has really taken hold in the game market and it’s spreading to other market segments too.
For the future, the question developers will have to answer is, how do I capitalize on this? How do I produce an app that I can release for free, and entice customers to make in-app purchases to help me make a profit?
Fortune has published an excerpt from senior editor-at-large Adam Lashinsky new book, “Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired–and Secretive–Company Really Works”:
Apple employees know something big is afoot when the carpenters appear in their office building. New walls are quickly erected. Doors are added and new security protocols put into place. Windows that once were transparent are now frosted. Other rooms have no windows at all. They are called lockdown rooms: No information goes in or out without a reason.The hubbub is disconcerting for employees. Quite likely you have no idea what is going on, and it’s not like you’re going to ask. If it hasn’t been disclosed to you, then it’s literally none of your business.
Nielsen’s December survey of the U.S. mobile phone market:
According to the latest research from Nielsen, the high-profile launch of Apple’s iPhone 4S in the Fall had an enormous impact on the proportion of smartphone owners who chose an Apple iPhone. Among recent acquirers, meaning those who said they got a new device within the past three months, 44.5 percent of those surveyed in December said they chose an iPhone, compared to just 25.1 percent in October.
This should help drive the numbers for next week’s Apple Earnings Announcement through the roof.
