October 7, 2011
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Bleeding Cool:
Last week, Bleeding Cool reported on DC Comics’ plans to release 100 graphic novels exclusively on the Amazon Kindle Fire.Well now the other shoe has dropped. I understand that Barnes & Noble executives are furious over this, specifically citing DC’s reluctance to release any of their graphic novels on the Nook Color, Barnes & Noble’s own colour E-reading device.
According to the report, Barnes & Noble’s management has instructed their stores to pull the 100 graphic novels that are to be published on Kindle Fire, so customers will still be able to get trades and other products that don’t appear on the new Amazon device.
Update: (10/8/11, 11:40 AM ET)
CNN reports that the move is indeed being made as part of a Barnes & Noble policy against stocking products not available to them digitally:
“Regardless of the publisher, we will not stock physical books in our stores if we are not offered the available digital format,” the company’s chief merchant, Jaime Carey, said in a written statement. “To sell and promote the physical book in our store showrooms and not have the e-book available for sale would undermine our promise to Barnes & Noble customers to make available any book, anywhere, anytime.”
October 6, 2011
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Enjoy Twitter while on a walk, stuck in traffic, in the kitchen, or on the go. Tweet Speaker lets you listen to news, sports, humor, and the musings of interesting people on Twitter — a sort of live podcast of your Tweets.
Another great app from the guys at App Cubby. It’s $2.99 on the App Store.
As you can imagine things have been pretty busy this week, so I’m just getting caught up on all the stupid that went on during the release of the iPhone 4S. One piece in particular from the LA Times caught my eye.
Normally, I may just link to the stupid article, but this one deserves a bit more attention. The article starts with a statement that sets the tone of what you can expect throughout the story.
Apple began its new era with a creation unlike anything it had produced in years: disappointment.
The only way you can characterize the iPhone 4S as a disappointment is if you believed all of the bullshit rumors that have been floating around the Internet for the past few months. That being the case, your readers should be disappointed with you for even suggesting this.
Clearly, you’re upset that it wasn’t an iPhone 5, but Apple never said it would be an iPhone 5. Perhaps you should show some disappointment in the rumors sites instead.
Alex Spektor, a wireless analyst at Strategy Analytics: By choosing not to call the device the iPhone 5, he said, “Apple is admitting that it’s basically the same phone but with some souped-up specifications.”
Wait a minute. Having a larger hard drive maybe be considered “souped-up” specs, but we’re talking about a phone that can intelligently switch antennas to make the call quality better. That’s not just a spec, that’s ground-breaking technology.
And the A5 chip is not just souped-up, this is a new processor that is twice as fast as the predecessor and has graphics that are seven times as fast as before.
This gives Apple and third-party developers the opportunity to make better apps to be sold on this little thing called the App Store. Maybe you’ve heard of it?
Unlike Jobs, who tended to stay on the stage for most of a product unveiling…
Now you’re just trying to piss me off. Have you been to any of Jobs’ keynotes in the past couple of years? Tim Cook followed the exact same format that Steve did. Let the executives in charge of the technologies being demoed, talk about them.
“They are satisfying the broadening demand of the market,” said Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research. “It’s a good strategy on Apple’s part.”
Finally.
One of the day’s minor flourishes was Apple’s announcement of its new “Cards” application…
So, to make your point, you choose one of the cool little apps that Apple introduced. A fun app, that is in itself something that nobody else is doing.
If you are going to choose an app, why not choose Reminders? Then you could mention that it integrates with Siri, Apple’s voice assistant to set up location reminders around the places you visit.
While the LA Times did mention Siri, it focused on the simpler functions of the technology, but completely ignored the fact that it understands the context of what you are asking it.
I guess that wouldn’t have supported the outcome of the article.
Steve Jobs meant a lot of things to different people. I thought I’d relay a simple story about the first time I met Steve.
It was about 10 years ago at the Palo Alto, Calif. Apple store that I first met him. I was attending an event at the store and thought I might get a chance to see him there.
Colin Crawford, then CEO of Macworld, told me to come with him. He said he was going to introduce me to Steve Jobs. I don’t mind saying I was scared. I remember that fear vividly, even today.
When Colin introduced me to Steve, he looked at me and said, “I know you, I read your stories all the time.”
I shook Steve’s hand, said “thank you,” and walked away.
I suppose I could have tried to stay and have a conversation with him, but I had everything that I could have ever hoped for. The only thing I could have done at that point was fumble over my words and ruin a great moment.
Steve strove for excellence with everything he did at Apple. He made me want to be a better at my craft as a writer. I still strive to be best I can.
Thanks Steve. Goodbye.
Simon & Schuster has accelerated its release of the Walter Isaacson-penned eponymous biography of Steve Jobs. The book was originally anticipated for a November 21, 2011 release but is now coming on October 24, instead.
While much has been written about Jobs over the years, Isaacson’s biography includes extensive interviews with Jobs, who agreed to discuss his life with the famed author and journalist after he was diagnosed with cancer.
Isaacson is president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a Washington D.C.-based educational and policy studies organization, and has been chairman and CEO of CNN and managing editor of Time. His works include biographies on Benjamin Franklin, Henry Kissinger and Albert Einstein.
The book is already available for pre-order on Amazon.com, where it has captured the number one spot in the day since Jobs’ death. The hardcover release is priced at $35 and comes in at 656 pages, according to information on Simon & Schuster’s Web site.
Game developer Telltale Games, makers of Jurassic Park, Sam & Max, Back to the Future and Tales of Monkey Island games, announced Wednesday that the iPad is its fastest growing platform. The company has already released 18 games and plans to offer 30 new games for iOS before the end of the year.
Telltale co-founder and CEO Dan Connors said in a statement that Telltale expects “that trend to continue for the foreseeable future.” The iPad is ideal for the type of game that Telltale creates, he said. The company specializes in the development of “episodic” casual games. In addition to iOS, Telltale makes games for all three major consoles, PC and Macintosh.
Telltale announced plans to release Sam & Max Beyond Time & Space, the first cases of a new game series based on the popular television crime procedural Law & Order, and “a soon to be announced game series,” all planned for iOS.
The last few months have been hugely trying for CCP Games, makers of the massively multiplayer online game EVE Online. The rollout of the game’s most recent major expansion, was met with a huge pushback from the player community, who voiced a long list of complaints. CCP CEO Hilmar Petursson has posted A letter to the followers of EVE to apologize for the debacle.
At several points Petursson reiterates his responsibility for the failures of the company as a whole, explaining that past successes gave him too much hubris and blinded him to some very real problems.
Among the list of issues Petursson apologized for is the implementation of “Captain’s Quarters,” which takes players out of their spaceships for the first time but doesn’t provide them with “establishments and meaningful activities to engage in.”
“We would have been much better off positioning Incarna as an optional technology preview that interested players could have experienced and helped us to refine,” Petursson said, adding later that “once Incarna hits its stride, EVE will be more personal, and thus more accessible to general audiences,” but that CCP plans to implement those changes “without disrupting the space combat simulator that many of you are, or at least were, very much in love with—and without delaying crucial improvements that this core experience desperately needs.”
Petursson also noted the comparative failure of EVE Online’s virtual goods payment system. “Quite frankly, it was rather pointless to begin with because we did not have a multiuser environment in which players could show off their purchases. It was another feature that we rushed out the door before it was ready,” he said.
CCP stands ready to make positive changes to the system, however – Petursson explained that the payment model for online games has changed, and CCP desperately needs to keep up with the evolution of the business in order to stay competitive.
“From now on, CCP will focus on doing what we say and saying what we do. That is the path to restoring trust and moving forward,” Petursson concluded.
EVE senior producer Arnar Gylafson has outlined CCP’s plans for EVE Online’s winter 2011 expansion, which, while not “set in stone,” is expected to debut before Christmas.
Changes players can expect include hybrid weapons balancing, factional warfare improvements, assault ships, capital ship balancing, new T2 modules, starbase logistics management, new EWAR-drones, T2 rigs manufacturing, and some visual enhancements like ship spinning, new font, more captain’s quarters and time dilation.
This isn’t a final list, Gylafson warned, but he reiterated that the “expansion will be themed around improvements to warfare and PVP (player vs player).”
U.S. cell phone service provider Sprint is accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 4, and says it will begin taking pre-orders for the iPhone 4S on Friday.
The addition of the iPhone to Sprint’s arsenal is certainly good news for the beleaguered carrier, which has lost customers to its rivals despite a steady television ad campaign and the promotion of unlimited calling and data services. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse told attendees at a Goldman Sachs conference in September that the iPhone’s absence was the number one reason why Sprint lost customers.
Sprint is differentiating its entry into the iPhone market by offering customers an unlimited data plan. Neither AT&T nor Verizon offer such plans to new customers anymore. Hesse said that unlimited service is profitable for Sprint, but made that comment before the iPhone – a notoriously bandwidth-intensive device – became available on their network.
Hesse said that if Sprint’s unlimited service plan proved to be unprofitable, they won’t offer it anymore. Given AT&T and Verizon’s lead, it would seem to be more a question of when than if.
Apple announced Sprint as a new iPhone carrier during the introduction of the iPhone 4S on Tuesday. Sprint is now the third major carrier in the U.S. to offer the iPhone 4 (and 4S) to customers, leaving T-Mobile as the sole major carrier which doesn’t offer an iPhone.
A statement posted to the White House blog attributed to President Obama notes the passing of Steve Jobs:
Michelle and I are saddened to learn of the passing of Steve Jobs. Steve was among the greatest of American innovators – brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.By building one of the planet’s most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity. By making computers personal and putting the internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun. And by turning his talents to storytelling, he has brought joy to millions of children and grownups alike. Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was his last. Because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world.The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to Steve’s wife Laurene, his family, and all those who loved him.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
AllThingsD:
“We will be offering the benefit of our unlimited plans that start at just $69.99,” said spokeswoman Michelle Leff Mermelstein. Sprint’s $69.99 plan includes unlimited data and 450 voice minutes as well as unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling. Unlimited calling and data costs $99.99 a month. (Update: Those prices don’t include a $10 per month surcharge for smartphones, so iPhone users will really be paying $79.99 and $109.99 for their unlimited plans)
AT&T and Verizon have both walked away from offering new customers unlimited plans, so this could be a significant strategic advantage for Sprint as it gets the iPhone for the first time with the introduction of the iPhone 4S, due next week.
October 5, 2011
Following the announcement from Apple that Steve Jobs passed away on Wednesday, Jobs’ family offered a statement:
Steve died peacefully today surrounded by his family.In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he cherished his family. We are thankful to the many people who have shared their wishes and prayers during the last year of Steve’s illness; a website will be provided for those who wish to offer tributes and memories.We are grateful for the support and kindness of those who share our feelings for Steve. We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief.
Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs has passed away, Apple confirmed on Wednesday.
Jobs battled pancreatic cancer in 2004 and underwent a liver transplant following a leave of absence in 2009. He took another leave of absence in January, 2011, putting COO Tim Cook in his place temporarily. Steve
stepped down from his position as CEO in late August, recommending Cook as his successor. Cook is now Apple’s CEO.
“Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being,” reads a message posted to the Apple Web site. “Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.”
Apple’s board of directors offered a statement acknowledging Jobs’ passing:
“We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.“Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.“His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.”
Apple directs people interested in sharing memories of Steve to an address: [email protected]
I came to California this week to attend Apple’s iPhone event, but I also stopped by to see the guys at BAMM.TV.
Being a musician and a fan, I was interested in what this new company was doing to help artists and bands gain popularity and momentum in their careers. The quick answer — they’re doing a lot.
The basic story is this: BAMM works with the artist to record HD videos of a few of their songs at no cost to the band. The company then has exclusive worldwide distribution rights for the videos.
Through their partnerships with cable companies and mobile companies like Samsung, users are able to purchase subscriptions and the individual videos.
You might think that the publicity for the bands would be incredible, and it is, but BAMM takes it a step further. BAMM shares any profits with the artist 50/50, so the band gets exposure, but the also get paid.
I’ll have a more in-depth story on BAMM in the coming weeks, but I was so impressed with what I saw, I wanted to let everyone know.
Mark my words, you’ll be hearing a lot from these guys.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Reuters:
Microsoft Corp is considering a bid for Yahoo Inc, resurfacing as a potential buyer after a bitter and unsuccessful fight to take over the Internet company in 2008, sources close to the situation said on Wednesday.
Microsoft is the latest name to be thrown in the hat for a possible Yahoo acquisition. Other companies include Alibaba, DST Global and Providence Equity Partners.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
AllThingsD:
Though it might seem more incremental upgrade than new iPhone, Wall Street analysts say Apple’s iPhone 4S isn’t nearly the disappointment that some claim. And while its unveiling without the simultaneous debut of the iPhone 5 caused investors some knee-jerk dismay, consensus seems to be that it will likely prove another big step forward for the device and the platform on which it runs.
John Paczkowski digs into what analysts actually said about the iPhone 4S yesterday, and while some offer comments to support news coverage expressing disappointment with the lack of a complete case overhaul, more complete commentary from analysts like Mark Moskowitz reveal that even they think the under-the-hood enhancements will be a big deal for Apple customers.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Dean Bubley’s Disruptive Wireless:
What Apple has actually been doing is working on a new hardware platform which will probably endure for several generations of its devices. That has likely taken a *huge* amount of work: chipset and hardware level integration is massively complex and needs lots of fine-tuning.
Some really good insights here about the complexity involved in Apple’s chip engineering, and what’s needed from its suppliers. (Hat tip to Chad Olson.)
Written by Jim Dalrymple
GigaOM:
Samsung revealed on Wednesday that it would try to stop the release of Apple’s new iPhone 4S in France and Italy with filings seeking injunctions on the new smartphone. Samsung’s complaints (via WSJ) will center on two instances of alleged patent infringement related to WCDMA standards for 3G connectivity.
Samsung is unlikely to have caught Apple unaware with this move; chances are that Apple’s legal team already has planned a counterstrategy.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
ZDNet:
You might have noticed in the run up to the new iPhone release (which turned out to be the iPhone 4S and not the iPhone 5) that certain tech outlets spent a lot of time telling you what Apple’s next iPhone was going to be like.Turns out only Apple knew what the next iPhone was going to look like.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes spends the next several paragraphs rounding up some of the biggest howlers posted in advance of yesterday’s announcement, including that Sprint was going to get an iPhone 5 exclusive, that Apple planned to release two phones, Facebook iPad app launch and more.
October 4, 2011
After introducing the iPhone 4S on Tuesday, many of Apple’s Web sites around the world updated with information about Siri, Apple’s new voice assistant technology. One that was missing was Canada.
Many have become concerned that Siri will not be available in Canada, but it will. I’ve confirmed with Apple that Canadian users will be able to turn on Siri on their phones.
Siri is localized in US, UK and Australia, French and German. The company didn’t specifically use Canadian in the technology, but it worked just fine for me.
I used Siri on an iPhone 4S for a little while this morning using the US version and it understood all of my commands, so Canadians shouldn’t have a problem when it’s released.
If you’re in the US and you use Verizon or AT&T for your cell phone carrier, you may be wondering if you’re eligible for an upgrade and how much it will cost to get a shiny new iPhone 4. Apple can help you out – they’ve posted a Web page to help you check.
Right now the page checks your account status on AT&T or Verizon, depending on your carrier, but Apple notes that Sprint is coming soon.
Interestingly, Apple’s beaten AT&T to the punch – we tried to check on AT&T’s Web site earlier today but couldn’t get any information about the iPhone 4S.
By now you’ve probably read coverage of Tuesday’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” event at Apple’s Cupertino campus, where Tim Cook and company took the wraps off of the new iPhone 4S, refreshed iPod touch and iPod nano models, and put a release date (next Wednesday) on iOS 5 and iCloud.
But now you can
view it for yourself. Apple has posted a link on its Web site that lets you view a replay of the keynote – featuring Tim Cook on stage as Apple’s permanent CEO for the first time. The 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.
Apple on Tuesday introduced updated iPod touch and iPod nano models. The iPod touch now starts at $199, while the iPod nano costs $129.
The new iPod touch, which ships on October 12, 2011. It comes in 8GB, 32GB and 64GB models for $199, $299 and $399 respectively. It comes in either white or black, like the iPhone 4S.
While the color is the only noteworthy external change, the iPod touch is different under the hood. It comes pre-installed with iOS 5, which Apple counts as having more than 200 improvements. iPod touch supports iMessage, new Notification Center, Game Center improvements, Wi-Fi Syncing and all the other enhancements available in iOS 5, which will also be released as a free update for all eligible users on Wednesday.
The iPod nano has new, larger icons for easier navigation. Apple has acknowledged that many users of the previous iPod nano use the device as a watch; the refreshed model has 16 new digital clock faces, including an analog design that makes it look like a Mickey or Minnie Mouse watch. The iPod nano now tracks your runs and walks without requiring a separate sensor, and comes in seven colors – silver, graphite, blue, green, orange, pink and red (part of the PRODUCT (RED) charity program).
The company also indicated, contrary to media reports, that the click-wheel iPod classic remains available. The click-wheel iPod costs $249 and comes in one model – a silver 160GB unit. The shuffle remains part of the lineup as well, available in a 2GB version in five different colors, each for $49.
Apple on Tuesday announced that iOS 5 and its new iCloud service will both be available on Wednesday, October 12, 2011. iOS 5 is a free update for all eligible iOS devices and iCloud is also free, though Apple offers subscription tiers for users who require extra storage space.
iOS 5
Apple counts more than 200 new features in iOS 5. Among them are iMessage, an integrated text messaging service that lets you send text, videos, photos locations and contacts; Notification Center, a reworked notification system that helps you keep track of all app notifications in one place.
Newsstand organizes newspaper and magazine subscriptions much in the same way that iBooks keep tracks of e-books, and automatically downloads new issues in the background. A new Reminders feature lets you organize to-do lists that can be date or location-bound.
Twitter, the popular microblogging service, has been integrated into iOS 5, so you can now tweet directly from Safari, Photos, Camera, YouTube or Maps. Contacts now applies your friends’ Twitter handles and profile pictures, and iOS 5 can also add locations to tweets.
iOS 5 improves photo management with support for cropping, rotation, built-in enhancements and red-eye removal. Safari now supports tabbed browsing, adds a Reading List feature for later reading, blocks ads, and improves performance.
Wi-Fi Sync is another key feature of iOS 5 – it enables you to synchronize iOS device content with a Mac or PC over a shared Wi-Fi connection. Each time you connect your iOS device to a power source, it automatically syncs and backs up content to iTunes.
Mail, Calendar, Game Center and other aspects of iOS have gotten overhauls, too.
iOS 5 will be available for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad and iPod touch (third and fourth generation) models. It’ll also come preinstalled on the iPhone 4S, which will be released on Friday, October 14, 2011.
iCloud
iCloud is a suite of interconnected cloud-based services that include iTunes in the Cloud, Photo Stream and Documents in the Cloud. They’re designed to help Mac and PC users automatically and wirelessly share and store content with iOS devices including the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
iTunes in the Cloud lets you automatically download new music to all your devices without having to manually sync them to a computer. You can download music and TV shows, including previously purchased content.
iTunes in the Cloud is free, but another music-related cloud service, iTunes Match, will set you back $24.99 per year. The software scans the content of your music library and matches it to the music available on the iTunes Store. Music that doesn’t match is automatically uploaded, so you can play any of your music on any of your iOS devices.
Photo Stream makes it possible to take a photo on one device and have it automatically appear on other devices; a photo taken from your iPhone is sent to iCloud, distributed to your computer and other iOS devices, or shared on your Apple TV using a Photo Stream album. It will show your last 1,000 photos, and pushes copies of photos you’ve imported from a digital camera over Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
Documents in the Cloud helps keep iWork documents (Pages, Keynote and Numbers) in sync across devices. Apple is offering up the Application Programming Interface (API) to third-party developers to encourage support in their own applications. And iCloud Backup securely backs up content daily over Wi-Fi, whenever your iOS device is connected to a power source.
Find My Friends is a new app you’ll be able to download for free form the App Store that will let you share your location with select groups of people – friends and family with access to the info can see where you are; you get notifications when you get new friend requests. It also supports parental controls, so parents can keep an eye on wayward children (and limit their usage of Find My Friends).
iCloud is free, but only comes with 5GB of storage. 10GB, 20GB and 50GB storage upgrades are available for $20, $40 or $100 per year respectively.
I just spent about 30 minutes with Apple’s iPhone 4S and thought I’d give you my initial thoughts.
First the iPhone 4S is exactly the same size as the existing iPhone 4. I laid my iPhone on top of the iPhone 4S and there were no discernible changes to the design.
Even the rounded corners of the device were the same. Length, width and height all seem to be identical on the devices.
What is a bit different are the number of black bands that are on the iPhones. The current model has three bands — one on each side on the bottom, and one on the top. The iPhone 4S has four bands — two on the top and two on the bottom.
The bands are where Apple houses the antennas for the device. The Wi-Fi, wireless and Bluetooth technologies use these areas. It’s not clear at this point if Apple moved any antennas or what they added the extra band.
The real big difference with the iPhone 4S is with its processing power. Of course, having the A5 processor is huge, because it can easily handle Apple’s more advanced technology like its voice assistant, Siri.
The increased processing power also allows developers to continue to push the envelope on the complexity of apps that are built for gaming, productivity and other applications.
Overall, the power of the iPhone 4S is impressive. Being able to use apps like Siri will be fun, but we’ll have to wait to see what coverage and call quality are like.
Apple on Tuesday introduced the iPhone 4S. The new phone comes out on Friday, October 14, 2011 and will be available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models. Carrier-subsidized prices in the US are $199, $299 and $399 respectively. It comes in black or white.
While externally similar to the iPhone 4, the iPhone 4S features a dual-core A5 microprocessor inside, the same kind used in the iPad 2. This nets a 7x speed improvement to graphics and a 2x overall speed improvement to CPU-dependent tasks, according to Apple. The battery lasts for up to eight hours of talk time on a 3G network.
One of the major new enhancements capable with the iPhone 4S’s improved processor performance is Siri, a built-in “intelligent assistant” that can respond to you when you ask the phone questions or give it commands, such as locating a restaurant, getting weather reports or directions, or making an appointment. It can also help send text messages, perform complex calculations and more.
A dramatically improved camera takes 8 megapixel still images and records 1080p HD video with image stabilization. Apple says the camera features a hybrid infrared filter and an effective f/2.4 aperture, making it better suited to take pictures in low light. It also takes pictures faster, and has a shot-to-shot capability twice as fast as its predecessor.
The steel band antenna surrounding the phone uses what Apple describes as an “intelligently switching” design to send and receive data and voice communications; likely redesigned in the wake of the iPhone 4’s apparent antenna-related issues. It also comes as a “world phone,” able to operate on both GSM and CDMA bands. The iPhone 4S can also download data on HSDPA networks at up to 14.4 megabits per second – twice as fast as the iPhone 4, though still short of the speeds of LTE networks currently in early deployment by Verizon and AT&T.
The iPhone 4S is the first iPhone to feature iOS 5 out of the box. Apple counts over 200 improvements in iOS 5, including Notification Center and iMessage, a new integrated messaging service. iOS 5 also supports iCloud, Apple’s new cloud-based services to replace most of what it has offered with MobileMe.
In related news, Apple announced that the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 remain available for sale after the iPhone 4S’s launch. The iPhone 3GS will now become available for free with a two-year contract, while the iPhone 4 will be relegated to a single 8GB model for $99 with a two-year contract.
Apple has also announced that with the iPhone 4S’s launch, the U.S. cell carrier Sprint will now carry the phone.
We are live at the event. (more…)
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Reuters:
Apple Inc rejected an offer from Samsung Electronics Co to settle their tablet computer dispute in Australia, possibly killing off the commercial viability of the South Korean firm’s new Galaxy tablet in that market.
Last week Samsung agreed to withdraw features from the Galaxy 10.1, but that isn’t enough for Apple, which claims that Samsung “slavishly” copied features from the iPhone and iPad for its own Galaxy devices. Apple, which has already received injunctions in European courts to prevent Samsung from selling its devices there, thinks it’ll fare better in front of a judge. Samsung, for its part, says it’s make or break time – the company suggested that if it can’t work out an arrangement to get the Galaxy Tab 10.1 on the market soon, the product will be “commercial dead” anyway.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
WinRumors:
Microsoft has officially confirmed the death of its Zune player devices.The software giant removed references to the Zune HD from its Zune site on Monday and later claimed that the removal was “a mistake.” It appears that the reference removals may have been planned for later but were mistakenly pushed early. A new support article on Microsoft’s Zune support pages makes it very clear…
The writing has been on the wall for months, so no one should be surprised by this. Microsoft never got the traction with Zune that it hoped for and expected. Why? Well, it just didn’t have a very good product. Now even Apple’s stranglehold on the MP3 player market is diminishing as fewer customers buy devices specifically designed to play music, instead opting for fully-featured devices with more capabilities.
October 3, 2011
Written by Jim Dalrymple
The Mac mini is too small.
The Mac mini is going to be killed by Apple.
The Mac mini isn’t meant to be a server.
Seven years and thousands of Mac minis later, Macminicolo remains the original and largest Mac mini hosting company. The Mac mini “has become Apple’s most popular server system.”
Readers of The Loop can signup for a six month Ultimate Trial for just $10/mo. Come see what a Mac mini can do. Signup here
