9to5Mac:
In case there was any question, we’ve heard directly from Apple PR that there won’t be a webcast of Apple’s iPhone launch event.
That shouldn’t matter, because The Loop will be there, and we’ll be covering the event live. Check with us for coverage when the event kicks off Tuesday at 10AM Pacific, 1PM Eastern.
Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch announced at the company’s MAX 2011 conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday that Adobe has acquired Typekit, a subscription-based online font service.
Typekit enables Web designers to legally license and embed typefaces on their Web pages. The service currently counts over 250,000 customers, including major publishers like The New York Times, Condé Nast and IGN.
Adobe said that Typekit will be offered as a standalone service, and will eventually also be offered as part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud service. Creative Cloud is a new Adobe initiative also announced by Lynch at his MAX keynote.
In a blog post, Typekit creator Jeffrey Veen said of Adobe, “There honestly is no better place for us to continue building our platform.”
Music service Rhapsody on Monday announced plans to acquire Napster, most recently owned by Best Buy. Terms of the agreement were not announced, but Rhapsody indicated that Best Buy gets a minority stake in Rhapsody after the deal is done.
Rhapsody and Napster both provide subscription-based on-demand music services. They bill themselves as the two largest such services in the United States. The deal helps bolster Rhapsody against Spotify, the European-based music streaming service which earlier this year began offering access to customers in the US.
“This is a ‘go big or go home’ business, so our focus is on sustainably growing the company,” said Jon Irwin, Rhapsody’s president.
Spotify found itself in the crosshairs recently after the company instituted a policy requiring customers to sign in using Facebook. The policy shift hasn’t hurt Spotify – the company said that two million users have joined on since then, bringing the total user base to more than five million. Those two million new users are using both Spotify’s free and pay services.
The Joy of Tech:
What’s behind a Tim Cook Apple EventGiant clipping robot, (in case Jim Dalrymple’s beard gets rowdy).
Much respect JoT!
Technologizer:
More than thirteen months after we ran that iPadversaries story, I decided it might be instructive (or at least perversely fascinating) to follow up on all 32 machines… Spoiler: If you like happy endings, you should stop reading now.
In retrospect, it’s almost comical how bad some of these products fared in the market. And in some cases, at least, it’s not a matter of a company bringing a lousy product to market, either – marketing missteps and fundamental misunderstands of how consumers use these devices seem to be prevalent themes.
Fortune:
When measured against other smartphone/tablet operating systems, Apple’s (AAPL) iOS accounts for more than half of the visits to its clients’ 40,000 websites around the world. In fact,the 54.65% share that Net Applications recorded for iOS devices in September is an all-time record.
Although the overall global marketshare of Android phones is closing in on 50 percent, it seems that many users don’t use their Android phones to surf the Web. RIM is in the dust, garnering less than 4 percent share.
Bloomberg:
Apple, which will introduce a new iPhone version tomorrow, ships fewer handsets to the world’s second-largest mobile-phone market than it does to Norway. Nokia Oyj and Research In Motion Ltd. sell more devices in India, where smartphone shipments are forecast to grow almost 70 percent a year until 2015, helping mitigate their market-share losses in the U.S. and Europe. Sales for the world’s biggest company by market value are hindered because Indian wireless carriers, which started third- generation networks this year, have yet to offer nationwide services fast enough to take advantage of iPhone features, said Gus Papageorgiou, an analyst at Scotia Capital Inc. in Toronto.
Many in the US are ready to discount Nokia – which is transitioning its product line to Windows Phone 7-based devices – and RIM, but they forget there’s a big chunk of the world where Apple is still a relatively minor player. They do so at their peril. Markets like India are huge, and they’re areas ripe for competition from companies that can offer competitive products at prices local consumers can afford.
I’d like to thank App Cubby for sponsoring this week’s RSS feed on The Loop.
Keep an eye on App Cubby, the best is yet to come.
I posted my review of Avid’s Eleven Rack guitar amp and effects processor back in August, giving users an overview of my thoughts. Since then readers have been writing, asking all kinds of questions.
I’ve taken the most asked questions and my answers below.
No. But you need to understand, I don’t get rid of any piece of gear. I’ve still got pedals from the 80s, and I fire them up once in a while too. For me, gear is like a treasure and I just can’t bring myself to get rid of any of it.
Currently I have 15 guitars, 8 amps, half a dozen pedals, and countless USB and FireWire interfaces. Depending on my mood and the type of music I’m playing, I could break out any combination of those and be perfectly happy.
It’s great in low light situations. The screen is lit, but even better — and in my opinion, more important — the knobs are well lit. This means you can see what level the settings are on from a good distance from the unit. If you need to make a quick adjustment to your amp tone, you can just shuffle over and turn the knob.
Like amp knobs, the Eleven Rack comes with large knobs that are well spaced, so your fingers can grab it and make the adjustment.
I tried the Eleven Rack with a number of guitars. Mostly, a Les Paul with EMG 81/85, Fender Strat, Jackson, and a Taylor SolidBody. Obviously, lots of different types of music in there.
What impressed me the most is that they all sounded like they were supposed to sound. The Eleven Rack didn’t try to make the guitar something it’s not, but rather just let it be what it is.
I’m impressed with the modeling for sure. There are little nuances that you get to know about your amps and how it reacts to different things. Even running your hands over the strings gives you a certain feel on a real amp.
Not every amp is the same, so it would be impossible for the modeling to capture my exact Marshall JCM 800, but I do get that feel from the Eleven Rack. I know when I turn on a preset and it has an 800 amp. That’s pretty impressive.
When I’m in my studio, I tend to put most of the effects on after I record. However, for live situations, I did use the effects on the Eleven Rack and they easily met my expectations.
Avid included some of the classic models of delays and distortion, so you’ll know right away what you’re putting on your tone.
To be honest, the more years that I play, the more I like to find the right amp for the tone instead of piling on effects.
I did everything with it. I had the Eleven Rack plugged into my JCM 800’s front input, I had it going through the effects loop of my 5150, and I had it going straight into my Mackie 1640 and out through the PA speakers.
What was really fun was running the stereo outs to the board and then running one of the Eleven Rack’s amp outs to the 800 or 5150. Now that just lights up your tone.
It takes a little tweaking to get a setup like that sounding just right though. It all depends on your personal tastes, but I liked having the amp drive most of the tone with the PA bringing up some of the undertones.
Not at all. You can use the Eleven Rack interface included in Pro Tools, but you can also do everything you need to on the hardware unit itself. Whatever changes you make on one is reflected in the other.
Text can be resized, selected, bookmarked and shared with social media, and even read aloud by the iPad. Flick through the images in the easy to follow How to section and the steps change automatically and, if you need more help getting started with your iPad, a series of friendly video guides will turn you into an expert in no time.
This is the best implementation of a magazine I’ve seen on the iPad yet.
AppleInsider:
Users used to be able to access a link to “iPod Click Wheel Games” by clicking the drop-down menu on the App Store link in iTunes. But now, that option has disappeared from the menu.
Rumors suggest that Apple is discontinuing the click-wheel iPod Classic. It seems obvious that an iPod touch with similar storage capacity (128GB) will ultimately replace it, though such a device hasn’t shown up in the store yet.
No new software has appeared for the iPod Classic in some time, but I don’t understand why Apple would remove existing apps from the App Store – what harm is there in keeping it on? I still have an iPod Classic that gets use on long road trips – it’s the only thing big enough to support my entire iTunes library. I’ve spoken with other users who still depend on theirs too, so I know they’re in use.
It’s beards, you know it’s going to be funny.
VentureBeat:
A well-placed source tells us that HP is currently looking to rid itself of Palm as soon as possible, and that Amazon is the closest to finalizing the deal, among a handful of contenders.
If true, it means that HP’s new CEO is also ready to give up on any kind of mobile strategy for the company. I still think webOS is a great mobile operating system and in the right hands, it could help pull a company into second place in the tablet market.
David Fickling and Ross Kelly reporting for the Wall Street Journal in Australia:
It wasn’t clear what benefit Apple would gain from any agreement, as details of the proposed deal were not discussed in full in front of the court. But Apple’s attorney, Stephen Burley, conceded there was some potential benefit from an agreement on the matter. “(Samsung’s) inconvenience would be diminished and we would be comforted” by such a deal, he said.
Chris Martucci:
I came across the Monty Hall Problem while reading last night, and initially, I thought the author must have been mistaken. Of course, he made no mistake. He did, however, succeed in proving the common failures of human reasoning.
It’s a brain twister.
Elements is a beautiful, versatile text editor for iOS. Elements allows you to view, edit and share plain text documents on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. All of your data is stored in a folder on your personal Dropbox account so that it’s accessible from any device you have.
I’ve used this since it was first released. Great app.
Reuters reports that Tyler Lessard, RIM’s senior vice-president for global alliances and developer relations, left the company. He’s just the latest in a long line of people that are abandoning RIM.
Mike Kirkup, a director of developer relations, resigned in August. RIM’s head of marketing, Keith Pardy, left in March, just ahead of the PlayBook launch, and two of his staff later exited for jobs with Samsung, a fierce rival whose phones and tablets use Google’s Android.
Google announced to users that it is implementing real-time stats as part of its free analytics offering for web site owners.
Real-time stats i something that many publishers use on a daily, hourly or even by the minute to track how stories are doing on the site. It can tell you instantly what’s working and what’s not and can even alert you when traffic may be getting too large for your server.
According to Google, real-time stats are only available in the new version of Analytics. For now, you can find them in the Dashboard tab, although they will be moving to the home tab next week.
The reports aren’t active for everyone yet, but Google is turning them on over the coming weeks. You can also request early access from the Google Blog.
1UP:
This year’s BlizzCon will again close out with a concert. Two years ago it was Ozzy Osbourne, last year was Tenacious D, and in 2011 attendees will get to rock out to the music of the Foo Fighters.BlizzCon is taking place at the Anaheim Convention Center once again on October 21 and 22. Even with the prices being increased, tickets are already sold out. Those who desperately want to see things for themselves will be able to fork over some cash to watch live coverage on DirecTV or with the web-based BlizzCon Virtual Ticket for $39.99.
In the space of a few short years, BlizzCon has become an absolutely must-attend event for computer gaming enthusiasts. Blizzard certainly knows how to throw a good party, and I’m sure Foo Fighters are going to tear the roof off the place.
Claire Cain Miller reports for the New York Times that Ted Koppel commented that too much news drivel and said it wouldn’t be a bad idea for Google to deliver people the news they need, rather than the news they want. Google CEO Larry Page responded:
“I see this as our responsibility to some extent, trying to improve media,” Mr. Page said. “If you ask anyone about how that information’s going to be propagated, what you’re going to focus on, I think it could work a lot better than it does now.”
Slippery slope folks.
CNBC:
Says talk that its Playbook tablet is being discontinued is “pure fiction” * Says remains highly committed to tablet market and to its QNX operating system.
The message is short but sweet; RIM is trying to counter rumors that surfaced earlier today that the company is walking away from Playbook sales. What is apparent, though, is that the market hasn’t responded very well at all to the device – RIM is sitting on a huge stockpile of unsold Playbooks and is scrambling to figure out how to make customers buy them.
Smashing Magazine:
Due to the growing popularity of iterative product development, the spoken word has become an integral part of the design process. The shift in focus from documentation to collaboration has put greater emphasis on communication. Now more than ever, there is a need to articulate a design “voice” during the early stages of conversation about a product, and to maintain it throughout the process
Some good tips.
These are the most anticipated games of 2011, put together by market research firm Nielsen.
Mac Rumors:
Japanese blog Macotakara reports (via MacPost) that a China Unicom executive apparently confirmed during a presentation at this week’s Macworld Asia that the “iPhone 5” set to be announced next week will indeed support HSPA+ sometimes-called “4G” technology, offering a maximum theoretical data speed of 21 Mbps (up from 7.2Mbps). A slide showing the information was photographed by Japanese site PC Watch.
That’s quite a slide for China Unicom to show a week before Apple’s launch.
BGR.com:
Research In Motion has reportedly stopped production of its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and is considering exiting the space altogether. Collins Stewart analyst John Vinh made the claims in a note to investors Thursday morning, citing anonymous sources at RIM’s manufacturing partner Quanta.
RIM only shipped 500,000 PlayBooks in the first quarter of availability and 200,000 in the second quarter. It’s been a disaster for RIM.
Nokia says it part of its plan to “align its workforce and operations.”
Reuters:
With their me-too type of products priced almost at the same level as the iPad’s starting price of $499, none of them have however been able to gain any significant market share from Apple.
Like I said yesterday, the Android tablets can’t compete at the high-end with the iPad and now they have fierce competition on low end from Amazon. They are in trouble.
Google:
Now, anyone around the world can view, read and interact with five digitized Dead Sea Scrolls. The high resolution photographs, taken by Ardon Bar-Hama, are up to 1,200 megapixels, almost 200 times more than the average consumer camera, so viewers can see even the most minute details in the parchment. For example, zoom in on the Temple Scroll to get a feel for the animal skin it’s written on—only one-tenth of a millimeter thick.
Plenty of good nominees this year, but Heart and Guns N’ Roses certainly deserve to be there.