August 17, 2011
Ars Technica:
You may think you’re defending your favorite platform because it’s just that good. But, according to a recently published study out of the University of Illinois, you may instead be defending yourself because you view criticisms of your favorite brand as a threat to your self image. The study, which will be published in the next issue of the Journal of Consumer Psychology, examines the strength of consumer-brand relationships, concluding that those who have more knowledge of and experience with a brand are more personally impacted by incidents of brand “failure.”
We certainly have seen this phenomenon strongly manifest in the Apple community, though we’re not the only ones, and it isn’t just with technology, either. I’m curious to understand better the reason some people develop such a fierce “Self-Brand Connection,” as the researchers put it. Is it little more that misplaced 21st century tribalism, or is there something else at work?
Here’s something I’m sure is going to be on the gift lists of a lot of iOS users: the Helo TC, from Griffin Technology, that long-time maker of peripherals and accessories for Apple devices. It costs $49.99 and is now available at Griffin’s Web site; the company expects to have it stocked in retailers nationwide for the holiday season. (more…)
The Next Web:
Apple and Nokia, along with Qualcomm and several other companies, are weighing bids for InterDigital Inc in order to scoop up its trove of patents for wireless tech, reports Reuters. The company is up for sale and is proceeding with its auction.The news that Apple and Nokia are interested in the roughly 8,800 patents available from a purchase of InterDigital isn’t in itself all that surprising. Many have viewed the InterDigital auction as the next big patent hoarding battleground for some time now. The altered variable now is Google’s announcement of its purchase of Motorola Mobility, and its 17,000+ patents, on Monday.
InterDigital bills itself as the developer of “fundamental wireless technologies that are at the core of mobile devices, networks and services worldwide.” The company holds about 8,800 U.S. and foreign patents, with 10,000 more in process around the world. Is anyone else getting as tired of hearing about patents as I am?
Logitech has introduced the Wireless Solar Keyboard K750 for Mac, a computer keyboard that recharges its internal batteries using solar power and indoor light. It costs $59.99 and will ship later this month. (more…)
ZDNet:
This consistent marketing experience from Apple is something that competitors simply cannot reproduce. These companies are coming from a computer background for the most part, and they are set up to market new products to the audience that buys computers. That’s why promotions around most Android tablets have tried to appeal to the tech-savvy crowd. Remember the early Motorola XOOM ads? Like virtually all tablet ads, they missed the iPad target market completely.
James Kendrick has some good insights here. He’s right – none of the companies making tablets beside Apple have been able to provide a compelling message to customers about why their device is better. Where I separate from him is in thinking that “many of the products not selling are quite good.” Most of them are downright miserable pieces of crap, as evidenced by playing with them for five minutes or less.
Tony Iommi on a Rolling Stone story published yesterday:
I’m saddened that a Birmingham journalist whom I trusted has chosen this point in time to take a conversation we had back in June and make it sound like we spoke yesterday about a Black Sabbath reunion.At the time I was supporting the Home of Metal exhibition and was merely speculating, shooting the breeze, on something all of us get asked constantly, “Are you getting back together?”Thanks to the internet it’s gone round the world as some sort of “official” statement on my part, absolute nonsense. I hope he’s enjoyed his moment of glory, he won’t have another at my expense.To my old pals, Ozzy, Geezer and Bill, sorry about this, I should have known better.All the best, Tony
I’ve seen Sabbath a couple of times and love their show. It would be incredible to have another album from the pioneers of heavy metal.
Tablets have been around for years, and while there was a lot of interest in what the platform could do, they never really caught on. It wasn’t until Apple released the iPad that tablets became a popular device. (more…)
August 16, 2011
Arik Hesseldahl:
According to one source who’s seen internal HP reports, Best Buy has taken delivery of 270,000 TouchPads and has so far managed to sell only 25,000, or less than 10 percent of the units in its inventory.A second person who has seen Best Buy’s TouchPad sales figures confirmed the results as “consistent with what I’ve seen,” and went so far as to say that 25,000 sold might be “charitable.” This source suggested that the 25,000-unit sales number may not account for units that consumers return to stores for a refund.
It’s not the year of the tablet, it’s the year of the iPad.
Apple on Tuesday released an update to OS X Lion to version 10.7.1 – the update is available through the Software Update system preference, and is recommended for all Lion users. (more…)
MacUser (UK):
A court in Düsseldorf has lifted the injunction it granted Apple last week, which prevented Samsung from selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in all European Union countries except the Netherlands.The initial injunction banned Samsung’s Korean-based parent company and its German subsidiary from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the EU.The injunction was lifted after Samsung complained that the court did not have the authority to issue an injunction on its parent company. The injunction on the German subsidiary remains in place. Samsung’s appeal against the initial ruling, which found that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 had infringed Apple patents, will be heard on 25 August.
It was only last week that the preliminary injunction was put in place. It’s important to note that this decision is largely procedural – it doesn’t go to the heart of Apple’s complaint, which is that Samsung infringed on Apple’s design with the Galaxy Tab 10.1. The two companies are set to square off in court again on August 25th, so we’ll surely hear more from both sides then.
Macworld:
Kagi, a popular payment processor for independent software developers, recently began selling a $5 Lion-compatibility patch for the discontinued-in-2008 VisualHub video converter that the original software’s developer says he didn’t authorize—and isn’t getting paid for. Kagi defends the move, arguing that it’s merely helping less tech-savvy paying customers that it says the developer abandoned.
TUAW also reports on this. Bottom line: Techspansion, the company behind VisualHub, isn’t associated with this updater and has asked customers not to use it. Under those circumstances, Kagi’s justification for continuing to offer it is questionable at best. Until this is resolved, caveat emptor.
The Mac Observer:
Given that comforting sanity check, I measured the diameter of the Apple spaceship as 1615 ft, plus or minus a few ft., depending on where one places the ruler. That’s a radius of 807.5 ft.So, if one could magically fly the future Apple spaceship to Arlington, VA and hover over the Pentagon, it would just slightly cover it.
Apple has more cash on hand than the U.S. government, so this seems appropriate.
John Gruber on Dan Lyons’ crap story:
Another way to look at this story, then, is that maybe Google really did want those Nortel patents, and when they didn’t get them, they knew they were in a worse position than ever, patent-wise, with Android. And then Motorola started threatening — publicly, just this month — to wage patent warfare against other Android handset makers. And started talking about support for Windows Phone. We now know that while Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha and badass 11-percent-of-the-company shareholder Carl Icahn were making these threats to wage a patent civil war against other Android handset makers, they were actively negotiating with Google on a buyout. Does anyone, Lyons included, think it’s a coincidence that these stories — not based on speculation but on-the-record statements by the CEO and the company’s biggest shareholder — came out one week before this acquisition was announced?
And MG Siegler on the same story:
This all begs the question: over the past two years, would you have gained more knowledge by reading Lyons, or by having your head up your own ass?Tough call.
GamesIndustry.biz:
[Crytek managing director Avni] Yerli agreed that tablets offer more, stating: “I can see that the multifunctions that devices like tablets offer is a big advantage of them. And I think people want one mobile device that can do multiple things.“Considering this, I think those handhelds are lacking in that area and they are losing ground, actually. I think they have to be more innovative.”
Crytek is the German video game development studio behind the CryEngine, video game technology used to create hit games including Far Cry, and the Crysis series. So far the company’s bet heavily on Windows and Xbox 360, but it seems that even they can see the writing on the walls: the future of portable gaming can lie with devices like the iPad rather than dedicated handheld systems like Sony’s forthcoming PlayStation Vita.
Reuters:
Smartphone maker HTC Corp sued Apple Inc, claiming infringement of three patents through Apple’s sale of Macintosh computers, iPads, iPods, iPhones and other devices.
Back and forth, back and forth. Repeat.
Apple on Tuesday made the OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive available from its online store. (more…)
August 15, 2011
Fusion Garage, the company behind the ill-fated JooJoo tablet, is back again. This time the company has unveiled two new products – the Grid 4 and Grid 10 – a smartphone and tablet, respectively. (more…)
Unless Google’s partners are completely stupid, they spent most of the day figuring out which mobile operating system they will use next. (more…)
The Loop reader, Mike Defrancesco, sent in a few pictures of Apple’s new retail location as workers begin construction. He also put together a nice panorama, so you get a better view of the store’s location.
BGR.com:
“We are supportive of Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility as this is a positive development to the Android ecosystem, which we believe is beneficial to HTC’s promotion of Android phones,” an HTC spokesperson told BGR on Monday. “The partnership between HTC and Google remains strong and will not be affected by this acquisition.”
Bullshit.
Line25:
One of the things we all admire as designers is typography. Some love the clean and crisp lines of sans-serif typefaces while others are passionate about the sophisticated and stylish curves of serif fonts. This showcase rounds up a collection of website designs that all feature some kind of sexy serif heading or title.
I’m not a Web designer, but I love looking at what good designers come up with.
Google’s Press release:
“We welcome today’s news, which demonstrates Google’s deep commitment to defending Android, its partners, and the ecosystem.”
– J.K. Shin
President, Samsung, Mobile Communications Division“I welcome Google‘s commitment to defending Android and its partners.”
– Bert Nordberg
President & CEO, Sony Ericsson“We welcome the news of today‘s acquisition, which demonstrates that Google is deeply committed to defending Android, its partners, and the entire ecosystem.”
– Peter Chou
CEO, HTC Corp.“We welcome Google‘s commitment to defending Android and its partners.”
– Jong-Seok Park, Ph.D
President & CEO, LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company
Seriously? Sounds like they have a gun to their head.
The Next Web:
Motorola Mobility spun off as an independent company from Motorola back in January, and at that time it announced it had over 24,000 patents ‘granted and pending’, though it’s thought its actual existing portfolio is around the 17,000 mark. These will now belong to Google.
Should Apple start crying about how unfair it is that they get all these patents like Google did last week with the Nortel patents?
Reuters:
Google Inc said it will buy phone hardware maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc for $12.5 billion in cash to bolster the adoption of its Android mobile software.
The mobile wars heat up a little bit.
August 13, 2011
AppleInsider:
The city is currently in the midst of its review process of Apple’s plans. The first step of the review involves an environmental impact assessment that will evaluate traffic, noise, air quality and will provide the public with an opportunity for comment. Apple’s proposal would then undergo a development review and public hearings at the Planning Commission and the City Council.
Wow.
August 12, 2011
Millennial Media has published its quarterly S.M.A.R.T. report, which shows that Apple’s iPhone has been at the top of the smartphone platform for three years running when it comes to mobile advertising, at least. The iPod touch and iPad both ranked well in Millennial Media’s list, also. (more…)
Greg Bensinger at WSJ.com:
The decision means the device hasn’t yet found any support from the three largest U.S. wireless carriers, which includes AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Without their backing, RIM will have to bear the burden of sales and marketing support for the device, as well as application development.In contrast, Apple’s market-dominating iPad is advertised and supported by both AT&T and Verizon Wireless, and the tablet is displayed prominently in stores.
And that’s what happens when you rush a product to market without the features that people want. Nobody will touch it.
Reports began to surface yesterday that Apple would hold a special event on September 7 to launch the new iPhone, but that’s not happening. (more…)
GamePolitics.com:
U.S. retail sales of video game hardware, software and accessories took a 20 percent nosedive in July to $707.7 million, hurt by a combination of less demand for video game consoles and no major game title released during the month, according to market research firm NPD Group.
Is anyone actually surprised? Consumer confidence is in the toilet. People can’t find jobs, people who have jobs are terrified they’ll lose them, the dollar is taking a beating, and Congress and the President are faring incredibly poorly in polls. No one has an incentive to spend money, especially on discretionary items like games.
Brad Linder:
Dell has stopped selling the Dell Streak 5 inch Android tablet/smartphone. The original Streak launched last year as Dell’s first Android product. It blurred the lines between a tablet and a phone by pairing a reasonably large 5 inch, 800 x 480 pixel display with cellular capabilities.
Apple just keeps putting the smack down on Dell.
