If Apple CEO Steve Jobs is to realize his vision for the iPad as an information-sharing device, he may have to win-over newspapers to that idea, a new report suggests. Although talks between Apple and newspapers are described as “friendly,” the head of one major daily calls Cupertino’s demands a potential “dealbreaker.”
The key sticking points in the discussions are two-fold: Apple’s desire to share subscriber information and other data viewed as valuable by publishers, as well as how revenue-sharing applies to newspaper and magazine publishers. Publishers have amassed subscriber names, addresses and credit cards often used to develop marketing campaigns, even newspaper content.
First Apple used higher prices to get book publishers to consider the company’s iPad. Now comes word the Cupertino, Calif. electronics firm will offer FairPlay DRM to make them feel safe from e-book pirates. The move seems to extend Apple’s use of DRM for movies and television episodes to its latest consumer tablet device.
However, unlike movies and TV show sold through iTunes, Apple plans to give book publishers the option to lock-down their titles with DRM. “No doubt some publishers, including O’Reilly Media — which has vociferously argued that digital locks are harmful to sales — will opt not to deploy FairPlay,” according to Monday’s Los Angeles Times.
We told you a few weeks ago that Square|Enix was bringing classic titles from its long-running RPG series Final Fantasy to the iPhone. Today, we bring you the first footage of the game in action (and a screenshot showing the interface).
Looks tasty, though I admit I’ll be more excited when Final Fantasy IV comes to the iPhone. That’s a must-download. And don’t even get me started on Chrono Trigger…
The AR.Drone feels like the future of video games. A combination of a flying, hovering, and downright smart helicopter with four rotors and lots of sensors, and an iPhone augmented reality app, the Drone allows gamers to see the world through cameras on the chopper, to augmentedly dogfight with friends, and even to attack robots that only they can see. Basically, it was the hit of CES, and it shows an entire class of games that the iPhone makes possible.
On Friday, the AR.Drone from Parrot took the stage at the venerable TED Conference in Long Beach alongside everyone from Bill Gates and complexity theory genius Benoit Mandelbrot to Andrew Bird and Sarah Silverman. But before then, the little helicopter from the future hit northern California, making a cameo at MacWorld and, in a stroke of luck, briefly landing in my control on Thursday. And I came away more impressed by the actual device than I had been by video and demos of it.
The book, which is in the early planning stages, would cover the entire life of Mr. Jobs, from his youth in the area now known as Silicon Valley through his years at Apple, these people said.
Mr. Jobs, who will turn 55 on Feb. 24, has invited Mr. Isaacson to tour his childhood home, one person with knowledge of the discussion said.
… Cooperation with Mr. Isaacson could be a sign that Mr. Jobs has emerged from his recent health battles with more of an interest in shaping his legacy.
In the wake of last week’s report that sausage-mania was gripping South Korea when Maxbong brand sausages were found to be usable as capacitive styluses, there were some small few who doubted the report.
Our retort? This video, showing a South Korean playing Taiko Drummaster with a pair of Maxbong Sausages. As you can see, it works well, but those Maxbongs look a little too thick to be truly decent styluses. I still think a Slim Jim would work better.
Well, that certainly took long enough: Apple has finally allowed a version of SlingPlayer Mobile app to creep through the App Store with 3G support.
And it’s about time. SlingPlayer Mobile is a great little app that allows you to stream video from your television, cable, satellite or DVR to your iPhone. The previous version was WiFi only, due to pressure from AT&T, but Ma Bell claims that they worked with SlingPlayer to optimize their 3G compression scheme, and they are now happy that the app won’t be too much of a bandwidth hog.
That’s good news for home theater enthusiasts: it means you never really need to load your iPhone up with movies at all, but can just stream your library from home. Of course, that functionality has a price premium: it costs $30.
Children — those sticky, mucous-leaking, disaster-prone calamity goblins! — tend to have an unhealthy fixation with their parents’ gadgets. By ‘unhealthy,’ I mean for us, and not for them: no matter how many times your pudge-kneed toddler drops your iPhone into the toilet, common decency prevents us from clobbering the little monster for the affront. The only thing to do is buy yourself a new iPhone, then try to distract your feral, post-fetal doppelganger from indulging his or her innate impetus to destroy it with a plastic toy simulacrum.
Toy makers have been banking on just this for years. Consider all of the plastic laptops and cell phones and MP3 players on the shelves of your local Toys ‘R’ Us. Every gadget under the sun has a bright plastic analogue, ready to be sacrificed to your child’s agency of destruction and save your most cherished gadgets.
Apple’s new iPad, when it is released, is going to be a particulaly tempting object for the average kid to mindlessly throw, smash, bend, smear bodily fluids upon, or all of the above. But Fisher-Price — old saws at this game — have you covered. They’ve just announced their own iPad-inspired device for children, called the iXL.
It looks pretty good. It allows kids to look at photos, read e-books, play music and games, and even dink around with remedial art and note taking programs. Of course, since your kid’s probably just going to smash the dog in the head with it, then use it to blow up the microwave when you’re not looking, the $79.99 price tag might seem a bit much… but it’s better to be out $80 than $499, don’t you think?
Don’t search for Horticulture vs. Necromancy or Vegetables vs. Decomposition, but if you go to the App Store now, Plants vs. Zombies is now available for the iPhone and iPod Touch for only $2.99.
Trust me, that’s an absolute steal. Pop Cap Games’ wonderfully goofy tower-defense game — in which rows of flowers and funguses must cheerily hold off wave after wave — was the most addictive game of last year, and not only does Plants vs. Zombies feel more intuitive to play on a touchscreen, but the iPhone app costs 85% less than the desktop port.
For iPhone gamers, this is news that should be met with nothing less than hysterical shrieking and full-on bladder evacuation. Buy Plants vs. Zombieshere, then join me in the comments where I’ll explain my patented, never-fail Gloomshroom defense.
The iPhone 3GS. Creative Commons-licensed photo by Fr3d: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fr3d/2660915827/
Chip-making giant Intel and mobile phone giant Nokia Monday announced a partnership of sorts, melding their two mobile operating systems into one platform: MeeGo. “Simply put, MeeGo heralds a new era of mobile computing,” claimed Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.
The Linux-based Meego targets a range of mobile companies, including Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android handsets and even Microsoft. In a slam against Android, Intel vice president Renee James told the New York Times the Google-made platform is too “specific” to be used on a wide range of devices.
Ever since carriers became just a pipe for Apple’s iPhone, they’ve attempted to regain some of their lost control over customers. Now comes word that two-dozen major carriers – including AT&T, Verizon and Sprint – want to build an App Store rival, enticing developers with an unspecified “open technology platform.”
Analysts are already sounding warnings, cautioning with so many sharks swimming so close together, there’s bound to be trouble. “I do question whether such a large group of mobile operators will be able to achieve the level of cooperation and integration required to make this initiative a success,” said Informa Telecoms analyst Mark Newman.
It appears Apple has stepped-up its battle with hackers, reportedly banning at least two App Store accounts for “security reasons.” The action comes after a long-running tug-of-war between the Cupertino, Calif. company and hackers releasing ways to avoid iPhone security.
Monday, a hacker known as “Sherif” told his Twitter followers Apple had banned his ID. “They must be really angry, he wrote, following the comment by a smiley face emoticon. Another hacker, known as “iH8sn0w,” and the person behind the XEMN tool said to unlock iPhone 3.1.3 baseband for the 3G and 3GS, also reported being banned from the App Store.
Valentine’s Day is almost over but maybe you have someone on your list who might appreciate your going uber-digital in your expression of affection, even if it’s a tad belated.
Then you might want to check out QR loveCode, a quirky little free app for iPhone and iPod Touch that gives you a choice of several love messages you can embed into QR coded thought bubbles on a series of stylistic digital art pieces you can share via email.
QR codes are big in Japan, where many cell phones come equipped with QR decoding software that works through the phones’ camera.
Here in the US, the recipient of your QR loveCode message will need to download QR scanning software in order to read your message. But guess what?
Adobe's Jeremy Clark demonstrating the upcoming digital version of Wired magazine at TED. Photo TED / James Duncan Davidson
The digital version of Wired Magazine for the iPad and other devices will be a “game changer,” Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson said Friday.
Showing off a demo of the digital magazine at the TED conference on Friday, Anderson said the interactive magazine brought print’s high-production values to digital for the first time.
“We think this is a game changer,” he told the audience.
Anderson said the digital magazine is on track for a summer release. The iPad is expected to be on sale by the end of March.
Bring the kids to Macworld and put them to work hawking products, like their dad's new book. Photo by Omar G! http://www.flickr.com/photos/omargutierrez/85534936/
SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2010 — Saturday is the last day of Macworld 2010 and you can bring a friend for only $15 when you use priority code SHARE. The Expo Hall hours are from 10:00am to 6:00pm.
If you want to show the kids a good time do the following:
Steven Chan and two of his three kids, Megan and Matthew, who all share the same initials: M - A - C.
SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2010 — Steven Chan and his wife gave their three kids the same initials: M – A – C.
There’s Maxwell Alexander Chan, his brother Matthew and sister Megan.
“We’re in the printing and graphics business and we just loved the Mac from the very beginning,” said Chan. “Its the tool of our trade, so…”
In a dozen years reporting on Apple, the Chans are the first people I’ve met who named their kids after their favorite computer company. Although there have been rumors of kids named after Apple or the Mac — Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter Apple, for example — it has become an urban myth, often rumored but never verified (if ever). I don’t know of another documented case.
I met the Chans on the Macworld show floor. They’d driven up from Southern California for the Expo. The Chan’s printing business is in Riverside County.
“We’re both fanatics,” Chan added, laughing. “There’s five of us but we have eight Macs in the house. There’s more Macs than people.”
Ivan Randall of Topaz Labs thought Macworld would be dead, but he sold out two days in a row. He had to tell customers to download the software and write serial numbers on slips of paper.
SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2010 — The guys at Topaz Labs thought business would be slow at the first Macworld without Apple, so they packed only 250 CDs of their software.
They sold out in the first few hours of the first day.
Worried it was just an opening-day rush, and that day two would be dead, they had just 250 more overnighted to their hotel. But those too quickly sold.
“It’s been awesome. I’m exhausted,” laughed Ivan Randall of Topaz Labs. “It’s been a great show.”
Almost all the vendors we talked to told the same story: Macworld 2010 has definitely been worth the money. Many had low expectations, but turnout has been great and business is brisk.
SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2010 — The second day of Macworld 2010 was another big day with throngs of showgoers crowding the show floor.
Some vendors had worried that the big crowds on day one would thin significantly on the second day. But there was steady stream of attendees and brisk business for vendors.
FastMac's Michael Lowdermilk holds up the Impact Sleeve.
SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2010 — You’ve probably seen the late pitchman Billy Mays on late-night TV smashing his hand with hammer while it’s wrapped in Impact Gel — a super cushioning material used for insoles.
In fact, Impact Gel was featured in the first episode of PitchMen, the Discovery Channel show featuring Mays and his partner Anthony Sullivan.
Now, Impact Gel is being used to make a laptop sleeve that can be hit with a hammer and dropped without damaging the contents.
SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2010 — One of the most welcome aspects of the post-Apple Macworld is the absence of the giant booths devoted to iPhone accessories.
In recent years, Macworld was in danger of becoming the iPhone case show. Many of the biggest and most prominent booths on the show floor were devoted to cases and screen covers.
This year, they’re mostly absent. While there were about 100 case and accessory makers at CES in January (in the iLounge pavilion), the 150 iPhone developers at Macworld are mostly software publishers. It’s a welcome change.
SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2010 — Macworld 2010 is in full swing. Even without Apple, the show is packed and there’s a great vibe. The best thing is the people. Check out some of the many friendly faces on the show floor.
Above: These two Macnewbies are enjoying Macworld for the very first time. They’re impressed.
The New Mikey puts pro recording capability in your pocket.
SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2010 — Much of the buzz on the Macworld floor this year has to do with audio and how Apple products and platforms create a nearly endless array of creative possibilities to leverage audio in documenting and networking people’s lives and endeavors.
One of the more exciting products we’ve come across in that regard is the new Mikey from Blue Microphones, an external stereo microphone for iPod and iPhone that brings stunning clarity and flexibility to portable audio recording.
Just moments after getting a review copy of the device and downloading Blue Microphones’ free field recording app from the AppStore, we recorded this interview with Stanford University professor Dr. Ge Wang talking about Smule, his iPhone app company, the future of music collaboration and Apple’s upcoming iPad.
Check the clarity of Wang’s responses and how they stand out from the cacophony of dozens of other people yapping within feet of us as we chatted on the Macworld expo floor.
Software legend Bill Atkinson presenting his PhotoCard app at Macworld.
SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2010 — Veteran Mac programmer Bill Atkinson took the stage at Macworld for the first time in 23 years to show off PhotoCard — an app for sending fine-art postcards through the mail.
Written by Atkinson himself (he’s the genius behind early and great Mac software such as QuickDraw, MacPaint and HyperCard), PhotoCard allows you to write a postcard on your iPhone. When you hit send, a beautifully-printed postcard is sent through the mail.
Modern day hippies and endless jamming may not be among the first images that spring to mind when you think about Apple’s products and customer base, but check this promotional video for the premier Jam Band confab in the United States, the High Sierra Music Festival, and see how well the two play together.
High Sierra impressario David Margulies does a quite credible job of mimicking the classic Steve Jobs Keynote presentation method introducing the 2010 festival, to be held 4th of July weekend in Quincy, CA — he even incorporates images of the highly anticipated iPad to excellent effect and coins a new catch-phrase especially suited to his product: there’s an act for that!
The High Sierra clip is obviously a spoof, but it actually works to engage the viewer in the content, suggesting the elements of Job’s presentation style — if not, perhaps, the mock turtleneck and jeans — lie at the root of any successful product pitch.
