The folks at Macworld have a great story summarizing Tim Cook’s conversation at D10 last night. Cook talked about Steve Jobs, the Apple TV, Macs, iPad, and a number of other topics.
iPhone
RIM is in the shitter
The on-going competitive environment is impacting our business in the form of lower volumes and highly competitive pricing dynamics in the marketplace, and we expect our Q1 results to reflect this, and likely result in an operating loss for the quarter. We are continuing to be aggressive as we compete for our customers’ business – both enterprise and consumer – around the world, and our teams are working hard to provide cost-competitive, feature-rich solutions to our global customer base.
Translation: We’re fucked.
Apple rejects Flattr
The folks at Flattr describe what happened and why apps including the functionality are being rejected from the App Store.
Facebook’s smartphone
The company has already hired more than half a dozen former Apple software and hardware engineers who worked on the iPhone, and one who worked on the iPad, the employees and those briefed on the plans said.
I think Facebook could build a good smartphone — certainly better than many that are on the market now.
Designing for multiple mobile densities
Travis Hines:
The sharpness of your phone or tablet’s display is referred to as density. iOS devices measure density in PPI (pixels per inch) and Android in DPI (dots per inch). The more pixels or dots you fit in one square inch on a screen, the higher the density and resolution of it.
I don’t envy designers.
‘Zuckerberg sure as shit doesn’t want Facebook to be the next Yahoo’
Gruber on why Facebook released a camera app after buying Instagram.
New Siri ads from Apple starring John Malkovich
Apple has posted two new iPhone 4s/Siri ads, these ones starring the actor John Malkovich.
Malkovich is an interesting choice, given that most people find him (wonderfully) creepy.
Facebook launches Camera app for iOS
Facebook is getting ready for the release of Facebook Camera, a new photo sharing app for Facebook users, coming Thursday.
Not cool Apple
Paul Kafasis:
Today, we’ve been informed that Apple has removed Airfoil Speakers Touch from the iOS App Store.1 We first heard from Apple about this decision two days ago, and we’ve been discussing the pending removal with them since then. However, we still do not yet have a clear answer on why Apple has chosen to remove Airfoil Speakers Touch. Needless to say, we’re quite disappointed with their decision, and we’re working hard to once again make the application available for you, our users.
There has to be a better way to handle this and deal with your developers.
Gruber on the iPhone’s larger screen
That John Gruber is a smart guy.
Evolution of an iPhone app
The LogYourRun iPhone app was launched in the summer of 2009. It is coming up on 3 years now and I thought it might be interesting to do a short historic review of the evolution of the app to show some of the design and UI changes that the app has undergone during it’s life time. It has truly been an evolutionary process and I don’t think people with the current app would recognize the original incarnation of the app nor would they probably be too happy with the original version
Amazing changes in a relatively short time.
Dell sucks balls; stock drops 12%
Dell posted first quarter sales, earnings, second quarter revenue guidance — you name it — well short of expectations Tuesday, sending shares of the Round Rock, Texas technology company were down more than 12% in after-hours trading.
Maybe they could bring back the Streak.
The iPhone screen
Chuck Remington for 9to5Mac:
Both of these phones sport a new, larger display that is 3.95 inches diagonally. Apple will not just increase the size of the display and leave the current resolution, but will actually be adding pixels to the display. The new iPhone display resolution will be 640 x 1136. That’s an extra 176 pixels longer of a display. The screen will be the same 1.94 inches wide, but will grow to 3.45 inches tall. This new resolution is very close to a 16:9 screen ratio, so this means that 16:9 videos can play full screen at their native aspect ratio.
More thoughts on a larger screen iPhone
Will Hains:
So, how hard it is for developers does not factor in Apple’s decision here. Rather, decisions are based on the resulting product; and then Apple works on making the transition as smooth as possible within that constraint. “Do I want this to happen?” is a different question to “Will it happen?”
I don’t agree with everything in this post, but the middle section is a good read.
Tivo streaming to your iPad and iPhone
The IP set-top box works with the TiVo Premiere Q, a home’s primary gateway device, to give consumers access to live and recorded TV, operator VOD, plus broadband-delivered content on every TV in the house. This is delivered through the innovative TiVo experience consumers have come to know and love. It includes integrated MoCA to simplify home networking and multi-room applications.TiVo Stream seamlessly delivers the content available on a consumer’s TiVo Premiere or Premiere Q DVR to alternative screens such as iPads and iPhones. Unlike similar offerings in the market, this is the first product to enable streaming or download of shows simultaneously to multiple portable devices without interrupting what’s playing on the television. The power of TiVo Stream enables users to quickly transfer shows to their mobile device for viewing outside the home.
Developers on the potential larger iPhone screen
Erica Ogg:
But what do the developers who will have to deal with the implications of a larger screen think? I talked to a few iOS app makers, and interestingly, many of them are not convinced Apple would actually “pull an Android,” as one developer put it, and make it more complicated to design for a bunch of different screen sizes (iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4/4S and something new).
Four years of App Store
Federico Viticci’s incredibly in-depth look at Apple’s App Store.
Samsung’s bullshit Galaxy pre-order numbers
Everyone is talking about Samsung’s third-generation Galaxy smartphone and the extraordinary number of pre-orders the company received for the new device. It’s bullshit. […]
Nokia burning through cash at an unsustainable rate
Over the past five quarters, the onetime darling of mobile telecoms has eroded its cash pile by 2.1 billion euros ($2.7 billion) – a rate that would wipe out its entire 4.9 billion euros reserves in a couple years.
Truly amazing how far they have fallen.
Verizon to end unlimited data
Philip Michaels:
Verizon wants more of its subscribers to opt for shared data plans which cover multiple devices like smartphones and tablets. To convince subscribers who’ve clung to their unlimited data plans to move to this new setup, Verizon is taking much of the choice out of the decision process: If you want to upgrade to a new 4G-compatible phone, you’re going to have to give up that unlimited data.
The carrot and stick.
Apple defends Siri
Joe Palazzolo:
Apple, which hired Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP to fight the claims, said in a recent court filing that Siri may not be perfect — in fact, she is a Beta release, something the company has been upfront about — but she’s still “cutting edge.”
I don’t believe this blood sucking fools are suing for this. They should be sued for being stupid.
Hello iPhoto for iPad and iPhone on iBookstore
Hello iPhoto for iPad & iPhone interactively guides you through all the features of iPhoto. With over 200 screenshots, you’re going to get an in-depth look at iPhoto and so many cool and hidden features.
This is what I love about iBooks Author — interactivity and well designed books.
Virgin Atlantic intros in-flight cell service
Reuters:
The service will allow passengers to send and receive text messages, emails and access the Internet on Virgin Atlantic’s new Airbus A330-300 planes flying between London and New York.The in-flight service is targeting business travelers and will be available in all cabins, although limited to six users at a time.
Judge comes down hard on Apple, publishers
Jeff John Roberts for paidContent:
In a strongly worded opinion, US District Judge Denise Cote rejected requests by Apple and five book publishers to throw out a class action suit that accuses them of price-fixing.Citing ongoing state, federal and international antitrust investigations, Cote turned down arguments that Apple and the publishers had acted independently when they changed the pricing model for e-books.
Glassboard 2.0
In case you’re not familiar with Glassboard, here’s the deal: what Pair is to the bedroom, and Path is to the rec room, Glassboard is to the board room. (Hence “board” in the name. “Glass” refers to your phone’s screen.)In other words, it’s great for teams (whether co-workers or not). It uses the same statuses, comments, and sharing that we’re all used to from social networks — except that Glassboard is private.
Nice looking new version from Brent Simmons and Sepia Labs.
iCloud
Ben Brooks:
A widely adopted, seamless, fast, robust iCloud is the greatest threat to Apple’s competitors — and this time around I think Apple knows it.
iCloud is becoming the center of everything Apple wants to do with it’s devices, whether it’s a Mac, iPhone, iPad or Apple TV.
Apple planning photo sharing upgrade to iCloud
Eric Slivka:
The new features, expected to be announced at Apple’s world-wide developer conference beginning June 11, will allow iCloud users to share sets of photos with other iCloud users and to comment on them, these people said. Currently, users can only store one set of photos in iCloud through a feature called Photo Stream, which is designed to sync those photos to other Apple devices, not share them.
The original story is at WSJ, but that story is for subscribers only, so enjoy it at Mac Rumors.
This is what Android fragmentation looks like
Kim-Mai Cutler:
Animoca, a Hong Kong mobile app developer that has seen more than 70 million downloads, says it does quality assurance testing with about 400 Android devices. Again, that’s testing with four hundred different phones and tablets for every app they ship!
What a bunch of shit to make your developers go through.
5by5 Radio app for iPhone
This is the official 5by5 Radio application, and the best way to listen to your favorite 5by5 broadcasts and hosts live!
‘Best smartphone ever’
You know it’s a slow day when the media is picking up on the fact that Siri is using WolframAlpha’s search to return a query for the “best smartphone ever” as the Nokia Lumia 900 4G. Here are a couple … Continued