Crazy, but wow:
Tag - iOS
Though Mr. Jobs gets the lion’s share of credit for innovation at Apple, Mr. Fadell played a key role in the company’s resurgence. He first envisioned a hard-drive-based digital music player in the 1990s and brought the idea to Seattle-based Real Networks, where he reportedly clashed with Real’s chief executive, Rob Glaser, and left after six weeks.
Mr. Fadell then approached Apple in 2001, and history was made. He first worked for Jon Rubinstein, a former Apple senior vice president who is now Palm’s chief executive, then replaced him as head of the iPod division in 2006.
via Godfather of iPod Severs Final Ties With Apple – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com.
So Apple is suing smartphone rival HTC for the Touch.
This is not about HTC … this is about Google. Specifically, about Android.
Android is the only competitive threat to Apple’s iPhone today. Windows Phone 7 may become one tomorrow, Nokia may have something else up its long sleeves, Palm may catch a miracle and become an actual player … but only Android is a real threat right now. Google’s fairly recent addition of multi-touch support was the final straw.
And now Apple’s throwing down the gauntlet. This is going to get interesting!
More coverage:
GigaOM, AppleInsider, Engadget.
The patents that HTC allegedly infringes:
- The ‘331 Patent, entitled “Time-Based, Non-Constant Translation Of User Interface Objects Between States,” was duly and legally issued on April 22, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
- The ‘949 Patent, entitled “Touch Screen Device, Method, And Graphical User Interface For Determining Commands By Applying Heuristics,” was duly and legally issued on January 20, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘949 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit B.
- The ‘849 Patent, entitled “Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image,” was duly and legally issued on February 2, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘849 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit C.
- The ‘381 Patent, entitled “List Scrolling And Document Translation, Scaling, And Rotation On A Touch-Screen Display,” was duly and legally issued on December 23, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘381 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit D.
- The ‘726 Patent, entitled “System And Method For Managing Power Conditions Within A Digital Camera Device,” was duly and legally issued on July 6, 1999 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘726 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit E.
- The ‘076 Patent, entitled “Automated Response To And Sensing Of User Activity In Portable Devices,” was duly and legally issued on December 15, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘076 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit F.
- The ‘105 Patent, entitled “GMSK Signal Processors For Improved Communications Capacity And Quality,” was duly and legally issued on December 8, 1998 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘105 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit G.
- The ‘453 Patent, entitled “Conserving Power By Reducing Voltage Supplied To An Instruction-Processing Portion Of A Processor,” was duly and legally issued on June 3, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘453 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit H.
- The ‘599 Patent, entitled “Object-Oriented Graphic System,” was duly and legally issued on October 3, 1995 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘599 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit I.
- The ‘354 Patent, entitled “Object-Oriented Event Notification System With Listener Registration Of Both Interests And Methods,” was duly and legally issued on July 23, 2002 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘354 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit J.
On a typical hardcover, the publisher sets a suggested retail price. Let’s say it is $26. The bookseller will generally pay the publisher $13. Out of that gross revenue, the publisher pays about $3.25 to print, store and ship the book, including unsold copies returned to the publisher by booksellers.
For cover design, typesetting and copy-editing, the publisher pays about 80 cents. Marketing costs average around $1 but may go higher or lower depending on the title. Most of these costs will deline on a per-unit basis as a book sells more copies.
Let’s not forget the author, who is generally paid a 15 percent royalty on the hardcover price, which on a $26 book works out to $3.90. For big best-selling authors — and even occasionally first-time writers whose publishers have taken a risk — the author’s advance may be so large that the author effectively gets a higher slice of the gross revenue. Publishers generally assume they will write off a portion of many authors’ advances because they are not earned back in sales.
Without accounting for such write-offs, the publisher is left with $4.05, out of which it must pay overhead for editors, cover art designers, office space and electricity before taking a profit.
DynamicBooks, a new subsidiary of Macmillan, unveiled today a new digital publishing platform that allows instructors to freely customize and modify some of today’s most respected textbooks. Using the DynamicBooks’ editing tools, instructors can tailor world-class content to suit their classroom needs by editing existing content or adding new text or media assets. Once instructors “publish” their custom book, their students can choose to purchase either a fully featured digital text or a printed version of the new book.
DynamicBooks was created in close partnership with Ingram Content Group Inc. and utilizes Ingram’s successful VitalSource Bookshelf platform and Lightning Source print-on-demand capability.
We made calls to universities that have been evaluating various e-readers and e-book formats and found that most expect to partner with Apple’s iPad in its e-reader initiatives.
This is because:
* Apple already has a massive infrastructure built to promote and distribute its products to universities and it will take time for its competitors to replicate that.
* Amazon and Sony have improved their devices in recent releases but universities are still not satisfied.
* The iPad appears to solve the portability issues and lack of features many universities have cited for not embracing Amazon and Sony readers.
via Here’s Why Apple Will Beat Amazon In The Battle For The E-Textbook Market.
As TechCrunch is reporting, touch computing is hot … but touch-free computing will soon be white-hot.
You’ve seen Minority Report. Here’s the reality:
g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.
Learn more about the gestural interface in this video:
oblong’s tamper system 1801011309 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.
The day after Apple’s big iPad debut, Amazon reported stellar fourth-quarter results that included a 42% increase in sales and net income up a whopping 71%. Although Kindle and eBook sales still account for only a small segment of revenue — predicted to be about 5% in 2010 according to most analysts — its success continues to be a highlight.
In Amazon’s earnings release, Bezos threw a spotlight on the “millions of people” who own the e-Reader, adding, “When we have both editions, we sell 6 Kindle books for every 10 physical books.”
via Kindle vs. iPad: Far from over – Fortune Brainstorm Tech.
I’ve been wondering lately what Microsoft will do for the iPad.
As everyone knows, Microsoft is one of the major software developers for Mac … Office being the most obvious example. They’ve also dabbled in iPhone applications.
But now we have the iPad. And now mobile apps have an opportunity to be more and do more than ever before. And … Apple has thrown down the gauntlet by developing special (and cheap!) versions of its own office applications for iPad – the iWork suite.
iWork includes Keynote (PowerPoint), Pages (Word), and Numbers (Excel). How is Microsoft going to respond?
Putting their own apps on iPad is a big, big move, from a lot of perspectives:
- It would require huge redesign (lots of work)
- It would implicitly be blessing Apple’s new semi-mobile platform (both annoying and strategically dangerous)
- It would be at a much lower price point than desktop office … iWork is about $15 on iPad, versus about $100 on a Mac (also strategically dangerous and very financially risky)
And yet, to not do it risks being left in the starting gate as the race for mobile software really starts taking off. Above all else, after all, Microsoft is a software company.
What will they do? My guess: not get in until it’s too late, then jump in with both feet.
By then, Microsoft risks becoming irrelevant.
ScrollMotion’s been tapped to transmogrify textbooks published by McGraw-Hill, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and every standardized test-taking student’s favorite, Kaplan.
. . .
If you’ve over-analyzed the iPad keynote as much as we have, by now you’ve probably gotten the distinct sense that something felt like it was missing. One of those things, apparently, were Apple’s ideas about re-inventing the textbook.
via A Peek at Apple’s Plans to Re-invent Textbooks – ipad – Gizmodo.
Wow … they are not shy about promoting their product:
Funny – but also instructive.
“Most eBook readers, for whatever reason, are priced at about the level of a low-end netbook, which proves to be a significant barrier,” Mitchell said. “A tablet that is both an eBook reader and a netbook-like device would make it much more attractive to your everyday user. Plus, interactivity will bring new content and media that hasn’t been imagined yet.”
What you’re seeing in the industry’s reaction to the iPad is nothing less than future shock.
For years we’ve all held to the belief that computing had to be made simpler for the “average person.” I find it difficult to come to any conclusion other than that we have totally failed in this effort.
Secretly, I suspect, we technologists quite liked the idea that Normals would be dependent on us for our technological shamanism. Those incantations that only we can perform to heal their computers, those oracular proclamations that we make over the future and the blessings we bestow on purchasing choices.
The bet is roughly that the future of computing:
1. has a UI model based on direct manipulation of data objects
2. completely hides the filesystem from the user
3. favors ease of use and reduction of complexity over absolute flexibility
4. favors benefit to the end-user rather than the developer or other vendors
5. lives atop built-to-specific-purpose native applications and universally available web apps
via stevenf.com – I need to talk to you about computers. I’ve been….
I wonder if this will have any anti-trust implications ….
<blockquote>That’s right. Google will give the carrier ad splits that result from implementing the Google search box on any Android phone. FBR Capital Markets suggests that Google is taking this idea one step further in its November 24, 2009 report titled Implications of a Potential Share Shift to Android-Based Wireless Devices. “Recent support for Android-based devices appears to be correlated with significant up-front financial incventives paid by Google to both carriuer and handset vendors.” FBR goes on to suggest that these incentives may be as high as $25-50 per device. This is simply an offer that no carrier can refuse, particularly when U.S. carriers are currently in the habit of paying $50-150 per handset sold in subsidies.</blockquote>
The first phone we’ll be selling through this new web store is the Nexus One — a convergence point for mobile technology, apps and the Internet. Nexus One is an exemplar of what's possible on mobile devices through Android — when cool apps meet a fast, bright and connected computer that fits in your pocket. The Nexus One belongs in the emerging class of devices which we call “superphones.” It’s the first in what we expect to be a series of products which we will bring to market with our operator and hardware partners and sell through our online store.
Manufactured by HTC, the Nexus One features dynamic noise suppression from Audience, Inc., a large 3.7″ OLED display for deep contrast and brilliant colors and a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ chipset for blazing speeds. Running on Android 2.1, the newest version of Eclair, the software includes innovations like a voice-enabled keyboard so you can speak into any text field, fun Live Wallpapers, a 3D photo gallery for richer media experiences and lots more. Of course, it also comes with a host of popular Google applications, including Gmail, Google Voice and Google Maps Navigation.
via Official Google Blog: Our new approach to buying a mobile phone.
L5 Technology is using this week’s CES trade show in Las Vegas to debut the L5 Remote, a $50 accessory (paired with a free application) that turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a universal remote control. It’s coming in February.
The accessory plugs into the iPhone or iPod touch’s dock connector. It measures 1.25 x .85 inches. Using a free app you’ll be able to download from the App Store, you drag and drop buttons into place to control your home entertainment devices.
The accessory works without batteries and will control any number of devices within about 30 feet, according to the manufacturer. It doesn’t require independent batteries, Wi-Fi or external power to function.
via Device turns iPhone, iPod touch into universal remote | The Loop.
This is marvelous – I love it.
iLingual from Lean Mean Fighting Machine is a new translation app for iPhone. Pick your phrase, hold it up to your mouth, and let ‘er rip. Check out this brief – and hilarious – video:
First saw it at the Edible Apple.
Neat video from people who strapped an iPhone 3GS to a model airplane:
I you want to endanger a multi-hundred dollar gadget, this is as good a way as any, I guess, and better than most.
You gotta love it:
Unfortunately (or fortunately) it’s not real.
Tonight I failed the husband geek-test: fixing something electronic for your wife.
“But it’s not my fault,” I told my wife. “It’s Apple’s fault – WiFi is buggy on the iPhone.” And I think that’s more than a excuse. I think it’s true.
Here’s the deal: we have a wireless network. My iPhone connects to it when I’m home, as does her iPhone. No fuss, no muss: fast free connection to the internet.
But when Teresa puts her phone in Airplane mode at night (as do I) and then wakes it back up again in the morning, turning Airplane mode off … WiFi never comes back automatically.
On my iPhone, turning Airplane mode off returns the phone to the state it was in when Airplane mode was first activated. On my wife’s, it changes the state to something different. In other words, it does not fully undo Airplane mode.
Now, before you ask:
- same phone (iPhone 3G)
- same firmware (latest updates from Apple)
- same settings (General, network, WiFi, you name it)
- OK, hers is black and mine is white
So what gives? In doing some googling, I notice that someone has the exact opposite problem. Others, on Apple’s support forums, have the same problem. Some can fix it by resetting network settings, some can’t. (You can put us in the can’t category.)
Very, very, very odd.
Here’s a visual overview of the problem in a slideshow:
I’m listening to Dale Mugford at WordCamp Whistler who works for BraveNewCode.
They put out a WordPress plugin, WPtouch, which transforms your blog to a very quick and friendly “application” for iPhone, iPod Touch, and any Android phones.
I just installed it here while listening, then tested on my iPhone.
Very cool – check it out yourself!
My iPhone is currently paired with my iMac, and I want it paired with my MacBook. So I go to synchronize it and this is the message iTunes gives me:
“Are you sure you want to sync applications? All existing applications and their data on the iPhone “John Koetsier’s iPhone” will be replaced with applications from this iTunes library.”
Interesting.
To me, synchronization means that two or more applications have a little chat. They find out what each other knows, and update each other to include any data that each individually has, and the most current version of any shared data.
Anything else – such as this iTunes “sync” – is just export and import.
Which means that in this case, iTunes synchronization is at best a white lie, and at worst deceptive.
Read this slowly:
But late last year, he crunched the numbers and came to a shocking conclusion: that the 13 million owners of iPhone owners had already downloaded as much software as—are you sitting down—1.1 billion other cell-phone owners.
The “he” is Jeff Holden, an Amazon alumnus, and founder of Pelago, a mobile applications development company. The quote is in a BusinessWeek article announcing that iPhone users have downloaded 500 million apps from Apple’s App Store.
Think about that: 13 million iPhone users … more software than 1.1 billion other cell phone users.
If anyone thinks that the game has not changed, they are deluding themselves.
If anyone thinks that there’s nothing all the special about the iPhone, they’re delusional.
If anyone thinks that all the iPhone excitement is just hype, they’re not living in this world.
This is simply amazing. And the reason is: a device that works, a device that is friendly, a device that is usable, a device that invites use.
More on that last though later … as my wife just got her first cell phone: an iPhone.
Imagine this: you spend $50K developing an iPhone app. You submit it to Apple for approval and posting on the app store. Then you wait for 4 months … with no word whether or not your app will be approved and place on the store.
That’s precisely the situation that Newber finds itself in with its location-aware business phone number application for iPhone. And it’s exactly the kind of situation that companies who are thinking of investing in iPhone application development have nightmares about.
Newber is an innovative app that doesn’t obviously contravene any of Apple’s
app acceptance standards. As Cult of Mac reports:
If you’re in the office at your desk, Newber will send calls to your work phone. At home it can ring the house phone. On the road Newber will ring your iPhone, the phone extension in your hotel room, even the payphone at the gas station in the middle of nowhere where you’re getting a flat fixed – if that’s where you want it to ring. Your callers have one number for you and you can receive their calls anywhere.
The problem is obvious: how willing are companies and developers going to be to develop innovative, cutting-edge applications if they can’t tell in advance whether or not they’ll be accepted to the App Store?
There have been 6 publicly announced reasons for app rejection:
- porn
- malicious apps
- apps that invade your privacy
- illegal content
- unforeseen issues
- bandwidth hogs
Porn is obvious. Malicious apps would presumably include viruses, malware, adware, and so forth. Privacy – again fairly obvious, as are illegal content and bandwidth hogs. Unforseen issues, however, is a little vague.
You would assume it means software and hardware compatibility, but what else might fit into this nebulous category?
Answering that question simply, quickly, and publicly would give more developers confidence to invest time and money in building innovative new iPhone apps.
The walls are coming down, the barbarians are storming the gates, civilization as we know it is coming to an end.
Yes, you guessed correctly: iFart is now the top paid application for Apple’s iPhone. It’s just as the slogan says: thousands of reasons to love your iPhone:
This is a sad day for highbrows … but maybe not quite so bad if you have a sense of humor!
It’s a little dated, but I ran across this today and couldn’t help but laugh:
Microsoft is clearly out to wed the Zune with Windows Mobile in a effort to get the two failures to prop each other up in its “I’m not dead yet!” fight against the iPhone.
Of course, it’s really only funny if you know the Monty Python skit the author is referring to …
Wow.
I just unplugged my original iPod from the HK dock for the first time in about a year.
I think I have 4 iPods of various kinds scattered around the house … a Nano, a 20 gig 2nd generation (that’s the one that’s hooked up to my HK stereo), a 40 gig Video, and of course my iPhone. But I haven’t picked up this sucker in a long time … and when I did … wow.
The unbelievable thing is that when I bought it, perhaps 5 years ago, it was the most amazing slim incredible sleek purrrfect machine. Now, it’s still cool and iconic and recognizable … but it’s FAT!
Funny thing is, it just keeps on ticking.
The battery is basically toast, but that doesn’t matter because it’s always hooked up to my stereo, which is charging it. The screen is fine (although tiny and dark compared to new iPods). The processor must be OK … it keeps on ticking, and I just now played a quick game of Parachute.
I just can’t believe how small and thin and sleek I thought it was … and how fat and heavy and blocky I now think it is.
That’s progress, I guess …
Just installed the iPhone 2.2 update on Saturday.
Most important change: WAY better battery life. I mean significant. Not just a little … a LOT better battery life, like from 1 day to 3. Of course, YMMV.
Wow.
[ update Nov. 27 ]Much, much, MUCH better.