Following yesterday’s story by the usually accurate Japanese blog Macotakara on Apple’s Japan arm rolling out iTunes in the Cloud for music, Japanese music journal AV Watch reported this morning that the California-based iPod maker has its sights set high on the 130 million people market. According to the report, customers in Japan are now finally able to purchase and download music on iOS devices through 3G cellular networks rather than just wireless hotspots, as before. The story also quoted Apple’s Senior iTunes Director for the Asia, Pacific, and Canada region Peter Lowe, who confirmed that iTunes Match would roll out to iTunes Japan in the second half of this year.

“We are keeping good relationship with Japanese music publishers,” said Lowe as he highlighted that iTunes Japan’s catalog now includes Sony Music’s Western artists, such as Beyonce, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, and Sade. Interestingly, Apple did not allow the music journal to publish Lowe’s mug shot. In case you were wondering, iTunes in the Cloud files as the first-ever music re-downloading service in Japan. The iTunes Store launched in Japan in 2005…

Another publication chimed in and said the Mastered for iTunes service for music publishers (iTunes link) and Complete My Album option in iTunes are now available to Japanese customers as well. Additionally, all music on the Japanese iTunes Music Store is now provided as DRM-free 256Kbps AAC iTunes Plus tracks—provided labels updated their content. Finally, customers can now purchase and download ringtones using desktop or mobile iTunes apps. Confirming the aforementioned updates, Apple published a new What’s New in iTunes page on its Japanese website. The company is not standing still in other markets, launching this morning an exclusive ringtone deal for 27 songs by The Beatles. The offer is available through iTunes in the United States and the United Kingdom only.

Hat tip to our reader Simon Wu!

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Today The Beatles announced the band’s 27 United States and United Kingdom No. 1 hits are available as ringtones exclusively through iTunes (iTunes Link). The 30-second ringtones are downloadable now through iTunes on your iOS device and include hits such as “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “All You Need Is Love,” “Yesterday,” “Eleanor Rigby,” and 23 others. A full list of all 27 ringtones is after the break. If Steve were alive, these would undoubtedly be his ringtones of choice for his iPhone.

Jobs’ love for The Beatles is documented in Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs biography where we learned Jobs kept seven different albums from the band on his iPad. He even compared his creative process and business model to The Beatles describing the total being “greater than the sum of the parts.” That is probably a big part of the reason Apple fought so hard to ultimately secure exclusive rights to the band’s music that has lasted since Nov. 2010.

1. “Love Me Do”

2. “From Me To You”

3. “She Loves You”

4. “I Want To Hold Your Hand”

5. “Can’t Buy Me Love”

6. “A Hard Day’s Night”

7. “I Feel Fine”

8. “Eight Days a Week”

9. “Ticket to Ride”

10. “Help!”

11. “Yesterday”

12. “Day Tripper”

13. “We Can Work It Out”

14. “Paperback Writer”

15. “Yellow Submarine”

16. “Eleanor Rigby”

17. “Penny Lane”

18. “All You Need Is Love”

19. “Hello, Goodbye”

20. “Lady Madonna”

21. “Hey Jude”

22. “Get Back”

23. “The Ballad of John and Yoko”

24. “Something”

25. “Come Together”

26. “Let It Be”

27. “The Long and Winding Road”

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Apple’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook was invited to take part in a roundtable discussion at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s annual conference on clinical practice guidelines and quality cancer care. This year’s agenda centers around the topic of “Cancer and Corporate America: Business as Usual?” The five-day discussion begins March 15 in Hollywood, Fla., and ABC News anchor Sam Donaldson will moderate it. The NCNN website listed Cook as an invitee, but there is no guarantee that Apple’s CEO will participate. The fact that a reputable organization invited him means Cook was informed of the conference in advance. A history of late Steve Jobs’ illness gives some hope that Cook will contribute to the discussion. Other invites include doctors, cancer survivors, and other corporate figures, including IBM’s Senior Vice President of Human Resources J. Randall MacDonald.

Whether Cook will take part as a private person or as the CEO of Apple remains unknown, though it is possible he will discuss how Apple can give to medical research. The executive revealed at a recent internal meeting with employees that Apple donated $50 million to Stanford University hospitals, split into $25 million for a new main building and $25 million for a new children’s hospital.

(via The TechBlock)

Tim Cook, who presided over Apple’s supply chain for years in his op-chief capacity, occasionally managed the company on a day-to-day basis during Jobs’ medical leaves of absence. Following Jobs’ resignation on Aug. 24, 2011, Cook became the CEO per Apple’s succession planning. Jobs passed away at his Palo Alto on Oct. 5, a day after the public iPhone 4S launch. The official cause of death was respiratory arrest caused by his years-long battle with a rare form of pancreatic cancer.

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An important update as a Shanghai court hearing this morning confronted Shenzhen, China-based LCD display maker Proview and Apple of California, the maker of the widely popular iPad tablet. The high-profile hearing drew more than a hundred reporters. As you know, Proview is dreaming of a multi-billion dollar settlement for rights to the iPad name in China where Apple pushes aggressively with claims it acquired the iPad trademark in 2009 from Proview’s Taiwanese affiliate for about $55,000. Associated Press this morning described a heated exchange between cash-strapped Proview, which recently filed for bankruptcy, and the Silicon Valley giant. At stake: A countrywide import and export ban on the iPad that enjoys a 76 percent share in China.

If enforced, the ban could easily disrupt worldwide iPad availability, because the world’s largest contract manufacturer Foxconn at its plants in the Chinese province of Shenzhen manufactures the tablet. Worse, it could disrupt a future iPad 3 launch allegedly scheduled for March 7 unveiling. So yeah, it is all about money.

Proview representatives presented as court evidence the company’s 2000 iMac-lookalike named IPAD (pictured on the right). The lawyers came down with all guns blazing on Apple, and said: “Apple has no right to sell iPads under that name.” The company’s CEO told reporters “both sides have willingness to negotiate,” and asserted, “both sides will submit their plans before the talks,” because an out-of-court settlement “is quite possible.”

To this, Apple responded:

They have no market, no sales, no customers. They have nothing. The iPad is so popular that it is in short supply. We have to consider the public good.

Reuters followed up with another quote attributed to Apple’s legal team:

Apple has huge sales in China. Its fans line up to buy Apple products. The ban, if executed, would not only hurt Apple sales but it would also hurt China’s national interest.

Explaining Proview has not sold or marketed its IPAD computer system in years while Apple only began selling the iPad tablet in 2010, the company said the fact essentially invalidates Proview’s trademark. Lawyers for Proview cried foul, and claimed any public good achieved through the creation of iPad manufacturing jobs in China and tax revenues should not be confused with trademark infringement:

Whether people will go hungry because you can’t sell iPads in China is not the issue. The court must rule according to the law. Do you absolutely have to sell the product? Can’t you sell it using a different name?

The ruling in this case may not be reached for weeks, if not months. Apple’s legal woes with Proview began last July when a Hong Kong court ruling revealed that Apple founded a United Kingdom-based company to snatch rights to the iPad trademark in various markets without revealing it was the purchaser. Apple maintained it purchased the worldwide rights to the iPad trademark in 10 different countries in 2009 from Proview’s Taiwanese affiliate for about $55,000, including rights to market the iPad in China. When Proview sued, Apple accused them of not honoring that agreement. A Hong Kong court sided with us in this matter, Apple said. However, legal systems in Hong Kong and Mainland China are not very much alike, so the Hong Kong ruling is not helping Apple much in its broader legal dealings with Proview, which is pushing aggressively for a country-wide ban on iPad imports and exports in China in the hopes that Apple would settle.

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Twitter updated its iOS app with long overdue usability enhancements and a host of little improvements and bug fixes. Twitter for iOS version 4.1, a free download from the App Store, brought back the handy swipe shortcut. Just swipe a tweet in your home timeline to reply, retweet, favorite or share it, or view the Twitter user’s profile without leaving your timeline. You can also copy and paste tweets and profiles, press and hold links to get more options, including opening the link in Safari, tweet, copy or mail that link, or read it later.

When checking someone’s profile, the app will finally tell you whether that person is following you and people search results has gained verified badges. The Direct Message feature now lets you mark all DMs as read by tapping the check mark in the lower right corner. Other nice-to-haves: Font size settings, confirmation alert for Find Friends, and improved image quality in tweet detail.

Sadly, the app still does not support sending long tweets, and all these new features and improvements are for iPhone only. Release notes are after the break.

More information on the changes is available in a post over at the Twitter blog. The micro-blogging service also refreshed its Android client with similar features and it is Android optimized for devices running Ice Cream Sandwich, as well as on the Kindle Fire, the Barnes & Noble Nook Color, and Nook Tablet. More details are on our sister blog 9to5Google.com.

Twitter for iOS version 4.1

Changes are for iPhone only:
- Swipe shortcut
- Copy and paste for tweets and profiles
- Press and hold actions on links in tweet details
- Font size settings
- Direct Message improvements
- Confirmation alert for Find Friends
- Improved startup time and general performance improvement
- Improved image quality in tweet detail
- Accessibility improvements
- Profile shows whether a user follows you
- Verified badges in people search results
- New language: Turkish
- Lots of other polish and bug fixes

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Today only, MacConnection has the Mac Mini base configuration for $529.95 with free shipping. That’s $70 off retail and the lowest price we’ve seen (refurb is $519 at Apple).

Add 8GB of Corsair RAM from Amazon for $41.99 and you are still $30 below Apple’s original retail price.

Get a little tricky by adding a super speedy Samsung 830 SSD (review) via iFixit’s second drive kit.

We have other Mac Desktops at lowest available prices here.

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As a preview: It does not look like ABC found anything too damaging. You can hear anchor Bill Weir say at 3:40:

“Although we didn’t find any egregious violations, if the Fair Labor Association finds any violations, we’ll report those going forward.”

Another set of YouTube videos and some factoids from the show are below:

The Verge updated with some interesting facts:

Here is the rest of what we learned:

• It takes 141 steps to make an iPhone, and the devices are essentially all handmade.
• It takes 5 days and 325 hands to make a single iPad.
• Foxconn produces 300k iPad camera modules per day.
• Foxconn workers pay for their own food — about $.70 per meal, and work 12-hour shifts.
• Workers who live in the dorms sleep six to eight a room, and pay $17.50 a month to do so.
• Workers make $1.78 an hour
• New employees at Foxconn undergo three days of training and “team building” exercises before they begin.
• The FLA (which Apple brought in to audit Foxconn) is interested in whether workers will look up at visitors in a factory — if they will be “willing to look at curiosities.”
• Apple paid $250,000 to join the FLA, and is paying for its audit.
• Louis Woo, when asked if he would accept Apple demanding double pay for employees replied: “Why not?”

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As Apple ramped up its Maiden, N.C. data center over the past few years, it was clear that it was looking to expand even further. Late last year there was a report that Apple was looking near Prineville Oregon, just a quarter-mile from Facebook’s massive datacenter, for a plot of land. The plan was called, “Project Maverick.”

Today, local station KTVZ, confirmated (via Macrumors) that Apple purchased a 160-acre parcel in Prineville from Crook County for $5.6 million just a stone’s throw from the huge facility built by Facebook. (Pictured, right.)

Apple’s Kristin Huguet confirmed the deal:

Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet confirmed Tuesday that “we purchased the land and it’s for a data center,” but could not speak to details beyond that, other than to say it will be a “green” facility.

She noted the company this week launched a new Website, www.apple.com/environment, which covers a wide variety of its “green” efforts, including LEED energy-efficiency certification for its new Maiden, North Carolina data center. Huguet noted it will have the largest solar array and largest fuel cell in the U.S.

County commissioners signed the deed on Feb. 15— the day that Oregon passed a tax break for corporations wanting to build data centers (including Facebook).

“We just don’t know what their plans are,” said McCabe, adding that he’s “confident it will be good for Prineville and Crook County. These folks have been wonderful to work with.” He also said: “We will look forward to a long-term relationship with them.”

According to McCabe, Facebook helped lure Apple to the area, saying: “You’ve got to come up and look at this community.”

General area of the new DataCenter:

.

Great respect for The Daily but regrettably someone is giving them bad info, and that’ll be clear in the “coming weeks.”

—
Microsoft News (@MSFTnews) February 21, 2012

Microsoft attempted to kibosh the news surrounding its Microsoft Office app for the iPad started by The Daily earlier today. It told The New York Times: 

“The Daily story is based on inaccurate rumors and speculation. We have no further comment.”

It also told Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet:

A Microsoft spokesperson said the screen shot accompanying The Daily’s story is not a picture of a real Microsoft software product. But the spokesperson also said Microsoft is declining to comment as to whether or not the company has developed a version of Office for the iPad and/or when such a product may come to market.

She later added this communication from Hickey:

“Right now, someone with a mid-level job at Microsoft is being yelled at. To that person: I’m sorry, I owe you a beer. But say it however you want to, we both know that Office for iPad is on its way. And if it’s as cool as the version I’ve seen, you’ve got a winner.”

A Microsoft employee released a third statement to the MacObserver:

Danell Arvberger, Sr. Category Manager – Office for Mac, said, “Interesting, this is the first I’ve heard of it. Thanks for sharing the article. If I find anything out and able to share I will let you know.”

It sounds like Microsoft is doing a non-denial denial. But wait, Hickey has more:

.

Peter Ha responded to Mary Jo Foley that not only is the above screenshot from the Microsoft Office iPad app, but it was shown to them by someone at Microsoft.

@maryjofoley we did not fabricate either image. A working version of the app was demoed to us by someone at Microsoft.

—
Peter Ha (@ThePeterHa) February 21, 2012

What’s going on here? Any takers?

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Apple announced today the deadline for developers’ sandboxing their Mac App Store apps was extended from March 1 to June. The restriction coupled with the introduction of Apple’s Gatekeeper feature in Mountain Lion, which automatically prevents apps not signed by Apple recognized developers from running in 10.8, creates a much more controlled ecosystem for apps on OS X. Of course, Gatekeeper can at this point be easily bypassed to run non-Apple approved apps, and sandboxing is simply meant to limit an application’s control within the OS to prevent malicious activity. With tighter control over how apps run on Macs, some devs fear a more iOS-like environment for apps on OS X is on the way.

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