So, you want to manage a project and need the perfect app to aid the process. First decide whether you are a professional manager, or an amateur just seeking a better scheduling app, before jumping into this hands-on. If you are the latter, OmniPlan for iPad is definitely not the productivity app for you. With that said, this review is a little ironic for me. I am probably the most unorganized person alive. Anyway, let’s delve into the nitty gritty on this whopping $49.99 app available at the App Store.
UPDATE: On Tuesday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and National Iranian American Council called upon Apple to change its policy and take appropriate steps to guarantee further enforcement of the policy will not impede on Iranian’s rights in the United States.
9to5Mac contacted Apple and the councils and will update again if they issue a comment.
An Apple Store in Georgia apparently refused to sell iOS devices to an Alpharetta woman and her uncle, because they spoke Farsi to each other.
Sahar Sabet, 19, is a United States citizen and student at the University of Georgia. She and her uncle were recently shopping for an iPad and iPhone at an Apple Store in the North Pointe Mall. They were conversing in Farsi, a Persian-Iranian language, when an employee overheard them and asked what language they were speaking.
According to WSBTV, the woman answered, but then the Apple employee said, “I just can’t sell this to you. Our countries have bad relations.”
Another customer, Zack Jafarzadeh, apparently received the same treatment at a different Apple Store in the Perimeter Mall in Atlanta. He recently accompanied a friend who tried to buy an iPhone.
“We never talked about him going back to Iran or anything like that. He was just speaking full-fledged Farsi and the representative came back and denied our sale,” said Jafarzadeh to WSBTV. “I would say if you’re trying to buy an iPhone, don’t tell them anything about Iran. That would be your best bet.”
Sabet returned to the North Point Apple Store on Monday with WSBTV’s Amy Napier Viteri, and they caught the same employee describing an Apple policy on camera that allegedly prohibits the sale of products to Iranians. A manager even presented the duo with the policy, which said the exportation, sale, or supply of Apple products from U.S. to Iran is not allowed without prior authorization by the federal government. The manager explained Apple Stores have to “rely on customers to be honest.”
Facebook just teased more iOS integration in a short post on the company’s Developers page amid buzz that it bought another successful company with an iOS app at its core.
According to the social network, it is working on a “major update” to the Facebook SDK for iOS that will launch soon:
We’re very excited about the Facebook integration in iOS 6 that Apple announced last week at WWDC 2012. We’re working on a major update to the Facebook SDK for iOS that will launch in the coming weeks. It includes significant new features and enhancements that make it easier to add Facebook to your iOS apps, along with support for the Facebook integration in iOS 6. Stay tuned!
There are no details on the update, but TheNextWeb speculated it involves the Open Graph, “allowing iOS developers to easily hook into your Timeline and its News Feed and Ticker products has become a way to send an app’s growth into the stratosphere.” The publication also wondered if the update would help developers launch apps in the App Center more easily.
Integration between Apple and Facebook unveiled last Monday for both iOS 6 and Mountain Lion during the Worldwide Developers Conference.
Microsoft is allegedly prepping to directly compete with Apple in the tablet market
The Redmond, Wash.-based Company scheduled an event in Los Angeles on Monday to make a “major announcement.” AllThingsD reported earlier this week that the event would unveil Microsoft’s tablet plans:
After signaling for months that it would attack the market only through its traditional hardware partners, Microsoft has decided to enter the tablet business more directly. […]
Sources say that Microsoft concluded that it needs its own tablet, with the company designing both the hardware and software in an effort to better compete against Apple’s strengths. Microsoft’s tablets may include machines running ARM-based processors as well as models running on traditional PC processors, sources said.
Perhaps more interesting: The Wrap claimed Microsoft will self-manufacture the device, which is an assertion that AllThingsD supports. The move is certainly plausible, because Microsoft snatched a 17.6-percent stake in Barnes and Noble’s Nook eReader business last month for $300 million. One could speculate that Apple and Amazon’s dominating presence in the market causes companies like Microsoft and Barnes and Noble to join forces.
Rajat Gupta is on the right (image via the Wall Street Journal).
A federal jury just convicted Rajat Kumar Gupta, an ex-Goldman Sachs director, of insider trading in a case that involves swapped information about Apple and other technology firms.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Gupta was convicted on three counts of securities fraud, one count of conspiracy, and acquitted of two counts of securities fraud. The executive dabbled in a bit of insider trading when he discussed non-public boardroom information about his company and Procter & Gamble to a prominent hedge fund manager.
Raj Rajaratnam, the founder of Galleon Group, which is a New York-based hedge fund management firm, earned millions off Gupta’s tips. He is now serving an 11-year prison sentence on charges stemming from the insider trading case. Lawyers for Gupta recently submitted evidence that pinpointed another Goldman Sachs executive as sharing inside information with Rajaratnam.
As 9to5Mac previously detailed, David Loeb, who is head of Asia equity sales for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., in New York, was supposedly caught on a U.S. wiretap providing confidential information about Apple Inc., Intel Corp., and Hewlett-Packard Co., to Rajaratnam.
According to SFGate, the Manhattan jury contemplated the charges against Gupta, but did not listen the wiretap evidence during his trial. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff ruled that the wiretaps were inadmissible hearsay. An attorney for Gupta told the judge earlier this week that the evidence about Loeb was critical to the defense and proved “that another person committed an act of which the defendant stands accused.”
The defense rested its case and the jury concluded this morning. Gupta faces up to five years in prison for the conspiracy charge and up to 20 years for each fraud charge. His sentencing is set for Oct. 18.
AOC touts its new Aire iPlay monitor with a built-in iPhone dock as a great gift Father’s Day, and Amazon is now carrying it for $50 off its launch price.
The 60-year-old Taiwan-based display manufacturer integrated a 30-pin docking station at the base of the 12.9 mm-thin, full HD 23-inch screen. It also included 10-watt SRS Sound speakers to allow seamless video, audio, and photo playback from an iPhone or iPod in 1080p resolution.
“The Aire iPlay displays photos and video content from your iPhone and iPod on a screen that is 37 times larger than the device it comes from,” said AOC’s Marketing Manager Robert Velez in a press release. “Whether you are playing videogames, watching movies on Netflix or videos on YouTube, or charging your iDevice, the Aire iPlay brings multimedia functionality to your monitor.”
Barack Obama’s current Campaign Manager Jim Messina revealed recently that Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs encouraged him to capitalize on technology in ways that are boosting the president’s re-election efforts.
According to Businessweek, Messina quit his gig as the White House deputy chief of staff in January to become Obama’s 2012 campaign manager. He immediately met with executives at Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, DreamWorks, and more to commence a forward thinking stand for office.
“I went around the country for literally a month of my life interviewing these companies and just talking about organizational growth, emerging technologies, marketing,” said Messina to Businessweek.
He further described two conversations that he had with Jobs while still acting as deputy chief. The Apple co-founder told Messina last year that mobile technology—coupled with social—had to be the primary focus in the re-election effort.
“Last time you were programming to only a couple of channels,” said Jobs, while referring to the Web and email. “This time, you have to program content to a much wider variety of channels—Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, Google—because people are segmented in a very different way than they were four years ago.”
Apple and others, like Google, LinkedIn, and Path, now know that privacy is synonymous with users’ information, and the iDevice-maker is finally attempting to rights its wrongs by requiring user permission in iOS 6 before apps can access any sensitive particulars.
According to the “Security” section of the release notes:
In iOS 6, the system now protects Calendars, Reminders, Contacts, and Photos as part of Apple’s data isolation privacy initiative.
Users will see access dialogs when an app tries to access any of those data types. The user can switch access on and off in Settings > Privacy.
There are APIs available to allow developers to set a “purpose” string that is displayed to users to help them understand why their data is being requested.
There are changes to the EventKit and Address Book frameworks to help developers with this feature..
Apple’s iOS 6 preview launched during the opening keynote of the Worldwide Developers Conference. It is now in beta for developers but will release to the public this fall.
The new 15.4-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display is either out of stock, coming soon, on pre-order, or experiencing delayed shipping on almost every retail website, but it appears one seller is offering the latest Cupertino notebook on eBay—for roughly $1,700 more than Apple’s asking price.
The above eBay deal comes with same day, free shipping and includes insurance (if this is even considered a deal). Another eBay listing offers the base model MacBook Pro for $3,199 USD, but another $95.80 USD is required for USPS priority shipping from Canada.
It is probably safe to say these puppies are in high demand, as evident by the exorbitant price markups. Expand Expanding Close
Amazon just bulked its Kindle app for iOS, Android, and its Cloud Reader by adding children’s books, comics, and graphic novels that were previously exclusive to Kindle Fire owners.
The apps now offer over 1,000 titles for children with features like Text Pop-Up, which help to improve and simplify the reading experience, and Kindle Panel View for comics and graphics to allow panel-by-panel viewing. A few of the literary additions include Brown Bear, Curious George, Batman, and Superman.
The iOS version also touts a new Search option to locate content by title or author. Meanwhile, Android tablet owners, or those with Cloud Reader on a widescreen display, will notice the ability to customize their reading experience with new margin and line spacing controls and side-by-side viewing of two pages in landscape mode.
The Kindle for iOS app is free on the App Store and boasts a 3.5-star rating based on over 165,000 reviews as of press time.
Steve Wozniak traveled to upstate New York recently to visit a farm of rescued horses, and the local paper managed to snag a brief interview with the co-founder of Apple, where he discussed the criticism surrounding Siri.
Apple’s little personal assistant in iOS can handle questions, give recommendations, and delegate requests, but many wonder if it really lives up to expectations. The folks in Cupertino like to roll out commercials that show Siri capable of compiling individual preferences with personalized results, and even completing basic tasks like finding a nearby restaurant, but the software met very mixed reactions after it débuted on the iPhone 4S in October. Those who felt misled by Siri’s beta functionality depicted in ads eventually sought reimbursement by filing a class action lawsuit against the company earlier this year.
While in Patersonville, N.Y., Wozniak described his strong opinions on the voice-recognition application.
“A lot of people say Siri. I say poo-poo,” Wozniak said. “I was using it to make reservations long before Apple bought it.”
“I would say, ‘Siri, what are the five largest lakes in California?’ and it would come up, one, two, three, four, five. And I would ask ‘What are the prime numbers greater than 87?’ and they would come up all in a row. That was pretty incredible,” Wozniak said.
He said he told family and friends about Siri and how “This was the future: speaking things in normal ways, feeling like you’re talking to a human and how Siri was the greatest program,” Wozniak said.
“Then Apple bought Siri,” he said. He then paused, lifted his right hand and gave it a big thumbs down.
“‘What are the largest lakes in California?’ I’d get all these lakefront properties. And I’d say ‘What are the prime numbers greater than 87?’ And I’d get prime rib,” Wozniak said.
“I’m really disappointed, but it’s still a market for the future,” Wozniak said. “I think voice recognition for all the platforms is going to get better and better and better at putting together complete sentences and phrases. What did a human really mean? Like, if you said ‘Five, I mean six.’ It will understand a backup, the little faults in our speech that humans understand. It will understand that eventually.”
Wozniak iterated similar rumblings to a developer at FourSquare earlier this year. He even used the same lake/prime rib example. The reporter in this interview should have asked him, “Perhaps Siri knows you like prime rib?”
Despite Wozniak’s criticism of Siri, the quirky businessman seemed enthusiastic about Apple’s latest developments revealed at the Worldwide Developers Conference. He specifically said he is excited about Apple’s new computer lineup and app called “Passbook,” which essentially turns a user’s iPhone into a digital wallet.
“People are always going to be disappointed,” he added, when asked if Apple let down consumers at WWDC. “I really like the new MacBook.”
Apple announced earlier this week at the Worldwide Developers Conference that Baidu will come to the iPhone in the iOS 6 software update, but it just came to light that the Cupertino, Calif.-based Company plans to seize a portion of the China-based search engine’s advertising sales as part of the deal.
The revenue-sharing agreement with Apple follows similar accords between Baidu and manufacturers of handsets that use Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android operating system, Wang Jing, vice president at Beijing-based Baidu, said in a phone interview today. He declined to disclose the commercial terms.
Apple said this week it will offer Baidu’s search-engine as an option for iPhone and iPad customers, and add Chinese- language support for its Siri voice technology, as the world’s most valuable company tailors its products for Chinese consumers. Baidu, which fields about 80 percent of China’s Web searches, is prepared to incur costs to add smartphone users by offering services such as music streaming for free, Wang said.
Eric Wen, who rates Baidu buy at Mirae Asset Securities, told Bloomberg that Baidu previously shared revenue with websites to encourage traffic for the search engine, while it now has a focus on sharing with smartphone manufacturers. He further estimated that Baidu distributed less than 10 percent of its generated smartphone revenue to those manufacturers.
The deal reflects Baidu’s need to invest in the mobile industry instead of computers, because more people in China are accessing the Internet through smartphones. It is worth noting that Baidu is already baked into 80 percent of Android devices.
Apple just released an update (link) for the newly launched MacBook Air.
Software update 1.0 weighs 1.06GB and fixes several issues, including: graphics stability, flash performance, and external display support. The tweak accompanies more recent updates for the new MacBook Pro and MacBook Pro with Retina display, which unveiled earlier this week at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference.
Disney launched three iOS apps today for the iPhone and iPad that offer live streams to premium content previously only accessible on cable.
Watch Disney Channel (iTunes), Watch Disney XD (iTunes), and Watch Disney Junior (iTunes) are free on the App Store, but users must confirm their Comcast subscription to view live-streaming content. The apps allow non-subscribers to watch a limited collection of episodes, however, which is a step up from competing apps like HBO Go that only authorize cable subscribers.
Comcast closed a streaming deal with Disney in January as part of the company’s TV Everywhere initiative to pioneer open access to cable channels across all of its devices. These three Disney apps are the most recent product of that vision.
Japan-based DeNA announced that its “Rage of Bahamut” app became the No. 1 grossing game on both iOS and Android yesterday, while earning roughly the same revenue per day from each mobile platform.
The game’s success pokes holes in recent findings from Flurry, which claimed revenue generated per active user is four times greater on iOS than Android. The analytics firm noted that for every $1 earned on iOS, a developer could expect to earn about 24-cents on Android.
“Contrary to what we read, we’ve been very happy with Android monetization. There is not a big discrepancy between the two now,” said DeNa Director Neil Young to TechCrunch.
Rage of Bahamut is a free trading card game that lets users battle either through a live single or multiplayer action mode against a “database of battle hungry foes.” It is on Apple’s App Store and boasts a 4.5-star rating on nearly 4,000 reviews as of press time.
TechCrunch further elaborated:
The game had the top slot on both platforms yesterday, but Kabam’s Kingdoms of Camelot took back the #1 iOS slot in the U.S. this morning. […]Young says Rage of Bahamut is seeing some impressive revenue numbers per day per user. In casual games, you usually see an average revenue per daily active user of a couple cents to 10 cents per day on mobile. The better games can get to 15 to 25 cents per day per daily active user. But Young says Rage of Bahamut has been able to do 4 or 5 times that. He didn’t say how much revenue overall the title is earning, but we’ve seen dual platform hits like Draw Something earn anywhere between $5 and 10 million per month through in-app purchases and advertising.
Those numbers are welcomed news for developers with growing concerns about mobile platforms lacking solid business models that encourage monetization.
A developer, called “Businesscat2000,” posted videos on the CrackBerry forums last weekend that depict iPad-based apps running on the RIM tablet. According to The Verge, CrackBerry’s Kevin Michaluk subsequently confirmed the developer’s efforts after conducting some tests:
Michaluk had the developer write out “Hi CrackBerry” on the SketchBook Mobile iOS app, as well as run the iPhone app for the site iMore. By successfully completing those tests, the developer proved that he wasn’t just playing videos of iOS apps on the PlayBook — the hack is the real deal.
Businesscat2000 also detailed his feat in the forums:
The CPU isn’t emulated on Playbook (though it is on Windows). It works very similarly to how WINE works to run Windows applications on Linux. The app binary is mapped into memory and imports are resolved to point to my own implementation of the various APIs needed. iOS actually uses a few open APIs already, which Playbook supports just as well (GL ES, and OpenAL). The bulk of the work has been in implementing all of the objective C classes that are required. The ARM code of the applications run as-is – the armv6/v7 support on PB/iDevices are pretty much identical, and the code is designed to run in USR mode. No SWIs, GPIO accesses or any of that kind of shenanigans.
More videos by the dev are below, including iOS apps running on Windows.
Apple released Thunderbolt Software Update 1.2 yesterday, but recent reports indicate the update is causing a host of issues for some users.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based Company said the update “adds support for the Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter,” but many have apparently discovered boot failures and other related problems like kernel panics, stalled boot screens, or “unexpected error” notices following installation.
According to threads in a few Apple discussions, the differentiating results all seem to leave Macs unusable. Fortunately, TidBits heard that reinstalling Lion fixes the complication. The website also claimed reinstalling the Mac OS X 10.7.4 Combo Update will remedy the situation.
Go to TidBits for more information on correcting this allegedly faulty software update.
Former Apple engineer and current Google employee Andy Hertzfeld expressed his disappointment in the new Mac Pro through a Google+ post this morning. He said the high-end desktop “seems like it’s stuck in time in 2010” and only received an “inconsequential processor clock bump.”
Apple unveiled an all-new MacBook Air and Pro lineup during its keynote, but the company did not announce any updates to its Mac Pro. The blogosphere jumped online to gobble up the notebooks, where they finally discovered the Mac Pro’s minor spec-bump listed under the familiar “new” notation. Since then, the Cupertino, Calif.-based Company has been under-fire for displaying the machinery as new when it only boasts a few slight changes.
Apple just revealed to developers via email that pop-rock band Neon Trees will put on a show at its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 14:
An amazing week just got better. Neon Trees will perform at Thursday night’s WWDC Bash. The party starts at 6:00 p.m. at Yerba Buena Gardens.
The WWDC Bash is intended to give developers’ coding skills a break. Apple told attendees on its website: “We’ll bring the food, the drinks, and the tunes. Just bring yourself and get ready to rock the night away.”
iFixit is hardcore when it comes to breaking open our favorite electronics to see what’s inside, and the website did it again today with the refreshed MacBook Air that unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference yesterday.
The updated 13-inch MacBook Air, equipped with USB 3.0 and MagSafe 2, sports a few new sizes for those pentalobe screws on the back. It also houses the same battery found in the preceding MacBook Air. Moreover, at first sight, its 128 GB SSD looks strikingly similar to the mid-2011 module:
“But upon closer inspection, the connector for this model’s flash memory module is slightly different than last year!”
The adjusted SSD form factor also shifted to a fresh flash controller. The current unit is SandForce SATA-III controller chip-based, but displays Toshiba marks. The tweaked notebook further boasts Intel Ivy Bridge Core i5 processor, Intel HD Graphics 4000, 128 GB flash memory, 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3L RAM, and Broadcom BCM 943224. iFixit said, again, that the wireless board is identical to the mid-2011 flavor, but this one carries rotated stickers (sarcasm intended).
Lastly, the RAM is still not upgradeable. Oh, and that MagSafe 2 connector is thinner and wider, and it is not compatible with Apple’s current Cinema displays unless paired with its $10 adapter.
Apple’s updated MacBook Pro with Retina display made a huge splash at yesterday’s opening keynote for the Worldwide Developers Conference, but droves of Mac-lovers will have to wait a few weeks before they can get their eager paws on one of these divine notebooks.
Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller noted the super-high resolution MacBook Pro would ship immediately while on stage at WWDC, but those taking a peak at Apple’s online store today will find a “2-3 weeks” shipping notice listed under the 15-inch Retina-optimized computers
The delay in shipping is likely due to high demand, but CNET pondered the alternative reasons:
It’s not immediately clear if the delay is due to miscommunication, a shipping snag, or simply that the first batch has sold out. In previous Apple launches, the company has promised a particular shipping time, only to find that the first group of units sell out, forcing it to modify the timetable for future orders.
Apple unveiled a host of China-targeted features for its operating systems during the opening keynote of the Worldwide Developers Conference yesterday, but the full suite of additions are now spotlighted on Apple’s website.
A few of the earmarks include integration with China’s Twitter-alternative Sina Weibo, Google-competitor Baidu, and YouTube-like Youku and Tudou. Communicating also got easier with improved input for emoticons and Chinese pinyin, and even Siri can now fully communicate in Chinese.
Some of the new features are now outlined on Apple’s website as part of the new Mountain Lion operating system. They address a number of long-standing issues for Chinese users, who can’t easily take advantage of Apple products’ existing integration with Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Google search because of government Web filtering and who previously had to use third-party apps or browsers to access Chinese Internet services. […]
Apple’s announcement of the new features shows how the Cupertino-based maker of iPads and iPhones is rushing to embrace China, now the company’s largest market outside of the U.S., after previously neglecting it.
The world’s largest mobile market by subscribers and second-largest PC market by unit shipments, China had to wait almost two and a half years, until 2009, before getting its first official iPhone launch. Apple didn’t start accepting payments in Chinese yuan for the App Store until last November.
A “trusted source” told BGR today that Apple plans to reveal a TV SDK at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco next week.
As the report suggested, this would allow third-party devs to build Apple TV-compatible software. The same website also claimed in May that Apple is testing a new “control out” API and wants to demo a refreshed version of the Apple TV operating system at WWDC that will run on the much-rumored Apple HDTV.
Apple’s annual conference currently has many “To Be Announced” sessions listed, which causes many to wonder what the Cupertino, Calif.-based Company has in the works. Daring Fireball’s John Gruber believes the mysterious sessions are simply new apps for Apple TV.
While we’ve heard a great deal about next week’s WWDC announcements (wrap up with new App info coming shortly), this AppleTV SDK hasn’t been seen by any of our sources.
The T4i notably boasts a revamped 18-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor and advanced autofocus functions when coupled with one of two new STM lens. Its cross-type AF with two-dimensional phase- and contrast-detection, with one of the STM lenses, provides a highly accurate focus despite frame composition. This tech is useful for both video and still shooting.
The first new lens is the EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM for $550, while the second is the EF 40mm f/2.8 STM for $200. The latter is more commonly known as a “pancake lens” that offers a silent zoom with better focusing for video. With these options, the camera should take a second to focus during video recording, but autofocus performance in low light should amaze for stills.
A few of the camera’s specs include a swing-arm 3-inch Clear View LCD display with “fingertip” controls, which means users can touch navigate through controls and menus, while physical options are still available. Video modes include 1080 with 30p, 25p and 24p, 1080/60i and 50i, but VGA shoots at 30 and 25 fps. This little DSLR can even capture up to five consecutive fps. The T4i also packs a built-in stereo microphone, mic input jack, and the familiar LP-E8 battery pack with an 1120mAh capacity.
The EOS Rebel T4i is set to roll out at the end of June at $849.99 for the body alone; $949.99 bundled with an EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II lens kit, or a “Movie Kit bundle” for $1199.00 with the new EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens.
