The timing is suspicious but Microsoft this week got together all of their Multi-touch mouse work and put it on display over at Engadget. Apple is widely expected to put forth new multi-touch capable mice, along with new, smaller keyboards, MacBooks, Minis and iMacs, on any given Tuesday. (Note the music is loud and annoying)
http://www.cnet.com/av/video/flv/universalPlayer/universalSmall.swf
Hello and welcome to Microsoft Monday today, with the company’s bombastic CEO putting the smack down on Apple market share, preparations for the Windows Mobile 6.5 OS tomorrow plainly under way, and in a moment which should forever eradicate the notion that security and Microsoft are friends, the shock leak of thousands of Hotmail passwords giving the company a headache.
First the world inside the mind of Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, who today continued his verbal assault on all things Apple, saying, "[Apple has] done a very good job of marketing to their 3.5 per cent of the market. I’m glad we’re doing a great job with the other 96.5 per cent."
The bombastic MSFT boss was chatting with Cnet when he made his claims, though he refused to make any utterances on the shock revelations of the Microsoft Courier tablet, which eagle-eyed readers may recall they read about here first….
On Apple, Ballmer talked up his company’s mass market approach over Apple’s excellence in execution. "They advertise basically to that small niche of people who want their machines. And I don’t take it away from them; they make a very good business doing it," he said. "So, we need to have messages that are appropriate to the vast majority of people, and it’s fine. There may be 3 percent of people who sort of appreciate their approach."
Ballmer keeps it going when discussing Windows Mobile too, promising a scatter gun approach until Microsoft gets it right, “we’re going to keep (coming out) with new releases, new releases, new releases,” he said. You could look at everything else Microsoft’s boss has to say right here…
Windows Mobile 6.5
Microsoft is excited at the release tomorrow of the first mobile phones running Windows Mobile 6.5, which includes support for a touch-screen interface and connects to a new online store where mobile users will be able to download applications.
The patch is seen as hugely important to the company, as it has to respond to Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android systems if it wants to retain any relevancy in the mobile phone sector, where it has lost almost 3 per cent of its share of the smartphone operating system so far. The company aims to release Windows Mobile 7 early next year, it has previously promised.
Meanwhile, Microsoft’s attempt at an App Store is already online, and available to those few phones out there in the wild running Windows Mobile 6.5.
The Hotmail disaster
So with Microsoft marketing in full effect, it’s a shame news has emerged that thousands of Hotmail passwords have been leaked...
Password details for Windows Live Hotmail accounts, including @hotmail.com, @msn.com, and @live.com e-mail addresses, were revealed anonymously at pastebin.com, a site that lets users share text snippets.
As of October 1 there were over 10,000 of these account passwords posted as a result of either some type of "hack" or phishing scheme, according to Ars Technica, which cites Neowin as the first source for this information.
“The list reportedly details accounts with usernames beginning with "ar" all the way to "bl," which suggests there may be details for many more thousands of accounts,” the report warns.
This implies many thousand more Hotmail or Windows Live users may need to change their passwords immediately – and also hints that those of us who may have once signed-up for one of these accounts and used a favourite password may need to apply changes in the password if they also use it on other sites and services.
Psystar is perhaps going a little too far here? Today, they’ve announced that they aren’t just selling Mac Clones. They are certifying other maker’s PCs for their new virtualization technology for Snow Leopard – effectively making their systems Mac OSX compatible.
They are touting a technology called the Darwin Universal Boot Loader (DUBL) and will have three versions: Desktop, Server or Mobile. Once a product is certified, consumers can purchase it off the shelf or through standard channels and when labeled Psystar Certified would allow the installation of Snow Leopard simply by inserting the retail OS X DVD. They also tout a separate "Safe Update" program which will allow special versions of the software updates to be pushed.
Wow, this is certainly big news and a new direction for Psystar. With that being said, we wouldn’t want to be within 1000 meters of Steve Jobs when he hears this news. Something tells us that there is going to be a few more $$ thrown in the Apple lawyers coffers pretty quickly.
PSYSTAR Announces OEM Licensing Program: Psystar Corporationannounced today their OEM Licensing Program. Psystar will begin certifying manufacturer’s hardware to allow the licensing of Psystar’s new virtualization technology, effectively making their systems Mac OS X compatible. Psystar’s virtualization technology, specifically engineered for Snow Leopard, allows for seamless operation of the Mac OS on generic Intel Hardware and would be offered on all Psystar Certified machines.
Miami, FL (PRWEB) October 5, 2009 — Psystar Corporation announced today their OEM Licensing Program. Psystar will begin certifying manufacturer’s hardware to allow the licensing of Psystar’s new virtualization technology, effectively making their systems Mac OS X compatible. Psystar’s virtualization technology, specifically engineered for Snow Leopard, allows for seamless operation of the Mac OS on generic Intel Hardware and would be offered on all Psystar Certified machines.
In an effort to spread the Snow Leopard experience to an ever-expanding number of people, the licensing initiative will allow manufacturers to have their hardware Psystar Certified and have their computers pre loaded with our unique technology including the Darwin Universal Boot Loader (DUBL). Qualifying products must fall in Desktop, Server or Mobile categories. Once a product is certified, consumers can purchase it off the shelf or through standard channels and when labeled Psystar Certified would allow the installation of Snow Leopard simply by inserting the retail OS X DVD.
Psystar’s vision of open computing is to provide users with the freedom to choose which OS’s they install on their hardware. The Licensing Program will allow computer manufacturers the opportunity to ship the certified systems pre-configured with DUBL and OS of choice including Windows 7, Windows Vista and several flavors of Linux. These systems would also be compatible with Mac OS X Snow Leopard and receive normal software updates through the use of "Safe Update" technology. The customer can install the Mac OS themselves simply by inserting the retail DVD or choose to install several other OS’s with no manual boot configuration. DUBL supports up to six different operating systems on a single machine and configures itself *automagicly*.
Manufacturers can benefit from this unique licensing opportunity with minimal expense and in several hardware markets. In most cases Psystar will tailor the technology to a specific hardware profile(s) at no additional engineering cost, allowing manufacturers to save time and money by utilizing our familiarity running the Mac OS X on generic hardware.
If you are interested in participating in the Licensing Program, head over to Psystar.com (http://www.psystar.com) or send an email to Licensing@psystar.com.
OS X, OS X Snow Leopard, Snow Leopard and Macintosh are products and trademarks of Apple, Inc. Psystar purchases copies of these operating systems to resell as part of its Open Computer systems. Psystar has no other affiliations with Apple, Inc.
The NPD Group’s 2009 Household Penetration Study, reveals that approximately 12 per cent of all US computer owning households own a Mac, up from 9 per cent in 2008.
The researchers note to that while Apple ownership is growing, the mix favors mixed system environments. Of those 12 per cent, nearly 85 percent also own a Windows-based PC.
From the Press Release:
“Multiple computer ownership is a common thread in Apple computer households, with 66 per cent of households owning three or more computers, compared to just 29 per cent of Windows PC households. Apple owning households are decidedly more mobile as well, with 72 percent of them owning a notebook, whereas only 50 percent of households that have a Windows PC own a notebook.
“Not only do Apple computer owners own more computers (and more mobile computers) than the norm they also tend to own more types of electronics, and more of them, than typical computer owning households. For example, while 36 per cent of total computer owning households have an iPod, 63 per cent of Apple households have one. And while almost 50 per cent of Apple owners own some type of navigation system, only about 30 per cent of all computer households own one.”
"While Apple owners tend to own more computers and more electronics devices, there is also a high correlation among Apple owners and more affluent consumer households," said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis. "Thirty-six percent of Apple computer owners reported household incomes greater than $100,000, compared to 21 per cent of all consumers. "With a higher household income, though, it’s not a surprise that those consumers are making more electronics purchases," Baker said. "The average Apple household owns 48 CE devices whereas the average computer household owns about 24. Apple household owners’ actions and purchases can be used by the industry as leading indicators for hot new products and adoption."
A total of more than 2,300 of NPD’s online panelists completed this survey.
Adobe has revealed a series of alliances and new Flash software which threatens to bring support for its proprietary multimedia software to almost every mobile device – except Apple’s iPhone.
At the MAX conference in Los Angeles Adobe is is demonstrating Flash Player 10.1 for smartphones, a version of mobile Flash that delivers faster rendering, lower memory consumption and all for less battery drain. A beta is expected to be available for Windows Mobile, Palm webOS and desktop systems including Windows, Macintosh and Linux later this year.
Public betas for Google Android and Symbian OS are expected to be available in early 2010. In addition, Adobe and RIM announced a joint collaboration to bring Flash Player to Blackberry smartphones, and Google joined up for the Open Screen Project initiative.
Flash Player 10.1 is the first consistent runtime release of the Open Screen Project that enables uncompromised Web browsing of expressive applications, content and high definition (HD) videos across devices.
New mobile-ready features that take advantage of native device capabilities include support for multi-touch, gestures, mobile input models, accelerometer and screen orientation. Take a look at a demo on a Palm Pre here.
“We’ve been working with some great partners including Nvidia and ARM to optimize the player for those devices and create a quality mobile experience,” said Adobe Flash developer, Ryan Stewart.
David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president, Platform Business Unit at Adobe. “We are excited about the broad collaboration of close to 50 industry leaders in the Open Screen Project and the ongoing collaboration with 19 out of the top 20 handset manufacturers worldwide. It will be great to see first devices ship with full Flash Player in the first half of next year.”
Missing from the line-up – at least so far – is Apple. Take a look at what Harry McCracken has to say about that – is Flash support on phones a promise for a multimedia future, or just going to end up meaning those annoying Flash-based ads will also play on your phone, sucking your battery power? McCracken argues that iPhone users are steadily becoming less interested in Flash on the iPhone, as they have thousands of Apps to keep them entertained.
Streetlights in New York were transformed into gigantic white iPod earbuds as part of an Apple advertising stunt.
At the bottom of the stand a plastic dummy iPod with a flatscreen played music videos, as reported by ads agency ideas resource, New Creatives via the ShinyShiny blog.
Not much more to say, just thought you’d like to take a look…
Apple’s tablet may be powered by a PA Semi chip, claims Jason O’Grady, noting Intel’s May 2008 blunder when it claimed a larger version iPhone would eventually ship using an Intel Atom chip.
Intel later retracted the statement, issuing an apology in which it implied Atom wasn’t suitable for Apple because it was unable to match ARM’s low power demands.
O’Grady also believes Intel’s statements then hinted the firm would not be providing the chip for Apple’s tablet, which he sees as likely to ship with an ARM processor, “and eventually a new custom ARM chip from PA Semi”.
Development of that custom chip may be further along than he thinks. The Taiwan Economic News last month said the Apple tablet would use a PA Semi chip. And the company is aiming to sell 300,000 of the devices each month on launch in February.
ARM in September announced its new 2GHz, dual-core chip, a version of its Cortex-A9 architecture. This followed a December 2008 Computerworld article by our own Seth Weintraub, which predicts Apple’s tablet will be based on ARM’s Cortex architecture.
Earlier this year we also learned that PA Semi’s team was split into two parts following the Apple take-over of the company, one team designing portable ARM-based processors for iPhones and iPods, and another designing a processor for the tablet device.
Speculation as to all this is likely to continue in the months to come, with the New York Times this morning telling us Apple has had teams working on the device since 2003.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs is understood to have pulled several prototypes off the agenda, partially because he couldn’t see what the tablet’s raison d’etre would be.
Today we can speculate the tablet will be a device which summons all Apple’s multimedia principalities into one place, capable of driving multimedia experiences on a par with iTunes Extras, shipping with a plethora of eBooks, and more. As well as interesting two-handed gesture/touch-based controls.
Arnt Eriksen and Thomas Moen got Digg founder Kevin Rose to confirm that his company is developing an application for the iPhone..
They were interviewing him on other topics, but spotted him using the App on his iPhone, so popped the question: "No one’s meant to know about that," said Rose…
Via: ReadWriteWeb
It looks like Amazon might be inadvertently letting one of their vendors sell "new" iTunes gift cards for under market value. We have no proof that they aren’t real, it just seems a bit suspicious that they send the code via an email and are selling for significantly less than market value. There is no physical "card". Here’s one review:
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What do you think? Real or counterfeit?
New York Times has another tablet piece today. Nothing too insane but some nice little nuggies:
The tablet debate has been going on for quite some time within Apple, according to the Times‘ sources. They had one running on a Power(hungry)PC in 2003.
“It couldn’t be built. The battery life wasn’t long enough, the graphics performance was not enough to do anything and the components themselves cost more than $500,” said Joshua A. Strickland, a former Apple engineer whose name is on several of the company’s patents for multitouch technology.
The best bit? Jobs himself shelved it on multiple occasions, saying, in essence, what they were good for besides surfing the Web in the bathroom?
They go on to speculate that the tablet will be a big, glorified iPod with a 100,000 application App Store on day one. Yada Yada.
Much more background from the Times here.
iMagnify turns your iPhone into a magnifying glass (App Store $1.99). That will probably get the developer a few hundred thousand dollars as well as a bunch of cheap knockoffs in a few days.
D’oh!
Apple Legal plans legal action against Australia retailer, Woolworths, over use of a logo the computer company thinks is too similar to its own.
Woolworths insists its logo is no more than a stylised W, but Apple plans a legal challenge all the same. How similar do the two logos appear to you?
As part of the action, Apple Inc. will have to convince IP Australia, the Australian Federal Government agency that governs trademarks, to reject Woolworths’ trademark application, filed in August last year.
The issue is Woolworths gradual move to diversify its product offering. Winning the trademark would entitle the retailer to put its logo on all manner of devices, including computers, should the company choose to OEM its own models. The application includes uses which govern various classes of consumer electronics, including computers.
A bigger issue is Apple Retail. Apple is currently expanding its international retail operations, including launch of its own-branded stores in Australia.
Apple takes pains to protect its trademark in most such cases.
Searchengineland reports that the iPhone Maps application has started to serve Geo-targeted ads by Google. They’ve got the screenshots to back it up as well. It isn’t immediately clear whether or not Apple will share the revenue stream with Google, although this might be a possible reason for them to consider doing mapping on their own.
Update: They are also throwing in some poorly done user generated content.
FWIW, we think this is a great idea and really the future of advertising – but just not something Apple may not appreciate in one of its main apps.
This one was from last week…
Embedded video from CNN Video
When Adsense ads with new Apple products start hitting Dutch, Italian and Austrian Google searches, you know updates are coming soon. You also know that there will be a job opening shortly for a Google European Ad manager.
Google Translation: Mac mini: Faster and more affordable than ever. From only € 499. Order immediately. [FYI current starting price is €599]
Google Translation:MacBook: Thinner, lighter and stronger! Free delivery. Order today.
Google Translation: iMac: Ultra Thin 20 & 24 inch models. From only €1099. Apple Store
The ads largely line up with previous predictions made by Wedge Partners.
Following September’s release of a partial jailbreaking tool for iPhone OS 3, the iPhone Dev Team today introduced PwnageTool 3.1.3, which will now also unlock an iPhone 3GS.
The tool will not however function on an iPhone 3GS which has iPhone OS.3.1 installed. The iPod touch (second generation) is also now supported, though the most recent third edition model is not.
The developers state:
“The iPhone 3GS is now supported in PwnageTool 3.1.3, assuming the phone was pwned at 3.0 or 3.0.1 – PwnageTool does not support the 3GS out of the box. If your iPhone 3GS has 3.1 preinstalled and is not Pwned then there is no tested jailbreak solution at the moment.”
Jailbreaking an iPhone is a complex task that should not be attempted by anyone who has not fully read and understood the extensive instructions provided on the Dev-Teams blog.
Now equipped with built-in support for Amazon’s MP3 store as a back-up plan, Palm has once again equipped the Palm Pre with the ability to sync with iTunes, offering up WebOS 1.2.1 to achieve the same.
Release notes accompanying the new software state the release: “Resolves an issue preventing media sync from working with latest version of iTunes (9.0.1)”.
We’re curious what Apple’s next move on the matter will be, particularly because Palm’s move to complain to the USB Forum over Apple’s denial of iTunes sync saw the Pre-maker castigated for the way it used Apple’s Vendor ID to enable iTunes sync.
We’re not convinced Palm CEO, Jon Rubinstein, isn’t burning a few too many bridges as he tries to attract publicity to his new device.
The update also offers a fix for problems syncing with Exchange 2007. These problems emerged in the WebOS 1.2 release. It implements better media sync, improves security and resolves some streaming media problems when using the Pre’s web browser.
Yeah it is the T-Pain app again, this time with Obama – have a good weekend…
Engadget’s got the quickly-removed-from-the-FCC new mouse and keyboard that Apple plans on rolling out in the next few weeks. Interestingly, the keyboard is smaller (that old wireless keyboard was way too big!) and the mouse is more rectangular that the current Mighty Mouse.
How long do we have to wait, Apple? How long?
Engadget notes:
A new Apple Bluetooth keyboard and mouse have arrived at the FCC, and they’ve got new model numbers of A1314 and A1296 — the current wireless keyboard is A1255 and the Mighty Mouse is A1197. That’s pretty much all we know for now, but these keyboard dimensions are also smaller than the current model, which rules out a return of the numeric keypad — sorry to dash your hopes, Excel jockeys.
After a brief in-court skirmish, Apple and Eminem
Eight Mile Style attorney Richard Busch said Friday that the deal was reached late Thursday. He declined to disclose details of the settlement.
The music publisher had claimed that a previous distribution deal with Aftermath Records covering 93 Eminem
The case reached court yesterday, reports from which indicated a tense courtroom discussion between the parties.
As reported by The Detroit News, the trial grew heated as Eight Mile Style’s legal team posed an aggressive cross-examination of a music company executive over whether Interscope Records impring Aftermath ever had the rights to sell the hip-hop artist’s songs over the Internet.
The case hinged on a difference in wording included within the existing deal for record distribution. Eight Mile Style pointed out that the deal the record label claimed allowed it to sell Eminem’s music digitally only said copyright “will be licensed” to the label. It did not indicate a deal had been agreed.
While Aftermath put up a fight against the argument, it seems pretty clear the label (and Apple) were left with little choice but to reach an out of court deal in the case, which could have wider significance in cases were other labels have made music available through iTunes without securing a watertight digital distribution deal.
Update: Get I am T-Pain for $.99
We let you know about Smule’s recently-released I Am T-Pain iPhone app as soon as we saw it – we knew it was something special, and it turns out we weren’t wrong as the 300,000 people who downloaded it in the first few weeks of release spend around 66 minutes within the app each.
That’s an impressive statistic for any app. Not just that, but MobileCrunch reports that to date 4.1 million performances have been recorded within the app, and as a big brave thank you, Smule’s cut the price of the software to 99-cents (until Saturday morning) and has launched a competition to win big prizes for users.
Smule will also add a new song, “I’m On A Boat (featuring T-Pain) to its In-App Purchase collection later today.
And as part of a promotion, users are being encouraged to make their own music video using the song, with a finalist chosen every week for ten weeks receiving a handy $500 for their efforts.
The wining finalist will win $5,000 and a replica of T-Pain’s big gold chain.
We’re seen the pictures from their patent applictions (below) for a number of years. We’ve even seen some pretty awesome mockups. Is Apple about to release a new mouse with its new consumer products?
That’s AI’s latest theory. They think that upcoming consumer Macs will be outfitted with a new "Mightier" mouse which could gain things like haptic feedback and multi-touch on the top. Us? We’d take a Multi-touch trackpad that could sit below our keyboards and be happy. But we’re not the "Crazy Ones"
