9to5 Staff

While this isn’t really new (Steve Jobs mentioned this awhile back when questioned about the purchase of P.A. Semi), Apple really is crafting a next-generation processor to power up a future model iPhone and we’d assume iPod Touches.   One of the engineers involved in the project has revealed as much in a post on LinkedIn, the popular business Social networking site. 

Woops.

As seen by the New York Times (via MacRumors), Wei-han Lien, the senior manager of Apple’s chip team revealed his work in developing an ARM-based processor for the iPhone in a post on his LinkedIn profile. This post reveals he is the man currently charged to manage the ARM CPU architecture team for the iPhone.

Apple acquired PA Semi, a global leader in processor design, in June, and when it did the company also acquired the services of Wei-han Lien. ‘Course, we already knew the PA Semi was purchased at least in part in order to develop a world-class unique proprietary processor for Apple’s mobile device. Apple CEO Steve Jobs went so far as to say the acquisition took place precisely in order that the PA Semi team should focus on this. What is news here is that it confirms the processor will be based on the ARM architecture, which is a natural progression as all the take-down analysis stuff confirms it’s ARM, rather than Intel, which sits inside the Apple device, with those chips made by Samsung, allegedly.

While Apple faces some risks in attempting to manufacture its own processor – what if it hits a development road block it is unable to surmount? What is clear is that the company has acquired itself a world class team to help in the development, and that the company’s move will ensure the iPhone as a platform will always possess unique advantages unavailable to competitors in the smartphone space. And, of course, will enable Apple to create an ecosystem so tightly connected to the processor, competing firms – who lack the chip design skills of Apple – will be unable to compete with.

Apple currently uses ARM chips manufactured by Samsung in its iPod and iPhone lines.

Napster CEO Chris Gorog seems to be among the most accomplished escapists in the game, with the shock announcement today that US retail giant, BestBuy, has agreed to buy the loss-making music service for $121 million ($2.65 per share).

The transaction has been approved by Napster’s board and is expected to close during the fourth quarter. The proposed acquisition includes Napster’s approx. 700 thousand digital entertainment subscribers, its Web-based customer service platform, and innovative mobile capabilities.

Napster CEO Chris Gorog and key members of the company’s senior management team will be employed to manage the company post-acquisition, and no redundancies among the 140 exisiting employees have (yet) been discussed.

So – what’s a giant high street US retailer to gain out of this deal? Well, we think it reflects the increasing commodification of digital music. Also consider the major labels appear ready now to offer their music in DRM-free MP3 format internationally (expect much more news on this in the weeks ahead). And Napster already offers music DRM-free.

Certainly these hunches are borne out by Best Buy management, in the form of Brian Dunn, President and COO of Best Buy, who said, "This transaction offers Best Buy a recognized platform for enhancing our capabilities in the digital media space and building new, recurring relationships with customers. Over time we hope to strengthen our offerings to consumers, who we believe will increasingly seek devices and solutions that enable them to access their content wherever, whenever and however they want.”

Dave Morrish, Executive Vice President – Connected Digital Solutions of Best Buy adds, "We can foresee Napster acting as a platform for accelerating our growth in the emerging industry of digital entertainment, beyond music subscriptions. We’re very excited to add these capabilities to leverage our existing relationships with the labels, the studios, and the hardware providers."

And Gorog? He said this: "We are looking forward to combining our digital media capabilities with Best Buy’s resources and global network to extend our digital content platforms."

In this clip enjoy a quick glimpse at the iPhone Lego Mindstorms NXT Robot Dem, you build the robot integrating one iPhone, and control the system from another. Which is kinda cool.

Via: Cult of Mac

UK mobile phone network, 3, has slammed Apple’s chosen iPhone carrier, O2, saying the latter’s 3G network "doesn’t do justice" to the iPhone.

Naturally there’s an element of sour grapes to these claims. Owned by Hutchison Telecom, 3 in the UK had complained that its efforts to carry the iPhone 3G on its network had been given short thrift by Apple management. In truth, the parent company has achieved iPhone 3G distribution deals in some territories, for example Macau.

Speaking at a company event, 3’s indirect sales director Bernie O’Beirne said: "‘The iPhone is not on the right network, a handset is only as good as its operator," saying Apple had picked the wrong partner. The company also issued a later statement in which it questioned O2’s tariffs and accused the latter carrier of having "the least developed 3G network," a report claims

3 aims to double the size of its UK business this year – though whether it can rely on Apple’s help in this, having slated the company’s exclusive UK iPhone carrier, is debatable.

Apple faces its strongest attack yet, with its iTunes market lead threatened by the launch of MySpace Music, expected to start-up for real in the US this week.

The question on music industry and analyst’s lips is, "can the world’s largest music-focused social network take a chunk out of iTunes sales?" Some industry watchers, however, remark that the most likely competition to be generated as a result of the launch will be between News Corp’s MySpace and CBS’ Last.fm.

MySpace last night confirmed itself to have won support from major advertisers to kick-start its free music streaming and paid purchase MySpace Music service.

McDonald’s, Sony Pictures, Toyota and State Farm will pay for ads, underwriting the service which is expected to launch for real in the US this week.

MySpace Music offers catalogue from three majors (all but EMI) and some indies (through its deal with Amazon, which is handling the infrastructure for music downloads, which are not free through the service).

Whereas MySpace users can now only add a single song to their profiles for sharing, MySpace Music will allow them to create and post entire playlists.

"With MySpace Music integration, premium brands are offering our users and their customers new ways to discover, experience, and share music online and offline, said Jeff Berman, president of sales and marketing at MySpace."

MySpace Music has been organised as a joint venture with Sony BMG, Universal and Warners. The fact the majors have a slice of the action underscores their desire to topple iTunes from its leading position in digital music retail.

"We haven’t made just a commercial deal with the labels, but a joint venture, so they are invested in our success," Berman added.

The service starts without a CEO, but weekend rumours suggest the company may be preparing to hire former Facebook COO Owen Van Natta to the role.

It has been a rough week for the Apps Store.  Germany’s Higher Regional Court of Hamburg has banned the use of VoIP application, Sipgate, on the Apple iPhone.

Sipgate enabled iPhone users to make VoIP calls when connected to a local WiFi hotspot in Germany, which raised the anger of Apple’s German carrier, T-Mobile, which launched legal action to ban the app.

The court agreed with T-Mobile that Sipgate had used unfair business practices in order to attract consumers that are otherwise locked to T-Mobile while making calls. The carrier also argued that because use of the application required that users jailbreak their iPhones, thus breaching their agreement with T-mobile. 

It is not known how this will effect other VoIP apps in other markets.  Truphone comes to mind.

And in related news, NetShare developers, Null River, confirmed this weekend that their popular iPhone tethering application won’t be made available again through the App Steore. And industry observers once again believe its the carrier – in this case, At&T – that’s to blame for the ban.

"Looks like Apple has decided they will not be allowing any tethering applications in the AppStore," Null River wrote. "As such, NetShare will not be available in the iTunes AppStore. We are seeing a lot of similar reports from various developers who’s applications were abruptly removed and banned from the AppStore without any violations of the terms of service. This is all unfortunate news for the iPhone platform end-users."

Also last week, iPhone app Podcaster was denied the chance to be sold through the App Store, with Apple saying the software "assists in the distribution of podcasts, it duplicates the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes,” and citing that as cause for the rejection.

We had to do a double take on this because it is from Bloomberg and it might be another UAL going into bankruptcy again type of repeat story (or maybe a Steve Jobs obit).  But apparently it is true.  Like the proverbial <insert your favorite STD here>, the options dating scandle keeps coming back to Apple.  This time it is very focused on Dear Leader, Steve Jobs.

Jobs  "was at the center of the backdating scheme,” according to the suit, which claims Apple’s board went "out of its way to shield Jobs from any responsibility.”

While that is scary, you have to wonder about the motives of these "shareholders."  Getting Steve Jobs in trouble isn’t going to be doing much for their shareholder value.  More likely, these <insert your favorite STD here> are trying to get another payout from Apple.  Previous inquiries have ?forced former Chief Financial Officer Fred D. Anderson and former general counsel Nancy R. Heinen into resignation and SEC settlements….

Filed under seal in Santa Clara County Superior Court in San Jose, California, the case is "similar but not identical” to other so-called derivative lawsuits, said H. Adam Prussin, a lawyer representing shareholders. An Amended complaint was filed Sept. 5 by investors on behalf of Apple against its directors and officers for breach of corporate duties.

"We have details about the transactions involved that I don’t think anyone else has,” Prussin said in a phone interview. “We know who did what to whom and when. Plaintiffs in the other cases did not do an examination of books and records,” he said, declining to explain what the records contain.

…..

Apple’s language in its 2006 annual report to describe the backdating is “vague and shifting,” according to the complaint filed by Prussin on behalf of the Boston Retirement Board. Its “cryptic allusion, almost in passing, of Jobs’ `awareness’ of and `recommendations’ concerning option grant dates are obfuscations,” according to the suit.

“Rather than blame Jobs and or other members of current management, Apple has tried to shift all the blame to two former employees, former Chief Financial Officer Fred D. Anderson and former general counsel Nancy R. Heinen,” according to the complaint.

On one hand, it is difficult to believe that anything at Apple goes on without Jobs’ knowledge; it seems this has been settled by the SEC from a criminal standpoint and civil standpoint by previous shareholder settlements.  Is this a case of lawyers just going back to the bank?  (Like Kareem Abdul Jabar’s hook shot).  If so, what can Apple do to block further suits?

We weren’t the only ones excited about Apple’s announcement of the new In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic. A quick look at this thread on discussions.apple.com reveals acute interest from iPhone owners in the dual-driver buds, which ostensibly offer "pro audio" quality at the seemingly impossible price point of $79. The only catch was that they didn’t list iPhone in the Compatibility Information statement. Odd, but we didn’t want to annoy the fanboys by rushing to judgment. We thought we’d wait until the 2.1 upgrade came out for iPhone and check the product page again to see if it was merely a software update that was required.

24 hours hence, we got nothing. Are we left, then, to assume that the lack of compatibility is a hardware, and not a software issue? Is it a fact that the top-of-the-line Apple headphones are incompatible with Apple’s top-of-the-line mobile device? The implication is "yes." In all likelihood, iPhone owners will have to wait until the next-generation iPhone to adopt this accessory.

Lest we sound too whiny, the consensus on Apple’s discussion boards is that the headphones will be able to perform all advertised functions on an iPhone, except for the volume control function. That’s okay, we guess, since we didn’t have volume control on the factory headphones, but it’s still kind of crappy not to have. This is to say nothing of the 1G iPhones with the recessed audio port (worst idea EVER). The owners of those can now add another little item to the list of arguments for upgrading to 3G (if it turns out the 3Gs ARE compatible with the new buds) or waiting until the next-generation iPhone which will do your dishes, make your bed, and zap your cellulite, but still cause GSM buzz in your car stereo.

Another beef that has been revived with these new headphones is the standard "why can’t Apple offer headphones in black?" lament. From a sales perspective, this would make sense for apple, but from a marketing and differentiation perspective, we don’t think it will happen. Tilt at some other windmills, folks. We’d also like to point out that if you’re afraid of getting ‘pod-jacked because of your white headphone cables, you’re probably just a paranoid <expletive>.

So what do think? Is there still any hope for iPhone compatibility with the fancy new headphones? Are there other ultra-geeky headphones out there that are as good or better and not 10x the cost? Help us out in the comments.

HP is tired of Vista hatred hurting its sales.  Actually, it isn’t just tired, it is doing something about it.   According to Businessweek, HP is doing an end around of Windows by inventing its own OS.  According to their sources, HP is basing the  simpler OS on Linux:

Still, the sources say employees in HP’s PC division are exploring the possibility of building a mass-market operating system. HP’s software would be based on Linux, the open-source operating system that is already widely available, but it would be simpler and easier for mainstream users, the sources say. The goal may be to make HP less dependent on Windows and to strengthen HP’s hand against Apple, which has gained market share in recent years by offering easy-to-use computers with its own operating system.

All HP is admitting to now is that they have a few guys working on some tools that work outside of Vista.  Businessweek doesn’t buy it.  They contend:

At HP, there are competitive issues driving its software effort. One person who has advised HP executives on strategy says they are concerned that Apple could develop a notebook computer that would sell for less than $1,000. That’s a fast-growing market HP depends on for sales where Apple has yet to compete. "Apple is a huge motivating factor," says the source.

Apple developing a low cost laptop?  HP ain’t dumb.

We aren’t taking sides here on any political fronts – our comments system probably couldn’t handle it.   Both candidates are amazing stories and we’ll leave it at that OK?

Anyway – Obama’s campaign has jumped on the "out of touch" message toward McCain by saying he "doesn’t use a computer" (see screengrab below).  Not even a nice new MacBook Pro?  Come on, even a 72 year old war vet can use a MacBook.  I call BS!

http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1185304443

To be fair, the Obama campaign team used Brush Script in the Ad which is just as 1982 as not using computers (thanks comment).  When McCain has an Apple related ad, we’ll throw it up – promise!

Come on!  Look how easy the MacOS is!

So, news is that TeleNav, like Tom-Tom, is developing software that will transform the iPhone (or iPod touch) into a proper GPS device….

iPhone already has location awareness, which TeleNav hopes to harness in its GPS application which it hopes to ship in the next few months, Forbes explains.

"The firm is tight-lipped about the software’s exact features, but says the application will resemble the mapping features it developed for the Samsung Instinct, another touchscreen phone," the report explains. 

Company rep Sal Dhanani said,  "Apple being Apple, the iPhone app will have some additional flair. It will be cooler, have more pizazz."

Interestingly, the company spokesman also said TeleNav has no problem opening up its applications data and maps to others for use in other applications. 

Via: MacDailyNews

Keeping its promise, Apple released iPhone Software 2.1 this morning, promising a range of bug fixes and much improved battery life.

The update is a 238MB download. To get it, connect your iPhone to your computer using iTunes 8 and follow the on-screen instructions

Let’s find out what’s inside – any improvements? Any new features?

We’re updating as soon as we can, share what you learn in comments below…

Update: All appears to be as good as advertised – we have an official review and some of our user impressions:

The update includes:

• Decrease in call set-up failures and dropped calls;
• Significantly better battery life for most users;
• Dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes;
• Improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts;
• Faster installation of 3rd party applications;
• Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes for users with lots of third party applications;
• Improved performance in text messaging;
• Faster loading and searching of contacts;
• Improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display;
• Repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages;
• Option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts;
• Genius playlist creation;

We don’t know just yet if the patch addresses a bug which impacted some users who saw their applications fail and their iPod library content become unavailable.

Some iTunes users in the US are complaining of a problem when downloading High Definition (HD) films or TV shows from Apple’s service.

What’s meant to occur is that customers purchasing film or TV content in HD will automatically also gain a standard definition version, which they can carry around and play on their iPhone or iPod.

But, as described on an Apple support forum, the implementation appears a little buggy, with some users complaining that after waiting for a significant length of time for the HD version of the title to download, the badly-named SD version then overwrites the higher-resolution video.

"The problem is in the file’s name. iTunes typically adds a 1 (or 2,3,etc) to the end of a file if there is already a file with the same name in current folder. For the HD episodes that weren’t overwritten, they have an additional number at the end. I watched an HD file appear and then disappear as the SD version was download," one poster explains.

Conventionally, Apple’s OS adds a sequential number when duplicate files are found, though this doesn’t always occur – a user can elect to overwrite the file. In this case, the film or TV shows are coming down the pipe with the same file name – though this problem is intermittent.

When the standard version of the download starts it overwrites the HD version because they use the same file name. A user explains: "If you pause the standard version so that it doesn’t start downloading when the HD version finishes. Then exit iTunes and reopen it. When you start downloading the standard version iTunes renames the standard version with a number 2 at the end so it doesn’t overwrite the HD version."

Other users say that allowing ‘simultaneous downloads’ through iTunes addresses the problem.

Via: Inquirer

Apple has already seized 6 per cent of the handset market with its iPhone – and the future looks pretty positive too, with UK sales hitting 27,000 every week, says Mobile magazine.

The publication adds that UK sales in the first two weeks following launch of the device crossed 50,000 per week.

Marketshare is  believed to be hovering between a 4% and 6% share of the UK handset market, and even reaching ‘high single digits’ some weeks, according to a source close to the matter.

And in order to maintain the momentum, Apple and O2 have introduced the device on a pay-as-you-go basis. First-week sales of the 3G iPhone racked up around 50,000 units despite the systems faults, but those levels dropped to 32,000 after the first month.

An O2 spokesperson said: "We have a strong relationship with Apple and they are pleased with the sales of the iPhone to date."

Pangea Software has launched a sale on the Apple App Store, offering all its titles at a discount price – but only for a while.

The company has reduced the price of all five of its iPhone titles, which include Enigmo, Cro-Mag Rally, Billy Frontier, Beer Bounce and Pangea VR Pro. The sale prices appear to be available on both the UK and the US stores.

Brian Greenstone from the company confirmed plans to port its OS X games to the iPhone at WWDC earlier this year, since when both Enigmo and Cro-Mag Rally have won high ratings and steady downloads from users at Apple’s iPhone application store. 

• Enigmo: $4.99, down from $9.99

• Cro-Mag Ralley: $1.99, down from $5.99

• Billy Frontier: $3.99, down from $5.99

• Beer Bounce: $1.99, down from $2.99

• Pangea VR Pro: $14.99, down from $19.99

I just watched Microsoft’s new advertisement, and it beat the old one big time. I love Seinfeld, and I actually enjoyed this ad a bunch more. The best line, when Gates asks Seinfeld why their living a normal life with a family: “You’re living in some kind of moonhouse hovering over Seatle like the mothership, I have so many cars, I get stuck in my own traffic! We need to connect with real people!”

I feel that this ad beats all of Apple’s recent Get A Mac ads in humor: in effectiveness, Apple’s ads win, because they are about selling computers, but I really enjoyed this, and thought it was a great, funny advertisement. I hope it gets talked positively about, so that we can see more ads like this.

You can view it in high quality on Microsoft’s website here.

For the record, I couldn’t stand the last ad. 

Are you amuzed yet?

Was 4 minutes of your life worth watching Bill Gates do the robot?

  Okay, so we’ve all seen the new iPods and agree they rock.  Just one little question.  Why does Apple make us compromise every time?  I love the new "Shake to Shuffle" feature, but will we see it in the iPod Classic?  I know it’s "Classic" but when will we see something new in the technology?  The thing I hate: I want tons of space, but tons of cool features.  The iPod Nano won’t hold my entire library, but you can do some pretty cool stuff with it.  When will we see an accelerometer in the massive iPod?  What will I do if I want to play cool games that require an accelerometer? Complain. That’s the answer. Complaining works.  One more thing….Color.  When will we see more color options for the iPod Classic and Touch?  I think that’s one of the major reasons people buy the iPod Nano.  What’s your say?  Leave a comment and tell me why you would buy a scrawny little iPod Nano and not an iPod Classic. 

And If 100 people read this, I should see 100 comments so don’t just leave and not comment!!! 

That goes for YOU!!!

 Nine Inch Nails front man, Trent Reznor has a sense of humour. Anyone who has been to see Nine Inch Nails live in recent weeks will have seen it in action…

As you can see the band’s video display seemingly suffers a BSOD error every single night. And it’s all part of the act…

Wise Comment Edit: Thu, 09/11/2008 – 18:16 — einfallslos

You should probably mention that the BSOD is only shown for split seconds at 5:27 (first video) and 1:04 (second video). See the "seen it in action" link for more.

Reznor, a convinced Mac user, has included a segment of video showing a BSOD alert within the showtime video for the performance of song, ‘The Great Destroyer’ – clearly this is a jab at Windows.

Via: Gizmodo

 The developers of the Magnetosphere visualiser that was so strongly expected to be included within iTunes 8 have now confirmed all these rumours were correct.

iTunes 8 does indeed feature a new visualiser, and that visualiser is Magnetosphere, as we predicted last week (with thanks to the excellent Create Digital Music website).

Video producer and designer Allan White has claimed Magnetosphere was purchased by Apple for deployment within iTunes. It’s not the first time Apple’s purchased a technology – then called SoundJam, iTunes was itself purchased from now defunct firm, Casady and Greene, in 2000. 

Now a statement on Magnetosphere developer the Barbarian Group’s website confirms the Apple connection.

"Hey there. Thanks for your interest in Magnetosphere. We’re insanely, ridiculously proud to say that Magnetosphere now lives in iTunes – Apple’s world-class media player for Mac and PC. You can download iTunes with Magnetosphere built-in here. The Barbarian Group no longer maintains, develops or owns Magnetosphere. We do, however, own a lot of shoes."

Magnetosphere was released in May 2007 and pulled from the Barbarian Group’s website some time in February 2008.

Digg founder Kevin Rose confirmed the visualisers identity last week.

Via: Distorted