[Editors note: Big Nerd Ranch has sponsored two posts on 9to5mac allowing readers to go to Nerd Camp for free]
Hello, 9to5mac readers.
It is a privilege and honor to be invited to provide a few guest blog postings for 9to5mac.
I imagine the following has been a common experience of many of you: you wake up one day with an idea for an iPhone or iPad app that you would just love to see. Checking the App Store, you realize, to your happy amazement, “Hmmm, there ISN’T an app for that.” And in that thought is born the dream of some how, some place, some time creating iOS apps of your own. Expand Expanding Close
If you’ve ever been *ahem* channel surfing late at night and stumbled upon HBO subsidiary Cinemax programming you know that there isn’t much differentiation between what you see there and all out pornography.
The news this weekend is that Apple just gave the go-ahead to Cinemax’s MaxGo App(free) for both iPhone and iPad. Yes, it includes “Late Night” content.
Far be it from us to judge what should and shouldn’t be on the App Store, but it seems that Apple is continuing to create controversy with its “no porn” stance.
In an email exchange with Gawker’s Ryan Tate last year, Jobs said that the iPad would offer users “freedom from porn.” And in a Q&A session after the launch of iOS 4, Jobs told reporters that porn was one reason Apple wouldn’t allow unsigned or unapproved apps onto iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad.
“You know, there’s a porn store for Android. You can download nothing but porn. You can download porn, your kids can download porn. That’s a place we don’t want to go – so we’re not going to go there.”
Playboy,which is at least as “soft-core” as SCinemax, was denied access to the App Store for its nude pictorials. For what it is worth, access to the Max Go app is parental controlled to users 17 or older.
If this story picks up, Apple will probably force HBO to curtail its mature content retroactively, not that there aren’t plenty of other outlets via Safari for such material. Expand Expanding Close
Will Nintendo begin to produce titles for iOS devices? It’s a possibility if they take the advice of Tokyo-based Stats Investment Management Co, “Nintendo should try to either buy its way into this platform (smartphones) or develop something totally new.”
“The rift highlights the dilemma President Satoru Iwata faces as consumers shun Nintendo devices to play games on iPhones, iPads and Facebook Inc.’s website. The flop of the 3DS debut prompted the company to cut prices 40 percent in Japan and 32 percent in the U.S., the first time the games developer has resorted to such a move within six months of a product’s debut.”
Historically Nintendo has made their stance clear on developing for platforms other than their own. President Satoru Iwata even went as far as saying the company would never develop for other platforms as long as he’s in charge. While their new 3DS handheld hasn’t received a great reception, investments Nintendo has made recently in the 3DS (competitor to Sony’s Vita) portable device and Wii U makes it unlikely they will divert their attention to developing games for Apple devices anytime soon. This is especially true when talking about hallmark franchises like Mario and Donkey Kong. To provide these titles to iOS users would kill any incentive the company has to offer potential 3DS and Wii U customers.
That being said, the market opportunity is huge (just look how well Nintendo emulators do on jailbroken devices). If the game-maker continues to lay eggs with its portable products, it might be forced to join up with Apple, or build a 3DS Android phone like Sony did with its Xperia Play.
Walmart has just announced their Vudu movie streaming service is now available to iPad users via a web app (opposed to an iOS app), which effectively allows the company to go behind Apple’s back rather than partake in their App Store revenue sharing model. The app also works on other iOS devices, but hasn’t yet been optimized for the smaller screen. They’ve also announced their iTunes competitor, mp3.walmart.com, will be closing indefinitely starting August 28, 2011. However, the announcement notes the Walmart Soundcheck music streaming service will remain available, making us wonder if they have plans on implementing an iPad-specific version much like they’ve done with Vudu…
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen content providers trying to avoid sharing profits with Apple. In fact, just yesterday we told you about the new Kindle Cloud Reader app that is accessible via the web, much the same as Vudu. While not sharing revenue is an obvious benefit of bypassing the App Store, TechCrunch points out there are many other advantages as well.
For instance, by avoiding the App Store’s restrictions, Vudu will be able to push out new updates whenever they see fit, rather than having to wait for Apple’s approval. It seems like more and more developers have been pushed away from the traditional iOS app model due to stringent approval policies and the unpredictability of Apple’s ever-changing process.
The real question is.. do these web apps compare to the experience offered by native apps?
Frankly, it feels like lawsuits are taking too much of our time and mind space lately – and they aren’t fun to think about. So here’s a roundup of the more exciting lawsuits news of the last hour:
A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Apple and 5 of the 6 major book publishers, alleging they “colluded to increase prices for popular e-book titles to boost profits and force e-book rival Amazon to abandon its pro-consumer discount pricing.”
On Lodsys (important if you are a App developer with an auto-updating app):
Apple insists to intervene in Lodsys lawsuit against app developers. Apple still requests a court hearing on its motion. Things may still take some more time, but there will be no more written pleadings unless the court asks the parties to address particular questions in more detail. At this stage it’s possible that the court decides very quickly, and I continue to be reasonably optimistic that Apple’s motion will be granted.
At some point, we should start referring to Lodsys by the name of its parent company, Intelectual Ventures.
Facebook isn’t fantastic at hiding secret stuff in their Apps. Just last month, its iPad ambitions were outed by some folks rummaging around in the App. Today, Facebook released their Messenger app and seconds later, we see that there is a video component to the application:
The video component would seem to work on both Android (yep) and iPhone and would likely tie in with their recently announced Skype desktop video conferencing service as well. The code looks very rudimentary at this point so it isn’t certain that the video can be enabled like the iPad version was with just a few tweeks. Thanks Caleb!
Google has just pushed an update for the official Google+ app for iOS, bringing with it support for iPad and iPod touch, two devices the app was previously unavailable for, among a few other features including aggregated circle add notifications, huddle settings, and the usual “Performance and stability improvements”.
Unfortunately, this iPad support is not completely native as the app will just be a pixel-doubled iPhone application. This choice by Google is still better than no iPad support at all, though. You should be able to update the app now via the App Store or swing by iTunes and grab the new version now. We’ll keep you posted with any other discoveries we might make in this latest update.
Our good friends in Applecare alerted us to the fact that Lion USB keys were now available and in stock through AppleCare. While officially they will cost a lofty $69, it appears, at least from the wording above, that some customers that aren’t able to use Lion’s recovery tools may be eligible to receive the USB drive at no cost.
We’ve detailled how to make a Lion recovery key from a Snow Leopard Key (automated or on your own, cheap) so don’t put Apple though the hassle, OK?
Update: We’ve been debunked by the new AOLEngadget! Head below for details.
Google has released an update to their Shopper app conveniently giving users information on daily deals, including Google Offers. The update adds a “Offers” and “My Offers” tab at the bottom, along with the Shop tab you know and love. The Offers tab displays deals in map view that are available in your city. The deals you find can be saved in the My Offers tab for later use.
Businesses, on the other hand, can publish deals through Google Places. If Google Offers is available in your city you can redeem your purchased offers in the My Offers tab. Check out the update in the App Store.
Apple has just released iOS 4.3.5 for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. This update comes just days after the iOS 4.3.4 release and it resolves a “security issue” which has been resolved with certificate verification.
Update: Nook got the same treatment which render the current screenshots outdated.:
You can read any NOOK Book you have purchased on this updated NOOK for iPhone app, however the Shop link has been removed so to buy NOOK Books from your iPhone, open your Safari browser and go to nookbooks.com.
There are some other updates for the Kindle App release notes accompanying the Kindle update (iTunes): Expand Expanding Close
TechCrunchhas discovered that the Facebook for iPhone app contains hidden iPad code and has published a series of screenshots to prove it. Author MG Siegler acknowledges 9to5Mac’s similar discoveries stemming from code hooks in Apple’s software (thanks, guys!), noting that the iPad app is already there in the current version of Facebook for iOS app, ready to be put to use whenever Facebook sees fit:
Hidden in the code of Facebook’s iPhone app is the code for something else. Something everyone has been waiting over a year for. The iPad app. Yes, it’s real, and it’s spectacular (well, very good, at the very least). And yes, it really is right there within the code. Even better, it’s executable. (Update: a lot of pictures here.)
Much of the code is written with HTML5, Siegler observes, but nonentheless the experience of running the app on a 9.7-inch iPad feels as native as it can get. Using the left-hand menu and pop-overs you can access Facebook’s many option at any time while being focused on the news from your friends. Turning the tablet upside down invokes Facebook’s chat and the photo viewer feels like Apple’s native Photos app. You can enable the iPad view on your jailbroken tablet by following a step-by-step guide by iClarified. Those that don’t want to jailbreak can still enable the iPad view using this simple tutorial. A couple more screenies and a clip demonstrating how to get the iPad app right below the fold.
Mac App Store version of the application costs $80 and includes all the same editing tools as the full version. However, unlike the full $100 version, it does not come bundled with the Adobe Elements Organizer application. This version is available only in English, and cannot be purchased anywhere outside of Apple’s Mac App Store.
The big deal here is that a huge software maker, that makes a lot of money on selling boxed software, is trying out the App Store. Adobe are also experimenting in the iOS App Store as well. The big question: Will Creative Suite be there soon with Apple taking 30% of the cut? Ouch.
On the earnings call Q&A just now, CFO Peter Oppenheimer said that a ‘September Quater product transition’ would affect the revenues for the upcoming quarter. Obviously, that screams iPhone, which is now Apple’s biggest product.
To be clear, the September Quarter spans three months so it doesn’t necessarily mean ‘September’…but that isn’t unreasonable either.
On that note, he also mentioned in the opening statement that 220 million iOS devices have been sold all time. We’re not sure if that includes AppleTVs.
We’re big fans of BBEdit over here (and its free counterpart TextWrangler) so today’s update is exciting news. I built 9to5mac a few years ago using BBEdit (on Drupal!) and the software has just gotten better and better (though 9to5mac has since been ported to WordPress.com).
How much is updated today? Just have a look at the release notes if you’ve got some time to kill.
It isn’t upgraded in the App Store just yet but Bare Bones says that any BBEdit purchase since the App Store opened will get a free upgrade. Get it here until October 20, 2011 for $40. Full info below:
One of our readers took it upon himself to jailbreak one of the Apple Store iPad 2 Smart Signs (video above). If you aren’t familiar, the Smart Sign is the iPad in front of each Apple product. As we revealed earlier this year, this sign explains and provides specifications for the product it sits beside.
Customers are not able to actually use this iPad for anything but the Smart Sign application, but with the right top-secret gesture anything is possible. That’s where reader Adrian came in. He figured out the secret gesture, went to the home screen, launched up Safari, and jailbroke the Smart Sign with the new JailbreakMe 3.0 tool.
Now that it has been done, no one else needs to do this, mmk?
Swype is a keyboard system for touch mobile devices that enables users to type faster in some instances because it doesn’t require as much ‘tapping’. Apple has shown little interest in putting Swype on iOS devices however.
That’s where the jailbreaking community comes in. Andrew Liu (@WyndWarrior) is working on porting Swype to iOS. With the recent Jailbreakme.com, making it incredibly easy to jailbreak your phone, many others will try it (remember it is in beta).
Skype dropped a new Mac Client on us today, a day ahead of the Super “Awesome” Facebook announcement that is rumored to include Skype. New features for the unpaid version include “super awesome” background video chatting control bar. Pony up a few bucks and get yourself up to Windows level (they got a head start on Microsoft tactics!) with Group video conferencing that looks and acts nothing like Apple’s built in iChat group teleconferencing (this was in 5.1Beta as well). Also, screen and document sharing.
The Windows version – just to make sure it is one step ahead of the Mac version – got Facebook integration with the 5.5 update.
If you aren’t still at the standard 2.8 like us, have a look at the tips and tricks to see if you’re a good update candidate (we’re staying put).
A new report by Global Equities Research says Apple’s iTunes will hit $13 billion in revenue in fiscal 2013. To reach that point, GER says iTunes will grow at a rate of 39%, or 13% a year. This report cites all parts of the Apple store ecosystem including music, apps, and books, will contribute to the growth. GER believes the iBookstore will have a major role.
Our research with students indicates that they would rather have books on iPad vs. Kindle.
The analyst also believe the rising number of iPad apps will contribute to the growth. Six months ago the average iPhone and iPad user only had 15 apps, and now they have 45. Who knows, maybe with the announcement of the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 these numbers could shoot even higher. Expand Expanding Close
As one might expect, the GM Seed of Lion looks like it is making the rounds in the Torrent sites. This is interesting this time around because Apple is distributing the install via the App Store (for a very reasonable $30) which has tracking codes embedded in the download. That means whoever leaked this is probably going to get in some trouble. We’re assuming most people who choose to download this version will be doing so for the two week head start rather than trying to save $30.
Might be better to just plunk $99 down for a developer account?
Using Apple’s set of APIs, the New York Times has opened up in-app subscriptions in their iPhone and iPad appreportsMacstories. After setting a paywall not too long ago the New York Times has been looking for ways to get their users to sign up for the subscription. It appears the Times has found their way, through the app store, offering subscriptions for website, iPhone, and iPad access. The Times is charging users $15 for access to the website plus iPhone, $20 for website plus iPad, and a combo of all three for $35. If you’re interested download the apps here and here.
In this digital age, do you agree with the New York Time’s subscription model?
TheNextWebreports that Apple has begun returning the $299 purchase price of Final Cut Pro X to customers who are unsatisfied with the product’s features and capabilities. Cupertino has begun issuing refunds to those who have filed an official request using Apple’s Mac App Store Customer Service form.
“Moving forward, I understand that you are not satisfied with the app “Final Cut Pro”. I can certainly appreciate you would like a refund, and I would be more than happy to help you out with this today. In five to seven business days, a credit of £179.99 should be posted to the credit card that appears on the receipt for that purchase.
Please note that this is a one time exception because the iTunes Terms and Conditions state that all sales are final.”
This is an interesting gray area because Mac Apps purchased through the Mac App Store aren’t usually up for return so long after they are purchased (unless you re in Taiwan). Whereas boxed software, especially Pro level stuff, usually has a longer guarantee even if there are restocking fees. Expand Expanding Close
