Skip to main content

Tech Industry

See All Stories

Apple to call iOS printing AirPrint. HP first to support

Site default logo image

Apple issued a press release (and updated iOS 4.2 page) ahead of the iOS 4.2 beta that just hit.  In it, they detail the new AirPrint standard and its ability to work with HP ePrint printers.  To confuse matters slightly, HP offers an iPrint iOS app (pictured below) that does iOS printing.

It appears that MacOS 10.6.5 will also allow printing through a Mac with current developer builds offering that functionality.

“AirPrint is Apple’s powerful new printing architecture that matches the simplicity of iOS—no set up, no configuration, no printer drivers and no software to download,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users can simply tap to print their documents or photos wirelessly to an HP ePrint printer or to a printer shared on a Mac or PC.”

“We’re pleased to work with Apple to bring Apple’s AirPrint to our fall lineup of ePrint printers in time for the holiday shopping season,” said Vyomesh Joshi, HP executive vice president, Imaging and Printing Group. “Making it easy for our customers to print anytime, anywhere, is a key priority for HP. iPad, iPhone and iPod touch customers are going to love how easy it is to print using our new range of ePrint printers, creating high-quality printed pages in an instant.”

Full Release below:
Expand
Expanding
Close

Next up for iPad: subscription plan for newspapers

Site default logo image

Mercury News is reporting today that Apple will soon launch a subscription plan for newspapers which will also provide advertising revenue stream for publishers.

The Cupertino company has agreed to provide an opt-in function for subscribers to allow Apple to share with publishers their information, which includes vital data that news organizations use to attract advertisers, industry sources say.  Publishers “want the data of their customers so they can integrate it into their circulation database so they know who their customers are,” said [industry analyst]Fidler, who works with many newspapers…”Obviously, Steve Jobs sees this as a significant revenue stream for Apple in the future.”

The report states that Apple wants to take 30% of subscription revenue sold through the online store and up to 40% of advertising revenue from the venture.  Not all publishers are lining up for this proposition.

Publishers wanted to pay Apple a fee rather than a cut of subscription and advertising revenue, and are not happy with Apple’s terms, he said. They had hoped to offer app editions as part of subscription bundles that include print versions of the paper. Instead, they must use Apple as an intermediary with subscribers.

Apple continues to make major moves into publishing, with Conde Naste saying that devices like the iPad may soon account for 40% of their revenues.
Expand
Expanding
Close

35 percent of US adults now have apps on their cell phones — Pew survey claims

Site default logo image

Apple may have originally attempted to encourage development of Web applications before it introduced the App Store (and ain’t it glad it did), but now apps on smartphones are a bona fide US hit, with 35 percent of US adults having apps on their phones, though only one-in-four US adults actually use these apps. Still, that ain’t a bad record.

The most recent Pew Internet Life survey tells us that among mobile phone owners, 29 percent have downloaded apps to their phones and 13 percent have paid for the privilege.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Parallels gets released with 80 new features, VMWare cheapens itself

Site default logo image

The Mac Virtual Machine market heats up today with the release of Parallels 6.  The biggest Virtual machine maker for the Mac platform adds 80 new features (most of which we detailled a little early!).  See below for a breakdown.

Battling back with price, VMWare today is dropping the price of a competitive update to $10.  That is a pretty drastic measure.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Launch of Apple's 27 inch LED display imminent?

Last week when you went to customize a Mac Pro on Apple’s online store, the section about adding a monitor discussed the 24 inch LED Display:

Now, Apple’s Mac Pro customization page talks about the 27 inch LED display that is launching sometime this month. This sudden change on the store leads us to believe the 27 inch display’s launch in imminent:

Tomorrow, Tuesday, may even be the day as that is the day Apple typically releases new products.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Google Voice (GV Mobile) app submitted to App Store [Updated: New info]

We reported that Sean Kovacs, the developer of GV Mobile, may have gotten the heads up that his app would be re-approved to the App Store. Well today, it looks like he submitted it.

Update:

We’ve gotten some more information about GV Mobile:

-New app name is “GV Mobile +”

This is the new app icon

-The app will support the retina display

-The app will do iOS 4 quick-app-switching/multitasking

-There may be some sort of push notification feature in this release or in a future update.

-It will be free for the first 12 hours then will go to $2.99

We’ll be following this story closely and update when news comes about. Update: Some screenies, below.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Cydia buys Rock, Jailbreak app store fusion en route

Site default logo image

Rock Your iPhone and Saurik’s Cydia have just announced a merger that also merges their app stores for jailbroken devices. All application licesneses will be kept for both the Rock and Cydia app stores so you should be all good when the transition completes in a few days.

Details of the acquisition have no been released, and this app store fusion will surely make jailbreaking even more convenient.

iOS 4 "cloned" to HTC device, performs like an iPhone 3G running 4.0

Site default logo image

It looks like iOS 4.0 has successfully been cloned to another device, an HTC one in this case, and everything from iOS seems to be there. As iSpazio points out, the porting of iOS to another company’s device seems like a long-shot, so this is most likely the best, most realistic iOS clone ever. As you’ll see in the video below, everything works including folders, quick-app switching, spotlight, and all the keyboards.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY-uRRCARJw&w=480&h=385]

You will also notice that the device’s performance is just like an iPhone 3G running iOS 4.0; complete junk. Anyways, this video is still pretty cool as it gives an idea of what iOS would look like another piece of hardware. Hint: Crap.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple fighting app-name squatting developers

Apple has begun to send out e-mails to iOS developers who are allegedly app-name squatting. This notion of name-squatting is a practice that also widely applies to domain names. For example, if Apple is rumored to launch a product with a certain name, people will rush to get domain names relating to the supposed product name. With app names, if a developer registers a name, it cannot be used by anyone else.

It seems that this practice has created issues such as people reserving app names relating to companies who may be working on an app. This e-mail states that you cannot register a name and not have an actual application binary to go with it for more than 90 days. Today’s warning to developers informs them that they have 30 days to submit an app for the reserved name or the app name will be set free for anyone else to use.

On the other hand, there are developers who actually need to work more than 90 days to make an app. What if a developer wants to register a name in fear of someone else taking it, and they actually have an app in the works? How will Apple know that? These new rules seem like a good idea, but need to be implemented in a way that fits all developers and all situations.

Thanks, Jesse for the tip.


Expand
Expanding
Close