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Report: AOL’s TUAW closing Feb. 2

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The long-rumored news comes from The Verge: TUAW.com is closing as of Feb 2. I didn’t like all of what they did there, but there was a solid group of writers and people that I will miss reading.

AOL is shutting down The Unofficial Apple Weblog, better known as TUAW, sources familiar with the situation tell The Verge. The company — which is also shutting down its gaming site Joystiq — is in the midst of a major reorganization, and is cutting back on media properties it deems as underperforming.TUAW’s run comes to an end on February 2nd.

TechCrunch, which originally reported the news of AOL’s restructuring, noted that tech and lifestyle sites would most likely be affected by the changes. AOL decided against selling TUAW, leaving open the possibility it could resurrect the site in the future. But for now, a team of writers and editors are out of jobs.

Aol’s TechCrunch puts a different spin on it saying that it will be folded into Engadget – which might mean current content gets redirected.

While Verge earlier today reported that both tech were being closed, this is not quite accurate: Joystiq will stay on as a separate channel at Engadget, while TUAW content will be folded into the bigger site, we understand. It’s still being decided whether the two brand names will remain.

I’ve heard separately that pageviews were in a slow downward spiral over the past few years and the site became too small to justify being a separate unit against slowing ad revenue for AOL.  In any case, it is always sad to see some good Apple writers out of a gig.

MacStadium announces plans for Mac Pro hosting and colocation while Macminicolo also plans to be ready at launch

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via MacStadium

MacStadium announces plans for Mac Pro hosting and colocation

Less than a week since being teased at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, the Mac Pro is already finding its way into new and useful places. MacStadium, which currently utlizes the Mac mini for dedicated hosting and colocation, has announced plans to offer Mac Pro hosting later this year.

MacStadium has already developed custom racks for the new Mac Pro (via Macworld/TUAW), which features a brand-new design that is much smaller than the previous model, and can store 270 Mac Pros in each Mac Pro POD. That’s fifteen rows, nine columns, and two Mac Pros per slot.
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Avoid these files like a swarm of bees to avoid iCloud thunderstorms

TUAW has a “cautionary tale” of what happens when attempting to move or rename the “Mobile Documents” folder where iCloud documents are stored:

“As if it were a swarm of bees, you should stay away from the SyncServices folder.’ — Apple

The moral of the story that I am about to tell is that Apple’s advice about the SyncServices folder also applies to your iCloud documents. Here is the summary:

Do not move your iCloud folder. Do not touch your iCloud folder. Consider it the digital equivalent of a hand-grenade which has had the pin pulled and which is resting safely on its handle.”

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Atari founder on Steve Jobs: Apple culture came from Atari

TUAW interviewed one of only a few people to ever hire Steve Jobs, the founder of Atari Nolan Bushnell. As you might expect, he is working on a few iOS projects, and he is particularly interested in augmented reality. These paragraphs stand out:

“He basically lived just below me in Woodside for many, many years, before he moved down to Palo Alto, and he’d just walk up the hill to my house and we’d go on and bullshit about stuff. We kept in contact — I’m writing a book right now called ‘Finding the Next Steve Jobs,’ because I was one of the few people that ever gave him a job.”

Bushnell says even at that early point in his career, Steve stood out. “The thing that people miss about Steve is that Steve was very, very driven and very passionate. He was an enthusiastic individual about everything. He had one speed and it was full blast,” says Bushnell. Some of the qualities Jobs is now known for were some of the reasons he first was able to join on at Atari back in the early ’70s. “We looked at what people did in their spare time, how diverse they were. We never looked at grades, college degrees. One of the best engineers at Atari never graduated from high school, and he was one of the prime architects for the 2600.”

Bushnell says that attitude at Atari definitely shaped Apple as a company later on. “We were focused on merit. And the fact that we can go to work in tennis shoes and a t-shirt started at Atari and it was taken to Apple. Because we said this is a meritocracy, we don’t care where you go to school, when you come to work, we don’t care if you come to work, we don’t care where you are we you are at work. You get the job done, we’re happy.”

Interesting to think that some of Apple’s culture is derived from Jobs’ days at Atari. The book should be interesting.

Apple to reject Mac App Store apps using hotkeys starting June 1? (update: no?)

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Update: Macworld and The Verge report that Apple will actually not begin rejecting apps that utilize hotkeys. 

According to a report from TUAW, Apple will soon begin rejecting OS X apps submitted to the Mac App Store that utilize hotkey functionality. The report does not cite a specific source, and app developers we have talked to seem to be unaware of the change. TUAW claimed Apple will only allow existing “hotkey apps”, and those released before June 1, to issue future bug fixes. New apps and existing apps that are releasing updates with new features will apparently not be permitted to use hotkeys:

TUAW has been told that Apple will be rejecting all apps with hotkey functionality starting June 1, regardless of whether the new features are hotkey related or not. Basically, if you’re developing one of those apps, an app that assumes you can still add hotkeys, don’t bother submitting it to the Mac App Store.

The June 1 deadline lines up with the latest deadline Apple set for sandboxing Mac App Store apps, which is a new requirement that limits an app’s access to certain areas of the operating system. Apple is pushing sandboxing as “a great way to protect systems and users by limiting the resources apps can access and making it more difficult for malicious software to compromise users’ systems.” It appears it will also prevent apps from using hotkeys.


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