Multiple reports are out this morning, claiming that the reason we haven't seen Apple's streaming music service—which was expected to launch as early as Q1 of this year—yet is due to negotiation woes with record labels.
As usual, the problem stems from money. Apparently Apple is only offering the labels half of the royalty rate that they are receiving from Pandora. And the service could be delayed until the summer, or possibly longer...
I'm a long time fan of Fantastical, a tremendously useful and well-designed calendar and to-do software for the Mac from Flexibits.
Therefore, it goes without saying that I was tingling with expectation after the team had teased an iPhone experience in early-November 2012.
And now, less than three months since its iPhone debut, developers Thursday pushed the first major update. It's a must-have as it addresses a few omissions while expanding on core functionality with some nice enhancements that will admittedly boost your productivity.
These include time zone support, multiple event alerts, even faster natural language parsing, handy user interface tweaks and of course "staggering number of other improvements, parser enhancements, and bug fixes." If you're a fan of the app, we've got you covered with detailed observations of what's new and how the changes affect your daily workflow...
ActivityAction is a work in progress jailbreak tweak that serves as a plugin to Action Menu. Its purpose is to allow you to create custom actions for any app on your iDevice, which supports URL schemes.
A URL scheme is an essential way for iOS apps to communicate with other apps in iOS. Many apps feature URL schemes, though this isn't something generally advertised as a major feature to the public.
ActivityAction allows you to create specific actions for any app that utilizes these schemes, making it a potentially powerful plugin for Action Menu. Want to see how it all works? Take a look inside for the full video walkthrough and explanation.
Apple scored another legal victory against rival Samsung. In a UK court, a judge Wednesday ruled that the iPhone maker does not infringe patents held by the South Korean-based Android smartphone manufacturer. The court's decision marks more than two-dozen failed attempts by Samsung to claim it is owed royalties on standard-essential patents.
The company had alleged Apple did not pay royalties to use its 3G wireless technology patents in the iPhone...
In a world of digital media, ranging from e-books to movies and music, consumers have often questioned the difficulty of loaning or selling their originally purchased items. In an exciting development, Apple has now developed a way to transfer digital content while also protecting the rights of the publisher.
In three patent applications filed in 2011 and 2012, Apple outlines a method similar to selling a house by transferring ownership of the front door keys, only for iTunes purchases. Driven by digital rights management (DRM), the process gives owners of apps, e-books, music and other digital items rights to loan and resell "used" items to other people...
After the White House last week weighed in on the still illegal cell phone unlocking in the United States, drawing responses from carriers, The Library of Congress and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden announced on Twitter yesterday his proposal of a new bill dubbed the Wireless Device Independence Act to ensure that owners of mobile phones are allowed to bypass copy protection and unlock their devices without being scrutinized as criminals.
Arguing "it's a freedom issue", the Senator confirms the bill seeks to amend a section of the United States Code covering the circumvention of copyright protection systems. A few other lawmakers voiced their support for unlocking as well, having announced plans to introduce legislation to make the practice legal again...
It appears as if Angry Birds maker Rovio is changing strategy lately and switching away from paid downloads to free ones. Having briefly experimented with a massive 99-cent sale of its iPad titles last month and adding free, ad-supported downloads to its puzzler Amazing Alex, today the company has made the game that started it all - the original Angry Birds - free for the first time ever on Apple's mobile platform. Unlike free Angry Birds downloads on Android, this one doesn't come with in-app advertisements and Rovio also has added 15 new levels to keep you going...
A report Wednesday revives the old rumor that the world's leading chip maker, Intel, is working on a strategic deal to manufacture processors that power Apple's iPhones, iPads and iPods.
What's different this time around, though, is the timing: Intel's CEO Paul Otellini is on his way out and with CEO search still underway, the semiconductor giant could be poised to take its relationship with Apple to the next level.
The gist of the report is that Apple could contract Intel as a foundry, meaning the chip giant would tap its world-class manufacturing expertise to produce iPhone and iPad processors, as designed in-house by Apple, rather than persuade Tim Cook & Co. into adopting Intel's own mobile Atom x86 chip architecture, which hasn't made much inroads yet...
Since Apple won its monumental case against Samsung in California last fall, things haven't really been going its way. Its billion dollar settlement has been nearly cut in half, and its request to ban Samsung's infringing products has been denied.
But it appears that Nokia, of all companies, has been watching the case closely. And according to a new report, it has filed a brief with the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on behalf of Apple, claiming that Judge Koh got it all wrong...
Personally, I am not fond of folding, origami-sytle cases for iPad. Yet, there are a decent amount of them on the market. You know them. They have a folding back that props your iPad in any number of different angles to increase or decrease the viewing angle. Big deal. Up until now, I have never given an origami case a glance. In fact, sometimes I refuse to review them, but I had a hard time telling Moshi 'no' for their VersaCover. Finding myself happily surprised, look past the fold to see if these cases are the right fit for you...
This is pretty interesting. A series of new job listings have been discovered on Apple's website, calling for applicants to fill a variety of positions related to iOS device integration with in-car stereos.
The listings are particularly relevant, given this week's report that Ferrari and Apple are in talks to "broaden their partnership." Could Apple be looking to get into the in-car entertainment space?
Joy of Tech last month posted a pretty comical take on the iWatch rumors. My favorite bit: it's a walkie-talkie with a direct line to Jony Ive's secret laboratory, Dick Tracy style. Earlier today, they weighed in on the inevitable comparison between the iWatch and Google's Glass. Putting aside for a moment the fact that one is the real product (Glass) while the other is vaporware (at least for now), both are futuristic wearable computers we're supposed to wear on us in public. Check out the comic included past the fold and meet us in comments...