How a journalist convinced Jobs to bring iTunes to PCs and other tidbits from Tony Fadell interview

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 29, 2016

It was The Wall Street Journal technology columnist Walt Mossberg, one of Steve Jobs's favorite reviewers, of all people who has finally managed to persuade then Apple CEO to expand the addressable market for iPods by bringing iTunes to Windows PCs.

Jobs, Nest founder Tony Fadell and then Apple executive charged with iPod and iPhone development recalls, long insisted that the iPod be used as a vehicle to increase Mac sales. “Steve, the iPod is $399. But really it’s not. Because you have to buy a Mac!” We had to give people a taste,” Fadell recalls telling Jobs, to no avail.

He eventually relented and agreed that Apple should bring iTunes to Windows, under one condition: the software was to be tested by journalist Walt Mossberg. “We’re going to build these and run it by Mossberg,” Jobs reportedly said. “And if Mossberg says it’s good enough to ship, then we’ll ship it.”

Walt reportedly said, “Not bad. I’d ship it,” and the rest is history.

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Here’s what Apple’s chief lawyer will tell Congress tomorrow regarding FBI’s controversial request

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 29, 2016

As you know, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has obtained a court order demanding that Apple produce a special version of iOS with decreased security to help government spooks brute-force their way into an iPhone 5c which belonged to San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook.

Following the interview that Apple CEO Tim Cook gave to ABC News, in which he said that the government is asking for “the software equivalent of cancer,” Apple's Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Bruce Sewell, will testify before the House Judiciary Committee tomorrow.

Here's his opening statement in which he challenges the government's request and argues that the FBI should have no say over the products American companies create.

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Microsoft opens pre-orders for $3,000 development edition of the HoloLens headset

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Back in January 2015, Microsoft took the wraps off an ambitiously conceived augmented reality headset, the HoloLens. Today, the Windows maker announced it is opening pre-orders for a pricey development edition of the HoloLens, which costs $3,000 a pop.

Developed in partnership with NASA and billed as the first and only fully untethered holographic computer, the HoloLens runs a version of Windows 10 called Windows Holographic and features see-through lenses that project interactive holographic images into the view of the user.

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Transmission for Mac gets its first major update in nearly two years

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 29, 2016

The popular open-source, cross-platform BitTorrent client, Transmission, today received its first major update in more than a year and a half. As first noted by Softpedia, the surprise update makes the free of charge app fully compatible with the user interface on Macs running OS X 10.9 Mavericks and later.

Transmission can now trim potential URIs from clipboard and supports downloading from HTTP servers on OS X El Capitan. Transmission's daemon, web client, Qt client and GTK+ client have also received various fixes. All told, there are over 50 changes in this release of Transmission.

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Google Maps for iOS now lets you add pit stops to your trips without leaving navigation mode

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 29, 2016

Internet giant Google on Monday announced that an upcoming update to its native, free of charge Maps application in the App Store has a brand new feature that will let you add pit stops onto your trips without leaving navigation mode. The feature was added to Google Maps for Android last October and starting today will begin rolling out on iOS in more than a hundred countries worldwide where Google Maps offer navigation.

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Samsung’s celebrity-studded Galaxy S7 ad is smart and subtle with anti-Apple digs

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 29, 2016

Samsung's Galaxy advertising campaigns typically are not the subtlest of digs at Apple, but the new star-studded commercial for the latest Galaxy S7 smartphones is different.

Featuring actors William Macy and Wesley Snipes, hip-hop artist Lil Wayne and other celebrities, the commercial focuses on the features that differentiate the Galaxy S7 from the iPhone 6s.

The highlighted features that the ad poses as the Galaxy S7's competitive advantage over Apple's smartphone include waterproofing, two times better lowlight performance, a longer-lasting battery, support for Samsung's virtual reality headset, Samsung's mobile payment system that works anywhere credit cards are accepted, the phone's expandable memory and more.

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WhatsApp now lets you share media from other apps like Dropbox and Google Drive

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 29, 2016

The popular mobile messaging service WhatsApp today received a pretty cool update in the App Store which adds the ability to share photos or videos from other apps installed on your iPhone via a new option exposed after tapping the Photo/Video Library button.

In addition, WhatsApp has gained a pair of new shortcuts in the 3D Touch menu on the Home screen and now supports solid colors as chat backgrounds.

Oh, and you can now zoom in on videos while they're playing.

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New Microsoft ads for Windows 10 focus on things Macs can’t do

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 29, 2016

Microsoft this weekend published four new commercials for its Windows 10 operating system that showcase things “Macs can't do”. The ads feature Kristie and Jess, AKA The Bug Chicks, the two women who are apparently trying to change the way kids think about bugs.

The two characters, one of whom is a Mac fan jealous of Windows 10 features, explore competitive advantages of Microsoft's operating system like the built-in Cortana personal assistant, support for inking and drawing on notebooks with built-in touchscreens, the ability to log in to Windows 10 with one's face and more.

As each Windows 10 feature is highlighted, the other woman responds with a variation of the “I don’t have a touchscreen on my Mac, I’m jealous of that” theme.

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iOS 10 concept imagines a customizable Control Center with 3D Touch support, dark mode and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 7, 2016

How will Apple improve upon Control Center in the next major iteration of iOS? Sam Beckett has attempted to imagine tight 3D Touch integration for Control Center in iOS 10, and his concept video does a very fine job at that. It shows off some ideas that Apple could take advantage of in order to allow for greater customization of hardware toggles and app shortcuts in Control Center.

A user could press on toggles to enter the edit mode to rearrange the icons, turn off the toggles they use rarely, add new switches for things such as Low Power Mode and Cellular Data and so forth. In addition, Control Center could benefit from 3D Touch by allowing users to quickly access additional options from the contextual menu for a specific toggle.

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Delayd lets you schedule text messages, social media posts, & more

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated February 8, 2018

When you have lots of Birthdays and holidays coming up and you want to wish all your friends and family the best, it can be hard to keep track of these dates on a day-to-day basis.

Fortunately, a useful utility app called Delayd is available for free in the iOS App Store that will allow you to schedule messages to your loved ones so you don't have to remember to send those special messages when the day finally comes.

In this piece, we'll talk about how Delayd works and show you how you can use it to schedule messages to people, but keep in mind the app can also be used for scheduling emails, Facebook posts, and Tweets in addition to SMS messages.

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