An anonymous reader writes “The open-source Intel Linux graphics driver has hit a milestone of now being faster than Apple’s own OpenGL stack on OS X. The Intel Linux driver on Ubuntu 13.04 is now clearly faster than Apple’s internally-developed Intel OpenGL driver on OS X 10.8.3. when benchmarked from a ‘Sandy Bridge’ class Mac Mini. Only some months ago, Apple’s GL driver was still trouncing the Intel Linux Mesa driver.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Messaging app Line, which recently announced it has passed 150 million users, has withdrawn a function from its iOS app that allowed users to gift paid-for stickers to each other by paying for them with a virtual currency. The change, spotted earlier by The Next Web, was made at Apple’s request, said the company in a blog post today.
TechCrunch
redletterdave writes “A German court rejected eight out of 15 provisions in Apple’s general privacy policy and terms of data use on Tuesday, claiming that the practices of the Cupertino, Calif. company deviate too much from German laws (Google translation of German original). According to German law, recognized consumer groups can sue companies over illegal terms and conditions. Apple asks for ‘global consent’ to use customer data on its website, but German law insists that clients know specific details about what their data will be used for and why.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
A new front has opened in the smartphone war, and for the first time in many years, Apple is both outnumbered and outgunned.
I’m not talking about the phones themselves. iOS is still better than Android, although the gap has narrowed. The next iPhone will doubtless be the best phone in the world when it’s released, as ever. It won’t be as customizable – no Swype, no Facebook Home – but those remain relatively minor inferiorities.
The new battlefront is different. The new battlefront is the cloud: Google Maps vs. Apple Maps, Siri vs. Google voice search, iCloud vs. Dropbox et al, and Google Now vs…well, nothing at all, yet. This is a big deal. As we grow accustomed to an always-online world of ubiquitous computing, your phone becomes less a device in and of itself and more a gateway to its cloud services. And it’s very hard to argue that Apple is anything but the serious underdog here.
TechCrunch
Apple’s record-setting $ 17 billion bond offer this week stood in stark contrast to the company’s darkest days, when in 1996 its millions in notes were rated as junk because investors wondered if the company would survive a thrashing by Microsoft
Computerworld News
The Rolling Stones legend doesn’t own an iPod and doesn’t want one. He believes the sound quality just isn’t all that. Let’s hear it for the CD. [Read more]
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Hon Hai is planning to diversify its business away from producing Apple devices by signing an agreement with Indonesia to make and sell handsets in that country, reports Reuters. A Hon Hai spokesman said that the company, which derives about 60 to 70 percent of its revenue from manufacturing work for Apple, hopes to sign the agreement next month. Hon Hai, the parent company of Foxconn, is one of Apple’s largest suppliers. The Taiwanese company joins other manufacturers looking to make their business less dependent on Apple contracts as the Cupertino company’s growth slows. Earlier this month, Hon Hai reported a 19 percent in 1Q sales, due in large part to falling demand for iPhones. Another heavily Apple-dependent manufacturer, Cirrus Logic, has said that it is trying to diversify its customer base and is now shipping to several mobile phone manufacturers. Fellow Apple chip maker SK Hynix may start selling to Samsung, a deal that could help the Korean tech giant avoid supply disruptions for its Galaxy S4 smartphone, a key iPhone rival. Hon Hai spokesman Simon Hsing told Reuters that the company is currently in talks with several Indonesian phone companies and will finalize the details of its investment and partnership agreements after securing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the government. Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan has previously stated that Hon Hai’s investment would be between $ 5 billion and $ 10 billion, and that it would build a factory near Jakarta to assemble 3 million handsets a year. Hon Hai won’t export phones from Indonesia or manufacture Apple products there. Instead, it will make devices for local brands and sell them domestically. Latching onto Indonesia is a savvy move for Hon Hai because the nation’s growing economy will be driven in large part by the tech industry. Hsing said that the phone market in Indonesia is worth $ 2.4 billion. According to a recent IDC report, IT spending in Indonesia is forecasted to reach $ 15.8 billion this year. Furthermore, up to 70 percent of Indonesia’s population is working age–in other words, they are the people who will drive spending on consumer tech.
TechCrunch
Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple with Steve Jobs, said today that Apple’s share price, which hit a 16-month low two days ago, is “dissappointing” but that he was confident the tech giant would come out with products which would “surprise and shock us all.”
TechCrunch
Apple’s noted silence has hurt its mystique and caused it to cede the “cool” factor to competitors, a communications expert said.
Computerworld News
Apple’s 13.3-inch Retina MacBook Pro still isn’t selling in numbers that would indicate the price is right. [Read more]
CNET News
Twitter acquired the mini-video-taking app Vine last October before it ever launched, sending everyone into a frenzy about the company getting into the video space. In late January, Twitter finally launched the app to much applause. Since then, it’s gone through temporarily being removed from the featured section due to an issue over adult content, to being used in interesting ways by brands and celebrities. Today, it all paid off, as it hit the top of the charts for free apps in the U.S., according to co-founder and Creative Director Rus Yusupov: https://twitter.com/rus/status/321406005076451328 https://twitter.com/bobby/status/321406757983358977 It’s a pretty impressive feat for any app that’s not a game to hit this spot, and it’s also impressive for Twitter to have another presence on the list, in addition to their own core app. Clearly the push from Twitter helped the cause. The top app on the free store gets quite a bit of downloads after it hits the spot, eventually coming back down to earth after a quick explosion. The charts are based on new downloads and trajectory of its current popularity, therefore Twitter’s own app sits at #35, which just means that a lot of people have already downloaded it. Its closest competition in the social sphere? Snapchat. And even then, there are a few games in between the two. The good news for Vine and Twitter is that the service is iOS-only at the moment, which means there is quite a bit more growth for the app to experience, much like Instagram did when it went over to the Android platform. Nearly half of all Instagram users are Android users. The multi-app approach is working for companies, and all you have to do is look at Facebook’s success with Messenger, Instagram and the quick-hit Poke.
TechCrunch
Facebook’s new app is Android only, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the company says it wants the software on “every” device. [Read more]
CNET News
Apple’s iPad was released three years ago today. Needless to say, there have been plenty of detractors over the last three years. [Read more]
CNET News
CNET got a look at newly surfaced contracts, design specs, and page after page of schematics and code, revealing how Apple created its first disk operating system, a chapter of Silicon Valley history that was critical to the company’s later success. [Read more]
CNET News
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has provisionally denied Apple’s trademark application for “iPad Mini” because the term is “merely descriptive” of the tablet’s size.
Computerworld News
Right after it launched the iPad mini, Apple filed a trademark application for the name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). As Patently Apple noticed earlier today, however, the USPTO will likely refuse Apple’s trademark filing because, the reviewer argues, “the applied-for mark merely describes a feature or characteristic of applicant’s goods.” The letter was mailed to Apple on January 24, but only made public in the last few days. Apple can still respond to this notice and correct its application, though it’s hard to see how Apple could argue against the USPTO’s argument that ‘mini’ is ‘merely descriptive.’ “The applied-for mark merely describes a feature or characteristic of applicant’s goods.” The word ‘mini,’ the reviewer argues, just describes that the iPad mini is indeed “a small sized handheld tablet computer” and just describes the mini’s features. It is not, the reviewing attorney says, “a unitary mark with a unique, incongruous, or otherwise nondescriptive meaning in relation to the goods and/or services.” The USPTO would only grant Apple the trademark to the full iPad mini name if the company could show that the word ‘mini’ has now acquired a “distinctiveness.” In addition, Patently Apple also notes, the reviewer also denied the application for now because Apple should have provided the USPTO with a specimen other than its own product website, even though Apple always uses these for its trademark applications and this was never a reason for a denial before. The reviewer also believes that there is a “likelihood of confusion” between Apple’s existing iPad trademarks and this new iPad® mini application, which, to be honest, doesn’t make a lot of sense. Here is the letter the USPTO sent to Apple in January: USPTO Refuses Apple’s iPad mini Trademark Application
TechCrunch
Microsoft on Tuesday announced that its BUILD 2013 developers conference will be held June 26-28 on Apple’s home turf, San Francisco’s Moscone Center.
Computerworld News
Apple this week followed the lead of rivals like Facebook, Google and Microsoft, offering two-step authentication to help customers secure their Apple IDs against hacking.
Computerworld News
Damn it, Internet. I had things I needed to do this afternoon.
So much for that. A VHS recording of a 1984 Apple enthusiast meetup was recently rediscovered, and it had at least one very special gem tucked inside: footage of a 34-year old Steve Wozniak giving a speech on just about everything you’d want to see 34-year old Steve Wozniak talking about. Pranks. The decision to quit everything and start Apple. Changing the friggin’ world.
TechCrunch
Apple doesn’t need a miracle, but clearly the marketing department thinks the company needs to step things up. To wit: Apple’s latest iPhone web page which touts “There’s iPhone. And then there’s everything else.” It’s a brassy, ballsy statement worthy of Steve Jobs himself and it seems to show an Apple undaunted yet clearly aware that it can’t just say nothing about the competition.
TechCrunch
Apple’s already lost hope for exclusive rights to the name “iPhone” in Brazil, and now it’s been defeated in another battle south of the border. Cupertino and Mexican company iFone S.A. have a long history, stretching back to 2009 when Apple tried to have the firm’s “iFone” trademark revoked. The electronics giant claimed that the mark had expired since it was registered in 2003. However, the Wall Street Journal reports that a Mexican federal court ruled last year that the small company’s claim to the name was valid, and that Cook and Co. can’t make it their own. Now, Mexico’s Supreme Court has put another nail in the coffin, upholding the previous decision. iFone intends to seek some coin in the form of damages, but all is not lost for Apple: it still has two trademarks to the iPhone moniker in the country and can keep selling its hardware.
Via: The Verge
Apple’s next-gen iPhone chip will get “taped out” this month in preparation for pilot production this summer, says an Asia-based report. [Read more]
CNET News
Last year, Apple surprised developers and analysts alike by debuting a preview of OS X Mountain Lion, then announcing it was shifting to an annual release schedule for its Mac operating system.
Computerworld News
There is speculation that some of Apple’s best talent might quit because the company can’t create the sorts of products it wants in Cupertino. But whose fault would that be? [Read more]
CNET News
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh had said last month that a second patent case pitting Apple against Samsung in Northern California might be put on hold. Now she says otherwise. [Read more]
CNET News
New submitter joelville writes “After noticing artifacts and a 1600 × 900 image in the output from Apple’s new Lightning Digital AV Adapter, the Panic Blog sawed it open and found an ARM chip inside. They suspect that video bypasses the cable entirely and instead uses Airplay to stream three inches to make up for the Lightning connector’s shortcomings.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
A judge has ordered a partial retrial in Apple’s patent lawsuit against Samsung in California, and has cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the $ 1 billion in damages that Apple was awarded last summer.
Computerworld News
It’s a rite of passage of sorts — Apple’s “skinny” iMac has now spent enough time on Earth to be deemed an appropriate addition to the company’s refurb ranks. The base late-2012 configuration, which sports a 21.5-inch 1080p IPS screen, a 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, 8 gigs of RAM, a 1TB hard drive and that new super-svelte housing can now be had at a $ 200 discount, priced at $ 1,099. As with many Apple refurbished products, you likely won’t be the device’s very first owner, but it will arrive in tip-top condition, with a one-year warranty to boot. As always, “supplies are limited,” so if you don’t mind having a second-hand system on your desk, in exchange for a slightly thicker wallet, you best make your way over to the source link to snag your very own discounted machine today.
Via: MacRumors
Source: Apple Store
The company says that its dealerships will have young employees on the showroom floor answering questions possible customers might have about cars. [Read more]
CNET News
tad001 writes “CNET is reporting ‘Discovered last night within a freshly jailbroken iPad: a set of buttons and code references for “radio,” a feature found in iTunes on Macs and PCs, but not on the iPad or iPhone.’ … ‘The buttons hint at Apple’s much-rumored radio service, a product that will let people stream music much like they do on the popular Pandora service, but with deep ties to Apple’s iTunes library.’ … ‘The discovery follows a high-profile jailbreak of iOS 6.1, the updated system software Apple released just last week. A team of developers came up with a tool that gives users deep system-level access to do things like install applications from third-party app stores, change the look and feel of iOS, and add new software features.’”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Apple now lets developers create vanity domains in its long-ago acquired AppStore.com domain to jump to apps. [Read more]
CNET News
Nerval’s Lobster writes “To give the Mars Rover Curiosity the brains she needs to operate took 5 million lines of code. And while the Mars Science Laboratory team froze the code a year before the roaming laboratory landed on August 5, they kept sending software updates to the spacecraft during its 253-day, 352 million-mile flight. In its belly, Curiosity has two computers, a primary and a backup. Fun fact: Apple’s iPhone 5 has more processing power than this one-eyed explorer. ‘You’re carrying more processing power in your pocket than Curiosity,’ Ben Cichy, chief flight software engineer, told an audience at this year’s MacWorld.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
If Apple is to maintain its momentum, Cook and team need to do what they did with the iPhone and iPad — spawn entirely new markets. [Read more]
CNET News
A cheaper iPhone ? A deal with China Mobile ? Despite having neither of the two, Apple reported strong earnings in the Chinese market in its fiscal first quarter, with revenue buoyed by triple digit growth in iPhone sales.
Computerworld News
The hits keep coming for the crowd in Cupertino, as the company just informed the world on its earnings call today that its iCloud platform now boasts a quarter of a billion users. This time last year, Apple’s cloud storage service had but a mere 85 million customers, but 2013 has seen that number triple to 250 million. How? We’re guessing that all those iPads and iPhones it’s sold in the last year probably have something to do with it.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Storage, Mobile, Apple
The company’s earnings on Wednesday are expected to set new sales records for iPhones, iPads, and maybe even Macs. But Wall Street is still concerned. [Read more]
CNET News
Apple’s stock today has been hit hard, despite recent claims by analysts saying iPhone sales will remain strong. [Read more]
CNET News
Ten years ago Monday, Apple co-founder and then-CEO Steve Jobs introduced Apple’s first, and so far only, browser.
Computerworld News
App downloads on Christmas Day rose 87 percent over the average for the month, leading to a 70 percent increase in App Store revenue, says Distimo. [Read more]
CNET News
Continue reading IRL: Western Digital MyBook external hard drives, Doxie Go and Apple’s Podcasts App
It has been a big year for some tech luminaries, with several of them getting a nod from editors picking Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.
Computerworld News
A new model already? Yep, the next iPhone will cater expressly to a very important market: college girls. [Read more]
CNET News
A federal jury in Delaware has found Apple's iPhone infringes on three patents held by MobileMedia, a patent-holding company formed by Sony, Nokia and MPEG LA.
Computerworld News
A federal jury in Delaware has found Apple's iPhone infringes on three patents held by MobileMedia, a patent-holding company formed by Sony, Nokia and MPEG LA.
Computerworld News
Sales of Apple’s iMac, the computer often credited with saving the company, have peaked and by the end of 2014 will account for approximately 2% of the firm’s revenues, analysts now say.
Computerworld News
CEO Tim Cook’s remark that Apple will invest $ 100 million in manufacturing Macs in the states will mean the creation of 200 jobs, some industry watchers say. [Read more]
CNET News
CEO Tim Cook’s remark that Apple will invest $ 100 million in manufacturing Macs in the states will mean the creation of 200 jobs, some industry watchers say. [Read more]
CNET News
Given that it’s Apple’s biggest rollout ever of an iPhone, it’s actually fairly impressive that the iPhone 5 is now listed as “in stock” across many countries (United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand, to name a few). Toss in the whole “holiday season” thing, and it’s crystal clear that the company has its supply chain humming in impressive fashion. Up until now, Apple’s latest phone was showing some sort of backorder — typically three to five days — but those who appreciate instant gratification can get a dose of precisely that in the source link.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple
Via: MacRumors
Source: Apple
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