Graham Spencer

1054 posts on MacStories since January 2011

Former MacStories contributor.
graham@macstories.net

The Story Behind Hype, An Interactive HTML5 Animation Builder For OS X

Last Friday, a bunch of ex-Apple employees launched Hype, an HTML5 animation builder for OS X. The application aims to let users easily build interactive sites that rival those built with Flash. Already the idea and the implementation has proved successful amongst consumers, with the app currently ranking as the highest grossing app on the Mac App Store. The Startup Foundry met with one of the cofounders, Jonathan Deutsch, and picked his brain on a number of questions surrounding Hype.

Deutsch worked at Apple primarily as the engineering manager for the back-end of Mail.app on OS X but also dabbled in software updates, automation technology, preparing Steve Jobs’ keynotes and various other engineering projects. The other co-founder, Ryan Nielsen was a senior member of the Mac OS X Project management team – central in the development of major OS X releases. Asked why Deutsch would leave a safe job at Apple to build a start-up, he said that he has always wanted to have his own company and wanted to be part of the new HTML5 wave hitting the web.

I was faced with the decision of continuing to work with the great people on my team on a clearly high impact project, living with the “what if” syndrome, or trying to forge my own path.  ”Regret Minimization” is what should win out in life, so it did.

The idea for Hype came after Deutsch returned from a holiday in Europe and wanted to make a website sharing some of the photos he took. Yet coding it with HTML5 would have been a nightmare and he thought there must be a better way. “It stuck with me and eventually I realized this was going to be a great opportunity for a business”.

Deutsch says that Apple’s condemnation of Flash wasn’t really a part of his decision-making, rather it was Apple’s efforts at driving the web forward that played a larger role. He praises WebKit as a great project that whilst initially controversial, has driven innovation in web browsers, particularly on mobile devices that almost exclusively use WebKit.

You can download Hype in the Mac App Store for $29.99.

[Via The Startup Foundry]

Stream Media From iOS To Windows Media Center

We’ve seen a multitude of hacks that have enabled AirPlay streaming to a variety of platforms that aren’t officially supported by Apple. The latest hack, by Thomas Pleasance, lets you AirPlay straight to Windows Media Center.

To get this working all you’ll need is Apple’s Bonjour service installed (most of you will have already done this) and Pleasance’s Media Center add-in. Then just jump on your iPhone or iPad and stream video or pictures over to it – music support isn’t yet included.

If you’re new to AirPlay hacks, you might want to check out some of the following hacks that we have previously covered: AirServer or BananaTV for iOS to OS X, AirTuner for iOS to iOS, BananaTunes for AirPlay Music streaming or AirPlay support in XBMC.

You can download Thomas Pleasance’s AirPlay for Media Center add-in here.

[Via Engadget]

Apple Faces Licensing Challenges With Music Publishers

In just a matter of weeks, Apple is expected to reveal their cloud-music service at WWDC. With rumors suggesting Apple is actively co-operating with the music publishers, CNet today published an interesting article that highlighted the potential stumbling blocks that Apple faces in tying up a deal. There are four major record companies and it is widely believed Apple has finalised agreements with three of them: EMI Music, Warner Music and Sony Music, furthermore, Universal, the current holdout may reach an agreement with Apple this week. Yet this is only half the battle, as CNet points out, because Apple still needs publishing rights – the big labels only own the recording rights, not the publishing rights.

For the publishing rights, Apple must negotiate with the large music publishers individually. With only two weeks till WWDC it really doesn’t leave Apple with much time at all to sort this out. But what are publishing rights? As CNet explains, when Apple sells a song, such as the Beatles “Twist and Shout”, it must pay both EMI and Apple Records (representing the Beatles) for the sound recording. However it then has to pay the publishing company that represents the writers of the song and words (in this example it is the company representing Phil Medley and Bert Russel). However if Apple then wants to sell a cover version of the song, such as The Isley Brothers version, it again has to pay Medley and Russell again.

The complication with this is that whilst there is a set rate for those licenses in terms of CDs and digital downloads – there is no precedent or guidance for a cloud-based music service that Apple is reportedly developing. As CNet suggests, there is very little money that separates Apple and the publishers on this issue, but it will nonetheless be the sticky point of negotiations. What muddies the water even more is that because Apple has inked deals with 3 the labels already, they “have soaked up most of the money that Apple is prepared to pay” – leaving little for deals with the publishers.

A source from the recorded-music side said that the labels who have licensed Apple have negotiated only what their songs are worth and if Apple is unwilling to pay the publishers’ price, the publishers don’t have to provide licensing. The source suggested that this is a negotiating ploy and that Apple is trying to pit the labels and publishers against each other.

[Via CNet]

Wired Implements Apple’s In-App Subscriptions

With an update to the Wired app today, it becomes the latest iPad magazine from Conde Nast to utilize Apple’s in-app subscription service after they began implementing it in all their magazine apps earlier this month. Wired now offers users four ways to consume the Wired magazine on the iPad, they can continue to purchase individual issues for $3.99, pay $1.99 for a monthly subscription, $19.99 for a yearly subscription or if they are already a print subscriber, access the app for free.

The subscription offerings will allow users to access the monthly editions until the subscription runs out. Opting to purchase individual issues will mean users get to permanently purchase that issue and re-read it at a later time without a subscription.

Today’s update follows last month’s update that brought enhanced sharing and shopping features to the app, and to celebrate they made the issue available for free. According to Howard Mittman on Twitter, that proved successful because the issue has become the most downloaded, beating the record set by the first iPad edition of Wired, which had over 100,000 downloads.

App Store Hits Milestone Of 500,000 Approved Apps

Just after midnight this morning, the iTunes App Store approval team pushed through a batch of app submissions, making the total number of submissions exceed 500,000 apps. It means that in the 34 months since the App Store opened in July 2008, there have been just over half a million apps published to the App Store.

To celebrate the event, Chillingo (developer), 148apps (mobile app blog) and Chomp (search company) created an epic infographic. It’s full of a tonne of interesting factoids such as: Angry Birds stayed at number 1 on the paid apps list for 275 days, the App Store launched with 500 apps, each developer submits an average of 4.6 apps and so on.

The actual number of apps available for download is currently closer to the 400,000 mark because of various replacement and withdrawals of the past 34 months. We also know that at least 75,000 of the apps are for the iPad – a figure revealed in late March. To see the full infographic jump over to the 500K Facebook page put together by Chillingo, Chomp and 148apps.

[Via Fortune]

Chengdu Plant Shut Down May Reduce iPad 2 Production By 500,000 Units

Last week’s explosion at the Chengdu Foxconn plant may in fact lead to a loss in production of 500,000 iPads, despite contrary reports from yesterday. The figures come from IHS iSuppli, which did note the exact figure will depend on how long the plant remains closed.

Yesterday’s report, from China Times, reported that production would unlikely be impacted because the Shenzhen Foxconn plant would pick up any drop in production from the Chengdu plant. IHS however says that Shenzhen will struggle to make up for all of the lost output. It may even result in Apple missing the 7.4 million iPad 2 shipments that IHS iSuppli has forecast.

The Chengdu plant is said to produce 30% of all iPad 2s and some, including Mike Abramsky of RBC Capital Markets last week speculated that the impact could even be as large as a loss of production between 1.8 million and 2.8 million iPads. Whilst others such as Shaw Wu of Sterne Agee doesn’t believe the Chengdu shut down will have much of an impact at all on iPad 2 production, with other plants picking up the slack.

The explosion at the Chengdu Foxconn plant last week took 3 lives and injured 15 people, nine of which are still hospitalised. The exact cause of the explosion is still unknown but early signs point to inadequate venting leading to a build-up of highly explosive aluminium dust that combusted.

[Via Bloomberg Businessweek]

 

Scott Forstall Places Second In Most Creative Business People Award

Fast Company has placed Scott Forstall as second in their 2011 ‘Most Creative People in Business’ awards. Forstall, who is VP of iPhone software, received the award for leading the development on iOS, with Fast Company noting that “the popularity of that tap, pinch, and swipe interface has sent Cupertino’s earnings rocketing”.

Jonathan Ive’s slick designs may grab the headlines whenever Steve Jobs introduces a new product, but it’s Scott Forstall’s smart software that fills Apple’s coffers.

Meanwhile, Wadah Khanfar took out top honors for his work as Director General of the Al Jazeera network – which has seen recent surge in popularity for its extensive coverage of the uprisings in the Arab world, notably for its coverage in Egypt and more recently, Syria. In its entirety, the list featured a variety of people that exhibited creativity in business from Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post (10th) to Oprah Winfrey (12th) to the singer Bruno Mars (58th).

However of most interest to us at MacStories are those which have heavily utilized iOS as part of their business strategy – in some cases even dedicating their entire business to the success of iOS. Jack Dorsey of Square and Twitter made the list at number 4, whilst Marcos Weskamp of Flipboard made the list at number 42. Others included Aaron Levie of Box.net (59), Kevin Systrom of Instagram (66), Dong Minghzhu of Gree (71) and Mikael Hed of Rovio, who rounded out the list at number 100. [via Setteb.it]

Reports Of A Grand Central Apple Store Resurface

The Wall Street Journal has today revived suggestions that Apple is looking to open an Apple Store in the New York Grand Central Terminal. Back in early February there had been reports from the New York Observer that Apple was planning to open their largest store at the terminal. Those rumors were then squashed in early March after reports surfaced that negotiations had fallen through.

Todays report from the WSJ claims that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is looking for new tenants and that Apple has expressed interest in establishing a retail presence within Grand Central. The space on offer is large, but not large enough to be the world’s largest Apple Store – which is currently the Regent Street (London) store which is 25,000 square feet.

The agency is looking for a single renter for two adjacent balconies on the north and east sides of the terminal. It will issue a request for proposals Monday.

A spokesman for the MTA told the WSJ that the agency dealing with the space has spoken to Apple and is hopeful that they bid on the space. Their report also suggests that the MTA may even be working specifically to find space for Apple, offering two adjacent spaces for rent, even though one is still occupied by a tenant. That tenant, who operates the Metrazur restaurant, would likely receive a hefty buyout from whoever purchases the space.

If Apple is interested in renting the space they will have to do so publicly – with all retail space within Grand Central awarded through an open bidding process. Jump the break for a plan of the retail space on offer – highlighted in red on the right hand side, labelled “East Balcony”.

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iPhone 5 To Feature Curved Glass Screen?

According to DigiTimes, the latest rumor going around the Taiwan supply chain is that the next iPhone (whether it be the 4S or 5) will feature a curved cover glass for the display. It would see the next iPhone resemble aspects of Google’s Nexus S phone which had the glass curved into a concave, or perhaps like the older model iPod Nano which had convex glass.

In the past, manufacturers of the glass for smartphone displays had been reluctant to commit to the investment in appropriate glass cutting equipment because of the high capital costs associated with producing them. However, Apple is said to have purchased between 200 and 300 glass-cutting machines for the glass manufacturers according to DigiTimes’ sources.

Prior reports put the production of the next iPhone as beginning in August this year, but today’s DigiTimes report notes that there is no firm timetable yet for the beginning of production. Apple is supposedly still involved in working with suppliers for cover glass, glass cutting, lamination and touch sensors to improve yield rates before production begins.

[Via DigiTimes]