Federico Viticci

10804 posts on MacStories since April 2009

Federico is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of MacStories, where he writes about Apple with a focus on apps, developers, iPad, and iOS productivity. He founded MacStories in April 2009 and has been writing about Apple since. Federico is also the co-host of AppStories, a weekly podcast exploring the world of apps, Unwind, a fun exploration of media and more, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about portable gaming and the handheld revolution.
@viticci@macstories.net
@viticci.macstories.net
viticci@macstories.net

Eric Schmidt Weighs In On Apple’s “Closed System”

Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt was invited on stage to TechCrunch Disrupt, where he gave a quite interesting 39-minutes speech about what Google is really all about, openness, user happiness and yes, Apple.

When asked about “openness” (around the 31:00 minute mark), Schmidt simply said that in order to define something that’s open, you have to take the opposite in consideration. The opposite is Apple, which relies on a closed system based on its own development tools, hardware, marketplace. Google’s Android is about “adding choices”, giving users the possibility to choose what to use on their devices and what not. Interesting enough, apps that come pre-installed by carriers are mentioned as “more choices”, too.

Check out the full video below.
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Sonos Releases iPad Controller App and Spotify Compatibility Update

Sonos users, Christmas came early for you this year. Sure you spent some bucks on that neat wireless product you have in your living room, but it was worth it: earlier today Sonos released the official iPad controller app (for free in the App Store) and the promised 3.3 software update to bring Spotify compatibility to European users.

The Sonos controller app for iPhone hasn’t been updated yet, it should be available soon. Check out the official press release and screenshot of the iPad app below. Read more

Sonic 4: Finally Coming To The iPhone On October 7th

Back in June Sega announced that Sonic 4: Episode 1 was coming to the iPhone, and the guys over at TouchArcade even managed to get their hands on an early demo at the E3 2010. The game looked great, but it got delayed. Quite frankly, this is one of the few games I’m seriously looking forward to, so I was really disappointed when I read about the Sonic 4 delay.

Good new this morning, though: Sonic 4 for iPhone is official, it’s real - and it’s coming to the App Store on October 7th. Read more

iTunes: Apple’s Weakest Link→

The problem is that iTunes is now a pretty ancient piece of software. When it first appeared in 2001 as a reworking of SoundJam, a program Apple bought from a Californian company in 1999, it provided an elegant way of doing just one thing: getting songs from CDs on to your computer’s hard drive. But over the years, more and more functions have been added: first the management of iPods, then the Apple online store. Then iTunes became the conduit for managing one’s iPhone. The latest addition is the Ping social-networking function.

This is what the industry calls “feature creep” on an heroic scale.

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