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Posts tagged with "apple"

Apple To Announce “GarageBand For E-Books”?

Apple is holding an education-themed media event at the Guggenheim Museum in New York on Thursday, with rumours suggesting it will heavily revolve around textbooks and the iBooks platform. Ars Technica is this morning reporting that part of the event will also be the announcement of a “GarageBand for e-books”.

The gist of this idea is that whilst anyone can create an ePub for iBooks distribution, the process is not simple - particularly if you want to go beyond the basics and add multimedia or other interactive elements. Ars Technica’s sources say Apple will announce a tool on Thursday that makes the process of creating iBooks easier. Ars points out that Apple doesn’t want to get in the textbook or book industry, just like they don’t want to enter the movie industry as content creators. Instead they have offered tools from GarageBand and iMovie to Logic and Final Cut Pro to allow anyone from consumers to professionals to create content.

The current state of software tools continues to frustrate authors and publishers alike, with several authors telling Ars that they wish Apple or some other vendor would make a simple app that makes the process as easy as creating a song in GarageBand.

Ars also believes that Apple will announce support for the ePub 3 standard in iBooks on Thursday. Apple had used the ePub 2 standard along with some HTML5-based extensions for further multimedia and interactive elements, but the new standard removes the need for the proprietary extensions - ensuring that ePubs are compatible across platforms.

[Via Ars Technica]

Apple Planning “Nearly Transparent Store” For France→

Apple Planning “Nearly Transparent Store” For France

Today’s cool Apple retail news comes from ifoAppleStore’s Gary Allen, who points to an article first appeared on AixEvProvence.fr magazine, which claims Apple is planning a nearly-transparent, all-glass retail store for the town located in the south of France.

A rendering posted by the magazine shows a one-level structure set back on a broad stone plaza, with a tan-colored rear wall, and all other encompassing walls made of glass. A second rendering shows the store is an extension of a design roughly based on the Upper West Side (NYC) store. Typically for Apple, the rendering does not show any Apple-like features and there are no visible Apple logos. According to the magazine, the city required Apple to build to new earthquake standards, and harmonize with the surrounding picturesque streets.

Of course, Apple isn’t new to state-of-the-art glass engineering. Steve Jobs famously said that they’ve been able to design Apple’s proposed future campus in Cupertino thanks to their expertise in durable glass constructions, which date back to 10 years ago when the company started opening retail stores featuring Apple’s distinctive glass. Most recently, Apple launched a redesign of its 5th Ave. Store in New York City using less glass panels and a patent for glass staircases was attributed to the company’s late CEO Steve Jobs.

This is a photo of the current Office de Tourisme in Aix en Provence.

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Apple Confirms: Media Event In New York On January 19

According to The Loop, Apple has just sent out invitations to the press confirming the rumored media event for January. The event will take place in New York at the Guggenheim Museum on January 19. As provided by The Loop, the invitation reads “Join us for an education announcement in the Big Apple” of what appears to be a chalkboard background.

Earlier this month, it was reported Apple was working with publishers in the educational market for a “big media announcement”. Speculation has arisen suggesting that the event will see the unveiling of a new textbook option in iTunes and iBooks, something that was also hinted by Steve Jobs himself, more or less, in the authorized biography by Walter Isaacson. Of course, several rumors have appeared in the past weeks claiming that there will be a series of announcement regarding iBooks and eBooks in general, albeit today’s invitation email from Apple seems to be pretty clear about the fact that the event will be focused on education.

Speaking of iBooks, a notable omission in Apple’s eBook line up is a dedicated Mac app which, many have suggested, could only make sense for textbooks on portable Mac computers.

We’ll cover Apple’s media event on January 19 with a liveblog on the site’s homepage.

Apple Planning Media Event to be Held in New York at the End of January, Says All Things D [Update!]

While a highly anticipated iPad 3 and iTV are expected by the mainstream media to be unveiled later this year, it’s a forthcoming event at the end of this month that could kick off another year full of surprises from Apple. Unrelated to the rumored products, Kara Swisher from All Things D writes that Apple is planning a media-focused event to be held in New York City at the end of the month, possibly pertaining to advertising or publishing deals.

According to sources “close to the situation”, Apple SVP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue is reported to be involved in the announcement. Eddy Cue oversees Apple’s wide media domain, including the iBookstore, iTunes, iAds, and Apple’s iCloud services. Cue unveiled News Corp.’s online magazine, The Daily, at a media event in NYC last February.

Media is the key word in Swisher’s announcement, and while it’s possible that the upcoming event could detail some new deals for iTunes Match (perhaps for video), a sole event will promise and detail a longterm vision of Apple’s content strategy. As we saw with the international iTunes Match rollouts, I can’t see Apple using this event to make that that announcement. Siri currently has limitations outside the United States, but that too doesn’t seem like it would constitute its own event if it were to gain better international support. Apple is paving the way for something special, and if you asked me, I’m hoping Apple is starting to sit down with digital publishers to help create tools and develop experiences that are standardized and fluid on the iPad.

[via All Things D]

Update: Alexia Tsotsis from TechCrunch writes that she has independently confirmed Apple’s January event, which will be focused on the iBooks platform. While the details are still relatively unknown, the industry-oriented event will focus on publishing and eBooks. Alexia claims that the event itself isn’t “major,” meaning there will be no product launches. It is expected that improvements to the iBooks platform will be unveiled.

My Educated Guess On What The Next Apple TV Will Be

I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use,’ [Steve Jobs] told me. ‘It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud.’ No longer would users have to fiddle with complex remotes for DVD players and cable channels. ‘It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.

In the past two months since Walter Isaacson’s biography hit the bookshelves and people read that paragraph I quoted above, rumours of an Apple TV have hit a fever-pitch. Only a few people really know what Jobs meant by the quote and what his intentions were, but regardless, many people have speculated on what it is he “finally cracked”.

I’ve been following along closely to the discussion because I’m fascinated by where the TV industry is inevitably headed and because I want to see how Apple will come into another new industry and try to disrupt it (presuming they do, of course). More than that, I am some what of an outsider to the latest developments in the TV industry - living in Australia where TV content offerings are years behind that of the US and (to a lesser extent) Europe. Local TV stations have (forever) been slow in acquiring US content, taking weeks, months, if not years to show a popular US series and our online choices have been minimal - with the exception of ABC iView and some dismal options from other networks.

So it is with this point of view, that I want to take a crack at figuring out what exactly this new Apple TV will be, why Apple wants to build one and how it might change our consumption of content. Jump the break to read it all.

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Apple To Appeal Italian Regulator’s Fine Over Warranties

Earlier this week it was reported by Reuters that the Italian anti-trust regulator had fined Apple a total of US$1.2 million for failing to adequately inform its customers about their rights to product guarantees and assistance. Today Apple has responded to the decision, telling The Register that it will be appealing the decision - believing that Apple has complied with all Italian laws.

The Italian regulators claim that Apple Sales International, Apple Italia and Apple Retail Italia all failed to give customers appropriate information about their rights to two years of free assistance that is available to them due to Italian law. Specifically the issue arises because the “AppleCare Protection Plan” that Apple sells and encourages customers to purchase, overlaps with what is already provided by Italian law.

Apple is also facing another anti-trust investigation in the EU over Ebooks. The Register’s article today is also well worth the read on their relationship with Apple’s PR group, because it seems as though the recent Christmas holiday has renewed the once frosty relationship between the two organizations.

[via Reuters, The Register]

Zephyr Jailbreak Tweak Enables Cohesive iPhone Multitasking Gestures

The iPad brought four (or five) finger gestures for multitasking in iOS 5, but due to the screen size, the iPhone didn’t receive the same gestures. Today however, Grant Paul (known more commonly as chpwn) has released a jailbreak tweak that brings gestures to the iPhone for those same multitasking functions.

The tweak, named Zephyr, is available on the Cydia store and is currently made up of two key gestures. The first is based on Max Rudberg’s concept video from earlier this month, and is essentially a single finger swipe up from the bottom of the screen (ie. the Notification Center gesture but from the bottom of the screen, moving up) and it reveals the multitasking tray. The second gesture is swiping in from the sides of the iPhone screen, allowing you to go back to your last opened app and then back again.

Emulating the gesture functions of the iPad and iOS 5, this Zephyr tweak looks and works really well and it’s clear that Paul took the time and effort to perfect how it works. It’s available for jailbroken devices for $2.99 on the Cydia store. Unlike some other, similar tweaks, Zephyr does not require Activator or other jailbreak tweaks to work.

Paul says he is looking to update the tweak with more gestures and actions in the future, including perhaps a gesture to exit to the home screen (as is possible with the iPad on iOS 5). You can view a demonstration of the tweak below the break.

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MacStories Apps Of 2011: Reader’s Choice Winners

We’ve had a great response to our search for the best iPhone App, iPad App, Mac App and iOS/Mac Game with votes numbering in the thousands and people really excited about the huge giveaway that we ran alongside the vote. We’ve given away most of the codes but the final winners will be emailed over the next few days, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

We’ve tallied the votes and figured out who you, our readers, have deemed as the best apps and games of iOS and Mac. The winners may be largely what is expected, but it is interesting to see who the runner-ups were - there are a few interesting results there.

Just a quick note to all those who voted; thank you! We didn’t know whether you would embrace this idea or not, and we’re thrilled that so many of you voted and that we got such a large sample of our reader’s opinions on the best apps and games of 2011.

Jump the break to find out who all those winners and runner-ups all are.

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Best Apps Of 2011: Final Chance To Vote & Enter Our Huge Giveaway

UPDATE: Voting is now closed. Winners will be announced tomorrow, Saturday 24th of December.

Last Friday we opened up the poll’s, to hear what you thought was the best iPhone, iPad and Mac App - as well as the best Game for the Mac/iOS from 2011. As part of it, we put together the biggest giveaway we have ever run on MacStories - with around 250 codes to give away.

We’ve had a great response with votes numbering in the thousands and people have loved the huge giveaway. But now we are on the home stretch, as of posting there are just 10 hours left of voting, with the poll closing at 7:00 PM EST (New York time) tonight. Click here to see how long away, exactly, that is.

So if you haven’t yet voted, get a move on and vote right now - you’ll also go in the running for some of the apps we are giving away today — the final day of the giveaway! We’re giving away some truly excellent apps today, in fact, a spectacular bunch of apps:

  • Tweetbot (iPhone)
  • Fantastical (Mac)
  • Reeder (Mac)
  • Pixelmator (Mac)
  • PDF Expert (iPad)
  • Reckless Getaway (iOS)
  • Ecoute (Mac)
  • iA Writer (Mac)
  • AirServer (Mac)
  • Triple-Pack Bundle: Mr. Reader (iPad), iA Writer (iPad), AirServer (Mac)

View more details on how to enter the giveaway
View all the short listed apps