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Pop star Taylor Swift wrote an open letter to Apple, regarding the Apple Music streaming service and the fact that the artist weren’t getting paid during the user’s trial period. Obviously the media went into a frenzy, because it’s Taylor Swift, it’s streaming, and it’s Apple.
The result? Apple, through Eddy Cue, bows their heads, recognise their error, and pays artists per stream during the user trial period (as opposed to a chunk of the revenue when users are actually paying).
Safari extensions from the official extensions gallery will, from Safari 9.0, be signed by Apple:
Secure Extensions Distribution introduces improved security for Safari on OS X. All extensions in the Safari Extensions Gallery are now hosted and signed by Apple. Users can trust that the Safari Extension they install is the one you submitted.
This means that extension developers will have to enroll in the $99 Apple Developer program if they want to update their extensions and, presumably, keep them in the official gallery. Naturally, some developers are pissed off by this, forgetting that this means better security for Safari users. I think this is a good thing.
From Evening Standard’s interview with Marc Newson, the first since he joined Apple:
“Newson, 51, who was born in Sydney and brought up by a single mother before moving to London two decades ago, has designed for some of the biggest names on the planet. He holds the record for the most valuable work sold at auction by a living designer — one of his Lockheed Lounge chairs (opposite) went under the hammer at Phillips in London for £2.4m last week. The chair, one of his earliest pieces, is so chic Madonna has one. He could work for anyone, anywhere. So why did he choose Apple, based half the world away from his wife Charlotte Stockdale, the fashion director of Garage magazine, who works closely with Karl Lagerfeld at Fendi, and their two children?”
Apple’s event yesterday, spilling the details on the Apple Watch, and showing off the new Macbook, was interesting. Tim Cook did a great job on stage, as did the rest of Apple’s staff, but the guests all felt a bit off key. It matters little in the end. I think it was a good keynote.
Some thoughts:
How about you? Tell @tdh on Twitter, if you feel like sharing your thoughts.
Jeff Hunter of AnyList wrote an open letter (let’s not dwell on that…) to Apple CEO Tim Cook. He suggests a tiered revenue share, instead of the 70/30 split between app developers and Apple of today’s App Store.
For an independent developer, the difference between their gross revenue and their net revenue after Apple’s 30% cut could very well be the difference between being able to work full-time building for the App Store or not. At $100K in net revenues per year, you may be a successful independent developer. At $70K in net revenues per year, your spouse could be telling you to get a day job.
I had intended to pass Hunter’s post up, but too many linked to it, and sent it to me for that matter, with the general consensus that this is something Apple should do. Give more money to the developers, and we’ll get more and better apps. Win-win, right?
Matt Gemmell makes a solid case for the current slew of laptops, and how far we’ve come already, that we really don’t need much more than this. His laptop of choice is the 11“ Macbook Air, which I used to have (now I use the 13” retina Macbook Pro). With that in mind, this makes perfect sense (sparked by the 12" Air rumors, no doubt):
It’s tough to see what the next step will be, though. My wish list has been exhausted. Every checkbox is checked.
It is, really. The battery life’s there, and the computing power’s been there for years. The keyboard and trackpad are both great, as is – honestly – the value for money. The one thing that’s left to do is to slap a retina screen on the Macbook Air and it’s the perfect computer. Sure, it can be thinner and lighter, and there’s bound to be a ton of things we haven’t thought about, but then what?
Not to sound like an Apple blogger or anything, but the recent IDC numbers show that the Mac’s doing well.
Apple kept the number 5 position on a worldwide basis, maintaining its lead over ASUS. The company’s steady growth, along with recent price cuts and improved demand in mature markets, has helped it to consistently outgrow the market.
Mac growth is the highest among the top 5, at 18.9% worldwide. The leaderboard stands with Lenovo on top, then HP, Dell, Acer, and Apple.
9to5Mac is a well-known Apple blog, and they’re great at feeding the rumor mill. Right now, they’re “revealing” the new 12″ MacBook Air. By “reveal” they actually mean that they’ve created artist renditions based on their sources, which isn’t exactly the same thing as revealing, but it matters little. I don’t think that this is the 12″ MacBook Air, it just doesn’t make sense.
First there’s this:
The upcoming 12-inch Air has the fewest amount of ports ever on an Apple computer, as can be seen in the rendition above. On the right side is a standard headphone jack and dual-microphones for input and noise-canceling. On the left side is solely the new USB Type-C port. Yes, Apple is currently planning to ditch standard USB ports, the SD Card slot, and even its Thunderbolt and MagSafe charging standards on this new notebook.
The magnetic MagSafe charging cables are brilliant, they solve a problem, and thus there’s no reason to believe that Apple would scrap them for a new USB port. Of course, that’s assuming they haven’t also managed to make the USB port magnetic.
Having trouble with the sleep button on your iPhone 5? Apple might fix it for free:
Apple has determined that the sleep/wake button mechanism on a small percentage of iPhone 5 models may stop working or work intermittently. iPhone 5 models manufactured through March 2013 may be affected by this issue.
Apple will replace the sleep/wake button mechanism, free of charge, on iPhone 5 models that exhibit this issue and have a qualifying serial number.
Apple has released the WatchKit, which lets developer create apps for Apple Watch. The apps aren’t stand-alone though, they live on your iPhone, at least until later in 2015. If you’re not ready to jump into Apple’s developer pages, even the public ones, then check out iMore’s need to know piece.
Nokia, who sold their device business to Microsoft, has announced a new device. The Nokia N1 is an Android 5.0 tablet that’s trying to channel the iPad mini. It’s almost ridiculously close to Apple’s device, and so is the imagery on the product website. On the flipside, this also means that the N1 might be the best looking Android tablet thus far.
Apple didn’t end up using sapphire for anything other than the TouchID and camera lens on the iPhone 6 models, as was rumored. One reason the rumor existed was the deal with GT, whom are filing for bankruptcy due to not being able to reach the milestones required by Apple, and thus not making any money on the investments. The whole thing smells of tough negotiations, and there’s no doubt that Apple has had stern demands, but the whole thing is out of control.
[COO Daniel] Squiller called GT’s contract with Apple “onerous and massively one-sided.” It would allow Apple to buy sapphire — a durable, scratch-resistant substance that already is used to cover the camera lens and touch ID sensor on some iPhones — at below market prices, he said.
GT would only make money if Apple’s sapphire orders exceeded the amount Apple already advanced under the loan, Squiller said.
If the contract was so bad, why did GT sign it? No wonder they’re facing a lawsuit from its shareholders. Tough break, really, but according to the report, Apple did try to help GT out. What more can you expect when conducting a serious business?
Apple statement regarding the wirelurker thing, via The Loop:
We are aware of malicious software available from a download site aimed at users in China, and we’ve blocked the identified apps to prevent them from launching. As always, we recommend that users download and install software from trusted sources.
Malware target Macs and iOS devices, delivered through a Chinese Mac app store:
Palo Alto Network explains that the malware has so far infected 467 applications designed for Apple’s Mac OS X operating system. It’s done that via a third-party Chinese Mac application store called the Maiyadi App Store. Over the last six months, those applications have been downloaded over 356,104 times—possibly infecting the Macs of hundreds of thousands of users.
But the malware also appears to infect iOS devices when they’re plugged into a Mac via USB.“WireLurker monitors any iOS device connected via USB with an infected OS X computer and installs downloaded third-party applications or automatically generated malicious applications onto the device, regardless of whether it is jailbroken,” explains Palo Alto Networks. “This is the reason we call it ‘wire lurker.’”
This is the price of being the industry leader, being targeted by these sorts of things. The Mac has been more or less malware and virus free for so long, it was bound to change. As for iOS, it’s obviously less sensitive for malware and viruses since they’d have to get into the App Store first, but it both can and will happen. Then there’s workarounds such as the one mentioned above, and if you jailbreak you need to take additional measures.
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple (for those of you living under a rock), is gay:
For years, I’ve been open with many people about my sexual orientation. Plenty of colleagues at Apple know I’m gay, and it doesn’t seem to make a difference in the way they treat me. Of course, I’ve had the good fortune to work at a company that loves creativity and innovation and knows it can only flourish when you embrace people’s differences. Not everyone is so lucky.
While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven’t publicly acknowledged it either, until now. So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.
Two things:
Publishing this shows great integrity. It’s not chance that this is the man that gets to lead Apple. Well done.