iTunes, Beatles still in standoff, says Ono
Yoko Ono, the widow of the late John Lennon has said this week that negotiations between Apple and The Beatles are still at a standstill, so don’t expect the popular catalog to hit iTunes or other MP3 stores anytime soon.
The band remains one of the few to not go legally digital, instead selling physical CDs like they did last year, with the catalog remastered.
Apple Corps (not to be confused with iTunes owner Apple), the group’s holding company still cannot come to terms with the EMI Group, the label which licenses the Beatles’ recordings.
Says Ono: “[Apple CEO] Steve Jobs has his own idea and he’s a brilliant guy. There’s just an element that we’re not very happy about, as people. We are holding out. “Don’t hold your breath … for anything.”
Apple Corps is jointly owned by Ono, Paul McCartney, Ringo Star and Olivia Harrison, widow of former member George Harrison.
While the company may seem closed off to new digital ideas, the band’s music was reissued on CD last year, is available via the “Beatles: Rock Band” video game and through the Cirque du Soleil “Love” stage show.
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Jailbroken iPhones get basic Adobe Flash support
The popular developer/hacker Comex, the man behind the Web-based iPhone jailbreaking site, has released Frash today for the smartphone
, certain iPod Touch models and the iPad allowing for Adobe Flash support on jailbroken devices.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs has long said that the company will not support Flash on “i” devices.
If you own the iPhone 3GS with iOS4, the iPhone 4, the iPod Touch 3G or the iPad you can now run Flash from within the Safari browser.
The installation is pretty simple. Add a custom Cydia repository, install the program and reboot your “i” device.
While the app is a great start, the developer is quick to note that the beta (version 0.02) can only support very simple Flash animations, making it useless for the most part unless you love invasive Web ads
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Apple’s Official Response to Jailbreak Ruling
Apple has issued an official response to the ruling handed down by the Library of Congress on the matter of jailbreaking the iPhone. Today after much deliberation a final decision was announced by the governing body on issues of copyright infringement. The ruling goes as follows; an exception has been made to the DMCA that now allows you to legally jailbreak your iPhone in order to install unapproved applications and to unlock the device so the phone can be used with another service carrier.
CultofMac received a brief statement on the record from an Apple spokeswoman. Due to the legal nature of the issue she was unable to go into much detail:
“Apple’s goal has always been to insure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience. As we’ve said before, the vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones as this can violate the warranty and can cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably.”
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The Real Reasons for the Delay of the White iPhone [Comic]
Nitrozac & Snaggy have published a new Joy of Tech comic to explain the real reasons for the delay of the white iPhone.
Have a look below…
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Leaked: Apple’s internal iPhone 4 antenna troubleshooting procedures
The antenna issues plaguing the iPhone 4 have infuriated many iPhone users (and rightfully so), but have you ever wondered how Apple is training its employees to deal with the fiasco? Well thanks to one of our Apple connects, we now know the exact procedures AppleCare reps must follow when dealing with any reception complaints regarding the iPhone 4. Hit the jump to check them out.
1. Keep all of the positioning statements in the BN handy – your tone when delivering this information is important.
a. The iPhone 4’s wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. Our testing shows that iPhone 4’s overall antenna performance is better than iPhone 3GS.
b. Gripping almost any mobile phone in certain places will reduce its reception. This is true of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, and many other phones we have tested. It is a fact of life in the wireless world.
c. If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 3GS, avoid covering the bottom-right side with your hand.
d. If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 4, avoid covering the black strip in the lower-left corner of the metal band.
e. The use of a case or Bumper that is made out of rubber or plastic may improve wireless performance by keeping your hand from directly covering these areas.
2. Do not perform warranty service. Use the positioning above for any customer questions or concerns.
3. Don’t forget YOU STILL NEED to probe and troubleshoot. If a customer calls about their reception while the phone is sitting on a table (not being held) it is not the metal band.
4. ONLY escalate if the issue exists when the phone is not held AND you cannot resolve it.
5. We ARE NOT appeasing customers with free bumpers – DON’T promise a free bumper to customers
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iPhone 4 Lives Up To The Hype [Review]
Plates55 has reviewed the iphone 4. Thanks to my good friend j plates here is the review in a nutshell.
You’re probably sick of reading about the iPhone 4, so here it is in a nutshell: It’s slick as sh*t and I recommend without hesitation that you buy it.
- No yellow spots
- Holding it the “wrong way” drops bars, but it doesn’t matter much to performance.
- It doesn’t scratch that easily, no matter what you’ve read.
- Industrial design is beautiful.
- The screen is gorgeous: like going from SD to HD.
- Photos and video are much improved.
I stood in line for four-and-a-half hours to get the iPhone 4. I wasn’t as excited as I was at the 3GS launch last year, but this phone has really grown on me. I love it.
Combined with the iOS 4 update, this is one sweet pocket computer/entertainment powerhouse. It’s beautifully made: the Aston Martin of gadgets. FaceTime videoconferencing is fun. It takes much better pictures and video. It’s also gotten better at making phone calls.
The Screen
The 326-pixels-per-inch Retina display is like moving from a standard-def TV to HD. By comparison, an old iPhone 3GS screen looks like shit. This is funny because I never noticed it before. A high-res iPhone screen wasn’t on anyone’s wish list, but once you see the Retina display, you can’t go back. It’s very crisp and clear, especially when displaying text.
Industrial Design
The industrial design is superb. The iPhone 4 is probably Apple’s best device yet. Made from two slabs of hardened glass, wrapped in stainless steel, the phone has significant heft and weight. The glass and metal feel so much more substantial and classier than the old plastic models. It makes older iPhones look old-fashioned and dated, like old see-through iMacs.
That Jonny Ive managed to cram in a beefier battery (16 percent bigger), a faster processor, a gyroscope and a pair of cameras into this thinner, sleeker case is a testament to the man’s extraordinary design chops. The buttons are nicely set and respond with a satisfying click.
Engadget reported that the iPhone’s glass scratches easily, but mine is still spotless despite taking a couple of falls. No, it hasn’t been in the same pocket as my keys, but the glass feels as sturdy as the glass on the 3GS, which has stood up amazingly well to a year’s abuse.
The microphone is now noise-reducing, and the speaker is louder and clearer. This is evident the first time the phone rings — it’s noticeably louder. Calls on the speaker phone seem more audible. The earpiece seems to be louder too, but this may be my imagination.
The iPhone sports the new A4 chip, the same used in the iPad, and the speed is awesome. This is one whippy device. The 3GS was no slouch, but the iPhone 4 is almost instantaneous in all its functions, especially the camera. There’s no lag in typing — a problem that sometimes drove me crazy on the 3GS.
The Antenna Death Grip
The “Death Grip” that drops bars when you wrap your fingers around the lower antenna is real, but it may not have much effect on performance. It’s not the number of bars that count, says tech expert Ted Landau, but the decibels per milliwatt (dBm). “FWIW, the number of bars on my iPhone vary a lot — depending on how I hold phone — but actually dbms stay within about 10 unit range,” he said on Twitter. (To see dBm on older iPhones — it doesn’t work in iOS 4 — type *3001#12345#* in the Phone app’s Keypad screen and tap Call button. The dBm appears where bars were. Tap to toggle.)
FaceTime and Front-Facing Camera
Apple’s FaceTime videoconferencing is elegant and cool but I’m skeptical that it’s anything but a novelty. Launching FaceTime is a one-button affair. There’s no setup and no configuration. If the other party also has an iPhone 4 (and is on a Wi-Fi network), you hit the FaceTime button and you’re quickly connected. Admittedly, I had a lot of problems initially connecting to my old buddies at Wired.com, and they with me. Whatever the issues were, they eventually resolved and when we did connect we were laughing our heads off at the kick of it. It’s a ton of fun.
But I suspect the novelty will soon wear off. I can’t see people using it for day-to-day communication. The best thing about ordinary telephone calls is you can surf the web or watch TV while also conducting a conversation. You can’t do that with FaceTime, and I think that will be a problem. In addition, I’ve had a FaceTime system on my computers for a couple of years now (iChat and iSight) and rarely use it. Neither does anyone else I know.
5-Megapixel Camera
The 5-megapixel camera is no DSLR, but it does rival a low- to mid-range point-and-shoot snappers. Pictures are pretty good, if a little washed out. Snapping pictures is instantaneous; there’s no infuriating lag. The extra speed also means less blur, which is especially handy for fast-moving subjects like my kids.
On the back there’s a bright little LED flash that’s surprisingly functional (see the under-the-sink snap below). It looks especially handy for illuminating low-light video shoots, Blair Witch-style.
The new camera shoots video at 720p HD resolution. In my quick tests, the video looked pretty good. I’ll report back later when I’ve had a chance to put it through its paces. A comparison by iLounge shows it rivals video from a HD Flip camcorder.
I recommend the iPhone 4 without reservation, even with the ‘Death Grip’ antenna issue, which initially freaked me out, but now looks like no big deal.
Sample Pictures:
These aren’t the greatest pictures, but the camera is comparable to a low- to mid-range point-and-shoot. And like they say, the best camera is the one you have on you…
The colors are washed out, but it was a typical summer day in San Francisco: gloomy.
Using the built-in flash:
Iphone 4 is allot of hype but overall it performs extraordinarily well.
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iPhone 4 Teardown – 512MB RAM and 1GHz CPU Revealed
iFixit, a company renowned for publishing online do-it-yourself guides for opening high profile gadgets has lived up to its name yet again. The folks at iFixit managed to grab an iPhone 4 a couple of days before the official launch on June 24th and published the first iPhone 4 teardown analysis on the internet. The important findings of the teardown reveal that the new iPhone boasts 512 MB RAM, provides easy battery replacement and is designed to minimize dropped calls.
While the 26-step iPhone 4 teardown does not throw up any major surprises, it reaffirms that the iPhone 4 contains 512 MB RAM, double the memory of the iPad. The processor is the same as in the iPad – Apple’s A4 processor, which iFixit says uses a 1-GHz ARM Cortex A8 core. The 32GB iPhone 4 has 28.77GB of storage and the rest is reserved for the iOS 4.
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App Store really doesn’t make any money
As hard as it is to beleive Apple does not make any money on the APP Store!
Apple’s making peanuts out of the app store, according to a financial analyst who says it’s netted less than half a billion dollars since its launch two years ago.
Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray says Apple’s claims to be running the store at more or less break even point are borne out by the data.
Munster seized on two figures given by Steve Jobs two weeks ago during his keynote address at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference.
Jobs told developers that there had been five billion apps downloaded, generating $1 billion for developers.
Munster says that the implication of these figures is that the gross revenue for the app store is $1.4 billion. After the developers have taken their 70 percent cut, this leaves Apple with just $429 million.
With around 81 percent of apps being free, says Munster, this is hardly surprising – especially as the paid apps have an average selling price of just $1.49.
The company’s gross margin – after developers and credit card companies have taken their cut – is nevertheless around 44 percent.
These figures mean that the App Store is pretty peripheral to the company’s overall business. Given that the company’s generated $33.7 billion since the App Store launched, it shows the store contributing just one percent of the company’s bottom line.
The implication is that the App Store is something of a loss-leader for Apple, driving the sale of the company’s rather more lucrative hardware.
“We see a virtuous cycle of Apple’s robust app ecosystem adding features and functionality to the iOS devices, which drives sales, which makes the ecosystem more robust, which encourages more developers to write apps, and the cycle repeats itself,” he says.
With iPad apps rather more expensive, Munster says he expects to see the figures improve.
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iPhone 4 vs HTC EVO 4G: Two Rival Phones Of Today Comparative Review
Now that Apple has already released its latest iPhone named iPhone 4 in its recently concluded WWDC 2010, Apple fanatics are surely looking forward on how to grab it. This has become the latest must-have gadget of today and as Steve Jobs described its specs, the new iPhone has displayed awesome features.
Not so long ago, HTC, one the giants in the phone industry has also released its latest 4G phone, HTC EVO 4G. It has also displayed great features. For those people planning to purchase any of these great phones, it would be very helpful to read comparative reviews of the two. For better comparison and for guidance, we had listed below some key features that 4G phone should possess.
Size
iPhone 4 – 4.5×2.31 inches with a width of 0.37 inches
EVO – 4.8×2.6 size with a thickness of 0.5 inches
Display
iPhone 4 – 3.5 inch display with 960 x 640 pixel resolution
EVO – 4.3 inch screen with 800 x 480 pixel resolution
Cameras
iPhone 4 – simple VGA front camera, Rear camera: 5.0-megapixel, auto-focus, tap to focus, LED flash and the option of 720p HD video recording.
EVO – 8.0-megapixel, auto-focus, tap to focus, 2x LED flash and has 720p HD video recording.
Memory
iPhone 4 – 16GB and 32GB iterations
EVO – 1GB internal but an SD slot allowing 32GB cards
Battery Life
iPhone 4 – 7 hours on 3G, 14 hours on 2G for talk time while Internet use up to 6 hours on 3G, 10 hours on WiFi. can playback video up to 10 hours and audio playback up to 40 hours. Battery is not removable.
EVO – The battery can be removed while the specific life has not yet specified. However estimates place the battery under Apple’s version.
Price
iPhone 4 – $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB
EVO – $199
Others
EVO – Offers HDMi output, Adobe Flash and allows video calls over 3G and 4G
iPhone 4 – can only have the above mentioned features on Wifi.
I hope the comparison above has helped you decide. If something has been lacking here and worth mentioning, feel free in posting it in the comment box for better comparison
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iPhone 4 is not 4G at all
You have heard the saying…”thats not really it at all”. Well welcome to the apple iphone 4!!!!
With all these iPhone news around, please don’t get yourself confused. This new iPhone 4 doesn’t mean it is a 4G phone. The only 4G phone as of the moment is the HTC EVO 4G. It is being powered by Sprint mobile that uses WiMax, the only network provider that offers 4G. iPhone 4 is being powered by AT&T as Apple is being tied up with it for at least another 2 years.
This new iPhone 4 has a lot of great features to offer though compared to the 3G’s. It has 2 cameras now, one with 5x digital zoom. It has longer battery life than previous Apple iPhone units and it promises 7 hours of 3G talk time plus it is the thinnest phone in the planet so far with only 9.3mm thick.
This new iPhone is available at different online stores now, particularly Apple’s official website. Pre-selling is only available to Japan, US, UK, France and Germany for now. The 16GB model can be bought for $199 and the 32GB model is priced at $299.
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