Not-Horrible iPad Cases: a round-up of the best
The following round-up is from our esteemed colleagues at The Wirecutter. We recently were discussing this very topic in the Editor's household, where children abound and the SmartCover fails to do much protecting. Some people think the iPad is so gorgeous it doesn't need a case. I disagree, and my favorite overall case is Joy Factory's SmartSuit 3. I'm surprised we could narrow it down; this took some doing. After about 70 hours of trolling published reviews and surveys of every case available for the new iPad, we called in roughly a dozen finalists to check the fit and feel ourselves. We eliminated the obviously ugly, cheap-feeling, poor-fitting, ill-reviewed cases in previous iPad 2 iterations, and selected the most protective, ergonomic and aesthetically pleasing models available. We looked at every model from makers like Speck, Targus, XtremeMac, G-Form, Switcheasy, Marware, DODOcase, Grovemade. (An up-front tip of the hat to iLounge's Nick Guy is in order here, because he is clearly the best iPad case reviewer around. We gained a lot, not only from his insights but from the sheer number of cases reviewed. His work represents as complete a catalog as you'll find.) Read the comments on this post
published on Sunday, the 6. May 2012
Week in Apple: Mastered for iTunes, RubyMotion, and Willy Wonka Jobs
This week's most popular Apple coverage at Ars included our analysis of the Mastered for iTunes audio, a look at RubyMotion, Apple's tablet market share numbers, an interview with the creative director who worked with Steve Jobs for 12 years, and plenty more. It has been a busy week, so we won't blame you if you missed some of it. You've come to the right place! Does "Mastered for iTunes" matter to music? Ars puts it to the test: Some engineers say Apple's "Mastered for iTunes" program is mere marketing hype. Ars visits a mastering studio to try the process for ourselves. Exclusive: building native iOS apps with RubyMotion: Former Apple developer Laurent Sansonetti has created a new development tool called RubyMotion that allows developers to build iOS applications with the Ruby programming language. We put it to the test in this exclusive hands-on tutorial. Read the comments on this post
published on Saturday, the 5. May 2012
Google may face massive fine from FTC for bypassing Safari privacy controls
Google is said to be in the process of negotiating a fine with the Federal Trade Commission for circumventing Safari's privacy settings, according to Bloomberg. Citing an unnamed "person familiar with the matter," Bloomberg says Google faces being fined up to $10 million once the FTC files formal charges against the company, though unsurprisingly, neither Google nor the FTC has publicly commented. Google was found to be working its way around Safari's tool that allows users to block third-party cookies earlier this year in order to, well, "track" users with cookies. (The code used by Google was part of its program to place the "+1" button in advertisements.) At the time, the company issued a statement saying that the circumvention wasn't intentional, but privacy groups were still quick to file complaints with the FTC over Google's actions. That was quickly followed by a class-action lawsuit and an investigation by European regulators. According to Bloomberg's source, the FTC plans to charge Google with violating its consent decree with the US government that came out of the Google Buzz settlement. The company had agreed not to mislead users about its privacy policies or what it's doing with user data, and critics were quick to point out that circumventing a browser's privacy controls seem to fall under that umbrella. No expected timeframe was given for when the FTC will officially charge Google. Read the comments on this post
published on Friday, the 4. May 2012
Apple tests Samsung 32nm process on A5-equipped iPad 2 and Apple TV
As noted recently by Chipworks, Apple is now shipping some iPad 2 models (and all third-generation Apple TV devices) with a 32nm A5 processor built on Samsung's power-efficient "high-dielectric metal gate" (HK+MG) process. These products give Apple a relatively low-volume test bed to ensure its architecture works well with the process, and extensive testing by AnandTech shows that the 32nm process offers significant power savings over the older 45nm process used for processors in other iOS devices. Apple's A4, A5, and A5X processors, used in the most recent iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch models, are built using the 45nm process. Effectively, 45nm is the absolute smallest size that can be used to create a transistor or other circuit element on a chip using a 45nm process. This also affects the minimum distance between elements as well. Read the comments on this post
published on Friday, the 4. May 2012
Etc: Hungry for even more "lost" footage of late Apple CEO Steve Jobs? Magnolia Pictures will release Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview, comprised of about an hour of footage from 1995, in theaters on May 11.
Hungry for even more "lost" footage of late Apple CEO Steve Jobs? Magnolia Pictures will release Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview, comprised of about an hour of footage from 1995, in theaters on May 11. Read More: YouTube Read the comments on this post
published on Friday, the 4. May 2012
iOS app success is a "lottery": 60% (or more) of developers don't break even
There is no shortage of stories about lone developers who made an app for the iPhone or iPad and had runaway success. But in the real world, the majority of app makers struggle to break even, according to a recent survey by marketing firm App Promo. Though the survey's methodology is a bit on the light side, numerous developers that we spoke to agree that the results—59 percent of apps don't break even, and 80 percent of developers can't sustain a business on their apps alone—are close to accurate. Read the comments on this post
published on Friday, the 4. May 2012
Two months later, Apple acknowledges use of OpenStreetMap in iPhoto
Apple has finally given a public nod to OpenStreetMap, almost two months after it began using OSM's mapping data within iPhoto for iOS. The OpenStreetMap team tweeted about the change on Thursday evening, noting that the app, which was updated earlier this week with relatively minor fixes, quietly gained an OSM mention in the credits. When Apple began using OSM data in the iOS version of iPhoto in March, it came as somewhat of a surprise to both the world and even the OSM Foundation itself. At the time, the OSM said it was "pleased to find" Apple is using its data, though Apple continued to use Google Maps for other functions (such as the Maps app on iOS). In March, the OSM Foundation pointed out that Apple had failed to include "the necessary credit to OpenStreetMap’s contributors," which has apparently been remedied. Although there wasn't much doubt that Apple was using OSM instead of Google Maps, Apple's acknowledgement shows the company is diversifying its sources when it comes to mapping data. When combined with Apple's acquisitions of C3, PlaceBase, and Poly9, it certainly appears as if the company is further distancing itself from Google, with which it has developed a tenuous relationship over intellectual property issues as of late. Read the comments on this post
published on Friday, the 4. May 2012
Feature: DeployStudio: Heavy-duty imaging software for OS X
Macs are on the rise in businesses and educational institutions, and while IT managers might not like it, users are increasingly asking for more Mac support from their workplaces. Supporting Macs means coming up with ways to manage and configure them to run your programs and comply with your IT department’s best practices, and doing that quickly and effectively means finding ways to install pre-configured operating system images and approved applications on them. Software like Disk Utility or Mike Bombich’s Carbon Copy Cloner, which can copy the contents from one Mac’s hard drive to another’s, are fine for imaging individual Macs, but these tools typically don’t scale very well, and administrators will still need to perform some post-install configuration tasks manually—things like renaming computers and binding them to directories. The tools Apple builds into OS X Server are more useful for larger deployments, but they don’t make it all the way there. The System Image Utility, part of the OS X Server Admin Tools package, can capture your images, and the NetBoot service will let you apply that image to multiple Macs without the need for third-party programs or bootable media. These tools can deploy fully configured images with all of your desired programs and customizations, but if you need to make changes for individual computers or departments, you’re left to either make these changes manually or create and maintain multiple images, adding to your workload. Enter DeployStudio, a free third-party tool that combines the convenience of NetBoot with flexible and customizable tools for automating application installs and post-configuration tasks. If you’ve got a large number of Macs to image and not a lot of time to image them, it may just be the program you’ve been waiting for. Read the comments on this post
published on Friday, the 4. May 2012
Apple hoards tablet share while market falls off a cliff for first quarter
The overall tablet market is suffering despite Apple's strong numbers when it comes to iPad sales. Released Thursday, IDC's quarterly report on the tablet market shows a steep decline in worldwide tablet shipments during the first quarter of 2012—a 38.4 percent unit decline to 17.4 million units from the previous quarter's 28.2 million units. This was actually lower than IDC's already pessimistic projection of a 34 percent decline. But when it comes to Apple, things are dandy. The company grew its market share from 54.7 percent in Q4 2011 to 68 percent in the most recent quarter. The first quarter of the calendar year usually results in a decline in unit sales from the previous quarter due to the holiday season rush to buy gadgets. Apple wasn't completely immune to this market force—IDC says the company shipped 11.8 million iPads during the first quarter of the year, down from 15.4 million units over the holiday season. Despite this drop, Apple's share of the tablet market was able to shoot up more than 14 percentage points between quarters, largely because of the precipitous decline in tablet sales from the likes of Amazon. According to IDC, Amazon's share of the tablet market with the Kindle Fire was 16.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, but fell to just 4 percent in the first quarter of 2012. These numbers place Apple in first place, Samsung in second, and Amazon in third. Lenovo came in fourth place, while Barnes & Noble's Nook came in fifth. "Apple's move to position the iPad as an all-purpose tablet, instead of just a content consumption device, is resonating with consumers as well as educational and commercial buyers. And its decision to keep a lower-priced iPad 2 in the market after it launched the new iPad in March seems to be paying off as well," IDC's Research Director of Mobile Connected Devices Tom Mainelli said in a statement. "It seems some of the mainstream Android vendors are finally beginning to grasp a fact that Amazon, B&N, and Pandigital figured out early on. Namely, to compete in the media tablet market with Apple, they must offer their products at notably lower price points." Indeed, the Android tablet market has struggled for some time to find its place, only to be dominated by the $199 Kindle Fire upon its initial launch last year. But even those don't appear to be selling that well at the moment, according to IDC's own numbers. IDC seems optimistic, however, that there will be some bounce-back from both existing and new players. "The worldwide tablet market is entering a new phase in the second half of 2012 that will undoubtedly reshape the competitive landscape," IDC Vice President of Clients and Displays Bob O'Donnell said. Read the comments on this post
published on Thursday, the 3. May 2012
The on-again, off-again, on-again saga of EA's iOS Rock Band
It's been a short but confusing month so far for owners of the iOS version of rhythm game Rock Band. Those who tried to use the app on May 1 were greeted with a message saying that the $4.99 game "will no longer be playable on your device" as of May 31. "Thanks for rocking out with us!" the message said, somewhat tauntingly. Read the comments on this post
published on Thursday, the 3. May 2012