Apple Looking Into Mult-Touch Screen for Magic Mouse, Haptic Feedback for Keyboards?

by Alex Jordan on January 20th, 2011 on iSource

Two separate reports have surfaced from Patently Apple that reveal two recently-published patent applications that show that Apple has been looking into haptic feedback digital keyboards, and a Magic Mouse with a display on it’s surface.

The first report points to patent called “Method and Apparatus for Localization of Haptic Feedback“, which seems to outline the use of a virtual keyboard that utilizes actuators to provide a tactile feedback when the keys are depressed. Specifically, Apple is looking for ways to isolate the feedback to individual spots or keys, and not the entire keyboard as is currently done. Oh, and these keys, or the surface of the keyboard, would be digital, kind of like the iPad’s onscreen keyboard.

Now, the second report, named “Computer Input Device Including a Display Device” shows what appears to be, in simple terms, a Magic Mouse with a display embedded in the top shell. One of the accompanying diagrams shows display being used as a numeric pad. The images being displayed on the mouse would be transmitted to the device from the computer and stored locally.

To the best of my understanding, both the keyboard and mouse could be used on a per-app basis. Say for instance, the digital keyboard could be altered on the fly when a user fires up an app like Photoshop. Shortcut keys, and the like could be displayed on the software keyboard. The haptic feedback is there to aid in typing accuracy.

The Mac App Store – First Impressions

By Athol Hill – 7th January 2011 – Mac Apps on MacTalk
The Mac App Store went live today so I thought I’d have a look and give my perspective on this new feature in OS X.

For those who haven’t used it yet, you can enable the App Store by doing a software update. You will receive a software update that looks something like this (10.6.6) and should be around 115MB:

The update to 10.6.6 is what enables the App Store and it requires a machine restart so I’d finish off any work you’re doing before applying this udpate. Unfortunately they don’t give much more information on the app store so for those who get past this point, so look in your applications for an app called “App Store” and you’re done.

The initial screen that greets you is pretty similar to something you’d find in the iTunes App Store. It has the latest featured apps and the usual “Top Paid”, “Top Free” and “Top Grossing” Apps.

You can select business categories or use the search function if you know what you’re looking for.

Looking at the App Store, its clear in its current form that all the software vendors haven’t come on board yet. I’m not sure whether people have been slow in adding their software to the App Store or whether they just don’t want it there, but its definitely in its infancy at the moment and the store was missing some of the main software providers like Adobe and Microsoft but some of the major software suppliers like Omnigroup were there and products like Omnigraffle (Visio for Mac) are available online. I’m hoping the other vendors get on board soon because it would be great to see products like Merlin on there as well.

To test the app store, I decided to download a couple of apps to see how well the install process worked. It does require login to work but you can use your existing itunes password for this. Interestingly enough it only picked up the Apple apps that were installed and show that apps like Evernote and Text Wrangler hadn’t been installed on my machine when they were already installed but it does pick up some apps like Mindnode Pro. This is surprising given that Macupdate desktop can pick all my apps.

This may not seem like a major issue, but if you want the App Store to manage updates you are going to have to re-download some of these apps via itunes. How the App Store will handle third party apps it doesn’t pick up is a mystery to me, but you may find yourself in a position where you’re still having to update some apps independently of the App Store which may be an annoyance for some people so hopefully Apple resolve this soon. The installation is pretty flawless but it does default by opening the app the moment its downloaded and inserting it in your dock which I’m not happy with. Every time I downloaded an app, I had to close it and drag it off the dock. Unfortunately there are no preferences to change this so hopefully we’ll see these appear in a future version. Purchases also only shows apps you’ve purchased through the App Store so don’t expect to see all your apps there.

One of the interesting things I noted is that the pre-packaged products are now offered independently but no longer as a box set. I.e. Ilife or iWork. I’m not sure how the pricing would compare but I still liked the idea of buying these prepackaged. It also doesn’t offer any multi-user scenarios like the iWork edition you could install on 5 machines so this is likely to frustrate some users for the purchasing process but at least once the install is complete, the App Store will continue to handle your updates.

There is no option to remove an app from your machine so you’ll still be stuck doing this the manual way or using a product like App Zapper. (which ironically isn’t in the App Store yet)

Conclusion

Okay, so after 30 minutes of playing with the App Store here are my first impressions.

1. Its very basic and definitely a first version.

2. Not all the software vendors are on it

3. It has issues – it doesn’t pick up all the apps you have installed even if they are in the app store

4. Its missing key Apple apps like iLife as a bulk purchase option (only individual apps are offered)

5. No uninstall options

6. It can’t match existing products on the market – Macupdate Desktop is streets ahead of it for the update process.

This may seem pretty negative but Apple have a history of toning down the functionality in a package until they know they can do it properly. It does however provide some great scope for future and I’m hoping that Apple put considerable development into this product to make it work.

There are some questions I still have, like how Apple will handle things like license keys. Does it imbed a key like it does with the iPhone app store? If so, how will it handle upgrades to existing products you have? Do I have to keep copies of my old keys incase it inadvertently overwrites it? No doubt some of the less legally orientated customers will want to know what if someone downloads a pirate copy and using a pirate key? Will it simply give them an update thereby legalising their old version with a new one with an imbedded license?

Obviously its early days and there is plenty of time to answer these questions but its definitely going to be an interesting if not bumpy ride to get there.

Mac App Store Cracked For Piracy

By Jesus Diaz on January 7, 2011 at 11:01 AM on Gizmodo

The Mac App Store’s security has been cracked. This means that by installing a software called Kickback you will be able to pirate any applications in the store. However, the crack will not be available until February 2011, according to Dissident:

We don’t want to release kickback as soon as the [Mac App] Store gets released. I have a few reasons for that.

Most of the applications that go on the Mac App Store [in the first instance] will be decent, they’ll be pretty good. Apple isn’t going to put crap on the App Store as soon as it gets released. It’ll probably take months for the App Store to actually have a bunch of crappy applications and when we feel that it has a lot of crap in it, we’ll probably release Kickback.

So we’re not going to release Kickback until well after the store’s been established, well after developers have gotten their applications up. We don’t want to devalue applications and frustrate developers.

Dissident is a member of Hackulous, the community that cracked Apple’s Digital Rights Management system for iOS.

While I don’t support piracy, I understand the need to allow people to try apps for free, especially when there’s so much crap out there. However, this opens the door to wide piracy, which is not good for anyone, developers and users alike in the long term.

That’s why Apple should provide a test mode for all apps. Lite and trial versions don’t cut it. It’s cumbersome and not universal. Storewide 24-hour testing would be perfect, allowing users to quickly purchase or delete at any time during the trial period.

And they should do the same with iOS. [Gadgets DNA]

Twitter for Mac Announced

Posted on the Twitter Blog

Twitter is proud to introduce an appropriately slick and simple desktop application for Mac computers. Twitter for Mac has launched today as part of the Mac App Store. 

 

This app gives Twitter users another fast and convenient way to stay connected to what they care about the most. Tweets appear in real-time (using our streaming API), and the app auto-shortens URLs and has lots of useful keyboard shortcuts.

 

The app is also three times faster than its original version that was previously called Tweetie for Mac. Tweetie for Mac was a desktop client that was originally created by atebits developer Loren Brichter prior to our acquisition of atebits last April. Twitter for Mac is a new version updated by Loren and team during Twitter’s first Hack Week in October.

 

We acquired atebits with a focus on launching our own Twitter iPhone application. Since then, we’ve been asked repeatedly for a new version of Tweetie for Mac. We decided that the new version fits well into our goal of ensuring that mainstream users will have the best possible experience on popular platforms. We hope you enjoy it.

Apple TV 2G first impressions…

First Impressions

After recently purchasing a new 32″ HD LCD TV for the bedroom I decided it was time for a network media player to play all those movies and videos I download instead of always watching them on my Macbook Pro. Luckily my boss recently got an Apple TV 2g (2nd Generation) and lent it to me for a short period to give it a go.

First impressions is it’s very tiny, compact but limited by the external connections it must supply (AC power in, SPDIF, RJ45 Ethernet, Mini USB and HDMI) otherwise I’m sure it would be the size of a deck of cards!

Plugging it in was easy and setting it up and connecting it to my wireless network was even easier as per typical Apple products and I had it running in less than 3 minutes (Gotta love that!)

I found though that browsing the menus and working the little Apple Remote that comes with it was easy and didn’t take long for me to get the hang of it.

As far as what you can do with this little beastie I’ll break it down into network content and downloadable content. The fact that the ATV2 can both stream content from any iTunes enabled computer on your LAN as well as download content from the internet makes this most appealing.

Network Content

As I already have a fully populated iTunes on my Mac I was able to let the ATV2 find my library and then was able to browse my music and videos easily and play them back to the ATV2. So essentially what I plan to do is convert all my video library into a format that can be played on Apple devices and then add them into my iTunes library so I can watch them on my ATV2 or indeed sync them to my iPhone or iPad as well. ATV2 doesn’t discriminate against Windows iTunes users either so I’ll put iTunes on my Win7 media center PC and add all my content into that library for a permanent storage area (My NAS box connects to the media PC for online storage).

Speaking of NAS boxes the one true failing of the Apple TV 2G is the fact you cannot stream directly from your NAS device to an ATV2 it has to be via an iTunes enabled computer or server. But with a lot of the new NAS devices having iTunes servers and clients built in this should get around this limitation.

This solution should be able to handle all my home media needs and allow me full access to my library from almost any device in the house.

Downloadable Content

Whilst I haven’t taken a good look at the downloadable content I can see how this will be appealing as well. If you don’t mind paying to rent a movie online or download music then this should suit your needs and will tie into your existing Apple Store ID/Account and charge any downloads to your current Apple ID account.

There are plenty of movies and titles to download, you can preview the latest releases at the box office as well all at a cost of course with many movies costing around $5.99 or thereabouts its comparable to going to the rental store and renting a new release DVD anyway without having to leave the house!

The ATV2 also has various clients for YouTube and the like allowing you to browse and search these popular sites and watch their content on your big TV instead of your computer monitor.

Airplay

Well what can I say about Airplay? I just love this feature!

Essentially Airplay allows you to stream videos etc from your other iOS devices to you ATV2. So if you were watching a music video on your iPhone you could select the ATV2 to play to and have the content streamed from your device back to the ATV2 where it’s shown full screen on your TV all over your wireless network.

Overall

Overall I’m very impressed with this little box and will probably get a 2nd one for the other HD TV in our house in the near future.

There is also a large community out there devoted to getting the most out of your ATV2 including adding features and plugins or completely jailbreaking the device just like an iPhone or iPad which essentially is what this box is just cut down without all the extra hardware but still has the same processor and base iOS operating system that’s used in both the iPhone and iPad.

Whilst the ATV2 is restricted in what it can do compared to other network media players out there, Apple has made this one simple, easy to use and still feature packed and it can only get better with the 3rd Gen version whenever it arrives!

Apple and App Developers Sued Over Sharing User Information With Advertisers

posted by Eric Slivka on Tuesday December 28, 2010 11:54 AM on MacRumours

Bloomberg reports that Apple and a number of App Store developers have been sued over the sharing of personal information with advertisers working through apps installed on the iPhone and iPad.

The complaint, which seeks class action, or group, status, was filed on Dec. 23 in federal court in San Jose, California. The suit claims Cupertino, California-based Apple’s iPhones and iPads are encoded with identifying devices that allow advertising networks to track what applications users download, how frequently they’re used and for how long.

“Some apps are also selling additional information to ad networks, including users’ location, age, gender, income, ethnicity, sexual orientation and political views,” according to the suit.

Along with Apple, developers behind such apps as Pandora Radio, Paper Toss, The Weather Channel, and Dictionary.com have also been targeted with the suit.

In particular, the companies are accused of sharing Unique Device Identifiers (UDIDs) for users’ devices. As suggested by their name, these UDIDs are unique to each device, can not be changed, and transmission of them back to Apple or developers can not be blocked by users.

For its part, Apple notes that it screens all App Store applications to make sure that personal information is not transmitted from users’ devices without their express permission, although such information may be able to be passed along to ad networks.

It is unclear whether the lawsuit is targeting a legitimate privacy issue or if it’s simply objecting to the typical non-identifiable demographic information used by advertisers in targeting their content. While the UDID does not specifically identify any given user, tying any anonymized personal data to that fixed identifier is viewed as a risk by some privacy advocates.

An investigation by The Wall Street Journal published earlier this month hyped the ability of iPhone and Android applications to transmit such personal data, and it is possible that the new lawsuit was inspired by that report.

New MacBook Pros and iMac Coming in the First Half of 2011?

by Alex Jordan on December 15th, 2010 on iSource

Digitimes is reporting that Apple is will likely release upgrades to their MacBook Pro and iMac lines in the first half of 2011.
The relevant excerpt from the report:

The sources noted that Apple plans to launch at least four upgraded MacBook Pros as well as an iMac that features a new panel size and a price point for the mainstream market.

Interestingly, this is the first we’ve heard of the new “panel size” and “price points” attributed to the iMac line this release cycle. What that means is anybody’s guess. I’m guessing, if this holds true, they’ll re-introduce a smaller, more inexpensive iMac model, much like they’ve had in the past. Because, seriously, who needs a display larger than 27-inches in an all-in-one computer? I’m sure someone does, but probably not a large segment of the market.

Also, I have a beef with the scope of this report. First half of 2011? Really? Why not broaden the scope to “sometime” in the future and really cover your bases. Ok, my griping aside, the MacBook Pros last saw an upgrade in April of this year, and the iMacs saw an update in July, so the first half of 2011 sounds reasonable, if not a little vague.

Lastly, if I had to guess, neither one of these will be drastic overhauls, just minor, internal upgrades. We’ll keep you posted on future developments.

Apple Preparing to Shut Down MAC OS X Download Page, Folding it into Mac App Store

by Alex Jordan on December 20th, 2010 on iSource

Apple has just sent emails to registered developers informing them that the Mac OS X Downloads page will be shut down as of January 6th, which is the same day that the Mac App Store is slated to go online.
Here is the meat of the email Apple sent:

Thank you for making the Mac OS X Download site a great destination with apps that offer users new ways to work, play, learn, and create on their Mac.

We recently announced that on January 6, 2011, the Mac App Store will open to users around the world, presenting you with an exciting, new opportunity to reach millions of customers. Since the introduction of the App Store in 2008, we’ve been thrilled with the incredible support from developers and the enthusiastic response from users. Now we’re bringing the revolutionary experience of the App Store to Mac OS X.

Because we believe the Mac App Store will be the best destination for users to discover, purchase, and download your apps, we will no longer offer apps on the Mac OS X Downloads site. Instead, beginning January 6, we will be directing users to explore the range of apps available on the Mac App Store.

So, to be clear, Apple is shutting down the Mac OS X Downloads page, in favor of their upcoming Mac App Store. This shouldn’t be a surprise, considering Apple is known for cutting down on overlapping functionality.

Apple iTunes 10.1.1 Released

Apple has just released iTunes 10.1.1 this morning.

What’s new in iTunes 10.1.1

This release provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

• Addresses an issue where some music videos may not play on Macs equipped with NVIDIA GeForce 9400 or 9600 graphics.
• Resolves an issue where iTunes may unexpectedly quit when deleting a playlist that has the iTunes Sidebar showing.
• Fixes a problem where iTunes may unexpectedly quit when connecting an iPod to a Mac equipped with a PowerPC processor.
• Addresses an issue where some music videos may not sync to an iPod, iPhone, or iPad.

iTunes 10.1 came with several new features and improvements, including:

• Use AirPlay to instantly and wirelessly stream videos from iTunes to the all-new Apple TV.
• Sync with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 4.2.
• Provides a number of important stability and performance improvements.

Apple’s Greatest Advantage: The Apple Ecosystem

By Jon Buys Dec. 10, 2010, 1:00pm PDT on Gigaom

Google’s power in the mobile computing world seems to grow with every new product announcement and Android device that comes to market. But for all its reach, the search giant is missing one piece of the puzzle that Apple does better than anyone else: product integration.

It starts with one device. Maybe it’s an iPod; maybe it’s a first Mac; but from that first product, you discover Apple’s unique take on technology. Apple treats each device it manufactures with care, sweating the little details like font choices and icon design, and thinking about how it all fits together. Each device Apple creates plays a part in the overall ecosystem, and the links between them are clear.

I recently stepped outside the cozy Apple ecosystem and purchased an Android phone, the HTC Desire. It was on sale at a steep discount, and I thought I would be able to integrate it into my work/life flow. I was wrong, and the phone is being returned.

The phone was powerful, and had some very interesting features, but it was so entirely different from the rest of my Mac setup that nothing felt right. I could go into detail about application crashes, frustrating hardware, the sordid Android Market (I wouldn’t let my kids browse through it), and other annoyances, but suffice to say that it simply didn’t measure up to the expectations I’ve developed from using Apple devices.

Apple is the only computer company that creates all of its own hardware and software; they control the entire package. Personal computers are a mishmash of parts and pieces from different sources. Hardware from one company, software from another. By contrast, many modern smartphone and computer makers get hardware from one place, and an operating system from another. BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion is a notable exception to this rule, but a recent interview with their co-CEO Mike Lazaridis seems to suggest the company’s leadership at least has little sense of what smartphone consumers really want.

HP, which recently purchased Palm, is another exception to the rule. The stage is set for the computing giant to build its own tightly integrated smartphone environment, if they have any interest in doing so. HP now sells the Palm Pre, but unfortunately, the Pre, once seen to be a strong iPhone competitor, seems to be lagging behind. Not a single one of these companies can design and test integration between phones, tablets, computers, and online services as well as Apple can, because none controls each of these aspects the way Apple does.

Does Apple’s degree of control occasionally border on the excessive? Yes. But consumers end up benefitting from that control more often than they are harmed. It’s only because Apple controls the entire product line that you can rent Inception in iTunes on your Mac, and know that it will play on your iPad, your iPhone, and your Apple TV. It works reliably, consistently and predictably.

When you live in the Apple ecosystem, you make a deal with Apple: I’ll pay you, and in exchange, you make sure everything plays nicely together. Google doesn’t seem to be interested in providing that kind of tightly integrated experience, at least not yet.  What Apple does best is remember that technology only exists to serve its users, and goes far beyond a list of features and hardware specs. And that’s why Apple will continue to drive the future of computing, regardless of whether Google and others end up winning the numbers game.