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Apple has begun decorating the Moscone Center ahead of its Worldwide Developers Conference next week. 9to5Mac has posted one image of a banner inside the building featuring the tagline 'Where a whole new world's developing'.
The banner users the same color scheme as the WWDC invitations sent out in April.
MacStories has also shared an picture of workers installing WWDC graphics on the outside of Moscone.
Workers will continue installing imagery throughout the day and readers are encouraged to send in their pictures of the installation to tips@macrumors.com
The U.S. International Trade Commission today reached a decision [PDF] in the ongoing Apple vs. Samsung case, ruling that Apple infringed on Samsung Patent No. 7,706,348, titled "Apparatus and method for encoding/decoding transport format combination indicator in CDMA mobile communication system."
The ITC has also issued a preliminary cease and desist order that prohibits the sale and distribution in the U.S. of older Apple products that infringe on specific claims (75–76 and 82–84) of the '348 patent, which includes AT&T; models of the iPhone 4 and 3GS, the iPad 3G and the iPad 2 3G.
Newer versions of Apple's iPad and iPhone, including the fourth generation iPad, the iPad mini, the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5, use different technology that does not infringe on Samsung's patent and these later devices will not be subject to the cease and desist order.
After a beta period spanning several weeks, Apple today released the final version of OS X 10.8.4. The update, which can be accessed via the Mac App Store, includes several notable bug fixes including a fix for an issue that caused iMessages to display out of order along with Microsoft Exchange and Calendar compatibility improvements.
After eight different beta builds, Apple closed its 10.8.4 Beta Testing Program last Friday. During the beta, Apple had asked users to focus on Wi-Fi, Graphics Drivers, and Safari. The public version of OS X 10.8.4 is the same 12E55 build that was seeded to developers on May 24.
- OS X Mountain Lion Update v10.8.3 (342.33 MB)
- OS X Mountain Lion Update v10.8.3 (Combo) (809.98 MB)
Alongside OS X 10.8.4, Apple has also released security updates for OS X Lion and Snow Leopard:
- Security Update 2013-002 (Lion) (57.69 MB)
- Security Update 2013-002 Server (Lion) (105.61 MB)
- Security Update 2013-002 (Snow Leopard) (329.85 MB)
- Security Update 2013-002 Server (Snow Leopard) (404.83 MB)
According to Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt, who spoke to investors at the Bank of America Merill Lynch Global Telecom and Media Conference today (via FierceCable), Time Warner is in talks with Apple, Microsoft, and Samsung over potential streaming video deals that are similar to its existing partnership with Roku.
Time Warner Cable brought its authenticated cable service, TWC TV, to Roku in March. With the app, Time Warner Cable subscribers are able to watch up to 300 live TV channels with any TV connected to a Roku device, without the need for a cable box. Time Warner has a similar deal with Samsung to deliver cable programming to its connected TVs.
Britt's comments confirm a Wall Street Journal report from last year, which suggested that Apple was working on deals to create a set-top box that would allow user to view live cable channels.
Such deals with cable companies are necessary if Apple wants to expand its product lineup with additional TV-centric products like the "iTV," which has been rumored to be in the works since 2011. At the D11 conference last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook reiterated that television continues to be an "area of great interest" for the company.
Last year, social game-maker Zynga acquired OMGPOP for roughly $200 million. OMGPOP is the development house behind the once-incredibly popular Draw Something.
Today, Zynga is shutting OMGPOP down as part of another round of layoffs at the company. Zynga has laid off 18 percent of its staff -- 520 employees -- reports AllThingsD.
Apple is planning on opening three new retail locations in the near future, reports ifoAppleStore. Job listings posted last month reveal that the stores will be located at the Station Park shopping mall near Salt Lake City, Utah; the Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center Mall in Woodbridge, Virginia; and the Quaker Bridge Mall, located near the Princeton University Campus in New Jersey.
Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center
Based on when the jobs were posted, ifoAppleStore predicts that the three stores will open before November, just in time for the holiday season. There is no information on exactly where the stores will be located in their respective malls, but additional details will likely become available as they near completion.
During its second quarter earnings call Apple announced plans to introduce 30 new retail locations during fiscal 2013. The majority of those stores will be located outside of the United States, with the three upcoming stores numbering among the 10 or fewer retail locations that will open in the U.S. this year.
Apple is, however, planning to remodel an additional 20 stores, including the redesign and relocation of its flagship San Francisco Apple Store.
President Obama has today announced a set of executive actions directed at cracking down on patent-holding firms that interfere with competition and abuse the patent system, reports The Wall Street Journal. Many technology companies, such as Apple, have dealt with multiple lawsuits from so-called "patent trolls," which aim to make money through licensing fees.
Additionally, Obama hopes to cut down on the International Trade Commission's involvement in patent disputes. Claims filed with the ITC are often resolved more quickly than standard federal lawsuits.
According to President Obama, patent-holding firms are a drain on progress. The firms, he says, "don't actually produce anything themselves. They're just trying to essentially leverage and hijack someone else's idea to see if they can extort some money out of them."
Over the years, Apple has faced litigation from a number of patent-holding companies like Lodsys, which has targeted app developers over in-app purchases, and VirnetX, a company that was awarded $368.2 million over VPN connectivity in Facebook in 2012.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the comment thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All MacRumors forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Last week Google announced an inbox redesign for both the mobile and desktop versions of Gmail, which was implemented on iOS today via an update to the Gmail app. The new design offers a tabbed layout that supports up to five different organizational tabs to allow users to organize mail into specific categories.
In addition to adding support for the new inbox, the update also brings enhanced notification options, allowing users to select the type of notifications that they want to receive.
Apple today released a 30+ page report [PDF] from real estate consultancy Keyser Marston Associates examining the direct and indirect financial impact of Apple on the City of Cupertino and Santa Clara County. The document is part of the building process for the company's new 'Apple Campus 2' -- the Spaceship -- planned for opening in 2016.
As the document is aimed at the municipal governments in the area, it is heavy on tax revenue and job numbers, but there are a few bits of information that are interesting to Apple watchers.
- Phase 1 of the the Apple Campus 2 building will accommodate some 13,000 employees across 2.8 million square feet of space in the main building. Other buildings on site will include an auditorium, fitness center, parking structures, buildings to house research and development and a central plant, for a total of 3.42 million square feet of new building space.
Phase 2 will add 300,000 more square feet of space, adding room for 1,200 more employees -- however this phase has been delayed indefinitely for cost-saving reasons.
- The analysis uses a conservative hiring growth rate of 10% per year, estimating that 7,400 employees will be hired at Apple's Cupertino headquarters between June 2013 and the opening of the new campus in 2016. This would tally a total employee count at 23,400, though over the past 5 years, Apple has seen an annual hiring growth rate of 18%.
- Apple's 16,000 current Cupertino employees account for 40 percent of the city's job base, making Apple Cupertino's largest single employer.
- Apple will pay $9.2 million in tax revenue directly to Cupertino in 2013, approximately 18% of the city's annual general fund budget. The consultants estimate that Apple will generate a net fiscal surplus of $8 million to the city this year, with that expected to grow to $11 million when the new campus is finished. This means Apple will pay millions of dollars more to the city than it uses in services.
- The construction of the new campus will generate 9,200 full-time jobs in the county over the three-year construction period, and will generate one-time revenues to the City of Cupertino in the form of construction taxes and fees totaling more than $38 million. The company has agreed to direct its contractors to purchase all construction materials from within the city, ensuring that Cupertino collects millions of dollars in sales taxes as a result.
- The report touts $66 million in public improvements to be built around the campus, including bicycle and pedestrian facilities, park land, and a voluntary $2.5 million contribution to Cupertino's affordable housing fund.
The full report, available from Apple's public relations page [PDF], includes dozens of pages of charts and tables to support the assertions. The new Spaceship Campus is not expected to have any significant opposition and has already received broad approval from the city.
Intel today officially announced the launch of its latest family of Core processors, formerly known as "Haswell". The new processors are making their way into a number of new computers, and are expected to be included in Apple's next-generation Macs, some of which are likely to make their debuts at next week's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
The new chips offer significant improvements in integrated graphics performance, as well as modest CPU performance improvements and a major effort toward increasing battery life in notebooks.
A notebook refresh is expected to be the hardware highlight of WWDC alongside previews of OS X 10.9 and iOS 7. The latest rumors suggest that Apple may even be able to slim down the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, which is currently slightly thicker than its 15-inch sibling. Less substantial tweaks are expected for the MacBook Air, although the move to Haswell should offer significant performance improvements in certain areas.
Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty released an extensive new report today offering a look at how Apple's base of 500 million iTunes/App Store customers fits in with other services and how Apple can leverage that user base to drive future sales and revenue growth.
Huberty notes that Apple's account base is second only to Facebook's one billion accounts among technology companies seeking to build out e-commerce or subscription services, easily topping third-place Amazon's 200 million accounts. Apple's 55% growth in 2012 also led the field by a comfortable margin, while its users also generate the most revenue per account. With Apple also scoring well in iCloud/iTunes Match adoption and user loyalty, the company is primed to take further advantage of its massive ecosystem with new services. Huberty outlines three possibilities for these new services:
1. Mobile payments. With hundreds of millions of credit card numbers on file, Apple could easily turn iTunes/App Store accounts into a payment service. With rumors of fingerprint recognition and perhaps near-field communication (NFC) coming to future Apple hardware, the company already has a number of pieces nearly in place for such a service.
2. Streaming music. Apple is rumored to be introducing its "iRadio" streaming service next week at its Worldwide Developers Conference, and Huberty suggests that Apple could generate $1 billion per year in revenue from such a service. Huberty's numbers do, however, include both subscription and display ad revenue, while recent rumors have indicated that Apple's service would be free to users with no mention of paid tiers.
3. Ad exchange. Earlier this week, it was reported by a source in the ad industry that Apple is looking to launch its own ad exchange, leveraging its existing iAd business and its massive ecosystem of users and devices to provide targeted advertising.
Two months ago, Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White gained significant attention for his claims that Apple is targeting a late 2013 launch for its long-rumored television set. In his research note, White claimed that Apple has been working on a 60-inch television that will use an "iRing" motion controller as well as iPad-like auxiliary second screens.
In a new research note published today, White stands by his previous claims, continuing to believe that Apple is looking to service subsidies to help bring the upfront cost of the television set down.
White goes on to describe his vision for how the TV will be controlled:
Late last year, Apple introduced the iPad mini alongside an update to the full-size iPad lineup, with many observers believing that Apple would continue to update the two lines simultaneously going forward.
Mockup of fifth-generation iPad next to iPad mini
A new report from Digitimes claims, however, that the next-generation iPad may appear as much as several months before the next version of the iPad mini.
Digitimes believes that Apple may be pushing back the next iPad mini launch in part to give more focus to the redesigned full-size iPad in the face of the iPad mini's popularity, but also due to mass production issues with the iPad mini, which has been rumored to be gaining a Retina display. Today's claims from Digitimes are not necessarily new, but they do provide a fresh direct comparison between Apple's potential plans for the two iPad lines.
Reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had previously reported that technical challenges would likely see the next iPad mini pushed back from Apple's original internal timeline, with an introduction likely coming in the September-November timeframe rather than earlier as some had thought. Digitimes' claim today suggests that the launch could be at the end of that timeframe, bumping up against the holiday shopping season.
The Apple Online Store recently added a "Ship to Store" option for refurbished products, allowing customers to pick up refurbished items at their local Apple Retail Store. Ship to Store is a service that Apple first began offering in 2011.
Currently, Apple offers the Ship to Store option for the majority of its refurbished items, with the exception of the fourth generation iPod touch, which was discontinued last week with the introduction of the new low cost 5th generation iPod touch.
At the end of the checkout cycle for a refurbished product, customers can now choose whether they wish to pick up the item at a local store, or have it shipped to a home or business.
Ship to Store delivery times are similar to home delivery times, so while the option does not eliminate wait times, it does allow Apple customers to avoid home delivery.
Update: A number of MacRumors readers have reported that the in-store pickup option for refurbished items is not new, although there seem to have been some issues over the past several weeks with in-store pickup not being available for orders through the Apple online store.
Apple's iAd engineers and sales personnel are preparing to handle new advertising duties to support Apple's new streaming music service nicknamed iRadio, Bloomberg reports. Apple hopes to launch the major new advertising-supported initiative next week at WWDC.
In an extensive report, citing 'people familiar with the changes', Bloomberg reports that the company has been negotiating with major advertising companies to line up exclusive launch advertisers, similar to when it launched iAd in 2010.
Bloomberg says that Apple has enticed advertisers to iAd by mentioning the data it holds for targeting users, including purchased movies, music, apps, books and more.
The site also says the iRadio service will launch later this year alongside the public release of iOS 7, much the same way that iTunes Match was announced at WWDC but was released months later.
In a Manhattan courtroom this morning, the U.S. Department of Justice presented its opening arguments in USA v Apple Inc, the antitrust e-book price fixing trial. The DoJ filed suit last April and Apple has consistently defended itself and has said the accusations are "simply not true".
According to AllThingsD, Justice Department attorney Lawrence Buterman presented the government's case this morning, using a slideshow filled with email and phone record evidence that the government says shows Apple colluded with book publishers to drive up the cost of e-books ahead of the launch of the iBookstore.
For its part, Apple's lead attorney claims the company was using the same strategies that worked when the company was building the iTunes Music Store to get contracts with the major book publishers. From Apple 2.0:
The Department of Justice has settled with all of the book publishers initially accused, while Apple remains the main target of the suit.
As part of a shift to lower repair costs, Apple has begun replacing iPhone 5 screens at its retail locations. The new display replacement service is priced at $149 and can be purchased with or without AppleCare+.
Changes to Apple's repair policies first surfaced last month, where a town hall session revealed that Apple would begin in-house repairs of displays in June in an effort to save approximately $1 billion per year.
MacRumors heard from a tipster this morning that the new repair policy had been implemented and the changes have since been confirmed in a forum post from iPhone repair site Quick iFix. The repairs are available for cracked displays as well as screens that experience multitouch issues.
Quick iFix notes that Apple's $149 repair cost is competitive, causing the site to change its own repair costs. Quick iFix charged $174.99 for a display replacement in early May, but began offering repairs for $139.99 a few days later.
Apple's new display repairs are in line with AppleCare+ pricing, which costs $99 up front and then $49 for each replacement. The repair service is a more affordable alternative for iPhone users who opted not to purchase AppleCare+, as iPhone replacement previously cost $229.
Apple is expected to roll out additional in-house repair options in July, offering repairs of the iPhone's camera, sleep/wake buttons, and logic boards. Additional changes to AppleCare are also reportedly in the works, with Apple rumored to be switching to a subscription based plan tied to customers rather than individual devices.
It's been reported for several months that Jony Ive is overseeing a redesign of the user interface in iOS 7, removing signs of skeuomorphism and gloss in favor of a 'flat design'.
iDownloadBlog has posted what may be the new home screen in iOS 7. While the authenticity of poor-quality photo can not be confirmed, 9to5Mac seems to believe that it is likely legitimate but of an early iOS 7 alpha. The site tweeted its own version of the same image, claiming that "things have changed a lot since this was taken".
9to5Mac reports that it has received an initial set of leaked model numbers for products expected to be released at next week's Worldwide Developers Conference.
A second set of model numbers have also leaked, but it is unclear to what products they refer:
9to5Mac also notes that, beyond the notebooks, supplies of the Mac Pro and Mac mini are also somewhat constrained, although not to the same level as seen for notebooks. As a result, desktop updates may come somewhat later in the year.
Google has updated its Chrome browser app for iOS to version 27, adding conversational voice search capabilities that were introduced at Google I/O and later deployed in the desktop and Android versions of the browser.
Voice search, which is already possible via Google's Search app for iOS, can be accessed in Chrome through a microphone bar that has been added to the top of the keyboard.
The update also includes faster page reloading on slow connections along with bug fixes and stability improvements
PopCap first hinted at a Plants vs. Zombies sequel in March, announcing a summer launch date. The company followed that up by narrowing down the release date to July, and now PopCap has announced that the game's official launch is planned for July 18.
In addition to unveiling a new animated trailer, PopCap has also provided some details on the upcoming game, which is titled Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time. The sequel features the same lane defense gameplay that made the original a hit, but it includes time travel to all new locations.
PopCap has also announced that Plants vs. Zombies 2 will be free to play, with in-game items and upgrades available for a fee. The company claims that players will be able to access "the vast majority of the game" without paying money.
PopCap is planning to provide an exclusive look at Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time at E3 next week. The original Plants vs. Zombies game for both the iPhone and the iPad can be downloaded from the App Store for $0.99.
- Plants vs. Zombies [Direct Link]
- Plants vs. Zombies HD [Direct Link]
Back in April, Apple CEO Tim Cook appeared in an event at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business discussing leadership. Cook earned his MBA from Duke after getting a BS from Auburn University.
He discusses collaboration, ethical leadership, career planning and more. Cook doesn't address Apple specifically, but in response to a question about achieving good collaboration, he talks about the need to hire executives who don't need their name in the spotlight and who are incredibly excited about the work they are doing.
The embedded video above is a playlist and will play through each of the seven clips of Cook that the university has posted.
One week ahead of the start of its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, Apple today launched a new WWDC iOS app to help attendees stay on top of the latest news and events going on at the conference.
New this year is video integration, with all Registered Apple Developers able to watch session videos from the conference as they are posted daily. Apple has been posting session videos increasingly quickly after WWDC, and for the first time the company will this year be making videos available during the conference.
WWDC 2013 kicks off with Apple's traditional keynote at 10:00 AM Pacific Time next Monday, June 10. Apple's WWDC app is available free of charge from the App Store. [Direct Link]
Yesterday, Apple.pro shared a pair of photos that had appeared on Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo, purportedly showing the rear of Apple's rumored plastic low-cost iPhone with a Lightning cable plugged into the bottom. The two pictures show a glossy curved shell and have been picked up by numerous sites today.
Our first thought upon seeing the photos was that it is likely simply an iPhone 5 in a plastic case. A lack of an Apple logo or discernible text on the back of the device is unlike many Apple prototypes, and the Lightning cable looked to us to be plugging into a recessed case rather than a flush port on a device.
French site NowhereElse.fr apparently had similar thoughts [Google translation] and performed some analysis of one of the images. Adjusting exposure and contrast on the photo better reveals the bottom of the device, and it certainly does appear that the Lightning cable is plugged into a hole in a case rather directly into a device. Other features along the bottom of the device are also consistent with the iPhone 5: speaker, microphone, and headphone jack.
As a result, we believe these photos are almost certainly an iPhone 5 in a nondescript plastic case rather than an actual low-cost plastic iPhone or a rear shell from such a device.
According to 9to5Mac, Apple is internally testing versions of iOS 7 that include AirDrop drag-and-drop file sharing capabilities.
First introduced with OS X Lion, AirDrop is a Finder function that allows Mac users to share files with other Mac users without the need for a Wi-Fi network or storage device. AirDrop for iOS is said to work in the same way, allowing files to be quickly shared between two different users.
AirDrop for OS X
iOS 7 will debut at the keynote of Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference, which is scheduled to take place on June 10.
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Apple Begins Decorating Moscone Center for WWDC 2013
Jun 04, 9:44PM
Apple has begun decorating the Moscone Center ahead of its Worldwide Developers Conference next week. 9to5Mac has posted one image of a banner inside the building featuring the tagline 'Where a whole new world's developing'.
The banner users the same color scheme as the WWDC invitations sent out in April.
MacStories has also shared an picture of workers installing WWDC graphics on the outside of Moscone.
Workers will continue installing imagery throughout the day and readers are encouraged to send in their pictures of the installation to tips@macrumors.com
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ITC Rules Apple Infringed on Samsung Patents, Issues Cease and Desist Order for Older Apple Devices
Jun 04, 9:22PM
The U.S. International Trade Commission today reached a decision [PDF] in the ongoing Apple vs. Samsung case, ruling that Apple infringed on Samsung Patent No. 7,706,348, titled "Apparatus and method for encoding/decoding transport format combination indicator in CDMA mobile communication system." The ITC has also issued a preliminary cease and desist order that prohibits the sale and distribution in the U.S. of older Apple products that infringe on specific claims (75–76 and 82–84) of the '348 patent, which includes AT&T; models of the iPhone 4 and 3GS, the iPad 3G and the iPad 2 3G.
Under the modified constructions, the Commission has determined that Samsung has proven that the accused iPhone 4 (AT&T; models); iPhone 3GS (AT&T; models); iPhone 3 (AT&T; models); iPad 3G (AT&T; models); and iPad 2 3G (AT&T; models) infringe the asserted claims of the '348 patent.The ITC's decision is a preliminary final ruling which means the ban will not go into effect immediately, and could be overridden by the Federal Circuit Courts or the White House.
The Commission has further determined that the properly construed claims have not been proven by Apple to be invalid and that Samsung has proven that a domestic industry exists in the United States with respect to the '348 patent.
Newer versions of Apple's iPad and iPhone, including the fourth generation iPad, the iPad mini, the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5, use different technology that does not infringe on Samsung's patent and these later devices will not be subject to the cease and desist order.
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Apple Releases OS X 10.8.4 with Safari 6.0.5, iMessage Bug Fix
Jun 04, 8:22PM
After a beta period spanning several weeks, Apple today released the final version of OS X 10.8.4. The update, which can be accessed via the Mac App Store, includes several notable bug fixes including a fix for an issue that caused iMessages to display out of order along with Microsoft Exchange and Calendar compatibility improvements.
- Compatibility improvements when connecting to certain enterprise Wi-Fi networksThe update also includes Safari 6.0.5, which improves stability for websites with chat features and games.
- Microsoft Exchange compatibility improvements in Calendar
- A fix for an issue that prevented FaceTime calls to non-U.S. phone numbers
- A fix for an issue that may prevent scheduled sleep after using Boot Camp
- Improves VoiceOver compatibility with text in PDF documents
- Includes Safari 6.0.5, which improves stability for some websites with chat features and games
- A fix for an issue that may cause iMessages to display out of order in Messages
- Resolves an issue in which Calendars Birthdays may appear incorrectly in certain time zones
- A fix for an issue that may prevent the desktop background picture from being preserved after restart
- A fix for an issue that may prevent documents from being saved to a server using SMB
- Addresses an issue that may prevent certain files from opening after copied to a volume named "Home"
- A fix for an issue that may prevent changes to files made over NFS from displaying
- Resolves an issue saving files to an Xsan volume from certain applications
- Improves Active Directory log-in performance, especially for cached accounts or when using a .local domain
- Improves OpenDirectory data replication
- Improves 802.1X compatibility with ActiveDirectory networks
- Improves compatibility when using mobile accounts
After eight different beta builds, Apple closed its 10.8.4 Beta Testing Program last Friday. During the beta, Apple had asked users to focus on Wi-Fi, Graphics Drivers, and Safari. The public version of OS X 10.8.4 is the same 12E55 build that was seeded to developers on May 24.
- OS X Mountain Lion Update v10.8.3 (342.33 MB)
- OS X Mountain Lion Update v10.8.3 (Combo) (809.98 MB)
Alongside OS X 10.8.4, Apple has also released security updates for OS X Lion and Snow Leopard:
- Security Update 2013-002 (Lion) (57.69 MB)
- Security Update 2013-002 Server (Lion) (105.61 MB)
- Security Update 2013-002 (Snow Leopard) (329.85 MB)
- Security Update 2013-002 Server (Snow Leopard) (404.83 MB)
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Time Warner Cable in Talks with Apple on Streaming Video Deals
Jun 04, 7:35PM
According to Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt, who spoke to investors at the Bank of America Merill Lynch Global Telecom and Media Conference today (via FierceCable), Time Warner is in talks with Apple, Microsoft, and Samsung over potential streaming video deals that are similar to its existing partnership with Roku.
Time Warner Cable brought its authenticated cable service, TWC TV, to Roku in March. With the app, Time Warner Cable subscribers are able to watch up to 300 live TV channels with any TV connected to a Roku device, without the need for a cable box. Time Warner has a similar deal with Samsung to deliver cable programming to its connected TVs.
"You should assume we're talking to everyone who makes devices like this, whether it's Samsung smart TVs, Apple, Microsoft," Britt said at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Telecom and Media conference. Britt's remarks suggest Time Warner Cable may eventually offer the TWC TV app through the Apple TV set-top and Microsoft's new Xbox One gaming console, which will debut later this year.Apple recently struck a deal with the CW network to bring content to the Apple TV through a dedicated CW app, and it appears that Apple is open to other deals that could potentially bring the TWC TV to the Apple TV. Presumably, such an app would function similarly to the version offered via Roku, allowing Time Warner Cable subscribers to use the Apple TV to stream live television channels.
Britt's comments confirm a Wall Street Journal report from last year, which suggested that Apple was working on deals to create a set-top box that would allow user to view live cable channels.
Such deals with cable companies are necessary if Apple wants to expand its product lineup with additional TV-centric products like the "iTV," which has been rumored to be in the works since 2011. At the D11 conference last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook reiterated that television continues to be an "area of great interest" for the company.
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Zynga Shuts Down 'Draw Something' Creator OMGPOP After Spending $200M to Acquire It [iOS Blog]
Jun 04, 7:34PM
Last year, social game-maker Zynga acquired OMGPOP for roughly $200 million. OMGPOP is the development house behind the once-incredibly popular Draw Something.Today, Zynga is shutting OMGPOP down as part of another round of layoffs at the company. Zynga has laid off 18 percent of its staff -- 520 employees -- reports AllThingsD.
The move today will affect every part of the San Francisco social gaming company and cut $80 million in staff costs. Zynga currently has about 2,900 workers.Zynga has killed some 18 games in recent months and has been spending more resources on a transition to mobile games.
But the action will also include the closing of its offices in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas, as well as the slashing of other major infrastructure costs, adding to a total expense reduction that is likely to be much larger.
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New Apple Stores Coming to New Jersey, Utah and Virginia [Mac Blog]
Jun 04, 6:56PM
Apple is planning on opening three new retail locations in the near future, reports ifoAppleStore. Job listings posted last month reveal that the stores will be located at the Station Park shopping mall near Salt Lake City, Utah; the Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center Mall in Woodbridge, Virginia; and the Quaker Bridge Mall, located near the Princeton University Campus in New Jersey.
Based on when the jobs were posted, ifoAppleStore predicts that the three stores will open before November, just in time for the holiday season. There is no information on exactly where the stores will be located in their respective malls, but additional details will likely become available as they near completion.
During its second quarter earnings call Apple announced plans to introduce 30 new retail locations during fiscal 2013. The majority of those stores will be located outside of the United States, with the three upcoming stores numbering among the 10 or fewer retail locations that will open in the U.S. this year.
Apple is, however, planning to remodel an additional 20 stores, including the redesign and relocation of its flagship San Francisco Apple Store.
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Obama Targets Patent Trolls with Proposed Legislative Changes
Jun 04, 6:19PM
President Obama has today announced a set of executive actions directed at cracking down on patent-holding firms that interfere with competition and abuse the patent system, reports The Wall Street Journal. Many technology companies, such as Apple, have dealt with multiple lawsuits from so-called "patent trolls," which aim to make money through licensing fees.Mr. Obama's actions, which include measures he wants Congress to consider, are intended to target firms that have forced technology companies, financial institutions and others into costly litigation to protect their products. These patent-holding firms amass portfolios of patents more to pursue licensing fees than to build new products.Obama has constructed a five-step plan with a total of seven legislative changes, which will be released as part of a White House report on patent trolls. The plan includes a recommendation that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office create rules that require patent owners to be identified and a request for Congress to pass legislation that puts sanctions on questionable lawsuits filed by patent-holding firms.
The firms say they are doing nothing wrong, just using patents that were legally granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. They say they promote a fair market by protecting smaller inventors.
Additionally, Obama hopes to cut down on the International Trade Commission's involvement in patent disputes. Claims filed with the ITC are often resolved more quickly than standard federal lawsuits.
The Obama administration would like Congress to change certain ITC legal standards and ensure that the agency has flexibility in hiring its judges. The president will order a review of existing procedures at the ITC, officials said.Reliance on the ITC has not been limited to patent trolls, as a number technology companies like Apple, Samsung, and Google have increasingly used the International Trade Commission to settle a number of patent disputes.
According to President Obama, patent-holding firms are a drain on progress. The firms, he says, "don't actually produce anything themselves. They're just trying to essentially leverage and hijack someone else's idea to see if they can extort some money out of them."
Over the years, Apple has faced litigation from a number of patent-holding companies like Lodsys, which has targeted app developers over in-app purchases, and VirnetX, a company that was awarded $368.2 million over VPN connectivity in Facebook in 2012.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the comment thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All MacRumors forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
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Google Updates Gmail for iOS with Redesigned Inbox, Improved Notifications [iOS Blog]
Jun 04, 5:25PM
Last week Google announced an inbox redesign for both the mobile and desktop versions of Gmail, which was implemented on iOS today via an update to the Gmail app. The new design offers a tabbed layout that supports up to five different organizational tabs to allow users to organize mail into specific categories. In addition to adding support for the new inbox, the update also brings enhanced notification options, allowing users to select the type of notifications that they want to receive.
New notifications options: Get notified for all messages, only important messages, or none at all, on a per account basis. Customize these settings from the in-app settings page.Gmail for iOS is a universal app that can be downloaded from the App Store. [Direct Link]
Meet the new inbox: If you've enabled the new inbox, your mail is now grouped into categories so that you can see what's new at a glance and decide which emails you want to read when. Primary mail is shown first and it's easy to access and keep track of email in other categories by opening the menu. Configure this feature by going to Gmail.com on your computer.
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Apple Releases Economic Impact Report on 'Spaceship Campus'
Jun 04, 5:20PM
Apple today released a 30+ page report [PDF] from real estate consultancy Keyser Marston Associates examining the direct and indirect financial impact of Apple on the City of Cupertino and Santa Clara County. The document is part of the building process for the company's new 'Apple Campus 2' -- the Spaceship -- planned for opening in 2016.
As the document is aimed at the municipal governments in the area, it is heavy on tax revenue and job numbers, but there are a few bits of information that are interesting to Apple watchers.
- Phase 1 of the the Apple Campus 2 building will accommodate some 13,000 employees across 2.8 million square feet of space in the main building. Other buildings on site will include an auditorium, fitness center, parking structures, buildings to house research and development and a central plant, for a total of 3.42 million square feet of new building space.
Phase 2 will add 300,000 more square feet of space, adding room for 1,200 more employees -- however this phase has been delayed indefinitely for cost-saving reasons.
- The analysis uses a conservative hiring growth rate of 10% per year, estimating that 7,400 employees will be hired at Apple's Cupertino headquarters between June 2013 and the opening of the new campus in 2016. This would tally a total employee count at 23,400, though over the past 5 years, Apple has seen an annual hiring growth rate of 18%.
- Apple's 16,000 current Cupertino employees account for 40 percent of the city's job base, making Apple Cupertino's largest single employer.
- Apple will pay $9.2 million in tax revenue directly to Cupertino in 2013, approximately 18% of the city's annual general fund budget. The consultants estimate that Apple will generate a net fiscal surplus of $8 million to the city this year, with that expected to grow to $11 million when the new campus is finished. This means Apple will pay millions of dollars more to the city than it uses in services.
- The construction of the new campus will generate 9,200 full-time jobs in the county over the three-year construction period, and will generate one-time revenues to the City of Cupertino in the form of construction taxes and fees totaling more than $38 million. The company has agreed to direct its contractors to purchase all construction materials from within the city, ensuring that Cupertino collects millions of dollars in sales taxes as a result.
- The report touts $66 million in public improvements to be built around the campus, including bicycle and pedestrian facilities, park land, and a voluntary $2.5 million contribution to Cupertino's affordable housing fund.
The full report, available from Apple's public relations page [PDF], includes dozens of pages of charts and tables to support the assertions. The new Spaceship Campus is not expected to have any significant opposition and has already received broad approval from the city.
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Intel Launches Haswell Processors Ahead of WWDC Mac Updates
Jun 04, 3:49PM
Intel today officially announced the launch of its latest family of Core processors, formerly known as "Haswell". The new processors are making their way into a number of new computers, and are expected to be included in Apple's next-generation Macs, some of which are likely to make their debuts at next week's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The new chips offer significant improvements in integrated graphics performance, as well as modest CPU performance improvements and a major effort toward increasing battery life in notebooks.
Delivering Intel's largest generation-over-generation gain in battery life enablement in company history, 4th generation Intel Core processors can bring an 50 percent improvement in battery life over the previous generation in active workloads when watching movies or surfing the Internet, and two to three times improvement in standby battery life. For some systems coming to market this year, over 9 hours of active use battery life or 10 to 13 days of standby with fresh data on a single charge is expected.Ars Technica has been providing overviews of the new chips, beginning with the quad-core desktop and notebook chips that were unveiled over the weekend. That group included six Core i7 and six Core i5 chips for desktop machines, as well as ten varieties of Core i7 notebook chips.
All of the mobile parts being announced today belong to the i7 family and, like their desktop counterparts, they're all quad-core chips with Hyperthreading enabled. The differences here come in the suffixes: the MX and MQ parts (reversed from Ivy Bridge's QM and QX suffixes) come with the Intel HD 4600 GPU, while most of the HQ parts come with the faster Iris Pro 5200 GPU.With today's announcement of dual-core Haswell chips highlighted by AnandTech, the picture for Apple's notebook lineup comes into more focus. Intel has emphasized mobile chips for this round of dual-core launches, a move that will likely see the chips showing in updated MacBook Airs and 13-inch MacBook Pros as soon as next week.
A notebook refresh is expected to be the hardware highlight of WWDC alongside previews of OS X 10.9 and iOS 7. The latest rumors suggest that Apple may even be able to slim down the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, which is currently slightly thicker than its 15-inch sibling. Less substantial tweaks are expected for the MacBook Air, although the move to Haswell should offer significant performance improvements in certain areas.
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Apple's 500 Million iTunes Store Accounts Offer Significant Potential for Growth in Services
Jun 04, 2:15PM
Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty released an extensive new report today offering a look at how Apple's base of 500 million iTunes/App Store customers fits in with other services and how Apple can leverage that user base to drive future sales and revenue growth. Huberty notes that Apple's account base is second only to Facebook's one billion accounts among technology companies seeking to build out e-commerce or subscription services, easily topping third-place Amazon's 200 million accounts. Apple's 55% growth in 2012 also led the field by a comfortable margin, while its users also generate the most revenue per account. With Apple also scoring well in iCloud/iTunes Match adoption and user loyalty, the company is primed to take further advantage of its massive ecosystem with new services. Huberty outlines three possibilities for these new services:
1. Mobile payments. With hundreds of millions of credit card numbers on file, Apple could easily turn iTunes/App Store accounts into a payment service. With rumors of fingerprint recognition and perhaps near-field communication (NFC) coming to future Apple hardware, the company already has a number of pieces nearly in place for such a service.
2. Streaming music. Apple is rumored to be introducing its "iRadio" streaming service next week at its Worldwide Developers Conference, and Huberty suggests that Apple could generate $1 billion per year in revenue from such a service. Huberty's numbers do, however, include both subscription and display ad revenue, while recent rumors have indicated that Apple's service would be free to users with no mention of paid tiers.
3. Ad exchange. Earlier this week, it was reported by a source in the ad industry that Apple is looking to launch its own ad exchange, leveraging its existing iAd business and its massive ecosystem of users and devices to provide targeted advertising.
Developers could potentially charge higher rates than ad impressions on other devices, as Apple could offer better targeting given its insight into the user from information gathered from the hardware (GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope and digital compass), the software (operating system and some applications), iTunes and app stores, user profiles and cloud storage. Of course, some of the data will be stored anonymously and Apple will need to clearly disclose what data is gathered and how it is used.Apple CEO Tim Cook has been playing up the potential of services, repeatedly referring to the "magic" happening at the interaction of hardware, software, and services. At his D11 interview last week, Cook touted iMessage, the iTunes Store, and FaceTime as examples of how Apple's services are tying Apple's ecosystem together, and acknowledged that the company is working hard on improvements to its services.
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Analyst Still Believes Apple Television Set With 'iRing' Motion Control Coming Late This Year [Mac Blog]
Jun 04, 1:43PM
Two months ago, Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White gained significant attention for his claims that Apple is targeting a late 2013 launch for its long-rumored television set. In his research note, White claimed that Apple has been working on a 60-inch television that will use an "iRing" motion controller as well as iPad-like auxiliary second screens.
In a new research note published today, White stands by his previous claims, continuing to believe that Apple is looking to service subsidies to help bring the upfront cost of the television set down.
We were told that carriers will be an important part of the go-to-market strategy for Apple's TV ambitions and subsidize the $1,500-$2,500 "iTV", offering customers a single bill that will include a wireless plan (i.e., iPhone, iPad), Internet connection services, an "iTV" plan and other services. As we have previously discussed, the 60-inch "iTV" (50-inch and 55-inch may also be available) is anticipated to come with one iPad-sized "mini iTV" with the option to add more "mini iTVs".Such bundling may, however, be difficult given that customers frequently have different wireless carriers and cable or satellite television providers, although some providers such as Time Warner Cable and Verizon Wireless have teamed up to offer bundles of TV, Internet, home phone, and mobile phone service.
White goes on to describe his vision for how the TV will be controlled:
Motion detection technology will be used on the "mothership iTV" and the "iRing" will allow for improved control accuracy. For example, we believe the "iRing" will provide for more accurate control of channel surfing, content management and settings via motion detection, while also offering a more seamless gaming experience on Game Center. We were told that "iRing" will not be the sole option available to control the "mothership iTV", as iOS devices (i.e., iPhone, iPad) and Siri will provide alternatives for similar or different use cases. Clearly, there will be many different uses for "iTV" and similar to the various devices (i.e., remote, Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, wireless keyboard, etc.) that are used to control an iMac, we believe it makes sense for consumers to have different options to control the "iTV".Finally, White believes that component production for Apple's rumored lower-cost iPhone will ramp up this month, setting the stage for a possible introduction as soon as next month. Most sources have, however, indicated that it will launch somewhat later, with KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo indicating that a launch in the August-October timeframe is most likely due to Apple's continued work on color coatings for the device's plastic shell.
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iPad Mini Update to Trail Next Full-Size iPad Launch by Several Months?
Jun 04, 3:19AM
Late last year, Apple introduced the iPad mini alongside an update to the full-size iPad lineup, with many observers believing that Apple would continue to update the two lines simultaneously going forward.
A new report from Digitimes claims, however, that the next-generation iPad may appear as much as several months before the next version of the iPad mini.
Volume production of a new-generation 9.7-inch iPad will begin in July-August with shipments in the third quarter estimated at five million units. Meanwhile, a second-generation iPad mini may see its volume production postponed from September to November, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers.The updated full-size iPad is widely expected to see a significant redesign that will take design cues from the iPad mini and be roughly 15% thinner and 25-33% lighter than the current models.
Digitimes believes that Apple may be pushing back the next iPad mini launch in part to give more focus to the redesigned full-size iPad in the face of the iPad mini's popularity, but also due to mass production issues with the iPad mini, which has been rumored to be gaining a Retina display. Today's claims from Digitimes are not necessarily new, but they do provide a fresh direct comparison between Apple's potential plans for the two iPad lines.
Reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had previously reported that technical challenges would likely see the next iPad mini pushed back from Apple's original internal timeline, with an introduction likely coming in the September-November timeframe rather than earlier as some had thought. Digitimes' claim today suggests that the launch could be at the end of that timeframe, bumping up against the holiday shopping season.
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Apple Adds Ship to Store Option for Refurbished Products
Jun 03, 11:33PM
The Apple Online Store recently added a "Ship to Store" option for refurbished products, allowing customers to pick up refurbished items at their local Apple Retail Store. Ship to Store is a service that Apple first began offering in 2011.
Currently, Apple offers the Ship to Store option for the majority of its refurbished items, with the exception of the fourth generation iPod touch, which was discontinued last week with the introduction of the new low cost 5th generation iPod touch.
At the end of the checkout cycle for a refurbished product, customers can now choose whether they wish to pick up the item at a local store, or have it shipped to a home or business.
Ship to Store delivery times are similar to home delivery times, so while the option does not eliminate wait times, it does allow Apple customers to avoid home delivery.
Update: A number of MacRumors readers have reported that the in-store pickup option for refurbished items is not new, although there seem to have been some issues over the past several weeks with in-store pickup not being available for orders through the Apple online store.
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Apple's iAd Staff Preparing to Handle iRadio Advertising Duties
Jun 03, 10:25PM
Apple's iAd engineers and sales personnel are preparing to handle new advertising duties to support Apple's new streaming music service nicknamed iRadio, Bloomberg reports. Apple hopes to launch the major new advertising-supported initiative next week at WWDC.In an extensive report, citing 'people familiar with the changes', Bloomberg reports that the company has been negotiating with major advertising companies to line up exclusive launch advertisers, similar to when it launched iAd in 2010.
Apple intends to make its new radio service free to users and supported by advertising, similar to how Pandora's mobile app works, people familiar with the plans said. The new service will be different from Apple's iTunes in that the songs played won't be limited to what a user has purchased, and listeners won't own the songs they stream for free.When iAd launched, it was envisioned mainly as a way to help developers earn money on the iOS platform. With the expansion to audio ads for iRadio, iAd is going into new territory for the company. As it stands, iAd revenue remains a drop in the bucket for the company.
The shift in iAd's focus to buttress the music service is being made by Eddy Cue, the senior vice president who oversees iTunes, App Store and iAd, as well as Todd Teresi, whom Apple hired last year from Adobe Systems Inc. to lead the company's advertising business.
Bloomberg says that Apple has enticed advertisers to iAd by mentioning the data it holds for targeting users, including purchased movies, music, apps, books and more.
The site also says the iRadio service will launch later this year alongside the public release of iOS 7, much the same way that iTunes Match was announced at WWDC but was released months later.
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Justice Department Presents Opening Arguments Against Apple in E-Book Price Fixing Trial
Jun 03, 7:30PM
In a Manhattan courtroom this morning, the U.S. Department of Justice presented its opening arguments in USA v Apple Inc, the antitrust e-book price fixing trial. The DoJ filed suit last April and Apple has consistently defended itself and has said the accusations are "simply not true".According to AllThingsD, Justice Department attorney Lawrence Buterman presented the government's case this morning, using a slideshow filled with email and phone record evidence that the government says shows Apple colluded with book publishers to drive up the cost of e-books ahead of the launch of the iBookstore.
For its part, Apple's lead attorney claims the company was using the same strategies that worked when the company was building the iTunes Music Store to get contracts with the major book publishers. From Apple 2.0:
Apple's opening statement […] tried to pull the rug out from under everything the DOJ had just presented. [Apple SVP Eddy] Cue, Snyder claims, was just trying to break into a crowded e-book market (one dominated by Amazon) using precisely the same approach he used when he got the company into the music market with iTunes and the applications market with the App Store. Those innovation poured billions of dollars into the U.S. economy, he said. "Apple should be applauded, not condemned."Eddy Cue -- Apple's senior vice president for Internet Software and Services, and one of its chief negotiators -- sits squarely at the middle of the DoJ's case and was responsible for much of the email and phone traffic mentioned in the government's opening argument. He is expected to take the stand on June 13th.
The Department of Justice has settled with all of the book publishers initially accused, while Apple remains the main target of the suit.
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Apple Begins Offering In-Store iPhone 5 Display Replacements for $149
Jun 03, 7:11PM
As part of a shift to lower repair costs, Apple has begun replacing iPhone 5 screens at its retail locations. The new display replacement service is priced at $149 and can be purchased with or without AppleCare+. Changes to Apple's repair policies first surfaced last month, where a town hall session revealed that Apple would begin in-house repairs of displays in June in an effort to save approximately $1 billion per year.
MacRumors heard from a tipster this morning that the new repair policy had been implemented and the changes have since been confirmed in a forum post from iPhone repair site Quick iFix. The repairs are available for cracked displays as well as screens that experience multitouch issues.
Quick iFix notes that Apple's $149 repair cost is competitive, causing the site to change its own repair costs. Quick iFix charged $174.99 for a display replacement in early May, but began offering repairs for $139.99 a few days later.
Apple's new display repairs are in line with AppleCare+ pricing, which costs $99 up front and then $49 for each replacement. The repair service is a more affordable alternative for iPhone users who opted not to purchase AppleCare+, as iPhone replacement previously cost $229.
Apple is expected to roll out additional in-house repair options in July, offering repairs of the iPhone's camera, sleep/wake buttons, and logic boards. Additional changes to AppleCare are also reportedly in the works, with Apple rumored to be switching to a subscription based plan tied to customers rather than individual devices.
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Image of 'Flat' Redesign From Early iOS 7 Build Reportedly Leaks
Jun 03, 6:01PM
It's been reported for several months that Jony Ive is overseeing a redesign of the user interface in iOS 7, removing signs of skeuomorphism and gloss in favor of a 'flat design'.
iDownloadBlog has posted what may be the new home screen in iOS 7. While the authenticity of poor-quality photo can not be confirmed, 9to5Mac seems to believe that it is likely legitimate but of an early iOS 7 alpha. The site tweeted its own version of the same image, claiming that "things have changed a lot since this was taken".
When you look at the current state of stock apps icons, it seems that all of them were designed by different teams. Most of them have a different look. They don't have unified features that tie them all up together. Some of them have a gloss effect. Some of them don't. Some of them have borders. Some of them don't, etc…As with many things Apple does, the WWDC iOS app released earlier today is being closely examined for changes. TechCrunch noted that the app is 'flatter' than past versions.
From what we've seen, we believe Jony Ive's touch on iOS 7 will homogenize the look of Apple's stock apps icons.
What started out with textures meant to mimic 3D effects, more use of contrasting colors and shaded buttons, has now become a much flatter design. The changes are mostly subtle, but from what we've heard recently, that's what's in store for iOS 7, too; sweeping, system-wide changes, but ones that tweak the interfaces rather than overhaul them completely.The new iOS 7 is expected to be unveiled at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference next week.
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Leaked Model Numbers Hint at Updated Notebooks for WWDC
Jun 03, 5:26PM
9to5Mac reports that it has received an initial set of leaked model numbers for products expected to be released at next week's Worldwide Developers Conference.The first series of codes that we have received are:While the identities of the products corresponding to the four model numbers is unknown, the pattern showing two sets of two models suggests that they may be either MacBook Air or Retina MacBook Pro models at two different screen sizes, corresponding to Apple's current stock configurations. Apple's non-Retina MacBook Pro is currently offered in only a single stock configuration at the larger 15-inch size, suggesting that these model numbers may not represent that line.
MD711LL/A — Better — USA
MD712LL/A — Best – USA
MD760LL/A — Better – USA
MD761LL/A — Best – USA
A second set of model numbers have also leaked, but it is unclear to what products they refer:
ME177LL/A — Better — USAA notebook refresh is expected to the hardware highlight of WWDC, although Apple is likely to introduce a number of new products once accessories and configuration options are accounted for.
ME182LL/A — Best — USA
ME918LL/A — Good — USA
9to5Mac also notes that, beyond the notebooks, supplies of the Mac Pro and Mac mini are also somewhat constrained, although not to the same level as seen for notebooks. As a result, desktop updates may come somewhat later in the year.
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Google Chrome for iOS Updated with Voice Search, Faster Page Reloading [iOS Blog]
Jun 03, 5:22PM
Google has updated its Chrome browser app for iOS to version 27, adding conversational voice search capabilities that were introduced at Google I/O and later deployed in the desktop and Android versions of the browser. Voice search, which is already possible via Google's Search app for iOS, can be accessed in Chrome through a microphone bar that has been added to the top of the keyboard.
The update also includes faster page reloading on slow connections along with bug fixes and stability improvements
Improved voice search!Chrome is a universal app that can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
- Say what you want and get results back without typing
- Faster voice recognition with text streamed on the fly
- Get answers spoken back to you with web results tailored to your questions
Faster page reloading
- Pages reload faster even when the network is slow or unavailable
Stability / security improvements and bug fixes
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Plants vs. Zombies 2 to Launch on July 18 For Free [iOS Blog]
Jun 03, 4:25PM
PopCap first hinted at a Plants vs. Zombies sequel in March, announcing a summer launch date. The company followed that up by narrowing down the release date to July, and now PopCap has announced that the game's official launch is planned for July 18. In addition to unveiling a new animated trailer, PopCap has also provided some details on the upcoming game, which is titled Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time. The sequel features the same lane defense gameplay that made the original a hit, but it includes time travel to all new locations.
Designed from the ground up as a live service, the ever-expanding universe of Plants vs. Zombies 2 continues the epic struggle of plants defending your brainz against zombies from your backyard through the vast reaches of time, both past and future. New worlds with new levels, plants, zombies and new ways to play will be released on an ongoing basis. Leveraging the touch interface of Apple's popular mobile devices, Plants vs. Zombies 2 includes all-new touch-screen power-ups that enable players to "break the fourth wall" and interact with zombies directly, as well as via plant defenses.
Also returning for the sequel is Crazy Dave, the addled neighbor who serves as a guide for players and shopkeeper for special plant upgrades and other tools and weapons. New touch-screen power-ups, plant food that supercharges plants, and novel new game mechanics that both help and hinder players' efforts to thwart the zombie hordes will enthrall existing fans and new players alike.
PopCap has also announced that Plants vs. Zombies 2 will be free to play, with in-game items and upgrades available for a fee. The company claims that players will be able to access "the vast majority of the game" without paying money.
PopCap is planning to provide an exclusive look at Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time at E3 next week. The original Plants vs. Zombies game for both the iPhone and the iPad can be downloaded from the App Store for $0.99.
- Plants vs. Zombies [Direct Link]
- Plants vs. Zombies HD [Direct Link]
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Apple CEO Tim Cook Speaks on Leadership at Duke University [Mac Blog]
Jun 03, 3:42PM
Back in April, Apple CEO Tim Cook appeared in an event at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business discussing leadership. Cook earned his MBA from Duke after getting a BS from Auburn University.He discusses collaboration, ethical leadership, career planning and more. Cook doesn't address Apple specifically, but in response to a question about achieving good collaboration, he talks about the need to hire executives who don't need their name in the spotlight and who are incredibly excited about the work they are doing.
This was among the advice Apple CEO Tim Cook shared with students at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business on April 26th. Back on campus for his 25-year reunion, Cook took part in an hour-long dialogue with Fuqua Dean Bill Boulding and the students in a jam-packed Geneen Auditorium buzzing with excitement to hear from the leader of the world's most profitable company.
The Apple CEO has embarked on a career far different than he had envisioned after graduating from Fuqua's Evening Executive MBA program in 1988. "For me the journey was not predictable at all. You have to find your own north star and stay with your north star."
The embedded video above is a playlist and will play through each of the seven clips of Cook that the university has posted.
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Apple Launches WWDC 2013 iOS App With Session Video Integration
Jun 03, 2:04PM
One week ahead of the start of its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, Apple today launched a new WWDC iOS app to help attendees stay on top of the latest news and events going on at the conference. New this year is video integration, with all Registered Apple Developers able to watch session videos from the conference as they are posted daily. Apple has been posting session videos increasingly quickly after WWDC, and for the first time the company will this year be making videos available during the conference.
Make the most of the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference with the WWDC app. Even if you can't join us in San Francisco, you can still follow along each day — session videos are just a tap away for all Registered Apple Developers.
- Browse times, locations, and descriptions for sessions, labs, and special events
- Mark schedule items as favorites with a simple double-tap
- Watch session videos, available daily
- Start watching on one iOS device, and pick up where you left off on another
- Keep up with the latest news, get important notifications, and see daily snapshots
- View maps to find your way around Moscone West
- Provide feedback on session content and speakers within the session details view
- Add your attendee information to Passbook for speedier on-site registration
WWDC 2013 kicks off with Apple's traditional keynote at 10:00 AM Pacific Time next Monday, June 10. Apple's WWDC app is available free of charge from the App Store. [Direct Link]
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Photos of 'Plastic Low-Cost iPhone' Likely an iPhone 5 in a Case
Jun 03, 1:25PM
Yesterday, Apple.pro shared a pair of photos that had appeared on Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo, purportedly showing the rear of Apple's rumored plastic low-cost iPhone with a Lightning cable plugged into the bottom. The two pictures show a glossy curved shell and have been picked up by numerous sites today.
Our first thought upon seeing the photos was that it is likely simply an iPhone 5 in a plastic case. A lack of an Apple logo or discernible text on the back of the device is unlike many Apple prototypes, and the Lightning cable looked to us to be plugging into a recessed case rather than a flush port on a device.
French site NowhereElse.fr apparently had similar thoughts [Google translation] and performed some analysis of one of the images. Adjusting exposure and contrast on the photo better reveals the bottom of the device, and it certainly does appear that the Lightning cable is plugged into a hole in a case rather directly into a device. Other features along the bottom of the device are also consistent with the iPhone 5: speaker, microphone, and headphone jack.
As a result, we believe these photos are almost certainly an iPhone 5 in a nondescript plastic case rather than an actual low-cost plastic iPhone or a rear shell from such a device.
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iOS 7 May Include AirDrop Wireless File Sharing Capabilities
Jun 03, 2:52AM
According to 9to5Mac, Apple is internally testing versions of iOS 7 that include AirDrop drag-and-drop file sharing capabilities.
First introduced with OS X Lion, AirDrop is a Finder function that allows Mac users to share files with other Mac users without the need for a Wi-Fi network or storage device. AirDrop for iOS is said to work in the same way, allowing files to be quickly shared between two different users.
Sources say that the AirDrop functionality is currently integrated into the standard iOS share menu. AirDrop will work between two iOS devices and potentially between an iOS device and a Mac. The feature will make it easier than ever to transfer, for example, a photograph or document from one person's iPhone to another person's iPad.Along with AirDrop file sharing, iOS 7 is also expected to feature a major redesign and enhanced social network integration, which includes support for both Flickr and Vimeo. As noted by 9to5Mac, beta features that are in testing, like AirDrop, may or may not make it into the final version of the operating system.
While iCloud synchronization works well for sharing photos and documents between two iOS devices owned by the same person, the AirDrop feature will allow seamless individual file exchanges between iOS devices belonging to different people.
iOS 7 will debut at the keynote of Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference, which is scheduled to take place on June 10.
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