Feed aggregator
Apple's head of Patent Licensing & Strategy departs for calmer waters
The man in the unenviable position of being deeply involved with Apple's ongoing patent infringement litigation with a number of companies has left Apple. AppleInsider reports that Boris Teksler, formerly Apple's head of Patent Licensing & Strategy, has taken a new job as president of the Technology Group at Technicolor.
Teksler testified on behalf of Apple in its US patent infringement suit with Samsung last year, revealing that he warned Steve Jobs and Tim Cook in 2010 that a number of Apple patents might have been infringed upon by Samsung. Teksler outlined the potential infringements to the Apple execs in a presentation showing that "rubber-banding," gesture heuristics, and e-mail threading were all appearing on Samsung products.
As a result of Teksler's presentation, Jobs and Cook met with Samsung executives in an attempt to reach a licensing agreement. That fell through, resulting in the patent battles still going on worldwide.
Teksler has a tremendous history in the world of intellectual property. Before working for Apple, he co-founded HP's Intellectual Property Licensing business while working at the venerable Silicon Valley company for 16 years. At Technicolor, Teksler will help the company in making the most of its intellectual property assets.
Apple's head of Patent Licensing & Strategy departs for calmer waters originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apple updates Siri to help those considering suicide to get help
GigaOM noticed that Apple quietly released an update to Siri that offers to put a user in contact with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, should he or she mention suicide. Should the person decline the offer, Siri then brings up area suicide prevention centers in a second attempt to provide resources.
As GigaOM notes, Google has had this search since 2010. Apple noted in its customer privacy statement on Tuesday that among the most common requests from law enforcement are ones from police hoping to prevent suicide.
There's a lot of useful and even more silly ways to take advantage of Siri, but having a proactive response to a serious issue is a wonderful thing to have in the program.
Apple updates Siri to help those considering suicide to get help originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Los Angeles schools award $30 million iPad contract to Apple
The Los Angeles Unified School District is redirecting US$30 million of its budget to provide roughly 35,000 iPads to 47 district schools, the Los Angeles Times reports. Because the devices will come pre-loaded with educational software, the price per unit clocks in at a hefty $678. LAUSD is the nation's second-largest school district with nearly 695,000 students as of data released in 2009, only surpassed by the New York City Department of Education with more than 1 million students.
The LA Times says that the actual benefits to Apple will actually be in the hundreds of millions of dollars during the two-year contract. LAUSD's superintendent John Deasy appeared in a video as part of Apple's textbook event in New York City in 2012, which was the launch of iBooks Author and iTunes U.
[via All Things D]
Los Angeles schools award $30 million iPad contract to Apple originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
HBO GO, WatchESPN come to Apple TV
Apple announced today that HBO GO and WatchESPN are now available on the Apple TV. Eddy Cue, Apple senior vice president of Internet Software and Services said that "HBO GO and WatchESPN are some of the most popular iOS apps and are sure to be huge hits on Apple TV."
The two new content providers are joined by Sky News, Crunchyroll and Qello. Sky News on Apple TV will deliver 24/7 news to viewers in the US, UK and Ireland. Crunchyroll is a Japanese anime and Asian media provider, and will let subscribers view the latest HD shows one hour after airing in Japan.
Qello is an on-demand streaming service for HD concerts and music documentaries, and offers free or paid subscriptions. Both Qello and Crunchyroll will be available for subscription on Apple TV. The full press release from Apple is included below.
Show full PR text HBO GO & WatchESPN Come to Apple TViTunes Viewers Now Purchasing Over 800,000 TV Episodes & Over 350,000 Movies Per Day
CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apple(R) today announced that HBO GO and WatchESPN are now available directly on Apple TV(R) joining the great lineup of programming offered to customers. iTunes(R) users have downloaded more than one billion TV episodes and 380 million movies from iTunes to date, and they are purchasing over 800,000 TV episodes and over 350,000 movies per day.
"HBO GO and WatchESPN are some of the most popular iOS apps and are sure to be huge hits on Apple TV"
"HBO GO and WatchESPN are some of the most popular iOS apps and are sure to be huge hits on Apple TV," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. "We continue to offer Apple TV users great new programming options, combined with access to all of the incredible content they can purchase from the iTunes Store."
Apple TV users can choose from an incredible selection of programming including over 60,000 movies and over 230,000 TV episodes, as well as the world's largest collection of music on the iTunes Store(R). Apple TV also offers great content from Hulu Plus, Netflix's streaming catalog, live sports from MLB, NBA and NHL as well as Internet content from Vimeo, YouTube and Flickr.*
In addition to HBO GO and WatchESPN, three new content providers* are also available today on Apple TV including Sky News, Crunchyroll and Qello offering live news, sports and current TV programming.
HBO GO users get unlimited access to their favorite HBO shows, including HBO original programming, hit movies, sports, documentaries, comedy specials and more. This includes full seasons of the best of HBO, plus bonus features and special behind-the-scenes extras. HBO GO on Apple TV requires a subscription to HBO through participating television providers.
WatchESPN on Apple TV delivers a one-stop video destination for sports fans with live access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and ESPN Buzzer Beater/Goal Line to those who receive ESPN's networks as part of their video subscription from affiliated providers. Popular sports and fan-favorite shows include college football and basketball, Monday Night Football, MLB, NBA, major golf tournaments, all four Grand Slam tennis events, SportsCenter, PTI and more. Additionally, curated on-demand video featuring the most recent and relevant content-including highlights and news clips from ESPN.com as well as short-form segments from programs such as E:60, Outside The Lines, SC Featured, Sport Science and others-will be accessible through WatchESPN for the first time via Apple TV to all users.
Sky News on Apple TV delivers a live 24/7 news feed to users in the US, UK and Ireland, including breaking news and headlines from business, politics, entertainment and more. In addition to the live feed, users can catch up on specific stories at any time via the extensive on-demand news library.
Crunchyroll, the leading global video service for Japanese Anime and Asian media, will allow subscribers worldwide to watch the latest HD shows one hour after they air in Japan. Qello, a leading on-demand streaming service for HD concerts and music documentaries, offers free or paid subscriptions to music fans worldwide. New users can sign up for Crunchyroll and Qello instantly on Apple TV.
Apple TV makes it easy to enjoy iTunes video and music right on your HD TV. Coming this fall, iTunes Radio[TM] will offer you an incredibly personalized music experience directly on Apple TV based on your listening history and past purchases from iTunes. And with iCloud(R), you can buy movies and TV shows on Apple TV and watch them on your iPhone(R), iPad(R), iPod touch(R), Mac(R) or PC. iCloud also stores photos and pushes them wirelessly to all your devices including your Apple TV. iCloud is an incredibly easy way to get instant access to all of your content, no matter which device is being used.
iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users can use AirPlay(R) to stream music, photos and videos from their devices directly to their HD TV with Apple TV. iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad, iPad mini, fifth generation iPod touch and Mac users can use AirPlay Mirroring to show the screen of their device right on their HD TV, allowing them to stream web pages, spreadsheets or even games.**
Pricing & Availability
Apple TV requires iTunes 10.5 or later. Apple TV requires an 802.11g/n Wi-Fi network or Ethernet network, a broadband Internet connection and a HD TV capable of 1080p or 720p and an HDMI cable that is sold separately. iTunes movie and TV show availability varies by country. Third generation Apple TV hardware is required to play 1080p video. HBO GO, Watch ESPN, SkyNews, Crunchyroll and Qello require Apple TV software version 5.3 available as a free software update for second and third generation Apple TV users.
*Content availability varies by country, may require account subscriptions and may not be available in all territories.
**AirPlay requires an iOS device running iOS 4.2 or later. AirPlay Mirroring is not supported on the original iPad. AirPlay Mirroring is supported on the following Mac models: iMac(R) (Mid 2011 or newer), Mac mini (Mid 2011 or newer), MacBook Air(R) (Mid 2011 or newer), and MacBook Pro(R) (Early 2011 or newer).
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.
HBO GO, WatchESPN come to Apple TV originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Researchers easily crack iOS-generated Hotspot passwords
When you enable the Personal Hotspot feature on your iPhone, iOS will generate a password on your behalf. It's convenient, but recent research from FAU in Germany suggests it is not very secure.
According to researchers Andreas Kurtz, Felix Freiling and Daniel Metz, the default hotspot password in iOS 6 uses a short English word with some random numbers at the end. Earlier versions of iOS used a similar pattern that included two words separated by two numbers.
Not surprisingly, these passwords can be cracked in no time via a brute-force attack. Using one AMD Radeon HD 6990 GPU, the team was able to guess a password in 50 minutes. When they bumped the GPUs up to four AMD Radeon HD 7970s, they were able to drop the password-cracking time to a mere 50 seconds.
One reason the cracking was so easy is that Apple apparently uses a password list that picks from 1,842 words, and the selection of these words is not done randomly. It wouldn't take much effort for a savvy hacker to figure out this pattern and write a tool that would compromise a hotspot password faster than you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
The take home message is to change your hotspot password from the default one that is generated by iOS to one of your own choosing. It's easy enough to do -- just tap Settings > Personal Hotspot or Settings > General > Cellular > Personal Hotspot, depending on your device and software. Then tap the WiFi password field and type in a new phrase. The new password must be at least eight characters long and use ASCII/Unicode characters. You can read more about the Personal Hotspot feature on Apple's iOS support page.
[Via Engadget]
Researchers easily crack iOS-generated Hotspot passwords originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions hit 700,000
Despite customer outcry over Adobe’s switch from Creative Suite software in a box to Creative Cloud software as a service, the company reports that it added 221,000 paid Creative Cloud customers to its roster in the second quarter of 2013 for a total of 700,000 subscribers to date. That’s an increase over the 479,000 subscribers Adobe reported at the end of the first quarter. Those numbers, revealed as part of the company's second quarter earnings, are on track, and even ahead of Adobe's goal, according to Scott Morris, senior marketing director for Creative Cloud.
Adobe expects it will add more subscribers in the third quarter than in the second, aiming for a total of 1.25 million subscribers by the end of the year.
"Going into Adobe Max we had a lot of momentum, and that continued and accelerated once we made our announcements," Morris told Macworld in an interview. "If you look at how far we’ve come in a pretty short period of time, and if you look at our own internal goals and how we’re achieving them, we are really, really happy with the way adoption has gone."
According to Morris, customers who bought into the cloud subscription concept are committed, with 92 percent of them choosing a yearly subscription as opposed to a month-to-month—the better deal on the yearly subscription. Annual subscriptions cost $50 per month for individuals and $70 per month (per seat) for creative teams, though there are numerous discounts available for the first year. Month-to-month subscriptions cost more.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
HBO Go, WatchESPN come to Apple TV
Apple on Wednesday announced the additions of HBO Go and WatchESPN to the Apple TV. Those are channels that the Roku has long offered, but they’re new to Apple’s set-top box. Despite reports that it was coming soon, the CW still isn’t on Apple TV.
HBO Go allows subscribers to stream all of HBO’s programming on demand, including all of its older shows like The Wire and The Sopranos, along with all of the movies currently showing on HBO. Not all HBO subscriptions include HBO Go access; it’s up to your cable company to support the service. DirecTV is perhaps the most prominent provider not to support the Apple TV for either HBO Go or WatchESPN, though it does offer access to the HBO Go app on iOS, which can then—somewhat convolutedly—be watched via AirPlay on the Apple TV.
WatchESPN simulcasts ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Goal Line, and ESPN Buzzer Beater, though again, access is at the whim of your cable provider. ESPN3 exists solely on WatchESPN.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
HBO GO, WatchESPN & More Come to Apple TV
Apple expanded its content lineup for Apple TV on Wednesday when it announced that HBO GO and WatchESPN are both available directly through the home entertainment device. Along with HBO and ESPN, Apple also added Sky News, Crunchyroll and Qello to the Apple TV lineup.
The Mac Observer Spin: Apple TV is looking a little less like a hobby.
Macworld Pundit Showdown: WWDC Edition
What do you do when the brightest minds of the Mac and iOS developer community descend upon San Francisco for Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference? You pull aside four of those bright minds, and ask them a series of foolish questions about the week’s events before declaring a winner.
Yes, it’s another installment of our Pundit Showdown, and we’ve assembled a tip-top panel to take on all the news coming out of Apple’s developer confab. This week’s panel includes:
- Jim Dalrymple of The Loop and the Amplified podcast;
- Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater Software and the Bitsplitting and Core Intuition podcasts; Dave Wiskus of Q Branch (makers of the Vesper note-taking app for iPhone) and co-host of the Unprofessional podcast; and
- Rich Siegel of Bare Bones Software, who does not host any podcast whatsoever.
Show Notes
We talk a lot about WWDC during this podcast, from Mavericks to iOS 7 to the new Mac Pros. You may want to familiarize yourself with everything announced at WWDC if you want to make heads or tails of our podcast.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Steve Jobs talks about his legacy in new video from 1994
The Silicon Valley Historical Association has released a short video clip of Steve Jobs from 1994, part of a 20-minute interview he gave while at NeXT. Jobs talked about his future legacy and discussed if he would be remembered for his work.
The clip's release is a promotion for the Silicon Valley Historical Association's 60-minute documentary based around the interview. Titled Steve Jobs: Visionary Entrepreneur, the documentary is available on the Silicon Valley Historical Association's website. A digital download is US$14.99, while the DVD costs $24.99 and an audio-only version is available for $4.99.
Steve Jobs talks about his legacy in new video from 1994 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Solar iPhone Chargers Coming to NYC
If you're in the city that never sleeps, there's a good chance your iPhone doesn't, either. To that end, AT&T, Goal Zero and Pensa have teamed up to bring solar powered smartphone chargers to the streets of New York City. The outdoor charging stations include built-in Dock and Lightning connectors as well as USB ports for people that prefer to use their own cables, small shelves to hold your phone while charging, and can be placed anywhere there's direct sunlight. The chargers are part of a test program in several locations such as Fort Greene Park, Union Square, Central Park. They'll be moving around and could end up in other cities at some point, too. Assuming the test program is successful, this'll be a handy way to power up on the go or when regular electrical service is down. If you get the chance to try one out let us know!
Mac Gems: OneSafe gives 1Password some password-saving competition
There’s certainly no shortage of password managers for OS X—there’s even a basic one (Keychain Access) built into the OS, and the next versions of OS X and iOS will include a cross-device-syncing option. But rather than over-saturating the market, these apps are catering to different kinds of users—and that can only be good news if it means better security for more people.
A case in point is Lunabee’s $13 OneSafe (Mac App Store link), one of a genre of apps designed to keep your personal information safe from prying eyes while making it readily available when you need it. (I review the OS X version here, but a $6 iOS version is also available—your data synchronizes between devices over iCloud.)
Setting up OneSafe is a simple process; a quick wizard walks you through the process of choosing how you’ll unlock your password database. Unlike most of its competitors, which support only passphrase-based unlocking, OneSafe offers a choice of four unlocking mechanisms: a four-digit PIN, a full passphrase, a pattern-drawing keypad similar to the one implemented by some versions of Android, and a set of four combination-lock wheels. (To help you if you forget your combination or password, OneSafe allows you to choose two security questions, although these are optional.)
OneSafe allows you to choose from several authentication mechanisms—including, unfortunately, a relatively unsecure 4-digit PIN.
Giving users multiple options is a great idea, particularly for those who suffer from disorders like dyscalculia, or people who simply have a hard time remembering complicated passwords. Still, I’m not a fan of the app offering a four-digit PIN as an option, given the weak level of security it provides.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Lab Tested: New MacBook Air offers best battery life of any Apple laptop
When Apple revealed the new MacBook Air at WWDC, the highlighted feature was its drastically improved battery life. While Macworld Lab didn’t experience the 12-hour battery life cited by Apple, our tests do show that the new MacBook Air lasts considerably longer than before. And our results were the best we've seen from an Apple laptop.
AppleTo test battery life, we ran two different tests on the new models, last year’s models, and a 2013 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro. In both tests we set the brightness to maximum and made sure that automatic brightness adjustment was off, backlit keyboards were off, and Screen Saver was set to never start.
Movie testIn the first test we looped a movie clip in full screen mode with Wi-Fi disabled. The new 11-inch MacBook Air lasted 6 hours and 6 minutes, compared to just 3 hours and 34 minutes for the 2012 model. The new 13-inch standard configuration MacBook Air lasted 8 hours and 18 minutes, 36 percent longer than the new 11-inch MacBook Air, and 65 percent longer than last year’s 13-inch MacBook Air. Compared to a 2013 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, the 13-inch MacBook Air lasted 75 percent longer.
We also ran the tests on “ultimate” configure-to-order (CTO) MacBook Air models from this year and from last year. There wasn’t too much of a battery life hit on the new CTO model compared to the standard configuration; the standard configuration model lasted just 11 minutes longer than the CTO unit that has a faster processor, more RAM, and twice the hard drive capacity. Comparing this year’s CTO “ultimate” to last year’s, we saw that the new model lasted 65 percent longer.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
'Max Payne 3' coming to the Mac on June 20
Rockstar Games has announced that it is bringing its popular console and PC title Max Payne 3 to the Mac on Thursday. Rockstar has yet to release its pricing, only stating that the Mac version of the game supports "a number of advanced graphics options, scalable high-resolution textures and character models, DirectX11 features, multi-monitor support and 3D."
As far as what users need to run the game, Rockstar recommends the following:
- Mac OS X 10.7.5 Lion
- Intel Dual-Core Xeon / Core i Series 2.4 GHz or greater
- 4GB System RAM
- NVIDIA(R) 8800GT 512MB VRAM or AMD Radeon HD 4870 512 VRAM
- HDD Space: 35GB
'Max Payne 3' coming to the Mac on June 20 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Master the command line: navigating files and folders
If you’ve been using a Mac for any length of time, you know that it’s more than just a pretty point-and-click, window-and-icon interface. Beneath the surface of OS X is an entire world that you can access only from the command line. Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities) is the default gateway to that command line on a Mac. With it, instead of pointing and clicking, you type your commands and your Mac does your bidding.
Why would you want to do that? For almost all of your computing needs, the regular graphical user interface is enough. But the command line can be handy when it comes to troubleshooting your Mac, to turn on “hidden” settings, and other advanced chores. Many of the hints we publish on the Mac OS X Hints website require the use of the command line. It’s a good idea for anyone who isn’t an utter beginner to be familiar with it.
If you aren’t already familiar with OS X's command-line interface, this article is the first in an occasional series that’ll get you up to speed. The plan is to cover the most important commands you need to know and show you how to use them. First up: How to navigate the file system from the command-line prompt.
The promptBy default, when you open Terminal, the first thing you’ll see is something like this:
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
iOS: Prevent Unauthorized Siri Use
Whether you've locked your iOS device with a passcode or not, anyone who happens to "acquire" it has access to Siri (and thus some of your personal data, too). There is a way to prevent that, and Melissa Holt's here to tell us how. She also plans on scolding you if you don't have a passcode set. Hey, she's just looking out for you guys.
