Apple rolls out iTunes movies in the Cloud to UK, Australia, Canada, more
Earlier today, Apple rolled out iTunes Match to Hungary and Poland, but now it appears the company has also started expanding iCloud's media offerings to countries that already have the iTunes Match services. Here in the UK, Apple has expanded its iTunes in the Cloud offerings to include movies users have already purchased through iTunes.
In allowing users to redownload any film they have purchased through their UK iTunes account, Apple is giving customers a way to easily track and retrieve previously purchased content. This is especially helpful for users with smaller hard drives in their MacBooks and iOS devices. Now they don't have to back up and store all the large media purchases they made. When finished watching a film, the user can just delete it and the redownload it again when necessary. However, from my iTunes UK account I can verify that not all films are available for redownload from all studios...yet.
In addition to the UK, Apple appears to be rolling out iTunes movies in the Cloud to many other countries including Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and several Latin American locals.
Update: Via MacRumors, here's the expanding list of new countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia.
Apple rolls out iTunes movies in the Cloud to UK, Australia, Canada, more originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 19 Jul 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple’s supply chain increases US production
Apple's effect on manufacturing in the Far East is well publicized, but its influence on homegrown companies is not highlighted. A recent report from AppleInsider takes a closer look at lesser-known companies that have benefited from Apple's success with the iPhone and iPad.
Besides the high-profile Corning Glass in Kentucky and Samsung plant in Texas, other companies like Avago and Fairfield Semiconductor are in the process of increasing its American operations to meet Apple's demand for smaller components such as custom wireless modules and power supply chips.
You can read more about Apple's effect on US manufacturing in this report on AppleInsider's website.
Apple's supply chain increases US production originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 19 Jul 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Mega-iPad prototypes revealed in Jony Ive’s 2011 deposition now in color
Hefty. Ample. Zaftig. An iPod hit with an Engorgio Charm. Pick your adjective and go with it, because this honest-to-Ive iPad prototype was just plain big. It looked like a chopped-off MacBook's top half, but it probably wouldn't have seemed out of place on Batman's bedside table.
How did this early design concept (circa 2002-2004!) for an Apple tablet come to light? As Kelly relayed earlier, NetworkWorld's Yoni Heisler did some clever digging into recently unsealed depositions in Apple v. Samsung. Lawyers for Samsung interviewed Apple's design chief Jonathan Ive in December of 2011, and asked him to confirm that the photos introduced into evidence of the "035" prototype were legitimate, Apple-created artifacts. Ive testified that they were, and now that the testimony has been unsealed Heisler was able to find and publish black-and-white photos of the device.
BuzzFeed's Matt Buchanan & Michael Phillips have now unearthed color versions of the prototype pictures; they highlight the device's amputated-MacBook-screen affect even more strongly. In fact, the unit bears some resemblance to the Axiotron Modbook, which repurposed the plastic-case MacBook into a tablet form factor; minus the ports, of course, and probably somewhat lighter had it ever gone into production.
Seeing the prototype side by side with the produced iPad, it's sobering to think about how long Apple's designers and engineers worked toward refining, improving and slenderizing the tablet concept. Of course, before the iPad itself ever saw the light of day, the technologies and software involved snuck out the door in smaller form.
Mega-iPad prototypes revealed in Jony Ive's 2011 deposition now in color originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 21:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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German court dismisses Apple design claim against Motorola Xoom
A German court has ruled that Motorola's Xoom tablet does not infringe on Apple's patents, says an Associated Press report. In its case, Apple argued that the design of the Motorola Xoom too closely resembled the Apple iPad. A judge did not agree with Apple and ruled against this claim.
It was a no-win situation for both companies as the judge also dismissed a counter-suit by Motorola. In its suit, Motorola claimed that Apple's design patent for the iPad is invalid. In the end, Apple shouldn't be overly disappointed. It can't ban the Xoom, but its design patent remains intact.
As it stands, the two companies will share in the court costs as neither party was victorious. Both companies have 30 days to appeal these rulings.
German court dismisses Apple design claim against Motorola Xoom originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Firefox 14 adds fullscreen support for OS X Lion
Stop me if you've heard this one: How is Mozilla Firefox like Pittsburgh's weather? Answer: If you don't like it, wait a little while and it's gonna change. The open-source desktop browser continues its drumbeat of frequent releases with Firefox 14.0.1 for Mac, Windows and Linux in over 70 different language localizations.
If you're happy with version 13 (or, for that matter, version 12), the major new feature for Mac that you'll be living without is full-screen view support on 10.7 Lion. The new build also enables HTTPS secure connections for Google searches and adds some additional bug fixes and tweaks.
[via Engadget]
Firefox 14 adds fullscreen support for OS X Lion originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 17 Jul 2012 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Bertrand Serlet joins Parallels board of directors
This just in... Parallels, the company behind the popular Parallels Desktop virtualization software for Mac OS X, announced that Bertrand Serlet has been appointed to the company's board of directors. Serlet was the senior vice president of software engineering at Apple, and was responsible for the development of Mac OS X from its beginning until his departure from Apple last August.
The full press release from Parallels follows.
July 17, 2012
Distinguished industry veteran and former head of software engineering at Apple bolsters
Parallels board with decades of industry expertise
Renton, WA, July 17, 2012 - Parallels, a global leader in cloud services enablement and desktop virtualization software, announces the appointment of Betrand Serlet, former senior vice president of software engineering at Apple, to its board of directors.
Serlet will serve as a non-executive director, bringing to Parallels his distinctive professional experience of having led the development of Mac OS X from its inception until his departure from Apple in 2011. Serlet's distinguished background and unique insights will help Parallels accelerate growth and continue creating software that simplifies life for consumers and businesses.
"Bertrand is the rare combination of a software visionary and master of execution. We're thrilled to be bringing his world-class experience and expertise to Parallels as the company continues its fast-paced growth and global expansion," said Birger Steen, CEO of Parallels.
Serlet worked at Apple for 14 years, where he led the development and creation of OS X and was frequently a key speaker at Apple industry events. Serlet previously spent eight years with NeXT contributing to NeXTSTEP, OpenStep and WebObjects, and four years as researcher at Xerox PARC. Serlet holds a doctorate in computer science from the University of Orsay, France.
"With Parallels Desktop, Parallels became a critical developer for the Mac platform, and I got to know and appreciate the Parallels leadership team. I also discovered Parallels deep involvement with the cloud, represented by its rich portfolio of products. I look forward to drawing on my career at Apple to help guide Parallels as it continues on its impressive growth trajectory," said Serlet.
The Parallels product portfolio addresses a wide range of consumer, small and medium business (SMB), enterprise and services provider needs. Parallels Desktop for Mac is the No. 1-selling software¹ for running Windows and Mac applications side-by-side on a Mac without rebooting, and is used by more than 50 percent of the Fortune Global 200. The company's cloud enablement software is used by more than 9,000 service providers who rely on Parallels to deliver thousands of applications and cloud services to more than 10 million SMBs in more than 130 countries.
About Parallels
Parallels is a worldwide leader in hosting and cloud service enablement and desktop virtualization. Founded in 1999, Parallels is a fast-growing company with more than 900 employees in North America, Europe, and Asia.
For information on Parallels, visit www.parallels.com/spp, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ParallelsCloud and Like Us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ParallelsCloud.
¹ Mac desktop virtualization software, new unit U.S. retail sales according to NPD Research, 1/2011-5/2012
Bertrand Serlet joins Parallels board of directors originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 17 Jul 2012 12:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple Store artist’s first-person story of his visit from the Secret Service
Kyle McDonald is the artist behind the controversial "People Staring at Computers" project that captured images of people staring at Mac computers in Apple's New York City stores. After his project went viral, the artist was paid a not-so-friendly visit by the Secret Service. His adventure is detailed in a first-person account published recently on Wired's Threat Level column. It's a lengthy look at the artist and his dealings with Apple, the EFF and the Secret Service.
[Via Slashdot]
Apple Store artist's first-person story of his visit from the Secret Service originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 17 Jul 2012 09:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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iOS 6 beta 3 available to developers
The third beta version of iOS 6 has been handed out to developers running the new mobile OS as an over-the-air update this morning. The new versions of Xcode haven't quite made their way out into the world yet, but they should soon, giving iOS and Mac developers the option to test and build their apps on the upcoming operating system.
Unfortunately, for those of us not using the latest and greatest developer builds, this only means that iOS 6 is still in progress, and there's still some work to do on it before the release to the public later on this fall. We're going to have to be satisfied with the upcoming version of Mac OS X instead -- Mountain Lion's gold master was just handed out to devs recently, which means it's closer than ever for us.
Update: The Xcode updates have just dropped, and should be available in Software Update right now. The Xcode 4.5 developer preview will allow developers to put apps together for the latest beta of iOS 6, so they can be ready to go on release day.
iOS 6 beta 3 available to developers originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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How the new MacBook Pros got EPEAT Gold rating
Apple's recent relationship with the EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) environmental rating is getting even more interesting. First, we reported on Apple dropping its entire product line from the program upon realizing that the new Retina display MacBook Pro models wouldn't get the coveted Gold rating due to their almost-impossible-to-recycle glued-in batteries. Then retiring Apple VP Bob Mansfield kissed and made up with the group later in the week. Now we're finding that Apple gave the MacBook Pro with Retina display the EPEAT Gold rating ... although it doesn't merit it.
Fortune's Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports that Apple put all eligible products back on the Green Electronic Council's registry, thus clearing the way for purchases by schools and governments that are required to purchase EPEAT-approved computers. However, Apple also added the Gold label to all four models of the new MacBook Pro with Retina display.
Almost immediately, the Electronics TakeBack Coalition took offense with what had happened. Barbara Kyle, the National Coordinator for the ETBC said "We seriously doubt that these MacBooks should qualify for EPEAT at any level because we think they flunk two required criteria in the 'Design for End of Life' section of the standard."
Those criteria include 4.3.1.3, which states that "External enclosures shall be easily removable by one person alone with commonly available tools" and 4.3.1.5, regarding "Identification and removal of components containing hazardous materials." Basically, Apple just gave itself the rating against the EPEAT criteria. An EPEAT review has not yet happened, and the group could require Apple to remove the Gold label from the MacBook Pro models in question.
Elmer-DeWitt also commented on the timing of Apple's withdrawal from EPEAT, noting that the AAPL Sanity board (membership required) pointed out that the annual fee for getting on the registry and fees for all listed products -- which can be in the millions of dollars -- came due on July 1.
[via The Loop]
How the new MacBook Pros got EPEAT Gold rating originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 16 Jul 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Adobe issues fix for InDesign crashes under Lion 10.7.4
Adobe confirmed in a recent technical note that InDesign customers with OS X Lion 10.7.4 may experience problems with the app crashing "when performing certain functions."
The technical note provides two solutions to the problem, one of which includes the warning not to install the OS X 10.7.4 update. The other solution requires InDesign owners to download and replace several files in the UI.InDesign.Plugin package.
As ZDNet points out, it's an "ugly procedure" that could have been made easier had Adobe bundled the files with an AppleScript to automate the process.
[Via ZDNet]
Adobe issues fix for InDesign crashes under Lion 10.7.4 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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