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>> Postings for November 2010

Jonny Evans - Do you trust Apple's App Store with the future of 'print'?

Tue, 30 Nov 2010

Richard Branson and Rupert Murdoch have begun battling it out to create a superior subscription-based magazine in the iPad iPublishing 3.0 race, but Apple's [AAPL] recent move to ban an iOS magazine dedicated to the competing Android smartphone OS shows that Apple's app store approvals team could begin an age of censorship...

[This story is from Computerworld's Apple Holic blog. Follow on Twitter or subscribe via RSS to make sure you don't miss a beat.]

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Jonny Evans - 2011: Will Apple kill the optical drive?

Mon, 29 Nov 2010

Apple [AAPL] has big plans for 2011: the Lion OS, Mac App Store, iPad 2.0 and more mark the year it sees as 'Back to the Mac'. And it seems Apple's [AAPL] also close to fielding solutions implementing Intel's super-fast interconnect standard, Light Peak -- and seems potentially on course to eliminate optical drives, one product family at a time.

Fresh rumors emerged across the weekend which claimed Apple is on schedule to introduce new model MacBook Pro notebooks equipped with Light Peak interconnects in 2011, perhaps in April.

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Jonny Evans - Essential apps for winter sports adventurers

Tue, 23 Nov 2010

The holiday season's approaching pretty fast now, so while I kick iOS 4.2 around a little more I thought some readers might enjoy a short collection of adventurous ski and snow-related iPhone apps, as there's a pretty huge possibility some of you are headed into the mountains in the coming weeks. (And if that's you I'll bet you're counting the days). Meanwhile, don't forget Black Friday's approaching so take a look here.

Organized adventure: Satski ($9.99)

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Jonny Evans - Apple's iOS 4.2 is OS X's prophet

Tue, 23 Nov 2010

Apple [AAPL] is pushing out iOS 4.2, and as it does it is dropping a few hints as to the philosophy informing its evolution of software as it treads with great determination toward Lion, which will itself offer us initimations of the future direction of Apple's operating systems for both mobile and computing devices for this Apple planet.

Inevitable iGradualness

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Simon Jary - Apple's dog-tagged Ds

Mon, 22 Nov 2010

Dell Asked at an investor conference in late 1997 what newly returned Steve Jobs should do as head of Apple, mass PC maker Dell’s founder and CEO Michael Dell quipped, “I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.”

In 2005 Dell had significantly changed his tune: “If Apple decides to open the Mac OS to others, we would be happy to offer it to our customers,” he told Fortune magazine.

Simon Jary | Read more...


Jonny Evans - What we think we know about iPad 2.0

Fri, 19 Nov 2010

Only this morning, the iPad was declared one of the greatest innovations of 2010 by Time magazine.  But we're already receiving reports that components for the iPad successor, let's call it 'iPad 2.0', have been selected and approved with production set to accelerate come February, suggesting the next-gen Apple [AAPL] tablet will ship in Q1. I've gathered my thoughts and this is what I think we might know about iPad 2.0, even as we head into an iOS Christmas.

It will be a global traveller
Sure, the iPad can handle 3G and Wi-Fi, two pretty much universal standards, but Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair expects Apple will introduce a "World iPad" based on one of Qualcomm's multimode CDMA-GSM chips.

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Jonny Evans - Android ad requests match Apple's iOS, so what?

Thu, 18 Nov 2010

The reports are coming thick and fast now, and it looks like Android has finally caught-up with Apple's iOS -- the two now jointly hold the title of being the biggest OS on the Millennial Media network, according to data released early this morning.

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Andy Ihnatko - Software superstore

Thu, 18 Nov 2010

This is a golden age for tech commentary. It used to be that we only had one Evil Empire to write about. These days, expecting anything truly evil from Microsoft is like expecting one of the Rolling Stones to do anything worse to a hotel room than leave behind a phone charger.

Now? Please! It’s a movable feast. Apple wants to control every aspect of the user experience; yes, you get fantastic hardware and software, but under Apple’s terms. Google seems to be using its money and influence to turn the thrilling world of tech into a place where everything is free but heartbreakingly mediocre. Facebook executives lose sleep at night worrying that there’s some part of our personal life that they haven’t managed to turn into a metric and monetise. The fact that Facebook holds the title of The Tech World’s Most Obnoxious Busybody in the industry should attract the attention of the Nobel Committee and perhaps Interpol.

Andy Ihnatko | Read more...


Jonny Evans - Black Friday 2010: Year of the shopping app

Wed, 17 Nov 2010

We're heading for the holiday season and it looks like this year we'll be worrying about money a little, so I thought readers may find it helpful if I assembled a short (and incomplete -- please contribute below to help other readers) list of apps which might (might) help you pick up a bargain or one of those elusive but sometimes fantastic 'Black Friday' deals -- or perhaps just help you distinguish between a good deal and good marketing.

Black Friday App (free)
The Good: This app will deliver all the latest deals from Deal News, who as everyone who knows stuff knows do a good job of connecting eagle-eyed readers to, as the name promises us, good deals.

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Jonny Evans - 6 (more) essential utilities for your Mac

Mon, 15 Nov 2010

A few weeks ago I spoke up for '5 essential utilities for any Mac user',   since then I've been contacted by readers who've suggested a few additional tools that could also improve your Mac life. I've taken a look at a few of these and given them a gentle kick around, so read on for a second small collection of utilities you need for your Mac.

[This story is from Computerworld's Apple Holic blog. Follow on Twitter or subscribe via RSS to make sure you don't miss a beat.]

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Jonny Evans - You say you want a Mac software revolution?

Thu, 11 Nov 2010

Apple (AAPL) is deadly serious about its plans for the Mac App Store. The company is about to disrupt the entire retail software sales industry in order to create the world's biggest market for consumer software sales -- only on a Mac.

It has even begun recruiting staff for its App Store approvals team to help deal with dispensing approval (or disapproval) to the expected flood of Mac applications. But what will they be doing in the Santa Clara valley?

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Jonny Evans - Collected: The iOS that stole Christmas

Wed, 10 Nov 2010

Apple's in pole position to reach millions more customers this holiday season: all the consumer reports agree the iPad's set to dominate CE wish lists this year. A year in which one-in-three Android users would ditch their handset for an iPhone.

Apple has mind share; the iPhone 4's the most reliable smartphone around (but don't drop it); and while Android's multitude of devices are grabbing market share, Apple continues to maintain stellar growth.

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Jonny Evans - iPad iOS 4.2 - an even better fit for business

Tue, 09 Nov 2010

We've talked a lot about how the iPad is making Apple some space in the enterprise. On launch, critics slammed the device for neither being fit for enterprise use nor for use as a netbook replacement. They were wrong. With iOS 4.2 the iPad is an even better fit for business. I've taken a short look at what's coming inside the upgrade, and identified five high-level iPad apps for business users.

Apple recently confirmed 65% of Fortune 100 firms are already using the tablet, or at least trialling its use. This is just part of its powerful market share -- if iPad were counted as a PC, Apple would be the biggest US PC maker, bar none...

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Press Release - Xserve survival FAQ, Apple mobile payments plan

Sun, 07 Nov 2010

Strange days, on the one hand you see Apple discontinue its main enterprise product (the Xserve) in the same week as we see the company's enterprise credentials climb a notch or two, and we also learn the company's looking to mobile payment solutions in order to bring people without credit cards inside its future iWallet economy.

Today's the day we heard the news -- Apple is discontinuing the Xserve, the best little 1u Apple server in the business.

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Jonny Evans - Microsoft admits iPad IS killing netbook market

Fri, 05 Nov 2010

I've said it before now I'm saying it again, the iPad is indeed cannibalizing netbook sales. For proof, you don't have to ask Best Buy's boss, nor do you have to listen to the analysts, you just need to speak with Microsoft, which now admits the iPad is killing the netbook market.

Speaking to The Seattle PI, Gavriella Schuster, general manager for Windows product management engaged in a conversation as follows:

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Jonny Evans - Opinion: Apple plays the console game

Wed, 03 Nov 2010

Apple is taking over the games market. One day soon your iPad will be a full replacement for your Xbox, Wii or PlayStation. It will run the latest games, the latest technologies and its processor will possess enough grunt to match any gaming console out there.

Think about it. Apple's already selling millions of games each month via the App Store, where games are the biggest-selling category.

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Jonny Evans - Apple's iPad carves 95% tablet market, competition is dust

Tue, 02 Nov 2010

Apple's claim to have invented the tablet category seems vindicated by news this morning from Strategy Analytics which claims Apple grabbed 95 percent of the global tablet market in Q3 2010 -- even as the company plots its path to iPad 2.0.

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Jonny Evans - 6 alternative Apple iPhone alarm clock apps

Mon, 01 Nov 2010

Sorry about this. Perhaps I should have posted this earlier, but I slept in. I really didn't expect Europe's iPhone users would fail to wake up this morning because a bug in Apple's iPhone software didn't recognise the change in clocks here over the weekend.

Somewhat frustratingly, the iPhone Clock app had no problem resetting itself to cater for the annual clock change. Unfortunately, this automatic recognition didn't extend to a user's built-in alarms, which were delayed by an hour as the handset's alarm system continued to run in the previous zone.

Jonny Evans | Read more...


Simon Jary - Apple's crazy, crappy Cs

Mon, 01 Nov 2010

Chiat\Day  If Mad Men was set in California Don Draper’s company would be Chiat\Day, Steve Jobs’ favourite advertising agency. Run by “bearded ad man in flip-flops” Lee Clow, Chiat\Day created the ‘1984’ Super Bowl ad that launched the Macintosh, and the comeback ‘Think Different’ campaign (See Crazy Ones, below) and others since, such as the now mildly annoying ‘Get a Mac’ series.

CHRP  Cheekily pronounced “chirp” but boringly short for Apple and IBM’s Common Hardware Reference Platform that enabled the building of multi-platform PCs that could run Mac OS, OS/2, Windows NT or Unix. Apple and IBM fell out, so IBM dumped CHRP for PReP, which didn’t run Mac OS. Then they made friends again and CHRP became PPCP. Confused? Don’t worry, it didn’t matter anyway.

Apple’s crazy, crappy Cs | Read more...


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