announcements posts

Filed under: iPod Family, Interviews, iPhone, Liveblog, App Store, SDK

Announcement: App Store Livechat, Friday @ 12PM

by Erica Sadun (RSS feed) on Oct 8th, 2009

Is the App Store working just right? That's what Mike Schramm wondered the other day after this Newsweek article appeared, discussing the state of publishing apps on App Store. Tomorrow, we'll be hosting a live chat with real App Store developers, both successful and struggling. Please join us. You'll have a chance to hear about the current state of iPhone development and ask your questions about whether App Store is a gold rush, a business opportunity, or a disappointment.

(Full disclosure, I was interviewed for the Newsweek article, although I do not appear in the article itself.)

Tags: announcements

Filed under: Bad Apple, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, Jailbreak/pwnage

Announcement: Saurik live chat at 4:15 (ET) today

by Erica Sadun (RSS feed) on Sep 24th, 2009

Please join us this afternoon at 4:15 Eastern for a live chat with Jay "Saurik" Freeman. Jay is going to talk to us about Apple's new signature server and what that means to you as an iPod or iPhone owner.

Have you noticed a new message in iTunes when you restore an iPhone or iPod touch? "Verifying restore with Apple..."? iTunes is now checking your unit against a registered database and deciding whether to allow you to install your firmware or not. Potentially, Apple could disallow downgrades to previous firmware versions. According to Freeman, this move allows Apple to "recall existing firmwares by keeping people from restoring to them in the future. To do this they simply would refuse to ever sign, for example, iPhone OS 3.0 again."

Freeman will explain why this is a real problem to both the standard App Store community and to the jailbreak community. Join us with your questions.

Tags: announcements, Jay Freeman, JayFreeman, live chat, LiveChat, Saurik

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Odds and ends, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

OpenFeint 2.0 brings social discovery to the iPhone

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jun 11th, 2009

The Aurora Feint folks are at WWDC with the rest of the Mac development world this week, and while out there, not only are they having a party, but they sent out an announcement: OpenFeint 2.0 is out now, and it has some "social discovery" features now included. Their open platform already supported doing things like leaderboards and profiles from directly within iPhone applications and games, but now the new release will also allow users to bring their friends lists in from Facebook and Twitter, update profile pictures of themselves, and both find their friends and figure out what they're playing. The system is free to integrate into iPhone apps and games, and there's a user-based model that costs more at higher levels.

OpenFeint isn't the only system attempting to do something like this (be a sort of Xbox Live for iPhone games), but they are certainly the biggest, with more developers jumping into their boat every day. And as is the way with social networks, sometimes being the biggest is just as good as being the best. Look for their features in an iPhone game near you.

Tags: announcements, facebook, integration, iphone, networking, openfeint, social-networking, social-platform, twitter, wwdc

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Rumors, Mac mini

Rumor: Mac mini turns Nano in late October

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Oct 4th, 2007

I've had this plan ever since the mini almost died earlier this year, and I'm sticking to it: as soon as I can buy a Mac mini with Leopard on it, I'll do so. And no one's going to stop me-- except maybe Jobs himself. Mac OS Rumors reports that they've heard that as of October's end, the mini is dead-- long live something new called the Mac Nano. Supposedly, the new low-end Mac will be even smaller than a mini (just tall enough to fit a hard drive in), and the enclosure will have a completely new design.

Intriguing idea indeed, even if it isn't quite new-- the Nano name has been floating around for a while. There are four other products sliding out of the rumor mill as well-- AppleTV is rumored to get an update (and a hard drive), and supposedly we'll see a MacBook Nano as well, the long-rumored ultraportable that Apple is supposedly working on-- a.k.a. Rumor #3.

The future of Mac, or wishful thinking? At this point, we have no indication-- Mac OS Rumors is no 9-to-5 Mac (ouch, but they deserve it, don't they?), but they are called "Rumors" for a reason. Either way, I want to buy an extremely small, compact, headless Mac with Leopard on it this fall. Whether it's called mini or Nano doesn't matter to me at all.

Tags: announcements, apple, apple-tv, hard-drive, mac-mini, mac-nano, rumors, ultraportable

Filed under: Rumors, iMac, Apple

Rumor mill: August 7 iMac announcements... likely NOT true

by Michael Rose (RSS feed) on Aug 6th, 2007

[Update 1:15 pm -- And this is why we don't often post product rumors... indications are that this is coming from someone posing as our "reputable source," and other sites have received and debunked the rumor. We tried to reach the source for verification but were not able to do so. Our apologies if this turns out to be complete bunk. -Ed.]

We don't often post product rumors hereabouts, although we're certainly not above reporting on them and linking to them; it's just not the regular beat. That said, when an email comes in from a reputable source (thanks, Mr. X) with supposed details on Tuesday's product announcement... well, we gotta let you all know. Pile on the disclaimers (this is a rumor!) and here we go. Our source says that there are plenty of new products coming on Tuesday:

Two new iMacs, with 20 and 24 inch screens, and entirely covered in brushed metal (!) plus the previously hinted new keyboard design and a slightly slimmer enclosure. Even more surprising, our source says the iMacs are shipping with a 2.4GHz Intel Penryn chip. Intel's first 45-nm CPU was originally slated to ship at the end of the year, and it's not clear that Apple could get enough parts to actually build these puppies before October, so take this with a grain of salt. The machines might ship with the dual-core Conroe part instead.

Three new Apple Displays at 20, 24, and 32 inches. These are supposed to have an iSight camera built in.

The Mac Pro will get a speed bump as the Xeon/Woodcrest chips are swapped out for Penryn chips, running at a brisk 2.4, 3.0, and 3.33GHZ.

Lastly, the long-expected end of life for the Mac Mini may finally come around as the machine is expected to be dropped from the product matrix. *sniffle*

Again, this is all unconfirmed. We'll know for sure on Tuesday!

Tags: announcements, cinema display, CinemaDisplay, imac, isight, mac pro, MacPro, penryn, rumor

Filed under: TUAW Business

We're not revealing Fake Steve

by Erica Sadun (RSS feed) on Aug 5th, 2007

Just a quick announcement for all of you bombarding our tip line this evening. We've made a pledge to keep Fake Steve fake and we're sticking with that promise. We all know the news has hit the wires. And you know what? We don't care. We love Fake Steve just the way he is. Fake.

Some things in life should be left pure and untouched: a beautiful flower, a snowflake, an unaudited tax return, and the identity of Fake Steve.

So go easy on the tip line, 'kay?

Tags: Announcements

Filed under: iTS

That's Entertainment! MGM in iTunes

by Erica Sadun (RSS feed) on Apr 11th, 2007

Today Apple announced that MGM will sell its catalog of older films at the US iTunes store. To kick things off, "Dances With Wolves," "Mad Max," "The Great Train Robbery," and "Rocky" should be available for purchase some time today. More titles will be added during the coming weeks. (MGM owns the largest movie library in the world.)

The movies will be distributed in the current "Near-DVD" resolution of 640x480, a fact which makes Apple TV owners cry. And ask why. Because if Apple were going to start offering High Def movies any time soon, why wouldn't they have MGM in on that announcement and make it an even bigger to do?

Tags: Announcements, MGM

Filed under: Other Events, TUAW Business, Apple

Announcement: User Group Roundup

by Erica Sadun (RSS feed) on Nov 16th, 2006

Do you help run an Apple-themed User Group? Do you have any upcoming December 2006 meetings or special events? Please let us know via our Tips form by the end of next week to be included in the TUAW December User Group social calendar.

Send complete details about your meetings or events, including locations and directions as well as contact information. Special-interests groups such as Final Cut Pro or Developers are welcome as are more general Mac- or iPod-themed get-togethers.

Looking for an Apple User Group in your area? Visit Apple's User Group locator page to search by state, zip code or country.

Tags: Announcements, Apple, User Groups, UserGroups

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