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Ping now available on iPad
iPad users may have to wait a little longer than they'd like for features like multitasking and folder support, but at least one new feature is available right now: the iPad now supports Ping, Apple's stab at a social media component to the iTunes Store. Via an update to the iTunes Store's servers, Ping functionality is now available in the iTunes app on the iPad. You'll find all the usual Ping features in a tab on the iPad's iTunes app: who you're following, who follows you, and so forth. Just like when Ping came to the iPhone in early September, there's nothing you need to do or download in order to get Ping working on the iPad other than open the iTunes app. For some of us, Ping is a somewhat more enjoyable experience on the iPhone than on the Mac, and the same may be true of the iPad. Let us know in the comments how it works for you, and if this makes you more likely to actually use Ping.
Ping sneaks onto iPad
It's no iOS 4.2, but it's an interesting little update nonetheless -- through the magic of an iTunes backend overhaul, Ping has come to the iPad. Now, the untold millions who enjoy broadcasting that they've purchased an iTunes track can do so on a larger screen. Assuming, of course, that they didn't migrate their Ping experience to Twitter yesterday evening.
Apple could use 'iTun.es' domain as link shortener
Following today's Ping Twitter integration, many on Twitter started blasting the overly long Ping URLs. Now, MacRumors points out that one of their readers speculates that Apple could use its own iTun.es link shortener to help fit Ping links into Twitter's character limitation. The www.itun.es web domain currently forwards to Apple.com. MacRumors did some digging and found out that Apple has been the owner of itun.es since December 2006 when it was registered by MarkMonitor, the brand management firm Apple uses to register all of its domains. MacRumors notes that since Apple has owned the domain for almost four years it is unlikly they bought it specifically for a link shortener purpose, but with today's Ping Twitter integration it would allow the company to put the domain to good use.
Twitter teams up with Ping
It's a social network... for music. Get it? Well, now it's sort of two social networks, because Twitter is getting some pretty deep Ping integration. Basically, any of your Ping activity (posts, purchases, likes, reviews) can be tweeted, all it takes is linking your Twitter account to your Ping account from within iTunes. Unfortunately, right now it looks like the Tweets are an all-or-nothing affair (you don't get to choose which aspects of your Ping activity you want broadcast), so get ready for everybody to know you bought that Colbie Caillat album. The good news on the Twitter end is that Ping tweets will include album art and song previews right from the fancy new Twitter UI, along with a purchase link, of course. Can you taste the synergy?
Twitter adds Ping functionality to user pages
Earlier today, Twitter announced that it has integrated Apple's Ping into users' home pages. Now, Twitter users can view each others' Ping activity, listen to song previews and link to/purchase music from iTunes directly from tweets posted to Twitter.com. Here's how it works: First, log into your Ping account and click the new "Connect to Twitter" button. A window pops up requesting your Twitter credentials. You'll receive a confirmation and a list of Twitter contacts who have also enabled Ping sharing. Then you're done! The new Ping information will show up at Twitter.com for you. Apple introduced PIng a few months ago, and has struggled a bit during its initial growth period. Steve Jobs recently met with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to discuss Apple's fledgling social network. That meeting was well-publicized, but we didn't know this Twitter collaboration was coming. Good luck to both companies on this joint venture. Now you can tweet your ping. Or is it ping your tweet? We're so confused.
iTunes restores Genius sidebar
The launch of iTunes 10 in September left a lot users disappointed for several reasons. In addition to the lack of a complete rewrite that many people were hoping for, the highly underwhelming Ping social network was added, and the subsequent 10.0.1 update replaced the former Genius sidebar content with Ping. Thankfully, despite Apple's insistence on tightly controlling the user experience (which is generally a good thing), the company has been willing to reverse course from time to time to restore functionality or designs that users preferred. Users that miss the Genius sidebar content will be happy to learn that Apple has made server-side changes to iTunes (meaning no software update is required on your end) so that we now have Genius recommendations back in the iTunes sidebar. The sidebar now combines the functionality of the Genius and Ping. Genius recommendations are always available, and if you use Ping your activity is also displayed. Recommendations now appear as soon as a song is selected, before it's even played. It's a step in the right direction; hopefully next year we'll finally get the ground up re-write that iTunes so desperately needs.
Does Apple want to buy Facebook?
Jobs and Facebook founder/CEO Mark Zuckerberg met for dinner the other day. Many presumed that they were discussing Facebook Connect and Ping integration, but what if it were something more, like Apple buying Facebook? Kafka thinks that Apple acquiring Facebook makes sense because Facebook doesn't compete with Apple in any significant way, and Facebook is something that Apple couldn't compete against even if it wanted to. Plus, Facebook is already competing with Google, "which has to make Jobs like it even more," Kafka argues. What would Apple buying Facebook lead to? Every Facebook user would probably automatically have an iTunes Store account. FaceTime chat could be integrated into Facebook chat, potentially leading to increased sales of iOS devices. If Apple continues down the road of using not only phone numbers, but email addresses and eventually Facebook IDs as designated FaceTime "phone numbers," then 500 million users would already have a FaceTime ID to use when all telephony goes VoIP. Apple has the cash to buy Facebook outright (Facebook is valued at around US $25-35 billion), but will they? Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg seem to share a lot of traits (not to mention both having had movies made about them), but could two of the most powerful people in tech -- with equally powerful egos -- work together?
Steve Jobs friends Mark Zuckerberg to talk about Ping
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Steve Jobs invited Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to his house for dinner a few weeks ago. The dinner is presumed to have been a meeting about Ping and Facebook integration. Despite getting over one million users in 48 hours, Ping has yet to gain much traction in the social networking world. Ping is designed to follow your friends and find what music they like. Right now, finding your friends is a bit of a pain, but if Ping users could find their friends via Facebook Connect it would do much to increase Ping membership and use. When Ping first launched, Facebook Connect access was briefly implemented before being quickly blocked by Facebook. A few days later Steve Jobs told All Things Digital that Facebook had "onerous terms that we could not agree to" regarding Facebook friends connecting on Ping. But just two weeks ago Facebook CTO Bret Taylor told Silicon Alley Insider that he's "very confident" that the two companies could find common ground to work together. The Times article interestingly points out that years ago Apple was Facebook's first big commercial sponsor through its Apple Students group. But, as we've learned from a certain movie, many of Facebook's original friends have become enemies. Let's hope the dinner has brought two of the biggest names in tech closer together (and come up with a Facebook iPad app in the process).
Apple publishes Ping guidelines for artists
Apple has published official Ping usage guidelines for artists which describe exactly how to create an artist profile and begin posting content. According to the guidelines [PDF], artists are encouraged to hold off on creating a profile until they have several posts ready to go, because "Fans will be far more likely to follow you if they can tell that your profile is active." I agree with Apple there. Additionally, artists are encouraged to submit videos (2GB max), as long as they're in .mov, .m4v or .mp4 formats. Apple also suggests that artists create videos with iPhones whenever possible. Apple also lists what's not allowed on an artist profile, including "...pornography, hate speech, racism, nudity or drug use." Most of the artists I follow are relatively quiet, with notable exceptions like Jack Johnson. Some users have panned Ping, but I've found the 10.0.1 iTunes update to make it much more enjoyable.
Apple's North Carolina data center nears completion
It seems we've been discussing Apple's upcoming, massive North Carolina datacenter for a long, long time -- since around May 2009, actually. Word is that the $1 billion facility is nearing completion, meaning we'll hopefully see the fruits of Apple's labor very soon. Here's one interesting item to come out of the story: the company reportedly paid one family upwards of $1.7 million for their one-acre lot. Even having paid that amount for such a small bit of land, Apple could have come away from this having paid as little as $35k per acre. While many people speculate that the new datacenter will support Apple's initiatives into streaming media, it's just as likely that it will be used for technologies that Apple hasn't really dipped its toe into quite yet. Social media could be one area, as we've seen the company testing those waters with Ping (with questionable results). Click the link below to see video of a helicopter fly-over of the new facility.
Facebook 'very confident' it can work with Ping
Last we heard, Facebook and the new iTunes-based social network Ping were at odds with each other, with Facebook providing "onerous terms" and Apple trying to hook into the bigger network anyway. But maybe they can still heal the rift. Facebook CTO Bret Taylor told Silicon Alley Insider that he's "very confident" that the two networks can find some common ground. Unfortunately, he didn't say anything other than that, so as for what kind of common ground they'll find, that's still up in the air. But Apple would do well to enlist Facebook's help in their fledgling network, "onerous" as the terms may be. Ping is an interesting network, as we've said, but given the lack of action that I've seen in my own little slice of Ping lately, bringing in some links and eyeballs from a more active and veteran social network seems like it would be worth the compromise. [via Cult of Mac]
Apple TV hacking update: PhoneView, ping, VNC support
Veni vidi hacki. Just picked up an Apple TV this afternoon at the Cherry Creek Apple Store (shout out to the guys there!) and while I haven't had a long time to play around with it -- hence the brevity of this post -- I have had a few moments of hands-on testing to share with you. Here are the basic highlights.
How to kill that Ping drop-down in iTunes 10
Apple recently updated iTunes to version 10.0.1 which, among other things, added drop-down access to Ping, Apple's social network for iTunes customers, into your library. Some of you like Ping more than others, and there are those in the latter group who are completely disinterested. The Mac Observer explains how you can eliminate that drop-down menu from iTunes 10 entirely. The procedure is simple. First, quit iTunes, launch Terminal and enter the following: defaults write com.apple.iTunes hide-ping-dropdown -bool TRUE Finally, quit Terminal and re-launch iTunes. Presto! The drop-down is gone. The Mac Observer also describes how to restore the menu as well as how to re-orient the control buttons in the upper left-hand corner to a horizontal, rather than vertical, position. Hop over to find out how.
Are you using Apple's Ping?
Ping is Apple's first earnest foray into the social network game. Introduced with iTunes 10, Ping lets users see the music their friends are buying from the iTunes Store, leave comments, and point out what they like. There are also several musicians participating. The more active among them post photos and videos, stories, and so on. It's a young network with lots of potential, but for now, some folks are less than impressed. A recent update to iTunes put Ping in your music library (it used to be limited to the iTunes Store) and added a big 'ol sidebar. Our question to you is: are you using it? I'll admit that my interest has waned, and that's because nearly all of the updates I see are of the "[Person X] is now following [Person Y]" variety, which isn't very interesting. Perhaps if the artists I followed were a bit more active, I might use it more. Am I the only one? Complete our short poll below and let us know if you're using Ping. We'll post the results at a later time. %Poll-53434%
iOS 4.1 is live, available to download right now
If you can just put down Angry Birds for one minute and plug your iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch 2nd generation, iPod touch 3rd generation, or iPod touch 4th generation into iTunes, you should be in for a pleasant non-surprise: iOS 4.1 is finally out and ready for your consumption. It's not a huge update, but Game Center is an exciting addition (for the few, proud devices that are getting it), and we're sure your face will be happy to stop getting accused for iPhone 4 hang-ups with the long overdue proximity sensor fix (shots of the changelog are after the break). Let us know how 4.1 is treating you in comments below.
iPhone 101: Using Ping on your iPhone
Along with the desktop version of Ping, you can also utilize Apple's new social network on your iPhone. It's actually proven to be my favorite method of using the service. However, Apple does make it a bit difficult. At this time, you can't activate a Ping account from your phone -- it must be done through iTunes 10. Otherwise, you'll get the lovely message as seen in our screenshot gallery. Once you get Ping activated, it integrates nicely with the existing mobile iTunes. Read on to see Ping in action on the iPhone, or check out the gallery. %Gallery-101634%
Ping reaches a million, attacked by spam
Apple's new social network, Ping, has been around for about a week now, and all of the pundits have had their chance at weighing in on what Apple got wrong and right. And what's the result? Not bad, but not great -- more than a million people joined the network in just 48 hours. That's not terrible at all, but it's a far cry from the millions of people who actually use iTunes, presumably every day. Apple's success in this area, in other words, isn't going to come easy. The company has already had to put in a little more work. In addition to all of those members, the network was also hit by spam early on, with fake accounts for people like Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive, plus links that led off to contact-stealing scripts and other trouble like that. Apple has already cracked down on most of the offenders, but clearly it was an issue early on that they didn't foresee. The interface has already been updated a bit -- Apple has added "back" and "forward" buttons to the service, to match the rest of the in-app browsers in iTunes. I still maintain that Ping won't reach its full potential until you can actually "like" songs and albums in your personal library, so hopefully a few more updates and tweaks are on the way.
iTunes 101: Share your Ping profile
Here's a tip about something that had me confused for a while, I hate to admit. After setting up Ping in iTunes 10 and getting my profile just so, I naturally wanted to tell the eager masses where to find me. After all, many of the folks I follow on Twitter were sharing URLs to their accounts. But where did it come from? The answer is quite simple. Log into your account, and right-click (or control-click) on the "My Profile" link. Then select "Copy link" from the contextual menu and you're all set! Paste that address in Twitter, email or where ever you want to broadcast your shiny new account. Another, more roundabout way of accomplishing the same task is to search for yourself on Ping, and when your name shows up under "People," right-click your avatar icon and choose "Copy link." We'll have more iTunes 10 tips and tricks coming right up.
Apple's Ping gains a million users in first two days
We're still trying to figure out exactly what Apple's new Ping social network is good for, but apparently quite a few people are curious about it: it's already racked up a million users in its first two days. That's just a third of the people who've downloaded iTunes 10, so we're sure the numbers are will grow even faster as more people snag iTunes and the network effect starts to kick in -- and things will get really crazy if Apple and Facebook ever work out their little tiff. Just remember: it's a social network... for music.
Steve Jobs: Facebook had "onerous terms" for Ping
Steve Jobs was surprisingly candid with All Things Digital's Kara Swisher yesterday -- he reportedly told her that both Facebook and Apple had spoken about integrating more closely with the new iTunes social network Ping, but Facebook asked for "onerous terms that we could not agree to" regarding Facebook friends connecting on Ping. He didn't elaborate, obviously, but you can see in Facebook's public documentation that Apple probably wouldn't have appreciated handing any more of its network over to Facebook than it did. All Ping seems to be at this point is a system of "liking" certain content (specifically on the iTunes Store, to the frustration of many of us who want to do it directly from our personal library of music), and if Facebook required that all of the "like" buttons went their way, you can see why Jobs wouldn't agree. Turns out that even after Ping's launch, things got even more fractious between the two companies -- Apple did kick off Ping with the option to add friends with Facebook Connect, but Facebook blocked access when it was discovered that Apple wasn't playing by the rules. It's actually an open service, unless Facebook decides that it isn't, and apparently Apple's Ping network was an unwelcome guest with a lot of traffic since Apple didn't come to terms with FB ahead of time. Apple removed the service from Ping, but you'll still see some notes around suggesting you can bring in friends from Facebook. So. Looks like Ping is already making a splash with much larger social networks. If Apple can build up its network without using Facebook's services, it seems much less likely that they'll find a way to share users in the future. As you can see above, Facebook is still implemented on iTunes, in the form of sharing albums and songs that you like, but it's completely separate from what's been built for Ping. Despite the sour start to the social mixup between Ping and FB, Engadget suggests that conversations between the two companies are still ongoing. It may not be long before all this is a hearty laugh between friends.
