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iPad Pulse Reader app goes from keynote hero to App Store zero thanks to NYT (update -- it's back!)
Pulse News Reader -- a news aggregating app for the iPad -- got itself the ultimate stamp of approval yesterday by being featured in Steve Jobs' keynote speech. A few hours later, however, Apple had removed the application from its App Store, following a complaint by the New York Times that it was infringing on its rights. Although Pulse collates publicly available RSS feeds, the fact it costs $4 a pop is being interpreted as a "commercial use" of those feeds, and therefore a violation of the New York Times and Boston Globe's Terms of Use. Its makers have said they'll be getting in touch with Apple and stripping out the offending content, but it's certainly a head scratcher of a decision by the news company. We wonder if this signals the start of a crusade against all paid RSS readers or if Pulse has something peculiarly intolerable about it. Visit the source link to read the complaint in full. Update: From what we're reading, it sounds like what the NYT is really complaining about is that its feeds are preloaded into Pulse, and that Pulse is using NYT content and images in its promotional materials, not that Pulse is a paid app. Seems like those are easy fixes -- we'll see what happens. Update 2: And it's back! As we guessed, it looks like all Pulse had to do was resubmit without preloading the NYT's RSS feed and take some new screenshots of different sites, so that's just peachy. Still, it's insanely troublesome that Apple's first response is to just pull apps without verifying any claims or allowing devs to respond -- your store is still broken, Steve, no matter what percentage of apps you're approving.
Pulse app cheered, then pulled, now back
Update: Pulse is now back on the App Store, presumably after the necessary changes to de-emphasize the NYT and Boston Globe content that had ruffled feathers. The Pulse News Reader for iPad, which we recently reviewed and gave away, has been pulled from the App Store despite praise from Steve Jobs at yesterday's WWDC keynote.The reason? According to Kara Swisher at All Things D, The New York Times complained that "...the application named 'Pulse News Reader' infringes The New York Times Company's rights." The real irony is that the Times wrote up the app just last week, calling it "...a stylish and easy-to-use news aggregator" while profiling developers Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta. Why the change of heart? It seems that the Times did not want its content displayed in the app. Oddly enough, Pulse was pulling NYT content from publicly-available RSS feeds. But it isn't just that it's pulling the feed. From the NYT's lawyer, Richard Samson: "The Pulse News Reader app, makes commercial use of the NYTimes.com and Boston.com RSS feeds...the app also frames the NYTimes.com and Boston.com websites in violation of their respective Terms of Use." Since the app comes with the Times feed pre-loaded, and features images of Times content inside promotional material, Samson argues that Pulse is making money off of their content. Kothari and Gupta plan to adjust the app and get it back in the store. As for their relationship with Apple, there's no hard feelings. "I don't blame Apple, because they have to respond when contacted by lawyers from the Times," said Akshay Kothari. We'll keep an eye out for a revised version of the app. Good luck to Kothari and Gupta.
Steve hates the New York Times iPad app
That's the word from Gawker. Ryan Tate is quoting people close to the paper who say the Apple CEO is very unhappy with the free New York Times Editor's Choice app, mostly because it leaves out a lot of the content of the daily Times. The trimmed-down Times on iPad stems from a reported deal that Amazon made with the paper for the Kindle. Amazon has an exclusive on the full content of the Times for e-readers. On the Kindle, you have to subscribe to read the Times, even though the full content is free and available on the web. The Amazon deal apparently allows competitors to have the full text, but not at a lower price. Earlier this month, the New York Times raised subscription prices on the Kindle from US$13.99 to $19.99 a month. The Times has already said it wants to charge readers for the web version, maybe $20-30 a month. That arrangement left Apple with a pretty truncated version of the Times for the iPad. [via Business Insider]
HP takes chisel in hand, mulls over Android and Linux slates
Feelings about the leaked HP Slate notwithstanding, the company's already considering its tablet PC successors -- and if The New York Times' sources are right, they may be of Android and Linux varieties. Where the forthcoming HP Slate is, erm, slated to run Windows 7, The Grey Lady reported last week that a six-inch Android tablet was also on the way. Now, a prominent magazine editor reportedly tells the paper a Linux version may also be in development. For its part, HP isn't denying the claims. "I'm certain that we will be announcing new Slates in the future as they are a very interesting area for us," said media relations director Marlene Somsak, whose only added caveat was that HP isn't currently announcing an Android slate.
iPad apps: news and magazines
Apple's done a pretty good job convincing the old media that the iPad will save their industry, so we've taken our time trying out the launch titles in the App Store -- it's plain to see that different publishers have radically different ideas about how you're supposed to buy and consume their content, and everything from pricing to UI is currently up in the air. But while the apps we've seen so far are definitely intriguing, we haven't seen any silver bullets yet -- and to be perfectly honest, in several cases we wondered why an app was preferable to an iPad-optimized web site, or even (gasp) a paper subscription. Let's run down the launch lineup, shall we? Update: We added in NPR and Zinio by popular request, check 'em out below!
Reflections: A day and a night with the iPad
Getting an iPad was an unplanned part of my day. My original idea was to wait for version 2, but I found myself at a local Best Buy taking pictures and interviewing people in line, and the manager came out and said there were some available. Bingo. Reality distortion field. Up went my hand. I spent yesterday afternoon and last night getting a pretty good idea of what this baby does and doesn't do. Here are a few preliminary thoughts: Setup is easy, but a bit slow. I plugged it into iTunes, selected what music, movies and apps I wanted to copy to the iPad and I was on my way. It seemed like the sync took forever, and subsequent syncs are VERY slow. Lots of spinning beach balls. Maybe it's my system. Maybe not. The iPad alerted me that there were quite a few app updates that gave direct support to the higher resolution screen, so I was happy for that. How is the iPad to use? In a word, interesting, liberating, sometimes frustrating. It's heavier than I thought it would be. I think for most people, it is not a one-handed device. Sitting on my lap, or on a table, it's just dandy. As others have noted, the iPad is very snappy. Web pages render quickly, graphics are quickly updated. The screen is beautiful, and movies and photos look striking. The screen is very reflective, so you may have to fiddle around with angles if you are in a room with sunlight streaming in.
Brightcove announces support for HTML5 video
Brightcove, a Cambridge, MA-based company that specializes in online video provisioning for media companies and content providers (like TUAW and Engadget, for instance), has announced they will officially be supporting HTML5 video for their clients. Unlike Flash, HTML5 video (when encoded using the H.264 standard) will play on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Brightcove's new HTML5 video platform will automatically detect what device the user is running and dynamically switch between Flash and HTML5 players to suit the device's capabilities. For existing Brightcove content providers, all they need to do (assuming their clips are already in H.264 format) is change the embedding code in their webpages to immediately access the HTML5-savvy version. Brightcove automatically encodes each submission in seven different formats & bitrates for optimal client delivery. Mike Rose spoke with Brightcove's CEO Jeremy Allaire last week, and in the conversation Allaire pointed out "the problem space for most publishers of video is not just about getting content to play back... the expectations for publishers of video have grown to include a lot of different things." The pieces to the video experience (beyond simply pushing pixels to the screen) include player UI, branding, analytics & monetization/ad strategies, to name a few. HTML5 doesn't yet have all the components of the toolkit to enable those features. "Ultimately what's necessary is that the industry needs to have this whole stack... of what people expect in the overall user experience of video, to be accessible and available in the HTML5 world," Allaire said. That full-featured playback option is what Brightcove Experience for HTML5 is trying to address. According to Allaire, right now there is "a pretty big gap, a lot of infrastructure that needs to be put in place" before all those capabilities are online, but "ultimately the objective is to provide the exact same quality, interactivity and built-in features [as Flash]... for any HTML5-capable device. Publishers want a single workflow to upload their content... that will work seamlessly for all their users." The initial version of the Brightcove tools for HTML5 will provide a basic playback template, but updates later in 2010 will add player template cutomization, advertising tools and analytics. HTML5 support will also work on Android phones.
iPad roundup: New York Times and others get HTML5 video, iPad app store demo, and more
The momentum towards HTML5 and away from (or at least in parallel with) Flash seems to be accelerating with today's launch of the free Brightcove Experience framework for HTML5 -- a "way to publish, distribute, and monetize web video for the iPad and other Apple devices" according to the Brightcove press release. While Brightcove might not be a household name, some of its 1,000 customers, including Time Inc. and The New York Times (a Brightcove investor), certainly are -- both of whom are already using the new HTML5 solution in preparation for the iPad's April 3rd US launch. A real coup for the Flash-hating Steve Jobs if you start factoring in the rumored Flash-free NPR and Wall Street Journal iPad sites as well as that little HTML5 iPad test CBS was testing out in the open last week. Also rumored for launch is an iBookstore filled with 30,000 free e-Books courtesy of the Gutenberg Project. See the screengrab evidence after the break in addition to a purported video walkthrough of the iPad store. The video previews several new "HD" formatted iPad apps that we've already seen as well as a few new ones like Twitterific. Sorry, still no Hulu HD. The mouse pointer in the video, however, makes it clear that this is running on desktop somewhere, not on an iPad. Still, it definitely looks the part.
New York Times: The race is on for iPad apps
Today's New York Times is reporting on the newest gold rush -- the race to be among the first developers to have apps that are specifically tailored to run on the iPad and tested on a pre-release iPad. Most readers of TUAW know that developers can use the iPad simulator that is part of the iPhone development suite, but a handful of developers are actually testing their apps on real iPads. According to the post, those iPads are chained to desks in windowless rooms. Among the lucky few companies to actually be able to test their iPad apps are Major League Baseball, The Wall Street Journal, and (of course) The New York Times. While the iPad's form factor is perfectly tailored for reading ebooks, Amazon and Barnes & Noble have both had to develop their iPad apps without the benefit of trying them out on a working device. The article notes that with the iPhone, some of the earliest developers with products to market have become the most successful. That's the reason that so many developers are working on customizing their iPhone apps for the iPad. However, the developers also understand that making a misstep with a new app that hasn't been properly tested can kill any chance of success. Panelfly, for one, isn't taking chances with their comic book reader for iPad. The Times quotes PanelFly CEO Wade Slitkin as stating that "As much as we'd love to be there on Day 1, a misstep could kill the train before it even gets out of the station." On iPad launch day, it will be fascinating to see who is in the race for the long run, and who jumped the gun with poorly-designed apps.
iPad trainspotters divine e-book prices, My Documents and more from Oscar night commercial
Trainspotters, eagle-eyed bloggers, and tech detectives of all stripes have had a field day with last night's iPad commercial. At the very least, we got a pretty good look at some e-book prices, ranging from Ted Kennedy's True Compass: A Memoir ($14.99) to Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Journey to Change the World... One Child at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin ($7.99). All gripping reads, for sure, and all more expensive than Amazon. In addition to all that, TUAW has made note of a New York Times button, possibly to bring up NYT bestsellers in the iBookstore. Delving deeper into the UI, a look at the Pages iWork app has revealed a button labeled My Documents (where have we heard that one before?). But Oscar night is not the only place for iPad leaks: according to a tipster named James Barcellano, close viewing of the iPad keynote video has revealed an "Open In..." button during the viewing of a PDF attachment in mail. Perhaps this is an indication that the device's file system will be a tad more open than we were expecting. Or maybe not! You know how these things go. One more pic after the break.
Amazon buys touchscreen startup Touchco, merging with Kindle division
In what we're hoping bodes well for future Kindle iterations, Amazon's pulled out its credit card and picked up New York-based startup Touchco, who specializes in -- you guessed it -- touchscreen technology. The company will be merged with Lab126, a.k.a. the Kindle hardware division. Here's why we're excited: the startup claims its interpolating force-sensitive resistance tech can be made completely transparent, works with color LCDs, and can detect "an unlimited number of simultaneous touch points" as well as distinguish between a finger and stylus. Current cost estimates put it at less than $10 per square foot, which The New York Times says is "considerably" less expensive than the iPad / iPhone screens. We're not expecting to see immediate results with this acquisition, but given the proliferation of touch in the latest batch of e-book readers, it'd be foolish of Amazon not to join in on the fun. Ready for the Kindle 3 rumor mill to start up again?
WSJ: Apple tablet to have books, games, music, TV, will make sandwiches
The Wall Street Journal just laid out a doozy of an Apple tablet rumor piece, all from anonymous sources, "people familiar with the matter," and the like. There's a lot to go through, so without further ado: The tablet will come with a virtual keyboard -- kind of a no-brainer if it's gonna be a keyboard-less tablet and not, say, another laptop. Apple's been talking with The New York Times, Conde Nast, and HarperCollins / News Corp. over how they could collaborate. When asked, NYT Chairman Arthur Sulzberger would only say "stay tuned." Electronic Arts has been working closely to prep games for the tablet. We know of a number of gaming journalists who've gotten invites to next week's event, and given Apple's heavy games push over the past year or so, this wouldn't surprise us in the least. A reaffirmation of earlier murmurings about potentially swapping Google for Bing as the default search engine. Maps, too! Those TV subscription rumors? Apparently the gang in Cupertino have been pitching a "best of TV" service that would package the best four to six shows per channel. A web-based version of iTunes, tentatively called iTunes.com and potentially launching in June, for buying music outside of the dedicated app. Additionally, there'd be a new initiative "to populate as many webs ites as possible with 'buy' buttons, integrating iTunes transactions into activities like listening to internet radio and surfing review web sites." No mention if music will be downloaded or streamed from the cloud, but we can definitely see how Apple's recent Lala acquisition would play into this in the future -- in fact, we've already seen it start to bear fruit. Here's a weird one: Apple has supposedly designed the tablet "so that it is intuitive to share." One such experiment is virtual sticky notes that launch for the intended recipient by facial recognition via built-in camera. If nothing else, we're really looking forward to next week putting a large clamp on the torrent of tablet rumors that have have propagated the internet for the last few months.
Apple rumor roundup: future of media edition
Now that Apple's officially announced an event to show off its "latest creation" on the 27th, the rumors and gossip are about to get even more out of hand -- eventually we expect them to take flight and start raiding small towns for soda water and appetizers. In the meantime, however, we've got the latest batch of somewhat-sober whispers to tide us over, so let's run through 'em, shall we? The rumor: The iPhone Blog points us to a China Times piece setting the tablet's screen size at 9.7 inches. (We covered the 22-inch touchscreen iMac rumor separately.) Our take: At this point we've heard pretty much every screen size from eight inches to 11, so we're not making a call either way on this one. We will say that the only other product with a 9.7-inch screen we can think of off-hand is the Kindle DX -- a relatively simple device that's still so large and heavy we generally hold it with two hands. Just something to think about. The rumor: Ars Technica talks to the director of the OLED Association, who rules out a 10.1-inch AMOLED screen by saying "there's no real production of 10.1-inch panels." Oh, and the only place to buy those would be Samsung, really, and Sammy doesn't have the capacity. Our take: We never thought a 10.1 OLED screen was likely: not only are prices insane, but OLED still has terrible daylight viewing issues. The Ars piece is well worth a read, though -- it's a nice look at the state of OLED.
New York Times to begin charging for access... something something, Apple Tablet
Is it a stretch of logic, or purely logical? You be the one to judge. New York Magazine is reporting from what seems to be pretty solid word that the New York Times will start charging online readers for its content. That's all well and interesting for a media hound, but there's additional word that the announcement of this in "a matter of weeks" might coincide with the rumored January 27th Apple launch. You know, the tablet thing. We already know (or are pretty sure) that Apple has shopped around a theoretical device to content providers, including almost assuredly the New York Times, so it makes "sense." Still, we aren't putting solid money down on a single thing until Steve Jobs pulls this device out of a largish pocket of his and shows it to our face.
Unauthorized iPhone news readers raise eyebrows
Here's an interesting little new media legal dilemma for you: apparently there are several paid apps in the iPhone App Store that bill themselves as "readers" for publications like the New York Times, CNET, and the BBC, but aren't actually licensed or official in anyway -- they're just pulling RSS feeds. That means people paying for an app like The New York Times Mobile Reader aren't actually getting an app from the Times -- and, perhaps more importantly, the Times isn't getting anything from anyone. Seems like Apple should probably just shut these apps down, but that's the interesting part: all these apps are pretty much just custom-built feed readers, and you can generally access all of the same content using Safari. Now, there's obviously a trademark issue involved here, especially if these apps are confusing people into thinking they're official, but we're curious to see how these pubs and Apple handle the situation in the next few weeks, since it's relatively uncharted territory. P.S.- Let's not even get into the fact that Apple's rated the NYT Mobile Reader app "12+" for "Infrequent / Mild Mature / Suggestive Themes." Oh, the App Store.
Samsung Go netbook gets $100 cheaper with one-year Times Reader 2.0 subscription
Publicly, at least, The New York Times has seemed perfectly kosher with the way things are moving in the newspaper industry. Rather than freaking out and wondering why they didn't make the move to digital earlier, it's apparently looking to push the digital distribution of its content via discounts and partnerships with hardware providers. In a rather unique and unprecedented move, the paper has today announced that prospective readers can receive $100 off of a Samsung Go netbook if they subscribe to Times Reader 2.0 for a year. The machine will come pre-loaded with the Adobe AIR-based application -- which pushes published content to one's machine on the double -- and will be sold exclusively through J&R Music and Computer World. Of course, NYT wants $179.40 for a one-year sub, so the deal's not exactly awesome or anything, but the offer stands for first-time subscribers until March 2010 if you're interested.
Apple Tablet rumor roundup: NYT speaks of 'impending Apple slate,' new SIM tray leaks (video)
Bear with us as we bring you the latest rumors related to the most important product that never was: the Apple tablet. Today we have a pair of rumors bubbling to the surface of a delicious tattle brew. First, the SIM card tray pictured above said to be procured from Foxconn (the rumored Apple tablet manufacturer) and available for $14.05 starting October 23rd for the 4th generation iPhone / iTablet... whatever the mythical host device might ultimately be named. It's certainly different than the tray found in previous gen iPhones and its chunkier appearance would be suitable for a larger GSM device. Plausible yes, though really, such a SIM tray could be used anywhere. There's also a pretty big fuss being made this morning over remarks made by Bill Keller, executive editor at the New York Times responsible for the NYT's web presence. Speaking at an all-hands meeting with the Times' digital staff, the supposedly off-the-record speech somehow made its way to Vimeo. Here's the quote that has Apple fanatics and old-media revivalists in a tizzy: "I'm hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate, or whatever comes after that." Now, it's hard to tell if Keller is speaking from insider information or if he's just another member of the media convinced that Apple's tablet will be launched in the New Year. Then again, as Keller himself points out, Apple has always had a special relationship with his paper as routinely demonstrated in Apple's ads that use the New York Times landing page as proof of the "real internet" browsing capabilities of the iPod touch and iPhone. And with Apple supposedly in content delivery talks with the nation's newspaper of record, well, the remarks that begin at about 8:15 are certainly suspicious. Listen for yourself after the break. [Via Gawker, thanks Robert S.] Read -- SIM Tray Read -- NYT 'impending Apple slate'
NY Times asks, Steve answers: Why no camera on the iPod touch and no stills on the nano?
Well, looks like we weren't the only ones wondering about the two big questions of the day -- the New York Times sat down briefly with Steve Jobs post-event this morning and found out the whys and wherefores on the following: Why doesn't the iPod nano take still pictures? Jobs says that the tiny teensy CMOS sensor in the nano isn't up to the quality standards needed for stills; it's too thin. "The sensors for doing a still camera... they are just way too thick to ever fit inside the Nano." What about a camera for the iPod touch? The product path for the touch, apparently, is that it's a great gaming device and it's the lowest investment option for getting access to the App Store; given that, the push was to get it down to a price point everyone could afford instead of adding new features like a camera. "So what we were focused on is just reducing the price to $199. We don't need to add new stuff - we need to get the price down where everyone can afford it." Not to say it won't ever happen. So much for my idea of a firmware update to the nano enabling still images down the road.
David Pogue launches all-out war on canned voicemail messages
You know, we love fighting the good fight -- especially if it means calling out corporations on their untoward business practices. Today we're joining David Pogue of the New York Times in calling foul on cellphone carriers' insistence that users be forced to listen to those maddening, pointless 15-second canned carrier messages. In case you've held off on owning a cellphone or calling anyone who has one, they go a little something like this:At the tone, please record your message. When you have finished recording, you may hang up, or press 1 for more options. To leave a callback number, press 5. (Beep)Not only is Pogue mad-as-hell-and-not-going-to-take-it about the ridiculous idea that we still need to be told how to use voicemail, it turns out those additional messages are actually costing you cold, hard cash. He estimates that Verizon, for instance, is netting around $620 million a year thanks to these little annoyances. So what's to be done? Well Pogue wants the citizens of the internet to take up virtual arms... and complain like nobody's business. He's wrangled together all the best contact points for the four largest carriers in the US (included for your convenience after the break). Let them know you know don't want to pay for voicemail instructions. And hey, while you're at it, tell them the price-gouging on text messages needs to go, too.
New York Times: Palm Pre to launch in the first week of June
Guys, guess what? The Palm Pre is really, seriously, totally coming out, like, super soon. How soon? Well the New York Times, one of the most respected newspapers of our age, claims The Smartphone That Saved Palm (despite their denials) is due in the first week of June, which means the countdown to destruction just got a little shorter. Unless the Times is making stuff up. And let's be honest -- at this point, maybe they are. We can say this, however, the Pre is due, and it's due soon, and if we don't see it before WWDC, we'll be pretty surprised. Our call? We've got a sneaking suspicion that all this speculation will be over before you know it. Like, tomorrow.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
