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'Bring your own device' programs give Apple a boost in the enterprise
Programs that offer corporate some latitude and personal discretion in their technology choices are growing, said the NYT on Friday, and while the relaxing of IT standards mandates means there are plenty of market losers (HP, Dell, Lenovo, RIM and other enterprise-centric vendors), there's one big winner: Apple. At companies like Kraft Foods, rather than providing some employees with a standard laptop configuration, a stipend is offered to let staffers simply go out and get what they want. This shift toward a 'bring your own device' policy, also in place at companies like Netflix and Citrix, provides a substantial advantage for those technology companies that know how to market to consumers instead of corporations. A Forrester Research study cited in the article also shows how IT's ability to lock down the ecosystem has been challenged by smartphone preference, with 48 percent of the surveyed information workers buying their phones with no regard for corporate standard-setting. Forrester's Ted Schadler sees this shift in the balance of device-approval power being driven by change at the top: "What broke the camel's back was the iPad, because executives brought it into the company and said 'Hey, you've got to support this.'" The full measure of the Mac's benefit from these moves toward IT openness may be hard to quantify, but in the case of Citrix, it's there in black and white: 46 percent of the nearly 1,000 participating BYOD employees chose to buy a Mac. Citrix's CIO, Paul Martine, delivers the understated quote of the day: "That was a little bit of a surprise." If you're an enterprise employee or an IT leader, please share your Apple integration experience or your BYOD stories in our comments or our feedback page.
NYT: iPhone 5 announcement 'just weeks away'
According to Nick Bilton at the New York Times, an unnamed Apple employee has confirmed to him that the next-gen iPhone announcement is "just weeks away." The next-gen phone will be "fairly different from the iPhone 4." Bilton's source seems to confirm multiple rumors claiming the iPhone 5 will have a redesigned case in addition to an 8-megapixel camera and an A5 processor. It's not clear whether it will be this generation of iPhone or the following one that adds integrated support for NFC, but Bilton suggests that the wireless payment technology is a high priority for Apple's mobile strategy. In the wake of a dramatic surge of Apple rumors over the past several months, The New York Times has maintained an excellent track record of anticipating product announcements with well-sourced reports, as has The Wall Street Journal. Of note, the info from the Times coincides with tips we've received from our own sources within Apple regarding possible retail vacation blackout dates in early- to mid-October. Bilton also took note of the appearance and then disappearance of several purported iPhone 5 case designs, which showed a different device size and possible tapered edges; he pointed out that such 'leaks' are often mostly about publicity for the case manufacturer, and are rarely accidental. That's why we opted not to write about the cases when they showed up earlier in the week: we didn't think the manufacturer's behavior with the case leak merited any additional publicity. Here at TUAW, we do our best to sort out the wheat from the chaff when it comes to speculation and rumor; we aim to stay clear of third- or fourth-hand "in person" iPhone 5 sightings, and we don't get all CSI on a blurrycam spyshot photo of a supposed iPhone 5 -- unless it's an obvious fake, in which case we'll joyfully poke fun at it. We're a bit burnt out on rumors at this point, and we suspect many of our readers are, too. We'll consider passing them along when they match up with what we know; when they don't, we'll let them be. And when we do corroborate rumors or publish a speculative tidbit (even one that contradicts the WSJ and NYT), that's based on our independent sourcing or the reporting of a very short list of savvy & connected Apple watchers. We consider The New York Times to be pretty reliable, so if Bilton says the next iPhone announcement may be just weeks away, that's the next best thing to hearing it from Apple.
New York Times' magic mirror helps you get dressed, puts the 'wall' in 'paywall' (video)
Forget crosswords and Krugman, because the New York Times has created a new bathroom companion that looks infinitely more entertaining than either of them. Like some of its Snow White-style predecessors, the Times' "magic mirror" prototype uses Microsoft Kinect to detect and follow your movements, while deploying voice recognition technology to execute your commands. With this omniscient slab affixed to your wall, you can surf the web, flip through your wardrobe and send reassuring e-mails to your teenage daughter, whom you should have driven to school a good 30 minutes ago. An RFID reader, meanwhile, can recognize tagged pharmaceuticals or other products, allowing you to instantly access information on your prescription meds by placing them in front of the reflective LCD. You could also use the mirror to browse through the Times' full slate of articles and video content, meaning you can read about extravagant weekend getaways and urban gentrification from the standing comfort of your sink. Unfortunately for all mankind, the magic mirror is still in the prototype phase and the NYT's Research & Development Group has yet to offer a timetable for its release -- but you can see it in action for yourself, after the break.
New York Times, OpinionLab sue Lodsys seeking declaratory judgement
Indie developers turned to the Web hours after receiving warning letters from Lodsys last month, but larger devs took a more traditional approach, leaving the communication and finger-pointing to lawyers instead. Two such companies, the New York Times and OpinionLabs, came to light after filing suit against the patent troll yesterday, seeking declaratory judgements to invalidate Lodsys's patents. A nine-page complaint filed by NYT lists four Lodsys patents, including 7,222,078, which had previously been used to target smaller developers. NYT's ad click-through system and OpinionLabs' surveys were both also targeted, and if the suits are successful, Lodsys would be responsible for all legal expenses, and wouldn't be allowed to collect on its patents in the future. We spoke with Julie Samuels of the EFF, who explained that filing for a declaratory judgment could theoretically enable NYT and OpinionLabs to have trials held in California and Illinois, where the declaratory judgments were filed, instead of the Eastern District of Texas -- the notoriously plaintiff-friendly court where Lodsys filed its suit against seven devs on May 31st. Other devs who received letters but have not yet been sued can also do the same. The suits brought by NYT and OpinionLabs formally call the validity of Lodsys's patents into question, but unfortunately don't change the game for devs Lodsys already sued, who would still be responsible for licensing fees and other damages if the court determines the patents to be valid (and their apps to be infringing).
Kindle subscription to the New York Times will net you free web access as well
Can't get enough New York Times over your Whispernet? Worry not, dear Kindle reader, for Amazon's on a roll with its announcements today, the latest of which is that a subscription to the NYT on its world-conquering e-reader will also grant users access to the paywall-protected NYTimes.com online portal. No complex rules or conditions, you'll just be one of the insiders who get unfettered access to all the fine old school journalism practiced at Times towers. See Amazon's press release after the break or hit the source link to learn more about the $28-a-month (for international users) subscription. Update: The sub price is $20 in the USA, the $28 cost we first saw relates to those signing up from the UK and other international markets. Thanks, russke!
NYT: Apple considering a cheaper iPhone, but not a smaller one right now
Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal seemed pretty sure that an iPhone nano was inbound, but the New York Times' anonymous sources dispute that tale -- the paper writes that "Apple is not currently developing a smaller iPhone," and that the company is "not planning to introduce a smaller iPhone anytime soon." While the publication doesn't outright deny the existence of such a device at any point in the story, it does quote an anonymous Apple executive as saying that it doesn't make sense for the company to create multiple iPhone form factors at any given time, and an anonymous Apple engineer as saying that cheaper components, not a smaller size, would make for a cheaper overall price. One thing's for sure: either Apple's making one, or it's not. In related news, the Times' sources corroborate the idea that Apple will make MobileMe free, and say that the next full-sized iPhone is nearly complete. Woo!
The New York Times to provide reporters with the iPhone 4
The New York Times is giving their mobile reporters iPhone 4s to shoot video out in the field along with the ability to upload them to NYT servers using Aspera's high-speed file transfer software. Brought to our attention by MacStories, The New York Times' Editorial Director for Video and Television, Ann Derry, recently spoke to the Beet.TV Online Video Journalism Summit about the decision, saying that the iPhone 4 is a "game changer" for mobile video and the news business. The first NYT staff member to receive and use his new iPhone 4 was Andrew Ross Sorkin, who used it for his coverage of The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. You can watch his report, "Setting the Stage at Davos," over at the NYT site. With a critically acclaimed director shooting movies with an iPhone and even some professional photographers giving them a go, it's no surprise that the media is starting to use them as real-time news-collecting devices. When even my local news station asks me each night to send in any video I take with my iPhone, I know it has become a rather mainstream phenomenon. Click Read More to watch video of Ann Derry discussing the iPhone 4 and The New York Times. [via MacStories]
New York Times updates iPad app to stop constant crashing
It's about time. Ever since the NYTimes for iPad app replaced the lame Editors' Choice app, it has been tough sledding trying to read the news. It often took a long time to load, and then before displaying a single story, it crashed. I reinstalled the app, and that made things better for a while until the crashes returned. I wasn't the only one having trouble. The app store reviews of the previous version were brutal. The app was updated over the holidays, and I'm happy to report it is far more stable. I can actually read the news without having to constantly relaunch the app. The only downside I experienced was I had to log in again. If I had been commuting or on a trip and didn't have that info it would have been a pain. The New York Times app is free, but in early 2011 it will require a subscription. The old version wasn't worth $0.02, so I'm glad to see the app back on track. If you dumped the app in disgust, it's worth another look now, even though it is not perfect. In particular, the navigation bar at the bottom covers up some text unless you dismiss it. If you don't register for a free account, the app will constantly nag you. Ironically, the iPhone app from the Times works great. The developers writing the iPad app should take the iPhone team to lunch and get a bit of advice.
Google demos Chrome Web Store, rolling out later today to US (update: now live)
It hasn't been that long since we first saw Google's web store -- mid-May, to be exact. An updated version is currently being showcased on stage at the Chrome event. The UI looks much more refined, and those who are itching to try some out yourself, it seems some of the web apps are already available, at least partially: NPR, The New York Times, Amazon Windowshop. If you ask us, they feel a lot like iPad apps for browsers and mice / keyboard. Audio can run in the background even if you move to another tab. There's offline mode, too. App purchases are tied to your Google account, naturally. There's some gaming, but from what we've seen so far ("you pop it!"), it's nothing you're gonna be focusing a lot of time on. Interesting note from the Q&A is that the apps, since they're built with "standard web technologies," will work with all compatible browsers. We've been trying to access the web store (via the Chrome browser, naturally), but it's currently hiding behind a "coming soon" redirect -- it's rolling out later today, though, at least for the US, so keep an eye out. Update: Try that link one more time, the Chrome Web Store should now be live. %Gallery-109484%
New York Times to launch bestseller list for e-books in early 2011
The New York Times has dropped some PR on us this morning, making an official announcement that it will begin to publish a bestseller list for e-books in early 2011. The current NYT bestseller lists -- which are divided into several categories -- are considered by many to be the definitive metric for a book's success. The Times will have two separate lists covering fiction and non-fiction when it launches, drawing on information from various retailers, and will be independently verified by third party company RoyaltyShare. The list will appear in both the print and online editions of the paper. The full press release is below
The Shattering hits The New York Times best-seller list
Blizzard has let us know that after only a short time available on bookshelves, The Shattering by Christie Golden has hit The New York Times best-seller list. This makes The Shattering Golden's and Blizzard's second NYT best-seller after Arthas: Rise of the Lich King. Congratulations to Christie and Blizzard, as the book is awesome and totally deserves the recognition that it is getting. The Shattering – New York Times Best Seller Despite having just been released earlier this week, The Shattering by Christie Golden has rocketed into the New York Times best seller list. This prelude to Cataclysm follows major faction characters as they adjust to life after the war with the Lich King, before being abruptly attacked by the land and elements themselves. What is leading to these devastating earthquakes and ship-sinking squalls? Magni believes he has found the secret through his brother's research, while Thrall believes an already shattered world holds the secrets. If you're looking forward to the Cataclysm expansion, this is a must-read to catch you up and prepare you for the epic story about to be unveiled. The book is available in the Blizzard Store (http://us.blizzard.com/store/details.xml?id=1100001208) and all fine book retailers. source
Twitter adding 370,000 new users a day, only half of them weight loss spammers
If you weren't out egging cars all weekend, you may have noticed The New York Times profile of former Twitter CEO Evan Williams. Among other things, the article contains some interesting nuggets of information about the service's user base and rate of growth... and let's just say that it's growing. Fast. According to the Times, Twitter is adding nearly 370,000 users per day to its current (as of the writing) user base of 175 million. Yes, that's heading ever closer to the 200 million mark, a truly huge number. No further information was spilled about where those users are coming from and what their level of engagement is (it's been reported that as much as 55% of users never make a single Tweet and that many of them don't follow anybody at all). However, we're pretty sure of one thing: newcomers to Twitter won't have any trouble fitting in if they just stick to talking about food and drink (or dieting, if you want to fit in with the bots). Hit up the source for the full, riveting portrait.
In Brief: Jobs' journey through the wilderness made Apple Inc. possible
There's an interesting Randall Stross piece in Saturday's New York Times about the alternative timeline where Steve Jobs never resigned from Apple. Given his legendary fussiness over every detail and his frustrating inability to get the NeXT hardware platform past the "expensive curiosity" stage, Stross surmises that Jobs learned painful lessons about delegation and collaboration during his years at NeXT. When he returned to Apple (along with the NeXTStep operating system that formed the core of Mac OS X), he was far more ready to handle the challenge. Do you think Steve would have failed to transform Apple if he had never left? We welcome your musings below.
EpicWin aims to turn your real-life tasks into a social game
Given the amount of iPhone and iPad apps coming out these days, I'm not all that interested in getting excited about an app before it comes out. There's already plenty of games and apps available now, so worrying about not-yet-released apps isn't all that important. That said, this app called EpicWin is gaining quite a bit of attention -- it's a very originally designed to-do list masquerading as a game that gives points for accomplishing things in real life. If this idea sounds familiar, it's because we've seen it before -- Booyah Society was supposed to be a game that rewarded you for real-life accomplishments, and there have been a few other apps like it poking around. Most of them haven't worked very well -- the issue has always been that there's no validation, no proof that you've done what you said you did in real-life. But EpicWin has some solid developers behind it (the folks that worked on Little Big Planet for the PS3, and MiniSquadron for the iPhone), and a very intriguing art style and tone, so maybe it'll be more intriguing than what we've seen along these lines in the past. EpicWin is "coming soon" to the App Store -- we'll keep an eye out for it, and let you know when it's out.
The iPhone 4 and the growing art of self-photography
This little piece over on the New York Times Fashion and Style page is only tangentially related to our subject at hand, which is that the onset of the iPhone 4 and its front-facing camera has put a spotlight on the growing art of self-photography and the casually narcissistic tendencies that drive it. I still found it very interesting, both as a series of tips on how to make some fascinating self-photographs, as well as a little meditation on what it means to learn that cameras are slowly turning around on their owners. When cameras were first created, the photographer was almost removed from the equation -- viewers of photographs were given direct views of subjects. As time has gone on, the photographer has become more instrumental and important in the camera's life. At this point, in 2010, most of the pictures taken today are taken specifically to be shared on Facebook or Flickr -- here's me at the club, here's my new shirt, here's my and my girlfriend, and so on. Instead of looking through the photographer's eyes at the world, the iPhone 4's camera looks through the photographer's eyes ... back at the photographer. Maybe that's too serious for the Fourth of July weekend (and if nothing else, the NYT piece offers a great bit of advice for being on camera anywhere: "smile"). But it is interesting that, as front-facing cameras become more popular (and even technology like Microsoft's Kinect, which is basically a camera watching you, the player), the art of photography itself is changing. Going out and "taking pictures" may eventually come to mean "taking pictures of me."
New York Times for iPad update adds content
The iPad app that Steve Jobs supposedly dislikes, New York Times Editor's Choice, was updated today. The update partially addresses Steve's primary concern: the app omits a lot of the paper's daily content. Specifically, the new build adds an Arts section and some videos. The Arts section has two "pages" worth of articles, so it's on par with the others. There are also five videos. Navigation is clear and easy and they look great on the iPad's screen. But it's still a small amount of content. We assume they've got a subscription model in the works and we're eager to see what it is. Other changes include re-sizable text and an option to share stories on Facebook, Twitter and email. Photos now indicate if they contain a slideshow with a "more photos" icon, and all photos can be resized with a pinch. It's a decent enough update that adds some content. Not a lot, but some. Hopefully Steve Jobs will be mollified.
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!
David Pogue weighs in on iPad, David Pogue weighs in on iPad
Pogue's tech-centric review (appropriate for those, he says, who meet the following standards: "Do you use BitTorrent? Do you run Linux? Do you have more e-mail addresses than pants?") reiterates the standard complaints -- no Flash, not enough storage, no ports, too pricey. Then the 'for the rest of us' review proceeds to dismiss those considerations. He calls it "a new category of gadget" and "a good goof-proof computer for the technophobes, the aged and the young" (that's a lot of people). Pogue wraps with the following endorsement: "[T]he techies are right about another thing: the iPad is not a laptop. It's not nearly as good for creating stuff. On the other hand, it's infinitely more convenient for consuming it - books, music, video, photos, Web, e-mail and so on. For most people, manipulating these digital materials directly by touching them is a completely new experience - and a deeply satisfying one. "The bottom line is that the iPad has been designed and built by a bunch of perfectionists. If you like the concept, you'll love the machine. "The only question is: Do you like the concept?" Jetpacks, tablets - once we get those "meal in a pill" things, we'll know it's the future.
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?
Rumored tablet could include dynamic tactile surface
As a guy who still kind of winces at the iPhone's touch surface sometimes (especially when playing games -- you don't realize how nice buttons are until you see a character die because your thumb's in the way), this is extremely interesting news: Apple's rumored tablet, which we've been hearing a lot about lately, may include a dynamic, tactile surface. This one's on a little shakier ground than the other rumors that we've heard before, but it makes sense. After that anonymous exec told the NYT that the interface on the new tablet would be "surprising," AppleInsider notes this recent pulled out an old patent from a few years ago that talks about a surface that changes its shape and feel based on how it's being used. For viewing pictures with the multitouch, it stays smooth, but the second a keyboard or button pops up, it can push out dots or shapes and become slightly tactile. [Neil from AI sent a note to update us: "Just wanted to clarify that we didn't "dig up" an old patent -- it was filed for in August of this year, and was made public just today. It is, however, very similar to an application first revealed in 2007."] Sounds like it'd be tough to get right (you'd have to figure out when users expect a tactile surface and when they don't, among other interesting UI questions), but of course if anyone can pull it off, it'll probably be Apple. Note that this isn't the only futuristic idea Apple has had for larger multitouch surfaces, and there are lots of different options for interfaces that we'd find "surprising." But the fact remains that though touchscreen devices are extremely popular, users want a little more feel and a little less look. It'd be great to see Apple pull this off, if they are planning on showing off a larger touchscreen next month.
