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Internal Apple video shows construction of temp Apple Store at SXSW
For the South by Southwest (SXSW) music / film / interactive festival in 2011, Apple built a temporary pop-up store so that attendees could purchase the second-generation iPad between conference talks or concerts. Now professional thorn-in-the-side-of-Apple Sonny Dickson has posted an internal Apple video on YouTube detailing the construction of the store. It's amazing watching how the construction crews were able to create a fully functional Apple Store in a short amount of time, complete with decorations to make it appear just like one of the permanent retail facilities. Apple opened another beautiful, one-of-a-kind store in Palo Alto, Calif., last weekend that was highlighted during Tuesday's iPhone 5s / 5c event.
A primer on group messaging apps
If you follow our tech startup sister site TechCrunch, or if you've read any of the reports from the South by SouthWest (SXSW) conference this year, you've probably seen a lot of column inches given to current-media-darling "group messaging" apps. SXSW has a reasonable track record of predicting the Next Big Thing. It was where Twitter first came to many people's attention in 2007, for example, and it was an early success story for Foursquare in 2009, too. My usual reaction to hype like this is to roll my eyes and avoid the apps in question altogether, although that might just be because I've never blagged tickets to SXSW. Eventually, though, TechCrunch's relentless enthusiasm wore me down, and I took a look at one of the commonly mentioned apps, Beluga. To my surprise, what I found was a slick, well-designed app that solved a communication problem I didn't know I had. That'll teach me to be cynical! Before I explain what I liked about Beluga, an aside: there are a number of other significant group messaging apps, including GroupMe, Fast Society, Yobongo, the soon-to-relaunch Betwext Talk and the brand new, bought-by-Google Disco. However, international availability of these apps is spotty. For example, at the time of writing, only Beluga and Yobongo were in the UK App Store -- this is probably because these apps incorporate free-to-the-user SMS features that are tricky to make work cheaply internationally. As I'm in the UK, this means I can't do a detailed review roundup of all the apps. Look for this in a future TUAW post by one of our American bloggers. I'll use Beluga as an example to demonstrate concepts that are common to all the group messaging apps.
AT&T uses COWs to boost SXSW coverage
Three years ago AT&T took a hit at SXSW with terrible coverage due to unanticipated demand on its service from the then-new iPhone. I was there, and while I didn't have an iPhone at the time (I was still rocking a BlackBerry on Sprint) I did see the slow-to-nonexistent coverage iPhone users suffered. But AT&T learned from the experience and began boosting its coverage by using portable cell towers called "Cell On Wheels," or COWs. I got to tour one of these, parked right next to the Austin Convention Center, and spoke with a network engineer and AT&T's Seth Bloom about how AT&T uses COWs not only for events (the company will set them up for Austin City Lights once the SXSW music festival is over) but also when natural disasters wreak havoc on towers and power in an area. For SXSW specifically, AT&T worked with event organizers to install permanent cell towers, doubled the number of COWs and installed a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) inside the Austin Convention Center to provide more coverage (both inside and out) and more network capacity. Inside one of the COWs, I was told they were, in this case, connected to fiber-optic Ethernet backhaul connections which carried mobile broadband traffic to the core network. These improvements, plus several AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots in the Convention Center, Auditorium Shores and along Austin's famous 6th Street helped ease bandwidth issues. Did it make a difference? While there were times when my phone's data connection seemed to slow down at peak hours as people made dinner plans, I have to say there was a marked improvement from last year, and a remarkable difference from three years ago. The tech inside a COW is quite impressive, as it is a fully-functional cell tower which can connect via Ethernet or relay to another tower -- and can be powered by local utility or generator as needed. AT&T's response to what has been an 8,000 percent increase in mobile data on its network from 2007-2010 (according to Seth Bloom) is nice to see as well. While there are certainly times when I'm frustrated with coverage (inside Austin airport I had issues, but outside there were none), it's great the company realizes how important the iPhone experience is to its users at SXSW. %Gallery-119299%
Companies to watch, from the SXSW trade show floor
After a tour of the SXSW trade show floor, here are some of the companies we'll be profiling in the coming weeks. Of course, there's always a mix of companies at SXSW: some film, some music, many web services -- but far fewer social media companies than last year. We've covered RedLaser and LaCie in the past, and while LaCie has new products (more hard drives, surprise!) and RedLaser has gone local, I'm going to focus on a few mobile apps and accessories you might not have heard of yet. On the hardware front, there's a portable second monitor solution called CINQ on display. The CINQ attaches to your laptop screen with a sort of clamp, and it only needs a USB port to get video and power. It supports 1280x720 resolution and weighs a mere 15 oz. For a 10.1" secondary screen, that's not bad. I felt the backlight was a bit weak, but as someone who often enjoys working with two screens, it might be a portable solution for frequent travelers. Then again, at US$249 (and not available until a few months from now), it won't be cheap. Perhaps the most intriguing and useful product I saw was from a company launched a couple of weeks ago. LifeProof enters a shockingly small market of durable, water-and-dirt-proof iPhone cases. Nowhere near as bulky as similar offerings from OtterBox and Griffin, the LifeProof case is shockproof (tested to 2 meters), waterproof down to 6 feet and keeps sand, mud and grit away. Based on the demo units sealed in with various elements, and my examination of the case, I would say this is an excellent "every day" use case for people who work outside. It also looks ideal if you climb, mountain bike or swim regularly. Shipping in a few weeks, the LifeProof case will cost $69.95. I also had a quick chat with one of the three indie developers of TapCity, what looks to be a fun game coming soon available now on the App Store. You're able to "take over" locations, earn "rent" as people check in, or conduct battles for locations -- all with cute cartoon graphics of real places around you. No word on how many cities will be supported at launch, but we'll try to get a look at it soon.
Google VP lays down mobile stats, boasts 150 million Maps users
Care for a cup of Google data, anyone? At SXSW, the vice president of location services, Marissa Mayer, stated some interesting facts about the state of all things mobile at the Goog. Most notably, the company provides its map service to 150 million users. Just to give you an idea of how many peeps that is -- it's about half the number of individuals in America. Crazy, we know. What's more, Mayer claimed that Google Maps guided users 12 billion miles per year and that its latest build of the app saves people an average of two days worth of travel time each year. Another bit worth noting is how the company feels about Google Maps for iPhone. "We like being the default provider, but we'd like to get some of these updates out to a broader audience. That's still a debate / question we're considering." Updates? An actual Google Maps application that works as a GPS on an iPhone? Wake us up when iOS 5 is previewed, or we can just keep dreaming.
BlackBerry Playbook to feature 7digital's 13 milllion track music store (update: PIN seemingly confirmed, too)
7digital and RIM are back in bed with news that the BlackBerry PlayBook will ship pre-installed with access to 13 million high-quality (320kbps) MP3 tracks from the London-based media company. At launch, the deal affects the US and Canada only, with more countries promised in 2011. PlayBook users will be able to search and preview tracks before purchasing with a discovery assist provided by 7digital's music recommendation engine. The whole kit will be previewed this week at South by Southwest where we hope to get some hands-on time. Full press release after the break. Update: RIM's now also announced a new BlackBerry Podcasts app to go along with the music store, and it's provided a video showing off both. Check it out after the break, and hit up the link below for some additional details. Update 2: The eagle-eyed folks over at Crackberry have noticed an entry for a PIN around the 2:37 mark. This certainly seems to jive with the fact that the PlayBook will eventually be getting native BlackBerry services, so the presence of a PIN shouldn't be too surprising -- though hard evidence is always welcome. Screencap after the break.
EightBit goes HTML5 for SXSW
Sure, Foursquare is fun if you like that sort of thing (me, I'm too embarrassed to show my friends that I barely leave the house, let alone reveal to them where I go when I do drag myself out of my pit). But really, what you want to have is not just more fun than Foursquare offers -- you want twice as much fun. Right? And not just a cool badge or something but Cash, cold hard cash for playing the game. Right? So enter EightBit, the all-new location-based game that's going to take the mobile HTML5-space by storm just in time for SXSW. Like Foursquare it's a location-based check-in app, but instead of getting mere badges and mayorships you can win coins which, right now, just let you keep score. But eventually you'll be able to buy virtual goods in the game, and buy more coins using micro-payments. The company has planned a virtual scavenger hunt for five NES-style game cartridges (8-bit - geddit?) to coincide with SXSW in (virtual) Austin starting this weekend. Play the game, create an avatar, check in and you could win a 250 GB hard disc. [via TechCrunch]
Microsoft confirms Internet Explorer 9 will launch on March 14th
We had a hint that Microsoft would be releasing the final version of Internet Explorer 9 on March 14th, and now the company has finally, officially confirmed it. That launch will coincide with a press event / party at SXSW, and downloads will be available starting at 9PM Pacific time (or midnight Eastern time). Wondering what's in store? Then you can always check out our review of the beta version, or simply download it yourself, of course -- suffice it to say, it's no Internet Explorer 6.
HP's Phil McKinney teases three mystery prototypes on Twitter
Well, this is certainly interesting -- that's HP CTO Phil McKinney pictured above in a pair of redacted shots that were posted to Twitter by HP's Mark Budgell. Described only as "early protos" by McKinney himself, the pictures show what appears to be phone-sized device, a tablet-sized device and, perhaps most curiously, something on McKinney's wrist (all mysteriously blacked out). Before you get your hopes up too much about a new wave of webOS devices, however, you might want to take a look at the second part of Budgell's tweet, which encourages folks to vote for McKinney's SXSW 2011 panel -- a panel in which McKinney promises to make some "bold predictions for the future - backed up with a number of breakthrough prototypes," and specifically talk about what the future will look like in "5 to 10 years." Now, we can't be certain of course, but that doesn't exactly suggest these are right around the corner. Head on past the break for a slightly bigger image.
