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Another tech billionaire turns media mogul
Where Jeff Bezos goes, other tech billionaires follow. The latest titan to invest in print media is Salesforce founder Marc Benioff who, along with wife Lynne, is buying Time magazine. The pair are using $190 million from their personal fortune to buy the esteemed title from current owners, Meredith.
The latest cover of 'Time' is composed of 958 Intel drones
Intel's latest drone trick is on the cover of Time. Err, it is the cover of Time. Allow me to explain. The magazine's most recent issue features special reports on UAVs, and rather than, say, featuring a photo of Intel's drone team on the cover, as PetaPixel notes, the publication's iconic red border and logo is made up of 958 of Intel's light-show drones themselves.
Scribd adds unlimited access to 'New York' and 'Time' magazine
Last summer Scribd axed romance novels because it couldn't afford them. Business has apparently stabilized because now it's adding magazines to the fold. Not those types of magazines, though. Starting this month, what's being added to the subscription-based reading service is unlimited access to publications Bloomberg Business Week, Fortune, Money, New York, People and Time. The magazines are a value-add and won't bump the existing $8.99 monthly fee, according to Wall Street Journal.
The surprising joy of Time's virtual reality cover starring Palmer Luckey
It's amazing to see Palmer Luckey -- creator of the Oculus Rift and custodian of the tech industry's current obsession with virtual reality -- on the cover of Time magazine this month. It's another sign that virtual reality has a real shot at entering the mainstream conversation, following previous signals like Facebook buying Oculus for $2 billion in 2014, and Sony, Valve, HTC, Samsung and dozens of other companies revealing their own VR headsets. As amazing as Luckey's Time cover is, it's also really, really odd. Why is he on his tippy-toes? Does he really need to be squatting like that? What are his hands doing? Where's the controller? And why the hell is he in front of a fake beach? The world may never know, but through the power of photo-editing tools, we certainly can imagine. See some of our ideas below and please add your own chops in the comments (feel free to use our cutout).
Tim Cook was second runner-up for Time's Person of the Year
Time's annual Person of the Year was announced today, and it was President Barack Obama. Yesterday, we reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook had made the short list of those being considered for the honor and today we know how he fared. Cook came in third, according to Time's editors. The first runner-up for Person of the Year was Malala Yousafzai, the 17-year-old Pakistani education and women's rights activist wounded earlier this year during an attempt on her life by Taliban gunmen. The third and fourth runners-up were Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and CERN scientist Fabiola Gianotti, respectively. Although he wasn't the top pick, Time still produced a cover featuring Cook and an article on why he made the short list as the "Technologist." You can read the piece in its entirety on Time's site.
iPhone 5 is Time Magazine's gadget of the year
Time Magazine has released its list of 2012's best gadgets and Apple's iPhone 5 tops the list. Time's Harry McCracken calls it "one of the most artfully polished gadgets anyone's ever built" and notes that Apple has "no peer" when it comes to smartphones. As 2012 comes to a close, more "year's best" lists will be published. Let's see how many have a place for Apple and its products.
Daily Update for December 11, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
This iPad mini ad in Time is pretty fantastic
With its Newsstand initiative, it would seem that Apple is seeking to speed the decline of traditional print publications. In the case of its latest print ad, however, the company partnered with one of the industry's biggest names with results that can only be called perfect. We're talking about the iPad mini ad Apple ran on the back cover of Time Magazine's latest issue, which you can see above (larger version here). A similar cover-clone ad appears on this week's New Yorker. Posted on Reddit by redditor Royale-w-Cheese, the ad features an actual-size iPad mini on a white background. On its screen is the cover of the same Time issue, just as it would appear on the real device. The only text is the official iPad mini logo. It's a great example of minimalist design sometimes being best, and gets across the point that iPad mini is capable of delivering magazine content -- even showing what it will look like. It's worth noting that historically, such tight alignment between advertising and editorial probably would have fallen afoul of Time Inc.'s legendary church and state separation, but in this case it appears that Apple (a major Time advertiser) managed to overcome any objections. In a way, it's a win-win for Apple and Time, as the cover is technically promoting Time's own presence on the iPad Newsstand. What do you think of the ad? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Daily Update for July 18, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Tim Cook among Time's most influential people
Time unveiled its 2012 list of the top 100 influencers in the world on Wednesday and Apple CEO Tim Cook was included on this list. "Cook has already led the world's most valuable and innovative company to new heights while implementing major policy changes smoothly and brilliantly," says Apple board member Al Gore. Cook is in good company. Other notable names on the Time 100 list include author Walter Isaacson, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, investor Warren Buffett and President Barack Obama.
Thoughts on why Siri isn't on the new iPad
When the predictions were running wild about the new iPad's features, most pundits believed that the new device would come with Siri. After all, the intelligent assistant has been on the iPhone 4S since October 2011, providing both useful information and help as well as hours of entertainment. Time Magazine's Matt Peckham believes that Apple left Siri off of the new iPad for one very good reason -- Siri isn't ready for it. Peckham brings up one point that I made before the announcement of the new iPad; does the iPad really need Siri? After all, the iPad is not a device that you have with you all of the time, and you're most likely not going to whip it out to ask questions like "Where's a good Thai restaurant near here?" Instead, with an iPad you'll be most likely checking email, visiting websites, or reading an ebook -- not exactly something you'd need Siri's help for. In his post, Peckham hopes that Apple is "working on something more sophisticated for the iPad in terms of natural language interchange." As he mentions, "what we need is a truly semantic application, capable of understanding long-form sentences, that can 'get to know' us over time and adjust to our personality [sic] inflections or eccentricities." Sam Biddle at Gizmodo followed up on this stream of consciousness, noting that a Siri-enabled iPad "could genuinely think with us ... Imagine starting a term paper while Siri looks up a list of Latin American countries that underwent a revolution in the 20th century, sorted by current GDP? Imagine asking Siri to pluck out every photo of your parents at your brother's wedding, auto-enhance, and resize to something proper for email, all in one utterance." In other words, Siri for the iPad would be the equivalent of the assistant in the seminal Apple Knowledge Navigator video of 1987. There's a long way to go before the current beta version of Siri would be capable of performing tasks of this sort. At least we're seeing the early fruits of Apple's labors on the iPhone 4S, and the new iPad will make life somewhat easier (for writers, at least) through its voice dictation feature. As for the Knowledge Navigator capabilities? It's still a bit early, but I'm hopeful that they're going to be here soon.
Steve Jobs nominated to be Time's Person of the Year
CNET reports that Steve Jobs has been nominated to be Time's Person of the Year for 2011. NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams nominated Apple's founder and former CEO for the honor after citing the tremendous influence Jobs had in shaping the modern world. If Jobs is selected, he would be the first posthumous Person of the Year. Other notable tech figures who have been granted the honor over the past few decades include Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg in 2010, Amazon's Jeff Bezos in 1999, the computer itself in 1982, and "you" in 2006. According to Walter Isaacson's biography, at age 27 Steve Jobs believed he would be Time's Person of the Year in 1982, and he was dismayed when "the computer" was selected instead. Most other nominations for 2011's Person of the Year are for movements rather than individuals. "Populists" are one such nomination, with notable examples including participants in the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, and Tea Party movements. A strikingly similar nomination for "angry people" covers much of the same ground. Another individual nominated is Mohamed Bouazizi, whose self-immolation in Tunisia inspired the Arab Spring movement (another nominee who, if selected, would be the first posthumous honoree). US Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren has also been nominated.
Time Inc. aims to please advertisers and your eyes, making all mags tablet-friendly by year's end
Do you love reading Time magazine on your tablet, but wish you had the same luxury with all of its related offerings? Oh boy, do we have fantastic news for you. As it stands, select Time Inc. publications are supported on the iPad, Android Marketplace, TouchPad, and Next Issue Media's store, but now the company has announced plans to make all 21 of its mags available on tablets by the year's end. Furthermore, support for the Nook Color will be added by the end of August with digital versions of Time, Sports Illustrated, People, and Fortune. Current subscribers to the print editions won't be left out either when it all rolls out, as they'll be able to opt-in for free upgrades with digital access. The decision is apparently tied to increasing "digital reach" for advertisers, but hey, ad-support isn't totally lame. Right? Full PR just past the break.
Next Issue Media brings magazine subscriptions to Samsung Galaxy Tabs, but not all of them
It's been a busy month in the world of e-publishing. First, Time Inc. inked a deal to bring magazine subscriptions to the iPad, with both Hearst and Conde Nast following suit. And now, a consortium of publishing powerhouses known as Next Issue Media is looking to expand its tablet-based readership to Android users, as well. Beginning tomorrow, people who bought a wireless-enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab from Verizon will be able to purchase single copies of, or monthly subscriptions to seven magazines from the so-called "Hulu of Magazines," which includes Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith, Time Inc., and News Corp. Users already subscribing to print editions will receive free digital subscriptions, though they won't be able to purchase both print and digital combo packages (that's on the way). Publishers, meanwhile, will be able to set their own prices and, according to Next Issue CEO Morgan Guenther, will receive "at least" 70-percent of all transactions -- the same percentage that Apple offers. Under this new Android deal, however, all of Next Issue's members will be able to freely access their subscribers' credit card information and other personal data -- something that Apple has steadfastly denied them. Obviously, it's far too early to tell whether or not this deal will give publishers more leverage in their negotiations with Cupertino, as the service will only be available to a small slice of Android tablet users. But Guenther says his organization is planning on releasing more titles for more devices this fall, with at least 40 magazines due out by year's end, along with an app for HP's WebOS.
Four Apple products in TIME's Top 10 Gadgets list
It's December, which means that print and digital magazines are gearing up to write their lists of the "Top 10" in a thousand different categories. TIME, the magazine that seemingly started this end-of-year tradition, has gone crazy this year, with their web site listing 50 top 10 lists. Fortunately for those of us at TUAW, we were able to glean an Apple-related story from the Time list-of-lists. One of the many lists was the Top 10 Gadgets of the year, and Apple had a total of four products in the category. Not surprisingly, the iPad took top honors, followed closely by the Android-based Samsung Galaxy S. In the third spot, and deservedly so, was the 11-in. MacBook Air. The fourth and fifth item on the list were mind-boggling -- the Google TV via the Logitech Revue (fortunately they didn't select the ridiculous Sony Google TV controller) and the quickly-discontinued Google Nexus One smartphone. Two more Apple products filled the sixth and seventh slots on the list. The iPhone 4 got the honor of being in the top 10 list, followed by the second-generation Apple TV. Both devices deserved their spot on the list; the iPhone 4 has overcome the "grip of death" stigma to be a best-seller, while the new Apple TV is a vast improvement over the first generation in both capability and design. TIME also featured a list of the Top 10 iPhone Apps, with Netflix, Groupon, and iMovie taking the top three spots. I had to agree with many of the apps, although the low iTunes reviews for Hulu Plus make me wonder if they actually tried some of them. Absent from the list was the perennial top-selling Angry Birds, which will probably make the birds angry. If you were writing these lists, what would be in your top 10 for gadgets and apps? Leave your ideas in the comments.
Time names Engadget one of the best blogs of 2010
Here at Engadget, we keep our noses to the grindstone and try not to worry too much about awards or recognition. Still, it's always nice when we are recognized, so we were pleasantly surprised to see that we've been named one of Time's 'Best Blogs of 2010.' We were especially happy to see our recent redesign (which we are extremely proud of) given a nod. Needless to say, we're incredibly proud of the work we do here with our ever-expanding team. Hit up the source to check out the whole list.
Time Magazine updates iPhone app to 2.0
Time Inc. has updated the free TIME Mobile iPhone app to version 2.0, building on input from readers of the previous version. The app interface has undergone a huge redesign and is now much faster than before, answering one of the biggest gripes about the earlier version. TIME Mobile now adds podcasts, the video library is optimized for iPhone viewing, and readers are able to customize which sections of the magazine appear on the app home page. You can now save articles for offline reading, search for favorite articles, shake the iPhone to refresh articles in a section, and share articles through Facebook and Twitter. As if that's not enough, TIME also made the app more legible by adding the ability to increase the font size for articles or change the font for the entire app. While it's good to see that TIME has updated the iPhone app, many iPad users are still angry with the magazine's decision to charge $4.99 an issue (through in-app purchase) for the digital version of a magazine that can be had in print for $0.50 an issue. That decision has resulted in close to 74% of all customers giving the free iPad app a poor rating. Time Inc. also has digital versions of Sports Illustrated, LIFE, and the ever popular Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition available in the App Store.
iPad roundup: iDisplay extended desktop, plus Kindle and Time reader apps
Say what you will, the past couple of days have been littered with signs of a rapidly expanding set of functions that the iPad can perform. Latest on the block is the iDisplay desktop extender, which will turn any of your iPhone OS devices into a WiFi-connected second monitor, allowing you to finally unchain your Mac OS (Windows version forthcoming) desktop and take it on the move. Introductory price is $4.99 and you'll find an early hands-on experience at the TUAW link. Next up we have the Kindle for iPhone app contracting its name to just Kindle and making the expected jump to iPad compatibility with version 2.0, which comes with iBookstore-like page turning and, best of all, won't cost you a thing. We've also got word of Time Magazine pricing what's free on the iPhone at $4.99 per issue on the iPad, with the excuse being that you can "experience Time in a revolutionary new way." Good luck with that, we say.
Steve Jobs on Time magazine cover again
There's a super article in the current issue of Time magazine featuring Stephen Fry's interview with Steve Jobs. As you may know, Stephen Fry is a writer, actor and comedian. He was also the 2nd person in all of Britain to own a Macintosh (author Douglas Adams was the first). That's precisely why this interview is such a joy to read -- Fry is a total fanboy (his tremendous skills as a writer don't hurt, either). He admits buying one of those "I visited the Mothership" T-shirts from the Company Store at 1 Infinite Loop, and describes his first meeting with Jobs like this: "I have met five British Prime Ministers, two American Presidents, Nelson Mandela, Michael Jackson and the Queen. My hour with Steve Jobs certainly made me more nervous than any of those encounters." Fry asks Jobs, who resurrected Apple with the iMac's introduction in 1998, if he'd use the iPad's successful release (should that happen) as an opportunity to step down on top; to end his career on a high. Jobs responded as one might expect: "I don't think of my life as a career," he says. "I do stuff. I respond to stuff. That's not a career - it's a life!" In addition to talking with Jobs, Fry met with Phil Schiller (Apple's senior VP of worldwide product marketing) and Eddy Cue (Apple's VP of Internet services) who showed off the iBooks application. At last, Stephen got some time to use an iPad which he instantly fell in love with. You can watch him unbox his own iPad here. As you pour over the media's reaction to the iPad this weekend, don't miss this article. It was a pleasure to read. While you're at it, use Time's Cover Search to find Steve's other appearances on the magazine.
Steve Jobs up for Time's 'Person of the Year'
Time magazine has revealed its final seven candidates for Person of the Year, and one Mr. Steven P. Jobs has made the list. Though the editors of Time have already chosen the winner (to be announced on The Today Show on Wednesday morning), MSNBC.com wants to know who us average folk would vote for. At the risk of our audience being slightly biased, I'm going to release the same poll here. So vote below, and don't feel bad if you don't think Steve should get it. He's already won another little award this year. %Poll-38564% UPDATE: TIME's Person of the Year 2009 is Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke.
