TUAWTUAW's Daily App: Mirror's Edge originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Net Applications is reporting that iOS has passed Linux to become the third most popular platform accessing the internet. With a 1.1% share, they’re still behind big brother Mac OS X’s 5% and way behind Windows all-encompassing 91.3% share. However, for a mobile OS, especially considering the next most popular mobile OS, Android, is at 0.2%, that’s a fairly huge accomplishment. According to Vince Vizzaccaro, VP of NetApps:

“Whatever the sales are, we’re seeing iOS totally dominate the market on the Web. iOS has nearly a 6:1 advantage over Android.”

Eh. Given the high adoption rate of greeks and mainstream now, Android will probably catch up quickly. Linux probably won’t. Mobile as a whole is on a tremendous growth curve.

[NetApps via 9to5mac]

iOS now 3rd most popular internet platform after Windows, Mac is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

It’s $4.99 a pop at Apple’s (AAPL) digital store, and publisher Atlantic Media Company got Dow to pony up for the right to be the “launch sponsor” for the app. App developer RareWire did the technical heavy lifting.

(Image courtesy of 9to5Mac)

They may not be bosom buddies at the moment, but Facebook and Ping are together in feeling the pain of spam -- in this case, the kind that touts supposedly “free” iPhones, as if there could ever be such a thing.

9to5Mac is reporting on the spamming attack that struck Facebook last weekend and is currently hitting Apple’s new Ping service, launched on Wednesday. Both services appear to be lucrative targets for spammers to rein in new victims, in this case by offering a “free” iPhone for those foolish enough to get trapped. (Spoiler: There is no such thing as a “free” iPhone.)

“For a few hours on Sunday, there was a spamming incident on Facebook,” reads the message posted for affected users by the site’s security team. “During this time, photos (mostly of supposedly “free” iPhones) were posted to some people’s Walls, including yours. We’ve removed the photo from your Wall and fixed the issue that allowed spammers to do this. We’re sorry about the photo, but can assure you that did this did not affect the security of your account in any way.”

Be that as it may, it doesn’t resolve the question of how the spam wound up there to begin with, according to Internet security firm Sophos. Apparently “thousands of users” had their Facebook Walls affected by the iPhone spam, and now Apple’s Ping appears to be the next target in their sights.

Sadly, for now it appears that Ping users will have to grin and bear it. “Ping implements no spam or URL filtering,” explains Sophos, who claims that the service -- less than 48 hours old -- is “drowning in scams and spams.”

Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter

Germany is the last major European market with a single iPhone carrier. But not for much longer.

Deutsche Telekom-owned carrier T-Mobile’s iPhone exclusivity deal with Apple (AAPL) is nearing expiration and has not been extended. People familiar with the matter tell The Wall Street Journal that the company’s exclusive rights to sell the device may end as soon as October which will open the door for Vodafone and O2 to begin selling it as well. Discussions between Apple and both carriers are said to be underway and deals are expected to be signed in time for the holiday shopping season.

Apple introduced a new iPod nano this week with a multitouch screen, and a new Apple TV with an A4 chipset, but didn’t make clear if either or both were running iOS. Unlike iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, where they shout iOS from the rooftops, they’ve historically kept mum about iPod and Apple TV OS.

iPod nano looks like it’s running iOS. It has an iOS-like user interface with a subset of iOS-like built-in apps controlled by iOS-like gestures. There’s inertial scrolling with elasticity. You can even put icons into jiggly mode and rearrange them. In fact, when demonstrating that during his keynote, Steve Jobs said (emphasis mine):

Say… I want [albums] on the home page, I can just push down, jiggle it, and move it, just like I can with my other iOS devices

Not official confirmation to be sure, but think about it this way: given their focus on iOS of late, would Apple spend the effort to re-create that interface on the old iPod OS just for iPod nano, or to spend it getting iOS running on iPod nano hardware?

Apple TV on the other hand looks nothing like iOS. However, it’s running on an Apple A4 chipset which has, thus far, only been used for iOS devices. Again, given Apple’s focus on iOS, would they spend the effort porting OS X to Apple A4 just for Apple TV, or recreate the Apple TV UI for iOS?

I didn’t hear Jobs mention anything about iOS during the show but Daring Fireball’s John Gruber claims it’s definitely iOS.

I’d love to know for sure, but for now my guess is Apple sees iOS as their future and any effort they put in to new mobile or media devices is going to be put into iOS, including iPod nano and Apple TV.

Are the new iPod nano and Apple TV running iOS? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

We haven’t even gotten our hands on iOS 4.1 for the iPhone and iPod touch yet (that’s coming next week, supposedly September 8) and already Apple has posted a page trumpeting the iOS 4.2 update for the iPad due in November.

As announced by Apple CEO Steve Jobs at Wednesday’s media event, iOS 4.2 will be released in November and is mostly cause for celebration for iPad users, since it will finally bring feature parity to that device as well as the iPhone and iPod touch. To keep users’ interest over the next 60 to 90 days, Apple has posted a “Coming Soon” page chatting up the “new features and innovations” that patient iPad owners will get when the calendar turns to November.

At the top of the list is multitasking, much the same as what iPhone and iPod touch users received with iOS 4 in June. “Run all your favorites apps -- and switch between them instantly -- without slowing down the performance of the foreground app or draining the battery unnecessarily,” the coming soon page boasts. Another iOS 4 tent pole feature, Folders, will also come to the iPad with iOS 4.2.

New to iOS 4.2 and presumably also for the iPhone and iPod touch as well as the iPad is printing. “Print mail, photos, web pages and more directly to a printer on a wireless network,” Apple explains. There are already a long list of printer apps for iOS, but most of them require a computer to use, so it will be interesting to see exactly how Apple implements this system-wide.

As shown during the demo for the new Apple TV, AirPlay is another new feature for iOS 4.2 which will allow you to wirelessly stream videos, music and photos from your device to the diminutive black box, as well as streaming music to speakers or receivers, including the AirPort Express.

Rounding out the feature list is Game Center, a unified inbox and threaded e-mail for the Mail app, enhanced enterprise support, text search on Safari web pages, accessibility, keyboard and dictionary enhancements and you can bet, plenty of those awesome bug fixes.

Now we just have to wait until November…

Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter

By Juro Osawa and Daisuke Wakabayashi, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal

Inside Tokyo’s bustling Shinagawa train station here, a futuristic-looking vending machine has replaced rows of drink bottles and cans with a 47-inch touch-screen monitor.

When a person stands in front of the screen, a camera captures his image and a sensor determines the person’s gender and approximate age.

Based on that reading, the machine “recommends” drinks that fit the customer’s profile.

“With this machine, we can actually see who is buying what, instead of relying on educated guesses,” said Toshinari Sasagawa, general manager of sales at an East Japan Railway subsidiary that operates vending machines in train stations.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Revolution Software has released the "director's cut" of Broken Sword: Shadows of hte Templars, an adventure game for the Mac and PC. It's available for download at http://store.steampowered.com/app/57640/ for US$9.99, and a retail version, to be published by Mastertronic, will follow.

4Media has launched 4Media iPhone Max (http://www.mp4converter.net/iphone-max-win.html), an "iPhone Manager" for the iPhone 4 "without the restrictions and limitations of iTunes."

It's a free-to-try iPhone movies and music manager that supports transfer, convert, backup, copy, rip, and manage any format of movie, music and image between the iPhone 4, computer and iTunes. It also lets you rip CDs/DVDs, DVD folders and ISO images to the iPhone.

QOTD [Digital Daily]

“Google is very good at ‘I need to solve a problem, I need to buy something, I need an answer. Twitter is more ‘I’m interested in many things, I don’t know what I need to know.’”

– Twitter CEO Evan Williams

Yazsoft has updated ShareTool (http://www.yazsoft.com/st/) for Mac OS X, which lets you access all of your Bonjour services from anywhere in the world, to version 2.1.1. The upgrade delivers  iTunes 10 Home Sharing across the internet, the ability to run ShareTool as a background service, and more.

Yazsoft has updated ShareTool (http://www.yazsoft.com/st/) for Mac OS X, which lets you access all of your Bonjour services from anywhere in the world, to version 2.1.1. The upgrade delivers  iTunes 10 Home Sharing across the internet, the ability to run ShareTool as a background service, and more.

PC World has launched an iPad Media Streaming service. Designed in collaboration with Livedrive, it allows iPad owners to store 100GB of media and data online. This can then be accessed and played through live streaming via a 3G or Wi-Fi network, all for £39.99 per year.
 
The launch of the service comes hot on the heels of the Meet iPad service. Available as a consultation in-store, the UK service has seen thousands of iPad owners booking one to one consultations with Apple trained expert store staff to get expert advice on setting up and using the iPad to its fullest capability.
 

PC World has launched an iPad Media Streaming service. Designed in collaboration with Livedrive, it allows iPad owners to store 100GB of media and data online. This can then be accessed and played through live streaming via a 3G or Wi-Fi network, all for £39.99 per year.
 
The launch of the service comes hot on the heels of the Meet iPad service. Available as a consultation in-store, the UK service has seen thousands of iPad owners booking one to one consultations with Apple trained expert store staff to get expert advice on setting up and using the iPad to its fullest capability.
 

LittleFin Software has released Chronicle 3.4 (http://www.littlefin.com/chronicle.html), an update to their home finance and bill paying application for Mac OS X. The upgrade adds the ability to track income and compare it to bill spending.

Chronicle provides a graphical means to enter and track finances. Features include: automatic bill paying reminder; long-term debt tracking; database of payments and receipts; graphs and reports which analyze trends and averages; and a sortable list of upcoming bills which can be paid on-line from within the app.

LittleFin Software has released Chronicle 3.4 (http://www.littlefin.com/chronicle.html), an update to their home finance and bill paying application for Mac OS X. The upgrade adds the ability to track income and compare it to bill spending.

Chronicle provides a graphical means to enter and track finances. Features include: automatic bill paying reminder; long-term debt tracking; database of payments and receipts; graphs and reports which analyze trends and averages; and a sortable list of upcoming bills which can be paid on-line from within the app.

LaCie (http://www.lacie.com) has spawned a new breed of USB key: the LaCie MosKeyto, a small flash drive that measures less than 20mm and weighs 10 grams. It comes in capacities up to 16GB with pricing starting at US$17.99 for a 4GB model.



The MosKeyto is so small it can even travel with the computer in a protective sleeve or briefcase, according to Alexis Kobassian, accessories product manager, LaCie. Because it lies flush against your device, there's no risk of damage to the port, computer or key if the drive is knocked or bumped, he adds.



SoniVox (http://www.SoniVoxmi.com) is offering a pre-release preview complete with MP3 and video examples of the first instrument from their new Nemesyth Audio Research Group, Vocalizer. It's a vocal production synthesizer.

Vocalizer couples a new technology synthesis engine with an open input based architecture. It's one part effect plug-in and one part virtual instrument, according to the folks at SoniVox. Vocalists, non-vocalists, and producers feed Vocalizer any audio source, and it re-pitches, effects, and re-synthesizes the original source into a whole new sound.

Native Instruments (http://www.native-instruments.com) has released five products that further extend its versatile Komplete Instruments and Effects range.

The new products include the modal synthesizer Reaktor Prism (US$79), the studio reverb Reflektor ($119), the organ emulation Vintage Organs ($119), the effect suite Traktor's 12 ($79) and the amp emulation Rammfire ($59). All products are based on the technology of Kontakt, Reaktor and Guitar Rig, and can be used both within the full versions and the free Player versions of these instruments.

JNSoftware (http://www.jonn8.com/) has updated JABMenu, a tool for utilizing your Mac OS X Address Book data through a system-wide menu, to version 2.5. The new version adds support for networked sources (i.e., Exchange and CardDAV servers) and improved flexibility in acting on contact data through enhanced scripting support.

FileWave (http://www.filewave.com), which makes system lifecycle management, has released version 4.5 of their self-titled management suite: FileWave.

New features include the ability to place bandwidth limitations on clients, search across your entire repository of Filesets for any specific file, create smart groups based on ip addresses and subnets, and generate client group memberships based on those of another system.

FileWave is compatible with Mac OS X, Windows and Linux systems. A demo is available for download. Contact the company for pricing options.

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