On his personal blog, a programmer named Steven Frank who works for software development house Panic, whines about Apple’s practices involving its App Store, the online catalogue of iPhone apps located in iTunes and on the iPhone.

Regarding the infamous “I Am Rich” iPhone application, the thousand-dollar pile of feces that was justifiably removed from the store’s listings:

Yes, it’s a silly and diabolically clever idea, and I’ve been outspoken (especially on Twitter) about my feelings on frivolous iPhone apps. But silly ideas have a right to exist. After a tidal wave of negative comments, Apple appears to have removed the app, citing a “judgement call”.

A monumental SCAM of an application, or any application in the App Store, has absolutlely no right to exist there! Such hubris computer nerds have in regards to themselves. For anyone who’s had his head up his ass, OR, has an actual well-rounded life outside of the Appleworld, needs to know that this application, which sold for $1000, did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. And this developer argues that it had a right to be there? A right? Perhaps we should get the U.N. to intervene in this horrific atrocity that acts as an affront to the Geneva Convention. Its removal is — literally — Apple’s right, and right in the strictest sense. That app will have to exist somewhere else.

Furthermore, Mr. Frank decides to create for his argument what he calls the “developers’ rights,” a list of what he thinks is owed to him, a thing he concocted on the spot and uses as criteria for how Apple — as he argues — mishandles their property. Frank wants to sell software without approval, to set his own policies, and wants to reveal Apple’s proprietary source code. But, what he forgets, is that it is Apple’s phone, Apple’s store, and Apple’s choice. If he believes his demands are sound, then that’s the beauty of the free market. He is welcome to challenge and compete against Apple with his ideas in hand. As it stands now, however, we must concern ourselves with the concept of private property — Apple’s private property. The lesson here, Mr. Frank, is that being allowed onto another company’s device, sir, is not a right. I suggest, Stevie, that you not feel so entitled because no one owes you anything, least of all Apple.

Labels: Apple, Blogosphere

Apple’s CFO Oppenheimer remarked off-handedly of a product transition (his words) coming soon. “Chuqui,” an ex-Appleseed, says we should all just relax, ’cause it ain’t nothin’:

Read more of “Just a touchpad and a screen: A grand unified theory of Apple’s next big move” “What Oppenheimer said fits new price/performance models just as easily as it does a tablet PC — and bluntly, you’ll sell many zillions more of things if you tweak the margins down a couple of points than if you introduce some really nifty gosh-wow piece of the future….”

Labels: Apple

Dell taps ex-Apple employee to head a project aimed at slinging a stone at the iGoliath music store. The company’s aim, according to Business Week, is to get all other companies to come together — like slivers of soap scraps — in order to offer a competitor to iTunes, one that would allow songs to be Zinged / Squirted / Jizzed from one device to another. People are sick of hearing their music on best-of-breed music devices, but would rather to send their music cumbersomely to anything else, says Dell shill Rob Enderle, the go-to guy for reporters who want to press anti-Apple ink:

Read more of “Dell vs. Apple: Why It May Be Personal” ”Apple wants to lock you in,” says Robert Enderle, a consultant who has been briefed by Dell. “Dell wants to lock you in to choice.”

Rob Enderle.

Labels: Apple

Former Apple employee talks of the fun erroneous rumors he and his comrades would throw at the rumor sites after knocking back a couple, just to see what would stick. Also, about these sites that encourage NDA-breaking developers:

Read more of “Am I picking on AppleInsider again?” … A few years back, my boss and I came up with a way to track down exactly who’s doing the leaking. It’s very simple to implement, it isn’t hard to do, would be invisible to the developers so they’d have no reason to be careful or realize Apple was tracking them, and it’d be accurate, and the leakers wouldn’t know it was happening until the hammer fell. […] ¶ So realize not that you’re being too smart for Apple, but that Apple’s decided it’s not worth the hassle and PR to catch you. And hope that doesn’t change.

Labels: Apple, Blogosphere

Read more of “Chuqui 3.0” But Apple’s role on the store shouldn’t be, and so far this has rung true that they aren’t, trying to protect users from STUPID apps, but from dangerous or unstable ones. They aren’t judging the WHAT of an app, beyond certain limits like porn or things that are illegal.

Apple should judge on the what of an app. Here’s my reply in his comment section:

You know, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. People debate whether Apple should have an open vs. closed system — all based on the admission or removal of this one app.

Can’t we all just say that this one anomalous app — this outstanding turd — should be removed and not have it set any precedents? Yes, we can. We are people with brains, and so that means that when we see a SCAM that sneaks its way past the guards, we can have its removal without it becoming a major thing.

I needn’t say that Apple owns its store and has the legal standing to in- or exclude any damn app it so chooses. If they don’t want a store that offers absolute pig vomit, then perhaps they should be somewhat choosey. We don’t, after all, wonder why they don’t allow any ol’ piece of shit into their brick and mortar retail stores, do we?

Labels: Apple

Original source: Sustainable is Good, “Apple iTunes Ingeo Gift Card Apple uses a plant-based plastic for a new iTunes gift card available in stores such as Best Buy, a sustainable packaging trade website is reporting.

Labels: Apple

Apple has revised the way it sends software updates to Windows PCs via its Software Update service in response to charges that it was sneaking its Safari Web browser onto users’ desktops without their permission or knowledge.

An issue exists in the accuracy of this article. A dialog indicating that Safari will be downloaded — which needs to be OK’d — is both the giving of knowledge and getting of permission. This article by Jonathan Cremin for Neowin is negligently inaccurate, where he or his editor calls the Safari installation in Windows “stealth” in the headline [1]. Safari doesn’t install in the background without the user’s knowledge. It tells the user the installation will happen and asks for permission.

Labels: Apple, Technology

Original article:
“‘OpenMac’ Promises $399 Headless Mac… But Not From Apple”

A company called Psystar has started advertising a $399 computer called “OpenMac” which claims to be a Leopard compatible Mac built from standard PC-parts. For $399…

Labels: Apple

Finder’s Cover Flow tries to put icons perceptually on the same plane by clipping away transparency. Intriguing. In the picture above, one can see that the transparent circular cancellation [1>1. Cancellation: On mail, a cancellation (or cancel for short) is a postal marking applied to a postage stamp or postal stationery indicating that the item has been used. — Wikipedia] has been cut off, indicated by the blue arrow. With Apple, it’s all about the little things.

Read more of “Apple Human Interface Guidelines: Creating Icons”

In Cover Flow view, the Finder positions icons so that they appear to be on the same plane. To do this, the Finder begins examining an icon at the bottom edge, looking for pixels that are opaque enough to use for alignment. If there is significant transparency in the lower area of your icon, the Finder ignores the transparent pixels in favor of the first opaque pixel it finds. The Finder uses the opaque pixel to determine the icon’s alignment with respect to the plane and may clip the transparent pixels below it.

Labels: Apple, Mac OS X

I was right for the wrong reasons

So yesterday I made some predictions about what’s “in the air,” my thinking that this tagline referred to an ecosystem of WiFi for Apple TV and iPhone. I was wrong, mostly, but did get one thing right.

Yesterday, I said…

I hereby predict that Apple’s new iPhone will at least speak to, if not be able to completely control, Apple TV, making Apple TV one of iPhone’s storage solutions

WRONG. As it stands now, Apple TV and iPhone are estranged brothers leading separate lives. iPhone cannot use Apple TV’s hard drive as a quick repository.

In my next prediction, I said…

I predict Apple will tout a new media server solution that involves these components: Airport Extreme with the new 802.11n capabilities, connected hard drive, & Leopard; the Airport Wi-Fi base station with its connected large-capacity hard drive will provide Apple TV and any computer on the network with a central repository for all media files (not to mention back up capabilities inherent to Leopard). The speed of the new draft N makes this happen

WRONG. The three-two punch was not a solution Apple introduced, but the above prediction was using a third-party external hard drive. I furthered that with this prediction…

Moreover, Apple will announce its own branded external hard drive with the same form factor as both the Airport and Apple TV, making it the perfect companion for either. For Airport, a connected hard drive provides the perfect place for Leopard’s new built-in back up functions called “Time Machine”; for Apple TV, obviously, it will provide a boost in storage to house all those iTunes movie purchases. iPhone (and its touchscreen iPod brother) will connect to the hard drive no matter which it’s connected to.

WRONG, & RIGHT. Apple is completely missing the mark with their new storage-WiFi combo called “Time Capsule.” I was right in that they are using this for Leopards inherent backup capabilities, but at 500 gigabytes and one terabyte, this would be an excellent central source for my large media files, freeing up space I’d prefer to allow Photoshop use. Apple TV should be able to access Time Capsule’s immense storage for any movie it needs. (Maybe it can.) So, check one: Apple did brand its own hard drive, though they combined it with Airport Extreme in an all-in-one.

* 1 outta 3 *

Labels: Apple, Technology

100% foolproof predictions to 2008 Macworld keynote, sure to impress, mesmerize, impregnate

With the introductory phase of iPhone over, 2008 marks a new time for iFun for the iPhone & Apple TV

In March of 2007, before the release of iPhone but after the introductory keynote, I predicted a few things that I think now will materialize at this Macworld. I stated that I believe that Apple is using WiFi as the secret sauce to a micro-ecosystem involving Apple TV and iPhone, where movies for the iPhone would be stored on Apple TV’s 50-hour hard drive, accessible to the phone through WiFi. My basis for asserting this is a never-mentioned off-handed remark Steve Jobs made at that first 2007 keynote. I am the only one to pick up on it, and made a video.

In the video, Steve Jobs talking about the Apple TV—introduced in the keynote before the iPhone—says the following: “It’s got a forty-gigabyte hard drive inside it, so it will store up to fifty hours of video, which comes in handy for something I’m about to show you.” Steve jobs that Apple TV’s hard drive is handy for the iPhone. But why? Why, indeed, or rather, Wi-Fi.

Pic: Apple teases us on its website: ‘There’s something in the air.’

I made some predictions last March which I think are still valid and in play, because Apple goes forward regarding iPhone at a snail’s pace. Two thousand seven was all about introducing a revolutionary product. In the design space, there is a principle of which we must be aware, that people will reject anything too innovative [11. Conversely, they will reject anything too familiar as not being innovative enough] So, I understand Apple’s throwing iPhone into the pool and allowing people to get accustomed to it. But now, it’s a new year with new fun. Apple is now set to release new products—or redesigned old products—to take advantage of the iPhone, and this is what I think:

OUT ON A LIMB PREDICTIONS

1. I hereby predict that Apple’s new iPhone will at least speak to, if not be able to completely control, Apple TV, making Apple TV one of iPhone’s storage solutions.

2. I predict Apple will tout a new media server solution that involves these components: Airport Extreme with the new 802.11n capabilities, connected hard drive, & Leopard; the Airport Wi-Fi base station with its connected large-capacity hard drive will provide Apple TV and any computer on the network with a central repository for all media files (not to mention back up capabilities inherent to Leopard). The speed of the new draft N makes this happen.

3. Moreover, Apple will announce its own branded external hard drive with the same form factor as both the Airport and Apple TV, making it the perfect companion for either. For Airport, a connected hard drive provides the perfect place for Leopard’s new built-in back up functions called “Time Machine”; for Apple TV, obviously, it will provide a boost in storage to house all those iTunes movie purchases. iPhone (and its touchscreen iPod brother) will connect to the hard drive no matter which it’s connected to.

   and…

4. Apple will unveil its fabled Movie download service, allowing both Apple TV and iPhone to access those movies directly through the air.

Labels: Apple, Mac OS X, Technology

Read more of “AppleInsider | Apple hoists “There’s something in the air” Macworld banners” “2008. There’s something in the air.”

WiFi? WiMAX? Seren gas?

What’s in the air? What is it!! I can’t wait, so I’ve constructed a hyperbolic chamber to freeze myself, hooked up to my iPhone. Setting timer now. Getting in. And, pushing the button. Heart rate slowing. …

Labels: Apple

Programs sometimes take a step back

Do you step with them?

Like a good little boy, much like all of you*, * No girls allowed!I update my programs and OS’s to keep together this utopian existence, allowing me worry-free days and care-free morns, and all that shit. But alas, boys and ghouls, updating can sometimes lead to heartache, trouble, and fantasies of infanticide†. † Hey, babymurder is how I cope, OK?

A small example—which I will lead then to my biggest cautionary tale—is my update of the iPhone game called Labyrinth. Before, it was a nice little free game that I could show to people and invoke awe and wonder toward the iPhone. But, hark! updating today brought with it, not the free app I so enjoyed before, but rather a begging troll that gave me just a taste of fun, yet denied me further laughter. This newest version of Labyrinth for iPhone added new features and new limitations: a time-clock to test your speed as you maneuver the ball into the right hole; and a nagging message telling me I had reached the end of what was free. Labyrinth now wants me to pay. That would be fine, if I had known what I was getting into. But nowhere did the release notes say, “Hey, dude, this shit ain’t free no more.”

So, fuck you Carl Loodberg, author of Labyrinth for iPhone. Suck my balls.

This isn’t the first time to deal with this asshole. My key to unlock the limited shareware version stopped working, and I had to beg by email for him to please, oh please give me the right to use what I payed for.

Speaking of balls, a huge set are drooping below the taint of programmer David Watanabe, creator of two otherwise great Mac applications, Acquisition and Xtorrent.‡ ‡ Both of which I payed. In this sordid tale, I am the moron, yet a double-dealer is he. For you see, I trusted what my Acquisition app was telling me. It said (and I’m paraphrasing), “Hey you, I have a new version ready to download. I’m much better now. So download, won’t you?” Like a million other times, I downloaded the update. This was different than the other times, I suppose, because this went from “1.0” to “2.0.” Like an idiot, I replaced the existing version in my Applications folder with the new version. But, uh oh! Acquisition now tells me he is no longer fully functional. He now caps my downloads after an hour and randomly eliminates search results. I’ve reverted to fucking shareware! Hi, David, I payed for Acquisition, so can I have my old version back? I can’t seem to find a working link, anywhere. Hey, I know you don’t need to continually provide a link, but don’t be a douchebag. Prove to us this isn’t a scheme to trick idiots like me into erasing their current copies and forcing them to pay all over again.

So, fuck you David Watanabe, and you, too, can suck on big, hairy, caucasian balls and wonder why they are so much bigger. P.S. I loved you in The Last Samurai.

Labels: Apple, Cartoon, Technology

Read more of “Mac Rumors: Apple Mac Rumors and News You Care About” * Peculiarly, not bedfellow Disney. † “HD” meaning 720-progressive, to accomodate the maximum output of Apple TV.

Macrumors reports of another report by Financial Times: Apple’s got a movie download scheme on the way for Macworld—if it’s all true—and Fox is the first on the scene*. So, what this means by my account, is that we will finally see HD † downloads and the rise to glory of Apple’s set top box Apple TV. If Vudu can do it, why not Apple? …And in a revolutionary way?

Labels: Apple, Technology

In a recent blog post, Apple fluffer John Gruber rebuts a Fast Company article regarding Steve Jobs and the company. His actual headline reads:

Read more of “Daring Fireball”Yet Another in the Ongoing Series Wherein I Examine a Piece of Supposedly Serious Apple Analysis From a Major Media Outlet and Dissect Its Inaccuracies, Fabrications, and Exaggerations Point-by-Point, Despite the Fact That No Matter How Egregious the Inaccuracies / Fabrications / Exaggerations, Such Pieces Inevitably Lead to Accusations That I’m Some Sort of Knee-Jerk Shill Who Rails Against Anything ‘Anti-Apple’ Simply for the Sake of Defending Apple, and if I Love Apple So Much Why Don’t I Just Marry Them?

… And By Typing All Said Points In My Article Title I’ll Deflate the Issue, Nip the Criticisms in the Bud, and Seem More Objective Somehow and Less of a Used Summer’s Eve

Labels: Apple, Blogosphere

Cringely makes a good point on why we haven’t seen Flash come to the iPhone, yet.

Read more of “I, Cringely”Had Apple allowed a Flash player on the iPhone, it risked having Flash — rather than the Apple-preferred Ajax — become the dominant iPhone web application development environment. … but Apple wants to control its own destiny, zigging and zagging as it likes to crush competitors, hence WebKit [11. Instead of Flash.].

Flash kiosks, if you’ve noticed, never have fluid animation or rich experiences, and always put, well, flash over substance. San Francisco’s Westfield Shopping Center’s interactive directory seems to use flash for its touch-screen wayfinding, and it sucks. It’s almost a nice UI, but whenever I push a button, animation takes a long time to respond and it’s about three frames per second. That’s what you always expect when applications are built in Flash. And it is beneath iPhone.

And why would Apple want to be shackled to Adobe for the most revolutionary device to have been produced in the past decade? Fuck that. Cringely a long time ago made an excellent suggestion that Apple buy Adobe. Why worry whether Photoshop is available on OS X when they can take steps to ensure it would be.

Cringely yada-yadas on to predict that Apple is revealing a tablet computer using multi-touch mojo at Macworld ‘08.

Labels: Apple, Technology

Major ‘bug’ found in Mac app Acquisition

An open letter to Acquisition developer David Watanabe about advertising in paid products

My purchased application for accessing the Gnutella peer-to-peer network, blatantly called Acquisition, presented to me today—peculiarly—an advertisement within it for Apple’s new operating system. I say peculiarly because I don’t expect purchased products, i.e. things I fucking paid for, to contain within them advertisements à la shareware for my viewing. So, I reported the bug to the software’s developer, David Watanabe:

Dear David Watanabe:

Purchased Acquisition now advertises to you.

Acquisition is a terrific program with revolutionary ease of use for users, making it the best program for peer to peer on any platform. No other application comes close to the Mac experience like yours due to your attention to detail. These factors led me to pay for Acquisition with no regrets.

But, I recently opened my application to find a major bug. There was a picture and writing on their that seemed to indicate an advertisement, which—I know—seems ridiculous due to the previously mentioned purchasing of the product. Having given you my money for the program, presumably for private, unfettered use with no nags or advertisements (a kind of standard agreement one expects for purchased products), I wondered why on earth I would see an advertisement in the application I own. These two contradictory notions—a purchased program with no ads, and Acquisition with an ad in it hocking Leopard—lead me to believe that this must be a bug. Otherwise, it screams of being money-grubby and sleazy, which I’m sure is not you.

Please remove it. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Tironius Complex

Update: It’s gone.

Labels: Apple, Best of

IPhone-clubber, and Russky, Dimitriy Babooshka (no seriously) takes his new not-working-but-unlocked iPhone with him wherever he goes, getting envious looks from onlookers of the fairer sex:

“If you want to laugh, then I will tell you how a very fashionable girl who was sitting with her purse-dog stared at my iPhone with envy. … She very quickly lost interest in her dog, and even left him at the table when they walked away. Only five minutes later did they come back to get the dog.”

Read more of “iNightclubbing: Partying in Moscow With The iPhone”

Labels: Apple, Cartoon, On the Town

In the world of blogs pertaining to Macs, there are a couple that the Macanistas read on a daily basis. The writers of these blogs that come to mind are severe Apple apologists, predictable in their arguments about the company’s policies and practices. One such successful blog links to blogs that link to his, a kind of “keep-it-in-the-family” in-linking. Round and round they go.

Labels: Apple, Blogosphere, Cartoon

This is classic portfolio management. Apple is positioning the iPod Touch initially as an entertainment device. Apple wants to minimise the potential for the Touch to conflict with the iPhone. By omitting these productivity functions Apple will succeed in the short term, but Apple still leaves the way open to add features back in to the first generation iPod Touch through software/firmware updates.

Read more of “Ian Fogg - Why the iPod Touch is Different”

I thought it was weird, too, that the wifi device also did not have the weather and stock widgets. Apple wants to maintain the disparity between iPod touch and the premium iPhone.

Labels: Apple

In a recent post on his Apple blog, John Gruber reminds us that Apple will refund to you the price difference if they cut prices on something you just bought. New iPhone price cuts mean that people who recently purchased the Jesus-phone can receive the $200 difference between the old price of $599 and new, $399.

Apple Price Protection

From Apple’s Sales and Refund policy:

Should Apple reduce its price on any shipped product within 10 calendar days of shipment, you may contact Apple Sales Support at 1-800-676-2775 to request a refund or credit of the difference between the price you were charged and the current selling price. To receive the refund or credit you must contact Apple within 14 business days of shipment.

So if you just bought an iPhone in the last 10 days, you can get $200 back. I wonder about the 30-day refund period, though — the $200 cut is far more than the restocking fee.

Read more of “Daring Fireball”

The point in his quote—which I have italicized—is moot because Apple maintains a 14-day return policy, not thirty [1]. You have the same amount of time to get your price difference OR a refund, with or without the restocking fee of ten percent [2].

Labels: Apple

But I won’t talk about it, yet, per their request. Screenshot:

Pixelmator Website

Pixelmator is a new consumer-level Photoshop contendor “for the rest of us.” At only $59, it is only a quarter of the aging Photoshop’s triple-digit pricetag. I mentioned the program before in my post about Daring Fireball’s John “Horsegums” Gruber’s verbal shitstorm relating to its missed release, him calling it vaporware.

Labels: Apple, Design