Does Apple Have Big Plans for Podcasts?

Podcasts were first brought to iTunes in 2005, and after a strong push, they seem to have fallen to the wayside. With the release of Apple’s Podcasts app this week, could Apple be announcing to the world that they’re finally taking podcasts seriously?

Analyst: Relax Apple, The Nexus 7 is Just Another Android Tablet

Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White says Apple’s iPad is in little danger of losing its spot atop the tablet market to Google’s new Nexus 7. He says it’s “just another Android-based tablet.”

AppleInsider:

As expected, Google unveiled its $199 Nexus 7 tablet, the result of a partnership with Asus, on Wednesday at its Google I/O developer conference. The device, which features a quad-core CPU by Nvidia and a 1,280-by-800-pixel display, will go on sale in July.

Apple TV SDK may bring third-party apps to set-top box

 Could an Apple TV SDK give us some clues about the rumoured iTV set? 

Apple may begin paving the way for the standalone 'iTV' by opening up the existing Apple TV set-top box to third-party app developers.

Boy Genius Report reckons the company will announce an SDK for its hobby project at the WWDC conference in San Francisco, which kicks off on Monday.

Naturally, that would bring an Apple TV App Store to sit alongside the iOS and Mac OS X offerings and open the little hockey puck up to more video on-demand, internet and gaming applications.

Apple Reaches A$2.25M Settlement With Australian Regulator Over Misleading ’4G’ iPad Claims

Apple has reached an A$2.25 million penalty settlement with an Australian consumer right watchdog, after being accused of falsely advertising its new iPad as “4G” capable in the country.
AppleInsider:

In addition to the A$2.25 million (US$2.23 million) penalty, Apple is also expected to pay A$300,000 toward the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s legal fees, The Australian reports (via The Next Web). The ACCC filed its complaint against Apple in March shortly after the release of the new iPad.

Gary Marshall: Why does Apple have no respect for the English language?

Apple gets criticised for all kinds of things - warm iPads, Apple TV's horrible new user interface, being Apple - but when it comes to its most heinous behaviour, Apple gets off scot-free. You can sum it up in just five words: 'What's my day look like?'

If the phrase looks familiar, that's because it's the headline for the UK's current crop of iPhone ads. I can only assume that the idea is to make everyone who sees the ads think "Hey! Siri is so amazing, it can even understand simpletons who don't use words properly!"

What's my day look like, Siri? Well, Gary, your day is look like this!

Apple's becoming quite adept at abusing the English language. I'm not talking about wordplay here. When Apple makes up words such as 'resolutionary' to describe the new iPad or 'thinnovation' to sell the MacBook Air it's guilty of just the kind of bad puns the NME was famous for and I've spent years trying to emulate; 'Think Different' wouldn't have worked with 'ly' on the end; and I'm not going to point out that when Apple says the iPod touch "has fun written all over it" the photos show that actually, that isn't true.

No, what I'm talking about is actual language abuse. One of my pet hates is Apple's disregard for the definite article. "With an updated interface, more fitness features and new clock faces, iPod nano is Multi-Touch," Apple says, making me want to scream, "It's THE iPod! And capitalise 'nano' while you're at it! You've been doing this wrong for a decade!"

Apple to Unveil TV SDK at WWDC, Open Up Apple TV to Third-Party Apps?

Following earlier reports that Apple may unveil a TV operating system at next week’s WWDC keynote, BGR this morning reports that Apple is planning to show off a new SDK to allow developers to create third-party Apple TV apps.

The report doesn’t provide many details – but does it really need to? The Apple TV seems ripe for a change. Third-party apps for alternative video services (or Angry Birds) would be a welcome addition, and as MacRumors points out, Steve Jobs himself noted that third-party Apple TV apps could be a possibility ”when the time is right”.

Facebook and Apple Finally Get it Together in iOS 6

Facebook and Apple have been making goo-goo eyes at each other recently, and it looks like the flirting is going to lead to a relationship. MG Siegler is reporting for TechCrunch today that Facebook integration will be included in the next version of Apple’s iOS.

TechCrunch:

…Facebook integration will be very important for iOS — tons of apps use Facebook for sign-ups and authentication (many use Facebook as the only way to do this, to the dismay of some). Apple was undoubtedly watching this activity and realized that it was time to formally bring Facebook on board.

Apple Newton celebrates 20 years of eating up Martha

History hasn't been particularly kind to the Newton. Apple's early play at the mobile device market has largely been a source of ridicule, considered a low point in the company's catalog. For every suggestion that the device was ahead its time, there are countless "eat up Martha" jokes. It's not hard to see why -- in spite of tenacious commitment on the part of John Sculley and co., the PDA never really took off, a fact blamed, in part, to hardware and software limitations. To mark the 20th anniversary of the device's on-stage debut, Harry McCracken picked a first-gen MessagePad H1000 and some accessories up on eBay, living with the device for six weeks, as part of an attempt to "reconsider" the Newton. So, how does the product hold up in the harsh light of 2012? At the very least, it offered up the opportunity for great shots like the one above.

Apple Turns Over Entire Inventory Every Five Days

Apple turns its product inventory over every five days. According to a report from Gartner Research, the iPhone and Mac maker ranks behind only McDonald’s for the fastest inventory turnaround time.

The Mac Observer:

Apple’s inventory doesn’t sit on shelves for long
Gartner looks at product supply chains and buying patterns to estimate how quickly companies burn through their available inventory. In Apple’s case, that works out to once every five days.

Setting Up Assembly Lines in the U.S. Would be ‘Highly Difficult’ for Apple

Even though Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook stated this week that he’d like his company’s products to be made in the U.S., a new report says the roadblocks may be to difficult for Apple to overcome, at least in the short term.

Sam Oliver, AppleInsider:

Unnamed sources in Apple’s upstream supply chain indicated to DigiTimes that moving production lines of Apple products to the U.S. would be a “highly difficult” task for the company in the near future. Almost all of Apple’s products are currently assembled in Asia before they are shipped to the rest of the world.

Apple Hints at Upcoming iWork Refresh in Latest OS X Mountain Lion Preview

Since the launch of iCloud, Apple has been hard at work updating their apps to work with their new cloud service: Photo Booth and Aperture were updated with Photo Stream support; Pages, Keynote, and Numbers brought cloud-based document editing and storage to iOS; OS X was quickly updated to support the service.

One major piece of Apple software has so far been entirely left out of the iCloud party so far, however: iWork for Mac. Apple hasn’t released a new version of their Mac productivity suite since 2009, leaving many to wonder what the company has in mind for their popular word processing, spreadsheet, and presentations apps.

 

Apple doesn’t want Motorola to quote Steve Jobs in court

 

Steve Jobs’ opinion on Android has been very firmly established; he was willing to do anything to burn it down. Former Apple CEO’s public vendetta against Google’s Android was circulated around the internet after Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs biography was released. The book included controversial quotes that Apple unsuccessfully requested to be left out of the court room in its upcoming lawsuit against Motorola, set to take place in Northern Illinois starting June 11.