Apple Hotnews: WWDC 2013 kicks off on June 10 in San Francisco. Mark your calendars!!

Microsoft wants Apple to bring Metro version iTunes to its Windows 8

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Apple's popular iTunes app might be available for the desktop mode of Windows 8, but Microsoft wants the company to create a "Metro" version. In an interview with CNN Money, Windows CFO Tami Reller revealed that Microsoft has tried to convince Apple to build an iTunes Windows 8 app, saying "the welcome mat has been laid out. It's not for lack of trying."

"You shouldn't expect an iTunes app on Windows 8 any time soon," the chief financial officer of Microsoft's Windows division said. "iTunes is in high demand. The welcome mat has been laid out. It's not for lack of trying."

iTunes is available for Windows 8, but the lack of a Modern UI version, otherwise known as "Metro," means that users in tablet mode, working without a keyboard and mouse, have a harder time navigating the program. It also means that users running the none too popular Windows RT are completely unable to use the software, as that version of Windows — built to run on ARM processors — does not run non-Microsoft desktop software.

Apple has in the past readily ported its most popular Mac applications to Microsoft's Windows, the operating system on which most computers run worldwide. In the rapidly growing tablet segment, though, Apple is king. Even with Windows 8 tablets grabbing some market share, Apple could likely ignore the platform for some time and see no ill effects. 



Windows 8 now has over 60,000 apps available, and users have downloaded roughly 250 million apps in total. Microsoft aims to have Windows 8 versions of all of the most popular apps in the iTunes App Store available by the holiday season. 

These most recent app figures and estimations from Microsoft underscore just how badly Windows 8 has stumbled out of the gate. In October, ahead of the platform's launch, Microsoft was predicting it would hit the 100,000-app mark by February, three months after its release. At the six-month milestone, the platform has just over half that total. 

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Apple Offers $10,000 Prize, as iTunes App Store nears 50 Billionth Download

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Last Year, Apple racked up 25 billion app downloads from the iTunes App Store, and awarded one lucky Chinese citizen $10,000 for picking the very last one. This year, it could be your turn. Just 14 months later, iTunes App Store is close to approaching 50 billion downloads, and it's offering the same $10,000 prize once again. As of this posting, a counter on Apple's website reads 49.2 billion downloads, and is ticking up fast — fast enough that Apple is periodically refreshing the counter to keep up with the actual pace at which consumers are downloading apps. It took nine months for Apple to reach one billion downloads, and four years to hit the 25 billion mark. At 49 billion and counting, it's so impressive that it's hard to believe it.

As of today, nearly 50 billion apps have been downloaded worldwide. And we couldn’t have done it without you. So we want to say thanks. Download the 50 billionth app, and you could win a US$10,000 App Store Gift Card. Or download one of the first 50 apps after that, and you could win a US$500 App Store Gift Card.* Browse the App Store and download your next favorite app.


References: Apple - iTunes 

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Happy 10th Birthday iTunes

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This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of Apple's all-conquering music download service.

iTunes service was first launched, on April 28, 2003, it offered a mere 200,000 songs, priced at 99 cents each, and the first track ever to top the iTunes download list was U2's "Stuck in a Moment." The biggest-selling album of its initial week was Beck's "Sea Change" and, despite a relatively small selection of tracks and despite only being accessible to US-based Mac owners, the fledgling service notched up more than 1 million downloads over its first week.

Fast forward to the present and iTunes is the world's largest and most successful legal music download site. In fact it has been the biggest music shop in the US since stealing Walmart's crown back in 2008, and since 2010 it has grown to become the biggest music shop online or otherwise in the world.

According to the latest figures from NPD Group, in the US it still accounts for 63% of all legal music downloads -- Amazon is second with 22% of the $2.9 billion market, and that despite growing competition from streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora, the site's popularity shows no signs of fading. 

"There's a belief that consumers don't need to buy music because of streaming options," said Russ Crupnick, NPD's senior vice president of industry analysis. "In fact, streamers are much more likely than the average consumer to buy music downloads." NPD found that although the number of consumers who buy digital downloads has remained steady over the past three years, the number of tracks that they're downloading is growing annually. Between 2011 and 2012 volumes rose by an average of 6% per user.

This steady stream of users means that over the last 10 years iTunes has sold more than 25 billion songs (a milestone it passed this February) and its content has grown considerably from its initial offering.

Today, iTunes offers over 26 million songs to over 400 million active users in 119 countries and has also expanded its offerings to include TV shows and movies. However, despite its phenomenal success, there is a chance that it could one day lose its crown and with it, its hold on the music industry.

Apple is peerless at integrating software and hardware, but in recent years it has proven to be less dominant when it comes to delivering web-based services. Apple's iCloud service is often down and over six months on from its initial release, many people are still complaining loudly about iOS Maps -- the company's failed attempt to offer a navigation and mapping system as good as Google Maps for the iPhone and iPad.

That's why rumors continue to circulate that in order to remain relevant Apple will extend iTunes to offer a music streaming feature. Unimaginatively dubbed iRadio by assorted tech journalists, the service, sources believe, could launch as early as this summer, and they say Apple has already signed licensing deals with many of the world's leading record labels.

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13" MacBook Pro Named 'best performing' Windows Laptop

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According to PC management services company Soluto, "in the field" testing has revealed an Apple-built laptop to be the number one performing Windows machine as of April 2013, despite not being optimized for the operating system. 


Along with taking the top spot, another Apple machine, the 15-inch Retina display MacBook Pro, came in at number six, behind PCs from Acer and Dell. Acer's $429 Aspire E1-571 came in second, while Dell's sub-$1000 XPS13 followed in third place. 

The MacBook Pro is the most expensive PC among the top 3, but if you’re looking for top reliability - the data is clear. MacBook Pro is the best Windows PC on the market.
The report notes that comparing a Windows install on a MacBook Pro with one from Acer or Dell is a bit unfair, as Apple's version is "clean," or devoid of bloatware usually pre-loaded by PC OEMs. The company points out that a future analysis will take this discrepancy into account, but for now the "frustration" data looks to highlight real life use, not lab testing.

While nabbing first place, the 13-inch MacBook Pro did have some downsides, like the need to purchase and install Windows through Bootcamp or third-party PC virtualization software like Parallels. Also, the Mac's keyboard is not mapped specifically for Microsoft's OS and drivers could be an issue for some users.

For its sample, the firm used data from 150,000 laptops over a three month period from January to April, analyzing "application crashes, application hangs, blue-screens-of-death, boot time and number of background processes" to generate a comparison that it says yields a "real user experience."

References: AppleInsider

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Apple's WWDCXIII Kicks Off June 10 in San Francisco

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Apple has just released that it will hold it's official announcement 2013 Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco from June 10-14. Every year, when they release tickets for event at the Moscone Center in San Francisco they sell out faster than the year before. Last year, on April 25, they sold out in just two hours, so if you want some, grab them or they’ll be gone fast.

The tickets go on sale at 10 AM PT (1 PM ET) on Thursday, April 25 according to Apple’s official release. Sessions at the annual event include in-person presentations by and access to over 1,000 Apple engineers, including both iOS and Mac OS X developers. The event takes pace at San Francisco’s Moscone West convention center.

This year, Apple has announced dates and a ticket sale start time ahead of when they actually become available. That hasn’t been the case in the past, and it’s possible that they’re trying to make sure developers don’t feel caught off guard when sales open, given how fast access to the event is likely to sell out. Tickets normally go on sale early in the morning, making it difficult for those in some time zones to be in a position to react fast once the tickets are actually released.

Apple states that: 

"Get an in-depth look at what’s next in iOS and OS X, and learn how to take your apps to the next level. With over 100 sessions, extensive hands–on labs, and engaging events, you’ll connect with Apple engineers and fellow developers for an incredible week of inspiration."
Thus clearly stating that we'll likely see previews of upcoming versions of OS X and iOS very soon. In the past, Apple has also debuted new hardware at previous WWDC events, though Apple CEO Tim Cook’s statements yesterday might temper any expectations in that regard.

[26/04/13] Update 1: Tickets to event were sold out in two minutes. They went on sale at 10am PDT yesterday. By 10.02am PDT yesterday, the tickets – going for US$1,599 each, were sold out.

References: Apple Developer

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iOS 7 Running Behind Schedule

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According to Apple's last release schedule, iPhone 5S' production was slated to begin this quarter, but now it seems that Apple still hasn’t met up to par with its development of their upcoming software update, iOS 7. According to one of Apple's executives, Apple has gotten slightly behind with development that it has begun to pull developers that are working on the upcoming OS X 10.9. 

He said

"What I’ve heard: iOS 7 is running behind, and engineers have been pulled from OS X 10.9 to work on it.
Regarding Jony Ive and iOS: Word on the street is that iOS engineers with carry privileges all have some sort of polarizing filter on their iPhone displays, such that it greatly decreases viewing angles, thus making it difficult for observers to see the apparently rather significant system-wide UI overhaul."

 This news is also interesting to many as a “system-wide UI overhaul” which means we could be getting the entirely redesigned iOS we’ve hoped and dreamed about. Seems like Ive seems to be making some HUGE changes, eh? However iOS 7 may not be the only huge overhaul we see upcoming, refer to this talk:
Since we’re talking whispers, the one thing I’ve heard multiple times now is about some sort of biometric scanner on the new iPhone. Perhaps not surprising given the AuthenTec buy — but surprised it would be this soon. Still, have heard it could be a big part of not only authentication, but payments of some sort (maybe even through Passbook) down the road. The most intriguing whisper: that Apple could charge a fee for devs to use it.

 Apple actually had this issue back when they were first developing the iPhone (yes, the first ever iPhone OS – that should tell you something). For those of you that don’t know, iOS 7 and iPhone 5S will likely be introduced at this year’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) expected somewhere in June '13.

 Via [9to5Mac] 
 

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Apple Patents Wrap Around Display For iPhone

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The US Patent & Trademark Office has published that Apple has patented a phone with curved AMOLED display wrapped around it.

 Yes, a similar kind of display earlier was highly speculated from much disappointing Samsung Galaxy S4, can now be predicted with Next generation iPhone.
The phone will have multiple layers of displays in order to create a 3D effect. It also comes replete with facial recognition technology which allows the phone to detect how much of the screen is currently being viewed by the user and only illuminate the same.

 The internal of the device can be in any of the form factors as displayed in the images above, with the flexible display wrapped around it. The display that wraps around the edges of the device, expands the viewable area and thus eliminating all physical buttons.

 The patent states that the display can be glass or other suitable transparent display material, which for now is the foldable AMOLED displays.

 We can’t imagine how delicate this device might be when the Gorilla Glass covered iPhone 4 was so fragile. Nonetheless, the device is only a concept right now and from the looks of it might not see the light of day anytime soon.
Stay tuned for further more updates.

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Apple Releases OS X 10.8.3 Update With Windows 8 Support On Bootcamp

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Apple has finally shipped the latest update (which could also be it's last) of it's OS X Mountain Lion. This updates the current-version Mac users to OS X 10.8.3. As usual, you can upgrade to it in three ways:

1. Through Apple's Software Update from the Apple menu via Mac App Store;
2. Download the standalone updater (541MB) to take you from 10.8.2 to 10.8.3;
3. Download the Combo updater (794MB) to take you from any earlier OS X 10.8 flavour to 10.8.3
Unless you have a bandwidth-related reason not to go for the biggest download, I recommend you go for the Combo updater.
It's worth having around even if you only have one Mac, in case you need or want to reinstall Mountain Lion. 



New in OS X 10.8.3

System
This update is recommended for all OS X Mountain Lion users and includes features and fixes that improve the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including:

  • The ability to redeem iTunes gift cards in the Mac App Store using your Mac's built-in camera
  • Boot Camp support for installing Windows 8
  • Boot Camp support for Macs with a 3 TB hard drive
  • A fix for an issue that could cause a file URL to quit apps unexpectedly
  • A fix for an issue that may cause Logic Pro to become unresponsive when using certain plug-ins
  • A fix for an issue that may cause audio to stutter on 2011 iMacs
  • A fix for an issue in Contacts that may cause cards to print out of order
  • A fix for an issue that may cause the desktop picture to change after logging out or restarting
  • A fix for an issue in Messages that may cause messages to appear out of order after waking from sleep
  • A fix for an issue that may cause the screen to display incorrectly after waking from sleep
  • Improves compatibility with IMAP servers in the Notes app
  • Allows the Slideshow screen saver to display photos located in a subfolder
  • A fix for an issue in Contacts that may cause addresses to print in the wrong location
  • Reliability improvements when using a Microsoft Exchange account in Mail
  • Xsan reliability improvements
  • A fix for an issue that could cause Active Directory accounts to be locked out after accessing the Security & Privacy pane in System Preferences
  • A fix for an issue that could cause link aggregation to not complete after a restart
  • A fix for an issue that could cause delays when logging into an Active Directory account on high latency networks


Safari 6.0.3
Safari 6.0.3 is included in the OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.3 Update and contains fixes that improve performance, stability, and security, including:

  • Improves scrolling on facebook.com
  • Improves scrolling while zoomed in on a webpage
  • Improves performance on webpages with plug-in content
  • A fix for an issue that could cause the inaccurate appearance of an alert that bookmarks can't be changed
  • A fix for an issue that could cause duplicate bookmarks to appear on an iOS device after editing bookmarks with Safari in OS X
  • A fix for an issue that permitted users to access unfiltered search results when searching from google.com when Parental Controls are enabled
  • A fix for an issue that could prevent Safari from restoring the last position on a webpage a user navigated back to
References: [Apple Support Downloads]

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TaskBoard Brings iOS-Style Multitasking Bar to OS X

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Although Apple's OS X is already equipped with it's much appreciated 'Mission Control' which eliminates the multitasking shortcoming found in earlier version of OS X but OS X Lion changed it all.
TaskBoard, currently in beta can replicate the same experience on your Mac. It brings the iOS-style multitasking bar which iOS got in it's 4th iteration. Once you install TaskBoard, you'll be able to launch the multitasking tray with a custom keyboard shortcut or a five-finger swipe. As you'd expect, you can just click the icon you want to switch to that app. In practice, I found it was tough to use the multitouch gesture without accidentally using four fingers and launching Mission Control, but it's nice to have the option.

For now, I feel Mission Control is currently much more easier and quicker to navigate between apps as compared to TaskBoard, which only brings up the iOS-like functionality. If you really like it, you can use an app like BetterTouchTool to map it to CMD+Tab or a more intuitive gesture. TaskBoard is a free beta, so it's definitely worth giving a try. 
Here are some of it's screen provided by it's author:




Do tell us how you liked the app in below comments!

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