Twitter has updated Vine for iOS, adding a feature that allows Vine users to embed their videos on web pages. The embed option, which is located in the app, can be used for self-created videos and for videos created by others. Embeds can also be done via the Vine.co webpage assigned to Vines on the internet.
Video sharing offers two stylistic choices, including "Simple," which is a borderless video displayed at full resolution and "Postcard," which is the standard Vine look.
Vine users can also share other users' Vine videos on Facebook and Twitter with the newest version of the app, as long as the videos have been previously shared by those who created them. Finally, the update includes a number of bug fixes and performance enhancements.
-Now you can share posts by others to Twitter or Facebook, or embed them on the web. -Fixed an issue that caused the camera to freeze when starting a new recording -Resolved a bug that that caused the camera to record without touching the screen -Other minor fixes and performance improvements
Mac Otakara reports that the long-running Japanese magazine MacFan has claimed that Apple will be holding a special media event on June 20 to introduce the iPhone 5S. According to the report, the iPhone 5S will actually launch in July with the rumored lower-cost iPhone following in August.
Various analysts and other sources have been indicating that the iPhone 5S could launch as soon as June or July, but MacFan's specific claim of a June 20 media event seems to defy common sense on several levels.
First, while Apple has not yet announced dates for its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, a tentative long-range schedule that leaked several years ago and continued gap in the Moscone Center's public schedule have suggested that the company is likely to hold the conference the week of June 10-14.
Apple could certainly choose to introduce the iPhone 5S at WWDC as it did for several years before it shifted iPhone launches to later in the year for 2011 and 2012, although the company has shown that it is willing to hold WWDC without a major hardware launch and instead focus on iOS and OS X for its developer community.
Still, even if Apple chooses not to introduce the iPhone 5S at WWDC, it seems extremely unlikely that the company would expect the media to return for a separate media event just a week later to show off the iPhone 5S. Even when it is running a tight schedule to launch significant numbers of new products, Apple schedules significant gaps between its announcements in order to allow each one to have its full share of publicity.
Second, Apple almost universally holds its media events on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, with the theory being that Mondays are poor days for members of the media who may need to travel to the event location the day before and that Thursdays and Fridays don't leave enough time for the full publicity impact before the news cycle is interrupted by the weekend. The one recent exception to Apple's scheduling trend was its education-focused media event on Thursday, January 19, 2012, but that event was unusual in several respects, including its location in New York City and a strict focus on content such as iBooks Textbooks and iTunes U rather than any new hardware.
As a result, we believe that June 20 is a very unlikely date for an iPhone media event, with Apple being much more likely to either introduce the iPhone 5S at WWDC itself during a Monday keynote (regardless of what week the conference is held) or at a Tuesday or Wednesday media event at least several weeks removed from WWDC.
Apple has long had a partnership with Best Buy for dedicated "Apple Shop" sections in many of the electronics retailer's stores, but a new report from Geek.com indicates that those Apple Shops will soon be joined by similar Samsung shops, with the upcoming Galaxy S4 launch serving as the impetus for the first round of store rollouts.
Geek.com has been told that the first wave of high traffic Best Buy locations will soon be receiving instruction to remove two aisles next to their mobile department and prepare to install a new Samsung store. This new section will be dressed in large Samsung signage and offer custom demo stations for many of Samsung’s products. Locations with the new section will be issuing special training sessions for employees in the mobile department, focusing heavily on how to show off Samsung-specific features.
The report indicates that the Galaxy S4 will be the featured attraction of these shops, although Samsung's full line of smartphones and tablets will be on display.
Best Buy Apple Shop
Apple and Samsung have of course become bitter rivals in the mobile device market, with Samsung rapidly establishing itself as the dominant manufacturer of Android-based devices and surpassing Apple in a number of metrics related to the smartphone market. Samsung has been tackling Apple head-on with its advertising, increasing its spending and sparking concerns that Apple needs to step up its game.
With the addition of high-profile shops inside Best Buy stores, Samsung has no doubt been able to leverage its recent successes in hopes of continuing that momentum for the Galaxy S4 and its other smartphone and tablet devices.
M.I.C. Gadget reports that Apple has been hit with a new lawsuit in China, with the state-owned Shanghai Animation Film Studio claiming that Apple has permitted sales of its movies without authorization. Given that Apple does not directly sell audio or video content through the iTunes Store in China, it appears that the issue relates to the films being made available through third-party App Store apps.
Shanghai Animation Film Studio, China’s first and official animation factory, sued Apple for hosting applications containing unlicensed versions of their works on its App Store that were available for download, demanding a total compensation of 3.3 million yuan (around $530,000 USD) from Apple for violating the copyrights of their 110 works.
The South China Morning Posthas more on the situation, noting that Apple declined to comment and that officials from the animation studio made only a brief statement about the matter.
"We want to keep tight-lipped on this case because, as we see it, it's just a litigation in which we want to get compensation [for our product]," said an official from the Shanghai studio. "It's a sensitive period now since Apple is a big multinational company and it is surrounded by controversies on its practices in China."
The lawsuit is the latest in a long line of legal troubles for Apple in China, which includes a patent lawsuit over Siri that gained news earlier this week and a case late last year in which Apple lost an $82,000 judgment over unauthorized sales of a Chinese encyclopedia through the App Store. The highest-profile case in China has been the dispute over the "iPad" trademark in the country, with Apple agreeing to a $60 million settlement in that case last year.
Facebook today invited members of the press to an Android-related event on April 4, and TechCrunch reports that the event will likely see the debut of the long-rumored Facebook phone. According to reports, the device would be an HTC handset running a Facebook-modified version of Android.
If true, the move would turn Facebook into an Amazon-style competitor in the smartphone market for Apple, as Amazon has heavily modified Android for its own Kindle Fire tablet devices.
There have been persistent rumors of Facebook working on a smartphone, with Bloombergreporting in 2010 that the phone would be based on a "stripped-down" version of Android. Last year, the New York Timesreported that Facebook was hiring former Apple iPhone and iPad engineers to work on a "Facebook phone."
TechCrunch highlights one of the key reasons why Facebook would want to create a smartphone device of its own:
With deeper control of a modified operating system would come huge opportunities to collect data on its users. Facebook knows that who you SMS and call are important indicators of who your closest friends are. Its own version of Android could give it that info, which could be used to refine everything from what content you’re shown in the news feed to which friends faces are used in ads you see.
Facebook currently has two of the more popular free apps in the App Store with Facebook and Facebook Messenger. Recently, the company has updated its main Facebook app to add free VoIP calling in a number of countries.
Apple today rolled out a new advertising theme for the iPad on its website, highlighting a number of reasons why people love their iPads. The campaign follows on a similar one for the iPhone that launched a couple of weeks ago.
The 'Why iPad' pages mention positive J.D. Power rankings for the device, percentages of companies and school districts using the iPad, the 300,000 apps available for the iPad, the quality of the materials used in building it, the Retina display for the iPad as well as the smaller size of the mini, 10-hour battery life, and the two cameras built into the devices.
It's unclear why Apple waited to launch the 'Why iPad' page rather than launching it simultaneously with the companion iPhone page. The campaigns seem to be in response to an advertising blitz from Samsung that has shown some gains for the company in the past year.
Twitter has released a significant update to its TweetDeck Mac App, adding features like improved filters, new font sizes, and the advanced search tools that were originally added to the Chrome application in December.
Column filters, which have long been a part of the TweetDeck Web app, are a new addition to the Mac version, along with tools for filtering columns by content and users.
With content filters, TweetDeck users can filter Twitter streams with several different parameters, including media, RTs, and including and excluding terms. The update also offers additional font sizes and new keyboard commands.
-Introduced column filters and powerful advanced search -Added Content filters to columns and search including ability to filter by media, RTs, including and excluding terms -Added Users filters to columns and search including ability to filter by verified users, members of a list and more -Added wide column setting -Added new font sizes to settings -Spacebar now triggers page down event -Cmd+W closes windows -Social proof for favorites & RTs in detail view -Added verified badge to list searches -Enabled infinite scroll in temporary columns
In early March, Twitter announced that it was ending support for TweetDeck for iPhone, Android, and TweetDeck AIR, focusing instead on its TweetDeck Web app and Google Chrome apps, along with its native Mac and PC apps.
Alongside today's new marketing push to try to win back professional video editors, Apple has released updates for Final Cut Pro X, Motion, and Compressor. While Motion and Compressor have seen mostly minor tweaks and bug fixes, Final Cut Pro X has received a somewhat more substantial update including support for the new Sony XAVC codec up to 4K resolution.
- Support for Sony XAVC codec up to 4K resolution - Option to display ProRes Log C files from ARRI ALEXA cameras with standard Rec. 709 color and contrast levels - Resolves an issue where some third-party effects generated green frames during render - Resolves performance issues that could occur with certain titles and effects - Time reversed clips render in the background - Ability to use key commands to adjust Clip Appearance settings in the timeline - Ability to view reel number metadata located in the timecode track of video files - Mono audio files in a surround project export with correct volume levels - Drop zones no longer reset to the first frame of video after application restart - Fixes a performance issue which resulted from selecting multiple ranges on a single clip - Fixes an issue where the Play Around function did not work properly on certain clips when viewed through external video devices
- Resolves an issue where some third-party effects generated green frames during render - Resolves performance issues that could occur with certain titles and effects - Fixes a stability issue when splitting layers in the timeline - Fixes an issue where launching a plug-in with a check box could require multiple clicks - Fixes a stability issue with CoreMelt plug-ins
- Removes 1GB file size limit for uploads to Vimeo - Fixes a stability issue when playing back certain MPEG-2 files - Fixes a stability issue in Qmaster when processing multiple jobs
In addition to the updates for the core Final Cut apps, Apple has also released an updated set of ProApps QuickTime Codecs for Final Cut Pro X users.
Apple has updated its 'Find My Friends' location notification app. The small update makes it slightly more streamlined to search for and set location-based notifications.
The Next Web has more information about what has changed specifically:
The new interface for setting up those alerts has been tweaked to let you set the exact distance threshold from a location. This lets you fine-tune the sensitivity of an alert for, say, two different buildings on a campus. If you just wanted to know when someone is ‘home’, the older process with a ‘fixed’ zone was fine, but if you were looking to get notices when someone gets into a neighborhood, it was pretty much impossible.
Callet World is suing case-maker Hex over that company's Solo Wallet iPhone case and credit card holder. Callet alleges Hex's case is a direct copy of a case design that Callet holds a design patent for.
Callet has sued both Hex and Apple in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for violating a design patent of Callet's design of a iPhone case and credit card holder. The company accuses Hex of manufacturing the infringing design, and Apple for selling it. Apple does not carry the Callet in its stores.
Defendants’ Solo Wallet Case and Pretty Sweet Solo Wallet Case products are exemplary. The copying is so pervasive, that the defendants’ products appear to be Callet World products with the same rectangular shape with rounded corners, integral card holder on the outwardly facing side of the phone cover, and gently curving edges on the back and side. Hex had many options in developing its products. Indeed, earlier Hex products did not embody the same Callet World designs. On information and belief, Hex chose to infringe Callet World’s patent rights through the design of its Solo Wallet Case, Pretty Sweet Solo Wallet Case and similar products and it did so willfully.
Callet is asking the court for a judgement that the defendants have willfully infringed on the patent, an order enjoining them from continuing to infringe on it, and a judgment award to compensate Callet for financial damages.
It appears that Callet's claim is primarily with Hex and that Apple is being targeted here because it has deep corporate pockets. Like many major corporations, Apple is sued numerous times each year over a wide variety of matters.
Back in June 2011, Apple launched Final Cut Pro X, a complete reworking of the company's video editing software aimed at professional users, but the new software was met with significant criticism over missing features. Professional users in particular were upset over what seemed to be a "dumbing down" of Final Cut Pro in order to reach more mainstream users.
Apple responded to the controversy by offering refunds to dissatisfied customers and promising updates to improve Final Cut Pro X, and a number of those updates have been delivered over the past 21 months.
Now, after updating the software seven times since its release in 2011, Apple is launching a campaign Thursday aimed at winning back skeptical professional users.
That campaign, timed to coincide with the National Assn. of Broadcasters convention that starts April 6 in Las Vegas, will feature users like Julian Liurette, who followed the firestorm from his video editing desk in Toronto at the Globe and Mail newspaper.
After waiting a year as Apple gradually released updates, Liurette finally gave it a try and was surprised. So Liurette began moving the newspaper's video operations from the old version to Final Cut Pro X.
The campaign will also feature Hong Kong cinema icon Tsui Hark and Mexican television conglomerate TV Azteca.
The report notes that Apple has won points for its FAQ posted soon after launch outlining the company's improvement plans, as well as for a free trial offer for Final Pro X, but that many users remain skeptical of Apple's commitment to professional customers. But with professionals becoming increasingly uneasy about the future of Apple's main competitor Avid and concerned over how long Final Cut Pro 7 will remain supported, Apple is hoping that they will take a fresh look at Final Cut Pro X.
Update 11:42 AM: Apple's new features on Tsui Hark and The Globe and Mail have gone live on Apple's "In Action" page, but we haven't yet spotted a feature on TV Azteca.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today published an Apple patent application (via AppleInsider) offering an interesting glimpse at the possibility of an iPhone or other mobile device using a flexible display contained within a transparent body body such as a glass tube or other shape. The display would be able to wraparound the sides and even rear of the device as needed in order to provide more viewable area.
This paper describes various embodiments that relate to an apparatus, method, and computer readable medium for creating a portable electronic device with a wraparound display.
In one embodiment, a consumer electronic product is described. The consumer electronic product includes at least a transparent housing and a flexible display assembly enclosed within the transparent housing. In the described embodiment, the flexible display assembly is configured to present visual content at any portion of the transparent housing.
Alternative device shapes
As part of the patent application, Apple explores a variety of options for such devices, including multiple form factors and the potential use of a second inner display underneath a transparent outer display to provide the illusion of 3D content. Apple also suggests the possibility of interchangeable end caps to fit specific situations, including joining multiple devices together to make a single larger screen.
The patent application, which was filed in September 2011, is credited solely to Apple product design engineer Scott Myers. The concept of a flexible wraparound display for the iPhone or other mobile device is reminiscent of another Apple patent application which surfaced last month showing a slap bracelet accessory with a wraparound display that could clearly serve as a smart watch. Myers was one of three Apple engineers credited on that patent application, which was filed in August 2011.
Digitimes is reporting that Apple is set to cut shipments of iPad mini in the second quarter of 2013, according to its industry sources.
The cut is said to be a 20% reduction for the month of April, with steeper cuts potentially following in the remainder of the quarter, although the report does not specify whether the cuts are relative to previous production plans or to current-quarter output.
Apple has reportedly cut its shipments of the iPad mini to between 10-12 million units for the second quarter of 2013, according to industry sources. The figure is based on shipment information given from multiple sources who provide various components for Apple's iPad mini.
The decrease may be as high as 20% on month during April, the sources noted, and may continue to slightly decrease throughout the quarter to bring total shipments of the iPad mini to as low as 10 million units during the quarter.
The move comes two weeks after Apple started offering refurbished iPad minis on sale for the first time and may be tied to Apple devoting resources to the production of the next-generation iPad mini. The report claims, however, that competition from 7-inch tablets may also be playing a role.
Rumors of production cuts for Apple products are always difficult to put much stock into, as Apple's internal build plans are fluid as the company manages its nimble supply chain to adjust for demand and product transitions.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has also cautioned against reading too much into supply chain reports, noting that the company has multiple sources for many components and that yield rates may vary over time, meaning that supply chain reports typically offer incomplete pictures of Apple's production situation.
DisplaySearch analyst Paul Semenza speculated that, based on supply chain data, the next-generation iPad mini would be released in the third or fourth quarter of 2013. Reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has also predicted a third-quarter release for the next iPad mini.
The next iPad mini has been rumored to include a Retina display with a resolution of 2048 x 1536, which would give it the same number of pixels as the full-sized iPad but with a higher-density 324 pixels per inch. However, iMore's Rene Ritchie, who has also been relatively accurate, has predicted earlier this month that an interim spec-bumped iPad mini could launch in April and claimed that a Retina display iPad mini doesn't "sound imminent."
Arrowhead Game Studios, in partnership with Paradox Interactive and Ludosity, tonight released Magicka: Wizards of the Square Tablet for the iPad, which is based on its popular action adventure Magicka PC game.
As in the computer version of the game, players of Magicka: Wizards of the Square Tablet take on the role of a wizard, combining elemental powers to conjure and cast unique magical spells to destroy demons.
Though the game retains the same humorous undertone and the crazy spell combinations of the PC version, the art style has been altered for the iPad, featuring cartoonish 2D graphics instead of the 3D isometric perspective of the PC game.
The original game had a heavy multiplayer focus, and the iPad edition of Magicka functions in the same way, allowing up to four players to play together online.
In Nimble Quest, players control an ever-increasing line of adventurers, battling against enemies with both ranged and melee attacks. Our sister site, TouchArcade, describes the game as a cross between Snake and a traditional RPG.
In brief, NimbleQuest is Snake, except on steroids. In the game, you control a conga line of fantasy adventurers, and, with a combination of ranged and melee attacks, you battle it out across a variety of settings against archers, skeletons, bats, and a whole lot more. Imagine if your old-school, traditional Snake snake could somehow attack incoming enemy snakes and you've got the picture.
The game melds skill-based touch gameplay with roleplaying elements including skill increases, power ups, and party building, requiring players to navigate their growing line of party members through an endless number of stages.
Though Nimble Quest is designed to be a single player game, it incorporates a guild system that functions similarly to the "Flight Crew" in Pocket Planes, offering up time-limited quests and global leaderboards.
Nimble Quest is a free app for the iPad and the iPhone that is available for download in the App Store. [Direct Link]
Former Apple employee Tim Holmes recently discovered a set of photographs taken on an Apple QuickTake camera -- one of the first digital cameras made -- from the night Steve Jobs returned to Apple after it purchased NeXT.
Holmes notes in the description that the colors are incorrect in the photos because of the poor quality of digital cameras in 1996, and that Jobs' jacket was actually black, not purple.
Working late on a Friday on December 20th at Apple Computer as Mac OS Evangelist, my manager came rushing past my office door saying to come with him to Town Hall, Apple's theater for announcements, company meetings and the like. It was clearly not a company meeting…
Joining Jobs' in the image above was Satjiv Chahil, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing at the time.
"We regularly identify apps that our owners rely on as part of their everyday life, and adapt them for an in-vehicle experience they’ll find safe, useful and engaging," said Phil Johnston, Product Manager for the BMW Group Apps Platform from the BMW Group Technology Office. "Audible, Glympse, Rhapsody and TuneIn were natural additions to the family of BMW Apps Ready Apps."
Apps can be accessed and used with the iDrive controller after plugging in an iPhone to the center console with a USB cable or the SnapIn adapter available in any compatible BMW or Mini.
All of the apps that have been approved for use with BMW Apps Ready vehicles will be updated over the next few weeks to add support for the new functionality. BMW Apps is an option that is available on 2011 and later BMW and MINI vehicles.
Apple has expanded its postings for Maps Ground Truth jobs to the rest of the world, after initially hiring for similar positions only in Australia. 'Ground Truth' refers to information collected on location versus data collected remotely, such as satellite imagery.
The jobs, for 'Maps Ground Truth Manager' positions, have been posted for the U.S., The Americas, Western Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East & Africa.
The Maps team is searching for a manager for the team responsible for regional map quality and ground truth in the U.S.. Each of our regional teams is responsible for the quality of our maps in their region. This team's responsibilities include:
• Testing new releases of map code and data around the U.S. • Collecting ground truth data to allow for analysis of the impact of potential map code or data changes relative to known truth • Utilizing local expertise to provide feedback about U.S.-specific mapping details • Evaluating competing products in-region relative to our maps
As the manager of this team, you will be expected to drive all of this team's work, determine where and how to allocate resources, and clearly communicate test results and other feedback to teams in Cupertino. The U.S. regional team is also responsible for driving communication between engineering teams in Cupertino and our other regional teams, as well as evaluating new regional testing initiatives in close coordination with the rest of the Maps quality team before those initiatives are rolled out to the other regional teams.
Apple has been working to improve its maps after criticism led CEO Tim Cook to publicly apologize for issues customers had. Google's Maps app for iOS was downloaded more than 10 million times in two days after it became available several months after Apple's maps were released.
Twitter has updated Vine for iOS, adding a feature that allows Vine users to embed their videos on web pages. The embed option, which is located in the app, can be used for self-created videos and for videos created by others. Embeds can also be done via the Vine.co webpage assigned to Vines on the internet.
Facebook today invited members of the press to an Android-related event on April 4, and 
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Digitimes is 
Arrowhead Game Studios, in partnership with Paradox Interactive and 
