MacRumors

Following the introduction of the new 'Decade of iTunes' milestone feature that debuted yesterday to celebrate iTunes' 10th anniversary, Apple has sent out a hard copy of the timeline to journalists, reports CNET.

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The paper version of the timeline comes with a gift card that features 100 free handpicked iTunes songs, along with a personal thank you note from senior VP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue.

When Apple introduced the iTunes Store on April 28, 2003, we thought if consumers had a great, legal way to download music they would embrace it – did they ever. Apple was floored, as were the labels, when customers bought over 1 million songs during the first week. And now, 10 years later, we continue to be amazed by how much customers love the iTunes Store, with more than 25 billion songs sold.

Apple loves music and strives to provide customers with the most innovative features and services on iTunes. We are all very proud of having such an incredible selection of legendary musicians on the iTunes Store and take great pride in exposing music fans to new and emerging artists.

We've put together a compilation of 100 songs that represents milestones throughout the history of iTunes and shows just how far we've come. I'd like to thank our customers, label partners, and artists for being part of such an incredible decade.
–Eddy Cue

Apple's digital 10th anniversary iTunes celebration features a timeline of events that covers the ten-year history of the iTunes Store, beginning in 2003, plus a list of the top-selling songs for each year of the decade.

Tickets for Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference sold out this morning in less than two minutes, leaving a number of developers with error messages stating that their purchase requests were unable to be processed.

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According to a tweet from Red Sweater Software founder Daniel Jalkut, Apple contacted some registered members of its developer program to offer them a second chance to purchase a WWDC ticket. Eric Doleki detailed his phone call from Apple in a blog post.

I pick up and a nice guy tells me he's from Apple Developer Support and that they noticed that I tried to purchase a ticket today and that the transaction didn't go through. I told him that was true. I thought the next thing out of his mouth would be an apology or something – just to be nice.

He then proceeds to tell me that he's got good news – a ticket has been reserved for me in my name and that I'll be receiving an email from Developer Support within 12 hours with instructions on how to purchase the pass. He thanked me for supporting the platform, etc.

Dolecki's story has been confirmed by several other developers on Twitter who have also received phone calls from Apple. The company appears to be offering tickets to developers who experienced a failed purchase after placing a WWDC ticket in their shopping carts.

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference will take place June 10-14 at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco. Tickets are priced at $1599.

InstapaperDeveloper Marco Arment announced in a blog post today that he has sold a majority stake of his read-later app Instapaper to Betaworks.

That company owns Bitly, Digg, Socialflow and a number of other products. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

I’m happy to announce that I’ve sold a majority stake in Instapaper to Betaworks. We’ve structured the deal with Instapaper’s health and longevity as the top priority, with incentives to keep it going well into the future. I will continue advising the project indefinitely, while Betaworks will take over its operations, expand its staff, and develop it further.

Arment said he would like to work on other apps and creative projects, including The Magazine, his medium-form iPad magazine.

Instapaper is available for the iPhone and iPad for $3.99. [Direct Link]

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson has ordered T-Mobile to alter its new "Uncarrier" advertising strategy, calling its contract free claims "deceptive."

Alongside the launch of the iPhone 5 earlier this month, T-Mobile rolled out new rate plans, which are designed to separate device costs from service costs. To purchase a device like the iPhone 5, T-Mobile customers make a small downpayment and pay off the rest of the cost over a two-year period, while also paying for a separate service plan.

tmobileAccording to Ferguson, T-Mobile has failed to clearly state that while there is no annual contract for T-Mobile subscribers, customers who cease using T-Mobile's service must pay off the remaining cost of the device.

"As Attorney General, my job is to defend consumers, ensure truth in advertising, and make sure all businesses are playing by the rules," Ferguson said. "My office identified that T-Mobile was failing to adequately disclose a critical component of their new plan to consumers, and we acted quickly to stop this practice and protect consumers across the country from harm."

As a result, Ferguson entered into a court ordered agreement with T-Mobile that will require the carrier to explicitly disclose the details of its contract free plans both through its advertisements and with employee training.

T-Mobile cooperated with the Attorney General's Office in signing an Assurance of Discontinuance (AOD) filed in King County Superior Court today. Under the AOD, the company agrees not to:

-Misrepresent consumers' obligations under its contracts, including those contracts that have not restrictions or limitations; and
-Fail to adequately disclose that customers who terminate their T-Mobile wireless service before their device is paid off will have to pay the balance due on the phone at the time of cancellation.

The agreement also requires T-Mobile to offer full refunds to customers who purchased T-Mobile service and equipment between the dates of March 26 and April 25, 2013. Subscribers who purchased phones during this time period can cancel their service plans and receive device refunds without the need to pay the remaining balance on the device.

leapmotionhandThe public release of the Leap Motion controller has been delayed until July because the company feels it needs a longer beta test, reports TechCrunch. Best Buy has sent notifications to customers who preordered the device, and Leap today said the device will ship July 22th.

Leap Motion's controller is a touch-free device that allows users to control their computers via hand gestures in three dimensions. It works in conjunction with the Leap Motion software, and development units have been sent to 10,000 developers around the world.

Leap Motion says it wants to make sure that the product they deliver is the best they can offer, and says that there is “nothing catastrophically wrong” with the hardware as of yet. The company believes that it could have shipped by the original date if it had really pushed things, but wanted to make sure that things were ready for prime time. The new July 22 ship date is firmly set, according to [Leap Motion CEO Michael] Buckwald, and this is “the first and only delay there will be.”

The Leap Motion controller is currently available for pre-order from the website for $79.99. At the moment, however, the Leap Motion website still says it will ship on May 13th.

Firaxis and 2K Games' critically acclaimed strategy title XCOM: Enemy Unknown has officially launched for the Mac today.

Originally announced in February, XCOM: Enemy Unknown for Mac comes packaged as part of a special Elite Edition, which includes additional add-on content like the Slingshot Pack, the Elite Soldier Pack, the Second Wave update and the game's soundtrack.

xcom
XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a re-imagined version of the 1994 classic X-Com: UFO Defense. In the game, players will lead a secret government organization to defend the world against aliens, overseeing base management and engaging in combat.

-Command XCOM's soldiers in tense turn-based battles where each decision could be the difference between game-changing gains or devastating losses for humanity.

-Expand the XCOM base, manage its resources, oversee international relations and control Earth's satellite coverage and air defenses.

-Recruit, customize and equip an elite squad, then upgrade each soldier's unique skills and abilities as they gain experience in the field.

-Recover artifacts from battle and use them to research and build powerful technologies that can be turned against the invaders.

-Mix and match aliens and soldiers to create powerful squads in LAN and online multiplayer.


The included DLC adds extended character customization options and additional missions, along with several new gameplay options.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown - Elite Edition can be downloaded for $49.99 from the Mac App Store. [Direct Link]

TwitterTwitter has updated its OS X client, nearly two years since the last update. The new client gains support for the Retina display and fourteen more languages, as well as a new way to post photos.

- Photos: It’s easier than ever to share photos. Simply click the camera icon in the lower-left corner of the Tweet compose box, and choose a photo to share. If you prefer, you can still drag and drop photos from the desktop.

- Retina display support: Now Twitter is even more vibrant and detailed on the highest resolution Mac notebooks. With this update, Tweets will be clearer and sharper, creating a more vivid experience.

- 14 more languages: In addition to English, Twitter for Mac now supports Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese, and Turkish.

Along with these updates, Twitter for Mac offers keyboard shortcuts, support for multiple accounts and timelines, and other features that you’ve come to love.

Twitter also claims that more improvements are coming to the OS X client in the future. It was reported last fall that Twitter had decided to discontinue its Mac client, but with this update and a tweet from Twitter engineer Ben Sandofsky saying he was working on Twitter for Mac full time, it appears that Twitter has decided to resume development of the app.

The company recently announced that it was ending support for its TweetDeck for iPhone and Android apps in May.

Twitter for Mac is a free download from the Mac App Store. [Direct Link]

LinkedIn has launched a new app called LinkedIn Contacts, which is designed to be a contact management system that incorporates connections on LinkedIn with contacts from your iPhone and from third party services like Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Outlook.

LinkedIn Contacts brings together all your address books, emails, and calendars, and keeps them up to date in one place. From these sources, we’ll automatically pull in the details of your past conversations and meetings, and bring these details directly onto your contact’s profile.

linkedin
The new app organizes emails, calendar events, and more into a timeline that is displayed on a per-person basis. Looking up a person within the app reveals all prior communications along with contact info and the app will also supply information and alerts for birthdays and job changes.

-All your contacts in one place – We bring together all of your address books, emails, and calendars, and keep them up to date so you don’t have to

-Never miss an opportunity to stay in touch – Get alerted on job changes and birthdays in your network, a perfect opportunity to say hello

-See where you left off the conversation – Review your most recent correspondence with a contact before picking up the phone

-Discover more about who you’re meeting with – Prepare for your day with details on each person you’re meeting

-Find the right person for the task at hand – Sort contacts by recent conversation and filter by company or location

LinkedIn Contacts can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

After going on sale at 10:00 AM Pacific Time today, tickets for Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco have already sold out in two minutes.

wwdc_2013_sold_out
WWDC has sold out increasingly quickly in recent years, and this year in particular saw a massive rush of developers ready to purchase at the launch time due to Apple having announced the on-sale time a day in advance. Previously, Apple had begun sales at the moment it announced details on the annual conference, but with last year's tickets selling out in under two hours, some developers found themselves out of luck before they had even woken up for the day.

WWDC 2011 sold out in under 12 hours, while the 2010 edition took eight days. This marks the sixth straight year that WWDC has sold out, a streak that began in 2008.

With the increasingly quick ticket sellouts, there have been calls to increase the size of WWDC. Apple would, however, be hard pressed to do so given that a major focus of the conference is on assisting developers with their apps and Apple needs to have enough engineers on hand to provide that hands-on help.

wwdc_2013_logoIn line with yesterday's announcement, Apple has just begun ticket sales for its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which will take place June 10-14 at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco. Tickets are priced at $1599.

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.

Tickets are expected to sell out quickly, as seen last year when they disappeared in under two hours even without advance warning of the on-sale time.

In order to buy tickets for WWDC, purchasers must have been registered as members of one of Apple's paid developer programs as of 5:30 AM Pacific Time on April 24, the time of Apple's announcement. Tickets are also limited to one per person and five per organization.

Apple is also setting aside 150 free tickets for student developers, with those tickets being awarded through an application process with students being required to submit an app they have developed as well as responses to several essay questions. Apple will begin accepting applications for the student program at 9:00 AM Pacific Time on April 29, with a deadline of 5:00 PM Pacific Time on May 2. Applicants will be notified of the results by May 16.

Update: Tickets sold out in two minutes.

Over the past several months, a number of rumors have suggested that Apple will be looking to update its notebook lineup at or soon after its Worldwide Developers Conference, which kicks off on June 10. In particular, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a relatively strong track record, laid out a roadmap in January predicting that the MacBook Air could see an update by late in the second quarter with Apple's MacBook Pro moving to an all-Retina lineup early in the third quarter.

Reports on whether there will be any design changes as part of a rumored June notebook update have varied, with a February report from Taiwan's Economic Times claiming that the MacBook Air will see a design refresh while Kuo has suggested that the Retina MacBook Pro may also see design tweaks.

macbook_air_macbook_pro
Digitimes has weighed in several times on the June notebook refresh rumors, first noting them in late December while suggesting that Apple may cut prices on the MacBook Air in the interim in order to keep sales moving. To that end, Apple did in fact drop pricing on its high-end 13-inch MacBook Air alongside a February spec bump for the Retina MacBook Pro. Digitimes weighed in again just weeks ago, claiming that Apple will be updating its notebook lineup late this quarter, again suggesting a June launch.

In a new report out today, Digitimes claims that Apple's quarterly notebook shipments are expected to grow 10% sequentially as the company works through the remainder of its excess inventory and looks to begin ramping up production again in mid-May. The report notes that this new production will primarily be next-generation models based on the Haswell platform.

Apple's MacBook shipments in the second quarter are expected to grow 10% sequentially as the company has almost finished digesting its excess inventory and should start placing new orders in mid-May, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

The orders in May are expected to be mainly Haswell-based models, the sources noted.

Conflicting with some earlier reports of design changes for the MacBook Air and Retina MacBook Pro, Digitimes says that Apple's suppliers have not received any instructions for changes to designs or their equipment, suggesting that the upgrades may be limited to internal improvements.

During Apple's earnings conference call earlier this week, CEO Tim Cook appeared to play down the company's product launch plans for the next several months, specifically noting optimism about "amazing" new products coming in the "fall and throughout 2014".

Related Roundups: MacBook Pro, MacBook Air
Related Forums: MacBook Pro, MacBook Air

Last week, we noted that workers had begun removing barricades and scaffolding surrounding Apple's first store in Berlin, Germany amid rumors that the store would open during the first weekend of May.

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In an unusually early reveal, Apple has already confirmed the opening with a new page for the store listing the public opening as taking place at 5:00 PM on Friday, May 3. The new page also includes a unique grand opening notice that slowly shifts colors. Signage on the construction barriers surrounding the store had briefly used a similar effect.

Earlier this week, we gave a brief preview of Delicious Monster's Delicious Library 3, a brand-new version of the company's popular cataloging app for OS X. The app is now available in the Mac App Store [Direct Link], and Ars Technica has a thorough overview of the new features.

delicious_library_3_1
Among the most immediately obvious changes for existing users of Delicious Library is its updated look, which includes the use of SceneKit to boost the realism, along with subtle animation that allows shelf items to constantly move to face the user's mouse cursor.

"We cranked up all the visuals and then cranked down every visual effect so it was something you didn't notice very much," [Delicious Monster CEO Wil] Shipley said. "This has all the graphics effects and polish of a game from a couple years ago. As far as I know, nobody else has used OpenGL in consumer products like this at all, much less the environment mapping and other stuff like that."

Other enhancements include a new stats pane to give users quick overviews of their collections, as well as a completely revamped recommendation engine.

"This isn't about what I own, it's about getting my personality in the computer," Shipley said. "Now, if you scan your whole DVD collection, it provides a bunch of recommendations based on the aggregate of that information. Then if you rate them all, it'll refine the recommendations."

delicious_library_3_2
Finally, Delicious Monster has released a free companion iOS app, Delicious Scanner [Direct Link], that will pair with the user's Mac over Wi-Fi and allow his or her iOS device to serve as a mobile barcode scanner.

Delicious Library 3 is available now in the Mac App Store for $24.99. [Direct Link]

icloud-icon-399x400German appeals court Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court yesterday announced [Google translation] its decision to stay an appeal in Apple v. Google's Motorola Mobility case over a push notification patent.

Back in February 2012, Apple suspended iCloud/MobileMe push functionality in Germany due to successful patent litigation from Motorola Mobility for a push notification patent. FOSS Patents reports that the patent is likely invalid.

On Friday the Mannheim Regional Court (whose rulings can be appealed to the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court) announced its finding that Microsoft, which also faces an assertion of this patent, is licensed, ruling out injunctive relief and staying the damages-related part of the case over doubts concerning the validity of the patent.

Motorola's patent for push notifications falls under an ActiveSync licensing agreement with Microsoft, which essentially allows both Microsoft and Apple to challenge the validity of the patent.

FOSS Patents also notes that this development opens the door for iCloud push functionality to return for German users.

By now the appeals court has fully evaluated Apple's invalidity contentions, and on this basis I believe a renewed motion on Apple's part to seek a stay of Google's enforcement of what appears to be a highly dubious patent will succeed shortly, giving German iCloud users their push notifications of new email messages back.

The German push notification case is just one part of a legal battle between Apple and Google's Motorola Mobility. Earlier this week, the International Trade Commission invalidated a Motorola sensor patent that threatened imports of iPhone 4 into the U.S.

And earlier this month, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Scola criticized Apple and Google for their patent disagreements and gave them four months to streamline that case.

Earlier this month, a report revealed that Apple's upcoming "spaceship" campus in Cupertino is both behind schedule and $2 billion over budget. Apple was said to be looking to cut costs on the project, which is apparent in the revised campus plans that it submitted to the city today.

Apple originally planned on constructing a 600,000 square foot area of buildings (known as the Tantau Development) in two phases. Phase 1 was to take place alongside the construction of the main Apple campus, while Phase 2 would be delayed until later.

campus2
In order to trim 300,000 square feet of construction costs from its budget, Apple has pushed the entire Tantau Development to Phase 2, which means it will be completed after the main campus is built.

Phase 2 includes 600,000 square feet of office, research and development buildings for up to 2,200 employees along North Tantau Avenue, providing flexibility to address future business needs. Construction of Phase 2 will follow completion of Phase 1. The Tantau sites will have small satellite plants.

Apple's revised campus plan includes the addition of an expanded section detailing bicycle access improvements, which comes with an included visualization of what bike pathways and sidewalks might look like on the campus.

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Also notable in the plan is a minor increase to parking availability and updates to public improvements, as well as a new section on Public Art that details four locations where the company plans to install art near the campus.

Apple Campus 2's budget rests near $5 billion, which is said to be because Steve Jobs insisted on design quality and expensive construction methods. The Campus, a circular 2,800,000 square foot 4-story building, is designed to hold 12,000 employees and has a prospective completion date of 2016.

Charity auction site CharityBuzz kicked off a charity auction for a cup of coffee with Tim Cook this morning and the listing, which has an estimated value of $50,000, went from $5,250 to $100,000 in a matter of hours.

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Here are our best guesses of the identities of the top contenders vying to win a coffee date with Cook:

owclarry - Larry O’Connor, the founder and CEO of Other World Computing, a company that provides computer upgrade products and services for Macs. "We would love the opportunity to sit down with Tim and maybe get some insights on where the future lies in his eyes," he told MacRumors.

rory.oneill3 (now charitybidder10) - Rory O’Neill, Vice President of Product & Channel Marketing at BlackBerry.

PasswordBox.com - PasswordBox is a secure password management app which is currently restricted to VIP members only and is available on a wait list basis. Its CEO and co-founder is Daniel Robichaud.

USocketUSBOutlet - U-Socket is an AC receptacle with two built-in USB ports, produced by FastMac, so this bidder is likely someone from the company.

stephen.gill.777 - Stephen Gill, an online marketing executive and co-founder of Leadnomics.

BGStucki - Brian Stucki, Owner of Macminicolo, a Mac Mini colocation service that stores users Mac minis in data centers for use as servers.

At the moment, Other World Computing founder Larry O'Connor, who has been actively bidding throughout the day has the winning bid. Prolific bidder O'Neill previously had the username rory.oneill3, which has now been changed to charitybidder10.

While we have confirmed that Stucki and O'Connor are the bidders behind their usernames, the remaining guesses are based on usernames that match up with known people in tech.

The auction, which ends on May 14, will allow two attendees to spend 30–60 minutes with Cook at Apple Headquarters in Cupertino. Proceeds will benefit the RFK Center for Justice & Human Rights.

Update: We have received an email alleging that the Rory O'Neill bidding in the auction is not affiliated with BlackBerry.

Update 2: The Charitybuzz website appears to utilize Facebook logins (thanks, Johan!) which means some usernames correlate to Facebook usernames. That suggests Rory O’Neill is not the same Rory O’Neill who works at BlackBerry. Bids have now reached $155k, with Sebastijian Bauman in the lead.

comex.pngFormer Apple employee and JailbreakMe.com hacker Nicholas Allegra, better known as Comex, will be interning at Google, reports Forbes.

Comex, who tweeted the news on Tuesday night, was hired by Apple as an intern in 2011. News broke that he was no longer with Apple late last year, after he forgot to respond to an email that offered him continued employment at the company.

Though Comex did not mention what he will work on at Google, he did mention his disdain for Android.

He added on Twitter that he won't be working on Android, an operating system that he has never "like[d] enough to ever want to hack it."

Before interning for Apple, Comex famously ran JailbreakMe.com, a site that offered a simple way for iOS users to jailbreak their devices. His clever exploits highlighted his talents and in an interview with Forbes, he likened jailbreaking to "editing an English paper… You just go through and look for errors. I don't know why I seem to be so effective at it."

Apple announced its 2013 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this morning, with plans to put tickets up for sale tomorrow at 10am.

Tickets for WWDC can be hard to come by and sold out within two hours last year, but current students might be able to attend the conference through a WWDC 2013 Student Scholarship.

Apple has set aside 150 scholarships for full or part-time students aged 13 years or older. Students must be current members of the iOS Developer Program, iOS Developer University Program, iOS Developer Enterprise Program, or Mac Developer Program.

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To win a scholarship, students must submit an application and create an app that demonstrates both creativity and strong coding abilities.

Use your creativity and coding skills to build an app that tells us about you. Your app should highlight development projects you've worked on, your educational and professional background, technical skills, and interests.

Scholarship applications must be submitted by Thursday, May 2, 2013 and will be judged on technical accomplishment, creativity, essay questions, and technical/work experience.

WWDC 2013 is set to take place from June 10–14 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Tickets will go on sale tomorrow, April 25 at 10 a.m. PDT for $1599 each.