During Apple's WWDC keynote, the company revealed that it would begin supporting MFi (Made for iPhone) certified gaming controllers. Since then, new details have emerged, suggesting that Apple is planning to partner with both Logitech and MOGA to work on the controllers.
Apple has thus far provided reference images displaying two different controller types; one that is a standalone handheld controller and another that is an iPhone enclosure. Kotaku today posted an image of the latter controller type, which the site says has been manufactured by Logitech.
With Steve Jobs no longer around to tell us these things aren't elegant enough for his device, it appears we'll finally get a proper gamepad for the iOS this year. This will be one of them, made by Logitech.
Can't tell you who gave it to us or where it was seen, but we can vouch for this image's authenticity. The controller is large enough to fit an iPhone 5. When iOS 7 introduces third-party controller support in the fall we'll see this thing, plus a bunch of others, probably. Apple evidently won't be making its own.
The image, which depicts what is probably an early prototype, shows a d-pad on the left side of the controller with a set of buttons on the right side. It looks fairly slim, and also sports a lightning connector. As our sister site TouchArcade points out, given the thriving iPhone and iPad accessory market, this is just the first of many controllers that will likely hit the market later this fall.
Apple has yet to release iOS 7 for the iPad and aside from a small picture on the iOS 7 site, there has been little indication of what the operating system will look like on the larger screen of the tablet.
German siteApfelpage.de [Google Translation] has posted some photos obtained via an iOS 7 iPad simulator in Xcode 5, which demonstrate how several stock apps will look on an iPad running the new OS.
Calendar and Game Center
Unsurprisingly, iOS 7 on the iPad looks much like it does on the iPhone. Maps has slightly more screen real estate to work with and the Control Center isn’t quite as obtrusive. As this is a simulated version of iOS 7 on the iPad, the actual version could look different.
Control Center and Maps
It is unclear when Apple plans to release iOS 7 on the iPad for developers, but it will likely come within the next few weeks. The full version of the new operating system is expected to debut in the fall, and in the meantime, Apfelpage.de has several more examples of iOS 7 apps running on the iPad. Australian writer Sonny Dickson, who provided the screenshots, also has additional images that can be found on his Twitter stream.
AT&T has announced that it is pushing out a software update to bring Wireless Emergency Alerts to its U.S. customers that use an iPhone 4S or an iPhone 5. Wireless Emergency Alerts are part of a public safety system that is designed to send out geographically-targeted messages to alert people about "imminent threats to safety."
The messages are government issued and will include AMBER alerts for notifying users about missing children, emergency alerts that offer weather notifications and public safety warnings, and Presidential alerts, which are messages that are sent directly from the President.
Wireless Emergency Alerts are part of the FCC's CMAS program and are mandated by law. You may turn off alerts (except for Presidential alerts) if you choose. Go to Settings >Notifications>Turn On/Off.
When the software update is delivered to your phone, you will see a message that states "Carrier Settings Update: new settings required for your device have been installed". After that, your iPhone 5 or 4S will receive all Wireless Emergency Alerts by default.
AT&T notes that messages sent through the Wireless Emergency Alerts system will not count against its subscriber' messaging plans. Both AMBER alerts and Emergency alerts can be turned off, but Presidential alerts are mandatory.
iPhone 4S and 5 users operating iOS 6.1 or later have already begun receiving the update over the air, while those using an older version of iOS will need to download the update through iTunes.
Update: As noted by several tipsters, the alerts will be available for iPhone 4 users as well.
After Apple debuted iOS 7 on Monday, the website for the new operating system displayed a set of icons that were different from the icons found in the current version of iOS 7.
Apple has since updated the website, but the Weather, Passport, and Reminders apps looked notably different, with the Passport and Reminders apps displaying different colors and the Weather app displaying a temperature rather than the current cloud and sun design.
"Old" iOS 7 icons
While it has been suggested that the icons represent future design changes that Apple is planning for iOS 7, it is more likely that the icons are previous iOS 7 design iterations. Because the icons were present on the website when it went public on Monday, it is reasonable to assume that the icons were the result of outdated and overlooked marketing material rather than an unintentional leak of new content.
The "old" weather icon, for example, forgoes the current sun and cloud icon of iOS 7 for a simple number, "73." That is the same temperature icon that is used for the iOS 6 version of Weather, so it is probable that the text-only 73 was an older, simpler design iteration taken from the current iOS 6 icon. There is no indication that the icon represents a live temperature reading.
Current iOS 7 icons
Passbook, too, looked notably different in the older version, with a confusing color scheme that heavily featured blues and greens. Reminders was updated as well, swapping out gray for green and yellow for orange, both of which are bolder colors. Arguably, the newer versions of the apps feature crisper designs and more prominent, easy to distinguish colors.
Though it is unlikely that the icons represent upcoming designs, it is likely that iOS 7 will see several graphical updates before it is released to the public this fall. As noted yesterday by The Next Web, the current design is a "work in progress."
Microsoft has posted a new television ad on YouTube for the Dell XPS 10 Tablet running Windows RT. The ad, which somewhat reminiscent of Apple's Mac vs. PC spots, use Siri's voice to compare the Windows Tablet to the iPad. A similar spot featuring the ASUS VivoTab Smart was posted last month.
Sorry, I don't zoom like that. Ouch. Ouch.
You can't put an SD card there. Or there. Or there.
You can do two things at once? That's cool.
Oh. That's not cool.
Microsoft has come under some criticism for a comparison page it posted back in May that inaccurately depicted a Windows Tablet as larger than the iPad.
The campaign is a bit of a reversal for Microsoft and other of Apple's competitors -- in general, advertising from the competition has tended to avoid mentioning Apple's iconic products in their ads.
Apple's latest advertising campaign has focused on the people using its products rather than the products themselves, a significant change from its more recent campaigns.
Twitter's TweetDeck for Mac has been updated to version 3.0.2, adding a new sidebar on the lefthand side of the application that allows for simpler navigation across columns. The columns can be arranged using new drag and drop options.
The update also brings new filter search parameters plus new filter interactions for a number of features including mentions, retweets, favorites, followers, and lists. Finally, the new version also comes equipped with tweet translation functionality.
What's New in Version 3.0.2 - Redesigned with a new sidebar on the left for easy navigation across columns. - Drag and drop rearrangement of columns in the sidebar. - Tweet translation. - Filter interactions for mentions, retweets, favorites, followers or lists. - Filter search columns by engagement (minimum number of retweets, favorites, replies).
Before Phil Schiller gave the world a sneak peek of the new Mac Pro at WWDC this week, Apple allowed select developers to come to its Cupertino headquarters to test out their software on preproduction hardware.
The Foundry shared with AppleInsider the story of how its team worked with the new Mac Pro in a room at Apple HQ known as the "Evil Lab" ahead of the desktop's unveiling. During the tests, the Mac Pro was entirely concealed in a giant steel cabinet, keeping its new design a mystery to The Foundry and Pixar.
"We were essentially doing a blind tasting of the machine," said Jack Greasley, MARI product manager at The Foundry. "All we could see was the monitor, and the Mac Pro was encased in a giant metal filing cabinet on wheels. Experiencing the machine in this way was actually really cool, because I can tell you that the speed and power of this machine really stands up. Mari running on this machine out of the box is the fastest I have ever seen it run."
Greasley said "some real innovation and thought has gone into what users want and need" with the new Mac Pro, and he doesn't "think pro users should be concerned" about the new machine.
Representatives from The Foundry and Pixar participated in a lunchtime session at WWDC this week, demonstrating the company's MARI software running on the new Mac Pro. The company managed to get a working copy of MARI ported to the Mac in just under a week and convinced Apple executives to give a significant block of time at WWDC to demo the software and the new machine.
The Mac Pro is expected to be released later this year.
Testifying in court yesterday as part of the ongoing e-books price fixing trial, Apple senior vice president for Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue offered some perspective on the history of iBooks and the iBookstore, noting that Steve Jobs was initially opposed to such a project. As shared by AllThingsD, Cue noted that it wasn't until just prior to the launch of the iPad that he was able to convince Jobs of the potential of e-books.
“… When I got my first chance to touch the iPad, I became completely convinced that this was a huge opportunity for us to build the best e-reader that the market had ever seen,” Cue said. “And so I went to Steve and told him why I thought [the iPad] was going to be a great device for ebooks. … and after some discussions he came back and said, you know, I think you’re right. I think this is great, and then he started coming up with ideas himself about what he wanted to do with it and how it would be even better as a reader and store.”
Cue had initially suggested an e-book effort earlier in the fall of 2009, but Jobs felt that the iPhone's screen was too small to allow for a good user experience and that the Mac didn't feel like a reading device. By the time Jobs was on board, it was November, and the iPad was scheduled for a January introduction, giving Cue just weeks to line up the deals needed to build the iBookstore.
In relating the story, Cue noted that getting the iBookstore deals done took on special significance for him, as it was obvious that Jobs was in declining health at the time. Jobs had taken a strong interest in iBooks for iPad, and was committed to showing it off at the iPad media event, giving Cue extra incentive to make sure everything was in place.
As noted by iDownloadBlog, the first beta for iOS 7 allows users to use zoom functionality while recording a video in the redesigned Camera app.
Upon hitting the big red red button to start recording, simply use the pinch gesture to zoom in and out during video capture. You can also tap-to-focus on your closeups as you’re shooting video.
To zoom out footage, pinch out anywhere on the screen or use the handy slider at the bottom part of the interface. Unfortunately, the slider doesn’t appear until you zoom in on the video.
Previously, iPhone users could only use zoom functionality before they started recording a video in video mode. There are third party apps, such as MoviePro, that allow users to zoom, but those apps require post processing to register any zooms.
9to5Mac has posted a video showing the feature in action and highlighting how the image presented maintains a high quality even at full zoom.
The report also notes that the video zoom does not pan as close as the image zoom does, but estimates that the feature allows for a 2-3x zoom with no post processing required.
Since its unveiling at the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote, Apple's new user interface for iOS 7 has proven somewhat controversial with pundits and fans debating whether the direction is a good or bad one. Earlier this week, it was reported that Jony Ive had put Apple's marketing team in charge of the look and color palette for the iOS 7 icons, bringing new blood and a fresh perspective to the operating system.
Network Worldspoke to original Macintosh icon designer Susan Kare and was able to get her thoughts on the new design:
Generally a good direction--am a fan of simple, meaningful symbols that fill a space, such as Music and Weather. It's better -- more iconic, less illustrative.
Kare's thoughts somewhat echo Jony Ive's comments made during the iOS 7 introduction video, in which he noted that simplicity, clarity and efficiency are some of the goals behind iOS 7.
Kare created many of the original interface elements for the Apple Macintosh in the mid-1980s, including the Chicago sans-serif typeface and the "Happy Mac" symbol that greeted early Mac users at startup. She now works as an independent artist.
During Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference keynote, CEO Tim Cook announced that the iTunes and App Store have 575 million store accounts and noted that Apple believes it has more accounts with credit cards than any other company on the Internet.
Asymco's Horace Dediu yesterday used the new figure to take a look at the value of an Apple user to the company. By plotting Apple's previous milestones all the way back to 2009, Dediu found that Apple is adding about 500,000 new iTunes accounts a day and that the company is on pace to add another 100 million accounts by the end of the year.
Dediu also found that iTunes revenue per account is approximately $40 per year, about half the amount seen in 2009.
One would expect such a decline as an user base expands and this approximate 50% decline in revenues per account seems reasonable for a six-fold base increase. In absolute terms the graph shows that an iTunes account generates about $3.2/month in transactions. Put another way, during the last year, an average of $40/yr of economic value is generated by every iTunes account.
The report goes on to extend the analysis to company-wide revenue and enterprise value per account holder as proxies for determine how much a single customer is worth to the company and how much that customer is valued by stockholders.
In early June, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty noted that Apple's large number of iTunes/App Store accounts offer significant potential for growth in services. And at his D11 interview, Cook touted iMessage, iTunes Store and FaceTime as examples of how Apple's services are tying together Apple's ecosystem, with Cook emphasizing that the "magic" happens at the interaction of hardware, software, and services.
Microsoft today announced the launch of Office Mobile for Office 365 subscribers, a new iPhone-only app that allows users to view and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. The free app requires a subscription to Microsoft's Office 365 service in order to function.
Similar to our free Office Mobile for Windows Phone that ships with every handset, the iPhone app enables great Office content viewing and on-the-go content editing capabilities.
After signing in to an Office 365 account, you can access, view and edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents from anywhere. And, you can count on Office Mobile to keep all your content and formatting intact so the document still looks great when you're back on your PC or Mac.
Office Mobile integrates with Microsoft's SkyDrive cloud storage service, allowing users to edit their documents on the go and have changes automatically synced for access from other machines. Office Mobile also supports several sharing options, allowing users to view and add comments on a document and then share via either SkyDrive or email.
Additional details, a first-run walkthrough, and an FAQ are included in a separate blog post from Microsoft.
Office Mobile for Office 365 subscribers is a free download from the App Store. [Direct Link] The app requires a subscription to Office 365, which can be purchased through the app itself. Microsoft also offers a 30-day trial of Office 365 to allow users to test out the service.
Earlier this week, many observers were surprised that Apple did not announce updated MacBook Pro models at its Worldwide Developers Conference keynote. Sources such as KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had indicated that updated Retina MacBook Pro models based on Intel's new Haswell processors were likely to appear at WWDC, but questions arose when model number leaks ahead of the event suggested that either the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, but not both, would be receiving updates.
So the question for many now is: Where are the new MacBook Pros? Kuo's note prior to WWDC indicated that Apple was likely to leave the non-Retina models without an update as part of an effort to continue pushing consumers toward the Retina line, so the primary focus is really on new Retina MacBook Pro models.
One potential explanation comes from a late April note from Kuo in which he suggested that updated Retina MacBook Pro models may not ship for some time after WWDC due to production bottlenecks on the displays used in the machines. Depending on when those updated models might be ready, Apple may simply have felt that the gap between WWDC and their availability would be too large to make an announcement at WWDC.
If that is the case, Apple could simply introduce new Retina MacBook Pro models in the coming weeks while having avoided putting an additional damper on sales of current models by pre-announcing the launch at WWDC.
Despite the lack of new Retina MacBook Pro models at WWDC, many of the circulating rumors still stand, and some of the developments seen in the new MacBook Air will likely also apply to the MacBook Pro, offering a better picture of what we can expect from Haswell-based MacBook Pro models. Among the expectations:
- Better battery life: With the new MacBook Air based on Intel's energy-efficient Haswell processors, Apple was able to boost battery life by up to 80%, with the 11-inch model's runtime increasing from 5 hours to 9 hours and the 13-inch model's moving from 7 hours to 12 hours.
While the Retina MacBook Pro may not see quite as dramatic improvements in battery life given the more power-hungry Retina displays and the 15-inch models' dedicated graphics chips, the Haswell platform should still offer some battery life benefits for the Retina MacBook Pro line. The current models are rated for 7 hours of battery life at both 13-inch and 15-inch sizes.
- Haswell processors: Intel has a well-stocked lineup of mobile Haswell processors in both dual-core and quad-core varieties now available, so Apple will have no problem incorporating the latest chips into its MacBook Pro models. Intel's advanced "Iris" integrated graphics should bring significant performance improvements to the line, although it remains to be seen just how Apple will balance performance and power draw.
- 802.11ac Wi-Fi: With the new faster 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard making its way into the updated MacBook Air and Apple releasing updated AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule base stations, it is clear that Apple will be rolling out 802.11ac support across its lineups as they are updated.
- Faster PCIe-based flash storage: The new MacBook Air takes advantage of PCIe-based flash storage, pushing peak read/write throughput to nearly 800 MB/s. Apple announced that the same technology is coming to the Mac Pro later this year, and it will presumably also be coming to the MacBook Pro and other Macs.
- Slimmer 13-inch model?: Ming-Chi Kuo has claimed several times that Apple is planning to slim down the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, despite the fact that the machine was just introduced last October. It is unclear how much thinner Apple is planning to make the machine, but the current design is slightly thicker than that of the 15-inch model: 0.75 inches vs. 0.71 inches.
- Full HD FaceTime camera: Kuo has also claimed that the next-generation Retina MacBook Pro models will see upgrades to 2.0-megapixel 1080p FaceTime cameras for improved video quality on the machines' high-resolution displays. The Retina MacBook Pro models currently use a 720p camera.
- Timing: With the predicted WWDC keynote timing having come and gone, there is now considerable uncertainty about just when a Retina MacBook Pro update might occur. It seems unlikely that a launch would come within the next week or two given the proximity to WWDC, but any time after that would seem to be reasonable.
It also makes sense for Apple to target a launch before September, as the company is reportedly aiming to launch new iPhone and iPad models beginning around that time, with the new Mac Pro also presumed to be coming relatively late in the year. While Apple did stack up a number of hardware releases in the fall of 2012, ideally the company will be able to spread them out a bit more in 2013 to maintain public interest and smooth out sales spikes.
During Apple's WWDC keynote, the company revealed that a number of new APIs will be introduced with iOS 7, including support for MFi (Made for iPhone) certified hardware game controllers, which will allow manufacturers to design and release dedicated iOS gaming peripherals.
Some new information on the controllers has been made available to us from a variety of sources, including Czech site Jablickar.cz, which reports that Apple will team up with both Logitech and MOGA to produce the upcoming controllers. While no details on design have been leaked, Apple did provide two reference images to developers displaying a standalone handheld controller and an iPhone enclosure.
A MOGA Controller
Both of the aforementioned companies already produce gaming controllers for use with PCs and Android. Major gaming companies like Gameloft, Mad Finger Games, SEGA, and Rockstar Games all offer support for MOGA's Android controllers, suggesting that support for Apple's upcoming controllers is likely too.
Games that include support for the controllers will be required to support traditional touch-based gaming input as well. Though Apple has prototype controllers on-hand at WWDC, the company is expecting the third party controllers to debut in the fall.
Apple has made the iWork for iCloud in-browser versions of Pages, Keynote and Numbers available to registered developers as a beta release. The browser based version of iWork was announced at Monday's WWDC Keynote address.
The browser-based versions of iWork are meant to be a competitor to Google Docs and other cloud-based office productivity platforms -- they work on both a Mac or PC in Safari, Google Chrome and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
iWork for iCloud is expected to be released to the public later this year. For now, registered developers can log in with their developer credentials at beta.icloud.com.
Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president in charge of internet software and services, took the stand today in the Department of Justice's antitrust case against Apple over the price of e-books following the launch of the iBooks Store in 2010.
Cue is Apple's chief negotiator and was in charge of all discussions with the major book publishing houses. The DoJ is alleging that Apple illegally worked with publishers to artificially increase e-book prices, a violation of U.S. antitrust laws.
In testimony today, Cue admitted that the prices of some e-books -- including many of those appearing on the New York Times best sellers list -- did rise after the iBooks Store was opened, but it was more the result of publishers being unhappy with Amazon's pricing of $9.99/book than anything untoward that Apple did.
Instead, Cue said that prices rose because publishers "expressed to us that they wanted higher prices". Apple's pricing model for e-books is the same agency model that it uses on the App Store -- publishers set book prices and Apple takes 30% of the revenue while returning 70% to the publishers.
He also said that he didn't know if publishers were working together on the negotiations with Apple and Amazon, but because all the publishers had issues with different parts of Apple's proposed contract Cue said that "if they talked together, I assumed it would be easier to get the deals done." Cue also said that he "wasn't trying to negotiate" for the entire e-book market and he wasn't attempting to fix issues the publishers had with Amazon.
Apple's "rubber banding" patent (U.S. No. 7,469,381) has been under heavy scrutiny in recent months, with a number of claims found invalid in two different rulings.
The patent, which pertains to the ability for content displayed on iOS devices to "bounce back" when a user scrolls to the top or the bottom of a page, is significant because it is one that was successfully used by Apple against Samsung in the ongoing legal dispute that saw Apple awarded with more than a billion dollars.
According to FOSS Patents, Apple has scored a major victory in regards to the '381 patent, having just received notice that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will issue a reexamination certificate that confirms the formerly invalidated claim 19, which was the portion of the patent used against Samsung. In April, three other claims were also confirmed.
As a result of this new reexamination certificate, claim 19 will enjoy an enhanced presumption of validity against the invalidity theories the patent office evaluated. Instead of invalidation in mid–2017 or later, this patent has now been confirmed in mid–2013.
Apple would presumably have liked to salvage even more claims than the seven claims the patent office is now going to confirm, but claim 19 is the one that matters in the dispute with Samsung, and it’s now stronger than ever.
Samsung has, at multiple points in time, attempted to have the rubber banding patent declared invalid and has also attempted to use the question of the patent’s validity as a reason to delay the November trial that will redetermine a portion of the damages that Samsung must pay to Apple after the original $1 billion ruling was partially thrown out due to jury error.
With the new reexamination certificate, it is unlikely that Samsung will be able to delay or avoid the November trial that will levy additional damages against the company.
The first reviews of the 2013 MacBook Air models are beginning to come out and, aside from new CPUs and a new SSD architecture, the biggest new feature is a dramatic increase in claimed battery life.
Apple has increased the battery capacity of the 13" MacBook Air from a 7.3V 6700mAh unit to a 7.6V 7150mAh battery. As a result, the claimed battery life of the 13" model has increased from 7 to 12 hours. In its review, Engadget found the 13" MBA achieved 12 hours and 51 minutes on a charge under their standard battery test.
If that didn't impress you enough, there's one area where the performance has really gone off the charts, and that's battery life. Apple rates the 2013 edition of the MacBook Air for up to 10 hours of battery life playing video or 12 hours of wireless web surfing. Our standard rundown test, as it happens, also entails playing video and last year's machine managed just over six and a half hours before expiring. We were, then, skeptical that this new edition could manage nearly twice that longevity -- but it actually did better. This year's Air survived 12 hours and 51 minutes on a charge. That's a stunning number from a laptop this thin, achieved with WiFi enabled and without any external batteries.
Laptop Magazine's test unit achieved 10 hours and 53 minutes on a home Wi-Fi connection suggesting that, while mileage may vary, Apple's claims appear to be largely legitimate.
A review from Forbes found that the battery life would be somewhere between 8 and 9 hours under more strenuous use conditions. Competing 13" notebooks don't come close to reaching 12 hours of battery life without external batteries.
Apple says OS X Mavericks, when its released this fall, will include a number of battery-saving software features which could push the battery life of the new Air even further.
Other notes from the review confirm previous reports of significant increases in flash storage read/write. Engadget reported similar numbers for reads and writes to the new PCIe-based SSDs, while also saying boot time has decreased to 12 seconds from 18 seconds on the 2012 models.
Reviews also indicated substantial increases in both CPU and graphics performance on both benchmarks and real world tests. Laptop Magazinefound the 13" MacBook Air returned 44.6 fps in a World of Warcraft test on 'good' settings, comparing favorably to similar Windows machines that returned between 30 and 33 fps in a similar setup.
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During Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference keynote, CEO Tim Cook 
- Faster PCIe-based flash storage: The new MacBook Air takes advantage of PCIe-based flash storage, pushing peak read/write throughput to 
Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president in charge of internet software and services, 
