MacRumors

Apple has sent an email out to developers informing them that iTunes Match music libraries in iCloud will once again be wiped on Thursday, October 27th. Apple instructs developers to turn off iTunes Match on their computers and iOS devices during that time.

The wipe may be in preparation for the public launch of iTunes Match. The service was originally to be launched alongside iOS 5 but was pushed to the "end of October". iTunes Match remains in beta testing with developers, and there's been evidence that Apple has been quietly preparing for its public launch.

Last week, an iTunes Match toggle has appeared in the iOS 5 Music Settings pane, which directs users to subscribe to the service using iTunes. Apple has not yet publicly released an updated version of iTunes that allows users to sign up for this feature.

iTunes Match is a $25/year subscription service that will match your existing iTunes library with 256-Kbps versions in the iCloud. These songs will become available for download on your other Macs or iOS devices through iCloud.

Here’s how it works: iTunes determines which songs in your collection are available in the iTunes Store. Any music with a match is automatically added to your iCloud library. Since there are more than 20 million songs in the iTunes Store, most of your music is probably already in iCloud. All you have to upload is what iTunes can’t match. Which is much faster than starting from scratch. Once your music is in iCloud, you can stream and store it on any of your devices. Even better, all the music iTunes matches plays back from iCloud at 256-Kbps AAC DRM-free quality — even if your original copy was of lower quality

Apple today filed its 2011 annual report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the document reveals a few interesting tidbits of information:

- Apple now has 60,400 full time equivalent employees, up from 46,600 last year. The company also went from employing 2,800 full-time equivalent temporary employees and contractors to 2,900. 36,000 employees are in the retail division, up from 26,500 last year.

- Apple went from 317 stores at the end of fiscal 2010 to 357 stores at the end of fiscal 2011, an addition of 40 stores. The average number of employees per store also grew from 83.6 to 100.8.

- Ad spending grew from $691 million to $933 million, while dropping as a percentage of revenues to 0.8% from 1.0%. Research and development expenses were up 36% to $2.4 billion -- however, as a percentage of revenues R&D fell from 3% to 2.2%.

- As this document is designed mainly for prospective and current investors in the company, Apple also lists a number of risk factors that could affect investments in the company. These include "if [Apple] is found to have infringed on intellectual property rights", "support from third-party software developers", "the Company’s ability to obtain components in sufficient quantities", and numerous more.

- "As of September 24, 2011, the Company owned or leased approximately 13.2 million square feet of building space, primarily in the U.S., and to a lesser extent, in Europe, Japan, Canada, and the Asia-Pacific regions. Of that amount approximately 7.0 million square feet was leased building space, which includes approximately 3.0 million square feet related to retail store space. Of the Company’s owned building space, approximately 2.6 million square feet that is located in Cupertino, California will be demolished to build a second corporate campus. Additionally, the Company owns a total of 584 acres of land in various locations."

- Finally, "the Company anticipates that for the foreseeable future it will retain any earnings for use in the operation of its business" rather than paying any dividends or stock buybacks.

Tributes to Steve Jobs have been plentiful in the weeks since his death and his authorized biography by Walter Isaacson has revealed a number of new details about his life, but a new documentary from PBS set to premiere on Wednesday, November 2nd appears to offer insights from some unique people associated with Jobs.

Featuring interviews with, among others, Ronald Wayne, co-founder of Apple with Jobs and Steve Wozniak; Ross Perot, who invested in NeXT Computer when Jobs was running out of money; Walt Mossberg, principal technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal, who interviewed Jobs every year from 2003-2010; will.i.am, frontman and producer for The Black Eyed Peas, whose “I Gotta Feeling” currently ranks as the most downloaded iTunes song ever; Dean Hovey, designer of the original mouse for Apple; Robert Cringely, writer and host of the PBS series TRIUMPH OF THE NERDS: THE RISE OF ACCIDENTAL EMPIRES; Robert Palladino, calligraphy professor at Reed College, whose classes Jobs credited with inspiring his typography design for the Mac; and Bill Fernandez, who introduced Jobs and Wozniak in Sunnyvale, where the three hung out in his father’s garage and tinkered with electronics.

The documentary will also include clips from a "never-before-broadcast" 1994 interview with Jobs in which he shares some of his thoughts on life.

The documentary examines Jobs' life from the perspective of understanding the influences that "shaped his character" and enabled him to revolutionize numerous industries. Steve Jobs - One Last Thing will premiere next Wednesday, November 2nd, at 10:00 PM on PBS stations around the United States.

Nokia today announced the launch of its first two smartphones to be based on Microsoft's Windows Phone platform, marking a milestone in the collaboration between the two companies that will see Nokia shift away from its Symbian operating system and the transitional MeeGo platform. The shift comes as Nokia tries to rekindle interest in its phones amid a rapid rise in the popularity of Apple's iOS and Google's Android platforms.

The high-end Lumia 800, available in black, cyan and magenta, features a 3.7-inch 800x480 AMOLED screen and a 1.4 GHz Snapdragon processor, along with 16 GB of storage and an 8-megapixel camera. The Lumia 710 offers the same 3.7-inch screen and 1.4 GHz processor found in the Lumia 800, but contains only 8 GB of storage and a 5-megapixel camera. The device is available in black and white, with changeable back covers available in an assortment of colors. Both handsets run the latest Windows Phone 7.5 Mango operating system.

The Lumia 800 will initially launch in a number of European countries next month, with availability set to expand to several more Asian countries and Russia by the end of the year. The Lumia 710 will debut alongside the Lumia 800 in that device's Asian launch countries and Russia later this year, with both handsets set to expand to additional markets beginning early next year.

Nokia's plans for the United States remain unclear, as the company's press release notes only that it will be bringing a "portfolio of products" to the U.S. early next year. The company is so far only promoting the Lumia 710 on its U.S. site.

Earlier this week, we reported that Apple was planning to launch a pilot program that would allow customers placing orders through the company's online store to pick up their orders at their local Apple retail stores. Following a maintenance period that took the online store offline earlier today, in-store pickup is now available for Apple's three retail stores in San Francisco.

Users adding products to their shopping cart are now presented with an option of whether to have their order shipped or made available for pickup. Customers can search for their closest Apple retail stores based on zip code, although options are obviously limited with the pilot program currently including only three stores: San Francisco flagship, Stonestown, and Chestnut Street. Apple promises that more locations will offer in-store pickup in the near future, with 9to5Mac indicating that other Bay Area locations may join the program in as little as a few days from now.

Testing of the new in-store pickup shopping method suggests that delivery may be slightly slower than for direct shipment, as evidenced by a sample order for a custom-configured iMac that was offered a pickup date of November 3rd. Direct delivery of the same order was pegged within a window of October 29th through November 2nd.

It is possible, however, that in-store pickup dates may simply be conservative estimates based on the worst-case direct delivery estimate plus one day for processing at the store. Consequently, orders may arrive at stores ahead of their estimated availability date, with customers being emailed when the orders are ready for pickup.

Orders for standard items stocked by Apple retail stores will indicate same-day availability for the three San Francisco locations, allowing customers to place their orders online and simply visit the store for immediate pickup.

The Charlotte Observer reports that Apple has begun work on a solar farm adjacent to its massive new data center in Maiden, North Carolina. The new solar farm will likely generate a significant amount of power for the facility, although Catawba County officials have yet to see building plans for the facilities.

Apple has quietly begun work on a solar farm that apparently could help power its sprawling data center in southern Catawba County.

Permits issued by Catawba County show that the Cupertino, Calif., company has been approved to reshape the slope of some of the 171 acres of vacant land it owns on Startown Road, opposite the data center, in preparation of building a solar farm.

Permits issued so far only address grading and erosion control on the site, but Apple has disclosed in those permit applications that it intends to build a solar farm on the site.

The Hickory Daily Record adds some detail to the situation, noting the plot of land is indeed across the street from the data center and that nearby residents have been upset by the smoke from fires set to help clear the land.

That smoke is Apple clearing more than 100 acres of land across from its data center, which opened earlier this year at 5977 Startown Road. It was reported earlier this year that the data facility will be a cloud-computing center for Apple.

Across the street, at 6028 Startown Road, Apple has filed a soil erosion permit with Catawba County for about 170 acres of land. Apple applied for the permit on Aug. 9, and the county reviewed and approved it on Aug. 10.

In the application, Apple described the work as “Solar panel farm A” for the 170.99 acres of land.

The erosion control permit (PDF) indicates that Apple has pieced together three separate parcels of land for the solar farm, with the most recent addition coming just last week. An initial 70-acre parcel at the project address was identified as having been bought by Apple last October, but it is unclear what constitutes the remaining 100 acres of the project site.

For many years, Macworld Expo served as one of the main events for Apple product introductions, with the annual January event in San Francisco in particular being the stage for some important events such as the unveiling of the original iPhone. Apple last presented at Macworld Expo in January 2009, deciding that trade shows were no longer important for allowing the company to reach consumers as the Internet and the company's network of retail stores provided better opportunities for interaction.

Macworld Expo has reinvented itself since 2009, naturally refocusing on third-party companies offering products of interest to Apple users following the loss of Apple's presence. While attendance is down from Apple's last few years of involvement, the event has still been drawing crowds in the neighborhood of 25,000 attendees, and Macworld Expo organizers are now looking to continue rebuilding the show with a new rebranding that will emphasize the rapid increase in visibility of the iOS side of Apple: Macworld|iWorld.

“The brand is evolving from Macworld [Expo] to Macworld|iWorld to illustrate that the show is about the whole ecosystem of Apple products,” said Paul Kent, the event’s vice president and general manager.

The exhibits and conference sessions that have characterized past expos remain with Macworld|iWorld. But show organizers are also adding elements aimed at providing what Kent characterized as a “dynamic culture experience.”

Among the new showcases for Macworld|iWorld are the "Music Experience", which features performances and sessions from musicians who use Apple technology, and the "Film Event", which highlights Apple's role in television and movies.

Even with the rebranding, Macworld|iWorld will reportedly retain a heavy OS X presence, with organizers introducing new packages to attract OS X developers.

Macworld|iWorld will be held at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco from January 26-28, 2012, and registration for the event is now open.

While reading through Steve Jobs' biography, we discovered a number of interesting behind-the-scenes facts related to the development of the iPad.

➜ Click here to read rest of article...

Earlier this month, Sony Pictures acquired the movie rights to Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of Steve Jobs, seeking to adapt the story for the big screen. Sony was viewed as being a good fit for the film, as the studio's Columbia Pictures arm had successfully transitioned the story of Facebook to film with last year's release of The Social Network.

The writer behind The Social Network was Aaron Sorkin, who also gained fame for his work on A Few Good Men, The West Wing, and most recently Moneyball. And according to The Los Angeles Times, Sony is once again trying to pair up with Sorkin for the Steve Jobs screenplay.

Sony is moving forward with a Steve Jobs movie based on Isaacson's book. And one of the writers being courted by producers to pen his story, according to a person who was briefed on the project but not authorized to speak about it publicly, is Aaron Sorkin, Hollywood's chronicler-in-chief of the complicated visionary.

The "Moneyball" and "Social Network" writer was said by the person to be considering the prospect but had made no decisions. Sony and a Sorkin representative declined to comment on the writer's potential involvement.

Sorkin and Jobs actually did have a bit of history with each other, as Jobs had tried to convince Sorkin to write a film for Pixar, a proposal Sorkin declined because he didn't "think [he could] make inanimate objects talk."

STEVE: Once you make them talk they won’t be inanimate.

ME: The truth is I don’t know how to tell those stories. I have a young kid who loves Pixar movies and she’ll turn cartwheels if I tell her I’m writing one and I don’t want to disappoint her by writing the only bad movie in the history of Pixar.

A timeline for the potential Jobs movie is not yet firmed up, and casting is obviously still a ways off. Former ER star Noah Wyle, who played Jobs in the 1999 made-for-TV film Pirates of Silicon Valley, has expressed interest in reprising the role.

Are you kidding? I would give my eye teeth, in the heartbeat, of a New York minute. There are certain roles you wish you could tackle over and over again. That's one for me.

Isaacson's Steve Jobs experienced very strong pre-orders and early sales, and is headed toward the top of Amazon's list top-selling books for 2011, currently ranked #12.