The dust has settled, everyone has cleared out of the Guggenheim in New York City, and we all know Apple’s education plans, which include an update to iBooks and new iBooks Author and iTunes U apps. Before we switch back to gossip about the next iPad or even the iPhone 5, let’s address the rest of today’s news, which includes the unfortunate (and unsurprising) bankruptcy of photo legend Kodak. Here’s the rest of the news for this Thursday, January 19, 2012.
If you need further proof that the world has gone app crazy, look no further than Wednesday night’s Facebook pow-wow, which introduces the concept to Timeline. According to The Facebook Blog, users can now “enhance your timeline with apps that help you tell your story, whether you love to cook, eat, travel, run, or review movies.” Sure, Facebook has always had bolt-on apps, but the new initiative promises to integrate them into a user’s Timeline in a more organic way, with 60 companies providing apps at launch, including Foodspotting, Foodily, Ticketmaster, Pinterest, Rotten Tomatoes, Pose, Kobo, Gogobot and TripAdvisor. Facebook promises “there will be apps for all types of interests, as more apps will launch over time.” You have been warned...
The rumor mill has unfortunately churned up another true tale, as AllThingsD is reporting that photography legend Kodak has filed for bankruptcy protection. The news isn’t much of a surprise and “follows years of struggle by the film giant to transition to a digital imaging company.” Kodak will continue operations using $950 million in financing from Citigroup and hopes to come out of restructuring next year. “Kodak is taking a significant step toward enabling our enterprise to complete its transformation,” said Antonio M. Perez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in a company press release. “At the same time as we have created our digital business, we have also already effectively exited certain traditional operations, closing 13 manufacturing plants and 130 processing labs, and reducing our workforce by 47,000 since 2003. Now we must complete the transformation by further addressing our cost structure and effectively monetizing non-core IP assets. We look forward to working with our stakeholders to emerge a lean, world-class, digital imaging and materials science company.”
The Big Apple was home to a (little) Apple media event this morning at the Guggenheim, which introduced iBooks 2, iBooks Author and iTunes U to the educational community. Along with those releases, Apple also pushed out a minor update to iTunes which is now available for download. “iTunes 10.5.3 allows you to sync interactive iBooks textbooks to your iPad,” the release notes explain. “These Multi-Touch textbooks are available for purchase from the iTunes Store on your Mac or from the iBookstore included with iBooks 2 on your iPad.” Hit the link to download the update directly or check Software Update if you prefer a smaller download.
Siri may be old news to those of us who bought iPhone 4S handsets back in October, but for patent junkies, things have just started to get interested. Patently Apple is reporting today that “the first killer patent application behind Siri was published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.” Not surprisingly, Apple doesn’t plan to limit the technology to iOS devices but instead “envisions the technology playing a role in vehicles and in-vehicle entertainment systems where an Intelligent Assistant will be considered the king of user interfaces.” The website has a lengthy and detailed examination of the Siri patent filing, dating back to 1987’s “Knowledge Navigator Concept” which proves that Apple has envisioned this kind of technology well before the iPhone was even introduced. The report closes with some prospective uses for Siri which includes “the iPod touch (a personal digital assistant), iMac (desktop computer), MacBook (laptop computer), iPad (tablet computer), consumer electronic devices, consumer entertainment devices; iPod (music player); camera; television; Apple TV (set-top box); electronic gaming unit; kiosk or the like.”
Riddle us this: How can textbook publishers manage to sell a $75 textbook for only $15 through Apple? According to AllThingsD, it’s a matter of simple volume -- or at least that’s how McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw is looking at it. But there’s more than meets the eye, because such publishers traditionally sell their printed textbooks direct to schools, which continue to use them for “an average of five years.” The new iBookstore method is only $14.99 (or less), but the burden of the purchase is on the student (or their parents), although many schools will provide students with codes to download their textbooks. Since the $15 digital textbook can’t be resold or passed on to another student, McGraw views it as a win for his company because in theory, each year another student will be purchasing a copy -- and in five years’ time, they’ll have netted the same amount, even after Apple takes their slice of the pie. Apple’s Eddy Cue also confirmed that $14.99 isn’t part of any kind of “pilot pricing,” explaining “all of our books will be $14.99.”
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