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RIM Gives Mac Users The Cold Shoulder - For Now...

Matthew Tilmann — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:37:35 -0600

BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion released the 3.0 version of their Media Sync software yesterday according to CIO.com. RIM states Media Sync 3.0 is a free "desktop application focused on 'simple' photo and music sync between a user's BlackBerry and their desktop music/photo libraries PLUS their device photo library." However, the update for now is limited to PC users.

RIM says that they are in the process of working to build the new features of the update into their Desktop Manager for Mac software, but the company is not giving specifics into when exactly we might see the update.

Apple Offers Concert Downloads via iTunes

Cory Bohon — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:02:33 -0600

Live Nation and Apple have teamed up to offer exclusive downloads of concerts via iTunes.

Live Nation is one of the largest live convert recording companies around and their recordings are now available on iTunes for download.

According to the press release [PDF link], "Live Nation Studios will now offer exclusive recorded and filmed concerts from its network of “wired” venues for purchase and download only on iTunes. Exclusive live recordings from OK Go, Jesse McCartney, Saving Abel, A Fine Frenzy, Duffy, Plain White T's and Ziggy Marley, to name a few, have been released this week, with many more to follow."

Apple has added a new area in iTunes called Live Music that allows you to search for and purchase your favorite concerts. You can view the area by clicking here.

Apple has been involved in the music and movie distribution business for a few years now, so live music seems to be a logical step in the right direction for the Cupertino-based company.

via MacRumors

Palm Surrenders iTunes Support

Brian Proffit — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:12:41 -0600

Networkworld reports that Palm has released an update to webOS that (for a change) doesn’t include code to bypass Apple’s attempt to block the Pre from syncing with iTunes. They have been going back and forth ever since the release of the Pre, with each side coming up with new hacks on Palm’s side and blocks on Apple’s side. (You didn’t really think the recent onslaught of iTunes updates were for all the new features, did you?)

Palm’s latest release doesn’t include another attempt to sync with iTunes, signaling an apparent surrender in the dispute. There was no mention of iTunes in Palm’s official blog entry on the new release, but the wording on Palm’s site is “[U]se the Palm media sync feature to transfer your DRM-free iTunes music, videos, and photos to your Pre.”

They may have been under pressure from other manufacturers. The USB Implementer’s Forum reportedly sided with Apple because Palm’s technique spoofed Apple’s USB Vendor ID to fool iTunes into accepting the Pre. More likely, Palm realized that they are facing enough of a challenge with the number of new Android-based phones hitting the market and decided their energies were better spent there.

Apple Launches iTunes Preview

Arvind Srinivasan — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:49:13 -0600

When iTunes 9 was released, it brought a slew of new features, including a redesigned interface for the iTunes store based on web technologies like HTML5 and CSS. Now, it looks like the software is porting some of the same technology over to the web in the form of the newly launched iTunes Preview website.

The main functionality of iTunes preview is that iTunes links will no longer open in iTunes; rather, they will redirect to a web page with information about the song or the artist, effectively mirroring what you would see in the iTunes artist page. The page then offers a link to preview or purchase the song inside the iTunes application.

Unfortunately, the site itself does not offer any preview functionality. Furthermore, finding artists is clunky -- unlike the desktop app, where you can browse the charts by genre, and look through various lists, the only way to find artists is to search for them, or browse for them alphabetically.

In-app Purchases Becoming Popular on iPhone

Cory Bohon — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:49:08 -0600

From Ngmoco to Tapulous, in-app iPhone purchases are becoming popular among developers and users.

Apple has only allowed in-app purchases for free applications for a month, but developers are already using their creativity to make in-app purchases a viable business model.

The Business Insider reports that Ngmoco, famous for their Rolando game, has released another game for free called Eliminate. This game is an online first person shooter that lets you play if you have enough energy. You gain energy by either waiting an hour, or by purchasing "power cells" via the in-app purchase system.

TBI conducted an interview with Neil Young from Ngmoco, and while he wouldn't tell the revenue from their games, he did make reference to a possible goal of "5 cents in revenue per day, per active user." That's a substantial amount of revenue considering Eliminate is currently the 7th highest grossing application in the App Store.

All of this goes to show that in-app purchasing could be the way of the future for iPhone development, and it could definitely solve the problems that comes with releasing both a trial and full version of an application. A developer could release one version that could have an expansion pack purchased using the in-app system.

You can read the full story on The Business Insider.

Music Movies on iTunes

Liam Widman — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:50:24 -0600

In a bid to increase movie sales, Apple is featuring more alternative content in the iTunes store. Today, they've introduced the "Music Movies" library and added a landing page to promote releases. Music movies are music themed movies, concerts, and documentaries showing a lot of behind-the-scenes footage.

While at the moment the collection is limited, Apple does offer a few movies that are only available on the iTunes store, like the Kings of Leon concert DVD and U2's 'Rattle and Hum' and 'John Lennon Imagine'.

Apple also plans to negotiate early release of some music-themed movies for the iTunes store so people can buy them there long before they come out in stores.

Verizon Offers FiOS Media Manager for OS X

Cory Bohon — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:29:57 -0600

Last week Verizon offered up a Media Manager for OS X that will stream iTunes content to a FiOS DVR.

While the software has been around for Windows for some time, this is Verizon's first offering for Mac users.

According to the Media Manger page on Verizon's website, the application allows you to, "broadcast your iPhoto and iTunes media to your TV directly through your FiOS TV DVR."

The software allows you to stream playlists, share albums and slideshows, and view photo events directly on your TV. The requirements are pretty minimal, requiring you to have a FiOS set-top box, Mac OS X 10.4 or higher, iTunes 7 or higher, iPhoto 6 or higher, and QuickTime 7 or higher.

You can download the application for your Mac and view a video of it in action on the Verizon website.

Via Gizmodo

iTunes 9.0.2 Follows Apple TV 3.0 Into the World

Roberto Baldwin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:02:06 -0500

To enable grid Dark background - File>Preferences>General>Grid View (Click to embiggen)

Are you ready for some updating, well too bad. Apple is pushing another update on us and this one is for the Apple TV 3.0 software they pushed live a few hours ago. The best part about the update, support for a dark background grid in iTunes.

Yippee!

How long until an series of iPod and iPhone updates are pushed for the new iTunes which in turn is for the new Apple TV. Eventually, they could create an update loop that'll doom us all.

You can download the update via Software Update or from Apple's site.

Apple's notes on the new update:

iTunes 9.0.2 adds support for Apple TV software version 3.0, adds an option for a dark background for Grid View, and improves support for accessibility.