News tagged ‘iTunes’

Today Apple released a new application for the iPod touch, iPhone and iPad that allows customers to find the company's local stores, purchase its products, read customer reviews and so on. It's called simply an Apple Store and it’s free. The app requires the device running iOS 3.0 or later and has only English interface.

Here is a short list of available features:

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Apple recentrly released new version of iPhone OS 4. it is called iOS 4.0 GM. Here is an update from DevTeam about iOS 4 jailbreak:

For those who can legitimately activate to the iPhone3G 4.0GM seed, the “point to previous IPSW” redsn0w trick works and will jailbreak your 4.0GM. The “trick” is to point redsn0w at the 4.0beta4 IPSW instead of 4.0GM (do this after you've updated to 4.0GM and activated through the new iTunes 9.2 on your Mac). Since the carrier unlocks aren't yet supported at 4.0, don't do this if you use yellowsn0w/ultrasn0w/blacksn0w. Many JB apps are still pretty buggy in 4.0, so again this is mostly useful only for developers of those JB apps.

Note: If you're experiencing MobileSafari crashes, double check that you're running the version at the bottom of this page.

For those without legit iPhone3G 4.0GM seed access, please wait until the full public 4.0 release for updates to the jailbreak tools.

You can download redsn0w 0.9.5.b4 here.

After yesterday's introduction of iPhone 4 most of the Wall Street analytics expressed their opinions about new device. Everybody is satisfied and certain about new handset's upcoming popularity and that it will boost sales for Apple again. Here are the words of people to whom we are referring frequently.

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Apple released information on self-publishing for those authors who would like to sell their writings in iBookStore.

So the works must adhere to these criteria:

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httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUEF2Klofzs

Yesterday Wired magazine had finally released its iPad edition.  Chief editor Chris Anderson told that the magazine now uses new publishing technology created by Adobe that allows using the same tools for creating both digital and print versions of the edition.  He also admires the version created for iPad:

"It has all of the visual impact of paper, enhanced by interactive elements like video and animated graphics. We can offer you a history of Mars landings that lets you explore the red planet yourself. We can take you inside Trent Reznor's recording studio and let you listen to snippets of his work in progress. And we can show you exactly how Pixar rafted each frame of its new movie, Toy Story 3."

To create a digital version compatible with iPad (which doesn't support Flash), Adobe had to recreate it in Objective-C, The Wall Street Journal explains. Rebuilt edition has all the features of the initial version. Though the edition looks great, there are still many other features, such as search functions and social connectivity, to be added in the future issues.

Wired publisher Conde Nast also owns other magazines, but the company noted it will not create special iPad edition for them.

iPad version of Wired is available here for $4.99. It is a June issue; next issues will be available as a part of library included in application. The subscription will become allegedly available this autumn.

Last week Apple has released its iPhone Os 4.0 beta 4 and redsn0w is finally updated to support this as well as beta 1. New version of jailbreak is 0.9.5.b4 and it can be applied on iPhone 3G only(!).

Redsn0w 0.9.5.b4 is targeted at developers who make jailbroken apps, and will not work if you are already using blacksn0w, ultrasn0w or yellowsn0w.

iPhone Dev-Team warns:

"You should stay clear of this beta software if you rely on a carrier unlock."

To use the jailbreak, follow the guide below:

1. Download redsn0w 0.9.5.b4 here. (Only Mac OS X version since app are developed on this OS).
2. Make sure you have already activated your iPhone 3G with iTunes and your own developer ID.
3. Launch the jailbreak.
4. Select your stock iPhone1,2_4.0_8A274b_Restore.ipsw (beta4) or iPhone1,2_4.0_8A230m_Restore.ipsw (beta1) file that you used to update your firmware.
5. Choose "Install Cydia" and then click "Next". Use DFU mode to install the redsn0w.
6. When your iPhone 3G comes back up, you will notice Cydia has a blank white icon. It also has no sources so you should go to the Sources panel and add this repo: http://apt.saurik.com/cydia-3.7 (make sure you are connected to the Internet before). When Cydia restarts, you should see its real logo now, and the standard sources should be ready to use.

Yesterday The New York Times had posted a Brad Stone's report that reveals interesting information on the online music market investigation started recently by US Department of Justice.

The story started two months ago, when Amazon began to seek music labels that would allow company to sell their new songs day earlier than everyone else in exchange for exclusive "MP3 Daily Deal" promotion on the Amazon's site (according to BillBoard). In answer to that Apple asked labels to refuse Amazon or the company will not provide marketing support to those of songs that appeared in Amazon first. Such negotiating tactics attracted the attention of DoJ and now, as the NYT reports, it started inquiries with different music labels to confirm the information.

Currently Apple has 69% of online music market, while Amazon holds second place with its 8% share.  Since 2003 Apple sold more than 10 billion songs and thus provided significant revenue for the music industry.

Yesterday Apple officially presented its new back-to-school promotion. This is an annual sale, when school faculty and students can purchase a Mac and get a 8GB iPod touch for free. Apple claims on its website:

"Take a free 8GB iPod touch to school. Along with tons of other great features, iPod touch has built-in Wi-Fi for downloading thousands of games, movies, songs, apps, and amazing, free educational content from iTunes U."

If you have an education discount, along with acquiring new iPod touch you can save $50 on a low-end MacBook, $100 on a MacBook Air and iMac desktop and $200 on a MacBook Pro. Such educational discounts are available to staff and faculty of K-12 schools, and to students, professors and staff of any college.

The deal applies between May 25 and Sept. 7, 2010. Those who doesn't want to get free iPod touch can receive a $199 discount for purchasing 160GB iPod classic or a higher-capacity iPod touch, a $179 discount for a 16GB iPod nano, $149 discount for a 8GB iPod nano, $99 discount for a stainless steel 4Gb iPod shuffle, and $79 discount for a regular 4GB iPod shuffle.

Customers can use their educational discounts in an Apple online store, retail stores, authorized campus stores or call 1-800-MY-APPLE.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WpPrKuUghw

For those who doesn't like iTunes for its restrictions and lockdown on music and files a new solution has been delivered to the BigBoss repository and it’s called PwnTunes.

PwnTunes allows copying files from iPhone or iPod touch to PC just after plugging the sync cable. There is no tethering for only one PC, so you can use your device anywhere you want. Other features include:

• Music files are normally named after the original filenames on the PC and without gibberish encoding.
• Deleting songs and any other type of files directly via USB (iDevice works as USB device)
• Loading cover.jpg/folder.jpg from same folder as cover
• Album name is taken from folder's name if no album ID3 tag found, artist name is taken from parent folder's name if no artist ID3 tag found

The app currently is currently compatible only with Windows (XP/Vista/7), but the developers promise the Mac support to be delivered soon. The price is €9.99. No additional software on PC is required, you just need to launch Cydia on your jailbroken iDevice and install PwnTunes from Data Storage Section. When installed, connect you iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad via USB and the app will ask you to buy License or download it if you have already purchased one.

Recently Billboard published a report that reveals new information on Apple's share on music sales market. When the first generation iPhone was presented, iTunes had only 12,7% of American music market. In 2008 Apple almost doubled it and made 21,4%. 2009 reveals five percentage points increase - now iTunes has 26,7% of music sales.

Such mobile providers as AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless on the contrary lose their positions, downing from 6,6% to 4,9% in 2009. Partly it is explained by lower priced ringtones in iTunes and its free tools for making custom ringtones. Both of these factors eventually attracted more people.

Physical media music in turn loses its popularity from year to year. Numbers reveal its share fell from 57,5% in 2008 to 49,3% in 2009. That means that iTunes actually makes a half of all digital music downloads overall.

iTunes' closest rival Amazon also increased its sales. But in digital MP3 sales the company's share grew from 0,8% in 2008 to 1,3% in 2009, which is not even close to Apple's 26,7% share. Such results, according to Billboard, were "still well short of where major labels had hoped Amazon's download store would be by now, dimming earlier expectations that it will be able to significantly reduce the labels' heavy dependence on iTunes for digital sales."

It is interesting to look forward for Google which recently acquired Simplify Media to expectedly turn it into iTunes rival for Android users. But for now the company's subsidiary AdMob reveals the amount of media bought or even downloaded by Android users is still so small that it cannot be compared with iTunes success.

Twitter, a wildly popular social networking service, now has its own official iPhone app that was released in AppStore.

The release of the Twitter app falls in line with the company’s announcement last month about its acquisition of Atebits’ Tweetie. Twitter had then stated that Tweetie would be re-branded to be the official Twitter app and would be offered for free.

Tweetie is now Twitter! We didn’t just do a name change, we’ve added a bunch of new stuff

• Search has been reorganized, now you can search all tweets and find users in the same spot, view
• Top Tweets and Browse Suggested users.
• Search results now include Top Tweets, try it with Trends…winner combo!
• You can now use Twitter without an account! Search, Browse uses, view trends and top tweets.
• Sign-up is now availabile within the application as well, complete with Suggested user list.
• More tab has been re-organized to accomplish all this. Users with one account can add a second account under the Accounts and Settings button here.
• Actions we’ve found people use most, like Retweet have been moved to the main actions bar.
• Minor tweaks were made to tweet rendering so they match Twitter.com tweets

Here are several screenshots of this app:

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You may remember our post about "Wi-Fi Sync" app that allows you to sync your iPhone/iPod touch with iTunes via Wi-fi. Well, this week Apple rejected it. But its developer Greg Hughes submitted it to Cydia (an unauthorized source of different software for jailbroken iDevices), and now it is available there for $9.99.

Greg also told Engadget that he talked to Apple representative and he said the case was not about any violations.

"While he agreed that the app doesn't technically break the rules, he said that it does encroach upon the boundaries of what they can and cannot allow on their store. He also cited security concerns."

"Wi-Fi Sync" is currently available only for Mac users, but Hughes promises to release version for Windows.

This app would not be mentioned on iPhoneroot if not a video found recently. Gigaputt for iPhone ($1.99) is created by Gigantic Mechanic and allows playing golf just anywhere. At first sight Gigaputt users look pretty foolish, though the app seems to be pretty interesting and fascinating. It supports Openfeint and Twitter/Facebook integration.

You can download it here.

According to TechCrunch, Wireless Quattro had recently contacted iPhone app developers to introduce their new "Verification of iTunes Purchase" program. The company is an Apple subsidiary,and it currently develops forthcoming iAd program.

ViP helps developers to promote their apps in App Store via ads which appearing in iPhone apps. With this feature they can track download conversion rates in real-time. Such information is proprietary to Apple, so Quattro promotes the product and its "exclusive integration with the App Store", because such a feature is unavailable to other ad networks, and such information mentioned in the e-mail:

"Verification of iTunes Purchase uses no SDK or server-side integration — this cannot be duplicated by any of our competitors".

Other advertisement companies such as Google's AdMob can only estimate conversion rates, but such data cannot be as precise and detailed as Quattro's one. For enabling conversion tracking every developer that uses AdMob must integrate the company's advertising API into his code.

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Dropbox is a great service similar to Apple’s iDisk. It lets you store your files on a server and immediately share your pictures, documents and other files across different computers and phones. Users can get 2Gb of server storage for free. There is an app for desktops, iPhone and other phones. recently a special version for iPad was released.

You can register and download the application for your desktop computer here (Windows, Mac and Linux). Here is a link to a free iPhone/iPad application in AppStore.

With DropBox on the iPad you can:

• Access your Dropbox on the go.
• All the contents of your Dropbox are available for viewing.
• You can even stream music and movies in your Dropbox straight to your iPad.
• Upload files and sync them to your Dropbox.
• Upload photos from your iPad and email its public link to a friend in less than a minute.
• Export files to other iPad apps.