Dear Lifehacker,
Converting videos for the iPod is so easy in iTunes, but I can't seem to get videos to play on my Android device. How can I convert videos so that they'll play in the native Android video player?

Sincerely,
Vexed by Video

Dear Vexed,
I actually wrestled with this recently myself. I tried configuring Handbrake manually, and my videos still wouldn't play. After a little while, just for giggles, I encoded a video using Handbrake's iPhone preset, and it played perfectly on my Droid. And, since the biggest difference between Android video compatibility and iPhone compatibility is the resolution, you can just use this preset and set the resolution yourself for easily playable videos on your phone.

Every Android device is different, but you can take a look at your phone's tech specs page to see what your screen resolution is (for example, here's the Motorola Droid's page, which notes the screen resolution as 480x854).

Thus, to convert a video for your phone, open it up in Handbrake and hit the "iPhone & iPod Touch" profile in the right sidebar. Then, click on the Picture tab (or the "Picture Settings" button along the top of the HandBrake window, if you're on a Mac) and set the "Anamorphic" box to "loose". Change the width of the video to match the height of your phone's screen in pixels (since you'll be watching the movie with your phone in landscape format)in the Droid's case, 854 (or the closest you can get to 854). Convert the video, and then connect your phone and copy it to your SD card. It should play through Android's Gallery app without a htich.

It may seem obvious, but it took me a lot of manual fiddling before I realized that the iPhone setting would probably work fine. So hopefully those of you that are still having problems can use this method. Of course, if you have space to spare and would rather just watch DivX or MKV videos on your phone, you can always check out previously mentioned RockPlayer.

Love,

Lifehacker

P.S. Got any of your own tips for watching videos on Android? Share them with us in the comments.

Social media changes from month to month. Trends come and go quicker than the seasons change. The latest trendy site could be next year's Myspace and the hottest new site probably hasn't even been conceived yet or is at the couple of guys in a garage stage. Having said that there are some trends that I think will continue over the coming year and with that in mind I wanted to share them here. Rather than focusing in on the finer detail I have compiled the list below in broader terms with all the main players represented. All in all it should be an exiting year ahead in social media and these should be seven of the main trends

Group Buying

This really has been the huge power house of online commerce in the last year. Services like Groupon have come on the scene in a big way (Even Microsoft entered the market today) and the idea behind it really is so simple that it makes you think Why didn't I think of that. Like all kick ass ideas this one is incredibly simple and instantly understandable and there is something in it for everybody. The idea is nothing new but giving it legs through things like apps and the ability to share deals with friends makes the whole sector spread faster. Expect this to continue in a big way over the next couple of years with copy cat services and the big players rolling in to more territories and rolling out better and more extensive deals.

Question And Answer Sites

These sites are hardly new and have been around for years but a new range of social features and bigger audiences have seen existing sites and some innovative start ups make this an interesting space once again. The big boys like Facebook are rolling this out as we speak to their huge user base and will be making it front and center on profiles as they look to tap in to the collective knowledge of the site. Another innovative start up that is making some serious noise within the tech community is Quora which should break out in to the main stream this coming year. Collective knowledge is incredibly powerful and social media is making that knowledge easier to spread.

Mobile

I was going to call this section location but I really do think the opportunities in this sector extend far beyond people checking in to bars for free coffee. There is no doubt that services like Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook places will continue to grow and be adopted by a larger audience but I don't even think the most exciting technologies have even been invented in this space yet. The best is yet to come. The really exciting thing to consider is what can be achieved with mobile advertising and with all the big players including Google and Apple trying to crack this market the real innovation has yet to come. People all over the world are walking around with mini computers in their hands and you can basically let your imagination run wild with the endless possibilities that offers to the social media industry.

Facebook Credits

Facebook have been dipping their toes in to the credits system of micro payments over the last 6 months by giving users free credits to help them get used to the system as well as doing a massive deal with Zynga to add the credits to their games. I strongly believe Facebook credits will become one of the defining moments in Facebook's history and be the cash cow that drives them forward towards IPO. With Facebook taking a cut of the credits and brands and businesses scrambling to use them there really will only be one winner in all of this. Expect Facebook credits to be ubiquitous across the web within 2 years as people use the trusted platform to by all sorts of things.

Branded Content

Brands and businesses are starting to realize that one of the main ways of engaging their customers and offering value is to create content that enriches the user's social media experience rather than just blasting messages out at them. With users starting to get more and more aware of ads and adding their own filters the smart brands will create bespoke content that engages users in a meaningful way and offers value. Building that content in to Facebook and other social sites while all hooking back to their own website will be crucial with video playing a more and more important role in the branded content play.

Twitter Monetizing

They sure are taking their time on this one but they are very much at the stage Facebook were 18 months ago when they just went on a land grab of users and made sure their service was as stable as possible. Twitter have started rolling out some monetization features like promoted tweets but they haven't really come in with the hard sell just yet. I'd expect Twitter to keep focusing on growth for the best part of the next year before switching on the revenue in a major way just like Facebook are at the moment.

Google To Keep On Failing

I don't care how many people Google hire or companies they buy they are always going to struggle in the social media space. They don't have it in their DNA as a company to be social as far as I can see and Facebook just keep pushing further and further ahead anyway. Google have had big launches with Wave and Buzz over the last year and even though they are giving Google Me a bigger push and dedicating more resources to it than ever I just don't see it being a big success. Where I do see them having success is in the social games sector because I think their portal for this along with some of their acquisitions have been very shrewd. Expect another disappointing year for Google in the world of social media.

Possibly Related Posts:

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Research analysts at Gartner have forecasted that Google's Android mobile operating system (OS) will become the second largest platform in terms of market share by year-end 2010. Symbian, however, will remain number one. Garner also notes that by 2014, the end of the forecast period for this latest market research report, Android will vie for the top spot against Nokia's Symbian OS.

Yes, Android is officially on the path to world domination.

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Here in the U.S., much of the tech news is centered on the smartphone battle between Apple's iPhone and Android. But on the global stage, the top mobile players are Nokia's Symbian, Android, Research in Motion (makers of Blackberry smartphones), then iOS, the operating system that powers the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Principal analyst Roberta Cozza at Gartner noted that recent and upcoming launches of new smartphone operating systems including iOS4, Blackberry OS 6, Symbian 3 and 4 and Windows Phone 7, will help maintain the current trend of heavy growth in the smartphone sector, but her firm believes that market share worldwide will still revolve around the four key providers mentioned above.

The reason these companies have maintained, and likely will continue to maintain, their top spots involves a number of factors, most notably the support they have from communications service providers and developers, as well as their strong brand awareness with both enterprise and consumer customers.

Why Android Will Become Number One

So how is it that Android will soon fight for the top spot as the number one mobile operating system in the world? Not just the number one smartphone operating system, mind you, but the number one OS, period?

Cozza explains that several manufacturers, such as Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG and Motorola, will adopt Android as the OS for their new budget devices, which will help Android achieve number one status in North America by the end of 2010. In addition, communication service providers and device manufacturers will also revisit their platform strategies going forward, and will have to "balance the need to pursue platforms with the highest current demand against the need to maintain differentiation with unique devices." Or more simply put, Android's current popularity begets even more popularity. Service providers that reduce the number of platforms they offer to customers will also reduce their support costs, which will be yet another benefit of moving to Android, in their eyes, allowing the OS to make even more gains.

Gartner also predicts by 2014, open source platforms, like Android and Symbian, will dominate around 60% of the market share for smartphones. Single-source platforms, like Apple's iOS and Blackberry OS, will increase in terms of units sold, but their growth rate won't be enough to sustain market share increases.

As for Windows Phone 7, Microsoft's new entry into the smartphone race, Gartner places it at number six worldwide behind MeeGo, Nokia and Intel's joint open source project, by 2014.

Shared by phillip
Still waiting for an Android tablet with camera.

The day that it was announced, I said that I thought the iPad was a bad idea. Here we are nine months later and I own one. Here's my crow-eating-follow-up. I cited several reasons I didn't like the iPad. Let's look at them

• My netbook runs Skype and has a built in webcam and mic. This was mainly due to my desire to have portable video-conferencing. Thanks to the iPhone 4s inclusion of a front-facing camera and FaceTime, I now have that. Skype will likely release a version of their software that supports that feature of the iPhone 4 as well in time. Undoubtedly the next iteration of the iPad will have this.
• My netbook's bluetooth and/or USB connection allows me to tether to my phone. Still a sore point. C'mon Apple. Really?!?!? Recently, my iPhone 4 has a mic problem and I needed mine replaced. I took my Hackintosh to work with me. I went out over lunch, picked up the replacement, but did not wish to wait until I got home to activate my iPhone. Thanks to the Hackintosh, I tethered to my BlackBerry over Bluetooth and was able to activate it at work.
• My netbook can run Silverlight and Flash (maybe not great, but it works well enough). This stuck in my craw because I wanted Netflix and/or Hulu both of which now have iPad apps. Netflix became available on launch day, after my rant
• My netbook has an SD slot and USB. A legitimate gripe but not unexpected as no iPhone or iPod has one either.
• My netbook has a 160 GB hard drive. - Still a good point though not as necessary as I once believed as I never normally even fill up my iPhone or iPod.
• My netbook can multitask and run apps simultaneously. iOS 4 will fill that need well enough.
• My netbook only cost $435 and can do all of that. an iPad is $499.

One thing I hadn't expected when I wrote this was that the Hackintosh would become my wife's primary computer. She got hit by a terrible computer virus last year and I just couldn't send her back to Windows. I didn't feel like paying the McAfee protection racket, her laptop is six years old at this point, and wouldn't run Vista or Windows 7 well. She favors a laptop over a desktop and the Hackintosh suited her needs nicely. While I'm glad she who does not embrace change moved easily from Windows to Linux to OS X, the Hackintosh more or less became hers, not mine.

As Dell had discontinued the Mini 10v, I could either get one off eBay and build another or I could try something a little different.

I don't like buying 1st generation Apple products because the next ones are usually what the 1st generation should have been. I know one will be coming down the pipe with at least a front facing camera and retina display, so rather than go full-tilt boogie and get the top of the line I bought the bottom of the line model (16 GB, wi-fi only). So far, we're pleased. Wendie likes it a lot so maybe I'll get the Hackintosh back

There are three items I highly recommend as accessories and they are the ZooGue case, Power Support's Crystal Film, and the Apple Bluetooth Keyboard. The ZooGue case allows multi-angular viewing and is very sturdy. It's the same price as Apple's case and much more versatile. It can even strap itself to a headrest which is probably neat if you have kids. The screen becomes a disgusting, fingerprinted mess really easily and I prefer the crystal film since it doesn't produce the orange peel look on the screen that Zagg actually touts as a feature and it requires no liquid activator in the application process. If you buy that film, do watch their installation video beforehand as it will prevent you from potentially ruining the film in the installation process. I prefer the normal Apple keyboard to the one with the built in dock for a couple of reasons. First, it works with the iPhone 4 and the iPad. Second, the huge honking dock hanging off the keyboard was awkward and ugly. Fourth, both keyboards are the same price so why not get the one that works with multiple devices?

After a little research and an endorsement from Jim, I just bought a Tom Bihn Ristretto bag for traveling. I'll be going to Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco in a couple of weeks and I'm going to see how well simply using the iPad rather than a full-fledged netbook will work for me.

iTunes 10 breaks third-party server compatibility. Again.

Do you use an iTunes compatible device like an Iomega ix4 or Drobo FS or Roku SoundBridge? Have you noticed that it no longer works since you updated to iTunes 10? That's because Apple made a simple change to their Digital Audio Access Protocol (DAAP) that causes third-party devices to fail to connect correctly. Although software patches are already appearing, there is no guarantee that older devices like that Roku will ever be updated.

DAAP, Firefly, and iTunes Clients

Apple introduced music sharing over a network in version 4.0 of iTunes way back in 2003, and third-party devices have been trying to play along ever since. Digital Audio Access Protocol (DAAP) was based on http and xml and leverages zeroconf/Bonjour to discover and stream audio across a network. iTunes can act as both a server or client.

Although Apple only licensed the protocol to a select few client applications, DAAP was successfully reverse-engineered shortly after its debut and integrated into a number of third-party clients and servers. Apple has continually modified DAAP for almost a decade, adding MD5-based and proprietary authentication in versions 4.2 and 4.5, but this has not stopped third-party servers like the open-source Firefly/mt-daapd from serving as an iTunes server.

Apple was successful in preventing third-party clients from accessing music through iTunes, adding a client validation challenge to version 7.0 that has not yet been broken. This allowed them to limit client access to only those few third parties who paid for a license, including the Roku SoundBridge that I own.

No More Servers?

Did your "iTunes-compatible" home NAS suddenly stop serving music?

Since it was open source and capable of supporting iTunes, the Firefly Media Server (formerly called mt-daapd) has seen widespread use in home media servers like the Iomega ix4 and Drobo FS. Just about every home NAS that supports iTunes uses this software or a related fork, and just about every one stopped working with the release of iTunes 10.

As of version 10, when iTunes requests a list of songs, it requires the server to respond with a correct mediakind response. Previous versions apparently assumed type 1 (music) whenever this was missing, but iTunes 10 simply refuses to play, reporting odd error messages like untitled playlist. So Apple has broken iTunes compatibility. Again.

A patch is ready for some versions of mt-daapd, but a more important question is raised: Should commercial products rely on reverse-engineered protocols like DAAP? Much of the Apple ecosystem is reliant on reverse engineering, from iPod chargers to AFP to Time Machine. Many of the resulting tricks are commercialized in a wide variety of products from manufacturers small and large. Even IT titans like HP and EMC advertise Apple support based on reverse-engineered protocols!

Stephen's Stance

Anyone want to buy a lightly-used Roku SoundBridge? It may work with iTunes for a while yet...

In my review of the Drobo FS, I questioned the wisdom of relying on buggy and limited software and discussed my use of a real iTunes instance on my always-running iMac. My experience with a Linksys NSLU2 running Firefly was never positive. Even my two Roku SoundBridge clients don't work very well, and they're licensed! I'm much happier with the performance of my AirPort Express, even though it would be nice if Apple would update the Remote app for the iPhone!

Many people complain about Apple's walled garden approach, and I think they have a point when it comes to protocols like DAAP. By not allowing third parties to develop compatible hardware and software, they've forced everyone underground. Now that they've changed their implementation, all of these devices are broken in the eyes of users. Some, like the Roku, are out of date and might never be updated.

This is typical Apple. Out with the old and in with the new. They did the same with their own Apple TV hardware this month, stranding the few buyers it found without an update. Some may suggest that this minor change to iTunes is a conspiracy to push AirPlay, but I imagine it's a simple case of upgrade-itis. Who cares about all that old junk when all this pretty new hardware and software is available?

We really can't blame Apple for this. They never allowed the DAAP protocol to be used, and never promised that these reverse-engineered servers would work. In fact, I wonder why they even allowed iTunes compatibility to be promised without licensing. Perhaps some of the larger companies have Apple licenses, but I doubt it. At the end of the day, it is these vendors who are responsible for promising compatibility that they could not hope to deliver.

Note: The Roku SoundBridge still works fine as a client with iTunes 10. To clarify, I was saying that Apple could break this functionality in the future and Roku would be unlikely to fix it since they seem to have abandoned this product line.

sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2010. | iTunes 10 Breaks Non-Apple Streaming (Again)
This post was categorized as Apple, Computer history, Everything, Personal, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

Steve Jobs once called Flash the No. 1 reason his devices crash. What changed his mind?

With a terse, five-paragraph statement issued Thursday morning, Apple (AAPL) reversed a five-month-old policy that had sparked an industry-wide debate, a government probe and tens of thousands of words of heated commentary -- including Steve Jobs' own April 2010 "Thoughts on Flash."

The newly inoperative policy had prohibited software developers from using cross-platform tools when writing apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Covered by the ban were several popular third-party toolkits that make programmers' lives easier by allowing them to write one set of code that runs on a variety of devices. None was more important -- or controversial -- than Adobe (ADBE) Flash.

Apple's statement doesn't mention Flash by name -- and we are waiting for clarification from Apple and Adobe -- but as long as apps (or ads) written in Flash are compiled ahead of time and don't require downloading any Adobe code, they should pass muster. [See UPDATE below.]

Adobe's stock opened about 9% higher on the news.

What caused Apple to change its mind? The leading theories:

• Feedback. The company line is that Apple has "listened to [its] developers and taken much of their feedback to heart." Nobody is buying it.
• Competition. First from Flash-friendly cellphones powered by Google's (GOOG) Android, and now from the wave of Android tablet computers about to hit the market.
• Regulation. The FTC is known to be looking into Apple's ban on cross-party platforms, reportedly at Adobe's request.

Apple also announced that it is publishing -- for the first time -- a set of App Store review guidelines that should shed some light on what has seemed, until now, an arbitrary and capricious approval process. It's pretty blunt. "We don't need any more fart apps," it warns developers. "If your app is rejected, we have a Review Board that you can appeal to. If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps."

UPDATE: Without further clarification from Apple, it's not certain what the immediate effect on Adobe might be. Flash elements embedded in Web pages still don't open in the iPhone's version of Safari, although in theory that could change. "Here's one interpretation," writes Fast Company's Kit Easton. "What happens if you build a new browser app for the iPhone that has all the back-end code needed to run Flash in web pages already downloaded and packaged inside it? Result: De-facto 'full Web browsing' experience, complete with Flash, on an iPhone."

Forrester Research's Jeffrey Hammond is less optimistic. "It looks to me like [Apple's new policy] doesn't change anything immediately, as the way Adobe was targeting iPhone was to use the AIR compiler to cross compile Actionscript to directly target ARM APIs through private, non-sanctioned APIs. These changes still don't allow them to do that as far as I can tell, and they don't allow Flash to run in iOS."

"But what is does signal," he adds, "is that Apple feels it needs to be more transparent to developers and flexible in the options it gives them to keep iOS as the preferred mobile development platform -- the one that developers choose first."

See also:

• Steve Jobs' Flash manifesto
• Has Steve Jobs gone mad?
• Why Is Steve Jobs Flash-obsessed?
• Apple and Adobe: Who needs whom?

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]

Over the weekend Philip Kaplan, co-founder of social purchasing site Blippy tweeted out a link to Steve Jobs demoing iTunes Ping, with the added sly comment ,Looks like Blippy. Curious about what Jobs' movement into the social sharing space means for Blippy, we brought Kaplan into the TCTV studio and grilled him on what exactly Jobs did or did not copy, how often iTunes purchases were shared on Blippy, and whether or not the concept of social shopping has hit mainstream.

Highlights:

I'm not saying that anybody copied anybody.

If Ping becomes popular, those users will potentially be looking for something like Blippy. I don't think it's too much of a threat

While lot of people were expecting more from Apple [re: Ping], if you look at the first iPod by today's standards it's not so great. If there's one thing Apple is really good at its improving their products.

If iTunes is the only place that you shop, Ping seems like the place to to do it.

There's nothing that drives an entrepreneur more than It can't be done' or That's never going to work,' Those are the exact things we need to hear. The fact that Apple is now basically in the same business is a double-edged sword.

Kaplan also reveals that Blippy users have shared over 1 million iTunes purchases thus far, which comprise about 40% of the total purchases shared on Blippy (around 2.5 million). While this proportion may seem high, Kaplan is not worried about Ping as a direct competitor, as iTunes is only one of 250,000 stores on Blippy (0.0004% of total merchants). He explains the 40% statistic thus, People who buying things from iTunes, buy things from iTunes almost twice as often as they buy things from Amazon, Ebay, Starbucks, and Walmart combined. Not surprising, considering it's much easier (and cheaper) to buy stuff from iTunes than it is to go to Walmart.

After privacy scuffles and many naysayers, it seems as though Apple's foray into transaction sharing platforms is the sincerest form of flattery for Blippy and the burgeoning social shopping space which includes Woot, Swipely, and even behemoth Amazon.

When we came up with the idea for sharing purchases and launched Blippy, the concept seemed crazy to a lot of people. But we knew that other companies would eventually adopt the model once users saw how powerful and fun it is.

Ah. The sweet sound of I told you so.

The popular Grand Theft Auto video game series from major living room consoles made its way to the iPhone and iPod touch with Grand Theft Auto: China Town Wars a little while ago. Today an iPad HD version is available. The game has full HD graphics that look great on the iPad, and game play looks phenomenal.

The game is now available on the App Store for $9.99. Let us know in the comments what you think of it and that is all I need to go play some GTA.

Today, Apple announced it is relaxing the previous restrictions on the use of third-party development tools for the creation of mobile applications on iOS, the operating system that powers the iPhone, the iPad and the iPod Touch. Specifically, sections 3.3.1, 3.3.2 and 3.3.9 of the iOS Developer Program have been modified with new language that rolls back some of the changes that were enacted earlier this year.

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The first two sections included restrictions on the use of development tools that allowed developers to code in languages familiar to them, like Adobe Flash, then port those applications to the iOS platform. Section 3.3.9 also placed restrictions on the use of third-party software within an app whose purpose was to collect and analyze app usage data.

According to the Apple press release, these decisions were made because the company "listened to our developers" and has "taken much of their feedback to heart."

Most of the complaints at the time of the initial changes revolved around Apple's decision to ban the use of Adobe's "Packager for iPhone," a tool which allowed Flash developers to leverage their existing skills in order to produce iPhone applications. The announcement led to escalated tensions between the two companies, and shortly thereafter Apple exec CEO Steve Jobs posted a lengthy piece on Apple.com which explained all the reasons why his company did not want Flash technology on any of its mobile devices, whether as a plugin or as an app-creation tool.

However, today's news doesn't just affect Adobe Flash developers, although they were the most vocal about the prior ban - it could also permit the use of other mobile development technologies including Sun's Java or Microsoft's Silverlight/Mono, notes Apple-watching blog, AppleInsider.

They also point out that the decision, in part, may not be simply because Apple "listened to feedback" but because of recent U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigations which had the regulatory body looking into the complaint regarding the Flash ban, among other things.

Meanwhile, as the language in the Apple Developer continued to change on an ongoing basis, developers interested in building mobile applications for iOS had to remain constantly vigilant that they were not using any technology that could later come under fire from Apple.

When Apple then updated the section banning the use of some third-party analytics services, the move was called out as permitting an unfair competitive advantage for Apple's own iAds advertising platform and analytics service over competitors' services, like Flurry, Distimo and most notably, Google's AdMob, all of which were popular among mobile app developers for monitoring usage numbers and other details about how consumers were interacting with the mobile apps.

Apple says it will also publish its App Store Review Guidelines online in an effort to be more transparent with the community. This decision is likely due to the constant media attention given to each and every mobile application that Apple bars from entry into its App Store, removes from the store, or leaves in limbo, awaiting approval for months on end.

The full text of the Apple Press Release is below:

The App Store? has revolutionized the way mobile applications are developed and distributed. With over 250,000 apps and 6.5 billion downloads, the App Store has become the world's largest mobile application platform and App Store developers have earned over one billion dollars from the sales of their apps.

We are continually trying to make the App Store even better. We have listened to our developers and taken much of their feedback to heart. Based on their input, today we are making some important changes to our iOS Developer Program license in sections 3.3.1, 3.3.2 and 3.3.9 to relax some restrictions we put in place earlier this year.

In particular, we are relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code. This should give developers the flexibility they want, while preserving the security we need.

In addition, for the first time we are publishing the App Store Review Guidelines to help developers understand how we review submitted apps. We hope it will make us more transparent and help our developers create even more successful apps for the App Store.

The App Store is perhaps the most important milestone in the history of mobile software. Working together with our developers, we will continue to surprise and delight our users with innovative mobile apps.

Steve Jobs once called it the No. 1 reason his devices crash. What changed his mind?

With a terse, five-paragraph statement issued Thursday morning, Apple (AAPL) reversed a five-month old policy that had sparked an industry-wide debate, a government probe and tens of thousands of words of heated commentary -- including Steve Jobs' own April 2010 "Thoughts on Flash."

The newly inoperative policy had prohibited software developers from using cross-platform tools when writing apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Covered by the ban were several popular third-party toolkits that make programmers' lives easier by allowing them to write one set of code that runs on a variety of devices. None was more important -- or controversial -- than Adobe (ADBE) Flash.

Apple's statement doesn't mention Flash by name -- and we are waiting for clarification from Apple and Adobe -- but as long as apps (or ads) written in Flash are compiled ahead of time and don't require downloading any Adobe code, they should pass muster. Adobe's stock opened about 9% higher on the news.

What caused Apple to change its mind? The leading theories:

• Feedback. The company line is that Apple has "listened to its developers and taken their feedback to heart." Nobody is buying it.
• Competition. First from cellphones powered by Google's (GOOG) Android, and now from the wave of Android tablet computers about to hit the market.
• Regulation. The FTC is known to be looking into Apple's ban on cross-party platforms, reportedly at Adobe's request.

Apple also announced that it is publishing -- for the first time -- a set of App Store review guidelines that should shed some light on what has seemed, until now, an arbitrary and capricious approval process. It's pretty blunt. "We don't need any more fart apps," it warns developers. "If your app is rejected, we have a Review Board that you can appeal to. If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps."

See also:

• Steve Jobs' Flash manifesto
• Has Steve Jobs gone mad?
• Why Is Steve Jobs Flash-obsessed?
• Apple and Adobe: Who needs whom?

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]

For the first time ever, after 250,000 apps have been developed, Apple finally decided to release some guidelines for developers to help them understand the app review process. The document is not only informative, but also entertaining to read. In general, for an app to make it through the somewhat opaque-until-now App approval process it needs to be a serious app (We don't need any more Fart apps), it can't crash or have bugs, it can't be a beta or practice app that looks like it was cobbled together in a few days, and can't cross the line in terms of being offensive. Oh, and when Apple rejects your app, if you run to the press and trash us, that will count against you.

The whole document is about keeping developers in line, but at least it is done with humor. Apps that contain objectionable material or pornography will be rejected, as will any apps which try to go around the App Store for payments or purchases, or have interfaces that mimic any iPod interface. Also, don't try to use any of the location-based APIs for automatic or autonomous control of vehicles, aircraft, or other devices. All of this, of course, is subject to change.

Apple also acknowledges that it is being stricter with apps than with songs or books in iTunes, which some might say is hypocritical. But here is how Apple responds, along with some high-level principles (the full guidelines are embedded below).

We view Apps different than books or songs, which we do not curate. If you want to criticize a religion, write a book. If you want to describe sex, write a book or a song, or create a medical app. It can get complicated, but we have decided to not allow certain kinds of content in the App Store. It may help to keep some of our broader themes in mind:

• We have lots of kids downloading lots of apps, and parental controls don't work unless the parents set them up (many don't). So know that we're keeping an eye out for the kids.
• We have over 250,000 apps in the App Store. We don't need any more Fart apps. If your app doesn't do something useful or provide some form of lasting entertainment, it may not be accepted.
• If your App looks like it was cobbled together in a few days, or you're trying to get your rst practice App into the store to impress your friends, please brace yourself for rejection. We have lots of serious developers who don't want their quality Apps to be surrounded by amateur hour.
• We will reject Apps for any content or behavior that we believe is over the line. What line, you ask? Well, as a Supreme Court Justice once said, I'll know it when I see it. And we think that you will also know it when you cross it.
• If your app is rejected, we have a Review Board that you can appeal to. If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps.
• This is a living document, and new apps presenting new questions may result in new rules at any time. Perhaps your app will trigger this.

Image credit: Flickr/Michael Stout

iPod nano (2010) splayed open in the name of miniature science originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

An evolution of AirTunes, a feature that first premiered with the AirPort Express in 2004, AirPlay lets users stream their iTunes library from and to multiple locations, including the forthcoming Apple TV. It also offers the ability to control playback and manage playlists from an iPhone or iPod touch. The big difference with AirPlay is that instead of connecting an AirPort Express to an optical audio cable or headphone jack, music can be transmitted wirelessly to compatible stereo equipment.

CNBC has a profile of BridgeCo, the company responsible for making AirPlay work with stereo makers like Denon, iHome, Maranz, JBL and Bowers & Wilkens.

As CNBC notes, this appears to be the first time that Apple has opened up its iTunes software system to a third party. Similar music streaming systems such as Sonos or Logitech's Squeezebox have required reverse engineering to work with iTunes' streaming protocol. These systems can work quite well, but there is always the possibility that a software update could break compatibility.

This time, Apple let BridgeCo's staff look at the iTunes code in order to build software that could be embedded into stereo systems and interface naturally with computers running iTunes.

Official compatibility also means that manufacturers can add features such as the ability to display song or playlist information on LED and LCD displays.

AirPlay will offer more than just wireless music streaming; beginning with iOS 4.2, users will also be able to stream video and audio content to an Apple TV from their iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad. It isn't clear if that capability will be supported to speaker systems, but that should be a theoretical option.

For BridgeCo, nabbing the Apple deal might just be what is able to push the company into the black. The 10-year old company still isn't profitable but hopes to change that after the first wave of AirPlay-enabled devices start arriving in stores.

What do you think? Would you buy a stereo with AirPlay enabled?

More About: airplay, apple, bridgeco, itunes, sonos, streaming music

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On August 20, Canada's Privy Council Office issued an order targeting Apple and the company's new Canadian version of the iBookstore. Referred to simply as an "order authorizing a review under the Investment Canada Act of Apple Canada, Inc.'s proposed establishment of a new cultural business carried on by iBookstore in Canada," the order means that Apple's investment in Canada will be scrutinized by the government to make sure it aids "Canadian culture."

The decision was noted today by Canadian law professor Michael Geist, and it relies on a section of the Investment Canada Act that allows the government to review investments for "cultural reasons."

The text of the brief order points to section 15 of the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to review any investment, even those that would not normally be reviewable. The only stipulation is that the investment must concern "a prescribed specific type of business activity that, in the opinion of the Governor in Council, is related to Canada's cultural heritage or national identity."

Given persistent Canadian concerns about being overrun with American TV shows and movies and having the country's digital music market controlled by iTunes, it's clear the government wants to take a closer look at Apple's decision to open a major new e-bookstore in Canada.

Canada's Financial Post took a dim view of the decision, saying that "the government might do well to start the review process by asking the millions of iPod, iPhone and iPad owners of Canada for their views on the matter. Though we all already know what they would say."

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The new iPod models announced last week are now available at retail Apple Stores, while preorders are arriving on doorsteps across the country. And for current iPhone and iPod users, Apple has released iOS 4.1now available via iTunes.

The update brings several new feature additions, including a high-dynamic range photo option for the iPhone 4, support for TV show rentals, the ability to send 720p video uploads to YouTube and MobileMe, support for AVRCP-compatible accessories, FaceTime calling directly from favorites, and support for FaceTime calls from front-camera-equipped iPod touches.

iOS 4.1 also brings the launch of Apple's centralized gaming social network, Game Center. With Game Center support, you can add friends, challenge them to head-to-head matches, get matched up with new players based on skill level, view high scores and achievements, and discover new games to play. Despite some concerns during the beta period, Game Center is supported on second-gen iPod touches and later, as well as the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4.

The update also includes a number of bug fixes, including a fix for iPhone 4 proximity sensor issues, Nike+iPod, and Bluetooth connectivity. In addition, it addresses widespread issues with slow performance of iOS 4 on the iPhone 3G, which recent limited testing by Lifehacker (using the iOS 4.1 GM release) demonstrated.

To update to iOS 4.1, you'll need to plug your 3G or later iPhone or second-gen or later iPod touch to a computer running iTunes, and click on "Check for Update." Apple's servers are apparently getting hammered, as some colleagues in the Orbiting HQ are getting an error message.

Keep checking back for our look at the new iPods as well as an in-depth look at some of the new features of iOS 4.1.

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Shared by M3wThr33
256 is HALF of the iPhone 4. That's unfucking-believable. That's going to be a BIG problem with high-end titles. Especially at that resolution.

Filed under: OS Updates, Apple, iPhone

iOS 4.1 update is here: what's in and what's out? originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAWTUAW TV Live: An Apple TV in pieces and a machine that goes Ping originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAWiMovie updated to 1.1, requires iOS 4.1 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Much of Microsoft's woe over the past decade has been the result of the market moving away from the company.

In the past 15 years, personal computing has gone from being all about the desktop to being all about the Internet--and the change has begun to blow apart the monopoly that made Microsoft one of the most powerful companies in history.

But much of Microsoft's woe has also been the result of strategic missteps--opportunities the company has either failed to win for failed to go after.

Plenty of frustration has been aimed at the former. Microsoft has spent 15 years hemorrhaging money in its Internet division, for example, and still has nothing to show for it but multi-billion dollar annual losses and distant third- or fourth-place market share. The Zune has been the butt of jokes for years. Windows Mobile has gone from weak to irrelevant. And so on.

Microsoft critics and shareholders tend to obsess about these tangible failures. They wonder why the company has had such a tough time competing with AOL, and Yahoo, and Google, for example. They continue to hope, usually delusionally, that Microsoft will pull off the same come-from-behind wins that it did in the early days of the PC industry.

Of far greater cost to Microsoft over the past decade, however, has been the explosive growth of massive new markets that the company has just plain missed.

Importantly, these new markets are much closer to Microsoft's core competency than "search" or "Internet service providers" ever were. They are markets in which Microsoft's monopoly would have given it a major competitive advantage. And they are markets that are now worth more than the entire "search" or Internet advertising industry put together.

What new markets are we talking about?

Apple's.

Yes, Apple still sells some personal computers (Macs). But mostly what Apple sells are personal computing products that it has invented out of thin air in just the past decade: iPods, iPhones, and iPads.

Collectively, these products (plus the Macs), have combined to make Apple worth more than Microsoft. And almost all of this value has been created in the past 10 years.

Arguably, Microsoft would have had a much better chance competing against Apple in these markets than it ever had competing against AOL, Yahoo, and Google. This is because the products Apple sells are much closer to Microsoft's original core competency than the Internet companies'--and because much of Apple's value is attributable to its success at becoming a platform. (Microsoft knows a lot about being a platform).

Yes, you can argue that Apple sells integrated hardware/software devices, not just software, and that Microsoft is no good at making integrated devices. But Microsoft has actually demonstrated that, when it puts its mind and money to it, it can build excellent integrated devices (see the Xbox. And even some of the Zunes. The latter arrived late, which is to be expected given Microsoft's lack of focus on them. But the products were eventually good). Microsoft has also demonstrated that it can manage the channel-conflict that results from selling these devices.

So, it's worth imagining for a moment what would have happened if Microsoft had never gotten distracted by Google's search business (or AOL or Yahoo's ISP and ad businesses) and, instead, focused all that money and effort on developing the new markets that Apple now owns:

• Personal connected devices (iPods),
• Smartphones (iPhones), and
• Tablets (iPads)

If Microsoft had gone after those markets aggressively, Apple might never have been able to come back from the dead. If Apple hadn't come back from the dead, the Mac's puny-but-growing share of the PC market might have dwindled to zero, meaning that Microsoft would have owned the whole thing. More importantly, Microsoft might now own Apple's share of the huge new markets above.

How much would that have been worth to Microsoft shareholders to own these markets, even with the same lack of success on the Internet front?

A lot.

We're just playing a 20-20 hindsight parlor game, of course, so you can make your own estimates. But to produce a quick one, it seems reasonable to just add Microsoft and Apple's stock-market values together.

If you do that, you conclude that Microsoft's stock price need not have fallen by more than half over the past decade, from ~$60 to $24.

You conclude instead that, if Microsoft had gone after and won these huge new markets that are much closer to its core business than Google's, it would now be by far the most valuable company in the US, with a market value of about $500 billion. And its stock, meanwhile, would be trading near an all-time high, around $70 per share.

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See Also:

• Microsoft's Real Problem: The Second Coming of Apple
• Now Apple's iPads Are Cannibalizing The Whole PC Industry (Sorry, Microsoft)
• IT BEGINS: Apple's iPads Are Invading The Corporate Market And Killing Microsoft's Laptops

Do you read a lot of different blogs? You're reading this one, so chances are good that you do.

Keeping track of all of your favorite blogs is tricky in itself. Feed readers like Google Reader are good at organizing all of your blogs into distinguishable folders and whatnot, but because blogs don't all update at the same time you are forced to keep checking Google Reader if you want to find the latest articles.

There are solutions for this, such as Desktop Google Reader and GoogSysTray, but isn't there just a small, simple application out there that has all the notification settings we're all looking for? Well, I believe I have found such an app called GRaiN.

What Features Does GRaiN Have?

If you missed the link above, you can download GRaiN here.

GRaiN isn't an application so much as it's really just a tray icon, which is nice because you can install it, set it up once and you are ready to go. You can always tweak the settings of course, which is what I will go over now.

GRaiN only has one main window from which all of the settings can be accessed. If a new update is available, it will be displayed at the top of the screen. Right next to the update notification is the first setting, which allows you to select how often GRaiN checks for updates. You can set this to 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 60, or 120 minutes.

Select Individual Items

Below the frequency option is probably my favorite feature of this app the ability to individually select which items you would like to receive notifications for. If you follow a lot of blogs like I do, this will be especially useful if you have certain blogs that you like to check more than others. For instance, I have my feeds organized into folders, and out of the roughly 10 that I have, I only have notifications enabled for 2 of them, so I don't miss any of the best/most important content.

Sound & Pop-Up Notifications

The other great feature from this app is the ability to easily select which sound file you would like to play upon receiving new unread item notifications.

The animated pop-up accompanied with this program offers a nice, quick indicator to alert you of new items and it serves its purpose very well.

When you receive a pop-up notification, you can click on it to open up a new tab in your browser for Google Reader. You can also achieve this by right-clicking the tray icon and hitting Go to Reader or by double-clicking the icon itself.

Other options include selecting which browser to associate the app with, what color you would like the icon to turn when you have unread items, and start on Windows startup.

Conclusion

In conclusion, if you are utilizing Google Reader, you should have this desktop application. It helps keep you up-to-date on all of your favorite blog feeds and it won't give you any headaches. It really is a very simple way to access and keep track of your feeds.

How do you keep track of the latest blog posts? Will you be giving GRaiN a try?

Leave your thoughts, ideas, and comments below, and if you found this article useful, share it with your friends/followers!

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