Gawker
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journalismism
J-School Identifies Apple-Friendly Financial Aid Loophole
Congress is debating whether journalists should be subsidized. But hey, did anyone know that we're already coddling J-school students by letting them take federal loans for iPhones? More » -
timeline
Steve Jobs and the Power of Refusing Reality
While Steve Jobs' famed "reality distortion field" transformed, despite all odds, computers, music, movies and cell phones, it is his own body which has proven resistant to his formidable power to reshape the world. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Mark 2000: What's disturbing is that Jobso, the hippy idiot boy, spent a YEAR not getting treatment for the original cancer and... 3 Responses | Other threads
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failure
Microsoft Preparing to Put Zune Out of Its Misery
When political candidates concede a campaign, they praise the "long journey" and talk about how much they've "learned." In the same mode, Microsoft's CEO has all but said he's given up on the Zune. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by mimigoliath: Aww, I have the 80GB Zune and I love it. 8 Responses | Other threads
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tony fadell
Apple pays off iPod daddy with $8.4 million in stock
Why did Tony Fadell, the driving force behind the iPod, leave Apple? We know this much: Apple is willing to pay him handsomely not to make a fuss on the way out. Digital Daily notes that he's getting paid $300,000 a year through March 24, 2010. That's a 40 percent paycut from his regular salary of $500,009, but the salary is the least of his post-Apple compensation. according to Apple's 10-K filing. If he keeps his gig as as a "special advisor," doesn't sue Apple, and agrees not to recruit Apple employees to any new venture, he'll get 77,500 shares of Apple stock — currently worth a cool $8.4 million.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Haggie: knowing where the bodies are buried sure does pay well... more » | Other threads
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online music
Apple and other online music retailers get their way
The Copyright Royalty Board, an obscure agency which has been thrust into the spotlight thanks to its role in arbitrating rates for digital music distribution, has frozen the price online music stores have to pay to artists and labels at a little over nine cents. The music industry had been lobbying for an increase to around fifteen cents, would likely have erased the notoriously slim margins Apple enjoys at the iTunes Music Store. Not that Apple would have cared, since it's all about the iPod business anyway and the company was ostensibly willing to shut down digital download sales if it didn't get its way.
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By Jackson WestComment by WagCurious: Apple was as likely to shut down the iTunes store as you are likely to post the article on the... more » | Other threads
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Acqusiitions
Why Apple's forcing Samsung to chase SanDisk
Samsung has launched a hostile $5.9 billion offer for SanDisk, a rival maker of flash-memory chips, which SanDisk has rejected. Toshiba, which manufactures chips in partnership with SanDisk, is considering a blocking bid. The posturing is typical: SanDisk says the bid undervalues the company, while Samsung executives retort that it is "full and fair." Leave aside the deal theatrics: Why does Samsung want SanDisk? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by jim_rock: Monopsony seems to be a company playing by the majority of the rules and still achieving wild success. Such are... 1 Responses | Other threads
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iphone
Apple's iPhone chip plans leaked on LinkedIn
A senior chip design manager from PA Semi, Wei-han Lien, let a little light shine on Apple's plans for future generations of the iPhone and iPod by listing "Manage ARM CPU architecture team for iPhone" as his current gig on LinkedIn (Lien's profile has since been scrubbed from the site). CEO Steve Jobs had already let it be known that new Apple subsidiary would be working on chips for the popular mobile devices, and now we know that they will be basing designs on the same ARM architecture that Samsung licensed for the current batch, though with Apple's own proprietary improvements. PA Semi was known for crafting highly efficient, low-power chips. Other features, such as graphics and video processing and multi-touch controls, can also be embedded directly in CPU. Tighter integration with the surrounding electronics in the entire chipset can also be achieved with a custom design. As for PA Semi's role in supplying defense contractors with the company's famously efficient designs, not to worry — a contractor says he'll be able to provision chips popular in military applications for "four to five years." -
great moments in pr
Dan Lyons catches Apple employees pretending to be fanboys
Steve Jobs's latest Applefest was a nonevent, with nothing more to show than updates to the iPod line and iTunes software. But the cheers at the glorified press conference yesterday were as blustery as they ever are at Apple events. Newsweek's Dan Lyons must have been bored by what was being said on stage, because he was paying more attention to the rest of the audience. He reports that much of the crowd was clapping so loud because they were paid to. More »
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Comment by celery: To be fair, most Apple employees really are starry-eyed Apple fanboys. 1 Responses | Other threads
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apple
Steve Jobs looks okay at iPod event
Forget all the colorful new iPods on display at Apple's "Let's Rock" event in San Francisco today — Apple investors are more concerned with the guy who's demoing them. Pictures of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, whose health has been much in question lately, show him looking imperiously slim, not dangerously frail. (Photo by Brian Lam/Gizmodo) [Gizmodo Liveblog]
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By Owen ThomasComment by fedbait: Imperiously slim -- what the hell does that even mean? He looks fucking emaciated. 1 Responses | Other threads
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developers, developers, developers
iPhone-app developers say Apple won't let them fix bugs quickly
Something we bet Steve Jobs won't be discussing on stage at this morning's iPod event: The third-party developers who create apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch say Apple takes a week or more to approve updates — even bug fixes. Apple also doesn't communicate with the developers to tell them why or how long their updates will be delayed. Fraser Speiers, who developed the Exposure Flickr application for the iPhone, told Macworld: More » -
kane kramer
Meet the guy Apple's lawyers say invented the iPod
British engineer Kane Kramer created a device in 1979 called the IXI which could store and play back three and a half minutes of music. He patented the device and even founded a company to sell it. By 1988, funding ran out and he couldn't afford to renew the patents. Improbably, Apple now calls him an inventor of the iPod. The U.K.'s Daily Mail, which first reported the news, says it's the story of a wronged inventor who has never seen a dime from the 163 million iPods sold worldwide. "I can’t even bring myself to buy an iPod for myself," says Kramer, who has closed a legal loophole for Apple, conveniently and cheaply. More »
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Comment by giddieup: they settle out of court, which means that apple prob paid em enuff to satisfy those shitfaces. patent laws needs to... 2 Responses | Other threads
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rumormonger
Newsflash: Apple to unveil new products at new-products event
At a press conference scheduled for September 9, Apple will unveil "unspecified new products," reports Reuters. Thanks, Reuters guys — that really helps! The event's theme is "let's rock." In August, Digg cofounder Kevin Rose predicted Apple would announce a new iPod Nano, minor changes to its iPod Touch, price cuts to older iPod models and version 8.0 of iTunes — in other words, the same kind of update to its iPod product line Apple makes every fall. Our eternal gratitude, Captain Obvious! -
breakdowns
Apple confirms iPod Nano fires
Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry claims “there have been multiple cases of overheating and fire damage, in particular during recharging" iPod Nanos sold during the model's first year of production in 2005. An Apple spokesperson confirmed that “in very rare cases”, batteries in first generation iPod Nanos sold between September 2005 and December 2006 can overheat. Full statement from Apple: More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by ciscokidinsf: @TheChris2.0: Dunno, The Doors' Jim Morrison would've been a better choice. more » | Other threads
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ipod
iPod Nano Explodes While Charging
Reader D's first-gen iPod Nano was chugging power from his PC's USB port when suddenly he saw it "explode open and start shooting sparks and spewing smoke." Pictures inside, along with Apple's response. [Consumerist]
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By CareyComment by PhineasDeer: Exploding MP3 in "playback mode". Any quick comments on my MP3 expoloding and filling room with snoke/fumes and burned bed... more » | Other threads
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Zen Mozaic
New iPod competitor so crazy it just might work
Creative's Zen Mozaic won't shorten the lines at the Apple Store, but its puzzle-like keyboard would be perfect in the Joker's greasy hands. It's the first non-iPhone I've seen with real head-turning potential.
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By Paul BoutinComment by kimbjo: uninterrupted run by apple as the ease-of-use leader????? have you ever tried to TYPE on an iphone!? more » | Other threads
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apple
Slavish fanboy purchases of Macs and iPods pad another profitable quarter for Apple
Apple reported numbers for its third fiscal quarter today: Based on the sales of 2,496,000 Macs and 11,011,000 iPods, Apple generated revenues of $7.46 billion and a net profit of $1.07 billion. In the same time period last year, Apple's revenue was $5.41 billion, with a profit of $818 million. Apple didn't release numbers for iPhone sales — those come next quarter. Steve Jobs, skipping over talk of his health, also hinted at more new product releases in the coming months. New products from Apple? Yes, we're not shocked, either.
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Comment by deathbychichi: Ah linkbait. Doesn't seem to have worked though... more » | Other threads
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Mourning Becomes Electric
Heath Ledger's iPod and the microchip memorial
Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal dropped by the Today Show this morning to shill a movie, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Eckhart earnestly related to host Matt Lauer a story about their deceased costar Heath Ledger which he'd told Ledger's mother — namely, that friends were passing around Ledger's iPod as a form of remembrance: More » -
apple
Steve Jobs says PA Semi acquisition will design new iPhone and iPod chips
Apple's purchase of microprocessor designer PA Semi wasn't just so the Cupertino company could get into the arms trade — ultimately, the CEO wants to bring in house the design of systems-on-chips currently engineered and manufactured by third parties like Intel and Samsung . More »
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By Jackson WestComment by Robert Synnott: In this case, no-one really has a good solution right now, though; the aging ARM thing is about it. Intel... more » | Other threads
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Apple's Tricks Explained
How To Launch an Apple Product in 5 Easy Steps
Ladies and gentlemen, after hours of studious dissection of Apple keynotes (requiring countless YouTube clips, a non-linear editing program and a pile of empty Hot Pockets boxes that reaches our ceiling), we've figured out just how Apple "does it" and presented "it" to you here. Launching a new iPod or iPhone isn't about the new-fangled technology; it's about the showmanship. And here are the five, snake-charming ways Steve Jobs lures you to buy a new version of what you already have. SPOILER ALERT: It may involve comparing things to pencils. [Gizmodo] -
apple
Free iPod Touch for college students
With the purchase of a laptop, students can choose to get a free 8GB iPod touch worth $299. First reported by MacRumors, Apple's online store now confirms the deal. Apple, whichused to knock downknocks down the price of its wares by as much as 20 percent to students, has also been offering consumer-electronics giveawaysinstead ofin addition. Until recently, the company was giving away iPod Nanos. But you can't get that $299 towards an iPhone. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by matto: Apple emailed this offer to me and I nearly soiled myself. Thats quite a freebie! more » | Other threads
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lawsuits
Bad iPod batteries could cost Apple $3.6 million loonies
Apple has settled a class-action suit in Canadian courts over first, second and third-generation iPod batteries that fell well short of claimed battery life. Up to 80,000 Canadians are eligible for CA$45 credits. I'd make a joke about worthless Canadian currency, except that it's now trading near parity with our own worthless currency. [Canada.com]
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By Jackson WestComment by raincoaster: You could say "near parity" if by "near parity" you meant up to seven percent more. more » | Other threads
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microsoft
Lonely Zune owner reaches out on Craigslist
While in the strictly platonic section of Craigslist, this anonymous Angeleno writes in a tone more suited to casual encounters, what with the desire to "rocket sweet tracks up each other's Zune slots" and the need for "a hearty and steadfast product." I'm willing to bet my Shuffle against your Zune the author is NBC's Jeff Zucker, and that he wasn't being ironic. -
digital music
Why Steve Jobs wants to sell you a music subscription
Why is Apple suddenly in talks with record labels about bundling an unlimited music plan with new iPods, after resisting such a move for years? Steve Jobs has scoffed at music subscriptions in the past, saying customers want to "own their music." Never take Steve at his word: For years, he shot down the idea of iPods with video or an Apple-branded cell phone — until he made them happen. The same is about to happen for music subscriptions, I suspect — but not because Jobs has suddenly changed his mind about consumers' tastes. More » -
digital music
Steve Jobs changing tune on music subscriptions?
Apple executives will meet with music labels next week to discuss selling music subscriptions on iTunes, the New York Times notes, confirming prior reports. At the meetings, label execs will argue that customers are ready for subscriptions because they're used to watching movies expire after they rent them on iTunes. Despite his long-held reservations, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is reportedly willing to listen. He's even said to be considering making music subscriptions part of purchasing an iPod or iPhone — probably just to spite NBC CEO Jeff Zucker.
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Comment by Fidel on the Roof: This is like the Yahoo subscription service. Right? I don't know for sure, but I think the Yahoo thing didn't... more » | Other threads
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digital music
We're not buying Apple's new unlimited music plan
Apple has opened negotiations with the major record labels by offering only $20 per customer for a proposed unlimited plan at the iTunes music store, according to the Financial Times. Nokia is offering $80, but then cell-phone manufacturers have the price of phones subsidized by carriers who've gotten used to paying hundreds of dollars to acquire new customers. Apple has traditionally made its profits on the devices themselves, since iTunes margins are paltry, and are already slashing prices on units in order to meet sales forecasts. Labels are looking to get as much as $100 from iPod buyers and $8 a month from iPhone subscribers. Both sides are really fighting over how much of the profit from music they'll keep. Me, I'll stick with vinyl. (Illustration by Gizmodo)
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By Jackson WestComment by Nick Douglas: Why not learn Bittorrent? That seems easier. more » | Other threads
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iphone
iPhone 2.0 Update Available for Free in June, Touch Users Get to Pay Up (Again)
All of the awesomeness you've been reading about—from an AIM client to Enterprise goodness—will be coming your way in June with the final 2.0 software update. For free! Unless you've gotta an iPod touch, then due to those nefarious "accounting practices" you have to pay to get the update. Again! ($20? less? more? You should've just gotten the phone, asshole.) [Gizmodo]
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Comment by CynicalDriver: It's marketing my friends... Apple gets a percentage of the revenue generated from the AT&T contracts with iPhones. I have an... more » | Other threads
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apple
Apple made new iPod owners out of 3 percent of Americans last year
Apple COO Tim Cook revealed an iPod-sales statistic at Wednesday's Goldman Sachs Tech conference: "For last quarter in the U.S., 40 percent of iPods sold were sold to people who did not own an iPod. In thinking about this number, this doesn't feel like a saturated market to us." The vast majority of my (admittedly gadget-loving) friends have bought several iPods over the years. I'm on my sixth, if you include my iPhone. Even my mother has had two and is thinking about a Shuffle. Just how many people bought an iPod last year? And how many were new to the white-earbud cult? Here's our rough estimate. More »
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Comment by SandHillSnobbery: Looks like Kevin Spacey is going with the red one! more » | Other threads
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ipod
Apple's iPod strategy — Shuffle numbers down, then Touch them up
Apple COO Tim Cook explained Apple's iPod strategy at a Goldman Sachs conference yesterday: Sell less, make more. Worldwide iPod unit shipments were up 5 percent December-to-December — relatively low growth, thanks to slumping sales of Apple's cheap Shuffle. But iPod revenue still grew 17 percent. "Shuffle pulled the units down, the iPod Touch pulled the revenue up. Frankly, it was much more important for us to have a great launch on Touch and to establish that product ... than it was on units," he said. Cook continued: More » -
rumormonger
Apple holding a special event next week?
Rumors are flying about a secret event Apple is holding next week in New York City. Potential introductions include long-expected software which would allow developers outside Apple to make applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Other rumors are circling about new high-end notebooks, a new iPhone, or more labels offering DRM-free music on the iTunes Store. Rock band Linkin Park posted a note on its blog about a special show in NYC in with Apple. "Shh... it's a secret..." Got more details? Drop us a line. (Photo by AP/Jeff Chiu)
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Comment by John S. Kim: i hope they don't release a new version of macbook air. just ordered one. more » | Other threads
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politics
Congratulations! You've won two free iPod Nanos! Thanks, George W. Bush!
The U.S. Government's proposed tax rebate checks, totaling about $60 billion, will mostly be spent on "household goods" and "electrical items." Translation? Toilet paper and iPods. "These kinds of stimulus packages trigger a rise in sales for clothing, household furnishings, and household goods." [Times Online]
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Comment by corncat: "Toilet paper and iPods" Connected? Rumor has it that ipods can be used in the place of clamshells. more » | Other threads
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iphone
New iPhone's profit margin reaches 40 percent
Apple has fattened the iPhone and iPod Touch's memory — and the company's profit margins. The 16GB iPhone retails for $499 — a $100 price jump, which might kick the iPhone above a 40 percent gross margin. Not bad for an industry that normally gives away phones as a loss leader. [Silicon Alley Insider]
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Comment by cmess: Apple just ran their new ad showing Facebook on the new iPhone, and a million teenagers just asked their parents... more » | Other threads
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stats
Yahoo Answers more popular than the iPod
Atop Yahoo's response to the Microsoft takeover bid, Yahoo has this "fun fact": more people use Yahoo! Answers than own an iPod. That's great! Now if only Yahoo could get each Answers user to pay $181 apiece, like 22 million iPod buyers did to Apple last quarter, it wouldn't be in this mess.
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Comment by sample032: If I was Microsoft, I'd move web operations to a new Yahoo brand, and internally, reorganize things, but keep it... more » | Other threads
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music
Bono gives away iPods to save Africa
Bono gave a red iPod to the Japanese Prime Minister hoping to encourage more support from Japan to combat African poverty. Yasuo Fukuda asked Bono if his music was preloaded on the device. "No, but you can download it." More »
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Comment by sample032: Someone should do the world a favor and make Bono take an economics class...and a political science class. more » | Other threads
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live coverage
Apple's first-quarter earnings
Apple beat the street with its 2008 first-quarter earnings, but the company is pitching a low forecast for the coming months. It's expecting earnings of 94 cents a share on $6.8 billion in revenues for the second quarter. We're liveblogging the conference call as Apple explains that one to investors. More » -
apple
Steve Jobs: Oh yeah, and Amazon's Kindle won't work either
Remember the comparisons between Amazon's Kindle and the iPod? Don't try them on Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The Kindle was a bad idea, Jobs told the New York Times after yesterday's Macworld keynote. "It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don't read anymore," he said. "Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don't read anymore." Mmhmm, Mr. Jobs. And whose fault is that? -
triviagasm
A Brief History of Reality Distortion Fields, Starring Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs is the first non-science fiction character to possess a reality distortion field (RDF). Apple's MacWorld 2008 conference kicks off tomorrow with a keynote from Jobs, which leaves gadget lovers and iPod fiends white-knuckled on Tuesday morning as news of the next "insanely great" thing trickles out of Moscone Center in San Francisco. Why does this speech cause such furor (and fury) every year? RDF, of course. We've got the scoop on how Jobs came to posses the RDF, and we've got four other famous RDFs from science fiction for you to contemplate as you await the mind-control ray that will emanate from MacWorld tomorrow. [io9]
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By Kevin KellyComment by wesmundo: I think the SEP field generator (somebody else's problem) is more commonly in use, by several multinational corp directors and... more » | Other threads
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stats
Kiss your stereo goodbye
Apple's iPod doesn't just dominate our pockets. It's reshaping how we listen to music in the home. The Consumer Electronics Association forecasts that speaker systems with iPod docks — everything from clock radios to fancy Bose players — will exceed sales of traditional compact shelf systems and home-theater-in-a-box systems (those fancy surround-sound stereos the Best Buy salespeoople keep pushing on you). The iPod speaker system market will grow an estimated 23 percent in 2008 to $1.07 billion, while the market for non-iPod stereo systems will slide to $1.04 billion. Since most stereos have built-in CD players, this sounds another death knell for the once-ubiquitous music disc. (Photo by Señor Codo)
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By Tim FaulknerComment by Galley: I personally own three iPod speaker systems: JBL On Stage, JBL On Stage II and Griffin Amplifi. more » | Other threads
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apple
iPod research yields a book full of Bull
Michael Bull, a film and media professor at England's University of Sussex, has spent three years interviewing more than 1,000 iPod owners — only to reach the most obvious of conclusions. In the process, Bull dubbed himself Professor iPod and won a book deal. The book, Sound Moves: iPod Culture and Urban Experience, holds no revelations: People carry their digital content around with them, relying on it to get them through the day. iPod owners use the devices to create personalized, controlled environments insulated from the dislocation of their work lives and the cacophony of the city. Is it any shock Apple found his research worthless? More »
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By Tim FaulknerComment by mbull: Dear TimYou've misinterpreted my comments made on Wired News. The point was that the Apple executive was too stupid to... more » | Other threads
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ipod
Like it or not, Apple wants to save your ears
Is Steve jobs turning into an overprotective nanny in his old age? As Apple continues its attempt at world domination through well-designed products and heavy advertising — at one point I saw Apple ads on four TVs simultaneously at my local sports bar, thanks NFL Sunday Ticket! — it's good to know that the company is looking out for our eardrums. Apple has gotten a patent that illustrates a technology for an automatic volume control. Your next iPod could calculate how long you've been listening to music at high volume, and reduce the volume for a "quiet time" before allowing you to increase the sound to full volume again. More »
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Comment by royal72: dear apple, fuck you! they're my god damned ears and i'll do what i want with 'em. if someone sues... more » | Other threads
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apple
iPod touch not just an iPhone without the phone
iSuppli tore apart the iPod Touch. Turns out it's not just a broken iPhone. WIthout all the phone components to clutter things up, the Touch is thinner and has room for more memory. And, at $147 in parts per device, the iPod Touch costs Apple about $120 less to make. Then again, it doesn't reap the iPhone's service-fee kickbacks.
valleywag
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Fri Jul 10
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