The iCloud that is used for apps and services like iMessage, Mail, iCloud backup, iTunes, Photo Stream and more is built on a completely different technology stack from the developer APIs that are causing problems. iWork actually does use developer APIs, but only the (still rough) document syncing, not Core Data, which has been causing the most issues.
So when I say that there are two iClouds, I mean that there are two iClouds. One of them is used heavily inside Cupertino for its own services and the other is offered as a developer API and used only selectively for Apple’s own apps. I’m not here to say whether that’s right or wrong or fair or not or whatever, those are just the facts.
iCloud is merely a brand encompassing all of Apple’s web services and has no connection to the underlying technology.
The “iCloud” APIs given to developers are specifically designed for data storage and sync, whether that be via key-value storage, Core Data, or a file-based method. Apple has never advertised them as anything more … because they don’t do anything more.
Mail, Photo Stream, iCloud backup, iTunes and the like are not mere datastores. They can’t use the developer APIs in the same way Facebook couldn’t build a social network on top of them either.
The developer APIs aren’t meant for hosting web services. Web services necessitate daemons, shared databases, external compute power and the like — they have to do stuff far beyond syncing data.
Hence, the fact that Apple uses a separate technology stack than that it gives to developers is not a matter of right or wrong, just practicalities. The public iCloud APIs are (trying to) simplify data sync for developers and that’s it. If you need to do more than that with a remote server (as Apple does), you have to go elsewhere.
Finally, what about Dark Sky? Don’t worry, we’re not abandoning it — in fact, we’ll have an update in the App Store in the coming weeks that will add in our improved weather forecasts and add support for the UK.
They announced a whole host of other stuff too, including their plans to expand into an entire data-rich weather service, but what I care about came in the last line of the post: Dark Sky is imminent to the UK.
“Sometimes I feel closer to the “anonymous” personalities than people that work at my store,” offered one of the more active members.
Like on Twitter, the personalities are still completely anonymous during the Google+ Hangouts. The people typically, if they even have their cameras enabled, wear masks or other items to obscure their identities. “With the Google Hangouts, keeping identities private is becoming more of a challenge,” one person said. Since Google requires users to have profiles and names to use the Hangout service, these users have created fake Google accounts with fake names (sometimes that match their fake Twitter identities) to maintain anonymity.
So far, these problems have persisted through three different leaders of Apple Retail. Why can’t Apple sort this out?
Other retail chains don’t compel their employees to setup underground communities to let out their frustrations.
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced a trio of milestones achieved during the launch week of StarCraft® II: Heart of the Swarm™. More than 1.1 million viewers tuned into the company’s 21-hour, global broadcast of launch events and community celebrations around the world, with peak concurrent viewership reaching over 125,000, as reported by Twitch. As of the end of its first two days of sales, Heart of the Swarm had sold through approximately 1.1 million copies worldwide, including both retail and digital sales.
I like Starcraft II a lot and this love now extends to Heart of the Swarm as well. Naturally, being an expansion, the general gameplay is similar to Wings of Liberty, although the various new unit abilities do make multiplayer a lot more micro-intensive.
Other reviews have rated the campaign very highly, but I can’t comment as I haven’t yet been compelled to start it.
Some suggested that in Apple’s next mobile operating system, Ive is pushing a more “flat design” that is starker and simpler, according to developers who have spoken to Apple employees but didn’t have further details.
Podcasts 1.2 came out today — the tape reel is gone.
As far as sync is concerned, we knew we would likely need an alternative to Google Reader as early as last year. At the time, the option that seemed to make the most sense was to embrace iCloud and Core Data as the new sync solution of choice. We spent a considerable amount of time on this effort, but iCloud and Core Data syncing had issues that we simply could not resolve.
Black Pixel has some of the smartest Mac developers in the world and in July last year, they hired Michael Jurewitz. Jurewitz was Apple’s lead developer evangelist. If Black Pixel can’t workaround the issues with iCloud and Core Data, other developers don’t stand a chance.
An inside source from Apple (also confirmed by a third party) told Gizmorati that its both devices, the iPhone 5S and the iPad 5 will be unveiled during a special event called ‘Original Passion, New Ideas’, on June 29, 2013.
I can categorically say that this is not true. Apple is never going to have a press event on a Saturday.
Publish your app(s) in the Windows Store and/or Windows Phone Store and fill out the form at http://aka.ms/CashForApps to participate. You can submit up to 10 apps per Store and get $100 for each qualified app up to $2000.
$100 per submission is a pathetic payout for any given app of a decent quality. Obviously, the $100 is not supposed to fund the development of your app by itself. It is only meant as an incentive.
Still, the upfront feebleness of the reward doesn’t help Windows Phone’s PR at all. It feels like a move a company makes in desperation, when they are clamouring for marketshare but do not have any money left for marketing to reverse the decline. Sadly, if it wasn’t for cash-cow Microsoft financing the unit, that hypothetical situation would apply to Windows Phone now.
A much better strategy for Microsoft to boost Windows Phone development would be to seed key indie developers with hardware. Sponsoring free sales of apps is another alternative use. In fact, take the million dollar kitty and split it equally between the top ten developers on iOS in exchange for their commitment to the Windows Phone platform.
In essence, instead of giving a negligible amount to many, do stuff that gives a reasonable payback to some.
One HTC executive said the company has a had a problem managing its component suppliers as HTC “changed its order forecasts drastically and frequently following last year’s unexpected slump in shipments.” The executive added that “HTC has had difficulty in securing adequate camera components as it is no longer a tier-one customer.”
In consumer electronic markets, tensions arise because although buyers tend to favour new entrants, suppliers greatly prefer large incumbents due to the economies of scale involved.
“We’ve been preparing the watch product for so long,” Lee Young Hee, executive vice president of Samsung’s mobile business, said during an interview in Seoul. “We are working very hard to get ready for it. We are preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them.”
“History repeats itself again I guess … the rate of innovation is so high in our industry that if you don’t innovate at that speed you can be replaced pretty quickly. The user interface on the iPhone, with all due respect for what this invention was all about is now five years old.”
Until very recently, Blackberry had a ten year old UI on its phone platform that couldn’t manage basic touch response.
Assuming Heins is correct in his assessment of iOS, it follows that Blackberry is now only five years behind in this regard, as its design is just an amalgamation of iOS and Android ideas.
Traditionally, beginning a sentence with ‘and’ (a conjunction) is not recommended. This is because ‘and’ is used to link or compare two points, separating them with a period can create an awkward cadence. However, perhaps in this case the line-break forgives.
bq..:http://sefsar.com/terrible-copywriting-on-applecom I would have ran with:
There’s iPhone.
Then there’s everything you can do with it.
I think there is a very obvious reason why Apple didn’t stick to the copywriting standards: it doesn’t sound as good. Also, I’m not sure why Sarhan expects Apple to follow the conventional protocols in their marketing copy. They violate the rules of grammar on a regular basis …
In 2008, Mr. Brichter built Tweetie to have a better way to use Twitter and eventually included the “pull-to-refresh” feature. After selling the app to Twitter for what he says was “single digit millions” in 2010, he stayed on at Twitter working remotely on the company’s apps for about a year and a half. He left to keep experimenting.
One of his suggested improvements to Finish was simply “lose the colons”.
The iMac with Built-in VESA Mount Adapter is ready to pair with your favorite VESA-compatible wall mount, desk mount, or articulating arm (sold separately). This iMac doesn’t include a stand, so a mount is required. If you don’t already have a mount, you can purchase one when you configure your iMac.
The clash of customer wants and business objectives is always fascinating to observe. A disproportionately small amount of the market coerced Apple into releasing a new iMac model with VESA compatibility. Yet, the chances of “iMac with SuperDrive” making an appearance ever again are tremendously small.
