Apple discounts the books Amazon refuses to stock

If you head over to iTunes and look for book pre-orders at $9.99 or less, you may notice something strange: they’re all Hachette titles. That’s no coincidence — Amazon is delaying shipment on Hachette books right now, a negotiating tactic it calls an “essential business practice.” Authors and publishers think otherwise, with one referring to it as “extortion” that’s “illegal when the Mafia does it.” As Re/Code pointed out, however, it’s ironic that Apple is offering cut rates on Hachette books, considering it was found guilty of conspiring with the publisher to raise prices. Apple has since settled class-action suits that resulted from that judgement, though it won’t have to pay if it wins its appeal against the DoJ. Either way, Apple is set to profit by selling buzzy new titles like J.K. Rowling’s well-reviewed Silkworm, since Amazon has essentially kneecapped itself. Let’s face it though — Apple also likely enjoys razzing the book industry’s 800 pound gorilla.

Filed under: Internet, Apple, Amazon

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Via: Forbes

Source: iTunes

Adobe Announces Creative Cloud Updates, Expanded Creative Profile [Mac Blog]

Adobe today announced that all of its Creative Cloud desktop apps, including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Lightroom, Premiere Pro, and more, will receive updates that improve the efficiency of work flows and boost performance.

Photoshop CC, for example, will gain new Blur Gallery motion effects for creating a sense of motion, a Focus Mask for selecting focus areas and highlighting portrait shots with a shallow depth of field, new Content Aware capabilities, and a new Perspective Warp for adjusting the perspective of a specific part of an image.

The update also includes enhanced Mercury Graphics Engine performance, the ability to link Smart Objects to be shared across multiple documents, and improved Layer Comps.

Illustrator CC gains Live Shapes to transform rectangles into complex shapes and back, while in Indesign CC, it’s now possible to select table rows and columns and use the EPUB fixed Layout to create digital books

Adobe’s video apps now include Live Text Templates and Masking and Tracking, with Premiere Pro CC gaining enhanced graphics performance. After Effects now includes new keying effects, while SpeedGrade CC has a more flexible Direct Link color pipeline and Audition has enhanced multi-track tools.

Along with updates to all of its Creative Cloud apps, Adobe is expanding Creative Cloud profiles to improve the connectivity between mobile and desktop apps. Profiles will include stored files, photos, fonts, and preferences, which can be accessed on both desktop and mobile apps, allowing files to be seamlessly shared between apps.

The new CC desktop apps, mobile apps, and hardware are tightly integrated through Creative Cloud services. This integration helps liberate the creative process by enabling users to access and manage everything that makes up their creative profile – their files, photos, fonts, colors, community and more – from wherever they work.

Adobe today also introduced both a new suite of mobile apps designed with its new SDK and two new tools, the Adobe Ink and the Adobe Slide, detailed in a separate post.

Adobe’s new Creative Cloud updates are available to Creative Cloud subscribers for free. Adobe offers individual Creative Cloud memberships starting at $49.99 per month for new customers, $29.99 per month for existing CS customers, and $19.99 for students. Adobe has also announced plans to make its $9.99/month Photography bundle, with access to Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5, permanent and available to all users, and the company is debuting expanded offerings for education and enterprise.

Adobe Announces ‘Ink’ Stylus and ‘Slide’ Ruler Duo, New Mobile Apps

Adobe today announced the launch of a new suite of mobile apps and accompanying hardware that includes its Adobe Ink digital pen and its Adobe Slide digital ruler. Previously known as the “Mighty” stylus and the “Napoleon” digital ruler while in development, Adobe’s new tools were created in partnership with Adonit, the company behind a line of popular styluses.

Adobe’s three-sided aluminum Ink stylus is pressure sensitive and connects to Creative Cloud, allowing users to access photos, color palettes, drawings, and more, while drawing within Adobe’s mobile apps. Adobe Slide, the ruler that accompanies the stylus, is designed to enable precision sketching, including straight lines, perfect circles, and balanced shapes on Apple’s iPad.

The Ink and Slide are complemented by two new iPad apps, Adobe Sketch and Adobe Line. Sketch is a social sketching app for free-form drawing, with a set of simple tools (pencil, ink pen, blending markers, and eraser) and Behance integration to share sketches with the creative community. Line allows iPad users to create precision drafts and drawings, with a reimagining of traditional tools like rulers, T-squares, and shape templates.

Along with Line and Sketch Adobe is introducing Photoshop Mix, an iPad app that interfaces with Photoshop on the desktop and makes it easy for users to do masking and compositing of images. It’s a simple way to create masks on a touch screen, which can then be transferred to the desktop version of Photoshop. It is able to open PSD files and it includes features like Content Aware Fill and Camera Shake Reduction.

There are also new Creative Cloud apps for the iPhone and the iPad, which allow Creative Cloud members to access and manage their files and assets from their mobile devices. Finally, the mobile version of Adobe Lightroom, initially available only for the iPad is now expanding to the iPhone.

Adobe’s new apps have been built using the Creative SDK, which is currently undergoing private beta testing but will be released to developers in the future, allowing for additional apps that will be able to take advantage of Adobe’s new hardware and Creative Cloud connectivity.

Adobe has also updated all of its Creative Cloud apps for the desktop and introduced expanded Creative Cloud profiles to improve connectivity between mobile devices and apps.

Ink and Slide, Adobe’s new hardware tools, are sold in a set and are available immediately from Adobe.com for $100. Ink and Slide are currently limited to U.S. customers only, but Adobe has plans to expand availability in the future. Adobe’s new apps, Sketch, Line and Photoshop Mix will all be from the App Store today for free, as will the new Creative Cloud app and Lightroom for iPhone.

New Low-Cost iMac 40% Slower in Multi-Core, Comparable in Single-Core Benchmarks

Following today’s launch of a new entry-level iMac model curiously featuring an ultra-low voltage Intel processor actually used in the MacBook Air, the new iMac appears to have shown up in Geekbench’s benchmarking database.

As expected, the new machine posts relatively low 32-bit scores of 2820 in single-core mode and 5435 in multi-core mode. These scores are marginally better than the 2476/4690 scores posted by the current-generation MacBook Air running the same chip and actually fairly close to single-core scores from the previous low-end model, which remains available, at 2882.

But where this new low-end iMac unsurprisingly falls far short of the previous low-end model is in multi-core performance, where the older model clocks in at 9204. This major difference is due primarily to the chip used in the new low-end model being a dual-core chip, while the older low-end chip is quad-core.

The new low-end iMac comes in $200 cheaper than the previous entry-level model, but for that savings users will sacrifice some CPU and graphics performance and will have a 500 GB hard drive rather than the 1 TB drive included in the more expensive low-end model.

Apple Cuts Prices on Mac Mini and Apple TV in Europe, iMac in UK

On the same day it launched a new entry-level iMac model, Apple also used the downtime to adjust the prices on other hardware in some European markets. The price cuts we’ve noticed affect European models of the Mac mini, the European Apple TV and iMac models in the UK.

Pricing on the Mac mini dropped between €30 and €60, depending on the country and model. Most European stores are now offering the entry-level Mac Mini for €619 with the quad-core and OS X server models selling for €819 and €1019, respectively, although some euro countries such as Germany are showing slightly lower pricing of €599/€799/€999. In the UK, the entry-level Mac Mini remains the same at £499, with price drops between €30 and €50 being applied to the quad-core and server models.

Apple also cut the prices on the Apple TV in Europe, reducing the cost by €10/£20. The once €109/£99 media streaming device is now available for €99/£79 throughout most of Apple’s European stores. While Europe saw a reduction, the Apple TV price remains the same in the US at $99.

Along with the new entry-level 21.5-inch iMac, Apple UK also lowered the cost of existing iMac models. The existing 21.5-inch models were lowered by £100, while the 27-inch models saw similar reductions of £150. The reduction appears to limited only to the UK with most of Europe and the US still selling the iMac at its original pricing.

Apple TV price slashed to £79 in the UK

Apple today introduced a new, cheaper iMac, but that wasn’t the only update it made to its online store. In a move that will do nothing to dampen speculation of a new Apple TV, the company has slashed £20/€10 off the cost of its streaming set-top box in the UK and Europe. That means you can now pick up an Apple TV for £79 in the UK and €99 elsewhere on the continent. The reduction brings Apple’s Store in line with prices we’d seen from third-party retailers like Amazon but also rival streamers like the Roku 3.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Apple

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Via: CNET

Source: Apple Store (UK)

Apple and Samsung Trying to Find ‘Common Ground’ in Efforts to End Patent War

Apple and Samsung are attempting to find “common ground” in efforts to end their ongoing legal battle, reports The Korea Times (via GforGames). Citing sources “familiar with the negotiations”, the paper notes that both firms are “trimming the number of disputed issues”, stating that both Apple and Samsung are attempting to become “more practical” about finding a solution.

Another source also claimed that Apple would like to keep Samsung as one of its main parts suppliers, with the report referencing the long-rumored iWatch:

“As technology shifts toward wearable devices, Apple still wants to keep Samsung as its top-tier parts sourcing channel,” another source said.

“The recent release of the Samsung OLED tablet is an indication that Samsung can manage OLED displays to be used in almost all wearable devices, a segment that Apple is greatly interested in.”

In the past two years, Apple and Samsung have been in two trials over the issue of patent infringement. The first trial in 2012 awarded Apple more than $1 billion in damages, however a damages retrial last November brought that amount down to $290 million. Meanwhile, the second trial wrapped up last month and found both companies guilty, although Samsung was ordered to pay $119.6 million while Apple was to pay just $158,400. Samsung has since filed an appeal to challenge the second verdict.

Last week, both companies also agreed to drop their cross-appeal rulings on an ITC ban for older Samsung products, which focused on patent 7,789,697, and dealt with the concept of accessories being recognized when they plug in to devices.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung Electronics CEO Oh-Hyun Kwon also reportedly attending a mediation session earlier this year, however both parties failed to reach an agreement in their ongoing legal battle. While a new agreement would take some time to reach, a move to end the ongoing legal battle would prove to be very beneficial for both Apple and Samsung.

Apple Launches New Cheaper 21.5-Inch iMac Starting at $1,099

While rumors last week indicated that Apple would be launching minor updates to its iMac line, Apple today unveiled a new lower-cost iMac at $1,099.

The new entry-level 21.5-inch iMac comes with a 1.4GHZ dual-core Intel i5 processor, a 500GB hard drive, 8GB of memory, and an Intel HD 500 Graphics chip for $1,099. All of Apple’s other 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMacs are still available as well.

Apple is also rumored to be working on Retina Display-equipped iMacs, as recent evidence in the OS X Yosemite developer preview suggested such models were in the works. While there is no specific release date for a Retina iMac, Apple could launch the new desktop computer later this year.

Apple’s new entry-level iMac is available today through Apple’s various retail locations and online store, and shows an availability of “within 24 hours.”

Wikipad Announces ‘Gamevice’ iOS Game Controller for iPad Mini [iOS Blog]

Gaming peripheral company Wikipad has announced an iPad mini version of its Gamevice mobile game controller, reports Slide to Play (via TouchArcade).

The Gamevice sports a form-fitting design that cradles the iPad mini, and features console-style controls including dual-analog sticks, a directional pad, face buttons, shoulder bumpers, and triggers. The accessory is compatible with all iOS games that feature controller support, which currently includes titles like Limbo, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and The Walking Dead.

The Gamevice’s reveal comes after last week’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, where a surge of new iOS controllers appeared. The introduction of so many new iOS controllers comes as rumors surrounding the gaming capabilities of the next-generation Apple TV have ramped up in recent months. Some have speculated that Apple could utilize iOS gaming controllers, a set-top box and an App Store ecosystem to become a major force in the console gaming industry.
Wikipad’s Gamevice controller for the iPad mini is expected to be released later this year. Interested customers can sign up at the accessory’s official website for more information.