Since Apple acquired Lala back in December, we’ve wondered what its developers would do with their new purchase. Rumors suggest we’ll find out in a few weeks at WWDC. Macsimum news is reporting that a live streaming version of iTunes will debut at the conference.

Some have speculated that iTunes will move to a subscription model, but others don’t see it that way. Michael Robertson, former CEO of mp3.com, believes that Apple will create an “online locker” of your iTunes purchases. Once you buy a song or show or movie, it’s added to your online library for you to stream at will. That would be a great solution for users who currently have several space-hogging videos in their purchase history. Perhaps that’s what the North Carolina facility is for.

Personally, I’d welcome such a service with open arms. Even now, I play “video shuffle” with my iDevices, moving TV shows and movies back and forth as room and my interests change. How nice would it be to pull up any episode of BSG on any approved device without having to make room for it first? Very nice indeed.

TUAWRumor: iTunes online music streaming to debut at WWDC originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 14 May 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Since Apple acquired Lala back in December, we’ve wondered what its developers would do with their new purchase. Rumors suggest we’ll find out in a few weeks at WWDC. Macsimum news is reporting that a live streaming version of iTunes will debut at the conference.

Some have speculated that iTunes will move to a subscription model, but others don’t see it that way. Michael Robertson, former CEO of mp3.com, believes that Apple will create an “online locker” of your iTunes purchases. Once you buy a song or show or movie, it’s added to your online library for you to stream at will. That would be a great solution for users who currently have several space-hogging videos in their purchase history. Perhaps that’s what the North Carolina facility is for.

Personally, I’d welcome such a service with open arms. Even now, I play “video shuffle” with my iDevices, moving TV shows and movies back and forth as room and my interests change. How nice would it be to pull up any episode of BSG on any approved device without having to make room for it first? Very nice indeed.

TUAWRumor: iTunes online music streaming to debut at WWDC originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 14 May 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Watching TV on the iPad is a pleasure. More and more providers are coming on board, too, like ABC and CBS. Many of us are eager for a mobile solution from Hulu. Back in January, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar told Gigaom, “We will embrace any device…We are very big believers in mobile and we don’t think about (just) one device only.”

Then in April, The New York Times reported that a Hulu app was in development without giving any details.

This week, Eugene Wei, vice president of product at Hulu, discussed HTML 5 on the company’s blog in an aside to the introduction of Hulu’s new UI. The short version of his message is that Hulu can’t implement it for now. “[HTML 5] doesn’t yet meet all of our customers’ needs,” Wei writes.

He goes on to note that the Hulu player does more than just stream video; it must also report statistics to advertisers, secure the company’s content, communicate buffer information and more — tasks that Flash is simply better at performing. At least for now. “Not all video sites have these needs,” he adds, “but for our business these are all important and often contractual requirements.”

Compare these statements with the rumors of a forthcoming solution for the iPad and we can assume that an app much like the ABC player is likely. The ABC player, which I love, streams ad-supported episodes of the network’s daytime and prime time shows for free. Rumors suggest that Hulu will introduce a paid subscription with their app; some suggest that it will run customers between 9 and 10 dollars a month. Good luck with that, Hulu.

TV on the ultra-portable iPad is one of its selling points. I’m so accustomed to seeing ads interspersed with programming that I don’t mind it on my mobile devices. But asking me to pay for something I’ve already paid for (cable bill) is silly. Here’s hoping Hulu reconsiders.

[via Business Insider, H/T to Switched]

TUAWHulu on the iPad? Think app, not portal originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 14 May 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What do you get the person with a US$1,200 stroller? A golden iPad, of course. Now you can be the obnoxious jerk at Gymboree with this eyesore. Encased in 22ct “solid gold” (how heavy is this thing?) and bedazzled with 53 gems, the iPad Supreme Edition by Stuart and Katherine Hughes shouts “Mug me.”

You’ll pay £129,995 (about $190,000 as of this writing) for the privilege of bringing The Smugness[TM] to epic levels. Conversely, you could buy 300+ Mac minis, a BMW 7 Series or 4 tons of Gummy Bears. Happy shopping!

[Via Engadget]

TUAWThe King Midas of iPads redefines excess originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 14 May 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Watching TV on the iPad is a pleasure. More and more providers are coming on board, too, like ABC and CBS. Many of us are eager for a mobile solution from Hulu. Back in January, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar told Gigaom, “We will embrace any device…We are very big believers in mobile and we don’t think about (just) one device only.”

Then in April, The New York Times reported that a Hulu app was in development without giving any details.

This week, Eugene Wei, vice president of product at Hulu, discussed HTML 5 on the company’s blog in an aside to the introduction of Hulu’s new UI. The short version of his message is that Hulu can’t implement it for now. “[HTML 5] doesn’t yet meet all of our customers’ needs,” Wei writes.

He goes on to note that the Hulu player does more than just stream video; it must also report statistics to advertisers, secure the company’s content, communicate buffer information and more — tasks that Flash is simply better at performing. At least for now. “Not all video sites have these needs,” he adds, “but for our business these are all important and often contractual requirements.”

Compare these statements with the rumors of a forthcoming solution for the iPad and we can assume that an app much like the ABC player is likely. The ABC player, which I love, streams ad-supported episodes of the network’s daytime and prime time shows for free. Rumors suggest that Hulu will introduce a paid subscription with their app; some suggest that it will run customers between 9 and 10 dollars a month. Good luck with that, Hulu.

TV on the ultra-portable iPad is one of its selling points. I’m so accustomed to seeing ads interspersed with programming that I don’t mind it on my mobile devices. But asking me to pay for something I’ve already paid for (cable bill) is silly. Here’s hoping Hulu reconsiders.

[via Business Insider, H/T to Switched]

TUAWHulu on the iPad? Think app, not portal originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 14 May 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What do you get the person with a US$1,200 stroller? A golden iPad, of course. Now you can be the obnoxious jerk at Gymboree with this eyesore. Encased in 22ct “solid gold” (how heavy is this thing?) and bedazzled with 53 gems, the iPad Supreme Edition by Stuart and Katherine Hughes shouts “Mug me.”

You’ll pay £129,995 (about $190,000 as of this writing) for the privilege of bringing The Smugness[TM] to epic levels. Conversely, you could buy 300+ Mac minis, a BMW 7 Series or 4 tons of Gummy Bears. Happy shopping!

[Via Engadget]

TUAWThe King Midas of iPads redefines excess originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 14 May 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In an interview with Gary Severson, Walmart’s senior vice president of entertainment for US stores, Bloomberg learned that the retail giant intends to carry the iPad sometime in 2010. “We anticipate being able to have the iPad later this year,” Severson said, without providing any specifics.

Walmart has been making a push towards selling more electronics, adding more and more TVs, Blu-Ray players and so on to their shelves. Right now, Apple and Best Buy are the only US dealers selling iPads.

It seems to me that Apple would hardly need the push that a spot in Walmart would offer. Apple managed to move 1 million units in less than a month, and stock is still limited online and at Best Buy and Apple retail locations.

Perhaps the goal is to get an iPad physically in front of more people. Walmart is, after all, the world’s largest retailer. Surely there are customers without access to an Apple Store or Best Buy who do have a Walmart in town.

We’ll let you know when these go on sale, but if you see one in the meantime, drop us a line.

[Via Macsimum News]

TUAWLet’s buy an iPad at Walmart originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 13 May 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In an interview with Gary Severson, Walmart’s senior vice president of entertainment for US stores, Bloomberg learned that the retail giant intends to carry the iPad sometime in 2010. “We anticipate being able to have the iPad later this year,” Severson said, without providing any specifics.

Walmart has been making a push towards selling more electronics, adding more and more TVs, Blu-Ray players and so on to their shelves. Right now, Apple and Best Buy are the only US dealers selling iPads.

It seems to me that Apple would hardly need the push that a spot in Walmart would offer. Apple managed to move 1 million units in less than a month, and stock is still limited online and at Best Buy and Apple retail locations.

Perhaps the goal is to get an iPad physically in front of more people. Walmart is, after all, the world’s largest retailer. Surely there are customers without access to an Apple Store or Best Buy who do have a Walmart in town.

We’ll let you know when these go on sale, but if you see one in the meantime, drop us a line.

[Via Macsimum News]

TUAWLet’s buy an iPad at Walmart originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 13 May 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The surprise announcement of a beta version of Apple’s browser-based MobleMe Mail has users curious about the service’s future. While we await our invitations, we compared the only beta screenshot we’ve found to Mail’s current appearance. Here’s what we found, starting from the top.

Toolbar

The new toolbar is blue and features fewer icons. The Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Photos, iDisk, Find and Settings icons currently on the far left have been replaced with a single MobileMe Cloud icon. Perhaps it produces a drop-down revealing the other services. It seems unlikely that Apple would release a public beta that’s so incomplete so as not to include links to services beyond email, but it is a Mail beta, so Apple is likely focusing on the functioning of that service before providing links to the rest.

Check out the gallery below for side-by-side screenshots.

TUAWUI changes in Apple’s Mail beta originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 13 May 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Associated Press is reporting today that two Vietnamese phone dealers may be responsible for the most recent 4G iPhone leak. When mobile phone accessory salesman Tran Manh Hiep heard that someone was showing off a prototype iPhone in a Ho Chi Minh City cafe, he rushed there with his video camera to see it. The AP notes that another dealer, whose identity is unknown, had the phone. How he came into it is still a mystery.

Many suspected that the phone was a knock-off, as that region is rife with fakes from China. Hiep insists that it’s genuine, as “[my Mac] recognized it as an Apple product” when connected. Other than the lack of visible screws we saw on the unit Gizmodo bought, it’s virtually the same. There’s no word on whether an investigation will be launched.

Today, another image has surfaced from Vietnam supposedly showing the phone running iPhone OS 4.

It’s amazing to me that two devices have now gotten past Apple’s legendary security, and even more so that one ended up far across the globe. I’ll say one thing: it sure takes the fun out of the official announcements.

TUAWLatest iPhone prototype leaked by a duo of phone dealers originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 13 May 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Apple/Adobe cage match continues with a new campaign from Adobe. We first noticed it on Engadget this morning. It begins with the simple statement “We [heart] Apple” and goes on to say, “We love Flash and HTML 5. We love our 3 million developers. We love authoring code only once. We love all platforms and devices.”

It then describes what Adobe doesn’t love, including “…anybody taking away our freedom to choose what you create, how you create it and what you experience on the web.” After clicking through the ad, the user is brought to a page entitled “We [heart] choice” which features a letter from Adobe’s founders, Chuck Geschke and John Warnock. Some choice passages include:

“If the web fragments into closed systems, if companies put content and applications behind walls, some indeed may thrive – but their success will come at the expense of the very creativity and innovation that has made the Internet a revolutionary force…We believe that consumers should be able to freely access their favorite content and applications, regardless of what computer they have, what browser they like, or what device suits their needs. No company – no matter how big or how creative – should dictate what you can create, how you create it, or what you can experience on the web.”

In Adobe’s view, Apple is telling developers “it’s my way or the highway.” Apple, on the other hand, believes that Adobe is clinging out outdated, proprietary tools. The fervor began when the original iPhone failed to support Flash (both the iPhone and iPad still don’t) and the gloves came off when Steve Jobs published his “thoughts on Flash.” Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen responded in a matter of hours, and the public bickering has continued since.

In addition to the web ad, Adobe also has a full page ad in the Washington Post today. Their opinions are so diametrically opposed, it’s hard to see how this conflict will come to a resolution.

Thanks to reader Jeff Gates for his independent tip on this story!

TUAWAdobe to Apple: We love you, but… originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 13 May 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, look at that. The newest batch of leaked 4G iPhone photos includes crystal-clear* tear down shots, and one of them reveals what seems to be Apple’s own A4 processor. Engadget notes that “339S0084,” seen just below the Apple logo, identifies what we’re looking at as the A4, according to Chipworks.

The A4 is the Apple-designed system-on-a-chip (SoC) that’s manufactured by Samsung and currently used in the iPad. Nearly everyone who touches an iPad remarks on how snappy and responsive it is. Here’s hoping that the next iPhone offers similar performance — and prolonged battery life — with this thing under the hood.

Engadget further points out that “APL0398″ also appears on the chip that’s inside the iPad. As for the other markings, well, we don’t know what they indicate. We’ll let you know if we find out.

*This one’s blurry because I blew it up a bit to show the text on the chip.

TUAWA4 microprocessor found lurking inside 4G iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 12 May 2010 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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That was fast. Apple has updated international websites to note that iPad pre-orders accepted from today on out will ship by June 7th. If you’ve already placed an order, you can still expect to receive your shiny new device on May 28th.

It was just this week that Apple began accepting pre-orders from the U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, Switzerland, Spain and Italy with a ship date of the 28th. Could it be that they’ve exhausted that initial supply in two days? If so, “selling like hotcakes” is an understatement.

We’re beginning to suspect that Carl Howe’s prediction that the iPad will reach the $1B revenue mark quicker than any other consumer product will come true.

TUAWNew international iPad pre-orders will ship June 7 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 12 May 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Square is the app that won over our hearts at MacWorld Expo in February. It allows vendors, business owners, individuals, etc. to accept credit card and debit card payments where they stand via a handy little app. Originally developed and advertised as an iPhone app, Square hit shelves in April as a fully-optimized iPad app.Today it’s gone universal and is ready for your iPhone.

It’s not the only mobile payment system in town, but Square does not require a merchant account and is targeted at individuals as much as business owners. To accept a payment, users can either type in a customer’s card number of swipe it with the free reader that connects to the headphone jack. For our hands-on with Square, check out the video above.

TUAWSquare app now accepting payments on the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 11 May 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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