Apple announces special iPhone SDK event

Finally weeks of speculation Apple has sent invites to limited members and reporters for an "iPhone Software Roadmap" event.

"Please join us to learn about the iPhone software roadmap, including the iPhone SDK and some exciting new enterprise features," the company wrote in a digital invite distributed by email.


The event is set to take place at 10:00 a.m. sharp Pacific time at the "Town Hall" on Apple's Cupertino campus -- the same venue used for the introduction of the Intel-based Mac mini and iPod Hi-Fi in February of 2006, and the aluminum iMacs this past August.

Per usual, seating for the event will be extremely limited due to the size of the Apple Town Hall, which appears to hold only a couple hundred at best.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs had previously announced plans to unveil the iPhone SDK later this month, but true to recent rumors, delays forced the company to push out the unveiling by a couple of weeks. (Earlier information obtained by AppleInsider suggests that Apple had originally intended to present the SDK at an event on Thursday, February 21st.)

"Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers’ hands in February," Jobs wrote in a posting to Apple.com back in October. "We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users."
(Appleinsider)

Has Apple found the magic Touch?

Cnet's Tom Krazit takes an interesting look at Apple's development of the multi- touch user interface.
As of this morning Apple also updated its line of Macbooks and expended its multi touch technology into the notebooks carrying it from the iPhone, and iPod touch and of course the highly profile Macbook air.

The question now is whether this is something that will boost Mac sales, which have been doing pretty well on their own up to this point. It's hard to assess the impact of the multitouch technology in the early days of the MacBook Air, which has only been out a little over a month and appeals to only a subset of the notebook-buying population.

It's clear, however, that the iPhone's multitouch user interface is perhaps its greatest asset. And Synaptics, which makes TouchPads used in a wide variety of notebooks PCs, expects several PC vendors to introduce similar technology later this year on their own notebooks.

Wired brought up an interesting point last week, however, as it looked into Apple's chances of patenting this technology. Apple secretly acquired Fingerworks, a company started by two professors at the University of Delaware, in 2005 in order to get its hands on the MultiTouch fingertip recognition technology.

If Apple is successful with its patent efforts, and other PC and smartphone companies develop their own gesture-recognition technology in response, we could see a world where pinching on a MacBook might zoom, but the same gesture might close a window on a ThinkPad, or open a file on a mobile phone.

AMD releases open-source code for multicore development

Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday released the source code aimed at making it easier to build media applications for x86 multicore processors.

The AMD Performance Library, which is now called Framewave, is available on SourceForge.

The framework is a collection of routines that optimize performance of media-oriented applications on multicore processors. For example, a developer could link to a library that optimizes video display on a specific graphics card.

By starting a project at SourceForge.net, the chipmaker will allow programmers to customize and further optimize the software, which will work with compilers for Linux, Windows, and Solaris, said Margaret Lewis, AMD's director of commercial solutions and software strategy.

Experts say creating tools for developers to optimize their work for multicore processors is one of the biggest challenges the semiconductor industry faces.

Multimedia applications, in particular, get a relatively big performance boost by optimizing the code, Lewis said.

"Those particular applications are demanding and very complex, and a lot of the time, those routines are used repetitively," Lewis said.

AMD will continue contributing to the software and take outside contributions through the Framewave project, she added.

(Martin LaMonica, Cnet)

Multi-touch comming soon to a mac near you?

Looks like Apple is working to extend an advanced version of its multi-touch technology to future notebook trackpads that would include gesture concepts well beyond what is presently available on its handheld and MacBook Air products.


The January 2007 filing, dug up overnight by MacRumors, is titled "Gesturing with a multipoint sensing device" and lists among its inventors Wayne Westerman of Fingerworks, a company absorbed by Apple several years ago as part of its quest to deliver iPhone and a new generation of input devices.

Of particular interest are several drawings and descriptions of a new Mac OS X "Gesture Control Panel" nestled deep within the 72-page filing. The panel is split three-way, offering a distinct set of customizable options for "Standard," "Basic," and "Advanced" multi-touch operations.



Listed as part of the "Advanced" panel are several pre-defined multi-touch gesture sets for operations not yet supported by Apple's iPhone, iPod touch, or MacBook Air offerings. Among them are gestures for file operations, editing operations, and Web browser operations.

For example, Apple explains that by using a combination of the thumb and two other fingers, users of the advanced multi-touch trackpad technology would be able to invoke commands for copy, paste, cut, redo, and select all. Similarly, by using the thumb and just one other finger, users would be able to create new files or open, save and close existing ones.


It's presently unclear when Apple will be ready to deploy its software for "Advanced" gestures, but those Mac systems supporting the Basic gestures include a Broadcom multi-touch chip. The presence of that chip should allow owners to take full advantage of the Advanced gestures through a software upgrade. Current MacBook and MacBook Pro owners, however, are unlikely gain access to the technology due to the lack of supporting hardware.

Update: : Appleinsider has published another fascinating look at yet another Apple patent which aims at evolving multi-touch technology into a surface extension which may replace keyboards all together, or could be used at replacing traditional input devices such as the keyboard, mouse, and drawing tablet.

Amazon web service goes down takes many start up with it

Amazon Web Services suffered a major outage this morning, affecting the thousands of Websites that rely on its storage (S3) and cloud computing (EC2) services. Startups including Twitter, SmugMug, 37Signals, and AdaptiveBlue, for instance, use Amazon’s S3 storage service to store all the data for their Websites. Reports started coming in across the Web, email, and Twitter about the outage (Twitter only uses S3 for file hosting, not its main messaging application). The major difficulties seem to have been fixed, but some issues persist. The outage started at around 4:30 AM PT.

This could just be growing pains for Amazon Web Services, as more startups and other companies come to rely on it for their Web-scale computing infrastructure. But even if the outage only lasted a couple hours, it is unacceptable. Nobody is going to trust their business to cloud computing unless it is more reliable than the data-center computing that is the current norm. So many Websites now rely on Amazon’s S3 storage service and, increasingly, on its EC2 compute cloud as well, that an outage takes down a lot of sites, or at least takes down some of their functionality. Cloud computing needs to be 99.999 percent reliable if Amazon and others want it to become more widely adopted.

Update: A response from Amazon PR:

For one of our services, the Amazon Simple Storage Service, one of our three geographic locations was unreachable for approximately two hours and was back to operating at over 99% of normal performance before 7 a.m. pst. We’ve been operating this service for two years and we’re proud of our uptime track record. Any amount of downtime is unacceptable and we won’t be satisfied until it’s perfect. We’ve been communicating with our customers all morning via our support forums and will be providing additional information as soon as we have it.

(Techcrunch)

Apple TV ads driving online search

A new report suggests that Apple’s catchy TV advertisements for the iPod nano, iPod touch, and iPhone are having a ripple effect on online searches. According to the latest numbers from Compete, U.S. consumers made nearly 1 million queries for iPod related commercials or the underlying music from August 2007 to January 2008. 15 of the top 20 searches contained the word “song” or “music,” suggesting that many consumers are searching for the song in the commercial, as very little information is given about the songs and artists featured in Apple’s spots. In particular, research shows that over 425,000 people were actively searching in September for the song used in Apple’s popular spot for the iPod nano, Feist’s ”1-2-3-4." Traffic for the song’s music video on YouTube grew 1200% from the month prior to the commercial’s launch, and over 45 times when views of the actual commercial were included. Similar growth was seen for CSS’ ”Music is my hot hot sex,” featured in a user-inspired iPod touch ad, and for Yael Naim’s ”New Soul,” which is featured in Apple’s recent commercial for the MacBook Air.

In a separate interview with the BBC, Canadian singer Leslie Feist admitted to being pleasantly surprised with the impact the iPod nano advertisement has had on career. “I felt a definite shift, it seemed to pique a lot of curiosity which luckily led back to an album and video that I believe in. It just shows you the power of that kind of thing, as opposed to some preconceived marketing ploy,” she said. “I was a little naive as to the impact it would have because I really didn’t have any idea it would be like that. But it did me nothing but favours because I’ve continued doing what I do, but with so many new open ears from so many more people than there were before.”

(iLounge)

Report: Yahoo board rejects Microsoft offer

The Yahoo Board has mulled it over, and its answer for Microsoft is a simple "no." The "hostile" $44.6 billion bid was rejected by the board, as largely expected. The question now is, why?

Reported first this morning by the Wall Street Journal, a person "familiar" with the situation says that Yahoo believed the offer of $31 a share "massively undervalues" the company, and provides no protections for the risks Yahoo would incur by entering into a deal that would be heavily vetted and possibly overturned by regulators. According to the WSJ's source, Yahoo is looking for bids north of $40 per share, or something in the $56+ billion range. At $31 per share, the Board apparently feels as though Microsoft is trying to "steal" the company and take advantage of recent weaknesses. Such "weaknesses" aren't necessarily recent, however. Yahoo's stock price hasn't been north of $40 since the end of 2005.

$44.6 billion was already steep for Microsoft, which has admitted that the company would need to take on debt to get the deal done. Adding another $12+ billion to the price only makes it harder for Microsoft to convince shareholders that this is a good idea. Microsoft's other option is to push forward aggressively with this offer and attempt to battle or overturn the board, but who really expects Microsoft to risk royally irritating the very same people it needs to run Yahoo in the first place? How bad does Microsoft want it?

Yahoo may not truly be looking for $40 per share, however, and could just be stalling for time. Yesterday it was widely reported that the company might form a pact with Google in order to fend off Microsoft, but that move isn't without its own problems. At the very least, Microsoft is reportedly eager to argue that Google's involvement is inappropriate, inasmuch as the #1 player in search ads could be seen as having monopolistic intentions by doing a deal with the #2 player, Yahoo. We all know how Google feels about the deal.

According to the WSJ's source, the Yahoo Board will be sending Microsoft a letter on Monday detailing their position.

(Ars Technica)

Macbook Air reviews

Hello folks, over the past week Apple has finally began shipping the new shiny Macbook Air, and reviews of the unit have been flying all around the web.

Basically there are two models the hard drive version and the more ($ 1300 extra) pricey SSD version. Ars Technica has published a great comprehensive review of the two units comparing their performances.

I advice all potential buyers and Apple fans to check it out.

Also Appleinsider has posted its insights and review about the new thin wonder.

Founder of MP3.com starts busines info wiki

Serial entrepreneur Michael Robertson has started a new business-information site called Dealipedia.

Robertson, founder of such companies as MP3.com and Linspire, is relying on the wisdom of crowds to supply information on IPOs, mergers, acquisitions, closings, bankruptcies, and investments. He said that Wikipedia has proven that allowing the masses to provide and edit information works.

Dealipedia is a "combination (of) news, reference and perhaps a bit of gossip for business deals," Robertson said in an e-mail to CNET News.com.

At Dealipedia.com, I clicked on the site's "Who Made the Money" section to see if Robertson's own name was included. Sure enough, it was. According to the site, Robertson pocketed $115 million when he sold MP3.com to Vivendi Universal for $372 million in May 2001.

Jason Calcanis made $15 million and Mark Cuban made $5 million when Weblogs was sold to AOL. None of this is breaking news and the section is relatively bare of details. But Robertson is hoping the content will grow as greater numbers of business insiders contribute.

In one area, Robertson will also allow users to post info anonymously. He said this has supplied new details about Flickr, Delicious, and GrandCentral.

"After continually getting frustrated that I couldn't find historic data on business deals," Robertson said, "or easily keep track of new deals without reading a dozen different publications, I decided to remedy the problem."

The site is designed to appeal to investors, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs, Robertson said. His intent is to offer a "nice snapshot" of a company's life cycle from the first round of investment all the way to an IPO.

(Webware)

Microsoft+Yahoo

Microsoft went public Friday with a $44.6 billion cash-and-stock bid to acquire Yahoo.



Plus: Microsoft admits it can't fight Google alone

In its response, Yahoo called the Microsoft bid "unsolicited" but did not reject it.

Microsoft's offer, which was contained in the letter to Yahoo's board, amounts to $31 a share and represents a 62 percent premium over Yahoo's closing price on Thursday. Microsoft said it will offer shareholders the option of cash or stock.

"We have great respect for Yahoo, and together, we can offer an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers, and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online-services market," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement.

Yahoo said in a responding statement that its board "will evaluate this proposal carefully and promptly, in the context of Yahoo's strategic plans, and pursue the best course of action to maximize long-term value for shareholders."

The deal comes as Microsoft and Yahoo have both struggled to compete against Google.

Microsoft didn't mention Google by name in its announcement, but it did indicate that its acquisition bid was aimed squarely at its rival.

"Today, the market is increasingly dominated by one player, who is consolidating its dominance through acquisition," Microsoft said. "Together, Microsoft and Yahoo can offer a credible alternative."

In a conference call Friday morning, Ballmer said that Microsoft and Yahoo "really do share a vision for the potential of online services."

Microsoft said in its statement that it believes that it can get all of the needed regulatory approvals and that the deal, if ultimately approved by Yahoo shareholders, could be completed in the second half of the year.

Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupiter Research, said it's "clear that there is increased pressure on Microsoft from Google, and they recognize that. Way back when, Yahoo wasn't that interested in a Microsoft deal. What a difference two years make. Microsoft has a pile of money, and Yahoo has experienced problems of its own. Ballmer, in the past, has historically not loved these types of deals. It is indicative of how different the world is now."

Gartenberg added that the deal "absolutely" makes sense. "But there is a lot to be done in the details. Getting this deal done might be the easiest part. The real challenge is what happens when they finish the deal. This is not a panacea--the details will be what matters," he said.

Rumors that Microsoft was interested in Yahoo have bubbled up from time to time, including the past two springs, on the eve of Microsoft advertising conferences.

The move would be by far the largest acquisition ever for Microsoft. Its largest prior deal, also in the online-advertising space, was last year's $6 billion deal to acquire Aquantive.

Asked on the conference call why Microsoft still needs Yahoo after buying Aquantive, Ballmer pointed to Yahoo's reach with consumers.

"Certainly from a consumer perspective, there's no better way to increase scale and capacity than this acquisition," Ballmer said.

Microsoft also pointed to the intense investments needed in data centers and technology needed to compete with Google.

"Scale matters," said Kevin Johnson, president of the Microsoft division that houses Windows and online advertising. "Some of the scale economics can kick in rather rapidly."

Ultimately, Ballmer said, the deal should help Microsoft become profitable in online advertising.

"We've been losing money," Ballmer said. "Our plan would be to not lose money in the future."

In a letter sent to Yahoo's board late Thursday, Microsoft confirmed that it has had talks with Yahoo since 2006 but that its suggestions of an acquisition had been rebuffed.

"In late 2006 and early 2007, we jointly explored a broad range of ways in which our two companies might work together," Microsoft said. "These discussions were based on a vision that the online businesses of Microsoft and Yahoo should be aligned in some way to create a more effective competitor in the online marketplace. We discussed a number of alternatives ranging from commercial partnerships to a merger proposal, which you rejected."

The letter goes on to say that an offer in February 2007 was also rejected. Although at one time, Microsoft was open to other kinds of partnerships with Yahoo, the company says now it just wants to own Yahoo outright.

"While a commercial partnership may have made sense at one time, Microsoft believes that the only alternative now is the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo that we are proposing," Microsoft said in the letter.

In the conference call, Ballmer said that when Microsoft first talked to Yahoo more than a year ago, it believed that a merger would have benefits to both companies.

"We believe now in those benefits more than ever," Ballmer said.

The public offer follows Yahoo's disappointing earnings report on Tuesday, which sent the company's shares down. Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang said Tuesday that the company is facing "headwinds." He also announced 1,000 layoffs.

Terry Semel, Yahoo's former CEO, who left that position last summer but remained as nonexecutive chairman of the board, left the company altogether on Thursday.

Yahoo shares were up 51 percent to $28.96 in premarket trading Friday.

Microsoft's financial advisers are Morgan Stanley and The Blackstone Group.

(Cnet)