Tag Archives: Apple

iPhone constructivist monument

Russian art collective Electroboutique has gone ahead and created this impressive, Tatlin’s Tower-inspired constructivist iPhone monument.  Says the builders:

A giant distorted iPhone 3G, shaped as Tatlin’s Monument to the 3d International. Tatlin’s work is considered one of the avant-garde icons, whereas iPhone is a bright techno-consumerist icon of today. Back in the 20’s of the last centuries avant-garde artists have invented design as a way to bring art into people’s homes. During the 20’s century designers were gradually taking artistic ideas and implementing them into product design. Today we see companies claiming their products are art objects themselves; art has to re-define its role in the society again. The Monument to 3G links together the beginning and the current state of nearly a century of art-to-design dialogue and follows the strategy of re-claiming the designers’ ideas back into art.

[Via Gizmodo; Electroboutique]

Adobe makes love, not war, with Apple in new ad campaign

Adobe, makers of Flash video, have decided to take the high road in their retaliation against Apple’s harsh words against their platform.  As you know, Apple CEO Steve Jobs recently released an open letter regarding his position on Adobe’s Flash standard for video.  He believes it is not an open platform, it’s proprietary, and it’s a dated standard that does not belong in the mobile space.  In direct response to Jobs’ open letter, Adobe has rolled out a new ad campaign with the slogan “We [Love] Apple”, with a heart in the place of “love”.  In addition to web ads, Adobe coughed up some cash to place a large ad in yesterday’s Washington Post.  Things just got more serious, and Team Adobe wants you to know they are in this for the long haul.  Besides the new ad campaign, Adobe co-founders Chuck Geschke and John Warnock penned their own open letter titled “Our thoughts on open markets.”  These choice words are obviously directed at Apple:

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 the end, we believe the question is really this: Who controls the World Wide Web? And we believe the answer is: nobody — and everybody, but certainly not a single company.

Flash to Apple: Oh, it’s on.  Look after the break for the open letter in its entirety, as well as one of the new advertisements.

[Via Engadget; Adobe] Continue reading Adobe makes love, not war, with Apple in new ad campaign

Steam for Mac is available for download today

Hey Mac users!  Now you can finally play a bunch of solid games on your computer!  Steam, a games distribution service that’s been widely available on Windows PCs for years, is now available for Mac OS X.  Steam is run by Valve, the company behind popular games like Half-Life, Team Fortress, and Left 4 Dead 2.  In layman’s terms, Steam is a centralized place where computer gamers can browse, preview, and download a number of titles.  It’s also got a bunch of social features like chat, and friends lists.  And get this–for a limited time (until May 24) Steam is offereing a FREE download of one of Valve’s most popular and best rated games, Portal.  It’s a highly addicting, first-person puzzle game, so get on that before it’s too late.  Besides Valve games, Steam for Mac (which looks almost identical to its Windows counterpart) already houses a bunch of third party games like Civilization IV, Bejeweled 2, World of Goo, and City of Heroes: Architect Edition.  Click here for the DMG download of Steam for Mac.

[Via Joystiq]

iPad goes international on May 28

On Friday, May 28 the following nine countries will join the U.S. with iPad launch festivities: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK.  Eager customers who can’t wait to get their oily hands all over the magical device can preorder it online on Monday, May 10.  Apple pledges to release the iPad in Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore sometime in July.  Look after the break for the full PR and price listings.

[Via Apple; Engadget; Mashable] Continue reading iPad goes international on May 28

28 days later…Apple sells 1 millionth iPad

 

April 3 to May 3.  28 days.  1 million iPads sold.  The “revolution” has begun, wouldn’t you say?  The “magical” device Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced to the world back in January now sits in the hands of over one million people.  This impressive feat surpassed the rate at which the iPhone flew off store shelves, and Jobs was quick to make this fact known: “One million iPads in 28 days-that’s less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone.  Demand continues to exceed supply and we’re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers.”  Also within this time frame, over 12 million apps from the App Store and over 1.5 million ebooks from the iBookstore were downloaded to iPads.  Read the full PR after the break.

[Via Apple] Continue reading 28 days later…Apple sells 1 millionth iPad

Steve Jobs shares his “thoughts on Flash” [Update: Adobe responds, Microsoft jumps in]

Apple CEO Steve Jobs released an open letter today regarding his position on Adobe’s Flash standard for video.  He breaks down his argument against Flash with the following categories: there’s “open”; the full web; reliability, security and performance; battery life; touch; and “the most important reason.”  That is, “If developers grow dependent on third party development libraries and tools, they can only take advantage of platform enhancements if and when the third party chooses to adopt the new features.”  Quick summation: Jobs calls Flash proprietary and closed; he shares his excitement on the rise of H.264 and the coming of HTML5; Flash makes Macs crash; since Flash decodes in software it eats away battery life; and Flash was not designed for a touch environment.  His concludes: 

Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.

But you should really read it for yourself, just look after the break.  Pretty compelling argument, eh?  Sure, H.264 and HTML5 are the future of video for mobile devices.  But Flash is in the here and now.  Ah, Jobs you’ve got me arguing for both sides now.  Form your own opinions in the comments below!

Update: Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch formally responded to Jobs’ open letter.  His short blog post is called “Moving Forward” but after reading it what he really means to say is moving past Apple.  Look after the break to see the rebuttal. Continue reading Steve Jobs shares his “thoughts on Flash” [Update: Adobe responds, Microsoft jumps in]

Apple’s WWDC set to begin June 7

Once a year Apple holds its World Wide Developers Conference in San Fransisco.  It’s a time when Apple opens its arms to the developer community and allows them to dip their feet into growing services like Mac OS X, iPhone OS 4, and now the “first ever” iPad sessions.  In-depth sessions and hands-on working labs provides developers a place to converse with Apple engineers about their apps and other software.  Oh, and it’s also the place where Steve Jobs takes the stage and presents the next iPhone!  (Well, he’s done it the past three years with iPhone, 3G, & 3GS, so I’d place a bet the rumored ‘iPhone HD’ will make an appearence.)  WWDC kicks off June 7 and runs through the 11th.  You can be sure to check back here for the latest developments that come from the event.  Look after the break for the official PR.

[Via Apple] Continue reading Apple’s WWDC set to begin June 7

Apple reports 2010 Q2 earnings: $3.07b profit, Macs up 33%, iPods down 1%, iPhones up 131%

As another quarter of the year flies by, Apple posts its positive earnings.  Check it: Apple posted revenue of $3.07 billion profit on $13.5 billion in revenue.  (Compare this to one year ago, Apple posted revenue of $9.08 billion on $1.62 billion in revenue.)  Says Steve Jobs: “We’re thrilled to report our best non-holiday quarter ever, with revenues up 49 percent and profits up 90 percent.”

Here’s a breakdown of each product category.  Apple sold 2.94 million Macs during the quarter (representing a 33 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter); 8.75 million iPhones (representing a 131 percent unit growth); 10.89 million iPods (representing a 1 percent unit decline).  Since the iPad was just released into the market, it’s too early to tally those numbers.  But overall, Apple has done it yet again!  Money in the bank, ya’ll.  Jobs looks to the future: “We’ve launched our revolutionary new iPad and users are loving it, and we have several more extraordinary products in the pipeline for this year.”  Cough–iPhone 4–cough.

The stock market responded graciously to the earnings announcement.  Apple stock (APPL) closed at an all-time high of 259.22, jumping nearly six percent from the previous day.

[Via Apple]