Last month, Justin Long, the "Mac" in Apple's popular Mac vs. PC commercials (officially "Get A Mac"), said the ad campaign may be close to its conclusion, ending one of the more effective ad series in history.
He said he had heard from "PC" John Hodgman that Apple was planning to move on.
Today, it appears that prediction has come true, as Apple has officially ended the series of ads, the last of which played in October of last year.
The "Get A Mac" series has been replaced on the Apple site by the "Why You'll Love a Mac" page, which markets Macs over PC counterparts, claiming: "Better Hardware, Better Software, Better OS, Better Support, and It's Compatible."
All of the ads have been removed as well and it is unclear if the ads will play on TV anytime in the future.
According to Piper Jaffrey analyst Gene Munster, the Apple iPad is in extremely low supply in the United States.
Munster sent a note to clients on Friday claiming that the tablet was sold out or "in low supply" at 50 stores his team searched.
About 75 percent of all the stores checked were completely sold out of the popular tablet, with 3G models being sold out everywhere. The other 25 percent of stores had low supply of Wi-Fi only models, in a variety of capacities.
Says Munster: "We note that the stores have implemented a reservation system, by which customers can request to be placed on a waitlist for future iPad shipments, notified upon arrival, and given 24 hours to pick up the iPad."
That system normally takes anywhere between 4 and 7 days.
Additionally, Munster says he doesn't see the tight iPad supply easing until September.
The Netflix app for the iPad, one of the top ten most popular apps since the device's launch in April, has been updated this week, giving users one of their most asked-for features.
With version 1.0.2, users can now connect the iPad to a TV and stream the movie or TV show you are watching on the big screen, freeing you from the 9.7-inch iPad display.
You will need to use one of Apple'sVGA, component, or composite dock cables.
The quality will not be great, but you can watch the streams at resolutions up to 1024x768.
While the app is free, to use Netflix's "Watch Instantly" catalog, you will need a subscription at $9.99 a month. The adapter from Apple will also cost you about $30.
Additionally, 1.0.2 fixes some minor bugs that were causing crashes.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has announced, jointly with the Congressional members of the International Anti-Piracy Caucus (IAPC) the first ever Notorious Illegal Sites list, calling out the six most "notorious" sites used for unauthorized downloads of music, movies and other copyrighted works.
Additionally, the groups named Russia, Mexico, China, Canada and Spain as the "Top Priority Countries" for lax anti-piracy efforts.
The sites to make the list are: China’s Baidu, Canada’s IsoHunt, Ukraine’s mp3fiesta, Germany’s RapidShare, Luxembourg’s RMX4U.com and Sweden’s The Pirate Bay.
The groups say these sites and their services provide little other uses than an exchange of unauthorized copyrighted works.
"The release of this report casts a damning spotlight once again on several nations with lax copyright protections and websites that brazenly traffic in copyright theft. I'm particularly struck by the IAPC decision to identify significant global websites that facilitate massive theft; theft that destroys jobs and cuts short the dreams of creators who find it more difficult to attract the capital they need to build their careers. Just last week, five years after the 9-0 Supreme Court landmark decision against Grokster, we saw a federal judge rule against the most significant theft machine in this country – LimeWire. While it took some time for the judicial process to work, we did see that in a nation of laws, those who set up elegant schemes to profit from theft will be stopped. There is basic accountability, although much work needs to be done to achieve a fully accountable Internet space,"says Mitch Bainwol, Chairman and CEO, RIAA.
On day two of the Google I/O conference, the search giant has launched Android 2.2 Froyo, the seventh update to the operating system since its launch in September 2008.
While not listed in the official 2.2 post, there are many new features that most users have been expecting and wanting. The main two are the addition of Flash (built-in) and the addition of Wi-Fi tethering. Additionally, desktop to handset music streaming and a "one-handed camera UI" are part of the update.
Google says there are six highlights of the new firmware update, (although I believe they left out the most important in their post which I posted above):
Performance and Speed: The company says the new "Dalvik JIT compiler" will give 2.2 users a 200-500 percent performance boost in "CPU-bound code vs. Android 2.1."
Enterprising capabilities: Google says they have added Microsoft Exchange capabilities such as account auto-discovery and calender sync. There is also easier device management apps that can control security like remote wipe, lockscreen timeout and minimum password.
Amazon has announced this week that it has launched AmazonCrossing, a book imprint that will publish foreign-language books that have been translated into English.
The first book available will be "The King of Kahel," a 2008 French novel which received the prix Renaudot French literary prize.
The book will be out, translated, on November 2nd, and in e-book form the same day.
AmazonCrossing will work exactly like AmazonEncore, which is the e-tailer's first imprint. Encore uses "customer feedback and other data from Amazon sites around the world to identify exceptional books deserving a wider, global audience."
Amazon says it also hopes to sell its book in bookstores around the U.S., in addition to on its website.
Adds Chad Post, publisher of Open Letter Books, a nonprofit press that publishes only works in translation, via PW: "There are many thousands of books out there worthy of being translated and published in English, but that are currently unavailable to us monolingual readers. The more international books that are available in English, the better. It’s exciting to see a company like Amazon investing in such a worthy cause like AmazonCrossing, and in a way that will definitely help expand the audience for literature in translation."
THQ, the popular publisher, has said today that it will become the latest company to force used game buyers to pay a fee to play their purchased games online.
The first title to use the practice will be UFC Undisputed 2010, which has one-time use codes for online play, and therefore will require second hand users to buy a new code.
Used game buyers will have to pay $5 for a new code and access to "Fight Camp" mode, which lets 40 players train together online.
Says the company: "This multiplayer content for UFC Undisputed 2010 will be available via a one-time code included with the game at purchase. Codes for accessing the content will be available for second-time buyers for an additional $5."
THQ's move follows that of EA Sports which recently announced that used game buyers will be charged $10 for an "Online Pass" that allows access to multiplayer functions. Ubisoft says they are actively considering a similar structure.
LifeLock, the ID protection firm that last month was hit with a $12 million fine for "deceptive advertising" has just gotten another hit to its reputation this week.
The company, which has a "$1 million guarantee," says it will spend up to $1 million on any subscriber if the service fails to protect their ID. LifeLock costs $15 per month.
As a publicity stunt to show off the effectiveness of the product, CEO Todd Davis publicly showed off his name and social security number, while saying he is also a LifeLock member.
This week, it is being reported Davis has had his identity stolen 13 times since 2007. In 2007, Davis said: "I'm glad to take the center stage to put mine out there as example, because then we can tell people you can take steps to make this useless to criminals."
Within weeks, Davis' identity was stolen and a man in Georgia used his account to open an AT&T Wireless account, with a bill over $2300.
That was just the beginning, however. The Phoenix News Times is reporting that Davis has had his ID stolen at least 12 times since, with people taking out small loans, Gap credit cards, Verizon wireless accounts and even paying off their energy bills with his name.
This week, Google subtly noted that Android 2.3 "Gingerbread" is set for a Q4 2010 release.
The date was shown off inside the FAQ for the new WebM video format. Google's latest update, 2.2 "Froyo" is expected to be launched today at the I/O conference, which is now in its second day.
WebM is Google's new open source video codec, built on the VP8 codec that was originally developed by On2. Last year, Google purchased On2 for $124 million USD. For audio, the codec uses open source OggVorbis.
The open source codec is Google's answer to the current HTML5 video format war. HTML5 allows for native video embedding in web pages, removing the need for plug-ins like Adobe's Flash or Microsoft's Silverlight. The standard does not specify which format will be used, and that has led to Apple and Microsoft pushing the expensive H.264 format, while Google, Opera, and Mozilla among others are pushing for free, open source formats.
In April, giant computer manufacturer HPagreed to purchase the struggling smartphone maker Palm for $1.2 billion in cash, including assuming Palm's debt.
Along with the purchase, HP was given full rights to Palm's patents and their WebOS operating system, which many argue is the best smartphone operating system available.
This week, following a strong quarterly earnings report, HP CEO Mark Hurd said the company plans to use WebOS in a variety of products, including tablets and Web-enabled printers.
In response to the deal, Hurd also added (via EW): "[The proposed deal] isn't precisely a smartphone play, as I've seen some people write. It is, for us, strategically broader. We expect to leverage WebOS into a variety of form factors, including ‘slates’ and Web-connected printers."
Yahoo has announced this week that it will acquire the user-generated publishing company Associated Content in an effort to add more pages and in turn attract more advertising revenue.
AC pays all of its 380,000 contributors nominal fees to write niche-related articles on tons of different topics ranging from finance, to health, to travel and beyond. While the financial details of the deal were not revealed, Yahoo will receive a gigantic amount of content and pages that were created for very little money.
"We feel that a contributor-driven model is absolutely part of the future of media," adds Matthew Idema, a VP for Yahoo (via Reuters).
The more content Yahoo has available, the more attractive their pages are to advertisers, many of which have been conservative with their expenditures since 2007.
Adds news industry analyst Ken Doctor of the deal: "It makes them a publisher, essentially. Now they have a lot more content they can serve advertising against."
Rival portal AOL was widely expected to purchase AC, but it appears Yahoo stepped in first.
According to the latest figures from Gartner, Symbian (by Nokia) remains the most popular smartphone operating system worldwide, although it is growing at a much slower pace than its rivals.
Nokia stood on top the leader board for the latest quarter with 24.1 million units sold. RIM, which creates the BlackBerry devices was in second at 10.6 million units sold. Apple, which only has one smartphone, the iPhone, remained in third with 8.3 million units sold. Android, the open-source OS created by Google, managed to surpass Microsoft's Windows Mobile to take fourth, with 5.2 million units sold.
From the group, Android, (by a long shot), saw the strongest growth, 707 percent year-on-year. Apple continued to see strong growth as well, with 112 percent YoY.
Gartner predicts that Android will surpass Apple in the next few quarters, as many more manufacturers are creating Android devices now, or have at least promised devices for the future. Android phones are already outselling the iPhone in the United States.
Best Buy has announced that its anticipated CinemaNow-based online video download service launch will happen later this month, giving users a chance to buy or rent movies and TV episodes.
The large retailer is moving into a crowded market currently dominated by Amazon and Apple and to a lesser degree by streaming services such as Netflix's Watch Instantly and Vudu, which was recently acquired by Wal-Mart.
The store is based on Sonic's CinemaNow service, and will be built right into devices sold in-store under the Insignia brand. Devices range from DVD and Blu-ray players to HDTV sets.
The service will also be built into the same devices through other manufacturers later in the year.
When the service launches, Best Buy says it expects to have thousands of new releases, indie films, catalog films and TV eps available. Some of the titles will be available on the same day as their DVD counterpart.
Last month, Justin Long, the "Mac" in Apple's popular Mac vs. PC commercials (officially "Get A Mac"), said the ad campaign may be close to its conclusion, ending one of the more effective ad series in history.
The Netflix app for the iPad, one of the top ten most popular apps since the device's launch in April, has been updated this week, giving users one of their most asked-for features.
