Hasta La Gadget!

If you’ve ever used an app like Shazam to detect a song playing on the radio you’re a long way toward knowing what the new IntoNow app can do. With just a few seconds of audio it can detect what you’re watching, give you plenty of information about that content, then let you add it to your Netflix queue. You can go on to share what you’re watching upon a plethora of social networks, even see what your friends are watching. It relies on a platform called SoundPrint, an accumulation of 266 years worth of content that is constantly growing, constantly indexing 130 channels in real-time. (Think of the punditry!) Check it out in the video below or just give it a download from the App Store. Right now it is iOS only, but we’re told Android and other flavors are on the way.

Continue reading IntoNow app can tell what show you’re watching, won’t knock your Glee addiction (video)

IntoNow app can tell what show you’re watching, won’t knock your Glee addiction (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 15:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink eHomeUpgrade  |  App Store, IntoNow  | Email this | Comments

It’s been quite a while since Apple’s tight reins on the App Store were a subject worth discussing, but they’re back in the spotlight now following the company’s rejection of Sony’s Reader app for iOS. The reasons given to Sony were that Apple will not no longer accept applications that permit in-app purchases of content that don’t go through Apple itself, and, moreover, will not tolerate apps that access material purchased through external content stores. So the Sony Reader Store is out — but wait, doesn’t the Kindle app spend its time serving up Kindlebooks? No comment has been offered on the matter from either Apple or Amazon, while Sony’s Reader Store page describes the situation as “an impasse” and promises to seek “other avenues to bring the Reader experience to Apple mobile devices.” In the mean time, you can get the Reader app for Android or just read your ebooks on a device dedicated to that task.

Update: As noted by Harry McCracken over at Technologizer, it has actually been Apple’s longstanding policy to forbid in-app purchases — the Kindle and Nook apps send you to a browser — so Sony’s desire to do so will have been the major cause for the Reader application’s rejection. That doesn’t invalidate the second concern expressed in the New York Times article, that Apple will no longer tolerate content brought in from external stores, which is a displeasing development, if true.

Update 2: Looks like McCracken nailed it — Apple’s come out with a statement pointing out that the App Store guidelines require that apps that allow content purchases must also allow them in-app through Apple’s official iTunes-backed system. We can’t imagine that Sony is thrilled with the idea of cutting Apple in on Reader content, but if they want to play ball, they should be able to score an approval. Notably, Apple says that they are “now requiring” this even though the guidelines haven’t changed, suggesting they’re just now getting around to enforcing it; the effect on iOS’ Kindle and Nook apps isn’t yet known, but we wouldn’t be surprised if Apple started nudging them in the direction of pushing updates. More on this situation as we have it.

Apple rejects Sony Reader app, really doesn’t want you buying content from others (update: Apple says it needs official in-app purchases) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 12:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink 9to5Mac  |  New York Times, Sony Reader Store  | Email this | Comments

There’s a terrific piece over at Ad Age by Steve Hayden, an ad exec who used to work over at Chiat/Day, the agency responsible for what is largely considered the most iconic tech ad of all time.

Here’s the money quote for the piece,

One of the many agency heads I’ve worked with over the years said, “When it’s great, there’s no debate.” I can’t imagine a more fatuous, false statement. There was plenty of debate around “1984.” It very nearly didn’t run.

“1984” is one of those things that became brilliant to world at large in retrospect–once it actually aired and, for one minute, the world stopped and stared. Like a number of retrospectively brilliant marketing moves, however, a lot of folks in business suits just didn’t get it early on.

Hayden again,

The spot had a brush with death after Mike Murray and Jobs played the spot for the Apple board of directors in the fall of 1983. When the lights came up, Murray reported that most of the board members were holding their heads in their hands, shaking them ruefully. Finally, the chairman, Mike Markula, said, “Can I get a motion to fire the ad agency?”

Wozniak, however, apparently loved the thing so much he offered to front half of the cost of running it. Jobs also loved it. It was he and John Sculley who had the final say on airing it. Interesting sidenote, however, Jobs didn’t want to run it run it during the Super Bowl. He told Hayden, “I don’t know a single person who watches the Super Bowl.”

That’s our Steve.

Commercial after the jump.

I guess this means war. App war. Apple is reportedly amping up control of its already fairly closely vetted App Store, blocking a number of companies from its wall-garden–namely those selling content through their offerings. The most high-profile offender? Sony. Apple sent a rejection letter to the consumer electronics giant over an iPhone app that let users but books from the Sony Reader Store.

The news, naturally, came out via Sony. Apple–at least for the moment–isn’t talking. “It’s the opposite of what we wanted to bring to the market,” Sony digital reading president Steve Haber told The New York Times. “We always wanted to bring the content to as many devices as possible, not one device to one store.”

According to Haber, Apple’s rejection letter informed Sony that all in-app purchases need to be approved directly by Apple. No word yet on how this will affect companies like Amazon, which already offer such content through the App Store.

After a half year’s worth of delays, the long-awaited white iPhone popped up again in the blogosphere today after Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak shone some light on the mystery device, confirming rumors that it was, in fact, a camera problem that caused Apple to continually delay the device.

Wozniak also told interviewers that the white iPhone is, in fact, coming soon. The company confirmed that fact with us today. Apple told PCMag, “As we’ve said before, we plan to release the white iPhone 4 in the spring.”

So, there you have it. The Woz don’t lie.