Before the iPhone, the iPod, and iTunes, there was Napster. The original gangster of digital music distribution has undergone many changes since its heyday as a pirate’s Shangri-La, though this latest one seems to be the most fitting. A new app for the aforementioned iOS devices as well as the iPad has been launched, giving you the full Napster experience in a more portable form factor. That means that for $10 a month you can stream and cache music from a library of 10 million songs — yes, offline listening is available too — essentially turning your iDevice into the Apple equivalent of a Zune Pass-equipped music station. Good times ahead, eh sailor?
Palm OS on the iPhone? Check. Android on the iPhone? Quasi-check. Newton OS on the iPhone? As of today, that’s a trio of affirmations. Developer Matthias Melcher has wisely used a good bit of his free time to port one of the world’s forgotten-but-not-forgotten operating systems onto Apple’s iOS platform, and while things are understandably sluggish right now, he’s currently working on performance optimizations that’ll hopefully have it running like a clock before long. He’s also made the source code available to anyone willing to tinker with the emulator, and somehow or another, he’s even managed to bring over the much-hyped handwriting recognition aspect. Don’t believe us? Hop on past the break and hit play.
Turns out the rumors weren’t too far off. After fighting for ages to get the iPhone 3G to Chinese shores, citizens of the aforementioned nation will soon be able to pick up one of Apple’s latest (the iPhone 4, if you’re keeping count) without reverting to importers and KIRF shops. Starting on September 25th, the iPhone 4 will be available across China in retail locations as well as China Unicom shops, with off-contract pricing set for CNY4,999 (16GB model) and CNY5,999 (32GB model) — that’s around $743 and $892 in greenbacks, respectively. Those looking for subsidization options will need to do some digging once China Unicom starts talking numbers. But hey, at least this one has WiFi!
When we first caught wind of Fring a while back, Skype compatibility was the draw, but as the years progressed and Fring grew some, the VoIP services didn’t exactly get along. Today, the company’s taking matters into its own hands with the not-so-subtly named FringOut, which appears to provide even cheaper calls to landlines and mobile phones than its powerful namesake. Starting on Nokia’s S60 platform and “coming soon” to Android and iPhone, FringOut’s promising as-low-as one-cent-a-minute calls. Sounds like a deal to us, but of course, call quality is paramount — let us know if you like what you hear if you happen to try it out. PR and video after the break.
In the short history of smartphones, handsets carrying all but one of the major operating systems have been available to multiple U.S. carriers. That exception is iOS, for which the iPhone has been the only model. Of course, the iPhone’s close cousin, the iPod touch, is available regardless of carrier (or service fees, for that matter), and has sometimes been referred to as “the iPhone for Verizon users.” Ultimately, though, it’s not. While the iPod touch provides access to a dizzying array of functionality that will likely expand this fall, its lack of an integrated cellular radio and attendant voice calling features means that it cannot assume that primary role in one’s digital life in the same way that many smartphones have.
For this reason, the notion of a Verizon iPhone remains one of the hottest rumors in the industry, with many assuming that it would cause a fundamental shift in the competitive landscape. But there are many reasons that a Verizon iPhone may take years to arrive — if it ever does — and may not create nearly the disruption that it has on AT&T.
If you weren’t already convinced that Apple is seriously easing back on some of its more annoying App Store restrictions with the appearance of titles like GV Voice (a Google Voice client), this news might help. After a wild ride of ping-pongapprovals and pulls, Manomio’s C64 emulator has reappeared in the Store with its BASIC interpreter fully intact, and available for your coding pleasure. We’ve tested the software and can confirm that you will indeed be able to revisit your youth (provided your youth took place in the early 80’s) via the newest version of the software. Of course, it’s not super fun to program using the tiny, virtual C64 keyboard provided onscreen, but couple this with a Bluetooth keyboard of your choosing, and you can pretty much go wild. The emulator is available right this moment for $4.99, and obviously it’s a free upgrade for those who’ve already bought in.
Apple has been doing what it can to bring publications of a more periodical nature to the iPad and other iDevices, but hasn’t exactly offered a stunning portfolio of papers and such. That’s set to change according to a Bloomberg report citing the ever popular people “familiar with the matter,” indicating that Apple is currently building partnerships with various parties to develop pricing strategies to bring that content to consumers. This will supposedly be presented through a new storefront especially dedicated to periodical content, which could be launching as soon as a few months from now — though there is also speculation that Apple will sit on it until the launch of a next-gen iPad. There are a number of roadblocks, including an apparent resistance from Apple to release the specific sales metrics that publishers want to tailor their content. Oh, and there’s the traditional 30 percent cut of revenue rubbing some the wrong way. Will Apple succeed in bringing all these pubs together? It’s certainly succeeded at herding the music industry…
Mophie’s had quite a few product announcements recently, from an iPhone 4 case / battery pack to a credit card solution with intuit. Hot on the heels of this week’s Juice Pack Powerstation unveil, the company stopped by to give us a glimpse of their revised lineup. In addition to all the aforementioned, we also got to check out the Reserve and Boost that formally debuted back in June. We didn’t get enough time to really put ’em through their battery charging paces, but we did get pictures — hey, you’re welcome.
Actor/comedian/intellectual/newspaper columnist/quiz-show host/techno-bibliophile Stephen Fry’s new autobiography The Fry Chronicles is available in several different editions: hardcover, paperback, and Kindle, naturally, but also an enhanced book in Apple’s iBooks store and most intriguingly, an interactive application called myFry for iPhone/iPod Touch and the iPad.
This signals something new. The mere fact of bundling a book as an application is old hat; there was a time, after all, before the Kindle and iBooks apps, when most apps for the iPhone were books. As the video above shows, though, myFry provides both the metadata and interface necessary to read the book nonlinearly — a synthesis of the familiar (flipping through the pages, jumping to any point one likes, not just a chapter head) and the new (sorting data by content tags rather than chapter titles or page numbers; following associative rather than sequential threads).
Alas, myFry is currently not available in the US; in the UK, it costs about 8 pounds, or about $12.50. Also, it’s not currently a universal application, meaning that iPhone and iPad users would have to purchase the application separately for each device.
As for other e-book formats, the iBook version of The Fry Chronicles is organized in the familiar manner, but enhanced with video clips, mostly of the author himself, hyperlinks, and other multimedia. The Kindle e-book, like the print versions, consist of the familiar rows of text + occasional images book-readers have come to know and love for ages.
In the video below, Fry justifies his (and his publisher Penguin’s) approach to e-publishing, and articulates his vision of the future of books: “I think the point is not why I’ve done this, but really why anybody wouldn’t do it now.”
Fry’s embrace of electronic reading is significant in no small part because of the depth of his knowledge of the history of print. In 2008 he made and starred in a BBC documentary on Johannes Gutenberg and the printing press, titled The Machine That Made Us. He’s also a novelist, a journalist, and a celebrated narrator of audiobooks. There are few public figures with the kind of total media experience that he has, both as a performer and thinker.
The myFry application does have its critics. Gavin C. Pugh, a writer for NextRead and FutureBook, complains:
I like a book to look like a book. I like the text to be formatted paragraphs that are indented unless you need to show a scene-break. If they are formatted like a webpage as Penguin have chosen to do here it changes the flow, at least for me. I also like to see each page turn.
Instead each section is presented as a webpage not only in formatting but in scrolling. And it does spoil the flow. Readers tend to scan webpages but absorb books (or things that look like books). How do I know the difference? I downloaded the sample Kindle and iBook versions. I didn’t feel any connection with app but when I started reading the Kindle version my finger ended up hovering over ‘buy’ option
The Kindle version, too, can be read on any device that supports the Kindle app; Pugh appreciates the multimedia enhancements of the iBook version, but laments that it’s limited to iDevices. Chris Matthews at TeleRead adds that the myFry app “does seem a bit expensive for what you get.”
It’s no longer only print aficionados who are resisting the next generation of e-books; experienced digital readers are protesting too, in the name of price, cross-platform portability, and book-specific standards. Meanwhile, other digital readers are waiting for something new; a book designed specifically not only for digital reading but for their device, that takes advantage of all of its strengths to present an innovative reading experience.
I see one potential solution to this impasse: transmedia bundling.
By transmedia, in this instance, I mean simply that different or derivative versions of the same object exist in different media formats. In this case, it’s printed books, audiobooks, enhanced and plain-vanilla e-books, and software applications. It could also include web sites, video games, posters, licensed merchandise, and so forth.
The movie industry has been extremely savvy about bundling its transmedia products — at least after films leave the theater. You can buy a deluxe edition of a film and receive a DVD, a Blu-ray disc, a booklet, an interactive game, a digital file of the film for your computer or media player, and other accessories, for a single price, usually not significantly more than if you had purchased just the DVD.
The book publishing industry hasn’t followed their lead. Instead, every product is treated discretely, released along different production schedules. Moreover, the industry has generally assumed that every e-book sold is a print sale lost — that the few readers interested in reading a book in both a print and electronic version will gladly pay full-price for both.
Now, however, we’re at the point where iBooks, iPad, and Kindle are not offering different scans of the same book, but genuinely different products — each of which may appeal to different readers, but also to the same reader differently depending on context.
The devices — especially dedicated e-readers — have also reached the point where it’s not uncommon for users to have a personal computer, a tablet, an e-reader, a smartphone, and a print library. But there is no way, short of purchasing a book and scanning it yourself, to read the same book in even a handful of those distinct contexts without spending a fortune.
Suppose instead that Penguin offered a deluxe hardcover version of Fry’s book for $35. Or even $50. (Amazon UK is currently selling the hardcover for 9 pounds, or about $14.) With this, you would get:
A handsome slipcover;
A finely printed book;
An audiobook, on either CD or mp3;
An e-book, in the format of your choice;
A software application, for the OS (mobile or otherwise) of your choice;
A commemorative flag, T-shirt, poster, and/or pin.
In other words, instead of punishing your transmedia collectors, reward and embrace them. Let bibliophiles strive to outdo one another with the audacity of cinephiles. Make the release of a new book an event.
Ripping compact discs provided a natural way to enjoy music anywhere; DVDs quickly did the same for movies. Now even Blu-ray’s DRM days are dwindling. In all of these cases, the industry lagged and fretted about privacy while users found and shared solutions on their own.
That’s already beginning with books. This won’t be the end.
With their infinitely configurable touch-screens, iDevices make pretty much perfect universal remotes. The iPhone and iPad can already be used to remote-control a DSLR, your iTunes-equipped PC or even your Sonos multi-room sound-system. Soon, you’ll be able to add Elinchrom’s RX flash lights to that list.
Elinchrom make those big, powerful flashes that you see in photographers’ studios, the ones that pull their juice from the mains or large external batteries and put out enough light to beat the Sun into submission. The company has just announced, through a coy, teasing blog post, that it is working on an iApp to let you control the power levels of your various flash-heads, pilot-lights and “many other features of the Elinchrom RX flash units”.
The actual workings of the apps are still top-secret:
We like to give our respected competition the chance to find out themselves. The EL-Skyport system idea lasted at least approximately 4 years, before other companies picked up this great idea.
We can make a guess, though. Elinchrom’s existing solution is a transmitter on the camera, and also a USB-dongle for control from a Mac or a PC. The picture above doesn’t show any extra hardware plugged into the iPhone or iPad, so I assume that the internal Wi-Fi radio of the iDevice is somehow being used. Either that or there is a dongle and it just isn’t in the picture.
We’ll find out soon enough, though, as Elinchrom will be showing off a demo at the Photokina show beginning next Thursday. The app will be available to buy for the “most modest price” in the early part of next year.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
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