Apple’s ‘Back to the Mac’ event is tomorrow at 1PM ET / 10AM PT — we’ll be there live!

What will happen tomorrow? A new version of OS X? Tiny MacBook Airs? Verizon iPhone announcements? Tomorrow never knows… but Steve Jobs probably does. Even if we can’t predict the future, we can at least follow along with the present, right? That’s exactly what we’ll be doing tomorrow at Engadget, as we bring you the best liveblog in the business! Tune in at the URL and times below for the full scoop on just what Apple is getting up to. You won’t want to miss this!

Here’s the liveblog post you’ll want to plant yourself at, and here are the start times around the globe:

07:00AM – Hawaii
10:00AM – Pacific
11:00AM – Mountain
12:00PM – Central
01:00PM – Eastern
06:00PM – London
07:00PM – Paris
09:00PM – Moscow
02:00AM – Tokyo (October 21st)

Apple’s ‘Back to the Mac’ event is tomorrow at 1PM ET / 10AM PT — we’ll be there live! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Oct 2010 23:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM’s Jim Balsillie hits back at the Steve Jobs rant, Apple’s ‘distortion field’

You had to know that Steve wouldn’t get away with putting his five minute, competition-slamming manifesto out into the ether without some snap back from the competition. We’ve already heard responses from TweetDeck and Andy Rubin, and now RIM’s co-CEO Jim Balsillie has issued a statement in response to Jobs. Here it is:

“For those of us who live outside of Apple’s distortion field, we know that 7-inch tablets will actually be a big portion of the market and we know that Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who want a real web experience. We also know that while Apple’s attempt to control the ecosystem and maintain a closed platform may be good for Apple, developers want more options and customers want to fully access the overwhelming majority of web sites that use Flash. We think many customers are getting tired of being told what to think by Apple. And by the way, RIM has achieved record shipments for five consecutive quarters and recently shared guidance of 13.8 – 14.4 million BlackBerry smartphones for the current quarter. Apple’s preference to compare its September-ending quarter with RIM’s August-ending quarter doesn’t tell the whole story because it doesn’t take into account that industry demand in September is typically stronger than summer months, nor does it explain why Apple only shipped 8.4 million devices in its prior quarter and whether Apple’s Q4 results were padded by unfulfilled Q3 customer demand and channel orders. As usual, whether the subject is antennas, Flash or shipments, there is more to the story and sooner or later, even people inside the distortion field will begin to resent being told half a story.”

Sort of a big one, but we figure RIM at least deserves some equal time. Interesting that RIM is fighting Apple’s assertion of surpassing their handset shipments, we’ll have to see how that one settles once we get some “official” numbers from an unbiased third party. Meanwhile, let the mudslinging continue!

RIM’s Jim Balsillie hits back at the Steve Jobs rant, Apple’s ‘distortion field’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Oct 2010 16:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TweetDeck CEO continues backlash against Jobs

Steve Jobs’ amateur sleuthing last night brought up that gorgeous TweetDeck chart showing the vast variety of Android handsets out there, which the Apple CEO used to illustrate the “daunting challenge” he perceives developers have to face when creating apps that work across all devices and OS builds for the platform. Only problem with his assertion (aside from Steve calling the company TwitterDeck)? His opposite number on the TweetDeck team thinks nothing could be further from the truth: “we only have 2 guys developing on Android TweetDeck so that shows how small an issue fragmentation is.” So that’s Andy Rubin and Iain Dodsworth, any other company chief interested in taking Jobs down a notch?

Continue reading TweetDeck CEO continues backlash against Jobs

TweetDeck CEO continues backlash against Jobs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Oct 2010 08:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink All Things Digital  |  source@iaindodsworth (Twitter)  | Email this | Comments

Andy Rubin responds to Steve Jobs with a coded tweet

It’s common knowledge that the first words uttered by any nerd are “hello world.” That is, unless some CEO starts bad-mouthing your open-source motivations. Google’s Andy Rubin — the father of Android, as it were — just uttered his first words on Twitter with the tweet you see above. From the looks of it, Andy (assuming this is him, the account is not “verified”) is demonstrating how easy it is for anyone to download and compile the latest build of Android. Presumably Jobs will now join Twitter with a response like, “The definition of closed: shut up.”

Andy Rubin responds to Steve Jobs with a coded tweet originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Oct 2010 05:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechCrunch  |  source@Arubin (Twitter)  | Email this | Comments

Steve Jobs drops knowledge on earnings call: calls out Google and RIM, says 7-inch tablets are ‘DOA’ (Update: complete Jobs audio!)

Steve Jobs hit today’s earnings call with the power of words. In a tone that could be described as “righteous anger” or perhaps just “reppin,” Steve launched into a five minute rant that hit hard against RIM’s entire business model, Android sales numbers and software fragmentation, and the impending wave of Android tablets. With the iPhone surpassing RIM, Steve says that he “[doesn’t] see them catching up in the foreseeable future.” As for Android sales, Steve takes issues with the market share figures that are currently floating around, saying that 275k iOS devices were activated on average per day last month, compared to Android’s most recent estimate of 250k per day — though he does admit that Android outshipped iPhone in the June quarter, during the “transition” to iPhone 4. That wasn’t Steve’s only problem with Android, he takes major issue with the fragmentation and the onus he believes it puts on the user: “we believe integrated will trump fragmented every time.”

Oh, and 7-inch tablets? You’re in for a bag of hurt. Steve pretty much outright killed any potential for 7-inch iPad rumors, saying that the software just isn’t right for that size (“This size is useless unless you include sandpaper so users can sand their fingers down to a quarter of their size.”), and that users have no need for a pocket sized tablet when they already have a smartphone. He called the iPad’s upcoming competition in the space “DOA.” After he calmed down a bit, the call entered a Q&A period, where Steve was happy to point out that the iPad has already surpassed Macintosh in sales, and that it’s going to affect laptop computers: “it’s not if, it’s when.” We’ll get a copy of the audio and put it up as soon as possible… like most CEO outbursts, this is not one to be missed. Hit up our liveblog of the call for a bit more context, and you can try the source link for Apple’s stream of the entire earnings shindig.

Update: We just ripped the first part of the call, which featured Steve’s prepared remarks — we’ll have an edited version of the Q&A session in just a bit.

Update 2: And here’s an edited version of the Q&A with just Jobs’s answers — hit the source link for Apple’s archive of the whole thing with Peter and Tim’s answers as well.

Update 3: And just for the completists out there, here’s an MP3 of both segments combined.

Steve Jobs drops knowledge on earnings call: calls out Google and RIM, says 7-inch tablets are ‘DOA’ (Update: complete Jobs audio!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Oct 2010 18:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple TV hits 250,000 in sales, says Steve Jobs

Deep within the heart of Apple’s fiscal earnings call Q&A session, straight from the mouth of CEO Steve Jobs: “I can report that we’ve sold a quarter million Apple TVs.” Quite an impressive number for a device that’s only been out for 18 days but by no means on par with the likes of some other Apple debuts (the iPad, for instance, sold 300,000 on day one). Still, not bad for the once (and possibly still) hobby.

Apple TV hits 250,000 in sales, says Steve Jobs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Oct 2010 17:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes says Apple’s 99-cent rental model threatens sales

Well, this isn’t going to be surprising to many, but certain executives of certain big studios and networks aren’t wasting anytime letting everybody know what they think of Apple’s new 99-cent rental model for the Apple TV. If you’ve read our review of the tiny new iOS device, you’re already aware that one of Apple’s biggest challenges with the product is getting the content providers on board for such a reduced price — so far, the company’s managed to pull in ABC, Disney, Fox, and the BBC — but Jobs has said that studios will quickly “see the light” and join up. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes seems to disagree, however. “How can you justify renting your first-run TV shows individually for 99 cents an episode and thereby jeopardize the sale of the same shows as a series to branded networks that pay hundreds of millions of dollars and make those shows available to loyal viewers for free?” Bewkes recently asked, joining the now growing chorus of executives to decry the new scheme. Jeff Zucker recently said he thought Apple’s 99-cent rentals “devalue” the content, while Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman said the rental model was “not good.”

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes says Apple’s 99-cent rental model threatens sales originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 19:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Apple Insider  |  sourceHollywood Reporter  | Email this | Comments

What Is a Ninja Star? [What Is]

Whether it’s true or not, Apple is denying that Steve Jobs ninja star story. But you might still wonder, what exactly is this forbidden implement, where did it come from and how do you throw it? More »

Switched On: Why the digital hub died

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

A decade ago at Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs provided a rare look into the vision guiding Apple. Breaking with naysayers foretelling the demise of the PC, Jobs said that the PC was now entering a third golden age of “Digital Lifestyle,” following those of productivity and the Internet. In this era, the PC would serve as a digital hub.

The presentation was rife with references that are amusing with a decade of hindsight, one in which Apple has received more attention for its work in advancing popular digital spokes. For example, in pointing out some peripheral devices that will connect to the digital hub, Jobs showed the Rio flash-based MP3 player as well as the Palm V, both of which would succumb to Apple’ own iPod and iPhone.

Continue reading Switched On: Why the digital hub died

Switched On: Why the digital hub died originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 11 Sep 2010 20:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Why did Apple take Facebook Connect out of Ping?

Apple certainly took its sweet time releasing iTunes 10 yesterday, and we’re beginning to think it’s because the company was making a last-second change to its new Ping social-network-for-music: the removal of Facebook Connect for finding friends. Seriously — although an option to find friends via Facebook was conspicuously present during Steve’s keynote demos, it’s not there anymore. Oddly, the option was there at the very beginning — several Engadget staffers definitely saw a Facebook button when they signed up for Ping last night, and there’s a whole thread on Apple’s support site of people who also saw it and are now wondering where it’s gone.

Just to make things even more confusing, Kara Swisher at All Things D got two very different statements from Steve Jobs and Phil Schiller at the event yesterday: Schiller was enthusiastic about finding friends via Facebook, while Jobs said Zuckerberg and co. were demanding “onerous terms” that Apple refused. We’re assuming Jobs was talking about something deeper than just finding friends via Connect, but it’s still all very strange — and as it stands, finding friends on Ping right now requires a fair bit of guesswork and searching, so we’re hoping this all gets sorted soon. Check the video of Phil Schiller talking about Facebook and Ping after the break, as well as a snap of it (sort of) working from last night.

Update: We can’t confirm this, but we’ve just gotten a tip saying the problem is primarily on Facebook’s end — the service is currently denying requests from Ping, and the resulting errors apparently caused enough other problems for Apple to pull the plug on the connection entirely until it’s fixed. That certainly would explain why Ping has seemed buggy and slow from the outset, but we’re still waiting for some official explanation of what’s going on.

Continue reading Why did Apple take Facebook Connect out of Ping?

Why did Apple take Facebook Connect out of Ping? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAll Things D (1), (2), Apple Support  | Email this | Comments