Apple Opening Store-Within-A-Store Inside London’s Harrods Department Store?

 Apple  No Responses »
Jan 202012
 

MacRumors reports

Apple is planning to open a new store-within-a-store concept at the legendary Harrods department store on Brompton Road in London, according to 9to5Mac.

Harrods boasts more than 1 million square feet of selling space across 330 departments — plenty of room for an Apple Store of sorts. The store-in-store concept will feature wooden tables and signage but won’t have the signature feature of any standalone Apple Store: the Genius bar.

9to5Mac claims the store will be smaller than the typical standalone Apple Store, but will be larger than the standard store-within-a-store at Best Buy or the new pilot program at Target stores in the US.

The richly detailed interior of Harrods

Harrods is perhaps the best-known department store in the world and is visited by more than 300,000 customers on its busiest days. The store is owned by Qatar Holdings, the nation of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund; it was sold by Mohamad Al-Fayed for £1.5 billion in 2010.

(Images courtesy Flickr/sonewfangled and Flickr/Herry Lawford)

 Posted by admin at 11:30

iBooks Textbook Sales: Authors Set Pricing Up to $14.99, Apple Takes 30%, iBooks-Exclusive

 iBooks  No Responses »
Jan 202012
 

MacRumors reports

Engadget highlights the economics of publishing iBooks Textbooks to the iBookstore, noting that paid downloads follow Apple’s traditional App Store and iBookstore model where the company takes a 30% cut of the purchase price of each book. Authors are free to set their own pricing, although Apple has placed a maximum price tag of $14.99 on the textbooks. 


In addition, the report notes that Apple requires all iBooks Textbooks to be exclusive to the iBookstore. An iBooks Author FAQ notes that authors may distribute their books free of charge through their own websites, but that book sales must go through the iBookstore. iBooks Textbooks also may not be offered under any subscription-based access programs.Well, it turns out that Cupertino is giving authors the ability to set their own prices as long as they remain $14.99 or under. In exchange, Apple takes a 30 percent cut, and requires authors take an oath of fealty to Tim Cook — ok, not really, but any e-textbook author that wants access to the iPad-toting masses must make his or her work an exclusive to iBooks 2.

Authors can use Apple’s free new iBooks Author app for Mac to create their iBooks Textbooks for distribution through the iBookstore.

Update: There seem to be some questions about the sourcing and completeness ofEngadget‘s claims. Apple states in its iBooks Author license that all works created through the software to be offered for sale can only be sold through Apple. But it appears that authors may be able to use other tools to offer those same titles on other platforms on marketplaces as long as they do not use iBooks Author to create the files. As TechCrunch notes, the output of iBooks Author is based on ePub but not technically in the ePub format, so those files likely would not be compatible with platforms other than iBooks anyway.Books are not technically in the EPUB format, but they borrow from it (likely EPUB 3). Certain interactive elements of the books require the files to be done in the slightly different iBooks format, Apple says.

In light of the uncertainty about the situation, we have moved this post to the iOS Blog.

 Posted by admin at 11:30

Hands-On Video With Apple’s Digital Textbooks

 Apple  No Responses »
Jan 202012
 

MacRumors reports

Engadget has posted a hands-on video of the iPad’s interactive digital textbooks in the press demo section of Apple’s education-focused media event today, and they were impressed: 

Interacting with the books is a generally intuitive combination of tapping, swiping and pinching. You can pinch from any page to get out to the heading of that chapter, then drag along a bar on the bottom to quickly go from one chapter to the next. When you’re looking at any page, you can get a closer view of any of the media there by simply pinching it. Tiny picture of an ant? Give it a nudge and it’s full-screen. You can then swipe through galleries, play movies and interact with various other widgets that authors can drop in place.


As always with an Apple product announcement, the company has produced apromotional video complete with interviews of Apple executives and regular customers using their products. The video for the digital textbook includes teachers talking about how textbooks are out of date as soon as they are printed and how digital-savvy students expect more out of their learning materials.


Apple has also posted a gallery of the various elements that can be built-into interactive iBooks with the iBooks Author app, including HTML Modules, Keynote Presentations, 3D Images, and more.

Apple’s initial focus for its textbook effort is on high school textbooks, with books priced at $14.99 or less. Authors can continually update their content, and the students get to keep their copies indefinitely. Books are available via the iBooks app, available as a free download from the App Store. [Direct Link]

 Posted by admin at 11:30

iTunes U for iPad Retools the Learning Experience

 Apple, iPad, iTunes  No Responses »
Jan 202012
 

MacRumors reports

In the second half of Apple’s education-focused media event today, the company turned its attention to iTunes U, the company’s free educational podcast section in the iTunes Store. Eddy Cue took the stage to announce that over 1,000 universities are currently using iTunes U, with the program’s content having seen over 700 million downloads to date. 


The new iTunes U app advances iTunes U from audio and video lectures to a full-fledged learning app, allowing non-traditional students access to huge amounts of free content but more importantly for Apple, allowing schools to adopt iTunes U as a learning platform.
The all-new iTunes U app lets teachers create and manage courses including essential components such as lectures, assignments, books, quizzes and syllabuses and offer them to millions of iOS users around the world.

Courses are created via the iTunes U Course Manager, a web-based tool that allows teachers to build a course that includes a syllabus, handouts, quizzes, and other items. Course materials are hosted by Apple and available to anyone taking the course — by default, courses are open and available to anyone, though it appears schools can restrict their courses to only their students.

For users, iTunes U for iOS has more than 100 courses already optimized for iOS, with more on the way. A quick perusal of the app shows classes from Yale, Duke, MIT, and Stanford — including Paul Hegarty’s well-regarded iPad and iPhone App Developmentcourse [Direct Link].

iTunes U lets you take a complete course on your iPad. View the course overview, instructor biography, and course outline. Read posts and keep track of your completed assignments. Watch videos directly within the app, read books, and view all your course notes in one place. Receive push notifications alerting you to new posts from the instructor. And iCloud keeps your notes, highlights, and bookmarks up to date on all your devices.

iTunes U is a free download for iPad and iPhone on the App Store [Direct Link].

 Posted by admin at 11:30

Apple Launches iBooks 2 with Interactive Textbooks

 Apple  No Responses »
Jan 202012
 

MacRumors reports

At its education-focused media event today, Apple introduced iBooks 2, an updated version of the company’s e-book software for iOS devices. The update comes as part of a push into interactive digital textbooks in partnership with a number of major publishers. 


From the iBooks 2 description:Introducing iBooks 2 — now with iBooks textbooks.

- Experience gorgeous Multi-Touch textbooks designed for iPad
- iBooks textbooks are filled with interactive features, diagrams, photos, and videos
- Tap to dive into images with interactive captions, rotate 3D objects, swipe through image galleries, watch videos in full screen, and more
- Use a finger as a highlighter when swiping over text in a textbook
- Take advantage of Study Cards to help you memorize important highlights, notes, and glossary terms
- Tap glossary terms to see definitions of key topics and concepts without leaving the page

Apple is partnering with McGraw-Hill, Pearson, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on the textbook front, with the three companies currently responsible for 90% of textbook sales in the United States. McGraw-Hill and Pearson are rolling out a handful of introductory titles today, with more coming soon.

Apple’s initial focus for its textbook effort is on high school textbooks, with books priced at $14.99 or less. Authors can continually update their content, and the students get to keep their copies indefinitely.

iBooks 2 is a free download from the App Store, available as an update to the existing iBooks app.

Apple also released iTunes 10.5.3 with support for syncing the new textbooks.iTunes 10.5.3 allows you to sync interactive iBooks textbooks to your iPad. These Multi-Touch textbooks are available for purchase from the iTunes Store on your Mac or from the iBookstore included with iBooks 2 on your iPad.

iTunes 10.5.3 weigh in at 102.15 MB for Mac, 66.11 MB for 32-bit Windows, and 67.98 MB for 64-bit Windows.

 Posted by admin at 11:30

‘iBooks Author’ eBook Authoring App for Mac Now Available

 Apple  No Responses »
Jan 202012
 

MacRumors reports

Today, during their education press event, Apple announced the availability of the iBooks Author App that allows users to create interactive iBooks on their Mac.Now anyone can create stunning iBooks textbooks, cookbooks, history books, picture books, and more for iPad. All you need is an idea and a Mac. Start with one of the Apple-designed templates that feature a wide variety of page layouts. Add your own text and images with drag-and-drop ease. Use Multi-Touch widgets to include interactive photo galleries, movies, Keynote presentations, 3D objects, and more. Preview your book on your iPad at any time. Then submit your finished work to the iBookstore with a few simple steps. And before you know it, you’re a published author.

The App allows you to start with a number of templates and then customize your book with images, videos, multi-touch widgets and even Keynote presentations. You can then preview your book on your iPad and then submit it to the iBookstore for sale or free download.

iBooks Author is available for free in the Mac App Store. [App Store]

 Posted by admin at 11:29

Apple Files New German Lawsuit Targeting Ten Samsung Smartphones

 Apple, Samsung  No Responses »
Jan 182012
 

MacRumors reports

Bloomberg reports that Apple has filed a new lawsuit in Germany against Samsung, seeking to ban sales of ten different smartphone models over alleged design infringement.Apple Inc. (AAPL) filed another suit in Germany, seeking to ban sales of Samsung Electronics (005930) Co.’s smartphone models, including the Galaxy S Plus and the S II.

The suit targeting 10 smartphones was filed in the Dusseldorf Regional Court and is based on Apple design rights Apple in Europe, court spokesman Peter Schuetz said via phone today. Apple also started a separate suit against five Samsung tablet computer models related to a September ruling banning the Galaxy 10.1., he said.

Germany has already been the site of a significant amount of legal action between Apple and Samsung, with Apple winning an injunction barring the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in that country. Samsung has apparently circumvented that injunction with the release of a design-tweaked Galaxy Tab 10.1 for the German market, although Apple continues to press forward with its legal efforts against Samsung’s tablets.

 Posted by admin at 14:57

iWork VP Roger Rosner Taking Charge of Apple’s Digital Textbook Initiative

 Apple  No Responses »
Jan 182012
 

MacRumors reports

According to the Wall Street Journal, Roger Rosner is the executive in charge of Apple’s digital textbook tools. According tohis LinkedIn page, Rosner is a Vice President for Productivity Applications at Apple, and has been with the company since 2001, prior to which he was CEO of Bluefish Labs, a software development firm that Apple purchased. 

Prior to working on the textbook service, Rosner was in charge of Pages, Numbers and Keynote — Apple’s iWork suite of office applications. Jessica Vascellaro writes for the WSJ:
Mr. Rosner’s involvement is a sign of how strongly Apple intends to emphasize textbook creation, in a move to change the type of educational content that exists on the market. It also underscores how as textbooks—and all media—goes digital, it is increasingly important for tech companies to get media companies to create digital content with their software or in formats compatible with their services and devices.

Whether Mr. Rosner, whose LinkedIn profile pegs him at Apple for more than a decade, will take the stage on Thursday remains unclear. If so, audiences may remember him from Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference this past June, where he demonstrated features of iCloud, the company’s online syncing and storing service.

Rosner made his first widely-viewed public appearance when he demonstrated iCloud onstage at WWDC in June of 2011.

 Posted by admin at 14:56

Thermochromatic iPhone Cases Have a Different Look

 iPhone  No Responses »
Jan 182012
 

MacRumors reports

Incase has introduced a new version of its popular Snap Case made with a heat-activated thermochromatic finish. The $35 pink Thermo Snap Case changes color when held, like heat-activated t-shirts from the 80′s. 


Incase may be the most recent case-maker to release a color-changing case, but they are far from the only one. XtremeMac offers the $30 Tuffwrap Shift that has a similar design to the Snap Case, but is available in a wider variety of color schemes: blue/white; pink/white; purple/blue; grey/white; green/white; and orange/yellow.


Finally, RF Laserworks offers a $12 heat sensitive iPhone 4 backing that’s .005″ thick, meaning it’s designed to fit under a bumper or other case.

Thermochromatic cases don’t quite work like the XtremeMac press photograph above, showing off fine details and fingerprints. However, they can bring something a little different to the iPhone case world.

All the cases mentioned are compatible with both the iPhone 4 and the 4S.

 Posted by admin at 14:56

iPad 3 Media Event Planned for Early February?

 iPad  No Responses »
Jan 182012
 

MacRumors reports

Apple’s education-focused media event isn’t until Thursday, but Japanese blog Macotakara reports that Apple is already making plans for an early February event to introduce the iPad 3 ahead of an early March launch. The event is said to potentially also feature iOS 5.1, which is currently in developer testing.

According to asian supplier and a source in United States, Apple seems to prepare to hold Special Event in early February.

Because Chinese factory will be in holiday of New Year, then new product is concidered to be released in early March.

An approximately one-month gap between introduction and availability would be significantly longer than for the iPad 2, which was introduced on March 2, 2011 with availability coming just nine days later on March 11.

The original iPad didn’t launch until more than two months after its January 2010 debut, although Apple tends toward longer gaps between introduction and launch for new product categories in order to accommodate the regulatory approval process without risking leaks of product details.

Macotakara has had a mixed track record in the past, but the site’s most recent reportregarding the start of iPad 3 production ahead of an early March debut was corroboratedby Bloomberg just a few days later.

 Posted by admin at 14:56
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