So guess what. Daft Punk’s label is Columbia. Columbia is owned by Sony Music Entertainment. The same Sony Music Entertainment that owns RCA. I’m sure that you remember that both Justin Timberlake’s and David Bowie’s new albums (both from RCA) were made available for free streaming ahead of their releases as well.
I’ll say it again: If Apple is about to launch a streaming service, it’s a pretty safe bet to say that Sony’s artists will be present in the catalogue.
If you like Daft Punk, all you have to do is click here to listen to all the tracks from the upcoming album, which will be released on May 21st.
Tami Reller, CFO of Microsoft’s Windows divison, in an interview for CNN Money:
“You shouldn’t expect an iTunes app on Windows 8 any time soon. iTunes is in high demand. The welcome mat has been laid out. It’s not for lack of trying.”
Meanwhile, I don’t see Apple asking Microsoft to pretty-please develop an iPad version of Office. Infact, the only person who thinks that people are frustrated for the lack of Microsoft’s Office on the iPad is Bill Gates. Everyone else has already found a replacement for it.
And quite frankly, the lack of iTunes is the least of the problems that Windows 8 users are facing.
9to5mac made a post informing that the 2-step-verification process for Apple IDs had appeared for users in Canada, Argentina and Pakistan. I decided to check the control panel for my Apple ID (which is Brazilian), and was happy to notice that it had appeared over there as well.
I’m pretty sure that more countries have received this feature as well. Apple should update the list in their FAQ shortly.
Yesterday BGR posted a story with the following title:
“The genius of Samsung ads: Even the most gimmicky features look like must-haves”.
Ok. Last week I watched the Galaxy S4 ad and a week later I can still remember thinking “Again? Did they really need to show yet again that little trick of transferring files by rubbing phones? Haven’t they done that enough with all the other 10 videos promoting the feature? Even Microsoft mocked them by calling out ‘one-trick-pony’ when proud Galaxy users did their little bumping trick in the Lumia 920 ad.”
The BGR post goes on:
“Samsung isn’t doing anything new with this ad but is rather sticking to its very winning formula of showing how the Galaxy S4 makes life more enjoyable in real-world situations while using the right dose of humor to rib chief rival Apple. This new ad is particularly effective because it overwhelms us with new features whose cumulative effect is to make the iPhone 5 look out of date by comparison.”
I decided to watch the ad once again, paying close attention to all the features it presents.
Here we go:
00:23 – Answer the phone by waving over the device 00:36 – Transferring files by proximity 00:42 – Sequence shots in the same photo 01:00 – Keep pointing at the device to read a text message 01:13 – Remote control (with the tiny disclaimer Initial set-up required)
Next I looked up apps in the AppStore that brought the same features displayed in the ad. Before saying that the comparison isn’t fair, afterall not all of them are native iPhone apps, here’s a reminder that what we’re exploring here is the premise that iPhones are obsolete because they can’t do what the Galaxy S4 does.
00:23 - Answer the phone by waving over the device
Score! We start with an exclusive Galaxy S4 feature (although I’m convinced that Jaibroken devices can do the same thing).
To be perfectly honest, even if I had a Galaxy, I wouldn’t use this feature to answer the phone. First, I’m never in an environment that makes me use speakerphone. I actually think that it’s rude to use speakerphone in a public place. It’s like when people decide to listen to loud music in the bus. Nobody should have to listen to what you’re listening to. Same thing with calls. Now, could this be a nice feature to maybe use when you’re driving? Maybe. But does the Galaxy S4 come with the feature that pays your traffic tickets?
Second, when the phone rings and I can’t answer it, I just don’t. The possibility to wave at the phone wouldn’t change that.
In the end, I just don’t think this is a very practical feature. What demands less work? Answering the phone like this, or the way iPhone users are used to? And what caused more surprise (since what’s being discussed here is the capability to innovate, surprise and shift the paradigm?) when presented? Here’s the video for a quick comparison.
00:36 - Transferring files by proximity There’s an app for that. For free. Since 2009. Bump is the 21st most downloaded free app for iPhone of all time, according to a list by Apple that’s at most a week old.
01:00 - Keep pointing at the device to read a text message
Pretty much like the feature that answers the phone with the little wave over it, I just don’t think this is practical. Besides, in the ad everything always works. However we’ve seen that in real life things are… uhm… different.
01:13 – Remote control (Initial set-up required) Initial set-up required? Oh, great. In that case the iPhone/AppleTV ecossystem sounds like the best option by far. There are so many ways to explore the interaction between the two that it’d demand a new article just for that. Not to mention that depending on your needs, you know, there’s an app for that.
Bottom line:
Except for the no-touch phone interactions, all (three) innovations that make the iPhone “seem obsolete by comparison” are not only available to iPhone users, but they’ve actually been around since before the Galaxy S4 existed.
I don’t know exactly what is the winning formula that the BGR post referred to. What I see here is infact another old formula. The one that adds existing features to the Galaxy. And, you know, the one that says that you’ll be cool if you transfer a photo by rubbing phones.
Recently, with arrival of the Samsung Galaxy S4, a new batch of drop tests comparing its durability against the iPhone 5 have surfaced on the web and spread around in most tech blogs I can remember.
I for one think that these videos have stopped being informative a long time ago, and now they are downright disrespectful for two reasons: One, the tests conducted generally in these people’s backyards have less scientific proof as Mulder’s escapades during the 10 seasons of The X Files. Second, because the point of this video is to make people cringe instead of informing them. It’s disrespectful not only to everyone involved in the development (or copying) of the device, but also to every single person who covets the device being destroyed but can’t buy it for reasons as simple as that they can’t afford it.
Now I do have a sense of humor. Back when Will It Blend first appeared, blending golf balls, credit cards, used batteries and even iDevices, they made me chuckle. I was curious when iFixIt started releasing videos regarding the durability of the iPhone 4, 4S and 5. Is the iPhone 5 body really that easily scratchable? But that’s it.
The day that followed the iPhone 5 launch, I can remember seeing a video of one idiot coming out of an Apple Store holding an iPhone 5, shouting at the huge line eager to purchase their devices that he was about to conduct an experiment, and dropping the phone face-down against the concrete. The phone’s screen obviously shattered completely, and while the crowd (and myself) cringed instantly, the idiot closed his act saying that this was the first broken iPhone 5 in the world.
It all went downhill after that. People started filming their phones being dropping from their hands, couches, counters, rolling over them with cars, throwing them around, doing pretty much everything that breaks most things we all own.
But why do these people do this? It’s not for the benefit of Science. It’s definitely not for the benefit of their viewers. So all I’m left with is that they do this because it’s an easy way to call attention. Maybe get a few extra thousand views if it gets published in a tech blog (and hey, we know it will). But am I the only one who finds this disrespectful? Every time I see a new post with one of these experiments (I have stopped watching the actual videos a while ago), I think that an iPhone 5 with contract starts at U$800 here in Brazil. I think of all the people who would do anything to get one. I think of the kid who sold his kidney for an iPad.
Although I can’t understand why people do stupid things like that, I know that it’s inevitable. What I do know to be possible is that major tech blogs could just stop posting every asshole throwing a phone against the floor until it breaks. But hey, before video views come page views, right? And who wants to see that hit the floor?
The pearl comes from BRG, with the dramatic headline: “Apple relents: iPhone 6 with larger display reportedly due in June 2014″.
How long until we read the news that the production is already running late? Oh, wait! This one has already been published! And look at that. Both today’s news and the one about the delay (anachronically posted a little over 2 months ago) come from the same person: Peter Misek, the clairvoyant analyst who is quickly becoming the iPhone 6′s Gene Munster.
AllThingsD has just confirmed that Tim Cook will return to their annual conference. D11 will happen between May 28th and 30th, and Tim Cook’s interview will open the conference.
It’s a shame that it won’t be after the WWDC with the iOS7 announcement, as a post-WWDC interview would offer so much more to be explored.
After a long, long period of hibernation, São Paulo’s 89FM – The Rock Radio is finally back in action. To promote their return, they created an app together with Andreas Kisser which is made to replace the regular iPhone alarm. Rock Snooze is a pretty cool idea. A very calm guitar riff played by Kisser wakes you up. Every time you press the snooze button, the app will wake you up 5 minutes later playing a heavier riff than the last.
The video (in portuguese) explains the whole thing, but from 00:50 on you can see how the app works.
Such a cool idea. The only things I thought were annoying were the ‘wake up’ voice overs in the first and second riffs. A few more riffs would also be cool.
