iCloud doesn’t fully launch until iOS 5 arrives this fall, but you can check out some features right now. Apple has pushed out updates to the iOS 4.3 App Store, iBooks and iTunes apps that let you check out your purchase history, and setup Automatic Downloads. Read more »
Apple officially launched its much-hyped iCloud suite of services at its Worldwide Developer Conference today, and although the capabilities are sure to be the talk of the town, it’s Apple’s cloud infrastructure that makes it all work. Steve Jobs said as much during his WWDC keynote. Read more »
At the WWDC Keynote on Monday, Phil Schiller went through a few facts about the success of the App Store. In the six months it has been open, the Mac App Store has become the No. 1 channel for purchasing Mac software, surpassing big retail stores. Read more »
Even under the best of circumstances– standing desks, ergonomic keyboards, customized chairs– typing can be a major pain. Voice recognition technology startup SoundHound hopes to eventually be a part of the solution by allowing people to simply talk to our computers rather than type. Read more »
Rumors have been flying that Apple is deep in negotiations with record labels and publishers to secure the rights necessary to provide a cloud-based music service. But why does Apple need to negotiate anything? Here’s a basic guide to the murky waters of music licensing. Read more »
Apple’s hard work winning over record labels may well be rewarded. A new report says that Apple’s upcoming cloud music service will offer the ability to scan your hard drive, and then mirror your music collection on its own servers with better versions of some tracks. Read more »
How do you make waves in the crowded space that is mobile deals? How about by making bargains into an actual game, and not just by incentivizing group buying through gamification. That’s what The Heist, a new iPhone app released Tuesday, aims to do. Read more »
WWDC 2011 will cover five key technology tracks: Application Frameworks, Internet & Web, Graphics & Media, Developer Tools, and Core OS, but Jobs so far, is not expected to speak. Read more »
The open-source media player Miro just received a major update: Miro 4 includes the ability to sync media with Android devices, buy Android apps and share files in your home network. Call it iTunes for Android, or simply an open-source challenge to DoubleTwist. Read more »
Apple is very close indeed to locking up every major music label in advance of launching its own cloud music service, according to Bloomberg. Sony Music is reportedly on board, leaving just Universal Music Group to join up before a service can be unveiled. Read more »
A new patent published earlier this week describes a system of partial local storage of music for cloud-based streaming for use with Apple devices. It could foreshadow what Apple’s cloud music service will look like when it launches, something rumored to be happening soon. Read more »
Apple users eager to see what the company has in store for cloud music may not have to wait long to find out, as Cupertino is said to have closed a cloud music licensing deal with EMI, according to Cnet, with other labels nearly on board. Read more »
Google debuted its highly anticipated cloud-based music player, “Music beta by Google.” The launch during the opening keynote at the Google I/O Developer conference in San Francisco included an obvious wink to its competition with Apple’s iTunes music player. Read more »
Android smartphones and tablets can now stream music, videos and photos to AppleTV over Wi-Fi using the doubleTwist AirSync application. A quick test of the software shows that its simple to configure and can pipe digital media output to AppleTV with the tap of a button. Read more »
Apple has reportedly hired Tomlinson Holman as its new audio chief, according to a tweet by Leo Laporte Wednesday. Laporte has it “on good authority” that Holman “is joining Apple to run audio.” Holman created THX, and could shake up computer and mobile audio at Apple. Read more »
Hot music startup Spotify may have won over millions of users in Europe, but it still hasn’t launched in America. That hasn’t stopped it trying to take on Apple, however, by making a surprise move to try and replace the increasingly-bloated iTunes. Read more »
If you’re security conscious, or you just want your personal data to be safer, you can encrypt the backups iTunes creates of your iOS devices. You may just be hearing about this following Apple’s location troubles last week, so here’s how to do it. Read more »
Despite building a massive data center and the expected launch of cloud-based music storage, the troubled history of Apple’s online services suggests the company has yet to come up with a plan for the cloud. How can Apple provide the kind of experience its customers expect? Read more »
Apple might charge for its rumored cloud-music storage service, according to a new report from CNET. The tech site says that “music industry insiders” are saying cloud-storage for iTunes libraries won’t be free, at least not after an initial trial period. But would you pay? Read more »
Consumer electronics giant Sony (NYSE: SNE) has finally, formally confirmed what people have long been expecting the company to do for month… Read more at paidContent »
The race to establish a strong third player in the mobile platform world kicked off in earnest this week with the launch of Research in Moti… Read more at paidContent »
Apple is ready to launch an online music storage service that will let iTunes customers stream their songs from a remote server wherever they have Internet access, according to a new report from Reuters. Sources claim Apple’s service will beat Google’s similar offering to market. Read more »
Those of you out there with a vinyl collection may at some point want to preserve your collection digitally. I set out to capture the highest quality music my Mac Pro could provide. Here’s how I create 24bit 96kHz Apple Lossless files from my albums. Read more »
Thanks to an ambitious multi-city road trip in which Kevin Smith traveled to screenings of his latest film and spoke with audiences afterward, satirical horror film Red State has already made back the $4 million budget production company SMODcast Pictures invested in the film. Read more »
AirPlay’s wireless music streaming just got a lot more useful, thanks to developer James Laird, who used the private key employed by Apple’s AirPort Express when it streams iTunes music to create an open source emulator which accomplishes the same feat, called Shareport. Read more »
Amazon continued its push into the land of Androids this week with the debut of a new on-line digital locker for music and updated Android app to stream tunes. Developers can now add in-app purchases to their Android software and Firefox Mobile launched on handsets. Read more »
Managing a mix of iPads, iPods, iPhones, Apple TVs, MacBooks, etc., all from the same iTunes Account can a be a rewarding, but tricky affair. Here are some things to keep in mind when setting up multiple Apple products with a single iTunes Account. Read more »
Amazon beat Apple and Google to the punch with an online music locker for storage and web playback, both on the desktop and on Google Android phones. I took the service for a spin to see how well it works for playback, purchases, and uploads. Read more »
Warner Bros. made another four titles available for rental on Facebook. But if the social network is going to compete with iTunes or Amazon in the online VOD market, it’s going to need to make changes to the way movies are discovered and paid for. Read more »
iOS 4.3 brings expanded AirPlay support to iOS devices, so long as you have hardware new enough to support the update. Since third-party apps can now get in on the AirPlay action, it’s a good time to look at exactly how to use it. Read more »
UPDATED: In an apparent attempt to quell concerns from parents, regulators and legislators, Apple has moved to require password entry on every iOS in-app purchase, closing a 15-minute grace period that some children used to inadvertently rack up pricey charges of virtual goods. Read more »
When you get a new iOS device, such as a new iPad 2, you’ll probably want to transfer data, settings and content from an old device to the new one. Luckily, even if you’re new to Apple products, it’s not difficult to do. Here’s how. Read more »
Apple wants record companies to let iTunes customers download music they’ve purchased as many times as they like, on multiple devices, according to Bloomberg. The Mac-maker is reportedly now in talks with its major record label partners to make this happen. Read more »
Steve Jobs was on stage today to introduce the iPad 2, and took a few moments to talk about why the iPad has been so successful to date. Jobs stressed the role of the App Store in the iPad’s success, but also that of Apple Retail. Read more »
CNN reported last week that Apple is in talks with major labels to offer 24-bit copies of songs in place of the current 16-bit versions. Even if the music isn’t truly lossless, this would still be great news for audiophiles who use Apple’s music store. Read more »
Cord cutters who’ve left cable and satellite behind will be happy to learn that Comcast has agreed to continue licensing NBC content to digital distribution rivals like iTunes in order to convince the government to approve its acquisition of the TV network. Read more »
Apple has plans for putting iTunes in the cloud, but a subscription service that provides users access to its entire content library is not among them, according to a new report. Instead, Apple wants to make your existing collection available to any of your devices. Read more »
Speaking at the firm’s annual shareholder meeting, Apple COO Tim Cook addressed the company’s new data centers, worker mistreatment in China and Apple’s success thus far in that market. Shareholders also rejected a resolution requiring the board to disclose a detailed succession plan. Read more »
For me the revolution started with the iPhone, and once the iPad was fully integrated into my workflow, the dictator had been completely deposed: the hard drive was no longer king. Now syncing solutions keep my digital life in step regardless of my local storage situation. Read more »
TuneUp is software that helps you organize your iTunes library. The makers of TuneUp just secured an additional $2 million in funding, which they plan to use to add features and stay relevant in a world where, more and more, music lives in the cloud. Read more »
