OKITE is a Japanese alarm clock app. It's designed to help users wake up, but with a twist: it sends embarrassing messages to the user's Twitter account every time they hit snooze.
Tofugu, a blog covering Japanese culture, points out that this type of public shaming is uniquely punishing in Japan:
The interesting cultural thing about this app is the whole public shaming thing. In America when you do something shameful it’s all about the person doing the shameful thing. “What’s wrong with you?” “Why would you do that?” etc. In Japan, it’s kind of the opposite. When someone does something shameful, it’s always “What will the neighbors think?” and “What will your classmates think?” Public shame is the most terrifying motivator of all in Japan, and this app plays right in to that.
Comcast, the United States' largest cable and internet provider, is working on a television streaming solution for iPads, to compete with Cablevision and Time Warner. The streaming product was announced earlier this year, but details haven't been released until now.
The product, called AnyPlay, allows Comcast subscribers to view live television on their iPad as long as it's connected to their home network; users must have a special Motorola box which, apparently, takes the live cable stream and sends it directly to the Xfinity TV iPad app over a local wireless network. The service won't work over Wi-Fi from other locations, or via 3G.
Other solutions, like Time Warner's, stream live video over an internet connection. Comcast's AnyPlay appears to be a cable box that sends video to the iPad rather than to a television. Users can watch "most" channels included with their Xfinity TV service. Users can register up to 10 tablets, but only watch live TV on one tablet at a time.
Currently, Xfinity customers can use the Xfinity TV app to watch On Demand programming, search TV listings, and schedule DVR recordings.
There is no indication of release dates or availability, but AnyPlay will be available in limited markets at first, and spreading to all Comcast customers eventually.
Comcast previously used the "AnyPlay" name on an announced but never released product with Panasonic in 2008.
Several MacRumors readers have pointed out that case company Otterbox, which gained some publicity yesterday for the discovery of boxes for a new "iPhone 4S" case, is currently featuring a promotional banner on its website that some have suggested could be a hint at Apple releasing both iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 models next month.
But TUAWanswered the question by reaching out to Otterbox for comment, with a company representative noting that the banner is simply intended to suggest that Otterbox will be ready with case offerings no matter what Apple announces.
We gave Kelly Richardson of Otterbox a call today and she clarified the matter. "We're not even quite sure ourselves," she told TUAW, talking about whether there would be one model or two.
She explained that the ad reflected the current conversations going on in the blogosphere. "Like many, we are watching the rumor sites and using information to plan ahead as much as we can." Otterbox promises support for whatever iPhone debuts, but they're emphatically not stating or leaking anything further. "We do not have any confidentiality agreements with Apple," Richardson told TUAW.
Richardson also addressed yesterday's case box leak, reporting that it was simply a packaging design and not any specific iPhone 4S case ready for launch.
EA frequently runs sales on its iOS games, slashing the prices on its games down to $0.99. Today, the price drops a little further on two games, the iPhone and iPad versions of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2012, in a promotion with @FreeAppADay.
The games normally sell for $4.99 and $6.99 for the iPhone and iPad versions respectively, but are discounted today in concert with the PGA TOUR Championship, which runs this weekend at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
TouchArcade has a lengthy review of the game, calling Tiger Woods a "solid choice for your mobile golfing needs."
EA is also running a sale on iPad games this weekend, offering up to 70% off a number of its iPad game titles, including Monopoly, Scrabble, and SimCity.
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 12 for the iPhone is available on the App Store for free, today only, normally $4.99. [iTunes]
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 12 for iPad is available on the App Store for free, today only, normally $6.99. [iTunes]
As noted by AllThingsD and This is my next, Amazon has just sent out invitations for a media event scheduled for next Wednesday, September 28th. The invitation is silent on what the topic of the event will be, but the company is widely expected to introduce its own low-cost Android tablet.
Reports from earlier this year indicated that Amazon was planning to launch a 9-inch Android tablet before October, but it appears that Amazon's first offering may in fact be a 7-inch tablet. TechCrunch's MG Siegler spent some hands-on time with the device, noting that Amazon has basically forked Android to create its own look tightly integrated with Kindle and other Amazon offerings.
Simply put: it looks nothing like the Android you’re used to seeing.
The interface is all Amazon and Kindle. It’s black, dark blue, and a bunch of orange. The main screen is a carousel that looks like Cover Flow in iTunes which displays all the content you have on the device. This includes books, apps, movies, etc.
[...]
But the key for Amazon is just how deeply integrated all of their services are. Amazon’s content store is always just one click away. The book reader is a Kindle app (which looks similar to how it does on Android and iOS now). The music player is Amazon’s Cloud Player. The movie player is Amazon’s Instant Video player. The app store is Amazon’s Android Appstore.
Perhaps most notably, Amazon is said to be targeting a $250 price point for the device, half that of Apple's entry-level iPad.
Numerous iPad competitors have been introduced over the past 12-15 months, with a number of them being hailed as the biggest challenge to Apple's dominance before failing to gain customer acceptance. But Amazon's ability to integrate its extensive content offerings with a low-cost tablet device has sparked renewed speculation that Apple may finally face a strong challenge in the tablet market.
Ars Technica reports that support for Marvell's quad-core Armada XP processor has recently been added to the version of Apple's "Clang" compiler used in its Xcode developer tools. It is unclear, however, why support for the ARM-based processor has been included.
A developer who works on low-level ARM assembly coding for security products was the first to alert Ars that support had been added for Armada's Cortex A9-compatible processors in the latest version of Xcode (a claim that we later confirmed first-hand). The source code for a part of Clang that interprets what CPU type is being targeted for optimization includes a definition for an architecture type of "armv7k" and CPU type "pj4b". PJ4B is a specially optimized CPU design used in Marvell's quad-core Armada XP embedded processors.
The reports suggests that while the inclusion of Armada XP support could point toward potential adoption of the processor in a future iOS device or even a MacBook Air, it is more likely that Apple is using the processor in prototypes simply for testing purposes as it continues work on its own ARM-based chips.
Several reports have indicated that Apple's next-generation A6 system-on-a-chip will offer a quad-core processor, although Ars Technica's report suggests that the A6 is primarily being designed as die shrink of the existing dual-core A5 design.
Apple today hosted a grand opening event for its new Nanjing East retail store in Shanghai, the company's largest store in China so far. M.I.C gadget posts a series of photos of the opening and reports that over 500 people were on hand for the event. The store reportedly employs 300 people.
Nanjing East store staff assembled for grand opening
The main portion of the store covers two floors, and as with many such locations the first floor is focused on product displays while the second floor is dedicated to customer support and training. Additional floors include space for meeting with business customers and offices for Apple's Chinese operations.
Inside front entrance of Nanjing East retail store
Apple will be opening another massive new store in the region tomorrow as its IFC Mall store in Hong Kong debuts. Checking in at over 16,000 square feet and with over 300 employees of its own, the new Hong Kong store offers a prominent presence for Apple in one of the world's major financial and shopping centers.
In addition to the two new flagship stores in Shanghai and Hong Kong, Apple will be opening five other stores tomorrow as the company closes out fiscal 2011 and sets the stage for its upcoming iPhone launch.
Digitimes reports that iPhone touch panel supplier Wintek has apparently experienced some production issues that have caused minor defects in some of the panels being produced for the next-generation "iPhone 5".
The defect, "delayed bubble", is difficult to avoid during panel production, particularly when the defect is not detected during the process of laminating touch panels, and only later found during assembly, the sources said. Since the manufacturing process of touch panels used in iPhone 5 is of the same as that for iPhone 4, Wintek is expected to remedy the defect quickly, the sources indicated.
For its part, Wintek claims that all of its products are being delivered to customers on schedule.
It is unclear just how big of an effect the issue might have on iPhone supplies, as no estimate of the percentage of Wintek's panel production affected by the defect is given in the report, and Wintek is only responsible for 20-25% of total iPhone touch panel production. TPK is Apple's primary touch panel supplier, with Chimei Innolux also contributing some production capacity.
Also unclear is just what device is being addressed in the report, as it is still uncertain whether Apple be introducing both a redesigned iPhone 5 and an "iPhone 4S" that is nearly identical in appearance to the iPhone 4. Several reports from Apple's supply chain have suggested that there is no sign of a redesigned iPhone 5 at this time and that the iPhone 4S may be the only release for Apple next month.
Associated Press reports that Samsung is becoming more vocal about its efforts to go on the offensive against Apple in the patent dispute between the two companies, accusing Apple of "free riding" on Samsung's intellectual property with its products.
"We'll be pursuing our rights for this in a more aggressive way from now on," Lee Younghee, head of global marketing for mobile communications, said Friday in an interview.
Lee, a senior vice president at Samsung, did not say what form the South Korean company's stronger stance would take or if there would be more lawsuits. But her remarks suggest a definite change in tone. She described its previous approach as "passive."
Lee suggests that Samsung has been relatively "passive" in the dispute thus far out of respect for the fact that Apple and Samsung have a close relationship for component supplies, although Apple is reportedly looking to minimize its reliance on Samsung in that regard.
Lee said that Samsung has kept that relationship in mind amid the dispute with the Cupertino, California-based company, and has largely been pulling its punches.
"We've been quite respectful and also passive in a way" in consideration of those links, Lee said during the interview in her office at Samsung's headquarters building in southern Seoul. "However, we shouldn't be ... anymore."
It hasn't taken Samsung long to follow through on its promise to become more aggressive, as Dutch site Webwereld.nl reports [Google translation] that Samsung has filed suit against Apple in The Hague, requesting a ban on sales of Apple's 3G-enabled iOS devices in the Netherlands. The suit explicitly names the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, and original iPad, but does not limit its claims to the listed devices.
Apple argues that the patents in question are so basic to wireless telecommunications technology that they should be subject to FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) conditions that would require Samsung to license them to all competitors under fair and reasonable terms, which Apple does not believe Samsung has been offering in its discussions over the patents. FRAND conditions are applied by standards-setting organizations in certain situations to prevent companies from engaging in anti-competitive behavior by refusing to license patents that are crucial to a given industry.
Earlier this week, sources within Samsung also indicated that the company is planning to target the iPhone 5 with patent lawsuits as soon as it is introduced.
This video shows off a 15" MacBook Pro connected to two 27" Thunderbolt Displays daisy chained to each other.
Apple has just started shipping Thunderbolt displays to customers and released a document indicating how they could be used with the present Thunderbolt enabled Macs.
The MacBook Pros can drive two Thunderbolt displays, though the 13" model can't drive it's own built-in screen when driving two others.
The EFF has announced that both Apple and Dropbox have joined the Digital Due Process (DDP) coalition which is focused on pressing Congress to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.
ECPA was passed by Congress in 1986, before the World Wide Web was even invented and when cell phones were still a rarity. Yet to this day, ECPA is the primary law governing how and when law enforcement can access personal information and private communications stored by communications providers like Google, Facebook, your cell phone company or your ISP.
Specifically, the DDP is supporting amendments to ensure the government can't track your cell phone or obtain online content such as emails, photos, documents and backup files without first going to court to get a search warrant.
According to the EFF, the current version of the ECPA is vague on whether these documents and information -- including the tracking of your cell phone -- are presently protected from government intrusion without any form of warrant.
Other coalition members include Amazon, Intel, AT&T, Google and many more.
The web app has more than 700,000 readers according to Reuters. The FT chose to develop an HTML5 app rather than a native iOS app because Apple takes a 30% cut of subscription revenue made through the App Store, and refuses to hand over all the personal data on customers who subscribe to publications -- data which is worth a lot of money to publishers.
FT.com Managing Director Rob Grimshaw told Reuters that the new Web-based app was drawing more traffic than the version that was sold through the App Store.
"People who are using the app are spending much more time with the content," he said. "They are consuming about three times as many pages through the app as they are through the desktop in an average visit."
The FT's Web-based mobile app accounts for 15 percent of FT.com subscriptions and 20 percent of total FT.com page views from mobile users, Grimshaw said.
The FT said that it was having no difficulty driving users to the mobile app, saying a simple message on the top of the FT's website has successfully driven traffic to the HTML5 app. "The world outside the App Store is not cold and desperate. Discovery is no problem at all."
NASA has released a collection of free sound files from its historical archives for use by space buffs as ringtones. The set includes sound clips from historic Apollo and Mercury missions, Sputnik's "beep beep beep", shuttle launch audio and more:
- Apollo 13's John "Jack" Swigert commenting "Houston, we have a problem" - Crackle of the historic last launch of the space shuttle, STS-135 - Segments from President John F. Kennedy's historic moon speech - Sound wave conversions of the light curve waves created by stars discovered by NASA's Kepler mission and other sounds of planets and stars
"NASA has been making historic sounds for over 50 years," said Jerry Colen, NASA App project manager at the agency's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "Now we're making some of these memorable sounds easy to find and use."
The website includes both MP3 and iPhone native M4R formats, plus easy-to-follow instructions for installing the ringtones on the iPhone.
Apple is continuing to press toward an iCloud launch with a new beta seed of OS X 10.7.2 pushed out to developers today. The new seed, known as Build 11C62, comes six days after the previous seed.
Apple continues to list no known issues with the latest build, and has made no changes to its list of focus areas for testing, which include AddressBook, GraphicsDrivers, iCal, iChat, iCloud, Mac App Store, Mail, MobileMe, Safari, Spotlight, and Time Machine. As with the last several developer builds, iCloud functionality is integrated directly into OS X 10.7.2 instead of being offered as a separate download.
Apple is reportedly holding a media event to introduce the next-generation iPhone hardware and officially launch iOS 5 and iCloud. OS X 10.7.2 should arrive as a free update for OS X Lion users right as iCloud and the other hardware and software debut.
Apple has included what appears to be final release notes with this build:
The 10.7.2 update is recommended for all OS X Lion users and includes general operating system fixes that improve the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac. It also includes support for iCloud, a breakthrough set of free cloud services that automatically and wirelessly store your content on iCloud and push it to all of your devices. iCloud on OS X Lion includes the following features:
• iCloud stores your email, calendars, contacts, Safari bookmarks, and Safari Reading List and automatically pushes them to all your devices. • Back to My Mac provides remote access to your Mac from another Mac anywhere on the Internet. • Find My Mac helps find a missing Mac by locating it on a map and allows you to remotely lock the Mac or wipe all its data.
Getting started with iCloud is easy. After installing the update, OS X will automatically present an iCloud setup panel. Simply enter an existing Apple ID or create a new one and then follow the on screen instructions. To learn more about iCloud visit http://www.apple.com/icloud.
The 10.7.2 update also includes Safari 5.1.1 as well as fixes that:
• Allow reordering of desktop spaces and full screen apps in Mission Control. • Enable dragging files between desktop spaces and full screen apps. • Address an issue that causes the menu bar to not appear in full screen apps. • Improve the compatibility of Google contact syncing in Address Book. • Address an issue that causes Keynote to become temporarily unresponsive. • Improve VoiceOver compatibility with Launchpad. • Address an issue that causes a delay in accessing the network after waking from sleep. • Enable booting in to Lion Recovery from a locally attached Time Machine backup drive. • Resolve an issue that causes screen zoom to stop working. • Improve Active Directory integration.
For detailed information about Safari 5.1.1, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4922.
For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4767. For information on the security content of this update, please visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.
The knowledge base articles listed in the notes are not yet active, but it looks like Apple is putting the finishing touches on 10.7.2 for iCloud support that will be launched alongside iOS 5.
Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has been a constant critic of the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger, hammering the deal as bad for competition and bad for consumers. However, Hesse said yesterday that he isn't an opponent of all telecom mergers, but believes that the Department of Justice would view an alternate merger pair -- such as T-Mobile and Sprint, perhaps -- very differently.
However, if such a hypothetical deal were reached, “You could make a very, very strong argument” that the antitrust regulators would approve it, Hesse said. He said the hypothetical combination of of two value players could allow a strong competitor to Verizon Wireless and AT&T.
AT&T's head lobbyist, Jim Cicconi, AT&T Senior Executive Vice President, External and Legislative Affairs had harsh words for Hesse in response:
Yesterday, the CEO of Sprint said the Department of Justice should block AT&T from merging with T-Mobile, but would have good reasons to instead allow Sprint to purchase them. For months Sprint has spoken disingenuously about their motives for opposing AT&T's merger with T-Mobile. Now, Mr. Hesse's public musings have made their motives much more clear. That they would act in their own economic interest is not surprising. That they would expect the United States Government to be a willing partner certainly is.
A federal judge set a mid-February 2012 trial date to hear the Department of Justice's arguments for blocking the merger, but denied Sprint's request to join the DoJ's suit.
Dan Hesse and Sprint have a poor track record regarding large mergers. When Sprint and Nextel merged in 2005, the companies said the value of the merged company would be $70 billion. Today, Sprint's market cap is just over $9 billion.
Sprint's stock price is down more than 80% since Dan Hesse took over as CEO in December 2007.
Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam spoke out strongly in favor of AT&T's proposed merger with T-Mobile on Wednesday. The merger has been challenged in two separate lawsuits by the Department of Justice and Sprint.
McAdam, at an investor conference, said the AT&T/T-Mobile "match had to occur" because spectrum is such a valuable commodity. AT&T has proclaimed the need for increased spectrum as the primary benefit behind the merger, saying "planned combination with T-Mobile by far the surest, fastest, and most efficient solution to the spectrum and capacity challenges we face."
“I have taken the position that the AT&T merger with T-Mobile was kind of like gravity,” McAdam told investors. “It had to occur, because you had a company with a T-Mobile that had the spectrum but didn’t have the capital to build it out. AT&T needed the spectrum, they didn’t have it in order to take care of their customers, and so that match had to occur.” The CEO continued, noting that he has told the Federal Communications Commission and other government officials that blocking AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile without providing a solution to the current spectrum crunch will ultimately harm American consumers.
While all the focus has been on potential iPhone 5 cases, @Chronicwire posts new images of Otterbox case boxes specifically labeled for the "iPhone 4S". He goes on to claim that Otterbox has produced 3,000,000 cases for the "iPhone 4S".
While chronic does not have photos of the actual case, the rear of the box curiously appears to show the volume buttons on the right side of the device above the SIM-card slot rather than on the left as in the iPhone 4. But part leaks for the iPhone 4S have not revealed such a change, so it is unclear which is the correct depiction of the forthcoming device.
Meanwhile, BGR had claimed that AT&T stores have already refreshed iPhone 4 cases with a change in the back opening for the camera. BGR initially speculated that the cases could be for a camera sensor that may have been changed for the rumored 8-megapixel camera in the iPhone 4S. But in an update to the post, BGR notes that multiple people have indicated that the new cases are simply a revision of the existing iPhone 4 cases to address issues with LED flash performance.
Earlier this month, we received an unconfirmed tip that at least one Apple store received a batch of iPhone 4 bumper cases that didn't fit quite right. Customer returns had suggested the bumpers were a tighter fit with some slight button alignment issues. The tipster had suggested that this may have been an early batch of modified cases, but we had heard no similar reports.
Apple is planning to release a new iPhone in October, but there have been conflicting rumors about what models they are planning to introduce. A recent report suggested that Apple would only be releasing a slightly modified iPhone 4-like device (dubbed "iPhone 4S") rather than a more dramatically redesigned iPhone 5.
Update: As several posters have pointed out the boxes for Otterbox's existing iPhone 4 case similarly show the buttons on the right side of the device, suggesting that the placement in the illustration was simply a means to show both the volume buttons and SIM-card slot in a single cutaway photo of the case.
Investment research firm UBS today issued a report highlighting retention rates for smartphone users, judging consumer loyalty based on whether they plan to make their next purchase from the same manufacturer as their current handset. According to the worldwide survey, 89% of iPhone users report that they will purchase another iPhone.
No other manufacturer topped a 40% retention rate in the survey, with HTC taking second place at 40%. Android as a whole has a planned retention rate of about 55% according to the survey, indicating that while many current users of Android handsets are planning to switch manufacturers, a fair number of them do intend to stay with Android. But 31% of surveyed Android users report intending to switch to the iPhone for their next device, with over 50% of the total "switchers" planning to move to Apple from another manufacturer as only about 10% of switchers are moving away from Apple.
Research in Motion has experienced a steep drop in retention rate, with only 33% of current BlackBerry users planning to purchase another BlackBerry, down from 62% a year and a half ago. In contrast, Apple's retention has fallen only 6 percentage points over that time in the face of strong competition from Android.
OKITE is a Japanese alarm clock app. It's designed to help users wake up, but with a twist: it sends embarrassing messages to the user's Twitter account every time they hit snooze.
EA frequently runs sales on its iOS games, slashing the prices on its games down to $0.99. Today, the price 
The Financial Times reports its web app, 
NASA has released a 
Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam spoke out strongly in favor of AT&T's proposed merger with T-Mobile on Wednesday. The merger has been challenged in two separate lawsuits by the Department of Justice and Sprint.
