Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Apple : Report: Apple iCloud signs-up all major music labels

Apple : Report: Apple iCloud signs-up all major music labels

Report: Apple iCloud signs-up all major music labels

Posted: 31 May 2011 01:21 PM PDT

Apple has secured the rights to steam music from each of the four major record labels ahead of the launch of its iCloud service next week, according to reports.

Following today's surprise revelation from Apple, that its music streaming service will arrive at WWDC, it appears that there'll be no restrictions on which artists users will be able to access.

With the Sony, Warner Bros and EMI deals already completed, Apple will ink an agreement with the last major label Universal later this week, according to the WSJ.

Record labels might control the right to the all-important recordings of songs, but there's one more big hurdle Steve Jobs and co. need to clear before next week's big launch.

Labels? Check. Publishers...

With the big-four labels seemingly in the bag, Apple's focus will be on agreeing deals with music publishers, which control the copyright to lyrics, tunes and melodies.

According to the WSJ report, talks with publishers aren't as advanced, leaving Apple facing a race against time to have everything completed in time for Steve Jobs' keynote on Monday.

Rumour killer

Apple took the unprecedented step of emailing the media today to announce what it'll be launching at the Worldwide Developers' Conference, almost a week before Jobs steps on stage.

As well as the iCloud streaming service, we'll get our first look at iOS 5 and the final version of Mac OS 10.7 Lion.

While there's always the hope that we'll see a surprise "One more thing" from Jobs, everything we've heard points to that not being a new iPhone.

Source: WSJ

Apple to fix rubber MacBook cases for free

Posted: 31 May 2011 11:47 AM PDT

Apple will offer a few replacement for faulty rubber bottoms on the cases of some MacBook laptops.

Many MacBook owners, who bought their laptop from October 2009 onwards, have reported that the rubber casing beneath the device has separated from the bottom.

Apple is now offering three free fixes (try saying that five times after a few sherberts) to MacBook owners affected by the fault.

Three fixes

Users can take their laptop into an Apple Store where it'll be replaced by those wondrous magicians at the Genius Bar, or through an authorised Apple dealer.

If you can't get to the store yourself, you can call Apple and ask them to send you a replacement kit, which includes screws, a screwdriver, instructions, of course, a new case.

If you've been a little more pro-active and already bought and fitted a new case, Apple will refund your money. Can't say fairer than that.

To be eligible for the replacement programme, MacBook owners must have bought their laptop between October 2009 and April 2011.

Apple iWork released for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad

Posted: 31 May 2011 09:31 AM PDT

Apple has announced that it has redesigned its iWork software for iOS devices – including the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

Not content with announcing just what we will see at WWDC this year, Apple has decided to unveil a mobile version of iWork which is "completely redesigned for iOS and Apple's revolutionary Multi-Touch interface".

Office, sweet

Keynote, Pages and Numbers have all been given separate app releases, costing £5.99 each. If you are an iPad user and already have iWork, then the new redesigned apps come as a free upgrade.

Apple is bigging up its iWork apps, calling Pages "the most beautiful word processor ever designed for a mobile device".

It also thinks highly of Keynote ("makes it easy to create impressive presentations") and Numbers, explaining: "Numbers uses Multi-Touch gestures and an intelligent keyboard to help you create compelling, great-looking spreadsheets."

It's great to see Apple port its software onto mobile devices, considering the mobile version of Microsoft's Office suite is a big pull for those looking to get a Windows Phone 7 handset.

iCloud, Mac OS X Lion and iOS 5 confirmed for WWDC

Posted: 31 May 2011 05:46 AM PDT

Apple has announced that it will indeed be releasing iCloud at this year's WWDC in June, although it looks like the launch of the iPhone 5 will be subject to delay.

In a rare email, which maps out what will be shown at WWDC, Apple explained:

"Apple CEO Steve Jobs and a team of Apple executives will kick off the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address on Monday, June 6 at 10:00am.

"At the keynote, Apple will unveil its next generation software - Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS X; iOS 5, the next version of Apple's advanced mobile operating system which powers the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch; and iCloud, Apple's upcoming cloud services offering."

No iPhone 5

There's no word on the iPhone 5, so it seems that Apple is launching iOS 5 first and then focusing on the launch of the iPhone 5 at a later date.

The release continued: "WWDC will feature more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers. Mac developers will see and learn how to develop world-class Mac OS X Lion applications using its latest technologies and capabilities.

"Mobile developers will be able to explore the latest innovations and capabilities of iOS and learn how to greatly enhance the functionality, performance and design of their apps. All developers can bring their code to the labs and work with Apple engineers."

So, the rumour and conjecture over Apple's cloud plans is over - the Apple iCloud UK release date is set for 6 June at the WWDC.

There's been a lot of talk about Apple getting the majority of music labels to sign on to iCloud, a service that's set to take MobileMe and add music streaming and possibly movie streaming to the mix.

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