Sony plans to open a competitor to iTunes, a music streaming service called Music Unlimited, in Australia soon.

Another service launching later this year will enable mobile phone users to pay and play first generation PlayStation games on their handsets. The head of Sony’s games unit in Australia said it was unlikely to be available on the iPhone or through iTunes.

Two weeks ago Apple blocked Sony’s electronic book application from the iPhone because it would have bypassed Apple’s system for buying content.

The new Sony music service, which opened in Europe last year, will have a library of 6 million tracks and users will be able to stream songs to Sony TVs, PlayStation3 consoles, PSP portable game players and Blu-Ray players.

The chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment, Michael Ephraim, said music streaming was a ”new technology” that gave consumers greater freedom to play their music on a variety of devices.

Because Sony’s service will be stored on servers, users will be able to more freely access songs from any device, which Mr Ephraim said was in contrast to Apple’s system, which relies on users to transfer their library across devices such as the iPod or iPhone.

If Music Unlimited becomes popular it will provide a credible alternative to iTunes for music publishers, including Sony Music Entertainment, which includes Bob Dylan, Beyonce, Guy Sebastian and Delta Goodrem in its stable of artists.

”If we do [get mass take up] then does Sony Music need to provide content to iTunes?” Mr Ephraim asked. ”Currently we do. We have to provide it to iTunes as that’s the format right now.

”Publishers are being held to ransom by Apple and they are looking for other delivery systems, and we are waiting to see what the next three to five years will hold.”

Music Unlimited would eventually move to portable devices such as Sony’s PlayStation Portable and Sony Ericsson phones, Mr Ephraim said, but the company is not saying whether that will include devices made by competing manufacturers.

Later this year Sony will launch PlayStation Suite, which brings early games such as Crash Bandicoot to portable devices and phones such as Samsung’s Galaxy and Motorola’s Defy powered by Google’s Android operating system.

Mr Ephraim said it was another example of Sony ”opening up” its content to other platforms. In 2009 it opened up PlayStation 3 to allow users to watch the ABC’s iView.

Mr Ephraim said PlayStation Suite was unlikely to operate on Apple’s iPhone. ”We are not as closed as Apple is. It’s the first time in the gaming industry it’s non-proprietary. With the proliferation of devices [PlayStation Suite] could be an indication of where things are going.”

Information Source smh.com.au

Jobs has been staying closely attuned to the company’s day-to-day workings, said the Journal, citing people close to situation, with the 55-year-old chief executive taking meetings at home, keeping in contact by phone and even visiting Apple’s campus in Cupertino, California.

Last month Jobs announced he was to step aside, his third medical leave since 2004, but did not say how long he expected to be away or provide any details about his latest health issues.

He underwent an operation for pancreatic cancer in 2004 and received a liver transplant in early 2009. He has appeared gaunt but relatively healthy at recent Apple public events.

He turned over the helm to chief operating officer Timothy Cook on January 17, but kept his chief executive title and said at the time he would still participate in “major strategic decisions” at Apple.

Among the products in the works are the new version of the iPad tablet computer, due in the coming months, and a new iPhone later this year.

Apple’s fortunes have been uniquely linked to Jobs, who returned to the then flagging company in 1997 after a 12-year absence and introduced innovative and wildly successful products like the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

Apple has sold approximately 14.79 million iPads since the tablet hit the market last April, according to a tally of figures made public in earnings releases.

Last month the company reported a record quarterly net profit of $US6 billion as revenue soared to an unprecedented $US26.74 billion during the year-end holiday shopping season.

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Android has been gaining rapidly on iPhone and a slew of new Android phones and tablets are due out in Australia this year from vendors including Motorola, Samsung, HTC and LG.

IDC telecommunications analyst Mark Novosel predicts Android will overtake Apple’s iOS to become the No.1 smartphone platform in Australia by the middle of this year. From preliminary IDC findings, by the end of last year Android accounted for about a quarter of all new smart phones shipped.

Apple is now strictly enforcing rules stipulating that all newspapers and magazine subscriptions for the iPad be offered through the iTunes store, ensuring its 30 per cent cut of all subscription sales, as well as that of the app’s initial purchase price.

Apple is also asking subscribers if they want their information to be shared with publishers, which could lead to publishers losing access to important data.

In Australia, publishers have had their apps rejected for exploiting loopholes that allow them to sell subscriptions and accept payments without giving a share to Apple. Sometimes apps are rejected without an explanation.

With Android, publishers have far more control over their apps and do not have to give a cut of revenue to anyone. But until Android cements its lead, publishers have no choice but to dance to Apple’s tune if they want a share of the App Store’s spoils – more than $1 billion was spent there last year, according to investment bank Gleicher & Co.

Some publishers around the world have said they feel betrayed by Apple’s hardline approach as their support for the iPad helped ensure its success. The European Newspaper Publishers’ Association was among the first to complain, saying it feared newspaper publishers would lose access to critical information about readers of their digital editions.

Media companies are busily developing apps for Android-powered phones and tablets to ensure their content gets out on to other devices.

But despite their desire for strong competition to Apple, local executives have stopped short of publicly criticising the company, which they rely on to approve their apps.

“Both publishers and consumers will benefit from a competitive tablet market. That will stimulate innovation and pricing competition,” Fairfax Digital chief executive Jack Matthews said.

“We want to make sure we are developing for multiple platforms so that we can encourage that competitive environment.”

News Ltd declined to comment.

Patrick Lo, global chief executive of home networking giant Netgear, encapsulated the private fears of many media executives at a small lunch gathering in Sydney last month.

He said content providers were very “wary” of Apple as the closed model of iTunes meant they were forced to pay a “ransom” to the company for selling their content on the service.

“[Apple chief executive] Steve Jobs wants to suffocate the distribution so even though he doesn’t own the content he could basically demand a ransom,” Mr Lo said.

However, Graham Clarke, chief executive of Australian app developer Glasshouse Apps, said Apple was within its rights to impose strict rules over iTunes as it built the mall, so to speak.

“I’ve never had a qualm with Apple’s 30 per cent [share] – I think they earn it a few times over,” said Clarke, pointing to the millions of potential customers Apple opens up for app makers.

“The opportunity would just never have been there without the App Store … they handle so much of the process so all that developers have to do is create a great app and put it on the App Store and Apple handles the rest.”

Information Source smh.com.au

One version would be cheaper and smaller than the most recent iPhone, said a person who has seen a prototype and asked not to be identified because the plans haven’t been made public. Apple also is developing technology that makes it easier to use the iPhone on multiple wireless networks, two people said.

Chief executive officer Steve Jobs, who remains involved in strategic decisions while on medical leave, aims to narrow the price gap that has made phones running Android more popular than iPhones. Google’s share of the global smartphone market more than tripled to 32.9 per cent in the fourth quarter, eclipsing Apple’s 16 per cent, according to Canalys.

Apple has considered selling the new iPhone for about $US200 in the US, without obligating users to sign a two-year service contract, said the person who has seen it. Android phones sell for a range of prices at AT&T, Verizon Wireless and other US carriers, and typically come with agreements that include a fee for broken contracts. The iPhone 4, sold in the U.S. by AT&T and Verizon Wireless, costs $US200 to $US300 with a contract.

Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for Apple, declined to comment.

While Apple has aimed to unveil the device near mid-year, the introduction may be delayed or scrapped, the person said. Few Apple employees know the details of the project, the person said. Apple often works on products that don’t get released.

The prototype was about one-third smaller than the iPhone 4, said the person, who saw it last year.

Apple can sell it at a low price mainly because the smartphone will use a processor, display and other components similar to those used in the current model, rather than pricier, more advanced parts that will be in the next iPhone, the person said. Component prices typically drop over time.

Apple is also working on a so-called dual-mode phone, two people said. This device would be able to work with the world’s two main wireless standards – the global system for mobile communications, used by AT&T and carriers such as Vodafone, and code division multiple access, used by Verizon Wireless. It isn’t known whether Apple intended to include this capability in the cheaper iPhone.

Universal SIM

Apple is working on a technology called a Universal SIM, which would let iPhone users toggle between GSM networks without having to switch the so-called SIM cards that associate a phone with a network, according to one person. This would help cut the cost of distributing and managing millions of SIM cards.

The new features could also give Apple an advantage over mobile carriers in influencing customers. The device would be affordable without a carrier subsidy, so buyers wouldn’t need to agree to terms, such as termination fees, that carriers demand in exchange for subsidising the cost of the phone.

Apple has also worked on redesigned iPhone software that would let customers choose a network and configure their device on their own, without relying on a store clerk or representative of a carrier, according to the person.

Information Source smh.com.au

The new iPad will be thinner and lighter than the first model and sport a more powerful graphics processor, the Journal said.

It will have at least one camera on its front for features such as video conferencing, and will also have more memory, according to the paper, adding Apple plans to unveil the new iPad through telcos Verizon Wireless and AT&T in the US.

Early in February, a Reuters eyewitness saw what appeared to be a working model of the next iPad with a front-facing camera at the top edge of the glass screen at a press conference to mark the debut of News Corp’s Daily online paper in New York.

Apple was not available for comment.

Information Source smh.com.au

A Reuters eyewitness saw what appeared to be a working model of the next iPad with a front-facing camera at the top edge of the glass screen at a press conference to mark the debut of News Corp’s Daily online paper in New York.

A source with knowledge of the device confirmed its existence, adding that the final release model could have other features. News Corp and Apple declined to comment.

The next version of Apple’s popular tablet computer is expected to be announced in the next few months.

Manufacturing sources have said it will sport two cameras – one in the front and one in the back – enabling users to make video calls.

News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch along with Apple executive Eddy Cue unveiled the Daily, a digital newspaper created from scratch for the iPad at a press conference in New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim museum.

The Daily is Apple’s first foray into subscription sales through its iTunes store after having spent a year in talks with publishers with little progress.

The iPad was released in April 2010 and became one the hottest gadgets of the year.

The company sold 14.8 million iPads in 2010, and could double that this year, analysts estimated.

The 10-inch touchscreen device proved to be hugely popular as a media consumption device, good for games, video and Web browsing.

The iPad, which starts at $629 in Australia, added more than $US8 billion in sales for Apple last year and helped touch off a tablet-mania that is sweeping the technology business.

Nearly all of Apple’s rivals are working on tablets, with dozens of models expected to hit the market this year, providing the iPad with its first real competition.

Companies such as Samsung Electronics, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Acer are attacking the tablet market, with global sales expected to surge to more than 50 million units in 2011.

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The first iPads are due to hit the market in March but it was revealed at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that several other iPad-like tablets from major PC manufacturers would also hit the market this year, running a range of operating systems including Google’s Android and Windows.

At the recent TED conference in California, Wired became the first magazine to show off a complete, specially designed version for tablet devices, which readers can browse using touch. Many other major titles, including The New York Times, GQ, Vanity fair and Sports Illustrated, have tablet apps in the works.

Wired creative director Scott Dadich worked with Adobe’s senior experience design manager, Jeremy Clark, over six months to design the digital version of the magazine with the help of Adobe’s AIR software.

Aunty expresses interest

In an interview in Barcelona, Clark said he had received an email from the ABC this morning seeking to strike up a similar partnership.

“They think they have a lot of interesting content that they’d like to get out to tablet devices,” he said.

Adobe has already worked with Britain’s public broadcaster, BBC, to bring iPlayer – which lets viewers stream the network’s programs from the last seven days – to desktops using Adobe AIR.

Clark said Australian newspaper publishers had also expressed interest but he could not provide further details. He believed tablet versions of Australian newspapers would be available in the second half of this year, once tablet devices are available to buy.

Clark has not yet heard from any Australian magazine publishers but he expects this to change rapidly as Wired’s tablet edition becomes more well-known.

“The point here is that we are entering a new era of media, where we finally have a digital platform that allows us to retain all the rich visual features of high-gloss print, from lavish design to glorious photography, while augmenting it with video, animations, additional content and full interactivity,” said Wired editor Chris Anderson.

Prepare for tablet onslaught

Aside from the iPad, other vendors are preparing to release similar tablets based around Nvidia’s powerful Tegra chip, which can play full high-definition 1080p video and even run PC games such as Unreal Tournament 3.

Nvidia’s senior technical marketing manager for Tegra, Sridhar Ramaswamy, said he expects 10-15 tablets, most running Google’s Android, to hit stores this year, starting in April.

“It will be a worldwide launch – we’re working with major OEMs so I fully expect these products to be available in Australia,” he said.

In the Wired tablet edition, which will be available mid-year, readers can flick through pages of the magazine by swiping their finger on the tablet’s touchscreen both horizontally and vertically. Because the content is digital, video and photo galleries can be embedded into pages and ads can also be interactive.

One demo showed an ad for Camaro and readers can use touch to rotate the advertised car 360-degrees.

“Right now what we’re seeing is this perfect storm of the classic slate form factor devices that are large enough that they are almost the size of the printed media, so it has the visual impact that you need,” said Clark.

“The touch capabilities make it as intuitive as using a physical book or magazine. People have really become accustomed to the iPhone and all the touch gestures.”

Publishers can retain their familiar workflow

Adobe software tools such as InDesign are already the predominant tools used by publishers to design printed magazines. The same designers can use these tools to create the digital tablet version, while additional staff are employed to build the interactive elements such as video.

The iPad’s Safari browser does not support Flash but Adobe has developed tools to allow Flash-based content to work on the device, provided that the apps are accepted by Apple on its App Store.

Clark said publishers had been putting their content online for free under the belief that online advertising would be enough to sustain their businesses, but the revenues were much lower than expected and online banners ads were not effective in terms of brand awareness.

“Over time as these web ads have been using certain standards people know how to block them out of their brain while they surf the web,” he said.

Furthermore, today, when newspaper and magazine content is published online, the design from the print product is stripped away and the content loses some of its design integrity.

“It’s heart breaking for print designers who spend a week or two designing something and look at their website and see that none of their designs are reflected there. It’s stripped out, it’s boring, it doesn’t really have a visual impact,” he said.

Magazines delivered to tablets using Adobe’s software will still contain ads but these will be better designed, richer pages like those featured in printed editions.

“I think it will be closer to the magazine ad model where there’s almost as much ads as there is editorial content and people value the ads,” said Clark.

But Clark believes not just tablets, but desktops as well, could benefit from rich digital magazines and newspapers that more resemble the printed product.

“A lot of publishers have given up on the desktop because they associate it with the web,” he said.

Information Source smh.com.au

Unibody, Apple’s preferred term, is a bit of a misnomer, as the lower panel is separate, as are the multiple parts that make up the lid and display. In terms of creaks and noise while using it, this MacBook is nearly quiet. The flexy and fragile feeling plastic hinge on this MacBook is no match for the Aluminum model’s hinge. Rather than a LCD latch mechanism all MacBooks use a magnetic latch. White plastic polycarbonate is used on this model, the material that we know for a long time now. Just like its earlier versions (I can say I owned three versions) they are very durable.

Where panels connect there are small gaps and also the battery sticks out a little bit. Controlling tolerances with plastic construction is harder than when using metal.Apple builds the MacBook from a single chunk of polycarbonate – the same rigid material you might know from Nalgene bottles, CDs, and even bulletproof windows. It’s tough, and the MacBook shows it. From the sculpted edges to the very center, which can typically feel a little soggy on cheap laptops, the MacBook feels, well, bulletproof. The same solidification that happened on the MacBook Pro carries right over to plastic version, and we love it just the same.

LED backlit screen system is used on the 13.3 inch display (it is a standard attribute of Apple products recently), which is better for both power consumption and environmental concerns. However, unlike the more expensive Pro models, you don’t get the slick-looking edge-to-edge glass over the screen. Other points of differentiation include the lack of an SD card slot and a backlit keyboard. and we would like to see a change on screen aspect rate towards to 16:9 as they are becoming the standard. The MacBook’s 13.3-inch wide-aspect display is just about the perfect size: it’s large enough for watching movies or working with two windows open side by side, still its small enough to allow you to put and airplane table on your lap.

I need to mention its bright very much (an above average 230cd/m² on our Minolta luminance meter), also the 1.280×800 display resolution provide the perfect screen detail for this size of display. In a first for an Apple laptop, the MacBook offers a glossy screen for starker contrast and more intense color, though in bright environments, the glossy coating results in more glare.

We’re not typically fans of Chiclet-style keyboards, which always seem to lack the satisfying click of traditional models, still nobody can resist Apple’s quality.

FireWire fans should note that the port has finally left the building. This would be a good chance to place an SD card slot just like on MacBook Pro, but they didn’t.

Generally performance is good, but there are speedier notebooks on the market from brands like HP, Acer and Dell at about the same price. None of them have what are the MacBook’s best features; OS X and iLife.

When our video playback charge drain test is applied, the Apple MacBook kept going on for 5 big hours plus 42 minutes. By having advantage of using Intel’s low voltage powered processor, Toshiba’s Satellite T135-S1310 lasted 30 minutes more than the Apple Macbook and hit the six hours mark.