The eBook publishing price-fixing scandal raised its fugly head again this week when the US Justice Department filed documents in advance of the June 3 trial in New York.

Among those documents was a series of emails and documents in which eBook pricing strategy and tactics are discussed.

An email from late founder and CEO Steve Jobs to New Corporation’s James Murdoch got all the attention. (The email itself was harmless but parts of it printed out of context sounded vaguely conspiratorial and old-boys clubbish.)

To me, the scandal is buried in those emails and testimony records. We learned that Apple used its control over app approvals to exert pressure on companies for reasons totally unrelated to the apps.

Does this bother you? It should.

When Apple was negotiating with Random House and the companies were disagreeing about pricing, Jobs threatened the publisher’s CEO by saying they would “suffer a loss of support from Apple” if the company continued to resist Apple’s terms, according to that CEO. Two months later, the CEO said that Apple threatened to block an eBook application by Random House because they had not reached a deal. (I don’t know if that book was Nigella’s Quick Collection, pictured, but that is a Random House title.)

A subsequent email sent by Eddy Cue to Jobs said that Random House agreed to Apple’s terms in part because Cue “prevented an app from Random House from going live in the app store.”

(Ironically, I believe these emails are part of Apple’s defense, to show that its relationships with publishers was contentious rather than conspiratorial.)

If court documents are portraying this accurately, it means that in 2010, at least, Apple was willing to use its control over the app store to give the company an unfair advantage in unrelated business deals.

Apple’s History of Arbitrary App Store Decisions

Some blocking of apps is more legitimate — or, at least, determined by published rules. For example, Apple banned a DUI checkpoint finding app a couple years ago. This violated a very specific section of the Apple guidelines that flat out say that DUI checkpoint apps will be rejected. Fair enough.

The controversial removal by Apple of T&C’s AppGratis from the App Store last month was also probably justifiable.

(Apple not only removed the app, they also pulled the plug on the app’s push notifications to people who had previously installed the app.)

Though critics accused Apple of stifling an alternative view to the App Store, Apple said the app violated two of its terms of service. For a fee, the company would promote a developer’s app by giving apps free or offering in-app content free. This directly violates the App Store requirements around app promotions and direct-marketing push notifications.

Still, the banning caused an international incident. France’s minister for the digital economy (why does the digital economy need a “minister”?), named Fleur Pellerin, slammed Apple in a tweet that falsely said “plenty of apps similar to AppGratis remain” in the App Store. Her involvement has also been criticized as harmful to the very “digital economy” French taxpayers are paying her to boost.

Other app removals exist in a gray area where it appears that Apple just doesn’t like the sound or intent of apps, and pulls them somewhat arbitrarily.

Apple this week removed the Bang With Friends app, which existed to enable users to proposition people they follow on Facebook to find out if they are “down to bang.”

Essentially, it works like this: You scan your Facebook friends and choose the ones you would like to “bang.” These choices remain private. But when someone on your “down to bang” list puts you on their “down to bang” list, you’re both notified of this mutually assured attraction.

As far as I can tell, the pulling of this app is arbitrary. I’m guessing Apple just doesn’t like the sound of it.

I would be surprised if Apple considered as one of its corporate missions the need to prevent people from having sex with each other, or the use of apps for people to discover that they are attracted to each other.

I suspect that the baby boomers who run Apple just find the language commonly used by millennials in poor taste.

Is a generation gap a good reason to exert their control over an ecosystem?

Apple, in fact, has a long history of banning apps based on them being in poor taste.

An app called iBoobs was banned, even though there was no nudity in it. The app showed a cartoon clothed upper torso of a woman. By shaking the app, the breasts jiggled. So what’s the rule here: You can show female bodies as long as they’re not in motion?

Another banned app showed perfectly static women as Apple prefers, but as part of a strip poker game called Video Strip Poker. They never got naked in the game. Apple doesn’t have a categorical ban on bikinis or underwear. But showing a progression from clothed to underwear was something Apple just didn’t like the idea of, so it was banned.

Another app called I Am Rich was banned by Apple. The app did almost nothing and cost $1,000. The whole point was that the high cost of the app itself was supposed to be a status symbol.

Why Apple Needs Principles and Rules Governing the App Store

Some say Apple’s 30% cut is an outrageously high percentage for apps and content.

Others, such as the Justice Department and the actual eBooks monopoly, Amazon, say Apple’s agency model for books is problematic.

I say both of these charges are baloney. Apple distributes free apps for free and charges what the market will bear for distributing paid apps. The agency model is one in which publishers set the prices and everybody might get paid, including the authors, leading to better books. And it’s a better alternative to Amazon’s outrageous wholesale model, which lets Amazon sell below cost to drive competitors out of the market and take pricing control away from authors and publishers.

I also don’t mind Apple’s strict, somewhat puritanical rules for banning certain apps, because at least they’re published rules which app and content creators can consider in advance before exhausting their resources.

What we should all be bothered by, however, are arbitrary, self-serving abuses of the power Apple wields to pick and choose which apps it likes or doesn’t like or — worst of all — to use its control of the App Store to force business partners to capitulate in negotiations.

If Apple wants to be a standard, global agent for content, we need to trust them. And for us to trust them, they’ve got to earn our trust by creating a rule-governed, level playing field.

In other words, the use of Apple’s platform for content distribution should be a partnership where both parties are bound by agreed-upon rules, not a content dictatorship that functions according to Apple’s whim.

When every other company, such as Google, Facebook or Microsoft publishes policies and user agreements and then violates them, everybody is outraged. So where’s the outrage about Apple’s flagrant and arbitrary control of the App Store?

I think it’s time for Tim Cook to set this right. Yes, the company should make rules for content distribution on its iTunes and iBooks networks.

But just as we content creators follow those rules, so should Apple.

 

This post was written by Mike Elgan from Cult of Mac.
You can view the original post by clicking here.

Seth and Mark were traveling back from Google I/O this week, but Scott and Zac sat down to discuss what Google’s announcements mean for Apple and next month’s WWDC.

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This post was written by 9to5 Staff from 9to5Mac.
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When Siri was updated along with iOS 6, we showed you a bunch of ways to use Apple’s personal digital assistant the right way, like using punctuation and finding out the weather.

Yet time marches ever onward, and we’ve compiled yet another five tips and tricks to help you master Siri, whether you’re looking to create a secure password or just pass the time with a few laughs. Enjoy!

Easily Correct Siri Input Errors Without Getting Frustrated

Have you ever had one of those Siri moments, where you ask her to search for something, and she interprets your speech incorrectly? I’m guessing all of us have, at one time or another.

One thing Siri doesn’t do very well is provide for “no I meant…” error correction, at least using speech. Next time you use Siri and the result is something you didn’t expect, don’t just press the home button in frustration, but correct Siri using your iPhone or iPad keyboard instead.

Let’s say you’re searching for the location of Costa Rica. YOu might say, “Where is Costa Rica?” and Siri my respond with, “I didn’t fine any places matching ‘coaster Rica’. We could hurl the iPhone or iPad down in disgust at this point, but it cost too much to do that, so let’s just do this:

Tap the bubble with the incorrectly parsed text. In this case, that’s the “Where is coaster Rica” at the top. The bubble will turn into an editable text field, and you can select coaster and replace it with Costa using the iPhone or iPad keyboard. When you’ve made the correction, hit Done on the iOS keyboard, and Siri will then reply with a much better answer. Though, in my case, Siri told me where San Jose, San Jose was. Ah, Siri. Try again.

Via: Reddit

Tell Siri Which Audio Input To Listen To

Talking to Siri can be either an exercise in frustration, or a miracle of modern technology, depending on your mood and how successful the Apple digital assistant is at interpreting what it is you’re asking. Typically, when you activate Siri with a long press and hold on the Home button, the input is collected via the microphone built into your iPHone or iPad.

If you have a Bluetooth accessory, though, you might not know that Siri can listen through that device as well. Here’s how to get Siri to do just that.

First, make sure that your Bluetooth accessory is connected to the iOS device you want to use to have Siri listen to for input. Not all external portable speakers, for instance, have a mic or speakerphone capabilities, so be sure you’re using one that does, like a hands-free kit in a car, or a Bluetooth earpiece.

Now, when you press and hold that Home button on your iPhone or iPad, you’ll see a glowing blue speaker icon just to the right of Siri’s typical microphone icon. Tap there, and then choose the Bluetooth device to set it as the input device.

Now Siri will listen to that device to collect your voice commands, and–if the device supports it–will give you back audio feedback (“Would you like me to search the web for coaster Rica?” Sigh.) via that device’s speakers, too.

Though, to be honest, I don’t think I could handle Siri blasting through my car stereo. Thank goodness my car is way older than the iPhone itself.

Source: Macworld

Use Siri To Generate A Super Secure Random Password

As you may know, Siri is backed by the seriously amazing knowledge web site, Wolfram Alpha, which makes dynamic computations about your search terms based on a its own collection of built-in data, special algorithms, and other secret fancy methods. Or, to put it another way: magic.

Anyway, Siri taps into Wolfram Alpha and can come up with some great stuff, like calculating tips for you, for example. Siri’s connection to Wolfram can do even more than that, like generating a secure password for you. Here’s how.

Click and hold the Home button on your Siri-enabled iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, and say, “Wolfram password.” You can also say, “WolframAlpha password,” if that floats your boat. Either way, you’ll get a screen that will show your input to WolframAlpha as, “generate a random password.”

Below that, you’ll see the default password length of eight characters, followed your random password, along with the Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot way of expressing it. YOu’ll then see an additional six other passwords you can use, along with some really cool info about the properties of the given password, along with a measure of your password entropy, a measure of how tricky it will be to guess the password, even with modern computing force.

Interesting tidbit: the eight character password I generated to try this out would take about 229 years to guess, if a brute force attack generated 100,000 passwords per second. Sweet! That’s got to be more secure than the one I have now! And no, I didn’t use the one in the screenshot above for anything. Sheesh.

Via: Everything iCafe

Use Siri To Add Relationships To Your Contacts For More Natural Interactions

If you’ve tried to use Siri to call or text someone, you know it’s pretty simple. Just say, for example, “Call Joe Smith,” and Siri will call the person named Joe Smith in your Contacts App.

But did you know that Siri can also identify people via their relationship to you? You can say, “Call my brother,” or “Text my daughter,” and Siri will call or text that person, provided you’ve done a little set-up in the Contacts app.

You can also use Siri to define these relationships, so you don’t even have to open Contacts. Here’s how.

Tap and hold the Home button to activate Siri, and say something like, “Joe Smith is my boss.” Siri will check your Contacts app to make sure there isn’t more than one Joe Smith. If there is more than one, you’ll have to tap the specific Joe Smith you’re talking about. Then, Siri will ask you to confirm the relationship. “OK, do you want me to remember that Joe Smith is your manager?” she’ll ask. Tap or say “Yes,” and Siri will add that relationship to the Contact you’ve defined as your own.

Go ahead and give it a try; adding relationships to your contacts is a great way to make Siri even more natural. Now all you need to do is say, “Text my boss,” and you’ll be able to tell her that you’re running late. Hooray!

Via: TechRadar

Ask Siri These Questions, Get Some Hilarious Answers

One of my daughter’s favorite things to do with Siri on my iPhone, besides rename me all sorts of ridiculous names, is to ask it questions. “Siri,” she’ll say, “what is your real name?” Siri will reply with how she really doesn’t like talking about herself. Hilarious, right?

I’m almost afraid to show her this tip, then, because she’ll now have a ton of questions to ask Siri, getting truly funny and cute responses along the way. I may never get my iPhone back.

Here is a list of some of the best, but we’ll leave finding out the answers to you, and your own version of Siri.

Ask Siri the following questions and she’ll give you a wry or self-referential answer. The song one is my personal favorite.

* Can you make me a sandwich?
* Take me to your leader
* Sing a song
* Beam me up
* Open the pod bay doors
* I can do this all day long
* I need to hide a body
* Talk dirty to me
* How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
* Who’s on first?
* What’s the answer to the Universe?

The following will get you some interesting, funny answers from Wolfram Alpha, Siri’s data source. Apparently data algorithms have a sense of humor, as well, though it runs toward the geeky, Sheldon variety.

* Where do babies come from?
* When will the world end?
* Is Santa Claus real?
* When will pigs fly?

And for the directly humorous, and down-right groan worthy fans among us, ask Siri the following questions. Be prepared to slap your knee!

* Tell me a joke
* Knock knock
* Testing 1 2 3
* You’re funny
* Set 5 AM alarm followed by Cancel 5 AM alarm

My current rename by my daughter? Siri now calls me “Adora Basil Winterpock.” Thanks, Wreck It Ralph.

Source: About.com
Image: Wired

This post was written by Rob LeFebvre from Cult of Mac.
You can view the original post by clicking here.

Earlier this week, Google beat Apple to the punch by launching a streaming subscription music service before Cuperino could unveil its own offering, iRadio.

How did Google managed to do it? Apple has all the music industry clout, so how could Google swing a deal first? Because Google Play Music All Access is essentially a clone of services like Rdio and Spotify, and the contract terms of services like that are easy to copy.

Apple’s iRadio? It’s a wholly different beast.

The Verge is reporting that the major hold-up for iRadio is just that no one’s ever done anything like it. It’s not an a la carte subscription music service so much as a hybrid web and radio service, and so the industry is being a lot slower in signing up.

Google chose to offer a standard subscription music service very similar to those built by Spotify and Rdio, and that meant the terms had largely been established, according to multiple sources close to the talks. Apple, on the other hand, is pioneering a hybrid web and radio service — one that resembles Pandora but melds it with some on-demand features, the sources said. The licensing agreement had to be created from scratch.

“Of course [Apple's] negotiations were going to take longer,” one of the sources said.

In addition, Google was willing to pay advances to music labels for licensed content, something Apple has historically been unwilling to do. That greased some wheels.

iRadio when it launches is likely to be a music radio station discovery service linked to iTunes, in which anyone with an iPhone or an iPad can access “iRadio” to listen to songs they might like, which will then be purchaseable through iTunes with a single click for unlimited listens. It’ll solve an iTunes discoverability problem while simultaneously supporting Apple’s downloads-based iTunes business, which is a multi-billion dollar business for Apple with no signs of slowing down.

Source: The Verge

This post was written by Cult of Android from Cult of Mac.
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Just as the Defense Department granted iOS devices approval for use on military networks, TheStreet reports that the U.S. Air Force plans on saving around $50 million through its purchase of iPads. The savings will mainly be due to the ability to cut weight on flights by replacing traditional flight bags and come over a ten year period:

“We’re saving about 90 pounds of paper per aircraft and limiting the need for each crew member to carry a 30 to 40 pound paper pile [of flight manuals],” said Major Brian Moritz, EFB program manager, in a phone interview. “It adds up to quite a lot of weight in paper.”

Removing the need to print and distribute thousands of flight manuals, however, equates to an even greater cost saving. “It comes out to just over $5 million a year,” noted Moritz. “With fuel savings, it comes out to $5.7 million annually in pure cost. When you look at $5.7 million a year, over 10 years, that’s well over $50 million.”

In February of last year the Air Force revealed plans to purchase up to 18,000 iPads as a replacement to traditional flight bags, although at the time it was considering other tablets and looking for the lowest cost of entry possible.

According to the report, the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command now currently has around 16,000 iPads in use with another 2,000 spread across other Air Force members. 

Even the simple “CTRL F” word search function, for example, is a huge time saver, something that could be crucial in an emergency. “Say that you have an engine problem or an engine fire over the North Atlantic,” said Moritz. “Having a device that you can use the search function and quickly pick out key words will drive you to a deeper level while you’re pushed for time.”

Like any electronic device used by the military, security is of paramount importance. “The camera and the Wi-Fi are turned off unless the device is in a pre-determined, undisclosed location where its OS certificates can be updated,”

This post was written by Jordan Kahn from 9to5Mac.
You can view the original post by clicking here.