Eddy Cue Introduces Changes to iTunes, All-New Version Coming in October

If a new iPhone 5 and iOS 6 aren't enough to get you excited about Apple's media event in San Francisco on Wednesday, the company has even more in store with changes to iTunes and the iPod.

Following the introduction of the iPhone 5 with iOS 6, Apple CEO Tim Cook invited senior VP Eddy Cue to the stage to talk about iTunes, which the company is making some big changes to.

With the iTunes Store now available in 63 countries worldwide, Cue unveiled a new design for the iOS version of the store, which runs across all categories offered. Facebook "likes" are now integrated into every product offering, and users can preview songs while browsing -- all included with iOS 6 when it launches on September 19.

Cue notes that 200 million customers are now enjoying iTunes in the Cloud, which is why Apple today introduces a new version of iTunes coming in October, with a new edge-to-edge design that marks the first major departure from the classic design we all know and love.

New features include a drop down menu in the currently playing field, which allows users to see upcoming songs no matter where they are inside the app. A new mini-player design is also on deck, allowing users to manage playlists and upcoming songs. iCloud is now built right into iTunes, which offers a cleaner, easier to navigate look.

Unfortunately, we'll all have to wait a bit to see the new iTunes, which Cue announced as available in October.

Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter

 

Tags: NewsApple Inc.Apple Media EventEddy CueiOS 6iPadiPhoneiPodiTunesiTunes in the CloudMacmedia playernew featuresYerba Buena center Here's What You'll Get:The latest Apple news, reviews and how-tosThe hottest articles from MacLife.comYour recommended daily dose of awesome Also, send me e-mail announcements and special offers from Mac

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YouTube's Channel Experiment to Ramp up in Coming Months

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Newer MacBook Airs Receive Power Nap Update, Retina MacBook Coming Soon

After releasing OS X Mountain Lion and a slew of supporting application updates on Wednesday, you'd think Apple would have taken a break -- but instead, new MacBook Air owners received a firmware update to enable the new Power Nap feature.

Apple posted a support document which details the Power Nap feature of OS X Mountain Lion, noting "an SMC update is required to gain all the functionality" with this hot new feature. For now, there are only three MacBook models supported -- and for one of them, the feature is still MIA.

The mid-2011 and mid-2012 MacBook Air models received the required SMC update on Wednesday night, so users who have updated to OS X Mountain Lion can begin taking advantage of the operating system's stealth-like features, even while the notebook is asleep.

So what gets done while a notebook is Power Napping? Ironically, almost everything. The support document details an extensive list that at first glance might have you believing the Mac isn't going to sleep at all, which includes receiving new messages in Mail, new invites or calendar updates in Calendar, changes made elsewhere in Contacts, Reminders or Notes and even Photo Stream updates.

Apple claims that Power Nap is even more impressive while your Mac notebook is plugged into AC power, where it's also capable of downloading software updates, making backups via Time Machine, performing Spotlight indexing and even updating Help Center.

About the only bad news in this support document is that the swanky new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display has no required SMC update available -- at least not yet. It's still listed as "coming soon," but given how busy Apple has been this week, we can probably forgive them for being tardy on this one thing.

Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter

 

Tags: NewsFirmwareMacmacbook airMacBook Pro with Retina Displaynew featuresOS X Mountain LionPower NapSMC Here's What You'll Get:The latest Apple news, reviews and how-tosThe hottest articles from MacLife.comYour recommended daily dose of awesome Also, send me e-mail announcements and special offers from Mac

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Major Improvements Coming to Apple Store, Including Genius Bar Expansion

Photo credit to ifoAppleStore.com

To most, Steve Jobs’ legacy is in the form of the iPod, iPhone, and the iPad, but to the analyst Steve Jobs’ greatest accomplishment was his conquering of the retail world.

As Apple users, we all know the wave of excitement that comes with a trip to the Apple Store. The atmosphere is enough to get us going, especially with all those Apple products atop their birchwood thrones. The store sets standards for what retailers should strive for. Every employee has a unique knowledge of everything Apple. And while you can usually find this at other technology outlets and big box brick and mortar stores, what sets the Apple Store apart from all the others is the incredible expertise of the Apple Genius Bar.

To date, Apple has had a one sided station where "Geniuses" would sit at one end, and the patron at the other. However, as ifoAppleStore.com reported this morning via concept photo, Apple is planning on changing the whole scope of the Genius Bar layout.

Daily, the Genius Bar gets more attraction then any other part of the Apple Store. In some stores, the Genius Bar can host up to about six people. Others can hold twenty. In an effort to improve services, Apple has decided to rotate the bar 90 degrees, allowing for two sides of the table to be used. That means more people serviced in the same amount of time.This rotation also allows Geniuses and costumers to be on the same side of the bar, creating the same atmosphere as the retail assistant’s experience.

Apple has yet to confirm or deny this report.

Follow this article's author, Daniel Turk, on Twitter.

Tags: NewsappleGenius BarRetail StoreComing Soon Here's What You'll Get:The latest Apple news, reviews and how-tosThe hottest articles from MacLife.comYour recommended daily dose of awesome Also, send me e-mail announcements and special offers from Mac

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Friday Recap: Black Ops Coming to Mac, Dish.fm, RIM Hangs On, Apple Updates

Happy iPhone anniversary day! Five years ago, Apple's little smartphone that could was released to the unwashed masses and the industry hasn't been the same since. The anniversary caps off a busy month with new product announcements from Apple, Microsoft and Google, and not so coincidentally also finds Virgin Mobile now selling the iPhone today. Before you head out to buy yours, click ahead and catch up with the rest of the news for Friday, June 29, 2012!

Call of Duty: Black Ops Coming to Mac, COD Catalog Now on Sale

Aspyr Media has announced the forthcoming release of Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops for the Mac in both digital and boxed versions this fall. Black Ops takes players to conflicts across the globe as elite black operations forces fight in the deniable operations and secret wars that occurred under the veil of the Cold War.

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Valve Announces Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Coming August 21

The E3 show kicks off Tuesday in Los Angeles, but game companies are already hard at work pushing their wares ahead of the big kick-off. Among them is Valve, who has announced a new chapter in the Counter-Strike saga coming later this summer.

Valve Software has announced Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), the company’s latest chapter in the team-based action gameplay title pioneered with the original Counter-Strike beta almost 13 years ago.

Available on August 21 through the Playstation Network, Xbox Live Arcade and Steam for Mac or PC, CS:GO features new maps, characters, and weapons and delivers updated versions of the classic CS content (de_dust, etc.). In addition, CS: GO introduces new gameplay modes, matchmaking, leader boards, and more.

"Counter-Strike took the gaming industry by surprise when the unlikely MOD became the most played online PC action game in the world almost immediately after its release in August 1999," said Doug Lombardi at Valve. "For the past 12 years, it has continued to be one of the most-played games in the world, headline competitive gaming tournaments and selling over 25 million units worldwide across the franchise. CS: GO promises to expand on CS' award-winning gameplay and deliver it to gamers on the PC as well as the next-gen consoles and the Mac."

CS:GO was developed by Valve in cooperation with Seattle-based Hidden Path Entertainment, and E3 2012 attendees will get a chance to play a preview version this week in the Sony and Microsoft booths. The title is expected to sell for approximately $15 on all platforms when it launches August 21, 2012.

Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter

Tags: NewsAugustCounter-StrikeCounter-Strike: Global OffensiveE3 2012Macmac gamingPlayStation 3SteamValveXbox LIVE Here's What You'll Get:The latest Apple news, reviews and how-tosThe hottest articles from MacLife.comYour recommended daily dose of awesome Also, send me e-mail announcements and special offers from Mac

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Thursday Recap: Jailbreak Censoring, T-Mobile Broadband, HP Layoffs Coming

could be considered a dirty word? Apparently someone at Apple thought so, which is why the word was censored from the iTunes Store for the better part of Wednesday night and Thursday. Everything is back to normal now, but the hacker community sure got a kick out of it while the fun lasted. So what else is making news today? Glad you asked. Read on for everything else this Thursday, May 17, 2012 has to offer.

Apple Briefly Considers

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Sparrow 1.2 for iPhone Now Available, In-App Push Subscription Coming

If you’re not a fan of Apple’s built-in Mail app, you’ve no doubt discovered Sparrow for iPhone, which just got a little better with version 1.2 on Monday -- and there’s some good news and bad news about push being added to the app as well.

The creators of the Sparrow email app have released version 1.2 for the iPhone on Monday, which adds four very welcome features to the third-party email app that has quickly found a loyal base of iOS users.

Let’s get the good news/bad news scenario out of the way first. Push is not included with version 1.2, but it’s coming as a paid in-app upgrade. Unfortunately, Apple continues to refuse to budge on Sparrow tapping into the iOS VoIP API to offer push email from within the app, so the developers now have to resort to offering it as a paid option.



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Valve Announces Free Portal 2 “Perpetual Testing Initiative” Coming May 8

for the Mac and PC, arriving on May 8. With a Metacritic score of 95 percent and numerous Game of the Year awards under its belt, Portal 2 is about to expand its horizons with a new way to create and share puzzles with other players.



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New Type of Call Center Outsourcing Agents Coming from India

Call Center Outsourcing Provider Expands WorkforceAlpine Access, a call center outsourcing provider, has recently kicked off a hiring spree where the company is looking to employ over 150 Canadian-based individuals for work-at-home positions in the next 30 days.

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TVs with IVR Capabilities Coming This Year

- Alert), known for its voice recognition software and for providing the underlying technology behind Apple's Siri voice-command service, is now offering its expertise to TV and set-top box makers. TV maker Panasonic has adopted Nuance's Dragon TV voice-recognition platform for its Viera TV sets, models of which have already started shipping in the U.K. Nuance demonstrated the platform at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, and said the technology could change the way users interact with TVs.

LG is looking to roll out TVs with voice controls and may be close with its latest version of its Magic Motion remote control, which was showcased at CES (News - Alert). Apple is also said to be working on a new TV that redefines the way users interact with TVs. But for now the best option is the company's Apple TV set-top box, which iPhone and iPad owners will appreciate. This TV allows users to play movies and TV shows from Apple's iTunes store and other multimedia content can be streamed from an iPhone or iPad.

Edited by Jennifer Russell

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Sony's NXT Family of Xperia Smartphones Coming to the US

By Nick Ruble MobilityTechzone Contributing Writer

Brightstar Corp. just announced that it will be bringing Sony’s newest line of Xperia smartphones to the US. It also revealed its intentions to provide Sony Mobile Communications with an array of services, including programming and reverse logistics with warranty support as well as market solutions.

President of Sony Mobile Communications Paul Hamnett stated, "We are thrilled to expand Sony Mobile Communications' presence in the U.S. with Brightstar, offering a broader range of our Xperia portfolio to consumers.”

Jumping into the entertainment technology business early on with the introduction of the PlayStation, Sony is a well-respected brand in the industry. The Xperia family of smartphones is revolutionary in terms of power and integration, according to officials. It’s a given that the devices serve as a happy medium between the television, computer, and tablet. But the Xperia S is the bleeding-edge super phone everyone’s been waiting for, serving as the only PlayStation-certified gadget on the market – ready to play downloaded PS1 games out of the box.

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Move over Siri, New Male Virtual Assistant Siro is Coming to the iPhone

- Alert) first ever interactive voice recognition assistant when it hit the mobile scene last April. However, after the novelty of asking Siri ridiculous questions for ha-ha’s wore off, many users were disappointed with Siri’s ability to really serve her purpose.

Instead, we found that while Apple developers clearly spent a lot of time thinking of witty answers to the anticipated questions of comical consumers, the smartphone maker still has some kinks to work out before Siri is going to fully replace personal assistants anytime soon.  

Just in time for Siri’s first birthday, Apple has announced that it will be releasing a new Siri alternative giving users a different outlook on her sometimes lackluster abilities- through the eyes of a male assistant named Siro. Many critics have questioned Apple’s decision to limit its speech recognition app to a female assistant in the past and it looks like Apple has finally taken this into consideration.

Not too many specifics have surfaced yet, however, rumors have begun circulating and according to reports, Siro will be much more knowledgeable with requests regarding sports information as well include a library of resources regarding every beer ever created.  

Potential bugs include Siro possessing occasional selective hearing and memory failures. For example, if you ask Siro to remind you to take out the trash, it’s likely he will forget to process your request leaving you with quite a mess come pick-up day. And unfortunately, unlike Siri, Siro is too stubborn to search for directions so you may want to refrain from asking for help in the event you get lost.

Much like the feature offered on many GPS devices, users will also have the ability to change Siro’s persona based on personalities offered such as “Wall Street Siro” who can articulately inform users of the latest stock trades and business trends as well as “Bro Siro” who is fully knowledgeable of the hottest clubs to fist pump at and the best gels for a flawless blowout.

The real question the introduction of Siro poses is, “Can a male virtual assistant really do it better than a female?” For now we will have to wait until Apple decides to really figure this conundrum out since it isn’t really true. Until then, we can only hope that Siri has been spending the last year studying at some type of educational institute and will be improved in the next iOS update or iPhone (News - Alert) model because this claim is entirely false! APRIL FOOLS from your tech-crazy friends at TMCnet!

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