Steve Jobs has revealed iTunes 10, the newest version of iTunes complete with a new logo, new features and its very own social network for music called “Ping” that he described as Facebook meets Twitter for music.

Ping allows users to persevere others, rightful equivalent Chirrup. You can rise artists or your friends to see out what they’re hearing or what they’re creating. It has bespoken song and medium charts, a broadcast give, 17,000+ concert listings, and is acquirable to 160 1000000 iTunes users. Knock will be free not only for iTunes on the desktop, but for iPhone and iPod affect as easily.

Jobs also touted the growth of iTunes and the iTunes store. He announced that more than 11.7 billion songs have been downloaded through iTunes. 450 million TV episodes and 100 million movies have been sold through Apple’s music software, along with 35 million books through the iBooks store.

iTunes 10 is available starting today.

Tags:apple, iOS, ipod, iPod Touch, itunes, Ping, social media

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Apple has a new toy. It’s a materials company called Liquidmetal, and everybody’s talking! Problem is, nobody seems too sure what they’re talking about. So, Liquidmetal: What is this stuff? And what does Apple want with it?

Liquidmetal. It’s a subtly powerful name, invoking images ranging from self-healing Terminators to Alex Mack. It’s also an oxymoron: Liquid, metal. And while Apple probably isn’t getting into the T2000 business, they may have huge plans for our new mystery metal.

Liquidmetal piques our interest. Not because it’s brand new—it was first brought to market in 2003, and only after years of development—but precisely because it’s not. It’s been used before in golf clubs and baseball bats; it’s been sent to space; it’s been sent to work by none other than the maligned Deepwater Horizon drilling rig; it’s even been used in consumer electronics that you’ve probably come across yourself. (You know those SanDisk Cruzer Titanium USB drives, with the slide-out connectors? Yeah, those aren’t made of titanium.)

And yet suddenly, after all these years, Apple doesn’t just want to use Liquidmetal, it wants to own it, and to keep it from everyone else. Why? What do they see that everyone else hasn’t? And what does it mean for the future of Apple products, and for everyone else in the industry?
The Science

The scientific definition of Liquidmetal goes something like this: Liquidmetal is a member of a class of metal alloys known formally as bulk metallic glasses—because the material shares some properties most closely associated with glass, like impact brittleness, and, instead of a fixed melting point, a gradual loss of integrity at higher temperature. It’s a mixture of stuff you’ve probably heard of: copper, titanium, aluminum and nickel. So yeah, fundamentally, it’s just a type of stuff, like a polymer, an aluminum alloy, or a glass.

The secret’s in how it’s made: Instead of simply mixing the alloy and letting it cool, amorphous alloys are cooled more quickly. This changes their atomic structures, in turn altering their basic properties. Ordinary metals typically have crystalline, ordered atomic structures, and therefore tend to deform when struck or flexed; amophous alloys are made of chaotic, unordered atoms, which tend to spring back into shape, more like a liquid. (Most metals have directional grains, like wood. Liquidmetal doesn’t.)

What makes Liquidmetal special compared to other amorphous alloys is that it’s easier to make. To brutally simplify things, it doesn’t need to be cooled as quickly as other similar materials, and can be cooled—read: made—in greater quantities.

Like I said, you’ve probably heard something along these lines, either more precise or less, but unless you’ve got a degree in the physical sciences, descriptions like this don’t mean much. So it’s got a weird atomic structure. What does that matter?
What It Is

So you’ve got a piece of Liquidmetal in your hand. What does it look like? What does it feel like? “In terms of color and look, Liquidmetal alloy looks like a normal metal, more like stainless steel than aluminum, albeit with its own distinct metallic color.” That’s Dr. Atakan Peker, one of the researchers behind Liquidmetal. He worked with the company for more than 10 years, and now the Director of Advanced Materials at WSU. “In a thin card or rod form, it feels much more flexible than stainless steel or aluminum. However, as you bend it more, it feels much stronger and will require much more force to bend… One can think of Liquidmetal alloy as a much stronger plastic.”

The coolest thing about Liquidmetal is that, as circumstances get more extreme, so do its behaviors. From a NASA report on the substance:

In the experiment, three marble-sized balls made of steel were dropped from the same height into their own glass tubes. Each tube had a different type of metal plate at the bottom: steel, titanium, Liquidmetal. Once each ball was dropped they were left to bounce. The balls hitting the steel and titanium plates bounced for 20 to 25 seconds. The ball hitting the Liquidmetal plate bounced for 1 minute and 21 seconds. During the experiment, this was the only ball that bounced outside its tube

Hints of flubber here, no?

Dr Peker gave me an even more vivid image: “If one makes a paperclip from Liquidmetal alloy, it will stay quite flexible and one would likely hurt or cut a finger or two before deforming it permanently.” Try to bend that Liquidmetal, kid, and you’re going to hurt yourself.

But lest we get caught setting up a mythology here, we should point out that it’s had a limited success in real products. There was that SanDisk key. Samsung stuck some Liquidmetal parts in a few phones—screen frames and hinge parts, to be specific. And it’s telling that the specific models are pretty much indistinguishable from the ones that don’t.

But the further we get away from consumer electronics, the more exciting Liquidmetal’s story becomes. In earlier incarnations, it’s lived both inside golf balls on on the face of $600 clubs, where its extreme bounciness was a boon but its lack of refinement may have been a fault—some of the clubs where known to shatter, spectacularly and without so much as a “FOOOORRREE.” (This little fiasco pushed Liquidmetal, the company, into “substantial” debt.)

It’s been used in Rawlings baseball bats and Head tennis racquets; it’s been wrapped around the cores of a few skis. It was treated a lot like titanium: something that makes a product premium, and that looks good on paper, but which you might not notice if you weren’t told. Andre Agassi used a Liquimetal racquet for a while, but does anyone think he wouldn’t have won the 2003 Australian Open with another piece?
The military has molded it into tips of armor-piercing Kinetic Energy Penetrator (KEP) bullets, and it’s been used to make ultra-hard scalpels. It’s been built into replacement joints for humans. It has fans at NASA, which has sent it to space a handful of times for experiments, and once in solar wind collector tiles above the doomed Genesis probe. According to an old BP/Transocean drilling contract, it’s almost certain that the drilling rig that devastated the Gulf of Mexico used Liquidmetal—under the name Armacor—in its drill pipe. (Armacor hasn’t been implicated in the disaster.)

To sum it up: Liquidmetal is useful anywhere you could imagine an extremely hard, somewhat flexible, easily moldable piece of stuff to be useful. Which makes it all the more strange that Apple wants to own it—not just in part, but all the way. They’ve purchased the exclusive rights to a substance that, on the face of it, has been less successful in gadgets than in most other industries it’s been used for. Even weirder? It’s conceivable that Apple will soon be licensing technology to the military-industrial complex, to the areospace companies, and to deep-sea drilling companies. The movie villains.
Why Apple Bought It

There are only two ways to know what Apple would do with Liquidmetal. The most obvious, and least likely to work, would be to ask Steve Jobs, Jonathan Ive or an Apple engineer. Ha. Alternately you could just see how they already have. Yup, it turns out that prior to their purchase, Apple presided over what could be one of the largest deployments of a Liquidmetal product in history: the iPhone.

Speaking to Leander Kahney at Cult of Mac, Dr Peker noticed something odd about the iPhone’s SIM ejector pin: “I recognized it immediately. Take it from an expert, that’s Liquidmetal.” So yeah, Americans (in other parts of the world the pins seem to be steel): go find your iPhone 3G/3GS box (sorry iPhone 4 owners, your MicroSIM’s ruining the fun. Again.), dig that pin out and feast your eyes: you are in possession of a tiny little piece of Liquidmetal.

This tells us… well, not much. It shows that the brass at Apple has been interested in Liquidmetal for longer than they’ve let on. It also tells us that they’ve found someone, somewhere, capable of turning out millions of small pieces of the stuff. Dr Peker notes that the reason Liquidmetal hasn’t taken off in consumer electronics likely has less to do with the inherent promise of the material than a “lack of a suitable manufacturing infrastructure.” Nobody’s truly thrown their weight behind it, so it’s simply been too expensive to make. But that’s not an insurmountable problem: All it would take is a company with patience, money and leverage over hardware manufacturers. It would take a company like… Apple.

So in a material scientist’s wildest imagination, what could Apple do with this stuff? Dr Peker points to the most obvious use for a hard, non-deforming, non-corroding and generally scratch resistant material: cases.

Plastics are flexible but not strong, and while metals are much stronger than plastics, they’re not as flexible. Liquidmetal alloys can provide a more durable casing, which is much more resistant to dents, nicks, scratches and breakage than hard plastics.

If you drop a plastic-encased phone, it cracks or scuffs. If you drop a metal-encased phone, it dents, or nicks. If you drop a Liquidmetal-encased phone, well, it should just bounce. For like, a minute and 21 seconds. Maybe. In theory.

Pekar also proposed a use that’s ripped straight from the headlines, talking again to Leander Kahney: It could be used for an antenna—and in fact already has been, in a Novatel wireless modem built for Verizon. That the last iPhone’s fraught antenna was also part of its case may be no small coincidence—Liquidmetal is easily moldable, and given all the shit Apple had to eat during Antennagate, it’s reasonable to think that they’re scrambling for an alternative. And this one wouldn’t have seams.

But the most realistic outcome of this purchase is, to use the word of the day, subtle. Like any other good material, Liquidmetal will be asked to disappear into a product at the service of design. An iPhone with a Liquidmetal antenna, for example, wouldn’t be marketed as a Liquidmetal iPhone—it would be marketed as a slightly better iPhone.

And let’s say it finds its way into the hinges of our MacBooks, under the assumption that it will loosen or wear less quickly; or that it makes up the body of the next iPod Shuffle, as cartoonishly tiny as that’s sure to be. These products will, if Liquidmetal’s various boosters are to be believed, be the kind of subtle improvements on their predecessors that we usually take for granted. It may be hard to notice.

What could be easier to notice is the edge the new material could give Apple. Remember, there was nothing wildly transformative about Apple’s unibody manufacturing process—it was just a bit better—it made their products feel more luxurious and structurally sound. It provided a distinctive look. Maybe it made them more durable; it’s hard to really know. In any case, this collection of subtle differences came to define the company’s laptop line, and shrewdly, Apple patented the hell out it. If—when—Liquidmetal oozes its way into the next generation of Apple products, you might not be able to point to it, but you’ll know it’s there.

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The flood of endless iPhone to Verizon speculation has certainly been annoying for iPhone users irked with AT&T’s network, but the latest rumor that Verizon will launch a CDMA-based iPhone in January seem to actually be more substantive (which isn’t saying much). On the heels of rumors that Apple recently ordered a flood of CDMA chips from Qualcomm and Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg will give the CES keynote in January — the Boy Genius Report notes that there’s some hints in iOS 4 code that suggest either a CDMA iPhone and/or CDMA iPad are being currently tested.

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NEW DELHI: Internet search titan Google, technology giant Apple and software firm Microsoft are among the most discussed technology brands in India, dominating most of the online conversations, a latest survey has found.

According to Digital Brand Index (DBI) for India compiled by Edelman in collaboration with Brandtology, Google has emerged as the top technology brand in India during April-June quarter.

Google and Apple secured 48,750 and 21,049 mentions at all-monitored conversations, respectively among the list of top 10 technology brands.

Apple, clocked the highest gains in overall online buzz with a 110 per cent jump from January-March period, replacing Microsoft for the second position on quarter-on-quarter basis.

According to the survey, Google is the most discussed technology brand online in India on account of Google Buzz and Android-related conversations, while Apple got the traction due to flagship products–iPad, Apple App Store and iPhone 4G.
Microsoft is followed by Samsung and Sony at the fourth and fifth positions, respectively.

The DBI tracked 222,818 online conversations pertaining to 97 large technology brands contained in 479 influential channels between April-June 2010, which saw over a hundred brand being mentioned online every hour on an average, Edelman said.

The report said there has been a 19 per cent increase in online brand mentions between April and June period of 2010 compared to January-March period of the same year.

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While I’m still waiting for an inexpensive wood case replacement for the iPhone 4, there’s a solution for a mere $25: Karvt’s iPhone 4 skins crafted in real wood. I can’t decide between chocolate walnut or natural cherry.
The pine, cherry, and bamboo versions look beautiful. You can get them in maple and walnut too. I wouldn’t use the front skin, just the back. And only until a true back replacement came out.

via:Iphone4

It took them a while, but the iPhone Dev-Team’s carrier unlock tool Ultrasn0w is here, and ready for downloading to jailbroken iPhone 4s. It goes without saying to proceed with caution.

via:Iphone4

It just requires the user to visit a web address using Safari. The web site can automatically load a simple PDF document, which contains a font that hides a special program. When your iOS device tries to display the PDF file, that font causes something called stack overflow, a technical condition that allows the secret ninja code inside the font to gain complete control of your device.

The result is that, without any user intervention whatsoever, that program can do whatever it wants inside your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. Anything you can imagine: Delete files, transmit files, install programs running on the background that can monitor your actions… anything can be done..

Literally anything. The JailbreakMe 2.0 jailbreak highlights just how powerful these kinds of vulnerabilities are. If a PDF can jailbreak your device, it can do pretty much anything it wants.

And the iOS platform is a really juicy target for hackers. There are some 100 million iOS devices out there, none of which have any security software installed. Hackers must be licking their lips in anticipation.

Gizmodo does offer a potential workaround for owners of jailbroken devices, but everyone else is on their own.

via:Iphones

After a period of downtime this morning, the Apple Store is now back and, as expected, it now carries refreshed, faster iMac and Mac Pro computers, as well as a completely new product called the Magic Trackpad.

The $69 Magic Trackpad is designed to work with your Mac desktop computer and uses the same multi-touch technology as the MacBook Pro. “[It] supports a full set of gestures, giving you a whole new way to control and interact with what’s on your screen,” Apple describes on its product page. It is intended to be used either in place of a mouse or together with one via Bluetooth ()..

The iMac () line has been thoroughly updated with Intel’s Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors and new graphics, and starts at $1,199. While that’s on the expensive side, it also includes 2.93 GHz quad-core CPU, and ATI Radeon HD 5750 graphics.

Video () pros will probably be excited to see the new Mac Pros, the strongest of which now sports a drool-inducing 12 cores (that’s 24 virtual cores if you count Intel’s hyper-threading technology). If you’re so inclined, you can bump up your Mac Pro with a 512 GB SSD, as well as ATI Radeon HD 5870 with 1GB of memory. If you have to ask, the price starts at $4,999.

Finally, there’s the new IPS-based 27-inch LED Cinema Display with a 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution, a perfect companion for the 27” iMac if you need more screen real estate. It comes with built-in MagSafe charging, iSight camera, speakers, and three USB ports.

via:Apple

Owners of iPhones and other smartphones are one step closer towards taking complete control of their gadgets, thanks to a new government ruling Monday on the practice of “jailbreaking.”

Jailbreaking — the practice of unlocking a phone (and particularly an iPhone) so it can be used on another network and/or run other applications than those approved by Apple — has technically been illegal for years. Most jailbroken phones are used on the U.S. T-Mobile network or on overseas carriers, or are used to run applications that Apple refuses to sell, such as Safari ad-blocking apps, alternate keyboard layouts, or programs that change the interface to the iPhone’s SMS system and the way its icons are laid out.

While technically illegal, no one has been sued or prosecuted for the practice. (Apple does seriously frown on the practice, and jailbreaking your phone will still void your warranty.) It’s estimated that more than a million iPhone owners have jailbroken their handsets..

Apple fought hard against the legalization, arguing that jailbreaking was a form of copyright violation. The FCC disagreed, saying that jailbreaking merely enhanced the inter-operability of the phone, and was thus legitimate under fair-use rules.

Click image to view more photos

Reuters

The upshot is that now anyone can jailbreak or otherwise unlock any cell phone without fear of legal penalties, whether you want to install unsupported applications or switch to another cellular carrier. Cell phone companies are of course still free to make it difficult for you to do this — and your warranty will probably still be voided if you do — but at least you won’t be fined or imprisoned if you jailbreak a handset.

In addition to the jailbreaking exemption, the FCC announced a few oth

er rules that have less sweeping applicability but are still significant:

• Professors, students and documentary filmmakers are now allowed, for “noncommercial” purposes, to break the copy protection measures on DVDs to be used in classroom or other not-for-profit environments. This doesn’t quite go so far as to grant you and me the right to copy a DVD so we can watch it in two rooms of the house, but it’s now only one step away.

• As was the topic in the GE ruling I wrote about, the FCC allows computer owners to bypass dongles (hardware devices used in conjunction with software to guarantee the correct owner is behind the keyboard) if they are no longer in operation and can’t be replaced. Dongles are rarities in consumer technology products now, but industrial users are probably thrilled about this, as many go missing and are now impossible to obtain.

• Finally, people are now free to circumvent protection measures on video games — but, strangely, only to investigate and correct security flaws in those games. (Another oddity: Other computer software is not part of this ruling, just video games.)

via:iphone

Apple has created an app to fulfill its promise of free cases for the iPhone 4 to correct what has been called Antennagate. With the iPhone 4 app, Apple is refunding costs for already purchased cases and identifying customers who will get the $29.99 cases. Apple also said manufacturing problems will delay the white version of the iPhone4.

As promised, Apple is gearing up to give away free bumper cases for the iPhone 4. The cases remedy an issue with the antenna that has caused perhaps more media attention than consumer complaints. Apple also announced a major delay in the release of the white iPhone 4.

Apple set up a web page and deployed a special iPhone app that lets iPhone 4 owners know how to get the promised case, which prevents users from touching the antenna band that encircles the smartphone’s edges. Consumers complained that signals dropped when their finger touched the bottom left side of the phone.

Apple will give away free cases to anyone who buys an iPhone before Sept. 30. But users have to download the app for the App Store in order to get the free case. Users can choose a rubber bumper or one of several plastic cases from third-party vendors Apple works with. The cases should ship in three to five weeks.

There’s an App for That

Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis, calls Apple’s moves clever. Clever in the sense that Apple has run ads saying, “There’s an app for that.” And now there is even an app that placates irate iPhone 4 consumers. Apple has information stored about which devices have been registered, Greengart said, so an app is a clever and convenient way for both consumers and Apple to handle the issue.

“Apple is handling this in such a way that the user doesn’t have to jump through too many hoops,” Greengart explained. “If you bought your case via credit card, they are automatically refunding that so you don’t have to do anything at all. If you bought it from AT&T, then you actually have to fill out a coupon the way a normal offer might be fulfilled. But if you haven’t gotten a case yet, you can just fire up that app and you should be good.”….

A $175 Million Mistake

Apple set aside $175 million to cover the so-called Antennagate problem. But Apple isn’t just spending money to cover the problem, it’s also losing profits. The cases retail for $29.99 at the Apple Store.

Apple was expecting to generate revenue from the sale of the bumper cases with the fourth-generation iPhone. Apple hadn’t previously sold cases direct or benefited from their sale. Now Apple is watching those potential profits erode.

“This is the right move. This is more of a public-relations disaster than a product problem. I am not saying the issue isn’t real. It’s absolutely real. If you put your finger on the antenna, you will see the signal drop,” Greengart said. “But I did not believe it would affect sales, and it hasn’t.”

It’s not clear if Apple plans to make some change to the design after Sept. 30. What we do know is the white iPhone 4 models have been delayed. In a statement, Apple said, “White models of Apple’s new iPhone 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year.”

via:Iphone