Tomas Chlebek Today's Apple Week reports on the new MacBook Air with Retina display, possible iTunes Radio for Android, the Japanese court and black people in emoji...
Apple reportedly considering iTunes for Android (March 21)
iTunes Radio was introduced with iOS 7. It is a service that allows you to listen to music, "radios" for free (with or without ads along with iTunes Match for $24,99 per year) whose playlist is created by the user based on genre, performer and other categories. With it, Apple responds to the growing popularity of Internet radio stations such as Spotify, Beats, Pandora, Slacker, etc.
The company is said to be now considering the launch of an iTunes application for Android, which would also allow users from "the other side of the barricade" to access the service.
A similar situation occurred in the field of personal computers in 2003, when the iTunes application for Windows was introduced. This was a very significant move for Apple, as it made the iPod, the company's most successful product at the time, available to 97% of computer users. iTunes for Android would not be that significant, but it would still be a significant departure from Apple's philosophy in creating mobile applications.
Currently, iTunes Radio is only available in the US and recently in Australia.
Source: The Verge
iTunes Radio Gets New NPR Channel, More to Come (23/3)
One more time about iTunes Radio. Through it, National Public Radio is now available, the largest network of radio stations in the US including 900 channels. In the case of NPR for iTunes Radio, it's a 24-hour, free stream that combines live news with pre-recorded shows like "All Things Considered" and "The Diane Rehm Show." In the following weeks, according to the NPR management, channels of local stations with a similar content of the program should appear.
Source: MacRumors
Apple sent out an email informing about compensation for purchases in the App Store (24/3)
In January signed Apple reached an agreement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) obliging it to refund over $32 million to users for unwanted purchases from the App Store (mostly made by children).
An email has now been sent to some users (primarily those who have recently made in-app transactions) informing them of the refund option and providing instructions on how to apply. This must be submitted before April 15, 2015.
Source: MacRumors
Japanese court: iPhones and iPads do not infringe Samsung's patents (March 25)
On Tuesday, Tokyo District Court Judge Koji Hasegawa ruled in favor of Apple's lawyers in a dispute over data communications patents owned by Samsung. The patents of the South Korean company were allegedly infringed by the iPhone 4, 4S and iPad 2. Samsung was understandably disappointed by the decision of the Japanese court and is considering further steps.
The patent battles between the two mobile giants have so far produced wins and losses for both parties, but Apple claims more victories.
Source: Apple Insider
Apple wants to make emoji more multicultural (March 25)
In the iOS keyboard settings, it is possible to add the so-called emoji keyboard, which contains dozens of small images from simple smileys to more faithful depictions of human faces and entire figures to objects, buildings, clothes, etc.
As for the depiction of people, the last update was in 2012, when several depictions of gay couples were added. The vast majority of faces then have Caucasian features.
Apple is now trying to change this situation. It therefore deals with the Unicode Consortium, an organization whose goal is to unify the way text is generated across platforms so that all characters are displayed correctly.
Source: The Verge
According to Apple data, iOS 7 is already on 85% of devices (March 25)
On December 1, 2013, iOS 7 was on 74% of devices, at the end of January it was 80%, in the first half of March it was 83%, and now it's 85%. There is no distinction between iOS 7.0 and iOS 7.1. Only 7% of users then retain the previous version of the operating system (certainly in large part because iOS 15 is not available for their devices). The data comes from Apple's gauges in the developer section of the App Store.
Source: The Next Web
A high-ranking executive from BlackBerry wanted to join Apple, but the court blocked it (March 25)
Sebastien Marineau-Mes is Senior Vice President of Software at Blackberry. In December of last year, Apple officially offered him the position of Vice President of Core OS, while the discussion had already been going on since September. Marineau-Mes decided to accept the offer and told Blackberry that he would be leaving in two months.
However, when he took the position at Blackberry, he signed a contract requiring six months notice to leave, so the company sued him. In the end, Marineau-Mes will have to stay at Blackberry for another four months.
Source: 9to5Mac
MacBook Air with Retina display should appear this year (March 26)
This information is based on expected MacBook deliveries of Taiwanese supply chains. Some expect up to 10 million devices, others' estimates are higher as they expect the launch of the MacBook Air with Retina display in the second half of this year.
The second clue is a forum post whose information has already been confirmed. The post talks about refreshed MacBook Airs and new MacBook Pros in September, along with a slim 12-inch MacBook that will be fanless and feature a redesigned trackpad.
Based on the NPD DisplaySearch report, it can be assumed that the 12-inch MacBook and MacBook Air are the same device, as DisplaySearch mentioned the 12-inch MacBook Air with a resolution of 2304 x 1440 pixels.
Source: MacRumors
A week in a nutshell
In the past week, we looked back at the big apple conference iCON Prague, where there was talk about mind maps a lifehacking in general. His own a lecture, on which Vojtěch Vojtíšek and Jiří Zeiner performed, Jablíčkář was also there.
A new part of the Your Verse promotional campaign appeared on Apple's website on Tuesday, this time it is shown the use of the iPad in sports, where it prevents problems with concussions. Although Apple itself has not yet confirmed the following news, it is almost certain that it has already managed to sell its iPhone with a serial number 500 million.
To the surface interesting e-mails came out from Google and Apple, which show what practices were used when hiring new employees and how the two companies agreed not to drag each other's staff.
There has been talk of a new Apple TV for a long time, one of the novelties could be cooperation with a major cable TV provider, deal with Comcast is said to be about to fall. And as it turns out, the iPhone 5C might eventually he wasn't such a loser.
