Apple has banned protective screen film from its retail and online stores, according to the "iLounge" web site (http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/apple-bans-protective-scr...), which says this will affect both cases and individual film packages beginning in May.

In communications with vendors that have been ongoing for “some time now,” according to one company, Apple has said that it will remove both film-only solutions from its stores, as well as any case or other accessory that includes film protection as part of its package, such as cases that include film screen protectors. According to sources, the ban will impact all forms of screen film, including completely clear film, anti-glare film, and mirrored film, regardless of whether the purpose...

The global mobile apps economy is set to be worth $17.5billion by 2012, according to an independent report commissioned by GetJar (http://www.getjar.com/), the world’s second largest app store.

Mobile app downloads across all types of handset are also expected to increase from over seven billion downloads in 2009 to almost 50 billion in 2012 -- a year-on-year growth rate of 92%.
This would mean that the value of apps sold would be greater than the value of CDs sold in 2012 ($13.83 billion).

To understand the potential of the “global mobile apps economy,” GetJar commissioned independent consulting firm Chetan Sharma Consulting to lift the lid on the rapidly expanding global apps market. The aim of the project was to analyze the potential and real value of the mobile apps market worldwide, using first hand data.

It is clear that by 2012, off-deck paid-for apps will be the biggest revenue...

On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission delivered the National Broadband Plan (http://www.broadband.gov/) to Congress. I wasn't a big fan of the bazillion dollar US stimulus package, nor am I a fan of big government, but our nation's "digital divide" must be addressed.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) was signed into law on February 17, 2009. The Broadband Initiatives funded in the Act are intended to accelerate broadband deployment across the United States. The Recovery Act authorizes the FCC to create a National Broadband Plan, that “shall seek to ensure that all people of the United States have access to broadband capability and shall establish benchmarks for meeting that goal.”

We're the only industrialized nation without a national policy to promote universal, high-speed Internet access. Part of the National Broadband Plan looks to free an...

Apple has won patents from the US Patent & Trademark Office for the Aperture tool for straightening digital images and for a computer housing design that displays the illuminated Apple logo. Aperture is the company's software for pro and semi-pro photographers.

Patent number 7679625 is for a digital image straightening tool. Per the patent, as the user operates the straighten control, the rotational orientation of a selected image is changed. According to one embodiment, a grid is superimposed over the image while the straighten control is being operated, to assist the user in selecting the proper rotational orientation. In addition, after a rotational adjustment, the image is automatically cropped to ensure that the orientation of the peripheral shape of the image remains unchanged. The inventors are Joshua D. Fagans, Jeffrey L. Robbin, Timothy B. Martin and Timothy E. Wasko.

Patent number 7,679,894 is for a display housing for a computing device. An improved...

By Gaurang Donovan

The former Sun Microsystems former Vice-President (five various positions), Chief Operating Officer, President, and Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Schwartz, wrote on his "What I Couldn't Say" blog (http://jonathanischwartz.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/good-artists-copy-grea...) last week about a 2003 threat of future legal action that he claims Steve Jobs made to his office in a telephone call while raising the idea  that the graphical effects of a Sun prototype Linux desktop may be violating Apple's intellectual property (if Sun commercialised that prototype). 

Schwartz wrote his reply was simple and left Steve Jobs silent without a response. The reply mentioned how he had been watching a recent presentation of Jobs and how Apple's newly released Keynote ...

In January, Apple hired Richard DeVaul as a senior prototype scientist, apparently to work on wearable computers.

Previously, DeVaul was the founder and president of AWare Technologies, a company that now makes Activity AWareness products and core technology. However, it was formed in 2004 as a contract research company focused on ambulatory monitoring for soldiers and athletes. The company successfully executed SBIR Phase II and STTR contracts with the US Army, and participated in the DARPA ASSIST BAA as part of the IBM/MIT/Georgia Tech team. In addition, AWare has provided athletic motion analysis services to Olympic sport organizations.

A graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), DeVaul has also served as a research assistant at MIT. orked with Professor Alex "Sandy" Pentland as part of the Human Dyanmics group at the MIT Media Lab. Ph.D. dissertation on "The Memory Glasses," a heads-up display  that focused on the problems associated with wearable...

Steve Jobs has allegedly told a Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) government official exactly why no retail store is planned for the country -- ”super crazy” import taxes, he wrote in an e-mail, according to to the "ifoAppleStore" site (http://www.ifoapplestore.com/db/2010/03/15/no-to-retail-store-in-brazil-...).

Jobs’ remark highlights an on-going trade dispute between the U.S. and Brazil over cotton trade, and how international affairs can affect the selection of store sites, the article adds. As reported by "MacMagazine Brazil" (http://...

After a severely constrained first half, steeply discounted computers along with improving economic conditions steered the global computer market back into the black in the latter half of 2009. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) "Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker,"the yearly growth rate for the worldwide computer market in 2009 was 2.9%.

Portable computers remained the key market driver, with shipments increasing 18.4% in 2009 compared to 2008. Consumer purchases of portables were the sole driver of the market, growing at 38.5%, according to IDC (http://www.idc.com). Commercial shipments were severely strained but showed signs of life near the end of the year as fourth quarter growth came in just under 1%, providing a glimpse of an anticipated commercial refresh in 2010. As a harbinger that the pace of ASP declines will moderate, mininotebook growth slowed in the fourth quarter as the volume of other...

In a report for "PC Mag" (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361204,00.asp), Sascha Segan says that the rise of the iPhone OS-based iPad could be the beginning of the end for the Mac platform. I understand his reasoning, but that's just not going to happen.

Segan says that if Apple could have a do-over, it would use the iPhone OS for its computer line. He thinks that the iPad should be thought of as "the new Mac -- a "new mode of home-based computing that Apple hopes will bubble up through its product line."

"This means no independent software stores, fewer open-source projects, and perhaps a blanket ban on BitTorrent, Flash, and Firefox," Segan writes. "It means a much more restricted peripheral market. The Mac will no longer be a PC as we know it -- it will be an 'end-to-end experience' like the iPhone."

According to his prognosis,...

A plethora of Apple patents have appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Here's a summary of each.

Patent number 2010062905 involves a method for a quickstart workout generation and calibration. Systems and methods for generating a quick start workout template and calibrating an electronic device using the workout template are provided. The electronic device may create and store a workout template to be used in conjunction with a workout. The workout template may be selected in a quick start fashion to restart the same workout. The workout template may be defined at least in part by a selection of any suitable workout goal and/or any suitable associated media. If the media associated with the workout goal is changed or is removed, a new workout template may be created. The electronic device may be calibrated or recalibrated using the workout template. If the electronic device is calibrated or re-calibrated with respect to a particular sensor, the...

I'm enough of a dinosaur that I want my albums in CD form, for the most part. However, I have bought some iTunes LPs and, if I decided to go all digital in the future, this is the format I'd prefer.

Unfortunately, it seems the iTunes LP isn't doing well. But let's back up. When the format was unveiled in September 2009 as part of iTunes 9, it was described by Apple as "the evolution of the music album" that delivers "a rich, immersive experience for select albums on the iTunes Store by combining beautiful design with expanded visual features like live performance videos, lyrics, artwork, liner notes, interviews, photos, album credits and more." In other words, it was intended to evoke the feeling of spinning an LP record and holding the jacket in your hands.

However, according to some sources, the format doesn't seem to be taking off. Paul Bonanos, writing for "Salon" (...

Now that Vale is bringing its Steam, Valve’s gaming service, and Source, Valve’s gaming engine, to the Mac, the Mac gaming situation should improve.

Not that it's been terrible. However, gamers have long complained about the lack of Mac games -- at least compared to the bazillion gaming titles for the PeeCee.

Steamworks for the Mac supports all of the Steamworks application programming interfaces, and Valve has added a new feature, called Steam Play, which allows customers who purchase the product for the Mac or Windows to play on the other platform free of charge. For example, Steam Play, in combination with the Steam Cloud, allows a gamer playing on their work PC to go home and pick up playing the same game at the same point on their home Mac.

"The inclusion of WebKit into Steam, and of OpenGL into Source gives us a lot of flexibility in how we move these technologies forward," Steam development director John Cook told "IT Wire" (...

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) -- an organization founded to promote rights in the online and networked world -- has blasted the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement, saying that the "entire family of devices built on the iPhone OS (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad) have been designed to run only software that is approved by Apple - a major shift from the norms of the personal computer market."

"Overall, the Agreement is a very one-sided contract, favoring Apple at every turn," says the EFI. "That's not unusual where end-user license agreements are concerned (and not all the terms may ultimately be enforceable), but it's a bit of a surprise as applied to the more than 100,000 developers for the iPhone, including many large public companies. How can Apple get away with it? Because it is the sole gateway to the more than 40 million iPhones that have been sold. In other words, it's only because Apple still "owns" the customer, long after each iPhone (and soon, iPad) is...

According to Broadpoint analyst Brian Marshall, the sale of applications, e-books, newspapers and magazines for the iPad is predicted to equal nearly 30% of the revenue Apple will earn from selling the hardware by the end of 2011.

In a note to clients -- as noted by "AppleInsider" (http://www.appleinsider.com), the analyst believes content revenue will top 10 percent of total iPad hardware revenue by December of 2010, and a year later that number will nearly triple. He's increased his forecast for iPad shipments in the 2010 calendar year to four million units, up from a previous prediction of 2.2 million.

Marshall told clients that "if the device lives up to its potential," he could see it shipping more than seven million in this year alone. "We believe the iPad offers a rich media experience that will translate into a content-based recurring revenue stream over time," he says.

...

Recently I pondered (http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/is_closer_integration_betw...) whether closer integration between Mac OS X proper and the iPhone OS was coming. Regarding that convergence, I would like to see Apple either license or get into the business of helping a lot of different companies upgrade their interfaces.

Like what? Home phones, office phone systems, auto information displays and controls, ATM machines, home information and security systems, etc. I could go on, but you get the idea.

Now I don't think Apple will license the Mac or iPhone OS. However, there many areas where Apple isn't likely to get directly involved or where the company has little or no interest in making hardware/...

Many of the trends that influenced the worldwide computer market in 2009 will continue to resonate in 2010, but their impact will change as new market forces come into play. The news is good for Apple laptops and the iMac and, well, not bad for the iPad.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), the lower prices brought on by last year’s challenging economy will create new opportunities for emerging sub form factors, such as ultrathin portables and all-in-one desktops.

“We’re expecting consumer and commercial personal computer buyers alike to be more experimental with new types of computer, especially because of their lower price points,” says Bob O’Donnell, program vice president, Clients and Displays. “Hardware vendors and software developers should seize the opportunity to promote differentiation by rewriting the computing experience to match the new variety of Personal Computer sub form factors arriving in the market.”

IDC’s predictions for...

In a note to clients, Merrill Lynch analyst Scott Craig thinks Apple will see 33 million iPhones this year even without a deal with Verizon deal, as many folks have expected -- or at least hoped for (including Yours Truly).

However, for Apple to continue to grow the iPhone market, it has to had more carriers at some point, he told clients. If Apple did indeed add a Verizon iPhone to its offering, Craig predicts that would see another eight million of the devices sold in 2011.

Without a Verizon deal, Craig told clients he's upping his “base case” for the iPhone next year. He thinks 2011 units could go as high as 55 million if more carriers, including Verizon, are added by Apple.

An Apple patent (number 20100052870) for an intelligent infrared remote pairing has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. It indicates that Apple may be eyeing its own universal remote control or, more likely, expanding the range of the current (or future versions of the) Apple Remote.

Systems and methods for associating a remote controller with a device are provided. The systems and methods generally relate to receiving a request from a remote controller to pair the remote controller to a device at several devices and determining at each of the several devices the strength of the wireless pairing request signal received by that device. If a device determines that its received signal is the strongest, the device may be paired with the remote controller. If instead a device determines that its received signal is not the strongest, it may ignore subsequent communications received from the remote controller. The inventor is Nicholas Vincent King.

Here's...

Will the iPad launch be delayed? Yes, no, and maybe.

Checks in Taiwan find some minor delays on production of the Apple device, according to ThinkEquity analyst Vijay Rakesh -- as noted by "Barron's" (http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2010/03/04/apple-thinkequity-re...). His findings echo a similar assertion by Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek. However, Misek's assertions were contradicted by a "DigiTimes" report that said there are no delays.

“The manufacturing of the iPads was supposed to pick up in February, buy volumes in March are still low,” Rakesh wrote in note to clients. “But checks are indicating iPad volumes will pick back up to the 800,000-1 million units/month [range] into...

Apple's trademark applications (77946787 and 77946791) for "iFrame" have appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. When Apple introduced iMovie '09, it also introduced iFrame, a new video format it developed.

iFrame captures video at a resolution of 960 x 540 at 30 frames per second and uses a 16:9 aspect ratio (a la all the HD and DVD standards). It's slightly lower in quality than 720p and takes up at least a little less space. iFrame works with Mac and PC video-editing applications such as iMovie '09 and uses industry-standard codecs such as MP4, H.264, AAC and QuickTime. According to Apple "iFrame is designed to make importing and editing video fast and easy without taking up a lot of space on your hard drive."

Currently, the only two camcorders using iFrame are the Sanyo VPC-HD2000A (see today's review) and VPC-FH1A. The question is if other camera manufacturers will adopt it and whether it will become a "real"standard. The jury's still out on this.

Worldwide computer shipments are projected to total 366.1 million units in 2010, a 19.7% increase from 305.8 million units shipped in 2009, according to the latest preliminary forecast by Gartner (http://www.gartner.com). And the iPad will figure heavily into the equation.

According to the research group, worldwide computer spending is forecast to reach $245 billion in 2010, up 12.2 percent from 2009. This forecast is more optimistic than Gartner's December 2009 forecast, which anticipated 13.3% growth in computer shipments in 2010 and 1.9% growth in spending.

Gartner anticipates all regional markets will return to growth and exhibit more normal seasonality in 2010. The market will remain robust with unit growth continuing to increase strongly over the next few years as home computer demand accelerates and professional replacements rise in the recovery from the global recession.

"The personal...

“North of Northeast” is a column that offers commentaries from a Canadian perspective. Google's invested millions in it. Apple's moving steadily towards it and Microsoft's Office isn't far behind.

Everywhere you turn, more and more companies are extolling the virtues of "the cloud." My colleague, Dennis Sellers just wrote an interesting piece where he quotes an unnamed executive as saying "Apple want's to eliminate the hard drive." 

I am skeptical. But then again I live a fair portion of my life under a "cloudless" sky. We may do a lot of talking about how connected we are becoming, but for a very large percentage of us, reliable, high bandwidth access to the Internet is still just a dream. My own son, living just forty-five minutes outside of Toronto, surrounded by millions of people, is in a small rural pocket that still relies on dial-up.

Even here, on the remote tip of southwestern Nova Scotia I have 15MBPS Internet access, but with very...

Watch for it ... the discussion on what Apple is going to name it's next generation of iPhone. Will it be the iPhone 4G? The 3.5? The some-other-name-that-doesn't-include-G? It's hard to say. G here could easily mean the generation of the iPhone, or it could mean the G for mobile technology (e.g., 4G comes after the 3G service that AT&T has).

What do you think it will be?

Apple store employees will get a glimpse of the iPad on March with the device likely to go on sale March 26, according to a report at the "LA Gadgets Examiner" (http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-11295-LA-Gadgets-Examiner~y2010m3d2-i...).

The article says that this release date is for the Wi-Fi versions only, and that the 3G models won't be available until April or May. Also, commercials will purportedly start airing on March 15.

When it was unveiled by Apple, it was announced that the iPad would be available in late March worldwide for a suggested retail price of US$499 for the 16GB model, $599 for the 32GB model, $699 for the 64GB model. The Wi-Fi + 3G models of iPad would be...