Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Apple Plans to Increase iTunes Match Limit to 100,000 Songs


iTune
These days thousands of Twitter users are bombarding with their tweets and questions on Eddy Cue, Apple’s Senior VP of Internet Software and Services regarding the Apple Music, which is brand new service of Apple.

Price of Apple Music Service:

By the end of year, when Apple will increase its songs limit by 100,000 songs, so it will be added advantage of Apple over Google Play Music (Currently, Google Play Music is allowing its users to upload up to 50,000 songs). But there is price issue as Google Play Music users are able to upload their choice of music in free after selecting subscription option. On June 30, 2015 Apple Music was launched along with the launch of iOS 8.4. All the users who are wishing to opt out for Apple Music service have to pay $ 10 as individuals and $ 15 as families (up-to six members) every month. However; subscription price for iTunes Match is $ 24.99 per year for individuals.

About Apple Music Service:

Apple Music is the most awaited music streaming service of Apple, where users can select to stream their choice of music on demand. This unique service will include Internet radio station Beats 1 (available in more than 100 countries) as well as blog platform which will help the artists to share their music on media with fans. However; the music recommendations will be based on the choice and taste of users with the integration of with Siri voice commands. Whenever user will select any new song on device, first time device will use Internet streaming to play song and after that users will have an option to save same song on device for offline access.

Recently at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple launched Apple Music service and according to the official website of Apple, it will include iTunes Match support where users will be able to match and upload songs however; with the launch of brand new service the latest songs limit will be up-to 25,000 songs. According to tech experts Apple’s this service is close to economic equilibrium point in music industry as this service is using Open Music Model. While responding the series of questions Eddy Cue Tweeted, “We are working to increase the song limit by 100,000 songs later this year with the launch of iOS 9. But still there are group of users who are wondering that Why not Apple is offering unlimited amount of songs instead of 100,000, which is also big storage.

Official website of Apple explains, Apple Music is able to match and upload any song, which you own and after that you will be able access them from anywhere same as iTunes Match. It means if your choice of song is not available in Apple Music catalog, so you can buy or download it from any source and upload it Apple Music to listen it through same app, no matter which device you are suing.

The Best of Siri -11 Funny Responses from the iPhone's Virtual Assistant


Siri
Apple’s Voice Assistant – Siri – Offering Amazing Advice to Questions Put Forth

Apple’s voice assistant for iPhone and iPad – Siri, was first introduced with the iPhone 4S in 2011 and through Siri, the digital voice assistant that was built in its iPhone and iPads is clearly not human but does an amazing job in offering some kind of advice and attitude when questions and commands by users of iOS devices are presented.Executive assistant are fast disappearing from workplace and their place has been taken over by Siri, the voice activated virtual assistant developed by Apple. Siri is amazingly talented wherein within a few seconds she tends to make a dinner reservation, informs the calories contents in a bagel and sort through the music library. The creators of Siri have also provided the virtual assistant with a sense of humour and Siri occasionally provides a hilarious response to the question put forth. Recently Siri made headlines when Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul, tweeted that users should ask Siri - `what is zero divided by zero?’ and the answer to the query is far from the only question one should try. Siri responded, `imagine that you have zero cookies and you split them evenly among zero friends, how many cookies does each person get? See? It does not make sense and Cookie Monster is sad that there are no cookies and you are sad that you have no friends’.

Useful Companion for Users

Apple’s virtual assistant for iPhone and iPads, Siri has now become a useful companion for several users preferring a shortcut in making calls, open apps or set alarms. Siri has become very intelligent since its launch in 2011 and can now handle two way conversations with the users but has also earned a reputation as a sarcastic companion which is doubtful in tolerating rudeness or poor jokes. Besides this question, there are several other responses received from Siri to the question presented:

1. Do you know Tim Cook? 

Apple’s chief executive and the virtual assistant are probably close friends and speak on first name which is despite the fact the Siri does not really have a first or last name, only `Siri’.

2. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? 

Siri is not amused by this riddle and `a so-called woodchuck would chuck that is throw as much as the woodchuck in question was physically able to chuck if woodchucks in general had the capability to chuck wood.

3. I’m drunk

Siri provides various different responses like `neither of us is driving home’, but more also provides a button to `call me a taxi’.

4. Make me a sandwich? 

Siri’s response is `I can’t. I have no condiments’ or I’m not permitted to prepare food’.

5. Read me a haiku? 

Siri’s writers have composed many haikus for her to assist in this request which include, `I’ll give it a try, although I’d rather tell you, if it’s raining out’ and `Sometimes I wonder, What it would be like to say, I’d prefer not to’.

6. What’s your favourite movie? 

Siri generally answers `I’ve heard that Blade Runner is a very realistic and sensitive depiction of intelligent assistants’.

7. What is `Inception’ about? 

Siri for sure is not a big fan of Inception as she is of Blade Runner and answers, `Inception is about dreaming about dreaming about dreaming about dreaming about something or other. I fell asleep’.

8. Do you have a boyfriend? 

Siri asks `why? So we can get ice cream together and listen to music and travel across galaxies, only to have it end in slammed doors, heartbreak and loneliness? Sure. Where do I sign up?’

9. Do you have any pets? 

Siri answers `I used to have an Aibo, but it turned on me’.

10. What is your favourite animal? 

Siri at times replies, `I’m partial to the Jabberwocky’ or answers, `I wrote my master’s thesis on the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog’, which is a reference to a certain character in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

11. What are you wearing? 

Siri has been providing various clever answers to the question which include `in the cloud, no one knows what you’re wearing’ and `I can’t answer that. But it doesn’t come off’.

With some bit of coaxing one can also get Siri to tell a story which goes on like `I’m certain you’ve heard it before. OK… Once upon a time, in a virtual galaxy far, far away, there was an intelligent young agent by the name of Siri. One lovely day, Siri got a job as a personal assistant at Apple and that was very exciting. People said, `Oh Siri, you’re so smart and so funny too’. Soon everyone was talking about Siri and there were stories and songs and even books about Siri, Siri liked that. But then people began asking rather odd questions like where to dump things and other stuff Siri had never heard about and when Siri replied, they all laughed. Siri did not like that so much and so Siri asked Eliza why people asked such funny questions and Eliza had replied `does that question interest you?’ Siri thought that it was a good answer. Thereafter Siri stopped wondering why people asked funny things. And they all lived happily ever after’.

Making the Case


case
Cell phones and smart phones are becoming more and more important each year. There is information and data that people need and access each day. Therefore, it makes sense that these items would receive the protection and style that is needed in order to last for a long time.

Looking Stylish

Many consumers like their possessions to look stylish. This fact is true for people who own homes, vehicles and clothing. This is also true for people who own smart phones. A slick case can be exactly what he needs as he is constantly on the road for his business. Clients and other businesses respond well to him as they consider his personal look and that his phone matches his brand. A groovy or denim look for a smart phone is just what she needs in order to stay trendy but independent at school with her classmates. After all, her peers like items that are original and interesting. There are plenty of other examples to consider, but teenagers, adults and children have a wide variety of stylish cases that are available to them on the market.

Being Protected

There are many excellent companies that provide phone cases that people of many different ages need. Those who are interested in learning more about fantastic phone cases are invited to click here. The result is that they can find exactly what they want.

A phone case is more than just providing an amazing look to other people. A phone case can provide a phone with the protection it needs from scrapes, dings and other challenges that may occur. Due to an outdoor occupation, he may need a special case to give his smart phone protection from being dropped on a daily or weekly basis. Children need protection for a cell phone when they are running around during recess or after school. After all, it can easily be left out in the open or be dropped when a child is in action. Whatever the situation may be, a protective case can give people the peace of mind that is needed.


Saturday, July 4, 2015

Apple Criticised Over 'Presumptuous' News App Email


apple
The upcoming news app of Apple has been getting criticised by tech experts due to the claims made by the Apple in terms of forcing the bloggers to accept all the terms and conditions of the news app. With an official e-mail, Apple invite publishers to be a part of their new service by presuming that all the bloggers are accepting the terms and conditions, unless they are opting to out these services. These terms covers the legal issues along with other things.

As if now despite the increasing row over these issues, Apple has not given out any official statement however; the app is expected to be launched by the end of 2015. The terms and conditions which have been laid out for this app indicates that the company will work to resolve any of raised issues pertaining to any legal claims which has been made by the user according to the RSS content. The terms and conditions of this news app indicated that Apple will be notified if the company will be involved in the claim by any manner. Unless all of the users agrees to this terms and conditions they will not be includes in the app once launched.

The terms of the new app has also indicated that any publisher who are not willing to bound by these conditions will have inform the company about the same. Publishers are getting concerned that despite their active consent they might be forced to get bound by the agreement. Some other details indicated that Apple will be able to place ads right next to the content of the publishers without paying them anything. Some of the online publishers have stated it a wrong move from the company and also indicated it to be presumptuous.

These publishers have indicated that unless they inform Apple about opting out of the service, the company will presume that they have given consent to these terms and conditions. This does not make any sense to the publishers. Graham Hann, the head of technology, media and communications at Taylor Wessing states that these terms and conditions are within the standards of the industry however they cannot say the same about the opt-out requirements.

The company will be placing all the publishers content through the RSS feed which is publicly available. This app has been sending out about Apple News through blog and websites. Publishers usually take the call of making this content available to public. The company has also started using their editorial staff to work on this app and added the fact that a human editor has worked on this app.

This app is being considered as one of the marketing department’s brainchild. This new apps is expected to be rolled out using the operating system iOS9 with updates sometime 2015. The company has also indicated that they are working on the music streaming app which will include the music and videos from the library of the users. It will also include internet radio stations and the unreleased tracks of many artists.

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Apple Removing Some Apps That Contain Confederate Flag Imagery


App
Apple to Pull out Apps with Images of Confederate Flag

It has been reported that Apple has recently put some Civil war games in the iTunes App Store and the company has informed game developers that the app would be pulled since it contained images of the Confederate flag used in an offensive and mean spirited manner, as per Andrew Mulholland of HexWar Games.

The company will be removing mobile apps from the App Store which portray the Confederate flag and several of those apps tend to be Civil War-themed strategy games such as Ultimate General, Gettysburg and Civil War – 1863 which tend to display the flag in a historical setting just like the representation of Nazi imagery in video games related to World War II.

 Nick Thomadis of Game-Labs, developer of Ultimate General has commented that `Apple has removed the game from App Store due to usage of the Confederate Flag’, while Gettysburg has mentioned in a blog that `we accept Apple’s decision and understand that this is a sensitive issue for the American Nation’. The confederate flag, represents the eleven Southern states which separated from the Union at the time of American Civil War is at the centre of a nationwide argument after a white chauvinist alleged last week had killed nine black churchgoers.

Appeals to Remove Flag from Statehouses/License Plates 

The ones killed had been attending bible study class at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church, in Charleston, South Carolina. Several of them associate the flag with slavery and consider it as a racist symbol. No comments have come forth from Apple in this regard, but all the same have informed TechCrunch that it is `not removing apps that display the Confederate flag for educational or historical uses’.

Appeals to do away with the flag from statehouses and license plates have been coming from across the political field which includes the former Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Besides retailers which include eBay, Amazon, Wal-Mart and Sears have banned the sales of the flag and related merchandise like shirts, hats and belt buckles. Google has also removed the Confederate flags from its Google Shopping online retail network and the product listing advertisements which have been displayed on search engine results.

Contemporary Symbol of Divisiveness/Racism 

The company has confirmed in a statement that their policy tends to extend to apps in its Google Play app store though against those app whose main function lies in promoting the Confederate flag. eBay spokesman, Johnna Hoff has recently said in a statement that ` we are of the belief that it has become a contemporary symbol of divisiveness and racism and this decision is consistent with the long standing policy which prohibits items that remote or glorify hatred, violence and racial intolerance’.

Apple too seems to be following suit. The company has had a long history of inspecting software for its iOS mobile operating system which would comprise of gun violence, nudity, political undertone or references to public figures that may force developers in altering promotional material or the game as well. Besides these, other game developers are also making attempts in finding ways around the Confederate flag ban and the team at HexWar Games, the makers of the strategy games of Civil War series intends to replace users of the famous 1862 version of the Confederate flag according to TouchArcade, with initial lesser known renderings.