Apple Criticised Over 'Presumptuous' News App Email

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.

Apple Removing Some Apps That Contain Confederate Flag Imagery

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.

Future iPhones could Come With A Bendy Screen

Apple – iPhone with Flexible Screen

According to reports, it is said that Apple is keen in developing iPhone with flexible screen which would probably show up by 2018 and have already started making headway with top display suppliers working on the displays. A source has informed Business Korea, that plans are being made by the company in replacing iPhone’s prevailing LED-backlit Multi-Touch display with an updated organic light omitting diode, OLED screen which is also utilised in the Apple Watch.

The first flexible iPhone would be introduced in 2018 since Apple’s top tier display suppliers are working on it, according to a source. Several of the displays used in Apple products have been supplied by LG Display who is planning to switch one of its LCD supply lines in creating OLED panels collectively by 2017, it was reported. Apple had filed and had been granted several patents with regards to flexible devices and screen over the years and the news of LG’s plan on OLED panel comes as assumption to what the next iPhone which is believed to be known as the iPhone 6s or the iPhone 7, gains impetus ahead of the September launch.

Flexible Device More Tough

One of them granted in January, by the United States Patent and Trademark Office had given the company permission to produce a flexible electronic device which could include a flexible device, a flexible house and one or more flexible internal components. Flexible device could be more tough than its rigid counterparts since it could bend or deform from the impact of a fall and the motion of twisting it could be utilised as a command trigger for an action like turning the device on or off, as explained in the patent.

The company had been granted similar patent in October last year, for flexible displays and another one in February 2013 and according to a source was informed that two iPhone models were proposed with curved glass screens but from the rumoured phones namely 4.7 inches and 5.5 inches, it seems that the source had been referring to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

Samsung 1st to Launch Curved Smartphone – October 2013

In September last year, shortly after the release of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, there were complaints from various customers stating that their 5.5 inch 6 Plus handsets seemed to bend after carrying them in pockets. According to Apple only nine customers had come up with this issue and that the handset should not bend when used in normal situation.

Rival company LG in recent years had released the G Flex and G Flex2 curved smartphones which were designed to be more robust than their rigid counterparts. Samsung is said to be the first in launching curved smartphone in October 2013, the Galaxy Round. Apple is also believed to add Force Touch to its forthcoming iPhones and could be looking also in toughening the screen by probably moving to scratch resistant sapphire screens. However, if and when they tend to appear, the iPhone curves would be intentional and the users will get to know what they are going in for.

Google and Apple Battle for Dashboard Dominance

CarPlay & Android Auto – Snuggled in Dashboard of Car Test

Cars have now become the new battleground for consumer internet companies and at the Consumer Electronics Show, held at Las Vegas, Google had unveiled a new plan enabling car manufacturers in using a version of its open source Android smartphone operating system wherein Android would power the car’s dashboard based information as well as entertainment system. CarPlay of Apple together with Android Auto of Google has made an appearance and will be snuggled in the dashboard of  car.

Apple’s CarPlay is the latest in the in-car entertainment and information system and is a development of its earlier car connectivity with music from iPods and iPhones into car stereo through the dock connector. It utilises Apple’s new Lightning Connector meaning that it is only compatible with the iPhone 5, 5S and 5C though it enables far greater connectivity which comprises the ability to power the navigation system of the car, as well as place calls and read messages aloud. Besides this, it also commands the car and the iPhone through Apple’s voice assistant – Siri. The new technology was announced by Apple at the International Motor show in Geneva, together with a huge list of car manufacturers that would be adopting Apple’s in-car systems.

CarPlay as the iPhone has a flat structure which offers all of its apps and functions as big icons on a scrollable home screen and none of the functions tend to be more than a level deep. There are no sub menus, lists or folders and getting anywhere in the CarPlay interface is a one or two tap functions. It is difficult to find flaws with CarPlay’s organization since there is not much of it there and it is easy and simple. At Android Auto’s screen bottom edge one will notice several icons which provide shortcuts to various functions.

The first to announce that CarPlay to be fitted in certain new cars were Ferrari, Volvo and Mercedes-Benz while BMW, Citroen, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar, Kia, Land Rover, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota had also announced that they would be working on integrating Apple’s CarPlay in their vehicles in the near future. Google had launched its own beating on the in-car area known as the Open Automotive Alliance – OAA which aims in bringing the Android platform to cars in a meaningful manner. It is not just installing Android from a phone in the car, but to adapt it specifically to the in-car experience. According to an OAA statement at the website `the Open Automotive Alliance is a group of leading automakers and technology companies which share a vision in making technology in the car safer, more seamless and more intuitive for everyone’.

The concept is that the OAA will permit car makers with more differentiation than several other competing systems while at the same time, maintain cross compatibility from common software among various car brands. Presently OAA brags on Audi, General Motors, Honda and Hyundai among the car manufacturers together with Google and chipmaker Nvidia from the technology business, indicating that there would be clashes between Google and Apple groups.

It is said that Honda, Hyundai together with General Motors seems to be pledged to both Apple as well as Google, meaning that the models are well-suited with Android and the iPhone from all these manufacturers though may not necessarily be in the same car. It is not known on how the new in-car connectivity camps, if at all, would be co-operating since certain cars are equipped with compatibility for iPhone while others for instance could only have the potential of being connected to an Android smartphone Few car manufacturers, however are in different camps where Ford for instance, presently utilises Microsoft’s system though is also signed up to Apple’s CarPlay while Kia has Android for its existing in-car systems and is also a member of CarPlay.

General Motors that manufactures Vauxhall cars in the UK has signed up with Apple’s CarPlay as well as Google’s OAA together with the GENIVI Alliance along with Honda and Hyundai indicating that the drivers could get the choice of Android or iPhone compatibility from the point of purchasing new car.

There is a possibility that the OAA cars could lend support to Apple’s CarPlay as the system has been shown off by Mercedes, Ferrari and Volvo at the International Motor Show in Geneva, run on BlackBerry’s QNX software.

 This has been adopted by the automotive trade due to its history of reliability. Until Apple tends to exclude the OAA from its licensing agreement for CarPlay, some of the cars could default to Android though switch to iPhone connectivity when the iPhone is plugged into the system. Both Android Auto and CarPlay come with extensive lists of third party audio streaming apps and listening to audio content seems to be one of the oldest as well as the safest means of in-car infotainment.

Apple Flashed Big Moves, Big Releases at WWDC15

Wait. Anticipation. Rumour. Leak. Excitement. Surprise. Innovation. Beauty. All these above mentioned words are being used to describe Apple’s World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) for so many years now. Recently concluded WWDC 15 was the biggest software release event of this year where Apple was expected to portray the future of their software and announced some big moves. Apple has been a constant trademark for simplicity, beauty and world class quality product, since Steve Jobs decided to put a big step forward by transforming his little hardware business into something, which now we call ‘Apple’. WWDC has been always a great event to people concerned about technology, software. Each of their conference unveiled with new devices or new Apple services, which have always amused people with simplicity and efficiency.

Things we were expecting

As Apple has made their future intentions clear at WWDC 14 last year, we certainly knew the prime things, which will be unveiled at WWDC15. Last year we saw the release of iOS8, Yosemite and OS X and also new iPhones. Apple watch was launched at that event, which started rolling out several months after. Official news sources confirmed that Apple is going to roll out fresh OS just for the Apple watch and there will be keynote of new iOS launch. Several hints from Apple were adjusted to anticipate the upcoming update to Mac OS X at WWDC15. Apple was expected to launch their new service, Apple Music, a streaming music service with radio stations.

What are the things WWDC15 gave us? 

Here we are summarizing what we got from WWDC15, the keynote features and new services.

• Apple Music: This has been probably the most awaited keynote of the whole evening. Apple Music, the new app with music streaming, special radio station service, will assimilate communal features. Apple Music app will be launched on June 30 in over a hundred countries, which will replace the existing Music app. Apple Music will cost around $9.99 per month, but for first three months, the service will be available for free. 
•  iOS 9: Since Apple is developing smart iOS, one of the prime aim of this operating system has been to understand what the user wants to do before they start doing that. With iOS 9, Apple has been constant towards this appeal, once more. iOS 9 upgrade mainly focuses on functional improvements of Siri, Apple’s voice recognition software. The new Siri can understand contexts and also can read user’s habits based on chosen features. Apple said iOS 9 will automatically add an invitation to the calendar based on invitation through e-mail. This new iOS will improve battery performance and will increase processor efficiency. iOS 9 update is expected to be coming this fall and will be compatible to all devices supporting iOS 8.
• OS X 11: Launch of the new desktop operating system, OS X El Capitan, was also very much awaited keynote. This new version is an upgrade to basic Yosemite, with more features and improvements. OS X 11 focuses on the stability of the whole software. Most notable update in this new version is the spotlight search tool, which is now more powerful of finding the whole system. 
• watchOS: After much consultation, Apple is finally allowing app developers to develop app directly for Apple Watch, as Apple launch watchOS, an operating system designed just for the Apple watch. Apple said developers can now control the sensors and can make apps for watch.