Author: Rahsheen on Black Web 2.0

As we reported back in August, Sony is actively developing a gaming phone. Now, Engadget brings us actual photos of the device. It will likely run Android 3.0 (aka Gingerbread) and has a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655, 512MB of RAM, 1GB of ROM, and a 3.7 to 4.1 inch screen. It features a long touchpad in the center which is likely multitouch. It still bears the familiar PlayStation shoulder buttons.

According to Engadget, the device doesn’t seem ready for prime time yet. It’s said to be “buggy” and possibly not ready for a 2010 release, so 2011 would be more likely. Still, the possibility exists that we could see this new device for the holidays. Not good news for Sony as every second counts and the competition already has product on the shelves or on the way to the shelves.

A PlayStation phone would definitely cause a stir in the gaming landscape. Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch family of devices have proven to be stiff competition in the gaming world. Apple is putting millions of these in the hands of customers every quarter. The launch of the iPhone 4 and iOS 4 took gaming on iDevices to the next level.

Microsoft has the XBox 360 with multi-player gaming via XBox Live. With the launch of Windows Phone 7, they’ve gone in the same direction as Apple, giving the consumer a competitive mobile device with integration into their existing multi-player gaming network.

Nintendo and Sony both appear to be in a tight spot. Their current crop of handheld gaming devices are just not doing that well and this may be Sony’s chance to turn things around and get back in the game. Users have been waiting for PlayStation to release this type of device. This would also be a good look for Android in general as it may bring a new crop of advanced and professional games to the Android platform.

At this point, this is all speculation. Sony refuses to comment on this device and has denied that the photos of the device are authentic. One thing is for sure: If a device of this type is not currently in development, they need to get on the ball and make it happen ASAP.

Are you looking forward to a PlayStation Phone?

via Engadget, VentureBeat

Today, MySpace launches a redesign of the site aimed at attracting younger users and differentiating themselves from Facebook. Once king of social networking, MySpace has had a tough time since Facebook blew up. Now, it’s mostly synonymous with artists and glitter graphics. Some have even called it the ghetto of social networks. MySpace isn’t down and out yet, though.

This update will be the latest in a series of changes MySpace has made to change direction and make the service more attractive. According to MySpace President, Mike Jones, “This is a full rethink.” Their plan is to go after 13 to 35-year-olds looks for a social network centered around entertainment. Somewhere separate to hang out away from your standard friends and family network. “This is an entirely different product”

Rather than connecting with others based on real life connections, MySpace wants users to connect based on common interests. This is possible to do on other networks like Facebook, but not necessarily practical. This single change in direction could take away the competitive dynamic of the Facebook-MySpace relationship and make it easier for users to justify using both. If MySpace doesn’t have to compete directly with Facebook, it’s more likely they can turn things around.

One feature of the redesign pulls a page from the Windows Phone 7 interface, displaying information in tiles that update before your eyes. Another setting displays a full-screen slideshow of recommended media, profiles, and messages from your network and interests. Of course, your standard customizable profile view, both a blessing and a curse for MySpace, is still an option.

In addition to cutting clutter on the site and improving mobile support, MySpace has also added a gaming aspect to the social network. Active users are rewarded with badges and get their profiles promoted.

This feature recognizes and rewards curators and fans for their social activity around entertainment topics on the beta site and promotes them with badges – graphic icons that appear in a user’s stream.

News Corp. is aiming to make MySpace profitable by the end of next year. The site fell behind Facebook last year and estimates say they’ve lost about $350 million. News Corp. will likely sell the site, estimated at $300 million, if it doesn’t improve within the next two years.

via MySpace, Bloomberg

The latest edition of the Barnes and Noble Nook reading device has been a hot topic. Many have speculated that the device would have a color display. Further digging by CNET revealed a mockup of the touch screen e-reader. It turns out that most of the rumors were correct. The Android powered, color e-reader looks exactly like the “crude” and “unprofessionally done” mockup (as Gizmodo referred to it). The Nook Color is much more than what you might expect, though.

At the live event today, the new Nook was finally revealed. The Nook Color by Barnes & Noble is being billed as “the future of reading.” It’s geared towards people who “snack on content,” but also offers additional features to enhance the reading experience.

• Expandable up to 32GB MicroSD
• Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n)
• 16 Million Color Display
• 7” Color Touch screen
• Backlit Display

You can actually use your Nook Color as an audio player. It stores up to 100 hours of MP3 or AAC files for listening to books or music. There is a universal 3.5mm stereo headphone jack for audio, but the Nook Color also includes a mono speaker. Even if you don’t want to store any music on your Nook Color, you can simply run Pandora to satisfy your music cravings. Playing your music while you read is supported.

Nook Friends is where the Nook Color gets social. You can import your Google contacts and share favorite lines or recommend books. Facebook and Twitter integration let you update your reading status without leaving the page you’re on. I’ve seen people live tweet TV shows, so this should be no different. The Nook also makes it easy to share passages from the book you’re reading in case you think something might be of interest to your social networks.

Other features include Microsoft Office integration, where you can create, edit, and view Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. Nook Kids turns your Nook Color into an interactive reading device for children. There are games and a LendMe feature for swapping books.

The Nook Color is much more than a simple e-reader. Its features straddle the line between e-reader and full-fledged tablet. You can even become a Nook developer to create new Nook Extras. You can order the device right now for $249 with free shipping (expected ship date is November 19th).

via CrunchGear, Barnes & Noble

In a very interesting move for the Comcast Cable Company, Comcast customers can now access Xfinity TV from any ISP. The Xfinity service is being taken out of beta and being let loose into the wild. Previously, you could only access Xfinity content from within Comcast’s network, which meant you also needed a broadband account with Comcast. This was done to make it easier to test the service. Now that restriction has been removed.

Xfinity TV offers “more than 150,000 hours of online content” to all of its digital video subscribers. The branding piece is a bit confusing, though. If you visit Xfinity.tv, you’ll be redirected to Fancast.com, which handles all of the heavy lifting. The layout and most of the content is similar to what you might find on Hulu. You don’t need to be a Comcast subscriber to access most of the content on Fancast and you have the added benefit of being able to watch CBS shows, which are not available on Hulu (don’t act like you don’t watch CSI).

The benefit for Comcast subscribers is in accessing shows and movies from Showtime, HBO, Cinemax, Starz, Encore, and some other basic cable networks. Before Xfinity came out of beta, you would have to be in your home to access these shows from your computer. This pretty much defeats the purpose as it would probably be easier to walk over to the nearest TV. Now, these subscribers can access shows like Dexter and True Blood from any Internet-connected computer.

Xfinity TV is just as “free” as Comcast’s OnDemand service, which really means there is just no extra charge for it. Comcast has a merger with NBC Universal pending the FCC’s approval. We’ve also seen a lot of activity and growth in watching movies and shows online via services like Netflix and Hulu. While Netflix has been looking to expand their catalog and make moves into Canada, Hulu is still testing out Hulu Plus. It’s been rumored that Hulu Plus, priced at $8.95, may be slashing their pricing in half. This might be a requirement for success given offerings from Netflix and now a free service for Comcast customers.

via paidContent

Today, Microsoft launches Office 2011 for Mac. This brings the latest version of their productivity software to Mac users. The Office Mac team has been porting software to the Mac for 13 years.

“As someone who works at Microsoft and deals with Apple often, I acknowledge that our companies compete,” Wilfrid says. “Some people choose Windows, and some people choose Mac. That conflict tends to get a lot of attention, but I deal in the reality that there are customers who love their Macs and also love using Office.” — Eric Wilfrid, general manager of Microsoft’s Office for Mac team

One would think that Mac users would shun Office just as many of them avoid other Microsoft products, but three-quarters of all Mac users have Office on their machines. The theory is that they run Office to remain somewhat compatible with the Windows world. Seems that it’s not necessarily a choice, but a necessity to get things done given the proliferation of PC’s and Microsoft Office software.

Still, this highlights the important relationship between Apple and Microsoft. Today, Microsoft releases Office for Mac 2011. It brings Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook to the Mac platform. This is the first time that Outlook has been available for the Mac. It is available in 13 languages and, by November, will be available in 45 countries around the world.

Outlook being included in this release is very interesting. It was built from the ground up and works with both on-premises Exchange and the new Office 365 cloud service from Microsoft. While Microsoft has always made Office available for Mac, Outlook is a new addition to the suite for Mac users.

Just as the latest version of Office for Windows has improved the suite by leaps and bounds, the same features are coming to the Mac. This includes co-authoring, where teams in different locations can edit the same document, and heavy integration with the cloud for storing documents and making them accessible wherever you are, even editing via the web browser.

Office 2011 has new built-in integration with Windows Live SkyDrive as well as connections to SharePoint so users can manage files and work from any location, Wilfrid says. With Office Web Apps, Mac consumers can edit Office documents straight from their browser.

Are you one of the Mac users who have been waiting on the latest release of Microsoft Office?

via Mac Meets PC With New Office Release

Just a couple of hours ago, @Ustream tweeted that they had a special announcement. A few minutes later, they announced an Open Pay-Per-View Program and Ad-Free Broadcasting. These new features are still in the “coming soon” stage, but Ustream was so excited about them that they couldn’t keep things under wraps.

Ustream Open PPV will allow any Ustream broadcaster to apply directly to Ustream for the ability to charge viewers for content. Once a broadcaster is approved for Ustream’s Open PPV program, they will be able to monetize their content via PayPal payments. Let’s say you host a weekly show, such as a music show, a cooking show or a conference on Ustream, but you decide to produce an episode with special content – such as high-profile guests or a private lesson. As an approved Ustream Open PPV user you’ll be able to charge your viewers to watch the premium content. And, voila – pay-per-view is democratized and broadcasters have a chance to attract some of Ustream’s 45 million monthly viewers.

The PPV program is currently available to a select few Ustream broadcasters, but you can go ahead and sign up to be notified about the application process or submit your request for your own PPV show.

Ad Free broadcasting is also coming soon on Ustream. With this feature, broadcasters will have the option to turn off ads for those viewing their shows in addition to “a range of options that give them more control over their viewers’ experience.” This feature should be coming in early November. I assume that the broadcaster will front the cost of the missing ad revenue in this case.

It’s definitely good to see a service like Ustream diversify and share revenue with users. YouTube has already taken steps in that direction with the YouTube Partner Program, revenue sharing, and the more recent $5 Million Partner Grant Program.

It’s not every day that these social media services give you a way to make money from your efforts, so this should be interesting for many Ustream users. It may also attract new users to the service.

What do you think?

via The Ustream.TV Blog

INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY

Today is CAPS LOCK DAY, so feel free to hit caps lock and yell at everyone for the duration. This special day is actually celebrated twice a year. The original date is the 22nd of October (today). June 28th was added later to honor the “Infomercial King” Billy Mays who, before he passed away on that date, showed us exactly how to talk in ALL CAPS. Surprisingly, @KanyeWest and his diamond teeth have nothing to do with this “holiday.”

International Caps Lock Day is in fact a testament to the small mindedness of certain Western individuals: the majority of the world’s population writes in scripts which have no concept of letter casing. Therefore it is advised to laugh at anyone who invokes this day as an excuse to dismiss local typographical conventions: they are simply making an ass out of themselves. – Caps Lock Day Founder Derek Arnold

via TheNextWeb

Obama Meets With Apple’s Jobs and Google’s Mayer

According to Mercury News, President Obama just visited with Steve Jobs and Marissa Mayer to drum up funds for the Democratic party. Some reports say $1.8 million is expected from his efforts. Obama first met with Steve Jobs at the Westin Hotel in San Francisco, whom he also met with in 2008. Later, he met up with Google executive Marissa Mayer at a $30,400 per-plate fundraising dinner. In his speech there, he said:

“My task has also been to try to figure out how do we address some of the structural problems in the economy that have prevented more Googles from being created, prevented more Hewlett-Packards from being created … how do we unleash this incredible energy and dynamism that we know has always driven America, decade after decade.”

Hulu May Drop Price of Plus Package

Hulu is the free video site you know and love for watching some of your favorite shows. Hulu Plus is the premium version, currently in beta, which runs you about $9.95/month. The benefits are a “deeper catalog” of videos to choose from and the ability to watch Hulu on devices like the iPad and Xbox 360. While the service is still Beta, it looks like $9.95 is a bit steep for the limited catalog Hulu has to offer, mostly offering current shows from Disney’s ABC, GE’s NBC and News Corp.’s Fox. For $8.99/month you could just get Netflix, which offers more shows and support for streaming to just about any device (Apple TV, Google TV, etc.). Hulu has declined to comment.

via AllThingsD

Abode Releases HTML5 Player Widget

In an interesting move, Adobe has decided to straddle the fence between Flash and HTML5. Adobe has defended themselves to stay relevant in a time where it looks like HTML5 could make Flash unnecessary. While many are marvelling at what can be done with HTML5, developers are looking for cross-platform solutions to support the largest number of visitors. With their HTML5 video player widget, Adobe may have the solution.

The HTML5 Video Player widget, now available through the Adobe Widget Browser, works with or without Dreamweaver CS5. Code generated from the widget plays video in the best possible player for the requested platform using a range of video codecs. Based on the Kaltura open source library, the HTML5 Video Player widget is fully cross-browser compatible with support for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera. Moreover, the player is completely customizable with industry standard CSS techniques.

via Adobe

Square Redesigns Readers to Work With iPhone 4

Square is the service that lets you accept credit card payments from your mobile phone, something that many small-business and entrepreneurial types would benefit from. To use the service, you install the Square software on your phone and they send you a free card reader that plugs into your headset jack. It was recently discovered that the readers didn’t work with the iPhone 4 because of that pesky metal antennae that wraps around the phone. The readers had to be redesigned with a plastic contact instead of a metal one. If you have an iPhone 4, you should receive a new, compatible reader automatically.

via SAI

12seconds Shuts Down TONIGHT

Just got an email from 12seconds reminding me that the service is going away. Sad to see it go, but at least you can still download your videos. Here is the email they sent me:

Dear 12ers,

Tonight at 8:15PM PST we will shut down 12seconds.tv .

No videos can be recorded after 5PM PST.

If you have not yet downloaded your videos, go to 12seconds.tv and use the awesome 12seconds video export tool and save your memories. The tool will be available until 5:15 PM PST, so be sure to export your videos before then.

Is this the last time you will hear from us?

Love,

Team12

At a recent rally in Seattle, Sylvester Cann IV got President Barack Obama to sign his iPad. As those around him expressed their excitement in being in such close proximity to the President of the United States, Sylvester Cann IV stood calmly waiting his turn to address our first black commander in chief. On his shirt he wore the president’s face, in his hands he held an iPad with the simple command: “Mr. President, sign my iPad.” Mr. Cann describes the event:

At a rally in Seattle, WA at the University of Washington, the President used the touchscreen on my iPad to give me his autograph. Secret service was leery about the idea, but they warmed up to the idea and the President thought it was cool.

He looked slightly surprised, but proceeded to use his finger to scribble on the iPad using the Adobe Ideas app.

I have a video of the event as well. This HAS to be the first time an iPad has received a Presidential autograph.

A pretty significant event for Mr. Cann and President Obama. With the features available with the iPad and the Adobe Ideas application, we get to share part of the excitement in meeting the president and seeing his autograph. Mr. Cann created a site to immortalize the event, aptly titled: I figured, “Why Not Ask?”

The site simply lists other sites which have covered his story, hosts the image of Barack and his autograph, and has a video (yes, there is video). Check out the video to see the look on Barack’s face when presented with the iPad. My only question is, what happened to “Please?” We can only assume Mr. Cann just couldn’t get it to fit.

via TechCrunch

We finally have a price on the much-anticipated HP Slate. It will run you $799 and is being positioned for business and enterprise. For your $800 hard earned cash, you get the device in addition to the dock and the case.

While the first videos released by HP may have made it seem like it would be for consumers, HP’s tactfully changed its tune (don’t forget it’s got Palm / WebOS tablets on the way) and is now aiming the Slate at the enterprise and business market. Still, it will be available on HP’s site for $799 to anyone who wishes to purchase one.

The HP Slate is powered by a 1.86GHz Intel Atom Z540 processor, has 2GB of RAM, 64GB SSD, and handles 1080p video using the Crystal HD accelerator from Broadcom. The dock includes an HDMI port so that you can hook your slate up to your TV. It’s running Windows 7 and has a 8.9-inch capacitive touch screen. What sets it apart from other Windows slates is the Wacom active digitizer, which is primarily used for taking notes. You also get dual cameras: a front facing VGA cam and a 3 megapixel camera on the back. The device is the same weight as the iPad, but not as thin. This makes room for more space around the edges, which allows you to hold the device in one hand without touching the screen. The back panel is covered with an array of angular triangles which make the Slate 500 easy to grip.

HP is taking great pains to avoid comparisons with the iPad. They’re focusing on the fact that the Slate runs software that corporate types might already be using. The simple fact that it’s running Windows 7 will be of interest to those in a business environment because they are likely already running Windows on a desktop or laptop. The price range probably puts it outside of what your average consumer might be willing to shell out.

What do you think about the HP Slate 500? Check out the full review over at Slashgear with photos and video.

via Engadget, Slashgear

Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers called the press to Facebook headquarters earlier today to launch sFund, a $250 million initiative to invest in entrepreneurs inventing social applications and services. Facebook, Amazon, and Zynga are major partners with Comcast, Liberty Media, and Allen & Company committing to invest in the sFund and serve as strategic partners.

“We’re at the beginning of a new era for social Internet innovators who are re-imagining and re-inventing a Web of people and places, looking beyond documents and websites. There’s never been a better time than now to start a new social venture.” — KPCB partner John Doerr

Bing Gordon, KPCB partner, former chief creative officer, longtime executive at Electronic Arts, and board director of Amazon.com and Zynga will lead sFund. Gordon believes that “social is just getting started” and there are “vast” opportunities ahead. He goes on to say that “every business, organization, and entrepreneur should have a social strategy,” which seems to echo the thoughts of many social media professionals (not just the “gurus” on Twitter).

An important piece of the puzzle is in the Amazon Web Services. Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, points out that social apps grow in a unique way. Things start slowly, but the viral nature of these apps causes unexpected spikes. We saw this when Twitter really began to take off. Bezos believes that the “variable cost nature” of AWS is the perfect solution to the problem.

Over the past year, there has been unprecedented innovation in social applications. KPCB’s latest social ventures show the breadth of the social opportunity, from seed stage to scale-up, and enterprise to entertainment, including:

• Cafébots – The first company dedicated to Friend Relationship Management. By building applications that are useful, fun, and scalable, consumers will be able to extract more information from and make better use of their social graphs. KPCB led a Series A funding for the company founded by a team of Stanford PhDs.
• Flipboard – The world’s first social magazine, delivering a beautiful, personalized experience of the news, images, and information being shared by your friends across social network feeds on your iPad.
• Jive – Jive’s social software leverages innovations in social to radically change the way work gets done in the enterprise. Jive has over 3,000 customers serving 15 million users. KPCB led a growth stage funding round in July.
• Lockerz – A new social commerce company aimed at ages 13-30 creates a revolutionary new way to shop, play content, and connect. In less than a year, Lockerz has grown to more than 17 million members, offering major discounts on the best fashions, electronics, music, and more.

While everyone seems to be on the same page that social is the future, there is some disagreement about how we can get there. During the meeting, Zuckerberg and others stressed that social is not something you can add later. They say that the successful social applications will be those built from the ground up as social, while those who try add it as a layer on top will fail. I know of at least one huge tech company who may disagree with that assessment.

via KPCB News, TechCrunch

Google has used their latest Doodle to commemorate the birth of jazz icon Dizzy Gillespie. 93 years ago, a man by the name of John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie was born. The youngest of nine children, Dizzy was born to James and Lottie Gillespie in South Carolina. His dad, James, was the leader of a band, which gave Dizzy access to all types of musical instruments. By age 12, Dizzy was able to play both the trombone and the trumpet.

Dizzy is considered a pioneer in bebop and jazz music. He’s credited with influencing such greats as Miles Davis and Fats Navarro. Besides being a musical legend, Dizzy is known by two characteristics: his cheeks and his horn. Google has captured both of these in their Doodle, making his cheeks bright yellow and circular and giving his horn an upward bend. From Wikipedia:

According to Gillespie’s autobiography, this was originally the result of accidental damage caused by someone sitting on it during a job on January 6, 1953, but the constriction caused by the bending altered the tone of the instrument, and Gillespie liked the effect. Gillespie’s biographer Alyn Shipton writes that Gillespie likely got the idea when he saw a similar instrument in 1937 in Manchester, England while on tour with the Teddy Hill Orchestra. An English trumpeter was using such an instrument because his vision was poor and the horn made reading music easier. According to this account (from British journalist Pat Brand) Gillespie was able to try out the horn and the experience led him, much later, to commission a similar horn for himself.

It’s interesting what events in our history Google chooses to commemorate with their Doodles. Personally, I prefer the fancy HTML5 animated Doodles that slow older computers to a crawl, but that’s probably because I rarely visit the Google home page.

Gillespie took the basic horn and literally bent it to his will to achieve something new and unique. This seems to be the same path that Google has taken with the web. They’ve used their influence and knowledge to revolutionize the web browser with Chrome, stir up the mobile market with Android, and even to invade your living room with Google TV. Their end goal may be to find more places to paste ads, but it still looks like a win for the web in general.

The aptly named Back to the Mac event that Apple did today brings everything full circle. Mac OS X, Apple desktops, and laptops influenced the development of iOS, iPhones, iPods, and iPads. They took what they already had and parlayed their technology into a successful mobile business. Now, Apple is taking what they learned in developing these amazing mobile devices and cramming it back into their desktop and laptop machines.

If this sounds familiar, it should. It’s the same path that Google is following with Android. The main difference is that Google didn’t start with a successful desktop platform first. Not sure who had the idea first, but it could be a big win for users, especially if Microsoft figures it out as well.

Mac OS X Lion

iLife ‘11 actually gives us a glimpse of the new paradigm of modal computing Apple is heading toward. Instead of having windows and tabs scattered all across your screen, the OS allows you to focus on one thing at a time. This is the type of user interface you’re used to on your iPhone, Android, or iPad. Many apps will take over your entire screen just as they do on your mobile device.

Launchpad shows you all the applications installed on your computer. These apps are managed by the App Store just as they are on your mobile. Using gestures, you can page through what you have installed to find the app you need. Mission Control takes Exposé to a different level, showing you all your open windows grouped by application. It also integrates your dock and dashboard.

Mac App Store

Yes, the App Store is coming to your desktop and laptop. You’ll get access to the new store in Snow Leopard in 90 days. For developers, submissions will run through the month of November. While it is already dead simple to install things on a Mac, having an App Store will make it easier to find and install things for the average user. The main question on your mind right now is probably whether you’ll be able to play Angry Birds. I haven’t heard anything on that yet.

Facetime for Desktops and Laptops

iPad and Macbook Have a Baby

via Gizmodo, SlashGear

iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand all saw upgrades today at Apple’s Back to the Mac event. They’ve added some advanced features that make handling, creating, and sharing your media more efficient and easier to deal with. iPhoto takes more advantage of full-screen and easily shares photos on Facebook. iMovie makes creating trailers and adding effects a breeze. GarageBand ‘11 adds more effects and a nifty “How Did I Play” feature.

iPhoto ‘11, in addition to taking full advantage of full-screen mode, integrates with Facebook to make sharing and engaging easier. Browsing through your thumbnails is much easier and iPhoto ‘11 now does smart things like grouping similar photos based on their content. Sharing photos on Facebook is easy and you can see comments made on your FB photos right inside the app.

iMovie ‘11 adds more advanced audio controls. You won’t need a degree in audio engineering to make simple edits to your soundtrack and vocals. The visual waveform gives you immediate feedback about changes you’ve made. Adding advanced digital effects and transitions is as simple as selecting where you want it and clicking away. The most interesting feature comes in creating trailers using a wizard-like format. You pick the type of trailer, iMovie ‘11 tells you which types of clips to put where, and you can even pick original background music recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra.

GarageBand ‘11 brings more guitar and amp effects and a feature called Groove Matching. Apple’s Xander Soren say “it’s like an automatic spellchecker for bad rhythm.” For you music folks out there, it sounds like it quantizes your notes. For everyone else, I’d look at it like auto-tune, but it keeps your notes on beat instead of in tune. “How Did I Play” is an interesting mix of Rock Band and music class. It visually shows you which notes you hit correctly and which you missed as you play. Flex Time “lets you move, stretch or shorten individual notes by clicking on just the part of the audio waveform you want to change.”

You can get iLife ‘11 immediately for $49 from apple.com, your local Apple Store, or an authorized Apple retailer.

via Engadget

On Apple’s recent Q4 earnings call, Steve Jobs made a surprise appearance and finally snapped. He hasn’t really said much about Android up until this point and he really went in. For a full five minutes, Jobs talked about how “open” doesn’t always win. He touched on the fact that activation numbers for Android seem to be inaccurate. He laughs off the idea that the iPad will have any competition. One of the most interesting points he makes is on the fragmentation of the Android Operating System, using Tweetdeck as an example:

“Twitter client, Twitter Deck [sic], recently launched their app for Android. They reported that they had to contend with more than 100 different versions of Android software on 244 different handsets. The multiple hardware and software iterations present developers with a daunting challenge.”

Tweetdeck recently appeared in the Marketplace after a beta period. The free application is a pleasure to use and I definitely recommend giving it a shot, but I digress. Jobs references a post by Tweetdeck on their experience with the Android ecosystem, but takes it completely out of context. The original post says:

As we bring our initial Android TweetDeck beta period to a close, we wanted to quickly reflect on the Android ecosystem and what might be considered extreme fragmentation. To date we’ve had 36,427 active beta testers and below you can see the massive variety of phones and Android OS versions everyone is running. We were really shocked to see the number of custom roms, crazy phones and general level of customization/hackalicious nature of Android. From our perspective it’s pretty cool to have our app work on such a wide variety of devices and Android OS variations.

Then, they go on to detail the huge number of different Android flavors that their app works on. At no point do they say it was a challenge or difficult to develop for this environment. Tweetdeck founder Iain Dodsworth took it upon himself to respond to Jobs in a tweet, saying:

“Did we at any point say it was a nightmare developing on Android? Errr nope, no we didn’t. It wasn’t.”

What is curious is that Jobs is even speaking on Android. His words say that he isn’t worried about competition for the iPad. He says that the fragmentation and “open” nature of Android isn’t the best thing for customers and Apple’s integrated approach is. So, why is he even talking about the competition if he doesn’t think they’re competition?

via TechCrunch, SAI