Tag: David Pogue

DOJ Rules Against Apple in Anti-Trust Suit, Improved Google Maps App & iOS 7 Upgrade Changes

Linda Reimer

DOJ Rules Against Apple in Anti-Trust Suit: The U.S. Department of Justice has ruled against Apple in the DOJ v. Apple anti-trust suit that alleged that Apple colluded with several major U.S. publishers in 2010 to force the number 1 seller of e-books in the U.S., Amazon, to accept what is called an Agency Model of pricing e-books. The term Agency Model basically means that publishers set the price of all their e-books instead of the e-book sellers and thus all e-book sellers that wish to sell e-books by publishers using the Agency Model must charge consumers whatever price the publishers set for their e-books to be allowed to sell them.

The DOJ has stated during the case that the Agency Model was adopted by Apple and five of the largest publishers in the U.S.* (all of the so-called Big Six publishers sans Random House) in response to Amazon undercutting other e-book sellers and in fact frequently selling e-books for a loss in order to sell more of its exceptionally popular Kindle e-readers. And indeed just after the Agency Model was implemented prices of most new e-books listed on Amazon went up a couple of dollars each, generally from $9.99 to $12.99, seeming just about overnight and just at the same time Apple was unveiling its first generation iPad which of course allowed iPad purchasers to buy e-books through Apple’s iBooks Store via the Agency Model pricing.

Apple spokesmen still insist they did nothing wrong in negotiation with publishers and agreeing to use the Agency Model to sell e-books via the iBooks Store and have said they will appeal the verdict which probably will translate into the case going before the Supreme Court.

So I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of this case!

Here’s a link to a Reuters article on the subject, titled Judge rules Apple conspired to raise prices on e-books, which offers more information on the subject:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/10/us-apple-ebooks-idUSBRE9690GE20130710

And another article on the same subject from the New York Times titled “Judge Rules Against Apple in E-Books Trial”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/11/technology/judge-rules-against-apple-in-e-books-trial.html?ref=technology&_r=0

Improved Google Maps App: New York Times Tech guru David Pogue offers an article today on the new and improved Google Maps app for Android and iOS (Apple) devices. The new apps offer a speedier performance and better information on places – in fact Pogue glowingly notes of the improved apps that “Half the time, you don’t even need navigation instructions; you just use Google Maps as the world’s smartest Yellow Pages, to find a nearby restaurant, movie theater, drugstore or whatever;” and I think Pogue’s recommendation just about sums it up! If you’ve got an app device Google Maps is an indispensable tool!

Here’s a link to the Pogue column on the New York Times site:

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/10/an-improved-google-maps-app-for-apple-and-android-devices/?ref=technology

iOS 7 Upgrade Changes: Every so often I say something about versions of iOS or Android and someone says to me – “What does that mean?”—and basically what the terms iOS and Android refer to is the stuff that makes the smartphones or tablets produced by Apple and a variety of Android tablet and smartphone makers, including Google, run. So an iOS upgrade means that Apple has, or as in this case is going to, improve the running system (aka mobile operating system) of its iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch models. And Apple usually unveils some neat extra bells and whistles functions – some extra icing on the cake if you will – with their upgrades so this fall when Apple upgrades its mobile iOS software to iOS 7 you should find some new features and a new look for your mobile Apple devices. The new Apple iOS is supposed to appear to have a flat type of more modern look than previous iOS versions and today word came that Apple is also changing the default text font for their mobile devices to Helvetica Neue from Helvetica Light so that too will make iPhones and iPads displays look just a bit different this fall!

Here’s a link to a CNET article on the subject titled “iOS 7 swaps skinny font for thicker one in typographic U-turn;”

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/software/ios-7-swaps-skinny-font-for-thicker-one-in-typographic-u-turn-50011685/

And a second link to a Mashable video on the subject that offers a broader scope of information titled “Apple Releases iOS 7 Beta 3 and Other News You Need to Know:”

http://mashable.com/2013/07/09/apple-ios7-brief/

 

Have a great day!

Linda R.

*All the publishers settled the DOJ charges out of court before the anti-trust trial began.

References

Chen, Brian., & Bosman, Julie. (2013, July 10). Judge Rules Against Apple in E-Books Trial. New York Times. Online. Accessed July 10, 2013.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/11/technology/judge-rules-against-apple-in-e-books-trial.html?ref=technology&_r=0

Pogue, David. (2013, July 10). A Better Google Maps App for Apple and Android Devices. New York Times. Online. Accessed July 10, 2013.

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/10/an-improved-google-maps-app-for-apple-and-android-devices/?ref=technology

Raymond, Nate., & Stempel, Jonathan. (2013, July 10). Judge rules Apple conspired to raise prices on e-books. Reuters. Online. Accessed July 10, 2013. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/10/us-apple-ebooks-idUSBRE9690GE20130710

Schroeder, Stan. (2013, July 9). Apple Releases iOS 7 Beta 3 and Other News You Need to Know. Mashable. Online. Accessed July 10, 2013. http://mashable.com/2013/07/09/apple-ios7-brief/

David Pogue On Too Many Passwords & A Health Fitness Gadget For Your Dog

Linda Reimer

David Pogue On Too Many Passwords: New York Times personal technology columnist David Pogue offers a cool article today on the challenges of having many passwords for numerous online accounts – banking accounts, shopping accounts, social networking accounts etc. He says that he has 87 online accounts he needs to keep track of passwords for and that it is impossible for any one person to remember log in information for that many online accounts – and I concur! I have a whole notebook of passwords at home that I use to assist me in remember the log in information for all my accounts!

Pogue has a suggestion to assist us with this dilemma he recommends we use free software called Dashlane that you can download to your computer or obtain via an app from Apple or Android called and which will access log in information for your accounts that is stored on your computer (the software will not record the information nor share it with anyone) and if you agree* it will automatically access that information each time you go to a site and log you in automatically and securely.

You can find out more about Dashlane by reading David Pogue’s entire article titled “Too Many Passwords and No Way to Remember Them. Until Now;” and/or by watching the accompanying videocast:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/technology/personaltech/too-many-passwords-and-no-way-to-remember-them-until-now.html?ref=technology&_r=0

A Health Fitness Gadget For Your Dog: You’ve heard of wearable computing devices like the Jawbone Up and the Nike FuelBand that monitor your health – how many calories you burn each day, how well you sleep at night etc… Well now there is a health gadget that will monitor your dog’s health! It is called the Whistle. The device costs $99 and send information to your smartphone or tablet via an app – the device will let you know how active your dog is while you’re away from home via a passive device you attach to your dog’s collar which will allow you to gauge how your dog is feeling. The idea is to let you know that if your dog doesn’t get walked as often on certain days of the week because you are busy — then you might want to take the dog for an extra walk sometime during the day/evening so he or she gets some more exercise. This is neat stuff! Here’s a link to an ABC News article on the subject titled “Forget Your Fitness Gadget, Whistle Wants to Track Man’s Best Friends’ Activity” which offers more info on the subject:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/whistle-smart-dog-collar-jumps-canine-fitness-tracker/story?id=19326017#.Ua-gBtK1FW4

And a link to another more techy related article on the same subject titled “Data dogs: how a new startup, Whistle, is building a Fitbit for your pooch by charting activity, owners can spot illness early on;”

http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/5/4395184/data-dog-a-new-startup-whistle-is-building-a-fitbit-for-your-pooch

Have a great day!

Linda R.

*By “agree” I simply mean that once you’ve installed the software on your computer and you first visit a website that requires you to log in – a message will pop up that asks you if you want Dashlane to  automatically log you into your account the next time you visit the website.

References

Pogue, David. Too Many Passwords and No Way To Remember Them Until Now. New York Times. Online. Accessed May 5, 2013.

Popper, Ben. (2013, June 5). Data dogs: how a new startup, Whistle, is building a Fitbit for your pooch By charting activity, owners can spot illness early on. The Verge. Online.

Stern, Joanna. (2013, June 5). Forget Your Fitness Gadget, Whistle Wants to Track Man’s Best Friends’ Activity. ABC News. Online. Accessed June 5, 2013.

Link To Cool Article On Used E-Books

Linda Reimer

Here’s a link to a cool article titled Reselling E-Books and the One Penny Problem that focuses on the possibility of Amazon and Apple selling used e-books – from the New York Times tech guru David Pogue

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/reselling-e-books-and-the-one-penny-problem/

And here’s a link to the Owners’ Rights Initiative website – their logo is “You bought it. You own it. You have a right to re-sell it.” And the American Library Association is, not surprisingly, one of the members of the group. And the organization of course focuses on the fact although you can own printed books; albums on vinyl and CD and videos on DVD and you can’t own the very same titles in the digital format…

 http://ownersrightsinitiative.org/

Have a great evening!

Linda R.

 

 

Humorous David Pogue Post On The E-Reader Wars!

Linda Reimer

And I had to share this! David Pogue, the New York Times resident tech guru and reviewer, has a humorous article on the e-reader war going on between Amazon and Barnes & Noble. And he notes how exhausting it must for the e-reader development teams at both companies to try and continually out-do each other – and he compares the new Amazon Kindle Paperwhite e-reader to the Barnes & Noble Glowlight e-reader to do so. It is a fun and informative article titled New E-Reader Lets There Be More Light and it can be accessed via this link:

http://goo.gl/BAMlS

Enjoy!

Linda R.

David Pogue’s Lost iPhone & BBC On The Future Of TV

Linda Reimer

David Pogue’s Lost iPhone: For those of you who may not be familiar with the name David Pogue is the preeminent Tech reporter for the New York Times. And earlier this week Pogue while Pogue was on a trip to Philadelphia to film content for the PBS Nova series someone stole his iPhone. Being the creative and crafty sort Pogue posted a video chronicling his dilemma on Twitter and people responded in droves! It took three days to track down the phone but with the assistance of the Find My iPhone app, Twitter fans, who posted videos of the house where the iPhone signal was coming from and the assistance of local police the phone was eventually recovered.

And not surprisingly the New York Times, via David Pogue’s column, relays the entire adventure which is both a vastly amusing tale and also offers an interesting insight as to how technology really is a tool we can use in our daily lives! Here’s the link:

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/02/where-is-david-pogues-phone/?ref=technology

BBC On The Future Of TV: And the BBC has created a really neat 44 page slideshow titled The Future of Television that offers an in-depth look at how the way people view video content is changing, from sitting in front of a TV in the home and watching cable TV to streaming video to TVs, smart phones and tablets. The article also offers some really interesting insight into how the changing way we view video content will change even further in the near future – basically by allowing consumers to view a wider array of video content when and were they want on demand.

Here’s the link to the slide show:

http://www.slideshare.net/expathos/bbc-presention-future-of-tv

Linda R.