It was a fairly slow news week overall in Appleland. No juicy new products, but there were rumors galore about a DRM-free iTunes Store and the imminent 10.5.6 update coming sometime during the week. Alas, none of it was true. Someday, someday…
MacYourself’s Top 5 Apple News Stories & Headlines of the Week for December 14, 2008:
1. AT&T confirms iPhone online sales; shipping activated
Get the original article via Gadgetell
Since the iPhone 3G was introduced in July, Apple’s hot new device has not been available to purchase online. If you’re in the U.S., the only places to get one are Apple Stores, AT&T stores, and Best Buy. Just in time for the holidays, AT&T has apparently had a change of heart and is selling the iPhone 3G via their website. It’s still required that you sign up for a 2-year contract, but no in-store activation is needed. The phone will come ready to go, needing only to be synced with iTunes.
2. TV has license to kill movies at iTunes, Netflix
Get the original article via CNET
This one actually makes me angry. How truly stupid and out of touch can Hollywood be? Some fairly big-name movies have been vanishing from the iTunes Store (and other download providers) recently with no explanation… until now. It turns out that when lucrative TV deals — which include pay-per-view, cable premieres, and network broadcasts — come along, honest-paying customers are no longer allowed to download those films online. Meanwhile, DVDs are still sitting on the shelves at your local Blockbuster. Hollywood is only setting itself up for more piracy. Note to the bigwigs: Make your product readily available to consumers at a fair price and we will pay. Limit when, where, or how we can view them and you can go screw yourself.
3. Apple tweaks App Store layout amid developer unrest
Get the original article via AppleInsider
In response to public criticism from iPhone developers, Apple has made some minor changes to the way the App Store showcases applications. While free or extremely cheap (less than $1) apps were previously taking up all of the most popular spots, new methods of categorizing the listings mean quality paid apps may get some better exposure in the future. The App Store is still very new, but Apple seems to be a doing a pretty good job of making refinements as they go. Kudos!
4. Latest Firefox 3.1 beta adds Multi-Touch support
Get the original article via Mac Rumors
In what can only be seen as a positive sign of what’s to come for Mac users in the future, Mozilla has released a Mac-exclusive beta version of Firefox that incorporates Multi-Touch gesture support in the popular internet browser. If the implementation of these gestures is done right, they could definitely be very functional and enjoyable to use. Expect this to be yet another reason for Windows users to be jealous of their Apple counterparts.
5. Apple releases firmware updates for ‘late 2008’ portables
Get the original article via Mac Rumors
Aiming to fix a series of issues that have affected some unibody MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air owners, Apple released a pair of software updates for each model earlier this week. As long as they’re actively working on fixing bugs, that should ease folks’ minds. It’s when they don’t acknowledge any issues at all that we’re in trouble.
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