Lucas123 writes “After a storage area network in a data center run by Northrop Grumman went down last week, crippling 26 state agencies’ websites — some for more than a week — Northrop Grumman has now apologized to Virginia, saying it will learn from its mistakes in order to recover systems faster in the future. Northrop’s $2.6 billion service contract with Virginia’s government has come under harsh criticism in the past for service outages, along with project delays and cost overruns.”
Ping, Apple’s new social network for music, has already seen a lot of rave reviews. The service is part of the latest version of iTunes and lets users connect with friends and artists to share and follow music tastes.
The social networking service already has a lot of music artists signing up to connect with their followers.
However, Ping in its current form could turn out to be a haven for impostors and spammers. TechCrunch points out that the new music social networking service already has fake accounts in the name of Mark Zuckerberg and The Beatles. Considering the lucrative opportunity involved in selling music to followers, TechCrunch notes that Ping is likely to invite spammers to create fake accounts of popular music bands to sell their music. The issue could be sorted out through proper referencing methods using third party services like Facebook Connect that could help validate iTunes accounts.
Users who have accessed Ping recently may have noticed a minor change in the ‘Find People‘ functionality. The feature originally allowed people to find friends by signing into their Facebook account. However, this functionality has since then been removed.
According to a report on All Things Digital, the move follows Facebook’s reluctance to open their API up for a service that they doubt could significantly impact their infrastructure. According to sources, Facebook has been insisting on an agreement with Apple that will help the company protect its user data and minimize infrastructure impact. Though such agreements are normally not required for websites making use of the Facebook API, the networking service is noted to have required these agreements considering the massive 160 million installed user base of iTunes.
All Things Digital further reveals that the two companies were unable to reach an agreement over Ping. Consequently, Facebook is reported to have blocked access to iTunes due to Apple’s violation of its terms of service, which has forced Apple to remove the functionality from Ping. It is however believed that the Facebook Connect feature could soon be reinstated as the two companies are still discussing the matter. In a media statement released yesterday, Facebook said:
“Facebook believes in connecting people with their interests and we’ve partnered with innovative developers around the world who share this vision. Facebook and Apple have cooperated successfully in the past to offer people great social experiences and we look forward to doing so in the future.”
We are keen to see the functionality brought back. Have you checked out Ping? What are your impressions on the new service? Tell us in the comments.
According to a recent report on M.I.C Gadget, China Unicom, the official carrier partner for the iPhone and iPad in China, could be offering official jailbreak service to their customers.
The website has published pictures of promotional posters on display at a China Unicom store in Dongguan that reads:
“Support Service: Free SIM-trimming, jailbreak, installation of more than 10 hot apps.”
Though some will argue that pictures don't lie, the offer looks unrealistic for more than one reason.
Also, as an official carrier, China Unicom is likely to offer microSIM cards with the purchase of iPhone 4 and iPad and hence a SIM-trimming service appears doubtful at the moment.
Interestingly, the promotional poster also talks about offering customers free cases along with the purchase of iPhones and iPads. This would make it unnecessary for these customers to sign up for Apple's free case program. The note however does not mention how these cases shall be different from those offered through Apple's program.
What do you make of these reports? Do you think they are true? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
Bloomberg is reporting that Apple is in "advanced talks" with News Corp over a new partnership that will allow iTunes users to rent TV shows for viewing over their iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. At present, users can only purchase these shows at a price of $1.99 or $2.99.
The new service will instead let these users rent the shows for a period of 48 hours at $0.99. Besides News Corp, Cupertino is also believed to be talking to CBS Corp, NBC Universal and Walt Disney Co over the new a-la carte TV show rental service.
If true, this is a major departure from Steve Jobs' earlier plans to introduce a $30 a month "Best of TV" subscription package to iTunes users. It is reported that the media companies were skeptical of Apple's plans since that could risk the retransmission fee revenues that these companies earned from TV system operators.
According to Bloomberg, the new rental service shall be announced on September 7 at a special media event. Steve Jobs is also expected to unveil the next generation iPod Touch and the rumored $99 Apple iTV platform during the event.
The Bloomberg report is in line with earlier speculations about the launch of on-demand TV stations. You may remember Kevin Rose's blog post earlier this week about content producers offering a la carte TV stations on iTunes to the iTV customers. The new service will allow users to watch TV shows over multiple platforms including the iPhone, iPad, iTV and iPod Touch. This could help Apple effectively compete against rival services like Hulu. The popular video streaming service had launched a Hulu Plus subscription package earlier this year that allowed iPhone and iPad users to stream television content on their devices by paying a monthly subscription fee of $9.99. Apple's offering could additionally bring this content to the users' televisions using the new iTV platform.
Would you prefer to rent the TV shows rather than buying them? Or would you prefer to pay a monthly subscription fee?
theodp writes “The National Park Service is finding technology to be a double-edged sword. While new technologies can and do save lives, the NPS is also finding that unseasoned hikers and campers are now boldly going where they never would have gone before, counting on cellphones, GPS, and SPOT devices to bail them out if they get into trouble. Last fall, a group of hikers in the Grand Canyon called in rescue helicopters three times by pressing the emergency button on their satellite location device. When rangers arrived the second time, the hikers complained that their water supply tasted salty. ‘Because of having that electronic device, people have an expectation that they can do something stupid and be rescued,’ said a spokeswoman for Grand Teton National Park. ‘Every once in a while we get a call from someone who has gone to the top of a peak, the weather has turned and they are confused about how to get down and they want someone to personally escort them. The answer is that you are up there for the night.’”
Folks at the Download Squad are reporting that Google could be preparing for the launch of the rumored Chrome-OS powered tablet computer on Black Friday this year (November 26). According to sources, the Google tablet shall feature a 1280×720 pixel multi-touch display and a 2GB RAM on a NVIDIA Tegra 2 platform.
The device is expected to be manufactured by HTC and the data services are noted to be offered by Verizon.
As the competition for Apple in the tablet segment heats up, there are several developments on the iPad front as well. Here is a roundup of the latest.
Increasing Adoption for HTML5 Among Web Services
Yahoo has announced the launch of a new HTML5-based email interface for iPad that brings several enhancements that are customized for the device. The new features on Yahoo Mail for iPad include local content caching for offline access, a dual pane interface similar to the iPad's email app and enhancements to the attachment handling, searching and organization functions.
Besides this, Vimeo – the popular video sharing service – has announced a new universal player that is compatible with Apple's iOS devices. The company has said that its new embed code will automatically detect the platform and render videos over a compatible media player.
HBO Content Streaming On iPad
HBO is reported to be bringing their HBO Go web streaming service to the iPad. According to reports on Bloomberg, this new service is expected to be available within six months and will give HBO's current subscribers access to over 800 hours of TV and movie content over their iPad and other mobile devices. The report further notes that Netflix subscribers are unlikely to get access to HBO's content in the near future.
Mini-iPad Launch Rumors
We have heard from several sources in the past about Apple's plans to launch a 7" iPad by early next year. Now in a fresh report, IDG News has backed these rumors and has reported that Taiwanese suppliers have bagged several contracts pertaining to the new iPad. The report also notes that the new iPad shall launch by Christmas of this year.
Verizon Live-Streaming On iPad
Verizon has announced its plans to launch a new video app for the iPad that will allow subscribers of FiOS television and internet service to stream live TV to their iPads. The service is expected to be restricted to the Wi-Fi network and shall release by early next year.
New iPad Commercial Released
Apple has launched a new iPad commercial this week that showcases the tablet as a tool for learning, reading and entertainment. Apple has also posted the new 'iPad is Delicious' ad clip on the company's iPad website. Check out the new ad in the clip embedded below.
adeelarshad82 writes “Facebook officially launched its ‘Places’ location-based product, backed by seeming rivals Foursquare and Gowalla. Facebook had been expected to announce a location service, ever since it announced the press conference earlier this week. The Places service officially goes live Aug 19, although an iPhone app will go live on the Aug 18. According to Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Places has been in development for several months. It had three goals, he said: helping share where you are in a nice and social way, to see who’s around you, and just discover new and cool places to visit in the future.”
jhernik writes with this excerpt from eWEEK Europe: “Vodafone has backed down in the face of angry opposition from Google Android customers, who last week received a software update thinking it contained Android 2.2, but instead found it contained Vodafone’s branded 360 service. The Vodafone 360 service was launched in October last year. Essentially, Vodafone 360 is a user interface that puts social networking on the front screen of the phone, and arranges the users’ contacts so you can reach any person with a phone call, IM, text or other call — or send a location message to meet up. However it also installs irremovable Vodafone-branded apps and bookmarks, including links to dating sites.”
An anonymous reader writes “Paypal has quietly killed the Paypal plugin and the related virtual-card service. The service generated on-the-fly, one-time-use credit card numbers. When I called in and inquired about the service, I was told that the service has been discontinued, but may be relaunching something similar depending on interest. They are treating inquiries as a sort of petition, taking down names and contact info. The forums seem to be a lost cause, as no Paypal reps have replied to the numerous posts regarding virtual cards being discontinued. Does anyone know of a good alternative source of one-time-use credit card numbers?”
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