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iTunes Music Store Downloads Top Half a Billion Songs
Apple Earnings Show Rising Mac Sales
Apple to muscle in on MVNO market?
Apple Videos Hint At Film Ambitions
Opera's Jon von Tetzchner Interviewed
Coding misstep forces new Firefox release
Clinton takes aim at sex, violence in video games
eWeek: Europe Votes for Innovation, Not Patents
eWeek: Boingo Teams Up With Skype on VOIP Wi-Fi Service
Father-Son Technology Radio Team Jumps on the Podcast Bandwagon
The Tech Night Owl: First Look at the Motorola E815
Envision Web Show of the Week for 7/18/2005
iTunes Music Store Downloads Top Half a Billion Songs
Apple yesterday announced that music fans have purchased and downloaded more than half a billion songs from the iTunes Music Store. The 500 millionth song, Faith Hill’s “Mississippi Girl,” was purchased yesterday by Amy Greer from Lafayette, Indiana, and as the grand prize winner she will receive 10 iPods to share with family and friends, an iTunes gift card for 10,000 songs and an all-expenses paid trip for four to see Coldplay on their world tour.
“Just over two years ago, we sold our first song. Yesterday, we sold our half billionth song. WOW!” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “As we cross this major milestone, we couldn’t be more excited about the future of digital music, iTunes and the iPod.”
“Steve and Apple’s impact with their complete thought of iPod and iTunes will be looked back upon as important as any instrument or device ever created for the music industry,” said Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records.
With Apple’s legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as integrated Podcasting support, iMix playlist sharing, seamless integration with iPod® and groundbreaking personal use rights, the iTunes Music Store is the best way for Mac® and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music online. The iTunes Music Store features more than 1.5 million songs from the major music companies and over 1,000 independent record labels, 10,000 audiobooks, gift certificates and exclusive music not found anywhere else online.
Apple recently launched iTunes 4.9 with everything users need to discover, subscribe, manage and listen to Podcasts built right in. iTunes customers have subscribed to more than five million Podcasts from the iTunes Podcast Directory which now features over 6,000 free audio programs, making it one of the largest Podcast directories in the world.
Apple Earnings Show Rising Mac Sales
eweek.com's Daniel Drew Turner reports:
"Industry analysts examining Apple's Wednesday earnings statement concurred that the most interesting information revealed was the strong growth of Macintosh computer sales.
"As discussed in Apple Computer Inc.'s fiscal third quarter conference call, sales of Macintosh computers have risen 35 percent over the year-ago quarter, which gave the Apple products triple the sales rate of other computer vendors."
For the full report visit here.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1837847,00.asp
Apple to muscle in on MVNO market?
Wireless Watch reports:
"Motorola’s iTunes handset is due to launch, at last, next month, against a background of rising speculation that Apple will become an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator), leasing spectrum in the US to offer carrier services under the powerful iTunes brand....
"We might question whether a device maker would make a successful service provider, but an Apple MVNO would certainly present various threats to the incumbent mobile carriers. It would throw the operators’ own download services and other music-oriented activities into the shade, at a time when music is seen as one of the key growth drivers for cellco revenue in the next few years."
For the full commentary visit here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/18/apple_mvno/
Apple Videos Hint At Film Ambitions
CNET News.com's Jeff Pelline ,Ă‚Â Ina Fried and John Borland report:
"Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs is famously secretive when it comes to sharing plans for his company's future.
"To find clues, however, you need only look as far as the latest versions of the iTunes Music Store. You can't help noticing support for podcasting, or "radio reborn," as Apple puts it.
"Look beyond that, and you'll notice that since May, the iTunes software has allowed you to play videos, movie trailers or even home movies. The store itself has begun selling a handful of music videos, with more being added each week.
"Record label sources say Apple has been in talks to sell a much wider range of music videos through the store, probably as soon as this fall. The company also has indicated to media executives that an iPod that plays video could be unveiled as early as September. That leads some industry insiders to believe that Apple is working on an online movie store and a video playback device that does for movies what iTunes and the iPod have already done for music."
For the full report visit here.
Opera's Jon von Tetzchner Interviewed
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports:
"Jon von Tetzchner, CEO of Norway-based Opera Software, was recently in San Diego. Tetzchner's company, developer of the Opera Web browser, is the main commercial competitor to Microsoft's Internet Explorer. He is one of two founding Opera employees. The company was spun off from Norway's largest telecom company, Telenor, in 1995."
Jonathan Sidener asked von Tetzchner answersfive questions:
Why would anyone pay for Opera when there are free browsers available?
How secure is Opera?
After 10 years, is Opera Software profitable yet?
What is Opera's market share?
Are you a gadget person?
Read the answers at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/computing/20050718-9999-mz1b18five.html
Coding misstep forces new Firefox release
CNET News.com's Renai LeMay reports:
"The open-source Firefox browser and Thunderbird e-mail client will be updated for the second time in a week because of code changes that have unintentionally stopped some third-party extensions from functioning correctly.
"The updates will take Firefox and Thunderbird to version 1.0.6, while the Mozilla Suite will be updated to version 1.7.10, wrote representatives from the Mozilla Foundation on the group's developer news blog. Mozilla oversees the software's development.
"It appears security fixes in last week's 1.0.5 update caused the problems."
For the full report visit here.
Clinton takes aim at sex, violence in video games
IDG News Service's Dan Nystedt reports:
"U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to introduce legislation to help keep video games with pornographic and violent content out of the hands of children in the wake of a controversy over the popular “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” video game.
"She has also called on U.S. authorities to investigate the source of sexually explicit content in the game."
For the full report visit here.
http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/07/18/clinton/index.php?lsrc=mwrss
eWeek: Europe Votes for Innovation, Not Patents
Opinion: The fight to keep software patents out of Europe could change the patent landscape in the United States, too.
Read more at:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,,1836687,00.asp
eWeek: Boingo Teams Up With Skype on VOIP Wi-Fi Service
"Boingo Wireless Inc. and Skype Technologies S.A. last week announced a service that gives inexpensive wireless hot-spot access to Skype's VOIP customers.
Skype Zones Powered by Boingo lets customers have unlimited access to Boingo's network of 18,000 Wi-Fi hot spots for $7.95 per month or $2.95 for a 2-hour connection, using a custom version of Boingo's client software that focuses on voice over IP."
Read more at:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,,1837068,00.asp
Father-Son Technology Radio Team Jumps on the Podcast Bandwagon
Almost three years after joining forces to create a dynamic radio duo, Gene and Grayson Steinberg, the hosts of The Tech Night Owl LIVE, have made their popular online radio show available as a Podcast. Both Macintosh and Windows users alike will now have the ability to download the most recent broadcast of The Tech Night Owl LIVE by subscribing to it for free through iTunes 4.9 or courtesy of the show’s home page at:
http:///www.techbroadcasting.com
In addition to the latest episode, broadcast live every Thursday evening from 9:00 PM until 11:00 PM Eastern Time, audiences can download and listen to all of the previous episodes for 2005. Gene Steinberg, the host of The Tech Night Owl LIVE, said that this new initiative comes in response to many months of audience demand. “We’re received numerous requests from our listeners in recent weeks to make the show available in Podcast form and we are delighted that we’re now able to make it happen,” Steinberg said. “From here on, our listeners can download our shows direct to their Macs or PCs, or take our shows with them on their iPods.”
Within two days after the iTunes Podcast Directory became available upon the release of iTunes 4.9 on June 28, users subscribed to over a million Podcasts. Gene and Grayson Steinberg said they hope this move will help create a stronger buzz around the well-regarded program and boost the radio show’s core audience, attracting both current fans and new listeners interested in hearing the technological musings and intriguing interviews offered by this father-son team.
The Tech Night Owl LIVE began as The Mac Night Owl LIVE in October 2002 as an experimental program focusing on the most critical issues facing the Macintosh platform. Over time, it has attracted a worldwide following and many fascinating guests from the highest echelons of the technology industry and press, including Wall Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal, Jason Snell and Christopher Breen from Macworld Magazine, authors Andy Innatko and David Biedny, Eliot Van Buskirk of MP3.com and many more. Gene and Grayson decided to rename the show as The Tech Night Owl LIVE earlier this year to reflect the program’s increasingly broader focus on the general technology world.
About the Hosts
Gene Steinberg is an award-winning best-selling author of more than 30 technology books and has written columns for Gannett News service, CNET, and USA Today. His son, Grayson is a budding young journalist who has contributed articles to several publications, most recently as a staff reporter for The State Press, the official student newspaper of Arizona State University. Gene has combined his technological wisdom and long history of broadcasting experience with Grayson’s irreverent sarcasm and wit to create a truly compelling tour-de-force. To listen to the The Tech Night Owl LIVE, visit:
http://www.techbroadcasting.com
Users can subscribe direct from the show’s site, or courtesy of Apple’s iTunes 4.9 program. To download a copy of the software, visit
http://www.apple.com/itunes/
The Tech Night Owl: First Look at the Motorola E815
The best route to handsfree in the mobile phone arena is Bluetooth. Sure, you can tether a conventional headset and wire to a standard phone. But even if you get accustomed to having a wire hanging from your ear, what if gets caught on a door edge, for example? Besides, don't you begin to feel a little like an FBI informant with a "wire" to capture the criminal in the act?
Here's the link for this week's commentary:
http://www.technightowl.com/newsletters/2005/07/294.htm#E815
Note: You can also access our RSS feed, available at:
http://www.macnightowl.com/index.xml
Envision Web Show of the Week for 7/18/2005
Two weeks ago, on July 4, 2005, as part of the Deep Impact mission, NASA slammed a probe into the comet Temple 1. The goal of this mission is to learn more about the comet's composition, and, by extension, the composition of the early solar system in which it, and earth, were formed. This week's Envision Web Show of the Week features photos from before, during and after that event.
The Envision Web Show of the Week can be downloaded from the Show of the Week Web site at:
http://www.opendoor.com/envision/ShowOfTheWeek.html
Previous Shows of the Week are available in the Show of the Week archive.
Charles W. Moore
Tags: News ď Tech-Industry ď
