|  |  |  | | | | | MacRumors: Mac News and Rumors - All Stories | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | With the MobileMe to iCloud transition service launched for developers tonight, Apple has revealed what it plans on doing with existing MobileMe accounts moving over to iCloud.
While MobileMe and iCloud accounts are quite different there are some overlapping parts. iCloud will continue to house Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Bookmarks, Find My Phone, and Back to My Mac, while dropping support for iWeb Publishing, Gallery and iDisk. Meanwhile, iCloud adds iTunes in the Cloud, Photo Stream, Documents in the Cloud, Automatic downloads of apps and books, and iOS device backup and restore.
During the transition, Apple has promised to keep existing MobileMe accounts active until June 30, 2012. What wasn't entirely clear was how the storage requirements would shift over to iCloud. Current individual MobileMe customers have 20GB of storage included in their yearly plan.
Apple has decided to move this one-to-one over to iCloud and is automatically signing up MobileMe users to the 20GB (+ 5GB free) tier plan in iCloud at no charge. We previously detailed the iCloud additional storage pricing which puts 25GB of storage at a normal yearly price of $40 USD per year.
Users are automatically signed up for recurring billing with the next payment date for the plan to be June 30th, 2011 -- the same date that the rest of MobileMe shuts down. You may choose to downgrade before that time, and not get charged.
It's not clear how much an average user will need on iCloud. Apple claims 5GB "goes a long way". With the loss of MobileMe's iDisk, individual storage requirements could easily go down with iCloud, but the addition of iOS backups could easily push you over the free 5GB limits. Apple is expected to launch iCloud in the fall alongside iOS 5. 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | With the MobileMe to iCloud transition service launched for developers tonight, Apple has revealed what it plans on doing with existing MobileMe accounts moving over to iCloud.
While MobileMe and iCloud accounts are quite different there are some overlapping parts. iCloud will continue to house Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Bookmarks, Find My Phone, and Back to My Mac, while dropping support for iWeb Publishing, Gallery and iDisk. Meanwhile, iCloud adds iTunes in the Cloud, Photo Stream, Documents in the Cloud, Automatic downloads of apps and books, and iOS device backup and restore.
During the transition, Apple has promised to keep existing MobileMe accounts active until June 30, 2012. What wasn't entirely clear was how the storage requirements would shift over to iCloud. Current individual MobileMe customers have 20GB of storage included in their yearly plan.
Apple has decided to move this one-to-one over to iCloud and is automatically signing up MobileMe users to the 20GB (+ 5GB free) tier plan in iCloud at no charge. We previously detailed the iCloud additional storage pricing which puts 25GB of storage at a normal yearly price of $40 USD per year.
Users are automatically signed up for recurring billing with the next payment date for the plan to be June 30th, 2011 -- the same date that the rest of MobileMe shuts down. You may choose to downgrade before that time, and not get charged.
It's not clear how much an average user will need on iCloud. Apple claims 5GB "goes a long way". With the loss of MobileMe's iDisk, individual storage requirements could easily go down with iCloud, but the addition of iOS backups could easily push you over the free 5GB limits. Apple is expected to launch iCloud in the fall alongside iOS 5. 
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 
Apple has enabled the MobileMe.com/move url which allows developers to migrate data from MobileMe to iCloud. If you're not a developer, you'll have to wait. Per 9to5Mac, it allows you to move Mail, Contacts, and Calendar information, but the rest of the data won't be making the move: Apple lets you take your Mail, Contacts, and Calendar information over to iCloud and also tells users that they can continue using iWeb, iDisk, and Photo Gallery up until June 30, 2012. Apple also tells users that the following will no longer be available: Dashboard widget sync, dock item sync, keychains, signatures, mail account rules, mail smart boxes, and mail preferences. Non-developer accounts are not yet allowed to migrate their data to iCloud. 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Since late yesterday, MacRumors has received a few reports of users who have seen their devices running various beta versions of iOS 5 shutting down and returning to activation mode. The reports have been sporadic, with some users suggesting that earlier beta versions may simply have been expiring and been disabled by Apple.
But according to a report from Karthik.K (via AppleInsider), the deactivations appear to be a concerted effort by Apple to crack down on registered developers who have been selling off extra beta slots to offer non-developers access to iOS 5 beta versions. Developers who have sold off their slots are apparently reporting that Apple has shut down their accounts over the violation of the company's developer terms, which limit beta iOS installations to the developer's own devices for testing purposes.Many of my developer friends have reported that Apple has sent an email warning which said that they have identified the developer to be selling his slots for some users to get early preview of iOS.
And Apple has started closing the developer accounts for selling the slots and also, have flagged the UDIDs associated with that dev account, thus making the iOS 5 device unusable.
Many developers have received this letter and immediately banned their account from the developer's program.
Once Apple locks your iOS device, the phone will enter the initial setup mode asking you to connect to a WiFi network. And nothing happens more than that. Apple allows developers to register up to 100 devices to a single developer account, which costs $99 per year. Each developer can submit a list of Unique Device Identifiers (UDIDs) to be registered under their account, and some users have taken to selling off those device slots to non-developers for $5-10 apiece in order to pay for their own developer access and make a small profit. Going even further, entire websites have even sprung up to facilitate the direct sale of such slots.
As a result of those beta slot sales, access to the iOS 5 has been relatively wide open, facilitating significant disclosures about the next-generation mobile operating system despite many of the details technically being covered by non-disclosure agreements between Apple and its developers.
It is unclear why it has taken Apple so long to crack down on the behavior, as the selling of beta slots has been an open secret for quite some time. iOS 5 is set for a public release sometime this "fall", with the general consensus being that it should appear alongside the iPhone 5 in September or October.
Update: Most of those reporting that they were affected by the issue note that they were running either Beta 1 or Beta 2 of iOS 5, both of which have expired. We have received scattered reports of users on Beta 3 and Beta 4 being affected, but those may be erroneous. Consequently, the issue may simply be expiring early beta versions as we initially supposed.
We are still looking for more reports of users on iOS Beta 3 or the current Beta 4 who can confirm being affected. 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Since late yesterday, MacRumors has received a few reports of users who have seen their devices running various beta versions of iOS 5 shutting down and returning to activation mode. The reports have been sporadic, with some users suggesting that earlier beta versions may simply have been expiring and been disabled by Apple.
But according to a report from Karthik.K (via AppleInsider), the deactivations appear to be a concerted effort by Apple to crack down on registered developers who have been selling off extra beta slots to offer non-developers access to iOS 5 beta versions. Developers who have sold off their slots are apparently reporting that Apple has shut down their accounts over the violation of the company's developer terms, which limit beta iOS installations to the developer's own devices for testing purposes.Many of my developer friends have reported that Apple has sent an email warning which said that they have identified the developer to be selling his slots for some users to get early preview of iOS.
And Apple has started closing the developer accounts for selling the slots and also, have flagged the UDIDs associated with that dev account, thus making the iOS 5 device unusable.
Many developers have received this letter and immediately banned their account from the developer's program.
Once Apple locks your iOS device, the phone will enter the initial setup mode asking you to connect to a WiFi network. And nothing happens more than that. Apple allows developers to register up to 100 devices to a single developer account, which costs $99 per year. Each developer can submit a list of Unique Device Identifiers (UDIDs) to be registered under their account, and some users have taken to selling off those device slots to non-developers for $5-10 apiece in order to pay for their own developer access and make a small profit. Going even further, entire websites have even sprung up to facilitate the direct sale of such slots.
As a result of those beta slot sales, access to the iOS 5 has been relatively wide open, facilitating significant disclosures about the next-generation mobile operating system despite many of the details technically being covered by non-disclosure agreements between Apple and its developers.
It is unclear why it has taken Apple so long to crack down on the behavior, as the selling of beta slots has been an open secret for quite some time. iOS 5 is set for a public release sometime this "fall", with the general consensus being that it should appear alongside the iPhone 5 in September or October. 
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | A report from CapitalVue is making the rounds today for its claims that Apple has finally struck a deal with China Mobile to a launch the iPhone on the world's largest mobile carrier. China Mobile currently has over 600 million customers.
Unfortunately, the sourcing on the rumor is somewhat uncertain, as the report points to "a company filing" picked up by Chinese-language site ccidcom.com. An automated translation of the article suggests, however, that the report came from the Associated Press, and we have been unable to locate such an article.
But if ccidcom.com's report is indeed true, it suggests that China Mobile will initially introduce the iPhone 4 in October, to be followed later by the iPhone 5 and future 4G LTE models based on the carrier's homegrown TD-LTE standard.
China Mobile has long expressed interest in offering the iPhone, and with Apple making a strong push into China the carrier certainly has to be a priority for Apple even with the technical hurdles of China Mobile's unique network standards. Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook was spotted at China Mobile's headquarters back in June, fueling speculation that a deal was being finalized. Just a few weeks later, a photo on an alleged China Mobile prototype iPhone 4 surfaced, further suggesting that a compatible device has indeed been in testing.
Apple currently offers the iPhone in China only through China Unicom, but has also been reported to be moving toward a deal with China Telecom, perhaps even more quickly than with China Mobile. Regardless, it seems that Apple is certainly making the Chinese market a priority and is working hard to get all of the country's top carriers on board for the iPhone as quickly as possible. 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Apple has understandably long had an interest in controlling domain names associated with its products and features, as recently evidenced by the company snapping up 50 new domain names immediately following its announcements at WWDC earlier this year. Most of Apple's domain name holdings are managed by MarkMonitor, a San Francisco-based brand protection firm that handles such tasks for a significant number of major companies.
We noticed today that Apple's name has appeared in the public WHOIS listings for applepico.com, a domain that has been controlled by MarkMonitor for a number of years but which neither hosts its own content nor redirects to any other site at the present time.
Given that the domain has been associated with MarkMonitor for many years, it is possible that Apple has owned the domain right along, but it is somewhat odd that the WHOIS listing was modified today to make Apple's position as registrant publicly visible. Prior to today, the registrant had been listed as "DNStination, Inc.", an arm of MarkMonitor's brand protection services used to provide anonymity for the company's customers.
With the change in WHOIS listing, the door naturally opens to speculation on exactly what product or feature with a "pico" name Apple might be interested in protecting.
One natural avenue for such speculation leads to pico projectors, tiny image projectors that can be built into handheld devices such as mobile phones and cameras. Apple patent applications have revealed that the company has at least thought about how such a feature could be incorporated into an iPhone, but there has been essentially no evidence that Apple is in fact looking to add the capability to the iPhone in the near future.
A second possibility relates to Apple's iPod line and is sparked by the fact that the domain was initially registered back in December 2005, just a few months after Apple released the iPod nano. At the time, Apple had been releasing increasingly small iPod devices and had just replaced the iPod mini with the iPod nano. Consequently, Apple could simply have been looking to preserve the possibility for a future "iPod pico" device if the company was indeed responsible for the initial registration of the domain name. Of course, if that were the case, Apple would presumably have been more interested in the ipodpico.com domain name, which was not registered until January 2007 and is not owned by Apple.
We hesitate to read too much into today's development and do believe that Apple has owned the applepico.com domain name for quite some time, and thus it is likely that no specific announcement of a product or feature related to the name is imminent. It is interesting to note, however, that Apple does indeed own the domain name and that there has at least been some recent shuffling of the registration information for it. 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Barron's reports on a brief note from RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky, who shares some of his "takeaways" from a meeting with Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook and Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer.
According to the note, Cook and Oppenheimer continue to believe in a "massive opportunity" for Apple in China, seeing the potential for significant growth there with the company's recent explosion to $9 billion in annual revenue for the market being only the beginning.
Many have viewed the introduction of a low-cost iPhone for the prepaid market to be key for Apple's future success in China and many other countries, and the Apple executives reportedly noted that any such device would have to be "an innovative, category-killer experience". Cook and Oppenheimer obviously did not specifically confirm plans to launch a low-cost iPhone, but it is clear that Apple is working hard on finding a way to break into and succeed in that market.They include the fact that Apple has a "massive opportunity" in China, with the market there "significantly untapped" despite Apple revenue of $9 billion in the country. Despite an "explosion" of devices based on Google's (GOOG) "Android" operating system, Apple can maintain a competitive advantage through its integration of hardware and software, and its "curation" of the "application ecosystem."
Regarding a low-cost iPhone, Abramsky writes that "Apple's primary criterion for launching a lower-end iPhone is an innovative, category-killer experience." Other topics of the discussion included word that Apple's gross margins for the quarter may be better than expected due to it currently being a "buyer's market" for components, and the company's efforts to settle with Android handset manufacturers in the numerous ongoing patent disputes. 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Cult of Mac reports that Apple is planning to discontinue its multi-touch Magic Mouse in the relatively near future, pushing users to adopt the Magic Trackpad in order to make full use of the new gestures included in OS X Lion. According to the source, who is apparently in Apple's retail arm, Apple is not replenishing inventories of the Magic Mouse at its stores as they run low.We've gotten word from a previously reliable source that Apple is discontinuing the Magic Mouse in favor of the Magic Trackpad. Our retail source has informed us that Magic Mouse inventory is not being replenished for Apple stores, and that Apple is finally phasing out the Magic Mouse. We find this rumor difficult to believe unless Apple is planning to introduce a new mouse capable of registering the more advanced gestures found in Lion, as significant numbers of users strongly prefer mice to trackpads for their input needs.
Users could certainly turn to third-party solutions for their mice needs if Apple were to indeed move to offer only the Magic Trackpad, but it seems implausible that the company would go as far as to eliminate its packages of mouse-based systems such as the iMac. Apple has begun offering the option of either a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad as part of their iMac purchases, but we believe that many users would be unwilling to either be forced to switch to a trackpad or to have to look for a third-party mouse vendor.
Apple has, however, often been ahead of the curve when it comes to discontinuing features it views as outdated, most recently with the removal of the integrated optical drive from the Mac mini.
It should also be noted that Apple does continue to offer a wired mouse option both as a standalone purchase and bundled with desktop Mac purchases. The Apple Mouse, formerly known as the Mighty Mouse, offers a clickable scroll ball and a touch-sensitive shell, but is not capable of recognizing multi-touch and other gestures. There has been no mention of whether Apple is also planning to phase out its wired mouse.
Update: In a follow-up report, Cult of Mac now says that the Magic Mouse is not being discontinued and is instead receiving a new part number, suggesting that the device may be receiving an update. 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Cult of Mac reports that Apple is planning to discontinue its multi-touch Magic Mouse in the relatively near future, pushing users to adopt the Magic Trackpad in order to make full use of the new gestures included in OS X Lion. According to the source, who is apparently in Apple's retail arm, Apple is not replenishing inventories of the Magic Mouse at its stores as they run low.We've gotten word from a previously reliable source that Apple is discontinuing the Magic Mouse in favor of the Magic Trackpad. Our retail source has informed us that Magic Mouse inventory is not being replenished for Apple stores, and that Apple is finally phasing out the Magic Mouse. We find this rumor difficult to believe unless Apple is planning to introduce a new mouse capable of registering the more advanced gestures found in Lion, as significant numbers of users strongly prefer mice to trackpads for their input needs.
Users could certainly turn to third-party solutions for their mice needs if Apple were to indeed move to offer only the Magic Trackpad, but it seems implausible that the company would go as far as to eliminate its packages of mouse-based systems such as the iMac. Apple has begun offering the option of either a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad as part of their iMac purchases, but we believe that many users would be unwilling to either be forced to switch to a trackpad or to have to look for a third-party mouse vendor.
Apple has, however, often been ahead of the curve when it comes to discontinuing features it views as outdated, most recently with the removal of the integrated optical drive from the Mac mini.
It should also be noted that Apple does continue to offer a wired mouse option both as a standalone purchase and bundled with desktop Mac purchases. The Apple Mouse, formerly known as the Mighty Mouse, offers a clickable scroll ball and a touch-sensitive shell, but is not capable of recognizing multi-touch and other gestures. There has been no mention of whether Apple is also planning to phase out its wired mouse.
Update: In a follow-up report, Cult of Mac now says that the Magic Mouse is not being discontinued and is instead receiving a new part number, suggesting that the device may be receiving an update.Our source in Apple inventory has followed up with us, and it appears that Apple has instead discontinued the Magic Mouse's old part number in favor for a new one. This move may indicate an update to the Magic Mouse, with the most logical prediction being better integration with advanced gestures in OS X Lion. 
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Cult of Mac reports that Apple is planning to discontinue its multi-touch Magic Mouse in the relatively near future, pushing users to adopt the Magic Trackpad in order to make full use of the new gestures included in OS X Lion. According to the source, who is apparently in Apple's retail arm, Apple is not replenishing inventories of the Magic Mouse at its stores as they run low.We've gotten word from a previously reliable source that Apple is discontinuing the Magic Mouse in favor of the Magic Trackpad. Our retail source has informed us that Magic Mouse inventory is not being replenished for Apple stores, and that Apple is finally phasing out the Magic Mouse. We find this rumor difficult to believe unless Apple is planning to introduce a new mouse capable of registering the more advanced gestures found in Lion, as significant numbers of users strongly prefer mice to trackpads for their input needs.
Users could certainly turn to third-party solutions for their mice needs if Apple were to indeed move to offer only the Magic Trackpad, but it seems implausible that the company would go as far as to eliminate its packages of mouse-based systems such as the iMac. Apple has begun offering the option of either a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad as part of their iMac purchases, but we believe that many users would be unwilling to either be forced to switch to a trackpad or to have to look for a third-party mouse vendor.
Apple has, however, often been ahead of the curve when it comes to discontinuing features it views as outdated, most recently with the removal of the integrated optical drive from the Mac mini.
It should also be noted that Apple does continue to offer a wired mouse option both as a standalone purchase and bundled with desktop Mac purchases. The Apple Mouse, formerly known as the Mighty Mouse, offers a clickable scroll ball and a touch-sensitive shell, but is not capable of recognizing multi-touch and other gestures. There has been no mention of whether Apple is also planning to phase out its wired mouse. 
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | MacDefender was the most significant malware attack on the Mac in years, if ever. The threat started in May, infecting many less-savvy Mac users, and had become widespread enough that Apple was forced to release a special anti-malware security fix. The software would be downloaded when users visited certain websites and, once installed, looked to be legitimate anti-virus software. Unsuspecting users would get warnings of viruses infecting their system. By entering their credit card number, users could pay to "remove" the viruses.
Except it was all fake. There were no viruses, just a piece of software trying to trick users into handing over their credit card numbers.
The hidden developer behind MacDefender continued to release new variants of the malware into the wild, resulting in a cat-and-mouse game as Apple continued to ban new variants of the software.
Then, one day, MacDefender simply disappeared. Richard Gaywood, at TUAW, pointed out that Apple hadn't updated its malware definitions -- the code designed to kill MacDefender -- since June 18.
Brian Krebs might have the answer:
On June 23, Russian police arrested Pavel Vrublevsky, the co-founder of Russian online payment giant ChronoPay and a major player in the fake AV market.
[...]
In May, I wrote about evidence showing that ChronoPay employees were involved in pushing MacDefender — fake AV software targeting Mac users. ChronoPay later issued a statement denying it had any involvement in the MacDefender scourge.
But last week, Russian cops who raided ChronoPay's offices in Moscow found otherwise. According to a source who was involved in the raid, police found mountains of evidence that ChronoPay employees were running technical and customer support for a variety of fake AV programs, including MacDefender. The last release of MacDefender occurred on June 18. ChronoPay's offices are raided June 23. A coincidence perhaps, or Russian law enforcement saving Mac users from fake antivirus software. 
 | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | |  |
Users looking to install the free 
沒有留言:
張貼留言