Apple’s Deal With Google for iPhone Search Pegged at Over $100 Million Per Year

Silicon Alley Insider reports on information from a source claiming that rumors of Apple looking to develop its own search engine are untrue and that Apple's current deal with Google to provide default search functionality for the iPhone is currently...

Microsoft Reportedly Considering iPad Version of Office

T3 reports that Microsoft Senior Product Manager Mike Tedesco revealed during the Office for Mac 2011 preview event at Macworld that the company is "looking at" the possibility of bringing its Office productivity suite to Apple's iPad tablet device.<...

Expo: Speck turns iPhone cases into fashion statements

The company's new hard-shell cases come in a variety of colours and patterns for those days when you just can't decide what to wear with your phone.

E-mails From 2003 Reveal Microsoft Caught ‘Flat Footed’ by iTunes Music Store Launch

Over the weekend, Groklaw discovered a couple of interesting e-mails sent by Microsoft executives Bill Gates and Jim Allchin to other members of the Microsoft executive team revealing that the company had been taken by surprise by Apple's launch of t...

HyperMac debuts kandy-kolored, streamlined, pocket-sized batteries (vroom! vroom!)

Continue reading HyperMac debuts kandy-kolored, streamlined, pocket-sized batteries (vroom! vroom!)

HyperMac debuts kandy-kolored, streamlined, pocket-sized batteries (vroom! vroom!) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: Umbrella Today? for iPhone

You won't get a lot of satellite imagery and sophisticated weather information with Umbrella Today? The app aims to simply answer the question posed by its name -- will you need an umbrella today?

Office for Mac 2011 Previewed Ahead of Launch Scheduled for Later This Year

Microsoft today announced a sneak preview of Office for Mac 2011, set for release later this year. The preview, scheduled in conjunction with Macworld Expo in San Francisco, details several significant changes including the adoption of a "ribbon" in...

New Beta of Google Chrome for Mac Now Available

Google today announced the release of a new beta of Google Chrome for Mac, adding several new features such as extensions and bookmark syncing that were left out of the initial beta released in December while also focusing on a "snappy, safe, and sim...

Activision “selectively expanding” brands onto iPhone

Filed under: Gaming, Software, iPhone, App Store

Activision is probably the biggest gaming company going these days, and in their conference call earlier this week, CEO Bobby Kotick briefly mentioned its foray into the world of the iPhone. We've talked a lot in the past about indie developers and how they find their way on to the App Store, but it's the larger companies that sometimes have a tougher time of it, making larger games that don't always make back their accordingly large development costs, much less make any money. Kotick says that Activision is still a bit leery, but that they will continue "selectively expanding our brands" onto platforms like the iPhone (he basically says that Guitar Hero is coming to Apple's handheld soon), and that the company is looking into Apple's platform more as a brand extension rather than a potential source of financial revenue. Case in point: Blizzard's release of the Mobile Authenticator for their World of Warcraft. They're not planning to release games necessarily, but just other ways for users to connect with the company and its brands.

Not that they can't release successful games -- Activision is also dropping the first downloadable map pack for its very popular World at War: Zombies game (based on the Call of Duty brand). The pack is $5 (on top of the $10 app price, though there is a free version available without the DLC to try), and adds a second map to the game, more than doubling the size of the in-game world, as well as adding more perks, content, and other goodies. Interesting to see the approach that a larger developer is taking with Apple's platform.

Activision "selectively expanding" brands onto iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Activision "selectively expanding" brands onto iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone made Bill Gates Say “Oh my God”, iPad Makes Him Rehash iPod Dismissal

Of course if BNET asks Bill Gates about rival Steve Jobs’ latest creation, the iPad, he’ll have to dismiss it in public — to do otherwise wouldn’t be in service of Microsoft. What’s more telling is his confession about the iPhone (infamously banned at his house) some three years later:

“You know, I’m a big believer in touch and digital reading, but I still think that some mixture of voice, the pen and a real keyboard – in other words a netbook – will be the mainstream on that,” he said. “So, it’s not like I sit there and feel the same way I did with iPhone where I say, ‘Oh my God, Microsoft didn’t aim high enough.’ It’s a nice reader, but there’s nothing on the iPad I look at and say, ‘Oh, I wish Microsoft had done it.’”

On the heels of those emails we linked to yesterday, detailing his and Jim Allchin’s concerns that Apple had caught Microsoft “flat footed” and “smoked” them, it also brings context to the iPad dismissal, especially considering the eerily similar dismissal of the iPod to BusinessWeek many years ago, as pointed out by Digital Daily:

“There’s nothing that the iPod does that I say, ‘Oh, wow, I don’t think we can do that.’”

And we all know how that turned out.

As to BNET, the introduction to Gates’ interview reads as rather one-sided and Apple/iPad-hostile:

With the sudden ridicule of Steve Jobs’ new do-everything media player, Apple has abruptly become a ripe target for those who would like to take it down a notch.

Ridicule? While some haven’t been thrilled with the iPad, much as they weren’t with the iPod when it was announced, almost no one has used it yet, and many have been downright effusive about it. Really, wasn’t the Gates quote link-baity enough?

iPhone made Bill Gates Say “Oh my God”, iPad Makes Him Rehash iPod Dismissal is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Bill Gates on iPad: “It’s a Nice Reader, But…”

BNET's Brent Schlender recently spoke with Microsoft founder Bill Gates about Apple's new iPad tablet device in order to get a feel for the thoughts of the man behind Apple's longtime rival and whose company introduced the "Tablet PC" concept nearly ...

Macworld 2010: TUAW attacks San Francisco with the Parrot AR.Drone

Filed under: Macworld, Accessories, iPhone

OK, let's face it. It is the coolest iPhone accessory since, uhhhhhh, the iPad?

We're talking about the Parrot AR.Drone, the iPhone / iPad touch-controlled quadricopter that, when it finally ships later in 2010, will be one of the hottest geek toys on the market.

TUAW bloggers Mike Schramm, Dave Caolo, Steve Sande, and David Winograd visited with the oh-so-lucky dudes from Parrot yesterday pre-Macworld, and had a chance to try our hands at flying this incredible little device. No, we don't know what this is going to cost, nor do we know when it will ship other than "in 2010," but if you have your geek on, you're going to want one of these. Watch the above video by our awesome videographer Chad Mumm for the scoop.

Macworld 2010: TUAW attacks San Francisco with the Parrot AR.Drone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Macworld 2010: TUAW attacks San Francisco with the Parrot AR.Drone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: South Park Mega Millionaire for iPhone

South Park Mega Millionaire is a hilarious iPhone game if you appreciate the Comedy Central show's crude sense of humor.

Mobile apps bringing office tools to the cloud

Both Readdle and Quickoffice announced iPhone products capable of hooking up with popular cloud storage and document exchange services.