Remember Ping? Yeah, that social network thing that launched together with iTunes 10 icon. No wait, it actually launched together with iTunes 10 - I think so.
Anyway, Silicon Alley Insider reports that Apple and Facebook negotiated for at least 18 months over a “music-focused social networking service”, but couldn’t find a deal before Apple decided to let Ping fly with its own wings. Read more
Not so many people noticed this on September 1st (Alex Brooks did), but Apple posted a cool webpage called “iPod + iTunes Timeline” right after the music event. You can check out the page here. As the name suggests, it’s a timeline of iTunes and iPod history starting from January 2001 all the way down to September 2010 and it comes with useful info about product release dates and announcements.
You can also download “image packs” (upon confirming an agreement) which contain .tif files of Apple products. At the bottom of the page, some pictures of celebrities enjoying their iPods.
Nostalgia. Read more
Here’s a follow-up to our post on how to get iTunes 9 look back in the latest 10 version: let’s talk about the icon. I personally don’t hate it (actually I quite like it), but it seems that I may be one of the very few ones. If you go over websites such as Dribbble or MacThemes or DeviantArt, people are going crazy about replacement icons for iTunes 10.
So I’ve rounded up 10 of the best replacements I’ve stumbled upon. I saved them in my Candybar database, and they’ll be here once (and if) I’ll decide to change my iTunes icon. Check them out after the break.
I haven’t covered OS X graphical mods here on MacStories for a long time, but this one’s good. It didn’t take long: if you hate iTunes 10’s new UI or you simply want the old colorful iTunes back, give a try to Damien Erambert’s iTunes 109.
The download comes with an easy to setup installer package which lets you choose if you want to change the entire application UI or just the sidebar icons. You can also get rid of those odd vertical buttons and change the application icon. I applied the mod on my new iMac, and it worked perfectly. Take a look at the screenshots below, and go download the mod here.
In case you missed it, there was an Apple keynote earlier today. A Stevenote. Yeah, no big deal. Really: they just announced a completely refreshed iPod line with new Touches, Nanos and Shuffles, a new Apple TV, HDR photography in iOS 4.1 and they previewed 4.2 for iPad. With multitasking. Oh, they also talked about Game Center and iOS 4.2 unified across all devices. But really, no big deal.
Amongst all these insignificant updates, Apple also revealed a new version for their popular music player, ehm, video player, ehm, app installer, ehm, Store - ok, they announced a new version of iTunes. iTunes 10. Not X, 10. The tenth iteration of a software which, over the years, has gone from playing music to managing your iBooks. An application that now gets a new icon (I like it, was about time to ditch the CD), new close / minimize buttons (more on this in a minute), a refined UI and…a social network. Inside the app. Another feature in iTunes.
Apple: are you sure about that?
Here’s a huge one, jailbreakers: Synchronicity is a new tweak that has just been released in Cydia which lets you use your iPhone while it’s syncing with iTunes via USB.
Now here’s an interesting rumor from All Things Digital. Apple sent invitations for a press event on September 1st to selected media outlets yesterday, and the speculation began about what Apple will announce next Wednesday. There are so many rumors and reports floating around one may think Apple is coming out with a new iPad next week. The invitation mail contains an acoustic guitar, just to confirm that - like every year - it’s a music-related event.
According to All Things D, Apple won’t launch “iTunes Cloud” next week, but a web-based version of the Store with revamped social capabilities.
Earlier this morning Apple announced that iTunes U downloads have topped 300 million in over 3 years. More than 800 universities have iTunes U accounts, half of these institutions distribute content through the iTunes Store.
A very good result, and the prove that iTunes is growing large of great content. I just wonder how long Apple will allow iTunes to contain all this content, before moving to other solutions. Cloud distribution, anyone?
Check out the press release after the break.
I missed this app on its launch back in April, when the iPad was released. Music Flow does only one thing: it brings the CoverFlow music browsing experience to the iPad, which lacks it by default. It retrieves albums and artists from iPod.app, it gets the album covers and allows you to swipr through them using your fingers.
Simple. $1.99 in the App Store.
