Jordan Ostreff

Joined: 25 февруари 2005
Articles: 1189
Comments: 61

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Al Gore Buys $29 Million Worth Of Apple Stock Ahead Of Next Week’s Earnings

No one tell former Vice President Al Gore that it’s a bad time to buy AAPL. He just exercised a big chunk of his Apple stock options, walking off with $29 million worth of shares at a steep discount.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Al Gore exercised options to purchase $59,000 shares of AAPL for just pennies on the dollar.

Right now, at APPL’s current stock price of just $498.52 (down from a $700 high last year), those shares would cost around $29 million. Al Gore, however, got them for just $7.475 a share, or around $441,000 for the whole bundle.

Quite the steep discount, but Al Gore, a longtime board member of Apple, Inc. is entitled. With Apple’s earnings set to be reported next week, Gore’s move might prove a canny one. Apple’s stock is perceived by many right now as being chronically undervalued by Wall Street. Moreover, Apple share price tends to plummet before earnings announcements, only to rise afterwards.

Via: CNET

Jordan Ostreff
18 януари 2013

Лични

Ending Soon! Keep Your Mac Clean With CleanMyMac Double Pack [Deals]

So you got a new Mac over the holidays. (Or your old Mac makes you wish that you did.)

Well, this Cult of Mac Deals offer will keep that newly-minted Mac running like the day it was unboxed and get your old Mac running like new again. With this exclusive promotion you’ll get the CleanMyMac Double Pack which will keep two of your Macs clean and free of clutter – for life – and for only $25!

You’ll get 9 cleaning utilities to eliminate the clutter that can slow your Mac to a crawl:

Cache Cleaner: Reset outdated cache files to zero and give your apps relief.
Logs Cleaner: Running out of free space on your Mac? Remove useless logs with a few easy clicks.
Universal Binaries: Let CleanMyMac remove the burden of unused binary code incompatible with your Mac generation.
System Junk: Your apps and the Mac OS create tons of ‘disposable’ files. Remove them in the blink of an eye.
Language Cleaner: Why keep localized software in languages you can’t even speak? Exclude those with ease.
Trash and Leftovers: Your Mac has more trash on it than you realize. Find it all and toss it.
Application Uninstaller: It has never been easier, safer or more convenient to completely remove applications!
Quick Erase: Delete files and leave no trace.
Trash Status Monitor: Give yourself one less task. Automate the process of emptying your trash.

This app also looks good while it does its job. Whether you prefer brighter interfaces or darker color schemes, CleanMyMac can be skinned to match your tastes.

This Cult of Mac Deals offer comes with a 30 day money back guarantee, so if you’re not satisfied with your purchase, we’ll set things right.

With CleanMyMac you can easily manage all of your system extensions, such as plugins, widgets, preference panes, screen savers, input managers, QuickTime, services, startup items, Quick Look, Spotlight, dictionaries, scripting additions, iTunes, Finder plugins, Growl, Safari extensions and much, much more.

So what are you waiting for? Grab this exclusive Cult of Mac Deals offer for just $25 because this deal is nearly done!

#mc_embed_signup { background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } Want More Freebies And Deals On Mac Software And Apple Gear? Sign Up Below!

Jordan Ostreff
18 януари 2013

Лични

The iSpy Tank Is Controlled By Your iPhone, Has A Built-In Spy Camera

Although the iSpy Tank may not end up in James Bond’s gadget collection, it’s more than ideal for amateur espionage missions. The device is controlled by your iPhone and has a built-in camera relays real-time video directly to your iPhone’s display, so you can see exactly where it’s going even if you’re in another room.

The name’s a little misleading; it looks more like a sports car than it does a tank. It’s also a little expensive at $99 — especially when you consider that it connects to your iPhone via Wi-Fi, so couldn’t be used outdoors. But like any remote control toy that works with your iPhone, it is damn cool.

Here it is in action:

The iSpy Tank promises to offer a “top notch gaming experience and adds a whole new level of functionality for those who want to get the most out of their iDevice.”

It’s powered by six AA batteries, and has a 20-30 meter range. If you have $99 to drop on this thing, you can purchase it from iHelicopters using the source link below.

Source: iHelicopters

Via: Today’s iPhone

Jordan Ostreff
18 януари 2013

Лични

Take Better Charge Of Your Calendar With Calendar Paste [Review]

Create template events and paste ‘em in when needed

Calendar Paste is a calendar events templating app for iOS. It’s a place where you can store calendar events that don’t repeat in a predicable patten, or that only need to be in your calendar at certain times. It’s one of those apps you never thought you needed.

Calendar Paste is perfectly suited to those events that keep cropping up, but not so regularly that you can set a repeating calendar item to keep track of them.

They’re things that happen every now-and-again, things that crop up unexpectedly but repeatedly. Things you have to add to your calendar and it bugs you every time because arrrgh you wish there was a quicker way.

Calendar Paste is it. You set up templates for events and save them in here. When you need to add them to your actual calendar, a couple of taps will do it.

Your templates have a title, a location and a duration. There’s optional alerts, URLs and a notes field too. Set them up and forget about them until the time comes.

When it does, you can add one of your templates as a new event to your primary calendar with a couple of taps. It will work seamlessly with the built-in Calendar app in iOS, which means your event will get synced through iCloud or with Google Calendar or any other extras you normally make use of.

Adding a template as a scheduled event still means that you have to specify the date and time it needs to happen, so you’re not saving all the steps needed to add an event in Calendar. But you are saving some of them.

I think Cal Paste will have limited appeal, mainly to people who find themselves constantly setting up new items in Calendar. Maybe it’s work meetings, maybe it’s rehearsals, maybe it’s meeting friends for a drink, maybe it’s many variations of all of those and more. If you inwardly groan every time you open up Calendar and start typing the same thing for the 200th time, Calendar Paste is definitely for you and worth spending a dollar on. It’s not the only app of its kind on the Store, but is certainly one of the better-looking ones amongst its rivals.

Source: App Store

Jordan Ostreff
18 януари 2013

Лични

Apple Should Turn This Lock Screen Concept Into A Reality For iOS 7 [Video]

The iOS lock screen is a boring place. It displays the time, any notifications you’ve received since you last unlocked your device, and a shortcut to the Camera app. But that’s it. When you compare it to Android’s lock screen, which now has support for all kinds of cool widgets, it’s clear there’s room for improvement.

One way Apple could start improving it for iOS 7 is with this awesome concept from Jean-Marc Denis.It simple, but it would make the lock screen a much more functional place. By introducing a pull-down tray with some basic toggles for frequently used features, users could toggle Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane Mode, and Hotspot without even having to unlock their iOS device. Check it out in the video below.

What would make this feature even better is if the user could customize the toggles in that tray. For instance, I hardly ever use the Hotspot feature on my iPhone, but I frequently find myself adjusting its brightness, or flicking Do Not Disturb on and off.

Apple has shied away from features like this in the past, but I think iOS users are beginning to want more from the company’s mobile platform. The basics have remained largely the same for the past five years, while rivals like Android have caught up and even overtaken in some areas.

What do you think?

Source: YouTube

Via: Macgasm

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Jordan Ostreff
18 януари 2013

Лични

How Steve Jobs Buys a Company and Why Apple Bought Lala

Aubrey Johnson, a former Color employee, shares two stories behind the scenes at Apple's acquisitions of both Color and Lala -- both firms were founded by Bill Nguyen before being acquired by Apple for two very different reasons.

Like Pandora, Lala's music was streamed from the internet rather than stored locally. This allowed users to listen to a catalog of over 7 million songs for free as a stream over the web -- much like Pandora or Spotify today. Songs could also be purchased and downloaded, typically for a lower price than iTunes was offering.

Johnson writes that Lala's biggest strength was that it was at or near the top for many Google searches of particular songs, thanks to a search placement deal with Google. As a result, the firm was siphoning sales away from iTunes. As well, Google and Lala had partnered on Google's Music service. Both Nokia and Google made lowball offers for the firm, and Nguyen headed to Apple to see if they'd be interested in buying his company.

In late November [2009], Nguyen was seated at the dinner table in Steve Job’s home on Waverly St in Palo Alto. Also present were Eddy Cue and Tim Cook and other Apple executives. Steve led the conversation while eating a beet salad:

“I’m going to give you a number, Bill, and if you like it, let’s do it and just be done with this whole thing. Okay?” Bill agreed.

Jobs passed a piece of paper to Nguyen and Bill nodded. The deal was done.

After the acquisition, a number of Lala employees left the company with Nguyen, leaving millions in options on the table. Later, Apple apparently bought back some of those same engineers when the company purchased the remnants of Color, getting more experienced personnel for a significant savings.

Jordan Ostreff
18 януари 2013

Лични

Tim Cook Ordered To Give Deposition In Antitrust Case Over ‘No-Hire’ Agreements

Apple CEO Tim Cook must provide a deposition in a lawsuit that claims the Cupertino company, along with other major firms in Silicon Valley, violated antitrust rules by entering into an agreement not to recruit each other’s employees. Apple’s lawyer, George Riley, had objected to the order handed out by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, on Thursday.

Other companies included in the lawsuit include Google, Intel, Adobe, Walt Disney, Pixar, and Intuit. The case, which was brought on behalf of employees, claims that all seven parties had agreed to refrain from placing “cold calls” in an effort to lure workers away from one another. The plaintiffs claim that as a result of this, worker mobility was restricted, and companies were able to keep salaries low.

Koh told lawyers on Thursday that Apple co-founder and former CEO was copied into emails that had been issued in the case, and that she found it “hard to believe” that Cook — then Apple’s chief operating officer — would have been unaware of such agreements. Koh added that she was disappointed that senior executives at the companies involved hadn’t beed deposed before yesterday’s hearing.

Koh also requested that Google chairman Eric Schmidt be deposed on February 20, while Intel CEO Paul Otellini will be deposed later this month.

Robert Mittelstaedt, a lawyer representing the companies, argued that there was no evidence that everyone in the proposed class was hurt by the alleged “no-hire” agreement — which is required for the group to be certified as a class.

“You can’t assume that if someone got a raise from a cold call” that the effect of that negotiation would “ripple to everybody else,” Mittelstaedt told Koh. “Why would a company give a raise to someone in a negotiation if it knew it had to turn around and give a raise to everyone else?”

A Justice Department investigation into this issue back in 2010 said that the companies kept do-not-call lists to avoid competitive recruiting, and that this hurt employees. It also found that in May 2005, executives from Adobe and Apple agreed not to cold-call each other’s employees. Apple was said to have similar agreements with Google and Pixar, while Google had an agreement with Intel and Intuit.

Source: Bloomberg

Jordan Ostreff
18 януари 2013

Лични

Pre-Ordered Your Pebble Watch? Get The Official Android & iOS App Before It Arrives

If you’ve pre-ordered a Pebble smartwatch, the first thing you’ll want to do when it arrives is connect it to your smartphone. After all, that’s the whole idea, right? Then you’ll be pleased to know that Pebble’s official apps for Android and iOS will be available before the device arrives on your doorstep.

Following its Kickstarter success, Pebble gave its first press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week to announce that its device had now entered mass production, and that it will begin shipping on January 23. Before your order gets to you, however, Pebble promises the accompanying smartphone app will be ready to download from the App Store and Google Play.

The smartphone app will allow you to control certain Pebble features, and add additional watch faces. It’ll also allow you to view your smartphone notifications — such as text message and incoming calls — on your Pebble.

It’s unclear exactly when the app will arrive, but with Pebble shipping starting next week, it shouldn’t be too long before it appears. RazorianFly suspects it may arrive on the same day, January 23, but this hasn’t been confirmed by Pebble. Even so, you can relax with the knowledge that the app will be here before your watch is.

Source: Pebble FAQ

Via: RazorianFly

Jordan Ostreff
18 януари 2013

Лични

Tim Cook Ordered to Give Deposition in Employee-Poaching Ban Antitrust Case [Mac Blog]

Bloomberg is reporting that Apple CEO Tim Cook has been ordered by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh to give a deposition in a lawsuit claiming that Apple and five other companies entered deals not to recruit each other's employees.

Koh told lawyers yesterday that Apple founder Steve Jobs was copied on e-mails at issue in the case, and that she found it “hard to believe” that Cook, as Apple’s chief operating officer at the time in question, wouldn’t have been consulted about such agreements.

The judge said she was disappointed that senior executives at the companies involved hadn’t been deposed before yesterday’s hearing over whether she should certify the case as a group lawsuit.

The case goes back to 2005 and alleges that Apple, Adobe, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Google, Intel and Intuit had agreements not to poach employees from the companies that were privy to the agreements. Employees were free to apply at jobs at any of the companies on their own volition, however.

The agreements were investigated in 2010 by the Justice Department and the claims were eventually settled, with the companies agreeing not to enter employee-poaching bans for five years.

The current lawsuit is a class-action civil suit by employees who say they were harmed by the anti-competitive actions of the companies within the agreement.

Jordan Ostreff
18 януари 2013

Лични

Sharp Reportedly Cutting iPad Display Production Amid Shift in Consumer Interest to iPad Mini

Reuters reports that Sharp, one of Apple's primary display panel partners for its mobile devices, has slashed production of iPad displays at one of its plants. Sources did not indicate the reasons for the dramatic cut, but it appears to be a combination of a shift in consumer interest to the smaller iPad mini and a natural seasonal slowdown coming out of the holiday quarter.

Sharp Corp has nearly halted production of 9.7-inch screens for Apple Inc's iPad, two sources said, as demand shifts to its smaller iPad mini.

Sharp's iPad screen production line at its Kameyama plant in central Japan has fallen to the minimal level to keep the line running this month after a gradual slowdown began at the end of 2012 as Apple manages its inventory, the industry sources with knowledge of Sharp's production plans told Reuters.

Apple also obtains iPad display panels from Samsung and LG Display, with a source at Samsung indicating that there has been no production cut there and a source at LG suggesting that any production cuts there were in line with typical seasonality.

Reports of cutbacks in iPad component production come close on the heels of reports that Apple has slashed orders for iPhone 5 parts, although there have been significant questions about the figures cited in those reports and whether the decline actually represents a weakening of demand.

Jordan Ostreff
18 януари 2013