Apple Archives - Page 4 of 5 - Serious Startups

Apple Fan Boy Alert The Fragrance Of A Macbook Pro Has Been Created

Melbourne Australian artists Gavin Bell, Jarrah De Kuijer and Simon McGlinn have done the unthinkable. They’ve packaged up the fragrance that you can only experience when you open up a brand new MacBook Pro. Ok, truth here we know the smell they are talking about and you can also get it in an original MacBook and a MacBook Air, but for this story we’ll stick with the pro.

Unfortunately for the die-hard Apple fans the fragrance has only been captured for an art exhibit and it hasn’t been bottled for purchase at your local Macy’s or Apple Store counter (at least not yet).

The scent was created using Air Aroma for the DeFacto Standard, Art Exhibition in Australia. The creators say that the scent encompasses the plastic wrap covering the box, the printed cardboard, the smell of the paper and plastic components in the box and the aluminum laptop. What? They left out the foam that packs the MacBook pro all neat in the box, travesty!

The fragrance was built off fragrance samples from suppliers in France who sent over samples of glue, plastic, rubber and paper. They then compared the samples to actually unboxing a MacBook Pro and say they perfected just right.

The exhibit will be on display at West Space in Melbourne Australia from April 20th to May 12th. I’m sure if you’re that big a fan you could find a decent flight rate using Hipmunk.

source: macworld.au

Beyond The Lens: Colby Brown

This past weekend, in between our busy schedules some how me and Colby Brown where able to sit down together for another interview. He was the first Photographer I’ve interviewed for Beyond The Lens so our talks are a little more interesting. For those of you who have been living under a rock Colby pretty much is the ambassador on Google+ for both Photography as well as Android. He spear headed Behind The Lens Critique a group in which Photographers put their work on the “Chopping Block” and ask for critique. He also is the man behind the Android Photography page as well.

For what turned out to be yet another great interview, here you go.

Groupon Goes MIA From iTunes

Business Insider is reporting that the consumer version of Groupon has gone MIA on the iTunes store. While checking, the merchant version is still their however, the one users use isn’t. This while doesn’t make sense to some, actually does. Apple wants a cut from everything being used on their ecosystem. They built it, they should. However, Groupon while selling to customers directly on their website, or via the emails they sent out, unless have an understanding with Apple to give a kickback, are breaking the TOS.

For three separate editors on different computers and different networks, a search for “Groupon” brings up one app from Groupon LLC, but it’s the one for merchants, not the consumer-facing Groupon app.

Below is a screen shot of it missing the from iTunes store which Business Insider provided.

AT&T Store Employees Recommending iPhone And Android To Those Interested In Lumia 900

Two weeks ago Brent reported on the fact that Nokia was going to line the pockets of AT&T employees for recommending their new Lumia 900 smartphone. Well it appears that some employees either didn’t get that memo or get that check.

CNet reporter Marguerite Reardon set out on a mission Monday to see what AT&T employees at stores in New York City had to say about the new Nokia Lumia 900, a Windows Phone 7 device. She went into several area stores posing as a first time smartphone buyer and expressed interest in the latest Windows Phone 7 device.

Despite a star studded launch event in New York City over the weekend, and the fact that there is signage everywhere in AT&T stores promoting the Lumia, Reardon found that New York City AT&T Wireless employees were still quick to recommend the iPhone.

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Instagram For Android, Why Did We Even Need It?

Instagram for Android came out today, and by searching Twitter, you could find either utter stupidity in the hatred or joy that it’s finally on Android. Both views though are utterly stupid. For one, those iPhone users are idiots and need more proof just reread what was said above, or click on Twitter in the first sentence and just follow the stream of stupidity down to your local Apple store.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Instagram isn’t a “good” application, it’s just Android really never needed it. We have applications such as Paper Camera, puddling camera , Retro Camera Plus . Just to name a few. What Instagram did for the iPhone is something that has been done since Android first came out. Third party Camera applications with trendy filters that the camera couldn’t do on it’s own.

Siri Gets Sued Again

Siri has been in the news it seems like everyday since she was released on the iPhone 4S. Not only has she been in the news she has been featured in regular sitcom tv as well. Earlier this year Big Bang Theory featured Siri in an episode where Raj falls in love with her. Raj has an ailment that doesn’t allow him to talk to human women without consuming alcohol. With Siri, he didn’t need to consume alcohol. The joke is driven home when Raj tracks down the Siri command center and tries, to talk to the real life Siri and just stumbles in disappointment.

The way Apple showed off Siri’s abilities have driven two different men to file suit against Apple. The latest plaintiff is David Jones. He filed his lawsuit on Tuesday in a Los Angeles district court. The suit was filed because of “false and deceptive representations” of Siri’s skill set, according to the Los Angeles Times.

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Startup Quick Byte: Buddy Beers

For Startup Quick Byte we’ll take a look at Buddy Beers based out of Berlin Germany. Buddy Beers takes being a friend to the next level by enabling people from even countries away to buy drinks for their friends. The concept is pretty easy, you buy a drink for your friend with the app, they’ll then receive an email and link to the app, if using an iPhone. Show the bartender at the bar in question, then hit redeem and you are now just waiting for the bartender to make the drink your friend just bought you.

Apple Rejecting Apps That Ask For UDIDs

Privacy and Apps has become a huge concern for both Android and iOS lately. Ever since Path made worldwide news when they uploaded user address books in their entirety to their private servers, users and even congress has been screaming foul play. Privacy pundits everywhere are demanding a crack down on what phones can tell an app about the user and their device.

Apple and Google are under the scrutiny of Congress to crackdown on privacy especially on mobile devices.

About six months ago, around the time a Wall Street Journal study revealed that several apps on both platforms were taking more data off phones than they really needed, Apple let developers know they were going to start rejecting apps that called for the devices UDID. It looks like Apple is going to ramp that up starting now.

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AOL Wont Pull A Yahoo And Sue, They’ll Just Sell Instead

AOL is rumored to be looking into possibly selling some of its patent portfolio Bloomberg reported earlier today. Tim Armstrong and Co. have watched their fortunes fall away since the split from Time Warner Inc. They have hired Evercore Partners to somehow bring in a cash infusion.

Starboard Value LP, an AOL shareholder, has stated they feel the patent portfolio may be valued as high as US $1 billion from licensing income. Bloomberg had this quote in their article earlier,

AOL’s portfolio includes “some of the foundation patents for the Internet,” AOL Chief Executive Officer Tim Armstrong said at a Barclays Capital conference this month.

While Yahoo recently sued Facebook over 10 patents and many people feel this is the low-road because it’s a last ditch effort to bring in some money. There is only one person I could find who agrees that Yahoo is doing the right thing.* AOL instead is possibly looking into licensing their patents.

AOL had announced in September 2011 that they had on retainer lawfirm Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz and the investment bank Allen & Co. after news had leaked of meetings with both. Many people have felt that AOL was looking to move to private ownership but as the ability to earn anything diminishes with each passing quarter. In Q4 2009 AOL had total revenue of US$809 million in Q4 2011 they had declined to US$576 million. Advertising revenue dropped from $471 million (Q4 2009) to $363 (Q4 2011) despite a growth year-over-year from 2010.

While the idea of licensing their patent portfolio may make Tim Armstrong giddy it remains to be seen if they will take the high road and attempt to license or take the low road and sell to any number of notorious patent trolls. It would not be the first time that a huge company starting with the letter A has chosen to work with an alleged patent troll. Apple came under fire after TechCrunch writer Jason Kincaid uncovered some interesting information

Put another way, Apple appears to have transferred its patents to the patent troll Digitude, though it first routed them through a shell company that shares the same office as Digitude’s lead investor and Chairman. Further evidence of the relationship between Apple and Digitude can be found on the ITC’s own website, where a list of files relevant to the lawsuit can be found. Many of these files are marked confidential, but it appears someone mistakenly left the file names intact. One of which is “Digitude-Apple License Agreement.”

At the end of the day we don’t know their plans at this point but we will keep you informed of any future updates.

*there’s a catch, it’s still wrong but it works for the greater good.

Source: Bloomberg

OMGPOP: Last Leap Of Faith Brought A Home Run

Although the financial details were off limits during Zynga’s conference call announcing the purchase of OMGPOP, the details were later revealed in a SEC filing which is a requirement for public companies like Zynga. As allthingsd and TechCrunch reported Zynga bought 100% of the outstanding stock of OMGPOP for $180 million dollars.

It’s been well documented, and it seems as if CEO Dan Porter has no bones about admitting it, before Draw Something, the future at OMGPOP was uncertain. They had received $16 million in funding over the previous four years, however as Betabeat reports their last round of funding before Draw Something was more of a hail mary round.

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Whoops: Apple To Pay $1.2 Million For Lying To Italian Customers

Apple lost an appeal on Thursday in Italy and now has to reimburse Italian customers of their Apple Care product to the beat of $1.2 million dollars. Surely to a company that has $100 billion dollars in the bank $1.2 million dollars is just a drop in the bucket, however the reason for the reimbursement could end up in a PR debacle.

Most customers of Apple products (me included) are aware of Apple Care. Apple Care is an extended warranty and support program for customers of Apple products after their initial one year warranty in the United States. Most Apple Care devices can be covered in 1, 2 and 3 year increments.

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Texas Start Up Blurtt Let’s You Make MeMes And Have Fun With Photos On The Fly

After a background in Finance at big name financial houses like Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, Texas based entrepreneur Jeanette Cajide started to work on something beautiful and fun. After a long twisty road she has finally launched Blurtt.

Blurtt is an iOS app that functions as a “tool that allows users to express themselves” with text overlaid on photos. You can use photos that you take or photos off the web. Although it’s not integrated (only hipstamatic is), you can take a photo, instagram it, bring it through Blurtt, re-instagram it with no filter and add words while it’s in Blurtt (I promise it’s a lot easier than it sounds).

Cajide started Blurtt with the idea of sending beautiful postcards to people. When she started it she had a co-founder in Nikhil Sethi who moved on. Cajide finished Blurtt on her own and with help from Archimede’s Labs acceleration program.

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Hailo Cab Let’s You Hail A Yellow Cab In London With Your iPhone or Android

While hot tech start up Uber is preparing to embark on London before the 2012 Olympic games there is already an app available for iPhone and Android that lets people in England hail a taxicab.

The app called Hailo is a network that matches passengers and licensed taxi drivers. The app makes cabbies days more sociable and allows British taxi drivers to go to destination fairs rather than waiting at taxistands all day.

The app is great because it beats calling a taxi. Instead the user can click a button on their Hailo app and a cab is dispatched to them. Hailo promises you’re never two clicks away from a taxi. Hailo allows you to pay by credit card or debit card in-app or in cash to the driver. Hailo cab drivers will even wait five minutes before starting the meter.

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Berlin Company wahwah.fm Is Turning Music Sharing On It’s Head

Berlin’s wahwah.fm was in Ausitn Texas for SXSW for the second year in a row. Last year, the new iPhone app start up took home an App Circus award. This year they were showing off WahWah in the SXSW Interactive trade show in the Berlin/Germany row.

wahwah.fm is a new kind of music sharing app that is available for download throughout the world. What it does is allows you to broadcast the music you’re listening to on your iPhone to other iPhones in close proximity with the wahwah.fm app installed.

Because the end user or listener to one wahwah.fm station isn’t controlling the music itself they aren’t under the same scrutiny as in-demand listening apps like Pandora or Spotify.

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