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Apple Breaks the Layout Again With Latest Macbook Pro Web Ads

Aviv — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 05:24:24 +0000

Apple has been pushing the boundary with internet advertising recently. First with the iPod touch advertisement that seemed to “break” Yahoo Games’ homepage, and the latest being a new 17″ Macbook Pro “Green” series ad that once again, stretches beyond the visual site layout.

The first video is the new 17″ Macbook Pro commercial. As we uploaded the video, we noticed that YouTube has made it even easier to add comments and annotations on the actual video, so we gave that a shot.

We shot the video over at ArsTechnica but the NYTIMES was running it too. The next video is the iPod touch commercial that Apple unveiled back in December of 2008.

Walmart Still Rumored To Start Selling iPhone in 2008

Aviv — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:56:37 +0000

According to BGR, Walmart may still be getting the iPhone before the end of the year. Previous rumors pointed to November 15th as the start date, to no avail.

Back in early October, BGR explained they had a source that “had it on good authority” that Walmart would begin selling the iPhone on November 15th. Now that the date has come and gone, they’ve issued an update explaining perhaps why Walmart has not yet begun selling the device.

We’re not sure if our sources had the date wrong or if there has been some sort of delay, but we’re still confident that the iPhone 3G is on its way to the nation’s biggest discount chain. We have word that many store managers have already been notified, and that a memo has gone out to select stores with information including a release date towards the end of December. A post-holiday release might indicate that the iPhone 3G will indeed be discounted at Wal-Mart once released, and perhaps Apple would rather keep holiday sales at the current price points.

BGR has a recorded call from a customer calling Walmart, in which the employee does admit they are “getting it” — as in, getting the iPhone. While the call is extremely vague, perhaps it does shed some light on Walmart’s future plans. Of course, retail employees generally know less than the rumor mill, so using them as a reference is not a good idea. While BGR explains that they are simply pointing out that word has trickled down to retail employees, store managers are informed as well.

As always, check out our iPhone Worldmap for Apple’s global expansion efforts with the iPhone.

iPhone Developers Seeded Push Notification API

Dave — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:52:20 +0000

Apple has recently seeded tools for developers to begin scripting applications capable of receiving data via the internet, even when they are not running.

Sound interesting? You betcha. Developers have been clamoring about what is often referred to as background applications, primarily because the iPhone is prevented from running multiple applications simultaneously. For example, if you are involved in an instant message conversation using AOL’s iPhone app and you receive a call, the IM conversation would shut down for the duration of the call and will not receive any new messages until relaunched.

Apple has encouraged that it has been in the best interest of the user to be free of background applications, as they are often flawed and lead users to believe that they have quit, when they are still running and effectively draining battery life, which as we know, is rather sub-par on the power hungry 3G.

“To solve this problem, Forstall said Apple was developing an alternative to background applications known as a “Push Notification Service” that developers could tap through a series of APIs, or easy to use programming functions, beginning in September. Instead of allowing potentially dozens of third party services to simultaneously access an iPhone directly, the push service would funnel all transmissions from developers’ servers through a central Apple server, which would then relay the data to iPhones through a single persistent and well-managed background connection.” via AI.

Utilizing this technique, developers can push badges to icons, such as the email count on the mail icon, sound notifications, or pop-up text alerts. This system was developed to easily scale to larger applications.

A second beta of the iPhone 2.1 software was released last night to a select few and includes rough implementation of the push services API. “This is the second beta of the iPhone SDK targeting iPhone OS 2.1, including bug fixes to iPhone OS as well as an early implementation of the Apple Push Notification Service API,” Apple said. “This API is not yet integrated with a live push server.”

Apple moving into Vegas with insanely lavish Retail Store.

Aviv — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:25:04 +0000

Apple is planning to unleash its fury in Las Vegas with an insanely lavish and over-the-top 20,000-square foot Retail space. Check out a few of the photos below (courtesy of Apple Insider) and read the full article here.

Apple Insider and ifo Apple Store co-authored the story mentioned here.