Comment on iPod touch users get second classed again with the omission of new Maps featuresby Albert 2000

Yes, yes, quite right...

Comment on iPod touch users get second classed again with the omission of new Maps featuresby Scott

I've heard a few people say it's because the touch doesn't have GPS, but that's ridiculous cuz my old G4 iMac definitely doesn't have GPS and street view still works perfectly fine on it. That dumbass accounting law is BULL SH*T. Apple, I am very disappointed and sad.

Comment on iPod touch users get second classed again with the omission of new Maps featuresby

Simple: because some of the improvements are just that - improvements. Some are new features (i.e. maps). They must charge for new features. They can give improvements away for free.

And the reason I go up a notch or two at posts like this is because we all know this to be the case. Apple has been very clear about it. So this blogger is a) ignorant, b) not getting it, or c) playing dumb for the sake of posting something inflammatory.

So my advice to Aayush is to either think before posting or don't post something to incite bad will towards Apple.

Is that simmered enough for you, Dan?

Comment on iTunes v8.0.2 comes riding on the coattails of iPhone firmware v2.2by TechyNews

I am glad that apple is continuing to update the firmware, but can they get some priorities straight? Like better integration with exchange calendar invites and some copy paste. I would love to replace my blackberry with an IPhone at work, but these basics need to be provided. Sure Street view is nice, but all its going to do is help me find the soup line if I lose my job because I missed a calendar invite.

Comment on iPod touch users get second classed again with the omission of new Maps featuresby Me Again

Anonymous ease back on the red bull. The author has a fair question that the consumer has the right to know. I think that you should read the las paragraph again and realize it is an opinion piece and the author is not going to shot your dog if you do not agree.

Comment on iPod touch users get second classed again with the omission of new Maps featuresby Dan Moren

@Anonymous: No, I think you went the opposite direction of simmering. I still think there's a reasonable question of where the line between "new features" and "improvements" lies? There was no ability to download podcasts on version 2.1 of the iPod touch's software, but that feature is in the 2.2 update. Why would that fall under "improvement" rather than "new feature": it seems like an arbitrary distinction.

Finally, if it was a matter of them not being able to roll improvements for free, why not make people pay for it, which they've shown no reluctance doing in the past?

You might do well to heed your own advice about thinking before posting.

Comment on Apple levels DMCA on iPodhash projectby Neurotic Nomad

Pirated Music helps Apple, Inc. sell more iPods and iPhones.

Their bread and butter is in hardware sales and free music makes their gadgets more fun to use.

So why the nastygram?

Apple contractually obligated to pursue any blatant attempt to circumvent their DRM by the companies (Warner, Universal and Sony) who force them to use it. Failure to uphold the contractual obligation will result in the contract's expiration. Any future business will have to start negotiations at square one.

Not sending the nastygram would result in the studios pulling out and then playing hardball in the press, doing their best to make iTunes store sales suffer and the iPod/iPhone brands sour just in time for Christmas.

Remember the mud NBC flung when it took it's ball and went home to Hulu? Imagine a Big 3 Studio walkout paired with a "iPhones are soooo 2007" ad campaign.

This isn't about Apple trying to stuff the cat back in the bag. Steve Jobs went on the record in 2003, 2005, and 2007 on the futility of DRM. However, he is obligated to play cat-and-mouse as long as the current contracts hold.

I'm hoping for a DRM-free iTunes surprise as a "one more thing" at the 2009 Macworld Conference, but I'm not holding my breath. It's Chinatown.

Comment on iPod touch users get second classed again with the omission of new Maps featuresby

I came here from TUAW to avoid junk like this.*

*And by "this," I mean half-baked rabble-rousing posts that serve no purpose other than to deliver a black eye to Apple from the people that supposedly make up their base.

Angry Drunk was right - the Mac "faithful" are out of their minds with their sense of entitlement.

Comment on iPod touch users get second classed again with the omission of new Maps featuresby johnnydfred

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but iTouch only connects to the internet via WiFi, no?

Then how useful is Streetview when one is, ah, on the street?

Comment on iPod touch users get second classed again with the omission of new Maps featuresby Dan Moren

@Anonymous: We're under no obligation to be "nice" to Apple, nor do I think this post claims that people are entitled to anything. But as I've said several times, there's a valid question here: how come the new Maps features aren't in the iPod touch update, for free *or* for a charge?

Sorry if you're disappointed that we haven't all prostrated ourselves at the altar of Steve Jobs.

Comment on iPod touch users get second classed again with the omission of new Maps featuresby James Madley

@Anonymous

This website happens to be a blog, as TUAW is as well. A commercial blog, yes, but a blog where people expect weblog (read: journal) style material.

Comment on iPod touch users get second classed again with the omission of new Maps featuresby Dave-O

Just throwing it out there since no one has heard from Apple: mistake?

The lack of GPS can't be the reason if rev A iPhones get the upgrade--they don't have GPS either.

Either Anonymous is right (if angry and arrogant about it), and this is deemed a new feature (is there a legal test for new vs. improved features?), or it's a mistake. I can think of no other explanation.

Downloading podcasts is a new feature of the iTunes WiFi store, not the iPod touch or iPhone, Dan. All they did is add a link to a new section of the store. At least, that's the argument I'd use to justify why it's not a new feature.

Of course the other question still remains: if Apple can account for Apple TV sales as subscriptions, why can't it do the same with touches? If I ever consider a run for public office, you don't have to shoot me, just show me some accounting laws. That should scare me straight. Any law that prevents a company from providing free updates to consumers is seriously flawed.

Comment on iPod touch users get second classed again with the omission of new Maps featuresby jsk

So why, exactly, would Apple have to charge for an update made to a FREE 3rd party App?!?

Comment on Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes afoot at MacUserby Gadgetbox?

Isn't Gadgetbox dead?

Comment on The Macalope Weekly: Leopards and monopolies and DRM! Oh, my!by

If Detroit made a hovercar, it would roll on wheels!

Comment on Don't get plugged by OSX.RSPlug.Dby Jens Bjørn Pedersen

Can anyone tell me how to locate and uninstall this trojan horse?

I have a feeling that I unfortunatly and naively have downloaded this on my mac.

I have looked for the file name OSX.RSPlug.D itself, but have found nothing. Is it hiding in my system somehow? Should I not worry?

Best, Jens

Comment on The Macalope Weekly: Leopards and monopolies and DRM! Oh, my!by Dave-O

All it took to get rid of DRM on music was total domination of music distribution and playback by Apple...

Comment on Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes afoot at MacUserby Dave Barnes

That makes it easy to remove a bookmark from my Firefox left-hand menu.
I have Macworld bookmarked so I don't one for MacUser.

Comment on iPod touch users get second classed again with the omission of new Maps featuresby Scott

Some random developer who posted to a site said it was left out because it drained the iPod Touch's battery like crazy, but it was fine on the iPhone. Something about the firmware. iPhone firmware on the Touch is bad for its battery. Or something.

Comment on iPod touch users get second classed again with the omission of new Maps featuresby Chundles

There was a comment on one of the popular Mac forums from a developer who had been playing with the 2.2 beta software on his iPod touch - the pre-release version that HAD street view and the other maps enhancements. His claim was that the new features were a nightmare, crashy, buggy, slow, and generally unusable. On the iPhone they were fine.

Maybe it just wasn't ready and Apple were more concerned about getting the security and stability updates out ASAP.

Comment on The Macalope Weekly: Leopards and monopolies and DRM! Oh, my!by Arlen Walker

The economics are against you on this one, oh, antlered one. At heart, this is an attempt to get customers to ditch the old displays and get new, modern ones.

Comment on Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes afoot at MacUserby Jason

You'll want to keep MacUser in your sidebar. MacUser's blog will be on the Macworld.com site, but to see everything the blog has to offer you'll need to keep it in your RSS feed or visit the page. (Not every MacUser blog entry will appear on the main Macworld page.)

Comment on The Macalope Weekly: Leopards and monopolies and DRM! Oh, my!by VMR

Sure, if by "June" you mean "October".

Also, what part of "online video is different from online music" didn't everyone understand when Steve said it like three years ago?

Comment on Apple levels DMCA on iPodhash projectby DBL

Wow Apple is totally abusing the DMCA and applying it to things it wasn't meant to cover, because (1) what copyrighted is their iTunes database hash protecting? A song *database format* is not copyrightable. (2) The DMCA does not even outlaw discussing or revealing how the encryption on a copyrighted work operates -- it only enjoins Amercians from creating tools to break that encryption.

I would be really surprised that Apple is flexing its lawyersin a completely extralegal, if I hadn't already witnessed their willing to do the same when trying to get bloggers to reveal their sources and their dictatorial approach to application development on the iPhone. Nothing surprises me about Apple anymore. They will steal your lunch and then claimed they owned it all the while. I used to love Apple and be proud of using their products: now I don't stand on a pulpit about Apple anymore. I only use Macs because I hate the competition *more*. In fact, I feel like a Windows user. Apple is losing their ethical differentiation in the marketplace.

Comment on iPod touch users get second classed again with the omission of new Maps featuresby me

Not just iPod but iPhone v1 users don't get the new map features as well. That sucks!

Comment on iPod touch users get second classed again with the omission of new Maps featuresby Paul Norton

I was going to buy an iTouch, but now I'll wait.

Comment on Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes afoot at MacUserby sf addict

This is an interesting turn of events. To those of us who have a Mac history that predates the internet era, this harks back to the day when the dead-tree editions of MacUser and MacWorld also became as one.
Is this a case of "deja-vu all over again" or is history just repeating itself?
No matter, best of luck to the cast and crew of MacUser!

Comment on Apple levels DMCA on iPodhash projectby AdamC

Nomad, why pick on Apple for DRM free music, why don't you complain to your favorite labels to let Apple sell such songs.
Who cares whether you hold your breath or not.

Comment on Apple levels DMCA on iPodhash projectby James Katt

Apple is not just protecting their DRM, they are protecting their iPod Platform. Otherwise, open-source projects can be created to copy iTunes.

The DMCA Anti-circumvention clauses have VERY NASTY legal teeth. Circumventing DRM is a FELONY punishable by years in a federal PRISON.

Thus, the iPodhash project individuals and site provider should be very careful. The FBI can be on their tail soon.

Comment on iPod touch users get second classed again with the omission of new Maps featuresby the truth

If we just ignore the noise from the fanboys for a moment... Apple provides this for the iPhone now before Christmas shopping season, then they release it for the itouch later. It is totally lame that Apple charges for that, but that's Apple for you. I would definitely wait before getting one.