tequila bomb

Join the free music service that gives you easy access to your music collection across the web and on smartphones. Upload your music to the mspot cloud and start listening anywhere.

Your first 2GB of music storage, that you can access from anywhere on Android, iOS or Windows via its dedicated app, is free.

All Things Digital, in an interview with CEO Daren Tsui, note that mSpot does not have a “licensing agreement” with the music companies for this service. Here is the exchange…

This is roughly the same idea that both Apple and Google have discussed with the music industry for much of 2010, but neither of those two heavyweights has the licenses it needs to launch. How can mSpot pull it off?

Good question. The answer is that mSpot CEO Daren Tsui argues that he doesn’t need a license, for a variety of reasons.

I’ll spare you the technical details, but common sense supports his position–why shouldn’t you be able to move your music from one machine to another? And the law, via the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, may be on his side as well.

I presume nonetheless that the record labels are getting (or intend to receive) a cut of the $3.99 / 40GB packages.

We work closely with all four of the major music labels (Sony, EMI, Warner and Universal), as well as major studios (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, The Walt Disney Studios, Image Entertainment, Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures and Screen Media Ventures) and broadcast companies (including ABC, CBS, ClearChannel, Fox Sports, NPR).

Overall it’s a neat idea. With similar package pricing to the backup service Mozy.

But I have to wonder how long the studios are going to be happy with promise of the kick back they may eventually get from the “premium” package. And how mSpot will support that as well as increasing bandwidth usage, and lawyers fees?

And how this will all play out with any iTunes Cloud service coming from Apple in the future…

An odd email landed in our inbox today (thanks David!). It was something that looked gorgeous, but we couldn’t quite figure out what it was exactly. A tweet went out from our @beautifulpixels , but again, our followers couldn’t discern the fine details in this otherwise magnificent looking data chart. Thankfully, twitter connected us with its designer Filip Chudzinski, who graciously supplied us with the full resolution graphic.

What Chudzinski has done, is meticulously plotted out the entire ten year history of the iTunes ecosystem in a radial chart, down to the last detail. It plots all the important events, sales records, and press announcements of all the iPods, AppleTVs, iPhones, along with each version of iTunes, all on this one single radial chart. Mind you, it’s a huge chart, so big that you can’t even view half the chart on a 24-inch monitor at 100%. This chart needs to be printed out, framed, and hung on a glorious white wall to truly appreciate the work that has gone into it.

The final version will be available Fall 2010, and would look great framed full size on a developer’s office wall.

‘Beta’ Versions : Full Size, iPhone, iPod and Desktop Versions.

Here is v1.0. Which is informative, but not so beautiful.

It’s been done before. But this is one of the nicest implementations so far.

Apple has started sending notices out to developers for App profiles that are over 90 days old, and have not had a binary uploaded…

You have not yet uploaded a binary for your app, XXXXXXXX. Our records show that this app was created in iTunes Connect more than 90 days ago.

If you do not upload a binary for your app by XX XXXXXX 2010 (Pacific Time), it will be deleted from iTunes Connect. The app name will then be available for another developer to use.

Whilst this could be seen as a good first step towards stopping app name squatting, it is probably more to do with Apple wanting to clean house.

I have an app that has been in development for over 12 months. And one of those app names is one that Apple is informing me it will delete unless I upload a binary within 30 days. It won’t be ready within 30 days either. Just call me a laggard if you wish!

I have artwork, a web site and over 12 months of my life invested in that App name.

I wonder how receptive Apple will be to issues such as mine.

I’ve already said what I think will kill Ping if it is not resolved quickly. But there are yet more problems to consider…

Artists can’t make their own pages; Apple invites artists. In May, I criticized analysts for describing the iTunes App Store as being curated, a term I felt didn’t fit. This, on the other hand, really is curation: Apple invites a small number of artists at their discretion, which is why Ping makes some curious recommendations. As Keating puts it, “I’ve never bought Lady Gaga or anything remotely similar, but she is the #1 recommendation and I have to see her everytime I log on. That goes for Katy Perry too…I’ve created a world where I can pretend she doesn’t exist, but Apple really wants me to listen to her.”

It also amazes me that Apple are happy with the flavour of comments that someone like Lady Gaga litters around Ping. Apps (and Developers) have been ejected from the App Store for far less.

Lady Gaga : “DETROIT LITTLE MONSTERS KICK A*S: while escorted to cop car lil monster in full fasion yells “but i have to change my tampon!” yes yes yes

While I have no problem with this kind of humour, it is something that previous Apple policy in the App Store would seem to be at odds with.

Surely letting a few Indies on Ping as artists of their own accord (rather than not-inviting them) and letting them express and promote themselves in this forum is far less risky than giving Lady Gaga top billing for every new Ping account holder of any age.

Curation is not the right way to be going here. Not with music.

Apple is really drifting away from a lot of its roots with its unhealthy addiction to targeted media sales, and its accompanying hypocrisy when it comes to tolerating the “sins” of big earners.

Ping is set to be a very sterile environment indeed when you consider that generic profanity is censored, parody accounts have already been removed by Apple Gnomes, and the only musicians we are going to be exposed to are those that Apple thinks we should be buying.

Not that Lady Gaga, or Coldplay (particularly) are not good artists to follow. But Katie Perry? Whatever next? Kanye?! He could singlehandedly derail Ping all by himself.

In fact Coldplay are perfectly suited to Ping. The level of positive and wholesome fan interaction that they routinely employ fits Ping perfectly.

In some ways Apple seem to be almost schizophrenic in their decision making with Ping content.

On the one hand Coldplay would fit very well with one of Apple’s glossy exposés on professional artists that they often carry on their website to promote professional tool and equipment use. And this is very much how they come across on Ping.

On the other hand you have vacant celebs like Perry, and the cash flow enfant terrible Lady Gaga.

Ping is bizarre, a bazaar, and destined to fail in its current form.

Apple TV

So let’s be clear. I was wrong in my assumption that the new Apple TV would not come out until next year. But oh so right that it would be iOS and ARM based, and that we wouldn’t see the all singing all dancing media roll out that was generally expected.

Apple TV is still a hobby. And if it wasn’t $99 I wouldn’t be bothered about it. I still prefer to make my own Apple TV from a Mac Mini. But at $99 Apple TV is significantly better value than the Airport Express I bought a few years ago… At that price it’s worth getting one just to see whether you like it or not.

And if you don’t its media streaming capabilities on a home network make it worth $99 alone. Being able to walk into your living room and wirelessly stream a video you just made on your iPhone 4 to your 40″ Plasma is a killer feature. Very Bang & Olufsen.

Apple have been smart here. Instead of launching a crippled service, and trying to hype it, they have augmented what is already a solid “hobby” project, and will let the eco-system grow around it. Expect most large US TV companies to be going cap in hand to Apple by this time next year to be part of the service. At the moment it’s just ABC and Fox who are onboard.

Unlike Google, if Apple launch something which is Beta, they call it a “hobby” and keep it a “hobby” until it’s ready for prime time.

Apple TV could be iTunes and the iPod all over again. But this time in Technicolor.

iTunes 10

The big news about iTunes 10 (apart from the new logo!) is “Ping”. “Ping” is Apple’s very own “social network for music”. I am not sure I can be bothered having iTunes open all the time. But if Apple opens up the API, and someone makes a nice client I might be tempted to join a social network which is about finding good music that my friends also like.

Embedding videos and images inline in the Twitter like feed is appealing too.

iPod Nano

This thing it going to sell like hot cakes, in my opinion. If you haven’t pre-ordered one today you are probably already in a queue. It is so close to being the fabled iWatch that I am considering having one as just that, but I’ll most likely carry it around as a pocket watch with benefits. I am also considering going and buying a pair of Nike trainers for the first time!

The clever bit is that Apple have prevented the Nano and the Touch from cannibalising each other’s sales by removing the camera from the Nano and putting it into the Touch. Smart.

The real question is will Apple open the Nano up for developers?

I can see a nano-app Gold Rush happening around this device, if they do…

iPod Touch

Pretty much as expected. Retina Display, Apple A4, Front Facing Camera for Facetime and a crippled back facing camera.

iPad

No mention specifically, other than iOS 4.2 coming soon. But Steve did say that the iPad would get access to all new iOS features, specifically hinting at HDR (now on iOS4.1 for iPhone and iPod Touch). So that tends to suggest an iPad bump around years end with a camera. Facetime is very obviously coming to the iPad as well as the new iPod Touch.

iOS 4.1

We’ve had it to play with for a while as developers. But a new GM has been released today which features some stuff we’ve not been privy to.

HDR photos is a nice new addition.

It’s interesting to note that we’ve not had a sniff of 4.2 yet in developer circles…

iOS 4.2

iOS Unification. So by the end of the year your iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone will all be running the same OS.

Wireless printing had to come sooner or later. But it was nice to have it confirmed.

Once the “App of the Week” feature began, sales immediately skyrocketed to more than 10 times the previous day; in one day, more sales were made than the previous week combined. The application peaked at 5,312 copies sold on July 25, reaching number two in the iPad paid apps chart. The week saw a total of 25,913 sales, for just under $18,000 in revenue. At the somewhat inflated rate of the week prior, Uzu earned in one week what it would have taken 13 weeks to achieve.

Certainly the kind of sales it would be nice to have. But not quite the crazy roller coaster ride that we saw in earlier iPhone App Store Gold Rushes.

Figures from various developers seem to show that universal apps can bring in a revenue increase of anywhere from five to 20 percent over an application written solely for the iPhone.

Not quite the boost I expected the iPad to bring, when you consider that iPad owners have much fewer apps to choose from. But it is early days yet, and iPad owners are less likely to simply buy anything.

The Australian government announced plans to impose classification fees on game apps in the iTunes marketplace, sparking notable resistance within the development community.

The government plans to require developers to submit their games to the Australian Classification Board before they hit the iTunes store, which would cost developers between $470 and $2040 per game.

Idiots!

What has happened to Australia?

Phillip Shoemaker, the guy Jobs and Co. brought in to lead the App Store has his owns app under the company name, GrayNoodle LLC. These aren’t your everyday apps from such a professional guy, but are apps that allow you to hear animal fart sounds and practice your mad peeing skills.

For the developers out there, in case you didn’t know… This is the same fine individual who’s in charge of removing and rejecting your fine applications.

Thoroughly disappointing.

Shoemaker is a bit of a potty mouth on Twitter too.
(Copies of Tweets at 9TO5Mac).

Trust me. Apple TV (or iTV, as presumably Apple handed cash-strapped UK broadcaster, ITV, some money for use of the brand name on the TV-related product) shows (streaming) will be first made widely available in the US. There may be some availability in other countries, but the focus will be on America first. That’s how Apple introduced the iTunes Store originally, too.

It clearly doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this stuff out.

And it’s also pretty much what I said yesterday.