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Steve Jobs movie: grosses $2.26M to date, Sorkin says “conscience is clear” over artistic liberties
The Sorkin/Boyle Steve Jobs movie has grossed $2.26M to date, reports Deadline, as it rolled out to a further 56 theaters over the weekend. The movie had earlier achieved the highest average earnings per theater of any movie this year on its opening weekend.
The limited rollout to a total of just 60 theaters meant it didn’t earn enough to make the top 10, headed by Goosebumps – which was on show at 3,500 locations.
While the movie has been criticized by some for the artistic liberties taken with the truth, with even Steve Wozniak and key system software designer Andy Hertzfeld saying that almost nothing shown really happened like that, scriptwriter Aaron Sorkin defended the movie at a London press conference …
Speaking at last night’s European premiere, the Guardian reports that Sorkin said that the format used was “plainly a writer’s conceit,” but still conveyed larger truths.
“Steve Jobs did not, as far as I know, have confrontations with the same six people 40 minutes before every product launch,” he said, during a press conference. “That is plainly a writer’s conceit. But I do think that the movie gets at some larger truths, some more important truths than what really went on during the 40 minutes before product launches, which I don’t think was the stuff of drama. What you see is a dramatisation of several personal conflicts that he had in his life, and they illustrate something, they give you a picture of something. Are they fair? I do believe they’re fair. My conscience is clear.”
John Sculley, who had earlier said that the movie depicted only one aspect of the man, told the Guardian that the dialog attributed to Jobs was true to the spirit, if not literally true.
While [the dialogue] may not have been the exact words that were spoken, it represented the kind of dialogue that said ‘yes, that’s that person’.
The rollout of the movie completes on Friday, when it will go on show at theatres nationwide.
Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Aaron Sorkin, Andy Hertzfeld, Apple Inc, Danny Boyle, John Sculley, Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs biopic, Steve Jobs movie
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The 17 Best College Instagram Accounts (And Why They’re So Darn Good)
It’s no question social media is an important part of most college students’ lives. But of all the social networking sites out there, Instagram is the one college students use the most, according to a 2015 Pew Research Center survey.
In fact, 53% of adults ages 18–29 years old say they use Instagram every single day.
That’s why many brands whose target audience includes young adults have taken to Instagram. After all, when it comes to choosing which social platforms to spend time and resources on, it’s a best practice to go where your target audience goes.
Fortunately, the social media folks at colleges and universities worldwide have taken note. We were excited to see many of them posting awesome Instagram content — shots of campus buildings, live-action photos of sports games, colorful graphics promoting school-sponsored campaigns — on a regular basis.
While there were many colleges and universities doing well on Instagram, here are 17 of the best ones we saw. (And if you’re feeling inspired, read this blog post for a list of the 11 best photo and video editing apps for mobile.)
17 of the Best College Instagram Accounts
1) Colorado State University
When it comes to posting a diversity of Instagram content, Colorado State University covered it all — and everything came out beautifully. We had a hard time choosing from the multitude of adorable pictures of their mascot CAM the Ram, which included playful captions such as “Our mascot is cuter than your mascot.” They also did a great job with campaign graphics, like the ones below on ending hazing and promoting their sweepstakes, the grand prize of which was a trip to Cancun.
2) Dartmouth College
Located in scenic Hanover, New Hampshire, Dartmouth’s campus has a lot to work with — and their social media team doesn’t sell it short. Their Instagram account is chock full of breathtaking, high-definition pictures of their campus in every season and at every time of day. We love the drone shots they used to show their campus from a new perspective.
3) Liberty University
Liberty University’s Instagram is a great mix of beautiful campus shots and photos of students, staff, guest speakers, and other members of the Liberty community. When it comes to posting photos of people, they don’t rely on generic group pictures of people hanging out around campus. Instead, they post photos of people that appeal to followers who don’t know the person or people in the photo, like the one with the championship ring below that can ignite school spirit in any student or alum. Check out how they brand each photo with their logo for anyone who might regram.
4) University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge in England has mastered the art of photo editing. Most of their Instagram photos are landscape photos of areas around their campus, but check out how they’ve edited them to intensify the colors and bring out the details in each photo. We also love how they frame their photos, like the building through the archway and the quad through the window below. You might see certain buildings or areas every day, but when you’re taking photos, think about the unique and interesting ways you can photograph them.
5) Arizona State University
Arizona State University lets its school pride shine through its Instagram account, which features a lot of content related to their sports teams. They do a great job of creating cool graphics for game day announcements, and we love that they include all the relevant information both as text in the graphic and in the caption. That way, anyone who wants to regram doesn’t have to copy the caption, too.
6) Adolfo Ibáñez University
Adolfo Ibáñez University is located just beside the beautiful Andes Mountains in Chile, giving them a lot of great scenery to work with for campus and city shots. They do a great job of capturing the closeness of the mountains to the school in photos like the regram in the one below. We love how the social media team there credits regrams not only in the caption, but also in the photo itself using the Repost & Regram App. They also use their Instagram account to highlight cool student projects, like the bicycle below that won some of their students a top entrepreneurial prize. They could’ve chosen to post a photo of the bike in the lab or on display, but instead, they chose to post a particularly cool photo of it outside and at night, probably borrowed from the students themselves. This version of the photo
6) West Virginia University
Here’s another example of a college Instagram account that publishes cool, new perspectives of their campus. We love the theme of their logo in front of a blurred background, like the keychain and the branded leaf below. Alongside gorgeous, high-definition photos of all different parts of campus and student life, they have a few epic shots sprinkled in — like the one on the bottom right of a student who climbed a mountain with a WVU flag. #casual.
7) The University of Sheffield
The University of Sheffield’s photos boast a high level of sophistication we should all aspire to achieve. In addition to playing with perspective and color, they also play with angles and lines in a lot of their photos. Take a look at the photo on the top left: It features two buildings, one old and one new, but it takes a second to see the new one because of its reflective glass exterior. The photo at the top right is a cool bird’s eye view of students studying for exams, and it features a lot of lines and rectangles of different shapes and sizes. We were also big fans of the colorful graphics they post, like the “Good Luck” graphic on the bottom left.
8) American University of Beirut
AUB does a lot of things well on Instagram, but what we liked in particular was what they’ve been doing with their 150th birthday celebration for the school. To celebrate its history, they’ve interspersed more typical posts with old photos taken in black-and-white, which they’ve marked with “AUB/LIBRARY ARCHIVES” right on the photo to indicate that it was taken from their archives. In the captions of each of these photos, they encourage students to send a modern version of the exact same photo by posting it with the hashtag #myaubstory or sending it to a specific email address they set up for the campaign. In addition to this cool campaign, they periodically post beautiful graphics to wish students well for the holidays, like the graphic below for the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha.
9) University of Nottingham
Go to University of Nottingham’s Instagram account and you’ll scroll through an impressive display of beautiful campus photos. We love the creativity and variety in these shots: Note how they play with light, shadows, and color so that no two shots of the same building look too similar. We also love how they post photos that highlight their school’s and city’s histories. For example, the photo of the inn below is accompanied by a bit of trivia in the caption: “Did you know that Nottingham is home to the oldest pub in England?”
10) University of Rochester
The University of Rochester lets its personality shine through its Instagram photos. The photo of the empty campus square at bottom left, which “quotes” the square, was part of a three-part photo series during the school’s winter break that showed how much the school was missing all its students. The folks here also have an ongoing mascot photo campaign, where they have students snap pictures with their mascot all over the country, which they then share with the whole community.
11) Texas Tech University
Texas Tech does a lot of really great stuff with their Instagram account, but what really makes them stand out is their videos and their seasonal content. They post a lot of short, simple videos that inspire a lot of Likes — from their football team running onto the field before a game to the Texas Tech NASCAR racing on the track. Their seasonal content is top-notch too. Check out the playful, Texas Tech-themed conversation hearts they posted for Valentine’s Day and the pumpkins carved for Halloween, both below.
12) University of New South Wales
UNSW does a great job mixing beautifully framed, artistic photos and more real-time ones, like the photo of their rugby team below that they regrammed from @unigames. They also do a great job creating informative graphics, like the simple one below accompanied by the caption, “5 days until UNSW Open Day! Tag your Open Day photos with #unswopenday and we’ll print them for you at our Open Day photo booth!” This is a perfect campaign for college kids, who love to put photos up on their dorm room walls. (Want to create a graphic using icons, like UNSW did in the one below? Check out our list of 135 royalty-free icons here.)
13) Boston University
Boston University does a great job of adding humor to their plethora of high-end photos of campus and student life. We love photos like the “Hire Me” graduation photo below, which is worthy of a regram regardless of whether or not you know the graduates in the photo. We also love that they promote the best content from #AwkwardBU Twitter campaign on Instagram alongside relevant photos.
14) University of Barcelona
The buildings at the University of Barcelona are gorgeous, both inside and out, and Instagram is the perfect platform for their social media team to showcase all that great design and architecture. Their strength lies in the variety of these photos: Even if the photo is taken of the same, say, hallway — as in two of the photos below — they were taken at a completely different angle and at different times of day with different light. These folks also create fun, lighthearted graphics to promote some of their events, like they did with the “Vespres UB” event below. Notice, too, how some of their photos are branded with the “Universitat de Barcelona” logo — a nice touch for anything that might be regrammed.
15) Georgetown University
While Georgetown’s Instagram account includes plenty of high-definition photos, we love that a lot of their photos have the look and feel of well-framed photos taken from an iPhone. This could be because they, like many other colleges on this list, post a lot of photos submitted to them by members of their community. We also love that they post in real time and in a chronological manner, making their feed read kind of like a photo journal of a specific time. The #HomeSweetHilltop collage below, posted over Homecoming Weekend, is a great example of a timely photo. Another example is a photo of the Pope in Georgetown during his visit.
16) Penn State University
Alongside beautiful, high-end photos of campus and student life (are you seeing a theme here?), one of our favorite themes in Penn State’s Instagram photos are their “love stories.” These are photos of couples that met at Penn State, whether it’s one alum proposing to another (as in the photo at bottom right) or kissing at graduation after starting to date during freshman orientation. These photos are accompanied by each couple’s brief backstory, and always inspire a lot of well-deserved Likes and “aww”‘s.
17) Australia National University
Australia National University nails the whole “breathtaking landscape photo” thing. Every single time. Their Instagram feed is an inspiring collection of photos of campus, student performances, and even detailed, up-close photos of animals found in the area. The common theme? Beautiful uses of light and shadow and reflections, as you can see in the photos below.
Which college Instagram account is your favorite? Share with us in the comments.
How to Use Facebook Insights to Improve Your Engagement
Do you have a content strategy for your Facebook Page? Want to know which types of content work best? A deep dive into Facebook Insights helps you identify which content drives people to engage. In this article I’ll share how to find your best content using Facebook Insights. Why Use Facebook Insights? Many people are […]
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Apple now performing free repairs for ‘Staingate’ Retina MacBook screens with anti-reflective coating issues
Earlier in the year, a small-but-not-insignificant number of Apple customers complained about screen issues with their new Retina MacBooks and Retina MacBook Pros, specifically cases where the anti-reflective display coating leaves marks and stains on the screen, ranging from small corner blobs to large patches.
Several months later, Apple seems to have acknowledged the issue and launched a Quality Program to replace affected users’ hardware. The Staingate Facebook page now includes many reports of people successfully sending their MacBooks in for repair at Apple Stores. The existence of the program was first reported by MacRumors.
In general, though, it seems Apple is trying to keep news of the problem quiet. There is no public acknowledgement of such a program existing on Apple’s website. Apple is contacting people who have reported the problem earlier in the year and were turned away, however. If you have problems like those shown in the picture above (although that’s an extreme case), you should now be able to take your laptop to the Apple Store for a straightforward repair.
AppleCare coverage is not necessarily required with several people successfully getting screen repairs/replacements who are officially out of warranty. If you believe you are affected by this problem, call Apple Support or visit an Apple Store or authorized reseller for support.
Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS, iOS Devices, Mac, Tech Industry Tagged: Mac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, Retina Display, Retina MacBook, screen replacement
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4 Tools to Improve Your Social Media Marketing
Does social media marketing contribute to your bottom line? Are you looking for tools to boost your ROI? As social media changes from an engagement-driven environment to a conversion-driven one, new tools are emerging to help you market more effectively. In this article you’ll discover four tools to improve your social media marketing. #1: Connect […]
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The Logic Pros: Creating custom-made, tempo flexible Apple Loops
In this week’s episode of The Logic Pros, we are going to be creating our own custom-made Apple Loops. One of the most underused features of Logic Pro X, the Apple Loops browser not only houses thousands of free stock audio and MIDI clips, but also our personal libraries. The elastic nature of LPX’s in-house loop format allows us to create tempo-flexible audio clips that can be used at any time in future projects directly from the built-in browser and more:
Creating Apple Loops with Logic’s built-in Loop Browser can be a very convenient way of storing bits of audio that you would like to go back to in future projects, like say a great snare sound, some vocal clips or some live percussion loops. While at first LPX’s loop browser may seem like it is just for accessing the vast library of samples Apple throws at you, we can just as easily drop our own audio in there, whether it be third party sample libraries or even audio clips we have created ourselves in Logic.
There are several advantages to this outside of the fact that the samples are then right there inside Logic, with full search and drag-and-drop access. We can store tempo, key, genre and style data, to our loops/samples making them easily found even after you may have forgotten they were there. Better yet, audio loops stored in here can become tempo flexible and lock to any given future project’s BPM setting.
If we want to create an Apple Loop that will carry BPM data there are a few things to keep in mind first. We want to use an audio clip/loop that is edited to a whole number number of bars, like for example 4 or 8 bars in length. If you already have this part done, or know how to do that easily you can skip the first step below:
1. Once you have selected some audio to create an Apple Loop from, drop it onto a track on your arrange page in Logic. If it isn’t already, we will need to make a few edits in order to make it a perfect loop (4, 8, or 16 bars for example). In my case I’ll be making a four bar loop. You’ll want to use the Scissor or Marquee tools from the tool box (push the T key) in order to give it a quick trim. We will also need to make sure our current project’s BPM is set to the same tempo as our loop.
It can be a good idea to use the loop/cycle function in Logic by dragging along the top of the screen to give your audio a quick listen. Just to make sure you have it just the way you want it and that it sounds clean when its looping.
Note: You may want to select the “Bars” options in the “Snap” menu seen above in order to ensure a perfect cut, otherwise keep a close eye on the pop-up window that appears when you go to make your edits.
2. Once we have our loop ready to go, all we have to do is drag and drop it to the Loop Browser window. Click O (O not zero), to open the Loop Browser and drop it in.
3. LPX will automatically bring up the Add Region to Apple Loops Library window. From here we can input all of the relevant data for our new Apple Loop. But first we need to deal with the “Type” section. It has two choices: “One-shot” is used for single hits like say a snare and will ignore tempo data, so we will be choosing the “Loop” option.
4. Next you’ll want to give your new loop a relevant name in order for it to be found in the future.
5. And lastly, fill out the scale, genre, and descriptors section for further organization purposes down the line, and hit the “Create” button along the bottom. Trust me, you’ll thank yourself for doing this one day when you stumble upon that perfect percussion or vocal loop because it was stored properly in the first place.
And that’s it, you’re done. Run a quick search for your new Loop or narrow it down into a category using the descriptors, and it will forever be in your personal Apple Loops Library. If you have any interesting uses for the Loops Browser or any tricks for Apple Loops, let us know below:
The Logic Pros is a regular series exploring all of the most interesting gadgets and software for making music on your Mac/iOS devices. If there is any gear you would like us to take a closer hands-on look at, let us know in the comments section below or shoot us an email.
More The Logic Pros:
- The Logic Pros: Getting the most out of Logic’s built-in MIDI Arpeggiator
- Routing 101 – creating multi-track FX Sends and Submix groups
- The Logic Pros: Kontrol S-series keyboards give you Komplete control of NI’s world-class instrument library
- The Logic Pros: A look at Logic’s new heavy weight sample manipulation synth Alchemy
- Moog Sub 37 is one of the best hardware synths for the money
- iPad/Mac synths still can’t quite capture the experience of this $1,000 Moog
- How-to connect MIDI controllers wirelessly over Bluetooth to iOS or Mac w/ puc+
- Time compression and pitch correction with Logic’s built-in Flex tools
- Automate tedious MIDI edits into a single-click with Logic’s Transform feature
- How to use MIDI hardware synthesizers in Logic w/ External Instrument plug-in
- How to create custom sampler instruments using any audio file with EXS24
- How to create Retro Synth patches with custom wavetables and multi-voice stacking
- How to customize Logic’s Drummer, beat-by-beat
- 6 powerful new features you may have missed in Logic 10.1
- How to control anything in Logic using your hardware MIDI controller
- How to create multi-layered synth patches & drum sounds with Track Stacks
- Turning iPad into a virtual pedalboard using Logic Remote
- TE’s new pocket-sized synths & how to sync them up with your Mac
Filed under:
How-To, Tips and Tricks Tagged: Apple Loops, creating, cutom-made, Loop Browser, LPX, tempo flexible, the logic pros
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How to Use Instagram Photos to Boost Your Email Engagement [Infographic]
This post originally appeared on HubSpot’s Agency Post. To read more content like this, subscribe to Agency Post.
Marketers love email marketing. And marketers love Instagram. But very rarely do they bring these two loves together: Curalate found that only 14% of marketers are using social media images in their email marketing efforts, and marketers leverage Instagram content less than 3% of the time.
One online retailer recently experimented with using Instagram images to drive impressions and purchases from its email marketing campaigns, and the combination led to a 7X increase in engagement on the site.
Read more about how Instagram images are currently being used in marketing to discover the opportunities of using visuals in your email marketing campaigns.
Review: Twelve South’s Forté brings more Apple design DNA to Apple Watch stands
Twelve South’s original Apple Watch stand, HiRise for Apple Watch, was early to market for a reason: it was derived from the company’s popular HiRise stands for iPhones, tweaked just enough to hold and charge the smaller Watch. It made our list of the Best Apple Watch Stands and Docks because it was a good first stab at the category, but based on Twelve South’s many cool Mac, iPad, and iPhone accessories, I knew that the company could do better.
Five months after HiRise hit stores, Twelve South has released Forté ($60), a considerably classier Apple Watch stand that looks and feels far closer to an Apple design. Replacing HiRise’s sandblasted aluminum with a chrome-plated metal alloy and grain leather, Forté has the good looks and substantial weight of an Apple dock, with only a couple of telltale signs that it’s a third-party product. Read on for the details…
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While all of Twelve South’s products are packaged in stiff, fabric-wrapped cardboard, Forté’s package looks and feels like a premium watch box, complete with a magnetic closure, a ribbon pull to remove the stand, and an instruction manual pocket. A white liner outside the box spotlights its use with three stainless steel Apple Watches, which it matches beautifully, rather than the aluminum-bodied (and arguably more HiRise-appropriate) Apple Watch Sport.
Forté arrives assembled, so you’ll need to pull off its front chrome ring — the only part made from plastic, though it matches the rest of the stand — and insert an Apple Watch Magnetic Charging Cable, feeding the wire down a kinked groove in the back. With the cable in place, you replace the chrome ring on the top, and that’s it: Forté is ready to hold your Watch on a 30-degree recline just over 2″ from the surface of a table. A very substantial weight in the base, plus a black rubber pad on the bottom, keep it from slipping around once you’ve chosen a location on your desk or nightstand.
Rounded and gleaming in the light, the design is gorgeous and largely practical, though imperfect in a couple of ways. On positive notes, the chrome and grain leather-padded base look appropriately luxurious, surpassing the materials in Mophie’s slick Dock for Apple Watch. You can mount your Watch in portrait or landscape orientation, which means that Forté is Nightstand Mode-compatible, though you’ll need to pinch your magnetically-secured Apple Watch to use its buttons without dislodging it, a sore point with one of our editors.
The other issue is the rear cable-managing channel, which looks and feels a little odd. This is partially because Twelve South created a U-shaped gap in the bar to accommodate closed-loop Apple Watch bands — a wise idea — but the shape detracts a little from the design’s looks; Mophie’s Dock for Apple Watch achieved the same functionality with less of a visual oddity by using a left-mounted bar rather than a centered one, and completely covering the cable. Additionally, though you won’t see it when the stand is viewed face-on, the bar’s chrome back remains open and feels a little jagged to the touch. Given how much polish the rest of the stand possesses, it feels like Forté was originally designed to be shipped with Apple’s Magnetic Charging Cable pre-installed, but tweaked late in the game to lower its price or get it to stores faster.
Overall, Forté is a very nice stand that will have particular appeal to owners of the stainless steel Apple Watch, and fans of the sort of design luxury that chrome and leather can achieve when used cleanly together. Given the materials and look, Forté’s $10 premium over the decidedly aluminum HiRise strikes me as reasonable, and this is certainly one of the nicest $60 Apple Watch stands I’ve tested. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a (more expensive) Forté Deluxe ship with an integrated charging puck and cable, eliminating at least one of Forté’s small imperfections. That’s just a guess, but based on Twelve South’s history of “good then better” releases, something I’m looking forward to seeing.
| Manufacturer: Twelve South |
Price: $60 |
Compatibility: Apple Watch |
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Filed under: Apple Watch, Reviews Tagged: Apple Watch stand, Forte, Twelve South
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The Non-Comedian’s Guide to Using Humor in Meetings
This post originally appeared on HubSpot’s Sales Blog. To read more content like this, subscribe to Sales.
A joke is a great way to kick off a meeting or call, but nothing’s worse than delivering a quip that doesn’t get laughs. That’s why many people sidestep humor in professional situations entirely — too risky.
However, you don’t have to be Amy Schumer to tell a good joke (but if you’re friends with her, please email me). Injecting humor into a presentation is simple if you follow the five rules in Duarte’s SlideShare below.
For instance, you might be hesitant to poke fun of at yourself, but self-deprecating humor (rule #2) actually ingratiates you to your audience.
Flip through the deck to learn how to bring the LOLs to your next call, meeting, or presentation.
Pinterest Adds Location Data to Pins for Retailers: This Week in Social Media
Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention. What’s New This Week Pinterest Improves Place Pins With Better Location Data: “Now location info will be added automatically to Pins. That […]
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Intel reportedly partnering with Apple to provide chips for the next-gen iPhone
According to a report out of VentureBeat, Intel has built a team of more than 1,000 people to build chips for the next-generation iPhone. Specifically, Intel hopes to supply its 7360 LTE modem chip to Apple for the device, and if all goes well, even take part in the manufacturing.
The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus both feature Qualcomm’s 9X45 LTE chip. Intel hopes to next year provide its modem for at least some of the iPhones Apple produces in 2016. Qualcomm is currently tasked with providing modems for all of Apple’s phones.
Intel’s 7360 LTE modem is expected to begin shipping by the end of this year with device manufacturers beginning to implement it during 2016. Intel reportedly sees its partnership with Apple as crucial to its future in the mobile space. Obviously, Apple is a very demanding client with incredibly large-scale production, hence the need for over 1,000 employees on the account.
It’s important to note, however, that Intel has yet to fully reach an agreement with Apple. At this point, Apple is still waiting to see if Intel can hit all of the milestones on the project before officially inking the agreement. Another possible reason that the deal has yet to be fully reached, however, is that the partnership may go deeper than just the LTE modem.
VentureBeat further suggests that Apple would like to create a system-on-a-chip for the next-gen iPhone that combines both its Ax processor and the LTE modem chip. Doing this would provide improved speed, better power management, and thus better battery life. It would also make for a smaller chip, allowing more to be put inside the device itself, such as a bigger battery. As part of this process, Apple would design the system-on-a-chip and apply its name to it, therefore licensing the LTE modem from Intel.
While Apple would create the chip, Intel would handle the production of it using its 14-nanometer process. Currently, Samsung and TSMC share the production task, but use a 20-nanometer processor. Intel 14-nanometer process would lead to superior density and gate pitch, according to the report. Intel is also currently working on perfecting its 10-nanometer process, in which Apple is very interested.
While none of this is confirmed, and likely won’t be until Apple officially announces its next-gen iPhone in 2016, Apple has been sending engineers to work with Intel on the project.
Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: Apple, Intel, iPhone 7, Qualcomm
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Apple to pay University of Wisconsin $234M for infringing on its chip efficiency patent
Earlier this week, Apple was found guilty in an ongoing patent lawsuit initiated by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. At the time, Apple was said to potentially owe the university’s patent licensing arm $862 million in damages. Today, however, Reuters reports that the jury in the case, after much deliberation, has ordered Apple to pay $234 million in damages.
The main reason for the large cut in the damages Apple will pay is that U.S. District Judge William Conley ruled that Apple had not willfully infringed on the patent. Had Conley ruled the other way, however, Apple would have been faced with closer to the $862 million amount in damages.
Apple says that it will appeal the ruling, as expected. In 2008, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation sued Intel over the same patent. The two parties settled outside of court, however, with Intel paying $110 million to the university. Although, Apple believes that it owes far less than even that $110 million amount.
The lawsuit centers the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation’s 1998 patent that handles improving chip efficiency. WARF claims that Apple’s A7, A8, and A8X chips, found in the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and various iPads, all violate the patent. Apple initially asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to review the validity of the patent to begin with, but its request was denied.
Even though this case appears to slowly be wrapping up, WARF last month launched a second lawsuit against Apple arguing that the A9 and A9X chips found in the iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, and iPad Pro infringe upon the same patent.
Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: a7, A8, A8X, Apple, legal, Patent, University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin–Madison
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Flagship Apple Stores get touch-sensitive tables to promote iPhone 6s 3D Touch
Two Apple Stores in New York and San Francisco have gained a new promotional tool to help sell the iPhone 6s. Shoppers visiting these Apple Stores will find a new kind of table with a large display across the surface that’s used for showing off the iPhone 6s.
As you can see in the video below, the table displays a water animation that responds to the 3D Touch sensors on the iPhone demos. When a user force presses the wallpaper to trigger the fish animation, the “water” beneath the phone ripples.
There are only two of these tables in use right now, but it’s possible that Apple could eventually roll them out to more stores, though you may not see one at your local store for quite some time, if ever.
Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: 3D Touch, Apple Retail, Apple Store
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AliveCor shows Apple Watch ultrasonic ECG heart monitoring wrist band, plans 2016 launch
AliveCor, maker of the iPhone-compatible Mobile ECG cardiac monitoring accessory (reviewed here), has unveiled a new Apple Watch version that can be worn as a wrist band. The tentatively-titled Apple Watch ECG goes beyond the heart rate sensor built into the Apple Watch, adding a two-electrode electrocardiogram (ECG) monitor directly into a flexible wristband similar in appearance to Apple’s Sport Band.
Combined with a native watchOS 2 app, the Apple Watch ECG can graph the wearer’s heart beat over extended periods of time, as well as recording heart activity and voice annotations (“I feel like my heart just skipped a beat”) simultaneously, a feature not found on the iPhone version. Additionally, thanks to the new accessory’s guaranteed position on the wrist, it “may be able to detect an upcoming event using continuous monitoring,” AliveCor notes. Like the iPhone version, AliveCor’s Apple Watch app will also be able to send annotated ECG readings directly to a technician or doctor for interpretation.
Rather than connecting to the Apple Watch using Bluetooth or the Watch’s hidden data port, Apple Watch ECG uses the same ultrasonic technology as the iPhone accessory, leveraging the Watch’s microphone to receive ECG data transmissions. This reduces the battery-powered accessory’s power consumption by 92% versus Bluetooth, while offering superior data bandwidth. Pending FDA approval, the Apple Watch ECG is currently planned for a 2016 release, and expected to sell for around $199. A video of the new wristband accessory in action is below…
Filed under: AAPL Company, Apple Watch Tagged: AliveCor, Apple watch, Apple Watch ECG, ECG, Health, heart monitoring
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9to5Toys Lunch Break: 11” MacBook Air $730, Aluminum USB Power Bank $5, UE MEGABOOM Bluetooth Speaker $258, more
Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.
Today’s can’t miss deals:
Apple 11-inch MacBook Air 1.6GHz/4GB/128GB (newest version): $730 shipped (Reg. $899)
Apple 12-inch MacBook 1.1GHz/8GB/256GB from $1,190 or $1,150 w/ .edu (Reg. $1,299), more
Apple’s new 4K & 5K iMacs already seeing the first price cuts and tax-free options
USB Power Deals: Aukey 3,300mAh Aluminum $5 (Orig. $15), Anker 15,600mAh Dual USB 4.8A $22 (Reg. $31), more
Quick Review: Ultimate Ears’ MEGABOOM Bluetooth Speaker is the real deal, on sale for $258 (Reg. $300)
App Store Free App of the Week: Sky Gamblers Air Supremacy goes free for the first time ($1 value)
Apple is dishing out free downloads of the award-winning puzzle game Shadowmatic
1Password secure password manager for Mac: $30 (Reg. $50)
The Executive for iOS goes free for the first time as IGN’s Game of the Month ($5 value)
Tweetbot for Mac drops to $10 (Reg. $13)
Apple Watch 42mm Stainless Steel Case w/ Black Sport Band: $520 shipped (Orig. $599), more
Cost-Effective Apple Watch Bands: Deals from $12 Prime shipped on leather, milanese loop, more
One Day Left! The Big Mac Bundle w/ 14 Top-Rated Apps: $18 ($820 value) http://ift.tt/1MtXhnJ http://t.co/A5rNiQmqGy
—
9to5Toys (@9to5toys) October 16, 2015
More new gear from today:
Griffin Technology merch credit 50% off – WatchStand & Survivor Journey iPhone 6/6s case: $40 shipped ($60 value)
Add a second screen to your setup with this adjustable iPad mount for $17 Prime shipped (Orig. $30)
- Games/Apps: Rare Replay matching lowest ever (Prime only) $20, Gears of War Ultimate $35, iOS freebies, more
- HGST Touro 1TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive $40 shipped (Orig. $69)
- Daily Deals: Lenovo ThinkVision 13.3″ Touchscreen Monitor $200, Kensington Bluetooth Keyboard & Mouse Kit $40, more
- Home: Cuisinart mixing bowls $26, WearEver 15-pc cookware set $100, Hamilton Beach Toaster $20, more
More deals still alive:
Anker MFi Lightning Cables: 3-ft $4, 9-ft $7 (Prime shipped), more
OtterBox SYMMETRY Series iPhone 6/6s Case $20 Prime shipped (Reg. $40)
Turn your old system into a Bluetooth speaker with the Mpow Streambot for $16 Prime shipped (Orig. $36)
- Amazon and Toys R Us give a peek at this year’s must-have holiday gifts
- Apple 64GB iPad Air 2 (New, open box) Silver: $430 shipped ($170 off)
- NBA 2K16 hits iOS and Android with new gameplay, controls and updated graphics
- The original Bluetooth-enabled August Smart Lock drops to $199 (Orig. $250)
- Free MP3 Downloads: Greatest Hits from TLC, Muddy Waters, more
- Samsung Gear Virtual Reality headset for Galaxy S6/Edge $100 shipped (Reg. $200)
- Amazon slashes prices on Levi’s jeans for Men, Women and Boys
- Griffin Technology merch credit 50% off – WatchStand & Survivor Journey iPhone 6/6s case: $40 shipped ($60 value)
- D-Link PowerLine AV+ Network Extender Mini Adapter Kit $20 shipped (Reg. $35), more
- Goal Zero Nomad 7 USB 12V Charger w/ 7W Solar Panel (Refurb) $30 shipped (Orig. $80)
- Storage: Samsung 250GB 2.5-inch Internal SSD $80 (Reg. $90), WD My Passport 2TB USB 3.0 Portable HDD $70 (Reg. $85)
- Aukey adjustable wireless selfie stick w/ Bluetooth $6 Prime shipped (Reg. $11+)
- Lumsing 4-port 21W USB wall charger $8…add a 3-ft MFi Lightning Cable For $5 more
- RuggedTec FlashBang mountable Bluetooth Speaker/Flashlight: $28 shipped (Orig. $79)
- Sony SRSX3 Portable Bluetooth/NFC Speaker: $60 shipped (Orig. $140)
- Two D-Link DCS-934L Wireless IR Surveillance Cameras: $70 shipped (Reg. $100)
- Smart HDTVs: 55-inch Sony 120Hz 4K $850, 43-inch LG 60Hz 1080p $350, more
- Lenmar MAVEN iPhone 6 MFi 3,000mAh Battery Case $29 shipped (Orig. $100), more
- Audio-Technica Headphones + Blue Microphones USB Mic $200 shipped ($292+ value)
- Brother Color Duplex Laser Wireless Printer w/ AirPrint: $150 shipped (Reg. $200)
- Bluetooth Speakers: Inateck Honeycomb $30, SOL REPUBLIC DECK $40
- Klipsch HDTV home theater sound system w/ Bluetooth $155 shipped (Reg. $199)
- Aukey Bluetooth In-Ear Headphones $17 (Reg. $25), more
New products & more:
These futuristic looking headphones could be straight out of the Transformers movie series
- Minecraft: Story Mode launches on iOS and Android with a new multi-episode campaign mode
- Electric Jukebox doesn’t want to be Spotify or Chromecast, so what is it?
- This is the Apple TV remote that Cupertino should’ve made…
- The BLOCKS modular smartwatch has flown past its Kickstarter goal in a just a few hours
- Turn heads at any Halloween party with one of these high-tech DIY costumes
- Koto’s smart sensors track your home’s health and can even forecast storms
- New Halo 5: Guardians trailer drops as retailers ramp-up pre-order deals
Filed under: Tips and Tricks Tagged: 9to5Toys, Amazon, app deals, App of the Week, Best Buy, Daily Deals, free apps, Gold Box, Griffin Accessories, MacBook Air, UE MEGABOOM, USB Power Banks, video games
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Make Personalization Work by Starting with the Right Data
Whenever I have the opportunity to chat with a thought leader in the marketing industry, I always like to ask: What trend do you think will be next year’s buzzword?
In 2014, many professionals said 2015 would be the year of personalization — a prediction that, as it turns out, may have been a little too hopeful.
There are a few reasons personalization hasn’t taken off as well as anticipated, but not one of these reasons is a reluctance to personalize. It’s not a matter of failing to grasp the merits of creating more relevant and better-targeted messaging, but a matter of mastering everyone’s other favorite buzzword and slated 2016 MVP: big data. Or, more specifically, obtaining, organizing and applying the exabytes of consumer data currently up for grabs all across the World Wide Web.
Of course, it makes sense that the year expected to be the “year of personalization” would be followed by a year hyper-focused on data. If personalization is a burrito, data is the rice, beans, guac … (BRB — going to Chipotle.)
What I’m trying to say is: You simply can’t have one without the other. But how do you get the right data to personalize in a way that engages your specific audience? Furthermore, where and how do you obtain and apply this data?
To get answers, I spoke with Phil Davis, Chief Business Officer and data and personalization guru for email data service provider TowerData. Here are his answers to the most common data questions.
How Do You Determine the Right Data?
The first step in achieving personalization is determining what data you need. While the sheer amount of data available to marketers is overwhelming, the good news is you only need to concern yourself with a very small subset of that information.
“The first thing you need to define is what you have access to,” says Phil. “Start with what’s at your fingertips: first-party data, and then third-party data.”
For most marketers, this breaks down into three types of available data.
- Behavioral data: The products or services customers purchase, and what products they view. For B2C companies, this can also mean looking at the contents of abandoned carts, and for B2B companies, this can mean considering which pieces of content a prospect viewed before becoming a customer.
- Brand interaction: What pages are prospects viewing on your website, and how are they engaging with your email messages? How did they reach your site in the first place? Do they follow you on social media?
- Demographic data: From age, gender and geographic location to marital status, children in the household, income and homeowner status, demographic data tells businesses a lot about the people behind the purchases.
“Get the data first, then figure out what data moves the needle,” says Phil. In other words, collect all the data immediately available, and then decide what’s most important or most relevant.
But don’t feel defeated if you can’t immediately obtain all the data you need for a highly sophisticated Amazon-esque personalization strategy right off the bat. As Phil points out, every business must start somewhere.
“If you can’t get your hands on all of it, or if it’s too difficult to digest, just start with a few simple fields to get yourself on track for personalization.”
After all, if you jump from zero personalization to even a small amount of personalization, you’re going to notice an increase in conversions.
Where Do You Get Data?
“Oh yeah, big data is great,” we all say, collectively smiling and nodding. Here’s the dirty little secret marketers are hiding from one another: Most of us have no idea where to get all this amazing data we hear so much about. Sure, we may know who viewed which blog post and who downloaded which eBook. But what about all of those in-depth demographic data points mentioned above? After all, there’s only so many personal questions you can ask in a submission form.
The best option is to leverage the data you already have (first-party data) to get the data you need (third-party data).
Using tools like InstantData, businesses can upload their contact lists, choose from a giant list of data points and instantly enhance customer profiles. Marketers can add demographic, interest and purchase data to their customer database and voila! You have all the juice you need to power an uber-targeted personalization strategy.
How Do You Apply Your New Data?
You’ve taken stock of what’s already available in your database, and obtained even more data from a third-party source. Your arsenal is full, but how do you make sure you hit the target?
According to Phil, while the medium and methods of obtaining data may have changed, the application has not. “The machine is doing what a really great in-store salesperson would do,” he says. Only, the “machine” is more accurate.
“If it was 1970 and I was selling clothes and someone came into my shop, I would assume, ‘This person is in this neighborhood, so they must live close by,’” says Phil. “I’d notice he’s a man, he’s about 45 and he’s got a wedding band on. I’d probably ask him, ‘What are you looking for today?’ That’s really no different than me wondering, ‘What did you click on today?’ and using data to provide a better experience.”
The Next Steps
While 2015 may not have been personalization’s banner year, the forecast for 2016 looks much more promising. As automation advances, and marketers become more comfortable diving into customer data, the ability to create highly targeted and captivating campaigns is becoming a real possibility for companies of all sizes.
Even the smallest amount of personalization based on a mere one or two data points can help marketers make waves. To learn more about how you can start analyzing your data for personalization, check out TowerData’s InstantData tool.
Improve With Improv: What You Learn When You Step Outside Your Comfort Zone [Video]
For many people, myself included, the prospect of performing in an improv show is downright terrifying. What could be worse than having to get up in front of an expectant audience with no lines, no plan, and no idea what your fellow performers are going to say?
But if you’re willing to step out of your comfort zone, there’s actually a lot that you can learn from improv. It can teach you how to react and adapt to new situations. It can teach you how to become a better listener. And perhaps most importantly, it can teach you how to stop fearing failure.
How, exactly? In his INBOUND15 Bold Talk, Dave Delaney, seasoned improv performer and author of New Business Networking, talks about how improvisation can improve your networking, creativity, communication, teamwork, and leadership skills. Check out his Bold Talk in the YouTube Video below. (And click here to browse more Bold Talks.)
New jailbreak tweak brings Apple News to unsupported countries
Apple News, a news reading app introduced in iOS 9 that replaces Newsstand, is only available in the United States for now, and even explicitly blocked in some areas, though the UK may be getting access very soon. However, a new jailbreak tweak enables readers to use the app from anywhere in the world now without waiting or changing regions.
The tweak is called NewsOfTheWorld, and it launched for free on the BigBoss repository this morning. Installing it will place the News app on your home screen and allow you to use all of its features. Curiously, you’ll need to reboot your phone twice after installing the tweak before it kicks in, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t see the app right away.
Once you’ve got Apple News up and running, be sure to add 9to5Mac to your library to stay up-to-date on the latest news and reviews. If you’re looking for some other cool mods to install on your newly jailbroken iPhone, we recently covered a few that will enable iPhone 6s features on your older handsets, iPod touches, and iPads including 3D Touch and Live Photos.
Filed under: iOS Tagged: apple news, iPad, iPhone, IPod Touch, jailbreak, News, Newsstand
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