Innehållsförteckning för Issue #56 från AppleMagazine

Last week President Obama made phone calls to a short list of CEOs of major American companies. His purpose was to discuss the upcoming fiscal cliff and ask for their input on the subject. This is an important topic, as in 2013 many companies will be losing a lot of government aid, and the President doesn’t want to see this fall on the shoulders of middle class America. Tim Cook was on that short list of CEOs who received a phone call from President Obama about the government’s budget issues that are set to go into effect at the end of 2012. A White House official told CNN that the talks were part of the President’s “outreach on the need to find a balanced deficit-reduction solution j that protects the…

BLACK FRIDAY It's that special time of year when children and adults dream of presents and gifts purchased from Santa’s favorite retailers. That special season when shoppers re-enact the running of the bulls and the unfortunate are trampled, not in Pamplona, but at their nearby shopping mall. All for the sake of getting that door-buster deal on the 40-inch LCD or a once-in-a-lifetime chance to grab that laptop at a 15% discount. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are upon us once again. The National Retail Federation projects an estimated 147 million people, one out of every two Americans, to shop on the Black Friday weekend. The term Black Friday comes from the profits that stores expect to turn; retailers are assumed to operate at a loss or in the ‘red’…

“History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” Mark Twain INNOVATOR’S FAIRY TALE Once upon a time, there existed a technology company that rolled out ingenious devices that sold in droves. The company was lauded for its vision and its ability to create not just new products, but for initiating entirely new product sectors. The leaders of the company were praised as models of wise corporate governance. The investment community as well as the consumer markets loved the little company that could. The company name became synonymous with technological advancement, superbly made products and in delighting their customer base. The company grew to be an international giant competing in various product lines in nations across the world. But over the course of years, misfortune, competition, and missteps eroded the…

#01 – Angry Birds Star Wars By Rovio Entertainment Ltd Category: Games / Price: $0.99 Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd gen), iPod touch (4th gen), iPod touch (5th gen) and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #02 – Angry Birds Star Wars HD By Rovio Entertainment Ltd Category: Games / Price: $2.99 Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. #03 – Granny Smith By Mediocre AB Category: Games / Price: $0.99 Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd gen), iPod touch (4th gen), iPod touch (5th gen) and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #04 – Wreck-it Ralph By Disney Category:…

by Robert Zemeckis Genre: Kids & Family Released: 2004 Price: $9.99 434 Ratings View in iTunes Preview THE POLAR EXPRESS The Polar Express is based on the book of the same name by Chris Van Allsburg. The Caldecott Award-winning book, on many librarians’ must-read lists, was turned into a motion-capture computer-animated film by Robert Zemeckis, who produced and directed, and also adapted the screenplay. Set in the 1950s, a young boy from Grand Rapids, Michigan, spends his Christmas Eve trying desperately to find the spirit of Christmas and proof that Santa Claus does exist. A train pulls up in front of his home, and the train conductor informs the boy it’s headed for the North Pole and that he should board the train this year. The boy boards the train…

U.S. Mac sales in the month of October were down 16 percent year over year, according to the latest data from NPD Group. But Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray made note that Mac sales have exceeded NPD figures by an average of 12 percentage points in the last three quarters, which suggests overall Mac sales were down just 4 percent year over year. Munster's estimated figures call for Mac sales to be down 7 percent year over year in the December quarter, which would be 4.8 million total units. The NPD figures suggest Mac sales were down 40 percent when compared to September. That’s a normal seasonal trend as back-to-school sales end, Munster said. “The focus of the December quarter will likely be on iPhone 5 sales, and we note…

I was inspired to write this article based on the recent, devastating events involving Hurricane Sandy and its terrible trek up the Eastern Coast of the United States. Seeing all of the photographs and emotional scenes unfold on the local news networks sent a whirlwind of questions and concerns running through my mind. How were these people going to stay connected to the outside world with such a lengthy power outage happening, and how could they communicate with anyone if they needed help? There were a lot of different areas that were struck by the hurricane up and down the coastline, and many households were affected. It's safe to assume that large numbers of people were left without power, killing their Internet, radio, and television services. But it’s probable that…

Nintendo is dying. It may not be now, it may not be soon, but the developer and publisher is slowly starting to lose all signs of life. In case you haven’t been in the gaming loop, Nintendo has been on a rapid decline since the release of the Nintendo Wii. In fact, many consider the Nintendo Gamecube to be the company’s last successful console release. I couldn't agree more. Ever since the Wii hit the market, I completely lost any desire to play Nintendo games, even series that I religiously followed like Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. So what exactly happened to Nintendo, and why are they so lackluster in the modern age? To be fair, it’s a 50/50 mixture of Nintendo’s console design and the game…

#01 – Aerox By Synoptical Studios Ltd Category: Games Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #02 – YouTube By Google, Inc. Category: Photo & Video Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. #03 – Gangnam Style Massacre By Carolina Patron Category: Games Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd gen), iPod touch (4th gen), iPod touch (5th gen) and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. #04 – Pocket Climber By PunchBox Studios Category: Games Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. This app…

#01 – OS X Mountain Lion By Apple Category: Productivity / Price: $19.99 Requirements: OS X 10.6.8 or later #02 – Angry Birds Star Wars By Rovio Entertainment Ltd Category: Games / Price: $4.99 Requirements: OS X 10.6 or later #03 – Pages By Apple Category: Productivity / Price: $19.99 Requirements: OS X 10.6.6 or later #04 – iPhoto By Apple Category: Photography / Price: $14.99 Requirements: OS X 10.7.4 or later #05 – FaceTime By Apple Category: Social Networking / Price: $0.99 Requirements: OS X 10.6.6 or later #06 – Clear By Realmac Software Category: Productivity / Price: $9.99 Requirements: OS X 10.8.2 or later, 64-bit processor #07 – Keynote By Apple Category: Productivity / Price: $19.99 Requirements: OS X 10.7.4 or later #08 – Numbers by Apple Category:…

LOTUS (DELUXE VERSION) CHRISTINA AGUILERA If you don't know who Christina Aguilera is, you’ve been living under a rock. This pop starlet has managed to collect five Grammy Awards, a variety of platinum certifications from the RIAA, and is a prominent part of NBC's hit singing competition, The Voice. Her powerhouse vocals and sometimes racy music videos have put her into an echelon with some of the most famous voices in music today. Christina Aguilera has shared the stage with some big names, and she’s even stared in some motion pictures, with Burlesque being her most recent role. She's a multi-talented, worldwide success, and her impressive repertoire of albums is proof of her accomplishments. But many considered Christina Aguilera to be at the end of her road. With her appearing…

END OF AN ERA Considering his relatively young age and long career with the company, many on Wall Street and around the tech world were shocked by the announcement on Monday that Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Chief Executive Officer and Board member Paul Otellini would be stepping down from his posts in May of 2013. With mandatory retirement set at 65 within the company and Otellini only 62, rumors have surfaced that his retirement may not have been completely of his own volition, especially as the company tries to navigate through an increasingly competitive environment and focus more on mobile technologies. Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce, who were former co-workers at the semiconductor pioneering company Fairchild Semiconductor, founded Intel in 1968. Its initial successes in the early 70s came from…

Music and Apple go together like Lucy and Ethel, Butch and Sundance, and Simon and Garfunkel. If you have Apple products and don’t play music on them, you’re missing out on something very substantial. And if you have an Apple mobile device and don’t use it for music, you’re wasting an opportunity to hear music the way it’s meant to be played. The connection of music and Apple certainly isn’t by happenstance. Steve I Jobs was a big music lover, mostly classic rock and folk. Bob Dylan was his favorite artist, and if he were forced to choose I either The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, Jobs told biographer Walter Isaacson, ''If the vault was [sic] on fire and I could grab only one set of master tapes, I would…

The proliferation of mobile devices, from basic cell phones with internet connectivity to recent tablet offerings from technology leaders like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and those running Google's Android operating system, have undoubtedly made the lives of an ever increasing percentage of the population easier. Applications designed to balance budgets, facilitate banking transactions, act as translators and allow one to work from almost any location—as well as provide countless hours of entertainment through games, music and movies—have changed the parameters of the once separate entities of "office work” and “home entertainment”. These modifications in the methods of traditional work and play have also played a major part in redefining educational tools. Advancements in accessibility combined with smaller and more powerful devices have enabled phones and tablets to become potent teaching aids…

#01 – Memory Clean By FIPLAB Ltd Category: Utilities Requirements: OS X 10.7 or later, 64-bit processor #02 – Deer Hunter Reloaded By Glu Games Inc. Category: Games Requirements: OS X 10.7 or later #03 – 123D Design By Autodesk Inc. Category: Graphics & Design Requirements: OS X 10.7 or later, 64-bit processor #04 – Evernote By Evernote Category: Productivity Requirements: OS X 10.6.6 or later #05 – Full Deck Solitaire By GRL Games Category: Games Requirements: OS X 10.6.6 or later #06 – Kindle By AMZN Mobile LLC Category: Reference Requirements: OS X 10.6 or later #07 – Pocket By Idea Shower Category: News Requirements: OS X 10.7 or later, 64-bit processor #08 – Xcode By Apple Category: Developer Tools Requirements: OS X 10.7.3 or later #09 – Twitter…

PUZZLE & DRAGONS Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Price: Free Genre: Puzzle / RPG Released: Nov 08, 2012 Version: 4.21 Size: 38.2 MB Languages: English, Japanese Seller: GungHo Online Entertainment, INC. View in iTunes Preview I've talked a lot about Mobage and their innovative card collecting and battling game, Rage of Bahamut. It had a great run, and Mobage has now moved onto bigger titles like their collecting and tower defense hybrid, Fantasica. I'll be a long time fan of their games for years to come. But it now seems that the group has given inspiration to a variety and Mobage clones are starting to pop up in the app store. I've been working through a lot of these games, and most of…

US OVER YOU (THE VOICE PERFORMANCE) CASSADEE POPE GANGNAM STYLE PSY DIE YOUNG KE$HA LOCKED OUT OF HEAVEN BRUNO MARS HO HEY THE LUMINEERS A THOUSAND YEARS, PT. 2 (FEAT. STEVE KAZEE) CHRISTINA PERRI DIAMONDS RIHANNA SEVEN NATION ARMY (THE VOICE PERFORMANCE) MELANIE MARTINEZ TRY P!NK HOME PHILLIP PHILLIPS AUSTRALIA WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO ME SAMANTHA JADE GET ALONG GUY SEBASTIAN LITTLE THINGS ONE DIRECTION DON’T YOU WORRY CHILD (RADIO EDIT) [FEAT. JOHN MARTIN] SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA LOCKED OUT OF HEAVEN BRUNO MARS SHE WOLF (FALLING TO PIECES) [FEAT. SIA] DAVID GUETTA I KNEW YOU WERE TROUBLE TAYLOR SWIFT BOM BOM (RADIO EDIT) SAM AND THE WOMP LITTLE TALKS OF MONSTERS AND MEN DIE YOUNG KE$HA UK TROUBLEMAKER OLLY MURS LITTLE THINGS ONE DIRECTION SOMETHING NEW GIRLS ALOUD BENEATH YOUR…

Siri already has an impressive language capacity. In fact, Apple's creation can currently speak fluently in English (including Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, and United States variants), Japanese, Italian (Italy and Switzerland variants), Korean, French (France, Canada, and Switzerland variants), Spanish (United States, Spain, and Mexico variants), German (Germany and Switzerland variants), and Chinese (Mandarin, Taiwan-Mandarin, and Cantonese variants). That s one trilingual (bilingual, quadlingual, not really sure how you classify knowledge of so many languages) artificial intelligence. But according to a new job listing that has popped up on Apple’s website, the company is showing no signs of stopping there and is apparently actively seeking help to bring Siri to more countries. Apple is currently requesting aid from a number of bilingual interns. According to the listing, the company is…