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Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre Source: Shutterstock The $3 billion price tag of the acquisition—$2.6 billion immediately and another $400 million that will vest over an unspecified amount of time—makes the Beats acquisition the most expensive purchase Apple has made. In comparison, the company spent just $400 million acquiring NeXT in 1997, a company that…

Amazon, the Big Five Publishers (and Apple) The move of issuing a statement such as this is unusual for the retailing giant. Similar to Apple, Amazon has long employed a strategy of seldom commenting on much of anything. To go so far as to both explain itself and defend its actions is even more rare,…

__________________________ Previously on TMO , Bryan Chaffin made a compelling case for Apple's acquisition of Beats. “Apple + Beats Reportedly about Preserving Music Industry and Hiring Iovine/Dre.” The argument was not so much about the headphones business or the number of Beats customers as it is about building an appealing, expert music system that complements…

Currently and Artificially Unavailable Both books are highly anticipated titles that are available now from Apple's iBooks and from Barnes and Noble. A variety of independent book stores will also happily take your money. For instance, The Silkworm is available as a $12.99 preorder from iBooks, or as a $21 hardcover and $14.99 Nook ebook…

Other notable numbers from the report include Android rising to 59% of smartphones shipped, and that three of four phones shipped in the quarter were LTE smartphones. Samsung was the top handset supplier in the quarter and Apple was the top smartphone supplier, with Apple accounting for more than half of shipments to Verizon and AT&T. Handsets by…

Those who have observed Apple for a long time will likely remember a time when Boeing was the industrial giant, while Apple was either a cocky upstart or a failing has-been, but today's Apple is apparently influencing companies far outside of the computer biz. According to Bloomberg, Mr. McNerney said that his company would no…

day 2 on iPhone and iPad For those new to djay, it’s the digital equivalent of a couple of turntables, allowing users to mix tracks making for a seamless stream of music. Previously that mix was limited to choosing from what was synced to your iPad, or available via iTunes Match. With Spotify Premium, you…

I'm guessing this isn't actually what Ken Case's calendar really looks like. OmniFocus is virtually an institution of productivity software, an app that helps people juggle multiple projects for both home and work. This new version was a long time coming, having started as a demo at Macworld last year, then beta testing generated a…

Stem Innovations has released the IZON 2.0 Wi-Fi Video Monitor and the free IZON app.  With these two products you can monitor a location with a video feed from anywhere in the world. The app delivers real-time video and audio from the IZON camera to an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. IZON 2.0 Wi-Fi video…

Hang on, this gets tricky. Those aforementioned reports are based on something from the Korea Times on Monday, claiming there were “working-level discussions” happening to settle all of this once and for all. On Tuesday, the story was that Samsung tried its hardest to offer an olive branch, but gosh darn if meanyhead Apple was simply…

Airlines have been replacing those 40 pound briefcases that pilots used to carry, filled with paper maps, checklists and logs, with iPads. It's been a great success. But now that the airlines are also starting to provide Wi-Fi in the aircraft, the question arises: What else should pilots be allowed to do with those iPads…

The problem publicly surfaced earlier in May, when Adam Pash detailed the problems he was experiencing. After switching from iPhone to an Android device, his phone number remained associated with his iCloud account within Apple's ecosystem. This resulted in text messages from Apple devices to that phone number being sent to iCloud/iMessage, rather than the…

In 1999 Steve Jobs went on stage and showed off iMovie, declaring how FireWire was The Way, and explaining how amazing all the movie creation tools are and what a standard issue Mac user could do with all that video they have accumulated. Then just 14 months later, Steve Jobs walked out at Macworld 2001 and unveiled…

Sexual content is OK for Apple's App Store, but not masturbation HappyPlayTime built an iPhone app designed to teach women masturbation techniques and remove the stigma against taking matters into your own hands, but wasn't able to get through Apple's app review process. The company called the app an educational game, but the content apparently…

Drawing from Disney Employees sent to Muppet Studios after Jim Henson passed. He was a creator who still has an impact today, not only because of people from Ricky Gervais to Toy Story and Up director Pete Docter who cite the Muppets as influences, but because lots of kids today still watch Sesame Street, the…

________________________ There are many things that a company can do with technology these days to make money. In fact, the Internet age seems to be about nothing else than dreaming up new software schemes to make money even if it means deceiving the customer, say, in a EULA or probing into people's lives to make…

Never fear, we published a few tricks to unhide those folders. We became curious when more and more people began reporting that their folders hadn't disappeared, so we set about doing some isolation testing. After all, OS X 10.9.3 wasn't the only update Apple released yesterday. iTunes 11.2 made its public debut, as well. Turns out that hidden /Users folder has nothing…

Adobe Creative Cloud service failure impacting users around the world Creative Cloud is the subscription service Adobe introduced to replace the traditional perpetual license system it previously used to sell Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, and its other design apps. With the Creative Cloud model, users download the apps they need — except for now because…

Back in January, LYNKtec introduced its Apex Fine Point Active electronic stylus with an ultra small 2.3 mm tip. Now, the product has been upgraded to a new model with a rechargeable battery. Plus, it's pleasingly longer, includes a pocket clip and has a more durable polymer nib. _______________________ It's hard to contain my enthusiasm…

One of the appealing features of photo messaging app Snapchat is that the photo is temporary; after a short period of time the image disappears, or at least, that’s what people thought until the FTC got involved. Some of the FTC charges were related to a security hole discovered earlier this year that disclosed over 4…

This is just the first step in the bill becoming law—it would have to also pass the California Assembly and be signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown or his successor (likely to be Jerry Brown, for those keeping score at home). The new bill would require remote kill capability starting in July of 2015,…

Part of the issue is the goal of pro-Net Neutrality people to keep “Internet access” synonymous with “phone line.” While we take it for granted today, a phone line is a wire provided by one company that allows you to choose who you call, whether they are using the same telephone provider you use or not. Many large…

Katie Cotton, Apple's legendary queen of public relations, is leaving the company after 18 years of managing what is arguably the most successful PR department in corporate history. According to Re/code, Ms. Cotton said it was a difficult decision, and that, “Apple is a part of my heart and soul.” “Katie has given her all…

In recent months, it has become evident that Apple's long-rumored “iWatch” product will have an intense focus on medical monitoring and fitness. 6-12 months ago Apple was hiring sensor experts and other engineers with sensor experience, but more recently the company has been bringing medical experts on board, including doctors. “There's no doubt that Apple…