The Pope Has An iPad

And a Twitter account. Almost 1300 tweets in the first couple of days.

Yesterday & Today

Apple Unveils iCloud

At today's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, Steve Jobs gave up the details of the company's much-discussed cloud-based music service.

The new iCloud service replaces Apple's MobileMe document-sharing offering, which cost $99 a year. The new iCloud service is free and available now with an iOS 4.3 update, Jobs said. With iCloud, content such as music and documents is stored on large servers instead of on personal hard drives—and is accessible from anywhere through the Internet. Apple will provide 5 gigabytes of free storage for mail, documents and backup. The new iCloud service is Apple's seal of approval of what many experts believe is the next major iteration of the digital world.

CHINA: Teen Sells Kidney For iPad

A teenager in China reportedly sold one of his kidneys on the black market in order to buy himself an iPad.

The 17-year-old, identified only as Little Zheng, told a local TV station he had arranged the sale of the kidney over the internet.The story only came to light after the teenager's mother became suspicious. The case highlights China's black market in organ trafficking. A scarcity of organ donors has led to a flourishing trade. It all started when the high school student saw an online advert offering money to organ donors. Illegal agents organised a trip to the hospital and paid him $3,392 (£2,077) after the operation. With the cash the student bought an iPad 2, as well as a laptop. When his mother noticed the computers and the deep red scar on his body, which was caused by the surgery, Little Zheng confessed.

Seems About Right

(Source)

Apple To Launch iCloud

Apple is set to launch a cloud-based music player that will scan a user's home iTunes library and then make those tracks available from any web device.

Apple has signed deals with Warner Music Group Corp., Sony Corp.'s Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Group Ltd. and expects to sign a fourth with Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group this week. The agreements will let Apple offer an easy way for consumers to create and listen online to their entire music collections, without the time-consuming work of manually transferring or uploading songs. Many in the music industry see such offerings as a key next step in the evolution of digital media, in which music, and eventually video, is convenient and ubiquitous. Apple wouldn't be the first company to offer such a service, but its standing as the world's largest music retailer and more than 200 million iTunes accounts would give it clout that others have lacked.

The cost of the service has not yet been disclosed.

Apple Passes 500,000 Apps

(Source)

Twitter Buys Tweetdeck

Twitter has acquired my obsession, Tweetdeck. Via Washington Post:

Word has been circulating for weeks now that Twitter was soon to be swooping up the popular third-party app. In early May, Mike Arrington reported that the deal was as good as done, but the two companies were not yet willing to publicly release the numbers. That changed today, as CNN and CNET broke the news that TweetDeck has officially been acquired by Twitter for $40 million. Twitter has yet to officially confirm, but judging by what we’re hearing from sources close to the deal, it’s done and done.

Press Release Of The Day

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For Naughty Nerds

(Via- Boing Boing)

Microsoft To Purchase Skype

Microsoft has agreed to purchase Skype for $8.5B.

The acquisition will "increase the accessibility of real-time video and voice communications, bringing benefits to both consumers and enterprise users and generating significant new business and revenue opportunities," Microsoft said. Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and an array of Windows devices. Microsoft will also connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities. Microsoft said it will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms. “Skype is a phenomenal service that is loved by millions of people around the world,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “Together we will create the future of real-time communications so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world.”

Cable news networks have increasingly turned to Skype to eliminate the cost of bringing interview subjects to their studios.

Virtual Kissing Machine

I don't see this one catching on.

Showercaps And Soap Only

In order to reduce pilfering, some hotels have begun attaching RFID chips to their towels and linens.

The radio-frequency identification chips designed by Linen Technology Tracking can be put in towels, sheets and bathrobes to keep track of stock and, more importantly, to ensure their return when light-fingered guests forget their manners. The market for such items sounds well developed. CNN quoted William Serbin of Linen Technology Tracking saying, "Any given month, [hotels] can lose 5 to 20 percent of towels, sheets and robes." And the economies to be made from the tags, which will work through 300 washes, also sound rather impressive.

Today In Creepy Robots

Today In Useless Trivia

This here website thingy is presently running at about 1.7M - 2M pageviews per month. As you can see above, Mac owners are highly overrepresented among JMG readers, which I'm sure has something to do with y'all being all artsy and shit. Pageviews via iPad have gone up tenfold in the last couple of months, a trend I expect to continue. I do find it rather fascinating that over 10% of you are here via handheld devices.

Microsoft To Kill The Zune

I'm just surprised that it lasted five years.

Today In Creepy Robots

More creepy clips at Buzzfeed.

Microsoft Issues IE6 Deathwatch

Microsoft wants everybody to stop using IE6 and has created a deathwatch countdown map.

It's A Tablet World

"Just another 'solution' in search of a need."

(Via - Andrew Sullivan)

Steve Jobs Unveils iPad 2