Apple drops legal threats against wiki operator—for now
Apple has officially backed off from legal threats made against OdioWorks, the operator of a wiki that hosted pages discussing how users might use an iPod with non-Apple media software. The company sent a letter to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (which was representing OdioWorks in its legal case against Apple) earlier this month stating that the company had chosen to withdraw its takedown notifications. As a result, OdioWorks is also dropping its lawsuit against Apple, though this issue may not lay dornmant for long.
BluWiki, like most wiki platforms, is open to the public for the purpose of sharing information. The site is noncommercial and doesn’t run ads, and depends on its users to edit and publish articles on a wide variety of topics. Some of those topics cover how to use an iPod or iPhone with third-party software—something not possible under Apple’s normal product restrictions.
Apple drops legal threats against wiki operator—for now
Apple has officially backed off from legal threats made against OdioWorks, the operator of a wiki that hosted pages discussing how users might use an iPod with non-Apple media software. The company sent a letter to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (which was representing OdioWorks in its legal case against Apple) earlier this month stating that the company had chosen to withdraw its takedown notifications. As a result, OdioWorks is also dropping its lawsuit against Apple, though this issue may not lay dornmant for long.
BluWiki, like most wiki platforms, is open to the public for the purpose of sharing information. The site is noncommercial and doesn’t run ads, and depends on its users to edit and publish articles on a wide variety of topics. Some of those topics cover how to use an iPod or iPhone with third-party software—something not possible under Apple’s normal product restrictions.
Apple Gets Legal Push-back Over Takedown Reques
As a company, Apple has a tendency to bully small fish. While it seems harsh at times, it might also be one of the reasons Apple has been so successful in the highly competitive computer and media player field, since they maintain firm control of their corporate and product images by maintaining strict control of how their products are used and portrayed. So we’re used to stories about them threatening a blog or web site if they don’t remove some content. What we’re not so used to are stories about those same sites offering some sort of resistance instead of just rolling over and removing the offending content.
The site in question is BluWiki, which originally complied with Apple’s takedown request by removing the offending string, which talked about using iPhone/iPod hardware with non-Apple software alternatives to iTunes. BluWiki has now teamed up with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (see their official story) and law firm Keker & Van Nest to fight the Cupertino giant over the November takedown notice. They’re suing Apple, claiming that it’s violating the first amendment by blocking people from “discussing Apple’s code obfuscations techniques,” as EFF lawyer Fred von Lohmann put it.
Considering BluWiki originally complied with Apple’s request, and are bringing suit some six months later with the backing of heavyweights like the EFF, this is probably more about taking a political stand against Apple’s aggressive muzzle tactics in general than about BluWiki’s specific instance. Regardless of the reason behind the suit, it could have significant ramifications for Apple product owners, since it will ultimately decide exactly what it is you’re buying when you purchase a piece of Apple hardware.
I’m a little torn here, since I appreciate that part of the reason Apple products work so well and so consistently is that Apple fights to maintain its vice-like grip. On the other hand, I’d love to see great apps like Songbird get some hardware support love, and it’s hard not to side with the little guy. Maybe some kind of middle ground can be reached? Here’s hoping.
Apple sued over legal threats to wiki operator
The operator of a public wiki site has filed a lawsuit against Apple in an attempt to defend its rights to publish information under the First Amendment. OdioWorks LLC, which runs BluWiki, filed the lawsuit in a US District Court in the northern district of California today with the help of the Electronic Frontier Foundation in order to seek a declaratory judgment that would protect the company from continued attacks by Apple’s legal team.
BluWiki, like most wiki platforms, is open to the public for the sole purposes of sharing information. The site is noncommercial and doesn’t run ads, and depends on its users to edit and publish articles on a wide variety of topics. Up until about six months ago, some of those topics included information on how to use an iPod or iPhone with third-party software—something that is not possible under Apple’s normal product restrictions.
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Apple sued over legal threats to wiki operator
The operator of a public wiki site has filed a lawsuit against Apple in an attempt to defend its rights to publish information under the First Amendment. OdioWorks LLC, which runs BluWiki, filed the lawsuit in a US District Court in the northern district of California today with the help of the Electronic Frontier Foundation in order to seek a declaratory judgment that would protect the company from continued attacks by Apple’s legal team.
BluWiki, like most wiki platforms, is open to the public for the sole purposes of sharing information. The site is noncommercial and doesn’t run ads, and depends on its users to edit and publish articles on a wide variety of topics. Up until about six months ago, some of those topics included information on how to use an iPod or iPhone with third-party software—something that is not possible under Apple’s normal product restrictions.
Click here to read the rest of this article
Voodoo Pad 4.1 adds iPhone client
Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, iPhone, iPod touch
VoodooPad (which we’ve covered many times) is a bit of a different take on the classic snippet / information manager app, allowing you to create a personal wiki with entries for whatever you might like to keep track of.
With the recently released version 4.1 Gus Mueller has added an option to export documents to his new, free iPhone client (iTunes link) for access to your wikis on the go. Like most iPhone / iPod touch syncing solutions, this works over WiFi on the same network as your Mac. This is in addition to the previously offered WebDAV syncing and iPhone optimized pages.
VoodooPad comes in three versions: a free lite version, a $29.95 regular version, and a $49.95 Pro version that adds a few features, including a built-in webserver; demos are also available. The iPhone / iPod touch client is a free download from iTunes.
[via Infinite Loop]
TUAWVoodoo Pad 4.1 adds iPhone client originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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How to make an iPhone game
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Developer, iPhone, iPod touch
The folks at Gogogic asked Twitter if they wanted to see how the company’s iPhone games were made, and since the answer was in the affirmative, we all get the benefit of looking into just how one iPhone developer put their game together.
It starts with a wiki; the company keeps a collaborative site of all the ideas they have for upcoming games, and if the decision is made to go ahead with an idea, that wiki page branches out into the planning documents behind the eventual app. Concepts are drafted in sketches, conversations, and outlines, and eventually they feel like they have the idea “fully developed,” at which point the game goes into a proposal pool, and then is eventually picked for production.
That begins with an animatic, as you can see above — before they ever write the first code line, they map out what will happen in certain game situations. It looks like they used Flash to put that together pretty easily, but you can see how well it shows off game design elements and how things should work during gameplay. After that, there’s nothing to it but to do it — the game is coded, art and sound elements are put together, and of course the usual run of playtesting and so on takes place (the company is going to show off how to test and publish games in a future post).
The game above turned out to be called Symbol6 (Hexago was a working title), and is in the App Store right now. Thanks to Gogogic for sharing a look behind their process — there are tons of developers working on apps at the moment, and it’s neat to see how someone else does it.
TUAWHow to make an iPhone game originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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VoodooPad 4.0 provides WebDAV sync
Filed under: Software, Productivity
VoodooPad got a major upgrade today; after an intense beta period, version 4.0 is live. For those of you not familiar, VoodooPad is a personal wiki, a brainstorming and note-taking tool and the ultimate “geek’s notebook” (my term, not theirs). With the ability to import a variety of files and link others, it also makes a great project management hub. I use it in combination with one of my other previously-mentioned favorites, Curio. It’s had a fair number of mentions here in the past, and the 4.0 update is certainly something to talk about.
Among the new features is the ability to sync using WebDAV. You can sync pages or entire documents in both directions, allowing for collaboration or just providing the ability to work on multiple machines. There are instructions available for setup on the Flying Meat wiki. I’ve been testing the sync feature for a while, and it works superbly. The web-publishing capabilities have been expanded, including iPhone-optimized output. There’s also a new feature called “The Bucket” for gathering text — via a system-wide hotkey — from any application. PDF output, faster speeds, and a new layout for palette windows all add up to a great release.
Organizing notes and files is simple, and linking together pertinent pages, snippets, Address Book contacts and more is a breeze. For those of a scripting persuasion, the reason I call it the “geek’s notebook” is VoodooPad’s ability to execute pages as scripts (Python … Lua is being deprecated), and also the ability to extend via a plugin API. This can be used to work in HTML, Markdown and Textile support, set up GTD systems, even publish a blog.
VoodooPad 4 is going for $29.95USD, and version 3 users can upgrade for $14.95USD. The Pro version is $49.95USD, upgrade for $19.95USD. There are free demos of each on their respective pages, and there’s also a “Lite” version available for free, no strings attached. VoodooPad customers who purchased version 3 after August 1st, 2008 get a free upgrade. Check the full release notes for version 4 (and prior releases), as well as the features page for more information on VoodooPad and the 4.0 update.
TUAWVoodooPad 4.0 provides WebDAV sync originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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