Apple isn't doing enough about in-app purchases, watchdog says
European consumer watchdogs have criticised Apple for not moving fast enough to tackle the problem of apps that don't make it clear how much of a bill you're running up.In a new statement, the European Commission acknowledges that Google is making progress but says Apple has offered "no concrete and immediate solutions to address concerns linked in particular to payment authorisation."You'd think Apple would be in a hurry to get this sorted -- the California-based company was earlier forced to refund $32.5 million to disgruntled parents over kids racking up unexpectedly huge bills -- but the EU says it has seen "no firm commitment and no timing" for proposed changes.Buy now, pay laterHow to disable or limit in-app purchases in iOSApple to refund at least $32.5M for kids' in-app purchasesApple tips off FTC over Google in-app purchases, report saysGoogle sued over kids racking up in-app purchasesâ€&lsqauo;Amazon to fight FTC on fines for kids' in-app purchasesApple's iTunes Pass debuts in US to bankroll your purchasesGoogle Play Store offers more control over in-game purchasesConsumer bodies around the world have moved to tackle the problem of surprise bills run up in apps that encourage spending on bonuses within the app or game. Instead of paying for the app or game up-front, many apps have adopted the "freemium" model: it's free to download the app to your phone or tablet, but extras such as more lives or in-game currency to spend on treats are charged at a premium.These are called in-app purchases. Consumer bodies including the EC and the US Federal Trade Commission have placed the onus on Apple, Google and the owners of app stores to ensure the apps they sell make it clear when you're spending money and ask for permission when necessary -- for example when children are spending money in a game on their parents' phone or tablet. You must enter a password to download from the Apple app store, and once you've done that the store can be unlocked for 15 minutes. Although there are options to disable in-app purchases or require a password again with each subsequent purchase, a parent could easily unlock their iPad or iPhone and hand it to their child who could run up more paid downloads without either realising. Making it even less clear that real money is actually being spent -- and making purchases more alluring to little'uns -- many apps also present in-app purchases in the form of a fun made-up currency such as "smurfberries."To prevent the kind of unexpected bills this can lead to, the European Commission has set out rules for Google and Apple to make clear the costs of apps on sale in their respective app stores."All organisations should be proactive in moving towards meeting these challenges," said Tony Neate, CEO of online safety and privacy organisation Get Safe Online. In the meantime, Get Safe Online suggests you keep an eye on what apps your child is using on a smartphone or tablet, keep your mobile device protected with a PIN, and don't reveal the login details you use for the Apple App Store, Google Play or other sources of apps.It helps to get to know the parental controls on your device and in the app stores, and always check your cell phone bills for numbers or payments you do not recognise. For more advice and information on payments made on your phone, check out PhoneBrain.org. An Apple spokesperson highlighted the changes Apple has made in the last year, marking apps that include in-app purchases and creating a Kids Section for under-13s on the App Store with stronger protections. "These controls go far beyond the features of others in the industry," said the spokesperson, "but we are always working to strengthen the protections we have in place," pointing to new features coming this autumn.That's when iOS 8 lands, the latest version of Apple's software for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Among its myriad new features is Ask to Buy, which requires permission for purchases from iTunes, iBooks and the App Store, with separate Apple IDs for children too.For more on Apple's policies, check out these official pages: Learn More About In-App Purchases and iOS: Understanding Restrictions (parental controls).A spokesperson for Google also told us that, "We've been working closely with the European Commission and consumer protection agencies for the last few months to make improvements to Google Play that will be good for our users and provide better protections for children."
JamLegend turns your keyboard into a guitar
JamLegend turns your keyboard into a guitar
The real power of the site is in the collection of songs and the integrated social experience that lets you play with and against your friends. Unlike the console titles that limit you to a selection of licensed music from big-name bands, the songs on JamLegend are indie. That doesn't mean they're bad though; in fact most of the songs I played would be far more fun to play than some of the B-side tracks that fill out the set list on the console games.The service has an artist program that lets any musician get their tracks on for others to play. The team at JamLegend takes the track and adds the correct chords, complete with three different levels of difficulty that add more notes to the mix. According to founder Andrew Lee, this process takes about a week and a half to complete (per song), although it can go faster for "good tracks."In return for their music, beneath each track the musician gets links to places where users can purchase their song including iTunes, CDbaby, and MySpace.Each song is also tracked for plays and member high scores.To play a song with others, you can either pick to duel or do a showdown, which lets you play with more than a dozen others on the same track.CNET NetworksOf course playing with yourself is only fun for so long; part of the enjoyment is challenging others. To do this you simply set up "showdowns," which can support up to 19 other people playing the song against you in real time. There's also a duel mode, where you go one-on-one. Unlike console rhythm games, you don't actually see the other people strumming and missing notes. Instead it tracks their progress with a status bar that sits on the right of the display. You also get visual cues, like when they've surpassed you, or when you hit a big note streak. Afterward you can chat, talk smack, or start another round. There's also a rematch button that lets you jump back into another session with the same crowd--it's just brilliant.To keep users coming back, JamLegend uses an awards system that's been ripped off the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero. You can gather more and more "groupies" by achieving certain feats, like hitting a 250-note streak, or scoring over certain point limits. There are also multiplayer achievements for beating others in competition. These points all add up to your special gamer score, which is stacked up on a leaderboard. Eventually users will be able to play more than just guitar. Also on the roadmap are bass, drums, and a keyboard, all of which will use the same general control method. In the meantime you can find the easy through hard difficulties for guitar on all 31 tracks. JamLegend is currently in private beta, although we've got 1,000 invites. To get yours, just go here. I've embedded a video of it in action below.JamLegend Trailer from JamLegend on Vimeo.
The real power of the site is in the collection of songs and the integrated social experience that lets you play with and against your friends. Unlike the console titles that limit you to a selection of licensed music from big-name bands, the songs on JamLegend are indie. That doesn't mean they're bad though; in fact most of the songs I played would be far more fun to play than some of the B-side tracks that fill out the set list on the console games.The service has an artist program that lets any musician get their tracks on for others to play. The team at JamLegend takes the track and adds the correct chords, complete with three different levels of difficulty that add more notes to the mix. According to founder Andrew Lee, this process takes about a week and a half to complete (per song), although it can go faster for "good tracks."In return for their music, beneath each track the musician gets links to places where users can purchase their song including iTunes, CDbaby, and MySpace.Each song is also tracked for plays and member high scores.To play a song with others, you can either pick to duel or do a showdown, which lets you play with more than a dozen others on the same track.CNET NetworksOf course playing with yourself is only fun for so long; part of the enjoyment is challenging others. To do this you simply set up "showdowns," which can support up to 19 other people playing the song against you in real time. There's also a duel mode, where you go one-on-one. Unlike console rhythm games, you don't actually see the other people strumming and missing notes. Instead it tracks their progress with a status bar that sits on the right of the display. You also get visual cues, like when they've surpassed you, or when you hit a big note streak. Afterward you can chat, talk smack, or start another round. There's also a rematch button that lets you jump back into another session with the same crowd--it's just brilliant.To keep users coming back, JamLegend uses an awards system that's been ripped off the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero. You can gather more and more "groupies" by achieving certain feats, like hitting a 250-note streak, or scoring over certain point limits. There are also multiplayer achievements for beating others in competition. These points all add up to your special gamer score, which is stacked up on a leaderboard. Eventually users will be able to play more than just guitar. Also on the roadmap are bass, drums, and a keyboard, all of which will use the same general control method. In the meantime you can find the easy through hard difficulties for guitar on all 31 tracks. JamLegend is currently in private beta, although we've got 1,000 invites. To get yours, just go here. I've embedded a video of it in action below.JamLegend Trailer from JamLegend on Vimeo.
Apple trims prices on iCloud storage plans
Apple trims prices on iCloud storage plans
iCloud users will now pay less for a slice of Apple's online storage.Following Tuesday's iPhone launch event, Apple updated its iCloud page to reflect the price changes. The new plans are now available at the following capacities and prices:5 gigabytes -- free20GB -- 99 cents or 79p per month200GB -- $3.99 or £2.99 per month500GB -- $9.99 or £6.99 per month1 terabyte -- $19.99 or £14.99 per monthThe old plans offered four levels, starting with the 5GB for free, 10GB for $20 per year, 20GB for $40 per year, and 50GB for $100 per year. Online storage plans abound, so Apple needs to stay competitive if it expects to convince enough iTunes users to bite off a chunk of storage. So are the new iCloud prices the lowest on the market? No. You can still find better deals via other storage sites, as CNET's Sarah Mitroff noted in her comparison of storage plans.For example, Google Drive provides 15GB of free storage and charges $9.99 per month for 1TB. Microsoft's OneDrive also starts you off with 15GB for free and then charges $2.50 per user per month for 1TB. But iCloud is competitive when compared with such sites as Dropbox and Amazon Cloud Drive.Related StoriesApple's iCloud Drive promises robust storage everywhereHere's what Apple's iCloud Drive will cost you, compared with its competitionApple to beef up iCloud security alerts after celeb photo hackGuarding your iCloud from hackersAnd of course, iCloud is still the easiest direct option for iOS users who want to store their music, movies, and other files in the cloud. iCloud users can also easily sync their content among multiple iOS devices, ensuring that mail, contacts, appointments, reminders, photos, and other items remain the same across their iPhone and iPad, for example.iCloud did get a black mark earlier this month with the revelation that hackers were able to access certain accounts to release a number of nude celebrity photos. Though Apple CEO Tim Cook denied that poor online security led to the photo leak, the company has promised to improve iCloud's security by sending alerts to users if someone tries to change their account password or log in from an unrecognized device.At the same time, Apple is also trying to make iCloud more user friendly through a new iCloud Drive feature. iCloud Drive will work just like Google Drive and similar services by acting as a full cloud storage site that you can directly access to save and retrieve any files to and from your iOS devices, your Mac, and your Windows PC. iCloud Drive is slated to launch as part of iOS 8 on September 17.
iCloud users will now pay less for a slice of Apple's online storage.Following Tuesday's iPhone launch event, Apple updated its iCloud page to reflect the price changes. The new plans are now available at the following capacities and prices:5 gigabytes -- free20GB -- 99 cents or 79p per month200GB -- $3.99 or £2.99 per month500GB -- $9.99 or £6.99 per month1 terabyte -- $19.99 or £14.99 per monthThe old plans offered four levels, starting with the 5GB for free, 10GB for $20 per year, 20GB for $40 per year, and 50GB for $100 per year. Online storage plans abound, so Apple needs to stay competitive if it expects to convince enough iTunes users to bite off a chunk of storage. So are the new iCloud prices the lowest on the market? No. You can still find better deals via other storage sites, as CNET's Sarah Mitroff noted in her comparison of storage plans.For example, Google Drive provides 15GB of free storage and charges $9.99 per month for 1TB. Microsoft's OneDrive also starts you off with 15GB for free and then charges $2.50 per user per month for 1TB. But iCloud is competitive when compared with such sites as Dropbox and Amazon Cloud Drive.Related StoriesApple's iCloud Drive promises robust storage everywhereHere's what Apple's iCloud Drive will cost you, compared with its competitionApple to beef up iCloud security alerts after celeb photo hackGuarding your iCloud from hackersAnd of course, iCloud is still the easiest direct option for iOS users who want to store their music, movies, and other files in the cloud. iCloud users can also easily sync their content among multiple iOS devices, ensuring that mail, contacts, appointments, reminders, photos, and other items remain the same across their iPhone and iPad, for example.iCloud did get a black mark earlier this month with the revelation that hackers were able to access certain accounts to release a number of nude celebrity photos. Though Apple CEO Tim Cook denied that poor online security led to the photo leak, the company has promised to improve iCloud's security by sending alerts to users if someone tries to change their account password or log in from an unrecognized device.At the same time, Apple is also trying to make iCloud more user friendly through a new iCloud Drive feature. iCloud Drive will work just like Google Drive and similar services by acting as a full cloud storage site that you can directly access to save and retrieve any files to and from your iOS devices, your Mac, and your Windows PC. iCloud Drive is slated to launch as part of iOS 8 on September 17.
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