Apple: We wanted a 'level playing field' for publishers
NEW YORK -- Apple argued that it had fought for equality among publishers big and small as it provided a rare glimpse into its negotiating tactics during the second day of the government's e-book price-fixing trial.
Kevin Saul, one of the key attorneys tasked with making deals for Apple's music, TV, books, and similar businesses, faced more grilling on Tuesday from U.S. Department of Justice attorney Mark Ryan over whether Apple knew and cared about the pricing of its competitors -- a key factor in the case, which accuses Apple of conspiring to control e-book pricing.
"We wanted to treat everybody on a level playing field such that big publishers would be treated the same as small publishers," Saul argued. "It was all about Apple and our ability to launch a bookstore that would be the best on the planet."
During the round of questioning in which he repeatedly answered, "I don't know" or "I don't recall," Saul portrayed Apple as "indifferent" to pricing deals publishers reached with other retailers. He also testified that negotiations with publishers were "difficult" and "challenging" and that many initially rejected some of Apple's "must-have" provisions, including a so-called "most-favored nation" clause that would allow Apple to meet the lower pricing of e-books by any other retailer.
Halo to hit Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 in July
The famous Halo game series is making its first assault onto Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 in July.
Known as Halo: Spartan Assault, the $6.99 app is the latest in the Halo franchise, but was designed exclusively for Microsoft's PC and mobile operating systems. As such, people can play the game on a touch-screen device by tapping and swiping their fingers or on a computer by using a traditional mouse and keyboard.
"With Halo: Spartan Assault, we wanted to take Halo out of the living room and create a brand new experience that was built specifically for a different screen," Dan Ayoub, executive producer on Halo: Spartan Assault," said in a statement. "This is an opportunity for us to define what makes Halo unique on mobile platforms and really raise the bar for what is possible."
The shoot-em-up game delivers the action from a bird's-eye view as you battle to complete 25 different missions. Set between Halo 3 and Halo 4, the game lets you play as either Commander Sarah Palmer or Spartan Davis, two characters known to Halo fans.
Twice in two weeks: Another Web app for processing raw photos
Web-based photo editing took a second step forward Tuesday with the release of WebRaw, a tool that uses Mozilla's ASM.js technology for the computationally intense process of handling raw photos.
Raw photo formats, available on high-end cameras, offer better image quality and more editing flexibility, but they also are much more of a hassle than standard formats like JPEG, in part because they're so burdensome for computers to decode. That's why the demo, from Mozilla's Vladimir Vukicevic, is interesting: processing raw photos is the sort of chore that only a couple of years ago would have been impossible with a Web application running in a browser.
Vukicevic's demonstration is an illustration of what's possible with a browser today, not an attempt to create an online competitor to premium raw-processing software like Adobe Systems' Lightroom or Apple's Aperture.