Iovine

Speaking at Code Conference Wednesday night, Apple’s head of online services Eddy Cue took a swipe at the current state of television and presented his take on where the future of that industry lies. According to Cue, Apple TV sales have risen in recent years and over 20 million of the set-top box have been sold to date. Cue says that the device is billion-dollar business now and is expected to continue growing.

However, the Apple TV isn’t a true TV replacement. Cue took a few moments to point out just how much using TV “sucks” and bemoan the current range of DVR devices. He even went so far as to compare current technology with the VCRs of a bygone era—and he’s not wrong. Cue cited drawbacks such as having to remember to set a recording or trying to manage storage on the recorder as reasons on-demand streaming through the Apple TV is growing in popularity.

That’s not to say he’s especially fond of today’s on-demand systems either, though. Not only did Cue have sharp criticisms for modern recording tech, he even jabbed at the streaming experience on the iPad, noting that the process of authenticating with a cable provider to access streaming content is less-than-ideal. So what’s his solution?

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Steven Lamar, who helped create Beats headphones in 2006, has filed a complaint against Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine claiming he’s owed royalties on most of the company’s latest headphones, according to the Hollywood Reporter. In the complaint, Lamar recounts the earliest connection between Beats and Apple—and that the Cupertino company was almost the first Beats distributor.

Back in 2006, Lamar first hatched the idea for a line of celebrity-endorsed headphones. He took the idea to Interscope Records co-founder Jimmy Iovine and asked if Dr. Dre would be the celebrity sponsor. Lamar worked with a firm called Pentagram to create the first design for what would become Beats headphones.

That’s when Ivovine introduced Lamar to Apple retail VP Jerry McDougal. Lamar suggested to McDougal that Beats headphones should be sold in Apple retail stores, even going so far as to design the packaging around that very idea. McDougal introduced Lamar to Don Inmon, the man responsible for product placement in Apple’s retail stores.

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If the Apple acquisition of Beats Electronics actually moves forward, co-founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine could see their grand introductions as Apple executives at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in early June. That’s at least according to Billboard, which has a great track record in covering the music industry…

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