iOS 6 would work with older devices all of the way back to the iPhone 3GS, BUT..

When Apple announced that iOS 6, the latest version of its mobile OS, would work with older devices all of the way back to the iPhone 3GS, people cheered. It’s not typical these days for major software updates to support 3 year-old products.

But don’t give Tim Cook and company the Nobel Peace Prize just yet. Some two-year old devices, like the original iPad, aren’t getting any iOS 6 love. And even the ones that aresupported aren’t guaranteed to have access to all of its features…

We touched on this a bit this morning with a few of the new Maps features. But apparently it extends to other iOS 6 apps and features as well. This list comes straight from the disclaimer on Apple’s iOS 6 page:

• Flyover and turn-by-turn navigation – iPhone 4S and iPad 2 or later
• Siri – iPhone 4S and third generation iPad
• Shared Photo Streams – iPhone 4 or later and iPad 2 or later
• FaceTime over cellular – iPhone 4S and third generation iPad
• VIP inbox – iPhone 4 or later and iPad 2 or later
• Offline Reading List – iPhone 4 or later and iPad 2 or later

So as you can see, even though the 3GS will be eligible to upgrade to iOS 6 when it dropslater this year, it may not be worth it. No 3D Maps, turn-by-turn navigation, Shared Photo Streams, VIP inbox, or Offline Reading List. What gives?

Aside from the Maps stuff (performance maybe?), we can’t figure out why Apple would feel the need to hold 3GS users back from all of these features. Maybe it’s a ploy to nudge them into upgrading?

If that’s the case, then the move may end up backfiring. Folks are already complaining about how confusing this will be to consumers, and worse, how it could end up causing fragmentation on the platform.

WWDC keynote roundup: What Apple introduced Yesterday

If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed with the influx of Apple announcements that took over your Twitter stream yesterday — don’t worry, ECb has you covered. Here’s a quick overview of what was introduced yesterday…

iOS 6

Sure, Apple showed off some cool features in their new desktop software. But for ECb, the star of the show yesterday was iOS 6. This is the platform’s largest update since October of last year, and not only does it include a fresh coat of paint, but it also brings about several new features.

• Siri – Siri now knows more about movies, sport scores and can launch applications. She also understands more languages, works in more countries, and Apple is even working with car-makers to help make her more auto-friendly. Oh, and she’s coming to the iPad too.

• Facebook – iOS 6 includes deep, system-level Facebook integration. Users can now post pictures to the social networking site directly from the Photos app, update their statuses from Notification Center, and Like content from iTunes, iBooks, and the App Store. Even better, the Facebook integration API is open to third-party developers. So no more signing in for app permissions.
• Phone app – The Phone app in iOS 6 gets a number of nice little enhancements, including a Do Not Disturb option and the ability to reply to ignored calls with preset text messages. But perhaps the coolest addition is that you can now make FaceTime calls over 3G.
• Maps app – This is easily the biggest update in iOS 6. The Maps app has been completely rebuilt from the ground up and now offers Yelp and Siri integration, a new 3D Flyover view, and live Traffic Layers. Oh, and it also finally includes audible turn-by-turn directions.

• Photo Stream  – Now you can share all of your photos in your Photo Stream with people you choose, in iOS 6. Just a single tap sends photos to the Photos/iPhoto app of friends and family. Or, if they don’t have an Apple device, they can view your media on the web.
• App Store – Both the App Store and the iTunes store have been completely remodeled for iOS 6. They look different, act different, and make browsing through content more enjoyable. The best part? No more having to exit the App Store for every new download.

• Mobile Safari – The default browser gets a couple of new features in iOS 6, starting with iCloud Tabs. This will allow you to keep all of your open tabs in Safari on your Mac synced with iOS. You can also now save entire webpages to Reading List for offline reading, and view web pages in full screen (landscape mode only).
• Mail app – The Mail app in iOS 6 is nearly identical to its predecessor albeit a few handy new features. One, users can now choose which contacts they want to be notified of for new Mail messages with VIP inbox. And two, photos and videos can now be attached to emails from within the Mail app.

These are just the few of the new iOS 6 features that made it into Apple’s announcements today. We’re expecting to see a lot more surface in the coming months.

New apps

Despite early predictions that there would be a couple on hand, Apple unveiled a single new iOS application this morning. It’s showing up pre-installed in the iOS 6 beta, but it’s still unknown at this point if it will be available to non-iOS 6 devices via the App Store in the fall.

• Passbook – Passbook is a digital wallet of sorts. It stores and organizes all of your event tickets, boarding passes, gift cards and credit cards. And allow you to use them all from within the app. It can even notify you if you’re near a shop you have a gift card to, or of any last-minute itinerary changes.

Even though this announcement kind of flew under the radar today, we’re certainly keeping our eye on it. Apple has opened the app’s API up to businesses and developers, so it’s really be up to them how successful it is.

New Macs

Aside from software announcements, Apple also refreshed their entire MacBook lineup today. Both the Air and Pro models received considerable performance upgrades, but the show-stopper was definitely the all-new Retina display variant.

The ‘Next-Generation MacBook Pro’ features a stunning 2880-by-1800 display, which equates to a staggering 220ppi (pixels per inch) or more than five million pixels. That’s 3 million more than an HDTV (iPad 3 has a million more than an HD TV).

Meet Facebook’s highest-paid employee! { Makes more than Mark Zuckerberg }

Mark Zuckerberg may be the face of Facebook. But Sheryl Sandberg can take much of the credit for the company’s success. As chief operating officer — and the self-described “grownup” in the room — she was also the highest-paid employee at the social networking site. Her salary and stock awards last year: a cool $30.87 million, putting her on pace to be one of the wealthiest self-made women in the world once the company goes public.

Sandberg, who’s second in command at Facebook, is often not just the grownup in the room, but also the only woman, which she finds mind-boggling. As she told an audience at TED in Washington, D.C., “One hundred and ninety heads of state; nine are women. Of all the people in parliament in the world, 13% are women. In the corporate sector, women at the top, C-level jobs, board seats, tops out at 15-16%. The numbers have not moved since 2002 and are going in the wrong direction.”

Sandberg, however, is moving in a trajectory that goes straight up: She studied economics at Harvard, where Lawrence Summers, former U.S. Treasury Secretary, took notice of her. He, as you may remember from “The Social Network,” was president of Harvard when Zuckerberg was a student.

Summers became her mentor, and after he left to lead the World Bank, he hired her, launching her stellar career. Sandberg eventually ended up at Google and was recruited by Zuckerberg in 2008. As described in a story for the New Yorker, the two met for dinner twice a week for six weeks. Sandberg’s husband described the courtship as “dating.” They were a match.

Facebook wasn’t always a Wall Street darling. When Sandberg started, the company had 70 million users and was losing money. Four years later, the company has reversed course, with 800 million-plus members; it’s profitable and soon to be a public company. She is said to be in charge ofeverything except the product — which is Zuckerberg’s baby.

Sheryl is married to David Goldberg, chief executive officer of Survey Monkey. They have two children and juggle the responsibility of parenting with the demands of work. The shared responsibility of child care made it possible for her continued success. As Sandberg told an audience last year, “The most important career choice you’ll make is who you marry.”Not that she doesn’t feel pangs of guilt — far from it. The working mom admitted in the New Yorker profile: “I feel guilty working because of my kids.” But she advises women to take care of their careers and says “don’t leave before you leave.” As she said at TED, “Don’t leave the workforce to have kids and not return because you didn’t get that job you wanted before you left.”
To this end, the woman who stands to become a billionaire when Facebook goes public, also sees that she can’t succeed alone. In a commencement address to Barnard College graduates, she said, “We need women at all levels, including the top, to change the dynamic, reshape the conversation, to make sure women’s voices are heard and heeded, not overlooked and ignored.”To be sure, Sandberg will not be overlooked or ignored.

Social Networks CEOs Homes

Facebook,Zynga,Twitter,Spotify & Google CEOs Homes :

The new tech titans are building the tools that influence our daily lives, giving us games like Words With Friends, and the ability to stream our favorite TV shows wherever we are, on whatever gadgets we choose.

But where do they rest their bleary eyes after their late-night hackathons? Some prefer a modest place to call home, belying their rock-star-nerd status. But others have splurged, showing it really pays to be a geek after all.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook
Location: Palo Alto, Calif.
Cost: $7 million
Bedrooms: 5
Bathrooms: 5 full, 2 half
Square footage: 5,617

The billionaire’s $7 million home is deemed modest by some Silicon Valley observers.

Mark Zuckerberg’s new digs are a long way from the Harvard dorm where he and his classmates founded the popular social networking site Facebook.

The baby-faced CEO plunked down a cool $7 million for the Palo Alto pad last year, which includes a salt water pool and spa. Still, to some, it’s considered modest, given that Facebook may be going public this year in what some say could make the social networking website worth more than $100 billion.

The best part for the well-known workaholic? It’s just a stone’s throw away from Facebook’s newMenlo Park headquarters.

Mark Pincus, Zynga
Location: San Francisco
Cost: $8.9 million
Bedrooms: 6
Bathrooms: 7

Zynga’s leader is very active in San Francisco bay area real estate.

You may build your fantasy real estate empire in CityVille, the popular Facebook game, but Mark Pincus has one in real life.

Pincus, founder and CEO of Zynga, maker of CityVille, FarmVille, Words With Friends and other popular online games, is selling not one, but two San Francisco mansions.

He and wife Alison Pincus, co-founder of One Kings Lane, a flash sales site for luxury home goods, have put their Presidio Heights home on the market for $8.9 million and a Cole Valley property for $1.97 million. Both are meticulously decorated.

The stately $8.9 million Presidio Heights mansion includes a penthouse level with a terrace, office and master bedroom and bathroom, as well as a media room and an au pair unit. The Cole Valley home boasts panoramic views of the city and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Sean Parker, Spotify and Founder’s Fund
Location: New York
Cost: $20 million
Bedrooms: 6
Bathrooms: 7 full, 1 half
Square footage: 7,500

Spotify’s Parker shuttles between the coasts and now calls NYC home.

Sean Parker disputes his bad boy portrayal by Justin Timberlake in the 2010 film “The Social Network.” But the former Facebook president and Napster co-founder is certainly living it up in his new home, a $20 million West Village townhouse known as the Bacchus House.

Formerly owned by Italian liquor heir Enrico Cinzano, it includes an indoor pool and gym, garage, theater, a chef’s kitchen and an elevator.

Parker, now a managing director at the Founders Fund, a San Francisco venture capital firm, and a director of Spotify, an online music service, purchased it last year, after renting it for some time and throwing his share of over-the-top parties.

Marissa Mayer, Google
Location: Palo Alto
Cost: $5 million (assessed value; it appears she purchased it for $1.8 million)
Bedrooms: 5
Bathrooms: 6.5
Square footage: 5,200

Google’s Mayer proudly hosted an Obama campaign fundraiser in her Palo Alto home.

Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg isn’t the only one who has hosted the president in her Silicon Valley home. In late 2010, Marissa Mayer, vice president at Google, and husband Zachary Bogue, co-founder of Founders Den, a shared office space and private club for tech entrepreneurs in San Francisco, also threw a $30,000-per-plate fundraiser for President Obama in their Palo Alto home.

That night, Mayer even tweeted about the event: “The President came to our house for dinner tonight. It was absolutely surreal!”

Mayer’s home is just a few blocks from the garage where Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard founded HP, as Mayer pointed out during the fundraiser.

Dick Costolo, Twitter
Location: Corte Madera, Calif.
Cost: $3.2 million (sale price, 2009)
Bedrooms: 5
Bathrooms: 5.5
Square footage: 5,066

Twitter’s Costolo lives in a roomy home in a San Francisco suburb.

Dick Costolo took over as CEO of Twitter last year, about a year after moving to the San Francisco Bay Area from Chicago. He said the weather factored into his decision to uproot from Chicago.

Costolo lives with his family in a roomy five bedroom, 5.5-bath house in Corte Madera, just across the bay from Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters. Built in 1908, the house wraps around a courtyard with an outdoor fireplace.