Akvis has releasedAkvis AirBrush 2.0, available as a standalone program and as a plug-in for graphics editors. Available for Mac OS X and Windows, the software turns photos into airbrush paintings.

Version 2.0 adds the possibility to create multicolored drawings and offers new presets. The plug-in version is compatible with Adobe Photoshop CC.

Registered users of AirBrush can upgrade to version 2.0 for free. A full-featured free evaluation download of Akvis AirBrush v.2.0 is available at the product page (http://akvis.com/en/airbrush/download.php).

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Vitamin-R creates the optimal conditions for your brain to work at its best by structuring your work into short bursts of distraction-free, highly focused activity alternating with opportunities for renewal, reflection and intuition.

The built-in task logging and statistics features create a positive momentum towards productivity by providing visible feedback on your progress and achievements.

Time Slice Your Work. Vitamin-R breaks down large, vaguely defined tasks into a series of short "time slices" of between 10 and 30 minutes, each with specific, easily reachable and actionable objectives. During these time slices it keeps you focused on accomplishing only this one objective and provides you with mechanisms for dealing with interruptions, poor concentration, etc.

Get Started. Vitamin-R concentrates on getting you started allowing you to break through the resistance of procrastination and create a positive...

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday granted Apple a patent for an imaging system that processes data from multiple sensors to detect and correct for various photographic anomalies, such as defective pixels, lens aberrations, and ineffective demosaicing, among others.  ...

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world.

You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here.

No Flash? Click here to listen.

Subscribe via RSS

Daily Update for July 22, 2013 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 22 Jul 2013 22:45:00 EST. Please see our...

There's no shortage of text editors available for the iPad, and if you're someone who uses your tablet for word processing on a regular basis you've probably been through at least a few of them. Write is one such app, and while its straightforward design masks a lot of its bells and whistles, it proves to be one of the most capable productivity apps available.

Write features full Markdown support, allowing you to compose a document using syntax and then preview the final result in real-time even as you're still editing. You can activate the standard text editor features you'd expect - like bolding, italics, etc - as well as more advanced features like in-document tables via a slim toolbar just above the keyboard. This makes composing a document a smoother overall experience than when using most other word processor apps, simply because...

Apple may have made changes to its in-app purchasing protocols to safeguard against unwanted charges by minors, but the Cupertino company still shelled out more than $6,000 in order to cover the unauthorized purchases one British eight-year-old posted to her father's account.  ...

Those who know me understand that I love traveling. I spent the last four days in Phoenixville, Pa. with my sister, her husband and my two kids. It was purely for fun and an excellent time to test Ohai (US$4.99), a travel journal app for iPhone.

Ohai lets your record places you visit, complete with geographic location, a photo and your own notes. The app resembles a journal with one day per "page." It's fun to re-live your excursions, flipping through the pages to see where you've been. Ohai does have some big limitations, however, which I'll discuss below. First, the good.

On the road with Ohai

We hit the road on Thursday to begin our seven-hour drive (I-95 in Connecticut is endless monotony). While grabbing a snack and using the necessary room at Dunkin Donuts, I decided to make my first entry into Ohai (below)....

Another great story on how the iPhone and Apple developers are helping those with accessibility needs.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Holy shit, that’s just incredible. Thanks to everyone that subscribes to Amplified with me and Dan Benjamin—we appreciate it.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Three days after Apple took down its developer website claiming it was performing unscheduled maintenance, the company emailed devs admitting the site had been hacked and some data may have been stolen. It also posted a message on the site stating that some developers' names, mailing addresses and email addresses may have been exposed, but that sensitive personal information was encrypted and could not be accessed. Apple made the announcement in the spirit of transparency, it said, an issue that has been getting a lot of attention lately.

Apple on Monday announced the iTunes Store now has more than one billion podcast subscriptions, and is celebrating the milestone by highlighting some of the most popular content since the medium hit the digital storefront in 2005.   ...

Since its launch in 2005 Etsy has gone from a curious virtual art shop to a massive marketplace featuring just about any kind of handmade product you can think of. But it's not just trinkets and paintings that line Etsy's shelves -- the site is also home to a bounty of one-of-a-kind iPhone accessories as well, ranging from useful to ridiculous. Here are some of the finest (read: craziest) examples of "custom" iPhone gear the site has to offer.

Cowboy Hat iPhone Dock

Sure, you already have a sleek and sexy iPhone dock on your nightstand, but maybe it just doesn't have enough western flavor for your tastes. This custom dock, which lets you plug your iPhone into the top of a cowboy hat, should definitely do the trick! Yeehaw!

Price: US$69 (link)

Furry iPhone case with ears and a tail

When I'm looking for an iPhone case, I do my...

Intel Corporation today released a pair of new server processors, and outlined its strategy for a new server infrastructure. The next-generation Intel Atom processor C2000 product family (codenamed "Avoton" and "Rangeley") was detailed, as well as an outline given of Intel's roadmap of next-generation 14nm-fabricated products for 2014 and beyond....  ...

Apple may be using its patent embiggening ray on displays, the Apple Store app may soon offer you free stuff (not hardware, sorry), and the Apple hacking story of the week gets a little bit odder. The remainders for Monday, July 22, 2013 are live in 3 … 2 … 1 …

Apple Tests Larger Screens for iPhones, iPads (Wall Street Journal, subscription required)

According to reports, Apple is testing larger displays for the iPhone, and, yes, the iPad. So now’s the time to make some noise if you want an iPad the size of your house.

As part of iPhone sales push, Apple Store app to be redesigned & gain free iTunes content (9to5Mac)

...

Children of the 1980s and 1990s grew up expecting time traveling Deloreans, and thanks to a fan-designed LEGO kit, you can have your own this August. The official LEGO kit includes all the necessary details sich as the Flux Capacitor and Mr. Fusion, parts to build all three versions of the Delorean, Marty McFly and Doc Brown mini figures, and even Marty's hoverboard. The designers are donating their proceeds for the kit to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. The kit goes on sale August 1 and is expected to cost US$34.99.

According to a new report from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, production difficulties will cause Apple’s iPhone 5S to ship slightly later than expected towards the end of September, with supplies constrained until October or November.We believe iPhone 5S will experience production difficulties among numerous components as well as assembly, as seen with iPhone 5 last year. The model will thus be available only in limited amounts following launch. We expect undersupply to improve in October or November.Kuo believes that Apple’s low cost iPhone, which will be priced between $450 and $550, will launch somewhat earlier, likely towards the beginning of September alongside the fifth generation iPad.

The next iPad, said to feature a slimmer, iPad-mini style redesign, will be the only iPad released in 2013. Kuo suggests that there will be no iPad mini release in 2013, despite reports that Apple might release a slightly upgraded non-Retina version.Judging by the production...

Looking out a window is an easy way to see what the weather is like, but that doesn't tell you what to expect three hours from now, or in different cities. Weather apps fill in the missing pieces, like how to plan for tomorrow's weather, what to expect from precipitation and humidity, and what the day's UV index means for your skin. Unlike the iPhone, the iPad doesn't include a bundled weather app, so we put together a list of our favorites for you.

If your Mac regularly wakes to a progress bar, it may be from problematic hardware, or it could simply be normal behavior for your system.

Analyst Ming-Chi-Kuo, who has a fairly strong track record in predicting future Apple products (timing not withstanding), has issued a new report with claims for some of Apple’s new products for the rest of 2013. The following is a breakdown of Kuo’s claims by product:

iPhone: 

Kuo says reiterates several claims that Apple will debut an “iPhone 5S” and a low-cost, plastic iPhone later this year. Corroborating a recent report from Digitimes, Kuo...

I found out about this over the weekend, and I thought it was super cool. I'll introduce it you the same way I heard about it: have you ever seen a trailer for a TV show you wanted to watch, but then forgot? NextGuide is a free service that lets you set up a playlist for shows and receive automatic reminders for when new episodes air on live TV or are added to Amazon, Hulu Plus, iTunes, or Netflix. I'll see adverts for new shows that look interesting all the time but forget to check when they're released or even what network they're on. NextGuide makes that a non-issue. The service covers movies, too. NextGuide is available as an iPad app now and an iPhone app is in the works. You can also access it through a browser on just about every device.

nova media has released nm-CAM, a new software development kit for iOS. Using this kit, the company says apps can display video streams that previously were poorly supported -- or not supported at all.

The SDK, dubbed nm-CAM, offers HD video streaming over Wi-Fi and mobile networks. It provides detailed information about the video streams.

nm-CAM supports iOS 5.0 and higher. The SDK can be included in any project in just three simple steps, according to the folks at nova media. An Xcode demonstration project is part of nm-CAM.

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From 9to5Toys.com:

A large majority of the deals we cover each day come from a variety of ‘Daily Deal’ websites or are so popular that they don’t even last 24 hours. We know you can’t be at your computer every second, so we’re going to round up the best deals each day to make sure you have a fair shot at the deals you want. Be sure to follow 9to5Toys.com so you never miss a deal... Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+.

Also check out the latest...

Apple is seeding a fourth Developer Preview of OS X Mavericks, users note. Any significant changes have yet to be identified. The new beta is arriving just under two weeks after the previous one, which went out July 9th....   ...

Apple on Monday announced that the iTunes Store eclipsed 1 billion podcast subscriptions. That’s a whole lot of talking. A special promotion appeared in the iTunes Podcasts directory to commemorate the big number.

Apple says that those billion subscriptions are spread across 250,000 unique podcasts in more than 100 languages, and that more than 8 million episodes have been published in the iTunes Store to date.

No doubt about it: A billion podcast subscriptions is a massive number. No doubt some of those subscriptions don’t translate into nearly as many “listens”; if you’ve ever had newspapers or Instapaper articles accumulate over time, you know how a podcast subscription can get.

Either way, though, the milestone is significant. And it’s even significant that Apple’s touting the number.

To read this article in...

We’ve established that I’m not much of a photographer, but this seems like a good idea to me. The app is free to download on the App Store.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Fission makes audio editing easy.

Crop and trim audio, paste in or join files, or just rapidly split one long file into many. Fission is streamlined for fast editing. Plus, it works without the quality loss caused by other editors, so you can get perfect quality audio even when editing MP3 and AAC files.

If you need to convert formats, Fission can do that too! You can rapidly export or batch convert files to the MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless, FLAC, AIFF, and WAV formats.

Download a free trial of Fission, then buy it in the App Store or directly through our store.

∞ Read this on The Loop...

Tomorrow afternoon, Apple will post its earnings from its fiscal third quarter and the consensus on Wall St. isn't looking all that rosy.

Investors have come to expect astronomical growth from Apple and there's no denying that as Apple becomes ever more profitable, delivering staggering earnings growth quarter after quarter becomes more of a challenge.

According to the consensus on Wall St., Apple for the quarter gone by will post revenue of $35 billion and a net profit of US$7 billion. While most companies can only dream of recording that type of quarter, those figures, if indeed accurate, would mean that Apple's profits declined year over year.

During Apple's third fiscal quarter in 2012, the company posted $35 billion in revenue and $9 billion in profits.

CNN adds:

That's a nasty development for a company that was regularly posting startup-like profit and sales...

Apple released OS X 10.9 Mavericks developer preview 4 on Monday. We haven't yet seen patch notes for the release, but the company has used the developer previews to roll out steady improvements and updates to new features.

Two weeks after seeding OS X Mavericks Developer Preview 3 to developers, Apple has made Preview 4 available via Software Update on the Mac App Store. If you find anything new, you can let us know at tips@9to5mac.com. We’ll update this post with a running list of changes. Changes below:

- New installation screen:

- LinkedIn quick posting to Connections via Notification Center:

...

The analysis industry's consensus forecast for Apple's third-quarter results -- due to be announced tomorrow -- calls for a 22 percent year-over-year drop in profits, notes CNNMoney. Apple posted roughly $9 billion in profits during Q3 2012, but this year is expected to turn just under $7 billion. Revenue is predicted to remain flat at about $35 billion....  ...

If your mouse cursor disappears or freezes but the system is still responsive, then you can likely remedy the situation without hard-resetting your Mac.

Even a small update makes a difference.

CrossOver, the popular virtualization program from CodeWeavers, has been updated to version 12.2.2. The new version, a 75.4 megabyte download, is available as a demo, offers the following fix:

- CrossOver has been updated to allow Cube World, a popular indie computer game, to run.

CrossOver 12.2.2 retails for US$59.95 and requires Mac OS X 10.6 and or later and an Intel-based Mac to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has released a new report covering the full June quarter Mac and iPod sales data from market research firm NPD.

According to the data, Apple's Mac sales came in down 5% year over year, despite the introduction of the newest Haswell-based MacBook Airs at this year's WWDC. During the same time period last year, Apple unveiled both upgraded MacBook Airs and the new Retina MacBook Pro, so it seems the lack of a refreshed MacBook Pro lineup may have impacted sales for the quarter.

As with his previous reports, Munster notes that it remains difficult to extrapolate NPD data to Apple's global sales performance, but he views the June data as “neutral to slightly negative,” down from slightly positive in a May report.We note that we had expected an uptick in Mac sales in the month of June given updated Macbook Airs at WWDC;...

Aereo, a live TV streaming/DVR service has today announced that it will be expanding into Utah on August 19. With memberships beginning at $8 per month, Aereo allows customers to access 30 major broadcast channels on any internet-connected device as well as record up to 20 hours of DVR content in a cloud account. A pre-registration page has been setup online, and will provide priority access to anyone who signs up before the August 19 launch. In addition, Aereo has also announced that after the Utah expansion it will begin to prepare for a September 13 launch in Chicago.... ...

New numbers out today from research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (via AllthingsD) show that consumers in the U.S. are purchasing an increasing number of previous generation iPhones compared to recent years. It certainly helps make the case for a much rumored lower-cost iPhone, with the iPhone 4 capturing 18 percent of iPhones sold in the US during the June quarter, and the iPhone 4S an impressive 30 percent.

As noted by AllThingsD, the 52 percent of total iPhone sales captured by the iPhone 5 is much less than the iPhone 4S had just nine months into its release:

Nine months after the iPhone 5′s debut, it accounts for about half of all iPhone sales. The 4S still accounted for nearly three-quarters of...

AT&T is expanding its Mobile Share data plans with two new tiers starting July 26th, the US carrier has announced. A 300MB tier will cost $20 per month, while a 2GB option will cost $50. The prices per smartphone for each plan are $50 and $45, respectively....   ...

New mobile Web browsing data shows that iOS users remain far more active on the Internet than their Android counterparts, with Apple's devices accounting for nearly two-thirds of all domestic mobile website traffic.  ...

Apple’s iPhone sales for the second calendar quarter of 2013 were pretty much evenly split between the iPhone 5 and its two precursors — the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4s. This according to new data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) that shows lower-priced legacy iPhones gaining share across Apple’s smartphone portfolio.

CIRP’s survey of iPhone sales between April and June found that the iPhone 5 accounted for 52 percent of all iPhones sold in the United States. Meanwhile, the iPhone 4S accounted for about 30 percent and the iPhone 4 about 18 percent. That’s similar to the iPhone model breakdown CIRP has charted for three quarters now, but it’s quite a bit different from the trend the firm saw following the release of the iPhone 4S, which claimed significantly more sales share following its debut and held onto it longer. Nine months...

Let's say you like to bet on football games. I know the rules of football, I know the teams, and I can even name a few of the players, but in terms of predicting which team will win any given game, my guesses aren't much better than flipping a coin. Now, let's say I've been right a few times before, several seasons ago, and I helped you win some big bets. But let's also say that absolutely every single prediction I've made during this season has failed to pan out. Are you going to keep placing bets based on my predictions? If not, then congratulations: you're smarter than the average Apple rumor blog, which still seems to be all Digitimes, all the time.

A look at some flexible batteries that could power iWatch (9to5 Mac)

While this tech is cool, associating it with the so-called "iWatch" is a pretty big stretch. Remind me again how many credible reports have come out indicating Apple is...

AT&T announced today that it’s expanding unlimited talk and text Mobile Share plans to include two new data options including 300MB and 2GB. The new options will fill the gaps between the carrier’s current 1GB and 4GB plans, allowing users that use less data to take advantage of a less expensive plan.

The 300 MB plan is only $20 a month, with additional costs per device added. Now, customers with basic and quick-messaging devices can share data and unlimited talk and text for as low as $50 a month and smartphone customers for $70 a month.

The new 300MB plan will be available for $20 and the 2GB for $50 when they become available later this week on July 26th.

Continue reading...

...

HopStop, the transit navigation app Apple acquired last Friday, dropped support for Windows Phone over the weekend, leaving users of the platform miffed.   ...

Audio editing professionals got a new tool on the Mac platform on Monday, as Sony announced a new upgrade for SpectraLayers Pro 2.   ...

More than half of all smartphones sold by Apple in June were the latest-generation iPhone 5, according to new data, while the iPhone 4S, first released in 2011, accounted for 30 percent of sales.  ...

In this week’s ExtraBITS, Apple is scrambling to plug a security leak, allegedly exposed by security researcher Ibrahim Balic, and the Apple Developer Center has been offline for days. If you’re waiting for Apple to come back online, why not listen to Jeff Carlson on MacVoices, where he discusses “Take Control of Your Digital Photos”? Fellow Take Control author Kirk McElhearn argues that Apple should eliminate DRM from the iBookstore, and Apple itself is wanting more openness in sharing national security requests. The NSA isn’t the only spy you have to worry about — one could be in your local coffee shop. Finally, App.net has released a tool to make broadcasting new blog posts easy.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member...

As Apple prepares its latest enhancements to Maps with iOS 7, Google has released its own major update for Google Maps on iOS. Here's how the two compare in location data and local search, our fourth segment looking at mobile maps.  ...

It's time to save some of that hard-earned cash with our Daily Deals, featuring a handy list from Dealnews and our own hand-picked selections that include some sweet deals on iOS and OS X software (all prices are USD and subject to change).

Deals from Dealnews

• Best Buy: [MacBook] Apple MacBook Laptops at Best Buy: Up to $200 off + extra $100 off for students
• MacUpdate Promo: [Mac Software] HueShifter for Mac downloads for $15
• Adorama: [Notebook Carrying Case] Built Bowery 13" Laptop Messenger Bag for $20 + free shipping
• ...

Last night we reported that Apple confirmed that its Developer Center was hacked and taken offline as a precaution, but now a UK security researcher named Ibrahim Balic says he is the one who performed the hack to highlight a security hole that could leave developer data exposed. As The Next Web Reports:

Balic claims that showed Apple 73 user accounts from its own workers to illustrate the flaw when he contacted the company to help them fix it. Though he admits he managed to get hold of data from more than 100,000 users, he maintains he did not hack the system for malicious purposes.

Balic also says that he is "a bit irritated" Apple is citing the incident as an attempted security breach. Below is a video he...

Apple is testing larger screens for both iPads and iPhones, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to company suppliers, Apple has “asked for prototype smartphone screens larger than 4 inches and has also asked for screen designs for a new tablet device measuring slightly less than 13 inches.” The…

Apple is experimenting with different iPhone and iPad screen sizes, if the rumors are to be believed. Chris Foresman

iPhone and iPad users looking with envy at the ever-ballooning screen sizes of Android devices shouldn't lose hope just yet. The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has been experimenting with iPhone screen sizes larger than the current four inches, echoing rumors from earlier this year that the company may be looking to supplement its current offerings. The WSJ also says that Apple is experimenting with larger iPads, specifically a model with a gigantic 13-inch display—while a larger iPhone would be in line with current trends, the trend in tablets has been toward...

Apple will be issuing an important update to the Apple Store app for the iPhone on Tuesday, an anonymous source claims. The app is reportedly redesigned, with an interface following after the App Store, iTunes Store, and iBookstore. Part of the reason for this is that the app will promote downloadable content, even offering some of it for free for a limited time....  ...

My friend Frank works for Canon in Manhattan, and occasionally gives demos in a room with locked-down iPads. Sometimes those iPads need to be rebooted—but Frank has no access to the sleep/wake switch ostensibly required to power off an iPad.

In the past, I’ve suggested that Frank “reset” something (under Settings -> General -> Reset) that’s easy to set again; resetting Location & Privacy settings doesn’t mess too much up, and it restarts the iPad when you tap it.

But there’s a better way. Also in the Settings app, head to General -> Accessibility, and and turn on Assistive Touch. That adds a draggable dot control to your screen, meant for people with physical challenges that prevent them from triggering certain iOS actions the traditional way. Tap the dot, then tap Device, and finally tap and hold Lock Screen—a software equivalent of the sleep/wake button. After a few moments, the familiar Slide to Power Off message appears, and you can shut the iPad...

Infinisys has released Screen Studio for Mac OS X. It lets you create original screen savers for the Mac.

Screen Studio also comes with a large collection of clip art, including animated After Dark characters like the Flying Toaster, Bad Dog and Boris, so you can make your very own After Dark screen savers.

Normally priced at US$29, Infinisys is offering Screen Studio at a special reduced price of $19 until Aug. 10. For more info go to http://en.infinisys.co.jp/product/screenstudio/index.shtml .

Movavi has launched Movavi Media Player for Mac OS X. It costs US$19.95 for a "lifetime license."

The company says the main advantage of Movavi Media Player is the widest range of supported formats, including both widespread video and audio file types (AVI, MOV, MP4, MPEG, FLV, 3GP, MP3, FLAC, WAV) and video formats rarely supported on other Mac software (WMV, RM, MKV, MTS). Features include HD video playback and repeat/shuffle modes. A fully functional, seven-day trial version is available for download at http://www.movavi.com/media-player-mac/.

Dave Mark sent this to me. This could be useful for a lot of people.

Here’s what’s holding back 3D printing, the technology that’s supposed to revolutionize manufacturing and countless other industries: patents. In February 2014, key patents that currently prevent competition in the market for the most advanced and functional 3D printers will expire, says Duann Scott, design evangelist at 3D printing company Shapeways.

It will be interesting to see where this goes in the next couple of years.

∞ Read this on The Loop

The Next Web points to a comment on a TechCrunch article taking credit for last week's unauthorized access of Apple's Developer Center last week. The comment comes from independent security researcher Ibrahim Balic, who claims that his effort was not intended to be malicious and that he reported his findings to Apple just hours before the developer site was taken down by the company.In total I have found 13 bugs and have reported through http://bugreport.apple.com. The...

Apple says its developer site was hacked, but that the sensitive data on it was encrypted.

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MacXDVD has updated MacX Video Converter Pro (http://tinyurl.com/22ujyvx) to version 4.0.0. The upgrade sports a revamped user interface, 320-plus video and 50-plus audio codecs, more profiles and 32x faster speed.

Version 4.0.0 also brings new features including YouTube downloading, video editing, screen recording, photo slideshow making, etc. MacX Video Converter Pro is normally priced at US$49.95. However, MacXDVD is offering it for free until July 25.

128bit Technologies has released 11 new commercial use fonts to the Free Fonts collection, available on both the Mac App Store and the MacAppware website.

These 11 creative new fonts bring the total fonts in Free Fonts to 56. They're all in OpenType font format and all available for both personal and commercial use projects. International character support isn't standard for every font, but is available for many of them.

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According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple and its Asian suppliers are testing larger screens for iPhones and tablets. In recent months, Apple has reportedly asked for prototype smartphone screens larger than 4 inches and has also asked for screen designs for a new tablet device measuring slightly less than 13 inches diagonally. However, this type of iPhone rumor has been around for a while. In early June Reuters reported on iPhones in the 4.7 to 5.7 inch size.

New York startup Canary aims to bring affordable and easy to use home security to iPad and iPhone users in a single canister-like device, which delivers 720p streaming video, motion detection, push notifications, and more.   ...

Security researcher Ibrahim Balic says he reported a Developer Center security vulnerability hours before Apple shut down its developer Web site. The vulnerability enabled Balic to access the email addresses and real names (but not passwords) of more than 100,000 users. Balic told 9To5Mac that he promptly reported the vulnerability to Apple and is planning to delete the information he collected.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Image: joyenjoys.com

A two minute SIM card hack could allow an intruder to listen to your phone calls, send text messages from your phone number and make mobile payments from your account. The vulnerability, discovered by a German security researcher, is present in an estimated 750 million SIM cards – around one in four of all SIM cards.

Give me any phone number and there is some chance I will, a few minutes later, be able to remotely control this SIM card and even make a copy of it … 

The vulnerability was discovered by Karsten Nohl, founder of Security Research Labs in Berlin – the man who, back in 2009, created a tool to break the GSM encryption, enabling anyone with a scanner and a laptop to listen in to...

Our own Jeff Carlson joined Chuck Joiner of MacVoices to discuss his new book, “Take Control of Your Digital Photos.” Jeff and Chuck discuss the experiment of publishing the book as in-progress chapters for TidBITS members, and then move on to chat about choosing a photo-management program, importing photos, assigning and exporting keywords, setting up smart albums, working with online services, backing up photos, and much more.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com) has been actively tracking the LTE market, assessing operator commitments both current and future. Out of 470 LTE commitments tracked, 193 have gone commercial. Over the next two years, the research group anticipates another 123 network commitments to go commercial. Additionally, ABI Research is currently tracking 69 LTE-TDD commitments.

read more

As the site puts it, “every bloody designer on the planet has had a go, so you might as well try too.”  This tongue-in-cheek interactive design tool lets you create your own take on iOS by selecting from a range of backgrounds, fonts, colors, corner shapes and shadows.

Here’s our own Seth Weintraub’s application for the post of deputy to Jony Ive:

For more information about iOS Devices, humor, and Satire continue reading at 9to5Mac.

What do you...

In an effort to reach an even wider audience of customers, Apple is said to be exploring the possibilities of a larger iPhone display and an iPad with a 13-inch screen, according to a new report.   ...

Apple Inc. and its Asian suppliers are testing larger screens for iPhones and tablets, officials at the company’s suppliers say.

In recent months, Apple has asked for prototype smartphone screens larger than four inches and has also asked for screen designs for a new tablet device measuring slightly less than 13 inches diagonally, they said. The current iPhone 5 has a four-inch screen, while the iPad has a 9.7-inch screen. The iPad Mini, a stripped-down version of its tablet computer, has a 7.9-inch screen.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Rough Larger iPad mockup

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Apple and its suppliers are testing versions of the iPad and iPhone with larger displays.

Apple and its Asian component makers are testing larger screens for iPhones and tablets, officials at the company’s suppliers say.

Due to mounting competition from hardware competitors like Samsung, a larger-screened iPhone has long been expected and rumored. However, this is one of the first specific claims for a larger sized iPad. In March of this year, an unverified claim emerged for a 12.9-inch iPad model being in the works with a rather unlikely name. WSJ‘s report points to a display “measuring...

The ongoing downtime of the iOS/OS X Developer Center is linked to a hacking attempt, Apple now admits. "Last Thursday, an intruder attempted to secure personal information of our registered developers from our developer website," an updated site message reads. "Sensitive personal information was encrypted and cannot be accessed, however, we have not been able to rule out the possibility that some developersí names, mailing addresses, and/or email addresses may have been accessed. In the spirit of transparency, we want to inform you of the issue. We took the site down immediately on Thursday a... ...

Apple

Since Thursday, registered Apple developers trying to download OS X 10.9, iOS 7, or any other Apple software from the company's developer portal have been greeted with a notice that the site was down for "maintenance." Today, the company issued a brief statement (above) blaming the extended outage on an "intruder," and that Apple "[has] not been able to rule out the possibility that some developers’ names, mailing addresses, and/or email addresses may have been accessed."

The notice says that "sensitive" information could not be accessed by the intruder because it was encrypted, and the company told MacWorld that the system in question is not used to store "customer information," application code, or data stored by applications....

All-new dial-in experience! See below -- do not call into Talkshoe, we won't be there. Be sure to set up Fuze Meeting before the show if you want to join in live.

It's Sunday, and it's time for the TUAW talkcast! Hopefully we haven't lost too many listeners to the heat.

Hopefully we'll have a lovely batch of developers with us since the developer portal is still down. This usually means developers end up resorting to things like socializing to fill their time, so who knows who you might have on the show this evening! We also have Logic Pro to discuss, and there's an excellent chance we'll do a bit of speculating on the aforementioned outage. We'll be sure to discuss the other news of the week as well, so please join us!

Reminder on new-style talkcasting:...

I spoke with Apple tonight about news that its developer portal was hacked last Thursday by someone attempting to gain access to personal information about the company’s developers. While the company admitted already that the site was breached, there are some important details that you should know.

In an email to developers today, Apple revealed that its Developer Center website was breached by unknown hackers and was taken offline last Thursday as a precaution.

The company notes that sensitive personal information was "encrypted and cannot be accessed" but that Apple's engineers "could not rule out the possibility" that developer names, mailing addresses and email addresses may have been accessed.

Apple says it is overhauling its developer systems, updating software and rebuilding the entire develop database. There is no indication of when the site will be back up, other than the company saying it expects to have it up again soon.Apple Developer Website Update

Last Thursday, an intruder attempted to secure personal information of our registered developers from our developer website. Sensitive personal information was encrypted and cannot be accessed...

Apple on Sunday addressed a multi-day outage afflicting its developer site, acknowledging that its systems were hacked.

In an email to developers, Apple wrote:

Last Thursday, an intruder attempted to secure personal information of our registered developers from our developer website. Sensitive personal information was encrypted and cannot be accessed, however, we have not been able to rule out the possibility that some developers’ names, mailing addresses, and/or email addresses may have been accessed. In the spirit of transparency, we want to inform you of the issue. We took the site down immediately on Thursday and have been working around the clock since then.

In order to prevent a security threat like this from happening again, we’re completely overhauling our developer systems, updating our server software, and rebuilding our entire database. We apologize for the significant inconvenience that our downtime has caused you and we expect to have the...

Apple just started sending out the above explanation for the Developer Center outage that has been going on since Thursday. According to the note, Apple’s security was breached and an intruder might have gotten some personal information (specifically names, mailing addresses, email addresses, etc.). In the spirit of (just a bit late) transparency, Apple is now informing developers who may have been affected.

Seems that the hackers attempted to use the stolen info: multiple people say they've received Apple ID password resets in recent days.—
Mark Gurman (@markgurman) July 21, 2013

Also, because of the intrusion, Apple has decided to totally overhaul its developer systems, including updating server software and rebuilding databases seemingly from scratch. That would explain the significant, now over 4-day, outage.

Apple expects the developer site to be up soon. The...

San Francisco wants tech employee shuttle buses — which have become a loathed symbol of elitism for many residents — to be a little more considerate.

But the city’s proposed demands are pretty mild. It just wants companies who ferry their employees around in private buses to limit and pay for their use of city bus stops.

A Google bus

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency corporate board this week discussed a plan for an 18-month trial of a policy that would bring the much-blamed and essentially unregulated private bus systems into line. If it’s approved, it could come into effect early next year, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The...

Screen recording directly on iOS devices has usually required the device to be jailbroken. Rather than recording sans-PC, the general solution is to hook up the iPhone/iPad to a computer and use some sort of a mirroring app then record the computer’s display. Now, the app xRec has made its way into the App Store. As you can see in the video above, you do have to deal with a red “xRec” bar at the top of all screens since it is taking advantage of iOS’ recording APIs. On the plus side, you can quickly record the entire operating system on-the-go without plugging into a computer.

Of note, the app currently does not work with iOS 7 and it seemed to crash multiple times on my current-gen iPod Touch. Even after a reboot, opening the Mail app or a game crashed the recording.

The developer assures me iOS 7 compatibility is on the way (after iPad compatibility is built), but stability of the current app would be more appreciated.

xRec is...

As the success stories keep piling up, so do the number of projects filling up crowdfunding websites with, among other things, neat hardware- and software-related products. Some projects, like Pebble, gain thousands of supporters as well as millions of dollars in funding (and end up at Best Buy’s retail stores). Other projects flop and don’t reach their necessary funding amount.

Rather than make you sift through all of these projects, we’re rounding up the best or most notable projects from around the web and delivering them to you in a simple roundup.

• WigWag (...

This week members of the AllThingsD staff showed up live and in person on all sorts of channels. Should you want to see some of the week’s tech news highlights, rather than just read about them, watch these quick videos.

Mike Isaac turned up on CNBC with some smart answers to a somewhat silly question: “Is Twitter toast?”

Arik Hesseldahl joined WCBS to give some background on emergency cell phone alerts, after one woke up many New Yorkers in the middle of the night.

He was also on the BBC for a hit on the ongoing Dell saga, which he’s been covering on a more-than-daily basis.

–>...

The latest trend to beat Apple to the punch on any single technology relating to smartphones or tablets prior to Apple's classic iPhone Event held every September is gaining another entrant, Samsung.

In Part Two of his two-part article, Sandro Cuccia shows you how to apply the Instant Alpha Tool to images in iWork's Keynote, Pages and Numbers. Instant Alpha is yet another easy tool to make your presentations and documents stand out above all others.

It’s an hour and a half movie.

"Firefly Online," a social online role-playing game based on the short-lived but cult favorite TV series "Firefly," is coming to iOS and Android devices, reports "Polygon" (http://tinyurl.com/ol4bnq3).

Fox Digital Entertainment made the announcement last week at the San Diego Comic Con. Developed by QMXi and Spark Plug Games, players take on the role of a captain, who must recruit ship crew and lead missions, while trading with other players.

Interested parties are invited to preregister on the game's web site (https://www.keepflying.com) to find out more information.

read more

Apple is certainly beefing up its Mapping team with some interesting and exciting acquisitions. Earlier today we reported that Apple had acquired a Canadian mapping start-up called Locationary. Locationary harvests crowd sourced data to deliver what All Things D termed a "Wikipedia for local business listings."

Now comes word via Bloomberg that Apple has also acquired HopStop.com, a public transit app which shows users in hundreds of cities how to get to and fro via public transit.

Indeed, one of the glaring omissions in Apple's homegrown mapping app is that it lacks the public transit directions that many consumers became accustomed to with Google Maps. Hopefully the acquisition of HopStop means that Apple is finally serious about integrating transit...

Bookends is a full-featured bibliography/reference and information-management system for students and professionals.

Access the power of Bookends directly from Mellel, Nisus Writer Pro, or MS Word (including Word 2011): Bookends allows you to scan your existing word-processor files and automatically generate finished manuscripts with properly formatted bibliographies. You can also scan Apple Pages '08 or '09 and OpenOffice 3 files, or RTF files saved from any word processor.

Bookends allows you to share your references over the Internet with anyone, on any platform. And with Bookends, you can directly search and import references from numerous sources:

• EndNote
• PubMed
• Web of Science
• JSTOR
• Google Scholar
• Amazon
• Library of Congress
• arXiv
• and hundreds of other online sources....

Next week, Apple will debut a new element of Tim Cook’s plan to sell more iPhones direct from Apple Retail. The company, on Tuesday, July 23rd, will release an updated version of its Apple Store application for iPhone and iPod touch, according to a source with knowledge of the app. The new app has been redesigned to fit more in line with the user-interface of the App Store, iTunes Store, and iBookstore in iOS 6.

This slight interface change comes for a good reason: one of the main new features of the app is downloadable...

If you enjoyed this week's roundup of iPad cases, check out last week's edition, Fireworks.

Apple has been on a roll lately winning a series of new design patents in Hong Kong China. The Hong Kong IP Office has awarded Apple with 20 design patents in July alone covering such things as new iMacs, iPhones and the battery for the MacBook Pro. As of today, Apple could add two additional designs to that list that just happen to be their loopiest to date.

Introduced by Hong Kong-based Muku Labs, Shuttr is, as its name implies, a tiny Bluetooth-connected remote shutter release that can be used with almost any iOS device, as well as many Android smartphones and tablets.  ...

Though Apple and Samsung remain tied up in patent litigation in a number of jurisdictions across the globe, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the two companies have been engaged in settlement talks with the aim of putting all their legal squabbles behind them.

Apple and Samsung Electronics Co. have held a series of private negotiations about their numerous patent disputes since a court victory by Apple in one case last summer, according to legal documents and people familiar with the situation.

The negotiations included face-to-face meetings in Seoul, South Korea, in December, one document states. The two companies even appeared to come close to a settlement in February before talks cooled off.

The report adds that the two tech behemoths are still talking to each other, but there's no word as to how close they are to actually reaching a mutually acceptable...

Alternative payment methods seem to be all the rage these days, from retailer-specific virtual cards that can be loaded with currency to the movement to make NFC-based payment kiosks an option at retailers. As VentureBeat reports, New York's Dash wants to do things a bit differently and by targeting eateries and bars it may have a good chance to carve out its own niche.

The Dash app for iPhone allows patrons of participating bars and restaurants to view, split, and pay their tabs without ever reaching for a purse or wallet. The system has the added benefit of keeping you from having to wave down a waiter or waitress when you're ready to hit the road - but food service workers don't have to worry about missing a tip, as Dash has a built-in feature for that as well.

It's a novel idea, but since getting restaurants nationwide to jump on board isn't easy, Dash is starting with New York City, where the company...

As we inch our way towards the public release of iOS 7, we are treated to a rather interesting benchmarking video courtesy of YouTube user adrianisen. The clip showcases two different benchmark tools running on iOS 7 Beta 3 on both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5. It's not clear why the tester chose the standard iPhone 4 as opposed to the more powerful 4S, but it certainly makes the performance difference between the two handsets remarkably apparent.

An interesting note: Using Geekbench 2, the iPhone 5 used in the test scores a 1672 with iOS 7 Beta 3, while my own iPhone 5 running iOS 6.1.4 tops out at 1664 consistently. It's a small increase, sure, but a promising result regardless. The iPhone 4, on the other hand, doesn't even break the 400-point barrier.

iOS 7 Beta 3 gets benchmarked on iPhone 4 and 5 originally appeared...

The Griffin Survivor + Catalyst waterproof case (US$69.99) is said to keep your iPhone dry up to 3 meters deep in water and protect your iPhone from drops from a height of 2 meters or less.

On a day-to-day basis I don't use a case for my iPhone. However, there have been plenty of occasions when I've wished I did use one, so as not to worry about protecting and shielding it in certain situations, like when I'm at the beach, hiking or camping etc.

Design

The Griffin Survivor + Catalyst (GSC) case has TPE shock-absorbing bumpers, a PET-integrated screen cover, a silicone O-ring to seal the case together and keep water out, and a polycarbonate frame. Though light, it feels sturdy -- especially with an iPhone inside it. Two nylon latches lock the case together, there's a charge port door as well as volume control, home button and power button. It also comes with a lanyard to attach...

Options for installing OS X freshly when purchasing a new version of OS X from the App Store, and more covered in this week's Q&A.