Apple's iCloud service experienced an overnight outage, with some users unable to access Calendar and other features, while the company's online store saw a five-hour period of inaccessibility for updates.
  ...

It's time to save some of that hard-earned cash with our Daily Deals, featuring exclusive TUAW Deals, a handy list from Dealnews and our own hand-picked iOS and OS X selections.

TUAW's Daily Deals

Revolutionary Touchfire Keyboard For iPad [On sale for $34.99, down from $50]

The Touchfire keyboard has all the functionality of a standard keyboard, but in a paper thin, transparent silicone that fits directly on your screen.

You can still view the entire screen right through the keyboard with the ability to touch and swipe as if nothing was there!

Don't believe it? Check out the video above or Google the reviews. There is no question this keyboard will turn your iPad into a laptop killer!

Save 30% on the Revolutionary Touchfire Keyboard For iPad at...

On Tuesday, Microsoft issued a new security patch for all versions of its Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 edition, including academic, Standard and Home & Business editions and all the main applications contained therein. The update "fixes critical issues and also helps to improve security. It includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code." The fix is intended for Intel Macs running OS X 10.5.8 or later....
 ...

Pictures of the one-off Leica M Rangefinder special edition co-designed by Apple's Sir Jonathan Ive and Marc Newson have surfaced, revealing a unsurprisingly elegant yet sparse design with a Dieter Rams-inspired off-white and aluminum design that would fit right in with Apple's products. The camera will be auctioned off on November 23 for Product (RED) and includes a 50mm É2 Summicron lens. Proceeds will be used to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria outbreaks in Africa....
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Today we've rounded up a herd of keyboard tricks for iOS devices. Some of them are new to iOS 7, and others have been around for a while but are still extremely useful. The tips come from a variety of sources, including Kirk McElhearn at TechHive and our helpful bloggers here at TUAW.

Be sure to check out our other video tips, and remember that you can expand this to full screen for easier viewing.

iOS 7 video tip: Fun and fast keyboard tricks originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 08 Oct 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our...

FutureStack is defined by innovation. Join 800+ industry leaders and disruptive developers on Oct 24-25 in San Francisco and help build the future of Modern Software. During two days loaded with future-focused tracks, you’ll hear from The Loop’s founder Jim Dalrymple, and join him as he discusses the intersection of mobile innovation and technology. You’ll also get to explore the future of data with a much-anticipated keynote from Hilary Mason, Data Scientist in Residence at Accel Partners. Plus, check out Artur Bergman, CEO and Founder of Fastly talk about the problems of latency, user perception and monitoring performance.

App streaming company Agawi is at it again. Just a few weeks after announcing that the iPhone 5 absolutely destroys the competition in terms of touchscreen responsiveness, Agawi returns with a similar benchmark survey for today's most popular tablets. The result? Well, once again Apple comes out on top, but it may surprise you to learn that the touchscreen on the iPad mini is in fact the overall winner, with just a 75 millisecond average response time.

The 4th generation iPad came in second with an 81 millisecond average response time, followed (somewhat shockingly) by the Nvidia SHIELD gaming handheld at 92 milliseconds. The rest of the list, in...

This is a great article by Christina Warren that looks at what’s happening with paid apps vs in-app purchases.

∞ Read this on The Loop

This is a great shared lists app. My wife and I tried it last night and it worked great. I’m a fan.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Apple's iPhone and iPad remain popular among young people, according to a new study that shows the iPhone in the hands of more than half of American teens.
   ...

Looks like we’ll have some new iPads to talk about this fall after all.

As originally reported on AllThingsD and then “confirmed” by the ever-reliable Jim Dalrymple, Apple is planning an event for October 22, at which it will presumably roll out a new iPad or two.

While the reports focus on iPads, remember that we’re also waiting on the next version of OS X Mavericks and that cool new Mac Pro; the first was promised this fall, the second sometime this year after its preview during this summer’s Worldwide Developers Conference....

With yearly Madden titles appearing for every platform under the sun, Microsoft is attempting to set itself apart with CoachGlass, a companion app that will work exclusively with Madden 25 for Xbox One. CoachGlass will let players up their defensive game by offering information on opponents, including offensive habits, best players and even advice on the best formations to use. In short, it does all the legwork for you to pretend to be a real NFL defensive coordinator.

CoachGlass will be accessible as part of the Xbox One's SmartGlass tablet app. The Xbox 360 SmartGlass app is currently available for iOS, so we imagine the Xbox One version would make an appearance on the App Store sometime between now and the new console's November 22 debut.

[via...

Apple will hold its next media event on October 22nd, according to AllThingsD. Unnamed sources said the event would focus on new iPad models, but that the company's new Mac Pro and OS X Mavericks would get some love, too.

From 9to5Toys.com:

Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

Apple iPod Touch 32GB 5th gen. black (pre-owned) $190...

As fewer businesses and consumers rely on BlackBerry, the company needs to find alternative forms of revenue. Moving into support services for its competition is one way to do that, especially since BlackBerry can potentially hold on to the same corporate customers that previously used its mobile devices.

Both Apple's iPhone and iPad continue to remain popular with U.S. teenagers, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster's latest semiannual teen survey. 55 percent of teens now own an iPhone, compared to just 48 percent from a survey conducted in April and 40 percent in the fall of 2012.Our most recent semi-annual Teen survey demonstrates that Apple remains the most popular tech brand amongst teens. As of Fall 2013, the iPhone represented nearly 55% all phones used by teens and the iPad family remained at close to 70% share of tablet ownership. We believe that while Samsung seemingly had some momentum with teens over the past year, Apple's brand and product quality has enabled it to remain the top choice for teen consumer...

People familiar with Apple’s plans tell AllThingsD that the company will hold its next invitation-only event on Tuesday, October 22. The focal point of the gathering will be the latest updates to the company’s iPad line…

Yep.

The old iPad 4 will supposedly be replaced by something more in line with the design of the iPad mini. Chris Foresman

"Sources familiar with the matter" are telling AllThingsD that Apple's next product announcement will be taking place on October 22 and that the event will likely focus on new iPads, the Mac Pro, and OS X 10.9 Mavericks. AllThingsD has a strong track record when it comes to Apple news (the publication correctly predicted the company's September 10 iPhone event), and the date would make sense given the iPad-focused announcements Apple made in October of 2012. If Apple's scheduling is the same as it normally is, look for official invitations to go out at some point next Tuesday.

Apple refreshed a good-sized chunk of its product line in...

Last month we told you that Jony Ive was working on a limited edition Leica M camera to be auctioned off for The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Well, that very limited edition camera -- there is only one -- has been unveiled.

According to Leica's Google+ post, the camera took 85 days to create and required a total of 561 models and nearly 1,000 prototype parts. Ive was assisted by his good friend and fellow designer Marc Newson on the project.

The camera "features a laser-machined aluminum body and an anodized aluminum outer shell," and has "a full-format CMOS sensor, high performance processor and new Leica APO-Summicron -M 50mm f/2 ASPH lens."

Provided you have very deep pockets, you can participate...

Apple will hold its much-rumored iPad event on October 22, reports AllThingsD. While the event will focus on Apple’s upcoming fifth-generation iPad and iPad mini, the new Mac Pro and OS X Mavericks will also be featured at the event.

Rendering of the 5th-generation iPad compared to iPad 4 and iPad miniPeople familiar with Apple’s plans tell AllThingsD that the company will hold its next invitation-only event on Tuesday October 22. The focal point of the gathering will the latest updates to the company’s iPad line, but new Mac Pro and OS X Mavericks will likely get some stage time as well, I’m told.Apple’s fifth-generation iPad will take on an iPad mini-style design, resulting in a thinner, lighter tablet with smaller side bezels. It’s expected to feature a 64-bit A7 processor and an improved camera.

Apple’s iPad mini is expected to include the same 64-bit...

Apple is set to hold an event later this month, on Tuesday, Oct. 22, where it is expected to unveil a new, redesigned fifth-generation iPad, as well as a second-generation iPad mini.
   ...

Camera+ ($2) from tap tap tap has upgraded to version 4.2. The update fixes and enhances burst mode shooting on the iPhone 5, 5c, and 5s. Additionally, a new effects pack has been added that includes all the filters in Apple’s iOS 7 Camera and Photo apps. The developer’s…

The iPad mini and the fourth-generation iPad have the most responsive touch screens, according to a new set of TouchMark benchmarks from cloud streaming company Agawi.

In its latest TouchMark test, Agawi tested the screen latencies of several different tablets, including the iPads, the Microsoft Surface RT, the Kindle Fire HD, the Nexus 7, the Galaxy Tab 3, and the Nvidia SHIELD.

Apple's iPad mini had the lowest Minimum App Response Time (MART), coming in at 75 milliseconds. The fourth-generation iPad came in second at 81, and the fastest Android tablet was the NVIDIA Shield at 92. Samsung's Galaxy Tab 3 had the worst response time, at 168 milliseconds.

In a result that's perhaps now unsurprising, the iOS devices are more responsive than its competitors. Interestingly, the iPad mini – with its smaller screen and 1024×768...

The decision to move the A7 processor and iOS 7 to a 64-bit architecture may signal the beginning of a strategy for Apple to build a 13-inch, notebook-style iPad, one analyst has speculated.
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FireCore has issued v1.5 of Infuse, its iOS video player. Unlike Apple's native Videos app, Infuse supports 14 different formats, including AVI and MKV. Version 1.5 lets users save playback settings for each video, and group TV shows by season. Subtitle toggle and 30-second rewind buttons have been added, and gesture controls can now be used to both fast-forward and rewind 30 seconds....
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Former Apple executive Tony Fadell's company, Nest, launched a new product this week called Nest Protest, the company's effort to reinvent smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) detectors the same way it reinvented thermostats with the original Nest. Nest Protect features "heads up" warnings for less serious smoke detections, and it can be silenced with a wave. The device speaks with a human voice, and if you have multiple units in your house, they speak to one another and let you know where the problem is being detected. If you have a Nest thermostat, it will turn off your furnace if Nest Protect detects CO. One of the niftiest things is that when the lights go out, Nest Protect has a glowing ring that lights up green to let you know the batteries are OK, or yellow to let you know they need to be replaced. No chirping in the middle of the night! They're priced at $129 for pre-order, and come in either a battery-only and wired-power versions.

...

As a bona-fide world traveler (yeah, I know -- only 50 countries so far), I love to see new products that make life easier for gadget-toting travelers. Now Satechi has come out with a multi-tasker that should find its way into a lot of gizmo bags. The Smart Travel Router and Adapter (US$44.99 introductory price) is a mashup of that staple of international travel -- the plug adapter -- and a Wi-Fi router.

The charger adapter works in over 150 countries. It's a plug adapter, so there's no voltage/frequency conversion, but most modern electronics chargers work equally well on 220V/50Hz and 120V/60Hz systems. This gives you one AC power port and a 2.1A USB port that can be used simultaneously to charge a couple of devices.

The travel router is really useful, creating a...

Just a few weeks ago, NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile carrier, began carrying the iPhone for the first time. Concurrently, DoCoMo this September lost a record number of subscribers to other carriers, 66,800 to be precise. Meanwhile, rival carriers like SoftBank and KDDI added 270,700 and 232,700 new users respectively.

Oddly enough, DoCoMo attributed its subscriber churn to Apple's inability to keep its store shelves stocked with iPhones.

Bloomberg reports:

DoCoMo attributed the subscriber loss to customers who delayed purchases until after Apple's new mobiles went on sale Sept. 20 and insufficient stock of those handsets, said Atsuko Suzuki, a company spokeswoman. Rival carriers' marketing strategies also hurt sales, she said.

Of course, seeing as Apple's new iPhones didn't launch until September 20, it seems like a stretch to...

iOS 7 has several settings that allow those who are visually impaired to improve the readability of the display. This tip looks at zooming the display and increasing the contrast.

Chris453 writes "In August 2013, President Obama issued a veto to an import ban of the iPhone 4S after Samsung won several court battles against Apple claiming that the iPhone 4S violated several of Samsung's patents. A few months ago, Samsung was on the receiving end of a very similar case filed by Apple. The International Trade Commission decided that several of Samsung's phones (Transform, Acclaim, Indulge, and Intercept models) violated Apple's patents, and should face import bans. Despite the similarities between the two cases, the Obama administration today announced that it would not veto the International Trade Commission import ban against Samsung products. The move that could spark a trade dispute between the U.S. and South Korea."

...

SyncTwoFolders simply synchronizes two folders. It supports synchronization across mounted network drives. When files are copied, it acts like you're performing it through the Finder instead of mysteriously doing it in the background.

Please visit author's website for other version (Carbon or Cocoa) and old versions (PPC, previous systems, etc.).

Version 1.9.4:

• Build with Xojo2013r3.
• Corrected a bug while check for updates.
• LAST Leopard version (build with RS2012r2.1) !

OS X 10.6 or later

Download Now

Qualcomm has backtracked from an earlier statement in which a company executive said Apple’s A7 64-bit chip in the iPhone 5s is a marketing gimmick, and that the technical advance had limited benefits in mobile devices.

Image: iFixit

In an interview with the IDG News Service last week, Qualcomm chief marketing officer Anand Chandrasekher said that Apple’s A7 will give iPhone 5s users “zero benefit” beyond more memory addressability. He also said Qualcomm was developing a 64-bit chip, but sees it more beneficial from engineering, chip design and operating system standpoints.

“The comments made by Anand Chandrasekher, Qualcomm CMO, about 64-bit computing were inaccurate,” said a Qualcomm spokesperson in an email. “The mobile hardware and...

Samsung will be barred from importing some of its older phones thanks to a limited exclusion order that Apple won at the International Trade Commission. The exclusion order came out two months ago and kicks in today. The Korean company's last hope was a veto of the order by President Barack Obama, who recently issued a similar veto to protect Apple from an exclusion order.

The news is part of a broad array of patent battles that continue between Apple and Samsung. In this case at the ITC, Samsung products were found to infringe two Apple patents, one related to multitouch technology and another on headphone-jack sensors.

In allowing the exclusion order to go forward, US Trade Representative Michael Froman noted...

Samsung did not receive a hoped-for Obama administration veto of an ITC import ban, according to an official statement by US Trade Representative Michael Froman. "After carefully weighing policy considerations, including the impact on consumers and competition, advice from agencies, and information from interested parties, I have decided to allow [the ban to take effect]," says Froman. Just a small number of older, generally outdated phones will be affected, since more recent devices have worked around the two Apple patents that form the basis for the ban. The patents involve aspects of mul...
 ...

Infuse 1.5

FireCore, the makers of the popular aTV Flash Apple TV software announced today that their media player application Infuse will be receiving a substantial update this fall as it hits version 2.0, with a completely new UI to match iOS 7′s design aesthetic, many new Pro features, and more.

FireCore claims every pixel in Infuse 2.0 has been redrawn, making the app feel completely new. Due to the changes made to the app, Infuse will now require iOS 7, taking advantage of many of the new features the new OS provides. In addition, the ability to browse and play videos...

Jim Richardson is an American photojournalist working primarily for the National Geographic Society and as a social documentary photographer. Richardson is also a contributing editor of National Geographic Traveler magazine, where he has contributed both writing and photographs. His latest project for National Geographic was taking photos on a trip to the Scottish Highlands with only an iPhone 5S. As a photographer ...

I’m publishing this guest blog by Dr. Christopher Laincz, because I couldn’t agree more with his opinions. If you don’t agree, be sure to read the pro-PC counter-point article by his colleague Mark Eyerly and sound off in the comments below.

I find myself in a strange town, and I want a cup of coffee. I see a Starbucks and some local dive. I choose Starbucks.

Here’s why: When you walk into Starbucks, you know exactly what you’re getting; and, they’ll customize it to your taste. If they make an error, they fix it immediately. I expect a good experience right from the start.

On the other hand, the local dive might prove great, but it might serve bug-infested sludge.

Perhaps you’re thinking, “risking a...

One of the flagship products of next month's Product (RED) charity auction, a custom Leica rangefinder camera designed by Apple's Jony Ive and fellow industrial design superstar Marc Newson, has been unveiled by the German manufacturer.
  ...

Outgoing Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer dished Tuesday on a new touch-optimized version of his company's Office suite headed for Apple's iPad.
   ...

Last month we reported that Apple’s Senior Vice President of Design Jony Ive had teamed up with designer & friend Marc Newson to create one of a kind pieces for Bono’s (Product) RED charity auction scheduled for November 23 at Sotheby’s New York. Those pieces included one-of-a-kind 18k sold rose gold Apple EarPods, and Steinway & Sons piano, and other unique items designed by the pair. Today...

There's no denying that Eric Schmidt is an incredibly intelligent guy, but the former Google CEO certainly has a penchant for making rather bold and arguably laughable claims.

Recall that, in late 2011, confidently predicted that mobile developers, in just six months time mind you, would begin developing apps for Android before shifting their attention to iOS. Outdoing himself, Schmidt also predicted that "by the summer of 2012, the majority of the televisions you see in stores will have Google TV embedded."

In his latest verbal fumble, Schmidt told a packed house at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo that Android is more secure than the iPhone. While the phrase "hilarity ensues" is often bandied about in jest, Schmidt's remark literally did elicit laughter from a crowd comprised of CIOs and...

In what seems like a never ending story, retiring Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has announced that the company plans to introduce a touch optimized version of Microsoft Office to iPad customers (via The Verge) after it completes development.

Microsoft plans to first deliver the tablet version of its productivity suite to the Microsoft Surface, its tablet competitor to the iPad, but this is the first we have heard of such plans....

...

According to Obama’s designee, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, said in a statement today that "After carefully weighing policy considerations, including the impact on consumers and competition, advice from agencies, and information from interested parties, I have decided to allow" the import ban to proceed.

This is just how quickly software development moves.

Per 9to5Mac, Apple has apparently dubbed its future OS X 10.10 operating system “Syrah” (a type of wine), which they’ve begun seeding to Apple employees for internal testing as of early September.

While it’s been reported that Apple is targeting a redesign of the OS X interface to mimic iOS 7′s new look for OS X 10.10, the current nightly builds are said to be nearly identical to the Golden Master version of OS X Mavericks. It’s unlikely that 10.10 seeds...

With a U.S. import ban previously issued by the ITC set to lock out certain Samsung devices at midnight last night, Bloomberg reports that the company has failed to obtain a veto from President Barack Obama:

The Korean company had argued that the ban should be overturned on public policy grounds, especially since a similar order it won against Apple was vetoed by the administration in August. Samsung can now seek a delay in the ban from a U.S. appeals court that will consider the entire case on legal grounds.

“After carefully weighing policy considerations, including the impact on consumers and competition, advice from agencies, and information from interested parties, I have decided to allow” the import ban to proceed, Obama’s designee, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, said in a...

Samsung’s appeal to President Barack Obama’s administration for a veto of an import ban on some of its mobile devices has failed. A U.S. Trade Representative said today that he will allow the ban to go into effect.

“After carefully weighing policy considerations, including the impact on consumers and competition, advice from agencies, and information from interested parties, I have decided to allow the Commission’s determination in [this case] to become final.”
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said in a statement.

Won in the International Trade Commission, the ban covers a range of older...

iTunes Radio will be hitting a wide array of international markets in the next few months.

Per The Unofficial Apple Weblog and Bloomberg, iTunes Radio is also set to start early next year in Australia and New Zealand, where Pandora already operates, said sources who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public. Nordic countries are also being targeted in the same time frame, the people said.

Apple is moving faster than Pandora because it forged agreements for...

Camera+ has received a significant update, gaining some nice new features. The first new feature in Camera+ 4.2 is full-resolution burst mode, which allows the users to take multiple photos in seconds to help them capture and then choose the best image of the bunch. Previously, burst mode would take pictures at a lower resolution, but in Camera+ version 4.2, images taken using burst mode are captured in full resolution on supported hardware (the iPhone 5 and newer, according to taptaptap).

Besides the new burst mode full-resolution feature, Camera+ 4.2 also adds the iOS 7 filter pack Apple added to its Camera app in iOS 7. Now users can select from multiple filters and view how they will look while taking snaps.

Camera+ 4.2 is a free download.

...

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 54 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our second and last granted patent report of the day, we briefly cover a few patents covering Apple's manufacturing and finishing processes related to such iDevices as the iPhone and iPad. Most of Apple's major product introductions for these latest iDevices include a video presentation from Apple's Senior VP of Industrial Design Jony Ive. These presentations are classic as they illustrate Apple's passion for design and the lengths that they'll go to get every last detail just right. Ive's latest presentations include the iPhone 5S and 5C. Lastly, our report briefly covers Apple's original iPhone voicemail system patent.

Sharp

If you have been itching for a 4K Thunderbolt Display from Apple, you may be waiting a little while longer. Sharp is prepared to scratch that itch, though, and intends to add full pen and touch compatibility with OS X later this year. The announcement comes from Mac Otakara (Japanese link) and comes after July's announcement of the PN-K322B 32-inch professional display...

Apple has announced on its investor website that it will release its fourth quarter 2013 fiscal results on Monday, Oct. 28. As usual, a conference call discussing the results can be found on the same website at 5 p.m. Oct. 28. The call will likely feature Apple CEO Tim…

The comparison, made during a question-and-answer session at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, drew laughter from a packed-house audience.

Gartner analyst David Willis, who is chief of research for mobility and communications and who runs Gartner’s Senior Research Board, said to Schmidt: “If you polled many people in this audience they would say Google Android is not their principal platform [...] When you say Android, people say, wait a minute, Android is not secure.”

Schmidt didn’t miss a beat, replying, “Not secure? It’s more secure than the iPhone.”

Eric Schmidt has lost his fucking mind.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Nest has introduced Nest Protect ($129), a smoke and carbon monoxide alarm. Like the company’s earlier Nest Thermostat, the alarm can be controlled using an iOS app. Nest Protect is able give an early warning to smoke or let users know when carbon monoxide levels are rising by lighting…

Yahoo Mail is officially 16 years old today and to celebrate the company announced on its blog that it is rolling out an entirely new Mail experience on iOS as well as on the desktop and Android. A popular feature of many other mail clients, Yahoo Mail now includes the ability to view...

Hear My Train A Comin’ unveils previously unseen performance footage and home movies taken by Hendrix and drummer Mitch Mitchell while sourcing an extensive archive of photographs, drawings, family letters and more to provide new insight into the musician’s personality and genius. Recently uncovered film footage of Hendrix at the 1968 Miami Pop Festival is among the previously unseen treasures featured in American Masters: Jimi Hendrix – Hear My Train A Comin’.

I can’t wait.

Neale Cousland / Shutterstock.com

...

With the release of iOS 7, Apple introduced its first attempt at Internet streaming radio with the aptly titled iTunes Radio. Now comes word via Bloomberg that the feature will soon be heading to a number of English-speaking countries, beginning with the U.K. and Canada before making its way to Australia and New Zealand.

ITunes Radio is also set to start early next year in Australia and New Zealand, where Pandora already operates, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren't public. Nordic countries are also being targeted in the same time frame, the people said.

Apple is moving faster than Pandora because it forged agreements for international rights with Vivendi SA (VIV)'s Universal Music Group and other record companies, said one of the people. Pandora, which doesn't...

The iPhone 5s includes Touch ID so you can use your fingerprint as your passcode, and it lets you store prints for up to five different fingers. Unfortunately, each is identified with non-descriptive terms like "Finger 1," and "Finger 2." That may not be overly helpful in keeping track of which fingers you' lined to Touch ID, but Apple did include a surprisingly simple way to sort that out.

The Nest Protect has a nice glow

We originally reported last month that Nest Labs, the company founded by famed iPod creator Tony Fadell, was readying its next product for launch soon: the smart fire detector. Nest Labs officially announced today that the ‘Nest Protect’ will be joining the lineup with the smart thermostat.

The Nest Protect detects smoke and carbon monoxide and addressses some of the flaws of modern smoke detectors and of course connects it to your iPhone in the process:

Nest believes that safety shouldn’t be annoying, so they started from scratch and built a new smoke + CO detector, the way it should be done, with advanced features under a sleek interface:

· Heads-Up: Instead of just beeping at you, Nest Protect gives you helpful vocal...

Whenever a new phone comes out, there are always a bunch of drop-test videos, keen to see how the handset fares when dropped onto various surfaces. Rated RR‘s tests are a little more … extreme. Generally involving a 50-cal rifle.

So when they wanted to see how the iPhone 5s 120fps slo-mo performs, what else would they do to find out but shoot a defenceless iPhone 5c? It may not be quite as pretty as some demos, but it’s certainly impressive.

Visit 9to5Mac to find more special...

Global provider of ergonomic work and lifestyle products Ergotron announced today the launch of its newest sit-stand solutions, the WorkFit-A and WorkFit-P workstations with aluminum construction designed specifically to complement Apple desktop and laptop products. They are available for pre-sale now, and will be released in the United States and Canada in late October 2013 through Apple-authorized resellers....
  ...

National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson has praise the new camera in the iPhone 5s after using it to shoot over 4000 photos on his recent trip to the Scottish highlands. In a blog post on NationalGeographic.com Richardson writes:

With intense use (I've made about 4,000 pictures in the last four days) I've discovered that the iPhone 5S is a very capable camera. The color and exposures are amazingly good, the HDR exposure feature does a stunningly good job in touch situations, the panorama feature is nothing short of amazing-seeing a panorama sweeping across the screen in real time is just intoxicating. Best of all it shoots square pictures natively, a real plus for me since I wanted to shoot for Instagram posting.

Once I...

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 54 newly granted utility patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we focus on a series of important touch and multitouch patents that were originally filed for between 2007 and 2010. The patents cover everything from the original iPod clickwheel through to touch displays using LTPS which is a class of display Apple wishes to use for the next generation of Retina displays. Touch and multitouch displays are cornerstone technologies behind the mobile device revolution that Apple reinvented in 2007 with the introduction of the iPhone. Our report concludes with four new design patent wins for Apple and a full list of the remaining patents that were granted to Apple today.

Apple's brand new iTunes Radio streaming music service is ready to make the jump to the United Kingdom and Canada in 2014 ahead of rival Pandora. Currently, Pandora is limited to the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand.

The Mac Observer Spin:
Apple is actively working on international streaming music deals and its iTunes Radio software is pre-installed with iOS 7, and as part of iTunes 11.1. That puts Apple in a position where it can potentially expand into more countries faster than Pandora. It looks like the streaming music market just got really interesting.

Keyboard shortcuts can be a way to accelerate productivity, but their number can be overwhelming. The average OS X app alone has from 40 to 80 menu shortcuts. That's a lot of memorization for one program, let alone the multitude of programs an average user runs on a Mac. Wouldn't it be nice if, with a single key press, all the shortcuts for a program would pop up on your screen? Ergonis Software thinks so. That's why it created KeyCue. KeyCue pops up a screen of context-sensitive shortcuts for an open app when you hold down the command key.

Nikon is adding more speed to the successor of its full-frame D600 DSLR, along with a few minor tweaks, as rumored in August. The Nikon D610, using a 24.3-megapixel FX-format sensor with an EXPEED 3 image processor, ups the 5.5fps shooting rate in the D600 to 6fps, along with a new Quiet Continuous Shutter mode which quietens the shutter but keeps a 3fps shooting rate....
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The A7-powered iPad 5 expected to be announced next week will accelerate the trend of people using tablets instead of PCs, argues an investment note from Deutsche Bank Equity Research.

We…expect growing [desktop] virtualization and iPad deployments in the enterprise to pressure corporate PC sales through 2014-15…We expect AAPL’s [Apple's] iPad refresh to include 64 bit architecture, which should enable a greater array of enterprise App development and facilitate greater enterprise penetration over time.

Deutsche Bank had previously forecast that PC shipments would decline by 8 percent in 2013 and 6 percent in 2014, but has now lopped two points of each to predict -10 and -8 percent.

Apple is expected to unveil the new iPad 5 and iPad Mini 2 at a media event on...

The perceived level of maturity attached to organizations' privacy activities has decreased since 2011, as many organizations deem their existing privacy activities to be inadequate, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc. (www.gartner.com) The survey found that 43% of organizations have a comprehensive privacy management program in place, while 7% admitted to "doing the bare minimum" regarding privacy laws.

read more

Apple’s Senior VP of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller tweeted a link to a National Geographic feature in which photographer Jim Richardson used his iPhone 5s for a photo feature on Scotland in the definitive landscape photography magazine.

iPhoneography http://t.co/1MYjDgV2sj

— Philip Schiller (@pschiller) October 8, 2013

Richardson said that the transition from his usual Nikon kit wasn’t an easy one.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t struggling to make pictures. Walking down the Royal Mile surrounded by all things Scottish nothing seemed worth a picture. Out of desperation I took a few glib shots....

Apple may be on the cusp of the biggest iPad upgrade cycle it’s seen in some time.

This according to Cantor Fitzgerald’s Brian White, who theorizes that Apple’s upcoming iPad refresh, expected this quarter, will drive significant demand with a new design for the full-sized device.

Supply-chain sources tell the analyst the so-called iPad 5 will be lighter and thinner than its predecessors, “a major upgrade” of a form factor that hasn’t much changed in recent years. No hard details beyond that, though photos of what purport to be iPad 5′s chassis suggest that the device will be similar in form to the iPad mini.

So, a new design, but a familiar one. Not the reimagining that the market always seems to hope for with every single Apple product announcement, but enhanced...

Developer SuperMegaUltraGroovy has released a major new version of its song-learning software Capo, now at version 3.0. The update features automatic chord and beat analysis and detection, saving users a great deal of time. It adds guitar chord display for those learning the instrument, allows the creation of "clean" loops by creating regions that snap to the beats, display beats and bars for the current position of the song, and offers a new count-in feature in addition to its original changing-key and slowdown features....
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SpamSieve is a robust spam filter for major email clients that uses powerful Bayesian spam filtering.

SpamSieve understands what your spam looks like in order to block it all, but also learns what your legitimate messages look like to avoid confusion. SpamSieve only marks spam in your email client so you never lose any mail.

Version 2.9.9:

• SpamSieve is now compatible with the GM build of OS X 10.9 Mavericks. It is recommended that you update to SpamSieve 2.9.9 before installing Mavericks. If you’ve updated to Mavericks first, and you don’t see the SpamSieve commands in Apple Mail’s Message menu, be sure to choose Install Apple Mail Plug-In from the SpamSieve menu.
• Made various changes to improve SpamSieve’s filtering accuracy.
• Microsoft Outlook 2011’s notification sounds are now available in SpamSieve’s...

In part due to the frenzy of buying that accompanied the debut of the latest iPhone models, Taiwan-based suppliers have indicated to Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brian White that sales for Apple jumped between nine and 10 percent compared to August. In the same breath, however, White told investors that he expects Apple's sales overall to be down three to four percent from the previous quarter, in part because the new iPhone 5s went to backorder status so quickly....
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Booq is best known for its stylish protective bags for iPads and MacBooks, but last week they surprised the iPhone accessory market by announcing the Complete Protection Kit for iPhone 5s and 5c (both US$34.95).

Booq's unique idea is to keep the focus on Apple's amazing product designs, and as such they've created extremely thin snap cases (one black, one clear) that are protective, but somewhat understated. According Booq's lead designer S. Kema Subsomboon, "We've heard so many people say that they wish they didn't have to have a case on their phone because they love the iPhone the way it is. That was the thought process behind the kit; thinking about the beauty of the iPhone and the complete protection it deserves in an intelligent and simple way."

In addition, each...

Last week, we reported that Apple has begun development of the successor to the upcoming OS X Mavericks: OS X 10.10. We reported hearing that the future operating system is internally dubbed “Syrah” (a type of wine), and now we have received evidence of the codename. Above is a screenshot of operating systems available for installation by Apple employees internally. As you can see, “Syrah” is available as an operating system newer than Mavericks and the recently released OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5…

We also understand that...

Image scanner manufacturer Fujitsu today introduced the newest addition to its ScanSnap product lineup, the ScanSnap SV600 -- featuring a new technique to quickly and easily digitize bound, fragile and large documents. While still maintaining the ScanSnap goal of providing one-button scanning and advanced imaging technology, the SV600 utilizes its compact scanning design to turn hard-to-scan objects into PDF or JPEG files which can then be easily stored, shared and accessed....
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We have a long running series on 9to5Google called “Talking Schmidt” and the Chairman of Google keeps loading it up with amusing quotes on the technology industry.  Today’s comes from the Gartner Symposium where our pro/antagonist was asked by Gartner analyst David Willis about the security of Android (which has taken some hits lately to put it mildly).

To which Schmidt, without batting an eye, said:

“Not secure? It’s more secure than the iPhone.”

The comment drew laughter from the crowd, comprised largely of  CIOs and high level IT personnel. Keep in mind, this is the same quote-smith who forecasted...

There are a number of macro lenses made for the iPhone and most of them work really well. The problem is that many of them require that you either use a special case that the lens screws into or you have to use some other kind of contraption to secure the lens to your iPhone. A macro lens gives you the ability to take pictures from a short distance and is best used to capture small detail. Flowers are a popular subject for macro lenses, but you can find some other very creative shots taken with them.

The Easy-Macro Cameraphone Lens by Muses Consolidated, LLC, has to be one of the most simple and effective designs for a camera accessory I've ever encountered. It's a misnomer to call it a cover, as it is actually just a very thick band that stretches across your phone with a lens mounted into the band. The hardest part is aligning the lens correctly, so that the band doesn't cut across your iPhone lens.

The lens...

Jonathan Zufi of ShrineOfApple.com has published a coffee table book called Iconic that has photographs of and information about almost all of the amazing (and a few less-than-amazing) products that Apple has made since its founding in 1976. Desktop computers, portable computers, peripherals, iOS devices, prototypes, and even lots of photographs of Apple's famous packaging. Mr. Zufi said he thought it would be great to see Apple's past products photographed with the same attention and look of today's Apple's products, and this 326-page coffee table book is the result. It's super cool, and it's priced at $75. There's an awesome "Deluxe" edition with a hard plastic case that looks like it could be an Apple ][ peripheral.  The video below explains what it's all about.

Iconic: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation : Site Version from Kevin Taylor on Vimeo.

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According to Bloomberg, Apple is targeting a launch for iTunes Radio in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia for early 2014. The report positions this iTunes Radio launch as beating Pandora to launch in these English speaking regions.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) plans to expand iTunes Radio to English-speaking countries outside the U.S. by early 2014, beating industry leader Pandora Media Inc. (P) to the U.K. and Canada, people with knowledge of the situation said. iTunes Radio is also set to start early next year in Australia and New Zealand, where Pandora already operates, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public. Nordic countries are also being targeted in the same time frame, the people said.

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Mmmmm...feel that washing over you? That's the good feeling you could only get from knowing your iPhone case was made out of solid (14-karat) gold. That is, if you have the US$10,000 to buy one from Miansai. The company has apparently been selling such a case since the iPhone 4S was introduced about two years ago, but I saw it from a MarketWatch piece. The pictures below show the original case, but I bet if you kicked in a few grand more they'd make one for your iPhone 5 or 5s. This is yellow gold with a matte finish, but the company offers a shiny finish, and then rose gold in either matte or shiny finish. If that doesn't grab you, Miansai plans to introduce a solid silver case in the next six months. With silver priced at about 1.7 percent the price of gold, my guess is that it'll be about $300.

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The mere mention of Lodsys can often evoke a visceral response of disgust, not too surprising given that Lodsys in the eyes of many epitomizes the worst type of patent troll. Lodsys, if you recall, is a patent holding company that began targeting independent iOS developers back in May of 2011.

One of the four patents Lodsys has been asserting covers "methods and systems for gathering information from units of a commodity across a network" and Lodsys has been using it to go after any company that makes use of in-app purchasing.

While Lodsys has since gone after larger development companies, Lodsys' original strategy involved going after small and independent iOS developers without the requisite resources to mount a viable legal defense. As a result, many view Lodsys as nothing more than a shakedown artist insofar as it demands...

When it comes to accessibility options, Apple's iPhone has traditionally done a rather good job of being as all-inclusive as possible. For blind Arab iPhone owners, iOS 7 changed that, and now they are begging Apple to change it back.

For the visually impaired, the iPhone's (and iPad's) VoiceOver feature is a godsend. Using gesture controls, blind users can navigate their devices the same as anyone else, relying on a built-in voice to tell them exactly what they are doing. It's a system that has worked well for many iOS generations now, but with the upgrade to iOS 7, something happened to the familiar "Majed" voice that Arabic speakers were used to: it disappeared.

In its place is "Tariq," a different -- and by many accounts, inferior -- voice that appears to be not only a lower quality, but also quite buggy. The new Arabic VoiceOver option frequently adds random syllables to words, making it difficult to comprehend, and...

Singing Machine, a home karaoke producer, has announced its new Bluetooth product: Singing Machine Home. The at-home karaoke device offers a compact design, as well as a number of features for accessing content. This includes Wi-Fi support for accessing an online library of more than 8,,000 HD karaoke videos, and a wireless microphone that doubles as a remote for browsing through a music library. The device plugs into a user's TV via HDMI and connects to cloud software Singing Machine Play -- the company's reaming platform. The Singing Machine Home will be priced at $300, and be available from...
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Apple Inc. announced on Monday that it will hold its quarterly conference call with analysts on October 28th to discuss results for the September quarter, the company's fiscal 4th quarter. The call will take place at 2:00 PM Pacific, 5:00 PM Eastern.

Evernote has offered two-step verification for Premium and Business users since May of 2013, leaving us cheap, every-day users with standard verification. The company promised to bring two-step verification to all of its users, and now that's what it's done. Free users will need to download Google Authenticator to generate a login code. Once you've enable the service simply impute the code and your login information.

Back in May, Evernote spokesperson Ronda Scott explained the process the company was going through to provide verification.

"Implementing two-step verification was not trivial. It required updates to all of our applications including Evernote, Skitch, Penultimate, Evernote Food and others and significant back-end work. We've always intended to add two-step as an...

Ed Zitron has taken his experience in public relations and published a book.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Apple updated its investor relations page today to note that it will announce its earnings for the fourth fiscal quarter (third calendar quarter) of 2013 on Monday, October 28. The earnings release typically occurs just after 4:30 PM Eastern Time following the close of regular stock trading, and the conference call is scheduled to follow at 5:00 PM Eastern / 2:00 PM Pacific.

MacRumors will provide running coverage of the earnings release and conference call.

Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories
• Amiga Games Coming to iOS 7 Later This Year, Will Include Controller Support
• Beats to Launch Beats Music iOS App Within the Next Few Months
•...

Apple doesn't love us enough to send us devices for review, nor can we afford to purchase one of every new Mac that hits the market. Fortunately, our sister site TechCrunch was able to take a close look at the 2013 iMac and did a short-but-sweet review of the top features of Apple's all-in-one desktop machine.

Darrell Etherington notes that the 2013 model still uses last year's slimmer design, and that the 27-inch iMac is "no longer an absolute horror to move and reposition." He loves the Fusion Drive's ability to speed up boot times while still providing huge amounts of storage, but it's the performance of the new iMac -- outfitted with the 3.5 GHz Intel Core i7 "Haswell" CPU and Nvidia GeForce GTX 780M -- that made him note that "this iMac isn't one that will back down to a gaming challenge."

The bottom line? "Apple still definitely makes the best all-in-one available."

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Samsung seems intent on proving the company is incapable of learning lessons from...well, anything. Bloomberg reported that Samsung wants the White House to veto an import ban on some older Samsung devices the same way an import ban on a couple of Apple devices was recently vetoed, but Samsung is relying on a false equivalence to argue that this would be "fair."

AT&T updated its U-verse applications for iPad and iPhone on Monday to enable live television streaming to iOS devices, both inside and outside the user's home.
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Apple is searching for two power engineers to "help improve the performance and battery life of OS X," according to a Twitter post by OS X team member Anthony Chivetta. Both jobs will be based at the company's Cupertino headquarters. Listings ask one of the engineers to "design the latest tools to automate the collection of power information," and the other to improve the power efficiency of both OS X and its included apps....
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Both LG and Samsung plan to release phones that feature curved displays in the near future, reports Reuters. Flexible curved displays, which have been utilized in television sets, are a developing technology for smartphones and other consumer electronic devices.Curved displays are in the early stages of development and allow bendable or foldable designs that could eventually allow mobile and wearable gadgets to take new forms that could radically change the high-end smartphone market.Apple has been rumored to be working on curved displays for several years, with rumors from 2011 suggesting the company could debut a...

Back in August, the Obama administration overturned an import ban that Samsung had won against Apple’s older iPhones and iPads found to infringe one of its standards-essential patents. Now, on the eve of an import ban against some of its own devices, Samsung is seeking a similar reprieve from Washington.

On August 9, the International Trade Commission ruled against Samsung, finding that its Galaxy S 4G, Fascinate, Captivate, Galaxy Tab, Galaxy Tab 10.1 and a handful of other devices violated a pair of Apple patents covering a method of touchscreen control on mobile devices and audio I/O headset plug. The 60-day Presidential review period of that finding and the ITC order banning those products ends tonight, and Samsung is hoping that it will conclude with a veto similar to the one issued in the Apple case.

“The world is...

The popular Camera+ iOS app from developer taptaptap gets an update today, jumping from version 4.0.2 to Version 4.2 (just for the fun of it according to the release notes below), and adds a few notable new features.

On top of fixing a bug that crashed the app when using burst-mode, the update includes support for full-resolution bust-mode photos. That includes the iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, and the “unapologetically poorly-selling iPhone 5c,” according to taptaptap.

The app also adds a new effects pack that includes Apple’s new iOS 7 filters:

So we added a new effects pack that includes all the filters that Apple’s standard Camera and Photo apps include (for users on iOS 7). Two hours of coding (and eight trivial Core Image filters later), the Standard Effects Pack was born.

The updated Camera+ is available on the App Store...

The Obama administration has until midnight Eastern time tonight to overturn an impending International Trade Commission ban on some older Samsung devices, reports note. Earlier this year, the administration vetoed an ITC import ban on AT&T models of Apple's iPhone 4 and iPad 2. While the ban against Samsung would only affect a small number of outdated phones, that company and others have argued that failing to issue a veto could be a sign of economic protectionism, since Apple is US-based while Samsung is headquartered in South Korea. The administration has claimed that it opposes using pa...
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iOS 7 has been officially available since September 18, and given the attitude of corporations to move slowly on operating system updates and embracing new technologies, you might expect that it will take time for iOS 7 to make it into the executive suite. Joel Mathis at Macworld says that nothing could be further from reality in a post today titled "Why businesses are embracing iOS 7."

Mathis quotes Erik Frieberg of VMWare as saying that "You might even say that iOS is the most corporate-friendly OS on the market right now." Through a series of discussions with mobile enterprise experts, Macworld found that they are quite happy with iOS 7's advances in five main areas:

• Device security: Activation Lock makes it easy to keep thieves or those who find lost devices from being able to restore or reactivate devices running iOS 7, and Touch ID on the iPhone 5s...

Capo lets you slow down your favorite songs so you can hear the notes and learn how they are played. With Capo, you can quickly tab out your songs atop a highly-detailed OpenCL-powered spectrogram display.

• Detect, and enter chords
• Pitch adjustment
• Mark song sections
• Loop at slower speeds
• Export Capo-adjusted music
• Basic effects available

Version 3.0:

• Automatic Chord Detection - Capo will now analyze the chords in your song when it first loads, saving you a whole lot of time.
• Guitar Chord Display - Capo also shows you how to play chords on your guitar. You can also double-click entries to change the displayed chord shape.
• Regions - Set up regions that snap to the beats in your song, and get clean loops with no fuss.
• Count-In - Get a 1-, 2-, or 4-bar count-in before looping within a region, so you have time to take a deep breath before rocking out...