The ëwill it or wonít ití saga surrounding the launch timing of an iPad mini with Retina display has taken a new twist with the WSJ reporting that Apple may have turned to Samsung to help supply sufficient Retina displays for the next-gen iPad mini. With the launch of the Google Nexus 7 (2013), which boasts a Retina display-equivalent 323ppi 7-inch display, the pressure on Apple to deliver an iPad mini capable of challenging the Nexus 7 this year has intensified. According to the Wall Street Journal, with Samsung Display added as a display supplier, the iPad mini will ëlikelyí arrive this yea... ...

Panasonic has unveiled its new Micro Four Thirds camera, effectively confirming details in leaks over the last two weeks. The Lumix GX7 uses a 16-megapixel Digital Live MOS Sensor combined with the Venus Engine image processor for Multi-process NR and Detail Reproduction Filter Process, allowing it to have a maximum sensitivity of ISO 25,600....  ...

Celebrity endorsements can be cheesy, but this is a well-themed tie-in to the popular franchise. For a limited time, you can buy Usain Bolt as a playable character. Each character in Temple Run have different special abilities and Bolt is no exception. Bolt has a shield, providing invincibility for a short time as well as attracting coins, like a magnet. Imangi, the game’s developers, has warned that this is a limited-time promotion so eager fans should not wait if they want to play as an Olympian in the game.

Temple Run 2 is free; Usain Bolt is available, for a limited time, as an in-app purchase for 99cents.

Continue reading more about AAPL Company,...

Back in February, I told you about a photo-sharing app called Albumatic, and suggested that you might actually use it.

You didn’t.

Lots of people wrote about Albumatic, and Apple gave it a coveted promotion at its iTunes store. But within a few weeks, the app’s creators concluded that it was a dud, and went back to the drawing board — actually, a house rented via Airbnb, in Los Angeles’ Loz Feliz neighborhood, where they holed up for a couple months.

Here’s the new version: It’s still a photo-sharing app, but without the emphasis on location and privacy that set the last one apart, and also made it too hard to use. This one is more like a mashup of...

We reported a couple of months ago a proof-of-concept allowing a modified phone charger to inject malware into a non-jailbroken iPhone without user intervention.

While there is no evidence that the method has ever been used in the wild, Reuters reports that iOS 7 beta 4 contains a fix for the vulnerability … 

Apple said the issue had been fixed in the latest beta of iOS 7, which has already been released to software...

Apple's upcoming iOS 7 introduces a bright, clean new visual appearance that strips away much of the shadowing and gloss that Apple introduced into the computing mainstream with iPhone six years ago, particularly evident in its new social sharing app icons.  ...

Growl is a notification system that allows any application to send it a notification, and then it displays it. You can (for example) be notified that you have new email, or that a download completed.

Version 2.1:

Major Changes

• Added the ability to run scripts as an action.
• Added the ability to control notifications via rules. See http://growl.info/documentation/applescript-rules for more information.
• Growl no longer hangs when receiving a large number of notes (more than 100) at one time.
• Webkit displays can now have custom close buttons that are styled.

General Changes

• Made it clear when the application decides for priority.
• AppleScript increases the image size from 128x128 to 1024x1024.
• When using forwarding...

Less than a week after Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer sold some of his AAPL holdings to the tune of $16.4 million, two other members of Apple's board have let go of smaller amounts of stock, grossing a total of $19 million before taxes in recent days. Long-standing board member and J. Crew CEO Millard Drexler sold 32,562 shares in the company (gaining $14.6 million) while Intuit Chairman William Campbell sold 10,000 shares for a gross gain of $4.4 million. Both men sold shares awarded to them from their director stock options.... ...

Citing unnamed sources, The Wall Street Journal reported early Thursday that Apple is getting ready for mass production of a next-generation Retina display-toting iPad mini set to launch in the fourth quarter.  ...

Apple says it has already fixed an obscure security flaw that could have allowed hackers to access data on an iOS device through the use of a specially-designed custom USB device that looks like a charger but in fact contains a tiny Linux-powered computer designed to insert malware. The fix is already present in the most recent iOS 7 beta and will be incorporated into the OS when it is released to the public this fall, the company says, and involves notifying users whenever they connect to another computer, even through the power adapter.... ...

For the first time, according to analytics firm App Annie, the Google Play store has exceeded the Apple iOS App Store in the number of downloads in a given period by about 10 percent. Apple, however, remains the undisputed leader in revenue -- with 2.3 times the money flowing in versus the Play store. The same study noted that games account for nearly 40 percent of both stores' download volume -- accounting for 70 percent of the iOS App Store's revenue, and 80 percent of Google Play's.... ...

Apple said it will roll out a fix to a relatively obscure security flaw that allows hackers to access sensitive information on an iPhone or iPad via a "modified charger," with the patch already instituted in the latest iOS 7 beta.  ...

Worker watchdog groups say working conditions in the factories that make the Apple products we use aren't up to snuff so the Cupertino company is launching more investigations into the claims. Jeff and Bryan dig into the politics in Apple's China business, and they take a look at what it means for end users now that Google will be providing the free Wi-Fi in Starbucks stores and why Google wanted the gig in the first place.

Imgur released its first official iOS app this week, offering a browsable and searchable version of the popular online viral picture, meme and GIF repository to Apple's portable devices.   ...

With jAlbum, you can create gorgeous custom photo galleries for the Web without writing a line of code!

Beginner-friendly, with pro results
Simply drag and drop photos into groups, choose a design from hundreds of beautiful album skins, and you're done!

Share the memories
Effortlessly upload your album to your website. If you don't have one, select one of jAlbum's affordable storage plans.

Photo galleries for everyone
jAlbum is the perfect photo-sharing tool for bloggers, small business, social groups, and families.

Version 11.4: Release notes were unavailable when this listing was updated.

• OS X 10.4 or later
• Java 1.5 or later

Download Now

While under normal circumstances most users would never see an unwanted or "spam" message in the OS X and iOS program Messages, Apple has now set up abuse reporting mechanism to help deal with those who have the issue. Using the email address imessage.spam@icloud.com, users can send a screenshot of the unwanted message, phone number or email address of the spammer or harrasser, and time/date info on the message. Unwanted or spam SMS and MMS messages should still be reported to users' cellular providers rather than Apple.... ...

According to developer Nick Frey (via 9to5Mac) code within iOS 7 hints at a new upgraded processor, likely the A7 processor expected to be included with the iPhone 5S. The code includes a reference to an s5L8960x application processor, which is a higher iteration than the s518950x and the s518955x numeration found on the A6 and A6X processors used in the iPhone 5 and the fourth generation iPad.

As noted by 9to5Mac, it appears that the upcoming system-on-a-chip will include Samsung components.Interestingly, it appears that Apple will again work with Samsung for...

The Mactans charger uses a BeagleBoard for its computational power. Billy Lau, Yeongjin Jang, and Chengyu Song

Plugging your phone into a charger should be pretty safe to do. It should fill your phone with electricity, not malware. But researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology have produced fake chargers they've named Mactans that do more than just charge your phone: they install custom, malicious applications onto iPhones.

Their bogus chargers—which do, incidentally, charge the phone—contain small computers instead of mere transformers. The iPhone treats these computers just as it does any other computer, but instead of just charging, it responds to USB commands. It turns out that the iPhone is very trusting of USB-attached computers; as long as the iPhone is unlocked (if only for a split second) while attached to a USB host, then the host has considerable control over the iPhone.

The researchers used their USB host to install an app package onto any...

As the deadline nears for the ITC's ban on some older models of iPhones and iPads to take effect, a growing chorus of companies and individuals have begun calling for an overturning of the ban by the Obama administration in the wake of a lack of action. Two Republican and two Democratic senators have signed a letter urging United States Trade Representative Michael Froman (who has been delegated the decision) to reverse the ITC ban, mostly on the grounds that sales injunctions over Standards-Essential Patent (SEP) disputes are unnecessary.... ...

Google’s app marketplace takes a shot across Apple’s bow, Tim Cook talks turkey—and iPhones—with China’s largest carrier, and a little dose of nostalgia for Siskel and Ebert fans. The remainders for Wednesday, July 31, 2013 will see you at the movies.

App Annie Index – Market Q2 2013: Google Play Exceeds iOS App Store in App Downloads by 10% in Q2 2013 (App Annie)

For the first time, downloads of apps from the Google Play store have exceeded those from the App Store. That’s thanks in large part to Google’s expansion into new countries like India and Brazil. However, the App Store still handily beats Google Play in terms of the amount of revenue brought in for apps. And let’s not even compare number-of-smurfberries-accidentally-bought-by-kids-with-their-parents’-passwords.

...

Two members of Apple's Board of Directors, Millard Drexler and William Campbell, sold company stock worth over $19 million this week, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.   ...

Katherine Boehret for WSJ:

Another drawback: In my test, the new Nexus 7′s battery life was underwhelming. Compared with the same battery test of the iPad Mini and first Nexus 7, it fell short at just six hours; the others clocked in at 10 hours and 27 minutes and 10 hours and 44 minutes, respectively. Google claims the battery life can last over nine hours, but the company tests it in Airplane mode (Internet connection off), with screen brightness set to 44% while playing video. I keep Wi-Fi on in the background and screen brightness at 75% while playing video.

Seriously Google? Who would use a tablet without Internet turned on? I understand that companies do things to make battery tests look better for them, but this borders on outright lying. Apple usually underreports its battery life, leaving its customers pleasantly surprised.

...

Glimpse offers an open source library from iOS Developer Wess Cope. It enables you to create QuickTime videos from your UIViews. The library records animations and actions, collecting screen shots over time, building a movie from the results.

The API consists of two calls: one to start recording, one to stop. An optional completion block processes a file URL after wrapping up the recording.

The project is surprisingly simple. It consists basically of an AV Foundation asset writer (for creating the QT movies) and a wrapper. There's no reason you couldn't use Glimpse for store deployment, for recording gameplay or similar tasks as well.

Glimpse is perfect for internal testing -- especially if you want to see how test subjects interact with different view layouts. (Cope's related Variant project helps execute those tests.)

...

After launching its first official Android app back in June, popular photo sharing service Imgur this week finally released its first app for iPhone and iPad on the App Store. The new free app provides the majority of features that users can access through the web version of the service, including: the ability to browse, comment, upload photos, and manage accounts and albums.

Although it’s the first app the...

Apple is seeding a seventh beta of OS X 10.8.5 to developers. The code, listed as build 12F30, continues a weekly beta update cycle. Apple lists no known issues, and is still asking developers to focus testing on Wi-Fi, graphics, wake-from-sleep functions, PDF viewing and accessibility, and finally mobile device management....   ...

Ten states in the Union will soon let their residents buy various products with no tax added for a limited time, and Apple is taking advantage of the tax holidays by informing customers in those areas how to save hundreds on their next Apple Store purchase.   ...

While Apple is using an A6 processor for this new iPad mini, developer Nick Frey has shared with us that Apple is also developing a new A7 processor. A reference to an s5l8960x (likely A7) processor, which is a leap over the s5l8950x (A6) and s5l8955x (A6X), was located inside of the iOS 7 filesystem. Based on recent chatter, it seems plausible that this will be the chip powering the new iPhone 5S.

Interestingly, it appears that Apple will again work with Samsung for this new chip. The main system-on-a-chip will include some Samsung components- at least to power the display, according to analysis of...

Adobe has posted release candidate versions of two forthcoming software updates, Lightroom 5.2 and Photoshop Camera Raw 8.2. The patches are said to fix several problems with Lightroom 5 and Camera Raw 8.1, including issues with Spot Healing and Local Adjustment brushes, as well as noise reduction tools. RAW support has meanwhile been extended to a variety of new cameras, such as the Canon EOS 70D, Fujifilm X-M1, and Sony DSC-RX1R....  ...

Ahead of a U.S. International Trade Commission ban of older Apple iPhone and iPad models, a bipartisan cadre of senators has sent a cautionary letter to Trade Representative Michael Froman, who is responsible for the Presidential review of the ITC order.  ...

Nothing makes me happier than to see a Kickstarter or Indiegogo project not only get funded, but make it to the newly-redesigned BiteMyApple.co online store. That means that even if you didn't have an opportunity to back the project, you can purchase the product outright. That's the case with the über-cool Boomerang (US$79.99 with one Multi Mount), a mounting/stand design with legs that mimic the shape of the classic Australian weapon/toy.

Whether you're using the Boomerang as a table stand for your iPad (as shown above), sticking it to a Multi Mount attached to a window or the wall, or decide to attach it to the optional Desk Stand seen below ($89.99, requires Boomerang), the unique magnetic mounting interface will keep your iPad close at hand. You can also use one or two "legs" of the Boomerang as a hand...

ByteMyApple shipped the Boomerang stand for iPad Wednesday. We thought this was pretty cool because just by itself it offers users a variety of ways to stand your iPad up. Even cooler is the strong magnet on the back of the stand that allows you to hang your iPad wherever a magnet will stick. It comes with a multimount you can affix to a wall or other surface that the Boomerang's magnet will stick to. The company has also designed a sexy desk stand (shown in the image and sold separately) designed just for the magnet. Boomerang clips to your iPad and it won't interfere with Apple's Smart Cover. Like most ByteMyApple.com products, Boomerang was originally a KickStarter crowd-funded product. It's priced at $79.99.

Open Road Films has posted a new JOBS ‘featurette’ which provides an extended look at the film coupled with commentary from Ashton Kutcher, Michael Stern (Director) and other supporting cast members. Check out Ashton’s in-depth interview with The Verge’s Joshua Topolsky for even more insight into his thoughts regarding the film and the general tech landscape. JOBS is slated to be released nationwide on August 16th, but posters for the movie are already popping up at theaters.

JOBS movie poster at my local theater #Apple http://t.co/y3MbwCBKcl—
Dan DeSilva (@iDannyOcean) ...

Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly met with China Mobile Chairman Xi Guohua on Tuesday to "discuss matters of cooperation," according to Reuters. The meeting is thought to be a step towards the Chinese wireless carrier offering the iPhone to its customers, though no official statement was released regarding an agreement.

With over 700 million customers and the title of the largest wireless operator in the world (by subscribers), a deal to offer the iPhone would be a huge win for both the state-owned China Mobile as well as Apple. China Mobile users have notoriously shied away from 3G and higher speeds in greater numbers than its competitor's subscribers. Whether or not the iPhone can help change that trend remains to be seen.

Tim Cook meets with China Mobile chairman originally appeared on...

Apple has been testing an iPad mini upgraded to an A6 processor, but lacking a Retina display, code in the latest iOS 7 beta suggests. Three new Mini models are included in the list of supported devices: "iPad 2,8," "iPad 2,9," and "iPad 2,10," with respective codenames of J75, J76, and J77. The current Minis are the 2,5, 2,6, and 2,7, split between one Wi-Fi and two 3G/4G models....  ...

One week after the last build, Apple has seeded OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5 build 12F30 to developers. The new build is available via Software Update in the Mac App Store and from the newly re-opened Mac Developer Center. Apple continues to say that 10.8.5 has no known issues, and the company asks developers to focus on WiFi, Graphics, Wake from Sleep, PDF Viewing/Accessibility, and Mobile Device Management. Thanks, D!

For more news on ...

Traditionally our Deals page was just a roundup of posts tagged "deals" but starting today we're trying something different. In partnership with StackSocial, we'll be rounding up the best stuff out there for your Mac, iPod, iPhone or iPad. We'll continue to publish our daily deals post, and it will continue to pull from various sources (like DealNews and others). I think the StackSocial deals, which often include awesome bundles and exclusive offers, will provide great value to our readers.

StackSocial has built an impressive business, but what won me over was its excellent offerings. Speaking of which, how do you like free stuff? Our first deal is: a Mac Freebie Bundle!

-$151 worth of mac apps for FREE - no strings attached
-requires Mac...

TurboTax guides you through your tax return step by step, does all the calculations, and checks your return for errors and overlooked deductions. It lets you file your return electronically to get your refund faster or prints IRS-approved forms on plain paper. Plus, TurboTax has more money-saving advice. It provides easy access to official IRS publications, Money Magazine's Income Tax Handbook, comprehensive Tax Planners, expert video clips, and more.

Version 2012.r19.002:

• You must update TurboTax from within the app.
• Release notes were unavailable when this listing was updated.

• OS X 10.6.8 or later

Download Now

We have less than a week before an order from the International Trade Commission takes effect, banning the sale of iPhone 4 and iPad 2 in the United States. President Obama can veto the order, but he has to do so this week, before the August 5 ban begins. […]

Apple on Monday began reminding folks that a number of states are holding sales tax holidays beginning on August 2nd. As the name implies, sales tax holidays enable consumers to purchase certain types of items and forgo having to pay sales tax. Come early August, 10 different states will hold sales tax holidays for varying lengths of time wherein certain Apple products will qualify..

The states where deals can be had include Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Note that every state has its tax holiday begin on a different date, so make sure to check out Apple's website for more details.

Further, keep in mind not every item under the sun qualifies for the holiday sales tax exemption. You see, the intent of the sales tax holiday is to help subsidize back to school shopping, which is why computers in some...

Former Apple CEO John Sculley spoke recently during Young Turks Conclave 2013 and shared his thoughts on Steve Jobs, Apple's future and India's entrepreneurs. His conversation was reprinted by YourStory.in, a website dedicated to India's startup scene.

Speaking about Steve Jobs, Sculley shared that He and Jobs were working on Mac phones as early as 1984. "I remember we were working on Mac phones back in late 1984. Steve was thinking about those kinds of products back then. He used to say, the most important things are not the things you build but also the things you don't build. He was rigorous in the discipline of simplifying."

As noted by The Mac...

Though Apple likes to refer to the Apple TV as nothing more than a "hobby," the device continues to sell extremely well. To date, Apple has sold well over 13 million Apple TV units with about half of those sales occurring in 2013.

Today, Apple made the Apple TV just a tad more affordable, lowering the price on a refurbished model down to $75. Previously, a refurbished Apple TV would have cost you $85. With a fresh Apple TV running at $99, you can now get your hands on an Apple TV for 25% off.

The offer is only available via Apple's online store, so expect to pay full price if you saunter into a physical Apple retail location. You can, however, order online and have the device shipped to a nearby Apple retail store.

Get em' while they're hot... and refurbished.

Refurbished Apple TV now just $75...

According to the iOS 7 beta, Apple is testing a new iPad mini model that includes an A6 chip -- the same as the current iPhone 5 -- and a non-retina display, reports 9to5Mac.

The information was sent to the site by an unnamed developer, who found the details inside a file that lists all the iOS devices that support iOS 7. The A6 processor would be a logical upgrade for the iPad mini, advancing its main processing chip to the next generation.

According to the provided information, Apple is considering three new iPad mini models: iPad “2,8,” iPad “2,9,” and iPad “2,10.” The respective code names for the devices are J75, J76, and J77. This points to one WiFi-only model and two cellular-compatible models (just like the current iPad minis).

[…]

As for what these new iPad minis will feature, the references state that the devices include...

Adobe has announced the availability of Lightroom 5.2 and Camera Raw 8.2 Release Candidates on Adobe Labs.

The release candidates correct issues reported in Lightroom 5.0 and Camera Raw 8.1, including refinements to the Spot Healing Brush, Local Adjustment Brush and Noise Reduction tools. In addition, raw file format support is added for a number of cameras, such as the Canon EOS 70D, Fujifilm X-M1 and Sony DSC-RX1R.

read more

Trakdot is now shipping Trakdot Luggage devices. Created by GlobaTrac, they can be placed in any checked bag and will alert the user by reporting city and airport location in real time to any cellular telephone via text or e-mail.


Trakdot promises to help travelers and airlines quickly resolve the problem of misdirected luggage, particularly in situations where late check-ins may cause luggage to miss a flight, says CEO Harry Steck,

read more

Tap Tap Tap has released version 3.9 of the powerful Camera+ app for iPhone this morning, as well as version 1.4 for iPad. The new release has a major feature that should make the more than 10.5 million users happy -- the ability to layer effects in the iPhone app. If you don't already own Camera+, it will be on sale for US$0.99 through Sunday, August 4. If you do have Camera+ on your iPhone, prepare to be amazed.

Multiple effects can be added and removed, rearranged, and the intensity of each filter can be tweaked separately. A dynamic preview shows you exactly how your photo is going to look prior to saving it.

Tap Tap Tap is also announcing the release of The Hollywood FX Pack, a set of 9 new effects and 9 new borders available for in-app purchase. It's inspired by movies and TV shows, and includes effects with names like Neo, Silent Movie, Enterprise and...

Apple is testing a new iPad mini that includes a faster processor but not a Retina display, according to references in the iOS 7 SDK sent to us by a developer.

The references were located inside of a hidden file that lists all supported iOS 7 devices, and the information has been corroborated with details found within the iOS 7 beta operating system itself…

According to the provided information, Apple is considering three new iPad mini models: iPad “2,8,” iPad “2,9,” and iPad “2,10.” The respective code names for the devices are J75, J76, and J77. This points to one WiFi-only model and two cellular-compatible models (just like the current iPad minis).

The internal nomenclature for these iPads follows the current iPad minis,...

TextSoap is for people who work with text.

TextSoap effortlessly cleans up text from endlessly different formats. Wash away unwanted characters, spaces, tabs. Fix paragraphs with hard returns at the end of each line, as well as a myriad of other formatting issues that come your way and do it all while retaining desired font styles.

Unlike finding and replacing each of dozens of typical formatting issues or manually perusing through a file to find errors and fixing them by hand, TextSoap can automate that task down to just one click. And you can do it all from within your favorite app using the TextSoap Universal menu.

Easy to learn for casual users, TextSoap also has the flexibility that serious users need.

Version 7.3.7:

• Fixed bug in which text labels in custom cleaner actions could overwrite buttons when action was collapsed.
• Fixed bug in which, when working on plain text document/workspace, applying a...

Arq is online backup for the Mac using Amazon S3 and Amazon Glacier. It backs-up and faithfully restores all the special metadata of Mac files that other products don't, including resource forks, ACLs, and creator codes.

Arq works like Time Machine, except you don't have to remember to plug in your external hard drive. Following the initial backup, Arq automatically makes incremental backups every hour, every day, uploading just the files that have changed since your last backup. Arq keeps hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for everything older than a month.

Arq lets you set a budget for S3 storage, and it automatically drops the oldest backups to keep within the budget.

Arq backs up everything with no limits. It backs up files of any size, external drives, and network drives.

Arq "de-duplicates" your backups, never storing the same file twice in your S3 account.

...

If the Finder in your user account refuses to open, there are a couple of steps you can take to clear settings files and have it open normally.

Google has announced that it will no longer be supporting the Google Catalogs iOS and Android apps as of August 15. Yesterday, users of the app began receiving in-app notifications alerting them of the imminent shut down. However, the service will remain accessible in some form, as Google plans to keep all of the information accessible through the Catalogs web interface. This shutdown comes close on the heels of other Google apps including Google Latitude, Google+ Local, and Google Shopper....  ...

Following the launch of Google's low-priced Chromecast AirPlay competitor, Apple has lowered the price of its refurbished Apple TVs to $75, offering a $24 discount off of the original $99 price.

Google's Chromecast, which functions similarly to AirPlay and allows users to mirror content from a tablet, smartphone, or laptop to a television, retails for just $35. The dongle plugs in to any HDTV and offers apps like YouTube and Netflix, with additional offerings in the works.

Though the Apple TV can't compete with the Chromecast on price, Apple has been working on building new features into the device. Released alongside betas for iOS 7 and Mavericks, the Apple TV beta software has...

The App Store opened on July 10, 2008 via an update to iTunes. On July 11, the iPhone 3G was launched and came pre-loaded with iOS 2.0.1 with App Store support and zipping through to the present, Apple recently celebrated their new 50 billionth app download record. To capture the buzz ...

Apple has reduced the price of refurbished Apple TVs at its online store to $75. Previously the set-top cost $85, about $14 less than retail. Refurb buyers get a third-generation model with 1080p support, and a fresh one-year warranty....   ...

Google has made an agreement with Starbucks to provide the coffee house chain free Wi-Fi throughout the United States. The deal, which will apply to all 7,000 branches, will allow customers to access the Internet through their tablet, notebook, or smartphone through the new connection, which is claimed to be up to ten times faster than previously available in-store....  ...

Have you ever opened Apple's iMessage service only to receive a few spam alerts? If so, then Apple has a quick solution for that.

The way we look at new app launches is changing thanks to the cloud. Rather than a full-scale launch that invites everyone to download and try an app, developers are rolling out their apps slowly, opting for a waiting list that meters access to a service. Several high profile apps recently used this new wait list paradigm and The Verge chatted with them about their experience.

The conversation focuses on the challenges of storing data remotely and dealing with the unexpected outliers who push a service beyond its tested limits. "Two hundred and fifty [beta testers] is a decent data set, but when you increase that several orders of magnitude you find edge cases," said Mailbox CEO Gentry Underwood. Underwood notes that Mailbox was not prepared for that one user who tried to transfer 40,000 messages into the service on launch day and caused the...

Apple-owned FileMaker has announced plans to discontinue Bento, its personal database software for OS X and iOS. The final release, Bento 4, will remain at the FileMaker Store and the Mac and iOS App Stores until the end of September. People wanting to continue using FileMaker software can upgrade to FileMaker Pro for $120....  ...

Nintendo’s Wii U sales numbers are horrible.

∞ Read this on The Loop

You may or may not have mixed feelings about Google, but hey, free Wi-Fi access at all Starbucks locations across the U.S.

Per 9to5Google, Google has announced that it will soon be supplying WiFi to all Starbucks locations in the United States as a means of advertising its Google Play music service. The offer also includes its new gigabit Google Fiber internet service where available.

Up until now, AT&T provided free Wi-fi access to Starbucks customers in the U.S. (and T-Mobile before that), but it appears that will no longer be the case following the roll out of Google’s networks in the coming weeks.

Google plans to start rolling out its new Starbucks networks next month and hopes to have all 7,000 US locations up and running on its networks within 18...

Apple remains the most profitable company in the smartphone industry, though its lead over rival Samsung is shrinking, as just 3 percentage points separated the two companies during the second quarter of calendar 2013.  ...

If you haven’t yet been hit by iMessage spam, you’re lucky: It’s awful. And it’s even worse when you realize that the spammer can know with certainty that the unwanted message really was delivered to you. As first noted by MacStories, Apple recently posted a way to deal with unwanted iMessages in your inbox.

Here’s the skinny.

When an unwanted, spammy iMessage arrives, first take a screenshot. (If you got the iMessage on your iOS device, press the Home and Sleep/Wake buttons at the same time. If you see the spammy iMessage on your Mac, use Command-Shift-3.)

Apple also needs to see the full email address or phone number of the person you received the spammy message from. You can either screenshot that data too, or copy and paste it.

Once you have all those details assem...

For many air travelers, the thought of trying to sleep on an airplane is a laugh. There's always the background chatter of your fellow passengers and crew, the noise of the aircraft itself, and of course the fear of falling asleep and drooling on the shoulder of the complete stranger next to you. Airsleep (free, with in-app purchase) is designed to help you relax a bit and hopefully be able to reach a deep sleep while you're flying.

The way Airsleep hopes to provide you with some sweet dreams while on that 14-hour flight to Singapore is to feed you a mix of natural sounds (like rainfall, ocean waves, or desert wind), ambient music by the founder of Combustible Edison, and "brainwave audio" -- whatever that is. Apparently the Airsleep folks have a patented process that does something to "tune your brain to its deep sleep...

The iPad is great for editing and managing your photos on the go -- until you need to select multiple images, that is. Turns out there's an easy way to select a group of photos to share or delete once you know the trick. Read on to learn how.

Apple CEO Tim Cook met Tuesday with the chairman of China Mobile, Reuters reports. China Mobile, the world’s largest carrier, is the only major Chinese carrier not currently offering the iPhone. Cook and China Mobile Chairman Xi Guohua discussed “matters of cooperation” in Beijing, according to China Mobile, suggesting…

Apple subsidiary FileMaker, Inc., announced this week that it will discontinue development of its Bento consumer database application in order to better focus on developing its remaining products.  ...

Mobile phone-based payment service Isis has announced plans for a nationwide US rollout, including support for the iPhone. The service -- backed by AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon -- is currently only in testing at around 4,000 sites split between Austin and Salt Lake City. As a part of deploying nationwide, the company claims that people will see "a vastly improved product, a variety of new places to use it, [and] a vastly improved user experience," without elaborating further on details....  ...

Fixes a problem that created green artifacts when using Sony XAVC media. ($299.99 new, free update, 1.64 GB)

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In a sign of the times, BBC Three announced this week that the second series of Jack Whitehall's Bad Education will air on its mobile iPlayer about a week before it airs on TV. Other scripted comedy programs from BBC Three will also follow the same format.

BBC reported yesterday:

Kicking off with the second series of Jack Whitehall's Bad Education, viewers will be able to enjoy their favourite BBC Three scripted comedies on BBC iPlayer seven days before they are broadcast on TV. With BBC iPlayer now available on over 650 devices and platforms, this gives viewers even more chance to catch their favourite programme whenever and wherever they want to - at home, at work, or on the go.

Today's announcement builds on BBC iPlayer's strategy to experiment and showcase more content within the service in 2013. In February, the BBC announced a separate trial which will...

Kevin has done some great guitar recordings in the past including some Ozzy records. He also talks about using the Sonnox plug-ins, which I’m a big fan of too.

∞ Read this on The Loop

As revealed in dozens of new job postings on its website, Apple is once again looking to improve its much-criticized Maps application by increasing the size of its team dedicated to verifying mapping data. The postings are for "ground truth" local experts and regional managers in a number of different locations around the world, including several in the United States, Brazil, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Europe.

The job descriptions for the "Local Expert" roles are as follows:The Maps team is looking for people with a passion for mapping, great testing skills, and deep regional knowledge to help us build better and better maps. In this position, you will be responsible for the quality assessment of Apple Maps for your region, including both data and map services.  You will monitor changes to our maps, provide feedback on unique local map requirements, collect ground...

On Sunday we posted a special report titled "The Perfect Storm: All Eyes are on Apple's Strategy for China covering current trends and possible moves to unfold later this year. Apple has been in secret talks with China Mobile for the past four years and in January China Mobile admitted ...

There are small problems, big problems, and the "how on earth do I organize all my photos" problem. That last one may just prove to be the least tractable, especially for parents of young children who have seen the digital revolution overturn the traditional album, folder and shoeboxful strategy. Searchable and sendable they may be, but a pile of digital photos is a pile nonetheless. Add in the multiple, mobile sources for images and it gets even more tangled.

Many, many companies continue to aim their product development efforts at this plump target. Flickr's recent move to a full terabyte of free storage has made Yahoo's prosumer photography site a more attractive repository for many; Shutterfly's buyout of...

Business database company FileMaker, a subsidiary of Apple, is withdrawing its more consumer-orientated database app, Bento. It will remain available on the FileMaker Store, App Store and Mac App Store until the end of September.

Bento was well-received when it was launched in 2008, and had shipped over a million units by January this year, but interest likely dwindled as consumers switched to simpler and friendlier apps like Evernote.

FileMaker is offering an upgrade path to FileMaker Pro...

Use a few different displays or projectors with your Mac? You're probably familiar with the "Detect Displays" feature for getting your machine to play nicely with your devices. But under Mountain Lion, you may not be able to use "Detect Displays" without knowing the trick for finding it. In this tip, we'll uncover what Apple has inexplicably hidden.

In Q2 2013, Google Play racked up 10 percent more downloads than did Apple’s App Store, but iOS games still monetized more than twice as well as their Googley counterparts.

That’s according to analytics firm App Annie, which today released a mobile Q2 market report, as well as June version of its normal monthly reports on games and all other apps. The factoid above isn’t too much of a surprise on its own — the increasing volume of Android devices on the market made it all but inevitable this year — but it’s indicative of how fast Google’s operating system is growing.

In Q1 of this year, App Annie tallied Google Play downloads as 90 percent of those on iOS, with Apple monetizing 2.6x as...

Tim Cook's trip to China included a visit with the head of the largest carrier in the world, China Mobile, as Apple's chief executive continues to work toward a potential partnership.  ...

MaBaSoft (http://www.mabasoft.net) has released World Clock Deluxe 4.11, an update of its Mac OS X tool for companies and organizations regularly communicating with people across the world, for frequent travelers, and for home users having family or friends in other countries or time zones. Version 4.11 now has a Meeting Planner pane that allows you to find the best time for an online chat, a conference call or videoconference across different time zones.

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If you're a Creative Cloud or Creative Suite user, you should check out Code Line's Art View, a Quick Look enhancement that offers "quick answers to common questions."

It allows graphic designers to preview, inspect, and reveal dependent font and image files from within Apple's Quick Look preview feature. Art View works independent of other applications, so users who don't have graphics applications installed are still able to take advantage of its features.

read more

In a new study of social behavior across devices, ShareThis (www.sharethis.com) has revealed important insights into what people are sharing, on which devices, and the social networks they are sharing to the most.
The cross-device research compared 4.9 billion social patterns across desktop web and 1.2 billion social patterns across mobile web. Key findings include:

° The mobile web is twice as social as desktop: consumers are nearly twice as likely to click and share content on social networks through mobile devices as opposed to desktops.

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Steven Sinofsky

When former Windows president Steven Sinofsky resigned from Microsoft last November he hammered out a “retirement agreement” with the company that entitled him to stock worth some $14 million. In exchange for that stock award*, he agreed for a period of time not to disparage Microsoft; not to solicit Microsoft employees for work at other companies; and not to encourage Microsoft customers choose competitors’ products. And, most importantly, he agreed not to compete with Microsoft by accepting employment at “certain competitors.”

Which certain competitors, Microsoft never disclosed. Until Tuesday afternoon, when it published the full text of Sinofsky’s...

A new study focusing only on smartphones by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) has ranked two premier Samsung smartphones -- the Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Note 2 -- ahead of Apple's iPhone various iPhone models in a new survey of 2,500 buyers. The results have a number of odd notes to them, giving high scores to mostly older models and entirely omitting recent entries such as the HTC One, BlackBerry Z10 and Samsung Galaxy S4; ranking all three iPhone models as essentially equal when the iPhone 4 is now three years old; and using the exact same vaguely-defined methodology as a re... ...

Following a hacking attack that revealed some potentially serious vulnerabilities, Apple's Dev Center and its associated resources are mostly back online following a week-long outage, with five more areas coming online late Tuesday. Four of the 15 sites and sub-sections for devlopers remain offline -- Xcode automatic configuration, the Member Center, Program Enrolment and Renewals and Technical Support -- but the Videos library, all pre-release documentation, the App Store Resource Center and the Apple Developer Forums are now available.... ...

Though both the S&P and Dow Jones averages rose little on Tuesday, Apple stock rose 1.2 percent to close at $453.32 -- the first time the stock has closed over $450 since mid-May, and on the heels of the revelation that Apple CEO Tim Cook is again in China, talking to current partners and possibly trying to break the logjam that has kept the iPhone out of China's largest carrier, China Mobile. This is Cook's third trip to China since becoming CEO, with all the trips centered on boosting iPhone sales in the region....  ...

Dropbox is an application that creates a special Finder folder that automatically syncs online and between your computers. It allows you to both backup files and keep them up-to-date between systems.

Note: You must first sign up to use Dropbox.

The Dropbox application is available for OS X, Windows, and Linux. A video on the site explains more.

Version 2.2.12:

• Fix an issue that could cause high CPU usage during reindex.
• Fix an issue with the tray icon on Mac.
• Fix a rare issue that caused unnecessary reindexing of the entire contents of a Dropbox.
• Fix a rare issue with Selective Sync.
• Other minor fixes.

OS X 10.4 or later

Download Now

FileMaker has released a statement saying that it's discontinuing its Bento database software in favor of focusing on FileMaker.

Bento will continue to be available for the Mac, iPhone and iPad until September 30. Technical support, software updaters for the Mac client and forum moderation will be provided until July 30, 2014. The company said it will not replace it with a similar product and urges users to migrate to FileMaker Pro, offering a $120 discount for existing Bento customers until October 30.

FileMaker cites a growth of its flagship FileMaker product on iOS was one of the reasons behind shuttering Bento.

Bento was released for a public preview in November 2007,...

Advertising giant Google has been revealed to have deliberately used a flawed study in an effort to make its Nexus 7 tablet look more popular. During the launch of the latest Nexus 7, a Google executive showed figures that "proved" that the Nexus 7 was the most popular tablet in Japan, outselling the iPad. This has now been debunked with the revelation that the study by Japanese market research firm BCN did not include iPad sales from any of Japan's seven Apple Stores, its two largest telecom partners, or Apple's direct online channel.... ...

Font Box shows previews and further informations for all fonts shipped with iOS - for the currently running version as well as for previous versions. Supported iOS versions:

Font Box also shows detailed informations about a font's metrics as well as its availability in previous versions of iOS.

You can choose between numerous different sample texts and pangrams to check the availability of special characters used in different languages, for example german umlauts or french diacritics.

A general survey of all fonts shipped since iPhoneOS 2.1 including their availability in various other iOS versions is also available. This makes FontBox a great help for searching suitable fonts when developing new iOS apps.

If you find a bug in this app, please report it to the bug tracker so I can fix it as soon as possible. You can find a link to the bug tracker on the...

GameSalad is the world's most advanced game development tool for non-programmers. From an easy to use logic and physics system, to a visual based interface, and even the means to share your games to the iPhone, iPad, Desktop, and Web - GameSalad provides everything you need to get your game from concept to execution. Simply download the tool to a your Mac, install, and start making games!

Features:

• No programming, utilizing its extensive behavior library and drag and drop interface
• Visual interfaces for rapid game development, efficient asset organization, and easy navigation
• Real-time editing, allowing for game modifications without the need to compile
• Fully integrated logic and physics systems for advanced gameplay mechanics
• A platform for publishing user created games on the web, iPhone, iPad, and Mac Desktop....

FinderPop is a Universal preference pane that extends OS X's contextual menus using a FinderPop Items folder much as the Apple Menu Items folder used to do for the Apple menu.

It has other features too:

• Control-free popup in the Finder - handy for those with one-button mice.
• A launcher that takes up zero screen real estate, merely a click on any blank area of menubar away,
• A handy filesystem browser, allowing quick and easy access to files and disks in the Finder,
• A Processes menu (Command-click a blank menubar area.)
• Fast access to 'Where's that dratted file I had on the Desktop?' (Shift-Click a blank menubar area.)
• A comprehensive collection of vaguely beer-related aphorisms in the Aboutbox.

Please use the FinderPop Help button in the preference pane; there are many features in FP that are not immediately...

ContactPage is the easiest way to create professional-looking contact sheets of images with captions. Use ContactPage to create picture catalogs, proof sheets, photo books, or anytime you need to quickly browse or print pictures with full descriptive text captions.

ContactPage can then build a PDF, Slideshow, or Page Layout document using Adobe InDesign, QuarkXPress or iWork Pages with all the necessary pages, backgrounds, images and captions customized to your liking.

Version 5.0.0:

• Headers and Footers: Specify box height, text settings (font, color, etc), and variable tokens: page number, date, folder or volume.
• Folder and Files View: You can now organize, display and sort the picture list by folders.
• Ability to start a new row or page every time a new folder is encountered.
• Added "Creation Date" to sort picture list.
...

Q:

What laptop do you recommend for my granddaughter who is heading off to college? I am not looking for any low cost bargains, but a solidly performing device with a good operating system that will last her at least though four years of college.

A:

Based on your criteria, I’d recommend, without hesitation, the latest edition of Apple’s MacBook Air, which is light, sturdy, thin, fast and gets over 10 hours of battery life on a single charge.

Q:

Is there a tablet that works with Excel?

A:

All Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets work with the standard desktop version of Excel, and some even come with Excel built in. Microsoft has also released a touch-optimized edition of Office for the iPhone, which also works on the iPad, that includes a stripped-down version of Excel, but it requires a subscription...

I have to admit that I'm not typically the kind of person who gets sucked into those Farmville-style games -- be it on Facebook or in app form -- that require hours and hours of tedious upkeep while slowly whittling away at your wallet a dollar or two at a time. I am, however, a fan of dinosaurs, and anything with the Jurassic Park logo stamped on it will get at least a passing glance from me. And so I downloaded Jurassic Park Builder for my iPad, because my love for extinct animals somehow trumps my common sense.

As is quite evident from the screenshots as well as its name, Jurassic Park Builder indeed a game about building and maintaining a zoo for dinosaurs. You begin with just a basic home base and must expand your park by clearing land, cloning dinosaurs from DNA you discover while digging, and adding additional buildings like hotels as well as...

This weekend, Apple will be opening a new store in Italy, in the seaside resort town of Rimini. The new store, the country's 13th, will reside in the Le Befane mall alongside 130 other retail stores, on the second floor atop a retail store called Marco Polo. The mall is said to be one of the largest in the entire country. The new store is said to be part of Apple's push to emphasize the iPhone, but will also feature other Apple products as other stores do. This is the first Apple Store in this general area, a popular resort town originally founded in 268 BC.... ...

GoPro has exploded in popularity with athletes and adventurers for creating easily-shared high definition videos of their activities. Now sharing will take even less time thanks to the latest update to the GoPro app for iOS and Android. Users can now view, edit, and share content on their GoPro from their smartphone.

Using the GoPro's built-in Wi-Fi hotspot, users could already connect the app to the camera. The app is a remarkable piece of technology that allows you to control your camera via your phone or tablet, and now it's been expanded to include the new sharing and editing features. The features will only available on GoPro Hero3 and Hero2 cameras that have been updated to the latest firmware. By putting more power in the hands of users, GoPro is showing how it has...

Although Apple stopped Amazon from including direct purchasing links inside the Kindle app for iOS, Amazon has now come up with a clever workaround for avoiding Apple’s 30 percent fee: free book samples within the app. Kindle users can now search for and preview books on an iOS device, and the Kindle app offers the option to send a purchase link via email at the end. Also new to the app is the capability to use custom dictionaries, and an accessibility quick reference for vision-impaired users.

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 brought four more developer resources back online Tuesday, including Pre-Release Documentation, Videos, App Store Resource Center, and the Apple Developer Forums. Four more resources remain offline as the company works to restore all developer services.

Sprint must be happy with its decision to start selling the iPhone. The company reports that 1.4 million iPhones were sold in the second fiscal quarter of 2013. Even better, 41 percent of those phones went to new Sprint customers.

The carrier didn't sell as many iPhones in the last quarter as it did in the first quarter of 2013, when it saw a whopping 1.5 million boxes go out the door. Overall subscriber numbers for the carrier were also down from 55.2 million to 53.6 million, so the news isn't all rosy for Sprint.

While Sprint saw a slight decline in iPhone sales, competitor Verizon saw second quarter activation numbers soar over 41 percent from the previous year, with...

Apple is preparing to open the doors to its latest retail outlet in Italy, the 13th Apple Store in the country and the first in the city of Remini, which is scheduled welcome in customers this Saturday.   ...