T-Mobile has offered its TV service through an Android app since 2010, but today the carrier has finally...

As the old aphorism goes, "better late than never." In this case, that's true for U.S. Cellular, which today announced as part of its quarterly earnings report that it will begin carrying Apple products later this year.

That may make U.S. Cellular the last major US carrier to offer the iPhone to its customers. The big four -- AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile -- all carry iPhones, and smaller carriers TracFone and Leap Wireless/Cricket also offer the iPhone to customers. MetroPCS just completed a merger with T-Mobile, with T-Mobile CEO John Legere saying that the iPhone is "not imminent" on the MetroPCS network.

U.S. Cellular, which boasts 5.7 million subscribers, didn't provide any specifics about what models would be introduced, but noted that "by further strengthening our device portfolio, we'll give consumers another great reason to switch to U.S...

U.S. (uscellular.com) says it will begin carrying Apple products -- namely the iPhone -- later this year. The wireless carrier made the announcement as part of its quarterly earnings update.

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When smaller U.S. carriers started selling the iPhone a couple years back, one carrier was a noticeable holdout.

U.S. Cellular maintained at the time that the numbers just didn’t add up. On Friday, though, the company announced that it plans to start selling Apple products later this year.

“We have a number of strategies in progress to increase loyalty and attract more customers, including our announcement today that we will begin offering Apple products later this year,” the company said in a statement accompanying its first-quarter earnings. “By further strengthening our device portfolio, we’ll give consumers another great reason to switch to U.S. Cellular, and enable our existing customers to choose from an even wider variety of iconic smartphones, and enjoy the outstanding U.S. Cellular customer experiences they deserve.”

We checked in to see what has changed...

There are a lot of communication tools that help you stay connected with family and friends. One that recently caught my eye is DabKick, which stood out because it lets you share and communicate in a variety of ways. It's a real-time photo viewer, video sharing tool, walkie-talkie, instant messenger, music jukebox and more.

DabKick is useful for people who want to share their life with loved ones who are far away from them. It's not a static service like Facebook, which allows you to post photos and add captions. It lets you connect to others in real-time and share photos, YouTube videos and more.

DabKick is geared primarily to share photos and videos. You launch the DabKick app on your iPhone, load up the media you want your friend to see and then select the person with whom you want to share. The person to which you are connected will see your photos or videos as you swipe through them on your iOS device.

A...

U.S. Cellular, the Chicago-based carrier serving around 5.8 million customers in 126 markets, will likely start offering the iPhone later this year, possibly in addition to other iOS devices. Per 9to5Mac, the carrier announced today in its first quarter results that it will soon begin carrying Apple products, but didn’t provide any further information regarding when or what specific products it might launch:

“We have a number of strategies in progress to increase loyalty and...

Like Facebook and Angry Birds? How about putting the two together, which is exactly what Rovio did with its new Angry Birds Friends for iOS. The game lets you team up with your friends to fling birds and blow up pigs, just like in other games in the Angry Birds franchise. You can challenge your friends to games, participate in tournaments with new levels every week, and if you're playing Angry Birds online, your games will stay in sync. Angry Birds Friends is free and available for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch at Apple's App Store.

Hearst Magazines has hit its goal of one million digital subscribers on devices like Apple's iPad, as well as competing tablets such as the Amazon Kindle Fire.  ...

US Cellular will start carrying Apple products sometime later this year, the company revealed today during a quarterly earnings report. It hasn't identified which hardware it will be offering, or any special subscription plans. Devices will presumably include the iPhone and/or cellular-equipped iPad models. The carrier could, in theory, be in a position to help launch the so-called iPhone 5S this fall, as well as a fifth-generation iPad, second-generation iPad mini, and possibly even an Apple smartwatch, if it comes with any cellular functions.... ...

Geri Reid brings up a good question. Skeuomorphic design took the world on quite a ride, but it seems to be out now. While I don’t agree with her that Microsoft “struck a winning blow with the flat interface of Windows 8,” there is no doubt a change is coming.

I would like to see Apple update their interfaces, but not eschew Skeuomorphic elements altogether.

Remember Apple’s previous keynotes. The crowd didn’t roar and applaud for the flat design elements, they cheered when the Passbook app shredded a card with a realistic shredder that popped up on the screen.

Apple needs to refine that design, not replace it.

∞ Read this on The Loop

This might come in handy.

Lat Thursday, Apple released iOS 6.1.4, a 107 megabyte download offering the following fixes for its iPhone 5 handsets:

- Updated audio profile for speakerphone.

iOS 6.1.3 is available via iTunes or Over-The-Air updating and requires an iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S, 5, iPad 2, third or fourth-gen iPad, iPod Touch 4th Gen or iPad Mini to install and run.

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

If you love to listen to podcasts on your iPhone or iPad, you’re probably familiar with Vemedio’s Instacast, a $5 app that lets you consume your favorite shows through an elegant and well-thought-out user interface.

Despite all its great features, Instacast was an iOS-only affair—until now. The folks behind it have now released a public beta of Instacast for OS X, and we’ve taken the Mac version for a spin to see how it holds up.

Podcasts a-go-go

Like its mobile cousin, Instacast for Mac revolves around a simple and intuitive user interface that emphasizes your content, organized according to your tastes.

Instacast is all about the content. The interface features Mail’s familiar three-pane configuration, with...

U.S. Cellular has reversed its stance that it wouldn't carry Apple's iPhone, and has said that it will be on board later this year. The carrier had previously called Apple's terms unacceptable, choosing to pass on offering the popular combination smartphone and iPod to its subscribers.

The Mac Observer Spin:
Good news for T-Mobile. Now the company can say it wasn't the last to get the iPhone.

Attention to all U.S. iPhone owners: HTC wants your business. If you switch and buy their new HTC One smartphone by Sunday May fifth, HTC will reimburse you ...

I've just moved from a country where I had unlimited (really) data on my iPhone contract to one where data plans are metered and expensive. So this recent article by David Chartier, on the Finer Things in Tech web site, comes at the right time. It points out the simple setting in iOS to turn off automatic loading of images in Mail. As with Mail on OS X, you can load images later, but you won't need to load them for every message, saving download time and bandwidth.



To change this setting, go to Settings > Mail, Contacts & Calendars, and toggle Load Remote Images to OFF. If you get an email with images, and want to see them, just tap on Load All Images in the message.



This setting would make more sense if it only affected image downloads when using cellular data. But it's an all-or-nothing choice, so even when you...

Apple's $17 billion bond sale -- meant to help finance a $55 billion stock buyback, part of a plan to return $100 billion to shareholders by 2015 -- is saving the company about $9.2 billion in taxes, according to an estimate from Moody's Investment Services. Had Apple decided to use repatriated foreign cash, it would have paid a 35 percent tax rate, and hence owed the US about $9.2 billion....  ...

Shawn Blanc takes a look at Backblaze’s new iPhone app for managing the off-site backup of your desktop computer.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Last fall, Twitter bought We Are Hunted, a “music discovery” startup that made a popular app for Spotify.

Apparently Spotify is paying attention: It just bought Tunigo, another music discovery startup with a popular Spotify app.

Spotify isn’t announcing terms for the deal, but says that all of the Swedish company’s 20-or-so employees will come to work at Spotify’s offices in Stockholm and New York.

The Tunigo Spotify app will keep running (there’s also an iPhone app), but presumably Spotify’s new hires will be put to work on Spotify’s main service, which has 24 million users and 6 million paying subscribers. The company had reportedly raised $3 million.

The We Are Hunted and Tunigo...

This article was posted last November, but there are some great lessons to be learned for anyone that is building a product or company.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Eclipse is one of the most popular board games around right now -- it's a vast, involving epic "4X" game, where those four Xs stand for eXploration, eXpansion, eXploitation (as in mining crops and resources from various planets), and eXtermination (as in finishing off your alien opponents). It was recently announced that Big Daddy's Creations would be adapting the game for iPad, and the iOS version has now arrived on the App Store, available for $6.99.

As a board game, I think Eclipse is terrific -- it's very well balanced, and all of the various things you can do offer plenty of different strategies to play with. There are three resources (money, science, and material) that you can use to exert your influence on various areas of a galaxy, research new technologies for starships or your empire, or build up those ships and...

On Thursday the Pentagon cleared BlackBerry and Samsung mobile devices for use on Defense Department networks, reports "Reuters" (http://tinyurl.com/csxzmrk). Apple mobile devices using iOS 6 are expected to receive clearance sometime this month.

"This is a significant step towards establishing a multi-vendor environment that supports a variety of state-of-the-art devices and operating systems," Lieutenant Colonel Damien Pickart, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement.

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U.S. Cellular, the Chicago-based carrier serving around 5.8 million customers in 126 markets, will likely start offering the iPhone later this year, possibly in addition to other iOS devices. The carrier announced today in its first quarter results that it will soon begin carrying Apple products, but didn’t provide any further information regarding when or what specific products it might launch:

“We have a number of strategies in progress to increase loyalty and attract more customers, including our announcement today that we will begin offering Apple products later this year. By further strengthening our device portfolio, we’ll give consumers another great reason to switch to U.S. Cellular, and enable our existing customers to choose from an even wider variety of iconic smartphones, and enjoy the outstanding U.S. Cellular customer experiences they deserve. Our...

JP Morgan has put together an interesting case for Apple launching its new plastic iPhone as a mid-market device rather than a low-cost one, suggesting that Apple may price the phone at around $350-400.

The case, which AllThingsD describe as “pretty compelling,” is based on Apple’s approach with both iPod Nano and iPad Mini …

//

The Nano was launched at $199, just $100 below the main iPod model of the time and significantly above low-cost competitor offerings. The iPad Mini, too, launched at $329 when it had been expected to be pitched against products like the Kindle Fire at $199.

JP Morgan’s Gokul Hariharan and Mark Moskowitz put together the above...

Apple has been pushing for a permanent injunction blocking the sale of certain Samsung Android-based smartphones and tablets in the United States over patent infringement claims, but Samsung thinks that's a bad idea. The electronics maker told a Federal Appeals Court that granting Apple a permanent injunction would only serve to confuse and intimidate the buying public.

XBMC is an award winning media center for Mac OS X. The ultimate High Definition hub for all your media, XBMC is easy to use, looks slick, and has a large helpful community.

Version 12.2:

• Fixed infinite loop on addon dependencies, resolves crashing problem that arrose immediately post 12.1 launch
• Numerous UPnP fixes
• Memory leak fixed when XBMC is minimized
• Various Raspberry Pi playback fixes and software codec support
• Fixed OSX audio mixing
• Fixed some audio-related crashes in Linux builds
• AirPlay fixes
• Bluray folder resume-bookmarks now work
• Ability to scan for new content on file folders has been reimplemented
• Language updates from Transifex

• OS X 10.6 or later
• Or Apple TV

Download Now

The year’s most specific update from Apple does nothing but provide an updated audio profile for the iPhone 5’s speakerphone.

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

According to a new DigiTimes report this morning, new rumors have surfaced that Apple is on tap to test market a new low-cost iPhone later this year. The report states that "Apple plans to launch an inexpensive model targeting emerging markets with initial quarterly shipments of only 2.5-3.0 million units to test market response." Although this rumor sounds interesting, it doesn't sound like it's a move that Apple would ever make.

TUAW readers who watched this week's TUAW TV Live got a sneak peek at the nifty device in this review -- Bodelin's ProScope Micro Mobile (US$149), a tool for turning an iPhone (4/4S/5), iPad mini, or 2nd- through 4th-generation iPad into a professional-quality microscope.

That's right -- if you need to take close-up images or video of evidence, circuit boards, stamps, coins, you-name-it, then the ProScope Micro Mobile is the best choice for you.

Design

The Bodelin ProScope Micro Mobile (PMM) is a small and lightweight (2.1 ounces) unit that needs an iOS device as a viewing tool. As such, purchasing one includes a sleeve for your iPhone, iPad, or iPad mini that the device clips onto. The sleeve holds the PMM in place over the rear-facing camera lens on your iOS device.

Gallery:...

Component maker Laird announced on Friday that revenue from its "largest customer" fell 17 percent in the first quarter, and that declining revenue is expected to continue until the second half of the year, leaving market watchers to suspect the customer in question is Apple.  ...

Apple quietly added a new built-to-order option for the iMac that lets users choose either a 256 GB or 512 GB solid state flash drive instead of a traditional hard drive. Previously, iMac buyers could choose from hard drive or Fusion Drive solid state/hard drive hybrid options.

Cocktail is a general purpose utility for OS X that lets you clean, repair and optimize your Mac. It is a powerful digital toolset that helps hundreds of thousands of Mac users around the world get the most out of their computers every day.

The application serves up a perfect mix of maintenance tools and tweaks, all accessible through a clean and easy to use interface. Cocktail's features are arranged into five categories that helps you manage various aspects of your computer. It also comes with an automatic Pilot-mode that allows you to simply press a button and relax, knowing that Cocktail will take care of the rest.

Cocktail (Lion Edition) for OS X 10.7, Cocktail (Snow Leopard Edition) for OS X 10.6 and Cocktail (Leopard Edition) for OS X 10.5 are available for download from our website.

Version 6.4:

• Added ability to change standby delay (Disks - Sleep)*
  *Specifies the delay (in minutes) before writing the hibernation...

Sums done by Moody’s Investment Services (via Bloomberg) confirm reports that Apple’s approach of borrowing the $100b needed to fund its stock buy-back and dividend plans will result in massive tax savings, estimated at $9.2B …

//

Based on current rates, Apple will pay interest of about $308 million a year on the $17 billion bond offering, said Gerald Granovsky, a senior vice president at Moody’s.

“From a pure corporate-finance theory perspective, this was a no-brainer,” Granovsky said. If the funds had come...

If you're like me, you're awaiting the day when you can cut the cable or satellite cord entirely. I haven't quite reached that day yet. However, a product like Winegard's Boost digital TV antenna amplifier brings that day a little closer.

Arguably the most advanced digital dual-band TV antenna booster around Boost delivers a crystal clear TV signal to your HDTV -- and can be used with EyeTV devices on a Mac -- so you can watch more broadcast TV channels in high definition than with an antenna alone. It has a 50-mile range.
 

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This summer, a number of new domain names will likely start appearing on the Web. Generic names such as .apple, .home, .app, .vegas or .music could join such stalwarts as .com, .net and .org.

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This summer, a number of new domain names will likely start appearing on the Web. Generic names such as .apple, .home, .app, .vegas or .music could join such stalwarts as .com, .net and .org.

read more

Martin Hajek

What if Apple’s long-rumored low-end iPhone isn’t targeted at the smartphone market’s lower reaches? What if it’s targeted at the middle?

What if it isn’t low-end at all, but simply mainstream? Not a $150 phone or even a $200 one, but a $350 one? A “mid-end” iPhone?

That’s the theory put forth by Gokul Hariharan and Mark Moskowitz over at J.P. Morgan, and it’s a pretty compelling one, with strong historical precedents.

With a starting price tag of $329, Apple’s iPad mini was initially dismissed as too pricey to attract budget-conscious consumers drawn to Google’s Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire, which, at $249 and $199, respectively, were significantly cheaper. But the device proved wildly popular, and has since established a new...

One of the nicest things about hanging out with coders is the exposure to their pet personal projects. Brian James Turner has been working on a new take on lock screens.

Hosted at github, Turner's project transforms the lockscreen from a series of memorized numbers or letters into a logical sequence of choices.

Each challenge screen is randomly generated. Instead of a number grid or password entry field, you see a set of geometric objects.

You enter your password by following rules. "For example, my passcode might be small, green, triangle," he explained. If you tap a small object, followed by a green one, and then a triangle, the system lets you in.

It's a novel take on thing, and there's never "one" right answer. Even if...

We mentioned Songza's iOS app last year around when it came out, and the music sharing service has just updated the app to version 3.0. The free app has been almost completely reimagined, and while it still offers plenty of tunes to listen to, the interface has been revamped -- it's much cleaner, flatter, and has some nice bits of plain color included. The "Concierge" service is still there and upgraded, so if you simply tell the app what you're doing, it'll try to get you some music to do that with. The company has also focused on ease-of-use, so for example, just holding down any Concierge station button will start up the music, no matter what, so you can get things rolling as quickly as possible.

The new version also includes an updated "HQ Audio" system, so the tunes you're hearing can sound as good as...

Apple said on Thursday that it is approaching 50 billion downloads from its App Store.

As has become customary for such events, Apple is prepping a giveaway for whoever downloads the milestone app — in this case, a $10,000 gift card to the App Store. The next 50 customers will get a $500 App Store gift card.

Cheapskates (and Android users) can even enter without downloading an app by going here.

Apps, meanwhile, have become big business for Apple and Google, generating billions in revenue. Software sales, meanwhile, have helped transform iTunes from a near-break-even business to a significant profit generator...

The App Store saw two long-awaited moves on Thursday when beleaguered movie rental company Blockbuster finally released an iOS app for streaming on demand videos, and photo sharing app Instagram beefed up its own offering with support for photo tagging  ...

Apple on Tuesday raised $17 billion via a bond offering as part of its recently announced capital program which aims to return $100 billion to shareholders by the end of 2015. Apple's capital return program is comprised of two components: an increased quarterly dividend of $3.05 a share and a $55 billion stock repurchasing program.

To help finance its new plan, Apple decided to issue debt, prompting many to wonder why the company didn't dip into its $145 million cash hoard. The answer is that $100 billion of Apple's cash lies overseas. Consequently, Apple would be subject to unfavorable income tax rates if it brought that cash back to the U.S.

So instead, Apple chose to borrow money at extremely low rates to help fund its capital return program. The appeal is that the interest Apple will owe on its issued debt will be markedly lower than the income tax it'd be charged...

If you were a kid in the 1980's you may remember the oddball consumer gaming console called the Vectrex. Notable for it's use of vectors instead of bitmapped graphics (like every other console), the Vectrex never quite took hold but before it was discontinued a number of fun retro games were made available. Enter Rantmedia Games, which took the aging catalog and ported it to iOS.

In this Origin Stories learn about the nostalgia-driven passion behind the creation of Vectrex Regeneration. In addition to the catalog of old Vectrex games, there are actually new games made for the app, available as in-app purchases. Read our review here.

Origin Stories: Vectrex offers nostalgic gameplay originally appeared on...

Charge your phone, hide your family and mourn the loss of your free time. Angry Birds has returned with the latest expansion of their fowl-flinging empire, Angry Birds Friends. The new version looks a lot like the old one at first glance. You still fling super-powered birds at structures in your quest to destroy the pig army. What's new is the social interaction of judging your scores against your friends, across every platform Angry Birds on which is available.

Thats right; Facebook, iOS and Android friends can all play against each other in a seemingly never-ending quest to cook the pigs' bacon. If you've already purchased Angry Birds in the past and don't want to shell out for another new version, don't worry. Angry Birds Friends, like friendship, is free.

The app is available now in the iTunes and Google Play stores.

...

Just over two years after contracting a rare skin tissue disease, Slayer guitarist and songwriter Jeff Hanneman died on Thursday from liver failure at a hospital near his home in Southern California’s Inland Empire area.

RIP

∞ Read this on The Loop

Apple’s on its way to its next App Store milestone, Intel is prepping new graphics chips that could show up in Macs, and Adobe may borrow from one of its popular photo-editing apps for its next iPad outing. The remainders for Thursday, May 2, 2013 can’t count that high.

50,000,000,000 (iTunes Store)

The App Store is inching up on 50 billion downloads, and Apple has a countdown clock ticking away. The person who downloads the 50 billionth app will get a $10,000 App Store gift card, while the subequent 50 people net a $500 App Store shopping spree. Unfortunately, the limit is just 25 entries per day, so if your plan was to download 100,000 apps, think again.

Inside Iris: What...

On Thursday, Apple released updated printer drivers for its supported Xerox printers for users of OS X Snow Leopard (10.6), Lion (10.7) and Mountain Lion (10.8). Unusually for such a release, there is not yet a list of the specific changed or added models supported by the built-in software. All three versions of OS X support a wide and expanding list of Xerox products, including standalone, all-in-one and wireless printer models, as well as some standalone scanners....  ...

Apple has begun the countdown to 50 billion downloads from the company's mobile App Store, and the company is offering a US$10,000 Apple Store gift card to the person who downloads that stunning milestone app.

One of only six known working Apple-1 computers will be put up for auction later this month by German auction house Breker, which expects the unit to fetch between $261,000 and $392,000.   ...

This past weekend in Seattle a small group of tech folks gathered to talk about the work they do while away from the computer. Unlike a lot of tech conferences, there were no discussions of APIs or frameworks, no in-depth analysis of App Store sales figures or phoney-baloney social marketing doublespeak. 360|intersect was about the people, their passions, and getting inspired to do great things.

I might be a little biased, as I was the first speaker, but my talk on magic and technology had less to do about technology and was more about astonishment -- that fleeting feeling when you see something magical and your brain flips out and you feel like a kid again. Similarly, speaker after speaker came up to talk about their passions outside tech, with practical lessons they have applied in their careers in tech.

Robi Ganguly...

TMO veteran Jim Tanous has launched a new site called TekRevue, a broad tech news and tip site. Jim will be looking at OS X, Windows, mobile platforms of all sorts, games, gadgets, and hardware, with reviews and tips, too.

Apple has launched a countdown to 50 billion app downloads on its iOS App Store, and is awarding a $10,000 gift card to the downloader, plus $500 gift cards to the next 50 downloaders following the landmark download. The representative countdown progress is seen in iTunes under the App Store section....  ...

A German auctioneer will put a working Apple I computer on the block later this month, and expects the handmade computer to fetch between or between $261,000 and $392,000 at Thursday’s exchange rate.

The record price for an Apple I was $640,000, paid last year in an auction also run by Breker of Cologne, Germany.

On May 25, Breker will try to sell a different Apple I, one of only six in working condition, the auctioneer said.

Apple I specs

The Apple I, a circuit board hand built by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, was made in 1976, and sold at the time for $666.66. About 200 units were produced, but by an estimate last year by British auction house Sotheby’s, only 50 survive.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

As it has for a number of iTunes milestones, Apple has launched a new contest, this time for the 50 billionth iOS app downloaded. The person who downloads that app will win a $10,000 App Store Gift Card, and the next 50 people will win $500 App Store Gift…

There’s a story on The Street today titled, “Lookout Apple, Here Comes Microsoft: Surface Tablets Break Into Top 5.” Sounds impressive, right? […]

∞ Read this on The Loop

I'm always on the lookout for free photo apps that do a good job, and Gradients for iPhone (free, universal) fits the bill. The app lets you add gradients to existing photos with almost infinite variations and control. I often create gradients in Photoshop, especially to tone down the sky in landscapes. It's nice to have a lightweight utility to handle that simple task.

There are 46 filter styles available, and each one is customizable in parameters like opacity and tilt. You can turn photos into black and white images. You can even create a custom gradient and save it for future use. Unlike so many photo apps, Gradients doesn't throw in-app purchases at you. Everything is included. When your editing is done you can save your photo, or share it via Twitter or Facebook.

Gallery: Gradients

...

Millions of people have had their lives profoundly affected by Apple and its products. However, few people understand the nature of that vision, and how it can incite both ringing joy and deep disappointment, other than the Apple Investor.

Adjusting the mouse pointer size could be a quick way to prevent it from getting lost.

That’s just an incredible amount of apps. You can enter to win a $10,000 App Store Gift Card.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Apple on Thursday posted a countdown to 50 billion app download from the App Store, promising to give away a $10,000 App Store Gift Card to the person who downloads the landmark app.   ...

After Google Now was added to the Google Search app last week, many users began complaining that the app was draining battery by constantly accessing the iPhone’s Location Services.

According to a Google employee who posted on the Macworld forum (via The Next Web), Google Now does not excessively drain battery, despite the fact that the app often causes the Location Services icon to remain active.Hi there,
I’m with Google and wanted to address this issue:
Reports that Google Now on iOS drains battery life are incorrect. We understand people’s concern about seeing the Location Services icon...

In the days following the launch of Google’s predictive ‘Now’ feature now baked into its Google Search iOS app, some users complained of experiencing noticeable battery drain due the app’s process of accessing location data. Today, Google has weighed in with an official response to LifeHacker calling reports of battery drain “incorrect”:

Reports that Google Now drains battery life are incorrect. We understand people’s concern about seeing the Location Services icon stay on when they use Google Now. Many apps that keep the icon on actually do drain the phone’s battery because they require very accurate location. (For example a navigation app has to run your GPS all the time to keep you from missing your turn.)

Google explained that Now is “built very...

HP has announced the availability of the Scanjet Pro3000 s2 for business users. Said to plug into existing scanning platforms, the sheet feed scanner includes a 50-page automatic feeder for mass document scanning, and is capable of scanning A4-sized pages at 300dpi in color at up to 20 pages per minute....  ...

Apple supplies some alternative ways to adjust function keys.

Apple has rolled out iOS 6.1.4 for the iPhone 5. According to Apple it sports an "updated audio profile for speakerphone."

To update your iPhone 5 to iOS 6.1.4, open Settings -> General -> Software Update and tap Download and Install when the update appears. You can also connect your phone to your computer and apply the update from iTunes, or download it manually at http://tinyurl.com/bebc5jb .

Funny because a lot of people said that once they deleted the app, the battery returned to normal functionality.

∞ Read this on The Loop

While the iPhone has GPS, and it's good enough for most people, performance-oriented athletes may find the precision lacking. Enter EpicSesh, makers of the Xensr line of "sports motion sensing devices." While it looks like the sensors are still undergoing testing, the promise is that athletes will get more accurate data to help training. If you've ever wanted more accuracy than that blue circle allows, Xensr is what you've been looking for.

If you're a bicyclist, you can precisely track your rides to see where you slowed down. Windsurfing, snowboarding, skateboarding and others can also track their precise movements to see what works and what doesn't. The Xensr records the full range of 3D movement very precisely. Even if you're not a performance athlete and just want to improve your times, Xensr is a promising technology I can't wait to see made available.

Until then, learn more about the Xensr from one of its creators, David...

Apple has added smaller SSD storage options to its iMac line. The Apple Store now lists 256GB (US$300) and 512GB ($600) to both 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac models. Previously, the company had only offered a 768GB SSD option, and only on the larger model.

Adobe MAX, the company’s ‘Creativity Conference’ kicks off this weekend and runs May 4-8, 2013 in Los Angeles, CA. Our Angelino in residence Mark Gurman will be on the scene to cover the notable new product announcements including an exciting new Photoshop product we’ve heard lots about and perhaps iPad versions of Lightroom.  Can’t make it to LA? Adobe is going to be streaming some of the sessions (probably Flash, sorry) as well as the Keynotes live on May 6th and 7th:

//

A Creative Evolution

Monday, May 6, 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. PT

The process of where and how we create is dramatically changing thanks to major advancements in technology, and there has never been a more exciting time. Join Adobe CEO...

The team at Astrid has announced the company has been purchased by Yahoo!. Astrid is a popular iOS and Android To Do manager with over four million users. In a blog post, Astrid CEO Jon Paris said:

We are thrilled to announce that we have been acquired by Yahoo!. When we set out to build Astrid, we sought to help as many people as possible become happier, healthier and more productive. We're really excited to join the mobile team and continue this work with Yahoo!'s goal of "making the world's daily habits more inspiring and entertaining."

Astrid will continue to work as is for the next three months, but the company is no longer accepting new premium subscriptions.

Yahoo has been on a roll lately with acquisitions and revitalization of its mobile apps. Earlier this year, the company acquired...

A great looking list of speakers.

∞ Read this on The Loop

According to Apple, iOS 6.1.4 has an updated audio profile for speakerphone, as well as security content originally included in previous iOS Software Updates. Go to Settings > General > Software Update on device to get the update.

iOS 6.1.4 has made its way through the tubes, but users looking forward to any kind of major feature updates should keep holding their breath. Thursday's update only applies to the iPhone 5, and it brings an updated audio profile for the speakerphone, which comes as a surprise to both end users and developers alike.

There are no other pieces to the iOS 6.1.4 puzzle—or at least not according to Apple's public release notes. The update was not seeded to developers in advance (unlike many previous releases), likely because it's so minor by comparison. It's possible that Apple's iOS engineers are too busy to apply much time to iOS 6.x updates, as they've reportedly been hard at work on iOS 7 to ensure it's ready enough to demo at WWDC in June.

That said, iOS 7 is expected for a fall release, so we wouldn't be surprised to see another update or two...

Adobe's Lightroom product manager Tom Hogarty has shown off an early beta of Lightroom for iOS, according to CNET. Hogarty made the semi-announcement on an episode of The Grid this week. Here's what CNET's Stephen Shankland had to say:

He wouldn't promise when the app would ship or what exactly it would do, but he did demonstrate some features of the prototype software running on an iPad 2. He also offered several details about its features:

o. The ability to edit photos taken in raw photo formats, including Lightroom develop-module parameters like exposure, clarity, shadows, highlights, and white balance.

o. Cloud-synchronized editing so that changes made on a tablet arrive on the same photo on the PC.

o. The ability to zoom all the way to 100 percent for checking photo focus and details.

...

Ulysses III is a complete rewrite of the legendary Ulysses II writing tool.  It uses a wide range of OS X technologies to create a focused, elegant writing environment. By using Markdown, it separates how the document looks from the content. Version 1.0.1 is missing a few minor features, but is a solid and impressive initial release.  John Martellaro liked it a lot.

Taxes.

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The latest version of iOS can be downloaded through iTunes. Version 6.1.4 is for iPhone 5.

Apple iOS 6 gives you more features to make the things you do every day even better.

Maps

Beautifully designed from the ground up (and the sky down), Maps will change the way you see the world.1 Map elements are vector based, so graphics and text are incredibly detailed -- even when you zoom all the way in -- and panning is smooth. Tilt and rotate to view an area, and Maps keeps the names of streets and places where they belong. Get visual and spoken turn-by-turn navigation and real-time traffic updates. Even soar over cityscapes to see the sights from the air in amazing, high-resolution quality.

Siri

With iOS 6, Siri understands more languages, works in more countries, and is available on the new iPad.2 So you can get more things done in more places around the world. Want to know the latest scores and...

Google Keep, the Evernote-like content storing app for Android, is now available for the desktop as well as a Chrome web app, keeping with its web app initiative.

Google typically releases its services for iOS as well, so this could be a sign that we can expect its arrival soon.

Read the full story on 9to5Google.

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Apple released iOS 6.1.4 for iPhone on Thursday, an update whose sole patch note says, "Updated audio profile for speakerphone."

There's something new under the sun for those interesting in buying an iMac. MacRumors is reporting that Apple now has two new flash storage options available for the iMac, both of which can be purchased when buying a configure-to-order device from the online Apple Store.

iMac buyers interested in replacing the standard 1 TB SATA hard disk drive have had the 1 TB Fusion Drive option available since the introduction of the new thinner models last fall. Now that slow mechanical drive can be replaced with either a 256 GB ($300 extra) or 512 GB ($600) flash storage option.

With the 27-inch iMac, it's always been possible to purchase an all-flash storage solution -- a 768 GB drive at a $900 price tag -- as well as 1 TB and 3 TB hard drive and Fusion Drive configurations. Apple's current move appears to be aimed at those people who might not need tons of...

Instagram announced today that it is updating its iOS and Android apps with a new feature dubbed ‘Photos of You’ making it easier to view and be notified of photos you care about most. The feature will make it easier for users uploading images to add mentions of people or things and also adds a new “Photos of You” section on your profile where tagged photos will gather:

When you upload a photo to Instagram, you’re now able to add the people and things in the photo as easily as you add a location and hashtags. When someone adds you to a photo, you’ll receive a notification and the photo will appear in your “Photos of You” – the new section on your profile where you can curate all of the photos you’ve been added to. Want to make sure you like the photo first? No problem: you can easily adjust your settings so nothing appears on your profile until you approve it.

The feature will be in a sort of beta mode until May 16th at which time the Photos of You section will become...

Fixes a problem where the user interface wouldn’t respond while synchronizing folders on Snow Leopard. ($34 new, free update, 29.4 MB)

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Adds new features, including layers, brightness with curve function, and support for DPHOTO online service. ($39.95 new, free update, 155 MB)

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Originally a Facebook-only game, Rovio’s Angry Birds Friends is now available on iOS for free. The game still revolves around Facebook though — you have to sign into Facebook to compete in the tournaments and challenge friends for trophies. New levels are added to tournaments every week, and the…

Regret not ponying up for that OnStar subscription for your last car? A startup called Automatic promises to provide most of those features (and a few extra) with an iPhone app and a hardware dongle that plugs into your car's data port. The device performs diagnostics, lets you turn off your "Service Engine" light, provides fuel-saving tips based on your driving habits, remembers where you park and where you drove, calls for help in an accident, and more. The device (expected to ship in August) costs a one-time fee of US$69 and connects to a companion iPhone app via Bluetooth. An Android version is planned, but Windows Phone and Blackberry users are out of luck. The company says it works with virtually every gasoline-powered car sold in the U.S. since 1996. If Automatic lives up to its promise, it could be huge.

...

Apple today released a minor iOS 6.1.4 update, bringing an updated audio profile for speakerphone. The new version, which arrives as Build 10B350, appears to only be for the iPhone 5.

The update did not involve a beta testing period for developers and follows the release of iOS 6.1.3 in mid-March.

Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories
• Blockbuster Launches On Demand App for iOS
• Acorn 4 Image Editor Adds Improved Speed, Enhanced User Interface and More
• Kindle App for iOS Updated with New Accessibility...

Ecamm already makes the popular Printopia app; it's a Mac-based solution for printing from iOS devices (and other connected Macs) for those that don't wish to use or purchase specific AirPrint-supported printers. Now the company has released Printopia Pro to tackle the bigger challenges of AirPrint in corporate or institutional networks.

Similar to Printopia, Printopia Pro leverages AirPrint, but without the need for investment in new, AirPrint-supported printers. Ecamm has taken the features of Printopia and powered them up in Printopia Pro to work in extremely demanding print circumstances. [Some enterprise users have aimed to solve this problem with...

Australia's Qantas airline has released a brand new iPhone app (free) with many great features, including Passbook support.

The Qantas Airways app lets customers find and book Qantas flights, book hotels worldwide, view flight bookings, access up-to-the-minute flight status, and create personalized alerts for specific flights and prices.

With Passbook support, fliers can check-in for most domestic flights and add their boarding pass to Passbook, meaning there's no need to carry a paper ticket when traveling.

Furthermore, Qantas frequent flyers can use the app to view their points balance and what their next flight is. Handy!

The Qantas Airways app is...

On May 2, 2013, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that may be revealing an update to iPhoto for iDevices. Apple states that their invention relates to performing on-screen image adjustments, for example, to adjust colors of photos by using color control tools overlaid on the digital images to be adjusted. It's difficult to assess if today's patent revelations cover the current version of iPhoto for iDevices or a possible upgrade. The patent graphics don't reflect the current tools. If you're a camera buff who uses an iDevice for your snapshots, then you may want to check this patent filing out to see if Apple is going to add any new tools that you've been hoping for. ...

If nothing else, the patent applications tell you what’s coming down the pipe.

Per the United States Patent and Trademark Office, a pair of patent applications (1,...

In June, there is a local 5K race and I want to run in it. It's been years since I've done any serious running so I definitely have to prepare for this event. Like any good techie, I turned to my iPhone and the App Store for motivation. After searching, I stumbled on a new version of an old favorite, Zombies, Run!, that has been adapted for 5K training.

Zombies, Run! 5K is meant for the beginning runner who wants to train for a 5K. The app has 25 workouts that you spread out over an 8-week period. Unlike other trainers, Zombies, Run! 5K emphasizes starting slow and listening to your body as you gradually increase your endurance. You do workouts every other day and take the full 8 weeks to train.

Each 40-minute workout starts with a warm-up that is followed by a period of interval training. During the intervals, you alternate between running, walking and other activities like knee lifts or skipping. The workout wraps up...

The iPad version of Corel's Pinnacle Studio has undergone a major update that introduces a brand new speed control. Tapping on the speed button will allow users to adjust the speed of any video clip, while pinch gestures can be used to actively speed up or slow down playback. Users can also add a freeze effect with a single click, as well as use a single finger swipe in the speed control for roll trimming. Other enhancements include faster rendering, simplified audio editing, and the ability to initiate renders directly form the preview message. Pinnacle Studio 3 is available in the App Store... ...

Evomail, a $3 Gmail client for the iPad, launched Thursday morning in the App Store.

Evomail lets you share messages via social networks.

While the creators—who also developed the once-much-loved Boxcar notification service—promise that Evomail will be beautiful and innovative, at launch it looks and feels a lot like Gmail’s own free app for iOS: Both apps let you access multiple Gmail accounts, both let users search their entire mail archives, both let users see threaded conversations and profile pictures, and both let you send attachments more easily than Apple’s native Mail app.

There are some differences,...

The market for dedicated GPS devices hasn't died despite the rise of the smartphone, and Magellan found an interesting way to tie the two together with its new SmartGPS. Along with the usual GPS navigation features you'd expect, it also ties in to Yelp! and Foursquare, gives live updates on nearby gas prices and weather, sports a 5-inch touch screen, you can upload the locations you search for on your computer, iPhone, or iPad to the GPS, and more. SmartGPS is priced at US$249.99, the companion iOS app will be available as a free download soon.

The US Department of Defense will soon approve the iPhone and iPad for use by military agencies for non-classified communications, reports The Wall Street Journal. The approval will only be for devices running iOS 6 or higher. According to the WSJ:

Separately, DISA [The Defense Information Systems Agency] is expected to rule in early May that Apple's latest operating system, iOS 6, conforms to a different security-requirement guide, the Defense Department spokesman said. That would allow iPhones and iPads to be used by military agencies for non-classified communications, such as email and Web browsing.

The Journal also reports that certain Samsung devices, like the Galaxy S4, will receive the same approval. As the US Department of Defense has the largest employee pool of any government agency, and third-party security companies employ hundreds...

As noted by The Verge, Intel late yesterday released details on its next-generation integrated graphics offerings arriving as part of the company's Haswell processor lineup. The new graphics options consist of three primary levels: an Intel HD Graphics 5000 to be packaged as part of 15-watt chips destined for ultrabooks, an Intel "Iris" Graphics 5100 to be paired with 28-watt mid-range chips targeted at larger ultrabooks, and an Intel "Iris Pro" Graphics 5200 for the highest-power chips.The company claims its new Intel "Iris" Graphics, embedded in upcoming Haswell CPUs, can offer double or triple the performance of the Intel HD Graphics 4000 that comes with current Ivy Bridge processors. That's significant: typically each generation offers only a double-digit percentage boost.

That doesn't mean every new Haswell processor will come with quite that level of...

Jeff Bewkes, CEO of HBO’s parent company Time Warner, said on Wednesday that the company has no plans to offer HBO GO without a cable subscription.

This will make a lot of people very unhappy.

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The next-gen stuff always looks pretty sexy…

Per AppleInsider and Engadget, a document released on Wednesday sheds some light on Intel’s forthcoming Core i7 processors, which will boast new integrated graphics silicon that promises to double or even triple performance compared to existing models.

Alongside a new iteration of the “Intel HD Graphics” series, dubbed HD 5000, Intel is introducing the “Iris” and “Iris Pro” tiers to its graphics lineup with Haswell,...