Susan Bennett, an Atlanta-area voice actress, has revealed herself as the original voice of Siri. Though Apple won’t confirm Bennett as the voice, CNN reports, “Professionals who know her voice, have worked with her and represent her legally say she is Siri. And an audio-forensics expert with 30 years…

Open secrets

In the latest edition of our weekly iPhone-case roundup, you'll find everything from the thin to the waterproof, including one protective accessory that keeps both your phone and your secrets safe.

Bike2Power

The Bravo (iPhone 5 and 5s; $100) is waterproof up to six feet and is designed to withstand a fall from six feet.

Available in black or silver, the Bravo allows you to continue using all the phone’s functionality while it’s installed—including listening to audio and making phone calls.

Cygnett

The SecondSkin (iPhone 5 and 5s; $17) is made from a soft, silicone material that offers bouncy protection and a great grip for your hand.

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Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "BBC reports that Chinese web users are criticizing Apple after the company pulled a free iPhone app called OpenDoor, which enables users to bypass firewalls and access restricted internet sites. The developers of OpenDoor — who wish to remain anonymous — told Radio Netherlands that Apple removed the app because it 'includes content that is illegal in China.' 'It is unclear to us how a simple browser app could include illegal contents, since it's the user's own choosing of what websites to view,' say the developers. 'Using the same definition, wouldn't all browser apps, including Apple's own Safari and Google's Chrome, include illegal contents?' Chinese internet users were disappointed by the move by Apple. Zhou Shuguang, a prominent Chinese blogger and citizen journalist, told U.S.-based Radio Free Asia that Apple had taken away one of the tools which internet users in China relied on to circumvent the country's great firewall. 'Apple is determined to...

Atlanta's Susan Bennett has announced that hers is the original voice of Siri (though Apple won't confirm it). She has been doing voice work since the 70's and can be heard on GPS devices, automated phone systems and even the Delta airport terminals. But it was her gig as Siri's female voice that's added a bit of notoriety.

Bennett notes that she first heard her voice coming from an Apple iPhone when a friend contacted her and asked, "Isn't this you?" She didn't have a Siri-capable iPhone at the time, so she visited Apple.com to get her first listen.

She also notes that she and the recording team spent four hours a day recording Siri's voice, every day for a month straight. Back then, she didn't know where those particular recordings would end up.

Today, Susan says, "[Siri] and I are friends."

Also: Happy birthday Siri!

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As the PC market continues to slump, the outlook for traditional notebooks this holiday season is weak, while tech supply chain sources in Taiwan reportedly expect a "major upgrade" to Apple's full-size iPad to arrive this month.
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On the eve of the second anniversary of the passing of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Apple CEO Tim Cook has reflected on the moment in a company-wide email. A source has provided a copy:

Team-

Tomorrow marks the second anniversary of Steve’s death. I hope everyone will reflect on what he meant to all of us and to the world. Steve was an amazing human being and left the world a better place.I think of him often and find enormous strength in memories of his friendship, vision and leadership. He left behind a company that only he could have built and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple. We will continue to honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to the work he loved so much. There is no higher tribute to his memory. I know that he would be proud of all of you.

Best,

Tim

Last year, Apple honored Jobs with a tribute video...

For those paranoid spy folks out there, SRLabs has pointed out an additional security weakness which could help an attacker use the fingerprint hack to access an iPhone 5s.

The fingerprint hack takes time: around half an hour of actual work, plus drying time. Provided you notice your phone has gone before the thief gains access, you can simply remotely lock or wipe the phone. But with Airplane Mode accessible from the control center on the lockscreen, a thief can simply enable this to prevent the phone being wiped while they are dealing with the fingerprint … 

Once a thief has used a spoofed fingerprint to gain access, they could use the Apple ID...

Account information, including user names and encrypted credit card numbers, were stolen from Adobe servers by hackers, potentially exposing information for 2.9 million user accounts. Adobe revealed the security breach on Thursday, and has already started notifying customers who may now have compromised credit cards

The Mac Observer Spin:
Since Creative Cloud is a subscription-based service, Adobe needs to keep credit card information on file for customers that use its apps including Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver. The company has been dealing with outspoken resistance to moving to a subscription model for its applications, and incidents where credit card numbers are stolen from its servers won't instill a sense of confidence in users that already don't like the Creative Cloud idea.

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Direct remake. In Columbia. Wild.

The explosive success of Breaking Bad was bound to generate some copycats shows, but Spanish language media company Univision took it a step further, decided to cut out all those pesky middlemen (I think they’re called “writers”), and do a direct Spanish language remake. The Univision version will be set in Colombia and called Metástasis, the term for the spread of cancer- I assume “breaking bad” doesn’t really translate. The project seems intent on keeping every iconographic piece of the show they can, down to “Walter Blanco” (yes, really) in his famous white briefs. They even named his wife “Cielo Blanco”- “Cielo” being Spanish for “sky.”

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Long time fan of Digital Photography Review. It’s my first stop before I buy any new piece of photography gear. Agree with them or not, there is always something to learn from their reviews.

Their final word:

The iPhone 5s, running Apple’s fresh iOS 7, is an excellent phone with a very good camera. Image quality under most conditions is among the top of the class of “conventional” smartphone camera units: you have to look to the Nokia Lumia 1020 to find something that’s hands-down better across the board, though in good light the best 13-megapixel sensors do capture more detail.

The camera app is supremely easy to use, and the 5s’ powerful processing makes for class-leading burst speed and excellent responsiveness. Users looking to upgrade from older iPhones shouldn’t be disappointed. That said, there’s nothing in the 5s that changes the fundamental balance of power in the mobile photography world: users committed to other OSes won’t necessarily see a reason to...

Won’t be long now until we see the actual release. My hope is that this signifies the release of a new retina MacBook Pro alongside the already pre-announced Mac Pro.

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This week's All Things Appy takes a look at the five best, free geo-oriented apps for the iOS platform. To keep your costs down, we're concentrating on those tracking apps that don't require additional hardware, like sensors. Not all mobile Apple hardware products have GPS satellite location, which many of these apps require for best results. The iPod is one of those. Also, be aware that GPS chips use an enormous amount of battery power, so expect to see degraded battery life the longer you run these apps.

Voice actress Susan Bennett has come forward as the original voice of Siri. While neither Apple or Nuance would verify her identity, her claim has been verified by colleagues and an audio-forensics expert. Bennett’s speciality is interactive voice response (IVR), which is the technology behind automated phone systems. She was hired by ScanSoft in 2005 for an IVR project. ScanSoft later merged with Nuance, which is reported to be the source of Siri’s voice technology.

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.

An Atlanta woman has come forward to CNN as the U.S. voice of Siri, the built-in “personal assistant” first introduced in the iPhone 4S. Susan Bennett says she first discovered that her voice was being used on Apple’s smartphones when a friend emailed her and asked if it was her voice on the iPhone commercial. She headed to the Apple website to discover that she had unknowingly provided the voice for the system with samples she recorded in July of 2005, a full six years before the phone’s launch.

Bennett says she had no idea that the voice samples would be used by Apple and that her work also appears on many GPS units and other devices, including the first ATM.

Previously, an Australian morning show interviewed the voice actress who provided the voice for Siri in that country. The interview can be seen below....

Electronic accessories company Booq has released its latest Complete Protection Kit for the new iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s. The Complete Protection Kit offers iPhone users a four-part system to reinforce the phone's structural integrity -- featuring a tempered glass screen protector, a thin snap case, microfiber cleaning cloth, and two adhesive home button covers. The scratch-resistant coating provides lightweight protection intended to be permanent and replace the need for a case. Available in clear and black, booq's Complete Protection Kit is priced at $35....
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Ongoing tracking by analytics company Mixpanel has revealed that iOS 7 has been adopted by fully two-thirds of the entire active iOS userbase, just two weeks after its initial release. The overhauled revamp for Apple's mobile devices, having delivered a fresh new look and substantive under-the-hood improvements and changes, become the most widely-used OS version within three days its debut....
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In line with our report from earlier today, Apple has released OS X Mavericks Golden Master (GM) to developers. It became available to AppleSeed users and Apple employees earlier today. This GM stage means that Apple has completed work on OS X Mavericks, and this is the version that will be released to customers later this month. Apple has also released a slew of updates to developers, including new versions of iPhoto and Xcode. The GM update requires a new download from the Mac App Store…

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Adobe announced that 2.9 million of its customer account have been compromised in a "sophisticated" cyber attack on the company. Writing on its blog, Adobe said:

Our investigation currently indicates that the attackers accessed Adobe customer IDs and encrypted passwords on our systems. We also believe the attackers removed from our systems certain information relating to 2.9 million Adobe customers, including customer names, encrypted credit or debit card numbers, expiration dates, and other information relating to customer orders. At this time, we do not believe the attackers removed decrypted credit or debit card numbers from our systems. We deeply regret that this incident occurred. We're working diligently internally, as well as with external partners and law enforcement, to address the incident.

The news is unsettling to all of Adobe's customers, particularly...

Apple has given developers a heads-up that Mac apps will "soon be eligible to participate in the Volume Purchase Program for Business and Education" in the Mac App Store.

The message, which a tipster forwarded to TUAW, notes that the Volume Purchase Program gives educational institutions and businesses a way to purchase multiple copies of an app at one time.

Developers can also choose to offer a discount to educational institutions, at which point institutions purchasing 20 or more copies of an app in a single order get a 50 percent discount. Apps have to be enrolled in the program to be available at the educational discount.

Apple announces Mac app volume purchase program originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 03 Oct 2013 21:00:00...

Nike has sent out invitations to the media for an October 15 event in New York City, where it plans to discuss the future of its digital world experience. Likely, but not confirmed, at the event is a new iteration of the FuelBand monitoring device, which is nearly two years old....
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Addresses battery-related issues that could cause Apple laptops to hang or stop recognizing the battery altogether. (Free, 703 KB to 1.09 MB)

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.

Fixes a couple of sleep-related bugs, plus a FaceTime HD problem on mid-2013 MacBook Air models. (Free update, 18.7 MB)

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.

Fixes bugs with iTunes Extras and deleted podcasts. (Free, 215 MB)

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.

Networking company Netgear has launched its newest dual-band 802.11ac wireless router, the Nighthawk AC1900 Smart Wi-Fi Router (R7000). The Nighthawk combines a powerful 1GHz dual-core processor with a USB 3.0 port for peripheral connectivity and Netgear Beamforming+ to boost speed, reliability of connection, and best possible range for Wi-Fi 802.11ac connectivity in the home....
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I use this app every day.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Citigroup has agreed to a settlement with Apple, where it will pay the Cupertino manufacturer a Massachusetts-leading $30 million fine after analyst Kevin Chang improperly distributed confidential research about an Apple supplier. The unpublished research detailed Hon Hai Precision Industry's iPhone 4, 4S and 5 component orders, to Citadel, GLG Partners, SAC, and T. Rowe Price....
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There are a couple of ways to ensure that file contents are irrecoverable when deleting files in OS X.

Apple on Thursday released an updated beta of OS X Mavericks, the forthcoming major system upgrade for OS X users. The new version, the ninth, drops the "Developer Preview" part of the name and simply refers to it as "OS X Mavericks," suggesting that pre-release work on it is drawing to a close. Mavericks (otherwise known as OS X 10.9) is widely expected to be released sometime later this month, though Apple hasn't set a formal date as of yet....
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Citigroup has been slapped with a $30 million fine for slipping unpublished research on Apple to a handful of institutional clients ahead of other investors.

According to a consent order from the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Citigroup analyst Kevin Chang emailed research describing significant iPhone production cuts to SAC, T. Rowe Price, Citadel and GLG Partners ahead of official publication.

Three of the four (SAC Capital, T. Rowe Price and Citadel) acted on that information, selling off shares between the time they received it and the time Citigroup released it to the broader market. And by doing so, they saved themselves quite a bit of money; Apple’s share price fell 5.2 percent on December 14, the day Chang’s research was published.

“It seems that the concept that...

As iOS developers begin to rake in greater and greater profits, the question over whether mobile titles pose a threat to traditional console gaming grows more relevant. Sony, according to a GamesIndustry interview with Sony Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida, has shifted away from competing with the likes of the iPhone and iPad and would rather use them to enhance their first-party console experiences.

"What we're saying now is that we've totally changed our approach to mobile products like smartphones and tablets. In the past, we felt like these guys were competition to our portable games, in general -- but now, everyone owns these smartphones and tablets," Yoshida explains. "That's why we are creating the hook, releasing the official PlayStation apps...

Anonymous sources are telling several outlets (including AppleInsider and TechCrunch) that Apple has just purchased Cue, a personal assistant service with more than a few similarities to Google Now. News of the acquisition (which, according to various sources, cost Apple somewhere between $35 and $60 million) follows the complete shuttering of the service yesterday.

Cue (once called Greplin) could pull data from a number of services including Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, and many others. It would then organize this data and present you with a unified list of relevant information whenever you opened the app. Android users with Google Now enabled already enjoy similar functionality—Google Now will...

Apple has released OS X v10.8.5 Supplemental Update 1.0 for Mountain Lion. The update, which is available in the Mac App Store or through the link above, provides the following fixes:

• Resolves an issue that may prevent certain applications from using the FaceTime HD camera on mid-2013 MacBook Air systems
• Fixes an issue that may cause external drives to be ejected after the computer goes to sleep
• Addresses an issue that may prevent HDMI audio from working after waking from sleep
• Fixes an issue that may prevent certain USB Bluetooth adapters from working.

A restart of your Mac is required to install the update.

In addition, iTunes 11.1.1 has been released. The update resolves an issue that may cause iTunes Extras to display incorrectly, fixes a problem with deleted podcasts, and improves stability.

...

Relative to previous years, Apple has been on an acquisition spree in recent years, with the company confirming today that they acquired a personal assistant app called Cue.

Cue works by combing through a user's varied internet accounts, determining what's useful, and then aggregating it all into a single "intelligent" snapshot.

Before being pulled from the App Store (shocking!), Cue's features were described thusly:

Cue intelligently ties together and surfaces useful information at the right time across all your accounts. From email, contacts and calendars to Facebook posts, Dropbox files and LinkedIn -- Cue makes it easy to contact the people you care about, get to where you are going, and to know what's next.

Cue...

Apple’s current iOS-exclusive program

Apple has informed Mac developers that it is preparing to launch the ability for educational institutions and developers to purchase apps from the Mac App Store in volume for a discount. The upcoming feature was announced in an email:

We’re pleased to announce that Mac apps will soon be eligible to participate in the Volume Purchase Program for Business and Education. The Volume Purchase Program allows businesses or educational institutions to purchase multiple copies of your app at once.

You may also offer a discount to educational institutions for multiple purchases. If you choose to offer a volume discount for an app, institutions that purchase 20 or more copies of that app in a single order will receive a 50-percent discount.

Your existing Mac apps will not be automatically...

The highly rated stealth puzzler Stealth Inc will eventually break free of its current console and PC shackles and find its way to iOS, reports Pocket Gamer. The game -- which was originally titled Stealth Bastard before that name raised too many red flags -- tasks you with guiding an adorable clone through a series of deadly puzzles.

Developer Jonathan Biddle notes that while he has the game up and running on iOS, it's become a bit of a tedious process to ensure that each level works with all the available screen resolutions that iOS affords. "The different screen resolutions and aspect ratios have meant creating three different versions of each of the game's 80 levels -- iPad, widescreen iPhone and 4:3 iPhone. Testing the iOS version of the game now means playing it through three times every time the levels are changed."

Biddle also mentioned that the lowest...

Apple has released iTunes 11.1.1, which fixes a problem with deleted podcasts and resolves an issue that may cause iTunes Extras to display incorrectly. The minor update can be downloaded at iTunes.com, or installed through the OS X App Store.

As anticipated, Apple has released a Supplemental Update for OS X 10.8.5. The patch fixes a bug that prevented some apps from recognizing the FaceTime HD camera on the 2013 MacBook Air, plus two issues related to OS X's sleep mode: one would cause external drives to be ejected after a Mac went to sleep, while another silenced HDMI audio after waking. The update also copes with some USB Bluetooth adapters not functioning....
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Scroll down to see the list.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Today seems to be the day for delayed Kickstarter projects to announce that they're finally going to ship. Earlier it was the Narrative Clip (neé Memoto), now the long-delayed Motrr Galileo robotic iPhone platform is available for pre-order at 10 percent off list price at US$149.95 and will ship next month.

The device caught the attention of the iOS community last year when the remote control mount was first outed on Kickstarter. Galileo can pan and tilt a full 360° at speeds of up to 200° per second. An app will provide controls for the mount, or a web browser can be used from anywhere to aim your iPhone.

There will be two different versions of Galileo; one that has a 30-pin connector and another equipped with Bluetooth. Both can be mounted on a standard tripod, can work to charge your iPhone or iPod touch and have...

Citi has signed a consent order with the Massachusetts Secretary of State agreeing to pay $30 million after its analysts leaked information on Apple's iPhone supply chain to a number of big clients, including SAC Capital Advisors.
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The personal assistant app and service Cue has been bought up, and while Apple hasn't offered an official confirmation it's the company that dropped between US$40 million and $60 million on the deal, word on the street is that's exactly what happened. If so, Cue's assets will give Apple a strong boost in the digital assistant game and give Google's Now technology a run for its money.

The Mac Observer Spin:
Apple clearly wants to make sure it has the tools in its arsenal to compete with the likes of Google as our personal digital assistant. Google Now offers some very compelling features, so it's great to see Apple -- assuming Apple is the company that bought Cue -- stepping up to keep the competition hot.

Today's video tip highlights a little-known feature in Safari under iOS 7. At any time while you're using the mobile browser, tap on the bookmarks button, then tap the "@" button to see links that have been shared via Twitter by people you follow.

Once you've found a link you want to look at, tapping it not only opens the associated web page, but also displays the tweet it was linked from at the top of the mobile Safari window.

As with all of our video tips, this one can be enlarged to full-screen for easier viewing.

iOS 7 video tip: View tweeted links in Mobile Safari originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 03 Oct 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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OS X Mavericks may be on the horizon, but don’t think we’re done with Mountain Lion quite yet. Late on Thursday, Apple released OS X 10.8.5 Supplemental Update 1.0, along with iTunes 11.1.1.

The Supplemental Update fixes a few issues with Mountain Lion, including a problem that might prevent some apps from using the FaceTime HD camera when running on a mid-2013 MacBook Air. Also patched are a pair of sleep issues: one where external drives were ejected after the computer went to sleep, and another where HDMI audio wouldn’t work right after the computer was woken up. Finally, there’s also a fix for problems with certain USB Bluetooth adapters.

Other than its lovely mono-numeric version number, iTunes 11.1.1 fixes a problem where podcasts were deleted, patches an issue where iTunes Extras displayed incorrectly, and improves stability. We could all use a little improved stability in our lives, right?

Both updates are, as of this writing, available via...

Apple is releasing a software patch on Thursday designed to fix a problem with the latest Mac OS X update that caused the built-in camera in some recent Mac Book Air laptops to no longer function properly.

The “supplemental update” to Mac OS X 10.8.5, which is going out today, is designed to fix several issues, including the one that caused the FaceTime+ camera on the latest Mac Book Airs to stop working with many popular applications.

It also aims to solve a problem that caused some external drives to be ejected when a Mac went to sleep as well as separate Bluetooth and HDMI audio issues.

Until the patch, Apple had been recommending those with the latest Mac Book Air computers not to update and suggested that those who had should temporarily use an external camera.

Apple released a supplemental update for OS X 10.8.5 to address four issue in Mountain Lion, including a FaceTime HD issue (that also affected Skype on mid 2013 MacBook Air), an issue effecting external drives, a problem with HDMI audio, and an issue affecting USB Bluetooth adapters.

There are always a few teething problems, usually limited to a relatively small number of devices, when a product first launches. Past iPhone releases have been no exception, and for Apple’s latest iPhone launch it appears some users are experiencing issues related to the iPhone 5s’s sensors. We’ve been receiving several complaints from iPhone users about inaccurate readings from the gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, and other sensor-based features for the device, and today Gizmodo found similar issues with a 5s unit that it tested:

We’ve confirmed the new iPhone’s failings on...

Apple has indeed bought personal assistant software maker Cue, whose software abruptly shut down earlier this week.

Cue founders Daniel Gross and Robby Walker

Multiple sources confirmed the deal, which was first reported by AppleInsider.

Apple confirmed the purchase but declined further comment.

“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” Apple said in a statement.

As reported by TechCrunch, the price is said to be upward of $40 million, though that figure may include earnouts or other incentive pay, sources said.

...

Just when you thought it was safe to stop talking about Apple acquisitions! As reported by AppleInsider and TechCrunch, Cupertino has snapped up another company: the folks behind personal assistant app Cue.

Cue, which began its life as a startup called Greplin, was a service (with an attendant iOS app) that operated as a personal assistant, drawing information from a variety of social networking accounts like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. This allowed users to search through the various information streams without having to log into each service individually.

It’s not hard to see what the appeal might be for Apple. The company’s invested time and energy in...