Rejoice, Imgur fans. A few weeks after Imgur CEO Alan Schaaf intimated that an official app for iOS was on the way, the day has finally come. Imgur for iOS was recently released and gives fans of the photo sharing site an easy way to upload photos on the go and keep up with the latest viral photos making their way around the web.

Interestingly enough, the Android version of the app was actually released before the iOS version, a phenomenon Schaaf attributed to Apple's application approval process. Specifically, Schaaf said that the app's initial submission to the App Store was rejected on account of the app being associated with copyrighted and illicit content.

Well thankfully, all off those initial hurdles seem to have been addressed and the official Imgur app is now ready for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch toting fans to download.

The app description reads:

Imgur (im-ij-er) is the go-...

With the release of OS X Mountain Lion in 2012, Apple brought iOS’s Notification Center feature to the Mac. As with its iOS counterpart, OS X’s Notification Center alerts you when something is happening (or has happened) on your device. On iOS it’s flawed but indispensable; in Mountain Lion I’ve found it to be eminently dispensable.

In recent years, Apple has shown a predilection for improving operating-system features in their second iterations—think Time Machine and FileVault, to name just two. With OS X Mavericks, Apple is doing the same for Notification Center. But while the result is more useful, it still doesn’t feel as organized as it should be.

Interactive bubbles

Notification Center comes in two forms: Floating notification bubbles that appear on your screen when you need to know something, and a notifications list that slides out from the right side of your screen when you click the...

If you flip back through your course notes, you’ll see that last week we explored using Preview to edit and annotate images. But as I explained in that lesson, Preview has powers beyond images. It’s also Apple’s default PDF reader. And while it’s no substitute for Adobe Acrobat Pro as a PDF document creator and editor, it has some useful talents of its own. We’ll explore those talents now.

Note: Throughout this discussion we’ll be talking about unencrypted PDF files. When dealing with encrypted PDFs, you may not be able to perform some of these tasks.

Navigating and viewing PDFs

When you double-click a PDF file, it opens, by default, in Preview. The first time you launch it, you’ll see the first page of the file (if it has multiple pages). You can navigate through the document by scrolling down or by dragging the document’s scrollbar, but...

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.... ...

Of all the publications that credulously reported the debunked Strategy Analytics claim that Samsung has passed Apple in phone handset profits (and there were many), I thought the most telling was the headline on David Murphy’s piece for PC Mag: “Analyst: Samsung Finally Overtakes Apple for Mobile Operating Profits”.

Finally.

To his credit, Murphy has updated his original piece and published a thorough follow-up bringing attention to Daniel Dilger’s take-down, which is a lot more than most can say, including Juliette Garside of the Guardian UK,...

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.   ...

This is the latest how-to as part of our new series:

For some people, the font sizes on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch are too small. Sometimes, these small fonts prevent people from using or purchasing the iOS devices. Thankfully, there are multiple solutions to this potential issue. Below, we’ve rounded up the fixes:

1. Pinch to Zoom.  This is probably what most are familiar with and comfortable doing. This will work in Mail, Photos, Safari, PDFs in iBooks, Apple Maps and Google Maps. To Pinch to Zoom, you start...

You're typing away at your Mac, rushing to meet a deadline, when you hear your iPhone ringing. Rather than digging into your pocket to find the phone and fumble to answer it, wouldn't you rather just click an button on your Mac screen to answer the call? That's the concept behind Dialogue (US$6.99), a new app from Netherlands development firm Zebraa.

I had a chance to try Dialogue as a late beta, and I like what I found. The initial setup installs a small phone icon in your menu bar. Clicking on it displays a small dialogue box that is used on first launch to pair your Mac and iPhone. Once that easy process is done, the dialogue shows that your iPhone is connected and ready for calls.

When you receive an incoming call on your iPhone, a box appears on the Mac screen with caller ID information (if available) and Accept and Decline buttons. Click Accept,...

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...

Atlus PR handled some criticism of their new game like pros, admonishing their fans to dial it back after they went a bit rabid on the reviewer.

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JCPenney isn’t doing any better now that Ron Johnson is out of the picture, it seems.

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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...

On Aug. 5 — Monday of next week — an International Trade Commission import ban on older iPhones and iPads found to infringe one of Samsung’s standards-essential patents will go into effect — unless the White House overturns it.

Will it? We’ll find out for certain come Friday, the deadline for the Obama administration to weigh in on the matter. But in the meantime, the chorus of voices urging the White House to take particular care with this decision is growing. Last week, Verizon Communications called for President Obama’s intervention in the case, in a Wall Street Journal editorial.

Now a bipartisan group of senators has ...

References spotted in the iOS 7 SDK appear to show that Apple is testing a new, faster iPad mini without a Retina display, 9to5Mac reports. The code refers to the same A6 processor found in Apple’s iPhone 5, which would be faster than the current iPad mini processor. A…

When Apple announced its new Mac Pro at WWDC, the first thought of many customers was that they wanted it. Badly. Then reality sunk in; this is a Mac Pro for professionals.  It'll be too expensive for the Rest of Us. However, here's why you'll need it anyway. And will love doing it.

The Trego is a briefcase, iPad case and portable workstation in one. It is tough, practical and holds a good deal of necessary stuff, even a small keyboard.  It will hold iPad 2 or later, but the case opening for the charger cord is Lightning only.

A newly released featurette offers a quick look at the upcoming film "Jobs," including new footage and interviews with the movie's stars.   ...

In new web and email promotions, Apple is pushing people to take advantage of upcoming US tax holidays via its online store. Ten states are holding holidays, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Of these, Florida is the lone addition in 2013....  ...

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,...

When three of the big four mobile carriers -- AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile US, and Verizon Wireless -- agree on something, you know that it's going to get a big push. The three companies formed Isis in early 2011 to orchestrate the future of near field communication (NFC) payments, and today the joint venture announced that the Isis Mobile Wallet system will be rolled out nationwide later this year.

Isis Mobile Wallet users need an NFC-enabled smartphone and a SIM-based secure element to be considered "Isis Ready." Many Samsung Android devices are equipped for NFC, both for local file sharing and payments. At this point, NFC technology isn't built into iPhones, nor has there been any word from Apple on whether the technology will be in future devices. Nevertheless, the joint venture notes that support for iPhone, Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10 will be introduced this year.

Isis trials were held...

Apple's iPhone brought in 53 percent of the profits in the worldwide smartphone market during the second calendar quarter of 2013. Samsung swallowed almost all of the rest of the market's profits, too, show that right now the smartphone market is a two horse race.

After six years and despite over one million units sold, FileMaker Inc. has announced that it is discontinuing its personal database product Bento. Adam Engst delves into the details, and suggests that the moral of the story is that we users must constantly be vigilant when relying on an app or service to make sure we have an exit strategy.

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 data from App Annie’s latest download and revenue report, Google Play for the first time surpassed the App Store in app downloads during the second quarter of 2013. While Google was able to move past Apple with about 10 percent more downloads during the three month period, the report notes the App Store brought in nearly 2.3x the amount of revenue.

App Annie says that Google Play’s growth was driven by emerging markets including Brazil, India, and Russia, and while the App Store still leads by revenue, Google Play closed the gap slightly compared to last quarter and years past.

Google Play saw Brazil climb two spots to join India and Russia as another emerging market in the top 5 countries by downloads for Q2 2013…The United States, Japan and United Kingdom remained the leaders in the iOS App Store when looking at revenue generation, and Australia climbed to #4 after a strong Q2. iOS...

FileMaker is discontinuing its personal database software for OS X and iOS, Bento.

∞ Read this on The Loop

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...

Nintendo’s Wii U sales numbers are horrible.

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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.  ...

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...