From 9to5Toys.com:

A large majority of the deals we cover each day come from a variety of ‘Daily Deal’ websites or are so popular that they don’t even last 24 hours. We know you can’t be at your computer every second, so we’re going to round up the best deals each day to make sure you have a fair shot at the deals you want. Be sure to follow 9to5Toys.com so you never miss a deal... Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+.

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Lomography has made a business out of trying to keep some of the old film technology alive, and they've been doing it for 20 years. To bridge the gap between the film and digital ages, they've come up with the Lomography Smartphone Film Scanner (US$59).

This post probably won't make sense to those of you who have grown up with digital photography, but there used to be a day when cameras used this stuff called "film." You'd stick it into your camera, take photos, then have them "developed" so that you could see your pictures on "prints." When you'd pick up your envelope of prints, the place where you got your photos developed was always kind enough to include your "negatives," which were the processed film strips. Want another print? Drop off the negative with your friendly neighborhood processing shop, and you'd get the print later -- for a fee, of...

The Wall Street Journal has proven it can find fault with just about anything—this time it’s Apple’s retail operation. WSJ says that Apple retail—one of the most successful and different operations in the world—is suffering.

But then they have lines like this:

Sales at Apple Stores in the recently reported third quarter slipped to $4 billion, down slightly from a year earlier…

Most retailers would love to “slip” to that.

It [Apple] raked in $5,971 per square foot in 2012, up 17% from the $5,098 per square foot the year before, according to retail consultancy Customer Growth Partners. By comparison, Tiffany & Co. had sales of $3,453 per square foot in 2012, and popular yoga-clothes retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc. pulled in $2,464 per square foot last year.

Why not worry about Tiffany?

I wonder how much Microsoft makes per square foot? I know that’s a silly question for WSJ to ask.

...

If you were a former MobileMe user who got a nice 20 GB chunk of free storage last year when iCloud came to life, the happy days are almost over. A number of the TUAW staff members have received an email similar to the one seen above, noting that we'll have to either buy a storage plan by September 30, 2013 or have the plan drop down to the free 5 GB iCloud plan.

The link on the email goes to this support page, which explains how to sign up for a plan. In my case, the 20 GB plan is going to take $40 out of my wallet for the next year. How about you, TUAW readers? Are you going to renew your iCloud plan or just make do with your Dropbox or Google Drive accounts?

Complimentary iCloud storage upgrades are expiring soon originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 01...

Best Buy on Thursday kicked off a promotion that has the company bundling a free third-generation Apple TV with a purchase of select 15-inch MacBook Pros with Retina display   ...

Samsung’s marketing company is trying to buy off StackOverflow forum posters.

∞ Read this on The Loop

John Gruber had a great post today about how the media jumps on stories that reflect poorly on Apple. I agree wholeheartedly with his points. It’s like the mainstream media are waiting with bated breath for the slightest mishap so they can bash Apple. A lot of times, they are just plain wrong.

Meanwhile Google left an I/O problem in its Nexus tablet for a year and nary a mention from the press.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Thanks to strong performance in India and Brazil, Google Play had 10 percent more app downloads in Q2 2013 than Apple's App Store, according to App Annie.  However, Apple's App Store still generated 2.3 times the revenue.

DavidGilbert99 writes "Apple's iOs has been known as a bastion of security for many years, but three researchers have now shown iPhones and iPads can be hacked in just under 60 seconds using nothing more than a charger. OK, so it's not just a charger — but the Mactans charger does delete an official app (say Facebook) replacing it with an official-looking one which is actually malware which could access your contacts, messages, emails, phone calls and even capture your passwords. Apple says it will fix the flaw, but not until the release of iOS 7, the date of which hasn't been confirmed yet. So watch out for chargers left lying around ..." (For less in the way of auto-playing video ads with sound, check out the Mac Observer's take, which concludes "[I]t's nifty that Apple is addressing the issue in iOS 7. We'd also like to see it fixed in iOS 6. Apple has historically seen iPhone users upgrade to the newest version iOS in staggeringly high numbers, but eliminating this problem...

Ahead of its upcoming August 16th debut in theatres, Open Road Films just released a new clip from the JOBS film starting Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs. In the latest clip, Jobs and and Steve Wozniak, played by Josh Gad, come up with the name “Apple Computer,” a story that we’ve heard straight from the real Jobs and Wozniak in the past.

Tomorrow Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad will also be hosting a live YouTube Hangout at 11am PST/2pm EST to answer questions about the JOBS movie submitted using #AskJobsMovie. The event will be hosted on the JOBSthefilm YoutTube account.

If you want to hear the story of the Apple name straight from the source, the real Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs give their versions of events in the videos below:

...

Apple is now notifying former MobileMe members via email that the free 20GB iCloud storage upgrade they received will be expiring on Sept. 30, as was announced last year. iCloud storage for those users will revert to the free 5GB plan after the complimentary upgrade expires. Users who wish…

According to Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents, a bipartisan group of senators has asked the Obama administration to veto a looming import ban against older iPhone and iPads. The letter, dated July 30, was sent to US Trade Representative Michael Froman, who holds the power to veto this ban. Signing their names to the letter were Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho).

The senators expressed concern that standard essential patents (SEPs) covering 3G cellular technology were at the heart of the ITC complaint between Samsung and Apple. These patents are meant to be licensed under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (...

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world.

You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here.

No Flash? Click here to listen.

Subscribe via RSS

Daily Update for August 1, 2013 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 01 Aug 2013 15:15:00 EST. Please see our...

Apple's anticipated low-cost iPhone is expected to be essentially an iPhone 5 with a plastic back, right down to the same 8-megapixel rear camera, if a newly leaked part proves accurate.  ...

Motorola today launched its new flagship “Moto X” smartphone, the first device Google has launched under the brand after acquiring the company and taking it in a new direction. We already knew a lot about the device leading up to today’s event, but now we have all the details on specs and the many customization options that Motorola is hoping will help differentiate the device. With all the rumors of a next-gen iPhone possibly landing in multiple colors, it will be interesting to see if Google has any success with the Moto...

The MacBook Air isn't exactly known for its raw graphical might, and its super slim form factor means integrated Intel HD Graphics is as good as you're going to get -- unless you spend some time and cash to build an external graphics processor, that is. Tech Inferno forum user Kloper has put together a rather in-depth guide on building an external GPU setup which connects to the MBA via its high-speed Thunderbolt port.

All told the setup isn't exactly cheap, as you'll need to drop around $250 in adapters, cables, and a power supply, plus the cost of a GPU which can run several hundreds of dollars or more. Oh, and you'll need to have Windows 7 installed on your notebook as well.

The frankenstein'd rig isn't even remotely portable, and it's only good for gaming when at home, but the...

Like celebrity deaths, Apple acquisitions seem to come in clumps. Last month the company acquired two mapping-related companies, Locationary and HopStop; on Thursday, Cupertino mixed it up by snagging a maker of low-energy computer chips, Passif Semiconductor. News of the deal was first reported and confirmed by former Wall Street Journal writer Jessica Lessin.

As usual, Apple was closemouthed about its reasons for the acquisition, but it’s not hard to figure out why it picked up the small Silicon Valley-based company, which was founded by a pair of Ph.D. students from the University of California, Berkeley. Clearly, though, Apple has...

If you cannot control your remote system in a screen sharing session, the fix may be quite simple.

With the lower-cost iPhone supposedly already in production, in time for launch later this year, the likelihood of parts leaking can only increase.  Earlier today, iPhone5skopen posted images of supposed front panels for the cheaper device. As shown by previous leaks, the faceplate is almost identical to an iPhone 5 with a plastic body being the main differentiating factor in the product lineup.

Now, Chinese site IT168 has posted pictures of supposed camera modules for this device  (via MacRumors). The site claims the sensor is...

You’ve heard a lot about the Moto X smartphone today. Now you can check it out in action.

We had the opportunity to sit with Rick Osterloh, Motorola’s senior vice president of product management, at the Moto X event in New York City today to see some key features of the phone and discuss Motorola’s strategy in a competitive smartphone market.

“We think we’re focused as a company now,” Osterloh said. “Motorola in the past used to make a lot of phones, and now we just make a handful of great phones every year.

When asked whether Motorola would bring features of the Moto X to tablets — an area of mobile that the company has been pulling back from — Osterloh would only say, “We have no plans right now, but it’s something we’re always looking at.”

Full video below:

[ See post to watch video ]

After months of teases, full-page ads and leaked details, Motorola’s new smartphone, the Moto X, is finally, officially here.

The new flagship phone is the first one Motorola has built entirely from the ground up since the company was acquired by Google two years ago. And, as you might expect, it boasts some snazzy new features...

In another low-key acquisition, Apple has bought Passif Semiconductor, a California communication chip developer that specializes in low-power designs ? technology that could be useful in developing a smartwatch-like wearable device.   ...

Starbucks is switching away from AT&T and instead going with Google for the provision of free Wi-Fi service throughout its popular chain of coffeeshops, but the search giant's latest move into Internet service provision comes as critics are crying foul and saying it is abandoning net neutrality principles.  ...

Ars Technica

Apple has patched an obscure vulnerability in its iOS operating system that could have allowed a malicious hacker to install malware on an iPad or iPhone via a bogus USB charger.

Discovered by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the vulnerability can be exploited only by a custom-built USB charger outfitted with a tiny Linux computer. But it can be exploited quickly — in under 60 seconds.

“Despite the plethora of defense mechanisms in iOS, we successfully injected arbitrary software into current-generation Apple devices running...

If you're a Netflix subscriber you may know the pain of having multiple people in your household whose tastes in movies may mess up your profile. You like action and adventure film, but one of the kids wants animated kids movies and poof! Your profile is a mess.

Netflix is rolling out fixes for that, beginning today. You can add up to 5 separate profiles, so people will get suggestions based on their specific likes and dislikes. They will also see their own Recently Watched and Instant Queue lists.

The new feature is expected to roll out to iOS devices, Blu-ray players, Smart TV's and other devices over the next few days. Apple TV is included.

For now, you'll have to set up the new profiles in the Netflix website, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the ability...

Former subscribers of MobileMe, the $99/year iCloud predecessor, received 20 GB complimentary storage upgrades when making the switch to iCloud. Apple additionally extended this upgrade until September 30, 2013. Now, Apple is reminding those users, via email, that the complimentary storage will come to an end shortly:

As a thank you for being a former MobileMe member, you received a 20 GB complimentary storage upgrade when you moved to iCloud. Your upgrade expires on September 30, 2013.

When it expires, your iCloud storage will be automatically adjusted to the free 5 GB plan. Note that you are currently using xx.xx GB of storage. If you exceed your storage plan on September 30, 2013, iCloud Backup, Documents in the Cloud, and iCloud Mail will temporarily stop working.

To continue using these iCloud features without interruption, reduce the amount of iCloud storage you are using or purchase a storage plan by September 30, 2013.

For more information, see...

Apple on Thursday once again became the most valuable company in the world by market capitalization, pushing past Exxon Mobil as rumors of next-generation iPhones and iPads continue to heat up.  ...

BlackBerry has starting sending invites to Beta Zone members, asking them to participate in a test of its upcoming BlackBerry Messenger apps for iOS and Android. Not all Beta Zone members have received the email, which asks select people to create a new BlackBerry ID and Beta Zone account, and then find the test under a list of eligible programs. The beginning of a beta does, however, suggest that the apps are finally nearing completion....  ...

Apple is addressing the threat from maliciously crafted, fake USB-based iPhone chargers in iOS 7. Security researchers announced in June that they discovered how to hack an iPhone using a Linux-computer disguised as a charger. The team demonstrated that technique at this week's Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, and Apple has said it will address the issue in iOS 7.

The Mac Observer Spin:
The reality is that this particular exploit has very limited exposure. It does happen, though, and we're glad to see it fixed.

A new Apple patent application details a system in which a user can use a device such as an iPhone to learn and configure environmental preferences, especially in a car. For example, a user sitting in a car might set up his or her car seat, steering wheel, power…

The USB 3.0 Promoter Group announced yesterday that the specification for USB 3.1 has been completed and is available for download by device manufacturers. While USB 3.1 is no surprise, having been announced early this year, the publication of the spec opens the door for manufacturers to begin making and selling devices that comply with the fast interconnection standard.

USB 3.1, AKA SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps, remains backwards compatible with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 devices, but adds higher speeds to the USB architecture. With a 10 Gbps top throughput, the new standard matches the initial Thunderbolt data rate while being much less expensive to implement.

Of course, Thunderbolt 2 -- offering 20 Gbps to more than just one device at a time -- is waiting in the wings and has been announced as the new standard I/O architecture for the...

On Thursday, shareware developer Maintain released version 6.6 of CocktailCocktail (Mountain Lion Edition), the popular shareware utility program that allows for additional Mac OS X system tests. The new version, a 5.5 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and features:
- Improvements on the “Search for corrupted preference files” procedure (it now searches for corrupted Launch Daemons and Launch Agents).

- Added “Disable rubber band scrolling” setting (Interface – General).

- Added “Enable Single Application mode” setting (Interface – Dock).

- Added “Disable Dock icon bouncing for alerts” setting (Interface – Dock...

itwbennett writes "A pair of decisions by Motorola and Ubuntu to settle for 'good enough' when it comes to screen resolution for the Ubuntu Edge and the Moto X raises the question: Have we reached the limit of resolution improvements that people with average vision can actually notice?" Phone vs. laptop vs. big wall-mounted monitor seems an important distinction; the 10-foot view really is different.

...

The Steve Jobs biopic starring Ashton Kutcher, aptly titled Jobs, is scheduled to hit theaters nationwide on August 16th. With the release date steadily approaching, a publicity push for the film is in full force. Just last week we reported on how Jobs star Ashton Kutcher appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno where he discussed, among other things, what motivated him to take on the role of Jobs.

Keeping the publicity train moving, yesterday saw the release of a three-minute featurette showcasing some new clips from the movie along with commentary from Kutcher and others involved in the production.

While I admittedly wasn't terribly excited or interested in the Jobs film, Kutcher really seems to have done a great job nailing down Jobs' mannerisms.

...

A recently revealed charger hack for iOS devices has been fixed in iOS 7 beta 4, Reuters reports. The known hack involves using a malicious charger to invisibly install malware on an iOS device in less than a minute, and was officially unveiled at the Black Hat hacking…

The USB 3.0 Promoter Group has finalized the specification of USB 3.1, also known as SuperSpeed USB. The new specification standard will allow for USB data transfers at a rate of up to 10Gbps, effectively doubling the data rate of USB 3.0, but still retaining backwards compatibility with devices using USB 3.0 and earlier standards....  ...

Another rear housing for the fifth-generation iPad has allegedly been leaked in very clear photos, which appear to be legitimate. The images suggest again that Apple has at least contemplated a rear microphone for this model, as a centered rear hole appears to be located behind the front-facing camera. Notably,…

Jacqui Cheng

After months of speculation, we finally know for sure: a tipster has alerted 9to5Mac to proof that Apple is working on a new iPad mini that uses the company's A6 processor and ships without a Retina display. This puts to bed months of conflicting reports about whether Apple's next iPad mini would include a high-density, high-resolution display similar to the one in the larger iPad.

Wait, let me try that again.

After months of speculation, we finally know for sure: "sources familiar with the matter" have told the Wall Street Journal that Apple's next iPad mini will include a Retina display. The company will be sourcing the...

New photos show what is claimed to be the rear shell of a fifth-generation iPad. Published by FanaticFone, the images depict a design that initially appears similar to that of the fourth-gen iPad in terms of things like port and button placements. The site notes, though, that the shell measures 24x16.8cm, slightly smaller than the iPad's current 24x18.6. Accordingly, the side bezels have been shrunk while leaving screen space intact....  ...

You can’t knock a good update.

Late Wednesday, Apple released version 10.0.9 of its Final Cut Pro X video editing software.

The update, a 1.64 gigabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:
- Addresses issues resulting in green artifacts when using Sony XAVC media.

- Fixes several issues related to interlaced media and retimed segments which could cause exports to fail.

- Includes stability improvements.

Final Cut Pro X 10.0.9 requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later to install and run along with an OpenCL-capable graphics card or Intel HD Graphics 3000 or later, 256MB of VRAM, display with 1280-by-768 resolution or higher and retails for US$299.99

If you’ve tried version 10.0.9 of Final Cut Pro X and have any...

This may cut down on some potential arguments in the future.

Per AppleInsider, Netflix on Thursday rolled out a long-awaited feature to its iOS and Apple TV apps, allowing subscribers to maintain separate profiles for individual users sharing one account.

Subscribers will be able to add up to five profiles for each account they own. Profiles will receive unique personalized suggestions based on viewing habits and ratings.

More importantly, those individual accounts will each have their own Instant Queue and Recently Watched lists. For example, parents will no longer have to share a queue with...

A report from BlackBerryOS.com notes that invites to BlackBerry’s upcoming BBM service for iOS and Android have now started rolling out to users on the company’s Beta Zone website. Back in May, BlackBerry announced that its popular messaging platform would finally become cross-platform and arrive on both iOS and Android devices “later this summer,” and that deadline to launch is of course quickly approaching.

Not all Beta Zone members have received the invite email above, but it looks like BlackBerry is getting closer to finally launching the new apps.

We haven’t seen much of the iOS app, but BlackBerryOS also...

If you often have PowerPoint presentations that you want to share, SlideShark is a clever and free iOS app that does the trick. I'm mostly a Keynote kind of guy, but many times I've used PowerPoint for presentations, and SlideShark lets me share with remote colleagues as if they were in the same room.

To get started, sign up for a free individual account. You get 100 MB of storage (a paid pro version is also available). You can upload a PowerPoint file from your iOS device, or any computer through a web portal. Then you email links to others and they can view your presentation on any device with a web browser.

Gallery: SlideShark

...

Netflix on Thursday rolled out a long-awaited feature to its iOS and Apple TV apps, allowing subscribers to maintain separate profiles for individual users sharing one account.   ...

Photo: notebookcheck.com

Our concern that widespread adoption of USB 3 might leave Thunderbolt out in the cold now looks even more likely as the USB 3.1 – aka Superspeed USB – specification has been announced. This allows USB transfers of up to 10Gbps, the same speed as the original Thunderbolt standard.

Thunderbolt is technically superior to USB 3 – combining PCIe, DisplayPort and power signals into a single cable – and the recently announced Thunderbolt 2 version (which will debut in the new Mac Pro) doubles throughput to a blistering 20Gbps. And Thunderbolt can...

You watch shows on Netflix. But so do your kids. Which means Netflix’s vaunted recommendation engine, which watches what you watch and then makes suggestions, has a problem: Does it tell you to watch stuff like “Jake and the Neverland Pirates“? Or does it tell your kids to watch Taylor Schilling and her pals get up to hijinks in a women’s prison?

Reed Hastings’ company has been promising to tackle this one for a while, and today they are getting around to it, via personalized “profiles”.

The idea is a simple one: Up to 5 Netflix users per account can set up individual logs of their viewing habits, and Netflix will recommend stuff accordingly. And if you’re the...

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

Mountain Lion includes a set of 44 beautiful screensaver images in stunning 3200×2000 resolution, ideal for use as wallpaper on Retina MacBook Pros, Thunderbolt Displays and larger Cinema Displays.

Getting access to the images to use as wallpaper takes just a few seconds. Instructions follow…

Via OSXDaily: 

In the Finder, from the Go menu select Go to folder… (or hit CMD-Shift-G).

In the box that opens up, paste in this:

/System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.Framework/Versions/A/Resources/Default Collections/

That will open up the folder where the screensaver images are stored. Hit...

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

You didn’t.

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

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