You’ve got to love a program that updates frequently.

On Tuesday, Dropbox released version 2.2.12 of its cloud-based storage client for Mac OS X. The new version, a 31 megabyte download (via MacUpdate), which adds the following fixes and changes:
- Fix an issue that could cause high CPU usage during reindex.

- Fix an issue with the tray icon on Mac.

- Fix a rare issue that caused unnecessary reindexing of the entire contents of a Dropbox.

- Fix a rare issue with Selective Sync.

- Other minor fixes.

Dropbox 2.2.12 requires Mac OS...

Foxconn is reportedly looking to hire a remarkable 90,000 workers for production of a new iPhone — likely the iPhone 5S — for its Shenzhen industrial complex. A report out of Taiwan notes that assembly testing has been completed for the device, and claims the company is ready to start…

Anand Lal Shimpi & Brian Klug for AnandTech:

What this does mean however is that you should be careful about comparing Exynos 5 Octa based Galaxy S 4s using any of the affected benchmarks to other devices and drawing conclusions based on that. This seems to be purely an optimization to produce repeatable (and high) results in CPU tests, and deliver the highest possible GPU performance benchmarks.

Oh Samsung.

∞ Read this on The Loop

The life of a crime fighter comes at a price, and thanks to inflation that price is going up, up, and away all the time. To illustrate just how expensive it is to be a superhero Emil Lendof put together a series of infographics showing the cash you'll need now compared to to be the likes of Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and the Hulk compared to when each character was first introduced. Batman is the most expensive coming in at nearly US$135 million today, and Superman is the cheapest at $29,434. In 1939, Batman's expenses came in at $10,253 and Superman's at $994, which apparently means Kryptonians are fine with a frugal lifestyle.

Apple CEO Tim Cook visited China earlier this week and met with officials from China Telecom, a local report says. The intention of the meeting is unknown, although Cook was likely discussing the impending launch of one or more new iPhone models. The parties might also have been discussing ways of spurring iPhone sales, given Apple's poor performance in China during the last quarter....  ...

Apple's anti-theft procedure for its employees is the topic of a class action lawsuit filed by two former Apple employees, according to a report in AppleInsider. The lawsuit was filed last week by Amanda Frlekin and Dean Pelle in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Like many retailers, Apple has a security checkout procedure that requires employees to submit to a personal package and bag search whenever they clock out for a break or leave at the end of the shift. The search can take up to 15 minutes, which is time not compensated by Apple. According to the complaint, "[one plaintiff] worked approximately 50 minutes to 1.5 hours of uncompensated overtime. By conservative calculations, this equated over the course of...

Sprint has expanded the reach of its 4G LTE service into a number of new markets, following on from adding coverage to parts of New York City and revealing its 20,000 Network Vision sites achievement as part of its quarterly report. The extra 41 new markets across the US brings the total Sprint footprint of LTE to 151 markets....  ...

Sprint reported selling 1.4 million iPhones during its second fiscal quarter for 2013 with 41 percent of those sales going to new customers. That sales figure is down slightly from the 1.5 million iPhones the cell service provider sold last quarter, but still shows Apple's combination smartphone and media player is a draw.

The Mac Observer Spin:
Sprint's quarterly revenue was only a little higher than Apple's quarterly earnings. The cell service provider market is a cut throat place, and unless you're AT&T or Verizon, it's hard to compete -- even for Sprint, the number three player in the game.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. recently held a job fair in upstate New York, helping to drive up expectations that the chipmaker is planning to open a chip fabrication plant in the area to build mobile processors for Apple.  ...

Google has Google Docs. Microsoft has Office 365. Now Apple has iOffice in iCloud -- almost. Apple has begun sending invitations to iCloud users to try out the new versions of the programs in its iWork productivity suite -- Pages, Numbers and Keynote.
The editions of the iCloud programs are in beta, but you only have to work with them for a little while to get excited about their potential. The three office productivity apps join several other native Apple apps in the digital nimbus that let you share information across devices.

The iPhone 5’s battery life isn’t bad, but it isn’t awesome, either. With careful use, you can make your iPhone’s battery last all day. If you want to work your iPhone hard, however, particularly when you’re traveling or otherwise away from places to recharge the device, you need a battery case.

I’ve looked at many battery cases for the iPhone 5. All of them plug into your iPhone’s Lightning connector, and all of them work basically the same way: You charge the cases up by plugging them into a wall adapter or USB port, and you activate them when you want to start charging up your iPhone’s built-in battery. If your iPhone 5 is inside a battery case and you plug in the case to recharge it, your iPhone recharges first, and only afterward does the case start charging.

The best iPhone battery cases should be easy to toggle on and off, simple to charge, and...

The latest beta of iOS 7 contains a string of code that suggests Apple is bringing a new and important feature to the forthcoming operating system: a fingerprint sensor. Uncovered by developer Hamaz Sood, the code seemingly references a biometric scanner built into a future iPhone’s home button. For what purpose? Biometrically verified identity seems a likely candidate. An intriguing feature that could be used not just for iOS device security but for purchase authentication and the like as well. Caveat: beta features don’t always find their way into final releases.

A report early Tuesday claims Apple chief Tim Cook was recently in China to meet with partner carrier China Telecom, possibly to discuss the upcoming debut of a rumored low-cost iPhone and declining sales growth in the region.  ...

In its quarterly earnings announcement early Tuesday, Sprint said it sold 1.4 million iPhones for the July quarter, but lost almost 2 million subscribers as a it shuttered the Nextel iDen network in late June.  ...

In a filing on Monday, Apple and Google's Motorola agreed to drop a combined 14 patents from a Florida case slated to go to trial in 2014, narrowing claims to a total of 8 patents-in-suit.   ...

In addition to the iOS 7, Apple TV and iTunes 11.1 betas issued earlier today, Apple has also updated the forthcoming Xcode 5, OS X Server and Remote Desktop betas for developers. The Xcode update (Developer Preview 4) fixes a number of crashing bugs and polishes up the interface, with OS X Server update (also at Developer Preview 4) offering much the same in the way of changes. Apple Remote Desktop 3.7 was also updated, but with no reported changes apart from a lack of any known major issues....  ...

According to a report from the Far East on Monday, Apple partner manufacturer Foxconn is in the midst of hiring 90,000 workers in preparation of expectedly large orders of the next-generation iPhone.  ...

Reports from inside China reveal a series of profiteers completely booking the Shangai Apple store's Genius Bar reservations, and then selling the reservations online. The scalpers are selling the appointments for 10 yuan ($1.60), and providing login information after sale, allowing the purchasers to modify the appointment to their needs. Most appointments are booked solid when the reservation system opens at 4AM local time....  ...

As first noted by MacRumors, Apple TV customers will be pleased to know that the $99 “hockey puck” will soon fully support Netflix’s newly announced user profiles. While Netflix says that a complete rollout to all supported devices will be complete by the end of August, it appears that the feature is partially available today for certain Apple TV and Netflix users.

Netflix’s user profiles allow subscribers to create personal viewing accounts that track individual ratings, recently viewed movies/showes, and recommendations...

The latest beta version of iOS 7 for mobile devices and Apple TV introduces a new method of pairing your iOS device’s Remote app with your Apple TV. Previously, the pairing procedure required the use of the regular infrared remote that comes with the Apple TV. Today’s beta allows the user to simply tap the phone on the Apple TV to connect using Bluetooth. The feature requires a Bluetooth 4.0-capable device...

Activist group China Labor Watch (CLW) has outed—or confirmed, depending on your point of view—Apple's plans to release a low-cost iPhone model. In a report accusing Apple supplier Pegatron of labor violations, the labor rights group described an iPhone with a plastic back that it said Apple will release "soon."

The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) has filed a formal protest with the US Federal Communications Commission, opposing streaming radio purveyor Pandora's attempted purchase of a radio station in Rapid City, South Dakota. ASCAP is opposing the deal on procedural grounds, saying that Pandora failed to properly reveal its international interests involved in the company, and in not doing so, isn't properly proving that it does not exceed foreign ownership rules set by the FCC.... ...

Apple said on Monday that it would investigate charges of labor violations by activist group China Labor Watch (CLW). The CLW released a report on Monday accusing Pegatron, one of Apple's major manufacturers, of forcing workers to work more overtime than allowed under Chinese law, sign forms falsifying their overtime hours, and of hiring underage workers.

BlackBerry’s struggle to regain its footing in the U.S smartphone market isn’t going quite as well as the company’s leadership had hoped. New market share data from Kantar Worldpanel shows just how daunting the smartphone pioneer’s struggle in the States has become.

For the three-month period ending June 2013, BlackBerry’s share of the U.S. smartphone sales tumbled to 1.1 percent, from the meager four percent it held the year prior. Meanwhile Apple’s iOS rose to claim 42.5 percent of those sales — up from 39.2 percent last year; Google’s Android 51.5 percent, down from 52.6 percent a year ago; and Microsoft’s Windows Phone climbed to four percent from 2.9 percent.

Another gloomy data point for BlackBerry, which continues to have a tough time mounting its promised comeback.

Check out this cool backpack, the MCP3401 SLIM Backpack from Cocoon. This thing has a pocket for everything, including one for an iPad and another for your 15-inch MacBook Pro. As you can see in the image, that leaves room for slots for your DJ mixing board, some 5-hour Energy, chargers, and a lot more. The backpack does it all with a depth of only 3.5-inches—and that's when it's full. It has a water resistant exterior, waterproof zippers, and uses gunmetal hardware. It's priced at $79.99. Cool, right? You can thank TMO member mrmwebmax for letting us know after he saw it at Wired.

Bob Mansfield's departure from the Apple executive team was made at his request so he could focus on new products, without being distracted by work on the executive committee, an anonymous source tells Bloomberg. Prior to this week, Mansfield was the company's senior VP of Technologies. He is now involved solely with "special projects," though what that means hasn't been identified officially or by sources....  ...

A new sales report from Kantar Wordpanel ComTech for the period of May to June 2013 showed Apple enjoyed a sales surge thanks to an old friend; the iPhone 4. The company jumped 5.2 percentage points to 30.5 percent of the British smartphone market. And those sales were thanks to the iPhone 4.

Kantar analyst Dominic Sunnebo pinpoints the affordability of the iPhone 4 as its major selling point for first time smartphone users.

Although the flagship iPhone 5 was widely credited with boosting Apple's global results last week, much of the market share growth for iOS in Britain is thanks to the competitively priced iPhone 4 attracting first time smartphone buyers. More than a third of iPhone 4's sold were to consumers who have never owned a smartphone before, compared with just one in 10 new customers buying the iPhone 5.

Even with the latest...

Video Lan Client, the nigh-indispensable open source media player for multiple audio and video formats (MPEG, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, Divx, ogg, etc.), was updated to version 2.0.8. The new version, a 41.9 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:
- Fixes some regressions of the 2.0.x branch of VLC.

- Fixes numerous crashes and dangerous behaviors.

- Fixes ISDB-S tunning and some OS X issues.

VLC 2.0.8 requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.6 or later to install and run.

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

Apple on Monday seeded the latest builds of the forthcoming Xcode 5, OS X Server, and Remote Desktop, adding to a glut of beta software released earlier today as the company works to bring its developer center systems back online from an extended downtime.  ...

Ever since Apple's purchase of biometric sensor company AuthenTec last year the rumor mill has been abuzz with predictions that a future iteration of the iPhone would employ built-in fingerprint authorization. Now, as 9to5Mac reports, Twitter user Hamza Sood has discovered a folder in the newly released iOS 7 beta 4 that references a biometric user interface, complete with descriptions of a setup process that includes images of a color-changing fingerprint and a person holding an iPhone with their thumb on the Home button.

Earlier this month Apple...

Th PowerDock 5 is a space-saving charging station for desktop or tabletop that charges up to five iOS devices, of any size and kind, quickly and efficiently. There's room between the docks for your iOS devices to remain in their cases.

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 July 29, 2013 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 29 Jul 2013 15:45:00 EST. Please see our...

Apple's had another 'pinch' from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office over its pinch-to-zoom feature. According to Foss Patents, The Patent Office has rejected all claims Apple made on behalf of its pinch-to zoom-API patent. Samsung, which has been pressing that the patent be thrown out, says it has a workaround for the feature so it can use it on its own products. Apple has been disputing the legality of any attempt to side-step the patent.

This is not a final decision in the case. Apple still has a right to appeal, and Apple could successfully defend the patent.

These patents are important in the...

The aftermath of last year's blockbuster Apple v. Samsung patent trial is playing out slowly but acrimoniously, with no signs of settlement on the horizon. There's been a steady drip of developments over the past year that have generally favored Samsung—most notably, US District Judge Lucy Koh's order that a retrial must be held on damages. That retrial could slash Apple's billion-dollar payday by up to $450 million.

Sunday night, Samsung lawyers filed an order just out from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that renders invalid one of Apple's key patents, No. 7,844,915, the so-called "pinch to zoom" patent. It's definitely a setback for Apple, which presented "pinch to zoom" at last year's trial as one of the innovations that was ripped off by a wide array of Samsung phones.

This is...

Tech companies have been busy jockeying for position behind the scenes in Apple's ongoing patent battle with South Korea's Samsung. Some of the top companies in U.S. technology have been aligning themselves for and against an import ban the ITC issued against Apple's iPhone 4, and Bryan Chaffin explains what's what and who's who.

It’s the beta code that tells you where things are going.

Per Electronista, code strings buried in iOS 7 beta 4 suggests that one or more next-generation iOS devices will indeed have fingerprint sensors. An unused folder in the firmware, discovered by Hamza Sood, is titled “BiometricKitUI.axb.” Accompanying code strings moreover make reference to a “Photo of a person holding an iPhone with their right hand while touching the Home button with their thumb,” a percentage completion meter for fingerprint recognition, and “a fingerprint that changes colour [sic] during the setup process.”

Apple has been expected to add a...

Have you ever thought about how often you pick up your iPhone and use it to perform some task or another? That's exactly what Nick Bilton, tech columnist at The New York Times, did for a story published today. Bilton's post follows his iPhone app usage throughout a typical day.

Bilton begins his day with the Walk Up! alarm clock app, then spends the rest of the day grabbing information from a variety of free and paid apps. At the end of the day, he may read a few articles from Instapaper, use the Kindle app to read a book, or use Apple's Remote app to control...

(Updated with Apple TV 5.4 seed 3) In tandem with iOS 7 beta 4, Apple has also started seeding beta 1 of iTunes 11.1, reports say. The beta includes hooks for iTunes Radio, Apple's upcoming music streaming service. The service is slated go live around the same time iOS 7 is released, likely this September, although people will be able to listen via both iTunes and iOS....  ...

AllThingsD reports that Starbucks is expanding its experimental wireless charging program to the West Coast. The program will roll out at 10 stores in the San Jose area in August.

It introduced the program in a number Boston-area stores stores using Duracell Powermats, a PMA-standard wireless charging mat which allows those phones with compatible Duracell cases to simply rest it on the mat to receive power. The cases retail for about US$35 for the iPhone 4 and 4S and $50 for the iPhone 5, and AllThingsD adds that Starbucks and Duracell have been giving away sleeves to frequent customers.

AllThingsD draws attention to the...

AmiMoJo writes "Technology giant Apple is facing fresh allegations of worker rights violations at Chinese factories of one of its suppliers, the Pegatron Group. China Labor Watch has alleged that three factories of Pegatron violate a 'great number of international and Chinese laws and standards.' These include underage labour, contract violations and excessive working hours. Li Qiang, executive director of China Labor Watch, claimed that 'our investigations have shown that labour conditions at Pegatron factories are even worse than those at Foxconn factories.' The campaign group said that it had found that average weekly working hours in the three factories investigated by it were approximately 66 hours, 67 hours, and 69 hours, respectively."

...

The US Patent and Trademark Office has reportedly moved to finalize its rejection of Apple's pinch-to-zoom patent, which has been asserted in several high-profile lawsuits. Working to gain an advantage in its first of several lawsuits with Apple, Samsung is said to have notified the court of the agency's decision to reject all claims of the patent (No. 7,844,915) that describes APIs for scrolling operations....  ...

It’s the iPhone, but at a lower cost…and plasticky.

Per AppleInsider and China Labor Watch, a new plastic iPhone is currently being tested Apple supplier Pegatron, and will soon go into mass production and hit the market, one factory worker claims.

Details of Apple’s anticipated low-cost iPhone were revealed in a report published by China Labor Watch on Monday. A section of the report details “A day in Pegatron...

Looks like the rumors are true: iOS 7 beta 4 has leaked a new folder called “BiometricKitUI.” Based on the description, sent to us by Hamza Sood,it seems pretty clear that Apple is preparing a new iPhone with a fingerprint sensor.The interface is described above, pointing to a user being able to swipe the sensor on the iPhone’s home button.

The text:

bplist00_”enroll.tutor.image.label.left.hand_fingerprint.image_#enroll.tutor.image.label.right.hand_fingerprint.status_

Photo of a person holding an iPhone with their left hand while touching the Home button with their thumb_;

A fingerprint that changes colour during the setup process._...

Alongside the iOS 7 beta 4 and iTunes 11.1 with iTunes Radio betas, Apple has provided developers with a new Apple TV OS 5.4 seed. Below are the release notes. Thanks to everyone who sent this in. 

A tipster sent in the video below showing that iTunes music purchasing has returned in the latest beta, a feature that was only available on the first generation Apple TV:

Fixed in Seed 3

• Apple TV may not connect to the Internet on first boot after an iTunes Restore when using Ethernet.
• Music...

Following the release of the initial iOS 7 betas, users and developers discovered that the new operating system blocks one of the critical Snapchat features – screenshot detection.

With iOS 7 beta 4, Apple has introduced a screenshot detection API. This won’t be included in Snapchat until the developers work in the new API and beta 4 is released. It’ll also be interesting to see how other developers use this API for their own non-snapchat friends.

Visit 9to5Mac to find more special coverage of Apps.

What do you think? Discuss "Snapchat will be glad: iOS 7 beta 4 introduces new screenshot detection API" with our community....

Apple has released the fourth beta of iOS 7 to registered developers. The company released the third beta three weeks ago — the fourth beta was expected to be released last Monday, but Apple’s developer site was down last week, delaying the release. iOS 7 beta 4 is now…

In addition to the fourth beta of iOS 7, Apple also provided developers with new pre-release versions of iTunes 11.1, featuring iTunes Radio support, and Apple TV 5.4, with a number of bug fixes.  ...