Fixes syncing issues with Feedly. ($4.99 new, free update, 3.6 MB)
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| Read more »Mobile phone-based payment service Isis has announced plans for a nationwide US rollout, including support for the iPhone. The service -- backed by AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon -- is currently only in testing at around 4,000 sites split between Austin and Salt Lake City. As a part of deploying nationwide, the company claims that people will see "a vastly improved product, a variety of new places to use it, [and] a vastly improved user experience," without elaborating further on details.... ...
| Read more »The company “selected the name ‘Bang With Friends’ for its casual sex matchmaking app with Zynga’s game trademarks fully in mind,” according to the complaint. The application’s name infringes Zynga’s trademark covering games such as “Words With Friends” and “Chess With Friends,” according to the filing.
I do not think of Zynga when I see “Bang with Friends.” Case dismissed.
| Read more »Fixes a problem that created green artifacts when using Sony XAVC media. ($299.99 new, free update, 1.64 GB)
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.
| Read more »FileMaker's jaunt in the consumer database market is coming to an end. The company announced that it will stop selling Bento on September 30 so that it can focus on its FileMaker professional database products.
The Mac Observer Spin:
Once Bento is gone, FileMaker won't have a solution for creating new databases on your iPhone or iPad. For that, you'll need to have a Mac or PC. Since FileMaker is relegating the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch to satellite device status for database users, there's a great opportunity now for other companies to promote their full-featured products to fill the void Bento will leave. Bento was a great product. We're sad to see it go.
In a sign of the times, BBC Three announced this week that the second series of Jack Whitehall's Bad Education will air on its mobile iPlayer about a week before it airs on TV. Other scripted comedy programs from BBC Three will also follow the same format.
BBC reported yesterday:
Kicking off with the second series of Jack Whitehall's Bad Education, viewers will be able to enjoy their favourite BBC Three scripted comedies on BBC iPlayer seven days before they are broadcast on TV. With BBC iPlayer now available on over 650 devices and platforms, this gives viewers even more chance to catch their favourite programme whenever and wherever they want to - at home, at work, or on the go.
Today's announcement builds on BBC iPlayer's strategy to experiment and showcase more content within the service in 2013. In February, the BBC announced a separate trial which will...
| Read more »True new innovations in the technology space only come around every few years, and even rarer are the innovations that have the power to change our day-to-day interactions with our devices. That’s why I was excited when I first heard about the Leap Motion, a little motion control device that promised to alter how we think of using computers. One year since the initial preview, the device is in the hands of the public, and now it’s up to the people to decide if it can change the way we use our computers. Does it live up to its expectations? Read on to find out:
...
| Read more »Kevin has done some great guitar recordings in the past including some Ozzy records. He also talks about using the Sonnox plug-ins, which I’m a big fan of too.
| Read more »If you liked this slideshow, check out the previous edition: Feeling Blu.
| Read more »While some view mobile app pricing as a race to the bottom, Take-Two Interactive believes their $19.99 premium price point for its console-quality "XCOM" title has proven quality software can command a higher price. ...
| Read more »There are small problems, big problems, and the "how on earth do I organize all my photos" problem. That last one may just prove to be the least tractable, especially for parents of young children who have seen the digital revolution overturn the traditional album, folder and shoeboxful strategy. Searchable and sendable they may be, but a pile of digital photos is a pile nonetheless. Add in the multiple, mobile sources for images and it gets even more tangled.
Many, many companies continue to aim their product development efforts at this plump target. Flickr's recent move to a full terabyte of free storage has made Yahoo's prosumer photography site a more attractive repository for many; Shutterfly's buyout of...
| Read more »FileMaker has announced that it’s discontinuing Bento, its consumer-level database for the Mac and iOS. The app will be available for purchase until September 30.
First introduced back in 2008, Bento sought to make databases less intimidating to the average user. It automatically imported contacts and calendar events, provided iTunes-like search tools, and let users drag-and-drop items for import. The company rapidly iterated on that initial release—Bento 2 came out in late 2008, Bento 3 in 2009, and the current version,...
| Read more »Business database company FileMaker, a subsidiary of Apple, is withdrawing its more consumer-orientated database app, Bento. It will remain available on the FileMaker Store, App Store and Mac App Store until the end of September.
Bento was well-received when it was launched in 2008, and had shipped over a million units by January this year, but interest likely dwindled as consumers switched to simpler and friendlier apps like Evernote.
FileMaker is offering an upgrade path to FileMaker Pro...
| Read more »Spotting a new niche in the video camcorder segment, Canon has brought the art of 'selfies' to video. The new Canon Vixia mini has been designed with an emphasis on users taking self-portraits by hand, while it also has a built-in stand allowing users to place it on the ground at different angles to take action footage as well. The device is also relatively compact, allowing users to carry it in a pocket, while still packing a number of Canon's imaging technologies.... ...
| Read more »Use a few different displays or projectors with your Mac? You're probably familiar with the "Detect Displays" feature for getting your machine to play nicely with your devices. But under Mountain Lion, you may not be able to use "Detect Displays" without knowing the trick for finding it. In this tip, we'll uncover what Apple has inexplicably hidden.
From 9to5Toys.com:
One of the most highly touted features of the new Google Chromecast is its price tag, coming in at just $35. The Apple TV retails for $99 (Amazon sells it for $96) but includes a more expansive feature set including full mirroring capabilities, a beautiful user interface, physical remote and an abundance of compatible streaming services. In a possible reaction to the low Chromecast price, Apple has dropped a refurbished Apple...
| Read more »In Q2 2013, Google Play racked up 10 percent more downloads than did Apple’s App Store, but iOS games still monetized more than twice as well as their Googley counterparts.
That’s according to analytics firm App Annie, which today released a mobile Q2 market report, as well as June version of its normal monthly reports on games and all other apps. The factoid above isn’t too much of a surprise on its own — the increasing volume of Android devices on the market made it all but inevitable this year — but it’s indicative of how fast Google’s operating system is growing.
In Q1 of this year, App Annie tallied Google Play downloads as 90 percent of those on iOS, with Apple monetizing 2.6x as...
| Read more »Adobe has updated its free iOS freeform drawing tool Adobe Ideas to version 2.7. The latest version adds pressure-sensitive support for Ten One Design’s Pogo Connect Bluetooth Pen, user-selectable stroke-smoothing and the ability to share work with other apps like Photoshop Touch.
The app is a free download from iTunes.
For more news on Apps continue reading at 9to5Mac.
What do you think? Discuss "Adobe...
| Read more »Tim Cook's trip to China included a visit with the head of the largest carrier in the world, China Mobile, as Apple's chief executive continues to work toward a potential partnership. ...
| Read more »
The next iPhone will likely have a fingerprint scanning feature through iOS 7, iOS developer Hamza Sood has tweeted. Fingerprint scanning "adds another factor to the authentication process ... [which is] a net good thing" because this makes accounts more secure, said Tom Kemp, CEO of Centrify. "This is, of course, assuming the scanning technology works." The technology has yet to be proven on a mass scale, he warned, and the fragmentation of mobile OSes and devices will make it hard to deliver a consistent experience for users of a given app.
Steven Sinofsky
When former Windows president Steven Sinofsky resigned from Microsoft last November he hammered out a “retirement agreement” with the company that entitled him to stock worth some $14 million. In exchange for that stock award*, he agreed for a period of time not to disparage Microsoft; not to solicit Microsoft employees for work at other companies; and not to encourage Microsoft customers choose competitors’ products. And, most importantly, he agreed not to compete with Microsoft by accepting employment at “certain competitors.”
Which certain competitors, Microsoft never disclosed. Until Tuesday afternoon, when it published the full text of Sinofsky’s...
| Read more »
January File Photo
We broke the news yesterday that Tim Cook was in China talking to the local telecoms about upcoming iPhones. It was speculated that along with the confirmed China Telecom, Cook would also likely be going after the big kahuna, China Mobile.
Today, Reuters got a confirmation from China Mobile Ltd Chairman Xi Guohua that Tim Cook did meet in Beijing on Tuesday to discuss the iPhone. The Chinese telecom confirmed the meeting in an emailed statement saying only ‘matters of cooperation’ [iPhone]were discussed.
China Mobile is the largest carrier on earth with nearly 700M subscribers (about U.S.+W. Europe in scale) and is the only carrier in China not to have a distribution deal with Apple. Just...
| Read more »Maps in iOS 7 will gain a full screen mode that emphasizes how Apple's 3D Flyover imagery is much easier to navigate, more detailed and significantly more up-to-date than even the desktop 3D offerings of leading map vendors Google and Nokia, let alone their mobile app offerings. ...
| Read more »A new study focusing only on smartphones by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) has ranked two premier Samsung smartphones -- the Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Note 2 -- ahead of Apple's iPhone various iPhone models in a new survey of 2,500 buyers. The results have a number of odd notes to them, giving high scores to mostly older models and entirely omitting recent entries such as the HTC One, BlackBerry Z10 and Samsung Galaxy S4; ranking all three iPhone models as essentially equal when the iPhone 4 is now three years old; and using the exact same vaguely-defined methodology as a re... ...
| Read more »Bret Taylor, former head of Google’s Maps division and CTO at Facebook after selling off Friendfeed, along with co-founder Kevin Gibbs have launched a new collaborative word processor for the iPhone, iPad, and web. The app, called Quip, combines the mobile-oriented word processing of Pages, the shared checklists of Reminders, and the collaborative and sharing features of Google Drive. Documents are stored in folders that can be shared with and edited by teams.
...
| Read more »Following a hacking attack that revealed some potentially serious vulnerabilities, Apple's Dev Center and its associated resources are mostly back online following a week-long outage, with five more areas coming online late Tuesday. Four of the 15 sites and sub-sections for devlopers remain offline -- Xcode automatic configuration, the Member Center, Program Enrolment and Renewals and Technical Support -- but the Videos library, all pre-release documentation, the App Store Resource Center and the Apple Developer Forums are now available.... ...
| Read more »Though both the S&P and Dow Jones averages rose little on Tuesday, Apple stock rose 1.2 percent to close at $453.32 -- the first time the stock has closed over $450 since mid-May, and on the heels of the revelation that Apple CEO Tim Cook is again in China, talking to current partners and possibly trying to break the logjam that has kept the iPhone out of China's largest carrier, China Mobile. This is Cook's third trip to China since becoming CEO, with all the trips centered on boosting iPhone sales in the region.... ...
| Read more »A new support document recently added to Apple's website shows users how to deal with unwanted messages, also known as spam, sent via the company's iCloud-based iMessage service. ...
| Read more »Federico Viticci over at MacStories posted an interesting story about iMessage spam tonight courtesy of Beau Giles. A support document on the Apple website now presents details on how users can report iMessage spam directly to the company:
If you're seeing unwanted iMessages (spam) in Messages app, you can report those to Apple.
To report unwanted iMessage messages to Apple, please send an email with the following details to: imessage.spam@icloud.com
Both my wife...
| Read more »FileMaker has released a statement saying that it's discontinuing its Bento database software in favor of focusing on FileMaker.
Bento will continue to be available for the Mac, iPhone and iPad until September 30. Technical support, software updaters for the Mac client and forum moderation will be provided until July 30, 2014. The company said it will not replace it with a similar product and urges users to migrate to FileMaker Pro, offering a $120 discount for existing Bento customers until October 30.
FileMaker cites a growth of its flagship FileMaker product on iOS was one of the reasons behind shuttering Bento.
Bento was released for a public preview in November 2007,...
| Read more »Advertising giant Google has been revealed to have deliberately used a flawed study in an effort to make its Nexus 7 tablet look more popular. During the launch of the latest Nexus 7, a Google executive showed figures that "proved" that the Nexus 7 was the most popular tablet in Japan, outselling the iPad. This has now been debunked with the revelation that the study by Japanese market research firm BCN did not include iPad sales from any of Japan's seven Apple Stores, its two largest telecom partners, or Apple's direct online channel.... ...
| Read more »Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it's total haul to date on Surface, the company's iPad-killer, is a whopping $853 million. That's how much the company reported in its annual 10-K SEC filing, which includes all three quarters the Surface has been available.
While the Google+ app received the feature last year, Google’s free all-in-one communications app ‘Hangouts‘ now allows you to join Hangouts On Air from the app. The update also includes small bug fixes.
What’s New in Version 1.1.2
You can now join Hangouts On Air
Bug fixes and performance improvements
Visit 9to5Mac to find more special coverage of...
| Read more »Q:
What laptop do you recommend for my granddaughter who is heading off to college? I am not looking for any low cost bargains, but a solidly performing device with a good operating system that will last her at least though four years of college.
A:
Based on your criteria, I’d recommend, without hesitation, the latest edition of Apple’s MacBook Air, which is light, sturdy, thin, fast and gets over 10 hours of battery life on a single charge.
Q:
Is there a tablet that works with Excel?
A:
All Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets work with the standard desktop version of Excel, and some even come with Excel built in. Microsoft has also released a touch-optimized edition of Office for the iPhone, which also works on the iPad, that includes a stripped-down version of Excel, but it requires a subscription...
| Read more »A new knowledge base article on Apple’s website introduces an iMessage spam reporting system.
To report unwanted iMessage messages to Apple, please send an email with the following details to: imessage.spam@icloud.com
While iOS 7 allows for blocking Apple IDs for iMessage or FaceTime, this feature will allow users of iOS 5 and up to report unwanted iMessage messages and allow Apple to investigate the associated account..
(via Beau Giles)
...
| Read more »I have to admit that I'm not typically the kind of person who gets sucked into those Farmville-style games -- be it on Facebook or in app form -- that require hours and hours of tedious upkeep while slowly whittling away at your wallet a dollar or two at a time. I am, however, a fan of dinosaurs, and anything with the Jurassic Park logo stamped on it will get at least a passing glance from me. And so I downloaded Jurassic Park Builder for my iPad, because my love for extinct animals somehow trumps my common sense.
As is quite evident from the screenshots as well as its name, Jurassic Park Builder indeed a game about building and maintaining a zoo for dinosaurs. You begin with just a basic home base and must expand your park by clearing land, cloning dinosaurs from DNA you discover while digging, and adding additional buildings like hotels as well as...
| Read more »Reviewers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said on Tuesday the school could have taken steps that would have reduced pressure on Internet activist Aaron Swartz such as taking a public stand against his controversial prosecution.
It’s too bad it takes such a tragedy for people to realize that.
| Read more »This weekend, Apple will be opening a new store in Italy, in the seaside resort town of Rimini. The new store, the country's 13th, will reside in the Le Befane mall alongside 130 other retail stores, on the second floor atop a retail store called Marco Polo. The mall is said to be one of the largest in the entire country. The new store is said to be part of Apple's push to emphasize the iPhone, but will also feature other Apple products as other stores do. This is the first Apple Store in this general area, a popular resort town originally founded in 268 BC.... ...
| Read more »Bob Mansfield is like, loved, and respected at Apple, and there's nothing to read between the lines in his recent removal from Apple's list of executives. This, according to John Gruber, who discussed the issue with unnamed folks at Apple. Mr. Mansfield made headlines this weekend when he disappeared from Apple's executive list, and Apple went on to say that the engineering veteran was now heading up special projects for the company. Mr. Gruber said that, "After talking to a few more people, the impression I’m left with is that Mansfield has been so successful and remains so popular, he can write his own ticket. And this is the ticket he’s written." Great to know!
GoPro has exploded in popularity with athletes and adventurers for creating easily-shared high definition videos of their activities. Now sharing will take even less time thanks to the latest update to the GoPro app for iOS and Android. Users can now view, edit, and share content on their GoPro from their smartphone.
Using the GoPro's built-in Wi-Fi hotspot, users could already connect the app to the camera. The app is a remarkable piece of technology that allows you to control your camera via your phone or tablet, and now it's been expanded to include the new sharing and editing features. The features will only available on GoPro Hero3 and Hero2 cameras that have been updated to the latest firmware. By putting more power in the hands of users, GoPro is showing how it has...
| Read more »It was revealed on Tuesday that Microsoft has made only $853 million on its Surface tablet since the product line was introduce eight months ago, a number less than the company's write-down to adjust for unsold inventory, as well as an ad campaign pushing the device and Windows 8. ...
| Read more »Although Apple stopped Amazon from including direct purchasing links inside the Kindle app for iOS, Amazon has now come up with a clever workaround for avoiding Apple’s 30 percent fee: free book samples within the app. Kindle users can now search for and preview books on an iOS device, and the Kindle app offers the option to send a purchase link via email at the end. Also new to the app is the capability to use custom dictionaries, and an accessibility quick reference for vision-impaired users.
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...
| Read more »Your Apple TV experience may soon improve, with ways to keep your movie queues separate, and a quick and easy setup. Elsewhere, a London Apple Store isn’t falling down, falling down—it’s getting renovated! The remainders for Tuesday, July 30, 2013 are taped live in front of a studio audience.
Netflix’s Personalized User Profiles Begin Showing Up on Apple TV (MacRumors)
Word has it that you will soon be able to separate the chocolate of your significant other’s Netflix queue from the peanut butter of your to-watch list. The video-streaming service has rolled out profile support, and says that it’s coming to all platforms, with some users reporting that they’ve seen it show up on their Apple TV. Unfortunately, this does come with its downsides: You’ll no longer be able to shunt blame to your kids when your friends ask you about that...
| Read more »Apple brought four more developer resources back online Tuesday, including Pre-Release Documentation, Videos, App Store Resource Center, and the Apple Developer Forums. Four more resources remain offline as the company works to restore all developer services.
Microsoft made $853 million in revenue from the Surface and sold an estimated 1.7 million devices in eight months, according to GeekWire. That’s less than the $900 write-off the company took on the Surface two weeks ago.
Let’s put this in perspective: […]
| Read more »Sprint must be happy with its decision to start selling the iPhone. The company reports that 1.4 million iPhones were sold in the second fiscal quarter of 2013. Even better, 41 percent of those phones went to new Sprint customers.
The carrier didn't sell as many iPhones in the last quarter as it did in the first quarter of 2013, when it saw a whopping 1.5 million boxes go out the door. Overall subscriber numbers for the carrier were also down from 55.2 million to 53.6 million, so the news isn't all rosy for Sprint.
While Sprint saw a slight decline in iPhone sales, competitor Verizon saw second quarter activation numbers soar over 41 percent from the previous year, with...
| Read more »Final Cut Pro X users who rely on Sony XAVC media will have a reason to smile at today's minor update to FCP. The new version, 10.0.9, corrects issues resulting in green artifacts with that particular media, and also fixes several issues related to interlaced media and re-timed segments that could cause exports to fail. The update is the first since March, when version 10.0.8 introduced support for the XAVC 4K codec. The 10.0.9 update is also said to contain the usual stability improvements. An update to Apple's ProApps QuickTime Codecs could be coming as well.... ...
| Read more »Apple is preparing to open the doors to its latest retail outlet in Italy, the 13th Apple Store in the country and the first in the city of Remini, which is scheduled welcome in customers this Saturday. ...
| Read more »Using BCN’s bogus research, Google claimed the Nexus 7 took a higher percentage of the Japanese market than the iPad. Except BCN forgot to count one important source—it’s too good for me to ruin the surprise.
| Read more »Steve Jobs was interested in the phone industry as early as 1984, according to his former boss, John Sculley. In an interview at the Young Turks conclave (reported by YourStory), Mr. Sculley said that even then Mr. Jobs was focused on the importance of saying no more often than you say yes.
Zuckerberg said last week that he’s sensitive to how users react to advertising in general. He plans to limit the amount of ads people see to about one for every 20 updates. That would comprise about 5 percent of a user’s news feed.
Why do I think people won’t like these.
| Read more »Facebook is planning to start selling 15-second video ads to marketers, sources tell Bloomberg. The clips would be inserted directly into a person's news feed, and at least initially sold on a full-day day basis, with targeting based solely on a person's age and gender. A video would show no more than three times per person, per day, and cost marketers between $1 million and $2.5 million each day.... ...
| Read more »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+.
Also check out the latest...
| Read more »Alex Seropian, founder of Bungie Software, is back with a new venture called Industrial Toys, and he’s trying to reinvent the shooter genre for iPads.
| Read more »After being taken offline earlier this month by a security breach, Apple's developer portal is back up and running -- at least in a limited capacity -- but the effects of the downtime will continue to be felt for some time. ReadWrite reports that Apple has begun a rollout of notices to developers stating that the approval process for new apps will take longer than usual, presumably due to the backlog created by the Developer Center woes.
On July 21, Apple acknowledged that its developer site was hacked on July 18, spending the next several days rebuilding and updating its database and servers. A few days after the incident a security researcher...
| Read more »As noted by MacRumors, Apple has announced the opening of a new Apple Store in Rimini, Italy’s largest mall this weekend. As 9to5Mac reported earlier this month, the new store is part of Apple’s revamped retail push to make Apple Stores the top iPhone sales outlet, which includes opening several major new stores across Europe.
Visit 9to5Mac to find more special coverage of AAPL Company, rimini apple...
| Read more »Apple's Back To My Mac service can be used to establish more than Screen and File Sharing services.
| Read more »Google recently claimed that its Nexus 7 tablet was the most popular tablet in Japan, beating even the iPad. It turns out the claim was based on study that ignored sales from Apple's seven Apple Store locations, as well as sales from two large Japanese wireless carriers. On a more definitive note, IDC specifically refuted Google's claim, saying that iPad outsold Nexus 7 by more than two to one.
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.
Daily Update for July 30, 2013 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 30 Jul 2013 16:15:00 EST. Please see our...
| Read more »A few things you should note about yesterday's Xcode beta release...
First, new sizes and naming updates apply to asset catalogs. Here's my latest list of what I believe you need to be building on a per-app basis for icons. No, none of this is documented anywhere. I also believe there were no changes to launch images.
Second, pay special care to the beta API diffs -- especially anyone doing view controller layout. I just spent 4 hours updating a common pattern throughout several books of sample code.
Finally, is it just me, or is that the ugliest Xcode...
| Read more »Apple is looking to further improve the language support in iOS, new job listings suggest. The software already supports over 50 language options, including ones that require handwriting recognition, like non-Pinyin Chinese. The listings call for more engineers on the iOS keyboard and text team -- as well as the UIKit Frameworks team -- in order to "work closely with international teams and native speakers to accommodate all the worldís script systems."... ...
| Read more »If needed, you can reduce Dock clutter by hiding the icon for persistent background and helper applications.
| Read more »Small update for Final Cut Pro X this afternoon:
What’s New in Version 10.0.9
• 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
In March, version 10.0.8. brought a series of enhancements in a move to bring pros back to the professional Apple movie editing software.
...
| Read more »freddienumber13 writes "In another patent surprise, a patent application by Apple for pinch-to-zoom has been rejected by the USPTO on the grounds that its claims were either anticipated by previous patents or simply unpatentable. This will be welcome news for Samsung, who back in April asked for a stay of the trial. However, Apple has a short period of time in which they can appeal this finding."
...
| Read more »The Soft Grip iPad mini case can be held by a hand strap or it can stand on its own in either horizontal or vertical position. The strap/stand is completely removable so the user is left with a completely flat case that is strong and reliable. And, it is extremely easy to insert and remove the iPad.
This week in the MacNN Forums, one Professional Poster announced the release of a new game for iOS that they had been working on. The game is free, so they wanted to get the word out about it, and they are also looking for feedback. Earlier this week, Forum Regular "gangster" had some questions about RAM for a Mac Pro and turned to the forums for some advice.... ...
| Read more »Today at Apple's online store, find a selection of refurbished Mac minis starting as low as $509. The Mac mini with a 2.5GHz Intel dual-core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive is $509 after a $90 discount. For $679 is the refurbished Mac mini with a 2.3GHz Intel quad-core i7 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive.... ...
| Read more »Amazon has updated the iOS version of its Kindle e-reading app to v3.9. Via the app's Library Search, users should now be able to search through Amazon's catalog of free book samples and download the content straight to a device. Amazon doesn't allow direct purchases of books in iOS however, as Apple claims a 30 percent cut of all in-app transactions. Instead titles must be bought via the web, the Kindle hardware, or one of the other Kindle apps for platforms like Android and Windows Phone.... ...
| Read more »Amazon has just released version 3.9 of its free Kindle app. The app now allows for a free sample search — using the existing Library Search, customers can now search books and download free samples from within the app. Also notable in the new update is the ability to…
| Read more »For a limited time, Groupon members can take advantage of a 40 percent price cut on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ20K 16MP digital camera. It carries a list price of $250, but has been reduced to $150. That $100 discount makes this about $14 less than the lowest price we have seen anywhere else. Free shipping is included, and the camera features 16.1MP resolution, 21x optical zoom, a 3-inch LCD, and built-in flash. One possible downside is that it takes AA batteries, where most digital cameras these days include more powerful rechargeable batteries though many will see that as a plus rather than a... ...
| Read more »So much for the 'can't create content on your iPad' naysayers. Flowboard is a well thought out, free app that lets you create presentations with text, video, or graphics. I could see this being very useful for teachers, artists, photographers, people in PR and students.
You can add videos, PDF files, cloud content, and even search Google Images online, or connect to SkyDrive, Dropbox, and Instagram for content. The app is template driven, and there are many professional-looking templates to get you started. Each template can be modified to taste.
All your drafts can be saved to the app's own cloud servers, and anything you create can be shared via the web, Facebook, Twitter or Email.
Gallery: Flowboard
| Read more »It's time to save some of that hard-earned cash with our Daily Deals, featuring a handy list from Dealnews and our own hand-picked selections that include some sweet deals on iOS and OS X software.
Note: All prices are USD and subject to change. Some deals may expire quickly. TUAW is not responsible for third party deals and cannot guarantee availability of any particular product at a specific price.
Deals from Dealnews
At a mere $35, Google’s new Chromecast is a tempting alternative to the Apple TV, but how does it stack up for Apple users, including educators and business professionals? Josh Centers put it through the wringer, and even tried a game to see how it compares to the Apple TV.
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.
| Read more »Though Amazon has long remained apparently content to abide by Apple’s rules about in-app purchases, the retail giant’s latest update to its Kindle app for iOS devices remains true to the letter of the law, if not the spirit.
As good as the Kindle app on iOS is for reading, the inability to search for and purchase books right in the app has made it at times frustrating. The fault, though, lies not in Amazon, but in Apple, which has mandated that anything sold in the App Store—including in-app purchases, subscriptions sold through apps, and so on—is subject to the company’s 30-percent cut.
Now, if you’ve purchased ebooks from Amazon before, you’ll know that you can download a free sample of most ebooks on the store, and then opt to...
| Read more »The 8 megapixel camera in the iPhone 5 is pretty good, and iOS provides a digital zoom, but serious photographers know that digital zoom is sketchy and having a real glass telephoto is preferable. The olloclip 2x telephoto (for iPhone 5 or 4S) provides that optical advantage and includes an adjustable polarizing filter. When combined with olloclip's special iPhone 5 (or 4S) case, the combination makes for easy accessibility and excellent telephoto images.
Facebook will be publishing mobile games, in a new program it announced today at the Casual Connect conference. The new pilot program will "help small and medium-sized developers take their mobile games global," with the company blog post suggesting it is aimed at indie developers that need help in marketing and tailoring their games to more lucrative customer markets.... ...
| Read more »With the wide range of selections available on, and suggested by, Netflix, we've all had that embarrassing moment where you fire up the family account and your family discovers the Slumber Party Massacre marathon you had last night. Or Monk. Or whatever embarrasses you. Here's some good news, fellow viewers; Netflix is rolling out personalized user profiles and they're starting with Apple TV.
According to a report from MacRumors, and confirmed on Twitter, users who have previously set up profiles with the former DVD-delivery service can now see those profiles on their Apple TV's. The debut comes with some caveats. Profiles cannot be altered and new users cannot be currently added. This is a sort of a beta test for the company, which told MacRumors it has plans to roll out the feature for other devices later this summer.
Individual profiles come with a...
| Read more »Details are starting to appear about MacTech Conference 2013, so if you’re an Apple developer or IT professional looking for training, learning, and networking opportunities, join us in Los Angeles in early November.
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| Read more »“The fact is that Forbes, as a corporate communication enterprise, is now consumed by a mathematical game of just generating ‘hits,’ he writes. His base pay of $200 month worked out to less than $3 an hour for the 40 hours he spent on writing his agreed-upon four posts, Monagan says.
Clearly the writer made a mistake in this case, but the way Forbes and others do business is leading to more of this happening.
| Read more »Apple currently supports over 50 languages and varying script systems with its system-wide keyboard in iOS, but a new job listing hints that it is working to add support for additional languages and writing systems. Apple is looking to add engineers to its iOS keyboard and text team, and its UIKit Frameworks team, to “work closely with international teams and native speakers to accommodate all the world’s script systems.”
Apple has done a lot of work on the iOS keyboard...
| Read more »Jumping on the stickers bandwagon, today’s Kik update brings stickers (think big emojis), more games by Zynga and other game publishers, and other small features and fixes. The popular instant messaging app joins Facebook Messenger and Path in the stickers trend. Just a couple of weeks ago, Path updated to version 3.1 to bring stickers to comments.
Full changelog:
What’s New in Version 6.5.0
• Say more with Stickers!
• New games by Zynga and TreSensa available in More
• Option to talk to new people without adding them to your contacts
• Performance improvements
...
| Read more »MacRumors has reported that the Netflix personalized profile feature has started rolling out to some Apple TV users in a limited capacity. Planned for a full release in August, Netflix user profiles let subscribers create personal viewing accounts complete with customizable avatars and individualized viewing histories. The rollout is currently limited to customers who set up a profile when using the DVD service, but at this time does not include support for altering profiles or adding new users.... ...
| Read more »Way back when I was a kid growing up in the 60's, I loved the unique and comforting feel of the upholstery of the time. Whether it was sitting on the "tuck and roll" upholstery in the back seat of Dad's Oldsmobile, or being snuggled between my parents on a diamond-tucked bench seat in a restaurant somewhere, the cushioned patterns brought life to the rather pedestrian vinyl material that was being used to cover the seats. So imagine my surprise when design house ADOPTED announced the Cushion Wrap line of iPhone 5 cases (US$49.95 each), bringing the look and feel of...
| Read more »Apple is issuing notices to developers, warning them that it may take time to review their apps for the App Store, reports say. "We are currently reviewing an app that you submitted for inclusion on the App Store, and want to let you know that the review process will require additional time, " one such message reads. "We apologize for the delay and will provide you with an update on the status of your app as soon as possible."... ...
| Read more »The code for iOS 7 beta 4 includes a component called BiometricKitUI.axbundle, and code that includes text stating "Photos of a person holding an iPhone with their left hand while touching the Home button with their thumb." From that we can surmise that the biometric sensor will be built into the iPhone's Home button.
The free Kindle iOS app has been updated with free sample search, a “bring your own dictionary” feature, and other small fixes.
Full changelog:
What’s New in Version 3.9
• Kindle Free Sample Search – From the existing Library Search, customers can now search Amazon’s catalog of millions of Kindle books and download free samples from within the app. New books are easier than ever to find.
• Bring Your Own Dictionary – Customers can now use previously purchased Dictionaries, such as medical, legal, or other translation references to define words in any of their other eBooks. Dictionaries downloaded to the device automatically appear in the selection list.
• Accessibility Quick Reference – Accessibility...
BlackBerry is definitely not in trouble, not at all. The world is full of rainbows and unicorns.
| Read more »One of Apple's most high-profile stores is undergoing a renovation to tweak the design to perfection. According to ifoAppleStore.com, the Covent Garden Apple Store in London is having minor work done at night so that the busy store can remain open for business during the day.
Most of the renovation work appears to be aimed at smoothing the "flow of visitors into and within the store," including moving a display table that's nearest to the iconic glass staircase so that there's more room for greeting customers. The store's Genius Bar has been converted to the popular new 360-degree version, providing a more personable one-on-one situation between the store Geniuses and their customers.
Wall-mounted graphics panels have been replaced with a newer design that allows for faster switching of the artwork, which should come in handy when new products or promotions are...
| Read more »Google has pulled the original version of an Android app called Control Center from Google Play, following a copyright claim by Apple. The app is a free download, and mimics the style of its namesake feature in iOS 7. A message from Google, forwarded by developer Hi Tools Studio, explains that "Apple owns the copyright in its iOS software and each of the features thereof. The aforementioned application infringes Apple Inc.ís ('Apple') copyright rights in the iOS 7 software."... ...
| Read more »On Tuesday, Google released version 28.0.1500.95 of its Chrome web browser. The update, a 51.5 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:
- Medium CVE-2013-2881: Origin bypass in frame handling.
- High CVE-2013-2882: Type confusion in V8.
- High CVE-2013-2883: Use-after-free in MutationObserver.
- High CVE-2013-2884: Use-after-free in DOM.
- High CVE-2013-2885: Use-after-free in input handling.
- High CVE-2013-2886: Various fixes from internal audits, fuzzing and other initiatives.
Google Chrome 28.0.1500.95 requires an Intel-based Mac with Mac OS X 10.6 or later to install and run. If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.
| Read more »This is what they created firmware updates for…
Per CNET, Apple’s mid-2013 MacBook Air appears to be suffering from a bug that results in intermittent loss of video output. When using an affected system, the screen may randomly blink to black for a brief second, or go to sleep and require a button be pressed for the system to wake again.
There is no indication on how widespread this bug is, but a number of affected users have noted the problem in a lengthy...
| Read more »Stunning photo websites. Like you’ve never seen before.
| Read more »Apple introduced file tagging in OS X Mavericks, letting you assign custom metadata to a file that you can retrieve using Finder. According to our own Brett Terpstra, tagging may be difficult at first, but once we adopt the practice, it may change the way we think about the filesystem of an OS.
With iCloud and sandboxing, Apple is distancing us from the folders that hold our data. In this folder-less existence, Tags will become the glue that holds our data together and lets us organize our files. It'll be an iOS-like experience in which you don't have to worry about where files are being stored. You can find files by their tags and don't have to dig through folders and Finder windows to organize your work.
You can read more about tagging and OS X in his "Mavericks and Tagging" article on his blog.
...
| Read more »It’s been proven time and time again: the beta versions show the cool stuff that’s en route.
Per 9to5Mac, 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. The new beta allows the user to simply tap the phone on the Apple TV to connect using Bluetooth. The feature requires a...
| Read more »As the success stories keep piling up, so do the number of projects filling up crowdfunding websites with, among other things, neat hardware- and software-related products. Some projects, like Pebble, gain thousands of supporters as well as millions of dollars in funding (and end up at Best Buy’s retail stores). Other projects flop and don’t reach their necessary funding amount.
Rather than make you sift through all of these projects, we’re rounding up the best or most notable projects from around the web and delivering them to you in a simple roundup.
Apple and Google’s Motorola Mobility division have pared down the patents in their upcoming infringement trial to a more manageable level.
In a stipulation filed Monday, the two companies agreed to drop a combined 14 patents from the case, which will head to court in August of 2014. Of those 14, Motorola dropped eight, and Apple six; Cupertino had already pulled two patents prior to the joint order filing. Now eight patents remain, split evenly between the two companies.
That should make the case more manageable for presiding Judge Robert Scola, who earlier this year reprimanded Apple and Google, accusing them of using litigation as a business strategy. He gave the pair four months to narrow the scope of their claims against one another, under threat of a hold.
“The parties have no interest...
| Read more »Apple and Google-owned Motorola have agreed to drop a combined 14 patents from their Florida lawsuit, narrowing the involved patents to just four for each side. Motorola tossed eight, while Apple did away with six. The motion must still be approved by the District Court for the Southern District of Florida, but is in keeping with pressure from judge Robert Scola to scale back the case.... ...
| Read more »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...
| Read more »
