Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Los Angeles Unified School District started issuing iPads to its students this school year, as part of a $30 million deal with Apple. Now Sam Sanders reports at NPR that less than a week after getting their iPads, high school students have found a way to bypass software blocks on the devices that limit what websites the students can use. The students are getting around software that lets school district officials know where the iPads are, what the students are doing with them at all times and lets the district block certain sites, such as social media favorites like Facebook. 'They were bound to fail,' says Renee Hobbs, who's been a skeptic of the iPad program from the start. 'There is a huge history in American education of being attracted to the new, shiny, hugely promising bauble and then watching the idea fizzle because teachers weren't properly trained to use it and it just ended up in the closet.' The rollout of the iPads might have to be delayed...

MUBI is an app for classic and independent movie lovers: Each day, the MUBI team hand picks an international, independent or classic film. MUBI subscribers can then view that film for up to 30 days, and effectively, this means that you can watch 30 or so movies each month for $4.99, or less per month if you sign up for six months or a year. Not sure if you're enough of a movie buff to buy? MUBI lets you sign up free -- without payment information -- for a seven-day trial, which is what I did. Here's what I learned:
The MUBI app is fantastic.

A new video has surfaced comparing an iPad 5 case with those from the iPad 4 and the iPad mini. The leak comes via parts retail site Sw-box, which sells components for a range of Apple iPhones and other devices, suggesting that it has close connections with the Apple supply chain. The video confirms that the iPad mini-like design of the iPad 5, while also revealing that it will be slightly shorter, narrower and but notably thinner and as much as 37 percent lighter....
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For the first time since it began compiling its Best Global Brands report in 2000, Interbrand now lists Apple as the worldís most valuable brand, reports The New York Times. Since the inception of the Interbrand report, Coca-Cola has taken out the top spot for the last thirteen years straight. Apple took second place on the list last year, moving from eighth in 2011, but has now claimed the top position with an estimate brand value of $98.3 billion, a 28 percent increase from 2012....
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A rumor out of the Far East on Sunday claims Apple has once again retained Samsung's services to build a next-generation processor dubbed the "A8," though a majority of production will reportedly be handled by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
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A Texas judge last week dismissed a motion that would have allowed Apple to intervene in patent-holding firm Lodsys' ongoing attacks against iOS app makers, hindering the Cupertino company's ability to protect developers that provide the backbone of its important iOS ecosystem.
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All-new dial-in experience! Be sure to set up Fuze Meeting before the show if you want to join in live.

It's Sunday, and it's time for the TUAW talkcast! If you're feeling slightly wobbly and a trifle nauseated, we understand. Although it's possible that your vertigo is related to iOS 7's new parallax effect and zooming visuals, that's affecting relatively few people. (If you're affected, be sure to flip the Reduce Motion switch under Settings, General, Accessibility.)

No, more likely that the sour taste in your mouth is related to the frantic Wall Street rationalizations and revisionist redactions as the equity analysts covering Apple's business...

Tricky Letters is a new app that serves daily inspiration. The app is simple to use and delivers its content in a unique, cute way. You receive letters everyday at random times that contain wisdom, inspiration, meaningful quotes, and art. Tricky Letters stands out in that it doesn’t serve up content on demand. Instead, it only delivers content when the app decides to.

The app is very minimalistic with two buttons. In the upper left hand corner there is a circle. Tapping on the white circle, spreads out two different options. “About” will tell you how the app works and where it gets the pictures. Tapping on “Theme Store” shows you the different themes that are...

Apple The 5C iPhone comes in green, blue, yellow and pink, as well as white.

Another busy week in the digital world has passed, complete with our full coverage.

Here’s a download of the top news this week, in case you missed it:

1. Despite concerns from analysts and pundits, Apple managed to sell a whopping 9 million new iPhones over the first weekend of release. Those numbers, however, weren’t broken out in terms of how many were 5s devices versus 5c — perhaps we’ll hear more on the quarterly earnings call.
2. The NYPD would really love it if all Apple mobile...

When the iPhone 5s launched with the M7 motion coprocessor on September 20, Azumio’s ARGUS fitness app was updated that same day with M7 compatibility. I’ve been an ARGUS user for quite awhile, as it syncs with my LifeTrak and can also independently track steps in the background throughout the day even without a wristband.

The app is now the #1 free Health & Fitness app in the App Store and has been featured as one of the top “Designed for iOS 7″ apps.

Seeing that the app gained M7 compatibility so quickly – it was the first one that I noticed and I haven’t been able to find one that added it before them – I was curious about how ARGUS was able to...

Dave and John come out swinging today, hacking away at your problems, solving your dilemmas, sharing your groovy ideas, and ensuring that everyone is not only informed, but enlightened and entertained! Topics range from fixing crackly speakers to tidying up your menu bar to finding backups that disappeared. All of this and more ... just download and press play. That's all there is to it!

Update: It does appear this was a glitch, as it’s no longer available. It’s not yet known whether those who upgraded while it was available will get to keep their unlimited data.

Contrary to Verizon’s stated claims that it is ridding itself of unlimited data plans on iPhone upgrades, a few readers have been able to upgrade to the iPhone 5S or 5C and keep their unlimited data (which is all the more valuable in the age of LTE).

@9to5mac A friend upgraded to the 5S at Target and they let him keep his Verizon unlimited.

—
Jeff (@iCon1969) September 29, 2013

Folks at HowardForums and...

This looks like fun to me. Definitely adding to my bucket list.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Sony's new Cyber-shot DSC-QX10 wireless camera lens is a first-of-its-kind iPhone accessory that could appeal to many who are in the market for a quality, conveniently pocketable and connected point-and-shoot camera. Unfortunately software issues make the ambitious device far from perfect, though it does earn kudos for being a concept ahead of its time.
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One of the founders of Apple and the man who brought video gaming to the masses, together onstage for the first time (at least as far back as they can remember).

They covered a lot during an hourlong conversation before a packed room at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center on Friday afternoon, from Steve Jobs and data encryption to the early days of Silicon Valley and the future of robots and computing as machines get smarter and smarter. But the sense you got from both of these valley pioneers is that, for the most part, they had a lot of fun building the future and the idea of having fun still figures into their decisions.

A lot has been written about Steve Jobs and Woz’s roles in building Breakout for Atari. But this is the first time Woz and Bushnell have told that story together.

Both Bushnell and Woz said they never really...

9to5Mac is reporting that Apple recently hired former Nike design director Ben Shaffer.

At Nike, Shaffer was the Studio Director of the Innovation Kitchen. This is Nike's research and development lab where new product designs are created. Under Shaffer's lead, Nike was named the most innovative company in 2013 by Fast Company. Nike's Innovation Kitchen has been connected to wearable products like the popular Nike Fuel Band, and most recently, the Flyknit shoe.

The hiring of Shaffer comes just weeks after word surfaced that Apple had hired famed fitness guru and Nike FuelBand consultant Jay Blahnik.

As for the reasons behind Apple's recent hires, the rumor mill suggests that Apple is shoring up its iWatch team with fitness experts to shore up...

Delta Air Lines surprised industry observers on Friday by going with Microsoft's newly announced Surface 2 tablet for its pilots instead of Apple's iPad. The airline already allows pilots to bring their own iPads with them on flights, and observers expected them to go with Apple's tablet for digital flight materials. Instead, they will receive Microsoft's newest Windows RT-powered tablet devices, according to Windows IT Pro....
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This week, Valve gradually revealed a number of interesting new products, starting Monday with the announcement of its own dedicated Steam OS. Wednesday brought news that the company is working on a number of home "Steam Box" consoles for the living room, and today the announcements wrapped up with the reveal of an all-new peripheral its calling the "Steam Controller," which will be compatible with all versions of Steam, including Steam for Mac.

The controller is different from anything gamers are likely used to seeing, as it abandons the now-standard analog sticks of most controllers in favor of dual trackpads. How the device performs has yet to be seen -- and a total of 300 beta units will be sent out to help generate feedback -- but Valve insists it offers control accurate enough to act as a stand-in for the more traditional keyboard and mouse combination.

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Apple's iPad and iPad mini are still the most popular tablets in the world, but Android-powered tablets are grabbing an increasing share of the market and are collectively approaching the iPad in terms of revenue, according to a new study from ABI Research.
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Dropbox has released version 2.4 of its OS X desktop client that adds a number of new features including the ability to import photos directly from iPhoto into your Dropbox. The "Import from iPhoto" feature is only supported with iPhoto 7.0 or later. The feature prompts a notification to appear in the Dropbox menu if you have photos in your iPhoto library. You can then set iPhoto Events to be imported automatically into a folder called "Photos from iPhoto" with subfolders for each event.

In addition to the Import from iPhoto even, Dropbox 2.4 also adds:

• Screenshot to Dropbox: any screenshots taken on your Mac will be automatically saved in your Dropbox.
• Move to Dropbox: a contextual menu item that will show up for most files or folders outside of your Dropbox enabling you to quickly move them to your Dropbox.
• Support for OS X 10.9 Mavericks.
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Apple has posted a new video called "Moments" to its YouTube channel, highlighting the best moments of the 2013 iTunes Festival London. The festival doesn't end until Monday night with a performance by Katy Perry. But, since it's been running since Sept. 1, Apple's had a lot of footage to work with.

Check it out below and also note that you can still view most of the concerts via iTunes and the iTunes Festival app on iOS and Apple TV.

Apple posts iTunes Festival 'Moments' video originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 28 Sep 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | ...

As a reviewer, you know you're getting something special to look at when the item comes hand-wrapped in paper sealed with wax. That was the first thing that caught my attention when Pad & Quill sent over one of their Little Pocket Book wallet cases for the iPhone 5 and 5s (US$69.95, currently on sale for $59.95).

The second thing to catch my eye? The wisely-designed interior wallet that -- for once -- had slots wide enough to easily accept credit cards and IDs. Competing designs have assumed that a slot needs to be exactly as wide as a credit card, which sadly means that you end up forcing cards into those slots.

Not so with the Little Pocket Book. Like every one of the Pad & Quill products I've had the pleasure to review over the years, this wallet case shows an attention to detail in both design and execution. The Little Pocket Book comes in a choice of two...

The Globe and Mail:

This investigative report reveals that shortly after the release of the first iPhone, Verizon asked BlackBerry to create a touchscreen “iPhone killer.” But the result was a flop, so Verizon turned to Motorola and Google instead.

Mr. Lazaridis opposed the launch plan for the BlackBerry 10 phones and argued strongly in favour of emphasizing keyboard devices. But Mr. Heins and his executives did not take the advice and launched the touchscreen Z10, with disastrous results.

Fascinating article about the demise of a once great brand.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Touch ID? That's soooo old-fashioned. All the cool cats are trying O'Malley's method of unlocking his human's devices using that amazing pawprint[TM] technology. It appears as if O'Malley has also found a fail-proof way of keeping owner Eric S from doing any work on his Mac.

We'd love to see photos of your favorite feline soaking up the warmth of an Apple product, chasing a Magic Mouse, or just being a general nuisance while you're attempting to work on your Mac, iPad, or iPhone. Please let us know via our feedback page and please remember that your cat photo has to have some sort of connection to Apple or its products. For security reasons we can't accept inbound attachments, so you should host the photo (Dropbox, Flickr, iPhoto Journals, etc.) and send us the link.

Many thanks to Eric S for sharing this photo with us.

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dryriver sends this story from The Guardian: "The introduction of fake zooms, parallax, sliding and other changes in Apple's new iPhone and iPad software has a very real effect on people with vestibular disorders. ... It makes frequent use of zoom and slide animations; the home screen boasts parallax, with icons apparently floating above subtly animating wallpaper. And it's making people sick. Triggers and symptoms vary, but TidePool mobile app developer Jenni Leder's experience is not uncommon. A self-professed power-user, she frequently switches apps; but on iOS 7, this has caused headaches and feelings associated with motion sickness. 'I now have to close my eyes or cover the screen during transitions, which is ridiculous,' she told The Guardian, adding that there's nowhere to hide: 'It's not apps that affect me, but accessing them. Tap a folder and the view zooms in. Tap an app and it's like flying through the icon and landing in that app's micro world — and I'm getting dizzy...

Today we're going to pass along another short tip for those who may not have yet figured out how your friends send those emoji -- smiley faces, little animals, cars and trucks, etc... -- in Messages, emails or tweets. In addition, you'll see how to change settings to make working with your iOS virtual keyboard less frustrating and more efficient.

As with all of our videos, you can go full-screen to see the details up close. If you have any tips or tricks you'd like us to include in the video tips, please use the red Tip Us button to give us your ideas.

iOS 7 video tip: Adding the emoji keyboard and other keyboard tricks originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 28 Sep 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our ...

C’mon, how wicked is this?

∞ Read this on The Loop

This living history of the web is a lot of fun. When you get to the site, click and drag in the timeline or click on the left or right side of each page to move forward or backward in time. OK, you won’t actually move through time, but you get the idea. As you move closer to current day and things start to get a bit crowded, you can click in the lower left corner to expand the timeline.

Lovely.

∞ Read this on The Loop

A new job listing on Apple's web site looks to hire a Maps Web User Interface Designer for, as quoted directly from the ad, "a new secret project." While Apple often advertises online positions for jobs that will result in eventual new products or services, this is the first time in memory the company has used such direct language regarding the fact that the job is related to future projects. The job will involve designing, developing and maintaining complex front-end code" related to Apple's Maps....
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On Friday, Geekbench published new processor scores for what appears to be a legitimate new Mac Pro model that utilizes eight cores on a single processor. A previous score from the unreleased 12-core Mac Pro appeared back in June -- suggesting that Apple is planning on releasing more than one model when the redesigned workstation is finally premiered. Though the scores of the two models can't be directly compared due to technical differences, the eight-core Mac Pro solidly beats current eight-core Mac Pros....
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Samsung plumbed new depths of "WTF?" on Friday by publishing a blog post titled, "‘Golden’ History of Samsung Phones [Editorial]." The point of the piece appears to be to everyone knows the gold GS4 was available in Arabia on September 8th, two days before Apple unveiled the gold iPhone 5s on September 10th. SO SHUT UP EVERYONE WE DIDN'T COPY!

Although it had no say in how AT&T managed its "unlimited" 3G data plans, Apple and the US carrier are both responsible for harm inflicted on consumers who bought 3G iPads on AT&T's network expected to be able to use an unlimited data plan. The proposed settlement, which must still be approved by a judge, comes as a result of customers who spent an extra $130 on the 3G-capable iPad in the expectation that they could use AT&T's unlimited data plan with it. AT&T later revoked the option after promising it would retain it for iPad 3G customers....
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What’s New and What’s Next: iOS 7 and Sync

After Apple unveiled iOS 7 at WWDC in June, we received many kind compliments along the lines of “Wow, Vesper really looks like an iOS 7 app already.” But the truth is that Vesper 1.0 was a forward-looking iOS 6 app. It was obvious to all three of us, right away, that this was very different from being a forward-looking iOS 7 app.

We have big plans and a long roadmap for Vesper. But we’re a very small team. Setting our priorities — the order of our roadmap — has profound repercussions on when those things go from ideas we’re working on to features in the hands of our customers.

We knew all along that our first priority was to ship a great iPhone app. Any other year, having done that in June, we’d have spent the summer working on something else. But iOS 7 is such a fundamental change to the platform, it rendered 2013 no ordinary year. If our first priority is for Vesper to be...

Apple has finally cleared up a naming rights issue for the iPhone in Brazil after a judge ruled against a local company that claimed to have exclusive ownership of the moniker due to a trademark filed in 2000.
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Since the concept was first introduced, consumers have complained about proprietary chargers. Regardless if they're needed or not for a given product, they can be annoying and inconvenient. But are they bad for the environment? That's the argument being put forward by the Members of the European Parliament's internal market committee.

On September 26 the body voted unanimously to propose a law that would require companies to use a universal mobile phone charger. The law requires mobile phone manufactures to include the universal Micro-USB charger in its designs.

In a statement Germany's MEP, Barbara Weiler,explained her support of the measure.

We urge member states and manufacturers finally to introduce a universal charger, to put an end to cable chaos for mobile phones and tablet computers.

This isn't the first time the European Union has sought to impose a...

National Geographic:

Today photography has become a global cacophony of freeze-frames. Millions of pictures are uploaded every minute. Correspondingly, everyone is a subject, and knows it—any day now we will be adding the unguarded moment to the endangered species list. It’s on this hyper-egalitarian, quasi-Orwellian, all-too-camera-ready “terra infirma” that National Geographic’s photographers continue to stand out.

To my mind, no contemporary magazine has brought us more powerful images so consistently for so long. This 125th anniversary issue is one that should be bought in hard cover and kept as a family heirloom.

...

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 September 27, 2013 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 27 Sep 2013 17:15:00 EST. Please see our...

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+.

Today’s featured deals...

The team at Chipworks on Friday posted a tentative look at the iPhone 5s' A7 system-on-a-chip, finding a few changes from the previous A6 processor, including the addition of a mysterious SRAM cell never seen in A-series silicon.
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A job listing appeared on Apple's careers site Friday seeking a frontend Web designer and developer for 'a new secret project' tied to the company's mapping systems and services.
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A recent survey of 1,500 senior executives conducted by The Boston Consulting Group has named Apple the most innovative company in the world nine years running.

The findings capture executives' views of their own innovation plans, as well as their opinions of other companies' innovation track records. As in past surveys, the 2013 results reveal the 50 companies that executives rank as the most innovative, weighted to incorporate relative three-year shareholder returns, revenue growth and margin growth.

It has been suggested that Apple has lost its innovative edge. Some would dismiss the iPhone 5s as it so closely resembles the iPhone 5. In truth, Apple always challenges itself to push the envelope. Apple CEO Tim Cook understands that to survive in tech means the constant pursuit of innovation. In a recent...

The latest edition of iLounge Weekly, our weekly newsletter covering all things iLounge, will be arriving in subscribers’ inboxes early next week. iLounge Weekly is a summary of the week’s best news, reviews, and feature articles we’ve published, and it also features giveaways and accessory discount offers from various companies.…

Apple has recruited Ben Shaffer, formerly the studio director for Nike's Innovation Kitchen, a source says. The Innovation Kitchen is Nike's research and development department, the birthplace of products like the FuelBand wrist tracker and the lightweight Flyknit shoe. What Shaffer might be doing at Apple is unstated, but based on his background it's speculated that he may have been brought on for Apple's alleged iWatch project and/or future wearable technologies....
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Apple has hired Nike design director Ben Shaffer, according to a report. Shaffer was Studio Director of Nike’s research and development lab, and he played a key role in developing the company’s lightweight Flyknit shoe; some reports have suggested, perhaps erroneously, that he was involved in the FuelBand as…

Last weekend, Apple sold nine million new iPhones, blowing away analyst expectations and setting a launch weekend record in the process. In fact, the nine million tally nearly doubles Apple's previous iPhone launch record.

Suffice it to say, the iPhone 5s and 5c are bonafide hits and, once again, Apple is struggling to manufacture iPhones fast enough to meet demand. Considering that many pundits and analysts recently expressed supreme confidence that Apple had peaked and was prepped for a decline, that's not too shabby.

Now you would assume that even Apple's most vehement critics wouldn't be so bold as to turn a blind eye to nine million units sold in just three days, right?

And yet, as sure as the sun rises in the east, pundits from two mainstream publications attempted to turn Apple's overwhelmingly successful iPhone 5s and 5c launch into...

MacPractice has announced the release of a 64-bit release MacPractice 4.4 to new purchasers of MacPractice MD, DDS, DC and 20/20. Providing doctors with client-oriented practice management, the latest version features new revenue cycle management tools, enhanced insurance verification, supplementary Internet backup, digital imaging integrations, third party cloud EMR/EHR options, and expanded connectivity for providers as well as their patients. Requiring Mac OS X Mountain Lion or later, MacPractice 4.4 also introduces Time Clock and Inventory Tracking. Inventory Tracking works with bar code r...
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This is just magical. I think Abrams should bring this guy on board as a technical advisor in charge of proper use of the force.