iOS 7 does a pretty good job taking just about any image you have and making it work with the new parallax background effect, moving your image behind your icons. But there are tricks to making it work well, and there are also some fantastic photographs out there on the internet. Combine it all together and you get FreeiOS7.com's collection of parallax wallpapers. They've sized them for both the iPhone and iPad, so head on over and check 'em out. Easiest is to do it from your iOS 7-based device, then save your favorite image(s) to your camera roll and... off you go!

No, this is not an April Fool's Day post. Tim Cook, Apple CEO and legendary operations guru, has joined Twitter. His twitter handle is @Tim_Cook.

While it was initially unclear if the account was one of many parody accounts that have been set up using Cook's name, Apple executive Phil Schiller re-tweeted a post from Cook, effectively verifying the authenticity of the account.

Cook's first tweet reads:

Visited Retail Stores in Palo Alto today. Seeing so many happy customers reminds us of why we do what we do.

- Tim Cook (@tim_cook) September 20, 2013

Cook's Twitter description reads: "CEO Apple, Fan of Auburn football and Duke basketball. Cupertino." You can tell Cook values greatness because he's not following Auburn basketball or Duke football. He knows how to pick his spots.

When I first took at look at Cook's Twitter account...

iTunes 11.1 introduced some huge changes, specifically with regards to podcasts. You may not realize it, but podcasts are now synced with your iOS devices (and Apple TVs updated to Version 6) and that means iTunes manages things VERY differently. From sorting to deleting, nearly all of it has changed. We'll be talking more about that on our upcoming Mac Geek Gab this Sunday, and likely writing some more tips, too, but for now there's a great post at Apple's Support Forums with some good tips to get you started. Hopefully this helps! 

It's been expected, but now an AppleTV update has arrived. The new 6.0 firmware adds support for iTunes Radio and purchases from the iTunes Music Store. In addition, updating adds podcast syncing, viewing of shared photo streams and AirPlay from iCloud. This update gets the AppleTV feature parity with iOS 7.

The new firmware also upgrades the AirPlay wireless streaming feature, so you can now play iTunes store purchased content on other AppleTVs.

The download and install was very slow for me today, likely because Apple servers are slammed with all the other updates people are doing with new iPhones and in upgrading devices to iOS 7.

Apple has been enhancing the AppleTV software recently, and has added new apps for Vevo, The Weather Channel, the Disney Channel and other content sources.

To get the update on your AppleTV, go to Settings > General and...

I am not a New Yorker; standing in lines make me want to start stabbing people. The last time I actually went to a for-real brick and mortar Apple store to purchase a for-real Apple product rather than ordering online like a sane person was back in 2007, when I spent a whole day camped out waiting for a first-generation iPhone. That was a miserable experience, and so was this morning's wait for an iPhone 5S. But it wasn't all bad, because I got to get up close and personal with the kind of people who want gold iPhones.

How the iPhone 5S Gold came to be.

Apple didn't provide Ars with advanced review hardware for either of the new iPhone models, and so both Ars Senior Product Specialist Andrew Cunningham and I found ourselves in line at our respective Apple stores on the morning of the iPhone 5S launch, waiting along with everyone else. Rather than kicking back and enjoying the new features, we'll be digging in over the weekend in order to bring you some...

It's difficult to look at just the proposed features of a new smartphone like Apple's iPhone 5s, announced on September 10, and make an accurate assessment of its prospects in the marketplace. Instead of analyzing features, we should look at technical currents.

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.

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Daily Update for September 20, 2013 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 20 Sep 2013 15:45:00 EST. Please see our...

Every single version of the iPhone to ever be released has been doomed. In fact, some of them were so doomed I'm surprised we even acknowledge their existence anymore. Apple needs to just give up before the company has to start selling coffee mugs from its headquarters just to turn a profit.

Wait, Apple already does that? My god, it's happening.

But don't take my word for it, let's look at all of the extremely well-thought-out arguments as to why each new iPhone was going to flop... until it didn't.

iPhone - 2007

• It doesn't do 3G - What is this, the dark ages?
• It's locked to AT&T - Wow, Apple, way to kill your not-even-good smartphone idea before it even got a chance.
• The camera sucks - No flash? Almost zero options? What a joke.
• No picture messaging - My brother needs to see this...

Today in the MacNN Forums, the discussion begins about the new iPhone 5s in a thread started by "subego" after a "surprisingly smooth" ordering process via the Apple Store App. With the release of iOS 7 earlier this week, forum goers began to discuss the new features in the thread titled "iOS 7 - Spheric's Tips and Tricks"....
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If you would like to keep a specific user account more private, you can do so by removing it from the log-in window in OS X.

The A7 processor in the iPhone 5s is being manufactured by Samsung, Chipworks analysis confirms. There had been rumors that TSMC would be handling the chip's production as Apple tries to distance itself from Samsung, but today's discovery adds to a growing number of reports indicating that TSMC won't take over any duties until at least 2014. Chipworks says it is still conducting analysis, but speculates that Samsung is using the same 28nm HKMG manufacturing process employed for the Exynos processor in the Galaxy S4....
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On a day filled to the brim with iPhone 5s and 5c happenings, Apple pulled the trigger on the good stuff for its Apple TV set top box.

Per AppleInsider, Apple released its anticipated software update to Apple TV today. The new software adds the followings fixes and changes:
- Added support for iTunes Radio and AirPlaying content from iCloud — like music from iTunes Match — to another person’s Apple TV.

- Allows users to take any purchased iTunes content — such as music, movies or TV episodes — and stream it directly to an Apple TV that may not be configured with their iTunes login credentials. The...

On the same day his firm released its newest iPhones, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook appears to have taken a step into the social media world, opening a Twitter account and letting slip a single tweet.
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Time is running out for BlackBerry. The company announced on Friday that it is cutting 4,500 jobs and that it will report a net operating loss of roughly $1 billion in its next quarterly earnings report.

I certainly feel bad for the people that lost their jobs, but we all knew this was coming.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Visited Retail Stores in Palo Alto today. Seeing so many happy customers reminds us of why we do what we do.

—
Tim Cook (@tim_cook) September 20, 2013

Other Apple executives have been on Twitter for a while, and today CEO Tim Cook sent out his first tweet mentioning that he visited retail stores in Palo Alto for the retail launch of the iPhone 5s and 5c. Cook has been a member of Twitter since July, but his account is not yet verified by Twitter. Apple marketing chief Philip Schiller retweeted Cook’s tweet earlier today proving that the account is indeed run by the Apple CEO.

Earlier today Cook, along with Apple executives Phil Schiller and Eddie Cue, made an appearance at Apple’s Palo Alto retail...

Chipworks

A few hours after iFixit's high-level teardown of the iPhone 5S and 5C, Chipworks has started to tear down the individual components inside the phone to see what makes it tick.

Their first discovery involves what we've been wondering about the A7 since Apple first mentioned how similar it is in size to the previous A6: its manufacturing process. It turns out that Apple is indeed using Samsung's 28nm Hi K Metal Gate (HKMG) process to build the chip, a slight shrink from the previous 32nm HKMG process used in the A6, the A6X, and some A5 variants. For those who don't know, an upgraded manufacturing process can cram more transistors into a smaller amount of space, ultimately allowing the chips to fit into physically smaller phones...

Last night, iFixit started to take apart the iPhone 5s, and now the repair shop has fixed its sights on the iPhone 5c. This latest guide by iFixit delves into the differences between the iPhone 5c and both the 5s and 5. It kicks off with some commentary on the meaning of the "C" in the phone's name -- does it stand for "color," "cheaper," "childish," or something else?

The teardown points out in several places that the iPhone 5c is very similar to the iPhone 5. It shares many of the same hardware specs and is basically an iPhone 5 with a plastic casing. It's not an iPhone 5 clone, though, and actually shares some features of the iPhone 5s, like a snug-fitting display assembly, a bigger battery and a very similar internal case design.

Just like the iPhone 5s,...

With the release of Apple's newest flagship iPhone 5s and the mid-level iPhone 5c, AppleInsider's trade-in guide can help you get the most from your old iPhone.
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While the rest of the world is fighting to get their hands on the gold iPhone 5s, iFixit was busy stripping one down to its frame. Inside, they found Apple's Touch Id fingerprint scanner, but the M7 motion and fitness chip wasn't anywhere to be seen.

The Mac Observer Spin:
No M7 chip! Looks like Apple's marketing team came up with a clever way to explain the motion and fitness features, and Apple never explicitly said M7 was a single chip -- but they sure did a great job of implying just that.

Full disclosure: I don't entirely get the point of screen protectors. My screens, from touch-based to desktop, have all survived entirely fine until this moment without them.

The dollar store iPad-specific screen protector comes with an entire page of directions on the obverse of the container. You clean the screen with the provided cloth ("in a dust-free environment"). You then pull back the plastic backing about an inch, align and then press and work your way down the tablet screen.

The cleaning cloth is about 3x3 inches in side, made of a silky material and did a pretty awesome job in cleaning the grime off both my tablet and my glasses -- it's now been tucked into my backpack for further glasses work. So good win on that!

That's where the good news ends.

The protector itself comes in a separate bag with a stiff backing. I carefully peeled down my "about an inch," aligned the home button hole and carefully, carefully tried to lay down the sheet and...

While iPhone fans have been waiting in line to pick up the 5c in their favorite colors, one tech repair site has been disassembling the polycarbonate-backed iPhone, revealing a sturdy device that loses some points on repairability.
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Apple has released Apple TV Software Update 6.0, the latest feature and content update for its set-top box. The new version provides support for Apple’s new iTunes Radio streaming service, introduced in iOS 7 and iTunes 11.1 for users in the U.S., along with several other enhancement, including the ability…

While the world is getting up to speed on iOS 7's more visible features like Control Center and the dazzling parallax effects, there's one feature that hasn't gotten a lot of attention -- iBeacons. TidBITS author Michael Cohen wrote a great piece this week that talks about the feature and what it can do for iOS device owners in the future.

iBeacons was just a word on a slide at WWDC 2013, but as Cohen points out, it has the potential to provide some amazing functionality. To quote Cohen, "Apps can use iBeacons to answer the question 'Where am I?' not in terms of a location on a map, like GPS does, but in terms of where the device is relative to another device. Specifically, where it is relative to another device acting as an iBeacon."

An iBeacon is a radio that can be placed anywhere, and when an iOS device gets...

Apple gave its Apple TV set-top box an internal overhaul Friday, issuing a software update that adds a few new features to the device. Arriving two days after AllThingsD predicted it would, the new firmware brings with it a bunch of enhancements.

Among new features included in Apple TV 6.0: support for iTunes Radio and purchases from the iTunes Music Store, podcast syncing, the ability to view videos and photos from a shared photo stream and Airplay From iCloud, an upgrade to Apple’s Airplay wireless streaming software that allows people who have purchased content from Apple’s iTunes store to play that same content on other Apple TVs.

Developing …

NetworkWorld is reporting that Apple's iOS 7 may be the first instance of large-scale use of a new type of Internet protocol called multipath TCP, or MCTCP. Just what is MCTCP -- and what does it do -- you may ask? Here's what NetworkWorld's John Cox says:

Researchers have been working for years on creating "disruption tolerant" networks, which can automatically work around failures, sometimes multiple failures, and adapt to changing network conditions. Today TCP is a single path protocol: if that path should fail for any reason, the session ends, and the connection has to be re-established.

By contrast, MCTCP is a TCP extension that enables the simultaneous use of several IP addresses or interfaces. Existing applications - completely unmodified -- see what appears to be a standard TCP interface. But under the covers, MPTCP is spreading the connection's data across several subflows...

Apple has once again turned to Samsung to manufacture its new 64-bit A7 processor that powers the flagship iPhone 5s, an analysis of the system-on-a-chip has confirmed.
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Apple has indicated that it is already sold out of some iPhone 5s models, citing “incredible” demand for the new device, according to report this morning by AllThingsD. Although Apple typically does not provide specific sales information until after the initial launch weekend, it has revealed that it many…

Apple is seeing "incredible" demand for its new iPhones, according to an official statement. "Demand for the new iPhones has been incredible, and we are currently sold out or have limited supply of certain iPhone 5s models in some stores," a PR representative says. The company has declined to go into any more detail, but typically reserves specific numbers until completed launch weekends, quarterly results calls, and major press events....
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Messages in iOS 7 are very economical in their presentation.  Not every message bubble is time stamped.  Here's a quick tip on how to reveal those times.

U.S. Senator Al Franken, who has questioned Apple and other technology companies several times in the past, just published a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook questioning the privacy implications of the TouchID fingerprint sensor feature included in Apple’s new iPhone 5s. In the letter (below), Franken says that “important questions remain about how this technology works, Apple’s future plans for this technology, and the legal protections that Apple will afford it,” and requests that Apple explain more in-depth how it’s storing fingerprint data:

It’s clear to me that Apple has worked hard to secure this technology and implement it responsibly. The iPhone...

There's a great line from the exceptionally addicting television series Breaking Bad where drug kingpin Gus Fring explains why he humbly runs a fast food chicken restaurant and even donates to police related causes.

"I hide in plain sight," he says.

So too does Apple's innovation hide from the critical eyes of analysts and investors who reacted to Apple's iPhone announcements with a collective sigh. For reasons that defy explanation, Apple alone is seemingly held up to a standard of innovation that no company could ever live up to.

So like clockwork, Apple's iPhone announcements last week were followed by the same tired arguments about how the company has lost its luster, and rather bizarrely, how the company needs to innovate faster.

While the flaws in these commonly levied assertions have been pointed out time and time again, Glen Fleishman recently...

The new iPhone 5S is out and normal folks are getting their fingerprints all over it—exactly what Apple intended with the inclusion of the fingerprint scanner. However, early reviews have included the occasional note that the fingerprint scanner's ability to enable iTunes purchases didn't quite work correctly—the iPhone 5S would prompt for a password instead of simply accepting the fingerprint.

To address this, Apple has issued an update to iOS 7 for the iPhone 5S (and also for the 5C, though it's unclear what else the update addresses). Several other outlets are reporting that the update is only 17.5MB, but when I checked via iTunes on my fresh-from-the-box iPhone 5S, I got a download that was 1.39GB in size.

We'll have our full iPhone 5s review up as soon as possible, along with video showing off how the new devices (and their new cameras) work.

Read on...

Everyone on Wall Street pretty much freaked last Monday when Apple didn't announce any pre-order numbers for the total units of iPhone 5c's sold. That's nothing new -- analysts on The Street are a jittery, throw-you-under-a-bus crowd. But the fact that Apple has remained silent is neither good nor bad. However, today that silence has been broken a little bit with the company telling AllThingsD:

"Demand for the new iPhones has been incredible and we are currently sold out or have limited supply of certain iPhone 5s models in some stores."

Will that assuage Wall Streets worries? Probably not. But I sense a well-deserved "I told you so" from Apple coming on when they do announce the new iPhone's sales launch numbers.

Apple: Demand for iPhone 5s and 5c has been "Incredible" originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog...

Apple's new iPhone 5c represents the first time the company has specifically updated and advertised its mid-range handset, giving the device a unique role in expanding expectations for the company's smartphone sales.
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Android Authority is in Hong Kong with both the iPhone 5s and 5c. Like it has done in the past, the blog put the two phones through their paces in a classic comparison drop test. Joshua Vergara dropped the phones from a chest-level height and sent them to the pavement in the front-first, back-first and side-first positions.

In the end, the iPhone 5s fared well in the tests with only minimal scratches and dings. The iPhone 5c passed with flying colors until a front-first drop shattered the screen. Bummer. You can check out the torture test in the video below.

iPhone 5s and 5c sorta, kinda pass chest-level drop tests originally appeared on TUAW -...

The iPhone 5c and 5s unboxing videos have surfaced.

Just hours after Apple launched sales of the iPhone 5s and 5c at its brick-and-mortar Apple Stores, videos showing the some of the devices’ first unboxings have been uploaded to YouTube.

Per AppleInsider, Aussie iPhone customer Ben Pasternak offers one of the first looks at the two devices in two separate clips. The first features what seems to be an rare gold version of the iPhone 5s. Availability of the of the new color is thought to be extremely constrained as reports from those waiting in line have said Apple Stores will only be...

The pseudonymous “J. K. Appleseed,” an Apple Genius, tells insider tales from the Apple Store, including training the elderly, comparing the Genius Bar to The Wall from “Game of Thrones,” and even a fist fight. Along the way, Appleseed drops interesting Apple Store trivia. Did you know that each glass step in an Apple Store costs over $35,000 to install?

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.

iLounge and a number of readers are experiencing SIM card issues with just-delivered Verizon iPhone 5s units. Affected iPhones display a message reading, “The SIM card that you currently have inserted in this iPhone is from a carrier that is not supported under the activation policy that is currently assigned…

Seriously, everyone wants an iPhone.

∞ Read this on The Loop

This is cool. It shows you one word at a time, so you can increase your speed over time.

∞ Read this on The Loop

This is so cute. I love my Border Collies.

Demand for the iPhone 5s appears to be outstripping supply, as shipping times for the high-end iPhone have slipped to seven to ten business days at Apple's online store, while the gold model appears to be completely out of stock.
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One of the great new iOS 7 features that hasn't gotten a terrible amount of press is its support for MFi game controllers. As a quick primer, 'MFi' indicates that a product has been officially licensed for use on the iPhone/iPad/iPod and thus meets Apple's specifications.

While current gaming on iOS is great, there's no getting around the fact that a physical D-pad and buttons opens up a whole new world of gaming possibilities.

On Thursday, two online teasers depicting hardware game controllers for iOS emerged.

First, we have a teaser video from ClamCase highlighting a MFi iOS controller it calls "GameCase."

Also making the rounds on Thursday was this Facebook photo from Logitech. The photo seems to imply that an iOS game controller is forthcoming.

If this type...

The iPhone 5c is here! Last week I got my hands on one briefly during a press event at Apple’s campus, but now I’ve had a bit more time to study the colorful new iPhone models. A full review will need to wait for a whole lot more quality time with the product, but here are some of my first impressions.

It’s an iPhone 5, all right

Image: Robert Cardin

I ran a bunch of speed tests on the iPhone 5c, and as you might expect, they all showed pretty much the same performance as last year’s iPhone 5. That’s because the internals of the iPhone 5c are essentially the same as those on the iPhone 5.

But here’s the thing. The iPhone 5 is fast. It was a huge leap in performance over the 2011 model, the iPhone 4s. Someone upgrading from an out-of-contract iPhone 4...

Apple stores worldwide were packed this morning as the iPhone 5s and 5c went up for sale in a total of 11 countries and territories. Here's a look at some of the lineups spotted around the globe.
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Readers and Tweeters are reporting that Apple CEO Tim Cook is at the Palo Alto University...

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