Microsoft Office for iPhone is finally here. Today Microsoft has released Office Mobile for Office 365 subscribers. The app is a free download but an Office 365 subscription is required for use. For now check out all the details in the release notes below. We'll have a full review of the app shortly.

Release Notes:

Microsoft Office Mobile is the official Office companion optimized for your iPhone. You can access, view and edit your Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint documents from virtually anywhere. Documents look like the originals, thanks to support for charts, animations, SmartArt graphics and shapes. When you make quick edits or add comments to a document, the formatting and content remain intact.

KEY FEATURES:
Access documents from virtually anywhere:
* Cloud - With your phone, you can access Office documents that are stored on...

An update to the Sony RX100 will have a tilting screen, according to images claimed to be from its instruction manual. The RX100 Mark II, expected to be announced by the company on June 27th, reportedly has a screen that will be able to vertically tilt, and will also have a light sensor to automatically adjust the screen's brightness....  ...

New photos from the Far East claim to show the dock connector flex cable and loudspeaker for an unknown iPhone model, with the parts possibly bound for either Apple's next-generation handset or an inexpensive version rumored to see release this fall.  ...

Preparing for a trip to Spain, Chris Armstrong has equipped himself with the Duolingo Web and iPhone apps to brush up on his Spanish. But is it effective?

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Nova Elements is one of those showcase apps for the iPad. It has a great UI and is filled with fantastic photos

The showcase section of the app is an interactive periodic table that provides details on each of the elements. You can read about each element find out where it is found and how it is being used. There's also a build mode that lets you add electrons, neutrons and protons to build the atom that makes up the element. You can choose an auto-build that'll assemble the atom automatically. If enjoy a challenge, you can build it yourself. If you make a mistake, though, the atom will explode.

Besides the periodic table, Nova Elements also includes a link to buy the Hunting The Elements television program from NOVA. Another section includes the David Pogue's Essential Element's game that challenges you to drag atoms into place in order to build the element. These side sections are...

Plant Nanny is fun, little app that combines the process of growing plants with the healthy habit of drinking water. It's an unusual combination, but the app pulls it off wonderfully.

Plant Nanny lets you pick a cartoon seedling and plant it in a pot on your virtual window sill. As you drink water throughout the day, you add those glasses to the app and water your plant. The more water you give your plant, the faster it will grow. When it is fully grown, you can move it outside and start over with a new seedling.

The app encourages you to keep drinking by rewarding you with seeds from your fully grown (and watered) plants. These seeds can be used to buy more exotic plants besides the dandelion that is free with the app. Plant Nanny also supports notifications, which can be setup to remind you to drink your water at a regular interval.

...

Prior to iOS 7, the native camera application’s video option could not zoom while recording. There have been many third-party applications, such as MoviePro, which have had zooming before, however, they usually require post-processing once the video is over and they don’t integrate right into the lock screen like the native app.

The quick video below shows the new zoom function in action. Be sure to enable HD mode to see just how crystal-clear the video is even with full zoom. The video zoom doesn’t pan in as close as the still image zoom, but it still manages to work up to about 2-3x or so. To top it off, there is no post-processing necessary after the video is taken. It saves to your device just like a regular video and can be replayed...

I have a confession to make. For the past two months, I have been receiving a push notification at 9 PM that asks me for my mood. With a quick swipe, I scroll through the various faces and describe my mood for the day. The app also gives me the option to leave a quick comment or reason for my mood.

Now why would I do such a silly thing? Because the Mr Mood app allows me to view my moods over time and look through the notes to find out what makes me happy or sad. In addition, the new 2.0 version that was released last night brings with it new mood calculations for different time ranges. You can see if your “average mood” for the past month is higher than the past week and look through the comments to investigate.

The interface is extremely straight forward...

You've probably seen Apple's new Mac Pro. It's gorgeous. It's sexy. It's powerful, too, according to some people who have been working the device in recent weeks. In an Apple video called "Painting the World," the lead developer of 3D rendering tool MARI and an artist at Pixar both talked the Mac Pro and how powerful it is.

Just over 24 hours after Pandora announced that it had acquired a terrestrial FM radio station to attempt to pay less in music licensing fees, BMI filed suit in New York accusing Pandora of duplicity as it wrangles new music licenses. The music industry company suit is asking the court to order "reasonable, market-driven fees for Pandora" calling the purchase of the radio station a "stunt."...  ...

Tom Bihn's Synapse 25 backpack taught me an important lesson over the month I spent testing it on numerous road trips. That lesson? Stop buying cheap backpacks. Investing a little extra money right now can save you time packing, unpacking, and getting through airport security in the future. Say hello to the Synapse 25 backpack, the road traveler's best friend.

Design

From a purely aesthetic standpoint the Synapse 25 is a stylish and compact looking bag. While its pockets are cavernous, they don't stick out from the bag like the bulky pouches on your old high school backpack. This is simply a beautiful bag to carry around, and the multiple color options provided by Tom Bihn allow you to match your backpack to your work situation. Not everyone works at an office with a foosball table and a lax dress code. Sometimes you just need a nice professional solid color.

Even when loaded down, the Synapse 25 is...

While Apple was able to settle its past patent disputes with both Nokia and HTC, its ongoing legal battles against Samsung show no signs of slowing down.

According to the Korea Times, Samsung CEO Shin Jong-kyun recently spoke to reporters and indicated that an all encompassing settlement agreement with Apple isn't on the horizon.

The CEO confirmed Samsung has no intention of ending the patent disputes with Apple.

"Patent disputes against Apple will continue," Shin said.

The paper notes that Jong-kyun's remarks are the first he's made about Apple since the ITC in early June ordered an import ban against older generation iPhones and iPads for infringing upon standard essential patents owned by Samsung.

With a multitude of legal cases in jurisdictions across...

Proceedings continued in the U.S. Department of Justice e-book antitrust suit against Apple on Thursday, with the company's SVP of Internet Software and Service Eddy Cue testifying that he "didn't care" what prices publishers set for content sold through the iBookstore.  ...

Susan Kare may not be a household name, but her work has likely graced your computer at some point in time. Though she is best known for her icon design work on the original Apple Macintosh computer, she also has designed icons for other well known companies like PayPal, Facebook, and Microsoft. As a pioneer in the field of computer iconography, it's not surprising that Kare would have her own opinion about the UI changes in iOS 7. When asked by NetworkWorld what she thought about this new look and feel, Kare was upbeat and said:

Generally a good direction-am a fan of simple, meaningful symbols that fill a space, such as Music and...

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.

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Daily Update for June 13, 2013 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:45:00 EST. Please see our...

Having just reached a legally-binding settlement with the European Commission in an anti-trust investigation over its deceptive use of paid ads appearing as search results indistinguishable from independent results and its anti-competitive blocking of other services on sites that use AdSense, the company now faces a new investigation over its Android licensing deals. Claims from rivals such as Nokia, Microsoft and FairSearch.org allege that Google licenses Android to device manufacturers below cost, and makes demands about the placement of Google services and products.... ...

CNN Money reporter JP Mangalindan recently got his hands on a review unit of the new 11-inch MacBook Air and he has good news to report. As a long time Air user Mangalindan's major criticism of his old 2011 model was its skimpy battery life. While Apple said the 2011 Air was capable of 5 hours of life, Mangalindan experienced closer to 3 hours before he was out of power. Based on his experiences with the 2013 review unit however, it appears the Air's battery problems have been solved.

The review unit is 11-inch MacBook Air with 1.3GHz dual-core i5 processor, 4 GB of RAM, and 256 GB of flash storage. Over the course of his basic testing Mangalindan was able to get 8 hours of battery life with Wi-Fi on, multiple apps running, the brightness turned up, and the keyboard illuminated. Now granted...

Here's something you don't see everyday, a frank discussion of the role that psychedelics played in the early years of NeXT software development. The story is being told by infamous NeXT developer Andrew Stone of Stone Design (Create, Twittleator, Videator—you can see the latter on the screen at TMO's Cirque du Mac Macworld/iWorld party), and it includes some of his personal observations about the emergence, growth, and eventual failure of NeXTStep and OpenStep, as well as stories about the Stone Rave parties held in the 1990s. Andrew Stone told his tale this week at AltWWDC in a presentation called DMT, the NeXT, and the Soul of the Human Machine, and posted the text at Stone Design's website. It's available as a video (starting at approximately 1 hour and 13 minutes). It's an interesting look back at an important aspect of what became the foundation of Apple's OS X.

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More than half a decade after adding tabs to Safari 3.0 in 2007, Apple has incorporated the same feature into the OS X Mavericks Finder to organize multiple views into a single window, building on years of technology advancements to support the seemingly simple and obvious feature.  ...

Four key claims of Apple’s “rubber-banding” patent have been validated by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Apple informed Judge Lucy Koh of the USPTO’s intent. In April, a “Final Office Action” ruled one of the main claims invalid; this claim had been key in Apple’s patent battles…

Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue offered only short answers in testimony Thursday in federal court when questioned by U.S. Justice Department prosecutors trying to solidify their case that Apple, along with five of the largest book publishers, worked together to illegally set the prices of electronic books for the market.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who was instrumental in the negotiations, cast an even larger shadow across the proceedings. Cue, who is senior vice president of Internet software and services, led the effort in late 2009 through 2010 to get publishers to release their titles on Apple’s iBookstore reader for the soon-to-be-launched iPad, and consulted frequently with Jobs.

Eddy Cue

“Steve and I worked very closely on this,” Cue said.

...

Apple has told US District Judge Lucy Koh that the US Patent and Trademark Office is issuing a reexamination certificate, confirming four primary claims in the company's so-called "rubber-banding" patent, according to FOSS Patents. The patent describes the way iOS reacts whenever a user hits the bottom of a scrollable element. The USPTO once tentatively rejected claims in the patent, but Apple urged a court overseeing one of the company's lawsuits against Samsung to wait. Claim 19 in the patent helped Apple successfully sue Samsung for patent infringement last year.... ...

Rovio’s Angry Birds Star Wars ($1) has upgraded to version 1.3.0, and with it comes Lando Bird, a bird based on Billy Dee Williams’ famously suave Lando Calrissian. The game picks up at the point where Lando Bird is joining the Rebel Alliance, for those trying to keep their…

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon today announced the formation of a nationwide "Secure Our Smartphones" initiative aimed at encouraging the cell phone industry to adopt technologies that would deter theft by drying up the secondary market on which stolen devices are sold. The pair of officials announced the formation on the same day representatives from Apple, Google/Motorola, Microsoft and Samsung participated in a Smart Phone Summit convened in New York City... ...

Samsung CEO J.K. Shin had a lot to say this week, reassuring investors that the company's latest flagship smartphone is indeed selling well, while at the same time dismissing the notion that the company is anywhere close to d?tente with its chief rival, Apple.  ...

Apple's senior VP for Internet software and services, Eddy Cue, testified today in defense of the company at the Department of Justice's ongoing antitrust trial over e-book prices. Cue was responsible for negotiating publisher deals to help launch the iBookstore in 2010. Apple is accused, however, of colluding with publishers to switch the e-book industry to an agency model, specifically with the aim of forcing prices higher and undermining Amazon's then-standard $10 pricetag....  ...

IK Multimedia announced on Thursday the release of Lightning Cable for iRig Keys. It allows the company's iRig Key keyboard MIDI controller to be used with the current generation of iPhone, iPad, iPad mini, and iPod touch. It's priced at US$19.99 and is available now. In a meta sense, it's great to see more Lightning dock accessories hitting the market.

The US International Trade Commission's Office of Unfair Import Investigations (OUII) has recommended an import ban against Samsung's Android devices infringing upon four Apple patents, rejecting contradictory, flawed arguments by Google.  ...

Google has announced plans to update the web, iOS and Android versions of Google+ with better notifications. Google's Vic Gundotra says that notifications should be "much easier to use across mobile and desktop." Some planned changes include a bell icon for letting users know when updates are available, and a tray for managing read and unread items....  ...

TUAW has reviewed a number of the high-quality bags from ECBC in the past; their Poseidon Messenger Bag was a favorite of mine, and the Dart Laptop Tote is perfect for smaller Apple laptops. Today the company announced the new K7 Color Collection, bringing the tough ECBC design to a colorful group of bags that are perfect for everyone from travelers to commuters.

The K7 Color Collection is made up of the Thor Laptop Backpack (image above, US$119.99), Hercules Laptop Backpack ($139.99), Poseidon Messenger ($99.99) and Zeus Messenger ($119.99). All of the designs are available in Berry, Green, Linen, Blue and Black for shipping today.

The Hercules Laptop Backpack is of special interest to frequent travelers, as it has a TSA-compliant back panel...

Peter Alguacil:

One could argue that by making the user interface behave as if it is backlit, Apple is treating iOS 7 as a more integral part of the device itself. It’s not a mock front-lit interface with shadows and textures, it is a representation of the actual physical screen.

Some interesting thoughts in this article.

∞ Read this on The Loop

The same person that designed Steve Jobs’ yacht.

∞ Read this on The Loop

The deal is done.

Google finalized its acquisition of Waze earlier this week in a $1 billion-plus cash deal. It ended months of speculation on which big Silicon Valley player would snap up the innovative social mapping startup.

But the outcome of the mega deal begs a question about Waze’s other most ardent suitor: Did Facebook brilliantly avoid future headaches by overpaying for a pricey app, or did the social giant just make a huge mistake by letting an important mapping asset fall into a major competitor’s hands?

Or, as many sources close to the situation assert, perhaps it was never meant to be at all.

Up until the talks fell apart weeks ago, a Facebook-Waze pairing...

iOS 7's more than just a pretty face. Though the mobile operating system’s look and feel has gotten a significant overhaul in the newest version, that doesn’t mean Apple skimped on the features.

There are plenty of new enhancements and capabilities in iOS 7, and I run down just three of them in this video. For more, check out our FAQ on everything you need to know about Apple’s latest iOS update and our hands on impressions of iOS 7.

Peter Kelly is a professor in Adelaide, Australia and teaches classes on computer operating systems. After writing his Ph.D. thesis with Lyx and LaTex, he thought it would be interesting to develop similar software for Android. That didn't work out so well.  UX Write for the iPad was the result. Dave Hamilton interviewed Dr. Kelly at WWDC this week and got the story.

Samsung Display will be the key supplier of high-resolution Retina displays for a new iPad mini set to launch later this year, according to a new report.  ...

Apple's World Wide Developer Conference rumor roundup gave us a flat interface for iOS 7, the redesigned Mac Pro, and iRadio iTunes Radio. With those out of the way, and WWDC about to wrap up for another year, the rumor mill is back in full swing and this time it's bigger iPhones... again.

App Camp for Girls. Give them money. We did.

∞ Read this on The Loop

MTV is trying to lure younger viewers, so parent company Viacom has just added a new on-demand MTV app for the cable channel's offerings.

The app delivers complete episodes of all those highly-rated, well-known shows like Teen Mom, Teen Wolf, and Awkward. There's also a way to use your iOS device as a second screen for extra added features, and the app makes it easier for you to share your breathless thoughts on whether or not Stiles should be bitten and turned into a werewolf (whatever that means...).

Of course, there's something for everyone in the new app. Love those "iconic retro" MTV shows like Beavis and Butthead or Laguna Beach? Yep, you can watch 'em on the small screen now.

Viacom merged two previous apps -- MTV WatchWith and VH1 Co-Star -- into the new MTV app. The social features allow users to add their Twitter and Facebook accounts (including Chat). There's a gotcha,...

Mark Spoonaur of Laptop Mag published his thoughts on the latest 13-inch MacBook Air model Tuesday, giving the product four out of five stars. Battery life topped the list of favorable attributes as the MacBook Air lasted 9 hours and 34 minutes in Laptop's tests, a full hour and a half longer than its predecessor. In spite of not having the coveted Retina screen resolution, its screen's clarity and brightness was still praised. The 13-inch Air is one of the first ultraportable laptops to include HD5000 graphics, allowing for a high enough performance that gaming is feasible. In benchmark tests... ...

Asymco’s Horace Dediu points out with the graph above that Apple has been adding about a million new store accounts every couple of days. The numbers seem to be based on Tim Cook’s announcement at WWDC that Apple now has 575,000,000 million store accounts (which we assume includes all App Store, iTunes, and Apple Online Store accounts). That means most of them have credit cards on file and as Cook noted, that’s “more accounts with credit cards than any other store on the internet.”

//

LINE, a mobile messaging client designed for iOS, has been updated with an in-app browser and extended language support. Unlike previous releases, web links are now opened directly within the app's own browser which features a minimal interface to maximize the display of content. Also new in this release are coloured themes. While currently limited to two options, the default theme and an all pink variant, developers have promised more options will be made available in the near future. Finally, a photos button has been added to LINE's Chat room menu, giving users a place to view all sent and r... ...

Something new in iOS 7 that hasn’t been getting much coverage is the improvements Apple is making to Core Bluetooth for better integration with Bluetooth LE accessories. Apple is making a lot of changes to its Bluetooth APIs in iOS 7 that will not only allow your iOS devices to work with more Bluetooth LE devices, it will also introduce new features for everything from time to notifications, keyboards, and stereo sound.

Enhance your apps with support for new types of accessories. Location beacons are a new class of low-powered, low-cost transmitters that can notify nearby iOS 7 devices of their presence. Location beacons will provide apps a whole new level of location awareness, such as trail markers in a park, exhibits in a museum or product displays in stores. Other new features include the ability to setup and configure Wi-Fi accessories, such as AirPlay speakers, directly from iOS.

On top of the new location beacons, we already know about a few new Bluetooth...

The next major version of Android could be coming out in October, according to a new report. Android 5.0, also known as Key Lime Pie, could end up being revealed and released to smartphones and tablets at around the same time period as Apple intends to push its iOS 7 mobile operating system to the iPhone and iPad....   ...

If you've used a computer, you've seen Susan Kare's work. She was a member of the original Macintosh team at Apple and drew the lion's share of the Mac's system icons; her post-Mac work has included art for Facebook, Microsoft, and many others. Her keen eye for design even led to her being summoned to testify in Apple v. Samsung.

Kare's vision and aesthetic have shaped the direction of modern GUI icon design, and she remains active in the design world. With such an intimate connection to Apple and its history, it's not surprising that she has an...

judgecorp writes "Security researchers say that iPhone and other Apple devices are vulnerable to an old attack, using a fake Wi-Fi access point. Attackers can use an SSID which matches one that is stored on the iPhone (say "BTWiF"), which the iPhone will connect to automatically. Other devices are protected thanks to the use of HTTPS, which enforces HTTPS, but iPhones are susceptible to this man in the middle attack, researchers say."

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We warned you two years ago in the months before iOS 5 went live. Some of you didn't listen. Actually, if the TUAW inbox over the past few days is any indication, a lot of you didn't listen.

It seems a review is overdue.

Answer these two questions really quickly:

1. Are you a developer?
2. Are you running the iOS 7 beta?

If you answered no to the first question and yes to the second, then this post is meant for you.You are doing it wrong, and on behalf of everyone everywhere, please stop.

We've been receiving tons of messages every day from people reporting bugs and other odd behavior in the iOS 7 beta. Pundits and other persons of questionable intelligence are excoriating Apple for the iOS 7 beta's performance issues and tendency to be crash-prone.

Just stop. Stop.

Non-developers...