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Monday, 31 March, 2014
Apple's Cyclone Microarchitecture Detailed
Anand Lal Shimpi, AnandTech
Review: IK Multimedia's iLoud Portable Speaker Delivers On Sound, Flexibility
Dexter Hammett, AppleInsider
Google Is Central To Latest Apple-Samsung Case
Daisuke Wakabayashi, Wall Street Journal
In this case, Apple is accusing Samsung of violating five of its software patents. Samsung contends that it licensed four of those features as part of Google's Android operating system, and that Google had been working on the technology before Apple filed its patents.
Sunday, 30 March, 2014
How To Choose The Right iOS App For Your Note Taking Needs
Geoffrey Geotz, GigaOM
Post-Apple, Macworld Courts Developers 30 Years On
Richard Nieva, CNET
Apple hasn't made a product announcement at the venerable trade show since 2009. As the event turns 30 years old, it looks to its future and place among other conferences.
Review: Dragon Dictate 4.0 For Mac – The Best Speech Recognition App Gets Even Better
Jordan Kahn, 9 To 5 Mac
Turn Off Auto-correct In OS X
Topher Kessler, MacIssues
While in many cases autocorrect can be convenient, there are times when it can be a burden, especially if you are intending to use misspelled or non-standard words.
Expo Notes: Drobo Gets Faster, More Compatible With Time Machine
James Galbraith, Macworld
Saturday, 29 March, 2014
How To Send An iTunes Or Apple Store Gift Card With The Apple Store App For iPhone
Allyson Kazmucha, iMore
The Apple Store app not only lets you pick up the latest Apple gear, no computer required — it also lets you gift things to others. One of the most common gifts we tend to give are iTunes and Apple Store gift cards. The Apple Store app lets you do that too, if you know where to look. Here's how.
Office For iPad Keyboard Case Review Round-up
Chris Davies, SlashGear
Sometimes it takes a real keyboard to get proper work done. Thankfully even before Office's much-anticipated release, Bluetooth keyboard cases for the iPad Air and iPad mini have proliferated. Head on past the cut as we look at the best from Zagg, Logitech, Belkin, and Microsoft.
Review: +Energy For iPhone 5 And 5S
Chris Gardner, Waikato Times
Cryptocat (For iPhone)
Max Eddy, PC Magazine
When you need to carry out a secure conversation, it's ready and easy to use. But it isn't yet a seamless personal service.
Apple E-Book Consumer Suit Allowed To Proceed As Group Case
Bob Van Voris, Bloomberg
U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan concluded in July that Apple violated antitrust laws in its contracts with e-book publishers. The ruling came after a nonjury trial in cases filed by the U.S. Justice Department and 33 states and territories.
In today’s decision, Cote said consumers in the states and territories that didn’t take part in the trial may pursue their claims together as a class action, which allows plaintiffs to pool resources. Cote plans a separate trial to determine damages to the states and consumers. The Justice Department sought only corrective orders in the case and didn’t ask for damages.
Daily App: Monocle Offers Menu Bar Search For Mac Owners Running Almost Any OS X Version
Kelly Hodgkins, TUAW
Microsoft Says Printing Functions Will Come To Office For iPad Soon
Mark Hachman, PCWorld
Expo Notes: Thunderbolt Takes Over
James Galbraith, Macworld
While much of the Macworld iWorld show floor is devoted to iOS and software products, there is still plenty of Mac OS hardware to be found. In particular, a bunch of companies are showing off devices equipped with the fastest external connection found on modern Macs: Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2.
CableCoreHub Adds Valuable USB 3 Ports To Your Mac
Andrew Kunesh, Macgasm
This iMac base station adds three additional USB 3.0 ports to your iMac as well as one high-speed charge only USB port that can quickly charge iPads and other tablets.
The Roost Makes Working From Your Laptop A Bit Better On Your Back
Andrew Kunesh, Macgasm
The Roost is an upright desktop stand for your MacBook that is meant for use in conjunction with a separate keyboard and mouse. This combination makes working while standing or sitting more comfortable and ergonomic.
Mini-review: People Who Already Use Office Will Love Office For iPad
Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica
Microsoft Office for iPad is a great suite of applications that suffers from few Version-One-Point-Oh deficiencies, printing support aside.
PencilCase Lets You Make iOS Apps Even If You Don’t Know How To Code
Nick Mediati, Macgasm
You design your app on your Mac, and the toolkit makes heavy use of drag and drop: Simply drag elements into your app and move them around until they are right where you want them.
Friday, 28 March, 2014
5 Best Mac Backup Options
Craig Lloyd, Gotta Be Mobile
Microsoft OneNote (For Mac)
Michael Muchmore, PC Magazine
Personally, I find OneNote indispensable, particularly for taking notes at meetings. But its usefulness is hardly limited to that. You could use it for classwork, shopping, cooking, and travel plans, as well as general idea-saving and brainstorming.
Microsoft Office For iPad Review: Finally! True Productivity On Your Tablet
Mark Hachman, PCWorld
How To Take A Screenshot In OS X
Topher Kessler, MacIssues
Built into Mac OS X is the ability to take screenshots using simple keyboard commands, which can be exceptionally useful for communicating what you are seeing on-screen with others.
Random For iOS Lets You Explore The Web In A Unique Way
Mel Martin, TUAW
You wind up looking at things you might not see otherwise, and it is far less limiting than a news focused app or one of the online magazines.
Facebook Messenger 4.0 Adds Group Creation, Message Forwarding
Federico Viticci, MacStories
Microsoft Office For iPad Review
Paul Thurrott, Supersite For Windows
For now, know this: Office for iPad is surprisingly impressive, almost disarming. It's the real deal, a full-featured set of Office apps that looks and works naturally on the iPad. It's a sort of "best of both worlds" scenario for those people who do need Office functionality and have chosen iPad, a way to bridge the previously fuzzy area between the PC and the iPad.
Microsoft Office Finally Comes To The iPad, With Caveats
Bonnie Cha, Re/code
Microsoft has done nice work to create a touch-friendly and capable Office suite for the iPad. It’s a boon for Office 365 subscribers, and worth a look for nonsubscribers who use Office a lot.
Office 365 Free For A Year For iPad Owners (3 Days Only)
James Kendrick, ZDNet
To promote the big launch, Microsoft is offering a one-year Office 365 subscription to the first 50 customers who bring an iPad into a Microsoft store.
TodoMovies 3 Helps You Keep Track Of Your Most Anticipated Movies
Joseph Keller, iMore
TodoMovies 3 is a new way to find out about interesting and popular movies. You can seen easily find new movies, read news, and add films to your To Watch or Watched lists. You can easily browse movies by genre, or see what's currently in theaters or upcoming releases.
UpTo For iPhone And iPad: A Calendar App You Look Forward To Checking Each Day
Allyson Kazmucha, iMore
UpTo is a new kind of calendar for iOS that combines your personal and business schedules together in an incredibly unique way. Need to remember that board meeting tomorrow but also don't want to forget to check in on baseball scores? No problem. UpTo can keep you on task while letting you check in on personal things that are still important to you, when you have time.
Office Mobile For iPhone Goes Free For All Users
Zac Hall, 9 To 5 Mac
Microsoft Updates OneNote iPad App With New iOS 7 Design
Chris Welch, The Verge
In keeping with the other new productivity apps it rolled out for iPad earlier today, Microsoft has updated OneNote with a new design that's a better fit for iOS 7. It feels right at home next to the brand new Word, PowerPoint, and Excel apps, which makes sense since OneNote is also part of the Office suite.
Microsoft Office For iPad Sets The Gold Standard For Tablet Productivity
Ed Bott, ZDNet
The apps themselves are fast and extremely responsive. They also walk the delicate tightrope between observing iPad interface conventions and building on the muscle memory of anyone who’s used the desktop apps included with an Office 365 subscription.
Microsoft Is Selling Office 365 Within iPad Apps, And Apple Is Getting Its 30 Percent Cut
Ina Fried, Re/code
Microsoft does offer Office 365 subscriptions within the just-released Word for iPad and the other Office apps and, yes, it is paying the 30 percent cut, Apple confirmed to Re/code. Microsoft declined to comment on the matter.
Satya Nadella On Why Office For iPad Took So Long
Ina Fried, Re/code
“We’ve been obviously working on this for a while,” Nadella told reporters. “The thing we wanted to get most right was the combination of what I would call the combination of the app, the enterprise architecture, the developer APIs, and then marry it with the device and what you expect from the device. … It’s not just a trivial thing, let’s port Word for Windows to a particular device.”
Office For iPad Review: Three Beautiful Apps, Each With Strong Competition
Dana Wollman, Engadget
Rather than simply blow up the current iPhone app to iPad-sized proportions, the company started from scratch, and built a software suite that takes advantage of the iPad's extra screen real estate. This means a lovely design that looks less like a mobile app, and more like a full version of Office. It also means more features -- everything from custom text colors to a "whiteboard" that you can use to write off-the-cuff comments during presentations.
Microsoft’s Office Suite Finally Coming To iPad, Maybe Too Late
Nick Wingfield, New York Times
At the conference, Mr. Nadella said Microsoft intends to make sure its Office software can work on all major computing devices, including those made by its competitors.
Microsoft’s decision to bring Office to the Apple device comes after years of wavering by the company as it mulled over the product’s implications for its own efforts to make a tablet computer. To many people, the move is a refreshing sign of a new Microsoft, one slowly unshackling itself from an era when all of its major decisions were made in deference to Windows, Microsoft’s operating system.
Thursday, 27 March, 2014
BlinkMail Brings A Mailbox-Like Email Triage Experience To Mac Users
Sarah Perez, TechCrunch
Though competing in the same general space as other OS X mail clients like Sparrow or Airmail, what makes BlinkMail interesting is that its main focus is on email triage. Its user interface is inspired by gesture-based mobile apps like Mailbox, letting you quickly move through your message list by taking decisive actions, like archive, delete, reply or even send to Evernote or Dropbox, for example.
Filemaker Pro 13 Continues To Dominate On OS X And iOS
Jason D. O'Grady, ZDNet
New features in FileMaker Pro 13 include enhanced design and development tools such as custom themes, styles, a field picker, and the ability to control object visibility. If you're just getting started with FileMaker development, you'll appreciate its improved starter solutions that allow you to get up and running quickly.
Readly Brings Its On-demand Digital Magazines To The UK
Richard Devine, iMore
For a monthly fee of £9.99, Readly will give you on-demand access to hundreds of different magazines every month on iOS, Android and Windows 8.
VirtualBox Squashes Major Bugs, Adds Experimental Native Full-screen Support To OS X
Nick Peers, Beta News
Facebook 8.0 For iOS Review: Is The Facebook App For iPad And iPhone Worth Downloading?
Lou Hattersley, Macworld UK
On the whole Facebook 8.0 for iPad and iPhone is a good step forward. The selective sharing features are an important addition to Facebook. Especially as Facebook has become such a part of our everyday life. Facebook for iPad and iPhone is a slick and clean app that is easy to use.
Review: Manage Contacts With VIPorbit For iPad
Will Kelly, TechRepublic
Princes Street Apple Store Secret Betrayed By Note
Evening Edinburgh News
Technology giant Apple has painstakingly guarded any news of the imminent opening of its first Capital store, refusing to confirm that it even has plans to open an outlet in Edinburgh, despite months of fevered speculation. But a notice directing workers to a trade entrance of the building on Princes Street has given the game away to eagle-eyed passers-by.
Twitter 6.3 Brings Photo Tagging, Lets You Tweet Up To Four Pictures At Once
Joseph Keller, iMore
Wednesday, 26 March, 2014
How To Use The iTunes Wish List
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
Day-O Review: Me Say Day On The Mac's Menu Bar
Roman Loyola, Macworld
Day-O gives you the simple, pop-up menu-bar calendar that OS X lacks.
New York Times: 'Unfortunate Coincidence' Over Apple Ad And Flight 370 Headline
Michael Sebastian, Advertising Age
A spokeswoman for the Times had this to say about the ad: "It was an unfortunate coincidence that this particular creative ran adjacent to that particular article. The ad was taken down by mutual agreement and we are still determining a resolution regarding placing the ad again."
Unfortunate.
Check Your Kindle Account For Your Credit From The Apple Ebook Settlement
Laura Hazard Owen, GigaOM
Apple Engineer Recalls The iPhone's Birth
Daisuke Wakabayashi, Wall Street Journal
Almost seven years into the life of the iPhone, Mr. Christie said one moment stands out. A few days before Mr. Jobs's keynote, Mr. Christie entered the auditorium through a side door using two separate security badges, then pulled back a thick curtain. He saw a giant image of the iPhone's home screen projected onto the screen in the dark room. At that moment, he said, he realized how big the phone would be.
"It was glowing in this huge space," said Mr. Christie. "My heart skipped a beat and I thought, 'This is actually happening.'"
Cathy Edwards, Co-Founder Of Chomp, Is Leaving Apple On April 11
Ingrid Lunden, TechCrunch
Apple, if you recall, acquired Chomp in February 2012 for $50 million, kickstarting a long-term revamp of how users search for and discover apps in the iOS App Store and elsewhere in the Apple ecosystem (which is ever in progress).
Next Is My New Favorite Expense Tracker
Khamosh Pathak, Beautiful Pixels
Five Mac OS X Tricks For People Using Macs For Audio
Julian Rodgers, Pro Tools Expert
Twitterrific For iOS Goes Free, Adds In-app Purchases
Allyson Kazmucha, iMore
While new users can try before they buy, those who have already purchased the app will have all features unlocked automatically.
The Ultimate Mac User's Guide To Minecraft On OS X - Mods, Skins, And More
Mike Wehner, TUAW
Minecraft is an amazing game thanks largely to a massive community of creative individuals who spend their free time tweaking, modifying, and overhauling just about every aspect of the experience. The game can be played in its "vanilla" version quite easily on OS X -- and to be fair the original, untouched game is still an absolute blast to play -- but once you've gotten an eyeful of what the modding community has done to developer Mojang's surreal sandbox, it's hard to go back.
Use Your iPod Touch Or iPad As An iPhone
Josh Centers and Adam C. Engst, TidBITS
Hacking together such a system won’t be as convenient as an iPhone, in terms of software (no Phone app) and hardware (dealing with audio, and you will likely need an extra device when away from Wi-Fi). But is some inconvenience worth $600 or more per year in saved cell phone bills, particularly if you have a landline at home and work?
Tuesday, 25 March, 2014
Olloclip Macro 3-In-1 Lens Review
Sarah White, DigitalCameraReview
How To Back Up Your Mac
Topher Kessler, MacIssues
When using or troubleshooting your Mac, you may be eager to jump in and get to work; however, it is worth your while to ensure your system is properly backed up, especially if your work and data is important, or if you plan on making changes to the system in any way (e.g., installing software, or tweaking a system component).
Someone Has Finally Made A Better Case For The iPad Mini Than Apple
Dan Seifert, The Verge
The best part of the SurfacePad is the way it supports the iPad when you have the case open.
A New Game Plan For Concussions
Apple
Cleveland Clinic in Ohio is using iPad to take the mystery out of concussions with an app that lets trainers monitor symptoms moments after an event occurs. Already players are making safer returns to the field, court, and ice.
Apple Finds New Washington, D.C. Lobbyist In Former Senate Finance Committee Staffer Amber Cottle
Mike Beasley, 9 To 5 Mac
How To Check The Model Number Of Your Mac
Topher Kessler, MacIssues
If you need to service your system, or update it, then you may need to know this detail about it in order to get the appropriate parts and upgrades, or even see if the latest version of OS X is compatible with it.
Clones, Clones Everywhere – “1024,” “2048″ And Other Copies Of Popular Paid Game “Threes” Fill The App Stores
Sarah Perez, TechCrunch
This is starting to get a little nuts.
Apple Sends Email To iTunes Users Offering Refunds For Unauthorized In-App Purchases
Richard Padilla, MacRumors
As a part of its consent decree with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over in-app purchases in the App Store, Apple today sent out an email to some iTunes users, offering them a chance to obtain a refund by filling out a form through a special link.
iTunes Radio Gets News Radio, Via NPR
Peter Kafka, Re/code
NPR’s station, which should be live today, will offer a free stream, 24 hours a day, which mixes live news with segments from pre-recorded shows like “All Things Considered” and “The Diane Rehm Show.” NPR officials say that within weeks, some of the broadcaster’s local stations should begin offering their own stations, with a similar mix of live and taped news.
Monday, 24 March, 2014
Working With The Toshiba FlashAir II Wireless SD Card
Mirko Zorz, Help Net Security
You can share your videos and photos with seven devices at the same time: PCs, Macs, smartphones and tablets, without the need for an Internet connection.
iPhone 5C 8GB Vs Best Budget Android, Windows Phones Review: Why 8GB iPhone 5C Is Not A Good Deal
Matt Egan, Macworld UK
Unless you take money out of the equation, or you simply have to have an iPhone, it is difficult to make the case for the 8GB iPhone 5c over budget Androids and Windows phones.
The Multi-Screen Debate
Ben Brooks, The Brooks Review
George Osborne Closes Tax Loophole On Music And Book Downloads
Rowena Mason, The Guardian
The chancellor will bring in new laws making sure that internet downloads are taxed in the country where they are purchased, meaning web firms such as Amazon and Apple will have to charge the UK's 20% rate of VAT. At the moment they are allowed to sell digital downloads through countries such as Luxembourg, where the tax rate is as low as 3%.
How To Dismiss Mac App Store Notifications
Christopher Breen, Macworld
Review: Belkin's Ultimate Keyboard Case For The iPad Air
Joe White, AppAdvice
Dragon Dictate 4 Review: Improved Speech Recognition Makes For A More Reliable App
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
If you already use Dragon Dictate, you’ll find that the improved accuracy of the new version makes it worth upgrading. If you’ve never tried speech recognition software, Dragon Dictate 4 is good enough to convince you that you, too, can create documents without typing.
Sunday, 23 March, 2014
Inside The iPad Rig Jimmy Fallon Used To Duet With Billy Joel On 'The Tonight Show'
Neil Hughes, AppleInsider
But an iPad and Loopy HD alone were not enough to enable the performance, which saw Joel and Fallon loop their own harmonizing voices for backing vocals. While at his "Tonight Show" desk, Fallon controlled the Loopy HD application on an iPad mini that was connected to an offscreen device via a black Lightning cable, and both he and Joel utilized wireless microphones to input their vocals.
Slow Feeds Goes Free, Gets Redesigned For iOS 7 And Updated With New Features
Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice
Revealed: Apple And Google’s Wage-fixing Cartel Involved Dozens More Companies, Over One Million Employees
Mark Ames, PandoDaily
Confidential internal Google and Apple memos, buried within piles of court dockets and reviewed by PandoDaily, clearly show that what began as a secret cartel agreement between Apple’s Steve Jobs and Google’s Eric Schmidt to illegally fix the labor market for hi-tech workers, expanded within a few years to include companies ranging from Dell, IBM, eBay and Microsoft, to Comcast, Clear Channel, Dreamworks, and London-based public relations behemoth WPP. All told, the combined workforces of the companies involved totals well over a million employees.
What I Learned Negotiating With Steve Jobs
Heidi Roizen's Adventures In Entrepreneurship!
“I get that you can’t afford to pay fifty percent of gross,” said Dan’l, “but Steve wants to see 50% on that contract. So figure out a way to make a contract that you can live with that also says 50% at the bottom.”
That’s when the light bulb came on.
Saturday, 22 March, 2014
How To Cancel An iTunes Or App Store Subscription Right From Your iPhone Or iPad
Allyson Kazmucha, iMore
Convert Images Using Preview In OS X
Topher Kessler, CNET
There may be times when you might need to convert an image from one format to another on your Mac, either because of some requirement for a specific format, or to compress batches of images to save space.
Yahoo, Google And Apple Also Claim Right To Read User Emails
Alex Hern, The Guardian
Of the major webmail providers, only Microsoft was prepared to share the internal procedures they have in place governing who can access users' email without a court order and what reasons they must give to do so. Yahoo declined to comment. Neither Apple nor Google had responded to requests for comment ahead of publication.
Command-C Updated With Clipboard History, Mac To Mac Sharing, Connection Improvements
Federico Viticci, MacStories
Danilo Torrisi’s Command-C, my favorite utility to share the contents of the clipboard across Mac and iOS devices, has been updated today with reliability improvements for Bonjour connections, a new clipboard history view, Mac to Mac sharing, and several other tweaks and fixes to the app that was first released in January.
Twitter's Music App Is Dead, Final Shutdown Scheduled For April 18Th
Richard Lawler, Engadget
Friday, 21 March, 2014
How To Set Up Keyboard Shortcuts In OS X
Dan Miller, Macworld
Angry Birds Go! Gets Set With New Snowy Track, New Karts And More In First Major Update
Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice
Ask The iTunes Guy: Chronological Podcasts, Redownloading Media, And Surround Sound
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
One of the best things about iTunes is the ability to make smart playlists to group content according to simple conditions. In this week’s column, I look at two questions about smart playlists: one about listening to different podcasts in chronological order, and another about the Category condition.
WorkBurst For Mac Makes You Productive In 25-Minute Spurts
Cherlynn Low, Laptop Magazine
WorkBurst jacks up your MacBook’s screen to 100 percent brightness for bursts of 25 minutes at a time so your brain gets the hint that it’s time to work.
Convert Audio To Ringtones Using OS X Terminal
Topher Kessler, CNET
The utility is called "afconvert," which stands for "Audio File Convert" and is a tool that Apple has included in OS X since 2003. As its name suggests, this tool allows you to specify one audio file and convert it to another format, managing bitrates and quality settings, extract channels, and perform a number of other manipulations to audio files.
iPads Help Local School Cope With Snow Days
Danielle Stanton, Toledo Free Press
The iPads initially cut down on paperwork and put information at students’ fingertips, but this winter, they did what teachers and Mariano could not have predicted: They allowed students and teachers to stay connected during subzero temperatures and school cancellations caused by the level three snow emergencies.
Apple Injects Clout Into Its iAd Platform
Richard Byrne Reilly, VentureBeat
HasOffer’s chief executive Pete Hamilton said the tweak enables advertisers insight into “whether a user engaged with an ad from iAd.” “It looks as though Apple will provide attribution to show how effective using iAd is. It looks like Apple is finally going for it,” Hamilton said.
Evernote For iOS Updated With Improvements To Presentation Mode And Card Scanning
Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice
Tapbots Updates Tweetbot For Mac With Image Thumbnail Improvements Plus Fixes
Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice
GarageBand For Mac Brings Back MP3 Exporting, Adds New Drummers & More
Zac Hall, 9 To 5 Mac
Apple released an updated version of GarageBand for Mac today bringing back MP3 exporting and adding 3 new Drummers to the instrument recording software.
Blogging Service Medium Launches Its iPhone App, Focuses On Reading Rather Than Writing
Mike Beasley, 9 To 5 Mac
Unlike most blogging apps, however, the Medium app does not have any writing tools. Instead, the app’s sole purpose is to provide a platform for reading the writings of other users.
Starbucks iPhone App With Digital Tipping And Shake-To-Pay Now Available
Darrell Etherington, TechCrunch
iPhone users can grab it now, and get the new digital tipping option if they’re based in the U.S., plus a feature where you just shake your phone to bring up the barcode baristas need to scan to accept your mobile payment.
FireChat For iOS Is A Hyperlocal Anonymous Chat Network That Doesn’t Need An Internet Connection
Frederic Lardinois, TechCrunch
It makes use of the Multipeer Connectivity Framework in iOS 7, which allows developers to discover Multipeer-enabled services on nearby iOS devices using Wi-Fi, peer-to-peer connections and Bluetooth. Because it relies on these techniques, the range is around 100 feet, but because of the mesh architecture behind FireChat, the actual range of the network around could be much larger.
China Mobile Added About 1 Million New iPhone Users In February
Lorraine Luk, Wall Street Journal
Thursday, 20 March, 2014
Change Your Short Username In OS X 10.9 Mavericks
Dan Frakes, Macworld
Food On The Table Makes Meal-planning And Grocery Shopping A Piece Of Cake
Susie Ochs, TechHive
Minneapolis' FirstTech, Apple Retailing Pioneer, Is Closing
Julio Ojeda-Zapata, Pioneer Press
When Apple first began selling its pioneering personal computers in the late 1970s, its first batch of machines went to Team Electronics in the Twin Cities.
Team Electronics eventually morphed into FirstTech, a Minneapolis tech dealer that has prided itself on being the world's first Apple reseller -- and being symbiotically associated with the Cupertino, Calif.-based personal-technology giant.
Soon, though, FirstTech will be no more.
iTunes Connect Issue Halting New App And Update Submissions For Developers
Zac Hall, 9 To 5 Mac
Apple has noted the disruption on its developer system status page with a brief message: “Some users are experiencing a problem with [iTunes Connect].” The system status page lists the service disruption as occurring around 8 PM EST yesterday, but developers first began reporting problems with app and update submissions much earlier on Wednesday.
View Your iPhone On Your Mac
Topher Kessler, CNET
Using a few third-party utilities, you can quickly turn your Mac into a display for your iPhone or iPad.
Apple Pushes ‘Critical Security Update’ Notification To Remind Users To Update To OS X 10.9.2 For SSL Fix
Michael Steeber, 9 To 5 Mac
EA Games Site Hacked To Steal Apple IDs
Zach Miners, Macworld
An Electronic Arts website was hacked in a phishing scheme aimed at the acquisition of Apple IDs and credit card numbers, security researchers reported Wednesday.
Two Backup Options For Three Computers
Christopher Breen, Macworld
At Long Last, SimCity Can Be Played Offline
Peter Cohen, iMore
Update 10 finally brings offline play to the game, which heretofore has required a live Internet connection in order to work.
Fake Tor Browser For iOS Laced With Adware, Spyware, Members Warn
Dan Goodin, Ars Technica
Members of the Tor anonymity service are warning that a Tor iOS app available in Apple's highly curated App Store since November is a fake that is laced with adware and spyware.
"Apple responded today with chance for author to defend their app," one volunteer wrote shortly after the ticket was opened.
Wednesday, 19 March, 2014
OneNote For OS X Is Nice, But Evernote's Better
Mihaita Bamburic, Beta News
If you are the sort of person who just wants to write notes, and does not care much about the downsides I detailed, OneNote is more pleasant to use than Evernote and, in my opinion, a better choice in this case. I just wish Microsoft would have gotten it right straight off the bat, and made it better for more people.
We Test A "Bulletproof" iPhone Screen Protector. With A Gun. And Bullets.
Lee Hutchinson, Ars Technica
The Sir Lancelot's Armor Holy Grail screen protector is a great screen protector. It's easy to apply without any bubbles, and it can be removed and reused without issue. It's quite good at protecting your phone from the kind of abuse it might receive in a purse or pocket or backpack.
It is not bulletproof. Not even a little bit.
Checkmark 2 For iPhone Is A Slick Reminders App
Dave Caolo, TUAW
iOS 7.1 Mobile Safari Minimal UI
Jonathan Hollin, Perpetual Beta
As you will probably already know, Apple’s iOS 7.1 update recently became available. Along with a raft of revisions, security patches and other improvements there was one little feature I was particularly interested in: a new Mobile Safari property known as minimal-ui.
Streaming Subscriptions Are Now A Billion-Dollar Business, But Music Sales Stall
Peter Kafka, Re/code
The growth of download sales, primarily from Apple’s iTunes, has been slowing for a while, and last year the market declined by 2.1 percent — the first time the IFPI has recorded a drop. Downloads still account for 67 percent of digital sales, though.
Apple CEO Tim Cook: New Book On Company Is 'Nonsense'
CNBC
Apple CEO Tim Cook has issued a statement about a new book about the tech giant called, "Haunted Empire," saying it is "nonsense" and fails to capture Apple or former CEO and Co-Founder Steve Jobs.
Serious question: why bother responding?
Tuesday, 18 March, 2014
Microsoft OneDrive Vs. Google Drive And Dropbox: Best File Sync Service For Mac?
Lou Hattersley, Macworld UK
While OneDrive good value, the recent price drop from Google Drive (which offers a largely similar service) has taken some of the wind out of OneDrive's sails. However you do get integration with Office Online, and if Microsoft brings decent Office support to the IPad it could be a game changer.
Hands-on With Microsoft’s OneNote For OS X
Mark Crump, GigaOM
First Impressions: How Microsoft’s New OneNote Stacks Up Against Evernote
Blair Hanley Frank, GeekWire
For people who need a robust tool that’s focused on text-based notetaking, OneNote seems like the better choice right now. But for people like me who want their notetaking software to be a bucket for everything they need to remember, it looks like Evernote still beats OneNote, hands-down.
First Look: Could Microsoft OneNote For Mac Replace Evernote?
Jeffery Battersby, Macworld
OneNote’s price, collaboration capabilities, and particularly its freeform note-taking feature make it a compelling application for capturing your ideas as quickly as possible. Whether it'll be a compelling alternative to Evernote remains to be seen.
Despicable Me: Minion Rush Adds New Levels, Challenges, Costumes, And More In Version 1.7.1
Allyson Kazmucha, iMore
Apple Resurrects The iPad 4 At $399, Retires The iPad 2 At Long Last
Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica
This morning Apple made a couple of new additions to its iOS lineup, where "new" in this case means "old stuff that is nevertheless better than what it is replacing." It has finally removed the iPad 2 from its lineup and replaced it with 2012's fourth-generation iPad. For its second tour of duty, the iPad 4 will set you back $399 for a 16GB Wi-Fi version or $529 for a cellular version, $100 less than the equivalent iPad Air models and equal to the 16GB Retina iPad mini. There's also a new 8GB model of the iPhone 5C, which, as of this writing, is only available in certain territories.
Five Must-have Apps For March Madness
Leah Yamshon, TechHive
Whether you’re a casual fan or a hardcore hoops aficionado, some mobile helps can help you enjoy the mania. Use them to build your bracket, compete with your friends, and follow all of the action all the way to the Final Four and championships.
Start-ups With An Apple Flavour
Tim Bradshaw, Financial Times
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Now, as this former senior manager for the iPhone maker prepares to launch a product of his own, Mr Grignon says his encounters with Apple’s tempestuous co-founder prepared him for anything. “Once you’ve gone through the worst of a Steve meeting, any other meeting – whether pitching an investor or giving a demo – doesn’t feel hard,” he says. “When you are yelled at by Steve Jobs you know you are being yelled at by the best.”
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Mr Grignon is part of a select group in Silicon Valley: Apple alumni who have gone on to found their own companies. Whereas many former Google or Facebook employees have launched start-ups, Apple has not been a wellspring of entrepreneurialism.
Microsoft Launches Free OneNote For Mac, Freemium OneNote For Windows, And OneNote Cloud API For Apps
Emil Protalinski, The Next Web
With the launch of OneNote for Mac, Microsoft says OneNote is now available “on all the platforms you care about” and “they’re always in sync.” That includes the PC, Mac, Windows tablets, Windows Phone, iPad, iPhone, Android, and the Web.
Monday, 17 March, 2014
Olloclip 4-In-1 iPhone Lens Review: Get More From Your Smartphone photos
Hunter Skipworth, Digital Spy
Olloclip is a fun gadget that will take your smartphone photography to another level.
Apple Designer Jonathan Ive Talks About Steve Jobs And New Products
John Arlidge, TIME
“At Apple, there’s almost a joy in looking at your ignorance and realizing, ‘Wow, we’re going to learn about this and, by the time we’re done, we’re going to really understand and do something great.’ Apple is imperfect, like every large collection of people. But we have a rare quality. There is this almost pre-verbal, instinctive understanding about what we do, why we do it. We share the same values.”
5 Quick Mail Tricks Everyone Should Know
Sharon Zardetto, Macworld
Mail might not be perfect email client, but it’s the one most of us use. Fortunately, there are things you can do to make it work better. Here are five of my favorite tricks for making Mail more efficient.
Alfred 2.2
Agen G. N. Schmitz, TidBITS
CarPlay Thoughts
Jean-Louis Gassée, Monday Note
CarPlay could be a very smart way to hitch a ride on many in-car systems without having to struggle with their design and cost challenges, yet another ecosystem extension play.
Sunday, 16 March, 2014
Make Bedtime Stress Extinct With Sleepasaurus, A Sleep Trainer App For Kids
Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice
A hybrid of virtual pet and sleep trainer, Sleepasaurus lets kids choose their dino pals to sleep beside them at night. Once they’ve sprinkled some magic dust on their dino-snore buddies, the giant reptiles will stay asleep until morning, encouraging the little ones to do the same.
Scribd For iOS Updated With Long Overdue E-Book Reader Improvements
Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice
Scribd, the official iOS app of “the world's largest digital library,” has just been updated with several new features for its built-in e-book reader.
Saturday, 15 March, 2014
Book Review | “A Man Came Out Of A Door In The Mountain’ Is A Striking debut
Liz Cook, Kansas City Star
Adrianne Harun’s hypnotic debut novel tiptoes through folklore, fantasy and magical realism as she details an insular British Columbia logging town hell-bent on ignoring the devil in their midst.
Kensington KeyCover Plus For iPad Air: Ultra Thin Keyboard Dock And Case Review
Lou Hattersley, Macworld UK
We have reservations about the battery life of the device, and you’ll need to be careful to keep the backlit keyboard off, and turn off the device when not in use. But it is a small, light and functional option.
Launch Your Favorite Apps As Needed With Keyboard Maestro
TJ Luoma, TUAW
How To Reduce Transparency In iOS 7.1 To Improve Readability
Andrew Kinesh, Macgasm
This update brings the ability to reduce transparency within the operating system, giving folders and other design elements a gray background for improved readability.
Friday, 14 March, 2014
OS X: Taking Better Screenshots On A Mac
Jonny Evans, Computerworld
Contestants At Pwn2Own Take Down Safari, But Said OS X Security Is Better Than Other Systems
Benjamin Mayo, 9 To 5 Mac
How To Manage The Menu Bar In OS X
Topher Kessler, CNET
The menu bar in OS X has some customization options, plus an easy fix when the menu bar hangs and prevents the clock or other menus from being accessible.
DeskConnect Review: Share Files, URLs, And More Between OS X And iOS
Dan Miller, Macworld
Seeing Eye-phone? App Helps Blind Know What They're Looking At
CBS News
Colorado teenager Jake Cohen has a high-tech tool to help him regain some of the independence that he lost when he went blind two years ago.
Jake uses an iPhone app to take photos of objects around the house. Within seconds TapTapSee tells Jake what the picture shows.
Catoosa’s Wells Middle School Named Apple Distinguished
Mark Friedel, Claremore Daily Progress
In Praise Of The Mac Mini
Kirk McElhearn, Kirkville
The Mac mini may be one of the best Macs Apple has ever made, because it just gets out of your way and lets you get to work.
TwitchTV 3.0 Features iOS 7 Redesign, Offline Channel Search And Improved Chat
Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice
The Trouble With Troubleshooting iOS
Ted Landau, Macworld
We are approaching the day when the need for end users to fiddle with the likes of Library folders will be as rare as the need to re-solder a logic board is today. As this future gets closer, traditional troubleshooting will increasingly become something we spy only through our rear view mirrors.
Boxcar 2 Updated With Account Registration, IFTTT Support And More Features
Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice
Google Drops Prices On Drive Storage, Offers 1TB For $9.99 A Month
Joseph Keller, iMore
Plex Introduces Camera Upload For iOS App
Federico Viticci, MacStories
Refinements, Additions, And Un-breaking Stuff: iOS 7.1 Reviewed
Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica
iOS 7.1 isn't a drastic change, but it brings enough new design elements, performance improvements, and additional stability to the platform that it might just win over the remaining iOS 6 holdouts.
iOS 7.1 Includes Warning Message About 15-Minute In-App Purchase Window
Juli Clover, MacRumors
When making an in-app purchase for the first time after updating, users are notified via a pop-up window that additional in-app purchases can be made for 15 minutes without reentering a password.
Recur App Helps You Manage Repetitive Tasks
Adam C. Engst, TidBITS
I won’t pretend that using Recur is a major reward, but I do get a tiny sense of accomplishment when recording a task as done and seeing it leap to the top of the list. And when it comes to those chores you know you should do but have trouble mustering the enthusiasm for, any little boost helps.
Why I Was Banned From WATCH ABC And Hulu
Josh Centers, TidBITS
As we shift from traditional TV to online video, will such problems become more commonplace?
Europe Embraces Common Charger Rules To End Mobile Compatibility Nightmare
Jennifer Baker, PCWorld
Thursday, 13 March, 2014
Secure File Sharing In OS X
Topher Kessler, CNET
The default file sharing settings in OS X are fairly secure; however, there may be some situations where your system can be open for others to access.
Steller Is A Beautiful Visual Storytelling App, Similar To Storehouse, But For Your iPhone Instead
Kaylene Hong, The Next Web
Philips Hue Review: iPhone-controlled Coloured Lightbulbs Are No gimmick
Andrew Harrison, PC Advisor
The Philips Hue iOS connected coloured lightbulbs have been carefully developed to be a genuinely useful addition to the home.
Bad Apple? Groups Protest Chemicals Used In iPhones
Michael Liedtke, Associated Press
Due Reminder And Timer App Refreshed For iOS 7
Federico Viticci, MacStories
At SXSW, Apple's Eddy Cue Presents The First U.S. iTunes Festival
Jim Dalrymple, Fortune
"I wasn't sure we would ever bring it to the U.S.," Cue said. "We have something so special at the festival in London that you had the feeling that if you did it anywhere else, it just wasn't going to be quite good enough. You have to have the right place. The combination of Austin, which has a culture of music, and this venue is fantastic -- it's made for music."
A Closer Look At iOS 7.1'S Accessibility Changes
Josh de Lioncourt, Macworld
Although primarily intended for low-vision users, iOS 7.1 improves features for blind users as well as those with motion impairments.
Apple TV Update 6.1 Allows AirPlay Discoverability Over Bluetooth
Husain Sumra, MacRumors
This change allows Apple TV to search for connectable devices over Bluetooth, bypassing Bonjour and making it easier for education and business administrators to set up iOS device and Apple TV pairings. Previously, Apple TVs could have a difficult time discovering devices on networks that might block Bonjour.
United To Launch Personal In-Flight Entertainment For iOS Devices Next Month
Catherine Shu, TechCrunch
How Clones, Fear, Sanitisation And Free-to-play Soured Apple’s iOS Gaming Revolution
Edge Online
But the real factors in the future of the iOS gaming landscape will not be chips and controllers, but business models and software. Will we really see the last of the premium games slowly squeezed out in favour of a glut of brainless free-to-play repetition, or will the paid, adventurous and refreshing apps that made us excited about the App Store in the first place hold their niche, or even make a triumphant comeback, in the next few years?
Apple Shortens iPhone Return Window To 14 Days
Yoni Heisler, TUAW
Sky Guide For iOS Invites You To Gaze At The Stars
Serenity Caldwell, Macworld
It’s informative without being cluttered and beautiful without sacrificing content. And it brings us just a little big closer to the skies above.
1Password 4.2 For Mac Features Improvements To 1Password Mini, Editing, And More
Federico Viticci, MacStories
FiftyThree's Paper Gets iOS 7 Redesign, Adds New Features
Peter Cohen, iMore
Wednesday, 12 March, 2014
Who Needs To Know How To Code
Angela Chen, Wall Street Journal
Learning to code is gaining popularity, from 10-year-olds taking private lessons to immersion coding "bootcamps" for adults trying to make a career change.
Mac 101: Using The Keyboard Viewer In OS X Mavericks
Kelly Hodgkins, TUAW
The Best VPN Service To Hide Behind
Chris Mills, Gizmodo UK
Virtual Private Networks are one of the handiest bits of networking wizadry out there, allowing you to use public Wi-Fi with immunity, catch up on Call the Midwife whilst overseas, or even get around your work's anti-Giz filters. However, not all are created equal, so we've rounded up the best of the internet's many VPN offerings for your delectation.
CloudyTabs Review: Liberate iCloud Tabs From Safari On Your Mac
Dan Moren, Macworld
For those who flit between multiple browsers, CloudyTabs can be be a useful tool.
Jackery Air: A Powerful Charge
Terry Gardner, Chicago Tribune
I was surprised that a battery this light and thin could double the battery life of my iPhone 5S and also give my iPad a power boost.
Mophie's Space Pack Adds Storage, Juice To Your iPhone
Edward C. Baig, USA Today
Mophie is hitting on the pain points that some iPhone customers experience. But not everything went smoothly in my tests, and the extra battery and extra storage are going to exact a pretty premium.
Review: Apple Mac Pro 2013
Dwight Silverman, Houston Chronicle
Cash Abroad Rises $206 Billion As Apple To IBM Avoid Tax
Richard Rubin, Bloomberg Businessweek
The largest U.S.-based companies added $206 billion to their stockpiles of offshore profits last year, parking earnings in low-tax countries until Congress gives them a reason not to.
The multinational companies have accumulated $1.95 trillion outside the U.S., up 11.8 percent from a year earlier, according to securities filings from 307 corporations reviewed by Bloomberg News. Three U.S.-based companies -- Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. -- added $37.5 billion, or 18.2 percent of the total increase.
This Is A Review Of Day One’s New Publish Feature
Shawn Blanc
In my short time with Publish, I’ve found that it has a surprisingly ancillary effect of encouraging the journaling process just a little bit more. I still consider Day One to be the best journaling app out there, and if this is just the start of what they’ve got in store for updates coming this year, then I’m excited to see what’s next.
Nuance Dragon Dictate For Mac 4 Review: Control Your Mac Using Only Your Voice
Martyn Casserly, Macworld UK
The speech recognition is excellent, making it usable on a daily basis, and the addition of the transcription feature could prove invaluable to students and those that need to write up speeches or presentations on a regular basis.
Numerical For iOS Rethinks The Calculator
Mel Martin, TUAW
Make Your Screen Less Glaring At Night With F.lux
Nick Mediati, Macgasm
F.lux is a simple tool that automatically adjusts your screen’s color white balance to better match the lighting in the room at night. The idea is that it’ll make your screen less glaring to stare at and may help you sleep better by limiting your nighttime exposure to blue light.
Tuesday, 11 March, 2014
How To Manage Wi-Fi Networks In OS X
Topher Kessler, CNET
If regularly connect to more than one Wi-Fi network on your Mac, you can do several things to optimize which networks will get automatically chosen.
Apple Adds Australian Accent In Siri Update
Brian Chen, Financial Review
Reverse Wardriving: Tracking Apple And Google Commuter Buses By Their Wi-Fi Clouds
Kevin Poulsen, Wired
After a week of reverse-wardriving, it appears the Apple Bus passes my house an average of 36 times a day, and is uncannily punctual, especially in the a.m., when the first bus reliably pops up on my Wi-Fi radar between 6:23:33 and 6:23:56 every morning.
Tweetbot 3.3 Adds Avenir Font Option, Large Thumbnails
Federico Viticci, MacStories
Apple iOS 7.1 Launches Major iBeacon Improvement
Doug Thompson, BEEKn
As of today, once an app is installed it will “look” for beacons even if your app is shut down or you’ve rebooted your phone.
Verbs Instant Messaging App Goes 3.0 With New iOS 7 Design And New Features
Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice
Asking Mr. Big
Cathleen McGuigan, Architectural Record
Foster+Partners has designed megaprojects around the globe, from airports to skyscrapers. How are super-size buildings, such as Apple's future headquarters, shaped for the people who will use them?
I do hope that, maybe, Apple can provide some public tours of the new campus when the building is completed but before Apple employees move in.
Daily App: Shady Allows You To Dim Your Mac's Overly Bright Display
Kelly Hodgkins, TUAW
Shady is a handy OS X utility that sits in your menu bar and allows you to dim your Mac's screen beyond what is available is OS X. It's useful for Mac owners whose eyes are sensitive to light or for nighttime use when you don't want to light up the entire room with your Mac's overly bright screen.
Digital Hub 2.0
Ben Thompson, Stratechery
A computing company that manages the entire stack around their device almost certainly has an advantage in this new services frontier.
The iPod was an accessory of the digital hub that is the Mac. Apple TV, after all these years, is mostly an accessory of the digital hub that is the iTunes. CarPlay is the first accessory to the digital hub that is the iPhone.
Xcode 5.1, iAd Producer 4.1.2 Released With Improved iOS 7.1 Compatibility
Mark Gurman, 9 To 5 Mac
iOS 7.1: The Changes We Love (And The Ones We Don’t)
Serenity Caldwell, Dan Moren, and Dan Frakes, Macworld
Apple's OS 7.1 Changes The Caps Lock Key Again
Dave Caolo, TUAW
The older version of the key went from grey to dark grey. The new version goes from grey to white.
Apple TV 6.1 And Remote 4.2 Bring Welcome Interface Improvements
Josh Centers, TidBITS
The key improvement for end users is an easier method of hiding unwanted apps.
iOS 7.1 On The iPhone 4: As Good As It’s Going To Get
Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica
If you're sticking with the iPhone 4 for another year, iOS 7.1 makes performance tolerable enough that using the phone isn't unbearable.
iOS 7.1 Released, Improves iPhone 5S Stability, iPhone 4 Speed, And More
Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica
The update brings a whole pile of fixes. It addresses a crashing bug with the iPhone 5S, improves speed on the iPhone 4, introduces the new CarPlay feature, adds new accessibility options, and makes a handful of other refinements to the UI. The accuracy of the TouchID fingerprint scanner has also been improved for iPhone 5S users.
Monday, 10 March, 2014
NewsBlur 4.0 Features New Dashboard, Gestures And Sharing Controls
Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice
NewsBlur, the popular RSS reader app for iPhone and iPad, has just been updated to version 4.0 with several significant enhancements.
Facebook Paper Has Forever Changed The Way We Build Mobile Apps
Cade Metz, Wired
Review: Mophie’s Space Pack Doubles Your iPhone’s Battery, Storage, And Size
Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica
Ireland Faces Questions On Fruitful Apple Tax Deal
John McManus, The Irish Times
The revelation that Apple paid just $36 million tax on $7.11 billion worth of profits funnelled through an Irish company sounds like old news and the Government has done its best to characterise it as such over the past few days. It is however much more than old news. The additional detail that is contained in the documents obtained by this newspaper challenge the narrative at the heart of the rearguard action fought by the Government since the news of Apple’s extraordinary efficient tax planning surfaced last year.
Marvel Unlimited Update Introduces Native Marvel Comics Reading Experience
Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice
This revamped reading experience is made possible mainly by the introduction of native reading in Marvel Unlimited, which downloads comic books for viewing. This is as opposed to the app’s former streaming setup, which was cumbersome at best.
The Apple Game: New Categories Vs. Ecosystem Development
Jean-Louis Gassée, Monday Note
Putting hopes for Apple’s future on a magical New Category misunderstands the company’s real direction. Instead, Apple stays the course and continues to play its Ecosystem Game.
Sunday, 9 March, 2014
Apple Adds Apple TV Channel For iTunes Festival SXSW
Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice
Review: Mophie’s New ‘Space Pack’ Battery Case Is Like Dropbox Without The Cloud And Twice The Power
Zac Hall, 9 To 5 Mac
Having local storage built directly into the case is the real advantage of the Mophie Space Pack. Because there is no cloud service to manage your files and the storage is located right in the hardware, the Space Pack interacts with media and files exactly like music, photos, and videos synced to your device.
One Phone, Many Countries
The Economist
Costly Brazil, dysfunctional Argentina, bureaucratic Mexico. Our correspondents go shopping for the same Apple product.
10 Things Your iPad Can Do With A Little Extra Help
Geoffrey Goetz, GigaOM
On its own, the iPad is capable of accomplishing a great number of day to day tasks. With a little help from an add-on accessory it can do quite a bit more.
From iMessage To Lightning Cables, Here’s How Apple Secures Your Digital life
Geoff Duncan, Digital Trends
Apple takes this stuff very seriously – and perhaps differently than other companies. Here are a few examples.
Review: Font Studio Provides Affordable Custom Fonts For All Of Your Creative Needs
Whitney Marks, 9 To 5 Mac
Saturday, 8 March, 2014
OS X Mavericks: 6 Useful Mac Tricks
Jonny Evans, Computerworld
This Clever Mac Utility Brings iOS Battery Notifications To The OS X Status Bar
Joe White, AppAdvice
Users can check on their mobile device’s battery levels and even receive power alerts on a Mac computer.
Delete And Manage Old Messages In Mail
Topher Kessler, CNET
Some small ways to enhance the way Apple's Mail program handles messages when deleted, and set up rules to automatically clear old messages from your inbox.
One-Minute Review: Take A Better Selfie With An iPhone Camera Remote
Nathan Olivarez-Giles, Wall Street Journal
This Bluetooth remote for the iPhone controls the camera button. Using this little device, which is about the size of a couple Life Savers mints, you can take a selfie that is free of your outstretched arm.
Getting To The Core Of Apple’s Tax Strategy
Mark Paul, The Irish Times
How did Apple’s ASI unit in Cork manage an effective tax rate of less than 1 per cent on billions of dollars in annual sales?
Despicable Me: Minion Rush Adds All New Downtown Area, Bank Of Evil, And More!
Allyson Kazmucha, iMore
Friday, 7 March, 2014
Apple Store App Featuring New, Free Music From iTunes
Zac Hall, 9 To 5 Mac
'Smash Hit' For iOS And Android Turns The Act Of Destruction Into Art
Vlad Savov, The Verge
Make Use Of The iCloud Keychain
Topher Kessler, CNET
Apple's iCloud keychain can be used to synchronize passwords and secured notes for your own system and those at work.
Apple Gets Final Approval For Store On San Francisco’s Union Square
Barbara Taylor, KCBS
What Happens When Apple Finds A Child Making Your iPhone
Tim Fernholz, Quartz
In 2013, it audited 451 different facilities in 16 countries, and found 23 people who had been hired when they were younger than 16. Eleven were still underage at the time of the audit. In all of its publicly available audits, from 2006 to 2013, the company has found 349 child laborers.
What happens after they are found?
Disney Expands Where's My Water? 2 With More Puzzling Levels In 2 New Locations
Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice
Ask The iTunes Guy: Obtaining Old Apps, Excluding Comedy, And Making More Navigable Playlists
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
In this week’s column, I look at some interesting questions about getting apps for iOS devices that aren’t using iOS 7, about viewing album art in playlists on iTunes, and about keeping certain tracks from rearing their heads when you’re listening in shuffle mode. I also explain how to set up smart playlists to sort your music by the first letter of artists’ names.
OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 Beta Contains Native 'Retina' Resolution Option For 4K Displays
Richard Padilla, MacRumors
Popular Gesture-Based Minimalist To-Do App Clear Goes Free Yet Again
Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice
Apple Releases Revamped iTunes Festival App Ahead Of SXSW, iOS 7.1 Not Required
Juli Clover, MacRumors
Retrospect 11
Agen G. N. Schmitz, TidBITS
The big news for Retrospect 11 is that it adds a block level incremental backup option, which should boost performance as it backs up only those portions of files that are modified since the previous backup.
Thursday, 6 March, 2014
Why Mac Users Still Use OS X Snow Leopard
Jonny Evans, Computerworld
Apple Security Rules Leave Inherited iPad Useless, Say Sons
Natalie Donovan and Kevin Core, BBC
A man whose mother bequeathed her iPad to her family in her will says Apple's security rules are too restrictive.
Judge Denies Apple Request To Ban Samsung Products
Min-Jeong Lee, Wall Street Journal
Apple's CarPlay Draws Safety Criticism
James O'Toole, CNNMoney
"We're very, very concerned about it," said David Teater, senior director at the nonprofit National Safety Council. "The auto industry and the consumer electronics industry are really in an arms race to see how we can enable drivers to do stuff other than driving."
CloudyTabs Puts iCloud Tabs In Your Mac’s Menu Bar
Federico Viticci, MacStories
The problem with iCloud Tabs is that they’re limited to Safari, so if you’re using Chrome or Firefox on OS X, you can’t access the tabs that you have open on your iPhone or iPad. For this reason, Josh Parnham has devised a simple and clever solution: CloudyTabs is a menu bar app that lists iCloud Tabs open on all your devices.
Textbooks Replaced By iTunes U Downloads
Sean Coughlan, BBC
The Stephen Perse Foundation school is building a pathway that others could soon follow. It's clever and digital, but also practical and easily shared.
iTunes Tip: Use The Hidden iTunes Store Power Search
Kirk McElhearn, Kirkville
Replace A Dying iPhone 5 Battery
Adam C. Engst, TidBITS
I had to apply significant pressure, and when the clips finally released, I almost pulled the display’s cables out by force. That step, which hadn’t been required with the iPhone 4, was nerve-wracking.
Cracking The Apple Tax Code
Neil Chenoweth, Financial Review
“Now we have some numbers to say, ‘well, this is the amount they are avoiding paying tax, particularly in Australia’, perhaps we should be asking, ‘Should we do something about it?’ But Apple is only one of them doing this.”
“Perhaps we need to go back to fundamentals and say that profits need to be taxed once – only once, but at least once.”
Gmail For iOS Updated With Background Refresh And Simplified Sign-in Across Other Google Apps
Nick Summers, The Next Web
Google today updated its Gmail for iOS app with background refresh, which means that it will now fetch incoming mail automatically.
Apple Declares Retail Store Theft Is ‘Not A Priority’
IfoApplestore.com
The world’s most valuable company isn’t worried that employees might be stealing Apple gear from their retail stores, and a security bag check that is the subject of a employee lawsuit is used inconsistently “at best.” What’s more, the company hasn’t audited the bag check program to determine if it’s effective at reducing employee theft, and considers loss prevention to be a low priority endeavor. That picture was painted by an employee designated by Apple to provide expert testimony in depositions taken earlier this year.
How To Make A Genius Bar Appointment On Your iPhone, iPad, Or Mac
Allyson Kazmucha, iMore
Apple Support For Snow Leopard Wanes
Adam C. Engst, TidBITS
Wednesday, 5 March, 2014
Go To History
And Now It's All This
The arguments for and against goto are part of a long tradition of programmers trying to figure out how to write code that’s easier to understand and more likely to be correct.
iTunes Radio: Poor Reception
Christopher Breen, Macworld
For those of us who really care about music, it means a service that’s regrettably half-baked.
2014'S Battle For Dashboard Supremacy: Apple's CarPlay Vs. Google's OAA Vs. MirrorLink
Tim Stevens, CNET
Cars have been getting smarter and smartphone connectivity is better than ever, but 2014 should be a quantum leap forward for smartphone connectivity. Join us as we look at the main contenders.
Mac OS X Vs Windows: 8 Reasons To Switch To Mac
Khidr Suleman, IT Pro
Are Apple Computers As Good As They Think They Are? We Put One To The Test
Dave Snelling, Daily Star
It looks fabulous, is incredibly fast and has a never ending battery, but best of all, like the 1984 Macintosh, it's so simple to use.
So are Apple computers as good as they think they are? The simple answer is YES!
Setting Up Custom Keyboard Shortcuts In OS X
Topher Kessler, CNET
Ensure that a menu command is targeted by a custom keyboard shortcut even if two or more commands have the same name within a given application.
Review: The Three Best iPad Air Keyboard Cases
Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla, Calgary Herald
Keyboard cases incorporate a Bluetooth keyboard with a protective case that ensures the iPad is well protected. These cases can be used to prop up the iPad’s screen at an angle while typing, similar to the way laptop computers work.
WordPress (For iPad)
Jeffrey L. Wilson, PC Magazine
The free Wordpress iPad app lets users create new articles, add photos and video, schedule posts, and more while on the go. Numerous missing features keep it from being the complete WordPress experience, however.
WhatsApp Messenger (For iPhone)
Max Eddy and Jill Duffy, PC Magazine
WhatsApp doesn't have all the features under the sun, but it delivers a quality experience on iOS with all the critical tools you need to cut out your texting plan.
Can Apple Help Make Hearing Aids Cool?
Heather Kelly, CNN
People wait in long lines and even camp out to get their hands on new Apple devices as soon as they're available. But they drag their feet, sometimes for years, when it comes to purchasing another piece of technology that could greatly improve their lives: hearing aids.
Hearing-aid manufacturers and audiologists hope a new collaboration between them and Apple will help.
Want To Block iMessage Contacts In OS X Mavericks? Here’s How.
Andrew Kunesh, Macgasm
A Top Singapore School Finds New Way To Engage And Educate
Apple
Shy students speak up more in class and participate more readily in online discussions. Because iPad is so portable, the girls can collaborate anywhere on group assignments outside school hours. And academic researchers tasked with evaluating student interactions at Nanyang found that with iPad in the classroom, students ask questions that indicate greater comprehension and engagement.
Speaky For iOS Reads Any Text You Feed It
Mel Martin, TUAW
Speaky is an interesting iOS app with a simple goal: paste in some text or give it a URL, and it will read it to you. Speaky works in the background, so you can be doing something else while a news article, story, or anything you can feed it gets read to you.
Real Racing 3 Update Brings Customization Support, Aston Martin Cars And More
Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice
PCalc 3 Review: Standout iOS Calculator Gains Programmability And Polish
Dan Frakes, Macworld
Whether you’re performing serious scientific calculations, doing high-school physics homework, or just converting everyday measures, PCalc has the features and interface for you.
Prompting For App Reviews
Dan Counsell
I don't think customers would mind being asked to leave a review for an app they love and use daily if they were asked at the right time, but unfortunately that's usually not the case.
Best Twitter Apps For iPad: Twitterrific, Echofon Pro, HootSuite, And More!
Allyson Kazmucha, iMore
The Real Impact Of CarPlay: It's The Software, Dummy
Dan Moren, Macworld
That’s why CarPlay appeals to me: because it suggests that even as your car gets older, you won’t be stuck with an outdated chunk of electronics taking up a huge swath of your car’s dashboard.
Review: OmniFocus 2 For iPhone
All Things Apple
I knew that there was a steep learning curve to this software, and I was willing to explore it over time, knowing that as my needs grow, this app could easily grow with me. It was a conscious decision made up front with a significant energy and time investment that paid of dividends after 3 months of fidgeting, and continued to grow as I fully explored the software.
After Initial Rejection, Cryptocat Finally Launches On iOS
Russell Brandom, The Verge
The encrypted chat app Cryptocat is launching today for iOS, after an initial rejection in December. Previously available as a desktop app and browser plugin, the program uses the OTR model to offer strong encryption and forward secrecy for text conversations, with servers held in a Swedish nuclear bunker to protect them from government intrusion.
Facebook’s Small Paper Update Makes Sharing Simple
Caitlin McGarry, TechHive
Hands-on With Apple's CarPlay: When Siri Met Ferrari
Matt Brian, Engadget
Tuesday, 4 March, 2014
Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer Retiring After 18 Years
Jacob Kastrenakes, The Verge
Apple's chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer will retire at the end of September, after 18 years at the company. Luca Maestri, Apple's vice president of finance, will become his successor. The role will begin to transition to Maestri in June. "Luca has over 25 years of global experience in senior financial management, including roles as a public company CFO, and I am confident he will be a great CFO at Apple," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.
Manage Grayed Out 'Move To Trash' Option In OS X
Topher Kessler, CNET
'PasswordBox': Versatile, Free Password Manager
Marc Saltzman, USA Today
This app is one of the rare few that not only gets it right, but goes above and beyond by including many smart features. Especially considering the core functionality is absolutely free, it is a "must have" app in the digital age.
France Becomes Third Country To Offer Apple’s iPhone Trade-In Program
Toby Wellington, Macgasm
Instapaper Updates iOS App With AirPlay Support And More
John-Michael Bond, TUAW
Instapaper is already a solid way to save videos for future watching, but thanks to this iOS update Apple TV owners will no longer be stuck the brutal frustration of watching their clipped videos on a tiny phone screen.
Microsoft Wants Xbox Live To Power Android And iOS Games
Tom Warren, The Verge
Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that Microsoft is building a platform to extend Xbox Live functionality to iOS and Android games.
Monday, 3 March, 2014
Don’t Expect To Use Google Maps With Apple CarPlay
Matt Burns, TechCrunch
CarPlay only grants access to select applications installed on the connected phone. At launch, CarPlay only works with Spotify, Beats Radio, iHeartRadio, and Stitcher. Sorry, Rdio fans.
Game Review: ‘The Room’s’ Creepy Atmosphere, Clever Puzzles Draw You In
Dominic Baez, TDN.com
Hands-on: FiftyThree Pencil Review
Stuart Miles, Pocket-lint
At first glance, the Pencil does come across as being expensive, but with a simple charging mechanism, and the ability to be able to draw on the iPad while resting your hand on the screen, if you are a Paper by FiftyThree user, this is a no brainer, if you are looking to maximise your potential.
Social-Adverse Apple Debuts Tumblr Campaign
Christopher Heine, Adweek
The spots pitch the five-month-old iPhone 5C, featuring the product's colorful look and accessories. The campaign tagline: "Every color has a story."
Top Choice: Our Favorite Mac Mail Clients
Nathan Alderman, Macworld
We’ve found one strong program that offers a great mix of features, usability, and value for a broad swath of users, plus several more that will cater well to more specialized preferences.
Apple CarPlay Debuts With Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz And Volvo
Stuart Dredge, The Guardian
Apple’s Siri virtual assistant technology is key to the initiative, acting as the interface for drivers to access their contacts, make calls and listen to voicemails, while also reading out messages and responding to voice commands.
Apple’s Maps service will be a key feature in CarPlay too, with routes shown on the car’s own screen, and spoken turn-by-turn directions. Digital music is also part of CarPlay, but it is not an iTunes-only affair, with Spotify and US service iHeartRadio among the third-party apps that will work with it.
Laying Out iOS UIs In Code
Harlan Haskins
For about a year, I've been laying out all of my UIs purely in code. The benefits are tremendous.
Sunday, 2 March, 2014
How To Sync Photos Docs And Data On iPhone And Mac With iCloud
Kevin Purcell, Gotta Be Mobile
Non-native Vs. Native Mac Games, And Why It Matters
Kirk Hiner, TechnologyTell
There are multiple ways to get a game to the Mac when it was originally released for another platform, and how it is done makes a pretty big difference in how the game performs.
Password Managers: Time To Secure Yourself One
Brent Hunsberger, OregonLive.com
It doesn't really matter which password manager or storage program you use. Just start using one. It will make you more secure. It might even make online commerce easier.
Finish For iPhone Offers Freemium Version, Teases iPad
Dave Caolo, TUAW
Apple Presses Labels For More 'Beyonce'-Type Exclusives In Wake Of Downloads' Slide
Ed Christman And Alex Pham, Billboard
Apple Inc.’s music chief Robert Kondrk has been pressuring major labels for releases similar to last year's Beyonce exclusive, excluding services like YouTube and Spotify to help shore up slowing download sales, according to music executives familiar with the conversations.
How To Block FaceTime Calls And iMessages On The Mac
Allyson Kazmucha, iMore
Saturday, 1 March, 2014
The Job After Steve Jobs: Tim Cook And Apple
Yukari Iwatani Kane, Wall Street Journal
Unlike Jobs, who always ate lunch with the design guru Jonathan Ive, Cook went to the cafeteria and introduced himself to employees he didn't know, asking if he could join them. Without Jobs breathing down their necks, the atmosphere was more relaxed. Cook was a more traditional CEO who infused Apple with a healthier work environment.
"Free-to-play" Misleading Advertising In Europe
Brenda Sinclair, Gamesindustry International
The Consumer Protection Cooperation and EC member states have released a list of common positions on the subject, with misleading advertising at the top.
"The use of the word 'free' (or similar unequivocal terms) as such, and without any appropriate qualifications, should only be allowed for games which are indeed free in their entirety, or in other words which contain no possibility of making in-app purchases, not even on an optional basis," the group said.
Apple’s New Mac Pro Is Built For The Future, And Is Insanely Expensive Add To ...
Seamus Bellamy, The Globe And Mail
The Mac Pro is a compact, beautifully designed powerhouse that video, design and photographic professionals will love to include in their workflow – eventually. For most, the hardware is still so new and so advanced that they’ll be disappointed to find that many of the software tools they rely on daily still haven’t been optimized to leverage the full power of the computer’s impressive internal hardware.
Oggl For iPad: Even More Fun With Photo Filters On The Big(ger) Screen
Jackie Dove, The Next Web
While the app’s venue has expanded, its mission stays the same: Curated selections of your finest work.
Fandango (For iPhone)
Michael Muchmore, PC Magazine
Fandango is a well-designed, easy-to-use app with an integrated ticket-purchasing system that's even used by competing apps such as MovieFone and Apple Trailers.
Why Apple Needs To Fix Its Photo-sharing Workflow
Jason Snell, Macworld
The iPhone is the most popular camera on the planet, and Apple’s justifiably proud of that. Instagram wouldn’t have been worth ten bucks were it not for its wild success on the App Store. And yet, despite all that, it feels like Apple isn’t taking photo-sharing on the Web seriously.
Is Snow Leopard 'Vulnerable To Attacks?' Has Apple Really Abandoned It?
Peter Cohen, iMore
Apple releases updates to software as they're needed. Mavericks, Lion and Mountain Lion all needed security updates. Snow Leopard didn't. End of story.
Buy An Apple TV By March 5, Get A $25 iTunes Gift Card
Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica
Best Personal Finance Apps For iPhone: BillGuard, myFICO, BUDGT, And More!
Allyson Kazmucha, iMore
Get To Know The New Google Hangouts For iOS
Leah Yamshon, Macworld
ETA Is A Helpful App For Estimating Your Arrival Time
Mel Martin, TUAW
Tim Cook Advises Climate Change Deniers To Get Out Of Apple Stock
Nick Statt, CNET
"We do a lot of things for reasons besides profit motive," Cook said. "We want to leave the world better than we found it."
From The Department Of Fitting Facts To The Narrative
John Gruber, Daring Fireball
But I think this is a case, maybe the best example so far, of a situation where Apple has done something very differently than if Jobs were still here, and that the company is better off for it.
I love the whole 30 Years of Mac celebration, and I think it’s very right. Only part of the campaign is about looking back, though. The “1.24.14” 90-second short film, which has received more attention than any other aspect of the campaign, is about what people all around the world are doing with Apple products today.