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The Many Superpowers Of Apple's Preview App: Part 1

Lesa Snider, Macworld

Apple’s Preview app, preinstalled on every Mac for years, is one of the most underused programs ever. Far from being an image preview app, as its name implies, you can use it to convert file formats, grab a frame from a movie, learn the size of a web-based image, sort a folder of images, remove backgrounds, and more. In this first installment of a two-part series, you’ll begin to discover the many superpowers of Preview.

iPhone 6 Owners Reporting That Cards Cannot Be Added Back Into Apple Pay After A Restore

Ben Lovejoy, 9 To 5 Mac

Multiple iPhone 6 owners are reporting in an Apple Support Communities thread that they are unable to add cards back into Apple Pay after their phone has been restored – whether as a new phone or from a backup. According to reports there, Apple has been able to resolve the issue only by replacing the phone.

Apple's Latest Mac Pro Continues To Cause Problems For Professional Users

Sam Oliver, AppleInsider

One year after its release, Apple's radically redesigned Mac Pro remains a source of frustration for some video-focused professionals whose workflows are being interrupted by rendering glitches apparently caused by problems with the unit's ATI graphics system.

Apple Introduces 14-Day Return On iTunes, Scaring Coders And Musicians

Alex Hern, The Guardian

What’s more, while apps on the app store are protected by “digital rights management” (DRM), letting Apple potentially revoke any download which it refunds, music sales are entirely DRM-free, meaning that unscrupulous fans could download the song, request a refund, and keep hold of the song anyway.

GoodReader Drops Certain iCloud Drive Functions In Compliance With Apple's Policy

Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice

Managing Mail On The Mac

J. D. Biersdorfer, New York Times

How do you block and automatically delete messages from a certain sender in the Mail program for Mac OS X?

The best iOS party games for New Year's Eve

Peter Cohen, iMore

Apple Employee Lawsuit Over Time Spent In Security Lines Dismissed After Amazon Ruling

Mike Beasley, 9 To 5 Mac

In the Amazon case, the Supreme Court ruled that because Amazon warehouse workers were not employed for the purpose of going through security checks, it was not actually part of the job they were being paid to do. Therefore, the court ruled, the employees could not bill the company for time spent standing in security lines.

Fixing Bluetooth Discovery Problems In OS X Yosemite

OS X Daily

Why I Drilled Holes In My MacBook Pro And Put It In The Oven

IFixIt

Unconventional electronics repair tools they may be, but that’s how I saved my MacBook Pro with a drill and an oven.

The Death Of Cocoa

Mattt Thompson, NSHipster

Let's take at some specific examples of what Cocoa does, and how a new Swift standard library could improve.

Apple Introduces 14-Day No Questions Asked Refunds For App Store & iTunes In EU Countries

Jordan Kahn, 9 To 5 Mac

The changes appear to be related to a new consumer rights directive in the EU that introduced a required 14 calendar day right of cancellation or return period for both goods and services purchased in EAA countries.

Apple To Save Historic Barn On Site Of New Cupertino Campus

Julia Love, San Jose Mercury News

Underscoring that Apple Campus 2 is at once one of Silicon Valley's wildest sketches of the future and a portal to its past, the company has set aside a place on its state-of-the-art campus for the Glendenning Barn, named for a pioneer family whose land became a magnet for tech companies after the blooms faded from their orchards. Constructed in 1916 with planks of redwood, the barn was built to last, though its founders couldn't have foreseen all that it would withstand: the decline of local agriculture, the rise of big tech and several changes of the guard in Silicon Valley, not to mention Apple's earth movers.

How To Help Your Family Stay More Secure Online

Glenn Fleishman, Macworld

The trick is to balance knowledge, agency, and capability. Don’t set up your 97-year-old grandfather with a two-factor authentication approach unless he both wants it and can, unaided, use it. Likewise, your 22-year-old daughter living away from home after college might appreciate mom’s password advice, but she might not take it to heart unless you share your own story of woe—and maybe pick up the cost of password-management software.

Popular Web Browser App iCab Mobile Updated With Touch ID Support And Other Features

Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice

It now supports iOS 8’s standard document picker in the download manager for exporting or importing files to or from external cloud storage services with installed app extensions.

Apple Starts Streaming “The Interview,” Too

Peter Kafka, Re/code

Apple’s brief comment about the news — “we’re pleased to offer ‘The Interview’ for rental or purchase on the iTunes store” — doesn’t explain why the company didn’t offer the movie on Wednesday, along with other online stores.

The Slow Death Of ‘Do Not Track’

Fred B. Campbell Jr., New York Times

Now, finally, an industry working group is expected to propose detailed rules governing how the privacy switch should work. The group includes experts but is dominated by Internet giants like Adobe, Apple, Facebook, Google and Yahoo. It is poised to recommend a carve-out that would effectively free them from honoring “Do Not Track” requests.

If regulators go along, the rules would allow the largest Internet giants to continue scooping up data about users on their own sites and on other sites that include their plug-ins, such as Facebook’s “Like” button or an embedded YouTube video. This giant loophole would make “Do Not Track” meaningless.

5 Super-Useful Things You Can Do With Your Old iPhone

John Patrick Pullen, TIME

You Should Play: Crossy Road Is Basically Endless Frogger, And That's A Very Good Thing

Andrew Hayward, Macworld

It's only been out a few weeks, but I'm ready to put Crossy Road into my all-time pantheon of amazing, time-absorbing iOS games. That might seem premature, but my last few weeks of frantic lane-hopping and high score-chasing have generated the same kind of pocket-based obsession that lured me into games like Orbital, Super Crate Box, and Impossible Road in the past.

Apple Japan Announces Annual 'Lucky Bag' Promotion For Jan. 2

AppleInsider

Called Fukubukuro in Japanese, roughly translated to "Lucky Bags," the yearly custom sees major retailers and department stores sell sealed grab bags filled with popular and sometimes expensive items. Customers take a slight risk in buying Fukubukuro as they are not privy to the bags' contents, but the combined value of included goods is almost always worth more than the price paid.

iPhone Or iPad Not Charging? Pocket Crud Could Be Jamming The Port

OS X Daily

If you’ve ever gone to plug in your iPhone or iPad and noticed that it’s not charging as it’s supposed to be, you might want to check the devices Lightning port. That’s because the little charger port on the bottom can be a trap for pocket gunk, and even fairly small pieces of lint or sediment can prevent the device from charging as intended.

Apple's Holiday Return Policy: What You Need To Know

Serenity Caldwell, iMore

Oyster: It’s Netflix For The Bookworm

Samantha Lefebvre, Duluth News Tribune

If you’re in a book club or just want to check more books off of your neverending “must read” list, then this app is for you. At the very least, sign up for the free trial and check it out for yourself.

Cleaning Coffee (And Other Spills) Off A Keyboard

Mac Life

Five Great iPhone And iPad Games The Entire Family Can Play This Christmas!

Peter Cohen, iMore

There are tons of multiplayer games on the App Store, but far fewer that really encourage families to play together on the same device. So I've come up with a bunch of games that are fun to play and family friendly: You can pass (or crowd) around a single iPhone or iPad for some fun in the living room without needing to worry about getting online or connecting through Game Center.

Got An iPhone 6? Do These 10 Things First

Susie Ochs, Macworld

15 Essential Games For Your New iPhone

Evan Killham, VentureBeat

Hello, New iPhone / iPod Owner! Here Are The Best Accessories To Buy Right Away

Jeremy Horwitz, 9 To 5 Mac

Retina 5K iMac: Powerful Proof Of The PC Renaissance

Farhad Manjoo, New York Times

Enter Apple and the new iMac it unveiled in the fall, an expensive desktop with a beautiful, high-resolution screen. If Chromebooks are cars, the new iMac is the world’s best truck. It’s a device optimized for professionals, not casual users, and it blazes a path forward for the once-beleaguered PC industry.

The First 10 Apps To Install On Your Brand-new Mac

Glenn Fleishman, Macworld

As a nearly 30-year veteran of Mac ownership, I have 10 solid suggestions that will make your life better by shaving off the little irritations that remain in Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite and in Apple’s bundled software. A new Mac user will be happier than otherwise, and a veteran user looking to refresh a system will find the time and effort savings quite rewarding as well.

Seven Things To Do With Your New Tablet This Christmas

Samuel Gibbs, The Guardian

Tablets are a great gift for Christmas – versatile, useful, fun and shiny – but they’re only as good as the things you can do with them.

Here are a quick few things every new tablet owner should do.

Apple Reportedly Declined To Stream Sony's 'The Interview' On iTunes

Harish Jonnalagadda, iMore

Apple Did Not Update Your Mac Without Your Permission

Kirk McElhearn, Kirkville

To have “system data files and security updates” installed automatically, a setting in the App Store pane of System Preferences needs to be checked.

How To Stay Connected In Unconnected Places

Glenn Fleishman, Macworld

Prepare before you go for the worst-case scenario. There have never been more options for acquiring high-speed Internet access even when a feed isn’t convenient.

Apple-Backed Rockstar Sells Patents To RPX For $900 Million

Reuters

Patent risk management company RPX said Tuesday it would buy patents owned by Apple and other firms for $900 million, helping to further scale back lawsuits over smartphone technology.

While the sale price is far less than what Rockstar had paid for the original 6,000 patents, the most valuable 2,000 of them had already been distributed to consortium members, RPX Chief Executive John Amster said.

Apple Pushes First Ever Automated Security Update To Mac Users

Reuters

The bugs were made public in security bulletins on Friday by the Department of Homeland Security and the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute. Carnegie Mellon identified dozens of technology companies, including Apple, whose products might be vulnerable.

How To Watch Blu-ray Discs On Your Mac

Peter Cohen, iMore

With the right software and hardware in place, you can turn your Mac into a powerful Blu-ray Disc system. It just takes a little self-reliance and some extra hardware and software to make happen.

Rdio For iOS Updated With New Search, Playback And Social Features

Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice

Apple reopens Russian online store after boosting iPhone 6 price by 35%

Gregg Keizer, Computerworld

Ruble recovers somewhat from last week, but lowest-priced iPhone 6 now goes for the equivalent of $991 in Russia.

Workflow Is The Next Step For iOS Automation

Josh Centers, TidBITS

While automation isn’t for everyone, I encourage you think about repetitive actions you often perform on your devices. You might save more time than you would initially expect!

Apple Releases Critical NTP Security Update For OS X Yosemite, Mavericks, & Mountain Lion

Zac Hall, 9 To 5 Mac

The update is recommended for all users and fixes a “critical security issue with the software that provides the Network Time Protocol service for OS X,” according to Apple.

Apple: Don't Lose My Data!

Glenn Reid

Inside DuetDisplay And Unattributed Open-Source

Dean McNamee

Review: Olloclip 4-In-1 Photo Lens For iPhone 6, 6 Plus

Kirk Hiner, TechnologyTell

Apple’s Response To Sweatshop Labor Report Is Completely Tone Deaf

Brad Reed, Techly

For the record, I don’t think Apple is uniquely bad about these issues and is actually likely better than most other smartphone manufacturers. Samsung suppliers have been found to have similar or worse working conditions in their factories. And I don’t even want to think about what it’s like for workers in Xiaomi plants who churn out smartphones with high-end specs that sell for just $120 each.

That said, Apple has pledged to take the lead in improving its workers’ lives. And that’s why the company should have used this report as an opportunity to come out and say, “While we’ve made progress in many areas, it’s clear that we have a lot more work to do and we’re going to be doing a reevaluation of how we monitor our suppliers’ practices.”

Problems Streaming iTunes Purchases To Apple TV? Try These Fixes!

Allyson Kazmucha, iMore

From playback errors to excruciatingly long wait times for streaming to start, there are a few things you can try in order to get streaming straightened out and back to full speed again!

Nintype Update Proves Apple's App Extension Guidelines Just Don't Add Up

Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice

Apple’s nebulous guidelines regarding app extensions in iOS 8 has claimed another casualty.

You can't do calculations in custom keyboards.

Critical Git And Mercurial Vulnerability On OS X And Windows

Sergio De Simone, InfoQ

A critical security vulnerability affecting Git and Mercurial has been announced yesterday, that makes it possible for an attacker to execute arbitrary commands in the client machine. The vulnerability only affects clients running on OS X (HFS+) and Windows (NTFS, FAT).

How To Use Gestures In OS X Yosemite On A Magic Trackpad And Magic Mouse

Martyn Casserly, Macworld UK

While Microsoft has decided to implement a touch-based interface in Windows 8.1 (much to the ire of many Windows users), Apple has avoided this potential disaster and instead developed excellent solutions for OS X on its Trackpad and Magic Mouse. If you don't know about the various gestures of which these devices are capable then you're missing out on some of the quickest ways to navigate around OS X.

How To Create And Deploy Smart Folders In OS X

Matt Elliott, CNET

Smart folders in OS X are one of those features that you may not bother to learn how to use, but once you do, you fail to see how you ever lived without them. Smart folders display files by search criteria you define and are updated on the fly as you change, add and remove files. The beauty of smart folders is they keep your files where they are, only showing aliases of your files. Smart folders are a supplement to -- not a replacement of -- your file structure. In fact, smart folders are an even more useful tool should your files structure lack, shall we say, any structure at all.

Why Apple Shouldn't Be Blamed For Exploitation In China And Indonesia

Karen Haslam, Macworld UK

It annoyed me because Panorama has singled out Apple for blame when Apple is not the only company to be using factories in China to build its electronic products. Nor is Apple the only company to use tin mined from Indonesia in its goods.

Apple has been singled out because it is Apple. What about Samsung and the other companies that make their products in the same factories who buy their materials from the same suppliers? Well that wouldn’t make such good TV would it!

The Berlin Wall, By App

Cicek Erel, New York Times

Twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989, visitors can now explore the event in a new way with Timetraveler, a digital application that integrates historical content into the live camera view of mobile devices.

News Cues Is Personalized News Aggregator With Potential

George Tinari, TUAW

Our Favorite Things: iOS Games

Jason Snell, Six Colors

I always say I am not a “gamer,” yet I seem to spend a lot of time playing games, especially on iOS. My Six Colors collaborator Dan Moren is someone I consider much more of a gamer than I am, so I asked him to join me to create this list of iOS games we have enjoyed over the past year. We hope you can waste as much time on them as we did.

Apple Goes To War With The BBC

Rhiannon Williams, The Telegraph

In an email to around 5,000 staff across the UK, Apple senior vice president of operations Jeff Williams said both himself and the chief executive were "deeply offended by the suggestion that Apple would break a promise to the workers in our supply chain or mislead our customers in any way".

"We know there are a lot of issues out there, and our work is never done. We will not rest until every person in our supply chain is treated with the respect and dignity they deserve," he concluded.

Apple Increases App Prices In Russia In Response To Changing Exchange Rates

Benjamin Mayo, 9 To 5 Mac

Microsoft Updates Bing Apps For iPhone And iPad With New Designs And More

John Callaham, iMore

Watch ABC Apple TV Channel Update Brings Full Episode Viewing For All Users

AppleInsider

The television network announced the change through its website on Thursday, notifying users that all Apple TV owners are now able to watch recently aired full episodes without logging in. Prior to today's update, viewers would need to provide a cable TV or other appropriate login to watch full streaming content.

Review: Duet Display Brings Fast Response To The iPad-as-external-monitor Game

Rob Griffiths, Macworld

Duet turns an iPad attached to your Mac into a responsive monitor, but at the cost of high computer CPU usage.

Airmail 2 For Mac Review: Email Exactly The Way You Want It

Allyson Kazmucha, iMore

If you can think of a setting you want to customize, you most likely can.

Family Sharing Is Convenient, But Comes With Its Own Risks

Glenn Fleishman, Macworld

It comes with a hidden curse, though: Families that share together can have all their devices wiped together and all track each other’s locations, regardless of one’s age. One could argue these are good things when you’ve chosen to opt into Family Sharing and location sharing. But, as your faithful writer keeps stressing, you have to know the risks in order to evaluate them.

Apple 'Failing To Protect Chinese Factory Workers'

Richard Bilton, BBC

Filming on an iPhone 6 production line showed Apple's promises to protect workers were routinely broken.

It found standards on workers' hours, ID cards, dormitories, work meetings and juvenile workers were being breached at the Pegatron factories.

Apple said it strongly disagreed with the programme's conclusions.

Judge Keeps Steve Jobs Video Testimony From Public Release

Josh Lowensohn, The Verge

In a ruling today, US district court judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said that the video should be treated just like any other testimony in that particular federal circuit, and thus unable to be made public as a recording.

Tim Cook Praises Apple’s Accomplishments, Reveals $20 Million (PRODUCT)RED Donation In Holiday Email

Mike Beasley, 9 To 5 Mac

Apple CEO Tim Cook sent a company-wide email today recapping the year’s accomplishments and looking forward to 2015. Cook praises the “most innovative lineup ever” and expresses his pride in the hard work his employees have put into each product.

Apple To Instate Country-specific App Taxes In EU Starting Jan. 1

Mikey Campbell, AppleInsider

Drafts Gets Its Today Widget Back

Federico Viticci, MacStories

Apple Shares Behind-the-scenes Video Of Its Holiday Ad “The Song”

Zac Hall, 9 To 5 Mac

Apple Reminds Developers About 64-Bit iOS App Store Requirement, App Updates Now Must Also Comply By June

Benjamin Mayo, 9 To 5 Mac

Updates to existing apps must be made 64-bit compatible by June 1, 2015. After that date, any submissions of only 32-bit apps will be rejected by App Review.

My Must-Have iPad Apps, 2014 Edition

Federico Viticci, MacStories

Over the past two and a half years, my workflow has become increasingly iOS-centric. Changes in my personal and professional life have convinced me that iOS is the best platform for me, with a rich ecosystem of apps that allow me to work faster and more efficiently no matter where I am. This year, my iPad has essentially replaced my MacBook Air, which I now primarily use to watch movies and record podcasts.

Got An iPad And This App? You’ve Got A Second Mac Screen

Kif Leswing, GigaOM

A new app called Duet Display will turn your iPad into an external screen for your Mac, and it does it over the cable you already use to charge and sync.

How To Use iCloud Drive On The Web, iOS And OS X

Stephen Robles, AppleInsider

Papers, Please iPad Review – Tablet Immigration

David Jenkins, Metro

In terms of gameplay mechanics though there’s no getting away from it: Papers, Please is boring and repetitive. But it’s meant to be that way. You’re not supposed to be enjoying being an immigration official, checking rulebooks and cross-referencing entries. And yet despite this the game is incredibly tense.

Dozens More Companies Sign Up For Apple Pay

Mike Isaac, New York Times

The new companies that recently agreed to work with the service include SunTrust, Barclaycard and USAA. Ten more banks, including TD Bank North America and Commerce Bank, will back the new form of payment on Tuesday. With the new additions, Apple says it supports the cards that represent about 90 percent of the credit card purchase volume in the United States.

Apple Defeats $1 Billion iPod Antitrust Suit In Three Hours

Karen Gullo And Robert Burnson, Bloomberg

Juror Jerry Kaake said no evidence was produced showing that the software upgrades were intended to thwart RealNetworks, while Apple put on ample proof it was trying to enhance security, including a report from an outside security firm the iPod maker hired and the testimony of a company security executive.

Drafts 4 Update Adds New Features But Removes Today Widget At Apple's Request

Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice

The Four Mac Security Options Everyone Should Know

Topher Kessler, Macworld

While OS X is relatively secure by default, there are some additional steps you can take to ensure the data on your Mac is only accessible by you, even if your Mac is stolen. Take the following tips to heart to better protect your Mac and its data.

A Disturbing Trend

Ben Brooks

Despite what the developers of Cleen may say, there’s no good reason for collecting this data. Whether people are using the app or not, or how much, won’t change anything about the app. Money is the only reason to continue or discontinue development.

Instagram For iOS Gains Five New Filters, Slo-Mo Video Uploads

Juli Clover, MacRumors

According to Instagram, early filters were designed to compensate for lower image quality, while the filters released today take into account higher image quality while providing tools to capture the mood of a moment.

Fix Your Mac Stuck On Encrypting With FileVault

Topher Kessler, MacIssues

This problem likely is happening because of errors in your hard drive’s partitioning and formatting, so to fix this problem, you will need to use Disk Utility in Recovery Mode.

Jury Finds Apple Not Guilty Of Harming Consumers In iTunes DRM Case

Josh Lowensohn, The Verge

Delivering a unanimous verdict today, the group said Apple's iTunes 7.0, released in the fall of 2006, was a "genuine product improvement," meaning that new features (though importantly increased security) were good for consumers.

Apple Stops Online Sales In Russia Over Ruble Fluctuations

Tim Higgins, Bloomberg

Apple Inc. halted online sales of its products in Russia due to “extreme” ruble fluctuations, showing how the currency’s swings are rippling out to international businesses.

See Also: Here's Why the Russian Ruble Is Collapsing (Natalie Kitroeff and Joe Weisenthal): Russia's economy has been hurt by two big things: the falling price of oil and economic sanctions. (Remember Crimea?) The oil and gas industry generates about half of Russia's revenue, so when a combination of the shale boom in the U.S. and weaker demand worldwide pushed the price from $110 per barrel earlier this year to $60, Russia got hammered.

Workflow For iOS Review: An Awesome Mac-like App For Our post-PC Devices

Michael Simon, Macworld

With a style and simplicity all its own, Workflow brings desktop-level automation to the iPhone and iPad.

Electronic Arts Officially Launches SimCity BuildIt On The App Store Worldwide

Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice

U.S. Faces Tough Questions In Apple E-Books Antitrust Appeal

Nate Raymond, Reuters

In arguments before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, some judges appeared sympathetic to Apple’s contention that it engaged in pro-competitive conduct when in 2010 it entered an e-books market largely dominated by Amazon. Amazon at the time had a 90 percent market share.

How Broken Is Discovery On The App Store? This Broken.

Gedeon Maheux

Amazon’s Kindle For iOS App Updated W/ Goodreads Integration, Audible Progressive Play, More

Zac Hall, 9 To 5 Mac

Kindle for iOS now includes integration with Goodreads, the social cataloging service it bought last year, allowing readers users to share book progress and completion status, quotes, and more Kindle to Goodreads.

Disconnecting From iCloud Is Scarier Than It Should Be

Peter Cohen, iMore

The problem is that Apple absolutely does as much as it can to dissuade users from iCloud — especially casual ones who may not understand a lot of technical intricacies that many of us take for granted. When you try, your Mac throws up a bunch of really scary messages.

Some Genius Bars Are Being Repurposed For The Holidays, But Other Changes Loom

Jordan Kahn, 9 To 5 Mac

The repurposing for the holidays will only arrive in some stores depending on needs and traffic, with some stores scheduled to use the Genius Bar area to complete express sales and hold products scheduled for pick-up. Other changes, however, will go beyond the holidays as the stores under new retail chief Angela Ahrendts evolve to better deal with increased foot traffic.

Off To Work At 

Jeremy Foo, Medium

It always starts with a LinkedIn message from an Apple recruiter.

4 years ago, that was the case when I was in my final year of university. It was such a thrill to be approached and tremendously flattered my ego to be thought of as worthy enough to work at the fruit company. I had just shipped my first iOS App.

OS X Tip: Increase Icon Size In iTunes, Mail And Finder Sidebars

Kirk McElhearn, Kirkville

How Google And Apple Make Their Taxes Disappear

David Cay Johnston, Newsweek

The ultimate goal of the big corporate tax dodgers is what tax lawyer Edward D. Kleinbard calls “stateless income”—siphoning profits out of high-tax countries in Europe, Japan and North America and moving them around under various tax treaties until they are not subject to any tax because they are being reported in a nonexistent country called Nowhere.

Re-thinking Steve Jobs' Thoughts On Music, 8 Years Later

Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Fortune

Apple Airs New Ad For The Holidays: ‘The Song’

Benjamin Mayo, 9 To 5 Mac

How Airplay Makes Apple TV A Great Gift Idea For Mac And iOS Fans

Geoffrey Goetz, GigaOM

Apple Pulls White-Power Music From iTunes

Kory Grow, Rolling Stone

Apple has removed music with racial supremacy–themed messages from iTunes, following scrutiny from the Southern Poverty Law Center. The winter edition of the organization's "Intelligence Report" criticized the company for offering music by white-power groups like Skrewdriver, Max Resist and the Bully Boys, as well as offering a "Listeners Also Bought" feature that suggested like-minded hatemongers.

Snapselect For Mac Solves A Major Nightmare For Photographers

Mel Martin, TUAW

The app finds your photos in folders, iPhoto, Lightroom, Aperture, and even on SD cards that are plugged into your computer.

Former iTunes Engineer Tells Court He Worked To Block Competitors

Jeff Elder, Wall Street Journal

Apple argues – and Schultz agreed in court Friday – that it released many improvements to iTunes, and not isolated changes to stifle competition. Apple says the security measures that Schultz worked on were designed to protect its systems and users’ experience, which would have been compromised by other players and file formats.

Apple's Censorship Of Immigration Game Was A 'Misunderstanding,' Says Creator

Andrew Webster, The Verge

"Just talked to Apple," creator Lucas Pope tweeted today. "The initial rejection for porn was a misunderstanding on their part. They suggested I resubmit with the nudity option."

Tip Of The Day: How To Create Photo Collages

Rheanne Schlee, IPhone Life Magazine

Mastering Apple’s Gigantic iPhone 6 Plus With Puny Hands

Adriana Lee, ReadWrite

Despite tiny hands and normal-size pockets, I’ve managed just fine with Apple’s “embiggened" new iPhone. No hand cramps. No finger spasms. Believe it or not, I can even use most features with one hand.

If you’re wondering what dark magic this is, let me fill you in on my secret: A couple of cheap add-ons have made all the difference, transforming the super-sized phone from ridiculous gizmo to one of the most useful, usable Apple mobile devices I’ve ever relied on.

Protesters Storm Apple Campus Urging Better Working Conditions For Service Workers

Julia Love, San Jose Mercury News

Rallied by United Service Workers West and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, more than 100 people gathered at Apple's Cupertino headquarters to draw attention to the valley's broad use of contract workers, who carry out many tasks on corporate campuses but often make a fraction of what tech workers do. During a brief but lively demonstration, protesters dressed in plastic purple ponchos milled outside in the rain, breaking out frequently into call-and-response chants.

Apple’s Online Store Starts Accepting PayPal

Jason Del Rey, Re/code

Previously available as a payment option only in Apple’s app and content stores, PayPal is now accepted at the company’s online retail store as well.

Canada Competition Watchdog Probing Apple Mobile Carrier Deals

Reuters

Canada's Competition Bureau is investigating allegations that Apple Inc's Canadian unit used anti-competitive clauses in contracts with domestic wireless carriers, the watchdog said on Thursday.

The bureau said no wrongdoing by Apple's Canadian arm has been found so far, without stating who made the allegations.

Best New Apps: Workflow

Sean O'Kane, The Verge

Workflow lets you program seemingly endless chains of instructions that can do everything from simple actions like "tweet what song you're playing" to gathering the addresses of all of your day's meetings in an email.

Safari 8.0.2, 7.1.2, And 6.2.2

Agen G. N. Schmitz, TidBITS

Apple Considered This Video Game Image 'Pornographic'

Nathan Grayson, Kotaku

Apple's history of prudishness in the face of nudity is hardly anything new, but it really sucks to see overreaching policies de-fang provocative games like massively acclaimed indie hit Papers, Please. The emotionally exhausting immigration sim's nudity made players uncomfortable. I thought it was important.

Apple Now Requires Cases Protect Devices From 1M Drops, Meet New Environmental Standards

Jordan Kahn, 9 To 5 Mac

Apple recently started requiring case manufacturers in its Made for iPhone (MFi) licensing program follow new requirements that will ensure cases better protect Apple devices and cover glass from impact, according to sources with knowledge of the new guidelines.

DiskWarrior 5 Brings Faster Speeds To Disk Repair

Chuong H Nguyen, iMore

ScreenFlow 5: Record Mac And iOS Screens

Glenn Fleishman, TidBITS

ScreenFlow isn’t just a capture aid. Its core is a track-based editor that enables you to create extremely sophisticated demonstrations.

Apple Reverses Course, Allows Transmit To Reinstate 'Send To' Feature

Juli Clover, MacRumors

Though PCalc and Transmit have been allowed to retain their functionality, other apps like Neato, Drafts, and Launcher have not been so lucky.

Wibbly-wobbly Apple

David Sparks, MacSparky

How is this all happening in public? Regardless of whether or not Apple agrees with me about what developers can and can't do, somebody needs to decide, predictable standards should be identified, and we should move on.

Prospective Apple Pay Partner Alibaba Updates Alipay App With Touch ID Integration

Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice

Microsoft's MSN Suite Of Apps Are Now Available On iPhone And iPad

Rich Edmonds, iMore

Fix Reverting Screensaver Settings In OS X

Topher Kessler, MacIssues

Twitter Clients In 2014: An Exploration Of Tweetbot, Twitterrific, And Twitter For iOS

Federico Viticci, MacStories

For the past six months, I’ve been reevaluating my entire Twitter experience based on the apps I use to read tweets and interact with people. The idea made a lot more sense once I stepped out of my preconceptions: I wanted to understand what 2014 Twitter was like and if that meant sacrificing my nerd cred and use a Muggle’s Twitter app, so be it. But at the same time, I’ve gone back and forth between Twitter and third-party clients, primarily out of habit, but also because they still offer powerful features and design details that I appreciate.

A Favorite iOS Tip: @@ Email Shortcuts

Dan Frakes

The @ character is common to all email addresses, and when addressing an email message in iOS Mail, the @ key is on the main keyboard—you don’t need to switch to the number/symbol keyboard to access it. At the same time, no email address contains multiple @ characters, and none of my contacts have a name or other info containing multiple @ characters. So I’ve created shortcuts that are essentially sequences of the @ character.

How To Annotate Your Documents With Mail's Markup Feature

Christopher Breen, Macworld

The Paranoid Person's Guide To A Complete Mac Backup

Rob Griffiths, Macworld

Consider what it would mean to lose some irreplaceable photos, for instance. Or the please-let-me-keep-my-job presentation that you’ve been pulling together for months. Or your financial data. Being paranoid in every waking hour isn’t a great way to get through life, but when it comes to backing up your data it’s nearly impossible to go too far. Here’s the multi-level plan I use to keep my paranoia at bay.

Ice Dancer Appears To Salvage Case Against Apple Over iPod Pricing

Wall Street Journal

Bennett told the court how she learned to skate backwards and used iPods while skating. Attorneys questioned her about when she purchased the devices. The iPod Nano she bought in late 2006 appeared to qualify her as a class member.

Disk Alarm For Mac Review

Peter Cohen, iMore

You run it and it'll warn you before space becomes a problem. You tell Disk Alarm how much space is too little — a slider lets you select how much or how little of the available space will set off the warning.

iOS 8.1.2 released, will keep your ringtones from vanishing

Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica

This one looks pretty minor—the only listed bug fix is for an issue that could cause ringtones purchased through iTunes to disappear from your device.

Out Of Touch

Ole Begemann

Apple’s remarkable track record of bad decisions in the past few months makes me wonder if management has completely lost touch with reality.

Wakie’s Alarm Clock That Lets You Get Woken Up By Strangers Is Now Available For iPhone

Ben Woods, The Next Web

Review: Seek Thermal Camera For iOS Gives Your iPhone Predator Vision

Jeremy Horwitz, 9 To 5 Mac

Apple's Lawyer Accuses The Media Of Asking To See 'A Dead Man' In Steve Jobs Video Testimony

Josh Lowensohn, The Verge

Did Apple Drop Google Maps For Good? Apple Maps Now Rolling Out On iCloud.com

Jordan Kahn, 9 To 5 Mac

Apple appears to have finally dropped Google Maps from iCloud.com, replacing it with its own in-house maps almost two years after removing Google Maps from iOS and most of its other products.

YouTube’s Apple TV Gets A New Look, More Videos … And Ads

Peter Kafka, Re/code

The most consequential change is that YouTube videos on Apple TV will run with ads. Which also means that all of the videos that run on YouTube (most notably music videos) will now run on YouTube’s Apple TV app.

Launcher Followup And Thoughts On The App Store Review System

Cromulent Labs

Several years later, Apple continues to drag their feet in this area and it’s hard to pinpoint the reason. It could stem from Apple’s notorious culture of secrecy and the fact that they like to play their cards close to their chest. Maybe it’s simply just a lack of priority and focus on their part. Or perhaps the unbridled success of the App Store clouds how much better it could be with clearer and improved communication with its developers.

Regarding The Latest App Store Rejections

Joe Cieplinski's Blog

This time it’s different, though. This time, there’s clearly a conflict within Apple going on. I simply can’t believe that Craig Federighi’s team built all those wonderful new APIs into iOS 8 and didn’t intend for us to do anything interesting with them.

PM Abe Says Apple To Build Big R&D Center In Japan: Media

Teppei Kasai, Reuters

Apple Inc will build a large research and development facility in Japan, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo said on Tuesday, local media reported.

Olloclip 4-In-1 iPhone 6 & 6 Plus Lens Review: A Sure Shot

Sam Rutherford, Tom's Guide

Olloclip's new 4-in-1 Lens for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus delivers its trademark image and build quality, now for both front and rear cameras.

Meet Apple's iPhone App Of The Year: Elevate

Jefferson Graham, USA Today

"We want to zero in on each person's struggles and help them get to a better place," he says.

The "personal trainer for the brain" app is already in a great place.

Just over a half-year old, it's been downloaded 5 million times, and Monday Apple named it best free iPhone app of the year in its annual look back at the year's app highlights.

Apple iPod Trial Will Continue Despite No Plaintiff In Case

Julia Love, San Jose Mercury News

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers threw plaintiffs lawyers a curve ball Monday afternoon, rejecting their lone class representative because she did not purchase an iPod covered by the case. Plaintiffs will have until Tuesday to present another person who can represent the roughly 8 million iPod owners included in the class, plaintiffs lawyer Bonny Sweeney said. The consumer would then be questioned by Apple lawyers to ensure he or she belongs in the case.

Star Walk 2 Updated With New 'Planets' Info Pack And Other Enhancements

Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice

The Dark Side Of Apple’s Two-factor Authentication

Owen Williams, The Next Web

Apple support told me that the security lock doesn’t expire, so there’s no way to get around requiring the key, even though its support site says you can use trusted devices. You’re simply not given that option when your account is locked.

What’s perplexing is it wasn’t even technically my fault. Someone tried to guess their way into my account and it was locked as a result; I didn’t do anything wrong, yet I was entirely locked out because I couldn’t find the key.

My Favorite Things: Mac Apps

Jason Snell, Six Colors

Since it’s the end of the year, I figured, why not mention a bunch of Mac apps that I use every day? If there were a gift-giving holiday coming up, you could even use that as an excuse to buy them.

Typo Ships New iPhone 6 Keyboard, Plans iPad Product For Next Year

Ina Fried, Re/code

Typo, the Ryan Seacrest-backed iPhone keyboard, has returned with an iPhone 6 keyboard it says is designed to avoid incurring the legal challenges that forced the company’s first product off the market.

News Organizations Fight To Release Steve Jobs Deposition Video

Nick Statt, CNET

Some of the last video footage taken of the late Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs shown in antitrust court last week may see the light of day after lawyers representing the Associated Press, Bloomberg and CNN filed a motion with the court to have it released.

Transmit Update Removes Uploading To iCloud At Apple's Request

Dan Thorp-Lancaster, iMore

Along with bug fixes, Panic, the developers behind Transmit, had to remove the app's ability to send files to other services, including iCloud, because of a conflict with Apple's guidelines.

John Gruber, Daring Fireball: I thought the whole point of iCloud Drive, and iOS 8’s new sharing sheet for storage services like Box and Dropbox, was to allow users to do exactly what Transmit enabled.

New MasterCard Ad Features Apple Pay And Gwen Stefani

Dan Thorp-Lancaster, iMore

The ad features Gwen Stefani firing off prizes from a cannon toward unsuspecting cardholders as they buy things using their MasterCards with Apple Pay.

Handoff Versus iCloud Sync, Explained

Rene Ritchie, iMore

Sync has no real concept of when or where. Handoff, for security and privacy reasons, very much does. Sync is great if you just want to make sure all your stuff is backed up and available anytime, anywhere. But Handoff is better when you want to continue what you're doing right now, right where you are.

Boom 2.0

Agen G. N. Schmitz, TidBITS

The equalizer has been improved with precise Frequency Constrain controls that enable you to adjust minute aspects of bass, mid, and treble frequency bands.

Apple Posts “Best Of 2014″ App Store And iTunes Store Lists

Graham Spencer, MacStories

Apple has today published their "Best of 2014" iTunes and App Store lists, which include editorial picks for the best releases in apps, music, movies, TV shows, books and podcasts from 2014.

Paper By FiftyThree Updated With New 'Colorful' Features And Mix Social Improvements

Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice

Microsoft Word For iOS Review: This Classic Word Processor Shines On Every Device

Jeffery Battersby, Macworld

While the free version is has some limitations, the differences between Word’s free and subscription-based versions are subtle and many users may not feel the pinch of the free app’s limitations. In short, if your word processing life consists of creating documents with standard text formatting, including selecting and changing a document’s paragraph formatting, adding and making basic changes to tables and charts, and merely viewing changes and making editing updates in change tracked documents, the free version will work perfectly for you.

Microsoft PowerPoint For iOS Review: Presenter View Feature Makes The Subscription Version Worth It

Macworld

If, on the other hand, you approach it as a free tool, you get a perfectly nice, if limited, iOS app that can view, create, edit, and present native PowerPoint documents. That's nothing to sneeze at, considering how difficult it was to do any of that just nine months ago—and free is free, after all. But anyone wanting to do serious editing or use Presenter View will want to spring for a subscription.

Microsoft Excel For iOS Review: Create And Edit Spreadsheets On Any Device, At No Cost

Macworld

But everything else I tried worked just fine. Creating, modifying, saving, printing… whatever the task, the free version never complained or cajoled me. I was able to see an upgrade box only when I went to modify a chart I had created; beyond that, the free version was functionally equivalent to the paid version I was using on another iPad.

Apple's First Employee: The Remarkable Odyssey Of Bill Fernandez

Jason Hiner, TechRepublic

Perhaps best known as the guy who introduced Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, Bill Fernandez speaks out on Apple's founding magic, how love built the first Mac, and the interface of the future.

Apple Debuts New iPad Air 2 TV Ad 'Change' With New Website Section

Richard Padilla, MacRumors

The ad shows the tablet being used by artists, motorcycle enthusiasts, photographers, and schoolteachers as its full-screen visuals shrink to resemble the form of the device itself.

At a certain point in the video, I did had a momentary concern that something was wrong with my YouTune player.

Racy App Available Again From Apple

Amanda Whitesell, Lingston Daily

The app stirring up cyberbullying concerns among Livingston County educators and parents has returned to the Apple App Store after developers complied with new demands, according to reports.

Among the requirements was to change the app’s rating to “17+” and to add a button within the app to allow users to report inappropriate content.

Hundreds Line Up For Apple Store Grand opening

Chip Towns, The Blade

Gee Pei came all the way from Hong Kong to be first in line for the grand opening of Toledo’s new Apple Store.

Is Now A Good Time To Switch To Apple’s iCloud Drive?

Geoffrey Goetz, GigaOM

Overall I feel that the benefits of using iCloud Drive outweigh the inconvenience of intermittent and occasional performance issues I encounter.

Fans Scramble For iPod Classic, The Music Player Apple Killed Off

Paul Gallagher, The Guardian

Two months after Apple announced the demise of its iPod Classic MP3 player, the model is selling secondhand for up to four times its original price as aficionados clamour to get their hands on one.

Some Drawbacks In Tapping The Phone To Deposit A Check

Ann Carrins, New York Times

Some banks, for instance, don’t offer immediate availability of funds deposited by smartphone, as a way to control fraud. Banks also impose limits on the amounts that can be deposited using mobile phones, also to protect against fraud. But it can be difficult to find that information; some banks put such information online, rather than within the app that customers use to deposit the checks, Pew found.

Newly Revised 'Iconic' Coffee Table Book Makes Perfect Gift For Apple Enthusiasts

Peter Cohen, iMore

Looking for a special gift for that mega Apple enthusiast in your life? How about the newest edition of an absolutely stunning coffee table book that features lush, beautiful photographs of Apple devices?

Mapping On iOS

UX Launchpad, Medium

Today we’re going to use Google Maps and Apple Maps as a design lesson.

Backup Scheduler For Time Machine (For Mac)

William Fenton, PC Magazine

With this simple utility, users can modify Time Machine's backup intervals (from once every ten minutes to once per week), stipulate the circumstances when backups occur, and create combined backup schedules.

Apple’s iPod Touch Is King Of The Crumbling Portable Media Castle

Russell Holly, Geek.com

For the most part, these users exist between the ages of 9 and 13, and this year for Christmas I find myself with three of them. After doing some extensive research, I was surprised to find that not only is Apple’s aging iPod touch the best option out there still, but it’s basically the only option being made specifically to serve this group of users.

Apple Entering A 'Whack-a-mole' Era Of Malware Defense

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, ZDNet

Apple's 'whack-a-mole' approach to security threats is leaving enterprises vulnerable to new variants of exploits underlying the WireLurker and Masque Attack malware, claims a security firm.

Xcode Consolation

Daniel Jalkut, Indie Stack

If you were sitting in my office on a typical workday, looking over my shoulder, that would be a little creepy. But one thing you’d notice that differentiates me from many others is the amount of time I spend typing into the Xcode debugger console.

Manual, A Powerful Camera App Designed For iOS 8, Receives Its First Big Update

Brent Dirks, AppAdvice

Code Of Ages

Scott Rosenberg, Medium

Go and Swift take another step up the programming-language ladder.

Court Denies Apple Appeal In Worker Class-Action Suit

Damon Poeter, PC Magazine

Apple has been denied its appeal to toss out a class-action lawsuit brought by current and former California-based Apple Store and corporate employees who claim the consumer electronics giant denied them legally required breaks during work.

Five Fixes For OS X 10.10 Yosemite

TidBITS

OS X 10.10.1 Yosemite has been out for a bit now, though, and while it is working fine for many people, there are still a variety of complaints making the rounds on the Internet. Here then is a collection of five problems and solutions (or at least workarounds) that we’ve either experienced or had reported to us.

Wi-fi, Finder, and Safari performances are among those discussed.

The Battery Project FruitJuice (For Mac)

William Fenton, PC Magazine

The Battery Project's FruitJuice utility gives voice to that languishing battery and helps to improve longevity by providing daily usage targets.

How To Mount And Manage Non-native File Systems In OS X With FUSE

Topher Kessler, Macworld UK

Mac OS X supports a handful of common file systems--HFS+, FAT32, and exFAT, with read-only support for NTFS. It can do this because the file systems are supported by the OS X kernel. Formats such as Ext3 for Linux systems are not readable, and NTFS can't be written to. But that doesn't mean that there aren't occasions when you'd want to use one of them. With FUSE (Filesystem in Userspace) you can.

Apple Removes Sexually-explicit 'After School' App

Amanda Whitesell, Lingston Daily

Actions taken by Apple to remove an app that's turned some Livingston County students into victims of cyberbullying proves the company values education, Pinckney Community Schools Superintendent Rick Todd said.

Apple iPod Suit May Lack One Thing: A Plaintiff

Brian X. Chen, New York Times

A class-action lawsuit is usually meant to represent a group of people believed to have been harmed in some way. Now, in an odd twist in the class-action trial involving iPods here in a federal courthouse, Apple’s lawyers are questioning whether there are any plaintiffs or a case at all.

AOL Releases Yo-like Messaging App Pip For Sending Short Preset Messages

Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice

Ask The iTunes Guy: Ripping CDs In 2014, Streaming Music From Mac To Stereo

Kirk McElhearn, Macworld

I address the increasingly common problem of ripping a CD when your Mac doesn’t have an optical drive. I discuss two ways of streaming music from a Mac to a stereo. I examine the quirky way iTunes Match won’t let you sync music files from your iTunes library. And I look at an issue with playback options for TV shows in iTunes 12.

Apple To Host 'Hour Of Code' Workshops At Retail Stores

Chuong H Nguyen, iMore

Apple is partnering with Code.org again this year to promote Computer Science Education Week by using its retail stores to host free "Hour of Code" programming workshops on December 11, 2014.

Instapaper 6.1 Brings Redesigned Share Extension

Federico Viticci, MacStories

Today, betaworks has released Instapaper 6.1, which makes the extension less obtrusive by dropping the modal approach that was adopted from the popular Instapaper Bookmarklet and that also brings support for Handoff and a new unread count badge.

Eddy Cue: iTunes DRM Made Apple A Success Where Microsoft Had Failed

Chuong H Nguyen, iMore

Cue said that Apple had explored the possibility of opening up its FairPlay DRM for competitors to use from the beginning, but it was obligated to protect against hacks by its deals with the record labels.

Also: John Gruber: The thing with Real Networks is that they backwards-engineered FairPlay in 2004, and Apple responded by closing the loopholes Real exploited.

Four Months After Acquisition, Square Launches iOS App For Food Delivery Service Caviar

Ryan Lowler, TechCrunch

Caviar differentiates from most other food delivery services by partnering with highly rated, mostly fancy restaurants. The company works with those restaurants to become their exclusive delivery provider, arguing that it can enable restaurants to serve new customers while providing a better quality of experience to end users.

Starbucks Update Brings Back The Menu, In-app Ordering For Portland Customers

Dan Thorp-Lancaster, iMore

'Tomb Raider II' Makes Its iPhone And iPad Debut For $1.99

John Callaham, iMore

How To Change The Font In Messages In Yosemite

Adam C. Engst, TidBITS

It turns out that if you select Reduce Transparency in System Preferences > Accessibility > Display and then relaunch Messages, the Text Size slider is swapped for a pop-up menu that lets you choose from the Default (which I think is the system’s Helvetica 13), Optima 12, Palatino 12, and Other. Optima 12 and Palatino 12 are holdovers; they’re default options in the equivalent My Font/Sender’s Font pop-up menus in Mavericks.

Skype Co-Founder Backs Wire, A New Communications App Launching Today On iOS, Android And Mac

Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

Wire pairs this more solid infrastructure with an uncluttered, simple design that will likely be the initial attraction for mainstream users.

Apple Deleted Rivals’ Songs From Users’ iPods

Jeff Elder, Wall Street Journal

When a user who had downloaded music from a rival service tried to sync an iPod to the user’s iTunes library, Apple would display an error message and instruct the user to restore the factory settings, Coughlin said. When the user restored the settings, the music from rival services would disappear, he said.

Type More Than 100 Words Per Minute With The New NinType Keyboard For iOS

Juli Clover, MacRumors

Thwarting Twitter’s Upcoming Data Collection

Josh Centers, TidBITS

It’s good that Twitter is letting users opt out of App Graph, but I suspect this is just the beginning of Twitter’s data-gathering efforts.

Byword Still Gets The Job Done

David Sparks, MacSparky

The thing about Byword is that it just delivers. The design is solid and unobtrusive. Its developers understand iteration and avoid change for the sake of change. Byword was one of the first multi-Apple-platform text editors and continues to lead in this respect.

Hands On With Typed, A New Text Editor For The Mac

Peter Cohen, iMore

Typed has separated itself from the pack by very intentionally not packing itself full of features that many users won't touch, instead focusing of the pure writing experience as the core element to get right.

Final Cut Pro Updated With Additional Import/export Options, Xcode Gets Bug Fixes

Mike Beasley, 9 To 5 Mac

Apple has updated Final Cut Pro with support for native import, editing, and export of MXF video files, along with the capability to edit video encoded with Panasonic’s AVC-LongG codec.

New Pandora iOS App Rolling Out With Emphasis On Personalization

Ben Lovejoy, 9 To 5 Mac

Apple Loses Appeal To Trademark 'App Store' In Australia

Ben Grubb, The Sydney Morning Herald

While the ruling doesn't prevent Apple from continuing to use the term "app store", it means that Apple does not have the right in Australia to prevent others from using it.

Second Bite: Can Apple Clear Its Name In The Ebooks Drama?

Roger Parloff, Fortune

On eve of price-fixing appeal, iBooks negotiator Eddy Cue says he’d “do it again”–but “take better notes.”

Apple Takes Aim At The iOS 8 Notification Center Widget From Popular Text Capture App Drafts 4

Brent Dirks, AppAdvice

This is far from the first time Apple has approved an app with a widget and then asked a developer to modify the functionality.

Wells Fargo Ad Focuses On Speed, Ease Of Apple Pay

Chuong H Nguyen, iMore

Tim Cook Visits Georgetown, DC, Store As Apple Issues Push Notification In World AIDS Day Promo

Ben Lovejoy, 9 To 5 Mac

Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted a couple of photos of a visit yesterday to the Apple Store in Georgetown, Washington DC, to help promote World AIDS Day. He was accompanied by (RED) CEO Deborah Dugan.

The Fucking Mac Calendar 1 Is Now Off Fucking Center Too!

Jesus Diaz, Gizmodo

See what I mean? Can you see IT? The 1 is off center. Instead of being optically centered, it's geometrically centered. So it just looks wrong.

Conquer Your To-Do List With Your Phone

Alexandra Samuel, Harvard Business Review

Embrace the power of your phone to keep you from forgetting the little stuff, and you’ll enable your to-do list as the place to keep track of the big stuff. Once you stop relying on it as the one-stop place to find everything you ever need to remember, looking at it every day will become much less daunting. That means your to-do list can finally do what it’s meant to do: keep you focused on the work that matters most.

Pioneer AppRadio 4 With Apple CarPlay Review

Darrell Etherington, TechCrunch

The AppRadio 4 scratches a specific itch: the itch for CarPlay, right now, with the car you already have. It’s capacitive touchscreen means that it detects input effectively and reliably, and the Bluetooth audio streaming offers up a lot of benefit even if you’re uninterested in the rest of the software features, plus the hardware operates as a very capable head unit upgrade regardless of what else you’re doing with it.

Apple Closes iOS 8.1 Signing Window, Eliminating Chance To Downgrade

Joe Rossignol, 9 To 5 Mac

iOS 8.1.1, seeded as an over-the-air update a few weeks ago, is now the earliest software version that devices can be restored to.

Electronic Arts Launches PopCap's Peggle Blast On The App Store Worldwide

Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice

Mail To Self Is An iOS 8 Extension For Quickly And Easily Emailing Notes To Self

Aldrin Calimlim, AppAdvice

Mail to Self is an app that provides an iOS 8 share extension for emailing links to the user's specified email address.

Dropbox Updates To Let You Rename, Move Files And Folders

Joseph Keller, iMore

Dropbox has received an update today to version 3.6, which gives iOS users more control over their files and folders. Both individual files and entire folders can be renamed and moved.

Dropshare For iOS Uploads Images To Amazon S3 And Rackspace Cloud Files

Federico Viticci, MacStories

Dropshare, developed by Timo Josten, brings integration with the iOS Photos app and any other image file through a share extension that can upload directly to Amazon S3, SCP over SSH, and Cloud Files, solving a major issue in my iPad workflow for screenshot generation and uploads.

Feds Want Apple’s Help To Defeat Encrypted Phones, New Legal Case Shows

Cyrus Farivar, Ars Technica

Newly discovered court documents from two federal criminal cases in New York and California that remain otherwise sealed suggest that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is pursuing an unusual legal strategy to compel cellphone makers to assist investigations.

In both cases, the seized phones—one of which is an iPhone 5S—are encrypted and cannot be cracked by federal authorities. Prosecutors have now invoked the All Writs Act, an 18th-century federal law that simply allows courts to issue a writ, or order, which compels a person or company to do something.

All the more important that Apple -- or any company for that matter - uses an encryption method that even Apple itself cannot decrypt.

BBEdit 11 Review: More Productive For Coders And Writers Alike

Tom Negrino, Macworld

As with its previous versions, BBEdit 11 doesn’t try to impress you with huge, flashy change-for-the-sake-of-change features. Instead, it quietly gets better, respects the investment its users have made in learning it, and is still your best choice in a full-featured text editor.

Do check out BBEdit if you doing any sort of writing -- no matter the language -- on your Mac.

Star Witness In Apple Lawsuit Is Steve Jobs

Brian X. Chen, New York Times

Three years after his death, Steve Jobs is very much a presence in courtrooms across the country.

And that’s not necessarily good news for Apple.

Metapho’s iOS 8 Extension Lets You Quickly Share Photos Without Metadata

Federico Viticci, MacStories

Any time you're viewing a photo you want to share without associated metadata, bring up the system share sheet and tap the Metapho action extension. Metapho will scan the image for metadata and offer you to share it without metadata; tap the share icon in the extension, and Metapho will pass a version of the image without metadata to any other iOS extension and without creating a duplicate in your library.

Apple Lights Up Sydney With Red Logo, World To Follow Suit

Jenni Ryall, Mashable

It is the first store in the world to light up in a show of commitment to the (RED) AIDS initiative, that is fighting for an AIDS-free future. Apple will then change the colour of its logo across key stores in Japan, Hong Kong, China, Europe and the United States, as the various timezones tick into Monday.

Tip Of The Day: Siri Offers Guide For What To Ask

Jim Karpen, IPhone Life Magazine

To bring up Siri's guide to using Siri, simply say, "What can I ask?" Siri will then return an outline of things you can request or ask in 24 categories.