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The next big story could be on an anonymous blog as well as a known news site - This is a hyper-aggregate of coverage by a mix of industry insiders, passionate independents, and established journalists
Disney's got two big releases arriving on the App Store last week and this week, one we've been waiting on for a while, and another that combines one of the company's oldest properties with one of the newest.
The first is Avengers Alliance, which is now out and available on the App Store as a free download. This game started off on Facebook, and it's still incredibly popular over there (or at least I assume it is, given all of the references and requests from it in my feed). Marvel originally teased an iOS version to us a little while back, but now the game is out in all of its glory. Unfortunately, Disney/Marvel didn't figure out a way to connect the iOS version up to the Facebook version, so the reviews on iTunes are full of people angry that they can't carry their progress over. In the meantime, however, if you've been waiting for an iOS version of the game to play, there it is.
Disney has also announced a new game called Where's My Mickey, coming to the App Store this week, which combines none other than Mickey Mouse with the popular Where's My Water game. The title will have five chapters, all with animated episode intros, as well as new weather mechanics to play with. As usual, there will be collectibles that can open up new levels, and the tablet version of the game will have exclusive XL levels designed to be played on a big screen. Where's My Mickey will be 99 cents on the iPhone, and $1.99 on the iPad, and be available on the App Store tomorrow morning.
Avengers Alliance out now on iOS, Where's My Mickey coming tomorrow originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Reflow for Mac (US$19) and iOS ($5.99) is a tool that makes composition and practice of music easier. A few weeks ago you may have seen TUAW's Editor-in-Chief, Victor Agreda, Jr., interview Sébastien Bourgeois, creator of Reflow, in our Origin Stories series. The interview spiked my curiosity about the app, so I took a closer look.
While there are some great music notation apps out there for Mac (Tabular) and iOS (Weezic), what caught my attention about Reflow is that it supports both Mac and iOS. Plus, Reflow takes advantage of the latest Mac OS X and iCloud sync features.
Let's say your composing a song in Reflow on the Mac. Reflow (which supports fullscreen mode) will automatically save your work as you progress with autosave. And if things take an unsurprising turn, simply engage versions (just like you would in Pages, for example) and go back to the last iteration of your work that suits you best to carry on from.
Finally, Reflow takes advantage of iCloud support, meaning you can be working on the Mac one minute and switch over to your iPhone or iPad and carry on where you left off the next.
These simple features make a huge difference to the creative process by letting you focus on the music.
But all of these great features would be meaningless if Reflow didn't have the basics to make a fantastic music notation app. Fortunately, it does. The app's beautifully simple interface lets you build multitrack (guitars, bass, keyboards, drums) compositions with musical notation or tablature. It's as easy as clicking or typing in a note or beat, playing on a MIDI keyboard or, for guitarists, dragging and dropping chords in from the extensive chord diagram database. Of course, you can create your own chords, too.
Furthermore, Reflow gives you an audio representation of your work using a light-weight audio engine, so you have a great idea of what your composition will sound like before the real players step in. And you can modify and edit your work during playback. Reflow also lets you build and re-arrange your own song structures, so if you suddenly decide the intro sounds better as a middle-eight, just drag it over.
Finally, Reflow also supports Guitar Pro and Power Tab files for import. Export your compositions in Guitar Pro, PDF, Wave and MIDI files, or share by email.
For songwriters and composers looking to write for a typical band, Reflow has all the tools you'll need. But where Reflow stands above the rest is in its creative process and workflow. With iCloud support, Reflow allows you to transition work seamlessly between Mac or iOS and takes the worry out of saving your work as well as going back through previous versions.
Reflow: A music composition and notation app for Mac and iOS with iCloud sync originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Last week during WWDC, I sat down with Neil Ticktin of MacTech and we interviewed a bunch of developers about their thoughts on what Apple announced. We'll be rolling out those videos as quickly as we can, but Neil and I also spent some time discussing among ourselves what we thought about iOS 7, Mavericks, and the new Mac Pro.
TUAW and MacTech discuss WWDC announcements originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The man in the unenviable position of being deeply involved with Apple's ongoing patent infringement litigation with a number of companies has left Apple. AppleInsider reports that Boris Teksler, formerly Apple's head of Patent Licensing & Strategy, has taken a new job as president of the Technology Group at Technicolor.
Teksler testified on behalf of Apple in its US patent infringement suit with Samsung last year, revealing that he warned Steve Jobs and Tim Cook in 2010 that a number of Apple patents might have been infringed upon by Samsung. Teksler outlined the potential infringements to the Apple execs in a presentation showing that "rubber-banding," gesture heuristics, and e-mail threading were all appearing on Samsung products.
As a result of Teksler's presentation, Jobs and Cook met with Samsung executives in an attempt to reach a licensing agreement. That fell through, resulting in the patent battles still going on worldwide.
Teksler has a tremendous history in the world of intellectual property. Before working for Apple, he co-founded HP's Intellectual Property Licensing business while working at the venerable Silicon Valley company for 16 years. At Technicolor, Teksler will help the company in making the most of its intellectual property assets.
Apple's head of Patent Licensing & Strategy departs for calmer waters originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apple has updated MacBook Air with all-day battery life, fourth-generation Intel Core processors with faster graphics, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and flash storage that is up to 45 percent faster than the previous generation. The 11-inch models feature double the storage of the previous model, and 13-inch models now start at a new lower price of $1,099. “MacBook Air is the industry leader for thin and light notebooks, and now with longer battery life, we’ve set the bar even higher,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “With faster flash, more powerful graphics and up to 12 hours of battery life, the new MacBook Air packs even more performance into the portable and durable design our customers love.” Apple also introduced completely redesigned AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule base stations featuring 802.11ac Wi-Fi for up to three times faster performance than the previous generation.
Apple has released a developer preview of OS X Mavericks, the 10th major release of the Mac operating system. With more than 200 new features, OS X Mavericks brings Maps and iBooks to the Mac, introduces Finder Tags and Tabs, enhances multi-display support for power users, delivers new core technologies for breakthrough power efficiency and performance, and includes an all-new version of Safari. The preview release of OS X Mavericks is available to Mac Developer Program members starting Monday, and Mac users will be able to download Mavericks from the Mac App Store this fall.
Announced today by Apple, iTunes Radio is a free Internet radio service featuring over 200 stations and an incredible catalog of music from the iTunes Store. When you tune into iTunes Radio on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, PC, or Apple TV, you’ll have access to stations inspired by the music you already listen to, Featured Stations curated by Apple, and genre-focused stations that are personalized just for you. “It’s the music you love most and the music you’re going to love,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. Coming this fall, iTunes Radio is ad-supported and free for everyone, and iTunes Match users get iTunes Radio ad-free.
Apple today showed a sneak peek into the future of the pro desktop with a first look at the next-generation Mac Pro. It introduces a completely new pro desktop architecture and design that is optimized for performance inside and out. “With the latest Xeon processors, dual FirePro GPUs, ECC memory, PCIe-based flash and Thunderbolt 2, all built around a revolutionary thermal core, the next generation Mac Pro is the most radical Mac yet,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “All this performance and expandability is packed into a dramatic new design that’s one-eighth the volume, and best of all, it will be assembled here in the USA.” The next generation Mac Pro will be available later this year.
Apple today unveiled iOS 7, the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone. iOS 7 is completely redesigned with subtle motion, an elegant color palette, and distinct, functional layers that make it feel more alive. The typography has been refined for a cleaner, simpler look, and the use of translucency and motion makes even simple tasks more engaging. iOS 7 has hundreds of great new features, including Control Center, Notification Center, improved Multitasking, AirDrop, Safari, Siri, and much more. “With what we’ve been able to achieve together, we see iOS 7 as an exciting new beginning,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. The iOS 7 beta software and SDK are available immediately for iOS Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iOS 7 will be available as a free software update for iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPad mini, and iPod touch (fifth generation) this fall.
Bechtel, a global engineering company based in San Francisco, is featured in a new video that highlights how it uses iPad in the field. In addition to built-in apps, Bechtel has created its own apps. One focuses on worker safety at hazardous work sites, and another lets engineers create, update, and share technical information from their device. “iPad removes what in the past has been a huge barrier for construction projects,” says Eli Walter, Bechtel’s engineering manager. “It allows innovation to get out of the office and into the field where it belongs.”
Apple has announced that global superstars including Justin Timberlake, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Jack Johnson, and Jessie J are among the headliners at this year’s iTunes Festival in London. Running every night in September at the Roundhouse, the iTunes Festival features over 60 acts. Performances can be watched live or on-demand by millions of iOS users around the world on their iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, as well as by music fans with iTunes on their computer or in HD with Apple TV. “This year’s iTunes Festival is the best ever with an incredible lineup of global superstars and stellar emerging artists,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. Fans can win tickets to the iTunes Festival through competitions run by local media partners.
A new video features Mayo Clinic, which is using iPhone and iPad to transform how they care for patients. Practitioners say it’s helping patients and saving time. The clinic, known worldwide for its healthcare innovations, has developed a host of custom in-house apps, including one to give physicians instant access to patient records on an iOS device. Another app lets patients securely access their records and exchange messages with their providers. “For patients dealing with any health issue, information is power,” says Mayo’s Dr. Brad Leibovich. “The more we can empower them to understand what’s going on with them, the better they’ll feel and the better their outcomes will be.”
Apple has announced that customers have now downloaded over 50 billion apps from the App Store. The 50 billionth app — Say the Same Thing by Space Inch, LLC — was downloaded by Brandon Ashmore from Mentor, Ohio, who received a $10,000 App Store Gift Card to commemorate the milestone. “The App Store completely transformed how people use their mobile devices and created a thriving app ecosystem that has paid out over nine billion dollars to developers,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “We’re absolutely floored to cross this milestone in less than five years.”
A new video profiles Essa Academy, a once struggling school in one of the most disadvantaged areas of England. New principal Showkat Badat has reinvented the school as a hub of technology-assisted learning, and helped incorporate an ecosystem of Apple products, including iPad, Mac, and iTunes U, into the classrooms. The students’ excitement about the technology and direct access to information is reflected in dramatically improved test scores. Since adopting the technology, Essa went from a 28 percent pass rate to 100 percent. “I don’t see technology as an add-on, a nice option to have,” says Badat. “It’s what enables learning and creates an environment that sparks creativity.”
According to the latest Consumer Reports reader survey, Apple tops the list of brand-name computer manufacturers for the quality of its tech support, far surpassing other large companies. The report points to “ease of contacting staff, clarity of advice, technical knowledge, patience, and time for follow-up” in the phone and online support areas. Service at the Genius Bar rates equally highly. In addition, Apple improved on its own scores from last year’s survey.
Nick Summers / The Next Web:
Rdio opens up its social movie and TV streaming service Vdio to everyone in the US and UK — Rdio surprised almost everyone last month when it launched Vdio, a new service for buying or renting digital copies of movies and TV shows. The company announced today that Vdio can now be accessed …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Public Outcry In Taiwan Kills Their Version Of SOPA — At the end of May, we wrote about the Taiwanese government's bizarre proposal to create a copyright bill that was like SOPA, but even worse. Apparently, the folks at the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (IPO) had slept through the whole SOPA thing.
Howard Blume / Los Angeles Times:
L.A. school board OKs $30 million for Apple iPads — L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy stepped out of a Tuesday Board of Education meeting during a vote to spend $30 million on iPads because, he said, he owns a small amount of stock in Apple. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times / March 13, 2012)
Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Apple TV Gets a Bit Bigger, With HBO and ESPN Apps (For Most, But Not All of You) — Apple's TV hobby just got a bit bigger: Apple has added five new content providers to its sort-of set-top box, notably Time Warner's HBO Go and Disney's WatchESPN. Also available as of today …
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Leaseweb Wipes All Megaupload User Data, Dotcom Outraged — Ever since the raids in January last year, the fate of Megaupload users' personal files has remained uncertain. — It's been a frustrating situation for the millions of affected users and one that has taken a turn for the worst today …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Feedly Cloud Goes Live To Replace Google Reader's Backend, Power New Web Version Of Feedly's App — In 10 days, Google's RSS feed-reading service Google Reader will shut down for good. In its wake, developers working on products in the RSS ecosystem have been stepping up to deliver apps, tools and other services to fill the void.
Husain Sumra / MacRumors:
Steve Jobs Ponders His Legacy In Never-Before-Seen 1994 Video — EverySteveJobsVideo (via The Loop) today released a never-before-seen video of Steve Jobs in 1994, while he was at NeXT, pondering his legacy in the personal computer field and whether he thought he would be remembered for his work in the future.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
TripAdvisor Continues Acquisition Spree, Buys GateGuru Mobile App For Real-Time Travel Info — Travel portal TripAdvisor continues to push ahead with its mobile and social acquisitions: today the company announced that it has acquired GateGuru, a mobile app that provides real-time information on airports, weather, and flights.
Andrew Sinkov / Evernote Blog:
Evernote Web Clipper for Chrome Gets Gmail Clipping — Web Clipping is one of our favorite Evernote features. With a simple click of our browser extension, you can save just about anything you see online into your Evernote account for permanent safekeeping. Today, we're taking this one step further.
Apple:
HBO GO & WatchESPN Come to Apple TV — iTunes Viewers Now Purchasing Over 800,000 TV Episodes & Over 350,000 Movies Per Day — Apple® today announced that HBO GO and WatchESPN are now available directly on Apple TV® joining the great lineup of programming offered to customers. iTunes® users …
Mat Smith / Engadget:
HTC Butterfly s revealed: 1.9GHz Snapdragon 600 processor, UltraPixel camera sensor (video) — HTC's just pulled back the proverbial curtains on the Butterfly s at its Taiwan launch event. It'll arrive boasting an identical-sounding 5-inch 1080p display, front-facing BoomSound stereo speakers and Sense 5 as expected.
Robert Hof / Forbes:
You Know What's Cool? 1 Million Advertisers At Facebook — Facebook just hit 1 million advertisers, a milestone that signals that it has become a mainstream advertising channel for small and medium-sized businesses. — OK, so maybe cool isn't the right word, but it's hard to resist a good line from The Social Network movie.
Esther Zuckerman / The Atlantic Wire:
Amazon Wants to Create Appointment TV Online, Not Follow Netflix Binging — Though Netflix may have emerged as the frontrunner when it comes to original streaming content, what with the successes of House of Cards and Arrested Development, don't expect Amazon to be following in its footsteps entirely.
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Developers Can Now Ship Hard Drives To Google To Import Large Amounts Of Data To Cloud Storage — Google just added a new service to Google Cloud Storage that will allow developers to send their hard drives to Google to import very large data sets that would otherwise be too expensive and time-consuming to import.
Steven M. Davidoff / DealBook:
Google's Effort to Skirt Regulation May Invite More Scrutiny — Google's motto is “don't be evil.” But its recent acquisition of Waze, reportedly for $1 billion in cash, shows that just because you're not evil, it doesn't mean you can't be aggressive in pushing the boundaries of the law.
Christian Science Monitor - Jun. 19 (Opinion) - Nuclear power is currently the only carbon-free energy source that can provide base load electricity, Stepp writes, a characteristic crucial to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and fighting climate change. Next-generation nuclear energy offers even more productive strategies for reducing carbon emissions. ...
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New York Times - By By RONALD AHRENS - Jun. 18 (Opinion) - Wheels Blog: University of Michigan Students Ready Solar Car for Australian Race
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We knew it was coming, but AT&T has now officially announced the NEC Terrain. Set to become available on the same day as BlackBerry's physical QWERTY-packing handset, the LTE-ready Terrain boasts a "high-resolution" 3.1-inch display, a decent 1.5GHz, dual-core Snapdragon S4 CPU and 8GB of built-in storage which can reach up to 32GB via microSD -- all while running a not-so-fresh version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich. Given that NEC designed it with the business folk in mind, this little ruggedized (MIL-810G) smartphone also offers on-device encryption for VPN access and compatibility with AT&T's Enhanced Push-to-Talk services, which the company says makes for the perfect blend of "the necessary features needed for work and personal use." As stated earlier, the NEC Terrain will be hitting shelves on June 21st, carrying a $99.99 price tag with the accustomed two-year deal on the Rethink Possible carrier.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, AT&T
Source: AT&T
Apple won a contract this week with the Los Angeles Unified School District to provide iPads to its students, netting Cupertino $30 million across the next two years. The agreement will roll out iPads to students at 47 campuses; the iPads cost $678 apiece (nearly $200 more than a standard entry level iPad) and come loaded with educational software. Bizarrely, with tablets priced at $678 apiece, $30 million only nets LA schools approximately 45,000 iPads, while the school district comprises 640,000 students. We asked Apple to clarify and were told that the contract is for 31,000 iPads (for both students and teachers) which come with "Pearson Common Core System of Courses delivered via a new app." That's in addition to Apple standards like iWork, iLife, and iTunes, as well as "a range of educational third-party apps" included. The first iPads arrive in classrooms this fall, in what is deemed the "first phase" of a larger rollout.
The battle for LA's school contract was hard fought, with both board members and a Microsoft rep pushing back against student / teacher ratings and the overall cost. The teachers union president Warren Fletcher requested the money be spent on hiring new staff over mass-buying iPads, while district officials argued that national student tests require computer literacy, the LA Times reports -- the board voted unanimously (6 - 0) to approve the contract.
Traditionally, iPads have been used in college-level education -- both Seton Hill (not Seton Hall) and Tennessee's Webb School use Apple's tablet.
[Image credit: 'flickingerbrad']
Filed under: Handhelds, Tablets, Software, Mobile, Apple
Although Vevo has a presence on seemingly every platform, it hasn't done much of anything special on the desktop: so far, it's been either the web or nothing. That's changing -- the company has just launched a native app for Windows 8 and RT devices. The software puts all of Vevo's core music video features into a touch-friendly format, including Vevo TV, live concerts and playlists. While we suspect that many will still be content with the web interface, those who just have to watch Selena Gomez on a Surface can grab the Vevo app for free at the source link.
Filed under: Tablets, Internet, Software, Microsoft
Via: Blogging Windows, The Next Web
Source: Windows Store
Rdio, that lover of social streaming and sworn enemy of the vowel, is finally opening up its new TV and movie service to all users in the US and UK. Previously only the realm of Rdio Unlimited subscribers, Vdio lets users rent, buy and do various social activities with television and film. At present, the service is offering a solid set of new releases, like Django Unchained and Silver Linings Playbook, which can be rented for $2.99 and $5.99, respectively. Each movie description also lets you know which of your friends have watched the feature, with help from the Facebook sign-in up front.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Via: The Verge, The Next Web
Source: Rdio Blog
An anonymous reader writes "Not to be left out Apple has released details about government requests for customer data. The company said it received between 4,000-5,000 government requests, affecting as many as 10,000 accounts or devices. From the article: 'The iPad maker said that it received between 4,000 and 5,000 requests from U.S. law enforcement agencies for customer data from December 1, 2012 to May 31, 2013, and that 9,000 to 10,000 accounts or devices were specified in the requests. Apple did not state how many of the requests were from the National Security Agency or how many affected accounts or devices may have been tied to any NSA requests.' Facebook and Microsoft released their numbers this weekend."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
First time accepted submitter TigerPlish writes "AT&T has rolled out Wireless Emergency Alerts for iPhones. The alerts are for huge catastrophes (a Presidential Alert), for weather / natural calamities, and for AMBER alerts. One can turn off the latter two, but the Presidential alert cannot be turned off. The article mentions only 4S and 5 get this update. That said, I have a 4 and it got the update this morning. This was enacted in 2006, for those keeping track of such things. I, for one, do not care for this any more than I like the idea of them reading my communications to begin with. Oh, I'm sorry, the "metadata" from my communications." As promised.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
waderoush writes "Over the last decade, just three companies — Google, Apple, and Facebook — have generated most of the new ideas and most of the business momentum in the world of computing. (Add in Amazon, if you're feeling generous.) But it's been a long time since any of these companies introduced anything indisputably new — and there are good reasons to think they never will again. This Xconomy essay argues that the innovation engines at Google, Apple, and Facebook are out of gas (the most surprising thing about OS X Mavericks is that it's not named after a cat) and that other players will have to come up with the underpinnings for the next big cycle of advances in computing. Granted, it's not as if any of these companies will disappear. But the idea that they'll go on generating ideas as groundbreaking as the ones that landed them in the spotlight defies common sense, statistics, and the lessons of history, which show that real innovation almost always comes from small companies. Apple, Google, and Facebook aren't too big to fail — but they may be too big to keep succeeding."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
New submitter EdPbllips writes "Law enforcement officials nationwide are demanding the creation of a 'kill switch' that would render smartphones inoperable after they are stolen, New York's top prosecutor said Thursday in a clear warning to the world's smartphone manufacturers. Citing statistics showing that 1 in 3 robberies nationwide involve the theft of a mobile phone, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the formation of a coalition of law enforcement agencies devoted to stamping out what he called an 'epidemic' of smartphone robberies. 'All too often, these robberies turn violent,' said Schneiderman, who was joined at a news conference by San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon. 'There are assaults. There are murders.'" Apple described a system like this in their presentation about iOS 7 at WWDC.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
