Google to pay part of Samsung’s legal costs in Apple patent infringement trial

A Google lawyer confirmed on Tuesday that the company will assume some of Samsung’s legal fees and will cover damage awards if the Korean company should lose in its infringement lawsuit with Apple, reports Re/Code. Apple presented evidence from Google lawyer James Maccoun that shows Goolge will agreed to provide at least partial and possibly full indemnity for four of the patents included in the infringement case. Apple played deposition testimony from Google lawyer James Maccoun, who verified emails in which Google agreed to provide partial or full indemnity with regard to four patents as well as to take over defense of those claims. Of the four patents covered by Google, only two patents, those covering background synchronization and universal search, remain in the case. The other two were dropped before the trial began. In the early stages of the trial, Google was considered to be a sideline figure, providing only testimony on behalf of Samsung. This latest deposition testimony suggests the company is playing a more central role in Samsung’s defense. Google likely is assisting Samsung as part of its contractual obligation under the “Mobile Application Distribution Agreement”, which covers the distribution of Google applications on Samsung’s Android devices. Samsung and Apple are in the final stages of the trial with each side arguing over damages. Apple is asking for $2 billion for infringement of five of its patents, while Samsung claims it should only owe Apple $40 million if it loses the case. Continue reading →

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Apple fixes Heartbleed flaw in its Airport Base Stations

Along with its iOS and OS X updates, Apple today also released a patch for its 2013 AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule models, reports Macworld. The firmware update fixes the Heartbleed OpesSSL flaw that was discovered earlier this month and affects both websites and internet hardware like Apple’s most recent AirPort Base Station models. The AirPort Base Station Firmware Update 7.7.3 is available only for the latest AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule versions that were released in June 2013. This update fixes a flaw that impacts Airport devices that have the Back to My Mac feature enabled. The flaw does not compromise Apple ID passwords, but would allow access to router or computer login screens via a man-in-the-middle attack. The firmware update provides a fix for the recent OpenSSL vulnerability for the latest generation of 802.11ac enabled AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule base stations (June 2013). This vulnerability only impacts recent Airport devices that have the Back to My Mac feature enabled. Customers with previous generation AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsules do not need to update their base stations. AirPort owners who have enabled the Back to My Mac feature are strongly encouraged to patch the Heartbleed flaw by running the firmware update as soon as possible. AirPort owners who own an older model or have a new model without Back to My Mac enabled are not advised to apply the update as those hardware configurations are not affected by this vulnerability. Continue reading →

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iOS 7.1.1 App Store adds “In-App Purchase” label to freemium apps

Earlier today, Apple released iOS 7.1.1 to the public with a handful of bug fixes, security enhancements and overall performance enhancements. Apple also made a few minor changes to the iOS App Store that make it clear which paid or freemium apps include in-app purchases, reports MacRumors. After a spate of high-profile in-app purchases by children made headlines a few years ago, Apple has been gradually improving its iOS ecosystem by highlighting paid content offered with apps and offering tools to minimize their accidental purchase. Several years ago, Apple required password confirmation for all in-app purchases and added parental controls that allow parents to turn off the feature for devices that land in the hands of children. The Cupertino company also recently added disclosure notices on individual apps that list the available in-app content and their purchase price. This latest feature brings the “in-app purchase” label right to the forefront of the iOS App Store by adding them to apps in the Top Charts listing, including the Free and Top Grossing lists that are dominated by these freemium titles. This disclosure also appears on category pages in the iOS App Store. iOS 7.1.1 is available over-the-air via the Software update tool in the iOS Settings app. It also can be installed by connecting your iOS device to iTunes. Besides these in-app changes, iOS 7.1.1. also includes Touch ID improvement, Safari support for top-level domains such as .photo, and a handful of bug fixes. Continue reading →

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Apple opens up OS X Beta Seed program to the public

Apple today opened its OS X Beta Seed program to the public. Starting now, anyone with an Apple ID can apply to join the program as long as they meet the minimum hardware requirements. Recently, this program was only available to developers who had a valid OS X developer account. The program allows users to download the beta versions of Apple’s desktop OS X before it is launched to the public. Once a user has signed up for the program, they can submit feedback on the OS X builds using Feedback Assistant, which sends the comments directly to Apple. Join the OS X Beta Seed Program and accept the Beta Seed and Confidentiality Agreement. Apple will provide a Beta Access Utility for your Mac, which gives you access to pre-release versions of OS X in the Mac App Store Updates panel. Users can apply to the beta program on Apple’s Appleseed Beta website. Interested parties only need to have an Apple ID and must virtually sign a non-disclosure agreement. They also must have current hardware that is capable of running Apple’s latest desktop OS. Hardware requirements include a OS X computer with OS X Mavericks 10.9 or higher already installed, 2 GB or more of memory and 8 GB or more of available space. Will you sign up for the OS X beta program? Let us know in the comments! Continue reading →

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Apple releases iOS 7.1.1 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

Apple has released iOS 7.1.1 (build number: 11D201) for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Just like iOS 7.1, jailbreakers should avoid upgrading to iOS 7.1.1 until further notice as you will lose the jailbreak and won’t be able to jailbreak your device. Developing… Continue reading →

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Apple starts free recycling program for all its used products

Apple today confirmed that it will start offering a free recycling program for all its products, reports the Associated Press. This new initiative is part of a larger push by Apple to make its company’s operations as environmentally friendly as possible. Apple already has a program in place that offers customers gift cards when they bring in an older iPhone or iPod that is in good enough condition to be resold. Customer who bring in an older device could then use that money on a another purchase. Now all retail Apple stores will start accepting older devices that are broken or have no resale value because of their age. Customers won’t receive any money for these devices, but Apple will accept them for recycling for free. Apple is offering this program to help customers dispose of older devices in a responsible way. Will you take Apple up on its offer to recycle an old device for free? Continue reading →

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Apple video unveils ‘the best office building in the world’

Apple today posted a video of its Apple Campus 2 project on its website as part of its new “Better” environmental campaign. This video originally debuted during an Apple presentation to the Cupertino town council, but this is our first look at the video in high-definition quality. The video showcases architect Norman Foster and other Apple team members who discuss the beginnings of the forward-thinking corporate office. Forster notes that the spaceship building evolved over time as part of an intensive process. “It didn’t start as a circular building, it really grew into that,” Foster says in the video. “So the idea of one building with a great park was really borne out of a very intensive process.” Foster was brought onto the Campus 2 team directly by Steve Jobs, who called him out of the blue and said he needed Foster’s help. Foster recalls that the campus’ orchard landscape was crafted by Steve Jobs, who remembered California as the “fruit bowl of America” and wanted to bring some California back to Cupertino. Apple’s new Campus 2 building is located at the former HP campus in Cupertino, California. Apple is removing the existing buildings and parking lots that dotted the environment. The site will feature a circular, glass-encased office building with several orchards dotting the green landscape. Apple is building its new campus to the highest environmental standards with 100 percent of the Campus’ power derived from renewable energy sources. The company also takes advantage of natural ventilation, which will allow the main building to go without heat or air conditioning for 75 percent of the year. [Via MacRumors] Continue reading →

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Apple interviewing for executive positions on its mobile payments team

Apple allegedly is interviewing executives in the payments industry as part of the company’s push into mobile payments, reports Re/Code. This information was obtained from two people familiar with the process. According to the report, Apple has been meeting with applicants for two new positions that would focus on building a mobile payments system using credit cards stored in iTunes. These positions include a head of product and head of business development. This initiative into mobile payments is being headed up by Apple’s former online retail chief Jennifer Bailey, who has been moved from retail and into this new mobile payments push. Using those payment accounts as a foundation, the company is evaluating ways to make it easier for shoppers to buy physical products in apps and on the Web using their iPhones. The company is also considering how it might best help its customers make purchases in physical retail stores using only their phones and payment information stored in their iTunes accounts. “Their ambitions are very, very serious,” one of the sources told Re/Code. PayPal was rumored to be in talks with Apple about a potential partnership. Details on the discussion and what the type of partnership PayPal was proposing is not yet known. Would you be interested in a paying for items using your phone? Continue reading →

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Take Incredible Sound Anywhere with these Wireless Headphones [Deals Hub]

Imagine audio without wires. No more tangled messes of headphones that you have to undo before plugging in to listen to music. No more limited range of movement. No more running over the cord with the wheel of your office chair. That’s the world you can live in when you get the Air-Fi Matrix 2 wireless bluetooth headphones from MEElectronics. You can get them on sale now from the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub. Even without wires, the Air-Fi Matrix 2 headphones provide top quality sound. The headphones utilize bluetooth 4.0 technology to deliver audio, which you’ll hear clearly thanks to the 40mm drivers. A built in microphone gives you control over your media and the ability to take calls. Carbon fiber styling and ComfortTouch ear pads will make it easy to wear the headphones all day, and with 22 hours of battery life–350 hours on standby–you’ll feel fine never taking them off. You can get the Air-Fi Matrix 2 wireless bluetooth headphones on sale from the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub for just $79.99. That’s a savings of 46% off the retail price. It’s a great deal for such great headphones, so grab this offer today. Continue reading →

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Get Monocle, an All-In-One Boombox, Handset and Speakerphone [Deals Hub]

With music being portable as its ever been thanks to digital downloads and streaming options, we can count on our mobile devices to bring us our favorite tunes no matter where we are. But different situations call for a different way to listen. That requires multiple accessories that you have to take with you. But that doesn’t have to be the case when you have the Monocle. It’s on sale now from the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub. Headphones, speakers, speakerphones. The Monocle is all of these things rolled into one. Plug in the Monocle into any 3.5mm audio jack and you’ll get unmatched versatility when it comes to listening to your favorite music. A 40mm driver guarantees the highest quality sound on the go, a flexible duplex enabled microphone ensures clear communication, and the nylon reinforced retro cord makes the Monocle ideal to come with you anywhere. You can get the Monocle on sale from the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub for just $34.99. That’s a savings of 30% off the retail price. It’s a great savings for such a flexible audio option, so grab this offer today! Continue reading →

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Weekend news roundup: All the best Apple news from last week

As we close out one week and kick off another, let’s take a moment to look back at the attention-grabbing headlines from the past seven days. Some of the news you may recall, some may be new to you, but all the topics below are worthy of a second mention. below are worthy of a mention. Internal Google document reveals stark differences between Android before and after the iPhone When Google acquired Android in 2005, its aim was to launch a BlackBerry-style Java phone with a hardware keyboard, and not full touch screen devices like the iPhone. An internal Google document detailing the requirements for v1.0 of Android further highlights the stark differences between Android before and after the iPhone. Windows Phone 8.1 adds support for Apple’s Passbook Passes Microsoft announced Windows Phone 8.1 earlier this month at a developer conference, and the update is rolling out to developers starting today. The update brings a lot of features to Windows Phone devices, but one feature that went unnoticed was native support for Apple’s Passbook Passes. Alleged iPhone 6 front panel has a 5.1-inch screen with 16:9 aspect ratio A closer look at the alleged iPhone 6 front panel photo from earlier today has revealed that the display could be 5.07-inch or nearly 5.1-inches diagonally, and not 4.7-inches as we had reported. New Patented Technology from Apple Brings Accurate Positioning Indoors A new patent demonstrating accurate indoor positioning was granted to Apple on Tuesday, which could potentially bring indoor navigation to the iPhone in the relatively near future. The patent, which uses GPS, existing Wi-Fi infrastructure, and “onboard location databases,” will provide accurate indoor positioning in “nearly any environment.” Alleged iPhone 6 case with repositioned Power button, iPhone 5c-like Volume buttons French website Nowwhereelse.fr has published photos of yet another case, which their source claims are for the iPhone 6. The case features slightly rounded edges, which is in line with rumors we’ve heard so far. The case also has a cut out for the power button along the upper right hand side of the case. Marissa Mayer plans to persuade Apple to make Yahoo! the default iOS Search engine Re/code reports that Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer is working on two internal projects to improve company’s mobile search engine and monetization platform so that she can convince Apple to replace Google, and make Yahoo the default search engine on mobile Safari on the iPhone and iPad. Auxo 2 now available for iPad [Updated] Auxo 2, one of the best jailbreak tweaks for iOS 7 has just been updated to add support for iPad. Auxo 2 is an awesome replacement for the app switcher that has been completely re-imagined for iOS 7, and comes with a number of new features such as Quick Switcher, Multi-Center, Hot Corners and more. New GoogolPlex Siri Extension Makes Apple’s Voice Assistant Far More Powerful Apple’s Siri voice assistant is great, but it’s simply limited and incapable in comparison the likes of Google Now (and now, Microsoft’s Cortana). Four college kids from the University of Pennsylvania have hacked together a solution for this called GoogolPlex, which extends Siri functionality to do things like control a Nest thermostat, Philips Hue lights, and more. New iWatch concept imagines Siri, Healthbook, Maps running on a circular display Apple is widely expected to enter the hot wearables space with the launch of its iWatch smartwatch later this year. We’ve seen plenty of concepts that try to imagine what this new product might look like, but we haven’t seen many concepts with a round display. Warning: Malware discovered on Jailbroken iOS devices which steals Apple ID and passwords Security researcher Stefan Esser a.k.a i0n1c has reported a serious security issue for jailbreakers. A malware called “Unflod Baby Panda” has been discovered on jaibroken iOS devices that is sending Apple ID and password to servers based in China. iPad sales could decline in Q2 2014, iPhones to see a slight increase Analysts are reportedly pegging the iPad sales to come down a bit in Q2 2014, while the iPhones are expected to make up for it with a slight increase. They are expecting a decline in the sales of the iPad by 0.7% compared to Q2 2013. iPhone 6 renders based on case leaks show edge-to-edge design, larger screen and more Concept artist Martin Hajek has published new renderings of the iPhone 6 based on recent case leaks that show a thin, edge-to-edge design with repositioned power buttons and a 4.7 inch screen. Continue reading →

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Keep Your Devices Alive with the World’s Slimmest Backup Battery [Deals Hub]

We hate it when our portable tech die on us while we’re on the go and can’t get to an outlet for a recharge. The idea of lugging around a backup battery to give you a quick battery boost can seem like a hassle, but it doesn’t have to be if you have the Bookmark backup battery, the world’s thinnest battery backup. You can pick one up on sale from the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub. If you want to get the most out of your mobile devices, you need to have the ability to charge them on the go. For a full day of use and more, you can count on the Bookmark backup battery. Measuring at an ultra sleek 4.7mm thin, this battery can go with you just about anywhere that you’d take your phone or tablet. It’s packed with 2,500mAh of battery power, offering you the equivalent of 12.5 hours of video playback. You can get the Bookmark backup battery on sale from the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub for just $38.99. That’s a savings of 35% off the retail price. It’s a great price for a handy accessory to have with you, so grab this offer today! Continue reading →

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Apple offers unclaimed WWDC tickets to select developers

Apple is offering select developers a chance to buy WWDC tickets that remain unclaimed after the first round of attendees were chosen, according to 9to5mac. Developers who were offered second chance tickets were given 24 hours to purchase them at $1599 each. In previous years, Apple faced issues with a crush of developers descending on Apple’s WWDC website and trying to buy tickets all at once. Conferences were sold out immediately, leaving many disgruntled with the process. This year, Apple offered tickets on a lottery basis, giving developers several days to register before choosing attendees at random from this pool. Developers who won the lottery had until April 14th to complete their ticket purchase. If they did not checkout in time, these tickets were thrown back into the pool and offered to another round of registered developers. Now Apple is reportedly reaching out to developers who didn’t win the lottery and offering them a chance to buy unclaimed tickets. Some developers are starting to get phone calls from the company informing them that they have been randomly selected to buy one of the tickets that winners failed to claim before the 14th. @steipete same thing here, just a mail with a link to purchase my ticket. happy. — avalanched (@avalanched) April 16, 2014 It is not known how many tickets Apple made available to its conference, nor is it clear how many remained unclaimed after the 14th cutoff date. Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference will be held from June 2-6 at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco, California. Continue reading →

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Web trraffic for iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 devices remains steady

Server logs from AppleInsider show that Apple internal testing of iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 remains steady, but is no longer growing as it was in late 2013. This likely means Apple is testing the OS on a select number of devices and has not expanded its internal testing beyond this select number of machines. Not surprisingly, the testing is largely an internal process with iOS and OS X showing steady usage during the week and dropping off during the weekend. This reflects the likelihood that machines running the unreleased software are being used primarily while the tester at work. Apple is expected to take the wraps off iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 in a few months at WWDC 2014. The developer event will be held in San Francisco the week of June 2, with an anticipated keynote to kick off the event. Last year, Apple used the event to unveil the major features of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks. Are you excited to see what Apple has in store for us in iOS 8 or OS X 10.10? Continue reading →

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Facebook Paper for iOS updated with birthdays, events, photo comments, group posts and more

Paper for iOS, Facebook’s ambitious attempt to redefine the News Feed, was today updated to version 1.1 with a bunch of new features including birthday and event reminders, photo comments, group updates and more. Facebook Paper was launched in February this year with an interface very different from the usual iOS apps. There’s minimal UI chrome. Instead photos and stories take up the whole screen, and the app relies on gestures to navigate between screens. Here are the entire release notes for version 1.1: Birthdays and events: Never miss a chance to celebrate! Just tap the notifications globe and scroll down to see important dates ahead. Photo comments: When words aren’t enough, now you can add photos to comments to show how you feel. Group updates: Don’t miss posts from your favorite groups. Swipe down to open the Main Menu. Tap the More Options icon to the right of the Search box. When you see your groups, check the new unread counts to catch up on the posts you’ve missed. New story buttons: To keep up with the latest stories in a section in fullscreen view, or to catch the newest stories in the next section, tap the new story arrows when they appear. More article covers: 9 new article covers join our collection, making easier to spot your favorite sources on Paper. Keep an eye out for Fox News, Bloomberg News, Mashable, FT, kottke, Popular Science, The Hollywood Reporter, Vanity Fair and Hacker News. Basic accessibility: All of your sections now support basic accessibility features, and we’re working to extend accessibility throughout the app. If the app hasn’t been automatically updated, you can download the update via the Updates tab in the App Store app or use the iTunes link below. Facebook Paper is only available in the US App Store, but you can work around this restriction by following the steps in this post. Download link: ➤ Facebook Paper for iOS – free Continue reading →

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Radio Shack discounts iPhone 5s to $99

Radio Shack is trying to entice customers to purchase the iPhone 5s by offering the phone with a significant discount. Starting n Friday, the US retailer will drop the price of the 16GB iPhone 5s to $99.99 with a new two-year contract. Radio Shack’s iPhone 5s price is $100 lower than carriers and other third-party sellers who are still selling the phone for its introductory price of $199. While the price on iPhone 5c has fluctuated, the iPhone 5s has remained steady at $199. To sweeten the deal, Radio Shack is offering an additional $100 for customers who are trading in an iPhone 4s. This added bonus would make the iPhone 5s free with a new contract with Verizon, Sprint or AT&T. The deal starts tomorrow and lasts for an unknown amount of time. If you are in the market for an iPhone 5s, then this is an excellent price, especially if you have an eligible trade-in iPhone. Customers who are satisfied with their current generation iPhone may want to wait through the summer as the iPhone 6 is expected to be released in early fall. The next generation iPhone may have a larger display, faster processor, better camera and performance improvements enabled by iOS 8. Continue reading →

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Refurbished Retina iPad mini now available in Apple’s online store

Apple’s Retina iPad mini is now available as a less expensive refurbished model in Apple’s online store reports 9to5Mac. This is the first time the new iPad has been available as a refurbished model. Current inventory shows only the WiFi-only model as being in stock, but it is likely the cellular models will follow soon. Available retina models include the 16, 32 and 64GB capacities in silver and space grey. The 16GB model is discounted 15% off the list price with a lower entry-level price of $339. These refurbished devices are sold with Apple’s standard one-year warranty and are considered to be “like new” by customers who have bought other refurbished models. If you need more than a one-year warranty, you can purchase AppleCare+ , which extends the warranty to two-years and adds in accidental damage. Apple debuted the iPad Mini with Retina display late last year and faced supply constraints at launch. The tablet includes a 7.9-inch display with 2048×536 resolution, Apple’s A7 chip with M7 motion coprocessor, and 802.11n WiFi with MIMO technology. Continue reading →

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Dropbox to acquire online photo service Loom

Only days after unveiling its new photo management and viewing app Carousel, Dropbox is now acquiring photo storage and sync service Loom. Loom is an iOS and OS X exclusive with apps available for the iPhone, iPad and Mac. Loom made the announcement today on its blog and confirmed that service will be shutting down. Loom will no longer accept new users and will give existing users until May 16, 2014 to continue using the service. Loom is making it easy for its customers to switch to Dropbox, offering them incentives for switching to the service and using Dropbox’s new Carousel app. So what does this mean for Loom? As of today, we are no longer enrolling new users. Existing Loom users can continue to use our service until May 16, 2014. And don’t worry, we want to do whatever it takes to make any transition as smooth as possible. You can export your data directly to Dropbox with no interruption in service. You will receive a follow-up email with more details and instructions. And if you switch to Carousel, you will receive the same amount of free space that you had on Loom on Dropbox, forever. If you were a paid user, you will receive the same quota on Carousel/Dropbox for free, for an entire year! According to the announcement, the Dropbox acquisition allows Loom to focus on “building great features with a fantastic user experience” and not have to worry about scaling infrastructure and other issues Dropbox as already solved. Do you use Loom? Are you surprised to see the company being acquired by Dropbox? Continue reading →

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Control Cable Clutter with CableHub Two Pack [Deals Hub]

When you’re tech obsessed like we are, you can end up with more wires and cords than you know what to do with. Even in an age where we talk about wireless devices so often, we still have to plug in at some point during the day, be it to a battery charger or with our headphones. No matter the reason, you’re sure to have some tangled cords laying around. Get them in order with the help of the CableHub. You can get it on sale now from the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub. Despite it’s small size, the CableHub is able to gobble up any cords that you throw at it. This amazing organizational tool can hold up to seven cords, taking on up to 12 feet of cable. Just wrap the wiring that you don’t want to be exposed around this disk of CableHub and allow it to hold on to your unwanted wires for you. You’ll never have to worry about the spaghetti-looking mess that usually awaits you with your unkept cables and cords. The CableHub Two Pack is available on sale now from the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub for just $24.99. That’s a savings of 35% off the retail price. It’s a great price for a handy organizational tool that is great to have around the house, so grab this offer today. Continue reading →

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Google’s Project Ara imagines the future of the mobile industry with modular smartphones

The smartphone industry is currently dominated by three companies, Apple, Samsung and Google, who mostly rely on you, the buyer, updating your phone every two years for their revenue. But what if you didn’t have to upgrade your phone every couple of years to get the latest and greatest hardware specs? That’s what Google’s ambitious Project Ara wants to do. The team of people at Google working on Project Ara, earlier a part of Motorola, are designing a smartphone that is made up of independent, replaceable modules, or blocks, that can be singly upgraded without having to purchase an entirely new device. Making each component of the phone independent presents a lot of challenges. The iPhone and other Android phones contain components that are tightly integrated, for various reasons like making the device as compact as possible, ensuring communication between them is fast etc. Project Ara will obviously lose out on these benefits, but Google hopes that the pros of being able to easily update to the latest-generation hardware outweigh these cons. Google designed Android with customisation in mind, giving manufacturing partners as well as users the freedom to change and customise almost every aspect of the OS, so isn’t surprising that the company wants to bring the same level of freedom to hardware too. When Project Ara was first conceptualised in this video, it seemed pretty far-fetched. But Google already has a working prototype, and is targeting a next year public release. Customisation and choice sound great in theory, but do you think practically, Project Ara smartphones will appeal to the average buyer? Let us know in the comments. [via The Verge] Continue reading →

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2015 Hyundai Sonata to come with Apple CarPlay

Hyundai, the Korean carmaker has announced that it will be adding support for Apple’s CarPlay technology to its automobiles. Hyundai will bring Apple CarPlay technology first to the new 2015 Sonata, which was unveiled earlier today and will go on sale in June. It will make Hyundai one of the first car makers to include support for Apple CarPlay. From Hyundai’s press release: Hyundai’s latest Audio Video Navigation (AVN) systems are already recognized for their beautiful, yet intuitive interface and advanced feature set. Our engineers took advantage of the vivid eight-inch touchscreen to integrate CarPlay for an experience that iPhone users will instantly recognize. A Sonata equipped with CarPlay, lets drivers have the ability to make calls, use Maps, listen to music and access messages. It does look like the CarPlay technology will be available only in the premium Navigation systems, which includes the 8-inch touch screen display that is part of the technology package, and not in the base model which comes with the 5-inch display. Apple unveiled its CarPlay system last month and showcased the technology at the Geneva Auto Show last month. The system connects a lightning cable-equipped iPhone to a car’s in-dash display and allows the driver to message, navigate and playback music via Siri voice commands. [via Hyundai] Continue reading →

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iPhone 6 device mockups and accessories showcased at Hong Kong Electronics Fair

Japanese blog Macotakara.jp today published images taken during the Hong Kong Electronics Fair that showcase iPhone 6 mockup devices used by accessory makers to design cases for the rumored handset. Organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and held this week, April 13-16, the fair is one of the largest in the world. The use of mockup devices is a common practice among accessory makers who need to prepare their products to launch along with a new device. In some circumstances, accessory manufacturers receive schematics directly from Apple, while others base their mockups on details leaked by parts suppliers contracted by Apple. These latest photos are one of several recent leaks that suggest Apple will launch at least one and possibly two iPhone 6 models with larger screens later this year. Rumors point to the fall release of a 4.7-inch model and an early 2015 release of a 5.5-inch version. Other specs rumored for the iPhone 6 include an ultra-thin, nearly bezel-less design with a side power button to facilitate one-hand use of the phone. Hardware-wise, the iPhone 6 may ship with Apple’s new A8 processor with 1GB RAM, a Touch ID fingerprint sensor, and an improved 8-megapixel camera with optical image stabilization (OIS). The iPhone 6 likely will launch alongside iOS 8, which may feature a new Healthbook app, an improved Maps experience, Siri refinements and more. [Via 9to5Mac] Continue reading →

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Microsoft launches Office 365 Personal plan; lets you use Office on One Mac and One iPad for $69/year

Microsoft finally launched the much-awaited Office for iPad apps last month, and while the three apps — PowerPoint, Word and Excel — were free, users had to subscribe to the $9.99/month for editing documents. If you wanted to use the Office iPad apps for editing, but found the $9.99/month subscription expensive, Microsoft today launched a new Office 365 Personal plan, that’ll let you use Office on one PC/Mac and one iPad for $6.99/month or $69/year. Apart from the restriction on the number of devices, the Office 365 Personal ($69/year) and Office 365 Home ($99/year) plans are largely the same: The $6.99/month or $69/year plan lets you use Office on one iPad and one PC/Mac, gives you 20GB of extra storage on OneDrive, and 60 world minutes of calling per month on Skype. The Office for iPad apps have received good reviews, and also been liked by users, if App Store charts are any indication. You can download them from the App Store links below: Microsoft Word for iPad Microsoft Excel for iPad Microsoft PowerPoint for iPad Microsoft Office Mobile for iPhone For more information on the Office 365 Personal Plans, visit Microsoft’s website. Continue reading →

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New Tweak MagicBadges Lets You Restyle Notification Badges in iOS 7

A new tweak by the name of MagicBadges was released recently, which allows to restyle the notification badges located on iOS app icons. Among the customization options included are the position of the badge relative to the icon, the color and size of the badge, and the font of the notification number. After you install MagicBadges you’ll notice immediately that all system badges have been changed to be black ovals with white text for the numbers. To change this, you’ll have to head to the Settings app and tap “MagicBadges.” On this page, you’ll find a universal option to enable or disable the tweak, a button to respring your device, and a small gear labeled “General.” As you might expect, all of the tweak’s settings appear when you tap this button. On this page, you’ll see a quick and convenient preview of what an app and its badge will look like after applying your current customizations. This small window also serves as a way to resize the notification badge and reposition it to your liking. Below this are the notification badge color settings. There are three main categories, including “Original,” “Based on Icon,” and “Custom color.” Original will leave your custom badge colored as normal (more on this below), Based on Icon replaces the color with the main color of the icon, and Custom color presents you with RGB sliders to configure the color exactly to your liking. There is a transparency slider for each of these settings. Next you will see a toggle called “Fix size” which allows you to make sure the width of the badge doesn’t grow even as the number of notifications passes 9. This mode does, however, shrink the number to fit within the badge. Below the “Fix size” toggle is the Font option. Here you can tap to find a listing of hundreds of fonts, each of which will work perfectly with MagicBadge. Within this selection menu you’ll find many fonts including Helvetica and the dreaded Comic Sans. Finally, the most important option for the tweak: Badge. This setting shows you a list of badges much like the font list, but instead replaces the background of the badge. In this setting you’ll find a variety of built-in designs including a thought bubble, a bookmark, and a flag. You can even add more to this list by uploading images to /Library/ApplicationSupport/MagicBadges. You can get MagicBadges in Cydia for free, and it’s compatible with all devices running jailbroken iOS 6 and iOS 7. Be sure to check out our video overview of the tweak above, and let us know what you think of MagicBadges in the comments. Continue reading →

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Facebook may beat Apple to mobile payment punch

Facebook may be close to launching its own mobile payment service that would allow customers to pay and exchange money with others, reports the Financial Times. The service could launch in the next few weeks, providing Facebook with a jump on Apple in the growing mobile payments marketplace. Facebook is allegedly close to receiving approval in Ireland to become and “e-money” institution. This status would allow Facebook to issue units of money that would be valid throughout Europe and improve its appeal in emerging markets. Facebook reportedly is looking to partner with companies that offer international money transfer services online and via smartphones. “Facebook wants to become a utility in the developing world, and remittances are a gateway drug to financial inclusion,” said a person familiar with the company’s strategy. Facebook is one of many companies looking to expand their reach beyond their core services. Apple is supposedly considering a mobile payments service that would make it easy for iPhone owners to make purchases using their phone. The service would tie into iTunes and leverage the credit card data already stored in these accounts. Continue reading →

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Baseband development may be too “herculean” even for Apple

Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff believes Apple won’t be manufacturing a baseband chip for its iPhone or iPad anytime soon For the foreseeable future, the company will continue to use off-the-shelf silicon to meet its cellular needs. Qualcomm currently supplies Apple with its baseband hardware, which manages the phone’s radio functions and allows it to connect with cellular networks. Modoff says Apple has the money to enter the baseband manufacturing market, but it likely isn’t willing to commit to the time that it takes to build up such a complicated process. He estimates it would take Apple about five years of investment and over 1,000 engineers to develop a custom baseband for its mobile devices. “Instead of an organic baseband development, we believe Apple is rather trying to realize better integration with existing baseband chipsets and their apps processor, or possibly developing their own internal Wi-Fi chipset,” Modoff said. Instead of a baseband chip, Apple may be hiring a team of radio frequency engineers to develop its own WiFi chipset or for some other unknown hardware. The company allegedly has hired 30 mid- and senior-level baseband software and hardware engineers from Qualcomm and Broadcom, with another 50 openings actively being advertised on job boards. Apple has moved towards designing and manufacturing its own custom hardware and components for its devices. The company currently develops its own A-series processor, which can be found in both the iPad and iPhone. Not only does this in-house develop help protect sensitive information from leaking outside the company, it also allows Apple to optimize the performance and inter-operability of the hardware and software. [Via AppleInsider] Continue reading →

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Internal Google document reveals stark differences between Android before and after the iPhone

When Google acquired Android in 2005, its aim was to launch a BlackBerry-style Java phone with a hardware keyboard, and not full touch screen devices like the iPhone. An internal Google document detailing the requirements for v1.0 of Android further highlights the stark differences between Android before and after the iPhone. The fact that Android underwent a drastic change has been well-documented by author Fred Vogelstein in his book Dogfight, which revealed that Google had to “start over” on Android after the iPhone was introduced. These documents further illustrate the differences between the two platforms. Version 0.91 of the document, written in 2006, described Android as a product that will “will at a minimum, support a keypad with the following keys: Numeric, Star, Pound, Send, End, Home Back, 2 Soft Keys, 5-way navigation (up down left right select).” Further, Google noted that “touch screens will not be supported. The product was designed with the presence of discrete physical buttons as an assumption.” What Android looked like before iPhone After the iPhone was introduced in 2007, however, the document had a “major update” to add a new Touchscreen section that detailed “a touch screen for finger-based navigation—including multitouch capabilities—is required. Stylus-based navigation is not supported.” Here’s the entire document detailing the Software Functional Requirements for Android: Android Project Software Functional Requirements Document The document was revealed as a part of the ongoing Apple-Samsung patent trial, where Apple alleges that Samsung has infringed on five of its patents. [via Recode] Continue reading →

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Alleged iPhone 6 manufacturing mold also points to a 4.7 inch display

It has long been rumored that the iPhone 6 will come with a 4.7 inch display. And a new leak which has surfaced over the weekend brings confirmation of that. What you see above is a manufacturing mold which is allegedly being used for the shaping of the new iPhone. The image shows a comparison with the iPhone 4s revealing the slot for a substantially larger device. The report claims that based on calculations, the mold could yield a device with a display of roughly 4.7-inches based on a rough comparison with iPhone 4s’ 3.5-inch display. The mold seems to be a little tapered at the bottom, but Nowwhereelse.fr believes that there are additional parts to be added to the bottom of the mold, which would result in the iPhone’s body being formed at the wider portion of the mold depression Here’s what the folks at Nowhereelse.fr had to say (translated): “Some of the holes that were drilled into the block in fact serve to fix the inserts which will form a crude which is then machined housing (finishes) using a CNC milling machine. Thus, and assuming that my theory is correct, the dimensions of the box will be determined by the widest part and not the bottom of the mold. In this assumption, I started to resize the photo to scale against me in reference to the size of the iPhone 4s. I then measured the dimensions of the widest part of the mold which is approximately 138mm long by 64mm wide.” As you can see below, Nowwhereelse.fr also confirmed that device’s screen would be roughly 4.7-inch screen by superimposing and resizing the image of an iPhone 5s into the mold and aligning it with the wider portion of the depression. Apple is expected to launch a 4.7 inch iPhone in September followed by a larger 5.5 inch model shortly after. We’ve seen several leaks in the past including cases revealing the 4.7 inch display of the new iPhone, so it’s almost a certainty at this point. A report claimed earlier today that Apple is negotiating with carriers to increase iPhone 6 prices by $100. Continue reading →

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Weekend news roundup: All the best Apple news from last week

As we close out one week and kick off another, let’s take a moment to look back at the attention-grabbing headlines from the past seven days. Some of the news you may recall, some may be new to you, but all the topics below are worthy of a second mention. below are worthy of a mention. Samsung Galaxy S5′s Heart rate monitor compared with a free iPhone app One of the highlights of the Samsung Galaxy S5 is the built-in hardware heart rate monitor that it comes with. However, these features are already available on other devices, including the iPhones, courtesy of dedicated applications. A new video has now compared the heart rate sensor on the Samsung flagship with the apps that perform the same function on the iPhones to compare which fares better. Internal documents reveal Samsung’s top priority in 2012 was to “Beat Apple” Apple isn’t the only one whose internal documents are being released publicly in the ongoing Apple-Samsung trial. An internal Samsung presentation titled “Samsung Business Forecast” gives us a look at the company’s goals and strategy for 2012. WWDC 2014 Rumor Roundup: iOS 8, OS X 10.10 and more Apple announced its WorldWide Developer Conference (WWDC) 2014 for developers will be held from June 2nd to June 6th at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco, California. iOS 8 and iPhone 6 to support Voice over LTE (VoLTE) for better call quality We already know a number of things about iOS 8, the next major update to Apple’s mobile operating system for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. A new report claims that another feature iOS 8 will bring to the iPhone is Voice over LTE (VoLTE). Auxo 2 update brings support for CCToggles, improved performance and bug fixes Auxo 2, one of the best jailbreak tweaks for iOS 7 that was released last month, has received an important update. When A3tweaks released Auxo 2 last month, one of the biggest gripes was that it did not support some of the popular tweaks such as CCToggles, LockHTML3 etc. The latest update not only adds support for CCToggles, LockHTML 3, but also brings optimized performance and loading. It also includes a number of bug fixes and improvements. Apple targeting Q3 2014 for massive refresh of its product lineup KGI Research analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes Apple is targeting Q3 2014 for a massive product rollout that will extend across most of the company’s product lines, reports 9to5Mac. Kuo and KGI are usually reliable, which lends some credence to their predictions for a big holiday quarter for Apple. iWatch to have ‘Fashionable Appearance’; may come in two Sizes, Top End to Cost ‘Several Thousand’ Dollars In the latest product roadmap from KGI Securities (which are typically released on an annual basis), analyst Ming Chi Kuo gave his predictions for the forthcoming iWatch, and has revealed a lot of interesting tidbits about the Apple wearable that we haven’t heard up to this point. New Apple TV Set-Top Box to Play ‘Key Role’ in 2014, Feature Motion Controls In a recently-released research note, well-connected KGI Securities analyst Ming Chi Kuo notes that the Apple TV set-top box is set to receive a refresh later this year, with the updated device playing a “key role” in Apple’s ecosystem. The new device will include a plethora of innovative new features including motion control, which will allow users to interact with the device without the need for a remote control. T-Mobile offering LTE iPads for the price of Wi-Fi models along with 1GB of free data As we are all aware, LTE models of the iPads cost $130 more than the standard Wi-Fi models. However, a new deal from T-Mobile U.S. bridges this disparity in pricing by offering LTE iPads for the same price as their Wi-Fi siblings. Continue reading →

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Here’s a 2004 concept that imagined what the iPad would look like

The iPad was a rumor dating back to 2004, and an enthusiastic fan posted a concept rendering of what the iPad could look like, six years before the device was actually released. Of course, back then the iPhone or iOS didn’t exist, so the concept imagines the iPad running OS X 2go, a mobile port of Apple’s Mac OS X desktop operating system. And since multi-touch screens weren’t a thing back then, the concept iPad also has a trackpad. The 2004 iPad is shown to be 1-inch thick, 0.7 lbs heavy and sport a 312 x 378 pixels touch screen, with the tag line “Your Life in a Pocket.” The most notable thing about the concept, however, is that its designer got the iPad name right, years before Apple introduced it. Let us know what you think about this 2004-iPad in the comments below. [via TNW] Continue reading →

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Always Keep an Extra Battery Boost with Power Vault [Deals Hub]

Have you ever been out and about, enjoying your day while browsing on your mobile device, and all of a sudden the battery is about to be dead. It’s inconvenient and sometimes it can leave you feeling stranded when your phone or tablet is out of power and you’re left with no connected device. You don’t have to go through that struggle when you have the Power Vault. It’s on sale in the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub. What you get when you have the Power Vault is pure energy, ready to fill up the battery of your dead or dying device. It features a lightweight and portable design so it can stay with you all day. With two USB ports, you’ll be able to connect two devices at the same time and super charge them quickly thanks to the Power Vault’s rapid charging. You’ll have a full battery again in no time. The Power Vault is on sale now from the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub for just $29.99. That’s 69% off the retail price. It’s an offer you can’t beat for an extra battery boost, so take advantage of this deal today. Continue reading →

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Android engineer testifies Google didn’t copy Apple

The second patent infringement trial between Apple and Samsung continued Friday in a Northern California court with Judge Lucy Koh presiding. The highlight of the day was testimony by Google’s Android engineering VP Hiroshi Lockheimer, who testified on behalf of Samsung, reports Re/Code. Lockheimer testified that Google did not copy Apple when it designed its Android OS, noting that he first saw a demo of Android in January 2006, a year before the original iPhone was announced. At that time, the Android team was deliberately small with only 20 to 30 people working very long hours on the software. “Very intentionally, we kept the team very small,” Lockheimer said. Lockheimer testified that Android, too, was the product of long hours and hard work. “The hours were pretty grueling,” Lockheimer said, speaking of the early days of Android as the operating system was being developed in 2006 and 2007. “They continue to be grueling by the way. … We work really hard.” Lockheimer’s testimony was similar to that of Apple’s VP Greg Christie, who worked on the UI for the early versions of the iPhone software. Christie discussed his work on Apple’s “slide-to-unlock” feature, which is one of the patents included in the infringement case. Lockheimer was testifying forf Samsung as the first witness in the defense part of the case. Apple rested its case earlier on Friday, with damages expert Chris Vellturo arguing why Samsung should be assessed up to $2 billion in damages for infringing on five Apple patents. Continue reading →

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SaveGram: Save Instagram Photos to the Camera Roll with Two Quick Taps

Instagram is a great social network, and definitely one of the most popular photo sharing platforms in the world. But one of its drawbacks, despite being intentional, is that you can’t save the beautiful–or not so beautiful–photos you find on your news feed. If you’re jailbroken, you can grab a new tweak called SaveGram that lets you do this. While saving Instagram photos is already theoretically possible by way of screenshotting and cropping, SaveGram makes the process of preserving Instagram memories just that much easier. After you’ve installed SaveGram, all you have to do is tap the “∙∙∙” icon at the bottom-right of a photo and tap the newly-available “Save” button. Interestingly, there’s an app on App Store with the same name, which offers very similar functionality in full-fledged app form. But the two are completely unrelated as this tweak comes from renowned jailbreak developer insanj (creator of BlurBar, SwitcherBlur and other tweaks). Once you install SaveGram, there are no options to configure and no settings panel in the Settings app. Check out our video rundown of the tweak, as seen on our YouTube channel iPhoneHacksTV: To get the tweak, head over to Cydia and search for “SaveGram.” You’ll find the tweak on the default BigBoss repository, and it’s completely free. Be sure to let us know in the comments what you think of this new tweak! Continue reading →

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Apple’s Former Safari Chief Don Melton shares memories of Steve Jobs

Don Melton is not a renowned Apple figure for most people and you naturally won’t see his name on Steve Jobs’ biography either. But his contributions to the Safari browser and WebKit have been immense. He has been involved with Jobs back since the days of NeXT to what eventually turned into a full time gig over at Apple. Melton says that even though Jobs wasn’t close with him, the memories he had of him were very fond. Melton has now put these to words in a lengthy blog post speaking about his little known working relationship with Jobs. About the character of Steve Jobs, Melton says in his post - “Steve expected excellence. Which is why he so often got it. He knew when something was right, but he didn’t always tell you what he wanted when it wasn’t. And he was very clear when he didn’t like it. Some misinterpreted this behavior as being overly critical, but it was actually time-saving clarity, albeit uncomfortable on occasion” There are several other points and notes worth having a look at which gives us an insight of how Jobs was around his employees. This was originally posted on Jobs’ birthday in The Loop Magazine (iTunes link) back in February, where it was divided into two parts. What we have here is an unhindered and unedited account in its entirety. Make sure you give this post a read to understand how Jobs was perceived by one of Apple’s core employees back during its “renaissance” days. [Via Don Melton] Continue reading →

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Apple updates iMovie for the Mac and development tool Xcode

Apple today updated iMovie for the Mac video editor with a handful of bug fixes and a few minor improvements that affect sorting and foreign language support. The Cupertino company also release a new version of its development tool, Xcode. The most notable improvement in iMovie for the Mac includes the option to sort events in the sidebar, the ability to change the font styling in new titles introduced in iMovie 10 and the ability to adjust the duration of a transition by double-clicking it in the timeline. These are minor improvement, but welcome ones for users who spend a lot of time editing videos using the iMovie app. Below is a change log of what is new in iMovie 10.0.2: Option to sort events in the sidebar by date Change the font, size, and color of new titles introduced in iMovie version 10 Double-click a transition in the timeline to adjust its duration Crop and rotate clips in events Add speed effects using the Adjustments Bar Option to smoothly transition in and out of speed effects Fixes issues that could cause iMovie to quit unexpectedly Resolves issues that could cause sharing to fail Improves reliability of search when using partial or multiple search terms General usability improvements on computers using certain languages In addition to an iMovie update, Apple also rolled out changes to its software development and testing tool Xcode. Xcode 5.1.1. version is primarily a maintenance release that brings bug fixes and stability improvements to the OS X app. These small fixes follow an earlier, larger release (v5.1) that added new SDKs for OS X 10.9 Mavericks, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, and iOS 7.1. Apple’s iMovie app is available from the Mac App Store for $14.99 and is free for customers who buy a new Mac. Xcode is a free download from the Mac App Store. Continue reading →

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Apple may add High Definition Music Downloads to iTunes

A report earlier this week suggested Apple was planning to overhaul its iTunes Music store to reverse a decline in music downloads. A new report from a music-oriented blog suggests Apple also may add HD music downloads to the online music service. Music blogger Robert Hutton claims Apple may improve the quality of iTunes music tracks by serving up lossless 24-bit audio files. Apple may announce this new feature in June, possibly even at WWDC. For several years, Apple have been insisting that labels provide files for iTunes in 24 bit format – preferably 96k or 192k sampling rate. So they have undeniably the biggest catalog of hi-res audio in the world. And the Led Zeppelin remasters in high resolution will be the kick off event – to coincide with Led Zep in hi-res, Apple will flip the switch and launch their hi-res store via iTunes – and apparently, it will be priced a buck above the typical current file prices. That’s right – Apple will launch hi-res iTunes in two months. Apple currently offers 16-bit audio files, but has been encouraging artists for years to submit music in 24-bit 96kHz resolution as part of the company’s Mastered for iTunes program. These 24-bit masters are then used to create more realistic encodes at 16-bit resolution. Though there is no official confirmation Apple plans to release 24-bit files, it’s a plausible idea as the company likely has a large existing library of high-quality music submitted by artists participating in the Mastered for iTunes program. Apple could then charge customers an extra $1 per track to download a 24-bit HD version instead of the regular priced, normal quality tracks. Would you pay extra for a 24-bit version of your favorite music? Let us know in the comments. [Via MacRumors] Continue reading →

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Amazon to acquire digital comics platform comiXology

comiXology co-founder and CEO David Steinberger announced today that the cloud-based digital comics platform will be joining the Amazon family. comiXology is one of many companies Amazon has acquired, including IMDb, Audible, dpreview and most recently Double Helix Games. comiXology is an online bookstore and publishing tool for digital comic books. It offers over 50,000 comics from indie as well as big-name publishers like Marvel. In 2013, the company added a self-publishing tool that allows individuals to upload and sell their own comic books on the ComiXology store. comiXology also has a Comics app in the iOS App Store. The universal iOS App allows users to purchase and read their digital comics and graphic novels on the go. The title is among the top grossing apps in the App Store and was one of only a few non-games to make it into this coveted Top 20 List. CEO Steinberger assures customers that the service will maintain its identity, despite the merger with retail powerhouse Amazon, ComiXology will retain its identity as an Amazon subsidiary and we’re not anywhere near done “taking comics further.” We are confident that – with Amazon by our side, who shares our desire for innovation and a relentless focus on customers – we’ve only just begun. Details on the financial terms of the deal are not unknown. Continue reading →

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Apple confirms OS X, iOS and key web services not affected by Heartbleed

Aple confirmed to Re/Code that its key web services and both its mobile and desktop operating systems are not affected by the Heartbleed security flaw. The vulnerability, first reported by Web security firm Codenomicon, is present in OpenSSL encryption software, which is used by websites to secure user information. More than two-thirds of website on the Internet use the open-source software and are vulnerable to the flaw that allows others to eavesdrop on website communications as well as steal data from services and users. An Apple spokesperson confirmed that the company never used the vulnerable software in its products. “Apple takes security very seriously. iOS and OS X never incorporated the vulnerable software and key web-based services were not affected,” an Apple spokesperson told Re/code. Security expert Bruce Schneier said in a blog post that the Heartbleed flaw was “catastrophic,” writing that “On the scale of 1 to 10, this is an 11.” Schneier and other security experts are advising users to change their passwords to sites that have been affected by this flaw, waiting until the site has updated its security software. You can view a list of affected sites on this list provided by Mashable and can check sites manually using this online tool at http://ift.tt/1kkYl58. Continue reading →

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Apple not likely to make its own baseband chips until 2015: JP Morgan

JP Hall, who is an analyst from JP Morgan has specified to the investors that Apple is unlikely to use its own baseband chips for the iPhones and iPads, at least until 2015. This comes as a recent report suggested that Apple will start designing its own baseband chips. It is believed that Apple is currently discovering alternatives to merge the baseband chip with the standalone A series chipset, much like Qualcomm does with its Snapdragon chips. Apple has recently hired a few Broadcom engineers to help streamline the manufacturing process, but it’s likely an uphill task at the moment according to the analyst. It is believed that Apple might even contract its current baseband chip supplier Qualcomm to devise a method which would integrate the baseband chip with the main chipset. Since Qualcomm probably owns patents for the technology, Apple might have to end up paying licensing fees as well. But at the end of the day, it’s a win-win result for both companies as Apple’s business accounted for up to 25% of Qualcomm’s revenues in 2012. The analyst reaffirms that although it will take time, Apple will succeed in designing and developing its very own baseband chip to control the cellular radios and mobile networks on its devices. For the foreseeable future however, Apple will have to rely on Qualcomm for these chips. [Via Apple Insider] Continue reading →

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Apple iPhone 6 may include side-mounted power button, high-end model with sapphire display

KGI Securities analyst Ming Chi-Kuo has released an extensive research note outlining Apple’s product roadmap for 2014. Besides new information on the 12-inch Mac Air and the iMac, Kuo also details the rumored iPhone 6, as reported by MacRumors. According to Kuo, Apple’s larger-screened iPhone 6 will include Apple’s new A8 processor, 1GB of RAM, and Touch ID. A narrower bezel, slimmed down by 10 to 20 percent, and a thinner form factor will set the iPhone 6 apart from Apple’s earlier iPhone models. Because of its size, Apple may choose to move the power button to the side of the phone in order to make it easier to tap with one hand. Apple also may finally introduce NFC into its smartphone lineup, claims Kuo, though its present functionality is not clear. Kuo believes the 4.7-inch iPhone model will be sized appropriately for one hand usage, with a smaller bezel making up for the larger screen. The device will be popular with consumers as its larger screen will provide a better visual experience. Apple could hip up to 60 million units by the end of the years, predicts Kuo. The 5.5-inch model, on the other, will be too big to operate with one hand, but it could be big enough to lure users away from the iPad mini. The users are the ones that prioritize the visual experience and don’t mind handling a larger device that requires two hands to operate. Because of its larger size, the 5.5-inch model will feature a larger battery with up to 70% more watt-hours than the iPhone 5s. Kuo predicts the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will launch first, with the 5.5-inch model following later in the holiday quarter. Consequently, Apple will only ship 9 million units of the 5.5-inch model. Other improvements in the iPhone include an improved camera that focuses on optical image stabilization and other technologies to improve camera performance without increasing megapixel count. The next generation iPhone 6 will remain at 8-megapixels with an f2.2 aperture. Apple also will bring sapphire to the higher-ned iPhone models, such as the 64GB 5.5-inch iPhone 6, as an optional upgrade. Supply constraints of the material will limit its rollout in this upcoming iPhone model. The inclusion of sapphire will make it possible to incorporate the Touch ID sensor into the screen in future iPhone models. As for other iPhone models, Kuo predicts Apple will continue to sell the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c as its low-cost options. The company will phase out the iPhone 4s and the iPhone 4, ending its support of the 30-pin connector in its smartphone lineup. Continue reading →

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Apple hiring new ad agencies to battle Samsung’s marketing campaigns

Apple may expand its marketing efforts with the addition of four new ad agencies as it tries to compete with Samsung and its marketing dollars. The groups will focus on user experience and digital strategy, reports Ad Age, citing “people familiar with the matter” s its sources. Apple may be working with ad agencies on the both coasts of the US, include West Coast powerhouses WPP’s AKQA and Interpublic Group’s Huge and smaller New York indie agencies such as Area 17 and Kettle. Apple still will work with TBWA/Media Arts Lab, which was highlighted recently in the high profile patent infringement case between Samsung and Apple. APple Marketing Executive Phil Schiller reportedly bumped heads with TBWA/Media Arts Lab after Samsung debuted its Superbowl ad in 2013. “I watched the Samsung pre-superbowl ad that launched today,” Mr. Schiller said in an early 2013 e-mail to Media Arts Lab’s James Vincent. “It’s pretty good and I can’t help but think these guys are feeling it (like an athlete that can’t miss because they are in a zone) while we struggle to nail a compelling brief on iPhone.” Apple allegedly is poaching design and creative staff from ad agencies as the company tries to bolster its internal marketing team, which could double in size says an inside source to Ad Age. Apple will be playing catch up to Samsung, which dominates it rivals in both ad spending and in media strategy with its edgy ads that promote its own products, while poking fun at competitors. The company’s latest advertisement focuses on its Galaxy Tab Pro tablets and the “Pro” features that are missing in the iPad. Apple, though, is leading in the most important metric — market share. In the US, Apple’s iPhone is used by 41.3 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers, as compared to 27 percent for Samsung. Both Apple and Samsung are gaining customers, with Samsung’s rate of adoption in early 2014 outpacing iPhone adoption among consumers. This may change with the debut of a large-screen iPhone 6 later this fall. Continue reading →

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Apple may overhaul iTunes to reverse declining music downloads

Apple’s iTunes Radio saw an uptick in adoption shortly after launch, but the service has failed to garner significant interest among consumers who listen for a short time, but don’t buy the music they hear. As a result, Apple may overhaul its iTunes music store for the first time in more than decade, claims a report in Billboard. Music downloads from iTunes have been declining as much as 15 percent claim music label executives, who report a drop in revenue from the service. iTunes Radio isn’t helping drive downloads with less than 2 percent of users actually hitting the purchase button while streaming a channel. “iTunes Radio hasn’t solved the problem of refreshing the iTunes store,” said a senior label executive. “While listeners are clicking the buy buttons, the traffic it is driving is in the low single digits of listeners.” Apple may have to take drastic measures to reverse this decline, considering options, like an iTunes Music store for Android, which were never on the table before. Other possibilities to expand the influence of iTunes includes an on-demand streaming service and negotiating sales windows that favor Apple. Apple is expected to move quickly in this area to keep pace with its customer base, which are rapidly turning away from music downloads and towards streaming alternatives like Spotify and Rdio. More than two-thirds of Apple’s lucrative customer base now subscribed to a streaming music service, which sources claim is a wake up cal for Apple executives. Apple allegedly is committed to making this change and in less than five years, iTunes may be a completely different product than it is today. Would you like to see a radical change in iTunes? Continue reading →

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Dropbox launches Carousel photo and video app

Photo management still isn’t as perfect as we’d like it to be on iOS. iCloud’s Photostream is good, but is limited in many ways. Cloud storage and syncing service Dropbox today announced a new iOS and Android photo gallery app called Carousel to fill this void. Dropbox already have a few photo management features like auto-upload baked into its main iOS app, but Carousel does a lot more. The company describes the app “as a gallery for all the photos and videos from your life”. It backs up the photos and videos you shoot to your Dropbox account, and lets you view them even if they aren’t stored on your device locally. Just like the iOS 7 Photos app, Dropbox categorises photos by events, and you can easily navigate through the timeline of events using a slider. The app also has a social aspect, where you can have private conversations with your friends and family through the photos you have clicked. Of course, your friends too would be able to share their photos with you. Here’s a promotional video Dropbox made for its new Carousel app: The Carousel app will be available for iOS and Android today, but it hasn’t gone live on the App Store yet. We’ll update this post with an App Store link as soon as it’s available. For more information about Carousel, visit this link. Continue reading →

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At Least Two Hardware Engineers Have Left Broadcom for Apple, Fueling Rumors of In-House Baseband Team

At least two hardware engineers from Broadcom have left the company to join forces with Apple, according to a new report. This fuels recent rumors that Apple plans to bring new baseband processors to its 2015 line of iOS devices, but could also be linked to other rumors stating that Apple plans to design the processor for its rumored upcoming wearable device dubbed the iWatch. Former RF hardware lead at Broadcom Paul Chang is one of the engineers now known to have left the chipmaker for Apple, as evidenced by his LinkedIn profile. While at Broadcom, Chang was a lead for RF hardware and worked on baseband transceivers, some of which eventually became part of phones from both Nokia and Samsung. Chang’s experience includes “working as the RF chip lead on complex mobile communications product development projects that generated multi-billion dollar revenue and involved hundreds of people from cross functional teams,” as well as leading product development “from the inception to delivery to customers.” Chang’s name is listed on at least 3 Broadcom patents covering topics as “integrated circuit manufacturing methods.” Another Broadcom engineer by the name of Xiping Wang, who served at the company for more than ten years as a design engineer and hardware development manager, joined Apple recently as well. Wang, like Chang, has experience in the field of RF engineering as well, as evidenced by his participation in the field at Motorola prior to joining Broadcom. These are just two of the more than 30 “mid- and senior-level” baseband engineers Apple has picked up from Broadcom over the past three years. But Apple is still advertising more than 50 job openings in RF chip design, meaning they’re still on the hunt for talent. These acquisitions have popped up in the wake of rumors from Taiwan’s DigiTimes publications, claiming that Apple plans to build a Research and Development team to head the development of baseband processors for their 2015 iPhone models. Baseband chips for handsets total to being a $16-19 billion a year industry, so it would make sense for Apple to feel compelled to continue building this part of its business. Broadcom currently has a 50% share in this segment. Secondly, this news puts fuel on iWatch rumors, with a recent report from China’s Economic Daily News claiming that Apple may plan to build the iWatch processor in-house, further evidencing reasons behind Apple’s recent mass acquisition of baseband hardware and software engineers. It will be interesting to see what kind of security and other features new baseband technology may bring to the next iPhone. What do you think? Source: AppleInsider Continue reading →

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Get Huge Savings on the Award-Winning Apps You Want [Deals Hub]

Apps are the lifeblood of mobile devices. They give us reason to pull out our iPhone or iPad. We can rely on the best apps to provide us with a service that simplifies our life and offer us convenience. You can add to your collection of apps by grabbing your choice of apps from our iOS App Bundle. Choose the apps you want and save with the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub. We’ve taken twelve of the top-selling and best reviewed apps around and bundled them together, providing a great bit of savings for you. Grab productivity boosters like Parallels Access, Printer Pro, Scanner Pro, TextExpander Touch, and iDownloader Pro. Take control of your day-to-day plans with Boxer, Calendar 5, Day One, and Milage Log+. Manage multimedia with Recordium Pro, Vintagio, and FX Photo Studio. There’s sure to be an app you can put to use in this bundle. You can get any of the 12 apps of the iOS Bundle on sale now from the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub. You choose the ones you want and pay the discounted price, saving up to 83% off the retail price. Install each separately so you only pay for the ones you want. It’s a great way to save and get the apps you love, so grab this offer today. Continue reading →

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New Jailbreak Tweak ‘OS Experience’ is a Quasar-Like Multitasking Experience for iOS 7

A windowed app experience on iOS has long been the dream of many, and there have definitely been tweaks in the past that accomplish it. But a new tweak by the name of OS Experience is in development by Evan Swick, and it looks like it might be the best attempt yet at bringing the resizable window desktop operating system experience to iOS. The tweak has been demoed by Swick on his YouTube channel, and the quick demo shows a lot of interesting features that will surely ship come the time this tweak is released. First, you’ll notice that the mutlitasking app switcher features many desktops which can hold windowed apps. Using a variety of multi-finger gestures on screen, Swick is shown grabbing windows, opening the multitasking switcher, and placing those windows down in other desktop environments. When an app is open full-screen, all you have to do is grab the app screen with four fingers. Drag down, and you’re presented with a new bar at the top of the window for closing the app and scaling it down to fit on a desktop screen. The windows themselves are resizable within the desktop; tapping and grabbing the resize icon will let you choose how much of the screen you want any of the apps to take up. Also, tapping and dragging the top menu bar of an app lets you move the window around within the desktop–akin to the desktop experience we’re all used to on Windows and Mac OS X. The desktop chooser is visually very similar to the Mission Control feature within the most recent versions of Mac OS X. When on this screen, there’s a small button that the user can tap to create a new desktop, and each one is numbered appropriately. You can easily swipe between desktops very similar to how you swipe between apps in the standard multitasking app switcher. Check out the video above to get an idea of how the tweak works. Note that the visual glitches aren’t due to the tweak; they’re there because of Display Recorder. The tweak will likely only be compatible with iPad, as creating a multi-screen desktop environment on a small screen like that of an iPhone wouldn’t make much sense. Introducing OS Experience. http://ift.tt/1ju9nRT — Evan Swick (@e_swick) April 9, 2014 What do you think of OS Experience? Are you excited to have this desktop experience on your iPad? Continue reading →

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Comcast/Time Warner FCC filing hints at new Apple set-top box

Rumors suggest Apple is working on a new Apple TV, with new hardware and software that’ll add support for Apps, games and more. Sources for these rumors include the WSJ, 9to5Mac and even iOS 7 itself. Adding more fuel to the fire is the latest tidbit about the Apple TV, which comes from none other than Comcast and Time Warner. As spotted by 9to5Mac, the FCC filing for the proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner contains references to a new set-top box from Apple. Today, Google competes as a network, video, and technology provider, and 8 out 9 of the next Google Fiber markets the company announced are in Comcast or TWC areas. Apple tablets are viewing platforms for cable services even while Apple offers an online video service, Apple TV, and explores development of an Apple set-top box. Microsoft just announced that it will feature ads on the Xbox One, creating a new video advertising platform. And just last week, Amazon announced its own set-top box while it continues to leverage its unequaled sales platform and family of competitive tablets to promote its burgeoning Prime Instant Video business. While it is possible that Comcast may be speculating based on recent rumors, the statement may contain more fact than fiction as the two cable companies are rumored to be in talks with Apple about a new set-top box. A recent Wall Street Journal report claims Apple was meeting with Comcast about a streaming TV service that would provide content for an Apple TV-like set-top box. Subscribers would be able to stream live TV shows as well as on-demand content directly from the cable provider. Earlier rumors hinted that Apple was in talks with other cable providers like Time Warner about a similar media streaming service. Would you be interested in a new Apple TV with games, apps and a possible cable TV tie-in? Continue reading →

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