Author

Jordan Kahn

Dir. Partnerships

9to5Mac / 9to5Google / 9to5Toys / Electrek.co / DroneDJ / SpaceExplored

Jordan manages the internal Partner Program for sponsorships and partnerships across the 9to5 network’s media brands including 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, Electrek.co, SpaceExplored and DroneDJ.com.

Jordan also writes about all things Apple as a Senior Editor of 9to5Mac. He covers Google for 9to5Google.com, the best gadgets and deals on 9to5Toys.com, and EV and solar news on Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series and makes music sometimes.

Contact Jordan with partnership inquiries and long-winded complaints:

Connect with Jordan Kahn

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Tech Industry

AT&T announces new 300MB & 2GB Mobile Share plans launching July 26

Jordan Kahn Jul 22 2013 - 10:55 am PT

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AT&T announced today that it’s expanding unlimited talk and text Mobile Share plans to include two new data options including 300MB and 2GB. The new options will fill the gaps between the carrier’s current 1GB and 4GB plans, allowing users that use less data to take advantage of a less expensive plan.

The 300 MB plan is only $20 a month, with additional costs per device added. Now, customers with basic and quick-messaging devices can share data and unlimited talk and text for as low as $50 a month and smartphone customers for $70 a month.

The new 300MB plan will be available for $20 and the 2GB for $50 when they become available later this week on July 26th.

Apple releases software update for new MacBook Air to fix Wi-Fi, audio & Photoshop bugs

Jordan Kahn Jul 18 2013 - 3:42 pm PT

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Apple just released a software update for the mid 2013 MacBook Air that addresses rare issues related to wifi connectivity, audio playback, and Photoshop:

This update fixes an issue that in rare instances may cause an intermittent loss in wireless connectivity, an issue with Adobe Photoshop which may cause occasional screen flickering, and an issue which may cause audio volume to fluctuate during video playback.

Last month, we reported that Apple started investigating reports of Wi-Fi issues on its new MacBook Air and some customers even received replacements.

The 3.35MB MacBook Air (Mid 2013) Software Update 1.0 is available to download now.

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Gov’t officials & security experts attempt to crack Apple’s new iOS 7 ‘Activation Lock’ feature

Jordan Kahn Jul 18 2013 - 12:10 pm PT

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Three days before Apple and other technology companies were scheduled to meet government officials for a summit on increasing smartphone crime last month, Apple announced at its developer conference that iOS 7 would include a brand new theft deterrent feature. At the meeting in June, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon announced the program “Our Smartphones Initiative” to bring together police and other government agencies to help tackle the problem. Now, Gascón and New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman are hosting the first meeting of the group and attempting to crack Apple’s new “Activation Lock” theft deterrent feature with a team of experts (via Cnet). Security experts at the meeting will also attempt to bypass Samsung’s LoJack security app solution available on its Galaxy S4:
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AppleTV news: 4K panels being bought, friendly studio deals being negotiated & Netflix picks up two Emmy nods

Jordan Kahn Jul 18 2013 - 7:31 am PT

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There are a few snippets of AppleTV related news popping up today. The first we take with the usual grain of salt as it comes to us from the often unreliable DigiTimes. The publication has been reporting some more believable stories as of late, but today’s rumor of Apple purchasing 55 and 65-inch Ultra HD TV panels from LG seems to be more rumor than anything else.

Apple has of course been rumored several times to be building a full fledged HDTV to go along with the much expected revamped AppleTV service coming in the the near future. The latest from the usual lineup of analysts points to a launch as early as the end of this year or early 2014. LG and Sharp– two of Apple’s regular display suppliers– would be obvious choices to source panels, but there’s no proof at this point that Apple is beyond the experimenting stage and we’ve heard rumors from more reliable sources ranging from 40-inch to 60-inch in the past.

Next up for today’s AppleTV news is a bit more insight into the company’s current negotiations with cable and media companies. We heard previously that Apple is working with TimeWarner to bring AppleTV integration in the coming weeks, but, according to the NYTimes, its recent hire of Hulu SVP Pete Distad will also come in handy as it negotiates with others for similar apps:
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Chrome for iOS adds support for opening links in Google apps, voice & text-to-speech enhancements, fullscreen iPad, & data cost savings

Jordan Kahn Jul 17 2013 - 11:05 am PT

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Image (1) chrome-a_512.png for post 72530 Google has just issued a big update to its Chrome app for iPhone and iPad that brings new “interoperability with other Google Apps” and a number of other notable features. That means that you’ll now be able to open all links for YouTube, Maps, Google+ and Drive in their native apps instead of in the browser. You’ll also now be able to access the apps with a single tap from within Chrome.

The update also brings enhancements to the newly introduced voice search capabilities, including: always visible controls from the toolbar and text-to-speech support for “all variations of English, Spanish, German, Italian, French, Japanese, and Korean.”

Other improvements in today’s update include fullscreen support on iPad, easier access to browser history, and, according to Google, data cost savings:

Reduce data usage and speed up page load times. View data savings in Bandwidth Management settings. This feature is being rolled out and will be available to all users over time.

Google explained the experimental data cost savings feature in a whitepaper when it was first introduced on Android. In the document, Google says its tests showed the feature can reduce data usage by up to 50%:
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Logitech announces Z600 Bluetooth Speakers made to match your Mac

Jordan Kahn Jul 17 2013 - 10:41 am PT

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Logitech, which makes a number of the best Bluetooth speakers on the market for your iOS devices and other high quality audio products, today announced a new set of Bluetooth speakers made specifically to match the sleek exterior of your aluminum body Macs.
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Like iPhone, analysts expecting big drop in YOY growth for iPad sales in Q3

Jordan Kahn Jul 17 2013 - 9:20 am PT

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With Apple’s Q3 2013 financial call set to take place later this month on July 23rd and Wall Street expecting near zero revenue growth, today we get a look at what analysts are expecting for iPad sales. With no major product announcements since the introduction of iPad mini and iPad 4 last fall (and only a minor upgrade with the 128GB iPad 4 in January), it’s not all that surprising the consensus from 48 analysts polled by Fortune is that Apple will experience a big drop in growth year-over-year for iPad during the June quarter.

The average estimate of 18.1 million iPad units during Q3 works out to around 6.2% growth compared to 183% and 84% in Q3 2011 and Q2 2012, which some might still consider significant due to the lack of new product announcements and competition from Android tablets:
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WhatsApp Messenger for iPhone gets iCloud chat backups, support for sending multiple photos, & URL schemes

Jordan Kahn Jul 16 2013 - 12:44 pm PT

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WhatsApp for iPhone receives a nice update today that introduces the ability to send multiple photos at once, URL schema support for third-party apps, and iCloud support for backing up and restoring chat history.

Users can access the iCloud chat history by navigating to WhatsApp > Settings > Chat Settings > Chat Backup in version 2.10.1 of WhatsApp.

The app also continues to be free today ahead of the company’s expected roll out of a subscription model later this year.

What’s New in Version 2.10.1

2.10.1:
– multi-send UI: can send multiple photos at the same time
– URL schema support for 3rd party apps (see our blog for more info)
– iCloud chat history backup and restore:
WhatsApp > Settings > Chat Settings > Chat Backup

Apple releases Logic Pro X & MainStage 3 in Mac App Store, Logic Remote for iPad

Jordan Kahn Jul 16 2013 - 5:36 am PT

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Update: Logic Pro X is now available in the Mac App Store for $199 and the new Logic Remote companion iPad app is available for free. MainStage 3 is also now live on the App Store.

Something that we’ve been expecting for quite sometime is happening today as Apple follows in the footsteps of “Final Cut Pro X” with the release of a brand new version of Logic dubbed “Logic Pro X“. The release of updated app comes with a ton of new features on top of a revamped UI and a new version of MainStage 3. The question is, has Apple stripped away some of the core features professionals rely on, or has it learned from its mistakes with the controversy surrounding Final Cut Pro X?
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Is USB 3’s popularity slowly killing mainstream Thunderbolt adoption?

Jordan Kahn Jul 15 2013 - 2:20 pm PT

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Those hoping that mainstream adoption of Thunderbolt from PC manufacturers would help spur an increase in reasonably priced accessories won’t particularly enjoy today’s news from Acer. Apple might be pushing ahead with Intel’s Thunderbolt technology, but it seems PC makers are choosing USB 3.0 as a less expensive alternative offering comparable performance for the majority of consumers. Acer tells Cnet that it is removing Thunderbolt from its Aspire S5 Ultrabook this year, which was one of the only Windows notebooks to ship with the technology:
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IMDb iOS app adds ability to purchase movie tickets, Amazon integration for DVDs & Blu-rays, & enhanced bios

Jordan Kahn Jul 15 2013 - 11:03 am PT

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IMDb-iOS-app IMBb has released a big update today to its iPhone and iPad app, adding the the ability to purchase movie tickets directly from within the app and much more. The feature is initially only available to users in the U.S. and can be accessed directly through a “Showtimes & Tickets” section on listings for movies currently in theatres.

Also included in today’s update is integration with the Amazon Mobile app for one tap purchasing of DVDs & Blu-rays from Amazon:

Want to buy a movie or TV show on DVD or Blu-ray? “Search via Amazon Mobile” to the rescue. Requires that you have the Amazon Mobile app, but we provide a handy link if you don’t have it yet.

IMBd has added even more celebrity bio pages in today’s update and iPhone users now have “one-tap access to the full cast/full filmography.” The updated app also includes a few other UI enhancements and bug fixes listed below:

What’s New in Version 3.3

iPad and iPhone
* “Tickets, please!” You can now conveniently purchase movie tickets via the IMDb App (currently US-only).
* More bios for celebrities you know and love as well as for up-and-comers.
* Want to buy a movie or TV show on DVD or Blu-ray? “Search via Amazon Mobile” to the rescue. Requires that you have the Amazon Mobile app, but we provide a handy link if you don’t have it yet.
* Also, did you know you can tap the “Coming Soon” bar above the title on upcoming movies to add the release date as an event to your calendar?
* Bug fixes. Nasty tricksy bugsies. We hates them!

iPhone
* We heard you. By popular demand, we’ve updated the movie and celebrity pages to include one-tap access to the full cast/full filmography (which, yes, scrolls vertically).
* You’ll see that cute little Watchlist flag almost everywhere now. Tap it to add movies and shows to your Watchlist (and tap-and-hold to add to your other lists as well).

This will be the last update that supports iOS 5. Future updates will require iOS 6 and above.

WWDC 2013 developer session videos unofficially now available on YouTube

Jordan Kahn Jul 15 2013 - 6:29 am PT

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Usually only available to registered devs through Apple’s website as part of its $99/year developer program, videos of Apple’s developer sessions from WWDC 2013 have now made it ‘unofficially’ to YouTube. The sessions were first noticed by Safari and WebKit developer Timothy Hatcher (via MacStories), but it’s unlikely Apple is behind the account because of the NDA nature of the content.

Get an in-depth look at what’s next in iOS and OS X, and learn how to take your apps to the next level. With over 100 sessions, extensive hands–on labs, and engaging events, you’ll connect with Apple engineers and fellow developers for an incredible week of inspiration.

Update: As expected, Apple confirmed to iMore’s Rene Ritchie that it did not upload the WWDC videos to YouTube and that the unofficial WWDCVideos channel is in violation of NDA:

https://twitter.com/reneritchie/status/356799928556720128

https://twitter.com/reckless/status/356815286881615872

(Thanks Robert!)

Apple continues website redesign, flattens support pages

Jordan Kahn Jul 15 2013 - 6:11 am PT

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As noted by several 9to5 readers, Apple has just recently updated its Support pages through Apple.com to better reflect the redesign the rest of the site has been receiving in recent months. Today’s update provides a new design for the majority of support pages available through Apple.com/support, including: Videos, Manuals, Tech Specs, and Downloads.

Apple used to present these pages using a design that was a few generations behind the rest of the site and displayed links in a search result style list. Today’s update brings a flat grid style layout that allows users to select or search for a product in order to find related manuals, videos, tech specs, etc, but also displays search results by product in the grid layout.

Apple.com’s search result pages also get a cleaner look today to match the recent Apple online store design (pictured below).
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Apple reportedly partners into chip fab to bring processor manufacturing in-house

Jordan Kahn Jul 12 2013 - 9:15 am PT

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According to a report today from SemiAccurate, a semi-accurate site that has been hit and miss on Apple rumors in the past, Apple has just bought into a chip fab plant, backing up recent rumors that the company could be moving to build its own CPUs.

Apple has just done something that SemiAccurate has been expecting for months and entered the fab industry. No we are not joking, Apple just bought into a fab, and not in a trivial way either.

The full report remains behind a paywall, so it’s unclear if the site mentions a specific company that Apple has bought into. The tags for the report, however, do list “UMC”, a hint that the company in question could be Taiwan-based chipmaker United Microelectronics Corporation…

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Rovio teases July 15th announcement for brand new Angry Birds Star Wars game

Jordan Kahn Jul 12 2013 - 7:43 am PT

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Last November, Rovio introduced a new Angry Birds Star Wars game that brought iconic Star Wars locations and characters from the movies into the Angry Birds gameplay universe. Today the developer is teasing what looks to be an entirely new Star Wars themed Angry Birds game. While Rovio’s initial tweet only mentioned a “Big new game announcement” coming this Monday, it later confirmed on its blog that the announcement will be for “a brand new game” with “the biggest character line-up ever, awesome new powers, and maybe even a few surprises!”

On top of the teaser, Rovio is also making Angry Birds Star Wars available for free today for a limited time.

We don’t get any other details, but Rovio did include the image above hinting the game might be inspired by Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace:

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Pebble announces 275k units sold to date, plans to add email notifications for iOS in 2-3 weeks

Jordan Kahn Jul 11 2013 - 11:10 am PT

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Following the retail launch of its Bluetooth smartwatch at Best Buy earlier this month, Pebble is for the first time disclosing how many units its sold since its extremely popular Kickstarter campaign. Pebble is now at 275K orders to date, 190K of which came from its website after initially selling around 85k to its Kickstarter backers. Pebble also announced it has now hit over 1 million app downloads on the platform and plans to implement new features for iOS including email notifications and Gmail and iMAP support :

A major new feature on iOS will be available within 2-3 weeks. The feature has been lacking since launch: support for email notifications. At first, our testing with iOS 6 indicated that the built-in Bluetooth notification system would be able to send notifications Pebble. Unfortunately, that system only could reliably send SMS and iMessage to Pebble (ironically something we did not promise to support). We’ve finally cracked the email puzzle and the next Pebble iOS app will have full support for Gmail and IMAP email notifications.

Last month we reported that Apple would be offering a new Notification Center service to developers with iOS 7 that will allow Bluetooth devices like Pebble to access all notifications from Notification Center. Pebble hinted today that it has plans for the new Bluetooth profiles:

iOS 7 looks quite cool and useful but we can’t talk about it in detail until Apple releases it publicly. In the meantime, we’ll continue to work with it and test Pebble support under iOS 7..

Pebble’s Eric Migicovsky also clarified when preorders would be receiving their orders and announced he’d be holding a Reddit AMA today at 12pm PDT on reddit.com/r/pebble.

Microsoft reorg takes Apple-like approach to increase collaboration between hardware, software, services

Jordan Kahn Jul 11 2013 - 9:33 am PT

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Much like Apple organizes its executive and engineering teams around functions and services rather than specific products, Microsoft is today unveiling its plans to reorganize its divisions and bring together its various hardware and software teams. According to an email sent to employees from CEO Steve Ballmer and published on the company’s website, the move will see Microsoft bring together its separate teams from Windows, Xbox, Office and elsewhere and reassign managers to oversee broader engineering, marketing and finance groups:
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‘Pacific Rim’ iOS game lands in App Store as new movie hits theatres

Jordan Kahn Jul 11 2013 - 7:48 am PT

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Just as the new film of the same name from director Guillermo del Toro is about to hit theatres, Reliance Games has released the ‘Pacific Rim’ mobile game for iPhone and iPad. The developers have done a couple decent movie-tie ins in the past, so hopefully Pacific Rim will be worth the $4.99 it’s asking in the App Store. The game features a story mode with over 30 levels and also a Survival Mode that will allow you to “defend humanity from an endless wave of Kaiju” in one of the massive transformer-like robots from the movie known as Jaegers.

Pacific Rim is available now for iPhone and iPad on the App Store.

Exclusive Features:
•Story Mode: Play over 30 levels and challenge monstrous creatures in intense combat inspired by the motion picture.

•Survival Mode: Can you defend humanity from an endless wave of Kaiju? See how skilled you are with your customized Jaeger.

•Command up to five different Jaegers with custom equipment and technology.

•Upgrade your Jaegers and weapons to dominate the battlefield.

•Discover and research new technology to increase your armor, power and speed.

•The game explores the Pacific Rim universe with new events, Jaegars, and Kaiju not fully revealed in the film.

Algoriddim teases upcoming release of ‘djay 2’ iOS app

Jordan Kahn Jul 11 2013 - 6:13 am PT

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=q_vstCBVtoA

Algoriddim, developers of the popular Apple Design Award winning ‘djay’ app, today is teasing an upcoming release of the app with the ‘djay 2’ teaser trailer above. The app, which aims to turn your iPhone or iPad into true professional DJ mixing software, is going to be adding some big new features in version 2, and we’ll be bringing you a hands on demo of the app as it gets closer to release.

To celebrate the upcoming release of djay 2, Algoriddim is also offering current iPhone app for only 99 cents and the iPad app for $4.99. The app already features a ton of great features– a Hyper-realistic low-latency turntable interface, access to your iOS device’s music library, pre-cueing, audio effects, automatic tempo matching and looping– but we’re excited to show you what Algoriddim has to offer with the upcoming djay 2 release. Stay tuned.

‘MLB.com At Bat’ iOS app updated for All-Star Week, adds new iPhone UI & enhanced video highlights

Jordan Kahn Jul 11 2013 - 5:39 am PT

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MLB-at-Bat-01 The MLB.com At Bat app, which allows subscribers to watch live games as well as access on-demand content and news, was updated today with new features and support for the upcoming All-Star Week in New York.

In addition to being able to access All-Star Week content such as the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game, the updated app also adds customized push notifications for the MLB News channel and “in-progress video highlights within the Gameday Plays interface.”

iPhone users are also getting a brand new UI with a revamped news section & sortable statistics, as well as the ability to have “Gameday data synched with live audio broadcasts.”

MLB is currently offering a subscription for the discounted price of $9.99 for the remainder of the 2013 season.

What’s New in Version 6.2.0

• Follow All-Star Week live from New York, including the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game
• Added the MLB News channel for customized push notifications
• Watch in-progress video highlights within the Gameday Plays interface
• Updated user interfaces (iPhone only)
• Available Gameday data synched with live audio broadcasts (iPhone only)
• Highlights now include full description of each clip
• Overall maintenance improvements

More leaked photos & concept of purported plastic iPhone shells in colors hit the web

Jordan Kahn Jul 10 2013 - 8:55 pm PT

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There has been no end to the low-cost, plastic iPhone rumors in recent months, and in return, no shortage of mock ups and renders showing what the device could potentially look like. We’ve seen a few images that allegedly show the backplate of the yet to be released low-cost iPhone, and we even had our own mock ups of the device in a selection of colors. The latest take on the device comes to us from Martin Hajek (via Gizmodo), who we know from many other projects in the past including another low cost iPhone concept. The design doesn’t stray too far from what we’ve seen and heard in the past, but the color choices seem to be influenced by Apple’s recently announced iOS 7 update. Head below for more images:

In addition to these new concept photos, some new high-resolution photos of the back shells for the purported cheaper iPhone have leaked. We can’t vouch for their authenticity, but they do seem to be higher-res photos of the previously posted shells (via @sonnydickson):

Facebook iOS app updated with check marks for verified celebrities, public figures & brands

Jordan Kahn Jul 10 2013 - 1:35 pm PT

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Facebook updated its iOS app today with the blue check marks next to names of verified celebrities, public figures and brands that it first rolled out on the desktop. Facebook started its verified profiles and pages for select celebrities, journalists, government officials, popular brands and businesses back in May. Like Twitter, Facebook automatically authenticates accounts with large audiences and adds a small blue checkmark next to their name in search results, timelines, and profile pages.

The updated app also includes performance enhancements for iPad and a “Fix for a problem that was causing News Feed to load slowly for some people.”

What’s New in Version 6.3

• Find verified celebrities, public figures and brands by looking for a blue check mark next to their names
• Improved places editing to fix categories, phone numbers and other info on iPad
• Fix for a problem that was causing News Feed to load slowly for some people

Deus Ex: The Fall for iOS arrives in App Store a day early

Jordan Kahn Jul 10 2013 - 6:17 am PT

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Square Enix already informed us that developer Eidos Montreal would be releasing its highly anticipated iOS instalment of Deus Ex this week on July 11. Today the app appears to have hit the App Store worldwide a day early with the expected $6.99 price tag. The App Store link is already live for the game in the US, and it should be available to download elsewhere shortly.

Deus Ex: The Fall is the start of a new journey in the award winning Deus Ex game series. Set in 2027– the golden era for science, technology and human augmentation. Ben Saxon an augmented former British SAS Mercenary, is desperate for the truth behind a global conspiracy threatening his life.

Deus Ex: The Fall is available for both iPhone and iPad as a universal download, but keep in mind you’ll need a free 1.6GB for the game. However, it’s not surprising given the fact Eidos and Square Enix appear to be cramming in almost a full console like experience in the iOS exclusive. Previously release gameplay trailer for The Fall below:

Pirate Bay co-founder teases upcoming spy-proof messaging app called ‘Hemlis’

Jordan Kahn Jul 10 2013 - 6:02 am PT

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPeujbY3feM&feature=player_embedded

Peter Sunde, best known for his work as co-founder of torrent sharing service The Pirate Bay, is today teasing his latest project: a truly secure messaging app for mobile devices called ‘Hemlis’ (which means “secret” in Swedish). Peter, along with other team members Leif Högberg (@leihog) & Linus Olsson (@bonq), is currently raising money through PayPal and Bitcoin on the Heml.is website and providing those who get in early with a certain amount of unlock codes depending on how much they donate.

The guys are starting with iOS and Android clients for Hemlis and will eventually offer the app with free secure messaging for all as well as in-app purchases to unlock additional features. Those who donate now, however, will unlock the full app with extended features such as sending images. The app aims to be the first truly secure messaging app with end to end encryption that will keep your conversations from prying eyes, and will presumably include security features that just aren’t offered with the other popular third-party messaging apps on the App Store. The creators note that not even they will be able to access conversations, and they don’t plan on using advertising or selling user data to fund the project.

We’re very interested in learning more about Hemlis and plan to bring you a full review as the app gets closer to release.

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