You may notice a new look on those digital receipts you get in your email inbox after you buy something from iTunes, iBooks, or the App Store. Apple has refreshed its invoices with a new design, friendlier subject line, and cover art images that are clearer on Retina displays. You can see the old and new designs below:
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Apple has acquired Burstly, the company behind the popular beta testing platform Test Flight, TechCrunch reported (now confirmed by Recode). TestFlight recently pulled its SDK as well as Android support prompting speculation that big changes were on the horizon. Some speculated that an Apple acquisition could behind it all and would make sense considering the fragmented beta testing experience for app developers. While neither company has commented publicly confirming the acquisition, we were pointed to hints of the acquisition just before TechCrunch reported the rumor as likely and later updated its reporting to note that the acquisition had already occurred…
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During this year’s WWDC keynote address, Apple surprised pro users with a look at a completely redesigned version of the Mac Pro, a machine many thought had long been abandoned by the company. At the time, the only availability information that was available was an ambiguous “shipping by December,” though Apple recently gave a more specific release date: today.
After about an hour of downtime, the Apple Online Store has come back up with the option to order the latest-generation Mac Pro. The quad-core model starts at $2,999, with a 6-core model available starting at $3,999.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXKqIr4cjyo]
Globes reports that Apple has completed its purchase of PrimeSense, the Israel-based firm behind the technology in Microsoft’s Kinect sensor, and Apple confirmed the acquisition to AllThingsD. As noted earlier this year, the deal will cost Apple somewhere between $300-350 million. PrimeSense previously denied any talks with Apple.
On Friday, the acquisition of Israeli gesture recognition company PrimeSense Ltd. by Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) was closed. The deal, which has not been formally announced, was made at a company value of $300-350 million, and follows lengthy negotiations by PrimeSense with several potential buyers.
The sensor firm is no longer working with Microsoft, as the Xbox manufacturer has moved to all in-house work for its latest Kinect-based technology. With Apple reportedly working on a gesture-controlled 3D interface, possibly for some sort of television-related product (or a media hub to rival the Xbox One, perhaps?), the PrimeSense purchase makes perfect sense.
6 Wunderkinder, the developers behind the ‘Wunderlist’ to-do app that’s currently home to over 4 million users, today announced a new “Pro” version of the cross platform productivity app. Launching today on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and on the web, the new pro version comes with the introduction of the developer’s first premium model that will see users pay $4.99 a month (or $49.99 a year) to get access to new team oriented collaboration features:
• Assigning – now you can add an extra level of accountability and assign tasks to your colleagues
and friends.
• Unlimited subtasks – sometimes the task on hand is so big that you need to break it down into
small manageable subtasks. Now you can add as little or as many needed to get the job done.
• Backgrounds – Wunderlist Pro subscribers will have access to eight new backgrounds – from a minimal dark wood and soothing sands to vibrant florals and the Paris cityscape, plus a whole lot more!
6 Wunderkinder plans to keep adding additional features for pro users, including the ability to attach and share files through tasks:
Files will be the next feature to be added to Wunderlist Pro. With the support of Files you will be able to attach files to a task and share with your colleagues, for improved collaboration outside of just the to-dos.
The Pro upgrade for Wunderlist is available now as an in-app purchase in the Wunderlist iPhone & iPad app as well as the Mac App Store app and on the web.
Those that plan on sticking with the free version of Wunderlist will also be greeted today with new features in update 2.1.0 of the app. Among them is a new Action Bar and other UI improvements such as the ability to “Get a quick overview as to who created and completed a task with the Detail View.”
An Apple patent granted on Tuesday would allow you to buy some music and other iTunes content even when offline.
It appears that iTunes would proactively download locked versions of new recommendations (and perhaps more generally new releases) which you could later unlock by using credit stored on the device. So if you are both very impatient and without wireless data access, Apple may one day have you covered.
TomTom, one of Apple’s main partners providing data in its new Maps app, could be acquired by Apple, according to report from Netherlands-based Rabobank analyst Hans Slob. Bloomberg covered the analyst’s research report released early today, noting that Slob said there is a 30 percent chance Apple seeks to takeover TomTom in trying to make quicker improvements to its controversial new Maps app:
TomTom NV (TOM2), the Dutch supplier of navigation applications for Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone 5, rose the most in almost eight weeks after an analyst at Rabobank International said the U.S. company may make a takeover bid.
“TomTom needs the cash from Apple, and Apple needs the know-how of TomTom,” said Slob, who estimated Apple would pay a price of as much as 10 euros per share for the supplier. A takeover is also a “royal way out” for the Dutch company’s founders, said Slob, who has a buy recommendation on TomTom and raised his share-price estimate by 38 percent to 5 euros.
TomTom climbed 7.2-percent, an eight-week high, to 4.12 euros today, and it currently sits at a value of approximately 906 million euros ($1.18 billion USD).
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