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Adobe Voice debuts on iPad with simple and powerful tools for telling stories through multimedia

Avatar for Zac Hall May 7 2014 - 9:30 pm PT
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Adobe is out today with a new app for iPad that leverages the use of multimedia and speech to create simple and creative animated videos. The app is called Adobe Voice (it may look familiar to you if you recall Ginger) and the creative software company thinks it can make you a better story teller using your iPad. Adobe Voice combines the use of narration, photographs, text, and iconography with a number of templates which include music to create a really neat experience for making crafty videos. Check out my experience (and videos) below.
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Apple publishes new legal process guidelines for law enforcement information requests

Avatar for Mike Beasley May 7 2014 - 9:10 pm PT
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Earlier this month Apple announced its decision to notify customers of law enforcement requests for user information. Today the company also published a new set of guidelines for law enforcement officials regarding how it will handle such requests, what types of information can be obtained, and more.

Most of the document contains information regular customers won’t ever need to know, but for those interested in Apple’s participation in the legal process will find a wealth of information here. The document also confirms once again that Apple will notify users in most cases where law enforcement requests their personal information:


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Apple loses top North America sales VP Zane Rowe, Japan & Korea sales head Doug Beck to subsume role

Avatar for Mark Gurman May 7 2014 - 5:55 pm PT
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Just hours after disclosing the upcoming retirement of Communications VP Katie Cotton, Apple has disclosed that Vice President of Sales for North America is, too, leaving Apple. Apple VP Doug Beck, who currently runs sales for Japan and Korea, will add North America to his portfolio of responsibilities. Apple told the WSJ:
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Microsoft, Google, and others stand together to voice support for net neutrality, Apple declines to join

Avatar for Chance Miller May 7 2014 - 4:43 pm PT
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Following a proposal that many fear threatens net neutrality, a plethora of tech companies today have come together to support net neutrality in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission. The group is led by Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Netflix, and Twitter, as well as many others. Notably missing, however, is Apple.


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GT Advanced provides update on Apple Arizona partnership in latest earnings results

Avatar for Mike Beasley May 7 2014 - 4:38 pm PT
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GT Advanced Technology has given an update on the status of its contract to supply Apple with sapphire displays for the upcoming iPhone 6 displays. According to the information provided with the company’s Q1 2014 financial report, Apple has already made three of four payments to GT Advanced for the sapphire, and GT notes that so far it is on track to meet demand.

Apple struck a deal with GTA last year to manufacture the sapphire displays that are expected to appear in the next-generation iPhone at a new plant in Mesa, Arizona. Earlier this year the plant was outfitted with enough sapphire crystal furnaces to create an estimated 100-200 million displays. At the end of April, Apple started sending its first shipments of sapphire to China, where the new iPhone models will be manufactured. These displays are expected to make their debut in the fall of this year along with two new iPhone models, each sporting a different size sapphire screen.


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Apple seeds OS X 10.9.3 build 13D61, Safari 7.0.4 to developers

Avatar for Mike Beasley May 7 2014 - 3:18 pm PT
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picApple has seeded a new build (13D61) of the upcoming OS X 10.9.3 update to developers. The developer update comes just hours after Apple seeded a slightly newer build to its AppleCare team. 10.9.3 is expected to ship in the near future and features improved support for 4k monitors on newer MacBook pro models. The update also re-introduces the ability to sync contacts and calendar data to an iOS device from iTunes over a USB connection.

The update is accompanied by the very first seed of Safari 7.0.4. At the moment there are no details as to what’s new in the Safari update, aside from the typical performance updates and such. These updates don’t yet appear to be available for AppleSeed users.

Apple inviting employees to march in annual San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade

Avatar for Zac Hall May 7 2014 - 1:07 pm PT
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SF Pride

Apple has invited its employees through an internal memo to participate and represent the company together next month at San Francisco’s annual LGBT pride parade. Apple will host a base camp for registered attendees made up of Apple employees and their families and will supply entertainment and breakfast as well as T-shirts for participants. This year’s Pride Celebration and Parade marks the 44th annual gathering and has been host to the likes of Apple, Google, and Facebook (including CEO Mark Zuckerberg) in recent years.
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9to5Toys Last Call: TuneIn Radio Pro for iOS goes free, Trent Travelpak $19, Logitech Ultrathin iPad KB $18, more

Avatar for May 7 2014 - 10:06 am PT
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Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: Twitter, RSS Feed,Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

tunein-ios-radio-appDownload TuneIn Radio Pro on iOS for free and listen to over 100,000 ad-free radio stations ($4 value)

img_6809New Trent Travelpak PLUS External Charger for Smartphones & Tablets $19 shipped (Reg. $42)

b007prhnho_ultrathin-kb-cover_bob3_lgLogitech Ultrathin Bluetooth Keyboard for iPad 2/3/4 (Refurbished) $18 shipped (Reg. $99)

 

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$100 Apple iTunes gift card for $85 shipped (15% savings)


Other deals from today:

  • New! Media Deals: Target $5 Blu-ray sale, up to 54% off Star Wars movie collections, $1 theater admission, more
  • New! Logitech UE Bluetooth Wireless Boombox Speaker refurb: $35 (Reg. $100)
  • New! 1 year magazine subs w/ digital access from $5: Wired, Men’s Health, Macworld, more
  • New! Daily Deals: 16GB iPad mini $269, Motorola Wireless Bluetooth Headset $35, LG Blu-Ray/DVD Player $41, more
  • New! TechMatte Power Pod Qi Wireless Charger for Qi-Enabled devices $15 (Reg. $70)
  • New! Games/Apps: Up to 30% off Macphun creativity apps, Splashtop 2 Remote Desktop $1, Ski On Neon FREE, iOS freebies, more


More deals still alive:

New products/useful info:

Microsoft/Google/Android:

 

Apple’s VP of Worldwide Corporate Communications Katie Cotton retiring

Avatar for Jordan Kahn May 7 2014 - 9:35 am PT
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Apple’s longtime head of public relations Katie Cotton is set to retire. Cotton was with Apple for nearly 20 years and served as VP of Worldwide Corporate Communications directly under Tim Cook and Steve Jobs before him. There’s not much info surrounding the high-profile departure, but she is reportedly moving on to spend time with family. Apple and Cotton did provide the following statements to Recode:

“Katie has given her all to this company for over 18 years,” Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said in a statement. “She has wanted to spend time with her children for some time now. We are really going to miss her.”

Cotton told the site the decision to leave Apple would be one of the hardest of her career: “This is hard for me,” she said. “Apple is a part of my heart.”

Apple’s statement notes that the decision was a long time coming and that Cotton wanted to “spend time with her children for some time now,” but it’s not exactly confirmation she’ll be leaving the industry for good. No word yet on who will be named as a replacement for Cotton. 
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D-Link’s new Wi-Fi Smart Plug offers full iPhone control over electronics w/ energy monitoring & thermal safety features

Avatar for Justin Kahn May 7 2014 - 8:11 am PT
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX8FE8q-Bjw

D-Link has just launched its new Wi-Fi Smart Plug designed to offer users full control over their electrical outlets via the free mobile apps. The small adapters communicate with any existing WiFi network and plug into any electrical outlet. The user can then control power to any of the devices plugged into the adapter.

They come with a few handy features along with basic on/off control. You can create custom schedules for particular outlets and monitor your energy use on connected devices.

You can set device schedules so that you walk into a brightly-lit home every day after work with your favorite song playing and the AC exactly where you want it.

The system also includes a thermal protection system that allows you to manually shut down power on an outlet and includes a thermal sensor that will automatically turn off over heating appliances.

The D-Link Wi-Fi Smart Plug comes in at a slightly lower price tag than the popular $60 WeMo options from Belkin. D-Link is launching its smart plug at $49.99 right now (temporarily out of stock on Amazon) and the mydlink Smart Plug apps for iOS and Android can both be downloaded for free via the App Store and Google Play.

Apple reportedly ends iPhone 4 sales in India after relaunching it earlier this year

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo May 7 2014 - 8:05 am PT
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After introducing the phone to the Indian market in January this year, The Times of India is reporting that Apple has reversed this decision, once more discontinuing the product which was originally released in June 2010.

The paper says that new supplies of the iPhone 4 have been terminated at three leading trade partners in the country. It is weird for Apple to reverse plans so soon, but it was also uncharacteristic of the company to bring back the iPhone 4 in the first place.

Apple may have decided that the iPhone 4s and 8 GB iPhone 5c fills the gap well enough that it no longer needs to keep the iPhone 4 around. Despite expanding the availability of the SKU to more countries in mid-April, however, the device is not actually offered in India just yet. It is possible that the transition is still taking place.


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iPad stays on top in JD Power’s latest survey thanks to cheap Android tablets

Avatar for Jordan Kahn May 7 2014 - 7:36 am PT
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Following its report last month on smartphone customer satisfaction in which Apple ranked first, J.D. Power is out today with its study on tablet satisfaction and is once again ranking Apple highest overall. Apple comes in first followed by Samsung, while Asus, Amazon, and Acer fall in line below the study’s average:

Apple ranks highest in overall satisfaction with a score of 830 and performs highest in all study factors except cost. Samsung ranks second with a score of 822 and achieves above-average scores in the features, styling and design, and cost factors.

J.D. Power notes that a decline in the overall price of tablets has resulted in a decline in overall satisfaction. Apple, however, avoids that by ranking highest in every category except price. The report also provided some other findings on tablet sales, purchasing habits, and brand loyalty for September 2013 to February 2014 when the study took place. 
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OS Experience jailbreak tweak brings OS X-like features to iOS

Avatar for Dom Esposito May 7 2014 - 7:26 am PT
10 Comments

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OS Experience is a new jailbreak tweak for iPad that adds an extensive OS X experience to iOS. This tweak has been in development for quite some time and was actually announced before the iOS 7 jailbreak was released. Since then, the developer has been hard at work perfecting OS Experience to be the ultimate multitasking tweak for iOS. It’s very similar to an older discontinued tweak called Quasar, but this one takes multitasking on iPad to another level.


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Opinion: With all of the new Apple data centers, is it time for iCloud to get serious about storage?

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy May 7 2014 - 7:26 am PT
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The Apple ecosystem is a large part of why I stick to an all-Apple line-up for my laptops, tablet and phone. iCloud is key to that, of course, providing seamless backup and syncing between devices.

Whether it’s my calendar, contacts, reminders, notes, ebooks or Safari bookmarks, all are available on all devices within a minute or two of me updating any of them. Documents I create in Pages, Numbers or Keynote are again available from any of my devices providing I choose to store them on iCloud. As I pay the extra for iTunes Match, I’m also able to stream any of my music from any device.

In some respects, Apple clearly takes the cloud seriously. It has invested massively in expanding its network of data centers, including a $1B investment in Reno, expansion in Maiden and new data centers as far afield as Hong Kong and the Netherlands. Yet, central as it is to the ecosystem, iCloud still feels a bit like it deserves the tag Steve Jobs famously applied to Apple TV: a hobby …


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LinkedIn discontinuing its own CardMunch app in favor of Evernote’s business card scanning feature

Avatar for Zac Hall May 7 2014 - 7:21 am PT
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LinkedIn announced today plans to shut down its business card scanning app CardMunch in favor of a new partnership with Evernote which offers a competing service. In its initial reasoning for the new approach, LinkedIn points to the more advanced feature set of Evernote’s offering:

Evernote’s card scanning service is fast, reliable, and literally world-class, with support for seven languages.

In Evernote, our members will be able to view profile photos, job titles and company information from LinkedIn right in the notes created when they scan business cards. LinkedIn members will now also be able to enter comments related to the scanned card and geo-tag the location where the card was scanned.


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Apple planning 6th (or 7th?) Manhattan Apple Store on Upper East Side Madison Avenue

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy May 7 2014 - 5:22 am PT
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New Yorkers (and the tourists who come to the city) love their Apple gear, it seems, and five stores in Manhattan just isn’t enough. Just last night we reported that Apple was planning to open a new Store in the New World Trade Center complex.  The race to #6 after Soho, Meat Packing District, 5th Avenue, Lincoln Center, and Grand Central is on as ifo Apple Store reports that Apple is planning to open a sixth store on the island in a former bank building on Madison Avenue next year.

Continuing its tradition of creating magnificent stores from historic buildings, Apple has begun work to transform a former bank building on New York City’s Upper East Side into a retail store. Various sources confirm that construction planning is underway for 940 Madison Avenue, a limestone and marble building now occupied by luxury retailer VBH …


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TSMC reportedly shipping first batch of fingerprint sensors for next-generation iPhone and iPads

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo May 7 2014 - 4:43 am PT
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According to cecb2b, TSMC is already in the midst of fingerprint sensor production for the next round of Apple devices. As rumored, the company is manufacturing fingerprint readers for the next iPhone, as well as the next-generation version of the iPad Air and iPad mini. Apparently, the company has already provided the first batch of sensors from its suppliers.


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Dropcam adds $29 motion sensors (and teaches its cam to recognize cats)

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy May 7 2014 - 4:16 am PT
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Dropcam, whose Wi-Fi video security system impressed us when we previously tried it, is now adding separate motion sensors to its product range. Costing just $29 each, Dropcam Tabs are small, weather-resistant devices that can be attached to doors, windows, and valuables. They use Bluetooth LE to connect to your existing Dropcam Pro camera which then sends push alerts when motion is detected, turning it into a much more comprehensive security system.

Dropcam says battery-life is rated for around two years, making Tabs close to fit-and-forget. Tabs can be pre-ordered today, and will be shipped in the summer.

The company has also made the Dropcam Pro suitable for more households by allowing it to recognize and ignore cats. Previously, the system would send push alerts any time it detected any movement, creating lots of false alarms as Tiddles engaged in her hectic schedule of moving from the sofa to the food dish and back.

Detecting pets usually requires 3D sensor systems which can measure the size of moving things, but Dropcam says that it has analyzed many hours of publicly-shared video in order to teach the system to recognize cats using only analysis of the visual data.

Sketchy report claims Pegatron has received 15% of orders for Apple’s 4.7-inch iPhone 6

Avatar for Dom Esposito May 7 2014 - 2:21 am PT
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At this point, we’ve seen just above every rumored schematic, mockup, and render of Apple’s upcoming iPhone 6. Rumors suggest that Apple will launch its next generation flagship smartphone in 4.7-inch and possibly 5.5-inch variations later this year.

According to the Industrial and Commercial Times (via Macotakara), Apple’s supplier Pegatron has recently received 15 percent of the orders to manufacture the 4.7-inch iPhone 6. The report goes on to note that in total, Pegatron has plans to produce 50 million iPhones throughout the year. This contradicts an equally-sketchy rumor from January, which claimed Pegatron was set to handle half of the production for the iPhone 6.
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