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Élyse Betters

Verizon extends 4G LTE to 33 new markets, touts more coverage than competitors combined

Élyse Betters Jul 18 2012 - 11:39 am PT

Verizon Wireless plans to expand its 4G LTE coverage tomorrow to 33 new U.S. markets. The carrier will then boast 337 LTE markets, which places it ahead of competitors by a wide margin, and it hopes to reach 400 total by the end of 2012. Verizon also announced it is broadening coverage in 32 existing markets.

Check out the list below (via Verizon Wireless):

The 33 new markets: El Dorado/Magnolia and Russellville, Ark.; New London County, Conn.; Fort Pierce/Vero Beach and Melbourne/Titusville, Fla.; Columbus and Rome, Ga.; Burley, Idaho; Mattoon, Ill.; Anderson and Muncie, Ind.; Manhattan/Junction City and McPherson, Kan.; Lafayette/New Iberia, La.; St. Joseph, Mo.; Bozeman/Livingston, Kalispell and Missoula, Mont.; Goldsboro/Kinston, Roanoke Rapids and Rocky Mount/Wilson, N.C.; Zanesville, Ohio; Meadville and Punxsutawney/DuBois/Clearfield, Pa.; Orangeburg, S.C.; Sherman/Denison, Texas; Cedar City and Logan, Utah; Rutland/Bennington, Vt.; Lynchburg and Winchester, Va.; Bellingham, Wash.; and Beckley, W.Va.

The 32 expanded markets: Mobile, Ala.; Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, Calif.; Washington, D.C.; Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Sarasota/Bradenton, Fla.; Hilo, Honolulu and Kahului/Wailuku/Maui County, Hawaii; Blackfoot/Idaho Falls/Rexburg, Idaho; Peoria, Ill.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Wichita, Kan.; Baton Rouge, La.; Baltimore, Md.; Kansas City and Springfield, Mo.; Akron, Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo, Ohio; Allentown/Bethlehem, Harrisburg and Scranton/Wilkes Barre, Pa.; Columbia and Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C.; Provo/Orem and Salt Lake City/Ogden, Utah; Fredericksburg, Va.; and Seattle, Wash.

“With more markets than all other U.S. wireless providers combined, our customers are the first to learn of the great advantages of the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network for streaming video, downloading files, uploading pictures and so much more, at consistently reliable fast data speeds,” said Verizon Wireless’ Chief Technical Officer Nicola Palmer.

Apple’s new iPad supports 4G LTE networks in the U.S. and Canada. The upcoming new iPhone is expected to feature LTE capability too.

This article is cross-posted on 9to5Google.

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WSJ: Sen. Schumer presses DOJ to drop Apple eBook suit

Élyse Betters Jul 18 2012 - 8:22 am PT

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Sen. Charles Schumer pleaded with the U.S. Justice Department in the Wall Street Journal yesterday to drop its antitrust lawsuit against Apple and publishers by suggesting it will only lay the foundation for Amazon to reclaim control over the eBook industry.

According to the New York senator’s Op-Ed piece:

Recently the Department of Justice filed suit against Apple and major publishers, alleging that they colluded to raise prices in the digital books market. While the claim sounds plausible on its face, the suit could wipe out the publishing industry as we know it, making it much harder for young authors to get published.

The suit will restore Amazon to the dominant position atop the e-books market it occupied for years before competition arrived in the form of Apple. If that happens, consumers will be forced to accept whatever prices Amazon sets.

The Justice Department filed suit last spring against Apple, Macmillan, and Penguin Group for allegedly fixing eBook prices, while Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster settled to dodge the legal dispute.

Amazon set its eBook prices at $9.99, but, according to the government (via The Hill), Apple and the publishers supposedly colluded to build a new business model that drove the standard price of eBooks up and placed pricing in the hands of publishers instead of retailers.

Schumer claimed the business model would effectively relinquish the eBook market from Amazon’s dominion. He also mentioned Amazon’s share dropped to 60 percent after the publishers launched the new pricing matrix, while older eBook prices also lowered.

The Justice Department has ignored this overall trend and instead focused on the fact that the prices for some new releases have gone up. This misses the forest for the trees. While consumers may have a short-term interest in today’s new release e-book prices, they have a more pressing long-term interest in the survival of the publishing industry.

Like Apple contended in its legal response, Schumer is concerned the Justice Department’s lawsuit allows “monopolists and hurt innovators,” while having a “deterrent effect not only on publishers but on other industries that are coming up with creative ways to grow and adapt to the Internet.”

He further beseeched the Justice Department to “reassess its prosecution priorities” and assemble inclusive guidelines before filing antitrust suits in the future.

Check out the full memo at The Wall Street Journal.

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AAPL Company

Apps and updates: Auria, Tom Hanks’ Electric City, Aisle411, AutoRap, and more

Élyse Betters Jul 17 2012 - 1:19 pm PT

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[slideshow]

A slew of iOS apps launched today, and 9to5Mac gathered the most noteworthy ones in our usual round up below. Today’s crop includes an intense digital audio recording system for the iPad, a game from Tom Hanks, a new rapping app by Smule, and more. Oh, and Aisle411 went national today with its biggest retail partner yet.

Check them out:

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Twitter updates TweetDeck to be more ‘swift’ [Video]

Élyse Betters Jul 17 2012 - 9:45 am PT

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZuGdsjo44k&feature=player_embedded]

A new version of TweetDeck is available – improved column navigation, easier Tweet actions and more tweetdeck.posterous.com/139931184

— TweetDeck (@TweetDeck) July 17, 2012

Twitter is keeping busy this summer with a slew of updates to its line of products, and now the microblogging service is tidying up TweetDeck.

The desktop application updated today with a new layout for “swifter navigation,” featuring refreshed columns, expanded actions for tweets, and even a revamped Twitter bird icon.

TweetDeck explained:

Today you can more easily discover and react to the information you care about with new navigation features in TweetDeck. You have given us some really useful feedback after using these features on web.tweetdeck.com, and now you can use this swifter TweetDeck on other platforms too.

This swifter version of TweetDeck is available now at tweetdeck.com, where you can download TweetDeck for Windows, access the Chrome app or sign in to web.tweetdeck.com. The updated TweetDeck for Mac will be available in the Mac App Store shortly.

Go to the TweetDeck Posterous page for a full breakdown on the latest version, or just check out the video above.

TweetDeck is free at the Mac App Store.

: Column Navigation Open

: Column Navigation Reorder

: More actions

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Motorola Xoom does not violate iPad design patent, rules German court

Élyse Betters Jul 17 2012 - 8:34 am PT

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A German court ruled this morning that the “popular” Android-powered tablet does not violate the patented look of Apple’s tablet. The Duesseldorf court discarded one claim by the Google-owned manufacturer, however, about the iPad’s design patent being inapplicable.

FoxBusiness explained:

Apple initially sued Motorola for allegedly infringing three iPad designs with the Xoom. It sought to have the device banned across Europe.

Although the judges ruled Motorola’s Xoom doesn’t infringe on the iPad, the court rejected a counterclaim brought by Motorola alleging the iPad’s design patent is invalid, a spokesman for the court said.

As the court ultimately rejected both parties’ claims, it ordered Apple to pay two-thirds of costs and Motorola to pay a third, the spokesman added.

[…] During two hearings prior to the ruling, the presiding judge had indicated the court was leaning in Motorola’s favor. Judge Johanna Brueckner-Hofmann said in March that the court considered the evenly bent back and shaped edges on the front of the Xoom tablet sufficient to give the product individual character.

Apple is also suing Motorola in a Mannheim court for allegedly breaching a patent on multi-touch enabled devices.

Get the full report at FoxBusiness.

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Steve Jobs warned Yelp’s CEO not to sell out to Google

Élyse Betters Jul 16 2012 - 8:01 am PT

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Steve Jobs once urged Yelp’s Jeremy Stoppelman to not go Google.

SFGate published a lengthy profile of Yelps’ co-founder and chief executive today, but one of the more interesting anecdotes concerned the late co-founder of Apple, of course.

According to SFGate:

Jeremy Stoppelman was on a conference call with venture capitalists when an assistant slipped him a note: “Steve Jobs is on the line.”

Stoppelman quietly left the room at Yelp headquarters in downtown San Francisco. It was January 2010, and Google wanted to buy Yelp, the online, crowd-sourced review site. On the phone, Jobs urged Stoppelman, who revered the Apple chief as a visionary, to “stay independent and not sell out to Google.” Jobs was not a fan of Google and had accused the search giant of stealing Apple’s smart-phone and tablet technology.

“At that point, we had already turned down Google,” Stoppelman said. “But Steve liked Yelp and wanted to make sure about Google. It was a moment where I said, ‘This is crazy. What just happened?'”

The CEO further admitted that he received another flooring phone call this spring when his company went public. Apparently, President Barack Obama ringed to congratulate Yelp on all of its successes since founding in 2004.

Yelp’s continuous upswing shows no signs of stopping, either. Senior Vice President of iOS Software Scott Forstall even demoed Yelp on Apple’s new Maps app during the opening keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference last month. The check-in integration is slated to debut in iOS 6.

So, it appears Jobs may have had ulterior motives when warning Stoppelman about the repercussions of a Google acquisition—surprise, surprise.

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You can now charge your iOS device from the campfire with Biolite CampStove for $129 [Video]

Élyse Betters Jul 16 2012 - 7:05 am PT

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[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/41198061 w=600&h=500]

The BioLite CampStove is now available for $129.

This green energy product is perfect for anyone who is half-geek and half-outdoorsman (or outdoorswoman), and it works just as one would think—burn stuff, charge iDevice. The stove converts the fire’s heat into electricity for a USB charge. Now folks can go camping and be in tune with nature while checking their e-mail at the same time. Heaven.

It apparently takes 4.5-minutes to boil 1 liter of water, features a fire power output between 3.4 kw and 5.5 kw, powers pretty much all USB-chargeable devices, and most effectively burns “sticks, pine cones, pellets and other biomass.” It weighs just 2 lbs., at just 8.25-inches tall and 5 inches wide, and it is made of stainless steel, aluminum, and plastic. The box comes with “BioLite Stove, Firelighter, Stuff Sack, Instructions, and a USB cord.”

Cherry-picked testimonials with the CampStove are on the BioLite website (here).

The Biolite CampStove is available now and ships in mid-July.

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Retina MacBook Pro shows up in EPEAT Registry

Élyse Betters Jul 13 2012 - 1:55 pm PT

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[tweet https://twitter.com/mayoredlee/status/223853950112247808]

Apple’s products are back on the EPEAT’s registry with a Gold standard, but the Retina MacBook pro notably was at question.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based Company announced earlier this week that it planned to forgo the environmental rating system. The decision allegedly came after the EPEAT took up an issue with the new MacBook Pro’s Retina display and repairability factor, which iFixit detailed in a widely reported analysis last month.

After Apple dropped the EPEAT standard, the city of San Francisco said it planned to stop purchases of some Apple products, and then Politico revealed federal officials were also thinking twice before procuring Apple’s computers.

The hullabaloo apparently caused the folks in Cupertino to second guess their plan of action, as Senior Vice President of Hardware Bob Mansfield suddenly issued a statement on Apple’s environmental page today regarding the contention. He said the company made a mistake and would concede by returning to EPEAT.

Now, a few hours later, the EPEAT’s registry has 40 Apple products listed, including the Retina MacBook Pro. However, its IEEE 1680-2009 Criteria Category Summary (screenshot below) is a bit perplexing, especially considering the reasons reported as to why Apple pulled its products in the first place.

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Nielsen needs to work on its graphics (Update)

Élyse Betters Jul 13 2012 - 9:43 am PT

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Nielsen released smartphone purchasing data yesterday that depicted Apple grabbing more than a third of the total smartphone market in the most recently surveyed month. Android was over 50 percent. That is almost 85 percent of the market together, which is a striking number (and over 90 percent in the last three months). But, you would not know it when looking at Nielsen’s graph:

RIM at 9 percent seems to have almost the same share as Apple. Windows Mobile, Windows 7, Symbian, and Palm only come up with 5.8-percent of the market, but together they have a much larger piece of the pie than Apple. Well, we did a little Photoshopping and put their portions into proportion (Again, the disparity is growing with iOS and Android now over 90 percent):

^That is an entirely different story.
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NBC Olympics to live stream games on mobile devices with two Adobe-powered apps [Video]

Élyse Betters Jul 12 2012 - 10:56 am PT

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNLh85pKLw4&feature=player_embedded]

NBC just unveiled two Adobe-powered mobile apps for its 2012 London Olympics coverage.

The NBC Olympics Live Companion app will act as a second display for stats and other details so users have a full bevy of data to compliment their television-watching experience. Meanwhile, the NBC Olympics Live Extra app will pipe live-streaming video to on-the-go users. It can handle multiple camera angles, social features, and the ability to seamlessly switch between both Olympics apps.

The free apps will launch on both Apple’s App Store for iOS devices and the Google Play Store for Android smartphone and tablets. They will also support “TV Everywhere” authentication with cable providers for unlimited access to all the premium content. Users simply need to login to their pay-TV subscription to tap into 3,500 hours of Olympic events.

“To make it as easy as possible, you only need to go through the sign-in once and won’t have to “re-authenticate” every time you want to watch a live event,” explained Adobe on its Digital Media Blog. “For the first time in Olympics history, mobile apps will give you the opportunity to view live broadcasts of all Olympic events in the palm of your hand.”

NBC Olympics is also using Adobe technologies to serve ads, measure and monetize content, and provide digital analytics in both apps.

This article is cross-posted on 9to5Google.

The press release is below.

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Report: Feds second-guess buying Apple comps

Élyse Betters Jul 12 2012 - 10:22 am PT

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The city of San Francisco stopped purchases of some Apple products after the company announced it planned to forgo an environmental rating system, but a new report indicates federal officials might refrain from buying Cupertino-built computers as well.

According to Politico, which cited a “governmental source,” federal officials familiar with sustainability issues are thinking twice before procuring Apple’s computers. The feds met yesterday to discuss the matter, and the website’s source further claimed the officials will “seek a meeting with Apple soon.”

Politico explained:

Last week, Apple decided to stop using an environmental certification program, the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool run by the Green Electronics Council, a Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit. EPEAT was developed through a stakeholder process supported by the EPA.

The EPEAT rating system is used to monitor a computer’s environmental impact throughout its lifecycle, including the end of its use. The program is used by governments, enterprise, universities, health care and other large institutions to make purchasing decisions.

Federal procurement decisions for fiscal 2013 are being made now, the government source said. Federal officials are worried that the government’s efforts to buy environmentally friendly products will be set back, the source said, adding, “Apple’s competitors are looking at this and saying if they can get away with this maybe we can too.”

The Green Electronics Council said in a statement on the EPEAT website that it “regret[s] that Apple will no longer be registering its products in EPEAT. We hope that they will decide to do so again at some point in future,” while Apple told The Loop recently that it “takes a comprehensive approach to measuring our environmental impact and all of our products meet the strictest energy efficiency standards backed by the US government, Energy Star 5.2.”

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SoHo NY Apple Store to reopen July 14

Élyse Betters Jul 12 2012 - 9:27 am PT

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[tweet https://twitter.com/ifostore/status/223266063452880896]

Apple just announced it will reopen its SoHo store in Manhattan on July 14 at 10 a.m. EST.

The Apple Store, SoHo, is completely redesigned and better than ever. There are more than twice as many products available for you to try. A new state-of-the-art theater with extra seating is the perfect place to enjoy events and workshops. We’ve added New York’s first Briefing Room, where you can get to know our Business Team. Even the Genius Bar is bigger, so it’s easier than ever to get an appointment.

The first 3, 000 customers win free commemorative t-shirts.

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Greenpeace gives Apple two thumbs up, well—one thumb up

Élyse Betters Jul 12 2012 - 9:00 am PT

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In a post titled “Apple’s clean energy plans still cloudy despite coal-free pledge,” Greenpeace praised Apple on its blog for significantly improving clean energy policies, but the environmental organization still gave the company low scores for its energy choices.

A new Greenpeace International analysis released today, and it claims—despite Apple’s commitment to make its data centres coal-free and 100-percent renewable energy operated—the folks in Cupertino still lack “a plan that outlines a realistic path to eliminate its reliance on coal to power its iCloud.”

Check it out (PDF): Greenpeace Report — A Clean Energy Road Map for Apple

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AAPL Company

OtterBox announces new, artsy Studio Collection cases for iPhone 4/4S [Videos]

Élyse Betters Jul 12 2012 - 8:37 am PT

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The OtterBox’s popular Defender Series case for Apple iPhone 4/4S is now “a canvas for creativity.”

Artists Monique Maloney and Evan Mann both created textile and drawing-inspired patterns for the rough-and-tough OtterBox, and they are available starting today for $59.99 each at Amazon.

(conveniently, Mophie Juice Pack Plus Battery Case for iPhone 4/S is on sale for $40 + $5 s&h today)

A behind-the-scenes look at the artists and their designs are below:

Monique Maloney

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYTqFLoFDTc&feature=player_embedded]

Evan Mann

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqgrSCDUDCg&feature=player_embedded]

The press release is below.

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IMDb iOS app eyes 20M+ downloads, celebrates with massive update

Élyse Betters Jul 12 2012 - 8:10 am PT

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IMDb, the unofficial resume for everyone and everything Hollywood, just announced its iOS and Android apps have experienced more than 40 million total downloads. The iOS counterpart claimed half of those downloads, and IMDb is celebrating with today’s launch of “highly anticipated discovery, personalization and social features.”

Version 2.7 now includes:

– Movies & TV shows: check in and share what you are watching to Facebook and Twitter
– Message Boards: access general boards, or dive into discussions about your favorite people, movies, and shows
– Filming Locations & Soundtracks: find even more IMDb data to satisfy your curiosity
– More Like This: discover new movies and shows while you browse
– Watchlist: tap the plus sign on posters to build your Watchlist
– TV shows: easily dive into each season, and tap ‘previous’ and ‘next’ to browse through episodes
– Your History: long-press on the Back button from any page to access pages you’ve recently viewed
– Various bug fixes and performance improvements

The IMDb Movies & TV app is a free app at the App Store. It rates 4 stars, based on more than 112,000 reviews, as of press time.

The press release is below.

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More next-gen iPhone casings float across our desktop [Photos]

Élyse Betters Jul 12 2012 - 7:28 am PT

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9to5Mac first posted the back and front plates for what is now thought to be the next-generation iPhone in May, and then we immediately published several more high-resolution images comparing the black and white versions of the next-generation iPhone’s back. Since then, many more casings and schematics have shown up with the same design. It is not clear if these are all coming out of the Foxconn plant or if these are all copycats of the original leaks.

Today, KitGuru offers a few more “early iPhone” images that it recently spotted. A slew of full length, side view, comparison, and connector shots are available below—check ’em out:

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Judge rejects bids to block live-streaming TV service Aereo

Élyse Betters Jul 12 2012 - 7:09 am PT

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR8lLt3gFZ8&feature=player_embedded]

Aereo—the service that streams over-the-air local TV to any Mac, iOS device, or PC running Safari for $12 per month—just got a second chance at survival. According to The New York Times, a U.S. federal judge on Wednesday rejected a temporary injunction spurred by television broadcasters, saying a ruling for the broadcasters would have shut down Aereo.

Reuters reported that Walt Disney Co., Comcast Corp., News Corp., Univision Communications Inc., and the Public Broadcasting Service tried to stop Aereo with the injunction, claiming they would “lose their right to retransmission fees from cable and other companies that rebroadcast their programming, and also lose critical advertising revenue”:

U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan said on Wednesday that while the broadcasters demonstrated they faced irreparable financial damage if were the venture were allowed to continue, Aereo also showed it would face severe harm if the requested preliminary injunction were granted.

‘First and foremost, the evidence establishes that an injunction may quickly mean the end of Aereo as a business,’ the Manhattan judge wrote in a 52-page opinion.

The New York Times quoted Aereo’s Barry Diller, who noted a trial still lies ahead for his company, but he is now “far happier to begin this process with the judge’s ruling.” One of the plaintiffs, CBS, told the publication it would continue to seek damages and a permanent injunction: “This is only a ruling on a preliminary injunction. This case is not over by a long shot.”

9to5Mac reviewed Aereo in March and found its broadcast TV-like experience encouraging and well worth a test-drive:

Overall, Aereo’s HTML5 user-interface is the most impressive on the Mac platform. Its ease of browsing, watching, and recording local TV through Safari is a unique take during an age that offers countless ways of viewing cable without an actual television. The main takeaway with Aereo is that it works best on the Mac and the iPad, video quality is identical to what one would see on a HDTV, and the DVR function is extremely handy.

[…] For many people, its DVR functionality alone is worth the $12 monthly fee. For others, the admission price might be too hefty when compared to cheaper services that also offer cable programming and better streaming.

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Report: NIAC director slams US Gov’t, Apple for racially profiling over export sanction to Iran

Élyse Betters Jul 12 2012 - 6:35 am PT

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Do you remember last month’s report about select Apple retail stores in Georgia allegedly discriminating against Farsi-speaking customers due to a United States sanction export to Iran? Well, the story is still abuzz. The policy director at the National Iranian American Council, Jamal Abdi, even got some space in The New York Times today to speak his mind on the matter:

IMAGINE if your ethnicity determined which products you were able to buy. Or if sales clerks required you to divulge your ancestry before swiping your credit card.

Some of us don’t have to imagine.

Abdi reviewed the cases from last month, and he even cited similar situations in California:

An isolated episode could be dismissed as the work of one bigoted, or misguided, employee. But there have been other recent reports of Apple employees refusing to sell to customers of Iranian descent.

In Santa Monica, Calif., two friends looking to buy an iPhone were asked whether they were speaking Persian and promptly informed, “I am sorry, we don’t sell to Persians.” In Sacramento, an Iranian-American man looking to buy Apple products for personal use mentioned that he was also thinking about buying an iPod for his nephew in Iran and was told he could not buy anything, even for himself. An Iranian student in Atlanta, and his Iranian-American friend, were not permitted to buy an iPhone after the friend, under questioning, mentioned that the student planned to return to Iran for the summer.

The NIAC director attributed these occurrences to Apple retail employees being forced to “interpret and implement federal policy,” which results in racial profiling, he said:

At the moment, nearly all exports to Iran are prohibited. Traveling to Iran with items like computers and smartphones is illegal. Apple’s own policy, stated on its Web site, makes it very clear that its products can’t be sent there.

But it is also illegal in the United States for a private company to discriminate against individuals based on race, color, religion or national origin under the Civil Rights Act. This protection extends of course to retail stores.

Abdi concluded his editorial by calling for Congress and President Obama to confront the consequences of their “ratcheted up sanctions,” or else they will continue to threaten the “values and basic civil liberties of some American citizens.”

The issue comes down to the US Government vaguely forcing retailers to enforce sanctions when those should be enforced at borders.

Visit The New York Times for the entire piece, called “Sanctions at the Genius Bar”.

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Twitter reveals how it painstakingly overhauled mobile Web client [Photos]

Élyse Betters Jul 11 2012 - 1:11 pm PT

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: Small Crop of Targeted Devices

: Design Team at Work

: First Pass on Samsung Corby

: Redesign Sketches

: Before and After Redesign

Twitter recently released an update to its mobile effort, and rival client Tweetbot followed the frenzy by making its public alpha for Mac available today, but the microblogging service is not ready to share the limelight.

Coleen Baik, a designer at Twitter, took to the network’s blog this afternoon to fully detail how it meticulously overhauled mobile.twitter.com.

“We had about nine weeks to design, prototype, develop, test, and calibrate mobile.twitter.com for launch. There were a handful of challenges we took on,” wrote Baik.

A few of the challenges included:

Support more than 13 different browsers on thousands of different devices, each with their own rendering idiosyncrasies
Accommodate input methods with dissimilar requirements
Build layouts with pre-CSS3/HTML5 standards
Optimize for browsers with javascript turned off
Scale gracefully from resolutions as small as 240 by 240 pixels all the way up to widescreen views on the desktop
Minimize page sizes for slower networks
Make it look and feel like Twitter, even without images.
Pave the way for even more feature consistency with other twitter.com clients

The design team sketched plans for primary views and navigation, “fleshed out details like the Tweet anatomy and interaction flows for tasks like tweeting, searching, and writing direct messages,” and then delved into HTML/CSS wireframes. They even collaborated with Twitter’s mobile engineers to “build out main views like ‘Home,’ ‘Connect,’ ‘Discover,’ and ‘Me.'”

Twitter eventually tested three different versions across 300 devices before making a final decision. After two months of work, the pristine version finally rolled out earlier this week. It immediately met a slew of positive responses.

“Change is always difficult because it means, among other things, having to relearn what was once comfortable and familiar,” Baik contended. “But we hope that the initial pains of readjustment quickly lead you to appreciate this faster, more comfortable and easier-to-use mobile.twitter.com on feature phones and older browsers.”

Visit the Twitter Blog for the entire redesign breakdown.

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Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac and Parallels Mobile now support Retina Display [Video]

Élyse Betters Jul 11 2012 - 11:44 am PT

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJnEguWBYUk&feature=player_embedded]

Parallels announced that its Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac and Parallels Mobile now support Apple’s Retina display.

“We are proud to announce that both Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac and Parallels Mobile have been updated to support Apple’s Retina display and its over 5 million megapixels on the newly released MacBooks and latest iPad,” explained the software firm, which delivers an integrated Windows-on-a-Mac experience, so users can reap the full advantages of Apple’s offering across all their devices.

Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac is able to run multiple operating systems, including Windows 8 Release Preview, Windows 7, Chrome, and Ubuntu, and it will soon provide support for the final versions of Mountain Lion and Windows 8 after their release, while Parallels Mobile allows users to remotely control a computer from an iOS device.

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Tim Cook makes surprise appearance at Allen & Co retreat this morning (Update: Spotted with Dorsey)

Élyse Betters Jul 11 2012 - 10:18 am PT

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Tim Cook with Twitter creator Jack Dorsey

[tweet https://twitter.com/markgurman/status/223099203377836032]

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook made a low-profile, surprise appearance at the Allen & Company annual retreat in Sun Valley earlier today.

According to The New York Post, the CEO attended the event for the first time to observe The New Yorker’s Evan Osnos’ session on China:

While his name was on the list of possible attendees, no one knew if the low-key CEO would put in an appearance.

Apple’s late co-founder Steve Jobs hadn’t traveled to the annual gathering in recent years.

Cook slipped out of the session at the Sun Valley Inn largely unnoticed. While other business titans gathered at the Duck Pond for lunch, he headed in the direction of the lodge.

The session was hosted by The New Yorker’s China correspondent, Evan Osnos. Apple is getting ready to unleash the latest version of the iPad in China, the world’s largest consumer market.

The Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference is a 29-year-old annual conference hosted by private investment firm Allen & Company. It takes place in Sun Valley, Idaho for one week in July, where moguls, executives and philanthropists flock to rub shoulders. Previous conference guests have included Steve Jobs, Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren and Susan Buffett, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, and more.

: Tim Cook with iPad

: Tim Cook and CEO of Akamai Paul Sagan

: Tim Cook

: Tim Cook with Twitter creator Jack Dorsey

(Cook and Sagan pictures via BusinessInsider; Cook and Dorsey picture via mcatwellons—Thanks, @wiserjoe727!)

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Amazon combats Apple’s Game Center with its own GameCircle [Video]

Élyse Betters Jul 11 2012 - 7:15 am PT

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdoxX0XGros&feature=player_embedded]

Amazon just announced a new gaming experience for developers and the Kindle Fire: GameCircle.

According to the Amazon Mobile App Distribution blog, GameCircle is a “new set of services designed to make it easier for you to create more engaging gaming experiences and grow your business on Kindle Fire,” by making “achievements, leaderboards and sync APIs accessible, simple and quick for you to integrate, and will give gamers a more seamless and entertaining in-game experience.”

Amazon offers a growing suite of developer services. Its new GameCircle is geared specifically for game developers too, which is great news for the Kindle Fire since it is facing a firestorm of Android-based content competition from the new Nexus 7. Game Circle also helps players to better experience their games through three key features —achievements, leaderboards, and sync—that will surely continue to entice folks to the dominating Android-based eReader.

Amazon’s new gaming experience clearly draws cues from Apple’s Game Center, which is an online multiplayer social gaming network. It launched in 2010 to allow iOS app users the ability to invite friends, start multiplayer games, track achievements, and compare scores on a leaderboard.

Google was looking to develop a similar system for Android, according to reports in May, but it looks like Amazon beat the gurus in Mountain View to the punch. The launch of GameCircle is timely due to rumors of a Kindle Fire 2 launch allegedly set for this summer.

Visit 9to5Google for the full story.

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Next Issue for iPad launches, offers bevy of popular magazines for just $10/month [Video]

Élyse Betters Jul 10 2012 - 1:11 pm PT

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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk079o_2FHo&feature=player_embedded]

Next Issue, a subscription-based iPad app for magazines, finally hit the App Store today after first having launched as an Android app on the Google Play store.

The sales pitch is simple: “All the magazines you love. All in one app. All yours for one low price.”

Folks need to visit NextIssue.com to create an account and start a 30-day free trial, and then they can download the app to access a bevy of titles from Conde Nast, News Corp, Hearst, Meredith, Time, and more major publishers. A few of the more enticing magazine titles include: Allure, Better Homes and Gardens, Bon Appétit, ELLE, Entertainment Weekly, Esquire, Fitness, Fortune, Glamour, GQ, InStyle, People, Popular Mechanics, Real Simple, Self, Southern Living, Sports Illustrated, The New Yorker, TIME, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and Wired.

Next Issue offers two subscription types: the $10 monthly plan only provides the top magazines, while the $15 monthly plan boasts the entire catalog with weekly selections. A quick gander through the catalog shows enhanced digital magazines, which are tablet-optimized and feature bonus videos, photography and interactive elements.

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NewerTech starts shipping miniStack for Mac mini, MAX model coming soon

Élyse Betters Jul 10 2012 - 9:36 am PT

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NewerTechnology just began shipping its new miniStack for 2010 or later Mac minis.

9to5Mac first covered this aluminum-bodied external hard drive at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, where we noted it features FireWire 800/400, USB 3.0/2.0, and eSATA ports for data transfer up to 500 MB/s. It also comes equipped with a hushed MagLev fan for inside cooling, up to 4 TB of large storage, an integrated Kensington Security Slot, and “multi-interface options make the miniStack ideal for storing or backing up large music, photo, and video libraries.” It also has the same footprint as the Mac Mini, so the two stack perfectly together.

Go to Amazon to purchase the miniStack. Prices range from $89.99 for the bare kit to $370.99 for 4 TB.

NewerTechnology’s website also showcases the miniStack MAX, which is listed as “coming soon.” It is an amped version of the miniStack that “puts the functionality of a high-capacity external drive” as an “an optical drive, integrated SD card reader, and USB-powered hub.” It features the familiar aluminum frame and Mac mini footprint for the tech’s iconic stackable look.

The technical specs include USB 3.0 SD card reader, Optical read/write CD/DVD drive, USB hub with three USB 3.0 ports (one with 2.1Amp power for iPad), and a quad interface with FireWire 800/400 at 100MB/s and 50MB/s respective speeds. It also offers USB 3.0/2.0 at 500MB/s and 60MB/s respective speeds, and eSATA at 300MB/s. It further boasts the miniStack’s MagLev fan, integrated Kensington Security Slot, and “high quality double-shielded connection cables included for all interfaces.”

There is no word on pricing or availability for the miniStack MAX, but it may be a little ways out if compared to the miniStack’s lengthy delay between its unveiling and launch date.

: MiniStack Stacked

: MiniStack Ports

: MiniStack Stacked

: MiniStack Front

: MiniStack

: [Top Image]

: Ministack MAX Ports

: Ministack MAX Front

: Ministack MAX

: [Bottom Image]

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