Jordan Kahn

According to a report from Nick Bilton from The New York Times, citing people close to the situation, Apple is currently in the process of developing a wristwatch that utilizes curved glass. This isn’t the first time Bilton has reported that Apple has wearable devices in the works, and there has recently been many rumors that Apple could indeed compete with a Bluetooth watch of its own. In December 2011, Bilton reported that a small group of people at Apple were “conceptualizing and even prototyping” wearable devices. The group was likely lead by wearable computer expert Richard DeVaul at the time, and it was said to be prototyping a “curved-glass iPod that would wrap around the wrist.” DeVaul jumped ship to Google in 2011, but Bitlon said Apple is pushing ahead with its bendable iOS wristwatch.

In today’s report, Bilton claimed the watch would run iOS and stand out from the competition due to Apple’s unique process of implementing curved glass in wearable form factors:
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According to a report from Bloomberg, Arlington, Va.-based CACI International Inc., is working with Apple to secure thousands of iPads for use in U.S. government agencies. CACI Chief Executive Officer Dan Allen referred to the modified devices as “neutered iPads” and hinted the company is working to implement security features related to wireless connectivity and the camera. CACI specializes in providing IT solutions to government, although it didn’t state how exactly the iPads are being secured, but it did note that it’s a hardware solution and not software:

“It’s a neutered iPad,” Allen said today during a meeting with Bloomberg Government reporters and editors. “We’re working on how do we effectively brand it.”

The move comes as iPad and other iOS devices continue to be adopted by government agencies. In October, documents revealed the U.S. Department of Defense planned to deploy at least 162,500 devices partially made up of iOS devices, while a number of other U.S. agencies also switched from BlackBerry to iPhones over the last year.
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Bruce Tognazzini, Apple employee #66 and founder of Apple’s Human Interface Group, published his thoughts on a potential smart watch product from the company (via MG Siegler) yesterday. While we have seen the launch of several Bluetooth smart watch products from startups this year, Tognazzini thought a watch from Apple could “have a profound impact on our lives and Apple’s fortunes.” One of the many interesting ideas Tognazzini has about how Apple might take advantage of a wearable device is the ability to build better maps:

Using pressure data from millions of watches, Apple could build a precision altitude map of the world. This map would indicate true altitudes everywhere that iWatch wearers travel. The granularity would be several orders of magnitude greater than ever before attempted for a wide-area map at a cost several orders of magnitude less than Flyover.

In the article, Tognazzini explained what he thought will be the standout features of an iWatch from Apple. While outlining the some of the apps you might expect like fitness and remote control applications, he said Passcodes and enhanced Find My iPhone features would be the two killer apps:

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The source of today’s rumor^

There is a sketchy rumor floating around this morning from Chinese tech website Laoyaoba.com (and translated by BrightWire), where a source of the website has seen the upcoming iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 at an Apple supplier.

Unfortunately, there are more than a few reasons why the report simply doesn’t add up. First, the report originated from microblog Old Yao. This weblog appears to be part of Laoyaba.com, but it’s not a part of the website’s official news coverage. A quick look through the Old Yao blog shows mostly uncorroborated rumors and opinion.

It also seems very unlikely that Apple would introduce the iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 in 2013, especially with much more solid rumors of a low-cost iPhone this year. It is possible the source of Old Yao saw prototypes of an iPhone that is larger than 4 inches, which we previously heard exists from more reliable sources. However, it’s also worth noting that we aren’t aware of the source above (pictured) previously having accurate information on upcoming Apple products, and today’s report essentially just mirrors what we already heard.

This report follows the extremely sketchy iPhone “math” or “+” report that we debunked on point, as did other well-connected folks. This didn’t stop some folks—who obviously want an Apple Galaxy Note—from creating mockups and the like, but that still doesn’t make it true.

We’re still hunting for a reliable source on these rumors, and we’ll report when we find one.

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As noted by ArsTechnica, Adobe just released an unscheduled patch to address two vulnerabilities that could be the source of malware attacks on both OS X and Windows. Apple has also issued a KB urging users to update. According to the advisory posted by Adobe, the attacks targeted Firefox or Safari users on Mac:

Adobe is also aware of reports that CVE-2013-0634 is being exploited in the wild in attacks delivered via malicious Flash (SWF) content hosted on websites that target Flash Player in Firefox or Safari on the Macintosh platform, as well as attacks designed to trick Windows users into opening a Microsoft Word document delivered as an email attachment which contains malicious Flash (SWF) content.

The update is available through Adobe’s website here.

Rabbit: Launching today in closed beta, Rabbit is a new video chat and content sharing app– initially available exclusively for Mac– that has been getting a lot of attention. The app lets you chat with an unlimited number of people, create and customize chats, as well as watch movies, listen to music, and share content in chats in real-time. If you are a pre-teen who hasn’t heard of Google Hangouts, you might want to check this out.

Rabbit is kind of like a virtual living room. It runs in the background on your computer just like Skype, so you can always find your friends online and invite them to watch a movie or listen to music at any time. You can share this content directly from your computer, or you can use the Rabbit “SharePad” of integrated content sites to instantly launch TV shows, videos and music you want to watch and listen to with your friends.

Foursquare version 5.4.3: Foursquare gets an update today that brings improvements to check-in notification settings including an “Always” option to get notifications for all check-ins, as well as new “Nearby” and “Off” settings to apply to specific users.

✓ Choose “ALWAYS” for close friends and family you always want to keep up with. You’ll get notifications for all their check-ins, no matter where they are in the world.
✓ Choose “NEARBY” for friends you’d like to hear about from time to time. We’ll only notify you when they’re close by.
✓ Choose “OFF” for those acquaintances you don’t really want updates from. And that bike messenger friend who checks in at every spot on his route.

TomTom version 1.13: TomTom updated the majority of its iOS navigation apps today. On top of the most up to date map data, users can also now backup and restore settings and stored destinations from iCloud. With today’s update TomTom is also providing a free 30 day trial to its HD traffic subscription. In addition, the app now includes compatibility for iPad mini.

Borderlands Legends version 1.1.0: 2K’s Borderlands Legends (and the HD iPad version) is updated today with new features including a new sniper mode, new enemy and mini boss types, night versions of the Wasteland map, iPhone 5 & Game Center support, new Eridian Weapons, and more.
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FreedomPop, the wireless provider offering customers free 500MB per month data plans through devices such as its $99 WiMAX sleeve for iPod touch, today announced a few big additions coming to the service. First, the company is expanding on its “social broadband” features to allow users to share and request unused bandwidth through social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. In addition, starting today, it is increasing additional data rewarded for referrals from 10MB to 50MB. Ahead of the company’s plans to roll out LTE service through Sprint’s network later this year, FreedomPop also confirmed to 9to5Mac that it plans to launch an LTE clip for iPad users.

Earlier this week, Forbes reported it heard FreedomPop planned to launch a new LTE clip to offer free 4G data plans to iPad users through Sprint’s LTE network. Although still not officially announced, we confirmed with the company that it will indeed launch a FreedomPop LTE clip compatible with iPads in the second half of this year. A few of the details we have on the product: it will weigh 2.5 ounces, offer 3G and LTE on Sprint’s network, battery life will be 6 hours, and come with FreedomPop’s usual free 500MB per month plan. FreedomPop also noted it will connect up to eight devices, and it has been specifically designed for the iPad, iPad mini, and Samsung Galaxy devices.

Though carriers like AT&T and Verizon have recently embraced family plans, FreedomPop’s social platform goes beyond this to enable capacity to be shared across entire social networks. Also, users can check Facebook and Twitter, in addition to their email cetacts, to see which of their friends are on FreedomPop and receive an additional 50MB of free data per friend they connec twith, per month while their friend remains a FreedomPop user.

FreedomPop previously discussed its social broadband platform, and it is finally launching the ability to share data through social networks today. The feature will allow users to connect through email, Facebook, and Twitter. The concept will allow users that might not use all of their monthly data allowance to share with others, and they will be rewarded for doing so, instead of data going “to waste or AT&T’s bottom line.” FreedomPop CEO Stephen Stokols noted 80 percent of wireless subscribers consume less data than they pay for each month:

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Following a report from Strategy Analytics earlier this month that had Apple as the No.1 mobile phone vendor in the United States for the first time, research firm comScore is out today with its stats for the three-month period ending in December 2012. ComScore looked at the top smartphone subscribers by OEM and the top smartphone platforms, which doesn’t include mobile phones other than smartphones like Strategy Analytics’ report.

According to the report, Apple was able to increase its share from 34.4-percent in the September quarter to 36.3-percent last quarter. Samsung also increased its share—although was significantly behind Apple but still up from 18.7-percent in the quarter before—to 21 percent of the market. HTC, Motorola, and LG rounded out the last three spots in the category with 10.2-percent, 9.1-percent, and 7.1-percent of the U.S. market in December. While Apple was able to grab the top smartphone vendor position, Android maintained its lead over iOS as the top smartphone platform during the quarter.

Google captured 53.4-percent of smartphone subscribers with Android in Q4, up from 52.5-percent in September. In comparison, Apple came in at 36.3-percent and posted a slightly larger increase than Android with two points from 34.3-percent the quarter before. Growth for iOS and Android, like in previous months, comes at the expense of declines for BlackBerry and Microsoft.

Canalys also released a report today that tracked worldwide PC shipments in the fourth quarter—a category that also includes iPads. According to the report, Apple continued its lead in the PC market by hitting over 20 percent for the first time with over 27 million units shipped. Macs accounted for 4 million of those units, while the report estimated iPad mini made up about half of the remaining 23 million iPads:

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Apple issued a press release on Wednesday to announce the iTunes Store hit a new record with 25 billion songs sold. Apple Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue noted Apple averaged 15,000 songs downloaded per minute, while the iTunes Store is now home to 26 million songs in 119 countries. Apple also gave away a €10,000 iTunes Gift Card to iTunes user Phillip Lüpke from Germany for downloading the 25 billionth song, “Monkey Drums” (Goksel Vancin Remix) by Chase Buch.

“We are grateful to our users whose passion for music over the past 10 years has made iTunes the number one music retailer in the world,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “Averaging over 15,000 songs downloaded per minute, the iTunes Store connects music fans with their favorite artists, including global sensations like Adele and Coldplay and new artists like The Lumineers, on a scale we never imagined possible.”

Oh, and just a reminder: iTunes is having a Valentine’s Love Music Sale of 69 cents per song.

Apple’s full press release is below:
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Vine version 1.0.5: Twitter’s new short video sharing app Vine ran into a bit of controversy when pornography found its way into the Editor’s Picks section due to human error. The developers have since addressed the issues and today’s update not only brings new Twitter and Facebook sharing features, but also the ability to block and report profiles. As noted by The Verge, the 1.0.5 update also increased the rating of the app from 12+ to 17+.

• Share to Twitter or Facebook after posting. Find the post you want to share, then tap the “…” button in the bottom right.
• Report or block a profile. Go to the profile, then tap the newly added “…” button in the top right.
• Fixed an issue that caused a black screen to appear and uploads to fail after creating a video on certain devices
• Miscellaneous bug fixes

ProCutX for Final Cut Pro X: Final Cut plug-in maker & production company Pixel Film Studios is out today with a new app that allows iPad users to control a FCPX session running on their Mac. At first glance the app appears to provide a pretty slick UI and the developers said it offers access to all of the software’s editing tools to “control every step of the FCPX editing process.”

• Precision Timeline Scrubbing
• Quick Retiming
• Auto-Correct Color
• Color Grading
• Compound Clip Editing
• Import, Export, and Rendering shortcuts
• Quick Keywording
• Fast access to Tools
• System Volume Control
• Timeline Zooming
• Audio Enhancements
• Record Voiceovers

Tango version 2.6.36915: The popular text, voice, and video chat app Tango was updated today with a new central gallery for pictures and videos and a number of enhancements:

✔ New! Find all your pictures and videos in a central gallery.

✔ New! Improved call handling makes connect faster.

☂ Bug Fixes

Tweetbot version 2.7.1:
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Following the news that Apple is to discontinue its Mac Pro line in Europe due to new regulatory standards, Apple is reportedly prepping a new Mac Pro product for spring 2013. The news comes from Apple reseller France Systemes (via Mac4Ever & Macg.co), an Apple Authorized Reseller and Certified Education Center in France with 17 years in the business, which claimed in a recent newsletter to customers that Apple has confirmed the discontinuation of Mac Pros in the country would only be temporary.

Dear Effective 1 March 2013, Apple will sell more Mac Pro in the countries of the European Union:These materials are not consistent with Amendment 1 regulatory ES 60950-1 second edition that will be applicable 1st March 2013 . Apple take the last orders of Mac Pro configuration card or CTO until February 18, 2013 to guarantee delivery of your Mac Pro before 1 March 2013. However, we believe that the judgment of the Mac Pro is temporary, we Apple informed that a new Mac Pro will be released in spring 2013. We will be sure to submit these products since their introduction.

We discovered last month that Apple would officially stop selling the Mac Pro in Europe on March 1 due to a new standard set to kick in on that date known as “Amendment 1 of regulation IEC 60950-1, Second Edition.” If Apple were to release a new Mac Pro in the spring, it could be an all-new model (something that is definitely a long time coming). If it isn’t Apple’s first major refresh of its Mac Pro line since 2010, Apple could potentially update components of the Mac Pro to meet the new standards and continue selling to the professional market in the European Union.

Logitech’s Ultrathin keyboard cover for iPad has been one of our go-to recommendations for a quality tablet keyboard case that doesn’t add too much additional bulk for a while. The company might have some new, slimmer competition from Archos and Zagg, but Logitech announced it is bringing its popular Ultrathin keyboard cover to the iPad mini today.

Equipped with the same magnets, as well as auto-wake and the slim aluminum cover, Logitech’s Bluetooth EasyType keyboard with a three-month battery life and built-in stand is a essentially a scaled down version of its predecessor that we love. Logitech also said the new keyboard would maintain a traditional layout and standard key size, so you won’t have to sacrifice a smooth typing experience for the smaller form factor.

Logitech is taking preorders for the new Ultrathin Keyboard mini in black and white for $79.99 on its website and expects to make shipments this month. The previous Ultrathin model for iPad 2, 3, and 4 is available for $20 more through Amazon and other fine retailers for $99.

Another video showing off the new iPad mini model from Logitech is below:

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Wow! 270,000+ active users on http://t.co/YQrXEeVQ!!! #evasi0n

— pod2g (@pod2g) February 4, 2013

If you have not jailbroken an iOS device in a while, you might wonder what all the excitement is surrounding today’s launch of the evasi0n jailbreak tool for iOS 6. (Note: Some people are having issues with the default Apple Weather app after install.)

[tweet https://twitter.com/MuscleNerd/status/298543670888644608]

Over the years, many features that were once jailbreak-only made their way to iOS or via third parties through the App Store. However, there are still many things you can do with jailbreak tweaks that aren’t possible on non-jailbroken devices. With over 270,000 active users at any one time on evasi0n today, we put together a list of some of the most interesting and useful tweaks that caught our attention in recent months:

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