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.
Reuters reported today that the yacht Steve Jobs commissioned before his passing has been impounded in Amsterdam over a payment dispute with its designer, Phillippe Starck. Starck’s lawyers are apparently seeking an unpaid 3 million euros of the 9 million euro he was supposed to receive for his work:
The yacht was impounded on Wednesday evening, the lawyer said, and will remain in Amsterdam port pending payment by lawyers representing Jobs’ estate.
“The project has been going since 2007 and there had been a lot of detailed talk between Jobs and Starck,” Roelant Klaassen, a lawyer representing Ubik, said.
“These guys trusted each other, so there wasn’t a very detailed contract,” he said.
Associated Press said local Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad reported today that the boat, worth 105 million euro, will not leave the harbor it has been docked in since Dec. 8 until the dispute is resolved.
Two days after releasing 10.8.3 build 12D43 to developers, Apple is today pushing out 10.8.3 build 12D44 with no known issues. Such rapid releases could point to an imminent launch of the OS. Like the last pre-release build, Apple isn’t listing any significant changes and asking developers to focus on AirPlay, AirPort, Game Center, Graphics Drivers, and Safari. Head below for the full release notes:
OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3 build 12D44 Seed Note
OS X Mountain Lion Update 10.8.3 is an update to OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.
Installation Instructions
Please be aware that you will not be able to revert back to your previous system after updating. Please install this update on a system you are prepared to erase if necessary.
– If you have already installed the “OS X Software Update Seed Configuration Utility”, choose “Software Update” from the Apple menu. Otherwise, proceed with the following steps.
– Log into your Apple Developer account and download the “OS X Software Update Seed Configuration Utility”. - After running the installer, the Mac App Store will open automatically. Click on the Updates panel and OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3 build 12D38 will now be available for download. - When a newer seed build is available, you will receive a notification to update from the Mac App Store. Click the notification to begin the installation. New seed notes will be posted in the Mac Dev Center. - To stop receiving new seed builds, go to the Software Update Preference in System Preferences and where it says “Your computer is set to receive pre- release Software Update seeds”, press the “Change…” button.
Note: If you are using a computer which gets its updates from a local Software Update server, the OS X Software Update Seed Configuration Utility will reconfigure your machine to use Apple’s Software Update servers. Your computer must be able to connect to Apple’s Software Update servers to install the seed. We recommend that you remove any Configuration Profile that specifies a local Software Update server before installing the OS X Software Update Seed Configuration Utility.
Known Issues
– None
Focus Areas
– AirPlay - AirPort - Game Center - Graphics Drivers
– Safari
T-Mobile’s Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray announced on the company’s blog today that 14 new metro areas are getting access to its iPhone-compatible HSPA+ 4G network. The updates are hitting areas such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Dallas, Texas, Florida, and San Antonio, following rollouts to Chicago, California, and elsewhere earlier this month.
The carrier also said enhancements to its network in additional areas like Los Angeles and San Diego have already started. This means that customers on Solavei, the new, no-contract T-Mobile MVNO offering of $49 per month unlimited, will also get coverage for unlocked iPhones in the new areas. A full list is below:
1. Karateka | $2.99: Jordan Mechner, creator of the popular Prince of Persia franchise, and developer of the original fighter classic “Karateka” for the Apple II, is today bringing an HD remake of the game to iOS. Available on the App Store now for $2.99 for iPhone and iPad, the remake of the original 1984 fighter looks to essentially be a port of work done on the HD remake released on consoles last month. The video above features Mechner talking about the remake and comparing the original Apple II version to the new iOS title.
Created on an Apple II by Jordan Mechner in his Yale dorm room, Karateka became a #1 bestseller and influenced a generation of gamers with its groundbreaking rotoscoped animation and cinematic cutscenes… 28 years later, Mechner returns to his indie roots with a new take on Karateka for today’s digital game platforms, featuring art by Jeff Matsuda (The Batman) and music by Grammy-winning composer Christopher Tin (Civilization IV).
After coming to Steam last month, Mac games publisher Aspyr has announced the Mac edition of 2k Games’ popular Borderlands 2 title is now officially available at the Mac App Store. Aspyr also made the game 25 percent off on the Mac App Store for the holidays at $44.99. Multiplayer and Game Center support won’t come until early 2013 in a free update, but exclusive to the Mac App Store version is: the new Fired Up skins, a unique head for each vault hunter, and “a Contraband Sky Rocket Grenade mod.”
Those who purchased the game on Steam will also get access to the Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage DLC on Mac today for $9.99:
Today is also a big day for Mac players who have already purchased Borderlands 2 from Steam or other fine outlets such as GameAgent.com. The newest Borderlands 2 DLC, Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage comes to the Mac with tons of new content and challenges players to enter the Badass Crater of Badassitude! Mr. Torgue is priced at $9.99, supports Steam Play, and is included for purchasers of the Borderlands 2: Season Pass. Check out Aspyr.com for more details.
Google made some announcements today regarding its work with the Quickoffice team since acquiring the company in June. On top of noting work to take advantage of Quickoffice conversion technology in Google Docs, Google launched a free version of the QuickOffice iPad app exclusively for Google Apps for Business customers today. There are also free iPhone and Android versions of the app for creating and editing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files coming to Apps customers in the near future:
Converting old files to Google Docs, Sheets and Slides is the easiest way to share and work together, but perhaps not everyone you work with has gone Google yet. To complement what you can do with Google documents, we’re also making it easier for you to make quick edits to Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint files without conversion. Starting today, the Quickoffice iPad app is available for free to all Apps for Business customers, and iPhone and Android versions are on the way.
Vice President of Google Enterprise Amit Singh welcomed the announcement on his Twitter account: “Customers can now get Quickoffice for free. No need to license microsoft for your ipad.”
The Wall Street Journal reported today that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has announced its decision to update its more than 10-year-old law governing the privacy of children online. The changes mean app developers and websites will be required to obtain parental consent when collecting photos, videos, geolocation information, or tracking behavior of children 13 and under. However, as noted in the report, the updated rules have been altered since originally proposed in August and would not require third-party plug-ins, like Facebook Like buttons, or app platforms, such as the App Store, to enforce the law:
in a departure from rule changes the government proposed in August, third-party “plug-ins” on websites—things like Facebook Inc.’s “Like” button and ads placed by advertising networks—will only have to meet child online privacy regulations if they have “actual knowledge” that they’re collecting information through a website or app that targets kids…
Apple made that point in five meetings with FTC officials in the fall. The FTC responded by explicitly exempting the Apple App Store and Google Play, the app store for mobile devices running Google’s Android software, from having to make sure that the apps they provided complied with Coppa.
Verizon and Redbox confirmed on the official Redbox Instant Twitter account that the new unlimited streaming service is rolling out gradually starting today. The $8-per-month Netflix competitor will provide unlimited streaming and four physical DVD or Blu-ray rentals ($9 a month for Blu-ray) and will be available through the browser as well as mobile apps. A Redbox Instant by Verizon iOS app for iPhone and iPad is already available on the App Store. There is also a free one-month trial included.
Today, Kodak announced the $525 million sale of its patents to two firms, Intellectual Ventures and RPX Corporation. It is interesting that the two companies will work with 12 intellectual property licensee to pay a portion of the over $500 million price tag. The 12 licensees, who aren’t listed by name in Kodak’s press release, would all receive varying access to the digital imaging patent portfolio and other Kodak patents included in the sale. In turns out that Apple, Google, and many other large tech companies, will provide cash toward the purchase as licensees.
Under the agreements, Kodak will receive approximately $525 million, a portion of which will be paid by 12 intellectual property licensees organized by Intellectual Ventures and RPX Corporation, with each licensee receiving rights with respect to the digital imaging patent portfolio and certain other Kodak patents. Another portion will be paid by Intellectual Ventures, which is acquiring the digital imaging patent portfolio subject to these new licenses, as well as previously existing licenses.
Bloomberg is reporting, as relayed by Business Insider, that the 12 companies are made up of Apple, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, Facebook, and just about every major player in the tech business: Expand Expanding Close
Last week, a report from The Wall Street Journal claimed Apple’s much rumored HDTV set is now in the “early stages of testing” with partners Hon Hai Precision and Sharp. Today, we get more details surrounding the rumored product from the Taiwan national news agency’s English language Focus Taiwan. According to the report, citing sources close to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the supplier is testing Apple television designs, but the possibility of the product shipping in 2013 is “unlikely”:
Nevertheless, the source said it is unlikely that shipments of the appliances will begin as soon as the end of next year.
While the report from WSJ claimed Sharp was involved in the initial testing of the product with Hon Hai, Focus Taiwan’s source claimed the possibility of Sharp displaying panels for the product is “not high”:
Asked whether the new Apple TV will use display panels produced by Japan’s Sharp Corp., the source said the possibility is not high.
The source also claimed that Apple is looking at displays ranging from 46 inches to 55 inches, meaning the company likely wouldn’t rely on Sharp’s plants best suited for production of 60+ inch panels: Expand Expanding Close
Steinberg, makers of popular digital audio workstation Cubase and innovators of the VST format for virtual instruments and plug-ins, this week announced the release of a new iPad app. Not surprising to anyone familiar with Cubase on the desktop, the “Cubasis” iPad app at first glance appears to go well beyond the functionality of Apple’s Garageband. However, the app will also cost a little more at $49.99 on the App Store.
Features include unlimited tracks (48 voices: iPad 2, iPad mini, 64 voices: iPad 3, iPad 4), more than 70 virtual instrument sounds modeled after HALion Sonic, and the ability to “sequence other CoreMIDI apps (MIDI recording only) and run Cubasis simultaneously via background audio.”
You’ll also be able to export projects to Cubase and Cubase Artist 7/6.5. Screenshots and a full list of features are below:
Key features
• Unlimited audio and MIDI tracks (depends on the device used)
• Over 70 virtual instrument sounds based on HALion Sonic
• MixConsole with over 10 effect processors
• Over 300 MIDI and audio loops
• Virtual keyboard and virtual drum pads
• Sample Editor and Key Editor
• Export projects to Cubase, Dropbox, SoundCloud, AudioCopy and email
• Core Audio and Core MIDI compatible hardware supported
• Sequence other CoreMIDI apps (MIDI recording only) and run Cubasis simultaneously via background audio
• Audio import from iTunes music library, AudioPaste, Wi-Fi server and iTunes file sharing
• Audio mixdown and MIDI export
Facebook announced on its Developer Blog today (via TechCrunch) that it is improving its mobile app install ads by providing a number of new options for both users and developers when viewing and creating ads. Perhaps the most interesting is the ability for iOS 6 users to install apps from ads within the Facebook iOS app without leaving the app—a feature Apple opened up to developers with iOS 6. In other words, ads in the Facebook app will no longer pull you into the App Store. This allows users to download the app within a dialog inside the Facebook app (as pictured above):
Mobile app install ads drive installs by taking people directly to the App Store or Google Play. Now, people on iOS 6 can install an app without leaving their Facebook experience. When they click on an ad, the App Store will appear in another dialog box. After installing the app, they will be able to continue where they left off on Facebook.
Facebook is also rolling out other features for advertisers, including the ability to customize ads “directly from the app dashboard, power editor, or the ads API” and view demographic breakdowns for app installs by age, gender, country, and more.
Going deep into our supply chain, we now follow weekly supplier data for over 1,000,000 workers. In November 88 percent of workweeks were less than the 60-hour maximum specified in Apple’s code of conduct. In limited peak periods, we allow work beyond the 60 hour limit for those employees that volunteer to do so.
As Samsung passes Nokia for the first time in 14 years as the top cellphone OEM in 2012, iSuppli also reported today that Samsung would increase in its lead on Apple among the top five smartphone manufacturers. From 9to5Google:
Samsung also tops iSuppli’s forecast for the top smartphone OEMs by worldwide shipments as the company continues to extend its slight lead over Apple. iSuppli is expecting Samsung to take in 28 percent of the global smartphone market in 2012 (up from 20 percent in 2011), while Apple’s gains are smaller at 20 percent, up from 19 percent last year
Today, we have updates on Apple and Samsung’s ongoing court woes. A report from Bloomberg noted U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh in the San Jose, California case rejected Apple’s most recent request for a United States sales ban on 26 Samsung devices. According to the report, Koh said the decision was based on the fact that the “case involves lost sales—not a lost ability to be a viable market participant.”
“Samsung may have cut into Apple’s customer base somewhat, but there is no suggestion that Samsung will wipe out Apple’s customer base, or force Apple out of the business of making smartphones,” Koh said. “The present case involves lost sales — not a lost ability to be a viable market participant.”
As noted by The Verge, a second post-trial order delivered by Koh yesterday denied Samsung’s request for a new trial on the claims of jury misconduct. Koh claimed that juror Velvin Hogan disclosed his previous involvement with Seagate during the jury selection process, giving Samsung’s lawyers more than enough time to discover the litigation. From the court filing:
Samsung has waived its claim for an evidentiary hearing and a new trial based on Mr. Hogan’s alleged dishonesty during voir dire. Prior to the verdict, Samsung could have discovered Mr. Hogan’s litigation with Seagate, had Samsung acted with reasonable diligence based on information Samsung acquired through voir dire, namely that Mr. Hogan stated during voir dire that he had worked for Seagate.
Samsung vs. Apple cases abroad are also making news today: FossPatents reported today that Samsung has dropped all requests for sales bans against Apple in Europe related to standard-essential patents. However, as pointed out in the report, Samsung will still attempt to win monetary compensation in its cases against Apple, but will no longer request courts to enforce bans on Apple products. FossPatents speculated on Samsung’s decision: Expand Expanding Close
Update: Apple has reported that all problems are now resolved with outages having lasted from 5:35 p.m. to 6:49 p.m.:
Apple’s system status page is showing that some users are experiencing problems with iCloud and may not be able to access a number of services, including: Mail, Contacts, Photo Stream, Calendar, Reminders, Backup, and more. iMessage and other services, such as the App Store and iTunes, remain online. Apple’s recently updated system status page shows that the outages started happening around 5:30 p.m. EST.
Late last week Apple confirmed and quickly fixed issues that some users were having with being unable to access iCloud documents, Photo Stream, back up and restore, and iMessage. We’ll keep you posted.
Hulu shared some new stats today for 2012 on its blog. It announced revenue of roughly $695 million—accounting for a 65 percent growth in revenue for the year. Perhaps even bigger news is the announcement that the service now boasts over 3 million paying subscribers, doubling the number of paid subs in the last year, thanks to the launch of the service on Apple TV and elsewhere during 2012.
Business Insider pointed us to an interview on OpenForum with the Guess? CIO Michael Relich. The clothing retailer implemented iPads for merchandising in 2010, and it has since installed iPads in stores, started accepting credit card payments via iPod touch, and even started supplying extra iPods instead of cash registers to stores during the busy holiday seasons.
Well our buyers saw an improvement immediately. Instead of just seeing a number on a spreadsheet, our iPad app allowed them to see the specific coat, pant or dress accompanied by a photo and where it was selling. Suddenly, they were going into stores with a lot better idea about what to do and how to act to improve the store.
For shoppers, our engagement went through the roof after we installed iPads in the stores. People instinctively go up to the device and use it to find out-of-stock merchandise or track their loyalty program points. We’ve gotten great feedback.
Well I believe that cash registers will go away and will be replaced by iPads or iPod touches. We currently use an iPod touch in stores for credit-card transactions, similar to the Apple store…
Autodesk Inc. announced today that it is now shipping the latest version of its professional video-editing suite for Mac, Autodesk Smoke 2013, starting at $3,495 SRP per license*. The latest version of Smoke provides a new user interface that combines Autodesk’s creative tools and effects with its track-based editing: ConnectFX for high-end effects, and Creative Tools—featuring “a robust toolset with proven high-end finishing tools.”
While noting a successful run for the trial download of the software, Autodesk said it implemented even more features and enhancements based on user recommendations. The new features include the ability to drag and drop a clip from the source player into the timeline, ability to expand/collapse the timeline FX pipeline area, and a redesign and streamlining of the UI and interface elements to speed up workflows.
“The anticipation for Smoke, since its thrilling announcement at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Vegas in April, has continued to build throughout the community of creative professionals. As a leader in high-end effects and 3D, Autodesk is committed to making that technology increasingly available to a new generation, and the new Smoke is case in point. The Smoke team has fielded thousands of inquiries and product recommendations in the process of developing Smoke 2013. I’m so excited to announce it’s here,” said Mark Strassman, Autodesk Media & Entertainment vice president strategy and marketing.
To accompany the launch today, Autodesk posted over a dozen videos showing off some of the features of Smoke 2013 to its YouTube page. We posted a few of the videos below that walk through the new user interface, ConnectFX, editing, and powerful 3D visual effects.
Any.DO To-do list version 1.7.1: Popular Any.DO To-do list app used by millions daily received an update today that brings location based reminders, simplified task creation, daily sorting filters, and more:
✪ Location based reminders – ‘Remind me to pick up groceries when I leave work’
★ Adding a task is easier than ever
✪ New Daily sorting (Today, Tomorrow, Upcoming & Someday)
★ Email your to-do’s to do@any.do and see them in your Any.DO app
✪ Performance upgrade
★ Stability improvements
Dead Trigger version 1.7.0:MadFinger’s free-to-play arcade-style shooter gets a holiday themed update today with a new North Pole Christmas Arena, a new Christmas Boss, grenade launcher, as well as new story missions and much more:
* How many waves you can defeat in the new NORTH POLE CHRISTMAS ARENA?
* Prepare for encounter with ZANTA, a new Christmas Boss!
* Try out the new GRENADE LAUNCHER…you’ll love it!
* Equip yourself well and shoot your way through the NEW STORY MISSIONS!
* New special PRICE OFFERS on weapons!
* Solve the underground puzzle and WIN a Dead Trigger T-SHIRT!
☣ Tweaks:
* Mini-Mortar has been improved to be more deadly
Cox TV connect for iPhone and iPod touch:Cox TV’s app for providing access to live TV on your iPad at home gets updated today with support for iPhone and iPod touch. The Cox TV Connect app for iPad also gets updated today with new features including access to TV listings when off your home network, close captioning, and the ability to ” Schedule DVR recordings from anywhere with remote DVR scheduling.”
Letterpress version 1.2:Atebits, the brains behind Letterpress, just announced version 1.2 of its popular word app. According to the developer, a new feature, dubbed “Share Replays”, is here. Check out a demo of the upcoming feature at Letterpress’ website.
• Themes on iPad
We know our loyal iPad users felt left out when we released the app without support for themes, but we’ve fixed that and you can now use the themes you know and love from the iPhone/iPod touch on your iPad!
• Text Size Selector
Having trouble reading? We added the option to increase the size of the text to make your life a little bit easier :)
• Many, many more smaller tweaks and usability improvements.
Foursquare version 5.4:A big update for Foursquare’s iOS app today brings new features, larger, swipeable photos, and more:
★ Decide where to go, or what to do when you’re already there.
✓ If you’re looking for a place to go, you’ll now see the most important stuff up top when you tap through, like the rating, address, hours, menu, and phone number.
✓ If you’re already checked in, you’ll see things like who else is there and popular tips (to make sure you order right).
✓ We also added big, swipeable photos at the top to help you get a sense of what it’s like.
★ Every time you check in, you’ll learn something interesting.
People love points, great tips, and other nuggets of information. So we’ve simplified the experience after you check in to just show you one important takeaway. ‘Seven weeks in a row going to the gym,’ ‘a great off-the-menu burger you have to order,’ or ‘your 20th time hanging out with your friend Charles.’ Foursquare will show you the most interesting highlight from your visit.
GuitarToolkit version 2.2: iPhone 5 optimizations, upside-down orientation, VoiceOver support, and more in the latest update to the one of the best guitar toolkit apps on the App Store: Expand Expanding Close
Google announced on its official blog today that it would do some “winter cleaning” by discontinuing a number of services in the near future. Among the services shutting down as of Jan. 30 is Google Sync, which allowed users to get access to Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts using the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol. As an alternative, Google recommended IMAP for mail and the recently launched CardDAV and CalDAV protocols. Google also confirmed it would continue offering the service to existing consumers and Google Apps for Business, Government, and Education customers.
Dropbox announced on its blog today the introduction of an all-new iOS app that introduces a redesigned, streamlined UI, a new Photos tab that allows you to scroll through a timeline of your automatically uploaded photos, and improvements to the photo-viewing experience. Dropbox noted that uploads have now been improved, allowing users to ” tap the ‘+’ icon to upload something or create a new folder.”
We’ve packed a ton of love and tiny details into our new iOS design, and we think you’ll dig its simplicity. For example, we got rid of the text labels on our tabs in favor of clean and streamlined iconography. Splashed across the app is the glorious Dropbox blue you’ve come to know and love, and we’ve reduced complexity to make everything feel so fresh and so clean, clean.
The Witcher 2 is one of the most sophisticated games ever presented on Mac computers. Prepare to test out the gaming potential of the new iMacs in one of the best looking games for Apple’s computers. We have prepared a special app to test the game’s performance before players can buy it. To check it out just click here
Chrome version 23.0.1271.96: Google has updated its Chrome iOS app today with one highly requested feature- the ability to play sound when the app is running in the background. That means content with sound that you are playing in the browser, such as a YouTube video or mp3, would continue play when multitasking. The update also includes a fix for a character encoding bug.
-Allow sound to play when app is backgrounded.
-Fix character encoding bug.
GoPro App version 1.1.13: GoPro has updated its iOS app to include support for features exclusive to the HERO3 camera lineup.
NEW ARRIVALS IN GAME CENTRAL STATION!
• Turbo Time is here! Enter the race for gold, and drive at turbo speed in this all-new arcade racer!
• New achievements are in! Earn new achievements for Fix-It Felix Jr., Hero’s Duty, Sweet Climber, and Turbo Time.
• Added language support for Dutch and Russian
The iPhone 5 officially went on sale in 33 countries today following Apple’s rollout to South Korea last week. China, Brazil, and many other countries are among the new countries where consumers will get access to the device for the first time. While some report that retail stores in China were met with smaller-than-usual lines, we’ve compiled some video and images of launches from around the globe that show otherwise for the majority of countries. Apple is set to add 51 countries for iPhone 5 this month, bringing the total to around 100 and meeting Apple’s expectations for the year’s end. Go past the break for videos of iPhone 5 launches…
Reuters reported today that the yacht Steve Jobs commissioned before his passing has been impounded in Amsterdam over a payment dispute with its designer, Phillippe Starck. Starck’s lawyers are apparently seeking an unpaid 3 million euros of the 9 million euro he was supposed to receive for his work:
Today, Kodak 
Today, we have updates on Apple and Samsung’s ongoing court woes. A 
