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Avatar for Jordan Kahn

Jordan Kahn

jordankahn

Dir. Partnerships

9to5Mac / 9to5Google / 9to5Toys / Electrek.co / DroneDJ / SpaceExplored

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.

Jordan also writes about all things Apple as a Senior Editor of 9to5Mac. He covers Google for 9to5Google.com, the best gadgets and deals on 9to5Toys.com, and EV and solar news on Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series and makes music sometimes.

Contact Jordan with partnership inquiries and long-winded complaints:  

Connect with Jordan Kahn

Hillshire increases sales w/ iBeacon, 20x increase in purchase intent, 500x increase over average mobile ads

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With more and more retailers, event spaces, and others deploying Apple’s Bluetooth LE iBeacon technology in order to beam iPhone and iPad users context and location aware notifications, we still haven’t seen much data on how the beacons are improving ad engagement for marketers. InMarket, a company installing iBeacons in grocery stores around the country that talk to a number of apps from its advertising partners, today shared some of the first stats from a specific consumer brand using the platform. 
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Facebook introducing ‘Save’ read later feature for iOS & Android

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Facebook announced today that it’s rolling out a new feature for its mobile apps that will let users save content for easy access at a later date. A list of saved content from Facebook— including links to things like places, movies, TV, and music— will appear in the Facebook mobile apps in the “More” section and on the left side bar on the web.
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City of Cupertino provides update on Apple’s Campus 2 progress with new aerial shot

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Following a number of amateur aerial shots of Apple’s Campus 2 construction popping up on Instagram and elsewhere online, today the City of Cupertino shared our best yet look at progress on the site with an aerial shot of the entire campus. The shot doesn’t just show the main circular “spaceship” structure, but also work starting on the the entire surrounding campus. 
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Report: Apple’s Q3 iPhone & iPad sales include a higher percentage of flagship models YOY

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Ahead of Apple’s Q3 earnings call where analysts expect the company to beat its own top-end guidance, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners today shared its latest numbers on iPhone and iPad sales for the quarter.

While analysts are expecting Apple to announce sales of iPhones as high as 40 million units for the quarter representing a 15% increase from last year, CIRP gives us some insight into how iPhone and iPad models sold relative to flagship models last year. It’s also an interesting look at how Apple’s two model iPhone approach is working while continuing to sell previous generations. The iPhone 5s, according to CIRP’s research, accounted for 62% of iPhone sales vs 52% for the iPhone 5 at the same time last year. The data shows Apple is selling more of its most expensive, high-end flagship models as a percentage of its over all sales for compared to last year:

“Once again, Apple’s premium iPhone 5S sold well in the quarter,” said Josh Lowitz, CIRP Partner and Co-Founder. “It appears that in the US, Apple sells the 5S model at the expense of the iPhone 5C, which continues to sell much slower than the similarly- priced iPhone 4S in the same quarter last year. The entry-level ‘free’ or subsidized price point maintains its 16-18% of iPhone sales.”

As for iPad sales, the report notes the iPad Air captured a much higher percentage of Apple’s tablet sales relative to its flagship models last year. “The comparable flagship tablet last year, the iPad with Retina, accounted for less than a third of sales, while the iPad Air has over half. The small format iPads held their own at more than a third of sales, adding the higher-priced iPad Mini with Retina to the product mix. The $399 full size iPad with Retina seems to be stuck in the middle, at only 10% of sales.”

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The report covers data for Apple’s fiscal Q3 that includes the three month period ended June 30. Apple’s conference call to announce its Q3 financial results is scheduled for tomorrow at 2PM PT/5PM ET. 

Apple appoints Sue Wagner to board of directors as Bill Campbell retires

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susan_wagner2Apple just announced that longtime board member and former VP of Marketing Bill Campbell is leaving the company as founding partner and director of BlackRoc Susan L. Wagner joins the company’s board of directors. Apple CEO Tim Cook noted in the company’s press release today that he thinks Apple will benefit from Wagner’s experience with “M&A and building a global business across both developed and emerging markets.”

“Sue is a pioneer in the financial industry and we are excited to welcome her to Apple’s board of directors,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We believe her strong experience, especially in M&A and building a global business across both developed and emerging markets, will be extremely valuable as Apple continues to grow around the world.”


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Analysts predict up to 40M iPhones sold last quarter ahead of Apple’s Q3 earnings

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With Apple’s upcoming fiscal Q3 earnings call just around the corner, analysts are predicting the company sold as many as 40 million iPhones during the quarter that ended last month. That’s on the high side of estimates complied by Fortune, however. Estimates from a poll of 26 analysts includes predictions ranging from 31.8 million to almost 40 million units. The average of estimates comes in at 35.88 million.
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Facebook rolling out Mentions iPhone app for verified public figures

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Facebook is releasing a new app today called Mentions, an app exclusively for public figures with verified pages that previous reports noted the company was experimenting with.

According to Facebook, the app is made specifically for actors, athletes, musicians, and other influencers and makes for a better experiencing when sharing content and interacting with fans. The app puts a bigger focus on sharing and viewing mentions from other users opposed to viewing content posted by others. The mentions tab in the app, which provides a stream of replies to your content from other users, is something other Facebook apps don’t offer that will benefit public figures spending a lot of time interacting with their audience. Facebook told Recode that “celebrities who have tested the app have been posting twice as much as before.”

See what fans are saying about you and join the conversation… Share your story by posting updates, sharing photos or videos, or hosting a live Q&A… Get streamlined notifications about your posts, including mentions from other influencers or the media.

The new Facebook Mentions app is arriving on the App Store today for verified public figures with public profiles in the US. At launch the company says that will include “tens of thousands” of users, but it eventually has plans to roll it out internationally to more users including public figures without verified public profiles:

Mentions is currently only available for people with verified Pages in the US. We plan to roll out to more countries and verified Profiles in the coming months. If you are an admin of a verified Page, you can request access to Mentions directly. If you are a public figure, you can also download the iPhone app to request access.

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Amazon brings its mobile ad network to iOS apps

Amazon-Mobile-ads-iOSAmazon announced today that it’s bringing support for its Amazon Mobile Ads API to iOS, allowing app developers to place ads from the Amazon Mobile Ad Network in apps across platforms. The ads were previously only available to display on Android and Fire OS devices.

The Amazon Mobile Ads API lets you place high-quality display ads from the Amazon Mobile Ad Network in your app, helping you better monetize your apps and gain access to highly relevant ads from brand advertisers, including Amazon and its subsidiaries. Starting today, both Interstitial and Banner ads can now be displayed across iOS devices in addition to Android and Fire OS devices.  Beginning on July 25, 2014, ads can also be displayed on the Fire phone.  As a developer, you can now monetize your apps with the Amazon Mobile Ads API across iTunes, Google Play, and the Amazon Appstore while taking advantage of multiple targeting features.

The Amazon Mobile Ad Network rolls out to iOS today for users in the US, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy.

Amazon has more detailed info about the API on its blog for developers that want to get started integrating the ads in iOS apps.

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HBO’s Game of Thrones Ascent game arrives on iPhone

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Following a release for iPad back in March, HBO’s Game of Thrones Ascent game developed by Disruptor Beam & Kongregate is now available for iPhone. The game already racked up around 2,500,000 players on Facebook and the web before making its way to iPad in March, and it comes to the App Store with new art, optimized imagery for Retina displays, and Game Center leaderboards.

With Game of Thrones Ascent, fans can immerse themselves beyond the books and show, living the life of a noble in Westeros, working with (or against) each other in a persistent, authentic game world. Taking part in thousands of story-driven quests, players delve deeply into the lore and develop their own lands and reputation among the Great Houses. Players explore an expansive world filled with deep political and social play involving diplomatic agreements, pacts, marriages, and betrothals. Through Alliance challenges, players work with hundreds of others to accomplish great tasks and rise to the top of the Power Rankings.

The developers update the game weekly and alongside new episodes of the TV show when it’s airing. That includes new quests, in-game items and more that follow the storyline of the show.

Game of Thrones Ascent is available for iPhone now as a free download on the App Store.

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Google Wallet iOS app adds gift cards, invoicing, ability to send money from debit cards for free

 

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Google today announced new features for its Google Wallet app for both iOS and Android that makes it easier to manage gift cards and request and send from debit cards.

Like Google Wallet already allowed for loyalty cards, the app now lets users store, redeem, and check gift card balance:
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Jawbone’s UP iPhone app gets new weight management & food-tracking features

UP-Food-tracking-appJawbone today announced new weight management and food-tracking features via an update for the UP by Jawbone fitness tracking app that pairs with its UP wearables.

Jawbone’s entirely new food-tracking interface for UP helps you simply log food and water, quickly assess the healthiness of foods, and easily track progress toward your target weight… The UP Insight Engine™ provides intelligent guidance around your food choices, calorie consumption and weight goals, helping you understand how each of those is related to activity and sleep.

Highlights for the version 3.2 update include the ability to set goals for weight and calorie intake while using new tools for logging and tracking food consumption. It’s also teaming up with food apps like HealthyOut, Munchery, Nutrisystem, and PlateJoy to sync data and automatically track food ordered through those services.

The updated iPhone app is available on the App Store now.

More details on the new features are in the company’s press release below:

Jawbone Launches New Weight Management Features For UP

After Steps and Sleep, Jawbone’s UP App Now Offers an Easier, Smarter Way to Track Food and Manage Weight

SAN FRANCISCO, July 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Jawbone® today unveiled new weight management features for UP® , the system that helps you manage your weight, sleep better and stay fit.

Jawbone’s entirely new food-tracking interface for UP helps you simply log food and water, quickly assess the healthiness of foods, and easily track progress toward your target weight.

The UP Insight Engine™ provides intelligent guidance around your food choices, calorie consumption and weight goals, helping you understand how each of those is related to activity and sleep.

“UP and UP24 have inspired millions of people to get engaged in their own health – we’ve shown that living better really is a universally popular proposition,” said Travis Bogard, vice president of product management and strategy at Jawbone. “For the nearly three out of four Americans that are overweight or obese*, living better often includes weight loss. Our new food and weight features for UP, combined with some exciting new food apps we’ve added to the platform, make UP the most complete solution for weight management and a healthy lifestyle.”

Simplified Weight Management

Jawbone’s new and intuitive food-tracking interface for UP delivers an easier, smarter way to track what you eat and manage your weight:

  • Personalized Food Library: Quickly see and select from the foods you eat most frequently, right from the front and center of your food-logging screen. More than a quarter of meals logged in UP include regularly consumed items, making easy access to them a time-saving shortcut. UP also surfaces foods that are commonly paired with the items you’re eating via Jawbone’s intelligent food database. Enter eggs, and UP will show you other items that may be included in your meal, like bacon, toast, or potatoes.
  • Access to Restaurant Menus: With half of meals in the US eaten outside of the home**, UP now lists dining establishments nearby based on your location and lets you quickly log menu items from many restaurants you visit. Quick access to menus lets you instantly select what you’re eating and automatically import calorie information when available. At local restaurants where nutrition information may not be on hand, add nutrition details and UP will save it in your library for future visits. Jawbone’s data science team will aggregate data entered from multiple users, making it available to the entire UP community for a more complete restaurant menu database.
  • Food Score: Use UP’s food detail screen to quickly evaluate how healthy a dish is at a glance. UP shows you the breakdown of healthy nutrients to less healthy nutrients for any given item, along with a new Food Score to help you quickly asses the overall healthiness of individual items and full meals. You’ll also see a rolling average of the score throughout your entire day.
  • Weight Goal: Log your weight and set a personal goal in the app to see your progress toward your target weight. UP will recommend a daily calorie goal and balance calories burned versus calories consumed to show you your remaining allowance for the day. And as you log new meals, a convenient progress meter shows you the number of calories you’ve already consumed – and how many you’ll be adding with each new item.
  • Insights: A completely redesigned Insight Engine for UP makes its intelligent guidance and useful health tips even more accessible and intuitive. Complete with new food-specific insights and opt-in “Today I Will” commitments, you’ll be motivated to try original recipes, reinforce your diet with fiber and protein, and start building new food habits to keep you on track.

New Food Apps on the UP Platform

Jawbone teamed up with several meal planning and delivery services to take the UP system a step closer toward the promise of automatic logging and customized meal recommendations:

  • Order a fresh, chef-prepared meal from the daily menu of Munchery , now in San Francisco and Seattle, and have it delivered that night When you connect your Munchery account with UP, each meal ordered will be automatically entered for you in UP’s food-logging system, including detailed nutrition information.
  • Use HealthyOut to order healthy meals from nearby restaurants nationwide, at any time.
  • Use the Prep Pad WiFi connected scale from The Orange Chef Co. ™  to create recipes that can be automatically logged in UP. Prep Pad can also factor in your activity from UP to provide more personalized meal recommendations.
  • Get meal plans and recipes from PlateJoy that are tailored to your preferences and customized based on your activity and sleep from UP – complete with ingredients delivered to your home.
  • And coming soon, you’ll be able to choose recipe recommendations from NuMi™ by Nutrisystem® that are personalized based on your calorie goals, lifestyle preferences, and the time of day. UP will automatically log the recipes you select, and NuMi will use your activity and calorie information to make even smarter recommendations.

Backed by Industry-Leading Experts

Jawbone’s new weight management system and food tracking tools have been backed by leading dietitian Ashley Koff, RD, an international nutrition expert and regular commentator on health and food issues.

“Food journaling is proven to be an effective method for weight management and weight loss, but writing everything you eat down with pen and paper isn’t convenient for most people. What Jawbone has developed is a really simple solution to this challenge,” said Koff. “While calorie counting is a key part of weight management, the balance of your nutrient intake is equally, if not more, important. It’s great to see a simple Food Score –  intelligently developed using several nutrient ratios – alongside calorie counts in the UP system to show you at a glance how well-balanced your food is.”

Development of the new features has been led by Laura Borel, a product manager at Jawbone and founder and former CEO of Nutrivise, a consumer nutrition company acquired by Jawbone last year. Nutrivise delivered personalized and automated meal recommendations based on a user’s unique biometrics and dietary preferences, and was voted “most promising health company” by Stanford Medicine X in 2012.

Available on July 16

UP by Jawbone™ 3.2 for iOS is available today as a free download from the App Store. The UP or UP24™ wristband is required for the app.

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Weep for humanity, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood app reportedly set to take in $200 million this year

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According to a report from TMZ, Kim Kardashian’s latest game for iPhone and iPad is set to take in $200 million with Kardashian’s share coming in somewhere in the neighborhood of $85 million.

Sources familiar with the deal tell TMZ … Kim’s cut is 45% of net profits.  The game — “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood” — is set to gross a reported $200 million this year alone.

We’re told the actual expenses associated with the business are relatively low.  A straight 45% cut of $200 million totals a whopping $90 million. To put this in context … according to Forbes, Kim made $28 million last year.

Keep in mind that the app itself is free. All of that revenue is from in-app purchases like a $59 “Huge Star Pack” and other in-game items users purchase while playing celebrity in the Glu developed game. Expenses for the games are reportedly somewhere around $10 million, but there’s no word on if these numbers take Apple’s 30 percent cut into account. The revenue estimate of $200 million is reportedly for this year alone after the title launched back in May.

The Kim Kardashian: Hollywood app is available for iPhone and iPad on the App Store.

Apple agrees to $400 million settlement in ebook price-fixing case

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Apple has agreed to an approximately $400 million settlement as part of the high-profile ebook pricing fixing federal court case that would cover consumer damages and civil penalties for the 33 states involved.  Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman made an announcement today detailing the settlement that was also discovered in documents filed with the courts.

Schneiderman noted the settlement will ultimately depend on the outcome of  Apple’s still pending appeal of “the court’s July 2013 finding that Apple violated antitrust laws by orchestrating a conspiracy with five publishers to artificially raise E-book prices.”:
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Apple announces huge IBM partnership to bring enterprise services to iOS, new AppleCare for Enterprise

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Apple and IBM announced a new partnership today that will see the companies collaborate to bring over 100 enterprise apps & cloud services to the iPhone and iPad and launch a new AppleCare service specifically for enterprise customers. The products will be branded “IBM MobileFirst for iOS Solutions” and IBM will also soon sell iPhones and iPads to enterprise customers along with the new services:
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Apple begins encrypting iCloud email sent between providers

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Last month Apple confirmed that it would soon beef up encryption for iCloud email following a report detailing security flaws in major email services. While Apple previously encrypted emails sent between its own iCloud customers, now the company has enabled encryption for emails in transit between iCloud and third-party services for me.com and mac.com email addresses. 

The change is documented on Google’s transparency website that shows the percentage of emails encrypted in transit for both inbound and outbound email exchanges (pictured below):
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Bonnaroo festival used iBeacons to collect valuable data about concertgoers

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While iPhone users have enjoyed new location-based experiences thanks to early implementations of Apple’s iBeacon technology, companies deploying the bluetooth beacons are also collecting some valuable data on users. We reported previously how some are experiencing huge jumps in app usage and ad engagement since deploying beacons in grocery and retail stores, and today we get some insight into how event planners are using beacons to collect valuable data on attendees. Aloompa, the company behind the iBeacons deployed at the recent Bonnaroo music festival, shared some numbers it gathered on concertgoers that it wouldn’t have had without its iBeacon deloyement. While users of the Bonnaroo app benefited from proximity based notifications for happenings around the event, Aloompa and event organizers gained new insight into how to improve the festival next year:
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Apple reportedly working w/ Intelligent Energy to integrate fuel cell tech in devices

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A report from the Daily Mail over the weekend claimed Apple is working with fuel cell company Intelligent Energy on a project that hopes to embed fuel cells in mobile devices “within a few years.” The Daily Mail doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to accuracy, but the report claimed “senior sources in the US” have confirmed the partnership between the two companies. 

The technology could be rolled out in devices such as laptops and iPads, allowing them to run without being charged for days or even weeks…Intelligent Energy revealed upon floating that it bought a bundle of patents in tandem with a major ‘international electronics company’…It has kept the identity of its partner a closely-guarded secret. But a source, who has knowledge of the partnership, confirmed that Apple is the big name working with the Loughborough-based firm.

The report noted that Intelligent Energy already has ties to Apple with former Apple Computers product specialist Joe O’Sullivan sitting on the company’s board and a new office in San Jose not far from Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino. 
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Apple’s Volume Purchase Program for apps coming soon to 16 new countries

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Apple is about to roll out its Volume Purchase Program, which allows business and education customers to purchase and distribute iOS apps in bulk for deployed devices, into 16 new countries. Apple’s website for both the Volume Purchase Program for Business and for Education have been updated to announce the expansion and now list the following countries as coming soon to the program:
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Nike’s latest iOS app is a hub for all things Nike football/soccer

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Nike is today launching a brand new app called Nike Football (or Nike Soccer in the US), that will act as a hub for all things Nike Football from exclusive content and Q&A sessions with athletes to the latest product launches for the company’s line of football products. Nike is also including some social features that let users organize their own pick-up games, trash talk among friends and teammates, and more:
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Apple brings iTunes Extras to Apple TV, HD Extras to Macs today & iOS 8 in fall

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Apple today released iTunes version 11.3 and with it is making its iTunes Extras feature available for HD movies on Macs.  Apple also announced today that the feature is now available for Apple TV with update 6.2 and will arrive on iOS 8 this fall.

While we’ll have to wait for iTunes Extras to arrive on iOS with the release of iOS 8 this fall, the Apple TV OS 6.2 update rolled out late last month to users alongside iOS 7.1.2.

iTunes Extras offers an interactive experience for some video content on iTunes that often includes behind-the-scenes videos, image galleries, commentary from the creators, cast interviews, exclusive clips, short films, and more. Content creators decide whether or not to offer the iTunes Extras feature and create the experience using templates provided by Apple. Apple also notes that “new iTunes Extras will be automatically added to your previously purchased HD movies as they become available- at no additional charge.”


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Minecraft Pocket Edition gets biggest update yet w/ infinite worlds & much more

Minecraft Pocket Edition, the iOS version of the popular Minecraft PC game, is getting what developer Mojang says is the app’s biggest update yet today. Version 0.9.0 introduces a number of new features carried over from the original game including infinite worlds, much improved caves, wolves, new items, and much, much more.

In addition, Mojang is bringing over new biomes from the PC version of the game with mesas, jungles, swamps and extreme hills, and you’ll also notice abandoned mineshafts, villages and “new feature generation, including lakes, vines and monster rooms.” That doesn’t even include a fraction of what’s actually included in today’s update. A full list of new features from new blocks to new and updated features for biomes, mobs, AI and feature generation is below.

The game also receives some welcomed UI tweaks in the update including a new “interaction” button that Mojang hopes will cut down on accidental sheep punches.

Infinite worlds!
Caves!
Loads of new blocks and items including Monster Eggs and huge mushroom blocks.
Wolves! Tame a loyal companion.
Loads of new flowers! So pretty.
New mobs, including the spooky endermen and less spooky Mooshrooms.
New biomes from the PC version, including mesas, jungles, swamps and extreme hills.
Abandoned mineshafts, villages, and many other cool places to explore.
A brand-new “interaction” button. Never accidentally punch a sheep again!
New feature generation, including lakes, vines and monster rooms.
Many bugs fixed, and possibly a few added.

The updated Minecraft Pocket Edition version 0.9.0 is available now on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.

The full huge list of what’s new via Mojang is below:

New features

  • Unlimited worlds!
  • New culling algorithm
  • New culling of clouds
  • Tile entities are saved differently
  • New falling mechanics for gravel and sand
  • New insta ticking of water and lava

New blocks

  • Podzol
  • Mycelium
  • Huge mushroom blocks
  • Cocoa
  • End portal frame
  • Double plants
  • More stairs/slabs for new wood types
  • New log types (savanna tree and dark oak)
  • New leafs (savanna tree)
  • Monster egg
  • Stained clay
  • Waterlily
  • New flowers
  • Red sand
  • Hardened clay
  • End stone
  • Granite
  • Diorite
  • Andesite
  • Emerald block
  • Emerald ore
  • New leveldb based saving format
  • New entity handling
  • New crafting screen
  • Remade network code (mostly the same packages but new system).
  • New interact button (to make the game easier for new players)

New mobs

  • Slimes
  • Endermen
  • Wolves
  • Mooshrooms
  • Silverfish

New and updated biomes

  • Deserts
  • Extreme hills
  • Forests
  • Redwood taiga
  • Roofed forests
  • Frozen
  • Jungle
  • Savanna
  • Mesa
  • Mushroom island
  • Taiga
  • Deep ocean
  • Swamps

New world feature generation

  • Sand
  • Boulders
  • Ice patch
  • Ice spike
  • Spike
  • Lake
  • Double plants
  • Ground bushes
  • Fancy oaks
  • Jungle tree
  • Mega jungle tree
  • Mega pine tree
  • Savanna tree
  • Swamp tree
  • Huge mushroom
  • Tallgrass
  • Waterlily
  • Vines
  • Melons
  • Pumpkin
  • Dead bush
  • Monster rooms
  • Desert well
  • Fallen logs
  • Emerald ore

Tweaks to caves

  • Lava at the bottom of caves
  • Caves in desert and mesa
  • Strongholds
  • Villages
  • Villagers
  • Abandoned mine shafts
  • Flat world generation
  • Limited world generation
  • “New” mob spawning
  • Updated light generation
  • Grass color for different biomes
  • Foliage color for different biomes
  • Water color for swamps

New AI

  • Spiders
  • New leaf rendering
  • Added more spawn eggs in Creative Mode
  • Added immersive mode for Android
  • Added drip particles for water and lava
  • Updated create world screen

Tweaks and bug fixes

  • Correct name for stairs, slabs and spawn eggs
  • Beds no longer gives full health in normal difficulty
  • Smooth lighting added for:
  • Beds
  • Fences
  • Walls
  • Cobwebs
  • Chests
  • Leaves
  • Smooth lighting removed for:
  • Glowstone
  • Glass
  • Jack ‘o’ lanterns
  • Improved performance of TNT
  • Prettier clouds
  • The fog is darker underground

Known Bugs

  • The block highlight flickers (z-fights) when more than 10k blocks distant from spawn
  • Changing the view distance while in a world might crash the game
  • If players walk too far from each other in multiplayer, they can’t see each other

Known bugs requiring attention

  • Multiplayer is a bit fragile. Please test it and report all issues to us!
  • The LevelDB save format + upgrading of old maps. Please report any data corruption!
  • Crashes in general – uncommon and random crashes might still happen
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Google releases AdWords Express app for iPhone and iPad

Google today released an iOS app for its AdWords Express advertising service. The app, which is available for only Google’s automated AdWords Express advertising service aimed at small businesses, allows users to view stats from advertisements created with the service, edit the advertisements, adjust budgets, and get notifications related to campaigns directly from within the iPhone or iPad app:

AdWords Express helps you reach new customers on Google. Create your ad in less than 15 minutes, and only pay when potential customers click your ad to visit your website or give you a call. Stay connected to how your ad is doing — all from your mobile device.
– See how many calls, clicks and views your ad is getting
– Edit your ad text or adjust your budget anytime
– Get notified with important messages in your account
– Have questions? Call us at 1-855-235-8904 for free setup help
The app is free to download, but you’re required to enter billing information to pay for your ads.

Google already had an AdWords Express app available for Android users, but it doesn’t yet have mobile apps for its full-fledged AdWords service. On the flip side of the AdWords business, last year publishers got an official AdSense iPhone app from Google for monitoring advertising and revenues.

The Google AdWords Express app is available on the App Store now for iPhone and iPad users in the US.

iPad screenshots below:

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Adidas announces $199 ‘Fit Smart’ fitness tracker that syncs w/ miCoach iOS apps

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Just as Nike’s dismantled FuelBand team continues heading to Apple ahead of an expected “iWatch” launch this fall, Adidas thought it would be the perfect time to introduce its own FuelBand-like fitness tracking wearable. Today the company introduced FitSmart, a wrist worn fitness tracker that pairs with the company’s miCoach fitness apps for iOS and Android. 

The device packs in a heart rate sensor, accelerometer, and is capable of tracking the usual fitness metrics including calories, pace, distance and stride rate. The company says the Fit Smart will offer up to five days on a single charge with its 200mAh battery, but that estimate includes only a 1-hour workout per day.

Designed for running, training and fitness, FITSMART is unlike many of the activity trackers on the market today as it measures heart rate response to physical activity and then guides the user train at the right intensity for the best results… Intended for those seeking meaningful guidance and feedback, FIT SMART works with an all-new mobile app experience aimed at helping people set and reach weekly goals, as well as commit to longer term training plans. Weekly goals are a key feature update in the August release of the popular miCoach Train and Run app. and, uniquely combine the effectiveness of heart rate based training with the flexibility and motivational benefits of short-term attainable goals.

It weighs 58 grams, has a silicon strap, and uses a 17×11 LED light array as its UI. That includes “at-a-glance visual guidance on the user’s current workout intensity presented in color zones: blue, green, yellow and red.” Adidas also notes the Fit Smart will use vibration and visual indicators with the LED display to “provide feedback and coaching so the user can make the most out of every workout.”

The Adidas Fit Smart is arriving for $199 late August at Best Buy in the US and in markets around the world on August 15th through adidas.com.

Vimeo announces redesigned Apple TV app w/ improved content discovery features

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Vimeo announced today that it’s launching an updated Apple TV app that introduces a redesigned user interface that cuts down on “the number of clicks it takes to watch a video and improves video discovery overall.” That mostly includes a redesigned menu that will give you quick access to the most popular videos as well as your Watch Later queue and your own content. 

“As the Vimeo On Demand collection continues to build (currently 10K titles and growing daily), it’s more important than ever to provide our viewers with a seamless living room experience,” said Nick Alt, VP of Mobile and TV, Vimeo. “Our ‘Watch Later’ feature makes videos found on Vimeo immediately accessible across all connected devices, and with this latest AppleTV update we’re making content even more discoverable.”

Features you’ll find in the new app include a redesigned Featured Home page that shows off highlights user channels and albums in addition to 20 curated channels chosen by Vimeo. Also new is a revamped Video Detail page that includes “background images, additional clip metadata such as audience ratings, reviews, extra features, and more content from creators.” Vimeo tells us that the new Apple TV app will also feature a VOD Trailers section that offers previews of upcoming feature films and series: 
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