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:
IFTTT, the popular web service that allows users to automate tasks from a long list of other mobile apps and web services, today updated its iOS app with the iPhone’s Photos and Reminder apps…
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Today, smartwatch maker Pebble finally announced a long awaited feature that will allow users to receive all notifications from their iOS 7 device reliably. It also announced version 2.0 of its SDK with new features for developers.
First, we’re introducing a more delightful user experience for Pebble customers using iOS. Pebble is now fully integrated with iOS 7 and works seamlessly with Notification Center. This means that any notifications you’ve enabled in Notification Center on your iOS 7 device will appear on your Pebble — just like that. It’s easier than ever to pick and choose which updates you want to see on your watch.
Back in June, we noted that Apple was introducing Apple Notification Center Service to allow Bluetooth devices to reliably receive all notifications that hit Notification Center on a connected iOS device. Before integrating ANCS, Pebble could only receive SMS, Email and Call notifications reliably from iOS 6+ devices.
Pebble’s SDK 2.0 announced today for developers includes a number of new APIs for Javascript, Accelerometer, Data Logging and Persistent Storage:
These API allow developers to make Pebble apps that interface directly with the web (real-time weather, transit info, location check-in), access the accelerometer (health/fitness monitoring and gesture-based remote control), log data when disconnected from the phone (health/fitness tracking), and store info on the watch (high scores for games, settings). You can find out more about SDK 2.0 on the Pebble developer blog.
The notifications support will arrive via an update to the Pebble iOS app later today for iOS 7 devices. Pebble also announced that it’s offering free worldwide shipping through its website starting today and shared some numbers:
If the lack of features in Apple’s stock Stocks app on iOS (also powered by Yahoo) just isn’t cutting it, Yahoo announced today the release of a completely redesigned Yahoo Finance iOS app with push notifications and much more.
The new app introduces a revamped UI alongside a number of new features. Perhaps the most notable feature is the ability to follow specific stocks and receive push notifications for breaking stories:
The Yahoo Finance app for iPhone and iPad was reimagined to deliver a beautiful personalized experience with a stream of top news and data based on your favorite stocks and interests. We’ve added Push Notifications to keep you in the know as important stories break — so you can make quick and informed decisions on the stocks and companies you follow.
Yahoo has also added new interactive charts that users can pan and pinch to manipulate and use to compare any stock, market or index to see related price changes.
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We haven’t received any official numbers on Apple’s launch of the iPad Air last Friday, but today T-Mobile is offering a little bit of insight into how its first iPad launch went. T-Mobile tells AllThingsD that it sold more tablets on iPad Air launch day last Friday than it managed to during the entire last quarter.
The boost in tablet sales on iPad Air launch day could have been helped along by the carrier’s new offer of 200MB of free data with all tablets, including iPads. There was a bit of confusion around the deal and whether or not customers required a paid plan to access the data, but T-Mobile has since clarified that the offer is available to all customers:
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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Ey0AufD9g]
The Google Search iOS app has received a huge update today that brings a number of new features including the ability to activate voice search handsfree. Users on iPhone 4S or later can now simply say “OK Google” to begin a voice search, much like what users have been able to do with Google Now on Android devices for quite some time.
Version 3.1.0 now includes notifications for upcoming events, flights and public transit. For example, the Google Search app will provide notifications for delayed flights, tell you how long you have to catch the last train, and remind you of upcoming appointments . You can also now set reminders within the app:
Ask Google to remember things for you. Just say
• “Remind me to buy coffee beans at Starbucks,” or
• “Remind me to check out the fair this weekend”
and Google will remind you at the right time or place
In addition, Google says users can now set reminders for when their favorite musicians, tv shows, actors or celebrities are releasing new content or appear in headlines. There are also new cards in the app that display info for movie and event tickets, boarding passes, rental car reservations, public transit and upcoming events.
While T-Mobile didn’t disclose specific iPhone numbers in its Q3 earnings report this morning, BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk has followed up with numbers from the company’s conference call. According to T-Mobile, iPhone sales accounted for almost 550k units, or 10% of its total 5.6 million smartphone sales including pre-paid and MetroPCS branded devices. Piecyk notes that number is around 15% of the carrier’s post-paid smartphone sales under its own brand, which is down from approximately 950k last quarter. T-Mobile confirmed the numbers in a statement to AllThingsD:
Sales of iPhones represented about 15 percent of T-Mobile-brand smartphone sales, CMO Mike Sievert said. T-Mobile sold about 3.6 million smartphones under its own brand, meaning it sold about 540,000 iPhones in the quarter.
T-Mobile today reported that it sold a record 5.6 million smartphones during the quarter, which includes sales to prepaid customers, accounting for around 88% of total phone units sold. The carrier didn’t have much time to sell the new iPhone 5s and 5c in its third quarter as the devices launched late in September, but the company did make a point of noting that it launched the new iPhones at “very attractive introductory prices of $99 down and $0 down” in its earnings release today. Piecyk notes how that compares to the other guys in Q3:
[tweet https://twitter.com/WaltBTIG/status/397743765474930688]
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The Spotify iOS app receives an updated today that brings a few new features along with version 0.9.0 of the iPhone and iPad app.
The first new feature is the addition of touring details and concert dates in the Artists view. It’s a feature that Spotify recently teamed up with Songkick to offer through its web interface.
In addition, Spotify says it has improved search with new instant results as you type and “the ability to search playlists and user profiles.”
The app has also added a number of new languages including full support for Japanese, Russian, and Indonesian.
Full list of what’s new below:
New: Never miss a gig! Artist views now feature touring details.
New: Spotify now speaks Japanese, Russian and Indonesian.
New: New Search rolling out now. Get ready for instant results, and the ability to search playlists and user profiles.
Fixed: Many bugs conquered.
Fictitious: This app shot the sheriff.
While we haven’t received first weekend sales numbers from Apple yet, AT&T has just released a statement on iPad activations noting that it witnessed a 200% increase in iPad activations compared with last year’s launch:
“iPad activations on AT&T increased more than 200% over the past three days compared to last year’s launch weekend, driven by consumer excitement around the new iPad Air and the popularity of AT&T Mobile Share, which lets customers add an iPad to their existing data plan for just $10 a month. We also saw strong demand for AT&T Next, which offers customers an iPad for $0 down on the nation’s fastest and most reliable 4G LTE network.”
Apple hasn’t announced official numbers for its new iPad Air. It could perhaps be waiting for the iPad mini with Retina display to go on sale for that, as last year the company announced combined first weekend sales of three million units for the iPad mini and fourth generation iPad. Those three million units didn’t include cellular models, however, which didn’t ship initially alongside WiFi only models with AT&T’s launch taking place weeks later. The three million units beat out Apple’s previous record of 1.5 million Wi-Fi only units of the iPad 3, which was the last iPad launch that included just one new device.
We’ve confirmed AT&T’s 200% number is referring to the iPad 4 and iPad mini launch, not iPad 3, which is slightly unfair given the fact cellular models of those devices had a soft launch weeks after Apple’s opening weekend of sales of WiFi models.
Earlier today, we reported that Fiksu has been tracking iPad Air adoption over its first weekend of sales and found overall adoption to be outpacing iPad 4 and iPad mini launches from last year by approximately four to one.
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If you’re curious how Apple’s new iPad Air stands up in the typical drop test videos–or perhaps an Airsoft MP7 rifle is more your thing– there are fortunately plenty of crazies online that, as usual, have destroyed their new tablet so you won’t have to. The tablet doesn’t seem to hold up all that well when put under somewhat extreme ‘real world’ conditions. The iPad Air’s display completely shatters when dropped in the dirt– not exactly the same results as the drop test that makes a brief appearance in Apple’s own iPad Air ad. A few more drop tests from around the web below:
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Ting, the Tucows-owend Sprint mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that launched last year offering customers no contract wireless service with usage-based billing, has just started quietly supporting iPhones. Up until now, the carrier has expressed difficulties with getting access to sell the iPhone directly, which requires minimum purchase requirements from Apple and other stipulations, and it has not offered customers the ability to activate unlocked iPhones with one of its no-contract wireless plans.
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After an all-new Tweetbot Twitter client from developer Tapbots arrived last week as version 3, it wasn’t long before the app became the top paid app in many countries around the world. As with any redesign of a popular app, some users have been asking about what features that were removed during the redesign could possibly return in future updates. Today Tapbots shared a couple new features that will be arriving in version 3.1, including the ability to use lists as your timeline and swipe to reply, favorite, or RT:
https://vine.co/v/hjWvzTeU2v0
https://vine.co/v/hjWnMPUva0x
https://vine.co/v/hjWvViVYpnx
While there is no timeframe on when version 3.1 might be arriving other than “coming soon”, the developers previously said that new adjustable font settings (pictured in the screenshot above), a nighttime theme, an iPad redesign, and new swiping gestures are all in the plans for future releases.
You can read our full review of Tweetbot 3.0 for iPhone here.
As it has been known to do for recent Apple product launches, Walmart announced last week that it would be offering a $20 discount on Apple’s new entry-level 16GB iPad Air starting as soon as the device launches tomorrow on November 1. Now, on launch day of the device in the US, we’ve confirmed that both Apple and Best Buy will be price matching the $479 deal in at least its retail stores. Staples has also decided to join in the day-one iPad Air discount and is currently listing the $479 price point on its website.
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Boost Mobile, a prepaid subsidiary of Sprint, today announced pricing for its upcoming iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c launch next week. While the carrier previously announced that the device would arrive on Nov. 8, today it confirmed pricing for the two new iPhones will start at $100 off the usual retail price. Much like what’s on offer from another Sprint subsidiary, Virgin.
Available for $100 off on every model, Boost Mobile will offer the iPhone 5s for $549/$649/$749 for the 16/32/64GB models, while the 16GB iPhone 5c will also be a $100 off at $449 and $549 price tags for the 32GB.
Boost Mobile also noted that it will be making the iPhone 4S available for $299.99.
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Apple has updated its iTunes Festival app for iOS tonight, the app where users can access live streamed content from Apple’s month long musical festival held during September. While Apple has now removed the video content that was only available for a limited time, it has added a number of live EPs from festival performers. It’s also added the content to the iTunes Festival app on Apple TV and started promoting the EPs in iTunes on the Mac.
All of the albums were recorded live during the iTunes Festival last month at The Roadhouse art center in London.
The live EPs are available for select artists including Sigur Ros, Janelle Monae, The Lumineers, Queens of the Stone Age, John Legend, Phox, and others, and run $10 and below depending on the number of songs on each album.
During Apple’s iPhone event in September, Tim Cook noted that the iTunes Festival event, now in its seventh year, reached around 100+ countries through its live streams with more than 20 million people applying for tickets to attend the live show.
Update 2: Shipping times in at least Hong Kong started at 1-2 weeks then quickly to changed to “currently unavailable”.
Update: The Australian Apple Online store and others are back up and listing all iPad Air models as shipping in 24 hours.
Lines have started to form at Apple stores around the world. Send pics of your Apple Store line to tips@9to5mac.com. Images below.
With Apple’s iPad Air launch about to kick off on the morning of Nov. 1 local time in over 40 countries, Apple has now started taking online stores down around the world to prepare for the launch. That includes Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Netherlands, Thailand, China, and others, which will be the first regions to get their hands on the device as we roll into tomorrow morning local time in those countries.
Yesterday we reported that iPad Airs had started arriving at Apple Stores and other retailers and that supplies were likely to be plentiful as large stores received as much as 500-1000 units of the device. We also heard that business discounts will be available for the new device on day one, which wasn’t the case in previous years.
Apple will begin selling the iPad Air at 8 a.m. local time Nov. 1 through its Apple retail stores in the following countries:
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Apple appears to have recently started promoting some of its own stock iOS apps on the App Store for search terms that would have previously displayed results from third-party developers first. As noted by MacStories, when searching for terms such as “browser”, “web”, “SMS”, “Movies”, “cloud, “Siri”, “internet”, and others on the App Store, Apple is now promoting some of its own apps and services such as Safari, iTunes, Messages, iCloud, and Siri as the first results.
The result for Apple’s apps aren’t typical App Store listings but instead provide users with a brief description and link to either “Learn more” or open the app. Clicking Learn More takes users to Apple’s website in Safari for more information on the app, while some listings, such as iTunes, allow users to tap “Visit iTunes Store” and automatically launch the iOS iTunes app.
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Earlier this month we reported that Apple had changed its developer marketing guidelines after years of only allowing images of the black iPhone in marketing material. Since Apple’s new lineup of iPhones features a number of new colors for the device for the first time, we noted that Apple tweaked its guidelines to allow other colors of the device, including white and certain iPhone 5c colors. Now, Apple has updated its guidelines once again, this time specifically excluding the gold iPhone 5s from the list of colors allowed in photography and video marketing material (via MacRumors):
Feature only the most current Apple products in the following finishes or colors: iPhone 5s in silver or space gray, iPhone 5c in white or blue, iPad Air in silver or space gray, and iPad mini in silver or space gray. If multiple Apple products are shown, display them in the correct relative sizes.
You’ll notice that it’s also not allowing certain colors of the iPhone 5c (only blue and white are listed), so gold specifically doesn’t seem to be the issue. As it did previously, Apple provides downloads of iPhone images for developers to place their screenshots on and use for marketing purposes. Those downloads are limited to the iPad Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 5s in Silver/white and Space Gray, and the iPhone 5c and iPod touch in black and blue models.
It’s unclear Apple’s reasoning for not allowing the gold model of the iPhone 5s and certain colors of the iPhone 5c. It could possibly be due to Apple’s desire to keep the popular colors unique to its own marketing material, or perhaps Apple thinks screenshots do not show as well on certain colors as they do on black and silver models.
Curious how the resolution of Apple’s new Retina iPad mini compares to your devices of the past and the 4K and even 8K displays that will soon become standard resolutions? DoghouseDiaries put together the graphic below that shows relative screen resolutions, comparing everything from a Retina iPad mini to an Apple II and future 3840 × 2160 4K displays just beginning to hit the market:
In IDC’s report released today covering worldwide tablet market for the third quarter, the research firm notes that the market as a whole continues to grow thanks to strong growth from Android tablets. Apple shipments remained steady during the quarter compared to last year at 14 million units in Q3, but its share of the market drops from 40.2% last year to just 29.6% this year as Samsung, Asus, Lenovo, and Acer all post significant growth for the quarter compared to the same quarter last year.
Samsung is up from 12.4% last year to 20.4% of the tablet market in Q3 2013 (a 123% increase), while Asus is up 53.9% to 3.5 million units, Lenovo sold 2.3m (up 420.7%), and Acer recorded 1.2M (up 346.3%):
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Following several reports this month and hints from Tim Cook that Retina iPad mini stock could be in short supply when the device launches next month, the hit and miss DigiTimes reports today that the shortages are due to limited supply of displays from Apple’s supplier Sharp. Specifically, the report claims that Sharp’s “Oxide TFT process is seeing low yield rates” leading to a less than ideal supply of 7.9-inch Retina panels. Sharp accounts for around 40% of the displays for iPad mini with Retina display production, while LG Display is providing the other approximately 60%, according to the report:
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We reported exclusively back in September that Apple was working on implementing public transit directions for iOS 8 alongside other new mapping features. Backing up our report, today Apple posted a job listing (via MacRumors) that shows the company is indeed working on its own solution for transit directions for a future version of Maps. The job listing seeks an engineer to join Apple’s Transit Routing team and “work on one of the most anticipated features of Apple Maps.”
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Today during its Morning with Google+ event, Google made a point of noting that it is attempting to “revolutionize the field of photography” with its various Google+ tools and services, but admitted that it’s slightly behind with its iOS app. On mobile devices, Google has always done full-size backups and background sync for Android devices, but it announced today that those features would soon roll out to the iOS version of Google+ in a future update. Previously images were only backed up to the cloud if the Google+ app was open on iOS.
Google has of course been slightly limited in what it was able to do previously on iOS, but with iOS 7 it now has the ability to access Apple’s new Background Refresh feature to keep data up to date even when the app isn’t being used.
Update: Google’s Snapseed app gets updated to v 1.6.0 with:
• The new HDR SCAPE filter brings a stunning look to your images
• A new Shadows slider in Tune Image brightens dark areas naturally
• Plus bug fixes and other small improvements
Don’t update if you aren’t on iOS 7.x
In September we reported that the childhood home of Steve Jobs could soon become a protected historic site and today MercuryNews reports that the Los Altos Historical Commission has voted unanimously to place the location on the city’s list of historic properties. Now that the property located at 2066 Crist Drive in Los Altos in California is officially considered an “historic resource”, the commission and city council will now have to review any requests to renovate or modify the property in the future.
The humble home where Silicon Valley tech titan Steve Jobs built some of his first computers and co-founded Apple was added to a list of historic Los Altos properties Monday night… The vote is the culmination of a two-year effort by the commission to preserve the one-story, ranch-style home as it stands. Chairman Frank Bishop praised the work of his colleagues and city staff, which included extensive research and a property evaluation.
The decision to preserve the property as an historic site was of course due to Jobs’ connection with the location. The house was Jobs’ childhood home since the seventh grade and its garage later became the location where Jobs, Steve Wozniak and other early employees would build the first Apple computers before officially forming the company in 1977.
The report notes that the Los Altos Historical Commission didn’t need the permission of the current owner, Steve Jobs’ sister Patricia Jobs, but that she could appeal the decision. NBC says that Marilyn Jobs, Steve Jobs’ stepmother, still lives in the home.
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Amazon announced today that it’s releasing Amazon Cloud Player for Mac, a desktop client for its Amazon Cloud Player service that was previously released only for PC users earlier this year. You’ll be able to store all of your Amazon and iTunes music, browse and purchase Amazon MP3’s 25 million strong song catalog to purchase new songs, and also take advantage of features like AutoRip for getting free digital copies of CDs or vinyl purchased through Amazon’s AutoRip collection.
Once uploading and purchasing music for your Amazon Cloud Player app through the new Mac App, you’ll be able to access your whole collection on any device through apps for iPhone, iPad, iPod, Android devices, Roku, Sonos, and Samsung TVs.
You can download the Amazon Cloud Player for Mac app for free here. The 45MB download is available for Macs running OS X 10.6 and up.
Amazon Cloud Player for Mac features include: