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Mike Beasley

Apple releases iTunes 12.3.2 with changes to Classical listings in Apple Music

iTunes Mac 16-9Apple has pushed an iTunes update to match Apple Music changes made earlier this week in iOS 9.2. The change includesĀ a new way to view ClassicalĀ music on the streaming service, allowing users to see works, composers, and performers.

The update also includes theĀ standard generic bug fix notice. iTunes 12.3.2 is available now from the Updates tab of the Mac App Store.

Facebook removes Slingshot, Rooms, and Riff apps from App Store, closes Creative Labs

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Shortly after Dropbox announced it had shut down its popular Mailbox and Carousel apps, Facebook has made a similar move by removing a handful of its apps from the iOS App Store and shutting down the division that created them.

Facebook’s Creative Labs project was intended to promote the creation of apps like Snapchat competitor Slingshot, and has launched several apps with some success. However, the social site has apparently decided that the time has come to shutter that initiative and the apps it has produced.


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Dropbox shutting down popular Mailbox email client and Carousel photo app

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In a new blog post today, Dropbox has announced the shuttering of the Mailbox app it acquired in 2013, along with the Carousel photos appĀ that launched last year. The beta build of Mailbox for Mac has not seen an update in quite some time, whileĀ the iOS version had been left to stagnate, leading many to believe this was the case already, but today’s announcement finally confirms it.

Dropbox says that the reason for the shutdowns was that company had “increased our teamā€™s focus on collaboration and simplifying the way people work together.”


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Sketch joins parade of developers abandoning Mac App Store in favor of direct sales

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The developers of the UI design tool Sketch have announced their decision to exit the Mac App Store, following in the footsteps of many other software makers, such as Panic.

The company cited a number of factors that contributed to this decision, including strict limitations placed on apps sold through the digital storefrontā€”the same reason Panic gave for Coda’s removal.

So as not to leave its customers hanging without the ability to update, Sketch will allow App Store customers to move to the direct-sale version of the app.


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Apple Pay support for JCPenney store cards in testing with spring 2016 rollout goal

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JCPenney is following the lead set by Kohl’sĀ andĀ testing Apple Pay support for its store credit cards, according to a new report.

JCP shoppers in TexasĀ are being added to a pilot program that allows them to set up their store cards on their mobile devices for use in stores. The program seems to be limited to only one store at the moment, with a full rollout planned for spring 2016.


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AT&T to increase price of grandfathered unlimited plans in February (Updated)

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AT&T subscribers who previously had unlimited data plans back in the iPhone 3G era and have managed to hang onto that plan are in for their first price increase in seven years, a source with knowledge of the matter has informedĀ 9to5Mac.

Update: AT&T has now publicly announcedĀ the change. Additional information has been added below.


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T-Mobile launches ‘full month of holiday gift-giving’ with 3 months of unlimited LTE for all subscribers

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T-Mobile has announced its latest “un-carrier” initiative, dubbed “Un-carrier Unwrapped.” Rather than a permanent addition to the company’s offerings, Un-carrier Unwrapped is a month-long event during which the carrier will gift its subscribers and new customers with special deals and benefits.

The first of those was announced today: unlimited LTE data for all subscribers on Simple Choice post-paid plans for the next three months.


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Skype for iOS updated with data detectors for phone numbers, addresses, and more

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Skype updated its iOS client today with support for several different data detectors in text chats.

Now whenever someone sends you a phone number, address, or date, you can tap that information to automatically start a call, bring up a map, or create a new calendar event, respectively.

The update also now shows a bar that you can tap from any chat or the contacts list to get back to your current call.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU_JMYgK7GY]

Skype 6.6 is available on the App Store.

What’s New in Version 6.6

Phone number, date and address detection in your conversations:
– Call a phone number (using Skype Credit) direct from highlighted numbers.
– Set up calendar events by tapping highlighted dates, days and times.
– Check locations in Maps directly from highlighted addresses.

Making it easier to multi-task in Skype:
– Quickly return to a call by pressing the Active Call banner in Skype.
– Use the unread counter to easily see how many unread conversations you have when in a conversation .

General improvements.

Google disables support for third-party keyboards in Chrome due to ‘crashing issues’

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Third-party keyboards have been supported on iOS since version 8 shipped last year, but even today they’re still often plagued by poor performance and other issues related to Apple’s implementation. Today, Google has released a Chrome for iOS update that disables support for third-party keyboards entirely because of such issues.


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Tim Cook in company-wide email: Melbourne Apple Store incident “unacceptable”

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Apple CEO Tim Cook sent an email to all of the company’s employees today addressing the situation at Apple’s Melbourne, Australia store that saw a group of teens booted from the outlet by management due to their race. The incident was captured in a video that appeared online this week.

In the email, which bore the subject line “Apple is open,” Cook calls the handling of the situation “unacceptable” and says that no one in Apple’s leadership was happy about what happened. He also said that store leadership teams worldwide would be required to re-take certain customer service training.


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Facebook debuts ‘Notify’ app for news, sports, weather, and more

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In line with previous rumors, Facebook has released a new app today called Notify that aims to deliver timely and relevant news notifications to users.

The app serves a wide variety of content types to keep users interested, including the day’s weather forecasts, breaking news from multiple sources, fashion news from Vogue, and even historical images from Getty.


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SwiftKey updated with complete set of new emoji for iOS 9.1

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The popular SwiftKey keyboard for iOS has been updated today with support for all of iOS 9.1’s new emoji icons. Included in the new version are such favorites as the šŸ¦„ unicorn, šŸŒ­ hot dog, šŸ––šŸ»Vulcan salute, and new expressions like the šŸ¤” thinking face, the šŸ™„ eye roll face, andĀ (my personal favorite) the šŸ™ƒ upside down smiley face.


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New Apple TV hacked to run makeshift Safari browser

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A new YouTube video (embedded below) showing the first browser designed for the new Apple TV has been published. The app uses a private API to render web content, so it’s not likely you’ll be seeing it on the App Store any time soon, but the project is open source and can be downloaded by anyone.

The browser takes advantage of the Siri Remote bundled with the new Apple TV hardware to navigate websites. Pressing the glass surface on the remote switches between two modes.


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Apple launches new Shopping category in the App Store promoting Apple Pay

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Apple has enabled a new category on the iOS App Store designed to help shoppers find apps for specific retailers. The Shopping categoryĀ is now rolling out worldwide and includes apps from companies including Apple, Target, eBay. and Groupon.

As the inclusion of these apps demostrates, the section can be used to track down not only products, but also deals, coupons, and auctions. Previously such apps were grouped into the Lifestyle section, which wasn’t the best fit as that also included apps with a wide variety of purposes ranging from keeping up with the KardashiansĀ to connected appliance management.


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Apple looks to build 4.15 million square foot campus in San Jose

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As construction continues on Apple’s new Campus, the company is considering expanding its operation to a new, even larger 4.15 million square foot facility in San Jose, according to a new report.

The tech company is currently seeking an agreement with the city that would allow itĀ to develop the massive lot for a new campus, though actually getting such an agreement would not necessarily guarantee that Apple would begin construction.


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