iTunes

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• iTunes
• itunes radio
• IAd

Apple opens up iTunes Radio ad creation to iAd Producer

 

In addition to the iTunes 11.1.1 and OS X 10.8.5 updates, Apple has updated its iAd Producer application. iAd Producer allows Mac users to create ads for deployment via the iAd Network inside of App Store applications. Most notable in today’s update, Apple has now opened up the ability to create ads for display inside of iTunes Radio.

This release contains a number of enhancements and fixes, including:
● Support for creating iTunes Radio ads for iOS devices.
● Simplified, more flexible interface for iAd Blueprints projects.
● Support for creating iAd Blueprints projects that support multiple languages.
● Improved action support in Quick Preview.
● Improved search results in Code Documentation.
● Live asset previews during drag-and-drop.
● Support for grouping and ungrouping views.
● CSS class auto-completion in the Object Inspector.
● Support for taking photos and using the front-facing camera.
● Accessibility improvements for exported content.
● Music video support in iTunes LP content
● Other bug fixes and improvements.

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• Apps
• iTunes
• Developers
• Mac App Store
• Education

Apple to promote Mac Apps for education and enterprise with new volume purchase program

Apple has informed Mac developers that it is preparing to launch the ability for educational institutions and developers to purchase apps from the Mac App Store in volume for a discount. The upcoming feature was announced in an email:

We’re pleased to announce that Mac apps will soon be eligible to participate in the Volume Purchase Program for Business and Education. The Volume Purchase Program allows businesses or educational institutions to purchase multiple copies of your app at once.

You may also offer a discount to educational institutions for multiple purchases. If you choose to offer a volume discount for an app, institutions that purchase 20 or more copies of that app in a single order will receive a 50-percent discount.

Your existing Mac apps will not be automatically enrolled in the discount for educational institutions. If you would like to offer your existing Mac apps at a discount for the Educational Volume Purchase Program, check “Discount for Educational Institutions” in the Rights and Pricing section of the Manage Your Apps module on iTunes Connect.

For orders of 20 copies, a discount of 50% to the total order will be applied. This option will not be enabled for developers automatically, but the app sellers will need to enable the feature in iTunes Connect.

Apple launched volume purchase functionality for iOS applications in 2011. 

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• Apps
• Apple News
• Spotify
• iTunes
• Android

iTunes Radio gets new competition as Rdio iOS app offers free personalized stations

Rdio has launched a free personalized radio stations option within its iOS and Android apps. This is a more controllable version of the You FM feature added back in August.

Like iTunes Radio, you can’t choose a specific artist or track, but you can create a radio station based on a song, artist or genre and then listen to the stream Rdio creates based on your selection. Unlike iTunes Radio, Rdio’s free streaming service is ad-free, at least for now.

New subscribers also get a 14-day free trial of the Rdio subscription service, allowing you to play specific tracks. Once the 14 days end, however, you’ll revert to radio stations only unless you sign-up at $9.99 a month to keep the paid service.

Rdio is a free download on iTunes.

• AAPL Company
• Apple AirPort Extreme
• 9to5Toys
• iTunes
• Daily Deals

9to5Toys Last Call: $50 iTunes gift card for $40, Airport Extreme 5th gen. (Refurb.) $75, iPad 4th gen $425, iPad mini $295, more

From 9to5Toys.com:

A large majority of the deals we cover each day come from a variety of ‘Daily Deal’ websites or are so popular that they don’t even last 24 hours. We know you can’t be at your computer every second, so we’re going to round up the best deals each day to make sure you have a fair shot at the deals you want. Be sure to follow 9to5Toys.com so you never miss a deal... Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+.

Today’s featured deals:

SOLD OUT $50 iTunes gift card for $40: Save 20% on future app, music, movie, book purchases (Limited quantities remain)

Apple Airport Extreme 5th Gen (Refurb): $75 shipped (Reg. $180 new)

Apple iPad 4th gen. w/ Retina display 16GB WiFi $425 (Reg. $499), iPad mini 16GB WiFi $295 (Reg. $229)

Seagate Expansion 3TB USB 3.0 desktop external hard drive $90 shipped (Reg. $125)… http://t.co/fbsKbmi86E

— 9to5Toys (@9to5toys) September 25, 2013

Western Digital My Passport 2TB USB 3.0 portable hard drive $100 shipped (Reg. $150) … http://t.co/QLbuYRWxiT

— 9to5Toys (@9to5toys) September 23, 2013

Other great deals from today:

• New! Netgear Wireless WiFi N Router with Integrated 4-Port Switch $18 shipped (Reg. $59)
  
• New! Western Digital 3TB Elements External USB 2.0 Hard Drive $95 shipped
• New! Iron Man 3 is now available on DVD/Blu-ray, here’s the best current deals
  
• New! Pioneer DDJ-T1 & S1 DJ Controllers at $100 off: $600 shipped

The best deals that are still alive:

• Samsung Solid State Drives: 840 EVO 250GB $165 (Reg. $250), 840 PRO 256GB $200 (Reg. $270)
• Game/App Deals: Saints Row IV $38, Disney Animated for iPad $10, Amazon game Gold Box event, GTA V PS3 bundle $229 (limited quantities remain), more
• Splinter Cell Blacklist: $45, Playstation Plus: $40, iOS freebies, FIFA 14, more
• MOTA 4000mAh Portable Power Block for smartphones & tablets: $30 shipped (Reg. $70)
• The best Apple-certified (MFi) Lightning cables in various lengths, colors, and styles
• Acer 11.6” C7 Chromebook 2GB, 16GB SSD (Refurb.) $140 shipped (Reg. $199 new)
• The Flexibits Mini Mac Bundle: Fantastical & Chatology $20 (Reg. $40) – Ends in 1 day!
• Google-owned QuickOffice goes free on iOS and Android, 10GB of Drive space offered
• Logitech Harmony smart control w/ iOS integration and simple remote as low as $80 shipped (Reg. $130)
• Google Play ‘Free For Fall’ music promo featuring 12 free or discounted tracks from Phoenix, MGMT, Kaskade, and more
• Google Chromecast now in stock at Amazon $35 with free shipping

Mac software bundles:

• Mac Bundle 3.0 Ft. Camtasia 2 and 9 other explosive Mac Apps. Name your own price.
• TuneUp iTunes cleaner $30
• The Mac Freebie Bundle 2.0: 10 Apps To Enhance Your Design, Photography & Productivity
• $50 MacUpdate Bundle: Snapheal Pro, Civ V Gold, PDF Pen, TechTool Pro 7, ScreenFlow, more

New product announcements & reviews:

• Belkin announces YourType Wireless Keypad to extend your Mac’s keyboard
• Grand Theft V ‘iFruit’ companion app lets you customize in-game cars, train Chop the dog
• ChargeKey is a USB Lightning charging cable on your key ring
• Sony launches new mini home console, the Playstation Vita TV
• Amazon announces the all-new Kindle Paperwhite e-reader, now available for preorder starting at $119

• Apps
• iOS
• iPad
• iOS Devices
• iPhone

App Store makes it easier for parents to find apps for their children with new Kids Category in iOS 7

In iOS 7, Apple has made it easier for parents to find great age-appropriate, kid-friendly educational apps by gathering them all in one location. It’s currently being featured on the Featured page. Also you can find it by pressing on the blue word Categories in the upper left hand corner of the screen and then scroll down until you see Kids or click here. (ages 5 & under, ages 6-8 and ages 9-11).

By pressing on the Kids category the apps are split up based off the kids age. They have sections for ages 5 & under, ages 6-8 and ages 9-11.

There are even categories that cover key learning concepts like creating, shapes, colors, discovering the world, reading, music, and interactive books. To see them all, just swipe right to left on the boxes to view them all.

So parents, the next time you give your device to your children, you can now have them play with apps that are truly developed with them in mind and that are educational!

• AAPL Company
• Apple News
• Twitter
• iTunes
• iOS 7

In tandem with iTunes Radio launch, Apple starts using @iTunes Twitter account

Alongside the official launches of both iTunes Radio and iOS 7 today, Apple has begun using the @iTunes Twitter account. While the account only has two tweets at the time of this writing, it appear that the page will be used for general purpose, iTunes related announcements.

https://twitter.com/iTunes/status/380400209110392833

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• Apps & Updates
• Apps
• iOS
• iPad
• iPhone
• Apple News

Facebook updates iOS app with new look for iOS 7

Facebook announced on its blog today that it’s rolling out a new update for iOS 7 (alongside just about every other developer today) that brings a brand new iOS 7 style design to the app. On top of a lighter color palette and the new iOS 7 translucent top bar, you’ll also now be able to “swipe from left to right to get back to News Feed” after tapping a story.

There are some other tweaks included in the update as well. The iPhone app, for example, now includes a new tab style menu along the bottom of the screen. The new menu design is something Facebook has actually been testing with many users in recent months, although not with the new iOS 7 design included in today’s update. Facebook is hoping the new menu makes it “easier to switch from News Feed to your friend requests, messages or notifications.”

The new Facebook app for iOS has begun rolling out to the App Store. A video of the new design in action is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnXggjgWC3U&feature=youtu.be

• AAPL Company
• iOS
• iPhone
• Apple News
• iPod touch

Direct download links for iOS 7 & 7.0.1

Following Apple’s release of iOS 7 earlier today as an almost 1GB OTA update, direct download links have now made their way online. iOS 7.0 (build 11A465) is available now for your iPhone 4, 4S, 5, and iPad 2 and up, but Apple also has iOS 7.0.1 (build 11A470a) available for the new iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C as we noted earlier today. If you are having trouble with the over the air update, or just want to do a completely fresh install, you’ll be able to use the direct download links above to do so.

If you are going that route, you’ll want to make sure you are updated to the latest iTunes 11.1 released earlier today with iTunes Radio, Genius Shuffle, Podcast Stations, and, of course, support for iOS 7 devices.

iPad:

iPad2(wifi) (iPad2,1) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad2(at&t) (iPad2,2) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad2(vz) (iPad2,3) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad2,4 (iPad2,4) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad2,5 (iPad2,5) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad2,6 (iPad2,6) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad2,7 (iPad2,7) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad3,1 (iPad3,1) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad3,2 (iPad3,2) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad3,3 (iPad3,3) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad3,4 (iPad3,4) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad3,5 (iPad3,5) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad3,6 (iPad3,6) 7.0 (11A465)

iPhone:

iPhone4 (iPhone3,1) 7.0 (11A465)

iPhone3,2 (iPhone3,2) 7.0 (11A465)

iPhone4(vz) (iPhone3,3) 7.0 (11A465)

iPhone4S (iPhone4,1) 7.0 (11A465)

iPhone5,1 (iPhone5,1) 7.0 (11A465)

iPhone5,2 (iPhone5,2) 7.0 (11A465)

iPhone5,3 (iPhone5,3) 7.0.1 (11A470a)

iPhone5,4 (iPhone5,4) 7.0.1 (11A470a)

iPhone6,1 (iPhone6,1) 7.0.1 (11A470a)

iPhone6,2 (iPhone6,2) 7.0.1 (11A470a)

iPod touch:

iPodTouch(5G) (iPod5,1) 7.0 (11A465)

• Apps
• iTunes
• mavericks
• itunes radio
• itunes 11.1

Latest Mavericks Developer Preview includes updated iTunes 11.1 with new iOS app organizer, other fixes

While the Developer Center still shows iTunes 11.1 beta 2, which was released August 16, today’s Mavericks Developer Preview 8 includes an updated version of iTunes 11.1 (build 110, as compared to 48 previously).

iOS 7 device icons are included in this build and a new “Apps” organizer for configuring apps on iOS devices (Thanks, Filipe!):

Also noteworthy are two new buttons in the podcasts section for accessing old episodes and a new sidebar for settings.

While listening to iTunes Radio, the history button now shows songs that were last played (along with audio preview and purchase buttons):

When you’re down to just one final skip, “1 skip left” appears near the skip button while listening to iTunes Radio:

With iTunes 11.1, a notification appears every time the song changes. In the latest beta, there is an option to turn off this notification in the Preferences pane and the option to keep song changes in Notification Center is also present.

The update makes the shuffle button work again and disables the unlimited skips on iTunes Radio loophole.

Today’s Mavericks update closes the unlimited skipping loophole in iTunes Radio

— Michael Steeber (@MichaelSteeber) September 17, 2013

iTunes 11.1, which brings with it Apple’s streaming service, iTunes Radio, is required for syncing devices that are on iOS 7 which will be released on Wednesday. Mavericks itself, however, will be released late next month.

• Apps
• Apple News
• Twitter
• iTunes
• itunes radio

Apple changes featured stations in iTunes Radio – likely for a demo today

Apple has updated the Featured Stations in iTunes Radio, likely in preparation for a demo of the service during today’s iPhone launch.

The featured stations include Spin the Globe, Trending on Twitter, iTunes Top 100: Pop and the Pepsi-sponsored Pulse #Now.

iTunes Radio will be available on all iOS devices, including Apple TV, as well as in iTunes on both Macs and PCs, as a free ad-supported service. There will be one audio ad every 15 minutes, and one video ad per hour. However, iTunes Match subscribers will be able to listen to the service free from ads.

Thanks, Nick!

• Tips and Tricks
• iTunes
• sales
• 69-cents

iTunes does $.69 sale on top singles

From 9to5Toys.com

Today, iTunes is offering a variety of Hits for only $0.69 each.  It’s rare that iTunes offers these kinds of discounts (usually the realm of Amazon) and there are some great songs in here. You can also pick up whole sets for around $26.