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Best Buy iPhone SE & iPad Pro 9.7 deals: $50 gift card w/ SE, up to $350 off on Verizon

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If you’re planning on picking up an iPhone SE or an iPad Pro 9.7-inch, here’s a look at promos Best Buy is offering at launch.

Deals include a $50 gift card with the iPhone SE, $300 off the LTE iPad Pro on Verizon, or $350 off both devices with activation on Verizon, as well as the usual trade-in offers. Here’s the rundown:


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Volvo announces launch of new V90 Estate, its latest with Apple’s CarPlay

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Volvo is today announcing the launch of its latest vehicle, the V90 Estate, which also happens to be the company’s latest with support for Apple’s in-dash iPhone CarPlay feature.

The car is Volvo’s third for its premium 90 series and for that reason is being referred to as a sibling of the S90 sedan and XC90 SUV models that the company previously unveiled (and which also include support for CarPlay). In its press release, the company notes that means the new V90 Estate, like the XC90 and S90 before it, is “built on the company’s specially-designed and fully modular Scalable Product Architecture (SPA).”

“The modern premium estate is all about the intriguing combination of a luxurious experience with the functional origins of the estates silhouette. The sophisticated ambience of our new Volvo Interiors is combined with a great cargo space, providing the right kind of functionality – whether through connectivity or cargo and storage solutions,” said Thomas Ingenlath senior vice president for design at Volvo Cars.

The new V90 delivers cutting-edge Pilot Assist semi-autonomous drive technology, the most advanced standard safety package on the market, with large animal detection and run-off road mitigation, and class-leading connectivity including smartphone integration with Apple CarPlay.

The vehicle has full support for Apple’s CarPlay on the V90 Estate’s in-dash system using a connected iPhone. Volvo says the in-dash system on the V90 Estate is the same as in the S90, which includes a 9-inch touchscreen display as pictured above. And here’s a look at the exterior on the V90 Estate:

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Volvo first announced support for CarPlay on its 2016 XC90 SUV last year that it later delivered to owners of the vehicle through a software update back in December. Here’s a look at the feature in action in the vehicle:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVNuYMpuI0A]

Earlier this year Apple for the first time offered up an official list of CarPlay partners by year and model via a new webpage, but it has yet to update it to note the new Volvo V90 Estate launching today.

Day One 2 upgrades the journaling experience for both Mac and iOS [Giveaway]

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Day One 2 (Featured Image)

The team at Bloom Built has today released the latest version of its journaling app Day One. Five since its original debut, with 40 free releases since then, Day One 2 sets the precedent for the direction of the new app. Albeit awkwardly titled, version 2 of Day One includes new overall features for both the iOS and Mac versions. Having been built from the ground up with data reliabilty and security in mind, Day One 2 lays the foundation for exciting new features to come in later versions.

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Apple delays launch of iPhone 6s in Turkey due to recent terror attack

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While the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus was scheduled to arrive in 40+ more countries for Apple’s second wave launch this month, the company is delaying sales of the device in one of those countries, Turkey, due to recent terror attack that killed 97 people in the country’s capital Ankara. Apple confirmed that sales of the device would be delayed in an email to partners in the country that was obtained by appletoolbox.com.
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Apple TV 4 coming in October for under $200, Apple TV 3 stays & gets new streaming service

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Rough mockup of fourth Apple TV vs. third Apple TV by Michael Steeber

With the official debut of the next-generation Apple TV less than two weeks away, sources have provided additional details on Apple’s pricing, availability, and product lineup plans for its set-top devices. According to sources, the fourth-generation Apple TV will be priced below $200, and is on track to become available in October. Apple executives are apparently still finalizing the price of the revamped living room device, but the latest options call for a starting price point of either $149 or $199, both higher than the third-generation Apple TV


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Apple Watch release date for New Zealand scheduled for July 31st

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After its initial launch in nine countries in April, followed by seven more late last month and a handful of other countries launching later this week, Apple Watch will arrive for customers in New Zealand for the first time on July 31st. Apple has quietly made the announcement on an updated product page within its Apple Store iOS app, as pictured above.
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Apple Pay expected to go live in the U.K. on July 14th, £20+ transactions starting this fall

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Screenshot 2015-07-04 12.39.46

Apple appears to be planning to enable its Apple Pay iPhone mobile payments service in the United Kingdom on July 14th, according to sources at multiple retailers. Apple has informed some Apple Retail employees in the U.K. that Apple Pay support will go live on that Tuesday, while an internal memos for supermarket Waitrose plus an additional retail partner indicate the same date…


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Here comes Apple’s HomeKit, first products start shipping starting w/ Insteon, Lutron, iHome, Elgato and Ecobee

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Insteon-Homekit

Insteon, Lutron, iHome, Elgato and Ecobee have all just announced that their HomeKit products are now officially available and/or shipping to customers.

The announcements come on the heels of our report that Apple partners planned this week to launch the first products using the company’s new Siri-controlled HomeKit home automation platform, first introduced alongside iOS 8 last year. 
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Debunk: Don’t hold your breath for second-wave Apple Watch countries on May 8

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<a href="http://9to5mac.com/2015/04/17/apple-phil-schiller-marc-newson-apple-watch-showcase-milan/" target="_blank">Apple Watch on display for one day only in Milan, Italy last week</a>

A new report out today claims Apple will soon be taking orders for the Apple Watch in more countries around the world — even as stock in the initial launch countries remains tight. According to Italian site iSpazio, citing anonymous sources, Apple plans to roll out the Apple Watch preview and try-on experience at its retail locations and begin taking pre-orders beginning May 8th. However, sources close to the situation say Apple is not currently targeting May 8th for its second-wave Apple Watch launch…


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Apple Watch launch expected in March, retail training set for mid-February

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Apple is finishing up work on the Apple Watch’s software, and sources familiar with the product’s development say that the device is currently on track to ship in the United States by the end of March. Apple previously said that the wearable product will ship in “early 2015,” while Senior Vice President of Retail Angela Ahrendts got a bit more specific by telling employees that the launch will occur in the “spring,” after the Chinese New Year…


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Report claims chip suppliers are preparing to ramp up Apple Watch production

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Apple has yet to provide a specific launch date for the Apple Watch, leaving its early 2015 timeframe and internal memo revealing a spring launch after Chinese New Year as the only information to go by in terms of a release date. A new report by Taiwan-based DigiTimes, however, suggests that the Apple Watch could launch sooner rather than later next year.
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Spotify music streaming service finally launches in Canada

Spotify-albums-iOS-01Spotify announced today that it’s finally expanding into Canada giving Canucks access to the music streaming service that was previously available in the UK, US and a long list of other European and South American countries.

The official announcement comes from Spotify’s blog following a beta period in the country in which the company invited select users to sign-up and try out the service.

Canadians that download the Spotify app will be able to access the service’s usual “fully licensed free tier.” That includes the ability to “shuffle play on mobile or play any song on tablet or desktop,” but users can also pay $10 CAD per month for the unlimited, on-demand experience with the highest quality audio and no ads.

A full list of countries that Spotify is currently available in is here.

Apple’s annual Back to School promotion likely kicking off at end of June

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Retro Apple Store Back to School display

Retro Apple Store <a href="http://www.aredesignawards.com/award_winner_detail.cfm?key=2009129">Back to School display</a>

Apple could be planning to launch its annual Back to School sales promotion within the next two weeks. Apple Stores, according to several employees, will be changing the front of store glass window displays overnight on June 30th. This is the usual timeframe in which Apple launches a promotion to boost Mac, iPad, and iPhone sales in anticipation of the new school year in the fall.

Last year, the Back to School promotion consisted of $100 App Store gift cards for Mac purchases and $50 cards for iPad and iPhone purchases by students with their Student IDs. Of course, this June 30th window change could be connected to another promotion or a new product, but based on the timing, the Back to School program being in the wings seems most likely.


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New app Audibly lets you share your music wirelessly to nearby iOS devices

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_rLITnBzvk]

A brand new app created by three 2013 WWDC student scholarship winners— Nick Frey, Chris Galzerano, and Veeral Patel—launched on the App Store earlier this month. The app is called Audibly, and it allows users to stream music from one device to any others nearby. The music plays in sync across all devices, allowing everyone to listen in on the same playlist.

The app is fairly straightfoward. You simply pick a playlist to share, pair with a few nearby iOS devices, and hit play. The connection is made over Wi-Fi when there’s a network available, or through a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection if the devices aren’t connected to the same Wi-Fi network.


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Rovio launches Flappy Bird-style game ‘Retry’ in select countries

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta0SJa6Sglo]

Angry Birds maker Rovio is today launching its latest title in the App Store with the release of ‘Retry,’ a game that appears to be inspired by the gameplay and retro 8-bit graphics of recent hit iOS game Flappy Birds. Although that might be selling it short, as it’s clear from the mechanics shown off in the trailer above that this is much more than just a Flappy Birds clone.

From the guys sitting in the room next to the guys who made Angry Birds, comes RETRY – a game so hard, so addictive, so old school that you’ll think you’ve stepped into an 8-bit time machine and gone back to 1986. Totally rad!

The game is the first release from Rovio’s latest publishing arm “Rovio LVL 11,” which, according to Gamasutra, will exist for Rovio’s new titles that don’t quite fit in with the Angry Birds world. That means you shouldn’t expect to see a ton of cross-promotions with Retry and Angry Birds or any of the other Rovio’s titles.

Retry is already available in the App Store for both iPhone and iPad, but it’s currently only available in Canada, Finland, and Poland. We’d expect to see the title arrive in the US and globally in the near future.

Doo moves beyond document syncing, releases Scanbot for iPhone

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Earlier this year, the developers of the document-syncing application Doo announced that the company was shutting down its backend and removing its app from sale. The company wasn’t going anywhere, however, and had plans for a brand new product that would be revealed soon.

Today, the company has taken the wraps off of its newest app, Scanbot, which allows users to scan documents into their iPhone and store them as PDFs or JPGs on a variety of cloud services. We had a chance to talk to Frank Thelen, CEO of Doo, about why the original service was shuttered, how the company decided on a new direction, and and what lies ahead for Scanbot.
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