Tech Industry

4,148 'Tech Industry' stories June 2007 - June 2013

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Samsung shows off new additions to its Galaxy family including lower-cost Galaxy S4 Mini

Jordan Kahn Jun 20 2013 - 2:18 pm PT

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Apple might not have any new mobile devices to show off until fall, but Samsung today introduced a number of new devices to its flagship Galaxy family. One of those devices was the new mid-range Galaxy S4 mini, which could be a competitor for the rumored low-cost iPhone and less expensive previous generation iPhones (although Samsung didn’t announce pricing) when it lands somewhere in the $400 price range in July.

Other devices announced by Samsung today include a brand new Galaxy NX camera with a 4.8-inch touch screen and Android 4.2.2., as well as Samsung’s new Galaxy S4 Zoom smartphone/camera hybrid device.

The company also showed its new ATIV Q Windows 8 hybrid device with the ability to dual-boot Windows and Android.

Head below for coverage and hands-on videos from the event from our sister site 9to5Google:

–Samsung officially unveils Galaxy S4 Active, S4 mini, and S4 Zoom at London event

–Samsung announces Galaxy NX Android camera with LTE, 20.3mp sensor, and 13 lenses

–Hands-on with the Samsung S4 Zoom [Video]

–Hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy NX [Video]

–Hands-on demo of the Samsung S4 Active underwater [Video]

Logitech announces the Harmony Ultimate Hub: Turns any iPhone into a full-fledged Universal Remote

Jun 20 2013 - 6:32 am PT

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After nearly selling their Harmony remote line, Logitech has officially announced the Harmony Ultimate Hub, an “appcessory” that turns any iPhone (or most any Smartphone!) into a slick universal remote. Bringing the beautiful Harmony remote touch interface to smartphones everywhere. The hub allows up to 8 devices to connect and control entertainment systems from anywhere in the house via a Bluetooth connection. No more precision remote shooting to try and hit the IR sensor just right…
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5,100 3rd party ATG MacBook batteries recalled from Best Buy

9to5 Staff Jun 20 2013 - 12:00 am PT

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The AP has the story: Best Buy is recalling 5,100 replacement batteries for the MacBook Pro due to a fire risk.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Wednesday that there have been 13 reports that the battery caught fire. One consumer suffered a serious burn on the leg.

Best Buy Co. is voluntarily recalling both black and white ATG lithium-ion replacement batteries for the notebook computers. The batteries were sold online or shipped to customers through its Geek Squad services from September of 2008 through June of 2012 for about $50.

Best Buy said it is contacting customers to ask them to return the batteries for replacement or for a Best Buy gift card. Company spokesman Jeff Shelman noted that Best Buy is only one of many retailers that may have sold the batteries.

The model number “MC-MBOOK13B” is on the label of the black battery and “MC-BOOK13W” is on the label of the white battery. The ATG logo is on both.

Best Buy’s official statement switches the “U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission” with “reports from consumers”:

After receiving reports from customers of these lithium ion batteries overheating when charging, we believe the right thing to do is to contact our customers and ask them to return the product for replacement or for a Best Buy gift card. While we are only one of many companies that may have sold these batteries, we feel they are a potential fire and burn hazard and want to keep our customers safe.

Recall Details

Units

About 5,100

Description

This recall involves both black and white ATG lithium-ion replacement batteries for MacBook Pro notebook computers. Model number “MC-MBOOK13B” is on the label of the black battery and model number “MC-BOOK13W” is on the label of the white battery. The ATG logo is on both batteries.

Incidents/Injuries

The firm has received 13 reports that the battery caught fire, including one report of a serious burn to a consumer’s leg.

Remedy

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled battery, remove it from the computer and contact Best Buy for a replacement Apple brand battery or a $50 Best Buy gift card as a full refund. Best Buy is contacting its customers directly.

Sold at

Bestbuy.com and Partstore.com, or shipped to customers through the Geek Squad Protection fulfillment at Best Buy from September 2008 through June 2012 for about $50.

Importer

BTI Corp., of Las Vegas

Tech Industry

Former Apple hardware engineer’s ‘Black Pearl’ startup working on Android tablet/ cloud solution for TV?

Jordan Kahn Jun 19 2013 - 3:11 pm PT

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You probably haven’t yet heard of Black Pearl: a new startup run by former Apple hardware guru Tim Bucher and a number of former execs from Netflix, YouTube, Intel, Amazon, and others. GigaOM gives us some details on the new company, which it thinks is currently working on an Android tablet and TV cloud solution of sorts.

According to the report, the team is currently working on a tablet that is likely Android-based in addition to a companion device that will act connect TVs to the cloud and allow users to stream content. The report adds that the company is also developing apps for iOS, Android, PCs, and Macs. Add in that the company has registered for trademarks such as “home data center”, “Data Mesh”, and “Lyve”, and GigaOM thinks Black Pearl could be working on a home entertainment platform that works alongside a dedicated tablet:
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MacStadium announces plans for Mac Pro hosting and colocation while Macminicolo also plans to be ready at launch

Zac Hall Jun 18 2013 - 9:28 am PT

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MacStadium announces plans for Mac Pro hosting and colocation

Less than a week since being teased at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, the Mac Pro is already finding its way into new and useful places. MacStadium, which currently utlizes the Mac mini for dedicated hosting and colocation, has announced plans to offer Mac Pro hosting later this year.

MacStadium has already developed custom racks for the new Mac Pro (via Macworld/TUAW), which features a brand-new design that is much smaller than the previous model, and can store 270 Mac Pros in each Mac Pro POD. That’s fifteen rows, nine columns, and two Mac Pros per slot.
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iDockAll: A beautifully designed dock that lets you keep on charging [Kickstarter]

Zac Hall Jun 12 2013 - 11:00 pm PT

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Virtually all docks that currently exist are modal in that docking your device means you probably won’t be using it while it stays tethered to the power source. Wiplabs wants to solve that problem for you with the iDockAll, which cradles your device upright but is designed to allow you to remove and use your device without removing the power source.
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Former Apple SVP and Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein responds to iOS 7: ‘the Mac has webOS stuff, too!’

Scott Buscemi Jun 12 2013 - 9:17 am PT

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Yesterday, FierceWireless published an interview with former Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein. Palm released its webOS operating system in 2009 to much fanfare, however, the sales were abysmal and led to the eventual HP acquisition.

Rubinstein still remains very proud of the innovation behind webOS and believes the technology is slowly being “adopted” by other companies. With the introduction of iOS 7, many have said that features like multitasking cards resemble webOS, but Rubinstein believes the webOS influence extends even further into other operating systems like OS X and those of other companies:

FierceWireless: It seems like iOS 7 is taking lots of multitasking cues from webOS. How do you think that platform, webOS, influenced other mobile platforms?

Rubinstein: It’s not just mobile platforms. If you look at the notifications on Mac OS X, it looks just like webOS, too. We did a lot of things that were very, very innovative. Obviously, multitasking, notifications, Synergy, how we handled the multiple cards. There’s a long list of stuff we did that has been adopted by Microsoft, Apple and Android. Our over-the-air updates and mechanism has been updated by everybody. Our whole Synergy concept is now becoming much more common. I don’t think anyone has implemented it as well as we did yet, but clearly they’re all heading down that direction.

Read the entire interview here.

Even the head of Android is excited to try out iOS 7

9to5 Staff Jun 11 2013 - 4:05 am PT

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Excited to try out iOS7 beta, guess I need to register as a developer first:)

— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) June 11, 2013

Sundar Pinchai, the relatively new head of Android since Andy Rubin’s departure, doesn’t mince words when it comes to his interest in iOS7. The more pessimistic among us would say that he wants to copy all of the new features but he’s probably just curious like everyone else.
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Apple announces ‘Activation Lock’ theft deterrent feature for iOS 7 ahead of gov’t meeting on rising smartphone crime

Jordan Kahn Jun 10 2013 - 1:40 pm PT

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Ahead of a meeting with government officials later this month to discuss how Apple could prevent increasing smartphone crimes, Apple today introduced a new feature called ‘Activation Lock’ that it says will be “a really powerful theft deterrent” when released later this fall in iOS 7.

We told you earlier this month that government officials in the US were calling Apple, Google and others to a “smartphone summit” later this month on June 13 to discuss the increasing amount of smartphone related crime in New York city and the rest of the country. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon have been pushing smartphone makers to come up with solutions to prevent crime and discourage thefts of devices.

Today, during its WWDC keynote presentation ahead of the meeting later this month, Apple introduced the ‘Activation Lock’ feature that will require an Apple ID and password to reactivate a stolen phone after being remotely erased/wiped by the owner through Apple Find my iPhone feature. The login information will also now be required to turn off Find My iPhone.

If a user’s device is stolen, wiping the device clean will essentially leave the thief with a device that is inoperable without the user’s Apple ID and password (as pictured above):
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Adobe releases Lightroom 5 with significant updates and $79/$149 price tag

Seth Weintraub Jun 9 2013 - 9:27 pm PT

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You can now download Adobe Lightroom 5 from Adobe for $149.99/$79 upgrade as an individual license and via Adobe Creative Cloud. The upgrade to the professional photo organization and editing tool is significant:
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AT&T releases Enterprise Push to Talk (EPTT) app for iPhone

Jun 7 2013 - 9:25 am PT

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AT&T released a Push to Talk iPhone client for Enterprise customers today. With Sprint closing its Nextel PTT services soon, this will come in handy for a lot of businesses. The service allows business customers to:

Create large contact lists with up to 1,000 contacts
Conduct a group call with up to 250 people simultaneously with the push of a button
Choose from a broad selection of smartphones, feature phones, rugged phones and specialty devices
Talk and use productivity applications simultaneously
See who’s available to talk now with AT&T Enhanced PTT’s presence status indicators
Allow supervisors to override PTT calls in order to communicate important, time- sensitive messages to their teams
Access AT&T’s expansive 3G, 4G and 4G LTE networks
Use mobile applications, GPS or cameras on your phones during PTT calls

AT&T Enhanced PTT Product Brief
Corporate Admin Tool Quick Reference Guide

Description
AT&T Enhanced PTT is the premier enterprise-grade carrier push-to-talk solution for large or small organizations, with superior performance, features and reliability. Enhanced PTT uses next-generation Voice over IP technology to deliver one-to-one or group calls over the AT&T 3G or 4G networks or on compatible WiFi networks.

Key features of Enhanced PTT include:
* Fast call setup times and low latency
* Advanced push-to-talk features including real-time presence, Instant Personal Alerts, free/busy status and Supervisory Override
* Scalable to support large contact lists and talk groups
* Organizations can use a Corporate Admin Tool for easy management of users and groups

Enhanced PTT is available for AT&T Wireless customers only and cannot be used with international roaming. For more information on getting started with AT&T Enhanced PTT, visit www.att.com/epttsupport.

When Thunderbolt adoption goes mainstream, this is your 10GB/s 128GB Thumb drive

Seth Weintraub Jun 6 2013 - 9:31 am PT

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The chicken and egg adoption/price reductions of Thunderbolt haven’t yet made the devices accessible to most storage shoppers. That didn’t stop Thunderbolt’s inventor, Intel from Frankenstein-ing an otherworldly thumb drive with a Thunderbolt interface and 128GB of fast storage.

Internally, the drive has SanDisk SSD (why not Intel’s own?) storage and probably has a bottleneck giving the device somewhere between SATA 3 and 10GB/s Thunderbolt speeds. Intel is making a few for demo purposes and but doesn’t expect a consumer version until wider Thunderbolt adoption takes place and prices for the tech go way down.
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Tango launches SDK to become the social layer of apps and games

Zach Kahn Jun 6 2013 - 5:53 am PT

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Tango, a mobile messaging and video calling app, has announced that it will open its platform to third-party developers in order to expand the service. The company, which now serves over 120 million members worldwide, plans to partner with third party developers in order to integrate its newly crafted software development kit (SDK) into its apps.

Tango states that by allowing third party apps to take advantage of their unique messaging and calling service, it can better serve as a unifying social layer amongst games and other apps. The company hopes that by doing so it can better reflect users’ real-world connections with friends and family and create gaming experiences akin to participating in the cliched family board game night than blankly staring down at a smartphone.

According to Tango CEO Eric Setton, users have been playing a massive amount of games within the app every month. “But we found that we can’t do everything we want to inside the app, in terms of putting out the most compelling content out there and presenting it to our members,” Setton explains. Much as Tango’s actual service, the SDK allows the third-party apps to connect with its network, retrieve a list of friends, and then allow those users to message each other using text, picture, and video. The SDK also includes support for social leaderboards, which show how users’ scores compare with friends and allow for both competitive and collaborative in-game mechanics.

Game developers have given the SDK a warm reception so far says Setton, because of its potential for increased app discovery. Gameloft will soon be releasing an app in called “Candy Block Breaker for Tango” on iOS, and that will be then followed by “JetPack Jinx for Tango,” developed by Bubble Gum Interactive. Developers like Gameloft and Bubble Gum Interactive who utilize Tango’s SDK will split revenues amongst the participating companies.

While initial partnerships with Tango were specifically focused on mobile gaming, Tango’s SDK will be open to developers looking to to add the functionality to another app genre.

Building and opening an SDK is a massive step for Tango in its steady transformation from a simple video calling app to a mobile social network. If executed correctly, Tango’s SDK may be able to push the company into a position that could rival existing networks like Skype and Fringe. Time will tell if Tango’s investment into third party apps is the key to its own success.

Developers interested in Tango’s service can apply for access to the Tango SDK from the company’s homepage.

Logitech acquires creators of TidyTilt Kickstarter project that raised over $200k

Jordan Kahn Jun 6 2013 - 1:00 am PT

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Logitech today announced that it acquired smartphone accessory startup TT Design Labs, a company that first received media attention for its ‘TidyTilt’ magnetic earbud holder and kickstand that raised over $200,000 through a Kickstarter campaign. As part of the deal, the two co-founders of TT Design Labs will be joining the Logitech team, while two of the company’s products will soon be relaunched and evolved under the Logitech brand.

The company will be launching the Logitech TidyTilt earphone holder and the Logitech JustMount in the coming weeks and is already accepting preorders through its website. JustMount is a magnetic cube designed to work with TidyTilt to hold up an iPhone vertically and store earbuds, keys, and more.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this deal is the fact that Logitech is keeping an eye on innovation that’s happening in the Kickstarter and crowd-funding space. Not only did Logitech tell us that it’s “excited to tap into this pool of innovation and talent” in the crowd-sourced funding area, it wouldn’t rule out the possibility of going the crowd-funding route for introducing its own future products.

“The big winners with today’s announcement are smartphone users,” said Derek Tarnow, co-founder of TT Design Labs. “In Logitech, we’ve found a true partner that shares our focus on creating great products designed to improve people’s experiences with the technology they love. We’re very excited to be working with Logitech.”

We reviewed and quite enjoyed the first iteration of the TidyTilt last year (the latest version includes a full case).

Report: Apple continues lead as top smartphone vendor in U.S. during April

Jordan Kahn Jun 4 2013 - 1:47 pm PT

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ComScore today reported its numbers for smartphone subscribers in the U.S. for the three month period ending in April with Apple experiencing the biggest gains in both categories. The main theme of the report is much the same as we heard in its January and February reports– Apple is up and gaining at the expense of Google and just about everyone else.

When it comes to market share by platform, comScore reports that Google continues its lead with 52.3% (down 0.3 percent since the January quarter), while Apple experienced a slight gain of 1.4 percentage points increasing from 37.8% to 39.2%. That’s compared to BlackBerry at just 5.1% (down from 5.9% last quarter) and 3.0% for Microsoft (down from 3.1%).

Apple also captured the biggest gain for smartphone subscribers by OEM, positioning itself as the No.1 smartphone vendor in the U.S. with 39.2% of the market compared to Samsung’s 22% during the three month period. Filling out the final three positions is HTC, Motorola, and LG:
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SanDisk launches new Extreme II SSD, gives way to all-time lows for current memory products

Jun 4 2013 - 7:10 am PT

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From 9to5Toys.com:

Today SanDisk has unveiled their newest line of Solid State Drives, the Extreme II, which features faster speeds and 19nm flash memory and proprietary high-performance tiered system architecture. SanDisk promises that these new drives will offer quick game loads, enhanced gameplay and an improved user experience for anyone who works with big chunks of data. Boasting sequential read/write speeds of 550MB/sec and 510MB/sec and up to 95,000 random read IOPS and 78,000 random write IOPS, all while coming in at reasonable prices.

The Extreme II SSD is available in three capacities: 120GB ($130), 240GB ($230) and 480GB ($440)

Perhaps a side-effect of this release, our 9to5Toys team is seeing all-time lows for current SanDisk products over at Amazon’s impressive 2 Day Gold Box Event and today’s 480GB SSD for just $300 deal.

The good news and bad news on that ASUS 31.5-inch 4k monitor for Mac users

Ben Lovejoy Jun 4 2013 - 4:52 am PT

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We told you a few days ago about ASUS launching a 31.5-inch 4k monitor, and predicted that today’s Macs would struggle to drive it. The Verge has now confirmed this, by briefly hooking it up to a 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display.

Tangible lag was introduced when working in more demanding applications like Adobe’s Lightroom, while the mouse cursor also exhibited a troublingly low refresh rate …

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“Draw Something” creator OMGPOP closes down

Scott Buscemi Jun 3 2013 - 9:47 pm PT

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Just 16 months after being acquired by Zynga for a reported $200 million, the OMGPOP team, creators of the once-popular “Draw Something” app, has been laid off along with many other Zynga employees. To top it off, it looks like employees weren’t properly notified of their new employment status.

I learned via Facebook I was laid off today and @OMGPOP office is closed. Thanks @zynga for again reminding me how not to operate a business

— Ali Nicolas (@ali_nicolas) June 3, 2013

Zynga has been struggling to turn a profit, so the mass lay-offs may come as no surprise. However, it doesn’t look like they were provided with great post-Zynga assistance.

@swb1192 To a bar, as quickly as possible!

— omgpop (@omgpop) June 3, 2013

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Obama administration plans to curb patent trolling with 5 step plan

Seth Weintraub Jun 3 2013 - 9:00 pm PT

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The WSJ reports that after years of worsening patent legislation in the US, the Obama administration has finally decided to try to do something about it.

The president has taken a dim view of certain patent-holding firms. In February, he said some firms “don’t actually produce anything themselves. They’re just trying to essentially leverage and hijack somebody else’s idea to see if they can extort some money out of them.”

Apple, depending on who you ask, is sometimes the agressor in patent cases but is often the victim of frivolous lawsuits that often earn these patent holding companies millions and millions of dollars. These companies aren’t really companies at all; instead they are just shell companies built around a patent or a portfolio of patents, which are often overly broad or were never intended to be used in a particular way.

These lawsuits often take place in courts in Eastern Texas, where judges are notoriously friendly to trolling interests.

Some examples of companies who’ve questionably sued Apple or its interests: VirnetX, Personal Audio LLC, Lodsys, Motorola? etc.

The administration’s plans in 5 steps:

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OtterBox CEO discusses LifeProof acquisition, product portfolio diversity, and roadmap for growth [Interview]

Zac Hall Jun 3 2013 - 1:28 pm PT

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OtterBox President and CEO Brian Thomas

We’ve seen OtterBox frequent the headlines lately, most recently for announcing at CTIA that it acquired its competitor LifeProof, and we’ve served up several hands-on reviews of their products.

I recently had the opportunity to discuss OtterBox and its vision for the future with President and CEO Brian Thomas, who is a former high school teacher turned company leader.

OtterBox, for me, is the defacto hyper-protective case maker and king of their market, but Apple and Jony Ive have increasingly thrilled us with beautiful hardware design of iPhone after iPhone. I wondered if there is room for an OtterBox product in every user’s life, especially those who most admire Apple’s design aesthetic.
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ASUS launching a 4k 31.5-inch monitor – but don’t expect to hook it up to your Mac just yet …

Ben Lovejoy May 31 2013 - 6:10 am PT

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Update: Pricing has just been announced, at $3,799. Pricey, but actually not bad value in a market that had five-figure pricing not so long ago.

ASUS today revealed that it will launch a 31.5-inch 4k monitor late next month, its 3840×2160 pixels allowing four 1080p HD videos to display full-size on the same screen without overlap. A 4k monitor in such a small package is made possible by using an IGZO panel, whose smaller transistors enable greater pixel density, and is likely to be in the same league (and possibly from the same manufacturer) as the 32-inch Sharp panel we saw at CES.

However, don’t rush out to buy one just yet: it’s unlikely that even a top-spec Mac from today’s line-up would be able to drive the resolution at a decent frame-rate. But the next-generation of Haswell-powered Macs almost certainly will. Indeed, as we mentioned earlier, it’s even possible that a next-generation MacBook Air could do so …
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Steven Sinofsky on iOS 7 & flat vs skeuomorphic design [video]

Jordan Kahn May 30 2013 - 1:55 pm PT

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Question is 36:38 in

With Tim Cook teasing the Jony Ive redesign of iOS 7 that we exclusively told you would be introducing a new flat design for iOS, we thought it would be interesting to get former Windows lead Steven Sinofsky’s opinion on the changes. While Sinofsky left Microsoft after 20+ years back in November of last year, he was involved in the latest releases of Windows 8 that many argue helped pioneer the flat UI design Apple is now moving towards. Our own Mark Gurman asked Sinofsky his thoughts on a new flat iOS 7 during his interview at the D11 conference earlier today.
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New Adobe Kuler iPhone app allows you to capture color themes anytime using the iPhone camera

Seth Weintraub May 30 2013 - 9:44 am PT

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We talked about the free Kuler app and website during our live Adobe MAX 2013 coverage but today the app is officially out for iPhone (and other iOS devices with a camera)…

Adobe announced the app’s availability [iTunes, Free] in a blog post with the palettes created with the iPhone’s camera synching via the Creative Cloud to your Illustrator and Ideas CC applications.

The new Kuler iPhone app allows you to capture inspiring color themes anytime, using the iPhone camera. You can then sync those color themes to the Kuler website, which allows you to create and edit color themes and browse thousands of themes created by other users. All the themes you create with Kuler will be accessible in Adobe Illustrator CC and Ideas.

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Satechi debuts beautiful aluminum 7 port USB 3.0 hub

Zac Hall May 29 2013 - 10:53 am PT

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Satechi’s new USB hub delivers all the features you could ask for in a compact USB hub: beautiful design, plenty of ports, and USB 3 support.

The hub expands a single USB port into 7 different USB ports for various devices like iPhones, iPads, digital cameras, external hard drives and almost any other device you can imagine.

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