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Twitter is a social networking site that was created in 2006. Users send "tweets" to let people know what they are doing. It was created by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams.

Twitter accused of hypocrisy over Trump tweets

Twitter is a social networking site that was created in 2006. Users send “tweets” to let people know what they are doing. It was created by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams. Prior to building the service, they were working on a podcast directory called Odeo.

Odeo was a directory and search destination website for RSS-syndicated audio and video. It employed tools that enabled users to create, record, and share podcasts with a simple Adobe Flash-based interface.

When iTunes 4.9 was released, it ultimately made Odeo irrelevant. The people behind the company went on to create a service called Twttr. Twttr would eventually be called Twitter. iTunes 4.9, believe it or not, ultimately led to the creation of one of the most popular social networks in the world.

The major turning point for service’s popularity was the 2007 South by Southwest Interactive conference. Over the next few years, Twitter began to see rapid growth. For mobile devices, it originally relied upon third-party apps. In 2010, Twitter acquired application developer Atebits. Atebits had built the Twitter app known as Tweetie for the Mac and iPhone. It was renamed as Twitter and released for free.

Over the years, the apps have seen various revisions. There are currently versions available for iOS while desktop users must either use the web interface or a third party app like Tweetbot or Twitterrific.

Apps & updates: Angry Birds Seasons, Amazon Instant Video, Dunkin’ Donuts, Shazam, more

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As always, we will update our list of new apps and updates hitting the App Store and Mac App Store throughout the day:

Angry Birds Seasons version 2.5.0: New content for Rovio’s “Seasons” edition of Angry Birds rolled out today (including the HD version). The update includes 20 new schoolyard levels, bonus levels, a new pink bird, and new theme music for the playground levels.

Amazon Instant Video version 1.1: Amazon’s iPad app provides access to over 120,000 videos from the Amazon Instant Video store and thousands more Prime Instant Video titles, and it was updated today with a couple notable features. First—a new search function has been added to find specific titles from Prime. Also included in the update are an improved navigation bar and a number of bug fixes.

Shazam version 5.0.6: All of the versions of the song recognition app Shazam were updated today with an improved recognition rate and faster application startup time. The update also went to the $5.99 RED edition.

Dunkin’ Donuts version 1.0: Dunkin’ Donuts officially announced the release of its first mobile app today that allows customers to pay from the app using a virtual barcode-based DD card scanned by the cashier. Other features include a store locator, nutritional information for items on the menu, the ability to send virtual DD cards, and Facebook and Twitter integration.


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Apple really wants you to download its own Podcast App

[slideshow]

As noted by Twitter user @shahruz_, Apple does not seem to want to show any other Podcast apps besides its own when you search for “Podcasts”. Twelve hours after it was first reported, iTunes still appears to only show Apple’s Podcast app.

We are fairly certain that Apple is not doing this on purpose, but it does not seem to be jumping to fix the error either.


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AppleSeed and Mac Developers to get Mac OS 10.8.1 in coming days

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We’ve received word from AppleSeed testers that the first 10.8.1 Betas are on the way.

There has been some concern over excessive battery drain in recent days as well as Apple’s curious new “Save as” behavior which also overwrites the current version which will hopefully be addressed in upcoming releases.

[tweet https://twitter.com/9to5mac/status/233282559855976448]


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Apple comments on Gizmodo/Wired writer’s account hacking, here’s how it went down…

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We reported over the weekend on the hacking of the digital life of Wired’s Mat Honan.

Mat Honan wrote up his whole story over at Wired. The scariest part is that they were able to reproduce the hack using two pieces of publicly available information and a phone call.

We talked to Apple directly about its security policy, and company spokesperson Natalie Kerris told Wired, “Apple takes customer privacy seriously and requires multiple forms of verification before resetting an Apple ID password. In this particular case, the customer’s data was compromised by a person who had acquired personal information about the customer. In addition, we found that our own internal policies were not followed completely. We are reviewing all of our processes for resetting account passwords to ensure our customers’ data is protected.”

On Monday, Wired tried to verify the hackers’ access technique by performing it on a different account. We were successful. This means, ultimately, all you need in addition to someone’s email address are those two easily acquired pieces of information: a billing address and the last four digits of a credit card on file. Here’s the story of how the hackers got them.

Scary. Scary. Scary.
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Apps & updates: vjay, Instapaper, Discovery Channel HD, more

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Our usual list of apps and updates is below kicking off with a couple notable updates from over the weekend to the Instapaper and vjay apps:

vjay version 1.0.1: One of the biggest updates today goes to algoriddim’s video-mixing vjay app that we introduced you to a couple of months ago. Included in version 1.0.1 is support for 1080p videos up to 30 FPS, new settings like Auto Repeat and Play Automatically, and improved MIDI support for both the ION iDJ 2 Go MIDI controller and Numark Mixdeck Quad.

Instapaper version 4.2.4: The iPhone and iPad Instapaper app received an update that includes improvements to dark-mode and link colors, pagination performance, and support for Chrome, Buffer, and iCab Reading List in the Share panel. A full list of what’s new is below:

– Improved pagination performance.
– Improved dark-mode colors and link colors. (More on that front soon.)
– Removed instapaper.com/z short URLs from all remaining Twitter sharing methods. Now that t.co URLs are supported by nearly all apps, custom short URLs are unnecessary and they only inconvenience Twitter readers, so they’re gone. Your links are yours and should have as few intermediaries as possible.
– Removed rarely-used “Print” feature.
– Added Buffer, Chrome, and the upcoming iCab Reading List to the Share panel.
– Added “Report a text problem” to article footers so customers can help improve Instapaper’s parsing of certain pages.
– Improved Pinboard login security to use their new token system instead of storing passwords.
– Made syncing even faster.
– Fixed bugs from the future.

Discovery Channel HD version 1.9: In anticipation of the 25th anniversary of Shark Week, the Discovery Channel app was just updated with an “interactive second screen experience, synchronized to select shows from Shark Week.”

Using ACR (automatic content recognition) technology, this deeper dive into Shark Week features exclusive photos, behind-the-scenes information, revealing production shots, interactive infographics, shark trivia and much more! 

Discovery Channel is offering Shark Week Plus exclusivity to iPad users each night of Shark Week from 9 to 10PM e/p, and Shark Week Bingo from 10-11PM e/p. Shark Week’s 25th anniversary begins Sunday, August 12.


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Apps & updates: Real Racing 3 trailer, Twitter, HopStop, more

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmkYHZpel3Y&f]

Real Racing 3: EA officially announced the next title in its Real Racing series, which is now being handled by developer Firemonkeys (recent merger of Firemint and and IronMonkey), and also released the rather impressive announcement trailer above featuring pre-alpha footage. More info is coming later this year but there is additional Porsche footage on the game’s Facebook page if you can’t wait. A little bit of what to expect from Real Racing 3 below:

REAL CARS

Gamers will enjoy graphics that have been meticulously hand crafted to produce photorealistic visuals as they zoom around in cars from manufacturers like Porsche, Dodge and Audi.

REAL TRACKS

For the first time in the series, Real Racing 3 will also include a full lineup of real world tracks from the top names around the world including Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Silverstone. With a 22 car grid, gamers will be able to pit themselves against 21 other drivers in one race.

REAL RACING EXPERIENCE

Fans can experience the glory of championship racing on real tracks recreating the full race-day pressure and environment in a game that harnesses the full power of mobile hardware to produce a beautiful racing environment.

Twitter version 4.3.2: The Twitter iOS app was updated today with improved pull to refresh and infinite scroll “in enhanced events experience,” unfortunately we still await an update to the official Mac client while the Tweetbot for Mac alpha received a ton of new features in its latest update last night.

Wash Post version 2.0.0:The Washington Post’s official iPhone app received a big update today with a brand new design and tons of new features including live weather conditions, 7 day forecasts, weather alerts, real-time traffic updates, metro arrival times and schedules for the DC Metro area, and more. Also included is Retina display enhancements for all full links within articles, graphics, and galleries.

HopStop Transit Directions version 1.2.1: We told you about an update to the HopStop iPhone app for transit directions in NYC, Boston, Chicago, and San Fran, and today its app with support for 100’s of cities throughout the US, Canada, and Europe was updated with the London Underground map and support for the following new markets:

– Arrive by Directions and Schedules Search!

– New markets: Palm Springs, Burlington VT, Fresno, Missoula, Orlando

– London Underground map has been added

– Various bug fixes and improvements

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NY Times reporter David Pogue’s iPhone was stolen, enlists Twitter to help ‘Find my iPhone’

Are there any readers in Maryland that want to help? It could be fun/interesting (and probably dangerous, so do not blame us if you get shot)! Map center is here.

[tweet https://twitter.com/pogue/status/231047069647904768]
[tweet https://twitter.com/pogue/status/231053778411991040]

Update: With help of Gizmodo, Pogue got his phone back

[tweet https://twitter.com/PGPDJulie/statuses/231128575150002176]

[tweet https://twitter.com/pogue/status/231133334200270848]

[tweet https://twitter.com/PGPDJulie/status/231132656505593857/]

How to watch official BBC Olympics coverage from the US

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH1u-DP1fws&feature=player_embedded]

For Americans, coverage of the Olympics in London is mainly limited to NBC’s video stream offerings. Unfortunately, the network’s coverage, especially online, is receiving a ton of complaints as witnessed by the #nbcfail hashtag on Twitter. Fortunately, there is a way to bypass NBC altogether and take advantage of the BBC’s official live stream coverage from inside the U.S. of almost every major event. There is not much to it; all you have to do is use a DNS routing service to get around the BBC’s region blocked streams. Below is a quick guide courtesy of Lifehacker that uses the Unblock Us service. It is free for a week, and then it is $5 for the month.

[tweet https://twitter.com/MiaFarrow/status/230373185923710976]

First, you will have to sign up for the service on its website. Once that is finished, you can configure the service for BBC using the steps below:


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Would Apple ‘confirm’ iPhone event if screen low yield rates were going to affect delivery schedule? (Also AAPL splitting, and buyouts)

After iMore broke the September iPhone event news, Apple, through its channels, confirmed to not one, not two, three, or four, but at least five different publications that the iPhone event would be Sept. 12 with a Sept. 21 launch. If you do not think these are Apple PR confirmations, I have a nice bridge to sell you.

[tweet https://twitter.com/jdalrymple/status/230324873451417600]

With that information in hand, we are pretty certain Apple is on track for a September iPhone announcement.  …But wait.

Digitimes has some bad news for us today.

Low yield rates of in-cell touch panels might disrupt new iPhone delivery schedule and shipments, say rumors

LOL!

In related news, Bloomberg reports that an Analyst says Apple will split its stock so it can join the Dow Jones Industrials—something that has always been on the top of Apple’s priorities list. Sound familiar?

Joining in, the NYTimes suggests that Apple buy US Carrier Sprint, RIM, Twitter and Path. 
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Facebook iOS app adds ‘save it for later’ feature

As pointed out by iMore, the Facebook iOS app added functionality allowing you to save posts to a new “Saved” folder. Others are not notified when you save posts, and posts must be unsaved to be removed from the folder. The new feature does not require an update from the App Store (it is also rolling out on Facebook.com), but Facebook will notify you in the timeline.

To access your Saved folder, you must first scroll to the bottom of the sidebar menu and tap on Edit Favorites. Next, tap the + sign and select Saved from your list of Apps. Then tap Done. Now, you should see your Saved folder in the Favorites section of your sidebar menu!

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Amusing tweets from the Apple vs. Samsung Trial: Google and Apple employees not yet vetted

With Apple and Google having such a large presence in the Bay area, there is bound to be some ties to the companies represented on the jury…but both Apple and Google employees have made it to the Jury selection process. Imagine having to write the request to the HR department on this (Thanks, Dan Levine):

[tweet https://twitter.com/9to5mac/status/229997136362754048]

[tweet https://twitter.com/inafried/status/230000222753923074]

[tweet https://twitter.com/fedcourtjunkie/status/229990099675398145]

[tweet https://twitter.com/fedcourtjunkie/status/229988410557865984]

[tweet https://twitter.com/fedcourtjunkie/status/229994305555685376]

[tweet https://twitter.com/fedcourtjunkie/status/229993879498260480]

[tweet https://twitter.com/FedcourtJunkie/status/230002149491363840]

[tweet https://twitter.com/fedcourtjunkie/status/229995864632983553]

[tweet https://twitter.com/fedcourtjunkie/status/229993086082756608]

[tweet https://twitter.com/fedcourtjunkie/status/229992090958954496]

[tweet https://twitter.com/fedcourtjunkie/status/229991527789772800]

[tweet https://twitter.com/fedcourtjunkie/status/229987025078595584]

[tweet https://twitter.com/fedcourtjunkie/status/229995473744826368]

[tweet https://twitter.com/inafried/status/229997431763369984]

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Reminder: QuickBooks 2011 not supported on Mountain Lion

We received a tip today that may be of interest to QuickBooks users planning to upgrade to Mountain Lion this week. The email below was sent to a reader from Intuit’s QuickBooks for Mac team. It informed them QuickBooks 2011 would not be supported on Mountain Lion. While the email notes “you may find that most things in your QuickBooks for Mac work for you” after upgrading to Mountain Lion, the company will only officially support QuickBooks 2012 on 10.8. The full email is below:

Let’s talk about Mountain Lion!

Like a lot of Mac users, everyone on the QuickBooks for Mac team is excited about the upcoming release of OS X 10.8: Mountain Lion. You may be wondering how Mountain Lion will affect your version of QuickBooks for Mac.

QuickBooks 2011 and prior are not supported on Mountain Lion. (Note that QuickBooks 2012 is supported on Mountain Lion.) Read more about this on Little Square.

If you decide to upgrade your OS, you may find that most things in your QuickBooks for Mac work for you, but if you run into a problem, we may not be able to help you. To minimize the chances of running into issues, you should make sure you’ve installed the latest update for your software. To find and install an update, click QuickBooks > Check for QuickBooks Updates.

If the new features in the Mountain Lion OS aren’t a big deal for you and you don’t want to upgrade either your OS or your current version of QuickBooks, then just stay with your current OS and QuickBooks versions. We can continue to help you with any problems you may run into.

If you must upgrade your OS, but don’t want to upgrade QuickBooks, you can continue safely running QuickBooks for Mac and any other software that may not be compatible with Mountain Lion on a partition. (Note: it’s important that you check all your software on the Mac you use for your business to be sure that it’s all compatible with Mountain Lion.) You can learn more about setting up a partition at this article by Apple: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5845

If you want to run QuickBooks for Mac on Mountain Lion, you should upgrade to QuickBooks 2012 for Mac. That way if you do run into any problems, we can help you. You can find QuickBooks 2012 for Mac on our website at http://quickbooks.com/mac and at most major retailers.

We really appreciate your business and wish you happy accounting whether you choose to upgrade to Mountain Lion or stay with your current version of OS X.

You’ll find great answers to your questions and advice on our Community. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter. And Little Square will keep you up-to-date with new developments about QuickBooks for Mac on Mountain Lion.

Sincerely,

The QuickBooks for Mac Team

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Apps & updates: Tweetbot Alpha 3, IM+ Pro, Viber, more

There are more than a few apps and updates today worth mentioning, starting with the latest update for the recently launched Tweetbot for Mac Alpha:

Tweetbot Alpha 3: After rolling out a huge update a couple of days ago for notifications, keyboard shortcuts and other performance enhancements, Tweetbot Alpha 3 is officially available for download/update today. It brings the ability to switch usernames/accounts from within the New Tweet compose window. Clicking a small profile image within the “new tweet” pop-up lets you switch between accounts on the fly. The update also included a hashtag popover fix.

IM+ Pro version 7.0: Perhaps the biggest new feature included in today’s update to one of the most popular iOS IM clients is “Metacontacts,” which is the ability to “merge multiple accounts of one contact into a metacontact” and reduce clutter while increasing efficiency for multiple account users. Another big new feature is iCloud support for syncing IM+ settings across multiple iOS devices, as well as support for additional IM services like Gadu-Gadu and MeinVZ. Unfortunately, version 7.0 will also drop support for iOS 3.x, and it now only works on iOS 4 and up.

Viber version 2.2.0: A huge update today goes to the iOS client for the 90 million-strong Viber service, which allows users worldwide to make free calls and send texts and photos without advertising. Included in the update is a completely refreshed UI that brings group messaging, custom backgrounds for any conversation, profile photos in the Contacts list, and a time stamp for every message. In addition, you will now be able to view recently joined users from the Contacts screen. Viber also promises better sound quality and a new voice engine.

Sky News International for iPad: Released today on the App Store to join the already available for iPhone version, Sky News now has a dedicated iPad app for its international edition with breaking news, top stories, and live streaming of Sky News TV in full screen.

Plesk Manager version 1.2.0: Parallels’ app for monitoring and controlling servers running Parallels Plesk Panel 10.4.4 and Plesk Panel Power Pack was updated today with push notifications, a logs viewer, a new skin, an embedded panel view for iPad, an “improved user experience for VPS owners,” and a troubleshooting section.

Sparrow version 1.3.1: A small update for Sparrow’s iPhone app today includes several bug fixes.

We’re hearing word of sporadic iMessage outages this weekend

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Although Apple’s iCloud System Status thinks all is good, clearly not all is well in Maiden. We received a load of tips over the past day or so claiming iMessages are randomly not going through, people are not able to sign in (“activation issues”), and messages are randomly deleting. Others are not having any issues (or are not aware of any). Here are just a few of our readers’ responses:


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Minor app update roundup: djay for iPad, Turntable.fm, Tweetbot for iPad, more

By far the biggest app news today is the announcement that popular Mac and iOS email client Sparrow has been acquired by Google, but below is our usual list of all the notable apps and updates hitting the App Store:

djay for iPad version 1.5.1: djay for iPad received a significant updated today that brings support for Numark’s upcoming iDJ Pro controller for iPad arriving in September. The update also improves “turntable behavior for fast spinning,” slider accuracy, and some bug fixes including one for distortion issues with Split Output.

Turntable.fm version 2.1.1: Turtable.fm’s iPhone app received a small update today that allows users to log in with their turntable account instead of Facebook or Twitter. The update also added more avatars.

Tweetbot for iPad version 2.4.2: A small update for the extremely popular Tweetbot for Twitter client for iPad brings a number of bug fixes.

Netflix version 2.2.1: Another small update today goes to the Netflix iOS app with version 2.2.1 bringing much-needed stability improvements.

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Ashton Kutcher laying down reality distortion in Steve Jobs bowtie [Photos]

Images are surfacing on Twitter that depict actor Ashton Kutcher as the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs during his bowtie-wearing days. The biopic is apparently filming now at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Calif., where students are live on scene to capture the action.

The last gallery image (via X17 Online) of Kutcher noticeably dressed as an older Jobs is also reportedly from the Los Angeles set.


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Twitter updates TweetDeck to be more ‘swift’ [Video]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZuGdsjo44k&feature=player_embedded]

Twitter is keeping busy this summer with a slew of updates to its line of products, and now the microblogging service is tidying up TweetDeck.

The desktop application updated today with a new layout for “swifter navigation,” featuring refreshed columns, expanded actions for tweets, and even a revamped Twitter bird icon.

TweetDeck explained:

  • Today you can more easily discover and react to the information you care about with new navigation features in TweetDeck. You have given us some really useful feedback after using these features on web.tweetdeck.com, and now you can use this swifter TweetDeck on other platforms too.
  • This swifter version of TweetDeck is available now at tweetdeck.com, where you can download TweetDeck for Windows, access the Chrome app or sign in to web.tweetdeck.com. The updated TweetDeck for Mac will be available in the Mac App Store shortly.

Go to the TweetDeck Posterous page for a full breakdown on the latest version, or just check out the video above.

TweetDeck is free at the Mac App Store.


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Twitter reveals how it painstakingly overhauled mobile Web client [Photos]

Twitter recently released an update to its mobile effort, and rival client Tweetbot followed the frenzy by making its public alpha for Mac available today, but the microblogging service is not ready to share the limelight.

Coleen Baik, a designer at Twitter, took to the network’s blog this afternoon to fully detail how it meticulously overhauled mobile.twitter.com.

“We had about nine weeks to design, prototype, develop, test, and calibrate mobile.twitter.com for launch. There were a handful of challenges we took on,” wrote Baik.

A few of the challenges included:

  • Support more than 13 different browsers on thousands of different devices, each with their own rendering idiosyncrasies
  • Accommodate input methods with dissimilar requirements
  • Build layouts with pre-CSS3/HTML5 standards
  • Optimize for browsers with javascript turned off
  • Scale gracefully from resolutions as small as 240 by 240 pixels all the way up to widescreen views on the desktop
  • Minimize page sizes for slower networks
  • Make it look and feel like Twitter, even without images.
  • Pave the way for even more feature consistency with other twitter.com clients

The design team sketched plans for primary views and navigation, “fleshed out details like the Tweet anatomy and interaction flows for tasks like tweeting, searching, and writing direct messages,” and then delved into HTML/CSS wireframes. They even collaborated with Twitter’s mobile engineers to “build out main views like ‘Home,’ ‘Connect,’ ‘Discover,’ and ‘Me.'”

Twitter eventually tested three different versions across 300 devices before making a final decision. After two months of work, the pristine version finally rolled out earlier this week. It immediately met a slew of positive responses.

“Change is always difficult because it means, among other things, having to relearn what was once comfortable and familiar,” Baik contended. “But we hope that the initial pains of readjustment quickly lead you to appreciate this faster, more comfortable and easier-to-use mobile.twitter.com on feature phones and older browsers.”

Visit the Twitter Blog for the entire redesign breakdown.


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Quick Review: Tweetbot for Mac finally arrives in public alpha, download now!

We reported late last month that Tweetbot for Mac, a desktop version of the popular third-party iOS Twitter client, would likely come soon after the company’s graphic designer, Mark Jardine, tweeted an image of the client running on a MacBook. Today, Tweetbot developers decided to make things official with the release of a public alpha, and we recently got a chance to play around with it. (Blog post here.)

The Tweetbot alpha, which at this point runs on 10.7+ and 10.8 Mountain Lion, has a lot going for it despite warnings of “Bugs! Lots of them.” According to Tapbots, the main goal of the alpha was to replicate the core functionality of the iOS client. Like tapping a tweet in the iPad app, hovering over a tweet in the Mac client provides you with the same Reply, Retweet, Favorite, Share, and Actions button to get access to details, conversations, retweets, and etc.

In addition, like the iPad app, you will find a button to quickly switch lists in the upper right, while a Lists button on the left sidebar will let you manage and edit your lists within the app. The app also bakes in the familiar “Mute Filters” for your main timeline. However, only the ability to mute “Clients” appears to be an option now—with the option for muting keywords greyed out. You will also get Twitter, bit.ly, CloudApp, and Droplr URL shortening options, and all the same image and video-uploading options as on iOS, including: CloudApp, Droplr, img.ly, Lockerz, Mobypicture, Pikchur, Posterous, Twitgoo, TwitPic/TwitVid, and yfrog. Syncing options only feature Tweet Marker currently (iCloud coming soon), while all the Read Later services are present such as bitly, Instapaper, Pinboard, Pocket, and Readability.

We have had a lot to say about the Twitter experience on the new Retina MacBook Pros. The official Twitter for Mac app is unfortunately not Retina-ready and almost unusable on the new Retina displays. Fortunately, we have a Retina update to Twitterific to tie us over, but the Alpha Tweetbot release today is also built for the new Retina display. We have no complaints. It looks great, but Tapbots said further improvements are coming…


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Parallels celebrates its birthday by dropping price to $28, giving away iPads and other schwag

From 9to5Toys.com:

From 9am-11am PT, Parallels drops the price of its flagship Parallels 7 desktop virtualization product to just $28 to celebrate its 6th birthday. The price will increase 5% every 2 hours, so obviously you’ll want to jump on this soon. Parallels is the best-selling, most-trusted solution for running Windows applications on your Mac – without rebooting.

It is also nice for running Linux or even another instance of the Mac OS and for $28 why not?
As an added bonus, Parallels is giving away a few ‘party favors’: just by sharing, you’ll have a chance to win an iPad 3, Parallels Mobile, and Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac.

More information is also available at the Parallels Consumer Tech Blog, or by following Parallels Desktop on Facebook and @ParallelsMac on Twitter.

Update: Originally story said 9am ET.

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Apple adds Avenir typeface to iOS 6 in Maps

[tweet https://twitter.com/NathanBowers/status/212803875114201088]

Apple seems to now feature the Avenir typeface in iOS 6.

An interesting Reddit discussion popped up about the discovery of the font in both Maps and Siri, check it out:

Avenir is completely new to iOS, because it does not appear in Apple’s font list for earlier versions of the mobile operating system. According to Fonts.com, designer Adrian Frutiger first released the sans-serif typeface nearly 25 years ago.

What do you think of the typography choice?


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iOS 6 Beta 2 roundup: Here’s what’s new

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Earlier today, Apple released a new iOS 6 beta to developers, introducing the usual “bug fixes and improvements”. Below is a list of all the new buttons and changes we’ve found so far. If you happen to spot any more, send them our way at tips@9to5mac.com.

The first thing you’ll see when installing beta 2 is actually a change that was technically made in beta 1: when installing an OTA update, the cogs in the Settings icon on the Software Update page spin (not the ones on the actual home screen, though).

Check out even more changes after the break.
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Good Deals: Pixelmator is $15 today, $49.99 Parallels (11 Mac app) bundle ends in a few hours

From 9to5toys.com  (Twitter, Feed) today:

2011 Apple Design award winning image editor Pixelmator is only $15 today at the Mac App Store.  That’s half off and the lowest price we’ve ever seen.

Also, if you are going to put Parallels on your new Mac, MacUpdate has a pretty incredible 11 app bundle for $49.99 (Details). You only have a few hours to hit this one before it expires.

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Apple caters to China with crop of targeted features

Apple unveiled a host of China-targeted features for its operating systems during the opening keynote of the Worldwide Developers Conference yesterday, but the full suite of additions are now spotlighted on Apple’s website.

A few of the earmarks include integration with China’s Twitter-alternative Sina Weibo, Google-competitor Baidu, and YouTube-like Youku and Tudou. Communicating also got easier with improved input for emoticons and Chinese pinyin, and even Siri can now fully communicate in Chinese.

According to The Wall Street Journal:

Some of the new features are now outlined on Apple’s website as part of the new Mountain Lion operating system. They address a number of long-standing issues for Chinese users, who can’t easily take advantage of Apple products’ existing integration with Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Google search because of government Web filtering and who previously had to use third-party apps or browsers to access Chinese Internet services. […]

Apple’s announcement of the new features shows how the Cupertino-based maker of iPads and iPhones is rushing to embrace China, now the company’s largest market outside of the U.S., after previously neglecting it.

The world’s largest mobile market by subscribers and second-largest PC market by unit shipments, China had to wait almost two and a half years, until 2009, before getting its first official iPhone launch. Apple didn’t start accepting payments in Chinese yuan for the App Store until last November.

Chief Executive Tim Cook noted Apple’s tremendous growth in China during April’s quarterly earnings call. The Cupertino, Calif.-based Company is continuing to expand its presence in the country with the addition of Apple Stores in Shenzhen and Chengdu.


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