Alex Heath - page 23

A story was widely circulated throughout the blogosphere last week about a rumor that Apple’s next EarPods would feature biometric sensors for reading health vitals. The “leak” was originally posted on Secret, an anonymous sharing platform, by someone claiming to be an ex-Apple employee.

The info had no way of being verified, but that didn’t stop it from appearing in everywhere from major U.S. tech blogs to news outlets in the U.K. Now the creator of the rumor has come out and admitted that he made it all up while on the toilet.

What if you had a Mophie-like battery pack for your MacBook? Available for preorder now, the BatteryBox is exactly that.

The box itself is about the length of a credit card and packs a whopping 12,000mAh battery. That equates to about 12 hours of extra juice for the MacBook Air and 6 hours for the Pro. The BatteryBox can charge any device over USB, and it has its own MagSafe2 connector.

The complications behind creating a small screen for something like an iWatch are immense, but Apple has bought the company it may need to make it all possible.

TechCrunch reports that Apple has acquired LuxVue Technology, a small California-based company that specializes in “microLED-based displays for consumer electronics applications.” It turns out that microLEDs could work very well with wearables.

Those hoping to get a peek at Apple’s game-changing future products at next month’s Worldwide Developers Conference reportedly need to “dial back [their] expectations or be disappointed.”

Despite Tim Cook’s promise from the WWDC stage last year that Cupertino would enter “new product categories,” no big reveals are forthcoming on the iWatch or Apple TV fronts at this year’s big conference, according to a report from Re/code.

It took nearly 6 months, but former Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts has officially joined Apple as its new Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores. Her bio has been added to Apple’s executive leadership website, making her transition from Burberry complete.

Until today, you had to use the Dropbox-like Google Drive app or web interface to access Google Docs on iOS. But now Google has official apps to work on documents and spreadsheets, called Google Docs and Google Sheets. An app for presentations called Slides is coming soon.

You can view, edit, and share any documents or spreadsheets stored in your Google account through the apps. And unlike Office for iPad, everything is free.

We’ve seen no shortage of iPhone 6 part leaks recently, and now an alleged mold of the unreleased device has surfaced. French site Nowwhereelse.fr has shared pictures of what it’s claiming is a “physical model” of the iPhone 6.

The source of the model is unknown other than it came from a Chinese forum, so we’re filing this one under very sketchy. But based on existing rumors, the design could be close to what Apple is planning.

Apple is working on its own mobile payments solution, per multiple reports from places like The Wall Street Journal. Exactly how the company plans to implement such a service remains to be seen.

Tim Cook has made it clear that Touch ID was created with mobile payments in mind, which makes sense when you consider that it’s such a secure form of authentication.

A new concept called EasyPay takes the Apple approach to mobile payments on the iPhone, and it looks great.

Today Microsoft released an update to its Office for iPad suite that brings the ability to print from within Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. The apps use Apple’s AirPrint to automatically find a nearby printer on the same network.

Our friend Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy has another video examining the alleged iPhone 6 case he got from sources overseas.

This time, he got the inclination to compare the case to the current iPod touch. And what he found is pretty interesting.

It has been a long time coming. Today Skype finally made group video calling a free feature for users on the Mac, Windows, and Xbox One. iOS is left out of the initial mix, but Skype says that it will be adding free group video to more platforms in the future.

In the underground world of iPhone trafficking, someone has to take the fall. Unfortunately, it appears to be the homeless and others in desperate need of some quick cash.

9News in Denver, Colorado has shone light on how traffickers who sell unlocked iPhones for a premium outside of the U.S. take advantage of the uninformed.

You have to understand the way carrier contracts work in the states before this system, which 9News has dubbed “iScheme,” makes sense. 

Elusive Apple CEO Tim Cook will skip his annual sit-down interview with tech journalists Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg. Instead, Apple is sending two of Cook’s top lieutenants to sit in the hot seat during the Code Conference this May.

Facebook has been on quite the buying spree lately. After snatching up Oculus VR, the social network is now acquiring a popular fitness tracking app for the iPhone. ProtoGeo Oy, the Finnish app maker behind Moves, announced today that it is joining Facebook.

If you’ve ever wished you could grab lunch with Apple’s Tim Cook, now is your chance. Cook is auctioning off a lunch date at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. All proceeds from the action will go to the RFK Center for Justice & Human Rights.

And yes, you might be experiencing deja-vu. Cook did a similar auction last year, and the top bidder paid $610,000 to have coffee with the CEO.

Apple has aired a new ad for the iPhone 5s titled “Powerful.” It’s the first TV spot dedicated solely to the 5s since “Metal Mastered” last fall.

This new ad showcases the iPhone helping with creative tasks live music. The song is “Gigantic” by the Pixies, a hit song from the 90s.

When the developers at AgileBits showed me 1Password’s highly anticipated iOS 7 redesign at Macworld last month, I naturally asked when it would come out. They were cagey, but I was told to expect some “interesting things soon.” The day has finally arrived, and 1Password’s biggest update since version 4.0 is out in the App Store.

Redesigned to match the cleaner aesthetics of iOS 7, 1Password 4.5 finally brings support for switching between multiple vaults. The feature was previously limited to the Mac, but now the iOS app can switch between vaults from within its settings.

1Password 4.5 also includes notable improvements to its built-in browser, better integration with its desktop counterpart (which has also been updated), and some other welcomed features.

We’ve known that Apple has been interested in mobile payments for some time. Now the company is interviewing potential candidates to lead the initiative, according to a new report from Re/code.

Apple’s head of e-commerce, Jennifer Bailey, has reportedly been meeting with executives in the payments industry “to fill head of product and head of business development positions.”

While Apple’s “ambitions” are described as “very, very serious,” it’s likely that any sort of mobile payment system from Apple won’t come out anytime soon.

As promised, Mailbox has added its intelligent Auto-swipe feature in a new update. Tighter integration with Dropbox, the app’s parent company, has also been added to sync preferences across devices.

Auto-swipe is essentially like a more intelligent version of Gmail’s filters. The feature learns from the user’s choices to snooze and archive certain messages. For example. if you trash the same kind of spam email more than once, Auto-swipe will trash it for you. Parameters Auto-swipe creates based on your behaviors can be edited in Mailbox’s settings.

Dropbox recently previewed Auto-swipe and the upcoming Mac version of Mailbox, which is currently in a private beta. Mailbox for iOS is free in the App Store.

Source: App Store

Image: The Verge

Now that David Fincher isn’t in the running to direct Sony’s Steve Jobs biopic, Christian Bale probably won’t star. As Sony searches for someone else to helm the project, another director and star actor combo have been added to the mix.

Oscar-winnng director Danny Boyle is reportedly in early talks to direct the movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter. And he has approached Leonardo DiCaprio to play Jobs.

It has been nearly three months since Facebook launched Paper for iPhone, a cutting-edge experiment in what it means to use Facebook. Today Paper received its first big update in the App Store, and a few of the elements that were stripped out of Facebook in the original release have been added back.

RadioShack has one of those deals coming tomorrow that’s just too good to pass up. Starting April 18th, the 16GB iPhone 5s will be sold in RadioShack stores for only $99 with a two-year contract on AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint. That’s a 50% discount off the retail $199 value.

And that’s not all; iPhone 4s owners get an even sweeter deal. If you’re upgrading from eligible an iPhone 4s, you get a $100 trade-in credit on top of the $99 5s price. So you could effectively get a 5s for free.

No word on how long the promotion will last, so head to your local RadioShack tomorrow if you’re interested.

Source: RadioShack

Flickr’s redesigned mobile apps, which are out today, look very much Instagram. And I think it’s safe to say that the design decision was intentional. The question now is whether Flickr can set itself apart with its pro-friendly features and more free cloud storage than most know what to do with.

Apple has begun selling refurbished models of the iPad mini with Retina display for about 15% off in its online store. Only WiFi models are being offered right now in 32GB and 64GB variants.

A 32GB Retina iPad mini refurb runs $419, which is $80 cheaper than retail price. Not many third-party retailers can match that kind of discount.

While the Apple Store is the last place to normally shop for discounts, it does have one thing going for it: refurbished products. When you buy a refurb from Apple, you’re buying hardware that Apple has replaced with even newer parts than stock items in most cases. Refurbs also come with a full, one-year warranty.

Source: Apple Store

Dropbox has been very busy lately. After announcing big updates to Mailbox and the all-new Carousel photo app, a new service is joining its repertoire. Loom, a popular photo and video storage service, announced today that it has been bought by Dropbox.

The news isn’t a complete surprise given the recent launch of Carousel. While it’s sad to see Loom go, the acquisition is very smart on Dropbox’s part.