Today Apple updated its Remote app with the ability to control iTunes Radio on a Mac or PC. Previously, you could only control music in an iTunes Library. A new “Radio” window has been added in the app like the official Music app.
Remote was just recently updated with a big iOS 7 redesign, and it’s available for free in the App Store.
Source: App Store
Today Twitter updated its official Mac app (yes, it still has one) with a number of new features, including a tweet detail pane, profile header images, and image previews in the timeline.
Here’s the full list of changes:
Today Google brought its Chrome apps to any Mac with the Chrome web browser. These apps are not the same as Chrome OS, and essentially act as web apps that can be launched from a launcher in the Mac’s dock.
Google started beta testing Chrome apps on OS X earlier this year, but now any Chrome user can use the apps from a new “For your desktop” section in the Chrome Web Store.
For a recent Sotheby’s auction to benefit Bono’s Product (RED) charity, Apple’s Jony Ive and Marc Newson designed a handful of unique products, including a red Mac Pro that sold for 977K and rose gold Earpods that sold for 461k.
The winners of the auctioned items haven’t been publicly disclosed, but it appears that Tony Fadell, the creator of the original iPod and Nest thermostat, may have been the highest bidder for both the Mac Pro and Earpods.
Today Twitter released version 6.0 of its official iOS app, a pretty substantial update that adds the ability to send photos in DMs. The design of the app has also been “refreshed” with a swipeable timeline interface, making it smoother to switch between Home, Discover, and Activity.
When sending a DM, there’s a new photo icon that allows you to take a picture or choose one from your Camera Roll. Placing such prominence on DMs makes it clear that Twitter is just as serious, if not more so, about messaging as it is discovery.
It has become somewhat of an old joke, but Microsoft’s retail stores are essentially ghost towns. Every once in awhile you’ll see a side by side comparison of an Apple Store filled with busy shoppers sitting right next to a completely vacant Microsoft store.
Slate visited both stores yesterday in Arlington, Virginia. The above image shows Microsoft’s store, and here’s a shot from inside Apple’s:
Today Square unveiled its new card reader with a design that’s nearly half the size of the original. By ditching clunky stock components in the first Square Reader, the mobile payments pioneer has created a smoother card swiping experience and sleeker, tapered design the second time around.
How did Square achieve such drastically improved hardware in only one revision? Apple’s former head of accessories, who led the development of the Lightning connector, was in charge.
Once it was revealed that the new Mac Pro could power up to three 4K displays at once, speculation immediately followed about Apple releasing an updated Thunderbolt Display. Rumors have been scare on that front, and a recent slip up in Apple’s online store indicates that the company may be looking to other manufacturers to supply 4K displays.
Yesterday Apple briefly sold Sharp’s new 32-inch LED monitor in several of its European online stores. After the product was spotted, Apple pulled the listing.
Last night Apple replaced its normal website layout with a fullscreen tribute to Nelson Mandela, the beloved freedom fighter and South African president who passed away on December 5th at the age of 95. The design is reminiscent of the tribute Apple made for Steve Jobs when he passed away.
After years of negotiations, Apple and China Mobile have finally closed a deal for the carrier to sell the iPhone. Rumors of the two companies working together started gaining momentum a few months ago with a report from the The Wall Street Journal, and now the same publication is reporting that the deal has been finalized.
We’re still waiting on an official confirmation from Apple and China Mobile, but now is probably a good time to buy Apple stock. Why? There are 700 million reasons.
To get you in the mood for the holidays, Apple is giving away an 8-song playlist in the Apple Store iOS app. Free iTunes content has been offered in the Apple Store app for a few months now, and this Holiday Cheer playlist will be available until December 31st.
Here’s the tracklist:
Carl Icahn, the richest investor on Wall Street who has been pressing Apple to make a $150 billion stock buyback, has announced the next phase of his master plan. He has submitted a proposal to Apple shareholders that asks them to vote on his buyback, which effectively puts more pressure on Apple to meet his demands.
The question is whether a more aggressive buyback is actually in Apple’s best interest.
Conrad Electronic, an authorized Apple reseller in Germany, has begun taking preorders for the new Mac Pro. Availability is listed for Monday, December 16th.
Apple has said that the Mac Pro would be available before the end of the year, but an exact date has not yet been given. It could very well be that this reseller is hedging its bets and trying to garner some press attention, but this wouldn’t be the first time a third-party reseller has correctly predicted a recent Apple product launch. The date could favorably coincide with the opening of the Apple Store in Düsseldorf, Germany on December 14th.
Back in April, I called Infuse the best media player for iOS out there. VLC hadn’t returned to the App Store at the time, and Infuse was the slickest, most versatile video player available in the App Store.
VLC for iOS made its triumphant over the summer, but Infuse continued to hold its own with support for over a dozen video formats, AirPlay, and video transfers over WiFi. But after the release of iOS 7, Infuse’s theatre-like UI started to look dated. Today FireCore released Infuse 2.0, the app’s biggest update yet that includes a completely redesigned interface, more video formats, 1080p with surround sound playback, and improved streaming.
A week ago Honda brought Siri Eyes Free integration to its 2013-2014 Accord and 2013 Acura vehicles. The automobile maker said it had additional functionality to announce today, and the news is out. Honda has put a 7-inch “Display Audio” touchscreen in its 2014 Honda Civic and 2015 Honda Fit that is one step closer to Apple’s “iOS in the Car” dream becoming reality.
Following the software leaking on Apple’s U.K. site yesterday, FileMaker Pro 13 is officially available for purchase. The Apple-owned business management software’s first major update in nearly two years includes over 50 new features, including WebDirect, which offers the ability to access databases through a web browser.
Back in July, Realmac Software released Ember, a Mac app for collecting websites, photos, and more. Ember is pitched as an inspiration tool for designers, but it can also be used as a digital scrapbook for organizing random snippets from the web and other places.
Today Realmac is releasing an iOS counterpart to Ember in the App Store. With Ember on the iPhone and iPad, you can add, organize, and share items and have your library synced via iCloud.
Popular cross-plaform service WhatsApp has been redesigned for iOS 7. The redesign leaked last month, and it’s finally here.
The app’s entire interface has been simplified, and group messaging has been improved with a new feature called Broadcasts Lists. You can create groups of people such as “classmates” to message all at once.
Here’s the full list of changes:
A couple of weeks ago, FiftyThree started accepting preorders for its new Pencil stylus. Pencil is designed specifically for FiftyThree’s Paper drawing app. The simplistic stylus connects over Bluetooth via on-screen paring in the Paper app and has features like palm rejection, blending, and quick erasing.
The Paper app has been updated with these new software features for Pencil in conjunction with preorders beginning to ship to customers.
Apple has bought Topsy, a San Francisco-based firm that offers Twitter analytics to companies. The deal has closed at over $200 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“It’s unclear how Apple plans to use Topsy,” says the report. “There may be opportunities to link Topsy’s technology with Apple’s iTunes Radio, an online-streaming-music competitor to Pandora Media Inc. and Spotify AB. One possible scenario would use data from Topsy to alert listeners to songs that are trending or artists being discussed on Twitter.”
A report from a few months ago said Apple was beefing up its iAd team prior to the launch of iTunes Radio. Topsy’s expertise in social marketing could certainly come in handy when trying to sell iAds.
Here’s what Topsy is about:
TextExpander, the amazing utility that allows you to type a quick shortcut (or “snippet”) and have it expand into any text you want, has been in a bit of trouble with Apple recently. The maker of TextExpander, Smile Software, was informed a couple of weeks ago by Apple that the iOS version of its app was sharing snippets between apps the wrong way.
Now TextExpander for iOS has been updated with a fix, and it breaks the best thing about the app.
Second Gear, maker of the popular iOS text editor Elements, has announced its next app, Photos+. Pitched as “the best way to manage photos on your phone,” Photos+ looks like it’s trying to take on Apple’s default Photos app.
The app has been submitted for approval in the App Store, and it looks promising.
Amazon has a new ad out for the Kindle Fire HDX that uses the new iPad Air as a scapegoat. It brags about how the HDX has more pixels (hardly any more), weighs less, and costs less.
Ho-hum. Microsoft, Nokia, and every other competitors make plenty of ads based on practically the same formula. What makes this new one from Amazon special is the iPad Air’s narrator. “This is the magical new iPad Air,” says the male voice with a slightly British accent—perhaps a subtle dig at Sir Jony Ive?
There are far more egregious examples of anti-Apple ads from other tech companies, and Amazon does make good points about the HDX weighing and costing less. Not sure why the narrator for the HDX has such a weird twang, but oh well. At least Amazon won’t have to pull this ad out of embarrassment.
We are marking #World AIDS Day by turning Apple’s logo red. Together we can achieve an AIDS free generation. pic.twitter.com/3kdx9UZr9f
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) December 1, 2013
December 1st is World AIDS Day, a movement that raises awareness for the fight against HIV. Apple is honoring the cause by tinting Apple store logos around the world red.
“We are marking #World AIDS Day by turning Apple’s logo red,” tweeted Apple CEO Tim Cook. “Together we can achieve an AIDS free generation.”
Kim Dotcom’s questionably-legal controversial cloud storage service, Mega, now has an official iPhone app. Designed specifically for iOS 7, the new app lets users manage their accounts and files on the go.
Not only can you see your files in a Dropbox-like interface, but you can export and import links to share with others. You can view and stream supported file formats and save them for offline viewing.
