Alex Heath - page 78

Do you have a favorite third-party Twitter app that you use everyday? I use Tweetbot on my iPhone, iPad and Mac. I’ve been using third-party Twitter clients since I joined the social network in 2008. It’s fun to switch apps and try new clients as they are released for different devices. Many would say that Twitter has succeeded because of the developer community that made (and continues to make) such great apps. Heck, Twitter wouldn’t even have its own mobile or desktop app if it hadn’t bought Tweetie years ago.

Like any growing business, Twitter’s mission as a platform is changing. In a recent interview, the CEO of Twitter explained what kind of apps and services the company wants to have tie into its platform, and there isn’t much room left for the third-party apps we all know and love.

Radio Shack is now offering multiple iPhone models on AT&T and Verizon for significant discounts in its retail stores. These iPhones have been “refreshed and remanufactured,” meaning that they have been either used or repackaged internally. You can get a 16GB iPhone 4S on AT&T or Verizon for $100 off Apple’s $200 retail price, and there’s also a $100 discount for the 32Gb iPhone 4S. The iPhone 4 is also being offered for free on both carriers. All discounted models obviously come with a two-year contract.

Here’s the unit/price breakdown:

For a company that has written off trade shows like Macworld, it’s interesting that Apple will be officially attending the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas this Thursday. What’s even more interesting is that the conference is devoted to the hacking and security research community, a demographic Apple has always given little public attention to. Under the post-Steve Jobs reign of Tim Cook, Apple’s head of platform security, Dallas De Atley, will be giving a presentation on key security technologies within iOS.

With rumors heating up again about the next iPhone featuring a smaller 19-pin dock connector, iMore is now saying that Apple will provide an adapter to give the upcoming iPhone’s smaller dock connector the ability to interface with 30-pin accessories and ports. As the site that originally started the smaller iPhone dock rumor, we have reason to believe that iMore’s report is accurate.

Thousands of accessory and peripheral makers have undoubtedly been shaking in their boots since the rumors started about a 19-pin connector in the sixth-gen iPhone, and Apple’s adapter should stem the tide until third-parties can make updated accessories for the new architecture.

If you haven’t seen The Dark Knight Rises yet, buy a ticket for the soonest IMAX showing near you and prepare to have your mind blown. Ticket sales are strong, and many are calling this latest Batman movie the best yet.

Christopher Nolan, the man who wrote and directed the last three Batman films, is a fascinating character. The Brit is at the top of his game and considered the most bankable director in Hollywood, yet he doesn’t own a cell phone or even use email! In a recent interview, Nolan poo-pooed Apple’s Siri, genuinely asking the question, “What’s the purpose of that?”

Our friends at Wired have released their August issue, and the magazine features a cover story called Am I Steve Jobs. The cover photo is an earlier picture of Jobs depicted with a halo and horns drawn around his head. Three lines express the self-contradictory nature of Apple’s late CEO: “He was a Buddhist and a tyrant,” He was a genius and a jerk,” and “How his life story has become an inspiration for some and a cautionary tale for others.”

The new issue is available now and can be downloaded in Apple’s Newsstand (weighs in at a healthy 532MB). The main article borrows heavily from Walter Isaacson’s biography, so you may have heard many of the Jobs anecdotes before. There are, however, some interesting interviews that add to the discussion. The focus of the piece is mainly taken from a business and entrepreneurial perspective, but anyone who has followed Jobs and Apple should get at least a little out of it.

We recently told you that Apple will be giving free copies of OS X Mountain Lion to customers who purchased a new Mac from June 11, 2012 onward. Everyone else will have to pay $20 to download the new OS in the Mac App Store. Apple’s OS X Up-To-Date Program has already gone live unofficially, and that means you can claim your free copy of Mountain Lion now before it’s made available later this week.

One of the many pros of jailbreaking is the ability to theme your iOS device. When you install a custom theme in Cydia, you’re effectively replacing Apple’s default iOS design with something new and fresh. There are many great themes for jailbreakers, but my new favorite is undoubtedly ayecon. Developed originally for the iPhone and iPod touch, ayecon is coming to the iPad on August 3rd.

I’ve been using ayecon on my jailbroken iPad for a couple weeks now, and I couldn’t be happier. Here are some screenshots to give you a taste of what to expect from this benchmark iOS theme:

When Tapbots finally released its highly-anticpated Tweetbot Twitter client on the Mac, the software was labeled as a free Alpha. This means that the developers are continuing to add major new features and bug fixes leading up to the official 1.0 release in the Mac App Store. In fact, users are warned before downloading that there could be major bugs, and all Alpha testers are encouraged to submit bug reports to Tapbots.

Over the weekend, the first update was released for the Tweetbot for Mac Alpha, and the update packs several new features and improvements.

It was recently discovered that a Russian hacker had been hijacking Apple’s iOS in-app purchasing system to score paid upgrades for free. The trick was accomplished by bypassing Apple’s authentication servers and routing an in-app purchase through a proxy that sent back a faulty purchase receipt.

While Apple has already attempted to combat this activity, today the company outlined a solution for developers to keep their in-app purchases safe from such an exploit. Apple has also confirmed that the issue will be fixed when iOS 6 ships to the public this fall.

I’m gonna be honest. I totally forgot that Homescreen.me existed. That’s because the website has been in private beta for two years, and I stopped using it after I initially uploaded my iPhone’s Home screen in 2010. So, I after finding out that Homescreen.me has opened its doors up for everyone today, I logged back into my account. Seeing the main apps I used on my iPhone 3GS at the time brought back a flood of memories. There’s something very personal about a Home screen. It represents the apps that are most special to you. But those apps change over time.

After logging back in, I uploaded my current iPhone and iPad Home screens. It was interesting to see how my layout changed two years later and what new apps had been given first page priority. I then shared my current setup on Twitter for my friends to check out.

That’s what Homescreen.me is about: sharing and discovering great Home screens with fellow geeks who love their iOS devices.

A new discovery suggests that Instagram is working on improving its experience on the web. The popular photography network added the ability to comment on and like photos from the browser several weeks ago, and a “View Profile” option was spotted in the wild today by web designer Cole Reinke. While the new menu option returned a 404 error, the finding reveals that Instagram is indeed developing a more full-featured web app for its users.

There’s a plethora of third-party web apps like Webstagram, but as the largest mobile-only social network in existence, an official Instagram web app would be huge.

A U.K. judge recently ruled that Apple has to pay for advertisements on its website and in British newspapers saying that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab doesn’t actually copy the design of the iPad. The order was given after the same judge ruled that Samsung didn’t infringe on Apple’s designs, noting that the Galaxy Tab wasn’t “cool enough” to be confused with the iPad. Ouch.

Apple advertise for one of its main competitors? Never! The Cupertino-based company has motioned to appeal the U.K. court’s ruling.

Following Google’s acquisition of Sparrow earlier today, Acrylic Software has announced that it has been bought by Facebook. Acrylic makes a Mac/iPad RSS reader app called Pulp and Mac/iPhone app called Wallet. As a development firm known for its top notch design work and attention to detail, the Acrylic team will be joining Facebook’s design team.

Future development of Pulp and Wallet has stopped, but Acrylic will continue to support its users and keep its apps available for download.

Popular third-party email client Sparrow has announced that it has been acquired by Google. The iPhone and Mac app will remain unchanged, but all development of new features has been discontinued.  Sparrow has promised to continue supporting its user base as it transitions into becoming part of the Google family.

Google will merge the talented team at Sparrow with the Gmail team.

The day has finally come. Subatomic Studios has released Fieldrunners 2 for the iPhone and iPod touch in the App Store. In case you don’t remember, the original Fieldrunners pioneered tower defense games on the iPhone back when the App Store first launched in 2008.

Fieldrunners 2 has now gone live in the App Store, and it looks to be another smash hit.

It was recently discovered that AT&T will likely charge for FaceTime over 3G when iOS 6 launches for the public this fall. Users could previously only use Apple’s FaceTime when connected to a WiFi network, but iOS 6 (now in its third developer beta) will allow for FaceTime over both WiFi and a cellular connection.

Sprint, the nation’s third largest carrier, now says that it will not charge its customers for FaceTime over 3G in iOS 6. Both AT&T and Verizon still refuse to give any details.

Popular keyboard shortcut launcher Alfred has been updated with several new features and improvements. Version 1.3 of Alfred for Mac integrates with Apple’s Quick Look in OS X to let you see previews of files inside Alfred. A neat feature called file buffer gives you quick access to app and file placeholders above Alfred’s main search window.

The developers of Alfred have also added numerous other improvements and bug fixes in this 1.3 update. We’ve got the full change log.

The National Cancer Institute estimates that there will be 2 million new diagnoses of skin cancer in the U.S. alone this year, including nearly 80,000 cases of melanoma. Besides the obvious practice of routine checkups, those known to be a bit more preemptive have taken to whole body photography as a means to spot cancerous activity before it’s too late.

An iPhone app called UMSkinCheck is meant to be an easy way to check for skin cancer without the need of a trained professional. All you need to do is have someone use your iPhone to take 23 pictures of yourself completely nude.

Evernote had released a new update for its Mac app that brings stunning Retina graphics and a new feature called Activity Stream. Version 3.2 of Evernote for Mac is available now on the web and soon in the Mac App Store.

The new Activity Stream acts as a notification hub for your Evernote account that is automatically updated within the Mac app. This latest update from Evernote also includes a few other improvements.

Apple and Samsung have been duking it out in court rooms around the world for many months, and a ruling today brings an interesting twist to the never-ending saga.

A U.K. judge has ordered Apple to admit on its website and in British newspapers that Samsung has not copied the design of the iPad. Previously, the U.K. court had ruled that Samsung’s Galaxy Tabs didn’t ripoff the iPad because “they are not as cool.” What today’s ruling essentially means is that Apple will have to advertise for Samsung’s Galaxy series on the web and in British newspapers.

When we first saw the promo vide for Checkmark, Cult of Mac reviews editor Charlie Sorrel called it the “reminders app Apple should have made.” Today the app makers at Snowman released Checkmark for iPhone in the App store. Available for $0.99, Checkmark aims to replace Apple’s own Reminders app with a smarter workflow and much smarter location-based reminders.

Have you ever wondered how much time you spend in an app? There are those staple iOS apps most of us use everyday (Phone, Messages, Mail, etc.), and then there are our favorite third-party apps from the App Store. Which apps command the most of your time? Now there’s an easy way to find out.

A new jailbreak app called App Analytics tracks your app usage on the iPhone and iPad. Once installed via the jailbreak App Store known as Cydia, App Analytics stays out of the way. The app is simple, lightweight, and scarily revealing.

Parallels, the company behind the acclaimed virtual desktop software that lets you run Windows alongside OS X on your Mac, just scored a big name. The former vice president of Mac Software Engineering at Apple, Bertrand Serlet, has joined the board of directors at Parallels. Serlet will bring his knowledge and expertise of all things Mac to Parallels, and he is also working at a startup called Upthere in Palo Alto.

Serlet left Apple in 2001 after working for 14 years alongside Steve Jobs at NeXT and then Apple. He led the original development of OS X and previously worked at Xerox PARC, the research facility where Jobs was inspired to begin work on the graphical interface for the original Macintosh.

AgileBits has updated its 1Password app with Retina graphics in the Mac App Store. Version 3.9.6 of the password manager is available now as a free update for existing customers in the Mac App Store, and version 3.8.20 is also available from the AgileBits website. The Mac App Store version plays by Apple’s sandboxing rules, while the web version does not. 1Password is sold for $50 in the Mac App Store and $70 on the web.

1Password will also be ready to run on Mountain Lion when Apple ships the OS later this month.