Buster Hein - page 197

The budget iPhone 5 is definitely happening, and with the seemingly infinite amount of rear–case leaks we pretty much already know what it’s going to look like before Apple even announces it. But, what if those questionable ‘iPhone 5C’ cases weren’t just packaging?

Introducing the iPhone 5’s obese evil twin: the iPhone 5C.

The screen is definitely an upgrade from the original iPhone 5C prototype.

Source: Ferry Passchier

Along with the iOS 7 and iTunes beta releases published this morning, Apple has also seeded a the fourth beta build of Apple TV 5.4.

The new update is slim on new features, but includes a ton of bug fixes and gives iOS 7 devices the ability to set up an Apple TV after restoring or resetting all settings.

Here are the full release notes:

Former Apple Store employees from New York and Los Angeles filed a complaint in San Francisco federal court that claims Apple workers are being shorted around $1,500 a year in unpaid wages while they wait off the clock to have their bags searched.

The class-action suit claims that Apple’s “personal package and bag search” policy can cause staff members to stand around for 5 to 15 minutes every time they clock out to leave on a lunch break or at the end of a shift:

Along with today’s release of the fourth iOS 7 beta, Apple has also seeded a beta build of iTunes 11.1 to developers that includes the new iTunes Radio feature.

Apple unveiled iTunes Radio at WWDC 2013 last month. The new streaming music service allows users to create radio stations based on artists or songs, similar to Pandora. iTunes Radio will be free with ads, but if you have an iTunes Match subscription, there are no ads.

Developers can download the new preview directly from the iOS Dev Center.

Buying a $35 dongle to magically stream all the video of the internet to your TV sounds pretty awesome, and based on early impressions Chromecast does a decent job, but how does its content stack up against the Apple TV and Roku?

Danny Sullivan created the chart above to break down the content you’ll find on Chromecast, Apple TV and Roku. If you only care about streaming video off Netflix and YouTube, then Chromecast is the best bang for your buck. But if you want to watch HBO Go, Hulu, or pull content from iTunes or Amazon, Apple TV or Roku have more content options.

Source: Marketingland

Via: Twitter

We’ve seen tons of leaked photos claiming to be the rear shell of the budget iPhone, and here’s the latest one we can add to the pile. The photo was posted on Weibo and looks pretty similar to images we posted two days ago.

Why does Apple put all kinds of weird screws on your Mac and iPhone that take an Apple Genius to unlock?

Because a little guy lives inside there doing all the work! HaaHAa! *rimshot*

Microsoft commissioned Eldon Dedini to make the comic above and a couple others back in 1985 to poke fun at the Macintosh. The comics were made for Microsoft’s marketing team, but weren’t distributed. To Microsoft’s credit, opening the original Mac was difficult as hell, and it took more tools than just a screw driver – and Apple certainly hasn’t made it any easier since then.

Source: Reddit

It’s no secret that Microsoft’s would-be iPad-killer has been a complete disappointment, but now Steve Ballmer, the company’s ever-optimistic CEO, is admitting to employees that the Surface is a flop.

Ballmer held a “rally the troops” event on the Microsoft campus yesterday to go over the company’s quarterly earnings and boost morale, but according to people at the event, Ballmer dove into how disappointing it has been trying to make Surface a success.

Yahoo announced today that it’s launching a completely redesigned Fantasy Sports app for iOS and Android, just in time for the all-important fantasy football season looming on the horizon.

The redesigned app now lets you sign up for a league and draft players from your iPhone or iPad. There’s even some mock drafting help built-in to prepare you for that big day where you pull your hair out debating which elite running back won’t have a season-ending injury.

All the fantasy football features will be available for other fantasy sports as well. To get the word out on the relaunch, Yahoo enlisted beef-cake ahtletic-super-freak J.J. Watt to cajole you into trying app. Take a look at the trailer:

The European Commission announced today that it has reached a deal with publisher Penguin regarding the e-book price fixing charges raised by the EU back in 2012.

Like the four other publishers charged with colluding with Apple to fix the price of e-books, Penguin has agreed to ditch Apple’s agency model for e-books that let publishers set prices for e-books while distributors like Apple, Amazon or Barnes & Noble get a cut of the sale.

Logic Pro X  just launched less than 10 days ago, but Apple already has a big patch to update its audio software with some performance enhancements and bug fixes.

The new update fixes issues where downloads were stalling, improves stability when switching audio editors with Flex Pitch enabled, and more.

Here are the full release notes:

Apple was found guilty of e-book price fixing by federal judge Denise Cote earlier this month, and it looks like the total bill for colluding with book publishers for the launch of the iBookstore will be pretty steep.

The five publishers in the case – Hachette, Penguin, Random House, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster – have already paid out $166 million,  according to figures obtained by GigaOm. Based on the settlement payments publishers have already shelled out, it looks like Apple might have to pay $500 million to the states and class action lawyers in the case.

Have you ever wondered what 1,107 MacBook Airs would look like? I sure hope not. I mean, hopefully you have more pressing things on your mind, like how to solve world hunger or where to get a burrito for lunch. But if you do fantasize about stacks-on-stacks-on-stacks of Apple products, then check out this massive order of MacBook Airs.

The entire pile includes 1,107 MacBook Airs. If the company just bought the baseline 11-inch $999.99 model then you’re looking at $1,106,988.93 worth of Apple hardware.

Have you ever seen a bigger stack of Apple products? Tell us your fish-tale in the comments.

Source: Reddit

Summer isn’t over quite yet, so if you’re still looking for a little motivation to get you back in tip-top shape Nike added a new Challenges feature to its running app.

To start a challenge in Nike+ Running 4.3, simply set a distance and send the invite to your Nike+ friends. The app will keep track of who’s in the lead and if you win you get a shiny digital medal to show off to your momma.

The free app is available in the App Store now for both iPhone and iPod touch.

Here are the full release notes:

Viber confirmed this afternoon that it was hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army after an attack brought down its support page. Hackers gained access to two minor systems – a customer support panel and support administration system – along with the take down of Viber’s support page with the following note spotted by AppleSpot:

After refreshing its iPad lineup in the fall last year, rather than summer, Apple set itself up to go through a June quarter without a new iPad launch for the first time since it was introduced in 2010. Analysts are expecting Apple to announce that year-over-year iPad sales last quarter were down, but one thing that’s still up is iPad usage.

According to the latest stats from the Chitika ad network, iPads now account for 84.3% of all web traffic from tablets in June. That’s just a slight bump up from the 82.4% Apple hit in May, but it’s the iPad’s highest share of tablet web use this year.

As Apple begins to line up suppliers for the production of the iPad mini 2 – that may or may not have a retina display – ET Newsmac reports that AUO has been dropped by Apple as a display supplier for the iPad mini 2.

AUO provided displays for the original iPad mini, but according the to report, the Taiwanese display supplier could not secure any orders from Apple for the iPad mini 2 because it failed to meet the supply deadlines or to develop an LCD with high penetration rate.

One of Apple’s biggest antagonist regarding smartphone theft says that he’s pretty happy with the improved security features of iOS 7.

After announcing his efforts last week to test Apple’s new security lock, San Francisco District Attorney, George Gascón says that Apple’s Activation Lock is a “clear improvement” over previous solutions aimed at deterring thieves from stealing smartphones. 

Even though Apple was awarded $1 billion last summer during its patent infringement case against Samsung, the two tech giants still aren’t done fighting, but there’s hope that a deal can be made as the two sides have renewed their talks to reach a settlement.

The rumor mill has provided a steady supply of pictures of the alleged lower-cost iPhone that Apple is rumored to release later this year, but now we have some comparison shots of what the rear shell looks like compared to the iPhone 5.

Weekly ASCII in Japan got their hands on what they claim is the rear shell for the budget iPhone. While we can’t verify the authenticity of the case, it’s very similar to the other leaked photos of the budget iPhone rear shell we’ve seen and the screw hole layout is similar to the iPhone 5s logic boards that leaked earlier this week.

The mag says that they  saw casings in pink, blue, orange, black, and white as well.  Here are some close-up comparisons between the two iPhones:

Rovio Account has been a work in progress for a couple of months now but it looks like it’s finally ready for prime time. This morning Rovio announced that its game syncing feature – Rovio Account – is finally available worldwide for both iOS and Android devices.

It seems like summer is just getting started but Best Buy is anxious to start raking in some money from the upcoming back-to-school season. To kick things off, Best Buy just reduced the price on two of the most popular MacBook Pros by $200.

Students can get a 13-inch MacBook Pro with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive for $999.99 (regular price $1,199.99) or a 13-inch MacBook Pro with 8GB of RAM and a 750GB hard drive for $1,299.99 (regular price $1,499.99).

To take advantage of the deal you have to sign up with a “.edu” email address. If you don’t have one you just get $100 off the regular price, which isn’t a bad deal either. Promo starts today and ends on July 27th

Source: Best Buy

Via: ATD

Remember when Microsoft unveiled the Surface RT last year and people said it totally makes the iPad and the MacBook Air obsolete? So far the Surface RT has been anything but an iPad-killer and according to Microsoft’s latest earnings, it’s losing them a shit ton of money too.

VLC for iOS is making a return to the App Store after a licensing dispute got the popular video player pulled from the App Store over two years ago.

The visual appearance of the app has remained fairly consistent to the old version from 2010. The app was completely rewritten and is much faster thanks to modern output modules for audio and video, and offers multi-core decoding and support for any video files available in VLC media player for desktop operating systems.

Not satisfied with the 100 million download whooping it laid down on the App Store and Google Play, Rovio is taking Angry Birds Star Wars to almost every major gaming console for a scheduled launch of October 29th, 2013.

You’ll be able to flick lightsaber-wielding birds across your HDTV’s screen to your heart’s delight on Playstation 3, Playstation Vita, Xbox 360, Wii U, Wii, and the Nintendo 3DS. Rovio is adding 20 exclusive levels to the game, along with some cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes, to make things a little extra special for those wanting to conquer the galaxy again.

Here’s the trailer: