iPhone - page 267

Ok, so it’s not a life-changer, but the Apple Store app has just been updated to version 2.5. There are now new delivery options available in the app, and you can choose different shipping options for each different item in an order. Want your iPad smart case shipped to your office, your iPhone charger to your home, and pick up your iPad mini at the local Apple Store? You can arrange for that now in the app itself.

There’s a new section in the Express Checkout screen, too, which lets you know whether a purchase will be available for pickup at the nearest Apple Store, at least for US customers.

Every time I’ve used the Apple Store App, whether to purchase an item in store or order it ahead of time, I’ve been impressed by the seamlessness of the transaction. It’s like having a better, more portable Apple Store website on my phone, and it makes it easy to make Genius Bar or workshop reservations at my local store. The app allows you to purchase and pick up products from the store, personalize iPads and iPods with engraving, choose gift-wrapping options, configure new Mac purchases, and track your stuff once you’ve bought it.

And? It’s really a ton of fun to walk into the store, scan an item, type in my iTunes password, and walk out with that item. Feels all sneaky. I also like that just showing up with my iPhone and a reservation for a Specialist notifies them and me. It’s just plain cool.

What’s New in Version 2.5
– New delivery options make it even more convenient to get your Apple products. Choose different shipping options for different items in an order.
– An even easier way to see if the product you want is available for pickup at your favorite Apple Retail Store (U.S. only).

Source: App Store

With features like Bluetooth 4 connectivity, hundreds of levels of pressure sensitivity, and a built-in undo button, the Pogo Connect Pen (currently about $79 $62 on Amazon) sounds like an amazing drawing and painting tool for your iPad or iPhone.

Question is, how’s it perform in real life? I took it for a test drive to find out.

Pulse has been one of our favorite newsreader apps for the iPad since it was released in 2010, but it’s looking for a new home.

According to a new report, LinkedIn wants to buy the maker of the iOS app Pulse, and they’re not afraid to spend big.

Derek Sivers recently wrote a piece about how he believes everyone should learn basic programming, but where do you start? What school should you go to? What book is the best? What website will offer the best resources? Cult of Mac Deals is here to help – no matter whether it’s a course for you or for a child out there that you know would eat up a coding course.

The Coding for Beginners Course you’ll receive over 216 lectures and 7 hours of content. Normally this video course would cost you $597, but now you can get it for only $69 – a savings of 88%!

The Automatic Link is a new iPhone accessory that’s been built to provide you with all of the important information you’ll ever need to know about your vehicle. It plugs into your car’s on-board diagnosis port, then transmits all sorts of data to an accompanying app on your iPhone.

Not only will Automatic Link help you identify why your “check engine” light is on, but it’ll also give you all kinds of data about the journeys you make, it’ll help you remember where you parked your car, and it’ll help you change your driving style to save gas.

Rdio has today updated its iOS app to introduce new album and playlist views to the iPhone, and to make a number of improvements to the app’s user interface. You can now enjoy large album art, see what your friends have been listening to, and more.

The official Tumblr app for iOS received a major overhaul back in November, delivering a completely redesigned dashboard, iPad support, and lots more. But the improvements aren’t about to stop there. Today sees the release of Tumblr 3.3, which adds a new camera, the ability to create photosets, and more.

Portability and ease of use makes the iPad the perfect product for staying connected – whether you are on the move or in the comfort of your bed. At its core, the iPad is essentially the screen portion of a Macbook with touch capabilities. But there hasn’t been a true keyboard that acts like an external keyboard – one that you can use that keeps the iPad the tablet it was meant to be.

Until now, that is.

The Touchfire keyboard is our latest Cult of Mac Deals offer and you can get it for a limited time at the low price of just $50 – with FREE shipping to the US and international countries included!

I use Freshbooks on the web all the time to send out invoices and request payment for various writing and freelance jobs I have. It allows me to create invoices, send them, and have people respond to me as if I have a real business with real invoices. It’s pretty slick. Other features include time tracking, project management, estimates, and expense tracking.

Now, there’s an iOS app that lets you do the same things, right from your iPhone.

If you love to watch videos on your smartphone to kill time, odds are, you own an iPhone. For some reason Android users don’t watch nearly as much video on their smartphones as iOS users, even though Android has more marketshare.

If you like good coffee and don’t own an Aeropress, you’re missing out – the thing is just $30 and it’ll make better coffee than a stovetop moka pot, and it’s fun to use to boot.

And better still, there’s now a companion app. Developed by Jarrod Glasgow, Aeropress Timer is an iPhone app which combines Aeropress recipes with a countdown timer for the perfect cup, every time.

Ever needed a way to use your iPhone to control your iPad camera, or vice versa? No? How about using your iPod touch as a baby monitor, with an iPad upstairs to monitor your baby’s nap time? Or keeping an eye on a pet in the other room with your iPhone? You might want to take a picture with your iPhone on a tripod, to get a large group of people in the shot, because let’s face it, no one’s arm is that long.

With Blux Lens, a remote for Blux Camera, you can do just that. Here’s how.

Often, simple=good. And the Sine Cable Stand from UrbanPrefer is both simple and good. It does two things: works as a cord-wrapper for your iPhone’s power cable, and acts as a handy-dandy stand for your iPhone while it charges.

Being in business with Apple can’t be all that bad right now. Despite a report this morning that claimed Apple’s suppliers experienced weak sales in February, there are a few Apple suppliers that are hiring more employees to meet demand.

Both TSMC and Hon Hai are looking to hire 5,000 new employees, which might mean that Apple really is looking to ditch Samsung in favor of TSMC.

We’ve seen Philips’ Hue lightbulbs do some pretty cool stuff, but things are about to get crazy. Philips revealed that they have some open APIs and an iOS SDK for the Hue connected lighting system.

The official SDK for Hue means that third-party apps and hardware can pick up where Hue left off and bring new features to the Hue system that Philips can’t bring on its own.

Last month we heard that even though Apple just posted a record breaking quarter,  sales of the iPad were lower than internal expectations.

Backing up claims that Apple is having a down month, Topeka Capital says that they’ve been monitoring Apple’s suppliers and February was a very bad month for companies that help make Apple products.

Apple is edging closer towards a settlement with Brazilian telecommunications firm IGB Eletronica over the “iPhone” trademark. IGB owns the brand Gradiente, which obtained the trademark in 2007 — the same year Apple announced its popular smartphone. The company has been keen to prevent Apple from using it, but it appears it’s now willing to reach a deal.

Samsung smartphones outsold those from rivals Apple, Nokia, and Lenovo in China throughout 2012, allowing the Korean company to claim the biggest share of the Chinese smartphone market, according to the latest report from Strategy Analytics.

Nokia had claimed the top spot in 2011, but the Finnish firm has struggled to compete with Samsung’s Galaxy devices this time around, and couldn’t even make its way into the top five.

Apple was caught last year selling Apple Certified refurbished hardware on eBay using the pseudonym Refurbished-Outlet. Allegedly.

The prices and details of these products were generally the same as refurbished products sold on the apple.com site. The products come with a one-year warranty and mobile devices contain a new battery.

But this week it emerged that Apple is lowering the prices on eBay, sometimes by quite a bit. For example, Apple normally charges $999 for a refurbed MacBook Air with 128 GB. But that same system with the same Apple inspection and one-year warranty went on sale in the eBay store for $899. Prices on other hardware products were slashed similarly.

(In addition, we learned, the company as been apparently working with “power sellers” on eBay to sell Apple hardware. For example, until they ran out of the 500 units put up for sale of 13-inch MacBook Pros selling for $999. These are new devices, not refurbished, and Apple is probably using the “channel” to clear out inventory.)

It seems to me that Apple is working behind the scenes to experiment with different models for selling refurbished and excess inventory. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple was also trying other channels for doing the same thing that we don’t know about. And I also wouldn’t be surprised if refurbished gadgets vanished from the Apple site altogether, and for those items to be sold in the darker alleys of the Internet (like eBay) exclusively instead.

But I think there’s a ginormous opportunity here for embracing “used” in a big way — and it’s something only Apple could pull off. 

This week’s must-have apps roundup features three awesome new games that’ll keep you entertained this weekend, plus three new apps that’ll transform your photographs and help you explore the world around you. We have the latest releases from Sega and Google, the awesome 8 Ball Pool from Miniclip, and more.

There’s been a lot of noise lately surrounding smartphone unlocking. On October 28, 2012, the Library of Congress said it was going to be illegal to unlock your smartphone starting on January 26, 2013.

Since then, Obama has stepped in and said that’s totally not fair. And then a few legislators have brought up bills to make sure people can unlock their smartphones without facing criminal charges. Now AT&T says it wants to be perfectly clear that they don’t really want you to go to jail for unlocking your smartphone.

This review is slightly unusual: We already published a review of the same device a couple of weeks ago: the Logitech Easy-Switch keyboard. I liked the look of it so much that — on Killian’s recommendation — I went out and bought one of my own. Or rather, I bought one, returned one and searched the internet high and low for another one.

So why the “duplicate” review? Because I use a keyboard in a different way than Killian. Where he sits at the dining room table surrounded by iDevices and Macs, I work not only in different rooms but in bars (cafes), on buses, wherever I might be. So I figured I’d write a very different review.

Interested?

It’s no secret that the best place to buy a MacBook or iMac is from the online Apple Store’s refurbished section. You get the same products, with the same warranty, for a few hundred bucks cheaper than buying it brand new.

But what you probably didn’t know is that Apple has a secret eBay store which sells the same refurbished items you can get from the online Apple Store, except they’re even cheaper.

If you’ve been catching our Daily Freebie posts, you’ve no doubt snagged some of the fantastic free apps out there — or been alert enough to snag an amazing deal when this or that killer app goes free for a short time. But there are other tools that help make sure you don’t miss out on all those great free apps. Hubbl is one of those tools and we’ve mentioned it in the past — but now it’s got a cool new trick that we’ve never seen before.

Remember Blux Camera? Back in October of last year, I described it as “the camera app Rick Deckard would use.” I stand by that, only now Blux has gotten a little remote companion which makes it even more Blade-Runnerier to use.

Enhance!