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News - page 1340

Tony Montana’s Scarface crib goes on sale for $35m

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If you’re looking for a new home awesome enough to house all of your Apple products in style, you’re not going to find one better than this.

A 10,000 square feet palace — newly on the market for a cool $35 million — it will be instantly recognizable to cinema buffs as the home of none other than Tony Montana in the 1983 movie Scarface.

Play Marco Polo with your iPhone using this new useful app

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Marco Polo

Remember those summer days of yore, playing in the pool with your friends, and one of you would close your eyes and yell out Marco? And all your buddies, who got to keep their eyes open, yelled Polo!*

Now you can find wherever you’ve lost your iPhone in your house, car, or office cubicle by shouting at it with the nifty and useful new app, Marco Polo: Find Your Phone by Shouting MARCO!, which may be the longest name for an app, ever.

Marco! Polo! Marco! … Polo!

Restaurant lets you pay for your food by Instagramming it

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What if we lived in a world where you could pay for your food by sharing it on Instagram? Some would call it hell on earth because of how our Instagram feeds are already overwhelmed with such pictures, but that kind of attitude could be starting to change.

A new pop-up diner in Soho, London called The Picture House is letting its customers pay for their meals in exchange for posting a pic of it on Instagram with the hashtag “BirdsEyeInspirations.”

Apple bought Beats for video, suggests Steve Jobs’ biographer

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The web has spun about 13,000 different theories on why Apple bought Beats. Did they want the headphones? Or was it Beats Music that tipped things over?

It’ll be months, if not years, before we learn Apple’s real play with the Beats acquisition, but Steve Jobs’ biographer Walter Isaacson has his own theory on why Apple bought Beats and it has nothing to do with music, overpriced headphones, or other wearables.

It’s all about video.

Quick and easy: How to use Google Analytics with Tumblr

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Even Tumblrs need Analytics love.
Even Tumblrs need Analytics love.

So you got yourself a Tumblr blog, right? Whether you’re a newbie website runner or a veteran Tumblr owner, you’ll need to keep track of your website stats.

The best (and free) system out there to find out who visits your site and why is Google Analytics. The web stats analysis package there is the best in the business, but unless you have some sort of degree in SEO or traffic analysis, it can be pretty overwhelming.

So, for those of you that just want to get into tracking your site stats with a minimum of fuss, here’s how to get Google Analytics installed on your Tumblr blog, and a quick and easy way to set up your Analytics dashboard with the basic info.

Guardians of the Galaxy trailer gives a sneak peek at the losers who will save the universe

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“So here we are,” says Chris Pratt’s Starlord in the new trailer from Marvel Studios, “a thief, two thugs, an assassin, and a maniac.”

They may be an odd team, but they’re not going to stand by as evil wipes out the galaxy.

Guardians of the Galaxy is shaping up to be a fantastic take on the cult-hit comic book series, further cementing Marvel Comics as the cooler-than-you comic book movie studio with this hot new trailer, embedded below.

Halo 5: Guardians rockets to Xbox One fall 2015

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Xbox One owners just got a shot in the arm as the team behind the acclaimed Halo franchise has just revealed a new iteration in the series: Halo 5: Guardians.

Halo has always been associated with the Xbox system, reaching back to Microsoft’s original console, released in 2001. With the latest title now in sights, Halo fans will start the salivation required of the lead up to the game industry’s most popular series.

Apple begins preparations for new Madison Avenue store

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Apple's new Upper East Side store will be located on Madison Avenue.
Apple's new Upper East Side store will be located on Madison Avenue. (Credit: Google Street View)

Apple’s iconic Fifth Avenue retail store might be turning eight today, but the company is looking to boost its New York presence with a new store on the city’s Upper East Side.

City building permits, dated May 15, detail soil testing at the new site, along with the demolition of the building’s current interior — costing a total of $80,000. The new Apple Store is set to be located at no. 940 Madison Avenue, a limestone and marble building currency occupied by luxury retailer VBH.

Machine Crush Monday: Apple’s iconic Fifth Avenue store turns 8

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Apple Store, Fifth Avenue

It takes a lot to be both New York City’s most photographed landmark and Apple’s most beautiful retail store. It’s rare that a shop can genuinely be said to take your breath away, but in the case of the Fifth Avenue Apple Store, it lives up to its reputation — and then some.

A big glass box with a glass elevator in the middle, as well as a see-through staircase, complete with wrap-around glass banister, it’s a little bit like Apple’s long-forgotten (but spectacular) Power Mac G4 Cube — only so big that you can shop in it.

It grosses more than any other store in New York City. And it makes more money per square foot than any other store in the world. exactly eight years after it opened its doors, Apple’s flagship retail store has become an iconic part of the New York landscape.

And like a lot of the best Apple products, it owes its success to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

Smart email app Mailbox now supports Facebook’s App Links

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Mailbox, the popular gesture-based email app owned by Dropbox, has received a small but significant update.

First up are bug fixes, which (among other things) sort out the frustrating problems that have plagued the “reply” and “forward” features of the app’s iPad edition.

More importantly, however, is the app’s integration with App Links, the free and open-source initiative introduced by Facebook last month, that allows quick and straightforward linking between apps.

AT&T to purchase DirecTV for close to $50 billion

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AT&T has confirmed that it is going to acquire satellite television operator DirecTV for $48.5 billion.

With a customer base of more than 35 million subscribers (as of December 2012), DirecTV is the second-largest pay TV provider in the United States. AT&T notes that the move will create “a unique new competitor with unprecedented capabilities in mobility, video, and broadband services.”

Facebook’s new messaging app will go head-to-head with Snapchat

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Facebook vs. Snapchat: round 2… fight!

After turning down a $3 billion acquisition offer late last year, Facebook is reportedly working on out-Snapchatting Snapchat with a new video messaging app, referred to internally as “Slingshot.”

The service — which lets user send short messages to one another with just a few taps — could be launched as early as this month, although as of yet Facebook has not signed off on it.

Steve Wozniak’s open letter asks FCC to keep the Internet free

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Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has written an open letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) concerning the subject of Net Neutrality.

In it, Wozniak runs down his history with telecom and details the various headaches he’s dealt with as a result of monopoly companies and government policies. With several examples, Woz points out how innovation and experimentation will be stifled if new rules concerning net neutrality are passed into law.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy teaser trailer is suitably epic

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Okay, so a teaser trailer for a trailer is kind of the Hollywood version of Tim Cook assuring us that there are exciting products in the works, without giving any details, but this is pretty cool nonetheless.

If you’re a fan of the Marvel movies (and what comic geek isn’t?) you’re probably pretty excited about Guardians of the Galaxy — and the sneak preview below certainly doesn’t do anything to change that.

iTunes update fixes disappearing /Users folder glitch

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Apple might not feel the pressure to rush when it comes to releasing new product lines like the iWatch, but it sure can rush when it needs to.

Yesterday we reported on a glitch that saw people’s /Users and /Users/Shared folders disappearing if they had updated to iTunes 11.2 and had Find My Mac enabled. While we offered a couple of workarounds to the problem, Apple sprung into action to create a more permanent solution, which takes the form of iTunes version 11.2.1.

The update will ensure that your folder returns, and stay there even after you reboot. Recommended for all Macs, you’ll find it on the Mac App Store or under Software Update in your Apple Menu.

Definitely beats Terminal commands and an AppleScript hack!

Source: Apple

 

 

Apple being investigated over misleading ‘freemium’ apps

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If you’re an iOS gamer, chances are you’re fed up of games loaded to the gunwales with in-app purchases. The so-called “freemium” trend for games is annoying for two main reasons: One, in many cases it makes games virtually unplayable if you won’t shell out the extra cash for IAPs. Two, it’s misleading because the games aren’t really “free” at all, any more than you could say that it’s free to go to the theater, but you have to pay cash if you want to actually watch a movie.

It’s this second point that antitrust authorities in Italy are taken issue with, under the heading of unfair commercial practices. They’re investigating Apple, Google and Amazon, alongside French game developer Gameloft, for allegedly misleading customers by advertising mobile game apps as free, when they actually require purchases in order to be played beyond a certain point.

Why Apple wants Dre’s Beats, this week on The CultCast

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If the reports ring true, Apple is about to embark on their largest acquisition ever, and the ramifications could be massive. On this episode of The CultCast, we dissect the Apple/Beats merger, and ask the questions: what could Apple possibly have planned for the world’s most popular headphone brand? Is new wearable headphone tech a part of Apple’s future? And most importantly, could the Doctor D-R-E be Apple’s next CEO? Strap on ya gats, ya’ll…

Have a few chuckles whilst we catch you up on each week’s best Apple stories! Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the audio adventure begin!

And thanks to Lynda.com for sponsoring this episode! Learn at your own pace from expert-taught video tutorials at Lynda.com.


Click on for the show notes.

Gadget roundup: New gear for photogs, travelers and pencil pushers

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Sony’s new RX-100 III takes the best pocket camera in the world and makes it even better. Now the 20MP shooter packs a pop-up OLED viewfinder, a faster Æ’1.8-2.8 maximum aperture across the 28-100 zoom range, a new 180-degree flip-up selfie-ready screen and “full-sensor readout 1080p.” There’s even Wi-Fi so you can post the results to Instagram. $800

Sony’s new RX-100 III takes the best pocket camera in the world and makes it even better. Now the 20MP shooter packs a pop-up OLED viewfinder, a faster Æ’1.8-2.8 maximum aperture across the 28-100 zoom range, a new 180-degree flip-up selfie-ready screen and “full-sensor readout 1080p.” There’s even Wi-Fi so you can post the results to Instagram. $800


Fresh photographic equipment stole the show this week, but we also got wind of some great new outdoor gear (and some stuff for desk jockeys).

First the camera news: Sony is coming on strong with the amazing R100 III camera, while Nikon’s most exciting new gadget is an underwater flash. On the outdoorsy front, San Francisco is gearing up for summer with new bags from my favorite bag makers Rickshaw and Waterfield, and if you’re out in the warm/cold spring on your bike, you might like to do it wearing the beautiful Vulpine merino wool cycling jersey. If you’re not the outdoors type, we have you covered too — you can stay home and organize your desk with a handsome wooden pen and phone holder.

Have fun!