News - page 1512

Apple has had an exclusive contract to use the next-gen Liquidmetal alloy for almost three years now. Theoretically, Liquidmetal could allow Apple to realize thinner, lighter, more resilient devices… but the Liquidmetal fabrication process is hard to work with, which is why, so far, we’ve only seen one actual Liquidmetal Apple product: the SIM removal tool that ships with every iPhone!

But it looks like Apple might have finally cracked the problem. And they are eyeing Liquid Metal for use in the iWatch.

Here’s a dumb rumor. According to a new report out of the East, the iPhone 5S is being delayed because Apple, at the last minute, decided to phase out the current 4-inch display for a 4.3-inch one.

One of my most-used Mac apps is Rogue Amoeba’s Airfoil, a utility which hijacks the audio from any app you like and pipes it to your AirPlay speakers. It synced audio and video over AirPlay before Apple added the feature (back when it was called AirTunes), and is a great way to send the same music to every one of the stack of wireless speakers I’m testing at any one time (it’s like a bad disco in here).

Now, there is Airfoil Remote, which lets you control Airfoil for Mac from your iPhone.

Muku Shuttr is a tiny, keychain-sized (and keychain-mountable) remote shutter release for your iPhone. OR your iPad. Or your giant Android “phablet.” For just $29, you’l never have to see another “selfie arm” disappearing from the side of your self portraits ever again.

Google Maps has been updated to 2.0 for iOS, which means that it finally has a native iPad interface. No longer will iPad users have to deal with stupidly-oversized navigation elements on the 2x pixel-doubled screen.

Some cases bring battery backup with them, others are waterproof. One or two allow you to charge your iPhone with energy from the sun.

The Snow Lizard SLXtreme iPhone 4 case does all three, and now it’s coming to the iPhone 5 and iPad.

David Koechner (Anchorman, The Office) rounded up some pals, including actor friend Harlan Williams (Half Baked, Dumb & Dumber) and released an eight-part short comedy about two beat cops, named Steady and Shakes, in 15 second clips via Instagram video.

Koechner plays the oblivious vocal partner, while Williams plays Shakes, the shaking, quiet one. They spend their time onscreen invading the wrong house, and almost dropping a baby they save from a burning building.

You can check out the full two minute short film on Koechner’s Instagram page, starting with the intro clip, here.

For those of you eager to know whether or not your aging Mac will be able to run Mavericks, the new version of OS X due out in a few months, Aspyr has enlisted the Mac Match feature on its GameAgent site to help you out.

Why does Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild” buzz through my head when I look at the Griffin PowerDock 5? Because the five-port docking station reminds me of one of those old roadside gas stations out on the desert highway.

Get all five of your motors running.

Launched today into the App store, A Thug In Time promises dual-stick shooter action on the go across 65 levels, 35 weapon types, 20 unique enemies, and eight mini-bosses to blast through.

You’ll need to survive through various times in history, including the Wild West, 1930s Chicago, and the Viking Age, decapitating, freezing, burning, and riddling with bullets all who get in your way. There are in-game power ups, including the fire bomb, the freeze bomb, and the cutter blades to slice and dice the way to victory.

When I saw that the developers behind DaisyDisk had a new app, I had to check it out. In case you don’t know, DaisyDisk is the best Mac app for visualizing the contents of your hard drive and deleting unwanted stuff.

The company behind DaisyDisk, Software Ambience, has released LilyView, a lightweight Preview replacement for the Mac.

Tim Cook and co. have claimed that the Apple TV is just a hobby device, but that hasn’t stopped it from dominating the TV streaming box industry.

A new report from Frost & Sullivan claims that Apple TV now accounts for 56% of the worldwide IP streaming devices market and its nearest competitor, Roku, isn’t even close.

The Apple TV remote is  a cute little brick of sleek aluminum simplicity, but its so damn skinny and small that if you’re like me, it goes missing for weeks at a time. If you need an extra reminder to put your toys away after you’ve played with them, Bloc has a walnut stand to keep all your Apple TV gear in place.

Today Microsoft released iPhone and iPad versions of Outlook in the App Store. The native iOS app offers features that the mobile web version can’t, like incoming mail notifications.

Microsoft’s release notes:

We’ve all heard stories about children who spends hundreds — sometimes even thousands — of dollars in the App Store when their parents have their backs turned. But that’s not the only place they can spend money on your iOS device.

Paul Stoute of Oregon learned that the hard way when his 14-month-old daughter purchased a vintage car on eBay using his iPhone.

When the App Store celebrated its fifth birthday last week, Apple made a number of top iOS apps and games free. One of those was Infinity Blade II, and it was the first time the title had been given away since its release in November 2011.

So it’s hardly surprising it was a massive success. In just seven days, the sword-fighting action game had attracted 5.7 million new players, with 1.7 million of those getting the game on the first day the promotion went live.

Apple has today announced Logic Pro X, the most advanced version of Logic Pro to date, which boasts a new interface, new creative tools for musicians, and an expanded collection of instruments and effects. Logic Pro X also introduces new features like Drummer and Flex Pitch, and Logic Remote, which lets you play and control Logic Pro X from your iPad.

Apple may be forced to reduce its iPhone 5S orders for the fourth quarter of 2013 due to supply constraints affecting the handset’s rumored fingerprint sensor and LCD driver chips. Both components were expected to enter production in late June or early July, but that’s now been pushed back into late July, according to industry sources.

I love the look of OWC’s Envoy Pro EX. It’s a tiny external USB 3 drive which makes even a pocket HDD look bulky, and it packs a 240GB or a 480GB SSD, making it as fast as you’ll ever need.

But there’s one small problem: even the little one is $315, and the 480-gigger is almost $600. Ouch.

Spendee looks like the kind of finance-tracking app I might actually use: It’s dead simple, great looking and works great with cash. It even has a nice flat design that’ll be at home in iOS 7 – although that icon will have to go — it’s 100% Forstallian.

You gotta love the destruction of the point-and-shoot camera industry at the hands of the cellphone. After years of trying to woo us with more and more hard-drive-filling megapixels, camera makers are finally being forced to give us what we actually want. And it doesn’t hurt that these features are exactly those things that are difficult to put into phones: Big sensors and – now – viewfinders.

The latest convert looks like it’ll be Panasonic, with the newly-leaked GX7.

Ever thrown your camera up in the air in self-timer mode in order to catch a shot from a new angle? No, me neither – I’m no dummy when it comes to using-and-not-abusing my gadgets. But with the Squito, you don’t have to worry about breaking anything – it’s rugged ball with a panoramic camera inside, and it’s designed to be thrown.

Ole Zorn, the super-villain[1] behind the amazing Pythonista for iOS, has just started teasing his newest app – a Markdown text editor for the iPad. Only unlike all the other Markdown editors, this one is looks like it’s as programmable as Pythonista. I’m getting pretty excited.

OmniFocus for iPhone got an update today which lets it refresh itself in the background, in what is probably a foreshadowing of things to come in iOS7. It uses the now-familiar workaround of location-based updates, which lets an app download data in the background when you arrive or leave a predefined location.

AT&T announced today that it will rollout its own yearly upgrade program, in what seems to be a direct response to T-Mobile’s new ‘Jump’ program that was announced last week.

The new service, dubbed ‘AT&T Next,’ will begin nationwide on July 26th. Customers will be able to get a new smartphone or tablet every year without a down payment, activation fee, upgrade fee or financing fee. Sounds great, except just like with T-Mobile’s Jump plan, you have to pay a monthly fee for the perk for the first 20 months.

Here’s AT&T’s summary of Next: