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iTunes Radio is one of the staple features in iOS 7. The Pandora-like music streaming service is integrated directly into the stock Music app. Apple’s Eddy Cue demoed it for the first time yesterday, and iOS 7 beta testers can try it out now.

When iTunes Radio launches publicly alongside iOS 7 later this fall, it will not be available outside of the U.S., notes Bloomberg. This likely has to do with the fact that Apple has to setup licensing agreements with record labels in each country ahead of time.

iOS 7 is a weird kind of flat. In many ways it lacks depth, but in others it’s more animated and texture-driven than iOS 6. How ever you want to define “flat,” it’s easy to see the direction Apple is headed. Just take a look at the details.

The magnifying glass in iOS 7 (the little orb that appears when you hover your finger over text) is minimalistic. iOS 6’s magnifying glass was more rounded, and the border was more pronounced. In iOS 7, it’s a nearly flat piece of glass. There’s some shadow to provide depth, but hardly any. Welcome to the future.

Nestled under the Updates window in the iOS 7 App Store, you can find your purchased apps. Like iOS 6, you can choose to look through all previously purchased apps and only the apps that aren’t currently installed on your iPhone.

For some weird reason, Apple never put a search bar in in this part of the iOS 6 App Store. Now it’s there in iOS 7.

The iOS 7 icon for ‘Reading List’ now contains a subtle tribute to Apple cofounder Steve Jobs. The thick rectangular frames used in the ‘Add to Reading List’ icon for iOS 6 have been replaced by Steve’s signature rimless spectacles.

Thanks: Mo

A lot of innovative ideas for iOS get introduced in the jailbreak community. Hackers and developers tinker around with Apple’s software and create new ways to access settings or multitask. And then Apple comes along and kills (or sherlocks) those ideas with its own take in a future iOS release. It happens every year without fail. 2013 and iOS 7 are no different.

Here are some popular jailbreak tweaks that Apple has rendered obsolete with iOS 7:

This time ’round on CultCast: iOS 7 debuts to a standing ovation, but some aren’t in love; OS X 10.9 Mavericks will have you rewatching Top Gun, we’ll highlight the new features; new MacBook Airs get insanely long battery life and more power; and Apple resurrects the rumored Mac Pro to uproarious applause—it’s our complete WWDC coverage on this very special episode of the CultCast.

Join us as we review all the great stuff Apple announced in the glorious 90-minute event know as WWDC. Stream or download new and past episodes on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing now on iTunes, or hit play below and let the good times roll.

Show notes up next.

Apple finally announced its long-rumored iTunes Radio service yesterday at WWDC, and even though it doesn’t officially launch until this fall, we’ve been taking it for a spin in the iOS 7 beta. Initially, iTunes Radio has left us fairly impressed, except for one huge omission: all the curse words are missing.

When you stream music via iTunes Radio stations, all songs with profane lyrics are streamed in an edited edition, even on user-created stations. We’re not just talking about radio edits where more family appropriate lyrics are dubbed in. Nope, iTunes Radio just strips out the whole word so you’re left with awkward gaps in the song as your favorite artist chokes out a horrific blast of profanity.

During our time playing with iTunes Radio we haven’t come across a single explicit track that isn’t censored, so if you love to bath in the crass lyrics of hiphop’s greatest living legends, you’re out of luck. 

Yesterday, Apple unveiled OS X 10.9 and joked that after a decade, they were ditching their scheme of naming OS X releases after cats because they’d simply run out of big cat names to use. Instead, from now on, they’d name future versions of OS X after places in California, starting with OS X Mavericks, named after a famous Californian surfing spot.

What’s pretty funny about the choice of ‘Mavericks’ as a name for OS X, though, is that the real-world location is named after a German Shephard, meaning that argue switched from naming their OS X releases after cats to naming them after dogs instead!

iOS 7 is full of huge UI changes and we’re just starting to scratch the surface on all the big changes, but here’s one new little feature that shows Apple hasn’t lost its touch with the little things.

The Phone app for iOS 7 got a big makeover that tossed out the old keypad buttons for a minimalist keypad adorned in white space and large helvetica numbers. The new Phone app UI is pretty plain and boring until you touch a button and watch it quickly morph into the homescreen background before its opacity pops back to white.

The new animation helps users see where they’re pressing, but you can waste tons of time with it playing Bingo or Connect Four too if you’re into that thing. Here’s what it looks like in action:

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Top developers at an AltWWDC panel conference gathered to openly discuss Apple’s keynote announcements on iOS 7, Mac Pro, and Mac OS X. The overriding feeling from the main panel is that while many are happy about iOS changes, most are disappointed with the lack of focus on actual news of tools for developers.

In the words of Apple itself, iOS 7 is the biggest change to their mobile operating system since the introduction of the original iPhone back in 2007. It’s more functional then ever, it’s prettier than ever: it’s the very definition of digital design purified and clarified down to the very basics of form merged with function.

Understandably, that means that many people are tempted to install it on their devices, either by forking over $99 for an Apple developer account or paying five or ten bucks to someone online to register your UDID for you.

We know it’s hard to wait, but you really shouldn’t do it. Here’s why.

The new icons and user interface of iOS 7 has seemed to polarize a lot of Apple fans. Nearly every Apple app is getting a new icon when iOS 7 launches, and most of the icons are incredibly different that their iOS 6 counterparts.

Some designers have already set out to work on “fixing” Apple’s new icons, but to help you see how big the changes are, here’s a handy chart that compares all the new iOS 7 icons with their iOS 6 counterparts. Take a look:

Passbook’s virtual ticket-shredder was one of the little touches in iOS 6 that wreaked of ugly skeuomorphisism. Now that Jony Ive has declared war against all of Scott Forstall’s tacky skeuomorphic UI elements, the Passbook ticket-shredder is now a thing of the past.

When you delete a card in Passbook now it just zaps away into the digital ether, rather than sending your virtual card through a virtual paper shredder that virtually obliviates your ticket so you know it’s deleted and no one can rummage through your virtual trash and piece together all the shreddings to steal your identity.

Here’s a GIF of the new iOS 7 animation in action:

Google has today confirmed that it has acquired social mapping service Waze as it looks to improve Google Maps. The company did not disclose how much it paid for the Israeli startup, but it has revealed that it plans to integrate some of its popular features into Google Maps.

Read the rest of this post on Cult of Android

Apple kicked off its WWDC keynote yesterday with an animated video explaining the philosophy behind its design process. Now the segment has been uploaded to Apple’s YouTube channel for the world to see.

“Here, simple phrases paired with elegant visuals describe the thoughts and emotions that go into creating each Apple product.” The video is very much about the company’s core values, like the ad we showed you yesterday.

Bloomberg says that “ads coming this summer won’t focus on the iPhone or any other single product, instead promoting Apple’s brand appeal and its collection of products that work seamlessly together.” The most recent TV ads to come out of Apple have focused on specific aspects of the iPhone, like music and photography.

Android chief Sundar Pichai has revealed on Twitter that he is “excited” to try out the new iOS 7 beta that Apple released to registered developers following its WWDC keynote on Monday. He’s even willing to splash $99 on a developer account to get early access to it.

Read the rest of this post at Cult of Android »

Although it’s not quite the overhaul we’re seeing in iOS 7, OS X 10.9 Mavericks is an exciting new update to OS X that crams a lot of new features into the Mac operating system, including Maps, iBooks, iCloud Keychain, a new Safari, a more powerful Finder with tabbed windows and tagging, better Notifications, far improved battery life support, and much, much more.

We’re still delving into Maverick and spotting the best features. Here’s everything new we’ve spotted so far, and we’ll be updating this post with more screenshots of the new shiny in OS X Mavericks.

I’ve given iOS 7 a lot of hate this morning — just because I hate its icons — so I thought it was about time I showed it some love. It may not look the best, but the next-generation of iOS is packed full of awesome new features that should greatly improve the user experience.

A lot of those were detailed during Apple’s keynote at WWDC yesterday, but some got left out. So here’s ten awesome features in iOS 7 that didn’t get a mention at the event.

iOS 7’s new Multitasking app switcher is pretty nifty, and also pretty obviously inspired by popular jailbreak app switcher Auxo. One of the many ways in which iOS 7 Multitasking borrows cues from Auxo is how you actually kill running background apps: with a swipe! We’ve made a nice little animated GIF showing how it works.

Years ago, I submitted a bug report to Apple. The problem? Teeny, tiny subtitles in the iOS Videos app, so small that even an eagle with binoculars couldn’t read them. I got a mail from Apple to follow up, and then, just one or two releases later, subtitles got big enough to read (the Lady and I have different native tongues so we usually watch everything with subs).

Now, in iOS 7, they’re not only big but completely customizable.

I’ve already written up my thoughts on iOS 7’s new look, and particularly its new icons. But I’m interested in how you feel about it. Am I the only one who thinks Apple took a step in the wrong direction when it was designed certain aspects of its next-generation mobile operating system?

Okay, so not everyone thinks Apple has ruined iOS with its newfound support of flat icons and whacky, eye-stinging colors. In fact, some iOS users love the new look. But many think it’s a gut-wrenching mess. In fact, some hate it so much that they’ve taken some time to fix it.

User interface designers have taken to Dribbble to showcase their own iOS 7 concepts, and I think you’ll agree that they’re a welcome improvement.

It’s our own fault. We all asked Apple to dramatically change the look and feel of the iOS operating system, which, until yesterday, remained largely unchanged since the introduction of the original iPhone back in 2007. And we all complained when it didn’t do that with iOS 6 this time last year.

But I can’t help but feel the Cupertino company is now punishing us for all those requests, and all that complaining we did before about its skeuomorphic designs.

When it comes to design, iOS 7 is vastly different to its predecessors. It still functions in much the same way — though there are some new features you’ll need to get used to — but it looks completely different. As soon as you power it up for the first time the minimalistic feel is staring back at you, but it isn’t until you’ve completed the setup process and arrived at your home screen that you want to vomit in your own lap.

OS X Mavericks has some crazy new power-saving technologies, as demoed yesterday at the WWDC Keynote. Most of these are system-based: the OS stops wasting CPU cycles running animations that are hidden behind another window, for example. But some, like this neat addition to the battery menu, are about advising the user what’s sucking the juice.

Our serial-inventing friend Dotan Saguy is back, this time with yet another super-smart iAccessory. It’s a little carrying case for your everyday iPad essentials, and it is designed to integrate with your iPd Smart Cover. It’s called the Smart Cargo, and it’s as ingenious as Dotan’s other Kickstarter projects like the Smarter Stand.