News - page 1772

The TED organization, which sponsors a range of conferences and talks on cutting edge topics recently launched an ebook series known as TED Books. Like the non-profit’s other initiatives, TED Books are “designed to spread great ideas.” Sticking to that ideal, the organization is making the ebooks, which will be released every two weeks, available across a range of ebook platforms including the new TED Books app for iOS devices.

The move highlights one of the challenges about ebooks – the choice of merchant and platform. That’s a particular concern when it comes to Apple’s iBookstore because purchases can only be read on an iOS device.

This post is brought to you by Chase — a strong supporter of TRANS4M Boyle Heights, a program that provides multiple social services that address Boyle Heights’ particular needs. Learn more here.

While some kids are at goofing off at camp or watching re-runs this summer, a group of teens in Los Angeles are reinventing their neighborhood with the help of iPads.

They’re taking part in a new Digital Storytelling class and the first assignment – run as a contest – is to see who comes up with the best ideas for transforming Boyle Heights. This East Los Angeles neighborhood, described by singer will.i.am who grew up there as a “wasteland” is also home to one of the youngest populations in the city.

One of the many pros of jailbreaking is the ability to theme your iOS device. When you install a custom theme in Cydia, you’re effectively replacing Apple’s default iOS design with something new and fresh. There are many great themes for jailbreakers, but my new favorite is undoubtedly ayecon. Developed originally for the iPhone and iPod touch, ayecon is coming to the iPad on August 3rd.

I’ve been using ayecon on my jailbroken iPad for a couple weeks now, and I couldn’t be happier. Here are some screenshots to give you a taste of what to expect from this benchmark iOS theme:

IGills is another waterproof iPhone case, but this one is a little more waterproof than the rest. It’s billed as a “smart diving system” which replaces $1,000s worth of specialist gear, and that’s not far off the mark.

Every so often, an iOS accessory maker takes advantage of a little-known or little-used feature to create a really unique product that no one else thought of. The FLASHr from Phaze5 is a Kickstarter project that falls right into that category. It’s an iPhone case that lights up whenever you receive a call, text message, or email — but there are no LEDs built-in. Instead, it uses your iPhone’s flash and the LED alert feature in iOS 5.

If there was ever a company mired in Microsoftian corporate nonsense, it’s IRIS, the scanning and OCR company. Clunky, ugly and ridiculously overpriced software combined with hideous hardware, and a lame bird-based logo to boot – if IRIS were a human, it would be a taste-free middle-manager from the early 1990s.

The latest example is the IRIScan Book 2, a scanner which you have to drag over each sheet of paper by hand in order to digitize the letters thereon.

Jumsoft has announced its first pack of Word for Mac templates. Named the Inspiration Set for Word, the pack contains 169 templates for almost any document or project from business stationary to canning jar labels – of them beautifully designed by Jumsoft’s team of professional graphic designers.

Jumsoft has made a name for itself with a range of template collections for iWork and other Apple apps including a collection of templates/themes for iBooks Author and two collections for spicing up emails composed using OS X’s Mail app. The company has also produced two packs of clipart that can be used in virtually application.

Samsung’s Galaxy S III has gotten off to a great start, and according to one company executive, it has already sold 10 million units. But it’s the upcoming iPhone that the majority of us are waiting for, according to a new survey. Demand for the iPhone 5 is “strikingly higher” that that of any other iPhone, and when smartphone sales hit an all-time high this fall, Apple will be the number one beneficiary.

A rare Pixar Image Computer that was originally developed by the Computer Division of Lucasfilm has surfaced on eBay with a $25,000 price tag. The computer is accompanied by an original Pixar monitor and is said to be in good condition, though it’s unclear whether the system actually works.

Apple’s fight against Russian hacker Alex Borodin, who took advantage of an in-app purchasing exploit to provide users with paid content for free, has paid off. The Cupertino company has developed a fix that will make its debut in iOS 6, which is almost impossible to bypass, according to Borodin.

According to a French blog site, the highly anticipated iPhone 5 featuring a larger screen and a 19-pin dock connector will be released on Friday, September 21, 2012.

Shortly after iOS 6 beta 1 made its debut in early June, Cult of Mac reported that users are no longer required to enter their iTunes password when downloading updates or previous purchases from the App Store. In iOS 6 beta 3, Apple has expanded this feature to cover free apps, too.

Finally! Canon has at last announced its answer to Micro Four Thirds and other mirrorless formats. And unlike Nikon, which was content to dash off a crappy toy in the shape of the “1,” the EOS M is pretty much exactly what we hoped for: an EOS SLR packed into a tiny body.

Sources familiar with Apple’s plans have revealed to Reuters that the company’s “iPhone 5” will launch with a smaller, 19-pin dock connector that will make room for a headphone jack on the bottom of the device. The move will mean that existing iPhone accessories — which use Apple’s existing 30-pin connector — won’t be compatible with the new handset.

When Tapbots finally released its highly-anticpated Tweetbot Twitter client on the Mac, the software was labeled as a free Alpha. This means that the developers are continuing to add major new features and bug fixes leading up to the official 1.0 release in the Mac App Store. In fact, users are warned before downloading that there could be major bugs, and all Alpha testers are encouraged to submit bug reports to Tapbots.

Over the weekend, the first update was released for the Tweetbot for Mac Alpha, and the update packs several new features and improvements.

Kicking off this week’s must-have apps list is a new to-do app called Checkmark, which is being labeled the reminders app Apple should have made. There’s also a great new video sharing service called Vyclone, a unique clock app, and more.

Art. It’s something we all aspire to from the earliest of age and a pursuit of all humankind, including ancient cave and modern city dwellers, folks from the suburbs and people from the Renaissance. Head into any art museum and you’ll see paintings along the walls made with a variety of styles, techniques, and philosophical points of view.

Would you like to “brush up” on your painting skills? Practice drawing with colored pencils, pen and ink, water colors? How about acrylics, oils, or pastels. You can on your iPad with Art Set, a $0.99 app from developer LOFOPI.

It must surely be a sign of the impending apocalypse that Microsoft’s operating systems have “more taste” than Apple’s.

I’m referring, of course, to Apple’s inexplicable use of skeuomorphic design in iOS and OS X apps, and contrasting that with Microsoft’s stark avoidance of such cheesy gimmickry in the Windows 8 and Windows Phone user interfaces.

A skeuomorphic design in software is one that “decorates” the interface with fake reality — say, analog knobs or torn paper.

The problem is worse than it sounds. 

Kicking off this week’s must-have games roundup is Dark Knight Rises, the official game of this year’s biggest blockbuster. You’ll also find the sequal to Fieldrunners, arguably the best tower defense game on iOS; a great cycling simulator; and a humorous title featuring Usian Bolt, the world’s fastest man.

A mere ten days before the scheduled patent infringement trial between Samsung and Apple, US District Judge Lucky Koh rejected two more proposals from Samsung, maker of Android enabled smartphones. Judge Koh entered a supplemental claim construction order in which two disputed terms are now defined. Unfortunately for Samsung, who initially requested the order, the definition decision favors Apple, using the Cupertino-based tech company’s definition in the dispute.

If you were (or still are) the proud owner of a Sega Dreamcast, then you may remember the classic title Jet Set Radio (Jet Grind Radio in North America). Jet Set Radio was hailed as a revolutionary game due to it being one of the first to make prolific use of a rendering technique called cel-shading (allowing for a “cartoon-like” appearance of 3D rendered objects). While these rendering techniques aren’t so revolutionizing today, Jet Set Radio remains a rollerblading, music loving classic, featuring wholesale amounts of spray paint.

The iPhone is the top performer in the mobile ad monetization performance space, according to a new report from Opera Software. It is followed by Android devices, of course, and then a large gap in which the rest of the mobile devices are being left behind.

“The iPhone leads the smartphone OS pack with an average eCPM of $2.85,” writes the company in their first State of Mobile Advertising report. “Though it is closely followed by Android devices (at $2.10). The rest of the mobile phone field is significantly behind.”

Now that Apple is fixing the in-app purchasing exploit that Russian hacker Alexei Borodin brought to light this week, it seems as if he’s at it again. This time, however, it’s an in-app purchasing hack that works in the Mac App Store.

The method here is similar as the one Borodin used in iOS, with the user installing some fake security certificates and then pointing the Mac’s DNS servers at a false server run by Borodin. The remote server then pretends to be the actual Mac Store and verifies the purchase, bypassing the real system for in-app purchases set up by Apple and use by developers of Mac apps. Borodin claims that this system has allowed approximately 8.4 million free purchases so far.

It was recently discovered that a Russian hacker had been hijacking Apple’s iOS in-app purchasing system to score paid upgrades for free. The trick was accomplished by bypassing Apple’s authentication servers and routing an in-app purchase through a proxy that sent back a faulty purchase receipt.

While Apple has already attempted to combat this activity, today the company outlined a solution for developers to keep their in-app purchases safe from such an exploit. Apple has also confirmed that the issue will be fixed when iOS 6 ships to the public this fall.

I’m gonna be honest. I totally forgot that Homescreen.me existed. That’s because the website has been in private beta for two years, and I stopped using it after I initially uploaded my iPhone’s Home screen in 2010. So, I after finding out that Homescreen.me has opened its doors up for everyone today, I logged back into my account. Seeing the main apps I used on my iPhone 3GS at the time brought back a flood of memories. There’s something very personal about a Home screen. It represents the apps that are most special to you. But those apps change over time.

After logging back in, I uploaded my current iPhone and iPad Home screens. It was interesting to see how my layout changed two years later and what new apps had been given first page priority. I then shared my current setup on Twitter for my friends to check out.

That’s what Homescreen.me is about: sharing and discovering great Home screens with fellow geeks who love their iOS devices.