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Apple Kills Off Apple Tracker Website Ahead Of Retina iPad Mini Launch

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Apple Loyalty
This guy got his iPhone 5s thanks to Apple Tracker. He won't be so happy when the iPad mini comes out.
Photo: Cult of Mac

If you have been trying to find a gold iPhone 5s or a new iPad Air in stock, you probably know about Apple Tracker, a simple web app that checked Apple’s inventory in order to help you find the precise model you were looking for in stock.

Or, rather, knew about it. Because it’s dead. And Apple killed it.

The Brutal Murder Next To The Apple Store

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In 2011, Jayna Murray was slowly, brutally murdered at a Lululemon shop in a Bethesda, Maryland shopping area. She was bludgeoned with a hammer, slashed over 320 times with a box cutter, then strangled to death. Next door at the Apple Store, employees heard her tortuous screams, but didn’t lift a finger. Not to help her. Not to call the police. Nothing. It was just a day after the iPad 2 launched.

Although no one in the Apple Store was complicit in the murders, it was still a PR disaster for Apple’s retail outlet. Now a new book called The Yoga Store Murder by Washington Post reporter Dan Morse delves into the murder and its aftermath.

Music Streaming Service Deezer Launches Native Mac App

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Deezer-iPad

 

Music streaming service Deezer has today announced that it now has more than 5 million paid subscribers worldwide, and it’s launching a new native Mac app that will improve the Deezer experience on your desktop. The app will sync with your existing iTunes library, and it will allow you to store music locally for offline access.

Sketchology App With Infinite Zoom, Limitless Canvas

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Drawing apps on the iPad are pretty neat, but it always seemed to me that they cleaved to strongly to the limitations of the physical world. Why, for example, should your piece of virtual paper be limited in size and shape like a piece of paper paper? It shouldn’t. And that’s the premise of Sketchology, a vector app with an almost infinite canvas.

Forget Smart Phones, Apple Patent Signals The Age Of The Smart Home

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Remember those old “home of the future” TV episodes from the 1970s, which invariably ended up with something going wrong and an automated voice yelling warning messages?

Well, someone at Apple does too (hopefully minus the “something going wrong” part), since Apple’s latest patent — issued by the U.S. Patent Office — describes a wireless communication system able to predict when to turn on devices such as your lighting or air conditioning based on your current location as opposed to a pre-programmed routine.

Samsung Plans To Topple Apple As No. 1 Tablet Manufacturer

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It might have been the unsaid mission statement for quite some time, but now top executive Shin Jong-kyun has puts his cards on the table, telling analysts that after overtaking Apple in smartphones, Samsung aims to be the world leader in tablet computers, too.

Shin noted that Samsung tablet sales will exceed 40 million units this year — more than doubling the sales in 2012.

“Samsung tablet shipments started to grow remarkably since the second half of last year,” he said.

Photojojo’s PhotoTimeCapsule Fills An Everpix-Flashback-Shaped Gap

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Last year I was checking out the then-new iPad mini.
Last year I was checking out the then-new iPad mini.

Everpix was euthanized yesterday, and is currently in read-only mode until the developers can figure out how to let users download their archives. Everpix, for those who don’t know, was an amazing service that slurped up all of your photos from your iPhone, your Flickr, your Instagram, your Gmail (!) and more, and put them all in one place. It removed duplicates, send you a daily mail showing you pictures from the same day in the past, and was generally the best solution to the problem of digital photo overload.

I’m working on a piece about alternatives (I have been using a few other services along with Everpix for the last few months), but until then I thought I’d remind you about Photojojo’s PhotoTimeCapsule, a semi-replacement for the Everpix Flashback.

Rickshaw’s Commuter 2.1 Bag Will Get You Through The Worst Morning Journey

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I’m an unashamed lover of Rickshaw bags, and the new Commuter 2.1 looks as good as any of the SF-based makers other bags. I actually tested the original Commuter way back in the mists of time and found it to be excellent but a little to bulky for me.

Now, though, my daily commute actually involves a bike ride across town instead of a two second lurch from bed to desk, and I do that ride on a Brompton with a front bag. And for this, the new Commuter looks to be ideal.

Pre-Order Jonathan Ive Book, Get Sneak Peek At Secret Video

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Jony Ive's story is certainly central to Apple.
Jony Ive's story is certainly central to Apple.
Photo: Portfolio/Penguin Publishing Group

I’m pleased to formally introduce my new book on Apple’s head designer, Sir Jonathan Ive — Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products.

Published by Penguin Portfolio on November 14, it’s the first full-length biography of the worlds’ most-celebrated designer.

I’m super psyched about it. It turned out great. I managed to talk to a bunch of inside sources, who reveal some of Apple’s most guarded secrets about how the company really works.

Apple Releases iTunes 11.1.3 With Equalizer Fix And Performance Improvements

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Apple announced the release of iTunes version 11.1.3 this afternoon. The new update fixes an issue where the equalizer wasn’t working as intended and also comes with a bevy of bug fixes and performance improvements for users switching views really large iTunes libraries.

Users can download the new update from Apple’s website or via the Mac App Store.

Here are the release notes:

Get Siri To Read Your Emails And iMessages In iOS 7 [iOS Tips]

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Siri Email Messages

One of the things I’ve always wanted to do in my car (as I drive to and fro taking my kids to and from school, music lessons, and soccer practice) is to read my emails and text messages. But taking your eyes off the road is bad, mmmkay?

You can always turn on VoiceOver before you get in the car to read your screen to you, but it involves a whole lot of tapping and different gestures, so it’s kind of impractical to use on a non-regular basis.

Luckily, in iOS 7, you can now get Siri to read your email and your iMessages to you with a simple spoken command.

Apple Exposes Governments’ Requests For Customer Data, Pushes For Greater Transparency In New Report

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Apple has published a new report outlining the different kind of government requests it has received for its customers’ personal data. The report breaks down the number of customer account and device requests from different governments around the world, and the U.S. unsurprisingly leads the pack with the number of requests for each area.

The Curb Stand Keeps Your MacBook Looking And Feeling Cool [Review]

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Curb by m
Category: Stands
Works With:Any notebook computer
Price: $17

Using a laptop on your lap is a pretty bad idea. Not only does it get hot, it also forces you to hunch your back or neck, and if you have any kind of carpal-tunnel problems they’ll make themselves painfully obvious pretty quick.

The Curb only fixes one of these, but it does do a pretty good job.

‘Knock’ Lets You Securely Unlock Your Mac By Pounding Your iPhone Screen

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Typing in your password every time you want to unlock your Mac sucks. Apple still hasn’t added facial ID recognition to OS X, nor have we heard nary a mention of Touch ID coming to MacBooks, but if you’re looking for a neat way to quickly unlock your Mac, a new app called Knock allows you do it with two quick taps on your iPhone screen.

The free Mac app works in tandem with an iPhone app that turns your phone into an authentication device. Knock uses Bluetooth Low Energy to communicate from iPhone to Mac but you should be able to leave it on all day without draining battery.

Here’s a video of Knock in action:

Google Search Update Guns For Siri With Voice Commands, More

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We’re not sure why Google just doesn’t change the name of their Google Search app for iOS, as it does pretty much everything Google Now does on Android, but this new update is pretty fantastic, whatever you want to call it.

Google Search is “now” updated to version 3.1.0, with a whole new set of features, including Notifications, Reminders, new Cards, and a Siri-like Handsfree voice. This last bit lets you command your iPhone to do stuff with the phrase, “OK Google.”

How cool is that?

Girl Washing Is Totally Not What You Think It Is [Review]

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I’m sad to say that if you clicked on this review hoping that Girl Washing was a soon-to-be-removed “sexy” game for iOS that you’re in for some hot…laundry washing action. Yep. Girl Washing is all about a cute girl doing chores instead of you washing some totally objectified anime chick (thankfully).

Girl Washing by Jiang Bin
Category: iOS Games
Works With: iPhone
Price: Free

Anyway, Girl Washing is a weird take on a matching game. Rather than swiping to move clothes into lines, you’re actually assembling the game pieces on a grid, trying to match five items together. When you do, the clothes end up in a washing queue that you then have to drag into the washing machine. Soon, all the laundry starts piling up and matching five pairs gets incredibly difficult. I’ve spent a few hours beating my head against the seemingly automatic fail state Girl Washing pushed on you if you put even a sock out of place.