The Blokket is just about the most stupid, wrong-headed case I have seen in a while. It certainly looks nice enough, and I’d probably use it based on its cute tool-bag styling alone. But the case also blocks cell signals, letting you “turn off distractions” for a moment. I hope you like dead batteries.
If you a) use a MacBook and b) hate it when you lose the use of your arms and neck than you might like the Roost, a notebook stand that puts your MacBook at the perfect angle and height for working safely, without causing pain and RSI disorders. Oh, and it looks like the bottom of the Eiffel tower, which is cool.
I asked Siri something yesterday, and s/he – as usual – misheard me. Whatever I actually asked, Siri thought I said “Election Tacos,” and as that didn’t really fit in with Siri’s abilities, he did a web search. Only instead of popping me into Safari, the results were shown right on the lock screen. And that’s not all.
Dropbox for iOS just got a great update. No, it still doesn’t have the photo Albums feature found on the web and Android, but it does add some neat new features. Let’s take a look:
During the WWDC 2013 keynote, Apple made sure to note on several occasions, that the new Mac Pro will support multiple 4k displays. As the current Thunderbolt display is due for an update, many have wondered whether Apple will update the Thunderbolt Display to 4k to go along with the new Mac Pro when it comes out in late 2013.
Shortages at third-party retailers can occasionally indicate whether Apple has a new product in the pipeline, so Glenn Künzler at MacTrast researched the current supply of Thunderbolt displays at third party retailers and found that supplies are beginning to dwindle. One retailer even confirmed that Apple is no longer allowing them to order the Thunderbolt displays.
Here’s are the retailers that are out of stock:
The Touchfire keyboard has all the functionality of a standard keyboard, but in a paper-thin, transparent rubber that fits directly on your screen. You can still view the entire screen right through the keyboard with the ability to touch and swipe as if nothing was there – and Cult of Mac Deals has it for $42 for a limited time!
The Touchfire is a true Kickstarter success story. The creators Steve Isaac & Brad Melmon jump started the process on Kickstarter and with a goal of $10,000 they ended up blowing it out of the water with raising more than $200,000! Since their campaign ended in 2011 they’ve been in full force delivering one of the most revolutionary iPad products to consumers around the globe.
One slick feature of Android handsets is the back button. No matter what app you’re in or what screen you’re on, you should be–in theory–able to back out the way you came. It’s tremendously helpful.
With iOS 7 beta, Apple has quietly introduced a gesture that does the same thing, and it seems to work in most apps like Safari, Mail, and Settings. Here’s how to make it work.
G4Games has posted a photo from the Chinese blogging site Weibo which allegedly shows the iPhone 5S front display on an assembly line.
We’ve seen a few pictures of the iPhone 5S front display, but until now, no one has seen these parts actually on an assembly line.
While the pictures are surely a sign Apple is making progress on the manufacturing end of the iPhone 5S, that does not guarantee iPhone 5S launch is coming within the next few weeks. It takes months of lead time to make enough iPhones for a launch, so we have no reason to expect an earlier iPhone launch than the currently rumored timeframe of this Fall.
Source: G4Games
It’s been hard to miss Apple’s new ‘Designed by Apple’ ad campaign that has taken over TV the past few days. Apple isn’t content with just a TV commercial, though, as the company has begun to publish two-page advertisements in newspapers to push the campaign forward.
Today’s edition of the Toronto Star features a two-page Apple ad of a man wearing an iPhone armband while exercising, with the monologue for the ‘Designed by Apple’ commercial printed above. We expect similar ads to pop-up across the U.S. over the next few weeks.
Source: MacGasm
Image: Drake Shipway
iTunes U hasn’t been redesigned to mesh well with iOS 7 just yet, but Apple is still putting out a few feature updates for its educational app.
Apple released a new version of iTunes U in the App Store today that adds pull to refresh, improved language support, bug fixes and more. The new update is available in the App Store for free.
Here are the release notes:
This Cult of Mac Deals offer will unleash the creative artist in you, giving you the controls of what used to be only available to those making feature films.
Whether you are a parent, educator, student, or anyone else, iStopMotion 3 for Mac is not only fun, but a beneficial app that is easy enough for anyone to use. Now, thanks to Cult of Mac Deals, you can have this one-time feature film technology on your Mac for only $24.99!
Earlier this month it was discovered that Plex can be added to Apple TV without jailbreaking the device, and now a Russian blog has discovered how to add Russia’s UnliMovie digital TV service to the Apple TV by using the device’s Trailers app.
Popular group messaging service, HipChat, announced today that its Mac app is finally out of beta and ready for primetime. The good news doesn’t stop just there, though, as the HipChat iOS app has been completely redesigned too.
Both HipChat 2.0 for Mac and HipChat 2.0 for iOS are available now for free. HipChat for Mac finally runs natively on the Mac rather than being powered by AIR, and new features include better performance, vertical tabs, Retina support, Notification Center alerts, and more.
Here are the release notes on the iOS app:
The total number of mobile phones shipped in Western Europe fell to its lowest level in nine years during Q1 2013 as total units dropped 4.2 percent year-on-year to 43.6 million.
The slowdown in sales comes sooner than analysts were expecting even though Apple only sold 800,000 units fewer than Q1 2012 and Samsung sold 3.4 million units more.
The total number of mobile phones shipped in Western Europe fell to its lowest level in nine years during Q1 2013 as total units dropped 4.2 percent year-on-year to 43.6 million.
The slowdown in sales comes sooner than analysts were expecting even though Apple only sold 800,000 units fewer than Q1 2012 and Samsung sold 3.4 million units more.
iOS hacker Joshua Hill, more commonly known as P0isxninja, has taken to Twitter to announce that “amazing things” are coming to us all soon. The details of Hill’s latest project are still a mystery, so we have no idea what he’s planning to unveil. But he says “think bigger than jailbreak.”
The iPhone 5 has been branded the “slowest smartphone” by Which? magazine after going up against its latest rivals in a group of tests that evaluate processing power and graphics capabilities. The Galaxy S4, Samsung’s latest Android-powered flagship, came out top in the tests, with a rating almost double that of the iPhone’s.
American Airlines has now ditched heavy flight manuals and become the first major commercial carrier to introduce iPads to all of its cockpits in a move that is expected to save more than $1 million in fuel costs every year.
The company first began piloting (get it?) the scheme back in April, when it used Apple’s device alongside traditional paper manuals, which typically weigh around 35 pounds. Now those manuals have been phased out completely in favor of digital versions.
In yet another addition to the OS X Finder in OS X Mavericks, you can now tag your files. This is a wonderful way to keep track of stuff, since unless you’re an obsessive folder and sub-folder maker, tags are much easier to define and apply on the fly, making the dynamic organization of your files easier and less permanent.
OS X Mavericks tags seem a lot like Labels did, with a couple of differences. You can apply more than one tag to a file or folder, and you can sort your files by tag, as well. Here’s how.
Rdio has updated its family subscription plans to allow up to five people to enjoy its music streaming service at once. The family plans aim to prevent sibling squabbles over just one Rdio account, and they’re cheaper than buying separate subscriptions for everyone in the home.
Microsoft has teamed up with Japanese development studio KLab to bring its 1997 classic Age of Empires to Android and iOS. Microsoft is hoping the real-time strategy simulator will capture some of the success of the growing mobile game market, which is currently luring gamers away from traditional handheld consoles like the Nintendo 3DS and the PlayStation Vita.
Sony Music Unlimited for iPhone has been updated to offer offline playback and high quality 320 Kbps music streaming. These features were first introduced to the Android version of the app back in January, so it’s nice to finally see them on iOS with the version 1.3 update.
BlackBerry has today launched its Secure Work Space service for Android and iOS, allowing enterprises to manage their fleet of devices through the BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 administration console — regardless of the platform they’re running.
The service promises a higher level of control and security on Android and iOS, and the ability to secure and separate managed applications and data from personal content.
I shall assume that you all make some use of IFTTT, a.k.a. The Glue of the Internet. IFTTT (If This Then That) grabs things from various internet services and sends them to other services. Thus you can have all your Instagram photos sent to Flickr, or get a Boxcar push notification if its going to rain, or, or…
And IFTTT just added a couple of new services to the mix — Feedly, 500px and JetSetMe — plus one huge update to Gmail: support for attachments.
NetNewsWire is the granddaddy of RSS readers, and v4.0 is now ready for you in beta form. It still doesn’t really sync, but it brings the arrow-based navigation from the previous incarnations of NNW that might make it the fastest news reader on your Mac.