App Store apps that recommend other apps are getting pulled left and right. Following the removal of popular titles like AppShopper and AppGratis, it was reported last month that Apple was beginning a widespread crackdown on apps that work similarly to the App Store itself.
Now another instance of Apple targeting app sharing services has been reported.
The Fitbit Flex has officially gone on sale for $100 online and in U.S. retail stores. We saw the “OG fitness-tracking dongle” at CES earlier this year, where it was clear that Fitbit was trying to steal the mojo from competitors like Nike’s Fuelband and the Jawbone Up. Now the Flex is out in the wild, and users can be the judge.
Bluetooth 4.0 is used to connect the silicon wristband to an Android device or iPhone. It does everything the typical fitness tracker accomplishes: counts calories and steps, monitors sleeping, and lets you share stats with friends to keep you motivated. The actual exercise is still on you, though.
Adobe made a slew of announcements at its MAX conference today, most notably the plans to make its Creative Suite (now Creative Cloud) entirely subscription based. Alongside all of the restructuring and price changes, Adobe also unveiled a new Bluetooth stylus designed to work with its iPad apps.
It’s sill in the development stage, but “Project Mighty” looks pretty cool for designers. The pressure-sensitive pen tightly integrates with Adobe software, and it stores user preferences in the Creative Cloud.
Despite announcing the sequel to its hit game Plants vs Zombies last year, PopCap still hasn’t gotten around to releasing Plants vs Zombies 2. The “late-Spring 2013” release period PopCap originally promised is about to pass by, so they’ve officially announced that the new game is coming out this July.
Four years have passed since the release of the first Plants vs Zombies, which means we should get a treasure trove of new features, weapons, plants, and zombies once the game hits. We haven’t seen any gameplay footage, but we’re sure it’s going to be great. It has to be. And to make up for the long drought, PopCap says it’s also going to release a spinoff game called Plants vs Zombies Adventures that can be played though Facebook.
Here’s a new trailer for Plants vs Zombies 2: It’s About Time –
Even though Steve Jobs had a solid working relationship with News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, it’s no secret that Steve Jobs hated Fox News. In fact, in Walter Isaacon’s authorized biography, Steve Jobs said that “Fox has become an incredibly destructive force in our society.”
Rather than associate Apple’s brand with Fox News, Steve Jobs decided to personally order all of Apple’s ads to be removed from the conservative TV network.
Passbook may be one of the most underrated technologies on the iPhone. In theory, it lets you collect your boarding passes, movie tickets, retail coupons, and loyalty cards all in one place. In reality, it isn’t supported by too many retailers, many of whom already have their own system of handling these types of passes.
In addition, many iPhone users don’t know how to get apps that support Passbook, as the only way to find a special list of apps that are supported by the service is to open the Passbook app itself. If you’re one of those users, here’s how to get some great apps on your iPhone and carry a few less bits of paper and plastic ephemera around with you.
EA announced this morning that the newest game in The Sims series, The Sims 4, will be released in 2014. To make things even better, the game will be available on both PC and Mac.
EA says the new game will allow for single-player and offline mode. The Sims 4 will give players a deeper connection to the virtual world by offering more personalization of the world and better tools for sharing your creativity. More details on the game will be announced closer to launch.
Source: EA
There’s no doubt that the iPhone is one of the most popular pieces of technology ever invented. The rush of people lining up for hours just to buy one usually causes competing carriers to trip all over themselves for the opportunity to sell the iPhone, except recently the list of carriers clamoring for the iPhone has slowly dwindled to just a few prospects.
Despite its successes, Apple is missing out on the chance to sell the iPhone to as many as 2.8 billion new smartphone customers, and according to some experts, the only thing that’s stopping them is Apple’s own rules.
Adobe announced a lot of changes to their core creativity suite today, CS6, as well as a massively overhauled Photoshop, but forget features, here’s the real thing you need to know. Adobe Creative Suite 6 is the last app suite Adobe is ever going to let you buy. From now on, you’ll have to rent your Adobe apps.
If you’re in the market for an iPhone 5, this is intriguing: Twitter user evleaks, who has good sources on upcoming Android devices and carrier deals, is saying that Verizon will start offering the iPhone 5 for $100 off starting in the middle of this month. That means that instead of paying $199 upfront for a 16GB iPhone 5 on two year contract, it would only cost $99. Not a bad deal at all, if true: we’ll let you know when and if the deal goes live.
Source: Twitter
Via: iClarified
Do you use Google Drive? Here’s a nice little addition to Google’s online file storage and syncing service: you can now share a file just by right clicking on it in your Google Drive folder, selecting Google Drive and then clicking Share….
To download the Google Drive software for Mac, click here.
Source: Google Drive
There was a time when every hotel room had a 30-Pin Dock Connector in it somewhere, but eight or nine months after debut, Lightning — the 30-Pin Dock Connector’s successor — still hasn’t really taken off, outside of a few docks and battery cases. Sure, it’s a new standard, and Apple was famously very slow in issuing MFi deals to accessory makers who wanted to support Lightning… but even so, it seems companies have been slow to pick up the new standard.
Why? Once bitten, twice shy, it appears. In the aftermath of Apple’s Lightning transition, more and more companies are opting to embrace cheap, open wireless standards like Bluetooth instead of Lightning. And that’s probably costing Apple revenue.
Even though we love the HTC One, there are really only two smartphone manufacturers in the world right now that matter: Apple and Samsung. The two companies have been fighting for every square inch of the global smartphone market, and have managed to take all of the profits in the process.
A new report from Canaccord Genuity shows that while some manufacturers made improvements in the March quarter of 2013, Apple and Samsung still account for 100% of the industry’s profits, with Apple taking 57% and Samsung snatching up the remaining 43%.
Despite being a bitter rival of Apple, Google still makes some of the best iOS apps on the planet. One of my biggest gripes against Google’s apps though has been if you click a link inside Gmail, it opens up a Safari browser version of YouTube or Google Maps rather than opening the app directly.
Google has finally fixed that big annoyance by adding link support to Gmail for YouTube, Google Maps, and Chrome. The free update was just pushed out to the App Store. Now when you click on those links, the corresponding app will open up. You can turn the feature off if you want, but users who live and die by Gmail will certainly appreciate this simple feature.
Here are the release notes on the update:
As the web becomes a place where more and more people spend their time reading, learning, and earning, learning to code for the web is a skill that is gaining traction with the masses. No longer is the idea of coding for the web considered an arduous thing to learn. Not only that, but the means that we are able to learn on the Internet give us even more options to build skill sets in areas we never though accessible – or even possible with our busy lives – before.
This Cult of Mac Deals offer provides you with one such option – and at a tremendous savings!
Want to hear one of the smartest minds in tech opening his mouth and saying something eye-rollingly dumb? Check out Bill Gates telling CNBC that the iPad is being “held back” by its lack of physical keyboard and, of course, Microsoft Office.
Last year, Apple was ranked 17th in Fortune’s annual list of public U.S. corporations as ranked by their gross revenue. This year? Despite Wall Street skepticism that has seen share prices tumble, Apple is now ranked number 6 in the Fortune 500. Boom.
With the abundance of icons in the upper right corner of the Mac OS X screen, it could be time for a change. If you’re tired of the same old Notification Center icon–the one that looks like a bullet list–this tip’s for you.
I’ve never been convinced by Martin Hajek’s iWatch concepts. They’re beautifully done, but the stitched leather band is hideous and very un-Apple-like, and I can’t help but feel that whatever the iWatch is going to be, it isn’t going to be an unusably small iPod touch strapped to your wrist.
That said, Hajek’s just unveiled a number of high-quality renders of his iWatch concept that he did for MacUser, and if you’re a fan of his take on Apple’s upcoming smartwatch, there’s a lot here to get you salivating. A lot more shots, after the jump.
The iPad mini is the best iPad Apple has ever released, except for one damn thing: the screen. Even if you love your iPad mini, everyone agrees that the inferiority of the screen compared to other tablets like the Nexus 7 — let alone the 9.7-inch iPad — is the only thing that is holding it back. The iPad mini needs a Retina display.
Sadly, hopes of getting a Retina iPad mini this year have recently been dashed by reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who poured water on the rumor of a Retina iPad mini launch by saying that that the Retina Display needed for a higher-res iPad mini won’t even start manufacturing until later this year, ruling out an October launch.
So what’s Apple’s plan? According to a new report, pretty much what you’d expect: they’ll release a spec-bumped iPad mini in the second half of this year, possibly at WWDC, then follow it up with an iPad mini with Retina Display in Q1 of 2014.
Last year, electronics supply company ETrade Supply lucked out and was one of the first companies to obtain parts of the iPhone 5 before release: first the FaceTime cam, then the front panel and then the back panel.
Whatever ETrade Supply’s sources, then, they clearly have a solid connection inside Foxconn. And now that source is telling them that the ‘budget’ iPhone is a very real product.
Bike-On is a turn-by-turn GPS app for cyclists. Unfortunately, like a bike lane that dumps you in the middle of a busy intersection, it is half finished. And to continue the metaphor, you’re probably better off just using a car GPS app.
You know what I find really impressive about the whole TV BitTorrent scene? Subtitles. The folks who manage to get accurate, well synced and almost error-free subtitles up for an hour-long TV show almost as soon as they have aired are not only hard-working but essential. Thanks guys!
You know what’s not impressive? Finding those subtitle files. Most of the sites that maintain listings and downloads force you to click through about a zillion pages to get to a file, and then it might not even be the one you’re looking for.
But there’s help, in the form of apps like the brand new Subtitles.
Adobe might be planning on shipping a shake-correcting tool with the next version of Photoshop, but Piccure is a beta plugin which you can download right now to fix camera blur in the same app – all without paying Adobe like $600 for a new version of the app you already own.
Your next iPad keyboard might come from… Microsoft! That’s right: this minimal, great-looking, tablet-specific keyboard comes from Microsoft. And while is is designed to be used with Windows 8, it "also works with iPad and most Android devices.