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AMD Hires Back Former Apple OS X And Qualcomm Engineers

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AMD has made two big re-hires, one being Wayne Meretsky, a former technical lead for OS X at Apple. Another is Charles Matar, a former employee who went to Qualcomm and has now been made AMD’s vice president of System-on-Chip Development. Both men bring chip design expertise, which AMD sorely needs if it hopes to remain competitive with the likes of Nvdia.

Meretsky worked on the Mac back in the 90s, and he is now AMD’s vice president of Software IP Development. This isn’t the first time AMD has hired from Apple’s talent pool.

Amazon Brings Its In-App Purchasing Service To Games On Mac, PC & The Web

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Amazon has today announced that its in-app purchasing service, which is already available on the company’s Kindle Fire tablet and other Android devices, is coming to Mac, PC, and web games. This will allow developers to take advantage of Amazon’s service on those platforms to provide their customers with a new way to purchase additional content using their credit card or virtual Amazon currency.

While Amazon isn’t the first company to offer an in-app purchasing system, its service does come with some advantages that developers may not get from its rivals. One of those advantages is that their content will be available via Amazon.com.

Apple Prepping Two New 4-inch iPhones For 2013, But What About The Math? [Rumor]

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Over the weekend, a rumor from overseas claimed that Apple will announce a 4.8-inch iPhone “Math” alongside a 4-inch iPhone 5S. But it didn’t stop there; the same sources also said that a third iPhone model with a 12-megapixel camera is set to debut “before Christmas” this year. Sounds farfetched, to say the least.

What seems like a good bet for Apple’s 2013 iPhone plans is the prospect of a less expensive model geared towards emerging markets like China. According to a new rumor today, Apple is readying two 4-inch iPhones for 2013 with in-cell display technology. But what about the iPhone Math?

Mozilla’s Firefox OS Gets Its First Two Smartphones

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Although Mozilla has stated that it won’t produce hardware for its upcoming Firefox OS, the company has teamed up with Spanish startup Geeksphone to offer a pair of developer devices. Called Keon and Peak, the devices are designed to provide developers with the opportunity to “tap the future of mobile” and get to grips with the platform that will soon be trying to steal marketshare from Android and iOS.

Use iTunes Album Artwork Screensaver As A Party Jukebox [OS X Tips]

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One of the trickier things about creating a playlist for any party is making sure you have the right music for the people you’ve invited. Sometimes, though, you might want to give this nerve wracking process a miss, and let the guests at your house choose the music.

Here’s how to do just that, using nothing more than your Mac and the iTunes Album Artwork screensaver.

Ashton Kutcher And Josh Gad Will Talk ‘jOBS’ Biopic At Macworld/iWorld

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You’ve probably seen stills of Ashton Kutcher dressed up in 1970s Steve Jobs attire, and that’s because he’s playing the former Apple CEO in a new biopic called jOBS. His co-star, Josh Gad, is playing co-founder Steve Wozniak. The film is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and then hitting theaters in April.

The annual Macworld/iWorld conference kicks off later this month. Kutcher and Gad will be giving the opening talk, entitled “Playing Steve and Woz.”

Inexpensive Home Automation With This $99 Almond+ Touch-Screen Router and Almost Any Cheap(ish) Sensors

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Home automation is here, but it isn’t cheap — unless you go the smart route with Securifi‘s new Almond+ router. For $100, this thing has much of what you’d expect from a top-tier router: Fast, next-gen 802.11ac compatibility (but still works with this-gen “n” devices), a claimed 5000 ft radius of coverage, four ethernet ports, a USB port and some slick mounting options.

This Prototype iPhone Dongle Blends The Magic of Kinect and the Wii — But The Best Is Yet to Come

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We caught wind of the Mauz iPhone dongle from Spicebox last week during CES, and promised you a closer look; here it is. You’ll remember that the dongle connects to your Mac over wifi and lets you control it from your iPhone in three unusual ways: by flicking your iPhone, waving your hand over it or making a 3D-model on your Mac mimic the movements of your iPhone in real space.

Grab This Limited Edition, Clear Apple Newton On Ebay And Be The Envy Of Us All

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Anyone have a spare thousand dollars or so?
Anyone have a spare thousand dollars or so?

I still have a Message Pad 110 at my house. It’s the greenish-grey of the standard retail version of the Apple proto-PDA, and it still rocks. However, were I to have a spare $1350 to purchase this clear, limited production prototype Newton that was originally given out to some folks at Apple’s 1994 developer conference, I would jump at the chance. Seriously, they only made about 400 of these bad boys.

The auction on eBay ends on January 26, so if you’re hankering for this sweet bit of Apple history, now might be the time to jump in.

Temple Run 2 Hits 20 Million Downloads In Its First Week On The App Store

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Even the game icon is surprised.
Even the game icon is surprised.

Today, Imangi Studios announced that Temple Run 2–sequel to runaway hit mobile game, Temple Run–recorded an outrageous 20 million downloads in its first week on the iTunes App Store. The game shot up to the number one free app in only eight hours, and is now the number 2 top grossing app on the App Store charts. Pretty amazing for a free to download game, right?

Get To A Saved Draft Faster On Your iPhone or iPad, Part Two [iOS Tips]

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Draft iOS Mail

We’ve shown you how to get to an email draft on your iPhone before by tapping and holding on the Send button to bring up your most recent draft. At the time, though, that only brought up a single email, typically the last draft you had written.

These days, however, there’s a new thing happening, with a list of more than one draft appearing (if you have more than one). Here’s how to make that happen.

Simple Spreadsheets On The Go, But $2 Upgrade Is Almost Essential [Review]

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Insert joke about spreadsheets here
Insert joke about spreadsheets here

I don’t do spreadsheets. Well, I do, but unwillingly. Numbers give me the shivers, they always have. I’m a words person. But everyone’s different – my wife is the opposite. She spends more time in spreadsheets than anything else. She might like this little app. It’s called Tables, and it does spreadsheets right on iPhone. Small, simple little spreadsheets.