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Expert: Apple’s HDTV Will Have A Retina Display

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But it won't have any more pixels than your existing set.
But it won't have any more pixels than your existing set.

Having been spoiled by Retina displays since the iPhone 4 was launched back in 2010, it’s slightly disappointing when Apple releases a new product that doesn’t have one these days. But there won’t be any disappointment with the upcoming Apple HDTV, according to one expert.

DisplayMate CEO Dr. Ray Soneira firmly believes that the Cupertino company’s much-anticipated set will feature a Retina display, just like all “premium” Apple products in the future. Not just because it’s incredible technology, but also because Apple wants to be consistent.

Sampler – See What Your Fonts Will Look Like Before Committing Them To A Design [OS X Tips]

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A waterfall of letters and numbers.
A veritable waterfall of letters and numbers.

Doing any design work? Creating an office newsletter, classroom report, or client brochure? Chances are you’ll be needing some fonts. The Mac may have ushered in the era of desktop publishing many moons ago, but we’re still at the mercy of our own (or our clients’) good taste or lack thereof.

If you’re trying to decide between different fonts for a particular project, you might want to print out a font sampler, which contains all the different fonts you are looking at in a nice, easily shared format. Font Book, the app that handles fonts on your Mac, can do this for you easily, at least in Mac OS X 10.7.3. Here’s how to make that happen.

Going Camping? Take The BioLite And Charge Your iPhone With Fire

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BioLite should be the first thing you pack for your next camping trip.
BioLite should be the first thing you pack for your next camping trip.

I hate camping. I don’t see the appeal in sleeping in a cold, damp tent, with no access to a shower or electricity. Once your iOS devices run out of battery, what is there to do?

Well, with the BioLite, they won’t run out of battery, because you can charge them by burning almost anything you can get your hands on, including twigs, sticks, leaves, pine cones, or your best friend’s favorite book.

NYT: Apple To Release iPad Mini This Year, Will Cost “Significantly Less” Than Current iPad

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Will we see more iPad mini components as production ramps up?
Will we see more iPad mini components as production ramps up?

Following numerous sources like iMore, Digitimes, MacotakaraBloomberg and The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times now reports that Apple is planning to launch a 7.85-inch iPad this year. In a ploy “to lure customers who want different sizes of tablets into the iPad product family,” the smaller device will cost “significantly less” than the current iPad Apple starts at $499.

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Apps: UX Write, Simpsons Comics, Spacecraft 3D & More [Roundup]

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Bongo's Simpsons Comics make their debut on iOS, NASA teaches us about spacecraft, Apple lets us manage our torrent downloads, and more.
Bongo's Simpsons Comics make their debut on iOS, NASA teaches us about spacecraft, Apple lets us manage our torrent downloads, and more.

Kicking off this week’s must-have apps roundup is an incredible word processor called UX Write, which makes working with large, complex documents on the go a breeze. You’ll also find Simpsons Comics, the latest app from comiXology that brings Bongo’s Simpsons library to iOS; a wonderful app from NASA that allows you to get up close and personal with the spacecraft used to explore our solar system, and more.

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Games: Tiny Wings, Amazing Alex, Pocket Heroes & More [Roundup]

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Tiny Wings finally comes to the iPad, and Rovio finally releases a game that isn't called Angry Birds.
Tiny Wings finally comes to the iPad, and Rovio finally releases a game that isn't called Angry Birds.

Kicking off this week’s must-have games roundup is a massive update to Tiny Wings — one of my favorite iOS games — which adds a brand new game mode with 15 levels, Retina visuals, and more. You’ll also find Amazing Alex, the latest game from Angry Birds creator Rovio; a wonderful multiplayer RPG; a retro Neo-Geo shooter, and more.

Last Day To Enter: Try Found For Mac And Win A New MacBook Pro With Retina Display! [Giveaway]

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Found is a lightning-fast search tool for your Mac that can also search across your cloud services like Google Docs, DropBox and Google Drive. It makes searching for files ridiculously easy with it’s gorgeous interface. This entire week we’ve given readers a chance to try out the new free app and win a MacBook Pro with Retina display at the same time. If you haven’t taken Found for a spin yet you should hurry up and get on the ball. Today is the last day of the giveaway, so if you’re dreaming of a new MacBook Pro with Retina display entering your life, hurry up and enter and you just might be our lucky winner.

Here’s How To Enter:

Apple Investigating Workaround That Allows iPhone Users To Hack In-App Purchases

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This morning a story started circulating about a Russian hacker who had hijacked Apple’s in-app purchasing system in iOS. Alexey Borodin had figured out how to intercept in-app purchases within App Store apps to get free access to content. The most disturbing part of the “hack” was that it is actually fairly simple to replicate on any (non-jailbroken) iOS device.

Apple has now responded with an official statement saying that it is looking into the issue.

How Apple Has Changed Retail Sales Forever

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Apple’s reach in the consumer market is certainly great, but it turns out that they are just as influential when it comes to the retail world. This is pretty clear initially, when looking at how companies like Microsoft and Samsung blatantly rip off Apple’s retail store design.

Looking a little deeper, though, Apple also has a great amount of influence on salesmen themselves. Many companies are adopting Apple’s retail strategies due to the amazing success of the Apple Store.

The iPad Is Changing How We View And Respond To Ads

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iPad user responses to search ads is changing how companies spend ad dollars.
iPad user responses to search ads is changing how companies spend ad dollars.

Studies released earlier this year strongly indicated that the iPad is one of the most effective online advertising vehicles out there. iPad users are more likely to respond to ads than users of most other devices and more likely to  purchase or research a product after seeing an ad on their device.

A new study confirms this trend and raises the possibility that the iPad may be subtly reshaping the online advertising industry.

The MacBook Air Is Killing Ultrabook Sales

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Ultrabook

Intel’s attempt to knock the MacBook Air down a peg seems to be failing them. Some depressing sales figures were released that show how little of an impact the Ultrabooks have had on the MacBook Air. In Q2, only 500,000 total Ultrabooks were shipped, compared to 2.8 million MacBooks. Ouch.

Fifty Percent Of IT Managers Plan To Begin Transitions From BlackBerry Technologies Within A Year

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BlackBerry's biggest threat: the iPhone 4?
Study: Majority of IT managers are planning migrations away from BlackBerry enterprise systems.

RIM’s trouble seem to be mounting exponentially these days. There’s been a lot of discussion in the tech media about companies significantly invested in BlackBerry devices and services drawing up contingency plans in case of a prolonged outage or service disruption should RIM go belly up or get bought out by another company. The situation for RIM is going to get even worse over the next few months as many companies put some pieces of those plans into action.

According to a survey conducted this week by finance-oriented research firm ThinkEquity, 50% of IT managers have decided to replace RIM’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) systems within the coming year. 70% plan to do so within the next two years.

Waterfield’s Daily Outback Tote Can Carry All In The Urban Jungle [Review]

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outbacktote2

It seems a tad unfair to be reviewing Waterfield’s Daily Outback Tote in the height of summer. Mid-July on the East Coast is particularly unforgiving toward large, leather items. When the entire city seems to be melting, the last thing you want on your sweaty arm are two handles of thick, sumptuous hide.

But while the Outback may not be best when paired with seersucker, it would look incredible holding a thermos and a stadium blanket come fall. And an extra wool sweater. And an iPad. A few books, a picnic, and a pair of gloves, even. Oh, didn’t you know? The Outback can hold everything. It’s a contemporary interpretation of Mary Poppins’s carpet bag.

The Story Of How Spotify Forced An Unofficial iPad App To Turn To Kickstarter

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Back in March, Max Petriv tweeted some images of a Spotify iPad app he had been working on. Not only was the app optimized for the iPad’s larger display (at that time there had not been a Spotify client even teased for the iPad), but the design and interface of Petriv’s app looked downright gorgeous.

The New York-based designer had no clue that his pictures would cause such a stir, with many publications, including Cult of Mac, reporting that an unofficial Spotify app was finally in the works. You see, Spotify had been promising the world an official iPad client for months and months, but when pressed, the music streaming juggernaut would only give vague hints, like “it’s definitely coming.” Hardly a satisfactory answer for iPad users wanting their own Spotify experience.

After showing off his early work on a Spotify iPad app, Petriv was blindsided by Spotify suddenly coming out of the woodwork to release its highly anticipated official app in May. The timing of Spotify’s announcement was interesting given that Petriv had just asked for help developing his own app less than two months prior.

Petriv is now publicly working on his own Spotify app again, but due to the restrictions Spotify imposes on developers, he needs your help.

Create A Signature With Rich Text And Icons On Your iPad And iPhone [iOS Tips]

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RichTextSig

Getting tired of “Sent from my iPhone” as your mail signature on your iPhone? What about “Sent from my iPad?” Still bored? Yeah, me, too. I’ve changed my signature to something a bit more magical on the iPad, but I really didn’t think about adding some basic rich text formatting and some images in to really spice it up.

Lucky for me (and now you), Greg Sargent, student web engineer, has. Here’s how.

How Local Businesses And Passbook Could Deliver An iWallet That Beats Any Competition

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Passbook could be a brilliant way for Apple to trump any other mobile payment option.
Passbook could be a brilliant way for Apple to trump any other mobile payment option.

 

Mobile payment technologies have an interesting and complicated relationship with local businesses. On the one hand, local mom-and-pop restaurants, shops, and services are probably the companies that you’d expect to adopt new payment technologies the slowest – particularly if those technologies require new point of sale hardware like an NFC reader. On the other hand, mobile payment systems could be poised to deliver a new wave of business to such local companies.

Making the situation more complicated is the fact that any mobile payment system (Google Wallet, PayPal in-store purchasing, or any system that Apple may be slowly developing) can’t be considered a solid winner or option unless that system strikes it big with local businesses. A system that only applies to large chains, like the in-store purchasing the PayPal rolled out to Home Depot and other retailers, can’t be considered mainstream unless it’s adopted very widely and by a significant percentage of small businesses.

Further complicating the relationship is the fact that many players in the race to create a true digital wallet are on focusing widely varying options for small and local businesses. That means that no one company is leading and no company really seems to have a consistent strategy for tapping this immense and important market.

Klipsch Ruggedized Earbuds Resist Your Filthy Perspiration

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The multi-colored S4is fear no moisture.

 

Let me count the ways that I have killed so many successive sets of earbuds, whether from Apple or otherwise. Rain, sweat (ears), sweat (general, dripping), wet ear canals from insufficient after-shower toweling. More rain.

You get the idea.

If only I’d had a pair of Klipsch’s new rugged S4i earbuds, which are rubberized against both the elements and also my deadly perspiration.

The earbuds are also fully iReady, with a mic for calls and a three button remote for play/pause/answer and volume control. The specs say that the sensitivity (a good measure of how loud they are) is 110dB and the frequency response goes from 10Hz to 19kHz – a respectable range for a ‘bud.

But the toughness is the thing, and these multicolored cans can put up with most exercise and outdoor activity.

I doubt they can resist my single most common way to break a pair of headphones though – the Tug. The Tug can be achieved in many ways, but has one common element: you forget about a dangling cord and catch it fatally on an immovable object, or your own body. I have ended the life of a pair of Porta Pros by standing from a crouch and catching the cable on a knee. And I butchered a pair of retro Panasonic over-the-ear headphones when the cable snagged on a post in the street.

I should probably be more careful.

The S4is will be available soon.

Source: Klipsch

Thanks: Ashley!

Mountain Lion Server May Look Limited, But It Still Has Enterprise Bones [Feature]

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Appearances can be deceiving. Mountain Lion Server still has solid enterprise capabilities.
Appearances can be deceiving. Mountain Lion Server still has solid enterprise capabilities.

Apple has released two documents about Mountain Lion Server ahead of this month’s Mountain Lion (and Mountain Lion Server) launch. The first, a 25 page product guide, offered a some insights into the changes and new features that Apple wants to highlight for customers. The second is Apple’s Advanced Administration guide, an in-depth document that would be nearly 400 pages is it were printed or packaged as a PDF. This guide is the full documentation for Mountain Lion Server and it offers a lot of information about all the changes that Apple has made since Lion Server shipped last summer.

On the surface, these two guides are enough to make longtime OS X Server administrators nervous at Apple’s removal of the advanced admin tools and features that have been in nearly every previous OS X Server release. It’s very easy to look at the contents of the Advanced Administration guide and assume Apple is completing the consumerization of its server platform.

Digging a bit deeper, however, reveals that Apple may actually have a winning strategy in the way that it continues to integrate iOS and Mac management into a single workflow and that not all of the capabilities from previous iterations of OS X Server have been scrapped.

Nielsen: Android And iOS Continue To Lead Smartphone Market Share In The U.S.

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No surprises as the latest Nielsen numbers show Android and iOS leading U.S. smartphone market share. Both operating systems continue to gain at the expense of RIM — who has all but fallen into the “Other” category. Speaking of the “Other” category: Windows mobile, Windows 7, Symbian, and Palm/WebOS were all grouped together, combining for a measly 5.9% market share.