Electronista

Accessory manufacturer PQI is now shipping the Gmobi iStick, an Apple "MFi" USB flash drive. The device, with a Lightning and conventional USB head is designed for Apple's entire series of iOS devices with a Lightning port, and is available in capacities from 8GB to 64GB....

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Feral Interactive today announced the upcoming release of its fairytale platforming game Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, a reworking of the SEGA Genesis and Mega Drive original. Players navigate the 3D game as Mickey, with the goal of rescuing Minnie Mouse from the evil witch Mizrabel. Players will run, jump, swing and swim through whimsical levels such as a haunted forest, and solve puzzles along the way. ...

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In a new TV interview, LA Lakers player Kobe Bryant confirms that he did recently meet with Apple design head Jonathan Ive. Talking with Bloomberg, though, Bryant makes no mention of the iWatch or other future Apple products. Instead he says that he has been talking to leaders across industries to learn more about the product creation process, since he is moving into business as he comes to the end of his basketbal...

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The US Patent and Trademark Office has granted Apple a comprehensive patent titled Wrist-worn electronic device and methods therefor, which describes a number of the ideas the company has since integrated into its upcoming iWatch. The concept watch -- in diagrams referred to as the "iTime" -- would, for instance, be able to connect to devices like iPhones, iPads, and desktops. An unusual suggestion though is that i...

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Logitech's boutique audio line Ultimate Ears is expanding its limited-edition lineup of UE Boom with the announcement of its collaboration with artist Don Pendleton on UE Boom -- Jettison Edition. This limited-edition run of UE Boom is designed with Pendleton's distinct organic cubist graphic style and is the latest in a series of one-of-a-kind acoustic skins for UE Boom....

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Verizon Communications has released its second quarter 2014 financial results. The company reports its sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit percentage growth in operating income and earnings per share, with $31.5 billion in revenue, a 5.7 percent increase from a year ago, with income of $7.7 billion, a 17.2 percent increase from the year-ago quarter....

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South Korean capital Seoul could potentially ban Uber in the city, in favor of its own still-in-development app. The city government advised that it would try to ban the car-hailing app, as current South Korean law makes it illegal to provide any sort of fee-based transportation service via privately-owned vehicles not registered to do so with local authorities. ...

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An new ad by Apple that debuted on Monday takes something of a different approach than the company's recent iPhone and iPad commercials -- both in that it features a Mac (in this case the MacBook Air) and that shows off clearly-used equipment featuring user's methods of customizing their Air models mostly through the use of stickers, giving the ad its name. Using a stop-motion approach, dozens of customized MBAs are ...

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[Updated with rebuttal from Apple] Apple's iOS platform contains several backdoors that may allow for Apple and/or governments to collect private data, according to a forensic scientist, Jonathan Zdziarski. Presenting at the recent Hackers On Planet Earth (HOPE/X) conference, Zdziarski said that that there are several conspicuous design gaps -- and some deliberately-included forensic services -- that make it possible...

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Intel has goosed the speed in its latest Haswell Core i5 and Core i7 processors, first unveiled yesterday. The new chips are destined for notebooks such as the MacBook Pro, which is expected to get a speed bump sometime this summer. The new clock speeds range from 2.2GHz to 3.0GHz across three new Core i5 models and four new Core i7 offerings. In addition, four budget "Bay Trail" Celeron and Pentium processors were r...

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A new report citing unnamed sources "familiar with the matter" claims that Apple has put in orders for its largest-ever initial iPhone run, asking suppliers Foxconn and Pegatron to produce between 70 million and 80 million units for the devices' debut in the fall through the end of the year. Claiming that the order includes both 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch models (though the latter has yet to reveal solid evidence of actua...

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Television and movie streaming service Netflix is updating its integrated app for Apple TV. Its popular web and iPad feature "Post-Play" has been brought to the Apple TV, allowing users a brief countdown once a show's credits begin rolling, followed by automatic playing of the next episode in a series - unless otherwise interrupted. AppleInsider has speculated that though the Post-Play feature was found on multiple A...

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On Monday, Apple posted an EFI update specifically aimed at the mid-2011 model MacBook Airs that are running OS X 10.9.2 (Mavericks) or later. The update addresses two wake-from-sleep issues: one in which the computer would take longer than expected to wake from sleep, and the other (more rare) issue of cooling fans ramping up to full speed on waking from sleep. Owners must meet both conditions (mid-2011 MBA, and run...

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Apple has informed developers testing both of the forthcoming Apple platform releases, iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 Yosemite, that it will again delete content stored on the CloudKit database serving both platforms tomorrow, July 22. Although details were not listed this time, the effect is expected to be the same as the previous "wipe" of the database, which took place on July 7. Anyone testing the iCloud Drive, iCloud Phot...

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Yahoo could be looking for aggressive growth in its mobile platforms, as reports from Recode and TechCrunch indicate that the search company is acquiring mobile analytic and advertising startup Flurry. While official news of the deal has yet to be announced, sources say that the news is expected to come in later today....

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Facebook users no longer need to worry about trying to find a post on that interesting band or restaurant they didn't have time to read. The social media company announced today that it launched Save, a feature that allows users to collect items for later consumption into one place. The feature is rolling out to mobile app and web-based users of the social media service....

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(Updated with other beta releases, more Yosemite changes) Apple is now seeding its fourth betas of iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite to developers. Perhaps the most significant change is in the latter, which includes the first beta of iTunes 12. The updated media player uses a flatter, streamlined design more in keeping with Yosemite, and is the first version to support Family Sharing, something also present in iOS 8. While Yo...

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In an interview with UK newspaper The Guardian last week, fugitive American whistleblower Edward Snowden made it clear that he opposed cloud companies that had access to user data. He specifically pointed out Dropbox as being "hostile to privacy" for a number of reasons, including a board appointment of an ex-government official with ties to suspected privacy violations....

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Western Digital has updated its Network Attached Storage-focused WD Red range of hard drives with new capacities and models. The main WD Red line now includes drives with 5-terabyte and 6-terabyte capacities, while the new WD Red Pro drive line is aimed at medium to large businesses, including a few additions to help in an enterprise environment. ...

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New photos show what is believed to be a rear shell for the iPhone 6 from a later stage of manufacturing. The shell notably has an iPad-style inlaid Apple logo, and a smoother overall appearance, unlike some earlier leaked shells. The reason for the switch to an inlaid logo is unclear, but it's speculated that Apple may want it to light up, possibly to serve as a notification light, something present on many non-Ap...

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In tomorrow's results call, Apple may beat official revenue guidance for its fiscal third quarter, according to a consensus forecast compiled by Fortune. The magazine polled over two dozen analysts, and came up with a consensus of $38.4 billion, topping the $36-38 billion Apple predicted when revealing its Q2 results. The poll group was split between 15 professionals and 12 amateurs, of which the latter are said to...

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A new Apple Store will open in Chongqing, China on July 26 at 10AM local time, according to the company's website. The outlet is situated in the Paradise Walk Mall; it should be a prominent landmark in the area, rising at least three stories tall with a massive glass facade similar to its twin in Shanghai. At present, that facade is covered with a "coming soon" logo featuring colored dots sprayed out from the buildin...

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Google is now allowing for the creation of reminders in Google Search. Similar to the vocal method using Google Voice Search and Google Now on smartphones, Google Operating System reports users can set a reminder by typing "Add reminder" or "Create Reminder" in the search box. A reminder card with extra settings will then appear, with a "Remind me on Google Now" link finalizing the notification. ...

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Apple has revealed some of the lineup of its iTunes Festival 2014, which will again take over London's Roundhouse for 30 days and nights this September, and feature more than 60 bands. The month-long event, which is streamed live over a dedicated Apple TV channel, the iTunes Festival app on iOS devices and iTunes, offers free tickets won by lottery for fans in London by entering ballots on iTunes, while fans everywh...

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Gaming headphones are a challenge to get right, for a long list of reasons that are unique to the consumer buying them. Some shoppers want a universal set of headphones, some weigh the difference in the configuration, while others just want something with a good built-in microphone for voice chat. What about gamers looking for their next set of headphones for longer gaming sessions? Razer, a brand many gamers are fam...

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Less than a month since Twitter began testing a "buy now" button on the social media service, Facebook has jumped into the arena to offer its own "buy" button. The new feature is being tested with a small number of businesses as a way to drive commerce directly to those involved, without requiring people to leave Facebook to complete a transaction....

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Last week, Twitter announced that it is going to issue an update on how direct messages are handled on the micro-blogging service. The update makes deleting direct messages consistent across all platforms, allowing users a single action for removal, rather than deleting across every interface version. Another update is coming that changes how direct messages are handled across the numerous platforms, to give users ac...

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Regardless of how large a tablet you buy, you always want more space. There's always one more movie or another album you'd cram on, if only there was a little more room! A line of products has surfaced, which purport to expand the capacity of a tablet by offloading media and other documents to a wireless hard drive. Patriot has a device in the class, the Aero Wireless Mobile Drive. The concept is a really good idea, ...

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Video software maker Blackmagic Design has announced the availability of Camera 1.8.2 software, adding three new Apple ProRes file formats for the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera and Blackmagic Production Camera 4K. The new Apple ProRes file formats include ProRes 422, ProRes 422 LT and ProRes 422 Proxy, and their inclusion means that Blackmagic Design camera can have significantly smaller v...

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Mobile device batteries are better than they used to be, but there's always a scenario where users could use more juice. Upgrade manufacturer Patriot has a solution -- it has a line of portable batteries intended for charging devices on-the-go, called the Fuel+. In theory, a booster battery is easy -- implement a battery, some ports, and a way to charge the battery, and done. In actuality, proper execution of an exte...

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Kanex Products has announced the release of its Thunderbolt to eSATA and USB 3.0 adapter. Allowing users to connect Thunderbolt-equipped Mac or PC to an eSATA device, the adapter is capable of extending the use of existing eSATA-equipped external storage units. It USB 3.0 port facilitates a fast connection to peripherals that users may already have, such as external hard drives, a keyboard, or mouse. ...

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With just a few days to go before the actual sales figures are revealed, analysts are at a loss to come up with a strong consensus on how many iPhones and iPads the company actually sold in the calendar second quarter, which ended June 30 (Apple refers to this as fiscal Q3). The iPad figures are even more befuddled, since last quarter's drop in iPad sales -- 16 percent year-over-year -- was explained by CEO Tim Cook ...

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Adobe has made available release candidate versions of its upcoming Camera Raw 8.6 plug-in and DNG Converter, also at version 8.6, for final testing by users before an official release. As is now official policy with Adobe, users running Photoshop CS6 are limited to only receiving any new camera support and bug fixes; only Photoshop CC subscribers will receive any new feature updates. The release candidates a number ...

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DJ Player for iOS devices has received an update, offering redesigned, streamlined features. DJ Player aims to provide desktop-grade performance on one's mobile device, and allows users to manually beat-match and bend pitches as desired. Displaying, sorting, search and filtering one's music library can be executed with little time elapsing. DJ Player v7.2 includes a completely rewritten track browser. Its "intelligen...

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[Updated with Apple rebuttal] Despite both Apple and Google being asked to take measures to make the "true cost of apps" clearer before they're downloaded from an app store, Apple is providing "no firm commitment and no timing" for action, according to a statement from the European Commission. At issue are so-called "free-to-play" or "freemium" apps, which are technically free to use, but often require in-app purchas...

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The end of the week has been rather quiet in the MacNN forums, however forum members continue to debate the best way to backup data, with some saying SuperDuper (or "cloning" programs like it) are a better solution, others stating the best is Time Machine due to it highly self-regulating nature, and some taking the middle road with a "why not both?" approach. Earlier this week, Fresh-Faced Recruit "Rolando_jose" aske...

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This week at Apple's online store, find deep discounts on refurbished iMac models. The 21.5-inch iMac with a 2.7GHz Intel quad-core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive has been reduced by $200 down to $1,099. A $570 discount drops the price on the 27-inch iMac with a 2.7GHz Intel quad-core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and 1TB hard drive down to $1,129. ...

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This week, Adorama.com has the 13.3-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display for $1,699. That's $100 off the list price of $1,799, and the lowest price we have seen on this Mac model by about $50. This MBP features Retina display, 2.6GHz Intel Core i5 processor, 16GB of RAM and 256GB of flash storage. Included is a one-year warranty on parts and labor from Apple. ...

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Apple's planned store in Hannover, Germany may finally open its doors in late September, say sources claimed to be connected to the company's local retail team. The shop has been under development for some time, with black construction facades first going up in April 2013. The delay is said to be linked to fixing up problems in the building, including mold, bad ventilation, and general defects. ...

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Yes, its that time again! Time for another episode of "Friday Deals!" Every Friday, we're going to take a look at sales, and bring you what we think are some of the best bargains on prime apps, gadgets, and peripherals for you, the discriminating MacNN and Electronista reader. All prices are verified at the time of publication, but any sales may not be valid if you're reading a few days down the line. Check pricing b...

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Following a leak from earlier this week, Amazon has launched its subscription e-book service. Named Kindle Unlimited, the service operates as a form of "Netflix for e-books," providing all-you-can-eat access to over 600,000 Kindle books and thousands of Audible audiobooks via Kindle devices or the Kindle apps on smartphones and tablets for $9.99 per month. ...

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PureGear has announced its new offer of a versatile folio case for tablets and e-readers. The new Universal Tablet Folio can protect, prop, and provide multiple viewing angles for any seven- to eight-inch, or nine- to 10-inch tablet. Its flexible bands can hold virtually any tablet in place, and it utilizes built-in props for hands-free viewing and typing. The Folio has a magnetic closure for folding back while the t...

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In something of an "exit interview" with Fortune magazine, outgoing Director Bill Campbell -- who started with Apple in 1983 and has served on the Board of Directors since 1997 -- talked about the late Steve Jobs, current CEO Tim Cook, his sideline seat watching Apple go from nearly broke to the most valuable publicly-traded company in the world and other topics. He also revealed that Cook plans to make a contributio...

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Taiwain's Economic Daily News, which has been on a spree of sometimes-dubious claims about the forthcoming new iPhone and possible additional models, is now reporting that Apple's alleged 4.7-inch "iPhone 6" model will begin production next week, with the supposed 5.5-inch model starting production in the second week of August for a later launch date. Foxconn has inadvertently supported the report by confirming plans...

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Google has released its Analytics app, optimized for iPhone 5 users. The app allows users to access web and app data from Google Analytics, and the company aims to offer a variety of marketing research tools to generate more viewers and more revenue. The mobile app eliminates the need to view account information through a browser page, and users can monitor real-time reports. Available for iOS 6 or later, the Google ...

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New aerial photos of the site of Apple's Campus 2 construction project taken by KCBS traffic reporter Ron Cervi have revealed further progress on the construction, including completed perimeter walls for the below-ground portion of the main structure. As revealed in previous pictures, the spaceship-style primary building will be ringed with an underground "trough" thought to be a tramway for busses to help transport ...

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On Thursday, Apple announced the retirement of its longest-serving board member, Intuit Chairman Bill Campbell, and his replacement: global investment firm BlackRock co-founder Susan Wagner. Campbell originally joined Apple as VP of Marketing in 1983 under then-CEO John Sculley, eventually becoming the head of the Claris software division. He was appointed to the Board of Directors by Steve Jobs upon the latter's ret...

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Google has released v1.1 of LiquidFun, its open-source 2D physics engine. The software now officially supports iOS, as well as desktop versions of Chrome, the latter via extensions. It was previously possible to make LiquidFun run on iOS, but Google didn't enable that compatibility by default....

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Epic Games has released v4.3 of the Unreal Engine, code that undergirds many desktop, console, and mobile games. Although most of the changes are of interest only to developers, the update also includes the first support for Metal, Apple's new 3D graphics API. Developers must be using the Xcode 6 beta to compile it, and it's not enabled by default. It can however be toggled on via a game's Project Settings....

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Facebook has launched a new iPhone app, Mentions. Unlike its others, however, Mentions can't be accessed by the general public. Instead users must have a verified account, restricting it to businesses and celebrities such as actors, politicians, and musicians....

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