ITC judge rules Apple did not violate Elan multitouch patent

Reuters reports that an International Trade Commission judge sided with Apple in a patent fight brought on by Elan Microelectronics Corp. Elan alleged that that Apple had infringed on one of its multitouch patents and used technology from the patent in the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Yesterday the ITC judge ruled in Apple's favor, stating there was no violation of Elan's patent. When the case began Elan had asked the judge to bar all iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches from being sold in

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Mario clone in App Store, place your bets for how long (Update: It's gone)

UPDATE: Yeah, as tipster Matt told us, this app has been pulled. That only took a few hours.

You gotta be kidding. I am dying to know who, exactly, at Apple is unfamiliar with Mario the plumber. An intern born in the 90s, maybe? At any rate, go grab this platformer featuring Monino, whose brother was captured by Bowler and is being kept in a castle. Sound familiar? It's like a mirror universe, I know.

Given how much the iPod touch and iPhone have been hurting Nintendo's DS sales, we're

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iTunes 101: Making the most of contextual menus

I love contextual menus. In Mac OS X, you find them when you right-click, two-finger-click (on a trackpad) or when you hold down the Control key and click. They're handy in scores of applications and in the Finder; if you're looking to supercharge your iTunes usage in particular, Macworld's Kirk McElhearn has published 10 ways to use contextual menus with iTunes.

One particularly useful option is to "Start Genius" from any track. When selected, iTunes will instantly create a genius

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(Fly Or Die) Can TweetDeck’s New iPhone App Survive A Twitter Acquisition

TweetDeck’s new iPhone app came out a couple days ago. It is completely redesigned from the ground up and looks more like it’s Android cousin than the first TweetDeck for iPhone. Instead of cramming as much as possible into an iPhone screen, TweetDeck stripped everything out but the essentials. The result is a spare mobile stream reader that packs a lot of punch. We take a look at the new TweetDeck for IPhone in this episode of Fly or Die, along with SounTracking, and Zapd.

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The Complete Guide To Watching And Tracking The Royal Wedding Online

For any of you caught up in the frenzy over the royal wedding between England’s Prince William and Kate Middleton, we’ve collected a comprehensive list of where to watch the festivities online, where to find photos, dedicated mobile apps, Twitter accounts following the Royal Wedding and more.
As opposed to the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, this Royal Wedding is particularly unique because of the web didn’t exist back then. And neither did social media. This

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Kickstarter, Two Years And 20,000 Projects Later: $53 Million Pledged, $40 Million Collected

Two years ago, crowd-funding phenom Kickstarter launched with a handful of projects. Anyone with an idea for a film, album, art project, or product could make their pitch, say how much they needed to get started, and ask for pledges. Once the minimum amount needed was pledged, the project would get started. Today is Kickstarter’s birthday, and it is releasing some stats.
Over the past two years, $ 53 million has been pledged for 20,371 projects. Of that money, $ 40 million has been

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Mario clone in App Store, place your bets for how long

You gotta be kidding. I am dying to know who, exactly, at Apple is unfamiliar with Mario the plumber. An intern born in the 90s, maybe? At any rate, go grab this platformer featuring Moninio, whose brother was captured by Bowler and is being kept in a castle. Sound familiar? It's like a mirror universe, I know.

Given how much the iPod touch and iPhone have been hurting Nintendo's DS sales, we're likely going to have to wait until the Japanese game company stops making hardware altogether

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Fring app brings group video calling to iPhone

Fring has updated its popular iOS IM app to allow group video calls on the iPhone. This is a first for group video calling on any iOS device as far as I know and its a much welcome feature. The group video calling allows you to video chat with up to three of your other friends over 3G, 4G, or Wi-Fi.

To take advantage of the new group video calling features, you'll need an iPhone 4 or the latest iPod touch with front-facing camera. Technically, the app will work with devices with only

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Podcast: Macworld Pundit Showdown XI

by Philip Michaels, Macworld.com
After appearing before a live audience at Macworld Expo, the Macworld Pundit Showdown returns to the comfy confines of its home studio with a stellar lineup of Mac experts. Senior editor Christopher Breen, senior contributor Glenn Fleishman, staff editor Serenity Caldwell, and soon-to-be Macworld staff writer Lex Friedman match wits and trade barbs on everything from the iPad 2 to iOS location tracking in the latest Pundit Showdown.

Download Episode

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Qik Video Connect gets Android and Apple users seeing eye-to-eye

EVO and MyTouch 4G owners have been able to enjoy the virtues of video calling via Qik for some time, but Skype's latest acquisition is finally letting a few more phones in on the action. Qik Video Connect now works with some devices running Android 2.1 and up, iPhones, iPad 2s and any iPod Touch with a camera -- letting Apple fanboys and Android apologists speak face to face over 3G, 4G, and WiFi with the device of their choosing. It's not the first app to do cross-platform video calling, but

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Exclusive: The Pioneer AppRadio Will Put The Look Of iOS On Your Dash

Pioneer is about ready to launch a car audio head unit that features an GUI remarkable similar to iOS, complete with apps, iTunes, and iPhone connectivity.
Meet the Pioneer AppRadio, model number SPH-DA01. This unannounced double-din head unit hit the FCC database yesterday and a tipster wrote in to answer many of our questions. Obviously, given the name, this is a radio designed around iPhone and iPod. The UI features homescreens, each with two rows of three app icons each. (like the mock-up

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Deep thoughts: Why Android's market share doesn't matter

According to Nielsen numbers released today, Android phones now represent over half of the US smartphone market. That's certainly worth noting. Then again, at least as far as Apple goes, Android's market share doesn't matter as much as pundits today seem to be emphasizing.

To understand Android is to acknowledge convenience. I know many, many people with Android phones -- and they are, practically to a one, completely content with their purchase, with their service, and so forth. These are

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Remains of the Day: Suit up

Posted on by Dan Moren, Macworld.com


The end of one trademark fight can only mean that another is on the rise! Also, Microsoft is sucked into the location tracking ballyhoo, and really, isn’t it time to start thinking about the iPhone 6? Get ready, because the remainders for Tuesday, April 25, 2011 are going to be legen—wait for it!

Apple Abandons their Efforts to Secure the “POD” Trademark (Patently Apple)
After many long years, Apple has apparently surrendered its fight to

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Install and run iPad apps on an iPhone easily with iTelePad2Pod

OK, so this comes straight out of the why would you want to do this category, but thanks to the iSmooth Project folks from iJailbreakNow, installing and running iPad-only apps is now possible for the less tech-savvy on a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch.

The process involves using an app called iTelePad2Pod on your Mac to alter the supported devices metadata of your target iPad app. The modified app is then sent to your iPhone or iPod touch using FTP across OpenSSH (which must be

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BananaTunes beta streams beautiful music from iOS to your Mac

One of the great things about being a buddy of Erica Sadun is that sooner or later, she surprises you with an amazing app. [Ed: This is also known as "assault by beta testing" under Utah's penal code.] Her BananaTunes beta evolves iOS-to-Mac video app BananaTV to the next logical step -- it transmits full stereo music from your iOS device to your Mac.

Built around the recent AirPlay reverse engineering, Sadun promises that this capability will eventually be factored back into BananaTV,

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Editorial: Hey Apple, why does it take an hour to put an album on my iPod?

This one's been a long time comin', but the iTunes forced backup / syncing issue is no less real today than it was a decade ago when iTunes began to play a larger-than-life role in the operation of Apple's iDevices. As it stands, it's effectively impossible to use an iPhone, iPad or iPod without also using iTunes, and while Apple's done an exemplary job ensuring that it works with most major platforms (yes, Windows included), there's one nagging question that just won't go away: why?Continue

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Blurrycam Theatre Presents: The classically fake iPod classic

We get purported product leak pics sent to us all the time, and of course, the vast majority of them are fake. In an era when anyone with free time and a copy of Photoshop can slap together something that's convincing at first glance, we're sort of jaded when we look at these Blurrycam photos. In fact, even Gizmodo's epic iPhone 4 leak last year had me and half my TUAW colleagues saying, "Fake, fake, fakedy faaaaaake," right up until Apple demanded the device be returned.

It's only the

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Testing the Sonos-AirPlay solution

AirPlay is a very cool technology, but it's limited to the second generation Apple TV and a few receivers. Sonos, as I reported last week, has come up with its own way to integrate AirPlay into a multi-room music system, and the company was nice enough to lend me an Apple AirPort Express to try it out.

Since I already had a Sonos music system, the AirPort Express was the only missing piece. You plug AirPort Express in, connect it to one of your Sonos ZonePlayers with an Ethernet cable, and

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Could the iPhone 5 look like a beveled iPod touch?

See that up there? That could be your next iPhone -- or it could be a tear-shaped dream. It's a mock-up of what is said to be the iPhone 5, according to anonymous sources quoted by Joshua Topolsky. A continuation of the concepts laid out in our post-CES look at what's next for Apple, the design here is said to be thin, metal-backed, tapered, and sporting a 3.7-inch display with the same 960 x 640 resolution in the iPhone 4's retina display -- resulting in a slight drop from that phone's

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Ten One Design licensing Autograph signature capture to developers

Ten One Design started the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad stylus market singlehandedly with the Pogo stylus. Now they're hoping to jumpstart development of apps that capture signatures by licensing their Autograph iOS Library.

The idea is simple. Rather than re-inventing the wheel when writing apps that capture signatures, Ten One Design's library -- which works with Xcode, of course -- can be purchased by developers for US$ 99 for a single one-time use or for $ 499 for an unlimited site

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Logitech's Squeezebox Controller app makes the transition from Android to iOS

After launching the Squeezebox Controller app on Android last month, what could Logitech do next other than release a version for your iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad. The features and interface appear to be identical, letting users control any or all Squeezeboxes on the WiFi network complete with metadata and album art. iOS equipped owners of the 'boxes can get their AirPlay-free distributed audio lifestyle going by clicking the link below to download the free app (and see how it compares to the

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iPads surfing the web outnumber Linux machines

Pingdom has pointed out some interesting stats culled from browser data. It appears that there are now more iPads surfing the web than Linux-based machines.

The chart above features stats from Statcounter and are based on visitor statistics averaged from over 3 million websites. As you can see the top operating systems in the US for the first 19 days of April are Windows with 82 percent of the market, Mac OS X with 14.9 percent of the market, then iOS with 1.18 percent of the market,

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Apple Stores stocking Square credit card readers

Jack Dorsey's über-popular credit card readers got a big thumbs-up from Cupertino this week. Square's devices are hitting Apple's 235 US retail locations and Apple.com for $ 9.95 a pop -- plus the 2.75 percent that the startup takes off the backend each time you use the reader -- or you can always just sign up for a free one over on Square's site. The iPhone / iPad / iPod touch plug-in accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and yes, even American Express. The CEO of VeriFone will no doubt

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Mumbai surgeons perform knee surgery replacements using an iPod touch

The newest winner in the "there's an app for that" sweepstakes has to go to the DASH. It's putting the iPod touch at the heart of a system that allows surgeons to make it easier to do hip and knee replacement surgery. This medical system, developed by Smith & Nephew along with Brainlab, has allowed doctors at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai to effectively perform three knee replacement surgeries.

The system comes in a rolling box with a precision camera and everything needed to

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Researcher: Apple iPhone location tracking has been no secret

Posted on by John Cox, Network World

Editor’s Note: The following article is reprinted from Network World.
A computer forensics expert says the iPhone location tracking revelation “misrepresents” Apple, isn’t a secret, and that he published information about it months ago.

The claims are made in a long blog post by Alex Levinson, senior engineer for Katana Forensics, which develops Lantern, an iOS forensic analysis application. Levinson’s post is a response to a presentation

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Apple announces record revenue for 2nd quarter FY11

Ahead of today's 5pm conference call, Apple released its earnings report for the second quarter of fiscal 2011 (otherwise known as the first calendar quarter). Profit number: $ 5.99B in the quarter. Total revenue for the quarter is US$ 24.6 billion, versus 13.5B year-over-year. Earnings per diluted share comes in at $ 6.40, versus $ 3.33 last year. Forecasting $ 23B revenue for the next quarter.

Product sales numbers rolled in as follows: 28% up year over year in Macs with 3.76M

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Apple sues Samsung: here's the deal

So we all know that Apple's suing Samsung alleging myriad IP infringements, but you may not know what all the fuss is about. On one hand, the lawsuit is surprising because Apple gets much of the goodies it needs to build its iconic iPhones, iPads, and Macs from Sammy, and common sense dictates that you don't bite the hand that feeds you. On the other hand, however, folks in Cupertino don't take too kindly to copycats, and while it's hard to put a dollar value on the brand equity Apple

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3D scanner app captures models using iPhone camera

Here's a cool addition to the "iOS-devices-can-do-just-about-anything" list: using a US$ 0.99 app to turn your iPhone 4, iPad 2 or latest-generation iPod touch into a 3D scanner, replacing hundreds of dollars worth of last year's technology.

Trimensional was developed by Grant Schindler, a research scientist in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech's College of Computing. It uses the device's screen to light the object being scanned from four different directions, allowing

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Apple awarded design patent for iPhone 4

Apple could probably plaster most of its Cupertino campus with patents and patent applications if it wanted to, but we're guessing there's few that make it more happy than a design patent for a flagship device -- like the iPhone 4. That's now been granted a year after the company filed the application, which details the "ornamental design for an electronic device with graphical user interface" in words and pictures. What's more, Apple's now also finally snagged a design patent for the 2007

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“Buttonless iPod” Faker Writes In About Fakery

A little while back, we got a picture in the tips line of a 128GB iPod touch with a capacitive home screen button. Shortly afterwards, we got a second picture, much clearer, which we quickly determined was fake — retroactively showing the earlier one to be a fake as well (we suspected, but it was too blurry to really prove one way or the other). All in good fun: the debunking of a fake Apple device.
I suspected it was the same person behind both photos, and indeed, in our tip line today

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Reuters: iPhone 5 will ship in September

Hold onto your seats, it's another "when will the iPhone 5 ship" rumor. This time the rumor originates from Reuters, which tweeted late last night: "FLASH: Apple suppliers to start production of next-gen iPhone in July, Aug; begin shipping in Sept - sources." The associated article also states the iPhone 5 will have a faster processor but offers no additional details.

This September shipping date rumor contradicts earlier ones that the iPhone 5 wouldn't begin production until September

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Apple HDTV vs. Apple TV HD

Everyone's favorite and always accurate source, "analysts," have been jumping up and down over the past few days saying, "You guys! You guys! Seriously! Apple's making an HDTV! I'm serious, you guys, it's coming out later this year!"

This is another one of those Rumors that Just Won't Die, right alongside such perennial zombie products as an Apple-branded phone and an Apple-branded tablet -- wait, those products actually exist? Hmm. Well, does that mean the analysts are on to something? Or

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Sonos music systems now support AirPlay, but there's a catch

Sonos, creator of a well-reviewed, multi-room, wireless music system, has updated its software to support Apple's AirPlay. It means a Sonos music system owner can wirelessly send music from an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch to any room that has a Sonos Zone Player. The catch is that you have to buy a US$ 99 AirPort Express to plug into one of the Zone Players to get it working.

It's understandable that Sonos has to do this. AirPlay support is a hardware and software solution, and Sonos is

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iPhone dev-team releases untethered redsn0w jailbreak for iOS 4.3.2, iPad 2 not included

The iPhone dev-team released an untethered jailbreak for iOS owners running Apple's latest 4.3.2 firmware. Good news for jailbreakers as Apple did not patch the hole discovered by @i0n1c. The code for this exploit was used in the untethered jailbreak for iOS 4.3.1 and was easily ported over to the jailbreak for this latest version of iOS.

iPad 2 owners cannot join the jailbreak party as the 0.9.6rc14 version of redsn0w only supports the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 (GSM), iPod touch 3G/4G and the

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Sonos For Android Is Here, Devices Now Support Airplay

You’ve been waiting and now it’s here: Sonos has just announced the availability of the free Controller on the Android platform. It is compatible with almost all Android phones and tablets and supports the standard Sonos feature set (music assignment, browsing, search) as well as a few interesting additions.
The app takes advantage of Android’s native speech recognition to offer voice search (“Zamfir, Master of the Pan Flute”) and it also highjacks your Android

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Apple asks judge to dismiss iTunes monopoly lawsuit

It's been a busy day for Apple lawsuit news. First word broke that Apple has dropped a massive suit on Samsung for allegedly infringing on the iPhone and iPad's look and feel, now we get word that Apple has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit that claims iTunes is a monopoly. The lawsuit stems from Apple's 2004 blocking of RealNetwork's Harmony software, which allowed songs purchased from the RealNetworks online store to be transferred to the iPod. Last month, a judge ordered that Steve Jobs

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iTunes 10.2.2 now available

iTunes 10.2.2 has just appeared in Software Update for both Mac and Windows. The update seems to include some important bug fixes, but possibly no new features.

Here's what's under the hood.

o. Addresses an issue where iTunes may become unresponsive when syncing an iPad.
o. Resolves an issue which may cause syncing photos with iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to take longer than necessary.
o. Fixes a problem where video previews on the iTunes Store may skip while playing.
o. Addresses

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iPhone 5 to have 8 megapixel camera and improved antenna, same old design?

To date, we've heard scant few details about the next-generation iPhone, except for a rumor that it may or may not have a bigger screen, and that it almost certainly won't pack an NFC chip. Now, one analyst is reporting the design will remain unchanged, though its innards will get a slight boost. Ming-Chi Kuo of Concord Securities (who has been dead-on in the past) talked with sources in Apple's supply chain to learn that the iPhone 5 will boast the same A5 processor as the iPad 2, along with

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Analysts release their Q2 2011 earnings estimates

Apple will announce its quarterly earnings after the bell closes on Wednesday, April 20. The Cupertino company will unveil sales figures for the newly launched iPad 2 and possibly the Verizon iPhone. Long lines and delayed ship times indicate the iPad 2 is selling well, but early estimates suggest the Verizon iPhone is not selling as strongly as expected.

Before Apple makes these figures official, analysts are weighing in with their preview of Apple's completed quarter. In previous

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How-To: Using Bluetooth to tether your iOS device

Any device running iOS 4.3 supports Bluetooth tethering—here’s how to make it work
Posted on by Glenn Fleishman, Macworld.com




You should know by now that an iPhone of the right vintage can be turned into a mobile hotspot—a portable router that pumps out a Wi-Fi signal on one side and talks to a mobile 3G broadband network on the other. We’ve covered the Personal Hotspot feature for both the Verizon iPhone 4 and for the the GSM-based iPhone 4 used by AT&T in the U.S. and

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Switched On: Flip-flops

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.


This week's announcement that Cisco is shuttering its Flip Video business was but the latest twist in the history of the market share-leading device. The Flip got its start after its creator, Pure Digital, modified its original disposable camcorder to be reusable after hackers showed it could be done. And its success continued to defy convention that the product would resonate against a slew of digital cameras

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Square's mobile payment card reader now available on Apple's online store, retail stores this week

Square is one of the coolest accessories made for the iPhone. It's a hardware/app combination that, when the hardware bit is plugged into the headphone jack on the iPhone, lets the user accept credit card payments.

Simply swipe the card through the Square device while running the Square iOS app and your customer's credit card is charged in moments. Beginning yesterday the Square Credit Card Reader became available on Apple's online store and, according to TechCrunch, it will be appearing in

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Adobe plans to add HTTP Live Streaming to Flash Media Server to support iOS

Adobe showcased several new and upcoming features of its Flash Media Server during the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade show last week. One interesting feature for media producers who plan to target iOS users is the eventual addition of the iPhone-friendly HTTP Live Streaming to the Media Server's supported protocol list. Adobe blogger Kevin Towes noted this change in a "sneak peak [sic]" of developments on the streaming and encoding front, but no specific timeframe was given

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Welcome To The U.S.! What Spotify Can Expect When It Arrives

Guest author Patrick Reynolds is currently an Executive Vice President at Triton Digital and a former ad guy.
I just read that Spotify is coming to the U.S! Oh, wait. That was an article from 2009. I hope they really mean it this time. I love the product. To grease the skids for them a bit, I’ve put together a little travel guide for what they can expect in advertising and media circles when they do arrive.
Lots of love in digital circles.
Being Swedish I’m guessing they’re fantastic

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Select McGraw-Hill educational apps for iPhone and iPad free until 4/16

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is holding its annual conference this week and in honor of this event McGraw-Hill has dropped the price on select iOS educational applications. The sale started earlier this week and extends until the conference ends on April 16. During this time, the following applications will be free:


Everyday Mathematics Addition Top-It: 0 to 10 basic addition and number comparison game

Everyday Mathematics Subtraction Top-It: 0 to 10, 2-digit

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iOS Home Sharing bug found while using multiple Macs

iOS 4.3 brought us Home Sharing, which allows you to share iTunes libraries on up to five authorized computers on the same network and also have them show up on your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. But if you have more than one Mac with a library to share, you may be in the same boat I found myself in.

I have three Macs, but Home Sharing would only bring up one library on both my iPhone and iPad. It wasn't always the same library; the one that appeared was totally random and often changed. I

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Navigon adds augmented reality and enhanced traffic to iOS apps

You can add augmented reality to the feature list for the Navigon app. The company calls it Reality Scanner, and it shows destinations and nearby points of interest by superimposing that information over a live camera view. This is a feature best used by pedestrians; I'd hate to see someone driving and waving his iPhone around to use this.

Navigon is also adding what it calls Safety Camera alerts, which is a way to warn drivers of speed and red light cameras along the route. The

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Millennial: Thanks To The Verizon iPhone, iOS Impressions Grew 29 Percent In March

Millennial Media’s monthly mobile report is out today, giving us a view into how each OS and manufacturer is performing on the mobile ad network. Millennial, whose ads reach 90.3 million users monthly in the U.S.; is the third largest network behind Google AdMob and Apple’s iAd, so data shared on Millennial’s network is certainly indicative of the state of mobile advertising. For the fourth month in a row, Android led in terms of the largest impression for Smartphone OS, with

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Mactracker app hits version 6.0

Mactracker has been a TUAW favorite for a while. For those of you not familiar with it, it's an application that lets you search a database of every Apple product ever made including notebooks, iPods, and even printers. Selecting an item shows you everything you could possibly want to know about it, whether it's the original memory it shipped with, the maximum OS it can take, or even the model's original cost in any number of currencies.

The version 6.0 release includes the latest Apple

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The App Store Showing Strange Strings — A New iOS Product Or Just A Lazy Bug?

Well this is interesting. Amid all the hoopla about the new iOS Twitter client Tweetbot tonight, people began noticing something. In The “Requirements” section of the App Store, there’s something odd listed. Alongside the usual iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad compatibility, apps are being listed as compatible with something named “ix.Mac.MarketingName”.
Yep. Weird. And this is all over the App Store right now.
Now the big question: is this just some fluke, a bug —

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Tweetbot for iPhone / iPod touch: TUAW's first look

Back when the iPhone platform was still young and the App Store had just opened its virtual doors, one of the most remarkable apps in what seemed to be an endless stream of poorly executed ideas was a gem called Weightbot. The app is still around, and the 'bot still occupies a place of honor on my iPhone as it monitors the ups and downs of my diet.

WeightBot was the first of a series of apps from Tapbots, a development firm headlined by Mark Jardine and Paul Haddad. Each of the succeeding

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The iPad dock disassembled by iLounge

Wondering what the guts of the new iPad 2 dock look like? iLounge dove in to the nitty gritty, and it turns out that there were a few surprises, actually. While the docks may look like pieces of plastic (and indeed, at just around $ 30, they could be about that), iLounge figures that Apple puts the same amount of thought into its accessories as it does into what they're supporting. In each stand is a solid piece of metal that makes it so weighty, not only holding it down on the bottom,

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MagicPlan app magically creates interactive floor plans

Many years ago when my wife and I were looking for the perfect house, I used to pour over the floor plans that home builders would create. While it was often difficult to translate the lines that designated the walls and doors of the house into a three-dimensional representation of what the interior actually looked like, the floor plans were helpful in at least getting an idea of how foot traffic would flow and where we could place furniture when we could afford it.

A French-Canadian

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iPads to be made in Brazil?

Reuters reports that Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics giant that produces iPods, iPhones and iPads in China, is in ongoing talks to invest US $ 12 billion in building manufacturing facilities in Brazil.

Dilma Rousseff, the Brazilian president, reportedly said that this is under consideration and has said that she considers tablet computing as a viable option to inexpensively bring the Internet to the lower-middle class of Brazil (around 80 million people). However a rough translation

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Cisco to shutter Flip camera line

Cisco has announced that it's shutting down the Flip video camera line, purchased a few years ago from Pure Digital for a whopping $ 590 million, for good. That's a shame -- while of course the iPod nano and the iPhone (and now the iPad 2) have carried video cameras of varying quality for a little while now, I really liked using my Flip minoHD, and often used it to shoot a few quick HD videos to edit in iMovie or elsewhere. As you can see in the various comparison videos, the Flip was a

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Distant Suns celebrates 50th Anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's epic ride with a free app

It was 50 years ago today that the son of a Russian farmer rocketed into space and became the first man to orbit the earth. Yuri Gagarin's 108 minute trip in his Vostok spacecraft ushered in the era of manned space flight, as the US followed up with the Mercury, Gemini, and later the Apollo missions to the moon. In 1975 the US and Russia stopped competing and began the Apollo-Soyuz missions. Joint missions continue today on the International Space Station.

To celebrate the event, Distant

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Apptwee Ri universal remote for iOS is inexpensive and tiny

With the success of all handheld iOS devices -- iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad -- it's not surprising that manufacturers want to turn them into universal remote controls. Some manufacturers are going the more expensive route, like Peel with their $ 99 remote that features a pear-shaped transmitter that sits between your iOS box and your A/V equipment.

On the other end of the spectrum is a company called Apptwee, which has come out with the Ri, a tiny remote control unit that plugs into the

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iChair for iPad 2 looking for a little Kickstarter love

In the last year, just about every iPad case or stand has made it to my office for a review. While I don't always write them up, I often show the products on TUAW TV Live. It doesn't matter what I'm showing; there's always someone for whom the product is perfect, and a lot of people liked the case that I'm writing about here. For people who want the protection of a case and the convenience of the stand, the iChair (no, not the helmsman's chair from Norway) is one of the better designs I've

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Nintendo 3DS sales affected by iPod touch and iPad, says IHS iSuppli

Nintendo recently launched the 3DS and the portable gaming device is selling strongly. Despite this burst of early sales, IHS iSuppli predicts the 3DS will not reach the high sales numbers of its predecessor, the Nintendo DS. iSuppli predicts Nintendo will sell 70 million 3DS gaming systems by 2015, a figure that is 21 million less than the 91 million in sales racked up by the original DS at the same point in its sales cycle.

The DS was developed and debuted during the non-Apple years when

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JBL ships AirPlay-enabled On Air speaker dock

After some delay (we posted about the announcement in March) JBL has announced that the AirPlay-enabled On Air speaker dock is officially shipping to Best Buy and Apple Stores (see press release below). The system lets customers stream music from their AirPlay-enabled devices, like Macs, iPhones, iPod touches and iPads. It's also pretty cool looking, in a Darth Vader-meets-radial-tire kind of way.

Other nifty features include a color LCD display, FM radio tuner and an alarm clock. Also

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JBL ships AirPlay-enabled On Air speaker dock, charges stiff premium for wireless luxury

It's a familiar face, sure, but there's a key ingredient thrown here that's been lacking on JBL's prior iDevice docks: AirPlay. We're still waiting (and waiting) to see if Apple's going to expand its licensing program to allow third-party vendors the ability to toss in AirPlay video streaming, but for now, JBL's taking advantage of what's out there. The On Air Wireless AirPlay speaker dock -- which is shipping today to Best Buy and Apple Stores after being teased a few weeks ago -- is now good

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Apple hired lobbying firm in February

The LA Times says Apple has slowly begun hiring more lobbyists in Washington, D.C. to protect its interests as it has grown from a niche player to one of the tech sector's biggest powerhouses. Apple has traditionally placed little reliance on lobbyists, but in February of this year, Apple contracted the services of the high-powered Washington lobbying firm of Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock.

The move comes as Apple has grown from a company worth $ 2.5 billion in 2003 to a behemoth with

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Oscium's iMSO-104 turns your iPad into mixed signal oscilloscope

Inventive people continue to demonstrate how versatile iPads are. The latest example we've found turns the device into an oscilloscope.

Oscium developed the iMSO-104 mixed-signal oscilloscope for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch "quickly and easily," the company says, thanks to Apple's iOS and MFi (Made for iPod, Made for iPhone, and Made for iPad) developer programs. "It boasts a 5 MHz bandwidth and up to 12 MSPS (megasamples per second) sample rate, while simultaneously analyzing up to one

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uSolo FX Media player review

This is a picture of a digital media player. It doesn't look quite like an iPod, though, does it? No hint of Zune here either, we don't think. In fact, it looks a lot like a CDJ unit, and that's for a reason: it acts just like a physical media-loving digital disc jockey's unit, but without the 5-inch slot at the front. Instead, it's got USB and SD ports up top. If you're a DJ, you might be familiar with the rest: navigate your folders to find a song, cue it up with the jog wheel, and mix it

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Apple nabs Nintendo and Activision executives for iOS gaming roles

MVC reports that Apple has hired away gaming PR executives from both Nintendo and Activision. According to the gaming site, Nintendo UK comms boss Rob Saunders is jumping ship from Nintendo, where he oversaw PR for devices like the Wii and DS, to Apple. He will head the newly created role focused on PR for gaming on the iOS platform.

Apple has also nabbed Nick Grange, who was Activision's European PR director. Before Grange's work at Activision, he held positions at Electronic Arts and

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Clearer Shot Of The Alleged Buttonless iPod Touch Looks Nice, Is Fake

Our anonymous tipster who sent that buttonless iPod touch the other day, or at least someone claiming to be him, sent this new, clear pic over.
Now, we don’t just publish things like this willy-nilly. Our highly-paid team of trained image experts has to vet them first. In this case, there were a couple red flags. See if you can spot them before scrolling down.
Continue reading…

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Weekend Giveaway: A Blackberry Playbook

I was originally going to write something like “Weekend Giveaway: An iPod Classic Case Plus Something Else” and then make you guys read the whole post to find out that I was going to include a Blackberry Playbook in the prize and then you’d be angry and come to my house and stuff and nobody wanted that. So here goes: we’re going to give you one lucky reader a Blackberry Playbook. It won’t ship until the official release date – April 19 – but it will be

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Engadget Podcast 235 - 04.08.2011

What's that? Oh, it's just the return of the Engadget Podcast, leaner, meaner, and laser-focused on bringing you the freshest jams of the technology blog news universe. Live and direct from their shiny new Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor chairs are hosts Tim Stevens and Darren Murph, joined by mobile vets Myriam and Vlad -- a quadfecta of power unmatched in pure nerd horsepower (or battery power, depending on what you're driving). Can you taste it? It kind of tastes like when you lick a

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Apple keeping iPhone 5 suppliers mum about launch date

In a research note, Analyst Brian White with Ticonderoga Securities suggests Apple is being extra secretive with its Asian suppliers when ordering parts for the iPhone 5 and is still quietly preparing the next generation handset for a June or July launch. White writes, "Although we do not have a smoking gun that definitively rules out a delayed autumn unveiling or one that supports a launch this summer, there is a pattern of activity in motion with the supply chain that makes us question a

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iPad 2 coming to Toys "R" Us

I don't wanna grow up, I'm a Toys "R" Us kid. A million toys to choose from that I can play with. From bikes to trikes and video games... And soon the iPad 2, according to an anonymous Toys "R" Us employee who provided ModMyi.com with pictures of internal training materials focused on Apple's tablet. The iPad 2 could go on sale at the iconic toy retailer as early as next month.

Since the original iPad launched last April in about 1,200 locations, Apple has aggressively expanded the device's

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Apple's touch panel demand helped delay RIMs Playbook

RIM announced its PlayBook tablet last year and eager BlackBerry fans have been waiting months for this QNX-based tablet to debut. According to a rumor from Digitimes, this wait was made even longer thanks to Apple and its stranglehold on the touch panel market. Asian supply chain sources suggest Apple used its treasure chest of cash to secure touch panels for its iOS devices, leaving other manufacturers out in the cold.

RIM reportedly delayed the Playbook while it secured touch panels

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Bing search engine arrives on iPad

Machines that go 'Bing!' now include your iPad.

Microsoft's search tool has surfaced in the iOS App Store, and a first look at Bing for iPad (free) shows it to be a solid and well-designed competitor to Google and the parade of news, weather, and search apps that have appeared for Apple's tablet in the last year. The app has been available for iPhone and iPod touch for quite a while and is now in version 2.1.

Although there's probably no truth to the rumor that Bing stands for "Bing is

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WatchESPN iOS app lets some people watch live sports wherever they want

Continuing the trend of tying streaming content to the ol' ball and chain that is your pricy cable subscription, ESPN announced the launch of the WatchESPN App for the iPhone and the iPod Touch, with an iPad optimized version slated for release in May. Said App can be downloaded now and will allow you to "stay connected to live sports and shows from ESPN, wherever and whenever you want them" -- assuming you're a Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks or Verizon FiOS TV customer that is. The

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AVG Launches Dropbox Rival: Sync, Backup And Share Files In The Cloud

Security software juggernaut AVG this morning announced a brand new service that lets users store, sync and share files in the cloud from a variety of channels and devices.
Dubbed Livekive, the solution sounds extremely familiar to anyone who’s ever used similar services like Dropbox or Box.net (yes, I’m aware there are plenty more competitors).
Livekive comes with automated syncing functionality, which works on both Apple and Microsoft platforms. All (encrypted) data can be

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TUAW TV Live: An appointment with the Doc

Looking for a way to spend an hour and hopefully learn something new? Today on TUAW TV Live, me and Doc Rock are going to throw out some topics to discuss; plus. we'll give you our opinions on everything Apple.

I've got some new products that have been delivered to the TUAW TV studios, so Doc and I will hash out the pros and cons of these and other items that are new to the Mac, iPad, iPhone, and iPod world. We've also come up with a selection of new apps to toss around for your viewing

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Apple granted patent for DisplayPort/Thunderbolt, USB 3.0 dock connector

Apple has been granted a patent for a new type of dock connector, discovered by PatentlyApple. The new dock connector is a "hybrid DisplayPort/USB 3.0 high speed connector. This new and extremely slim connector will work on all iOS devices like the iPod and eventually work its way through Apple's entire hardware lineup," according to the patent-tracking site. While Apple typically files patents for technologies that never see the light of day, PatentlyApple speculates that this new dock

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Review: iMainGo X iPhone/iPod speaker case

4.0 out of 5 Mice, Apr 5, 2011





Pros
Good overall sound for the size
Two headphone jacks, audio-in jack
Rechargable battery
Improved device cradle
Cons
Sound distortion at loudest volume




Portable Sound Laboratories iMainGo X
By Roman Loyola, Macworld.com - April 5, 2011

The iMainGo X is the latest in Portable Sound Laboratories’ line of "speaker cases" for the iPhone and iPod. The iMainGo X is more versatile than the company's iMainGo 2, () while offering a similar combination

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iPod touch prototype with capacitive home button leaked?

Ah, would you look at that. Earlier this year there were rumors about Apple ditching the physical home button on upcoming iOS devices, and now we have what appears to be a new iPod touch prototype matching such description, courtesy of CrunchGear via Mr. Blurrycam. According to its About screen, this "DVT-1" (a late milestone) device packs 128GB of memory -- twice as much as the largest available capacity option right now (remember that 64GB iPhone 4 prototype in Hong Kong?) -- as well as a

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Potentially Leaked iPod Touch Has Capacitive Home Button

Although I’m tending towards skepticism on this one, it could be that these blurry-cam photos of a potential iPod Touch with non-physical home button show an example of some sort of aborted trunk on the iPod Touch family tree with to a seamless, button-free face. Talking heads have been touting this button-free model for a while now and so these images lend credence to that direction in Apple iPod/iPhone trade dress.
Read more…

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iOS 4.3.1 jailbreak available, but not for iPad 2

The iPhone dev team released the latest version of its PwnageTool for iOS 4.3.1. Thanks to the work of Stefan Esser, both the PwnageTool and redsn0w now provide an untethered jailbreak for this latest version of iOS. This untethered jailbreak is compatible with all 4.3.1 devices except for the iPad 2 which is not susceptible to either the limera1n or SHAtter bootrom exploits.

If you own an iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 (GSM), iPod touch 3G, iPod touch 4G, iPad 1G, or AppleTV 2G (PwnageTool only),

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iPod nano rumored to get a camera

The latest rumor out of Asia suggests the iPod nano may keep its boxy shape and get its camera back. Those who keep track of the history of Apple's popular mp3 player will remember the player got an integrated camera in 2009. These modifications were quickly removed in 2010 when the player dropped the camera and shrunk down to its current boxy, small size.

The latest leaked photo from Taiwanese Mac Blog, Apple.pro, supposedly shows the casing for the seventh generation iPod nano. Merging

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Next-gen iPod nano chassis hints at camera?

Here's yet another juicy leak from China to go with your breakfast. Delivered by the same folks who brought us the sixth-gen iPod nano display module leak, this time we have what appears to be a chassis for the next touchscreen nano. According to Apple.pro, the circular hole at the top right is likely to house a little camera, which would bring back the good old days with the camera-donning fifth-gen nano. Obviously, to make space for such an imager here, the spring-loaded clip on the back

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redsn0w untethered jailbreak for iOS 4.3.1 released for Windows and OS X, lacks iPad 2 support

If you've been waiting for a nice, easy jailbreak solution for iOS 4.3.1, then today's your lucky day: Dev-Team's just released redsn0w 0.9.6rc9 for both Windows and OS X, allowing us mere mortals to free our supported devices -- iPhone 3GS, 4 (GSM); iPod touch 3G, 4G; iPad 1; and Apple TV 2G -- with a few simple clicks. Alas, there are a couple of caveats: the iPad 2 isn't supported here, as Cupertino has somehow managed to tighten up its security to fend off hackers (for now); and ultrasn0w

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AT&T Buying T-Mobile Won’t Matter. In Mobile Communications, Innovation Is Elsewhere.

Editor’s note: The following guest post is written by Joe Sipher, co-founder of Pinger, which makes the popular Textfree app.
So AT&T wants to buy T-Mobile and some are screaming it will reduce competition and hurt the consumer. Sprint is now going to court to try and stop the merger. I am in the mobile communications industry and, to be honest, I couldn’t care less. This isn’t going to affect the companies pushing the real growth and innovation and it’s not going to affect

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Nike+ SportWatch GPS now on sale, $199 adds geek cred to your workout routine

Wrist-mounted iPod nano not quite the running companion of which you'd originally dreamed? This Nike+ SportsWatch GPS will be happy to take its place. We spotted the TomTom-branded fitness watch at CES this year, and now it's formally on sale -- though unfortunately for a price far steeper than those of its immediate ancestors. Of course, the $ 199 band isn't just a replacement for the Nike+ iPod system, it also uses that onboard GPS to keep track of where you run, much like the Nike+ GPS app

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Rumor: Seventh-generation iPod nano to add rear-facing camera

Apple.pro has posted an image which it claims is the rear casing for the next iPod nano. The purported casing shows a hole which would house a rear facing camera. Apple.pro has a history with iPod nano rumors, as they were the first to post an image of a small touchscreen which later made its way into the sixth-generation iPod nano that debuted last fall.

As noted by MacRumors, when the sixth-generation iPod nano was unveiled, many loved its new form factor, but some lamented over the

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Diamond-encrusted Lunatik iPod nano watch is as superfluous as it sounds

If you're the type of person who has 99 problems, a satisfactory wristwatch being one, feast your lustful eyes on this diamond-encrusted abomination. ZShock has managed to work its magic -- $ 18,000 worth, to be precise -- on a Lunatik iPod nano watch, with the end result being something that we'd hardly recommend being caught dead with. Of course, those who'd disagree vehemently are going to need a magic number in order to procure one, but those who are just curious can peek the source link

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Hasboro's My3D to turn iPhones into glorified ViewMasters starting Sunday

It's about time the ViewMaster got an upgrade. What's that? It's not a ViewMaster? Well, you could have fooled us, but either way, the things finally going on sale exclusively at Target April 3rd, and everywhere else starting in June. As you might have already heard, Hasboro's intro into the crowded 3D arena, simply titled My3D, does take a card from the old ViewMaster deck, but instead of enlisting cardboard discs, this thing uses your iPhone or iPod touch to bring you 3D entertainment. If

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Witness for iPhone turns your Mac into a home alarm system

If you have $ 40 and a recent Mac with an iSight camera, then you have the makings of a simple home surveillance system thanks to Witness. Developed by Orbicule, Witness is a surveillance app that turns your Mac's camera into a motion sensor. The application runs in the background on your computer and will begin recording video or photos if motion is detected.

The system includes a free remote iOS app compatible with the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. When an intruder is detected, Witness

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How to enable Home Sharing on Mac and iOS devices

My wife and I both have an iPhone and a Mac. We also have an Apple TV in our living room. However, sharing our iTunes content (movies, music, books, apps, etc.) between these devices can be tricky, especially since we regularly hot swap our Macs and iPhones for general purposes, depending on whatever device is nearer.

Thankfully, Apple has made this a whole lot easier with Home Sharing, particularly with the latest version in iOS 4.3. Using the same Wi-Fi connection, Home Sharing allows

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Evoz: Baby Monitoring 2.0 Comes Of Age

Very soon (as in: in the next few days), I’ll become a father for the first time. And of course, as every existing parent seems to know, babies cost money. One of those unbearable things young parents need to purchase without further ado, is a baby monitoring system.
Me and my wife already bought one, but while we were evaluating existing systems I couldn’t help but notice that even the more advanced ones on the market today seem little more than glorified walkie-talkies.
A couple

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Diamonds plus nano plus watch equals this $18k monstrosity

There is, it has to be admitted, a market for diamond-encrusted Apple products. Having the good taste to buy something magical and revolutionary doesn't necessarily mean you have good taste full stop.

So, for those of you with more (way, way more) money than sense who live at the blingier end of the Apple marketplace, we present the ZShock Lunatik iPod nano watch case (the clue's in the name). Yes, for a mere US$ 18,000 and a three- to four-week wait, ZShock will "hand-set the diamonds

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Viber for iPhone updated with free text messaging

I liked Viber when I tested it several months ago. It's an iPhone VoIP app that allows free phone calls to any phone that has the app installed. I thought the terrific audio quality, lack of ads and ease of setup were all positives.

Viber has been updated today to version 2.01 with free text messaging to all your Viber contacts. There are also notifications for incoming text messages, and the app has some small GUI improvements. Although Viber currently does not support the iPad or iPod

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