Adobe has released its long-awaited and highly controversial Creative Cloud suite of applications for both longtime professional devotees and the newcomers it hopes to attract. Having historically operated on an upgrade schedule of every 12 to 16 months, Adobe is now releasing new subscription-only versions of its flagship Photoshop image-editing program—called Photoshop CC (for Creative Cloud)—along with more than a dozen of its other creative apps.

While the merits of Adobe's new subscription model promise to be a continuing topic of debate, the apps themselves...

While testifying in court last week, Apple executive Eddy Cue had a number of interesting tidbits regarding the origins of the iBookstore, namely that Jobs was initially opposed to the idea but quickly hopped on board after Cue convinced him that the iPad would make the perfect e-reader.

Today, Cue took the stand once again where he divulged some more interesting tidbits regarding Apple's foray into the e-book space.

At one point during today's proceeding, an Apple attorney asked Cue a number of questions about Steve Jobs and his involvement in Apple's iBooks initiative.

Once again, All Things D was there covering the trial and relayed the following nuggets of information.

The "page curls" in the iBook app, which show up when you flip an iBook's page?...

AT&T appears to be in the midst of rolling out support for Apple's FaceTime video calling service for iPhone on its cellular network, making good on a promise to support all video chat apps over wireless by the end of the year.   ...

Chillingo, unfortunately, wasn't mentioned at all during EA's press conference last week. I thought the big publisher would at least give a little nod to its extremely successful mobile publishing arm, but no such luck. I did, however, go and see the team gathered in their annual suite near the LA Convention Center, and got a nice look at their upcoming slate for the next few months. Here's a quick title-by-title rundown of what Chillingo and parent company EA were showing off.

Plants vs. Zombies 2

This is technically not a Chillingo title, as it's being developed by Popcap and published by EA. But it was probably what will turn out to be the biggest title in the suite for sure. Plants vs. Zombies was a huge hit on mobile, and so Popcap is bringing it first to iOS later on this month. In addition to new plant types and lots of new stages, the title has a time traveling theme. Crazy Dave will take you and your plants back through time to fight zombies...

You may read this review of the Bracketron NanoTek Stand (US$29.95) and ask yourself "What's so exciting about a angled piece of aluminum with some sticky pads on it?" Well, many times smartphone stands are tied to a particular generation of a smartphone, so when the next big thing appears on the market, it's time to toss the stand for a newer model. The Bracketron NanoTek Stand is a design that works now and will keep your iPhone happy for the foreseeable future.

Design

The NanoTek Stand began life as the SETA Smartphone Stand, a Kickstarter project by 1.0 Innovations that is still underway and has so far pulled in almost four times the funding goal. It appears that Bracketron saw just how successful the Kickstarter project was and they've now licensed the design. The Bracketron...

According to a an email exchange between then-CEO Steve Jobs and Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue submitted in court earlier today as part of the Department of Justice's e-book price-fixing trial, Apple's co-founder and then-leader read Mac rumor-and-news sites such as AppleInsider and would question the veracity of items found there. In the exchange, which happened just three months after Apple had launched the iBookstore, Jobs wants to know more about self-publishing options.... ...

I first got to see Solstice Arena, Zynga's latest iOS entry, at GDC earlier this year, and then had a short meeting again last week with the publisher at E3. But you no longer have to take my word on what it's like: The game arrived on iOS worldwide last week, so you can grab the free-to-download title at your leisure.

And I recommend you do. Zynga has a reputation for pushy freemium elements in goofy casual titles, but I can confirm this game has none of that. This is a true mobile MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) title, similar to League of Legends, but very iOS-centric in its delivery. The game has been simplified in a lot of very smart ways, producing a high-quality title that's very impressive. In my own play, I've found some minor balance issues (the healer character, for example...

Apple TV received little attention during Worldwide Developers Conference, but the diminutive set-top box still has the Cupertino company's attention, as new videos reveal iTunes Radio and a new Conference Room mode in the works for its forthcoming software update.  ...

For the Mac faithful, it won't do to share space on just any server -- you want to use a Mac server. Likewise, we like to have our own Mac servers colocated at a place that specializes in Macs. That's why hosting providers like MacStadium are so popular. Now MacStadium has announced that as soon as the new Mac Pros arrive, they'll be ready to rack 'em and stack 'em in their hosting and colocation center.

The company expects to be able to fit 270 Mac Pro servers per POD on only 12 square feet of floor space in their datacenter. That's what that Lego-like image above represents, with Mac Pros sitting on their sides stacked 15 tall, nine wide and two deep. That MacStadium facility provides redundant cooling, power and security systems, and each of those Mac...

Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Services, took the stand one more time on Monday in the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust suit against the company. Mr. Cue was questioned by Apple's attorneys about the process of building the iBooks app, the iBookstore, and he talked extensively about the role of the late Steve Jobs in those processes. Bryan Chaffin walks us through what we learned.

Apple's vice president of Internet Services and Software Eddy Cue retook the stand on Monday, looking to add clarity to U.S. Department of Justice allegations that the so-called agency model contracts the company signed with publishers caused an overall inflation in e-book pricing.  ...

From 9to5Toys.com:

A large majority of the deals we cover each day come from a variety of ‘Daily Deal’ websites or are so popular that they don’t even last 24 hours.  We know you can’t be at your computer every second, so we’re going to roundup the best deals each day to make sure you have a fair shot at the deals you want. Be sure to follow 9to5Toys.com so you never miss a deal... Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook

Today’s Featured deals:

...

Automattic, the company behind Wordpress, has purchased the iOS Wordpress client Poster. Developer Tom Witkin is joining Wordpress' mobile team with the aim of bringing his app's unique features to Wordpress' own app.

Sadly, progress for Wordpress means Poster is no longer available in the app store, but there's a bright spot for those who've already picked it up. Users who already own the app will be able to re-download it from their accounts and Witkin has announced that he will continue to provide support.

Poster brought a number of features not found in the company's own apps to Wordpress users, including Dropbox integration for importing articles from the cloud, support for Markdown and the ability to choose your own URL slug for posts. While it's sad to see Poster leave the App Store, it's nice to know Wordpress' own apps will most likely be seeing these improvements in...

Oculus VR, Inc., Oculus Rift VR headset developer, today announced that it has closed a deal for $16 million in funding. The round was co-led by Spark Capital and Matrix Partners. Santo Politi, Spark founder and general partner; and Antonio Rodriguez, entrepreneur and general partner at Matrix, have joined the company's board of directors. The funds will be used to accelerate the development of virtual reality hardware, software and services, ultimately creating commercially available virtual reality platform.... ...

AirPort base stations that appeared in previous versions of AirPort Utility might not appear in AirPort Utility 1.3 for iOS, or AirPort Utility 6.3 in OS X.

Just bought tickets for this. My son and I are going. Megadeth, Godsmack, Black Label Society and many others will be playing over two days.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Under questioning at the ongoing DoJ v. Apple antitrust trial, the man who negotiated Apple's iBookstore deals with publishers -- Eddy Cue -- today disclosed some minor facts about Steve Jobs' involvement with the iBooks app. The topic came up during examination by Apple attorney Orin Snyder. Earlier in the trial, Cue established that Jobs was heavily into the concept of iBooks and the iBookstore once iPad development started ramping up. During today's testimony, Cue revealed that Jobs had micromanaged some of the smallest details of iBooks.... ...

Coming on the heels of images purporting to show the logic board of the next-generation "iPhone 5S," photos alleging to be of the handset's display have surfaced, with a flex cable orientation suggesting the two parts are from the same device.  ...

The long-awaited iOS version of XCOM: Enemy Unknown is almost here. 2K Games has announced that it will be available on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch Thursday at a premium price of US$19.99.

Firaxis' excellent remake of the old PC game arrived on consoles last year to critical acclaim, and now it's coming to iOS with all of the single player features of the main release. Multiplayer mode is coming later on, and will be added in an update a little further down the road.

That price might be the most notable thing about this one. Lots of developers are going with freemium on iOS lately, claiming that there's just not a big enough audience willing to pay a higher price to justify anything but giving games away for free. But XCOM is definitely a premium experience, and I think that there are plenty of gamers out there willing to pay $20 for a game worth the quality (XCOM is still selling in stores for $50 or $60 on...

While the litigious quests of Apple seem to never go away (or accomplish much in the process), AllThingsD has collected a few notable tidbits revealed by Eddy Cue, who is fresh off of his WWDC presentation, during the ‘ebooks price fixing’ hearings. Remember folks, Cue was under oath, so this is completely on the books now.

Peter Kafka, for AllThingsD:

For instance:

The “page curls” in the iBook app, which show up when you flip an iBook’s page? That’s Steve Jobs’ idea.

It was Jobs’ idea to pick ““Winnie-the-Pooh” as the freebie book that came with every iBook app. Not just because Jobs liked the book, Cue said, but because it showed off iBook’s capabilities: “It had beautiful color drawings, that had never been seen before in a digital book.”

Jobs was also specific about the book he used to show off the iBook...

Skype is usually about communicating in real time, but today the Microsoft subsidiary added a new feature that works even in those cases when your recipient isn't going to be able to see you right now -- video messaging. Skype Video Messaging has been in beta for a while; today the free feature is becoming available to all users.

All video messages are sent and received free of charge, regardless of how often you wish to share video snippets with friends and family. Messages can be up to three minutes long. Although there are no editing tools built into the current incarnation of Skype video messaging, you can always go back and re-record your message until it's perfect.

...

John Moltz with a very important distinction in my “Don’t worry about iOS 7” article from earlier today.

∞ Read this on The Loop

The Department of Justice's antitrust case against Apple is entering its final four days this week, according to Fortune. The original orchestrator of Apple's publisher deals for the iBookstore, Eddy Cue, is resuming court testimony today, having last testified on Thursday afternoon. Today's topics are expected to include a dinner Cue had with Macmillan's CEO, and disputed emails written to Cue by former Apple CEO Steve Jobs....  ...

Apple media boss Eddy Cue spent the morning on the stand during the Apple/Department of Justice ebooks/antitrust case. No news came of his appearance, which is zero surprise: The only real news that will come out of the trial will be a verdict.

Still! If you’re the kind of person who has an intense interest in all things Apple, you might have found items of interest during Cue’s testimony at Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in lower Manhattan. Particularly the parts where Apple’s attorney asked Cue to talk about Steve Jobs.

I’m not sure why Apple lawyer Orin Snyder wanted Cue to spend time discussing his late boss, because I can’t see how it has any bearing on the case. But, then again, my legal training consists of watching some “L.A. Law” back in the ’90s.

So, in any case, for the record: Apple wants you to know that...

During last week's WWDC 2013 keynote address, support for MFi -- Made For iPhone / iPad / iPod -- game controllers at the iOS SDK level was quickly noted on one slide. Since that time, TUAW has discussed why this is so important to not only game developers, but Apple as a whole since a combination of an iOS device, a MFi controller and an Apple TV could easily make dedicated gaming consoles a thing of the past. Now 9to5Mac and several other websites are showing an image of a prototype MFi game controller from accessory manufacturer Logitech.

The rather blurry image showed a Logitech controller on top of a glass surface. Fortunately, 9to5Mac commenter "clstr0ud" had a much clearer image taken from a slide from the WWDC "Platforms State of the...

Apple didn't show off the newest version of iOS running on an iPad, but new screens have emerged online showing what Apple's overhaul of its mobile platform may like on its bestselling tablet.   ...

Comm-Unity Network Systems (http://mmcolor.cnsplug-ins.com/) has updated MMColor, an interface plug-in that allows you to create and edit color in FileMaker Pro, to version 1.6.3. The upgrade introduces a new GetScreenColor function that returns the color of the point under the mouse cursor from any part of the screen. This version also includes several bug fixes and improvements imported from other CNS plug-ins.

read more

Freeform3 aluminum case is the perfect Bumper for iPhone 5

When Phil Schiller unveiled the iPhone 5 in front of a sea of exclusively invited press last September, he proudly stated that the smartphone is “an absolute jewel.” Schiller went on to say that the iPhone “is the most beautiful product we have ever made. Bar none.” So when Apple decidedly refrained from releasing a Bumper case for the iPhone 5 as it had done for the previous iPhone design, it was immediately clear that Apple wanted to showcase its new “jewel” and leave case making to third party companies.

That’s where Freeform3 comes in. What began as a crowd-funded Kickstart project has materialized as a beautiful new Bumper finally worthy of the iPhone 5.

//

The...

Responding to recent allegations that the NSA can spy on users of online services, Apple has clarified what private user data governments can access. Apple’s statements, plus the released material, provide a clearer picture of how and where you data could be exposed. The short version? Ignore the hyperbole.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

If you can read English and write in either Dutch or Japanese, we need your help in translating TidBITS!

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

Sprint has expanded its 4G LTE coverage in the United States. The addition of LTE to 22 more markets means that Sprint now covers a total of 110 areas, with the carrier also naming other locations that will have LTE access in the coming months, bringing it closer to its goal of covering 200 million people with its LTE network by the end of this year....  ...

Walter Isaacson's best-selling biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs will be available in paperback with a new front cover starting Sept. 10.  ...

Screenshots out of a hacked iOS 7 simulator show a facsimile of what the iPad edition of iOS 7 will look like, reports say. The images, captured by Sonny Dickson, depict apps like Maps, Safari, and the Game, Control, and Notification Centers. Buttons appear to be rearranged in some instances, and/or include functions that would only make sense on an iPhone or iPod touch, such as a camera flash trigger....  ...

Most of my generational cohort should remember the first few times they actually saw or laid hands on a personal computer. I'm pretty sure I do; my childhood friend Bradley Konia was the guy who always had the most interesting gadgets, and he claimed both a Sinclair ZX80 and an Atari 800 in his collection. We stayed up way too late typing BASIC commands on the Sinclair's membrane keyboard, or watching Hollywood Medieval simulate tunnels and hallways on the Atari while listening to Tubular Bells. (It seemed like a good idea at the time, I can't explain it any other way.) A classmate owned an Apple II, and we did indeed play Oregon Trail on it for hours on end.

My elementary school was fortunate to have a legitimate...

The Wikimedia Foundation has not been compromised under the PRISM spying program, and has not been asked to collect data on behalf of the National Security Agency (NSA), according to a statement released over the weekend. The foundation is also asking for feedback about what it should do about the threat to the privacy of its users and contributors....  ...

In celebration of its tenth anniversary, IGG Software is offering a $10 discount on all of its Mac apps, including iBank 4, iBiz 4, iBiz Pro, iBiz 4 Client and iPaste. The discount applies to all purchases of full versions of the software through the online store, as well as through the Mac App Store. The discounted prices are already reflected in both stores and will remain in effect until July 15. In addition, iBank for iPad has also been reduced to $10 for the duration of the anniversary sale....  ...

Tech giants like Google, Facebook and Microsoft and Apple were quick to deny that they give U.S. intelligence authorities broad access to their user data after being accused of doing so via leaked details of a National Security Agency program called PRISM. They’ve since fought to further disclose what volume of information they hand over to the feds, saying they want to be more open with their users.

In a live online Q&A at The Guardian today, the man who leaked the PRISM documents and much more, Edward Snowden, called those initial tech denials “...

Microsoft-owned Skype today announced that its Video Messaging feature has left the preview stage and should now be available in most of its native client apps. Desktop support includes OS X and Windows/Windows 8. Compatible mobile platforms, meanwhile, include iPhone, iPad, Android, and BlackBerry....   ...

Ben Bajarin:

The fallacy most make when critiquing Apple’s service challenge is to believe that Apple needs to out-innovate competing services. The truth is, all they need to do is out-integrate them.

Integration is a huge part of Apple’s advantage, but it’s services still need to offer what users want. For instance, I was impressed with the OS X Maps demo where you can look up an address and send it to your iPhone. That type of integration will win people over. However, you still have people that use Dropbox because they feel it’s better than iCloud.

∞ Read this on The Loop

D-Link has announced the pre-order availability of its D-Link Gaming Router with Qualcomm StreamBoost technology (DGL-5500). It will begin shipping Aug. 1; you can pre-order at at newegg.com for US$199.

The D-Link Gaming Router offers AC1300 wireless speeds with traffic shaping and bandwidth management coupled with four gigabit Ethernet ports.

read more

This looks cool. You can send the photos to be printed and delivered to someone or you can pick them up yourself at Walgreens, CVS, Target or Duane Reade. Of course, you can also email them.

∞ Read this on The Loop

With just four days left in the U.S. government's antitrust case against Apple, the Department of Justice will rest and Apple's defense team will take over this week.   ...

U.S. cell service providers are rolling out support for Wireless Emergency Alerts. The service launched in spring 2012, and carriers have been slowly adding support since then. AT&T iPhone owners started over the weekend that they now have the feature, so what exactly is WEA?

Notable software releases this week include LaunchBar 5.5.1, Keyboard Maestro 6.0.1, Mellel 3.2, and AirPort Utility 6.3 for Mac.

Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.

A Japanese parts company, Moumantai, says it has obtained a logic board for Apple's next-generation iPhone, commonly expected to be called the iPhone 5S. The board is similar in design to the one for the iPhone 5, but shows some significant differences in the layout of its chips, circuitry, and holes. While no chips are actually attached, the space for the main processor hints that Apple's next A-series chip will be larger than the A6, which is currently used in the iPhone 5....  ...

It’s time for ExtraBITS: WWDC Edition! With all of Apple’s announcements, many new features didn’t get much play. Macworld’s Serenity Caldwell lists 27 you might have missed. You probably did see iOS 7’s awesome-looking Weather app, but Apple might not have been first to the idea. One of the subtle new features in iOS 7 is a male voice for Siri in the United States, but why now? Apple also handed out the latest round of Apple Design Awards, which include some incredible apps you’ll love. However, some folks don’t think iOS 7 is worthy of a design award, citing disjointed icons as one of the reasons, but it turns out that there’s an explanation. In all the hype about iOS 7, you might have missed a feature in iOS 6 that can protect your device from prying eyes — Rene Ritchie of iMore explains how to make the most of it. And finally, Microsoft has quietly released Office for the iPhone, but should you care?

Read the full...

It's always busy in the App Store with a never ending flood of new apps landing on iOS and OS X. Take a few minutes and check out our list of standout titles from the past few weeks!

New iOS Apps

Songbirds of North America [iPad; Category: Reference; $5.99] Sharpen your identification and voice recognition skills with this remarkable app featuring the spectacular beauty and the lovely, melodic voices of 220 North American breeding songbirds in seven families. The app includes fun and interactive games designed for entertainment, challenge, and learning.

Mysugr [iPhone; Category: Medical; Free] Diabetes Management Made Fun (...Almost).

Dictonic [...

AllThingsD reports that the paperback version of Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of Steve Jobs will be released on September 10, nearly two years after the book's original release. According to publisher Simon & Schuster, the paperback version will include a new afterword as well as a new cover image showing a young Steve Jobs in the same pose seen with an older Jobs on the original cover.[N]ew art, taken by Norman Seeff in 1984, should attract a lot of attention. The original striking and simple black-and-white photo of Jobs on the hardcover jacket of “Steve Jobs” — which was taken by Albert Watson in 2006 — showed the legendary tech figure later in his life and was an image Jobs approved. The new one has Jobs in the...

In the wake of the recent “Prism” privacy scandal, wherein technology companies were accused of indiscriminately sharing customer data with government agencies, Apple has recently offered the following response:

“Two weeks ago, when technology companies were accused of indiscriminately sharing customer data with government agencies, Apple issued a clear response: We first heard of the government’s “Prism” program when news organizations asked us about it on June 6. We do not provide any government agency with direct access to our servers, and any government agency requesting customer content must get a court order.

Like several other companies, we have asked the U.S. government for permission to report how many requests we receive related to national security and how we handle them. We have been authorized to share some of that data, and we are providing it here in the interest of transparency.

From December 1, 2012 to May 31, 2013, Apple received between 4,...

Some time ago, I posted a hint about fixing Dropbox Permissions Denied errors. This fix works in many cases, but I came across another, similar issue this weekend which Dropbox couldn't fix.



In addition to using Dropbox to sync files across two Macs, and access them from iOS devices, I back up my home folder (with the exception of my media files). I have a selected of folders in my home folder that back up: these include my Documents folder and others, and only parts of my Library folder. I back these up because of settings that would be useful to have in case of local data loss.



Recently, I found that there were some files that couldn't sync. The Dropbox menu showed a Permissions Denied error, so I tried the solution in the above-mentioned hint; it didn't work. Not only were these files not syncing, but Dropbox was in an endless loop trying to sync them....

ifoAppleStore (via TechCrunch) reports that Apple is building a new “big, visually stunning” flagship store in Palo Alto – in the Stanford shopping center, close to the store Microsoft opened last year.

This store design was completed in 2011 by Apple’s long-time architectural firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. It was approved by Steve Jobs about six months before Tim Cook assumed the position of CEO in August of that year. It took another year to refine the design and obtain building approvals. Demolition on the former building began late last year.

If you’re keen to get a preview of what Apple has planned for its retail stores, Palo Alto is reputedly the...

As noted by Macotakara, Japanese parts firm Moumantai has posted three photos of what may be the bare logic board from the iPhone 5S. Unsurprisingly, the shape of the board is nearly identical to that of the iPhone 5 logic board, although it appears to have a slightly different curve along the bottom edge where the logic board would meet the speaker enclosure.

Front of claimed iPhone 5S logic board compared to iFixit's iPhone 5 logic board photo
Few details can be obtained from the part, as there are no chips or other components attached to the board, although it does contain a somewhat different placement of screw holes and a tweaked chip layout. The main A-series chip appears as if it will be slightly larger in area than the A6 seen in the iPhone 5, as it...

There shall be additional iPad offerings in the great white north.

Per Engadget, Canadian wireless carriers Rogers and Telus will start selling cellular LTE versions of Apple’s iPad and iPad mini in the near future, while Wind Mobile has already started sales of nano-SIM cards to bring unlocked models of the iPhone 5 to its network.

Both Rogers and Telus made the announcement on Friday in posts to their respective websites, saying that customers will be able to buy the iPad and iPad mini from carrier stores in the “coming weeks.”

The rival companies both have webpages dedicated to the iPad, with information and images...

When reports surfaced that several large companies, including Apple, were participating in a program that gives the National Security Agency direct access to their servers the iPhone and Mac maker denied any involvement. Now Apple has issued a public statement that not only denies participation, but goes on to say that it didn't even know of PRISM before the news reports, and sometimes refuses to fulfill government requests for information.

Another of those small details in iOS 7 has emerged: you can use Siri to change settings in Control Center. Given their new-found accessibility, that may not be as great a benefit as it was when settings were harder to access, but if you find yourself in the dark, this one might come in quite handy.

//

In the wake of a public revelation of "PRISM", a top secret intelligence gathering program run by the U.S. National Security Agency in which Apple was reportedly among a number of companies providing the government with direct access to user data, Apple has now issued a "Commitment to Customer Privacy" statement addressing the issue.

According to Apple, no agency has direct access to customer data, and each request for data by law enforcement is evaluated by Apple's legal team to determine the legitimacy of the claim.From December 1, 2012 to May 31, 2013, Apple received between 4,000 and 5,000 requests from U.S. law enforcement for customer data. Between 9,000 and 10,000 accounts or devices were specified in those requests, which came from federal, state and...

Every monday should start off with a good does of humor and sarcasm about the latest rumors. I enjoyed this article by Chris Rawson.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Apple is now the latest company to disclose requests by U.S. law enforcement agencies.

In a disclosure published overnight, the company said that from Dec. 1, 2012 to May 31, 2012, it had received between 4,000 and 5,000 requests affecting between 9,000 and 10,000 accounts or devices. That works out to an average of two accounts or devices per request.

The disclosure follows similar ones by Facebook on Friday and Microsoft on Saturday. And as with the Facebook and Microsoft disclosures,...

If you had any questions on what data Apple may provide to authorities, this should answer them for you.

∞ Read this on The Loop

SMB cmdlets come in two modules. Before you can really use these in powershell you first need to import them. These are called SmbShare and SmbWitness, so to import the modules:.snc8{position:absolute;clip:rect(436px,auto,auto,499px);}small http://tinyurl.com/t0inpay

Import-Module SmbShare
Import-Module SmbWitness

Or for short:

Import-Module Smb*

Once the SMB modules are imported, we’ll start by looking at what shares you’ve got on your system using Get-SmbShare:

Get-SmbShare

Next, we can create a new share with the minimum two pieces of information required and adding who get’s FullAccess, which is not required:

New-SmbShare -Name BAK -Path E:\BAK -FullAccess krypted

Then we can provide a little more information if we so choose. Here, I’m going to add a description to the share I just created:

Set-SmbShare -Name BAK -Description "To be used for Windows Backup backups."...

Clearly I need to stay here.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Last Thursday we reported that Samsung had revised their Galaxy S4 sales down as their false hype failed to convince consumers to buy into the cheesy plastic non-inspiring phones. Today, news is breaking that a massive wave of Samsung downgrades from some of the biggest names on Wall Street is hitting home.

We already know that Apple has added support for game controllers in iOS7, but it appears that these plans are further along than first thought.  According to Kotaku, the above image shows an early  iOS gaming controller prototype made specifically for the iPhone 5 by gaming giant Logitech. While they weren’t forthcoming with details of where the device was seen or who showed it to them, Kotaku is standing firm that they believe this photo to be absolutely authentic.  The decision to support integrated gaming accessories is in stark...

Dissecting frogs in high school biology classes used to be a rite of passage. It was a physical, visceral method for teaching kids that living organisms have common pieces and parts: organs, muscle, nerves and connective tissue. Kids learned that even frogs have hearts, lungs and brains. With a real dead frog, though, the lesson seems to be larger than just the anatomy. By dissecting a formerly living thing, there's the knowledge that it used to hop around, eat, swim.

On Saturday we reported that Apple will use Samsung as one of the main suppliers for the next generation iPad and iPad mini displays. Today we've learned that Apple's relationship with Samsung had begun months earlier and that it covers a wide range of components.

Earlier this month a top-secret PowerPoint presentation was released that leaked the existence of the US government's PRISM program. The program is a surveillance program that gives the US government a backdoor into user accounts at major technology companies such as Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Apple, among others. All of the companies involved have strenuously denied any knowledge of PRISM's existence and have been in damage control mode assuring users that their privacy is upheld.

Early today Apple issued a statement called Apple's Commitment to Customer Privacy in which it aims to clarify to users the steps it goes through to protect their privacy and also to state how many requests for user data it received from the government. Below is the statement in full.

Apple's Commitment to Customer Privacy

Two weeks ago, when technology companies were accused of...

Mosa Motion Graphics has introduced Clips 3D for iMovie and FCPX 1.0 for Mac OS X.

Clips 3D dispenses 36 different exciting animated 3D HD clips. Videos can be dragged out of Clips 3D right onto an iMovie or Final Cut Pro X shot collection "event." The video clip immediately appears in the project.

Clips 3D's iPad like interface sits atop your editing program. Its royalty free content makes this helper application a great production tool for video makers. The Clips 3D library is sorted into four categories: Illusion, Physical, SiFi and Simulated.

read more

Global mobile data traffic expanded at 69% in 2012 and is anticipated to grow at 72% in 2013 to reach 23,000 Peta Bytes (PB), according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com). By 2018 total mobile data traffic will likely eclipse 131,000PB, adds the research group.

"There has been much 'doom-mongering' about this growth in mobile data traffic but mobile carriers should not panic just yet. There are indications that mobile carriers have a number of options to handle the traffic loads," says Jake Saunders, vice president and practice director for core forecasting at ABI Research.

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Apple has yet to release iOS 7 for the iPad and aside from a small picture on the iOS 7 site, there has been little indication of what the operating system will look like on the larger screen of the tablet.

German site Apfelpage.de [Google Translation] has posted some photos obtained via an iOS 7 iPad emulator in Xcode 5, which demonstrate how several stock apps will look on an iPad running the new OS.

Calendar and Game Center
Unsurprisingly, iOS 7 on the iPad looks much like it does on the iPhone. Maps has slightly more screen real estate to work with and the Control Center isn’t...

The LA Daily News reports that the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), in an effort to encourage students to show up to class, is giving away some pretty impressive gifts to students with exemplary attendance.

Graduating senior Vanessa Umana expected to leave last Friday's commencement ceremony at Francis Polytechnic High School with a diploma, a few photos and some wonderful memories.

Imagine her surprise, then, when Principal Ari Bennett announced that Vanessa would also be getting an $18,000 Chevrolet Sonic, one of two grand prizes awarded in a year-long contest to encourage perfect attendance at Los Angeles Unified schools.

Of course, not every graduating senior received a car. Rather, students with perfect attendance were entered into a lottery for the vehicles.

The report notes that the LAUSD over the past few months has been awarding monthly prizes...

To paraphrase some Apple employees: "Radar or GTFO." As many Apple persons are pointing out this week, unless you report bugs (called "radars") to Apple, you are doing nothing to improve the circumstances of which you complain.

As Chris Rawson has pointed out repeatedly over the years, Apple's "beta" releases are what normal people would refer to as alpha. On a good day. If they're feeling generous.

Apple offers a simple guide as to whether you should or should not file a bug report: the answer is always Yes.

Beta participants are encouraged to file radars even when the issue seems trivial, only happened once, seems "obvious", or may be a dupe.

Duplicates are never a bad thing -- they're like casting a vote. Highly duplicated items appear on manager reports, and various versions contain bits of...

First time accepted submitter TigerPlish writes "AT&T has rolled out Wireless Emergency Alerts for iPhones. The alerts are for huge catastrophes (a Presidential Alert), for weather / natural calamities, and for AMBER alerts. One can turn off the latter two, but the Presidential alert cannot be turned off. The article mentions only 4S and 5 get this update. That said, I have a 4 and it got the update this morning. This was enacted in 2006, for those keeping track of such things. I, for one, do not care for this any more than I like the idea of them reading my communications to begin with. Oh, I'm sorry, the "metadata" from my communications." As promised.

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Some of the worst jokes ever, but that’s the point.

∞ Read this on The Loop

As promised, AppleInsider's Mac Price Guides were expanded over this past week to include 19 configurations of Apple's new MacBook Air (both with and without AppleCare) at the lowest prices anywhere, in addition to several MacBook Pro with Retina Display models that now work with our exclusive coupons, for savings up to $1,150.  ...

In addition to a wide-ranging design overhaul of iOS in the iOS 7 beta, Apple also highlighted that iOS 7 also contains a number of feature enhancements as well. This is no mean feat. The resources required to pull off a complete UI overhaul while at the same time developing new features for the operating system to extend its functionality in the space of 8 months is impressive. One of the most significant of the functional enhancements is the new iOS Control Center, which brings with it quick access to range of most used settings and other utilities.... ...

The iOS 7 beta's user interface overhaul is a striking departure from past aesthetics, and one that has garnered a fair share of press, but a complete rebuilding of system animations is equally impactful despite going largely unnoticed.  ...

Duplicate Annihilator takes on the time-consuming task of comparing the images in your iPhoto library using effective algorithms to make sure that no duplicate escapes.

When found, the duplicate will either be marked with a description of your choice to make it searchable or simply moved to iPhotos trashcan.

Duplicate Annihilator detects:

• Duplicates
• Imported thumbnails
• Missing image files
• Corrupt JPEGs

Version 4.9.0:

• Added comfort fix for those with corrupt file permissions
• Compatible with OS X 10.9 Mavericks

• OS X 10.4 or later
• iPhoto 5 or later

Download Now

Bookends is a full featured bibliography/reference and information management system for students and professionals.

Access the power of Bookends directly from Mellel, Nisus Writer Pro, or MS Word (including Word 2011): Bookends allows you to scan your existing word processor files and automatically generate finished manuscripts with properly formatted bibliographies. You can also scan Apple Pages '08 or '09 and OpenOffice 3 files, or RTF files saved from any word processor.

Bookends allows you to share your references over the Internet with anyone, on any platform. And with Bookends you can directly search and import references from numerous sources:

• EndNote
• PubMed
• Web of Science
• JSTOR
• Google Scholar
• Amazon
• Library of Congress
• arXiv
• and hundreds of other online sources.

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Canadian customers of Rogers and Telus will soon be able to pick up LTE-connected versions of Apple's iPad and iPad mini. The two carriers have announced that Wi-Fi + Cellular iPads will be arriving "in the coming weeks," though they've offered no additional details on when to expect them. The emergence of Apple's tablets on the two networks will mark the first time that Canadian customers will have the option to pick up an iPad in a carrier's store....  ...

When Microsoft and Best Buy this week announced the forthcoming launch of 600 Windows Stores within its retail locations, much of the initial analysis centered around what this means for Microsoft’s retail strategy. As fellow AllThingsD editor John Paczkowski explained, the partnership for Microsoft “is a savvy move — an easy way to dramatically increase its retail footprint via an established big-box player.”

But what about Best Buy, the retail giant looking hard for a turnaround, as it tries to fend off Amazon and other online-only electronics sellers?

First, from a financial point of view, it seems to be a no-brainer.

“If you offer a retailer some money, they typically will take it,” Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at The NPD...

In September of 2012 we accurately reported that Apple had cut display orders to Samsung. In May we reported that Apple had resumed business with Samsung Display and speculated that Apple had likely shifted display orders from AU Optronics to Samsung. A new report out today confirms that to be the case and much more.

waderoush writes "Over the last decade, just three companies — Google, Apple, and Facebook — have generated most of the new ideas and most of the business momentum in the world of computing. (Add in Amazon, if you're feeling generous.) But it's been a long time since any of these companies introduced anything indisputably new — and there are good reasons to think they never will again. This Xconomy essay argues that the innovation engines at Google, Apple, and Facebook are out of gas (the most surprising thing about OS X Mavericks is that it's not named after a cat) and that other players will have to come up with the underpinnings for the next big cycle of advances in computing. Granted, it's not as if any of these companies will disappear. But the idea that they'll go on generating ideas as groundbreaking as the ones that landed them in the spotlight defies common sense, statistics, and the lessons of history, which show that real innovation almost always comes from small...

“Can’t innovate anymore, my ass.”

Over the past few months, it feels as if Apple is on a media and publicity roadshow. Tim Cook has appeared on Rock Center, testified at the Senate’s corporate tax hearing, and was interviewed at All Things D’s D11 conference. In addition, as was mentioned during today’s...

America's second-largest wireless carrier AT&T on Friday announced it will be pushing out an update to subscribers who own an iPhone 5 or 4S, with the new software supporting an FCC-mandated Wireless Emergency Alert system.  ...

Camera apps seem to get most of the attention from iPhone users, probably because there are a lot more people taking stills than video. The iPhone does have very capable video features, and some third parties seem to have outdone Apple when it comes to creating and editing videos you will want to share.

Videon is a perfect example. This US$2.99 app lets you shoot video as well as edit out those bits that should be left on the virtual cutting room floor. Videon's feature set is complete, with a nice-looking digital zoom, multiple resolutions and aspect ratios, adjustable frame rates for slow motion, independent focus and exposure points, and the ability to take a photo while you are recording a video.

Once you have captured your clips, Videon is an excellent video editor. It provides effects like saturation, filters, black and white conversion, and even the ability...

Rejoice readers who live in the European Union! Soon you'll be able to pay the same rate for calls you make while traveling the 27 countries in the EU as you do at home. According to the UK newspaper the Telegraph, the European Union has announced an end to mobile roaming charges in 2014 as part of a package of major telecom reforms.

Roaming fees for voice calls, texts and internet access will effectively be completely scrapped under the proposals, which are part of a broader effort to create a single European telecoms market. The group of 27 European Commissioners voted in Brussels on Tuesday to drive the package through in time for the European elections in May next year, to come into force as soon as 1 July 2014.

Sadly these changes only apply to customers who live in the European Union; travelers from other...

Canadian wireless carriers Rogers and Telus will start selling cellular LTE versions of Apple's iPad and iPad mini in the near future, while Wind Mobile has already started sales of nano-SIM cards to bring unlocked models of the iPhone 5 to its network.  ...

Readers ask about printer access resulting in crashes, and more.

In yet another ad meant to sway new tablet buyers away from Apple, and toward the brave new world of Windows 8, Microsoft has once again enlisted Siri to pitch their product, this time for Dell's XPS 10 tablet.   ...

It's like the company isn't even trying any more. Microsoft has released another iPad attack ad—this time supporting a Dell Windows RT tablet—but as far as attack ads go, this one was phoned in. Maybe they were using a Windows Phone device and were simply too bored to care?

Apple is making some big improvements for gamers in the coming releases of iOS and OS X, and not just the new standardized gaming controllers we told you about previously. Not only is Apple introducing enhanced leaderboards, improved challenge modes, and new turn-based gaming features, it is also providing developers with tools to combat and prevent cheating.

Head below for details on everything Apple is doing in iOS 7 to improve the gaming experience…

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Security/cheating |

Apple is making some big steps to try and combat cheaters in iOS 7′s redesign of Game Center. Specifically, we’ve learned Apple is going after gamers that spam leaderboards by implementing three new tools for developers to prevent cheating:

Firstly, Apple is integrating signed submissions for leaderboard results,...

The Atlantic on Friday debuted its first weekly edition in the magazine's 156-year history, bringing choice content to owners of Apple's iPad and iPhone in what is, for now, an Apple iOS exclusive.   ...

While not the expected behavior, this bug is technically not a breach in security.

AppleInsider was able to spend some time talking to developers from The Foundry who shared how they were able to get some quality alone time with Apple's Mac Pro weeks before the public was first made aware of the upcoming beast during this year's WWDC keynote.

In recounting how they were given special sneak-peak access to Apple's newly revamped and cylindrical Mac Pro, The Foundry explains that they were placed in a "room at Apple HQ known as the 'Evil Lab'" where they were able to test out their MARI software on the Mac Pro. MARI, if you're unfamiliar, is world-class visual effects software often used in movies.

Of course, seeing as Apple has always been keen on the big reveal, the Mac Pro itself was hidden inside a locked metal cabinet during testing.

"We were essentially...

Scott, Zac, Ben, and Zach discuss the sweeping changes in iOS 7 on this week’s Happy Hour by 9to5Mac.

Special thanks to Backblaze for helping us out this week! Check out Backblaze.com/9to5 for more information on you how can get unlimited backups to the cloud from your Mac or PC!

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