Guide to Mac, iPod, iPad and iPhone news and reviews
Here are some of the best free apps, app updates and new apps that have landed in the App Store recently. All app prices are USD and subject to change. Some deals may expire quickly, so grab them while you can.
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It’s the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You’ll get some the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what’s happening in the Apple world.
You can listen to today’s…
The iWatch team has reportedly been filling out lately, with several recent hires brought on to the rumored team to help bring the device to market. In a new report, two new names have been added to the pool, noteworthy for where they have been brought over from.
As several big companies are gearing up for entry into the home automation market, a smaller company may end up beating them to the punch. Wink, a company that originates from the crowdsourcing inventor hub Quirky, has partnered with several big names …
Ride-sharing service Lyft has revealed that it intends to start operating in the outer boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens as initial launch markets in New York City. Calling the areas “vastly underserved by public transit options,” the service launches on…
Drobo’s products have come a long way over the years. The company started with a 4-bay BeyondRAID array with a FireWire connection that was sold in one form or another for quite a few years, and has expanded the product line with everything from the…
Apple has been attempting to distance itself from Google for some time now, and the latest service destined to be cut appears to be the maps for the iCloud version of Find My iPhone. Google has always provided the maps for the service until now, but iP…
Earlier this year, Nike significantly downsized its FuelBand team, firing several members of the 80-person team that worked to create its well-known fitness tracker as part of a shift from hardware to software. Apple snapped up two of the former Fuel…
iOS 8 is right around the corner, for the general consumer. For developers and people that have access to Apple’s developer portal, the third beta has been available for a little bit of time now. And with it, plenty of new features. Plus, you can interact with the new Siri.
As hard as may be to believe in these days of rampant iPhone thefts, sometimes lost iPhones make their way back to their owners through sheer human goodness alone. Take the case of Kevin Whitney, a farmer in Chickasha, Oklahoma. As Gizmodo reports, Whitney lost his phone in a grain pit last October and he got it back after it made its way to the other side of the world.
Whitney accidentally dropped his phone in the grain pit, and gave it up for lost after it shot up into a container with 280,000 pounds of grain soon after. Nine months later, he got a call from a grain worker in Japan asking if he’d lost a phone inside 2 million bushels of grain sorghum.
“It’s crazy — I can’t believe it,” Whitney said in an interview with KFOR, a news channel in Oklahoma City. “What really shocked me about it all was what a small world it is. There a lot of a lot of meaningful pictures on it so we are real glad to get the phone back.”
The phone’s total trip included a drive from his farm to a facility in Inola, Oklahoma, where it then traveled by barge down the Arkansas River and down the Mississippi. The grain was then loaded on a ship in Covent, Louisiana, after which it traveled through the Panama Canal and made its way to Kashima, Japan.
And it still worked, too, which is just as much a testament to the quality of the conditions grain is shipped in as the quality of the phone itself. There wasn’t a scratch on it, Whitney said, and all of his beloved photos were still accessible.
Follow this article’s writer, Leif Johnson, on Twitter.
This photo is funny for two reasons: first, if you listen to Wall Street analysts, Apple has been doomed for many years, and still is. And second, that obnoxious PowerCD system was indeed born at a time when Apple’s then-current path was leading them…
As promised at the end of June, Apple has released a major update of iTunes U, v2.0. On the iPad, teachers can now create and manage courses entirely on their own, including assignments, outlines, and other course materials. Custom content can be added…
Avatron’s new Air Stylus (US$19.99) app transforms third generation or newer iPads into pressure-sensitive drawing surfaces compatible with desktop graphic design apps.
The app is an outgrowth of Avatron’s Air Display app. Air Display extends your…
“Ask TUAW Live” will air today, Tuesday, July 8, 2014 at 5:00 PM EDT. You can check here for showtimes in your area. We’re taking your questions now via the Ask TUAW feedback form, Twitter, Facebook or Google+.
To watch the live feed and participate…
It’s time to save some of that hard-earned cash with our Daily Deals, featuring exclusive TUAW Deals, a handy list from Dealnews and our own handpicked iOS and OS X selections. All prices are USD and subject to change. Some deals may expire quickly….
Apple today launched a new version of its iTunes U app, adding several new iPad-related features designed to make it easier for both students and teachers to use the iPad for online courses. Apple first announced plans to update iTunes U in late June. …