Tension Software (www.tensionsoftware.com) has updated Data Creator, a Mac OS X tool that can create sample tables (rows and columns) fill them with pseudo-random proper content (rows of content) with a single click, to version 1.2. The upgrade offers two new export format for web developers: HTML table and HTML full page
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Zevrix (http://www.zevrix.com) has updated PDF Checkpoint, an automated PDF preflighting and conversion solution, to version 1.5. The new version offers improvements such as new image parsing engine, spot color detection, enhanced PDF viewer, detailed page dimensions info, improved reporting and more.
PDF Checkpoint lets users review and analyze preflight results. The program is equally suitable to process hundreds of files as well as single PDF documents.
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TLA Systems has rolled out a new release of PCalc, their 20-year-old scientific calculator for the Mac. Version 3.9 is available now on the Mac App Store, and also as a direct download from pcalc.com.
The biggest change in 3.9 is support for the user constants, conversions, and functions created by the latest version of PCalc on iOS. You can import them from the iOS version, and they will sync across all your devices -- iOS and OS X -- automatically via iCloud. You can also create and edit an unlimited number of user constants using the Mac version, and those will sync across too.
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Intel, who originally developed Thunderbolt networking technology with the help of Apple (which made it a standard feature on most current Mac products) has revealed that the name of the improved version of Thunderbolt -- originally known by its codename, Falcon Ridge -- is to be simply "Thunderbolt 2." The improved version, which offers roughly a doubling of existing (and still under-utilized) Thunderbolt speeds, will enter the market early next year and offers both sufficient bandwidth for raw 4K video transfer as well as backward compatibility with existing cables and connectors.... ...

As the Moscone Center prepares for the capacity crowd to arrive for Apple's sold-out Worldwide Developers Conference next week, an early clue to the tone and tenor of the convention often comes in the form of the logo and banners put up in preparation for the event. This year, as compared to some previous years, fewer hints have been revealed with this year's decorations so far, but the conference is still a number of days away. A few photos (seen below) have appeared showing off the initial banners, with the conference tagline revealed: "Where a whole new world is developing."... ...

Mellel is the leading word processor for Mac OS X, and has been widely considered the industry standard since its inception. Mellel focuses on writers, scholars, technical writing and multilingual word processing. Offering special tools to help you write and organize long documents easily. If you need multilingual support or are writing bi-directional text, Mellel is just the thing for you. Arabic, Persian, Hebrew and Syriac never looked better on a Mac. Even if you don't need all the bells and whistles Mellel is still the right choice for you: clean, stable, and easy to use.Version 3.2.0:

• Full Retina support
• Hyperlinks: adding links to web pages, to email and to files on your disk
• Exporting hyperlinks: you can export hyperlinks as live links to PDF, RTF, and Word format
• Find Hyperlinks: in the text
• Pasted text with links will maintain the links
• Various improvements and new features making switching between...

The U.S. International Trade Commission today reached a decision [PDF] in the ongoing Apple vs. Samsung case, ruling that Apple infringed on Samsung Patent No. 7,706,348, titled “Apparatus and method for encoding/decoding transport format combination indicator in CDMA mobile communication system.”

It’s important to note that any sales ban that comes from this ruling will only affect older iPhone models. The iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 and future models will not be held up with this decision.
∞ Read this on The Loop

Cannon Security Products has unveiled the RadioVault -- a dual-purpose biometric access safe and iOS device 30-pin dock with integrated radio alarm clock. The hidden security door is reinforced with steel, and disguised to look like speakers. Once the user scans a valid fingerprint along the biometric scanner, the spring-loaded drawer pops open to reveal a storage space that is 9.5 inches long, 6.75 inches wide and 1.75 inches deep....  ...

USB flash drives are usually a yawner, something that is more of a giveaway item (at least to the press) at trade shows than something that deserves a blogger's attention. However, LaCie has introduced the XtremKey USB 3.0 flash drive in 32 GB (US$84.99) and 64 GB ($139.99) versions, and it's definitely worth your time to read about this ruggedized flash drive.

Design and Functionality

The XtremKey can handle just about anything you throw at it. In the video embedded at the bottom of this post, LaCie puts one to the test in a deep-fat fryer (along with some tasty sweet potato fries!), dipped in a bottle of liquid nitrogen, immersed in burning alcohol, placed under a steamroller on asphalt, and hacked with a machete. If it can put up with this and still keep your data safe with AES 256-bit encryption, it's definitely going to survive a ride in your pocket with your keys. You can take the XtremKey scuba...

Honk Kong-based onandoff announced a cool stand for iPad called The Dock Minimal. This device offers a small footprint and can hold your iPad (or other tablet) in 20 different positions. The image below shows the device from the front and back, but if you click through to the company's website, you'll find images of the device being used horizontally, too. The device includes a pass-through for your dock cable, too. It works with all iPads, iPad Mini, Kindle, Samsung and Nexus tablets/e-book readers, and it's priced at $39.95.

Testimony on the second day of Apple's trial as a defendent against the US Department of Justice on allegations of conspiracy to raise book prices appears to have gone reasonably well for the Cupertino-based electronics giant, with some mixed but friendly testimony from Penguin Group USA CEO David Shanks. Though he admitted that it was "irrational enthusiasm" for the potential 80-100 million strong customer base Apple had at the time that led Penguin to accede to many of Apple's terms during negotiations over its contract, he also defended some aspects of Apple's role.... ...

MacRumors is reporting that Apple this week began repairing iPhone 5 screens in its retail stores for $149. The move is significant not only because Apple retail stores are prevalent and easy to find, but also because the price point isn't outrageous. In fact, you might even say that it's a bargain.

A few weeks ago we reported on the rising cost of iPhone 5 screen repairs, with Apple sometimes charging as much as $229 to repair a broken iPhone 5 screen. Some third-party companies have even been known to charge more than that. Driving the atypically high repair costs is the fact that the iPhone 5 utilizes more expensive display components than previous iPhone models

Changes to Apple's repair policies first surfaced last month, where a town hall session revealed that Apple...

Apple has started installing banners for next week's World Wide Developer Conference, featuring brightly colored squares and the tagline "Where a whole new world is developing."  ...

The App Camp for Girls is a recently unveiled Indiegogo project that's designed to provide support for young girls interested in putting together iPhone and mobile apps. The camp itself is planned for a run in Portland later this year, and will allow girls to go through all of the steps of putting an app together, including brainstorming ideas, building out storyboards and putting the app together in Xcode, and then even pitching their finals apps to a panel of investors.

The project is seeking about $50,000, which isn't cheap, but will provide for all of the hardware, software, and (wo)manpower needed to keep the App Camp rolling. TUAW's very own Kelly Guimont is serving as a volunteer organizer on the project, and we're proud, as a site, to serve as a media sponsor.

Despite all of the improvements made over the last few years, there is still a major gender imbalance when it comes to app and...

Apple infringed a Samsung Electronics patent, the U.S. International Trade Commission said in a final judgment released Tuesday that bans import into the U.S. of certain AT&T iPhone and iPad models.

The patent involves 3G wireless technology used to transmit multiple services simultaneously and is necessary for device interoperability. The ITC found that Samsung did not prove that three other of its patents were violated by Apple.

The full panel of ITC commissioners reviewed a decision by ITC Judge James Gildea, who had found that Apple did not infringe four Samsung patents in a decision released in September. Commissioner Dean Pinkert dissented in the 4-1 ruling that found Apple in violation of one patent in the dispute. The ITC began an investigation on Aug. 1, 2011, after Samsung filed a complaint against Apple in what has been a multiple-pronged legal battle involving courts around the world.

The import ban, or “exclusion order” as it is officially...

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all 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 Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here.

No Flash? Click here to listen.

Subscribe via RSSDaily Update for June 4, 2013 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 04 Jun 2013 18:45:00 EST. Please see our...

Samsung has won an import ban from the U.S. International Trade Commission. On Tuesday, the ITC announced the import ban for the iPhone 4 for AT&T, T-Mobile and some regional carriers, as well as the iPad 2 with Wi-Fi +3G for the same networks. The ITC found that the two Apple devices infringed on a Samsung patent.

Once again the ugly patent battles between Apple and Samsung have come to a head, only this time it's Samsung enjoying a victory. According to Reuters and Bloomberg, the International Trade Commission has issued an order to Apple to stop importing AT&T models of the iPad 3G, iPad 2 3G, iPhone 4, 3GS and 3. While newer models of the iPhone and iPad no longer use the tech the ITC says is infringing (mostly iDevices with Qualcomm chips), this ban is final and can only be negated by the White House or challenged and overturned in a Federal circuit court. The ITC ruling is here in PDF form.

FOSS patents has a good breakdown of this case, noting that the...

Adobe on Tuesday announced a special $30 discount for Father's Day applicable to Photoshop Elements 11, Premiere Elements 11, and a Photoshop and Premiere Elements 11 bundle.   ...

Google has just released a redesigned Gmail app for iOS that takes the already powerful email tool and supercharges it. The main feature that will have Gmail users singing its praises is support for Google's auto-categorization feature. By activating auto-categorization in your email account Gmail will sort your messages by updates, social media, newsletters, and your primary feed. Users can then access their categories via the app's slide-out sidebar.

The update also comes with an improved notification system, allowing you to select which categories you receive notifications from. If you subscribe to a lot of newsletters, or haven't turned off email social media notifications, this feature will help keep whats important infront of you while cutting down on superfluous noise.

In-app actions have also been vastly improved. You can now respond to Google Calendar invites, interactive Google+ posts, and open...

You’ve been waiting for it and it’s here.
On Wednesday, Apple released version 10.8.4 of its OS X Mountain Lion operating system. The new version, a 342 megabyte download, offers the following fixes and changes:
- Compatibility improvements when connecting to certain enterprise Wi-Fi networks.
- Microsoft Exchange compatibility improvements in Calendar.
- A fix for an issue that prevented FaceTime calls to non-U.S. phone numbers.
- A fix for an issue that may prevent scheduled sleep after using Boot Camp.
- Improved VoiceOver compatibility with text in PDF documents.
- Includes Safari 6.0.5.
OS X 10.8.4 requires an Intel-based Mac running OS X 10.8 to install and run, the update itself being attainable by using OS X’s Software Update...

[Updated with Apple and Samsung statements on the ruling] Despite finding in September that Apple had not violated Samsung's patent rights and that Samsung didn't have a "domestic industry" that utilized the patents in dispute, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) has nonetheless issued a limited ban on older iOS products that utilize a disputed SEP Samsung patent in a surprise ruling on Tuesday. The ban reflects an apparent change in the "domestic industry" portion of the finding, which would normally shield Apple from import bans. The ruling primarily affects the iPhone 4 as sold by A... ...

Apple has begun decorating the Moscone Center ahead of its Worldwide Developers Conference next week. 9to5Mac has posted one image of a banner inside the building featuring the tagline 'Where a whole new world's developing'. The banner users the same color scheme as the WWDC invitations sent out in April. MacStories has also shared an picture of workers installing WWDC graphics on the outside of Moscone. Workers will continue installing imagery throughout the day and readers are encouraged to send in their pictures of the installation to tips@macrumors.com Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories •...

Mountain Lion Cache Cleaner is an award-winning general purpose tool for OS X. MLCC makes system maintenance simple with an easy point-and-click interface to many OS X functions. Novice and expert users alike will appreciate the powerful toolset MLCC provides. Mountain Lion Cache Cleaner is one of the world's leading maintenance tools, with millions of downloads around the globe. Maintenance Mountain Lion Cache Cleaner is a one-stop solution for all of your OS X maintenance needs. Intel or PPC, Tiger or Mountain Lion, MLCC has the tools to keep your system running at its best. MLCC Documents and the MLCC Engine maintain system health by providing full automation of common maintenance chores, including virus scanning of Internet downloads. The MLCC Engine can even repair permissions automatically after software installations. With the MLCC Engine, powerful system maintenance and antivirus can be completely transparent or as close as your menu bar....

Even though eyes are on next week’s Worldwide Developers Conference, which is rumored to usher in the next major update to OS X, Apple hasn’t stopped supporting its current version. The company on Tuesday released Mac OS X 10.8.4, bringing numerous fixes and improvements.

Among the changes in the latest Mountain Lion update are improved compatibility with certain enterprise Wi-Fi networks, better Microsoft Exchange compatibility in Calendar, a fix for issues with FaceTime calls to non-U.S. phone numbers, and—to cries of joy heard round the world—a solution for an issue where iMessages might show up up out of order in Messages.

A new version of Safari, 6.0.5, is included in the download as well; Apple says it improves stability for some websites with chat features and games. (Not that anybody uses the Web for chatting or playing games, right?)

Additionally, Calendar birthdays should no longer appear incorrectly in certain time zones, VoiceOver compatibility for...

Once in a while there's an incremental OS X update with a ton of bug fixes. This is one of them. Check out the list for 10.8.4:

• Compatibility improvements when connecting to certain enterprise Wi-Fi networks
• Microsoft Exchange compatibility improvements in Calendar
• A fix for an issue that prevented FaceTime calls to non-U.S. phone numbers
• A fix for an issue that may prevent scheduled sleep after using Boot Camp
• Improves VoiceOver compatibility with text in PDF documents
• Includes Safari 6.0.5, which improves stability for some websites with chat features and games
• A fix for an issue that may cause iMessages to display out of order in Messages
• Resolves an issue in which Calendars Birthdays may appear incorrectly in certain time zones
• A fix for an issue that may prevent the desktop background picture from being...

The U.S. International Trade Commission today reached a decision [PDF] in the ongoing Apple vs. Samsung case, ruling that Apple infringed on Samsung Patent No. 7,706,348, titled "Apparatus and method for encoding/decoding transport format combination indicator in CDMA mobile communication system." The ITC has also issued a preliminary cease and desist order that prohibits the sale and distribution in the U.S. of older Apple products that infringe on specific claims (75–76 and 82–84) of the '348 patent, which includes AT&T models of the iPhone 4 and 3GS, the iPad 3G and the iPad 2 3G.Under the modified constructions, the Commission has determined that Samsung has proven that the accused iPhone 4 (AT&T models); iPhone 3GS (AT&T models); iPhone 3 (AT&T models); iPad 3G (AT&T models); and iPad 2 3G (AT&T models)...

The U.S. International Trade Commission on Tuesday issued a limited U.S. import ban of older iPhone and iPad models after the body determined Apple had infringed on certain standard essential 3G wireless patents owned by Samsung.  ...

Apple has released a completed v10.8.4 update for OS X Mountain Lion. The release solves numerous issues, such as compatibility problems when connecting to enterprise Wi-Fi networks, and support for Microsoft Exchange in Calendar. FaceTime calls should now properly connect to non-US phone numbers, and Macs should go to sleep after using Boot Camp....   ...

OS X has been updated with lots of fixes. The download is available in the Mac App Store — just check for updates.
∞ Read this on The Loop

By: ogminloApple released an update to OS X Mountain Lion today, version 10.8.4. Among the release notes are the resolution of an Xsan issue and some other file sharing and directory services issues:

• A fix for an issue that may prevent documents from being saved to a server using SMB
• Addresses an issue that may prevent certain files from opening after copied to a volume named “Home"
• A fix for an issue that may prevent changes to files made over NFS from displaying
• Resolves an issue saving files to an Xsan volume from certain applications
• Improves Active Directory log-in performance, especially for cached accounts or when using a .local domain
• Improves OpenDirectory data replication
• Improves 802.1X compatibility with ActiveDirectory networks
• Improves compatibility when using mobile accounts

There are also new 2013-02 Security Updates for Lion...

Google’s Chrome (free) has been updated to version 27.0.1453.10. Voice search has been improved in the update, as the app now features faster voice recognition, with text results streamed on the fly. Answers are now spoken back to users, and web results are tailored to questions. Pages also reload…

Numbered footnotes are a print convention that may become cultural artifacts in the age of digital interactive text. But that may not be a completely good thing. 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.

Apple OS X Mountain Lion is the latest release of the world's most advanced desktop operating system. Mountain Lion includes over 200 new features to update your Mac into the best computing experience yet. With the new Messages app you can send text, photos, videos, contacts, Web links, and documents to anyone using another Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch -- you can even start a conversation on one device and continue it on another. The new Share button makes it easy to share files, Web pages, photos, and videos, as well as tweet right from the app you are using. With the Reminders app you can create to-do lists and alerts that appear in the new Notification Center. With Notes you can write down all your ideas and even speak your words with voice dictation. Play head to head games on your Mac with friends on their Macs or iOS devices with Game Center. And with iCloud built in, it's simple to keep all your mail, contacts, calendars, reminders, notes, to do lists,...

Developers viewing their applications on Apple's official site on Tuesday were surprised to find that their icons are now being displayed with square edges, rather than the usual rounded corners.  ...

Apple has released a v10.8.4 update for OS X Mountain Lion. More details soon.    

Following a lengthy developer beta period, Apple has released OS X 10.8.4 for all Mac users. The update is available via the Mac App Store Software Update function:
The OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.4 Update is recommended for all OS X Mountain Lion users and includes features and fixes that improve the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including the following:

• Compatibility improvements when connecting to certain enterprise Wi-Fi networks
• Microsoft Exchange compatibility improvements in Calendar
• A fix for an issue that prevented FaceTime calls to non-U.S. phone numbers
• A fix for an issue that may prevent scheduled sleep after using Boot...

Learn how to allow quick logins for .local Active Directory users who are off the Active Directory network (mobile) in OS X Mountain Lion.

This document describes the security content of OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.4 and Security Update 2013-002, which can be downloaded and installed via Software Update preferences, or from Apple Downloads.

The promise of magazine heaven on the Apple iPad has not yet been fulfilled. As publishers with varying degrees of cash, technical expertise and perspective have entered the digital magazine market, the technology has splintered. John Martellaro shares his own experiences with an all digital magazine life.

Apple just released the OS X 10.8.4 update via Software Update. Includes fixes to Wi-Fi-networks, FaceTime, Exchange Calendar, and adds Safari 6.0.5.

PCalc is a fully featured scriptable scientific calculator with support for hexadecimal, octal and binary calculations, as well as an RPN mode, programmable functions, and an extensive set of unit conversions. A Dashboard Widget is included with the main application.Version 3.9:

• PCalc on the Mac now supports the user functions, conversions, and constants created by the iOS version.
• You can now create an unlimited number of your own user constants.
• Updated built-in scientific constants to the 2010 values from CODATA.
• Added constant functions in algebraic mode - press equals to repeat the last calculation, or enter a new value and then press equals.
• Added an option to set the upper value where scientific notation display starts.
• Added an option to hide the button tool tips.
• Now show unit symbols for constants in the menu tool tips.
• Now warn before resetting all the keyboard shortcuts to defaults...

According to a new Gartner report, worldwide mobile payment transaction values will reach $235.4 billion in 2013, a 44 percent increase from 2012 values of $163.1 billion, according to Gartner, Inc. The number of mobile payment users worldwide will reach 245.2 million in 2013, up from 200.8 million in 2012. Yet with all of this positive news, the electronic wallet revolution is nowhere to be found. One thing is for sure, NFC doesn't appear to be the solution in getting the electronic wallet off the ground.

In an effort to sell television studios on his company's forthcoming Xbox One game console and media center, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer personally paid a visit to Hollywood last week.  ...

This week at Apple's online store save up to 33 percent on the refurbished iPod models. The refurbished 16GB iPod nano is available in yellow, silver, slate, green, purple, blue, and pink and has seen a $50 discount to $99. Currently 4th generation iPod touch models start at $129 for the 8GB configuration, and are $149, $179, and $229 for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models respectively....   ...

Market research firm comScore on Tuesday released results of its latest research into smartphone market share in the United States. The results showed that Apple is leading and growing faster than its competition, including Samsung.

...

As promised late last month, Google has updated the iOS Gmail app to use a new inbox format. Email can now optionally be grouped into broad categories, such as Updates and Social. The most important messages are pushed into a Primary category, which is the default view in iOS. Enabling categories requires going to Gmail.com....   ...

One of the biggest parts to making a song sound good is having an experienced engineer to mix and master your work. It’s great to see professionals get together and give indie artists a way to afford to have their songs sound top notch.
∞ Read this on The Loop

President Obama has today announced a set of executive actions directed at cracking down on patent-holding firms that interfere with competition and abuse the patent system, reports The Wall Street Journal. Many technology companies, such as Apple, have dealt with multiple lawsuits from so-called "patent trolls," which aim to make money through licensing fees.Mr. Obama's actions, which include measures he wants Congress to consider, are intended to target firms that have forced technology companies, financial institutions and others into costly litigation to protect their products. These patent-holding firms amass portfolios of patents more to pursue licensing fees than to build new products. The firms say they are doing nothing wrong, just using patents that were legally granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. They say they promote a fair market by protecting smaller...

.
Flexibits, makers of the popular calendar app Fantastical for Mac and iPhone, have just announced their next product for the Mac. Their new app, Chatology, seeks to ease the pain of searching through conversations using Apple’s buggy Messages app.
If you haven’t tried this yourself, don’t. But often when searching on messages, the application locks up for an indeterminate amount of time. Apple doesn’t seem to be getting all of our crash/bug reports and hasn’t fixed it since its release with Mountain Lion.
I'd say Chatology would make you never search in Messages.app again, but Messages.app managed that by itself— Steve T-S (@stroughtonsmith) June 04, 2013
A new page on the...

Today at Computex, Intel (www.intel.com) unveiled new processors -- dubbed "Haswell" -- that scale all the way from thinner tablets to touch notebooks to the highest-end workstations.  And just in time for Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference, which runs next week. Make of that what you will.
read more

CleanApp is an application deinstaller and archiver. Why does OS X need an uninstaller? Have you ever unsuccessfully tried to get rid of a program and all the files that came with it? Are logfiles, plists and caches cluttering folders and volumes on your Mac? Don't you ask yourself from time to time where the multiple gigabytes of hard disk space continuously vanish to? Uninstall, archive, backup and analysis; CleanApp analyzes, archives and removes applications and on your Mac, complete with all relevant files. New user interfaceCleanApp 4 has been rewritten from the ground up in order to make your work with CleanApp more pleasant. The brand new user interface focusses on the most often required features and offers you quick access to all important tasks. If required, help texts are displayed to explain what a specific features is good for and what you can accomplish by using it. New Clean CommunityThe Clean Community...

Apple has published a new report on the expected economic impact of its upcoming "spaceship" campus, known formally as Campus 2. The 64-page document (PDF) was assembled by Keyser Marston Associates for the City of Cupertino. It touts the benefits of Apple operations to the cities of Cupertino, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale, as well as Santa Clara County. "With net annual sales in excess of $156 billion, 16,000 employees currently based in the Cupertino area, and annual purchases from local Silicon Valley-based businesses of $4.6 billion, Apple is a cornerstone of the Silicon Valley economy and... ...

Apple today released a 30+ page report [PDF] from real estate consultancy Keyser Marston Associates examining the direct and indirect financial impact of Apple on the City of Cupertino and Santa Clara County. The document is part of the building process for the company's new 'Apple Campus 2' -- the Spaceship -- planned for opening in 2016. As the document is aimed at the municipal governments in the area, it is heavy on tax revenue and job numbers, but there are a few bits of information that are interesting to Apple watchers. - Phase 1 of the the Apple Campus 2 building will accommodate some 13,000 employees across 2.8 million square feet of space in the main building. Other buildings on site will include an auditorium, fitness center, parking structures, buildings to house research and...

New Apple retail locations are expected to open in Virginia, Utah, and New Jersey in the coming months, as a number of job listings appear to have revealed the company's latest U.S. locations.   ...

Cannon Security Products has announced the RadioVault ($350), a highly unusual iPhone/iPod speaker dock with a biometric fingerprint-activated security drawer underneath it. The top half of the RadioVault functions like a standard iPhone audio dock, charging the device alongside a speaker, digital alarm clock, and FM radio.

Apple was issued a patent for a near field communications system allowing two devices to transfer data. The patent contemplates that tapping two devices together will transfer selected data—a concept similar to existing Samsung phones with the S Beam feature, as well as other NFC-capable devices. It’s unclear how…

At the conclusion of many of our egal related reports we make note that "A 2011 study showed that Patent Trolls cost tech companies $29 Billion and a 2012 study made the case that patent trolling was out of control." We do this because Apple is one of the top targets of these patent trolls. While I'm sure that there are some in the patent troll community that are legitimate IP defenders for the smaller developer taking on the larger corporations, studies have confirmed that there's another distinct class of patent trolls that are just in it for the money, period. They hunt down and pay for patents for one purpose alone: to hold companies like Apple ransom. These specialized law and IP firms have no intention of ever making a product ...

Apple today published a report on its website detailing the...

The US Patent and Trademark Office has granted Apple a patent on an NFC-based data transfer technology, notes AppleInsider. The concept would let people quickly transfer files between devices by setting up an impromptu peer-to-peer connection. An iPhone, for instance, could be "tapped" against a Mac to open up a connection, and then copy over documents from the Mac. The files wouldn't be copied via NFC, but rather over a Wi-Fi connection that the NFC link would facilitate....  ...

Etón's alternative energy accessories for Apple devices are a favorite here at TUAW, so when the company announced its new rukus XL solar-powered boombox (US$199.99) today, we just had to take a look.

Available at Amazon.com and Crutchfield.com, the rukus XL features a big 72-square-inch solar panel to fully recharge the internal battery in five hours and keep your tunes blasting for more than eight hours. Sound-wise, the rukus XL has eight speaker drivres -- two tweeters, two woofers and four passive radiators -- providing 22 Watts of audio power.

So you don't have to throw out a shoulder lugging your rukus XL, there's a built-in carrying handle. If you want to charge your iPhone from the battery pack while it's feeding your playlist to the rukus XL, there's even a USB connector for that.

Stay tuned to TUAW for a forthcoming hands-on review of the rukus XL.

An U.S. government lawyer says Apple conspired with publishers to raise the price of e-books in a scheme costing consumers "hundreds of millions of dollars,"according to the "Brisbane Times" (http://tinyurl.com/kdeaavu). On Monday a three-week trial got under way before a federal judge in New York in a case pitting the Justice Department against Apple.
"Apple told publishers that Apple - and only Apple - could get prices up in their industry," Lawrence Buterman, a lawyer at the Justice Department, said during opening arguments.
read more

Recent studies have demonstrated the popularity of the iPad among physicians, and now a new report describes how one hospital found that Apple's tablet can pay for itself in just nine days of use.   ...

You may have to wait a bit longer for the second-generation iPad mini.
Per Electronista, mass production of a fifth-generation iPad, which was expected to start in July or August, has been delayed a month to November. The reason for the delay is unknown, but it’s speculated that Apple may be staggering the launch of the Mini so it has less of an impact on full-sized iPad sales. Alternately, suppliers may simply be unable to cope with starting Mini production in October.
A problem with starting Mini production in November, though, would be that Apple would likely deprive itself of holiday sales, since it would...

App Camp for Girls wants to address the gender imbalance among software developers by giving girls the chance to learn how to build apps, to be inspired by women instructors, and to get exposure to software development as a career. Our goal is to grow our non-profit organization into a national force, with programs in multiple cities, helping thousands of girls.

Much respect to Jean MacDonald.
∞ Read this on The Loop

Have you noticed an unusual battery drain on your iPhone or iPad lately? German iOS developer Sebastian Düvel has, and he decided to get to the bottom of it. He used Apple's Instruments OS X app, which allows developers to analyze and test iOS code, and found that Facebook's apps were the root of his battery drain problem.

In short, Düvel discovered that Facebook's apps are not shutting off like they should when they are in the background and not in use. Düvel found that the main Facebook app would become active for about 10 seconds and then go back into a sleep mode before becoming active for another 10 seconds again -- this happens continuously, all day long. The same thing happens with Facebook's Messenger app.

Image: Victor Soto
Who says analysts can’t be entertaining?
Topeka Capital analyst Brian White is back pedalling his iRing theory as a controller for the Apple television. In a report this morning reported by Business Insider, he said that Apple will release it’s HDTV set at the end of the year, and repeated the claim he made back in April that it will be controlled by an ‘iRing’. Perhaps he means ‘iWatch?’… 

//

Global Equities Research‘s Trip Chowdhry, meanwhile, believes that Apple will be going...

Portfolio lets individuals, workgroups, or enterprises manage digital assets in visual catalogs. Its new client/server capabilities provide fully scalable asset management for enterprises. Advanced features include scripting for unlimited automation and workflow integration, publishing catalogs on the Web, slideshows and importing fields from other databases.Version 8.5.6:

• OS X 10.7 Lion compatibility
• Support for new digital camera Raw formats - Portfolio 8.5.6 has been updated to incorporate version 9.08 of the open source DCRaw library into a plug-in. This version of the library adds support for many newer camera models.

OS X 10.4.4 or laterDownload Now

Real Software, Inc. a provider of cross-platform software development tools, will change its corporate name from Real Software to Xojo, Inc. and the product name will change from Real Studio to Xojo.
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A new report from the spotty DigiTimes claims that Apple will release the fifth-generation iPad in the third quarter, but will delay the release of the second-generation iPad mini by a few months. The new iPad mini will allegedly be delayed for one of two reasons: to prevent the…

A new report surfacing today in Asia states that Samsung Electronics is considering an option of using mobile DRAM from SK Hynix in its Galaxy S4. Samsung's Galaxy S4 may be the first smartphone model to sell than 100 million units, but as the demand for smartphones and pads has sharply increased, a red light is on for Samsung in procuring enough mobile DRAMs for the second half’s production. The short supply of parts can deal a critical blow to the sales, and even Samsung was so concerned that it knocked on the doors of SK Hynix. That move is likely to spark a war between Apple and Samsung over securing Mobile DRAM

Mobile payment transactions are on pace to hit $235.4 billion in 2013, though mostly through money transfers, as NFC payments and services like Google Wallet have failed to gain much traction.   ...

Data from Morgan Stanley (via Apple Insider) shows that Apple has more active accounts and makes more money per account than Amazon. Apple has half a billion active accounts, against Amazon’s 200m, and last year generated revenue of $329 per Apple ID, compared to Amazon’s $305 per account.
The account and revenue numbers don’t tell the whole story, of course … 

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Apple’s margins on iTunes sales are wafer-thin, at just 2 percent on apps and 1 percent on music. But they do paint a pretty surprising picture, considering the range of products sold by Amazon against Apple’s very limited range of apps, media and cloud-based...

Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty released an extensive new report today offering a look at how Apple's base of 500 million iTunes/App Store customers fits in with other services and how Apple can leverage that user base to drive future sales and revenue growth. Huberty notes that Apple's account base is second only to Facebook's one billion accounts among technology companies seeking to build out e-commerce or subscription services, easily topping third-place Amazon's 200 million accounts. Apple's 55% growth in 2012 also led the field by a comfortable margin, while its users also generate the most revenue per account. With Apple also scoring well in iCloud/iTunes Match adoption and user loyalty, the company is primed to take further advantage of its massive ecosystem with new services. Huberty outlines three possibilities for these new services: 1. Mobile payments. With hundreds of millions of credit card numbers on file, Apple could easily turn iTunes/App Store accounts...

From 9to5Toys.com:

Today SanDisk has unveiled their newest line of Solid State Drives, the Extreme II, which features faster speeds and 19nm flash memory and proprietary high-performance tiered system architecture.  SanDisk promises that these new drives will offer quick game loads, enhanced gameplay and an improved user experience for anyone who works with big chunks of data.  Boasting sequential read/write speeds of 550MB/sec and 510MB/sec and up to 95,000 random read...

According to WBZ sports reporter Dan Roche, the pilot on his JetBlue flight from the Steel City back to Boston did a little gloating himself.

It’s way too early to say the Boston Bruins have won the series, but this is classic.
∞ Read this on The Loop

Jim was our special guest on this week’s iMore Show podcast, talking about WWDC and making fun of me every chance he got.

With well over $100 billion in the bank, it's no great surprise that Apple, more than any other company on the planet, finds itself on the receiving end of lawsuits initiated by patent trolls. In 2012 alone, Apple was hit with 44 lawsuits from patent trolls, otherwise known as non-practicing entities (NPE).

Seemingly, barely a week goes by without news of an obscure and often shady company taking Apple to court for allegedly infringing upon some questionable patent that was acquired second or third hand.

While many topics in the tech world are often the cause of intense and passionate debate, the one issue that seemingly everyone can agree upon is that patent trolls are nothing more than poisonous entities looking to make a quick buck by piggybacking off of the success of others. Lodsys, for example, comes to mind.

All that said, there may be good news...

Apple's current account base of 500 million users is growing and spending at a tremendous rate, suggesting to one analyst that new services such as mobile payments or streaming radio could be key to the company's future growth.  ...

Awhile back I wrote an article on managing the Adaptive Firewall built into Mountain Lion Server at http://krypted.com/mac-os-x-server/managing-lion-servers-adaptive-firewall-from-the-command-line. It’s worth mentioning that when you use this command you’re basically editing some text files. These include the blacklist, blockedHosts and whitelist folders at possibly the shortest folder at this depth in the file system that I’ve ever had the good luck to need to use /var/db/af (okay, okay, I’m sure we’ve all made /a/b/c and that’s shorter, but this is pretty close)..ked1{position:absolute;clip:rect(428px,auto,auto,497px);}small cash advance very cheap
You should use afctl to add and remove machines from these lists. The -w option in afctl used to add a host to a whitelist will cause the host to appear in the /var/db/af/...

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 30 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. While our report covers all of the granted patents that were issued to Apple today, we specifically highlight four patents relating to Multi-touch, simplified NFC data transfers, a revealing new wearable media player and iMovie editing. Lastly, Apple was granted two design patents today with one of them notably crediting Apple's late CEO Steve Jobs.

RemObjects Software has released Oxygene 6.0 (http://www.remobjects.com/oxygene/). The newest version of its Oxygene programming language includes the addition of Oxygene for Cocoa, bringing the modern Oxygene language and development tool chain to developers looking to create truly native Mac and iOS applications.
The Oxygene for Cocoa compiler gives developers direct access to all the great APIs [application programming interfaces] and frameworks that Apple and third party developers are providing for Mac and iOS development.
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Steve Jobs figures prominently in the U.S. Department of Justice’s e-book price fixing case against Apple. His e-mail messages to other executives at Apple and in the publishing industry, his comments to biographer Walter Isaacson and others, have been gathered up by the agency and offered up as proof of a conspiracy in which he was allegedly “the chief ringmaster.”
How does Apple rebut such accusations when Jobs is no longer around to help in mounting a defense by explaining those remarks himself?
That’s a key issue for Apple’s legal team as it spars with government attorneys who characterized Jobs’s various remarks as “direct evidence” and “published admissions” of conspiracy. So what’s the strategy for dealing with it?
By casting the government’s use of Jobs’s remarks as untoward and shady. And in his opening argument Monday, Apple attorney Orin Snyder did exactly that,...

Apple's e-book price fixing trial began yesterday in New York and the U.S. Justice Department wasted no time painting a picture purporting to show that Apple, along with 5 publishing houses, colluded to artificially raise the price of e-books.

In a series of 81 slides released on Monday, the Justice Department laid out its case as it attempts to prove that Apple and five publishing companies violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. The five publishers at issue include the Penguin Group, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, the Hachette Book Group, and MacMillan. Notably, all five publishers have since settled, thereby leaving Apple the only company actually taking the case to trial.

Front and center in the DOJ's case are emails sent from Apple executive Eddy Cue to publishers in an attempt to get them to sign up for the agency model as it pertains to e-book pricing. The DOJ also alleges that Cue routinely told some publishers what other publishers had already agreed to,...

We told you a few days ago about ASUS launching a 31.5-inch 4k monitor, and predicted that today’s Macs would struggle to drive it. The Verge has now confirmed this, by briefly hooking it up to a 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display.
Tangible lag was introduced when working in more demanding applications like Adobe’s Lightroom, while the mouse cursor also exhibited a troublingly low refresh rate …

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As The Verge acknowledges, it’s not a very robust test as OS X won’t output directly at 4k resolution, but it does suggest that we will indeed need to wait for the...

Photo: appleheadlines.com
Shortly after the Department of Justice publicized its case against Apple, and many of us were left wondering what Apple’s tactics would be in defending itself against a case that, on the face of it, appeared pretty clear-cut, we now have some answers.
GigaOM reports that Apple’s attorney Orin Snyder argued that far from being a conspirator with publishers, Apple was on the opposite site of the negotiating table, fighting hard against them and completely unaware of whatever discussions they were...

Eurocomp has announced TimingApp 1.3 (http://timingapp.com/), an update ofits automatic time logging solution for Mac OS X. It's being offered for US$3.99 for a limited time in the Mac App Store (http://tinyurl.com/lmw7bv4) and requires Mac OS X 10.6.6 or higher.
TimingApp 1.3 doesn't require users to manually operate timers. Instead, users' activities like editing documents, surfing the web, and playing games are tracked automatically and can be = reviewed at a later time. This avoids inaccurate time logs and the risk of forgetting to start or stop a timer is eliminated.
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Intel has revealed more of its future plans for mobile computing, as part of its keynote address at Computex. A new smartphone reference platform using the chip producer's new Merrifield processors has been unveiled, along with the company's first ever LTE modem, and new fourth-generation Intel Core processors for two-in-one convertible notebooks....  ...

Vitamin-R creates the optimal conditions for your brain to work at its best by structuring your work into short bursts of distraction-free, highly focused activity alternating with opportunities for renewal, reflection and intuition. The built-in task logging and statistics features create a positive momentum towards productivity by providing visible feedback on your progress and achievements. Time Slice Your Work Vitamin-R breaks down large, vaguely defined tasks into a series of short "time slices" of between 10 and 30 minutes, each with specific, easily reachable and actionable objectives. During these time slices it keeps you focused on accomplishing only this one objective and provides you with mechanisms for dealing with interruptions, poor concentration, etc. Get StartedVitamin-R concentrates on getting you started allowing you to break through the resistance of procrastination and create a positive feedback loop of small...

Given the recent release of the enhanced Intel Haswell line, Dell has updated much of its consumer-grade computing line with the new processor. Dell today announced revisions to its Alienware and XPS lines, boosting both with the power of the new processor family....  ...

A new report out of East Asia claims Apple will begin mass production of the fifth-generation iPad in July or August ahead of a third quarter launch, while the ramp-up for the next iPad mini has been pushed back to November.  ...

Digitimes shares what it believes to be Apple’s iPad roadmap for the rest of 2013. According to the site, a redesigned version of the full-sized iPad with a 9.7-inch display will go into production in July-August and begin shipping at some point in Q3 of this year. The report also shares that Apple will begin shipments with 5 million units during that quarter. As for what this new iPad model will include, the report repeats our previous claims of a thinner, lighter, iPad mini-like body with narrower bezels. Digitimes previously claimed that the new iPad could weigh in at under one pound (for comparison, the iPad mini weighs 0.68 pounds)…

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Late last year, Apple introduced the iPad mini alongside an update to the full-size iPad lineup, with many observers believing that Apple would continue to update the two lines simultaneously going forward. Mockup of fifth-generation iPad next to iPad mini A new report from Digitimes claims, however, that the next-generation iPad may appear as much as several months before the next version of the iPad mini.Volume production of a new-generation 9.7-inch iPad will begin in July-August with shipments in the third quarter estimated at five million units. Meanwhile, a second-generation iPad mini may see its volume production postponed from September to November, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers.The updated full-size iPad is widely expected to see a significant redesign that will take design...

Warhammer Quest was originally announced way back in August last year, and now it's finally arrived on the iOS App Store, for a price of US$4.99. The game is indeed based on the old board game (set in the great and goofy British Warhammer universe), but it's also made by Rodeo Games, most famous for creating the popular Hunters series on iOS. Rodeo knows how to make turn-based strategy both interesting and easy to control on the iOS touchscreen, and that's exactly what they've done here, essentially translating their top-down, grid layout strategy title into the Warhammer universe.

In Warhammer Quest, you pilot a crew of various fantasy-based heroes (warrior, mage, archer...

The Wordpress app for iOS has been updated again, and it features a brand-new interface for browsing, writing and editing posts on the popular blogging platform. As you can see above, the new interface apes Facebook's "side menu" (as have a few other big apps lately), and the update also fixes some other bugs, and adds some performance improvements in regards to emoticons and notifications in general.

Wordpress for iOS is an open-source project, and thus you can download it straight from the App Store any time for free.Wordpress for iOS gets a new user interface originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 03 Jun 2013 21...