Described by Sony as a culmination of its greatest technologies, the Xperia ZL is an attempt to bring the company's best offerings together in a single device. In many ways the ZL makes good on this goal, offering a superb display, solid camera, and sleek design. What's even more impressive is the compact frame that Sony was able to pack all of this into. Despite the inclusion of a five-inch full ......   ...

My thanks to World 1-2 for sponsoring The Loop. World 1-2 is a new videogames-inspired music album by Koopa Soundworks, directed and produced by Mohammed Taher. It hosts a number of famed superstars as well as rising indies, including Austin Wintory (of Journey), Akira Yamaoka (of Silent Hill), Manami Matsumae (of Mega Man), Chipzel (of Super Hexagon), and a lot others.

Get it on either Bandcamp or iTunes.
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Apple has posted a free streaming preview version of the upcoming Daft Punk album on the iTunes Store. Random Access Memories is 74 minutes in length, and due to be released May 21st for $12. At the moment, at least, the preview is only available to US shoppers....   ...

I kid you not.
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New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent a letter today to Apple CEO Tim Cook — as well as the CEOs of Microsoft, Google, and Samsung — regarding the growing theft of electronic devices such as iPhones. Citing an increase in the theft of Apple products in New York City,…

Google today announced a combination of cloud data storage limits. Rolling out over the next couple of weeks to all users, the search engine is allocating a total of 15GB to users, shared across Gmail, Google+, and Google Drive. Business customers are offered 30GB of unified storage shared between the Google Drive and Gmail services....  ...

Horace Dediu/AsymcoWhen Apple last reported earnings, the company said iTunes billings for the quarter came it at over $4 billion. Apple expects to post similar billings in the quarters ahead for a $16 billion annual run rate. That’s an awfully big number. How does it break down on a per-user basis?
Asymco’s Horace Dediu has done the math and come up with a number: About $40 per year, on average. Seem low to you? Does to me, but that’s from my own cord-cutter perspective. But taken together with all gross content revenues — including services & software — Apple’s iTunes business cleared over $5.5 billion in the last quarter (Caveat 1:That big number is as large as it is thanks to...

First, T-Mobile didn’t even offer the iPhone. Then, last month, it started offering the phone for $100—and it sold half-a-million phones in three weeks. But now, the carrier has boosted the upfront price on that iPhone 5 to $150.

As first reported by TmoNews, an unofficial T-Mobile blog, the $100 iPhone 5 price tag lasted just about one month. Now, the total cost for an iPhone 5 from the carrier is $630 (after making monthly $20 payments on the phone for two years), up from $580.

To put T-Mobile’s price hike in context, other major carriers charge $199 for the 16GB iPhone, and require two-year contracts. T-Mobile,...

Reuters reports that France, in an effort to generate money to help fund cultural initiatives, is considering implementing a special tax on smartphones and tablets.

The proposal falls under France's "cultural exception" policy, enacted to ensure that the arts in France can continue to thrive in the face of competition and other market forces.

As it stands now, TV and radio broadcasters, along with Internet service providers, are already subject to a tax to promote the arts in France. A report commissioned by the French government, however, points out that a tax on hardware manufacturers like Apple and Amazon would be even more helpful given that folks are now spending more on hardware than they are on content.

"Companies that make these tablets must, in a minor way, be made to contribute part of the revenue from their sales to help creators," Culture Minister...

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates was recently interviewed by Charlie Rose for 60 Minutes, and one of the topics of discussion was the late Steve Jobs. Mr. Gates became quite emotional when thinking back to his last meeting with Mr. Jobs, and he said he wished he had Mr. Jobs's sense of design.

Since the release of the first iPhone in 2007, there's one feature that has been steadily improving -- the built-in camera. Lisa Bettany of Camera+ fame provides a visual comparison of the quality of the iPhone camera over the generations in six sets of images covering the range from the original iPhone to the iPhone 5.

As Bettany points out, "It's clear from the detail shots that the iPhone 5 produces sharper photos with more accurate white balance, contrast, and saturation." She took photos in three different situations -- a well lit macro setting to test detail and quality, a skyline shot to test sharpness and saturation, and a candle list low light macro photo to test noise.

The results are amazing. I was surprised by how much of a jump in quality the camera received in the iPhone 3GS from the previous two generations, and how the iPhone 5 camera seems to have resolved some discrepancies in white balance that...

Only in Canada.
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Nerval's Lobster writes "Former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates displayed a bit of emotion when talking to CBS's 60 Minutes about Steve Jobs. The interview didn't focus entirely on the relationship between the two men, with most of its running time devoted instead to Gates's charitable efforts. But when the conversation shifted to their last meeting before Jobs's death from cancer in 2011, Gates—normally so cerebral—seemed a bit sad. 'When he was sick I got to go down and spend time with him,' Gates said, describing their meeting as 'forward looking.' Jobs spent a portion of their time together showing off designs for his yacht, which he would never see completed—something that Gates defended when the interviewer seemed a little bit incredulous. 'Thinking about your potential mortality isn't very constructive,' he said. Gates also praised Steve Jobs's marketing and design skills: 'He understood, he had an intuitive sense for marketing that was amazing.' In contrast to his subtle—and not...

Groupon has launched a new iPad app called Groupon POS (perhaps not the best name) in an attempt to enter the iPad mobile payments arena and take on current leader Square. As of the time of this writing, Groupon has not made an official anouncement, but the app is now live in the App Store. Here are the deets from the app's description:

A beautiful and simple way to manage your business and accept payments at the lowest rates available today.

Set up your offerings in seconds, quickly check out customers and view real-time analytics. Start running your business more effectively.

Groupon POS works also works with an optional cash drawer and printer to automate and simplify your point of sale.

Groupon POS works for a wide variety of merchants from...

French President Francoise Hollande is considering a new tax on tech products, the money from which would fund cultural projects. The move, which would be decided this summer and has been described as "minimal and widely distributed," may increase tensions between tech companies and the government of France -- along with other EU countries, many of which have complained that firms such as Apple and Google are gaming the system in order to avoid paying taxes that would normally be due....  ...

When my iPad 3 was acting funny -- and by that I mean a sleep/wake button that would only work on every third press -- I made an appointment at the Genius Bar at my local Apple Store. Fifteen minutes later I walked out with a brand new replacement iPad. Many readers who have owned a faulty iPhone, iPod, or iPad will have had experiences similar to my own: broken iDevice, go to Apple store, get new one. But now that's all set to change.

According to reports from AppleInsider, Apple vice president Tara Bunch announced to employees last week that AppleCare will be changing in the US, with international markets to follow. Soon iDevices with faulty hardware won't necessarily be replaced with new units. The roll and capabilities of Geniuses in Apple stores will soon be expanded to allow them to fix the faulty parts, instead of...

When Adobe announced that it will be dropping its traditional perpetual license model for Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and the rest of its professional creative apps in favor of the Creative Cloud software subscription model, the public response was less than enthusiastic. The reaction from at least some Adobe app users was so negative, in fact, that an online petition quickly popped up urging Adobe to keep the Creative Suite perpetual license model alive. But that petition may not matter.

An unaired portion of a 60 Minutes interview with Bill Gates saw the founder of Microsoft in an unusually reflective state when questioned by interviewer Charlie Rose on the topic of the late Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, his friend and rival. Jobs met with Gates for an extended period very near the end of his life, an unusual concession to a colleague he had had a tumultuous relationship with over the decades. Gates said the two men had "grown up together," each building the computer industry in their own image.... ...

Nearly one year ago, at its I/O developer conference, Google unveiled its Android-powered Nexus Q media player product to much fanfare. Little more than a month after the big reveal, Google suspended the launch of the Q indefinitely.
So, will Google’s I/O conference — set to kick off this Wednesday — bring news of the Nexus Q’s fate?
No, it won’t. Google won’t have any news on the Nexus Q this week, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The Q’s notable absence over the past year is almost as big a deal as its initial unveiling. For Google, the Nexus Q was less a new product than it was a definitive statement; essentially, the search giant was saying that with the fully in-...

Amazon on Monday celebrated the launch of its new Amazon Coins by giving ?tens of millions of dollars? of the virtual currency to Kindle Fire users as part of its latest bit to attract customers to its own Kindle platform, and away from incumbents like Apple's iOS and Google's Android.  ...

Your iPhone or iPod touch makes for a handy camera, and both can take nice images. That doesn't, however, mean you won't need to make some quick adjustments on the go. You can turn to a long list of apps designed to help with that, including Apple's own iPhoto, but if you only need to make some minor adjustments, the Photos app has a nearly-hidden editor just waiting to help out.

Great men.

Broadcaster ABC is said to be updating its iOS app to offer live streams of shows from local ABC stations later this week. New options for a "Live" button in the Watch ABC app for iPhone and iPad will mark it as the first major US broadcaster that provides live streams of its channels to app users, with the first markets to gain the service being New York and Philadelphia....  ...

The Mac Observer's Managing Editor Jeff Gamet joined The BIG Show from the British Tech Network to talk about Adobe's switch to Creative Cloud subscriptions for its professional design applications, along with Bill Gates bagging on the iPad.

An altered carrier update that has been modified by two hackers successfully increases the bandwidth available for iPhone 5 units on T-Mobile's US network, tests have found. The patch to the carrier update file, which was originally distributed to add LTE signal to the iPhone 5 using T-Mobile's 1900MHz band, works on both unlocked AT&T units as well as "native" T-Mobile iPhone 5 devices without requiring a jailbreak, though instructions vary for customers using jailbroken iPhones....  ...

South Korean tech giant Samsung says it has developed a wireless transmission standard hundreds of times faster than today's 4G LTE, one that could see users downloading entire movies in seconds.  ...

Several of this week's rumors strongly suggest that a main fixture in any analyst's office is a dartboard with months listed on it instead of numbers. "Apple will launch its next iPhone in..." *throws dart* "...September. Of course! Quickly, Robin: to the B.S.mobile!"

Analyst: Apple to release Retina display iPad mini models in Q3 and early 2014 [u] (AppleInsider)

Some analyst makes claims about upcoming Apple product launches. He offers precisely zero proof. The rumor blogs breathlessly "report" his musings anyway. Stop me if any of this is sounding depressingly familiar.

...

Mac Geek Gab listener Josh noticed that his Mac's menu bar clock started freezing when the Mac was asleep. We explain that this is a known issue with early versions of the popular iStat Menus utility and show how to fix it with a simple update.

As part of an interview with Charlie Rose that aired on CBS's "60 Minutes" on Sunday, a visibly shaken and humble Bill Gates detailed his final visit with Steve Jobs, in which the two discussed everything from family life to empowering the future of eduction through technology.  ...

In tandem with the launch of the Sony Xperia ZR, Sony has rolled out a iPod shuffle inspired pair of stereo Bluetooth earphones. The new SBH20 uses a small shuffle-like case to enclose a Bluetooth 3.0 receiver and rechargeable battery, while also function as a remote control for a connected smartphone or other Bluetooth-enabled device. The SBH20 incorporates a clip that users can use to pin to their clothing, minimizing the amount of cabling while allowing the connected device to remain stored in a backpack or handbag....  ...

This might help keep your Apple ID credentials a bit safer.
Per The Unofficial Apple Weblog, Apple recently introduced two-step verification for your Apple ID in certain countries, and the process is now being expanded to the rest of the world. The feature, which requires two different codes for verifying your Apple ID was initially only available in the US, UK, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand. But Apple has now included Canada in on the feature, as well as users in Argentina, Pakistan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, Austria, Brazil, Belgium and Portugal. In other words, two-step authentication is now rolling out to a more or less worldwide release.
The authentication process is still optional — if users don’t think you need it, they can still stick with just their Apple ID...

Ben Lerer used to make money by telling dudes where to spend their money, via his Thrillist e-mail startup. Now he still does that, but he also gets dudes to spend money with him, via his JackThreads e-commerce site.
Now Lerer has figured out a new line extension: Selling stuff to dudes overseas, via their phones.
In the last few weeks New York-based JackThreads has pushed into Australia, the UK and Canada.Turns out there were a lot of youngish, affluentish, guys out there waiting to give him money: Lerer says international sales went from essentially zero at the beginning of the year to 7 percent in April. In May it is on track to do 10 percent, he says.
“International has already made an actual substantive change in our buisness overnight,” he says.
And Lerer says international customers — who tend to...

Here's John and Dave, on a warm, Sunday evening, doing what they love to do: answering your questions, sharing their tips, and gabbing with you about all things Mac, Apple, and otherwise fun. Join them, would you? It's free! Just download, press play, and enjoy!

Tonight's the night for another edition of everybody's favorite live podcast (next to TUAW TV Live, of course), the TUAW Talkcast. As we go live tonight Mother's Day 2013 will be winding down, so we may talk for a minute about Moms and computers. Architect and Apple aficionado Neal Pann should be joining for his perspective on software licenses, and The Mac Observer's Jeff Gamet will be sharing his bacon bread recipe opinion on everything else.

Since it's really all about you, the community, do see if you can join us, won't you? To participate live, you can use the browser-only Talkshoe client, the embedded Facebook app, or download the classic...

In case you missed anything, here’s a quick weekend roundup of the news that powered AllThingsD this week:

1. Wondering just how much your new S4 costs? Market research firm IHS pegs the cost of Samsung’s new flagship smartphone at just above $237 per unit.
2. It planned to do so originally, but Google will not roll out a physical credit card later this month to bolster its “Google Wallet” commerce project.
3. Everyone who works in web advertising seems to be talking about the same video ad lately, and here it is: a three-minute-28-second mini-documentary from...

Have a need to attach more monitors to your USB 3.0-equipped Mac, but don't want to use a Thunderbolt, Mini DisplayPort, or HDMI port? Kensington may have just the thing for you -- the Universal Multi-Display Adapter (US$79.99 MSRP), AKA the USB 3.0 Multi-Display Adapter.

Previously this device was available only for PCs, but new drivers available from DisplayLink make the adapter compatible with any Mac running OS X Snow Leopard, Lion, or Mountain Lion. Essentially what the adapter does is makes one of your USB 3.0 ports available to drive a monitor or projector. It's a small (2" x 3.5" x .68") black box with a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 input on one end and a female DVI connector on the other end. That's a bit unfortunate, since many monitors are also equipped with a female DVI connector so you'll need to buy another adapter. LIkewise, the included DVI to VGA adapter is relatively useless -- although it plugs right into the Multi-Display Adapter, it has a female connector on the...

We squished that multi-device subscription bug dead.
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It's been a big week for subscriptions: Adobe announced that its Creative Suite software would be entirely replaced by the subscription-only Creative Cloud service, and now a report from AppleInsider claims that Apple will be replacing or augmenting its AppleCare and AppleCare+ extended warranty plans this fall with a new subscription plan referred to as "One Apple." The new plan would support all of the Apple devices a subscriber owns rather than individual devices paired with individual plans.
Tara Bunch, an Apple vice president formerly of HP, reportedly broke the news during one of Apple's internal town hall-style meetings. AppleCare and AppleCare+ plans are currently sold on a per-device basis...

Sandro Cuccia revisits Preview in OS X. He shows you how to have the latest Mountain Lion version of this versatile app easily scan and store one or more signatures for later insertion into any PDF document.

The Hazard (iPad mini; $45) is a lightweight-but-durable hardshell case with a slim profile. Compatible with Apple’s Smart Cover, the case provides access to all ports, buttons, and cameras.

The Hazard is available in sheet metal or jet black.

At a Town Hall meeting with Apple employees, the company has announced some major changes to its AppleCare extended service plans.
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Amazon on Friday released its Cloud Drive Photos app, and corresponding 5 gigabytes worth of free cloud storage, in what is essentially a competitor to Apple's own iCloud-based Photo Stream service.  ...

Amazon has launched an iOS version of its Cloud Drive Photos app (free), which gives users 5GB in free storage space for backing up or offloading photos taking up too much room on their own devices. Depending on the format of the pictures, the Amazon Cloud Drive Photos storage locker can hold up to thousands of photos, and the company offers additional storage space for a fee starting with 20GB of additional space for $10 per year. The iPhone-oriented app also allows sharing of photos to Facebook, Twitter and email.... ...

Readers ask about how to fix a flashing incoming network connection request, Trash that won't empty, and more.

According to leaked reports from an Apple "town hall" meeting, some significant changes are coming to AppleCare and AppleCare+ policies starting this fall -- however, unlike most news of this nature, the changes should benefit consumers while still cutting some costs. Among the bigger changes will be a new policy to repair, rather than replace, damaged iPhones when possible; an extension of telephone support; more remote hardware fault diagnosis, and a change to tie an AppleCare policy to a customer rather than a specific device.... ...

Just in time for the weekend, here's a few apps that have dropped their (already cheap) prices even lower, meaning that you've got plenty to play here for just a few bucks' worth.

• The PC classic turned iOS port Carmageddon has gone completely free for today only.
• The Incident is on sale for 99 cents.
• The Sky Gamblers: Storm Raiders flight simulation title has dropped down to just a buck.
• Just a few weeks after release, Sega's dropped The House of the Dead: Overkill to just $2.99. The game's not fantastic, but it does have a really innovative shooting mechanic built for iOS.
• ...