Tech sector CEOs meet with Obama and Biden to demand NSA reform
It’s not been a particularly good year for the National Security Agency, what with Edward Snowden revealing how pervasive its domestic surveillance is, and the outrage and concern those revelations engendered in US citizens. Naturally, many tech companies were also upset, upon learning that the NSA was snooping their systems too. Today, many of the tech industry’s heavy hitters had a two and a half hour sit-down with President Obama and VP Biden, and used that time to demand that the White House take steps to reform the NSA’s policies (Read: limit its power and provide independent oversight and greater transparency about its actions).
Among the scheduled attendees were Apple’s Tim Cook, Twitter’s Dick Costolo, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, and AT&T CEO and Chairman Randall Stephenson. The contents of the discussion remain a mystery, though the Guardian did acquire a statement issued by the group regarding the meeting: “We appreciated the opportunity to share directly with the president our principles on government surveillance that we released last week and we urge him to move aggressively on reform.” The ball’s in your court, Mr.President. Lets see if you give the people and the tech center what they really want for Christmas: freedom from Uncle Sam’s prying eyes.
Filed under: Misc
Source: The Guardian
Mailbox for iOS now handles your iCloud or Yahoo email account
Mailbox has only handled Gmail since launch, but compulsive email checkers finally have a few more account options thanks to an update. The iOS app now supports both iCloud addresses (including me.com and mac.com) as well as Yahoo, with prioritization and push notifications intact. The upgrade also introduces background syncing, which should save iOS 7 users the trouble of downloading all their new mail at once. Those who’ve been waiting for expanded support to try Mailbox can give it a spin today at the source link.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Via: Mailbox Blog, The Next Web
Source: App Store
Dropbox for Android now lets you share folders with friends
Dropbox members no longer have to wait until they’re at a desktop to share a whole folder. An updated Dropbox for Android lets users both invite others to shared folders and manage the relevant permissions. There aren’t many other interface additions, although anyone eager to upgrade to Pro service can now subscribe through Google Play instead of the web. And don’t worry, iOS fans — Dropbox is bringing invitation support to your app in early 2014.
Filed under: Cellphones, Storage, Internet, Mobile
Via: Dropbox Blog, Android Police
Source: Google Play
iPod and AirPort Roundups: What’s Next for Apple
Continuing our series of roundups summarizing the latest news and rumors about each of Apple’s products, today we are publishing five new roundups covering the company’s iPod and AirPort lineups. The new roundups include iPod touch, iPod nano, iPod shuffle, iPod classic, and AirPort.
Apple’s iPod lineup has not seen much in the way of updates recently, with a September refresh seeing only a slight change to color offerings for the iPod touch, iPod nano, and iPod shuffle with the previous slate color option being replaced with a new space gray option carried over from iPhone 5s. The new color later made its way to the iPad Air and iPad mini as well. Given that Apple typically updates its iPods in the fall each year, new iPods are not expected until late next year.
The AirPort line of Wi-Fi base stations is currently divided, with the larger AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule models having been updated in June with new designs and support for the latest 802.11ac networking standard. The AirPort Express has not been updated to support 802.11ac and was last updated in June 2012 when it received an Apple TV-like redesign.
As with our previous roundups, the goal of our iPod and AirPort roundups is to simply answer the question of “What are you expecting” for Apple’s future products at any given time. That opinion evolves over time as new rumors surface, and our roundups will be updated regularly to reflect the latest rumors.
All of our roundups remain accessible through a dedicated index page showing a time-ordered list based on the last date each roundup was updated, as well as directly through the “Roundups” tab in the navigation bar on all MacRumors pages.
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Apple Adds Gifting to iBookstore
Apple has added the ability to gift ebooks to friends and family through the iBookstore, reports Macworld. Users have long been able to purchase songs, movies or TV shows through iTunes, as well as standard gift cards, but the ability to gift a particular book is new.
Books can be gifted immediately, or the gift email notification can be held for a particular date, making holiday shopping particularly easy. Apple added the ability to gift App Store apps back in 2010.
Gifting in the iBookstore works identically to Apple’s iTunes and App Store counterparts: Just choose the book you’d like to gift, then tap either the dropdown arrow next to the price (on a Mac) or the Share button (on an iOS device). On a Mac, select “Gift This Book”; on iOS, choose “Gift”—then add the recipient’s email, the sender’s name, a brief message, and the date you want it sent (now, or later). One note: On iOS, it looks like you have to tap the “Today” field under “Send Gift” in order to change to a different date.
Users can only purchase gifts for recipients using their same country store; there is no ability to gift books internationally.
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Farm Fest released by HeroCraft, very Farm Frenzy-ish
HeroCraft has released another new game, Farm Fest, for the the puzzle/managment gaming addicts out there. Farm Fest is very, and I do mean very, reminiscent of Farm Frenzy. You own a farm, you raise animals, thwart off invading beasts, make runs to the city to sell your goods and keep moving forward through 80 levels. Sounds familiar doesn’t it?
The games graphics are a bit more playful than Farm Frenzy are, with more lively looking animals and huts. It is littered with achievements to earn and plenty to keep you busy.
The game has officially launched in the Play Store for $1.99, however there is a special note that there are also in-app purchases. Not to sure how well that will go over on a paid game, but we shall see. It still looks like a lot of fun if Farm Frenzy was one of your time killers in the past. Go pick it up if you would like.
50% off sale on Metal Slug series, Samurai Shodown II and Others
SNK PLAYMORE is having a huge end-of-year sale on their line up of classic SNK games. I know you remember those back in the day when multiple games on one arcade machine was the thing to do. I know I spent countless hours playing Samurai Showdown and Metal Slug myself growing up. The full set of games released by SNK PLAYMORE is currently 50% for a limited time and well worth the memories and the play time that their purchases will generate. Here is the complete list.
Samurai Shodown II – was $3.99, now $1.99
The King of Fighters ’97 – was $3.99, now $1.99
The King of Fighters-A 2012 – was $6.99, now $3.99
Metal Slug – was $3.99, now $1.99
Metal Slug 2 – was $3.99, now $1.99
Metal Slug 3 – was $3.99, now $1.99
Metal Slug X – was $3.99, now $1.99
Blazing Star – was $3.99, now $1.99
You can also just hit the developer page to have them all in front of you.
Go get your gaming on.
AIVAnet 