MacUpdate Offers 10 Apps for $49.99, Including Toast 14, Sparkle, ExpanDrive 5, and More
MacUpdate today launched its latest software bundle, offering ten Mac apps that have a total value of $550 for a $49.99 purchase price. Several popular Mac apps are included, with normal prices ranging from $15 to $149.
A full list of the titles included in the bundle, their value, and a software description is below:
– Toast 14 ($99.99) – There is no easier or faster way to save, share, and enjoy your digital media on disc. Capture, convert, copy, burn and share with Toast, the complete digital media toolkit for your Mac.
– ExpanDrive ($49.95) – ExpanDrive builds cloud storage in every application, acts just like a USB drive plugged into your Mac. With ExpanDrive, you can securely access any remote file server directly from the Finder or even the terminal.
– DEVONthink Personal ($49.95) – DEVONthink Personal keeps your documents, notes, bookmarks. Its unique tools and artificial intelligence let you manage your files effortlessly and focus on things that really matter.
– iMazing ($34.99) – Ultimate iPhone to Computer Transfer. iMazing supports iPhone 6 and every iPhone, iPad & iPod and gives you total control and absolute simplicity in use.
– Boom 2 ($14.99) – A system-wide volume booster and equalizer app, Boom 2 comes with a smart interface, self-calibration, hands-on advanced equalizer controls for finer audio control and amazing audio effects for enhanced audio output.
– Paragon 3 in 1 Bundle ($39.95) – Just install the driver, attach a disk or other media and use it as you wish, either under Windows OS or Mac OS X. Bundle includes NTFS for Mac 12, HFS+ for Windows 10 and Camptune X.
– Sparkle ($79.99) – The web design tool for creating modern sites with unparalleled creative control. Skip the tedium and design a gorgeous site that works right out of the box.
– NetSpot Pro ($149.00) – NetSpot Pro is a simple and accessible wireless survey tool for Mac users, which allows collecting, visualizing and analyzing Wi-Fi data using any MacBook.
– MacOptimizer 3 ($29.00) – An incredibly fast and efficient disk utility to quickly help you clean, repair and organize your Mac. MacOptimizer gets your Mac back in shape with quick, essential tools.
– TG Pro ($15.00) – Find out which components of your Mac are potentially overheating, turn up the fan speeds to cool down your Mac, get notifications for temperature alerts and more.
The first 5,000 people who purchase the MacUpdate bundle will also receive a copy of Seasonality Core, valued at $24.99. Seasonality Core is a weather monitoring app that includes weather forecasts, astronomical information, satellite images, and a weather journal.
The MacUpdate software bundle will be available for purchase for the next two weeks. MacRumors is an affiliate partner with MacUpdate, so bundles purchased through the links in this article will benefit MacRumors financially and provide a way for readers to support the site.
‘Launch Center Pro’ Gains Notification Center Widget, Support for New Apps
First released in 2012, Launch Center Pro was one of the first quick action apps in the App Store, designed to let users create shortcuts to features normally buried within apps, such as opening up Instagram directly to the camera, or opening a specific search within Yelp.
Over the years, Launch Center Pro has been updated several times with new features and while it has encountered some trouble with Apple, it continues to be a popular choice for users who are looking for a shortcut-based quick launch app. As of today, Launch Center Pro is getting a major update, which adds a new Notification Center widget.
With the new Notification Center widget, it’s possible to add twelve of your favorite Launch Center Pro actions for quick and easy access. You can do things like call a specific person, add an event to a favorite calendar app, get directions home, scan a QR code, send a group text, and more directly from the Notification Center.
More complex actions, like controlling a Nest Thermostat from IFTTT, scanning a barcode and searching Amazon, or taking a photo and messaging it to an entire group are also supported by Launch Center Pro. Apps like Safari, Twitter, Facebook, and Google are all supported by Launch Center Pro, and today’s update also adds support for more than 100,000 additional apps and iOS 9.
In the future, Launch Center Pro plans to support iPhone 6s features, introducing 3D Touch-based Quick Actions that will be able to be launched by using a force press on the Launch Center Pro app icon on the Home screen.
Launch Center Pro can be downloaded from the App Store for $3.99, a 20 percent discount from its usual price. [Direct Link]
Apple Building Unified Cloud Platform for iCloud, iTunes, Siri and More
Apple is moving forward with plans to build a unified platform for cloud-based web services such as iCloud, iTunes and Siri over the next few years, according to The Information.
The new platform is based on Siri, which itself is powered by open source infrastructure software called Mesos on the backend, according to the report.
The system will be what’s called an “orchestrated infrastructure” that has the ability, among other things, to run Internet applications inside “containers,” which make it easier to scale the apps and make changes to them on the fly, one of these people says.
Apple is reportedly placing more emphasis on open source software in an attempt to attract open source engineers that can help improve its web services, but it remains to be seen how far the company shifts away from its deep culture of secrecy.
Apple sometimes requires engineers submitting code to open-source products to do so through a third party rather than let Apple be affiliated with the code. One person who’s been through the process says they felt that submitting code to an open-source project like Mesos or Hadoop is generally “frowned upon” by managers at Apple. But the process has gotten easier over time, people who have participated in the process say.
The paywalled report explains how Apple is slowly embracing the open source community and becoming more transparent about its open source projects. It also lists some of the open source technologies that Apple uses, including Hadoop, HBase, Elasticsearch, Reak, Kafka, Azkaban and Voldemort.
Bloomberg reported in June that Apple is building a high-speed content delivery network and planning upgrades to its data centers with more in-house equipment to better compete with Amazon, Google, Microsoft and other cloud service providers. The improved infrastructure will allow for faster web services and more efficient delivery of cloud-based content such as streaming music.
iPad Mini 4 Uses Speed-Bumped 1.5 GHz A8 Chip With 2 GB of RAM
Apple last week introduced the iPad mini 4, advertising the device as essentially a scaled down version of the iPad Air 2, although the device uses a A8 chip rather than the A8X found in the iPad Air 2. Ars Technica has now taken an early look at the iPad mini 4, finding that the A8 runs at 1.5 GHz, slightly faster than the 1.4 GHz A8 used in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Like the iPad Air 2, the iPad mini 4 also carries 2 GB of RAM.
Having a whole extra CPU core makes the 1.5GHz A8X in the iPad Air 2 about 50% faster than the Mini 4, but we’re still looking at a 20-or-so percent improvement over the old Mini 2 and Mini 3. That extra RAM will be good for more than just Split View multitasking, too—2GB iDevices need to eject things from memory less often, cutting down on the amount of tab reloading that Safari does and generally reducing wait times when switching between different tabs and apps.
With the iPad mini 4 using a slower chip than the iPad Air 2 while still driving the same display resolution and similar other internals, performance won’t be quite as good on the smaller tablet, as the smaller body likely has some heat-related impacts that drove Apple to include the less-powerful chip. Still, users should see substantial performance upgrades over earlier iPad mini models, as well as support for all of the latest iOS 9 features like Split View multitasking.
Apple Pay Now Supports Citizens Bank, E-Trade Bank and Over 40 Other U.S. Issuers
Apple updated its Apple Pay participating issuers list today with 46 additional banks, credit unions and financial institutions supporting the contactless payment service in the United States. Apple Pay now has over 500 participating issuers nationwide, and several more plan to support the NFC-based mobile payment service in the future.
Citizens Bank and E-TRADE Bank highlight the complete list of Apple Pay participating issuers, although it’s worth noting that some smaller banks, credit unions and financial institutions listed may have already had support for the contactless payments service and are only now being reflected on Apple’s website.
The full list of new Apple Pay participating issuers:
- Amplify Federal Credit Union
- Bank of the Ozarks
- Branch Banking & Trust
- Bridgehampton National Bank
- Capital Educators Federal Credit Union
- Centra Credit Union
- Charlotte Metro Credit Union
- Citizens Bank
- Coastal Federal Credit Union
- Credit Union 1
- “Dollar Bank, FSB”
- Eglin FCU
- ETRADE BANK
- First Community Bank
- First Community Credit Union (OR)
- First Florida Credit Union
- First National Bank of Waseca
- Floridian Bank
- Georgia United Credit Union
- Johns Hopkins Federal Credit Union
- Kennebunk Savings Bank
- Kirtland Federal Credit Union
- Leaders Credit Union
- Maine Savings Federal Credit Union
- McGraw-Hill Federal Credit Union
- Merchants Bank
- MIT Federal Credit Union
- National Penn Bank
- Navigant Credit Union
- Nodaway Valley Bank
- Nymeo
- OU Federal Credit Union
- Pacific NW Federal Credit Union
- Power Financial Credit Union
- Seaboard Federal Credit Union
- SECU of Maryland
- Southern Security FCU
- Southwest Financial Federal Credit Union
- Sterling Federal Bank
- The Cape Cod Five Cent Saving Bank
- The Focus Federal Credit Union
- Trupoint Bank
- UBI Federal Credit Union
- Vinton County National Bank
- Watertown Savings Bank
- Xceed Financial Federal Credit Union
Apple Pay remains limited to the United States and United Kingdom, although Apple is committed to an international rollout of the mobile payments service in additional countries such as Canada and China in the future. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Apple is planning a November launch of Apple Pay in Canada.
Tim Cook Talks iPhone Security, His Favorite New Features, and Deleting Stock iOS Apps
Following last week’s announcement of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, Tim Cook has been paying unannounced visits to a few Apple Stores to talk with the store’s employees and take pictures with customers. During a ride to the company’s flagship 5th Avenue location in Manhattan, Buzzfeed got a few minutes with the Apple CEO, where he discussed everything from the privacy concerns of the new “Hey Siri” feature to whether or not iPhone users will ever be able to delete those Apple-created stock apps from their smartphones.
Directly addressing the privacy and safety concerns of “Hey Siri”, Cook mentioned that anyone who is fearful of such things can always turn the feature off. Still, he described “the real answer” to be the fact that any information collected by the feature remains on the iPhone, and isn’t sent to Apple or anyone else. On the lighter side, when asked about the newest features coming to the next generation iPhones, Cook’s favorite appears to be 3D Touch.
Cook is hot on all of this stuff; he describes Live Photos with near Jobsian hyperbole — “I think Live Photos is a medium that hasn’t existed before. It’s like discovering a new form.” But he’s most excited by 3D Touch. “I personally think 3D Touch is a game changer,” he says. “I find that my efficiency is way up with 3D touch, because I can go through so many emails so quickly. It really does cut out a number of navigational steps to get where you’re going.”
When asked whether the company ever holds back a massive innovation ready for an “S” year, for the next generation (next year’s assumed “iPhone 7″), Cook was adamant in stating “As soon as products are ready we’re going to release them. There’s no holding back.” Another such innovation, the new iPhone Upgrade Program, is promised by the CEO to be aimed at improving customer experience with an “easier” and “simpler” way for those who want the new iPhone each year.
Thanks in part to the announcement of products like the iPad Pro, Cook also mentions that because “we’re at the point where the iPad does what some people want to do with their PCs,” he posits that some people may “never” buy a proper desktop or laptop computer. Still, he believes the Mac is a “key part” of the company’s strategy and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future.
One aspect that may be changing in the future, however, is a much-requested way to delete apps like “Stocks” and “Tips” from the iPhone. Cook and the company are aware of the fans’ cry for the feature and want to work something out, but it may be more complicated than it seems.
“This is a more complex issue than it first appears,” he says. “There are some apps that are linked to something else on the iPhone. If they were to be removed they might cause issues elsewhere on the phone. There are other apps that aren’t like that. So over time, I think with the ones that aren’t like that, we’ll figure out a way [for you to remove them]. … It’s not that we want to suck up your real estate, we’re not motivated to do that. We want you to be happy. So I recognize that some people want to do this, and it’s something we’re looking at.”
Apple announced the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPad Pro last week along with other products like the new Apple TV, and some new information on upcoming updates like iOS 9 and watchOS 2. The new iPhones went up for pre-order over the weekend and are scheduled to launch next week on Friday, September 25. Cook’s interview with Buzzfeed in New York today precedes his upcoming appearance on the new Late Show with Stephen Colbert, airing tonight at 11:30 p.m. on CBS.
The full interview between Cook and Buzzfeed is worth a read.
Verizon, AT&T to get store-in-store presence at select Best Buys
We’ve always known Best Buy as a third-party alternative to obtaining our smartphones. I guess it’s done well in the eyes of the carriers. Both Verizon and AT&T have announced today that they’re moving in.
The objective both of the carriers seek is to provide a better experience to customers/prospects viewing their offerings. Verizon will actually refer to its area as the Verizon Experience Store.
“The larger Verizon presence within 250 Best Buy locations will offer shoppers the ability to experience the latest wireless connected devices, tables, smartphones, apps and services.
In addition, each Experience Store will be staffed by dedicated and highly-trained Best Buy employees who are knowledgeable on Verizon products and services. These experts will provide customers with a complete Verizon Wireless experience, offering customized solutions based on their connectivity needs.“
This is certainly great from the perspective of coming in to play with devices. Many phones at Best Buy are dummy units. Also, recall that Samsung made a similar move not too long ago – setting up a space with its latest devices and representatives to walk you through them. I found it a convenient place to check out the Note 5 before it was released.
AT&T has a very similar announcement, stating that “The new space also includes dedicated employees who are expertly trained on the ins and outs of the products only offered from AT&T.”
“By expanding our in-store presence and depth of products sold at Best Buy, we’re giving customers another convenient way to fully experience what AT&T has to offer. We look forward to everyone stopping by one of the select stores and seeing the new changes for themselves.“
Verizon says that it will have nearly 100 locations up and running by the end of this month. Both carriers plan to have their entire 250 locations in place by the end of 2015.
Do you think this is a smart move? I don’t always like to go into a carrier store to check out a new device, especially if it’s not my carrier, so I welcome it.
The post Verizon, AT&T to get store-in-store presence at select Best Buys appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 will have X12 LTE
Qualcomm is getting ready to announce its new high-end chipset the Snapdragon 820. This will be an upgrade of the current Snapdragon 810 chipset found in many current high-end flagships.
Qualcomm just announced that the Snapdragon 820 will include a X12 modem. The modem will supply crazy high data transfer speeds perhaps faster than anything we’ve ever seen before. In addition, the Snapdragon 820 will be the first ever chipset to support Cat. 12 data speeds of up to 600Mbps and upload speeds of 150Mbps Cat 13 LTE uplink. These are insanly high numbers. But it doesn’t stop there. Qualcomm has promised to support up to 4×4 MIMO connections for a single carrier with LTE.
The new chipset will support 802.11ad Wi-Fi connectivity up to 4.6Gbps. 2×2 MU-MIMO or ‘LTE Unlicensed’ 802.11ac will also be included and supports speeds up to 867Mbps.
All in all this is going to be a blazing fast chipset that should have tech savvy consumers excited. Hopefully Qualcomm has made adjustments to prevent the chipset from containing the overheating issues we saw with the Snapdragon 810. According to recent reports, Android manufacturers are already testing and optimizing the chipset for their upcoming devices and so far the results sounds promising. It is said the Snapdragon 820 chipset will bring speeds like never before up to two-to-three times faster as its counterpart. Let’s hope it lives up to our expectations.
Source: Qualcomm
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[Deal] HTC’s Hot Deals are back, featuring 40% off the Nexus 9
HTC ran its Hot Deals back in July, offering up the Nexus 9 for a whopping 40% off. Now, the same deal has returned along with discounts on other products, such as the One M9 and accessories.
The 16GB tablet normally sells for $399, but with this deal, you’ll only be shelling out $239.40. Alternatively, the 32GB model goes for $479, with this discount bringing it down to a humble $287, nearly $200 off! However, you’ll need to act fast, as they’re selling like hotcakes!
Those interested in an HTC One M9 will see a 25% cut on the retail price ($486.75 as opposed to $649) and will be given $100 in Google Play credit, which can be spent on apps, books, movies, and etc.
There’s also a handful of accessories that’re anywhere from 50 to 60% off. Similarly, the RE Camera is seeing a 50% off discount, bringing the price down to an attractive $99.50.
Anyone picking up one of these awesome deals? You’ll need to act fast before the deal ends later tonight!
source: HTC
Come comment on this article: [Deal] HTC’s Hot Deals are back, featuring 40% off the Nexus 9
Lower end Snapdragon chips hit big numbers
Although low-end processors do not put up big numbers in testing and may not garner a lot of attention, for companies that manufacture them, like Qualcomm, they are the “bread and butter” that help keep the companies chugging along. About a year ago Qualcomm introduced some new chipsets for budget-oriented devices, the Snapdragon 410 and the Snapdragon 210. In just their first year of bringing 64-bit computing power and LTE connectivity to this segment of the market, Qualcomm has reached a couple big milestones.
The Snapdragon 410 has already been spec’ed out for use in over 550 mobile devices around the globe from over 60 different OEMs. The chip is already powering more than 200 million units that have shipped. Meanwhile, the Snapdragon 210 is being used in over 200 designs that have already shipped or are in the pipeline.
Some of the smartphones using the Snapdragon 410 include the Asus Zenphone 2, the Motorola Moto G, and the Xiaomi Redmi 2. Xiaomi president Bin Lin notes the Snapdragon 410 “enabled us to provide an amazing smartphone at an unbelievable price point.”
You can read the full press release below.
Qualcomm Announces New Milestone in Snapdragon 410 and 210 Shipments
—Snapdragon processors for high-volume, mainstream segments driving demand for affordable mobile devices in emerging regions—*
HONG KONG, Sept. 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), today announced it has reached a milestone for its Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 410 and 210 processors. Within the first year of its commercial launch, the Snapdragon 410 processor, which brought 64-bit computing power and LTE connectivity to emerging regions, is now available in more than 550 mobile device designs. The Snapdragon 410 processor has also shipped more than 200 million units globally from more than 60 OEMs. Additionally, the Snapdragon 210 processor has been included in more than 200 designs either shipped or in the device pipeline. The Snapdragon 210 processor is the first commercial processor for mobile in its class to deliver 4G LTE connectivity to developing regions, while the 410 is the first commercial processor for mobile to provide 64-bit computing to the sub-$150 pricing point.
Both Snapdragon processors have been designed to provide the most value to consumers in developing regions around the world. In reaching these key milestones, Qualcomm Technologies continues to demonstrate a position of technology leadership across multiple handset tiers in the smartphone industry.
New devices based on Snapdragon 210 processor include the Alcatel OneTouch Pixi 3(5), ZTE A460, and Huawei Bee 4G and Honor 4A. New devices based on the Snapdragon 410 processor include Motorola Moto G, Asus Zenphone 2 (ZE550KL), HTC Desire 510, HTC Desire 626, Samsung Galaxy Mega 2, Xiaomi Redmi 2 and BLU Life One. We anticipate more devices in the coming weeks and months.
“Xiaomi prides itself in making reasonably priced products that deliver strong customer value,” said Bin Lin, president, Xiaomi. “The Redmi 2 comes with a Snapdragon 410 processor because it enabled us to provide an amazing smartphone at an unbelievable price point.”
“Last month, we launched the Snapdragon 410-powered ZenFone Max,” said Erik Hermanson, head of global marketing, ASUS. “We chose to work with Qualcomm Technologies because of their extensive history and background in making top-performing processors in affordable tiers.”
“At Lenovo, we strive to deliver tablets that closely match consumers’ needs to enhance their tablet experience. We are giving them flexibility to access their on-demand content anytime and anywhere,” said Jeff Meredith, vice president and general manager, tablets, mobile business group, Lenovo. “We’re really delighted to work with Qualcomm Technologies. The new Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor is power-optimized for great performance and energy efficiency, making our YOGA Tab 3, 8 & 10 tablets faster and smoother at multitasking.”
“Making an affordable smartphone that comes with high computing and graphics performance is easier said than done,” said Samuel Ohev-Zion, BLU Products. “Qualcomm Technologies’ Snapdragon 410 processor was a straightforward decision since we didn’t need to make compromises to get the performance or connectivity options our customers demand.”
“The pipeline of device designs with Snapdragon 210 processors is double what has already shipped to date,” said Cristiano Amon, executive vice president, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and co-president, QCT. “We’re excited that increasing numbers of users around the globe are enjoying a premium computing and connectivity experience at an extremely affordable price point. Additionally, given the proliferation of 4G LTE worldwide, which is currently 422 commercial LTE networks and counting, and five generations of LTE modems that extend LTE to all tiers, Qualcomm Technologies is also excited to have helped operators worldwide make 4G LT technology available to all of their customers.”
About Qualcomm Incorporated
Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) is a world leader in 3G, 4G and next-generation wireless technologies. Qualcomm Incorporated includes Qualcomm’s licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of its patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of Qualcomm’s engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of its products and services businesses, including its semiconductor business, QCT. For more than 25 years, Qualcomm ideas and inventions have driven the evolution of digital communications, linking people everywhere more closely to information, entertainment and each other. For more information, visit Qualcomm’s website, OnQ blog, Twitter and Facebook pages.
Qualcomm and Snapdragon are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries. Other product and brand names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Come comment on this article: Lower end Snapdragon chips hit big numbers
AIVAnet 