Now TV Adds New Entertainment and Sky Movies Passes to Apple TV in UK [Mac Blog]
UK home entertainment and communications provider Sky expanded its Apple TV offerings with its expanded NOW TV channel supporting the broadcaster’s Entertainment Month Pass and Sky Movies Month Pass, reports Engadget. These two passes join the existing Sky Sports day pass that debuted on NOW TV last year.
The Entertainment Month Pass for NOW TV brings the latest television programming from 13 pay TV channels, including Boardwalk Empire and The Leftovers, for £4.99 (US$8.19) monthly. The Movies Month Pass is for movie buffs, offering streaming access to more than 800 blockbuster Hollywood films for £9.99 (US$16.39) a month after a 30-day free trial. UK customers also will be able to access the £9.99 (US$16.39) Sky Sports Day Pass for one-day access to six different Sky Sports channels.
Apple recently has been expanding the content and capabilities of its Apple TV. In the past few weeks, the company has rolled out a new channels for Beats Music and FX NOW, tweaked the user interface with an iOS 7-inspired design, and added support for iOS 8 features like Family Sharing and iCloud Photo Support.
.CPlase_panel display:none;
Pandora, Spotify, and Apple Climb App Revenue Charts as Customers Sign Up Via In-App Subscriptions
In a first for streaming music, Pandora, Spotify and Apple’s Beats Music are among the leaders in App Store revenue as customers increasingly subscribe to the services using in-app purchases. According to data provided by App Annie and published by Billboard, the music services were among the top ten revenue generators for all non-game applications in the iOS App Store during the month of August.
Internet radio service Pandora lead the trio, maintaining its number 2 spot in iOS App Store revenue. Spotify climbed seven spots from number 14 in July to number 7 in August, while Apple’s Beats Music moved up two spots to slide into the top ten at the number 9 slot.
All three services offer free apps that allow customers to purchase a subscription using an in-app subscription option. Pandora offers access to its paid Pandora One plan ($4.99 monthly), while Spotify allows users to pay $12.99 a month for its ad-free, offline premium subscription. Beats Music provides two options, allowing users to choose between $9.99 monthly access or a yearly subscription for $99.
Apple introduced in-app subscriptions a few years ago to iOS 6. As part of the App Store payment process, the company takes a 30 percent share of all in-app subscription revenue.
.CPlase_panel display:none;
Now TV’s movie and entertainment packages finally come to Apple TV
Sky’s Now TV streaming service has offered an iOS app for the longest time, but when it came to Apple TV, the company only let subscribers enjoy sport on the big screen. As of today, that’s no longer the case, because Sky’s brought its Entertainment and Movies packages to the streamer, just a couple of weeks before prices are set to rise. If you’re already a subscriber, the menus feature the same New In, Most Popular and Must See categories, which have been given a flatter look to fit in with the Apple TV’s new iOS 8 UI. Sky’s recent rush of updates means you can also now stream via the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Google’s Chromecast, as well as its own £10 set-top box.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, Software, HD, Apple
Source: Sky
.CPlase_panel display:none;
Adobe Unveils Photoshop and Premiere Elements 13 for Mac
Adobe today released new versions of Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements, its lower-cost photo and video editing software aimed at consumers. Both Photoshop Elements 13 and Premiere Elements 13 have gained several new features, focusing on improved editing tools, additional guided techniques, and Elements Live, a new portal that offers tips and tricks directly within each app.
“Our customers don’t always have the time or the know-how to get the results they desire,” said Shanmugh Natarajan, senior director, engineering, core technologies and products at Adobe. “In Photoshop Elements 13 and Premiere Elements 13, we focused on developing tools that automate the process or guide customers through the steps to create the photos they’ll love and want to share.”
Photoshop Elements 13, Adobe’s image editing software, includes updates that Adobe says were inspired by customer request. One of the main new features is the Photomerge Compose tool, which is used alongside the Refine Selection Brush to allow users to seamlessly copy people or objects from one image to another with just a few clicks.
There are new tools to create matching Facebook cover and profile photos, customizable with text and graphics, plus there are new guided edits available for creating black and white photos with hits of color. Guided edits are Adobe’s interactive tutorials, which offer step-by-step instructions on completing various tasks in app.
Photoshop Elements 13 also gains new Effects Variations, offering extra options for each existing effect to give users up to 50 filters that can be applied with a click, and there are impressive new cropping tools that include crop suggestions. The Intelligent Crop Suggestions tool analyzes faces and photo composition to select the four best crops for a particular image.
Premiere Elements 13, Adobe’s video editing software, introduces new tools to minimize the time that users spend editing their footage. Favorite Moments can be used to mark the best spots in a video, which can then be automatically assembled into a short movie, and Video Story assembles various clips, adds in transitions, music, and applies a theme for a particular occasion like a birthday party. Simple themed slideshows can also be created.
Premiere Elements 13 offers improved shake stabilization to improve the look of videos shot with hand-held devices like smartphones, and there are new Guided Edits to help users add motion to movie titles and improve dramatic effects in one area of a scene using masking techniques.
Elements Live, available in both Photoshop and Premiere 13, includes content curated by Adobe, tips, tricks, and tutorials. It also lets users see what other people are using the software to create.
Both Photoshop Elements 13 and Premiere Elements 13 for Mac and Windows can be purchased separately on Adobe’s website for $99.99 each, with bundles available for $149.99. Existing users can upgrade for $79.99 or $119.99 for the bundle.
.CPlase_panel display:none;
If this were the ’90s, Apple’s latest acquisition would be a Kinko’s
Want to make a digital magazine but Apple’s iBook Author app just doesn’t offer what you want? Then perhaps Cupertino’s latest buy could signal a coming change that’ll help you out. The iPhone company has purchased Prss, the digital publishing outfit behind Trvl, which TechCrunch notes was the first iPad-only newsstand publication way back in 2010. Prss’ niche is that it allows you to make snazzy-looking iPad mags without needing to know any coding. The news started as an anonymously-sourced report from Dutch iOS blog, iCulture, but Apple confirmed the vowel-averse company’s acquisition to TC, stating that it buys smaller tech firms from time to time and “generally do [does] not discuss our [its] plans or purposes.” Here’s to hoping that this pick-up is a bit less tumultuous than Tim Cook’s last purchase.
[Image credit: AFP/Getty Images]
Filed under: Tablets, Software, Mobile, Apple
Source: iCulture (Dutch), TechCrunch
.CPlase_panel display:none;
New Apple Print Ad Shows Off iPhone 6 and 6 Plus ‘Actual Sizes’
Apple has begun rolling out a new print ad on the back of magazines like Rolling Stone showing off how big the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are compared to older iPhone models, as noticed by The Mac Observer.
The ad simply depicts both of the new iPhones at actual size with the tagline “Actual Sizes”, and could likely tempt users of older iPhones to compare their current model to the new ones to see the size differences between the phones. Below the iPhones, the ad includes copy that briefly talks about the new features of the phones.
Stunning Retina HD display. Amazing new iSight camera. Powerful 64-bit A8 processor. The most advanced iOS yet. All in an ultraslim design. The new iPhones are bigger than bigger.
Apple has made the larger sizes of the new iPhones one of the cornerstones of its marketing for them, also debuting a TV ad starring Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake that talks about how “huge” the new phones are.
.CPlase_panel display:none;
Your iPhone trusts the security of many sites, including the government’s
As a matter of course, virtually all the internet-capable hardware you use supports trusted certificates, or proofs that secure data connections (such as those for apps and websites) should be legitimate. Have you ever wondered exactly how much faith your gadgets place in others, however? Thanks to Karl Kornel, we now have a good sense of how iOS 8 devices fare — and apparently, they trust a lot of organizations. Apple’s latest mobile software has no less than 222 certificates that greenlight data sharing. Most of these are from companies you’d expect to oversee security on iPads and iPhones, including Symantec’s various brands (35 certificates) and Apple itself (five). However, there are also quite a few governments that also get iOS’ all-clear in certain circumstances, including China, Japan, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Turkey and the US.
This level of trust isn’t necessarily bad; you’re going to need at least some of these certificates to get things done, such as checking your email or logging into a social networking app. With that said, Kornel is concerned that you can’t turn off any of the certificates if you’re concerned about the potential for abuse. Governments could theoretically use their credentials to spoof other websites and break into your phone for surveillance purposes, as an example. Whether or not that actually happens, Kornel is quick to note that Apple is at least being transparent by disclosing this info in a support page. You can easily find this info on Android devices, but it’s harder to know what level of security you’ll get in advance. Whichever platform you run, it’s reasonable to suggest that you should be cautious — don’t take promises of security at face value.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Apple
Source: Karl Kornel, Apple
.CPlase_panel display:none;
That bendable iPhone 6 screen isn’t a feature
Not sure if you want to hide your shiny new iPhone’s newfangled design in a bulky case? Maybe you should — apparently, it’s quite pliable. iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users on Twitter seem to be finding small, but noticeable bends just south of the handsets’ volume controls. Front-pocket storage is all it takes to give the handset a gentle slope, according to some users, but it can be bent other ways too. Back pockets and malicious YouTube users (video from Unbox Therapy after the break) can both bend the device to their will.
Some say that extra-tight jeans are to blame, but it’s really an issue of building materials — the iPhone 6 and 6+ feature an aluminum chassis spread over a wider area than any previous iPhone. Aluminum is a naturally soft metal; with enough pressure and leverage, it’s going to bend, and some owners reported similar issues with the iPhone 5. Metallurgy aside, though, it’s still a potential drawback for Apple users thinking of upgrading.
Oups, l’iPhone 6 se déforme dans la poche ! http://t.co/szFfovaHB7 pic.twitter.com/Zru9uozhMU
– Florian Paulmier (@FlorianP123) September 23, 2014
I don’t think Wall Street has heard about #bentgate yet. Stock is holding steady: http://t.co/dkRsisB3QF $AAPL
– Boris VvZ (@Boris) September 23, 2014
For the record, you can’t bend a @oneplus. Or, I’m weak. Or, I didn’t really want to try to anyway. #BendGate pic.twitter.com/asLkDrc1Bm
– John Colucci (@johncolucci) September 23, 2014
#bentgate jQuery19105771696190349758_1411511316677? #GFlex pic.twitter.com/cj5R49Rlkq
– LG Electronics UK (@LGUK) September 22, 2014
[Image credit: Unbox Therapy]
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple
Via: Gizmodo
Source: Unbox Therapy (YouTube)
.CPlase_panel display:none;
iPhone 6 Plus Bending Limits Tested in New Video [iOS Blog]
Earlier today, we shared several photos and videos from iPhone 6 Plus users who had accidentally bent their phones after carrying the device in their pockets, mere days after the phone’s initial launch.
YouTube video maker Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy has created a new video exploring just how much an iPhone 6 Plus will bend when subjected to force. Using his hands, Lewis bends the iPhone 6 Plus, with significant warping showing up near the device’s volume buttons.
The force placed on the iPhone 6 Plus in the video is unlikely to be replicated in a pocket, but as several photos have demonstrated from our earlier post, it does not take much force to cause a slight curvature in the device.
Bending is not limited to the iPhone 6 Plus. Previous generations of the iPhone, including the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 5s have also seen complaints of bending after being subjected to a pocket.
Apple has not yet commented on the iPhone 6 Plus bending incidents, but iPhone 6 Plus owners can likely prevent bending by removing the phone from their pockets before sitting or bending, or by placing the device in a rigid case.
.CPlase_panel display:none;
Ron Johnson Launching Gadget Delivery Service, Poaching Apple Employees
Apple’s former retail chief Ron Johnson is planning to launch a “high-end, on-demand delivery service for gadgets, reports The Information‘s Jessica Lessin. The startup has reportedly been described as “Best Buy’s Geek Squad meets Apple’s Genius Bar.”
MacRumors has heard similar rumors about Johnson’s startup plans, with a source suggesting he’s been attempting to recruit former and current Apple employees, including Jerry McDougal, who once served as Apple’s vice president of retail under Johnson.
Before leaving Apple, Johnson worked at the company for more than 10 years. He’s largely credited with transforming the Apple retail experience and setting the company on a path towards rapid retail growth. In 2011, Johnson left the company to take over as CEO of J.C. Penney, a position that he held for just two years.
Following Johnson’s departure, Apple’s retail division was left in flux, with no successor named. John Browett, formerly CEO of Dixons Retail, took over as head of retail at Apple in 2012, but he was ousted later that same year. Apple remained without a retail chief until the hiring of Angela Ahrendts, former Burberry CEO, who officially joined the company in May 2014.
.CPlase_panel display:none;
AIVAnet 