kenmay

Amazon increases free shipping minimum order to $35, pushes Prime membership as an alternative

The minimum order amount needed to qualify for free Super Saver Shipping from Amazon has remained set at $25 for US customers for quite some time — over a decade, actually. Now, the outfit is pushing the requisite cart total to $35 . As part of the announcement, the online retailer was quick to point out that Prime members receive unlimited free two-day shipping on any order as part of their annual $79 dues in addition to unlimited streaming of TV and movies through Prime Instant Video and access to the Kindle Lending Library. Of course, you can try it out for 30 days before committing as the outfit makes the push for Prime. Comments Via: Lifehacker Source: Amazon

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Amazon increases free shipping minimum order to $35, pushes Prime membership as an alternative

Google is adding handwriting input to Gmail and Docs.

Google is adding handwriting input to Gmail and Docs. Starting today, you can use your trackpad or mouse to hand-draw characters in a variety of languages. [ Gmail Blog via 9to5Google ] Read more…

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Google is adding handwriting input to Gmail and Docs.

Apple App Store hits 60 billion cumulative downloads

Over 64% of compatible devices are already running iOS 7, according to Apple, making it by far the company’s most successful mobile operating system. In all, iOS 7 was downloaded over 200 million times in the first five days after it was released. Apple also reported paying developers over $13 billion to date, thanks to the over 1 million apps available in the App Store, which have hit over 60 billion cumulative downloads. (Apple still has the edge over Android; there are about 900, 000 apps available in the Google Play store.) Some other notable milestones: More than 20 million people have checked out iTunes Radio, listening to over a billion songs — in the U.S. alone. Over 9 million iPhones were sold in one weekend after the 5c and 5s launched, making it the biggest iPhone launch in history. Developing… Comments

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Apple App Store hits 60 billion cumulative downloads

Apple releases iOS 7.0.3 update with iCloud Keychain support, bug fixes aplenty

Turns out it’s not just Macs getting an OS update today. Apple has now also released version 7.0.3 of iOS — a decidedly less major upgrade, but one that will no doubt be welcome to anyone having some technical issues since updating to iOS 7. It’s not all bug fixes, though. The update also brings with it support for iCloud Keychain to let you share passwords and credit card info across your various devices, along with a new password generator for Safari that will help you choose more secure passwords. Filed under: Cellphones , Mobile , Apple Comments Via: 9 to 5 Mac

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Apple releases iOS 7.0.3 update with iCloud Keychain support, bug fixes aplenty

OS X Mavericks comes out today—and it’s free

Hang ten and get gnarly, dudes. OS X 10.9 Mavericks is here. Named for a totally tubular surf spot in California, the latest Apple desktop operating system will be thundering our way today. Like Lion and Mountain Lion before it, it will be available in the Mac App Store. Upgraders can download the software for no cost. The release was announced as part of Apple’s October 22 press event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, CA. The new operating system brings a lot of under the hood changes, including a fix for OS X multi-monitor support. Another hotly anticipated feature is Finder Tabs, which takes a page from tabbed Web browser behavior and should allow users more flexibility when managing files. Visually, the new operating system has banished some of the more despised skeuomorphic elements that have crept onto the desktop over time. Apple’s PR images show that things like iCal’s leather stitching have been excised, leaving many applications less “touchable” but also less visually cluttered. Efficient resource usage is also a major theme in the updated operating system. Apple’s computer sales are dominated by portables, and Mavericks includes a great number of named features built to reduce the amount of power a Mac consumes and keep it running longer. In fact, Apple says that merely by installing Mavericks, Haswell-equipped Mac portables like the Macbook Air will gain at least an extra hour of battery life. Additionally, Mavericks gets a little smarter about memory management, compressing applications in memory and dynamically allocating memory to the GPU based on performance requirements. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

$2,999 Mac Pro to go on sale in December in all its Dalek-resembling glory

Mac Pro buyers to Apple: Shut up and take my money! Comedy Central The long gap between releases of Apple’s most powerful computer—the Mac Pro—is finally about to come to an end. The company today announced that the first major upgrade of the Pro since August 2010 will be released in December. The entry-level model will cost $2,999 with 3.7GHz quad-core Xeon processors, 12GB of DRAM, dual AMD FirePro D300 graphics chips with 2GB VRAM each, and 256GB of SSD. Mac users with heavy processing needs, such as graphics professionals , were disappointed when Apple didn’t refresh the stagnating platform last year. CEO Tim Cook promised that great news for Mac Pro users would come sometime in 2013 , and it did in June when Apple unveiled a Mac Pro with a smaller design and upgraded internals. At the time, Apple said only that it would be ” coming later this year ,” and the company didn’t announce the official ship date until today. Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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$2,999 Mac Pro to go on sale in December in all its Dalek-resembling glory

Apple unveils redesigned 9.7” iPad Air, available November 1

The big iPad just got a little smaller. Apple has just announced the fifth-generation version of its 9.7-inch flagship tablet, and as expected the tablet has gotten its first major design overhaul since the iPad 2 came out in early 2011. It’s now the “iPad Air.” The device will be available on November 1, and the entry level 16GB price will start at $499 for Wi-Fi only, and $629 with cellular data capabilities. The large iPad will be getting a tidy performance boost from Apple’s new 64-bit A7 SoC, which made its debut in the iPhone 5S. Apple is promising an 8x improvement in CPU performance and a 72x improvement in GPU performance over the original iPad. The device also gets its Wi-Fi upgraded to MIMO technology, gaining multiple multiple antennas provide to transfer data at up to 300Mbps over 802.11n. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Apple unveils redesigned 9.7” iPad Air, available November 1

Coca-Cola and Dean Kamen Team-Up Will Provide Fresh Drinking Water for Millions Via Kiosk

Coca-Cola is known the world over for producing its sugary (or fructose-y) namesake beverage. But in keeping with the ever-greening times, they now hope to form a secondary reputation as a provider of safe, clean drinking water. In Heidelberg, South Africa, Coke recently launched their first EKOCENTER , a 20-foot shipping container meant to serve as a retail kiosk, community center and social hub in impoverished rural areas. To draw bodies, each EKOCENTER is loaded up with a Slingshot , a water purification machine invented by Dean Kamen. Segway inventor Kamen’s Slingshot is amazing. Taking up as much space as a small refrigerator, the thing can run on cow poop and uses no filters, yet can turn any water source into potable water–cranking out up to 1, 000 liters a day. And it can run for five years without even requiring any maintenance! The Slingshot was more than a decade in the making, and with Coca-Cola’s backing and global distribution network, is well-positioned to make a significant impact on global health through the EKOCENTER. And in addition to the Slingshot functionality, each container contains solar cells that can be used to power charging points or refrigeration for medicine. Following the South African launch, Coke plans to get the containers into 20 countries in need by 2015, getting safe drinking water into the mouths of millions. (more…)

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Coca-Cola and Dean Kamen Team-Up Will Provide Fresh Drinking Water for Millions Via Kiosk

Simple Bug Exposed Verizon Users’ SMS Histories

Trailrunner7 writes “A security researcher discovered a simple vulnerability in Verizon Wireless’s Web-based customer portal that enabled anyone who knows a subscriber’s phone number to download that user’s SMS message history, including the numbers of the people he communicated with. The vulnerability, which has been resolved now, resulted from a failure of the Verizon Web app to check that a number entered into the app actually belonged to the user who was entering it. After entering the number, a user could then download a spreadsheet file of the SMS activity on a target account. Cody Collier, the researcher who discovered the vulnerability, said he decided right away to report it to Verizon because he is a Verizon customer and didn’t want others to have access to his account information. ‘I am a Verizon Wireless customer myself, so upon finding this, I immediately looked for a way to contact Verizon. I wouldn’t want my account information to exposed in such way, ‘ Collier said via email.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apple pulls HMV music app after realizing it approved a competing music store

We were so pleased for legacy UK music store HMV, when it turned up with a new iOS app last week . It seems Apple was a little bit over-excited too, having apparently mashed the approve button without really realizing what it was doing. HMV was selling music downloads via the new app, a massive conflict of interest for Apple, and a big no-no in relation to its Ts & Cs. According to HMV Chairman Paul McGowan, Cupertino gave HMV Music the nod on September 15th, but once it noticed the gaffe, only gave the UK retailer until 6pm yesterday to remove the offending feature. Of course, this was too short notice, and as such the app has been pulled. The Guardian reports that the official word from Apple is that the app violated a clause that prevents selling of goods or services outside of the app — an experience the official press release described as “native” despite sending you off to an external site. Back to the developing board for HMV, we guess. Filed under: Cellphones , Software , Mobile Comments Via: The Guardian Source: Paul McGowan (Twitter)

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Apple pulls HMV music app after realizing it approved a competing music store

Ken May

Author: kenmay