Evernote today updatedSkitch for OS X and iOS to version 2.5, adding a PDF annotation feature that is aimed at Evernote Premium users.
With PDF annotation, files can be modified with shapes, arrows, and text. Important passages can be highlighted and instructions can be added, which makes Skitch an even better collaboration tool. PDFs are sent with a summary of all annotations.
The new version supports Stamps, which are designed to offer fast feedback. For example, Stamps can be placed to indicate whether something is liked, disliked, or unclear in a document. Skitch has also added a plain text notation mode and a Tool Tip to explain the new features.
While all Evernote users will receive 30 days of access to PDF annotations, continuing to use the service will require a premium membership. Skitch is free to use, but a premium membership costs $5.00 per month or $45.00 per year.
ZeptoLab has released the latest version of its bestselling Cut the Rope series of games, Cut The Rope: Time Travel, that it previewed last week.
In the game, which again features the candy eating monster Om Nom, players travel back in time to fill Om Nom's ancestors with candy, using time travel and other new physics. Additionally, users will have two monsters to feed.
In Cut the Rope: Time Travel, players will encounter new gameplay mechanics and explore a brand new theme as they jump back in time with Om Nom and face all of the ropes and challenges they love from the original Cut the Rope…and more! They’ll have to be sure to save some candy -- Om Nom is bringing his relatives along for the adventure, and they’re just as hungry! As players cut the ropes and collect stars, they’ll unlock levels with challenging new gameplay elements, feeding not one, but two hungry green monsters.
Cut the Rope: Time Travel is available for $0.99 on iPhone and $2.99 on iPad. [Direct Link: iPhone, iPad]
Apple has changed the terms of its retail store One to One service (via ifoAppleStore), which is a $99 program that gives Apple customers personal training lessons on Mac usage from an Apple employee.
The new terms state that One to One customers must initiate the included Data Migration services within 60 days of purchasing a One to One membership.
One to One members are entitled to Data Migration services for one (1) Mac purchased from an Apple Retail Store, Apple Online Store, or 800-MY-APPLE, if requested within the first sixty (60) days of your membership, including any renewals. Data Migration includes the data transfer of files from your old computer (PC or Mac) to your Mac.
Previously, Data Migration could be requested at any point during the year-long One to One service term, but a late migration can be more complicated than a migration that is initiated directly after purchase.
Completing the data transfer a while after the initial purchase can lead to difficulty and confusion for both the staff doing the transfer and the end user who is still learning to navigate around a Mac computer.
With the shift to digital software distribution, Apple is also now requiring that One to One assistance with software installation occur face-to-face in a Personal Training or Open Training session rather than as part of the Data Migration process.
Each selection is accompanied by an essay by another prominent personality or close associate outlining why the person qualifies for inclusion in the list. The essay on Ive is written by U2 frontman Bono, who has long had ties to Apple.
Jony Ive is himself classic Apple. Brushed steel, polished glass hardware, complicated software honed to simplicity. His genius is not just his ability to see what others cannot but also how he applies it. To watch him with his workmates in the holy of holies, Apple’s design lab, or on a night out is to observe a very rare esprit de corps. They love their boss, and he loves them. What the competitors don’t seem to understand is you cannot get people this smart to work this hard just for money. Jony is Obi-Wan.
Samsung CEO Oh-Hyun Kwon is also featured, with his essay written by one-time Apple CEO John Sculley. A number of other tech luminaries are listed, including Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.
TIME's 2013 list of the world's most influential people is the magazine's cover story for next week's issue and highlights representatives in five different categories: Titans, Leaders, Artists, Pioneers and Icons.
Yahoo has launched a new standalone iPhone weather app called Yahoo! Weather, along with an upgraded version of its Yahoo! Mail app that brings the native mail app experience to the iPad.
The weather app is by far the more interesting development, receiving praise from many reviewers and users. The Verge reports that Yahoo is attempting to get a halo effect from apps like Yahoo! Weather, hoping users will try one product and love that one so much that they'll begin using other Yahoo services.
"Marissa describes it as a chain reaction," said Adam Cahan, who leads mobile products at Yahoo, in an interview with The Verge. "I would love for you to use all 12 or 15 experiences that we're going to build for. You probably won't. But if I can get you to use a few, that's success. If we do something that you really love in one product, you'll give us a chance on another product."
Yahoo Weather represents one such attempt to delight users into giving the rest of the company's products a try.
Last week it was reported that Apple and Yahoo were in talks to deepen their iPhone partnership, but that the two companies are some ways off from a deal. Yahoo currently powers the default iOS stocks and weather apps, as well as providing data like sports stats to Siri.
Verizon today became the first major U.S. carrier to report financial results for the first quarter of 2013, and with Apple's earnings not being released until next week, Verizon's numbers offer the first look at how Apple's quarter might turn out.
Verizon reported activations of 7.2 million smartphones during the quarter, and TechCrunch notes that on the company's conference call the carrier revealed that 4 million of those were iPhones, which corresponds to 55% of total smartphone activations. Verizon also noted that the iPhone 5 accounted for roughly half of iPhone activations on the carrier, with the iPhone 4S and 4 accounting for the remaining half.
Verizon's overall iPhone numbers are down from 6.2 million iPhones representing nearly two-thirds of Verizon activations last quarter, but the fourth quarter of 2012 was the launch quarter for the iPhone 5, skewing the company's numbers.
A more relevant comparison comes from the first quarter of 2012, which saw Verizon activate 3.2 million iPhones for just over half of the carrier's total smartphone activations in a quarter when Apple shipped 35.1 million iPhones worldwide. Those numbers show that iPhone activations on Verizon rose 25% year-over-year and are giving Wall Street analysts optimism that Apple may meet their overall targets for the quarter, which are generally in the 35-37 million range.
Over the past ten days, we've been tracking the story of AppGratis, the app discovery service that saw its app pulled from the App Store by Apple as part of the first phase of a broader crackdown on apps that could be confused with the App Store itself or which might be used to game the App Store rankings.
Following the removal of AppGratis from the App Store, CEO Simon Dawlat claimed that the service was "far from finished" and that existing users of the app could continue to receive daily deals while AppGratis works on a solution to the issue.
But as noted by TechCrunch, Apple now appears to have used yet another tool in its effort to shut down AppGratis, revoking the existing app's ability to send push notifications to users alerting them of each day's deal.
The move was reported earlier by French publication JDN which said AppGratis informed subscribers that Apple had killed notifications in an emailed newsletter. TechCrunch has obtained a copy of the email sent to (Italian) AppGratis subscribers — the first part of which is embedded below. As well as explaining to subscribers why they haven’t received a push notification from the app that morning, it urges them not to panic, and says AppGratis will be launching a daily special offers newsletter to keep them informed about app offers.
TechCrunch points to a new blog post from Dawlat outlining plans for AppGratis going forward, including new newsletters and an HTML5 web app to help skirt around Apple's App Store ban.
But while the company may be able to develop some workarounds for its services, it is clear that Apple is committed to shutting down AppGratis for iOS and is not interested in having discussions that could potentially lead to an alternative resolution.
Following rumors of a new music app for iOS from Twitter last month, the company today announced the public release of the new service. The app, which is available as a free App Store download and rolling out on the web, integrates a number of existing services to give users each access to their Rdio and Spotify subscriptions, as well as previews of iTunes Store content.
The songs on Twitter #music currently come from three sources: iTunes, Spotify or Rdio. By default, you will hear previews from iTunes when exploring music in the app. Subscribers to Rdio and Spotify can log in to their accounts to enjoy full tracks that are available in those respective catalogs. We will continue to explore and add other music service providers.
Twitter #music is unsurprisingly based around existing Twitter services, taking advantage of Twitter trends to detect popular and emerging artists and songs and leveraging users' own follow lists and those of artists to recommend new music. ABC News has more on how the app works:
The Popular page shows you new music that's trending across Twitter while the Emerging tab shows "hidden talent found in tweets." While those two parts feed you information about what the collective Twitterverse is jamming to, the last two focus on who you follow and your personal music taste.
The Suggested tab shows artists you might like based on the artists you follow on the service and who they follow. And finally the #NowPlaying tab shows songs your friends are listening to or tweeting about. For instance, if your friend tweets that they are listening to a song by Justin Bieber, that song will show up on that page.
Twitter #music is available now in the App Store with support for users in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. [Direct Link]
Earlier this week, case manufacturer Tactus was one of several sources to share photos of cases reportedly designed for the fifth-generation iPad, once again showing that the device is expected to be smaller than the existing iPad and take design cues from the iPad mini.
Today, the company shares a photo of what is said to be the rear shell of Apple's rumored lower-cost iPhone. In line with previous rumors, the part appears to be manufactured from plastic.
The part is also consistent with iLounge's January description of the device, carrying a design somewhat similar to the iPod classic with a flat back and curved edges, as well as a shift to elongated volume buttons along the left side.
The report also shares a number of other claimed details about the device, including word of an A5 chip, a 5-megapixel rear camera, and five color options of black, white, blue, red, and yellow. The device is also claimed to carry a 3.5-inch Retina display rather than the 4-inch display seen in the iPhone 5, although that detail conflicts with reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo's claims of a 4-inch display for the lower-cost iPhone.
Finally, Tactus claims that the lower-cost iPhone will launch on October 15 and be priced at $300, although we place little faith in those details given that any source for part leaks likely coming through Apple's supply chain or accessory manufacturers would not be aware of Apple's specific launch plans. The report also claims that the rear shell is 0.4-0.6 mm thick, which is obviously not an accurate measurement and is likely a misreporting of previous claims that it would be 0.4-0.6 mm thicker than the iPhone 5.
We also can not verify whether this is indeed a legitimate rear shell for Apple's lower-cost iPhone. It could simply be manufactured based on circulating rumors, but even if fake it could be an accurate representation if it is based on design specs leaking through case makers. Case makers have a number of times created accurate physical mockups of Apple's upcoming devices, although they have on occasion been incorrect.
Digitimes reports that Apple has essentially halted all component orders for its Mac product lines, apparently working through significant inventories of components delivered during an aggressive ramp-up late last year that may have proven overly aggressive.
The suppliers originally expected to finish digesting their Mac inventories in April, but are now stranded waiting for further instructions from Apple.
The sources revealed that Apple's Mac orders to the supply chain dropped to almost nothing after the Lunar New Year holidays. Apple had high hopes for its Mac product lines and placed aggressive orders at the end of 2012; however, the company is now badly affected by the decision.
The report claims that Apple generally provides shipment forecasts to its supply chain partners at the beginning of each quarter, but the company has not done so for the second quarter. The lack of information has reportedly left suppliers wondering when they will be able to resume production.
Just last week, Digitimes claimed that Apple is likely to refresh its notebook lineup at the end of the second quarter, so it seems that suppliers may need to start ramping up production for new models in the relatively near future.
Apple frequently has to juggle its supply chain as it approaches product updates, seeking to accurately estimate consumer demand in order to deplete its existing inventories just as the new models are released. But if today's report is true, it seems that Apple may have overestimated customer demand for the early part of 2013 and is now finding itself with substantial inventories heading into its next round of product updates.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has also warned about reading too much into rumors from Apple's supply chain, noting that its "very complex" nature makes it difficult to accurately interpret what is actually going on from limited data points, even if that data is accurate.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has been one of the most vocal sources claiming that Apple will be including a fingerprint sensor in the iPhone 5S, indicating that Apple's 2012 acquisition of AuthenTec is ready to bear fruit for the company as a differentiating feature for the next iPhone.
In a new research report, Kuo outlines his belief that in order to limit rival Samsung's involvement in the iOS device supply chain, Apple will turn to a series of Taiwanese companies to support its fingerprint sensor implementation.
Assuming this is the case, we predict a production flow of the fingerprint sensor as follows: Apple (design) –> TSMC (foundry) –> Xintec (wafer-level packaging) –> ASE and Sharp (module).
While there’s no question that Apple possesses key fingerprint sensor technology, we also think TSMC is a reasonable foundry choice for Apple as it used to serve AuthenTec. We expect Xintec to make the supply chain on its expertise in wafer-level packaging and TSMC is its largest share holder. However, as it was loss-making in 2012, it’s possible Xintec will get capex support from TSMC for the new business.
Kuo is upbeat on the futures of TSMC and ASE, arguing that Apple will continue to forge closer ties with the Taiwanese semiconductor industry. The biggest win for Taiwanese industry would be a shift to TSMC for the A-series chips used in Apple's iOS devices. Apple has long been rumored to be working to shift production of the A-series chips from Samsung to TSMC, with the latest rumors suggesting that move may finally take place with new 20-nanometer A7 chips in early 2014.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has on a number of occasions offered accurate information on Apple's product plans, recently published a new research note outlining his expectations for Apple's fifth-generation iPad. Kuo expects mass production and shipments of the new iPad to ramp up in the August-September timeframe, with the device registering roughly 15% thinner and 25% lighter than the current full-size iPad.
We think the tablet will, at 7.5-8.0mm, be 15% thinner than iPad 4. The new device will likely be about 500 grams, or some 25% lighter than iPad 4, run on an A7X processor, and sport cameras with similar specs to the iPad 4’s (front HD, rear 5MP). The casing shape and color (silver and black) and narrow bezel design will be similar to the iPad mini’s.
The prediction of a 7.5-8.0 mm thickness is in line with previous claims that the next iPad will see a roughly 2 mm reduction from the current 9.5 mm thickness.
Kuo predicts that Apple will adopt the same GF2 touch technology used in the iPad mini, enabling Apple to design a thinner display for the new full-size iPad. In addition, more efficient display and chip technologies are expected to bring down the device's overall power consumption, allowing for a smaller and thinner battery.
We therefore think that iPad 5’s battery capacity will be 25-30% smaller, at 8,500-9,000mAh, than iPad 4’s, and the battery’s thickness will be 15-20% smaller, at 7.5-8.0mm, and the number of cells will be reduced to two from three.
As for the chip powering the iPad 5, Kuo believes that Apple will be sticking with Samsung for a new A7X chip that will take advantage of Samsung's 28-nanometer process node. There have been reports that Apple will be shifting its A-series chip production to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), but it appears that Kuo believes that transition has a bit further time horizon, in line with rumors that a partnership between Apple and TSMC for 20-nanometer A7 chips will not begin production until early 2014.
Just last week, Kuo issued a report claiming that Apple's iPhone 5S, lower-cost iPhone, and second-generation iPad mini will launch later than currently expected by market watchers, with a variety of technological challenges still needing to be addressed by Apple. While Kuo did not offer specific predictions of when Apple will launch those devices, he did lay out a series of three scenarios addressing the possibility of August/September, September/October, and October/November timeframes.
Apple has updated its Cards app to promote Mother's Day more prominently, as well as putting new Mother's Day ads on the Apple Online Store. Mother's Day in the United States occurs on Sunday May 12th this year.
What's new
• Improves address verification on multi-card orders sent to recipients in different countries • Fixes several issues that caused the app to quit unexpectedly • Improves application performance
Apple currently offers 34 styles of greeting cards for Mother's Day, as well as dozens of others for different holidays.
In 2011, Apple announced a worldwide repair program for MacBooks with a defective bottom case, which caused the rubber surface to separate from the hard plastic casing.
The program originally stated that Apple would replace the bottom case of any affected MacBook for two years from the date of purchase, but the company recently extended the replacement period to four years from the original date of purchase.
Apple has determined that under certain circumstances the rubber surface on some MacBooks may separate from the bottom case of the system. MacBooks shipped between October 2009 and April 2011 may experience this issue.
Apple will replace the bottom case of any affected MacBook, free of charge, that exhibits the issue.
This program covers affected MacBooks for four years from original purchase date. Apple will continue to evaluate the service data and will provide further extensions to this program as needed.
Apple is offering several different repair options, which include visiting an Apple Retail Store, an Apple Authorized Service Provider, or ordering a replacement kit online.
To celebrate the one year anniversary of its rebranding, Pocket (formerly Read It Later) has implemented new sharing capabilities.
Pocket has long had tools to share articles via social networks like Facebook and Twitter, but has added a new "Send to Friend" function along with a redesigned Share Menu.
Send to Friend offers a way to share annotated content from Pocket with anyone. Select an article, add comments or highlights, and then email it to a friend. If it is sent to another Pocket user, the notification will be received directly in the app.
A year ago today, we became Pocket. It seems only fitting that we'd celebrate with a new feature designed to rethink another core element of the Pocket experience: Sharing.
INTRODUCING SEND TO FRIEND Send to Friend is a new, simple way to share content with the people who matter to you most. With just a couple of taps you can share content from Pocket with friends and family, along with a comment and a highlighted quote. They'll receive an email with the link, and if they have Pocket, they'll also be notified right inside the app.
RECEIVE SHARED CONTENT IN POCKET Once a friend sends content to your Pocket with Send to Friend, it will appear in an inbox, where you can see their comments along with any highlighted quotes they chose to share with you.
NEW SHARE MENU WITH MORE ACTIONS Pocket's redesigned Share Menu adds Send to Friend, as well as actions for the selected item: Copy Link and Open in Browser.
BUG FIXES & PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS This update also includes a number of bug fixes and performance updates.
Pocket is a universal app that can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Apple today issued build 12E33a of OS X Mountain Lion to developers, eight days after build 12E30 was released. Build 12E33a marks the third beta iteration of OS X 10.8.4.
Apple continues to ask users to focus on Wi-Fi, Graphics Drivers, and Safari.
The update is available through the software update tool in the Mac App Store and it should appear on Apple's Developer Page shortly.
StackSocial has launched its second 'Name Your Own Price' Mac bundle, offering 10 Mac apps to any purchasers who pay more than the average purchase price (currently $7.99). Anyone paying less than the average price receives just three apps.
The deal ends in just over 7 days and it's likely the price will rise slowly because buyers need to pay at least the average price in order to get the full selection of apps.
TechCrunch is reporting that Amazon has acquired Evi, a natural language search platform that is similar to Apple's Siri, for $26 million. The Evi app was originally posted on the App Store but Apple had threatened to remove because of similarities to Siri, but later said it would "work with" the company to reduce similarities. Evi remains available on the App Store.
TechCrunch understands from sources that the company has been sold to Amazon for $26 million. However, calls to Amazon PR, backers Octopus Ventures and the founders of Evi have ben met with a stoney silence. A spokesperson for Octopus told us: “On this occasion Octopus will decline to comment on this specific portfolio company”.
True Knowledge, the company behind Evi, licensed the same Nuance voice recognition technology that Apple uses in Siri and offers an array of information that seems to compare favorably to Siri's abilities. Evi first launched in early 2012.
Amazon has a number of possible uses for Evi, including building the service into its Kindle Fire tablet, or a possible Amazon phone.
ZeptoLab has released the latest version of its bestselling Cut the Rope series of games, 
TIME magazine today 
Verizon today became the first major U.S. carrier to 
Over the past ten days, we've been tracking the 
