As the publicity machine shifts into high gear in preparation for the public debut of the Apple Watch on March 9, new details and additional features, applications and other bits of information are making their way into the press. The codename for the project, for example, was "Gizmo," reports The New York Times. Among other revelations are the role that former Adobe Flash chief Kevin Lynch played, power-saving and style details, and the news that the watch will also launch abroad in its first month.
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Epic Games is making it easier for would-be developers to gain access to its powerful Unreal Engine 4 software, by getting rid of the monthly subscription. Previously costing $19 per month per user, Epic has removed the charge entirely, allowing anyone with an interest to register, download, and use the game engine in the production of their own games and apps.
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Recently, staff writer and long-time Windows user Malcolm Owen returned to the Mac following a five-year absence. Back to the Mac is a series of posts where he charts his progress in introducing Apple to his computing environment again. In this installment, Malcolm recounts his first full working week with on the Mac mini.
Switching between two different ways of using an item or working can be tough to do. Long-established patterns are difficult to break, and altering the way you navigate a computer in the short term could, for people resistant to change, be akin to giving up an addiction. I hate change.
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7 hours ago | Posted in: industry, Apple
At yesterday's keynote to the Mobile World Congress, alongside the Galaxy S6 family of phones, Samsung revealed Samsung Pay, a competitor to the Apple Pay service. Not much was said about the new offering, derived almost entirely from the recent purchase of LoopPay -- but more information has come to light, including why Samsung noted in press materials that the phone could be remotely wiped to secure Samsung Pay information if lost.
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A little over a week after the second developer beta of OS X 10.10.3, which includes the first public peek at the forthcoming Photos app, Apple has made a new version public for pre-registered beta testers. Build 14D87p is the first public beta of 10.10.3, and includes the Photos app for public testing for the first time (developers had been able to to use the application in the previous two betas). The public version appears to be identical to the second developer beta, numbered 14D87h.
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Welcome to Daily Deals, the post where we scour online retailers to find discounts and offers on gadgets, hardware, games, and other items for you, the discerning MacNN and Electronista reader. Since it is the start of a new week, we have wiped the slate clean, with the new collection of deals including a Fujifilm 16MP compact camera, a 6TB Seagate desktop hard drive for $200, and a 24-inch Viewsonic monitor.
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Tower defense is hardly a new genre, especially on mobile platforms. For those unfamiliar with the idea behind tower defense, it generally follows a relatively simple formula: a player is given a base (or bases) to defend from oncoming waves of enemies. For every enemy that the player defeats, they are awarded some form of resource, usually money, which can then be used to buy more units to defend your base from larger waves of enemies. The genre is one of the more stressful and challenging ones, attracting tactical gamers and stress junkies alike. We checked out Sentinel 4: Dark Star, the fourth installation in Origin8's tower defense series.
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Earlier today, drawing tablet manufacturer Wacom announced the latest in its line of artists' peripherals, the Cintiq 13HD touch. The Cintiq 13HD touch is designed to offer a natural pen and touch experience. Wacom's pen display offers characteristic touch and pen capabilities, providing a digital workflow that emulates drawing or painting on paper or canvas.
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8 hours ago | Posted in: industry, Apple
Apple CEO Tim Cook, in a reply to a London Apple Store worker who asked about increased accessibility in the company's latest projects, reportedly said that Apple Environmental Vice President Lisa Jackson has been tasked with helping Apple increase its focus on accessibility. "In every product we do, we want it to be accessible for everyone," Cook said, adding that the Apple Watch will gain some accessibility features over time in addition to the ones it has now.
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IBM and Apple have used their partnership to release three more iOS apps for enterprise, under the IBM MobileFirst for iOS initiative. The new apps, called Advisor Alerts, Passenger Care, and Dynamic Buy, will join the existing 11 apps already brought out under the partnership, with more enterprise-specific apps expected to launch in the coming years.
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According to a Swiss enthusiast site, Apple has amended the corporate document filings it maintains with the government in that country to include "vehicles" among its activities. The statement, added to official documents that classify the company for tax and licensing purposes, is incredibly broad -- covering any sort of product for any sort of moving vehicle, from wheelchairs to airplanes -- but is notable in light of recent speculation that Apple is developing a car of some type.
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The human brain is an incredible organ. It's said that every human brain contains something comparable to 2.5 petrabytes (or about 2.5 million gigabytes) worth of "space" for knowledge and memories. That equals somewhere just over 300 million hours worth of video, which we find phenomenally impressive. What better way to start filling up that storage than with a little light reading? What if you could do a lot of light reading -- to the tune of 600 words a minute or more? That's why we checked out Rapid Reader by Wasdesign, an app that helps you speed read all of your favorite content on the Internet.
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The MacNN Podcast hits its fourth airing and touches on the hot button issues in the tech world! Join this week's hosts, MacNN Editor Charles Martin, alongside staff writer Michelle Elbert, and Managing Editor Mike Wuerthele as they discuss the events that got our attention, needed further discussion, or just plain tickled our fancy.
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Nikon today expanded its DSLR range with the D7200. The new model, aimed at the enthusiast market, has a 24.2MP CMOS, boasting no optical low-pass filter. Due to improvements in hardware and software, the company claims 30 percent faster image processing with the new model over the now replaced D7100.
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14 hours ago | Posted in: peripherals
Microsoft has made a second version of its multi-platform keyboard, this time in a more-portable form. Unveiled at Mobile World Congress alongside new Lumia devices, the Universal Foldable Keyboard is a full QWERTY keyboard which can be paired with two iOS, Android, Windows Phone, or Windows devices, with the user able to switch between the two with a press of a button.
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BlackBerry today unveiled a package of software and services to bring the platform's security features to smartphone and tablets running iOS, Android, and Windows operating systems. Coming to all platforms are the BlackBerry Productivity Suite, BlackBerry Communication and Collaboration Suite, and the BlackBerry Security Suite. The Productivity Suite allows users to manage work and personal messages, and edit documents across all devices. Additionally, all personal and work messages can be monitored one place, including email, text messages, and social networking accounts.
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