This week was all about utility: getting exactly what you need, as fast as you can. Whether it’s a flashlight app beautifully pared down to the essentials, or a travel app that compiles everything you could possibly want and more, you’ll be able to conquer virtually anything with ease. Of course, this also means you have no excuse for being unproductive this week. So, we do apologize for that. More »
In the mood to create something? This week’s selection of iPad apps will let you do just that, whether you’re just getting the hang of walking or the one making sure we remember these moments forever, you’ll be thankful to have the help.
KeepShot: There’s no limit to the number of custom photo album websites available online, but with KeepShot, you can create your own, beautiful albums entirely on your iPad. It makes the creation process feel like a much more organic experience, as you’ll be mimicking the way you’d put a a physical photo album together in real life. Import photos from essentially any of your preferred photo services, and you’re already on your way to making memories. Free
Dexteria Jr.: Kids are going to grab for your iPad no matter what, so you might as well trick them into learning something while they’re at it. Dexteria Jr. is an offshoot of its older, award-winning cousin Dexteria, and caters specifically to kids ages 2-5. Hand and finger exercises are camouflaged and bright colors and engaging songs, so kids will have blast while developing essential skills to carry with them later on. $3
HLP Flashlight: There’s certainly no dearth of apps floating around with the sole purpose of turning your phone’s LED bulb into a makeshift flashlight. So if you’re someone to whom design is an afterthought (at best), you’ll probably be perfectly content keeping what you already have. For the rest of you, though, HLP Flashlight for iOS is a simple, elegant take on a utility that’s more or less become a necessity. And there are even a few fun kicks thrown in, to boot. Free
![Apple Expected To Develop Digital Wallet By 2014 [Analyst]](https://i0.wp.com/cdnrss.ubergizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ios-digital-wallet.jpg?resize=640%2C494 "Apple Expected To Develop Digital Wallet By 2014 [Analyst]")
Google launched its Google Wallet service nearly two years ago, and has since been a great way for Android users to pay for stuff without the burden of having to carry around their wallet everywhere they go. Apple, not to be outdone by Google in its Maps and possible Street View space, is expected to develop its own digital wallet within the next year or two, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.
Munster believes a payment option for iOS users will use a technology that will replace or be in addition to NFC, although its system will work with already existing mobile payment solutions. The mobile payment option is expected to be made available with the iPhone 6 in the first half of 2014. Munster also believe Apple will rely on its iTunes database as it currently holds over 500 million accounts, which the majority of those most likely have credit cards linked. Hopefully if what Munster predicts becomes true, Apple will find an easier way to approve transactions that wouldn’t require iTunes users to input their password every step of the way.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: iOS 7 Concept Reimagines Lock Screen, Text Messaging And More, Apple Patent Hints At Their Own Version Of Google Street View, 
Late last night, the online Apple Store quietly went down momentarily, provoking speculation as to what the company was updating. Of course, we haven’t heard anything recently about an update to their product line (or at least an update that didn’t warrant an event), so we assumed it was merely just a site redesign of sorts, and it turns that’s exactly what it was.
The change is very, very subtle, but if you were to navigate to store.apple.com on your iOS device, and then tap on a product, a touch-capable horizontal scroll bar will appear at the top, letting you swipe through different sub-categories. A small change, indeed, but it could be a sign that Apple is slowly starting to make its online store more mobile friendly.
Of course, Apple has their own app specifically for the online Apple Store, but it’s becoming common practice that companies develop a mobile-friendly version of their website anyway, just in case mobile users don’t have the dedicated app installed. Frankly, we’re kind of surprised that Apple has waited this long to start making its online store mobile friendly.
Many people thought that the temporary downtime of the online Apple Store was due to the company adding the T-Mobile version of the iPhone 5 to its lineup, but seeing as how the website was also down for folks outside the US, that wasn’t the main reason for the downtime, and there’s no T-Mobile iPhone 5 currently in the Apple Store.
Apple Store back online with iOS-friendly navigation is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
iOS 7 may be running behind schedule, but we’ve seen some amazing concepts over the past couple of weeks that have certainly made us excited about all of the possibilities for the future of iOS. We’ve seen some concepts that suggest a new app switcher as well as being able to resize icons and widgets, but the iOS 7 concept we’ll be featuring today is kind of a generalized concept that helps improve a number of areas of iOS.
The concept featured above was created by Ran Avni, which he imagines an iOS 7 that features an improved lock screen, text messages as well as the addition of OS X’s mission control feature. The best part of Avni’s concept is it doesn’t seem too far fetched to include in iOS 7 as many of what Avni suggests in this concept doesn’t seem too complicated to use, which we know is one of the major bullet points for Apple and their iOS devices. Simplicity is king in Apple’s mind and we certainly think Avni’s concept is both simple and extremely useful.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: iOS 7 concept video brings resizable icons and widgets to the table, Apple patent suggests gestures used to control devices from a distance, 
ComScore has released data on the US smartphone market gathered over a three month span that went to the end of February of this year, and it shows Apple and Google on the top of the their respective scales. Apple is leading the way in smartphone OEMs, beating out Samsung by over 15-percent, while Google comes in with the top platform, althoug its numbers have dropped a bit over last year once again, marking a downward trend.
According to the report, 133.7 million individuals in the United States own smartphones, a rise of 8-percent since November. Among them, Apple holds 38.9-percent, a slight increase over 2012′s 35-percent. Samsung came in second at 21.3-percent, rising a hair over 2012′s 20.3-percent. And HTC comes in third at 9.3-percent, suffering a 1.7-percent drop, followed relatively closely by Motorola and LG.
As far as smartphone platforms go, Google is still at the top, but suffered a 2-point drop from 53.7-percent to 51.7-percent, marking the second month straight where Google has taken a hit. This was contrasted by Apple, which still sits at #2 with a 3.9-point increase from 35-percent to 38.9-percent. Third on the list is BlackBerry, which also suffered a drop from 7.3-percent to a paltry 5.4-percent. The list is rounded out by Microsoft at 3.2-percent (a 0.2-point increase) and Symbian, which held steady at 0.5-percent.
HTC and Samsung are all but guaranteed to see number jumps the next time around given the soon-to-be-released HTC first, which will offer Facebook Home, as well as Samsung’s much-anticipated GALAXY S 4 flagship. And while things are looking good for Apple and Samsung, Google has once again edged closer to dropping below the 50-percent mark.
[via ComScore]
Google suffers another marketshare drop while Apple rises, says comScore is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
It seems the Apple Store is down, displaying the all-too-familiar cycling “We’ll be back” message in a variety of languages. This is the modus operandi that takes effect when Apple updates the store, but what the update/item (or items, as it were) is/are is unknown. While we wait to find out, drop a comment after the jump and let us know what you think is in store (pun intended).
In some ways, it is nice knowing what is coming, making that “We’ll be back” sign an indication that the waiting is over. When the notice appears out of nowhere, however, there’s a sort of held-breath excitement as we wait in unison to find out what the Cupertino company is up to, and what we’ll find after the store comes back. Such is the case this time.
Back in October, the same notice went up as the store went down on the eve of the iPad mini’s launch. It did the same in September as the iPhone 5 was added, in June when Mac hardware was added, back in February 2011 when the refreshed MacBook Pros were rolled out…you get the point. There’s something coming, and hopefully we won’t have to wait too long to find out what it is.
In recent Apple news, a patent cropped up yesterday showing that Apple is toying with the idea of convertible touchscreen Macs with removable displays, age recommendations have been added to the App Store, and the company’s spaceship campus is behind schedule (but still awesome), among other things. Stay tuned, and we’ll update you as soon as we know more!
Apple Store goes down as something new is rolled out is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
There’s certainly no dearth of apps floating around with the sole purpose of turning your phone’s LED bulb into a makeshift flashlight. So if you’re someone to whom design is an afterthought (at best), you’ll probably be perfectly content keeping what you already have. For the rest of you, though, HLP Flashlight for iOS is a simple, elegant take on a utility that’s more or less become a necessity. And there are even a few fun kicks thrown in, to boot. More »
Apple mentioned back in 2011 that iMessage used encryption to safeguard conversations, but we’ve never had an exact understanding of how deep the security layer goes. It’s deep enough to stymie interception attempts at the DEA, according to an intelligence note gleaned by CNET. The agency warns its staff that it’s “impossible” to tap the messages through usual methods — great for privacy, but a worry for law enforcers. There isn’t much that officials can do, either, short of discovering a clever in-the-middle attack or enacting proposed changes to the law that would mandate backdoor access. And before you ask: BlackBerry Messenger isn’t necessarily as secure. While BES-based BBM chats are largely locked down, there’s a common encryption key for all BlackBerrys that makes it relatively easy to crack regular BBM discussions. We wouldn’t assume that any digital communication is completely private, but iMessage may have come closer to the target than most.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Apple
Source: CNET
Apple’s iMessage may be the playground for Anonymous to spread DDoS attacks, which coincidentally I was the victim of a few nights ago, but it seems the ability for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to eavesdrop on communications through its service has been posing quite the challenge for the organization.
According to a DEA intelligence note obtained by CNET, Apple’s iMessage service has made it “impossible to intercept iMessages between two Apple devices.” iMessage’s encryption methods were discovered while the DEA’s San Jose division were preparing a request to perform surveillance. Apple’s encryption made it difficult for agents’ ability to obtain the complete history of a person’s messages since it became apparent not all messages were being captured by carriers, such as Verizon who supplied the requested data to the organization. (more…)
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: DDoS Attackers Using iMessage With No Relief In Sight, ITC rules that Apple did not violate Motorola’s patent, remands case back to judge, 
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