Apple

An allegedly official Apple email sent to Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASPs) in Brazil may support rumors that Apple is planning to do its own repairs of iOS devices, according to AppleInsider. At the moment, a person bringing a broken iPhone, iPod, or iPad to Apple is more likely to have the device swapped out for a refurbished unit, to which a person has to resync their data using iCloud or iTunes. It can often be cheaper and/or faster for the company than conducting a true repair, which requires having a supply of spare parts on hand....

.@instagram can you please let us know why so many people randomly had their accounts disabled tonight due to "terms of service violations"?— Tara (@FabulousButEvil) May 24, 2013 It seems many Instagram were caught off-guard today when the free photo-sharing app suddenly deleted a significant number of accounts, citing “terms of service violations” as the reason despite many affected users having no such content on their profiles. Some users reported that their accounts had been deleted for not posting from the built-in camera in the app, which seems like to be an unlikely reason. It seems that the deletions, while reportedly widespread, are somewhat inconsistent. My own account which has been dormant for over a year remains intact, while others who post frequently report having lost access. Scores of tweets have been posted over the past few hours about the deletions, but Instagram has not made any official statement on the issue. INSTAGRAM DELETED MY ACCOUNT!— Mike (@mike_bell32) May 24, 2013 My Instagram got randomly deleted huh...?? Not cool..— Paul Zimmer (@epPaulZimmer) May 24, 2013 My @instagram got deleted as well!! What is up? with Instagram! I got a message that said "log-in"?😦then I kicked me out just 10 min ago👀?— Jaymes Duke Ballard (@JayDukeBallard) May 24, 2013 My friend's Instagram account got deleted. #imscared #dontdeletemyig— Mikaela (@trulahmikaela) May 24, 2013 We’ve reached out to Instagram for comment and will update this post with any additional information.

Faced with the prospect of tens of millions of idle retail square footage from closures and relocations, Sears Holdings has generated a new division to market closed Sears and Kmart stores as a home for data centers, wireless tower locations, and disaster recovery locations. The new initiative leverages the nearly seventy percent of US citizens that live within 10 miles of a Sears or Kmart location to make the locations appealing to big data, wireless carriers, and industry....

Apple has expanded its 3D Flyover coverage in iOS 6 Maps to more of California, AppleInsider notes. Flyover has long been available for cities like San Francisco, but now covers areas such as Anaheim, San Bernardino, Santa Monica, Riverside, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, and Moreno Valley. Some significant pieces of scenery include Disneyland and the Santa Monica pier....

Frozen Synapse has been a successful title on Steam for a while now -- it's a turn-based strategy game, with twist being that you're a sort of tactical AI, running these battles on simulations and hardware rather than in real life. As a result, the big draw of Frozen Synapse is that while, like many other tactical strategy games, you are guiding a series of soldiers around turn by turn, these turns are actually simulated, and you can test them out and repeat them as many times as you like before playing out the "prime" sequence, and running the real thing. The pacing of the game is pretty perfect, then. Frozen Synapse has now been ported to the iPad, and the touchscreen gives you a whole lot of flexibility over what commands you can give your little soldiers: Just double tap on the screen to set up waypoints for them, and then you can drag those points around as needed. You can then run the simulation to see what happens, but of course your enemies don't always behave in the real world as they do in the sim, so it's up to you as commander to make sure you've planned for any contingencies in the various scripting you've passed out to your troops. Frozen Synapse is simple once you figure it out, but the UI allows you to do a lot with the little guys you control, and as a result can be fairly complicated. Still, there's lots of helpful tutorial videos included, and the good news is that there's no shortage of content for the game. In addition to a full campaign, you can also play instantly created skirmishes, or five different multiplayer modes. Frozen Synapse is available for a premium price of $6.99, but that's much cheaper than the Steam version still goes for. If you're a tactical strategy fan, this one is a don't miss for sure.Daily iPad App: Frozen Synapse simulates some very impressive turn-based strategy originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 23 May 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

According to sources discovered by both Reuters and Bloomberg, US regulators are looking into the possibility of a new antitrust probe against Google. This new action would investigate complaints that the search engine breaks laws in how it markets and sells some advertising across the Internet....

According to Bloomberg sources, Google is looking to throw in a $1 billion bid for Waze, possibly portending a bidding war between the search giant and Facebook, which is also rumored to be eyeing an acquisition of the social mapping service.

If you've been waiting for Ultima Forever, the new iOS version of Ultima from EA, then it's here for you (kind of). The app has been spotted over on the Canadian App Store, and if you have an account over there, you can go and download it right now. The Canadian App Store is often used as a beta testing ground for iOS apps, especially by EA, so the company is likely testing out the game and its services before releasing it worldwide soon (probably in the next few weeks). So it's not completely done yet, but if you want to go get it, you can. To switch your iTunes install over to Canada, you just need to go down and click on little flag located on the bottom right of each App Store page in iTunes. You can switch your client to any of the world's regions there, and I believe that you can download apps for free from any of those regions (including Ultima Forever). You can also switch your App Store region on the iPhone or iPad by going to settings, and then tweaking your Apple ID to match the region you want to browse. That's more of a hassle, however -- if you can be patient for another week or two, it might be better to wait for the official, worldwide release, undoubtedly coming soon. [via Ultima Codex]Ultima Forever spotted on the Canadian App Store originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 23 May 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

With WWDC just around the corner, time is running low. Have you ordered new business cards for the event? If you're looking for something a little more interesting than a plain white rectangle, there are lots of options out there. Moo is well known for their rounded-corner high-quality cardstock business card line. I know several TUAWians swear by them. Want something with a little more texture? How about wooden business cards? Vendor Cards of Wood sells 100 cards from $35, with discounts at higher quantities. Maybe you want to break out of the box with custom shapes? Taste of Ink studios offers custom die cut business cards with spot gloss, decorative foil, and metallic ink printing options. Prices vary by feature. Some Etsy dealers offer clever options as well. Seller ReadyGo offers matchbook-style notebook business cards starting at $50 for 50. These include little pads of paper, perfect for taking notes while at WWDC -- and for keeping your contact details close at hand. Our favorite, however, has got to be Kevin Avila's custom "Made for iPhone" program business cards. Crafted using sandblasted etching (he swears the next run will use lasers), these must-have cards are constructed from real iPod faceplates. We wants one, we do. Precioussssssss! Got an awesome business card? Share a link in the comments.DevJuice: Don't forget to order your WWDC business cards originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 23 May 2013 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Hey, remember when card games were played with cards and when video game characters did things? Sorry, what I'm actually trying to say is that Star Trek Rivals, a new collectible card game app, is now available for free as part of the promotional push for Star Trek Into Darkness. Based in the reboot Trek universe, it features over 100 cards based on ships, characters, and monsters.Continue reading Star Trek Rivals free CCG available for iOSRelated posts:Labor Day Sale: PlayFirst games for $4.99 each (with coupon code)Snow White and the Huntsman screens for Universal Movie TycoonJoe Danger rides onto iOS this fall