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iRadio’s song skipping feature reportedly holding up deal with Sony

iPhoneHacks — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:33:56 +0000

We continue to get information about iRadio, Apple’s rumored Pandora-like music streaming service. Yesterday, a report claimed that Apple may not be able to launch the service at the WWDC due to licensing issues with Sony Music, the world’s second largest music label. CNET reports that according to their sources, Apple’s iRadio deal with Sony has stalled due to the song skipping feature. Apple and Sony Music, the world’s second-largest music label, are still trying to hammer out details over how much Apple would pay for songs that people listen to a fraction of and then skip, according to people familiar with the negotiations. There could be other points of contention as well. Apple’s streaming music service, which most closely resembles Internet radio leader Pandora, has some features built into it that give users added control, such as the ability to rewind a song and skip to the next after listening to a portion of it, sources say. CNET points out that in case of Pandora, when a user gives a thumbs down rating or selects “I’m tired of this track” in the menu, those instances is counted as a skip. Pandora has to pay full royalties for the song even though the song has played for just a few seconds. That’s the reason Pandora restricts the number of skips for free accounts. It only allows 6 skips per hour per station or a maximum of 12 skips per day. While it is not clear what Sony is asking for, it definitely looks like it wants better terms than what Apple has offered. If Apple agrees to Sony’s terms, then it could cause problems with its deals with Warner and Universal, but at the same time it is probably desperate to launch the service at WWDC after Google eclipsed it by launching Google Play Music All Access earlier this week. I’ve a feeling that despite these rumors of a possible delay, Apple will unveil the service at the WWDC on June 10th and most likely be one of the major features of iOS 7. Via: CNet Continue reading →

Style up your favourite tech gadgets with Slickwraps [Deals Hub]

StackSocial — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:13:40 +0000

Tired of the way your smartphone, tablet, computer, or other tech gadgets are looking these days? Now you can change it up with a stylish skin from Slickwraps. Slickwraps makes amazing skins for just about every tech gadget out there – including your iPhone and/or Android phone. And with this iPhone Hacks Deals offer, you can get $50 of Slickwrap credit for only $25! Many people are tired of having the same old look to their tech gear and now we’re able to style them up when we want. Buying this promotion will get you $25 off any product(s) on their website so it gives you the freedom to shop around and get exactly what you want. Slickwraps has dozens of skins made in the USA for all of your favorite tech gadgets so you’re bound to find something you love. (Plus, you’ll even get a $5 Slickwraps gift card with your purchase!) To check out all of the gadgets you can apply Slickwraps to – as well as their approximate valuation — visit our Deals Hub. Here’s how this deal works: Immediately after you purchase you’ll receive a coupon code. You’ll be able to use that coupon code on the Slickwraps website during checkout and it will deduct $50 from your shopping cart. This coupon can be applied to multiple products or a single product, but the coupon can only be used once – so make sure your shopping cart has everything you want in it before you complete your order. (Note: This $50 doesn’t include the cost of shipping or taxes so you’ll need to pay this during your checkout process on Slickwraps website. Shipping costs $4.95 for USA customers with an average delivery time of 3 to 5 days and it will cost $6.95 for International orders with an average delivery time of 10 days. But … if your cart totals more than $40 after you apply your $50 coupon during checkout you’ll receive free worldwide shipping!) There’s a lot to love about this iPhone Hacks Deals offer, so get $50 of Slickwraps credit for just $25 while the getting is good. Pick up this deal over at our Deals Hub and personalize your tech today! Subscribe to our mailing list Continue reading →

How to use Siri to generate strong, unique passwords

David Gilson — Sat, 18 May 2013 16:02:49 +0000

Coming up with unique passwords all the time can be a struggle with you’re supposed to be doing a hundred and one other things. If only Siri, your in-phone digital assistant, could help. Fortunately, it can. As you may already know, Siri takes many of its answers from the Wolfram Alpha knowledge engine, and that includes generating random passwords. There are several password-generating-apps on iOS – search iTunes for “password generator”. My personal recommendation would be LastPass as this gives management and secure notes, in addition to password generation. However, if you only want a simple solution there’s no need to install anything. Simple say to Siri, “random password” or “generate password” (both work) and it will come back to you with a password, accompanied by many more details from Wolfram Alpha. You’ll find that the password is translated into a phonetic alphabet; e.g. “sierra” for s, “foxtrot” for f, etc. Below that Siri, courtesy of Wolfram Alpha, provides a group of additional passwords. If you’re wondering how strong your password is, the next section gives details on how long it would take to break the password (i.e. enumerate), how many passwords exist within the length and character set used, and how much entropy the password has. Science alert – Entropy is a measure of chaos. The password’s strength is judged by how chaotic (i.e. random) it is. If after looking at the password’s statistics, you decide you want more strength, scrolling down a little further will reveal more passwords made from larger sets of characters. The more characters a password might have makes it even harder to guess. After all of that, if you want an even stronger password (really?!), you can make Siri give you an even longer password than the default eight characters. For example if you want a 16 character password, just say “Random password 16 characters”, and Siri will comply. As you do, note how the entropy value increases. Obviously you can give Siri any number for a password length – in my somewhat pedantic testing I found that the limit of characters was 300. Far more than you’d ever want to enter into your Facebook account! The great problem with this method is that there’s no way to copy and paste the generated passwords from Siri’s output into your applications. This means you’ll need to write down or memorize the password which isn’t all that convenient. It’s with that in mind that we recommend you stick with something like LastPass. Credit to OSXDaily for this Siri tip. Continue reading →

Gameloft’s Gangstar Rio, N.O.V.A 3 and ZeptoLab’s Pudding Monsters currently free on App Store

Rounak Jain — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:45:17 +0000

Two popular iOS gaming titles by Gameloft, Gangstar Rio and N.O.V.A 3, and Pudding Monsters by ZeptoLab of Cut the Rope fame are currently free on the App Store. “N.O.V.A. 3 – Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance” is a sci-fi first person shooter game where your goal is to fight for mankind’s survival by fighting enemies on a war-torn Earth. The game is universal, that is, it runs on both the iPhone and the iPad, and was priced at $6.99 earlier. It’s a heavy 1.69GB download and requires iPhone 3GS and up, iPod touch 3rd gen and up or any iPad running iOS 4.3 or later. You can download the game from this link. “Gangstar Rio: City of Saints” is a third-person shooter game based in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. You play the role of a gangster, taking him through 60 varied missions using a variety of weapons and vehicles. The game, priced at $4.99 earlier, is an 878MB download requiring iPhone 3GS and up, iPod touch 3rd gen and up or any iPad running iOS 4.3 or later. You can download the app from this link. Pudding Monsters is a puzzle game by the folks at ZeptoLab best known for their popular title Cut the Rope. The gameplay revolves around sticking together multiple “pudding monsters” to save them from the fridge-owner, where they reside. The game is available as separate versions for the iPhone and iPad, and both those versions have gone free as a part of Apple’s free app of the week promotion. Pudding Monsters, earlier $1.99, can be downloaded for free for the iPhone using this link, and for the iPad using this link. Continue reading →

Apple may not be able to launch iRadio music streaming service due to licensing issues

Rounak Jain — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:08:11 +0000

Google just launched Google Play All Access music subscription service at the I/O conference earlier this week, and Apple’s widely expected to follow with the launch of the much rumoured “iRadio” streaming service in June at WWDC. However, Apple is finding it hard to convince music labels to agree to its unconventional licensing model, which could potentially delay a WWDC launch. Unlike players like Spotify, Rdio and more recently Google, Apple’s streaming model will be different, according to The Verge: Google chose to offer a standard subscription music service very similar to those built by Spotify and Rdio, and that meant the terms had largely been established, according to multiple sources close to the talks. Apple, on the other hand, is pioneering a hybrid web and radio service — one that resembles Pandora but melds it with some on-demand features, the sources said. The licensing agreement had to be created from scratch. Google was also open to paying music labels in advance, while Apple is known to not offer advance payments. Apple’s has however agreed to give record labels a cut from the ads iRadio will reportedly show, a per-play fee and a minimum guarantee. While Apple has Universal and Warner Music on-board for iRadio, Sony/ATV and BMG remain unconvinced, and Apple’s Internet services team, led by Eddy Cue, would have to pull a miracle to get them ready by next month, in time for WWDC. Continue reading →

Viber challenges Whatsapp and Skype [Review]

David Gilson — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:15:02 +0000

If you think Whatsapp is the only Internet based text messaging substitute you’d be wrong. Viber has been around for awhile now, and not only is Viber taking on Whatsapp’s Internet routed messages, but it’s taking on Skype too with free VoIP based voice calls. Most importantly it now offers a desktop client with free video calling. It’s easy to sign up for Viber, your phone number identifies you, just like Whatsapp. Also like Whatsapp, you verify yourself by entering a code from an SMS sent to your iPhone. After that step, you are offered the chance to synchronise with your Facebook contacts, which increases the chances of finding other Viber users within your social groups. The contacts section of Viber feels very much like the built-in Contacts app, in that there’s the alphabetical finder down the right hand side. What marks it apart is the predominant purple colour scheme, and the buttons at the top for switching between Viber contacts, All contacts, and Favourite contacts. While working in the ‘All’ section , it works very much like the built-in Contacts app. Tapping on a phone number that isn’t attached to a Viber user will lead to the call being placed in the built-in Phone app. However, there is always a warning that the call will be billed as per your operator plan. There seems to be no way to disable this warning. Given that most of your contacts won’t be Viber users, it could make using Viber as a general contact manager rather tiresome. While you can edit contacts, Viber falls short in one key area – you cannot link contacts as you can in the built-in Contacts app. Push notifications work very well in Viber though. Messages come through immediately. Moreover, I set up my girlfriend’s Android phone with Viber. The second that her phone was verified onto the Viber system, a push notification appeared on my iPhone telling me she was now using Viber. That immediacy is excellent. One of the key selling points of Viber is the free voice calls. We tested the call quality of Viber and was blown away by the quality – clearly it is using High Definition audio – the quality was noticeably better than both GSM calls and Skype calls. The call interface is almost identical to the iOS phone interface. A key difference, though, is the addition of a button that switches the call over to your GSM network. When you use this feature, Viber just disappears and the Phone app appears with the call to your Viber friend already being placed. On the other person’s end, Viber beeps to signal that the call has been terminated and then their phone starts ringing with a ‘real’ phone call. This is very useful if you find that your data signal is too poor to make the call work well enough. The text message system in Viber will be familiar to anyone who has used Whatsapp. You can send text, video, locations and plenty smileys and other amusing graphics. That’s all there is to it, it’s a simple job that the app does well. Of course, the reason for having reviewed Viber just now is the new desktop client. The desktop client can make PC to PC voice calls, which can then be handed off to a mobile device, and make video calls. Disappointingly though, the mobile client still does not support video calls. It’s rather frustrating that the feature is available on the desktop but not on mobiles, and feels somewhat short sighted [by Viber] given that iOS users can already use Skype and FaceTime for video calls. Hopefully, mobile video calling will come to Viber soon. Overall, Viber is a well-executed service. iOS users can already enjoy iMessage and Facetime, however they are iOS only services. In a cross-platform world a solution like Viber is much more desirable. However, as Skype grows in popularity, and we already have Whatsapp, Viber faces a significant challenge to provide a reason for us to use it. At the moment, I don’t quite see a compelling case for using Viber above other solutions, like Skype. Continue reading →

iTunes loophole lets users download new Daft Punk Album ‘Random Access Memories’ for free

Rounak Jain — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:48:05 +0000

Apple recently let iTunes users stream Daft Punk’s latest album Random Access Memories for free as a promotion leading to the album launch, scheduled for the 21st of this month. However folks at 9to5Mac have discovered that a glaring loophole in the way streaming is implemented, allows users download the entire 74-minute album for free. As it turns out the stream is being delivered by an “m4p” file hosted on Apple’s servers accessible via a public unsecured URL. The URL was found by folks by analysing traffic sent and received while playing the stream on iTunes using a standard network sniffer. Users can visit the URL on a browser to stream the album, and also right click to save the entire file to their computer. This is obviously a huge loophole, one that could erode sales of the album once it’s launched. We expect Apple to patch this soon. Via 9to5Mac Continue reading →

Leawo Tunes Cleaner: Delete duplicate songs and repair your iTunes library [Deals Hub]

StackSocial — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:00:50 +0000

The iTunes library on your Mac can get a bit unwieldy at times, right? It can become disorganized, with duplicate tracks, multiple spellings for one artist, and a bunch of other oddities that can keep it from being in the best shape possible. There’s nothing worse than having to go through a messy iTunes library – and that’s where this iPhone Hacks Deals offer comes in. Leawo Tunes Cleaner for Mac is the intelligent iTunes cleanup tool that will allow you to transform your iTunes to perfection with only a couple of clicks. And for a limited time you can get it for the starting price of just $5 – 83% off the regular price! (Note: The price of this deal will go up $1 a day until this deal’s time is up – so grab it while the price is low!) Here’s just some of what Tunes Cleaner can do for you and your iTunes library: Delete Duplicates: Duplicates can accumulate easily on iTunes. Tunes Cleaner will clean them up. Add Proper Album Covers and Artwork: Artwork adds a dynamic to your library that you will not appreciate until you experience it. Add Missing Info Including Artists and Album Titles: Not only does this look great, but increases functionality on iPhones, iPods, & iPads. Easy-To-Use Interface w/ Simple Program Operation:So easy that your iTunes will be cleaned and organize upon installation. Only requires a couple clicks to maintain! You can buy a couple of songs from the iTunes store for the price of this app alone. Keeping all of your music organized just helps make your musical experience that much enjoyable so what are you waiting for…your iTunes to get messy again? Don’t let that happen. Instead, pick up this iPhone Hacks Deals offer starting at the low price of $5 while it lasts…which won’t be for long! Subscribe to our mailing list Continue reading →

Pentagon grants security clearance to Apple’s iPhone and iPad

iPhoneHacks — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:39:45 +0000

Few weeks back we told you that Apple’s iPhone and iPad and Samsung’s Android devices will be given security clearance by the Pentagon. Bloomberg now reports that Pentagon has given a security clearance for Apple’s iPhone and iPad for non-classified communications and widespread use by government agencies. The Pentagon has approved the use of iPhone and iPad running iOS 6.x. Pentagon had given security clearance for Samsung’s Android devices with company’s Knox security software as well as BlackBerry 10 smartphones and BlackBerry Playbook tablets on May 2nd. Traditionally, government employees have been given BlackBerry devices, so it will be the first time that Apple and Samsung will get a chance to grab a share of that market. via Bloomberg Continue reading →

It’s official: The smartphone and tablet gaming market is bigger than dedicated mobile gaming

Stefan Constantinescu — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:03:40 +0000

AllThingsD, citing a report published by IDC and App Annie, says that people are spending more money on games for their smartphones and tablets than are spending games on dedicated videogame consoles like the Nintendo DS or PlayStation Vita. This really shouldn’t come as a surprise to you. When I covered NVIDIA’s recent announcement that they’re soon going to start taking pre-orders for the Shield, I panned that thing as being a complete waste of time and money. People don’t want dedicated devices for gaming, they want to game on the devices they already own. Spending $350 on a Shield is ludicrous when you can spend that same $350 on games for your smartphone. Just like the smartphone killed the camera, the alarm clock, the pocket mirror, the MP3 player, the book reader, and other such devices, the same thing is happening to gaming. The real question we should be asking is when will Nintendo release a smartphone? Or are they going to pull a SEGA and transform themselves into a software development house that’ll bring the world’s favorite chubby plumber to iOS and Android? The next few years, as always, will be interesting to watch. Continue reading →