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Rather than pitching our reviews as numbers, we want to give our readers a call to action. We've always written the kind of reviews we want to read, and we wanted our ratings to match. Accordingly, there are no numbers associated with our new system, and instead we are offering a call to action based…

Twitter opens the door to private messages… sort of Twitter's Direct Message, or DM, feature has been a way for people to carry on a private conversation. It's been limited to users who follow each other—something that cuts down on just who can chat privately with each other, but also cut out the possibility for…

Scott Forstall TechCrunch discovered the information in the leaked emails posted to Wikileaks. They were part of massive amount of emails and other information stolen by North Korean hackers in retaliation for the movie The Interview. The information about Snapchat came from Michael Lynton, CEO Sony Pictures, who also serves on the board of Snapchat.…

Apple CEO Tim Cook ranked as one of TIME's most influential people for 2015 Mr. Cook's entry on the list was penned by Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), who is also a civil rights proponent. He said, Tim is unwavering in his support of an individual's right to privacy and is not only embracing equality and…

LA school district backed out of iPad contract and now wants its money back Current Superintendent Ramon Cortines said, “I don't believe we can afford a device for every student,” according to the LA Times. “Education shouldn't become the gimmick of the year.” The school district signed a deal with Apple and Pearson under former…

Apple CEO Tim Cook supporting human rights through Charitybuzz auction Mr. Cook's 2013 auction raised $610,000 for the RFK Center, and his 2014 auction brought in another $300,000. Charitybuzz is expecting this year's auction to bring in at least $100,000. Bidding is currently sitting at $37,500, but you have until May 6 to break out…

USPTO throws a wrench in Personal Audio's paten lawsuit scheme The Electronic Frontier Foundation helped spearhead the effort to invalidate the patent. EFF Staff Attorney Daniel Nazer commented, “We're glad the Patent Office recognized what we all knew: 'podcasting' had been around for many years and this company does not own it.” Personal Audio found…

Apple ran through at least 975,000 Apple Watch pre-orders last Friday Apple launched Apple Watch pre-orders on Friday, April 10 as 12:01AM pacific time. Deliveries should start arriving on April 24. 62 percent of Friday's Apple Watch pre-orders were made up of the Apple Watch Sport which customers spending an average of US$382.83 per watch.…

Star Wars is finally going digital The movies will include deleted scenes, cast and crew interviews, and behind-the-scenes looks into all six movies. There isn't any word on which versions of the movies we'll get this Friday—the original theatrical releases, or the updated bonus special effects versions that completely kill the growth of Han Solo.…

Felony convictions cost construction workers jobs at Apple campus site News of the now out of work construction crew came courtesy of Iron Workers Local Union 377 and site workers speaking with the San Francisco Chronicle. DPR, the company overseeing the construction project, sent the workers packing because being a charged or convicted felon “does…

Penclic has released a mini wireless keyboard with normal size keys that can be used with either battery power or connected to your Mac via USB for continuous use. There are a lot of really good things to say about this keyboard, but there are also a couple of important issues that Penclic could have…

Mr. Rockwell served as the leader for Dolby's Advanced Technology Group, and was involved in the company's Dolby Vision display technology, according to 9to5Mac. He has also been a part of Dolby's home theater product designs, along with the company's mobile products. Apple hired Tomlinson Holman, Lucasfilm's TXH sound system inventor, in 2011 for its…

We’ll be comparing four services here: the new Tidal, the elder statesman of music streaming Pandora, Apple-owned Beats Music, and the current leader in streaming music, Spotify. Is Streaming Right For You? First of all, streaming music may not be for you at all. If you have a very limited data plan, or commonly find…

The Satechi 10 Port Premium Aluminum Hub  has seven USB 3.0 ports and three USB charger ports. This combination  comes in a device that is only 7 x 2.5 x 5.75 inches (18 x 6.4 x 14 cm) and weighs 1.9 pounds (867 grams). The Hub provides date rates of up to 5.0 Gbps. It…

Facebook can track everyone online thanks to website plug-ins Facebook's tracking uses Web browser cookies to track online activity, and those cookies can be set regardless of whether or not you have a Facebook account thanks to the Like button plug-ins that appear on many sites. The company's extensive tracking shouldn't come as a big…

This is handy if I need a quick sum or average, for example, of a group of numbers. And that bar is even more useful than it appears at first glance—for starters, it’s easy to customize what functions appear there by clicking on the gear icon at the bottom of the window and choosing from…

FoundationDB specialized in databases using NoSQL, a way of storing and crunching data without using a relational structure. The company also specialized in ACID-compliant transactions, making FoundationDB the kind of company that could improve Apple's iTunes, App Store, iBooks Store, Mac App Store, and other iCloud-related services. TechCrunch noted that FoundationDB previously touted: At current…

Steven Levy put it best in a piece over the weekend titled, “The War Over Who Steve Jobs Was.” It's a great read about Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli's biography Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader (Amazon, iBooks). More specifically, Mr. Levy, an excellent journalist who interviewed Steve…

__________________ To bring myself up to date, I chatted with a Comcast Corporate Communications representative in Philadelphia. It turns out that for the last several years, Comcast has been taking a very pragmatic approach that involves monitoring rather than imposing hard data caps that would result in a specific customer losing service. The representative told…

Megatron's profits jump thanks to the iPhone's success Smartphone manufacturing makes up the majority of Pegatron's profits right now, and CEO Jason Cheng said he's fine taking advantage of that, according to Reuters. “It's definitely not a good thing to be too concentrated on just a few clients. But you can't avoid the fact that…

Here’s how it works: You take one iOS device and set it up as the “host” device. Connect it via AirPlay to the device of your choosing (in my case, the Apple TV hooked to my television). Then encourage others to download the free app, and use that to take photos. Once someone gets a…

______________________ First, there is the Apple Thunderbolt Display, last updated in July 2011. This display is so obsolete and overpriced compared to the competition, I didn't even consider it when I was hunting for a new one. Apple should update it or discontinue it, but not let it linger. The most frequent Apple product that…

Blackberry thinks it's Secutablet has a shot in the tablet market Blackberry is hoping to play off of its reputation to draw in government and business buyers who need high levels of security for their mobile devices, and that may be exactly what they need to find a place in the tablet market. “Security is…

Becoming Steve Jobs Written by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli, Becoming Steve Jobs was based in part by interviews with Steve Jobs conducted by Mr. Schelnder over a 25 year period. But the authors also were given interviews by Tim Cook, Sir Jony Ive, Eddy Cue, Pixar’s creative head honcho John Lasseter, Disney CEO Bob…