The iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c: What you need to know | Macworld

The iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c: What you need to know | Macworld: here are our answers to some of the most pressing questions about the new smartphones, based on what Apple has told us and our own investigations.

Apple silently sends off Cards for iPhone

Apple silently sends off Cards for iPhone: It looks like you’ve sent your last 100-percent cotton letterpress card. Apple on Tuesday quietly discontinued its iOS-based service for sending photo postcards via good ol’ fashioned snail mail, removing the related iOS app from the App Store.

Should you still have the app installed on your phone, you’ll receive the following message when you attempt to create a new card:

The Cards service is no longer available. You can review your previous purchases in Saved Cards.

Born in 2011, Cards was a relative of the late iCards, which passed away in 2008, and is survived by iPhoto’s card and calendar printing service. Pour one out in memory of the dearly departed app and service—it was taken from us too soon. We can only hope it joins iCards in the hallowed Hallmark halls of heaven.

Apple to release iOS 7 with completely redesigned user interface on September 18

Apple to release iOS 7 with completely redesigned user interface on September 18: Apple today announced iOS 7, featuring a completely redesigned new user interface, will be available starting Wednesday, September 18 to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users as a free software update. iOS 7 has hundreds of great new features, including Control Center, Notification Center, improved Multitasking, AirDrop, enhanced Photos, Safari, Siri and introduces iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service based on the music you listen to on iTunes. In addition, iOS 7 has been engineered with deep technical and design integration with both iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c.

Apple Announcements Sept. 10, 2013

iOS 7

iOS 7 will be available for free on September 18.

iWork FREE!! iWork apps, iPhoto and iMovie -- all now free. (Only on new devices.)

iPhone 5C

Colors. Made of a hard-coated polycarbonate. Inside it's build with a steel-reinforced structure. Inside it's powered by an A6 chip, with blazing-fast performance and console-level graphics. It has a slightly larger battery than the iPhone 5.

8MP iSight camera, backside illumination, and IR filter. Front side has a new FaceTime HD camera that's even better in low-light, bigger pixels, better backside illumination. Works with FaceTime audio.

iPhone 5C supports more network bands than any phone we've made, more LTE bands than any other phone in the world. Up to 100Mbps download and Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0.

16GB configuration at $99 or 32GB at $199 (with two-year contract).

So, instead of continuing to make the 5 available for $99, this time they're replacing the 5 with a new model at at price.

iPhone 5S

Performance

A brand new system-on-a-chip from Apple: A7. First ever 64-bit smartphone.

The A7 is a 64-bit desktop class architecture, with a modern ARM instruction set that's more efficient, 2x general-purpose registers, 2x floating-point registers, over 1 billion transistors and in the same die size as the A6.

We haven't told you yet that iOS 7 has been re-engineered for 64-bit, as have all the apps that come with your device.

They've updated Xcode to support 64-bit to let developers make 32-bit and 64-bit apps simultaneously. For customers, apps run side-by-side and transparently.

A7 is up to 2x as fast with CPU tasks and graphics tasks.

Typically converting to 64-bit is a lengthy process, but with Apple's tools, one person converted the code in 2 hours.

M7 - Motion coprocessor. Takes advantage of all the sensors and continuously measures the data coming from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass without having to wake up the A7.

iSight Camera

New five-element Apple-designed lens, larger f/2.2 aperture. New sensor with a 15% larger active area. The pixels on this sensor are 1.5 microns in size, larger than iPhone 5 and larger than other smartphones. More light, better picture.

Before you take a picture, iPhone does auto white balance, auto exposure, creating a dynamic local tone map around the image to get better highlights and shadows, autofocus matrix metering for more sharpness, and it actually takes multiple photos, analyzes them in real time for which is the sharpest, and that's what you see.

New flash: the True Tone Flash. Flash in iPhone 5S solves this; two LEDs, one a cooler white one and another a warmer one. Over 1000 unique variations to give you the right color flash for the room or situation you're in.

Auto image stabilization.

New Burst mode. Hold down on the shutter it'll burst a bunch of photos; 10 fps for as long as you hold the shutter.

Slo-Mo. Captures HD video at 720p at 120fps.

Security

Touch ID. It reads your fingerprint at an incredibly detailed level, using a touch ID sensor. 170 microns thin, has 500 ppi resolution, scans sub-epidermal skin layers for a better image; you can teach it about more than one finger, and no matter what orientation, it can tell.

Starts with 16GB at $199; 32GB at $299; and 64GB at $399, all with two-year contract.

The 8GB 4S is staying in the line-up for free.

iPhone 5C pre-orders open on Friday, September 13.

Elvis Costello!

Celtx review: Professional screenwriting software at starving-artist prices

Celtx review: Professional screenwriting software at starving-artist prices: Powerful, cross-platform writing tool Celtx Plus includes most of the features a screenwriter needs at a fraction of Final Draft's price. The free Celtx works neatly for personal screenwriting projects.

SpaceX to build spacecraft parts with motion tech and 3D printers

SpaceX to build spacecraft parts with motion tech and 3D printers: Elon Musk's new endeavor to build rocket ship parts with Leap Motion hand gesture technology, Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets, and 3D laser metal printers makes sci-fi look antiquated.

Plein Air: Bringing art to the outdoors in Roseburg

Plein Air: Bringing art to the outdoors in Roseburg: There were over 50 artists participating in the third annual Plein Air Arts Festival at the Umpqua Valley Arts Center in Roseburg.

In Coos: Colin Farrell orders chowder, fish and chips

In Coos: Colin Farrell orders chowder, fish and chips: Colin Farrell ate dinner at SharkBite's Seafood Café in downtown Coos Bay on Tuesday night.

Air Video Server HD 1.0.3 - Stream videos in almost any format to your iOS device. (Free)

Air Video Server HD 1.0.3 - Stream videos in almost any format to your iOS device. (Free): Air Video Server HD streams videos instantly from your computer on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Apple TV. No need to worry about converting or transferring files.
We took everything that was great about Air Video and then re-thought and re-engineered it.

JAMES SPADER Cast as ULTRON in AVENGERS Sequel AGE OF ULTRON

JAMES SPADER Cast as ULTRON in AVENGERS Sequel AGE OF ULTRON: AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON's villain as been cast - veteran actor James Spader.

Academy Fight Song | Thomas Frank | The Baffler

Academy Fight Song | Thomas Frank | The Baffler: Actually, that explanation isn’t simple enough. The truth is that rip-offs like this abound in academia—that virtually every aspect of the higher-ed dream has been colonized by monopolies, cartels, and other unrestrained predators—that the charmingly naive American student is in fact a cash cow, and everyone has got a scheme for slicing off a porterhouse or two.

Ben Affleck to be next Batman

Ben Affleck to be next Batman: Two-time Academy Award winner is cast to portray the caped crusader in "Man of Steel 2," the Batman-Superman pairing expected in 2015.

Google Search beefs up its online dictionary

Google Search beefs up its online dictionary: When typing "define ..." into the Web giant's search engine, users now get the word definition, sample sentences, synonyms, origins, translations, spoken response, and more.

Ben Affleck to Play Batman in Batman/Superman Film, Release Date Set

Ben Affleck to Play Batman in Batman/Superman Film, Release Date Set: Warner Bros. announced that Ben Affleck will play an "entirely new incarnation" of Batman in the still-untitled Batman/Superman film, and set a release date for July 17, 2015.

BEN AFFLECK is SUPERMAN/BATMAN's DARK KNIGHT

BEN AFFLECK is SUPERMAN/BATMAN's DARK KNIGHT: Ben Affleck will star at BATMAN opposite Henry Cavill's SUPERMAN in the MAN OF STEEL sequel.

Why BEN AFFLECK is Brilliant Casting as BATMAN

Why BEN AFFLECK is Brilliant Casting as BATMAN: Ben Affleck is Batman. Here's why that rocks.

Thor and Asgard Arriving in Disneyland This Fall

Thor and Asgard Arriving in Disneyland This Fall: Disney announced it will bring more of the Marvel Universe to its theme parks this fall, when Disneyland guests will have a chance to visit Asgard and “come face-to-face” with Thor himself.

Google Maps adds Waze traffic reports

Google Maps adds Waze traffic reports: The mobile versions of Google Maps now blend in traffic data from Waze, while Waze users gain Google Street View and satellite images.

The Granddaddy of the Political Cartoon | Peter Bruegel | The Land of Cockaigne | Masterpiece by Jamie James - WSJ.com

The Granddaddy of the Political Cartoon | Peter Bruegel | The Land of Cockaigne | Masterpiece by Jamie James - WSJ.com: The most poignant modern survival of the Land of Cockaigne, and the truest to its simple spirit of rebellious yearning, is the hobo ballad "Big Rock Candy Mountain." First recorded by Harry McClintock in 1928, this vision of heaven on earth reflects the daydreams of the tramps who rode the rails. It is a "land that's fair and bright," where "they hung the Turk who invented work," hens lay soft-boiled eggs and cigarettes grow on trees. "There's a lake of stew, and of whiskey too, and you can paddle all around 'em in a big canoe, in the Big Rock Candy Mountain."

Plex Media Server 0.9.8.4 - Seamlessly connect your Plex clients with your local media. (Free)

Plex Media Server 0.9.8.4 - Seamlessly connect your Plex clients with your local media. (Free): Plex Media Server seamlessly connects your Plex clients with all of your local and online media. The combination of centralized library management, streaming of online content, and powerful transcoding functionality provides an unrivaled level of flexibility and ease of use.
Plex Media Server runs on your Mac, PC, or compatible NAS device and serves your media to all of your Plex clients including Plex-enabled mobile devices and 2011 LG Smart TVs.