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33 'Home' stories June 2012 - May 2014

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Report: Apple planning iOS-controlled smart home automation platform for WWDC unveiling

Jordan Kahn May 26 2014 - 8:04 am PT

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According to a report from The Financial Times, Apple is working on a new software platform that would “turn the iPhone into a remote control for lights, security systems and other household appliances.” Apple’s iOS ecosystem is of course already home to an increasing number of connected products for the home like the Philips Hue WiFi connected light bulbs, the Nest thermostat and a number of iPhone controlled appliances, but the report claims that Apple will soon unveil a new central platform that will make for a more seamless experience:
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NBA Game Time apps updated for 2013-14 season w/ iOS 7 redesign, new free content, and much more

Jordan Kahn Oct 28 2013 - 7:02 am PT

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The NBA Game Time apps for both iPhone and iPad have been updated today with a redesign for iOS 7 alongside full support for the 2013-2014 regular season and new content for both free and paid subscribers.

On top of the redesign pictured in the screenshots above, the apps add home and away broadcasts for every game and archives for each nationally broadcast game for those that have an NBA League Pass. It also adds new content for free users, however, including the Game Recaps, Team Video, Player Statistics, Team Rosters, and Team Statistics features previously only available to paid users.

Version 5.1 of NBA Game Time also includes alerts for live streaming videos and push notifications for League Pass subscribers.

NBA Game Time is available for free from the App Store now as separate downloads for iPhone and iPad.

What’s New in Version 5.1

Redesigned and Optimized for iOS7

Full support for the 2013-2014 NBA regular season

NBA League Pass subscribers will now be able to enjoy both the home and away TV broadcasts from every game.

NBA League Pass subscribers will now be able to enjoy archives from each nationally broadcast game.

Game Recaps from every game now free.

Team Video from every team now free.

Player Statistics, Team Rosters, and Team Statistics now free.

Live Video alerts let you know when we’re streaming press conferences and events live.

League Pass Push Notifications now let NBA League Pass users know when games they can watch get exciting.

Many performance improvements.

Yelp iOS app replaces Home tab w/ new toolbar for quick access to reviews, photos, and check-ins

Jordan Kahn Oct 11 2013 - 1:50 pm PT

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Yelp updated its iOS app today with a slightly tweaked UI that makes it easier for users to quickly post reviews, photos and check-in at locations. The app is getting rid of its old Home tab and now by default loads up the “Nearby” tab. In addition, the the tab in the middle along the bottom of the app now launches quick access to Check In, Review, and Photo buttons (as pictured above).

The updated app also includes “larger notification photos, better scrolling performance, updated icons and animations.”

What’s New in Version 7.2.0

New in v7.2
– We said goodbye to our homepage and hello to a beautiful new navigation that makes it even easier for you to discover great places nearby, add photos and reviews, and check in to your favorite businesses.
– We also added tons of polish to our app, including larger notification photos, better scrolling performance, updated icons and animations, and a whole lot more!

Facebook phone experiment over as AT&T clears stock and nobody else steps forward

Ben Lovejoy Jun 25 2013 - 7:40 am PT

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The final nail in the coffin of the Facebook phone seems to have been hammered into place as AT&T has sold the last of it’s HTC First handsets and has no plans to purchase any more, reports CNET.

AT&T had earlier denied that any plans had been made to discontinue the handset, but there had seemed little doubt about the handset’s future after the carrier dropped the price from $99 to 99 cents. Even Facebook itself went as far as telling users that the front-end could be switched off …
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Time Warner Cable iOS app updated with ability to stream live TV away from home

Mark Gurman Apr 17 2013 - 9:39 am PT

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As announced yesterday, Time Warner Cable has updated its iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch application with the ability to access and stream select OnDemand content and TV channels while away from home. Previously, the application could only stream TV while you were in your home with Time Warner Cable TV service. Additionally, the app update has improved filtering and sorting for categories and shows. Bug fixes and various performance enhancements are also included in the 3.2.0 update.

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Richard Williamson, former Apple executive who led Maps team, Loren Brichter join Facebook

Mark Gurman Apr 16 2013 - 3:29 pm PT

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According to Bloomberg‘s Adam Satariano, Richard Williamson has joined Facebook. We’ve independently heard the same. Williamson is a former iOS executive from Apple who was reportedly terminated over Apple Maps. Williamson ran Apple’s iOS 6 Maps team and also worked on Siri features.

Williamson joined Facebook in the past couple of weeks to be a manager within its expanding mobile-software group, said two of the people, who declined to be identified because the information isn’t public.

Facebook’s hire of Williamson is notable as the social network reportedly has hired several former Apple engineers to work on various projects, including the Facebook Home software and various other mobile applications. Williamson’s hire marks one of the more high-profile hires of former Apple employees.

Following up on this morning’s news that Loren Brichter is working with Facebook some capacity, Bloomberg also notes that the company has actually hired the Letterpress developer and former Apple employee as a consultant.

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Here’s how to enable Chat Heads and Stickers in the new Facebook app right now

Mark Gurman Apr 16 2013 - 3:08 pm PT

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When Facebook released their brand-new iOS application today, some were disappointed to find that the highlight features of Chat Heads (from Facebook Home) and Stickers were not present. Facebook says that the two features, like many other of Facebook’s recently released products, will be released via a staggered rollout.

For those who truly want to enable Chat Heads and Stickers before Facebook wants it on your iOS device, iMore‘s Nick Arnott has put together a thorough tutorial on how to enable the features. Follow the steps, grab an app called PhoneView (no jailbreak required), and a Plist editor (like the one included in Xcode), and you should be good to go. We’ve tested the Chat Heads trick, and it works well.

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Facebook for iOS gains ‘ChatHeads’, iPad app redesigned, Brichter working on Home

Mark Gurman Apr 16 2013 - 9:17 am PT

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Facebook has released an updated version of its Facebook application for iOS today, bringing the iPad application more in line with the website’s recently announced redesign and adding some features from the Android-based Facebook Home software. The Verge took a hands-on look at the updated app.

The iPad application now has a more streamlined, simplified user-interface that focuses more on content such as photos…

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Netflix took top spot from Apple in US online movie revenue last year

Jordan Kahn Jun 1 2012 - 1:57 pm PT

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Looking at data just released by IHS iSuppli, Netflix was able to take the top spot from Apple for online movie marketshare during 2011. With Apple experiencing a huge decline from 60.8-percent of the market the year before to 32.3-percent during 2011, Netflix came out on top for United States marketshare by revenue with 44 percent of the market last year. That is an incredible nearly 44 percent increase for Netflix, which had just 0.5-percent of the market in 2010.

What Netflix and iTunes have in common is that both services are focused on the hardware side of the business… Netflix is available on a very wide range of connected devices, while iTunes can take advantage of Apple’s soaring device sales growth… Nevertheless, comparisons between the two services have their limits… “Effectively the market has split,” Cryan said. “Netflix and Apple are competing for some of the same consumer time and money. However, the core value proposition of the two services is actually very different.”

While Netflix rules the SVOD market, its closest competitor—Hulu—is less than 10 percent of its size. Apple’s iTunes continues to dominate the transactional segment, accounting for 63.0 percent of revenue in this area, which was only down slightly from 64.6 percent in 2010. At the same time, the big growth story of 2011 was Walmart’s Vudu, which captured 8.2 percent of the growing transactional market, up from 2.8 percent last year. Most of this growth has been achieved by using a Netflix-like device strategy and has come at the expense of other providers, not Apple.