Text a taco to friends with new app
Those of us who rely on food emoji symbols to accurately show what we're eating and what we want for dinner know all too well that tacos seem to be missing from the lineup. Now every text you send can be enhanced with Mexican food thanks to Taco Text app from XOXCO, Inc. Related storiesTaqueria vending machine? Say hola to Burrito BoxIs this burrito graph the silliest Kickstarter project ever?Burrito Bomber drone drops non-weaponized meals Pick from four different taco images: Breakfast Taco, Fish Taco, Everyday Taco and the yet-to-be-seen Mystery Taco. The reviews for no-frills Text a Taco show both hilarious pros and serious cons from users. "Ever since humans started scratching messages into cave walls they have wanted to communicate 'taco' to others," iTunes reviewer pbausch wrote. "Over the years we have tried in vain to realize this dream only to fail time and again. It's what makes us human. But now, thanks to Taco Text, it is our time to transcend our earthly shackles and grasp the crunchy, delicious dream our ancestors. A++ would text infinity taco again." Of course,more savvy taco-lovers don't necessarily need an app to send their friends a pixilated image of a taco. "This app lets you send one of four (ugly) images as an instant message or other social media message," iTunes reviewer Lance E Sloan posted. "Despite its name, there's no text involved here at all. It just sends PNG images." If you want emoji-style images of tacos, you'll need an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.Tacos arenow available for Android users too.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Tethering app pops up on iTunes, then gets pulled
Tethering app pops up on iTunes, then gets pulled
The $14.99 app allowed iPhone customers to use their smartphone data plan to power the Internet connection for their PC or Mac through a USB cable. The app comes from Tether.Tether later released a statement confirming that Apple had pulled the aap because of concerns over the potential burden to the carrier networks. "Our team is very disappointed in Apple's decision; as we strongly believe we help carriers better monetize their data stream by pushing customers into new data tiers further increasing their bottom-line," the company said in a statement later posted on Macrumors. The company confirmed that those who downloaded the app can continue to use it. Its own website is down. Carriers have traditionally frowned upon these kinds of applications, which encourage heavy data usage. In times when they have offered these capabilities, usually in the form of a hot-spot feature, they charge a monthly fee. The iTether app was designed to work after just a onetime fee.Past tethering applications have either been rejected from the App Store or pulled quickly after they launch. The latter happened today to iTether, which is no longer available via the Apple service.The carriers have gone as far as to send warning notices to heavy users. Many of them have policies in place to slow down the connection of a user who is deemed an excessive bandwidth hog. The application was initially spotted by Engadget.Updated at 9:21 a.m. and 11:39 a.m. PT: to note that the application has since been pulled from iTunes and to add a statement from Tether.
The $14.99 app allowed iPhone customers to use their smartphone data plan to power the Internet connection for their PC or Mac through a USB cable. The app comes from Tether.Tether later released a statement confirming that Apple had pulled the aap because of concerns over the potential burden to the carrier networks. "Our team is very disappointed in Apple's decision; as we strongly believe we help carriers better monetize their data stream by pushing customers into new data tiers further increasing their bottom-line," the company said in a statement later posted on Macrumors. The company confirmed that those who downloaded the app can continue to use it. Its own website is down. Carriers have traditionally frowned upon these kinds of applications, which encourage heavy data usage. In times when they have offered these capabilities, usually in the form of a hot-spot feature, they charge a monthly fee. The iTether app was designed to work after just a onetime fee.Past tethering applications have either been rejected from the App Store or pulled quickly after they launch. The latter happened today to iTether, which is no longer available via the Apple service.The carriers have gone as far as to send warning notices to heavy users. Many of them have policies in place to slow down the connection of a user who is deemed an excessive bandwidth hog. The application was initially spotted by Engadget.Updated at 9:21 a.m. and 11:39 a.m. PT: to note that the application has since been pulled from iTunes and to add a statement from Tether.
Tell the world what you're listening to
Tell the world what you're listening to
An iPhone app called Cardinal, released in March, can help. (It also works with the iPod Touch if you've got an active Wi-Fi connection.) Whenever you stumble across a song on your iPhone that you want to share with the world, Cardinal lets you create messages like "Listening to...," and automatically fills in the song and album title. Then you can post these messages to Facebook and Twitter with a few clicks. You can also select a favorite canned message, and as long as you have Cardinal open, you can simply shake your device and the app will fill in the appropriate song and artist info and post the resulting message automatically--no clicks required. A planned update coming soon will automatically add hash tags such as #musicmonday and #nowplaying to messages if you have enough character space left in Twitter. Cardinal is well-designed, looks good, and works exactly as advertised. The only problem is the $1.99 price. That's not expensive, but an iPhone app called Serenade, which came out earlier this year, does more or less the same thing for free. Serenade also lets you copy and paste song information into an e-mail message, control music playback, add songs from your iTunes library from within the app, and display lyrics. The posting process is a bit more complicated than Cardinal's--every time you post to Facebook, a screen pops up asking you to edit your message and confirm that you want to post it--but that's a minor annoyance. I'm not sure the shake-to-post feature of Cardinal is worth $1.99.
An iPhone app called Cardinal, released in March, can help. (It also works with the iPod Touch if you've got an active Wi-Fi connection.) Whenever you stumble across a song on your iPhone that you want to share with the world, Cardinal lets you create messages like "Listening to...," and automatically fills in the song and album title. Then you can post these messages to Facebook and Twitter with a few clicks. You can also select a favorite canned message, and as long as you have Cardinal open, you can simply shake your device and the app will fill in the appropriate song and artist info and post the resulting message automatically--no clicks required. A planned update coming soon will automatically add hash tags such as #musicmonday and #nowplaying to messages if you have enough character space left in Twitter. Cardinal is well-designed, looks good, and works exactly as advertised. The only problem is the $1.99 price. That's not expensive, but an iPhone app called Serenade, which came out earlier this year, does more or less the same thing for free. Serenade also lets you copy and paste song information into an e-mail message, control music playback, add songs from your iTunes library from within the app, and display lyrics. The posting process is a bit more complicated than Cardinal's--every time you post to Facebook, a screen pops up asking you to edit your message and confirm that you want to post it--but that's a minor annoyance. I'm not sure the shake-to-post feature of Cardinal is worth $1.99.
Teens think vinyl's groovy, Time says
Teens think vinyl's groovy, Time says
Audiophiles never gave up on vinyl, but now kids are driving a current LP boom. Kristina Dell's feature article in Time magazine looks at the trend of people, including teens, turning to vinyl to escape the awful digital grime of downloads and MP3s. "Bad sound on an iPod has had an impact on a lot of people going back to vinyl," one teen says. Another teenage vinyl devotee tells Time, "Most things sound better on vinyl, even with the crackles and pops and hisses." And when you figure that LPs usually cost a little more than CDs and iTunes, you can conclude that some kids are willing to pay more for what they truly value! Wow, the kids really are all right!Sure, the retro appeal of vinyl, the large format, cover art, and the tactile feel of the vinyl experience are responsible for the resurgence. The Warner Music Group posted a 30 percent increase in vinyl sales last year, and indie labels are cranking out new vinyl titles all the time. Used LPs, selling for a buck or less are easy to find at yard sales, used bookstores, and I've personally found dozens of perfectly good records on the street. The future of CDs may be in doubt, but vinyl will be around for the long haul.
Audiophiles never gave up on vinyl, but now kids are driving a current LP boom. Kristina Dell's feature article in Time magazine looks at the trend of people, including teens, turning to vinyl to escape the awful digital grime of downloads and MP3s. "Bad sound on an iPod has had an impact on a lot of people going back to vinyl," one teen says. Another teenage vinyl devotee tells Time, "Most things sound better on vinyl, even with the crackles and pops and hisses." And when you figure that LPs usually cost a little more than CDs and iTunes, you can conclude that some kids are willing to pay more for what they truly value! Wow, the kids really are all right!Sure, the retro appeal of vinyl, the large format, cover art, and the tactile feel of the vinyl experience are responsible for the resurgence. The Warner Music Group posted a 30 percent increase in vinyl sales last year, and indie labels are cranking out new vinyl titles all the time. Used LPs, selling for a buck or less are easy to find at yard sales, used bookstores, and I've personally found dozens of perfectly good records on the street. The future of CDs may be in doubt, but vinyl will be around for the long haul.
Take a virtual Hollywood tour with iPhone app ScenePast
Take a virtual Hollywood tour with iPhone app ScenePast
Related stories'Giant' iOS 8 to add widgets, new keyboard, moreWaze review: Your trusted source for traffic dataAt the bottom are yellow buttons for a quick random search or a search of the most recent locations added, as well as a Help Solve button where you are asked to enter the address of various locations, but before you can submit your answer you must provide an email address. ScenePast features more than 700 locations and counting.The results screen features a feed of streetscapes. Below each image is the name of the movie or TV show, the year it was made, and the street address. Tap on the image to toggle between what the address looked like at the time of filming and what it looks like today. Tap the More Details button for links to iTunes or to Rakuten.com to buy a Blu-ray or DVD of the movie or TV show. Screenshots by Matt Elliott/CNETAt the top of the feed of search results, you can toggle between the list view described above or a map view that shows pinpoints of locations, which you can tap to see the details of each location.You'll have better luck using ScenePast if you are in one of the five popular destinations. From my location in New Hampshire, for example, the Nearest search returned just two movies filmed in Boston, "The Thomas Crown Affair" from 1968 and "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" from 1973.(Via TUAW.)
Related stories'Giant' iOS 8 to add widgets, new keyboard, moreWaze review: Your trusted source for traffic dataAt the bottom are yellow buttons for a quick random search or a search of the most recent locations added, as well as a Help Solve button where you are asked to enter the address of various locations, but before you can submit your answer you must provide an email address. ScenePast features more than 700 locations and counting.The results screen features a feed of streetscapes. Below each image is the name of the movie or TV show, the year it was made, and the street address. Tap on the image to toggle between what the address looked like at the time of filming and what it looks like today. Tap the More Details button for links to iTunes or to Rakuten.com to buy a Blu-ray or DVD of the movie or TV show. Screenshots by Matt Elliott/CNETAt the top of the feed of search results, you can toggle between the list view described above or a map view that shows pinpoints of locations, which you can tap to see the details of each location.You'll have better luck using ScenePast if you are in one of the five popular destinations. From my location in New Hampshire, for example, the Nearest search returned just two movies filmed in Boston, "The Thomas Crown Affair" from 1968 and "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" from 1973.(Via TUAW.)
Tabs, Reading List land in mobile Safari
Tabs, Reading List land in mobile Safari
The feature for saving stories to be read at a later time, popularized by the Read It Later and Instapaper browser add-ons, will now come as a standard feature in Safari mobile. Reading List provides a more modern, simpler way to bookmark Web sites to be read at a future date. It's most often used for articles, especially lengthy ones, although it can be used to save any site on the fly.The desktop Safari's Reader feature for streamlining lengthy articles or slideshows is also coming to mobile Safari. Originally introduced at last year's WWDC, Reader streamlines lengthy articles, stripping out ads but not relevant images, and darkens the edges of the browser to make it easier to focus your attention on the story at hand.Most notably for Twitter users, you can now send tweets from directly within Safari. It's no longer necessary to open the Twitter app separately. This is part of the deeper system integration of social media into iOS. While it doesn't have a major impact in-browser, it's likely to change social networking across many apps that do core tasks like iTunes or the camera app.
The feature for saving stories to be read at a later time, popularized by the Read It Later and Instapaper browser add-ons, will now come as a standard feature in Safari mobile. Reading List provides a more modern, simpler way to bookmark Web sites to be read at a future date. It's most often used for articles, especially lengthy ones, although it can be used to save any site on the fly.The desktop Safari's Reader feature for streamlining lengthy articles or slideshows is also coming to mobile Safari. Originally introduced at last year's WWDC, Reader streamlines lengthy articles, stripping out ads but not relevant images, and darkens the edges of the browser to make it easier to focus your attention on the story at hand.Most notably for Twitter users, you can now send tweets from directly within Safari. It's no longer necessary to open the Twitter app separately. This is part of the deeper system integration of social media into iOS. While it doesn't have a major impact in-browser, it's likely to change social networking across many apps that do core tasks like iTunes or the camera app.
Rumor Has It, Ep. 13- Year-end rumor roundup extravaganza! (podcast)
Rumor Has It, Ep. 13: Year-end rumor roundup extravaganza! (podcast)
It's the end of the year show! And we celebrate that, and Hanukkah, with a very special Rumor Has It today. Instead of rounding up the week's hottest rumors, we've rounded up the year's hottest rumors. Bam! And we bet you can guess what's on our list.We cover the ones that did come true, the ones that didn't, and the ones that were so annoying, we wanted to scream. Why won't some of these rumors ever die? At least they keep us in business. What was your top rumor that did come true, didn't come true, or annoyed you to death? Let us know in the comments.We don't have a show next week, but tune back in January 3, 2012 (!), for the first Humiliation Day of the year. Augh!EPISODE 13This content is rated TV-MA, and is for viewers 18 years or older. Are you of age?YesNoSorry, you are not old enough to view this content.PlaySubscribe:Â RSS (MP3) |Â RSS (320x180) |Â RSS (640x360) |Â iTunes (MP3) |Â iTunes (320x180) |Â iTunes (640x360)PodcastYour browser does not support the audio element.Heard a tech rumor you think we should cover?E-mail us at Rumorhasit [at] cnet.com, or directly at karyne.levy [at] cnet.com or emily.dreyfuss [at] cbsinteractive.com. And call and leave us a voice mail at 1-800-750-CNET!And don't forget to follow us on Twitter! @EmilyDreyfuss, @karynelevy, @RumorShow, @stephenbeacham.
It's the end of the year show! And we celebrate that, and Hanukkah, with a very special Rumor Has It today. Instead of rounding up the week's hottest rumors, we've rounded up the year's hottest rumors. Bam! And we bet you can guess what's on our list.We cover the ones that did come true, the ones that didn't, and the ones that were so annoying, we wanted to scream. Why won't some of these rumors ever die? At least they keep us in business. What was your top rumor that did come true, didn't come true, or annoyed you to death? Let us know in the comments.We don't have a show next week, but tune back in January 3, 2012 (!), for the first Humiliation Day of the year. Augh!EPISODE 13This content is rated TV-MA, and is for viewers 18 years or older. Are you of age?YesNoSorry, you are not old enough to view this content.PlaySubscribe:Â RSS (MP3) |Â RSS (320x180) |Â RSS (640x360) |Â iTunes (MP3) |Â iTunes (320x180) |Â iTunes (640x360)PodcastYour browser does not support the audio element.Heard a tech rumor you think we should cover?E-mail us at Rumorhasit [at] cnet.com, or directly at karyne.levy [at] cnet.com or emily.dreyfuss [at] cbsinteractive.com. And call and leave us a voice mail at 1-800-750-CNET!And don't forget to follow us on Twitter! @EmilyDreyfuss, @karynelevy, @RumorShow, @stephenbeacham.
Play podcasts and save them to the cloud with Podcast Gallery
Play podcasts and save them to the cloud with Podcast Gallery
Click on a podcast listed and you'll get a reverse chronological listing of its episodes. For each episode you can listen or watch right in your browser (Podcast Gallery uses HTML 5; no Flash required), download it, or send it to Dropbox or Google Drive. Also for each episode, you can open it in iTunes as well as open the RSS feed or the Web site for the podcast.Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNETRelated storiesEasily stream radio and podcasts with UberTalkStream media to your iPhone or iPad with SkiftaAdd any podcast to the iOS Podcasts appStream and share YouTube music videos with Tubalr At the top-left of the page are three links. The My Collection shows a list of the podcasts you've favorited by clicking the tiny heart for each. Starting a collection requires you sign in via Facebook or Twitter, it should be noted. Your collection get its own URL, making it easy to share your listening preferences with friends. The Getting Started link opens a YouTube video of the developer walking you through the app, and the Explore link lets you browse podcasts by genre and publisher. A search box is located in the upper-right corner. However, your search efforts will likely end in disappointment; Podcast Gallery contains a small fraction of what's out there. (No WTF with Marc Maron? WTF?)(Via LifeHacker)
Click on a podcast listed and you'll get a reverse chronological listing of its episodes. For each episode you can listen or watch right in your browser (Podcast Gallery uses HTML 5; no Flash required), download it, or send it to Dropbox or Google Drive. Also for each episode, you can open it in iTunes as well as open the RSS feed or the Web site for the podcast.Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNETRelated storiesEasily stream radio and podcasts with UberTalkStream media to your iPhone or iPad with SkiftaAdd any podcast to the iOS Podcasts appStream and share YouTube music videos with Tubalr At the top-left of the page are three links. The My Collection shows a list of the podcasts you've favorited by clicking the tiny heart for each. Starting a collection requires you sign in via Facebook or Twitter, it should be noted. Your collection get its own URL, making it easy to share your listening preferences with friends. The Getting Started link opens a YouTube video of the developer walking you through the app, and the Explore link lets you browse podcasts by genre and publisher. A search box is located in the upper-right corner. However, your search efforts will likely end in disappointment; Podcast Gallery contains a small fraction of what's out there. (No WTF with Marc Maron? WTF?)(Via LifeHacker)
iTunes Extras arrives for Apple TV, iOS 8 later this year
iTunes Extras arrives for Apple TV, iOS 8 later this year
Digital downloads have often missed out on the extra content that comes with a DVD or Blu-ray.With the introduction of iTunes Extras in 2009, Apple offered these extra features you would normally find accompanying the physical release of a film alongside the digital download.Typically, Extras content includes directors commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes, photo galleries and storyboards. Previously, iTunes Extras was only available on the PC and Mac versions of iTunes rather than across other Apple products, but an update changes all that. zzzzzzzzIf you have previously purchased a movie in HD from the iTunes Store that has Extras content available, you will now be able to access it at no extra charge.iTunes Extras is also finally available on the latest version of Apple TV with a software update, as well as through iTunes on the desktop with an update to version 11.3.On Apple TV, within the Top Movies section a tile will list all the movies that have Extras content. Note that you will need to make sure you buy the HD version of the movie, and have HD turned on in order to see what's available. To do this, head to Settings, then iTunes Store and find the Video Resolution option.Owners of an iOS device will have to wait until later this year with the release of iOS 8 in fall, or spring in the southern hemisphere.
Digital downloads have often missed out on the extra content that comes with a DVD or Blu-ray.With the introduction of iTunes Extras in 2009, Apple offered these extra features you would normally find accompanying the physical release of a film alongside the digital download.Typically, Extras content includes directors commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes, photo galleries and storyboards. Previously, iTunes Extras was only available on the PC and Mac versions of iTunes rather than across other Apple products, but an update changes all that. zzzzzzzzIf you have previously purchased a movie in HD from the iTunes Store that has Extras content available, you will now be able to access it at no extra charge.iTunes Extras is also finally available on the latest version of Apple TV with a software update, as well as through iTunes on the desktop with an update to version 11.3.On Apple TV, within the Top Movies section a tile will list all the movies that have Extras content. Note that you will need to make sure you buy the HD version of the movie, and have HD turned on in order to see what's available. To do this, head to Settings, then iTunes Store and find the Video Resolution option.Owners of an iOS device will have to wait until later this year with the release of iOS 8 in fall, or spring in the southern hemisphere.
ID music with your Mac with new Shazam app for OS X
ID music with your Mac with new Shazam app for OS X
Unlike the mobile app, the Mac app does not require you to tap or click a button to tag a song; it's listening all of the time. Actually, it listens for 4-hour stretches; a counter marks the time remaining in the app's drop-down panel accessible from the menu bar. Next to the counter is a switch to turn the app on and off.When a song or TV show or ad is playing on your Mac or nearby, Shazam uses your Mac's microphone to listen to what's playing. When it finds a match, it notifies you and adds the track or show or ad to the drop-down panel.From this panel of your recent identifications, you can click on an item to open a Shazam.com page in your default browser with information that can include videos, lyrics, album information, and various purchase options. For most tracks listed in the drop-down panel, you can also click an iTunes button to purchase the track.In my admittedly brief testing, Shazam identified every song I threw at it except for a live version of Townes Van Zandt's "Pancho and Lefty" and a young R.L. Burnside singing "See My Jumper Hanging on the Line."Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNETIn order to work, Shazam needs your microphone enabled and set to an input volume high enough to hear what's around you. The Shazam support site states, "Any input volume halfway or above should suffice." Head to System Preferences > Sound and click on the Input tab to adjust your microphone's input volume level.(Via The Next Web)
Unlike the mobile app, the Mac app does not require you to tap or click a button to tag a song; it's listening all of the time. Actually, it listens for 4-hour stretches; a counter marks the time remaining in the app's drop-down panel accessible from the menu bar. Next to the counter is a switch to turn the app on and off.When a song or TV show or ad is playing on your Mac or nearby, Shazam uses your Mac's microphone to listen to what's playing. When it finds a match, it notifies you and adds the track or show or ad to the drop-down panel.From this panel of your recent identifications, you can click on an item to open a Shazam.com page in your default browser with information that can include videos, lyrics, album information, and various purchase options. For most tracks listed in the drop-down panel, you can also click an iTunes button to purchase the track.In my admittedly brief testing, Shazam identified every song I threw at it except for a live version of Townes Van Zandt's "Pancho and Lefty" and a young R.L. Burnside singing "See My Jumper Hanging on the Line."Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNETIn order to work, Shazam needs your microphone enabled and set to an input volume high enough to hear what's around you. The Shazam support site states, "Any input volume halfway or above should suffice." Head to System Preferences > Sound and click on the Input tab to adjust your microphone's input volume level.(Via The Next Web)
How to disconnect an Apple TV remote from a MacBook
How to disconnect an Apple TV remote from a MacBook
For the singular purpose of watching Walter White's meth adventures on a big screen, this week I purchased an Apple TV. From what I've heard about this show, it merits being Netflixed on an HDTV rather than a laptop or a tablet.So, last night I got to setting up my Apple TV and quickly discovered that its remote was communicating with my MacBook Pro. Specifically, the play/pause button would begin playing music in iTunes, while the up and down buttons would adjust volume. Thankfully, there is an easy way to sever this connection. For this tutorial, I should note my MacBook Pro is running Mac OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2). Step 1: Open System Preferences via the Apple menu.Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNETStep 2: Click on Security & Privacy.Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNETStep 3: Click the lock in the lower-left corner in order to make the Advanced button active; then enter your system password, and click Unlock.Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNETStep 4: Click the Advanced button in the lower-right corner, check the box for Disable remote control infrared receiver, and click OK.Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNETThat's it. Now your Apple TV remote will talk to your Apple TV while ignoring your MacBook. Do note, however, that no Apple remote will work with your MacBook, including the remote that shipped with it. Luckily, this process is just as easy to reverse should you later wish to control your Mac via remote.
For the singular purpose of watching Walter White's meth adventures on a big screen, this week I purchased an Apple TV. From what I've heard about this show, it merits being Netflixed on an HDTV rather than a laptop or a tablet.So, last night I got to setting up my Apple TV and quickly discovered that its remote was communicating with my MacBook Pro. Specifically, the play/pause button would begin playing music in iTunes, while the up and down buttons would adjust volume. Thankfully, there is an easy way to sever this connection. For this tutorial, I should note my MacBook Pro is running Mac OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2). Step 1: Open System Preferences via the Apple menu.Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNETStep 2: Click on Security & Privacy.Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNETStep 3: Click the lock in the lower-left corner in order to make the Advanced button active; then enter your system password, and click Unlock.Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNETStep 4: Click the Advanced button in the lower-right corner, check the box for Disable remote control infrared receiver, and click OK.Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNETThat's it. Now your Apple TV remote will talk to your Apple TV while ignoring your MacBook. Do note, however, that no Apple remote will work with your MacBook, including the remote that shipped with it. Luckily, this process is just as easy to reverse should you later wish to control your Mac via remote.
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