Apple to unveil first wearable device in October

The well-connected and reliable John Paczkowski of Re/code reports this afternoon that Apple is slated to announce its first wearable device in October. While noting that things can certainly change between now and the fall, Paczkowski claims that October is the tentative date in which Apple hopes to host a special event to show off its first wearable device.

The report does not specifically mention the oft-rumored iWatch as the product that Apple will introduce, but that is one of the devices that the company has been speculated to release for the past several months. The wearable device that Apple does release will reportedly make good use of the Health and HealthKit platforms that the company unveiled at its WWDC keynote earlier this week.

Tim Cook praises ‘American manufacturing expertise’ and AppleCare staff

Apple's boss Tim Cook was photographed looking over the shoulder of a factory worker helping assemble a Mac Pro at Apple's manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas. The CEO tweeted out the image on his Twitter account as part of Apple's ongoing effort to promote bringing back (some) manufacturing jobs to the United States.

"Watching the Mac Pro come together in Austin yesterday, thanks to a team loaded with American manufacturing expertise," reads the tweet.

Although the new Mac Pro is not actually 'Made in USA', much of assembly work happens at the Austin plant in which Apple poured in about $100 million...

Capcom’s Monster Hunter Freedom Unite hitting iOS soon

Japanese games maker and publisher Capcom has confirmed that it's in the process of porting Monster Hunter Freedom Unite to Apple's iOS platform. Monster what? For those unfamiliar with it, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite debuted on the PSP handheld back in 2009, to great reception.

Basically an action title with some RPG elements, the game has a rich multiplayer mode where players form teams to hunt down the ferocious beasts and loot their carcasses. As you might imagine, the franchise has a huge following in Japan.

The iPhone and iPad edition is optimized for touch controls, supports 'Made for iPhone' gamepads and allows up to three players to hunt together over the Internet...

Two more Android keyboards in the works for iOS 8: Adaptxt and Minuum

In addition to the makers of some of the most popular Android soft-keyboards like Swype, Fleksy and SwiftKey - which have all confirmed building downloadable keyboards for iOS 8 - two more companies have now jumped on the bandwagon: KeyPoint and Whirlscape, the respective makers of the Adaptxt and Minuum Android keyboards.

As a result, users will be able to pick among at least five different keyboards in the App Store when iOS 8 launches this Fall, in addition to Apple's normal stock keyboard and the new and much improved QuickType one with adaptive suggestions...

FIFA updates official iOS app for the 2014 World Cup Brazil, another refresh due soon

The official FIFA app for iOS has been updated ahead of the upcoming 2014 World Cup, which kicks off with a match between the Brazilian host team and Croatia (my home country) next Tuesday, June 12.

In addition to keeping you in the loop on the latest news concerning the upcoming matches, the free iPhone and iPod touch application, now bumped to version 2.0, offers detailed information about players and coaches from all 32 competing teams, a schedule of all 64 games, trivia about the stadiums and cities and much more...

Beats buy and iTunes Radio limitations blamed on Apple’s ‘arrogance’ and incompetent managers

According to two Apple sources familiar with the development of iTunes Radio, current limitations of the free service and the $3 billion acquisition of Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre's Beats talent, brand, headphone business and streaming service is all the result of the firm's "arrogance" and shortsightedness of its managers.

Worse, some high-ranked members of Apple's music teams reportedly didn’t even know that Spotify was an on-demand streaming service and not an Internet radio service akin to Pandora and iTunes Radio...

iWatch with curved OLED screen rumored to launch in October

A new report by the Japanese business newspaper Nikkei alleges that Apple's rumored wearable project, the iWatch, will be ready for launch in October.

The device will be reportedly outfitted with a curved display which uses power-efficient OLED screen technology, as opposed to the traditional LCD panels utilized on Apple's existing devices family.

According to an unnamed parts manufacturer, Apple anticipates strong demand and is therefore planning to produce between three and five million iWatch units per month - a figure that would potentially exceed combined sales of all the various smartwatches floating around, by a large margin...

Apple, Google and others pledge $2M to hold Super Bowl 50 in Bay Area

According to a new report from the San Jose Mercury News, Apple has joined Google and other tech companies who have pledged $2 million in cash and services to help offset taxpayer costs of hosting Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco.

The Bay Area Super Bowl Host committee announced that is has raised $40 million for the event, which will be held at the 49ers' newly-built Levi's Stadium in 2016. The venue is less than 15 miles away from Apple's Cupertino campus...

Square Enix Montreal announces upcoming title ‘Hitman: Sniper’

In April, Square Enix Montréal brought the popular stealth video game series Hitman to iOS with 'Hitman Go.' It was an odd release, in that it fell under the turn-based puzzler genre instead of action-adventure, but it still seemed to perform relatively well.

Folks who were hoping for a more traditional Hitman title, though, will be happy to hear that the Canadian firm has another one in the works. It's called 'Hitman: Sniper,' and it's a massively competitive sniping game with a focus on the subtlety of execution...

Hit game ‘Temple Run’ crosses one billion downloads

Raleigh, North Carolina-based gaming company Imangi Studios announced this week that its hit game Temple Run has crossed one billion downloads. The total is the combination of both the first and second releases of the endless runner.

Imangi notes in the press release that players have collectively spent over 216,018 years playing its Temple Run titles, which are available on iOS, Android and Windows Phone. They've also played 32 billion games, and run 50 trillion meters...

New in iOS 8 Safari: use your device’s camera to scan in credit card info

As folks continue to comb through the recently released iOS 8 beta, a new feature has been discovered in mobile Safari. When the updated browser detects a credit card field within a webpage, it offers to let the user scan their card with their device's camera.

Scanning your credit card automatically enters its information in the appropriate text fields, saving you from having to enter it manually. It takes just a moment, and it doesn't appear that websites will have to do anything special to enable the new feature...

Mexican carriers can no longer use ‘iPhone’ name in ads

As reported by the Mexican publication El Universal, the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) has ruled that Mexican carriers are no longer allowed to make use of the "iPhone" name, since it violates the phonetically identical sounding "iFone" trademark owned by a small call center in Mexico. The trademark is filed under Class 38, which covers telecommunications services.

To be clear, Apple will still be able to sell the iPhone in Mexico and use its own trademark as it sees fit, but carriers won't be able to. The basis behind the ruling is that, since Apple is not considered to be a telecommunication services provider, it is acquitted of being at fault. Instead, the IMPI has placed the blame directly on Mexican carriers, which do provide telecommunications services…