Apple

AT&T luring T-Mobile customers to jump ship with up to $450 credit

T-Mobile's upcoming Uncarrier 4.0 initiative must have instilled the fear of God into AT&T because the nation's second-largest wireless carrier just announced it will offer up to $450 worth of credit to T-Mobile customers who jump ship.

The limited-time offer is in direct response to T-Mobile's upcoming Uncarrier 4.0 moves, set to be revealed at next week's CES in Las Vegas.

The carrier is hoping to poach T-Mobile customers by partly offering a gift card worth up to $250 for trading in their old phone, with the difference made up in the form of a credit rebate. The full reveal is after the break...

Starbucks now lets you use your iPhone’s camera to redeem Pick of the Week cards

Starbucks, a Seattle-based global coffee company and coffeehouse chain and Apple's longtime marketing partner, started offering 'Pick of the Week' promotion via its recently Passbook-enabled App Store app back in 2011. The tie-in allows Starbucks customers to download paid iOS applications for free as they sip on their beverage of choice.

The company has now upgraded its backend system to allow folks to scan these redemption codes using their iPhone's iSight camera, a feature Apple added to iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices as part of its iOS 7 software release in September 2013...

Day 9 of Apple’s 12 Days of Gifts: Kings of Leon EP

We are now on day 9 of the big 12 Days of Gifts event, meaning Apple has removed the Diary of a Wimpy iBook and has posted a new free item for download. Today’s gift is an EP (or extended play) from the American rock band Kings of Leon.

The band is widely popular in the UK, and more recently the US, taking home 3 Grammy Awards in 2010 thanks to hits like 'Use Somebody.' And today's free EP includes some of those hits, which it played at Apple's iTunes Festival this year...

CES Scavenger Hunt to utilize Apple’s new iBeacon tech

The Consumer Electronics Association has announced that next week's CES will feature a promotional scavenger hunt featuring Apple's new iBeacon technology. The group issued a press release last night explaining how it's utilizing the tech.

Attendees will use the CES Mobile apps to explore various areas of the conference, and collect badges for each iBeacon they encounter. And the first 3 to collect all of the badges will be rewarded with prizes such as tablets and other gadgets...

Apple says new Mac Pro uses 68% less energy than previous generation

We all know that Apple's new Mac Pro is smaller than its predecessor, and in most instances more powerful, but did you know that it's also far more green as well? The Cupertino company released an Environmental Report today on its latest desktop saying just that.

According to the report, the new Mac Pro uses less than half of the allowed energy limit under Energy Star requirements, thanks to its various power-efficient components. And it also requires 68% less power than the previous-generation Mac Pro while in idle mode...

Readdle’s ‘Scanner Pro’ goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Apple has named Readdle's popular 'Scanner Pro' its App of the Week for this week. This means that through next Thursday, you’ll be able to pick up the application for both your iPhone and iPad, for free—a sizable savings of $7.

For those unfamiliar with the app, Scanner Pro essentially turns your iOS device into a portable scanner. It can scan documents, receipts, notes, photos, and more, and then upload them to Dropbox, Evernote, and other web services...

Feed Me Oil 2 arrives, get downloading

The beginning of a new year is always a good time to release some new software. We're only two days into 2014 and already a pair of nice premium games has made an appearance on the App Store.

Earlier this morning, Sega released its Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed while UK-based developer True Axis brought us the awesome Jet Car Stunts 2.

And now, UK-based Chillingo has released a sequel to its liquid physics puzzler Feed Me Oil, a $2.99 download for the iPhone and iPad. And this time around, oil and water can mix for the first time...

Best Buy drops iPhone 5s to $124.99, offers iPhone 5c for free

The U.S. consumer electronics retailer Best Buy is offering up a new time-limited discount on Apple's flagship iPhone 5s, the colorful iPhone 5c and on additional products from Apple and other vendors. The entry-level iPhone 5s with sixteen gigabytes of storage will set you back $124.99, a $75 saving over its normal asking price of $199.

As for the iPhone 5c, you can grab it free (as in: $0 upfront), down from its $99 price point. The 32GB iPhone 5c models are available for $79. Both discounted iPhones are available across all four major carriers and entail a new two-year contract...

Sega’s Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is now available to download

Rather unexpectedly and with little fanfare, games maker Sega has released a brand new title on the App Store. Called Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, the game is actually the official iOS port of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed for consoles and part of its 2013 winter release schedule.

If you've played Mario-like kart racing games such as Rovio's Angry Birds Go!, you should feel right at home in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. A pared down version of Transformed on consoles, the game sports a brand new World Tour mode designed specifically for mobile, with multiplayer both locally and online for up to four players...

Rumor: surface finish treatment issues holding back mass production of iWatch

According to the latest supply chain chatter, Apple's unannounced iWatch wearable device is facing production difficulty stemming from weak yields.

The point at issue here is that the surface finish treatments dealing with the device's body are reportedly showing unexpectedly low yield rates of less than 50 percent.

Needless to say, that's totally unacceptable for mass production.

According to a report coming straight out of Taiwan where the bulk of Apple's component suppliers and manufacturers are located, both the iPhone maker and the chip giant Qualcomm - which is also pursuing a smartwatch of its own - are finding it difficult to produce tiny wearable devices using metal injection molding (MIM)...

Shoots & Leaves turns your photos into Reminders and instantly creates sharing links

With the impending demise of the popular cross-platform file-sharing app Bump, sharing your photographs with the web at large, without going through popular social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, could easily become something of a mess involving switching between multiple apps to get the job done.

Fortunately, Shoots & Leaves ($1.99 in the App Store) comes to the rescue.

As the name implies, this little gem of an app - though not a file-sharing solution per se - allows you to turn photos into tasks with a single tap and easily create URLs for your photos that can in turn be emailed, shared on the web and more, for everyone to see online.

It supports multiple image-hosting services, user-defined actions, sending to third-party apps and lots more. Have a quick look at it right after the break...

Jet Car Stunts 2 has landed in the App Store

Jet Car Stunts 2, the official sequel to the quite popular over-the-top stunt driving game, is now available as a free download in the App Store. Jet Car Stunts 2 for the iPhone and iPad features even more outlandish courses/jet physics than the original, with insane jumps, ludicrous speeds and manic car handling guaranteeing hours of fun to those who've found themselves desperately addicted to the original title.

In what's increasingly becoming the positive trend, Jet Car Stunts 2 supports physical iOS 7 controllers and even includes a level creation feature. Your launch trailer along with additional tidbits can be found right after the jump (pun intended!)...