os

Social media users like the sound of iTunes Radio

Apple finally unveiled its music streaming service, iTunes Radio, and the social Web approves.

Social media analytics company NetBase found that 94 percent of social media users had positive comments about iTunes Radio following the product's release during Apple's WWDC developers conference on Monday, which means only 6 percent had negative comments.

The streaming service, which is tied into Apple's popular ecosystem, was highly discussed in the media in recent weeks as a competitor to services like Pandora and Spotify.

NetBase said iTunes Radio received the most positive comments among all of Apple's products announced on … Read more

Four things iOS 7 tells us about Apple's next iPhone

Apple has played the game long enough to keep its secrets heavily guarded, but a close look at some of iOS 7's lesser-known features hints at a few hardware changes we should count on (or not) for the next iPhone -- and maybe for the next iPads, too.

Camera enhancements It doesn't take an OS upgrade to guess that Apple will improve its camera's still-life and video capture hardware. That's a given.

Now here's a little evidence: iOS 7 supports 60fps video capture, while 30fps is the smartphone standard.

That means that the next iPhone … Read more

Finally, iOS Control Center!

If you happened to watch Apple's WWDC keynote yesterday, you probably noticed that one of the biggest crowd responses -- the largest chorus of "oohs" and "ahhs" -- came when Tim Cook unveiled Control Center.

And no wonder: It took Apple six years to add a feature Android users have enjoyed since almost the beginning. If you wanted these capabilities on your iPhone, you'd have to jailbreak it and install SBSettings.

No more. Control Center has arrived -- or will arrive, anyway, once iOS 7 splashes down this fall -- bringing with it a … Read more

How to manually enable NTFS read and write in OS X

OS X supports the option to read NTFS-formatted drives, but has not supported writing to these drives. Therefore, the use of a third-party driver such as Paragon NTFS or Tuxera NTFS has been required for those seeking full NTFS support; however, OS X does support writing to NTFS, but this feature is just not enabled by default.

To enable this feature, you have to do so on a per-volume basis, by editing the system's hidden fstab file to adjust the way the drive is automatically handled when attached and mounted.

First ensure that your NTFS drive has a simple … Read more

Five alternative apps to tide you over till iOS 7

Apple's WWDC announcement of the upcoming iOS 7 promised a slew of amazing, long-overdue updates. Unfortunately, however, if you are not a developer, you will have to wait until sometime in the fall for the official launch, like the rest of us. Owners of iOS 7-incompatible devices shouldn't fret, either. The good news is, you can get some of the functionality or at least similar features of iOS 7, in apps that currently exist on the App Store.

1. iOS Mail and Mailbox

The iOS Mail app is still the go-to place for e-mails among numerous users; with … Read more

Take better selfies with CamMe

The smartphone self portrait -- the selfie -- is a part of today's modern world, whether you are using it for a social-media profile picture, want to show your friends yourself in an interesting location or having a particularly good time, or are simply experiencing a vain moment without a friend nearby to snap a shot of you.

Most selfies require you to hold out your phone as far as you can reach to snap the shot. If you'd like to lose the outstretched arm and snap your selfies with an iPhone, I encourage you to try out … Read more

Apple's new products won't cheer investors, says analyst

Apple tried to wow the world on Monday with a host of new products and services. But investors aren't likely to get all abuzz, says J.P. Morgan's Mark Moskowitz.

At its WWDC keynote on Monday, Apple served up peeks at iOS 7, iTunes Radio, a new version of Mac OS X, new MacBook Airs, and the next Mac Pro. Many of these updates will certainly appeal to Apple users. But that doesn't necessarily translate into a higher stock price or stronger sales growth.

"We do not expect investors to cheer the latest software and services … Read more

iOS 7 tells Apple users to 'get excited' again, says analyst

The updates that Apple showed off in iOS 7 could prove to be the most important ones since the iPhone debuted in 2007, at least in the opinion of Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.

To kick off Day 1 of its Worldwide Developers Conference this week, Apple revealed a whole new look for its iOS interface and icons, along with a slew of new features and enhancements. Some of the early takes on the new UI have been decidedly mixed. But Munster feels the revamp is cause for Apple users and investors to get excited about both current and upcoming … Read more

iOS 7 specs versus Android 4.2, Windows Phone, BlackBerry 10

Apple's iOS 7 comes out swinging with an overhauled design that reskins practically every element with a gleaming-new interface. From what we've seen so far (including hands-on time with iOS 7 on an iPhone 5), we like the latest 'do. A lot.

While some new behaviors go along with the updated apps, iOS 7's changes are more cosmetic and iterative than they are groundbreaking. That's completely understandable; not every update can spark a revolution.

However, apart from a few notable innovations, iOS 7 doesn't seem like it's enough to overturn criticism that its growth … Read more