Apple acquired a company called BookLamp earlier this year for somewhere between $10-15 million, according to information uncovered by TechCrunch. The Idaho-based startup created what was referred to as “Pandora for books,” including a system known as the Book Genome Project that could recommend books based on analysis of the text and previous ratings of other books by users (very similar to Pandora’s Music Genome Project, which does the same thing for musical analysis)....

Over a year ago, Apple removed an app called Metadata+ from the App Store. The app sent iPhone users alerts when a United States drone strike led to death. Apple’s reasoning at the time was that the app contained “content that many users would find objectionable.” Fast forward to this week and Metadata+ is again in the news for being approved and removed, all in the span of less than 12 hours…...

To this end, AndroBugs Framework presents a solution to this ever-present need. AndroBugs Framework is an Android app security vulnerability scanner that Android developers and hackers can use to easily scan an Android app for security vulnerabilities, possible exploits and even whether the code satisfies best practices. Yu Cheng-Lin is an Android Security Researcher based out of Taiwan and the creator of the AndroBugs Framework. His career led him to the discovery of countless security flaws in Android applications of some of the biggest tech companies in the world, including Facebook and Twitter....

[tweet https://twitter.com/9to5mac/status/212275242318561281] Update: MacRumors received a tip from a reader who claimed Apple’s CEO Tim Cook responded to his email to confirm new Mac Pros are coming next year. We received a tip last year detailing a similar email exchange between a Pro customer and the late chief Steve Jobs. Cook’s response to the reader is below: We were not too shocked when Apple quietly updated its Mac Pro lineup following its WWDC keynote yesterday....

Tuesday’s best deals include Anker’s Father’s Day sale, latest Powerbeats are $99, and you can save even further on Apple’s 10.2-inch iPad. Hit the jump for all that and more in the latest 9to5Toys Lunch Break. Anker Father’s Day sale Latest Powerbeats wireless earbuds Apple 10.2-inch iPad up to $115 off Target is currently taking up to $115 off Apple’s 10.2-inch iPad. With a larger 10.2-inch display, Apple Pencil support, and compatibility with smart connector accessories, this is arguably one of the most compelling iPads in Apple’s stable currently....

Here comes the importance of a build tool like Ant. It stores, executes and automates all process in a sequential order mentioned in Ant’s configuration file (usually build.xml). Benefit of Ant build Ant creates the application life cycle i.e. clean, compile, set dependency, execute, report, etc. Third party API dependency can be set by Ant i.e. other Jar file’s class path is set by Ant build file. A complete application is created for End to End delivery and deployment....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiBIT8Kgr4w Apple aired two new television commercials this evening to advertise its personal assistant feature Siri that introduced on the iPhone 4S last October. The commercials follow a similar pattern as the other Siri spots that featuring actor Samuel L. Jackson and aactorZooey Deschanel. They show Siri’s uses like finding the weather, getting calendar information, getting Siri to tell a joke, or even getting her to share some life advice. Both commercials feature popular actor John Malkovich who starred in the hit movie “Of Mice and Men”....

Right. As part of the push, RIM has reached a deal with Black Eyed Peas’ artist, Will.i.am, to make that artist’s content and online community Dipdive available on the BlackBerry. (Will.i.am was also behind Barack Obama’s successful “Yes We Can” video.) The company introduced Facebook software for its smartphones last autumn. RIM’s in a fix. Apple’s introduction of Exchange support means core Blackberry customers have a choice of devices, and with the iPhone offering extra value in terms of screen real estate, iPod and other sexy features, the Blackberry maker must struggle to preserve its market....

Google invited us to check out their new line of Nexus products running Lollipop earlier today. The Motorola Nexus 6 is about the size of the iPhone 6 Plus with a slightly bigger screen and thicker/heavier profile. On the other hand, the HTC Nexus 9 is smaller than the iPad Air with a 9-inch display and stereo speakers. Both run Android 5.0 Lollipop which has a new Material Design. The new products will go up against Apple’s iOS devices for global electronics consumers’ holiday shopping money....

Angry Birds is now officially ten years old and just like its arrival dictated the gaming years ahead, its 10th birthday feels like a fitting end to the decade. Angry Birds officially launched on December 11, 2009 and to put this into perspective, the first Angry Birds game was only available at launch on iOS and Maemo (think Nokia) devices. It would be almost another year before an Android version would come out and it was not until 2011 when a Windows Phone version arrived....

Apple will continue its prosperous manufacturing relationship with TSMC for — at least — the foreseeable future. According to a new report from Digitimes, the Apple A15 chip will begin production in May. The production schedule lines up for the iPhone 13 launch in the fall. The A15 chip will use the same 5 nanometer fabrication size as the A14. And the companies are already preparing for next year’s performance leap too …...

Uh oh. A few days after HomePod hitting the market, customers have noticed an unwelcome occurrence caused by Apple’s new smart speaker: wood staining. Apple admitted to Wirecutter who first noted the issue that HomePod’s base can indeed leave residue on certain wood countertops. Apple tells the publication that “the marks can improve over several days after the speaker is removed from the wood surface” and suggests that if it that doesn’t work, “try cleaning the surface with the manufacturer’s suggested oiling method....

DisplayMate is out with a new report today, this time applying its usual detailed analysis to the different displays that come with the various models of Apple Watch. In case you didn’t know already, Apple is using a sapphire display on its pricier, mid-range collection of Apple Watch, as well as with the higher-end Apple Watch Edition. That’s opposed to the Ion-X glass display on the less expensive, entry-level Apple Watch Sport models....

Apple has recently updated its App Store Preview pages for stories to allow users to view the full content of stories from inside their desktop web browser. App Store stories have always been shareable as links, but the web version was just a title and a navigation link to ‘open this story in the App Store’. Between August 9th and August 11th, Apple has upgraded the experience and now includes full imagery, app lists and paragraphs copy in the web version....

Think about it. This man is one of the most accomplished truth deflectors in the business – we’re not saying he doesn’t tell the truth, he does, he’s pretty much always honest, he’s just good, really, really good at saying truthful things which make listeners think they hear the opposite of what he says Remember Steve Jobs on enabling video playback for iPods, when he was so often heard to say, “the iPod is for listening to music, it’s not designed for video....

Apple first started accepting Apple Watch trade-ins last year, but only in the form of free recycling. Unlike other products, Apple didn’t offer users a gift card in exchange for their device. That changes today, however, as Apple is now offering a gift card to users who recycle an Apple Watch in working condition. Apple partners with a company called Brightstar for this exchange program and payouts range from $50 to $175....

On this page, you will find the latest unofficial version of Android 11 for the Ulefone Note 7T device. Full credits to the XDA Recognized Developer phhusson for making this possible. The update is still in the beta stage and you may counter bugs or unusable. You have to try it at your own risk. If something is broken, you can always flash back the stock ROM image on your Ulefone Note 7T....

Vivo Z1i launched on July 2018. Here we will discuss the release of Android 9.0 Pie update for Vivo Z1i. Google finally released the 9th iteration of Android OS called Android 9.0 Pie. The update has rolled for Pixel supported devices and few other OEM supported with Android Beta. After putting Android users through four beta updates of Android P, Google has named Android 9.0 as Android Pie. It is expected that in the coming months all the devices that had been signed up for the Android P beta program including the OnePlus 6, Oppo R15 Pro, Vivo X21 and more will receive the Android P update first....

There is no shortage of life simulation games, and the latest entrant in this genre is the Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Notably, this is the fifth title in this series and has been launched in 2020, which is available for the Nintendo Switch Platform. This game is a life simulation, and players are required to play the game on a daily basis if you want to unlock everything within the game....

We’ve now had a chance to see the antitrust argument Tim Cook will make in today’s hearing, and it essentially amounts to: there’s nothing to see here. Apple is arguing that it has done nothing wrong in the past, is doing nothing wrong now and sees no need to change the way it works in the future … Cook’s three-page statement (ok, three pages and one line) breaks down like this:...