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Every week Apple adds tons of new media content on iTunes — music, books, movies and more. It's impossible to keep up with all of it, but it's not impossible to pick out the very best. Here they are! This week we've got new J-Pop music with a vampire theme, Saw, Treehouse of Horror, and new work from cyberpunk author William Gibson! Bloodsuckers - Vamps OK, it's Halloween this week, so I had to throw something in here that was at least thematically appropriate. I recognize Japanese rock, or J-Rock, isn't for everyone, but Vamps is positive J-Rock royalty: Hyde, vocalist of L'Arc-en-Ciel, and K.A.Z, guitarist of Oblivion Dust. Bloodsuckers is a very different sound…

Olloclip, the creators of photo lenses and accessories for the iPhone familiy of smartphones along with the iPad, are now accepting UK pounds and euros in its online store for the first time, which gives residents in that part of the world a savings of up to 25 percent. Olloclip stated: The new expanded currency system is integrated within olloclip's existing web store and designed to cater to the soaring demand for its mobile photography lenses worldwide. Customers visiting olloclip.com can either select their currency up front or later when they specify their location. The pricing and local currency will update automatically at check out. Depending on their l…

The latest data from Kantar WorldPanel shows that the recent launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus has boosted Apple's sales numbers, with iOS now accounting for 15.4 percent of the market share in the five big European territories. Android still accounts for a majority of the market share at 73.9 percent, with Windows Phone coming in third place at 9.2 percent. In Great Britain, where the new iPhone models started shipping on 19 September, Apple saw its sales share up by 1.7% compared with the same period last year, taking share of iOS to 31%. Across the major European markets, where the new iPhone models were made available between the 19 and 26 September, i…

Vector is a news and analysis show focusing on the biggest stories, hottest trends, and most important issues in technology and popular culture. On this week's show — Making more debt than money, Apple Pay vs. CurrentC, software as art, #GamerGate, and paintball mishaps. With Georgia Dow, Guy English, Dave Wiskus, Rene Ritchie. Subscribe in iTunes Subscribe in RSS Download directly Follow on Twitter Show notes CVS disabling NFC and Apple Pay More on CurrentC Why they're doing it Who gets caught in the crossfire Vote with your digital wallet In-depth look at CurrentC and the personal data they want to collect Isometric 24: Slippery like a barrel roll A…

iCloud Photo Library, part of Apple's iCloud service, now gives you a more convenient way to organize and store all your photos and videos across all your devices. Make an edit on your iPhone, and it's automatically updated on your iPad. Not only that, iCloud Photo Library gives you the option to only keep storage optimized copies of your photos and videos if you choose in order to save storage space. For some people, that could mean a few gigabytes of extra storage. All you've got to do is change some settings! How to save storage space with iCloud Photo Library for iPhone and iPad Keep in mind that in order to optimize your photos, you must have iCloud Photo Lib…

There's been a bit of a tizzy recently after several US retailers dropped support for NFC payments in an effort to thwart Apple Pay, and the nation's largest retailer has chimed in with their own explanation as to why they did so. The retailer is Walmart, and they're the leading force behind the competing CurrentC payment system developed by the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX). Our own Nick Arnott did some digging into what the CurrentC app transmits and came away unsettled. To recap, CurrentC cuts out the credit card company, instead linking directly into the checking accounts of users and offering a QR code to scan at participating retailers. Apple Pay, meanwhile, uses…

At the WSJD Live conference, former Android exec Hugo Barra took the stage to praise the design of Apple's iPhone 6, even going as far as saying that it's the most beautiful smartphone ever built. Barra, now an executive at Chinese smartphone-maker Xiaomi, also took the time to defend his company against criticism that Xiaomi may have copied others' designs in its own hardware. After extolling praises of Apple's smartphone design, Barra said of the similarity between Xiaomi's designs and those of its rivals: Our designers, our engineers are inspired by great products — and frankly, in today's world, who isn't?" Barra said. "Point me to a product in our industry…

Even though Apple's now former sapphire supplier GT Advanced Technologies officially reached a settlement with the company last week, it appears that GT Advanced is not happy about it. It claims in new documents filed on Monday that while it had "various causes of action against Apple" it instead made the choice to give up because it simply could not afford a massive legal fight with the Cupertino team. The company claimed that it could try to prove that Apple "engaged in the requisite inequitable conduct and the misconduct resulted in an injury to creditors", among other things. However, in the end GT Advanced decided that it could not afford to deal with such a leg…

The following is excerpted from CSS Animation: An Interactive Guide by Vicki Murley. When the value of a CSS property changes, a web browser immediately renders the result of that change. For example, if you use JavaScript to change the value of the opacity property on an element from 1 to 0, the element immediately disappears. CSS Transitions allow changes in CSS property values to occur smoothly over a period of time, thus creating an animated effect. You can use CSS Transitions to: slide an element across the screen make an element fade in or out interpolate between two colors spin or scale an element ...and much more. Most CSS properties can be animated…

The Federal Trade Commission is suing AT&T Mobility over data throttling on unlimited data plans. The Commission alleges that AT&T's practices regarding unlimited data were deceptive and unfair. The FTC believes that AT&T in some cases reduced unlimited data speeds after certain amounts by up to 90 percent. The FTC's guiding principle is "unlimited means unlimited". This means that if a carrier offers you unlimited data, they shouldn't be able to throttle you if you exceed a certain amount of usage. The Commission points to AT&T's marketing materials, which heavily emphasize unlimited data. It is alleged that AT&T began throttling data back in …

November is National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo. For those not already familiar, the whole premise of NaNoWriMo is to give encouragement and offer support for anyone trying to tackle the task of writing a novel. We figured we'd pitch in by rounding up the very best apps and accessories for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that can aid in the writing process. From the best keyboard cases for your iPad to writing apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, we have what you need to tackle National Novel Writing Month head on! Best writing apps for Mac For long form writing, the Mac is arguably one of the best tools in your arsenal. And if you plan on doing most of y…

Today, we announced the availability of SSL 3.0 fallback warnings in Internet Explorer (IE) 11. For more information please visit the IE blog. We have also published an update on the status of the changes we have made to our Azure offerings in response to the SSL 3.0 vulnerability. For more information please visit the Azure blog.

Billguard, the mobile app that helps protect you and your credit cards, is today announcing an interesting new feature for iPhone users in the U.S. Card Location Alerts is a new feature they're rolling out that ties your phone's location data to your card usage. If your credit card is used and its not at the same location as your smartphone, you'll get an unexpected location alert. You have to opt in to the service, so the choice on whether to use the location data from your phone is entirely yours. But once opted in, Billguard will monitor your location data to try and match against where your card has been used. If it thinks that something fishy is going on, and it…

ContactSaver is a new app for your iPhone that can automatically create new contacts for you. The app connects to your work or personal Gmail accounts. ContactSaver requires a free account with their parent company CircleBack in order to get started. ContactSaver looks at your email for contact details. When it spots new contact information, the app will alert you. You can then choose to save the new information to your Gmail address book, or ignore it. ContactSaver will keep a running count of the number of contacts saved. If new information about an existing contact is found, only that new information will be added to your address book. ContactSaver is a free ap…

Taco Bell has released a new app that enables iPhone users to place an order for tacos from afar, and then come to the store to pick them up. The app is now focused on the menu and ordering, allowing users to select and customize their menu items (even including a drink selection where applicable), find restaurants, and add them to their order. You can even remotely pay with a saved credit card, debit card, or Taco Bell gift card. Select a Taco Bell restaurant and when you get there, the staff will start building your order. Yeah, it's not as convenient as some "show up and it's ready" restaurant remote ordering apps are, but Taco Bell's never exactly been a slow-ser…

The Apple TV has added two new on-demand channels to its lineup from Hallmark and A&E. Hallmark's Feelin' channel brings family-friendly programming, while A&E's FYI adds hours of lifestyle reality programming. Feelin' is actually an on-demand subscription service that shows family-friendly movies and TV shows. You can sign up right now the Apple TV, or sign into your existing account. With FYI, you can sign in with your cable provider to access all of the content. What do you think of these two new channels? Let us know in the comments. Continue reading...

The POWERPLANT portable block has a built-in battery that can provide nearly two full charges to most devices. The built-in FLEX charging arm with Apple Lightning connector means you can leave your USB cables at home, while on the go. There's even LED battery level lights to let you know how much juice is left. Get yours today for just $49.95! Continue reading...

Today I was thrilled to keynote at TechEd Europe in Barcelona and talk to thousands of IT professionals and developers. In our mobile-first, cloud-first world we are always connected, always “on.” The pace of business is faster than ever before – and accelerating. We want to empower IT professionals, developers and end users to do more with technology – wherever they go with whatever device, and with the clouds, platforms and tools they want to use to get work done or build apps. When it comes to cloud, we are delivering the industry’s most complete cloud for every business, industry and geography – a cloud that is hybrid, hyper-scale and enterprise-grade. Our cloud le…

The iPad mini didn't get the same update as its bigger brother, iPad Air this year. There’s no laminated display with antiglare coating, and there’s no monstrous Apple A8X chipset. Internally, that which the iPad mini 2 had, the iPad mini 3 mirrors. So what do you get with Apple's newest version of its smallest iPad? A 7.9-inch high-resolution window into the internet and apps, made even more convenient thanks to the addition of Touch ID and Apple Pay, a slightly-more-fashionable model thanks to an optional gold finish, and more affordable pricing thanks to a reduction in price for the 64GB and 128GB models. It’s still supremely portable, and powerful enough for almost…

Apple is reportedly looking into uses for NFC beyond Apple Pay. Apple is apparently looking into expanding the utility of the NFC found in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus into areas like keycards and transit tickets. They are also supposedly in early talks with some companies. According to The Information The Apple representatives have talked to technology providers like HID Global and Cubic, which enable secure access to buildings and transit fare systems, respectively, said people briefed on the discussions. Spokespeople for the companies declined to comment about any discussions with Apple, but executives there discussed how they could integrate their systems with…

Apple Pay is a great new feature of iOS 8.1 and allows you to securely pay for purchases both online and for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, at many merchants who support NFC payments as well. To get started, you can use the default payment method you use for iTunes and App Store purchases, and it only takes a few taps! How to link your iTunes payment method to Apple Pay in just a few taps Launch the Passbook app on your iPhone or iPad that's compatible with Apple Pay. Pull down from the top of the screen to reveal the plus sign — tap on the plus sign. Tap on Set Up Apple Pay. Log in to your iCloud account when prompted. Tap on Use Card on File with iTunes. Verify…

Hi, my name is Derek, I'm an iPhone 6 user. I've owned an iPhone 6 for a little over a month now. I use it a lot, more than I had previous iPhones. But nothings really changed since I started using the the iPhone 6. I'm still meticulous about how I organize things on the home screen… even with Spotlight search and Siri to launch things, I still want everything in its place. It is my iPhone, after all, I should have it set up the way I want it. But hey, with the 6 I can put more apps on the home screen, so there's that. Wallpaper: I recently switched back to the hyper-colorful wallpaper I produced based off of the WWDC 2013 invite. The Dock These are, han…