iTunes 11.1 has been released with support for iTunes Radio, a streaming music service, and Genius Shuffle, a smarter way to shuffle through similar music. Away from the music side, iTunes 11.1 also includes a podcasts stations feature, and perhaps most importantly for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users, is that the 11.1 release allows syncing with iOS 7 devices.

Yes, iTunes 11.1 is required to sync iOS 7 devices to a computer, making it a very important update to download and install before upgrading any iPhone or iPad to iOS 7.
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Can’t think of a name for an iOS folder? Or maybe you prefer minimalism and would rather have a folder without any name at all? Why not set a blank folder name! You can’t do this normally, and you may have discovered that typing a bunch of spaces doesn’t set a blank name either, but thanks to a peculiar quirk that comes along with the Starbucks app (yes, Starbucks the ubiquitous coffee shop), you can make a folder with an entirely blank name.
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Apple has started to air commercials for the new iPhone 5C. The first TV advertisement is called “Plastic Perfected”, and features liquid plastic pouring into and transforming into various colored iPhone 5C models. The liquid plastic looks oddly refreshing, like some sort of sports drink, and the commercial includes appropriately themed lyrics to a song playing in the background, “pick up the phone then, ring ring, call them up, tell them about the new trends”.

A video of the TV ad has been embedded below:
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Apple has released the eighth beta build of OS X Mavericks to those registered with the Mac Developer program. The new build includes bug fixes and updates and pushes the the developer version closer to a wider public release.

Individuals running OS X Mavericks can find Developer Preview 8 within the Mac App Store, accessible through the  Apple menu and Software Update. Developers not running existing versions of Mavericks can also begin the installation process through the Developer Center. Developers will find an updated version of iTunes 11.1 beta available, which is required to sync iOS 7 GM or later devices to a Mac. Presumably, iTunes 11.1 will be released to everyone tomorrow or the next day alongside the wider iOS 7 release.
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iOS 7 may be one of the most hotly anticipated mobile operating system releases of all time, but after extensive testing and usage of iOS 7.0 across a variety of devices, we’re taking the unusual step of recommending that some users hold off from updating to the initial release. At the very least, reconsider whether or not some of the potential performance trade-offs that exist with iOS 7.0 on some devices are worth it. This obviously won’t be a popular opinion, but we think this recommendation is in the best interest of our readers, and by waiting until an iOS 7.0.1 or similar update is out we think many users can avoid some frustrating experiences that haven’t quite been resolved.
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Just about every Mac user knows how to select a single file in the Mac OS X Finder, but I’ve encountered many users who are perplexed by multiple file selection. Most of the confusion comes down to not knowing the primary methods of choosing groups of files, and that’s what we’ll aim to clear up here by focusing on the primary means of choosing groups of files: the click and drag, the shift click, command clicking, and using select all. Each are slightly different, but are all useful for moving files around within the Finder file system or even sending elsewhere to another Mac or iOS device.

Each of these tricks work to select groups of files in any Finder list view, be it icon, list, columns, or Cover Flow.
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Need to change the default email account used on iPhone or iPad? Unless it has been changed before, the default email address is always the first email account that has been setup on an iPhone or iPad device.

But for those who use multiple mail accounts on their iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, changing the default sending address is often important, since whatever is set as the default is what gets used by all other aspects of iOS when sharing through email, including photos or links, and this applies to Mail app as well as third party apps.
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iOS 7 is set for public release on the 18th, making now a good time to start preparing for the major iOS update on any iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. But before jumping ahead with the 7.0 upgrade, you should check on compatibility and do some simple cleanup and backups with your iOS devices… so here are seven steps to prepare for iOS 7 the right way.

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Though you should be patient and wait a week for the official release of iOS 7 on the 18th, you technically don’t have to. For the incredibly impatient who don’t mind a few inconveniences, you can get a head start and update a compatible iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to the iOS 7 GM build right now. Of course there’s a catch: you’ll have to download the iOS 7 GM build IPSW from third parties, you have to do a clean install (not an update), and you won’t be able to sync the upgraded iOS 7 device to a computer afterwards – that means no backups, music transfers, restoring from a backup through iTunes, etc – and those inconveniences will remain until the public build of iTunes 11.1 comes out. If for some reason that sounds good to you, then Lifehacker offers up the solution with plenty of links to the GM build to get you on your way, and beyond that, it’s like any other clean installation of iOS.
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Apple has released OS X 10.8.5 system update for all Mac users running OS X 10.8. The update focuses entirely on bug fixes, many of which pertain to various network bugs and quirks that have bothered Mac users since the release of Mountain Lion. The most notable resolution appears to fix the frustrating bug that negatively impacted AFP-based Mac-to-Mac file transfer speeds when any sharing was done over Wi-Fi, and a similar quirk that impacted ethernet transfers.

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Everyone loves good wallpapers, and iOS 7 comes with 33 snazzy new wallpapers for your iOS gear. These particular offerings are sized specifically for iPhone and iPod touch, and due to their limited resolution (744 x 1392) they are not worthwhile for the iPad or desktop yet. Presumably, the high resolution versions from an iPad retina model will surface soon, but for now these should be limited to smartphones.

• Download a zip file of them all here courtesy of MacMixing – (Note: you can open and extract zip files in iOS using apps like WinZip)

If you don’t want to get them all at once in a big zip, click on any thumbnail image below to go to a full size version that can be saved onto your iPhone directly:

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Fresh off the announcement of new iPhone models, late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel took to the streets of LA and handed people a 7.8″ iPad Mini telling them it’s the new iPhone… then got their reactions on the “new iPhone”. The results are hilarious and well worth watching for a quick laugh.

Video is embedded below:

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Apple’s recent iPhone event wasn’t live streamed, but if you want to watch Tim Cook and co you can now view it all directly from Apple’s website. The event video includes a brief overview of iOS 7 which is scheduled to arrive to the masses next week (or right now if you’re a developer), and goes on to the unveiling of the iPhone 5c and the iPhone 5s.

Apple has also posted several videos for the new iPhone hardware, with an a four minute introductory video for the iPhone 5c, and two separate videos for the iPhone 5s, one to cover the new 5s camera features, and the other discussing the all new Touch ID fingerprint sensor. You can watch all videos below:
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iOS 7 GM has been released to those registered with the Apple Developer Program. The GM (Golden Master) build is the final release version, which will become available to the general public at a wider release next week.

Devices supported by the final iOS 7 build include the iPad 4, iPad 3, iPad 2, iPad mini, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, and iPod touch 5th gen.
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Apple has announced the iPhone 5s, the new upper-end iPhone model that comes with some pretty interesting features.Though the iPhone 5s is based upon the same aluminum enclosure as the prior iPhone 5 model, it is now offered in two revised color options including a new black (called space grey), the familiar white, and an entirely new gold color.

These colors are obviously much more subdued than what is offered on the new vibrant iPhone 5c model, and the 5s is also a much more feature-rich prodcut, justifying the price differentiation between the two major iPhone offerings.
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Apple has announced the iPhone 5c, a colorful variation of the iPhone 5 that features plastic enclosures rather than the aluminum casing that was prominent on last years models. Internally, the 5c is the same as the 5, though it ships with iOS 7 preinstalled, with a background wallpaper matched to the color of the iPhone model. Colors are white, a salmon pink, yellow, baby blue, and bright green.

The iPhone 5c replaces the iPhone 5 in the product line up and is priced accordingly, slightly cheaper than the new upper-end model iPhone 5s.
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iOS 7 will be available to the public on September 18, according to Apple. The release date was announced today at Apple’s iPhone event held at their Cupertino campus.

The update will be available through an OTA Software Update on all compatible devices, and also accessible from iTunes and ISPW as usual. Supported hardware for iOS 7 includes iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad mini, and the iPod touch 4th and 5th gen. Of course, the new iPhone 5C and 5S models will also support iOS 7 and will ship with the redesigned OS preinstalled.

iOS 7 is a free update offering many new features, along with a significant user interface overhaul to Apple’s mobile experience. Additionally, iWork and iLife apps will become free and be available along with the iOS 7 release, which includes apps like Keynote, Pages, Numbers, iMovie, and iPhoto.

As usual, users are advised to back up their devices before updating to any new version.

QuickTime is usually thought of as a movie viewing app, but it also has a few simple editing features that are extremely easy to use, and that don’t require the launching of a more complete video editing suite like iMovie. We’ll focus on the Trim function of QuickTime here, which lets you lets you shorten the total length of the movie clip by trimming it down to a shorter length. This is perfect for eliminating needless parts of a video, whether it’s a long intro, end credits, or some otherwise unnecessary piece of a video clip.
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