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What’s coming to Netflix in July: ‘Stranger Things' and 'Queer Eye'
There's a good chance you know what's coming to Netflix in July: Stranger Things 3. It's arguably the most anticipated release of the summer, and you won't have to wait much longer -- it arrives on July 4th. Stranger Things 3 certainly isn't all we have to look forward to. This month, Netflix will release the seventh and final season of Orange is the New Black, the recently announced fourth season of Queer Eye and another season of Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.
T-Mobile and Sprint push merger deadline to July 29th
T-Mobile and Sprint have pushed back the deadline to complete their $26 billion merger, reports Reuters. The companies will now have until July 29th to earn the approval of the US Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission.
Xbox One July update brings help for Achievements and 'Likes' on recordings
Microsoft gave viewers a peek at the continuing evolution of the Xbox One just ahead of its E3 press conference, but everyone should get to try out the new Snap mode for Achievements next month. That's because the feature is a part of the July update about to start testing, along with a few other tweaks. In case you missed the E3 preview, there's a video demo of the multitasking-ready new Achievements mode after the break, showing how it lets players track their progress while staying in the game, and even search for help on how to reach their goals.
TUAW Year in Review: July 2012
Welcome to TUAW's Year in Review. Month by month, we're running down the top stories of 2012, all day long on New Year's Day. How the iPhone surprise was almost given away by Steve Jobs Apple's curtain of secrecy surrounding new products is almost legendary, but a former Apple employee passed along a story to Business Insider's Seth Fiegerman about how the secret of the iPhone... OS X Mountain Lion: The TUAW review It's here! Following a surprise announcement in February, OS X Mountain Lion has arrived (to use its full and formal title, sans the 10.8 version number). Barely a year after the release of... Apple removes negative reviews from apps affected by DRM bug (updated) Update: Marco Arment says that it appears that Apple did a reupdate of the affected apps. By doing this, he says Apple ensured that customers would not lose data by being forced to delete apps off... Five apps (and more) for the summer road trip The Independence Day holiday week is upon us, and millions of American families are heading out on the open road. Where past generations depended on paper maps and Mad Libs, the march of... Trojan targets Mac-using activists in China There's a new backdoor trojan exploit out there for Mac users that appears to originate in China, specifically targeted at political activists in the Uighur movement against that country. The... Also: Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview ready for rent from iTunes iOS claims 65% of mobile web marketshare The iPhone doesn't have the power to ruin (or rescue) everything Russian hacker circumvents iOS in-app purchases Apple reverses course on EPEAT environmental standard, eligible products once again included How Apple's North Carolina data center got built Andreas Illiger announces Tiny Wings 2, coming next week Apple wins sixth solar power patent Is The Daily on thin ice? Malware affecting Macs running older versions of OS X Airbus creates electronic flight bag apps for pilots with iPads No Comment: Android tablet not actually endorsed by Steve Jobs RealMyst now on the App Store Apple cracks down on site selling iOS 6 betas DNSchanger standby servers will go dark Monday 7/9 Legendarily horrible film "MANOS" gets its own iOS game Apple rolls out iTunes movies in the Cloud to UK, Australia, Canada, more How the iPad changed the NFL UK judge to make Apple acknowledge Samsung didn't copy Apple Woz's backpack brings new meaning to "overpacking" WSJ: iPhone future includes thinner screen, other details cloudy Apple Store artist's first-person story of his visit from the Secret Service iPad "mini" drumbeat continues as NYT supports rumor of smaller tablet Apple's new Mac ads feature a helpful Genius Mountain Lion 101: Safari Building an OS X Mountain Lion installer thumb drive Farewell, Lion, you've served us well; Apple removes 10.7 from App Store A look at 18 notable Apple Alumni Rock Band games to be removed from iOS App Store this month Siri celebrity ad series continues with Martin Scorsese Mountain Lion's AirPlay Mirroring + Reflection = infinite regress fun The Daily to cut 50 staff members, switches to vertical-only layout Reminder: iWork.com beta shuts down today Apple adds Hulu Plus to Apple TV Rumor: Apple holding an iPhone event on September 12 Subway iPad theft leaves reporter with broken jaw
Apple to sell the iPad in China starting July 20
Apple announced on Tuesday that the new iPad will go on sale in China starting July 20. The launch of the tablet device was delayed by a trademark lawsuit filed by Chinese company Proview. Proview claimed it had the legal right to the iPad name in China, even though a division of the company sold the trademark to Apple several years ago. Apple fought Proview in China's court system and eventually settled the suit for US$60 million last week. Now that the trademark dispute is out of the way, Apple is able to start selling the device in the Asian country. The new iPad will be available in both WiFi and cellular versions with storage capacities of 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB.
Andreas Illiger announces Tiny Wings 2, coming next week
Andreas Illiger, creator of the iPhone hit Tiny Wings, told us he had a new app coming very soon, and now we know exactly when: July 12. That's when Tiny Wings 2 is set to arrive, according to this extremely adorable handmade trailer video, which you can watch below. There's no information at all on new features or gameplay, but you can probably expect that it'll be more of that cute little bird trying to jump from hill to valley to hill, and going for as long as possible. Illiger had originally promised something completely new back in May, but a recent tweet says that he's not working on a new game at all any more, so if he had something else planned, it might have been canceled. And it's not completely clear yet whether Tiny Wings 2 is an update to the current game, or a brand new app from the popular (and rather shy) developer. Either way, we'll know very soon. The update (or sequel) is expected out next week.
Fourth of July sales begin on the App Store
As you might have expected, the sales that seem to pop up around any holiday are showing up this week on Apple's App Store, too. Here's a sampler of what's out there already (all prices are USD): Edovia's Screens VNC app, for remote control of your Mac, is 50% off in both Mac and iOS's App Stores through 7/7. (Thanks Rene) Firemint's Flight Control and Real Racing are all on sale for 99 cents each. Chillingo has put both The Act and Air Mail (both really terrific games) on sale for a buck each as well. Asteroids Gunner+ will be down to $1.99 today. Crytek's Fibble has new content in a brand new update, and it's on sale this week for 99 cents. Warner Brothers has Lego: Harry Potter part 1 and part 2 on sale for a buck, as well as Batman: Arkham City Lockdown on sale, also a buck. Oscura and Sprinkle are two excellent indie titles you can grab for 99 cents each. The Mass Effect: Infiltrator tie-in game is on sale for a buck, along with quite a few other EA titles (which, honestly, you may have already grabbed in a previous sale). Shadowgun is back at 99 cents. 2D shooter Clash Force is completely free. Capcom's got Mega Man X, Street Fighter 2 Volt, and Monster Hunter: Dynamic Hunting all on sale for 99 cents this week as well. That's a lot of great, cheap games to play! Stay tuned as there will probably be even more sales available today. And we always tweet out great app sales right away on our Twitter account, so go follow @TUAW on Twitter if you want up-to-the-minute insight on what's dropping and what's good on the App Store.
HTC posts record sales (again), getting itself something nice (Dashwire) to celebrate
While the top three smartphone makers (Apple, Samsung, and Nokia) garner most of the press, HTC is quietly becoming a juggernaut. IDC's number five just posted yet another month of record sales, hitting $1.56 billion -- almost twice what the company moved in July of last year. To celebrate its continued meteoric rise, the Taiwanese manufacturer has announced it plans to acquire Dashwire, the cloud services company behind the awesome brilliant Awesome Drop, for $18.5 million. The only question is, how long HTC can keep this growth up? After all, common sense says what goes up, must come down -- just ask Nokia.
Square Enix releases new Chaos Rings 2 trailer, promises Final Fantasy Tactics soon
Square Enix has released a new set of "trailers" for the upcoming Chaos Rings 2, but you'll need to know Japanese to get anything out of them, unfortunately. They're all about the voice actors for the game, and don't really show any gameplay footage -- it's just the actors talking about the new title and how it works for them. There are some screenshots over at Famitsu, though, and if nothing else, we can at least take these as a sign that the game is closer to release than before. In other Square Enix news, Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions is still coming to iOS, but Square says on Facebook that it obviously couldn't get the game out this Spring as planned. Instead, they're now targeting a release for later this month, and the date written on the wall (in dry-erase marker, not stone, of course) looks to me like July 27. That would be next Wednesday, so stay tuned. Final Fantasy Tactics is pretty much considered the best tactical strategy RPG around, so it'll be great to have a game like that on iOS.
Verizon unlimited data to end in July
Bad news, Verizon users. The rumors were true, and Verizon will be ending its unlimited data plan this July. According to AllThingsD, Verizon confirms it's moving "to a more usage based model in July," with exact details to come later on. Unfortunately, it's unclear what Verizon still plans to do -- the company has said that its unlimited plans were always only for a temporary time, though AT&T, of course, grandfathered its unlimited plans in (and I'm still using one, though I can't ever change it or add things like hotspot or tethering). It sounds like Verizon wants to shut down the plans for good, but there may still be a chance for someone on an unlimited plan currently to keep it. We'll have to see. In the meantime, yes, change is in the air for affected Verizon users. With mobile bandwidth rising as quickly as it is, these companies are pushing as quickly as possible to move towards more usage-based plans.
White iPhones "more challenging" says Apple, unavailable until mid-July
Well, that's interesting -- Apple has just posted an official statement on its site that says the white iPhone 4s have been "more challenging to manufacture than expected," and therefore won't be available until late July. No further statement is given, but it looks like if you were waiting until you get a white version of the new iPhone, you'll have to wait a little longer. That also explains why you couldn't preorder that color -- they weren't actually made yet. As for what the challenge may be, we have no idea. Is it tough to make perfectly white material for that back panel? It could just be, of course, that Apple had some unforeseeable problem on a certain production line, leaving the white models in the lurch. At any rate, Apple says that the "more popular" black models are good to go, so those will be ready in the stores tomorrow. But of course if Apple has only half of the models in stock, that too could affect availability. We'll have to see how things go tomorrow morning. [hat tip to MacRumors]
Motorola to launch two smartphones on Verizon in July, says WSJ
Motorola's been making good with Verizon as of late, and according to the Wall Street Journal, the two just signed a deal to "ensure some of its upcoming smartphones will be heavily promoted" by the carrier." The article goes on to say that Motorola is planning to launch a pair of such devices on VZW this year, with the obvious platform choice being Android for both. Our best guess would be the 4.1-inch Shadow / MB810 for one, but as for the smartphone? No clue. Even with great choices like the Incredible and EVO 4G on the market, like we said on last week's Engadget Show, there's never been a better time to wait on a new mobile purchase. Better yet, does this mean we can finally start retiring the original Droid from television? Thanks.
Purported pics of next-gen iPhone front face surface
iResQ, the iPhone/iPod repair site, has posted pics of what they claim is the front faceplate of the next-gen iPhone. Two things about this piece of hardware are particularly interesting. First, the part is approximately 1/4 of an inch taller than the iPhone 3GS, indicative of a slightly taller form factor for the next-gen iPhone. Second, there's a small, reflective strip directly above the hole for the phone speaker. iResQ believes this is likely to be the new location for the iPhone's proximity sensor rather than an indication of any new hardware; however, moving the proximity sensor to a new location and increasing the overall length of the device could still point to a front-facing camera or other new hardware on the next-gen iPhone. digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/Purported_Pics_of_Next_Gen_iPhone_Front_Face_Surface'; It's worth mentioning the possibility that these "iPhone" parts aren't legitimate. iResQ hasn't revealed its source for the part, and purported iPhone bezels leaked in 2009 turned out to be parts for a completely different device. The backside of the supposed next-gen iPhone's face is missing quite a few parts present on the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, which either means the part iResQ received was incomplete, the next-gen iPhone has had its internal hardware shifted around, or the part is fake. So case manufacturers, don't throw out your old blueprints just yet. Unfortunately, it's likely we won't find out whether these are legit or not until June/July of this year; despite rumors of an iPhone update in April, the most likely date for the next-gen iPhone's release is early summer. [Via MacRumors]
Bloomberg: New iPhone with touch-sensitive casing coming
Bloomberg is the latest outlet to come up with some rumors about the possible new iPhone model coming this year (the iPhone, not the tablet, although doesn't it seem like the flood of tablet rumors has encouraged all kinds of Apple speculation lately?). They say that the new handset will include a 5 megapixel camera to match Google's Nexus One, and will also include a touch-sensitive casing, working similarly to the Magic Mouse. That one just seems strange -- what would you gesture on the back of the iPhone while you're using it? They also say, quoting Goldman Sachs analyst Robert Chen, that there'll be plenty of new innovations in the software as well. We certainly hope so. According to this round of rumors, the new phone would go into production in April, and be released to stores in June or July, a timeline that actually matches up with what we've heard before. Rumors are a dime a dozen, and even if a new phone does come out in July, that's too long to wait if you need to buy a phone right now. But we'll keep our ears open -- there certainly is a lot of increased speculation about Apple hardware lately, and there ought to be something in the pipeline driving it all.
World of Warcraft in the 'net's traffic patterns
Arbor Networks is a company that continually monitors the Internet and its usage -- they keep track of Internet outages and site visits on a global scale. They just recently released a report of when traffic peaks in the evenings around the world, and at least one of their results is about the game we're all playing, none other than World of Warcraft. In terms of just general consumer traffic online, the numbers tend to peak, according to the report, at around 8-11pm -- the time right before bed when most Americans are done with dinner, and have a little free time to jump online and browse around. In terms of what they're doing when online, simple web browsing makes up most of that traffic (52%), what's the rest of it? Gaming, including WoW.More than any other gaming service (they also take a look at Steam), WoW's chart is extremely interesting -- it peaks solidly at 8pm every night, and then falls back down just as sharply around 11pm. In other words, the biggest audience for WoW (during this time period -- this is over ten days in July of this year) is raiders, who show up on time at 8 and end the raid around 3 hours later. In other words, if you want to avoid the crowd, show up after 11. Or even better, raid in the mornings. Interesting stuff -- certainly Blizzard has much more detailed information on when people log into the game (and where they go when they do), but as an overview of traffic patterns, Arbor's research all makes sense.[via Network World]
Global Agenda entering phase one of closed beta July 24th
Okay, so this one is slightly confusing. Hi-Rez Studios, creators of the upcoming Global Agenda, have said that on July 24th they'll be entering the first phase of closed beta. Now that's exciting news, to be sure, but this isn't your standard beta process.What does that mean exactly? The current plan calls for focused testing windows that occur over weekends -- much like what we've seen with Aion recently. As of right now, CBT-1A will begin on Friday, July 24th and will continue until Monday, July 27th. Each of the successive testing windows will be known as CBT-1B, CBT-1C and on down the alphabet until -- we're assuming -- phase two is reached. It's a method that's worked for both Guild Wars and Aion, so we're not too surprised to see it happening with another game.Invites will be sent out in groups and you can check out the game's answer center for additional details. It's a little confusing, but the important thing to glean from all this is that beta testing is about to begin. Good luck on getting those keys!
It's 12:01 a.m.: Do you know where your beta key is?
The rumor mill has been flying lately that on July 3rd we'll see the first invites go out for the closed beta. Well, it's 12:01 a.m. on July 3rd now, and that means Beta Watch 2008 can begin.All of this beta rumor stems around a German Assistant Community Manager by the name of Gnorog telling the German gaming site Allvatar that the closed beta was going to be starting on July 3rd. It was "fueled" a little bit more in that Bornakk did not come out and deny the July 3rd date, something that they have regularly done before.Another small indication that something is changing is that the Wrath of the Lich King forums have seen several sticky post removed. They normally do this only when new information is about to come out to replace said sticky posts.It will be interesting to see how this one plays out. And if you do happen to get into the beta, feel free to drop us a tip. Happy waiting!
World of WarCrafts: Midsummer magnet
Every Thursday, Shelbi Roach of The Bronze Kettle guides you in creating WoW-inspired crafts using real world mats with World of WarCrafts.Celebrate Midsummer with this one-of-a-kind novelty. Whether you're wanting to post your grocery list on the fridge or hang a picture of your latest crush in your locker, now you can do it with style. Here is what you will need: Polymer Clay (premo! turquoise and gold) Circle Clay Cutters Xacto Knife Adhesive Magnet Scissors Click on the images below to view a gallery of step-by-step instructions. %Gallery-26162%
New batch of LotRO calendar wallpapers sneaks peak at Book 14
For some time now, Turbine has been releasing very pleasing wallpaper calendars based on The Lord of the Rings Online. The wallpapers feature well-framed screenshots from the game, accompanied by three small calendar pages -- one for each month in the quarter.The last batch will soon expire, as its wallpapers only track up through the end of June. Fear not, though; the Q3 2008 calendars are here! There are three different versions -- one of which depicts the Ring-forge of Eriagon, an area that will go into the game in Book 14.%Gallery-8208%
July NPD: Sharing the spotlight
The DS can't always be on top when it comes to sales numbers. Sometimes, we must step gracefully aside and allow someone else to share the spotlight. As long as that "someone else" is also manufactured by Nintendo, however ... then things are alllllright. Considering our trusty handheld had only one title in the top ten games sold in July -- Pokémon Diamond, which rang in at #7 -- moving another 400,000 units is pretty great. At least, it's better than those other guys, which is what really matters. Nintendo Wii: 425K Nintendo DS: 405K Sony PS2: 222K Sony PSP: 214K Microsoft Xbox 360: 170K Sony PS3: 159K Nintendo GBA: 87K We can't wait to see what happens this holiday season. We have a feeling things are going to get crazy.
