If you’re feeling a little groggy and disoriented today, we don’t blame you -- Apple unleashed a shotgun blast’s worth of updates on Wednesday and many of us had to stay up until the wee hours to finally install them all. With the release of iOS 5 and iCloud now behind us, let’s look ahead to some other things happening around the internet prior to tomorrow’s iPhone 4S release -- here’s the latest for Thursday, October 13, 2011.
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that Apple has succeeded in procuring an injunction against Samsung in their bid to block the company from selling the new Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia. The Federal Court there agrees with Apple that Samsung has “infringed on two of its patents relating to touch screens and the gestures that control them” -- a move that is likely to intensify the patent wars between the two companies moving forward.
SHAPE Services, the developers behind the popular IM+ app for iOS, is celebrating this week’s release of the iPhone 4S with a 40 percent discount on their flagship IM+ Pro app for a limited time only. Normally priced at $9.99, the current price for new customers is only $5.99 -- but hurry, because the new handset will be here before you know it!
This won’t come as much of a shocker, but it looks promising that Apple is hard at work on a new cloud-based streaming service for movies, which may finally put Cupertino on more equal footing with Netflix -- and the timing couldn’t be better, since the ol’ red envelope seems to be all left feet these days. According to The L.A. Times, this new deal may be tied to the new Ultraviolet format which launched this week with two Warner Bros. titles, which allows DVD and Blu-ray buyers to gain access to their movies through internet-connected TVs, smartphones and tablets. Hey, sign us up…
It wouldn’t be a proper iPhone release without lines starting to form at retail stores around the world, and the iPhone 4S doesn’t seem like it will disappoint. MacRumors has been gathering photos from its readers from faraway lands such as Japan, United Kingdom and Paris, where the lines appear to be steadily growing. Here in the United States, there are apparently only “scattered reports of lines” which are likely to increase as word spreads that the handset is now sold out from all preorder sources here. Everyone keep warm out there!
Apple may be busy touting the advantages of its free 5GB of iCloud storage, but companies like Box who have been doing this for much longer have a bigger number in mind -- say, 50GB for absolutely free? That’s the idea behind a new promotion the company is running which kicks off at 12:01am Friday (that’s tonight!) and runs for the next 50 days. Simply visit the App Store, download the free Box app for iOS, register for a new account (or log in to an existing one) and the company will throw 50GB of cloud storage your way for the trouble. Box also encourages users to share the deal with other iOS owners by tweeting about it using the hashtag #Box50GB -- but that last part is optional. (Update: The new version of the app is now live, so the deal is ready and waiting for you!)
Hard to believe, but it’s already been four years since Team Fortress 2 was launched as part of The Orange Box. Numerous awards later, the title is still one of the most popular online action games of all time. Now, Valve is celebrating with the first annual “Manniversary Update and Sale” on the first anniversary of the in-game Mann Co. Store, with new features including Steam Workshop, 30 new hats and cosmetic items, an item decal system and much more. The company says it’s “one of the largest and most ambitious in TF2’s four-year history,” and the celebration includes a sale until Monday, October 17 on almost everything in the Mann Co. in-game store.
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
kylerwalker
October 15, 2011 at 11:30pm
apple takes great joy in making their products great. and samsung just slaps something on a plate and says, eat up like mcdonalds does. samsung make their stuff cheap. apple wins this fight. oh and samsung does not have a ipod itunes or anything apple has.
Winski
October 13, 2011 at 9:22pm
Well, it kinda ISN'T quite what you've portrayed here...
You CANNOT upload to the Box 'cloud' from an iPad... AND you can NOT upload 400-500 MB files to their 'cloud' from a MAC unless you upgrade to their $15/mo. service. All in All - a sham....
