I've been attending a lot of meetings with various London-based startups in the last few months to learn their stories on what it takes to launch a successful new product. I'm particularly interested in ones that have a heavy slant towards mobile -- and iOS. This interest is magnified when I find a startup that is making a product that truly makes my life easier. One such startup is OnTrees and I think the process of bringing their idea to market is one other iOS developers can learn from.

OnTrees wants to be the Mint.com of the UK.

Financial data aggregation can be big business. Just ask Aaron Patzer who sold his Mint.com startup to Intuit in 2009 for $170 million. And while the Intuit deal did lend an air of legitimacy to financial aggregation services in the United States, in other parts of the world -- particularly the United Kingdom -- financial data aggregation services are still looked upon with apprehension. After all, who wants to give their sensitive financial account usernames and passwords to some faceless entity out on the interwebs?

But that's just what UK startup OnTrees is trying to achieve -- and they're doing it on iOS-only for now. It wants to create a one-stop offering that allows users to get a complete financial overview of all their accounts. One login; all your data and spending tracked and graphed. And though generating awareness of what financial aggregation and building trust around it is one challenge, there are others: namely security, bank participation, and making a UX good enough so people will want to spend time with your service. And though OnTrees is still in beta, the company had made great progress in the six months since it had its soft launch in November 2012. Here's what OnTrees founder and Managing Director Charlie Mortimer told me about the experience so far.

Fill a void.

"More than 20 million people in the UK use online banking, of which around 50% have accounts with multiple providers," Mortimer tells me. "Our proprietary research has shown that people using online banking want to keep track of their finances, but the methods they use are typically time-consuming: 32% rely on keeping receipts and cross checking with statements, 20% use Microsoft Excel to keep budgets, 14% keep written notes and 4% use a software package e.g. the now defunct Microsoft Money."

The above could be said to be boring product marketing statics, but they illustrate a point every developer should keep in mind: your product needs to fill a void or why will anyone use it?

And it's that void -- potentially fillable by 20 million UK online bankers -- that makes OnTrees so attractive. After all, financial aggregation giant Mint isn't in the UK. And while there have been other UK financial aggregation services, none have seemed to have caught on even though Mortimer recognizes the need for aggregation to allow people to see their complete financial picture.

But what about just using your bank's web services?

"It's great that some banks (most notably Lloyds) are launching their own 'money managers' that try to help people see what they are spending," Mortimer says. "However, OnTrees' offering is unique because it is 'provider agnostic' and enables users to see their spending across their Lloyds account as well as their Halifax, Barclaycard, and Amex accounts."

And matter of fact, OnTrees works with over 200 financial institutions in the UK, some of which don't even have dedicated apps -- another void increasingly tech savvy, smartphone using consumers are itching to have filled. "For people with these accounts," Mortimer tells me, "OnTrees provides a way of seeing transactions and spending on the move."

Build partnerships.

But surely if OnTrees works with over 200 financial institutions (and counting) it must be a development nightmare -- especially when OnTrees web services and iOS app are only coded by six developers, which seems like something of a skeleton crew for a company that has a goal of providing users with easy-to-understand financial data of all their accounts.

But that's where Mortimer tells me choosing good partnerships is critical.

From day one, OnTrees choose a number of partners carefully. And not just technology partners. Before it's soft launch in November, the company ran a closed beta with users of Mumsnet and the National Union of Students to work out what features were wanted. And make no mistake about it, these were not just "testers." OnTrees thought of them as partners to get valuable feedback from in designing their services.

Mumsnet is a popular UK parenting site (and as any parent knows, tracking finances are always a priority) and the NUS gave OnTrees access to another important group of people -- younger ones who like checking their financial situation from the comfort of their smartphone. The circle of feedback from these partner helped guide OnTrees on its path.

"We've maintained this focus on our users since beta and have recruited a panel of 'SuperUsers' who provide us with really helpful feedback about the site and app which is proving really useful. By doing this, we think we stand a better chance of creating a product that is as useful as possible and truly satisfies consumer demand," Mortimer says.

But partnering presents challenges of its own. "We use quite a broad range of different services, so we do have a challenge in 'knitting' them all together. For example, we use plug-ins for some of our charts, we let users sign in with Facebook and Gmail, and, in bringing this together on the Microsoft Azure platform, we use a range of their off the shelf solutions. Integrating this range of services into a smooth process for users can be a challenge, but this approach does allow us to leverage 'best in class' modules."

And of course there is that small matter of interfacing with over 200 financial institution in the UK. For a team of only six developers, a challenge like that might seem almost insurmountable. But again, this is where partnering matters.

"When we first decided to build a personal finance manager we thought that aggregating from dozens of banks would be a real challenge and would require a significant amount of development work," Mortimer tells me. "That's when we found out more about Yodlee and learnt that they could take care of a lot of these issues, and that, as the leaders in this type of technology, may be able to offer a better service. By using Yodlee to take away these headaches, we are able to concentrate on building the consumer proposition and taking that out to users."

Yodlee is a company that most consumers have probably never heard of, but one of whose services they probably use regularly without ever knowing. The company offers scalable personal financial management solutions for banks and companies, which allows them to work with user's existing financial data. Before Mint was acquire by Intuit in 2009, Yodlee powered its entire backend.

"Yodlee interfaces with the banks and allows us to offer a truly global service. This is quite important in the UK, where a relatively large number of people have accounts in different countries. Yodlee have built 'data agents' which connect to each of the banks' websites and provide us with a user's recent transactions as an xml feed once they have added an account," explains Mortimer. "As the data we get from Yodlee is in a simple (xml) format, it is a good starting point for us to build up data for our users. They also provide a 'best guess' at the categories a user's transactions fall into (e.g. Tesco - groceries) which is useful, but definitely needs improving. The Yodlee system 'learns' over time as more and more users re-categorize their transactions, so this will improve the accuracy."

But even though Yodlee allows OnTrees to offload a majority of the backend work, that doesn't mean relying on partners is all smooth-sailing.

"There are challenges involved, as we have to develop on top of a framework and APIs that they have developed, which are not always ideal for us," Mortimer admits. "As a new brand, it can be hard for us to push for new features which we would like them to offer. However, the pros definitely outweigh the cons, as their platform allows us to offer aggregation of 14,000+ accounts around the world, and focus on how OnTrees can actually help people manage their money."

Choose your platforms.

Creating dual-solution web/app platform is time consuming -- especially for a startup when financial considerations bear more heavily on what you can get accomplished in a set about of time. With that in mind, I asked Mortimer why OnTrees decided to launch with an app and a web service?

"We were keen to do both web and mobile because we think that people use different devices in different ways," Mortimer explains. "Users want to 'manage their money' via the web (e.g. set budgets, open new savings accounts, analyze their spending over time), but they also want to quickly see how much they have in their account, or what they spent last night via the app."

Thus a dual-solution was necessary. And the data that have on their user's usage patterns prove it: one-third of their users are only using mobile, one-third are only using the web, and one-third use both.

"From a development perspective, it's actually probably helped us to launch with a dual-solution, as it has ensured that we separate out our service layer from our web / app layer. This probably meant it took us longer to get everything ready, but means that we're in a better place for launching new versions, as we have a very distinct 'service' layer in our architecture."

As for mobile, OnTrees initially choose only to support iOS upon its soft launch last year. Mortimer explains why: "We actually started building for both Android and iPhone, but realized that as we only have a small team, we could only really support one format. We chose iPhone as it has the largest number of users on a single device." However, Android users can expect a native app in the near future.

Build trust in your product.

Though OnTress is technically out of beta, the company is still working on refining the service so its hard launch won't be for another several months (though new users can start using the service today). One it's developmental journey the company seems to have successfully used partnerships and good-ol-fashioned developer know-how to bring together a pretty slick service. But one last major hurdle is left to be overcome: convincing a critical mass of users that their financial data is safe with OnTrees.

Indeed, Mortimer admits that dealing with users' highly sensitive customer data was the most challenging part of launching OnTrees. "Our main priority when developing OnTrees has always been security. Throughout the development process, we have had to make sure that everything we do adheres to the highest levels of security. Whilst necessary, this has slowed down development, which can be frustrating at times as there are lots of new features we want to add, and it also increases the amount of testing we have to do."

Part of that security involves Yodlee's security protocols (which, because of their time in the business, are virtually as strong as you can get -- a benefit from choosing the right partner), while other security involved externally-validated processes that are certified by TigerScheme.

Having used their service with my own personal accounts for over a month now makes me believe they achieved their security goals. But I'm used to financial aggregation sites (I use Mint for my US accounts) and I've had a lot more contact with OnTrees about their security than most customers ever will. So how does the company go about proving to potential users that their data will be safe?

Mortimer says that delivering a high level of customer service is key. "We have our number on the site so anyone can call and speak to us, we can explain more about what we do, and that we're a UK based site. We're also keen to make sure we get back to people really quickly whether they call, email, tweet, or Facebook message us, and try to resolve any issues or answer any questions they have."

Another method OnTrees uses -- that's already a staple of most developer's relations -- is promoting the product to influential and well-respected journalists, bloggers, and media outlets. Independent scrutiny is key here. Another method OnTrees uses, which goes back to choosing the right partners, is that they work with already-trusted financial sites, like ThisIsMoney.co.uk who are one of the UK's leading personal finance sites with 4 million visitors per month. OnTrees uses their content and product tables to ensure that we have high quality, independent news content on the site.

"In short, we believe that if we work to the highest levels of security, are very transparent in what we do, and try to convey that message, then we will build trust and credibility."

Building a financial empire.

Will OnTrees become the next Mint? Time will tell. But they certainly seem to be doing everything right from a developer's perspective: they've recognized a void that needs to be filled, sought out the right partners, chose their platforms, and are working to build user trust. But Mortimer says there's one more piece to the puzzle: a good UX.

"Another challenge we face is in making users' data fun and easy to understand. How do you turn rows of financial transactions into something that helps users manage their money better? We're currently looking at lots of different ways to present this data, so that people can interact more with it. This seems to be a common challenge in the industry with lots of hype around 'big data' but few people able to make it meaningful and engaging."

Can OnTrees do it? That's something Mortimer would bet his money on.

OnTrees is a free download on the UK App Store.

iOS-only OnTrees hopes to be the Mint.com of the UK originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 25 May 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

AT&T's prepay GoPhone service is to include an iPhone purchase option as of today. The service will also gain the addition of 4G LTE and HSPA+ support, according to MacRumors. GoPhone lets users sign up for AT&T service without joining a contract. Previously, iPhone owners could sign up for the service but they would have no access to cellular data. With the update expected to roll out today, iPhone owners will be able to access all of AT&T's services on a GoPhone contract, including 4G LTE and Visual Voicemail.

MacRumors says that iPhone owners will have three options for GoPhone service. The highest-priced one is a US$65 plan that offers unlimited texts and calls and one gigabyte of data. AT&T is also offering $50 and $25 plans that include text and calls, but users will have to add additional data plans on top. When choosing a GoPhone plan, users can bring in their existing unlocked iPhone or they can buy an unlocked iPhone from AT&T in the store. MacRumors says that current GoPhone plan owners will be automatically updated with cellular data support for their iPhone on June 21, but the site says that those that want to see cellular data support before then may be able to have their plan manually upgraded first.

AT&T's GoPhone prepaid brand to fully support iPhone originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 24 May 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

AllThingsD is reporting that Best Buy plans to begin a monthlong iPhone sale on Sunday. iPhone prices will drop by US$50 when bought in conjunction with a two-year contract from AT&T, Sprint or Verizon. All current models of the iPhone -- iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 -- are included.

This coming Monday in the United States is Memorial Day, and the weekend prior is a big shoppers' weekend. Best Buy is also offering discounts on several popular Android handsets, but those discounts are expected to expire on June 1. There's no word on why Best Buy's iPhone sale will carry on for an entire month, but it could be that the company is trying to move inventory before any potential iPhone announcements this summer.

Best Buy to begin month-long iPhone sale on Sunday originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 24 May 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple is continuing to roll out increased Maps 3D Flyover coverage. The latest update was first spotted by AppleInsider and appears to include large parts of California. Specifically, the latest update includes the cities of San Bernardino, Riverside, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Moreno Valley and more.

This update covers Anaheim as well, so users can now view a 3D Flyover of Disneyland in Apple Maps. It seems like Apple is continuing to roll out aggressive server-side updates to Apple Maps. Only a little more than two weeks ago Apple added 3D Flyover coverage in Paris.

Apple expands iOS Maps' 3D Flyover coverage in California, including Disneyland originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 24 May 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Following up on an announcement made at the end of April, Verizon has begun rolling out its Verizon Cloud storage solution to iOS devices today. Verizon Cloud offers Verizon users a free 500 MB of cloud storage to backup their photos, videos, contacts, music, call logs and text messages. Users who want more storage can buy it at a monthly fee of US$2.99/month for 25 GB, $5.99/month for 75 GB and $9.99/month for 125 GB.

The Verizon Cloud service lets users stream music and sync data between devices, including photos, videos and documents. Users can also access their files via the web and desktop applications. On the iPhone, users can manage their Verizon Cloud account through the free Verizon Cloud app.

Verizon Cloud comes to iOS devices originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 24 May 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

AdAge has an interesting article on the risks and challenges advertisers face when displaying ads on mobile devices. Besides the potential that users may never actually tap on your ad, there's also the risk that an advertiser's ads may not display correctly on various devices. If you're an advertiser and that keeps you up at night, you only have one real option for choosing a reliable ad network: Apple's iAds. That's because iAds are the only major mobile ad network yet to be accredited by the Media Ratings Council. As AdAge explains:

Apple's iAd earlier this month became the first major mobile-ad network to be fully accredited by the Media Ratings Council as adhering to the standards the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Mobile Marketing Association jointly released earlier this year.

During the auditing process, iAd demonstrated accurate reporting of impressions, taps, tap-through-rate, visits, views, views-per-visit, average time spent, conversions, unique devices and unique device visits. Apple said its mobile ad network is more streamlined than others and that it only charges for ads that fully render on users' screens.

AdAge notes that Google's DoubleClick is currently going through the process of getting accreditation, but other ad networks like MoPub are debating on whether or not to try to get accreditation because it can cost more than US$100,000.

iAds gets full accreditation by the Media Ratings Council originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 23 May 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Microsoft has released a new ad featuring the Windows 8 ASUS VivoTab Smart tablet and an iPad. The commercial slams the iPad pretty hard by picking and choosing examples of things the iPad can't do that Windows 8 tablet can, like live updating of tile apps, its inability to use multiple apps at once, and lack of Microsoft PowerPoint support. The kicker here is that the ad is narrated by actual responses from Siri. The ad ends with Siri asking, "Should we just play chopsticks?" -- poking fun at a previous iPad mini commercial.

Windows 8 has received significant criticism for its elimination of the Start button and there are strong reports that Microsoft is looking to redesign the OS in a hurry to stop plummeting PC sales.

Microsoft's new ad slams Siri hard originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 23 May 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The uber-popular live-music-recognition app Shazam has received a major update today. The most noticeable change is a new mapping feature. Now users can explore a map and see what songs are being tagged in what areas of the world. Another major change is that Shazam is now a universal app. Previously there was Shazam for iPhone and Shazam for iPad, but now both apps have been rolled into one.

The iPad side of the new Shazam app has seen significant upgrades as well. Users are now greeted with a beautiful new home screen that allows them to flip through recently tagged songs. Another new feature is Auto Tagging, which tags any audio from TV shows or music playing around you without you having to tap a button. Shazam will even continue to run in the background and continue tagging songs when you leave the app. When you launch it again, everything that was tagged when you were outside the app appears on the new home screen.

Shazam is a free download.

Shazam app goes universal, adds mapping features, more originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 23 May 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Popular email client Mailbox is now available for iPad. Previously Mailbox was iPhone-only, but today's version 1.3 update makes it a universal app that runs on all iOS devices. The iPad version of Mailbox comes less than a month after the developers announced plans that they were working on it and other (yet to be seen) desktop versions of the app. Mailbox has received rave reviews for its sleek design and unique approach to email management by supporting features that are usually only found in separate task-management apps.

Mailbox is a free download.

Mailbox for iPad now available originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 23 May 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Saturday Evening Post, one of America's most iconic magazines, thanks in part to cover artist Norman Rockwell, is finally on Apple's Newsstand. Apparently many people don't know the magazine is still in publication (I didn't, and even the magazine's technology director Steve Harman admits to TechCrunch that many people don't think so either), yet it still has a subscription base of 300,000 annually. And now it's ready to enter the digital age on iOS.

The magazine will keep its general-interest focus while attempting to appeal to younger readers with articles on technology and movies. Considering the magazine's history (publishing some of the best short stories by America's most famous writers) and beautiful artwork, I'd love to see the Post begin selling digitized back issues starting with ones that featured F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories. Sadly right now there are no signs of any plans to do that.

The Saturday Evening Post is a free download on the app store. Single issues are available for US$3.99, a single issue subscription costs $1.99 per issue until canceled, and a one year (six issues) subscription costs $9.99.

Iconic US magazine Saturday Evening Post comes to Newsstand originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 22 May 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Intel has tapped former Apple VP Mike Bell to head up the company's new Smart Devices Unit, according to AllThingsD. Bell last worked at Apple in 2007, and then Palm after that and has a long experience in mobile device development. Recently he has been co-leading Intel's mobile chip business. His new position as the head of Intel's new Smart Devices Unit signals a shift in strategy for the chipmaker.

As AllThingsD notes, Intel's competitors Qualcomm, Nvidia, MediaTek, Broadcom and other ARM-based manufactures have a strong foothold in the mobile device market -- a place Intel knows it needs to be to stay competitive in the future. While Intel did not explicitly state what the Smart Device Unit would produce, it did say, "The group will be tasked with turning cool technology and business model innovations into products that shape and lead markets."

Longtime Apple VP to head Intel's new devices unit originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 22 May 2013 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mark Crump at GigaOm has an interesting piece on how the iPad is becoming an important tool for music bands. Crump is an amateur musician whose band is rehearsing for a gig. What's interesting is Crump's realization that the iPad is almost all his band needs at rehearsal.

Crump explains how his iPad fits into band rehearsals. First, he chooses the songs in the Music player app and sends his friends links to the songs on YouTube. Next he'll use the AmpliTube app (free) to load up his selected song from the iPad's music app and play along with it via a Fender Squire USB guitar. To chart the songs during rehearsal, Crump uses Apple's Pages app (US$9.99). He supports the iPad in front of him by using the iKlip 2 ($39.99) from IK Multimedia. The iKlip 2 is a universal microphone stand that allows you to attach an iPad to almost any mic boom.

If you're a musician, Crump's piece is well worth a read. It's another example of how Apple's iDevices are changing almost everything we do.

How iPads, YouTube help bands practice originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 May 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai is often referred to as "the world's only 7-Star hotel." And now you can see why. The hotel has announced that it will be giving 24-carat gold-plated iPads to guests at check-in. The iPad will act as a "virtual concierge" for the hotel's guests, with information like maps, housekeeping services, spa services and more.

Guests will be required to give the iPads back when they check out, unless they choose to purchase it (there's no word on the cost). The gold-plated iPad isn't the only Apple product that the Burj Al Arab's guests can enjoy: each of its 202 rooms has an iMac as well.

'The world's only 7-Star hotel' is giving 24k gold-plated iPads to guests originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 May 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple has announced that its next Apple store will open at Rundle Place Centre in Adelaide, South Australia this Saturday. It will be the first Apple Store in South Australia. This will bring the number of Apple's retail stores in Australia up to 20.

Rundle Place Centre is a four-story shopping center with over 70 retail outlets. The store is set to open at 10 AM local time this Saturday. However, interested customers can already set up Genius Bar appointments on the store's web page.

Apple's first store in South Australia to open on Saturday originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 May 2013 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Football fans rejoice (that's soccer for you in America)! Sky Sports has released an update to its popular iPad app that offers a new feature called Sky Sports 360. It lets you switch between over 20 camera angles during a replay. The app also allows you to choose to view the replays at normal speed or in slow motion. Announcing the new feature, Director of Sky Sports Digital Media David Gibbs told Sky Sports:

"This is great news for the Sky Sports for iPad app, which keeps getting better and better. This is about putting the technology into the hands of the viewer and allowing them to recapture the big moments in the final. It's the first time we've offered this through our app and it's another example of our investment in the Sky Sports viewer's experience."

Though the feature is built into the iPad app now, it won't go live for the first time until this Saturday, May 25th, during the Champions League final between Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern Munich. Sky Sports 360 will also be available throughout the 2013-2014 season.

Sky Sports for iPad is a free download from the UK App Store. It's free to use for all customers who subscribe to the Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 channels. Non-subscribers can access content in the app for £4.99 a month via in-app purchase.

Sky Sports for iPad lets you choose your own replay camera angles originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 May 2013 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

A few months ago I reviewed an external hard drive enclosure I was pretty fond of -- the Mercury On-The-Go-Pro. Today I want to tell you about one I like even more: The Oyen Digital MiniPro enclosure. The two enclosures actually are very similar in functionality. They both allow you to take your old laptop hard drives, insert them into the enclosure, and turn those old drives into useful spare external drives. They also both offer one USB 3.0 port and two Firewire 800 ports. The reason I like the Oyen Digital MiniPro more, however, is because its design mirrors the Mac Pro. It's made from a solid aluminum housing that Mac Pro users know and love. Because of this, it actually looks like it was designed by Apple. The enclosure is also bus-powered, so no power cord is required.

The Oyen Digital MiniPro enclosure comes in black or silver aluminum and is US$69.95. It's available on Amazon and at the company's store.

Oyen Digital MiniPro enclosure dresses your hard drive like a Mac Pro originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 May 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Users of iOS file-management apps File Lite and File Lite Pro might want to delete the apps from their iOS devices for now (or at least turn off WiFi sharing). That's because the Vulnerability Laboratory has discovered three vulnerabilities in the latest versions of the apps, according to iMore.

The worst vulnerability allows an attacker to upload files to a user's account without any interaction, while the other two permit code injection in the user's browser while they are viewing file listings. All three exploits require that a user has the apps' WiFi sharing option turned on.

Since the vulnerabilities were discovered on May 17th, the app has not been pulled from the App Store, nor has it been updated. Until an update is released fixing the vulnerabilities, users should at the very least disable WiFi sharing within the app.

File Lite, File Lite Pro for iPhone shown to have vulnerabilities originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 May 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Museum buffs and tourists might want to download Google's Field Trip app right now. As we've told you before, the location-based app shows you cool things to do while on a trip. For a limited time, the app will also get you into 13 major US museums for free, as Google announced on the Field Trip Google+ page:

Rumor has it you can visit 13 museums in 6 cities for FREE with Field Trip...

RUMOR CONFIRMED!!! For a limited time you can walk into any of these for free:

Conservatory of Flowers, SF
California Academy of Sciences, SF
Walt Disney Family Museum, SF
Museum of Contemporary Art, LA
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Adler Planetarium, Chicago
The Field Museum, Chicago
Museum of the city of New York, NY
Museum of Arts and Design, NY
National Building Museum, DC
Portland Children's Museum
Portland Art Museum
Pittock Mansion, Portland

If you are around one of the following 13 museums, you will get a Field Trip card with "Free Entry" in the title (check the 'nearby' tab). Show the card on your phone to the admissions staff and they'll take care of the rest.

Enjoy your Field Trips!

Living in Europe I'm pretty spoiled, as almost every major museum is free. But looking at the list above -- especially seeing three of Chicago's best museums (my old stomping grounds) -- leaves me feeling a little envious of my US friends at the moment.

Field Trip is a free download for iOS and Android.

Google's Field Trip app gets you into 13 museums for free right now originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 May 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was seen visiting Apple's headquarters in Cupertino over the weekend, reports The Hurriyet Daily News. The visit was part of a series of stops to major technology companies in Silicon Valley, including Google and Microsoft. The visit wasn't just out of casual interest on the PM's part, however. Turkey is seeking to purchase 10.6 million tablet computers for use in its schools.

Even for a company as large as Apple, an additional 10.6 million iPads sold would be massive. It's unknown who Erdoğan met with at Apple, but this was not the first time a Turkish government official stopped by. Way back in 2011, Turkish Trade Minister Zafer Caglayan visited Apple to discuss the same tablet education program.

Turkish Prime Minister visits Apple HQ originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 May 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Political is reporting that Tim Cook is set to testify at a Senate hearing next week that is investigating the offshore tax practices of American corporations:

Apple CEO Tim Cook is expected to testify at the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation's hearing Tuesday, POLITICO has learned.

Apple has been under fire for its tax practices. The company recently avoided paying as much as $9.2 billion in taxes by buying back stock with debt instead of offshore cash, Bloomberg reported. Apple has a reported $100 billion in offshore funds.

The hearing is part of the panel's continued examination of how companies shift profits offshore and how that impacts the tax code. Representatives from Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard testified in September 2012 in a hearing on the same topic.

Tax avoidance by big corporations has (finally) become a hot topic in the US. Here in the UK, pressure has been mounting for months on companies like Google, Amazon and Starbucks over their tax-avoidance schemes (Amazon only paid £3 million in UK taxes off of £4 billion in UK sales). Other EU countries are following suit in clamping down on offshore tax practices. In addition to Tim Cook, Politico states that representatives from the IRS and Treasury are also set to testify.

Tim Cook to testify at Senate hearing on offshore tax practices originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 15 May 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

EA has announced that its Frostbite game engine, used to power popular game like Need for Speed and Battlefield 4, is coming to iOS. Dubbed Frostbite Go, the game engine is set to give a big graphics and performance boost to cutting-edge iOS games. From the Frostbite website where the engine was officially announced for the first time:

One of our most exciting current projects is called Frostbite Go, a mobile division empowering EA game developers with Frostbite's proven excellent workflows and features to bring true Frostbite experiences to all major mobile platforms.

Currently there's no release dates for any games using Frostbite Go, but the site does mention that EA games using Frostbite Go are actively in development.

EA's Frostbite engine could improve iOS games originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 15 May 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

An app called Buycott is giving iPhone owners the chance to make a political statement each and every time they shop. The concept behind the app is simple: when you're in a store, scan an item's UPC code to see what parent company owns the product.

"What company owns the product?" you might ask. "Wouldn't that be the name of the company on the package?"

Not necessarily. Popular brand names are often subsidiaries of bigger corporations. And those corporations might have their fingers in things you politically disagree with. This means that even though there is no way you would support the corporation's political activities (say they donate to political campaigns you don't like) you may be inadvertently supporting that corporation by buying one of its subsidiary's products.

Gallery: Buycott

Take, for example, Angel Soft bathroom tissue. The ultimate owner of that company is Koch Industries, which has extreme political views on one end of the spectrum that you may disagree with. By scanning that product with Buycott in the store, you're immediately told who the owner is (Koch Industries) and that information can allow you to make more informed buying decisions.

Buycott also allows you to create and follow campaigns covering issues you care about. These campaigns cover a wide variety of topics and allow you to make better buying decisions by not only telling you what companies to boycott, but also by telling you which companies support your ideological views (hence the "buy" in Buycott). Currently the most popular campaign is "Demand GMO Labeling," while the most trending campaign is 'Avoid Koch Industries.'

Buycott is a free download.

Buycott lets you boycott evil companies while you shop originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 15 May 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The CharityBuzz auction for coffee with Tim Cook closed at US$610,000 yesterday. The high bidder will meet Tim Cook on a mutually agreed-upon date for 30 to 60 minutes. On the last day of the auction the high bid sat at $605,000, but in the last 30 minutes someone who had not placed a bid before came in with a bid that was $5,000 higher. The only thing known about the winning bidder is that his bidding name was "a********s."

CharityBuzz will not reveal the name of the winning bidder, but it's possible that the bidder could come forward himself or herself. Of that amount, 20 percent goes to CharityBuzz while the remaining 80 percent goes to the RFK Center for Justice & Human Rights.

If you had just paid $610,000 to talk to Tim Cook, what would your conversation be like? Let us know in the comments.

Coffee with Tim Cook auction closes at $610,000 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 15 May 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Groupon has launched a new iPad app called Groupon POS (perhaps not the best name) in an attempt to enter the iPad mobile payments arena and take on current leader Square. As of the time of this writing, Groupon has not made an official anouncement, but the app is now live in the App Store. Here are the deets from the app's description:

A beautiful and simple way to manage your business and accept payments at the lowest rates available today.

Set up your offerings in seconds, quickly check out customers and view real-time analytics. Start running your business more effectively.

Groupon POS works also works with an optional cash drawer and printer to automate and simplify your point of sale.

Groupon POS works for a wide variety of merchants from cafes and delis, to salons, spas and florists.

9to5Mac points out that Groupon POS appears to be a scaled-down version of the Breadcrumb POS app Groupon acquired last year. Groupon already offers another mobile payments app called Groupon Merchants for the iPhone.

Update: The app has disappeared from the App Store. Looks like it was released prematurely.

Groupon launches mobile payments iPad app to challenge Square originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 May 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When my iPad 3 was acting funny -- and by that I mean a sleep/wake button that would only work on every third press -- I made an appointment at the Genius Bar at my local Apple Store. Fifteen minutes later I walked out with a brand-new replacement iPad. Many readers who have owned a faulty iPhone, iPod or iPad will have had experiences similar to my own: broken iDevice, go to Apple store, get new one. But now that's all set to change.

According to reports from AppleInsider, Apple vice president Tara Bunch announced to employees last week that AppleCare will be changing in the US, with international markets to follow. Soon iDevices with faulty hardware won't necessarily be replaced with new units. The role and capabilities of Geniuses in Apple stores will soon be expanded to allow them to fix the faulty parts, instead of having to issue completely new hardware. As AppleInisder explains:

Currently, Apple Stores have the tools to replace speakers, receivers, home buttons, the vibrator motor and battery. Come June, capabilities will be expanded to display replacement, and by July cameras, sleep/wake buttons and logic boards will be dealt with in-store. In addition, employees will have access to advanced diagnostics tools that can remotely assess hardware issues and relay the data directly to technicians, allowing for quicker turnaround times.

The move is expected to save Apple a whopping US$1 billion a year in replacement costs. As to how the move will affect customers' perception of AppleCare remains to be seen. AI also reported on other potential changes to AppleCare, including a switch from per-device coverage to per-user coverage. Under the new model, all of a user's devices would be covered under an AppleCare subscription-based model.

Revamped AppleCare means changes for Genius Bar employees originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 May 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I use my iPhone 5 so much throughout the day that its battery is often nearly drained by 4 PM. That's why I'm constantly carrying around and trying out new external battery packs to keep my iPhone charged. The latest battery pack I've tried is the Phonesuit Flex Pocket Charger. I've reviewed Phonesuit's products in the past (and the one I reviewed is now my external battery pack of choice), so I was excited to try out their new Lightning connector battery pack.

The Phonesuit Flex Pocket Charger is slightly thicker and longer than two AA batteries in size, to give you an idea about how big it is. It fits easily into a jeans pocket but it's just a bit wider than my iPhone 5. When plugged into the phone, the Flex overruns the length of it on either end. Still, just given how small the Flex Pocket is in the first place, the fact that it's just slightly wider than the iPhone 5 can be forgiven -- especially considering when my iPhone is running out of battery, the last thing I care about is how good my battery pack looks.

Inside the Flex Pocket you'll find a 2,600 mAh battery that gives you iPhone an extra 125 percent charge. Externally, the Flex Pocket offers a built-in Lightning port and plugs directly into your iPhone 5. There are no cables to attach. When you plug the Flex Pocket into your iPhone, tap the electrostatic power button on the side to turn it on. To recharge your Flex Pocket, simply connect it to any computer via the included USB cable.

The Phonesuit Flex Pocket Charger is US$69 in a choice of colors: metallic red, blue or black. It works on the iPhone 5, the fifth-generation iPod touch and the seventh-generation iPod nano.

Review: Phonesuit's Flex Pocket Lightning Charger originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 May 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Last night Bill Gates was interviewed by Charlie Rose on 60 Minutes. Though the interview covered many subjects, it inevitably turned to Gates' relationship with Steve Jobs. In the part of the interviewed that aired, Gates understandably teared up when he talked about the last time he saw Jobs, at his home in May of 2011. When Rose asked Gates what they talked about, Gates replied, "...what we'd learned, families... anything." Gates also elaborated on their relationship over the years in unaired footage of the interview that is available to watch online.

Bill Gates talks about the last time he saw Steve Jobs originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 13 May 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The team at Astrid has announced the company has been purchased by Yahoo. Astrid is a popular iOS and Android to-do manager with over 4 million users. In a blog post, Astrid CEO Jon Paris said:

We are thrilled to announce that we have been acquired by Yahoo. When we set out to build Astrid, we sought to help as many people as possible become happier, healthier and more productive. We're really excited to join the mobile team and continue this work with Yahoo's goal of "making the world's daily habits more inspiring and entertaining."

Astrid will continue to work as is for the next three months, but the company is no longer accepting new premium subscriptions.

Yahoo has been on a roll lately with acquisitions and revitalization of its mobile apps. Earlier this year, the company acquired Summly and integrated it into its Yahoo News app. Last month Yahoo released a weather app that has garnered universal praise. There's no word yet on Yahoo's plans for Astrid.

Yahoo acquires Astrid task manager originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 02 May 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Adobe's Lightroom product manager Tom Hogarty has shown off an early beta of Lightroom for iOS, according to CNET. Hogarty made the semi-announcement on an episode of The Grid this week. Here's what CNET's Stephen Shankland had to say:

He wouldn't promise when the app would ship or what exactly it would do, but he did demonstrate some features of the prototype software running on an iPad 2. He also offered several details about its features:

o. The ability to edit photos taken in RAW photo formats, including Lightroom develop-module parameters like exposure, clarity, shadows, highlights and white balance.

o. Cloud-synchronized editing so that changes made on a tablet arrive on the same photo on the PC.

o. The ability to zoom all the way to 100 percent for checking photo focus and details.

And without promising anything, he said he'd like to see some of Lightroom's library-module features, like sorting photos into categories or flagging picks and rejects, in the app.

Lightroom is the immensely popular photo management and editing app for OS X and Windows. It's seen as a direct competitor to Apple's Aperture. While Adobe has made small strides into the iOS ecosystem, none of its apps yet offer the pro-level features many photographers want to see on a tablet. Still, just because Adobe previewed a prototype of Lightroom for iOS doesn't mean photographers should get their hopes up. The prototype appeared to be in the very early stages and no release schedule (or pricing) was mentioned.

[Image via Cnet]

Adobe previews Lightroom for iOS originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 02 May 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The US Department of Defense will soon approve the iPhone and iPad for use by military agencies for non-classified communications, reports The Wall Street Journal. The approval will only be for devices running iOS 6 or higher. According to the WSJ:

Separately, DISA [The Defense Information Systems Agency] is expected to rule in early May that Apple's latest operating system, iOS 6, conforms to a different security-requirement guide, the Defense Department spokesman said. That would allow iPhones and iPads to be used by military agencies for non-classified communications, such as email and Web browsing.

The Journal also reports that certain Samsung devices, like the Galaxy S 4, will receive the same approval. As the US Department of Defense has the largest employee pool of any government agency, and third-party security companies employ hundreds of thousands of people in the US, DoD approval for iOS devices could give a boost to sales in those industries.

iOS 6 devices get DoD approval for US government use originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 02 May 2013 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Twitter has released an update to its iOS app that adds new features and several improvements. The biggest new feature is the ability to view global trends. Previously a user could view local trends in the Discover tab, but now you can select global trend locations and view trending hashtags from locales across the world.

Twitter for iOS now also lets you invite friends to join Twitter from within the app. Previously this feature was only found on its web-based client. Also, retweets have been tweaked to include both the original author's Twitter handle and the handle of the person retweeting it. Finally, Twitter has improved the playback of Vine videos within the app.

Twitter for iOS is a free download.

Twitter for iOS updated with location-based trends, more originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 02 May 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Outside the United States, Passbook-supported apps are a rarity. That's why it's especially exciting that uber-popular European discount airline easyJet has just added Passbook support to their iPhone app.

The move comes days after easyJet announced that it is eliminating check-in desks at airports. Now all easyJet passengers will be required to print or download their boarding passes before they leave home.

But that shouldn't be much of a hassle for iPhone owners. With version 2.0 of the free easyJet mobile app, fliers can download and store boarding passes in their Passbook. Currently easyJet is trialing mobile check-in and boarding passes at six airports: Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Manchester, Nice, Southend and Stansted.

But the company says that if the trial is successful, it will work with other airport partners to roll out the digital boarding passes to other airports.

Popular European discount airline easyJet adds Passbook support originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mac power users will rejoice -- or be relieved -- that Belkin has announced it is officially shipping the Thunderbolt Express Dock. The dock allows users to expand to a wide range of ports via a single Thunderbolt connection on their Mac. The dock offers two Thunderbolt ports (one for input, the second for passthrough to as many as five downstream devices), one gigabit Ethernet port, one FireWire 800 port, stereo headphone and microphone jacks and three USB 3.0 ports.

Belkin officially announced the Thunderbolt Express Dock back in January of 2012; since then, it has seen numerous delays and design changes.

In the meantime, another Mac accessory vendor, Matrox, released the DS1, a docking port that offers fewer ports, but may provide enough connectivity for the average user (and at US$50 less than the Belkin offering). Still, those that like Belkin's products and have a wide array of peripherals they need plugged into their Mac will no doubt welcome the availability of the Thunderbolt Express Dock.

The Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock lists at $299, and is available now from Belkin's site.

Belkin begins shipping Thunderbolt Express Dock originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Consumer Reports has announced that Apple has come out on top again -- and bested its previous score -- in providing consumer tech support to its users.

The company scored far higher than the other big companies for the elements that make for successful online and phone support: ease of contacting staff, clarity of advice, technical knowledge, patience and time for follow-up.

The annual survey found that 88 percent of of customer problems were solved at an in-store Genius Bar, compared to only 70 percent at Best Buy's in-store Geek Squad bars. Consumer Reports also notes that Apple was able to resolve 82 percent of computer problems across all its support lines (in-store, phone, etc.).

Overall, Apple scored 86 our of 100 in the survey -- the highest of any computer manufacturer. The next best was Lenovo, which scored a 63 out of 100.

Apple comes out on top in Consumer Reports tech support ratings originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The original iPhone will soon reach "obsolete" status at Apple retail stores. Obsolete status means that a product is not eligible for repairs or parts replacement even if the customer pays for it. The date the original iPhone reaches obsolete status is June 11, 2013, according to 9to5Mac, which obtained a leaked memo revealing the date.

Products typically become obsolete at Apple five to seven years after they make their debut. Other products that will become obsolete on June 11 will be the late 2006 Xserve, mid-2007 iMacs and the original Mac Pro.

Original iPhone to be obsolete at Apple stores originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Discovery Communications, parent company of the cable channels Discovery and TLC, has released updates to the Discovery Channel HD and TLC for iPad and iPhone apps that now offer second-screen features on the iPad side.

The second-screen feature is branded as Discovery Plus and TLC Plus and offers "an interactive second-screen experience, synced live to your favorite shows! Fully integrated into the app, simply tune in during a TLC/Discovery Plus-enabled show and sit back for exclusive factoids, photos and more! Or play a previously aired Plus-enabled show on your DVR, and sync to view the experience on your own schedule," according to the app descriptions.

Discovery Communications does note that not all of its shows are Plus-enabled yet. Also, the Plus features are only available on the iPad, though the company does plan to add them to the iPhone version of the apps soon.

Discovery Channel HD and TLC for iPad and iPhone are free downloads.

Discovery, TLC iPad apps add second-screen feature originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

You can tell Scapple was designed by a writer. It's a simple, sparse Mac app that's free of unneeded bells and whistles. Scapple comes to us from the team at Literature & Latte, the developers who are responsible for the popular Scrivener word-processing and writer's management app.

While Scrivener is bursting with nearly every feature a writer could need, Scapple is simply a note-jotting app -- but it still keeps writers satisfied. Many have called Scapple mind-mapping software, but by L&L's own admittance, it's not. Instead, they liken it to a freeform text editor or "virtual paper" that allows a user to make notes anywhere on the page -- just like a writer would with his notepad as he furiously scribbles down ideas.

The way Scapple works is you double-click anywhere on a document and start writing. This can be something simple like the name of a character, or something longer, like a chapter's opening paragraph. Or it can be a note that has to do with anything your mind can think of and needs to get down quickly. You can double-click to create as many new notes as you wish in a single document and you can drag them around to any position on the page. And if that's all you want to do, that's fine.

But you can also link different notes together with dashed or arrowed lines. You do this by dropping one note on top of the other. All your notes can be connected, or only one can, or none; it's your choice. Notes also aren't limited to text. You can also drag in images and other external text files to your Scrapple document. And as you would expect with a good note-taking app, there are plenty of formatting options that let you change the appearance of your notes and Scrapple documents. Scapple also offers a number of export options.

If you're a writer, I think Scapple will immediately appeal to you. If you're a mind-mapping power user, it probably won't. Either way, Literature & Latte offers a demo version so users can try before they buy. If you want the full version of Scapple it's available for only US$14.99. Currently you can only buy it through Literature & Latte's web store, but the company says they have submitted the app to Apple, so you'll be able to find it in the Mac App Store soon.

Scapple for OS X is the note jotter tool many writers are looking for originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple is celebrating "A Decade of iTunes" with a cool interactive timeline in the iTunes store. The timeline pulls out milestones for iTunes each year. For example, on September 7th, 2005 it says "iPod nano replaces iPod mini and goes on to become the bestselling music player ever."

Each year also displays the the Top Ten bestselling singles and albums. The entire timeline is actually really cool -- especially if you're an Apple history buff. There's no way to grab a direct link to it, but to see it just open up iTunes, go into the iTunes store and look for the "A Decade of iTunes" white carousel banner at the top.

Apple celebrates 'A Decade of iTunes' with interactive timeline originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple has pushed out a new update to its Apple Store app for iOS. Version 2.6 will notify you when an item you've ordered has been shipped and delivered. But perhaps the coolest push notification is the one that tells you when your iPhone is eligible for upgrade pricing. The iPhone upgrade eligibility is only available to US users.

Here's the details from the listing:

- Choose to receive notifications that let you know exactly when you're eligible for upgrade pricing on a new iPhone. And since all you need to complete the order is your Apple ID and password, buying your new iPhone is fast and easy (US only).

- Stay on top of your delivery with notifications. We'll let you know when your order ships, keep you informed of any updates and notify you when it's delivered.

The Apple Store app is a free download.

Apple Store app updated with iPhone upgrade notifications originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Those of you looking to get your hands on a qualified refurbished iPad might want to check out the Apple store online. Apple has dropped prices on second- and third-generation models. The discounts apply to only the WiFi+3G and WiFi+Cellular models and not the WiFi-only models.

Interested customers can now pick up a second-generation iPad WiFi+3G 16 GB for only US$349 -- that's $180 (34 percent) off the regular $529 price. The 32 GB unit costs $429 (a $200 savings), and the 64 GB is $529 ($200 off).

As for the third-generation iPad WiFi+Cellular, the 16 GB is only $409 -- that's $170 (29 percent) off the regular $579 price. The 32 GB unit costs $499 (a $180 savings), and the 64 GB is $579 ($200 off).

Prices on refurbed models are, as always, only good while supplies last.

Apple drops prices on refurbished second-, third-gen iPads originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.