Sign up for the OS X Yosemite Public Beta if you haven’t already

Sign up using your Apple ID on the Beta website. If you’re one of the first million people to sign up, you’ll receive an email with a link and an activation code some time tomorrow that will allow you to download the OS X.

Don’t install it on your primary machine if you can help it

This is a Beta program which means there will be a couple bugs – possibly a lot of them. Things won’t always work so you’ll want to back up your data before you download the new operating system (actually, you should do that every time there’s an update, even if it’s not a Beta). Google Drive, Drop Box, iCloud or an external hard drive are good places to do that. Additionally, if you have a work laptop and a home laptop, download it on your home laptop. It would be pretty terrible if one of the bugs popped up when you were in the middle of a huge work presentation and lose hours of work.

Use, enjoy, and provide feedback

Apple has a place on the OS – a feedback assistant – for you to easily submit feedback to Apple, who may or may not read it. As a public Beta user, you’ll get OS updates several times before the final version is released to the public this fall. And – bonus! – you won’t have to redownload the final version. Downloading the app won’t do anything to your warranty, and if you decide you don’t like it or there are too many bugs, you can always switch back to Mavericks. We have to believe Apple will provide detailed instructions to do so.

The Public Beta program is free to all users with an Apple ID, so hop on over to the Apple OS X Yosemite Beta program page and sign up. Hurry, it’s capped at one million.

Photo via Apple

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What’s new in today’s new Macbook Air?

The 11-inch Macbook Air now starts at $899, a $100 decrease from yesterday’s price, and the 13-inch starts at $999. Despite the $100 decrease in price for the new Macbooks, Apple has increased the speed inside the machine by adding a 1.4GHz Core i5 processor chip. This chip replaces the 1.3Ghz chip found in yesterday’s computer. The new models also received a small increase in battery for iTunes playback. There were no other changes to the body or other configurations, but that isn’t a big surprise considering improvements made to last year’s model less than a year ago.

What wasn’t added in today’s release?

This refreshed Macbook air still only comes with 4GB of RAM and starts with 128GB – and up to 512GB for the 13-inch – of memory. The model you could find in stores yesterday was just released in June of last year, and it was a big hit so it isn’t suprising that Apple only made minor modifications to the machine’s performance this year. Last year, Apple added an better battery and smarter operating system to provide an overall improved battery life in the Macbook Air laptops. Apple also increased performance with a new wireless type and faster flash memory. Both of these configurations were carried through to the new model released this morning.

The body form and overall design has still not changed, but the performance update and price decrease should appeal to buyers in the market for an Ultrabook or just looking to downsize. It is still the best portable laptop on the market. If you’re in the market for a new Macbook, you can get some good money for your older generation Macbook laptops at gazelle.com. Cash from your trade in and the decreased cost from Apple could just make the switch a no-brainer. All new Macbook Air models are available in retails stores today and on the Apple online store with expected shipping times of about 24 hours.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

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The company has released its most popular software application to the iPad – the Office Suite. Office for iPad will include PowerPoint, Excel, and Word and will join the ranks of the already existing Microsoft iOS apps, OneNote, Lync, OneDrive, and Outlook Web Exchange. Office will be available with a Freemium pricing model. It’s free to download, read, and present. You need to have a subscription to Office 365 to get Office on any device and to edit or modify any documents.

Office for iPad is all new and created just for the tablet. It’s “unmistakingly” Office but customized for use on the iPad and its touchscreen. Microsoft is making it clear they’ve spent some time making it more intuitive for iPad users without sacrificing too many features or styling of the Excel that everybody knows so well. You can edit and store all of the documents locally on your iPad, but the apps are clearly designed for cloud storage using Microsoft’s cloud storage solutions: OneDrive (personal and business) and SharePoint.

We’ll test the new app, but here’s a taste of a couple of the iPad-only features: Microsoft Word has collaboration built in so multiple users can edit a document and send it back into the cloud. Excel had a custom numeric keyboard that pops up in place of the normal iPad QWERTY keyboard. There are also several additional menus to make creating a spreadsheet on a touch screen easier. In Powerpoint, if you hold down you’ll get what looks like a laser-pointer.

Office for iPad is certainly a very highly anticipated and welcome arrival for users looking for a solid productivity app or those who are long-time Office users. We’ll see how it fares in the market.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

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Yahoo Weather

The Yahoo Weather App is actually one of the best apps released last year overall. Apple fans went crazy over this app – and made this weather app more popular than the native Apple weather app. The design is stunning, mixing local photography depicting the current weather with a beautifully simplistic display of information. All of the basic information is available when you open the app, and it’s intuitive to use and you find more by just scrolling down. By scrolling down you can get all the weather information the basic user would need – visual or text forecasts for today, 5 or 10 days, a “feels like” temperature, humidity, UV index, and a radar map. You can even see wind speed and pressure via cute little animated windmills to get an example of just how windy it is outside your doors. There’s also a sun and moon graph depicting sunrise and sunset times. You can bookmark additional cities and watch the weather around the world. You can even select your preferred units for measuring the weather or enable weather alerts for severe weather.

The downside: ads for all of the other Yahoo! Products are everywhere. It will prompt you to change Safari’s search engine to Yahoo! – but only once, thankfully. You’ll also see ads as you scroll above the settings and feedback buttons. Yahoo! is pushing News Digest, Mail, Yahoo! News, Flickr, Sports, Fantasy, Finance and Screen. We know Yahoo! has had a tough time for a long time before Marissa Mayer joined, but sometimes it feels like overkill.

Dark Sky

If you’re looking for a full-featured weather app, Dark Sky isn’t it. If you like eerily accurate to-the-minute and hyperlocal weather predictions, and a basic digest of weather information dummed down so literally anyone can understand what’s going on, Dark Sky is the best app out there. It’s hailed as one of the apps that started the minimalist information movement with other app developers. It will make easy-to-understand statements about the weather like “snow will start at 3:47 this afternoon for 3 hours and 2 inches will accumulate.” Dark Sky introduced a new app recently and with just a couple of flicks you can access some deeper weather information.

The downside: it’s super boring looking. For a downside, it’s not that bad, but it can get tiring to look at the same black and white monochrome app multiple times a day. That said, the information is displayed beautifully and it’s easy to digest.

The Weather Channel

If you LOVE information and teeter on the edge of being a full-blown weather geek, The Weather Channel app is a great option. You can customize the information that’s displayed or alerted or skin it with themes. You can get your forecasts, layered radar maps, clouds, UV indices, rainfall, snow accumulation, pollen, beauty and cold and flu forecasts. The Weather Channel app delivers an incredible amount of information.

The Downside: ads are everywhere and there’s almost too much data, if possible. The wealth of information might be why the app reportedly crashes on a regular basis, another downside.

NOAA Weather Radar

The NOAA is a federal agency put in charge of predicting weather across the U.S. This organization has ALL the resources at their disposal to predict and track weather, air, storms and anything else weather-related. The app lets you track storms for all of our storm chasers, view radar or other satellite maps. If you know how to read all of these, you can get some really precise weather information. The application allows you to customize and add locations, see forecasts by the hour and get a very accurate “feels like” temperature.

The downside: this app is super accurate, but requires a little technical acumen to derive insights from the maps.

What someone needs out of a weather app entirely depends on that person’s priorities, but we’re all better off knowing the weather. What’s your favorite weather app?

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

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Updated camera hardware and software

The same 4MP “UltraPixel” camera has been renamed Duo Camera since it comes with a new camera(ish) device above it. This second “camera” is actually only a sensor meant to capture additional image information that allows you to later tweak your photographs. Some of the cool things you can do with this new feature include adding snow or leaves, selectively blurring or focusing on parts of your photograph, and applying a “faux-3D” mode. It’s similar to the Google Auto Awesome feature. HTC has apparently “re-tuned” the Ultrapixel camera to work closely with the Image Signal Processor in the Qualcomm chip resulting, in theory, in better quality pictures with less of a “washed out” look in bright conditions.

For video, there’s also a new “Zoe” mode for taking short video clips, although none of the interesting new camera features mentioned above can be applied. Zoe is also being released as a standalone download from the Google Play store later this year so select other devices can use it to. It feels a little bit like Instagram video with friends, where you can piece together clips from friends to create a longer clip from say, a night out.

Improved battery life

One of the biggest complaints with the first HTC One was the battery life. HTC responded with a slightly larger batter on this newest model, although it’s still smaller than the batteries found on some of HTC’s competitor’s phones like the Samsung Galaxy S5 or Sony Xperia Z2. There’s now a bigger 2600mAh battery and a “quick charge” feature, which apparently charges your phone to at least 80% within the first hour of charging. We’ll have to test the new HTC One to see if its battery life is truly improved and/or comparable to some of the other flagship phones on the market.

Gesture controls

HTC has announced some new gesture controls that allow you to activate certain aspects of the phone without waking the handset – something that, if applied correctly, might also help the HTC One battery issues. The camera can be quickly launched with the volume keys, and can be accessed without unlocking your device. You can now also double-tap the screen to show the time, swipe left-to-right to launch BlinkFeed, right swipe to open widgets, or swipe up to go to your last action. Obviously you’ll have to enter your password lock or code to actually access these features.

Better sound quality

HTC has dropped the Beats branding and accompanying additional sound changes. HTC has tried to improve the sound quality from the dual BoomSound speakers and claims there is a 25 percent louder output.

Software

THe HTC One M8 comes with Android KitKat 4.4 pre-installed. It also comes with a new version of HTC’s Sense that includes much more personalization abilities and updated to BlinkFeed UI.

BlinkFeed UI scrolls much better than its predecessors, and is now a scrolling list. The team at HTC says they have been working hard to make the feed look and feed more “cool and crisp” and has added some new content providers and ways to add content to your feed. If you don’t like it, you can always remove BlinkFeed.

For personalization, HTC moved to floating buttons on the screen instead of a couple on either side of the logo, which allowed for apps to be more standardized across all devices. Thanks to a whole lot of new sensors in the device and a pre-installed Fitbit app, the HTC One can also track your steps. I’m not surprised at this, especially given all the rumors surrounding Apple’s healthbook.

Hardware Specs:

• Full HD 5-inc IPS display (1920×1080 px)
• Quad-core 2.3Ghz Snapdragon 801 Qualcomm processor
• 2GB RAM
• MicroSD slot for up to 128GB
• 16GB or 32GB onboard storage
• 50GB of free Google Drive storage included
• Nano-SIM slot
• Pre-loaded with Android KitKat 4.4.

Accessorizing your HTC One

You can also accessorize your new HTC with cases that, to me, are a little reminiscent of “Light Brite” games we had as a kid. Regardless, the new cases, with their unique design, look pretty handy as you can see time and other select features without opening the front protective cover.

Earlier this year, we took a look at What The HTC M8 Needs to Succeed. Does what was released match up?

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The post HTC Officially Launches HTC One M8 and It’s Pretty Awesome Katie Cowie appeared first on Gazelle The Horn.

Why would Apple release a new phone?

First off, the iPhone 5C was a bit of a flop when it launched this past fall. The iPhone 5C was supposed to be a lower cost device, but as we’ve reported before, the iPhone 5C ended up being a rather expensive low-cost iPhone. Android devices already on the market, like the Galaxy S4 Mini, Nexus 4 and HTC One Mini all gave consumers similar features – for less money. At the end of 2013, market rumors indicated that shipments of the iPhone 5C had drastically decreased. Even a refurbished iPhone 5 was a better deal than an iPhone 5C, unless you wanted a new, colorful plastic phone. Analysts did not like the $549 price tag – it was way too expensive to penetrate emerging markets and first-time smartphone buyers.

Second, an 8GB iPhone 5C model would not vary too far in terms of production processes. Apple could manufacture the lower capacity phone without altering its manufacturing process – so basically it would cost them little money to do so and allow them to release a new, lower capacity phone for less money, hopefully capturing some of the first-time smartphone buyers in emerging markets.

Is 8GB enough?

8GB seems rather small so it may be challenging for iPhone users to have enough space for all of their apps, songs, videos, and other media. However, they already seem to sell 8GB iPhone 4S for $0, with a new contract, and those seem to be selling just fine as a mid-market phone. Plus, Apple is increasingly offering many cloud and streaming services – like Cloud storage, iTunes radio and others.

Where might it be available and what does it mean for the iPhone 4S?

Right now, these rumors are coming out of Germany so we think it will be released in Europe and Asia and possibly in the U.S. at a later date. Although Apple could surprise us and release it across all markets tomorrow. If Apple IS releasing this phone tomorrow, it will be interesting to see what they do with the 8GB iPhone 4S that is currently sold for $0, with a new 2-year contract. Will they kill this phone if they release the 8GB iPhone 5C? Probably.

Is this just a desperate ploy by Apple to sell more iPhone 5C phones?

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Apple News and Rumors:

iPad Mini With Retina Display Hits Apple Stores

The iPad Mini now comes with a retina display and also features the same processing power found in the current iPhone 5S and iPad Air. This means consumers will get the ultra fast A7 processor with the M7 coprocessor and up to 128GB of storage. The new iPad mini is said to be in short supply, so if you want one for yourself or are buying one as a holiday gift, you should buy now. Supply analysts predict the device should reach full stock in early 2014, a little late for the holiday shopping season.

2014 iphone 6 Will Featre A Curved Display

The next iPhone may feature a curved display with enhanced touch sensors. According to Bloomberg, an unnamed person “familiar with the plans” suggests a launch in the third quarter of 2014. The phone will come in two versions, not unlike the recent launch of the 5S and 5C. According to the source, the new iPhone will feature a 4.7-inch and/or a 5.5-inch display which curves downwards at the edges. The new iPhone may also include enhanced touch sensors that could be pressure sensitive – something I would expect to be welcomed by creative iPhone users.

Android Tech News:

Android Pushes Past 80% Market Share

The latest report from the IDC group (market research firm) shows Android reached a new milestone during the third quarter of 2013. With a total base of 211.6 million smartphone units shipped during the quarter, Android accounted for 81.0% of all smartphone shipments, marking the first time that Android topped 80% in its short history. Samsung accounted for 39.9% of all Android shipments for the quarter, while the rest of the vendors either saw single-digit market share or, in the case of the majority of vendors, market share of less than 1%.

Meet the $179 Moto G From Motorola

Low cost smartphones seem to be getting all the press these days as the sub $200 smartphone market heats up. The follow up to the not-so-successful Moto X from Motorola has landed with a new fantastic price tag. The all new the new Moto G will cost only $179, with no 2-year contract, and is expected to be available here in the US as early as January 2014. The new Moto “G” will feature a 4.5-inch display with a 720p resolution, a Snapdragon 400 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, 8GB of storage, and a 5-megapixel camera. The device will come with Android 4.4 KitKat when it arrives early next year. All this tech for only $170 makes the Moto G one of the best budget smartphones around.

Industry News:

New FCC Chairman Pushes For Unlocked Devices

The recently elected new chairman of the FCC, Tom Wheeler, has begun to put pressure on carriers when it comes to unlocking. This week, he wrote a letter to the CTIA (The Wireless Association) urging the group to amend its Consumer Code to change consumers’ right to unlock their mobile devices. The FCC had been working on finalizing unlocking rights for the past eight months, well before Wheeler was named chairman earlier this month. Wheeler proposed that he does want a policy in place “before the December holiday season.” If the FCC and CTIA come to a complete agreement, customers may have an easier time switching carriers while keeping the same phone (technology/bands permitted of course).

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The post Last Week’s Big Tech News: FCC Urges Unlocking, iPad Mini Retina, Moto G Lands, Curved iPhones? Katie Cowie appeared first on Gazelle The Horn.

In honor of the inevitable smile you’re going to have to fake, we polled some of the Gazelle staff to see what the worst give they’ve ever received was. Here’s some of the best responses we got:

• Pink Daisy Dinnerware (for a man)

• A fire alarm

• A porcelain, flapper-dressed doll, with the comment: “Technically this doll is of a prostitute, but she’s wearing all black and is clearly a performer, so it reminded me of you.”

• A tape dispenser shaped like a man sitting on a toilet

• A rental copy of the movie “Donnie Darko.” Not an old, used copy… a rented movie that needed to be returned in two days, with a brief note that informed the recipient of this fact.

• A shelf.Not a decorative shelf. Just a plain, old shelf.

• A mildly suggestive painting (of the receiver and their brand-new spouse)

• A cobra statue carved from a coconut tree

If you don’t want your present to end up on a future list like this, why not make the right decision and give a cool, shiny tech gift?

After all, tablets, smartphones and eReaders are the “gifts du jour” this year. Plus, you can give the Gift of Gazelle, and your loved ones will earn an extra $10 to trade-in their now outdated device. C’mon! You’ve got a chance to wind up on the “best gifts ever” list… and who doesn’t want that?  

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The post Don’t be the Awkward Uncle: Give a Good Gift This Year Katie Cowie appeared first on Gazelle The Horn.

Gazelle will once again be sponsoring the first five people in line at the Apple stores in Boston and San Francisco. We’ll pamper you with Gazelle gear, breakfast the morning of, and – a new iPhone! Well, actually a $649 + state taxes gift card to Apple, but that’s better, isn’t it? Don’t take our word for it check out what some of last years first-in-liners had to say! Additional details about the contest, include:

What: First in Line contest from Gazelle

Where: Outside the Apple store. Here are the locations by city

Boston Location: 815 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

San Francisco Location: 1 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA

When: Friday, September 20 (if the new iPhone is launched on this date)

How: Beginning – well, any time – people can start to get into line. But remember, the launch date is September 20th, and there are people already in line in NYC. The first five people in line with a reservation will get a new iPhone from Gazelle. In addition to the new iPhone, Gazelle will sponsor the winners to wait in line as described above. To ensure Gazelle sponsorship, people in line must Tweet their acceptance to @gazelle, along with a photo. We’ll meet you down in line within one day (usually sooner) with your sponsorship materials.

Even if you’re not one of the first five people in line, you can still benefit from some free, Gazelle-branded swag. The Gazelle team will be handing out a number of items to those brave enough to stand in line, including t-shirts, sweatshirts, umbrellas, blankets and backpacks.

For more information on eligibility and contest rules, click here.

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Both of the new iPhones and the operating system introduced yesterday by Apple have features that may help curb some of the issues parents have with gadgets. If you’re a parent, you should consider these when you’re making your next phone purchase.

The iPhone 5C is made of plastic

Plastic is harder to crack if its dropped, stomped, rolled over or otherwise broken.

The iPhone 5S has an accelerometer

Although apps don’t exist for this yet, I can only assume some company – likely an insurance company – will come up with an app that stops the phone from being used if you’re driving. Not only is this forced technology-free time, but it may also curb a person’s inclination to text while driving.

…and a fingerprint reader

This is a parent’s dream for those gadget-thieving children and for parents who are trying to curb technology usage in their preteens. Passcodes can be guessed. Heck, the NSA probably has them all too. Fingerprints cannot be easily replicated.

iOS7 integrates into your car

For parents with teenage drivers, this can be huge. Soon, you’ll be able to go completely hands-free in your car, and it will be integrated with systems that are already built in. Kids and parents alike can control music, read and respond to texts, and answer calls all with voice commands.

…has voice-only FaceTime

For parents who work late nights, families that are spread across the country, kids who go on sleepovers, or students who are studying abroad, this new FaceTime feature can allow you to talk to your kids without the awkwardness of the video component – for free.

…and Activation Lock

There’s nothing worse for a parent than a call from their teenager or college-aged child saying their phone was stolen at the gym or they lost it on the public transit system. The new Activation Lock is a great way to make sure your phone won’t be used by someone who gets their hands on it, decreasing the cost of all those minutes they may use, and increasing the likelihood that you’ll get it back.

We’re constantly hearing “my kid stole my iThing” in the office, and in our broken iPhone contest earlier this year, we heard a lot of stories about how children have unintentionally broken a phone. Parents who keep older generations of phones for their children when they get new ones often find their newest generation device being fought over between siblings, leaving them with nothing. Plus, your old technology still has some value and can be turned into cash – cash you can use to buy your new iPhone, a day at the spa, or groceries for the week; you’ll rest easy knowing its found a new home that isn’t the sticky hands of your child.

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