Sorry devs, Apple's WWDC lottery is now closed

Sorry devs, Apple's WWDC lottery is now closed
For those who didn't already register for Apple's annual developers confab, you're now out of luck. Ticket selection this year will be determined by lottery, and the deadline to enter your name was 10 a.m. PT on Monday. Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, which takes place in San Francisco's Moscone Center West from June 2 to 6, usually sells out within minutes. So this year, in an effort to open up the process, the company has opted for a lottery system. Chosen developers will be notified by 5 p.m. on Monday. Tickets cost $1,599.Related storiesiOS 8 will have health focus, work with iWatch, sources sayApple reportedly eyes iTunes Radio as separate app in iOS 8Part of the allure of a gathering like this is exclusivity, but given the high demand of the conference, it's a wonder Apple hasn't moved it to another venue, like it has sometimes in the past when there have been scheduling conflicts at Moscone West. Apple didn't immediately respond to questions about venue considerations.As always around Apple events, the rumor mill is churning in the months leading up to the conference. Some speculate that the company could introduce iOS 8, which is expected to have a health-tracking bent. There's also the question of iTunes Radio being made into a standalone app in the new mobile OS. As it stands now, the service is bundled with the main iTunes app.

Soonr launches killer document sync for iPhone

Soonr launches killer document sync for iPhone
Soonr, a Webware 100 winner in 2007, has a fresh new look and a killer iPhone application.Soonr's free service and accompanying App Store download allows users to store up to 500MB of files, which they can access on the go, from the iPhone or a standard Web browser.New users create their account on their iPhone and then download a desktop application (available for PC or Mac) which handles the synchronization of files.In the same form of other desktop-syncing applications, the user only has to choose the directories that they want to keep updated, and any changes made will be automatically uploaded.All of these files are easily accessible from the iPhone app.Not only does Soonr allow you to have very quick access to your documents from the iPhone, but it also allows you to share the documents with other users.These users can view and comment on the file.Unfortunately, Soonr does not currently enable users to edit these documents.But its application does include a wireless-printing feature, enabling users to send documents to networked printers when on Wi-Fi.My only real gripe with the iPhone app is the lack of full-screen support within the document viewer.The iPhone's document viewer does a better job of actually displaying documents than Soonr's.Soonr is a great solution for iPhone users looking to have constantly synchronized documents on the go.Soonr is very easy to use, fully featured and, best of all, free.Via MG Siegler at VentureBeat.iTunes Link

Sony's multimedia powerhouse- The 16-inch Vaio F Series

Sony's multimedia powerhouse: The 16-inch Vaio F Series
Fighting the urge to go bigger with 17- and 18-inch laptops, Sony's latest Blu-ray multimedia machine is a 16-inch system, called the Vaio F. It features a 16.4-inch 1080p display, and is one of the only laptops to offer an optional Blu-ray recordable drive, as opposed to the usual play-only drives. Graphics come from Nvidia's GeForce GT300M chip, and the CPU on the three preconfigured builds we saw was the very high-end Intel Core i7 720QM. Sony always trumpets its custom media creation and playback software as an alternative to similar apps such as Windows Media Player or iTunes. The latest version of Sony's Media Gallery software offers features such as taking imported photos, video, and music and automatically stitching them together into a movie. Also new is an "assist" button on the system tray, automatically connecting to the system's built-in Vaio Care troubleshooting software. Perhaps the most interesting development is the inclusion of Sony's new Transfer Jet technology. This promising component allows you to transfer photos from a digital camera wirelessly, just by placing the camera on a specified spot on the wrist rest. It's a great idea in theory, but at this point is restricted to only Transfer Jet enabled cameras that use Sony's Memory Stick (the company's proprietary flash memory card format).The F Series will start at around $1,000 and is available for preorder now.

Sony Walkman A series images, specs leaked

Sony Walkman A series images, specs leaked
A major U.K. retailer has exposed pictures and previously unannounced details of Sony's next-generation Walkman.Play.com set up a placeholder for the upcoming NWZ-A860 series, revealing a device that appears to differ greatly in design than its predecessors. This Walkman looks wider and curvier, and the circular button arrangement of yesteryear is replaced by a single half-moon-shaped Home button. Related link• Sony prepping for Walkman refresh A large bezel surrounds the 3.4-inch OLED touch screen, as confirmed by a CNET source familiar with the device who asked not to be named.Click to enlarge.Play.comTechnical specifications on Play.com note that the device has "wireless file sharing" and "wireless music streaming;" both features have never before been seen in a Sony Walkman. Since we've already confirmed that the NWZ-A860 series will not have Wi-Fi (according to the FCC) and only Bluetooth, this means both wireless features will most likely require a partner device, such as a cell phone, to stream and transfer music.Other Walkman specs outed by Play include an FM radio, karaoke mode, Lyric display, iTunes sync, and an aluminum build. A source has also confirmed that the right side of the device include navigation buttons, hold and volume control.Play.com puts the release date of the NWZ-A860 series series at July 31. CNET previously confirmed pricing and some specs of the high-end PMP, which includes the NWZ-A864 (8GB), NWZ-A865 (16GB), NWZ-A866 (32GB), and NWZ-A867 (64GB).Thanks to Przemek Lis of The Walkman Blog for contributing to this report.

Sony- Good riddance, SonicStage

Sony: Good riddance, SonicStage
The NWD-B100 is possibly the most respectable Sony Walkman product to see the light of day in 2007. Yeah, the NW-A808 is a superb piece of audio gadgetry, and the E series earned kudos points for including a system very similar to iTunes' Cover Flow on a tiny colour display. But the B100 not only kisses a hate-filled sayonara to SonicStage, it also rebukes Sony's ATRAC audio format to the extent of vanquishing support for it altogether.While this may not be good news for devout Sony fans who naively claim SonicStage is the hound's knackers and that ATRAC is, for the most part, a lovely bit of codecular genius, your learned portable media guru knows somewhat better. The B100 plays just WMA and MP3 (no AAC, though), sports a fairly poor 12 hours of battery life, an FM radio, voice recorder, built-in equaliser and, as we mentioned, is managed through Windows using drag and drop.The NWD-B100 comes in 1GB and 2GB, costing 45 and 55 pounds respectively (about $93 and $113), and will be out in August for UK buyers. Go on Sony, release the NW-A808 with drag and drop--we'd bearhug you right here and now.(Source: Crave UK)

Rumor Has It, Ep. 7- You can't fight the quad core (podcast)

Rumor Has It, Ep. 7: You can't fight the quad core (podcast)
The rumors on today's show are of the spiciest variety: sightings of the first quad-core phone (which some people really don't want); two new iPads in 2012; all-new Apple products next year (huzzah); and Siri may ruin my life by coming to old iOS devices. Watch the show and let us know where you fall on the quad-core debate. Is the world not ready for it yet? Do smartphones not need it? Is it progress for the sake of progress? Comment, call, or e-mail us your thoughts!P.S. Siri, can we be real for a second? You are superannoying. And rude. My commute is already full of people yelling at you on the bus; my Facebook feed is covered in screenshots of your witticisms. If Apple lets you take possession of older iPhones you will literally be everywhere I go. You know what that's called, Siri? Stalking. So stop it.Heard a tech rumor you think we should cover?E-mail us at Rumorhasit [at] cnet.com, or directly at karyne.levy [at] cnet.com or emily.dreyfuss [at] cnet.com. And call and leave us a voice mail at 1-800-750-CNET!EPISODE 5Subscribe: RSS (MP3) | RSS (320x180) | RSS (640x360) | iTunes (MP3) | iTunes (320x180) | iTunes (640x360)Listen nowYour browser does not support the audio element. Show notes:Apple to overhaul most products in 2012Apple is planning to use a dual-LED backlight tech on the new iPadsAmazon prepping 8.9-inch Kindle Fire successorLeaked HTC Edge could be world's first quad-core phoneSiri for iPhone 4 and iPad 2 being tested by Apple

Phones alleviate boredom, research shows (podcast)

Phones alleviate boredom, research shows (podcast)
One of the many findings of a recent Pew Research Center study called "Americans and their cell phones" is that "42 percent of cell phone owners used their phone for entertainment when they were bored." Aaron Smith, senior research specialist at Pew Research CenterPew Research CenterThe study also found that 40 percent or respondents have used their phone to deal with an emergency and that "13 percent of cell owners pretended to be using their phone in order to avoid interacting with the people around them." For more, see Eric Mack's post "Ever faked a cell phone call? You're not alone." The study also showed some differences based on age. More than two-thirds (64 percent) of 18- to 29-year-old respondents used their phone to access the Internet, compared to 54 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds and 26 percent of 50- to 64-year-olds. A whopping 95 percent of adults under 30 who participated in the study said they send or receive text messages, compared to 85 percent of the 30- to 49-year-olds, and 58 percent of people between 50 and 64. To find out more about the study, I spoke with its author, Aaron Smith, who is a senior research specialist at Pew Research Center. Listen nowYour browser does not support the audio element.Subscribe now:iTunes (audio) |RSS (audio)

iTunes 10.1 available now, but iOS 4.2 remains MIA

iTunes 10.1 available now, but iOS 4.2 remains MIA
Earlier this week, rumor had it that iTunes 10.1 would drop on Wednesday, followed by iOS 4.2 today. As Lance Whitney reported this morning, iOS 4.2 appears to have been delayed by a Wi-Fi bug--but what happened to iTunes 10.1?It's here. I just downloaded it. You can get it yourself by heading to Apple's iTunes download page, or just clicking Help > Check for Updates in your current version of iTunes.As expected, version 10.1 adds support for syncing with iOS 4.2-equipped devices--though iOS 4.2 itself remains MIA. Also included in the update: AirPlay, the much-anticipated feature for streaming media from iTunes to the Apple TV and other devices.Missing, for reasons unknown, is AirPrint, an equally anticipated feature for printing wirelessly from your iPhone, iPod, or iPad to printers on your Wi-Fi network. This has led to rumors of Apple scrapping the feature, but according to a MacRumors post, no less than Steve Jobs said that's not the case.Even so, now that iTunes 10.1 has landed, iOS 4.2 is almost certainly close behind--unless the aforementioned Wi-Fi bug has indeed forced Apple into a holding pattern. We'll have to wait and see, but my money's now on Tuesday for the 4.2 release.Your thoughts?

How to add colors back to iTunes 10 sidebar

How to add colors back to iTunes 10 sidebar
Locate the "iTunes.rsrc" file in the /Contents/Resources/ folder, and back it up by copying it to the Desktop or another safe location. Then copy the modified iTunes.rsrc file into the /Contents/Resources/ folder, replacing the one that you just moved.After this is done, launch iTunes and you should be good to go. You may want to run a permissions repair on your hard drive after doing this, but as long as the file is readable by your account and the system it should work.Keep in mind that when doing this you are tampering with iTunes' internal components, and there is no guarantee that it will work properly or work without any odd side-effects. Nevertheless, the edits being done are only for visual elements and not for any binary files, so it is highly unlikely this will result in problems. In my testing, the program runs just fine, and I have some color back in the sidebar.If you decide you want to undo this change, either copy the backed-up rsrc file into the iTunes package or remove the iTunes application and reinstall it from the iTunes Web site.Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or e-mail us!Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.

Hit iOS game Threes! arrives for Android

There were some absolutely brilliant mobile games released last month, not least of which was Threes! by Asher Vollmer and Greg Wohlwend. The premise of Threes is simple: pair matching numbers, beginning with threes. Your base units are twos and ones, which you push together to create a three; from there, you have to place matching numbers next to each other, then push them together to create a single, doubled number. The idea, of course, is to get the number higher and higher, until you hit the highest number achievable in the game -- 6144 -- on a four-by-four grid of cards.It's beautifully designed, with a slick interface and game play that's ridiculously easy to pick up, and it managed to capture that elusive sense of satisfaction anticipated: if you have just one more go, maybe, just maybe, you'll be able to beat your high score?Alas, its iOS exclusivity gave rise to an Android clone called Fives, as well as a Web clone (and probably more than one iOS clone, too; the lack of originality makes one quite despair, really).Today, though, Android users can delete Fives because the iOS exclusivity of Threes has come to an end. It's available now from Google Play for $1.99. If you haven't picked up the iOS version, you can grab it from the iTunes app store for $1.99.Stay tuned to CNET for a review of Threes for Android.

Hipstamatic D-Series camera app getting social

The Hipstamatic D-Series camera app announced today offers a new way to tie photos and social networking together.Synthetic, developer of the popular retro-image iPhone app Hipstamatic, have enjoyed plenty of success in the iTunes App Store since the app was released two years ago. Now, the company aims to make the retro-image-taking experience more social with its new D-Series camera app, available December 15.The Hipstamatic D-Series app lets you connect with a group of friends via Facebook and snap pictures that all go to a common "film roll." Made for parties, concerts, and any other event, Hipstamatic D-Series makes it possible for any number of people to snap photos on the same roll. Once invited, your friends can use their individual phones to take pictures and all the images get saved and automatically synced at the end of a roll. When a roll is finished (24 pictures), everyone invited to a "camera" can view the photos you took and share them via Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail.Hipstamatic D-Series will be a free app that comes with one camera (with its own preset effects). But through in-app purchase, you can buy three other cameras with different effects for 99 cents each. Each of the different cameras advertises various effects, and one of them, the MegaZuck 84 camera, is free when you register through Facebook.Hipstamatic D-Series will become available this Thursday, December 15, for free in the iTunes App Store.

Hidden 'radio' buttons discovered in Apple's iOS 6.1

There's a hint that Apple has something new in the pipeline, and the company appears to have tucked it away inside the latest version of its iOS software.Discovered last night within a freshly jailbroken iPad: a set of buttons and code references for "radio," a feature found in iTunes on Macs and PCs, but not on the iPad or iPhone. Making things more interesting is another button suggesting you can make purchases via the radio feature, presumably from iTunes. The buttons, which were spotted by 9to5Mac, hint at Apple's much-rumored radio service, a product that will let people stream music much like they do on the popular Pandora service, but with deep ties to Apple's iTunes library. Rumors that Apple has been working on such a service have floated for years, but heated up last year as talks with labels advanced. The discovery follows a high-profile jailbreak of iOS 6.1, the updated system software Apple releasedjust last week. A team of developers came up with a tool that gives users deep system-level access to do things like install applications from third-party app stores, change the look and feel of iOS, and add new software features.