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TidBITS#1186/12-Aug-2013

Whether you’re a current student or a lifetime learner, you can save 50 percent on all Take Control ebooks this week! Apple is offering a discount as well — on USB power adapters when customers turn in knock-off adapters that may have been responsible for two high-profile electrical shocks. Meanwhile, Apple is facing harsh proposed “remedies” from the U.S. Department of Justice for its involvement in ebook price fixing, and Adam Engst explains why the government is overreaching. The Apple Newton debuted over 20 years ago to much fanfare, but was it as big of a flop as it seems? Michael Cohen fires up his MessagePad 2000 and digs through our archives for a trip down memory lane. For those following along with Jeff Carlson’s “Take Control of Your Digital Photos,” this week’s chapter looks at backing up and archiving of your images, which can be the most important data on your hard disk. Rounding out the issue with FunBITS, Chris Armstrong takes a look at the revolutionary Audiobus app and how it can turn your iPad into a musical powerhouse. Notable software releases this week include Skype 6.7 and Downcast 1.0.1.

Adam Engst 2 comments

Save 50% in Take Control’s Back to School Sale

Through 15 August 2013, you can save 50 percent on the entire Take Control catalog of ebooks. It’s a great opportunity to pick up titles that you’ve been wanting to read or that might be useful to have on your virtual shelf for reference. As always, all ebooks are DRM-free and available in PDF, EPUB, and Mobipocket (Kindle) formats.

Adam Engst No comments

Chapter 8 of “Take Control of Your Digital Photos” Available

As we get closer to the end of our streamed ebook, “Take Control of Your Digital Photos,” Jeff Carlson turns his attention to ensuring that all your work applying keywords and other metadata doesn’t go down the drain with a crashed hard disk. In this chapter, Jeff provides recommendations for backing up and archiving your photos at a variety of levels, since they’re are likely among the most important data you have.

TidBITS Staff No comments

ExtraBITS for 12 August 2013

This week, Adam made an appearance on the Tech Night Owl podcast to discuss the Apple ebook verdict. Blogger Shawn Blanc released an ebook of his own, called “Delight Is in the Details” — it’s worth a look for anyone who creates. President Obama wanted you to be delighted with NSA surveillance, and is promising to change the program to be more transparent. Ken Segall, a longtime Apple advisor, explains how Apple is changing the professional market to be more accessible. Meanwhile, leading ebook vendors are arguing against being forced to make their devices more accessible. A service long known for accessibility — Instapaper — now has a new beta Web app. Amazon has long been portrayed as the anti-Apple, but analyst Horace Dediu shows why the two have more in common than you might think. The patent troll Lodsys has dismissed a lawsuit against a developer, the mystery of why Xerox copiers were switching up numbers has been solved, and we delve into how much your favorite tech companies are spending on Washington lobbying.