Microsoft sweetens iPhone trade-in deal to push Windows

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BlackBerry messenger for Android and iPhone will not roll out this week

BlackBerry's messenger app for Android and iPhone will not roll out this week as the company struggles to block an unreleased version of the Android app that affected its system.

The smartphone maker said Saturday it had paused the global rollout of Android and iPhone versions of its BBM app after the unreleased version of BBM for Android was leaked on numerous file-sharing sites.

"This older version resulted in volumes of data traffic orders of magnitude higher than normal for each active user and impacted the system in abnormal ways," wrote Andrew Bocking, head of BBM at BlackBerry, in a blog post on Monday. The version the company was planning to release on Saturday addressed the issues, but BlackBerry could not block users of the unreleased version if it went ahead with the launch, Bocking wrote.

As active users of the unreleased app neared 1 million, and were increasing, BlackBerry decided that the only way to address the issue was to pause the rollout for both Android and iPhone versions of the app. Besides modifying the system to completely block the unreleased version of the Android app when it goes live with the official BBM for Android app, the company also wants to reinforce its system to handle similar scenarios in future, Bocking wrote.

"This will take some time and I do not anticipate launching this week," he added.

BlackBerry said Saturday that customers who had already downloaded BBM for iPhone will be able to continue to use the service, while the unreleased Android app would be disabled. The company said earlier this month that BBM, once exclusively available to users of BlackBerry phones, would start rolling out to iPhone and Android phone users worldwide from Saturday.

A consortium led by Canada's Fairfax Financial Holdings offered Monday to acquire BlackBerry in a deal that values the company at US$4.7 billion. The proposal is backed by BlackBerry's board of directors.

The crisis in the rollout of the BBM for iPhone and Android is just one of many problems affecting the company which last week said it would take almost $1 billion in charges mainly on unsold BlackBerry Z10 handsets, and lay off around 4,500 staff and reduce the number of phone models it sells from six to four.

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service.
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iPhone 5s fingerprint scanner could be mobile security game changer

On Friday the iPhone 5s will be out on the street, and with it, Apple’s fingerprint scanning technology. There are still some concerns about how Apple is implementing and managing fingerprint authentication, but as long as the iPhone 5s doesn’t fumble completely, the new smartphone could finally spur mainstream adoption of the technology.

As Apple revealed a couple of weeks ago, the home button on the new iPhone 5s is also a fingerprint scanner. Rather than using a passcode, you can now unlock the device just by holding your finger on the home button.

The iPhone 5s includes a capacitive fingerprint scanner.

The iPhone 5s isn’t the first mobile device with a fingerprint scanner. The Motorola Atrix included fingerprint authentication back in 2011. Apparently, even Motorola forgot about the Atrix, though, because it had the audacity to send out a tweet slamming the idea of using a fingerprint with a mobile device.

Paul Henry, security and forensic analyst at Lumension believes that the iPhone 5s fingerprint authentication could prove to be a game changer. “There are two factors that will determine the real success of this new feature, which has undeniable potential,” he says. “First, reliability and second, security—though as a security researcher, I have to say it should really be security first.”

There are questions about how Apple is scanning and storing the fingerprint data. If someone guesses or compromises your passcode, you can just change it to a new one. But, you can’t change your fingerprints. Some worry that a thief can simply use an image or picture of your fingerprint gain access to a user’s iPhone, the same way Android’s facial recognition authentication can be fooled with a picture of the device owner. It wouldn’t be hard to get your fingerprint—your iPhone will likely be covered with dozens of samples.

Macworld contributor Rich Mogull does an excellent job explaining why that probably isn’t an issue. In a nutshell, Apple is using capacitive scanning that looks at more than just the image of your fingerprint, and it’s most likely not storing the actual fingerprint anywhere on the iPhone where it might be compromised.

Mogull hypothesizes that Apple is probably analyzing the fingerprint and using unique data from it to generate a mathematical representation or template. By this logic, when you touch the home button, your fingerprint is run through the algorithm again, and the results are compared to the template to ensure they match. These are educated guesses, though, and the actual implementation may work differently.

Apple revealed the details of the fingerprint scanner at the iPhone 5s launch event.

“What we need to know is how good a job did Apple actually do securing the biometric data,” Henry says. “They say it’s encrypted and not shared with other applications, but we’ll have to wait and see how it works in practice.”

Henry also has some concerns about just how much access someone gets if the fingerprint authentication is bypassed or compromised. “If a single fingerprint grants access to other services (particularly iCloud), that’s a frightening prospect if Apple hasn’t done a truly expert job at securing that local credential,” he says.

Dwayne Melancon, CTO for Tripwire, says, “In general, multifactor authentication is a good idea and biometrics, in particular, are good as long as they work properly. Early reports of Apple’s biometric implementation are promising, and even if there is some rate of false identification, this approach is still more secure than a four-digit PIN.”

One crucial thing for IT admins to understand is how device access works in the event that the fingerprint scanner is not an option. What if a user breaks their finger and it’s in a cast, or the home button fingerprint sensor malfunctions?

“From an enterprise perspective, I would wait until the security of this implementation of fingerprint scanning has been tested ‘in real life’ before adopting it broadly,” Melancon cautions.

Biometric security is nothing new, but it has yet to really catch on as a mainstream method of authentication. The password or passcode remains king. Apple has a huge market presence, though, and the iOS ecosystem commands a great deal of respect. If the iPhone 5s fingerprint scanner lives up to expectations, this could be the tipping point that turns it into the new default standard.

If Apple stumbles or falls on its face, though, it could set biometric security back a few years. If there are too many false negatives or false positives, or it turns out that the fingerprint data isn’t stored as securely as it should be, or there are other problems with the fingerprint scanner, it will tarnish the reputation of biometrics with average users, and it will take a long time to recover.

Tony is principal analyst with the Bradley Strategy Group, providing analysis and insight on tech trends. He is a prolific writer on a range of technology topics, has authored a number of books, and is a frequent speaker at industry events.
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How to upgrade to an iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c

Ready to upgrade your phone to either the iPhone 5c or 5s? Well, we’ve got some good news and some bad news.

The bad news? Depending on your carrier, it might be more difficult than ever this year to upgrade your relatively recent iPhone for a brand-spanking-new model. The good news? Depending on how you upgrade this year, transitioning to next year’s new iPhone might be a breeze. It just depends on what you’re willing to pay.

And the neutral-ish news? The fact that Apple has split the iPhone into two product lines will have no bearing on your ability to upgrade to a new phone—there will be no special eligibility requirements for upgrading to the more-expensive 5s. An upgrade, it turns out, is just an upgrade, even if some upgrades are more significant than others. That means you just need to worry about which phone is right for you.

So why will it be so difficult to upgrade? Because two of the iPhone’s major wireless carriers—AT&T and Verizon—both announced in recent months that smartphone customers on two-year contracts (the folks who receive “subsidized prices” on their iPhones at the outset of a contract) would have to wait the full two years of the contract to be eligible to upgrade to the next-generation phone at subsidized prices.

Previously, both companies made their customers eligible for upgrades after just 20 months; given Apple’s usual once-a-year schedule for introducing new iPhone models, that meant some would-be early adopters still had to wait a few months before replacing their phones, but folks who stick with their contracts will now be forced ever more surely into an every-other-year upgrade cycle. (Ironically, Sprint reduced its upgrade eligibility from 24 months to 20 ahead of the iPhone 5 launch.)

Just one thing: You don’t necessarily need to stick to that two-year contract anymore.

AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon also introduced new programs this year to make it easier to upgrade to the newest iPhone every year. The programs work slightly differently. For example, AT&T Next wouldn’t require you to pay any money up front for the 16GB iPhone 5s, not even the $200 subsidized cost available under two-year contract. Instead, you’d pay a $27 monthly installment (on top of your data plan and other regular fees) so that by the end of the year, you’d have paid $324 instead. That’s more money to AT&T for the price of the phone, yes, but after the 12 monthly installments, you’re eligible for the upgrade: No more waiting.

Verizon offers an even quicker route to your next upgrade with its new Verizon Edge program. You can upgrade to the next generation phone after just six months—provided that you’ve paid at least 50 percent of the full, unsubsidized cost of the iPhone you’ve just purchased. (For the $549 unsubsidized cost of the 16GB iPhone 5c, that would mean paying at least $275 before being upgrade-eligible.)

Otherwise, you pay monthly installments equal to 1/24th the phone’s unsubsidized price—$23.06 a month, in the case of the aforementioned 5c. While that’s costlier than what you’d pay with the two-year contract, it might prove attractive to users who want to buy an iPhone 5c or 5s halfway through its life cycle, but who might otherwise hesitate because they want to be eligible for the iPhone 6.

Similarly, T-Mobile has its Jump! program, which also divides the price of the phones into 24 monthly installments, with buyers also eligible to upgrade to next year’s phone after six months. And Sprint is reportedly preparing its own One Up promotion to compete with the other carriers offering such plans.

Still, some people may not want to make extra-large monthly payments, or they may feel hemmed-in by their existing contracts. (For that matter, you can still stick with two-year contracts, if that's your preference, at each major carrier except T-Mobile.)  So what should they do to obtain the latest phone?

• First, find out if you’re eligible to upgrade: Apple makes this easy on its website, taking users to a page that lets them find out if their AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon phone is eligible for upgrade. (Apple Store employees can also check on this if you decide you want to go stand in line for a phone.) Users can also check AT&T’s webpage, or dial *639# to receive a text message confirming eligibility; Sprint customers can check eligibility here or text “upgrade” to 1311; finally, Verizon customers can check their eligibility at this site. T-Mobile has only been selling iPhones since April, never with a contract, rendering the upgrade question moot here.

• Be prepared to pay a fee. AT&T and Sprint both can charge upgrade fees of $36 a device. Verizon has a $30 upgrade fee.

• What if I want to change carriers, or terminate my contract? That can be even costlier. To terminate your contract at AT&T costs a maximum $325, minus $10 for each full month of completed service. Verizon has a maximum $350 termination fee, again minus $10 per month of completed service. Sprint charges a simple early termination fee of $350.

• What if I want a new iPhone and I’m not eligible for upgrade? You can always buy the device without the carrier subsidies—the 16GB iPhone 5s that starts at $200 at the wireless companies costs $649 if purchased without wireless contract; the numbers escalate to $749 and $849, respectively, for the 32GB and 64GB versions. Similarly, the $100 iPhone 5c costs $549 in its unsubsidized 16GB version, and $649 for the 32GB model.

What does all of this mean? Mostly that upgrading has never been easier—it’s just going to cost you a little extra.

Joel Mathis is a regular contributor to Macworld and TechHive. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and young son.
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Old tricks help German hackers bypass iPhone 5s Touch ID security

Apple's Touch ID authentication system can be defeated using a well-honed technique for creating a latex copy of someone's fingerprint, according to a German hacking group.

The Chaos Computer Club (CCC), which hosts an annual hacking conference and publishes computer security research, wrote on its blog that their experiment shows that fingerprint authentication "should be avoided."

Apple introduced Touch ID with its latest high-end iPhone 5S on Sept. 10. A person's "fingerprint is one of the best passcodes in the world. It's always with you, and no two are exactly alike," according to the company's website.

A hacker who goes by the name Starbug found that while Touch ID scans at a higher resolution, it can be beaten by increasing the resolution of the victim's fingerprint.

The CCC posted a video of what it wrote is a successful attack. Faking the print involves photographing the victim's fingerprint at 2400 DPI. The image is inverted and laser printed at 1200 DPI onto a transparent sheet using a "thick toner setting," according to the CCC.

Pink latex milk or white wood glue is smeared into the pattern created the toner. After it cures, a sliver of latex is lifted from the sheet, and blowing on it gives a bit of moisture like that on a human finger. It then can be placed on the iPhone's fingerprint sensor, the CCC wrote.

The technique is not new. "This process has been used with minor refinements and variations against the vast majority of fingerprint sensors on the market," the CCC wrote. Apple officials did not have an immediate comment on the CCC's findings.

Security experts have long warned that fingerprint authentication should not be solely relied upon, but rather used in concert with other technologies. Photos of fingerprints and molds have successfully bypassed fingerprint checks.

Touch ID is intended to reduce the number of times a person must enter a passcode, but Apple still requires a passcode in some circumstances, such as restarting the phone and if the devices hasn't been unlocked in two days.

Changes to the fingerprint settings also require a passcode, which can be configured to be longer and more complex than four digits.

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Pear Training-Intelligence (for iPhone)

Pros Great coaching app for runners that uses heart rate data to adjust workouts in real time. Good for beginners. Clear, human voice used in audio coaching. Supports multiple sports. Accurate mapping. Accurate heart rate data (using heart rate monitor, sold separately).

Cons Does not include splits; no speed graph. Graph shows heart rate plotted over time only (not mile markers). Additional in-app purchased training packs can be expensive. Bottom Line Designed for use with a comfortable but expensive heart rate monitor, the Pear Fitness-Intelligence app for iPhone coaches you through runs, jogs, powerwalks, as well as training programs for races. A real human voice makes the audio part of the experience excellent. The app is free, but the add-ons add up.

By Jill Duffy Running has never been my thing, despite many attempts over the last decade to find something about it to make it more appealing. I've tried it outdoor, indoors, on a track, through the city, along tree-lined suburban streets, with music and without. I dislike running. But I jogged recently—I even ran—and I didn't hate it because of the Pear Training-Intelligence app for iPhone (free).

This fitness app coaches you through runs, jogs, and powerwalks, as well as bicycle rides, marathon training, and more, and it's that coaching that made the difference for me. A real human voice used in the audio cues left me feeling downright content (let's not go overboard) to pound some pavement. My audio coach told me when to speed up and slow down—making real-time adjustments based on my heart rate data—and gave me clear indications of how much longer I had to keep up my current pace before the next change. As an inexperienced runner, I really did find it motivating. But that doesn't mean the app and required equipment are necessarily the best you'll find.

Getting Fit With Pear
As with most fitness apps, you have to create an account in Pear Training-Intelligence and enter details about your age, sex, height, and weight so the app can estimate how many calories you burn. New users should start with an initial heart rate calibration session, a 20-minute walk-run used to determine your level of fitness and intensity levels.

The calibration was my favorite part of the experience because I felt like it started me off on the right foot. In this 20-minute walk-run, you start out by moving at a pace that's "very very easy," and the audio coach explicitly tells you what that means while you're moving. The voice then tells you to increase and decrease your intensity to different levels for a few minutes at a time, again explaining exactly how you should feel at those various levels. The app meanwhile records your heart rate and uses this data to adjust your future workouts. In my session, for example, my "lactate threshold heart rate" was 182.

There's a chart in the app that shows my heart rate zones across five levels, and the app recommends you recalibrate this data once every two months to account for any improvements you make in your physical fitness.

You can buy specialized coaching packs for Pear as in-app purchases, and these range from being free to costing about $30 for the more intense plans, like training for a marathon. I liked the selection, though, which included 5K training, an 80-minute powerwalking routine, a 20-minute run mixed in with an ab workout, and much more. For plans that mix in strength and flexibility training, the app links out to videos demonstrating the proper moves.

A "free form" workout option lets you tap into the GPS mapping and heart rate tracking aspects of the app without using the coaching at all, a feature I used on a couple of bicycle rides. I could see my total time, average speed, a graph of my heart rate plotted over time, and a map of the route. But as mentioned, the app did not include some of the more detailed graphs that I found so useful in the Cyclemeter app.

Value
While I loved the coaching aspects in the Pear app, it falls short in overall value for a few reasons. First, it's designed to be used with the Pear Training Intelligence Personal Training System ($99), which costs a pretty penny. The Training System comprises a comfortable Bluetooth-enabled heart rate monitor, earbuds for high intensity activity, and an arm band that holds an iPhone. You only really need the heart rate monitor to use the app, and the earbuds (which don't have great bass) probably drive up the cost by $15-$30. A Bluetooth-enabled heart-rate monitor on its own runs about $60-$75. For example, Runtastic sells a $69 heart rate strap that's just as good. You can use that with the Runtastic PRO app ($4.99) and actually get more detailed data while you're at it, which brings me to the second point on value.

The Pear Training-Intelligence app doesn't offer the kinds of stats that more experienced runners might want, like split times and a graph of their heart rate plotted over mile markers. It does include a map based on GPS data collected by the iPhone as well as one graph showing heart rate over time, but you can't see your heart rate at different positions on the map, or over different elevations changes, or anything else. The cycling app Map My Ride+ does included these more detailed stats, as do its sister apps Map My Run and Map My Fitness (free; optional $29.99 per year membership for extra content).

I really loved the real-time dynamic coaching based on heart rate data in the Pear Training-Intelligence app. I ran without hating it and felt like I was being pushed appropriately—i.e., not too much beyond my ability. The heart rate strap was remarkably comfortable, though it's a shame that you can't but it separately at a lower price without the earbuds and armband.

For $99, I'd rather get a more comprehensive fitness tracker, like the Withings Pulse, our Editors' Choice,  or the Fitbit One and pair it with a compatible running app. Granted, those options don't include a chest strap heart rate monitor that records your heart beat continuously, although the Pulse can measure your one-time heart rate through your fingertip.

If you're really interested in a heart rate monitor and you're a serious runner, you might go for the Runtastic PRO app and its $69 heart rate monitor, or Map My Run and pair it with a compatible chest strap in the same price range. Those apps will have a little more of what you want.

If $99 doesn't seem too steep and you're new to running (or trying to motivate yourself to start) and are enticed by the app's coaching, then Pear Training-Intelligence will probably keep you happy—at least until you become a pro runner.  The app works well, output accurate data, and is indeed pretty motivating for beginners, but it doesn't have all the features that more experienced runners need.

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Xbox Music (for iPhone)

Pros Good sound quality. Lots of tracks. Clean interface. Easy Collection and Playlist construction.

Cons No free version. You can't browse by genre or create stations. Lacks lyrics. No offline mode. Bottom Line Xbox Music brings over 30 million songs to your iPhone, but a few missing features keep it from competing with the mobile streaming music service top dogs.

By Jeffrey L. Wilson

The already plump mobile streaming music space recently got a wee bit fatter with Xbox Music on Android and iOS. Xbox Music lets Xbox Music Pass subscribers stream their favorite music (ad-free!) to the iPhone, and also Xbox home video game consoles starting at $9.99 per month (you can, however, listen to Xbox Music for free on the desktop via a Web browser). Xbox Music for iPhone has a streamlined, easy-to-navigate interface and good sound quality, but it's missing several features found in rival services.

Getting the Band Started
The first thing that you'll probably notice about Xbox Music is that it demands that you pull out a credit card before listening—something that always irks me as a music fan who just wants to leap into an app's library. Xbox Music requires an Xbox Music Pass subscription ($9.99 per month or $99.99 per year); there's no free mobile version. That said, you can test-run the service for 30 days, but that still requires removing plastic from your wallet for the trial.

Xbox Music has the most streamlined interface of all the high-profile streaming music services. After logging into the app, you're taken to the Playlist section where you can dive into previously created playlists or create new ones from scratch. I liked that it immediately took me to music that I like—it is my playlist, after all—but I prefer Slacker Radio's paneled approach that offers several points of entry designed to drive you deeper into its catalog.

My "The Dirtbombs" query returned several thumbnail images that, when clicked, let me check out the band's bio page, individual albums, and related groups such as The Gories. Oddly, some related artist listings lack thumbnail images, which gives the interface an incomplete look.

Rivals such as Spotify and Slacker specialize in recreating the radio experience by focusing on recommendations and channel building, but Xbox Music for iPhone does not (it should be noted that the Xbox Music Windows tablet app does). It's designed with playlists and collections in mind, which may require you to change how you consume audio.

Xbox Music doesn't list genres/categories/channels so you must actively search for content until you build Collection and Playlists, which I found mildly annoying. Once again, the Xbox Music Windows tablet app one-ups the iPhone version—it features over a dozen music categories. Why this is omitted from the iPhone build is a headscratcher. It also lacks Google Music's digital locker features.

You build Collections and Playlists by tapping and holding the screen to open the "Add To" prompt. Likewise, tapping and holding a track opens an option to remove a song from a Collection or Playlist.

Content and Sound Quality
Xbox Music, like its rivals, doesn't have any egregious holes in its 30-million-song-strong music library, so I had no problem finding Arcade Fire, Led Zeppelin, Parliament-Funkadelic, and Minnie Ripperton content. I discovered that a comedy album or two were M.I.A. (such as Joe Rogan's "I'm Gonna Be Dead Someday..."), but I was pleased with the catalog. Slacker Radio still outclasses Xbox Music with its ESPN live radio, lifestyles offerings, The Weather Channel content, and themed channels (such as the "33 Greatest All-American Divas").

The sound quality of Xbox Music, on the other hand, is quite good. I thoroughly enjoyed my Midnight Marauders listening session due to Xbox Music's loud, crisp audio. As I listened, however, I discovered that the service lacked song lyrics. That may not be a very big deal for some listeners, but I occasionally like to study the words that go with the music.

Radio Days
Xbox Music has the potential to be a strong contender in the mobile streaming space, with its audio quality, library, and easy-to-navigate interface, but some of the missing elements may deter hardcore music fans. That said, apps evolve over time, so here's hoping that Microsoft will flesh out Xbox Music so that it can put Slacker and Spotify's iPhone apps on notice.

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BlackBerry messaging service rolls out to Android and iPhone this weekend

Amid rumors of layoffs and a possible sale of the company, BlackBerry today announced some good news: its growing BBM instant messaging service will be available for Android and iPhone devices in the next several days.

BBM is one of the high points of the failing BlackBerry legacy business, with recent growth in BBM users mainly in Europe and Asia. Until now, BBM has only been available for BlackBerry devices.

[ Get expert advice about planning and implementing your BYOD strategy with InfoWorld's 29-page "Mobile and BYOD Deep Dive" PDF special report. | Keep up on key mobile developments and insights with the Mobilize newsletter. ]

BBM has 60 million monthly active customers who send and receive more than 10 billion messages a day, BlackBerry said. Messages are quickly read in seconds, which BlackBerry said is an indication of how engaged BBM users are.

BBM will be a free download in the Google Play store for Android on Saturday and in the Apple App Store for iPhone on Sunday, BlackBerry said.

"With more than a billion Android, iOS and BlackBerry smartphones in the market, and no dominant mobile messaging platform, this is absolutely the right time to bring BBM to Android and iPhone customers," Andrew Bocking, executive vice president for BBM at BlackBerry, said in a statement.

In addition to BBM text chat, users can share files such as photos and voice notes. BBM lets a user know that a message has been delivered and read and shows when a friend is responding.

Up to 30 friends can join in group chats and share photos and schedules. A function called Broadcast Message allows users to send out a message to all their BBM contacts at the same time.

BBM relies on a unique PIN to authorize a user, which BlackBerry maintains is more secure than giving out a phone number or email address to a new contact.

The Android download will be available at 7 a.m. ET on Sept. 21 for Android 4 and later. For iPhones running iOS 6 and iOS 7, BBM will be available in the App Store at 12:01 a.m. local time on Sept. 22.

Later in 2013, BlackBerry is expected to unveil BBM Channels to allow for conversations between users and communities. The conversations can be organized around common interests, brands, celebrities and more. BBM video and BBM voice calling are also planned for Android and iPhone in a future version, but BlackBerry didn't disclose when.

BBM isn't yet available for Windows Phone smartphones, and BlackBerry didn't indicate when, or whether, that would occur. Windows Phone recently overtook BlackBerry as the third-largest smartphone brand shipping globally.

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed. His email address is mhamblen@computerworld.com.

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iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, or neither: Which new iPhone should you buy?

Okay, let’s all breathe: We’re going to get through this together. Apple unveiled not one, but two brand-spanking new iPhones on Tuesday. You’re now faced with the question that could lead to sleepless nights, recriminating self-doubt, and worse. But I’m going to help you get through it. I’m going to help you answer the day-old question: Should you buy a new iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, or neither?

The iPhone 5s

To recap, the two new iPhones are the iPhone 5c and the iPhone 5s. The 5c comes in six bright colors, with a rigid, unibody, polycarbonate shell. Its innards are nearly identical to the iPhone 5’s, though the iPhone 5c’s battery is slightly larger, and the 5c supports more LTE bands.

The iPhone 5s looks similar to the original iPhone 5 with an aluminum body available in three colors. It employs a faster A7 processor with 64-bit support, a new M7 “motion coprocessor” chip, a significantly improved camera, and the Touch ID fingerprint sensor in the Home button. With that refresher in mind, here’s my buying advice.

The iPhone 5c

If you bought an iPhone 5 at some point within the last year, you do not need the iPhone 5c. You may well want the iPhone 5c; it’s a cool-looking, colorful phone, it feels great in the hand, and it’s almost assuredly more durable than the aluminum iPhone 5 you already own.

All that said: It really is pretty much exactly the same as your iPhone 5, just with a bright new look. The under-the-hood improvements aren’t significant enough for you to cough up the required cash for an out-of-cycle upgrade. You have a great iPhone, and the iPhone 5c doesn’t dramatically improve upon the device you already own.

Now, the iPhone 5s is a different story. As cool as it is, you don’t need to get your hands—or fingertips—on that new Touch ID sensor; your passcode-based approach to unlocking your iPhone has worked just fine, and will continue to do so. But one class of iPhone 5 owner should at least consider upgrading to the iPhone 5s: hardcore gamers or other users who demand peak performance.

The iPhone 5s is available in silver, gold, and space gray, the last of which is totally a made-up term, Apple, and we're onto you.

The App Store will contain games that run only on the iPhone 5s or newer (not-yet-released) iOS hardware. If you’re the kind of person who loves to play the newest, best-of-breed games, you may well miss out on those titles—or at least their full feature-set and performance abilities—unless you upgrade to Apple’s top-of-the-line phone.

You could make the argument that avid photographers should also upgrade to the iPhone 5s, which Apple claims has DSLR-level features and rivals the quality of most point-and-shoots. It’s too early for us to verify those claims, but even if they bear out, the folks who will care the most about these improvements likely already carry dedicated cameras. It’s inevitable that next year’s top-of-the-line iPhone will sport an even better camera, so perhaps it’d be good to hold off for the time being.

It's time to bid your older, shorter iPhone—like the iPhone 4s, seen here—a fond farewell.

Upgrade, upgrade, upgrade. It’s time to join the four-inch iPhone revolution, and it’s time to accept that your old 30-pin iOS accessories are nearing the end of their lives. Yes, Apple is still selling the iPhone 4s (née iPhone 4S) as its low-end model, but it’s a relic.

The performance of the new iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s will dramatically outshine the iPhone 4s’s abilities. The updated phones aren’t just zippier and larger-screened, they feature all kinds of benefits over your older iPhone: far better cameras, more iOS features enabled, support for newer apps, and so on.

Developers will likely focus their efforts on four-inch iPhones as those become more and more common. The leap from pre-four-inch iPhones to the iPhone 5s or 5c won’t quite rival the impact of a leap from a dumbphone to an iPhone, but honestly, it’s awfully close. Today, even if you’ve become accustomed to it, you spend a lot of time waiting for your iPhone—for apps to open, content to load, and so on. You’ll spend a lot less time waiting and a lot more time doing with Apple’s new hardware.

So you’re one of those who really should upgrade. Which new version of the iPhone 5 should you choose? Budget-conscious consumers shouldn’t feel that they’re settling for the iPhone 5c. If the $100 savings afforded by the $99 16GB iPhone 5c (compared to the $199 16GB iPhone 5s) is significant to your wallet, fret not: The original iPhone 5 was and remains an excellent phone, and the iPhone 5c is a lightly improved version of that device with a new, slicker look.

Though we’ve had limited hands-on time with the iPhone 5c, knowing what we know about the iPhone 5, it’s easy to feel confident that the 5c will be a great phone.

I always recommend that folks spend as much as they can on their iPhones up front; you can never expand their storage, and no one’s ever complained that their iPhone has too much storage space. Apps are getting larger, and photos and videos are addictive to shoot and gobble up and ever-increasing amount of gigabytes.

Of course you're excited about the iPhone 5s's fingerprint sensor. But that feature alone isn't a reason to upgrade.

As an app addict and parent, I’ve concluded that 16GB isn’t enough for my iPhone use. (You can check how much space all your apps and data are eating up on your current iPhone in the Settings app, under General > Usage.) You can spend $199 and get a 32GB iPhone 5c; an iPhone 5s with that much storage will cost you $299. And if you want 64GB of storage, the $399 iPhone 5s is your only option; there’s no iPhone 5c offered with that much space.

As I mentioned above, hardcore gamers should choose the 5s over the 5c for its superior processing power. (And they should get the largest iPhone 5s they can afford, since those games take up lots of space.)

If you have $200 to spend, the toughest call will be between the 32GB iPhone 5c and the 16GB iPhone 5s. The former gets you all that storage space. But the latter gets you all of the 5s’s niceties: the extra processing power, the more powerful camera, and the Touch ID fingerprint scanner.

I’m leaning towards buying the $299 32GB iPhone 5s. I want the most powerful iPhone I can get my hands on now, and I need that extra space. And I’ve decided to sit out next year’s iPhone refresh—which will be easier to stomach whenever the new new stuff gets unveiled, knowing that my then-current iPhone will still be only one generation behind.

Lex uses a MacBook Pro, an iPhone 5, an iPad mini, a Kindle 3, a TiVo HD, and a treadmill desk, and loves them all. His latest book, a children's book parody for adults, is called "The Kid in the Crib." Lex lives in New Jersey with his wife and three young kids.
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The iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c: What you need to know

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Apple iPhone supplier criticized for labor violations in China

IDG News Service - A labor watchdog group is slamming one of Apple's suppliers for allegedly exploiting its Chinese workers to build the upcoming budget iPhone.

To meet production orders for the device, a factory in Wuxi, China run by U.S.-based Jabil Circuit has been forcing its workers to log more than 100 overtime hours per month, claimed a report from New York-based China Labor Watch released on Thursday.

The group sent undercover investigators to the factory, and found workers there usually stand for close to 12 hours a day, and earn about 2800 yuan (US$454) a month. Although overtime is supposed to be voluntary, the factory's management will still force its employees to work the extra hours by denying approval to take time off, the group added.

Apple and Jabil did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The investigation is just the latest from China Labor Watch, a group which has been critical of the working conditions at iPhone and iPad producing factories in China. In July, the watchdog group came out with another report, alleging that a facility run by Apple supplier Pegatron had also violated labor Chinese labor laws.

In its Thursday report China Labor Watch claims the long hours at the Jabil factory in China counter Apple's assertion that its suppliers have managed to keep the work week for its employees at or below 60 hours. On Apple's supplier responsibility website the company said in June that its suppliers had achieved a 99 percent compliance rate with the 60 hour cap, but it's unclear if Jabil's Wuxi plant was factored into the figure.

At the Jabil factory in Wuxi, workers are producing the rear plastic covers used for a new Apple iPhone device, according to China Labor Watch. Rumors have long circulated that Apple is preparing a budget version of its iPhone that will come in a variety of case colorings. On Sept. 10 Apple will hold a media event at which it is expected to announce its next iPhone device.

Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Story copyright 2012 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

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Apple iPhone supplier criticized for labor violations in China

IDG News Service - A labor watchdog group is slamming one of Apple's suppliers for allegedly exploiting its Chinese workers to build the upcoming budget iPhone.

To meet production orders for the device, a factory in Wuxi, China run by U.S.-based Jabil Circuit has been forcing its workers to log more than 100 overtime hours per month, claimed a report from New York-based China Labor Watch released on Thursday.

The group sent undercover investigators to the factory, and found workers there usually stand for close to 12 hours a day, and earn about 2800 yuan (US$454) a month. Although overtime is supposed to be voluntary, the factory's management will still force its employees to work the extra hours by denying approval to take time off, the group added.

Apple and Jabil did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The investigation is just the latest from China Labor Watch, a group which has been critical of the working conditions at iPhone and iPad producing factories in China. In July, the watchdog group came out with another report, alleging that a facility run by Apple supplier Pegatron had also violated labor Chinese labor laws.

In its Thursday report China Labor Watch claims the long hours at the Jabil factory in China counter Apple's assertion that its suppliers have managed to keep the work week for its employees at or below 60 hours. On Apple's supplier responsibility website the company said in June that its suppliers had achieved a 99 percent compliance rate with the 60 hour cap, but it's unclear if Jabil's Wuxi plant was factored into the figure.

At the Jabil factory in Wuxi, workers are producing the rear plastic covers used for a new Apple iPhone device, according to China Labor Watch. Rumors have long circulated that Apple is preparing a budget version of its iPhone that will come in a variety of case colorings. On Sept. 10 Apple will hold a media event at which it is expected to announce its next iPhone device.

Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Story copyright 2012 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

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Apple supplier of iPhone criticized for labor violations in China

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iBooks Author support for the iPhone should be on Apple's to-do list

It's doubtful these wooden shelves will survive when iOS 7 is released.

For all we’ve heard about iOS 7 in the lead up to next week’s iPhone event, one Apple avenue has been eerily silent: iBooks and the iBooks Store (née iBookstore).

If nothing else, the app is ripe for a design change in line with the rest of iOS 7, and the WWDC preview of OS X Mavericks’s iBooks for Mac would seem to suggest as much—a demo of the Mac app given by Apple senior vice president Craig Federighi showed nary a wooden shelf or animated page turn in sight. But that alone won’t be enough to give iBooks its time in the spotlight next Tuesday. Instead, I suspect we’ll see something a little more significant: support for iBooks Author ebooks on the iPhone.

When the company’s free iBooks Author tool and its proprietary format were first released in 2012, Apple had a legitimate reason to exclude the iPhone. The app was designed first and foremost for textbooks, with an eye to boosting iPad adoption in classrooms; thus it featured landscape-only templates with interactive elements and fixed-size text—hardly features that were friendly to devices with smaller screens.

But times have changed. iBooks Author ebooks have expanded far beyond textbooks, and they can now be read on the iPad mini and even support portrait layouts. And when it launches this fall, OS X Mavericks will let you read iBooks Author ebooks on the Mac, leaving the iPhone—arguably Apple’s flagship product—as the sole device (besides the Apple TV) that’s unable to read Apple’s proprietary ebook format. (You can’t view or purchase iBooks Author-only books on the iPhone, either—you must instead buy them on the Mac or iPad.) Even if the company expects fewer readers to view iBooks Author ebooks on its smartphone, it seems strange to leave such a gaping hole in comaptibility.

But perhaps the time for Apple to address that oversight is nigh.

In the past, viewing an iBooks Author-created ebook online or via iTunes displayed the following message under the heading of ‘requirements’: “This book can only be viewed using iBooks 3.0 or later on an iPad. iOS 5.1 or later is required.”

While this message still shows up on the Web, visit an iBooks Author book in the iTunes Store and you’ll see the following: “To view this book, you must have an iOS device with iBooks 3.0 or later and iOS 5.1 or later, or a Mac with iBooks 1.0 or later and OS X 10.9 or later.” A request for comment from Apple regarding the wording change went unanswered on Wednesday, and as of this writing, the iPhone still can’t download iBooks Author ebooks despite the text’s claims to the contrary.

In iTunes, the restrictions text for iBooks Author ebooks has been updated to include OS X Mavericks -- and it leaves out any mention of the iPad, too.

But while comparing wording can often be as truth-telling as reading tea leaves, I do think the description change is significant. If this were simply an early draft of the requirements for iBooks Author ebooks post-OS X Mavericks, it would be easy enough to leave in “on an iPad.” That the wording has changed to “iOS device” intrigues me. Currently, even regular ebooks (.epub format) on the store list each model of iOS device supported. One of Macworld's own states the following: “This book requires iBooks 1.3.1 or later and iOS 4.3.3 or later. Books can only be viewed using iBooks on an iPad, iPhone (3G or later), or iPod touch (2nd generation or later).”

iBooks Author's portrait mode could hypothetically support an iPhone screen.

To my mind, it’s likely that we’ll see iBooks Author support on the iPhone when iOS 7 is released. The groundwork, after all, has already been laid. As I mentioned in my critique of the program last year, iBooks Author already has a potentially viable option for iPhone and iPod touch users—its reflowable portrait mode. In it, interactive elements float alongside the text, which itself can be resized by the reader. In addition, current iPhone models (and any that might get announced next week) will have more than enough power to display videos and other interactive content.

And from a strategic standpoint, with Amazon’s Kindle platform offering new features like proprietary footnote pop-overs to publishers, Apple would be wise to bring books from its already-excellent ebooks design program to the rest of its device line-up. Building an iBooks Author-exclusive ebook is a lot more enticing if you’re marketing it to the entire iOS and OS X ecosystem, rather than just users of individual devices.

Of course, no one can predict exactly what Apple might do next week. But I’m holding out hope that we’ll see iBooks Author support for the iPhone very, very soon.

Serenity has been writing and talking and tinkering with Apple products since she was old enough to double-click. In her spare time, she sketches, writes, acts, sings, and wears an assortment of hats.
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Apple slates Sept. 10 event as new iPhone expectations grow

IDG News Service - Apple will likely announce a new iPhone, and perhaps other new products, on Sept. 10, as fans of the company hunger for dazzling displays of innovation.

The invite for the event, to be held on Apple's Cupertino campus, promises that "this should brighten everyone's day," hinting that it may launch more than just the iPhone 5 successor. Rumors have been swirling about Apple launching a new watch, or perhaps even a new TV.

There is also speculation that Apple could unveil a simpler, cheaper version of the iPhone. iPhone shipments have come under pressure in recent quarters as competition increases with Samsung and other Android phone makers.

When Apple launched the iPhone 5 last year, some company fans felt underwhelmed because the smartphone did not carry breakthrough features. Investors have questioned the company's ability to be innovative, and the company's CEO Tim Cook earlier this year said the company would launch "new product categories" during the fall season this year through 2014.

Apple last week introduced a new iPhone trade-in program that lets consumers take their old iPhone to an Apple store and receive a credit on the purchase of a new one. Walmart has also slashed the price on its website of the latest iPhone 5 to $98 with a two-year contract.

It's less clear what other new products Apple may introduce. For years it has been predicted that Apple would launch a new TV set with breakthrough interaction features. More recently, there have been rumors about Apple developing a watch with the iOS operating system as the company looks to enter the wearable computing market.

Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and semiconductors for IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh. Agam's e-mail address is agam_shah@idg.com

Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Story copyright 2012 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

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Clockwise Podcast 8: Amazon, Nokia, iPhone, and AT&T

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Hangouts (for iPhone)

Pros Syncs across computers and devices. Supports video chat. Picture sharing. Messages almost guaranteed to be seen.

Cons Requires Google+ account for some features. No statuses. No buddy lists. Lots of notifications. Bottom Line Hangouts is great for messaging users with Google Accounts, but it's just not as simple and convenient as Apple's baked-in offerings.

By Max Eddy

Titanic shifts within Google have destroyed many beloved services, one of them being Google Talk. But from the ashes of Google Talk rises Hangouts (free); the new king of sending text, sharing pictures, and video chatting between Google users. While it kinda-sorta brings Android users feature parity to Apple's iMessage and FaceTime, iPhone users will find it pales in comparison  to Apple's baked-in services.

Space to Chat
On iOS, Hangouts uses the same clean, minimalist style as seen on Google+ and Google Keep. Instead of the traditional model of a buddy lists, Hangouts shows you the contacts on your device that have Google accounts and a search bar. There also isn't a way to set a status; either you'll answer or you won't.

I didn't like that the emphasis seems to be less on browsing who's online to chat, and more like sending an email since it is harder to communicate if you're available to chat.

Hangouts doesn't support other chat services, so you won't be able to message someone on AIM through the Hangouts app, the way you could with Adium on a Mac. But you can message anyone with a Google account (which is basically everyone) and your message will appear on your recipient's iOS device, Android device, in Gmail, on Google+, or in their chat client if it can connect to Google. I did notice that the Windows chat client Trillian did not include the responses I wrote from the Hangouts app, but otherwise Hangouts kept up with the conversation regardless of where the messages were sent.

Unfortunately, Hangouts requires you to have a Google+ account to send images.  

Going Video
Any chat in Hangouts can be converted to a video chat by tapping the video camera icon in the upper right corner. As with a text chat, the person you're calling will see the invite on their phone or computer, and can respond from either.

In my testing, I used an iPhone 4S  on Verizon's network to video chat with a Nexus 7 tablet connected via Wi-Fi. While the video wasn't always crystal clear, it looked good enough and there was surprisingly little lag.

I particularly liked that Hangouts lets you toggle between text and video once you've started a video chat. And thankfully, you can also toggle between front and rear-facing cameras on your iPhone. Note that you're limited to person-to-person video calls, unless you've activated Google+, which lets you chat with up to 10 people.

Numerous Notifications
Presumably to promote maximum connectivity, Google asks to enable notifications for Hangouts during setup.  These are useful if you don't use Hangouts on other devices, but if you do it quickly becomes annoying.

If you don't want to see constant notifications, then you can turn off notification from the iOS Settings menu. You can also Snooze notifications from inside Hangouts for set lengths of time, but don't be deceived by the Off option—this just turns off Snooze and reactivates notifications. Note that the Hangouts will still update your chat regardless of whether the app is running or not.

Limited Choices
Hangouts makes a lot of sense on Android since it connects you to other Google users and devices. That's still valuable on iOS, but it's up against some pretty stiff competition. The iOS Messages app has free iOS to iOS messages and FaceTime built right in, giving me immediate access to all of my contacts. By comparison, it makes Hangouts feel like little more than an appendage.

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Analysts push iPhone 5C price predictions to $450

Computerworld - Some analysts have rethought their expectations on the price of Apple's expected lower-end iPhone 5C, and now believe the Cupertino, Calif. company will play defense by charging as much as $450 for the new plastic smartphone.

"In terms of unsubsidized pricing, I don't see any way the iPhone 5C can be priced below $400," Sameer Singh, an analyst who writes on Tech-Thoughts.com, said in a post Monday. "I think Apple is leaning towards $450 ... [although] they could go as low as $400 if it helps facilitate a deal with China Mobile."

China Mobile, the world's largest mobile carrier, has yet to strike a deal with Apple to carry the iPhone, although Apple CEO Tim Cook has met at least twice this year with company executives.

As recently as two weeks ago, Singh had pegged the iPhone 5C's unsubsidized price at $399.

Ben Thompson, who covers a variety of topics, including smartphones, on his Stratechery blog, also has reconsidered his iPhone 5C price bet. In a post last week, Thompson said he is now leaning toward $450 for the plastic-cased smartphone, an increase from his previous maximum of $399.

The pricing dilemma that Apple faces, said Singh, is that it simply cannot compete at the very lowest end -- the under-$200 unsubsidized price point -- that is the volume driver in emerging markets. Trying to do so would not only reduce profit margins, something Apple has always been loath to do, but the device would not be up to its self-set standards. Producing a cheap smartphone simply to get into the lowest category would not only damage Apple's brand but be contrary to consistent comments by executives, particularly Cook, who has repeatedly said that Apple would not chase market share for its own sake.

But if it cannot effectively compete at the low end, Apple risks losing revenue by pricing the iPhone 5C too low.

"A substantial cut in the iPhone 5C's unsubsidized price is unlikely to increase volumes in subsidized markets, but Apple would effectively be 'leaving money on the table,' especially in Apple's core, subsidized markets," said Singh.

Currently, Apple sells three models at three different price points: the iPhone 5 for $650 unsubsidized, $199 with a contract; the iPhone 4S ($550/$99); and the iPhone 4 ($450/$0).

If it can't reach an unsubsidized price significantly lower than the current lowest -- $450 -- there's no reason to bother, Singh said, as it would only cannibalize sales of the iPhone 4 price point with an even cheaper iPhone 5C, reducing its revenue in developed markets like the U.S. by the difference.

A $350 unsubsidized price for the iPhone 5C would, in other words, cost Apple $100 per unit in missed revenue. Customers would still get a "free" iPhone, but carriers would be paying Apple less than they do now for the two-year-old iPhone 4.

That's a path Apple's unlikely to take.

"[$450] would not help Apple compete much more effectively in unsubsidized/prepaid markets," Singh said. "[But] I think Apple may be incredibly wary of leaving 'money on the table' and is likely to opt for a pricing strategy that is defensive rather than one that eliminates the 'price umbrella' for competitors."

Apple is expected to unveil its new iPhones, including the iPhone 5C as well as a full-priced model to replace the iPhone 5, on Sept. 10, and start selling the new smartphones in a first wave of markets on Sept. 20.

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at  @gkeizer, on Google+ or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His email address is gkeizer@computerworld.com.

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Small and midsize businesses are moving to the cloud to host their communications capabilities. Learn how enterprise-quality phone benefits, online management, conferencing, auto attendant, and ease of use are built into a system that is half the cost of a PBX.

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Candy Crush Saga (for iPhone)

Pros Huge number of puzzles. Easy game play. Challenging variations.

Cons Repetitive. Little to no strategy. Levels are either too hard or too easy. Bottom Line Candy Crush Saga is a blissfully casual one-thumbed time waster carefully calculated to suck you in along with some of your cash.

By Max Eddy

Candy Crush Saga (free) is a quintessential time-waster casual game for iOS and Android that is as easy to get addicted to as it is to play.If you want mindless color-matching, and can withstand the temptation of in-app purchases, then look no further.

Getting Crushed
Have you played Bejeweled? Have you played any of the billions of knock-offs of Bejeweled? Then you have played Candy Crush Saga. Just replace gems with hunger-inducing candies and you get the idea.

The play is simple—just swipe two adjacent candies to switch their positions—and the feedback so carefully calculated that I am sure someone who'd never seen a smartphone in their lives could quickly figure it out. You have a pre-defined number of moves in which to score as many points as possible. You score points by lining up at least three in a row (or at least five in an L) of any like candies to "crush" them.

Why are you crushing candy? I have no idea. But if you do enough of it the level ends and you hear the happy music, and I really like the happy music.

As you crush candies, fresh random candies drop from the top of the screen to fill the gap. This makes it hard to strategize beyond using special super candies sometimes created in the process of candy crushing.

The game changes things up periodically by requiring you to score a certain number of points in so many moves, or adding "jelly" squares that can only be removed by candy crushing. The shape of the stages also changes from level to level, sometimes adding hard-to-crush wings off to the sides of the central board. Surprisingly, these small changes can make some levels devilishly difficult.

The music is worth mentioning because, like the game, it's enjoyable but becomes annoying over time. Loud and bombastic, the music swoops at you until it's hard to take. Using only the cutest instruments—rag time piano, triangles, auto-harps, etc.—it's surprisingly lush, to the point of overkill. The end of level music, which I do genuinely enjoy, sounds like a piano and a zither being thrown down a chromatic staircase over and over again. You'll walk away whistling.

Candy Coated
Beneath Candy Crush Saga's saccharine veneer is a heart of stone. Actually, it's not so much a heart as it is a vacuum cleaner, designed to keep your eyes stuck to the screen and eventually suck the cash out of your wallet. You see, it's really hard if not actually impossible to strategize in games like Candy Crush and random elements mean some games are guaranteed to be unwinnable.

Here's where the game gets devious. You start with five lives, and slowly recover lives at the rate of one life per half hour. If you want to get more lives, you have to pay (in this case, $16.99). If you want to win more often, you might want to pay for special bonus powers, which cost a much more reasonable 99 cents. Like arcade cabinets, everything about Candy Crush from the images to the music is designed to keep you playing because eventually you'll lose and get desperate enough to start shelling out cash.

In Candy Crush Saga's defense I didn't find the game predatory; I won most of the levels I played and unlocked several powerups for free. What's more, you have to unlock the ability to buy items by playing. That's far less cynical then I expected, but I couldn't shake the feeling that the game is just trying too hard.

Too Sweet
Candy Crush Saga is a well-executed casual game that does a good job of keeping your thumb sliding across the screen. It's not nearly as cynical as I expected, but there's little chance for strategy and games bounces wildly between stupidly easy and frustratingly hard.

While you can't beat free (or at least freemium), I would highly recommend that would-be casual gamers check out titles like Tiny Wings or Wide Sky which are simple but have a lot more heart and charm.

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ifttt (for iPhone)

Pros One of the best apps and services for automating small tasks. Supremely easy to understand and use. Supports integration with dozens of other apps and services. Excellent and clear interface. Free.

Cons Could better notify user of problems with 'recipes.' Bottom Line 'If this, then that'—shorten that little tag line to ifttt, and you've got one of the best apps on the market. This amazingly simple yet powerful iPhone app can automate just about anything you'd want to do in your digital life, from backing up photos on Facebook to sending you text message reminders of upcoming appointments.

By Jill Duffy When ifttt (free) first arrived on the Internet in late 2010 in beta, it quickly became one of my favorite websites. The strange name, pronounced like "ift," stands for "if this, then that," the opening of a logic statement or command. It's where you start when using ifttt to create "recipes" of automation in your digital life, no programming required. The site now has an ifttt iPhone app (also totally free), which largely mirrors the full website, and gives you access to the commands you've created and a history list of actions ifttt has taken on your behalf. It's one of the most valuable services on the Internet today, and a superb app for your iPhoneto boot.

ifttt Examples
It's easiest to understand what ifttt does by looking at a few examples of recipes you can create: "If there is an upcoming event on my Google Calendar, then send me a text message reminder with the event name, time, and address." "If someone tags a photo of me on Facebook, then save a copy of that photo to Dropbox."

To use the ifttt iPhone app and website, you first must sign up for an ifttt account, and then activate "channels" or other services that you want ifttt to leverage. For example, you might authenticate access to Facebook, Twitter, Box, Evernote, Foursquare, Google Drive, Instagram, LinkedIn, and many more. You can also add your phone number if you want to create recipes that use text messages or phone calls. The list of supported channels is comprehensive. You can turn channels on and off at your will from both the website and the iPhone app, which means you're in control.

When you enable a phone number in ifttt for either text messaging or phone calls, you have to enter a code sent to that number, which helps ensure no one uses ifttt for nefarious purposes.

No Coding
The most amazing thing about ifttt is how simple it is to use. You might assume that the recipes would require some programming know-how, but they don't. Not at all. The iPhone app walks you through possible services and actions in one of the most simplified manners I've ever seen. It uses icons and large text to make the recipes completely easy to create.

While you can create your own commands from scratch using what boils down to a "choose from the listed options" kind of interface (see the slideshow for a more complete picture), ifttt also lets you browse recipes that other users have created and made public. A section for browsing public recipes lets you see ones that are featured, trending, or most popular of all time. You can also search for recipes, which I think is useful if, say, you know you want to do something with your Facebook status updates, but you're not sure what exactly. You can search for "Facebook status" and see what kinds of recipes other users have made.

Whenever I look through ifttt's suggested recipes, I always find automations that would make my digital life so much easier and richer, but that I never would have thought to create on my own. It's a marvelous place to explore.

Ifttt gives the user control over the recipes once they're created as well, so you can turn them on or off any time without deleting the recipe from your file. An activity log shows you not only the recipes you've created and when you toggled them on and off, but also other factors that might affect ifttt's ability to perform the function, such as failed API calls.

A Stroke of Genius
The iPhone app ifttt is a stroke of genius, and thus a PCMag Editors' Choice. It's also one of my favorite apps for making my life simpler and better organized. Ifttt is an app I will be recommending to friends, family, and colleagues for a long time to come.

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