At a launch event in Los Angeles tonight, Fox and development house TinyCo officially revealed that its upcoming title Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff is set to launch a week from now. First revealed last month, the game is centered around the town of Quahog, with gamers helping Peter Griffin and the rest of the town’s residents rebuild their city after a destructive fight between Peter and Ernie The Giant Chicken.
In addition to featuring all the voice actors from the series, the game features new animations along with stories and jokes from writers at Seth MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door Productions. Much like EA's The Simpsons: Tapped Out, the game will be a free-to-play title that includes optional in-app purchases.
Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff will be available for the iPhone and iPad on April 10.
Earlier today Amazon launched its Fire TV media streaming box, entering a market that features fierce competition from Roku and its streaming boxes, Google's Chromecast and the Apple TV. To help set it apart from its competitors, Amazon included an app store, strong gaming support and much more for its box, which are features that have been heavily rumored for Apple's next generation streaming box. While gaming on a media streaming box is nothing new, as Roku has allowed users to play games like Angry Birds on its devices, Amazon has gone through great lengths, including purchasingKiller Instinct game developer Double Helix and reaching out to third-party publishers like EA, Disney, Ubisoft and Minecraft creator Mojang, to bring 133 high quality games to the Fire TV, with more arriving in the future. In addition, they've launched a $39 Xbox-like controller to make it easier for users to play advanced games on the box.
Apple has long been rumored to be including gaming support on the next version of the Apple TV with support for gaming controllers. More recently, Apple and third-party hardware manufacturers have begun shipping iOS 7 game controllers for iPhones, but they've been poorly received due to build quality issues and high price tags.
To power these high quality games, Amazon has outfitted its Fire TV with a quad-core processor, which Amazon says boasts 3 times the power of Apple TV, a dedicated graphics engine and 2 GB of RAM, which is four times the amount in the Apple TV.
While its unclear what specs the new Apple TV could sport, it's likely it gets a significant improvement over the currently used A5 chip to the much more powerful A7 chip, which is used in the iPad Air and would allow developers to easily port over their best-selling iPad and iPhone games and vice versa.
Other rumored changes for the new Apple TV include a brand new interface that blends TV listings with apps and video from the web rather than a the current setup of a grid of app icons. Amazon's Fire TV does something similar according to a hands-on report by The Verge, displaying various movies and TV shows next to apps and games when the device is turned on.
In addition, Apple has been rumored to want to include some sort of Siri-like voice control to allow users to easily navigate through the interface without a remote control. While Roku already had voice control on their media streaming box, Amazon has included voice control "that just works" on its Fire TV remote control, allowing users to bypass typing for voice searches.
However, the largest difference between the new Apple TV and Fire TV could be content. While Amazon says its streaming device is "open" and has an app store, Apple has been long rumored to also include an App Store to allow for a greater variety and quicker access to more "channels" than ever before. While that would put the two boxes at parity, Apple has also been rumored to be discussing a possible partnership with Comcast for a streaming TV service on the new Apple TV, allowing users to switch between live TV via Comcast, a Hulu-like on-demand video service and third-party apps like HBO Go, YouTube and Netflix.
Apple has been rumored to be launching their new Apple TV as early as April.
Blizzard Entertainment's digital card trading game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft for iPad soft-launched today in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, after launching for Mac in March.
The free-to-play collectible card game is set in the Warcraft universe, allowing players to compete with Magic the Gathering-style decks in one-on-one fights via Battle.net or against the computer. The iPad version of the game will connect to Battle.net accounts, syncing with the PC/Mac version.
JUMP RIGHT IN: Fun introductory missions bring you into the world of Hearthstone's intuitive gameplay.
BUILD YOUR DECK: With hundreds of additional cards to win and craft - your collection grows with you.
HONE YOUR SKILLS: Play in practice matches against computer-controlled heroes of the Warcraft universe. Thrall, Uther, Gul'dan - they're all here!
COLLECTION TRAVELS WITH YOU: Your card collection is linked to your Battle.net account - enabling you to switch your play between tablet and desktop with ease.
AND FIGHT FOR GLORY: When you're ready, step into the Arena and duel other players for the chance to win awesome prizes!
While the game is currently only available to players in New Zealand, Canada, and Australia, as a soft-launch for testing purposes, the game should launch worldwide soon. Blizzard is also planning to release an iPhone app later this year.
Auxo 2, the followup to 2012’s popular jailbreak tweak Auxo, is now available in the Cydia Store. The product of developers @Sentry_NC and QusicS, the new tweak includes a number of features including a unified view for the Control Center and app switcher, a Quick Switcher for moving between apps using gestures, a hot corners feature that allows access to apps by touching the corners of an iOS device, and more.
Unlike the stock iOS 7 experience, Auxo 2 allows users to access the app switcher, multitasking controls, and Control Center toggles entirely with the use of gestures, all while combining all three elements into one interface and offering a variety of settings for customization.
Auxo 2’s flagship feature is the Quick Switcher, which allows users to switch between apps by swiping from the bottom left of a device and releasing a finger on an open app. By default, the Quick Switcher is limited to six apps, but users may enable an unlimited amount of apps in the settings. The Quick Switcher features a fluid animation in line with the rest of iOS 7, and features dynamic full screen previews for each app.
Meanwhile, Auxo 2's Multi-Center feature combines iOS 7's toggles, App Switcher, and media controls into one interface. In order to achieve the sheer number of controls located within Multi-Center, Auxo 2 locates a few elements in different places, with the AirPlay/AirDrop buttons and control toggles at the top, which is followed by media controls at the bottom. Multi-Center animates in and out of an open app, and contains various customization settings.
Auxo 2 also offers a Hot Corners feature, which allows users to return to the home screen by swiping up from the bottom right corner of the screen or access the app switcher from swiping up from the bottom left of the display. This enables users to access both UI elements with only gestures as opposed to using the home button.
Among other features, Auxo 2 allows the user to scrub through iTunes Radio tracks with its media controls, something that is not possible with the stock Music app. Other toggles for turning off elements, accessing the last open app, inverting the Hot Corners feature, and disabling the tweak in selected apps are available as well.
Auxo 2 is out now on the Cydia Store for $3.99, and is available at a discounted price of $1.99 for users who bought the original Auxo tweak. iDownloadBlog also has a detailed review of Auxo 2 covering all of its major features and customization options, and can be seen in the video below.
MacHeist's Apple Design Award Bundle is currently available for purchase, combining nine different apps that have won Apple Design Awards in the past. The apps have a retail value of $1,776, but can be purchased for $19.99. While seven of the apps are immediately available, the final two will be unlocked when specific sales targets are reached.
Xojo Desktop is locked until 10,000 bundles have been sold and the ninth app, which has yet to be announced, will be unlocked at an unspecified sales target. The app shadow is a video camera, hinting at a video recording or editing app.
The bundle can be purchased from the MacHeist website for $19.99, with 10 percent of sales going directly to charity.
Microsoft today announced Windows Phone 8.1, which comes equipped with the company's digital assistant, Cortana. In development for several years, Cortana is Microsoft's answer to Siri and Google Now, the digital assistants from Apple and Google.
Cortana is named for an AI character in the popular Halo video game series and as in the game, the assistant is voiced by actress Jen Taylor. Given a distinctly female personality, she is powered by Microsoft's search engine, Bing, and is designed to learn about users by asking questions and monitoring user activity, interacting through both text and speech.
According to an extensive piece on Cortana from The Verge, Microsoft designed the feature based on real personal assistants, giving Cortana a "Notebook" to work from. The Notebook can be described as a settings page, allowing users to designate what Cortana can track. In her Notebook, Cortana stores information like personal interests, relationships with people, frequently visited places, appointment dates, quiet hours, and more.
"It's her view of you, but clearly you can just snatch it from her at any time and say 'That’s not right, I don't want you to know this' or 'I'm not comfortable with you reading my email,'" explains Ash. "So you have complete control over what she knows and she’s transparent about it."
Entries in the Notebook are stored in the cloud, and you can share contact information with it, as well as your interests, home and work locations, and more. The notion of Cortana acting as a personal assistant with a notebook— as opposed to a creepy stalker — has been drilled into the team from the beginning, they say.
Cortana is a core function of Windows Phone 8.1, replacing the existing search function. Like Siri she can schedule reminders, but Cortana's functionality is somewhat more powerful, allowing reminders to be tied to people and locations. For example, Cortana can be asked to give a reminder to discuss a certain topic when calling a contact, with that reminder popping up when a call is placed.
The digital assistant also offers a daily summary of information, similar to what can be found in Apple's own Notification Center. Cortana lists upcoming appointments, reminders, weather information, and more. She can, with permission, track user email to pull out information like airline reservations.
Like Siri, Cortana has a personality. She has witty responses for certain questions, such as "Who is your father?" to which she replies, "Technically speaking, that'd be Bill Gates. No big deal." Displayed as a circle on a phone screen, she's also able to express 16 different emotions.
While Siri has not been opened up to developers, Microsoft is releasing a third-party SDK. Cortana will integrate with services like Hulu, Twitter, Facebook, allowing people to use voice commands to launch television shows or send a tweet.
Cortana remains in the beta stages, as there are bugs with the software that still need to be worked out. Windows Phone 8.1 will launch in late April or early May, but Cortana will only be available in the United States for the time being.
Microsoft also announced that it is making Windows licenses free for mobile phones and tablets that have screens of less than nine inches, putting it on par with Google's Android, which is offered to device manufacturers for free.
Mounting and organizing options for heavy duty Mac Pro users continue to grow since the new machine's launch at the end of last year, with Sonnet now announcing a new rack mount enclosure capable of holding two Mac Pros. The new enclosure is an additional option to go along with the enclosure and expansion chassis the company announced last week.
This time, the Sonnet Rack Mac Pro allows users to rack mount one or two Mac Pro machines in a 4U space. The unit includes a front panel power button with USB 3.0 port for each machine, plus a second USB 3.0 port, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and an HDMI connector on the back of the rack for each Mac Pro.
There are no rear Thunderbolt ports because, Sonnet says, there are no panel-mount Thunderbolt connectors available. There is, however, room inside the rack for Thunderbolt cables to be attached, and the company says it is "fairly easy" to directly connect Thunderbolt cables and they can be secured to the Mac Pro so they can not be accidentally unplugged.
The Rack Mac Pro also supports the mounting of Thunderbolt to Fibre Channel adapters like the Promise San Link2.
Pricing is expected to be $599 to rack mount a single Mac Pro, with an add-on to mount a second Mac Pro available for $299. Availability is likely to come in June alongside the previously announced combination enclosure and expansion chassis.
The upcoming USB 3.1 specification, an update to USB 3.0 that provides a throughput of up to 10 Gbit/s, also includes a new "Type C" connector, which is reversible much like Apple's Lightning cable.
Announced in December [PDF], the reversible design was said to be smaller in size, similar to existing Micro USB plugs. While no cables are available yet, the USB Implementers Forum (via CNET) has released renderings showing what the cable might look like.
The reversible design, which looks a lot like a Lightning cable, aims to replace USB and Micro USB with one cable that can be used from either direction. The USB prong is 8.3 x 2.5mm, which is much smaller than standard USB ports but larger than Micro USB.
At the current point in time, the cable's design has yet to be finalized, which means a final product could look somewhat different. The specification is expected to be finished in July of 2014.
Newly released on Kickstarter, the SITU is a food scale with a built-in Bluetooth chip that enables it to communicate with an iPad. When a food item, such as fruits, vegetables, or even chips, is placed on the scale, it weighs the food and then relays the nutritional information to the iPad via the SITU companion app.
Designed to allow people to monitor their calorie intake and other nutritional factors while preparing fresh foods, the SITU can measure each component of a meal to calculate its exact nutritional value. It's able to measure individual components and more complete meals, like a sandwich, a bowl of cereal or a slice of pizza.
Place your food on SITU and you'll see exactly what's in it–from calories to salt to sugars to vitamins and minerals. You can use SITU to quickly check the nutrition content for a single piece of food, or you can choose to go further, tracking entire meals, saving them to your dietary history, setting alerts for nutrient limits, and even exporting your data to share with your doctor, nutritionist, or personal trainer.
According to the product's developers, the SITU is a useful tool for calorie counters, athletes, parents, health professionals, and those who want to be more health conscious, tracking nutrients like sugars and salts within food.
Additional details about the SITU and multiple videos of the product in use can be found on the Kickstarter page. Interested backers can preorder the SITU for a pledge of £50 plus £12 for shipping outside of the U.K., which equates to approximately $103. There are a limited number of scales available at that price and orders are expected to ship in November of 2014.
Environmental activist group Greenpeace, which has in the past taken Apple to task over environmental issues, has released a new report entitled "Clicking Clean: How Companies are Building the Green Internet" which classifies Apple along with Google and Facebook as "green energy innovators". The report praises Apple for its commitment to renewable energy, awarding the company three "A" grades and a "B" grade in the group's four rating categories.
Apple's aggressive pursuit of its commitment to power the iCloud with 100% renewable energy has given the company the inside track among the IT sector's leaders in building a green Internet. Apple has made good on its pledge by building the largest privately owned solar farms at its North Carolina data center, working with its utility in Nevada to power its upcoming data center there with solar and geothermal energy, and purchasing wind energy for its Oregon and California data centers. Apple's commitment to renewable energy has helped set a new bar for the industry, illustrating in very concrete terms that a 100% renewable internet is within its reach, and providing several models of intervention for other companies that want to build a sustainable Internet.
The full report (PDF) highlights Apple's strong performance in transparency, its commitments to renewable energy and siting of facilities in areas with access to renewable energy, and its deployment of and advocacy for renewable energy. The only area where Greenpeace gives a slight downgrade to Apple is in energy efficiency and mitigation, where the group believes that Apple could do more to share details on its energy efficient facility designs to help the industry in general become more environmentally friendly.
Greenpeace was initially quite sour on Apple's renewable energy plans for its flagship North Carolina data center, believing the company to be relying mostly on coal-powered energy sources. Apple took issue with Greenpeace's claims, but the publicity seemed to have encouraged Apple to become more open about its commitments to renewable energy as it publicly stated its intentions to run all of its data center on 100% renewable energy. While Greenpeace continued to overestimate Apple's energy needs for the North Carolina facility for some time, the group appears to now be satisfied with Apple's disclosures and is on board with the company's energy policies.
The Fire TV is set-top box with a bluetooth remote that supports voice search. Internal hardware includes a quad-core processor with a dedicated graphics processor and 2GB of RAM. It supports 1080p via HDMI and features dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi with MIMO for fast video downloads. Amazon claims it Fire TV hardware is three times as powerful as its competitors.
The Fire TV streams Amazon Prime Instant Video titles as well as content from third-party providers such as Netflix and Hulu. Owners can browse through popular movies and TV shows on Amazon Instant Video, with personalized recommendations and a watchlist making it easy to find and save content. A new ASAP (Advanced Streaming and Prediction) feature learns what movies and shows you enjoy and gets them ready for you to watch. The more you use the Fire TV, the better it gets at predicting your media choices.
Setting it apart from its competition, Amazon also bundles games into the Fire TV device with support for a $39 wireless Fire game controller. Well-known gaming studios such as Disney, Gameloft, EA, Sega, Ubisoft and Double Fine are partnering with Amazon to bring their titles to the Fire TV device. Amazon also is launching its own gaming studio, with the tower defense game Sev Zero debuting as the studio's first official game.
Extras packaged into the Fire TV include photos with slide shows and X-Ray that provides IMDB details for movies and TV shows on a second screen device like the Kindle Fire HDX. Music services such as Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and Amazon's own Music service will debut on the Fire TV starting next month with support for X-Ray, which will display song lyrics.
Not just for adults, Amazon added its FreeTime service, which offers parental controls and personalized profiles for children. A $2.99 monthly option for a FreeTime Unlimited subscription adds unlimited access to programming from Nickelodeon, Sesame Street, PBS Kids and more.
The Fire TV will ship today from Amazon with a $99 price tag.
Samsung and Apple's second patent trial started earlier this week with jury selection and opening arguments by both Apple and Samsung. Phil Schiller also took the stand as Apple's first witness in the trial, which started in earnest on Tuesday.
Among the volume of internal documents provided in the case, The Wall Street Journal highlights emails from Apple founder Steve Jobs that reveal his commitment to beating Android, calling the competition a "Holy War" with Google.
Jobs outlined this "battle" in an October 2010 email to 100 employees prior to the company's annual retreat. Jobs said in the email that "Apple is in danger of hanging on to old paradigm for too long (innovator's dilemma)" and notes that "Google and Microsoft are further along on the technology, but haven't quite figured it out yet." This characterization is favorable to Samsung as the company attempts to involve Google and Android in the patent infringement case.
As part of its opening statement in the case, Samsung outlined its plans to share internal Apple documents that suggest Apple was taken aback by Samsung's edgy marketing campaign that characterized the company's Galaxy devices as "the next big thing." (via The Verge)
"We will show you internal Apple documents, documents that haven't been made public before, and showed how Apple was really concerned about competition from Android, and in particular Samsung," John Quinn of law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, which is representing Samsung in the trial, told an eight-person jury. "This new, edgy marketing strategy ... it drove Apple crazy."
Following opening arguments by Apple and Samsung, Apple executive Phil Schiller testified in court on behalf on Apple, discussing, as he did in the first trial, the risks the company took as it successfully released both the iPhone and iPad before its competitors, reports Computerworld.
"We wondered what could come after the iPod," Schiller said. "We wanted to try and invent that future rather than let it happen to us."
Schiller also reminded jurors that Apple wasn't always the leader in the mobile market and had a long learning curve to get where it is now.
"Apple really only had two products at the time: the Mac and iPod," he said, reminding jurors of a time before Apple was the phone and tablet powerhouse it is today. "We hadn't made a phone. We didn't know about radios and antennas and all the things that make up a phone."
Schiller remained on the stand for over two hours before his testimony ended for the day. Schiller is expected to return on Friday, with Samsung continuing to question the Apple executive when the trial resumes.
Fantastical, the popular iPhone and Mac calendar app, is coming to the iPad. Flexibits has upsized its Fantastical 2 iPhone app, but company co-founder Michael Simmons says they didn't just take the iPhone app and make all the bits bigger.
"The biggest feature is the user interface," he explained to MacRumors, saying that the development team didn't feel a need to develop new features simply because they had more screen real estate. "You don't want to get into the business of coming up with useless iPad features just for the sake of having iPad-only features."
Fantastical 2 for iPad has the same iOS 7-inspired look that the iPhone version has, and a very similar feature set as well. It has an integrated calendar and reminders list, a reworked calendar parser and more. The parser is the most unique feature about Fantastical. Instead of entering in a number of text-boxes and switches in a time-consuming process for each event or reminder, Fantastical users simply write in plain english: "Juli Clover's birthday party on April 17th at 4PM Pacific at Chuck E Cheese" or "remind me to pick up milk when I leave work".
The app then takes that text and sets all the proper functions in the calendar, significantly faster than trying to enter all that information into a traditional calendar app. The app is aware of things like time zones, and the parser is very good at setting up repeating events with odd cycles like "every third week", something that the standard iOS calendar can't always deal with. It also has an in-app map view if locations are entered, and users can send that address to Apple or Google's Mapping apps.
Fantastical 2 automatically connects to calendars and reminder lists already set up in the iPad's Settings app. Users can manually hide unused calendars or lists within the app as necessary.
Building on the award-winning app, Fantastical 2 for iPhone, Fantastical 2 for iPad takes advantage of the iPad’s roomier display. New in Fantastical 2 for iPad is the Fantastical Dashboard, a fast and easy way to easily manage your schedule in one place. Users can toggle between Fantastical's DayTicker, half-screen week view, and full-screen week view. Also visible is Fantastical's familiar event and reminders list, along with a calendar.
Fantastical 2 for iPad is an entirely separate app from Fantastical 2 for iPhone, meaning customers with both devices will need to buy both apps. Flexibits told us that it is working on a significant upgrade for Fantastical for Mac that will add many of the improvements from the iPhone and iPad apps, but didn't have any more information to share on availability or price.
Fantastical 2 for iPad is available for $9.99 on the App Store for a limited time. Normal price will be $14.99. [Direct Link]
Fantastical 2 for iPhone is available for $4.99 on the App Store. [Direct Link]
Fantastical for Mac is available for $19.99 on the Mac App Store. [Direct Link]
Streaming music service Spotify today updated its app for iOS, bringing a major user interface redesign that emphasizes album arts with a darker theme, along with the addition of newer fonts and icons. The app’s new look is meant be in line with the design of the desktop and web versions of Spotify, which marks the first time the service has seen a visual overhaul since it first launched in 2008.
Speaking to The Next Web, Spotify’s Director of Product Development Michelle Kadir said the following about the service’s new look on iOS and other platforms:
We thought it was time for us to make a change… What we felt the past year is that we’ve kept innovating — we’ve shipped a lot of new features, we’ve launched in new markets, and we’ve also shipped on many new platforms. But what we haven’t done is to take a step back and just redo the design so that we feel like it’s new, it’s fresh — but also so that it really works across all platforms.
In addition to an overhauled user interface, the app also now includes a revamped Playlists section that allows users to save and organize music in a variety of ways, along with an updated Browse feature that contains enhanced smart playlist functionality and improved context-aware suggestions.
Spotify launched its free streaming tier for iOS devices last December, and integrated its Browse playlist curation feature last August as it has attempted to keep up with the likes of rival music streaming services such as Pandora and iTunes Radio. A report from Edison Research last month noted that Spotify was the fourth most popular service in the United States, making up for 6% of all listeners behind Pandora, iHeartRadio, and iTunes Radio.
Spotify is a free download for iOS devices and can be downloaded through App Store. [Direct Link]
In February, the Wall Street Journal reported on the formation of a new lobbying group called WifiForward that advocated the opening up of unlicensed frequencies to alleviate Wi-Fi congestion and improve performance. The group consisted of industry partners including Google, Best Buy, Microsoft, and many others.
On Monday, the FCC announced that it was freeing up more airwaves for Wi-Fi usage in the U.S. The WiFiForward group wrote in response to the ruling:
Today, the FCC voted unanimously to unleash more unlicensed spectrum will support all the things we already use and further drive investment and experimentation—a 50% increase in spectrum available for Wi-Fi, to be exact. Consumer devices are already equipped to operate in the band, so they can easily be adapted to quickly take advantage of new 5 GHz channels. And a new Wi-Fi standard, 802.11ac, has just been approved for the 5 GHz band. 802.11ac’s wide channels will allow for a better consumer experience.
The group indicates that consumer devices will be "easily" adapted to take advantage of the new 5GHz channels, and that 802.11ac will be able to take advantage of the new bandwidth.
802.11ac or "Gigabit" Wi-Fi offers speeds up to three times as fast as existing 802.11n wireless networks. 802.11ac has been introduced into Apple's Mac line starting in 2013, and is expected to be included in the iPhone 6 later this year.
The store, which is located in the upscale Zorlu Center Shopping Center, features a unique cubic design complete with a glass ceiling and glass sides that occupy approximately 20,000 square feet.
As previously reported, the interior of the store features a host of areas dedicated to services such as a dedicated “Family Room” floor and dual Genius Bars. Photos of the store last week revealed the structure to be hidden behind barricades, but it now appears that Apple is ready to hold its launch event that may feature Apple CEO Tim Cook and Turkish President Abdullah Gül.
Apple's Zorlu Center store is the first of several retail stores planned for Turkey, with the company looking to expand its growth in the region. Apple also met with Turkish government officials over the prospect of equipping Turkish school children with 10.6 million iPads, however that bid was eventually awarded to Turkish company Telpa.
The Apple Retail Store at the Zorlu Center is set to open at 10:00 AM this Saturday, April 5.
Update: Turkish website DonanimHaber has shared more photos of the store:
Apple today updated update Safari for Mavericks to version 7.0.3, adding improvements to compatibility, stability, and security. The update includes a new option for turning off push notification prompts for websites, improves credit card autofill, adds support for webpages with generic top-level domains, and fixes several security issues.
- Fixes an issue that could cause the search and address field to load a webpage or send a search term before the return key is pressed - Improves credit card autofill with websites - Fixes an issue that could block receipt of push notifications from websites - Adds a preference to turn off push notification prompts from websites - Adds support for webpages with generic top-level domains - Strengthens Safari sandboxing - Fixes security issues, including several identified in recent security competitions
The update is a free download for Mavericks users and is available through the software update tool in the Mac App Store.
Apple has also released new versions of Safari 6.1.3 for Mountain Lion and Lion users.
Back in January, OWC confirmed that the 2013 Mac Pro's processor was socketed and removable, theoretically allowing for future upgrades, which are now available by the company. As of today, OWC is allowing users to send in their Mac Pros for both processor and memory upgrades.
Processor upgrades, which start at $1,498 with the trade-in of the base Apple-supplied quad-core processor, include 8-core, 10-core, and 12-core models that are compliant with Apple's technical specifications and power requirements. OWC says that the upgrades are tested, qualified, and guaranteed to meet or exceed the processors available from Apple.
According to the company, the processors are up 46 percent faster than base factory processors available from Apple, and up to 31 percent more affordable.
OWC Turnkey Server Class Processor Upgrade options for Mac Pro 2013 models:
The company is also offering turnkey installations of its memory upgrades, which as previously announced, are available in 32, 64, 96, and 128 GB kits starting at $449.
OWC's Turnkey Upgrade Program, which is available for processor, memory, and storage upgrades, offers professional installation and testing by Apple Certified technicians, also including shipping both ways and rebates for existing hardware. More information on the program can be found on the Other World Computing upgrade website.
In February, 
Apple today updated update Safari for Mavericks to version 7.0.3, adding improvements to compatibility, stability, and security. The update includes a new option for turning off push notification prompts for websites, improves credit card autofill, adds support for webpages with generic top-level domains, and fixes several security issues.
Back in January, OWC 
