MacRumors

The London-based luxury concierge service Lime&Tonic has released its first iPhone app, allowing users to browse and purchase recommendations on the go. The app, which was developed in collaboration with Czech-based developers adikt mobile, can help users of the service to personalize any recommendations suggested to them by posing a wide variety of questions, including coffee preference, how users like their steaks cooked and any favorite cocktails.

This information is then fed into Lime&Tonic's algorithm and the application presents users with personalized recommendations in their local cities. These can be purchased straight through the application either using a credit or debit card, or via Lime&Tonic's 'credits' system, which can be managed online. Users can also read reviews of experiences via the application before committing to buying.

Lime&Tonic is currently limited to a few select cities around the world, including London, Amsterdam, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro and Dubai however the service is expanding rapidly. The company predicts that three cities will be added by the end of the year, with a further 20 planned by the end of 2014, and in North America, the service plans to launch in New York, Toronto and Vancouver. Lim&Tonic currently has around 850 experiences available globally and claims a 92% user satisfaction rate.

The company's CEO and co-founder, Stefan Cordiner, explains the company's aims going forward:

Our focus in purely on premium merchants that are able to offer quality experiences so we can ensure that if you're going to spend your limited free time with us, it will be good.

Much like Groupon, Lime&Tonic partners with local businesses and takes a cut of all bookings made through its service. The service is completely free to use and can be signed up for via their website or via Facebook.

Lime&Tonic is a free download from the App Store. [Direct Link]

According to analyst Wanli Wang at CIMB Securities, as shared by The Economic Times, Taiwan based electronics manufacturers Inventec and Quanta have won contracts to produce Apple’s iWatch. Wang's supply chain sources indicate that Inventec will produce the majority of the iWatch at 60%, while Quanta will handle the remaining portion of production. The report also claims that the iWatch will sell for an average of $199 and projects shipments of 63.4 million units in the year after its launch.

"Apple is likely to introduce 'iWatch' in 2014. From our channel checks, Inventec is the major assembly source for 'iWatch', with about 60 per cent of order allocation," said CIMB Securities analyst Wanli Wang in a report.

CIMB projects 63.4 million units of "iWatch" shipments in the year after its launch with an average price of around $199, while the "iWatch" project is estimated to contribute 19 per cent of Inventec's earnings in 2014, Wang said.

Supply chain sources do on occasion offer accurate information on Apple's plans, but they are also prone to sharing incorrect or incomplete information, so their reliability is difficult to ascertain.

CIMB's pricing and unit shipments also appear to be based more on speculation and modeling than any specific information, suggesting that they should be taken with considerable skepticism.

In the past couple of months, Apple has been reportedly been ramping up its iWatch effort, hiring new employees with expertise in health sensors, including fitness expert and Nike product consultant Jay Blahnik. Apple has also been filing trademark applications on the iWatch name in a number of countries, and is reportedly looking toward a late 2014 launch for the product as it works to solve numerous technical challenges.

According to a new survey from research firm Forrester (via TechCrunch), Apple's iOS phone platform remains the highest priority for mobile software development teams, followed by the Android phone platform and the iOS tablet platform in second and third place respectively. The survey was done by asking 765 software developers creating mobile applications, and addressed not only iOS and Android but also platforms such as Windows Phone and Blackberry 10.

But while the survey shows that the iPhone remains the highest priority for developers, it also shows that more developers target Android phones somewhere in their plans, with 84% of developers planning Android phone support compared to the iPhone at 77%. A similar split is seen in tablets, with iOS being rated as the top priority by the most developers but Android more developers overall planning to support Android.

Despite iOS getting this first app mover advantage, more developers target Android phones overall than target iPhones (84% rank Android phones as a priority vs 77% for iPhones). This is to be expected, with Android being on so many smartphones at multiple price-points vs Apple’s limited iPhone portfolio. However the iPad does help to expand Apple’s developer mojo, with 27% of respondents ranking the iPad as their second priority device vs around a fifth putting the same level of importance on Android tablets. By contrast Windows RT tablets are being largely ignored by developers, according to Forrester’s data.

Apple is set to release iOS 7, the next version of its mobile operating system, in the next couple of months, likely fairly soon after the company's September 10 media event.

Sonny Dickson has posted several new photos showing the alleged front panel from the next-generation iPad, which is said to carry a slimmer, thinner design similar to the iPad mini. The photos appear to be consistent with a previous leak that depicted the front panel of the black next-generation iPad and an April leak showing the white version, all showing the same narrower side bezels. as well as a pair of flex cables that run along the long edge of the pane that also appear to consistent with prior reports.

As with the black front panel part from earlier this month, this white part includes the integrated digitizer, with a pair of flex cables running along the long edge of the pane. Thosee connectors are somewhat different from those seen in Apple’s current line of iPads, but the company has also been rumored to be making a number of technological changes for the upcoming iPad, such as using the same touch panel technology found in the current-generation iPad mini.

Apple will reportedly release the thinner full-size iPad and the next-generation iPad mini in the final three months of the year. The company is holding an iPhone media event on September 10, and it has been thought that new iPads would appear at a later date, but a report today claims that both iPhone and iPads will be introduced at the September 10 event.

Popular peer-to-peer service BitTorrent has launched BitTorrent Sync for iOS, an app that allows users to sync and backup an unlimited number of files across their devices as well as the ability to share files with other devices. The app allows for syncing of photos and videos with Camera Roll backup integration, and also offers encrypted file transfers and QR code support for peer transfers.

BitTorrent Sync is a brand new product from BitTorrent that lets you sync an unlimited number of files and folders of any size across all of your trusted devices. BitTorrent Sync for iOS gives you access to all of your synced folders when you’re on the go, and introduces a new mobile-to-mobile sharing feature for easily sending your photos and videos to your friends.

Prior to its release on iOS, the app started as an Android-only project released in beta last month. BitTorrent Sync can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

After the latest update to Apple TV disabled the functionality of the popular PlexConnect plugin, which allows Plex to run on non-jailbroken devices, developer Paul Kehrer has posted a detailed tutorial on his personal blog providing instructions on how to fix the issue.

The instructions, although somewhat technical, are fairly easy to follow. Users will require a copy of Apple Configurator (which is currently only available on OS X at the moment) and a micro-USB cable in order to connect their Apple TV to their Mac.

The fix is only intended to be temporary, and it may be disabled in future Apple TV updates. Yesterday, Plex Chief Technology Officer Elan Feingold told MacRumors that the company was "saddened to hear that PlexConnect stopped working" and that "we can only hope that in the future Apple decides to release an SDK for the ATV", citing that interest in the project was "high".

Parallels, the company behind popular virtualization software Parallels, has launched a new iPad app and subscription service called Parallels Access that allows iPad and iPad mini users to remotely access and use their Mac or Windows apps on the device.

With Parallels Access you can increase your productivity by accessing your computers and desktop applications from anywhere. You are able to access your professional business applications and get all your entertainment such as streaming video from your Mac or PC onto your iPad. And do it as though all your Windows and Mac applications were designed for your iPad.

The app allows users to interact with their desktop apps in the same way they would interact with their iPad apps, with the full range of iPad gestures available for compatible apps. Parallels Access translates what would usually be mouse clicks and movements into iPad-friendly alternatives.

Users must download the free Parallels Access Desktop app to their computer of choice in addition to the app on the iPad. They can then access their desktop apps via the Sprinboard-like App Launcher and switch between apps in the iOS-like App Switcher. The apps are only available to use on the iPad in "full screen" mode.

Parallels Access is available for free for the iPad and iPad mini [Direct Link]