Weekend news roundup: All the best Apple news from last week

BY Kelly Hodgkins

Published 25 May 2014

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As we close out one week and kick off another, let’s take a moment to look back at the attention-grabbing headlines from the past seven days. Some of the news you may recall, some may be new to you, but all the topics below are worthy of a second mention.

 

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The best rugged cases for your iPhone 5s or iPhone 5

If you keep dropping your iPhone from time to time, or work in extreme environment conditions where your iPhone could be exposed to dust, water or shock, then a rugged iPhone case can prove to be a good investment. Here’s a list of the best rugged cases for iPhone 5s and iPhone 5.

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New Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts’ plan for future of Apple Stores: China, mobile payments and revamped store experience

Apple announced last year that Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry, will be joining the company as the Senior Vice President of retail and online stores. Ahrendts is now three weeks in to her stint and has already defined three major points of emphasis for the future of Apple stores — mobile payments, China and a revamped shopping experience.

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Morgan Stanley: iPhone 6 may include NFC for Apple’s Mobile Payments system

Over the past few years, there have been several rumors that claimed Apple’s iPhone will include Near Field Communications (NFC) technology. Not surprisingly, this year too, we’re again hearing rumors and speculations that the iPhone 6 will include the short-range wireless technology for mobile payments.

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Apple negotiating paid deals with ISPs for CDN to deliver iTunes, iCloud and App Store content

Apple has been working on building its own Content Delivery Network (CDN) to speedily deliver digital content like music, videos, apps, software updates etc., to customers all over the world. For this, it has started negotiating with ISPs in the US.

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Apple to hold WWDC 2014 Keynote on June 2nd at 10 am PT, may unveil new Hardware

Apple has just released an update for its WWDC app for this year’s WorldWide Developer Conference that kicks off on June 2nd. The app confirms that the event will kick off with the Keynote address scheduled from 10 am to 12 pm.

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Hackers claim they’ve bypassed iCloud Activation Lock

A couple of hackers claim that they’ve managed to bypass Activation Lock, Apple’s anti-theft protection measure that makes an iOS device unusable until the owner’s Apple ID password is entered.

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Microsoft gives behind-the-scenes look at design process for Office for iPad

After several years of rumors, Microsoft finally released Office for iPad in March, and since then the Office suite of apps have been downloaded over 27 million times from the App Store. The Office for iPad team gave a behind-the-scenes look at how the apps were designed from scratch for the iPad rather than simply porting it from Windows.

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Apple offering free shipping on all products until May 29

Apple is offering free shipping for products bought from its online store from today until the 29th of May. This covers every product you can find in the Apple Store regardless of its value. So if you’ve been looking to gift something for your loved ones, now might be the right time to get a case or an accessory which doesn’t cost a lot.

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iPhone 6 physical mockup compared to every iPhone released so far [Video]

We’ve seen detailed comparisons of the iPhone 6′s larger, thinner design with a variety of devices like the iPhone 5s, iPod touch etc., but a newly released video takes it to the next level by comparing an iPhone 6 physical mockup with every iPhone ever released.

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Popular Game Boy Emulator GBA4iOS returns after Nintendo takedown

GBA4iOS is back again following a Nintendo Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown request that forced developers Riley Testut and Paul Thorsen to pull the popular iOS Game Boy emulator. Testut updated GBA4iOS and posted a new version on the official GBA4iOS website, which is now live.

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Apple’s Beats acquisition ‘is complicated’, could be delayed due to valuation, roles and more

Many reports were released last week, claiming that Apple’s oft-rumored Beats acquisition wouldn’t be finalized until this week. The week is now coming to close (at least in the United States), and we have yet to here anything official. A new report published this afternoon says that the deal has been delayed for a variety of reasons, including valuation, roles, and more.

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Apple no longer allowing people who have received a refund for apps to reinstall or update them

Michael Simmons, co-founder of Flexibits reports that Apple no longer allows people who have received a refund for apps to reinstall or update the app.

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Here’s How to fix the iMessage bug if you’re not getting text messages after switching from an iPhone

If you’ve switched from an iPhone to an Android, BlackBerry or Windows Phone, and are not getting text messages from your friends who are using an iPhone, then you’re not alone. Apple has acknowledged that an iMessage bug is affecting some users, and plans to provide a fix for the issue in a future iOS software update. Until then, if you’ve or are planning to switch from an iPhone to an Android, BlackBerry or Windows Phone, then you need to follow these steps to fix or avoid the issue.

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Are you getting a certificate error when updating OS X? Here’s how to fix it

Apple has apparently forgotten to renew its SSL certificate, resulting in certificate errors while updating OS X from the Mac App Store.