Win an iMac with 5k Retina display
OS X is a pretty operating system under normal circumstances. But viewed on the 5K display of the new iMac, it’s other-worldly. For a chance to look at this beauty on your desk every day, you just need to enter our giveaway. That’s right, we’re giving away a 5K iMac valued at $1,999.
The 27-inch Retina iMac has an almost unbelievable resolution of 5120×2880, but a pretty picture isn’t all it offers. Under the hood, there is a quad-core 3.3GHz i5 processor, and 8GB of RAM. In other words, it is the dream machine for any videographer, developer or photographer — not to mention a great everyday desktop for the every-day user. Better yet, it looks like a piece of art on your desk.
For your chance to win this stunning machine, you simply need to enter our giveaway. Head for the link below, hit the big green button on the giveaway page, and enter your details to claim your entry. Then, share your entry with your friends for more chances to win – you’ll get five additional entries for each friend you refer! Good luck!
➤ Enter to win the 5k Retina iMac.
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Microsoft is retiring the Modern UI version of Skype on July 7
While Windows 8 had a scarcity of touch-friendly Modern UI apps from major brands, Skype – being a Microsoft property – was certainly not excluded.
Windows 8, unfortunately did not turn out to be very popular, and now Skype is retiring the Modern UI version of the app on July 7. On that date, users of the touch-friendly version app will be transitioned over to the traditional desktop software.
Microsoft cites the imminent release of Windows 10 as a major reason for the shift. It just makes more sense to use the version of the app already optimized for mouse and keyboard (and capable of touch) than having two separate apps that essentially do the same thing – especially given the desktop and Modern UI interface are no longer separate as in Windows 8
Still, it’s a bit of a peculiar change given the Microsoft’s push for universal apps that work on all kinds of devices – it seems the company won’t force all its major apps to adopt universal design features.
Developing…
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Liveblog: Oculus VR’s June event
Facebook’s Oculus VR division has assembled press in San Francisco today to unveil… something.
Catch up with what we know in the run up to the event. Want to see how it all unfolds? Follow our liveblog below.
The event kicks off at 10am PDT/1pm EDT/6pm BST/7pm CEST/10.30 IST.
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Watch now: 7 habits of successful innovators
Innovation is a team sport.
Amy Jo Kim, co-founder of Shufflebrain, thinks that for companies to be successful, they need to work closely with their dedicated customers. She thinks successful innovators have seven habits and she shares them in her talk.
The first is that innovators should think like scientists. Small innovations start like experiments designed to answer the most important questions of the customers. The most striking pattern shared by every successful innovation is the willingness to ask the hard, important questions upfront.
Another important habit lies in recognizing the early adopters specifically for your product. They can be of a great value because they are invested in the product and are motivated to make it better. You need to learn about your customers first before you build anything. Their insights help you to shape the product.
In order to keep your customers engaged, your product needs to contribute to their skill-building. It is not only about creating badges, it is about making the player better than they were. The key is to create the feedback loop to promote learning and mastery through engaging activities.
Do you want to know all the habits? Amy also offers three shortcuts to turbo charge the customer discovery process. What are the shortcuts? Watch Amy’s talk to find out.
Watch more TNW Conference talks on TNW Video.
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Product Hunt gets its first standalone category: games
Product Hunt, which was launched in late 2013, is expanding into new ground with its first area separate from the main leaderboard.
The separation of games was teased a few weeks ago when the site launched its Game Hunt newsletter. Today, Product Hunt announced that games and technology products will live on separate leaderboards under the Product Hunt umbrella.
The new games leaderboard is reminiscent of Reddit’s independent ‘subreddits’ where users can follow their interests, but Product Hunt is betting big on the new area.
The company has hired Rush Frushtick, co-founder of game news site Polygon, to help run the new vertical and went to its community to get feedback on the gaming leaderboard along with a redesign of the site.
We asked Ryan Hoover, Product Hunt’s founder, why the company picked games for its first new vertical when there are plenty of others, like movies or music.
He told TNW that “games [are] a natural extension for us” and that there has been “an explosion of creation in the gaming industry, exacerbating the discovery problem.”
He also hinted that games aren’t the only expansion, with “other categories coming in the coming weeks.”
After collaborating with its users on the new design to get feedback and ideas, Product Hunt is launching both the dedicated games leaderboard and the updated look today.
➤ Product Hunt Games
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iOS 9 uses new tricks to squeeze more battery life out of the phone you already own
Apple touted a number of flagship features of iOS 9 during its WWDC keynote, but the company is quietly focusing on squeezing more battery life out of the phone already in your pocket.
A session for developers titled “achieving all-day battery life” pushed that app builders need to be more conscious of how their code is draining the user’s battery and introduced new features to help catch battery thirsty apps.
One significant feature of iOS 9 that Apple hadn’t mentioned previously stops your iPhone’s screen from lighting up when it’s face down on a table. Until now, the iPhone would light up for every notification, regardless whether the screen was actually viewable or not.
In iOS 9, it’s much easier to keep track of what apps are draining your battery, how long you used individual apps and what they are doing in the background with the new battery menu.
Changes in iOS 9 also improve the way phone handles app activity in the background. The OS now intelligently saves some network activity for the next time you’re on Wi-Fi and defers heavier processing to when plugged in for charging.
A new warning indicator in XCode that details the energy impact of apps under development and what activities will cause the most battery drain, to make developers more aware of what impact they’re having.
Developers are being encouraged to move away from old methods of updating information in their apps, asking them to eliminate polling and timers when looking for new data. Apple instead recommends that work be performed in batches when the user is actually using the app.
When not in use, apps should now be at “absolute idle” in iOS 9, to reduce battery power as much as possible.
Overall, Apple says that iOS 9 already performs better on existing hardware with up to one extra hour of battery life. It’s spent a lot of time optimizing system apps for energy efficiency to squeeze as much as possible out of existing hardware.
With this release, it’s pushing developers to be more considerate of how much energy they’re actually using. It’s unclear if it’ll enforce new rules on the App Store that check app efficiency, but the push could mean major improvements for how long your phone makes it through the day.
Read Next: Apple is finally fixing the reason your Mac and iPhone’s Wi-Fi sucks
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