iPad By Davis: “Twelve South to start shipping iPhone 5 BookBook case this Monday” plus 6 more

Twelve South to start shipping iPhone 5 BookBook case this Monday
iMore Editors' Choice for November 17, 2012
Police apprehend suspect in $1.9 million iPad mini theft at JFK
Apple grows war chest, takes ownership of 1,024 Nortel patents
Tracked Down & Grabbed an LTE iPad mini Today
Best Free iPad App of the Week: Netflix
Sponsor Thanks: ColorStrokes HD

Twelve South to start shipping iPhone 5 BookBook case this Monday

Posted: 18 Nov 2012 12:34 AM PST

Twelve South to start shipping iPhone 5 BookBook case this Monday Twelve South has announced that it will start shipping its hugely popular BookBook case for the iPhone 5 this Monday. The BookBook was first made available back in 2011 and was a superb case that was also a fully functioning wallet. If you were looking for a converged case and wallet then you couldn't do much better than this. Well from Monday you can get hold of one for your iPhone 5 too.

Between the hardback covers of BookBook for iPhone 5, you'll find a leather-wrapped frame that securely holds iPhone and offers edge-to-edge access to all four inches of iPhone's stunning Retina display. You'll have easy access to all ports and buttons as well. Thanks to customer feedback, this BookBook has a built-in camera hole so you can quickly capture photos with the iPhone 5 iSight camera. And Apple's Passbook app is a great way to carry your rewards cards, airline cards and coupons without fattening your wallet.

One look and you'll be hooked on this beautifully-designed mini book. Available in your choice of Classic Black and Vintage Brown, each BookBook is hand-distressed using high quality leather. BookBook is a conversation piece and a totally unique case that disguises your phone and wallet, while protecting both. It's a wallet that looks like no other and a case that keeps your iPhone from looking like everyone else's.

The BookBook case will cost $59.99 regardless of your color choice; although Vintage Brown is only available at launch. Shipping is included in the price in the US and Twelve South does offer international shipping at extra cost. Could you see yourself using a case like this? I personally love the look of this case and think it looks extremely well made too.

Source: Twelve South

Twelve South to start shipping iPhone 5 BookBook case this Monday

iMore Editors' Choice for November 17, 2012

Posted: 17 Nov 2012 05:21 PM PST

iMore Editors' Choice for November 17, 2012

Every week, the editors at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This week's selections include a bluetooth audio accessory, a fighting game, and apps for those looking to save a few bucks, buying movie tickets, listening to music, an ADN client, and an interactive children's bedtime book.

TuneLink Auto - Chris

This week I have gone for an accessory that was an absolute must after I upgraded my iPhone 4S to the iPhone 5. I listen to music and podcasts all of the time when I am driving around and my iPhone 4S had a kit that allowed the audio from the dock connector to be piped straight into my car stereo. Due to Apple' change in dock connector from the 30 pin to the Lightning connector, I could no longer use this when I switched to the iPhone 5; this is where the TuneLink Auto comes in.

The TuneLink Auto is a Bluetooth stereo audio interface that plugs into your car's 12-volt power socket and then into your cars AUX 3.5mm input. Your iPhone can then connect to the TuneLink via Bluetooth and it plays your music through your stereo all without wires. It also comes with a USB port so you can plug in your Lightning cable and charge your iPhone 5 if needed. The sound quality is fantastic and as soon as you start your car the iPhone pairs to the TuneLink and your music or Podcasts start playing without any interaction needed. It works perfectly every time.

If your car doesn't have an AUX input, fear not, the TuneLink also has an inbuilt FM transmitter included too so you can tune it to a free radio station and listen to your music that way; the sound quality using the FM transmitter is no where near as good as with the wired solution. The TuneLink is a top piece of technology and I love it!

$79.00 - Amazon

Beatdown! - Simon Sage

Beatdown is a retro beat-'em-up game inspired by such classics as Final Fight, River City Ransom, and Double Dragon. The simple jump/attack/move virtual buttons keep things simple and allow players to focus on laying some fists into a variety of corporate goons. The game's protagonist was (in his opinion) wrongfully dismissed from his job, so he goes on a rampage of righteous fury, punching and kicking his way to the company CEO. Players build up a rage meter throughout each level simply by laying the smackdown, and when it reaches its maximum, the hero goes into a whirling, red frenzy. The evildoers are all hammed up in cute, tongue-in-cheek kind of way, and should resonate will with those that spend a lot of time in an office. Beatdown was made by the same guys that made the League of Evil games (among other titles), and as you might expect, the 16-bit-style graphics as both charmingly blocky and well-animated.

$0.99 - Download Now

RetailMeNot Coupons - Chris Parsons

I'm kinda cheap. Incredibly so when it comes to buying things on the internet like web hosting or domain names. With so many online companies trying to win your business, there is plenty of coupons out there that can almost always offer you a deal if you take the time to look around. One site that lists a lot of coupons is called RetailMeNot. Recently, I've been checking out the RetailMeNot Coupons app -- the app is free to download in the iTunes App Store and has some nice features built into it such as the ability to browse hot coupons, categories and even save coupons for later use. It's not the best designed app in the world, but thus far, I've managed to save $20 just by having it on my device.

Free - Download Now

Stream for App.net - Joseph Keller

Stream is a new App.net client for iPhone. It has a simple, clean interface, and reminds me favorably of Tweetie before it was purchased by Twitter. Stream makes use of gestures in order ot perform actions such as reply, viewing a conversation, and reposting. Swiping a post in your feed to the right will bring up a reply window, while swiping to the left will let you view a conversation, reply, favorite a post, or repost, depending on how far you swipe. You can also simply tap on a post in order to perform all of these actions, if you wish. Cross posting to Twitter is supported through use of the iOS system Tweet sheet, which will copy the text in your compose window. Stream is a solid App.net client for iPhone, and if you're looking for an alternative to the apps already on the market, I highly recommend you pick this one up.

$3.99 - Download Now

AMC Theaters - Ally Kazmucha

I'm a huge movie person and whenever we've got a night to head to the movies, we take advantage. If you've got AMC theaters around you, the AMC app is a great place to get information. If you're an AMC Stubs member, not only can you track your rewards but they actually support Passbook. Once you've entered your Stubs information into the AMC Theaters app, you have the option to add your Stubs card to Passbook.

I personally hate carrying around loyalty cards so any company that has loyalty cards with Passbook support is on my must download list. The AMC Theaters app may have a lot of the same information you can get from apps like Fandango but the Passbook support along for Stubs is what really sold me. If you're a member, make sure you check it out.

Free - Download Now

Track 8 - Rene Ritchie

While some may think iOS is starting to get a little long in the tooth, even throwing around the "b" word -- boring -- the truth is, iOS is a blank slate in every sense of the word. Generation after generation, Apple senior vice-president of design, Jony Ive, works to make the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad more and more about the screen and the content, and less and less about the chrome surrounding it.

For proof of that, look no further than Track 8 by Ender Labs, a music player app for iOS that wraps your onboard iTunes library in the Windows Phone design language and panorama interface. I've always been a huge fan of that look, once and to me always called Metro, but I do find it monotonous painted across an entire operating system. Painted across a single app, however, and it's awesome. And that's exactly what Track 8 does.

Andy Ihnatko made Track 8 his pick of the week a couple of shows ago on MacBreak Weekly and I've playing with it ever since. That's the advantage of an operating system where an overarching design language isn't highly encouraged (or lazily implemented) system wide. Every app can be something entirely new, something decidedly unboring. Whether it's Clear, Letterpress, or in this case… Track 8.

$1.99 - Download now

Nighty Night! HD - Winter Special - Leanna Lofte

Nighty Night! HD - Winter Special is a fun interactive bedtime story for children. It's about a town that's going to bed, except that all the lights at the farmhouse are still on. It's up to the young reader to turn off all the lights and say goodnight to all the animals. Once the lights are turned off, they cannot be turned back on which is great for parents who want to use this book a literal bedtime story because the child cannot prolong it. Once all the lights have been turned out, the narrator has also notices that "you" are still are awake and that's it's time turn off the lights and go to sleep.

I've helped my daughter say goodnight to all the animals these past few nights and she absolutely loves it. She'll even play with the app during the day on her own sometimes, but at bedtime it's something we do together and both have fun doing.

$2.99 - Download Now

Your choice?

Now that we've chosen our favorites for the week, we want to hear yours! Did you pick up a killer app, accessory, or game this week? Let us know in the comments below!

Police apprehend suspect in $1.9 million iPad mini theft at JFK

Posted: 17 Nov 2012 03:13 PM PST

Police apprehend suspect in $1.9 million iPad mini theft at JFK

A couple of days ago some heisted almost two million dollars worth of iPad minis from JFK airport. Turns out, however, the culprit was more would-be-wiseguy than actually good goofella. Once again proving that no amount of law enforcement or manpower can equal suspects being less than clever, John Paczkowski of AllThingsD reports:

The suspect, Renel Rene Richardson, blew his cover by asking his co-workers for details about the iPad shipment and where to find a forklift a few days before the theft.

And yeah, no relation.

Source: AllThingsD

Apple grows war chest, takes ownership of 1,024 Nortel patents

Posted: 17 Nov 2012 02:20 PM PST

Apple grows war chest, takes ownership of 1,024 Nortel patents

Apple has reportedly received a transfer of 1,024 patents or patent applications from Rockstar Consortium, formerly Rockstar Bidco, a group of technology companies that bid on thousands of patents that had previously held by Nortel. Apple had been part of Rockstar Bidco, which bid against Google for the patents, and had access to the patents through that consortium. The transfer of patents to Apple's ownership, however, could better position them in ongoing litigation. Owen Thomas of Business Insider reports:

Apple already had access to these patents, since it owns a large stake in Rockstar Consortium. That venture, formerly known as Rockstar Bidco, bid $4.5 billion, of which Apple provided $2.6 billion, on a collection of 4,000 patents sold by Nortel. Microsoft, Sony, Ericsson, and RIM also backed Rockstar, which beat out Google in the bidding for the patent collection.

Even as Apple has settled with HTC and may be prepared to settle at least part of their case against Motorola Mobility, and won $1 billion verdict against Samsung in the U.S., a number of other, international cases, haven't gone Apple's way.

So, while the contents of these patents is unknown, except that they deal primarily with mobile technology, they could help solidify Apple's current and future litigation.

With Samsung is reportedly unwilling to settle at this point, having already reaped the rewards of what Apple considers their "copyist" behavior, perhaps Nortel's patents could help change their minds?

It's possible that, with the acquisition of these patents, Apple will have enough leverage to get Samsung to settle at least some of the outstanding lawsuits between the companies, and the mobile world can enjoy even a little bit of rest after a long, drawn-out patent conflict.

Source: Business Insider

Tracked Down & Grabbed an LTE iPad mini Today

Posted: 17 Nov 2012 11:47 AM PST

I bought a WiFi iPad mini on its launch day a couple weeks back. This week I returned it within the 14 day return period; reason: I love it (see my iPad mini review for confirmation) and wanted to trade up to the WiFi + Cellular model as soon as I could get hold of one.

During the course of Thursday and Friday of this week I kept seeing reports that the iPad mini WiFi + Cellular (or LTE) models would be in Apple and carrier stores starting on Friday. So yesterday I called around to quite a number of AT&T and Verizon stores here in Austin – and none of them had any available, or any clue when they might have some. I called my closest Apple store twice during Friday morning and was told they had no iPad mini LTE models in yet and that they weren't sure if they would get any during the day. I tried a third time just after midday and got the sad news that they had received a limited number of units and had sold out. I must've missed them by a very small window of time.

Last night I tried hitting the Apple online store right on 10PM – when they refresh stock availability – to see if I could manage to grab an LTE model with pickup at a local store, to avoid waiting 2 weeks for shipping. I spent a full hour giving my browser's refresh button a workout and then finally the page changed and showed pickup options available for the 32GB LTE model I wanted. I entered my zip code and immediately saw that no pickup was available at any of the stores in my area. I tried several times with no change in the results.

(...)
Read the rest of Tracked Down & Grabbed an LTE iPad mini Today (263 words)