Twitter photo filters

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The goal is to release the camera filters in an application update in time for the holiday season, these sources say.

I’d rather see Twitter release the grip on developer’s balls.

Apple, Google partner to buy Kodak patents

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The two companies, competing for dominance of the smartphone market, have partnered after leading two separate groups this summer to buy some of Kodak’s 1,100 imaging patents, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the process is private.

US patent office declares key Apple patent invalid

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This week, the USPTO issued a first Office action rejecting all 20 claims of U.S. Patent No. 7,479,949 on a “touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics”, which has been referred to by many people, including Apple’s own lawyers, as “the Steve Jobs patent”.

This isn’t a final decision, but it’s certainly an important one for Apple.

Anytune

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I’d like to thank Anytune for sponsoring this week’s RSS feed on The Loop. I’ve tried this app myself and really like it.

Musicians of all kinds use Anytune to learn, transcribe and practice their favorite songs!

Check out Jim’s guitar stylings in a rare solo version of a theme that fans of The Loop should recognize. Something unexpected happened when tuning the track that hints at the source of Jim’s power… You’ll have to watch the video on this page to find out what it might be.

Music Practice Perfected.

Bold Poker for iOS

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This looks fantastic. The app replaces the deck of cards and deals to the player’s iPhones.

Pixelmator setback

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The guys at Pixelmator posted an explanation to users of Macs with NVIDIA GeForce graphics card drivers. Apparently there is a problem with the drivers that causing the application to crash.

Pixelmator is a great app run buy equally great people.

Netflix CEO comments lead to civil action by SEC

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Netflix Inc said securities regulators plan to take action against the company because of a Facebook post by Chief Executive Reed Hastings that violated public disclosure rules, even as Hastings dismissed the contention in a public letter to shareholders on Thursday.

Stupid of the CEO.

Another TSA agent caught stealing iPads

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TSA baggage screener Sean Henry, 32, was arrested on Tuesday after a sting operation conducted jointly by the TSA and the Port Authority Police Department caught Henry leaving the airport with two iPads that had been planted as part of the sting, as well as numerous other electronics devices he had allegedly stolen from passengers. Just as in a recent ABC News investigation of thefts by TSA agents, the sting used the iPads’ own tracking capabilities to follow the stolen tablets’ movements.

I’m glad they’re getting caught.

Amazon sells 34 apps from its Appstore in the last year

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App downloads in the Appstore have grown more than 500 percent over the previous year.

All Amazon says in its press release is that they have grown 500 percent. Typical of the way they do business, they refuse to release actual numbers.

So, I’m guessing it’s 34 apps. Amazon hasn’t said anything to prove me wrong, so that’s what I’m going with. It’s a lot of fun to play loosey goosey with numbers isn’t it Amazon?

Top Gear: Stunt School Revolution 2.0 on the App Store

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Want to balloon hop a motor home to clear the Grand Canyon? Use your sports car and escape Alcatraz by leaping as far as you can and landing on a barge? Speed through a roller-coaster on a New York skyscraper with a cow on your pickup? You can do all this and more in Top Gear: Stunt School Revolution.

T-RackS Custom Shop

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IK Multimedia is proud to announce the release of T-RackS® Custom Shop, the updated version 4.0 of its world-class mixing and mastering suite for Mac and PC. The new T-RackS CS offers five brand-new, must-have analog-modeled and digital processors, and it integrates the Custom Shop, IK’s exclusive online gear shop, which allows users to purchase gear models à la carte from within the T-RackS software itself, and much more.

It’s good to see IK bring more of its software to the Custom Shop.

Tim Cook hints at Apple’s next big thing

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Tim Cook:

“When I go into my living room and turn on the TV, I feel like I have gone backwards in time by 20 to 30 years,” Cook told Williams. “It’s an area of intense interest. I can’t say more than that.”

What Tim didn’t say is that Apple would be making their own television. His comments could be directed towards the content on the TV or how we interact with the device.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II grosses $1 billion in 15 days

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Activision Blizzard, Inc., announced today that Call of Duty: Black Ops II has crossed the $1 billion mark in worldwide retail sales, according to Chart-Track retail customer sell-through information and internal company estimates. Illustrating the strong appeal of interactive entertainment to audiences worldwide, the game achieved this milestone in just 15 days after its launch on November 13, 2012. Last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare3 reached $1 billion in retail sales in 16 days. The box office record set for feature films in 2009 by “Avatar” was $1 billion in 17 days.

That’s one popular franchise.

Surface sales suck

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If Microsoft is being coy about revealing Surface sales data, it may be for good reason. Early demand for the company’s first tablet is lousy. How lousy? Put it this way: If Microsoft really did manufacture three million to five million Surface tablets to sell in the fourth quarter, it’s going to have between two million and four million left over at quarter’s end.

Estimates from the analyst are 500,000-600,000 for the quarter.

Amplified: That’s Just The Heineken Tweeting

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Jim and Dan discuss Microsoft’s failure to solve a problem with the Surface, Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs, BBEdit 10.5, the Das Keyboard, the shuttering of The Daily, The Flashback X4 Delay, and more.

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Why magazine apps suck

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MG Siegler made a lot of great points here. It’s definitely worth a read, but many of you won’t be surprised by the ultimate conclusion — traditional publishers just don’t get it.