Eric Johnson

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AllThingsD Week in Review: iPhone Overload, YouTube Offline and the Future of AllThingsD

Asa Mathat / AllThingsD.com

In case you missed anything, here’s a quick roundup of some of the news that powered AllThingsD this week:

  1. Let’s start with the elephant in the room: Yes, AllThingsD and the Wall Street Journal Digital Network, by way of our current mutual owners Dow Jones, are parting ways. But readers and conference attendees who were initially concerned by this news have no need to worry; we’re not going anywhere.
  2. But enough about us. Let’s talk about Apple, which predictably generated its usual hubbub this week with the release of two new iPhones. Walt Mossberg reviewed the iPhone 5s, and Lauren Goode reviewed the iPhone 5c, while John Paczkowski compiled the key quotes from reviews of the new iDevices from around the Web.
  3. Those reviews were generally positive, but it’s not all good news for Cupertino: Carrier sources warned that shipments of the higher-end 5s would be “grotesquely low.” This turned out to be especially true for the gold and silver models. We don’t know quite yet how many iPhones Apple will sell this weekend, but the company said on Friday that demand at launch has been “incredible.”
  4. Last thing about iPhones in this recap post, honest: Apple also released the latest version of its mobile operating system, iOS 7, on Wednesday. Users adopted it in droves on day one, despite that cow-hanging bug uncovered by Conan O’Brien. They quickly discovered a real security flaw, too, in the new operating system’s lock screen, but Apple said it’s working on a fix.
  5. The e-commerce world lost one of its pioneers this week: Amazon’s first CFO, Joy Covey, was killed in a bike accident; she was remembered here by Kara Swisher.
  6. In a bid to get its Windows 8 devices in front of more consumers, Microsoft has retooled an iPad trade-in program and is now willing to buy up seemingly any smartphone or tablet.
  7. After years of requiring an Internet connection to get at those funny cat videos, YouTube is preparing to allow offline streaming, for up to 48 hours after a clip is saved to a mobile device.
  8. Speaking of mobile devices: The much-hyped “second screen” is extending its reach into a new medium — videogames — by way of Microsoft and Sony’s next generation of gaming hardware.
  9. Although it already attracts a regular cadre of diehard tweeters, Twitter wants more. So, it’s planning a massive overhaul of its mobile apps, designed to make the service more appealing to mainstream users.
  10. What happens, though, if you want to delete your account from Twitter? Or Facebook, or Google+, or LinkedIn, or Yahoo, or AOL? You may want to check out this handy guide for deleting the right way.

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Another gadget you don’t really need. Will not work once you get it home. New model out in 4 weeks. Battery life is too short to be of any use.

— From the fact sheet for a fake product entitled Useless Plasticbox 1.2 (an actual empty plastic box) placed in L.A.-area Best Buy stores by an artist called Plastic Jesus