Cult of Android - page 54

Apple just released it’s Q3 2013 earnings report and even though iPhone sales were up to 31.2 million units in the quarter, compared to 26 million last quarter, the company only posted a net profit of $6.9 billion. Samsung on the other hand reported that it made $8.33 billion in profit during the same quarter.

Apple reported a profit of $8.8 billion and $35 billion in revenue in the third quarter of 2012, so profit is still down and revenue growth is flat. The company’s year-over-year net profit shrank for the first time in a decade last quarter.

Source: SAI

From the moment Sergey Brin and his delightful band of parachuters demoed Google Glass last year we all knew sex would be the most popular “action sport” to be paired Glass.

Brin’s fancy specs haven’t even hit the market yet, but the enviable has already happened – someone filmed a porno using Google Glass. Porn star James Deen and his accomplice Andy San Dimas released an NSFW trailer that parodies how incredibly “futuristic” it will be to use X-ray vision, Google searches and facial recognition while getting it on.

Here’s the trailer:

Flipboard is no longer a service that you can only enjoy on mobile devices. From today, more than 2 million magazines on every topic imaginable are available to read in your web browser. Each one boasts Flipboard’s signature look and feel, but they’re been optimized for the larger screen on your desktop.

AT&T’s new early upgrade program is “calculating, sneaky, underhanded,” according to a new print ad from T-Mobile that will be published in USA Today.

AT&T Next is designed to let customers upgrade their smartphone more often — once every 12 months — and it is a direct competitor to T-Mobile’s new Jump plan. But T-Mobile has been quick to make its feelings about Next clear, accusing AT&T of trying to take more money from its customers.

I don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of time deleting spam messages from my inbox — despite using a junk mail filter. But the issue is about to get a whole lot worse, with Google gearing up to deliver adverts to our Gmail inboxes. The messages will appear under the new Promotions tab that was recently introduced in a Gmail update, and Google is testing them on a small number of users now.

UPDATE: Lucky Frame has provided us with some updated stats: Gentlemen! now has over 6,000 players on Android, with just 50 paid downloads.

Gentlemen!, a brand new title from Scottish development studio Lucky Frame, made its debut on Android and iOS last week. It’s been a pretty big success so far, with plenty of acclaim from reviewers, a mention in a British newspaper, and thousands of players worldwide.

But it’s not all good news for Lucky Frame. You see, only 20 of the players on Android actually paid Gentlemen!’s $4.99 price tag, the company revealed to Cult of Android.

The other 3,000 stole it.

Just because you talk out loud while you’re alone and hear voices in your head doesn’t mean you’re crazy.

And just because it’s Google Now you’re conversing with doesn’t mean you’re not crazy.

Crazy or not, we’re all going to have an invisible friend in the form of an everywhere, always-listening, always present Google Now.

Do you ever wish you had a better camera in your smartphone? Well, before you upgrade to a hideous Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, you might want to take a look at the blurry picture above. It’s an accessory that Sony is rumored to be working on that’ll help you take incredible pictures with your smartphone.

It’s not just a fancy clip-on lens; it’s actually a 20.2-megapixel Exmor RS camera with a Carl Zeiss lens that uses your smartphone’s display as its viewfinder.

We’ve seen lots of demand for BBM on Android and iOS since BlackBerry announced in May that the service would finally go cross-platform. And the Canadian company has promised us that the app will be here by the end of summer. But how long is BlackBerry’s summer?

According to one company executive, we could be waiting up until September.

Nokia’s decision to only make Windows smartphones has been heavily scrutinized ever since CEO Stephen Elop made the announcement in 2011. Why go with Microsoft’s new platform when Android was already better established?

In a recent interview Elop revealed the reason Nokia didn’t switch to Android was because they felt it was going to get dominated by one company: Samsung.

That didn’t take long. Following AT&T and T-Mobile’s lead, Verizon has announced a plan for early upgraders that theoretically allows users on their Share Anything plans to update their phones every six months.

Just about every major tech company is working on two untapped product categories right now: wearable technology and streaming television over the internet. Apple is trying to draw in TV networks with advertising incentives, and even Intel is working on its own TV service.

It should come as no surprise that Google has been in talks with media companies about streaming premium TV over the internet. The company has reportedly demoed its new product to cable executives, but it’s still up to the networks to jump on board.

Apple and Samsung will meet in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit court next month as Apple steps up its bid to have a number of Samsung devices banned in the United States.

The Cupertino company is hoping to reverse the court’s decision not to remove then handsets from sale when they were found guilty of infringing Apple patents last August.

Uber is a popular car service that is on a mission to make taxis obsolete. It pioneered the idea of using your smartphone to summon and pay for a car, and now Uber has expanded to 35 cities and 14 countries.

Today Uber added a long-awaited feature. You can now split fares between multiple passengers with the app.

Dear Handset Maker:

Your company and hundreds of others are engaged in an epic battle for the smartphone handset market, which within a year or two will exceed a billion customers and $150 billion a year in revenue.

Don’t you want a big piece of that? Because if you do, you’re not acting like it.

Samsung gets most of the market share and some of the profits. Apple gets most of the profits and some of the market share. But Samsung fears with justification that its lead is slipping away to lower-cost and more aggressive vendors. Apple’s momentum has slowed horribly with the onslaught of Android phones.

The rest of you handset makers — let’s face it — are scrambling for crumbs on the floor.

Instead of taking one of the known-bad losing strategies, why don’t you try the obvious winning strategy?

I’m going to describe the losing strategies, then spell out the winning one.

Curious to see what the next version of iOS will be like but don’t have an iPhone? Now there’s an app on Google Play called Control Center that brings the iOS 7 Control Center user experience to Android phones.

The app functions pretty much identical to the Control Center found on iOS 7 except it’s more customizable.  Swipe up from the bottom of your device and you get quick access to toggles for Wifi, Bluetooth, volume, a flash light, camera, and a couple of other basic functions.

The download is free in Google Play right now so if you’ve been eyeing some of the new iOS 7 features, here’s how to get one of them with out having to spend a cent on a new iPhone.

Via: Gizmodo

Source: Google

VimpelCom, owner of Beeline, Russia’s third-biggest mobile carrier, has cut its ties with Apple and decided it will no longer offer the iPhone. The company reportedly feels Apple’s conditions are too “harsh,” and so it has inked a deal with its biggest rival instead.

At the same Sun Valley conference where Apple CEO Tim Cook and Senior Vice President Eddy Cue are prowling around looking for iTunes deals, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt says that the war between Google and Apple isn’t quite so thermonuclear anymore. In fact, he says Cupertino is thawing in many respects towards the search giant.

O2, one of the U.K.’s largest cellular operators, has announced the launch of its free London Underground Wi-Fi connectivity for its mobile subscribers. Like both EE and Vodafone, O2 has entered into a partnership with Virgin Media – which has Wi-Fi hotspots at more than 120 tube stations across central London – to provide the new service to its customers.

TeamViewer has been around at the App Store since 2010, when its first iOS app allowed users to remotely pilot a PC or Mac.

Now TeamViewer has pulled a pulled a 180; the company’s latest trick allows any Mac or PC user to remotely peer into an iPhone, iPad or an Android device equipped with their new TeamViewer QuickSupport iOS and Android apps.

Samsung has overtaken Apple and Nokia to become the global leader in mobile web traffic, according to the latest figures from web analytics company StatCounter. It’s the first time the South Korean company has taken the lead in Internet usage, but Apple isn’t far behind.

It’s no secret the the U.S. government enjoys taking certain liberties with citizens’ privacy by wiretapping cellphones, but did you know that each time Uncle Sam decides to peek in someone’s phone records they get a big bill from the carrier?

AT&T charges the government a $325 “activation free” for each wiretap and then they rack up an extra $10 a day to keep the line open. Want the NSA to think twice before tapping you? Then maybe you should go with Verizon as their wiretaps cost the most at $775 per month and then $500 for each month after that.

Google has rolled out a major Google Maps update for Android smartphones and tablets, which is also “coming soon” to iPhone and iPad. It introduces a new design that finally boasts a dedicated user interface for tablets, as well as enhanced navigation and new features.

Well, that’s exciting! Apple and Amazon have apparently settled their differences over who can use the “App Store” name, making it possible for one or both companies to use it in their business.

US District Judge, Phyllis Hamilton, ordered today that the case be dismissed, as requested by both Cupertino-based Apple and Seattle-based Amazon. The trial, originally scheduled for August 19, will no longer occur.

Android has held a pretty sizable lead over the iPhone for a long time now, and in the United States, it would appear there’s little chance of that changing any time soon. But Apple’s smartphone is gaining ground on its rival, and it’s all thanks to T-Mobile.