Hot on the heels of the rumor that Apple is considering the acquisition of TV/movie streaming and subscription service Hulu, it’s now being reported that Google has entered the potential buyer foray with a handsome bid to put the others to rest.
Currently, Amazon, Yahoo, and the Dish Network are eying Hulu for a potential buyout, and there’s always the possibility that Apple could step in at the last minute. As of right now, Google may be the one that gets to take Hulu home.
Following Steve Jobs’ decision to step down from the position of Apple CEO yesterday, the internet is awash with reaction pieces and opinions from some of the industry’s biggest names. MacRumors points to a rather humorous anecdote from Google’s Vic Gundotra, in which he pays tribute to Steve’s meticulous attention to detail — which Gundotra believes every CEO should have.
If you’re a regular visitor to Cult of Mac, you’ll already have some appreciation of how terrific Steve Jobs is. But do his employees share the same opinion of him as us fans? Well, according to the employment reviews and rating site Glassdoor, 97% of them approved of him as CEO — making Steve one of the most successful CEOs among those rated on the site.
The security experts at McAfee have published details of a new study that found during the second quarter of 2011, Android-powered devices faced a staggering 76% increase in malware than that of the first quarter — while Apple’s iOS devices remained unaffected by malicious exploits.
Google, along with a number of other companies who distribute the Android operating system, could be without the necessary license required to distribute Linux-based software and may therefore be using the operating system unlawfully, potentially at the risk of a complete shutdown of the Android OS.
We covered Google’s new Photovine photo sharing app when it first hit the App Store back in July, but it was initially available only to a select few users who were lucky enough to get an invite. But now we can all join in on the fun, because today Photovine is officially open to all.
This morning, Google made a bold move and purchased Motorola’s mobile business for $12.5 billion. In doing so, Google brought the hardware design and manufacturing of Android devices in-house, just as Apple has always done with its products, starting with the original Macintosh and continuing all the way to the iPhones and iPads of today.
This is nothing short of a capitulation. By purchasing a smartphone maker, Google has all but admitted that it needs more than just a free operating system and loads of partners to compete with Apple: they need to duplicate Apple’s successes by totally controlling both the hardware and software of their devices.
Now that Google owns a handset maker, will the $12.5 billion deal end Motorola’s patent-infringement complaints against Apple? Not likely, says the Android creator.
Have you fallen in love with Google+? Do you find yourself checking the social network frequently throughout your day?
There’s a free app in the Mac App Store that let’s you run Google+ from your Mac’s menubar, and it’s called Tab for Google+. With this app, you can easily check and interact with Google+ while doing just about anything on your Mac.
Google’s Gmail web app for the iPhone delivers a nice new update this morning that makes it even more iPhone-friendly, introducing the iOS trademark pull to refresh function, and an enhanced interface.
Fresh from its purchase of the Nortel patent cache, Apple is in the hunt to purchase mobile technology owned by InterDigital. Cupertino “frenemies” Google and Samsung are also bidding, hoping Apple won’t lay claim to another piece of technology that Android is dependent upon.
Apple’s main mobile competitor, Android, isn’t exactly known for being the most secure platform. While Google’s ‘open’ mentality has proven beneficial in many ways for the Android OS, a non-curated system often leads to compromises in security.
We’ve already seen numerous malware programs surface on the Android OS, and the latest one is particularly villainous.
Earlier this year, a little Swedish company called C3 Technologies took CES by storm, demonstrating their incredible iOS and Android apps that leveraged formerly top secret missile targeting technology to create ultra-realistic 3D maps.
Fast forward seven months, and C3 Technologies’ website is a ghost town, and C3’s parent company, Saab, has sold off it’s 57.8% stake in the company in a deal that is worth over $157 million dollars.
So who bought them? Our best guess: Apple.
I’m sure you’re already aware by now that Spotify is finally available in the U.S., with over 13 million songs ready to stream on demand. But did you know that to accompany it there’s an awesome iOS app for listening to those millions of songs on the go? Spotify for iPhone is the first app in this week’s must-have roundup.
Coverjam Pro is another great app for music lovers that provides you with awesome slideshows of your favorite bands and artists while your listen to their music. It searches Instagram and Flickr for photos with the appropriate tags and aims to “enhance your listening pleasure.”
Google+ (yes, it finally hit the App Store!) is the official iPhone app to accompany Google’s latest social network, and “makes sharing the right things with the right people a lot simpler,” with access to your Circles, Stream and Huddle.
Apple has just seemingly banned its first big name app for not playing along with Apple’s revised In-App Purchase rules, as Google’s official Google Books app, which contained a prominent web link to an outside e-store, has disappeared from the App Store. If it has happened to Google, will Amazon’s Kindle app be the next app to disappear?
Lodsys has gained plenty of fame (even infamy) in recent months for its continued pursuit of a number iOS and Android developers for their alleged infringement on patents that cover in-app purchases and upgrade links. Dissatisfied with its results so far, it now takes aim at some of the big names in gaming… but has Lodsys now bitten off more than it can chew?
Apple’s abundance of available cash is certainly no secret. With $76.2 billion in the bank at the end of the June quarter, the company has more money then the gross domestic product of almost two-thirds of the world’s countries. But what will it do with all that cash? Just sit on it in case of an (incredibly) rainy day?
Of course not. To begin with, it may just be about to buy Hulu.
A consortium that included Apple won an auction for a collection of Nortel patents earlier this month with a bid of $4.5 billion. According to the company’s 10-Q quarterly report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple’s contribution was a hefty $2.6 billion.
Google finally launched its highly-anticipated Google+ app for the iPhone yesterday, and the app has already climbed to the number one position in the App Store’s Top Free chart!
That’s an impressive amount of downloads for an app that’s still in an invite-only beta…
The wait is over! After two weeks stuck in the approval process, Apple has finally given the official stamp of approval on the native Google+ client for iPhone.
Since most companies’ mobile technology patent portfolios are woefully untested, now is a time of the survival of the fittest in the smartphone biosphere. Smartphone companies are suing each other to test the sharpness of their fangs and claws.
So imagine panther-like Apple with agate eyes stalking through the foliage, hunting the biomechanical wildebeest of Android OS. Now imagine, right before the panther sinks its fangs into the wildebeest’s flanks, the wildebeest suddenly rearing about and bleating: “You’re just jealous!”
Well, in real life, the wildebeest has bleated just that, and it came off as stupid as it sounds. According to Google chairman Eric Schmitd, Apple is suing HTC and other Android makers out of jealousy. Oh, right! And a lack of innovation.
On Friday, the U.S. International Trade Commission agreed with Apple and found that HTC’s smartphones infringed upon at least two patents.
The wound Apple has dealt HTC is not just a minor scratch, though. It’s a big victory, and it goes beyond just HTC. Apple may have just plunged its patent dagger right into Android’s achilles heel.
To accompany its upcoming photo sharing service, Google has just launched an official Photovine app for iOS which it dubs “a fun way to learn more about your friends, meet new people, and share your world like never before.”
Has Apple priced itself out of a potential $2.5 billion mobile ad market? As top-name advertisers flee iAd, the Cupertino, Calif. company cutting prices up to 70 percent. Is iAd in free fall?
Despite being accessible only to a select few for the time being, the official Google+ app for the iPhone will hit the App Store anytime soon — possibly before the service even goes public.