When Microsoft launched the Surface with Windows RT, it was supposed to be the answer to all of their iPad problems. It runs on cellphone chips, yet still looks like regular Windows 8. It’s supposed to be awesome. But sales of Windows RT tablets haven’t been strong, and now Samsung is saying that they’re second guessing the platform.
In a recent interview at CES, Make Abary, Samsung’s senior vice president who oversees the company’s tablet business, said that Samsung has decided they won’t launch their Windows RT tablet in the U.S. after discovering there’s not much demand for them.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Now that the iPad is quickly replacing PCs in the workplace, your office is probably packed with tablets everywhere that need to be charged. Rather than letting you suffer through some half-baked homemade solution, iLuv introduced the MultiCharge-X at CES this year.
Welcome to the most awkward booth at CES. There are battery packs for your iPhone and MacBooks. You can check out a new stylus. On display in the corner is an external iOS drive. They even got some new iPad cases on too. But don’t let those products distract you from the real show: the four naked women standing on display.
Scantly clad booth babes are a common sight at CES, but HyperShop has taken it to a whole new level by unabashedly displaying naked women at their booth. They claim it’s art, and maybe it is (what is “art” anyway?), but what the hell do these naked women have to do with battery packs?
Third-generation iPad owners became understandably upset last November when Apple announced a new sixth-generation iPad eight months after theirs went on sale. It was the first time the Cupertino company had launched an iPad within 12 months of its predecessor, but it looks like we’d better get used to it.
Rumors have this week suggested that Apple is now looking to update its iOS devices every six months, introducing two every year. And according to one analyst, that’s exactly what’s going to happen with the next-generation iPads.
pod2g, an iOS hacker famous for his many jailbreaks, most recently the Absinth 2.0 release for devices running iOS 5.1.1, has released today released his first iOS app. It’s called podDJ, and it turns your iPad into “the most realistic virtual turntable you have ever seen,” allowing you to mix and scratch any track in your iTunes library.
That’s a wrap, folks! The 2013 Consumer Electronics Show is done and over, but after walking the tech-packed floors and press events for days, we’re ready to reveal the gadgets that had us yelling “shut up and take the money!” Get the full scoop on our newest CultCast!
Plus, don’t miss our own Deputy Editor John Brownlee regale us with the hilarious story of a press event gone so wrong, the internet can’t stop buzzing about it.
All that and more on our newest and final live-from-Vegas CultCast! Subscribe now on iTunes to catch our all-new episode, or easily stream new and previous episodes via Apple’s free Podcasts App. And while you’re at it, be sure to download our other 3 daily CES recap episodes to hear our favorite booths of shows past and funny stories from the show!
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – This is one of those simple ideas we’re surprised no one has come up with before. The PhotoFast i-FlashDrive HD is a flash drive with two different interfaces at each end — one 30-pin, one USB — that makes it super-easy to tranfer files between a desktop and anything with a 30-pin connector. It’ll also work with a Lightning connector through a Lightning adapter.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – I was so impressed by Simplism neat case lineup that I thought I’d post a few pictures of the Japanese company’s wares, even though it’s still looking for an international distributor.
Below you will see the wonders of a case made to look like wood; the world’s thinnest iPhone 5 case, a clever Smart-Cover-locking, over-the-shoulder rear skin for the iPad and and a screen protector and cover which heal if they are scratched.
If you own a relatively recent Android device, it’s likely to support a nifty feature called DLNA, which allows you to stream content directly from your device to a whole host of compatible devices, including televisions, stereos, and Sony’s PlayStation 3. It’s very similar to AirPlay, only it supports a far greater range of devices, and doesn’t require an Apple TV.
Well now you can enjoy DLNA streaming on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch thanks to Skifta, a new iOS app from Qualcomm Atheros.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Last year, I gave my friend Rachel — a NYC singer/songwriter/comedian with an impressive array of musical proficiencies — my old iPad 2 as a gift. It was her first tablet, or even touchscreen device. I worried she wouldn’t know what to do with it, so when she opened the box and gave me an inquisitive cock of the eyebrow, I told her that the very first thing she needed to do with it was install Garage Band.
To this day, I think it was Garage Band that is the real gift to Rachel, not the actual iPad. Using Garage Band, she can quickly jot out a song idea on the road, or even fully record a fantastic mix, all from a device small enough to fit in her purse. There’s only one trade-off: you have to use the touchscreen. There’s no physical instrument as portable as the iPad to take on the road with you.
That’s where the Jamstik comes in. A product so new and in-concept it doesn’t even have a distributor yet, it’s one of our favorite products of CES. It’s a tiny, ukelele-sized guitar with real strings that connects to your iPad over WiFi, and not only can you use it to record or even perform with your iPad, but it can also teach you how to play the guitar… or serve for an impromptu game of Guitar Hero.
ZeptoLab released Pudding Monsters, its first iOS title since its success with Cut the Rope, back in December. But it hasn’t finished its original physics-based puzzler just yet. The company just released an update on iOS that introduces a brand new box of content with 25 new levels.
Angry Birds Space for Android and iOS has today received yet another big update, introducing a brand new galaxy with 30 new levels. It’s called Splash, and every planet is filled with water, strange aquatic life, and pigs in boats. The update also promises the “ultimate under water boss level.”
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Back when I was a kid, I had all kinds of Fisher-Price toys I loved playing with. But I don’t think I remember anything quite as magic as Fisher-Price’s new line of Apptivity sets for preschoolers that combine child-safe cases and toy figures with slick augmented-reality apps (though my little Classic Xylophone came close).
When it comes to styluses for your iPad, there’s quite a few options, but none are quite like the Connect, Pogo’s newest stylus that they’re showing off at CES this year. The Connect is a pressure-sensitive stylus with some unique features that set it apart from the rest.
The Pogo connect lets you rest your hand on the iPads screen while drawing, something that can come in handy when using the stylus for extended periods of time. Because of this, your hand won’t get sore trying to rest it on the bezel to avoid unwanted input from your wrist.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Let’s be honest, iPad styluses are pretty boring. I’ve tried to use a few different models, but the problem is you always have to take it with you and then you forget about it because you’re so used to using pens.
It’s nearly impossible for me to get excited about styluses, but LunaTick’s new Touch Pen is the first stylus I’ve seen that’s actually made me think a stylus could be useful.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 –
The Cult of Mac staff invaded Show Stoppers last night at the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas. Along with some free buffet food and an endless supply of booze, there were products galore. Some were neat. A lot were horrible. But the event was a lot of fun.
Here is a small sampling of the sights of CES Showstoppers last night:
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Are you ready to have your mind blown? Three words: Bluetooth Clackety Keyboard. More words: without the clack.
That’s right. Matias, maker of the non-clicky Quiet Pro, has released a tenkeyless version of the mechanical-switched keyboard, and it has Bluetooth, which means it works with the iPad.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Sometimes you find something that catches your eye in the back alleys of CES, and the Justin Case by Innovative Technologies is exactly like that. It’s a very compact, slim and stylish folio case for your iPad or iPad mini with built-in slim line battery connected to elegantly sreamlined 30-pin and Lightning chargers.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – The truth of the matter is that there’s just no way to have a telescopic lens phallically jutting out of the back of your iPad in a way that Jony Ive’s sense of dignity in design would approve of. Props to Polaroid, then, for not even trying, instead going a more playful route with their brand new line-up of iPad, iPhone and iPad mini cases that support snap-on external lenses.
Just over 100 years ago, Ford, one of America’s oldest car companies, was selling the model T; my, how far we’ve come.
Back to 2013, Ford has announced they’re opening up their AppLink service to all the iOS and Android app developers of the world, essentially creating an ecosystem full of apps that will make their cars even better. They’re calling their new initiative the Ford Developer Program, and I think it’s pretty cool.
eBay has issued updates to its iOS apps this week to introduce a number of features that promise to make selling from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch a much more pleasant process. When listing a new item, the apps will now help you choose a category for your item — just like the website does — and they’ll help you select the right shipping charges. What’s more, you can now start listings on your iOS devices and finish them off on your desktop — or vice versa.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Everything you need to know about how Intel wants you to see them was summed up in a bizarre Ken Burns-style documentary that aired at the beginning of their CES presser, in which Intel compared their new ultrabook and tablet initiatives to Notre Dame’s use of the forward pass back in 1913 to utterly dominate the Army Cadets, a team considered much superior. The odd, old-timey documentary ended with a virtual CGI football hurtling at the screen, only to explode in a nuclear fireball just before it hit the camera. “WELCOME TO THE NEXT GAME CHANGER,” Intel blared.
If you know anything about the game in question, though, you know that Notre Dame didn’t actually invent the forward pass, though. They just swiped it from another team and popularized it.
So according to this analogy, who is Intel? They’re clearly Notre Dame, stealing another team’s moves. And that team is obviously Apple. Some game changer.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Apple accessory powerhouse iHome unleashed a mighty avalanche of products last night, the lion’s share of which was Bluetooth in nature. Highlights from the deluge include a Bluetooth version of the perennially popular iMH series portable speakers and the quirky iBT44, a Bluetooth boombox — not simply a Bluetooth-equipped speaker that some marketing guru has slapped the term with, but an honest-to-goodness, FM-equipped stereo circa 1983, only covered in rubber. Oh, and there was also a double-Lightning clock-dock. And Bluetooth headphones. And more Bluetooth speakers. And regular speakers.
At CES in Las Vegas, Madfinger Games just announced Dead Trigger 2, the sequel to its mobile first-person shooter Dead Trigger, to be available on iOS and Android in the second quarter of this year.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Party rockers were in the house last night at CES. Ion unveiled several new products from their 2013 catalog. Two in particular caught my eye.
