iPhone - page 247

A lot has been said lately about the iPhone’s demise, and thanks to global smartphone marketshare numbers, you’d think the Apple-hating Negative Nancys are right. But then if you look at the U.S. marketshare numbers, it’s a completely different story.

Benedict Evans created the chart above based on AT&T and Verizon’s recent sales figures. It’s pretty clear that the iPhone has been the only smartphone that is actually increasing sales for the networks, while Android buyers are probably people who just go into the shop and buy whatever looks good.

There’re few photo apps better than MacPhun’s FX Photo Studio for the casual photographer. It’s got a pretty interface, it’s super-simple to use and it’s stuffed with way more filters than any other iPhone app at the App Store (pretty sure this is true; if you think you know of one with more filters, let me know). Normally the app is $2, but today it’s free.

They say that distance makes the heart grow fonder, but for a lot of people, Snapchatting promiscuous pics and Skyping just isn’t enough. Condom maker Durex is ready to help you out though by adding a new product for your sexual repertoire.

As its first experiment with wearable tech, Durex has created “Fundawear.” It’s a line of underwear that’s been embedded with tons of tiny little vibrators around your naughty bits region that are then synched up with an iPhone app so your partner can “touch you over the Internet.” There’s a mens and womens pair, and they’re pretty much perfect for couples who are long distance and wanting to get kinky, or creeps that want to masturbate in public using only their iPhone.

Here’s the video Durex created to introduce Fundawear:

As the head of Apple’s design team, Jony Ive has been one of the most influential figures in tech over the last two decades. He helped create the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad and slew of other Apple products that have hit shelves over the last few years.

Now Jony’s putting his mark on Apple’s software too, which makes you wonder if there’s any area of design Jony can’t master. Time just released its list of the 100 most influential People in the world, and Ive is the only Apple employee that made the list.

Here’s what Bono had to say about Sir Jony:

We’ve all seen those fake iOS devices that are being made in China, but did you know that Apple’s App Store is being cloned there, too? A service called KuaiYong, which means “use quickly” in Chinese, according to MIC Gadget, lets iPhone and iPad users download and install pirated iOS apps without jailbreaking.

The service has been around for almost a year, so how has it gone unnoticed for so long?

Evernote’s free image editing app, Skitch, now allows you to annotate and share PDF files on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. You can then share those PDFs with other Skitch users, who will get a nifty summary view of all your annotations.

Here’s an interesting tidbit for you: even as Apple’s stock price has plunged below $400 as twitchy Wall Street investors panic upon rumors that iPhone and iPad demand has slowed, Verizon Wireless has reported that they activated 4 million iPhones in the last quarter. That’s 500,000 more than was estimated, an 84% increase year-over-year in iPhones activated: overall, it means that almost 56% of all phones Verizon sold last quarter were iPhones.

So can everyone calm down about iPhone growth slowing, already? We’ll know the truth when Apple announces their financial earnings next Tuesday, April 23rd.

Source: Verizon

Remember that fifth-generation iPad mould that we reported on earlier this week? Well, its source has now obtained what is believed to be the casing for Apple’s rumored low-cost iPhone.

It’s made of polycarbonate plastic just like the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS, and it will reportedly pack a 3.5-inch display like previous iPhones — yet it’s both taller and wider than the iPhone 4S.  It may also get its grand unveiling this October.

Twitter Music is launching on iPhone and the web today, and you no longer have to be a star to enjoy it. After a short period of testing with select music artists and celebrities, the music discovery service will be made available to everyone later on today.

LinkedIn has rolled out new apps for Android and iOS that boast brand new designs, faster navigation, and new features. Users will now find an increased focus on their news stream, with conversations, network updates, and more now front and center. The update even comes with a fancy new demonstration video; check it out below.

The French were everywhere at this year’s CES, measuring everything. Everything. The most imaginative expression of this peculiar (but useful) French obsession was the Hapifork, a Bluetooth-connected utensil that measures the user’s eating habits.

If that sounds interesting, good news: Hapifork has finally made it to Kickstarter, just two months behind schedule.

I have fond memories of the cassette tape. The first album I ever bought was on cassette — I won’t tell you what it was — and I used to spend hours taping songs off the radio so that I could listen to them on my cheap Bush walkman, which had just three buttons and a volume control.

The cassette’s pretty much dead now, of course, but you can help it live on with this cool cassette case for iPhone 5 from Rocket Cases. Priced at just $14.99, it’s made from a sturdy TPU plastic that provides your device with all-over protection from drops and scratches.

I’ve been testing it for a few weeks to find out whether it is worth its price tag, or whether it’s as useful as an actual cassette tape.

Mailbox for iPhone is revolutionary, sure, and it lets you “snooze” your emails to a point later in the day, week, or month. But what if you don’t like the way it does that?

By default, Mailbox defines the start of your day as 6 am, the start of your weekend as 10 am, and the end of your workday as 6 pm. It defines Later Today as +4 hours, and Someday as +3 months.

If that doesn’t fit your individual schedule or tastes, here’s how to change it.

Apple got a head start on Google with the App Store, but over the last year, Google Play has continued to make up ground, not only with its offerings of apps, but also the amount of revenue it generates.

In Q4 2012, Apple’s App Store was still seeing four times as many sales as Google Play was, but fast forward to Q1 2013 and the App Store is now only making 2.6 times as much as Google Play.

I don’t know about you, but I find that displaying the battery percentage alongside the battery indicator in the iPhone’s status bar takes up too much room — particularly if you use tweaks that provide status bar symbols for outstanding notifications. I usually use Springtomize to remove the battery indicator altogether, leaving just the percentage.

But a new tweak called Live Battery Indicator gives you the best of both worlds — without taking up too much space.

Got a few minutes to read something? Not sure which of your saved Read Later article to pick? Then you need Readtime, a new iPhone app which picks articles based on the time you have available. Dial in the length of your coffee break or the average time taken to clear your bowels in the morning, and Readtime will return a list of appropriately-long articles.

Who knew there was room for yet another iPhone currency converter in the store? The folks behind Currency, that’s who, a conversion app that is as minimal as its name.

It’s gotten to the stage that I’m so loaded up on cloud storage for my photos that I could toss my iPhone into the toilet and not lose a thing (well, apart from the action shot of the toilet bowl framing my shocked face as the iPhone shoots its last photo). But while Dropbox and Everpix are great, sometimes you just want to rock an old-school USB stick and transfer photos to and from you iPhone with a stick of plastic.

Messaging alternative MessageMe just updated today with several new features, like the ability to chat in landscape mode if that strikes your fancy.

The iPhone app won’t save chat doodles to the camera roll by default anymore; you’ll be able to save them if you like, or turn the feature off completely, saving valuable space on your iPhone should you so choose. The Voice Notes feature has been improved, and you can search for other MessageMe users using their email.

Audio now works for messages with video, and you can save videos as well in the new version. There’s also other “minor fixes and performance improvements” to be found.

After being fired from his post at Apple for the Apple Maps fiasco last year, Richard Williamson has found a new home at one of tech’s other superstars – Facebook.

Richard Williamson played a key role in the development of the iPhone’s software under Steve Jobs. After working at Apple for more than a decade, Williamson was put in charge of the Apple Maps team that replaced Google Maps in iOS 6.

Android’s reputation as a nest for malware isn’t likely to heal anytime soon, thanks to a new report from Symantec.

According to the security company’s research, Android is still the main target when it comes to mobile malware writers, but iOS is technically a more vulnerable platform.

One of the central conceits of new iOS mail client, Mailbox, is getting to Inbox Zero, a zen state of pure joy, in which you feel much better having dealt with all your email. The way the app does this is with swipes. Swipe partway across an email to the right and you archive it with a pleasant green checkmark. Swipe completely from left to right and you send the offending email to the trash. It’s lovely, and easy, and oh so nice.

But what happens when you make a mistake and long swipe to Trash when you really meant to short swipe to Archive?

There are a ton of Bluetooth headsets on the market today, and because I prefer talking hands-free, I’ve tried a lot of them. But as a Bluetooth enthusiast (yes, we exist), I’ve been continually frustrated. That’s because all the headsets I’ve tried thus far have missed the mark, especially when paired with an iPhone, delivering callers’ voices as muddy and hard to decipher, or making me sound like I live under the sea (I don’t).

So when I got my hands on the Plantronics Voyager Legend UC, with its promises of excellent audio, call routing touch technology, and the ability to work on both my Mac and iOS device, I was dubious. Not anymore. This little Legend hasn’t just proved my first impressions wrong, I’m now convinced it’s the best Bluetooth headset I’ve ever used.

As more cable subscribers start to embrace the idea of ditching cable for services like Netflix and Hulu Plus, cable companies are quickly trying to entice subscribers to stay by offering TV everywhere on every device.

Time Warner Cable announced today that starting tomorrow, TWC subscribers will be able to stream live TV to their Apple devices for the first time ever. An update for TWC’s iOS app should roll out  tomorrow that will make 11 live national news, sports, and entertainment channels available to subscribers outside of their home, via an iPhone or iPad.

Even though there are rumors that Facebook and Apple might be working to bring Facebook Home to iOS, it’s hard to believe Apple would give up so much control of iOS to Facebook.

For those craving for some Facebook Home action on iOS, there’s a new Facebook app update that will bring the most buzzed-about features of Facebook Home to your iPhone: “Chat Heads.”