Palm and its line of smartphones might be extinct, but its patents have managed to live on after the company’s death, and Apple’s ready to scoop some of them up.
Apple reached an agreement with Japan’s ACCESS Co., Ltd. to license $10 million worth of patents that were originally created by Palm and PalmSource. Other patents were included in the deal from Bell Communications and Geoworks as well.
Piper Jaffray has once again asked the teenage blight upon our fair nation to stop popping pimples and sexting for a second to tell them what gadgets they want to buy next year. And, duh, it’s the iPhone.
Foxconn sales declined 19% during the first quarter of 2013, and “disappointing” demand for Apple’s iPhone is getting the blame, Reuters reports. Between January and March, the company’s sales totaled NT$808.97 billion ($26.96 billion), down from NT$988.24 billion ($32.99 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2012, and NT$1 trillion ($33.38 billion) a year ago.
The official Foursquare app for iPhone has been updated today to make it easier to see Explore recommendations when you’re out and about. The Explore feature now has its own page within the app, which provides you with a list of nearby places you may wish to visit.
I’ve never had much luck with Google Goggles; it’s a fancy feature tacked on to the Google Search iOS app that’s supposed to return search results related to any item or text photographed from within the app. But it’s sent me shopping for dresses after I’ve snapped a picture of speakers, and tried to conduct searches using text it thinks it’s found — when their wasn’t any.
Brand-spanking-new CamFind attempts more-or-less the same trick — only it’s better at it.
To stay on top of its prediction game, analyst firm Piper Jaffray’s just finished its 25th bi-annual teen survey to find out what all the cool kids are doing with tech and what do they want next.
The survey found that Apple is the most desired tech brand by teens, but Google has made some improvement compared to last year. Yet while analysts are still busy predicting the demise of Apple, 48% of teens in the survey say they own an iPhone, and 62% say they plan to buy one next.
Rechargeable, portable, and built to live on or under your Mac or iDevice, the Sound Cylinder (SC) speaker is a first from audio maker Definitive Technology (DT), who usually focuses their acoustic talents on high-end home theater equipment.
But can Definitive Technology, with its years of experience engineering coveted boutique audio, create a portable speaker that usurps the top spot of the much-loved and most-excellent sounding Jawbone Jambox?
Google Glass looks like the coolest piece of technology since the invention of the iPhone. Even though a ton of businesses will probably ban it, we can’t wait to try Sergey Brin’s new eyewear out.
Google Glass seems like it came right out of Star Trek, but the way this technical masterpiece works is actually pretty simple. Martin Missfeldt created the following infographic that lays out all the details on how Google Glass works so you can impress your friends with your scientific knowledge. Take a look:
There have been some absurd Apple rumors that hit the web this morning, but here’s one that actually has a chance of happening in the real world.
Apple will be updating its MacBook Air and MacBook Pro line of laptop just in time for Worldwide Developers Conference this June.
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Topeka Capital analyst Brian White received some criticism last week when he revealed in a note to investors that he expects Apple’s much-anticipated television set to come with a “mini iTV” tablet and an “iRing.” But rather than going into hiding until the whole thing is forgotten about, White has revealed his predictions for the iPhone 5S.
The device will be available with “at least” two screen sizes, White claims, giving those who might switch to Android for a larger display a reason to stick with the iPhone.
One thing that we really hope Apple adds to iOS is the ability to toggle certain settings right from the homescreen. There are a number of jailbreak tweaks that let you do it, but we’d love a Cupertino-brewed solution.
Ran Avni has a new iOS 7 concept that solves a lot of the problem with toggles. With his tweak you’d be able to adjust brightness, change songs, turn on Bluetooth or Wifi, and change your device orientation, all from a simple menu on the lockscreen. The UI isn’t perfect, but we’d love it if Apple put something similar to this in iOS 7 so we’d have one less reason to jailbreak.
Source: YouTube
The HBO Go app for iOS has today been updated to add some great new features, including support for AirPlay multitasking. Game of Thrones fans will also be able to enjoy enhancements to the interactive experience on iPad.
Pano Glitches are a the new fake light leaks. Only they’re better. Pano Glitching involves setting your iPhone to shoot a panorama and then dicking with it on purpose. Instead of following the instructions to smoothly sweep the iPhone across the scene in front of you, you can quickly switch views, or just jerk the phone in your hand.
Ever been driving along when inspiration strikes? When the perfect line for that song you’ve been writing appears in your head and you just have to write it down? How about when you’re listening to the radio and you want to remind yourself to look up a book you’re hearing about on NPR?
You could pull over and rummage around your glove box for a pen that works and some paper, or pull out the Moliskine notebook you carry around everywhere (you hipster). Or, you can just have Siri create a Note about it on your iPhone. You can even have Siri add stuff to Notes you’ve already made. That way, you can just make a note of it, using your voice and the power of Apple’s personal assistant, and it will sync to iCloud (if you have it enabled), ready for action when you get home, or back to your Mac.
Apple loves the idea that you get a lot of use out of your iPhone, but it doesn't want to be responsible for car crashes! This 2008 patent filing describes a Windows Phone-style "drive mode" that would use a variety of sensors or iPhone data to detect when you're operating a vehicle, and would then block certain functions that might distract you while driving.
This isn't so much a car patent as an iPhone one, but it still demonstrates that vehicular safety is a subject up for discussion in Cupertino. Could talk of self-driving cars naturally follow?
Entire ad campaigns have been created to get people to stop texting while driving. It seems like common sense – you can’t get where you need to go if you’re busy texting your friend Sheila all about how excited you are for your date tonight.
But what if you can’t get to your date because you need to check your phone’s maps? Is it ok to look at maps while you’re driving? According to the California court of appeals, no way!
Earlier today we reported that Apple mysteriously decided to pull the app discovery service AppGratis from the App Store over the weekend.
Apple confirmed that they have pulled the app from the App Store after it was decided AppGratis violates the App Store guidelines in two major ways.
The iPhone 5 is set to launch on T-Mobile this Friday along side T-Mobile’s new “uncarrier” no contract strategy. Not wanting to get left behind, Virgin Mobile is planning to win over T-Mobile’s pre-paid customers by offering them $100 to switch sides.
In a new ad campaign called “Retain Your Brain” Virgin is offering $100 to T-Mobile customers to move their number over to one of its unlimited plans that start at $35 a month and could result in $334 of savings over two years.
PopAGraph is Yet Another iPhone Photo Editing App (YAIPEA), but it brings a slick interface and a nice new gimmick to the game. The idea is that you create quick masks for your photos, and then apply effects to the masked (and unmasked) sections. Then – and here’s where the name comes from – you can frame the picture so that the subject pops out over the edge.
The example picture of the boats at the top of this post shows exactly how it looks.
A few months back, I spent far too many hours trying to find an app which would scan a page of text and turn into actual, editable text. I found none. Or rather, I found nothing good. There are plenty of OCR (optical character recognition) apps in the store, but they were either inaccurate, or ugly, or (most often) both.
And while Evernote is excellent at letting you search on scanned pages and even your handwritten notes, you don’t get to touch the text itself.
I gave up, and now – as usually happens with my “urgent” research projects, I’ve forgotten why I needed it on the first place. Which is a shame, as Pixter Scanner has been launched,and it is quite excellent – with one huge annoyance, for me at least.
How low will Apple go?
First, Apple CEO Tim Cook was forced to grovel and kowtow to the Chinese Communist Party over their obviously false and politically motivated claims about Apple’s warranty.
Now, Apple is being publicly insulted and used by Facebook.
There is no way Steve Jobs would have put up with this kind of humiliating abuse.
Here’s what’s going on.
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The iPhone and iPad are magical devices because of one thing: the well-designed hardware and software works in conjunction to make everything just work. The iOS operating system is a thing of beauty, not least of which because there is so much to explore and learn about.
As a touch-based platform, iOS uses gestures like swipes and taps to let you control things with intuitive ease. However, there are bound to be less well-known gestural commands in such a complex set of software. Here are five of the better ones.
This week on The CultCast: Jony Ive’s huge sweeping iOS 7 changes; Apple Television and the Ring of Power; our favorite April Fools pranks; and careful, your iPad might be giving you Gorilla Arm… all that and the best listener shout out ever on this minty-fresh episode of The CultCast!
Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing now on iTunes, or hit play below and let the good times roll.
Show notes after the jump.
For the past few decades, Microsoft has absolutely dominated Apple when it comes to the number of Microsoft devices sold versus Apple devices, but 2013 will be the year that everything changes.
A report from Gartner claims that Microsoft’s reign is coming to an end, as 2013 will be the first year that more Apple devices are purchased than Windows devices.