Sonos is ditching its dedicated CR200 remote control in favor of mobile apps. According to Sonos boss John MacFarlane, this was the plan all along. Now, though, there are enough people with smartphones and tablets to finally make the hardware controller obsolete.
Late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs famously said that he intended to wage “thermonuclear war” on Android. The rift between Apple and Google has been growing wider over the years, and the two companies have essentially become sworn enemies in most areas of business.
In an interesting profile by Bloomberg Businessweek, current Google CEO Larry Page says that Steve Jobs’ public defamation of Android was “for show” to rally Apple around its obvious enemy. Page also talks about topics like the current state of Google, the Motorola acquisition, and more.
Most news about the iPhone in the U.S. is centered around the major national carriers including those that offer the iPhone (AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint) and T-Mobile, which doesn’t.
Today, however, that news focuses on Virginia-based carrier nTelos, which will become the second smaller carrier in the U.S. to offer the iPhone. Seeking to differentiate its iPhone options from the larger carriers, nTelos is also offering some sweet deals on the purchase of an iPhone 4/4S as well as a bargain price for unlimited data.
One of the consumerization of IT trends is the use of cloud storage. Most of us already have experience with iCloud and other personal cloud services like Dropbox, Google Docs, and SugarSync. The big advantage to all these solutions is their ubiquity – you can access documents and files in the office, at home, on the road using your iPhone or iPad, and pretty much anyplace else. Though they may raise data security and privacy concerns, personal or public clouds are extremely easy to use and always available.
The popularity of major cloud providers is causing a number of companies to offer easy to configure private cloud options that businesses can physically deploy on their own network or that can be hosted by the developer or a cloud service provider.
This week, ownCloud, which already offers an open source cloud storage and sync, announced new business and enterprise options that offer a great deal of flexibility.
True story: When I was around 14 years old, there was a kid who would come to school sometimes already wearing a condom. His reason? In case he suddenly got lucky. Needless to say, this never happened. If this kid is still around today, I imagine he’ll be the first in line for the Playa Case, an iPhone case which has a slide-open compartment for two condoms. Classy.
Walter Isaacson took to the stage in Amsterdam for the John Adams Institute recently to talk about his biography based on Steve Jobs. During the 90-minute clip, Isaacson talks at length about Steve’s character and his management style, and he recounts a number of his favorite stories about Apple’s co-founder and former CEO.
I’ve always thought of FileMaker as “databases for the rest of us” – the software is easy to understand for even novice users, it has an immense focus on visual design that allows users to create impressive looking solutions quickly and easily, and it packs quite a bit of power. All of those traits get a boost in FileMaker 12, which was released this morning.
My first impression on using FileMaker 12 is that the company took all the things I’ve always like about FileMaker Pro and Server and turned them up to 11 – particularly when it comes to making mobile solutions.
The Ledge, from designer Chris Blackburn, is the first iPad wall mount I would actually consider buying. Instead of the usual bulky cases with matching wall-mounted bayonet, the Ledge is just what its name suggests: a solid aluminum ledge which sticks to the wall.
Dolphin Browser is arguably one of the best third-party browsers for iOS, and the iPhone version just became even better with its latest update. Version 4.0 brings a stack of new features including Dolphin Sonar voice controls, a URL keyboard, and a night mode — and it’s available to download now.
The just-launched Instagram for Android is great news. Now all your Android-using friends who insisted on putting photos up on Facebook can finally leave the dark side. But will they get the same great Instagram experience as we do on the iPhone? Matthew Panzarino of the Next Web decided to find out, and loaded up his account on both his iPhone and a giant Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
The surprise is that — in some respects — the Android version is better than the iPhone one.
If you didn’t hear the news, Android got a slick new Instagram app this morning that has brought salvation to millions of smartphone users across the globe. Finally, we can all take pretty ugly pictures of nature and cats and food and post them with the loving assurance that they are viewable to 80% of of the world’s smartphone users. Horray! Instagram is finally a really awesome global party!
Well stop right there with the happiness, because a lot of iPhone users are pissed that Instagram came out with an Android app. Twitter has been flooded all day with elitest iPhone owners bemoaning the flood of “ghetto” “poor” Android toting riff raff smashing into their beautiful walled zen garden. The sheer abundance of snooty pretentiousness is enough to give a sensible person a lethal dose of dysentery.
Here’s some of the most ridiculous anti-Android Instagram posts we’ve seen so far:
The sale of Apple’s iPhone has been off the charts, after the company sold a record amount of handsets last holiday quarter. Today we have some more insight on where a large chunk of those sales are going. According to a new report, one-third of high school students in the U.S. are owners of Apple’s iPhone. Even a larger amount indicated they hope to pick up the iPhone during the next six months.
Chances are to save on your 3G dataplan, you’ve enabled Wi-Fi on your iPhone. However, if you’re an Android user, you’re less likely to do so. According to a new study by ComScore, 71% of iPhone users are connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot, while only 32% of Android users are. So what could be the reason? Perhaps connecting to Wi-Fi on an iPhone is a bit easier.
Look, I know some folks like the auto-expand of omw to “On My Way!,” but honestly? I’m rarely that enthusiastic when sending a text about my plans to head over to a buddy’s house. Just sayin’. If this bugs you as well, here’s the way to fix it, as well as add others to your texting repertoire.
RIM has launched iOS and Android support in its BlackBerry Mobile Fusion mobile device management (MDM) software. The new feature known as Universal Device Service follows February’s initial launch of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion. The initial launch primarily provided the ability to manage RIM’s PlayBook tablet. The launch of the iOS and Android components of the software have been expected for quite some time.
The release is likely to be welcome news to companies and IT departments that are established customers of RIM products. Beyond those customers, however, BlackBerry Mobile Fusion simply joins a long list of existing MDM services that support iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Even RIM’s own BlackBerry OS.
There are now over 500,000 iPhone apps and 170,000 iPad apps available on Apple’s App Store and that number will surely continue to increase as new app developers enter the foray. In March 2012 Apple’s App Store surpassed its 25 billionth download. If you’re not already buying apps regularly, you probably will be soon. Here are some tips that may help you save some money on your App Store purchases.
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The Fling controller from TenOne Design (soon to be reviewed) is a great way to add a physical to your iPhone or iPad, just by suction-cupping it onto the screen. This means that it works with any game on your iOS device that uses an on-screen “joystick.”
The downside is that it moves at the worst moments: I have wiped out in more than one GTA car chase this way. But designers at the Keio University in Japan have come up with another idea. A joystick which uses the iPhone’s camera as a controller.
Apple’s stock price has continued to rise at an incredible rate for months, leading one analyst to predict that its shares will reach $1,000 by 2014, making it the world’s first trillion-dollar company.
Apple and Google, sitting in a tree, f-i-g-h-t-i-n-g. We know that the Apple/Google relationship has gone from best friends to hate/hate, and that Apple has done its best to distance itself from its former lover. Apple has already bought mapping company C3, and is using OpenStreetMaps in iPhoto for iOS. But the Apple-designed map tiles are a little hokey. What the Maps app needs is these beautiful CC licensed tiles from Stamen Maps.
Apple broke away from its traditional June iPhone unveiling last year, delaying the iPhone 4S announcement until early October instead. The company is widely expected to do the same with the iPhone 5 — likely to be called the “new iPhone” — this year, but according to one Foxconn recruiter, it’ll arrive in June like many of its predecessors.
Apple has updated the Investor Relations page of its website this morning to announce its second-quarter earnings call on April 24 at 2 p.m. PT.
Firefighters in China’s Yunnan Province have rescued a two-year old toddler from a 40-foot well with the help of Apple’s iPhone. After the child kept slipping out of a rescue harness that was designed for adults, an iPhone was lowered into the well so that the rescue team could use its camera to see the boy’s position.
A jailbreak tweak called Aero reinvents the interface for multitasking on the iPhone. With Aero, you use a list of animations and effects to create your optimal multitasking environment in iOS 5. It completely changes the feel of switching between apps.
Memoir Tree is a new oral history for capturing memorable moments – including those goofy things your kids say while away at pre-school or that look on your grandfather’s face as he tells those war tales.
Although there might be more iPhone diary and journal apps than pages of the daily doings of Samuel Pepys, the folks behind Memoir Tree want their iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad app to become the app of record for schools, nursing homes, museums and at events, too.
If you still don’t see the value of jailbreaking after watching this 3-minute video, you’re kidding yourself. Great stuff by JailbreakMatrix.
For all of our jailbreak coverage, click here. More to come.