If Apple made an iCamera, it would look like this. The Iris, a concept design by Mimi Zou, is so pared down that it doesn’t even have one button. And like Apple’s designs, this minimal approach brings some compromises.
On Monday, Sony Computer Entertainment acquired cloud-based game streaming company Gaikai for around $380 million in a move that is sure to excite fans of the company’s PlayStation devices. If the Japanese company uses its purchase to create a compelling alternative to OnLive, it has the potential to gain a huge advantage over rivals like Microsoft and Nintendo.
The same service could provide an even bigger advantage to Apple. In fact, there are a number of reasons why the Cupertino company should use its ever-increasing cash pile to make Mac and iOS gaming even greater.
Apple quietly updated its Apple Configurator utility that businesses and schools can use to manage iOS devices. The update brings with it relatively little new functionality to the free tool. Instead it focuses mainly on reliability and performance improvements. The update does, however, introduce some options for handling user content and user-installed apps.
Bought a new shiny, silvery compact camera? Think that maybe it’s a bit too silver? Then why not make it less silver by covering up the silver with some non-silver grip-tape? That’s exactly what PimpMyDigicam is offering in its Leather Kit for the Nikon J1, which guarantees that you’ll see less silver.
Until Tim Cook climbs onto the roof of Apple’s Cupertino headquarters and shouts, “we will never build an iPad mini” at the top of his voice, the rumors will continue to circulate. The latest comes from “various analysts” who claim the upcoming iPad mini will feature a 7.85-inch IGZO display from Sharp, and will start at just $249.
Or not. In an exhaustive (and for him, probably exhausting) 2,700-word article, Chris Suave has compared the icons of many apps that have moved from OS X to iOS (and sometimes back again). The results show that Apple is one of the worst and laziest offenders in the game.
Finally! Sure, we use that word far too often, but for the iCade Mobile, the physical D-Pad game controller for the iPhone and iPod touch, it seems somewhat appropriate. After what seems like years in development, and months since we saw it at CES, the iCade is finally available to buy at everybody’s favorite nerd-o-rama, ThinkGeek.
Based on its less than reliable track record, we always take DigiTimes reports with a hefty helping of salt. We wouldn’t advise you to read too much into this one, then, but it’ll certainly be interesting to those of you who are awaiting the new iMac refresh.
According to sources in Apple’s “upstream supply chain,” the Cupertino company’s new all-in-one desktop will enter production this month, ready for its debut “possibly around October.” Despite recent reports, the sources also claim that there is a “high chance” the machine will follow the new MacBook Pro and ship with a high-resolution Retina display.
As we all know, iOS developers just love an excuse to slash their prices, and EA is the first to show its celebrations for Independence Day. The company has discounted a stack of popular titles — including FIFA 12, Dead Space, and Mass Effect Infiltrator — to just $0.99 to ensure you stay busy before the fireworks start.
Here’s the full list.
Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview has made its way to the iTunes Store and is now available to rent more than six months after a sample of the video was teased online. The one-hour, 15-minute video can be rented now for just $3.99, but it’s only available to those in the United States.
Navigon has added Google Street View to its iOS navigation app, as well as a few other enhancements — including the dangerous sounding “cockpit” mode. This probably won’t be the last independent app to include Google’s essential service after Apple kicked it out of iOS6, but it does at least mean we can keep using it when the new iOS ships this fall.
The last couple of weeks have seen quite a few wins for Apple in court. Bans against US sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and new Galaxy Nexus phone, for starters, were successful.
Apple’s request for an “emergency ban” for HTC phones, however, was denied today, allowing smartphone manufacturer HTC to continue to sell its latest devices while the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) investigates Apple’s patent infringement claim against the Taiwanese-based company.
Google released its Chrome browser on the iOS platform last week, and it wasn’t long before the app shot to the top of the App Store’s charts. People clearly wanted a change of pace, and Apple’s Mobile Safari just wasn’t cutting it.
If you’re a Google Chrome for iOS fanatics out there, you’ll be pleased to hear that a couple new Cydia tweaks have surfaced to make Google Chrome the best Safari replacement around.
In another setback for Samsung today, a US judge rejected Samsung’s request to lift the injunction against United States sales of the Galaxy Tab, a tablet computer than runs Google’s Android and competes with the iPad.
As we reported last week, US District Judge Lucy Koh granted Apple’s request to block any US sale of the tablet. Apple claims that the Galaxy Tab infringes on several of Apple’s patents that apply to it’s iOS devices and operating system. Samsung had appealed the court to stay the injunction pending resolution of an appeal, but today’s judgement seems unequivocal.
What’s better than watching fireworks blow up while chanting “U-S-A! U-S-A!” with a thousand strangers in the park? Nothing, that’s what. But the next best thing is a huge gallery of wallpapers you can dress up your iPad or Mac with to get patriotic for the Fourth of July. We’ve scoured the internet and found 30 spectacular hi-res wallpapers that represent what makes the U.S.A. one of the best countries in the wold. Check em out:
Apple unveiled its beta.icloud.com website today after the portal went live briefly a couple months ago. Developers can log into the beta iCloud website now and test out Apple’s two brand new web companion apps for Notes and Reminders. The Find My iPhone web app has also been updated with a new look and slight improvements.
We’ve got a quick walkthrough (including screenshots) of the changes revealed in the iCloud beta website today.
Apple has announced a long-overdue App Store category addition today to developers. A dedicated “Food & Drink” category will be added to the iOS App Store “in the next few weeks,” according to Apple. A category for cooking apps already exists, but related apps like OpenTable will be included in this new category.
As Apple continues to enhance the App Store with new improvements and curated series like Editor’s Choice, this new “Food & Drink” section will surely be a welcome addition when it goes live.
Apple has announced to investors that it will hold its official company earnings call for the Q3 fiscal quarter of 2012 on Tuesday, July 24th. The call with Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer will take place at 2 p.m. PST, or, 5 p.m. EST. Per usual, the audio call will be streamed live via QuickTime on Apple’s Investor Relations web portal.
Cult of Mac will be providing breaking coverage during the earnings call. Apple reported $39.2 billion in revenue for Q2 2012, and the company is expected to report around $34 billion in revenue this time around. iPhone and iPad sales will likely account for a large portion of the call, and there’s a good chance we could see some early sales numbers for the new Macs Apple launched last month.
The iPhone and iPad have essentially created one more day’s worth of work for most Americans. That’s the big headline from a study by mobile security and management vendor Good Technology. The study, which involved 1,000 of Good’s customers, found that during off hours, the average American will put in seven hours worth of work each week, or, one extra workday.
Concerns about maintaining a healthy work/life balance are nothing new. The mobile devices that make knowledge workers more productive have the downside of creating a situation where most of us can be reached very easily whether we’re on the clock and in the office or we’re at home in bed. This always-connected lifestyle has even given rise to mental health issues like nomophobia – the fear of being without one’s phone.
The tendency to work well past the end of the workday is so prevalent that 80% of us do so on a regular basis.
In a strange turn of events, Mozilla, the team behind projects such as Firefox and Thunderbird, is putting a serious effort into what will be known as the Firefox Mobile OS, an HTML5-based operating system that will run on a variety of phones.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, Apple’s new “spaceship” campus is one step closer to becoming a reality, thanks to a measure taken by California’s Governor Jerry Brown, which will allow the new planned campus to qualify for an expedited environmental review.
One thing Apple has done really well over the past few years is eliminating fragmentation in its operating systems. The install base of iOS 5 is over 75%; OS X Lion is around 50%. That’s in less than a year for both operating systems.
To put those numbers in perspective, consider this. Google’s latest operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich, still runs on just 1% of all Android devices after a year, and Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system hovers at around 50% after almost three years.
Apple’s secret is simple. They charge as little as possible for their operating systems, giving it away free if they can. It’s a good strategy that prevents Apple from having to endlessly support older OSes. And now, Microsoft’s finally going to take a page from Apple’s book.
We’ve gone on record saying that getting your next iPhone through Virgin Mobile is the smartest and most value-conscious decision you can make when it comes to choosing carriers. In fact, over two years, you can save well over $1000 by choosing Virgin Mobile to be your iPhone carrier-of-choice over the likes of Verizon or AT&T.
There’s just one catch: you have to pony up $649 up front for the full, unsubsidized price of an iPhone 4S. And unfortunately, that large initial expenditure seems to have been enough to keep customers away, at least on launch day.
Mac and iOS users are strangers to NAND flash storage. After all, Apple has been using flash as a storage medium for years now. iPods, iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, and some MacBooks all rely on NAND flash as a storage medium of choice. The success of those products has led Apple to be world’s biggest buyer of NAND chips and was no doubt a factor to mention the company’s purchase of Israeli flash memory firm Anobit.
Solid state storage based on NAND flash isn’t Apple-specific. Plenty of other companies offer flash storage in an array of form factors for a huge variety of uses including smartphones and mobile devices. Solid state drives (SSD) drives are available as options for a range of PCs. They’re also becoming common options for servers and network devices. For businesses looking to implement Lion or Mountain Lion, SSDs can be an attractive option. They can also be an expensive prospect, and there may be better ways to spend your business dollars.
If Italy has its way, Apple’s operations in the country may be shut down for 30 days, following a dispute with Italy’s AGCM competition and marketing authority. According to Reuters, Apple is also being faced with fines up to $377,500 unless a free two year warranty is given to all Italian customers.