LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 — Blue has announced three new microphones for Mac, iPhone, and iPad here at CES: The Mikey, Tiki, and Spark. I spent a bit of time at the Blue booth checking out their new mics, and I liked what I saw.
Popular music service Shazam has released a free iPhone app today called Shazam Player. The application is meant to serve as a replacement for the stock iOS 5 Music app, and Shazam is hoping to set itself apart with several marque features.
Firstly, Shazam Player brings LyricPlay to your iPhone’s music library, meaning that you can get fullscreen lyrics for tracks as you listen. You can also watch music videos on YouTube in-app, get tour information, read artist bios, and share what you’re listening to on Twitter and Facebook.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 — The last Altec Lansing dock we reviewed, the Bluetooth-equipped InMotion Air, left us with a weird taste — it was just too funky. AL’s new LIVE 5000 more than makes up for this: It looks *really* stunning up close — and sounds fantastic to boot.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – Remember the days before you had an iPhone and played games outside? Using sticks for swords and your hand as a gun? I bet you spent hours outdoors pretending you were some movie superhero trying to rescue Julia Roberts from a a plague of mutant zombie pandas. Then you got into video game consoles and iPhone games and your imagination just went in the toilet. Well, AppGear is here to bring back the nostalgia for your youth and make alien invasions a (virtual) reality.
Well looky here! Turns out the rumors are true and Apple really will be hosting an Education Event in New York City on January 19th. There are no details on what Apple will actually announce at the event, but our guess is it will involves textbooks on the iPad.
The event will be taking place at the iconic Guggenheim muesum, though no information was given on who will be the main speaker.
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Remember Dell’s Streak tablet? Even though the device was just a blip in the minds of consumers, the PC maker wants to take another whack at going up against the iPad. The company is being coy with details, saying they want to get this attempt right.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – Yes, it’s true, we’ve joined the masses on Instagram in order to give you more behind the scenes photos of what life is like for the Cult of Mac staff as they pound the streets of Vegas in search of gadgets galore. The team is currently rockin’ the party at CES, and we’ll be sending all our cute little followers photos from the showroom floor and behind the scenes looks at what goes into covering an event like CES. It’ll be like you’re here with us, even though you’re totally not but we wish you were. If you don’t already have Instagram, go download the app right now and add @CultofMac.
And if you’re hungry for even more info, here’s who’ll be on the ground, along with their Twitter handles. Follow us for on-the-floor updates, or if you’re at CES and see one of us, make sure to say hi.
**Update** The iOS Foundations Course bundle is expiring tonight. This is an excellent iOS app development course that will teach you the building blocks for C Programming and Objective-C. There are other courses out there, but these are built with beginners in mind.
Mobile is the future of technology and apps are the driving force of the mobile economy. Those who can build and design apps will be the most sought after talent. Anyone can come up with an idea for an app; it’s the getting it built that’s the tough part. So, if you’ve ever had a killer idea for an iPhone app, then the iOS Foundations bundle could be your chance to learn the one-two punch of iOS app programing from one of the best, Mark Lassoff.
After getting feedback from our customers, we found that the most effective way for a beginner to learn how to build iOS apps is to offer a combo of 2 courses: C Programming: iOS Development Starts Here!and the Objective C for Beginners. And, we’re including both courses for the price of one – just $79.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – For Greg Kostello, an amiable ex-Apple and NeXT software developer with a goofily winning smile, there’s an intimacy and immediacy in a smaller audience. It’s something Greg discovered first as a kid showing his latest home movie neighborhood blockbuster in a small garage crammed with kids. It’s a lesson that deepened giving personal software demos at NeXT in a small office close to Steve Jobs himself. And it’s something that Greg is now trying to impart to the YouTube Generation with his new video sharing site, Givit.
Wall Street is cautiously optimistic that the update of RIM’s PlayBook tablet could avoid the BlackBerry maker from once again putting its finances in a ditch. The software update prompted one high-profile analyst to tell investors he was “less cautious” about the near future. Yes, that doesn’t scream confidence, but we are talking about the Titanic of mobile tech — and people are still running for the lifeboats at RIM.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – Ever since Apple’s patent for a fold-down touch screen desktop computer, the internet has been wondering how the device would look and when Apple would come out with it (if ever). Taking some serious cues from Apple, Lenovo already has a computer that is very similar to the one described in Apple’s recent patent, so we met up with them last night to take a hands-on tour of their new machine and see if it’s something Apple might truly consider doing in the future.
The Lenovo A720 is one of the best touchscreen all-in-one desktop machine that we’ve seen at CES so far. It’s a neat machine sporting a 27-inch display that folds down to adapt to users’ needs. For the most part, Lenovo has built a good machine. The design is simple, but it’s definitely lacking those small details that Apple pulls off effortlessly. We’re still debating whether touchscreen desktops are something the world actually needs, so here are our thoughts on the Lenovo A720 and how Apple might attack the touch-screen desktop scene.
Comcast is introducing live cable TV to the iPad for Xfinity TV customers with a new device service called AnyPlay, allowing you to tune into your favorite shows on your tablet while the rest of the family watches another channel on the television.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – In the aftermath of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, there are going to be hundreds of awards — some official, some decidedly not-so — declaring the best product of CES.
Why wait? We can already tell you what we think the best product of CES is: Verizon Wireless’s network, which is the only one that has not been frickin’ smeared into jelly by the insane data and voice demands of the show’s technical elite.
TomTom’s navigation apps for the iPhone and iPad are going social with Facebook and Twitter integration that will allow you to navigate to your friends, places, and events more easily. Version 1.10 of the official app, which will launch during Q1 2012, prides itself on using social networks as a source for turn-by-turn navigation.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 — Those studly hex bolts, that rubberized exterior, the thick mass of battery — Mophie’s new Power Station Pro was obviously designed with one idea in mind: keeping your iDevice-laden butt juiced out in the middle of nowhere.
Apple’s iPhone is now available on AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon in the U.S., but T-Mobile customers are still waiting for the popular smartphone to come to them. According to the company’s CEO, Philipp Humm, the reason the device still hasn’t arrived is T-Mobile’s unique 3G band, which isn’t used by other carriers.
Foxconn Electronics and Pegatron Technology have reportedly begun production of Apple’s next-generation iPad 3. The new device is expected to boast a high-resolution Retina display from Sharp, according to one report, with a launch scheduled for early March.
Apple’s vice president of worldwide iPod, iPhone, and iOS product marketing, Greg Joswiak, was spotted roaming the show floor at CES in Las Vegas yesterday, despite no official appearance from the Cupertino company. Joswiak admitted he was there “scouting the competition,” but it seems he’s not the only one. According to one report, more than 250 Apple employees altogether are in attendance this year.
World of Goo has been a huge success since it hit the iPhone back in April 2010, and its developers have just announced the title has now attracted over one million downloads in the App Store and the Mac App Store.
Apple has confirmed its rumored $500 million acquisition of Israeli flash memory firm Anobit. Reports started circulating last month that the Cupertino company was interested in purchasing Anobit for its flash storage prowess. It was concluded that Apple was looking to become a major player in the flash storage industry.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – It’s day one at CES. The show floor just opened. We ran down to check out the goodies. We’ve got Snooki doing a duck face, cool Aviator headphones from Skull Candy, and plenty more.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 — The Swivl ($159) is like a mini non-union cameraman who just wants to record you all day long — no lunch or bathroom breaks needed.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – Texting on the iPhone’s 3.5-inch touchscreen is about as good as you can expect, but wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to fit a full-size keyboard in there for good measure?
Celluon thinks there’s a way to do just that with the Prodigy, a Juice Pack-style battery case for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4s with one interesting trick up its sleeve: it can project an interactive infrared keyboard onto any flat surface.
In theory, this means effortless typing as long as you can prop your iPhone up on a table or desk. The reality, though? Stick to texting.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 — One trend we weren’t expecting to see at CES was the enormous amount of ultra-portable speakers every company is trying to sell. The type that look like a soda can cut in half that pops up to reveal a speaker that has the magical “unparalleled sound quality” all their makers brag about. For over twenty years Behringer has produced professional audio products, but have only recently decided to enter the consumer space. So what does a high-quality audio company do to make themselves stand out in a market saturated with mediocre speaker products? Make a really really nice ultra-portable speaker? WRONG! They go and create the biggest iPod Dock ever that makes those minature docks look miserably insignificant.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – This Chinese case maker, the Shenzhen Reflying Corporation, is already hyping their apparently incredible iPad 3 cases at their iLounge booth.
Unfortunately, upon being asked to see one of the cases, Reflying’s representative sheepishly admitted that they didn’t have any inside intel on the iPad 3, or any prototypes knocking about. Instead, they apparently want everyone to know that when the iPad 3 comes out, their company will continue to boldly figure a way to wrap vinyl, rubber, leather and latex around a whole new generation of tablet, and not, in fact, immediately disappear in a puff of vapor, their purpose on this green earth completed.
And thus, the eternal wheel of CES continues to slowly and inexorably revolve.