Remember the recent story about the App Store being worth more than all of RIM? Here’s another astounding factoid: Just the top 200 most-grossing App Store entries generate four times the revenue than everything offered by the Android Marketplace. A new report also pegs China as a major App Store user, accounting for 30 percent of overall downloads and nearly half of iPad apps.
We’ve been seeing references to HiDPI display modes in OS X Lion for a while now, which has helped cement rumors that Apple will release a Retina Display MacBook Pro, at least, in 2012.
As such, today’s report that Apple left a big reference to HiDPI mode intact in developer builds of OS X 10.7.3 isn’t a big surprise. The functionality can be seen in Finder’s “Get Info” window, and allows you to open a file or app in HiDPI mode, which (while non-functional right now) would presumably user higher-definition fonts, graphics and other UI elements. Retina Display Macs seem like a shoe-in in 2012 at this point, don’t you think?
We’ve seen a couple good hacks that allow you to use Siri and the iPhone 4S to control your Mac, but Vocal is the best and most feature-rich one we’ve seen yet, allowing you to use your iPhone 4S to control apps, perform searches, copy-and-paste text, control iTunes, lookup words and much, much more.
Are you ready for 2012? Tighten your seat belts, here comes the start of chatter about an iPad update and iPhone 5 Part Deux. The 2011 iPhone 5 that morphed into the iPhone 4S, plus a wider range of iPads could set Apple up for either just a good 2013 or a spectacular 2013. Either way, don’t expect a repeat of the monster revenues predicted to end 2011.
We’re hearing rumblings that a huge number of Verizon iPhone users have been without 3G data this morning… a rare lapse of service indeed for the country’s most reliable wireless provider. We’re not sure which areas, though, are being effected, although some reports suggest that it has something to do with Verizon’s on-going LTE rollout.
Are you having problems connecting to Verizon for data this morning? Let us know what problems you’re having and where you are in the comments.
Last night, Conan and Team Coco decided to roast (literally) the Kindle Fire for its various customer complaints. We’re not going to comment on the merits of such claims but we can certainly bask in the humor and wit of Team Coco. Watch the video after the break. Enjoy!
If you buy books through Amazon and use their Kindle app, a nice update was just pushed to the App Store bringing the option to subscribe on your iPad to any of the magazines offered on the Kindle Fire
A certain proportion of shameless scammers have their eyes set on your iCloud account. They are sending phishing emails in which they claim to be Apple and request your login information. They say that if you do not provide it, your account will be terminated.
How many Android-powered devices are in use? Android promoter and Google Vice President Andy Rubin shed some light on the question Tuesday night. Rubin said 700,000 devices are being activated by carriers each day. However, the figure could confirm reports earlier this week that Android’s growth has slowed following a red-hot summer.
Back in the 80s, slacking off at the office was no more rare than it is today, but while these days most of our time that we should be working is spent on Twitter, Facebook and blogs (thanks for that, by the way), in the 80s, it was more often than not spent gaming on your company PC.
Enter the Boss Key, a wonderful relic of covert 80s slacking. Let’s say you were playing a game on your company PC, and your boss walked by. By simply hitting a key on your button, you could instantly replace what was on the screen with a quasi-official looking spreadsheet, full of boring figures and dry analysis. When your boss left the environs of your cubicle, pushing the Boss Key again would allow you to plunge back into the game.
Neat, huh? Well, think of CovertChirp kind of like a Boss Key for iOS, except it doesn’t help your gaming stay undetected… it helps you covertly tweet.
Google has issued an update to its Google Voice app for the iPhone today to introduce support for devices connected to Sprint, and multi-recipient texting — a feature that has been available in Google Voice for Android more than a month — a multi-line text entry field, and one-touch copy and paste within the Dialer.
We’ve seen some crazy accessories for Apple devices over the past year. Some of them have been so inventive that we’ve marveled at their originality and design, whereas others are so simple and functional that we’re knocking our heads wishing we had thought of something so elegant. Over the past year we’ve tried to cover the most important new accessories for Apple devices, and we’ve narrowed down the favorites to a list of 10 accessories that we think are the best of the best.
Now it’s your turn to tell us if you think we’re right, and let us know which is your favorite Apple accessory of 2011. Take a quick glance at the 10 items below and then vote in our poll to let us know which you think is the true winner.
You probably know about TextFree, the iOS app that enables an iPod touch to send texts to mobile phones. If not, your teenager likely is a big fan. On the eve of unveiling a new app letting all iOS devices receive free visual voicemail, Pinger’s marketing chief sat down with us to explain just how huge the original app has become.
Warner Bros. has updated the critically acclaimed Batman Arkham City Lockdown for iOS to add two new Batman skins, iCloud support, and to fix a number of minor bugs. While the new skins are certainly a treat, iCloud support is undoubtedly the most welcome feature for iOS gamers, who can now sync there game between their devices.
Gameloft loves nothing more than throwing a huge $0.99 iOS game sale, so after EA began slashing the price of its own games yesterday, you could almost guarantee that Gameloft wouldn’t be far behind. And it has some treats in store for you this Christmas, including best-sellers like N.O.V.A. 2, Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles, and Spider-Man: Total Mayhem; in addition to some of its latest releases such as BackStab, 9mm, and Gangstar Rio: City of Saints.
Here’s the complete list of Gameloft titles on sale for just $0.99 right now!
Following a report published yesterday that detailed the problems users were having when attempting to download apps from the App Store under iOS 3.1.3, Apple has quietly issued another App Store update today to rectify the issue. Those who are still running this firmware on their iPhone or iPod touch should now be able to download new apps directly to their devices again.
Apple has seeded a new built of the OS X Lion 10.7.3 beta to developers in the iOS Dev Center. Build 11D36 of 10.7.3 can be downloaded now by registered developers.
While there are no known issues in this latest beta, Apple does request developers to focus on areas like iCloud Document Storage, Address Book, iCal, Mail, Spotlight, and Safari.
Thieves aren’t interested in Blackberries, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want RIM’s PlayBooks tablets.
$1.7 million in Playbooks was recently stolen off a truck on its way from Plainfield, Indianapolis to Ontario, Canada. While the driver took a short pit-stop in Madison County, thieves stole 22 pallets of PlayBooks, totaling 5,200 devices.
The HiddenRadio Bluetooth Speaker is the latest project to be setting Kickstarter on fire, and it’s no wonder why. Just look at it! It’s like Jony Ive designed a speaker in his spare time, and decided to throw it up on Kickstarter just for the hell of it.
Yesterday we told you about AT&T’s decision to back out of its proposed $39 billion merger with T-Mobile. After facing heated scrutiny and antitrust concerns from both the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice, AT&T couldn’t take the heat any longer.
As part of the deal falling through, AT&T has agreed to pay T-Mobile $3 billion in cash for breakup fees. The money combined with the two carriers’ spectrum and roaming deal makes T-Mobile the only winner of the failed merger.
It’s not quite here yet, but AOC’s got a monitor that we’re really twitching to look at come CES 2012: the e2343Fi, a 23-inch LCD with a neat little twist in the iPhone or iPod compatible dock ensconced in the base.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol hits theaters everywhere tomorrow. Surprisingly, the movie actually got really good reviews and is positioned to be one of the top movies of the holiday season. We went and watched the film this weekend at IMAX and enjoyed the dose of big-budget popcorn entertainment that reminded us how huge action movies used to be a lot more fun than the annoying and cringe-worthy action flicks that hit the screen en masse nowadays. Thanks a lot Michael Bay.
The success of Mission Impossible 4 shouldn’t come as a huge surprise though to anyone who is familiar with the director Brad Bird. Having worked at Pixar for a number of years, Bird has directed popular films such as The Iron Giant, Ratatouille, and The Incredibles, as well as leading the creative teams behind Toy Story 3 and Up. Being a Pixar alum, Bird had the opportunity to work with Steve Jobs and remarks that, “he wasn’t about making something that was going to be cool next week, he was about making something that was going to be cool 100 years from now.”
As a fan of Apple, Bird places Apple products throughout his newest movie and uses them as tools for Ethan Hunt and his team to do some really awesome stuff. Here’s some of the coolest uses of Apple technology in Mission Impossible 4 (we’ll try and keep the spoilers at a minimum).
Still haven’t done your Christmas shopping? No need to go on a panicked last-minute expedition to the local gas station like I usually do (“Ho ho ho! Santa brings cartons of cigarettes, Bic lighters and air fresheners!”). Apple has upgraded its free holiday shipping offer in the United States to include next-day shipping for all in-stock products, guaranteeing that as long as you don’t procrastinate past tomorrow, you’ll get your gifts in time for December 25th. Merry Christmas!
[via MacRumors]
Yesterday, we reported about an explosion at a Shanghai iPad 2 factory owned by Foxconn that injured 61 people, some seriously. It’s the second time in the last year an explosion has rocked an iPad 2 factory, and it’s now been seemingly confirmed that both explosions happened for the same reason: a build-up of aluminum dust in the factory area that eventually combusted.
Pulse is one of our favorite personalized news aggregating apps, but the latest app made it even better than ever, adding a redesigned catalogue with sexy coverflow action, an improved UI and even a new Zite-like Smart Dock to supercharge an already great app.