News - page 2008

Now that Google owns a handset maker, will the $12.5 billion deal end Motorola’s patent-infringement complaints against Apple? Not likely, says the Android creator.

The safe bet is that the iPhone 5 will stick with 3G instead of lightning fast LTE 4G mobile broadband, but not so fast! A new report on Monday says that Apple’s 4G-capable carrier partners are already testing iPhones with LTE capability.

Since Apple’s acquisition of Siri many moons ago, there have been rumors that the technology would one day worm its way into the iOS software. Speculation, fueled by evidence in the latest iOS SDK, would lead us to believe that Siri “Assistant” feature will finally come to fruition in iOS 5. And according to one report, it will integrate with your contacts, calendars, emails and more.

Apple has told its handset suppliers to expect a boatload of iPhone orders for the second half of 2011, reportedly increasing the initial number to 56 million from 50 million units. Half of those handsets are for the much-anticipated iPhone 5, according to a Monday report.

Following the release of Edge earlier this month, a new tool for creating HTML5 animations and webpages, Adobe continues its support for HTML5 with the release of Muse, which makes it easy for those without any prior knowledge of HTML5 or CSS3 to create websites.

Samsung’s not going to like this: Google has just purchased Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, finally placing the Android maker on equal footing as Apple when it comes to controlling both the hardware and software of their smartphone platform.

A “one of a kind” MacBook Pro prototype, which has been listed for sale on eBay, reveals Apple’s work on a notebook with built-in 3G connectivity. It’s the first MacBook Pro we’ve seen with an antenna built into the side of the display, and a SIM card slot beneath the memory cover.

Remember Panasonic’s 3DO game system back in the mid ’90s? Not surprised if you don’t; it failed miserably and was discontinued after three years, despite being packed with promise and cutting-edge technology. But the three-year sales record of this flop have thus far still managed to handily beat that of Android tablets — all of them. Combined.

Apple is gearing up for the construction of its new headquarters in Cupertino, California. Steve Jobs proposed plans for the new campus to the Cupertino City Council back in June, and the city quickly gave a resounding approval for Apple to begin work on its new mothership.

A development proposal has been submitted by Apple to the City Council with more details and renderings of the future campus. And we have to say, it looks awesome.

Most of Apple’s money comes from recently invented gadgets. More than two-thirds of Apple’s revenue comes from product types that didn’t even exist five years ago (iPhone and iPad). And 78% of Apple’s income is made by products unimaginable just ten years ago (throw in iPod and iTunes).

That means, in order to stay on the same growth curve in the current decade, Apple will have to invent product categories as new as the iPod, iPhone and iPad were, right?

Wrong.

The new products were part of a killer strategy Apple came up with in 1997. Apple will dominate the future by sticking to the strategy, not by trying to invent more product categories.

My first reaction to the new iPad-stand-pillow ePillow was a hearty guffaw — followed almost immediately by a “hmmmm”; it’s one of those wacky-looking ideas that just might be brilliant.

If you’ve got far-flung friends and family, Jumvo may be just the ticket for staying in touch.

The group messaging app, offered gratis in iTunes, is a handy way to contact lot of people via voice message with minimal effort.

With all the hullabaloo over the fake Apple stores, it’s easy for the real Apple retailers to get lost in the shuffle.

There are five bona fide Apple stores opening up around the globe this weekend,  two in the U.S. and one each in Australia, Canada and Italy.

Like a post-PC Paul Revere, the tech world has been screaming ‘The Cloud is Coming! The Cloud is Coming!’ While Apple’s iCloud is seen as the ultimate convenience for consumers, enterprises concerned about security have been tethered to a laptop or desktop. Now a developer has created a free iOS app specifically for business users wanting secure cloud-based file-transfers.

It’s hard to figure out quite what to make of this rumor given the wide-spread agreement that the iPhone 5 will be released between mid-to-late September and early October and represent a significant upgrade over the iPhone 4, but Macotakara is now reporting that Apple will be releasing the iPhone 4S early next month.

As a kicker? They also say the iPad 3 is coming next month… despite the fact that a report from earlier today made it clear that the A6 CPU won’t be ready until the second quarter of 2012. What gives?

This is just an awesome idea for an app: Converse by Riot Software turns your iPad into a traveling, dual-keyboard kiosk that will allow you to have a conversation with anyone you might encounter, no matter how bizarre and filled with phlegmatic squawks his native language is.

There’s not much else to know right now, but Valve Software — the AAA game design house behind Portal 2, Team Fortress 2 and Steam for Mac — have just announced an entirely new game in the Counter-Strike series, which will debut on the Mac in early 2012.

While Apple obsesses on slimming down the next iPhone, maker Benjamin Bachmeier instead focused on blowing the iPhone 4 up to Brobdingnagian proportions. That’s why he took a 40-inch LCD 1080p display and installed it in the body of an enormous white iPhone 4.

Bachmeier calls it the iTableous, and while it doesn’t run OS X, it is a pretty impressive Hackintosh. All the buttons even work, and it even has a hinge so you can use it while sitting down. The only thing it needs is an appropriately large case. Maybe Bachmeier should consider laying out the 40 gees for this one?

One Intel director revealed in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal that Apple threatened to drop the chip maker over its hungry processors if it couldn’t “drastically slash” the amount of power they demanded.

Sick of greasy fingerprints smudging your pristine iPhone or iPad? Wish Apple would come up with a tiny vacuum with a practically microscopic nozzle to suction out the vast rivulets of grease and oil that flows between the furrows of your digits’ epidermis? No need to go crazy: Apple’s already working on fingerprint resistant coatings for future iPhones and iPads.

We’re all aware of how popular Apple’s iPhone has become since it was launched in 2007. But did you know that over the past three years, it’s one of only two devices to maintain a spot in the top 20 mobile phones list produced by Millennial Media? Not only has it stayed firmly in the top 20 for three years running, but it has also stayed firmly in at number one.

Apple’s devices were designed work wonderfully without the need for a stylus, but sometimes they come in handy for certain things. But where do you keep them? There’s no room for a stylus in the iPad itself like those old touchscreen devices you no longer see, and if you clip it to the from of your Smart Cover it’s going to keep falling off. The JAVOedge Mini Stylus, however, fits neatly into your iPad’s dock connector.

So what we have here is a MacBook Pro slathered in so much 24 karat gold and multi-colored sapphire encrustation that you’d think it was a rapper’s bridgework. In fact, the guys over at Computer Choppers took this whole crazy idea so far that they even gold-plated the keyboard.

You know what they say: one man’s bling is another man’s vomitsome eyesore. Check out more pictures after the jump.

Following the discovery of some pretty convincing fake Apple stores in China a few weeks ago, the Chinese authorities have been on the hunt for more. Their last find uncovered a whole 22 stores in the city of Kunming along.

If you own an iPhone, you’re more likely to get a quick answer from tech support compared to Android and BlackBerry users, which require much more hand-holding, a Friday report suggests.