News - page 2070

When it was first revealed at CES earlier this year, we were all amazed with the Spiderpodium Tablet by Breffo ($35). Somewhere in between a toy, and a multipurpose iPad stand, the Spiderpodium has an extremely unique design that is adaptable for almost any tablet device. I got the chance to play around with the unique stand over the last few weeks, and while I think that it’s incredibly clever, there are definitely some drawbacks.

Apple’s had patents float through the USPTO, hinting that they were working on a new technology that could let you just swipe a future iPhone’s display over a document to scan it and translate it into OCR text. Now a new patent has emerged, and it fits another piece into the puzzle.

Although Apple was the first company to debut Thunderbolt with the 2011 MacBook Pro refresh, Intel and Apple’s next-gen, one-port-to-rule-them-all is open to all takers. Already, though, one of Apple’s biggest competitors is rocking the Thunderboat, and threatening to fragment the Thunderbolt standard before it even has a chance to clear port.

Char Entertainment and Epic Games’ Infinity Blade — a game we called “an elegiac app store masterpiece” and one of the best games on the App Store — is getting another beefy, free update on Thursday, and aside from more content, it brings one huge new feature to the game: multiplater deathmatch. Swoon.

Apple’s fetish to miniaturize can never be slaked: a new report suggests that a little over t one year after introducing the micro SIM with the original iPad, Apple’s looking to make the SIM chip in your next iPhone or iPad even smaller, and it could even pave the way for that iPhone Nano we’ve heard rumors about. Nobody sneeze.

No smartphone’s security is absolutely failproof, but if you want your smartphone to be secure, buy an iPhone over an Android device. 99% of all Android devices are easily attacked, and it all has to do with Android’s notorious fragmentation problems when compared with iOS.

Is Steve Jobs the MC Hammer of tablet computing? ‘Can’t Touch This could be the message behind a 115-page report which gives thumbs-down on Android as unable to compete with Apple’s iPad.

As we reported yesterday, Apple’s planning something absolutely huge at its retail stores across the country this weekend, possibly to celebrate their 10th Apple Store anniversary. But what could it be? A new product or service? Discounts or goodie bags?

Possibly, but another rumor’s starting to form: Apple is prepping for the September launch of the next iPhone by getting their retail stores equipped to take NFC payments.

Apple’s domination of NAND flash is so complete that even when the industry figures out a way to greatly improve their efficiency, they’ve got to sit around and wait for Cupertino to approve it.

Once more potential supply problems could hinder Apple’s iPad sales goals. Don’t hold your breath for a next-day delivery as one analyst projects they are far “out of reach.”

Patent troll Lodsys has been suing iOS indie developers for using Apple’s own in-app purchasing mechanism. Sleazily, the company has claimed that they had no choice but to go after the little guy because Apple refused to cough up an App-Store-wide patent license.

No surprises here: Lodsys’s actions have roused the Cupertino Colossus, and they might not like the response they get from disturbing the sleeping giant’s slumber.

Substitute teachers expect pranks, but when an iPad went missing the police were called on one boy.

A 12-year-old elementary school student in Springfield, Ohio was charged with felony theft after filching the iPad of a sub.

The iPad 2 already has phenomenal, 10-hour battery life, largely thanks to a combination of Apple’s custom-built, power-sipping A5 chip and the fact that inside, the iPad 2 is mostly battery.

Thanks to a new, cutting-edge tablet coating, though, your next iPad could run for twenty hours or more on a single charge, while providing Kindle-like outdoor readability.

Apple’s iPad has become the latest fall-guy for PC makers seeking a reason for falling sales … and the ground’s coming up fast.

Yesterday brought the news of a very stunning photograph of the Space Shuttle Endeavor launch, captured on her iPhone by (now-famous) Stefanie Gordon from Hoboken, NJ while on an airplane flight in the area. The photo has gone viral, and it turns out Gordon captured a short video of the event too.

Is there a difference between ripping off and inventing? Not when by ripping it off you make it practical, and for all practical persons, Steve Jobs effectively invented the first modern computer mouse in the mid-70s… by stealing it from Xerox.

Although owning guppy-like market share of smartphone sales , Apple is landing whale-sized profits, one analyst said Tuesday. Indeed, within 3-5 years, expect non-smart handsets to vanish from the mobile landscape.

‘Coyote’ and ‘Hollywood’ are the code-names of two tablets rumored to be a part of Amazon’s
upcoming tablet ‘family’. Details obtained from one tipster reveal the Coyote will boast a dual-core processor much like Apple’s iPad 2, whereas the Hollywood has something even more audacious up its sleeve: hardware that Amazon hopes will potentially make the iPad 3 obsolete even before it launches.

Retailers have announced the U.K. launch date of RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook today, in addition to a price list that matches that of Apple’s iPad 2. But who will buy it?

Apple is still yet to announce an official launch date for the iPad 2 in Taiwan, but some sources are claiming the device is set to hit the country before the month is out, while Android tablets in the country are suffering from its delay.

An Apple job listing for a “Carrier Engineer” located near the Sprint headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri, has sparked speculation that Sprint could soon be the third U.S. carrier to adopt the iPhone.

Although the Third Man theme will quickly drive you crazy, this clever video makes inventive use of three iPhone screens.
written/choreographed by Ronen Verbit and Vanya Polunin

Written/choreographed by Ronen Verbit and Vanya Polunin.

We’ve been speculating on Apple’s partnership with Nuance for some weeks now, and confirmation the two companies are working together comes with the new speech technology discovered in the Mac OS X Lion beta. Now you can hear those new voices for yourself.

Party planner Stephanie Gordon was flying from New York to Palm Beach when the caption told passengers they might witness the final launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour this morning.

As the plane descended, Gordon pulled out her iPhone and snapped some incredible pictures of Endeavour as it punched through the clouds:

Confirming our exclusive report last week that Apple Stores were scheduling meetings with all retail staff in late May, we’re now hearing reports that all Apple Stores in the United States will hold all-hands meetings for the morning of Sunday, May 22nd. And given the preparations and secrecy, something big seems like it’s about to shakedown in celebration of Apple’s ten year retail anniversary.