News - page 2089

If you thought Android would be the choice of the pin-stripe business crowd, think again. Turns out the iPhone is the pick for the cubicle, as well as the art studio.

“A club to make them do what we want.” That’s the way one Google executive described the gauntlet device makers must pass to get Android certification. So much for being “open.”

The lead developer behind the popular Mac dock replacement DragThing and the fantastic iOS scientific calculator app pCalc is about to be sued for patent infringement because his software uses Apple’s own in-app purchasing mechanism. And he’s not alone.

Not only will the lawsuit delay the latest update to the free version of pCalc, pCalc Lite, it may just be the opening shot in an IP war, not just against Apple, but against the devs who dare to sell their software on the App Store.

Microsoft, HTC, Nokia and Sony Ericsson have teamed up in Europe to send Apple a message: no one can own the term “App Store,” and they’re willing to join forces to prove it in court.

“iPhone 5 — First Exposure!” “Apple iPhone 5G Exposed!” These might be the barker cries popping up on your Facebook feed this morning, promising an exclusive look at the new iPhone. But just as you shouldn’t necessarily trust the man outside the local rundown gentleman’s club shouting “The most beautiful girls, girls, girls in the world, world, world are inside!”, don’t expect an early glimpse at the iPhone 5 if you click one of these links. It’s a big scam.

I loved Tweetbot in my review and I firmly believe it’s one of the nicest Twitter clients to grace our iPhones, however, when it first launched it was lacking some features that we are looking forward to in future updates. One of those features is landscape view, and thankfully this comes with the Tweetbot 1.1 update that’s just hit the App Store.

Samsung is preparing to launch a new 10.1-inch display next week which will boast a resolution of 2560 by 1600, making it the first ‘Retina’ display to be announced for tablets. But will it be making its way into the iPad 3?

Available for free in Cydia is a nice little tweak called “Stampr”. It integrates into the stock Camera application, and basically adds a timestamp into your photos. 

Ok, we’re a little baffled why this dude is pulling out an iPad in this sitch. Last-minute conditions-check? Confused about the term “surf the web”?

What’s pretty clear though, is that the blindingly yellow G-Form iPad Extreme Sleeve case ($60) he’s peeling off his iPad is now shipping. We love talking about this case; partly because we’re fascinated with the extreme-sport-derived protective material it’s made from, and partly because we’re mesmerized by the crazy videos G-Form keeps releasing to demonstrate the Extreme Sleeve’s protective ability — which seems formidable.

Right now, it’s only available (thankfully, also in black) from G-Form directly.

I love the soft tappity-tap of popping out an email, text, IM or 348-page novel on my iPhone’s virtual keyboard. Some people, though, prefer banging around on actual keys.

For them, then, NUU’s new MiniKey might make sense (currently $80 at Amazon): It’s a Bluetooth-enabled keyboard/case with a frilly feature list that includes backlit keys, text-editing shortcuts and a power-saving function that puts the little guy to sleep by severing the BT connection after a lapse of activity; start typing again and voila, it reconnects.

It looks like Microsoft’s plan to beat Apple in the retail space by building their own Microsoft Stores right across from mall-based Apple Stores is paying off: Microsoft’s successfully chased Apple out of its space in the Bellevue, Washington shopping mall.

It’s something of a pyrrhic victory, though. Apple’s just moving to the second floor of the mall to a larger retail space. Directly overhead, overlooking Microsoft’s store, where it will literally be living in Apple’s shadow. If there was ever a time to LOL, this is it.

Looking for a new camera with the look and power of a DSLR, but in a smaller digicam footprint? You might want to check out Panasonic’s new Lumix G3 Micro Four Thirds.

Apple’s stock is as good as gold, right? Perhaps, but that doesn’t mean that it’s value can’t be manipulated. Writing for Fortune, Philip Elmer-DeWitt makes a shocking accusation: Apple’s share price is being manipulated by a mysterious cabal who are “pinning” the stock below its strike price and no one seems to be doing anything about it.

Bungie, the previously Mac-exclusive game developer who defected to the arms of Microsoft to release the best-selling Halo series, is making a new game… and it’s probably coming to iOS.

For years, an unassuming Microsoft Research scientist named Bill Buxton has been collecting gadgets that have informed today’s landscape of technology. Now his collection is on display at the the Computer-Human Interaction conference in Vancouver, and what do you know? A large number of them seem to have directly inspired many of Apple’s most iconic products and innovations. If only they’d done the same for Microsoft.

Amazon is preparing a tablet of their own to compete with the iPad, and no lesser a higher-up than CEO Jeff Bezos has all but confirmed it.

Illustration student Rachel Walsh was assigned a seemingly impossible design task by her professor: explain the concept of the Amazon Kindle to Charles Dickens. Her solution is ingenious, and applies just as well to iBooks, but just imagine if she’d been asked to explain the iPad to Dickens instead.

With the 2011 iMacs, it’s become even harder for users to upgrade their machines without paying Apple their pound of flesh.

Just a couple of days ago, we saw a leaked case for the iPod nano that seemed to confirm that Apple intends on ditching the sports clip and integrating a 1.3 megapixel camera instead. At the time, we wondered just why Apple would do such a thing.

Now it looks like we know: it’s so the Nano can look out into the world and see just where it’s being used, then adapt itself like a chamelon accordingly.

Although they stopped recording together decades ago, the Beatles are being credited with reviving music sales that have been on the skids for a decade.

If you’re so inclined and mad enough to try it, you can install Google’s Android operating system on your original iPhone, iPod Touch or iPhone 3Gwith a minimum of fuss, but later iPhones like the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, as well as the iPad? A much stickier wicket.

A week after its release, a memoir about Navy Seal Team Six is topping sales on iTunes. The elite military personnel are trained to conduct the most top secret operations involving combat, anti-terrorism and dangerous rescues – like the one that led to killing Osama Bin Laden on May 2.

Remember the days when Mac owners chuckled as Windows users swatted swarm after swarm of malware, confident in the old saw about ‘security through obscurity’? Well, one side-effect of Apple’s growing popularity is the Mac is becoming a more visible target for malicious hackers — and they’re already building Trojans aimed at your machine.

Shortly after announcing big changes to its web application, Twitter has pushed out an update to its free application for the Mac. Version 2.1 boasts an improved user interface and new features that make the application a whole lot nicer.

A handful of components said to come from the guts of the next iPhone have hit the web. Or they might just be a piece of junk taken from some tinker’s pockets. If they’re for real, though, consider at least a couple of the juicier rumors about the hardware of the iPhone 5 debunked.