Redditor GrandHarbler is a musician and music teacher. He took to the popular social news sharing site today to start a conversation about how the iPad has improved his own practice, teaching, and music learning workflow.
As a musician, GrandHarbler has to practice every day. A lot. He works on goals that he times with an app called TaskMatrix, setting up 25 minute on and 5 minute off practice intervals called Pomodoros. He times them with a simple timer app, called 30/30.
According to a report by Strategy Analytics, smartphone shipments in general fell 5 percent in the second quarter of the current year, 2012. The market for smartphones in the second quarter of last year was 25.2 million, while this year’s second quarter only brought 23.8 million smartphones to the US consumer. In addition, Android lost ground to iOS, falling four points to 56 percent of the smartphone market.
While Android remains the top platform by volume in the US, Apple’s iOS is gaining, having risen 10 percentage points in the same period of time as last year, from 23 percent to 33 percent. We can only assume that the release of the iPhone 5, which many pundits believe customers are waiting for, causing a lull in current iPhone sales, will only increase Apple’s rising fortunes in the smartphone market.
An interesting jury has been selected today in the high-profile patent case between Apple and Samsung. Of course, any details about said jury would be interesting simply due to their inclusion in such a pivotal legal case, but the list does sound like somewhat of a lead in to a stand-up comedy routine. An insurance agent, an unemployed video game enthusiast, and a project manager for AT&T are three of the ten jurors selected today to decide the issues behind the patent case between the two electronics superstar companies.
Last week we found out that back in 2006 Apple Industrial Designer, Shin Nishibori, was asked to create mockups of what an iPhone-like device would look like if created by Sony. Nishibori’s prototype mockups have become a hot item of debate in the Apple vs Samsung trial as Samsung was hoping to use them as evidence that Apple copied Sony.
The court recently dismissed the images, but Samsung wanted to get their creator on the stand. Even though Shin Nishibori no longer works for Apple and now lives in Hawaii, Samsung was hoping to subpoena him to the court and have him testify against Apple. How were they going to get him there? A $60 check.
iMore reported this morning that Apple will hold its next media event on September 12th and launch the new iPhone alongside the rumored iPad mini on Friday the 21st. Another report said today that Apple is planning to launch multiple new products in September, and now AllThingsD confirms that Apple will indeed hold an event on September 12th. Although Apple hasn’t officially commented, AllThingsD’s word is pretty much considered to be a confirmation.
What will Apple announce in two months? Rumors say we’ll see the next iPhone, new iPod touch, and iPad mini. Judging by Apple’s huge spike in component orders overseas, it looks this this fall is going to be a very busy time for the folks in Cupertino.
While this post is ending, don’t forget to check out the SayHelloThere freebie!
In the past few months I’ve learned something very interesting. Facebook can be kinda cool. I mean I’m using Facebook to talk about comics and other geekdom, so I enjoy that, but the one thing I haven’t been enjoying is managing the pages. Checking comments, tracking answers, running contests.
For a network that is built on frictionless sharing, it’s sure hard for the folks managing the content to do stuff.
Which is why I’m going to take a real, hard look at the deal kicking off today—AgoraPulse Platinum—which sounds like it might just solve a lot of issues for me.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve taken a look at a couple of studies that show how the iPhone, iPad, and other consumer technologies that are being embraced at the office are shifting the work/life balance for most professionals. The always connected and available capabilities that our mobile technologies engender are pushing us towards more work and less life.
The first study showed that professionals using an iPhone, iPad, or other mobile devices on the job and at home often put in enough extra time during “off hours” to equal an extra day’s worth of work each week. The second study showed that many of us tend to bring work with us on vacation in the form of an iPhone or iPad (both of which are great for travel), a laptop, or even just cloud-based access to work resources.
We’ve seen some pretty crazy stories of iPhone theft and sweet retribution. Remember when a cruse line employee stole a passenger’s iPhone and revealed his own identity by taking pictures that were uploaded to Photo Stream for the world to see? Or how about when an 8-year-old used Find My iPhone to locate over 300K worth of stolen goods?
There’s nothing quite like a good ol’ citizens arrest. In Manhattan, a would-be thief was run down and tackled by two New Yorkers before he could make off with a woman’s iPhone.
It appears the Gmail video chat and its peer-to-peer technology has run its course. It served many of us well, but with the introduction of the more modern and featured packed Google+ Hangouts, it’s time to move forward. Google today announced they would be upgrading Gmail video chat to utilize the power of Google’s network and deliver higher reliability and enhanced quality with the new Hangouts system.
Although OS X Mountain Lion has been just recently released, Apple today seeded to registered developers a new build of OS X Lion, version 10.7.5. This new seed has a build number of 11G30.
OS X is designed to run seamlessly on Mac hardware, but did you know that you can actually install Apple’s desktop operating system on a Windows PC and make what’s called a “Hackintosh?” Apple released OS X Mountain Lion in the Mac App Store last week, and it has already been downloaded 3 million times. But if you’re stuck with a PC, you can’t taste the forbidden fruits… until now. UniBeast, the tool used for creating a Hackintosh, has been updated with support for Mountain Lion.
Hackintoshing is not for the faint of heart, but if you’re up to the challenge, it’s possible to get Mountain Lion up and running on your PC.
Health related iOS apps are proliferating quickly in the App Store. While the most popular health related apps tend to be focused on diet, exercise, and stress relief, there are some other fast growing trends that show how the iPhone and iPad transforming the healthcare experience for consumers.
According to MobiHealthNews, which provides an annual assessment of the market for mobile apps related to medicine, health, and fitness, three new trends are emerging that could significantly reshape our experience of healthcare.
If you have a lot of Bluetooth devices in your life, it’s probable that you’ve had it connect to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch when you didn’t want it to. If you get sick of scrolling through a long list of other people’s computers in your office, for example, you can just set up your iOS device to forget the ones you don’t want to deal with. In addition, if you’ve “forgotten” a device to get it out of your list, then suddenly need to re-find it again, we can help you with that, too.
You might know who Ken Segall is from his appearance on The CultCast. Ken was a Creative Director at TBWA/Chiat/Day for many years, and worked closely with Steve Jobs, even helping to develop the iconic “Think Different” ad campaign. Now Ken is speaking out about Apple’s new “Genius” ads, and he has some harsh words towards the TV spots.
Leading up to an iPhone announcement, there’s a very select group of people who have seen—much less held—the new phone in private. Apple is known for its thick veil of secrecy, and only the top employees know the comprehensive details surrounding future products. Only the highest of the highest employees get to take one home, as was the case with Steve Jobs and the original iPhone.
How many people got to see the original iPhone leading up to Apple’s announcement at Macworld in 2007? Only the privileged few. A random FedEx delivery man did come close, however, when he delivered a package to Steve Jobs’s doorstep one afternoon.
The new Zaggfolio keyboard and case for the iPad 3 is a very weird little number. At first glance it looks like any other folio case, a protective book which holds the iPad in one side and has a keyboard embedded behind the front cover. But this one is modular, with a removable keyboard. And it comes in colors, although the plastic used to do this looks like it has been cut by (a shaky, alcoholic) hand.
And if you want to use the case without the keyboard (which is actually possible, as they’re available separately) then you’re going to end up with the dumbest-looking case around.
Despite all this, the Zaggfolio is actually pretty great.
Jury selection for the Apple vs Samsung trial has just gotten underway today. The court will be selecting jurors from a pool of citizens called in to be potential jurors. To ensure the jury is impartial to the proceedings, the judge has been asking potential jurors if they work for Apple, Samsung, Google, or Motorola, or have relatives that do. Turns out a lot of potential jurors are linked to Apple, and one is even an Apple employee.
During the selection process this morning it was revealed that one of the potential jurors is an Apple employee. There’s no shady practices going on though. U.S. Citizens are selected at random to perform jury duty, so it’s mere coincidence that he was a put in the Apple vs Samsung potential juror pool.
You know what’s really easy? Holding the iPad. You know what’s even easier? Not spending $100. Which is why the XFLEX has its work cut out: it’s a flexible, heavy-footed iPad stand which costs more than a crappy pre-pay Android phone.
Losing your iPad is probably a horrifying experience. It’s never happened to me, but if it did I would probably roll up into the fetal position and sob uncontrollably on the hard floor of the city bus until someone gave it back. Maybe I’m exaggerating a tiny bit, but it’d be a really really sad day in my life.
The worst part about losing your iPad is knowing that someone else is going to find it and they’re not going to give it back. All of your photos, iBooks, and hard work on Fieldrunners 2 is now theirs. Except sometimes an incredible story pops up that restores your faith in humanity, like how this kid on Reddit found a lost iPad and worked on finding the owner for 4 months.
Algoriddim, creators of popular music player djay on the Mac, iPhone and iPad, today announced a huge update for the Mac version. Not only has djay been updated with support for the newly-released OS X Mountain Lion, but Algoriddim has also optimized the app for the new MacBook Pro with Retina display. Thanks to the enhanced AirPlay functionality in Mountain Lion, djay users can also wirelessly stream audio from the Mac app to any AirPlay-enabled speakers or Apple TV.
Optrix’s XD camera case for the iPhone looks like just another ruggedized box, but it distinguishes itself with a low price ($100), a whole bagful of included accessories, and one unique feature.
Since Apple unleashed Mountain Lion, we’ve been showing you tips and tricks for customizing the new OS down to the gritty details. A neat app called Lion Tweaks allows you to access a host of hidden settings in the previous version of OS X, and the developer has now updated the app for Mountain Lion.
Jony Ive is responsible for overseeing the birthing of Apple’s entire product line, including the iPhone and iPad. Steve Jobs was his best friend, and he is considered a legend in the design community. Heck, the Queen of England has even knighted him twice!
So, when Ive talks, the world listens. Speaking at the British Embassy’s Creative Summit recently, Ive shared some of his own philosophies, including a core belief he shares with Apple as a company: the desire to not make money, but a good product.
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Apple released a range of updates to the its Mac applications last week along with the release of Mountain Lion on Wednesday. Most of those updates were to integrate new Mountain Lion technologies and provide general compatibility with the new OS.
Among them were updates for Apple Remote Desktop, Apple’s extremely powerful and flexible remote management solution for Mac systems. In addition to offering support for Mountain Lion, the update also added a couple new features focused around some of Apple’s latest hardware, but no major changes. In fact, one has to wonder why this amazing Mac IT solution has gotten so few updates over the past few years.
