Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was at the Churchill Club in Santa Clara this week to be interviewed by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. One of the most interesting subjects he talked about was Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform, and how it compares to its two main rivals, Apple’s iOS, and Google’s Android.
As you might expect, he didn’t have many good things to say about his competitors. In fact, he called Android “wild” and “uncontrolled,” before saying the iPhone is too expensive and too controlled. Windows Phone, he feels, sits in a sweet spot between the two.
Flipboard’s already one of the best ways to read and discover web content on the iPad and iPhone, and now they’re taking that to the next level, integrating e-book discovery by tapping right into the Apple iBookstore. It’s like browsing in a virtual e-book shop.
For quickly punching up a photo on your iPad or iPhone, it’s hard to beat the amazing Snapseed. At other times, you want a little more control, so you may pick something like Photogene. But what if you kinda want both? Then go grab Pixlr.
Memory. Not only do you have one, but you’ve probably played any number of card-flipping memory games in your life… possibly on the App Store, where there are over 50 of such games that promise to test the limits of your recollections.
Those games are now under attack, as Apple is sending notices to developers demanding that they remove the word “Memory” from their titles. It’s not Apple’s fault, though: rather, a German company is gunning for them, claiming it owns the trademark for the word in dozens of European, African and South American countries.
AirDrop is a pretty slick app that was first available in OS X Lion. It basically allows any Mac see any other Mac with the protocol enabled on the network, with no configuration or knowledge of file sharing needed. You just drop a file onto any available AirDrop icon, and your file heads over to that user’s Mac. No muss, no fuss, just simple.
At least, that’s the concept. In reality, I’ve not seen AirDrop ever work that easily. Luckily, there’s an alternative that’s even simpler: Any Send, a free Mac app that lets you send files to any other Mac using WiFi.
It’s not very often I write on my iPad without a real Bluetooth keyboard. While I don’t mind the virtual, on-screen keyboard for responding to the odd email, anything more than that and I need real keys. For those of you who are in the same boat, check out Belkin’s new Portable Keyboard Case for iPad mini.
Some of the biggest and best games available via the Mac App Store have seen some big reductions today, with BioShock 2 down to just $12, and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic, Galaxy on Fire 2, and Tomb Raider: Underworld down to less than $10.
Wouldn’t you love to be able to measure the temperature of something simply by pointing your phone at it? That’s the promise of a tiny new gizmo that’s just been patented. The question is: will any phone manufacturers decide to include it?
Call of Duty: Black Ops is quite possibly the best multiplayer FPS on the Mac.
Aspyr Media has issued an update to Call of Duty: Black Opsfor the Mac, which hit the Mac App Store back in October, that introduces the Annihilation & Escalation DLC bundle. It’s available to download now via an in-app purchase, which is priced at $24.99.
Let’s face it: the more you surf the web, the more sites you’ll see that look similar to others. And t often doesn’t matter how great the content is on those sites – if they don’t stand out then they don’t get the attention they deserve. This is especially so for those sites trying to establish themselves.
Chances are, yours is one of those sites.
This latest Cult of Mac Deals offer serves up just what you need to ensure that your site stands out from the rest, with these 4 polished sets of Flash templates for just $25!
Logitech’s Alert security system seemed pretty impressive when it first popped up on our radar: advanced indoor and outdoor cameras, night vision, lots of options — and here’s where your ears should perk up — the ability to view and control the cameras from an iPad or iPhone through the Logitech Alert iOS app. Only problem was, Logitech somehow forgot to make a Mac version of the Alert Commander software that comes with, and controls, the system.
But today Logitech has indeed released the a Mac version of the Alert Commander software (available as a free download at the App Store). Better late than never, and now we’re happy. But did it really have to take this long?
Hello, reader. while you’ve obviously found a source of news you like for Apple-related info, where do you go for non Apple-related news? (I know: “If it’s not Apple-related, I don’t wanna read it!” But just bear with me here).
Expedia launched an all new updated mobile app today for both Android and iOS. Bringing new flight info, an updated interface to browse and search across hundreds of hotel properties and airline flights, and special mobile-only deals. The updated app is only available in the US at this time, and brings functionality closer in line with Expedia’s web-based features.
Telltale Games today announced that the season finale, Episode 5 of Walking Dead The Game, “No Time Left,” is slated to launch on all platforms next week, November 20th. This will be the first episode that comes out simultaneously on console, Mac, iOS, and PC. This is the final episode of critically acclaimed episodic game based on Robert Kirkman’s comic series, The Walking Dead.
Apple’s Phil Schiller unveiled the ultra-slim, all-new iMac at a press event last month. The 21.5-inch model was said to ship sometime in November, with the 27-inch model arriving later in December. Due to manufacturing complexities and supply issues overseas, Tim Cook later said that the new iMac will be “constrained in a significant way” this holiday season.
Now a new rumor is saying that supply chain problems mean no new iMacs at all until 2013.
I’ve never really been able to get behind the whole augmented reality thing. I tried it with the Yelp iPhone app once while I was on vacation in a large city, but it hasn’t really changed my life in any way. If there’s any platform I can see augmented reality really taking off, it’s on smartphones.
The developers at Crossfader have released something really cool: an augmented reality layer for Maps on the iPhone. Both Apple and Google Maps are supported, and the app itself is totally free.
There are two fighters left in the battle for market share dominance in the mobile space: Apple and Google. Android powers Samsung’s flagship handsets, and the Korean company continues to crush Apple in terms of sheer volume of units sold. Without Android, Samsung wouldn’t be near as successful.
But Apple is showing incredible growth, especially in emerging markets like China and Brazil. Smartphone sales are cannibalizing ‘dumb phones’ rapidly, and Apple is leading the smartphone pack with Samsung and Android.
We all have too many apps, I’m guessing. As an app aficionado, I have hundreds of apps across several pages, many of them buried within folders. iOS is organized for visual memory; I’m usually flipping through pages and looking for the app I need based on where it is on the page, how the icon looks, and what other apps it’s near.
Once past the first page or two, however, and especially in folders filled with a bunch of apps, that visual strategy starts to break down. Typically, I’ll swipe right from the Home screen and type in the name of the app, then tap on it to launch it. This works fine, but eventually takes more time than just knowing what folder the app resides in. Here’s how to find out.
Back in the good old days of the 20th Century, a person’s edge-beaten leather suitcase might be the accessory they traveled with the most, with which they had visited the most exotic of foreign, jasmine-scented climes, and it would be covered with stickers of all the places they’d visited.
These days, people don’t have as personal of a connection with their suitcases, and showing someone you’ve been somewhere is usually done by checking-in on Foursquare. Your iPhone is the accessory you’re most likely to travel the world with, which is why I love the iPhone (Suit)Case, a conceptual iPhone case by Dallas illustrators / artists David Soames and Dustin Taylor that makes your iPhone look like a miniature suitcase.
Sadly, it’s just a concept right now, but voting’s open on Threadless to turn this product into a reality. Hopefully one made with real leather.
99.95% of the time I pray that my Mac will never get a bug, but now part of me holds on to a sliver of hope that I will one day see an OS X bug that is as beautiful as this. A very small number of Mac users have reported that Launchpad has thrown out a new bug that crystalizes all of the icons on the Launchpad screen.
The way the bug occurs is pretty simple – the blur effect and crystallise effect are two built in core image filters and somehow Launchpad is applying the crystallise effect when it should be using blur. It’s a bit whacky and goes away after a bit, but it sure is spectacular.
Here’s how the bug morphed another Mac user’s screen:
Apple has poached Samsung talent to develop in-house chips for the Mac.
As Apple and Samsung try to purge themselves of dependency on one another things are bound to get even more ugly over the next 12-18months. A report came out earlier this week that Samsung was planning to raise the price on Apple’s processors by 20%.
The significant price increase would mean Apple’s cash cow – the iPhone – wouldn’t have as profitable margins which would negatively effect Apple’s bottom line. However, an official at Samsung has come out today to deny the changes and says that a 20% price hike isn’t coming.
Apple is not a company that is afraid to introduce a product that will cannibalize other Apple products. No one buys iPod Classics anymore, they buy an iPod Touch or iPhone. The MacBook Air cannibalized sales of regular MacBooks. And many assumed the iPad mini would cannibalize sales of the iPad, but that assumption is false.
Some analysts believed the iPad mini would cannibalize sales of the iPad by a rate of 10 to 20 percent. A new survey by Cowen and Co. shows that while the iPad mini has been selling well, it hasn’t been cannibalized its bigger sibling, but it is killing PC sales.
Although the iPad mini is well-reviewed, a constant complaint that has been leveled against Apple’s smallest tablet is that the display isn’t Retina. In fact, in my review of the iPad mini, I could barely see past the terrible fuziness of the on-screen text, and considered it an otherwise perfect device’s Achilles’ Heel.
Summarized, the argument is this: A Retina iPad mini would be too expensive for Apple to make right now, and it would come with other tradeoffs, like a significantly reduced battery life and a much thicker and heavier form factor.
I was curious if this was actually true, so I decided to try an experiment: I’d build an imaginary Retina iPad mini out of technology that Apple already has access to, add up how much it would cost, and then see what the design tradeoffs would be.
What I found out was that Apple could indeed have shipped an iPad mini with Retina this generation without significantly changing the form or battery life of the device, but it would have cost $379. Here’s why.
While Apple Stores across the U.S. continue to enjoy a lot of success, Apple is looking to expand their retail operations overseas in countries such as China, Turkey and now Brazil.
According to a new press release, Apple has informed the Brazilian press that they plan to open their first Apple Store in Rio de Janerio next year. If the Rio de Janeiro store is successful, Apple is likely to follow it up with more retail locations in Brazil, which is also where Foxconn has built new factories to assemble iPads.
Anyone with fond memories of playing Zoo Keeper on a Nintendo DS a few years ago probably doesn’t need to read any further. Just go get it for iOS now, and have fun.
If you missed out on Zoo Keeper first time round, or if you’ve simply never encountered it, allow me to enlighten you: this is fantastic fast-paced color-matching puzzle fun. And for the time being, it’s free.
