Dude, Valentine’s Day is like four days away! Haven’t bought your sweetie a gift yet? Don’t despair, we have some clever gift ideas that will make you look like a hopeless romantic. Or at least you won’t be in the doghouse!
Above: When saying it just isn’t enough, show her how much you love her with the Love Quotes Wallpaper for Valentines day. With over 450 glow effects in 24 patterns and 20 colors, you are sure to find something for your sweety. The more sickly sweet the better! You can even share by Facebook, Twitter and Email.
Love Quotes Wallpaper for Valentines Day App is available from iTunes for free
We see a lot of Kickstarter pitches come through our inboxes, but WALdok is one of the rare ones that actually catches our interest.
The idea is pretty simple. The WALDok is a compact speaker dock for the new iPod Nano that fits into any wall socket, juicing your Nano even as it plays your tunes. That’s not particularly innovative in and of itself, but where WALdok is aiming to distinguish itself is in audio quality: not only does the design include a large 40mm driver for precise highs, excellent audio clarity and robust volume, but the WALdok has been designed with a spacious bass chamber inside the body to act like a subwoofer, achieving a fuller and richer low-end response,
WALdok looks like an absolutely gorgeous product, taking complete advantage of the modularity and portability of the Nano while making it easy to take both your tunes and your charger with you on the road, wherever you go. WALdok is now looking for backers, and production will begin once $30,000 has been committed, with a single WALdok starting at $79.
Nothing like a fresh round of recriminations from the music industry against Apple’s dominant digital delivery platform, iTunes. The latest round comes from Sony, which hints it may pull the likes of Bob Dylan and Beyonce from Apple following a dust-up over the Cupertino, Calif. company’s rejection of Sony’s ebook reader application.
In an AdAge interview, Sony executive Michael Ephraim charges music publishers are looking for alternatives to iTunes. (Sony just happens to own one of those alternatives, “Music Unlimited”, which the company plans to launch.) In addition, Ephraim asks and answers whether the music giant will continue selling titles at Apple.
If you need a good laugh as much as you need a roll in the hay, a new app that promises to synch music to the intensity of your lovemaking may be just the thing.
The Matt Berry Sexytime Soundtrack App works using the iPhone’s accelerometer – put your phone on your bed and it should regulate the music to your amorous ministrations. So the harder you go at it, the raunchier the music gets.
Just don’t expect to keep a straight face: you’ll be goaded and chided by the voice of Matt Berry, who interjects things like: “You’ll probably get breakfast for this.”
Sorry, guys. If you want to woo that random slice of scrumptious across the cafe, making eyes at her over your iPad isn’t the way to do it: you’d be better off pulling out your MacBook Air.
So says Retrevo, who have asked consumers in time for Valentine’s Day if they notice other people’s gadgets, and how likely they are to be attracted to someone based upon that gadget.
As you can see, according to Retrevo’s results, reading a book is sexier than e-reading your iPad. An iPhone or MacBook is the most likely gadget to get you some action. As for showing an interest in the creative arts, it seems universal: artists give pretty much everyone a big rubbery one.
Notice that the results, though, are heavily skewed towards men finding a girl attractive if she’s reading, drawing or using a gadget. The fairer sex, on the other hand, seems less interested in the superficial traits implied by an iPhone 4, iPad, drawing easel or volume of Sartre.
In other words, if you’re a girl and want a guy to notice you, play the geek. Guys? As usual, you’re out of luck: women just aren’t superficial enough to be easily seduced. Or so my girlfriend keeps telling me.
The Verizon iPhone may cost the same as its GSM counterpart, but it’s making Apple about $16 more profit per handset sold, according to the latest data from iSuppli.
iSuppli’s teardown of the Verizon iPhone’s bill of materials adds up to just $171.35 for every 16GB device, compared to the $187.51 estimated cost of the AT&T compatible iPhone 4.
iSuppli asserts that Apple had made “significant changes in its design and component” selection for the Verizon iPhone.
Apple’s usually pretty good about making sure that even if their latest iPhone doesn’t ship fully patched, an update is waiting for users the second they plug it into iTunes for the first time.
No surprise, then, that on the first day of the Verizon iPhone’s official release, Apple has already issued a patch to the firmware, resolving a bug that affects the accuracy of the Verizon iPhone’s exclusive (for now) Personal Hotspot… namely in its data reporting.
Of all the bugs to afflict the Verizon iPhone at launch, one that potentially misreported how much data was being used is the most egregious. Because Verizon charges $20 per month for 2GB of tethered data, with each additional gigabyte costing another $20, any discrepancy in data reporting could have led to some big problems.
If you don’t intend on using the Personal Hotspot feature on your new Verizon iPhone, this is not a critical patch… but if you do, better grab it now, before you find yourself staring at a higher bill than you expected.
What does Nokia’s decision to junk Symbian for Microsoft Windows Phone 7 mean for Apple? The view on Wall Street is that the Cupertino, Calif. iPhone maker will stay strong – and its strength only increase the longer the Finnish cell phone maker waits to release handsets.
“The more time it takes for [Nokia] to launch their product, the tougher it will be for them to compete against iOS and Android-based devices,” ISI analyst Abey Lamba remarked Friday. Lamba expects Apple “will remain the leader.”
Apple is among only two notebook makers in early 2011 experiencing strong demand, with the Cupertino, Calif. firm doubling orders for some “hot-selling” MacBooks, according to a Friday report. The news follows indications the Apple notebook was “flying off the shelves” during the holiday buying period.
HP was the only PC notebook brand seeing first-quarter demand amid a flaw discovered in an Intel chipset which depressed production levels. HP could ship 10 million notebooks during this year’s first quarter – down from 11.13 million units shipped last quarter. The chipmaker says its Sandy Bridge chips won’t return to full production until April. (MacBooks should see an update of the Intel chips in June, other reports indicate.)
With these words, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop declared his intentions for the future as part of his company’s strategic partnership with Microsoft. Both companies are trailing in Apple’s wake and urgently need to catch up.
The first part of Elop and Steve Ballmer’s open letter is somewhat dull, but the final paragraphs contain the real meat.
“Today, the battle is moving from one of mobile devices to one of mobile ecosystems,” they declare. “Ecosystems thrive when they reach scale, when they are fueled by energy and innovation and when they provide benefits and value to each person or company who participates. This is what we are creating; this is our vision; this is the work we are driving from this day forward.”
And then this declaration of war: “There are other mobile ecosystems. We will disrupt them.”
I, for one, welcome our new Nokisoft overlords; and I’ll happily raise a glass to disruption. Let’s see what actual shipping products they come up with, shall we?
Griffin Technology has announced the release of their Survivor iPhone 4 case which is made for warriors of all types. Even if pink is their favorite color. Personally I’ll stick to black and that’s the color of the case I’d probably buy if given the chance.
The Survivor case retails for $49.99 and it is one of the most heavy-duty iPhone cases I’ve seen similar to the Ballistic HC I reviewed previously, but it is also the first I’ve seen that is compatible with the Verizon version of the iPhone 4.
Carling's rescued iPad. He joked that he might test it for fingerprints.
Former England Rugby captain Will Carling left his iPad on a train (doh!) but recovered it using the Find My iPhone App.
When Carling logged on to his laptop at home, he thought some good samaritan had turned in the device to the station’s lost and found, since the location dot was beeping nearby. He drove back to the area only to find the GPS chip led him to an apartment building.
“There was no answer, so I wrote 18 notes and put them through the doors,” he said. “Part of me thought, what if they take it the wrong way? But I just thought, to hell with it, I want my iPad back.”
As Apple’s stock takes a pounding on rumors that Steve Jobs is in hospital, the Wall Street Journal says he’s up and about and still on the job.
According to the Journal, Jobs is still on the job, taking meetings about the IPad 2 and iPhone 5:
The 55-year-old Mr. Jobs, whose ailment hasn’t been disclosed, has been taking business meetings at home and on the phone, these people said.
He also has been seen on Apple’s Cupertino, Calif., campus and in public in Palo Alto, Calif., with a company executive, said people familiar with the matter.
There’s the possibility that the WSJ story is a plant from Apple’s PR department to counter the Wall St. rumors. Apple’s stock started plunging at around 3PM EST: the Journal’s story, which is based on unnamed sources, appeared about three hours later, at 6PM. The timing may also be a coincidence, of course.
We like the sound of this one: Apple is rumored to be working on a smaller, cheaper iPhone — the iPhone nano. Best of all, the $200 iPhone will be contract free and may be dual-mode.
According to Bloomberg, the new handset will be about one-third smaller and be based on older, cheaper components to keep the price down. Apple already has a prototype (more likely, prototypes) and plans to introduce the new iPhone mid year.
The new iPhone may also be dual-mode. Bloomberg says Apple is also working on a dual-mode GSM and CDMA handset that would work on almost all networks — this may or may not the iPhone 5, and may or may not be in the new, smaller iPhone. Would make sense if it was though.
The cheaper handset is to counter the relentless march of Android phones, which are beating iPhone market share (but not iOS market share).
Bloomberg has great sources and has a good track record with Apple rumors. If true, it’s huge. It would upend carrier subsidies and the whole wireless business, givung control back to consumers and device makers.
As we noted in our prediction piece, Apple is currently competing only at the high-end, and has nothing to counter Android at entry-level prices. We predicted Apple will introduce a cheaper iPhone this year to widen the “price umbrella.” We called the cheaper iPhone, the “iPhone play.”
Of course, the iPhone nano rumors are as old as the hills.
The iPad is taking off faster than anything Apple has shipped before, including the iPod and iPhone, both a pair of monster hits.
Look at this amazing chart from Mary Meeker, a former Wall St. analyst who is now with the VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. It shows the initial shipments of the iPad compared to the iPhone and iPod.
When the iPod was introduced in 2001, Apple shipped 236,000 units in the first three quarters. In 2007, the iPhone shipped 3.7 million units in its first three quarters. But the iPad blows both away: 14.8 million units shipped.
Steve Jobs has said the iPad was like “catching a tiger by the tail.” No kidding.
And here’s how the iTunes App Store is selling vastly more apps than it sold music or movies:
We start off the day with a deal on the MacBook Air. The Apple Store is offering a number of refurbished MacBook Airs, starting at $849 for a 1.4GHz 64GB SSD unit with 2GB of RAM. Also on tap are several refurbished iPads with price cuts up to $100 from the Apple Store, starting at $429 for a 16GB Wi-Fi model. We wrap up the day’s deal spotlight with an iLuv iPod docking speaker for just $27.
Along the way, we’ll also take a look at other speaker units, a flip case for your iPod touch, as well as software for your Mac. As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.
Although pointedly explaining that he has no direct knowledge of such a move, Daring Fireball’s John Gruber has just posted a fascinating piece speculating that 2011 might not just see the release of the iPad 2, but the iPad 3 as well.
As Verizon begins the first day of iPhone sales to the general public, a noted Apple analyst is projecting the carrier could sell more than 1 million handsets in the first three days, including 250,000 pre-orders from Verizon subscribers. The addition of Verizon to existing iPhone sales from AT&T “marks an important battle in the war for smartphone market share,” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster told investors Thursday.
Noting the Verizon iPhone sold out twice during the pre-order period, the demand outstrips both Apple’s and the carrier’s expectation, Munster writes.
If you lose your iPhone, you’ve got a lot more to worry about than just having to buy a new phone or restore your contacts. German experts have just demonstrated that bypassing the security passcodes and gaining access to the iOS keychain on any iPhone is just a matter of six minutes.
They’ve already got Nintendo running scared when it comes to the handheld gaming market, and now some new code in the latest iOS 4.3 Beta 3 firmware indicates that Apple may be planning on doing the same thing to Microsoft and Sony through the $99 AppleTV already in millions of users’ living rooms.
The latest beta of iOS 4.3 indicates that the current generation AppleTV may soon support online gaming, with several references to “ATVGames” and “ATVThunder” pointing towards a gaming controller, Game Center support, online multiplayer and even an AppleTV App Store.
The wistful tone and open-ended time frame of Steve Jobs’ email announcing another medical leave of absence from Apple has led many to fear the worst when it comes to the charismatic CEO’s health, but a new report suggests that Jobs’ health might actually be better than expected.
In fact, not only is Jobs still making appearances at Apple’s Cupertino campus, but he seemed upbeat, described as wearing a big smile and with a spring in his step.
Can a former Apple executive help HP’s sputtering webOS gain some respect? That may be the goal of HP’s hiring of Richard Kerris, who headed Apple’s global developer relations. The news followed a Wednesday announcement that HP is “embarking on a new era of webOS” with plans to bring Palm’s webOS (now a HP unit) to Windows PCs. In an ironic twist, the message came from HP senior vice president Jon Rubinstein, also a former Apple executive.
Kerris, who reportedly spent 2001 to 2007 at Apple managing special projects and served as the company’s senior director of worldwide devloper relations will become HP’s VP of Worldwide Developer Relations. The hiring was reportedly announced during a gathering of developers following Rubinstein’s statement.
