How’s your iPhone 5’s data connection where you live? Did you know that if your signal is poor, and your handset is always struggling to get a decent data connection, it could mean that your battery life won’t last as long between charges?
It seems Apple’s new Maps app isn’t the only thing frustrating iOS 6 users right now. A 91-page thread on Apple’s Support Communities forum is full of users who are also complaining about Wi-Fi connectivity issues, which are said to be plaguing the iPhone 4S and the new iPad after upgrading. It’s not just that Wi-Fi performance is poor; some users can’t enable it at all.
You're in a hotel room, and you want to hook up to the in-room Wi-Fi. And guess what? It sucks, just like at every other hotel you ever stayed at. So Instead you dig out your MacBook and hook it up to the hotel's Ethernet cable, and use internet sharing to generate your own wireless network.
Wait… The newest MacBooks Air don't have Ethernet ports. But don't worry: you can pick up the $60 mySpot from Kanex, a little dongle which takes an Ethernet connector and turns its sweet network payload into a wireless cloud, ready for all your iDevices and your non-Ethernet MacBook Air.
Question: How many iPhone owners does it take to change a lightbulb(‘s color)?
Answer: One. As long as he has installed the LIFX app, and bought the LIFX remote-controlled lightbulb.
Oh, it is soooo on. Right after the announcement of Nikon's (relatively) cheap and small full-frame 24MP D600, comes Canon's reply: the 6D, a (you guessed it) small and budget-minded full-frame SLR. And it adds Wi-Fi and GPS.
Canon seems intent on fighting camera phones with Wi-Fi and large sensors. Also: ISO 12,000.
iOS developer Marco Arment has discovered two new iPads — believed to be two iterations of the upcoming iPad mini — in his Instapaper developer logs. The devices have the “iPad2,5” and “iPad2,6” model numbers, according to their operating system, which haven’t been seen before, and could point to Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + cellular versions of the device.
This, apparently, is a new Android-powered phone from Nikon. As budget compact cameras become lass and less relevant thanks to camera-packing smartphones, manufacturers are essentially turning their cameras into phones.
It’s not difficult to open up the Settings app and activate or deactivate things like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or Airplane Mode. But it could be a whole lot quicker. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have an icon on your home screen that allows you to toggle these things instantly — without having to navigate the Settings app? Thanks to IconToggles, you can.
NFL teams may be embracing the iPad, but the league seems a bit mixed in its approach to fans carrying iPhones, iPads, and other mobile devices. Despite a plan announced earlier this summer that NFL stadiums would be equipped with large-scale Wi-Fi access along with mobile apps for fans to use while at a game, the NFL has decided to take a much more cautious approach to game-day technology.
Earlier this year, amid reports that tickets sales for NFL had fallen for a fifth straight year in a row, the league announced free Wi-Fi and some ambitious in-stadium perks for fans willing to put down the money to see their favorite team play in person. Unfortunately for most fans, only five stadiums will be offering these features during the 2012 season.
While Apple’s latest iOS 6 beta didn’t make any significant changes to the platform’s front-end — aside from removing the YouTube app — it did make some changes under the hood. In addition to “bug fixes,” it appears the fourth beta has made some improvements to App Store download times that make updating your apps super snappy.
The summer break is winding up and many teachers are getting ready to head back to work for another school year (and many IT staffers in those schools are trying to make sure everything’s ready when those teachers return). Over the past several months, many schools and their IT departments have been struggling to keep spending down while also delivering a 21st century learning environment. That discussion has largely focused on how to most cost effectively deploy iPads, new MacBooks, and other technology systems.
One approach to that dilemma is moving away from traditional software purchasing and towards enterprise cloud solutions. That approach may give schools more control over expenditures and offer other advantages, but it also has downsides including the potential to raise costs and degrade the education experience.
Have you ever watched your iPhone attempt to load a webpage with a poor Wi-Fi connection, and wondered why it doesn’t just switch to 3G automatically? In currently iOS releases, your device can’t do that. If you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network, it will only use the Wi-Fi network. But iOS 6 changes that. You’ll soon be able to use “Wi-Fi Plus Cellular” connections, which allows apps to switch to a cellular data connection automatically when Wi-Fi is poor.
If you’re been waiting to get the new iPad from the refurbished section of Apple’s Online Store in an effort to save some cash, then today is your lucky day. The latest device, which is the first and only iPad to get a high-resolution Retina display, is now available with $50 off.
It’s official: Wi-Fi is the new megapixels. Or something. What’s certain is that the camera phone market has forever mixed up the regular camera world, and in order to offer some form of uploading and editing convenience for their dumb offline boxes, camera makers are adding Wi-Fi. Specifically, Wi-Fi that will connect to your iPhone or Android device.
The latest is the Fujifilm FinePix F800EXR, a compact superzoom which will cost you $380.
As AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon continue extending their LTE networks across the country, a new market analysis suggests that most users will eventually choose not to buy LTE iPads and other 3G/4G-enabled tablets. The report, which comes from research firm CCS Insight, says that demand for iPads and other tablets with built-in mobile broadband support will continue to drop over the next four years. Following that logic, the company says that it expects Apple and other manufacturers to reduce the number of iPads and other tablets with built-in cellular connectivity.
The wireless spectrum crunch is forcing most mobile carriers to consider options to address a future in which there simply isn’t enough frequency available to easily meet the ever-growing demand for 3G and LTE connections. One idea that has been floated is developing systems that can offload mobile data onto Wi-Fi networks.
That idea isn’t new. In fact most iPhone and 3G/LTE iPad users tend to offload data service to home or public Wi-Fi networks. Doing so has clear advantages to consumers in that it helps avoid any overage fees and it can provide a faster connection in some circumstances.
Dealing with limited spectrum resources, however, carriers have been forced to consider ways of offloading data themselves rather than waiting and hoping that users to take action on their own.
Microsoft’s free My Xbox LIVE app for iOS just got a brand new update that introduces the ability to use your iPad as a remote control for your console. You can use it to navigate your way around the menus, control media playback, and to “find fresh entertainment” in the new Discover section.
Samsung’s new Wi-Fi-enabled EX2F compact is a nice example of Apple-like design thinking: In order to do some things really well, it sacrifices other options. Instead of the indecisive kitchen-sink approach of Microsoft to its Surface, Samsung has laser-focused the design of the EX2F. But that’s not to say it lacks features.
BYOD and ever-increasing mobility are business trends that are forcing many organizations to take a fresh look at security. The idea of employees connecting from home, coffee shops, and even planes has led to an overall increasing awareness of the need to secure remote connections. At the same time, business data residing on the iPhones, iPads, and other mobile devices of those employees is causing the IT industry to take a fresh look at mobile device security.
That is, of course, a good thing. With the focus on mobile security, however, many IT organizations are letting the security and overall design of their core networks to become outdated – and exposing their companies to incredible risks in the process.
When connected to a Wi-Fi network, Tweetbot’s terrific streaming feature continually delivers new tweets to your timeline without the need to refresh manually. But did you know that the app contains a “Super Secret Settings” menu that allows you to activate streaming over a 2G or 3G cellular connection?
Here’s how to access it.
Like its predecessors, Apple’s latest iPad promises to provide you within around ten hours of battery life for surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music. But with its high-resolution Retina display and LTE connectivity, it needs a much bigger battery to do that.
And we all know how long it takes for that battery to charge, because it has been well documented since the device made its debut earlier this year. But the cost of keeping it running may be a lot less than you think.
LTE devices, including iPads, offer users two major advantages: speeds typically faster than many wired providers (in my neck of the woods, Verizon LTE is just over twice as fast as Time Warner’s Roadrunner Turbo) and ubiquitous access for LTE devices (and any devices tethered to them) that is a lot more convenient than relying on public network or hotspots like those found in your neighborhood Starbucks. A downside is that LTE’s speeds make it easy to rack up a large bill.
If you’re looking for another high-speed wireless option that offers better bang for your buck, there’s one joining the field to consider – and it’s coming from an unlikely source with an unlikely price. Five major cable companies are joining forces to deliver ubiquitous Wi-Fi coverage for any of their subscribers… for free.
An “iPhone 5” SIM tray that was leaked by one parts supplier earlier this month suggested Apple’s sixth-generation iPhone may not get that long-awaited redesign after all, launching instead with a look that resembles its last two predecessors, the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S.
However, a new headphone jack & earpiece component that has been leaked by the same supplier contradicts that belief, and indicates that the new iPhone will indeed sport a whole new look.
Despite its focus on a speedy international rollout for the new iPad, which has seen the tablet hit 57 countries in just over one month, Apple is still keeping on top of demand and working to reduce shipping delays in its initial launch territories. After delays dropped to just 3-5 days in the United States last week, customers in Europe are now facing a wait of just 7 days.
