Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

20 Dec 2011 00:53

tags

Tech: Clothing with a twist: Smartphones could gain a couple wearable friends

  • Years ago, researchers envisioned these tiny computers transmitting information to the Internet. It wasn’t what we envisioned, but it happened. It’s called the smartphone.
  • Yael Maguire, a visiting scientist at M.I.T. and Harvard • On the advancement of phone technologies in more wearable directions. Secret projects led by Google and Apple could allow users to carry around lightweight, connected devices that fit in with what you’re already wearing — think a bracelet-style iPod with the ability to talk to Siri whenever you want.  All of this is possible thanks to the invention of the smartphone, which is kind of a wearable computer already. We bet these toys will work perfectly with mock turtlenecks.  source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Dec 2011 20:04

tags

Tech: Apple admits they used Carrier IQ too, but only if it was enabled

  • We stopped supporting CarrierIQ with iOS 5 in most of our products and will remove it completely in a future software update. With any diagnostic data sent to Apple, customers must actively opt-in to share this information, and if they do, the data is sent in an anonymous and encrypted form and does not include any personal information. We never recorded keystrokes, messages or any other personal information for diagnostic data and have no plans to ever do so.
  • A statement from Apple • Discussing the quickly-becoming-a-big-deal Carrier IQ situation, in which an obscure diagnostic company allegedly had its data-tracking app on a millions of phones — without consumers knowing. At first, was unclear if the software was on Apple’s tightly-locked phones, but last night, it became clear that it was — although, unlike in the case of many Android phones, it wasn’t enabled by default and otherwise difficult to enable. And with the next iOS update, it’ll be gone entirely. Still, though. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Dec 2011 14:54

tags

Tech: Apple denies Siri is anti-abortion, promises improvements

  • Our customers want to use Siri to find out all types of information, and while it can find a lot, it doesn’t always find what you want. These are not intentional omissions meant to offend anyone. It simply means that as we bring Siri from beta to a final product, we find places where we can do better, and we will in the coming weeks.
  • Natalie Kerris, spokeswoman for Apple • Denying that there’s any sort of intent behind Siri, the computerized iPhone 4S helper that’s taken America by storm, being extremely unproductive at helping users find local abortion clinics. That the program understands the question is clear enough — when asked “where can I get an abortion,” Siri replies “I don’t see any abortion clinics. Sorry about that.” There have also been reports of Siri directing people seeking abortion services to “crisis pregnancy centers,” which often present themselves as outlets for abortion services information but are actually pro-life organizations that try to talk women out of the procedure. Apple’s response to this is more or less precisely what we’d expect, and given the attention on this we’d imagine a fix will be coming soon. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Nov 2011 10:47

tags

Tech: iPhone sales: Hong Kong really wants to try out Siri, apparently

  • 10 minutes to sell out iPhone 4S pre-orders in Hong Kong source
  • » Want to pre-order the iPhone 4s in Hong Kong? Too late. You’re stuck waiting in line. The phone will be available in stores this Friday and analysts are expecting “long lines and serial stock outs.” It’s a good sign for when the phone hits mainland China — a date for which has not been announced. It’s led to a black-market Apple-smuggling industry between Hong Kong and China, which is likely to only continue with the iPhone 4S
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Oct 2011 12:09

tags

Tech: Samsung ships more smartphones than Apple does these days

  • 27.8 million number of smartphone units Samsung shipped in the past quarter, way up from the prior quarter
  • 17.1 million number of smartphone units Apple sold in that quarter, down a bit from the prior quarter source
  • » A fast ramp-up for Samsung: Samsung entered the smartphone market in earnest just last year, and suddenly they’re bigger than Apple. How the heck did that happen? Well, Samsung gained a rep as having the best execution for mobile devices outside of Apple, and as a result, they were able to grow quickly. But it’s entirely possible that Apple could still top Samsung in the next quarter — part of the reason their sales are down is that they took longer than they usually do to iterate to a new iPhone. The iPhone 4S, it’s worth noting, is selling pretty well. (Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story claimed that both numbers reflected sales; as it turns out, Apple’s number reflects sales, while Samsung’s number reflects shipments, according to clarification MacWorld gathered from Apple and Strategy Analytics, the company that put out the report these numbers were based upon. We apologize for the confusion.)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Oct 2011 22:26

tags

Tech: Apple’s most iconic device celebrates a major milestone

  • Happy 10th Birthday, iPod: Apple has sold more than 300 million iPod devices since it was introduced on October 23, 2001. The first iPod had a five-gigabyte hard drive and could hold 1,000 songs. It sold for $399. Today, the iPod Classic can hold 30,000 songs on its 160-gigabyte hard drive at a cost of $249. source
Posted by Matthew Keys • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Oct 2011 15:04

tags

Biz: Apple’s quarterly profits below expectations for first time since 2004

  • 6% drop in price of Apple shares in wake of 3rd quarter results source
  • » But they’re not so worried: Parsing the present-day meaning of past quarter business reports can be a sketchy task, especially considering that in Apple’s case, the recently released iPhone 4S is expected to lend a surge to their profits, though that won’t come across until the current quarter’s figures come out. (One company official specifically blamed iPhone 5 rumors for hurting the company’s bottom line.) And despite the dip in share prices, Apple’s actual business in the 3rd quarter was yet robust; profits increased by 54%, and sales went up 39%. And since we’re talking Apple, we’d be remiss not to mention also that there’s a Steve Jobs memorial exclusively for employees that’s happening today; Apple’s Cupertino campus is hosting, and Apple stores nationwide will be closing for the duration to allow staff to watch.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

18 Oct 2011 00:39

tags

Tech: iPhone 4S is doing crazy well in sales. Why’s that, exactly?

  • The iPhone 4s has sold 4 million units since friday. PCMag has a few ideas why Apple’s latest product has done so well so soon. There was hype surrounding the 4S, as there usually is with a new Apple product; rumors floated all summer about the phone, giving it an air of mystique. Add that to the passing of Steve Jobs, and you have a good amount of buzz. The phone is now available on more networks and in more countries, two demographics that the iPhone 4 didn’t have for its release. Plus, owning an iPhone comes with some sort of blood contract, right? source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Oct 2011 20:34

tags

Tech: iPhone owners minorly annoyed; BlackBerry owners pissed off

  • bad iPhone and iPad owners had some issues installing iOS version 5, released today, on their new devices, probably due to mass-install glut. (We had an issue with the install briefly — we threw it on our non-jailbroken iPad — but we got it to work on the second try.)
  • worse However, compared to the issues that BlackBerry owners have had over the past couple of days, that was cake. RIM says that the rolling blackouts were caused by a “core switch failure,” whatever that means. Oh no, what are all the policy wonks going to do!? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Oct 2011 09:56

tags

Tech: Tuesday’s Apple keynote, in retrospect, post-Steve Jobs

  • The fact that you, and your team, went on stage, knowing that Steve Jobs was close to death, is a testament to your professionalism. I felt that you had called it in a bit, but now I know the truth. You weren’t calling it in at all. You were doing an amazing job while knowing what was coming.
  • Robert Scoble • In a Google+ post late last night, getting the point across that Apple released a new iPhone the day before Steve Jobs died. Tim Cook went on DESPITE the fact that he knew the guy who invented the device was about to die. But … in a way, it makes the modestness of the event seem all the more obvious. “Today I feel guilty because I gave you a tough time about your first press conference,” Scoble said. “Now that I know what was going on behind the scenes I owe you an apology. I’m sorry, I owe you and your team one.” We think the internet does, honestly, because that keynote was much-derided. Now it all makes sense. Ultimately, what Apple sells — they’re just phones. In a week, the weak keynote will be forgotten. Jobs, however, won’t. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>