Month: September 2012

Google buys Snapseed developer Nik Software

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Google is always on an acquisition spree but if their recent deals are anything to go by, it's hard to escape the notion that the search Goliath is specifically going after very successful iOS developers.

It snapped up mobile productivity maker Quickoffice earlier in the summer and in July bought the Sparrow team and merged it with the Gmail team while saying 'no' to new features for the popular iOS and Mac email client of the same name, much to the horror of die hard fans.

If you use Snapseed, a popular photography and image editing app for the Mac and iPhone/iPad, you probably won't like this: Google just bought them for an undisclosed sum...

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Could the new iPod touch be the latest threat to point-and-shoot cameras?

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

First the iPhone turned the concept of mobile phones on its head, offering consumers apps as well as a dialtone. Soon, handsets became the go-to devices for taking snapshots. Now the iPod touch -- a master at upending the market for music -- is set to become your favorite point-and-shoot camera.

The new iPod Touch gains a 5-megapixel camera that also includes high-def images and Panoramic views. Now experts say the Touch has all the makings of a rival of the grab-and-go digital point-and-shoot camera. "I think this new Touch will appeal to many people both young and old, who are looking for a point and shoot camera that does more than just take photos," writes Glyn Evans at the iPhoneography blog.

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Joy of Tech on the ‘disappointing’ iPhone 5

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 17, 2012

As expected, Apple's "boring" iPhone 5 has shattered previous sales record, selling two million pre-orders in just 24 hours. Cupertino's rivals were quick to point out how the updated hardware "only" boasts a slightly larger display (versus jumbo-sized Android phones), 4G LTE and a faster chip - ignoring numerous little hardware tweaks under the hood.

As Apple fans know, these include the handset's refined two-tone redesign, HD Audio for crisper phone calls, three mics, better battery life and seamless integration of hardware, software and services delivering the smoothest mobile experience there is, to name a few.

We love Joy of Tech comics and were expecting their take on the "boring iPhone 5". Here it is...

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Nokia fan (or Nokia?) creates Samsung style anti-iPhone ad

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 17, 2012

Following up on news of Samsung's upcoming anti-iPhone television commercial and sighting of an amusing print ad appearing in certain newspapers and focused on a laundry list of iPhone 5 and Galaxy SIII features, a fan of Nokia's newly introduced flagship handset, the Windows Phone 8-drive Lumia 920, has taken it upon himself  to re-work Samsung's advertisement with a little Nokia touch.

Replacing the Galaxy SIII with the Lumia 920, the new ad proclaims Nokia's device "the heawyweight champion" of smartphone wars, which have grown uglier with the iPhone 5 introduction (which shattered sales records), patent fights, Samsung's nasty ad attacks and March 2013 release of the Galaxy S4.

Now there’s a new “ad” ready to become viral, coming from Nokia fans (or maybe Windows Phone fans). The unofficial commercial is entitled “Flyweight contender, meet the heavyweight champion” and pits the Nokia Lumia 920 against the iPhone 5...

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Law student sues Apple over Siri sponsored responses

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 17, 2012

Apple's Siri digital secretary, now a feature present on the iPhone 4S/5, the new fifth-generation iPod touch and third-generation iPad, is infamous for Apple's over-the-top advertising, availability issues and inaccuracies.

Still in beta, Siri in iOS 6 is more reliable and faster. It can now display sports scores, help you make restaurant reservations, discover showtimes, watch movie trailers in-line and more. It is also tightly integrated with Apple Maps and more broadly available.

A law student is taking issue with how Siri responds to questions like "what's the best smartphone/tablet ever". As you know, based on web customer review average scores, Siri briefly used to name the Lumia 900 the best smartphone ever unitl Apple recalibrated her to favor the iPhone (with responses like "the one you're holding"), much to Nokia's disgust...

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Apple sold 2 million iPhone 5 in first 24 hours, ‘shattering’ iPhone 4S record

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Another confirmation this morning just how fast the new iPhone 5 is selling: Apple says it sold 2 million of the new handsets in just the first 24 hours of availability with demand outstripping supply. Preorders for the slimmer, faster iPhone "have shattered the previous record held by iPhone 4S," Apple's marketing head Philip Schiller announced.

Indeed, demand is so off the scale that the Cupertino, Calif. company said the "majority of preorders" will be delivered to buyers on Sept. 21 with new purchases set for delivery in October. Earlier today, AT&T said it set a "sales record with iPhone 5 over the weekend, making it the fastest-selling iPhone the company has ever offered".

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Samsung to take on the iPhone 5 with the Galaxy S4, due in February 2013

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 8, 2016

Just as Apple announced two million iPhone 5 pre-orders and admitted to demand exceeding the initial supply, the latest word on the street has it that rival Samsung is readying its answer, a successor to its Galaxy SIII flagship handset which became the most serious challenger to the iPhone based on shipments of 20 million units in its first hundred days on market (they expect to ship 30 million by year's end).

The Galaxy S4 should launch in March 2013, a month following its public introduction at the annual Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona, Spain. Samsung officials reportedly are convinced that the device will be capable of curbing the iPhone 5, which has a bigger four-inch Retina display, twice as fast processor and fast 4G LTE and WiFi networking capabilities, plus a two-tone form factor and a host of other hardware tweaks...

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Shazam gets ability to tag any TV show on any U.S. channel

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 17, 2012

Shazam, a popular music identification service, announced today a major update and milestone to its mobile apps. Shazam now commands an astounding user base of 250 million, with more than two million users added each week. The London, England-headquartered startup was founded in 1999 by Chris Barton, Philip Inghelbrecht, Dhiraj Mukherjee and Avery Wang.

Since their inception, Shazam mobile apps for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and other platforms have remained amongst the top ten most downloaded apps of all time. Shazam updated these apps today with new features, including ability to tag any television show on any channel in the United States in order to find out what music is playing, who the actors are and more...

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People are already in line for the iPhone 5 at New York Apple Store

Cody Lee ∙ Updated June 13, 2016

If you weren't able to place your iPhone 5 pre-order last week, and still want to pick one up on launch day, I have some good news and some bad news for you.

The good news is, Apple and other retailers will start offering the handset this Friday at 8 AM. The bad news is, it looks like some folks are already lining up...

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Wirelessly streaming files to your iPhone with Wi-Drive

Jim Gresham ∙ September 16, 2012

You just preordered the new iPhone 5, but did not want to splurge on the 32GB or 64GB model. While you wait for Friday to arrive, you are growing more and more concerned about the lack of storage space on your shiny new iPhone. After all, you are going to want to watch widescreen movies in their 16:9 glory, but alas, you need all 16GBs to store family vacation photos to show Grandma on your Thanksgiving trip home.

Critically, you scoff that she doesn't have WiFi at the assisted living center, so you can't pull them from iCloud or Dropbox. This Thanksgiving, be thankful for Kingston's Wi-Drive, which will store everything needed in a compact design and wirelessly broadcast the files without an existing network. Even the nagging kids in the backseat can simultaneously enjoy different movies...

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iPhone 5 rules competitive landscape in first Geekbench tests

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 16, 2012

Following a detailed analysis by AnandTech which exposed the A6 chip inside the iPhone 5 as bein comprised of custom ARMv7 design rather than stock Cortex-A15 cores, someone has posted an iPhone 5 benchmark on Geekbench.

Now, the handset will hit store shelves on Friday so there's no way to verify the authenticity of this poster (and Geekbench scores could be easily faked). If you believe the results though, the iPhone 5,2 hardware has a Geekbench score of 1601.

The test also shows an ARMv7 processor design with two cores clocked at 1.02GHz each, with 32KB of L1 instruction/data cache, 1MB of L2 cache and 1GB of RAM (Samsung's print ad has helped reveal that tidbit)...

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