Year: 2014

Fortune ranks Tim Cook 33rd in list of world’s top 50 greatest leaders

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 1, 2017

Although a number of pundits pushing the popular 'Apple is doomed' narrative these days might disagree with me, I think Tim Cook has done a solid job at Apple thus far. Sure, its stock is currently way down from its peak, but the company is still turning a large profit.

And if you don't believe me, checkout Fortune's new list of the world's 50 greatest leaders. Ranked at #33, Cook is one of only two leaders from Silicon Valley to make the list, which includes the likes of Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama. The other is Amazon's Jeff Bezos...

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GarageBand for Mac gains three new Drummers, can now export to MP3 and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 20, 2014

If you're an aspiring musician and a user of Apple's free music-making software for the Mac, you should know there's a new GarageBand update sitting in the Mac App Store.

The free GarageBand version 10.0.2 edition contains multiple enhancements to Accessibility and adds the option to export a song as an MP3 file.

The latter is much welcomed as you were previously required to export songs as QuickTime or some other format and then use iTunes or a similar app to manually convert the digital file into the commonly used MP3 format. There are also some new Drummers, but more on that after the break...

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Christian Bale reportedly front-runner for Steve Jobs role in Sony’s biopic

Cody Lee ∙ March 20, 2014

Academy Award-winner Christian Bale is said to be the front-runner for the Steve Jobs role in Sony's upcoming biopic about the Apple founder. And if you're a fan of the Cupertino company, or just a fan of good movies in general, this is exciting news.

Bale is highly regarded in Hollywood for his ability to play a wide range of characters—he's done everything from a sociopathic serial killer to the cape crusader—and his commitment to the art. He once dropped 60 pounds in just a few months for a role...

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Amazon said to be launching smartphone with 6 cameras soon

Cody Lee ∙ March 20, 2014

With Amazon set to unveil its set-top box next month, the e-commerce giant is approaching full-on Apple competitor. It has the tablets, and the ecosystem, all it needs is a smartphone. And according to a new report, that could be arriving soon as well.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a solid reputation for accurately predicting tech company product plans, says Amazon is preparing to launch its long-awaited handset within the next 3 months. And get this: apparently it'll have 6 cameras...

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Twitter turns 8, celebrates with new tool that uncovers anyone’s first tweet

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 20, 2014

When Jack Dorsey, along with Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass, flipped the switch on Twitter back in July 2006, there was no chance on Earth they could have predicted how widespread their strange new service would become.

I mean, isn't it remarkable to think that news breaks on Twitter nowadays? Big media like CNN, NBC and other 24/7 media outlets source information from Twitter and celebs who get paid to endorse Samsung devices regularly humiliate themselves by tweeting from their iPhones.

The service that forces you to compress your thoughts into 140-character posts was actually created on this day eight years ago and Twitter is marking the anniversary by launching an interesting tool which lets you check out anyone's first tweet, without having to scroll for hours through their timeline.

Skimming through your followers' inaugural tweeting is an awesome reminder that most folks struggled to figure out this Twitter thing when it launched...

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Starbucks 3.0 is out with new iOS 7 design, shake-to-pay and tipping

Cody Lee ∙ March 20, 2014

That big Starbucks app update we told you about last week has arrived in the App Store today. The update, which brings the client to version 3.o, includes the long-awaited redesign for iOS 7 as well as a handful of major new features and improvements.

On the new features side, we have shake-to-pay, which will allow you to bring up your barcode with the flick of a wrist to pay for your Starbucks order. There's also a new digital tipping function that lets you tip your barista, and a new Dashboard view...

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iPhone 6 to have 8MP camera, report claims

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 20, 2014

Instead of the twelve or sixteen-megapixel camera upgrade in its 2014 iPhone offerings anticipated by watchers, Apple is said to stick with the eight-megapixel module and focus on improving image quality through software advancements and features like optical image stabilization, a new report asserts.

Apple is seemingly expected to skip the megapixel race with the iPhone 6 "to concentrate on other ways to better images," people familiar with the matter apparently told AppleInsider...

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China Mobile sells one million iPhones in February

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 28, 2017

China Mobile with its 776 million customers is the world's largest wireless carrier by subscribers and it's been selling Apple's iPhone for two months now. So how many iPhone units did the carrier move?

According to media reports Wednesday, China Mobile's CEO Li Yue has confirmed that his company has managed to add one million new iPhone users last month since offering the device in mid-January.

To give you some context, that's a nice 75 percent share of the 1.34 million 4G-capable smartphones the carrier moved in February...

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New Samsung ad takes simultaneous jabs at iPad, Surface and Kindle

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 20, 2014

Samsung's just posted a new ad to its YouTube channel inviting viewers to "do more" on the new multi-tasking Galaxy Tab Pro series tablet, featuring three different scenes dedicated to bashing Apple's iPad, Microsoft's Surface and Amazon's Kindle tablets. The ad is actually humorous, which is a refreshing change change for Samsung.

The commercial's anti-Apple scene envisions sending email on the Samsung tablet while on a video call, using snapping two apps side by side. Have a look at it after the break and tell us what you think in the comment section...

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2015 iPhones and iPads could achieve photorealism with ray-traced graphics from Imagination

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 26, 2016

Imagination Technologies, a fabless UK-based semiconductor maker, has been supplying PowerVR-branded mobile graphics IP for Apple's in-house designed iDevice chips since the iPhone's inception.

Detailed 3D graphics, speedy animations and smooth performance have always been one of the hallmarks of the iPhone and iPad so it's no surprise that Apple is an investor in Imagination.

Following Imagination's announcement of a next-generation PowerVR GX6650 GPU that promises to smoke graphics giant Nvidia's own Tegra K1 mobile processor, Imagination yesterday said it is taking PowerVR graphics architecture to the next level by adding ray-tracing capabilities.

Apple likely won't utilize this technique in its upcoming A8 chip for the iPhone 6 and 2014 iPads because Imagination's technology won't be making its way into products until 2015.

This means that come 2015, your iPhone and iPad could easily give dedicated game consoles a good run for their money graphics-wise, by supporting high-quality lighting and shadows, accurate transparency and photorealistic reflections...

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Pandora upping monthly ‘One’ fee, dropping annual subscriptions

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 18, 2016

Pandora announced this week that it is going to making some significant changes to its Pandora One subscription service over the next couple of months. Most notably, it's going to be raising the monthly subscription cost and eliminating the annual option.

Citing rising licensing costs, Pandora says that it's raising its 'One' fee from $3.99 per month to $4.99 per month, and taking away the discounted annual plan altogether. The company says that royalty rates it pays to artists have increased 53% since it began...

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