As inexpensive and powerful as technology is today, it's easy to take it for granted. You can buy a smartphone today that could outperform desktop machines from 20 years ago, at a fraction of the size, for a fragment of the price.
To really put things in perspective, analyst Bret Swanson decided to do a rough calculation of what the iPhone would have cost to build in 1991. And to give you an idea of how pricey it gets, a 1GB HD cost around $10K back then...
It got off to a rocky start, but things are looking up for Apple's MFi controller platform. We're starting to see more (and cheaper) controller options become available for iOS devices, and developers are adding MFi support to their games daily.
Case in point, Sega just updated 2 of its most popular Sonic iOS titles with MFi controller support. Now in addition to Sonic the Hedgehog 2, both the original Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic CD are compatible with the new breed of gamepads...
Popular cloud storage service Mega has pushed an update for its iPhone client today, bringing the app to version 1.1. The update puts the client more on par with Dropbox and other cloud clients by adding photo sync, a passcode option and more.
The biggest new feature for me is the passcode lock, as it allows you to set a four-digit passcode that would be required every time you launch the app. But I'm sure many folks will find the new automatic cloud-photo-syncing feature just as handy...
The New York Times is reporting that California State Senator Mark Leno plans to introduce a bill that would require all cell phones sold in the state to include antitheft technology. He hopes to curb smartphone thefts—a major problem in larger cities.
The bill is being co-sponsored by San Francisco DA George Gascón, which isn't surprising considering he's long been pushing for Apple and other manufacturers to build 'kill switches' in their devices. And if it passes, it could go into effect as early as next year...
According to a new report from cyber security researcher Jamie Sanchez, the Snapchat app contains a vulnerability that makes it possible for hackers to launch a denial-of-service (DoS) attack that can temporarily freezes a user's iPhone.
Sanchez and a fellow research discovered a flaw in the app's system that allows a hacker to send thousands of messages to a Snapchat user in seconds, which can cause crashes. And often times, these crashes can only be fixed with a reset...
Last night we passed along a report from The Wall Street Journal, which featured an interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook talking about the company's past, and its future. And one of the things he harped on was that it has some big things in the pipeline.
A quick look at the rumor mill tells you what some of those things could be: a bigger iPhone, a new Apple TV product, etc. But perhaps the most anticipated unreleased Apple product is the health-sensing, fitness tracking smartwatch known as the iWatch.
We've seen a lot of evidence that Apple is working on a new wearable device, but none of it is more telling than its recent string of medical and fitness expert hires. And 9to5Mac has put together an exhaustive list, detailing what each brings to the table...
The US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation host a daylong summit yesterday to discuss the growing problem of distracted driving. Drivers texting and doing other phone-related activities are now causing more than 1 million accidents per year.
A number of representatives from major tech companies attended the summit, including executives from Google, Samsung, AT&T, Sprint and Apple. The Senate is asking that they all work together to come up with more robust technical solutions to distracted driving...
Apple reported the financial results for its holiday quarter late last month, and for the most part they killed it—the company set records for revenue, iPhone sales, and iPad sales during the 3-month period. But all Wall Street saw was declining growth.
The Cupertino tech giant's stock dropped 8% that day in after-hours trading, falling from $550 per share to $500, and it has yet to rebound. But Tim Cook says Apple's taking advantage of the unexpected price drop by going on a major buyback spree...
"There will be new categories," Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal in an interview regarding Apple's recent buyback of more than $14 billion in stock. "We're not ready to talk about it, but we're working on some really great stuff."
Now, Cook has alluded to Apple getting into new product categories before. But speaking with the Journal, the CEO seems more intent than ever on convincing worried investors that his company has some major things in the pipeline...
Apple has seeded the fifth OS X 10.9.2 beta to registered Mac developers this evening. The last few beta releases have each come about a week apart, suggesting that they're nearing a final version.
The new build is available to registered Mac developers through the Software Update tab in the Mac App Store, or as a full download via the Mac section of Apple’s online developer portal…
A major flaw has been discovered in iOS 7 that seemingly allows users to disable the important 'Find My iPhone' feature on a device without typing in the typically-required password. Turning off the feature on a stolen device makes it invisible to Apple's location service.
And what's worse is, the flaw isn't difficult to exploit. The bug can be reproduced on any device [that we've seen] running iOS 7.0.4 by following a few simple steps that involve making changes in the iCloud section of the Settings app and entering in a dummy password...
While discussing the latest mobile gaming craze that is Flappy Bird on our recent Let's Talk iOS podcast, I wondered out loud how much money the developer was making from his newfound success. The game, which is free with ads, has enjoyed a spontaneous reign at the top of the App Store.
Apparently he's doing rather well for himself. In a recent interview with The Verge, developer Dong Nguyen says that Flappy Bird is earning an average of $50,000 per day from ads. It's been download over 50M times, and has been sitting atop iOS and Android app stores for nearly a month...