Card scanners have been around for quite some time and contrary to popular belief can be very useful. But to be honest, I gave up on card readers a long time ago due to bad experiences with clumsy apps.
If done right, however, card scanning software can make adding contact information and keeping track of business contact data a breeze. So naturally, I jumped at the chance when I was asked to check out ABBYY's Business Card Reader for iOS...
Big Red's Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo is no stranger to leaking iDevice information. You might recall the comments he made last month during Verizon's quarterly earnings call, claiming that Apple's next smartphone would be a global device.
Reuters is reporting today that the CFO has once again been dishing the dirt on Apple's upcoming gadget. Shammo told Reuters about upcoming changes to Verizon's data plans and reaffirmed some details about the next iPhone...
Cloud-talk has become the equivalent of a tacky sitcom; it seems to be on every channel. I suppose it's for a good reason though, especially with Apple's WWDC event coming up in just a few weeks.
The Cupertino company is expected to expose its secret cloud storage service at the developer's conference next month. Though iCloud rumors have only recently began to heat up, Patently Apple is suggesting it's been a work in progress for quite some time ...
If you have more invested in Apple than just what you paid for your MacBook, you've probably already heard the news. MarketWatch is reporting that China Mobile has reached an agreement with Apple regarding a future iPhone on their network.
China Mobile is home to over 600 million customers and has yet to offer Apple's smartphone. It seems though, that chairman Wang Jianzho doesn't expect that to be the case much longer...
Several online news outlets have been reporting in the last 12 hours that Apple has signed a deal with EMI Music, the fourth largest music group in the world. Apple definitely seems to be putting the final pieces in place for its cloud-based music service.
Reports surfaced last month that Apple had completed their cloud service, and had reached a licensing agreement with Warner Music Group. If the above information holds true, that just leaves Sony and Universal left, which sources say could sign on as early as next week...
Cloud services have been all the rage lately. Offerings from Amazon and now Google are currently battling it out in the "clouds," but I've got another suggestion for you. This one might have flown under your radar because it's just an App Store app that syncs with your DropBox account.
BoxyTunes isn't a brand new application, but we figured with all of the hubbub surrounding cloud services these days, we wanted to make sure all of our readers knew about this little gem...
The current iPad 2 is good at a lot of things. It's extremely thin, easy to use, and lightning fast. It's no wonder why it continues to be a consumer favorite. However, the device could also use some serious upgrading in some categories, camera quality being one of them.
The current version of Apple's tablet has a camera capable of shooting 960 x 720 pixel photos, that's 0.7 megapixel. Apple's latest iPhone is sporting a camera that takes 5 megapixel photos, why the big difference?
The Cupertino company set out to make the iPad 2 thin. Not just thin enough to impress folks, but thin enough to call itself one of the slimmest tablets around. In fact, it lead that category until Samsung went back to the drawing board with their Tab 10.1 and shaved a few more centimeters off the top.
But contrary to popular belief, being thin has its disadvantages, and in this case it cost the iPad 2 a decent camera. Obviously due to design restraints, the camera module that Apple used in the iPad 2 had to meet certain size requirements. At the time there must have not been a decent sensor that fit the bill, so they used the same one that's in their 4G iPod Touch.
Well 9to5Mac is reporting today that OmniVision has unveiled a 5MP camera sensor, that is smaller than its predecessors. Since the digital imaging solutions company happens to be the main supplier of camera sensors for iDevices, it's likely that we will see this (or something similar) in future Apple products.
"The OV5690 offers best-in-class low-light performance and image quality while also enabling 20 percent thinner camera modules..."
Not only does the camera take 5MP stills, it records video in full 1080p. The current iPad camera records video in 720p, so the upgrade would be quite noticeable. Since the camera seems to be one of the tablet's biggest downfalls, it would be logical to assume Apple is looking to upgrade it in future iterations.
What do you think of the current iPad 2 camera? Would you get an iPad 3 if the camera quality was improved?
Healthcare company Teladoc has been in the doctor-visits-over-webcam industry for the last 8 years. In that time, the group has facilitated somewhere in the range of 80,000 patient/doctor visits by webcam or telephone.
Now it seems like the group is looking to release new iPhone and iPad apps that will allow patients to visit the doctors office, by simply making a FaceTime call. But can a doctor effectively diagnose a patient over the web?
Apple's TV line has been described as "just a hobby." However, strong sales of the company's 2nd iteration of the ATV has kind of changed the dynamics of the product.
AirPlay especially helped the Apple TV2's sales out, along with the device's $99 price tag. There are several apps available that take advantage of Apple's AirPlay feature, but this one probably does it in the most unique way...
In-app purchasing has had kind of a rocky go of it since Apple announced the feature in late 2009. It was the reason behind multiple lawsuits and was even rumored to be investigated by members of the FCC.
Well it appears that its legal troubles aren't over just yet, but this time it's not angry parents threatening with legal action. This time it's a small license-toting company that says that in-app purchasing infringes on one of their patents...
We've heard several rumors that the next iPhone will have Near Field Communications (NFC) abilities. Apple itself added fuel to the gossip-fire when it publicly announced the hiring of NFC expert Benjamin Vigier. NFC technology can handle anything from unlocking car doors, to wirelessly paying for goods and services.
It's expected to be the future of mobile payment systems and has already been imbedded in multiple Android phones. Many folks have been back and forth on whether or not Apple would include NFC in its next iteration of the iPhone, but BGR seems to be pretty confident that it will...
The iPad 2 is one of the most successful Apple products to date in a number of categories. One of those categories is, it has yet to be jailbroken. Now I say that lightly, because I realize that a handful of intelligent folks have hacked their iPad 2s. But nearly 3 months after its release, there is still not a widely available jailbreak solution for Apple's new tablet.
Recently we reported that infamous iDevice hackers p0sixninja and GeoHot were in a friendly competition to see who could break into the iPad 2 first. That unfortunately does not seem to be the case. In a recent online Q & A session with p0sixninja, the hacker confirmed that GeoHot has since declined the iPad 2 challenge due to media attention. I guess you can get a little paranoid after being taken to court by the likes of Sony.
So what now? Comex is out, GeoHot's not in, are we ever going to see a jailbreak for the iPad 2? A ray of sunshine cast down on the Twitter world yesterday, as p0sixninja once again speculated on the status of the new iPad jailbreak. A Twitter follower asked the Chronic Dev team member if the iPad 2 jailbreak would be weeks, months, or years. Apparently the answer is just weeks!
Joshua Hill (p0sixninja) seems to be the most vocal on the status of the iPad 2 jailbreak. After a known exploit was patched by Apple last month, the Dev Team and other hackers have been very quiet about their progress. It'll be interesting to see if Hill and the rest of the Chronic Dev team can deliver an iPad 2 jailbreak within weeks as predicted. I know of many iPad 2 owners that would greatly appreciate it. We'll keep you updated.
Any questions?