We've heard an unusual amount of chatter regarding the next generation iPhone over the past few months. Especially since the iPhone 5 just launched 6 months ago. But folks seem pretty certain that Apple's next smartphone isn't too far off.
And a new report out this morning echoes that sentiment. Citing "people familiar with the device's production," The Wall Street Journal claims that Apple is ramping up production of its new iPhone this quarter ahead of a likely summer launch...
It looks as if BlackBerry, formerly know as Research in Motion, has managed to generate some respectable buzz around its brand new mobile operating system called BlackBerry 10. The Canadian mobile manufacturer has sold one million of its all-new BlackBerry Z10 smartphones which run the latest software and reported a fourth quarter profit of $98 million, the first positive earnings in quite a while.
I wouldn't write off BlackBerry yet and if you've been wondering what all the fuss is about, the company has written a nice web app which lets you preview some of the key features of BlackBerry 10 right on your iPhone or Android device. Just fire up Safari on your iPhone and go to BlackBerry.com/glimpse for, well, a glimpse of BlackBerry 10...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HCRnC8fLA4
AT&T and Verizon, the two leading U.S. wireless carriers by subscribers and revenue, have reportedly joined forces in a massive bid to acquire London-headquartered Vodafone, a multinational telco which operates networks in over 30 countries and has partner networks in over 40 additional countries. The transaction would easily dwarf the monumental AOL/Time Warner merger as Vodafone already is a huge corporation: it's the world's second-largest wireless carrier after China Mobile and commands 403 million subscribers worldwide.
This compares to AT&T's 107 million subscribers, Verizon's 116 million customers and China Mobile's 703 million subscribers. What's really interesting is Vodafone's existing U.S. partnership with Verizon Wireless: the nation's leading telco is actually a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone where the former holds 55 percent ownership and the latter controls the remaining 45 percent ownership of the joint venture.
As Europe has traditionally been Vodafone's stronghold, the deal would give AT&T a long-rumored entree into the European market while Verizon would get to control its own destiny without oversight from Vodafone...
This is quite noteworthy. Following a jailbreak hack which purports to make your unlocked AT&T iPhone 5 (model A1428) work on T-Mobile’s LTE by way of loading a custom carrier firmware, a new report claims the Deutsche Telekom-owned wireless carrier itself will be sending out a carrier update designed to officially enable T-Mobile's LTE and Visual Voicemail, among other features, on unlocked GSM devices.
The update is scheduled for delivery beginning April 5, a week ahead of T-Mobile's official April 12 roll-out of its LTE-ready iPhone 5. The patch is good news for AT&T customers looking to jump ship as they won't be required to buy a newly tweaked iPhone 5 model from T-Mobile in order to enjoy T-Mobile's 4G LTE speeds. There's more to know so go past the fold for full details...
Who holds the title for the best iPad stylus is still up for debate. There are dozens to choose from, and it seems like everyone has their favorites. But there are a few frontrunners in the pack, and one of them is Wacom's Bamboo Stylus.
The Verge says the Bamboo is "the best stylus you can buy for your iPad," and FiftyThree, the creators of paper, endorse it on their website. And today, Wacom has released a new version of the popular stylus: the Bamboo Mini...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unSQMgdkpRs
Pinnacle is a new jailbreak tweak designed to peruse the menu structure of the Settings app using a simple tap and hold gesture. The tweak contains an option that allows you to immediately go back to the root of the Settings menu, or to select from a list of sub-menus. To use Pinnacle, simply tap and hold on the current menu's back button.
Obviously, a tweak like this is best suited for deep menu structures like you'll find in the Settings app, but Pinnacle also works with any app that uses iOS' stock chrome menu interface for navigation. I look at it as a different take on Ryan Petrich's SwipeBack tweak.
It's understandable a company of Apple's stature is constantly on the lookout for the brightest minds in the industry. It also goes without saying that Apple, the world's leading technology brand by both valuation and reputation, is constantly hiring all sorts of talented experts and scientists in various fields of expertise.
But why on Earth would the iPhone maker hire a former robotics expert who helped invent the Segway personal transporter, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak's favorite means of transportation?
Bloomberg Businessweek in an eyebrow-raising article entitled "Apple and the Mysterious Case of the Missing Moonshot" suggests that John Morrell may have left his post at Yale University and joined Apple last year to participate in a "pretty fantastic" project...
Apple's been experimenting with installment payments in emerging markets for some time now. For example, installment payments coupled with increased marketing helped quadruple Apple's single-digit iPhone market share in India. And in China, the online Apple Store offers 1, 3, 6 and 12 payment installment options with no interest, thanks to Apple's partnership with China Merchants Bank.
That being said, in what appears to be another effort to improve its standing in the US market, Apple has reportedly partnered with Barclay's to offer a no-interest option on T-Mobile iPhone 5 sales at Apple Stores...
Premium photo sharing site 500px made a big splash last fall when it finally launched a native app for the iPhone. And despite getting pulled from the App Store for a week in January, it's managed to garner more than a million downloads.
Today 500px has updated its iOS offering, bringing the app to version 2.1. The update includes a new Following and Followers list, so you can keep track of your network, performance improvements and adds the Flow feature to the iPad...
We love Spotify here at iDB as much as the next guy. Personally speaking, I rarely buy music files these days from iTunes and instead choose to pay ten bucks a month to stream my music. And with approximately twenty million songs available for streaming, Spotify pretty much has me covered.
With today's update, the popular Swedish music startup has become more useful, especially should you happen to listen to music while driving (who doesn't?) and own a Ford vehicle supporting the company's SYNC AppLink solution. Just like BMW's ConnectedDrive Apps platform, the AppLink platform from Ford allows iPhone, Android and BlackBerry devices to run approved applications using the car's steering wheel buttons, radio or voice commands...
The latest beta version of Apple's desktop operating system — OS X 10.8.4 — has been released to developers. This new iteration of Mountain Lion is labeled as build 12E27, and thus far, details on what new features it contains are scarce.
Like Apple often does with its desktop beta releases, it has asked developers to focus on specific aspects of the OS, those being Wi-Fi, Graphics Drivers and Safari.
Having rejected Apple's iPad mini trademark application last week, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has now dealt another major blow to the iPhone maker. For the second time, USPTO has invalidated the key claim of Apple's so-called rubber-banding patent, an iPhone feature which bounces the user interface when a user scrolls content past the end of a page. USPTO last October ruled the invention invalid. On the other hand, while this "final" decision certainly has more weight than the first, Apple still has a few options left until the ruling becomes truly final...