Good news! For the few dozen of you who haven't, for one reason or another, played one of Rovio's massively popular Angry Birds titles, it's just been announced that the Angry Birds Rio game has gone free for a limited time. Both iPhone and iPad versions have been discounted to $0. More details and download links after the break...
It's kind of funny that Apple gets a bad wrap for not being innovative enough, because its IP filings tell a different story. The company was awarded more than 1,200 patents last year — which was enough to beat Google, who dabbles in self-driven cars and computer glasses.
The latest testament to Apple's innovation is a new patent application, which was just published by the US Patent and Trademark Office. It describes a removable clip for a mobile device, such as an iPod, with an integrated trackpad, that could double as a remote control...
Let's file this prediction by uber accounting firm Deloitte under 'been there, done that': world smartphone shipments will top one billion during 2013, and near two billion by year's end.
Back in October 2012, we reported that industry analyst firm Strategy Analytics announced the mark was passed during the third quarter of last year.
However, Deloitte adds a wrinkle to the smartphone race, forecasting we should top the 2 billion mark by the end of 2013. This means that an astounding billion shipments are expected throughout the calendar year 2013. That appears to suggest demand for smartphones is increasing across the globe. Remember, it wasn't that long ago that Strategy Analytics projected it would take until 2015 before we hit two billion smartphones...
After a long two-year holdout, the popular magazine Rolling Stone has finally decided to embrace Apple's tablet. The publication's first iPad edition hit the Newsstand app last night in subscription flavors of $1.99 per month and $19.99 per year. It's optimized for the slate, and interactive, with iTunes links embedded in all media-related articles...
Samsung of South Korea will later this month take another crack at dethroning the tablet leader Apple by going after the Cupertino firm's iPad mini, a 7.9-inch mini tablet computer released on November 2, 2012 and starting at $320 for the Wi-Fi only version with sixteen gigabytes of storage.
The new Note reportedly has a 720p (1,280-by-800) Super Clear LCD screen measuring eight inches diagonally and comes with Samsung's trademark S-Pen. Hardware specifications allegedly aren't that special as Samsung is possibly using cheaper components in order to undercut the iPad mini on price...
Installous, the pirate app store that allowed those so inclined to download iOS apps for free may already be long gone, but that hasn't stopped plenty of people downloading it from the App Store. Or at least, they thought they had.
See, there's a new Installous in town, and it's by a developer called Larisa Flora. It's not the Installous you're thinking of though – this one's a game which involves gears and colors, apparently.
What it's not, is a way of ripping off developers. And people are not happy at all...
Amazon's been really stepping up its game in the digital music business over the last 6 months. Last fall it overhauled its Cloud Player service to make it more competitive with iTunes Match, and earlier this month it introduced AutoRip.
It's work continues today, with a new announcement that it has just optimized its MP3 Store for the iPhone and iPod touch. That's right, you can now purchase music from Amazon from your Apple device, with tracks starting at just $0.69...
Apple's digital secretary (still in beta, by the way) made waves when it arrived as an iPhone 4S exclusive on October 5, 2011. It caught rival gadget makers on the wrong foot, but Google quickly responded to the threat with Google Now, a voice-activated search product which taps Google's Knowledge Graph to deliver personalized results without users even asking. Siri's reliance on Google for data was dramatically reduced since iOS 6 and a recent job ad suggested Siri will soon speak a bunch of new languages.
Another job ad has been spotted today, indicating that Apple wants Siri to provide even wittier responses than it currently does. The ideal candidate for the job would be someone willing to “develop and write original dialog to support new Siri capabilities" and help the Siri team evolve Siri as a "distinct, recognizable character"...
Apple's $99 set-top box is scheduled to go on sale in South Africa this coming Friday, January 18. The news was confirmed by Core Group, Apple’s official distributor in the 52 million people market. Core Group also announced pricing and availability information for Apple's hockey-puck device, which will retail for R1099, or approximately US$125. Additionally, Apple Premium Resellers and authorized dealers will also carry the set-top box come this Friday, though resellers are reportedly "entirely free to determine the actual prices at which products will be sold", per Core's press statement...
When Larry Page became the CEO of Google, taking over from Eric Schmidt who is now the company's chairman, he immediately began the Jobs-ification of the Internet giant. He axed a bunch of projects and put more wood behind fewer arrows in order to make the company more agile.
Page then set his sights on so-called moon shots, ambitious projects which could become the pillars of Google’s future growth. The decision gave birth to such projects as self-driving cars and Minority Report style Project Glass, for example. Page sat down with journalist Steven Levy who wrote a book on Google called "In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives" (a $15 download from the iBookstore), here's what came out of him...
Tony Fadell needs no introduction. The brains behind the Nest thermostat, this former Apple engineer also helped engineer the iPod music player and led the development of the first eighteen iterations of the iPhone. He recently talked Apple, Steve Jobs and secrecy inside the walls of Apple’s Cupertino HQ.
He also commented on Forstall's departure in an interview with BBC and told Bloomberg that he is "not that dumb" to compete directly with his former employer. And now, Fadell at the Bloomberg Design conference this week once more tried to explain Apple's secret sauce which results in the sexy gadgets people lust after. He also explained the difference between designing products at Apple and Phillips, here are some highlights...
If Wall Street analysts went in for such things, J.P. Morgan's Mark Moskowitz would have a sign saying "It's the supply, stupid." Moskowitz Thursday morning issued a note to investors, reducing his iPad sales forecast for the fourth quarter of 2012. No, it's not due to flagging demand - the misconception dogging the Apple shares - but a shortage of tablets leading up to December.
According to Moskowitz, Apple next week may announce it sold 18.4 million iPads to close out last year, down from his previously projected 20.1 units. Coming into 2013, the popular device may become the chief revenue producer for Apple, the analyst adds...