Apple has released what is reportedly its final iOS 6.1 beta a few minutes ago, when it pushed out iOS 6.1 beta 4 for all iOS devices including the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple TV.
Existing beta users can access the latest update via the General > Software Update section of the Settings.app. This delta update rings in at a modest 56.5 MB, while the full fledged update comes in at 896 MB when downloaded directly from Apple's developer portal.
Is the glass half-full, or half-empty? Apparently, when it comes to Apple's stock, financial analysts in Europe and Asia are born pessimists. After Citigroup Sunday downgraded the iPhone maker's stock from Buy to Neutral, shares fell below $497 in pre-market trading Monday. This after closing Friday at nearly $510. Analysts appear to have discounted the equally-positive news this morning that Apple's two million iPhone 5 in three days in China broke a record...
Fry's, an American big-box store and electronics retailer, has beaten Walmart with a nice holiday discount on the iPhone 5. The entry-level iPhone 5 with sixteen gigabytes of storage and a two-year contract will set you back $126. That's a buck less than Walmart and the lowest price we could find for Apple's latest handset. If you're in the market for a new iPhone, this could be the best deal yet to get your hands on the super fast, thin and light iPhone 5, arguably the best phone in the world...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ismMaczcCzo
Microsoft, once the mighty Apple archival, in ways more than one is now directly or indirectly supporting Apple's war on Android. With that in mind, let's check out Microsoft's recap video highlighting its milestones in 2012, one for each month. I'd call only two Microsoft products milestones: Halo 4, which raked in $220 million in sales in the first 24 hours, and the Xbox console with Kinect, which got Windows support in February.
As much as I like Windows Phone's originality, it's failed to make a dent and clings to a single-digit market share. The Surface is a flop (even the CEO agrees) and major software launches like Windows 8 and server products have not met the management's internal expectations. Besides, Apple's iPhone biz recently became worth more than all of Microsoft. How's that for a milestone?
The UK continues to be Apple's European fortress against the invading hordes of Android smartphones. That's the word from Internet firm comScore, which announced Monday most European cell phone owners have adopted smartphones. In the United Kingdom, Apple is holding onto a slim 4 point-lead.
Meanwhile, South Korea-based Samsung experiences double-digit growth. Germany is the only European nation where smartphone penetration has not reached at least 50 percent. In the UK and Spain, two countries where consumers have largely abandoned landlines, smartphone adoption is at 62.3 percent and 63.2 percent, respectively.
But the real story could be the tight race between Apple and Samsung, fueled by Android's growing presence in Europe...
Brightcove founder, chairman and CEO Jeremy Allaire previously shared some interesting observations regarding Apple's living room strategy, saying that AirPlay technology and third-party apps will set a mythical Apple television set apart from traditional TV sets. And with Tim Cook telling NBC that television remains an "area of intense interest" for Apple.
Jeremy this morning shared some additional observations concerning the Apple TV strategy, noting Apple should best serve its customers with a companion $149 device rather than a full-blown HD TV set costing as much as two thousand bucks...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wXkfrBJqVcQ At the end of every year, IBM Research publishes its annual “5 in 5″, basically a list of five technologies that computer scientists believe will make the most impact in the next five years. Some of the past predictions that came true include a 2006 notion that we'd be bale to access healthcare remotely and use real-time speech translation. More often than not, however, these technology picks are merely entertaining guidelines and food for thought.
In the 2012 edition, IBM's research arm calls for smartphones and computers with a sense of touch unlike any you've experienced before. Our gizmos will understand images and be more aware of their surroundings while providing a wide range of output via sensory and cognitive technologies, enabling, for example, the smell or taste of food.
With all due respect to current technology, our computers today are just large calculators", IBM's CTO of Telcom Research Paul Bloom says in the above clip. So, 2017 should be all about cognitive computing. Included after the break: five videos highlighting these interesting predictions...
Instagram, which was acquired by Facebook in September, just posted an interesting update on its blog confirming plans to share data on users with Facebook, the #1 social network that claims nearly one billion users worldwide. Instagram's updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy will go into effect starting January 16 to enable deeper integration between the two service, making it easier to "fight spam more effectively, detect system and reliability problems more quickly and build better features" for everyone by understanding how Instagram is used.
Under the new terms, Instagram can also share User Content and your information with businesses that are "legally part of the same group of companies that Instagram is part of". In other words, Facebook now has access to Instagram user data. The social networking behemoth is allowed to use this information to "help provide, understand and improve" both its own and Instagram's service...
Confirming last week's rumor, carrier Sprint Nextel Monday morning announced plans to buy out the minority of shareholders of Clearwire in a transaction valued at approximately $2.2 billion. The acquisition will give Sprint, which in October acquired a controlling stake, a 100 percent ownership stake in the Bellevue, Washington-headquartered provider of mobile and fixed wireless broadband communications services. The deal also bodes well for Japan's Softbank, which in October bought a 70 percent stake in Sprint. Softbank has also been eyeing Clearwire since then and with this transaction it will basically control Clearwire through Sprint...
After months of rumors and speculation, Google finally launched its standalone Maps app for iOS last week. And it's been pretty popular thus far. It's currently the top free app in the App Store, and it's also listed first in Apple's featured 'Maps' section.
The app does have some caveats though. Perhaps most notably, unlike the built-in Maps app, you can't get directions in Google Maps via Siri. Luckily, a workaround popped up over the weekend that takes care of that. And it doesn't require a jailbreak...
Apple's stock price fell to a 10-month low on Friday on the back of analysts' reports that Apple has been cutting supply orders to balance out excess inventory, and a reportedly quiet iPhone 5 launch in mainland China.
But apparently analysts weren't talking to the right sources. This morning, Apple announced that it has sold over 2 million iPhone 5 in China, setting a new record with the best first weekend sales ever in the country...
Even if you don't recognize the name Smule, chances are you've still heard of one of their apps. The Palo Alto-based mobile developer has delivered some pretty big iOS hits in its day such as Ocarina, which turns your phone into a flute-like instrument, Magic Piano, and I Am T-Pain.
This past week, Smule introduced its latest creation: an iPhone app called Strum. Unlike the aforementioned titles, Strum doesn't help you create music, but rather it allows you to create and edit short movie clips with Instagram-like video filters, digital audio filters, and more...