Straight Talk: the silent iPhone partner

Carrier options for US iPhone customers have dramatically multiplied over the past two years. The handset, which was once only available from AT&T, is now offered on nine wireless providers across the country.

Actually, 10 carriers if you count Straight Talk. You may or may not know this, but the nationwide prepaid provider is compatible with the GSM iPhone. You don't even need to unlock your handset to switch to it...

iPad gulps more than two-thirds of market as Amazon’s Fire falls from grace

A whopping 91 percent of tech moms want it for Mother’s Day instead of flowers, teachers deem it the future of education (though DoJ disagrees), it's used everywhere for work, has managed to break Amazon’s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry - and yet it shows no sign of slowing down.

And even as rivals face downturn, folks are picking their iPads like there’s no tomorrow. This is the crux of latest market tablet survey by research firm IDG which pegged Apple's worldwide tablet share in Q1 2012 at 68 percent, up from 54.7-percent in the year-ago quarter.

Apple's growth largely came at the expense of Amazon’s Kindle Fire which plummeted from 16.8 percent share in Q4 2011 to just four percent share in Q1 2012. That's a staggering 12.8-percentage points market share loss in just one quarter. Another way to look at it: Amazon shipped only 700,000 Kindle Fire units in Q1 2012...

Apple still working on haptic feedback for iOS devices

Remember the last-minute rumor that Apple was going to integrate Senseg's haptic feedback into its third-generation iPad? The theory, which surfaced just hours before Apple's iPad event, never materialized. But that doesn't mean it won't happen.

9to5Mac points to a new patent application from the Cupertino company, discovered by PatentlyApple, regarding haptic feedback. The filing covers a technology that is described as a "wildly intelligent multi-tiered haptics system..."

How text editing on the iPad should be

If you've ever spent any kind of time editing text on the iPad, you know that there has to be a better solution. Placing your cursor in a certain spot in a sentence or paragraph can be difficult. And between letters? Forget about it.

Luckily, YouTube user danielchasehooper has come up with the perfect way to fix this. In his new video entitled "iPad Keyboard Prototype," he demonstrates how Apple could make cursor placement much more precise...

Rumor: iPhone 5 to sport 4-inch display, metallic back, smaller dock connector

There's no shortage of rumors pertaining to the next iPhone nowadays. The latest tidbit comes from iLoungue editor Jeremy Horwitz who apparently learned that the new iPhone - and you can bet Apple will call it this way - is longer and thinner than the current-generation iPhone 4/4S.

It’s also said to feature an all-metallic backside and a taller display four inches in diagonal, thanks to the use of Gorilla Glass 2 which can be manufactured thinner with identical strength to the earlier iPhones’ Gorilla Glass.

Also in the cards: A new dock connector, possibly with fewer pins…

The Daily finally hits iPhone, tempts with 50% lower subscription rates

The Daily, a News Corporation-run digital newspaper that exclusively debuted on the iPad in January of last year, is finally available for the iPhone. Following a 15-month wait, the iPad-only publication has now been reformatted for the iPhone.

It's still based on a recurring subscription model, with a caveat: The iPhone-only subscription is priced 50 percent lower than on the iPad, yet offers the same features like social sharing and commenting, 360-degree photos, interactive charts and more...

Check out this stunning holographic iPhone concept

Us folks at iDownloadBlog love conceptual gadget artwork as much as you do, especially gorgeous, believable renditions like a Liquidmetal-based iPhone 5. But every once in a while an out-of-this-world artwork surfaces that gives us all a pause. Take this exceptional depiction of a candy colored 3D town coming to life from the screen of an iPhone.

It's amazing and trust me when I say it shouldn't be missed. This is what a holographic iPhone might be like, though that's not to say it's going to happen anytime soon. But hey, with a little help from creative artists we can easily imagine what the future might hold some day...

Rumor: Apple developing iPay as the next iPhone becomes your iWallet

Yeah, I know analysts promised us flying cars many times before, but bear with me for a second. In addition to opining that the time is not right for an Apple-branded television set until 2014 due to dire economic conditions, the same credible analyst also advised clients that a mobile payment platform from Apple is to be expected.

He calls it iPay and guesstimates it'll work with NFC technology believed to be in the cards for an upcoming iPad and iPhone hardware refresh…

Analyst believes we won’t see an Apple television until 2014

Despite the fact that Apple hasn't given any indication that it's working on a TV set, and a glaring lack of any concrete evidence, the Apple-branded television is one of the most highly anticipated products of 2012. It seems like everyone thinks it's coming.

Everyone except JP Morgan's Mark Moskowitz, that is. In a note to investors this morning, the analyst said that he doesn't believe that economic conditions are right for Apple to release a TV set this year. And he doesn't think we'll see one until at least 2014...

Narcissism just got its own app, and it’s called Ugly Meter

Define narcissism: excessive or erotic interest in oneself and one's physical appearance. If this sounds like you, or someone you know, you might be interested in this new iPhone app from Dapper Gentlemen.

Ugly Meter uses your handset's front-facing camera to scan (in other words, take a picture of) your face, and then rates your attractiveness on a scale of 1-10 based on a few different data points...

Logitech unveils solar iPad keyboard that doubles as a protective sleeve

Logitech makes some really nice accessories. Their latest thing, the Solar Keyboard Folio, is a wireless light-powered keyboard for your iPad which also doubles as a cool protective case.

It’s definitely an interesting add-on in that it takes cues from Logitech’s range of solar-powered desktop keyboards.

The Folio converts light to power using on-boad solar cell, charging the built-in Bluetooth keyboard in any light, whether indoors or outdoors…