Apple

iPad users prefer landscape mode, late night Facebooking

A new report on how tablet users view their devices and at what times reveals several interesting preferences. Among the most notable discovered by one web application: iPads remain the most-used tablets, particularly in landscape mode at around 10pm during the weekdays. The findings also show tablets other than Apple's device attracting usage in the single-digits...

India overtakes Japan as third biggest smartphone market

For years, the big three smartphone markets have been China, the U.S. and Japan. India now has knocked Japan out of the third spot due in part to better distribution and increased attention from Apple and Samsung, a research firm said Wednesday.

India has recently been in the spotlight as the two smartphone giants battle over the nation's growing interest in adopting the more powerful mobile phones. As a result, consumers are bombarded with an array of buying options, perhaps explaining why Strategy Analytics is reporting 163 percent smartphone growth in India, four times the global average...

Guy who sold iPhone 4 prototype to Gizmodo tells all in Reddit AMA

Gizmodo's iPhone 4 scoop of 2010 will likely go down as one of the biggest product leaks in history. Anyone who's been following Apple, or tech news in general, in recent years remembers the story of the Apple employee that left his iPhone 4 prototype in a bar.

The name of the guy who found the handset is Brian Hogan. And wouldn't you know it, he turned up on Reddit last night to do an AMA about the whole ordeal. It's quite interesting, as he talks about the night he found it, how much money he made and more...

Apple launches online retail store in Russia

It's been nearly a year since we heard of Apple's plans to begin direct sales in Russia, and this week it's finally putting that plan into action. The company has opened a web store in the country, allowing consumers to order iPhones, iPads and more.

Believe it or not, this is actually the first time that folks in Russia will be able to order products directly from Apple. Previously, the company's devices were only available via third-party retailers, as it doesn't have any physical stores in the country...

Apple enables direct Google Contacts sync in iOS 7

Google last September killed native sync for Contacts and Calendars on iOS devices. The announcement was part of Google's phasing out of Microsoft’s Exchange ActiveSync protocol in favor of CardDAV and CalDAV, which represent HTTP-based WebDAV client/server protocols for contact and calendar items, respectively.

Now, Apple actually adopted CalDAV and CardDAV with the release of iOS 4 nearly three years ago, but setting up Google Contacts sync on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices via CardDAV was anything but hassle-free.

With iOS 7, Apple appears to have implemented native Google Contacts sync. I'm guessing the feature works behind-the-scenes via CardDAV because it requires no setup and acts as a true two-way sync. It works like a charm, really, let me show you how...

iOS 7 allows developers to detect blinking and smiling in photos

As the tech community continues to dig through the iOS 7 betas, a new feature has been discovered. Apple's next-generation mobile operating system contains new APIs that allow developers to detect blinking and smiling in photos.

Now, iOS has had basic facial recognition for a couple of years now (since version 5). But according to a new report, Apple has added new image detectors in iOS 7 that are capable of identifying certain facial expressions in photographs...

HipChat iOS app revamped as Mac client exits beta

Atlassian's cross-platform group messaging HipChat app launched in January 2010 following a one-month beta period. The Mac app, originally developed using Adobe AIR and in beta since Valentine's Day, is now finally ready for prime time.

If you hate AIR as much as I do, you'll be delighted that the team has now dropped Adobe's sluggish technology (good riddance) in favor of the native OS X experience.

And in addition to the rebuilt HipChat 2.0 for Mac, the company has also given its iOS client some much-needed love, pushing a major 2.0 update that's leaner, faster and includes many new features. Here's what's new in both HipChat for Mac and iOS...

Google updates Currents with new features ahead of Reader shutdown

Google's Flipboard-like Currents app thus far has failed to catch on with the general public, despite bringing magazine-like reading experience to mobile devices.

The problem is, Google's been updating Currents at a snail's pace. So, in an effort to pick up some of the lost steam, the Internet giant today pushed an update to the Currents iOS app which brings it on par with the recently-updated Android counterpart.

In addition to the same audio experience from the Android build that makes listening to audio clips more convenient, the iOS app is now a little bit prettier and comes with a few handy tweaks, like the way overdue pinch-to-zoom for photos and the useful vertical pagination reading mode...

Is the party over for high-end smartphones?

Every company loves maximum profits. For years, Apple and Samsung have sold high-priced smartphones loaded with features that were eagerly snapped up by consumers in mature economies in North America and Europe. Now the two largest smartphone makers face a changing consumer profile where basic is best and inexpensive is in vogue.

Just days ago, research giant Gartner noted low-cost devices comprise the bulk of both firm's device sales, making questions of whether to sell 'cheap' handsets only a distant - and irrelevant - memory. Now comes fear from Wall Street that the salad days of smartphones are over for Apple and Samsung...

iTunes U finally adopts pull-to-refresh thing

Although optimized for the iPhone 5, iTunes U - Apple's free download from the App Store - is still skeuomorphic, just like Find My iPhone, AirPort Utility and other Apple downloads not included as part of the stock iOS 7 experience. Though today's iTunes U 1.3.1 update doesn't get rid of the wooden bookshelf, the new versions does add several noteworthy features. Among them: the popular pull-to-refresh gesture to checks for course updates in the notepad...

IDC: in Europe, smartphones post lowest gains in nearly a decade

Things are not looking good for smartphones over in Europe. Although first-quarter smartphone shipments rose twelve percent in Western Europe, the gains were the lowest since 2004, according to research firm IDC Tuesday. The sluggish increase, coupled with a 31 percent decrease in shipments of feature phones, pulled overall mobile phone ships down 4.2 percent annually across Western Europe.

Samsung held on to its overall lead in mobile phone shipments while increasing its lead over Apple in smartphone shipments. Despite a decline in shipments, Apple rose to second place overall in Western Europe, holding on to its No. 2 spot in smartphone shipments, the researcher announced...