Good news for those of you who have a strong disdain for remembering and entering in passwords. It looks like Apple is again exploring alternatives to the traditional text and number-based authentication method.
An interesting patent application fro the Cupertino company has recently surfaced that depicts an iPhone being unlocked by a user verbally (or using touch-based input) identifying a person, pet or object in a photo...
Right on cue, Apple has rushed out the new iOS 6.1.1 firmware update to the iPhone 4S owners to fix 3G connectivity issues, enterprise problems and quite possibly squash a few reliability related bugs. iPhone 4S owners can apply an over-the-air update by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Of course, if you're already jailbroken, do not update to iOS 6.1.1 until it becomes clear whether or not it breaks the jailbreak...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC6wptkt2Wk
Well, this is interesting. Nike confirmed on Twitter it has ceased development of its long-overdue Android sync app for the FuelBand accessory. The company originally planned to release the software by summer 2012 to make it easy for Android-totting customers to sync with the FuelBand.
Like Jawbone's Up fitness band, Nike's FuelBand tracks your physical activity throughout the day to give you an at-a-glance overview of your habits and life patterns. Nike defends the move by citing the need to focus on the iOS app and web experiences. Could have Nike board member and Apple's chief executive Tim Cook had a hand in stymieing Android app development?
Apple CEO Tim Cook will speak at Tuesday's Goldman Sachs tech conference, February 12, according to Apple's Investor News site.
He is scheduled to speak at approximately 7:15am Pacific, 10:15am Eastern time, just after the markets open. Apple will provide a live webcast of its CEO's talk in the streaming Quicktime audio format here.
Cook also gave a presentation at last year's event, with Apple posting audio of the full talk shortly after the event had wrapped up. We're expecting lots if interesting tidbits tomorrow as Cook lets us in on some valuable insight into Apple's business..
Watchers and analysts alike are increasingly expecting that Apple will reveal its cards at its upcoming developers conference, WWDC, this summer. First, a set of dubious images made rounds this morning, allegedly depicting the iPhone 5S on an assembly line and hinting at a likely summer launch.
However, eagle-eyed bloggers were quick to point out a few glaring inconsistencies, eventually debunking these spy shots as depicting an iPhone knock-off. Then an analyst said a cheaper iPhone model was due in June and now another report claims an Apple-branded television set is coming this summer...
Over the past week or so, several users have come forward complaining about issues with iOS 6.1. Vodafone has actually told its iPhone 4S owners not to update to the software due to the problems, and AOL Corporate has had to turn off some Exchange services.
Well it looks like Apple is working to get these bugs fixed as soon as possible. A new report out this morning claims that carriers have already completed testing of iOS 6.1.1, and the 23MB firmware will be available in the near future as an over-the-air update...
Topeka Capital analyst Brian White asserted Monday morning that a lower-priced iPhone could be introduced as early as this June. It will be sold unsubsidized for about $250-$300, he thinks, and suggests "iPhone Mini" or "iPhone Air" as names. Just as The Wall Street Journal originally reported, White expects the less-expensive iPhone to use a plastic body instead of metal and glass.
It would have a lower margin than prior iPhones though Apple could make up for the difference in sheer volume as carriers in emerging markets like China, Brazil and India could position the device as a competitive offering to local brands, like the Xiaomi handset which costs around $320 off-contract in China...
Results of a new smartphone user satisfaction survey have some observers scratching their heads. Apple's iPhone 5 ranked fifth in the U.S., behind a number of Android devices from Motorola, HTC and Samsung. Due to Apple's past high ratings in customer satisfaction, the survey's findings prompted questions so far left unanswered.
According to a poll by OnDevice Research, Motorola's Atrix HD took first place in the U.S. user satisfaction scores, with the Motorola Droid Razr M, HTC's Rezound 4G, Samsung's Galaxy Note 2 and the iPhone 5 filling out the top five devices.
While Apple was named the top brand in overall mobile device satisfaction by U.S. consumers, Google ranked number two - even though it does not directly produce mobile devices...
Analyst Scott Devitt of Morgan Stanley has estimated that Google pays Apple up to a billion dollars each year to be the default search engine choice on iOS. That's $1 billion in pure profit.
The two companies apparently have a per-device deal in place rather than a revenue sharing deal, he wrote in a report titled "The Next Google Is Google." The fee-based co-operation was agreed on in order to simplify accounting and it lets Apple collect upfront payments.
By contrast, Devitt estimates that Google pays around $300 million annually to Mozilla to be the default search engine for Firefox.
While one billion in traffic acquisition costs isn't much relative to Apple's $13 billion in holiday quarter profit, it ain't spare change either. Moreover, it just shows that Google is very much keen on having iOS users search the web using Google search...
Over the past year or so, members of the Australian Parliament have been investigating whether or not its country's residents pay higher-than-average premiums on electronic products and services. And it looks like it's now prepared to speak directly to the makers.
The Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications in Australia's House of Representatives released a memo yesterday, stating that it has called upon Apple, Microsoft, and Adobe to speak at a public hearing regarding its probe at the end of next month...
At last, some pretty credible parts apparently belonging to the iPhone 5S are starting to emerge. A set of images posted by a Chinese tech site and allegedly depicting the iPhone 5S parts on an assembly line include several shots of the device's internals, including a vibration motor that looks to be a linear oscillating vibrator like that of the iPhone 4S.
That would be a departure from the iPhone 5's more noisy rotational motor which uses counterweight. It wasn't immediately clear whether the leaked images are authentic or perhaps show an iPhone clone being assembled somewhere in China, though latter seems to be the case. I've included a few more snaps right past the fold...
The New York Times tech columnist Nick Bilton has recycled his December 2011 story of a curved-glass iPod, now claiming in a new piece published this morning that a wearable computer by Apple is actually in the works. An iWatch apparently runs iOS, the story has it, and will stand apart from competition based on Apple's "understanding of how such glass can curve around the human body”.
Not to be outdone by its chief competitor, the credulous Wall Street Journal just issued its own iWatch report corroborating Bilton's article and adding a few tidbits of its own...