Apple

Apple researching way more visual caller ID with deeper context

Ed Sutherland ∙ December 11, 2012

Apple has been granted a patent for a sort of intelligent visual caller ID. Like usual, the patent application carries the mundane title of "Image selection for an incoming call".

In reality, the technique Apple proposes could alert you to the caller's identity and give you some contextual clues where they are calling from, even their time of day. We can already get an image of a caller, based on the incoming phone number.

But the patent could display an image based on additional filters. For instance, suppose you receive a mid-morning call on the West Coast from someone in Japan. The technology would determine the caller's location and timezone, and show a photo of the person in the middle of the night. Does this mean I can't call in sick when I'm actually at the beach?

Shazam redesigns its fugly apps: larger artwork, Google+ sharing, offline tagging

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 11, 2012

Shazam, a music identification service popular with smartphone owners, today issued a nice update to both its free and paid iPhone apps. For starters, Shazam version 5.5 integrates better with iOS 6 by invoking the standard system sheet when sharing tags to Facebook (really, what took so long?). More importantly, you can now record audio snippets offline for later matching, something I've been yearning for since the dawn of time.

Google+ sharing is also supported, as is searching by name, title, tag date or location. Last, but certainly not the least, the app's fugly interface has been overhauled with larger artwork for music, TV ads, or shows, a prettier listening screen and generally nicer-looking interface that's easy on the eyes and more in line with Apple's iOS Human Interface Guidelines.

These features are in addition to September's update (when Shazam raised $32 million in funding), which has brought out the interesting ability to tag any television show on any channel in the United States...

Find My iPhone, now with driving directions to lost devices

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 11, 2012

A small but noteworthy update to Apple's Find My iPhone software has just surfaced on iTunes. The iPhone and iPad app which lets you locate stolen or misplaced devices on a world map has gained ability to provide driving directions to your lost gear. This capability requires the new Find My iPhone app version 2.0.1 or later and iOS 6 or later. Apple has also enabled another tweak where Play Sound, Lost Mode and Erase buttons appear separately from the main map view. Unfortunately, the repugnant stitched leather theme is still all over the app...

Sprint in active talks to acquire the remaining 49 percent of Clearwire

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 11, 2012

Despite a strong opposition from AT&T, the nation's third-largest carrier Sprint Nextel mid-October announced its intent to control Clearwire, where it had a 48 percent stake, by gain control of its board via agreements with Clearwire's investors. A few days later, Sprint bought out one of Clearwire’s shareholders to increase its 48 percent stake to a controlling 50.8 percent stake. And now, according to the Wall Street Journal, the wireless carrier is moving to acquire the remaining 49 percent of Clearwire it doesn't own yet...

Microsoft’s Surface just a blip with 0.13 percent of tablet traffic

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Apparently, more of Microsoft's Surface tablets are showing up in commercials and television episode placements than online. Despite an aggressive push, the Windows device accounted for just 0.13 percent of advertising served to tablets during November, according to one mobile advertising network. The dismal numbers are just the latest sign the much-heralded Surface just isn't selling.

Microsoft's outspoken boss Steve Ballmer acknowledged as much when he recently called Surface numbers "modest". By comparison, 0.91 percent of Google's Nexus tablets displayed ads between November 12 and November 18. The percentages come just a day after a report that the iPad mini saw ad impressions climb 28 percent daily during the November...

AgileBits teases 1Password 4 for iOS, coming December 13

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha_4nrGyGPk

In an epic Hollywood fashion, AgileBeats, the makers of the 1Password utility, today teased an upcoming major update to its iOS client. "1Password 4 for iOS is coming", the company proclaims but doesn't provide much in way of details. A blog post only says the app's "coming soon", but the trailer offers the more specific launch date: this coming Thursday, December 13.

1Password for the Mac ( a $50 value), iPhone (a $7 value) and iPhone/iPad (a $10 download) take the pain out of remembering passwords for various services by storing your existing passwords in a centralized, secure database. The software also lets you create strong passwords and effortlessly fill in forms by integrating with your web browser...

One in two willing to pay a premium for the better Apple television interface

Ed Sutherland ∙ December 11, 2012

Here's something to chew on as another Wall Street voice chimes in on the possibility of an Apple-made television set. In a survey, 47 percent of consumers say they are interested in an iTV with about the same number willing to pay more than a thousand bucks to put an Apple logo in their living room. Perhaps most intriguing is how one analyst opens the door to an iTV without the headaches of licensing content.

According to the survey by AlphaWise and Morgan Stanley, eleven percent of US head-of-households polled said they were "extremely interested" in an Apple television, with 36 percent "somewhat interested." The 47 percent of interested consumers is greater than the number of people who were interested in the iPhone and iPad, when those Apple devices first entered the American conscious...

Australia Maps snafu was the government’s fault

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 8, 2016

When the town of Mildura was showing up inside iOS Maps in the middle of Australia's Murray Sunset National Park, users were quick to point out that Apple's data was 43 miles off the town's actual location. It was already too late: the police issued a public warning as some iPhone-totting travelers had gotten lost in the Park's maze-like roadways. That the area has poor cell reception and lacks water supply didn't help either.

Apple has corrected the problem since and now we've learned that particular snafu wasn't Apple's fault in the first place: the company simply re-used the data supplied by the state of Victoria...

Russian startup adds five life sensors to your iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

When the original iPhone came along more than five years ago, it contained a set of sensors that opened up new possibilities: the proximity, ambient light and accelerometer sensors were all part of the package. The iPhone 3G added GPS, the iPhone 3GS threw in a magnetic compass, and a gyroscopic sensor debuted with the iPhone 4, enhancing the handset's perception of how it is moved, a boon for augmented-reality games and applications.

Some Android handsets include additional sensors, namely the barometer circuitry. But what if the iPhone packed in a bunch of other sensors to monitor the world around you in even greater detail?

Foxbots are way too costly and cannot polish the iPhone’s metal casing

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 11, 2012

Back in August of last year, Foxconn, Apple’s and the world's largest product assembler, said it intended to replace an unspecified amount of its assembly line workers with one million robots over the next three years. Chinese-language web site TechWeb followed up last month with a claim that at least 10,000 Foxbots had arrived at an unspecified Foxconn plant.

Another batch of 20,000 robots is reportedly scheduled for deployment by year's end. Today, The Wall Street Journal reports that the assembly company is facing challenges because these things cost a lot of money and are quickly obsoleted due to "rapid changes in technology"...

iPhone 5 helps Apple grab a quarter of the world’s LTE device market

Ed Sutherland ∙ December 11, 2012

In less than three months the iPhone 5 has been available, Apple has laid claim to more than 26 percent of the LTE device market. While rival Samsung still is the LTE leader, its position fell by nearly 11 percent following the iPhone 5's September 21 launch, researchers say.

Smartphones from by Apple and Samsung are leading an explosion in LTE use. While 2011 ended with nine million 4G subscriptions, 2012 will exit with fifty million LTE users, according to Strategy Analytics. Asia appears to be a hotspot for LTE use, the research firm noted...

CEO Larry Page wishes Google and Apple would get along better

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

Larry Page, who co-founded Google along with Sergey Brin in 1998, made it to #13 on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans at the age of 39, with personal wealth estimated at $20.3 billion. One of the brightest computer scientists of our time, Page invented the PageRank algorithm, a secret sauce that powers Google's search rankings.

An American Jew, Page took over reigns of Google from then CEO Eric Schmidt in April of 2011, mercilessly axing many projects in order to focus the company on a few that mattered the most. He oversaw Google's acquisition of the handset maker Motorola Mobility and is now leading the search Goliath as it wages an all-out war against Apple on multiple fronts, vying for supremacy in the all-important mobile market.

The Google CEO today sat for a quick one-on-one interview with Forbes, here's what came out of him concerning Apple, competition and other interesting topics...