Android

Sunrise Calendar is now available everywhere, including on Android and the web

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2018

Sunrise Calendar, a free iOS calendar alternative, on Thursday rolled out to Android smartphones, now available free of charge in Google's Play Store. In addition, the software has been released on desktop, too, in the form of a web app available in the Chrome Web Store.

And ff you prefer Apple's Safari over Google's Chrome browser, Sunrise Calendar can now be enjoyed as a regular web app, too, though you'll lose Chrome-specific functionality such as the offline mode. With that in mind, the app is now available pretty much everywhere: across the iPhone, iPad and Android devices and on the web...

Beats Music apps to remain in Android, Windows Phone stores

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

Now that the long-rumored Beats deal has been confirmed by Apple, folks are wondering what's to become of the Beats Music service. Although it just launched in January, it has already built up a [small] loyal following of subscribers.

The good news is, it sounds like Apple is going to allow Beats to operate as a separate company, which will include its streaming music service. And according to reports, it has no plans to pull the Android and Windows Phone clients...

MBLOK is a wireless flash drive for iOS that fits in your pocket

Joe Rossignol ∙ May 20, 2014

May appears to be the month of Kickstarter campaigns featuring products that eliminate the need to use iTunes for transferring files between a Mac or PC and iPhone or iPad. Last week it was the iStick flash drive with a built-in Lightning connector, and this time around we're taking a look at the MBLOK wireless storage and flash drive by a team of students and entrepreneurs from Waterloo, Canada. Take a look…

Student research project brings native iOS apps to Android devices

Cody Lee ∙ May 14, 2014

This is pretty interesting. A group of six PhD students from Columbia University's Department of Computer Science have developed 'Cider,' an OS compatibility architecture capable of running iOS apps on Android.

The research project utilizes binary compatibility techniques to run both domestic and foreign binaries on the same device. So essentially it can trick an app's code into thinking it's running on Apple's XNU kernel...

Apple litigation won’t cripple Android, Samsung lawyer insists

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

The Great Apple-Samsung Legal War has been raging on for years now, and on a scale almost unprecedented in business history. The latest in the saga involves a California court awarding Apple $119.6 million in damages over Samsung patent infringement, a far cry from the $2 billion the iPhone maker was shooting for.

The ruling has prompted many watchers to question the wisdom of Apple's thermonuclear war on Android. Adding the latest damages award on top of the $900+ million awarded to Apple from the first patent megatrial barely results in $1 billion. I'm certain this is the price Samsung is happy to pay for profiting from willfully lifting Apple's patented iPhone technology.

But no amount of litigation will ever stop Android dead in its tracks, argues an attorney for Samsung who represents the South Korean conglomerate in the courtroom...

Patent filing reveals Apple’s work on gesture-based passwords

Cody Lee ∙ April 17, 2014

The US Patent and Trademark Office published a pair of interesting Apple patent applications yesterday. The filings are titled 'Gesture entry techniques,' and together they describe a device-unlocking feature that involves a user drawing a custom pattern on a screen by connecting illuminated dots.

Apple filed for the patent in late 2012, several years after Google introduced a very similar feature in Android. It would appear, though, that the iPad-maker's version of the gesture-based password is at least slightly more advanced, as it can account for swipe speed, use of invisible dots, and more...

LG launches AirPlay-like SDK to stream media to multiple TVs, Apple TV support incoming

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

LG is hoping to make it easier for users to beam media to their televisions, with a new SDK it's making available to developers to integrate into apps on iOS and Android.

Smart TVs have historically been one of the most closed platforms out there, with manufacturers developing features for only their own TVs and set-top boxes, and not the broader market - example being Apple's AirPlay. LG is changing this with its new Integrate Connect SDK, a standard to place into mobile apps to beam media across multiple platforms onto the big screen.

Apple joins Google, HTC and others to curb smartphone theft

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Apple has entered into the "Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Commitment" with HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and others, to curb the smartphone theft epidemic that has been plaguing many city streets.

Under the voluntary agreement, the manufacturers are planning to add several new security features to their smartphones going on sale after July 2015, to make for an industry standard.

Under the Commitment, manufacturers' smartphones must:

Google building Android set-top box with voice input, apps and games

Cody Lee ∙ Updated July 1, 2017

In 2011, Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said that, "by the summer of 2012, the majority of the televisions you see in stores will have Google TV embedded." But here it is, 2014, and a quick search of BestBuy.com confirms that the lofty goal never came to fruition.

The company hasn't given up on the living room though. In fact, according to a report from The Verge, it's readying a new Android-based set-top right now. The site has obtained screenshots and other documents outing the project, which is apparently named Android TV...

Study takes a look at app stability on iOS and Android

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Crittercism, a mobile application performance management (APM) solution, has posted a new study this weekend entitled Mobile Experience Benchmark. The 19-page document covers several topics, but perhaps most interesting is the section on app stability.

The firm took a look at mobile application crashes on various versions of iOS and Android, running on a wide range of devices. And what it found was that on Apple's platform, iOS 7.1 is the most stable, and on Google's platform, Android Gingerbread is the least...

iPhone 5c outsold all Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone devices in winter quarter

Joe Rossignol ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

While the iPhone 5c has failed to live up to internal expectations set by Apple, the smartphone certainly hasn't been moving off the shelves as badly as some people might think. According to an AppleInsider report by Daniel Eran Dilger, the mid-tier handset actually outsold every BlackBerry, Windows Phone and flagship Android device in the United States during the winter quarter. Take a look…

Apple considering iTunes for Android, on-demand streaming service

Joe Rossignol ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Apple is contemplating launching an iTunes app for Android devices to bolster its digital music sales, according to a new Billboard report. The company is also said to be in exploratory talks with senior label executives about rolling out an on-demand streaming service that would rival Spotify and Beats Music. These two moves are part of a broader strategy that would help the Cupertino-based company combat double-digit drops in iTunes downloads in the United States…