According to The Guardian newspaper Wednesday, Apple has acquired British media analytics firm Semetric ahead of Beats Music relaunch.
Semetric's Musicmetric analytics tool, launched in 2008, is used by record labels to track digital sales, streams and social networking statistics for artists.
It even tracks BitTorrent downloads. The service could become part of Beats Music streaming service relaunch later this year, speculates the report.
Bloomberg has published an interview with Jean-Claude Biver, who is head of the Swiss time piece company TAG Heuer, discussing the state of the Swiss watch industry following the announcement of the Apple Watch and the impending flood of smartwatches. Surprisingly, Biver said he'll be among the customers who will be purchasing an Apple Watch.
The rate at which people are upgrading their iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices to iOS 8 is slowing in the post-holiday season. As noted on Apple's own App Store Distribution support page, though iOS 8 adoption is edging toward the 70 percent milestone it's barely hit the 69 percent mark on Tuesday.
That's a rather paltry one percentage point jump over an adoption rate of 68 percent as measured just two weeks ago. And by comparison, that figure was a healthy four percentage points increase over the previous December 22 update.
Facebook today announced it is (again) stepping up fight against spammers by making certain changes to cut down on the number of posts in the News Feed which file as deliberate hoaxes or misleading news stories.
These include click-bait headlines such as “Man sees dinosaur on hike in Utah” and scams offering users, say, a chance to “win a lifetime supply of coffee,” if only you'd be so kind as to follow the link, please.
Not that Apple's patent filings are indicative of anything more than a vague direction it might take at some point in the future, but today's patent grant for an eye-tracking technology gives some hope that Apple is at least researching ways to enhance interactions in iOS and OS X.
Published today on the United States Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) website today, the invention titled “Systems and methods for counteracting a perceptual fading of a movable indicator” is rich in both breadth and scope.
Google on Tuesday issued a much appreciated refresh to its Chrome mobile browser for the iPhone and iPad. Chrome version 40 brings out a reworked appearance built around Material Design, Google's guidelines for the look and feel of software across mobile, desktop and the web.
Material Design in Chrome brings “bold graphics, fluid motion and tactile surfaces,” as per release notes accompanying the 58-megabyte download.
In addition to Material Design, the new Chrome also supports Handoff, an iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite feature allowing you to start browsing on your iPhone or iPad and pick up on your Mac's default browser right where you left off.
Premium Apple accessory maker Twelve South on Tuesday announced a new MacBook stand that you can actually type on.
Unlike a bunch of similar notebook stands by rival vendors, the ParcSlope elevates your MacBook screen to a neck-friendly height while tilting the keyboard at desk level for comfortable typing.
The hybrid solution provides a more ergonomic viewing height at an angle of eighteen degrees, without requiring an external keyboard, although you can use the ParcSlope with one if you want. The accessory is available now at the Twelve South webstore for $49.99.
Khan Academy, often called the go-to place for online learning, has finally launched on the iPad to provide its education tools to students, and really anyone who wants to learn the material from a 10-inch screen.
The non-profit has had an iOS app since 2012, but now has launched a completely redesigned iPad app that features 150,000 learnings exercises, so users can launch them natively instead of having to pull up a webpage.
AOL today refreshed its MapQuest mapping and GPS navigation app for iOS with several new features that elevate the experience, including in-route navigation improvements, tighter integration with Yelp data, the ability to buy tickets and send feedback in the app and more.
A clearer on-map directive will give you a heads-up on your next turn while the improved list view for your route now automatically scrolls turn-by-turn statements with your progress “so the next maneuver is always easy to see.”
Password manager LastPass has finally launched a dedicated Mac app that will allow users to find and store their passwords.
Previously available as a web portal and browser extension, the new Mac app gives you the same features natively, along with a Quick Look feature that allows you to instantly search for passwords and other login information, as well as the ability to scavenge through secure notes.
Video game development and digital distribution company Valve is taking Twitch head on with Steam Broadcasting, its own game streaming platform which went live Tuesday via an updated Steam desktop app.
Currently in beta, Steam Broadcasting lets you watch friends play and show off your best moves in games. Streaming is supported across a range of resolutions, from the low-resolution 480p to HD-ready 720p and all the way up to Full HD 1080p, dependent on the speed and reliability of your Internet connection.
We know Apple's upcoming Watch, due in March, will double as a fitness and a health tracking device, but could it be classed as a regulated medical device?
According to the preliminary guidelines published Tuesday on the United States Food and Drug Administration's website, any wearable device which wants to be considered a medical device must prove that it can treat specific diseases or conditions, as first noted by AppleInsider.
If not, any such device should be considered a general wellness gadget, not a regulated medical device.