Following up on June's big update, Instagram today pushed out a major new version to its mobile app for iOS and Android, bringing with it a bunch of changes, visual tweaks and interesting new features. The app's explore tab and the photo upload screen have been re-worked with cleaner layout, the experience feels much snappier and you can now browse geotagged images in an all-new Photo Maps view...
Apple could be working on a sophisticated vector drawing app for Macs and iOS devices plus a bitmap image editing app akin to Adobe's Illustrator and Photoshop software, respectively, a new patent filing published by the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) reveals.
The invention calls for extensive use of gestures to interact with the user interface, the tools and on-screen objects, including the ability to change any input tool property in response to any particular input gesture and a new way to handle the layers madness...
As you know, the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) in April filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five publishers for alleged price fixing related to digital books. Though the Government proposed a settlement with Hachette SA, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster, Apple is now calling that deal “fundamentally unfair, unlawful, and unprecedented”, arguing that litigation is needed.
Claiming the Government has “unwittingly placed a thumb on the scales in favor of Amazon”, Apple says that the proposed settlement would "terminate and rewrite Apple's bargained-for contracts" before the company has a chance to defend itself...
Apple's unexpected $356 million acquisition of mobile security and smart sensors experts AuthenTec was finalized with an unusual urgency as the transaction will likely result in future iOS devices getting advanced built-in fingerprint and NFC sensors. Furthermore, it would seem Apple's offer to AuthenTec even included an IP agreement giving Apple rights to use AuthenTec's patents on an exclusive basis and even license them out to third-parties...
Today, Samsung's new 10-inch Galaxy Note tablet goes on sale in the United States, priced at $499/$549 for the 16/32GB version. The device comes with a stylus and has some interesting multitasking functionality. Samsung also has another 10.1-inch tablet, the Galaxy Tab. The device sports more traditional design akin to iPad and as such has caused contention between Samsung and Apple, resulting in Apple's copycat accusations.
Samsung industrial designer Jin Soo Kim took the stand yesterday to testify that his work on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 began in October 2009, insinuating that Samsung designed, engineered and manufactured its tablet before Apple unveiled the original iPad in January of 2010...
Speculation regarding the mythical Apple TV set has quieted down in recent weeks. Apple has long been rumored to be working on a full-blown television, but the product has yet to materialize.
According to a new report, that may be because Apple's TV plans have changed direction. The Wall Street Journal is claiming it has learned that the company is now working on a cable box...
Less than four weeks from Apple's September 12 iPhone 5 event, U.S. carriers continue aggressive deployment of Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology, making it all too easy to get carried away with the wonders of high-speed 4G networking on the next iPhone.
After all, 4G is thought to be one of the headline features of the device. On the other hand, this is going to be the first iPhone ever to have 4G, meaning some limitations and teething problems are likely to be expected, as is always the case with first-gen everything from Apple.
Regular users will probably assume that just because the next iPhone is 4G LTE, it's gonna work on whatever carrier's fourth-generation LTE network. That may not be the case and if the third-generation iPad is an indication, the iPhone 5 could disappoint some international users with limited support for LTE frequency bands.
That being said, we're asking you to take a long and hard look at the current state of technology and vote on the kind of LTE support you think the iPhone 5 will have...
Up to this point, the chances for a third-generation Apple TV jailbreak have looked pretty bleak. In fact, the last we heard, no one was even actively working on it.
But things may be starting to look up for ATV3 jailbreak hopefuls. Well-known iOS hacker p0sixninja says that the task may not be as unlikely as it once seemed...
You've by now seen gorgeous iPhone 5 renders based on a bunch of parts (that continue to leak out of Asia like there's no tomorrow), like a miniaturized Nano SIM tray and a slightly smaller home button.
Repair firm SmartPhone Medic took it all together and created a video that aims to compare the new Nano SIM tray to the Micro SIM standard found on the iPhone 4/4S.
It also puts other purported parts in direct comparison to their iPhone 4S counterparts, namely the volume buttons, the mute switch and the sleep/wake button...
Verizon just announced that it's going to flip the LTE switch on in 34 new markets tomorrow, and will also be expanding its 4G coverage in another 38.
We'll get to the new markets in a moment, but perhaps more interesting is the milestone. After tomorrow's rollout, Verizon's LTE network will be in more than 370 markets, blanketing close to two-thirds of the the country's population...
We've known for awhile that Nokia and Microsoft were planning to counter Apple's iPhone 5 launch with an event of their own. It's official now as Microsoft issued media invitations for a Windows Phone-focused presser in New York City on September 5, just a week before Apple is expected to take the wraps off its next iPhone. Talk about preempting what analyst Gene Munster likes to paint as "the biggest consumer electronics launch in history".
With Nokia close to being on life support and Microsoft's market share in mobile still eroding, there better be some darn exciting announcements if smartphone buyers are to consider upcoming Windows Phone 8-powered Lumia phones this holiday season...
Google's Nexus 7 tablet launch a month ago has literally obsoleted Amazon's seven-inch Kindle Fire overnight. Three weeks ago, Reuters claimed Amazon was working on half a dozen new Android tablets, among them one with a larger display designed to take the iPad on the high-end.
The rumors were true as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) yesterday cleared an Amazon tablet with a larger display. Meanwhile, Samsung today launched its 10.1-inch Galaxy Note tablet with much fanfare.
It comes with a stylus (please, no jokes), has juicy hardware (a 1.4 GHz quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM) plus some interesting multitasking features, such as split-screen functionality and a pop-up video player...