If you're searching for one of the best looking themes for the iPhone, then search no further than iOS X Ultimatum. The sequel of sorts to the original OS X Lion Ultimatum, this theme seeks to merge the desktop and the small screen into one environment.
Does this theme perform just as well as it looks? Check inside for the full scoop...
Like clockwork, marketing research firm comScore released its quarterly report today on mobile and smartphone marketshare in the US. Today's report covers the three month span between April and June.
The data comes from comScore's intelligent online survey of a "nationally representative sample" of mobile subscribers age 13 and up. Continue reading for the results of last quarter's research...
Strategy Analytics is out with a new survey this morning suggesting that device unit sales and market share for Google's Android platform in the United States has declined during the second quarter of this year as devices powered by Apple's iOS software continue to gain ground...
Apple has apparently been in talks with Twitter officials in recent months about making a possible investment in the micro-blogging platform, reports The New York Times. Described as "a strategic investment", it could value Twitter at more than ten billions.
Apple's attempts at social were limited thus far. Its social thing for music, Ping, will likely be discontinued with the next major iTunes update. That promised Facebook integration in Ping had been pulled last minute was blamed on “onerous terms that we could not agree to”, as Jobs put it. Nonetheless, Apple has opted to partner with both Twitter and Facebook to support their services throughout iOS and OS X.
UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal says Apple talked to Twitter about this a year ago, claiming no immediate acquisition is in the cards.
Go past the break for the latest...
Sparrow was recently snapped up by Google and people continue to have mixed feelings about this sell-out no one saw coming. The Sparrow team made it clear in a blog post they would cease work on new features (apart from minor updates) as Google has tasked its newly acquired team with improving Gmail mobile apps.
Today, the Sparrow team announced plans to open-source parts of the Sparrow apps for personal use only. If you're good at reverse engineering, why not take a closer look at the Sparrow code?
In a surprising reversal of its position on competition related to the Surface tablet, Microsoft admits in an annual report its tablet competes with PC makers after all, going as far to note that the Surface might even hurt Windows 8 sales. Redmond has been criticized a lot for entering the hardware game to compete with vendors who make various Windows devices.
PC makers are unable to compete with Microsoft on level ground because their already thin margins are stretched even thinner as they must pay license fees to Microsoft to use Windows 8 on tablets, an added cost that makes their gadgets more expensive...
When it comes to security, Apple has gone to great lengths to make its iOS platform much less prone to exploits and has engineered measures such as sandboxed environment, protected app space and even encrypting every single file created on the iPhone with its own encryption key wrapped in the user’s passcode.
But developers have become increasingly reliant on Apple for app security and as a result security has now become an afterthought for many app developers. That's why security experts attending the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas think developers should take matters in their own hands and add more security above Apple's baked-in protections...
It's no secret that both Sebastien and I purchased Nexus 7 devices from Google. We may have differing reasons for our purchases, but one reason we share in common is the desire to see how Google is performing in the tablet space. This is especially so with the Nexus, since it's the flagship that's guaranteed to run stock Android with no additives or preservatives.
The Nexus 7 is the first Nexus device I've owned, and I've come away quite impressed; read my thoughts on the Nexus 7 for more details on that. I've even been able to identify a few things that Google is doing well, and that Apple could stand to learn from. Items like widgets, and offline dictation, to name just a few...
Apple's iPad continues to dominate the tablet market, accounting for more than two out of three tablets sold during the second quarter of this year, per market research firm Strategy Analytics. Specifically, the iPad rose from 62 percent in the year-ago quarter to 68 percent global market share, which the research firm says is its highest level for almost two years. So not only did Apple retain the iPad's sizable lead, it's also managed to grow by six percentage points...
As Google is shifting gear and asserting that iPhone inventions should become broadly available to everyone, Apple is aggressively bolstering its patent portfolio pertaining to iOS software and multitouch user interface.
Just last week the company was awarded a Goliath of a patent that depicts the iPhone's user interface in excruciating detail. Today, another patent grant has surface in the United States Patent & Trademark Office's (USPTO) database that Apple bought from a Canadian inventor, pressumably for a significant fee...
Black Hat Security Conference is underway at Ceasar's Palace in Las Vegas and Apple is planning to present for the first time in the event's fifteen-year history. Warming up to hackers, the iPhone maker dispatched Dallas De Atley, its Manager of the Platform Security team, to talk iOS security.
According to the conference agenda, De Atley will "discuss key security technologies in iOS" as "Apple designed the iOS platform with security at its core". Apple's decision to take part in the conference coincides with a few security breaches in its mobile and desktop operating systems that routinely make headlines in the press.
Some of the recent examples include the widely reported IAP exploit and Mac malware that prompted Apple to step up its game with the new Gatekeeper feature in OS X Mountain Lion, designed to only allow for approved, signed apps from the Mac App Store...
We've complained, on more than one occasion, about the high rate of piracy on iOS. It's not uncommon to see pirated copies make up 90% or more of an app's total download numbers. It's bad.
But apparently, it's even worse on Android. Popular mobile developer Madfinger Games says it has decided to make its Dead Trigger title free due to rampant piracy on Google's platform...