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Rolomotion turns your iDevice into Wii-like console

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 24, 2016

Pune, India-based Rolocule creates games for a living and earlier today the team teased an interesting solution aimed at bringing Nintendo Wii-style gaming to your big screen TV via Apple TV and some clever iPhone and iPod touch software. Rolomotion is the name of the game (pun intended).

It's basically a dedicated app that wirelessly beams specially-designed games to your telly through the Apple TV while using your iPhone or iPod touch as a Wii-style controller.

The game running on the device reads data from the iPhone's gyroscope, magnetometer and accelerometer sensors to make possible motion-based action via Apple's set-top box. I've included a nice demo clip right past the fold...

Apple vs Samsung price war in India

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

In another era, Apple and Samsung would be competing gasoline retailers, locked in a war to entice more automobiles to the pump. Update the picture to the 21st century, replace gas with smartphones and you have the modern-day equivalent of a price war playing out in India, according to a Wednesday report.

Android-based Samsung smartphones initially had the majority of the India market to itself. However, now Apple is shaking things up by offering discounts on its iPhone 4 - a move fueling the company's challenge of rival Samsung.

The South Korean company has responded with discounts on its Galaxy family of products - on top of the current payment plan. Both companies are jockeying to control a market full of potential smartphone buyers...

Apple patent outlines proximity iPhone-to-Mac file transfers

Ed Sutherland ∙ April 17, 2013

If you have some media content on your iPhone that needs to get to a Mac, the transfer can be cumbersome. Apple appears to be tapping wireless technologies to smooth out such operations, simply by having your mobile device near your desktop or portable Mac computer.

A patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office outlines a way for Macs to sense when a mobile device is nearby. Your iPhone can then transmit that great vacation photo to the Mac, which then inserts the image into an email, or even photo manipulation application...

Apple granted patent for iOS app folders, ‘jiggle’ interface

Ed Sutherland ∙ April 17, 2013

Apple Tuesday was granted a patent for how it manages folders on the company's iOS devices, including the familiar "jiggle" user interface. The patent, awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, describes a "device, method, and graphical user interface for managing folders." In the 2010 application, Apple said the interface relieves the "significant cognitive burden" and wasted energy traditionally required for moving files and icons on a computer desktop...

iPhone 5S could include 12MP camera with improved night shooting

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 15, 2013

Monday, a report out of Vietnam shed new light on an aspect of the next iPhone that hasn't received much attention yet: the camera subsystem. First piece of the puzzle points to Apple engineers upgrading photo quality by putting a notably higher-resolution camera module inside the iPhone 5S, one that features a thirteen megapixel CMOS sensor instead of "just" eight megapixels on the iPhone 5/4S.

The other tidbit mentions an improved night shooting feature as well as an enhanced HDR mode allowing for even higher intensity levels and more realistic colors when snapping up images in extreme lighting conditions such as direct sunlight or faint starlight...

Customizable iPhone-controlled bionic hand arrives

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 15, 2013

Here's CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta reporting on the latest on prosthetic technology: a pair of bionic hands controlled from an iPhone app. 34-year-old Jason Koger in 2008 had a brush with death when he got jolted with 7,200 volts of electricity.

Doctors had to amputate his both hands and he's been trying out a variety of prosthetic hands ever since. Four years later, UK-based prosthetic developer Touch Bionics comes up with the i-Limb Ultra Revolution, an iPhone controlled bionic hand.

It offers "unparalleled dexterity and control, enabling wearers to more easily perform activities of daily living and thus increase their quality of life." The video is right after the break...

Chinese iPhone dealers scam Apple with fake parts

Ed Sutherland ∙ April 15, 2013

Five iPhone distributors in China are under arrest after Apple told local police it was the victim of an unusual scam. The plot involved sending fake iPhone 4S parts to Apple for replacement and receiving real components worth more than $64,000, according to Monday reports.

The alleged fraudsters went so far as to accompany the fake components with the serial numbers of more than a hundred real iPhone handsets, police said.

Foxconn hiring assembly-line workers for next-gen iPhone production, WSJ and Bloomberg claim

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 15, 2013

Hon Hai Precision Industry aka Foxconn, which assembles iPhones and iPads for Apple, but also consumer electronics on behalf of other vendors, has started hiring assembly-line workers in the tens of thousands in preparation for Apple's next iPhone, both Bloomberg and the credulous Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

People familiar with the matter tell the publications that the world's largest contract manufacturer has been recruiting workers for the past month at its plant in Zhengzhou, eastern China.

The reports come following February indications pointing to Foxconn imposing a recruitment freeze across almost all of its factories in China after more workers returned from the Chinese New Year break than did last year, a move some attributed to the supposedly weakening iPhone demand...

UK probing iOS in-app game purchases

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated December 16, 2022

Are iOS games pressuring children into buying items, sometimes wracking up bills for unsuspecting parents? That's the focus of a probe underway by the UK government, concerned that in-app purchases may unfairly target children. According to a BBC report, Office of Fair Trading (OFT) wants to hear from parents with the hope games developers will follow laws already on the books to protect children...

T-Mobile reports ‘gangbusters’ iPhone opening

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 31, 2017

T-Mobile kicked off sales of Apple's popular smartphone by airing its first iPhone ad yesterday evening. The ice-breaker commercial is part of the reportedly massive nationwide campaign, with print and digital ads to follow soon after. While the carrier did not release the official first-dale sales data at press time - and probably won't until its next earnings report - its marketing honcho did bother taking to blogs to say T-Mobile saw "gangbusters" opening, whatever that means in terms of hard data.

Be that as it may, the addition of T-Mobile, the nation's fourth-largest wireless carrier, to the list of US carriers selling Apple's handset is bound to improve Apple's bottom line. Any iPhones T-Mobile sold won't be reflected in Apple's second fiscal 2013 quarter, which ended last month. The Cupertino company announced it will be releasing earnings on April 23...

Apple to pay $53 million in iPhone warranty class-action settlement

Ed Sutherland ∙ April 12, 2013

Have you been frustrated by Apple's repair or replacement policy? You could be in for some cash, according to a Friday report.

The iPhone maker supposedly has signed a settlement deal worth $53 million ending a class action lawsuit that claimed Apple dragged its feet on honoring warranties for the iPhone and iPod touch.

The settlement, reportedly signed Wednesday by Apple's head litigation attorney, could affect "hundreds of thousands" of iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS owners, as well as people who bought the first three generations of the iPod touch media player...

The next iPhone’s killer feature? Fingerprint scanning.

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Most analysts tend to pull their predictions out of thin air. We were cagey about last month's Morgan Stanley report as it rather cryptically asserts Apple's next iPhone, the iPhone 5S, will have a "killer feature." Of course it will, stupid - every iPhone has at least one standout feature cunningly designed to convince existing users to upgrade.

The iPhone 3G had 3G networking, the iPhone 3GS had video, the iPhone 4 had the stunning form factor and Retina display and the iPhone 4S had Siri.

As for the current iPhone 5, it of course offers LTE and sports the dramatic two-tone design akin to a finely crafted watch. According to a rather reliable analyst, this year's S-upgrade to Apple's handset will have fingerprint scanning as an exclusive feature...