Asus is showing off the first Nvidia-powered quad-core tablet, which may intially run Google Android Honeycomb. I welcome advances in computer chips, but the time of “most powerful hardware” being best are long over. Today, top devices also require great apps and a solid user experience. Read more »
Tango is used to seeing a bump in registrations whenever a new smartphone is released. But last week’s launch of the iPhone 4S gave it an even bigger lift than usual, with record registration numbers that were up 35 percent higher than usual. Read more »
VMware has signed deals with Verizon and Telefonica to offer virtualization on phones provided by the operators. The net result of this deal is that employees who want to combine their work phone and their personal phone will soon be able to do so. Read more »
With the arrival of iCloud backups we are free from needing to attach your iOS device to iTunes to have it backed up. Gone are the annoying delays when you just want to sync something quick, but need to suffer through “Backing up…” first. Read more »
Whether you’ve got a new iPhone 4S, an iPad 2 or on older iOS device, Instapaper is a must-have application. Now, a huge new update ups the game all around for an already great product. Here’s a first-hand look at what’s new and notable. Read more »
In today’s new universe of video content, consumers need more than a five-button remote to effectively navigate the thousands of choices available. Fortunately, the same technology that has made it possible to create so many offerings can also provide the intelligence to help us find what we want to watch. Though it’s not clear which of the new approaches will win, services from Microsoft, Google, Apple, Roku and others are leading the way towards enormous rewards when it comes to the new era of TV interfaces. Additional companies mentioned in this report include Rovi, Technicolor and Hulu. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
As Tim Cook pointed out in the latest Apple media event just last week, Apple still has 95 percent of the overall cellular market to win over with the iPhone. Here are some things new users coming to iPhone from that group may need to know. Read more »
Before iOS 5, getting auto-correct to ignore strange or unfamiliar words was difficult and tedious. Now, however, there’s an easy way to not only add terms to the auto-correct dictionary, but also to create handy shortcuts for quickly typing out commonly-used phrases. Read more »
When I wrote about Documents in the Cloud, one of my chief complaints was that the only way to upload and download files on my Mac was through the iCloud web interface. Turns out there is a way, thanks to an easy backdoor trick I discovered. Read more »
Despite appearances to the contrary, the new Newsstand app in iOS 5 can in fact be stored away in a folder with some easy trickery, and without the need to jailbreak.Very useful if you don’t use it and don’t want it cluttering up your home screen. Read more »
Thursday, I guest-hosted a live Q&A session at The Washington Post. The topic was upgrading to iOS 5, and also included questions about how iOS 5 and iCloud work, what features they offer, and how to transition to iCloud from other services. Read more »
Along with major OS updates for both OS X Lion and iOS, Apple released a boatload of software today in the form of new apps and updates to old favorites. Here’s a quick look at what’s new, what’s changed, and what we think about that. Read more »
Apple’s iOS 5 and iCloud are set to arrive for the general public later Wednesday, but Find My Friends and AirPort Utility have arrived a little early. Both are live, but you can’t access or use them unless you have iOS 5. Read more »
It happens to the best of us; we think we’re typing one thing, and instead type another. The autocorrect feature in iOS (and now in OS X Lion, too) doesn’t help matters, and can actually be quite annoying. But there are ways to get around it. Read more »
The world of apps is only getting bigger, so it seems fitting that another company is jumping in to try to make sense of it all. One of the… Read more at paidContent »
T-Mobile expanded its Bobsled service on Tuesday, bringing free voice calls over the web to landlines and mobiles in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. Bobsled is available through a browser, Facebook, Android and iOS. Here’s why the carrier is looking beyond its own network borders. Read more »
The iPad dominates tablet Internet traffic, according to a new comScore study. Apple’s slate accounts for 97.2 percent of all tablet data use in the U.S., meaning the iPad is still the device tablet users prefer for accessing mobile data services, despite eroding sales share. Read more »
Facebook launched its native app for Apple’s iPad on Monday, but the bigger story is wider support for web technologies as Facebook tries to be everywhere on every device. The company shared news with developers explaining how social app discovery using HTML5 can reap greater engagement. Read more »
T-Mobile’s HTC Amaze 4G and Samsung Galaxy S II have arrived; hear Matt and Kevin’s hands-on thoughts in this week’s mobile tech podcast. Plus a recap of the iPhone 4S and iOS 5 news; who’s buying an iPhone and who’s waiting for a Nexus Prime? Read more »
Hoping to solve the challenge of developing mobile apps for multiple platforms, Myriad announced its Alien Dalvik 2.0 product. With it, developers can create an Android app that runs on any number of non-Android devices; even Apple’s iPad, which Myriad will demonstrate next week at CTIA. Read more »
In bringing the geekiest tech to mainstream consumers, Steve Jobs also helped bring it to Washington, D.C. With the launch of the iPhone, Apple forced Washington legislators to address issues such as spectrum policy and mobile privacy and even got regulators involved in app development. Read more »
From May to August of this year, Samsung and Apple continue to grow handset sales in the U.S. while Motorola, Research in Motion and LG are losing ground. Making matters worse for the laggards: the smartphone is becoming central for more activities in our lives. Read more »
Although the new iPod nano took a back seat to the iPhone 4S and iOS 5, it did gain a software update and could morph into a smartwatch of the future. Should competing products such as the MetaWatch and Live View be worried? Not just yet. Read more »
Though Steve Jobs said he didn’t consider Siri a search company, but instead an artificial intelligence company, the rollout of Siri on the iPhone 4S can serve to divert some search traffic away from Google, which could eat into Google’s mobile revenues. Read more »
Apple’s new “Cards” app turns any iPhone or iPad photo into a greeting card — exactly the same business as San Francisco startup Sincerely, which makes the Postagram app. Despite the big competition, Sincerely CEO Matt Brezina says his company is ready to battle. Read more »
Apple finally talked about when people can expect to get their hands on iTunes Match, and it’s later than iCloud in general. Later in October is as specific as the company got to putting a release date on the cloud-based subscription music service. Read more »
Apple is not done taking on application makers with iOS 5. It just announced it is launching a new location-sharing feature called Find my Friends, that will allow users to easily share their location with other users. It should spark some competition with existing location-sharing services. Read more »
Updated: The big story around today’s iPhone launch is the phone, but Sprint’s $20 billion bet on the iPhone and its plans for growth in a consolidating wireless industry make a compelling backstory for telecom industry watchers and for Sprint customers. Read more »
Apple could prepping to unveil a new content delivery strategy for apps, according to some code uncovered in the latest iTunes beta. Specific references are made to app rentals in iTunes 10.5 beta 9, released on Friday, which could change the way we shop for apps. Read more »
Apple’s iOS once again dominated the mobile OS market share picture in September, according to new data from Net Applications. The enterprise application maker and web monitoring company found that iOS accounted for 54.65 percent of mobile market share, up from 53 percent in August. Read more »
With Oktoberfest in full swing and people around the world celebrating beer, it seems an appropriate time to review some iPhone great apps for real beer lovers. No beer pong apps here; these are all about enjoying the actual beverage itself (responsibly, of course). Read more »
Travel bookings giant Priceline.com is updating its iPhone app with a service that lets customers book hotels at the last minute. The company said Friday that its Tonight-Only Deals service for iOS will specifically target the 70 percent of last-minute hotel bookings it already sees. Read more »
The race in mobile has defaulted to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems, but that hasn’t stopped Samsung from thinking about open-sourcing Bada, or Microsoft from pushing ahead with Windows Phone 7 and a partnership with Nokia. But do we need another mobile OS? Read more »
Quora, the crowdsourced question-and-answer website, has come a long way in the 15 months since it launched to the public. Quora says it has fostered that growth mostly just by getting out of the way, letting people be themselves — their whole selves. Read more »
Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) won an appeal yesterday that confirmed it can stop others from selling clones of its popular computers. But the court als… Read more at paidContent »
Mobile backend provider Kinvey found 73 percent of iOS and Android apps are basically static and don’t connect to a backend. IOS apps fare better with 35 percent of apps connecting to cloud backends while 18 percent of Android apps connect to these services. Read more »
Just like TV, mobile usage is highest during prime time, peaking at 9 p.m., according to Flurry. But just as important is the fact that mobile app use is relatively higher throughout the day than both Internet and TV, only eclipsed by TV in prime time. Read more »
Shazam, a popular music tagging mobile app, announced on Thursday that it would remove the five-song limit from the free version of its iOS software. Why? More tagging leads to more sharing, more Apple iAd impressions and more revenue-generating music purchases from partners. Read more »
Twitvid has raised a Series B of $6.5 million and plans to use the money to hire more people and build out its infrastructure. The company has managed to stick around while others gave up. But can it compete with a likely video play from Twitter? Read more »
It’s shaping up to be a busy autumn for Twitter. The service will be integrated into the next version of Apple’s iOS operating system, which is set to roll out in October. So is Twitter in complete panic mode preparing for the coming onslaught of traffic? Read more »
