A number of connected watches have hit — and been funded on — Kickstarter lately, but the newest doesn’t just show information from a smartphone; it works as a hands-free speaker phone. The watch also supports voice commands so you can use it directly with Siri. Read more »
From iOS developer Kudit, the service will let anyone easily participate in iOS Passbook, a feature coming in the next version of the software. In the future, PassSource will also offer an analytics dashboard for pass creators to track how their passes are being used. Read more »
Two Korean iPhone carriers are reportedly in talks with Apple to include LTE radios in the next iPhone. LTE is booming in Korea and the carriers want to be able to add to those subscriber numbers instead of investing in older networks. Read more »
The iPad “Flipboard for video” app Vodio is shrinking down to iPhone size starting Tuesday. We talked to the Tel Aviv-based Vodio about why the iPhone came next for the app instead of Android tablets. Read more »
Overall handset sales slumped last quarter as consumers face economic challenges or are waiting for newer phone models. But Android keeps outpacing iOS devices while handsets from Research In Motion and Nokia continue to drop, although Windows Phone is showing signs of sales life. Read more »
A Nokia Conversations survey suggests the U.S. alone prefers touchscreen devices for input while the rest of the world still wants a QWERTY keyboard. That’s ironic as touchscreens dominate the market and Nokia opted for numeric keypads in lieu of QWERTY for so long. Read more »
Target and Best Buy are joining Sprint in offering $20 to $50 discounts on iPhones with two-year contracts. Sales on current and older devices is yet another sign pointing to new models being around the corner. Apple is reportedly matching some of these discounts. Read more »
Campaign 2012 is gonna be brutal if you’re a TV watcher (or a web surfer). If you want to check out the veracity of claims made in the Romney and Obama ads flooding your device of choice, check out SuperPACApp and Reactvid. Read more »
A new “Wi-Fi Plus Cellular” feature appears in the latest beta build of iOS 6. This should allow background synchronization for certain native applications but appears to include FaceTime as well, indicating that iOS 6 will support seamless FaceTime calls moving from Wi-Fi to mobile broadband. Read more »
Already thought your iPhone camera was pretty powerful? Just wait until you see it measure your resting heart rate by analyzing light reflected off your face through a new app from the Rock Health accelerator that turns the camera into a biosensor. Read more »
Historically, U.S. consumers are addicted to subsidized smartphones that carry lengthy contracts, but sales growth of pre-paid, no contract phones has nearly doubled in the past year. Apple’s iPhone may eventually help this market too, but improved Android handsets sold by pre-paid providers are boosting sales. Read more »
Here’s our daily pick of stories about Apple from around the web that you shouldn’t miss. Today’s installment: Mat Honan’s iCloud hack wasn’t preventable with a strong password, hints about a larger iPhone in iOS 6, the Apple TV moves beyond hobby stage, and more. Read more »
So long YouTube; Apple has pulled the app from the latest iOS 6 beta. Of course, you can still watch YouTube in Safari and Google is reportedly writing a YouTube app for the iTunes App Store. Maybe we see a better YouTube experience as a result. Read more »
Thanks to the testimony of top Apple executives this week, we know more about how the iPhone came to be. However, the revelation of these details means that even if Apple ends up winning this case, it’s still lost something: a little bit of mystery. Read more »
Is your iPhone speaker not loud enough for music or calls? A Kickstarter project for AudioGloves uses accoustics, not digital technology to solve the problem by boosting sound up to 20 percent. According to a Dolby Labratory test, it works as advertised for richer, louder sounds. Read more »
Here’s our daily pick of stories about Apple from around the web that you shouldn’t miss: a look at early iPhone and iPad prototypes, an Apple chip designer checks out, details on the AuthenTec deal, what a stock split would mean, and more Apple-Samsung legal squabbling. Read more »
Despite its current decline, RIM is a different firm today than it was in 2007, with new management, a full awareness of its shaky position, an upcoming OS release and a number of lingering advantages that can still be leveraged. Here’s how it just might survive. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
In a move aimed primarily at users of its textbooks, iPad publisher Inkling is making all of its titles available for the iPhone. The company’s interactive ebook publishing platform, Habitat, now works for iPhone as well. Read more at paidContent »
With the growth of sensors and microelectronics, the potential uses of wearable-computing technologies now reach to health and fitness, gaming, fashion, disabilities and augmented reality. Most importantly, the widespread adoption of wearables will drive the form function and market for mobiles in vital ways. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Revealed in court documents related to next week’s Samsung trial: the gross margins Apple Turns out Apple makes at least twice as much from each iPhone as it does from the iPad. Read more »
Apple has purchased a mobile security firm that counts many of its mobile competitors as partners. Why? Apple may be eyeing fingerprint-based authentication for iPhones, or perhaps it wants AuthenTec’s NFC-payment security technology for a future iPhone with mobile payment capabilities. Read more »
Apple spends a whopping $28 billion a year buying semiconductors for the millions of tablets, phones and computers it produces according to estimates released from IHS iSuppli, a research firm. That puts Apple far and away the largest buyer of silicon. Read more »
Apple’s OS X Mountain Lion is perfectly matched to not just Apple’s hardware but also with a new kind of Internet-centric usage behavior. It is the marriage of form and function. But most importantly, it’s a tip of the hat to the iPhone and iPad. Read more »
Apple has long benefited from the relentless rumor machine that constantly speculates about new products it has coming up. But this arrangement is, by its own admission, now hurting its sales. Read more »
Apple reported its fiscal third quarter earnings on Tuesday of $35 billion in revenue and $8.8 billion in earnings, or $9.32 per share. That’s ahead of what Apple itself had forecast, but below what Wall Street was expecting. Read more »
AT&T confirmed it’s seeing the same trend we saw with the iPhone and Verizon last week: iPhone activations lost momentum. In a note to clients, Wells Fargo analyst Maynard Um noted that it’s the second quarter in a row that AT&T’s iPhone activations have dropped. Read more »
While it’s overstating the case to say that Box has renounced its fatwa on Windows Phones, it is worth pointing out that the cloud storage company now supports the current release of Windows Phone and will support the upcoming Windows 8 Phone as well. Read more »
For AT&T, the present and the future are all about mobile data services. With LTE service already in the market, it makes more sense for Ma Bell to move away from DSL. It lost 96,000 net broadband customers during the second quarter. Read more »
Samsung’s “one phone model for the world” strategy continues to pay off: The Galaxy S III has already topped 10 million sales since its May 29 launch. A rough estimate shows that figure to be nearly 20 percent of Android activations on a daily basis. Read more »
In a Q3 without a new iPhone, and one in which the iPad has continued to gather steam, it’s worth wondering if the iPad could finally rival the iPhone in terms of sales and significance to Apple’s bottom line when it reports earnings on Tuesday. Read more »
Here are my experiences with three options to connect to your axe to your iOS device. They’ll let you use your iPhone or iPad as an amp, or record your guitar, bass or keyboard on GarageBand for iOS. Read more »
Apple’s iPhone charger isn’t always practical for travel. The iKeep Charger is excellent for not just charging the iPhone, but other devices like wireless headphones or a mobile hotspot. After using it, I really think it is a must-have device on the go. Read more »
Kickstarter continues to drain my monthy mobile gadget budget, this time for POP, which is short for “portable power.” The nicely designed device looks like a small trash can in shape, holding a 25,000 mAh battery and four retractable cords for iOS and micro-USB devices. Read more »
Apple and Google still dominate the smartphone space, but look out for Microsoft, which finally has some muscle behind its mobile strategy. Meanwhile mobile-browser developers went head-to-head with native apps, and Facebook continued to buy mobile expertise via acquisition. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
I’ve been testing FaceTime over cellular data for a few weeks using the iOS 6 beta software. It works OK, but not as good as on Wi-Fi. Now, a new pop-up message indicates that carriers may charge for the service over their networks. Will you pay? Read more »
There’s been debate over whether the next-generation iPhone’s display will grow from 3.5 inches to 4 inches. But it’s also looking more like the display will also shrink, width-wise. The WSJ says the next version of Apple’s smartphone will have a thinner screen. Read more »
Samsung’s Galaxy Note, the 5.3-inch smartphone (or is it a tablet?) will launch for T-Mobile’s U.S. network in the coming weeks, according to the company, which says 77 percent out of 1,031 surveyed U.S. smartphone owners want a device with a 4.5-inch or larger display. Read more »
Social TV is any application, website or software that allows viewers to interact with television programming and share that interaction with others. Startups in this space hope to combine ubiquitous second-screen technology with well-established audience behavior to drive new value around shows. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Here’s our daily pick of stories about Apple from around the web you shouldn’t miss. Today’s installment: confusion over iCloud, how EPEAT ratings actually work, Steve Jobs feared Google acquiring Yelp, how the iPhone and Samsung are dominating mobile industry value, and Mountain Lion’s pending release. Read more »
Apple is investigating a workaround that lets iOS users get in-app purchase content for free. This weekend it used a variety of legal channels to try to resolve the security breach, including taking down the demonstration video on YouTube and getting PayPal to block donations. Read more »
