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Apple Shows iOS7, OSX and iTunes Radio at WWDC

June 10, 2013 by

wwdc

Apple’s annual World Wide Developer Conference opened today at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, and the company’s CEO Tim Cook took center stage to talk about what the company’s near term plans are and to drop hints about what it might do in the long run.

There had already been a host of hints about what the company would discuss, focused primarily on the software side with a new iOS and a new OS for computers online. The questions people had were about a possible music service and if there was going to be any solid news about hardware such as next generation iPads and iPhones.

The issue that Apple increasingly faces at this event, and for that matter at any event at which it makes an announcement is that there is a sense of over anticipation among the company’s fans and it is increasingly hard to have blockbuster after blockbuster announcements

Apple opened the show with its usual retail update and one set of numbers really stands out of you are an app developer looking at this platform. Apple has 575 million online accounts and it has paid app developers $10 billion over the last five years, reportedly that is 3X more than all of the other platforms combined. The company’s game center has 240 million users. 600 million iOS devices sold.

Mac sales are up 100% in the last year, compared to only 18% for PCs. The company introduced its latest upgrade to its computer operating system, OSX Mavericks. It has, as expected a host of new features including CPU optimization, compressed memory that enables apps to start much faster, iBooks, Maps, and the ability to merge multiple windows.

The operating system is available now for developers and for the general public this fall. There is also a new line of MacBook Airs with a huge increase in batter life due to using the Haswell processor, all available now while a sneak peak at forthcoming Mac Pro desktops was also provided.

The company showed iWorks for iCloud that enables users to create and format documents in your browser, and it supports drag and drop. It is in beta now and should be available by the end of the year.

The latest mobile operating system, iOS 7 was also introduced at the show. It starts out with a basic new look with redesigned icons and what is referred to as a flatter look. That is just on top, it has been redesigned to have distinct layers of functionality that help with order and establish a hierarchy.

An interesting twist is that in the future you will be able to get iOS in your future car as at least 12 automakers have agreed to integrated the OS by the end of next year. It can get maps, make calls and play music, just as you would expect.

A few of the new features include multitasking supported by all apps, folders now support multiple pages so they can store more apps. New access to Control Center, you just simply swipe up from the bottom of the device as well as faster access to Wi-Fi. It has the ability to judge apps that you use more, or use at specific times of day to enable them faster.

New organization and added filters for photos and it can now share video with iCloud. New updated version of Siri of course including a male voice, information from Twitter, Bing and Wikipedia has been integrated.

iTunes radio was introduced and is built into the music app, with features such as one tap purchase of songs and the ability to share music with friends and create your own stations. Another new iTunes feature is that it will no longer notify you when apps need updating, it will just do it automatically.

Other software news was that the new iOS 7 will be supported by iPhones 4 and later and iPad 2 and later. There are 1,500 new APIs for developers and the final release of the operating system will be this fall.

Filed Under: Android, Apps, iOS 7, iPad, iPhone, OSX, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , , , , , ,

New iPhone App Designed to Help Golfers’ Short Game

June 5, 2013 by

strack

All golfers have a part (or parts) of their game that vexes them continually. Short off the tee, poor game in the rough or in the sand, you name an area and someone has trouble with it, but it often seems that putting is where many are found to throw their clubs.

The problems can be from just having a case of the yips to misreading the green. Now StrackaLine has developed an app for iPhones, iPods and iPads that it believes will help with at least on part of the problem, reading the green.

The StrackaLine app features the topography of hundreds of course and used 3D laser technology to collect the data from every green on those courses. It has the ability to calculate the users’ position and proper putting line in real time.

It provides a 2D and 3D view of each putting green that features Fall Line arrows that will tell you the shape of the green so that you can figure the proper line. The app features a demo mode that users can play with to see how it works. The demo mode features holes from a number of famous courses including Pebble Beach, TPC Sawgrass, and Torrey Pines.

The company is just getting started and so there is obviously a huge number of courses that have not yet been scanned, so remember this when you are purchasing the $19.99 app. It currently includes 30 courses that are on the PGA Pro tour. While only available for the Apple iOS platform the company said that it will have an Android version available, but not until next year.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Golf, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Acer Releases Windows Tablet and Android Phone

June 3, 2013 by

acerr

Acer has unveiled a number of new mobile devices at the annual Computex trade show this week and the products show the growing diversity in operating systems that are offered from a single company with a Windows powered tablet and an Android powered smartphone.

The company has been increasingly aggressive in its rollout of products recently and looks to establish itself alongside rivals such as Samsung and Apple as one of the top players in the smartphone and tablet space. .

The tablet is the Acer Iconia W3 which features an 8.1-ich screen with a 1280 x 800 resolution running Windows 8 operating system and features an Intel Atom 1.8Ghz Z2760 microprocessor. The tablet marks the first release of a small form factor tablet running the Windows operating system.

Reports are showing that the smaller form Tablets are starting to outsell the larger ones and it is a feather in Acer’s cap that it is the first with a model that supports Windows 8. Microsoft only recently said that it would be supporting smaller size screens.

Other features include either a 32GB or 64GB of internal storage that can be expanded with the addition of optional microSD cards, an eight hour battery, dual front and rear facing 2MP cameras it will come with a pre-installed copy of Microsoft Office. It is expected to ship in June and start at $428.

The smartphone is the Liquid S1, which with its 5.7-inch screen is not that much smaller than the Iconia W3. It has a 1280 x 720 screen resolution and will feature the Android 4.2 operating system. It has a 1.5GHz processor, 1GB of memory and 8GB of storage. However it does not support LTE.

The smartphone is the company’s first push into the phablet space, the hybrid smartphones with large screens that can double as a tablet.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Android, Apple, Apps, Intel, Microsoft, Smartphone, Tablets, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , ,

Mozilla to Build Firefox Driven Tablet?

May 31, 2013 by

moz

The latest and greatest rumor going around is that Mozilla, the non-profit behind the popular Firefox operating system, may be looking to create a tablet that will use the Firefox operating system.

The rumor has a kernel of truth, something that many often do not, in at least Mozilla is announcing a new hardware product next Monday, it just has declined to say what it is and what the target market for the product will be.

The move is not that surprising if it is a tablet since it would fit in with its Open Web initiative that includes the first commercial build of the Firefox OS and efforts to build a global ecosystem for that OS that has already gained 18 operators including Alcatel, Deutsch Telecom, Telefonica, Sprint, Qtel and others. However this move was for smartphones so it seems logical that the next step would be for tablets.

The question seems to be why would the company enter the tablet space rather than license it out to the market as it is doing in the smartphone space? At the time of the Open Web push, back in February at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona the company said that hardware was in its future and I believe that many expected it to be a smartphone, considering the circumstances of the announcement.

It said that it is working with manufacturers Alcatel (TCL), LG and ZTE, with Huawei to follow later on to build the first Firefox OS devices. They will all be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile processor family. But it was not ignoring the content side and said that it has signed strategic relationships with key content and service partners. It should be noted that at the time it specifically said that all of this was for smartphones.

So will we see a series of smartphones from Mozilla and partners Monday or will we see a tablet? It will be interesting to see which it is. One thing for sure is that Mozilla has said that Foxconn, the company that does a great deal of work with Apple in building its iOS products, will be the manufacturing partner.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, iOS, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Unhappy iPad Users? Is Facebook Home Dead Already?

May 10, 2013 by

Will Microsoft buy Barnes & Noble’s Nook Business?
The rumor has once again emerged that Microsoft is looking at buying Barnes & Noble’s Nook business unit, a unit that Microsoft has already invested $300 million. TechCrunch is now reporting that it has internal documents that show that indeed the software giant is pondering such a move.

The cost is approximately $1 billion, which would also include Nook Media and related digital business operations. The documents show that Barnes & Noble is considering discontinuing its Android-based tablets next year.

Apple Patents invisible buttons
As smartphone users seemingly are demanding additional functionality with each new release of their favorite handset product designers are faced with the classic issue of form or functionality. Now Apple has patented a technology that seems to solve the issue by enabling fully functioning buttons and sliders that are not visible.

If you are wondering how you would use invisible items, they are not always hidden from the eye, but would appear when you motion towards them, according to a piece on them in Geek Newsletter.

Is Facebook’s Home burning down?
A few weeks ago amid a great deal of hype Facebook offered its latest and greatest mobile offering, Facebook Home. If you missed the announcement it was the debut of a smartphone, and a related app for owners of alternative Android devices, which made Facebook your smartphone start screen.

The HTC First was the first smartphone to come with the technology as standard and it was available from AT&T for $99. It has been apparently been met by a universal shrug of the shoulders by users, which had led AT&T to drop the price of the phone a bit, to 99 cents! Salon gives a good look at how far and fast this technology has dropped.

Amazon to offer smartphone with 3D display?
The Wall Street Journal is reporting (via C/Net) that Amazon is working on a pair of smartphones and that one of the two will have a 3D capability that will enable hologram like images. However the article made clear that the smartphones might never see the loght of day.

Amazon is increasingly delving into the hardware space starting with its popular Kindle tablet. While the rest is rumor, so far, it sounds like a set top box and the aforementioned smartphones are also in the works.

Google Glass takes another hit.
In case you missed the send up on Saturday Night Live you can look here but real world resistance to Google Glass technology is also continuing to rise. A nice piece in the New York Times outlines some of the major Pros and Cons of the technology.

We have always wondered how Las Vegas would deal with the glasses, and the NYT is of the opinion they will be banned, an opinion backed by Caesars Entertainment statement that they would be prohibited. However it is estimated that the glasses could generate upwards to $#500 billion for Google.

Bill Gates chimes in on iPad
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates recently spoke with CNBC and said that iPad users are frustrated with the lack of keyboard and because there is no Microsoft Office app for that platform that they will migrate to PC Tablets.

As can be noted in the Guardian’s coverage of his statements so Apple has sold an estimated 141 million iPads to unhappy users while the happy Microsoft Surface users have already swarmed the stores for an estimated 2 million units. Of course the Surface is still relatively new so we will see what the future brings.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, AT&T, Barnes & Noble, Facebook, Google, HTC, iPad, Microsoft, Nook, Smartphone, Surface, Tablets, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag- Major Apple iOS 7 Revamp on the Way?

May 3, 2013 by

Google has started providing its developers with the Glass Explorer edition of the product and they have started to create some of the first generation apps for the eyewear. It already comes with voice recognition software to help users navigate and display data but one developer has taken it a step further.

According to a piece by CBS News an app has emerged that cuts out the need to inform the glasses verbally to take a photo or need to touch any sort of button, all you need to do is wink and the action has occurred. I wonder what happens on a windy day, possibly a flash card collection of your day?


Next Gen Samsung Galaxy Note specs leaked
Samsung, which appears to be in an escalating war of smartphone features with Apple, has had the details of its next generation offering released according to SamMobile. The Galaxy Note III is expected feature a 5.99” full Super HD display and a 13 megapixel camera.

The real wow might be the fact that it could be powered by an eight-core CPU and feature an eight-core GPU as well, which should make it one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful handheld device available. It is expected to ship in the August/September time frame.

Google I/O Schedule Released
If you are waiting breathlessly for mid-May when the Google I/O conference is being held, or even if you are just mildly interested, the kind people at Google have released the schedule so that you can plan your day around the events.

There is a three hour keynote so bring your pillow and over 120 sessions. It will be interesting to see how they top the Google Glass skydiving event from last year. Sail a blimp around San Francisco Bay?

Intel and Samsung the latest to invest in Expect Labs
I hope you like Suri and the related speech programs appearing on devices because it looks like more are coming soon. Intel Capital, Samsung Venture Investment and Telefonica Digital have all invested in Expect Labs, a company that develops technology that analyzes and understands conversations in real-time.

The latest investors join Google and IDG Ventures. The company already has an app available called MindMeld for Apple’s iPad tablets.

Will Apple’s expected iOS 7 cause upheaval
Jonathon Ive, the knighted Apple design guru recently took over Apple’s latest efforts to deliver a new version of the operating system and early reports are that it will appeal to new users but may appall experienced ones.

If this sounds familiar it is what has happened to Microsoft with its Windows 8 release. It is reported that Ive will be taking a minimalist approach to the redesign and is expected to remove a good many of the icons and symbols that adorn the OS today in search of a simpler look.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Galaxy Note, Google, Intel, Intel Capital, iOS, Samsung, Smartphone Tagged With: , , ,
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