Oct 17, 2011 | Wireless
So it has been announced by Apple the iPhone 4S has reached huge sales figures for the 4S. Four million strong sold over the weekend. It has also been reported that over 25 million customers are using the iOS 5 on their Apple products and over 20 million people have already signed up for the iCloud. These are stagering numbers for Apples new products and just goes to show you how big Apple has really become. From the iPhone 4S to the iPad 2, millions and millions of people are using Apple products and the number seems to be growing at a rapid pace. This is by far a good sign for Apple espcially after loosing a visonary like Steve Jobs, the company needs to hang its hat on these products and it looks like so far that has been a success.
Oct 16, 2011 | Uncategorized
Facebook has filed for a trademark on the usage of ?Facebook? on business cards and, more curiously, ?non-magnetically encoded? ID cards among other things. If granted the trademark would protect using the word Facebook in the specified formats, not any actual invention.
So what if Facebook just wants to stop people from making fake Facebook business cards? Well, it seems like this trademark would cover that and a whole lot more including ?business card and identity card design services,? ?printing services? and the ominous, ?facilitating social and business networking through the provision of data for use on its own business and identity cards.?
It also looks like the trademark would cover QR code and NFC/RFID uses ? which work through magnetic induction, NOT the aforementioned magnetic encoding ? much like the Presence cards and photobooths that allowed you to upload and tag photos at F8.
Oct 15, 2011 | Uncategorized
So the integrated Siri program that is in all the new 4S models will say some funny things if you ask the right questions. Matt Legend Gemmell, a software designer from Edinburgh, got a new Apple Inc. iPhone on Friday and asked it: “Who’s your daddy?”
“You are,” the phone answered, in the voice of an authoritative man.
Earlier, he commanded: “Beam me up.” This time, the iPhone responded: “Sorry, Captain, your tricorder is in Airplane Mode.”
The phone takes verbal commands and questions, and responds with computer-generated speech.
Real humans are responding to this alarming breakthrough by asking their iPhones ridiculous questions.
The good news is, Siri has a sense of humor.
Nicky Kelly, a 40-year-old from Suffolk, U.K., asked her iPhone: “Tell me a joke.” It answered: “Two iPhones walk into a bar…I forget the rest.”
So there is a bit of comedy you can have with your iPhone 4S if you are lucky enough to get one. So try and it and see what it says.
Oct 14, 2011 | Wireless
So it has been five months since Google introduced the cloud music server to the people but it has limited capabilities, well Google is trying to step it up and there are sources stating that Google is in prime negotiations with some major record companies to expand the services and open an MP3 store like iTunes. So should Android users rejoice? The thought is that Google is pushing for this store to open in the next few weeks so it will be here in time for the holiday season. Google will be trying to get this done as quickly as possible to get in front Apple who will be opening up its cloud music program and of course iTunes Match by the end of October. More will be revealed in the coming future on this and be sure I will be writing about it.
Oct 13, 2011 | Wireless
The iPhone 4S has sold out on preorders on every US carrier. Yes that means Verizon, Sprint and AT&T are all sold out on their preorders. On Verizon and Sprint’s website it states that we are sold out and AT&T states that there is an estimated delivery time of around three to four weeks instead of one to two days. Now this is just in a 6 day span since preorders started on the 7th of October. Roger Entner an analyst with Recon Analytics in Boston had this to say ?It looks like another blockbuster launch for Apple, only this time with three carriers.? With this new launch and the Android phones that are also on the market Entner sees about more than half of all mobile phone users will be on smart phones. Entner also had this to say ?With this iPhone launch, we will have broken through the 50 percent penetration level.? This is pertaining the item I put in above about smartphone users going over half. This is the first real launch of a new product for Apple on all three major wireless carriers and it seems like it is a hit.
Oct 12, 2011 | Wireless
Great news for all of you traveling folks out there who enjoy an iPhone that you can use internationally. Sprint has announced that the iPhone 4S will come with a micro-SIM slot unlocked and Verizon’s phone will be initially locked but apparently after 60 days of good standing with Verizon you will be able to call them and have the phone internationally unlocked. So what this means for all you travelers is cheaper international roaming if you acquire a prepaid SIM card for the country you are in. Now the question is what will AT&T do? There is no news yet on them doing any type of unlocking the 4S. If I was AT&T I would make sure that feature is at least an option.
Oct 11, 2011 | Wireless
There has been some new market research reports that show mobile devices are accounting for about 7% of the United States web traffic. The Apple’s iOS is holding around 58.5% on the mobile traffic but interesting enough the iPad is accounting for more traffic than iPhones. Which is interesting since there are so many versions of the iPhone out their but only two versions of the iPad. ComScore released a report that 6.8% of the traffic is mobile and of that segment, about two thirds of the traffic is from mobile phones and a remaining third is being generated by tablet users. The group notes that Apple’s iPad now accounts for 97.2 percent of all tablet-originating web traffic, driving home the reality that competitors have not yet released a significant tablet competitor.
Among iOS users, iPad now accounts for 46.8 percent of all traffic generated, making it now a more prolific tool than the iPhone for mobile web use, which represents 42.6 percent of iOS traffic. Although the chart that is above will show you everything you need to know because pie charts are fun!
Oct 10, 2011 | News
Netflix has decided to come to some senses by keeping their product on one platform. It was announced a month or so back that Netflix was breaking up DVD rentals and streaming. Keeping the streaming side as Netflix and using DVD and video game rentals on a platform they called Qwikster. This announcement happened today as Netflix issued a statement saying that there is an appeal for people to have one website, one account, for their services. Reed Hastings the CEO had this to say in a statement about the change:
?Consumers value the simplicity Netflix has always offered and we respect that. There is a difference between moving quickly ? which Netflix has done very well for years ? and moving too fast, which is what we did in this case.?
The company never made the change so there will be no big moves to be made on the customers end of things, Netflix just decided to make your lives the same instead of making them much harder.
Oct 9, 2011 | Uncategorized
The unlocked iPhone 4S is scheduled to come out in November but it will only support GSM networks, which means CDMA carriers such as Verizon and Sprint are out of luck.
When it was announced on Tuesday, the iPhone 4S was unveiled as a “world phone,” meaning it is compatible with both CDMA and GSM networks. But customers who want to operate the handset on a GSM network, like Verizon, the largest carrier in the U.S., will need to buy Apple’s latest smartphone with a new two-year contract.
“The unlocked iPhone includes all the features of iPhone but without a contract commitment,” Apple’s description reads. “You can activate and use it on the supported GSM wireless network of your choice, such as AT&T in the United States.”
The contract-free iPhone 4S is available in all three standard capacities, and is priced at $649 for 16GB, $749 for 32GB and $849 for 64GB. It will be available in both black and white.
Oct 8, 2011 | News
Samsung has unfortunately announced that the product launch with Google on the Galaxy Nexus will not be happening next week. Here is a statement that was released.
?Samsung and Google decide to postpone the new product announcement at CTIA Fall. We agree that it is just not the right time to announce a new product. New date and venue will be shortly announced.?
Alternately known as the Galaxy Nexus or the Nexus Prime, this device was widely expected to give us a first look at Google?s next major iteration of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, but for whatever reason, the two companies have decided to push its official debut back. It was only this morning that we got a glimpse of a smartphone looking very much like this next Nexus ? a leak that may or may not have anything to do with this sudden change of plans. Either way, Eric Schmidt promised us we?d see Ice Cream Sandwich by the end of November, so we may be facing a delay, but it should be a relatively small one.
