More rumors coming out of the infamous hit-and-miss Taiwanese publication DigiTimes today, this time claiming that Apple will release a 7-inch iPad in August, a new iPhone in September, and a 10-inch iPad later in the year, according to sources within Apple’s supply chain. This isn’t the first time we have heard rumors about a 7- to 8-inch iPad, but most speculation has pointed towards a 7.85-inch iPad.
Pegatron Technology reportedly has landed orders for a new-generation iPhone to be launched in September and a 10-inch iPad to be launched in the fourth quarter, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers. Pegatron is currently an OEM for the iPhone 4S and new iPad.
While the 10-inch iPad and new iPhone will be manufactured in part by Pegatron Technology, the report claims that Foxconn will be responsible for production of the 7-inch iPad later in the year. While talk of a 7-inch iPad and launch of a new iPhone in September are not unheard of, the 10-inch iPad definitely seems less likely. All we know for certain is that Apple definitely has something up their sleeves for the remainder of 2012.
Imagine you’re sitting on an airplane, and your iPhone suddenly explodes in your hands. That’s exactly what happened last November, when an iPhone was left shattered and glowing red after self-combusting on an airplane that had just touched down in Sydney, Australia. The incident raised discussions about the safety of these batteries on flights, since this was a dangerous situation that could easily be repeated purposefully for the wrong reasons. But, the cause of the problem is probably not what you would expect.
Australian government officials have concluded their investigation of the incident, and have determined that the cause of the combustion was due to a loose screw that managed to puncture the iPhone’s battery after a faulty screen replacement procedure by an unauthorized service center.
The loose screw made its way to the battery casing and punctured it, which created a short circuit and caused the battery to overheat. Thankfully, nobody was hurt on the airplane; however, it is still a big reminder of the dangers that can be associated with carrying electronic equipment on flights. Do you fly with your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad?
When you hear stories about independent App Store developers becoming extremely successful, you might think that the App Store is a viable business and something that can easily provide you with extra income. But, according to a recent survey by marketing firm App Promo, it is actually quite difficult to release apps that become successful.
The survey shows that “59 percent of apps don’t break even, and 80 percent of developers can’t sustain a business on their apps alone.” The fact that there is over 600,000 apps available on the App Store could be a contributing reason for the difficulties that developers face, since there is limited visibility for the apps that they release. That is, of course, unless they are dedicated to an extensive — and expensive — marketing pitch.
“Over the years I have seen visibility of applications I’ve worked on greatly reduced,” developer Pat McCarron told Ars. “Right now your app is likely not going to be found if you never break the Top 100 or Top 200 lists. Users won’t navigate forever down the list of top apps to find yours sitting lonely at the bottom.”
Rogue Amoeba’s Paul Kafasis agreed that the App Store has become more of a lottery, and less a chance for small developers to succeed along with well-established companies.
“The App Store is very much like the lottery, and very few companies are topping the charts,” Kafasis told Ars. “It’s a hit-based business. Much like music or book sales, there are a few huge winners, a bigger handful of minor successes, and a whole lot of failures.”
To release an app to the App Store, you must be an official registered developer with Apple, a program that costs $100 to enroll in. Have you ever released, or considered developing, an App Store app?
Today in London, Samsung held an event to talk about their “Next Galaxy.” When first reading it, I thought I’d stumbled upon an astronomer that was soon to announce a brand new Galaxy in this universe — boy was I wrong. Even though their phone was one of the most anticipated of the year, Samsung couldn’t even wait until the event started to announce the device and all its specifications, leaving the event a bore for nearly anyone who already read the coverage of this new phone.
Now you’re probably wondering, is this device even worth all the hype? No, not really, and I’m going to tell you why. First, they brought “S Voice” to the device as an alternative to the iPhone’s voice assistant Siri. It has pretty much every feature Siri does, but that’s expected since Samsung just loves to copy things of Apple’s.
Next up in the list of interesting features is “Pop up play,” which acts like the traditional window system on a computer by playing video on top of other apps. If you want to, you can continue using anything in the other apps while watching the video. This is what a 720p display does, but imagine doing all of this on a 1080p Galaxy Note — it’d be like a full computer in your hand.
In the world of specifications, the Galaxy S III has a quad-core CPU clocked at 1.4 GHz, 4.8-inch 720p display, 8-megapixel and 1.9-megapixel (front-facing) cameras, a 2,100 mAh battery, and is available in 16 GB and 32 GB sizes with microSD expandability. It will have HSPA+ connectivity with 4G LTE models coming to regions that support it.
The phone itself is pretty ugly (see gallery here) and looks rather bland. I’d not want to own one of these even in the light of how speedy its OS may be, to be honest. Their Galaxy Nexus was so much better and I feel like they went backwards with things. Other than that, the build quality itself looks cheap and some hands-on reports have also backed this. It’s plastic, feels like a budget flip phone, and is by no mens a competitor to the iPhone in quality.
If you want a nice looking phone that’s just as powerful with good build quality, just go with the HTC One X. It’s solid, has great reviews, and isn’t as ugly as the Galaxy S III.
I’m not yet sure how to take this whole “natural interaction” thing, but it seems a bit strange and intrusive. It’s like Samsung wants you to use the phone all the time instead of just when you want.
With the innovative ‘Smart stay’ feature, the GALAXY S III recognizes how you are using your phone – reading an e-book or browsing the web for instance – by having the front camera identify your eyes; the phone maintains a bright display for continued viewing pleasure.
The GALAXY S III features ‘S Voice,’ the advanced natural language user interface, to listen and respond to your words. In addition to allowing information search and basic device-user communication, S Voice presents powerful functions in regards to device control and commands. When your phone alarm goes off but you need a little extra rest, just tell the GALAXY S III “snooze.” You can also use S Voice to play your favorite songs, turn the volume up or down, send text messages and emails, organize your schedules, or automatically launch the camera and capture a photo.
In addition to recognizing your face and voice, the GALAXY S III understands your motions to offer maximized usability. If you are messaging someone but decide to call them instead, simply lift your phone to your ear and ‘Direct call’ will dial their number.
And if that’s not bad enough, just watch their advertisement for the phone below and you’ll really get the idea. Samsung wants you to know that this device is “made for humans.”
There have been multiple reports lately claiming that Apple will incorporate Liquidmetal in the next iPhone. Some sources asserted that a new iPhone would be launching at this year’s WWDC in June and that it would be using the “amorphous metal alloys” that Liquidmetal Technologies has. There were then some mockups of what this could look like (picture above), followed by an interview with Liquidmetal inventor Atakan Peker at Business Insider, in which he said that Apple is not yet ready to use the technology.
In the interview, Peker says that the rumors of Apple using such technology in their upcoming products — the MacBook was the device in question — was unlikely. This doesn’t mean that the iPhone is out of the question, but Peker says a MacBook unibody “will take two to four years more years to implement.”
Q: I’ve heard rumors that future MacBooks from Apple could use Liquidmetal casing, what would that be like? Is it likely to happen?
A: Given the size of MacBook and scale of Apple products, I think it’s unlikely that Liquidmetal casing will be used in MacBooks in the near term. It’s more likely in the form of small component such as a hinge or bracket. A MacBook casing, such as a unibody, will take two to four more years to implement.
Apple and Samsung continue to battle it out in the smartphone market, and Samsung continues to hold the upper hand. While Apple continues to hold a strong grip on the American smartphone market, the latest numbers for worldwide smartphone market share show that Samsung is beginning to pull away from Apple in its lead over the iPhone maker.
“The race between Apple and Samsung remained tight during the quarter, even as both companies posted growth in key areas,” Ramon Llamas, a senior research analyst with IDC, said today in a statement. “Apple launched its popular iPhone 4S in additional key markets, most notably in China, and Samsung experienced continued success from its Galaxy Note smartphone/tablet and other Galaxy smartphones.”
During the first quarter, IDC research reveals that Samsung remained the number one smartphone vendor in the world with a market share of 29.1 percent, nearly five percent higher than Apple’s stake of 24.2 percent. Samsung shipped 42.2 million smartphones worldwide in the first quarter, while Apple shipped 35.1 million iPhones. Both companies have increased their smartphone shipments dramatically year-over-year, with Apple and Samsung shipping only 18.6 million and 11.5 million smartphones respectively in the year-ago quarter.
At that time, Nokia was the top smartphone vendor with market share of 23.8 percent. A year later, it holds a staggeringly lower 8.2 percent stake in the smartphone market. Apple was also still ahead of Samsung at the time, but the smartphone landscape has changed significantly in the past twelve months.
“While Apple and Samsung have taken it in turns to lead the smartphone market over the last four quarters, it seems as if Samsung may now have established a firm lead in this space, shipping 11.8 million more units than the Cupertino, California company in Q1,” Juniper said in a statement today.
Apple has yet to launch the iPhone on the world’s largest carrier, China Mobile, so that could help the Cupertino-based company make up some significant ground in international market share. For now, however, Samsung is winning. Apple might dominate the United States smartphone market, but Samsung is dominating the rest of the world.
As reported by MacStories, Apple today updated its terms and conditions from the Austrian, Greek, and ItalianiTunes Stores to include new information for the iTunes Match service. With this move, the Cupertino-based corporation is bringing iTunes Match to additional countries today, including the three aforementioned and maybe more.
According to Federico Viticci of MacStories, iTunes Match is apparently accepting new accounts from Austria, Greece, and Italy. It is not known if there are other countries receiving the service, but if you happen to see it when browsing around, please let us know in the comments.
iTunes Match is available 37 countries worldwide today, according to a support document published by Apple. It is rumored that the service will roll out in Japan soon as well, but there’s no specified date for it.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, in a recent interview with A New Domain, says that Windows Phone apps are “much more beautiful” than those found on Android and iOS. Wozniak favors the Windows Phone over Android-based smartphones, but still thinks the iPhone is his number one choice.
Just for looks and beauty, I definitely favor the Windows 7 phone over Android.
I’m kind of shocked on every screen — much more beautiful than the same apps on Android and iPhone. So I think that what Microsoft or Nokia did is that they went to some of the key app makers and got them to deliberately make specialized beautiful ones or they put their own themes on. It’s all different.
In talking about the elegant design of the Windows Phone, Wozniak jokes that perhaps Steve Jobs was reincarnated at Microsoft and shared some of his great ideas from Apple. Do you think that Windows Phone smartphones, such as the highly touted Nokia Lumia 900, are true competitors with the iPhone?
Earlier this year, Rochas announced that Olivia Palermo would be the face of their newest fragrance, Les Cascades de Rochas, and the first image has finally dropped.
Palermo, who’s been busy working on her fashion website, looks like an all-American girl swept up in the excitement of Paris. Instead of going for the aspirational sex appeal that’s usually central to fragrance ads, it looks like Rochas’ angling for a younger customer who’s just interested in having fun (and who likes Palermo).
The perfume itself is a mix of musk, mango, pinapple, and bergamot with notes of Sichuan pepper.
Electric Chapel 