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Stephen Hall

stephenjhall

Stephen is Growth Director at 9to5. You can find his current work at 9to5Mac, 9to5Google 9to5Toys, Electrek, and more. If you want to get in touch, follow me on Twitter. Or, email at stephen (at) 9to5mac (dot) com, or an encrypted email at hallstephenj (at) protonmail (dot) com.

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Leak: Chromecast continues Apple TV assault w/ new hardware, Spotify, ‘What’s On’ content curation, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Sep 18 2015 - 9:01 am PT
18 Comments

new-chromecaseAccording to internal Google documents that 9to5Google has obtained, huge updates to the Chromecast platform — in almost every respect — are just around the corner. The long-rumored 2nd generation Chromecast hardware is set to debut at Google’s event later this month with several brand new features, including “Chromecast Audio,” Spotify support (finally!), a brand new Chromecast companion app, and more. Here’s a roundup of everything we’ve learned so far…
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Google AdSense for iOS hits 3.0 w/ iPhone 6 & 6 Plus support, Material Design, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Sep 14 2015 - 8:12 am PT
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IMG_0799.PNG 2015-09-14 10-05-02

Google has this morning pushed an update to AdSense for iOS, bringing many features that other apps in the Mountain View company’s catalog received months ago. While it may not be the most popular app outside of publishing and creative circles, the AdSense app has today been updated with support for Native iPhone 6 and 6 Plus resolution, Material Design, and more.

Rounding out the update is support for Hindi and Malay, a new icon for the Home Screen, more metrics, and a today center widget. The last of these, in case you aren’t aware, is a new widget for the Today section of Notification Center. On it, you’ll find four metrics for quick access: Today so far, Page views, Clicks, and Page RPM. It also tells you when the widget was last updated.

While Google’s apps for iOS have always been known for being well-polished (and sometimes just generally better than their Android counterparts), they usually come at a much slower pace. AdSense 3.0 for Android with many of the same new features was released on Android four weeks ago, and you can read more about that update over at 9to5Google.

Here’s the full change log:

What’s New in Version 3.0

This time we’re bringing you:
– Support for Hindi and Malay;
– Native iPhone 6 and 6+ resolution;
– A today center widget;
– Our lovely new AdSense logo;
– More metrics!
– A little something we like to call Material Design.

Head over to the App Store to grab the latest version for free.

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Ahead of new iPhones, Samsung announces Galaxy Note 5 & S6 Edge+, Samsung Pay launch, Gear S2

Avatar for Stephen Hall Aug 13 2015 - 8:55 am PT
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Ahead of the new iPhones currently rumored to be announced on September 9th, Samsung has today announced the latest in its Galaxy line of smartphones. The Korean company introduced the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, as well as a larger S6 Edge called — yes, it’s a bit of a mouthful — the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+. The company also detailed the launch of its Samsung Pay mobile payments platform.
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HBO Now for iOS gains Chromecast support, more in latest update

Avatar for Stephen Hall Aug 6 2015 - 9:15 am PT
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HBO Now debuted earlier this year exclusively on Apple TV, iPhone and iPad, but lately it has been making its way to competing platforms. Android handsets and tablets as well as some of Amazon’s Fire-branded devices got HBO Now access a few weeks ago, but now the service is coming to Chromecast via an update to the HBO Now app.

The latest version of HBO Now for iOS was released today, numbered 1.2, and features more than just Chromecast support. You’ll find that you can also now receive push notifications — assumably for new episodes of your favorite shows and the like — as well as the usual bug fixes and performance improvements.

Here’s the full change log:

What’s New in Version 1.2.0

• Push Notifications
• Chromecast Support
• Performance Improvements

You can grab HBO Now on the App Store for free, and an HBO Now subscription is going to run you $14.99 per month after a 30-day free trial.

T-Mobile officially becomes #3 US carrier, Sprint CEO says company ‘now focused on customers, not rankings’

Avatar for Stephen Hall Aug 4 2015 - 10:40 am PT
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In case you didn’t notice (which is basically no one at this point, thanks to the more-than-loud John Legere), T-Mobile has tried to be as disruptive as possible over the last couple years. And now, Sprint, which has long been the third-largest mobile carrier in the United States, is admitting defeat. It seems T-Mobile’s tactics are working, and Sprint’s first fiscal quarter report released today shows that its 56.8 million subscribers are just shy of the 58.9 million that T-Mobile reported it had last month.


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IDC: Apple snatches 3% of smartphone users from Samsung

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jul 23 2015 - 9:44 am PT
7 Comments

Worldwide Smartphone Market Posts 11.6% Year-Over-Year Growth in Q2 2015, the Second Highest Shipment Total for a Single Quarter, According to IDC - prUS25804315 2015-07-23 11-00-04

IDC has just released its smartphone market share data for Q2 2015, and at least one thing is clear: Samsung is still struggling, and Apple is still doing really well. The Korean company’s smartphone market share dropped from 24.8% to 21.7% year-over-year, a 3.1 percentage point drop. Conveniently, while other manufacturers made gains as well, Apple’s numbers are up about the same number — 2.4 percentage points year-over-year to 14.1%…
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Xiaomi’s Hugo Barra talks Apple copycat ‘melodrama,’ more in Bloomberg interview [Video]

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jul 16 2015 - 12:12 pm PT
42 Comments
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Xiaomi's Hugo Barra Responds to Apple Copycat 'Melodrama' - YouTube 2015-07-16 14-05-37

As smartphones grow in popularity in emerging markets, Hugo Barra has very publicly spoken for Xiaomi, the Chinese-based technology company that he left Google to join as Vice President of International in September 2013. Today, he sat down with Bloomberg to talk about many topcis, including accusations that the Chinese company has stolen Apple’s design, Android as one of the best decisions Google ever made, and Xiaomi’s eventual plan to bring its devices stateside…
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Nest reveals new Nest Cam, 2nd generation Nest Protect, updated iOS app

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 17 2015 - 1:39 pm PT
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Following the Nest Cam outed by Best Buy earlier this morning, Nest did in fact take the stage today to announce its new lineup of products. Besides the Nest Cam, Tony Fadell and company showed off the 2nd generation Nest Protect smoke detector, a new mobile app for iOS and Android that brings all of the company’s new products together, and more. Unfortunately, the company’s flagship Nest Thermostat didn’t get any hardware upgrades today, but here’s what’s new…
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Conflicting reports emerge regarding Deutsche Telekom talks with Comcast to sell T-Mobile

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 17 2015 - 8:21 am PT
4 Comments

temp_comcast

German Manager Magazine (via Reuters) reports today that Deutsche Telekom is in talks with Comcast and others to sell T-Mobile US. Sources say that these potential buyers include satellite TV provider Dish (as corroborated by Reuters), but Comcast is seen as the most attractive option from the point of view of the German telecom, due to its financial strength and ability to buy T-Mobile’s shares in whole:

Deutsche Telekom is in talks with U.S. cable company Comcast about a potential sale of T-Mobile US, German Manager Magazin reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

Deutsche Telekom is in talks with several parties, including satellite provider Dish, according to the magazine, but Comcast is viewed as a more attractive buyer by the German telecoms provider’s management.

Comcast would be a better candidate as it is financially stronger and would be able to make an offer to buy all shares in T-Mobile US, Manager Magazine reported.

As reported by Bloomberg, T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom shares rose slightly following the news:

T-Mobile shares rose as much as 3 percent in early trading, before the U.S. markets opened. Deutsche Telekom traded 1.8 percent higher at 15.31 euros at 1:44 p.m. in Frankfurt. T-Mobile, which is the fourth-largest U.S. mobile-phone company and is about 66 percent owned by Deutsche Telekom, has a market value of $31.5 billion.

A conflicting report has since surfaced, thanks to a “Comcast source” for ArsTechnica. According to the person familiar with Comcast’s thinking, the company isn’t actually interested in buying T-Mobile. As of yet, no official statement has been made by Comcast or T-Mobile, but Deutsche Telekom has said that it “does not comment on rumors and speculation.”

Google Docs ‘Slides’ app updated with AirPlay and Chromecast support

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 11 2015 - 10:51 am PT
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Show up, don't set up: Google Slides supports Chromecast and AirPlay - YouTube 2015-06-11 12-28-44

Google announced today that it updated its Slides app, available for Android and iOS, to both support Google Cast and AirPlay. The update comes following the announcement of the Remote Display API that Google showed off at its I/O developers conference at the end of June, which allows developers to present more intricate applications and games on a remote screen.
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This song is actually a pretty good roundup of the WWDC keynote (Video)

Avatar for Stephen Hall Jun 9 2015 - 1:14 pm PT
3 Comments

♫ WWDC Keynote 2015: Went On Too Long - YouTube 2015-06-09 14-55-24

Jonathan Mann has been running his “Song a Day” YouTube channel for quite some time now, and without fail, you can navigate to his channel on the day of an Apple event and find yet another song-ified version of Apple’s announcements. He’s a self-proclaimed Apple fanboy, and he was the guy that wrote the song played during the opening to the Antennagate press conference.
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Video On Demand content comes to mobile Twitch app in latest update

Avatar for Stephen Hall May 20 2015 - 1:14 pm PT
2 Comments

EmailVODS

Twitch announced today that its mobile application now supports video on demand content, a feature that has been requested by fans of the service for quite some time. While the app was previously limited to live streaming, users can now access “highlights and past broadcasts” from all Twitch partners and what Twitch says is a growing list of broadcasters whose videos are HTTP live streaming (HLS)-enabled.
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Apple Watch propels LG to over 90% of the smartwatch display market

Avatar for Stephen Hall May 12 2015 - 8:30 am PT
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Apple Watch Sport

According to market research firm DisplaySearch, LG Display—the sole company currently making displays for the Apple Watch—brought in over $186 million during the first quarter of 2015, a number more than 90% of the overall market estimated to be worth a total of $240 million (via Business Korea). Other players in the market have tiny shares in comparison, with Samsung Display in second place with a 3.1% share, followed by Japan Display at 2.1%…


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Motorola slashes price of Moto 360 in wake of Apple Watch launch

Avatar for Stephen Hall Apr 14 2015 - 7:09 am PT
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UntitledMotorola’s Moto 360 is generally considered the flagship of the Android Wear devices, and over the last several days, many outlets across the web have deeply discounted the device—including Google itself. Normally priced at $250+, various cuts have seen the watch drop to as low as $165 from the official Google Store, and to $179 from third-party stores like Best Buy and Amazon.
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comScore: Apple still smartphone OEM leader with 41.7% market share

Avatar for Stephen Hall Apr 10 2015 - 1:29 pm PT
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Untitled

ComScore has released its latest report today, detailing the market share of the major smartphone OEMs and their platforms. Unsurprisingly, Apple is still leading in terms of handsets shipped with 41.7% of smartphones shipped, while Android is still leading the mobile operating system market with 52.8% of the market.
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Look how much sleeker Apple Watch is compared to Android Wear watches

Avatar for Stephen Hall Mar 12 2015 - 10:27 am PT
54 Comments

From 9to5Google: 

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The Apple Watch was once again shown off at Apple’s “Spring Forward” event on Monday, and many have been left wondering how the device compares to the Android Wear devices currently on the market. Technology has surely evolved a bit since the G Watch was announced, but how much have things changed?

height

There are several differences between the two platforms, but one that has now been brought to light is the device’s physical dimensions. Looking at Apple’s renders and images makes the device look big, but comparing its actual dimensions to Android Wear devices does the opposite. It’s tiny compared to most of what’s available today.


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Mega Poll: Are you buying an Apple Watch? If so, which one?

Avatar for Stephen Hall Mar 9 2015 - 4:24 pm PT
103 Comments

Apple today gave us the full rundown on the Apple Watch, revealing new details including all of the available variants and their prices. The Apple Watch Sport is going to start at $349 (as we already knew), but the mid-tier Apple Watch is going to start at $549, while the top-end Apple Watch Edition will be starting at $10,000 (and go all the way up to $17,000).

There are a total of 38 models listed in the Apple online store, and this is a pretty wide range of options to choose from considering they’re all functionally identical. But the question, knowing the prices and models available, is this: Are you going to get one? And if so, which of the 38 models are you leaning towards?


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VLC for iOS back on the App Store, OS X app updated alongside massive cross-platform release

Avatar for Stephen Hall Feb 27 2015 - 9:28 am PT
19 Comments

VideoLAN - Official page for VLC media player, the Open Source video framework! 2015-02-27 09-32-14

VideoLAN has today launched several updates to VLC across its apps on iOS, Android, OS X, and every other platform where the app is available, marking the first time that the company has pushed such a massive coordinated release and the re-release of the iOS app. The new versions (with the main app numbered 2.2.0), include several features across the various platforms, and VLC says it took more than a year of volunteer work to put them together…


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$199 Pebble ‘Time’ announced w/ color e-paper weeklong display, timeline interface, Kickstarter discounts

Avatar for Stephen Hall Feb 24 2015 - 7:00 am PT
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Pebble Time - Awesome Smartwatch, No Compromises by Pebble Technology — Kickstarter 2015-02-24 08-58-47

Update: Less than 30 minutes after launching its Kickstarter campaign, the Pebble Time is fully funded.

Pebble has this morning announced the next generation of its smartwatch, called Pebble Time. The device, as we reported last week, sports a color e-paper display, a thinner design, a microphone on board, and a completely revamped ‘timeline’ interface. Pebble Time is launching on Kickstarter with early bird pricing tiers at $159 and $179, but the device will retail for $199.


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