Jordan Kahn

California-based audio accessory maker NYNE is getting ready to show off its latest line of bluetooth speakers, docks, and home audio products at CES next week, but for the past month I’ve already had the chance to play with one of its latest creations- the NB-250 water-resistant Bluetooth speaker.

There is a ton of competition among Bluetooth speaker manufacturers, but a couple have been able to make their way to the top of the majority of recommendation lists, including our own. NYNE’s main competition in my eyes is Logitech and Jawbone, two well-known accessory makers with high-quality, sub $150 bluetooth speaker products on the market. After having hands on time with both the $140 Jambox from Jawbone and the $99 UE Boombox from Logitech, NYNE’s NB-250 does have a few things going for it. First is design…

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Update: If you’re curious about what those brave enough to line up for Lucky Bags received, Techinasia shares images of what appears to be some of the better $380 loot bags. The image above shows a MacBook Air, Beats by Dre headphones, and more, while below Twitter user @Kazuend shares the contents of his lucky bag valued at approximately $1100:

–Incase Range Messenger bag ($90)

–16GB Wi-Fi iPad 4 ($499)

–Beats Solo HD headphones ($200)

–Logitech Keyboard cover for iPad ($80)

–Carbon Audio Zooka wireless speaker ($100)

–Apple Lightning USB camera adapter ($25)

–Mophie Juice Pack ($80)

-Apple New Year’s t-shirt

Apple plans to launch its iBookstore in Japan possibly as soon as next month, according to a report from Nikkei.com relayed by The Digital Reader. Apple is reportedly already signing up local publishers and will join the likes of Google, Amazon, and Kobo, all of which already have eBook offerings available on the Japanese market:
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A new proof of concept Python tool recently uploaded to GitHub aims to use data collected through Apple’s location services for iOS devices to reveal where users have been and potentially even their home address. Researcher Hubert Seiwert has taken advantage of previous discoveries that iOS devices often send out ARP requests that disclose previously joined WiFi networks when connecting to access points. Apple responded to concerns of it collecting a database of access points to provide more accurate GPS and wifi location services back in 2011, but that data isn’t supposed to be accessible to just anyone.

Seiwert says sending a single MAC address to Apple returns 400 in return based on recently joined access points and from there iSniff “submits MAC addresses to Apple’s WiFi location service (masquerading as an iOS device) to obtain GPS coordinates for a given BSSID.”

The new Github tool dubbed “iSniff GPS” will allow users to capture SSID probes, ARPs and MDNS (Bonjour) packets to access the location data, highlighting a serious privacy concern for Apple’s location services. Seiwert explained:
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In September, we noted some statistics from the NYPD that claimed Apple-related crimes were increasing 10 times the 4 percent increase other crime in the city was experiencing. Today, New York City Michael Bloomberg is once again pointing to thefts of iPhones and iPads as the cause of the increase in the city’s annual crime index (via The New York Times):

Crime in New York City inched up this year, and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Friday fingered the culprit: too many iPhones and iPads were being swiped.

As of Monday, the Police Department recorded 3,484 more crimes than for the same period last year. A full breakdown of the year’s crime statistics was not immediately available, but city officials were quick to focus on the Apple figure. The increase in Apple product thefts: 3,890.

“If you just took away the jump in Apple, we’d be down for the year,” said Marc La Vorgna, the mayor’s press secretary.

[tweet https://twitter.com/jonveal/status/284257950065897472]

Several 9to5Mac readers, most of which are located in the United Kingdom, reported that movies and TV shows have oddly disappeared from the Apple TV menu. A thread on Apple’s Support forums confirmed many users are now experiencing the issue.

While the problem originally appeared to only affect users located in the U.K., more reports on Twitter, as highlighted in the selection of tweets below, from New York, France, Ireland, and Australia further confirmed missing icons. One user on Apple support forums claimed Apple informed him the icons would be restored soon and that the stores continue to work in the U.S. and Luxembourg:

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Brfr7–6ESc]

A new iPhone app released just before Christmas provides a new spin on the panoramic, 360-degree video app, of which there are many competitors in the App Store. Normally, shooting 360-degree video would require the help of a hardware peripheral, such as the GoPano micro, or some crafty manual handwork to maneuver the device 360 degrees. With the new Cycloramic app from Egos Ventures, the iPhone will self-spin around by vibrating at certain frequencies. This allows you to capture hands-free, 360-degree video without a tripod or stand. The video above speaks for itself.

The developers warned the iPhone must be placed upright on a flat, hard surface without a case or stand. They also noted the iPhone 4s “will only turn very slowly on perfectly level glass. This is really designed for iPhone 5.”

The Cycloramic app is available for 99 cents on the App Store now, and you’ll find some demo videos from the developer’s YouTube page below. There’s even one of Woz trying out the app in his kitchen:

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Here’s a bit of an odd rumor surrounding a Bluetooth smart watch from Apple, something that we’ve speculated in the past could make sense for a future, Bluetooth 4.0-enabled iPod nano. According to a report from iphone.tgbus.com (via major Chinese news portal 163.com) that cited supply chain sources, Apple is currently collaborating with Intel on the design of an Apple-branded Bluetooth smart watch.

As for what we can expect from Apple’s rumored smart watch, the report listed specs including a 1.5-inch OLED screen from RiTdisplay (about the current width of iPod nano). The machine translation also noted “a rhenium ocean of OGS encore indium tin oxide transparent conductive (ITO) glass.”

In August 2011, we made the case for Apple releasing a future, Bluetooth 4.0-enabled wearable iPod nano.

While comparing the product to Sony’s recently launched Bluetooth smart watch, today’s report seemed to indicate the product is slated for the first half of 2013 to make up for a lack of product announcements in the first two quarters of the year. While Intel has a good relationship with Apple, powering its current Mac lineup with Intel CPUs, we’re skeptical Apple would go with Intel for a low-powered, mobile product such as a smart watch.

Customer experience analytics firm Forsee is out today with its study of holiday customer satisfaction for the top 500 Internet retailers by revenue. Forsee has Apple at a four-year low in customer satisfaction in its survey of 24,000 customers during prime Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping seasons. Apple slipped three points to a satisfaction score of 80/100 this year, putting Apple at its lowest in four years and bumping it out of the top 5. Among the other largest declines is J.C. Penney, run by former Apple retail head Ron Johnson:

Big companies take big hits: JCPenney (down five points to 78), Apple (down three points to 80), and Dell (down three points to 77) all had large declines in customer satisfaction in 2012, revealing that even some of the highest-revenue companies on the list can struggle to meet the expectations of their customers.

For the study, Forsee focused on four areas of overall satisfaction including the perception of fairness in pricing, the appeal of merchandise, website functionality, and the quality of website content. Among recommendations made by Forsee to retailers for the focus areas, Apple’s online store is listed as needing to improve the “usefulness, convenience and variety of online features available to site visitors.”

Other than that, Forsee does not go into specifics about the reason behind Apple’s decline in this year’s study. Apple has of course made some major changes in its retail team this year, firing its retail chief John Browett following some controversial decisions during his short-lived stay as senior vice president of retail.

Apple has also run into some big issues with supplies of iPhone 5, iPad mini, and iMacs after the introductions of the products this year, which could have affected customers’ view of the retail experience.

Amazon remained the standard for customer satisfaction in Forsee’s study, sitting atop the list with a score of 88/100:

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The Marion Police Department in Virginia have decided to encourage residents to report crime by releasing a new app called “iWatch Marion“. The app is available for free on the App Store and provides citizens with an easy way to report potential crimes by uploading tips, photos, and video. Content uploaded by users is forwarded directly to the police department closest to the location the tip was sent from:

Because iWatch Marion uses global positioning technology, the system intelligently forwards information to the Howard County Police Department based on where the handheld device is physically located at any given moment.

The app will also allow users to receive alerts for missing children, crime, weather, and more. I’m not sure if major cities will jump on the idea of encouraging citizens to get involved in crimes in progress, but it’s something that more and more smaller towns are starting to take advantage of.
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Just Released:

MapChoice | $0.99: A new app just released on the App Store provides you with access to both Apple’s new Maps and Google Maps in a single app. Your position will transfer from one map to the other, and it also includes StreetView and Foursquare integration.

MapChoice gives you a choice between old and new maps. You can also view Street View and search using FourSquare.

Updated:

Instagram version 3.4.0 | FREE: Instagram gets updated today with support for 25 languages, a new “Mayfair” filter, Facebook iOS 6 integration, and more.

– Instagram is now available in 25 languages!
– New filter: Mayfair
– Share photos from any album
– Facebook iOS 6 integration
– Improved performance and bug fixes

The Wall Street Journal version 5.0 | FREE: The Wall Street Journal just updated its iOS app, moving content on iPhone and iPad to Apple’s Newsstand and providing users with automatically updated issues each morning. WSJ will now offer in-app subscriptions, billing users directly to their iTunes accounts monthly. The updated app also includes Alerts for breaking news.

Newsstand & Alerts
– WSJ is now in Newsstand! Get new issues automatically delivered to your device overnight. To use Newsstand, tap ‘Allow’ when prompted.
– Note: WSJ App icon will now appear in the Newsstand Folder.
– Breaking News Alerts from WSJ. To get alerts, tap ‘Allow’ when prompted.
In-App Subscriptions
– Purchase a monthly subscription to WSJ through your iTunes account. With a digital subscription you get access to iPad, iPhone, WSJ.com and more.

StubHub version 4.1.0 | FREE: The StubHub iOS app gets updated with more interactive seat maps, the ability to see your view before buying tickets, iPhone 5 support, and more:

• Interactive seat maps for certain football and basketball games: filter ticket listings by section
• View from section: see the view from your section before you buy (for many events)
• iPhone 5 support
• Improved sharing (Twitter, Facebook, and text messaging)
• Ability to add events to your calendar
• User interface enhancements

MapQuest version 3.3 | FREE:

• You can now send maps and routes from mapquest.com to your phone and open them in the MapQuest App

Tentacles: Enter the Dolphin | $0.99: Microsoft’s previously Windows Phone-only title gets iPhone 5 support and new features:
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Kantar Worldpanel ComTech is out with its latest set of sales data today (via BusinessInsider). It claimed the iPhone now has 53 percent of the United States smartphone market. That’s up from 37 percent a year ago and sees Apple passing the 50 percent mark for the first time. The 12-week period ending Nov. 25 included in the report also put Android at 42 percent, which is a relatively significant drop from the 53 percent of the market it had a year ago during the same period. However, Android was still able to maintain the highest share in Europe up 10 percentage points to 61 percent:

The latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows Apple has achieved its highest ever share in the US (53.3%) in the latest 12 weeks*, with the iPhone 5 helping to boost sales. In Europe, however, Android retains the highest share with 61% of the market, up from 51.8% a year ago.

Kantar’s Dominic Sunnebo said he expected Apple to gain even more marketshare in the weeks to come: “Apple has reached a major milestone in the US by passing the 50% share mark for the first time, with further gains expected to be made during December.” As for Apple’s position behind Samsung as the top smartphone OEM in Europe, Kantar has Samsung at 44.3-percent across five of the biggest markets. Apple sits in second at 25.3-percent:
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Analytics firm Distimo is out today with the full results of its year-end 2012 app analytics report (via Fortune). While Apple is still the clear winner in terms of revenue, Google Play showed significant growth in the last four months. Its daily revenue grew 43 percent in 20 major markets. Apple’s growth was smaller, increasing daily revenue by 21 percent, but Distimo’s numbers show Google still has a long way to go:

On a typical day in November 2012, the revenues in the Apple App Store exceeded $15M USD, while in Google Play the revenues are just below $3.5M USD in 20 of the largest countries in both app stores… Even though the growth in revenues in Google Play in the last four months is close to that of the Apple App Store in 2012, the growth in daily revenues in the Apple App Store was higher than the total daily revenues in Google Play when comparing absolute daily revenue values.

As for the most popular apps of 2012, Distimo said Asian publisher Naver was able to beat Draw Something’s record of 1 million users in nine day. Its app, Line Pop, got 1.75 million downloads in the first 72 hours. That’s something that took Facebook nine months to accomplish. The app also brought over 1 million in revenue for the developer in 12 days.

To round out the year in review, Distmo breaks down revenue by category in the charts below: the top 10 most grossing cross-store publishers, the top 10 publishers and apps by downloads on the App Store, and the top five highest growing countries by revenue. There aren’t many surprises:
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