Author

Jordan Kahn

Dir. Partnerships

9to5Mac / 9to5Google / 9to5Toys / Electrek.co / DroneDJ / SpaceExplored

Jordan manages the internal Partner Program for sponsorships and partnerships across the 9to5 network’s media brands including 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, Electrek.co, SpaceExplored and DroneDJ.com.

Jordan also writes about all things Apple as a Senior Editor of 9to5Mac. He covers Google for 9to5Google.com, the best gadgets and deals on 9to5Toys.com, and EV and solar news on Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series and makes music sometimes.

Contact Jordan with partnership inquiries and long-winded complaints:

Connect with Jordan Kahn

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Twitter teams up with Comcast/NBC for ‘See It’ feature to watch and record TV shows

Jordan Kahn Oct 9 2013 - 8:25 am PT

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Screen Shot 2013-10-09 at 11.23.16 AM

Twitter is teaming up with Comcast to integrate a new feature called “See It” that will allow Comcast Xfinity subscribers to watch shows and schedule DVR recordings directly from Twitter. The companies announced the partnership today and announced that the new “See It” feature will begin appearing for users on Twitter in next month.

Today, @Comcast and @NBCUniversal are announcing a partnership with Twitter that lets users tune in to a TV show directly from a Tweet. Comcast will give Xfinity TV customers the ability to do several things such as change the channel, set the DVR and play a show On Demand, directly from an expanded Tweet. Called See It, the feature will debut with NBCUniversal offerings including The Voice and Sunday Night Football.

While only Xfinity subscribers will be able to click the See It button embedded in tweets to schedule DVR recordings and view the content on their set-top box, other users can be directed to the NBC website or app. The “See It” technology, which was developed by Comcast, is first rolling out on Twitter with NBC programming, but Comcast is working with others to make See It an industry-standard technology:

See It is designed to integrate with other video distribution partners, television networks and websites. We look forward to working with Comcast to extend this offering to other partners who will connect more great content to Twitter. Ultimately, we want to make watching TV along with Twitter even more fun. We’re looking forward to sharing more details about this experience in the weeks to come. You can find more information about See It here.

Apple TD-LTE job listing serves as additional confirmation for China Mobile iPhone

Jordan Kahn Oct 9 2013 - 7:18 am PT

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China Mobile cell tower

While a possible deal with China Mobile, one of the world’s largest telecoms, was rumored for quite sometime leading up to launch of the new iPhones, the company said in August that it was still working out “commercial and technical issues” with Apple. Today, Bloomberg points us to an Apple job listing in China that provides some evidence that the company is indeed preparing to launch the iPhone on the carrier’s network:

The manager, who will be based in Beijing, will “support and drive the carrier approval of mobile phones,” Apple said in an advertisement on its China website. The position seeks experience with TD-SCDMA, China Mobile’s own third-generation standard that isn’t used by other carriers.

On top of TD-SCDMA, the job listing is also seeking an engineer with experience in TD-LTE, which is the LTE standard that China Mobile has quickly been rolling out. Back in August the often reliable KGI analyst Mingchi Kuo claimed that Apple was ramping up TD-LTE supported iPhone 5c production and estimated that the iPhone 5s and 5c on China Mobile could account for penetration of 25% and 35% of total shipments for the two devices. Currently the carrier has approximately 756 million subscribers, around 63% of the 1.2 billion wireless subscribers in China.
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Apps

Google Cloud Platform simplifies server-side development for iOS w/ ‘Mobile Backend Starter’

Jordan Kahn Oct 9 2013 - 6:56 am PT

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Google announced today on its Cloud Platform blog that it is rolling out its Google App Engine application called Mobile Backend Starter that first debuted for Android developers back in June. Google says the application helps to simplify the server-side development process for developers adding cloud services through Google Cloud Platform and it does so by providing Mobile Backend and Objective-C client libraries for everything from storing data in the cloud to sending device-to-device push notifications and authenticating Google accounts. In other words, it’s a ready-to-deploy, general purpose cloud backend along with Android and iOS clients with client-side framework classes. This allows devs to implement a number of cloud services into their apps without ever having to worry about coding those features themselves.

Optional server-side coding: Control your cloud service using Android and iOS client libraries.
Cloud Datastore: Store millions of objects in the cloud and manage them from your app.
Push Notifications: Send and broadcast objects as messages via Apple Push Notifications and Google Cloud Messaging.
Event Driven Programming: Create real-time interactive user experiences using Continuous Queries.
User authentication Authenticate users using Google Accounts.
Per-object access: Prevent users from accessing private data using our authentication model.
Built to scale: Mobile backend runs on App Engine infrastructure to scale to millions of users within hours (App Engine pricing applies).

Google is making the source code for the app available on Github for developers to freely play with, and that will include the source code for both the backend and iOS and Android clients.

Google walked through the process of getting Mobile Backend Starter setup on an iPhone or iPad:

Getting Started

You can try out the Mobile Backend Starter on an iPhone or iPad in just a few steps (further details here):

1. Provision your backend on App Engine

2. Download the iOS client zip file (or clone from GitHub repository)

3. Run the sample on a physical device (note: the sample does not run on the iOS simulator)

You can learn more about Mobile Backend Starter for iOS here.

This is the Jony Ive-designed aluminum Leica M camera for upcoming RED auction (Gallery)

Jordan Kahn Oct 8 2013 - 9:03 am PT

8 Comments

Last month we reported that Apple’s Senior Vice President of Design Jony Ive had teamed up with designer & friend Marc Newson to create one of a kind pieces for Bono’s (Product) RED charity auction scheduled for November 23 at Sotheby’s New York. Those pieces included one-of-a-kind 18k sold rose gold Apple EarPods, and Steinway & Sons piano, and other unique items designed by the pair. Today we get a look at another beautifully designed product set to go up for auction next month.

In the gallery below we get a look at the gorgeous aluminum Leica M for (RED) designed by Ive and Newson that features “a laser machined aluminum body and an anodized aluminum outer shell.” The one of a kind camera took 85 days to create with the team going through 561 models and nearly 1000 prototype parts:
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Samsung fails to obtain Presidential veto from Obama for Apple/ITC import ban case

Jordan Kahn Oct 8 2013 - 8:08 am PT

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Samsung-Gavel

With a U.S. import ban previously issued by the ITC set to lock out certain Samsung devices at midnight last night, Bloomberg reports that the company has failed to obtain a veto from President Barack Obama:

The Korean company had argued that the ban should be overturned on public policy grounds, especially since a similar order it won against Apple was vetoed by the administration in August. Samsung can now seek a delay in the ban from a U.S. appeals court that will consider the entire case on legal grounds.

“After carefully weighing policy considerations, including the impact on consumers and competition, advice from agencies, and information from interested parties, I have decided to allow” the import ban to proceed, Obama’s designee, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, said in a statement today.

In August, the US International Trade Commission ruled in favor of Apple and issued a sales ban on certain infringing Samsung devices in a long-running case that stemmed from a countersuit originally filed by Apple back in 2011. The news came shortly after the Obama administration’s decision to veto an ITC import ban on certain iPhone and iPad models that Samsung won in a separate case. Like Apple, Samsung was going to attempt to get a veto on the decision by the US President, the only person with the power to overturn ITC import bans.
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Yahoo redesigns Mail on iOS w/ conversations, disposable email addresses & a free 1TB

Jordan Kahn Oct 8 2013 - 7:24 am PT

6 Comments

Yahoo Mail is officially 16 years old today and to celebrate the company announced on its blog that it is rolling out an entirely new Mail experience on iOS as well as on the desktop and Android. A popular feature of many other mail clients, Yahoo Mail now includes the ability to view email threads as conversations:

We’re introducing “conversations” for those who prefer to view emails grouped in threads. At the end of the day, being able to see an entire conversation can save you quite a bit of time. Context is king.

Perhaps the most notable addition, however, is the features previously only available to Mail Plus customers. That includes a free 1TB of storage for all users:
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Camera+ iOS app adds full-resolution burst-mode & new iOS 7 filter pack

Jordan Kahn Oct 7 2013 - 1:56 pm PT

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The popular Camera+ iOS app from developer taptaptap gets an update today, jumping from version 4.0.2 to Version 4.2 (just for the fun of it according to the release notes below), and adds a few notable new features.

On top of fixing a bug that crashed the app when using burst-mode, the update includes support for full-resolution bust-mode photos. That includes the iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, and the “unapologetically poorly-selling iPhone 5c,” according to taptaptap.

The app also adds a new effects pack that includes Apple’s new iOS 7 filters:

So we added a new effects pack that includes all the filters that Apple’s standard Camera and Photo apps include (for users on iOS 7). Two hours of coding (and eight trivial Core Image filters later), the Standard Effects Pack was born.

The updated Camera+ is available on the App Store now.

What’s New in Version 4.2

So the previous version of Camera+ had a little bug where burst-mode shooting would crash. We fixed that.

We almost stopped there and just called it version 4.0.3, but then figured that it’d be the perfect time to boost burst-mode snaps to full-resolution on devices that could handle it (like the iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, and the unapologetically poorly-selling iPhone 5c).

That was enough to justify calling it version 4.1. And then we thought about jumping on the bandwagon where we put Camera+ out as a whole new app and let existing customers pay for it all over again. And of course there’d be the ensuing sh__storm where those customers felt cheated and we’d have to backpedal and reverse that shortsighted decision.

So it was Clear that that would’ve been a knuckleheaded move so instead, we decided to treat our lovely customers fairly and make Camera+ 4.1 a free update as we’ve always done. But then we felt like it was all give and no take… so to make us feel better about giving-in too easily, we chose to call it version 4.2. That’ll teach you to mess with us.

Then we felt bad about jumping ahead two version numbers and giving you little for your troubles. So we added a new effects pack that includes all the filters that Apple’s standard Camera and Photo apps include (for users on iOS 7). Two hours of coding (and eight trivial Core Image filters later), the Standard Effects Pack was born.

Beats Music streaming service launching on iOS in the next few months

Jordan Kahn Oct 7 2013 - 9:36 am PT

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600_1341332953_dre_beats After a bit of restructuring and some acquisitions to help accelerate development of its Beats Music streaming service, an executive at the company confirmed to TNW today that the service will officially launch on iOS, as well as on the web and Android, in the next few months.

President and COO Luke Wood also shared some details on how the service will work compared with iTunes Radio and other competitive streaming services. Wood says the service will “focus really heavily on playlists,” but also utilize a “a perfect harmony between the algorithm and human curation”:

Wood emphasized that Beats Music would be different and based around “a very specific idea”. The service is focused on curation, rather than forcing users to search blindly for new tracks or artists that they might like.

“We’re talking about real depth of personalization and knowing who I am, who you are, what we’re listening to, what we like, what we’ve listened to before and then offering up music that is highly relevant to our taste profile,” he added… “You need to start with a great editorial team that has a point of view, but we want to have a situation where we can really scale to the depth of your appetite,” he said. “If you really love music, we want something that can go deep with you for a really long time. And that requires a perfect harmony between the algorithm and human curation. Between the man and the machine.”

The mix of curated playlists and algorithm doesn’t sound unlike Apple’s own iTunes Radio streaming service launched in the US last month alongside iOS 7. Apple announced 11 million unique listeners in just a few days following the service’s launch, and will likely soon expand into other markets.

Beats Music, like iTunes Radio, will first launch in the US.

Will the Mac go touch? Unlikely, but here’s what a 32″ 4K IGZO Touch Mac looks like

Jordan Kahn Oct 7 2013 - 9:33 am PT

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OS-X-Sharp-4k-LCD-monitor

It looks like Sharp is planning full support for OS X in its upcoming 32-inch 4K IGZO touchscreen LCD LED monitor (PN-K322B) expected to launch in the US this fall. Sharp previously announced the 36 mm thin 4K panel with pen support in July, but Macotakara.jp snapped the photo above of Sharp demoing the display running OS X from a connected MacBook at the Ceatec Japan 2013 show over the weekend.

From the translated report, it sounds like Sharp plans compatible OS X drivers as a download in 1-2 months.

Apart from touch support, the monitor is much the same as the 32-inch 4K IGZO display that we were quite impressed with when Sharp first showed them off at CES in January.

You can get a better look at the display from earlier this year in the video below:

NFL Mobile iOS app adds access to live content from NFL.com

Jordan Kahn Oct 4 2013 - 2:56 pm PT

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The official NFL Mobile app has been updated today to version 8.6 and with it comes the ability to access live content from the NFL.com/Live website. The feature, which is only available to premium subscribers, will provide the live content previously only streamed on the NFL website in addition to the LIVE NFL games on Thursday, Sunday and Monday nights for both preseason and regular season games offered as Premium features.

Premium features of the app are currently only available to Verizon customers and also offer live streams of NFL RedZone on Sunday afternoons and NFL Network 24/7. Unfortunately, it looks like the app still doesn’t include support for AirPlay.

@9to5mac @JordanKahn still no airplay support? Ah well

— Charles Raymond (@Whathechuck0819) October 4, 2013

What’s New in Version 8.6

– Added Fantasy Lineup Reminder alert
– Access to NFL.com/Live content for premium subscribers
– Fixed Fantasy login retention bug
– Performance enhancements and general bug fixes

AAPL Company

Apple plans to grow in India with 100 ‘standalone’ stores, store-in-store locations in small cities

Jordan Kahn Oct 4 2013 - 11:08 am PT

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Apple-India-Monthly-Plans

The Economic Times reports that Apple executives in India recently hosted executives from top retailers in the country and laid out plans to open store-in-store locations and 100 standalone stores in smaller Indian markets:
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Sony details new PlayStation app for iOS launching alongside PS4

Jordan Kahn Oct 4 2013 - 7:57 am PT

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While the company gave attendees of the Tokyo Game Show a sneak peek of its new PlayStation app coming to iOS devices alongside the release of the PlayStation 4 later this year, Sony has now provided more details on its blog with some high quality screenshots of the app (of the Android version, at least).

As noted by President of Sony’s Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida, the app will let users send invites to multiplayer games, purchase and start downloading games PS4 games from the PlayStation network, as well as send voice and text messages to users on PS4:

“It’s an application that anyone can download for free on iOS and Android devices,” he explained…“There are a variety of things you can do with it. You can connect to your PlayStation profile, and send messages – even voice messages – to friends between your smartphone and PS4…“A friend on PS4 can also send out an invitation for a multiplayer game, which you can then check on the App, and you can also purchase PS4 games from PlayStation Store. Your game will immediately start downloading while you’re away.”

PlayStation-app-PS4-02 Sony’s blog post also notes that users will be able to “compare trophies, view friends’ activity (including recorded or live-streamed gameplay on PS4) and access all the latest PlayStation Blog news.”

Perhaps the most notable feature of the upcoming PlayStation app, however, is the ability for developers to build in a second-screen experience for PS4 games:

PlayStation App will also offer ‘second screen’ gameplay features on enabled titles. For example, during the TGS presentation Yoshida-san showed how the app interacts with THE PLAYROOM – he drew a picture of Knack on his smartphone’s touch screen and then pushed it into the PS4 game on his TV, allowing the game’s bot characters to play with the item he’d created.“But smaller developers can use PlayStation App to connect to PS4 and load an application, like drawing software for example, so that you don’t have to download and install a specific app on your smartphone. It’s open to all PS4 developers to use.”

The app is expected to launch for both iOS and Android alongside the launch of the PS4 in November.

Adobe says almost 3M customers’ information compromised in sophisticated attack

Jordan Kahn Oct 3 2013 - 2:27 pm PT

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adobe-creative-cloud

Adobe’s Chief Security Officer Brad Arkin announced today on the company’s blog that “sophisticated attacks” on its network have been discovered and that some customer information was compromised in the process:

Cyber attacks are one of the unfortunate realities of doing business today. Given the profile and widespread use of many of our products, Adobe has attracted increasing attention from cyber attackers. Very recently, Adobe’s security team discovered sophisticated attacks on our network, involving the illegal access of customer information as well as source code for numerous Adobe products. We believe these attacks may be related.

Arkin says Adobe’s ongoing investigation has found that the attackers have accessed Adobe IDs and encrypted passwords for approximately 2.9 million customers, but that it does “not believe the attackers removed decrypted credit or debit card numbers.” They were, however, able to get their hands on names, encrypted credit or debit card numbers, expiration dates, and customer order information. The company is also investigating an attack that accessed source code for several Adobe products illegally.

Adobe is of course working with law enforcement and continuing its investigation, but in the meantime it announced it will be contacting customers, banks, law enforcement, and automatically reseting customer passwords:
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AAPL Company

iPhone 5s sensors providing inaccurate readings for some

Jordan Kahn Oct 3 2013 - 1:44 pm PT

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There are always a few teething problems, usually limited to a relatively small number of devices, when a product first launches. Past iPhone releases have been no exception, and for Apple’s latest iPhone launch it appears some users are experiencing issues related to the iPhone 5s’s sensors. We’ve been receiving several complaints from iPhone users about inaccurate readings from the gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, and other sensor-based features for the device, and today Gizmodo found similar issues with a 5s unit that it tested:

We’ve confirmed the new iPhone’s failings on our own. It’s not just off. It’s embarrassing… We tested two iPhone 5S units running the latest version of iOS 7 against the iPhone 5, as well as against real-world measuring tools to find out if the new iPhone’s sensors are off, and if they are, by how much. In most cases, we used the iPhone’s built-in iOS 7 apps for measurements, working under the assumption that Apple would properly calibrate its hardware to work with the software of its own design. We were wrong.

Gizmodo tested the iPhone’s level, gyroscope, compass, and accelerometer and found that the 5s is off compared to the same tests on an iPhone 5 and 4S. For example, it discovered its 5s unit’s level was reading 2-3 degrees off the 5 and 4S, which also proved to be troublesome for games that rely on the gyroscope, like driving games, for motion controls:
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Instagram rolling out photo & video ads in the U.S. within a couple of months

Jordan Kahn Oct 3 2013 - 1:22 pm PT

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While it previously announced plans to bring advertising to its mobile app sometime this year, Instagram officially announced today that it will be rolling out both photo and video ads from select brands in the coming months. The company said that the ads will begin showing up for users in the US initially and feature “a small number of beautiful, high-quality photos and videos from a handful of brands that are already great members of the Instagram community.”

Our aim is to make any advertisements you see feel as natural to Instagram as the photos and videos many of you already enjoy from your favorite brands. After all, our team doesn’t just build Instagram, we use it each and every day. We want these ads to be enjoyable and creative in much the same way you see engaging, high-quality ads when you flip through your favorite magazine.

Instagram noted in its announcement that it will allow users to hide ads that they don’t like and also provide feedback to help improve the experience over time.

Last month we reported that Facebook was beginning to test silent, auto-playing video ads in the News Feed, and since Instagram already auto-plays videos, it’s likely its ads will be similar to those being tested with a limited number of users on Facebook:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iCH9ReoH_I

Google Play Music ‘All Access’ for iOS reportedly landing this month following internal beta

Jordan Kahn Oct 3 2013 - 8:57 am PT

8 Comments

Since first announcing its Google Play Music ‘All Access’ streaming service earlier this year on Android, Google has been delaying the release of an official Google Play Music app for iOS for unknown reasons. Android chief Sundar Pichai originally said the app would be out in “the next few weeks” in May, but four months later we’ve yet to get an iOS app or access to the $9.99 month streaming service on iOS. Today, Engadget reports that Google is continuing to test the app internally and will launch it later this month:

Sources aware of Google’s plans have let slip to Engadget that not only is the company currently testing a native Google Music iOS app internally, but that it’ll launch later this month. We’re told that while employees have been invited to test the app, Google still needs to fix a few bugs before it’s ready for release… The company had previously closed the door on iOS users because Flash was needed to enforce DRM restrictions set by music labels. Now, Google appears to have overcome that issue and is nearly ready to launch.

Until the official app from Google launches, popular third-party clients like the gMusic app have been updated to support the “All Access” streaming service.
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Sync.ME adds ‘Widgets’ to Apple’s iOS Contacts app

Jordan Kahn Oct 3 2013 - 7:50 am PT

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Sync-me-widgets

Sync.ME, a third-party contacts app for iOS with over 8 million downloads, just rolled out an interesting feature that brings new functionality to Apple’s own Contacts app on iOS. As pictured above, the latest version of the Sync.ME app now adds a “Widgets” link within Apple’s Contacts app that provides quick access to social network profiles for contacts and a number of other handy functions for quickly sharing content.

They are called ‘Widgets’, but in reality they are essentially quick links to profiles on social networks and other functions of the Sync.ME app. The interesting aspect is the fact that you’ll no longer have to launch the Sync.ME app and can now access all of the “Widgets” functionality from directly within the native iOS Contacts app.

On top of links to the contact’s Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn profiles, you’ll also find the ability to place and record calls over VoIP, quickly capture a business card using your camera, jot down a note, or add a reminder to your calendar for a specific contact. Other widgets will allow you to quickly share your location or a photo over iMessage or SMS, as well as post customized greeting cards directly to a contact’s timeline.

To accomplish this, the app appears to use the AddressBook API’s in a novel way that allows the app to automatically add a URL into a custom field for contact cards. That URL opens the “Widgets” section for any particular contact within Sync.ME, but the entire experience feels rather seamless. Here’s how to set it up:
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Sega’s ‘The Cave’ adventure game from Monkey Island creator now available on iOS

Jordan Kahn Oct 3 2013 - 6:43 am PT

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Originally released for consoles, PC, and Mac in January, Sega today released ‘The Cave’ for iOS, a unique platformer/puzzle adventure from the creator of the popular Monkey Island franchise. It also comes to us with help from Tim Schafer’s studio Double Fine Productions– the development team behind Brütal Legend, Psychonauts, etc– so there’s definitely good reason to have high hopes for the title.

The game has players assemble a team of three characters with unique skills in order to solve various underground puzzles that pop up while exploring The Cave:

Assemble your team of three from seven unlikely adventurers, each with their own unique personalities and stories, then descend into the mysterious depths to explore locations including a subterranean amusement park and a medieval castle, not to mention a fully armed and ready-to-launch nuclear tipped ICBM. The Cave awaits.

The Cave is available now on iPad and iPhone for $4.99 on the App Store.

Concept imagines iPad mini 2 in blue and gold [Gallery]

Jordan Kahn Oct 2 2013 - 1:12 pm PT

7 Comments

We’ve already seen some sketchy leaks claiming to show photos of gold and space gray iPads that match the new colors unveiled with the iPhone 5s, and today designer Martin Hajek posted his latest concept showing what a champagne gold and blue iPad mini might look like.

While there hasn’t been any reliable reports of specific colors for the new iPads, back in July The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple has been “contemplating multiple color back covers” for the iPad mini.

If the latest reports are to be believed, Apple is readying two new iPad models that could launch as early as this month. A new full-sized “iPad 5” is rumored to include a slimmer, iPad mini-like design that we first posted images of back in January, and rumor has it Apple’s refreshed second gen iPad mini will get a Retina display and improved internals. The most recent report claimed the new iPads will include upgraded 8 megapixel rear cameras with larger apertures.

Report claims iPad 5 & Retina iPad mini will sport 8MP rear cameras w/ larger aperture

Jordan Kahn Oct 2 2013 - 10:59 am PT

9 Comments

iPad-camera

With Apple’s rumored next-generation iPads expected to be launching as early as this month, often reliable KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is sharing some new details on the expected iPad 5 and second generation iPad mini. Kuo is still expecting both products to launch later this year sometime in 4Q13, but in his latest report claims that Apple is prepping a camera upgrade for the new iPads that would include a bump up from the current 5 megapixel iSight camera to 8 megapixels along with other improvements:

Apple could upgrade the camera as a selling point for the new iPad in a bid to increase competitiveness.

We expect the upgrade will include 8MP rear camera, up from 5MP, and larger aperture. Lens module ASP will rise 10-20% on this optics spec upgrade.

As a reminder, the new iPhone 5s includes a new five-element lens designed by Apple that also includes a larger a F2.2 aperture with an 8 megapixel sensor. The device also brings a sensor with a 15 percent larger active area, auto stabilization, and bigger 1.5 micron pixels.

That would indeed be a nice camera to put on iPads.
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Report finds almost all Android OEMs, not just Samsung, cheat on benchmarks

Jordan Kahn Oct 2 2013 - 10:00 am PT

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Android-Benchmarks-cheaters

When Apple SVP Phil Schiller pointed us to a story earlier this week that Samsung was artificially inflating benchmark scores for its new Galaxy Note 3, many were quick to point out it wasn’t the first time Samsung had been caught engaged in such a practice. The same issue was discovered by AnandTech for the Galaxy S4 back in July, and today the site has an extensive report showing that almost every Android smartphone manufacturer is shipping devices that do the same.

As pictured in the chart above, that includes the HTC One, HTC One mini, LG G2, Galaxy Tab 10.1, and many others. In fact, the only companies that appear to not be using the method is Apple and Motorola, as well as Google with its Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 devices:

We started piecing this data together back in July, and even had conversations with both silicon vendors and OEMs about getting it to stop. With the exception of Apple and Motorola, literally every single OEM we’ve worked with ships (or has shipped) at least one device that runs this silly CPU optimization. It’s possible that older Motorola devices might’ve done the same thing, but none of the newer devices we have on hand exhibited the behavior. It’s a systemic problem that seems to have surfaced over the last two years, and one that extends far beyond Samsung… None of the Nexus do, which is understandable since the optimization isn’t a part of AOSP. This also helps explain why the Nexus 4 performed so slowly when we reviewed it – this mess was going on back then and Google didn’t partake.

As noted in the report, the gains that OEMs are experiencing from the inflated scores are probably not worth the press they’ve been receiving. AnandTech points out that most of the inflated scores provide under a 10% increase in GPU and CPU performance benchmarks:

The hilarious part of all of this is we’re still talking about small gains in performance. The impact on our CPU tests is 0 – 5%, and somewhere south of 10% on our GPU benchmarks as far as we can tell. I can’t stress enough that it would be far less painful for the OEMs to just stop this nonsense and instead demand better performance/power efficiency from their silicon vendors.

You can check out the full report here, which offers in-depth analysis on the optimizations it found for several devices across various benchmark tests.

iCloud Mail push notifications return in Germany as injunction gets lifted in Apple/Motorola dispute

Jordan Kahn Oct 2 2013 - 6:50 am PT

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icloud

Since more than a year ago, Germans have not had access to push notifications for iCloud Mail services following a dispute between Apple and Motorola in the country that forced Apple to disable the feature. Now, as noted by German Apple blog iPhone-ticker.de, Apple has now confirmed that push notifications services have been switched back on in the country. The news comes following Apple’s success in getting the original injunction lifted after posting $132 million bond, according to FossPatents:

After the Federal Patent Court’s preliminary ruling, Apple filed with the Karlsruhe-based appeals court a motion to stay enforcement against Google’s will. In early September, the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court granted it. I published my own (obviously unofficial) English translation of the order. The order revealed that Apple had to post a 100 million euro ($132 million) bond to get the injunction actually lifted. The paperwork for all of this apparently took a few weeks and presumably Apple’s technical staff conducted some internal tests before finally reactivating the push notification feature for end users — which it did today.

Here’s a good look at the first MFi iPhone game controller from Logitech

Jordan Kahn Oct 1 2013 - 12:26 pm PT

11 Comments

After teasing its first iOS controller that would work with Apple’s new MFi standard for game controllers, today we get what appears to be an official press shot of Logitech’s upcoming gamepad for iPhone that first leaked at WWDC earlier this year (via @evleaks). We noticed that Logitech left space for the rear camera, which is nice for augmented reality apps and other games that utilize the iPhone’s camera.

Apple will offer 2 types of game controllers through its MFi program and two configurations all with pressure sensitive buttons and consistent layouts. The first type of controller is the form-fitting controller (much like Logitech’s above), which allows your iOS device to be docked right into the controller. The second will be a standalone controller that connects over Bluetooth. Above we’re looking at Apple’s standard layout, but there will also be an Extended layout for MFi controllers that adds dual thumbsticks and an extra set of shoulder buttons.

Others rumored to be creating new MFi iOS game controllers include ClamCase and Moga.
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US President Obama compares Healthcare.gov’s ‘glitches’ to an Apple product launch

Jordan Kahn Oct 1 2013 - 10:53 am PT

19 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmRA_tML2tE&start=675]

During President Obama’s live remarks addressing the government shutdown and Obamacare site outages today, the U.S President compared the issues with healthcare.gov to an Apple product launch (via WashingtonPost):

Now, like every new law, every new product roll-out, there are going to be some glitches in the sign-up process along the way that we will fix. I’ve been saying this from the start. For example, we found out that there have been times this morning where the site’s been running more slowly than it normally will.

And we’re going to be speeding things up in the next few hours to handle all of this demand that exceeds anything that we had expected. Consider that just a couple of weeks ago, Apple rolled out a new mobile operating system, and within days, they found a glitch, so they fixed it. I don’t remember anybody suggesting Apple should stop selling iPhones or iPads or threatening to shut down the company if they didn’t. That’s not how we do things in America. We don’t actively root for failure. We get to work, we make things happen, we make them better, we keep going.

He is of course referring to the release of iOS 7.0.2 last week, which brought fixes for a lock screen passcode bypass flaw and other small issues.

Obama is a confirmed iPad user and is frequently seen carrying around the device so perhaps he’s speaking from some 1st hand experience…
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