Schiller and Fadell on the left
Only a few days after “father of the iPod” Tony Fadell agreed to sell thermostat and smoke detector maker Nest to Google for north of three billion dollars, Apple senior vice president (and former Fadell colleague) Phil Schiller has unfollowed the Nest CEO and the Nest company on Twitter.
Here’s Schiller’s following list from a recent cache:
TrendForce is predicting that total worldwide smartphone sales will fall by around five percent in the first quarter of this year. If so, this will be the first fall in two years.
It doesn’t mean demand for smartphones is actually dropping, but rather than the upward trend has slowed to the point that the seasonal effect – people buying smartphones as holiday gifts – is now bigger than the overall growth rate.
Apple and Samsung of course maintain their lead, though Sony saw significant growth in its home territory of Japan, and LG’s share grew 57 percent year-on-year to a 4.2 percent market share thanks largely to sales of the Nexus handsets it makes for Google.
Back in November, the CyanogenMod team announced an interesting new project that allowed users to flash the team’s custom Android ROM in just a few clicks. The app came with a catch, though. It was only available on Windows machines, leaving Mac users in the dark. Today, however, the CyanogenMod team has released its Installer application on Mac OS X.
CyanogenMod installer supports a long-list of devices, ranging from the HTC One and Galaxy S4 to the Nexus S and Galaxy S II. The process is very simple. First, simply join the CyanogenMod Installer for Mac beta group, download the actual app from Google+, connect a compatible Android device, and the Installer will handle most everything else. It’s important to note that the Installer will wipe all the data from your device, so be sure to back it up before beginning the process.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vhuhOPCu60]
Showing off a technology that accomplishments face and eye tracking on a mobile device through software, Umoove is an app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch you should check out.
The Umoove Experience release is intended to serve as the catalyst that will help launch a new sort of human-machine interaction to mainstream audiences. In the coming months, Umoove, along with various partners, will be releasing more face and eye interaction technology across various verticals in the fields of advertising, gaming, medical, security and more.
Umoove has stated that their key objective as a company is to enhance the mobile user experience by adding a new layer of interaction on top of touch. “You can take an existing application and, suddenly, it becomes a whole new world where you feel that you are a part of the experience” said Yitzi Kempinski, co-founder and CEO.
Not only is Umoove an app demoing the technology, but the company also has an API other developers can try in their own apps. Try it out today for free on the App Store.
Google has confirmed in a press release that it is acquiring Nest Labs, the company behind Nest smart thermostats and fire alarms started by Father of the iPod Tony Fadell. Earlier reports were quickly confirmed along with the transaction price of $3.2 billion in cash in an official announcement posted on the company’s Investor website. In the statement, Google said that Fadell will be staying on board as a Google employee and continuing to run Nest:
Expand
Expanding
Close
While it’s been years since Apple made an appearance at CES in any official capacity, accessories that pair with its iOS devices have for several years dominated the show floor. This year was no different with most of the big trends– fitness and health tracking wearables, Bluetooth controllers, and home automation products– all designed and developed with the iPhone, iPad, and Mac in mind. Below we’ve put together a roundup of the most interesting wearables, cases, controllers and more that we found for iOS devices.
Expand
Expanding
Close
During the ShowStoppers press event this week at CES, iCoreGear, a small team of designers and engineers currently raising funds on Indiegogo, showed off a new product called the CableCore Hub for iMac. The idea is simple enough: rather than having to climb on top of your desk and awkwardly fumble with plugging cables into the back of your iMac, the CableCore hub attaches to the base of iMac and brings 3 USB 3.0 ports and an SDXC card slot within arm’s reach. A slightly more expensive version will also include a Bluetooth connected 3.5mm audio jack. It’s powered from one of the USB ports on the back of your iMac, but can also provide high speed charging to all its ports by using a separate power adapter. While a regular standalone USB would get the job done, the CableCore Hub’s bead blasted aluminium base and black polymer top match the iMac perfectly and the design does away with extra desk clutter you get with your average USB hub.
Preorders for the base model are currently at $99 on Indiegogo, while the model with the Bluetooth audio jack will cost you can extra $30. The company expects to ship by May if it can raise the $20,000 it needs through the crowd funding campaign.
IDC has announced preliminary PC shipment numbers for the fourth quarter of 2013, with Apple dropping from third to fourth place on the list. Apple shipped about 438,000 fewer machines than the same quarter in the previous year, allowing Lenovo to catch up and overtake them, despite Lenovo’s gain of only 163,000 shipped units.
HP, Dell, and Toshiba maintained the same positions as the previous year. While most companies lost a portion of their market share this year, Lenovo and Dell managed to claim most of the free space in the market. Overall the market saw a 1.6% drop over last year’s sales—about 285,000 shipments.
Gartner, on the other hand, reports that Apple actually gained quite a bit of market share. How these two numbers are so far apart is a mystery, but it’s possible that IDC included Surface-style tablets in its numbers, potentially skewing the results in comparison to Gartner’s numbers.
Expand
Expanding
Close
I know, it seems an odd question. But a few different things over the last couple of days got me thinking …
Years ago, before either Google or Apple ecosystems were really deserving of the term, I managed all my device synchronisation manually: I decided what content got synced on what devices. My music too: iTunes was allowed to play it, but not to manage it – I took care of the folder structures and meta-data myself. And the miscellaneous notes I kept were in a folder full of text files, the format deliberately chosen to be compatible with anything, not sitting inside Apple’s Notes app.
My view was that it should be me, not some piece of software or online service, that made the decisions about how things got done. Fast-forward to today, however, and things are quite different around here …
Expand
Expanding
Close
T-Mobile CEO John Legere announced today the company’s plan for Uncarrier 4.0 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Starting tomorrow, T-Mobile will offer new customers coming from AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint up to a $300 credit to trade-in their phone with the purchase of a T-Mobile device and a Simple Choice Plan. T-Mobile will also cover the cost of the early termination fee charged by the three major carriers for breaking contract by crediting up to $350 per line after sending in your last bill from your old carrier…
Say what you will about T-Mobile CEO John Legere’s audacious personality (no, really, I’m sure he won’t mind), but under his lead and the company’s Uncarrier campaign the carrier has made quite a few consumer-friendly moves with its policies.
In what the carrier is calling Uncarrier 4.0, the company is likely to announce plans to cover the early termination fees charged to customers switching from AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint during a contract.
That’s according to an ad which leaked and was later pulled. The ad (shown above) was first spotted by Droid-Life which reports the new policy will cover ETF fees up to $350 when you move at least three lines to T-Mobile…
Expand
Expanding
Close
Announced at CES this week in Las Vegas, Chinese electronic and appliance manufacturer Haier is notably the first in its industry to pick up Apple’s MFi certification for one of its products. Haier’s Tianzun air conditioner (press release) is the first smart appliance to pick up Apple’s Made for iPhone/iPod/iPad seal which notes Apple’s standards for ease-of-use, quality, and functionality were met. Haier, which manufactures other appliances such as washing machines and refrigerators, plans to implement the same connected technology found in its MFi air conditioner in other products as well potentially leading a move toward more user-friendly smart home appliances…
Expand
Expanding
Close
We admit we’ve enjoyed making fun of Brian White’s claim that the long-rumored Apple television would be controlled by an iRing, not least because he just won’t stop predicting the imminent arrival of the television itself (last we heard he was expecting it at the end of last year).
But now he can take heart from the fact that the iRing actually exists, even if it has nothing to do with Apple television, and looks nothing like the various mockups that did the rounds in the wake of his claims. It can be yours for just $25.
Don’t expect much tech for your twenty-five bucks, however: it’s just a piece of plastic with some printed dots on it.
iRing is a simple double sided ring that fits comfortably between your fingers. On one side is an engraved linear pattern of three dots, on the other is an engraved triangular pattern of dots. iRing uses the front-facing camera on your device and advanced volumetric positioning algorithms to recognize and determine the exact physical location of the ring in relation to the device camera. This precise reading of the physical location of the ring is converted into MIDI control messages that are easily read by your music apps
IK Multimedia plans to launch the ring sometime this quarter, initially aimed at DJs for controlling the company’s own music apps. The company does, however, hope that other developers will want to support the device, and is inviting interested parties to contact them.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya0VkjuShJI&feature=youtu.be]
Toshiba’s new Chromebook at CES looks a lot like LG, Samsung, and HP notebooks from IFA. “Leading Innovation”
Expand
Expanding
Close
Back in June we reported that Apple was getting ready to introduce new Bluetooth Low Energy hearing aid technology it developed to significantly improve the current crop of products on the market. Apple expected partners in its MFi program to introduce hearing aid and cochlear implant products using the technology this year, and last night we got a look at the first MFi hearing aid about to launch globally this quarter during the Bluetooth SIG event at CES 2014. GN’s Resound Linx is trickling out in select markets as we speak but a full global launch is about to happen sometime this quarter.
Not only is Resound Linx the world’s smallest hearing aid and the first Made for iPhone/iPad/iPod through Apple’s official program, the connection to an iPhone over the 2.4GHz frequency and Apple’s advancements in low powered Bluetooth tech for hearing aid products will also provide some other first of their kind features for the Linx. The hearing aid will essentially also function as a high-quality headset, allowing users to answer calls, listen to turn-by-turn directions, and much more on their iOS device. The most notable advancement, however, is the ability to fine tune the hearing aid experience through a dedicated iOS app:
Expand
Expanding
Close
With the new Mac Pro capable of powering three 4k displays, new MacBook Pros with Thunderbolt 2 and 4K HDMI 1.4 in many hands and Apple taking its sweet time to release its own monitor, an affordable 4k display is something many people are searching out right now. ASUS, at the Consumer Electronics Show, has just unveiled a new 28-inch 4k monitor that will retail for just $799. Currently, ASUS’ 31.5-inch 4k offering comes in at over $3,000, and while the price difference between the two is major, there doesn’t appear to be a gap in features (via Engadget).
ASUS’s 28-inch 4k monitor will pack a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160, just like its larger sibling. As far as ports go, we’re looking at one DisplayPort and one MHL-capable HDMI port. The monitor has a fully rotatable design, as well as a quick 1ms response time.
We’ve already seen retailers and major venues like Macy’s, the Apple Store, MLB, and even CES implement iBeacon technology into their overall visiting experience, and today inMarket is kicking off its Mobile to Mortar campaign (via TechCrunch) to bring the Bluetooth LE beacons to over 200 grocery store locations and more.
Expand
Expanding
Close
In an effort to combat spreading germs and bacteria through sharing smart phones and touch screen devices, Corning announced today plans to produce a Gorilla Glass variant with an antimicrobial surface for inhibiting bacterial growth. This version of Corning Gorilla Glass is made up of an antibacterial agent and contains levels of ionic silver that sustains the germ fighting capabilities through the life of the surface, according to the company.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Ahead of the official International CES 2014 show taking place next week in Las Vegas, tonight Griffin, alongside a number of other companies, debuted new products at the official CES Unveiled press event. We told you earlier about the company’s new Square card reader case (the first of Square’s partners for a new program that will see similar products released in the future), but Griffin also had other Apple related products on show tonight including new audio accessories, a bluetooth controller for Mac, and more.
Ahead of showing the devices off at CES, LaCie has just announced a pair of new storage accessories for Apple users. First off, the company will be showing off the Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2 drive. As the name implies, this drive will take advantage of Intel’s latest Thunderbolt 2 technology and deliver speeds up to “ten times faster” than any USB 3.0 drive. LaCie touts transfer speeds of 1,375 MB/s. Inside the shell are two 500GB PCIe Gen 2 SSDs in RAID 0. LaCie says the Little Big Disk 2 will be capable of handling 4k and 3D video edits.
For the first time since the iTunes Store in 2003, digital music sales have declined over the past year, reports Billboard. Specifically, individual song downloads took the biggest hit, dropping to 1.26 billion—a 5.7% from the previous year’s total. Entire albums fared substantially better, with only a 0.1% drop overall from 2012.
So far there are no official numbers on streaming music, so it’s quite possible (and likely) that streaming solutions such as iTunes Radio have actually overtaken purchases as the preferred method of listening. In fact, shortly after iOS 7’s launch, Pandora reported in influx of new users, even as Apple moved many of its own users to its new streaming platform.
Digital downloasds aren’t the only thing that’s declined over the past year. Physical CD sales have also dropped 14.5%, although that hardly seems unexpected. What is unexpected is the fact that vinyl sales have actually increased by 31% in the past year. What’s old is new again…
And in case you’re wondering, Robin Thicke took the title of most-downloaded song of 2013 with his hit “Blurred Lines.” Second on the list was “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.
Gorilla Glass featured in action during product testing.
Corning, the company that makes the Gorilla Glass found in Apple’s iOS devices and many other mobile phones across the market, announced today that they have achieved “manufacturing readiness” for a 3D-shaped version of Gorilla Glass. This essentially means that the company has finished developing the process to create this new and improved glass and is ready to start manufacturing it for smartphone manufacturers and other companies.
The press release notes that “more than half of the top 10 smartphone manufacturers already market devices that incorporate cover glass with subtle curves.” Up until now, those phones have had to forego the super-durable display afforded by Corning and settle for something more pliable.
What this means in the long run is that phones with curved displays will become less of a compromise in quality for companies like Apple, which was rumored to be developing a curved-glass iPhone for some time in the near future, perhaps even next year.
A day after recording artist Alicia Keys saw her contract as BlackBerry ‘creative director’ expire, the Waterloo-based handset maker has filed a lawsuit against an accessory company cofounded by American Idol host Ryan Seacrest over a patent dispute, WSJ reports.
“This is a blatant infringement against BlackBerry’s iconic keyboard, and we will vigorously protect our intellectual property against any company that attempts to copy our unique design,” BlackBerry said in a statement.
While the keyboard accessory does resemble that of BlackBerry’s own handsets, it’s certainly an interesting stand to take against a startup company as even BlackBerry’s own smartphones are trending toward touch screen user interfaces and built-in keyboards have all but lost in popularity. Typo Products, LLC, the company in which Seacrest reportedly invested $1 million and is listed as a founder, lists the keyboard accessory as $99 on its website and currently says shipping will begin this month…
Screengrab: http://blog.nature.org
If you were to pick a hobby likely to generate confrontations and harsh words between participants, birdwatching probably wouldn’t spring immediately to mind. Yet the WSJ reports that the use of iPhone apps by birders is doing just that, as a new breed of birders use iPhone apps playing birdsong to persuade birds to come out of hiding.
An otherwise peaceful pastime has been roiled by conflict as digital field guides, and the song recordings they include, have made birding easily accessible for anyone with a smartphone and, sometimes, a portable speaker. In a hobby where reward has come from years of quietly, patiently waiting outdoors and diligently studying technical tomes, there is deep resentment of birders who are relying on these easy-to-use—or abuse—apps.
The American Birding Association is apparently considering “a major revision to its oft-cited Code of Birding Ethics to address smartphone use,” with the National Audubon Society also planning a “comprehensive policy” on the issue.
Some say it can get stressed if it thinks the playback is a territorial threat. A predator may even be lying in wait. The bird could also leave its habitat or stop responding to the calls, realities scientists say make them nervous.
“The I-gadgets are incredibly dangerous to people who know nothing about birds,” said avid birder Heidi Trudell.
I’m now expecting to hear tales of pitched battles with knitting needles between those who are for or against the use of iPads for knitting patterns …
