Archive | April, 2011
Your iPhone Logs Where You’ve Been. Why?
Where have you been lately? If you’ve got an iPhone or a 3G iPad, it knows. And two researchers have discovered that these devices store a record of your locations in an unencrypted file that gets backed up to your computer.
The researchers says that the information seems to be based on cell-phone tower triangulation, not GPS. They’re going to discuss what they’ve found at today’s Where 2.0 conference in Santa Clara, California. They’ve also released an open-source Mac application that maps out information from the file. That’s data for the iPad 2 I’ve been using at right, correctly showing that it’s been all around the Bay Area and also visited Austin, Texas.
iOS Still King, Regardless of Smartphone Market
19. April 2011
Data coming out of research firm comScore validates what many have been saying about the battle between Android and iOS: that across all devices, Google’s mobile operating system still has a long ways to go to supplant Apple’s dominant position overall, despite analyst claims.
Across an estimated install base of some 236 million “connected media devices” — that would include phones, tablets, music devices with Internet connectivity and app support, etc. — Apple has a 16.2 percent share or about 37.9 million devices. Android trails with a 10.2 percent share or about 23.8 million devices.
In other words, Apple has a 59 percent larger market for its devices right now compared to Android — highlighting its strong position for iOS outside of smartphones.
HBO Go Service Enroute to Mobile Devices
19. April 2011
As the rush to put video on mobile devices continues, HBO will apparently be throwing its hat into the ring next month, if a YouTube teaser video from the cable channel is any sign. The HBO Go service first debuted in April 2009, and has slowly been expanding its breath of programming, although you’ve had to visit the HBO Go website.
Sony in Denial Over PSP Go’s Apparent Demise (Updates)
19. April 2011
(See updates below)
Looks like the PSP Go is going out with a whimper.
A Sony Shop employee in Japan wrote on his blog that PSP Go production has ceased, according to Andria Sang, a Japanese games industry blog. Also, the Sony Store games page for Japan no longer lists the gaming handheld, and the product page says it’s out of stock. In the United Kingdom, Sony’s store lists the black PSP Go as out of stock, although the white model is still available. A UK retail source told MCV that no further stock will be supplied to the retail channel.
In other words, Sony seems to be letting PSP Go fade away, but the company isn’t ready to admit that the gaming handheld, which relied entirely on downloads instead of physical media, is kaput.
Who’s Suing Who? A Cheat Sheet to the Mobile Patent Mess
19. April 2011
So Apple is suing Samsung, accusing it of imitating Apple products with its Galaxy phones and tablets. The most startling thing about the news may be that the two companies weren’t already in court with each other. Over the past few years, the mobile industry has been so rife with suits and countersuits that if every complainant managed to sue every subject of its ire out of business…well, there’d hardly be a mobile industry left.
I had trouble remembering the precise details of the umpteen cases that have made headlines–as well as some related relationships, such as Microsoft’s licensing agreements with Amazon and HTC–so I decided to document them with a handy-dandy infographic, as much for my own edification as anyone else’s.
T-Mobile Brings VoIP to Facebook
19. April 2011
Wireless carrier T-Mobile is no stranger to VoIP, having experimented with it for a time through its now defunct Hotspot@Home service, which ended last year. Well, it’s trying again, but this time bringing the technology to social networking site Facebook.
Called Bobsled by T-Mobile (don’t ask, I have no clue why they settled on this name), the application for both PC and Mac gives users the capability to place free VoIP calls between Facebook friends, including integration with the Facebook chat system. The application is free to all Facebook users and is not exclusive to subscriber’s of T-Mobile’s wireless services.
Philips Tries Its Hand at an “Android Touch”
19. April 2011
One of the great mysteries of consumer electronics at the moment is why Apple’s extremely popular iPod Touch has had so little competition. It’ll get some in September, when Philips plans to release a media player called the GoGear Connect. I saw it today at a Philips event; it’s not the same gizmo as one of the same name which Philips demoed last Fall at the IFA conference in Berlin.
Unlike Samsung’s announced-but-as-yet-unreleased Galaxy Player, the GoGear Connect doesn’t bear an uncanny resemblance to the iPod Touch. At 3.2″, its capacitive screen is smaller, and a largish percentage of the front is devoted to hardware buttons. It has Wi-Fi, but doesn’t sport any cameras.
What if There is No Tablet Market?
18. April 2011
Last month, a PCWorld contributor named Katherine Noyes wrote a blog post whose very title invited incredulous mockery: “Why Tablets Are Just a Fad.” One hundred percent of the responses I saw said that she was wrong, wrong, wrong (some politely, some less so).
I thought her take was epically myopic myself. Still do. But right now, if you want to make the case that tablets aren’t a fad, there’s one major piece of evidence in your favor: the iPad is a monstrous hit. Beyond that? I’m not sure if there’s a single data point yet that proves that tablets are a robust product category that’s here for the long haul.
Hoo Boy, Here We Go Yet Again: Apple Sues Samsung
18. April 2011
Do Samsung products such as its Galaxy S phones and Galaxy Tab tablets imitate Apple’s iPhone and iPad? Yes, of course they do. So, to greater and lesser extents, do nearly every smartphone and slate-type computing device on the market today. Is that legal? I guess we’ll find out: Apple is suing Samsung, saying that it’s violating multiple patents and trademarks.
I haven’t seen Apple’s suit, but it sounds like it relates to look-and-feel issues more than do most of the umpteen lawsuits that tech companies have filed against each other recently. In a statement to All Things Digital’s Ina Fried, an Apple spokesperson even complained about the boxes that Samsung products come in being too Apple-esque:
It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,. This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.
If Apple has a case, you gotta wonder who else it’ll sue and where all this ends. HP’s upcoming TouchPad tablet, for instance, is promising–but it’s even more strikingly iPad-like than Samsung’s tablets to date. Is it vulnerable? And given that Archos is just about the only company that can honestly say it would be making tablets even if the iPad had never existed, does Apple have a legally-justified beef against the entire category?
I’ve always been made uneasy when one company unimaginatively cribs another’s designs–when I attended Mobile World Congress 2009 it felt like a blur of faux iPhones–but I don’t like the idea of one company essentially having a monopoly on a product category or a form factor. More thoughts to come as details emerge, but for now, what’s your take?
Apple Rep Thinks iPad 2 Stock Plentiful “Within a Couple Weeks”
18. April 2011
If you’ve been feverishly searching for an iPad 2 without any success, things might get better in the next couple of weeks. I was in a Boston-area Apple store yesterday and, as is my custom, decided to ask one of the employees if they had any iPad 2s in stock.
He, like so many before him, looked at me as if I had three heads before telling me that they were completely sold out—every model, every price point, everything. This was not the first time I’d been told this exact same information, as stock levels of the iPad 2 have been scarce everywhere.
Office 365 Public Beta: A Web-Based Way to “Go Microsoft”
18. April 2011
Last October, Microsoft announced Office 365, a new product (replacing something called the Business Productivity Office Suite, or BPOS) that ties together an array of offerings into one Web-hosted service. Today, it’s launching a public beta, which you can sign up for at Office365.com. It’s letting folks into the service in batches, so expect a bit of a wait until you can try it out; the final version should go live later this year.
Office 365 enters the market as the instant archrival of Google’s Google Apps, but the two services are anything but exact counterparts. Philosophically, they’re at odds: Google Apps is based on the idea that you’ll do most or all of your work using Web-based apps, resorting to a traditional suite such as Microsoft Office either not at all or only in a pinch. (Google continues to acknowledge that many businesses aren’t ready to dump Office by introducing features designed to make Apps and Office work better together.)
Aww, Look at That Cute Little Smartphone!
18. April 2011
HP is apparently set to introduce its latest smartphone based on Palm’s WebOS at a May 2 event, several news outlets including PreCentral are reporting. The diminutive (but certainly not small on features) device is only 55mm (2.2″) wide and 84mm (3.3″) tall, and they’ve somehow figured out how to squeeze a slide out QWERTY keyboard in this thing.
The Veer kind of reminds me of the Nokia 8200 series phones from the early part of last decade that were available through the old AT&T Wireless: HP’s Veer is actually very similar in size. Lets just hope HP’s small phone doesn’t nearly burn people’s ears off like the 8200 was known to do.
Sony’s SOCOM Hits New Low (or High?) in Used Video Game Punishment
18. April 2011
Last year, a few video game publishers started withholding online multiplayer from used video games unless buyers paid $10 for an activation code. I figured that was just the beginning of the attack on second-hand sales.
Sure enough, SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy Seals charts a new course in punishing used game buyers, and it’s at once better and worse than the status quo of $10 online passes.
As described on the official Playstation Blog, SOCOM 4 will let all players access the game’s multiplayer portion — as it should, because online play has always been SOCOM’s main attraction — but used game buyers will miss out on special guns, game types, and other perks to be added later. To get these features with a used copy of the game, you’ll have to buy a $15 activation code.
Let Us Now Praise the Computers of the 1990s
17. April 2011
What’s the most underappreciated decade in the history of personal computers to date? Easy: The 1990s. It was a transitional period, long past the era when early giants such as the Apple II and TRS-80 ruled the world, but before things got totally commoditized. Plenty of interesting, imaginative, sometimes just plain odd computers were released during it, but few of them have gotten the glory–or at least attention–that they deserve.
Computing history guru Benj Edwards, however, remembers. And he’s pulled together recollections of fifteen 1990s machines, including a PC from Sega, an Apple that wasn’t a Mac, an Atari laptop, an HP with a built-in mouse, a NeXT that didn’t come from NeXT, and more. If you’re like me, you’ll enjoy being reminded of some of them–and will learn about others for the first time.
View “15 Amazing Computing Rarities of the 1990s” slide show.
15 Amazing Computing Rarities of the 1990s
17. April 2011
There’s a certain false assumption among computer history enthusiasts that the age of rare and interesting machines ended around the time the IBM PC-compatible platform gained almost total dominance of the PC market. As a result, you’ll see endless celebrations of vintage PCs of the 1970s and 80s. But what about the decade after that?
While Windows’ pervasiveness did limit computer diversity in the 1990s, it by no means stamped it out. Here are 15 amazing and unusual machines that dared to swim against the tide of conformity–albeit with limited success that leaves most of these systems extremely hard to find today. Let’s pay tribute, at long last, to these rare computers of the 1990s.
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