Microsoft’s ‘Surface’ Tablet Is A Bigger Rival To The iPad Than You Think
Having been granted a favourable early look at Windows 8 late last year, we came away with high hopes for the future of Windows. We enthused how Microsoft’s latest operating system was “an OS for the age of the tablet PC” and how “if Windows 7 was the admirable yet flawed first chapter for Microsoft to claw back some of Apple’s dominance in the market, this [was] the climactic body of the fight.”
‘Feel Me’ App Adds Personal Touch To Texting
Compared to the likes of a phonecall or skype conversation (see or hear the person's emotions), beyond emoticons it's been a difficult task to convey that same human contact in a text. That's where Marco Triverio plans to change things with 'Feel Me.'
Siri Silenced. Updated To Not Say Lumia 900 Is 'Best Smartphone Ever'
It's common knowledge that Apple has a rather dry, sarcastic sense of humour when it comes to some of the responses that their automated assistant, Siri, gives to the user. But it seems they weren't a fan of the assistant's Wolfram-reliant response to the question "What is the best smartphone ever?"
So they have changed it rather rapidly from the original answer of the Nokia Lumia 900 to one of two sarcastic responses: "the one you're holding" and "you're kidding, right?"
Water In The Desert - Why Apple Didn't Launch Siri For The iPad
One of the features not brought to the iPad was, somewhat surprisingly, Siri. Instead, Apple announced a dictation option for translating your words to text. Apple ordinarily does an excellent job of adapting features of one product line for another; and at first glance Siri would appear to be an excellent fit for their tablets. But a close look at how Apple has presented Siri to the public shows why it could not have been brought to the iPad in a way that preserves it’s concise, understandable messaging.
iOS 5.1 Shows '4G' Indicator On iPhone 4S
For meeting network downlink speeds of 14.4Mbps, what AT&T considers to be 4G, the iOS 5.1 update has begun to show "4G" in the status bar instead of "3G." We can't help but feel that this may be everso slightly disingenuous.
Pokemon Finally Enters The App Store, And Is Swiftly Removed...
Nintendo’s claims to the globally-recognised Pokémon gaming brand looked to be rocking as an unofficial Pokémon game was the first of its kind to enter Apple’s App Store for download onto iOS devices earlier this week. Titled Pokémon - Pocket Edition, little did purchasers of the $5 app know – described as “marking the Pokémon series’ glorious debut on the App Store [that] lets you verse and play as everyone’s favourite Pokémon, Pikachu, around awesome lands” – was nothing more than a scam and an illegitimate app that featured no actual gameplay, only screen captures of other Pokémon games.
New Apple Patent to bring Face unlock to iOS
A recently discovered patent submitted by Apple details a method of unlocking an iDevice via face-recognition a'la Galaxy Nexus...kind of risky based on the privacy concerns surrounding using a photo to unlock the phone.
As described in the above image discovered by PatentlyApple.com, the device would sense a user approaching and wake from sleep to activate its image processor. At this point, facial recognition software can be executed to match the user's face and unlock the device. Business users can set even higher levels of security.
Apple planning a Media event this month. Not iPad or Apple TV related, says All Things D
All Things D have always been very close to on-the-ball in relation to Apple predictions, and if the latest from the sources close to the tech blog are to be believed, the Cupertino based company are planning a media-related event in New York for later this month.
GTA III Storms Onto Mobile Devices, Lavished With Praise
Rockstar Games today released Grand Theft Auto's controversial 3D debut on the App Store and Android Marketplace in celebration of the game's ten-year anniversary.
Essentially defining the sandbox genre, GTA III reaped huge praise at launch, despite the subsequent controversy it provoked from mainstream news outlets and the general public. Here was a game in which players could car-jack ordinary members of the public, commit atrocious acts of violence and have unsolicited sex with prostitutes – far from the delights of other games from that year; Pikmin, Sonic Adventure 2, Ico.
OnLive comes to Tablets and Smartphones
Brazenly fending off the competition (Gaikai & the recently-unveiled Approxy), OnLive has today made its cloud gaming service available on a range of smartphones and tablets – making triple-A gaming on the go a truer possibility.
Official Xbox Live app available on iOS
Microsoft has released an official Xbox Live app, titled My Xbox Live, for Apple's iPhone and iPad. That felt rather strange to put in a headline.
As Major Nelson announced in his blog, the app pretty closely resembles what features you see on the Windows Phone 7 variant, just without the deep integration with mobile games that WP7 possesses.
Apple says iOS has 'few remaining' battery problems in 5.0.1
According to AllthingsD, Apple has just released the following statement regarding iPhone battery life in the just-released iOS 5.0.1 update:
The recent iOS software update addressed many of the battery issues that some customers experienced on their iOS 5 devices. We continue to investigate a few remaining issues.
Security researcher booted from Apple developer program. Microsoft picks up the pieces
This isn't the first glaring hole in security that has been identified by the community; but it's most certainly the first to get renowned Mac hacker, Charlie Miller, kicked out of the iOS developer program.
The security flaw surrounds the opportunity to run unsigned code in the memory of the browser, which he then expanded to include apps. This means that the hidden code doesn't get screened in the all important code-signing check, a fundamental to iOS security. What results is the opportunity to program seemingly complaisant apps that download and run unauthorized code in the background throughout the entire system.
iPhone battery problems? Philips has an app for that
While we're waiting for the official fix to come out of beta from Apple, Philips has introduced a free app that goes some way to helping you get the most out of your battery lifespan on your iOS device.
iOS5 review
Whereas the iPhone 4 strengthened the brand with its ultra-crisp, bright HD display, multi-tasking capabilities, front and rear facing cameras and much improved A4 processor; the 4S, however great it may be (that you hate and love at the same time), is relying heavily on the integral strength of its operating system. Without question, iOS5 is the star of the show this time round.
Grand Theft Auto 3 10th Anniversary edition announced.
The tenth anniversary of the first in a long string of heavily law-suited games will pre-empt the release of GTA's 3D debut on "select new generation iOS and Android devices" (translation: dual-core android phones, iPad 2, iPhone 4S only) this autumn.