December 2009 Archives

iPhone users discussing apps focused on gaming and relaxation apps in the days surrounding the Christmas holiday (December 24th through December 28th), according to monitoring company Mplayit. The company released Top 10 lists for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Mobile Java-based cell phones, lists that suggest differentiation between the platforms.

For instance, iPhone users discussed and shared information about games and relaxation apps, as mentioned above, while Android users discussed more utilities. BlackBerry users focused more on information and travel-related apps. The BlackBerry list was also the only platform where a Bible app appeared in the Top 10.

Games utterly dominated the Mobile Java platform, and Mplayit said in a statement that Tiger Woods' mistress scandal appeared to have helped that app, as it was the second most discussed and shared app.

Ford, the Michigan based motor company, has become the first automobile manufacturer to provide iTunes song tagging technology in its high definition radio receivers that will come factory installed in some of its new car models to be launched next year.

The company said that the iTunes tagging technology, which will allow the drivers to tag any song that they hear on the HD Radio simply by pressing a button, will be able to able to hold up to 100 songs and when an iPod or iPhone is plugged in, the songs can be downloaded once the driver confirms the payment. The company expects that the new feature to become quite popular amongst technology enthusiasts.

Tagging and downloading technology for iPods and iPhones will now be a part of Ford's voice controlled telecommunications and infotainment system, Sync, which was launched by the company in 2007.

Apple's iPod Touch was the Christmas gift of choice this year, if an apparent 1000 per cent jump in application sales is anything to judge by. On December 25, sales of applications to iPod-touting customers jumped by one thousand per cent, and the total figures for December are already 51 per cent up on November when the iPhone is included.

The figures come from Flurry Analytics, a company that provides a tiny client developer's drop into applications in exchange for access to raw data. This lets the rest of us see how popular the iTunes store was on Christmas Day as millions of teenagers unwrapped their iPod Touch players and rushed to download farting applications before their peers.

iPod Touch owners are now downloading more applications than iPhone owners, which can be attributed to the large teen demographic that got an iPod Touch from Santa Claus. This is also why millions of applications does not necessarily translate into millions of dollars - many of those iPod Touch players will be clenched in hands too young to own a credit card, and the vast majority of applications downloaded will be freebies. But it indicates that Apple sold an awful lot of hardware this Christmas and it may show a trend for future holiday seasons.

A recent study has revealed that Apple's flagship product, the iPhone, is the most popular mobile handset in the United States of America, beating Research in Motion's top selling BlackBerry series.

Nielsen, the American marketing and advertising research company, has found in its research that the Apple iPhone has topped the list of "Top Ten Mobile Phones in Use in US" for January-October 2009 with a four percent market share.

It dominated Research in Motion's BlackBerry 8300 series which got the 2nd spot with 3.7 per cent market share in the US mobile handset market.

Once one of the music world's most prolific bloggers, the singer recently declared her conversion to become a "neo-Luddite".

She explained: "I just had this revelation that Facebook, blogging, all those things were becoming a total addiction. I'd be with my boyfriend or my mum and they'd have just got half of me.

"So I put my BlackBerry, my laptop, my iPod, in a box and that's the end. I won't use email, I play records on vinyl, I don't blog. I've got more time, more privacy. We've ended up in this world of unreal communications and I don't want that. I want real life back."

More employees would value receiving a free iPod, digital camera or similar technology gift (80%) from their manager than being 'fast-tracked' for promotion (67%), according to research commissioned by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC).

The poll of around 950 workers asked individuals to rate how highly they would value a series of different rewards for good performance in the absence of a pay rise. Just 6% of respondents said they would not appreciate a small, low-cost reward.

While there is little difference between the preferences of the genders, women proved rather more appreciative than their male counterparts, with females generally more likely to 'highly value' a popular choice where men opted for 'moderately value'. Cash bonuses, gift vouchers and extra annual leave scored highest - with 90%, 89% and 89% of respondents saying they would value these, respectively. Extra time off to do charity work was the least favoured non-work reward with just under half valuing this option (49%).

US defense contractor Raytheon on Wednesday unveiled the first of what it said will be a series of software applications to make iPhones or iPod Touch devices into battlefield tools. One Force Tracker (OFT) software takes advantage of features built into Apple's wildly popular touch-screen mobile devices to let soldiers track whereabouts of allies and adversaries on maps in real time.

"We have developed a situational awareness application based on military messaging standards that provide multimedia access, audio and textual point of interest, free text messaging, collaborative planning, spot reports and emergency call for fire," said Tushar Patel, director of Advanced Programs and Technology at Raytheon's Network Centric Systems.

"Raytheon is a leader in secured wireless networking. Combining that with Apple's expertise allows us to provide rapid, low-risk and affordable interoperable system solutions." OFT capitalizes on iPhone and iPod Touch capabilities including global positioning, high-speed Internet, and accelerometers that let controls respond to twists, tilts or turns.

Speculation is mounting that Google may release its own handset in 2010 to go head-to-head with Apple's iPhone in the mobile phone market. The search giant has confirmed that selected employees are testing a new device, but some analysts are sceptical that a 'Google Phone' is imminent.

Mario Queiroz, vice president of product management, seemed to lift the lid on a 'Google Phone' in a blog last weekend when he confirmed that the search giant's employees are testing "a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities".

However, the blog stopped short of committing the company to a handset launch, arguing instead that Google was merely "eating its own dogfood" in conducting the trial. "We hope to share more after our dogfood diet," said Mr Queiroz.

Spoken Ink allows users to download the works of authors including Anton Chekhov and D H Lawrence, which can be played on iPods, MP3 players, mobile phones and computers.

The site was created by the writer Edmund Caldecott and actor Constantine Gregory and aims to tap into the increasing appetite for the short story format.

The pair have spent 18 months enlisting the help of writers, publishers and performers to contribute to the archive of literary works.

The European Commission has once again called for a limit on MP3 devices including Apple's iPod and iPhone. According to weekend reports, the commission wants all MP3 players sold in the EU, to share the same volume limits.

A safe level listening level is below 80-85 decibels according to campaigners, but some players play music up to 120 decibels.

According to BBC One's Politics Show, the commission want the default maximum setting to be set at 85 decibels. Users would still be able to override these settings to reach a top limit of 100 decibels the report said.

The Silence Amplified vacuum cleaner is based on the Electrolux UltraSilencer, an eco-friendly vacuum cleaner with a very quiet motor. It has an iPod dock and integrated speakers built in to the front of the vacuum cleaner, so that people can listen to music while they do their housework.

"Many people listen to music to help them focus on a task or to make an activity more enjoyable," said Cecilia Gustavsson, product line manager for Electrolux. "We are now offering this opportunity when vacuuming. Our laboratory tests show that if you listen to music while cleaning, it will improve the cleaning performance, reduce the stress levels and give a general feeling of well-being."

Vacuum cleaners are not the only household appliances to feature integrated iPod docks. Gorenje unveiled a range of "Made for iPod" refrigerators at IFA, the consumer electronics trade show, earlier this year.

How would you like to get an iPod for just a paper clip? An Indiana State University student actually did trade a paper clip for an iPod. But it took 21 trades in between. It was part of a marketing class experiment this semester.

Students had to put their sales skills to use to upgrade their paper clip. ISU Senior Kayla Tucker says "Got the paper clip for a pen, pen to another pen. I kind of stayed in the office supplies for a while, but then got all the way up to like furniture."

Assoc. Professor of Marketing at ISU Dr. Paul Clark says "Overall they've done very well. I would say the average trade at the end was worth 85 to 100 dollars. Items like an iPod, digital camera, flat screen TV. " Professor Clark plans to use the paper clip experiment again in future classes.

FileMaker has announced that it has sold more than 100,000 copies of Bento for iPhone and iPod Touch, making it among the most popular productivity apps sold on the Apple iTunes App Store insists the company. Bento for iPhone can be used as a stand-alone application or synched with Bento 3 or Bento 2 and offers a way to manage projects, files and contacts on the go.

Bento for iPhone can store text, numbers, dates, times, durations, pictures, sounds, video clips, pop-up choices, check boxes, prices, rates, addresses, phone numbers, ratings, web sites, email addresses, instant messaging accounts and more.

The Filemaker developed application features iTunes-style searching and instant sorting, and it integrates with other iPhone apps, allowing users to tap on a Bento field to call a contact, view a web site, send an email or display a map.

Can't get enough of your favorite iPhone apps, like Flight Tracker, Photogene and TweetDeck? Well, NASA is hoping to add one more to your list of favourite iPhone applications. The space agency today released NASA App 1.1 for the Apple Inc. iPhone and iPod Touch products.

The updated application is designed to help users spot near-Earth orbiters, see NASA videos, stay up-to-date with NASA launch information and countdown clocks, and get easy access to NASA's Twitter feeds. NASA App 1.1 adds several new features, like new content about space missions, and visible sighting opportunities for orbiters from the user's home location or through searched locations.

NASA said there are no plans at this point to extend the offering to other mobile platforms like Google Android, BlackBerry from Research in Motion Ltd. or Microsoft's Windows Mobile. The application is available for free from Apple's App Store.

EA Mobile has announced that the 1980s game Dragon's Lair has been remade for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The animated adventure focuses on a Knight, Dirk the Daring, who is on a quest to rescue Princess Daphne from the lair of a fire-breathing dragon, Singe, who dwells inside the castle of an evil wizard. Players have to defeat a variety of monsters including the Lizard King and the Giddy Goons, all while exploring different caverns and overcoming obstacles.

The game features an Arcade Mode that contains the same adventure and storyline as the original. Playing in Home Mode replicates the authentic Laserdisc version and provides additional scenes.

Dragon's Lair is expected to be available from the App Store during December of 2009, however the company has yet to provide a specific release date or price.

Jack Dorsey, who came up with the idea for Twitter and is now the micro-blogging site's chairman, has just unveiled Square, his new technology start-up which basically allows someone with an iPhone or iPod Touch to begin accepting credit or debit card payments instantly.

The product is aimed at cutting out the need for small business owners to have merchant accounts with the likes or Visa and Mastercard, but is also intended to allow individuals exchanging money - perhaps after a purchase on Craigslist - to exchange funds without the need for carrying cash.

The idea is that eventually, anyone with a mobile phone will be able to accept card payments but it is limited to the iPhone and iPod Touch now. The security risk is reduced because card details are not held on the individual's phone, but rather beamed back to a central database which processes the payment and issues an e-mail receipt.

Adobe Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone is now available as a free download in via iTunes, or directly onto iPhones and iPod Touches via the App Store. The app provides users with a quick and easy way to edit, upload, view and share photos. Essential editing tools, such as crop and rotate along with creative one-touch effects and filters make it simple to improve photos on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

In addition, the application gives you access to your online collection of photos at Photoshop.com as well as being able to upload your snaps to the website directly within the application - you get 2GB of storage space free. If you don't already have an Adobe ID, you can sign up for free from within the app.

All editing involves swiping a finger across the screen, so there's no localised retouching. Oddly, there's no red-eye reduction either, but you can't complain when the app is free. There are a number of effects that you can apply to images, including the 'pop art' preset which applies four colour washes to four mini copies of your image. When you save changes to an image, the app creates a copy in your saved images folder, so you don't lose the original.