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Unlocked iPhone handsets finally hit Apple Store

With its annual smartphone refresh creeping ever forward, Apple has moved to maintain interest in the iPhone 4 by unveiling an unlocked version through the official Apple online store.

The GSM handset in question hit virtual shelves on Tuesday and will allow prospective buyers to select between AT&T and T-Mobile USA when it comes to choosing a host telecommunications network (but no Verizon Wireless).

The 16GB and 32GB versions of the ‘unlocked’ smartphone are being offered in chassis colours of either black or white for $649 USD and $749 USD respectively.

It’s worth noting that those buyers selecting T-Mobile to meet their connectivity needs will be restricted to the slug-worthy EDGE network as T-Mobile’s more nimble 3G platform is not compatible with the iPhone. Nice.

This, of course, leaves only AT&T—not exactly the nation’s favourite telecoms provider—which therefore only enables customers to sidestep a mandatory two-year service plan but not the company’s patchy reputation.

Given the choice (or lack thereof), we’d recommend sticking with a subsidised version of Apple’s market leading iPhone 4, or perhaps holding off on any kind of purchase until the upgraded iPhone 4S (or iPhone 5) arrives in September.

Google embraces voice search

"The next big thing is definitely speech and voice recognition," Microsoft founder Bill Gates recently told the Daily Mail. Voice recognition is a key feature of Microsoft's popular interactive Kinect for Xbox 360.

In a June 14 blog post, Google noted that "mobile search traffic growth over the past three years is comparable to overall Google search traffic growth ... earlier in our history." Due to this exponential growth, including a  six-fold increase in mobile voice search traffic during the past year, Google has added voice recognition to the desktop.

Microsoft's Bing is Google's chief search engine rival in the U.S.  Google currently has 65 percent of the U.S. market. Bing controls most of the rest.

Google  also introduced a desktop Search by Image feature and increased the speed of searches with Instant Pages. Google provides an overview of its new features in its Inside Search blog.

Sony Begins Phased Restoration of PlayStation Network

Sony Corp. began a limited and phased restoration of its PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment videogame services Saturday, bringing the company a step closer to normalcy following an attack on its systems that compromised personal information for more than 100 million user accounts last month.

The Japanese electronics giant said that following the release of a mandatory software upgrade for all PlayStation 3 videogame console units, it would begin bringing its PlayStation Network back online in the Americas, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the Middle East. The network will be limited at first, the company said, restoring Internet-based game ...

• May 14, 2011 07:08pm EST
 
• 1 Comment

IPhone 5G Sighting Shows Edge-to-Edge Screen

By Damon Poeter

• 0digg  Share11 

What's purported to be an "iPhone 5G" case with an edge-to-edge screen has surfaced at Asian trading site AliBaba.com, Electronista reported Saturday.

The listing on Guangdong, China-based Kulcase's trading site shows the front and back of what it claims to be the "Newest design crystal case for apple iPhone 5g." The unconfirmed case mockup is colored teal—we're guessing that odd choice doesn't make Apple's final cut for the iPhone 5—and has the flash component moved away from the rear camera, which would be a change from earlier versions of the iPhone.

The steady drumbeat of rumors about Apple's plans for the iPhone 5 seem to have fallen off in the past few weeks. But in March and April, speculative stories about delays, a faster processor and the like were flying off the shelves.

One thing that lends some credence to the AliBaba.com sighting is that Apple has already had trouble keeping its case designs for new products under wraps, notes AppleInsider.

Three employees of Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn Electronics were reportedly charged in March with leaking the iPad 2's case design to third-party accessory suppliers.

The workers, employed at Foxconn's Shenzen, China plant, were arrested by Chinese authorities on Dec. 26, 2010 and officially charged with violating company trade secret regulations on March 23, according to reports.

Foxconn, a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry, assembles iPads, iPhones and iPods for Apple.

Images of iPad 2 cases featuring a rear-facing camera and a thinner profile than the first-generation media tablet from Apple began to surface last December. At the time, Foxconn reported its suspicions that the design had been leaked by its own employees, according to reports

Samsung announces 10-inch "Retina" Display for tablets

In the upcoming SID Display Week 2011 International Symposium, Samsung has announced it will present an LCD 10'1 "display for tablets with a resolution of 2560x1600 pixels (superior to the current FullHD resolution), with a whopping 300 dots per inch.

Samsung and Nouvoyance (technology partner), will make a demonstration of this amazing screen WQXGA format, with PenTile™ RGBW technology. As we could read in BussinessWire,Samsung's plans are to have this type of display ready by the end of this year in order to start its marketing.

The technology could lead to Apple introducing a retina display for the iPad 3 though there are serious practical issues to consider besides battery life and the processing power needed to drive such high resolutions.

This display also includes some new features, such as Samsung's PenTile technology.This technology is the only display technology that uses up to 40% less energy, but provides twice the visual performance offered by a Full HD.Currently,there is no other display technology on the market offering this resolution and that density of pixels on a  10'1 "display.

An interesting step made by Samsung which perhaps could benefit all users, including  iOS users .I find it incredible that anyone has been able to create a high quality display that is capable, in 10'1 "to give the same resolution as an iMac of 27 ".

Apple App Store, iPhone 4, Angry Birds earn Guinness World Records

Apple's App Store, the iPhone 4 and a few iOS games, have been awarded Guinness world records,  including the iPhone 4 being named the fastest-selling portable gaming system.

"The release of the iPhone has not just changed the mobile industry, but the video game world too,"Gaz Deaves, Guinness World Records' gaming editor, said in a statement. "With the never-ending App Store selection and an intuitive device, Apple has created a gigantic new space for itself in the casual games genre that literally brings entertainment to users wherever they may be."

The iPhone 4 was named the fastest-selling portable gaming system by Guinness after selling an estimated 1.5 million handsets on the first day it was released on June 24, 2010.

"For comparison, the PSP shifted 200,000 units on its launch date in 2005, and the DS took a week to move 500,000 consoles in November 2004," Guinness said in a statement announcing the records.

The PSP, from Sony, and the DS, from Nintendo, are both portable video game systems, but neither is also a smart phone.

Guinness also said Apple's App Store is the most popular application marketplace.

"With over 6.5 billion downloads since its launch in July 2008, the Apple App Store is the most popular downloadable app service in the world," the world-record-tracking organization said.

About 259,470 apps were available for purchase or free download as of September 2010, while about 50,000 other apps that were once available in the App Store have been discontinued, Guinness said.

"Of the apps currently available, 61 are flatulence simulators, a genre that includes such masterpieces as Fart Machine, Fart Ocarina and iFart - Epic Rip Edition," the organization said.

The App Store is also the largest downloadable video game store, with about 37,362 games available for download as of last September, Guinness said.

"By comparison, PC games download service Steam offers around 1,110 titles, the Xbox Live Indie Arcade has slightly more at 1,300 and the Japanese Virtual Console store for Wii offers 576 titles covering a good chunk of the back catalogues of both Sega and Nintendo," the group said.

The App Store was also given a world record for the largest launch lineup of any gaming system with more than 145 games available on July 10, 2008.

Angry Birds was recognized at the top paid-for App Store game in most countries, having sold more than 6.5 million downloads of the iOS version of the game since it was first released in December 2009.

Plants vs. Zombies, "with more than 300,000 paid downloads in its first nine days on sale in February 2010" was noted as the world's fastest-selling iPhone/iPod strategy game. The game is also the world's highest-grossing strategy game launch in the history of Apple's App Store, Guinness said, generating about $1 million for developer PopCap in just over a week.

The Tap Tap Revenge game series, from game developer Tapulous, was cited as the most popular game series in App Store history, "having been downloaded more than 15 million times since the first game in the series was released in July 2008," Guinness said. "Market research firm ComScore reports that the games have been installed by 32% of all iPhone/iPad users."

Apple In-App Purchase Policy Has Consequences

Apple's policy on in-app purchasing is having some serious negative consequences--just not for Apple. While the policy opened the door for app subscriptions, and gives Apple an edge over competitors like Amazon, smaller app developers and parents are the ones paying the price.

What is the big deal with the in-app purchases? Well, Apple wants to 'encourage' app developers to offer additional content and services through the Apple infrastructure, using your Apple ID and password. There are theoretical advantages from an operational and security point of view for trying to filter all purchases through one channel, but the real reason for the Apple policy is that Apple wants its cut.

Apple in-app purchase policy is angering parents and putting app developers out of business.The policy states that purchasing done within an app must be done using the Apple system. Some apps, like the Amazon Kindle app, have gotten around this by not conducting purchases within the app--technically. Kindle purchases from within the app are redirected to the Amazon Website. So, Apple added another stipulation that if an app allows content to be purchased outside of the app, it must also provide the ability to purchase within the app using the Apple system.

Crushing The Little Guy
One app developer has already been forced out of business as a result of these policies. Amazon may have the financial resources to go head to head with Apple, but BeamIt Down Software--makers of the iFlowReader app--can't stay in business selling books at a loss.

As long as iFlowReader could redirect users to a Website for book purchases, BeamIt Down software could manage a small profit from book sales. But, selling books within the app means giving Apple a 30 percent cut, which is more than BeamIt Down gets paid from the book publisher in the first place.

Bill Shock for Parents
Parents learned the hard way that those in-app purchases add up quickly...even on "free" games. There are thousands of apps targeted at children that are available for free. Many of those free games, though, offered the ability to level up or purchase content from within the game, enabling children to rack up huge costs without parental consent.

Parents filed a class-action suit against Apple over the in-app purchase bill shock. WIth iOS 4.3, Apple tweaked the process to require the Apple iTunes password for all in-app purchases and prevent children from unknowingly spending hundreds of dollars.

Patent Lawsuits
As if the negative consequences of the in-app purchase policy aren't punishment enough in and of themselves, app developers are now being threatened with patent infringement lawsuits. A company called Lodsys claims that the in-app purchase process violates patents that it owns.

Apple has the deep pockets and legal muscle to engage in a patent battle (which explains why it is engaged in so many patent lawsuits), but tiny app developers who are just trying to follow the rules laid out by Apple can't really afford to defend themselves in patent litigation.

It is Apple's platform, and Apple gets to make the rules inside the walled garden. But, the policy around in-app purchasing seems to be having little impact so far in Apple's battle for ebook supremacy with Amazon, but is having serious repercussions affecting just about everyone else.

With this kind of fallout, developers may think twice about playing in Apple's sandbox, and Apple may find that the in-app purchase policy isn't worth it.

Microsoft says Skype ‘will have more adverts

Microsoft is planning on ramping up the amount of advertising free users of Skype see while they are making video calls and using the rest of the service.

Talking ysterday at the announcement of Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype for $8.5bn, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive said that he could see huge revenue potential in the online video chat service, especially in the video advertising area.

Tony Bates, Skype’s chief executive, who will now become the president of the Microsoft Skype division, said: “We think advertising is a powerful monetising stream for us.”

Ballmer than revealed that the acquisition had come about after both companies had been discussing Skype using Microsoft’s sales team to ramp up advertising on the internet telephone service.

Neil Stevens, Skype’s vice president and general manager of its Global Consumer team, would not reveal exactly how the increased level of advertising would affect those making video calls but did say: “The key thing will be not to get in the way of the calls…We need to find a clever way of doing it [inserting adverts].”

Currently Skype users see limited advertising messages on the top of the video screen when using the service on a Microsoft powered laptop. However, it has yet to take advantage of more lucrative video advertising.

Microsoft: WP7 Mango Update due in Fall

The much rumoured update for Windows Phone 7 dubbed Mango would be released this fall. Joe Belfiore, Director of Windows Phone Program, in the keynote demonstrated the different features and enhancements to be included in Mango update at the on-going Microsoft event MIX 11 in Las Vegas. Belfiore also explained the issues that lead to the delay in the latest NoDo update for several Windows Phone 7 Devices. Apparently, it's the same update we reportedabout earlier this month.

Microsoft's Mango update for Windows Phone 7 will bring some of the heavily demanded features like multi-tasking, deeper integration of apps with phone, camera access and access to the motion sensor library. Apart from that, Belfiore also stated that Windows Phone 7 Mango update will bring new apps like Skype, Spotify and IMDb (with better integration) for the platform. 

Beginning with the demonstration, Belfiore showed the new slick multi-tasking user-interface and it surely looks promising in the video. Apart from that, Belfiore stated that IE9 web browser for desktop has been ported directly to the Windows Phone 7 platform. Basically, it's the same - Microsoft boasts of greater "native" HTML5 capabilities including hardware acceleration for Windows Phone 7 devices. 

Belfiore demonstrated HTML5 capabilities in form of a "read test" where IE9 on a Windows Phone 7 loaded HTC prototype was tested with iPhone 4 with iOS 4.2 and Google Nexus S with Android 2.3 Gingebread. Test resulted giving Windows Phone 7 device highest in-browser FPS rate compared to other two devices. 

Apart from that, the update will open up several other APIs for the developers to take more advantage of and developer compelling Apps for Windows Phone 7 devices. During the presentation, Belfiore also briefly mentioned that IE9 will also bring Silverlight 4.0 support to Windows Phone 7 in the browser finally. 

Check out the Windows Phone 7 Mango update demonstration below: