Apple closer to mass producing sapphire displays

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_YoCiJmsEW1wKtEP7hfGSZ6khH6sPFBiGPS5jwLIyx5MgMN6fdB2GBQtJiaw2bXxyfhUd7hol9L9pGr_wxIb25FuPPA2Lp3dw6a5KbBmRjdL1YO4YJ_dLrzHoSo5vh2lAjz8PJJXy7a0/s1600/apple-iphone-touch-id_610x384.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finger ID</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_YoCiJmsEW1wKtEP7hfGSZ6khH6sPFBiGPS5jwLIyx5MgMN6fdB2GBQtJiaw2bXxyfhUd7hol9L9pGr_wxIb25FuPPA2Lp3dw6a5KbBmRjdL1YO4YJ_dLrzHoSo5vh2lAjz8PJJXy7a0/s1600/apple-iphone-touch-id_610x384.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></a></div> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.9950008392334px;">Speculation has been running rampant about Apple's plans for </span>mobile devices with a sapphire screen<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.9950008392334px;">. Those plans finally appear to be firming up, with </span><a href="http://9to5mac.com/2014/02/06/exclusive-apple-just-procured-enough-sapphire-crystal-furnaces-to-make-100-200m-5-inch-iphone-displays-in-arizona/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #2964bf; cursor: pointer; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">9to5Mac reporting</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.9950008392334px;"> Thursday that the electronics giant is getting ready for massive production of sapphire displays.</span></span><br /> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">9to5Mac, with the help of analyst Matt Margolis, unveiled that the iPhone maker recently placed a large order with GT Advanced Technologies for furnaces and chambers used in making sapphire displays. According to 9to5Mac, GT Advanced has already received 518 furnace and chamber systems, which would let it build 103 million to 116 million 5-inch displays per year. (Another 420 machines are still on order, which would nearly double that production output.) GT Advanced also has ordered Intego Sirius Sapphire Display Inspection Tool components, which would work to make sure that the displays meet high-quality standards, 9to5Mac reported.</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Apple late last year signed a contract with GT Advanced to produce sapphire-based materials at Apple's new facility in Arizona. Apple has already used sapphire for the surface of the rear camera lens for the iPhone 5 and the ID fingerprint sensor in the iPhone 5S. // <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57618514-37/apple-closer-to-mass-producing-sapphire-displays-report-says/">CNET News</a></span></div>

Apple closer to mass producing sapphire displays

Finger ID Speculation has been running rampant about Apple's plans for  mobile devices with a sapphire screen . Those plans finall...

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iOS : Google Maps Will Alert You to Faster Routes

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYcSPc51fJlymbIWzMkwZ33BG9wX67F1cdU6-lvnp1bqDUjdSA_AfB1mN8vWE8ZibWgPnmJP9viYEN5mlLotpGRWjG9gTX0BvkaB-Xiu5j_vk1ftht6_zRNKsdWY85L1Y9NiF8Mi03ZbQ/s1600/google-maps-reroute.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYcSPc51fJlymbIWzMkwZ33BG9wX67F1cdU6-lvnp1bqDUjdSA_AfB1mN8vWE8ZibWgPnmJP9viYEN5mlLotpGRWjG9gTX0BvkaB-Xiu5j_vk1ftht6_zRNKsdWY85L1Y9NiF8Mi03ZbQ/s1600/google-maps-reroute.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Google Maps</span></i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 23px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 9px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We can pretty much all agree that being stuck in traffic sucks, right? Well, we have some good news. Google wants to help you outsmart gridlock, and save some time on the roads with a useful new Maps feature for iOS.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 23px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 9px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Web giant this week rolled out an update to <a data-ls-seen="1" href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id585027354" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Maps for iOS</a>, which will give you more information about traffic right when you need it, allowing you to avoid a dreaded bumper-to-bumper situation. When you're in Navigation mode, the app will now alert you when a faster route to your destination is available.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 23px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 9px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The app may tell you, for instance, that there's traffic up ahead, and you can save 10 minutes by taking a different way. From there, you'll have the option to reroute, or you can select "no, thanks" to continue on your potentially not-so-merry way.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 23px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 9px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The feature is, of course, only available in areas where navigation is supported. The update brings the iOS version of the app up to speed with its Android equivalent, which received the same feature last month.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 23px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 9px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The latest feature comes after Google back in August added real-time incident reports from its newly acquired crowd-sourced traffic app Waze to its Maps apps. This means that when Waze users report accidents, construction, road closures, and other incidents, the information now appears in the Google Maps apps for Android and iOS. // <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2430316,00.asp">PCMag</a></span></div>

iOS : Google Maps Will Alert You to Faster Routes

Google Maps We can pretty much all agree that being stuck in traffic sucks, right? Well, we have some good news. Google wants to help y...

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Best Buy selling iPhone 5c for free

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrK3-1ZaUHlZt5Vvl4z57-sSJnS4nUqN_lrjSAbTPCEnu_i7ik8P9cVLYL4oHWvrTpCzgno13Cswkam4jKrvybBMmU5oVA4cwLtyjitDhDcLkDi3ChK5Yjbnmp6ffv2CM25ZYW4My6RfM/s1600/iphone_5c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrK3-1ZaUHlZt5Vvl4z57-sSJnS4nUqN_lrjSAbTPCEnu_i7ik8P9cVLYL4oHWvrTpCzgno13Cswkam4jKrvybBMmU5oVA4cwLtyjitDhDcLkDi3ChK5Yjbnmp6ffv2CM25ZYW4My6RfM/s1600/iphone_5c.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">Best Buy will offer the iPhone 5c for free with a two-year contract from Verizon, AT&T or Sprint. </span><span class="credit" style="text-align: left;">(<span class="photographer">Ahn Young-joon / AP</span>)</span></i><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="padding: 0px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Best Buy is putting the <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/services-shopping/electronic-devices/apple-iphone-PRDCES00000002.topic" id="PRDCES00000002" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;" title="Apple iPhone">iPhone 5</a>c on sale again, this time offering it for free for those who sign up for a two-year service contract with Verizon, AT&T or Sprint.</span></div> <div class="p402_premium" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <div style="padding: 0px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The deal is available Friday and Saturday only.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Best Buy has been discounting the iPhone 5c, one of two new Apple smartphones released in 2013, for months, gradually dropping the price from its original $99 retail price tag.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div> <div style="padding: 0px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Besides the iPhone 5c, Best Buy will also offer the iPhone 5s at a lower price, dropping it to $124.99 with a two-year service contract from Verizon, AT&T and Sprint. The iPhone 5s normally costs $199 with contract.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In addition to Apple, Best Buy said it will also offer the Samsung Galaxy S 4 for free, the HTC One for $29.99 and the LG G2 for $49.99, all by signing a two-year service contract.</span></div> <div style="padding: 0px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The special prices are available Friday and Saturday at Best Buy stores, Best Buy Mobile stores and BestBuy.com.</span></div> </div> <i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Via : <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-best-buy-iphone-5c-free-apple-20140103,0,3105183.story#axzz2pQ1DC9bR">latimes.com</a></span></i>

Best Buy selling iPhone 5c for free

Best Buy will offer the iPhone 5c for free with a two-year contract from Verizon, AT&T or Sprint.  ( Ahn Young-joon / AP ) Best Buy...

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Apple rejected Encrypted chat service Cryptocat for iPhone

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="495" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4D2qL-wGkfqdaQns8NYDlGYHDqujTahRmpkUT8bj5k52YuPOPKImUm32Xyme1im0rFiGP1uVLSmNcISttWMhn1QUYXxHQSdHf1jhN5beX4Zmk2E3pYlb7h5KuzEEVCbLz_0lFmqG1xhk/s640/apple-ios-7-iphone.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i> iPhone</i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4D2qL-wGkfqdaQns8NYDlGYHDqujTahRmpkUT8bj5k52YuPOPKImUm32Xyme1im0rFiGP1uVLSmNcISttWMhn1QUYXxHQSdHf1jhN5beX4Zmk2E3pYlb7h5KuzEEVCbLz_0lFmqG1xhk/s1600/apple-ios-7-iphone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></a></div> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Encrypted chat service Cryptocat has spent the past two years blocking outsiders from reading private conversations, and now it's facing a block of its own trying to get onto Apple's App Store. Developer Nadim Kobeissi took to Twitter today to blast the iPhone and iPad maker for unjustly rejecting Cryptocat for iPhone, software that was announced earlier this month. Kobeissi says he's under a non-disclosure agreement as part of the Apple developer program and cannot go into specifics, but claims that the reasons the company gave for its rejection were "illegitimate," and could threaten similar apps. "One of the reasons for Cryptocat for iPhone's rejection by Apple strongly implies that any other encrypted group chat app can be rejected," Kobeissi said in a follow-up tweet.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cryptocat made waves for offering a simple way to let two people chat while using end-to-end encryption. The service gained international attention (and some notoriety) in light of government eavesdropping, and its use in countries where free speech was limited. That's come with some costs: Kobeissi says he's gone through extra security screenings when traveling; and fearing intrusion from the Canadian government earlier this year, he moved Cryptocat's entire network to a Swedish nuclear bunker.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One thing that makes all this curious is that Cryptocat's already available on Apple's App Store for OS X, which has similar content guideline requirements. Developers need to meet those rules before software can be distributed to users, though unlike on desktop machines, Apple does not allow users to buy or install software from elsewhere on iOS. </span><br /> <i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Via :  <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/27/5249402/encrypted-chat-service-cryptocat-for-iphone-rejected-by-apple">The Verge</a></span></i><br /> <i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Image Credit :  <a href="https://twitter.com/cryptocatapp/status/403936414414696448/photo/1">CryptoCat (Twitter)</a></span></i>

Apple rejected Encrypted chat service Cryptocat for iPhone

 iPhone Encrypted chat service Cryptocat has spent the past two years blocking outsiders from reading private conversations, and now i...

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Apple’s 2014 New Year’s : iPhone 6, Bigger iPad

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfLRD8LJgbMoMUGgtERWxbPEHHHKx0ACmZKAUmRKUFNa6Nr-ZJ05g9xRgNy3WguIjTXMg9-HIU1Hholw4h9e2HY4cGfVQuZhhYTVFwQTBz1xvW91igA0fF_CsNDtdazeEpeTdE-O56xBQ/s1600/iphone-6-concept.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfLRD8LJgbMoMUGgtERWxbPEHHHKx0ACmZKAUmRKUFNa6Nr-ZJ05g9xRgNy3WguIjTXMg9-HIU1Hholw4h9e2HY4cGfVQuZhhYTVFwQTBz1xvW91igA0fF_CsNDtdazeEpeTdE-O56xBQ/s640/iphone-6-concept.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>iPhone 6</i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px; word-wrap: break-word;"> According to a report from Digitimes, the 5-inch iPhone 6 would apparently be powered with the 20nm processor manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company TSMC. The report also suggested that the iPhone maker is looking to launch a 12.9-inch tablet for the North America educational market manufactured by Quanta Computer in October.</div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px; word-wrap: break-word;"> Rival Samsung is also rumored to be making a 12 to 13 inch tablet, and it is highly possible that these big size tablets would affect the demand of ultrabooks in more than one way. Apple Inc. ’s bigger iPad would be a defacto laptop with integrated keyboards and batteries, says a report from <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/12/23/apple-to-go-large-in-2014-with-iphone-6-in-may-and-ipad-max-in-october/" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e73be; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Forbes</a>. It can be helpful for students who search for the new features on their iPads and iPad minis.</div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px; word-wrap: break-word;"> A larger screen would be a challenge for the developers as iOS7 software would be needed to adopt the larger screen and accordingly modifications will have to be made. The expected iOS8 would have many configurations and features for the larger display screens.</div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px; word-wrap: break-word;"> Pacific Crest analyst Andy Hargreaves said in a research note on Monday that the balance sheet of Apple Inc.  and its loyal customer base will safeguard the stock from any potential downside, but there is no significant upside in the near term unless the company rolls out profitable new products or a new service category.</div> <h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; word-wrap: break-word;"> <b style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word;">Apple gets two new patents</b></h2> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px; word-wrap: break-word;"> Earlier this week, Apple Inc.  acquired two new patents; one of them is a “touch and hover” display and the other one is a heart rate monitor to read EKG data. Through the hover technology, the user would be able to perform some action on the screen even without touching the screen. The app can be opened or managed by just hovering the finger or stylus over it. It will open as if the user has touched it with a finger. // <a href="http://www.valuewalk.com/2013/12/apple-iphone-6-bigger-ipad-2014/">valuewalk.com</a></div>

Apple’s 2014 New Year’s : iPhone 6, Bigger iPad

iPhone 6 According to a report from Digitimes, the 5-inch iPhone 6 would apparently be powered with the 20nm processor manufactured by ...

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Shazam iPhone app updated to listen for songs

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Shazam has updated its iPhone app to tag songs, TV shows and more all on its own, no longer requiring  users to open the app and tap a button whenever they want to tag something.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br /> <div class="p402_premium"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The feature, called Auto Shazam, comes turned off by default, but users can turn it on by switching a toggle once they've downloaded the latest update for the app. Once turned on, Auto Shazam will remain on in the phone background and listen for audio that it can tag while users go about their day doing other things.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Any time the app tags a song or show with Auto Shazam, it will send users a notification with the name of the audio that it has tagged.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/%20http:/www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-last-minute-tech-gadget-gift-ideas-20131217,0,1933512.story" target="_blank"><strong><br /></strong></a>“Shazam is already known as fast and easy, but we want to become effortless,” Shazam Chief Product Officer Daniel Danker told The Times. “The only thing easier than pressing a button is not having to press one at all.”</span><br /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSAqBH4WSyGh4I1KQBRZgHi_UScTzOiiLW7NA2Huyd3PP1eOaYS4CqmVDaLwNTkR4j9Dd3T6WK6olPVEteq4-4TnUs0HyT_ukja41v6-IRZzxlVEDZLK5dtTJ7tXLMZjr7iiHhHIvLuos/s1600/shazam-iphone-autoshazam.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSAqBH4WSyGh4I1KQBRZgHi_UScTzOiiLW7NA2Huyd3PP1eOaYS4CqmVDaLwNTkR4j9Dd3T6WK6olPVEteq4-4TnUs0HyT_ukja41v6-IRZzxlVEDZLK5dtTJ7tXLMZjr7iiHhHIvLuos/s320/shazam-iphone-autoshazam.png" width="180" /></a></span></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Shazam</i></span></td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Auto Shazam is set to turn off after users don't interact with the app for two hours. This is built-in by Shazam so that the feature won't drain users' iPhone battery. Shazam recommends using the feature at bars and coffee shops where music constantly plays and also while watching TV.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For those concerned about privacy, Shazam assures users that they  have nothing to worry about. The app doesn't record audio, it creates digital fingerprints that are sent back to Shazam's servers and matched with fingerprints that are stored there. Those digital fingerprints cannot be converted back into audio, so even though the Shazam iPhone app is always listening and tagging, it is never recording.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Those digital fingerprints also ensure that the app won't run up users' data use. Rather than matching large recorded audio files, which would take up multiple megabytes of data, Shazam's digital fingerprints use less data than the size of an average email, the company said.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Auto Shazam has been available for the iPad for several months now, but this is the first time the company brings the feature to a smartphone. Shazam said it would like to bring the feature to Android, but the company said the Google mobile platform has limitations when it comes to the microphone.</span><br /> <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Read more :  http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-shazam-iphone-autoshazam-20131220,0,4616275.story#ixzz2o6dkMSrC</i></span></span><br /> <div> <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div> </div>

Shazam iPhone app updated to listen for songs

Shazam has updated its iPhone app to tag songs, TV shows and more all on its own, no longer requiring  users to open the app and tap a butto...

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Taiwan fines Apple $666K over iPhone pricing

<div class="cnet-image-div image-MEDIUM float-right" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: right; float: right; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin: 20px 2px 20px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 270px;"> <img alt="" class="cnet-image" height="193" src="http://asset1.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/09/18/iPhone5s_35781409_01_270x193.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="270" /><div class="image-caption" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.8em; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.133em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> iPhone 5S</div> </div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission has fined Apple 20 million New Taiwan dollars -- about $666,000 -- after determining the company has been illegally interfering with iPhone pricing in the country, The Wall Street Journal <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702304475004579279523694907870-lMyQjAxMTAzMDIwNTEyNDUyWj" style="border: 0px; color: #2964bf; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">reported</a> Wednesday.</div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The commission found that Apple was telling Taiwan's three primary mobile-service providers how much to charge for iPhones.</div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> "Through the email correspondence between Apple and these three telecom companies we discovered the companies submit their pricing plans to Apple to be approved or confirmed before the products hit the market," the commission said in a statement, according to the WSJ. The newspaper could not reach Apple for comment.</div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Via:<a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57616283-37/taiwan-fines-apple-$666k-over-iphone-pricing/"> CNET</a></div>

Taiwan fines Apple $666K over iPhone pricing

iPhone 5S Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission has fined Apple 20 million New Taiwan dollars -- about $666,000 -- after determining the c...

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Apple confirms iPhone to land at China Mobile in January

<div class="cnet-image-div image-REGULAR float-none" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin: 10px auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline; width: 610px;"> <img alt="" class="cnet-image" height="407" src="http://asset2.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/12/09/Iphone5sIphone5cApple910_63_610x407_1.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="610" /><span class="image-credit" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.8em; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.133em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)</span></div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Apple announced Sunday it has reached an agreement with China Mobile to offer the iPhone on the world's largest wireless carrier next month, confirming long-standing rumors.</div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/iphone-5s/" section="luke_topic" style="border: 0px; color: #2964bf; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">iPhone 5S</a> and <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/iphone-5c/" section="luke_topic" style="border: 0px; color: #2964bf; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">iPhone 5C</a> will be available on China Mobile starting January 17, but pricing was not revealed. Terms of the deal were not released.</div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br />Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster expects that Apple could sell 17 million total iPhones on China Mobile in 2014, reaching approximately 2 percent of China Mobile's total subscriber base."China is an extremely important market for Apple and our partnership with China Mobile presents us the opportunity to bring iPhone to the customers of the world's largest network," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.</div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The rollout of the iPhone on China Mobile, which has nearly 760 million customers, was widely expected to occur earlier this month to coincide with the debut of 4G LTE service on wireless carriers in China. Xinhua, China's official state news agency, quietly reported in November that the iPhone would "officially" launch on China Mobile's network on December 18.</div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> While the iPhone is currently offered by China Unicom and China Telecom, Apple has been courting China Mobile for years, seeking the vast number of new customers such a deal would create. Negotiations between the two companies were closely watched, with two visits by Cook to China to meet with China Mobile Chairman Xi Guohua widely reported on.</div> <div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <i>Via: <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57616219-37/apple-confirms-iphone-to-land-at-china-mobile-in-january/">CNET</a></i></div>

Apple confirms iPhone to land at China Mobile in January

(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET) Apple announced Sunday it has reached an agreement with China Mobile to offer the iPhone on the world...

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iPhone forced Google to start over with Android?

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLJtfn600MDRsC_6KqeqZ8_3hi0yqVGQf1lmnYWZhMI33ychTMSL6AOg5cAXUMN0Yfz9wPbCQpgrDzRashX9oXuDeVVc5XP3MGLqsJmGai-7sb7Gc8w_vLCdpXAIZMyVfm8AhM7vuou-8H/s320/htc-dream.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><i>HTC </i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLJtfn600MDRsC_6KqeqZ8_3hi0yqVGQf1lmnYWZhMI33ychTMSL6AOg5cAXUMN0Yfz9wPbCQpgrDzRashX9oXuDeVVc5XP3MGLqsJmGai-7sb7Gc8w_vLCdpXAIZMyVfm8AhM7vuou-8H/s1600/htc-dream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></a></div> <div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1387737315038_1539" style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After a story in <em>The Atlantic</em> on Thursday stirred the iPhone vs Android rivalry waters, revealing that <a data-rapid_p="11" href="http://bgr.com/2013/12/19/original-iphone-android-story/" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1387737315038_1544" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="How the original iPhone forced Google to completely rebuild Android">Google engineers were completely surprised by Steve Jobs’ original iPhone announcement in early 2007</a>, deciding to ditch a BlackBerry-like prototype in favor of what was to become the HTC G1/Dream, <em>OSNews</em> (via <em>9to5mac</em>) provided a comment made on the site on the same matter in mid July 2012 by former Android engineer Dianne Hackborn that disputes these events in a similar story that appeared on the website last year.<span id="more-2187787"></span></span></div> <div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1387737315038_1529" style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">According to Hackborn, the decision to ditch Sooner in favor of Dream was made before the iPhone announcement and was “not such a huge upheaval,” as Google engineers were developing both products in parallel. “I don’t recall the exact dates, but I believe the decision to drop Sooner was well before the iPhone announcement,” Hackborn wrote, “though we continued to use it for quite a while internally for development, since it was the only semi-stable hardware platform we had.”</span></div> <div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1387737315038_1556" style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As Hackborn puts it, Sooner was the “risk-free” development device for Android OS, while Dream was a device for the future. The engineer further said that the differences in schedule were also caused by the fact that Sooner was based on an existing HTC device, while the Dream was a “completely new” handset “with a lot of things that had never been shipped before, at least by HTC (new Qualcomm chipset, sensors, touch screen, the hinge design, etc).” In the same comment, Hackborn also revealed Google spent a lot of time developing and stabilizing Android for the Dream, trying to make sure everything would work as expected when the device was to hit stores. “At the time we shipped the device, we even felt like we had to assume that what we shipped on the ROM was it, and we would never be able to deliver an update to it,” Hackborn added.</span></div> <div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1387737315038_1580" style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On the other hand, The Atlantic quoted several Google engineers working on the project including former Android head Andy Rubin, with all of them suggesting that the iPhone announcement made them realize the Sooner prototype would not measure up to the first iOS device, and convinced them to focus on launching a different first Android device than they had originally planned. //<i><b> bgr.com</b></i></span></div>

iPhone forced Google to start over with Android?

HTC  After a story in  The Atlantic  on Thursday stirred the iPhone vs Android rivalry waters, revealing that  Google engineers were ...

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24 ways to improve your iPhone's battery life

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifNsh3I-7tvUr4xm1tx-w8UUQgnxZFxhPbKg77Yk75ZIqUfWna0wD_ZWHaNTZC6l9CrRJJelf7hOHDRaxwLrYtzhd0vRLiL4RHKFvsWc4rXlW44zq4p-TafvHPdL6VZsq4qzLZOX1ZBw8/s1600/aa-lede-image-v1-620x500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifNsh3I-7tvUr4xm1tx-w8UUQgnxZFxhPbKg77Yk75ZIqUfWna0wD_ZWHaNTZC6l9CrRJJelf7hOHDRaxwLrYtzhd0vRLiL4RHKFvsWc4rXlW44zq4p-TafvHPdL6VZsq4qzLZOX1ZBw8/s1600/aa-lede-image-v1-620x500.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">iPhone's battery life</span></td></tr> </tbody></table> <h2 class="subtitle" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Making the most out of your iPhone's battery (updated for iOS 7)</span></h2> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Editor's note: </strong><em style="border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">This slideshow was first published on May 4. It has been updated and refreshed with more power-saving tips in line with the release of iOS 7 in mid-September, and again for the December holiday season.</em></span></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Enterprises and business users love the iPhone because of its back-end management and security features that allow employees to bring their own from home (BYOD) and use it in the workplace. The one thing that lets the device down from full marks is its battery life. Compared to the old business favorite BlackBerry, the iPhone's battery life is far from comparable.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are 24 things you can do to make your iPhone run a little longer.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Via: <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/how-to-improve-your-iphones-battery-life-updated-for-ios7-7000014902/">ZDNet</a></span></i></div>

24 ways to improve your iPhone's battery life

iPhone's battery life Making the most out of your iPhone's battery (updated for iOS 7) Editor's note:  This slideshow was...

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China Mobile accept To Sell iPhone

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4rit5s20p18ojXbmghmz-xFNsFjB-AX-ZiwioNZQ5bjS9-11LZRR0Q7L9czWbI1-isUnU5fkTPb38yhHly0UY1xYayh6jyCm_tTq2GgaNIdasDi9rvFEAaoEYaA_YuwpuoywTSqmSL6Qm/s1600/iphone5c-fromSS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4rit5s20p18ojXbmghmz-xFNsFjB-AX-ZiwioNZQ5bjS9-11LZRR0Q7L9czWbI1-isUnU5fkTPb38yhHly0UY1xYayh6jyCm_tTq2GgaNIdasDi9rvFEAaoEYaA_YuwpuoywTSqmSL6Qm/s320/iphone5c-fromSS.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i> iPhone</i></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Apple announced Monday it has struck a multiyear agreement with China Mobile that makes the iPhone available on the world's largest mobile network. The iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c will both go on sale at China Mobile's retail shops, as well as Apple's own stores, beginning Jan. 17. Customers will be able to preorder the devices beginning Dec. 25, but pricing wasn't immediately revealed.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Don't Miss :</b>  </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.itrumors.net/2013/12/evasi0n-jailbreak-for-ios7-comes-with.html" itemprop="url">Evasi0n Jailbreak for iOS7 comes with support for Chinese market</a></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">To date, the iPhone hasn't fared as well in China as have Google's Android devices. One reason is its lack of availability with China Mobile. The network operator boasts 700 million customers -- or about seven times as many as AT&T or Verizon Wireless in the US. China Unicom and China Telecom both sell the iPhone, but have far fewer customers than China Mobile.</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">One of the factors at play is the underlying technology. China Mobile uses TD-SCDMA, which is a China-developed 3G mobile technology. China Unicom and China Telecom use the same WCDMA networks that are prevalent around the world. China Mobile's TD-SCDMA technology is not widely supported outside of China. Apple is building a version of the iPhone to work with China Mobile's networking technology.</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><strong>Don't Miss :  </strong></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.itrumors.net/2013/12/activate-apple-isight-webcams-without.html" itemprop="url">Activate Apple iSight webcams without warning light</a></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">China Mobile is just getting its 4G network off the ground, and the iPhone 5s and 5c will support that, too. China Mobile says that its TD-LTE 4G network is available in 16 cities already, and it will expand to 340 cities by the end of 2014. Launching with support for China Mobile's new 4G network might convince a lot of customers who have older 3G devices to jump to the iPhone. //<a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobile/mobile-devices/china-mobile-agrees-to-sell-iphone/d/d-id/1113247">Informationweek</a></span></span>

China Mobile accept To Sell iPhone

 iPhone Apple announced Monday it has struck a multiyear agreement with China Mobile that makes the iPhone available on the world's lar...

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Google Play Music gets a new look for iOS 7

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgriM3U-FPCNSJx4cEYhohr1eyVML6r7jqqAvG3zQ2yb-ogJGAUjRlzSw5wO-9lXypD3v6XOkmp8yuUob_5mSdH_TJWpFZdcUPLX5l9b6x8NknQPaf7NBqkhjBucljffR_EP2dNS1-lmFKV/s1600/google-play-music-ios7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgriM3U-FPCNSJx4cEYhohr1eyVML6r7jqqAvG3zQ2yb-ogJGAUjRlzSw5wO-9lXypD3v6XOkmp8yuUob_5mSdH_TJWpFZdcUPLX5l9b6x8NknQPaf7NBqkhjBucljffR_EP2dNS1-lmFKV/s320/google-play-music-ios7.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Google Play Music gets a new look for iOS 7 </span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you're an iOS user that stuck with Google Play Music past the free All Access promo, a new update brings this refreshed UI for iOS 7 and a few new features. As promised at launch, it now supports "I'm feeling lucky" radio which randomly assembles a playlist based on recent listening habits. Also new are themed auto-playlists built around tracks in your library and those you've given a thumbs-up to. Google's iOS team added genre radio stations for All Access subscribers too, and the ability to search by genre for everyone, bringing this version's features up to par with its Android counterpart. With the amount of countries where the service is now available, that shouldn't leave many people out -- unless they live in Canada, that is.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Source : <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-play-music/id691797987" style="line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">iTunes</a></span>

Google Play Music gets a new look for iOS 7

Google Play Music gets a new look for iOS 7  If you're an iOS user that stuck with Google Play Music past the free All Access promo, a n...

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Google starts over, sculpture on the moon and more

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhh80WGOVFfj53fjYUZjvQsM5_r_eL4F91De_-ypUWiaegwN3TfdXR971hHaga0o_XcYtpfDLhSVlxAFnTXhqHZdrildxdw28x_CaWD2xtnqX1pJynpZb2Tyl9vYC_6e2v_akL-rMQjrv9/s320/iphone.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>iPhone</i></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhh80WGOVFfj53fjYUZjvQsM5_r_eL4F91De_-ypUWiaegwN3TfdXR971hHaga0o_XcYtpfDLhSVlxAFnTXhqHZdrildxdw28x_CaWD2xtnqX1pJynpZb2Tyl9vYC_6e2v_akL-rMQjrv9/s1600/iphone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></a></div><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Back in 2005, Google had tasked teams of engineers with developing a secret mobile product that would position it to better compete with Microsoft. When 2007 rolled around, teams had worked 40- to 80- hour weeks for almost a year in an effort to revolutionize mobile phones. However, Apple was first out of the gate, revealing the iPhone on January 9th and forcing Google to rethink all the work that had been done. Fred Vogelstein recounts the outfit's post-iPhone Android development and a touchscreen Dream device built to make up for iOS shortcomings.</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span><table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; line-height: 24px; width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/12/19/this-100-year-old-deal-birthed-the-modern-phone-system-and-its-all-about-to-end/?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost" style="text-decoration: none;"><strong>This 100-year-old deal birthed the modern phone system. And it's all about to end.</strong></a><br />(3,426 words)<br />by Brian Fung, Washington Post</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A hundred years ago this week, The Klingsbury Commitment kept AT&T from being another broken-up monopoly that fell under the US anti-trust laws of the early 20th century. Brian Fung takes a look at the letter (one of the first successful PR campaigns) that maintained the company's hold on telecommunications and the monopoly's ultimate fall.</span></div></td></tr><tr><td><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong><a href="http://qz.com/158373/envia-the-mysterious-story-of-the-battery-startup-that-promised-gm-a-200-mile-electric-car/" style="text-decoration: none;">The mysterious story of the battery startup </a></strong><strong><a href="http://qz.com/158373/envia-the-mysterious-story-of-the-battery-startup-that-promised-gm-a-200-mile-electric-car/" style="text-decoration: none;">that promised GM a 200-mile electric car</a></strong> (7,490 words)</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">by Steve LeVine,<em> Quartz</em></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">200 mile range in an electric car? Well, Envia Systems certainly thought it possible and it struck a deal with GM to power vehicles like the Chevy Volt. One year later, the deal is void, the startup is being accused of misrepresenting its wares and two execs are battling each other in civil suits. So, what went wrong?</span></div><div style="margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></div><div class="pocket-btn"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Via :<a href="http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/21/recommended-reading-google-starts-over/"> Engadget</a></span></i></div></td><td valign="top"><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/12/sculpture_on_the_moon_paul_van_hoeydonck_s_fallen_astronaut.html" style="text-decoration: none;">The Sculpture on the Moon</a></strong> (7,060 words)<br />by Corey S. Powell and Laurie Gwen Shapiro, <em>Slate</em></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Paul van Hoerydonck is the only artist to have a sculpture on the moon.<em>Slate's </em>Corey S. Powell and Laurie Gwen Shapiro tell the story of <em>Fallen Astronaut</em>and the Apollo 15 mission that placed the 3-inch aluminum figure in a small dusty crater in 1971.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table>

Google starts over, sculpture on the moon and more

iPhone Back in 2005, Google had tasked teams of engineers with developing a secret mobile product that would position it to better compete w...

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Apple iPhone 5S In-Store Continues to Improve

<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiykWDjhUQQ9AURP_yZRp_G1x3FqXdfC_hpEts1hEEL9_nK5HCP61qAUMPISDsJ-0QTIxS01WT5izIEHNCo6TMMIOW9yjQrltZvbz_fkWSkwBqsbaphf6CXffP2ywsWkkaRnIIE2uxcFOUB/s1600/cal-uber-integration-hed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiykWDjhUQQ9AURP_yZRp_G1x3FqXdfC_hpEts1hEEL9_nK5HCP61qAUMPISDsJ-0QTIxS01WT5izIEHNCo6TMMIOW9yjQrltZvbz_fkWSkwBqsbaphf6CXffP2ywsWkkaRnIIE2uxcFOUB/s320/cal-uber-integration-hed.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>iPhone</i></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">If you’ve been patiently waiting to get your hands on a brand new iPhone 5S, it looks like your chances are pretty good now. Back when the iPhone 5S first became available in the early part of October, it only accounted for 10% of the available iPhone stock in stores.<br /><br />That improved to about 31 percent two weeks ago, but the number has risen dramatically since then. In a survey of 60 Apple Stores in the United States, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster found that the iPhone 5S now accounts for about 90 percent of all iPhone models in stock. What this means is that if you walk into an Apple Store today, nine out of the ten iPhones they have in stock will be of the 5S variety.<br /><br />To put this into perspective, the iPhone 5 accounted for about 95 percent of all iPhones in stock at this same time last year. To be fair, the stock available through carriers like AT&T and Verizon is better this year for the 5S than it was for the iPhone 5 last year.<br /><br />If you were to order an iPhone 5S today via the Apple online store, you can expect a ship time of somewhere between three and five days. That’s a vast improvement over the two to three week timeline shown on the site just earlier this month.<br /><br /><i>Source : <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57613751-37/iphone-5s-supply-almost-meets-demand/" target="_blank">CNET</a></i><br /></span></span><br /><div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">If you’ve been patiently waiting to get your hands on a brand new iPhone 5S, it looks like your chances are pretty good now. Back when the iPhone 5S first became available in the early part of October, it only accounted for 10% of the available iPhone stock in stores. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">That improved to about 31 percent two weeks ago, but the number has risen dramatically since then. In a survey of 60 Apple Stores in the United States, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster found that the iPhone 5S now accounts for about 90 percent of all iPhone models in stock. What this means is that if you walk into an Apple Store today, nine out of the ten iPhones they have in stock will be of the 5S variety.</span></span><br /> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">To put this into perspective, the iPhone 5 accounted for about 95 percent of all iPhones in stock at this same time last year. To be fair, the stock available through carriers like AT&T and Verizon is better this year for the 5S than it was for the iPhone 5 last year. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">If you were to order an iPhone 5S today via the Apple online store, you can expect a ship time of somewhere between three and five days. That’s a vast improvement over the two to three week timeline shown on the site just earlier this month.</span></span><br /> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><hr noshade="noshade" /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Source</i> : <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57613751-37/iphone-5s-supply-almost-meets-demand/" target="_blank" title="CNET">CNET</a></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> - See more at: http://www.mobilemag.com/2013/11/26/apple-iphone-5s-store-stock-continues-improve/#sthash.CUz2EmEd.dpuf</span></span></div><div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">If you’ve been patiently waiting to get your hands on a brand new iPhone 5S, it looks like your chances are pretty good now. Back when the iPhone 5S first became available in the early part of October, it only accounted for 10% of the available iPhone stock in stores. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">That improved to about 31 percent two weeks ago, but the number has risen dramatically since then. In a survey of 60 Apple Stores in the United States, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster found that the iPhone 5S now accounts for about 90 percent of all iPhone models in stock. What this means is that if you walk into an Apple Store today, nine out of the ten iPhones they have in stock will be of the 5S variety.</span></span><br /> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">To put this into perspective, the iPhone 5 accounted for about 95 percent of all iPhones in stock at this same time last year. To be fair, the stock available through carriers like AT&T and Verizon is better this year for the 5S than it was for the iPhone 5 last year. </span></span><br /> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">If you were to order an iPhone 5S today via the Apple online store, you can expect a ship time of somewhere between three and five days. That’s a vast improvement over the two to three week timeline shown on the site just earlier this month.</span></span><br /> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><hr noshade="noshade" /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Source</i> : <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57613751-37/iphone-5s-supply-almost-meets-demand/" target="_blank" title="CNET">CNET</a></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> - See more at: http://www.mobilemag.com/2013/11/26/apple-iphone-5s-store-stock-continues-improve/#sthash.CUz2EmEd.dpuf</span></span></div>

Apple iPhone 5S In-Store Continues to Improve

iPhone If you’ve been patiently waiting to get your hands on a brand new iPhone 5S, it looks like your chances are pretty good now. Back whe...

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Apple's iPhones And iPads Showing China Mobile Stores

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdqkdR4W38zKY92_zBudyBEEnN64VMdNga2ZeAdHds3WqP9yb3E8ZncRMxwZ9XWQEjwJYdVwh-Lm0Qcqrb7_J61QxO_fTlc4h_zpkT3ZDrwovnXXmCdcFxR5MW4Zj3zyhlV7t3Mfy8ry24/s1600/Apple-China-Mobile-main-display-with-iPhones-and-iPads.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdqkdR4W38zKY92_zBudyBEEnN64VMdNga2ZeAdHds3WqP9yb3E8ZncRMxwZ9XWQEjwJYdVwh-Lm0Qcqrb7_J61QxO_fTlc4h_zpkT3ZDrwovnXXmCdcFxR5MW4Zj3zyhlV7t3Mfy8ry24/s640/Apple-China-Mobile-main-display-with-iPhones-and-iPads.png" width="640" /></span></a></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-right: 161.65625px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">From the pictures he took and what he wrote a majority of the store was dedicated to Apple. While this is only one store it is a positive indication that China Mobile could aggressively market iPhones and iPads.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-right: 161.65625px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The price for an iPhone 5s is 4,380 Chinese Yuan which is $721 (a 16GB unlocked model in the U.S is $649) and a 5c is shown at 3,380 Chinese Yuan or $557 (a 16GB unlocked model in the U.S. is $549). There were no pictures with iPad pricing.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-right: 161.65625px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What I can’t tell is if there is any contract commitment required for this price and it is also a bit interesting that the price is on a handwritten piece of paper compared to the very good marketing material on display. It looks like the pricing was either decided at the last minute or kept under wraps so much that properly printed pricing was not distributed prior to the launch (which has still not officially occurred).</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 21px; margin-right: 161.65625px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Via : <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2013/12/15/apples-iphones-and-ipads-showing-up-in-china-mobile-stores/">Forbes</a></span></i></div>

Apple's iPhones And iPads Showing China Mobile Stores

From the pictures he took and what he wrote a majority of the store was dedicated to Apple. While this is only one store it is a positive in...

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iPhone Air, iPhone 6c concepts that may never be

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdLObYGyOIVQtMFNtpmRaVuTrf6uwu-OraRIl-mXGnxsncMGcpTkHZjqW7PQqdLlQRTBnSLJMtFzo1VPswAWoqNtLJKu7OZQSeN6BzlRWlH1jSRmfYSvE4RdQXPKIntwBPAeMNA0q8Bji-/s1600/iphone-air-iphone-6c-concepts-that-may.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="359" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdLObYGyOIVQtMFNtpmRaVuTrf6uwu-OraRIl-mXGnxsncMGcpTkHZjqW7PQqdLlQRTBnSLJMtFzo1VPswAWoqNtLJKu7OZQSeN6BzlRWlH1jSRmfYSvE4RdQXPKIntwBPAeMNA0q8Bji-/s640/iphone-air-iphone-6c-concepts-that-may.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">iPhone Air, iPhone 6c</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="background-color: white; padding: 10px 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Even though the new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c have only been available in stores for a few months, fans are already trying to imagine with help of concept renders and videos what the future iPhones may bring – that's exactly what the designers at SET Solution did in the iPhone Air and iPhone 6c videos that follow, via Nowhereelse.</span></div><div align="justify" style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, while the renders look great and introduce some believable handset characteristics, they are not based in any way on what Apple actually has in mind for its upcoming generation of smartphones.<br /><br /><br />The imagined iPhone Air has a Touch ID fingerprint scanner, and a bigger edge-to-edge display, which are features we may very well see in the next-gen iPhone 6 model. But the iPhone Air is also tremendously thin, maybe too thin for what current mobile technology can support. We’re looking at 1.5mm thinness at the top, and just 3mm at the bottom of the phone. Moreover, with great thinness comes reduced weight as well, and this iPhone Air would weigh only 70g.<br /><br />The iPhone 6c shown in the following video has a curved screen that just looks too fragile for its own good, albeit it’s still very interesting. In this instance, “C” stands for “curve” not just “color,” and the iPhone 6c would be somewhat similar to the existing LG G Flex that was just launched in certain markets when it comes to screen curvature. However, the iPhone 6c would still have a flat back, which means the top and bottom sides would be thicker than the middle section. Then again, we’ve seen plenty of wild smartphone concepts with curved displays lately, including some designs from Samsung, a company that has also launched its first curved handset. Other iPhone 6c features would include a Touch ID sensor, an edge-to-edge display, and a variety of colors for the plastic case.</span></div>

iPhone Air, iPhone 6c concepts that may never be

iPhone Air, iPhone 6c Even though the new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c have only been available in stores for a few months, fans are already tryi...

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IFTTT now lets iOS users automate their location

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">IFTTT (If This Then That) is a handy online service capable of connecting various apps and devices together and running automated tasks (or "recipes") that you'd normally find mundane and time-wasting. It's been around for a couple years and has built up a strong network of different services ranging from social networks like Instagram and Twitter to cloud services like Dropbox and Box.net, and plenty of stuff in between. One thing that's been missing, however, is the ability to automate your location; fortunately, IFTTT is introducing the iOS Location Channel to fill that void (well, for iOS devices anyway).</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The new channel leverages location information from your GPS, cellular, WiFi or iBeacon data and uses it as a "trigger" -- something that initiates an automated action. For example, you can instruct IFTTT to send a text message to your loved ones as you're arriving at your destination, or get an email when one of your Foursquare friends checks in somewhere near your apartment. If you use a Philips Hue, have it do a crazy light show to announce your upcoming arrival. There are plenty more ideas where those came from, but you'll have to go take a look at IFTTT's full listing of services and come up with a few clever recipes of your own as well.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span class="source"><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="https://ifttt.com/ios_location" target="_blank">IFTTT</a></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span class="source">Via : <i><a href="http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/12/ifttt-ios-location-channel/?ncid=rss_truncated">Engadget </a></i></span><i><a href="http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/12/ifttt-ios-location-channel/?ncid=rss_truncated"> </a></i></span></span>

IFTTT now lets iOS users automate their location

IFTTT (If This Then That) is a handy online service capable of connecting various apps and devices together and running automated tasks (o...

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Eric Schmidt posts a cheeky 'Christmas present' to Apple iPhone customers

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj94khLLZoAiH3vs0F00Cu9-doZu01-JRhqa4D-viD4yM2NCeHPGHO6b3UHtsKlR-EoxcFkHH7Ljql11WO9NaGlFFUSLTNKEH97KEf-t5rQI1NhHTf35xtPcYGP-xC7SL6da48uq-qD6Dk/s1600/ip.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj94khLLZoAiH3vs0F00Cu9-doZu01-JRhqa4D-viD4yM2NCeHPGHO6b3UHtsKlR-EoxcFkHH7Ljql11WO9NaGlFFUSLTNKEH97KEf-t5rQI1NhHTf35xtPcYGP-xC7SL6da48uq-qD6Dk/s320/ip.PNG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Apple iPhone customers</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What is up with this post? Is there some concern by Schmidt that Apple users might not trust an ordinary Google marketing manager or engineer to write up this procedure? Or perhaps this task was too much for the Google marketing communications department, which could have "placed" a piece of "advertorial" on some blog that potential customers might find with a search engine such as, say, Google?</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But those sources might not generate enough trust for Apple users. Hey, if you can trust anything in the Android world, you've gotta be able to trust Eric Schmidt, right? Not the ordinary Chairman but the Executive Chairman. (Could this is one of his new duties?)</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What has always pushed my buttons (and according to reports that of Steve Jobs) was that Schmidt was a member of Apple’s board from 2006 to 2009. And during that very same time, Google began to compete with Apple. And obviously, Schmidt knew about the potential and actual conflicts of interest. And he didn't remove himself from the board, which would have signaled the company's intentions to the market.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've have seen this history written along the lines that the "two companies began to compete with each other," which is true but nonsense. The more honest reading is that it was Google that moved into Apple's mobile, OS, system, and application space.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Back in 2009, I wrote a post about <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/apple/apple-board-vacancy-good-riddance-to-eric-schmidt/4596" style="border: 0px; color: #005399; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Schmidt's leaving the Apple Board</a>. In my estimation, Apple was very generous to him.</span></div><blockquote style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 228, 233); border-bottom-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(221, 228, 233); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px; display: table; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 15px 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Eric has been an excellent Board member for Apple, investing his valuable time, talent, passion and wisdom to help make Apple successful,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple’s Board.”</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Come on! Maybe he's going to spend some more time with his family too. How many announcements of competing products does it take for the Apple board to figure out that a board member isn't pulling his or her weight?</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The writing for this ejection has been on the wall for years. Was it the Chrome OS? Was it a competing browser? Was it Google's cloud applications that compete against Apple's host-based and online sync services?</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Where is the "passion" to make Apple successful here? (Note that I'm not talking here about the responsibilities of the board for governance here and their possible dropping the dime on Steve Jobs' absence and the lack of transparent planning for succession. Board members are also supposed to bring something of an industry perspective.)</span></div></blockquote><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">According to reports, Schmidt says he never did anything wrong, that Steve Jobs and Apple understood his conflicts of interest when he joined the Apple Board, and that Jobs was never mad at him.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Right.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Or instead, we may see a pattern? This iPhone-2-Android switchers' guide from Schmidt is just the latest bit of chutzpah from the Google Executive Chair. His latest laugh on Apple and perhaps Steve Jobs.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Via:<a href="http://www.zdnet.com/eric-schmidt-posts-a-cheeky-christmas-present-to-apple-iphone-customers-7000024070/"> ZDNet</a></i></span></div>

Eric Schmidt posts a cheeky 'Christmas present' to Apple iPhone customers

 Apple iPhone customers What is up with this post? Is there some concern by Schmidt that Apple users might not trust an ordinary Google mark...

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iPhone : Heyday app is the anti-Facebook

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtrDMhxvjRMY_1yN-0qPyPjTl9mByx95Z23fihUMkr1lwx9V6E0Gnb3RqcQaqq12kVkem9yJ86bB3p9pZngwF3tF4NfAKywUqkEWk8kREkrCaICUrZcJTOn-49c6FpN44UxzqeQp5v6S2g/s1600/iPhone+anti+facebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtrDMhxvjRMY_1yN-0qPyPjTl9mByx95Z23fihUMkr1lwx9V6E0Gnb3RqcQaqq12kVkem9yJ86bB3p9pZngwF3tF4NfAKywUqkEWk8kREkrCaICUrZcJTOn-49c6FpN44UxzqeQp5v6S2g/s1600/iPhone+anti+facebook.jpg" /></a></span></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Heyday will create a virtual journal including all of the places you have visited and the photos you have taken</i></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">That is where a <a href="http://www.hey.co/index" target="_blank">new iOS app called Heyday</a> comes in. It combs through your past photos and automatically logs your location data to create a personalized journal — all for your eyes only. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It's kind of like Facebook Timeline, except that everything is private by default. Heyday co-founder and CEO Siqi Chen told NBC News that he was inspired after talking to users of both Facebook and <a href="https://foursquare.com/" target="_blank">Foursquare</a>, a social media app that lets you share your location with people you know. </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">"About half of the Foursquare users we talked to had accounts with no friends," he said. "And with Facebook , users were tired of people over-sharing with things like baby and vacation photos. There weren't that many products that helped people remember their lives for themselves."</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Creating your own journal is pretty easy. After downloading the app from iTunes, I had my own virtual scrapbook up in around five minutes. After letting Heyday access my photos and location info, I didn't have to do anything — I just waited for the app to automatically assemble colorful collages filled with snapshots that I had taken over the life of my phone. Heyday pretty much does all of the work, choosing photos with faces or lots of color in them, and leaving out duplicates and pictures that are too dark.</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Then, you are free to edit individual photos and albums, add labels, privately tag your friends and jazz up pictures with 18 different filters. And, yes, you can share them on Facebook or Twitter if you feel like it. </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Everything is stored locally on your phone, which helps the journals scroll quickly and smoothly. (Information is backed up on the company's servers, an option that can be switched off from within the app). </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Chen, speaking from his office in San Francisco, sounded somewhat existential in explaining why Hey, Inc. started work on the app 18 months ago. </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">"It fulfills an itch that users didn't know they had until Heyday," he said. "If you forget what you did a year ago, you basically forget that you forgot, so that time that you lived disappears. We think that's really sad."</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i> Source : <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/heyday-app-anti-facebook-iphone-2D11702474">NBC News</a></i></span></span>

iPhone : Heyday app is the anti-Facebook

Heyday will create a virtual journal including all of the places you have visited and the photos you have taken That is where a new iOS app ...

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This Week : China Mobile to Accept iPhone Orders

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsMQCN5b_kIUvHMjA5we4GY643GSO74HLGm3Kcg_17u5j3HXgzzz-4oZ6EgsIa9B0qZVge8h_XSFX2VeQsHUvTNYFAe2IKhGGABhNWGv_e3WlIFDHm7EWIyc5KJU5TnVQyUNulz50_JTfW/s1600/BN-AS116_cmobil_D_20131209020109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsMQCN5b_kIUvHMjA5we4GY643GSO74HLGm3Kcg_17u5j3HXgzzz-4oZ6EgsIa9B0qZVge8h_XSFX2VeQsHUvTNYFAe2IKhGGABhNWGv_e3WlIFDHm7EWIyc5KJU5TnVQyUNulz50_JTfW/s400/BN-AS116_cmobil_D_20131209020109.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A screen shot of China Mobile’s web site.</span></i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.314em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">China Mobile Shanghai’s website, running the “4G is here!” slogan, invited potential customers to preorder the <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a href="http://www.itrumors.net/search/label/iPhone">iPhone</a></span> 5S and other smartphones from <a href="http://www.itrumors.net/search/label/Samsung">Samsung</a> Electronics Co. and <a href="http://www.itrumors.net/search/label/Sony">Sony</a> Corp. that support the company’s new 4G mobile network.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.314em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A quick test to preorder an<b> </b><span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.itrumors.net/search/label/iPhone" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;">iPhone</a></span> 5S didn’t work Monday. A phone call to a China Mobile customer representative confirmed that customers can preorder iPhones from the site starting Thursday.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.314em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Customers can begin to preorder for our new 4G services from Dec. 12 through the company’s website and some dedicated branches in Shanghai. But we will only start providing commercial 4G services after Dec. 18,” the customer services operator said.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.314em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">China Mobile is preparing a pricing plan for new <a href="http://www.itrumors.net/search/label/iPhone">iPhones</a> but the company hasn’t informed the customer services team of the details yet, the representative said.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.314em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A China Mobile spokeswoman said that she couldn’t comment on the advertisement.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.314em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">China Mobile plans to unveil a new brand for its 4G services at a global partner conference in Guangzhou on Dec. 18, according to its website. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that China Mobile had signed <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304096104579238832743924434?mod=Business_newsreel_1" style="outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">a long-awaited deal with Apple</a> to offer iPhones on its network.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.314em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Analysts said China Mobile is eager to launch its new high-speed services as soon as possible and it hopes new iPhones can help attract subscribers to its more profitable data services. The mobile giant has been operating homegrown 3G mobile technology and has continued to lose market share to two smaller rivals, China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd and China Telecom Corp. Using more common 3G technology, China Unicom has offered iPhones since 2009 and China Telecom began selling iPhones in 2012.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.314em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">According to a notice on China Mobile’s website, the company will offer commercial 4G services in cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjian, Shenzhen and Nanjing by the end of this year. China Mobile also said it is striving to expand its 4G network coverage to other Chinese cities.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.314em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Source : <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2013/12/09/china-mobile-to-accept-iphone-orders-this-week/?mod=wsj_streaming_latest-headlines">WSJ</a></span></i></div>

This Week : China Mobile to Accept iPhone Orders

A screen shot of China Mobile’s web site. China Mobile Shanghai’s website, running the “4G is here!” slogan, invited potential customers to ...

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