Apple Planning Mid-September Event for 4.7-Inch iPhone 6, Timing of 5.5-Inch Model Unclear
by Kelly Hodgkins
According to 9to5Mac, Apple is putting the finishing touches on iOS 8 in advance of a September iPhone and iOS 8 launch event. Based on current projections, Apple is unsurprisingly tentatively planning to hold this iPhone-oriented event in mid-September. In line with previous reports, Apple is said to be aiming for a second product launch event in October for the iWatch and OS X Yosemite.
Similar to other recent September events, Apple is reportedly planning to focus on only iOS 8 and the iPhone 6 in this year’s September event. While the 4.7-inch iPhone will headline the presentation, the debut of the 5.5-inch model is still uncertain as it is further behind the 4.7-inch model in both testing and manufacturing.
These people say that the second and third weeks of September are the mostly likely weeks for the event to be held, but they add that manufacturing uncertainties could alter the event’s timeframe. A decision has not been finalized, and sources made it clear that the plans are in flux.
This information aligns with an earlier report that suggests Apple may push off the 5.5-inch model until 2015.
The report claims iOS 8 is on track for its public release this fall, with a fifth and final beta version expected on Monday, August 4, although a separate report from BGR claims a sixth beta is planned for Friday, August 15. A golden master version may debut a few weeks later at the end of August or early September. As rumored, dual-screen multi-tasking for the iPad and Maps improvements are still in the works, but these features are not expected to be available at launch and would come in a later iOS 8 update.
Following the September event, Apple also is planning a second event in October that will showcase the iWatch, Apple’s entry into the wearables market. This new product has excited many other businesses, with parts companies already looking to invest in apple watch replacement parts so they are prepared for the large sales. This late fall event also will be used to discuss OS X Yosemite as well as unveil new iPad models. The iPad update is expected to be a modest refresh with hardware additions such as Touch ID and a faster A8 processor.
Windows development set to be ‘unified’ by Microsoft
By Leo Kelion
Chief executive Satya Nadella discussed the effort while briefing analysts following Tuesday’s earnings update.
“We will streamline the next version of Windows from three operating systems into one single converged operating system for screens of all sizes,” he said.
The firm also confirmed it had recently scrapped a new type of tablet.
“During the quarter, we reassessed our product roadmap and decided not to ship a new form factor that was under development,” said Amy Hood, the company’s chief financial officer.
Leaks had indicated that the firm had originally planned to launch the Surface Mini in May – a small tablet running the Windows RT system, a version of the OS designed for ARM-based chips.
Mr Nadella did not mention Windows RT during the conference call, instead referring to the three existing versions of Windows that would be merged as “one for phone, one for tablets and PCs, [and] one for Xbox”.
However, as the tech news site Zdnet noted, that did not necessarily mean the firm was about to release a single variant of its operating system.
Rather, a single team is now working to deepen the links between Windows for PCs, Windows Phone and the Xbox OS, which are all based on the single Windows NT software core.
Universal apps
Mr Nadella said one target was for developers to be able to write a single app that would adapt its layout and controls to suit whether it was being used on a phone, tablet, PC or games console.
“One of beauties of universal Windows app is it aggregates for the first time for us all of our Windows volume,” Mr Nadella said.
Ubuntu Edge docked with monitor
Canonical designed a phone that could double up as a desktop PC
“An app that runs with a mouse and keyboard on the desktop can be in the store, and you can have the same app run in the touch-first [mobile devices].
“[It] gives developers the entire volume of Windows, which is 300 plus million units as opposed to just our 4% share of mobile in the US or 10% in some countries.”
The move to “unify” the various Windows stores and developer platforms puts Microsoft at odds with Apple and Google, which are both pursuing separate strategies for app development on laptop/desktop computers and mobile devices – Apple with Mac OS X and iOS, Google with Chrome and Android.
But it does bring Microsoft closer to another OS developer, Canonical, which has promoted the idea of its Ubuntu system powering both phones and desktops. Canonical previously highlighted that one benefit of this strategy was that a handset could double up as a low-power desktop PC if it was plugged into a monitor and connected to a mouse.
It also paves the way for Microsoft to introduce its voice-controlled personal assistant, Cortana, to PCs. Mr Nadella mentioned the app several times during the call.
Microsoft has yet to discuss what new functions the successor to Windows 8 – codenamed Threshold – will offer, but one expert suggested the firm would at least find it easier to sell a more joined-up set of operating systems.
“Microsoft has had a real problem trying to educate the market about the differences between the different platforms its been running,” said Chris Green, principal technology analyst at the Davies Murphy Group consultancy.
“So, given the issues it’s had on that front, going down the one-size-fits-all approach is something it sees as much easier for the user base to comprehend.”
Foursquare rebrands, unveils new app and logo
Adam Ganucheau
Social media app Foursquare announced a major rebranding, shifting its app away from “checking in” at certain locations around the world, and focusing more on helping users search for nearby places. It also trotted out a new logo.
The company’s re-brand aims to better compete with local search platforms like Yelp and Google Places.
“The local search is broken,” said Jon Steinback, Foursquare vice president of product experience. “We realized that we had the ability to change that, so we went for it.”
The change is so drastic that Foursquare, which has 50 million users, created a separate app called Swarm in May to allow users to continue using the check-in feature.
“(Splitting into two apps) stems from a product decision based on data,” Steinback said. “We found that certain people used Foursquare to search for places or check in, but very few did both. Those two uses drifted further and further apart, so we decided to split them.”
Companies are getting more and more into app development and a critical element to that is scaled solutions through aspects such as data collection and processing (source: https://www.expedition.co/services/development/web-app). Foursquare clearly saw from their data that there was a need for a new product and acted upon it by creating Swarm.
Swarm will apparently “work seamlessly” with Foursquare, the company says, allowing users to use Swarm’s check-in feature through the Foursquare app. And for all you “mayors” out there, don’t fret: Your check-in history will carry over to the new app.
Market analysts speculated reasons for the re-branding Wednesday, and some believe Foursquare’s rebranding is an interesting if not dangerous move.
“With Yelp being a main competitor of the new Foursquare, they will have to figure out what unique or interesting things they can add to a market that already exists,” said independent analyst Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence. “For Foursquare, it will be all about user experience.”
Steinback said the company is gathering feedback from users of Swarm, and that while some users have expressed dismay over the lack of some of the old Foursquare features, most have been very receptive. About three-fourths of its users have already switched over to the new app, the company said.
With the change in the app’s main function also comes a change in its logo and presentation. The former logo, which featured a check-in checkmark, is now a pink “F” that is designed to be a morph “of (a) map pin and superpower emblem.”
Steinback said the company will release the new Foursquare app “in a few weeks.”
Want to download old iPhone firmware? Here’s where to find it
by John-Michael Bond @BondJohnBond
Do you miss your old firmware? Do you have an old device that for some reason you want to run like it’s 2009? Well iOS fans, you are in luck. The folks over at TechArrival have compiled a list of download links to original iPhone iOS firmware files for every firmware version.
Take a walk down memory lane with the iOS 2.0.0 for the 2G, and then see what 2.1.0 was like. Maybe you’ve gotten sick of iOS 7 and want to move back in time to iOS 6. Maybe you’ll realize things aren’t so bad with your current firmware version. We’re not here to judge – tt’s your phone.
If you’re downloading the firmware in Safari make sure to turn off the auto unzip feature so the files aren’t extracted. Head over to TechArrival and enjoy.
Why People Aren’t Buying iPads Anymore
Timothy Stenovec
[email protected]
Last week, a colleague of mine went to the Verizon store to get a new phone. An hour later, he walked out with a new smartphone and a free Android tablet.
That’s how cheap tablets have become: Verizon will give you a free one when you sign a two-year contract with the company.
No wonder iPad sales are dropping. On Tuesday, Apple said it sold 13.3 million iPads in the second quarter of 2014, down more than 9 percent from the same period last year. It was the second consecutive quarter that Apple saw a decline in its iPad figures: Three months ago, the company reported a 16 percent decrease in sales.
With super-cheap tablets available from Amazon, Samsung, Asus, Lenovo and companies many of us have never even heard of, why would you shell out upwards of $400 for an iPad?
News of the sluggish iPad sales comes as investors eagerly await new products from Apple. Reports suggest that a bigger-screened iPhone 6 may come out this fall, and that the long-rumored “iWatch” — which would mark the first time Apple has entered a new product category since Tim Cook became full-time CEO nearly three years ago — may be released before the end of 2014.
Sales of iPads “met our expectations,” Cook told analysts on Tuesday. “But we realized they didn’t meet many of yours.”
So what’s going on?
Simply put, Apple refuses to budge on pricing, said Tero Kuittinen, managing director at Frank N. Magid Associates, a consulting firm. Compared to other tablets, iPads are really expensive, and that’s a sticking point.
The least expensive full-sized iPad starts at $399, while the most expensive model — the iPad Air, with 128GB of storage and cellular connectivity — will cost you nearly $1,000. The iPad Mini starts at $299.
Meanwhile, you can get a decent Android tablet for under $200, and both Amazon’s Kindle Fire HDX and Google’s Nexus 7 (which CNET calls “the best Android tablet”) start at $229. Samsung even has 10-inch tablets — the same size as the iPad’s screen — starting at $299.
According to the technology research firm IDC, the average cost of tablets in the U.S. has decreased over the last two years, from $476 in the first quarter of 2012 to $378 in the first quarter of this year.
“They literally would rather let the volume decline than get competitive on pricing,” Kuittinen said of Apple. “Even a year ago nobody thought that iPad sales would tank like this. It really has hit a brick wall.”
Of course, iPhones are expensive, and Apple is still selling a ton of iPhones at an enviable profit. But Apple’s premium pricing strategy may work better for phones than tablets, simply because people upgrade their phones more frequently than their tablets. A three-year-old iPad, one that you use to shop online, browse the Web and read news while sitting on the couch, probably suffices. But a phone that age — which you carry with you everywhere you go — likely feels slow and out of date.
And although wireless companies are moving away from subsidizing phones, people still pay the cost of their phone over time, which hides the actual cost of the hardware.
“People don’t seem to feel the need to upgrade [their iPads],” Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research, wrote in an email to The Huffington Post. “So the number of people who have an iPad is still growing every quarter, but there aren’t many people buying their second or third iPad.”
And unlike smartphones, which you can’t really share, a family may buy just one tablet for the entire household. If they do buy another — perhaps for the kids — they’ll likely buy a cheaper one, said Kuittinen.
So it makes sense that, as Cook told analysts on Tuesday, the majority of iPads that Apple sold last quarter were sold to first-time iPad buyers.
In the earnings call, Cook touted high iPad sales growth in developing markets — 51 percent in China, 45 percent in India and 64 percent in the Middle East. He also said that Apple’s recently announced partnership with IBM, its longtime archrival, will be a “catalyst for future iPad growth.”
And current iPad owners seeking upgrades could also energize Apple’s sales numbers, said Dawson.
“Over the next year or so, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw growth in iPad start up again, especially if there are new iPads with important new features later this year,” he wrote to HuffPost.
Apple, as usual, sold a gazillion iPhones in the second quarter. Well, 35.2 million, to be precise. That’s a rise of nearly 13 percent over the same period last year. Sales of Macs also climbed 18 percent.
And investors don’t seem to mind that iPad sales are down. Apple stock was up 2.6 percent on Wednesday.
Tech Leaders Tell Interns What They Wish They Knew At Age 20
Cat Zakrzewski @Cat_Zakrzewski
Hundreds of Bay Area interns lined up on Tuesday to hear some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley share what they wished they knew when they were 20 at a recruiting event called Internapalooza.
Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger, PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, Eventbrite co-founder Kevin Hartz, early PayPal and Airbnb investor Keith Rabois, Indiegogo co-founder Danae Ringelmann, Yelp VP of Engineering Michael Stoppelman and Re/code founder Kara Swisher were among the 11 speakers whose advice ranged from whether or not you should drop out of school to launch a startup to how to network. The event was organized by Cory Levy, who at 19 co-founded One, a mobile app that connects you to others with similar interests.
Levchin shared a story about a PayPal intern who helped develop an anti-theft system called IGOR that saved the company when they were about to go under because they were losing millions of dollars due to high rates of credit card fraud. The intern died soon after due to a diabetes complication, and Levchin said PayPal may not exist today without him.
“If you’re going to be an intern somewhere, you can and you should try to pick a place where you can make an impact there,” Levchin said.
Taking a lighter tone and sealing her place as the favorite speaker of many of the interns I spoke to after the event, Swisher based her advice on five posts you can find on Secret.
“Have fun, home is where the pants aren’t,” she said quoting Secret at the beginning of her presentation. She told the interns who she described as “probably hyper about their careers right now,” to go out and have fun and “never turn down an opportunity to have sex or go on television.”
Levy tells me about 2,000 interns signed up for the free event, and the line winded down the block from Broadway Studios, which had a capacity of about 500. He said no interns were turned away, and they let about 600 in “night club style,” allowing one to leave when one entered.
I’m an intern myself in San Francisco, and this was only my second intern networking event. There’s an immediate awkwardness when you first walk into these events, and at first this one did feel like a crowded night club – with fewer beers and more Yale and Google t-shirts.
It was impossible to navigate the room where recruiters from Eventbrite, Indiegogo and other event sponsors schmoozed with interns and hungry college students lined up for free hot dogs and pasta. At age 20 I was on the older end of the guests – another intern pointed out a boy who was around 15 interning at Google, and a 15-year-old asked a question about a startup he has already launched during the Q&A.
When registering for the event, interns filled out an extensive survey. Only 40 percent of those surveyed said they wouldn’t drop out of school to work on a startup, 40 percent said they would consider it and 20 percent said maybe.
More than half of the interns at the event were CS majors, and about 80 percent studied something engineering related.
About 1/3 of those who registered were female. During a Q&A with the speakers, one young woman stepped up to the mic and asked the panel for any advice they would give a woman looking to break into the industry. Only two of the speakers at the event were female, and Swisher was the only woman on this Q&A panel.
“It’s a sausage fest out there ladies, and not in a good way,” Swisher said.
This became abundantly clear a few minutes later when the panel moved to Michael Callahan, Levy’s co-founder at One, who said evolutionarily, we tend to encourage boys and discourage girls.
“I think all we have to do to change the industry as a whole is to just be sexless, just absolutely ignore the fact that you’re a woman and compete just as hard as the men,” Callahan said.
Swisher was quick to reply, sarcastically apologizing that women couldn’t vote until a century ago, and saying it’s not just “up to the women to lean in or whatever the fuck they’re supposed to do,” calling men to be more aware of the gender disparity. Levchin followed, telling the girls in the audience to “keep kicking ass and focusing on being great.”
Even though I have no plans myself to drop out or launch a startup, it was empowering to hear these industry leaders and know they still got where they are today, despite a few mistakes.
Are Camera Drones the Future of Filmmaking?
iJustine
Movie magic is undeniable and production used to be limited to giant studios with massive budgets. In the final episode of Hardwired 2.0 I explore how technology is helping to make the creation and distribution of your own movie easier and more affordable.
Remote controlled camera drones like those manufactured by DJI are becoming widely accessible to consumers. I checked them out with help from the Drone Dudes and learned why they are quickly becoming the equipment of choice for aerial photography. Previously, the only option was filming from a helicopter, which is loud and expensive.
Andrew Petersen, a Pilot from Drone Dudes, took me through some of the drones. Their main drone is the Red Carbon Fiber Dragon, which uses a gimbal called a Movi to stabilize the camera while in flight. Make sure to check out the video above and the slideshow below to see these drones in action!
If you’re interested in more consumer models the Phantom 2 Vision+ (about $1299) has great stabilization as well as a GPS and you can monitor everything you’re shooting right on an iPhone. And if you’re really looking for an intro model make sure to check out my attempt to fly the Parrot ARDrone2.0 (about $299) in this bonus video. It’s also a quadcopter and can be flown using the App on your smart phone.
I had so much fun hanging out with the Drone Dudes and I can’t wait to see what their next projects! How would you use a camera drone?
Kids Are Legit Worried Their Parents Are Addicted To Smartphones
By Emily Thomas
From Instagram to “Candy Crush” to plain old texting, it’s no secret that young people are obsessed with their mobile devices. But kids apparently think parents are tech-obsessed, too.
According to a survey released Tuesday, 69 percent of children in the United Kingdom feel their parents are addicted to their mobile devices.
Conducted by research agency Opinion Matters for the U.K.’s New Forest National Park Authority, the survey also found that 21 percent of kids say parents’ mobile devices divert their attention from family matters. What’s more, 40 percent of children surveyed also admit that while at home, they occasionally use text, email and social media to communicate with their parents.
Guardians also weighed in, with 60 percent saying they believe their kids spend too much time on mobile devices and 40 percent agreeing that their family — parents and kids, alike — suffer from “digital hangovers, with symptoms ranging from tiredness and fatigue to irritability after using mobile devices at night,” the park authority said in a statement. Much of this comes from overexposure to the blue light that the screens of our electronic devices emit. There are glasses available that actually filter out this harmful light and reduce its effects on our health. You can check them out here – https://felixgray.com/computer-glasses. They are certainly worth considering if you work in a job where you are frequently sat in front of a computer screen.
Hoping to foster intimate familial connections, the New Forest National Park — located about 80 miles southwest of London — has launched a program that encourages parents to unplug and refocus. Upon arrival at the park, visitors can leave their mobile devices in a secure vault, which the park calls a Tech Creche. The free service will be available until Sept. 14.
The park service certainly has its work cut out for it. Research from 2013 found that people check their phones an average of 150 times a day. A study released the previous year said 73 percent of Americans would feel “panicked” if they lost their mobile device, while 14 percent said they would feel “desperate.”
Dr. Richard Graham, an expert in technology addiction at London’s Capio Nightingale Hospital, told The Telegraph that the park’s Tech Creche program is a step in the right direction.
“One of the things about the New Forest National Park Authority scheme is that, rather like quiet carriages on trains, we are as a culture going to try to establish opportunities to reconnect and do the things which we know from research improves our well-being and health,” he said.
Marvel’s giving you the key to over 13,000 comics for 99 cents
BY EDGAR ALVAREZ @ABCDEDGAR
To celebrate the start of Comic-Con in San Diego, Marvel is kicking off a promotion that provides an all-you-can-have pass to its entire digital library for less than a dollar. There are a few caveats, as expected, but not enough to make the offer seem any less attractive. According to Wired, Marvel Unlimited, which is home to more than 13,000 comics, can be accessed over the next week with a simple payment of 99 cents. The deal will only give you an in to the service for one month, but the renowned publisher is hoping that’s plenty of time to keep you locked in beyond said period.
For reference, Marvel Unlimited is usually $10 per month or $69 per year, and there’s also a $99 yearly subscription with access to some exclusive tidbits. It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time Marvel has run a promo like this, as it did something similar a few months ago during SXSW. And don’t worry if you’re not seeing the 99-cent option on the site — it should be showing up shortly.
Amazon expands Prime Music library with loads of new tracks
BY EDGAR ALVAREZ @ABCDEDGAR
Amazon’s recently announced music service for Prime members just got a bit better. Today, the giant online retailer revealed that its Prime Music library is welcoming a bunch of new songs into the mix, from artists such as Miles Davis, Ray Charles, Kendrick Lamar, Shakira, Skrillex, Ella Fitzgerald, DJ Snake & Lil Jon (#TD4W, anyone?) and many, many more. To make use of these newly added tunes, Amazon said it has curated “hundreds” of fresh Prime Playlists, citing this feature as one users have come to love since the service’s launch last month. Amazon will need to keep making similar moves if Prime Music is to be a threat to the likes of Spotify, so this is, without a doubt, a step in the right direction. The next natural step would be expanding outside of the US, but record labels might make that a lot more complicated than it sounds.
