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    Showing posts with label Technology. Show all posts
    Showing posts with label Technology. Show all posts
  • Windows Phone 7 App Store Will Be 'Transparent': Executives

    Microsoft is taking a page from Apple and other smartphone manufacturers, and trying to avoid in Windows Phone 7 some of the mistakes that plagued the evolution of the iPhone.

    During a series of interviews at the company’s Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft executives suggested they had a roadmap for when Windows Phone 7, regarded as the company’s best chance to reboot its smartphone operating-system franchise and compete against the likes of the iPhone and Google Android, makes its debut near the end of 2010.

    Windows Phone 7 takes a different approach to the smartphone user interface than those competitors, consolidating Web content and applications into subject-specific “Hubs” such as “Office” or “Games.” Microsoft plans on pairing the operating system with a new Windows Phone Marketplace, where developers will be able to submit five free applications (rising to $19.99 after that) along with an unlimited number of paid applications.

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  • Consumer Reports gives iPhone 4 cool reception

    Apple Inc.'s new iPhone is getting a lot of buzz these days, just not the kind the company is used to.

    Consumer Reports magazine on Monday said it could not recommend the phone because of "a design flaw" in its antenna and questioned Apple's explanation for some devices displaying weak signal strength and even dropping calls.

    It was the first time that the magazine, known for independent testing of consumer products, did not endorse an iPhone since the original model was released in 2007.

    "Our findings call into question the recent claim by Apple that the iPhone 4's signal-strength issues were largely an optical illusion caused by faulty software," Mike Gikas, a Consumer Reports writer, said in a blog post that detailed the test results.

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  • What if AT&T Loses iPhone Exclusivity?

    AT&T shouldn’t fear losing its iPhone exclusivity. The contract could run out by early next year, though neither AT&T nor Apple is saying. If it does, AT&T’s customer growth would probably slow. Yet if its rival Verizon were to land the popular smartphone, too, the industry’s pricing model would improve — along with returns from AT&T’s existing iPhone customers.

    A mass customer exodus is unlikely. Some users in big cities complain about AT&T’s coverage and dropped calls. But the percentage switching to a rival carrier would probably be low, based on the iPhone experience in France and Britain. Most consumers have contracts that aren’t near expiration. Switching incurs a termination penalty, and would require the purchase of a new iPhone.

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  • Apple Opens Shanghai Store to Spur Sales in China

    Apple Inc. opened its second China store today as the maker of iPhones and iMacs seeks to catch rivals including Nokia Oyj and Lenovo Group Ltd. in the fastest-growing major economy.

    Several hundred people lined up outside a 40-foot cylindrical glass wall that contains the Apple logo at the 1,500-square-meter (16,000-square-foot) store in the Pudong district of Shanghai, China’s financial hub, before it opened at 10 a.m. local time.

    “Apple stands for a lifestyle,” said a 27-year-old salesman who called himself “Penguin,” from the northern Chinese province of Jilin, more than 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) from Shanghai. He waited as the first in the queues for almost 70 hours.

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  • Google With Chinese Characteristics

    At first the tussle between China and Google over the free flow of information seemed like a contest of brute strength. But it's becoming clear this is more like a Chinese exercise known as "pushing hands." The object is to make an opponent fall over, but often the best way to do that is to let him lose his balance by trying to topple you.

    Yesterday brought the news that Beijing has renewed Google's license to operate in China. That shows that Beijing knows that throwing Google out entirely would only expose its censorship regime to greater pressure—from its own people finding ways around it as well as

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  • Google compromise pays off with renewal of license in China

    Google said Friday that its license to operate in China had been renewed, a surprise announcement that ended weeks of speculation over whether the Internet giant would be forced to abandon the world's single largest market of online users.

    The renewal had been in doubt in recent days, as the existing license expired and Google, in what was considered a last-minute effort at compromise, decided to stop automatically redirecting Chinese users to its sister site in Hong Kong.

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  • Android Gains, Apple Wanes

    Don't look now, Apple fanatics, but Android's just made another noteworthy leap in mobile market share.

    Google's Android platform grew by 44 percent from February to May, according to a report released Thursday by ComScore. During the three-month period from December to February, Android commanded an average of 9 percent of the U.S. smartphone market. In the next three-month period, from March to May, it had shot up to an average of 13.

    Now, it goes without saying that 13 percent is still a relatively small piece of the pie. But the overall trends are what we're watching here -- and, gauging by a wide range of data from numerous sources, Android is showing consistent growth at a pace its competitors can't match.
    Android and the Smartphone Market

    For anyone who keeps an eye on mobile

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  • Apple: 400 iTunes Accounts Hacked

    Apple now admits 400 iTunes accounts were hacked and used by a Vietnamese developer, Thuat Nguyen, to push his iPhone apps to best seller status over the weekend. But here is the zinger; Apple is saying it was no big deal. Four hundred accounts equals 0.0003 percent of the over 150 million iTunes account holders, Apple points out.

    The downplaying of the hack comes as little consolation to many who believed Apple's walled garden would offer protection from rogue developers and hackers. After all, Apple runs a very tight ship when it comes to

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  • Mercedes Expects Rising Demand to Continue

    Mercedes-Benz reported a record June sales month as a result of rising demand for its most expensive models. The Mercedes brand increased volumes by 13.2 percent to an all-time high of 113,300 vehicles for last month, mainly from the E-Class and S-Class model lines. The brand, owned by Daimler, expects the growth to continue. “We are also in an excellent position to do well in the months ahead and plan to continue Mercedes-Benz’s success with a significant increase in the third quarter,” the head of sales and marketing at Mercedes, Joachim Schmidt, said in a statement on Monday. It could post double-digit volume gains in many markets, including Japan and the United States, each of which had increases surpassing 20 percent, the company said.

    Source: Reuters

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  • Disney Buys Tapulous, Mobile Game Maker Of Tap Tap Revenge

    Walt Disney Co. (DIS) said it bought the maker of the popular Tap Tap Revenge game for Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) mobile devices like the iPhone.

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  • Sony Recalls 535,000 Vaio Laptops

    Sony Corp. said Wednesday it is recalling about 535,000 Vaio laptops world-wide due to a temperature-control defect that may cause excessive heat and distort the shape of the laptop.

    There is also the possibility that overheated laptops could cause skin burns, even though no such cases have been reported thus far, the Japanese electronics and entertainment giant said.

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  • Google sets timeframe to end China reroute

    Google said late on Monday that it would end the automatic rerouting of China users to its Hong Kong search site, which gives unfiltered search results, after Beijing told the company its China Internet operating license would not be renewed if it continued.

    China has so far declined to directly comment on Google's move, which analysts say is a sign the company wants to fight for its China presence after warning in January it might quit the country over censorship concerns and after suffering a hacker attack it said came from within China.

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  • Trouble installing iOS 4? This may help

    Are you still having trouble trying to upgrade your iPhone or iPod Touch to Apple's new iOS 4? If so, here's a workaround that could help.

    After Apple released iOS 4 on June 21, a small but significant number of folks anxious to upgrade started reporting various issues from long download times to error messages to backups that never seemed to finish. In my corner, I tried several times to update my iPod Touch 2G by following the standard steps, but without any success.

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