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With Steve Jobs out, what happens now?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, Editorial, Features,
As we reported earlier today, Steve Jobs has taken another medical leave of absence from Apple.
So what happens now? That's the exact question that the world seeks answers for in the wake of this morning's announcement. What we do know is certain: Tim Cook, chief operating officer, will be at the helm for the companies major product launches going forward.
What we don't know is, well, everything else. But Jobs' unexpected health announcement does shed new light on recent Apple dealings as of late and, more importantly, comes with a few givens for the future.
Click to continue reading With Steve Jobs out, what happens now?
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Top 10 Gear Live stories of 2010
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Apple, Smartphones, Editorial, Features, Software,
We've come to the end of another year, and as we wave goodbye to 2010, we figured it was only fitting that we share the most popular stories published on Gear Live in 2010, as determined by our readers (we've also got the top ten most read stories regardless of publish date!) These are the ten stories that were read the most, and when you consider that fact, it's pretty surprising to see what made the list. Let's kick it off with our most read story of the year:
Fring App Brings Skype Video Calling to iPhone 4 over Wi-Fi and 3G:
Sure, Skype just formally announced video calling in the Skype 3.0 iOS app, but Fring brought us Skype video calls months ago! The thing is, Skype pulled that feature from Fring with the quickness, but that didn't stop this from being the most read story we published in 2010!
Click to continue reading Top 10 Gear Live stories of 2010
Gallery: Top 10 Gear Live stories of 2010
The web model of free content supported by advertising is now well known and accepted. Yet, some old style corporations, especially in the newspaper industry, would still like to translate their subscriber based services online. That's the case of News Corp., the media giant behind some of UK's biggest newspapers, the Times and the Sunday Times. Recently, they switched from the traditional online model, to moving the entire sites behind paywalls.
There's been a lot of speculation as to how this model would do. The analyst expectations were low, since there's countless free online sites offering the same news reports, so people who don't want to pay could get most of that same content elsewhere. Still, proponents pointed to the commentaries, editorials and other unique content as a way to entice subscribers. Rumors ran wild while this experiment went on.
Click to continue reading Why Internet paywalls don’t work
Read More 
| GigaOM
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Beyond the iPhone: Why Paying Attention to the Diverse Mobile Devices and Channels Pays Dividends
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Editorial, Features, Software,
With more than 45 million smartphone and tablet users nationwide and ABI Research predicting that 6 billion mobile applications will be downloaded this year alone, businesses, especially those looking to reach consumers, have been frenzied about launching mobile offerings. In the past several years, much of the buzz surrounding the mobile space has been about the iPhone. With the debut of the iPhone 4 earlier this year, many businesses continue to focus their mobile strategy resources solely on this much-hyped operating system. In fact, a recent Kony Solutions survey of Fortune 500 corporations found that a staggering 85% of respondents ranked the iPhone as their top priority device for mobile support.
However, the current mobile landscape is quite fragmented - given the sheer number of handsets available to consumers - and the market isn’t necessarily dominated by the iPhone. A 2010 Gartner report estimated that the iPhone holds just 2.7% of the mobile market share. Notably, Android has surpassed Apple’s iOS, and comScore recently reported that RIM actually continues to capture the most smartphone market share (although Apple just announced that they've surpassed RIM for Q4 2010.) As such, the true market share of the iPhone doesn’t warrant the resources and strategy being dedicated solely to this device by Fortune 500 corporations, and companies in this position stand to lose more than 97% of mobile customers.
Gallery: Beyond the iPhone: Why Paying Attention to the Diverse Mobile Devices and Channels Pays Dividends
Are smartphones dumbing us down?
Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Smartphones, Editorial, Features, Handhelds, Internet, PC / Laptop, Science,
The term ‘smartphone’ may be a tad misleading according to the recently published New York Times article, “Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime”. This is to say that frequent use of digital media can disrupt your brain’s downtime - a necessary component of internalizing information. Without this downtime, the brain has no chance to process information previously learned, resulting in cluttered, inattentive minds.
Chances are there are more than a few of you reading this article while accomplishing some cardio riding your local gym’s indoor bike, or while in class when you really should be listening to your professor’s first lecture of the semester (but don’t stop reading now on account of that!). While having a digital device handy is excellent for spicing up mundane moments, or for capturing your mind away from the tedium of exercising, it does come at a price.
Click to continue reading Are smartphones dumbing us down?
Read More | New York Times
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Hologram broadcast a reality in ten years?
Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Broadband, Editorial, Internet, Science,
Imagine, if you will, sitting in the local coffee shop waiting for your ever so tardy girlfriend to show up before your lunch break ends. Suddenly, she is right in front of you, only not in the way you had hoped. It’s a hologram, beaming straight from your cellphone right before your eyes. Her digital representative a fully rendered three dimensional image of her informing you that she will be there in 5 minutes. No, this is not science fiction - it’s the future. And the future is eye popping.
With the demands of technology growing by the second, our everyday bandwidth needs are increasing exponentially. Cisco and Verizon are both anticipating a quadruple increase in bandwidth requirements by the year 2014! This tremendous surge in our bandwidth needs can be attributed largely in part to the burgeoning 3D television market, as well as the growing use of streaming HD video.
Click to continue reading Hologram broadcast a reality in ten years?
Read More | Cnet
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Apple Battery Charger makes wireless devices less annoying?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Apple, Editorial, Features, Wireless / WiFi,
I was thinking about why Apple would want to release their Apple Battery Charger product, since you can pretty much get batteries anywhere, and I think it comes down to Apple wanting to do their part in eliminating the annoyance that many have with changing batteries when a device runs out of juice. With the introduction of the Magic Trackpad, Apple now has three devices that are powered by AA batteries, with the other two being their wireless keyboard and Magic Mouse. According to Apple, they were able to come into the battery market with a few key advances. One such feature is an intelligent power management system so that once the batteries are charged fully, it goes into a low power state, using about 90% less power than your average charger. That’s nice. The batteries also have a long service life, which Apple says is up to 10 years. Also nice. Still though, this isn’t really a market that Apple needed to be in.
In our opinion, Apple’s goal here was to innovate a bit for the benefit of their own products. They sell you six batteries so you can have two in a wireless keyboard, and two in a Magic Trackpad or Magic Mouse, and then you can also have two always in the charger, ready to be swapped. It pretty much eliminates worry of running out of juice, which gives you all of the benefits of having wireless devices with none of the drawbacks since you always have two fresh batteries ready for you (unless you somehow have both the wireless keyboard and the pointing device run out at the same time.)
We like the strategy. You can pick up the Apple Battery Charger for $29 from Apple.
Read More | Apple Battery Charger
Gallery: Apple Battery Charger makes wireless devices less annoying?
Windows Phone 7 Preview
Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Smartphones, Editorial, Handhelds, Microsoft,
With iOS, Android, WebOS, and BlackBerry dominating the smartphone scene, Microsoft has been noticeably absent from the game. Now they are aiming to change that with Windows Phone 7. Whether Microsoft will be able to pull a rabbit out of its hat and become relevant in the hearts and pockets of users is completely up to what Windows Phone 7 can do. The OS was recently previewed and it is promising to say the least, but is still flawed in some key areas.
The Good
- While in lock mode you will have an at-a-glance look at time and date, incoming emails, calender appointments and texts. A simple upwards slide of the screen reveals the elegant dashboard, which uses a “tile” interface that is very well done. Your tiles are completely customizable, allowing you to “pin” your favorite and most used tiles to your home interface, such as playlists, people, webpages, and apps.
- What you will notice right off the bat is that the touch screen response is incredibly fast. In fact, the smoothness of touch is right up there with iOS 4 as the most responsive UI on a smartphone ever.
- The keyboard is one of the more important aspects of a smart phone (who talks anymore?), as users will definitely need a cooperative keypad when sending texts and emails. Windows Phone 7 manages to pull it off exceptionally well. The virtual keyboard works in both vertical and horizontal modes, and as expected, is better suited for horizontal use. Though, the feel of the keyboard shouldn’t be taken too seriously just yet, as we will have to wait to get our hands on a finished piece of retail hardware to gauge its comfort in use.
Click to continue reading Windows Phone 7 Preview
Gallery: Windows Phone 7 Preview
ATT wants to charge you for letting them use your broadband connection that you already pay for
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Editorial, Wireless / WiFi,
You know, back when AT&T announced that calls made through their 3G MicroCell device would count against your minutes, we were kind of appalled that they’d charge for a device that helps them appropriately cover their service area, and then charge you for using said device to make calls, when the device routes its data through your home broadband connection that you already pay for. We were appalled, but not surprised.
However, today we are absolutely shocked at the latest tidbit of 3G MicroCell related news, as it has now come out that AT&T is also going to charge data used through the device (again, data that is going through your home broadband connection that you already pay for,) against your AT&T wireless data plan. Think about that for a moment, and let it sink in. AT&T, because they seemingly can’t get their act together and provide proper coverage, needs to sell the 3G MicroCell as a means to make up for the difference. You pay $150 to buy the MicroCell, which improves the signal in your home because it uses your much faster broadband connection. That should be the end of the story—but it’s just the beginning.
Gallery: ATT wants to charge you for letting them use your broadband connection that you already pay for
Friday Fun: 10 tell-tale signs you need to upgrade your computer
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Editorial, Features, PC / Laptop,
In this age of technology it seems that no sooner have you taken your brand spanking new machine out of its packaging than it is already defunct and obsolete thanks to a newer, sleeker, sexier model. However, there are some exceptionally old machines still out there and some exceptionally stubborn users who still think that Windows 95 is the height of technological evolution.
So, this one is for the obstinate hoarder of old technologies. If you find yourself nodding along knowingly to any of the below, it’s time to treat yourself to a new machine.
Click to continue reading Friday Fun: 10 tell-tale signs you need to upgrade your computer
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