A writer focused on covering early-stage startups, especially those with a technology focus.
Apple’s iBooks 3.0 update just went out via the App Store, bringing the features it demoed on stage at the special Apple event earlier today. That brings iCloud books to the app’s virtual bookshelf, and vertical scrolling as a new reading paradigm. Also new to the update is the ability to receive free updates to existing books, with chapter additions, corrections and more. → Read More
I already shared first impressions of a lot of Apple’s new products, but we’ve also got video from the time we spent with the iPad mini and the Retina MacBook Pro. Watching these things in action provides an entirely different perspective compared to reading about them or looking at static pictures, and seeing the iPad mini do its thing really does a better job of conveying the value of the… → Read More
Apple unveiled a redesigned iMac today, one that takes the all-in-one computer and makes it even more of a tightly packed engineering marvel. The rumors proved true, and it got a tapered design that thins out to 5mm at its thinnest point. This makes the machine appear surreal at first glance, but it’s the changes inside that make the biggest lasting impressions. → Read More
At its event today, Apple made much of the fact that the 13-inch MacBook Pro is still its top-selling notebook, right before unveiling the new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro. It’s clear that Apple wants this new version of its top-performer to take over as a product that redefines the laptop, and judging by limited hands-ion experience, there’s good reason to believe they’ll eventually get their wish. → Read More
The iPad mini was announced today as expected, and it is a super impressive piece of hardware, judging by my brief hands-on experience. The smaller iPad retains much of the charm of its larger sibling, thanks to design decisions that make the most out of a much smaller physical footprint, and you’ll be amazed at how light and easy to hold it is. → Read More
Apple’s event at the California Theater in San Jose is today, and we’re going to be live on the scene providing a blow-by-blow of the company’s announcements as they happen. Follow along with us starting at 10 AM PT/1PM ET as Apple potentially unveils its iPad mini, a new Retina MacBook Pro, and a whole bunch of other goodies. → Read More
The U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) office, part of the Department of Homeland Security, recently revealed that it will be adopting iOS devices from a variety of service providers for its 17,676 users. It’s a win for Apple in terms of landing a sizeable government client, but also a significant vote of confidence for the overall security of iOS as a mobile platform. → Read More
Apple has an event planned for Tuesday, set for 10 AM Pacific in San Jose. It’s got something to do with the iPad mini, to be sure, but there’s tons of other stuff also rumored to be making an appearance. In fact, it’s beginning to look almost like an Apple fan’s hardware wish fulfillment fantasy, so let’s take stock of what’s supposedly coming and how likely we are to see it. → Read More
Samsung told The Korea Times on Monday that it will end its LCD panel supply relationship with Apple as of next year. That’s according to a “senior Samsung source” who declined to be identified, citing insufficient margins owing to Apple’s supply pricing strategy. Samsung’s role in Apple’s LCD supply chain has dwindled, but this puts a fine point on their collapsing relationship. → Read More
Apple executives will put the spotlight on the iPad’s educational value tomorrow at its planned San Jose event, according to a new report. Businessweek cites “a person with knowledge of the planning” of the event as the source, but doesn’t go into further detail. But if Apple’s introducing a lower-cost iPad mini as expected, the benefits in terms of institutional purchases are obvious. → Read More
Windows Phone 7, Microsoft’s big return to the smartphone stage after Windows Mobile’s gradual decline and demise, turns two today, according to a tweet by Joel Belfiore, Microsoft’s head of Windows Phone product definition and design. So I thought it would be fitting to take a look back at Windows Phone 7′s life up until now, and what the mobile OS has or hasn’t done for Microsoft so far. → Read More
According to a new report from The Next Web today, Google is readying a number of new devices for announcement at the event it recently announced for October 29, including new Nexus tablet hardware and Android 4.2 features. Some notables from the list of upcoming reveals include improved Nexus 7 tablets (one boasting 3G connectivity), a 10-inch Nexus tablet and a new Nexus reference phone. → Read More
Best Buy started accepting pre-orders today for the AT&T Nokia Lumia 920 and HTC 8X Windows Phone devices. Pricing details are also now available, with the Lunia 920 available for $149.99 on a new 2-year contract, and $599.99 without commitment. The 8X is $99.99 on contract, and $599.99 without, meaning those interested can get on board with Windows Phone 8 for $50 less with HTC. → Read More
Last week, we got a peek at HTC’s J Butterfly Japan-only Android phone, with a huge 1080p 5-inch display that manages a crazy 440ppi pixel density, and today, Android Central is claiming a new North American HTC flagship phone coming to Verizon will offer the same screen on our shores. The HTC DLX, as the report claims it’s called, appears to share both design and spec cues with the J Butterfly. → Read More
a couple of new reports that surfaced this weekend shed a little more light on what we might expect with iPad mini pricing. KGI Securities analysts Ming-Chi Kuo has an early look at the likely bill-of-materials (BOM) for the iPad mini, and 9t05Mac reports on U.S. retail pricing, providing a look at how the iPad mini figures into Apple’s existing lineup when it comes to comparing gross margins. → Read More
Apple’s new iPod touch and iPod nano, announced alongside the iPhone 5 at an event last month, saw their shipping times improve over the weekend, from an expected two week shipping timeframe to 5-7 business days. The new iPod were first given the open-ended retail window of “October” when initially announced, and then began rolling out to pre-order customers earlier this month. → Read More
GOG (formerly known as Good Old Games) is having a huge Interplay sale that gives you 32 games for $34.99 (or more), or anywhere between $13.95 and $34.99 for 20 titles, or 8 games for whatever you want to pay under that. This is an amazing deal that will get you some classic titles you may well have grown up with. And that could make you feel old, but maybe good also. Nostalgia. → Read More
I’m a sucker for OS X menu bar applications, and I’m also a big fan of browsing Instagram as a way to break up the day. Now, those two things come together in a single convenient package with Instabar. The Mac app debuted a paid version for $0.99 earlier this week, and today released a free alternative with fewer features. With either, you’ve got some prime time-wasting available with one click. → Read More
Apple’s iPad mini is almost certainly set to be announced next week at an event in San Jose Tuesday, and we’re now hearing that it will ship a week and a half after that unveiling. November 2 is the ship date we’ve heard today from a source close to Apple’s supply chain, echoing an earlier report by Geeky Gadgets that that’s the day the iPad mini will go on sale. → Read More
Italian startup and cross-platform development solution AppsBuilder today announced a €1.5 million (just shy of $2 million U.S.) venture funding round, led by Italian angel investors Massimiliano Magrini and Mario Mariani, with participation from Vertis Venture and Zernike Meta Ventures. The company, founded in 2010, wants to use the funding to help expand further internationally → Read More
Apple has reportedly begun work on a huge new data center facility in Prineville, Oregon, according to local reports from the Oregonian (as spotted this morning by Wired). The first phase of the project will reportedly cost $68 million, and this is just the latest in a string of data center initiatives. But Apple data demands are set to skyrocket, and the company needs to prepare. → Read More
Toronto-based startup TrendSpottr today announced a new partnership with Salesforce that will see its product made available to the larger company’s customers directly through the Salesforce Marketing Cloud. TrendSpottr will now deliver real-time, predictive analytics to Salesforce’s massive customer base, providing them with the tools it has developed to spot emerging trends before they go… → Read More
Google CEO Larry Page spent a good portion of his time on today’s Google company earnings call to talk about multiscreen opportunities, and how Google is addressing them. He said that just as with search back in 2000, Google has “enormous opportunity” to drive new monetization routes, and talked about moving seamlessly in day-to-day computing from his Nexus smartphone, to his Nexus tablet, and now… → Read More
Startup Ad Hoc Labs, creators of temporary phone number generator app Burner, today announced a new investment round of undisclosed quantity that includes some notable Silicon Valley angels like Dave McClure’s 500 Startups, David Cohen, Kevin Slavin, Ted Rheingold and others. The money will go towards helping the company add staff, and continue expanding its mobile privacy protecting services. → Read More
Google’s Q3 earnings leaked today, and among the reported stats was a noteworthy gap in full-time employees between its Q2 and Q3 results. At the end of June, Google had 54,604 full-time employees, thanks to a massive influx of 20,293 new Motorola Mobility staff. As of September 30, the company reports employing 53,546 people full-time, a difference of 1,058 jobs. → Read More
Tweetbot for Mac has finally arrived in retail release form, after an extended public alpha and beta testing phase. The native OS X Twitter client from iOS and Mac developer Tapbots is available from the Mac App Store, for the somewhat eyebrow-raising price of $19.99. Is it worth $20? A thousand times yes. But some users may balk at the price – which is exactly what Tapbots is counting on. → Read More
Grafetee today announced that its app is coming out of beta after a three-month public testing period, and is expanding to cover a global footprint. The Finland and London-based startup provides map- and location-based exploration tools via mobile apps for iOS and Android, with information layers that offer access to different categories of information. → Read More
Apple’s looking into some intriguing things in a couple of new patent applications spotted oday, including sonar-style echolocation for passive proximity detection, and a text-to-speech engine that takes contextual cues about what it’s reading and adds personality to the computer-generated voices it employs. Both of these could result in big changes in the daily use of mobile devices. → Read More
Newsweek, the U.S. weekly news magazine that’s been in publication since 1933, today announced it would be going all-digital beginning in early 2013. The last print version will be the December 31, 2012 edition, and the company will rename its publication “Newsweek Global” when it goes digital-only, targeted web and app delivery. → Read More
This holiday season may well belong to the affordable, small tablet, and Acer doesn’t intend to be left behind in the dust of Amazon and Apple. The company has priced and dated its Iconia Tab A110, And Android Jelly Bean powered-tablet with an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, 8GB of internal storage and a microSD slot for up to 32GB of additional expansion. → Read More
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