blog

QNX-based BlackBerry 'London' purportedly shown off, dummy unit-style

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 02:20:16 +0100

If the above image is to be trusted, what you spy with your little eye may be the very first BlackBerry smartphone to sport RIM's QNX-based operating system, known more recently as BBX. With bold angular lines that smack heavily of the P'9981, this touchscreen slab (code-named "London") is said to be thinner than the iPhone 4 and will dutifully stand tall when placed on its side. Before you get too excited, however, keep in mind that the above image could very well be a concept, prototype -- or, even a masterful forgery. For what it's worth, The Verge was informed that this model is merely a dummy unit, although the actual device is alleged to contain a 1.5GHz dual-core TI OMAP processor with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of on-board storage. An 8-megapixel rear camera is also said to be in the mix, along with a 2-megapixel front-facing shooter and a June 2012 release date. Sure, it's easy to be excited about Waterloo's forthcoming wares, but sadly we're forced to take this one with a heapin' spoonful of skepticism. So, who's hoping Mr. London becomes a reality?

A Clear Explanation of iTunes Match

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 02:15:46 +0100

After a bit of delay, Apple launched iTunes Match today. The new $25/year service offers users the ability to match their existing iTunes library with high quality versions in Apple's iCloud. The new service, however, has generated a bit of confusion about what exactly happens to your music library after you have enabled it.

One of the first questions, how to determine the iCloud status of a particular song, is solved by right-clicking the column bar at the top of the iTunes window (or pressing Command-J) and making sure "iCloud Status" is selected.

MacRumors forum user Nunyabinez has written a detailed explanation of how iTunes Match works that should answer a number of potential questions if you are planning to enable the feature. We've summarized the key points here, but the full post is worth a read if you are planning on using Tunes Match.

- When you enable Match it goes through a three step process. Analyzing your library, matching songs, uploading non-matched content. It does this for your whole library. You can't choose to exclude songs other than taking them out of your library.

- If a song is matched, it becomes available to download in 256K AAC. If a song is not matched it is copied in its current format and bit rate up to 320K. If the file is Lossless however, it is converted (presumably by your computer) to a 256k AAC file and then uploaded.

- Nothing happens to your local music when you run match. If you have a lower quality song that was matched you can remove it from your local library and then replace it with the 256k version. What happens is you delete the song, but the entry in iTunes stays, but a little cloud now shows up in a newly added column that shows you that you have a song that is in the cloud but not in your library. You can click on the cloud and it will download it to your local library, where again it is now permanently yours at the higher bit rate.

- Match uses your meta-data. If you in an anal-retentive fashion have made lots of custom edits to your files, that is what gets copied to the cloud. Even if you replace your songs with the upgraded versions you keep your previous meta-data.

iTunes Match launched earlier today with the arrival of iTunes 10.5.1. The $24.99/year service offers cloud-based matching and upload of users' complete iTunes libraries.

Siri Protocol Cracked, But Unique iPhone 4S ID Requirement Hampers Distribution

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 02:13:08 +0100

Applidium, the developers who brought the open source video player VLC to the App Store only to have it pulled over licensing issues, have announced that they have reverse engineered the protocol used to allow Siri to communicate with Apple's servers. Citing an example in which they were able to communicate with Siri servers directly from a computer, the developers note that they were able to have the servers recognize and analyze their voice input just as if it had originated from an iPhone 4S.

Today, we managed to crack open Siri’s protocol. As a result, we are able to use Siri’s recognition engine from any device. Yes, that means anyone could now write an Android app that uses the real Siri! Or use Siri on an iPad! And we’re goign to share this know-how with you.

Unfortunately for those hoping to make use of Siri in their apps on iOS or other platforms, the protocol is set up to transmit a unique identifier for a given iPhone 4S. The developers at Applidium were able to extract that identifier from one of their devices and use it to authenticate their non-iPhone Siri input, but such code would likely not survive being included in an application packaged for distribution, as Apple's servers would presumably be able to easily identify and blacklist any device identifier generating excessive usage from multiple locations.

The developers do note, however, that the proof of concept demonstration may prove interesting for developers looking to play around with non-iPhone 4S implementations of Siri for their personal use.

Apple's October Mac Sales Lining Up for Record 5 Million+ Units in Quarter

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 02:12:00 +0100

AppleInsider reports on a new research note from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster sharing data on U.S. Mac sales for the month of October from NPD. According to NPD's data, Apple's October Mac sales were up 19% year-over-year, putting the company on target to reach analyst estimates in the range of 5.1-5.3 million units for the full quarter.

Analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray shared the latest domestic sales data from the NPD Group on Monday, which showed Mac sales up 19 percent year over year in the month of October. As sales continue to pick up leading up to Christmas, he sees Apple selling between 5.1 million and 5.3 million Macs during the December quarter.

Those numbers would represent year over year growth of between 23 percent and 28 percent. Consensus on Wall Street has called for Apple to report sales of about 5.2 million Macs during the quarter.

Apple last quarter reported sales of 4.89 million Macs, by far a company record. The company also guided toward record revenue and earnings for the current quarter, spurring analysts to push their Mac estimates to over 5 million.

As for the iPod, NPD reports that U.S. unit shipments are down about 18% year-over-year as consumers continue to shift away from dedicated music players and instead utilize smartphones for their portable music needs. But even that 18% decline appears to be smaller than anticipated, with analysts currently predicting a 20% drop for the full quarter. Based on the data, Munster suggests that Apple is on pace to sell approximately 16 million iPods in what is easily the company's biggest-selling quarter for the iPod each year.

Apple Launches iTunes Match with Release of iTunes 10.5.1 [Updated]

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 02:10:46 +0100

Coming several weeks late, Apple has just now officially launched iTunes Match to customers in the United States. The iTunes Match launch is facilitated by the release of iTunes 10.5.1, which now allows users to subscribe to the $25/year service offering cloud-based matching and upload of users' complete iTunes libraries. iTunes 10.5.1 is available via the iTunes download page and should be rolling out to Software Update shortly.

Apple had apparently initially intended iTunes Match to launch by mid-October as part of iTunes 10.5 as seen in a number of developer betas, but the company removed the feature from iTunes 10.5 for the public release, giving it a few more weeks to complete work on the service. Even so, Apple missed its stated launch target of "end of October" and did not provide an updated timeframe for the iTunes Match debut once the target was missed, although the company continued testing with a new developer beta of iTunes 10.5.1 just this past weekend.

iTunes Match is a U.S.-only service for the time being, although the company is reportedly working hard to secure licensing to details to expand availability to other countries. iTunes Store users in a number of countries have been greeted with a "coming soon" tag on iTunes Match promo listings in their country-specific stores, suggesting that Apple is optimistic regarding expansion of the service in the relatively near future.

Update: Demand of iTunes Match subscriptions has overwhelmed Apple's systems, and the company has halted new signups for the time being.

New iTunes Match subscriptions are temporarily unavailable.

Due to overwhelming demand, iTunes Match is not accepting new subscriptions at this time. Please check back in an hour.

Update 2: Despite Apple's notice about overwhelming demand still showing on the iTunes Match subscription page, subscriptions do now appear to be going through.

Update 3: iTunes 10.5.1 is now available in Software Update.

Apple Becomes Top Five PC Vendor in Western Europe

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 02:08:59 +0100

Research firm Gartner today released its quarterly estimates of PC sales in Western Europe for the third quarter of 2011, finding that Apple bucked the trend in a declining market to join the list of top five vendors. Apple's sales in Western Europe were up 19.6% year-over-year, compared to an overall decline of 11.4% for the market. Apple's performance was understandably strongest in mobile PCs, where it registered 28% year-over-year growth.

Gartner's Western Europe PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 3Q11 (Thousands of Units)
In addition to the totals for Western Europe, Gartner also breaks out data for the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, with the UK being the only one of those countries where Apple ranked in the top five. The company's 21.8% year-over-year growth there landed it in fourth place with 7.8% of the market, although Samsung's 39% growth left it only slightly behind Apple with 7.3% of the market.

Gartner last month released preliminary numbers for the U.S. and worldwide markets, finding that Apple had taken 12.9% of the U.S. PC market during the third quarter, a substantial jump quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year, as well as a continuation of a long-term trend that has seen Apple increasing its share of the U.S. PC market.

iPhone 4 and 3GS Continued to Lead U.S. Smartphone Sales in Q3

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 02:07:43 +0100

While the sheer number of available Android devices has resulted in the platform surpassing Apple's iOS in popularity, Apple's limited portfolio of devices remained popular even as customers looked forward to updated hardware that arrived last month in the form of the iPhone 4S. According to NPD, the iPhone 4 and 3GS continued to hold the top two positions in U.S. smartphone sales during the third quarter, leading a series of Android phones in the rankings.

Led by continued steady sales for Apple’s iPhones, the top five best-selling mobile phone handsets in Q3 were as follows:

1. Apple iPhone 4
2. Apple iPhone 3GS
3. HTC EVO 4G
4. Motorola Droid 3
5. Samsung Intensity II

The ranking follows an identical showing for Apple during the second quarter, despite the iPhone 4 having been introduced in June 2010 and the iPhone 3GS launch dating all the way back to June 2009.

Even with the introduction of the iPhone 4S last month, Apple is continuing to sell the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS as low-end devices, with an 8 GB iPhone 4 being offered for $99 on contract at all three major U.S. iPhone carriers and AT&T offering the 8 GB iPhone 3GS for free on contract.

Samsung Declines to Seek iPhone 4S Ban in Korea, Wins Source Code Access

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 02:06:31 +0100

The Chosunilbo reports (via The Next Web) that Samsung has at the last minute elected not to request an injunction banning the sale of the iPhone 4S in its home country of South Korea. According to the report, the decision appears to have been spurred by public relations considerations, with Samsung preferring not to irk South Korean customers by attempting to have iPhone sales banned there.

Samsung had debated until the last moment whether to file the motion after making similar applications in France, Italy, Australia, and Japan.

The decision was apparently driven by public-relations concerns. A senior Samsung executive said, "We concluded that we should engage in legal battles with Apple only in the global market, but not in order to gain more market share in Korea."

Samsung and Apple are of course engaged in legal battles in a number of other countries, with each company seeking injunctions banning the sale of the other's devices based on claims of intellectual property infringement.

Samsung is one of Apple's key component suppliers for its mobile devices, but also a primary competitor with its slate of Android-based handsets. As noted in his biography, Steve Jobs believed that Android was a "stolen product" and had vowed to "spend every penny" of Apple's cash horde to destroy the platform. Samsung initially adopted a defensive stance in the disputes, but has recently stepped up its efforts and begun targeting the iPhone using its own portfolio of patents covering 3G wireless technologies.

Meanwhile, developments continue in Samsung's case against Apple in Australia, where Apple was able to avoid Samsung's request to see Apple's contracts with mobile phone carriers in that country by simply testifying that the language Samsung was looking for was not included in the contracts. Samsung had been pursing claims of anti-competitive behavior by suggesting that carriers may have committed to paying premium subsidies for the iPhone.

Samsung did, however, win one concession from Apple, as noted by ITNews, with a Samsung engineer being given two hours with the iPhone 4S source code to examine its 3G implementation. Apple had argued that the specific 3G patents being cited by Samsung were licensed by Qualcomm, Apple's chip supplier, absolving Apple from any separate licensing requirement. But Samsung was apparently allowed access to the iPhone 4S source code in order to explicitly determine how the Qualcomm chip interfaces with the rest of the device's hardware.

Don't get too attached to this site we're are moving soon

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 11:11:07 +0100

Ok, so we found a site what we can make a better website out of, so we are moving soon, i mean within the next few hours soon, but we will still have this site and have a link to our new flash site on this sites homepage, but i thinkk there will only be left a homepage so remember to move to the new wix site, we will update this and tell you what the next wix site web adress is when we have created it.

New gadget show competition 23/09/11

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 22:26:25 +0100

The gadget is having their weekly competition again, so to be in the chance of winning over £25,000 worth of gadgets, answer this question:
who discovered wonderland in Lewis Carroll's classical Novel?
A) Alice
B) Lucy
C) Jess
Text A,B OR C to 63555
Texts cost £1.50 plus standard network rate
Gadgets that you can win are: