United States federal agencies are ditching BlackBerry devices in favor of those powered by iOS, according to a new feature in the Washington Post. Dubbed ‘federal government 2.0′, the change will see the U.S. government upgraded and the introduction of consumer technologies like the iPhone, iPad, and Google’s Gmail service.
The demand for these technologies has not only come from agency directors and senior officials – who want to use iPads, Android phones and web-based email at the office like they do at home – but also from frontline workers who believe consumer technologies can set them free of the office for mobile working arrangements…
Michael S. Rosenwald of The Washington Post writes:
This is not a movie. This is not a Steve Jobs dream. This is the federal government 2.0, where technology upgrades no longer come at a “Little House on the Prairie” pace. Even President Obama, a BlackBerry devotee, has upgraded. He now owns an iPad, and it has been seen on his desk and under his arm.
The flashy consumer products that have been adopted in the corporate workforce — upending BlackBerrys for iPhones, Microsoft Outlook for Gmail, and lately laptops for iPads — are now invading the federal government. The State Department. The Army. The Department of Veterans Affairs. NASA. The General Services Administration is in the process of moving 17,000 employees onto Gmail.
Of course, happy workers are more productive workers, and with free services like Gmail moving in to replace those that currently exist, there is also money to be saved.
With about around 50 iPads and iPhone already in use – expected to rise to 100 soon – the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosions can now watch the “bad guys” with video surveillance equipment and an iOS device.
And there are others area of the government where iOS devices are already in use: the U.S. State Department is testing the iPad, while Congress allows iPads and iPhone to be used on the house floor, and the Department of Veteran Affairs will soon provide clinicians with a choice of an iPad or iPhone instead of the BlackBerry.
With corporate workforces and now the federal government scrambling to adopt Apple devices, this can only be bad news for BlackBerry maker Research in Motion. AppleInsidernotes that BlackBerry devices have long been a cornerstone for the U.S. government, but RIM continues to fall behind with support for third-party software whereas rivals such as Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Market have been rapidly increasing. [Source]
In a press, release, Apple confirmed that an iCloud service will be unveiled at WWDC on Monday, June 6th, as well as iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion, the company’s next-generation computer operating system. Yes folks, no new iPhone hardware is going to be released this time around.
Apple® CEO Steve Jobs and a team of Apple executives will kick off the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address on Monday, June 6 at 10:00 a.m. At the keynote, Apple will unveil its next generation software – Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS® X; iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s advanced mobile operating system which powers the iPad®, iPhone® and iPod touch®; and iCloud®, Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering.
As expected by many rumors, speculation and reports, we’ll indeed have a new version of both Apple operating systems as well as an internet service, which will indeed be named iCloud.
Also as expected, details are scarce at the moment, and there’s little we know about what those services will include. That said, at least we know what will be unveiled at the conference, something Apple has kept secret in the past.
The press release also revealed that Steve Jobs, who stepped aside in January in order to "focus on his health", will be giving keynote address at the said event. While he made an appearance at the company’s iPad 2 unveiling two months later, many didn’t expect him to appear at a faster-paced and way more crowded conference like WWDC.
WWDC is a yearly conference aimed at Apple developers, but many historic Apple products and business moves were unveiled there, such as the company’s transition to Intel in 2005 and several Mac OS X releases, along with every major iPhone release. Developers, similarly to what happened in previous years, will have access to Apple’s own engineers in order to get their questions answered and develop better software for Apple’s operating systems:
WWDC will feature more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers. Mac® developers will see and learn how to develop world-class Mac OS X Lion applications using its latest technologies and capabilities. Mobile developers will be able to explore the latest innovations and capabilities of iOS and learn how to greatly enhance the functionality, performance and design of their apps. All developers can bring their code to the labs and work with Apple engineers.
Most announcements are expected to happen at the introductory keynote on June 6th, although the conference itself will go on for the whole week.
Stay tuned as we will bring you all the details from the event once the dust has settled.
Dream:scape, the first-person 3D adventure game will finally be released next week, June 9th being the day to mark on your calendars.
Originally due in the App Store last month Dream:scape found itself delayed after a memory leak meant Apple would only certify the game to work on the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 – the two iOS devices sporting the most memory and advanced hardware. Deeming this unacceptable the team behind the game, Speedbump, decided to take the app out of the submission process and rework it in order to make sure it would be certified for as many devices as possible. Now Dream:scape has been back through the testing chambers in Cupertino it’s been accepted once more- this time being certified for use with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, 4th generation iPod touch and both iPads.
Dream:scape has been compared with the popular Myst, and promises more than its fair share of strange goings on and freaky atmosphere with a story to match.
Take on the role of Wilson, a coma patient relearning his past by exploring the dreamscape of his memories. Only there, in the lucid light of the subconscious, buried secrets are revealed, unraveling a decades-old mystery of tragedy, betrayal, and ultimately, revenge.
To publicize the game’s new release date, Speedbump have released a new teaser trailer, again driving home the sheer creep-factor.
Surely we’re not the only ones that get a slight sense of the Alan Wake about Dream:scape, especially considering it we’re short on ‘proper’ games in the App Store with far too many novelty games filling the Top 20 lists.
Is it next week yet?
Check out our iPhone Apps Gallery and iPad Apps Gallery to explore more apps for your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
As we know that Apple sued Samsung over its Galaxy line products called that Samsung copied it's iPhone, iPad products. today you will surprise when you hear that The first Galaxy S took just 70 days to sell 1 million units, but the most surprising thing is that Galaxy S II which has been launched, recorded the same 1 million units in only 30 days. It’s expected that Samsung will have sold about 10 million unite of its Galaxy S II by the end of 2011, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see that number hitting 11 or 12 million, especially after it comes to America’s shores on Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint.
That recored made Galaxy S II faster than iPhone 4 in selling. Galaxy S IInow will be the fastest selling smartphone in South Korea. When Samsung asked about the reasons of fabulous sales, they talked about the improved screen, 21 Mbps 3G modem, 8.9 mm body, and the new version of TouchWiz. Oddly they didn’t mention the dual core processor inside or near field communication (NFC).
We already know that Apple is all set to preview iOS 5 at WWDC 2011 just over a week from now. Needless to say, we're excited to see what exactly Apple is going to introduce in iOS 5. A new iOS 5 concept in form of a slideshow has caught our eye, and it beautifully fantasizes about what iOS 5 can really be.
It would have been much easier if there had been confirmed iOS 5 leaks. However, there have been none whatsoever, so the element of mystery remains as to what Apple is going to bring in iOS 5.
Previously, we've heard rumors that there is going to be deep cloud integration, Facebook and Twitter integration, iCloud, Find My Friends and widgets, however nothing has been confirmed as of now. Do remember that WWDC 2011 starts on June 6, so its just a painstaking wait of over one week before we finally know what iOS 5 is exactly going to be.
Well well well, the whole Apple Vs. Samsung legal debacle just took a turn for the down right strange. According to ThisIsMyNext’s Nilay Patel, Samsung’s lawyers have asked courts to order Apple to hand over the company’s latest iPhone 5 and iPad 3 prototypes so they can check their own hardware doesn’t mirror that of hardware coming from Cupertino any time soon.
The move from Samsung comes after they were ordered to hand over examples of its Droid Charge, Infuse 4G, Galaxy S II, and Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9. The aim of the game here is apparently so Apple can decide whether they should be part of the company’s original lawsuit over trade-dress infringement where the legal team from Cupertino claims Samsung’s Galaxy S smartphone rips off the iPhone’s icons and UI. This counter from Samsung does differ slightly however. While Apple asked to see hardware that’s largely already available to the public (the Galaxy Tab 8.9 is the only exception), Samsung’s request to get their hands on the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 obviously involve prototype hardware. Granted neither Samsung nor Apple will actually see the devices – their lawyers will be the only ones to witness them – the move is still one that will raise eyebrows. Apple isn’t known for sharing its prototypes with anyone – well, excluding the infamous iPhone 4!
"The court sided with Apple, in large part because Samsung had already released review units and photos of everything listed. In fact, the ruling came just days after Samsung handed out thousands of Galaxy Tab 10.1s at Google I/O, so really the only unreleased product on the list is the Tab 8.9 — a product that was announced in March and has been handled on video."
The consensus among the people in the know is that Samsung are on a bit of a fishing expedition here. The claim that they need to see Apple’s future devices so they can decide whether they may be similar to their own just in case Apple decides to go after them is a bit of a stretch, but when courts are involved anything could happen.
"So that’s Samsung’s motion. It’s pretty strange, if you think about it: Samsung is arguing that Apple might file for a preliminary injunction, and that it might happen sometime after Apple might release a new iPhone and iPad. That’s a lot of assumptions.."
We’ll be keeping an eye on this one over the coming days and weeks – it’s certainly sure to run and run. Shall we start taking bets on what will happen next?
J.K. Shin, President of the Mobile Communications division at Samsung, has unveiled plans to release a new Galaxy Tab tablet by the last quarter of this year and a new Galaxy S smartphone early next year.
According to the company, Samsung’s next-generation tablet will support 4G, allowing for faster data transfers. It’s still unclear which flavor of 4G the hardware will use, meaning HSPA+ on T-Mobile, LTE on Verizon and WiMAX on Sprint should all be on the table for the US market. As of yet, we don’t know much about what the next Galaxy Tab will bring, but Android 4.0, code named "Ice Cream Sandwich", is expected, since it’s expected to come out around the same time frame. Samsung seems enthusiastic:
"The race for 4G (fourth-generation) has already started," J.K. Shin, president of Samsung’s mobile communications division, told Dow Jones Newswires in an exclusive interview. "4G transition is inevitable particularly for tablets because it requires faster download speeds than smartphones to handle bigger volume content."
Samsung had previously announced a new wave of Galaxy Tabs, an 8.9”-model and a 10.1”-model, available for $499 and $599 respectively, both running a customized version of Honeycomb, also known as Android 3.0, and boasting dual-core processors. Both of those models are set to start shipping next month.
Samsung has also announced an upgraded Galaxy S, the Galaxy S III, which is expected to ship in the first quarter of next year. This announcement comes after the current generation, the Galaxy S II, already sold 1.3 million units one month after its introduction. The second-generation device includes additional features to attract power users, including a dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel rear camera and Android 2.3. We still don’t know what to expect for the the Galaxy S III, since the current generation has just shipped.
With a competitive range of smartphones and tablets, Samsung is a true player in the mobile space. The company sold 14 million smartphones last quarter and is aiming for 20 million this time around. According to IDC, a market research firm, Galaxy devices currently hold a 10.8% market share in the global smartphone market, a jump from 4.3% last year.
Samsung received a lawsuit from Apple earlier this year, claiming that the Korean company had stolen Apple’s design. Samsung has defended itself by claiming it had made several designs over the years, and that it didn’t look at the iPhone for inspiration. Until the lawsuit is settled, Samsung will clearly continue to grow and remain a solid competitor in this emerging space.
Today Obama the U.S president met with polish prime minister Donald Tusk and Obama received many presents from the state one of this gifts was an iPad 2 and a fanciful pen.
The President’s new iPad was chalked full of Polish made films and other content including the popular Polish-made video game ‘The Witcher.’ The short animated film ‘Cathedral’ by Tomasz Bagiński was also included on the iPad. It was nominated for an Oscar back in 2002 and has no dialog. This is rather convenient, as the President does not speak any Polish.
Another film called ‘City of Ruins,’ was also included on the President’s iPad. The Los Angeles Times describes the film by stating, “’City of Ruins,’ a new short documentary film, features 3-D aerial sequences that re-create the bombed-out views of Warsaw during World War II.”
President Obama will also have the opportunity to play the Polish-made video game, ‘The Witcher.’ It’s based on a series of books by author Andrzej Sapkowski. The game has received rave reviews and is a symbol of national pride in that country.
President Obama’s European trip also included stops in France, Great Britain and Ireland, but it concluded in Poland toady. I wonder what gifts the President received from the other head’s of state. It’s doubtful though that he received anything quite as sweet as an iPad 2 while he was away. Although, I hear that Steve himself already gave the President an iPad 2 some time ago. Read more »
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) An origin story set in present day San Francisco, where man's own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy
The 2011 version of this ‘Ape rising’ movie will try and correct the wrongs of the previous failure led by Mark Wahlberg. Director Rupert Wyatt is trying to bring the franchise back to the basics, and he is capable of doing so.
So this is really a prequel, which is sort of cool in a way because the story was a little cloudy to be honest. A scientist (played by Franco) is experimenting on a chimpanzee (named Caesar) in order to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. Caesar gets smarter from the experiments and, the little buggers go crazy.. taking over the planet with high IQ’s and power..
You know the rest… Director: Rupert Wyatt Writers: Pierre Boulle (suggested by novel "La planete des singes"), Rick Jaffa, and 2 Stars: James Franco, Andy Serkis and Freida Pinto
Last month, Apple filed suit against Samsung, claiming patent and trademark infringement from Samsung having allegedly copied Apple's "technology, user interface and innovative style" in its Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets.
Courthouse News Service now reports that a federal judge has given Samsung 30 days in which to provide Apple with samples of a number of unreleased hardware models in order to assist Apple with determining whether it would like to request an early injunction to halt the claimed infringement.
Samsung Electronics was told Wednesday to fork over five of its not-yet-released mobile phones to Apple. Sitting in Federal Court in San Jose, Judge Lucy Koh ruled that Apple deserves the quick production of cell phone samples three months earlier than usual in the litigation process, though she drew the line at requiring testimony from Samsung executives.
"Apple has demonstrated good cause for some, limited expedited discovery," said Koh. "While Apple has not yet filed a motion for preliminary injunction, courts have found that expedited discovery may be justified to allow a plaintiff to determine whether to seek an early injunction," said Koh.
The Samsung models in question include the Galaxy S2, Galaxy Tab 8.9, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Infuse 4G, and Droid Charge.
While the models have yet to be officially released to the public and Samsung has argued that examination of production samples that may not necessarily reflect final shipping versions is inappropriate, Koh noted that the argument is undermined by Samsung's publicity efforts that have seen images and even demo units handed out to members of the media. In one noteworthy example, 5,000 Galaxy Tab 10.1s were given away to attendees at the Google I/O conference earlier this month.
Today we have got some interesting news about a 14 years old young Irish boy who caught by Microsoft after Phishing by call of duty server for scamming.
really until now we don't know the name of this genius boy, but all what we know that this little boy has a chance to work with Microsoft or as it called it "the nefarious uses for his talent" and according Hacker news :
Microsoft is reported to be working with the 14-year-old Irish hacker who managed to stir up a little trouble with his Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 phishing scam alert. According to the managing director of Microsoft of Ireland, the company is helping the hacker “develop his talent for legitimate purposes.”
This little Move made some questions about : Why Sony didn't do as Microsoft did, by offering a place to George Hotz ?
Telefonino.net have made a Compared video between Samsung Galaxy SII the highly Android smartphone and iPhone 4, Samsung Galaxy SII manufactured by Samsung which is proposed as one of the four main antagonists of the iPhone 4 and the future fifth-generation iPhone that Apple will introduce later this year
Despite the technical features of the Samsung Galaxy SII are obviously higher, in some cases, than iPhone 4, despite the fact that the device is still "a year old, it defends itself very well in different situations.
It is so interesting to compare the fifth-generation iPhone, which Apple could present June 6 during the opening of the WWDC with this Samsung Galaxy SII very interesting. Read more »
It provides the first use of dynamic icons that change appearance depending on the notification received, so as to indicate clearly the type of message received. In the case of Facebook - shown in the example - the icon will change from the classic one by one in which you view the symbol of the post, just to communicate to receive a new message.
Notifications no longer appear, however, through pop-up in the middle of the screen but will be placed at the top of the display via a dedicated bar that will appear and will be hidden as needed. By double swipe down and you will see in detail the notification received.
Video:
By this new icons applications we can do a quick search through the various messages contained in this section. Click on the icon of an application, finally, we review the specific notifications for that service.
For those of you who might still not know of Ubisoft’s game Driver let me tell you that it has been the only game that has tried to single handedly compete with Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto (Modern Age games). Ubisoft is currently preparing its next installation of Driver called Driver: San Fransisco which will be available on stores from 30th August 2011 and is set to be released on Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS, Wii (different version) and the OnLive system.
The game is based on the events after Driv3r in which Tanner and Jericho both survive a shootout in Istanbul and Jericho escapes to San Francisco while Tanner pursues him there. Take a look at the trailer for the game:
Jericho appears to be escaping the cops in a hijacked police truck with Tanner following Jericho to proceed on with a head on collision. Jericho’s fate is still unknown while Tanner is taken to hospital and left in coma. The game takes place in Tanner’s coma dream this time.
However, in Nintendo Wii the story will be based on Tanner avenging the death of his partner by going undercover. The gameplay video of the game is given below:
Electronic Arts’ game Need for speed has been one of the most competitive racing games in the market over the last few years. With loads of ups and downs in the different installments over the past few years, Electronic Arts appears to be concentrating on a different type of installment this time and it calls it ‘Need for Speed: The Run’. The following is the announcement trailer of the game that was released by Electronic Arts few days back:
From the looks of the trailer much cannot be said but it surely looks interesting from different perspectives. In The Run, players will participate in an “underground world of illicit, high stakes racing,” with races in places like San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Denver and Detroit. The game will feature high speed pursuits with player navigating across narrow canyons at breakneck speeds.
Need for Speed: The Run will be available on number of platforms like Microsoft Windows (PC), PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo WII and Nintendo 3DS and is set to come to the markets on November 15th 2011.
as you know there are 3 different mobile os's available, and you can use what ever you want actually this is a war who will win this war?
IOS thoughts - With its easy-to-use interface, amazing features, and rock-solid stability, iOS — Apple’s mobile operating system — is the foundation of iPhone. And even as other phones try to catch up, the technologies and features built into iOS 4 keep it years ahead of the competition. Read more »
Mark Zuckerberg the CEO of Facebook loves to make progress in Facebook and bringing some changes in it, Today we have got a report that Mark Zuckerberg is hiring Software Engineers and Desktop Softwares the Job Descriptions tells that Facebook in a need for Software Engineers to build a team to work on a new computer software.
Here's what was said in the Descreption :
The desktop software team is a new team at Facebook based out of Seattle, WA. We will be working on new products that we expect to deliver to millions of users’ computers to help make their entire computing experience more social. Facebook is seeking experienced Software Engineers in Seattle to join this team.
And here's what responsibilities of the Job further illustrates that Facebook is thinking to make a Desktop client for Mac and Windows. :
Responsibilities
Create desktop applications for Mac and/or Windows
Work closely with our product and design teams to define feature specifications
Work closely with our Platform team to build server-side APIs and interfaces in support of these applications
Conduct design and code reviews
So it is unclear if Facebook now is working to build a full fledged Desktop software of Facebook, or either they are working on Facebook Browsers for Windows and Mac.
One of the last followers of tech news to hear the reports Thursday that Apple had sued Fei Lam, the 17-year-old Queens high school student who infamously sold White iPhone conversion kits to eager buyers tired of waiting on Apple's release, was Fei Lam. How did Lam hear about it? "I came back from school today and saw your email," he tells Fast Company via chat message, adding, "Lol."For someone who allegedly made contacts in China to import iPhone parts before Apple, started his own business (WhiteiPhone4Now.com), and pulled in tens of thousands of dollars in revenue--sometimes as much as $8,000 a day--it's easy to forget that Lam is just a teenage boy still living with his parents. But after Apple caught wind of his success, Lam's no longer just dealing with gym class and puberty like most kids his age--before long, he had a private investigator after him. And yesterday, it surfaced that Apple had sicced its legal pitbulls on the teen, filing a lawsuit against Lam over trademark infringement that would force him to cease from future sales and forfeit all profits from the venture. Apple also filed a request for dismissal simultaneously, suggesting the company might have found a settlement with Lam.
We caught up with Lam via IM on Thursday. He's a bit shy about the whole situation, as you'd expect, but as he tells it, the lawsuit is far from settled.
FAST COMPANY: How have you been?
Fei Lam: I'm okay.
So what's going on with this lawsuit? Apple filed one against you?
Don't know if I should talk about it but I found out about the suit from the news.
Has it since been dismissed?
I'm not sure.
Last time we talked, you said your parents didn't know about the business. How did they react when they heard of the lawsuit? Were they upset? Surprised?
They were a bit upset, sure.
Were they impressed though that you made so much money?
Again, just to clarify I did not make $130,000--not that much. But I guess so.
But even making thousands and thousands of dollars is quite impressive for a young teen like yourself.
Thanks.
Did you get to keep the money?
I don't think I should talk about that yet. Can't say for sure.
When did you first find out about the lawsuit? Did Apple call or send a letter?
I came back from school today and saw your email. Lol.
So have your parents mostly been handling the case then? I told Apple's lawyer that I'm sick and to meet when I get better. That was last week. I'm been handling the whole thing
So you have not settled?
I think that will be decided in the meeting.
Are you meeting in New York?
In the firm's office, yes.
Are you going to bring a lawyer?
No.
That's pretty brave of you.
I had a lawyer but I can't afford it anymore.
I also read that Apple also filed a request for dismissal for the lawsuit, which suggests you might be off the hook.
Or to show that they are serious.
Are you worried at all?
I would be lying if I said no, but sure, a little.
People I've spoken with seem upset that Apple is picking on you. I mean, it's such a big company, why would they concentrate on such a small issue?
I don't know how the contract works between Foxconn and Apple but the "repair parts" that come out months before actual product release is very weird.
That seems to be a focus of the lawsuit.
I also don't know why the white parts were made. Maybe they were to be thrown out or something. Not sure. It's all very weird.
Because you are saying you received them from [a businessman in China named] Alan Yang, and not from Foxconn directly?
Yes.
Do you feel like Apple is bullying you here at all?
I believe I was the only one that got their attention. After I closed down my site, other sites still sold the white repair parts. I guess if I look at it from Apple's perspective, they don't want the confusion that the white iPhone was released when it's not.
You clearly got their attention. If you had a chance to talk with Steve Jobs now, what would you say?
I don't really know. I met Woz and was really shy.
You sold one of them to Woz, right?
Ah yeah.
Was he cool when you met him?
Awesome guy.
Did he know you were selling the white iPhone repair parts?
I think he did. Yes he did. He actually went on the Engadget Show and sort of defended me.
That was nice of him.
Yes.
How have you been doing in other parts of your life? School going well? I'm doing alright in school.
Do the other students know what's going on with the Apple stuff?
A few saw the news, but besides that, no one really knows and it's better that way.
You've been featured on so many prominent technology websites and news sources. Everyone seems really impressed with what you've done at such a young age. You don't want to take advantage of that--put it on your resume?
I just got lucky.
Did [your parents] punish you at all? Like, were you grounded or anything?
I'm very close with my parents, but I tend to keep what I do online to myself like most teens.
Are they paying more attention to what you do online, since you were sued by Apple?
No.
Did they yell at you at all? I guess I'm just wondering what their reaction was. When I crashed my parent's Jeep once, they were very upset. But this is a lawsuit with Apple over thousands and thousands of dollars!
They weren't mad at me at all. Maybe a little. I've been working on another project since October of last year and I have page up for interested beta testers. It is called SimilarInterests.org.
Oh, cool. This is the startup you mentioned you were working on?
Yes.
Are you looking for investors?
Not yet.
When we last spoke, you also mentioned that you thought it'd be pretty cool to work at Apple one day. Do you still feel the same way?
Hmm, what would I do there? It'd be interesting.
Seems you're now more interested in starting your own company--that is, being the next Steve Jobs, rather than working for him, right?
Yeah.
So you're meeting with the Apple lawyers next week?
Just weeks before WWDC, Apple’s yearly developer conference begins, we’ve been hearing more rumors than ever about what could possibly be unveiled. According to sources, we’ll see iOS 5, with a complete rework of the existing iOS notification system, as well as widgets.
Excitement received a fairly major boost earlier this week, when Apple reportedly offered to fly British media to San Francisco in order to report on the event. The report assumes that Apple wouldn’t spend money flying journalists from across the pond unless it was up to something big, and I think they’re right: Apple has something up its sleeve, likely so major that they want all the attention they can get.
A possibility would be a next-generation iPhone, although that’s not quite certain at this point, and honestly, it never was. Apple has clearly marketed this year’s WWDC as a software-only conference, at least as far as new announcements go. While its "Join us for a preview of the future of iOS and Mac OS X" description might sound vague, it’s essentially narrowing the announcement down to software.
We’ll almost certainly see an announcement related to Mac OS X Lion. The operating system has been in semi-private beta stage for quite a few months, with successive seeds, the latest of which being fairly stable and nearly production-ready according to some users. Apple has promised to release Lion this summer, therefore a WWDC release announcements just makes sense.
That leaves us to iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system. Back in March, when Apple announced the iPad 2, many expected to see iOS 5, similarly to what had happened in previous years. Instead, Apple rolled out a small revision, iOS 4.3.x, which included no changes, except for a few minor enhancements.
Details about the future of the system have been scarce, and most of the ones we’ve seen have been pure speculation. Yet, it’s not being reported that the new operating system will have a new notification system, as well as widgets for the first time.
iOS Push Notifications were introduced with version 3.0 of the system back in 2009. Since then, it has received no visual changes, even though people now do a lot more with their phones than they did two years ago. The current notification system simply pops up a small dialog box on top of the whole interface and doesn’t let you interact with the phone until you’ve taken action:
It’s good to know that this feature might be due for an urgent upgrade. I’d like to see a way to queue up notifications, so they could be dealt with later. In addition, notifications, at least when they’re not urgent or require immediate user input, shouldn’t pop up on top of all apps and interrupt interaction like they do today. If a notification isn’t important, users should be able to just pull up a log and look at it later.
As for widgets, it’s hard to predict how they’ll be implemented into the iOS interface, which is now essentially App-dominated. It could mean a real reworking of the system’s interface. Earlier this week, we reported on a video concept that shined some light on what widgets could look like in iOS.
It’s important to stress that this is pure speculation and no one can be sure until the event happens. Both iOS and the iPhone are clearly due for an upgrade, the question is whether we’ll see both announced at WWDC. Until then, let’s just keep our finger crossed and hope that the event surprises us. (via TechCrunch) Read more »
TIPB, one of the most popular sites in the world in Apple News, reported that UK journalists have received an invitation for the next WWDC on June 6 the invitation included the launch of the new iPhone 4S.
According to TIPB Source that Siad:
A source tells us that Apple’s UK iPhone PR team is approaching journalists from major publications to fly out to the event in San Francisco next month. The obvious conclusion would be that Apple is announcing a new iPhone. Or rather, an updated model. The iPhone 4S is slated as a stop-gap before the appearance of a true, they’ve done it again!’ game-changer next yearAccording to electricpig report, Apple CEO Steve Jobs will deliver the keynote at the event, though we’d be surprised if the company didn’t show off a newly updated iOS 5 operating system regardless.
Do you think that apple will release the iPhone 4S in the next WWDC on June 6 with iOS 5 operating system ? Read more »
According to BGR sources inside Apple that Apple's yearly back-to-school special will be announced at WWDC next month.
We have been told Apple will continue to offer educational discounts on computers and either a free iPod touch, or $229 towards the purchase of any other iPod. Our source also let us know that there might be something new in the works, as well… they heard that it’s possible Apple might offer students up to $200 off an iPad with the purchase of a new Mac.
If true, no doubt this would be an amazing deal. [BGR]
Read more »
Assassin’s creed has been the game that has dragged people towards it and has been a hit for Ubisoft over the last few years. After the release of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, it looked like the end for Assassin’s creed installment but towards the end of the game we got our hints to Ubisoft’s next installation called Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and it didn’t take much time for Ubisoft to announce the game as well. Let’s look at the game in greater detail and see what Ubisoft has to bring for us:
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Third-person action-adventure, open world
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release dates: November 2011
Overview:
The game features Ezio Auditore da Firenze, who is 52 now, along with Altaïr ibn La-Ahad and Desmond Miles. Players will be able to play as Altair and Ezio both. The game starts off with Ezio travelling to old assassin’s stronghold in Masyaf where he discovers Altair sealing away a powerful artifact in the fortress and hides the keys in Constantinople. These seals are the old relics of first the first civilization that hold memories of Altaïr. Also during the game, players will proceed on with the story of Desmond where he will enter Animus in which he has found a safe mode called Black Room. The game is set to take place in Constantinople (Istanbul in modern day) with four districts:: Constantin, Beyazid, Imperail and Galata.
Features:
The game will allow users to use a new item called hookblade, which will increase the speed of movement during the game as the player can zipline across the city. Furthermore, the Eagle vision will be renamed to Eagle Sense and this is how Ubisoft’s Alex Amancio explains Eagle sense:
“Eagle sense lets you focus on a character and see where he’s been. You’ll get an approximation of where he will go. If you’re able to detect the path a guard will take, you can run ahead, set a bomb, and create a trap or an ambush.”
Players can make Assassin’s Dens within the game, and if these are attacked, player can send troops to quell the threat. Assassin’s dens will be able to users once the kill the Templar presence in a particular area and once they have obtained this, they can upgrade and add ziplines to move across the city. Also, to add more interest to the game, real time scenarios will be encountered during the game like the player can encounter a shop owner being robbed.
Screenshots:
Here are a few screenshots of the game:
Videos:
From the description of the game, it can be clearly analyzed that the game won’t be disappointing at all and will be worth buying. However, considering the multiplayer of the game, it will be an upgraded version of the one found in Brotherhood and will contain new characters and locations and users will be able to customize their appearance and weapon as well as start a guild. Stay tuned for more information on Assassin’s creed Brotherhood.
After weeks of turmoil, PlayStation fans can finally rejoice, or at least just a bit, now that Sony’s CFO hinted at a next-generation PlayStation console. While we still don’t have any further details, at least we know they’re working on it, right?
At Sony’s earnings call today, Sony’s CFO Masaru Kato tried to justify the company’s $3.1 billion annual loss by pointing to the recent attacks, as well as an earthquake. But maybe more interestingly, he hinted at a new PlayStation 4 console:
For the home equipment the PS3 still has a product life, but this is a platform business, so for the future platform – when we’ll be introducing what product I cannot discuss that – but our development work is already under way, so the costs are incurred there
Although we likely won’t see new PlayStation hardware for a few more years, the fact that there’s Research and Development being put into new hardware is definitely settling, since the company’s console sales have been slowing down right across the board, including PSP sales which have dropped since last year. There have also been other distractions, such as a possible Nintendo Wii 2, or "Project Cafe", which is expected to be announced at the next E3 next month.
The last major upgrade we’ve seen on the PlayStation 3 was the PlayStation Move, a new system released in September last year that provides motion control to specifically-designed titles, much like Nintendo’s Wii Remote and to a greater extent, Microsoft’s Kinect. The Move has gained good reviews and moderate traction, despite its great accuracy, mainly due to the fact it was overshadowed by Microsoft’s Kinect, which allowed essentially provided the same experience without the need for controllers.
The company has also lost money due to other hard-to-predict factors, such as the earthquake in Japan and the recent attacks across many of Sony’s properties. According to Sony, losses caused by the hacks amounted to around $170 million.
Sony has been under fire over the last month after successive hacks on many of its properties. Ever since an attack in late April, PlayStation network has been hacked and brought down several times. Just this week, two major Sony properties, Sony Ericsson and Sony Music Japan and Greece were broken into.
Whether Sony will announce a profit next year or not is still unclear. They sure did project one for this year, but they were $3.1 billion short of that.
There is alots of t shirt design's from Angry birds official website but there is no lazy face from them, adnac design labz (thilan abeysekera) create there own design for there favorite angry birds game t shirt and here it is and they named it Angry FaceT-Shirt "Lazy Face"
Exclusive Contain * You can't buy this item from anywhere, they will inform us if its available to buy
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With its easy-to-use interface, amazing features, and rock-solid stability, iOS — Apple’s mobile operating system — is the foundation of iPhone. And even as other phones try to catch up, the technologies and features built into iOS 4 keep it years ahead of the competition.
A few months ago we covered the story of Fei Lam, whose site, WhiteiPhone4Now.com had been forced to shut down. He managed to sell $130,000 worth of iPhone 4 parts that were in the elusive (at the time) white color. The story since then went quiet, until yesterday when Apple decided to file a lawsuit against Lam and his parents.
The suit claims that the site led to the infringement and dilution of Apple’s trademarks and that it was involved in deceptive practices through selling the iPhone conversion kits. Curiously, Apple has also filed a voluntary dismissal of the lawsuit, which as MacRumors suggests, may mean that a settlement has been reached, although the request for dismissal without prejudice may mean that Apple could come after Lim again at a later date.
Defendent Lam willfully and without authorization has used Apple’s trademarks in connection with the sale of his “White iPhone 4 Conversion Kits,” which among other things included white front and back panels with Apple’s logo and “iPhone” trademarks that are used in connection with the promotion and sale of Apple’s well known iPhone 4 handheld mobile digital electronic devices.
Included in the suit from Apple are quotes from an instant messaging conversation between Lam and Alan Yang, a business owner in Shenzen who obtained the parts for Lam. Of importance is that Yang notes he was having difficulties getting parts shipped out because customs agents in Hong Kong were raising concerns over trademark issues.
Apple has requested a permanent injunction barring the Lam, and his parents who are also included in the suit because he is a minor, from any further sales and forfeiture of all profits from the sale of white iPhone 4 parts, reimbursement for legal expenses and additional financial penalties. If you are interested in more details of the case, check out PatentlyApple which has done an extended summation of the suit.
AndroidLoader is a new Cydia Tweak that allow you to launch and view the Apps in one place and it's from Android Style, AndroidLoader is available for all iOS device except iPad but soon it will work on it, The Tweak may take over Springboard.
Also AndroidLoader is a new customizable by using Winterboard or Dreamboard, you can download AndroidLoader from Modmyi for $2.99, before I go here's a small video shows AndroidLoader Functions :
L.A. Noire was recently released by Rockstar Games, the company known for Grand Theft Auto, on 20th May in Europe on both SonyPlayStation 3 and MicrosoftXbox 360. The game from then onwards has topped all the charts and has been a hit all over the world. It is the biggest game ever made in Australia.
The game starts of in the city of Los Angeles in 1947 and the player starts of as a patrolman in the game and then advances on to be an arson investigator finally. Unlike Grand Theft Auto, the player cannot freely create chaos. The player assumes the role of Cole Phelps who joined the police force to ‘right the wrongs’ he committed in World War 2. The game is mainly based on crime and mystery solving and in addition to the story line player can proceed on with optional side-investigation missions just to add some more fun to the game.
One of the biggest questions that rise up is whether the game is worth buying or not? Well lets take a close look at the ‘The Good’ and ‘The Bad’ of the game individually and take a look a the video review of the game also:
The Good:
The game takes the player back to 1940’s and brings the same atmosphere back again that is a bit similar to God Father released in the past
Solid performances and good use of motion capture
Some great shoot-outs and action sequences that make use of real LA locations
Good use of interrogation mechanics along with interesting and compelling investigations
A very good and a memorable noir story
The Bad:
Pursuits are restricted sometimes and thus the game depicts away from reality
Investigations at the start of the game are very limited
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 probably needs to perform an internal sensor sweep, because it's clear that there is a mole somewhere in the squad giving up the secrets of the game. Despite the fact that this was one of the worst-kept secrets in the gaming industry, it surprised virtually no one that Activision was working on a brand-new entry in the Modern Warfare series. The franchise practically fire hoses money, and they aren't turning off that tap anytime soon.
Which is also why CoD: MW3 looks exactly like Modern Warfare 2. In fact, besides some updates character textures, and additional weapons, it's very nearly Modern Warfare 2.5, as you're picking up right where the last game left off, and continuing your globe-trotting and gun fighting. They've added some new tricks, but from what we saw at our first eyes-on look at the game, you're getting exactly what you would expect from this franchise. But who can blame them for returning to the roots of one of their tent poles?
Gameplay video surfaced recently, giving gamers their first glimpse of what the title would have to offer. As expected, there's a lot of pomp and bombast in this clip, showing explosive encounters around the world, which is what Activision hopes to hammer home with this title. Near the end of the video, WW3 clever flips the first w to become MW3, indicating that this is truly a conflict of global proportions. With Russia invading the United States in Modern Warfare 2, this direct sequel capitalizes on that by showing the struggle on our own shores again, as well as racking up frequent flyer miles to destinations around the globe.
Robert Bowling from Infinity Ward and Glen Schofield from Sledgehammer Games, the newly tapped studio that is working on the franchise, showed off two different levels to underscore the worldly ambitions of the game, taking us from Manhattan to London. In New York, you join Delta Squad as they try and route the Russians, who are embedded and occupying the city, taking you to familiar landmarks like Wall Street and both the interior and exterior of the New York Stock Exchange.
During a prolonged street battle where you'll be ducking in and out of buildings and climbing to the roof of the NYSE with your squad, we saw glimpses of a few of the additions coming to the game. The main characters' gun was mounted with an EOTech flip scope that can change from a zoomed scope to a red-dot sight just by flipping the large scope to the side. That's an authentic touch for players who like to both scope and run and gun.
Other new items included the 9 Bang grenade, which is a sort of flashbang on steroids as it delivers nine flash and bang elements wherever you drop the grenade. Also new was a Reaper Drone that you could deploy, giving you a bird's-eye view of the arena and letting you drop death from above on groups of enemies wielding helicopter-unfriendly RPGs. Both items came in handy as the squad battled to the roof, detonated explosives on a broadcast tower, and jumped into a waiting chopper.
But as you try and flee the scene, your chopper comes under attack from some formidable gunships, and you have to man a mini-gun to try and take them out. But where CoD can excel at showing damage to enemy soldiers (just watch the Killcam a few times in multiplayer; it may not be entirely accurate, but it's spectacular), there was no realistic trail of damage across the enemies we were firing upon. But the A.I. in both our chopper and the enemy birds did use a towering skyscraper as cover, and our ship took a lot of fire while downing the foes.
The scene then shifted to Canary Wharf in London, where your team is sent on a covert mission into a dark dock, where you're supported by air units above while you stealth in and take out sentries throughout scattered warehouses and buildings. From time to time, air support will drop in to rake fire across enemy strongholds in moments that looked slightly scripted. Enemies would begin to pour steadily out of one doorway, but a ship would drop in to take them out. Not that it's not appreciated. The entire level was a mixture of stealth and run and gun, but quickly shifted as you realize the entire setup is a trap.
The battle then shifts to the tube system below London, where the battle ends up derailing a subway car, which results in a spectacular explosion. Although one strange thing about that subway: it oddly barrels through subway stations with civilians lining the tracks who look shocked as you race past with guns blazing. Are you going to take the train while a large-scale battle is playing out in your city? Personally, I'd rather walk. Especially when you see that crash and wonder how anyone could possibly survive.
Bowling said the campaign is all about "cinematic intensity," and that the game is "locked in" at 60 frames per second. They're bringing Spec Ops back into the game, which was a popular co-op addition in Modern Warfare 2, and new multiplayer game modes that they'll be talking about at a later date. It will truly be interesting to see what happens when this goes head to head with EA's Battlefield 3 later this year. But don't shed a tear for Activision. While it does look like more of the same, that's exactly what Modern Warfare fans (and I include myself in that bunch) expect from the game. You don't rebuild a trilogy entirely in the last installment. Based on the little bit we've seen thus far, it seems gamers will be quite happy blasting their way through this title.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be released on November 8, 2011 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and the PC.
There are many ways to extend the iPhone’s camera feature, but there hasn’t been a good accessory to take panoramic video. Thankfully, Dot, a Kickstarter project has managed to raise enough funding and will start shipping this summer.
In a video posted on Kickstarter, David Sosnow, Head of Product Development Kogeto, the New York City-based company behind this project, requested $20,000 to develop the hardware but managed to raise nearly $40,000 over one month ahead of schedule.
The camera extension can be easily attached to the device, and after you place it in a convenient location, it will be able to record 360º video of what’s going on around it. The accessory is essentially comprised of a lens that will sit over the camera and a a rubber dock to keep it secured. The device should be used face down, in a way that the camera is facing up. Once the lens is attached, users can use the native camera app to record, then use an app provided by the company to turn the donut-shaped raw video into a 360º panorama.
As for video quality itself, it’s directly dependent on the quality of the phone’s camera. iPhones currently shoot at 720p (1280×720), so the raw video will have that quality, which after being parsed and turned into a panorama using the provided app, will be at a resolution somewhere near 1280×352.
The video will then either be saved locally or uploaded to Kogeto’s website later this summer. From there, users will be able to share their panoramic videos with their friends on Twitter and Facebook, as well as embed them on their own website or blog if they wish. Any user with the browser will be able to see the whole panorama and scroll 360º around it, much like a online photo panoramas.
In addition to Dot, Kogeto already manufactures Lucy, a professional-grade 3D panorama creator used for education and security purposes. Unlike Dot, Lucy doesn’t require a phone to function, since it already includes two microphones and a two high-end high definition cameras.It could be said Dot is Lucy’s smaller brother: a smaller product that adapts to the lifestyle of consumers. While Lucy might be suitable to record classes, Dot is meant for recording parties.
Low-volume production is set to begin in early Summer and full production should begin in August. In addition, the company is hosting a launch party in June to thank its donors.
A gay spent two weaks time inventing a device looking a white table he called it iPad 3 From picking the parts, to mounting the motherboard and then installing the OS (Windows XP!), you got to watch his solid step-by-step guide to build the tablet. I love the small, medium and large sizes of Apple stickers he got!
Two weeks ago, we reported on a user interface concept by Jan-Michael Cart for a great implementation of speech recognition on the iPhone. Now he’s back at it with a concept for implementing widgets into iOS, a feature that can already be found in Android and Mac OS X.
This concept proposes replacing the spotlight screen, which is currently used for searching. While the search box would still be there, an additional button would be created to add widgets, such as Facebook, from a pre-populated list. Widgets would be placed in "home screens", just like apps, except app screens would be placed to the right of the spotlight screen, while widget screens would be placed to the left. When the search box is in use, the widgets on the spotlight screen would automatically hide so search results could be displayed, much like what happens in the current version of iOS. Widgets would presumably be downloadable from Apple’s own app store, or included with Apps themselves.
Jan-Michael Cart has published another widget concept in the past. The main difference between it and the new one is that the former would allow widgets to be moved to app screens. That’s no longer the case with the new concept.
I think it’s legitimate to ask whether widgets are worth the effort or not. Widgets are essentially applications running in the background, using up processing power, batter life and data from a possibly already pricey data plan. There would have to be a way to manage those widgets in a way that it wouldn’t put so much of a strain on the phone’s hardware on the cellphone bill, and that at the same time would preserve user-friendliness. In addition, launching an app whenever its needed might turn out to be more efficient than having to scroll across different home screens just to access the desired widget.
Either way, this concept brings up a good point: there’s still work to be done on iOS as far as notifications and integration with web services are concerned. Whether we’ll need to go down Android’s route and implement widgets will be up in the air, but we’ll need more than the same old push and badge notifications.
In the latest round of iPhone 5 rumors, Digitimes claims that Largan Precision might be the supplier for the alleged 8 megapixel iPhone 5 camera. It was previously learn that Apple was hoping to widen its parts supplier list.
As far as the next generation iPhone is concerned, we've already heard rumors that it may feature a curved glass screen, relocated LED camera flash and possibly an eight megapixel camera module.
Digitimes reports:
Taiwan-based Largan Precision currently sees 8-megapixel phone-use lens modules account for nearly 10% of its total lens module shipment volume, but it may see 8-megapixel modules replace 5-megapixel ones to become the mainstream for smartphones in the third quarter of 2011 due to possible orders from Apple, according to industry sources in Taiwan.
It should be noted that Digitimes has a bitter sweet history when it comes to making predictions about Apple devices. They may, or may not be true. Why Largan Precision may be one strong contender in the list of camera module suppliers for iPhone 5 is because of the fact that this Taiwanese manufacturer currently supplies the five megapixel model for the iPhone 4 and the camera lens for the iPad 2 as well. The camera on the iPhone 4 has received phenomenal response from the consumers and it seems logical for Apple to continue with a supplier that has met its quality standards in the past.
This is however just a rumor as of now. When details are confirmed, we'll be the first to let you know.
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Early this morning, Apple's App Store hit a huge milestone, 500,000 apps have been approved by Apple's stringent team.
A couple hours past midnight, the App Store gave consent to the batch of apps that would take the number of approved apps past the half a million benchmark. Considering that the App Store is only three years old, that is phenomenal!
That said, given that apps are occasionally taken off the market due to various reasons, the number of apps currently on the app store resides at 400,000 apps. Nevertheless, that's more than an app a day for the next thousand years.
To celebrate this remarkable feat, mobile app blog 148apps, search company Chomp and game developer Chilingo got together to create a beautiful info graphic of the App Store's growth over the years. We've added the beautiful info graphic at the end of the post, so check it out for a fresh dose of App Store statistics.
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