Author: Jeff Morgan (Page 134 of 168)

      App Store Hits 1.5 Billion Downloads

      July 14, 2009 /

      Apple's runaway app store.It’s really becoming a year among years for Apple. The super-trendy company was once a sleeping puppy in a den of wolves, quietly wooing customers to the questionable promise of a more stable lifestyle. Since then they’ve released the Kleenex of the MP3 player market and turned tens of millions to the iPhone. Just three months ago their app store hit 1 billion downloads and just this month the store had its first birthday.

      Today marks another milestone for your favorite fruity company. According to an Apple press release, the app store has reached 1.5 billion downloads to date. We already know Apple’s iPhone as host to the fastest growing development community in the world, sending coders on a rite of passage with dreams of hitting it rich. Those quasicultish seekers have made more than 65,000 apps available in 77 countries around the world.

      Our congrats to Apple. May your useful apps continue to improve and your frivolous apps continue to make us scratch our heads as we look at the download counts.

      You can read the full press release here.

      Apple, Apps, Computers, Gaming, Mobile

      Fuji Set to Bring 3D Stills to the Masses

      July 13, 2009 /

      Fuji Finepix Real 3D SystemIn years gone by, Fujifilm was the name in digital photography. They pioneered the first digital still camera in 1988 and held almost 30% market share. That was then, and unfortunately for Fuji, now is a time in which they hold less than 7% of the market and face stiff competition from companies like Nikon and Olympus.

      Fuji is releasing a new camera with hopes of getting their mojo back. Called the FinePix Real 3D System, their new camera is (omg!) a 3D still camera, the first of its kind for a consumer market. The camera works by employing two lenses that sit approximately the width of a pair of human eyes apart. The result is binocular vision that recreates depth perception in the same way your brain does. The only problem is that the left and right images have to be directed to your left and right eye for the effect to work.

      That’s part of Fuji’s strategy for the Real 3D. As the first 3D consumer camera, they’re the first with a real need for 3D media that doesn’t involve a pair of red and blue glasses. For starters, they’re looking at a 3D picture frame, which would direct each image at the viewer’s appropriate eye, and 3D film, which functions as a lens overlay for a photo print, achieving the desired effect.

      I went to an art exhibit last year where a physical media photographer was showcasing photos he had take by sort of hacking this method. He shot the images and then put them into one of those viewfinders you see at Niagra Falls and other popular tourist destinations. The pictures were incredible, especially the dead bird splayed out on the pavement.

      Success of this kind of product really depends on the success of the media, though. If the frame and the film are overpriced, it doesn’t matter how cool the pictures are. No one will be able to appreciate them. Fuji seems to be aware of this and plans to price at least the film under the $5 mark. The camera will run you a cool $600.

      Cameras, News

      iPod Nano Survives a Trip through the Washer

      July 13, 2009 /

      Can rice save your device?Last week, Wired:Gadget Labs contributor Charlie Sorrel posted some sad news on that site. He neglected to check his pockets before running the wash and, as fate would have it, accidentally ran a (his?) bright pink iPod Nano through the washer, only to find it when the spin cycle was done. By all rights the little music player should have been dead. Instead, we have the story of the little iPod that could.

      After drying the device for nearly a week, leaving it on a breezy windowsill, sitting in the sun, resting atop a Macbook’s MagSafe power block, Charlie plugged his Nano into said computer and waited. A few seconds later the Apple logo appeared, followed shortly by iTunes recognition, officially proclaiming the player alive and well.

      My question to you, gentle readers, is what do you do to save your wet devices? Charlie was a bit lucky in that the Nano was likely off when it got soaked. My uncle, on the other hand, wasn’t so fortunate this weekend. His sister tossed him into a pool, Blackberry and all. For now that phone is sitting in a bag of rice, hopefully drying out. I’ve had some success of my own with air drying followed by the freezer method with various electronic devices.

      So what’s your best method and when does it work best? Have you had any success with devices that are on when they hit the water?

      Apple, Mobile, Music

      iPhone Gamers Love New Games, Want Them Less Than $2

      July 12, 2009 /

      iPhone app store spread.The folks at PocketGamer.biz recently took a look at the iPhone gaming situation to come away with some cold, hard data about what people are buying and why. I’ll spare you the full report (really I just don’t want to leech all the credit here) and focus instead on some of the more interesting details.

      For standards, PG took a snapshot of the top 100 applications and then broke down the results by price, price by rank, games by publisher, and source (new IP, console port, music, movie, etc.).

      Pricing was actually different than you might think. While most of the top 100 came in the $.99 category (36 titles), second place went to the $4.99 bracket with 20 titles. But that’s just number of games for each price bracket. Obviously since they are top 100 these are games that are getting downloaded a lot, but how much do the games get played after downloading?

      If you look at price by rank, the top 10 games average just $1.89/download. At 11-20, the price drops to $1.19. Of course there are a load of factors that could contribute to the rankings. Are people really playing these cheap games more or are they just deleting them more often and so being prompted to rate more of these games?

      Perhaps the most useful statistic, at least to industry developers, is the rate of new downloads and the desire for new IP. Of the top 100 games, 40 were released in June or July (this likely includes a few updates). Another 22 were April or May releases. As for IP, 52 of the top 100 are fresh content, designed just for the iPhone.

      If you’re downloading games, where does your allegiance lie? Are you a bargain shopper, only buying apps that are cheap or on sale? Or do you look for the best IPs from hot developers, regardless of price?

      Apps, Gaming, iPhone

      Girl Drops Into Open Manhole While Texting

      July 11, 2009 /

      A Staten Island manhole.In the latest of the “man vs. tech” series (though one of our last stories was man/tech vs. nature) involves the dangers of texting, as though we haven’t heard enough stories. 15-year-old Alexa Longueira fell into an open manhole on Staten Island this week. Reportedly, she’s fine.

      It was only a four or five foot drop, but imagine walking along, aimlessly texting and paying absolutely no attention to the world at hand. Can’t imagine that? No, neither can I. How’s this – imagine walking along and suddenly dropping into a deep, smelly hole. And losing your shoe nonetheless. Would it be mental trauma? Worthy of a lawsuit? Alexa’s parents think so.

      Of course, I’m not sure who they’re going to sue. How do you sue someone for your lack of attention? A violation of trust that the sidewalk would just “be there?” The workers claim they were “looking for cones” to mark the area when young Alexa fell in. More ridiculous news surrounding our inability to censor our information input/output. Much as I hope people get better at it, the dumb ones make for some hilarious news.

      Mobile, News

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