Category: Mobile (Page 47 of 65)

App Store Hits 1.5 Billion Downloads

July 14, 2009 / Jeff Morgan

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

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iPod Nano Survives a Trip through the Washer

July 13, 2009 / Jeff Morgan

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

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Girl Drops Into Open Manhole While Texting

July 11, 2009 / Jeff Morgan

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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AT&T Denies MMS Delay, Tethering Estimates

July 11, 2009 / Jeff Morgan

Around the release of iPhone OS 3.0 and the iPhone 3GS, rumors started to fly concerning MMS and tethering, both of which would get 3.0 support. The word was AT&T was unnecessarily delaying MMS, maybe as far as September, and that tethering would run AT&T customers as much as $55/month.

According to AT&T, none of this is true. They recently sent an email to Wired.com to set the record straight. A spokesman for the company has confirmed charges for tethering (booooo!) though he wasn’t willing to mention specific numbers or a live date for the service. As they’ve stated before, the email maintains MMS for “later this summer.”

By the by, the first day of autumn isn’t until September 22, giving plenty of room for “later this summer” and “September” to mean the same thing. As for tethering, we’re probably looking at a $15 upcharge, which is consistent with other tethering/data plans. Seems egregious on top of an unlimited data plan, but I don’t have much use for tethering. My apologies to those of you that do.

iPhone, Mobile

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Amazon Wants to Ease Your Cell Shopping Pains

July 10, 2009 / Jeff Morgan

Have you tried shopping for a cell phone recently? How bout shopping for one without a clue what you’d like? Not particularly tech-savvy? Don’t know what’s on the market?

I found myself in this exact situation about a month ago. I was all set to pick up a new 3GS, but that meant my girlfriend needed a new phone too. Luckily, she had me, as its kind of my job to be up to date on this stuff. Even with my help, which she grudgingly accepted, it was difficult to find the right phone. Again, luckily, we knew we were shopping AT&T. Without that limitation, though, the possibilities are near endless.

Amazon hopes to change all of that with Amazon Wireless, a new service aimed at centralizing cell phones and service plans, all in one rebate-free package.

Personally, I love this idea. Amazon isn’t always my favorite place to shop online, but I almost always use their reviews as a source of input before purchasing a new product. Their wireless store, which is currently in beta, puts all of that information in one place, making it easy for gearheads and average consumers alike to find what they’re after.

For now, the store is pretty limited. It only has 130 phones, and only from AT&T and Verizon. I can only imagine that number will grow, though, as other carriers jump on board for the potential benefits inside. Head over and check the site out for yourself.