BlackBerry has just announced that its hugely popular BBM messaging service is going multi-platform: it will be released for Android and iOS as a free app this summer. BBM will support iOS hardware running iOS 6 and above; the Android version will be compatible with version 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and above. “It’s time to bring BBM to a greater audience,” CEO Thorsten Heins said in announcing the expansion, “no Read More
Sketchy Rumor Claims Sapphire-Covered Capacitive Home Button for iPhone 5S – Mac Rumors
Cult of Mac points to a report [Google translation] from Taiwanese site TechNews claiming that Apple will be including a sapphire-covered capacitive home button on the iPhone 5S in order to accommodate the fingerprint sensor rumored to be coming as a differentiating feature for the device. Apple is expected to do away with the traditional physical home button, which has long been one of the most unreliable components on iOS Read More
Apple wants you to scratch and claw your iPad – CNET
This figure from Apple’s patent lays out how the technology could work. (Credit: Apple/USPTO) The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday granted Apple nearly three dozen patents, including one that covers how a device responds to acoustic signals such as scratching and tapping. Patent No. 8,441,790, or “Electronic Device Housing as Acoustic Input Device,” focuses on tech that would allow a device to detect and react to sound resulting Read More
Groupon Rebrands Mobile Payments Biz As Breadcrumb, Adds iPad Merchant … – TechCrunch
A day after Groupon released (and then pulled) an iPad app with a new mobile payments dashboard for businesses, today the company is taking the wraps off a bigger piece of news around its larger plans to expand its commerce services for local merchants. Building on its Breadcrumb payments and commerce service for restaurants, which Groupon acquired last year, the company today is rebranding its wider payments service — and Read More
Facebook Home Seems To Be Failing Already – Forbes
After Only A Month The Facebook Phone Is Down To 99 Cents Tim Worstall Contributor Report: Facebook In Talks To Buy Waze For $1 Billion Parmy Olson Forbes Staff Management 265: I Fought Facebook and Facebook Won Gary Peterson Contributor Facebook’s Got Mobile Strength The Street Contributor This really doesn’t look good for Facebook Facebook‘s latest and greatest move into the future of social media on mobiles. Facebook Home might well Read More
Realmac To Enter The Mobile Photo Fray With Analog For iPhone, Explains Why … – TechCrunch
Realmac Software is showing off its latest app today, ahead of a launch to come later in the month. The app is called Analog, and is an iPhone version of its desktop quick and easy photo manipulation software. I’ve been beta testing the software, and the experience it provides is in keeping with Realmac’s other recent mobile releases, like the super simple to-do app Clear it created in concert with Read More
Management 265: I Fought Facebook and Facebook Won – Forbes
My tagline here at Forbes.com is “becoming a better CEO one goof at a time” and I recently made a goof – a big one. Here is the short version: On a Monday evening not too long ago, we installed a commercial grade router on the network here at gap intelligence. Along with faster internet speeds, Steve the IT Guy mentioned that our new super expensive router included pre-installed “filters” Read More
Android accounts for 74 percent of smartphones sold in Q1; Samsung reigns – ZDNet
Gartner has released its figures for Q1 sales for mobile handsets, and says that Android is preferred by the majority of smartphone users, with Samsung retaining top position in global marketshare. The research agency says that global mobile phone shipments reached almost 426 million units in the first quarter of 2013, which is only a marginal increase year-on-year of 0.7 percent. According to Gartner, worldwide Read More
Michigan Apple Orchards Blossom After A Devastating Year – NPR (blog)
Enlarge image i Apple Blossoms Amy Irish-Brown Apple Blossoms Amy Irish-Brown Last year, almost the entire Michigan apple crop was lost due to 80 degree days in March and then some freezing April nights. This year, the apples are back, but everything always depends on the weather. The state was under a freeze warning Sunday night — a scary prospect if you’re an apple grower and your trees have just Read More
Facebook Home Will Be ‘a Huge Flop’ Until It’s Not – Wired
Facebook home. Photo: Alex Washburn / Wired The big shift in the software world toward delivering software via apps is spoiling users. Apps are great; with the click of a mouse and a wait of just a few seconds, and at a price of zero to several dollars, you get software that runs fast on a tiny mobile device and can make multi-layer drawings, generate music, simulate flight, or turn Read More