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Apple Debuts ‘iCloud Harmony’ Commercial (Video)

2012-02-27T04:22:12Z

Apple has a new TV commercial that focuses on the simplicity of iCloud and how it keeps all your devices synchronized.

Skip Tunes Lets You Control Spotify, iTunes and Rdio from Your Mac’s Menu Bar

2012-02-26T19:58:54Z

Skip Tunes is a cool Mac app that lets you control Spotify, Rdio and iTunes from your menu bar. It gives you a simple way to change songs, pause, view album artwork and more without having to switch to the app. Skip Tunes has a beautiful design and feels like something that should be native to OS X.

Skip Tunes is available in the Mac App Store for $0.99. Watch the video below for a quick demo of Skip Tunes.

The 3 Top-Selling Smartphones of 2011 in the U.S. Were All iPhones

2012-02-25T04:11:58Z

According to research by comScore, Apple dominated 2011 smartphone sales in the United States. The three best-selling smartphones were iPhones, with the iPhone 4 being on top, followed by the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4S. The iPhone 4S was able to make third place despite only being available for less than three months.

Apple Acquires App Search Engine ‘Chomp’

2012-02-24T14:40:31Z

According to TechCrunch, Apple has acquired Chomp, an app search and recommendation engine that has an iPhone app in the App Store.

My understanding is that such deals will remain intact for now but are likely to end once the Chomp team and product transitions over to Apple. The same is likely true for Chomp’s stand-alone products.

I haven’t been able to learn the exact terms of the deal, but I hear that all the investors should be very pleased with the outcome. This is not a cheap “acqui-hire”, Apple has bought the Chomp team and technology and plans to use both to completely revamp App Store search and recommendations, I hear.

RUMOR: Apple to Ditch Traditional iPhone, iPad and iPod Dock Connecter

2012-02-24T13:19:53Z

Apple is getting ready to ditch the current dock connecter implemented on iPhones, iPads and iPods, according to iMore.

An updated “micro dock” would make room for bigger batteries, 4G radios, and other components far more important to the iPhone and iPad in a PC free world.

iMore doesn’t say where they are getting this information from, and I think a lot of it is speculation, but they definitely make a good argument on why Apple should switch to a smaller dock connecter. Check out the full article if you are interested.

Magic Mouse Inspired iPhone 5 Mockup

2012-02-23T20:26:06Z

Ciccarese Design has created an iPhone 5 concept that seems to have been inspired by the Apple Magic Mouse. Although the mockup looks very well done, It’s not the design I’d like to see on Apple’s next generation iPhone.

A teardrop-shaped iPhone 5 was speculated in the months and weeks leading up to the iPhone 4S, but luckily the rumors were wrong because I think it would be annoying. Just flip over your Magic Mouse and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

OnLive Launches Premium ‘Desktop Plus’ for iPad with Flash Support

2012-02-23T00:48:51Z

Last month OnLive released its free OnLive Desktop iPad app that lets users run Microsoft Office apps streamed from OnLive’s remote PCs. The company has now introduced a paid “Desktop Plus” subscription service that provides enhanced functionality, including priority access and a Flash supported browser. OnLive Desktop Plus is cost $4.99 a month.

The free OnLive Desktop App, currently available on iPad—and coming soon to Android, PC, Mac, TVs and monitors—delivers no-compromise, media-rich, instant-response Windows applications including Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint software, and as of today, Adobe Reader for PDFs, along with 2GB of cloud storage. OnLive Desktop Plus, available for $4.99/month at www.desktop.onlive.com, provides all OnLive Desktop Standard features plus OnLive’s gigabit-speed accelerated browsing experience with full Flash player capability. With OnLive Desktop Plus, the iPad not only becomes 100% Flash compatible, it becomes the world’s fastest mobile Flash player.

The OnLive Desktop app is available for free in the App Store.

Microscope Examination Confirms iPad 3 Has a 2048×1536 Retina Display

2012-02-18T17:21:24Z

Mac Rumors claims to have obtained an iPad 3 display, and after comparing it to one from an iPad 2 under a microscope, has determined that the iPad 3 display’s pixels are one-quarter the size of those on the iPad 2.

Since we only had a raw iPad 3 display with no method to power it, taking high quality photos of the pixels was difficult. Still, even with the relatively poor lighting, you can easily make out the pixels on each display (made up of red, green and blue elements). We highlighted a cluster of 4 pixels (2×2) from the iPad 2 to compare it to the same area on the iPad 3. On the iPad 3, the same cluster was occupied by 16 pixels (4×4) — exactly twice the resolution in each direction.

Extrapolating out, the iPad 3 screen should carry a full resolution of 2048×1536, exactly twice the linear resolution of the iPad 1 and iPad 2 which is 1024×768. Such a screen should be able to display much sharper images as compared to the previous generation iPads.

The iPad 3 is rumored to be announced on March 7, and besides having a 2048×1536 Retina display, it’s rumored to feature a quad-core A6 processor and LTE 4G technology. The iPad 3 is expected to look almost identical to the iPad 2.

Apple Launches Countdown to 25 Billion App Store Downloads with $10,000 Gift Card Prize

2012-02-18T17:07:06Z

Apple has posted a countdown to 25 billion app downloads for the App Store. The company is awarding a $10,000 App Store Gift Card to the person who downloads the 25 billionth app or the person who submits the alternate entry form immediately after the 24,999,999,999th app download, whichever comes first.

As of today, nearly 25 billion apps have been downloaded worldwide. Which is almost as amazing as the apps themselves. So we want to say thanks. Download the 25 billionth app, and you could win a US$10,000 App Store Gift Card. Just visit the App Store and download your best app yet.

Apple Releases Public Beta of New Messages App for Mac

2012-02-16T18:53:50Z

One of the new features of Mac OS X Mountain Lion announced today is an app called Messages. Messages replaces iChat and allows you to send unlimited messages, high-quality photos and videos directly from your Mac to another Mac or iOS device, it’s basically iMessage for Mac. I’ve already tried it out some, and it’s awesome!

Lion users can download a beta of Messages from Apple’s website, and the final version will be included with Mountain Lion sometime late summer 2012.

Messages will continue to support AIM, Jabber, Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk.