Category Archives: News
Samsung Galaxy S II Beats iPhone 4S For Phone Of The Year Award
Well well well, what do we have here! Samsung’s flagship super-phone – the Galaxy S II – has beaten the super-popular iPhone 4S for a Best Phone of the Year award.
The news comes straight from Pocket-Lint – a popular weblog covering consumer electronics – in the form of a post in which they announce winners of their annual Gadget Awards.
Their award for Best phone for the 8th Annual Gadgets Awards goes to the Samsung Galaxy S II, beating out other phones like the Apple iPhone 4S, HTC Sensation, Nokia Lumia 800 and the Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray.
The award-selection process involved shortlisting five devices for the category and then choosing the best out of them based on the opinion of panel of “elite judges” including members of British newspapers, leading websites and television channels. Besides this, they took input from around 100 journalists and, of course, readers of their website.
Pocket-Lint, sadly, did not mention any specific reasons for choosing the Galaxy S II over other nominees. Sure, the GS II has an amazing, large display, a powerful camera and great design, but the iPhone 4S has a smaller, but sharper display, an even-more powerful camera and, according to some, a better looking design (which may not be as durable, though).
iPhone 4S reportedly launching in Russia on December 16
The nation that launched the first satellite in 1957 and the first cosmonaut in 1961 will now see the launch of the iPhone 4S on December 16.
Pre-orders have begun in Russia (Google Translation) for the latest iPhone at White Wind DIGITAL.
Although Siri (or shall we call it Yuri?) doesn’t speak Russian yet, Russians who are fluent in English, German or French have the ability to use Apple’s intelligent assistant on their smartphones.
Apple has noted that the languages supported by Siri will expand in the future, so there’s no doubt that Russians will soon be asking their favorite phone “Где ближайший Apple Store?” (Where’s the nearest Apple Store?).
Apple Fires Employee For Ranting About iPhone on Facebook
Social networks such as Facebook and Google+ (well, mostly Facebook) have become increasingly popular over the years. Benefits include being able to stay in touch and interacting with more people at the same time and making new friends along the way.
They also help remind you of important events, birthdays and anniversaries that you otherwise may miss or forget. They do have their downsides too.
As they continue to grow, companies in turn have started asking their employees to abide by certain rules when using the social networks or, in some cases, prohibit their use altogether. Employees worldwide have been reprimanded, suspended or even fired because of inappropriate status updates or pictures that shed light to their respective companies in a negative way.
Apple is no exception. According to news site Metro.co.uk, an employee by the name of Samuel Crisp criticized his iPhone and his job at an Apple Store in Norwich. Apparently he wasn’t happy with his position as a specialist and took to Facebook to complain.
In one instance, while testing out an app on his iPhone, the twenty-some employee wrote: ‘****ed up my time zone for the third time in a week and woke me up at 3am? JOY!!’
The day before Apple announced it would bring the Beatles music to iTunes, it hinted the announcement by updating its homepage with the splash screen: “Tomorrow is just another day. That you’ll never forget”. Crisp responded on Facebook: “‘Tomorrow’s just another day that hopefully I will forget.’
A colleague, who was also a friend on Facebook, brought the posts to their boss, Lindsay Cruickshank, who promptly suspended then fired Crisp. Not leaving without a fight, Crisp filed a claim with an employment tribunal.
Unfortunately for Crisp, they sided with Apple, calling the dismissal justified. The tribunal panel concluded:
Apple Patent Describes Camera-Based Digital Link For Sharing
Apple filed a patent that describes how cameras can be used to complete digital “handshakes” in a number of ways, simplifying the way data can be shared between devices.
PatentlyApple describes a newly published patent for authentication between devices in close proximity. It proposes the use of “keys” that allow each devices to perform a “handshake” with one another, thereby creating a connection. More specifically, the patent outlines a few different ways these keys can be recognized by the devices, including the use of built-in cameras:
The devices could share the keys using any suitable approach, including for example providing the keys in a manner that an image captured by each device could include the other device’s key. For example, devices could be placed opposite each other (e.g., face-to-face, face-to-back, or back-to-back) such that a camera of the device includes the other device in its field of view.
In one implementation, one or more cameras of the first device could capture images of the device environment. The first device could process the captured images to detect a second device in the field of view, and to identify one or more cameras of the second device.
Not only can the cameras of both devices be used to view one another and authenticate via environment recognition, Apple also outlines other ways this can be used. One example is through the use of a barcode or alphanumeric key displayed on the device’s screen. Another details the embedding of keys physically onto the device.
An interesting twist is found in the patent whereby the handshaking security code could be hidden the iPad’s Bezel (or any future iOS devices with a dark glass bezel). The patent states that “the bezel, housing, or a mask on the display (e.g., a dark region of a glass window not used to provide information) could include a key or a seed from which a key could be generated (e.g., by applying a time dependent algorithm to the seed). The key or seed could be encoded using any suitable approach, including for example as a number, image, code, or combinations of these.
Apple’s iOS Widens Lead Over Google’s Android In Mobile OS Usage
It’s been quite a steady year for mobile OS usage this year.
Worldwide, the top eight mobile OS platforms have relatively stayed in their same positions, in terms of usage, for most of the year. While Symbian OS has kept its throne successfully, the real action is between iOS and Android.
In a report published by Global StatCounter, Android has increased in popularity since the beginning of this year when it overtook BlackBerry to secure third place. After a heavy climb in usage it surpassed iOS in August, but it was short-lived. It only was able to secure the lead for the remainder of the month.
In October, Apple increased sales and popularity worldwide, allowing it to reclaim second place, but only by a small margin. We can see a much stronger lead in November, probably due to the introduction of the iPhone 4S; Apple sold four million of the units in the first weekend alone, becoming the fastest selling phone in history.
Let’s talk numbers for November. Global StatCounter tracks three million sites. Symbian OS leads the mobile race with 30.95 percent share.
Apple’s iOS held onto 24.21 percent share while Android owns 21.9 percent. Last month Apple and Google held a 23.48 percent and a 22.11 percent share respectively. It will be interesting to see how the duo performs in December.
