Verizon Cloud comes to iOS devices
Following up on an announcement made at the end of April, Verizon has begun rolling out its Verizon Cloud storage solution to iOS devices today. Verizon Cloud offers Verizon users a free 500 MB of cloud storage to backup their photos, videos, contacts, music, call logs and text messages. Users who want more storage can buy it at a monthly fee of US$2.99/month for 25 GB, $5.99/month for 75 GB, and $9.99/month for 125 GB.
The Verizon Cloud service lets users stream music and sync data between devices, including photos, videos and documents. Users can also access their files via the web and desktop applications. On the iPhone users can manage their Verizon Cloud account through the free Verizon Cloud app.
iPhone repair costs are soaring
Marketwatch recently took a look at the rising price of iPhone 5 screen repairs, pointing out that the $229 Apple sometimes charges to repair a broken iPhone 5 screen is often more than the cost of the device itself, with a two-year contract of course.
At the root of rising iPhone repair costs are more expensive components coupled with a lower supply of said components.
Apple runs new iPhone ad, dubbed "Music Every Day"
Apple on Thursday evening began running a new iPhone 5 ad titled “Music Every Day.” The ad shows iPhone users in a variety of environments using music on the iPhone for inspiration, fun, work, and as a means to bond with friends.
“Every day,” the narration reads, “more people enjoy their music on the iPhone than any other phone.”
Reality Absorption Field: iPod’s trail of tears, part 1
The recent celebration of iTunes tenth anniversary provided an opportunity to remember that it debuted before the iPod and was initially positioned as a way to get Macs to play well with the CD burners that had come to the iMac as well as to early MP3 players from rivals. Before and (mostly) after the iPod, it’s surprising to see not only how many different companies sought success in the portable media player category, but the diversity and depth of their approaches. While some achieved a degree of success and implemented a few things that were ahead of Apple, none came close to matching Apple’s success.
This column will focus on how PC companies approached the portable media player market while the next Reality Absorption Field will look at how competitors from other industries fared.
Daily iPad App: Frozen Synapse simulates some very impressive turn-based strategy
Frozen Synapse has been a successful title on Steam for a while now — it’s a turn-based strategy game, with the twist being that you’re a sort of tactical AI, running these battles on simulations and hardware rather than in real life. As a result, the big draw of Frozen Synapse is that while, like many other tactical strategy games, you are guiding a series of soldiers around turn by turn, these turns are actually simulated, and you can test them out and repeat them as many times as you like before playing out the “prime” sequence, and running the real thing.
