Stefan Magdalinski is now the front-runner in the “Guy of the Year” award for buying his wife a chocolate-covered iPad for her birthday, which he managed to get sent to South Africa.
Knowing that his beloved, @kerrching, really wanted an iPad for her birthday, Magdalinski reached out to some friends in London who were not only able to get him an iPad (it’s not yet available in South Africa), but were also able to coat it and freeze it in chocolate.
The results, we think, speak for themselves. The iPad is still in perfect condition and the chocolate coating is an extra layer of thoughtful kindness — and sweetness.
Earlier this week, police arrested two men in Arizona for attempting to trade a third generation iPod touch and about seven grams worth of marijuana for a 32G iPad via an ad on Craiglist, a local ABC station reports.
After receiving a tip about the ad, which included photos of both the iPod touch and marijuana (see below), police officers sent an e-mail purporting to be interested in the exchange. When the police met up under the pretense of completing the trade, 20-year-olds Jacob Walker and Jacob Veldare were instead arrested when Walker offered up the marijuana. Both now face charges for possession and the attempted sale of an illegal substance.
Not only were the two unwise enough to post pictures of marijuana on Craiglist, but they were also gullible enough to believe that anyone would trade a 32G iPad, which costs $599 for the Wi-Fi version and $729.00 for the 3G version, for a $299 32G iPod touch and a quarter ounce of marijuana of dubious quality.
One of the most exciting announcements from WWDC today was iOS 4, the iPhone’s new operating system.
The OS, which contains around 100 new and upgraded features, will be rolled out with the new iPhone 4 next month, and it will also be available as a free software update on earlier devices, including the iPad, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and second and third generation iPod touch with 32GB or 64GB storage.
In his keynote address, Steve Jobs chose to highlight a select few of the iOS’s new features, including multitasking, iBooks, advertising and file management. But there wasn’t enough time to cover all the upgrades and improvements. Some of iOS 4’s features that slipped under the radar include app gifting, wireless keyboard support and many others.
We first learned about iOS 4 back in April. At that point, we knew multitasking would be coming to the iPhone “in a way that doesn’t hinder performance or battery life.” Today, Jobs confirmed and demonstrated services such as Pandora (Pandora) and navigation running in the background while other apps were also running in the foreground.
Two other hotly anticipated upgrades for iOS 4 are the Mail app’s major facelift and the all-new app organization functionality.
Now, users can organize their iPhone apps into separate folders for better organization and easy access. iOS 4 will be able to manage up to 2160 applications on a device. Folders will feature the familiar drag-and-drop functionality that Apple device users know and love.
Email on the iPhone is also getting a major overhaul in iOS 4. You’ll be able to view messages from all your accounts in a single, integrated inbox. Messages will be threaded, and you’ll be able to open attachments using third-party apps, as well.
Apple made some significant announcements for multimedia functionality, too. iOS 4 will support custom playlist creation for iTunes, tap-to-focus video, 5x zoom for camera functions, and a Photos feature called “Faces and Places,” which allows users to sort and view photos based on where they were taken and who appears in them.
Finally, applications can now be gifted to friends and family, the background wallpaper on your home screen can be easily changed, a spell-checker has been built into Mail and other apps, and Bluetooth (Bluetooth)-enabled wireless keyboards will now play nicely with the operating system.
After recent rumors that Google is internally abandoning Windows and switching to Linux because of security concerns, Microsoft fires back at critics, claiming it’s doing more than its competitors when it comes to security.
“When it comes to security, even hackers admit we’re doing a better job making our products more secure than anyone else. And it’s not just the hackers; third party influentials and industry leaders like Cisco tell us regularly that our focus and investment continues to surpass others,” Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc says in a blog post.
He also lists some facts to support his claim, citing several security improvements in Windows (Windows) 7, like Parental Controls, Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), BitLocker disc encryption and an enhanced Windows Firewall. Furthermore, Microsoft ships software and security updates “as soon as possible through Windows Update and Microsoft Update to keep our customers safe,” he says.
LeBlanc is, however, careful not to say (at least not outright) that Windows 7 is the most secure OS out there. The reason is simple: Microsoft’s Windows operating systems have historically had far more security-related issues than, say, Mac OS.
It all boils down to the old question: Are hackers and malware writers targeting Windows because it’s not secure enough, or because it’s the biggest target out there? It’s a very tough question to answer, and while Microsoft’s attitude towards security has improved tremendously in recent years, critics will continue to use this argument against it. Who would have thought that having a 91% share of the OS market has its downsides?
As previously announced, the highly anticipated 4G smartphone, HTC EVO 4G, is now available in the U.S. Customers can purchase the device at Sprint retail stores, RadioShack, Best Buy and Walmart, as well as through Sprint.com.
The device costs $199.99 with a two-year service agreement and after a $100 mail-in rebate (taxes excluded).
You can read our hands-on review of the HTC EVO 4G here; in short, it’s a very advanced smartphone with top-of-the-line hardware and capable of 4G data transfer speeds, which is about 10 times faster than current 3G speeds.
To highlight the HTC EVO 4G launch, Sprint today started a major social media campaign, called Sprint Firsts, which encourages users to perform various activities at 4G speeds and let their friends know about it. Participants are being awarded 4G badges, and users who manage to be the “first” will get featured on the EVO homepage.
The new iteration of Yelp’s iPhone app isn’t live just yet, but a company blog post gives a window into what’s coming very soon: badges, and a hierarchy of “royalty” that lets you “rule” venues, neighborhoods, and even cities.
The royalty feature is much akin to Foursquare’s (Foursquare) mayorship feature, and lets Yelp (Yelp) users with the most checkins become the “Duke” or “Duchess” of a particular venue. Yelp goes a step further with the hierarchy, however, offering users with most Dukedoms in a particular neighborhood to be named the “Baron” and even a “King” to be crowned for most Dukedoms in an entire city.
The company itself acknowledges in the blog post that “we’re not the first ones to offer checkins,” but that adding these features “furthers Yelp’s mission of connecting people with and supporting great local businesses.” Yelp also provides some statistics behind why they’re investing in new mobile features: a full 27% of all searches on the review site come from their iPhone app.
Yelp has submitted this 5th major iteration of its app for Apple’s smartphone, which should become available in the App Store (App Store) soon. The company also notes that Android (Android) owners won’t have long to wait either until the new functionality hits the Yelp client on that platform; we got a sneak peek of what Android users have to look forward to at Google (Google) I/O.
It may be derivative at this point, but it nevertheless stands to add a fun element to the process of checking in to locations. The addition of higher order titles in the royalty hierarchy for being the most active in your neighborhood or city are an interesting new spin on the concept as well. What do you think of Yelp’s move into the game mechanics territory of location services that Foursquare earlier blazed?
Nielsen has released a new mobile application report and its findings showcase not only the increase in smartphone usage, but also what applications are most popular. For its report, Nielsen surveyed more than 4,200 people who had downloaded a mobile application in the last 30 days.
The survey really highlights just how much smartphone ownership trails traditional feature phone ownership, at least in the U.S. Nielsen’s study shows that 21% of American wireless subscribers have smartphones.
Still, even non-smartphone users have heavily embraced mobile apps. Nielsen’s survey indicates that the average number of apps that a feature phone user has on his or her device is 10, while the average number of apps a smartphone user has is 22.
Broken down even further, the average number of installed apps based on smartphone OS looks like this:
While the specific applications vary from platform to platform, the most popular apps across smartphones were pretty consistent in this report: Maps, weather, Facebook and music all had strong showings.
Check out this chart which breaks down the five most popular apps by smartphone OS:
It’s interesting to see just how much Facebook dominates the mobile app space; it’s one of the top five apps on each of the platforms highlighted. Still, Nielsen notes that broken down by demographic, MySpace (MySpace) is still very popular among teens and that LinkedIn (LinkedIn) is strong in the 25-44 demographic.
A Facebook phishing attack is on the loose this weekend — the third widespread attack on the site in the past three weeks. The attack attempts to steal your Facebook login credentials, install malware on your computer, and even get your home address.
The attack is spread via a “hilarious video” posted to Facebook walls, reports WebSense — when clicked, a form appears requesting your Facebook login.
The attack then returns you to Facebook, installs an app called “Media Player HD”, and asks you to download the “FLV player” — doing so installs malware on your machine. It gets worse: Depending on your location, you may also be presented with a contest to win an iPad … if you just enter your home address.
To avoid getting caught, simply remove the “hilarious video” if you find it on your FacebookFacebookFacebook wall. If you see it elsewhere on Facebook, don’t click it … and of course remember the obvious rule: Don’t enter your Facebook login anywhere other than Facebook.com.
If you already fell for the attack, change your Facebook password, uninstall the Facebook app (often called “Media Player HD”), and run a virus/malware scan on your computer.
The video below, courtesy of Websense, explains the attack.
Facing increasing pressure from Apple’s red-hot iPad, Amazon intends to fight back with a thinner, sharper and more responsive Kindle that will be introduced later this year.
According to Bloomberg, Amazon will introduce a new version of its popular e-reader in August. It will boast a thinner build, sharper contrast, and faster page-turning. However, it will not be a touchscreen device, nor will it boast color.
Apple is gunning directly for Amazon’s e-book business with its iBooks store, which publishers have embraced as an alternative to Amazon’s long-standing dominance in the e-book space.
The iPad’s multitude of uses and starting price point of $499 are a threat to the Kindle, although the iPad’s LED screen isn’t as well suited as the Kindle for extended reading. The Kindle utilizes black-and-white e-ink technology to make reading on the device less strenuous on the eyes.
While the upgrade should help Kindle stay relevant, we’re likely to see color and a touchscreen on Amazon’s e-reader device at some point. In February, the company acquired Touchco, a startup specializing in color touchscreen technology. It’s going to be some time though until Amazon is satisfied with a touchscreen interface that is also easy on the eyes.
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