Aurasma brings static objects and images to life (podcast)
Imagine aiming a smartphone or a tablet at a cereal box and, instead of seeing the static image printed on the box, you see an animated feature appear as if it's playing on the front of the box. The same technology could be used to turn a picture in a printed newspaper into a video or--if pointed toward a product--it could launch a game featuring animated characters interacting with that product.That's the aim of a new technology being introduced by Autonomy, the London-based company best known for its enterprise software.Aurasma, which is a core technology designed to power apps for the iPhone, Android, and other smartphone and tablet devices, is capable of recognizing images and objects and enhancing them not just by replacing them with video but by allowing virtual objects to interact with real ones, such as a cartoon character walking through he door of a real building.A prototype of the software is remarkably easy to use and surprisingly robust. During a preview event in San Francisco, journalists were given the opportunity to aim an iPad 2 camera at a newspaper, a cereal box, a Harry Potter poster, and a picture of the Mona Lisa, and then watch as the images transformed from static to moving. I expected the demonstration to work with the reproduction of the Mona Lisa supplied by the company, but was surprised to get the same result when I pointed the iPad toward my Android phone after downloading a different and much smaller rendering of the same image.Autonomy will license the technology to publishers, consumer product makers, and others who want to use it to "augment reality." A print newspaper, for example, could use the technology to enhance its advertisements so that readers could point their devices at the paper to get a richer experience than they could by simply looking at an ad. That's sometimes done now by printing bar codes (or QR codes) in the ad, but this technology would simply recognize the image itself.Aurasma could also be used by product manufacturers to provide additional information. Visitors to a car show, for example, could point their phone toward the grill of any car to get a video or perhaps a game that lets you virtually drive the car. A travel magazine could not only bring its pages to life but could offer virtual tours of cities triggered when people point their phone toward a building. Someone could write an app that, when pointed at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., could get the late president to get up from his chair and give a speech.The software does require that someone code information about objects. If you point it at a house, it might know it's a house, but it won't know whose house it is unless that information has been entered. It can, however, read text.Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch said that while it can be configured to recognize pictures of certain people, it's not that good at recognizing actual people or animals. He said that if you point it at a dog, it might recognize that it's a dog but would have a hard time figuring out the breed. "It's designed for man-made objects, rather than things of nature," he said.The technology is based on what Lynch refers to Bayesian inference, named for an 18th-century English mathematician and minister. "People like to think that the way in which you would solve these problems is to take lots measurements of all these things and puts lots of rules into a computer and it would then execute these rules and make decisions," Lynch said. "But it turns out that it's very hard to make that work." Instead, the algorithms behind Aurasma "are based on probability theory," which he says "[harkens] back to an amazing piece of work by an English country vicar called Thomas Bayes."For more about Aurasma, listen to my 12-minute podcast interview with Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch.Listen nowYour browser does not support the audio element.Subscribe now:iTunes (audio) |RSS (audio)
Options for checking free hard-drive space in OS X
Options for checking free hard-drive space in OS X
To keep your system from running out of space, the easiest thing to do is simply monitor your hard drive; however, Apple keeps this detail relatively hidden from you with the default configuration of OS X. Even so, there are options you can use to keep an eye on the free space available in your system.The first is to use the System Information utility, which can be accessed by choosing "About this Mac" from the Apple menu, and then clicking More Info. In the panel that appears, you can click the Storage section to see a calculation of the free space and types of files on any locally mounted volume.While this offers a user-friendly graphic of your drive's space, keep in mind that the sizes reported are based on the system's Spotlight index. This means that if there is an indexing problem, it may show incorrect sizes in the About this Mac window.The Finder's Status bar will show you an ongoing view of the free disk space.Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNETYou can always force OS X to reindex the drive to clear such problems, but this can be time-consuming. Therefore, if you need to check your drive's space used, more appropriate tools to use are Disk Utility and the Finder's Information window, both of which will show you the exact amount of storage used on your drive. Apple makes these tools convenient, but they will require you to either launch an application, or invoke the information window specifically using the contextual menu or the Command-i hot key.If you wish to have a more readily available view of the free space on your system, then instead of using tools and information windows that require a few steps to invoke, simply enable the Finder's status bar, which will appear below each Finder window and will display not only the number of files in the current folder, but the amount of free space remaining on the drive. This feature is great for giving you an ongoing glimpse of your drive's status, and can easily be enabled by pressing Command-/ (forward slash), or by choosing the option in the View menu.These commands (outlined in blue) will each show the free disk space, located in their output indicated by the arrows (click for larger view).Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNETFinally, if you are a Terminal user, you have several commands at your fingertips that can give you disk usage information. The first is the classic "df" command, which will output a small table of details about your drive, including the number of blocks, those used, and those available. You can output this in a more readable format (gigabytes, megabytes, and kilobytes), by using the "-H" flag in the following way:df -HIn addition to "df," you can use Apple's provided "diskutil" command, which is a command-line version of Apple's Disk Utility program. This command offers the ability to look up disk information, which you can do for your boot drive by running the following command:diskutil info /One of the lines of output from this command will be "Volume Free Space:" which will show in bytes how much space is free. To make this easier to read, you can filter the output to only show free space, by piping it through "grep" in the following way:diskutil info / | grep "Free Space"Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or e-mail us!Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.
To keep your system from running out of space, the easiest thing to do is simply monitor your hard drive; however, Apple keeps this detail relatively hidden from you with the default configuration of OS X. Even so, there are options you can use to keep an eye on the free space available in your system.The first is to use the System Information utility, which can be accessed by choosing "About this Mac" from the Apple menu, and then clicking More Info. In the panel that appears, you can click the Storage section to see a calculation of the free space and types of files on any locally mounted volume.While this offers a user-friendly graphic of your drive's space, keep in mind that the sizes reported are based on the system's Spotlight index. This means that if there is an indexing problem, it may show incorrect sizes in the About this Mac window.The Finder's Status bar will show you an ongoing view of the free disk space.Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNETYou can always force OS X to reindex the drive to clear such problems, but this can be time-consuming. Therefore, if you need to check your drive's space used, more appropriate tools to use are Disk Utility and the Finder's Information window, both of which will show you the exact amount of storage used on your drive. Apple makes these tools convenient, but they will require you to either launch an application, or invoke the information window specifically using the contextual menu or the Command-i hot key.If you wish to have a more readily available view of the free space on your system, then instead of using tools and information windows that require a few steps to invoke, simply enable the Finder's status bar, which will appear below each Finder window and will display not only the number of files in the current folder, but the amount of free space remaining on the drive. This feature is great for giving you an ongoing glimpse of your drive's status, and can easily be enabled by pressing Command-/ (forward slash), or by choosing the option in the View menu.These commands (outlined in blue) will each show the free disk space, located in their output indicated by the arrows (click for larger view).Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNETFinally, if you are a Terminal user, you have several commands at your fingertips that can give you disk usage information. The first is the classic "df" command, which will output a small table of details about your drive, including the number of blocks, those used, and those available. You can output this in a more readable format (gigabytes, megabytes, and kilobytes), by using the "-H" flag in the following way:df -HIn addition to "df," you can use Apple's provided "diskutil" command, which is a command-line version of Apple's Disk Utility program. This command offers the ability to look up disk information, which you can do for your boot drive by running the following command:diskutil info /One of the lines of output from this command will be "Volume Free Space:" which will show in bytes how much space is free. To make this easier to read, you can filter the output to only show free space, by piping it through "grep" in the following way:diskutil info / | grep "Free Space"Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or e-mail us!Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.
Comics, PDFs, and more- Stanza for iPad is a universal (and free) killer e-reader
Comics, PDFs, and more: Stanza for iPad is a universal (and free) killer e-reader
The iPad is rapidly becoming a Swiss army knife for e-reading apps of all types. Just in case you find Apple's iBooks disappointing (and most of us do), there are the Kindle, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble apps. While each has its advantages, they're generally not compatible with each other. They also make sharing and file-format recognition beyond their e-books pretty difficult.Well, here's the good news: Stanza just hit the iPad last night.Stanza has been a longtime favorite of iPhone and iPod Touch users--it accesses a variety of e-book stores directly, can read several formats, and has an amazing amount of font, spacing and color customization. It was a bit of a surprise to see this latest update, simply because Amazon acquired Stanza last year to create the backbone for their Kindle app.The universal iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad app update that has just arrived, version 3.0, looks superficially just like Stanza did before, albeit on a larger iPad screen. Unlike the Kindle and Barnes & Noble apps, Stanza can still browse Feedbooks, Project Gutenberg, and several other book collections directly within the app. The app doesn't connect with Amazon, nor does it offer any indications of an Amazon link.The additions to this version, however, are eye-opening: Stanza now supports PDFs and comic book files in CBR format (yes, full-color ones). That comic book reader we were excited about that costs about 7 dollars? Irrelevant.And here's the final kicker: Stanza also happens to be free. E-mailing a CBR comic file directly from Stanza is easy.Scott Stein/CNETWhat's equally impressive is how easily books can be added or removed. You can add documents directly via iTunes, or import files directly via Safari or Mail. You can also share e-books (or any file in Stanza) via e-mail. I sent myself a PDF, an ePub file and a CBR file easily. This also means iPad users should be able to trade files nearly instantaneously over Wi-Fi. (And you thought iPads already made piracy simple?)For PDFs alone, this is a top app. While I've loved GoodReader for its ability to browse PDF scripts and other files of mine and thus skip using a printer, Stanza incorporates page-turning that makes the experience just like other e-books, but without requiring conversion. I've been longing to make my iPad a reading device for drafts of formatted screenplays and other projects I've written, and Stanza works wonderfully in that capacity. It's enough to alleviate my feelings of app fatigue for weeks.I'd say this a must-buy, but it doesn't cost anything, so I'll simply call it a go-download-immediately. We are curious as to what Amazon is after by enabling Stanza 3.0--perhaps it's a test run for multiformat Kindles?--but we'll take it gladly. The iPad was already a good e-reader...now it's a superlative one, provided you don't use it in the sun.
The iPad is rapidly becoming a Swiss army knife for e-reading apps of all types. Just in case you find Apple's iBooks disappointing (and most of us do), there are the Kindle, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble apps. While each has its advantages, they're generally not compatible with each other. They also make sharing and file-format recognition beyond their e-books pretty difficult.Well, here's the good news: Stanza just hit the iPad last night.Stanza has been a longtime favorite of iPhone and iPod Touch users--it accesses a variety of e-book stores directly, can read several formats, and has an amazing amount of font, spacing and color customization. It was a bit of a surprise to see this latest update, simply because Amazon acquired Stanza last year to create the backbone for their Kindle app.The universal iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad app update that has just arrived, version 3.0, looks superficially just like Stanza did before, albeit on a larger iPad screen. Unlike the Kindle and Barnes & Noble apps, Stanza can still browse Feedbooks, Project Gutenberg, and several other book collections directly within the app. The app doesn't connect with Amazon, nor does it offer any indications of an Amazon link.The additions to this version, however, are eye-opening: Stanza now supports PDFs and comic book files in CBR format (yes, full-color ones). That comic book reader we were excited about that costs about 7 dollars? Irrelevant.And here's the final kicker: Stanza also happens to be free. E-mailing a CBR comic file directly from Stanza is easy.Scott Stein/CNETWhat's equally impressive is how easily books can be added or removed. You can add documents directly via iTunes, or import files directly via Safari or Mail. You can also share e-books (or any file in Stanza) via e-mail. I sent myself a PDF, an ePub file and a CBR file easily. This also means iPad users should be able to trade files nearly instantaneously over Wi-Fi. (And you thought iPads already made piracy simple?)For PDFs alone, this is a top app. While I've loved GoodReader for its ability to browse PDF scripts and other files of mine and thus skip using a printer, Stanza incorporates page-turning that makes the experience just like other e-books, but without requiring conversion. I've been longing to make my iPad a reading device for drafts of formatted screenplays and other projects I've written, and Stanza works wonderfully in that capacity. It's enough to alleviate my feelings of app fatigue for weeks.I'd say this a must-buy, but it doesn't cost anything, so I'll simply call it a go-download-immediately. We are curious as to what Amazon is after by enabling Stanza 3.0--perhaps it's a test run for multiformat Kindles?--but we'll take it gladly. The iPad was already a good e-reader...now it's a superlative one, provided you don't use it in the sun.
The 404 457- Where Justin gets some tail on Halloween
The 404 457: Where Justin gets some tail on Halloween
They said it would never happen, but the day has finally come for Justin to get some much-needed tail....as he dons a skunk costume and becomes Justin Le Pieu for today's very unspooky Halloween episode of The 404! Be sure to check out today's video for all the details. Since Jeff is out today and this coming Monday for who-knows-what, the guys ask everyone's favorite Kenley and Alli to help co-host the show. Unfortunately, with the Swine Flu hitting New York at full force, nobody in the office is feeling too hot for the holiday, but they do their best and don some shades as they recall last night's CNET's Client Halloween Party. Kenley chooses her top picks for the Best Costume Award and Alli tells everyone a horrifying story that happened on her way to work this morning...trust me folks, NOTHING is scarier than a mouthful of New York trash water.Last.FM/Fool's GoldAs October slowly fades away, and with great reluctance and tears, we must say goodbye to Beck's Beer and the Semi-Weekly Audio Draft, but not before Wilson debuts our last pick. Continuing in our tradition of introducing new and different genres of music, Fool's Gold plays a unique blend of South African, Ethiopian, and Eritrean influenced music with a twist--lead vocalist Luke Top was born and raised in Israel and sings the majority of the lyrics (although many of the tracks, including our first pick, are instrumental) in Hebrew.The two featured tracks on today's episode are called "Surprise Hotel" and "Ha Dvash." If you're into the band, you can even win a date with Alli and Kenley to go see the band perform on November 17 at the Bowery Ballroom here in New York! All interested parties should submit a photo, general interests, date ideas, and a brief cover letter to the404(at)cnet(dot)com.Have a great Halloween folks, and be safe!EPISODE 457PodcastYour browser does not support the audio element. Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) |Subscribe in RSS Audio |Subscribe in RSS Video This content is rated TV-MA, and is for viewers 18 years or older. Are you of age?YesNoSorry, you are not old enough to view this content.PlayFollow us on Twitter!The 404Jeff BakalarJustin YuWilson TangAdd us on Facebook!The 404 Fan PageThe 404 GroupJustin YuJeff BakalarWilson Tang
They said it would never happen, but the day has finally come for Justin to get some much-needed tail....as he dons a skunk costume and becomes Justin Le Pieu for today's very unspooky Halloween episode of The 404! Be sure to check out today's video for all the details. Since Jeff is out today and this coming Monday for who-knows-what, the guys ask everyone's favorite Kenley and Alli to help co-host the show. Unfortunately, with the Swine Flu hitting New York at full force, nobody in the office is feeling too hot for the holiday, but they do their best and don some shades as they recall last night's CNET's Client Halloween Party. Kenley chooses her top picks for the Best Costume Award and Alli tells everyone a horrifying story that happened on her way to work this morning...trust me folks, NOTHING is scarier than a mouthful of New York trash water.Last.FM/Fool's GoldAs October slowly fades away, and with great reluctance and tears, we must say goodbye to Beck's Beer and the Semi-Weekly Audio Draft, but not before Wilson debuts our last pick. Continuing in our tradition of introducing new and different genres of music, Fool's Gold plays a unique blend of South African, Ethiopian, and Eritrean influenced music with a twist--lead vocalist Luke Top was born and raised in Israel and sings the majority of the lyrics (although many of the tracks, including our first pick, are instrumental) in Hebrew.The two featured tracks on today's episode are called "Surprise Hotel" and "Ha Dvash." If you're into the band, you can even win a date with Alli and Kenley to go see the band perform on November 17 at the Bowery Ballroom here in New York! All interested parties should submit a photo, general interests, date ideas, and a brief cover letter to the404(at)cnet(dot)com.Have a great Halloween folks, and be safe!EPISODE 457PodcastYour browser does not support the audio element. Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) |Subscribe in RSS Audio |Subscribe in RSS Video This content is rated TV-MA, and is for viewers 18 years or older. Are you of age?YesNoSorry, you are not old enough to view this content.PlayFollow us on Twitter!The 404Jeff BakalarJustin YuWilson TangAdd us on Facebook!The 404 Fan PageThe 404 GroupJustin YuJeff BakalarWilson Tang
MP3 replacement proposed
MP3 replacement proposed
The proposed format was announced by Bach Technology on Sunday at MIDEM 2010, a music-industry conference under way in Cannes, France. Unlike current alternatives to the MP3, such as Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MusicDNA is not a new audio technology, and requires no new audio codecs. Rather, as Bach CEO Stefan Kohlmeyer explains in this video interview with PaidContent, MusicDNA is an add-on to existing audio formats. MusicDNA analyzes the audio itself for characteristics in 13 categories such as mood and tempo. This information is encoded as XML and ships with the file. Content owners can also provide data, such as album art and lyrics, to be included with the file. This data can even be updated when the user is online--for example, concert listings could be added as they're announced, complete with links to ticket-buying sites. Bach hopes to make money by licensing the technology to software and hardware manufacturers. Because MusicDNA isn't a new audio technology, MusicDNA files should play on existing hardware and software--they'll play the underlying audio file and ignore all the added data. This is how MusicDNA could escape the fate of marginalized formats like Windows Media Audio or Sony's ATRAC.It's an ambitious and interesting idea, but the digital music industry right now is dominated by one player: Apple. A lot of what MusicDNA proposes to accomplish could be handled at the application level--if Apple wants to analyze the audio content in files and add more categories to describe them, it could build this technology into iTunes. Moreover, Apple's already got its own format, iTunes LP, for shipping additional information with music files. So I don't see a lot of incentive for Apple to spend money to license and support this new third-party format. And without Apple, I don't see how MusicDNA can survive.
The proposed format was announced by Bach Technology on Sunday at MIDEM 2010, a music-industry conference under way in Cannes, France. Unlike current alternatives to the MP3, such as Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MusicDNA is not a new audio technology, and requires no new audio codecs. Rather, as Bach CEO Stefan Kohlmeyer explains in this video interview with PaidContent, MusicDNA is an add-on to existing audio formats. MusicDNA analyzes the audio itself for characteristics in 13 categories such as mood and tempo. This information is encoded as XML and ships with the file. Content owners can also provide data, such as album art and lyrics, to be included with the file. This data can even be updated when the user is online--for example, concert listings could be added as they're announced, complete with links to ticket-buying sites. Bach hopes to make money by licensing the technology to software and hardware manufacturers. Because MusicDNA isn't a new audio technology, MusicDNA files should play on existing hardware and software--they'll play the underlying audio file and ignore all the added data. This is how MusicDNA could escape the fate of marginalized formats like Windows Media Audio or Sony's ATRAC.It's an ambitious and interesting idea, but the digital music industry right now is dominated by one player: Apple. A lot of what MusicDNA proposes to accomplish could be handled at the application level--if Apple wants to analyze the audio content in files and add more categories to describe them, it could build this technology into iTunes. Moreover, Apple's already got its own format, iTunes LP, for shipping additional information with music files. So I don't see a lot of incentive for Apple to spend money to license and support this new third-party format. And without Apple, I don't see how MusicDNA can survive.
Get two free audiobooks from Audible
Get two free audiobooks from Audible
I'm a longtime fan of Audible, an audiobook-download service that lets you burn your own CDs and/or transfer books to portable devices (iPods, BlackBerrys, etc.).The company has offered various free trials and promotions over the years, but this is the best one I've seen: Sign up for a 30-day trial of AudibleListener Gold and get two free audiobooks.So here's how it works: You sign up for a new account (which does require a credit card), then download the Audible software (available for Windows and Mac, or as an iTunes add-on if you're doing the iPod/iPhone thing). You'll automatically receive two credits in your account, which you can use to download the books of your choice.After the 30-day trial expires, you'll start getting billed $14.95 per month for your Gold membership, which entitles you to one audio credit, 30 percent off any additional purchases, and a free subscription to The New York Times or Wall Street Journal (the audio versions, natch).If you routinely buy one audiobook every month, the Gold plan is pretty solid. For example, Jonathan Tropper's "This Is Where I Leave You" (a terrific read, by the way) costs $23.95 on iTunes. If you used your Audible credit, it'd effectively cost you $14.95. Already burned through your credit? Your membership price is $19.59--still cheaper than iTunes.Of course, you can always cancel your account before the end of the trial, end up paying nothing, and walk away with your two free books.But if you spend a lot of time in the car, on the train, or even on the biking/hiking/jogging trail, nothing beats a good book. Like I said, I'm a longtime Audible fan. It's a great resource for scoring audiobooks for less than you'd pay elsewhere.
I'm a longtime fan of Audible, an audiobook-download service that lets you burn your own CDs and/or transfer books to portable devices (iPods, BlackBerrys, etc.).The company has offered various free trials and promotions over the years, but this is the best one I've seen: Sign up for a 30-day trial of AudibleListener Gold and get two free audiobooks.So here's how it works: You sign up for a new account (which does require a credit card), then download the Audible software (available for Windows and Mac, or as an iTunes add-on if you're doing the iPod/iPhone thing). You'll automatically receive two credits in your account, which you can use to download the books of your choice.After the 30-day trial expires, you'll start getting billed $14.95 per month for your Gold membership, which entitles you to one audio credit, 30 percent off any additional purchases, and a free subscription to The New York Times or Wall Street Journal (the audio versions, natch).If you routinely buy one audiobook every month, the Gold plan is pretty solid. For example, Jonathan Tropper's "This Is Where I Leave You" (a terrific read, by the way) costs $23.95 on iTunes. If you used your Audible credit, it'd effectively cost you $14.95. Already burned through your credit? Your membership price is $19.59--still cheaper than iTunes.Of course, you can always cancel your account before the end of the trial, end up paying nothing, and walk away with your two free books.But if you spend a lot of time in the car, on the train, or even on the biking/hiking/jogging trail, nothing beats a good book. Like I said, I'm a longtime Audible fan. It's a great resource for scoring audiobooks for less than you'd pay elsewhere.
Get Textfree Unlimited free for a limited time
Get Textfree Unlimited free for a limited time
Your monthly iPhone bill is high enough without tacking on another $5, $15, or $20 for a text-messaging plan. That's why free-SMS apps are so popular: They let you text to your heart's content without putting a single extra penny in AT&T's pocket.One of the most popular free-SMS apps, Textfree Unlimited, costs $5.99. That's pretty cheap considering the money it can save you in the long run. Well, now it's cheaper still: For a limited time, you can get Textfree Unlimited absolutely free. (After clicking that link, just click Download Now to get to the app's iTunes page.)How limited a time is "a limited time"? The app is today's deal from Free App a Day--one of several Web sites that help you score free iPhone apps--so at the very least you have until the clock strikes midnight. But I've noticed that many of FAAD's freebies stay free for several days after the initial promotion, so who knows? This could go through the weekend.I've tried most of the popular free-SMS apps, and while they're all pretty good, Textfree Unlimited is my favorite. It loads quickly, supports push notifications, and even lets you pick your own phone number to use for sending and receiving texts. (Ideally, texts from Textfree would appear to come from your actual phone number, but this is the next best thing.)What's more, there's no longer an annual $5.99 fee to use Textfree. It's now free for life, though you do have to put up with a few ads. (Actually, you can "buy out" the ads if you want, but I can't locate the price tag for doing so.)Bottom line: If you want to save yourself six bucks now and upward of $240 per year on SMS fees, grab Textfree Unlimited while it's free.
Your monthly iPhone bill is high enough without tacking on another $5, $15, or $20 for a text-messaging plan. That's why free-SMS apps are so popular: They let you text to your heart's content without putting a single extra penny in AT&T's pocket.One of the most popular free-SMS apps, Textfree Unlimited, costs $5.99. That's pretty cheap considering the money it can save you in the long run. Well, now it's cheaper still: For a limited time, you can get Textfree Unlimited absolutely free. (After clicking that link, just click Download Now to get to the app's iTunes page.)How limited a time is "a limited time"? The app is today's deal from Free App a Day--one of several Web sites that help you score free iPhone apps--so at the very least you have until the clock strikes midnight. But I've noticed that many of FAAD's freebies stay free for several days after the initial promotion, so who knows? This could go through the weekend.I've tried most of the popular free-SMS apps, and while they're all pretty good, Textfree Unlimited is my favorite. It loads quickly, supports push notifications, and even lets you pick your own phone number to use for sending and receiving texts. (Ideally, texts from Textfree would appear to come from your actual phone number, but this is the next best thing.)What's more, there's no longer an annual $5.99 fee to use Textfree. It's now free for life, though you do have to put up with a few ads. (Actually, you can "buy out" the ads if you want, but I can't locate the price tag for doing so.)Bottom line: If you want to save yourself six bucks now and upward of $240 per year on SMS fees, grab Textfree Unlimited while it's free.
iPad 2 ship times cut to 24 hours in U.S., Canada
iPad 2 ship times cut to 24 hours in U.S., Canada
For the first time since launching in March, Apple seems to have caught up to online demand for the iPad 2 in its online store in both the U.S. and Canada.Ship times for all 18 models of the second-generation Apple tablet now sit at 24 hours, down from a high of "four to five" months just days after launch. It's the quickest Apple's offered to get the device out to buyers since first making it available. By comparison, it took Apple just under four months tohit the 24-hour milestonewith the first-generation model.During Apple's most recent quarterly earnings call, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook noted that the company had reached supply/demand equilibrium for the iPad 2 in some markets, but would not note which ones. The fact that Apple is now getting devices out to customers potentially the same day they're ordered, is a good sign that target has been reached in North America.Ship times in other countries--including the Mexico, the U.K., Japan, and China--continue to sit at one to three days from Apple's online store. Apple does not disclose stock or general availability of various models at its own stores, something it's done with previous generations of the iPhone. Apple sold 9.25 million iPads in its most recent fiscal quarter, up from 4.69 million the previous quarter. Rumors are now swirling about the third generation of the device, which is expected to sport a display with a higher pixel density to put it in line with Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch. (via Macrumors)
For the first time since launching in March, Apple seems to have caught up to online demand for the iPad 2 in its online store in both the U.S. and Canada.Ship times for all 18 models of the second-generation Apple tablet now sit at 24 hours, down from a high of "four to five" months just days after launch. It's the quickest Apple's offered to get the device out to buyers since first making it available. By comparison, it took Apple just under four months tohit the 24-hour milestonewith the first-generation model.During Apple's most recent quarterly earnings call, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook noted that the company had reached supply/demand equilibrium for the iPad 2 in some markets, but would not note which ones. The fact that Apple is now getting devices out to customers potentially the same day they're ordered, is a good sign that target has been reached in North America.Ship times in other countries--including the Mexico, the U.K., Japan, and China--continue to sit at one to three days from Apple's online store. Apple does not disclose stock or general availability of various models at its own stores, something it's done with previous generations of the iPhone. Apple sold 9.25 million iPads in its most recent fiscal quarter, up from 4.69 million the previous quarter. Rumors are now swirling about the third generation of the device, which is expected to sport a display with a higher pixel density to put it in line with Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch. (via Macrumors)
iPad 2 sells out internationally
iPad 2 sells out internationally
The long lines of iPad 2 buyers in the United Kingdom apparently scooped up all the available stock from Apple's stores and other retail outlets throughout the country.Speaking with Apple stores in Regent Street and Covent Garden areas in London, the Web site Pocket-Lint found that supplies were depleted on Saturday with no more stock expected yesterday and no indication of new iPad 2s today. The situation was generally the same at other major retail chains in London, including PC World, Curry's, Phones4U, and Carphone Warehouse.Outside of London, Apple stores in such areas as Birmingham, Manchester, and Bristol also ran out of the tablet, while a sales rep told Pocket-Lint that there's no iPad 2 stock at all in the whole area of South West England.Looking at Canada, Electronista found that several of the Apple stores across the country as well as outlets such as Best Buy and Future Shop had run out of the new iPad. And in Australia, the iPad 2 also sold out over the weekend at Apple stores and third-party retailers, according to the Australian.France saw a similar situation, according to Fortune, with one shopper at Apple's Opera Store in Paris saying that more than 3,000 iPad 2s were sold in just five hours, with the store eventually running out by late Saturday afternoon. The French Web site MacBidouille said that the first eager buyers waited in line for 30 hours.Prospective iPad 2 buyers in the United States have run into the same long lines and depleted stock since the tablet's launch in mid-March. But the tablet's online availability recently eased a bit. Online wait times for the tablet in the U.S. shrunk last week to three to four weeks from four to five weeks.
The long lines of iPad 2 buyers in the United Kingdom apparently scooped up all the available stock from Apple's stores and other retail outlets throughout the country.Speaking with Apple stores in Regent Street and Covent Garden areas in London, the Web site Pocket-Lint found that supplies were depleted on Saturday with no more stock expected yesterday and no indication of new iPad 2s today. The situation was generally the same at other major retail chains in London, including PC World, Curry's, Phones4U, and Carphone Warehouse.Outside of London, Apple stores in such areas as Birmingham, Manchester, and Bristol also ran out of the tablet, while a sales rep told Pocket-Lint that there's no iPad 2 stock at all in the whole area of South West England.Looking at Canada, Electronista found that several of the Apple stores across the country as well as outlets such as Best Buy and Future Shop had run out of the new iPad. And in Australia, the iPad 2 also sold out over the weekend at Apple stores and third-party retailers, according to the Australian.France saw a similar situation, according to Fortune, with one shopper at Apple's Opera Store in Paris saying that more than 3,000 iPad 2s were sold in just five hours, with the store eventually running out by late Saturday afternoon. The French Web site MacBidouille said that the first eager buyers waited in line for 30 hours.Prospective iPad 2 buyers in the United States have run into the same long lines and depleted stock since the tablet's launch in mid-March. But the tablet's online availability recently eased a bit. Online wait times for the tablet in the U.S. shrunk last week to three to four weeks from four to five weeks.
iPad 2 online ship times drop to 3 to 4 weeks
iPad 2 online ship times drop to 3 to 4 weeks
Are the tight supplies of Apple's new iPad 2 starting to ease up?U.S. consumers eager to buy the new iPad at the online Apple Store now face a delay of only 3 to 4 weeks before the tablet will ship. The new ship time, which hit the store yesterday, compares with a ship time of 4 to 5 weeks previously.The new ship times are also now the same that Apple offered shortly after the iPad 2 first went on sale in the U.S. two weeks ago.Online buyers in 25 other countries--including the U.K., New Zealand, and Australia--where the tablet made its debut today also are looking at wait times of 3 to 4 weeks.One nation not on the list is Japan, where Apple is postponing the new tablet's launch as the country tries to recover from the devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami.Rumors about tight component supplies following the Japanese disaster took a bite out of Apple's stock late last week. But the company's deals with suppliers typically allow it to handle component shortages better than many other vendors.The reduced online wait times follow a CNET story on Tuesday from Brooke Crothers, who reported that availability of the tablet at a few stores in Southern California seemed to be easing a bit. The Boy Genius Report yesterday also confirmed with different Apple store and third-party retail outlets that new shipments of the iPad have been reaching the stores lately.In an attempt to deal with the onrush of eager customers, many Apple stores have been handing out a limited number of claim tickets early in the morning depending on how much stock they receive. Those tickets then guarantee the few near the front of the line a chance to buy an iPad 2.
Are the tight supplies of Apple's new iPad 2 starting to ease up?U.S. consumers eager to buy the new iPad at the online Apple Store now face a delay of only 3 to 4 weeks before the tablet will ship. The new ship time, which hit the store yesterday, compares with a ship time of 4 to 5 weeks previously.The new ship times are also now the same that Apple offered shortly after the iPad 2 first went on sale in the U.S. two weeks ago.Online buyers in 25 other countries--including the U.K., New Zealand, and Australia--where the tablet made its debut today also are looking at wait times of 3 to 4 weeks.One nation not on the list is Japan, where Apple is postponing the new tablet's launch as the country tries to recover from the devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami.Rumors about tight component supplies following the Japanese disaster took a bite out of Apple's stock late last week. But the company's deals with suppliers typically allow it to handle component shortages better than many other vendors.The reduced online wait times follow a CNET story on Tuesday from Brooke Crothers, who reported that availability of the tablet at a few stores in Southern California seemed to be easing a bit. The Boy Genius Report yesterday also confirmed with different Apple store and third-party retail outlets that new shipments of the iPad have been reaching the stores lately.In an attempt to deal with the onrush of eager customers, many Apple stores have been handing out a limited number of claim tickets early in the morning depending on how much stock they receive. Those tickets then guarantee the few near the front of the line a chance to buy an iPad 2.
iOS, Android apps surpass 1 billion downloads in final week of 2011
iOS, Android apps surpass 1 billion downloads in final week of 2011
Apple iOS and Android users downloaded a record 1.2 billion apps during the last week of 2011, according to mobile analytics firm Flurry.The seven days from Sunday, December 25, through Saturday, December 31, saw a 60 percent jump in the average number of downloads from the first two full weeks of the month. The final week also handily beat the previous week's record of 857 million to zoom past 1 billion for the first time.Along with downloads, 2011's final week captured a record number of device activations. For the full week, more than 20 million iOS and Android devices were activated. The week's numbers capped off a Christmas Day record of 242 million apps downloaded and 6.8 million devices activated for both mobile platforms.FlurryTraveling across the globe, the U.S. accounted for 509 million downloads last week, or 42.3 percent of the world's total. China, considered the world's second largest app market, took second place with 99 million downloads. Though China grabbed only one fifth as many downloads as did the U.S., such a gap isn't surprising, noted Flurry.The Christmas holidays clearly played a huge role in the record app downloads across the world. While a sizable number of those in the U.S. celebrate Christmas, China is home to only a small minority who would celebrate the holiday.Behind China, the U.K., Canada, Germany, France, and other Western countries pulled in a hefty percentage of downloads last week.To compile its data, Flurry looks at more than 144,000 apps running on a majority of iOS and Android devices and coordinates its own numbers with those publicly released by Apple and Google.
Apple iOS and Android users downloaded a record 1.2 billion apps during the last week of 2011, according to mobile analytics firm Flurry.The seven days from Sunday, December 25, through Saturday, December 31, saw a 60 percent jump in the average number of downloads from the first two full weeks of the month. The final week also handily beat the previous week's record of 857 million to zoom past 1 billion for the first time.Along with downloads, 2011's final week captured a record number of device activations. For the full week, more than 20 million iOS and Android devices were activated. The week's numbers capped off a Christmas Day record of 242 million apps downloaded and 6.8 million devices activated for both mobile platforms.FlurryTraveling across the globe, the U.S. accounted for 509 million downloads last week, or 42.3 percent of the world's total. China, considered the world's second largest app market, took second place with 99 million downloads. Though China grabbed only one fifth as many downloads as did the U.S., such a gap isn't surprising, noted Flurry.The Christmas holidays clearly played a huge role in the record app downloads across the world. While a sizable number of those in the U.S. celebrate Christmas, China is home to only a small minority who would celebrate the holiday.Behind China, the U.K., Canada, Germany, France, and other Western countries pulled in a hefty percentage of downloads last week.To compile its data, Flurry looks at more than 144,000 apps running on a majority of iOS and Android devices and coordinates its own numbers with those publicly released by Apple and Google.
iOS, Android apps are porking up, research firm says
iOS, Android apps are porking up, research firm says
The size of the average mobile application is on the rise, according to the results of a new study.As part of its Mobile Application Markets research report, ABI Research today said that the size of the average iOS application last month was 16 percent greater than in March, with even larger growth in some specific app categories. The big standout, the firm says, were games. In September, the average game was 60MB, up 42 percent from the average in March. Why exactly are these apps expanding in size? ABI points to two possible reasons: Appleextending the over-the-air app downloadlimit from 20MB to 50MB in March, as well as the third-generation iPad's Retina Display, which added bulk to some graphically rich apps. Apple is not alone though. ABI notes that Google's average app size is ballooning as well, with a 10 percent jump in size during the same time period, with a "nearly" quadruple app size growth in the games category on Google Play, something the firm says is tied to Google's app size limit increase. Related storiesIs the 64GB iPad the new 32?What would happen if Moore's Law did fizzle?Will Retina-ready iPad apps explode in size? Not necessarilyApple has kept its iOS device storage largely unchanged over the past couple of years. 8GB very quickly became the default size on the original iPhone, after the company phased out its 4GB entry model, later moving to a 16GB minimum and 64GB maximum with the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5. It's been the same for all three generations of the iPad, which have sold at 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. By comparison, most Android phones offer expandability options through a MicroSD card slot, to add extra memory on top of what the device ships with.(Via MacRumors)
The size of the average mobile application is on the rise, according to the results of a new study.As part of its Mobile Application Markets research report, ABI Research today said that the size of the average iOS application last month was 16 percent greater than in March, with even larger growth in some specific app categories. The big standout, the firm says, were games. In September, the average game was 60MB, up 42 percent from the average in March. Why exactly are these apps expanding in size? ABI points to two possible reasons: Appleextending the over-the-air app downloadlimit from 20MB to 50MB in March, as well as the third-generation iPad's Retina Display, which added bulk to some graphically rich apps. Apple is not alone though. ABI notes that Google's average app size is ballooning as well, with a 10 percent jump in size during the same time period, with a "nearly" quadruple app size growth in the games category on Google Play, something the firm says is tied to Google's app size limit increase. Related storiesIs the 64GB iPad the new 32?What would happen if Moore's Law did fizzle?Will Retina-ready iPad apps explode in size? Not necessarilyApple has kept its iOS device storage largely unchanged over the past couple of years. 8GB very quickly became the default size on the original iPhone, after the company phased out its 4GB entry model, later moving to a 16GB minimum and 64GB maximum with the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5. It's been the same for all three generations of the iPad, which have sold at 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. By comparison, most Android phones offer expandability options through a MicroSD card slot, to add extra memory on top of what the device ships with.(Via MacRumors)
Apple again trounces Samsung in US smartphone wars
Apple and Samsung both saw the same gains in their US smartphone shares last quarter, but the iPhone was by far the top device, according to research firm ComScore.Related storiesDialed in 110: Lessons for Android (podcast)Samsung's diva actKodak patent complaints target Apple, RIMLooking at the US smartphone market for the past three months of 2013, ComScore pegged Apple with a 41.8 percent share, up 1.2 percentage points from the prior three months. Samsung also grabbed a 1.2 point gain, giving it a 26.1 percent slice of the market. That left Motorola in third place, followed by LG and HTC, none of whom saw growth in their cut of the US smartphone arena last quarter, according to ComScore.Among actual smartphone platforms, Android saw its share dip but remained on top with a 51.5 percent share, leaving Apple in second place. Third-place BlackBerry eked out a 3.4 percent share, narrowly beating Microsoft's 3.1 percent share. Nokia's largely defunct Symbian closed out the top-five list with just 0.2 percent.Overall, 156 million consumers in the United States owned smartphones last quarter, up by 3.2 percent from the prior quarter. That number is about half of the total population of the US.ComScore
Apple admits to screwing up retail staffing levels, report says
Apple's VP of retail told store leadership teams that the company "messed up" when it implemented a new way to schedule staff for its retail stores, indirectly spurring layoff rumors, The Wall Street Journal reported today.The executive, John Browett, told store management to let employees know that corporate had made a mistake with the new system, which cut hours for some employees and left some Apple retail stores understaffed, two unnamed sources told the Journal.The changes caused panic among employees, leading to news reports of layoffs.Browett, who took over the position in April, also told employees that there were no planned layoffs and that Apple is continuing to hire new staff.The new system was in place for weeks, but Apple has since reverted to its old formula. The changes are still being reversed, Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet told the Journal.CNET has contacted Apple for more information and we will update when we hear back.
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