Posts Tagged ‘iphone’

Surprise: iPhone app use heaviest at night and on weekends

// March 12th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

Apple has made inroads into the professional market with the iPhone—the company has noted that some Fortune 500 companies have deployed them alongside or even replacing BlackBerrys. Despite this, analysis of app usage suggests that it remains a mostly personal device . Mobile analytic firm Localytics examined logs of use of third-party apps and found that app use during the week typically begins to ramp up around 5am and slowly increases to a peak around 9pm. Weekdays also tend to have a little bump in use right around lunch time. On weekends, however, use starts picking up around 6am, reaching a steady peak around noon until 11pm. App usage sharply ramps down after 11, but slightly slower than it does on a typical week day. This usage pattern is typical for a device that is used for personal rather than business reasons. However, it’s also possible that business users are either sticking to Apple’s supplied apps or are using custom-developed in-house apps for specific business needs. For instance, a business user is more likely to fire up Mail or Calendar than, say, Tweetie or Plants vs Zombies during the work day. Localytics notes that it expects to find similar usage patterns for the iPad, and that developers may want to consider these patterns when designing apps for either platform. Read the comments on this post

iPhone still second-place US smartphone while Android grows

// March 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

The latest data from market research firm comScore shows Apple holding on to a quarter of the US smartphone market, which grew roughly 18 percent over the last six months. That makes the iPhone the number two smartphone in the US, though it still lags well behind number one RIM. Android-based devices are still growing rapidly in popularity. Over the last few months, comScore data shows RIM and Apple holding pretty much steady, with RIM at 43 percent and Apple at 25.1 percent. Unsurprisingly, Palm (which includes webOS and PalmOS) devices and Microsoft-powered devices continued to decline. Android-based devices, however, continued to rise sharply , enough to eclipse Palm to take fourth place in the US market. Read the comments on this post

iPhone OS 4.0 may finally bring multitasking nirvana

// March 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

One complaint commonly leveled against the iPhone is that it can’t run multiple apps at the same time. However, sources for AppleInsider say that Apple is finally planning to incorporate a task manager that will integrate with the established iPhone user interface in the next major revision of iPhone OS, expected to be available this summer. Like Mac OS X on which it is based, iPhone OS is fully capable of running multiple processes at once. In fact, it does run multiple processes—iPod, Mail, voicemail and phone processes continually run in the background. What it doesn’t do is run multiple third-party apps at the same time. Want to listen to Pandora while answering e-mails? Run a GPS tracking app while checking your tweets? Sorry, no can do. Apple has given a number of reasons for enforcing this limitation. The company claims that multiple apps running simultaneously will run down the battery faster, or could lead to more out-of-memory errors as apps contend for resources of the iPhone. Also, since non-Apple apps can’t run in the background, there’s virtually zero chance that malware could run without a user noticing. Finally, limiting the iPhone to one app at a time keeps things simple enough for even the most tech-adverse users to understand how it works. However, the latest rumor says that Apple has a “full-on solution” to the problem coming in iPhone OS 4.0. No specifics were revealed, so there are no details about how Apple has implemented managing multiple running apps. Remember, it took three major versions of iPhone OS before there was system-wide cut-copy-paste functionality , and the interface ended up working extremely well. We expect Apple has likewise put extensive work into making running multiple apps as straightforward as possible while still offering reasonable levels of stability, battery life, security, and ease of use. Read the comments on this post

Code library gives homebrew iPod remotes chance for awesome

// March 10th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

Not too long ago , David Finland built a device capable of communicating with just about any model of iPod via the dock connector using an Arduino Nano , PodGizmo breakout board, an old USB iPod connector, and a momentary switch. While it may not sound like a big deal, there is more to it than one might think: namely programming a device (in this case the Arduino Nano) to be able to receive, interpret, and respond to messages sent from an iPod.  This means teaching it to speak Apple Accessory Protocol and, although proprietary in nature, it has been fairly well documented around the Internet . Finland slung some code so that his iPod touch was hooked up to one of the famous Staples Easy buttons in his car. Now he could easily play and pause his iPod touch without having to fiddle with the on-screen controls. Fast-forward several months and Finland had all but forgotten about the project when he was asked by the folks that run Make magazine to talk about it. In particular, they wanted him to talk about the library he created for communicating with Apple’s portable audio players. He said yes, and decided to dive back into the project and attempt to add additional functionality to the project.  Finland’s first go around only involved tackling the the Simple Remote portion of the Apple Remote Protocol, which handles things like mute, next playlist, skip, and turning the device on and off. With newfound interest, however, he has now tackled the Advanced Remote portion, which opens up a bevy of new functionality, including getting names of songs, albums, artists, and track time; toggling shuffle and repeat mode; and all the other neat functionality that iPods have. This newly released library of code will surely appeal to the do-it-yourself hackers who love tinkering, soldering, and programming. Someone could theoretically even build his or her own iPod speaker solution with a plethora of different options and feedback. The more daring could hard-wire a solution to a car’s in-wheel audio controls. Personally, I envision some sort of bicycle solution that docks the iPod on the handlebars but allows riders to control the device without taking their hands off the handlebars. An even more enterprising individual could rig something like this up to a sudden motion sensor so that when someone enters a room, the iPod begins to play. Read the comments on this post

Hands-on with Sony’s new PlayStation Move motion controller

// March 10th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

SAN FRANCISCO — At a GDC event today, Sony showed off its new PlayStation Move controller, along with a number of games. The audience response was positive, but the demos shown, including sports games and sword-and-shield-style battles, seemed both inspired and informed by what the Wii has done before. We got a quick hands-on with the controller, and have posted some impressions and pictures, below. Read the comments on this post

Street Fighter IV: as good as you can expect on the iPhone

// March 10th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

Street Fighter IV is now available on Apple’s App Store; you can pick it up right now for $10 if you’d like to see what Capcom can do with Apple’s hardware. Capcom also threw quite the party at GDC, allowing the press and community some hands-on time with the game. After playing for about 15 minutes, the verdict is in: this is about as good as you can expect from a fighting game on the iPhone. It looks great, but you’ll still be fighting the controls As a tech demo it’s amazing. The characters are large and detailed, and they move fluidly with grace. Many people enjoyed simply watching others play the game; this is one of the prettiest portable fighting games out there. The problem is simple: the iPhone doesn’t have any actual buttons. Many gamers are snobs about the input for their Street Fighter experience, playing with only arcade-quality parts. Going from my home set-up to virtual buttons on the iPhone screen took a while to get used to. I was able to pull off the dragon punches and fireballs after a while, but the game never felt good to me. It never felt like a game I could sit down and play for hours. The iPhone just isn’t set up for this kind of game, and Street Fighter IV felt like someone trying to prove that it could be done. The question they should have asked was should it be done. A good iPhone game takes advantage of what the hardware can do well and works around what it does poorly. Street Fighter IV is simply a graphical curiosity. Read the comments on this post

The best electronic key is the one you always have with you

// March 8th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

“The best camera is the one you have with you” is an old photography adage, and Apple may be looking to extend that principle to its iPhone. And it’s not about the iPhone as a camera, either—if you always have it with you, an iPhone could serve as a remote control device for any number of uses, including as a wireless electronic key. Using the iPhone as an electronic key is part of a recently published patent application titled “Motion Based Input Selection.” It’s important to remember that the patent application itself merely describes a unique way of using motion detection to generate an input, such as turning a virtual combination lock-style dial. Still, it’s the suggested uses of a unique numerical sequence or other combination of input that is generating excitement. The Telegraph says that the patent is already being referred to as the “iKey” patent , based on the suggestion that a “device” such as an iPhone could use the motion-based input method to generate a combination which is then “transmitted to an external device to unlock the external device.” Such an external device could be anything, including an “electronic lock that may be used to access a door, car, house, or other physical area.” The patent in particular describes methods in which the input could be selecting combinations of numbers, letters, colors, or images, or even a combination. In fact, if the external device is suitably capable, it can send an application the necessary configuration of input needed to unlock it. The possible inputs can also be randomized, and the transmission between the mobile device and the external device could encrypted for greater security. Since the iPhone is the kind of device you tend to always have with you, it could be a great all-in-one control device. For instance, Apple also recently filed a patent application for using the iPhone as a sort of advanced universal remote —one that can dim the lights, adjust the surround sound, switch the TV to “cinema mode,” all in preparation for watching a movie at night. The company already offers an app that can control iTunes or an Apple TV remotely, and other apps exist to control home automation systems or a DSLR tethered to a WiFi-equipped computer. Car security firm Viper also offers an app to lock, unlock, and remotely start a vehicle that has the company’s SmartStart electronics installed . Though many remote applications already exist for the iPhone—including one that locks and unlocks a car—perhaps Apple could leverage the patent’s motion sensing to build an app with a consistent interface that is designed to communicate with a wide variety of lock devices, making the iPhone an out-of-the-box electronic key. Read the comments on this post

MeeGo code coming in March, will run on Atom boards and N900

// March 8th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

In an announcement published last week, Nokia’s Valtteri Halla revealed that Intel and Nokia are planning to launch the public MeeGo source code repository by the end of the month. The MeeGo project began to take shape last month when Intel and Nokia announced plans to merge their respective Linux-based mobile computing platforms into a single open source software project. The unified software platform, which consists of technology from Maemo and Moblin, will be designed for use on a wide range of device form factors and will support both ARM and x86 architectures. Read the comments on this post

Ubisoft on DRM snafu: servers attacked, pirates locked out

// March 8th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

Those playing Assassin’s Creed 2 on the PC got a rude reminder of DRM’s pitfalls when the servers that authenticate the game went down. Many complained on the company’s official forum , and tempers ran hot. Remember: the game has to be in contact with Ubisoft’s servers to work; if the connection is lost, the game shuts down. Ars Technica contacted Ubisoft to ask about the issue, and we were told that the issue wasn’t simply a server malfunction. “This ‘failure’ was due to a massive DDoS attack on our servers,” an Ubisoft spokesperson told Ars. “Our servers didn’t go down but 5 percent of the overall people attempting to connect received denial of service errors. This is, of course, unacceptable and our teams are working around the clock to ensure it doesn’t happen again.” The issue of pirates playing the game also gets short shrift. “Neither Assassin’s Creed II nor Silent Hunter 5 are cracked at the time we speak. As mentioned previously, ‘cracked’ versions are incomplete… as in missing whole parts of the game and crucial features,” the spokesperson continued. That means that with just the data from the disc or your download, you won’t be able to play the game. The content requires whatever the Ubisoft servers are giving it.  Ubisoft leaves us all with a reminder that no matter how intrusive or failure-prone it is, DRM isn’t going away. “We worry about our customers and apologize to anyone who couldn’t play ACII or SH5 yesterday. All in all, we hope people understand all this is done to preserve the future of PC gaming.” Read the comments on this post

Week in Apple: Steam on the Mac, Apple flings poo at HTC

// March 6th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

Apple’s lawsuit against HTC may have been the talk of the Internet for most of the week, but Valve’s teasers for Steam coming to the Mac took the prize for most exciting news. MacHeist also released a new software bundle and the rumor mill gossipped about HDMI on the next Mac mini. Need to catch up? Valve creates fake Apple ads, teases Steam on OS X : Valve has begun sending images to gaming sites showing its properties tarted up in Mac colors and images. Is Steam coming to OS X? We should know very soon. Apple vs HTC: proxy fight over Android could last years : Apple’s lawsuits against HTC could be the start of a multi-year legal battle , or the start of a proxy fight against Google’s Android. Either way, it may become the poster child for the ills of the US patent system. Read the comments on this post

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