Yearly Archives: 2012

Apple retail growth

Written by

Horace Dediu:

Apple’s retail stores increased sales by nearly 60% in Q4. This is a dramatic though not unprecedented change from Q3′s 1% growth rate. The growth rate faithfully tracks iPhone releases as demonstrated in a post last quarter.

With Leaning Tower of Pisa straighter, others contends for the title

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[caption id="attachment_19986" align="alignnone" width="470" caption="The Leaning Tower of Switzerland?"][/caption]New York Times:

Engineers performed extensive renovations on the legendary Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy, sharply reducing its tilt. The repairs ended its status as leaning-est tower, moving it to somewhere in the middle of the pack and touching off a competition, which still simmers, for the crown.The matter seemed to have been settled a few years ago, when Guinness World Records in London awarded the title of “Farthest Leaning Tower” to one that accompanies a solid red brick church in the village of Suurhusen, in northern Germany. It leans at an angle of 5.19 degrees, compared with the Pisa tower’s 3.9 degrees.

Who knew there was so much competition for the tile of “building most likely to fall over soon”.

Mass Effect Infiltrator headed to iOS

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ShackNews: EA has just announced Mass Effect Infiltrator for iOS, a companion app that will help boost your “Galactic Readiness” in Mass Effect 3. Increased readiness will help enable players get the best ending possible in the trilogy’s finale. It’s … Continued

Kodak’s no longer in the (consumer) camera business

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Eastman Kodak Co., struggling to reinvent itself in the wake of bankruptcy, announced Thursday plans to “phase out dedicated capture devices” as part of a refocus of its consumer business.  That means that Kodak will no longer sell its own … Continued

Apple to announce iPad 3 first week of March

Written by

John Paczkowski:

Sources say the company has chosen the first week in March to debut the successor to the iPad 2, and will do so at one of its trademark special events. The event will be held in San Francisco, presumably at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Apple’s preferred location for big announcements like these.

Yep.

Dirty little secret

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Jason Kottke: Maybe I’m being old-fashioned here, but this seems unequivocally wrong. Any app, from Angry Birds to Fart App 3000, can just grab the information in your address book without asking? Hell. No. I bet Apple will change this … Continued

Super Bowl sniper nest

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[caption id="attachment_19954" align="alignnone" width="470" caption="Sniper nest"][/caption] Business Insider:

While the Lucas Oil Stadium was crammed with fans watching the biggest sporting event of the year on Sunday, there was also at least one well-equipped sniper in attendance.These pictures started circulating Tuesday night, and though speculation about their authenticity lingers, the original source has confirmed with me they are genuine.

Halliburton latest to switch to iPhone

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The Globe and Mail:

In another blow to troubled Canadian smartphone maker Research in Motion, energy drilling giant Halliburton Co. says it will replace its company-issued BlackBerrys with competitor Apple’s iPhone.A spokeswoman for the Houston, Texas-based firm says the plan will roll out over the next two years as it phases out 4,500 BlackBerrys from its operations.

Yesterday we told you that the Gannet newspaper company is handing out iPhones. We’ll hear more of these stories as time goes on.

How Pinterest is quietly generating revenue

Written by

Josh Davis:

If you post a pin to Pinterest, and it links to an ecommerce site that happens to have an affiliate program, Pinterest modifies the link to add their own affiliate tracking code. If someone clicks through the picture from Pinterest and makes a purchase, Pinterest gets paid. They don’t have any disclosure of this link modification on their site, and so far, while it has been written about, no major news outlet has picked up on the practice or its implications.

I use Pinterest and this is troubling. Yes, they need to make money but doing it behind the users back is a bit off putting.

If men wrote Valentine’s cards

Written by

Cool Material:

No guy looks forward to Valentine’s Day. Here’s what it would look like if guys wrote Valentine’s Day cards.
[caption id="attachment_19929" align="alignnone" width="470" caption=""][/caption]

GigaOM buys paidContent.org

Written by

Om Malik:

First the news: Yes, the rumors are true. We are indeed buying the assets of ContentNext Media from Guardian News & Media Limited. And no, we are not disclosing the terms of the deal, except that we are buying the entire group of properties — paidContent.org, mocoNews.net, contentSutra and paidContent:UK and that a representative of Guardian News & Media will join our board of directors as an observer.

I have a tremendous amount of respect for Om and what he’s done. Good luck with this.

Paul McCartney’s free concert stream

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[caption id="attachment_19918" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Paul McCartney on iTunes"][/caption] Apple has announced via iTunes that a stream of McCartney’s exclusive performance at Capitol Studios will take place at 7pm PT, 10pm ET on February 9 on iTunes as well as on your Apple TV. It’s the first time a live stream has been attempted through the Apple TV. Is this a test for the future? Or just shilling for the release of McCartney’s recent album, “Kisses on the Bottom”?

ARM and Intel chips

Written by

John Brownlee:

Apple’s not serious about ditching Intel for the Mac, but even so, the next few years will be very interesting as ARM and Intel trade body blows. If Intel plays its cards right, come 2015, we could all be talking very seriously indeed about whether or not Apple will be putting Intel’s new mobile chips in the iPhone 8 and iPad 6.

Interesting rundown of the chips and what we may see.

Startling makeovers of classic nudes in art

Written by

Flavorwire:

In her Venus project, Italian artist Anna Utopia Giordano remixes some of the most celebrated nudes of art history, giving them an extreme Photoshop makeover. The results are stark and varied.

[caption id="attachment_19905" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Botticelli's Venus"][/caption] I’ve seen several of these paintings in real life and it’s surprising that you don’t really think of them as being “nudes”. You definitely look at them as “great art”.

Marketing Missteps: Pawngo, the Pats and Butterfingers

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Online pawn shop Pawngo really stuck its foot in it this week when it tried to make fun of the New England Patriots’ performance in the Super Bowl, and is paying for it – literally and figuratively.

RIM says it’s ‘ready to compete’

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Reuters:

Next-generation software for BlackBerry’s smartphones is “ready to compete”, Research In Motion’s new chief executive, Thorsten Heins, told more than 2,000 technical developers on Tuesday, expressing confidence in RIM’s long-term future.

I hate to tell you this, but that train left five years ago.

Pain in the ass portability

Written by

Abdel Ibrahim talking about the Galaxy Note:

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind a slightly bigger display on my iPhone, but not if it means a significantly bigger footprint. The prettier visuals just wouldn’t make up for the pain-in-the-ass portability factor, and you’d better believe I’m not alone in that sentiment.

Right.

Sprint sells 1.8 million iPhones in Q4

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Forty percent of Sprint’s 1.8 million iPhone sales in the fourth quarter were to new customers.The company reported total net subscriber additions of 1.6 million during the fourth quarter of 2011 – the best quarterly result in six years – bringing total ending subscribers to the highest level in the company’s history.

It was still a tough quarter for Sprint, reporting a net loss of $1.3 billion.

The wrong specs

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Ben Brooks talking about an article written by Tim Moynihan:

I don’t give a damn about this camera, but I think it offers an interesting glimpse at the market. That is: consumers are looking at the wrong specs. Traditionally in this segment it was all about megapixels, but now it seems to be all about: optical zoom and Wi-Fi. Both are horrible features to care about, let alone to base a decision on.

Ben’s right. Consumers tend to focus on specs far too often when making a decision, but when you focus on the wrong specs, you can’t possibly make an informed choice. Things like Wi-Fi are just part of what you expect to be there — those are features you say “oh, and it has Wi-Fi, right?” when you are ready to buy. That’s after you’ve already investigated all of the important things.

Some more products for Samsung Galaxy Note users

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Since Samsung decided to go retro and include a stylus with its newest products, I thought I’d be nice and hunt down a few other products Galaxy Note users may be interested in. […]

Gannett FAQ for journalists receiving iPhones

Written by

Jim Romenesko:

This FAQ for Gannett journalists receiving iPhones was distributed today at the chain’s papers.Q: I like my non- iPhone device. Can I just stay with that?A: If the company owns the device, the answer is no. iPhone is the only device that can do all the things we want you to be able to do. Also, iPhone is the only device for which we have training, support and unlimited data lined up.