Facebook, YouTube and Google dominate the mobile Web in Asia: Opera

Internet giants Facebook, YouTube and Google are dominating Asia’s mobile Internet market, according to browser maker Opera‘s most recent State of the Mobile report, which found that the services rank as the three most used by Opera Mobile users in more than half of the 25 Asian markets that the Norwegian firm tracks.

Facebook itself is the undisputed leader, as may well be expected. The Menlo Park-based social network is the top destination for Opera Mobile users in no fewer than 16 Asian countries. That’s further incentive for the company to up its game on mobile and better monetise the channel in Asia and other emerging regions.

Asia being Asia, and a hugely diverse continent at that, there are two stand-out examples to Opera’s trends: China and Japan. In the case of the former, this is hardly a surprise given that Facebook and YouTube are both blocked in the country, where newly merged Youku Tudou Inc is the largest video site (but not on Opera’s ranking list) and Google has had much publicised issues.

Furthermore, Opera’s statistics for China are diluted by the presence of a strong local competitor. Though Opera doesn’t break out raw user statistics, its Chinese presence is likely cramped by home-grown rival UCWeb and its competing browsers. However, among the users that Opera does have in China, Baidu, Sina and Tencent-own messaging service QQ hold the top three spots. Sina Weibo — China’s Twitter equivalent — sits seventh and is the highest ranked social network.

Things are somewhat different in Japan, where Google is top, ahead of popular Web portal Livedoor and Wikipedia. In a sign of the country’s 140 character obsession, Twitter ranks eighth ahead of Facebook. Despite making significant progress in Japan, after doubling its userbase in six months, Mark Zuckerberg’s social networking site is not included in Opera’s top ten list, yet.

We know that smartphone sales are growing massively across Asia — with China becoming the world’s biggest market on shipment volumes and device activations — and Opera is riding that wave with its own impressive gains on smartphones.

The firm says use of its Opera Mobile and Opera Mini browsers on smartphones has grown 460 percent in the last year. The company picks out Indonesia, a country that mobile companies are increasingly targeting, as a market that embodied this growth and has seen “significant uptake.”

For comparison, use of the two browsers on all kinds of mobile devices (feature and dumb phones included) grew by an impressive 43 percent across its selected 25 countries in Asia.

The benefit of smartphones over feature devices is more than just increased activity as the company is able to better monetise smartphone users with its ad-based system. That network was boosted in February when Opera acquired two mobile ad providers for a combined $64.5 million.

When it comes to measuring mobile Internet usage there are few better than Opera. Existing metrics often come up short — as we’ve discussed before — but Opera’s mobile browser was used by 208 million phones worldwide during July (up from 200 million in June) and emerging markets are a particular stronghold for the Norwegian company.

Finally…no, before you ask, there’s no update on the rumors that Facebook is eyeing Opera and, yes, this report is another example of the reach and benefits that Opera could provide the social network in emerging markets.

Also read: Opera releases its first mobile advertising report; iOS king of the hill, Windows Phone sucking wind

Image via Flickr / Cglosli

Produce Great Collages Instantly With The Mixel iPhone App

We all have hundreds if not thousands of images stored on our iPhones and now you can produce a wonderful collage that is not tacky with this free app called Mixel, it is easy to use and the finished image is cool and classy.

These are the new and older features for the Mixel iPhone app;

Choose from 6 beautiful styles for your collages (more coming soon!)

Add pictures from Facebook, Instagram or your iPhone

Built-in camera lets you take multiple pictures at once!

Follow your friends and see what they’re posting

Threads let you and your friends post collages together in a continuous flow

Login with Facebook or Twitter

What’s New in Version 1.1

NEW: Newbie feed - see recent mixels by new users!

Take FASTER photos with the camera

Now to delete a mixel you’ve posted, just Flag it (tap on the Share icon) and it will be instantly blocked

Fixed bugs with login and sharing

This is a free app that is ready to download now from the iTunes Store.

Source [Gizmodo]

Finally Its The Star Wars Detours Trailer

There are always rumours surrounding George Lucas, LucasArts and Star Wars, but one interesting rumour is that they are planning to produce a light hearted series based on the Star Wars stories, could this be true? Well here is a trailer see what you think, is worth making or not?

These are the details on Star Wars Detours that came with the video;

Star Wars Detours is an animated comedy that explores what daily life is like in a galaxy far, far away. There are no Empires striking back or attacking clones here. Instead, Star Wars Detours focuses on the universe’s regular folks and their everyday problems… which, to be fair, do frequently involve famous bounty hunters, crazed Ewoks, and even a Dark Lord of the Sith.

Source [Coming Soon]

iMore Weekly Photo Contest winner: Shadows!

Should there be one factor iMore loves much more than apple iphones and iPads, it's giving awesome apple iphone and iPad add-ons and applications to the awesome visitors. Now we've...

Weekly Photo Contest: Shadows!
LaPs

Congratulations LaPs! You will be approached throughout a few days with info on declaring your prize. This week's photo challenge is Silhouettes. If you want more details and also to enter, you are able to mind to the forums in the link below.

Enter iMore's Weekly Photo Contest: Silhouettes

iPod Touch 4: Vale a pena comprar? Português BR [HD]

Assista o video para ter a resposta

Samsung to invest $4 billion in Austin mobile chip plant

According to a Reuters report, Samsung announced Tuesday that it will invest approximately $4 billion at its Austin, Texas chip plant.

Samsung’s goal is to renovate an existing chip producing line and boost production of system chips, widely used in popular smartphones and tablets.

The investment is in addition to nearly $2 billion in spending that Samsung announced in June to build a new logic chip plant in South Korea.

Samsung earlier this year converted two chip lines from memory to logic chip production in order to meet growing demand from mobile gadget customers such as Apple.

MacDailyNews Take: Ya hear that, U.S. jury?

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Fred Mertz" for the heads up.]

A lawyer’s take on Apple v. Samsung (with video)

The media has been closely watching the Apple vs. Samsung case and so have the lawyers.

This morning's Apple and Samsung patent trial proceedings began with 84 “jury instructions,” which tell the jurors how to apply the law while they deliberate and the day is planned to end with closing arguments from both Apple’s and Samsung’s lawyers.

Intellectual property attorney Bill Panagos of Butzel Long in Detroit joins The Wall Street Journal‘s “Digits” show to discuss what the legal community has their eye on.

Best back-to-school apps for iPhone and iPad

The new school year is upon us, which means it's time to go back to school and hit the books! Lucky for us, the iPhone and iPad are excellent devices, not only for study time but right in the classroom. From storing important files, to learning math and chemistry, to writing papers, to taking notes, and even staying safe, there are many apps in the App Store to help you go back to school and get your learning on. And iMore is here to show you the very A+ selections, the perfect 4.0s -- the very best apps for education.

Dropbox for iPhone and iPad

Before we jump into the education-specific apps, we must bring up Dropbox for iPhone and iPad, the app that everyone should have and that many of the apps mentioned in this article will integrate with. Students these days have dozens of files that they have to save and reference throughout the semester, and Dropbox is the perfect app for keeping these files not only organized, but accessible from any device. A free Dropbox account offers 2 GB of storage which is more than enough for a student. Seriously, Dropbox is a must-have -- get it now.

• Free - Download Now

See also:

• SkyDrive vs. Dropbox vs. Google Drive: iPhone cloud storage app showdown!

iStudiez Pro for iPhone and iPad

iStudiez is an iPhone and iPad app that is perfect for keeping track of your class schedule, due dates, homework assignments, and more. As an important date approaches, iStudiez will send you notifications to remind you about the project or assignment that is due or when a class is going to start soon. iStudiez Pro will help you stay organized during the school year -- something that many students regularly struggle with.

The free version of iStudiez limits you to managing 1 semester, 3 courses, 5 classes per course, 7 assignments, 5 instructors, and 2 holiday periods.

• Free - Download Now
• $0.99 - Download Now

Khan Academy for iPad

Khan Academy is one of the best products of education and the internet, and with the Khan Academy app for the iPad, you will have free access to over 2700 videos on topics ranging from kindergarten, advanced science, humanities, history, and more. Even more, you can download the videos to watch offline, keep up with what the teach is saying with organized captions, and earn achievements as you learn.

• Free - Download Now

See also:

• Khan Archiver for iPhone - Free - Download Now

Flashcards+ for iPhone and iPad

With school comes lots of studying. One of the most common studying techniques is to use flashcards. With the free Flashcards+ app for iPhone and iPad, you can say goodbye to the stacks and stacks of flashcards that accumulate over the course of a semester and use electronic flashcards on your iPhone or iPad instead. The beauty of Flashcards+ is that you have your flash cards with you wherever you go, which means you'll likely squeeze in more mini study lessons throughout your day and end up with better grades as a result!

• Free - Download Now

See also:

• Evernote Peek for iPad - Free - Download Now

CaptureNotes 2 for iPad

CaptureNotes 2 is the iPad note-taking app that is designed specifically for students. In addition to the ability to take handwritten notes (most likely with a stylus, CaptuerNotes 2 also lets you record audio (to, say, record the lecture) and take photos that can directly added to your notes. You can also import PDF's and annotated them with your own handwriting or highlights. There are a lot of different note-taking a PDF-annotating apps out there, but CaptureNotes 2 is the best one for students because it lets you organize your work into custom notebooks and binders.

• $4.99 - Download Now

See also:

• Noteshelf - $5.99 - Download Now
• Notability - $0.99 - Download Now
• Remarks - $4.99 - Download Now
• Noteshelf vs. Remarks vs. Notability: iPad handwriting app shootout!

SparkNotes for iPhone

SparkNotes is one of the most popular study guides for literature, Shakespeare, poetry, philosophy, drama and short stories. With the free SparkNotes for iPhone app you can access 50 pre-installed study guides in your library and hundreds of study guides online. You can also check-in at the place you're studying and indicate what subject your studying which could then result in impromptu study sessions with other SparkNotes users studying the same subject at the same place at the same time.

• Free - Download Now

Pages for iPhone and iPad

With school, comes essays, and Pages is a great word processing app for iPhone and iPad to help you with those writing this essays. Even more, if you have Mac with OS X Mountain Lion, you can sync your work over iCloud -- start your essay on your iPad at school, make some changes with your iPhone while waiting for your drink at Starbucks, and finish up on your Mac at home!

• $9.99 - Download Now

See also:

• Keynote for iPhone and iPad - $9.99 - Download Now
• Numbers for iPhone and iPad - $9.99 - Download Now
• Quickoffice Pro for iPhone - $14.99 - Download Now
• Quickoffice Pro HD for iPad - $19.99 - Download Now

The Elements: A Visual Exploration for iPhone and iPad

Taking a Chemistry class? Then The Elements: A Visual Exploration for iPad is a must-have! This app not only provides you with The Periodic Table of Elements, but lets you experience it. The Elements is a living periodic table where every element is shown with a smoothly rotating sample that can be interacted with. The artwork and photography is phenomenal and contributes to making you want to learn about the elements. Seriously.

• $6.99 for iPhone - Download Now
• $6.99 for iPad - Download Now

See also:

• Chem Pro: Chemistry Tutor for iPad
• Elements App - Chemistry Periodic Table for iPad

Anatomy & Physiology REVEALED: Skeletal & Muscular for iPad

Are you taking a Biology class? The you probably want to check out Anatomy & Physiology REVEALED: Skeletal & Muscular for iPad. It will help you learn the skeletal and muscular systems of the human body and features a beautiful layered UI that is jam packed with over 5,000 anatomical structures, videos, and animations. You get to peel away layers of the human body to reveal all structures. You can also explore interactive slides to learn microscopic anatomy of cells and tissues, correlate dissected human anatomy with quality histology and radiologic images, and watch high quality videos and animations that demonstrate muscle actions, joint movements, and anatomical relationships, and the animations integrate physiologic function. When you're ready to test your knowledge, Anatomy & Physiology REVEALED will quiz your ability to identify anatomical structures.

• $12.99 - Download Now

Quick Graph for iPhone and iPad

If you're a student taking a math class, there's a good chance you could benefit from a graphing calculator. Unfortunately, such devices are very expensive, but the good news is that there are several app solutions for your iPhone and iPad -- the best being Quick Graph. It lets you graph multiple equations at the same time, change their color, trace along them, and more. Quick Graph supports both 2D and 3D graphing in rectangular and polar forms.

• Free - Download Now

See also:

• Calcbot review: The best scientific calculator for the iPad
• Top 5 math apps for iPhone and iPad

WolframAlpha for iPhone and iPad

Wolfram Alpha is one of the biggest educational resources available on the web. It's most commonly known for it's usefulness for math students, but it also features a lot of helpful information in other sciences, statistics, history, culture, media, medicine, technology, linguistics, engineering and much more. The WolframAlpha app for iPhone and iPad provides a great interface for searching this huge pool of information. In particular, the keyboard includes common mathematical symbols that would otherwise be very difficult or impossible to type out otherwise.

• $1.99 - Download Now

iHelpPlus for iPhone

Unfortunately, we live in an unsafe world and crimes on college campuses are not uncommon. iHelpPlus for iPhone is a personal alarm, panic button and ICE emergency contact information app that's filled with a lot of helpful tools to prioritize your safety, my favorite one being the delayed alarm. With the delayed alarm, you can set a custom alarm that will send a distress message to the contacts of your choice if it's not disable in time. For example, if you're taking a night class and it typically takes you 10 minutes to walk to your car, you can set an alarm that will alert your emergency contact in 15 minutes unless you turn it off by then. It's a minor inconvenience that could potentially save your life.

• $0.99 - Download Now

iBooks for iPhone and iPad

School and books go hand and in hand, and with iBooks for iPhone and iPad, you can carry more books than ever in your hand. If you're lucky, you may find some of your class textbooks in the new Textbook category of the iBookstore, but if not, there are plenty of educational books you can find to supplement the required materials of your courses. Most of the common literature that is required reading is also available in the iBookstore.

• Free - Download Now

See also:

• Kindle for iPhone and iPad - Free - Download Now
• Best free reading apps for iPad

iTunes U for iPhone and iPad

The free iTunes U app for iPhone and iPad gives you access to courses from universities and schools. These courses are completely free and even include assignments. iTunes U and the instructors provide course materials, including audio, video, books, documents & presentations, apps, and books. iTunes U includes over 500,000 free lectures, videos, books, and other resources on thousands of subjects from Algebra to Zoology.

• Free - Download Now

Your favorite back-to-school apps?

These are just a few (yes, a few!) of our favorite apps to prepare for the new school year, but there are hundreds of other out there available in the App Store. Did we miss any of your favorites? If so, please let us know know which ones should be added to the list and why!

Rene Ritchie contributed photos to this article.

Google+ iPad App Updated – Adds Ability to Open Links in Chrome Browser

The Google+ app for iPad (and iPhone) was updated yesterday - and has added one very notable new feature. It now lets you open links in the Chrome web browser if you have the Chrome app installed on your iPad.

Given that Apple does not allow users to choose their preferred browser on the iPad, it's a bit surprising to see that this update was approved. If it just slipped through, then maybe we'll see Google forced to issue another update that removes this functionality. If that doesn't happen, then that would be a good omen towards one day seeing Apple let us choose our preferred browser in iOS. And wouldn't that be great to see.

One other notable thing about this update: Google decided to stop using goofy version numbers (an April update was Version 1.0.15.5173) - this one is a simple 3.1. Here's the change list for it:

Web links in posts now open in Chrome (if installed)
Teens can now join and create Hangouts
Instant Upload bug fixes to improve performance

Here's an App Store link for Google+ for iPad; it's a free app.

What do you all think of this update? Have you got Google+ and Chrome installed on your iPads?

Purple + Black Flower Embossed Hard Case for Apple iPod Touch 4, 4G (4th Generation) – Includes 2x 4.5″ Universal Stylus Pens (Black & Purple) – With The Friendly Swede® Retail Packaging

• 2 Pack of Flower Cases + 2 x matching 4.5″ universal stylus pen included (black & purple).
• Access to all phone functions with this specially tailored design.
• Hard back cover that protects the back of iPhone from scratches and general wear & tear.
• Ships in the colors/graphics shown in the image.
• With The Friendly Swede retail packaging.

Purple + Black Flower Embossed Hard Case for Apple iPod Touch 4, 4G (4th Generation) – Includes 2x 4.5″ Universal Stylus Pens (Black & Purple) – With The Friendly Swede Retail Packaging

Dear Tim Cook: Apple’s retail focus should be on delighting customers, not generating cash

“‘At Apple, our most important resource, our soul, is our people.’ So starts the Apple Credo. When I started a year-and-a-half stint working for Apple retail in 2008, we were given this text on a fold-out business card and told to carry it around in our name-tag lanyards,” Serenity Caldwell writes for Macworld. “From the reports I've heard in the last few weeks, however, it seems like one employee hasn't looked at his Credo lately.”

“Apple's new senior vice president of retail, John Browett, has been accused by several websites and blogs of cutting employees and their hours in the name of cost-efficiency and keeping stores from becoming ‘too bloated,’” Caldwell writes. “Rumors got so out of hand that company spokeswoman Kristin Huguet took the uncharacteristic-for-Apple step of publicly commenting on those reports, telling Dow Jones that the changes were ‘a mistake... and are being reversed.’”

John Browett, Apple Inc. senior vice president of retail

Caldwell writes, “Boy, I sure hope so. While I don't doubt everyone at Apple is happy that retail boasted a modest 22 percent profit margin last quarter, the second the company forgets that the stores are not solely about selling computers is when its retail operation becomes a failure. A manager of mine once told me, ‘The Apple Store is a place to ask questions and find out how a Mac fits into your life. The fact that we sell the computers is just gravy.’ So if John Browett hopes to turn the gravy of the Apple Store's operations into its sole existence, he's potentially looking at a catastrophic mistake.”

Read more in the full article – very highly recommended – here.

MacDailyNews Take: If these rumors are true, we’re looking at the single biggest error made by Apple so far in the post-Steve Jobs era. Mr. Cook would do well to be very, very careful with how he addresses this issue. Browett is Cook’s biggest hire to date. Apple Inc. shareholders should be concerned.

In fact, concerned Apple shareholders might want to email CEO Tim Cook directly and ask him if these rumors about Browett are true and, if so, what exactly he’s doing about it: tcook@apple.com

Instagram 3.0 introduces Photo Map and other improvements

Instagram has gone 3.0 and includes a lot of improvements including a new feature called Photo Map. Photo Map displays all your geotagged instagram photos on a map making it super easy to browse your photos by location. In addition to Photo Map, Instagram 3.0 also brings redesigned profile and upload screens, infinite scrolling on photo feeds, the ability to flag inappropriate comments, and more.

Keep in mind that when using Photo Map, it's important to consider privacy and security before adding photos. For example, it's probably a bad idea to add photos that will indicate where you live or work. Instagram did a great job of making sure they made this clear to their users with a huge message before allowing you to use Photo Map for the first time.

When you first use Instagram after installing the update, you will be prompted to add all your existing photos to your Photo Map. You will be able to select exactly which photos you want add and they will be organized by location making it easy to remember where you took the photos.

Viewing the photos on a map is actually a very fun experience. As you zoom around the map, you can watch the photo separate into more specific groups. If you tap on a group, the map will zoom into an area that includes all those photos and separate them into more specific locations. The animations are very smooth and fun. Great work by the Instagram team.

The profile screens have also been updated to include a tap for viewing the user's Photo Map. Additionally, you can browse though the user's photos as thumbnails or as a feed.

Personally, I'm loving this update. How about you?

Free - Download Now

MacBreak Weekly 312: Taming of the Screw

Leo Laporte and Andy Ihnatko were gracious enough to invite me back on to MacBreak Weekly today to talk Swedish blog screw job to Mac blogs, iPhone rumors, Apple versus Samsung, and more.

Check out the video above, or for more streaming and download options, audio and video, hit the link below.

Show: MacBreak Weekly 312

The Revolutionary Research Vessel SeaOrbiter

The Revolutionary Research Vessel SeaOrbiter,French engineer Jacques Ruzheri (Jacques Rougerie) has developed an unusual vessel for ocean research.Ship SeaOrbiter, reminiscent of a residential skyscraper has a height of 51 meters and can host up to twenty two people who can work under water 24 hours a day.

O2 and Vodafone partner on infrastructure for 4G future

UK carriers O2 and Vodafone have announced a new collaboration on 2G, 3G and 4G infrastructure, which will see the companies pool basic network infrastructure in an attempt to speed LTE's arrival. Under the scheme - which is also expected to save both carriers money in the long run - O2 and Vodafone will each continue running independent spectrum and competing services, sharing maintenance duties for the basic hardware and decommissioning unnecessary base-station sites.

"Under the proposals, both companies will have access to a single grid of 18,500 masts representing an increase in sites of more than 40% for each operator" the carriers say. "The joint venture will also be responsible for the building of new sites needed to extend coverage into rural and remote areas. There will be opportunities for the decommissioning of duplicate sites and, as a result, the two companies expect there will be a more than 10% overall reduction in the total number of sites, in the UK, used by the two operators."

Telef nica UK - O2 parent company - will be responsible for managing and maintaining radio equipment as well as local transmission (connecting to each operator's intelligent backbone network) in the East (including Northern Ireland and most of Scotland), while Vodafone UK will take the same duties in the West (including Wales). Traffic for each network will continue to be carried on each company's own spectrum.

The deal differs from that of the Orange and T-Mobile UK partnership that culminated in the combined Everything Everywhere carrier. There, the merging of the two brands has allowed for cross-network roaming by subscribers, along with an acceleration in LTE plans.

Thanks to the partnership, O2 and Vodafone predict that they could have 98-percent UK nationwide coverage with LTE service by as early as 2015, two years ahead of the regulatory required date. The hope is that Ofcom will see that as good reason to green-light the deal, with finalization tentatively estimated before the end of the year.

Winterboard Gets a Major Facelift

Cydia’s Winterboard software, has finally undergone its major facelift! The software that
virtually enhances all design aspects of jailbroken Iphones and Ipods has been recently
plagued by issues of sluggishness and frequent crashing, and incompatibility with the iOS
5 of the Iphone 4S, eading users to avoid installing the app.

Winterboard’s developer, Saurik, has responded to the issue by releasing v 0.9.3904
which hopes to resolve all major issues, and allow usability for devices using iOS 5 such
as the Iphone 4s.

Major annoyances such as paging lag and icon shadowing has been resolved and looks
pretty much as it should if Winterboard was not installed. Take note that the fixes for
these two problems will only take effect if the Summerboard is on its default switch
of “off”.

The 9 major updates are as follows;

131071.5.x: Solve SpringBoard Scroll Lag (only with SummerBoard Mode off)
131072.Default SummerBoard Mode to Off
131073.4+5: TimeStyle, PerPage, IconAlpha
131074.4+5: WinterBoard.app Respring Fix
131075.5.x: Last Ditch kill -KILL Respring
131076.4+5: HTML Wallpaper Multi-Touch
131077.2+3: Fixed SpringBoard Crashes
131078.Corrected Order of UISound Stack
131079.Use Fallback/* to Wildcard Theme

You can now finally install themes with this enhanced version of Winterboard without
the usual problems and annoyances of the previous version. We’ve already tested it
personally and to be honest we were pretty impressed with its performance, and since its
free from Cydia, why not give it a try and tell us about it.

Apple launches (PRODUCT) RED bumper for iPhone

Apple has added a (PRODUCT) RED option to their usual selection of iPhone 4/iPhone 4S bumpers, available through the Apple Store. Other than the color and the charity associated with it, and with which Apple has had a longstanding relationship, the bumper is identical to the previous colors first launched with the iPhone 4 in 2010 and updated for compatibility in 2011.

9to5Macs Mark Gurman first reported the story last night, and as he pointed out, the timing is odd:

With Apple's redesigned iPhone coming in less than a month, it seems hard to believe that Apple would release a case for the iPhone 4S/4. However, it seems likely that the iPhone 4S/4 will stick around, so perhaps that is why Apple is set to release the new red iPhone Bumper case.

If and when the iPhone 5 is announced on September 12, if Apple stays with recent patterns, the iPhone 4S should drop to $99 on contract.

The real question here, however, is why did it take Apple over 26 months to add a (PRODUCT) RED bumper to the product line?

$29 - Buy now

Equip the Young Gadgeteers (K-6)

Send your little one off to school right with these hip supplies:

NinjaGo For School

LEGO's Ninjago is the latest in their Ninja series. No ninja or Ninjago fan should venture to school without the latest gear. Though they may not help the ninja find the four weapons of Spinjitzu this gear, on Amazon, will keep their school supplies and lunch safe.

IRIS LEGO Storage Case, $11.99: Perfect for pencils and other small supplies.

LEGO Green Ninjago Stare Insulated Lunch Tote, $29.99: Keep the bad guys away from the food!

LEGO 16″ Ninjago Backpack, $64.99: Store all of the days needs.

Batman Saves Gotham...and Lunch

Everyone is talking Batman. So get your little one in the game with the hippest lunchbox in school for just $21.99 on Amazon. This dual-compartment, caped kit by Thermos will keep lunch fresh. The upper compartment is tall enough for goodies of all sizes. The bottom compartment contains a resealable container. There is a small zipper pocket, perfect for storing milk money. And the lining is easy cleaning, making the parent's job easier.

Stop and Smell the Artwork

Make your little artist stand out among the crowd with Smencils Scented Pencils for just $14.99 at ThinkGeek.com. This 10 pack of odiferous writing utensils consists of standard #2 colored graphite. They can be sharpened just like any other pencil. And the scent is guaranteed for two years.

The iPad mini: What do we "know" so far? [Rumor Round Up]

 

For many months now, the rumors and whisperings have been building as to the purported existence of a smaller version of the iPad. In fact, as a tech journalist, I've been discussing the importance of Apple releasing a smaller format iPad ever since the iPad was initially released years ago! Even though Steve Jobs clearly stated that he wasn't keen on a smaller iPad, not only had he been known to change his mind, but a smaller format iPad just makes sense, just like a larger iPhone just makes sense. Further more, and with all due respect, Mr. Jobs is dead, and he left the company in what he deemed were capable hands, and these capable hands can direct the course of Apple in ways that they see best.

 

So, keeping in mind that Apple has yet to confirm an official name for the rumored iPad mini, or if in fact there even is an iPad mini about to be released, and if there actually is an iPad mini in the works, if that announcement will come on September 12th (which is the date current rumors have pegged for the announcement of the new iPhone), keeping all that in mind, here's a round up of what information we have so far. Please note, if I've included the rumor in here it's only if the rumor is being floated around by multiple reliable sources. That said, a rumor is a rumor and can't be taken to the bank, so only time will tell...

 

 

 

The Specs:

 

The iPad mini is a very exciting development. Not only will it be able to go head to head with the successful smaller tablets on the market, like Amazon's Kindle Fire and Google's Nexus, but it will be an answer to what many Apple loyalists are looking for; that being a smaller, more compact, lighter weight and highly portable iPad.

 

Courtesy of TrojanKitten

 

It looks like the new iPad mini will feature a 7.85 inch diagonal screen measurement making it almost 40% larger than the 7 inch tablets currently on the market, and 50% smaller than the current iPad, with a screen area of 30 square inches, verses the 22 square inches of 7 inch tablets and the 45 square inches of the current iPad.

 

Having a 7.85 inch screen would allow the iPad mini to maintain the same aspect ratio (4:3) as the current iPad with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. Keeping the screen aspect ratio the same would obviously be a big plus if you are an app developer.

 

The thickness of this new iPad is rumored to be right around 7.3 millimeters (verses the current iPad which measures in at 9.3 millimeters thick) which, to give you a sense of what that looks like, picture an iPad with the same thickness as an iPod touch, which measures only 7.2 millimeters thick.

 

I'm also hearing whispers that the iPad mini will have an IGZO LCD display manufactured by Sharp, which is more energy efficient than other displays, as well as, quite likely, the new, much smaller dock connector format.

 

Courtesy of BGR.com

 

The new iPad mini will run iOS 6, and I have to assume that at this point in the game, that would include Siri functionality, something no other iPad has featured thus far. iOS 6 is a huge leap forward from iOS 5 and that alone will be exciting to behold on any device, much less a brand new iPad mini.

 

As far as what kind, if any camera will be included with the iPad mini, that's hard to say. I've seen supposed prototypes that have no camera, as was the case with the original iPad model, while other rumors claim it will certainly have to include a built in front and rear camera. Personally, I think Apple really should include a camera or two in the iPad mini. You know if they don't do so in the first iteration of the iPad mini, they would add a camera(s) within a year, with the next iPad mini version, and to me that's taking "planned obsolescence" a little bit too far!

 

With the holidays right around the corner and competition hot from the manufactures of smaller tablets, I suspect the iPad mini will be priced to sell. I would expect to see the iPad mini debut in the $250-$300 price range for an entry-level device. Let's say, for conversation's sake that the iPad mini starts at $250.00. That would fit with Apple's price structuring, with entry level units of the mini selling for $250.00, the iPad 2 going for $400.00 and the "new" iPad (current generation) costing $500.00. As always, with Apple products, if you can manage to wait, and hold out for 5 or 6 months, whatever new iDevice you are looking for will become available in the Apple store's online refurbished section for considerably less than new retail!

 

Jimmy Lin holding a puported iPad mini in his right hand.

 

Questions remain...

 

Will the iPad mini be available with 3G or 4G LTE capabilities? Will it be available with retina display or will it have a more standard, yet high definition display like the iPad 2? Will it have one camera, two cameras or no cameras? What will its official release name be? All great questions, and all questions that again, ultimately, only time will tell. And of course, the biggest question: while its almost assured that somewhere behind locked doors in Cupertino, California, there are iPad mini samples floating about, does that necessarily mean we consumers will we be seeing this device become available this year?

 

 

I do know this: I for one plan to be first in line if Apple decides to go ahead and release the iPad mini next month. If they do, then I will be reporting back to you on it a.s.a.p! Thank you for reading and do stay tuned!

The BBC Updates The iPlayer App For iOS Users

Nobody can say that the BBC has not been busy over past couple of weeks, not only have they been covering the Olympics, they have managed to roll out an update for the iPlayer iOS app too. The app now supports retina and playback features, as well as some bug fixes.

According to the BBC, this is what they have done to update the iPlayer iOS app;

We’ve had some great feedback from all the passionate BBC iPlayer users out there and have made some updates.

You asked for better playback so we’ve improved the video performance

Better accessibility, including more Voice Over controls to make it even easier to enjoy BBC iPlayer’s fantastic content

Beautiful retina graphics for the new iPad

Bug fixes and general tidying, so you’ll notice even smoother performance

We hope you enjoy the updated BBC iPlayer, let us know what you think @BBCiPlayer.

The updated BBC iPlayer app is available free from iTunes now!

Source [The Next Web]

Steve Jobs offered iOS patent licensing deal to Samsung for $250 million; stupid Samsung declined

“In October 2010, seven months after Steve Jobs told his biographer that he was going ‘thermonuclear’ on Google’s Android for ripping off the iPhone, he and Tim Cook offered Samsung a secret licensing deal — a fact that Apple saved for last Friday in its multibillion dollar patent trial against the Korean electronics giant that is both a key Apple supplier and the largest manufacturer of Android phones,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune.

“According to the late-afternoon testimony of Borks Teksler, Apple’s director of patent licensing strategy, the company’s top executives had been ‘shocked’ in March 2010 when Samsung introduced the first of its line of Galaxy S touchscreen phones. ‘We didn’t understand how a trusted partner would build a copycat product like that,’ he told the jury. Jobs and Cook contacted Samsung and demanded a meeting,” P.E.D reports. “In August 2010, Apple prepared a document that identified dozens of instances where it believed Samsung was using or encouraging others to use Apple’s patented technology, Teksler testified. Then the jury was shown Defendant’s Exhibit No. 586: A Keynote presentation Teksler created in early October that spelled out exactly what Apple wanted in return. ‘Because Samsung is a strategic suppler to Apple,’ the preamble reads, ‘we are prepared to offer a royalty-bearing license for this category of device.’”

Read more in the full article here.

Editor's desk: Where's the Samsung shaped dent in the universe?

I'm going to zag instead of zig here and do something different for this week's editor's desk column. Instead of several topics I'm going to focus on one. I'm going to put words to something that's that's been nagging at me for weeks, months, and years. And I'm all out of mincing and sugar coating...

I truly believe that no one can honestly look at Samsung's mobile products over the last decade and not consider them anything other than a ruthless, relentless copy of everything popular that's came before. I'm not saying Samsung doesn't continuously push the limits of hardware specifications and capabilities as much if not more than anyone else. They do. But they've done it by systematically, institutionally copying what other vendors have already done.

Samsung gas done it to such a degree, and with such a consistency, that I'm flabbergasted they can show up in court, swear an oath, and claim anything otherwise. Claiming it doesn't matter, that all phones and tablets and icons should look alike, I could understand. But claiming they don't copy? As a legal strategy it sounds absurd.

Before the iPhone, Samsung copied the BlackBerry with... Wait for it... The BlackJack. RIM sued, and Samsung changed the name to Jack, but kept the same design. Then, as now, they looked at the market leader and rather than asking how they could make "what's next", they asked how they could make what would be as close as possible "next to" it on a shelf. Rather than setting a course for the future, they set out to subsume the present.

Following the iPhone, when Apple showed the industry what was next", rather than trying to do to the iPhone and later the iPad what Apple did to Palm and BlackBerry, Table PC and netbooks, Samsung conscientiously, deliberately, made their own smartphones and tablets look and work as close to indistinguishably from Apple products as possible. They started with the Instinct and kept right on going with the Galaxy series.

And they didn't stop with iPhones or iPads, either, but shamelessly copied everything from icons to interfaces, plugs to ports, mobile to desktop. They cloned devices, like they had Photoshops's stamp brush made manifest on the factory floor.

This year Samsung introduced the Galaxy S III and began to visually differentiate themselves from Apple. The shape was less a slab and more a river-stone, the charging was inductive, the sharing a physical tap away, and the screen would even ripple like water when you touched it... Just exactly what Palm did with webOS and the Pre back in 2009.

As a gadget lover, even if you love Samsung, even if you don't want to admit it, this has to be a disappointment. A sore spot that mars what are otherwise phenomenal devices. A shadow that stops them from enjoying the full light of their accomplishments.

Even if you can rationalize "a black slab is a black slab" it's impossible to rationalize "a sunflower icon for photos is a sunflower icon for photos", or "the shape of AC adapters, dock cables, and desktop computers are..." well, you get the idea. Even if you can dismiss individual instances as coincidences, when taken as a whole, it's impossible to dismiss the depths of Samsung's unoriginality.

And lets face it, it works. Hitching their design train to Apple's engine has helped make Samsung the most successful Android manufacturer on the face of the earth, and the only truly profitable one. That is no doubt tremendous incentive, and explains why Samsung did it, and while they'll likely continue to do it.

Copying is inevitable.

But as someone who marveled at the Handspring Treo, the BlackBerry, the iPhone, the Palm Pre, and the Nexus One, seeing the perpetual lack of innovation exhibited by Samsung is disheartening. Call Apple's litigations "anti-innovation" all you want, but how can you not recognize copying threatens innovation just as much as over-litigation, if not more? How can you not see the depressing, disheartening future filled with me-too products that do everything but delight and inspire?

I'm not ready to be done yet. I'm not ready to concede that the iPhone at Macworld or the Pre at CES were the last time I'd truly be amazed by leaps forward in mobile. I'm not ready to accept a years-long drought filled with cheap knock-offs and increasingly conventional, commodity devices.

I bought an owned a Nexus One. I bought an own a Nexus 7. I'd buy an own another HTC or Motorola Nexus in a heartbeat. I've never had the slightest urge to buy or own a Samsung mobile device -- because I already have a Treo and an iPhone and iPad, and a Palm Pre.

I would love to add a Samsung device to that list, an original, novel, inspiring take on mobile. The Galaxy Note and the upcoming Galaxy Note 2 are a start, but there has to be something beyond "with a stylus". There has to be a Samsung device that could be the one at the head of the design curve. A Samsung other device manufacturers look to for inspiration or take their turn in copying outright.

Regardless of how the Apple vs Samsung trial turns out, that's the challenge Samsung faces -- to move from replication to innovation. To take their place as not only market leader but an industry leader. To stop copying the present and claim a role in shaping the future.

They have chance next year. No doubt there'll be a Galaxy S4/Galaxy S IV, and no doubt they're already planning it. They have a chance to zag instead of zig, to do something as original as Apple did in 2007 and Palm did in 2009.

They have a chance put a Samsung shaped dent in the universe.

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