mac

Frankie70 writes "'Siri's dirty little secret is that she's a bandwidth guzzler, the digital equivalent of a 10-miles-per-gallon Hummer H1.' A study by Arieso shows that users of the iPhone 4S demand three times as much data as iPhone 3G users and twice as much as iPhone 4 users, who were identified as the most demanding in a 2010 study. 'In all, Arieso says that the Siri-equipped iPhone 4S "appears to unleash data consumption behaviors that have no precedent."'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Laaaaaaaaaaadies and Gentlemen, welcome to Friday Night Fights, a new series of weekly deathmatches between two no-mercy brawlers who will fight to the death — or at least agree to disagree — about which is better: Apple or Google, iOS or Android?

After this week’s topic, someone’s going to be spitting teeth. Our question: Should The iPhone Allow You To Easily Swap In And Out Batteries? A lot of Android phones let you swap in and out batteries if you’re low on power, but Apple’s never done so. Is this just another example of Apple hardware oppression, or do they have a good reason?

In one corner, we have the 900 pound gorilla, Cult of Mac; in the opposite corner, wearing the green trunks, we have the plucky upstart, Cult of Android!

Place your bets, gentlemen! This is going be a bloody one.

Vincent Messina, Cult of Android

While not every Android device features a removable battery, the majority of them do, and so we’re going to take a look at which is better: having an irremovable battery such as the iPhone or having a removable battery as in the majority of Android devices. I believe the advantages of having a removable battery far outweigh any you get from keeping the battery locked up and I hope to prove it to you in tonight’s Friday Night Fights.

Ahh, the battery, the life line of our precious tech devices. Without a constant power supply, all of our advances in mobile technology are useless and become nothing more than shiny paperweights. We’re always trying to get the most out of our batteries, whether it’s battery saving apps (which use the battery) or simply shutting down phone features when not in use. We never want to be without power and that’s why we have our superhero utility belt full of usb chargers, car chargers, wall chargers, power packs, etc. I like to also think of spare batteries as a tool in which to stay powered up, and that’s why it is important for a device to have the ability to swap batteries.

Having a removable battery benefits the power user the most, but also benefits any casual user who enjoys taking their device outdoors and away from a power supply. For a power user, any additional power source is a good one, and having the option to swap batteries is a life saver when faced with situations where having constant power is a necessity. You can’t always guarantee an open power source to plug into and having a spare can be a life saver. Not only are spare batteries great for emergencies but if your device has a removable battery, chances are there are manufacturers out there that sell larger batteries than can be used as a primary. When you have a device that doesn’t allow for you to remove the battery, you’re stuck with whatever size battery is in there and that’s it.

A recent example comes to light in this whole removable battery debate and that’s the one of the Motorola DROID RAZR on Verizon. Motorola decided to manufacture a top of the line device for Verizon that featured an irremovable battery. Inside they equipped it with a 1780mAh battery to not only handle the strains of video, gaming, multitasking, etc. but of the power consuming beast that is LTE. Well, we all saw how that worked out. Customers were quickly complaining about battery life, and had Motorola designed the RAZR to have a removable battery, they could have simply sold an extended battery to those looking for more power. Instead, they had to manufacture an entirely new device, insert a larger battery, and call it the DROID RAZR MAXX.

Not only does having a removable battery help in the quest for constant power, but it also helps a user do his own tech support without having to bring his device into a store for an issue a simple battery pull may fix. Yes, that point may be moot due to other ways of resetting your device, but the fact remains that sometimes an issue you’re having with your device is simply due to the battery. Maybe the battery won’t take a charge any longer, who knows, but if you had your friend near you (or a spare battery), you could swap the battery for a quick test and voila, you may just need a new battery. You didn’t have to drive to a store, you didn’t have to call support or create a ticket, you simply had to replace the battery. Batteries don’t last forever, and having the ability to just purchase a new one and swap it out yourself is a convenience everyone should have.

We can always use more power, and no matter what battery an OEM puts into your device, for some — it’s just not enough. In the famous words of Tim “the tool man” Taylor — “More Power!”

---

John Brownlee, Cult of Mac

Back before I had my iPhone, I had an LG Optimus V for a little while, less for any love of the phone than the fact that Virgin Mobile’s plans are extremely attractive. The phone was a piece of junk, a constant annoyance — ask my girlfriend, who inherited the damn thing — but one thing I did like about it was that I was able to pick up a couple of other batteries and slap them in when the Optimus ran out of juice, which it did all the damn time. So I’m not totally without sympathy for the notion that smartphones should have swappable batteries.

That said, there’s a reason the iPhone doesn’t have a swappable battery. Swappable batteries are an inelegant solution to the problem of charging your phone, and compromise both the design and build quality of a device. These are all important considerations.

When I had my Optimus, charging up the spare batteries was a nightmare. I had to slap them into a universal wall charger, line up the positive and negative battery posts and wait for them to charge. There was no way to tell how much charge they had left, or which one was charged and which one wasn’t. And when I needed to replace a battery, I had to essentially turn off my phone entirely and then take it apart.

Compare this to the many juice packs I have for my iPhone. These battery chargers simply connect to my device through the 30-Pin Dock Connector. I don’t have to turn off my iPhone, or take it apart. They charge through USB or a wall socket, and all have indicators to show how much juice they have left. Heck, I even have a couple battery chargers that are actually built into iPhone cases, and can extend the battery life by 150% of more.

Sure, I know Apple didn’t make these charging solutions. I also know that similar charging solutions exist on Android. But that’s the whole point: if these more elegant solutions work on any smartphone and are so much less of a hassle than keeping a bunch of spare batteries in your pocket, then why bother with swappable batteries anyway?

Which brings me to the compromises in design and build quality that swappable batteries cause. If the iPhone, for example, allowed for swappable batteries, the device would be much less solidly constructed. It would need a battery cover, which would not only affect the aesthetics of the device (say goodbye to the iPhone 4′s iconic Gorilla Glass casing) but also making it more susceptible to damage from falls. Think about it: drop an iPhone and if it doesn’t land in a puddle, the worst thing that happens is the glass gets cracked. But if you drop a phone with a swappable battery, the first thing that usually happens is the battery cover pops open, exposing the inside electronics of the device to damage.

So surprise! I’m ultimately with Apple here. Swappable batteries are just a less elegant solution than an external battery pack that attaches to your device, and totally not worth the heightened increase of damage that come from giving easy access to the sensitive, easily-broken electronics inside a smartphone. A phone isn’t a remote control, it’s an expensive computer in your pocket. You don’t need to change the batteries: there are far better ways to charge a smartphone. And to design one.

(One last note: I’m not against user replaceable batteries at all. If your phone battery charges, I believe a user should be able to go in and replace it himself with little trouble or expense. You can actually do this on an iPhone 4S. The difference is, you need a screwdriver, meaning it’s a procedure for phones that can no longer hold a charge only, and not to be frivolously done. Best of both worlds!)

Similar Posts:

• Apple Patents New Method To Improve Battery Life
• New Outback-Worthy Bruiser Battery From Mophie Will Charge Your iPad [CES 2012]
• New Slim iPhone 4 Case Docks With Removable Battery
• Solio’s Mono Solar Charger is Cheap and Portable, but Lacks Serious Power [Review, Earth Day]
• Solar Chargers Getting More Compact, Flexible

Yahoo has decided to do some pre-Spring cleaning and has announced they will no longer be supporting their lesser used apps. This may make some of you Yahoo app addicts sad, but for the rest of us, I’m sure we won’t mind. Yahoo has stated that as the mobile space moves at an insane rate, they too must keep up with what users want and are looking for in today’s market. That’s why they have decided to cease support of the following apps in order to make room for the future:

• Yahoo! Meme (iPad and iPhone)
• Yahoo! Mim (iPad)
• Yahoo! Answers (Android)
• Yahoo! AppSpot (Android and iPhone)
• Yahoo! Deals (iPhone)
• Yahoo! Finance (BlackBerry)
• Yahoo! Movies (Android)
• Yahoo! News (Android)
• Yahoo! Shopping (iPhone)
• Yahoo! Sketch-a-Search (iPad and iPhone)

Do you use any of these apps on a regular basis? Might be time to start looking for an alternative solution.

Source: Yahoo via Android Central

Similar Posts:

• iPad Apps Number 4,870
• We Got It (Almost) Right: Apple Implements Its Version of Yahoo Answers
• Apple Tops Search Engine Tech Questions
• iPhones Have Now Beaten BlackBerry In Business
• Analyst: Apple Leading Mobile App Usage Increase

The Mac Observer’s Editors Choice Awards from Macworld|iWorld Expo 2012 are out, and just like previous years, there were plenty of great products for us to check out. We chose seven products that we feel represent the best of what was shown at the conference and expo for the Mac, iPhone and iPad.

SAN FRANCISCO - Hub Innovationsw was showing several new products at this year’s Macworld|iWorld show, but the one that caught out eye the most is Anvil, a very cool stand for the iPad. The device holds your iPad in either portrait or landscape mode, and it includes a stabilizer bar if you want to lean your iPad back and type on it.

SAN FRANCISCO - iPad stands are nearly as numerous as iPhone cases, but the PadDock 10 is more than just a stand. In addition to making your iPad look like a smaller version of an iMac, it adds speaker and connector features too.

Two Macworld|iWorld exhibitors offer cases that keep your iDevices dry and usable in the Great Outdoors. And if you’re at the show, you can get discounts that keep your budget from getting all wet too.

Intuit has begun offering its entry-level financial management software Quicken Essentials for Mac on the Mac App Store. This is the standard edition of Essentials that has been on sale for quite a while, not a new version -- something Intuit is quick to point out in the description for the software. It's merely a new distribution point.

Quicken Essentials for Mac, a basic starter edition, helps you manage all of your personal finance in one place, so you can see where you’re spending and where you can save. Quicken automatically categorizes your financial transactions, stay on top of bills and helps you set goals so you can save more. **For Quicken Essentials for Mac users: Please note, this is not a new release of Quicken Essentials for Mac. **

Quicken Essentials does work under OS X Lion, but it is a far cry from Quicken for Mac 2007, which was the last fully-featured version of Quicken released for the Mac platform. Intuit promised last month that a Lion-compatible version of Quicken 2007 would be available for customers by "early spring." Quicken Essentials for Mac is available for $49.99 on the Mac App Store. [Direct Link] Thanks Ahan!

Despite not being able to sell of the iPhone, a reportedly leaked employee memo reveals that T-Mobile will begin to offer official support for subscribers using unlocked versions of Apple's popular handset on its network.

At Macworld Expo's MacIT conference, City of Austin staff members profiled how FileMaker Go has enabled them to rapidly eliminate paper work orders and streamline management of exhibitors in the vast Austin Convention Center using a fleet of iPads.

Can't be at Macworld | iWorld? We've got some photos from the three-day expo that can give you a taste of the products on display as well as some of the other activities going on at Moscone West.

Yahoo is cleaning house on the mobile product side, announcing Friday that it is “decommissioning” a long list of mobile apps.

Apps that will no longer be supported include winners like Yahoo! Meme and Yahoo Mim (say what?), as well as some more general mobile apps like Yahoo Answers for Android and Yahoo Deals for iPhone. Unfortunately, Yahoo! Sketch-a-search, which I didn’t even know was a thing before today, is also getting the axe. (You can see the full list on the official announcement.)

Somewhat paradoxically, Yahoo is pitching its non-support of these apps as part of its “mobile first” mindset. But for anyone paying attention, this could be part of a big step forward for Yahoo as it transitions under new CEO Scott Thompson.

Over at Google, CEO Larry Page calls this strategy putting more wood behind fewer arrows. For a company like Yahoo, which has been somewhat stymied by a lack of innovation, it makes sense to kill off products that consumers aren’t using and double down on those linked to its core properties, like Yahoo Mail, Messenger and Flickr, as well as applications like IntoNow where it can introduce disruptive new technology.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro: Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
• The future of mobile: a segment analysis by GigaOM Pro
• NewNet Q4: Platform mania and social commerce shakeout

ARCEP, the French telecom regulator, has said it is going to inspect low-cost wireless provider Iliad's backbone network to make sure it is compliant with its bandwidth licensing requirements. The action takes place after Iliad's competitors raised complaints about Iliad's network performance and customer service. Iliad, which operates its wireless service under the Free name brand, denied the claims, discounting them as false rumors....

Apple notebooks often pull desktop duty, including being plugged into a variety of peripherals. It can be a chore to disconnect all the cables and cords to free the device for the roaming life it was made for. Docks are the solution to this problem, and Henge Docks solves this by including connections to ports as part of the dock, allowing you to take your notebook without unplugging anything.

Amazon's Kindle Fire is squeezing out other Android tablets for actual use online. New Flurry data shows that the Kindle Fire virtually cut the Samsung Galaxy Tab line's usage share in half, from 63 percent in November to 36 percent in January. Other devices saw a similar squeeze, which mostly came from the Kindle Fire's rampant sales rather than a drop in Android use....

Microsoft founder and renowned, mega-rich philanthropist Bill Gates recently sat down with The Telegraph to talk about current affairs and his relationship with the late Steve Jobs. Despite their professional rivalry, Jobs and Gates had been good friends for many years.

Gates revealed in the interview that he sent Jobs a personal letter that was kept by his bedside during his last days.

Some months before Jobs died, Gates paid him a long visit. “We spent literally hours reminiscing and talking about the future.” Later, with his old adversary’s death imminent, he wrote to him. “I told Steve about how he should feel great about what he had done and the company he had built. I wrote about his kids, whom I had got to know.”

That last gesture was not, he says, conciliatory. “There was no peace to make. We were not at war. We made great products, and competition was always a positive thing. There was no [cause for] forgiveness.” After Jobs’s death, Gates received a phone call from his wife, Laurene. “She said; ‘Look, this biography really doesn’t paint a picture of the mutual respect you had.’ And she said he’d appreciated my letter and kept it by his bed.”

Jobs was critical of Gates’ work in public, famously saying that iTunes for Windows was like “giving a glass of ice water to somebody in hell” at the All Things D conference in 2007. Despite all the censure, Gates and Jobs respected one another:

“Steve was an incredible genius who contributed immensely to the field I was in. We had periods, like the early Macintosh, when we had more people working on it than they did. And then we were competitors. The personal computers I worked on had a vastly higher [market] share than Apple until really the last five or six years, where Steve’s very good work on the Mac and on iPhones and iPads did extremely well. It’s quite an achievement, and we enjoyed each [other’s work].”

You can read the full interview with Gates over at The Telegraph.

Similar Posts:

• Steve Jobs ♥ Bill Gates
• Bill Gates On Steve Jobs: We Created The Mac Together [Video]
• Bill Gates Recounts His Last Conversation With Steve Jobs [Video]
• Steve and Bill Reminisce, Mock Gil Amelio
• Steve Jobs and Bill Gates Chopping It Up [Vintage Photo]

John F. Braun takes a look at Western Digital’s first offering in the Thunderbolt arena, and sees some impressive results.

This week, the heat was turned up on Apple. Not many people cared for the iBooks Author app’s EULA, and not many people were happy to hear about the conditions of Chinese workers who make Apple products. However, as usual, there is a lot to know behind the scenes, and this week’s P.D. digs into the nuancesas as we go behind the headlines. And just for some fun and relief, we get into some marvelous toys.

Yesterday while I was on the show floor at Macworld | iWorld 2012, I came upon a 7-foot-tall scanner walking around. After I figured out that my cold medicine wasn't making me hallucinate, I knew that I was in the right place -- the Doxie booth. There I was able to interview Paul Scandariato of Doxie about their new DoxieGo + Wi-Fi mobile scanner and grab some video.

The new scanner communicates with your Mac or iOS device over Wi-Fi, and allowing you to scan straight to the cloud if you wish. Paul noted that many users scan their documents straight to Dropbox, then open them for viewing or annotation on the iPad.

The DoxieGo + Wi-Fi is priced at US$249, while the DoxieGo previously reviewed by TUAW remains at $199. For Macworld show-goers, you can the Doxie scanners for $50 off of list price through Saturday.

Here's the DoxieGo + Wi-Fi in action:

Doxie's new DoxieGo + Wi-Fi: Demo video at Macworld iWorld 2012 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Version 7.0 updates Runmeter, Walkmeter, and Cyclemeter will arrive in March. The new versions of the GPS fitness apps from Abvio will feature a more refined interface, aimed at making it easier to access data with a swipe.