Here’s what we REALLY thought about this week’s news (video)
Skyrim is awesome; Pinterest users need to calm the hell down; and Facebook users need to stay away from the gun cabinet.
In this week’s episode of VB Weekly, the VentureBeat writing staff takes a front seat, with a range of our editors and reporter spouting off about the stories they found most interesting.
This week, we’re talking about:
Steve Jobs’ FBI file
the crazy coming features for hit game Skyrim
Facebook’s all-new lightbox for
Prepare for MacBook Pros that look like MacBook Airs
After sticking with a fairly consistent unibody MacBook Pro design for some time, Apple may be gearing up to bring design elements from its popular MacBook Air line into its more powerful models later this year.
The company is preparing a “top-to-bottom revamp” of the MacBook Pro lineup that will result in thinner unibody cases and solid-state hard drives and the loss of optical disk drives, sources tell AppleInsider.
This isn’t the first time we’ve … Continue Reading
For the first time, Apple’s iOS generates more web traffic than Mac OS X
iPhones and iPads now account for more web traffic than Macs, according to a study by ad network Chitika.
Chitika measured the percentage of its ad impressions that were delivered to iOS devices and the percentage going to OS X devices. According to the firm, iOS has been steadily gaining ground since August, 2011, while OS X has lost 25 percent of its market share since September.
As of February, 2011, the iOS market share … Continue Reading
Apples to oranges: Google and Amazon are too timid to copy Apple’s retail success
There is a strange duality in the world of brick and mortar tech stores today. In the last four years CompUSA, Borders, and Circuit City all went out of business. Many expect Best Buy to follow in the near future. At the same time, Apple has opened over 300 retail outlets worldwide. And recent reports indicate that Microsoft, Amazon, and Google plan to follow Apple’s lead.
The new Google store, which Bloomberg reported on yesterday, … Continue Reading
The DeanBeat: DICE Summit entices the game industry’s insiders to Vegas
The DICE Summit (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) is well under way this week, bringing some of the game industry’s best minds together in Las Vegas for a few days of networking, thinking, talking, back-slapping, and partying. Staged by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, it is a chance for the best of the business to shine, from an opening keynote by The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim game developer Todd Howard on why we create … Continue Reading
Foxconn hacked by group that says “damage is bliss”
Chinese manufacturing company Foxconn was hacked this week by a new group of “greyhat” cyber criminals who say tearing down companies is fun.
“So Foxconn thinks they got ‘em some swagger because they work with the Big Boys from Intel, Microsoft, IBM, and Apple? Fool, You don’t know what swagger is,” said a SwaggSec member in a letter addressed to “Users of Cyberspace.”
SwaggSec, which started tweeting about its hacking endeavors on January 26, released … Continue Reading
Read all 191 pages of Steve Jobs’ FBI file
The FBI has released its full dossier on Steve Jobs.
Jobs, who passed away just last October after a prolonged battle with cancer, is best known for his role as Apple’s enigmatic co-founder. However, the FBI seems to have cast Jobs in a number of other roles, as well — some of them far from flattering.
The file, which we’ve embedded below, contains commentary on Jobs’ marijuana and LSD use, especially during the 1960s and … Continue Reading
Mark your calendars: Apple may announce iPad 3 in early March
One year after Apple unveiled the iPad 2, the company is set to announce the iPad 3 in the first week of March, sources have told AllThingsD.
The event will likely be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, which traditionally houses Apple’s largest announcements. The timing makes sense for Apple since it launched the iPad 2 in early March last year.
There’s no word yet on when the iPad … Continue Reading
Apple customers protest factory worker abuse, will present petition tomorrow
Apple customers are protesting the company’s role in factory worker abuse by bringing a 250,000-signature petition to the Apple store at Grand Central Station in New York City tomorrow and elsewhere around the globe.
In particular, the petitioners are asking Apple to make the iPhone 5 its first product produced under entirely ethical working conditions.
“I have been a lifelong Apple customer and was shocked to learn of the abusive working conditions in many of … Continue Reading
Siri makes up 25% of all Wolfram Alpha searches
Apple’s virtual assistant Siri has found a good match in Wolfram Alpha, the computational search engine from Mathematica creator Stephen Wolfram.
Siri now accounts for 25 percent of all searches made on Wolfram Alpha, the New York Times reports in a profile of Alpha’s upcoming premium service.
The figure shows that there’s a lot for average users to get out of Wolfram Alpha, especially when they don’t even realize they’re using the service. Siri taps … Continue Reading
Canadian cable companies may have fabled Apple iTV prototypes
New rumors of the much-anticipated Apple-branded television set (a.k.a. iTV) have surfaced regarding launch partnerships with major telecom companies as well as the device’s user controls.
Apple has allegedly entered into discussions with Canada’s Rogers Communications and Bell Canada on an iTV launch because the companies are involved in both wireless and broadband markets, according to large Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail, which cites unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
Additionally, Rogers and Bell … Continue Reading
Intern’s paper reveals secret project to port Mac OS X to ARM chips
Apple has long been rumored to be working on porting the Mac OS X operating system to run on ARM chips, a move that could help it gain independence from chip maker Intel.
Some interesting evidence that such work is taking place emerged today in an academic paper written by a former Apple intern.
Apple Insider reports that Tristan Schaap, who is now an Apple engineer, wrote a thesis in 2010 on his 12-week job … Continue Reading
Apple warns developers not to manipulate their app rankings
In a sign of trouble at the App Store, Apple has warned app developers not to manipulate their rankings in the top charts by using third-party marketing services.
The warning addresses rumors that “bot farms” or “water armies” in places such as China are offering to boost apps into the top 25 by using a mob of users to download an app and give it positive reviews in exchange for money.
In a message on … Continue Reading
After a drop in profits, HTC forecasts cloudy quarter ahead
The next quarter will be tough-going for HTC as it tries to recover from its first big profit drop in two years.
HTC reported revenues of NT$101.42 billion (New Taiwanese dollars) for the fourth quarter, but the company projects revenues of up to 36 percent less in the first quarter, from NT$65 billion to NT$70 billion ($2.20-$2.37 billion U.S.).
HTC previously announced that its profits fell in the fourth quarter, so this news is basically … Continue Reading
Role reversal: Apple accused of iPad patent infringement in China
Apple is being accused of patent infringement in China.
Yep, you read that correctly. China Daily reports that Proview Shenzhen Technology, a Chinese company based in the city of Shenzhen, has pointed the finger at Apple over the name “iPad.”
“We ask the court to stop selling and marketing for Apple’s iPad in China. We also demand an apology,” Proview Technology attorney Xie Xianghui told China Daily.
Both companies claim iPad as a trademark, but … Continue Reading
Samsung’s Galaxy S III may be just 7mm thick, making it world’s thinnest phone
At some point, the mad quest to create the thinnest phone on the market will end — but not today.
Samsung is reportedly aiming to make its upcoming Galaxy S III flagship device just 7 millimeters thick, a full 1.49mm thinner than the Galaxy S II and 2.3mm thinner than the iPhone 4S, according to the Korean site ETNews.
The phone could debut as soon as this May, the site says, though as is always … Continue Reading
iPhone tops US handset sales, Android attracts more newbies, says NPD
Corroborating what just about every other research firm has noted by this pointed, the NPD Group announced today in its latest report that the iPhone has become the best-selling handset in the U.S. during the fourth quarter.
No big surprises there, but the group also pointed out another interesting statistic: Despite the iPhone’s dominance, first-time smartphone buyers still overwhelmingly jump to Android.
In the fourth quarter, Apple overtook LG and Samsung with the iPhone 4S, … Continue Reading
The free ride is over: Facebook likely adding mobile ads “within weeks”
With Facebook’s financial situation firmly in the spotlight after its IPO filing, the company will finally address the problem of generating revenues from mobile users by introducing mobile ads in the next few weeks.
One of Facebook’s biggest risks Facebook listed in last week’s IPO filing was “mobile,” and the company said it generates no “meaningful revenue from the use of Facebook mobile products.” One solution would be to launch a Facebook-branded phone that would … Continue Reading
Google hires a senior director at Apple for a top secret project (exclusive)
Google has pulled off a coup by hiring an Apple senior director of product integrity for a secret project, VentureBeat has learned.
The recruiting feat is historic since Google has never hired such a senior person away from Apple. The hiring is also interesting because the Department of Justice is investigating Google and Apple for allegedly working out a “no poach” agreement where the companies — along with Pixar, Lucasfilm, Intel and Intuit — allegedly … Continue Reading
What the fudge? iTunes Match bug replaces explicit songs with censored versions
Subscribers of Apple’s iTunes Match service are reporting that explicit songs in their library are getting swapped out for the censored “clean” versions.
iTunes Match, which Apple launched in November, is a music service that gives legal access to any songs currently in your iTunes music library. For $25 a year, subscribers can download their songs from Apple’s cloud to any device running the iOS 5 mobile operating system, such as iPhones and iPads. But … Continue Reading
