Sorry Facebook, mobile users just want to text

Mobile content usage spanning everything from downloading apps to browser and social network usage continues to escalate, but nothing is taking off quite like texting.

Nearly 75 percent of all U.S. mobile subscribers now send text messages, according to new data from analytics firm comScore.

The data, gathered from a monthly online survey of 30,000 mobile subscribers ages 13 and up, reflects an ongoing shift in the changing behaviors of the more than 234 million … Continue Reading

Review: The futuristic OnLive Desktop runs Windows apps on the iPad

The current state of computing is always under scrutiny and speculation. For years laptop and desktop computers have been proclaimed dead, most recently in the face of smartphones and tablet computers. OnLive Desktop may be the first sign of an evolution for everyday PC computing, one that would silence naysayers and utilize all types of application-driven computing devices.

OnLive Desktop – from OnLive, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based cloud-gaming company – is a Windows 7 work … Continue Reading

TRUSTe secures $15M for increased online privacy managment

TRUSTe, a company that provides privacy management options for the online and mobile market, raised $15 million in a Series C round led by Baseline Ventures to boost its technology platform.

Joined by existing investors Accel Partners, Jafco Ventures and DAG Ventures, the company also plans to use the funding to expand its global presence by addressing the increased data privacy challenges across the world. By simplifying privacy management for companies and its consumers, TRUSTe … Continue Reading

Steve Jobs immortalized with unofficial, “super realistic” action figure (pics)

Attention Apple zealots: An eerily lifelike, unofficial Steve Jobs action figure set is slated for late February release, and can be yours for just $99.99 plus shipping. That is, of course, if Apple doesn’t issue a cease-and-desist order first.

The “Super Realistic Steve Jobs 12″ Collectible Figure,” as it’s called, was unveiled by toy companies In Icons and Dragon in Dream Corporation on New Year’s Day, and is the almost-perfect (some might say, freaky) reincarnation … Continue Reading

The Apple collection: Secret Stanford warehouse houses company history

Thirty-five years of Apple memorabilia make up a museum-like collection of company archives that are hidden away in an off-campus Stanford University warehouse.

Stanford’s Apple Collection takes up more than 600 feet of shelf space in a climate-controlled facility at a location kept secret from the public, said the Associated Press, which paid a visit to the archives.

Should you ever be let in — and one can only dream at this point — you … Continue Reading

Italy fines Apple $1.2M over warranty confusion

Italian regulators have slapped Apple with $1.2 million (€900,000) in fines for misleading customers about assistance services and guarantees for products.

The fines came from Italy’s anti-trust authority, which said Apple gave unclear information on payments necessary to maintain customer service (a €400,000 fine) and was unclear about its Apple Care extended warranty (a €500,000 fine), according to an AFP report.

Local laws in Italy require companies to offer a two-year warranty on every product … Continue Reading

Apple knocks HTC (and Android) on its side with patent victory

Come April 19, 2012, Android-powered HTC smartphones may be a bit harder to find on store shelves in the U.S.

In its final determination, the U.S. International Trade Commission has ruled that HTC violated two claims of an Apple patent — the patent deals with software that turns phone numbers and addresses into actionable links — and has ordered a ban on the import and sale of infringing HTC devices. The ruling goes into effect … Continue Reading

Instagram is Apple’s No. 1 app of 2011 in a year heavy on fun and sharing

If you made plans for your weekend, you might want to kiss them goodbye.  Apple yesterday released its iTunes Rewind 2011 list, with the 40 top  iPhone and iPad apps of the year. The iTunes store now has more than 500,000 apps in it, but  this year’s top apps list shows that fun is the dominant theme. Games and social networking tools dominated, and photo sharing tool Instagram was chosen as the No. 1  app … Continue Reading

NetDragon Websoft brings storied free-to-play game Conquer Online to iPad

Conquer Online, one of the oldest free-to-play online games in existence, has migrated to the iPad as of today. It might not be the first massively multiplayer game to make its way to the App Store, but it is certainly one of the most recognizable, having been online since 2003. With over 10 million registered accounts, the game has a big following.

Unlike most of the more recent F2P MMO offerings, Conquer Online is a … Continue Reading

Rockstar announces release date and price for iPad version of Grand Theft Auto III

Rockstar games posted the release date and price point for the 10 Year Anniversary Edition of Grand Theft Auto III, soon to be available for “select new generation iOS and Android devices.” This new mobile edition of GTA III for mobile devices will be on the App Store and the Android Marketplace starting on December 15th, and will be released at a price of $4.99.

Grand Theft Auto is one of the most lucrative video … Continue Reading

CIO says supporting iPhone and iPad led to 92% reduction in broken devices

After switching to support Apple mobile devices internally at RehabCare Group, a physical therapy provider with more than 9,000 employees, the company saw a 92 percent reduction in broken devices, CIO Dick Escue said.

Escue recounted the healthcare provider’s switch to support Apple products a few years ago at the CloudBeat conference in Redwood Shores, Calif (you can watch the livestream here). He referred to Apple’s decision to support Microsoft Exchange as one of the … Continue Reading

Big Fish Games first to offer an “all you can eat” gaming subscription on iPad

Big Fish Games has become the first publisher permitted to offer a subscription gaming service on the Apple iPad, Bloomberg reports.

Customers will be asked to pay $6.99 per month in order to access dozens of games, such as Mahjong Towers and Mystery Case Files, through the Big Fish app, which will initially require Wi-Fi access to operate. If it works, it could be a new source of ongoing revenue on a platform where it … Continue Reading

Apple warned the British voice behind Siri to keep silent

There’s a real person behind the British voice of Siri, Apple’s wildly-popular voice assistant for the iPhone 4S. He was surprised as anyone to learn this, when he heard his voice on television in a commercial.

The voice in question is that of John Briggs, a former technology journalist, who says he “fell into” voiceover work, in an interview with The Telegraph. Biggs recorded 5,000 sentences over the course of three weeks for British firm … Continue Reading

Siri speech recognition competitor Yap snapped up by Amazon

The tablet wars are shifting to to a new battleground, as an SEC filing today revealed that Amazon.com has purchased speech recognition app maker Yap.

The Atlantic is reporting that the acquisition was completed in September, but Amazon made no formal announcement. The Charlotte, NC-based company founded by the Jablokov brothers had received a $6.5 million Series A round from SunBridge Partners.

Yap’s consumer-facing technology converted voicemails into text, but as Alexis Madgrigal writes, the … Continue Reading

Why CNN’s ‘Black in America’ misses the point on race in tech

Almost no one has seen episode 4 of CNN’s  documentary series “Black in America,” about race in the technology world, but a lot of folks are already jumping in on the race controversy the show’s promo has kickstarted.

A lot of folks need to shut up and wait till it airs.

Black in America: The New Promised Land – Silicon Valley, is about the journey of eight participants in the NewMe Accelerator program for black … Continue Reading

GarageBand music recording app comes to iPhone and iPod

Apple’s popular music app GarageBand is making the leap to the iPhone and iPod Touch today with an update, version 1.1. Pre-loaded on all Apple computers as part of iLife, GarageBand features a wide variety of professional-quality instruments, which users can play on a timeline to make songs of their own. GarageBand also lets you record vocal tracks, so the app constitutes a self-contained recording studio.

“GarageBand on iPad has been a big hit and … Continue Reading

From smartphones to televisions, how Apple will avoid the fate of RCA

The economics of the consumer electronics industry dictate that on a long enough timescale, all products will become low-margin commodities. The companies that make products household names are destined to fade from the public’s memory. Will Apple suffer the same fate as others before it, such as RCA, who revolutionized television sets in a similar fashion but were relegated to the dustbin of history decades later?

It’s products will most certainly be commoditized, but thanks … Continue Reading

Shiny new Mac Pros and Macbook Airs expected to debut with OS X Lion

Apple is expected to launch refreshed Mac Pro and Macbook Air computers along with the debut of the company’s new Lion operating system later this week, according to leaked product numbers obtained by 9to5Mac.

The numbers indicate that Apple is releasing four new MacBook Air models — two 11-inch models and two 13-inch models. Both screen sizes are available with and without upgrades, according to the report. The Air won’t look much different from the … Continue Reading