Super-fast Thunderbolt ports likely headed to iPad and iPhone

Apple could soon be adding speedy Thunderbolt ports to its iOS devices, including iPads, iPhones and iPod touches, new patent applications suggest.

Thunderbolt I/O ports, which Apple has already installed in its newest MacBooks and iMacs, are up to 12 times faster than FireWire 800 and up to 20 times faster than USB 2.0 ports. Apple and Intel jointly developed the technology, and if included on iPhones and iPads, it would make data transfers significantly … Continue Reading

Apple’s iOS App Store had over 5M free app downloads per day in Nov.

Thanks to the iPhone 4S’ huge sales, Apple’s mega-popular iOS App Store reached an all-time high in November for free downloads coming from the Top 200 apps, according to marketing firm Fiksu.

In retrospect, it’s not terribly surprising when you consider that the iPhone 4S had the most successful iPhone launch ever, with more than four million units sold in its first weekend in October. All those first-time iPhone owners, and repeat owners who upgraded … Continue Reading

Siri now available on jailbroken iOS 5 devices, including iPhone 4

A fully functioning port of the iPhone 4S’s hyped Siri voice assistant is now available for almost all jailbroken Apple mobile devices and huzzah, it’s legal!

The somewhat gimmicky Siri assistant has been the focus of the iPhone 4S’s advertising campaign, and the feature is suspected to be helping fuel major sales for that device. But as the program only officially works on the iPhone 4S, other iPhone owners have been wanting to get in … Continue Reading

Kids (and adults) will have fun learning math with Hungry Fish for iPad

Video games for the iPad are an unlikely ally in the fight to help America’s students close the achievement gap in math. But that’s just what startup Motion Math has in mind.

Motion Math is a San Francisco game design studio that creates fun and engaging iPad and iPhone games to teach children mental arithmetic skills. Motion Math: Hungry Fish was released on Thursday, to teach addition and subtraction with the help of a fish … Continue Reading

In time for Black Friday: A holiday gift guide for gamers

The holiday season is coming fast. Before you know it, it will be Thanksgiving. People will be doing their Black Friday shopping early the next morning, and then it’s just a few short weeks until the gift-giving season arrives.

That said, it’s time to start looking into what to get for the gamer in your family. Whether they own an Xbox, a Wii or a PlayStation 3 (or all three) there is something great for … Continue Reading

Top 10 iOS games of 2011

What makes a great mobile game? Eye popping visuals? Solid gameplay and controls? Ease of entry, pick up and play features? Are casual games the best suited for Apple’s disruptive gaming device? What about core gaming, is it yet possible on these magical devices? What about social games, shooters, platformers?

The answer: Yes. All of these make great games, and the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad will play them.

Apple’s iOS devices and operating system … Continue Reading

Who needs Barbie? Kids and teens want an iPad for Christmas

Get ready to pony up, parents. Your children don’t want Barbies or LEGOs this holiday season, they want pricey iPads. But don’t worry, they’ll also settle for an iPod touch or an iPhone, so you’ve got options.

Hope we’re kidding? Then Nielsen has some bad news for you. The analytics company’s latest survey found that 44 percent of kids in the U.S. ages 6 to 12 want the iPad as a gift this year. The … Continue Reading

Google re-releases Gmail iPhone app, but it still needs work

Google has re-released its Gmail app for the iPhone and iPod touch, two weeks after the company botched the app’s initial debut and yanked it from the App Store.

The major bugs have been addressed — there’s no more error warning when you first start-up the app, notifications work and images embedded in emails scale down to fit the small screen.

Unfortunately, bugs were just a fraction of what was disappointing about the Gmail iPhone … Continue Reading

The DeanBeat: After Steve, will Apple press its advantage in games?

Steve Jobs never liked video games, particularly the violent ones. Years ago, when id Software’s John Carmack demonstrated a cool shooting game during one of Jobs’ keynotes, Jobs wouldn’t allow him to show any blood on the big screen.

That approach defined Apple’s stance on games, just at the moment that 3D games were flourishing due to the growth of powerful graphics hardware support. And it doomed the Mac to a secondary position.

No longer. … 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

Siri hack on iPhone 4, iPod Touch can now chat with Apple’s servers

The hacker who first ported Siri to the iPhone 4 has now surpassed the next major hurdle towards porting the virtual assistant: getting it to talk to Apple’s servers.

Hacker Steven Troughton-Smith was able to trick the iPhone 4 and latest-generation iPod Touch into successfully communicating with Apple’s servers thanks to a recent iPhone 4S jailbreak, which gave him access to new files integral to Siri’s functionality, 9to5 Mac reports.

Troughton-Smith made headlines soon after … Continue Reading

iOS 5 available now, makes the iPhone 4 feel completely new

Apple has released its biggest mobile update yet, iOS 5, which offers a slew of compelling new features and will likely make many iPhone 4 owners think twice about upgrading to the iPhone 4S.

As I pointed out in our roundup of iPhone 4S reviews, iOS 5 compatible devices will receive most of the software upgrades featured in the iPhone 4S, and that may just be enough for most iPhone 4 owners.

Sure, you won’t … Continue Reading

iPhone 4S pre-orders top 3M after one weekend, 25M on track this quarter

New estimates from Wall Street analysts suggest Apple registered more than 3 million pre-orders for its newest smartphone, the iPhone 4S, after selling the device for one weekend.

Apple announced this morning it registered pre-orders for more than 1 million iPhone 4S phones in 24 hours, well beyond its previous record of 600,000 phones. New estimates peg the initial weekend’s sales to be somewhere north of 3 million, according to RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike … Continue Reading

Apple updates iPod line with cheaper Nano and Touch, Classic still alive

Just before it debuted its much-hyped iPhone 4S, Apple on Tuesday announced minor upgrades and price reductions for its popular iPod music player line.

The iPod touch, the most popular iPod selling today, will stay mostly the same. It will run the new iOS 5 software, which will give the device a lot more features. Apple at one point called the device the best-selling handheld game console on the market today. The cheapest iPod touch … Continue Reading

NaturalMotion to debut My Horse game with beautiful graphics for iPhone (exclusive)

Game developer NaturalMotion is launching a realistic horse simulation game called My Horse in the next day or so on Apple’s App Store. The game looks like one of the most sophisticated to date in terms of the quality of its graphics for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.

The title, which was developed by external developer MunkyFun in San Francisco, will be a test as to whether it’s a good idea to create console-quality … Continue Reading

GameStop may soon start selling iPhones, iPads and iPods

Video game retailer GameStop may soon push mobile gaming in its stores. The company is apparently planning to start offering Apple’s entire suite of iOS devices, including the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, reports 9to5Mac.

The move makes sense for GameStop since there’s plenty of money to be made by tapping into the mobile gaming frenzy. The company has also started accepting trade-ins of Apple mobile devices for in-store credit, so it’s only a matter … Continue Reading

Apple phasing out iOS UDID access to solve privacy woes

With the launch of the most recent iOS 5 beta release, Apple is now instructing third-party developers to stop using the unique device identifier (UDID) in iOS devices, which is often used to track user behavior.

The change will disrupt business for many app developers, especially for mobile ad networks and companies like Tapjoy that rely upon UDID access heavily, but it could mean the end of major privacy concerns for Apple.

It’s also a … Continue Reading

Google+ iOS app adds (basic) iPad, iPod Touch support

Google’s Google+ iOS app can finally run on the iPad and iPod Touch — but don’t get too excited, iPad users, as the app still isn’t optimized for the tablet’s interface.

Today’s update isn’t a major one, but it’s necessary to fix the Google+ app’s inexplicable lack of support for the iPod Touch. The Google+ app launched three weeks ago, and it only worked on iPhones. It makes sense for Google to take its time … Continue Reading

Nintendo posts unexpected quarterly loss and slashes full-year profit forecast

Nintendo reported a first-fiscal-quarter net loss, hurt by both slow sales of its 3DS handheld game device and a strong yen. The Kyoto-Japan-based company cut its full-year forecast as a result.

For the quarter ended June 30, the company reported an operating loss of 37.7 billion yen ($483.6 million), worse than the expected profit of 7.1 billion yen, according to Thomson Reuters. Nintendo now expects an annual operating profit of 35 billion yen, down dramatically … Continue Reading

Apple likely to announce big gains in quarterly earnings this week

Apple reports its third-fiscal-quarter earnings after the market close on Tuesday and analysts are expecting it to be a big quarter.

Apple has become the world’s most valuable tech company, with a market capitalization of approximately $344 billion (Google Finance: AAPL), and as a result, analysts and investors closely watch its earnings as a sign of health for both the computer and mobile device businesses.

In addition to its computer business, the company also dominates … Continue Reading