Biggest Developer Release Ever Includes Extensibility Features, HealthKit, HomeKit & Swift SAN FRANCISCO―June 2, 2014―Apple® today released its iOS 8 SDK, the biggest developer release … Read more…
I have been scratching my head since I heard the rumors of Apple buying Beats and continuing to scratch it since it actually happened. The reasons flowing through the interwebs simply do not equate in my mind. On one hand, you have the camp that is firmly placing the purchase on Beats streaming music service, which hasn’t been all that successful.
The bidding war for the LA Clippers is over with Steve Ballmer coming out on top with the winning bid of $2 billion. I’d actually call this a better investment that the $3 billion that Tim Cook spent on Dr Dre and Beats, but I digress. Ballmer beat out other bidders that included Los Angeles-based investors Tony Ressler and Bruce Karsh and a group that included David Geffen and executives from the Guggenheim Group.
Springpad, an iOS and Android app much like Evernote has shut down and is giving users until June 25th to export their data or migrate it over to Evernote. The company says it cannot continue to be a self-sustaining business because funding is just not there. It’s sad to see competition die off like this but it’s the reality of the business world. Not every company will remain standing, there will be a select few left hopefully enough to leave the consumer some good choice. Read Springpad’s full announcement below.
Good news everybody! The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on Tuesday scored a huge victory against a shady Copyright Troll, and the DC Circuit Court of Appeals set precedent for rules that should hopefully limit the abilities of these trolls to operate in the future. Boing Boing offers a description of these practices:
Cupertino has announced the long rumored purchase of Beats Audio via press release read it in full below.
One of the cooler gadgets I had the chance to see at CES 2014 was the myris, a retina scanning device that can be used to unlock your computer and anything with a password. Now VOXX International has just announced a $3 million dollar investment into Eyelock hoping they’ll get the product out to consumers sooner than later. We didn’t get a chance to film the myris but check out the hands on video from TechRadar below and catch the entire press release after the video.
Back in May of 2001 Cliff Edwards of Bloomberg Business Week had an article titled, “Sorry, Steve: Here’s Why Apple Stores Won’t Work”. Now thirteen years later Apple seems to be doing just fine in the retail space, expanding much further than even I realized. Check out this animated map put together by retale.com which shows the expansion of Apple stores worldwide since 2001.
Well, we’re starting to see just how much of our money some of these big companies have. AT&T has just plunked down $48.5 billion on DirectTV, Google picked up twitch.tv for $1 billion and Apple is rumored to be waiting in the wings to pick up Beats for $3.2 billion. The DirectTV buy has been approved by the boards of both companies but will have to pass regulatory approval as well as shareholder approval.
GigaOM is reporting that Google and Apple have agreed to dismiss ALL lawsuits against each other and start playing nice and bury the hatchet. You heard that correctly, here’s the joint statement from the two mega tech giants.
ghacks is reporting that Mozilla will be implementing EME’s (Encrypted Media Extensions) into their Firefox web browser after resisting the idea for quiet some time now. With the web changing rapidly and new technologies, such as HTML 5, being adopted, companies like Microsoft, Google and Netflix needed to find a way to allow users to play DRM (Digital Rights Management) protected content. Encrypted Media Extensions were the solution they turned to. Mozilla has a history of open source and trying to keep things user controlled, so you can imagine their resistance. Here’s a little excerpt from the ghacks article, which explains this much better than I could. It’s really a great read so be sure to hit the link to read it in its entirety.
Yonder music is a new service that aims to give its users pay-wall free access to millions of songs to download and play, commercial-free, replacing traditional paid download, streaming, and Internet radio services. Say what? Yes people, free access to stream and download songs!
Casio announced they’re rolling out new Point Of Sale terminals that are powered by Android. Which means the next time you go to the grocery store the cashier could be using an Android powered cash register and playing Angry Birds while they check you out. All joking aside, this is a pretty cool next step for an OS that continues to show it’s versatility. From Android phones and tablets to Chromebooks and business applications it seems Google and its Android system are truly making a run. I opine often about competition and the need for tech companies to continue to make in roads like this. I feel strongly about that because it should be keeping them on their toes, which is good for us the consumer. Check out Casio’s full press release about their new Android POS Terminals below. And let us know what you think about Android starting to make its way into other consumer and business products. You can hit us up in the comments below or on Google+, Twitter and Facebook. Our social links are to the left of your screen.
Ars Technica is reporting that multiple sources at Microsoft have been told of a plan to make a few adjustments to the Xbox Live Gold streaming video offerings. Most notably, popular video streaming services Netflix and Hulu may no longer require Xbox Live Gold access. Up until now, Xbox users would need to pay for an Xbox Live Gold account – in addition to paying for Netflix or Hulu subscriptions – just to stream these services from the Xbox.
A new study found in the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics aimed to find the differences between people who pirate music online and those who pirate movies online. According to the study, those who pirate movies exclusively are very different than those who pirate music exclusively. The researchers claim that those who pirate movies are “less likely to stop paying for movies in addition to stealing them.” Which means they are coming to the opposite conclusion for those who pirate music only.
As recently as yesterday morning, several members of the Techaeris crew were lamenting the hands-off nature that some of the big names in tech were taking with this most recent Net Neutrality brouhaha. Leave it to those same big names to deliver an open letter to the FCC yesterday afternoon! The full text of this letter is listed below:
I’m not going to lie, seeing Nintendo floundering as they have recently makes me sad. This is a company that was a part of so many of our childhoods that just can’t seem to figure out how to pull themselves together. Bloomberg is reporting that Nintendo has posted an even greater 4th quarter loss than analysts forecast, even after slashing expectations significantly.
Several popular cloud storage sites were recently found to be leaking private data by way of shared links. Dropbox acknowledged this vulnerability, as well as their solution. Please keep reading for the Dropbox response:
The Huffington Post is reporting that Aljazeera America has obtained emails that show some Silicon Valley Executives had a much cozier relationship with the NSA than they led us to believe. The Aljazeera report focuses on Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page in emails they obtained through the “Freedom of Information” Act.
It’s no secret that Chromebooks are fast becoming popular. They’re lightweight in hardware and software but most importantly, they’re affordable. And without a doubt Chromebooks have put a significant shiner on the face of Microsoft powered hardware. So Microsoft is finding itself in a place where it needs a new strategy and it looks like they may be testing that today.
Let’s start this off by saying this is a HUGE unconfirmed accusation that could very likely be an internet troll times ten. That being said, it was hard to ignore this posting on Pastebin accusing Google of basically stealing and abusing their relationship with AdSense publishers. For those who are not familiar with AdSense, it is Google’s advertising platform which many websites, including this one, use on a daily basis. Google places ads in websites on the behalf of advertisers, and both the publisher and Google receive a certain amount from those ads.
Yeah, we know you know. It’s hit the web like a digital tsunami, Apple has won the latest court battle against Samsung slithering out with $119 million dollars. On the flip side, a much less lofty flip side, Samsung sprung out with $158,000 from a couple of patents the jury found Apple in violation of. Re/Code did get a statement from Apple right after the verdict and here’s what they had to say.
Venture Beat reports that Android has made the jump ahead of iOS for the first time in mobile ad traffic. In a report from Opera, it shows that Android has passed iOS and is making strides in ad traffic.
The Hollywood Reporter says that Sony Pictures is in talks with Leonardo DiCaprio to play the roll of Steve Jobs in the film adaptation of Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs biography. Last year’s movie “Jobs”, staring Ashton Kutcher, didn’t do too well at the box office and hit sour notes with critics. Sony is basing their film off of the actual biography of Steve Jobs which is probably a good idea given that a lot of what is written in that book comes from Jobs himself. Sony is also hitting up Danny Boyle to direct the film as the deal with David Fincher fell through due to some disagreements between Sony and the director.
tmWatch is reporting a new Samsung trademark filing in Australia for the word “plot”. Also included in the trademark filing are the words App Connect, DTOC, Citron, Diffuser and Samsung’s Curved TV UHD logo.
CNN Money is reporting that Netflix is planning on increasing the price of its subscription service to new subscribers only (by $1-$2). Existing subscribers will … Read more…
The smartphone start-up OnePlus just announced a new method to get their yet to be released or shown smartphone into the hands of consumers. OnePlus is opting for an invite system that they hope will get their product into the hands of hungry fans without making them struggle against each other in an online ordering battle. OnePlus took to social media to announce the invite system which ignited a mix of reactions among fans and users. Read the entire press release after the break.
Business Insider is reporting that Apple is currently negotiating with the major carriers for a $100 price increase on the iPhone 6. All the leaked information and images have pointed to Apple increasing the size of the iPhone to 4.7″ and possibly a second 5.5″ version. We’re not really sure why Apple is pushing for such a price increase other than manufacturing costs and the use of sapphire displays.
